P.S.: Pleased to note that Verdi's Dream made the first cut in the contest (top 1000 of 5000 entries). Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. And fingers crossed.
Sono felicissima comunicare che il romanzo e' stato scelto fra i top 1000 di 5000 nella gara di Amazon Best New Novel. Meglio di niente! Ho le dita incrociate, anche se poche speranze (mai vinto niente nella vita, perché inziare ora?).
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Happy Birthday, Italy!
As the author of Verdi's Dream and a proud citizen of Italy these many years by virtue of my marriage to an Italian many years ago, I am thrilled to be celebrating the nation's 150th birthday, to be commemorated officially on March 17th. The 'triumvirate' of Italian unification--Verdi the musical genius, Garibaldi the revolutionary militant and man of the people, and Cavour the great statesman--seem unique to Italy, its cultural heritage and tradition of the humanities. How many nations can claim a great composer as one of its most inspiring founding fathers?
Although the action in Verdi's Dream unfolds during the last month of WWII, the novel takes its title and draws one of its major themes from Maestro Giuseppe Verdi's obsessions: liberty, unity, fraternity among men. The composer has never ceased to inspire his people--and people the world over who love and appreciate music and its power to motivate and touch hearts. So, to honor the moment in my own modest way, Verdi's Dream will be on sale on both Smashwords and Kindle UK and USA. And others have been kind to me as well with blogs and recommendations worthy of the Maestro! Thanks, keep reading, and keep loving Italian culture. Auguri, Italia!
Although the action in Verdi's Dream unfolds during the last month of WWII, the novel takes its title and draws one of its major themes from Maestro Giuseppe Verdi's obsessions: liberty, unity, fraternity among men. The composer has never ceased to inspire his people--and people the world over who love and appreciate music and its power to motivate and touch hearts. So, to honor the moment in my own modest way, Verdi's Dream will be on sale on both Smashwords and Kindle UK and USA. And others have been kind to me as well with blogs and recommendations worthy of the Maestro! Thanks, keep reading, and keep loving Italian culture. Auguri, Italia!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Questions from an attentive reader
From months of inactivity, I have returned to the blog and find myself writing frenetically to answer some very perceptive questions posed to me by an attentive reader who has just begun reading Verdi's Dream but has lots of "writer's" questions for me. She writes:
"I have just begun the text which certainly engages me. And I'm a very picky reader. Chpt. Two -- two guys, an Italian peasant and an American MIT man, couldn't be more different from each other, -- their thoughts, their feelings drawn with absolutely extraordinary skill. Brava!
You do seem to have the ability to be within each person and to bring back, in time slowed down to allow for intricate articulation, the inner workings of each. Do you know how you developed this capacity? Can you tell us? Or why this cluster of voices chose to speak through you?"
Well, of course I couldn't pass on questions like those. What writer could? My (long-winded) response:
I am not sure I understand the capacity you are talking about, probably because I am an almost completely instinctive or intuitive writer. I just feel the characters. I see them in a given situation. Afterward, when I get to the 2nd and 3rd drafts, I am quite good at analyzing the purpose of each scene and of each bit of dialogue ad nauseam, but this always comes after the fact--the fact being what I see and feel them doing on their first appearance. Somehow I seem to know how it all fits in to the overall story, even if I have no idea, in a 1st draft, how the story will play out though I usually know the beginning and the (general) outcome (as Kevin Kline so brilliantly said in A Fish Called Wanda, "What's the middle thing again?"; and I firmly believe the middle thing in fiction is the hardest to write, but more about that another time).
I am lucky, I think, in that in most cases when it's time for craft to enter the equation the reasons for each bit in the book, great or small, ultimately become clear to my rational writer's mind. I think it is somewhat akin, believe it or not, to a gift of mimicry I have always had. When I was a little girl my mother would say she couldn't take me anywhere because I would unwittingly ape the expressions on the faces of the adults we were with. As a writer, all I am doing is mimicking my characters. I just feel them and write it down. This is not to say it makes for good writing. That would be a completely idiotic statement because writing fiction has too many intricate components each fraught with problems. But it's a start, given my absolute conviction that good fiction is always character-driven.
Perhaps a corollary answer to your query is that on some very very deep level, we all write about our identity and our obsessions no matter how we gussy them up or disguise them. My obsessions (who I am and why) are multiple, and Verdi's Dream contains them all in spades, a bit within each character no matter how extremely different these characters are (and I think they are very different). They all coexist in me, however, and have simply found their voices through these characters.
Lordy, I do carry on.
So glad you are liking the book. I am 'chuffed', as the Brits say."
Would love to hear from others on these matters. Please do comment below, if so inclined.
"I have just begun the text which certainly engages me. And I'm a very picky reader. Chpt. Two -- two guys, an Italian peasant and an American MIT man, couldn't be more different from each other, -- their thoughts, their feelings drawn with absolutely extraordinary skill. Brava!
