Amazing Things

Featured Author Chat Tomorrow, May 15, on Goodreads

2013-05-14T14:47:22Z

I'm a Goodreads Featured Author on Wednesday, May 15, a big honor. That means I've been asked to do a Goodreads chat on their site that day. The chat will go on all day. I'll be checking in throughout the day.

Details for joining the chat are here. http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/101911-ask-chitra-banerjee-divakaruni---wednesday-may-15th

I love connecting to readers and friends through author chats. I've done a few on my FB page, and am hoping many people will join me tomorrow. It's your chance to Ask Chitra Anything (well, almost anything).

I'm especially looking forward to discussing my new novel, Oleander Girl.

Mothers in My Fiction

2013-05-07T05:17:35Z

Mother's Day, coming up soon, reminds me of how important my mother, who pretty much brought us up as a single parent, has been in my life. Perhaps the many mothers that I depict in my books--though they have little similarity to the biographical facts of her life-- are my attempt to understand the loving, stern, mysterious woman she was. (She passed away a few years ago. Here is one of the last photos I have of her, at my niece Neela's wedding.)

Some instances of mothers in my books: In the final story in my collection Arranged Marriage, there is the mother who must, in the wake of her failed marriage, establish a new kind of bond with her teenage son. In Sister of My Heart, there are three strong mother figures that bring up the protagonists Sudha and Anju, each focusing on a different aspect she considers crucial: physical beauty, studies, and mythological stories. And in my newest novel, Oleander Girl, Korobi's mother Anu, who died at childbirth, naming her daughter after a beautiful but poisonous flower, is an enigma who haunts Korobi until she must put off her marriage and travels from Kolkata to New York to discover the secret that lies at the heart of Anu's life.

I don't think I'm done writing about mothers--my next novel will feature Sita (heroine of the epic The Ramayana), one of literature's first single mothers.

Photo Essay 3 Oleander Girl Tour: Book Warriors

2013-04-07T18:54:13Z

A wonderful part of the book tour for my new novel Oleander Girl (http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/books/oleander_girl) has been coming across people who love books, who tell people about them, who showcase them, who encourage reading, and who support authors by inviting them to speak at events that they organize. I thank them all for what they do each day for writers like me and our books. They are the book warriors!

Some of these are: John Evans of Diesel Books (LA and Oakland).

Elaine Petrocelli of Book Passage (Corte Madera, CA--Photo below)
and her wonderful booksellers Alison Bildsoe and Karen West.

Geraldine Hills, Phoenix Public Library.

Chris Skaugset, Longview Library, OR.(photo below)

Adrian Newell of Warwicks Books, La Jolla, CA, along with wonderful bookseller Julie Slavinsky.

Joel Sheldon, Jennifer and Connie at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, CA.
(Store photo below)

Will, Michael and Jeffrey of Annie Bloom's, Portland.

And Rick Simonson of Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, seen below next to the beloved castle in the children's section of the bookstore.

Author Chat on my Facebook Page Today, April 5, 2:30 pm EST

2013-04-05T15:33:26Z

Author chats are a lot of fun! They give me an opportunity to interact live with readers who are physically far away, in other states or even other countries. I have to think on my feet as people are throwing questions at me!

AN AUTHOR CHAT IS COMING UP ON MY FB PAGE TODAY, APRIL 5, 2:30 PM EST. CLICK ON "APR 5 CHAT" BUTTON. https://www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni

I WILL POST ABOUT HOW IT WENT AFTER THE CHAT!

Travel Tips, Based on a Recent Visit to an Indian Elephant Sanctuary

2013-04-02T17:24:45Z

Here's the article:

Photo Essay 2: Oleander Girl, The Book Tour

2013-03-25T00:23:15Z

Tours have their challenges.

You wake up at dawn to catch flights.

You stand in long security lines at the airports.

You go to cities where you are unknown and three people show up at your reading.

You find out at the last minute that your media interview has been cancelled.

You eat on the run, whatever you can find, and then you come home and discover that you've gained ten pounds.

BUT

Tours are also where you meet warm and supportive readers you would never have met otherwise. And that makes it all worthwhile.

