The Confabulator Cafe

Author: barista

  • Who is your favorite literary vampire?

    Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is the book that started it all. Though he was far from the first literary vampire (Wikipedia lists Lord Byron’s The Burial: a Fragment published in 1819 as the first of the breed), Count Dracula was sexy, seductive and primal. He’s been the subject of stage plays, musicals, comic books and – of course – films. He’s been the inspiration for countless imitators. Authors from Byron to Charlaine Harris have added their little touches to the mythos of vampirism. From Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles to Charlaine Harris’ The Southern Vampire Mysteries, there have been dozens of variations of Stoker’s classic in the last forty years alone. This week, we’re asking the Confabulators who their favorite literary vampire is. Read on to find out if your favorite is mentioned.

     

    Kevin Wohler:

    If you only know Dracula from the movies, you don’t really know the whole story. Reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula for the first time, I discovered a world unlike anything I imagined. The thing that surprised me most was the richness of his minor characters, like the vampiric “Sisters.” I loved the Sisters, both for their animalistic hunger and sexuality. Like sirens, succubi, and other mythological femme fatales, the Sisters entrance and lure unsuspecting men to their death. For me, they were more memorable than Dracula himself. Of course, they’re in the original 1931 film with Bela Lugosi, but they get overshadowed by the Count in endless film and television adaptations.

     

    Jason Arnett:

    I have a very soft spot for Louis and Armand from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series. They both changed how I thought about vampires and what they wanted from life. That said, my very favorite vampire is Fred Saberhagen’s version of Vlad Tepes in The Dracula Tape. He’s really humanized in that book and Saberhagen does a great job of combining history and Bram Stoker’s book.

     

    R.L. Naquin:

    Asher from the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Hot, tortured (but not in a sparkly-emo way) and he’s got that sex-magic thing going for him. Okay, maybe he’s only hot on half his body, since the other half was severely burned hundreds of years ago with holy water. Also, he’s always going to be second fiddle to Jean-Claude. I prefer the sidekicks and underdogs of the world. Don’t judge me.

     

    Jack Campbell, Jr.:

    My favorite literary vampires are the sisters from Dracula by Bram Stoker. If you go back and read that scene, it is smoldering with sexual overtones. As a teen reading Dracula for the first time, it was enough to make me a fan of the three sisters for life. If you are going to become the latest vampire victim, what better way to go than triple-teamed by hot, ravenous hellspawn?

     

    Sara Lundberg

    Ever since my Dad told me my very first vampire story when I was little, I’ve been obsessed with vampires. His vampires were proper vampires: vicious, terrifying, bloodthirsty, and disintegrated into dust in the sunlight. I will read every vampire novel I can get my hands on now because I find all of the different versions of vampire mythology to be fascinating. My favorite thus far is Matthew Clairmont from Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, however I love him more as a character than a vampire. My favorite literary vampire is probably the evil Smoking Vampire from my own vampire novel The Monsters of Lawrence. He is a true monster, and a true vampire.

  • The Off-Limits (Week of 12 March 2012)

    The Confabulator Cafe is just a little place in the middle of a vast plain of imagination. This plain is only one level of all the steps that make up the worlds of genre writing, literature and non-fiction. Librarians stock shelves in their schools and their towns with all manner of writing for the entertainment and edification of students everywhere. The Cafe is made up of people who have been in those libraries, whether at school, college or the town they live in. These shelves are filled with books that say things that reveal truths about the Human Condition and sometimes that makes us uncomfortable.

    This week, the Confabulators are exploring the idea of what’s taboo in literature. Is banning of books ever appropriate? Who are the tastemakers and why do they matter? There are as many viewpoints on these subjects as there are people who care about them and that’s why we’ve labeled these blog entries under “politics”. We’re not necessarily political except when it comes to books.

    So grab a drink, pull up a chair and let us know what you think as we explore some of the more shadowy parts of what it means to be a writer.

  • What’s Your Favorite Book To Film Adaptation?

    The Confabulators go to the movies the same as the rest of you. We read a book, envision characters and places and hear the characters’ voices in our heads. You might think this makes us a harder audience to please than normal, but that’s not necessarily true. We can set our ideas aside and sit in the darkened theater alongside everyone else who’s read a book and appreciate it for what it is: a film. This week we challenged the Confabulators to tell us about their favorite adaptations.

