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The cover of this book say it's a debut novel. So I thought I'd read it with a kind eye. I didn't have to. In fact, I had to force myself to put it down a couple of times.

And now I'm not quite sure what to say--so many things are going on in this book.

Nicci seems to be like any other 20-something single, dealing with work, dating, and family. And like others, she's not quite satisfied. Through the events in the book, she begins to realize who she is and what she wants out of life.

It sounds pretty ordinary, describing the plot like that. But what makes Coffee and Kung Fu special is the characters. Nicci, of course, with her habit of judging dates by the type of movie they like, but also the large cast of secondary characters, from her friend Carol to the mysterious guy at the coffee shop. They're all very vivid and three-dimensional.

I enjoyed the snippets from Jackie Chan movies that Nicci uses to illustrate greater truths. I'm really feeling the urge to watch some Jackie Chan movies.

Coffee and Kung Fu is a perfect title for this book, even though Nicci doesn't drink coffee. The coffee shop and kung fu movies are the two things Nicci can count on while everything else is crashing in on her.

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Registered: May 2003
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Thanks, Darla! I'm glad you enjoyed the book. It *is* hard to describe in just a few words--something that makes me stumble around and sound like an idiot when people ask, "What's the book about?"

Here's the synopsis kind of thing I've come up with--now if I could only memorize it and spit it out in such a way that the eyes of the person asking the question wouldn't glaze over before I finished!

"The daughter of American missionaries, twenty-six-year-old Nicci Bradford must confront her life and her future in the United States. To help her, she has philosophy and insight from classic kung-fu movies starring Jackie Chan. Although she feels a strong connection with a rootless wanderer named Ethan, who works at a nearby Boston coffee shop, Nicci finds herself being sucked into the shallow world of 'proper' and 'normal' in US society. In the end, she is faced with a fork in the road: to go along and become the proper all-American woman with the beige house on the cul-de-sac or to break free and follow her dreams."

I don't know if that helps or not!

Karen B.

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Karen,
Yes, that does help. My daughter was intrigued by the title & asked me what it was about, and I fumbled around a little bit, then just had her read a few pages. She's going to read it next.

I loved how whenever Nicci was feeling uncomfortable or unhappy with things, she was drawn to Ethan & the coffee shop. It made me realize well before she admitted it to herself that he was better for her than Rob.

So, do you like Jackie Chan movies, or is it just Nicci?

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I love classic kung-fu movies--and not just classic Jackie Chan. It started when I was eight years old. At that time, the theaters in our area of the Philippines had the "double feature" option. You paid and saw two movies. My parents wanted to see this inspirational movie about a woman who had a mountaineering accident and was paralyzed--I don't really remember the details--but the other feature was the Five Shaolin Masters (US title: Five Masters of Death). I loved every minute of that movie and spent every minute of the inspirational one rewriting the story in my head so I had a role! I don't think my parents were terribly thrilled with the outcome of that excursion!

As for relating movies to real life...I think a lot of people do that. Or maybe it's just the people I know....

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That sounds like my husband's experiences growing up in Germany--only with him, it was those sci-fi movies from the 50s & 60s. (He grew up in the 60s--the theaters played matinees in the summer for 50¢ & a lot of them were old movies.)

I have to say, reading Coffee and Kung Fu gave me a new appreciation for the classic kung-fu movies. I'll have to start renting some. I'm sure my husband and sons will watch them with me. My daughter's much too sophisticated at the moment. (She's almost 18.)

So, all the usual questions: how did you come up with this story? How long did it take you to write it? How long to get published? Do you have a critique partner or group? Are you working on something now? What kind of fur-bearing house mammals? (we have 1 dog, 1 cat, 1 rat, down to only 1 hamster from 4--it's been a bad year for hamsters , and 3 aquariums with assorted fresh & salt water fish, crabs, anenomes, etc.)

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Registered: Apr 2003
Location: virginia, U.S.A
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Hello KarenB and Darla and everybody else stopping by for COFFEE AND KUNGFU. I don't see any tea around but that's okay. We're in Karen's wonderful story. I've only read excerpts and am impressed, very impressed, that Cosmo is plugging it.

Darla's questions are good. If you want to share all that info. And Darla, it's still raining here. It's been raining ever since we started talking Stop that raindance!

Karen your book idea is so original and I'm so happy to see you expanding the spectrum of novels for readers that I'll go for that coffee.

Step up and take a bow, girl.

Sabeeha

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Hmm...a very bad year for hamsters at your place!

Easy question first. We have (or are owned by) four cats and one dog. At one point we had some fish--which the cats ignored, btw--but I can't stand watching something all penned up, so that experiment didn't last long.

How did I come up with the idea for Coffee and Kung Fu ? That's a bit of a tough one. My ideas roll around in my head, gathering lint or something, until they form dust bunnies so large they have to be put down (on paper, I mean <g> ). I don't really "come up with" the idea at all. It sort of hides behind a bush and ambushes me. Any manuscript where I've "come up with" the idea is still sitting on my hard drive because, well, it stinks!

