Law of attraction

 

2019 Shelfie. My bookshelf is currently a mess
so I can't make a 2020 one yet.

Last night, before I went to bed, I took a quick glance at Twitter, and saw that "law of attraction" was trending. I didn't have energy to investigate further, but when I woke up earlier today, I had the idea to describe how I somehow used principles of attraction to complete my Anne Rice book collection--even before I knew what "law of attraction" really was.

I first met Anne Rice through a schoolmate. We were in fourth year high school, and by summer we would have graduated. Louella saw me reading Salem's Lot and said, "Oh, you like vampires? Meet me on Friday after school. I'll lend you a book." That book was Interview with the Vampire, which I spent the whole weekend reading, and was a turning point in my life. After I read the last page I stared out the window for hours for what felt like having gone through a thoroughly religious experience.

In college, and on limited allowance, I would scour secondhand bookstores (there were plenty along Recto Avenue back then; maybe there still are, but I haven't been there in a while), for mass market paperback editions of Anne's books. Soon, I'd be out of school, couldn't even finish the second semester of my freshman year, without getting into trouble.

So I had my handful of Anne Rice pocketbooks and was reading voraciously. I had at that point, I think, all five of the Vampire Chronicles, the Mayfair Witches trilogy. So about eight titles. Around that time I joined a Christian theater ministry, the artistic and spiritual director of which proceeded to emotionally and sexually abuse me. John (not his real name) said I will go to hell for reading books with titles such as The Vampire Lestat and Memnoch the Devil and the only way to save my soul was for me to burn the books.

I was seventeen, and I believed him. Though I couldn't bear to light the match. Instead, I left them stacked in a plastic bag outside our gate one evening. In the morning, they were gone.

I will jump forward to a few weeks before December 2012, the fabled end of the world as per the Mayans. Anne had just published The Wolf Gift. I was no longer an out-of-school youth, but working at customer service with moderate income. I found Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt at a bookstore. Surely I won't go to hell if I read this? Just this?

I loved Out of Egypt. And I fell in love again with Anne's writing. And then I thought, perhaps it's time to build my collection once again. And I did. So for the books beginning The Wolf Gift and onwards, I had no problems procuring hardcover first editions. (Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra was not published in hardcover, though.) And I did have a hard time getting Prince Lestat because it was sold out in an instant from all local bookstores in Metro Manila, no matter that I had made a reservation weeks in advance. I did get to buy a first edition weeks and weeks later.

But the trick was, how to rebuild my collection of her past novels? I suddenly had this desire to get first editions as much as possible. But how?

I know law of attraction gurus say all you need to do is to believe you have it, think about it often, really feel like you've already received it, and be grateful. I didn't know all these things! What I did instinctively was assign a special place on my bookshelf for the incoming Anne Rice books. I left a row vacant for them. I assigned, maybe visualized, how I would arrange the books--in chronological order.

I wanted to have first editions. It felt like a tribute to Anne. I was filled up with this desire.

I wouldn't say that I was consumed by desire and voila! The books appeared on the shelf. No. It didn't quite work out that way. I had to do some leg work. I had to somehow "prove" to Something that I really, really, really wanted these books back in my life, in first editions as much as possible. I don't live in the States. I can't travel to NOLA and visit the Garden District Book Shop. 

My hardcover copies of The Vampire Armand and Interview with the Vampire I got from a bookseller in Baguio. I had contacted this person online, wired him my payment, not knowing if he'll hold his end of the bargain. I had to ask friends of mine, a Christian couple, who lived in Baguio, to pick the books up for me.

My copy of Exit to Eden I chanced upon a secondhand bookstore that was being refashioned to become a grocery. They were getting rid of all their unsold books, and there it was. Exit to Eden.

There was a secondhand bookstore in the Shopping Center of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, which closed. The owners said it was because the young generation don't read fiction anymore, and they ran out of business. I tracked these owners to their home address--I kid you not--because I got a tip that they owned first editions of the Beauty Trilogy. That set is now sitting on my shelf.

I received Beauty's Kingdom from Anne Rice herself, with an autograph and dedication.

I found an autographed copy of The Witching Hour at our church annual book sale! I love Union Chuch of Manila!

So slowly, over the expanse of several months, and certainly going online looking for booksellers, I was building my collection again. I practically begged a bookseller for her last copies of Blood and Gold, Blood Canticle, and The Feast of All Saints. I had to prove in some way that I was not just a middleman who buys and sells books, but an actual Anne Rice fan, a true booklover, before she parted with her copies.

