Common Denominators -- Recurring Fictional Themes

by Jennifer Archer 

Writing for both the young adult market and the adult market is enough to make me feel schizophrenic sometimes! Next week on the very same day -- September 18 -- I have two books being released. My novel for teens, Through Her Eyes, will be available for the first time in paperback, and my Romance novel, Shocking Behavior, will be available for the first time as an e-book -- with a brand new cover.

Writers are often advised by agents and editors to develop a "brand" by focusing on one genre. While I know this is good career advice, I've always had trouble following it. I can't force a story -- I have to write the one that's knocking around in my head, trying to get out. Over the years, those stories have included paranormal romantic comedies like Shocking Behavior, quirky mainstream women's fiction, more serious mainstream women's fiction, and teen fiction like Through Her Eyes.

I used to spend a fair amount of time wondering why my books are so different, one from the other. I asked myself if I was too easily bored with writing the same "type" of story. Or if I was allowing myself to be influenced by whatever I was reading at the moment.  (I'm an eclectic reader -- I don't stick to one genre in that regard, either.)  

It wasn't until my agent pointed out that all of the books I've written have one thing in common --    a "continuity of voice" -- that I took a closer look at my body of work. When I did, I made a surprising discovery. My books have more than one common denominator. I revisit the same themes in my stories, again and again. 

For instance, more than one of my books have a past story and a present story taking place simultaneously. In these, history catches up to the here and now and affects it in some profound way. And many of my characters wear masks, literally or figuratively or both. These characters hide behind or inhabit a false persona or pretend to be someone else. Sometimes another character in the story falls in love with the "disguised" person's soul or personality -- their inside -- before seeing what they look like physically -- their outside.

All of these things are true of both Through Her Eyes and Shocking Behavior. On the surface these stories seem to be completely different. Through Her Eyes is a novel for young adults, a ghost story that deals with serious issues such as illness and death and dealing with change. Shocking Behavior is a novel for adults, a paranormal romantic comedy about a man who becomes invisible after stumbling upon his kooky scientist father's latest invention.  Through Her Eyes is serious with moments of humor.  Shocking Behavior is humorous with a subtle, serious undertone. However, look closer and the similarities are there. The ghost and the invisible man. The girl/woman who falls for each without ever really seeing him. A historical story that affects the present day story. The illness of a loved one and the changes that brings.  

Follow any author's work and I predict you'll find that I'm not unique. Every writer has his or her own themes that they explore in their writing, again and again.

How about you? If you're a writer, do you recognize recurring themes in your stories? And readers, can you identify the repeating themes of your favorite authors?

THROUGH HER EYES

Every ghost has a story to tell . . .
The last thing Tansy Piper wanted was to move to the middle of nowhere in Cedar Canyon, Texas. Once there, her life takes a chilling turn when she finds a pocket watch, a journal of poetry, and a tiny crystal in the cellar of her new home.
The items belonged to Henry, a troubled teenager who lived in the house and died decades earlier. And Tansy, an amateur photographer, soon discovers that through the crystal and her photographs, she can become part of Henry's surreal black-and-white world.
But the more time Tansy spends in the past, the more her present world fades away. Can she escape Henry's dangerous reality before losing touch with her own life forever? 

SHOCKING BEHAVIOR 

When J.T. Drake is rendered invisible by one of his elderly father’s inventions, his father’s assistant Roselyn Peabody is the only person with the skills to possibly make him normal again. The beautiful, young scientist has never met J.T. and has no idea what he looks like, yet sparks fly whenever they touch. Rosy vows to help him regain his visibility, but when J.T. finally materializes, will their electric chemistry disappear or expose itself as true love?

Jennifer Archer's website www.jenniferarcher.com 

The One Place I Always Feel At Home

by Jennifer Archer

"A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort." -E.B. White

There’s a scene in my novel THROUGH HER EYES, in which sixteen-year-old Tansy, on her first day at a new high school, escapes to a remote corner of the library during the lunch hour to avoid having to eat alone in the cafeteria. When I wrote that scene, I knew exactly what Tansy was feeling because I once did the very same thing. I moved to a new city and started a new school at the beginning of my junior year in high school, and I hid out in the library during my lunch period for the first several days. 

