Friday, December 28, 2012

A Rebellious Refusal to Please




Thanks for stopping by during our winter break. Bonnie Grove--our favorite Canadian fiction writer--will start us off January 7th. If inspiration comes in snowdrifts, be prepared for something beyond wonderful. Bonnie and family are nose-deep in snow.




I also wanted to remind you about our new book club. We'll be discussing Donald Maas' book, Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling. Go here to read the first chapter free.

[Trumpet fanfare!] Book club will have its first "meeting" on January 18th. We had a blast discussing Anne Lamott's book, Bird by Bird. This will be even better.

The title of this post is a phrase from Maas' book. He uses the phrase this way: "[Literary/commercial fiction] is personal, impassioned, and even downright quirky, yet through its rebellious refusal to please, it paradoxically achieves universal appeal. It panders to no one. It speaks to everyone."

That's the kind of fiction I dream of writing. And you?


6 comments:

Megan Sayer said...

Yay! I'm so looking forward to it. Yay for 2013!
Although my rebellious refusal is more along the lines of you thinking January should be cold. Come on, I've accepted that Christmas is cold where you are, and that there's snow and it's all lovely, but January...EVERYBODY knows that January is when you go to the beach every day. Seriously.
See you there :)

Karen @ a house full of sunshine said...

I'm so looking forward to reading this book with all of you! It looks like a cracker!

Karen @ a house full of sunshine said...

(Translation: it looks really good.) :-)

Patti Hill said...

Megan: Our low was -14.4444C this morning. Going outside is questionable. No bathing suit for me! Dreaming of a Wii.

Karen: Thanks for the translation! Looking forward to seeing both of you ladies on a regular basis.

Henrietta Frankensee said...

That's me all over. Rebellious and passionate about being quirky. Nonconformity begins HERE! Actually, I am in London, England. We don't here much English spoken on the streets. Mostly Italian and French with a smattering of Spanish and the occasional Russian. Fashion is also gloriously eclectic. Maas' quote applies here; it is all very inspiring to a writer.

Susie Finkbeiner said...

I'm really happy to be rebellious! Looking forward to another New Year with all of you lovelies! January 7 can't come soon enough!