Coffee and Kung Fu ambushed me. And when an idea ambushes me, the writing is over in just a few months. From first day to end of rewrite was 2.5 months. But the book was probably 8 or so months in the making because I was struggling along on a failure of a manuscript that I didn't yet realize was a failure. I'm not sure any of that makes sense....

I don't play well with others ...so to answer your question about whether I have a critique partner or group, well, the simple answer is "no, I don't." Part of that is the way my ideas ambush me, part of that is simple selfishness. "Those are *my* characters. You can't play with them. Don't touch!" LOL

It took me about 2 years of writing and submitting before I sold Coffee and Kung Fu. I'm grateful for those two years because the four manuscripts I wrote before CKF were simply awful. I hadn't found my style yet, so I flopped around trying everything from category romance to fantasy. But quests and buff heros sort of leave me cold, so it's no great mystery why those books stank up my hard drive! Maybe that's why this last hard drive has lasted so long....It wasn't having to read all that drivel as I typed it in...hmmm.

As for what I'm currently doing...well, I'm in the middle of rewriting Separation Anxiety, which will go on sale in June 2004. The next book is still gathering lint...

Karen

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Coming in November 2006 from NAL Accent:
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Hi, Sabeeha! I'm glad you dropped in! And I prefer tea, actually, although I'm drinking coffee right now and wishing we had some of your rain!

I won't bow...I did something to my back the other day, and bowing might result in an odd never-before-seen yoga position of my face in the rug and my butt in the air.... <g>.

Karen

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The Girl She Left Behind (NAL Trade 7/05)--An RT Bookclub Top Pick!
Coming in November 2006 from NAL Accent:
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Registered: Apr 2003
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No, no, Karen don't invent a new Yoga pose

Those critique groups work for some people I think especially in series romance but they don't work for other people (myself included).

So your books are autobiographical?

Sabeeha

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Okay, Sabeeha, I'll leave off trying out yoga poses!

Autobiographical....you know, everyone asks that.

Long answer? I think it's because the book is written in first-person and because the character (Nicci) has a similar background to mine (missionary kid raised in the Philippines, etc.), and given that the writing is similar to my own style of talking.....Well, I've tried, but I can't convince people that this book isn't autobiographical.

Short answer? It isn't!

I do think that authors put something of themselves into every book--that is, turns of phrase, snippets of conversation, ideas the author might have expressed in public , those kinds of things. But the book is no more autobiographical than the ones where the author was born in New York (city) and wrote a book about growing up in New York.

And I suppose I'm a little touchy about it . Probably because I've had so many family members say, "I didn't know that's what you thought about me/my hobby/my children/the dog/Grandpa/whatever." You name it, I've heard it.

Kind of a long answer to a simple question, huh?

Karen

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Coming in November 2006 from NAL Accent:
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Hi all,
I've been getting this question a lot, so thought I might post the answer here! What are my favorite Jackie Chan movies?

It depends on my mood actually , and there are too many to list, but my all-time favorites (with favorite at 1) are:

1. Fearless Hyena
2. Dragon Fist
3. Shaolin Wooden Men
4. To Kill With Intrigue
5. Drunken Master (the original, not the one put out in the 90s)
6. Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin
7. Young Master

And I should stress that anyone wanting to watch the movies should watch them in their original language and try to find the ones which have not been cut. Usually the DVD versions are the best, but the remastered DVDs of Dragon Fist and Shaolin Wooden Men have all had large portions of the plot cut out.

There you have it!
Karen

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Available now:
The Girl She Left Behind (NAL Trade 7/05)--An RT Bookclub Top Pick!
Coming in November 2006 from NAL Accent:
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Registered: Jun 2003
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Hi Karen,
I just finished your book this morning. I tried to read on through the night, but had to put it down for some sleep at 1am (I'm usually a 9pm kinda person).
I was really drawn into the story. For a while, I was fighting Nicci to open up and reveal more of herself to her workmates, and I was mad that she was so passive with Rob. But I began to see that this was going to be her character arc and started cheering her on.
This was really good. At some point I am going to want to read it again and try to figure out the turning points, the strengths, weaknesses, and motivations; but for right now, I am so happy with the book, that I just want to feel the satisfaction of a good book read.
Thanks so much. Looking forward to your new one next year.

Holly

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Hi Holly,
Congrats on being a brave new person on this thread, LOL.

And I'm glad you liked the book. I love to hear that it kept someone up past their bedtime, LOL.

I'm never sure what to say when people look at my books for turning points and character arcs! I tend to work in themes rather than specifics, so I don't have a clue where any of those turning points and motivations occur! They just happen naturally to the character when it feels like the time is right for the character--sometimes (and I've heard your frustration expressed a lot) not when the readers (or writer) wish that they would.

I guess this easy-going approach is probably a result of spending an entire life making up stories in my head and reading. I've tried to plot books before. I've tried to do the character interviews. I've tried just about <i>everything</i>. But in the end it's sort of a "Six Characters in Search of an Author" kind of thing for me. Some character arrives, informs me that I'm going to tell her story now, and I start writing. It's a very ... hmm ... free form kind of writing. Drives me nuts sometimes!

