Amalgamation

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writingI took a quiz, one that will supposedly analyze my writing and tell me what famous writer my style is most similar to.  I don’t put a lot of stock in it because I did it three times and got three different writers, including Chuck Palahniuk, Dan Brown, and Cory Doctorow.

So, which writers do I especially want to write like?  Great question.

I want to have the lyrical quality of Jandy Nelson and Peter Beagle and Leif Enger.

I want characters like those created by Melina Marchetta.

I want to raise thought-provoking questions just like John Green.

I want catch-your-breath imagery like C.S. Lewis and Markus Zusak.

And I want to command the senses the way Erin Morgenstern does.

Your turn!

Unashamed

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I have OCD!  I have OCD, and I don’t care who knows it!  (Can you picture me spinning around like Buddy the Elf?)

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No, but really, I’m not ashamed of my mental illness.  Why should I be?

Illness is not shameful.

I didn’t choose it.

It gives me a platform to help others.

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Most Memorable Secondary Characters

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Jape Waltzer of Peace Like a River by Leif Enger | Most memorable?  Yes.  For being absolutely terrifying– the wolf to Davy’s squirrel.  I still can’t decide how I would answer his questions.

Severus Snape of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling | For the ambiguous role he plays throughout seven epic books, and especially for all his secrets.

Ben Cassidy of Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta | At only 5’4″ this violinist sure has some guts.  Not to mention he is freakin’ hilarious.  I love that he is willing to go head-to-head with Jonah Griggs, even though Griggs is a tank.

Raffaela of Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta | “I can’t wait to tell him one day,” she says with a giggle. “‘Hey, Chaz, guess what? We knew where your precious car was all the time.’ I’d like to take a photo of his face. What do you think?” …

… “I reckon I’d smile really nicely in the photo,” Santangelo says behind me, yanking me out of the way, “knowing that you’ll be keeping it under your pillow for the rest of your life.” Gosh, I love the tension and hormones those two bring to the book.  | Chaz Santangelo of Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (noticing a trend here?) 

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Thomas Mackee of Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (what can I say?  She creates amazing characters!) | A bit of a tool in that first book, I think Thomas needs saving, just like the rest of them.  And then in The Piper’s Son … oh Tom.

Jimmy Hailer of Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (last one, seriously) | I can’t get enough of Jimmy, the sort of stoner, intimidating, hilarious, mom-friendly, pushy mess-up.

Neville Longbottom of Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling | What character transformation!  Zero to hero.

Mr. Tumnus of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis | Tumnus appears in three of the Narnia books, and he will always have a special place in my heart as Lucy’s first Narnian friend.

Max Vandenberg of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak | Is it fair to call Max a secondary character?  (He’s probably my favorite character of the whole marvelous book.)  I want a Jewish fist-fighter/writer friend.

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This post is a re-mix of one that originally appeared in March 2013.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Picture credit from deviantArt:
Mr. Tumnus by MedicineDoll
Max by ElakuDark

Bookish Superlatives!

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Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner is at it again!  I love her fun bookish surveys.  You should do one too.

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Characters

Most Likely To Change The World

Aslan from Narnia
(Is that cheating? :-))

Cutest Couple

Will Trombal and Francesca Spinelli from Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son

“Come here,” she says.
“No, you come here.”
“I said it first.”
“Rock paper scissors.”
“No. Because you’ll do nerdy calculations and work out what I chose the last six times and then you’ll win.”
Will pushes away from the table and his hand snakes out and he pulls her toward him and Tom figures that Will was always going to go to her first.

However, Eleanor and Park sure applied the pressure.

Class Clown

Jace from The Mortal Instruments series

Most Likely To Become Famous For Their Athletic/Musical/Artistic Abilities

Athlete: Rudy Steiner from The Book Thief
(Go, Jesse Owens!)

Musician: Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere
(“This is what happens when Joe Fontaine has his debut trumpet solo in band practice: I’m the first to go, swooning into Rachel, who topples into Cassidy Rosenthal, who tumbles into Zachary Quittner, who collapse into Sarah, who reels into Luke…”)

All Around Good Person

Webb from Jellicoe Road

Biggest Flirt

Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere

Most Likely To Be Fought Over

Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere

Mostly Likely To Be Friends Forever

Chaz and Raffy from Jellicoe Road
Frankie and Justine from Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son

Most Likely To Have Their Own Reality Show

Conner and Risa from Unwind.  It would be called “Inside the Graveyard.”

Most Unique

Stargirl Carraway from Stargirl and Love, Stargirl

Most Likely To Survive An Apocalypse

Katsa and Po from Graceling

Most Likely To Be A Villain

Tom Riddle from Harry Potter
(or Dolores Umbridge!)

Biggest Wallflower

Conrad from Ordinary People

Most Likely To Break Your Heart

Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars

Most Changed

Froi from The Lumatere Chronicles

Most Likely To Get Arrested

Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road

Self Proclaimed God/Goddess

Jace from the Mortal Instruments series

Best Person To Bring Home To Mom & Dad

Will Trombal from Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son

Books

Most Likely To Make You Cry

Duh.  The Fault in Our Stars.

Dares To Be Different (in world, plot, storytelling, etc.)

Everyday by David Levithan (fascinating, gender-bending premise!)

Best Dressed (pretty cover!)

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Most Likely To Make You Swoon

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Loveliest Prose

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
tied with
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
tied with
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
tied with
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Most Likely To Be A Favorite Of 2013

(Very much anticipating the following:)
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
Aimless Love by Billy Collins

Most Likely To Change The World (or change your life)

The Fault in Our Stars really *did* change my life because it showed me that I wanted to write YA fiction!

Book You Are Most Likely To Keep Putting Off

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Most Likely To End Up As Christmas Gifts For Everyone You Know

Jellicoe Road for everyone!

