Author Archives: Holly West

I often find it impossible to pick my favorites "of all time" in any category. And with books? Forget about it. There's too many to choose from that should be on the list.

And yet, when Donald Maass, author of Writing the Breakout Novel, asked me (in the book) to pick my top three novels, I took some time to think about it.

These are the three books I came up with:

Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

Three Without Fear by Robert C. Du Soe

I've read all three of these books so many times I've lost count. Indeed, I have whole passages practically memorized. And Marjorie Morningstar sits at the top of the list because no matter how many times I read it, I always cry at the end.

Having picked the top three, the next question Maass asks is "What do they have in common?"

I'll start with what all three have in common: A fantastic sense of location. In Marjorie Morningstar, Wouk creates a Manhattan so compelling that as a teenager (when I first read it) I couldn't wait to visit the city. Winsor does the same for 17th century London in Forever Amber. And finally, Du Soe creates not a city, but a region–Baja California, and the adventures that lay in wait for three children travelling to San Diego on their own. Each of these books evokes a time and place that are magical, and utterly takes readers out of their own worlds and thrusts them into new and exciting places.

Marjorie Morningstar and Forever Amber are very similar in their themes, if not in their times and locations. Both novels feature beautiful young females with strong senses of themselves and no real concept of defeat or failure. It's not that they don't experience setbacks, it's that they confront every situation with a degree of confidence that makes their failures bittersweet and their triumphs all the more satisfying. I first read both of these novels when I was around 13 or 14, a time in my life when self confidence was a commodity I had little of. I wanted to be these women, it didn't matter if they made mistakes–I wanted to take life by the horns and experience it. Hard to do in the little California town I grew up in.

The final question Maass asks is (I'm paraphrasing) "What do you bring into your own novel from your top three favorites?"

One of the things I'm bringing to my own novel is obvious–it's set in 17th century London, just like my beloved Forever Amber. Mine is set about 15 years later though, which does make a major difference in some ways (think about a more modern story set in 1980 versus 2005).

The second thing I'm taking is a female lead with a strong sense of self. My heroine is the 17th century version of an amateur sleuth and she's about 12 years older, but she shares some of the same characteristics of Amber St. Clare (Forever Amber) and Marjorie Morgenstern (Marjorie Morningstar) that I found so compelling.

So I leave you with this question:
What are your top three novels of all time?

This is my first attempt at doing a “how to write” video:

I know. The first step is fairly obvious. But it’s the only way you’ll ever become a writer.

Also, please forgive the lapses in grammar and the awkward cuts. I am so busy writing these days, I didn’t have time for much in the way of fancy transitions.

Lastly, please remember that the camera adds 75 pounds.

Today's best links:

S.E. Hinton, a.k.a. Your Majesty from the L.A. Times

“When I was young, all the books were about a Mary Jane and the football player and the prom and ending up with the quiet guy and making your mom happy,” she said.  “Well, I’d been to a few proms, and it was about who got killed in the parking lot and who's got the booze inside.”

Comparing Fingerprints: What's the Point? from Lee Lofland's "The Graveyard Shift"

"It is the duty of fingerprint examiners to compare certain characteristics of a suspect’s fingerprint, known as points of identity, or minutiae, to points on fingerprints found at the scene of a crime. This comparison can prove that the suspect had, at some point in time, been at that particular scene. A fingerprint match alone does not, however, prove the suspect committed the crime."

Those Ignorant Atheists from Salon.com

"Atheists of the Ditchkins [referring to Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins] persuasion have raised valid points about the sordid social and political history of religion, with which Eagleton largely agrees. Yet their arguments are fatally undermined by their own unacknowledged dogmas and doctrines, he goes on to say, and they completely fail to understand Christian faith (or any other kind) except in its stupidest and most literal-minded form."

Getting the Call from Rachel Gardner, Literary Agent

"It's the moment every writer dreams of: the day an agent emails or calls to say, 'I'd like to discuss representation.'"

Here are a few of the best book-related links I've found today:

Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson
Lyndsay Faye's debut novel comes out today and it looks like it's just my cup of tea. Also, she's my sister's friend.

Conversation with Joe Finder from Jonathan Maberry's Big Scary Blog.

Q & A with Agent Jessica Faust from Editor Unleashed

Creating Characters that Jump Off the Page from Casting the Bones

Procrastinating on the Novel? Write a Blovel Instead from JungleG.com

I have given myself a self-imposed deadline of May 31 to complete the first draft of my novel. It will be a challenge, but I am tired of feeling like this is open-ended. I'm far enough along to make a concrete commitment to finishing and May 31 it is.

That means I'll probably be slowing down on the blog posts a little. I do have a lot of content I need to post but it will only happen if I have time (and energy) after fulfilling the day's writing goals.

What Next?
I wish I could say that after the first draft is finished I'll be ready to start looking for a publisher. Not so! My first draft is kind of like a big rough diamond–I know it has some gem-quality writing in it but it will take a lot of cutting and polishing to get to the flawless stone.

I'm a jewelry maker, of course I have to use a gemstone analogy!

So my summer will be filled with revisions and re-writing. At the beginning of August, I'll be going to London with my husband to explore all of the locations in the novel. I'll take pictures and write descriptions, and I hope to include a feature on my blog called "Isabel Wilde's London." Many of the locations I'm using I'm already familiar with, but I need to go to each one to ensure they make sense historically. Most of this I can do from home, but I think visiting each location will bring the story to life for me in an important way.

So When Can I Read it?
That's probably a long way off. I will begin looking for an agent as soon as I feel I have a polished manuscript worthy of publishing, which will hopefully be in the fall. After that, there is a degree of luck involved and in addition to querying agents, I will begin writing the second book. One thing I didn't realize when I started this–the process never ends! But that's a good thing, because I love living in this world I've created.