Maggie Stiefvater is the fairly (aka very) well-known author of the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. I read the first book, Shiver, near the end of the summer, and that's one of the next books I'll be blogging about. It's good. I intend to read the others quite soon. But that is not why I am here. I am here because Maggie's blog is amazing.
Now, this contest I'm entering, which is to decide the recipient of a beautiful stack of thirty-five (if I counted right) books that Maggie is giving up. I want these books. Basically, I need to talk about my favorite of all of her posts. Obviously, I am doing a bit more than that. That's not because I'm hoping that praising her and her blog to no end will give me a better chance. It's just because I am the kind of person who goes all out. Especially for these kinds of things. And I didn't want to post some half-baked homage to some random entry of some random lady's blog. I wanted to post a complete and ready-to-serve explanation, description, and analysis of a relevant entry of an inspiring author named Maggie Stiefvater's blog. So that is what you, dear readers, are going to get. If you exist. And if you keep reading.
My favorite post is a fairly recent one titled "Writing the Book I Always Meant To." It's about her newest book, The Scorpio Races, which I absolutely must read. It revolves around one certain piece of advice that she received when she was a teen and is now passing on to us: "write the book you've always wanted to read, but can't find on the shelf." It's also about how she has spent her whole life (pretty much) trying to follow this advice, and how she has finally succeeded.
So, whether I win that gorgeous stack of thirty-five splendid books or not, I thank you, Maggie Stiefvater. Your blog has given me a lot to learn, a lot to be inspired by, and a lot to work towards. And this one post, especially, has shown me that someday, everything I do for my writing will pay off, and my writing will finally be exactly where I want it to be. Basically, you have shown me the light at the end of the tunnel. ...Too morbid? Okay, the silver lining then. You have shown me the brilliant, pure silver lining of this massively large, dark, and oddly-shaped cloud that I think may start raining on me at any moment. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go fetch an umbrella.
UPDATE: Well, it turns out I missed the deadline for this contest, but oh well. This still needed to be said. I think I'll go try to find a way to get Maggie to read this anyways, because, well, I suppose I just want her to know how that post affected me.
First of all, she's hilarious. Just the way she puts everything together, the analogies she makes (and she loves analogies), even the topics she writes about. But that's not why I'm blogging about this. I'm blogging about this because I'm a writer, and many of her posts discuss how she writes and contain good advice for aspiring writers.
Last night I went through her "how I write" tag and read about ten of such posts. I had already read a few, because Goodreads tells me when she blogs, but I've still only read a fraction of them. I would've read more last night, but these posts are fairly long and very thorough, so the ten-ish that I read took up most of my primetime evening (especially since my mom was watching clips of Jimmy Fallon next to me so, naturally, I was multitasking). And then I was really tired so I went to bed.
The thing is, her explanations on how to write - or, how she writes, and how one may approach writing when stuck - are usable. She answers the questions that we aspiring writers all want to know, and she answers them in ways we can understand. Though most of her advice relates to longer pieces, such as novels, it is relevant to all aspects of writing. And though obviously her blog and Jimmy Fallon meant that I had no time to write my own stuff last night, I can't wait to try out some of her techniques and put some of her advice to good use.
First of all, I think that is amazing advice. It's the kind of thing I never would have thought of by myself, but now that I've seen it, it's so obvious. I think that this is the kind of advice that will give you something you are truly passionate about and, when you have completed it, can be proud of. I want to do this. Which means I need to really think about what I want out of the books I read, and put that into my writing.
So... a love triangle that won't let me choose a side, like I talked about in my last post. And maybe a boyband or two.
I jest.
(Except not really.)
(I'll explain.)
(But not now.)
Second of all, Maggie talks about all her attempts to write this book. Because no, she did not one day think, "I know. I know what I want to read; I know what to write," and then go do it. No, she tried to write this book in her teens, at the beginning of her (adult) writing career, in the middle of said career, in the later middle of said career... Many times. She tried to write the book she wanted to read over and over and over again, but never got it exactly right. But after all of these attempts, and after writing many other books and stories, she finally found everything she needed to write this book, most importantly her own - 100% Maggie - style. So this time, she got it right. One of my favorite paragraphs of the post (yes, I am going to quote, just like the good little English student and practiced essay writer that I am) is as follows:
And of course, finally, in chapter 46 of The Scorpio Races, I wrote the scene I'd been imagining since I was my daughter's age: a herd of water horses tearing in from an angry sea. Chapter 46 isn't a very long one, and it wasn't late when I wrote it, but after I finished the last sentence of it, I closed my computer and had to stop writing for the night. It's a weird feeling to finally do something right after doing it wrong for so many years. I knew before that that The Scorpio Races was the best thing I'd written so far, but that was when I really realized I'd written the book I'd wanted to find on the shelf all those years ago.For me, the idea of experiencing this feeling is wholly fascinating. Just the fact that she tried so many times and never gave up, never got discouraged, is inspiring. The fact that she finally reached the point where she was able to write this book goes to show that practice really does make perfect. All I hear about the world of the writer is that it is a very difficult job, that so many writers struggle and never become successful, but this. This says otherwise. I know Maggie was successful before she wrote The Scorpio Races, but that's a different kind of success. I know personally that it's so easy to become discouraged before you even try to enter the publishing world, because it's practically impossible to be truly satisfied with your own writing. But this shows that it just takes time. You have to go through so much time and effort and writing, writing, writing before you can be totally ready to create something that will complete you. And what she talks about concerning chapter 46... I feel like something like that just validates everything you've ever put into your writing, every hour, every word, every single drop of your soul that you've poured into it. When you reach that, that one moment, everything must finally click. This is why you write. This is why you go through all of this grief to write. This is why you've given up so much to write. And finally you can believe that tiny part of your heart that has been telling you all along that you made all the right decisions, and that someday you would get your reward. This, this feeling, this moment she's talking about - this is your reward. And it is worth everything.
I can't wait.
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