Everything at Amarillo High School felt foreign and unfamiliar to me – except the library. The second I stepped into that hushed room full of books, I experienced a sense of calm and comfort. I’d found the one place in the building where I could let down my guard, relax, and just be myself. I was surrounded by old friends – the hundreds of characters I’d come to know through years of reading.

Since then, my fondness for libraries has only grown stronger. There was a time when I even entertained the idea of becoming a librarian. I’m sure that career involves stressors that only those who do the job can understand, but I still fantasize sometimes about spending my days amongst the shelves and stacks. Such a peaceful workplace seems a rarity in our hustle-bustle world. But libraries and librarians offer us so much more than a place of calm. They provide information on a variety of topics, learning materials, and entertainment. I can spend hours in a library and never get bored.

Because I can’t imagine life without libraries, I wondered how they came to be such a fixture in our American communities so I did a little research.  According to History Magazine: 

“The oldest library in America began with a 400-book donation by a Massachusetts clergyman, John Harvard, to a new university that eventually honored him by adopting his name. Another clergyman, Thomas Bray from England, established the first free lending libraries in the American Colonies in the late 1600s. Subscription libraries - where member dues paid for book purchases and borrowing privileges were free - debuted in the 1700s. In 1731, Ben Franklin and others founded the first such library, the Library Company of Philadelphia. The initial collection of the Library of Congress was in ashes after the British burned it during the War of 1812. The library bought Thomas Jefferson's vast collection in 1815 and used that as a foundation to rebuild. It wasn't until waves of immigration and the philosophy of free public education for children that public libraries spread in the US. The first public library in the country opened in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1833. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie helped build more than 1,700 public libraries in the US between 1881 and 1919.”

Sometime after the Civil War (approximately 1876), the American Library Association was founded, and Melvil Dewey developed and published a method of classifying and organizing materials within libraries called the Dewey Decimal Classification System. During this period, the profession of “librarian” became more recognized with Katharine Sharp’s involvement in the founding of the library school at the University of Illinois. Mr. Dewey recommended Ms. Sharp for the job, and she is now considered to be one of the most important library educators in American history.  

In the decades since, libraries have changed and adapted with the times. Computers, the internet, the e-reader – all have altered the way libraries operate. But one thing hasn’t changed since the late 1600’s when the first lending libraries in America opened their doors: Libraries and librarians strengthen our communities and enrich our lives.  

~I am honored to have been chosen as a Featured Author for The Spirit of Texas Reading Program – Middle School during the upcoming school year.  This Texas Library Association sponsored program is in its first year. The TLA website states:

“The original idea for the Spirit of Texas Reading Program came from Texas author, Andrea White. Mrs. White envisioned a more robust, dynamic relationship between Texas libraries and Texas authors/ illustrators where authors and illustrators constantly came into Texas libraries either in person or via the internet to talk to students about their books and the writing process. With the help of librarians Natasha Benway (South Regional Public Library), Rose Brock (Coppell ISD), Renee Dyer (Weslaco ISD), and Jennifer Smith (East Central ISD), Mrs. White’s original idea was further developed to include an interactive website, original programming by Texas librarians, and annual awards for Texas authors/illustrators. The Spirit of Texas Reading Program began in 2011. The name “Spirit of Texas” was chosen because the program hopes to encourage a greater understanding of what it means to be a Texan and an appreciation for the literary works of and about Texas and Texans.”

For more information about this wonderful program, visit the Spirit of Texas website.    

Love Triangles: A Guy, a Girl and a Ghost

by Jennifer Archer

I'm on the road for the next couple weeks, so today I'm recycling a post I did a while back as a guest on another blog about love triangles. Enjoy!

