House Guests and Glue Sticks
Feb142010
I’ve been out of the loop because KRISSIE’S HERE! We’ve been having a marvelous time including marathon shopping yesterday (Lani had to stay home and teach her class which is a good thing because one or two stores and she quits) and then last night we collaged. We had stacks of paper and a pile of glue sticks, and Krissie and I had gone to the scrapbook store so we had marvelous things, and we glued until we were too tired to glue again.
The big discovery was that scrapbook collaging works better for Lani and Krissie. They did one page per character last night, and Krissie says she’s going to go on and collage the relationship, and Lani plans to collage the major moments in her plot. Then they’ll keep them all in a scrapbook, an easy way to keep their visual record of the book (as opposed to somebody who has these huge cardboard things sitting around gathering dust).
I think that they collage to find the details, and I collage to find the big picture, the book as a whole. Their collages are very clear, you can see their characters instantly, recognize the mood of their stories. I collage to see the whole story, so mine end up being incredibly complex with so much detail that a lot of it is lost and it just looks like a big jumble, which is okay because it’s about the process, not the product. Both ways of collaging do the same thing: they evoke story. Lani did her three main characters and they gave her the first scene of her plot. Krissie found out all kinds of things about her main character. And I have a much clearer picture of their characters and the moods of their stories because I’ve seen their pages.
I’m definitely adding the scrapbook technique to my collage classes from now on because Lani and Krissie soared on story last night. They’ve said I can take pictures of their pages, so those will be up in the next couple of days. As for me, I’m still trying to get the feel of the overall story so I have nothing yet that really evokes anything, but until then, here’s my start:
You’re going to love theirs. Stay tuned.
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67 Comments to 'House Guests and Glue Sticks'
On February 14, 2010 at 1:20 pm colognegrrl said...
Is this the collage for a new project or do you work on the Liz Danger books here? It doesn’t give me the overall feel of your Liz outline. But then, it might be just me. When I try collage, I mostly get stuck right away because I can’t find the pictures I’m looking for, then I get nervous because I’m wasting so much time in this while there’s real work to be done and then I stop.
On February 14, 2010 at 2:32 pm Jenny said...
This is for the collab book that Krissie and Lani are doing this summer. Completely different from Liz. It’s called Fairy Tale Lies, and it’s about Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Red Riding Hood after the not-so-Happily-Ever-After.
On February 14, 2010 at 2:46 pm Allie said...
Have you read the comic book series Fables? Willingham does a great take on Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White.
On February 14, 2010 at 3:38 pm Jenny said...
I have, but I didn’t care for them. It may just be that it’s just a male world view, but they weren’t for me.
On February 14, 2010 at 5:01 pm El said...
Read the first volume of Fables, liked some of the ideas, but didn’t connect with it at all. Was a very odd feeling.
On February 15, 2010 at 7:48 pm Moth said...
Are you not part of the fairy tale collab anymore then? *sad face*
On February 15, 2010 at 10:11 pm Jenny said...
In reply to Moth, up-thread:
Oh, yes. Mine is Red Riding Hood. She’s 57 and she’s pissed off. I love her.
On February 16, 2010 at 3:35 am Moth said...
And is that Hugh Laurie in your box as the hero? *excited face*
On February 16, 2010 at 3:36 am Moth said...
I don’t know why the reply button never works for me.
On February 17, 2010 at 10:28 am Jenny said...
I don’t know, either. Yes, that’s Laurie. We had to find guys who looked like they could be descended from wolves. Not as easy as you’d think.
On February 14, 2010 at 2:35 pm Robin S. Sorrentino said...
I like the scrapbook idea. I might do better with that than with just one collage. Hmm. I’m going to be by a craft store this afternoon.
I love your collages, Jenny. Before and after I’ve read the books.
Loved The Cinderella Deal.
On February 14, 2010 at 8:30 pm Jenny said...
Thank you!
On February 14, 2010 at 2:48 pm Laura Vivanco said...
“I collage to see the whole story, so mine end up being incredibly complex with so much detail that a lot of it is lost”
Your collages make me think of Daisy’s early paintings. Those were very, very detailed too, and if you looked closely, the details told the whole story.
On February 14, 2010 at 3:40 pm Jenny said...
Bob’s theory was always that he saw the whole story but missed on the details, so he made spreadsheets to keep track of the little things. I got buried in the little things, so I needed the collages to see the shape of the whole book. But I think a lot of it is what you just pointed out, Laura: I like tiny details, which is why I gave Daisy those paintings.
