The Slanted Mirror: Wonderings of Sarah Bromley

Done, done, done!!!

2012-02-02T09:21:00.000-06:00

Few very things compare to chipping out the words THE END.

This book, at least for now, is called HAZARD HOUSE. It's a young adult horror novel that I began last May two weeks after having Baby B, and truly, this manuscript was a labor of love. At one point, my crit pal Hillary asked if I wanted to finish it. I did. But the subject matter was disturbing, the atmosphere dark. Right when I'd gotten some traction and got positive feedback from Agent M on the first fifty pages, Baby B's health took a frightening turn all its own. Everything was put on hold. Every time I promised myself I'd carve out some time to work on HH, B would get sick and the cycle of doctor's offices, hospital visits, and tests would start over.

But then B got better.

And I finished the manuscript in the wee hours of Groundhog Day 2012. Time to tidy it up and drop it into my agent's inbox.

What are you working on?

2012-01-17T11:04:00.000-06:00

I didn't have a whole lot of time for writing in the fall last year, not with Baby B's illness. And it was crippling because, in some fluke brought about by hormones and new mom energy, I'd started a new MS a mere two weeks after he was born. I'd made good headway into it as well and then...pffft. The words became tough to render, time scarce. So the oomph I had going into this new MS was reduced to a few fitful spurts now and again.

But in the last week, I've added about 8K to that same MS. I should be finishing it up within the next two weeks before sending it off to Agent M for her thoughts. I cannot begin to say how excited I am at the prospect of having another project with the words THE END. Even more exciting? It's horror.

Now I love horror. I always have, always will. The project I was signed for was a very dark paranormal with some horror leanings, and many of my projects do run toward the dark. Every "practice" MS I wrote in high school was in the horror family. Thus, I'm going back to my roots.

This project is not a slash-'em-up-kill-'em-all type of story, but rather a slow, insidious tale that grows darker as more secrets are uncovered. There's a town. There's a girl with an ability to solve mysteries. There's a boy with lots to hide. There are things that go bump in the night. It has some contemporary southern Gothic elements, which isn't really surprising coming from me, and I'm actually feeling halfway decent about this project.

And now here's the fun part: deciding what comes next? I've got several adult or YA stories waiting to be told, a few waiting for me to return to them. It's going to take some real consideration to figure out which to work on next.

So tell me, what are you working on and how do you decide which project will come next? Do you have a lot of ideas stored up, or do you sometimes feel like ideas might elude you but the ones that do show are worth pursuing? I'd love to hear about it.

Pots n' Pens post today

2012-01-11T09:58:00.002-06:00

Hey, all!

Just wanted to give a quick link to my post over at the Pots n' Pens blog today. I'm sharing a recipe for Penne with Italian Sausage and Peppers. It's delicious and great for winter nights.

Enjoy!

New Year, New Words

2012-01-10T10:58:00.000-06:00

Well...this place has been quite silent for some time.

There are points in a writer's life where you sometimes have to decide where to put your words first, and because my time was limited, my blog wasn't going to be that place. I enjoy talking with the readers of this blog, but I was under a mountain and needed to step back.

What kind of mountain?

The sick infant kind of mountain. See, I'm more than a writer. I'm a mom first and foremost. My son B was born in May last year. He is, without a doubt, the happiest baby you could ever meet. Seriously. He had blood drawn and smiled for the phlebotomist. Oh, did I say blood drawn? Yeah. He had a lot of health problems starting at five weeks old which culminated in December. Such a tiny thing, he got his first chest cold at five weeks old. And quickly had two more. Then his skin started to break down in his diaper area. Then he stopped gaining weight altogether for three months. Then his blood tests showed he had a liver infection no one could find from where it stemmed. Then he had multiple ear infections. We saw his pediatrician, a GI specialist, conferred with a liver specialist, saw an ear/nose/throat specialist. He endured multiple rounds of blood work, a barium swallow test, a liver ultrasound, and eventually needed tubes put into his ears. I was in doctor's offices with him usually twice a week. Sometimes more.