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These days, love triangles in young adult fiction abound. I’ve conducted an informal survey of my reading friends and here’s what I’ve surmised: Readers have strong feelings about love triangles. They seem to either really love them or really hate them.

I enjoy a love triangle in fiction if it’s handled deftly and isn’t the main focus of the story. I mean, let’s face it: Who will she choose? can get a bit old, and besides that, the answer is usually fairly predictable. But as a side plot, a good love triangle can add great conflict to a story. If only someone didn’t have to get hurt! Especially if that someone is a nice, well-meaning guy or girl. That’s another problem with most fictional love triangles – frequently they don’t play out in a realistic way. In real life, love triangles are usually pretty messy and don’t end conveniently, smoothly, or with everyone getting along. But in fiction, often one of the love interests either dies, turns out to be an unworthy person, or is so unbelievably virtuous that they step aside with little display of anger, jealously, or hurt feelings.

In my YA novel THE SHADOW GIRL that will be released next year by Harper Teen, the protagonist, Lily, finds herself in a love triangle. I tried to show as realistically as possible the pain and confusion this causes her, as well as the guy who loses out, without letting that aspect of the book take over the story. My debut YA novel THROUGH HER EYES also contains a love triangle, but one with a twist. The triangle consists of a guy (Tate), a girl (Tansy), and a ghost (Henry).  I had a great time with this element of the book because I’m a sucker for ghost love stories. One of my favorite older movies is one directed by Steven Spielberg called ALWAYS. If you haven’t seen it, take a look at the trailer.

In ALWAYS, Dorinda really doesn’t have the option of a life with Pete, her deceased boyfriend who is now a ghost. But that isn’t necessarily the case for the character Tansy in my novel THROUGH HER EYES. Even though Henry is a ghost, there might be a way for Tansy to choose a life with him, but doing so will involve giving up A LOT on her part.  The things at risk for Tansy are serious ones: family, friends, the life she’s always known in a time period that’s familiar. But what about the smaller things? What would a girl have to deal with if she chose to have a romantic relationship with a ghost? Just for fun, I’ve come up with a list:

Top Ten Reasons a Girl Should Think Carefully

Before Choosing a Ghost Guy Over a Real Guy

1.      Real guys have actual blood running through their veins so they’re warmer. No girl likes to be cold!

2.      Your friends can actually see how hot your real guy is. Not so with your ghost guy. In fact, your friends may not even believe you really have a boyfriend.

3.      Privacy. When you want some time alone, you can tell a real guy ‘goodbye’ and close the door. You never know when a ghost guy’s in the room with you. Creepy.

4.      A ghost guy will stay young while you grow older. Will he still love you when you’re 30 and he’s  18?

5.      Transportation. Ghosts can’t drive so you’ll always have to take your car.

6.      Food. Ghost guys never get hungry. It’s no fun to eat alone!

7.      Strait jackets are uncomfortable and ugly but you might end up in one because people will think you’ve lost it when they see you talking to thin air. 

8.      Ghosts are unemployed since nobody hires them. You’ll have to pay for every date.

9.      You’ll never see your ghost boyfriend in any other clothes than the ones he died wearing; he’s pretty much stuck in those.

10.   Forget going to a crowded movie theater with a ghost; once the seats are filled, he’ll probably get sat on. 

So, what about you? I’d love to know how you feel about love triangles in fiction. If you like them, what are your favorite books or movies with love triangles? And what else do you think a girl should consider carefully before choosing a ghost boyfriend over a real guy?

Setting and Story

by Jennifer Archer

How does setting affect story? I've thought a lot about that question in relation to my own writing. Some writers write plot-driven books. I consider mine to be more “character-driven,” in that the plot is pushed forward more by the characters than by external events or the environment around them. That said, even in character-driven stories, setting plays a crucial role, as it does in any good novel. A vivid locale can create tone and atmosphere, thereby helping the reader immerse herself in the world of the book. You can’t build a sturdy house on a weak foundation, but build a strong foundation and the home will be solid. In the same sense, build a good setting and let your characters live and grow in it, and the book will be solid – or believable. 