On February 14, 2010 at 6:51 pm Lora said...
Gah! Spreadsheets???? My grandma was so right: Men *are* different.
On February 14, 2010 at 8:40 pm Skye said...
Well, I’m female and I make tables and spreadsheets for many, many things, including plot stuff and details about characters. I also use them in my real life to keep track of what login I used where, which email account I use for what, job hunting, and so on.
Of course, then I sometimes get lost with my tables or forget I had made a table and I make new stuff. A database would probably be more useful.
On February 14, 2010 at 5:00 pm Chelle said...
Hmmm, scrapbook collage. Then I could collage the characters and the plot and the scenes so I could “see” them…wow. My brain just exploded. I think I need to go to Hobby Lobby tomorrow.
On February 14, 2010 at 5:02 pm Sam said...
The idea for Fairy Tale Lies reminds me of a mix of things–one of which is Gregory Maguire, who basically tells the fairy tales in a different way–best known being Wicked. And also Into the Woods. It sounds really interesting, I can’t wait to read it.
I think it’s really cool that you guys use collages to work on your stories, especially because I personally love making collages.
On February 14, 2010 at 5:04 pm El said...
Any idea why, when I click reply to a comment, my reply ends up following but not part of the thread? Has happened more than once, to my bafflement. (Anyone?)
On February 14, 2010 at 5:33 pm Jenny said...
Not sure what you mean.
If you click “reply” under somebody’s comment, your comment will follow that one. If you just comment in the comment box, your reply goes to the end of line.
On February 15, 2010 at 6:32 pm Meredith B. said...
I think sometimes if I take too long to work on a post, something times out in the backend of the site, and it loses track of where it’s supposed to be. Because you’re right El, sometimes mine don’t end up under the post I was trying to respond to. And I’m a pathological editor– I edit everything. I go through life with red pens stuck through my messy bun. So once I’m ready to submit my post, I copy my text out of the box (hold the Ctrl key down and hit “c”), hit the F5 button to refresh the page, relocate the post I wanted to respond to, and then paste the text into the box (Ctrl + v) and finally click submit. Hope that helps!
On February 16, 2010 at 9:15 pm El said...
Oho! Yes, that sounds like the problem–I’m also a pathological editor. Thanks!
On February 14, 2010 at 6:12 pm Savvy2 said...
I’m Bob. I make one spreadsheet for Cast of Characters, with notes of details unique to each character. My A-Z spreadsheet … first name-last name then last name-first name … helps me not to use similar names, too. It makes me crazy when I read a novel with similar names.
Curious, though. Do you subscribe to a lot of magazines so that you have a lot of choices of pictures at the tips of your fingers?
On February 14, 2010 at 8:08 pm Elisabeth Crisp said...
I was wondering the same thing. I’ve stockpiled so many glossies for my next manuscript–I’m starting to worry that I may have hoarding tendencies. Do you use google images and print hard copies or is this really manual cut and paste? I’m a day away from tossing all this stuff and now I have second thoughts.
I like the scrapbook idea. I tend to use the photos for details as well. It would be nice if the stuff I did actually fit in a banker’s box with the title on the side.
On February 14, 2010 at 8:42 pm Jenny said...
I mostly get my images from the internet, although I’ve gotten some good stuff from magazines, too, usually antiques magazines and Anthropologie catalogs. And then there are scrapbooking stores, the new crack dealers on the block.
On February 14, 2010 at 6:33 pm Mariah said...
Last year my 5 year old retold the Rapunzel story. She ended it, “then the prince tried to climb up her hair and snapped her head right off of her neck.” Then she rolled her eyes at the impossible physics of the original tale. She’s a remarkably cheerful yet scary little girl (her Barbies do not have long or happy lives), but apparently she’s in good company, questioning those happily ever afters. I’m looking forward to your version.
Rapunzel lives, right?
On February 14, 2010 at 8:44 pm Jenny said...
Lani says, “Not anymore.” I read her your comment and she’d laughed out loud. Your little girl has a HUGE future in fiction.
On February 14, 2010 at 10:09 pm J said...
That is a wonderful end to the story, because it’s so true, unless she happened to set up a very complicated compound pulley system. Hmmm…. yeah, that’s less likely.
On February 15, 2010 at 5:00 am Ingrid said...
I remember being puzzled by that problem as a child, until I saw a TV version where Rapunzel first wrapped her braid a few times around a metal spike on the window sill before throwing it down. The makers had obviously thought about the problem, and I was convinced. She just looked sort of dreamy holding on to her braid above the spike while the prince climbed up.
