Fun Friday—TURNABOUT’S FAIR PLAY Character Introductions
I sent in the proposal for The Matchmakers Series in June 2009. The series was built with two strong story ideas I’d already been working on (in fact, I’d already written a complete, but somewhat different, version of Love Remains in 2003; and I came up with and spent some time developing the original idea for The Art of Romance in early 2007). But I needed a third story idea. I knew the heroine would be the third of the best friends. Because I was an editor who’d been laid off from my job less than a year before, I decided the heroine of this third book would be an editor who would get laid off her job and, in the end, have to choose between romance and a job offer in New York. Thus, I needed a hero who would also have to make that kind of decision—between romance and a high-profile job. So, since I worked in advertising/marketing for 13+ years before entering the publishing industry, I decided to make him an account executive at a large advertising firm.
Then, because the thread that ties these books together, besides the women’s friendship, was the matchmaking grandparents. So I decided that in this book, the younger couple would turn the tables on the grandparents—a grandmother and a grandfather—and set them up even as the grandparents are trying to get them together.
Character Names
With the names Zarah and Caylor for the heroines of the first two books in the series, I couldn’t name the heroine of TFP Jane or Mary. I wanted something that was at once unique but also familiar. So I decided to go with a specific origin—Irish. And it doesn’t get much more Irish than Flannery McNeill. It took me a few months to work out the synopses for Love Remains and The Art of Romance, so aside from her friendship with Zarah and Caylor, Flannery got put on the back-burner for a few months as I worked out those ideas and the series arc.
But I still needed that hero for Flannery’s story. I liked the name Jamie for a self-confident, outgoing sales guy. And the last name O’Connor just rolled off the fingertips as his last name without my even consciously thinking about it. And it wasn’t until I sold the series and I had to write the summary blurb for the book’s web page that I realized that if Flannery and Jamie got married and she took his name, she’d become Flannery O’Connor. Just like the author. I considered changing his last name at that point—but then I realized I could build this into her character and into her interactions with Jamie.
With their grandparents’ names, I tried to keep them age appropriate. Of course, for Jamie’s grandmother, the character template helped out a lot in coming up with the name Maureen. For Flannery’s grandfather, well, not only did the template help with coming up with the name, so did the familiarity I gained with that template’s roles when writing Menu for Romance—I actually pulled the name Kirby from the same film role I used for the backstory of Major O’Hara’s name in MFR. And their grandparent nicknames, Cookie and Big Daddy? Well, that’s a little closer to home. That’s what my niece and nephews call my parents.
Character Casting
With Zarah as a brunette and Caylor as a redhead, I knew Flannery needed to be a blonde. Before I knew that Barbour wanted to use stock photos for the front covers—and that they’d be featuring the females prominently—I did as I usually do using an actress: Rosamund Pike. Once again, because I didn’t know much at all about Jamie, I pulled a template simply based on the merit that he shares a name with a character in the book: Sean Patrick Flanery.
However, once I discovered that they wanted to use stock photos—which was about halfway through writing Love Remains, I did a complete re-cast of my heroines. And of Jamie—since he was the only hero I hadn’t already built around the template who inspired him in the first place. And as soon as I saw this stock photo, I knew it was Flannery. I could actually see this photo as the cover of the book.
It was harder to find Jamie—because at that point, I still didn’t know him very well. But since I knew he’d be in the background, it was more of an attitude and overall look rather than a specific face I was looking for. This guy seemed to fit.
But then I started writing the book. And this model wasn’t giving me anything useful. I couldn’t hear his voice. I couldn’t visualize the way he moved, the way he interacted with people. So I knew that even though that stock model would be on the cover, I needed to recast Jamie once more.
Well, by this point, it’s 2011 and I have a new obsession—the reboot of the TV series Hawaii Five-0. And as I started trying to write TFP, all of a sudden, Jamie started taking on some of the physical characteristics and mannerisms of a certain Alex O’Loughlin/Steve McGarrett. It took me a couple of months to write the first 20k words of the book. Then, once I started focusing on Alex and gaining inspiration from watching him (though, I do have to say that watching The Backup Plan and the first few episodes of Moonlight set me back a bit, but Three Rivers and more episodes of Hawaii Five-0 got me back on track), I was finally able to get a handle on Jamie—on the fact that he may seem suave and collected on the outside, but that delicious exterior barely hides his inner dork.