That doesn't mean I don't like to analyze fiction--others and my own--I just look for things like, "How did this author put me into 1930s France with just 3 words?" "How did he/she tell me what this story would be about without my realizing it?" "What are the themes that lie in wait under the surface plot?" It gets downright tiresome for people who have to listen to me read them 3 or 4 paragraphs and then expound...

But I do love to hear it when someone says that they just enjoyed CKF as a good book!

Thanks!
Karen

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Available now:
The Girl She Left Behind (NAL Trade 7/05)--An RT Bookclub Top Pick!
Coming in November 2006 from NAL Accent:
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Registered: Jun 2003
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Construction

Constructing and deconstructing are new challenges for me. I am primarily a visual artist, but I am now trying to learn how to tell a story and Jenny's [Crusie] Cherry Writers Yahoo group has been a MFA quality learning forum. That group is where I met Darla (or are you on Fans only, Darla?).

I am learning how to do this deliberate look at structure and then, I hope it will become ingrained and I won't have to think about it, I'll just be more aware when a book is well constructed.

And then, I know that I can construct the hell out of a plot, but if I don't make the characters live, structure ain't going to help. I'm not sure that can be taught.

So, all that said, with CKF, I bonded with Nicci. She remained true to her self so that when she began seeing Rob, I was very uncomfortable as he was not the sort of person that she would seek out on her own - and yet I could understand it. And Rob was not an all bad person, although he became more tunnel-visioned as time went by - his actions were believable. I think a lot of men don't want to put any energy into a relationship and if they choose someone who seems to fit their vision, the man doesn't want to look any deeper. He just wants to lock the relationship down and never think about it anymore. I sensed more danger from him in that, than I did in Nicci's fear of the beige life her sister chose.

Does this stuff make you crazy? I can keep this to myself or talk to Darla about it, if it does. Also, you might read Jennifer Crusie's Crazy for You for a different take on the same sort of antagonist.

Holly

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No, Holly, this stuff doesn't make me crazy. I love it! I only get uncomfortable when someone says to me: "What writing books did you use?" Which is uncomfy because the answer is: none. Which usually makes me look like an uptight, snobby little b****, .

I read Crusie's CFY years ago. I think it was one of her better mainstream books. Yes, Quinn was in a similar situation with...Bill? wasn't it?...as Nicci with Rob.

But this topic brings up an interesting question: Why do we always think that a character--particularly a heroine--must be strong in all areas of her life? I've had the criticism that Nicci seems to be too strong a person to fall for Rob. Yet I know tens if not hundreds of women who--when other things are crashing down around them--get involved with a guy they don't really love for reasons that seem completely alien to their personalities. I was one of them. I had a long relationship with this one guy I didn't even particularly like. We had nothing in common and yet I stuck to him like glue. Why? Because everything else in my life was coming unglued. And here was this person who "took charge" of things and didn't require me to think.

Not thinking is not me. And I dealt with the rest of my life in my usual calm, logical way. But I stayed in this "safety" relationship for almost a year. I'm still not sure why, even though I've analyzed it to pieces. I think it has something to do with the fact that I was not required to invest anything emotionally in the relationship. But why I chose the "relationship" option over the "no relationship" option is something I haven't quite figured out. It may be something as simple as the fact that human beings are--by nature--pack (as in, wolf pack) animals. They feel insecure if they're alone.

But how do you--as the author--explain this contradiction to people who are looking for consistency in your characters? People are made up of contradictions. That doesn't necessarily mean they should do something "out of character," but I don't think it's necessary for the heroine to be some kind of goddess who never does anything out of weakness. Everyone is weak in some area. For me, what makes a good story is when a character overcomes his or her weaknesses and makes decisions which are strong.

I think--and this is my opinion only--that characters can't be constructed. Characters come from honesty and experience. I have a number of short stories from my college days in an old file. In those stories my characters were just being "deep." Those stories really suck, . Because characters should be real and honest--not just vehicles for a plot or a "look at me!" for the author. If a character is facing a big, life-altering decision or event, honest reactions based on the character's history, beliefs, and vision of the world will determine the plot.

You are right to point out that the danger to Nicci came more from Rob's definite decisions and take-charge attitude. However, the beige-house life was what caught *Nicci* up short. Because for her, the decision had become one of moving down a traditional path followed by her sister and Ginger (and most likely ending as disastorously as Ginger's marriage) or going down the path which was the right path for Nicci. Yes, the danger came from Rob's ability to override Nicci's fragile and growing comprehension of what the choices for her were, but for Nicci, that danger was not part of the decision process.

Dang, I don't think that made much sense .

A good book to read is _Story_ by Robert McKee...not to follow his suggestions really, but because he explores the interaction of character and plot. You might enjoy it!

And I think I went in a different direction than you were going! Hmm...

Best,
Karen

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Karen Brichoux
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Available now:
The Girl She Left Behind (NAL Trade 7/05)--An RT Bookclub Top Pick!
Coming in November 2006 from NAL Accent:
Falling Into the World

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