I’m not middle-aged any more, unless I’m heading for the realm of Methuselah. I thought of excusing myself from learning anything besides how to write a better book, the pursuit that has driven me for the past 30 years. But when opportunities arise, it seems like scoffing at good fortune to dismiss them. Right?
As a tentative step in that direction, a couple of years ago Christopher Golden and I were talking about a plot line I had. It was this: a girl’s living in a cemetery, and she has amnesia. She only knows someone is trying to kill her. She lives in a crypt.
I couldn’t make this idea go anywhere, mentally. I didn’t see it as a novel, and there were too many ramifications to make it a short story. Chris emailed me a couple of months later and suggested that the concept might make a great graphic novel.
EEEEK. I’d never written a graphic novel. I had no idea of how to format it, where to start. I was daunted. Then I reasoned that Chris was a graphic novel expert. Maybe it was time for me to collaborate? This was another thing I’d never done before. Chris, however, is an experienced collaborator, too. Very anxiously, I made the suggestion to him, and he was gung ho. One problem solved! We were fortunate enough to sell it quickly in America and the UK, and we’ve finished Volume One. The artist is Don Kramer, and it looks fabulous. Volume One will be out in October. We’re working on Two.
Then Chris asked me to be in an anthology of his, “Dark Duets.” Here’s the hitch: the story had to be written by two authors, and it had to be dark, as the title implies. I thought of several people I might ask, but in the end (full of fear) I asked my friend Rachel Caine, who can be dark and horrible. Though I was as nervous as if I were asking her out on a date, she agreed. We meshed our ideas, she wrote the fabulous first draft, I rewrote it with my own embellishments, and we sent it off to Chris, who accepted it.
My current music listening is in line with the theme. For the first time in my life, I’m listening to opera. I can’t understand the language, but I’m loving the voices. I’m starting on arias. I don’t know if I’ll ever move on to full-length works . . . but it’s a start.
Charlaine Harris
My own "something new" is that I've just started listening to _Shakespeare's Landlord_ and really liking it!!
Posted by: Storyteller Mary | February 01, 2013 at 03:16 PM
Oh goodie, looking forward to the graphic novel. That's something new to me.
My all-time favorite arias are Nessun Dorma and O Mio Babbino Caro. Everybody does those. Pavarotti does the ultimate ND, IMHO, but Aretha Franklin's version makes me cry more. OMBC - Leontyne Price, hands down. Perfection. So beautiful and a huge tear-jerker. Some people don't like Maria Callas but I like her version of OMBC too. :)
Posted by: Mary | February 02, 2013 at 08:15 PM
Thanks, both of you two Marys. Storyteller, I hope you like "Landlord," which was a real experiment for me. Mary, Nessun Dorma and O Mio Babbino Caro (which I heard Beverly Sills sing live) are beautiful. My favorite is Un Bel di from "Madame Butterfly." And here's to trying new things!
Posted by: Charlaine Harris | February 03, 2013 at 09:47 AM
I challenge you to keep a dry eye while listening to "Au Fond du Temple Saint" from Pearl Fishers as sung by Thomas Hampson and the late Jerry Hadley on this album of famous opera duets. Deb Crombie met me at the Dallas airport with this CD in the drive and we played it full blast all the way to her house in McKinney. Sublime!!
http://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Hadley-Thomas-Hampson-Famous/dp/B000000SEV/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1360156371&sr=1-2&keywords=Jerry+Hadley
Posted by: Marcia Talley | February 06, 2013 at 05:15 AM
Charlaine, I go through stretches of listening to arias; I never could do the whole opera because I keep thinking: why don't they just say the line in prose? But the heightened emotion of an aria...that's good for pre-writing.
Posted by: Dana Cameron | February 06, 2013 at 08:31 AM