Flannery’s grandfather and Jamie’s grandmother were among the first characters cast in this series. Once I knew that there would be a romance between the two of them, there were only two templates who would work—the templates who inspired their characters’ names, Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne:
Secondary Characters
Of course, we have Zarah and Bobby, from Love Remains, and Caylor and Dylan, from The Art of Romance, making repeat appearances in this book.
We also have Kiki, Mamm, Sassy, and Perty backing up Cookie in TFP, too.
And here are some other important secondary characters you’ll get to meet—one of whom you met Monday in the sneak peek:
John Barrowman as Jack Colby, Flannery’s boss
Lynda Carter as Jamie’s mom, Jackie Murphy; with Lynda Carter’s real-life family serving as the template for Jamie’s stepfather, Don, and his younger half-brother and half-sister, Ryan and Chelsea.
And just as Flannery has best friends, Jamie needed to have a best friend, too. I wanted Danny (his name was always Danny—even though I eventually tried to fight against it) to be someone of a different ethnicity, as I feel I don’t have a very large diversity of ethnicities in my books. I toyed with a few different templates, but no one clicked for me until I recast Jamie as Alex O’Loughlin. And then it was quite clear who Danny was:
Daniel Dae Kim as Danny Seung
At this point, I tried changing Danny’s name to something else—because it was just too weird to me that not only is the template’s real name Daniel, but the “best friend” character opposite Alex O’Loughlin’s Steve McGarrett on H50 is also named Danny. But as hard as I tried, the character stubbornly insisted his name was Danny. So Danny he remained.
Danny is married—and with Daniel Dae Kim as the template, there was only one template I could pick for his wife.
Yunjin Kim as Chae Koh Seung
And the last important character I’ll introduce to you today has very little “face time” on the pages of the book, but he plays a very important role, Flannery’s cat Liam:
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Thursday Thought Provoker
Writer-Talk Tuesday—Visual Revisions (or, The Only Time You Don’t Want to Say, “Look at All the Pretty Colors”)
Kaye is busy, busy, busy with projects right now so I told her I’d do a guest post for her today.
For those who might be new to the blog, let me introduce myself. I’m Flannery McNeill from Kaye’s upcoming novel, Turnabout’s Fair Play. Kaye’s entrusting me with the Writer-Talk Tuesday post because, well, she gave me the job of editor. So that’s what I’m going to talk about today.
We use many terms when it comes to fixing and polishing a manuscript, both before and after it’s turned in to the editor:
. . . and so on. So many new authors allow themselves to become blocked or cowed by the idea of having to “get it right” as they’re writing their first draft. But there’s a reason it’s called a first draft—it indicates there will be more drafts to come.
As a matter of fact, let’s take a look at an example from Kaye’s own writing—from Turnabout’s Fair Play:
In this screen shot of the original draft of the first chapter of TFP you can see where I’ve highlighted Kaye’s “weak” words: was/were and wasn’t/weren’t in red; had in green; and adverbs in pink.
And if you click to enlarge the image, you will also see that these two pages (which include a rabbit trail that didn’t make it into the book, thank goodness!) are also mostly prose—there are only four or five sentences of dialogue on the entire two-page spread.
Now, if you look at the revised first chapter—which Kaye rewrote after realizing her original first chapter was mostly introspection and backstory—you’ll see that it’s much different when it comes to the visual markers for revision:
Sure, it’s still not perfect—and I know if Kaye and her editors had more time with the manuscript, the final version probably would have been even cleaner than this. But I’m not going to quibble—I’m not one of those editor types who thinks that every was, had, and –ly has to be obliterated. There are a lot fewer of those weak words and much more dialogue in this version—a sign to an editor like me that this opening chapter is actually going somewhere, it’s not just the author trying to figure out who her characters are.
This method of finding weak words and seeing where revisions need to be made works for Kaye.
Writers—what works for you when it comes to “seeing” what revisions you need to make (after you finish your first draft, of course)? Have you found visual markers/aids that help you in the revision/self-editing process?