    R.L. Naquin

    Disney’s version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I waited my whole life to see that done right on the big screen. I read the book a million times. I had a map of Narnia on my wall next to my bed. I was the White Witch in a fourth-grade musical production we wrote ourselves. When the opening credits started to roll on the film, I was already crying. It was done so well, even down to keeping some of the dialogue from the book. Cried like a baby all through it.

     

    Kevin Wohler:

    When adapting a book to film which is more important, a faithful adaptation or making something even greater than the original text? Take, for example, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. This visually stunning movie is more than an adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Between the great performances, special effects, and the soundtrack by Vangelis, the film transcends the novel on which it is loosely based. After seeing the film, I read the book. And while the book is strong in its own right, I feel the film is even better.

     

    Angela Kordahl:

    My favorite book to film adaptation is undoubtably Fight Club.  IMHO, the book had a lot of unrealized potential that the movie tapped into, and turned a sketch into a fully realized world.  The movie did what film can do best, creating indelible images and dramatizing big action, without undermining the integrity of the book’s ideology.

     

    Muriel Green:

    Eat, Pray, Love because the things that were changed made sense cinematically and yet stayed true to the spirit of the book.

     

    Jason Arnett:

    Adapting books into film is very, very tricky and often if something’s not right it’s because the fans were too invested in the book to see the film as being it’s own thing, separate from the book. I really like The Silence of the Lambs as an adaptation even though it’s slightly different from the novel. The film is so good one can’t really complain. The other adaptation that is something you maybe haven’t seen or read and that’s Firebreather. It was a comic book then adapted as a Cartoon Network animated feature. Both are very good for different reasons and aimed at very different audiences.

  • The Implications of Action (Week of 5 March 2012)

    The Confabulators came together on a Sunday afternoon last summer and began designing what would become the Cafe, where you’re reading this right now. Though it’s not a physical place, we imagine it being like the interior of a loft with a lot of brick and low-hanging lights that illuminate really only the centers of the tables they hang over, leaving the rest of the place in shadow most of the day.

    When someone comes into the Cafe and looks at the menu, there’s a promise implicit between the two: Here’s what we have to offer and it’s up to you to choose what might interest you.

    Our crew does its best to bring a variety of opinions and insights for your reading pleasure. This week we’re investigating the implications of action: showing versus telling and what that reveals about character. Some of us are exploring how much we trust our readers and how much description goes into our stories. It promises to be a very enlightening week of blogging. Come back as often as you can.

    Who had the tall mocha?

  • What’s Your Favorite Fantasy Story?

    Since the Lord of the Rings trilogy hit theaters, everyone in the world is much more aware of the genre of fantasy storytelling. Looked at one way, every story is a fantasy of some kind including things like superheroes and vampires. With Game of Thrones returning to HBO this spring, fantasy storytelling gets an even bigger boost. We thought that this week we’d take time to find out what kinds of fantasy the Confabulators read, love or admire. 

    Jack Campbell, Jr.:

    I hate to say it is The Hobbit, because anything Tolkien seems like too obvious of an answer, even if it is the truth. I recently finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and it was great. Unfortunately, I haven’t read fantasy as a genre on a regular basis for probably 15 years. I am pretty out of touch on the genre.

    Paul Swearingen:

    Fantasy is perhaps the least favorite of my reading genres (okay, I don’t do romance nor erotica very well, either), but a well-written fantasy will certainly hold my attention. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the original fantasy, probably, is still my favorite, in spite of revelations that its author was more or less a dirty old man. Oh, well. Even dirty old men can write well.

    Sara Lundberg:

    I gave up high fantasy for urban fantasy awhile back. I succumbed to the seduction of the dark modern-day settings, the excessive use of vampires, and the graphic love scenes. High fantasy had too much description, too many stock characters, and not nearly enough hot sex. But then I read The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett, and I was reminded why I fell in love with high fantasy all those years ago. Beautiful world building, epic battles of good vs. evil, true heroes, and a refreshing lack of vampires and modern day slang. This book encompassed everything about high fantasy that enchanted me the very first time my Dad read us The Hobbit as children.