On February 16, 2010 at 2:29 pm Bethany said...
I like the spike idea. They did a mythbusters and found that hair could support a person climbing a wall so your eally would just need to wrap it around something to prevent strain on the head/neck.
I love the song “fairy tale” where rapunzel says that if she’d known men could climb hair she’d have cut it all off.
Also–is that Hugh Laurie?
On February 14, 2010 at 9:31 pm Katy Cooper said...
I have spreadsheets to keep track of ideas for names. (I’m writing a fantasy, so I’m making up all the names.) I have 729 saints in my book–when I figure out what a saint is patron of (frex, St. Karimer, saint of chaos and change), I make a note in the spreadsheet. Basically, the spreadsheet is a bunch of lists.
I’ve tried to collage, but so far, no joy. I haven’t given up, though. Mind maps have been useful when I’ve been trying to figure out a character. I suspect I’m not terribly visual…
On February 14, 2010 at 10:35 pm Skye said...
Mind maps are seriously fun, especially with software that lets you connect things from one set of lists to another, until all these interconnections begin to twine about. I think I need a 3-d mind map. And my attempts at collaging haven’t done what I want at all, even tho’ I am very visual. I am tempted to draw my “collage”, but I know it would be a tremendous time sink.
On February 14, 2010 at 10:44 pm Mary Stella said...
I always love looking at your collages while accepting that it’s not a technique I can employ. I’ve tried scrapbooking. Bought tons of the equipment with the optimism of age, forgetting that I’ve been scissors and cutting impaired since grade school. Do you think that the physical process of cutting, placing and gluing is necessary for the creative process for your character and/or story development? If not, maybe someone could develop a collaging computer program — sort of like there are electronic mind-mapping programs for corporate planning, etc.
On February 15, 2010 at 10:59 am Danielle said...
Mary Stella, you should read Jenny’s post on Scrivener. She did an electronic collage on there. Very neat, very imformative.
On February 15, 2010 at 11:02 am Dee said...
There is scrapbooking software on the market that allows you to collage on the computer. Some programs are available as freeware. Go ahead and Google scrapbooking and collaging software and you’ll see what I mean. A little help from the collage-impaired.
I’m a handwritten-notes-in-a-journal type. I start a new one for each project. Not the most efficient method, but the only one I’ve found that works for me. I tend to picture my stories/characters in my mind like I’m watching a movie and writing it down. I find that if I put a famous person’s face to my character, I lose the character in the actual person. Of course, I have that same trouble with watching movies, which is why I like character actors over A-list actors. With Christopher Guest, I see Nigel Tufnel or Harlan Pepper or Count Rugen; with Julia Roberts, I see Julia Roberts acting like a waitress, Julia Roberts acting like a hooker, Julia Roberts acting like an art curator… you get the picture. I end up directing a full-length movie in my head, but I don’t collage. I do soundtrack every book I read, though, so maybe there’s still hope for me. (In my head, again, but still…)
On February 15, 2010 at 11:58 am Jenny said...
I use Curio to do my electronic collages. I do cast trees with pictures, too. I’ll see if I can post one. I LOVE Curio.
I think it’s the juxtaposition of images that does the most for your brainstorming, but I have to admit, I love the process of cut and paste and I get a lot of thinking done while my hands are busy.
On February 15, 2010 at 5:06 am Micki said...
I love those little curli-cue things that seem to be fences of brambles. Do they sell those pre-made now, or did you cut those yourself? Reminds me of the Miss Fortunes cover, which I just loved . . . .
Also, love the idea of collages helping a detail-person firm up the big picture, or a big-picture person firm up the details. (-: Multi-functional!
On February 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm Jenny said...
The bramble things were pre-cut at the scrapbook store, I think in the Halloween section. It was a 12″ square and I cut it in half.
On February 17, 2010 at 1:33 am Micki said...
Too cool . . . and it’s somebody’s *job* to sit there and design these curly little things! (-: I wish I had a Michael’s within 500 miles . . . .
On February 15, 2010 at 5:44 am London Mabel said...
I used to clip magazine stuff when developing stories. But once Internet Land really got going, I kissed it all goodbye! It all goes down in the computer now. Mostly in Scrivener (but some spreadsheets too.)
I love seeing authors’ collages and such, though. I love to see how people develop their stories.
On February 15, 2010 at 5:58 am Diane said...
