Repeating Yourself… Repeating Yourself

I just finished the very talented Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes and certain elements of it reminded me of her book The Pact. And that got me thinking: As a writer, how do you not repeat yourself?

2007

1998

By this, I mean, how do you ensure that you don’t use the same phrase or comparison or even the same word or situation or character trait over again? How do you catch yourself? (For me, critique partners are McAwesomely Awesome at helping me see this sort of thing.) But after you have written a bazillion stories, how do you catch yourself–particularly stories that have been edited eight hundred times and you no longer can recall what actually stayed in the story and what went into the ‘reuse if possible’ pile?

The reason I bring this up is that in these two Picoult books when she flashes back to the moms being expectant, they both took long walks, right up to their due dates, and in both books the husbands make cracks about the wife giving birth out on her walk. As well, I noticed the use of a strange and rare word in a comparison twice (dang if I can recall it now though!) in Nineteen Minutes. This is something I know I do sometimes. Reusing a strange and wonderful word is so easy to do. You generally don’t think about that kind of thing as you are writing along. Also, I found that in both books the female teen characters both end up pregnant, and both feel less than perfect, but both put on the perfect facade in hopes that nobody will notice that they don’t quite fit and aren’t quite real.

Picoult has published 18 bestselling novels which is no small feat. So how do you keep it fresh in each story? How do you not fall into your own little groove? And can you? Is some repetition to be expected? I really don’t know, but it’s something I’m thinking about this week. That is, when I’m not changing killer poppy diapers.

Book Review for Wonder Woman: Love and Murder

Book Review: Wonder Woman: Love and Murder
Written by Jodi Picoult
Illustrated by Terry Dodson, Drew Johnson, Paco Diaz

This is a comic book/graphic novel. It is like several comic books made shiny and packed together like a graphic novel often is. The illustrations are vivid and powerful. The writing is strong and witty. I didn’t know much about Wonder Woman before this, but it’s safe to say I am now a fan.

When I first saw that Jodi Picoult (yes, the same Jodi Picoult who wrote My Sister’s Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, etc.) had written Wonder Woman, I thought ‘that sounds intriguing.’ When I realized it was a comic book and I was even more intrigued. A stellar storyteller, Picoult does a fine job of portraying Wonder Woman and slides her between two worlds–human and superhero.

Wonder Woman, a fugitive after killing Lord in order to save the world, disguises herself as human (with some interesting transportation problems–you have to put gas in a car? What’s that cost anyway?). Throughout the storyline, Wonder Woman struggles to determine where in the world (quite literally) she fits in. With enemies creating a war that endangers the humans she loves, Wonder Woman is pulled into the conflict. To make matters more interesting she finds herself pitted against her mother who has mysteriously returned from the dead. I will warn you, this book does end in a cliffhanger that will leave you frustrated. I need more!

Book Review: My Sister’s Keeper

Book Review: My Sister’s Keeper
By: Jodi Picoult

Wow. Talk about a story where there is no ‘right’ and no ‘wrong’. Picoult does a fabulous side of showing both sides of a difficult situation within a struggling family.

A family has a young son and daughter. At a very early age the daughter forms a rare type of cancer. She needs donors, but they need to be a very specific match. Nobody in the family is a match. Desperate to keep their daughter alive, the parents decide to create a designer baby. Nine months later, a baby girl is born and the blood from the umbilical cord is used to save her older daughter’s life. And thus begins the slippery slope of sacrificing one daughter for the other.

Things continue along the cycle of remission and flare ups until the younger daughter, Anna, reaches 15. Then everything goes to hell in a hand basket. Trust me when I say I’d like to tell you about it. Also trust me when I say, I don’t want to spoil any of the many twists by revealing anything. Seriously, go in blind and let yourself be shocked, wowed and gripped. I think I’m a Picoult fan!

I haven’t seen the movie, so I am unable to compare the two. However, I have heard that the sobs in the theater near the end of the movie make it difficult to hear what is going on. Maybe rent it. And keep the tissue handy. I know I will.

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