Most Likely To Be Thrown

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Most Likely To Be Reread More Than Once
(I’m an avid re-reader!) (No, really.)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Most Likely To Make You Read Through An Earthquake Because It’s THAT Engrossing

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Most Likely To Be Passed On To Your Children

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Most Likely To Break Your Heart Into A Million Pieces

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Most Likely To Brighten Up Your Day

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
(There has to be a reason I’ve read it six times in the last six weeks, right?)

My Bookish Bad Habit

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All through my childhood years, even into high school, I frequented the library in my small town.  My sister Kristin and I would literally go to the library five or six days a week– check out books, return books, search for books at another branch, use the internet (our parents were a little slow to get online).  I loved that little library, which was really just two small rooms of books– but part of a bigger network so that we could order what we wanted.

I still love the library.  The library I use here in the Twin Cities is connected to the Hennepin County system, so I have access to even more books than I ever used to.  I reserve a lot of audiobooks to listen to on car rides, and I pre-order books I’m especially excited about, and I check out books all the time.

But I have a problem.  I get too impatient.

I reserve a book, and then when I see that I’m 9th … or 22nd … or worse (back when I was checking out Harry Potter), I get too riled up about it, and I just go purchase the book.

Sometimes I skip the library altogether.  I’ll read a review and decide, That simply must be mine.

Then I hop onto the Barnes & Noble website and order it up.

I really ought to read the book first, don’t you think?  Especially for authors who don’t have a proven track record with me.

I buy faster than I read: I have so many books around my apartment that I haven’t had a chance to read yet … and still I keep buying.  The loading dock guys at the university where I work know me because they are bringing 1-2 packages to my office each week from Barnes and Noble.  It’s quite addicting– I love-love-love purchasing new books.  If I get a coupon in my email, I will find a book to buy.

LIBRARY, JACKIE LEA.  LEARN TO USE IT.  REIN YOURSELF IN.

Take a look at the picture below, and let me know where I should start!

I still need to read these 19 ... and have 7 more pre-ordered or on their way. I CAN'T STOP.

I still need to read these 19 … and have 7 more pre-ordered or on their way. I CAN’T STOP.

Childhood Creativity

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(First of all, the new students move in at the University of Northwestern in the morning– hooray!  A year’s [sometimes two!] worth of work parades in front of us today, and it’s fun and exciting and campus will be buzzing with teenagers embarrassed of their parents and about to meet their new best friends!)

childartistToday, for Random 5 Friday, I wanted to share with you some of my creative endeavors of childhood.  Next Friday, I’ll tell you about my high school exploits!

1. Story Society.
My sister Kristin, our childhood neighbor Amber, and I formed loads of clubs, but the best idea we ever had for one was the Story Society, which sadly was quite short-lived.  We had a clubhouse (a room in one of the sheds on our farm), which I painted.  Kristin and I went in there just last month, and one wall still says, “Story Society”; another, “Expanding our Imagination”; the third, a freehand castle with just one window lit up.  We were each supposed to write one story a week, then read it aloud at our club meeting and critique it for each other.  I remember my first story was this melodramatic piece about a jealous best friend who ended up shooting her friend’s boyfriend with a bow and arrow– only the friend jumped in front of her boyfriend, and the arrow pierced both their hearts.  Awesome, right?

2. Glamour Shots.
Kristin, Amber, and I wanted to do our own version of the beautiful Glamour Shots that adults sometimes did, so we raided the dress-up trunk and took *glamourous* (read: hilarious and awkward) photos with a disposable camera.  I distinctly remember choosing outfits Claudia Kishi of the Babysitters Club would wear.

3. Library.
You’re starting to see the roots of my current writerly nerdiness, aren’t you?  Well, how about this: one of the “games” we played was called Library.  Amber would haul some of her books down to our farm, Kristin and I would add ours in, and we’d lay them out on the deck stairs before each choosing one and then … reading.  (Let’s be honest, all I ever really wanted to do when I was a kid was just read uninterrupted.)  Amber had naughtier books than we did (i.e., books where girls and boys kissed), so that was a total bonus.

4. So many plays.
I wrote them.  Kristin, Amber, my brother Kevin, our friends Brandi and Tina, and I would act them out.  Most of these illustrious scripts have now vanished, but we do have one play (on rollerskates!) recorded on video.  It’s about rollerskating Olympics, and I was the star.  Of course.

5.  Mysteries.
For my sister and her friends, I would create these elaborate mysteries that they would then be tasked to solve.  Again, it was writing.  I’d set the scene for them, and then there would be a series of clues– some that would seem to incriminate various characters and some that (sneakily) exonerated them.  If you were to process all the clues together, you could come up with the culprit.  After everyone guessed, I’d read the true answer.

So, was I a dork growing up?  Yes.  Do I care?  Not a bit.  Look at how early the seeds of creativity were sown in me!  I’m proud of creative little Jackie Lea.

Random 5 Friday is a weekly meme over at A Rural Journal.

Sequels I am Dying to Read

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1. While City of Bones wasn’t my favorite, every TMI (The Mortal Instruments) book got better and better.  I am dying to learn what will happen to Jace and Clary (and Simon, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Maya, and Jordan too!).  Oh, and Sebastian …

heavenlyfireCOLLAGE

2. I love Aria and Perry and NEEDTOKNOW how everything shakes out.  Will the Tides and the Dwellers be able to live in peace?  Will they find the still blue?  And what about Roar??  (Spoiler free but hinty: I’m not convinced about Liv.)

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3. I was so completely irate with Juliette at the end of Unravel Me!  I mean, pissed.  I need to see how this whole clustercuss is going to end up.

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How about you?