Booksale store, of course, was very helpful. Sometimes I wouldn't have enough money to buy a first edition find, so that I would have to pray that by payday and I come back, the book would still be there waiting for me.

So, yes, the power of intense desire, coupled with the necessary legwork to prove that the desire wasn't just momentary, but one that will consume anything that stood in its way towards fruition, is truly a powerful force. I also at the beginning suspected but pretty soon believed that the books wanted me as much as I wanted them. That I was the reader Anne Rice had in mind when she wrote her books. The attraction wasn't just one way. It was mutual.

Of course, I also used this same energy to get the books of other authors I love. Umberto Eco. Sue Monk Kidd. Wally Lamb. I can't say for sure if that was indeed the law of attraction at work, but when I look at my shelf, I really, truly feel good. I feel grateful. And I feel that if I really set my heart on anything, I can achieve it.

Interview with the Vampire: Listen

 Let's meditate on the value of listening, to one's self, and to others.

Interview with the Vampire: What matters...

 Let's meditate on what and who truly matter to you, and how you can show them that you value them.

Interview with the Vampire: Don't be afraid

 

Let's meditate on the value of courage and vulnerability, and showing up every day, and living your life.

Interview with the Vampire: I see

Let's meditate on the value of truly seeing the "other," and perhaps realizing we are not really separate. We are all connected. 

From Anne Rice Meditations: A podcast on writing, Nanowrimo, Anne's writing methods, and the Alphabettery

 

No new book in 2019?

Here's a chronological list. Happy reading!

Interview with the Vampire 1976
The Feast of All Saints 1979
Cry to Heaven 1982
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty 1983
Beauty's Punishment 1984
Exit to Eden 1985
Beauty's Release 1985
The Vampire Lestat 1985
Belinda 1986
The Queen of the Damned 1988
The Mummy, Or Ramses the Damned 1989
The Witching Hour 1990
The Tale of the Body Thief 1992
Lasher 1993
Taltos 1994
Memnoch the Devil 1995
Servant of the Bones 1996
Violin 1997
Pandora 1998
The Vampire Armand 1998
Vittorio, the Vampire 1999
Merrick 2000
Blood and Gold 2001
Blackwood Farm 2002
Blood Canticle 2003
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt 2005
Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana 2008
Called Out of Darkness, a spiritual confession 2008
Songs of the Seraphim: Angel Time 2009
Songs of the Seraphim: Of Love and Evil 2010
The Wolf Gift 2012
The Wolves of Mid-Winter 2013
Prince Lestat 2014
Beauty's Kingdom 2015
Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis 2016
Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra 2017 (with Christopher Rice)
Blood Communion 2018

What unleashes creativity?

What unleashes creativity in me is deep surrender to my story and my characters. I have to get into the novel with them. This means I have to open myself to my subconscious, and to the very act of ongoing imagining.

It's no secret that characters do indeed come to life on the page. Our obligations as writers is to let that happen.

When I read novels, I note that an author's prose often becomes especially vivid when a particular character is on scene. It's as if that personality is so powerful for the author that the whole vision intensifies. Would that it were that way with every character.

Novels for me always involve stretches of work that are less interesting and less fun than others. I expect this. I'm seeking to build an entire world after all, the realm in which my characters live very full lives. My vampires have their favorite cities, music, films, and they struggle in individual ways with being Children of the Night, with the need to drink blood which has become for them the supreme erotic act as well as the act essential to survival. I have to surrender to the less exciting moments as well as the white hot moments.

And surrendering is a discipline. Because the conscious mind is always ready to intrude, and the conscious mind is used to feeling very important. I tell the conscious mind to go to Hell and I keep on driving the Devil's Road with Lestat, or Louis, or Armand at the wheel.

-- Anne Rice

A victory for Amazon and authors

Folks, I'm happy to share that Amazon has indeed ended its Amazon Discussion Forums, including the Top Reviewers Forum which was a gathering place for pernicious bullies who delighted in trying to hurt young writers, usually indie writers, in the hopes of destroying their dreams and their careers.

I suspect some of these predatory people will now migrate to Goodreads to continue their vicious and destructive behavior, that is, if they have not already been banned there.