Book-Talk Monday—A Sneak-Peek at TURNABOUT’S FAIR PLAY
Turnabout’s Fair Play
Book 3 of the Matchmakers Series
ISBN-13: 978-1-60260-991-4
Barbour Publishing
Chapter One
“I hate weddings.”
. . . . . .Flannery McNeill sank down on the top step of the broad stage as the rest of the wedding party gathered around the wedding planner. She didn’t need to hear all of the dickering and whys and wherefores. She just wanted the bottom line: where to stand, and how to get there.
. . . . . .“You don’t mean that.” A gorgeous man with sandy brown hair, vivid blue eyes, and dimples to die for plopped down on the step beside her.
. . . . . .Flannery looked at her boss, and friend, Jack Colby. “Yes, I do. A wedding is a flashing neon sign warning everyone that they’re never going to have the same relationship with these people ever again.”
. . . . . .Jack’s broad forehead creased. “What do you mean?”
. . . . . .Flannery braced her hands on the stage floor behind her and locked her elbows. “Take my sisters, for example. They were fine before they got engaged. But then they couldn’t carry on an intelligent conversation. They morphed into this unrecognizable we-us entity and couldn’t see anything in terms of me-I or make their own decisions.”
. . . . . .Jack laughed. “People just get caught up in the excitement of planning a wedding. They’ve both been married a long time—it can’t still be that bad.”
. . . . . .“Ha!” Flannery’s cheeks burned a little when several people turned at her echoing derision. “Emily was one of the youngest junior executives in the bank where she worked before she had kids—now she can’t even balance her own checkbook; her husband does it.”
. . . . . .“Maybe she just got tired of—”
. . . . . .“And Sylvia, who is a sound engineering programmer in the recording industry, has to get her husband to program the clock on the DVD player every time the electricity goes out. ‘He has to do it; I just can’t figure it out.’” Flannery imitated the high-pitched baby talk voice Sylvia sometimes used when talking to or about her husband. It made Flannery’s skin crawl, especially hearing it come from someone now thirty-six years old.
. . . . . .When Jack said nothing, she glanced at him and then looked away in disgust at the smile of amused pity on his otherwise handsome face. “You just don’t get it. You don’t have sisters.”
. . . . . .“Is this about your sisters. . .or about the fact that your two best friends recently got hitched up and you feel somewhat left out?”
. . . . . .“I—” Flannery clamped her lips down on the denial about to pop out of her mouth. Zarah and Caylor were nowhere near as bad as Emily and Sylvia had gotten as soon as those diamond rings went on their fingers—well, Caylor didn’t have a ring yet, even though she’d been officially engaged for five weeks now. After all, when Flannery, Zarah, and Caylor got together for their regular Sunday afternoon coffee-and-chat sessions, they still talked about many of the same things they discussed before Bobby and Dylan entered the picture—their jobs, their families, their hopes and fears. Of course that last part, of late, included more discussion of Bobby and Dylan. . .and Zarah and Bobby’s Memorial Day Weekend wedding. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her knees.
. . . . . .“Who’s the hottie?”
. . . . . .Flannery followed Jack’s gaze to the back of the room. She groaned. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
. . . . . .Jack leaned back on his elbows, his expensive silk tie flopping to the side. “What’s the matter?”
. . . . . .Flannery shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears. “Nothing. Just someone I’d hoped never to see again.”
. . . . . .Jack’s gaze remained for a moment longer on the guy introducing himself to the few others at the back of the sanctuary, and then he sighed. “I’m just saying that you need to start taking note of men like that. I’m not going to be around to be your platonic date forever, you know.”
. . . . . .Flannery turned her head so she could indulge in rolling her eyes without his seeing it. “Whatever.”
. . . . . .The rest of the wedding party moved toward the back of the room. Caylor turned, caught Flannery’s attention, and motioned her to follow.
. . . . . .Jack stood and offered her a hand up. But he didn’t let go immediately once she got to her feet. “Flannery, you’re a good friend, and I hate to see you so miserable. Have you talked to Caylor and Zarah about this?”
. . . . . .She shook her head and looked everywhere but into his piercing blue eyes.