At Copperfield's Books, Petaluma, CA

At Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, CA

At Diesel Books, Los Angeles, CA

At Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA.

My deepest thanks to all who came out to support me!

On to Detroit, Portland, Seattle, San Antonio, Austin, New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago!

Photo Essay: Oleander Girl Book Tour

2013-03-21T06:30:28Z

These are some photos of places where I read from Oleander Girl, my new novel, and Grandma and the Great Gourd, my children's book.

At Asia Society Texas, in Houston, the national launch, on-stage interview with St. John Flynn of KUHF.

At Google, with Regina Sawhney, who invited me to present at Authors at Google.

At Books Inc., a wonderful independent bookstore in Mountain View, CA.

More to come. . . .

Getting Ready for the Book Tour, Oleander Girl

2013-02-28T15:48:26Z

My new novel, Oleander Girl, will be out in about three weeks--I almost can't believe it.

Just received this brand new hardcover copy of Oleander Girl.

An exciting moment in a writer's life, to see the actual, finished product, the result of years of planning, imagining, writing, obsessing, revising.

(Sorry, these are large files, and my techpertise doesn't extend to making them smaller, so you're only getting partial glimpses of the cover). The entire cover can be seen at http://www.amazon.com/Oleander-Girl-Chitra-Banerjee-Divakaruni/dp/1451695659)

I've been writing a series of blogs titled Countdown to Publication about the whole pre-publication experience--including tips-- at SheWrites, a wonderful site for women writers. To read, please go to http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2c9n0ngwvs6nm.

Details of my national book tour for Oleander, which includes Houston, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Detroit, Seattle, Portland (OR), Sacramento, New York, Washington D.C., Austin and San Antonio, are at: http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/about/upcoming-events.

I hope to see some of you as I travel!

Writing Tip: Ways to Boost Creativity

2013-01-04T02:50:15Z

Some time back, I came across a thought-provoking list at The World's Best Site Ever, titled "Thirty Three Ways to Be Creative." http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2011/06/06/33-ways-to-stay-creative/

We had a lot of fun with it on my facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni, noting which ideas people related to most. For me, it was numbers 18 and 2, Carry a Notebook Everywhere, and Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes, in that order. I'll write about Using a Writer's Notebook, which I do in several ways, in another post. But for now, I want to explain why I believe allowing ourselves to make mistakes in our writing is so important.

When we are afraid to make mistakes, it means that the little voice in our head is in control. This is the voice that tells us, This is no good; or, Better do something that's tried and tested that you know works; or, I don't think readers will like/understand/be interested in this; or, What makes you think you can pull this off?or, People will laugh at you for attempting this. (I say "us" hopefully. I sure hope I'm not the only one who hears this subversive voice!)

It's really important to get past this voice, and sometimes to do that we have to consciously push against what we think our limitations are--and this can be a bit frightening. Sometimes it helps to think of what we're writing (this could be a paragraph, a scene, an entire story, a novel) as a game or an experiment. (I often tell myself, If it doesn't work, I'll throw it away & no one needs to even know I tried it).

For instance: Men's voices don't come to me as well as women's, so I forced myself to write a story titled "The Disappearance" (later published in my collection Arranged Marriage),from the point of view of a husband whose wife disappears one day, leaving him to obsess over what might have become of her. It was difficult. I stuttered and came to a stop a couple of times. I began the exercise in the first person, and realized after a while that I needed more distance. After some rewriting, the story ended up in a close third person point of view, and I believe this allowed me to bring out the complexities and ironies in the situation (the man is abusive but doesn't realize it until the very end of the story) far better than if I had told the story from the wife's point of view.

I wrote a big chunk of my first novel Mistress of Spices as a collection of linked poems before I figured out that that was not the right form for this tale of magical realism set in inner-city America. I had to rewrite the entire first part, but I gained several valuable insights from the experiment. Mistress of Spices ended up as my most poetic novel, filled with unconventional verbal leaps, and this elliptical style strengthens the mystery and magic that permeate the story.

Which, if any, of these 33 ways appeal to you? Which one might you try? Do you have a different method that works to keep you creative? What is a challenge you would like to push past in your art by allowing yourself to make mistakes?