Remember, when you see this people at work on Goodreads you can report them. Amazon respects its customers. --- Both Amazon and Goodreads are beautiful ideas; and certainly Amazon has worked a huge revolution in the book business benefiting writers young and old, and book lovers galore. ---- But there were parasites on the site, gaming the system to persecute targeted authors for petty and often stupid reasons, and the system was not efficient at handling this miscreants. 

This certainly did not benefit customers who deserve to have some faith in the reviews they read of everything from a pair of shoes to a volume of poetry. And now at least we can heave a sigh of relief that the Top Reviewers Forum where these bullies gathered --- identified targets and whipped up internet lynch mobs --- is gone. 

I will miss the good discussions I enjoyed in the Forums, especially the Christianity Forum. But when a system is not regulated or policed in a consistent way, abuse is inevitable. Why Amazon took down the Discussion Forums, I don't know. It was always a case of the majority of posters being good people, and respecters of the system and only a minority obsessed with exploiting the Discussions for hate. 

Well, it's all gone. I'm glad, must confess, and any friends I knew there can easily email me if there's a desire to get in touch.

~ Anne Rice

I learned to write...

I learned to write by reading, by listening, by listening to radio programs like Lux Radio Theater when I was a kid, by becoming absorbed in other people's stories, and by following my instincts. That is how most people learn to write, I think --- pretty much the way we learned to talk when we were toddlers.

And yes, I do believe that there is much about writing that can be taught. You can't teach talent, no. But you can teach and learn craft to some extent, as long as you remember that no set of rules applies equally to all writers.

Writing is the most individual of the arts. Anybody can become a writer. There is no communal apprenticeship; there is no official training; there is no set piece of indispensable equipment. It's the most democratic of artistic endeavors. And for that reason the competition will always be stiff and the odds of achieving success daunting; but anyone can make it to the top at any time. And often unknowns come out of nowhere with fresh and innovative books achieving instant success.

I love being a writer. And it is the only thing I've ever done with any measure of success.

-- Anne Rice

Ignore those who attack and discourage you

Great discipline

It takes great discipline to be a writer—but there are many kinds of discipline.

I am an obsessive, driven person who might not write for six months and then plunge into a novel and not stop writing for two months, at which point a finished novel lies printed out on the table. That's my kind of discipline.

For another, it might be writing every day, rain or shine, back pain or no back pain, accumulating the novel over a year of such steady work.

For yet another there might be research, planning, and a commitment to so many pages on a weekday with weekends off.

The point is... there has to be some kind of discipline to produce the work—and the more flexible one can be about the discipline, the better it is.

I've heard a male writer complain that when he took a year off his job to write, he didn't get anything done. He couldn't handle the open-ended free time. A female writer, on the other hand, used to juggling housework, child rearing, and recreation when she can squeeze it in, might find it easier to get a novel done in bits and pieces and at all hours.

~ Anne Rice

My thoughts: There really is no excuse for us to not write in whatever life we are in.

There's still time to pre-order your copy

Dread Central: The Vampire Chronicles Series Lands at The CW; Justin Bieber Being Eyed for Lestat

Posted on April 1, 2017 by Debi Moore at DreadCentral.com

In what's being described as one of the biggest bloodbaths in TV history, The CW has emerged victorious in the battle to land the hot property "The Vampire Chronicles," an adaptation of Anne Rice's much-loved novels centered around the vampire known as Lestat. And some of their plans are sure to ruffle a few feathers…

Looking to fill the void left by the recently concluded "The Vampire Diaries," the network outmuscled and outbid the much higher profile HBO, Netflix, and Amazon and expects to put the project in pre-production by the end of this summer.

While Rice and her fans were no doubt hoping for an outlet that would allow the graphic violence and nudity contained in the source material, The CW is considering an approach similar to what AMC has done with Negan and his f-bombs on "The Walking Dead": shoot two different versions of certain scenes, one for broadcast and one for Blu-ray/VOD.

Rice is being diplomatic about the situation. "In the end," she said, "we had to trust our instincts and go with the people who had the most enthusiasm for the series and would allow us the most artistic freedom."