    Jason Arnett:

    Sword of Shannara was the first fantasy story that got my attention because all my friends were reading it. The Hobbit was good, but I never went on to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy because I found Robert Heinlein’s Glory Road and that was MORE fun. Later on I realized fantasy was more than swords and sorcery (though Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories will always have a place in my heart) and that things like Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels really were fantasy, too. If I had to pick one, I’ll fudge it a little and say that Neil Gaiman is one of the finest fantasists working these days, from Sandman to Neverwhere to The Graveyard Book. One can’t go wrong with any of his work for great fantasy.

    Ted Boone:

    The Lord of the Rings cannot be beaten. However, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is a close second.

    R.L. Naquin:

    I love retellings of fairy tales. My favorite is Beauty by Robin McKinley.  So much of it recaptures the feeling of the original story of Beauty and the Beast, yet it also expands it and makes the characters real. Beauty is not some victim of her own good looks and family tragedy. She’s an insecure, intelligent, courageous young woman with a flair for gardening and a love of horses.

     Kevin Wohler:

    Sometimes the best stories are the most simple. And that’s why my favorite fantasy was also one of my first. Written by Jay Williams, the classic children’s picture book “The King With Six Friends” is a great quest story. It tells of a king who befriends strangers on his quest for fortune. In turn, his new friends help the king with their special gifts. Also, the book is beautifully illustrated by Imero Gobbato. I love this story. It’s a mix of The Wizard of Oz and a superhero story. It’s about magic, friendship, and destiny. Most importantly, it started me down the road to reading more fantasy. And for that, I’m ever grateful.

    I could give the very simple and narcissistic answer of, “The book I’m writing, of course!” Except it’s not my favorite book. Right now I kind of hate it–not because it’s a bad book, but because it requires fine tuning and tweaking… and because I haven’t immersed myself in it for about a month.

    My favorite book is something that consumes my every thought. I live and breathe that book. Which means, that every book I read is my favorite book at some point as long as it is well-written and compelling enough to draw me in to its world. There are several fantasy books and series that I keep going back to:  The Lioness Quartet, by Tamora Pierce (and just about every other book she’s written), The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, Xanth by Piers Anthony, The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, the Pern collection by Anne McCaffrey (though this is arguably science fiction), Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon, and of course Harry Potter by, regrettably, not me.
    I would be hard pressed to pick a specific favorite book or favorite series out of those I’ve listed (and many others). They all have special meanings to me, but none of them are, specifically, my favorite books. Because they’re all my favorite fantasy books. Asking me to narrow it down further would be like expecting me to be able to breathe in outer space. I would give it my best effort, but still be unable to do so all the same.
    So rather than giving a specific book as my favorite, I should tell you what makes books join the hallowed ranks of “favorites.” I want a book that gives me character growth, I want a book that is going to make me laugh just as often as it makes me cry. I want a book that when it makes me cry, it hurts. I want to be taken on an emotional roller coaster with the characters. I want the characters to make me care about them… even if that’s just me wishing them dead. I want characters that will have a moral code that they stick to, even if their morals don’t match with mine. And perhaps most of all, I want a book that I’m not going to know how it ends by the fiftieth page. Surprise me. Make me work for my happy ending. Oh, that’s the other thing. I want a happy ending–well, or for everyone to die. I’m not all that picky.

  • Other Media Influences (Week of 27 February 2012)

    We’ve talked about our writing influences and heroes quite a bit here at the cafe. We do that because they’re important to us, they shape us and how we write. Being a confabulator of any kind means being the sum total of everything that one has read, watched, heard, touched and tasted. Have you read a passage about a meal that made you want to go out to eat? Are there songs that make you happy or sad for no apparent reason? Movies that make anxious to go home and write something?

    The team here this week is talking about the other media that inspires us or fires our imagination. When you take your seat at the Cafe this week and get that mocha in front of you, savor the heat of the milk, the aroma of the espresso, the sweetness of the chocolate on your tongue. We’ll tell you everything you’d ever want to know (and probably a little more) about how those things fit into our stories.

  • Tell Us About Your Current Work

    Every week we take a gander into the Confabulators’ worlds to see what they’re thinking. This week we’re asking what they’re working on because, well – we’re writers and we should be writing things. As usual, you get an interesting range of answers from the specific to the vague.

    Sara Lundberg:

    I start. I stop. I despair. I try again. I beat my fists upon the keyboard. I scream. I fling pages of notes across the room. I stare blankly at the pixilated words on my computer screen. Are my eyes watering from fatigue or anguish? Will I ever write again? Will these words strung together with my blood, sweat, and tears ever become a book? How can I call myself a writer? I despair.