. . . . . .He dropped her hand. “Fine. Just remember that I reserve the right to do the I-told-you-so dance of victory later on down the road when you lose it because you’ve decided to keep everything bottled up and aren’t woman enough to talk to your best friends about your innermost thoughts and fears.” He turned and did a soft-shoe dance down the steps, waving an imaginary top hat and cane. “Now, I’m off to go ush. . .or whatever an usher is supposed to do.” He flashed her a megawatt smile, turned on the balls of his feet, and sashayed up the aisle.
. . . . . .Flannery’s face hurt from trying to hold in her amusement at Jack’s blatant attempts to jolly her into a better frame of mind. By the time she joined the rest of the wedding party out in the foyer, a smile had forced its way through.
. . . . . .Zarah and Caylor were not as far-gone as her sisters—and they’d made a concerted effort to ensure the three of them continued spending time together without Bobby and Dylan present.
. . . . . .“Well that solves it.” The wedding planner grabbed Flannery by the elbow and placed her in front of Caylor, right beside Chase Denney, a friend of Bobby’s from work.
. . . . . .Flannery looked over her shoulder—and realized what needed to be solved. Since Zarah asked both Caylor and Flannery to be her maids of honor, she’d stressed over which would be the one to stand beside her during the ceremony. At six feet tall—and the shoes Zarah’s mother-in-law picked out for them to wear would add to that—Caylor would be taller than any of the men in the wedding party other than Bobby’s best man, Patrick Macdonald, who dwarfed everyone present at six foot six.
. . . . . .Just three inches shorter than Caylor, Flannery had worried about towering over her escort wearing the inch-and-a-half high heels. But with the boost of the slightly higher heels of the tasseled, kiltie-style, burgundy pumps she’d worn to work today, she was still a little shorter than Chase.
. . . . . .They practiced processing in and out a couple more times.
. . . . . .“Maid of Honor Number Two—quit talking to your escort on the way down the aisle,” the wedding planner called from the foyer behind them when Flannery and Chase reached the front of the sanctuary the third time.
. . . . . .“Busted,” Flannery whispered as she and Chase parted at the bottom step. His laugh boomed through the large sanctuary. Flannery pretended to lift the long A-line skirt of the black gown she’d be wearing Saturday evening.
. . . . . .“Stop!”
. . . . . .She froze, foot hovering over the next step.
. . . . . .“Wait at the bottom until the bride arrives—you have to help arrange her train.”
. . . . . .“Oh, yeah. I forgot.” Flannery turned, almost lost her balance, righted herself, and stepped back down onto the floor. Ugh. The train.
. . . . . .Poor Zarah. Since Zarah’s mother had died when Zarah was very young, Bobby’s mom had taken over the wedding planning—even taking Zarah, Caylor, and Flannery to New York to go dress shopping. And while Zarah wanted something simple, Beth wanted drama. Thank goodness Caylor found a compromise. From the front, Zarah’s dress was an elegant A-line that suited her figure and personality perfectly. The back, however, was all about Beth and her desire for sensation. . .bustles and silk roses and a long train which Beth thought of as “presence,” and Flannery viewed as powdered sugar on top of whipped cream on top of meringue.
. . . . . .Though she’d promised to turn it off, her phone started vibrating in her pocket. The muscles in the back of her neck and down her left arm twitched with the need to see if it was the call she’d waited for all day—the final decision on a major book deal she’d been working on for months.
. . . . . .But she couldn’t insult Zarah and Bobby—or anyone else—by pulling out the phone and looking at the caller ID. . .or worse yet, answering it. Which she would be tempted to do if she looked.
. . . . . .Her hand sneaked toward her pocket, but she pulled it back and gripped the invisible stems of the invisible flowers she was pretending to hold. “Wait—if we’re holding flowers, how are we supposed to arrange the train?”
. . . . . .Caylor reached the end of the aisle, her expression clearly telling Flannery that if they weren’t in public, Caylor would gladly pummel her.
. . . . . .“We each use our free hand and work together,” Caylor hissed between clenched teeth as she took her place beside Flannery.
. . . . . .“Oh, right. I remember that now.”
. . . . . .“What is with you tonight?”