In a character-driven book, the setting may not drive what occurs, but in all likelihood it will affect the characters in some way, helping to drive them to push the plot forward. My novel Through Her Eyes would have been a very different kind of story if I had set it in New York City or Seattle instead of in a small Texas town. For one thing, the wind in the Texas Panhandle is very pervasive, adding to the eerie mood and atmosphere of the book. In fact, the wind plays with the main character's sanity to a certain extent and almost becomes a character in itself. Tansy knows that a ghost is rumored to haunt the property where she lives, so when the wind blows through the rafters of the old house, making the wood creak and groan, her imagination takes flight and she feels even more determined to solve the mystery surrounding the ghost so that she can put an end to her fears. That element of setting – the blustery West Texas wind – adds another layer to what drives Tansy to make the decisions she does.

I drew on my own experiences as a Texan to create the fictional town of Cedar Canyon in Through Her Eyes. The city of Amarillo, where I live, has a population of 175,000 but feels much smaller and it is surrounded by several little towns. While writing the book, I drove over to the towns of Canyon, Panhandle, and the scenic community of Canadian to do research that would help me imagine what life might be like in Cedar Canyon.  I was also able to call upon memories of the years I lived in the small town of Pampa, Texas, from the time I was in 5^th grade through my sophomore year of high school.

But a town is more than its layout and landscape – a town is its people. West Texans tend to be outgoing and friendly, especially in the smaller communities. However, true to the stereotype of small towns everywhere, gossips are as common as Friday night football and news usually travels faster than the person creating it! I couldn’t set my story in Cedar Canyon, Texas – a town with a population under 10,000 – and make it seem believable  without including that aspect of small town life. Cedar Canyon is a tight community with shallow-grave secrets. Nobody is supposed to talk about their neighbors’ buried skeletons – and certainly no one would admit to it – but one doesn’t have to dig deep to reach the corpses!

I am a Texan, and Texans are very proud of their heritage. Although many “outsiders” consider Texas to be a southern state, we aren’t truly “the South.” And though it’s true our Western legacy is strong, we’re somewhat separated from the rest of the west. Our legacy is uniquely our own, and our often over-exuberant pride in it can be difficult to explain! My husband’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all born in the Texas Panhandle, as were my husband and our children. That’s five generation of Archers born and raised right here where we still live. Many other families here have roots set just as deep -- 150 years or more of family members whose blood, sweat and tears nourish the soil; their ancestors are Texas’s heritage and history. When people from New York City are asked where they live, they say "New York City." But ask a Texan where they live and they won’t answer with the name of a town or a city, they’ll tell you they live in Texas! As you might imagine, this sort of mindset among the residents of fictional Cedar Canyon, Texas in Through Her Eyes makes it all the more difficult for someone like Tansy – an outsider – to find her place and fit in among the “natives.”    

Creative Environment & Rituals

A few years ago, I taught a creativity class at a local community college. Each term, I talked a bit about the need to determine your best creative environment; whether you prefer background noise, solitude, other warm bodies in the room, etc. 

My preference of when and where to create can alter from book to book, week to week and year to year depending on changes in my life situation. For instance, when I had small children at home, I needed peace and quiet in order to write. I wrote early in the mornings before my family woke up, closed away either in my home office or propped up on pillows and under the covers in bed in my spare bedroom. And I would revise what I'd written during breaks at the part-time law-office job I had at the time.


Now that the kids have grown and moved out of the house, I feel stifled sometimes by the confines and solitude of my home office. I often write in coffee shops where there's background noise, but not noise that's directed at me--as was the case when I was raising children! I also write outside sometimes when weather permits.