    I try again.

    Jack Campbell, Jr.:

    I am working on an idea tentatively titled The Dream Catcher. The owner of a hotel is plagued by a sort of psychic ability. When he sleeps, he picks up the dreams of those around him as if he is an antennae picking up radio waves, the dreams of those physically closer to him are stronger. Because of this, he works nights, choosing to sleep during the day when everyone else is awake. One night, after two days of lack of sleep due to the stress of his wife leaving him, he falls asleep at the desk. He picks up a horrific dream, but unlike most nightmares, this one gives it dreamer great pleasure. Our hero find himself in the middle of the sinister cravings of a sociopath, whom no one else can find.

    Paul Swearingen:

    My current work in progress has been in progress since about 1980. Or actually it was stalled for about 30 years until I pulled it out of the drawer, literally, and started back to work on it.

    It’s a post-apoctalyptic young adult novel (please don’t ask me to say that aloud!) set in SE Kansas. All but a few people in North America have been killed by neutron bomb explosions, and a 16-year-old boy, who had his own problems before everything went down, now has to apply his farm-boy living techniques to be able to survive.

    So far I’ve managed to come up with an ending to the story, after about 73K words and reviving two characters whom I’d killed off, and I’m about halfway through the first total-book revision, but I’m not sure that the current chapters leading up to the ending will survive.

    Kevin Wohler:

    I’m sorry. [Insert Name Here] has been unable to work on his novel. Lately he has been spending his spare time:

    • A) Preparing for the upcoming Mayan apocalypse
    • B) Fearing a man-made “Big Bang” created at the Large Hadron Collider
    • C) Trying to broker a Middle East peace accord
    • D) Debating with UFOROSWELL47 the location of Area 51
    • E) Spending too much time coming up with this list

    Larry Jenkins:

    Imagine Elmore Leonard, Christopher Moore, and the Coen brothers met at some seedy, roadside motel and got their ménage on.  I’d like to think my book is what would come out of that most holy of unions.  It’s got rednecks, racists (is that redundant?), and buried treasure.  There’s a floating strip club named The Love Butt, a sheriff’s deputy who thinks he’s the second coming of John Wayne, and a couple of friends who are in desperate need of change of venue.  A little found money may just be what the doctor ordered, provided they can survive the week.

    Jason Arnett:

    I just finished a story that should be published sooner rather than later (announcement soon, I hope) and I’m working on a sequel to Evolver: Apex Predator that’s nearly done. I’m also deep in revisions on my novel, The Cold Distance, which is a science fiction about about two thieves who are unwittingly hired to steal elements of a machine that, when assembled, will destroy the universe as we know it. She’s an orphaned girl filled with a sense of betrayal and he’s a quantum-computer Artificial Intelligence and they’re chased by galactic law enforcers who have no sense of humor whatsoever.

    Ted Boone:

    I’m trying to recover from the post-NaNo blues and get my current manuscript completed. It’s at around 66%, which is a common stalling point for me. After getting the zero draft complete, I’ll vet it with my regular readers and then start the hacking and chopping phase.

    Muriel Green:

    I am still working on my National Novel Writing Month novel from 2011. It is a young adult hard sci-fi story. I think it’s time that more hard sci-fi for young adults came out. Hard sci-fi sparked my imagination when I was in middle and high school, and I think it appeals to a lot of adolescents who aren’t interested in reading novels about dating.

    R.L. Naquin:

    Right now I’m working on revisions for the second book of my Zoey series. Book three is already coming together in my head at the same time, since the parts need to fit together. I should have book two submitted by mid-March, so I’ll start writing book three in a few weeks.

    Amanda Jaquays:

    It’s not a “work in progress” so much as a “story mired in severe procrastination,” but I’m currently working (procrastinating) on editing a young adult novel. The story follows a girl as she grows up in an Academy for the gifted. However, she can’t seem to figure out why she is supposed to be there and rather than trying to fit in and make friends, she strives to be the girl nobody knows exists. Fate has other plans in store for her, though, and while she doesn’t have to save the world, she has to decide if saving the life of the crown prince is worth giving up her anonymity.