Her son, Christopher, who's writing several episodes and will also be filling the showrunner role, enthused, "Just look at what The CW has done with their DC properties. Our goal is to one day have the 'Chronicles,' mom's witches, and even a mummy or two all airing on different nights with cross-overs and spectacles the likes of which TV hasn't even seen yet!"

hideous humor from Dread Central

As for who might be following in the iconic footsteps of Tom Cruise (and yes, Stuart Townsend) to portray the aforesaid Lestat, the Rices shared that they have their hearts set on none other than Justin Bieber. Before you scoff, Anne explained, "It's vital that whoever plays Lestat be not only the right age, but also able to sing and convey that 'rock star' persona. We have the utmost confidence that Justin will be able to bring the Brat Prince to life...," at which point Christopher jumped in with, "After all, who better to play a brat than a brat? Besides, he's so dreamy."

A few other names floating about are Stephen Amell as Marius; Robbie Amell as Louis, and the great Rutger Hauer, whom Anne always pictured as Lestat, instead playing his deformed, elderly creator, Magnus. And in a real shake-up, it's rumored that Lestat's friend and lover Nicolas de Lenfent, aka Nicki, is being "reimagined" as a woman with The CW said to have "The Originals" alum Danielle Campbell in mind for the part.

Stay tuned for further developments!

Anne gamely replies, "It's an April Fools joke, compliment of Dread Central!"

How outlining can help

Anne posted:

I do a simple outline; just numbered scenes. The first novel I really outlined like that was a novel that I envisioned when I was in Brazil. I was staying at the Copacabana Hotel there, and I didn’t have a computer with me, and I wrote down 25 scenes for this novel. It was a great revelation to me that I could do this. That I could take that outline home and execute that novel pretty much based on those 25 scenes that I had sketched out. That did work very well for me.

After that I did outline in that informal form. But once I start writing I have to be willing to change that outline. I have to be willing to scrap it totally, and go with the surprises that come up. I’m a very intuitive writer, as well as a spontaneous writer. The story really does come alive for me. The characters too. When the surprises occur I have to throw out all preconceived notions about what was going to happen, and what should happen. 

Outlining is helpful to put your thoughts in order, even if you never look at the outline when you’re writing

Beginning a novel

For writing a novel, I begin with a concept of where I want to go and I allow myself to be surprised, and to incorporate themes as I go on; and if anything I expand the thematic life of the novel as I go on.

I may break off writing on a Tuesday and by Thursday have thought of a lot of different aspects of the scene I just wrote, and I will expand it and try to deepen it; and that means accessing some themes. Yet sometimes themes just surprise you. They work their way into your work the way characters do, and you’re surprised by how well developed these themes become.

I don’t pretend or even hope to be conscious of all the themes in my work when I finish a novel. I trust that they will have their own coherence and their own pattern, and that they will mean something.

So how does Anne do it?

I'm often asked, how do I do it? Well, I usually start late morning. I have to be awake to write. I break for lunch and write all afternoon, and when things are rolling, I write into the evening, and maybe even late into the night. I like long uninterrupted stretches of time.

Whether or not I have those unbroken stretches, I focus on completing an episode or a chapter. I don't like to break with half a scene written. If forced to break, I start over the next day, or read over in detail, reliving before I continue.

But over the years I've had to be flexible. What has never worked for me is early morning. What has often worked is writing all night. Negotiating a compromise with the demands of the world, not just family but work demands, is key. Whenever I write, I'm living and breathing in the work as if I were inside a movie. I murmur aloud as I write. I hear each word. The rhythm of a sentence, the sound of individual syllables, all this is key. It all has to flow for me, like living water. Style is as important as any other element.

But there are no rules for all writers. I had a friend once who told me that she never started to write until she had the material thought out in her mind. Not me. I often go right along discovering as I'm writing. I never plan dialogue, ever. It has to be "happening" with me as recording secretary. "Make it happen," that could be my motto. Just reflecting on all this makes me so happy and grateful for this vocation or profession.

I'll be 75 in October; I'm sitting here now in a tiny room in a small family home, at a big beautiful Mac computer; and I'm wearing the nightgown I slept in; and I'm ready to work. Ah, it's wonderful.

More on technique

Anne with more on technique, or how I do it.

11) Never underestimate the power of the two line break. You may not want a new chapter but you want to cut away from the scene. Make the two line break.

12) Never get trapped into thinking that if you have a character open a door, he necessarily has to close it later on. You are creating a visual impression of a scene, and you don't need to spotlight every gesture. And you can cut away from a scene in progress.

13) Paragraphs again: they are the way you engineer the page for the reader. That's why I say never hesitate to make one line paragraphs and short paragraphs. You're punching action or an emotional moment when you set it off in a paragraph. And you want to make things easy for the reader. Long paragraphs always impose something of a burden. The eye longs for a break. 