Long ago, I noticed that ideas and words seem to flow more freely from my mind into my fingertips and onto the page or computer screen when there's water nearby. Since I live in the landlocked great plains and don't have an ocean, river or stream within easy driving distance, my husband and I have turned our backyard into our very own tropical paradise, complete with palm trees, lush foilage and flowers, and even a waterfall. Watching the water trickle over the rocks, listening to the soothing, musical sound of it, somehow frees up my imagination. (To read a good discussion on the topic of water and creativity, click here.)

Famous 20th Century patron of the arts and author of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), Gertrude Stein, also found inspiration more easily in a certain environment. Purportedly, she connected most easily with her "muse" while in her parked car, where she would often sit to compose poetry on scraps of paper! 

Sometimes, despite the right environment, I get stuck. Walking is a tool I use to come up with ideas, dislodge writer's block, or solve plot problems. The fresh air clears my head as I let my mind wander. I don't know why walking works, but it does. The fact that I burn calories and tone up in the process is an added bonus!


Rituals can make all the difference, as well. Many writers and other artists complete rituals before starting their work for the day. For instance, writer Toni Morrison is said to drink coffee while watching the sunrise before she begins her work for the day. 

While writing THROUGH HER EYES, I began a ritual that I've continued. I make a music soundtrack for my book and listen to it often while I write. I search for music that captures the tone of the story. Since lyrics interfere with the words in my mind, I only use instrumental music, usually from movie soundtracks. My playlist for THROUGH HER EYES included music from the soundtracks of the movies GIRL INTERRUPTED, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, and IDENTITY. For my book THE SHADOW GIRL that will be out next year, I listened to BENJAMIN BUTTON soundtrack and to the music of violinist Leila Josefowicz. 

When I sit down to write, listening to the soundtrack I create for my book helps me to immediately reconnect with the world of my story.


What is your best creative environment? Do you engage in any rituals before you begin each creative session?

Frozen Moments

by Jennifer Archer

Photographs have always fascinated me. Each day, moments of our lives pass by unnoticed – blink and they’re gone. However, a photograph captures a moment; pictures are a snippet of time frozen  on paper, or these days on a digital file. Whenever I look at images of people, I find myself wondering what they were thinking and feeling in the instant the photographer snapped the shot: What was going on in their lives? What was taking place outside the parameter of the frame?

When Tansy Piper, the main character in my young adult novel Through Her Eyes came to life in my mind, I was excited about the opportunity to write about a talented amateur photographer. My own photography skills are next to none – I’ve never used a “fancy” camera with different lenses or developed film in a darkroom as Tansy does, but I’ve always wanted to learn. Tansy gave me the chance to research those skills and find out more about them. I was able to live vicariously through her and get a sense of what it might be like to possess her abilities.

 

As I developed Tansy’s character and started asking myself questions about her life, her family, her motivations, and her interests, I found that I’m especially intrigued by old photographs that were taken long before I was born. They are a glimpse into a past I never experienced – a way to travel back in time. Sometimes I study pictures of my parents and grandparents when they were in their teens and twenties, and I’m always struck by how little I really know about that time in their lives. What were their hopes and dreams? Who were their closest confidantes? Who were they back then? Most teens ask similar questions about themselves at some point: Who am I? Where is my place in this world? What do I want out of life? Who can I trust to be a true friend?  

Thinking about those questions led to my creation of Papa Dan – Tansy’s grandfather. I thought it would be interesting if, while Tansy searched for her own identity, her grandfather began losing his. Papa Dan is dying and has dementia. The only way Tansy can keep him from completely slipping away and disappearing from her world is to try to keep his memories alive. However, that presents a problem because she only knew him as an old man. I thought it would be cool to allow her an opportunity that the rest of us never get – the chance to see her grandfather through different eyes, to spend time with him and his friends in their world when they were her age. 

The next challenge was how to accomplish that. I’ve read a lot of novels where a character actually time travels, but I wanted something different. A twist. That's where my love of photography came into play. Instead of truly going back in time, I decided that Tansy would actually step into Papa Dan’s memories through photographs -- those glimpses of moments in the past captured on paper.