Please let me know.

Sneak Peek at my Upcoming Novel Oleander Girl plus 2 possible covers for you to vote on

2012-07-10T18:53:08Z

Friends, if you have a couple of minutes, would you please take a look at the 2 possible covers for my upcoming novel Oleander Girl which my publisher, Free Press, just sent me, & give me your opinion? I'd really value your input before I make a decision.

Unfortunately I can't seem to upload the images here, so please go to https://www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni, and vote for

the one you prefer (version A yellow, or version B white). Please, 
if you have a moment, tell
me why you like it better.
 
You can comment on this blog or on FB. I do appreciate your time!

Below is a brief description of Oleander Girl, 
so you'll have a sense of which cover is more fitting.

Thanks as always for your support of my writing. 

Chitra

OLEANDER GIRL, A SNEAK PEEK

Korobi Roy, heir of an old and distinguished Kolkata household, has met and fallen in love with Rajat, the only son of the Boses, a high-profile nouveau riche business family. Their engagement is a grand affair, but that same evening Korobi's grandfather, who has brought her up since the death of her mother at Korobi's birth, passes away. He leaves behind a dark secret, at once devastating and exhilarating, which will shatter Korobi's sense of self and will thrust her out of her sheltered Kolkata life into a courageous and troubled search, with few resources, across post 9/11 America, a country that she finds at once dangerous, unwelcoming and alluring. What she discovers at the end will force her to make the most difficult choice of her life.

Meanwhile in India Rajat must struggle with his own challenges--outbreaks of Hindu-Muslim violence, in the wake of the Godhra riots, in the Bose's warehouse; money problems stemming from the vandalism of their New York art gallery; an ex-girlfriend who refuses to let him go; and his own jealous suspicions as Korobi travels through America in the company of a disturbingly attractive private investigator named Vic.

Set against a fast-changing world of social, economic and political tensions in India and America that will force the characters to question the beliefs and preconceptions they have grown up with, Oleander Girl is ultimately an exploration of the nature--and the cost--of love, and the ways in which it can help us survive in the midst of hate.

GREAT WRITING TIPS FROM GREAT WRITERS: ROBERT FROST

2012-07-05T19:43:16Z

Here is a quote I present each semester to my Creative Writing students for discussion:

Robert Frost: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."

I believe Frost has encapsulated some great writing advice and practices here, and I hope they will help you ponder some important writing issues and excite you about trying the related techniques out in your own work.

I am going to refer primarily to fiction, since that's what I teach and write, but I think these techniques will work well for nonfiction and poetry, too.

Frost has, very economically, given us 2 important precepts here.

A) "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."

It is important to feel the power of whatever issue we are writing about. The best way to do this, for me, is to feel the characters and be moved by their sorrows and concerned about their situation. Also, be excited with them, afraid with them, happy with them. In other words, get inside their head and have them become real to us. Otherwise they will become wooden mouthpieces for our ideas, and the reader cannot respond to that except with exasperation.

Often, to make this happen, I have to visually imagine a character going through a situation, (I use my other senses, too). For instance, in my novel One Amazing Thing, a group of characters are trapped in the basement of the building by a major earthquake.

As I wrote that section, I really tried to feel their panic. I closed my eyes and placed myself in a dark, claustrophobic space. I tried to feel the cold, dank water rising to my ankles. When I was writing the section where they are running out of food, I wrote on an empty stomach so I could find the right descriptions for the hunger and the panic they are experiencing.

B) "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."

This is a more complicated piece of advice. I take it to mean that the work, as we are writing it, has to develop in some kind of unexpected way. It is important to let the work (short story, novel, etc.) unfold organically so that this can happen. Often we plan the work--the scenes, the chapters, the rising action, the climax, etc. very meticulously. There's nothing wrong with that. I believe we have to do that to a certain extent if we are not going to get lost. As creators and architects, we need to have a plan or vision in mind. But we need to also allow the work itself manifest its power, to allow characters to do unexpected things, to approach the fictional world we are creating with a sense of child-like wonder, to be ready to see what might happen. It is a matter of balancing the two sides of our brain. Things come up out of our subconscious when we write. We have to give them space to be born. We have to trust that this will happen. Sometimes this means not knowing the end until we get there, and being okay with that.