. . . . . .Flannery couldn’t tell her the truth—about how much turmoil this wedding. . .no, rewind. . .how much turmoil her best friends’ falling in love and getting engaged caused her. “Um. . .it’s been a stressful week?”
. . . . . .“Whatever it is, try to keep it to a dull roar—and try to pay attention. Zarah’s stressed out enough about this wedding. She doesn’t need your flaking out to add to it.”
. . . . . .All of Flannery’s former annoyance turned into guilt. She shouldn’t be thinking about herself. One of her best friends in the whole wide world was getting married day after tomorrow. Flannery should be doing whatever she could to make it the happiest day in Zarah’s life.
. . . . . .The blushing bride—whose face had been bright red all evening from the attention lavished on her—arrived on her grandfather’s arm; and, after the pastor talked about giving the opening prayer here, Pops handed her over to Bobby, who would assist her up the steps. Once she reached the top, Flannery and Caylor mimed arranging the long train and then climbed the steps and took their places on the stage.
. . . . . .As she stood there listening to the pastor talk to Zarah and Bobby about the vows they would be making to each other day after tomorrow, Flannery repeated the vow she’d made to herself at both of her sisters’ weddings: She would never let falling in love change who she was, what she did, what she thought, and how she acted. She would always remain true to herself.
. . . . . .Not only did the phone in her pocket—which had buzzed a second time indicating a voicemail message—torment her during the remainder of the rehearsal, the presence of the good-looking, dark-haired guy talking and laughing with Jack and the other ushers at the back of the sanctuary proved a continuing distraction.
. . . . . .The third time Jack caught her looking and responded with that knowing grin of his, Flannery returned her attention to the goings on onstage, promising herself she would ignore Jack for the rest of the night.
. . . . . .After two practice recessionals—Flannery was making Chase walk too fast, apparently—the wedding planner released them. Flannery grabbed her purse off the front pew and bolted toward the doors, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
. . . . . .“Not so fast there, Speedy Gonzales.” Jack caught her arm, forcing her to stop. He was her boss, after all. “I wanted to introduce you to Jamie O’Connor.”
. . . . . .Flannery glared at Jack for all she was worth, then turned her most professional and sunny demeanor toward the dark-haired guy. Cataloging fact that he was a little bit shorter than she (though she was wearing heels), she extended her right hand. “Mr. O’Connor and I have already met.”
. . . . . .Talk about someone with a red face. Jamie looked as if he’d stuck his head in an oven for six hours on extreme bake. Or whatever the highest temperature setting was on an oven.
. . . . . .Jamie shook her hand, giving her an equally detached, professional smile. “Yes. Fanny, right?”
. . . . . . She jerked her hand out of his, and his eyes crinkled up a little more. Maybe he thought he’d come up with a unique way of teasing her, but she’d heard that little play on her name one too many times growing up. She could think of a few choice things to call him, but her grandfather would wash her mouth out with soap if he heard her say anything unkind to anyone. And she was in church.
. . . . . .“It’s Fllllann–er–y.” She wasn’t about to bring up the fact she’d been named after the author who shared his last name. She’d heard that far too many times in her life, too. Oh, Flannery—just like Flannery O’Connor, the author!
. . . . . .“I was just saying that parking is limited over by the restaurant, so maybe a few of us could carpool.” Jack winked at her.
. . . . . .She was about to argue, when Jamie spoke.
. . . . . .“Much as I’d love to, I can’t. I told Bobby that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the dinner—other plans.” Jamie looked comfortable, at ease, standing here surrounded by her people. . .well, hers and Caylor’s and Zarah’s. The three ushers other than Jamie were Zarah’s boss, Dennis Forrester, Caylor’s fiancé, Dylan Bradley, and Jack.
. . . . . .Last fall at Bobby’s grandparents’ cookout, to which Zarah had invited Flannery, Jamie had been there with his grandmother; and even though Flannery tried to avoid him most of the night, she’d had the distinct feeling he was honing in on her friends and their families. She had the same feeling tonight. Smarmy advertising salesman in an expensive suit that. . .showed off his broad shoulders and trim waist. Truthfully, the fact he was even better looking than Jack made it easier for her to dislike Jamie. No guy that good looking had ever brought her anything but trouble.
