Ebook. The term is ebook. (I get the impression that Modelland's prose is written in the way that Tyra actually talks.)
Tyra says that she has many people and places to thank. And she does list quite a few places, including restaurants, hotels, diner room tables, cafés, and vacation spots.
She also mentions some behavior that's a bit rude.
And a special thanks to the Crosby Street Hotel restaurant. Sometimes I'd sit in one seat for eight hours at a time, ordering breakfast, lunch, then dinner, only getting up for bio breaks. I know I abused the privilege of that corner window seat.
Look, I know that society is often willing to bend over backwards for famous people, but taking up a table all day is rude, regardless of whether you're famous. It's rude towards your waiter/waitress, since one of their tables is being monopolized, which cuts into their tips. (And if shifts change while you're there, you may be depriving someone of a tip entirely). It's also rude to other patrons, who have to stand around waiting for a table to free up.
I wish I had a job that let me go on "swanky" retreats to write a novel instead of actually working.
I can relate to ideas coming from strange places.
But when you start listing all kinds of exotic locales as backdrops for your writing (Lake Como is in Italy), it's hard not to take it as bragging.
During the writing process, she went to Morocco for several weeks.
Why would you read to someone who couldn't understand you? Isn't that kind of wasting their time and yours? Maybe she just liked hearing herself talk. Also: Tyra, you're famous. Publishers will jump at the chance to publish your work regardless of quality. Normal people don't get that kind of treatment.
She says that a majority of her time writing was spent in libraries. Which I heartily approve of. Libraries are awesome. She thanks the librarians and apologizes for eating fudge under the table.
She thanks some her professors. She thanks one professor for teaching her about Hindi and Indian culture (which shows up extremely briefly in Kamalini's flashback).
An English professor would have been a better choice for writing advice. And I seriously doubt someone told you to shoehorn tragic backstories that don't actually a noticeable impact on the characters. And if someone did tell you that, they were wrong. There's nothing wrong with a tragic backstory, but if you are going to include them, it should help shape your character and help explain their motivation. Not just be tacked on.
She thanks her book agent for suggesting that "supermodel" is overused and suggesting coming up with something else. So now you know where "Intoxibella" came from.
Uh, okay.
So now we know where the name Lauro Brown came from.
She thanks Stephen King and his book On Writing. And apparently she did read the book, since she apologizes for her overuse of adjectives and adverbs.
Given the way the book goes, I'm also going to assume she followed Stephen King's advice to write without outlining or plotting out the story first. No disrespect intended to Stephen King, but that method does not work for all writers. Tyra seems to be a writer who would have greatly benefitted from a detailed outline to help her not lose focus on the plot.
If you could leave the company for months without repercussions, why was running it and working on Modelland so stressful?
1000 pages? That's over 400 pages longer than the book ended up being. And it explains so much when it comes to all the plot threads that never get resolved and things that get mentioned and never seen again. I'd say the book still needed a lot of pruning, though.
She thanks the reader for spending time reading her book.
Well, this liveblog contains most of my feelings about the book, so if you really want to know, just read the liveblog. I doubt you're going to appreciate what I have to say, though. Just know that my criticisms aren't directed at you, they're directed at your writing. I think you had good intentions, even if the end result wasn't very good.
Tyra then thanks her family, finishing with her mother.
So Tookie was based off of Tyra, and Ci~L was based on her mom. That explains a lot about why the book was focused on almost exclusively Ci~L and Tookie. It also explains why the two characters are pretty much allowed to do anything they wanted without consequence or being called out on their questionable actions. (All while everyone who isn't obviously evil thinks they're wonderful.) It's insanely hard to write insert characters objectively.
Well, I'm off to reread Modelland. See you in a week or two for my final thoughts.
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