E.L. Doctorow puts it perfectly: "Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

Sometimes those unexpected moments when shapes loom up out of the dark as we're driving through unknown territory turn out to be the richest in our writing. When this process works, it creates a powerful moment of discovery in the reader, echoing the discovery we felt as we were writing.

In my children's novel The Conch Bearer, I knew early on that the young hero Anand would be faced with a major choice at the end of his quest to return a magical conch to its home in the Himalayas.

He would have to decide whether to remain with the conch and the brotherhood of healers who were its guardians in the idyllic Silver Valley, or to return to his family in the city of Kolkata. Though I was tempted to figure out what Anand would do midway through the novel, I held off. I went back to the first part of what Frost suggested and tried to feel the boy's dilemma, his desire to be in both places at once, to balance the different loves and commitments in his life. It took me a while to discover what Anand would do. It was frustrating as I wrote and rewrote portions. When the decision finally became clear to me, both Anand and I were surprised by it. Readers have told me they were, too, and that this surprise made the ending powerful for them. Had I forced a shape on the ending of the novel, I know it would have been far inferior to what I finally managed to get.

I hope this post has been helpful and perhaps given you some techniques to try in your work. I would love to hear your thoughts, examples or questions on this or related topics.

Publishing Tip: How to Find a Literary Agent

2012-06-16T00:04:56Z

Many people have been asking me recently about the process of finding an agent and whether it's really important. Thus, this post.

If you are a fiction writer in America today, your chances of being picked up by a reputable publishing company--and of landing a good contract--will be greatly increased if you have an agent who is known and respected in the industry. I believe that, increasingly, this is occurring in other countries as well. Getting an agent is tricky but worth all the effort you put into it, because if things go well, this is probably going to be the longest professional relationship in your writing life. I've been with the same agent, Sandra Dijkstra, ever since my first book of stories, Arranged Marriage, and she has been a great boon to me.

A good agent will have many contacts, including personal relationships with editors, and will know where to place you and how much money to ask for. Agents will also know how to get you the best contract, and which clauses to watch out for. Come publication time, agents can push for more publicity, a better marketing budget, etc.

Below I'll list a few steps that I've found useful, and that have worked for many of the writers I know.

The first is to create a manuscript that you're proud of, and that you've revised until you don't think you can make it any better. Being in a classroom/workshop situation helps because it gets you valuable feedback. At the very least, try to be in a writing group with people who know what they're doing. Not only will the community support help your writing, it'll help you through the (sometimes long and disheartening) publication process.

Next, try to get short pieces published in good places, because this will get your name out there and will spark interest in agents. There are many excellent venues for short fiction and nonfiction. Do some careful market research. Choose magazines/journals that publish your kind of story, or stories by writers you admire. Don't start with the very top magazines unless you have rhinoceros skin. Many of them will not look at unsolicited manuscripts, anyway. The university journals are a great home for writers of literary fiction. You'll find a good list at the Newpages site, http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazines/, but there are many others. For every genre, there are many magazines out there, including reputable e-magazines, so just keep searching. Literary Marketplace http://www.literarymarketplace.com/lmp/us/index_us.asp is another comprehensive site, with a great section on agents.

For readers from India, here's a link to a general writers site which also lists Indian literary agents: http://www.writers.net/agents/country/99/.

Once you've established somewhat of a publishing history, you can approach an agent. Referrals work well-- if you know a writer you might approach, do it. Creative Writing programs are an excellent help in this regard--your professor might refer you to an agent if he or she likes your work. Also, attending writer's conferences is a good strategy. You can sign up for agent consultations at many of these, plus you get to know many people in your field. In general, it is an excellent idea to participate in writers communities and add value where you can. It keeps you motivate and abreast of what's happening, and the goodwill you earn will help in the long run.