. . . . . .She’d always known she’d fall for a nerdy, glasses-wearing, book-wormy type. Or at least, that’s what she told herself every time she broke up with one of the good-looking, alpha-male jock types who seemed to be the only ones who’d ask her out. And she was the one to do the breaking up—not giving any of them a chance to break her heart.
. . . . . .“Hot date?” Jack asked, and though his voice had a lilt of humor in it, he glanced at Flannery with what could only be categorized as concern.
. . . . . .Jamie shrugged and gave an enigmatic, somewhat suggestive smile. “Something like that.”
. . . . . .Jerk.
. . . . . .When Zarah mentioned that Bobby asked Jamie to be an usher in the wedding, Flannery had hoped and prayed the self-absorbed, annoying, arrogant salesman would turn down the opportunity. But he wouldn’t be at dinner tonight; and as an usher and not a true member of the wedding party, he would be easy to ignore on Saturday. She could put up with anybody for a few hours, especially from across the room—she had to do it often enough for her job. But she hoped after this weekend she would never have the displeasure of Jamie O’Connor’s company again.
. . . . . .
October is TURNABOUT’S FAIR PLAY Month!
One month from tomorrow is the official release date for Turnabout’s Fair Play. And you know what that means . . .
It’s contest time!!!
And since this is the last book release I have for quite some time, it’s going to be a big one. So TURNABOUT. It’s time for a FAIR PLAY contest!
THE PRIZES
Grand Prize: Signed copies of each of the three books in the Matchmakers series—Love Remains, The Art of Romance, and Turnabout’s Fair Play—along with a Nashville- and Matchmakers-themed gift basket, and a $50 Amazon.com OR Target gift certificate.
2nd Place: Signed copy of Turnabout’s Fair Play and a $25 Amazon.com OR Target gift certificate.
3rd Place: Signed copy of Turnabout’s Fair Play and a $15 Amazon.com OR Target gift certificate.
4th Place: Signed copy of Turnabout’s Fair Play and a $10 Amazon.com OR Target gift certificate.
- Assuming arrival of my copies of TFP on or before November 1, my goal is to mail prizes no later than November 10, 2011.
HOW DO I ENTER?
Post a comment on at least ten (10) blog posts between today, Friday September 30, 2011, and Friday October 28, 2011. Comments must be relevant to the topic of that day’s post. Only one comment per post will count toward the contest, but each comment over the ten required earns you another name in the “hat”—so the more you visit the blog and comment on posts, the greater your chances of winning.* Your comment/entry today can be a link to an announcement of my contest on your blog or Twitter/Facebook.
For comments to count toward the contest, they must be on the posts dated between September 30, 2011 and October 30, 2011—no going back to older posts and commenting on those! Also—it should be more than just “Great topic. Thanks for posting it.” I want thoughtful comments that prove you’ve actually read what I’ve written.
- *Posting a comment on ten posts earns you one entry in the contest; each additional comment (one per post) earns additional entries. For example: if you comment on eleven posts, you’ll have two entries; comment on fifteen posts, earn six entries.
HOW WILL I KNOW IF I’VE WON?
I will e-mail winners (so be sure your e-mail address is correct when you post your comments—but please DO NOT put your e-mail address in the body of your comment!) on Sunday, October 30, 2011, and will then publish the list of winners here on the blog.
And because it is the month before TFP releases, Fridays in October will be dedicated to the book—inspiration, setting, and, of course, the characters. And you never know—Flannery and Jamie could possibly take over the blog again. So I hope you’ll be back!
QUESTIONS?
If you have questions about either the contest or the book, feel free to post a comment to ask—and yes, that will count as an entry in the contest!
Thursday Thought Provoker
Writer-Talk Tuesday—The Worst Question to Ask an Author
. . . But I’m going to ask it anyway!
What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever written?
Book-Talk Monday—Multiple Versions of Favorite Books
Over the weekend, I downloaded the unabridged audiobook of Julie Garwood’s 1991 medieval romance Honor’s Splendour (though why there’s a u in one word and not the other is beyond me!). It’s a book that I own in the original mass-market paperback version (have had it since it was published) and have read many times, though not in the last few years. I listened to it for a little bit on my trip to St. Louis this weekend—but actually found myself preferring either music or quiet for most of the trip, as my mind was working overtime.