Writing Through Her Eyes deepened my certainty that every generation goes through similar experiences and emotions. Your grandparents lived in a world quite different than yours, but I have a feeling they hoped for many of the same things that you do -- that we all do: Love and friendship, fulfilling work, adventure and security.   

What do you wonder about when you look at old photographs? Do you see clues of what life must have been like during the time the picture was taken?

Visit Jennifer's website: www.jenniferarcher.net

The Making of a Book Trailer

A note from Jennifer Archer

I was so excited when Emily Greaser, the motion designer of the book trailer for my YA novel Through Her Eyes, agreed to guest post about her process.Although I have previously written several novels for adults, this was my first book trailer. I found the process of collaborating with Emily on the project to be fun and exciting, as well as a wonderful new creative challenge. It was so surreal seeing certain elements in the story come alive through graphics, motion and sound. Emily did an amazing job of capturing my vision and the tone of the novel. Working with her on the project was a wonderful experience, and I look forward to collaborating with her on the design of more trailers for my future books. Since Emily can explain better than I the creative progression she went through in order to arrive at the beautiful and eerie finished product, I asked her if she would share her process with us, and she graciously agreed! So without further ado . . .  here’s Emily!  

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Thank you for this opportunity to speak to your readers about my work! As a motion designer, book trailers provide me the perfect opportunity to utilize my design skills, and to jump right into visual storytelling by combining beautiful graphics, typography, photography, and live footage. When Jennifer and I first discussed the possibilities of creating a trailer for Through Her Eyes, the ideas I had were electric. The main character, Tansy, exists on the brink of two different worlds. I was intrigued by the challenge of visually communicating a mood of tension, along with an edgy and exciting aesthetic for readers.

I began the process by asking Jennifer to send me a rough script of the content  she wanted to communicate to the audience. From there, I jumped straight into the “visual concept phase” of the design process. A large part of this phase involves researching and sorting through stock photos and footage, as well as my own media libraries... and then mentally absorbing the material in order to establish a visual direction.From there, I brainstormed and storyboarded my ideas in order to pitch them to Jennifer. We exchanged thoughts and ideas about the storyboards, and discussed budget in order to know how much stock materials the project could afford. We eventually chose a direction based on some of the thematic elements, including text on a page, photography, crystal pendants, and the contrast between color and black & white. We also decided that the technical approach would be based on still photos combined with typography.

Next came one of my favorite and challenging parts of the design process... the sound design. Fortunately for this project, I was able to find the perfect audio track. This is one of my favorite parts of the process because the audio is so key in inspiring and driving a project. However, often times it's not so easy to find (or afford) the ideal audio solution, and in those cases, I choose to hire a sound designer to join the collaboration and to create the perfect audio track.

During the animating and editing phase, Jennifer and I were able to consistently communicate back and forth in order to reach a successful solution. I would create a draft, we would talk about revisions, and then I would reply with a next draft. This is another part of the process that I really enjoy, because it is true collaboration... two professionals feeding off of each other's creative energy. Also, in my experience, working with authors usually results in smooth teamwork due to the fact that our creative processes are very similar.

The experience of working with Jennifer was extremely positive and professional, and I look forward to more collaboration within the realm of book trailers. We are both very proud of the finished trailer for Through Her Eyes and think it captures beautifully the tone and subject matter of the book. I hope you enjoy it!   -Emily Greaser

WATCH THE TRAILER

 

After earning a BFA in graphic design at Montana State University, Emily Greaser completed her education at Vancouver Film School in British Columbia, Canada.  Since then, she has spent time traveling and gaining experience through a variety of freelance projects, spanning from Seattle, Washington all the way to Sydney, Australia. Significant projects include:  Book trailers for award-winning author Jennifer Archer and  NY Times Bestselling author Linda Castillo, a series of logo animations for K2 Skis, and a series of visual effects composite shots for a feature film produced in Australia.  Emily currently resides in New York City, and can be contacted through her website www.emly.net 

Visit Jennifer Archer's website