If you can't get a referral, you can still approach an agent on your own. Do careful research; find an agent who works with writers in your genre, writers whose work you like. Acknowledgement pages of books are a quick way to find your favorite writers' agents. Research the agent's website thoroughly to find out their preferred means of being approached (email, snail mail, etc). Most agents want a query letter and a synopsis; some also want about 30-50 pages of your manuscript. Most prefer electronic submissions. But, as I said, check the website. It's usually fine to approach several different agents (though not from the same agency) simultaneously. Here's Sandra Dijksta's site, which should give you a good idea of the process of approaching an agent. http://www.dijkstraagency.com/bestsellers.html.

Next, write a great query letter and send off everything. Here is an excellent article on writing a strong query by Nathan Bransford: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html.

Then it's time to sit back, and be patient and resilient. This may take several attempts. Don't get disheartened. Remember, most of us writers had to go through the same process.

When agents shows interest, before you sign a contract, make sure to ask questions about their approach and what they believe they can do for their authors. Make sure you're in sync, because this is an important relationship, and you have to be able to trust your agent's judgment as well as his/her abilities, understanding of your work, and commitment to you. And remember: legitimate agents will take a percentage of your royalties and on-signing payment, but they never ask the author to pay a fee up front.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of scammers out there. Read about how to avoid them at this great website, Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/agents/.

That's it, friends. The process is fairly simple, though painstaking and time-consuming. Good luck with it!

Let me know if you find this helpful, or if you have questions I didn't address.If you know of other useful links, please share them here.

Where the Wild Stories Are: How to Find Great Ideas for Your Writing

2012-05-27T16:36:49Z

One of the questions I'm asked frequently when I give talks is this: Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Often I sense a certain pensiveness in the questioners, as though they were thinking, if only I, too, had access to that wondrous and magical land where stories come from!

Well, my answer to that question may seem somewhat simplistic and pedestrian, but it's something I really believe. Stories are all around us, like invisible spores in the air. We just need to have the eyes -and often the ears--to discover them.

It also helps to believe that every life is important, worthwhile, and dramatic in its own special way. That's something I feel strongly about.

When I was writing my first collection of stories, Arranged Marriage, I got a lot of ideas from just listening to other people's conversations. I would go to an Indian dinner party and sit in the corner and eavesdrop. That's how I picked up the line which occurs early in the story "Affair" ("You know, of course, that Meena is having an affair!")

Eavesdropping is a great technique. I recommend it to all writers!

Sometimes we just need to be willing to listen. People are often hungry for a patient and respectful listener. They want to tell someone what has happened in their lives. They want someone who will give them attention, who will not judge them, who will try to feel empathy for what they have undergone. A friend once told me that soon after she arrived in America, her husband was shot in a store robbery. Her story touched my heart. I thought of how terrified she must have been, so alone, so far from home. That became the kernel of my story "Clothes," though I was careful to change the actual circumstances and to create a set of very different, imaginary characters.

The idea for my novel Sister of My Heart came to me during a visit to my hometown of Kolkata, on a day when I wasn't thinking about writing at all. I happened to see an ancient marble mansion being torn down to make place for a high-rise apartment building--something that happens quite regularly nowadays in India. Even as I recognized the necessity for this change, I felt a deep sorrow. Something important was passing out of our culture, a whole way of life, a different definition of family. It gave me the impetus to begin the story of two cousins who live in a house like the one that was being torn down: their adventures as they push against the boundaries erected around them, and what happens when they fall in love with the wrong men.

Stories are all around us. Right now I'd bet there are a dozen possible stories floating around you--things you've seen at work, or on a bus, or at a party, or at your child's school, or overheard while waiting in a visa office. But you have to be vigilant so you can recognize them and capture their energy. And then you have to write them down, even a few words, even the roughest of notes, so they don't evaporate. Because stories will tend to do that.

That's why a writer's notebook is so important.

There are other places we can find stories. Books, newspapers, movies, photos, songs. More about that in another post.

Nostalgic Cuisine, or the Immigrant's Delight: An Indian Bitter Gourd Recipe from One Amazing Thing

2012-05-20T04:36:56Z

When I lived in India, I disliked bitter gourd with a passion. I thought it an unnatural, dangerous, distasteful vegetable, with its ridged skin not unlike the hides of alligators, its large, hard seeds that cracked and lodged between your teeth, and its acrid bitterness that remained in your mouth no matter what you ate afterwards. My mother thought otherwise. The result was many tearful mealtime struggles.