So, now I had two versions of this book.
Well, after I got home, I decided I’d like to continue with this story . . . but I’ve gotten so addicted to my Kindle, especially for reading in the bed at night (because of the reading light making the lamp and sitting in a certain position to catch the light from it unnecessary) that I used a little bit of money left over from a gift certificate and downloaded the e-book version of it.
So now I have three versions of this book.
Now . . . let’s talk about a certain recent Young Adult series. I have the physical copies of all seven books—three in hardcover, four in paperback (though I am slowly replacing the paperbacks with hardcovers). I have all seven books on unabridged audio (CD). And as soon as the final movie comes out on DVD in November, I’ll have all of the film adaptations of the books. Once they’re released on e-book, I may (or may not) download those, too. Then I’ll have four versions of each book in that series. And if I could get my hands onto inexpensive (and good quality) copies of the British versions of the books, I might buy those too, upping the versions to five.
When it comes to Jane Austen’s novels, not only do I have different media versions of each of the six novels(books, e-books, audiobooks, movies), with three of the books, I actually own two physical copies of them. You see, as I started reading Jane Austen in the late 1990s, I bought a copy of each book as I got around to reading it. Most of them are the B&N classics version, because they were hardcover and cheap. But then, once I started studying Jane Austen—and knew which of the books were my favorites and the ones I wanted to concentrate my study on—I bought the Norton Critical Edition of Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice, and Sense & Sensibility. And I must say—the essays in the back made up the bulk of my resources for my senior literary criticism thesis (“Wealth and Social Status as a Theme in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice“).
The one of which I have the most versions is Pride & Prejudice: B&N Movie Tie-In hardcover book, Norton Critical Edition paperback; 1980 BBC miniseries DVDs, 1995 A&E miniseries DVDs, 2005 theatrical film version DVD; e-book (free download); audiobook (on cassette), digital audiobook (downloaded years later from Audible.com when I could no longer listen to cassette tapes in the car—but I still have the cassettes). That’s eight versions of one story!!!
And even though I’m “off” Austen and all things Regency right now (makes me cringe to hear people talking about it), last Thursday when perusing the bargain shelves at Barnes & Noble, I had to force myself not to pick up the newer B&N Classics versions of the JA books—or the all-in-one volume—because there’s still something in my brain telling me that I need to have more versions of those novels.
Hello. My name is Kaye Dacus, and I have a problem . . .
Do you have any books of which you have multiple versions (book, e-book, audiobook, movie adaptation, etc.) or even multiple copies? Do you have an addiction to a certain book or author or series and you want to buy every different cover/version of it you see?
Fun Friday–My Life in Films
I found this meme online. Would love to see your answers—either in the comments or a link to your blog!
Films That Remind Me of Childhood
- The classic animated Disney movies of the 1930s through 1970s, with favorites being Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and Robin Hood. The ones I still can’t watch to this day without bawling like a. . . well, child . . . are Bambi, Dumbo (during “Baby, Mine”), and The Fox and the Hound.
Star Wars. It came out the month of my sixth birthday (happy birthday to me!) and it’s the first movie I vividly remember seeing in the theater. And I saw it many, many times in the theater. By the time we finally owned it on video in the early 1980s, I’d lost count of the number of times I’d seen it. We also had an 8-track tape of the film—much of the dialogue, music, and sound effects, which is why I can still quote the original (and best, IMO) version of the first movie.- Raiders of the Lost Ark. Came out when I was ten. I remember holding my popcorn box up in front of my face during the “Snakes . . . why did it have to be snakes?” scene.
- Grease. Came out when I was seven. Believe it or not, my aunt took my sister and me to see this movie that summer. After that, the only times I ever saw it was edited for broadcast TV. I didn’t know until I was in my early twenties and bought the soundtrack CD just how raunchy the lyrics to some of those songs are!
- The Sound of Music. One of my favorite movies from childhood. I was in my teens before I ever saw the full, uncut (again, for TV) version of it. We had an LP of the movie soundtrack, so I’ve had all the songs memorized since I can remember.