Wow. There must be something in the air for both twisted fairytales and collages. I also collaged yesterday – but I collaged an ‘affirmation’ collage of how I want the writing ‘career’ to go this year. Posted it up at http://weloveya.wordpress.com. And while my partner’s away I’m going to make as many collage poems as I possibly can – he doesn’t particularly like loose words escaping all over the house. (I think he considers them to be cockroaches or something).
And I must try the scrapbook idea – that way it won’t be left out for the cat to gnaw and scratch.
On the weekend I read about a book coming out in Australia about what happens after the girl marries the prince, and I’m doing the final edits on my own twisted re-telling of Cinderella and Snow White (what happens after they marry their respective princes who are cousins). So I look forward to reading Krissie and Lani’s fairy tale collaboration. I just love a twisted fairytale.
On February 15, 2010 at 9:54 am Diane said...
While I love hearing about the concept of scrapbook collaging vs big picture collaging I admit that I get totally distracted by the actual collage. Well, one image in the collage actually: is the placeholder male on the left Richard Armitage? (Be still my panting, Anglophile heart.)
On February 15, 2010 at 12:01 pm Jenny said...
Yep. That’s Krissie’s hero, Vilkas. So not the Prince.
On February 22, 2010 at 4:27 pm Cally said...
I just looked, and after straining my eyes to see, noticed Hugh Lawry there. And your character is the middle one, right? Is someone crushing on House, MD? Lol. If so, I can’t blame you.
On February 15, 2010 at 11:24 am Beki said...
I didn’t get the idea of collage, didn’t want to like it, didn’t think it would work for me. Then I just went ahead and did one as a fun crafty sort of time-waster. And figured out several important elements of my plot. What can i say, I’m a slow learner at times. That collage is hanging on my wall now and I look at it all the time, knowing if I hadn’t done it there wouldn’t be good jewelry all over the place in my plot.
On February 15, 2010 at 12:01 pm Jenny said...
I know. The damn things are magic.
On February 15, 2010 at 12:15 pm Michelle from Texas said...
While I don’t write, I scrapbook. What’s sad is I recognize different elements of your collage. Such as, I know the manufacturer of the “Once upon a time,” the red patterned paper, and the “bramble” paper. That’s the first thing I noticed. Then I looked around at the whole thing. My brain is just wired as a scrapper, I guess. You’re right, Jenny. It’s the new crack. And I gotta get me some!
On February 15, 2010 at 12:51 pm Briana said...
Oh! I love this! I’m so happy that you guys got to get together and have fun like this! That it benefits me, indirectly in the future is just gravy. I want to be closer to my like-minded friends so that WE can do this kind of thing. (Or have them come and visit. Or go visit them.)
This made me so happy.
On February 15, 2010 at 3:50 pm Jill said...
Krissie’s collage makes me thing of Sleeping Beauty. The prince fights his way through the brambles to slay the dragon There was a dragon, wasn’t there ? And rescue the princess.
On February 15, 2010 at 5:27 pm robena grant said...
I love collaging too, there’s something about cutting and pasting and thinking as you arrange it all. I’d never heard of doing a story collage until I came to this site. Now I can’t write a story without one. So, thanks for that.
On February 15, 2010 at 7:04 pm CrankyOtter said...
I totally love your collages but I don’t get them until you explain ‘em. Your explanations are always beyond anything I see in them. Please post them whenever you feel like. Regardless of whether or not I ‘get’ them, they’re visually lush.
However, I love collages generally. I still have my you-inspired condo design collage up because I love looking at it as the designs work out for real.
Coincidentally, a free calendar I got from a machine shop says this on Feburary:
My follow on is that little things become the big things. Good reasons to have goals (or collages) is so the details eventually do make a big thing.
On February 15, 2010 at 7:43 pm Jenny said...