You do seem to have the ability to be within each person and to bring back, in time slowed down to allow for intricate articulation, the inner workings of each. Do you know how you developed this capacity? Can you tell us? Or why this cluster of voices chose to speak through you?"
Well, of course I couldn't pass on questions like those. What writer could? My (long-winded) response:
I am not sure I understand the capacity you are talking about, probably because I am an almost completely instinctive or intuitive writer. I just feel the characters. I see them in a given situation. Afterward, when I get to the 2nd and 3rd drafts, I am quite good at analyzing the purpose of each scene and of each bit of dialogue ad nauseam, but this always comes after the fact--the fact being what I see and feel them doing on their first appearance. Somehow I seem to know how it all fits in to the overall story, even if I have no idea, in a 1st draft, how the story will play out though I usually know the beginning and the (general) outcome (as Kevin Kline so brilliantly said in A Fish Called Wanda, "What's the middle thing again?"; and I firmly believe the middle thing in fiction is the hardest to write, but more about that another time).
I am lucky, I think, in that in most cases when it's time for craft to enter the equation the reasons for each bit in the book, great or small, ultimately become clear to my rational writer's mind. I think it is somewhat akin, believe it or not, to a gift of mimicry I have always had. When I was a little girl my mother would say she couldn't take me anywhere because I would unwittingly ape the expressions on the faces of the adults we were with. As a writer, all I am doing is mimicking my characters. I just feel them and write it down. This is not to say it makes for good writing. That would be a completely idiotic statement because writing fiction has too many intricate components each fraught with problems. But it's a start, given my absolute conviction that good fiction is always character-driven.
Perhaps a corollary answer to your query is that on some very very deep level, we all write about our identity and our obsessions no matter how we gussy them up or disguise them. My obsessions (who I am and why) are multiple, and Verdi's Dream contains them all in spades, a bit within each character no matter how extremely different these characters are (and I think they are very different). They all coexist in me, however, and have simply found their voices through these characters.
Lordy, I do carry on.
So glad you are liking the book. I am 'chuffed', as the Brits say."
Would love to hear from others on these matters. Please do comment below, if so inclined.
Channeling characters
Since my last post, I've had some back and forth on an Amazon historical fiction thread and have decided to share this bit which I wrote for the thread because many found it interesting. We were discussing how authors seem to 'channel' their characters; one novice author wrote that she was having trouble doing this with her latest novel and since she couldn't 'feel' her characters, the work was going slowly. I wrote:
"I guess I came at novel writing from the opposite end of the spectrum--that is, I didn't start writing fiction (this novel or the others) until it became inevitable. I mean until the characters were talking and moving and alive and wouldn't shut up until I told their story. Sounds spooky, but the characters, scenes, subject--the whole novel(s)--chose me, I didn't choose them. Don't be hesitant to own up to this weird process. I think all fiction writers experience it--at least that is what I get from the many biographies and interviews of fiction writers that I have read and listened to. The channeling is part of the creative process of writing fiction. I can also share with you the fact that such biographies and interviews of fiction writers have helped me enormously bc they made me feel less alone as a (unpublished, novice) writer, and in excellent company. I wasn't exactly 'talking shop' with these authors, but it was reassuring to me to read their experiences and feelings. If you read biographies of the greats, you feel even more reassured because they are professionally and critically fulfilled, so your spooky novice feelings can't be pooh-poohed as some demented thread of the beginner's unwieldly imagination.
The 'channeling' of characters is a natural, wholesome, and even necessary aspect of the fiction writer's imagination. It figures largely in biographers' psyches also. Another expression of this identification with our characters is the author/critic cliché that to create a successful (that is, well-delineated and believable) fictional character, the author must love the character, even the most demented, psychotic,insane or murderous character. Personally I believe that the most successful fiction is character-driven; reading about other people, fictional or real, is what makes fiction compelling and worthwhile. We identify, and somehow we are consoled about the human condition and can carry on with our lives just a little bit better knowing someone out there, fictional or real or author, understands what's going on.
Sorry to have carried on at such length, but I was provoked. I'd love to know what you think. you think.
"I guess I came at novel writing from the opposite end of the spectrum--that is, I didn't start writing fiction (this novel or the others) until it became inevitable. I mean until the characters were talking and moving and alive and wouldn't shut up until I told their story. Sounds spooky, but the characters, scenes, subject--the whole novel(s)--chose me, I didn't choose them. Don't be hesitant to own up to this weird process. I think all fiction writers experience it--at least that is what I get from the many biographies and interviews of fiction writers that I have read and listened to. The channeling is part of the creative process of writing fiction. I can also share with you the fact that such biographies and interviews of fiction writers have helped me enormously bc they made me feel less alone as a (unpublished, novice) writer, and in excellent company. I wasn't exactly 'talking shop' with these authors, but it was reassuring to me to read their experiences and feelings. If you read biographies of the greats, you feel even more reassured because they are professionally and critically fulfilled, so your spooky novice feelings can't be pooh-poohed as some demented thread of the beginner's unwieldly imagination.