Films that Defined My Teens
Nate & Hayes. A little-known film starring (very young-looking) Tommy Lee Jones and Michael O’Keefe. It was a movie about pirates. And it was set in the Caribbean. And it had absolutely no effect whatsoever on what I would do later in life.- The Pirate Movie. While I’m in the genre . . . loved this farcical spin on The Pirates of Penzance starring two of the stars of early ’80s TV and B-movies, Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins. Favorite scene—the sword fight in the library which pays homage to Star Wars.
- Platoon. Not because I enjoyed it or because I had a crush on pre-insane Charlie Sheen. I was fifteen when this movie about the Vietnam War came out, and we went to see it as a family. I sat beside my father, a Vietnam Veteran, and at one point suggested to him he might need to get up and go outside before he had a heart attack because he was so affected by the film.
- Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. I’d never heard of Pee-Wee Herman before this movie came out and a bunch of kids from the private school my sister and I attended went to see it. So, since I didn’t know any of his schtick, at fourteen years old, I found it absolutely hysterical.
- Pretty in Pink/Sixteen Candles. While I didn’t see The Breakfast Club until I was in my twenties, I did come of age in the 1980s, so I think seeing at least these two Molly Ringwald movies was a requirement.
- The Princess Bride. “Hello. My name Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” One of the most quotable movies EVER!
Films that Defined My College Years
- Steel Magnolias. THE most quotable movie ever. Though we didn’t see this movie together, for years afterward, my college–best friend and I could always find a quote from this movie appropriate for any situation we found ourselves in. “Looks like two pigs fighting under a blanket!”
- Glory. Came out the year I started college. Was one of the first videos and soundtracks (on cassette) I ever bought. Between this movie and the Ken Burns The Civil War documentary, I aced my senior Civil War course at LSU without having to study much at all. Of course, I paid close attention in class and read all of the assigned books . . . because it’s a subject I was very interested in.
- Father of the Bride and My Girl. These both came out in 1991, which happened to be the year I met my college–best friend and we went to see these together. So these movies always remind me of the good times we spent together.
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I’d never liked the original series or the OS cast. I was a HUGE Next Generation (TNG) fan, though; so when I learned that Michael Dorn, the actor who portrayed my favorite characters (Worf) would be in the last original-series movie, I had to go see it. A couple of times. First time I ever went to the movies by myself.
- Silence of the Lambs. My college–best friend, her sister, and I rented this movie and watched it at my apartment. We managed to make it all the way through without stopping it. But we did all three of us end up on the same cushion on the sofa by the end clinging on to each other’s hands for support. Now I laugh every time I see a bit of it flipping through the channels on TV.
Highlander. I was introduced to this at a party—either the college group from church or the group from the Baptist Student Union. It was mostly guys at the party (oh, those were the days!) and one of them had brought this movie with him. They were shocked that I, alone out of all the females there, didn’t leave or go into another room but stayed and watched the whole movie. And I’m so glad I did, because if I hadn’t fallen in love with the original Highlander movie, I never would have watched the TV series. And if I’d never watched the TV series, I never would have fallen in love with Peter Wingfield. And if I’d never fallen in love with Peter Wingfield, I never would have come up with a character named GEORGE LAURENCE.
Films When I Need a Good Cry
Bambi, Dumbo, Little Women (when Beth dies), The Green Mile, and Steel Magnolias.
Nightmares from Films
I learned young that scary movies and I don’t mix . . . from being subjected to seeing The Pit and the Pendulum in class when I was in sixth grade. I had nightmares for months afterward. Since then, I stay away!
Films that are Guilty Pleasures
Doom, A Hazard of Hearts, A Christmas Story, Dead Again, Serenity, Timeline, and Something to Talk About
Last Film I Saw at the Theatre
Cowboys & Aliens (opening night, July 29). Excellent film. Rent it when it comes out on DVD!!!
A Favorite Film Few Others Seem to Know About
Secondhand Lions starring a teenaged Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine, and Robert Duvall, with cameo roles by Nicky Katt, Josh Lucas, Eric Balfour, Kyra Sedgwick, and Adrian Pasdar.
Thursday Thought Provoker
KayeDacus.com 