Let’s see, the explanation for the base above. Well, there are three protags since it’s a collab. Krissie chose blue for Cinderella because it’s Cinderella’s color traditionally, I’m pretty much stuck with red, and Lani like yellow so she went with that. This is the collage for my character, so she’s in the middle and she’ll spread out to the sides, too, as the collage grows, but I wanted to get her flanked by her two friends since they’d be fighting together. So the bright papers are the City, civilization which is right next to the Forest where the Wolfe clan lives, deep in the middle of the woods in a dark castle. It’s dark vs. light more than good vs evil, and the center of the book is about needing a balance between dark and light, so the design is symmetrical. But there’s an imbalance in the world, the dark is growing stronger and the Forest is swallowing up the outer part of the city (thus the brambles) so Our Three have to go into the woods (they have to go, it’s time to leave, they hate to, though) after three things they desperately need. Red Riding Hood’s granddaughter has run away into the woods and that’s her crouching in the leaves in the lower right hand corner of the collage. Zel’s chasing after the con man who stole something from her, and I forget why Cinda goes in, but she has good reason. So it’s like The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes and Dogs and Goddesses, three women with three quests that become one and three love stories that interlock. This is the very beginning. Lani wrote her first scene after doing her collage and Krissie and I are still in the “Hmmmmm” stage, but the collage jumpstarts the process.
On February 15, 2010 at 10:39 pm Jeepgirl said...
Have you seen Hoodwinked? Another take on Red Riding Hood.
On February 16, 2010 at 10:30 am Brenda Bradshaw said...
You know what — lightbulb moment! I could never really wrap my head around the collage, but scrapbooking a page per character, per scene — it clicked!!! I’m SO glad you posted this!!! Thank you!!!
“She’s 57 and she’s pissed off.” HAHA — I cannot wait!!!!
On February 16, 2010 at 1:49 pm Lori J. said...
Is “dark vs. light” the theme of the book? Or is it too soon to tell? I’m on a theme kick right now and it seems to me once you (or me) figure out what your theme is then a whole lot of answers fall into place. Or I’m just kidding myself.
Love the collage. So beautiful.
On February 17, 2010 at 10:31 am Jenny said...
We won’t really know the theme for sure until the first draft is done which won’t be for ages because we’re all working on other books, but it’s about the need for balance between dark and light, that dark and light need to work together to create a whole, not struggle to dominate. So much in our world is out of balance right now that I think we just gravitated to writing about it in an alternate world.
On February 16, 2010 at 1:52 pm Erin said...
Jenny, words cannot express how much I love you for using Hugh Laurie as your hero. Well, assuming he is, in fact, the hero. No one ever gets why I think he’s sexy.
On February 18, 2010 at 1:18 am followingtheroad said...
I get it. He is sexy. Although I get that look sometimes when I mention it to people.
I believe it’s in the eyes.
On February 22, 2010 at 5:09 am inkgrrl said...
Hella sexy – brains and a great twinkle in his eyes.
On February 16, 2010 at 4:20 pm Julie said...
That’s a beautiful start. I’m very excited for this future books. Mercedes Lackey has a series redoing a lot of fables/fairytales. I have some not admiring things to say about them, but they are definitely and interesting take on the disneyfied versions. The female protags are usually very smart too.
On February 17, 2010 at 11:51 am Lori J. said...
I know you know this, but you three have some wicked smart imagination.
On February 17, 2010 at 11:53 am Lori J. said...
Weird, my comments aren’t at the bottom. Oh well, on to the newest blog post.
On February 17, 2010 at 5:04 pm Sheri said...
I could get behind the scrapbook-idea for collaging. I have nowhere to put up a big board, so the book would be a better choice. Thinking this would be a great way to get into my heroines’ heads for my fantasy–it gets so complicated after awhile keeping the threads straight!!
On February 17, 2010 at 5:08 pm Sheri said...
Hmmmm–think the cyber gremlins swiped my last post… *sigh* Ok, so I like the collage idea, but the scrapbook method really clicks with me. A page a person would keep everything straight and keep it all in one place rather than strewn around the computer! Plus I don’t have anywhere I could put a big collage… I think I may actually give this a shot for my fantasy. I only work on it when I have time and this would keep everything fresh so I don’t have to go back through the story so much to remember what I was thinking. My notes would make so much more sense then!! <3
On February 18, 2010 at 1:26 am followingtheroad said...
That picture just makes me think “Slumber Party! Wheee!” I think it’s the robe.
Anywho, your collage looks fascinating. I can’t wait to see it filled. I love tiny details. And wolves. And twisted fairytales. Especially twisted fairytales. That’s how I got hooked on Robin McKinley when I was a teenager. Beauty pulled me in.
On February 18, 2010 at 2:31 am Marta said...
I am suddenly 15 again, being walked home through the woods by my first ‘steady’ boyfriend, who serenaded me with “Little Red Riding Hood” the whole way.
On February 20, 2010 at 3:30 am Hannah said...
I can’t wait for this book! I am in love with The Cinderella Deal, bought it a week ago and am on my third time of reading it. This project looks amazing