    My goal is that by the time any of you read this, I’ll have actually figured out what dusty corner of my room I threw my notes in and have begun working on editing it again. If I haven’t, somebody please give me a swift kick in the pants!

  • Character Development (Week of 20 February 2012)

    Characters walk in and out of the cafe all the time. Some are interesting, some merely background players in a larger story, but all of them get some time on the stage here. Guitar-slingers, demon hunters, chrononauts and closet monsters alike mingle with main characters running gauntlets that real people would quail at. The Confabulators paint every character in our stories with the same care but to varying degrees of completion.

    Some of us need to know more about some characters and some a little less. This week we’re going to share our process of learning about people we create out of thin air and then do horrible things to. Bear with us if it seems as though we’re enjoying our godlike powers of creation. It’s one of the things that makes us what we are: storytellers. Come on in, rub elbows with our characters. The coffee is hot and your table is right here. Maybe you’ll recognize yourself in something we write.

  • Whose Brain Would You Pick If You Had the Chance?

    Every week we ask the Confabulators to answer a question that will enlighten or illuminate the darker corners of their brains. We force them to think about things they might not otherwise and sometimes we get some really interesting answers. This week’s question is one that usually comes up over drinks or late in the evening at a party where a group of writers are hanging out. Read on for some insights.

    Kevin Wohler

    I nearly freeze up at the idea of getting advice from any of my writing idols. I like the idea of poking through someone’s brain for insights without the vulnerability of asking them to read my work. It’s the stalker in me, I suppose. While I would love to pick the brains of Stephen King or Ray Bradbury, I feel that I’ve done that to some extent, by reading their books (On Writing and Zen in The Art of Writing, respectively). But I would love to have access to the part of their brains where they keep story ideas so I could steal them.

    Sara Lundberg:

    Am I allowed to choose a fellow Confabulator? I’d have to pick R.L. Naquin for this one. Just give me five minutes in her brain, and I’d be set life with story ideas. I’d love to see the world from her perspective. She tells us it’s a scary place in there, and that we might not survive a minute, let alone five. Besides, if I am totally honest, I do plan on picking her brain quite thoroughly once I’m ready to query a novel; her success has been an inspiration to all of us!

    Jack Campbell, Jr.:

    Ray Bradbury. His book Zen in the Art of Writing was a huge influence on my love of writing. He is perhaps my favorite author, and is one of the living legends of letters. The guy is 91 and has been writing since age 12. I can only imagine the value of his insight.

    Larry Jenkins:

    I’d like to spend about a day hanging out with Christopher Moore.  I want to know if he is as goofy in person as he seems in his writing.  Is he funny in real life, or is he just an asshole?  There’s a fine line, and I’d like to know how well he walks it.  I’d also be curious to see if he’s as OCD about his writing process as other authors appear to be.

    Jason Arnett:

    I think I’d want to have a storyteller’s dinner party and invite the authors who have influenced me the most, who have affected me the most and then just listen to the conversation. Absorbing by osmosis their genius, their points of view and observe their interactions and reactions to one another. If I had to pick one person at the party to talk storytelling with, it might be China Mieville.

    Ted Boone:

    John Scalzi. He’s prolific, his stories are clever and funny and exciting, and he seems to know everyone that’s anyone in the industry.

    Muriel Green:

    I would love to hang out with Ursula K. LeGuinn. She has a chapter in How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead that stands head and shoulders above other ‘how to write’ articles I’ve read.

    R.L. Naquin:

    Piers Anthony. He’s prolific, helpful to writers, engages with his fans, and yet is a grumpy old ogre who lives deep in the woods on a private tree farm in Florida. He’s a strange mixture. I’d love to find out what he’s really like.

  • Self-Publishing (Week of 13 February 2012)

    The rush times in the cafe are noisy with lots of cups and saucers clinking against one another, people chatting amiably across their open laptops or with someone on Skype. Then there’s the hiss and whoosh of the steam wands stretching the milk for those of us who want something hot; a latte or chai or a combination of mocha and chai. (Try it, it’s luscious.) These times are when subjects range wide from the sometimes personal to the broadly general and even political.

    This week we’re discussing self-publishing, the topic that can inflame authors and readers alike. Everyone here has a thought or two on the subject of quality, quantity, availability and even whether or not it’s for them. So come on in, we’ve got your table right here. Get comfortable, order something to drink and read up on what we think. It promises to be enlightening.