14) Multiple point-of-view can be very energizing for a reader. The switch in point of view can be exciting. And multiple point-of-view gives you a chance to reveal the world in a way that single point of view cannot. Favorite multiple point-of-view novels for me are War and Peace and The Godfather.

15) A single point-of-view throughout is the best opportunity a writer has to get a reader to fall in love with a hero or heroine. The limitations are obvious; you can't go to "another part of the forest" to find out what's happening. But you have immense power in single point-of-view to get into the thoughts and feelings of your champion.

16) First Person single point-of-view can take the reader not only into deep love but deep antipathy. Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Lolita are shining examples.

17) If you find yourself becoming bored, then do what you must do to make the novel exciting again for you. Never keep building a scene because you feel you must. Think of some other way to solve the problem that is goading you to write what you don't enjoy.

18) When you feel yourself getting tired, stop and read something that is energizing. The opening pages of Stephen King's Firestarter always refresh me and send me back to the keyboard. So does reading any part of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song." So does reading The Godfather. So does reading a Hemingway short story. 

19) Keep going. Remember that you must finish the novel for it to have a chance in this world. You absolutely must complete it. And of course as soon as I do I think of new things. I go back, refining, adding a little. And when I stop feeling the urge to do that, well, I know it's really finished.

Writing technique

Anne on writing technique or how I do it.

1) Rely heavily on concrete nouns and action verbs. Nothing conveys immediacy and excitement like the concrete noun and the action verb.

2) Rely heavily on short sentences and even fragments. Long complex sentences, especially when filled with abstract nouns slow the reader and even confuse him or her. Break up these sentences. Or balance them with short ones.

3) Don't hesitate to write one sentence paragraphs and short paragraphs in general. Never, never bury a key revelation or surprise or important physical gesture by a character at the end of an existing paragraph. Move this to a new paragraph.

4) Go easy on conjunctions such as "but," "and," "yet," and "however." The prose may feel fluid to you when you use these; but if you go back and simply remove them the prose may be even more fluid.

5) Repeat a character's name often in dialogue and in straight narrative. Don't slip into "he" or "she" for long stretches because if you do many fast readers will find themselves having to go back to determine who is speaking or feeling or viewing the action. Punch the proper names.

6)Be generous and loving with adjectives and adverbs. These words give specificity to the narrative; they make it vibrant.

7)When you repeat yourself in a novel, acknowledge it, as in "Again, he found himself thinking, as he had so often before..."

8) If the plot takes a highly improbable turn, acknowledge that through having the characters acknowledge it.

9) In writing intense action scenes, avoid slipping into "-ing" words. It may feel "immediate" to use these words, say in a sword fight, a physical brawl, or an intense confrontation, but if you stick with simple past tense, you will actually heighten the action. 

10) Remember that in writing a novel, you are crafting something that must be fully understood and experienced in one reading, yet stand up to innumerable readings in the future. 

If these "rules" or suggestions don't work for you, by all means disregard them completely! You're the boss when it comes to your writing.

Point of view

Anne on writing. You can write from the point of view of anybody: a man, a woman, a gay man, a gay woman, a person of color, a native American, an ancient Egyptian, King Solomon, anyone. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you cannot do this.

When I was writing The Feast of All Saints, a good friend told me in essence I had no right to write about people of color. Shortly after, I went to Haiti to do research for this novel, and in a hotel bar in Port-au-Prince, I ran into an American black man, and I asked him about this very question. I told him about my book. "Write it," he said. He became extremely intense. "Write it." He felt it was of the utmost importance that I give birth to the novel I was envisioning. 

Later, back home in America, I asked the same question of a famous black author at a book signing. He said the same thing. Write the story. That was good enough for me.

The bottom line is, you go where the intensity is for you as a writer; you give birth to characters for deep, complex reasons. And this should never be politicized by anyone. Your challenge is to do a fine and honest and effective job. Don't ever let anyone insist you give up without even trying.

Two of the greatest novels about women that I've ever read, Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary were written by men. One of the finest novels about men that I've ever read, The Last of the Wine, was written by a woman. That was Mary Renault. And her novel, The Persian Boy, about a Persian eunuch is a classic.

The vital literature we possess today was created by men and women of immense imagination, personal courage and personal drive. Ignore all attempts to politicize or police your imagination and your literary ambition.

Read The Feast of All Saints now.