[Photo credit: Pbase.com]

So I am well aware of the irony in the fact that today bitter gourd has become one of my favorite vegetables, and that I try to present it in various palatable disguises to my own children. This has resulted partly because I've developed a taste for its unique, tangy bitterness and partly because I'm now aware of its health benefits. (It can help people with diabetes, toxemia, obesity, high blood pressure, and eye and skin problems, among others.) But mostly it is because of nostalgia, because the taste brings the India of my childhood back to me. In this, I believe I'm not alone. Food is an easy way to transport our culture to a strange land, and transport ourselves back to familiar landscapes at the same time.

In my novel One Amazing Thing, Uma's parents, who live in America, constantly cook the dishes of their youth, although they also add a new cuisine to their repertoire--another skill the immigrant must learn. "They celebrated weekends with gusto, getting together with other suburbanite Indian families, orchestrating elaborate, schizophrenic meals (mustard fish and fried bitter gourd for the parents; spaghetti with meatballs and peach pie for the children)."

Fried bitter gourd (which can be found, outside India, in Asian or Indian grocery stores) can be prepared in many ways in Bengali cuisine. Here is a simple version.

Thinly slice bitter gourd into circles (2 cups worth). Rub with 1/4 t turmeric. Add salt to taste. Put aside for an hour. Squeeze out excess water. (This makes it less bitter).

In a pan, add enough oil (I use Canola) to cover the bottom. Fry the bitter gourd slices on medium heat until they are crisp and brown. Add red pepper to taste. (I add a ¼ t). If you want to reduce the bitter taste further, mix in a ¼ t. sugar. Drain on paper towels.

Eat with hot rice.

For a complete meal, this first course can be followed by chochhori (a mixed vegetable dish) and a chicken yogurt curry, ending with mango ice cream for dessert. All these recipes are on this blog.

Enjoy!

Do you have your own recipes for bitter gourd? Or other nostalgic dishes from your childhood? Please post--I'd love to know of them.

Creating Powerful and Memorable Characters: Using Voice

2012-05-09T18:42:58Z

One of my favorite methods of creating characters is the use of voice--how a particular character speaks or thinks. Before I begin writing, I try to hear the character in my head. If I'm lucky, I'll come up with a memorable sentence right away (even if ultimately that doesn't appear in the beginning of the book). Then I ask myself, what makes this voice different from the other voices in the book? That helps me understand the character more deeply, with his or her motivations. Then I ask why. Why does this character speak/think like this? What might have happened in his or her life that has caused this voice? And that gives me backstory.

For instance, my novel Sister of My Heart has two narrators, Sudha and Anju, who are cousins and best friends. It was important for me to distinguish them clearly, as much of the irony in the novel rises from how differently each young woman interprets and reacts to the events that occur in their joint-family household. These are the opening sentences I came up with:

Sudha: "They say in the old tales that the first night after a child is born, the Bidhata Purush comes down to earth himself to decide what its fortune is to be. . . . That is why they leave sweetmeats by the cradle. Silver-leafed sandesh, dark pantuas floating in golden syrup, jilipis orange as the heart of a fire, glazed with honey-sugar. If the child is especially lucky, in the morning it will all be gone."

Anju's is: "Some days in my life, I hate everyone." (She follows this with a catalogue of who she hates and why--basically everyone except Sudha, whom she considers sister of her heart).

These first sentences set me on the course of portraying Sudha as slightly dreamy and a believer in tradition and destiny, and Anju as a rebellious and headstrong iconoclast.

Here are a couple of other writers who are consummate creators of voice, each in a different way.

Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City: "You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar although the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head."

Tagore, Home and the World: "Mother, today there comes back to my mind the vermillion mark at the parting of your hair, the sari which you used to wear with its wide red border, and your wonderful eyes, full of depth and peace."

You might also want to look up Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried," Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son, Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Streeet, Bharati Mukherjee, Desperate Daughters, and just about anything by George Saunders.

Voice can be addictive. And it can have its downfalls. More about that in another post!