Sister, Sister - Relations, Similarities, Connections and Cameos in Novel Writing

A while ago, I mentioned that series Chick Lit is one of my favorite types of novels to read. I think one of the main reasons I love it so much is that I get so attached to the characters and then become eager to follow them longer. If series take my number one rank, I would have to say that the appearance of character cameos (especially surprise mentions), is my second favorite. In a series, you expect the same characters to return, but in unrelated novels, by the same author, you wouldn’t necessarily have any expectation that the long lost heroine of your previous favorite novel would be back so soon in the latest release; but that is exactly what makes it so fun = the Unpredictability Factor of Surprise and Awe.

Originally the phrase "cameo role" referred to a famous person who was playing no character, but him or herself. Like a cameo brooch—a low-relief carving of a person's head or bust—the actor or celebrity is instantly recognizable. More recently, "cameo" has come to refer to any short appearances, whether as a character or as oneself.

Cameos are also common in novels and other literary works. “Literary cameos” usually involve an established character from another work who makes a brief appearance to establish a shared universe setting, to make a point, or to offer homage. Balzac was an originator of this practice in his Comédie humaine. Sometimes a cameo features a historical person who "drops in" on fictional characters in a historical novel, as when Benjamin Franklin shares a beer with Phillipe Charboneau in The Bastard by John Jakes.

One of my favorite authors, Emily Giffin does this in a few of her books. I felt so lucky when I won a “First Reads” copy of her latest novel, Heart of the Matter, through Goodreads’ author giveaways. I was even more delighted when it came in the mail and I could rip right through it as fast as my eyes would possibly read. One of my most favorite parts (other than the book, itself, being a new fabulous story of the intersecting lives of two women and their relationships and the very real turmoil that can occur when temptation, passion, lust and hindsight can cause all kinds of chaos amongst the lives of those you love most) was the cameo appearances of both Dex and Rachel from the beloved first novel , Something Borrowed. Dex is apparently Tess Russo's brother and we meet him again at family affairs and Tess even turns to hm and Rachel for advice as her life takes a parallel not to dissimilar from the beginning of their relationship. Unfortunately, however, because I was one of the first of my friends to read it, I had no one I felt I could share the good news with unless I was prepared to ruin the element of surprise that had made it so fun. Instead, I chose too vaguely refer to it in my review of the HOTM. You better believe it was the first thing I asked my fellow readers about when they had read it though:)

In such a way, a cameo appearance can be made by the author of a work to put a sort of personal "signature" on a story. Knowing this, I want to go back to the first Emily Giffin book I read that was actually her fourth book published, Love the One You’re With. It would be really interesting to me to see if these appearances pop up in more of her literary works.

On a similar note and as you probably have already been thinking about – cameos are much more commonplace in movies. As the definition, above, provided, a cameo is noted for its quick, yet unmistakable appearance and the actor, famous person, person of interest, etc. is almost never included in the credits for such a brief stint, which to me, brings even more of the magic and fun – similar to the element of surprise I referred to in HOTM. After all, a cameo wouldn’t be a cameo if we expected it to come.

  

I read recently (as I have been following, somewhat obsessively) that Emily Giffin will be making a cameo appearance of her own in the movie version of Something Borrowed, still in production in NYC. I read that other writers have done the same thing, including Lauren Weisberger, who portrayed Miranda Priestley’s children’s Nanny in the movie version of The Devil Wears Prada. I will definitely have to watch this movie more closely to witness this for myself. With all the Sophie Kinisella movies that have been in pre-production or at least picked up for thoughts of turning them into a screenplay, it will be really fun to see if there are any Shopaholic references or appearances by Ms. Wickham (Kinsella), herself!

I think it is important to note that stories or films that try to “hype” up their newest release by using characters from a previous work of fiction as a segue into the new novel are not included in the definition of cameos. Instead, these types of connections are called “spin-offs”. For example, in my era, Beverly Hills, 90210 was the popular show of choice for teens and women alike. To build excitement for the next soap opera, produced by media giant, Aaron Spelling, Melrose Place, Jake, a character from Melrose Place made his first appearance on 90210, as a contractor to Kelly Taylor’s mother’s home. In the first episode of Melrose Place, the crossover of characters continued as we see Kelly and friend, Donna Martin leave their famous zip code and venture on over to the apartment complex, soon to be just as famous, Melrose Place. Kelly and Jake have a (very) short-lived romance and sure enough, by episode three, Melrose Place had completely “spun off” on its own.

For now, I will continue to work on my own novel and who knows, if the characters become as likeable as I hope they will grow and develop to be, maybe I will be creating links, connections and future appearances in more of my own novels to come – and hey, if someone wants to put me on screen one day in the cinematized version of my book, please, by all means, count me in!

Happy Writing!

#Amwriting

I just wanted to apologize to my fellow bloggers for dropping the ball last week and not posting my usual Writer's Wednesday column. Things got really busy between work and (mostly) school; but now that my research paper is done, I am working on some great posts for this week.

One (that I actually started last week but just couldn't get it done in time) is going to be about how writers' use connections in their novel writing. Emily Giffin appears to be a follower of this trend. In her latest book, Heart of the Matter, we see the appearance of Dex and Rachel once again from Something Borrowed. Similarly, in Baby Proof, the lead heroine, Claudia works for a book publishing company and one of her favorite clients is an author from London, named Ethan, who is married to a woman named Darcy and she asks him about how his twin boys, John and Thomas (a reference to characters in Something Blue). I love reading cameos, connections and links like these! They make me smile and reminisce (especially if it was a really great book).

The second blog that I am going to be working on is going to be about using dialogue in writing. I have finally been picking up where I left off (eek! Months ago) in my own novel. Can you believe I even forgot one of the secondary characters names?!!!! That's when you know you are long overdue to get back to writing. Anyways, I worked on a few chapters yesterday, jumping around between chapters 2 and 3. filling in the dialogue I wanted to include to keep the storyline flowing and the chapters in order. I will be exploring the importance of dialogue and how you can reveal so much about characters through its use and examples of how to use it most effectively in your writing.

On another note, just to keep you all up to date on my To Be Read List, I have recently finished reading The Importance of Being Married by Gemma Townley, a new author addition to my list of chick lit faves. I also just finished wrapping up the audio cd of Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison, which to my delightful surprise was a spinoff to her first novel, Shoe Addicts Anonymous. As always, look out for my audio reviews at the Chick Lit Club.

I update my current reading list on Twitter a lot too if you want to follow me there as well. My username is cgraceh and my picture is the same as the cartooon pictured on my blog here:)

Thanks! Write a lot. Read more soon.