“Winter is the season of alcoholism and despair.”

—Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

“We just want to live. If anyone would let us.”

—Jeffrey Eugenides - The Virgin Suicides

megan whalen turner stuff!!!!!!

so i went to a conference megan whalen turner was the guest of honor at, and i thought i would share some notes in case anyone was interested!

  • her keynote address focused on writing YA and the issue of censoring books 
  • the most important thing was to teach children to judge books and to judge them well, and understand that you are empowering them by allowing to make these decisions for themselves
  • children/young adults are intelligent and we should trust them to make reading choices
  • the freedom to say no to a book is as important as the freedom to say yes. it’s good to figure out what you are and are not comfortable reading.  the point is that you are giving young readers the right to discover these things themselves

queen’s thief stuff!!!

  • she doesn’t have a timeline for when the next book will be out. subscribe to her updates on author tracker and you will be notified as soon as there is any news
  • her publisher has pushed her to create a map of the peninsula, but she doesn’t like the idea of it because she wants readers to be able to create their own experience, plus she feels like most maps look too middle-earthy by default
  • she things the most important thing is to challenge your readers and let them piece together details of the story. this is why she hasn’t explicitly stated gen’s age, and she never will say his age. 
  • she also doesn’t specify how you should pronounce character’s names (she says yew-GEN-uh-dees but she’s like, everyone live your dreams)
  • she loved readers coming together in online communities and working things out, asking others to help them understand passages, etc.
  • she says she’s browsed the lj community sounis and most readers are able to come to the conclusions she has come to (ie gen’s age, etc) but she loves that people are able to determine these things on their own

“He had forgotten, as he always forgot, how beautiful she was. Her hair was held away from her face by the ruby and gold headband that crossed her forehead just above her dark brows. Her skin was flawless and so fair as to be translucent. She was dressed as always in imitation of Hephestia, but it was far easier to imagine the impersonal cruelty of the Great Goddess than to see cruelty in the face of the queen of Attolia. Looking at her, Eugenides smiled. Attolia saw his smile, without any hint of self-effacement or flattery or opportunism, a smile wholly unlike that of any member of her court, and she hit him across the face with her open hand.”

—Megan Whalen Turner, Queen’s Thief

“Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time.”

Eddis to Eugenides, The Queen of Attolia pg.68

“[Irene] means ‘peace,’” Attolia said. “What name could be more inappropriate?”

Attolia, Two Hundred Odd Pages Later

“Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling. I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." I'd like to show how "intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members" connects with "the hatred of mirrors that begins in middle age." I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered my story, I need them more than ever.”

—Jeffrey Eugenides

“When you stop fussing,” Gen had said, slipping to his knees beside her couch, “I will sleep with two knives under my pillow.” Attolia had looked down at him and said sharply, “Don’t be ridiculous.” Only when Eugenides laughed had Sounis realized her implication: If she ever turned against Eugenides, a second knife wouldn’t save him. He almost swallowed the olive in his mouth unchewed. As he stared, Attolia had brushed Eugenides’s cheek almost shyly before sending him with a wave back to his own couch.”

—A Conspiracy of Kings, Magen Whelan Turner
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