The 'channeling' of characters is a natural, wholesome, and even necessary aspect of the fiction writer's imagination. It figures largely in biographers' psyches also. Another expression of this identification with our characters is the author/critic cliché that to create a successful (that is, well-delineated and believable) fictional character, the author must love the character, even the most demented, psychotic,insane or murderous character. Personally I believe that the most successful fiction is character-driven; reading about other people, fictional or real, is what makes fiction compelling and worthwhile. We identify, and somehow we are consoled about the human condition and can carry on with our lives just a little bit better knowing someone out there, fictional or real or author, understands what's going on.
Sorry to have carried on at such length, but I was provoked. I'd love to know what you think. you think.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Been a long time--but some nice news
I've been really lax with the blog, but we've got a new puppy [Sofia--see my Facebook page for photos]and some good free-lance projects in the works.
However, since November Verdi's Dream has gotten some very good (maybe even great) endorsements, the best being this one, below, from Amb. William vanden Heuvel, attorney, businessman, author, and diplomat. To quote Wikipedia, vanden Heuvel "was an early protégé of Office of Strategic Services [OSS] founder William Joseph Donovan...served at the U.S. embassy (1953–1954) in Bangkok, Thailand as Donovan's Executive Assistant.. ..Since 1984, vanden Heuvel has been Chairman of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations." So the Ambassador knows the novel's territory, framework, and indeed knew some of the personalities, from personal experience. He said, and I quote,
"Verdi’s Dream is an historical novel set in Milan in April, 1945. The Allied invasion of Italy and the bitterly fought campaign against the Nazi army was a battle of epic proportions. This fast paced, well written work by Lisa Kramer Taruschio tells the true story of the Nazi surrender negotiated by OSS representative Allen Dulles and SS General Karl Wolff, a story worthy of a great spy novel – which this is, a cross-cultural story of love, power, loyalty and betrayal played out as World War II comes to a close."
I'm very proud of this, though I have to admit, it's difficult to know what to do with it at the moment. More really good news follows. Stay tuned. Comments welcome, of course.
Go the the page Blog Translations for the Italian of this blog.
Andate alla pagina Blog Translations per l'italiano di questo messaggio
Go the the page Blog Translations for the Italian of this blog.
Andate alla pagina Blog Translations per l'italiano di questo messaggio
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Lisa Kramer Taruschio – Verdi’s Dream
The Indie Spotlight, a really good independent authors blog, published this feature today. I really like it because the bio information is just the right length, and the feature also includes the Prologue. However, the reported list price of the novel given in the article ($6.89) is wrong. The actual Kindle price is $3.99. But this was an Amazon glitch, not the fault of the Indie blog.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Partial Bibliography for Verdi's Dream
I suppose because I have referred to several sources for Verdi's Dream in interviews on the net, many of you have asked whether I have a bibliography for the book. So here it is. Go to the new page on this blog for a 99% complete bibliography for the novel. Just click on the page, in the right column. If you know of other sources that could be valuable, please let me know. Thanks for your interest! BTW, the most complete source, which I found was indispensable as a text for the basic information for the Surrender and as the time frame for the novel's plot, was Allen Dulles's account of the surrender entitled (duh) The Secret Surrender, which is still available in newer editions on Amazon.
In alcune interviste che ho fatto per Il Sogno di Verdi, mi è stato chiesto se avessi una bibliografia per il romanzo. Allora, eccola. Andate alla lista delle Pagine questo blog per (nella colonna a destra) e clicca sulla pagina Bibliographia/Bibliografia. La bibliografia è completa al 99%. Il testo base, essenziale, di riferimento, sia per l'informazione sulla resa segreta, sia per la cronologia del trama del romanzo. è stato The Secret Surrender scritto da Allen Dulles stesso. Il libro è ancora disponibile, almeno da Amazon. Naturalmente se siete a conoscenza di qualche altra fonte che possa essere di interesse, vi prego di farmi sapere. E grazie del vosto interessamento.
In alcune interviste che ho fatto per Il Sogno di Verdi, mi è stato chiesto se avessi una bibliografia per il romanzo. Allora, eccola. Andate alla lista delle Pagine questo blog per (nella colonna a destra) e clicca sulla pagina Bibliographia/Bibliografia. La bibliografia è completa al 99%. Il testo base, essenziale, di riferimento, sia per l'informazione sulla resa segreta, sia per la cronologia del trama del romanzo. è stato The Secret Surrender scritto da Allen Dulles stesso. Il libro è ancora disponibile, almeno da Amazon. Naturalmente se siete a conoscenza di qualche altra fonte che possa essere di interesse, vi prego di farmi sapere. E grazie del vosto interessamento.
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