It was stressful. It was scary. It is not good when you can tell that your child's doctors are scared.

So words had to become less of a priority for me. Words for this blog were even further down the list.

Add to the stress of what was going on with B, my six-year-old daughter had a flare up of a chronic GI condition called eosinophilic esophagitis. It is characterized by severe acid reflux, choking and gagging on food, and seems to be related in some manner to food allergies and/or the autoimmune system. She missed nine days of school second quarter because she was so sick. She had an endoscopy that had a freak reaction to either the intubation or the placement of the endoscope--her uvula swelled up to fill the back of her throat and was lying on her tongue. She had to hospitalized for medications and observations. No, we don't know why this happened. Yes, the hospital is investigating.

Now for some good news: ever since B's ear surgery in December, his health has dramatically improved. He's not sick nearly as much and he's actually gaining weight! I'm ecstatic, honestly. And as for G, she has recovered. Her EE is kind of in a remission but she's not asymptomatic yet, so she's being put on some new medication to see if this will help out her little system. Slow, steady steps forward.

Now for some more good news: I'm writing again. I have to say that my agent and my crit partners were great sources of support during this time. They all assured me that, yes, they would still be there when I got out from under the mountain. My husband, God love him, has been a trooper and is giving me time to finish up the YA horror novel I'm working on, a novel that has so far gotten some good reviews among my CPs and agent.

And last part of good news: I'm expanding from writing only YA to also writing some adult urban fantasy work, which will be under the name Sarah John Bromley.

All in all, the past five months have been a period where I felt both isolated but supported. I felt like my life was reduced to minutes spent in the waiting rooms of doctors' offices. I felt like there were question marks in any direction I looked. That said, I lost both my parents before I was twenty-four years old. I know what real illness looks like, and I can say that I had faith in God that whatever was going on with B wasn't going to be one of those real illnesses. It also inspired me to do a lot more to take better care of myself.

I hope to not be so quiet this year, and soon I'll be posting a chance to win a book with a signed bookplate from the author! So stay tuned.

I'm glad to be back.

Blog Chain: The Little People

2011-10-06T05:38:00.001-05:00

Well, it's my turn to start a round of the blog chain. What I want to know is:

Do you work with critique partners? How did you find your crit pals, and what influence have they had on your work?

I might've titled my post The Little People, meaning all the folks who chime in along the way when you're working on a manuscript, but really, my crit buddies are a HUGE part of my writing.

My core group of critique partners hasn't changed for a while now. Back in 2008, a friend from my moms' group, Shawntelle Madison, and I were at a mutual friend's son's birthday party. We learned we were both writing similar fiction. I'd never had a crit partner in earnest before, so when she asked if we could exchange work, I was sort of taken aback. What? You mean you actually want to read my hot mess?

Why, yes. Yes, she did.

Shawny then joined the Query Tracker forums and found out we lived near Cole Gibsen, who was kind enough to meet up with us at a coffee house. Now I'm sure we sounded like a pair of overenthusiastic twits, so Cole sat with her back to the wall, ensuring no one could come up from behind, and laid it out: no BS, no games, she was serious and expected us to be serious as well. Shawny and I were up for the challenge, and our crit duo became a trio.

Through the blog chain, I met Amanda Bonilla. At the time, we were both on the agent hunt. When she expressed some frustration, I messaged her and asked if she wanted to talk. It was kind of bold for me to say, "Call me" because I'm uber-shy. I'd gotten to know her online and, hey, she was 1,000 miles away and not about to show up at my door. Holy cats, the stars aligned! She's my Idaho doppelganger. I swear. Through Amanda, I got to know Windy Aphayrath, who has also exchanged writing with me quite a bit.

More recently, I began critting with Hillary Monahan. Hillary and I have the same literary agent, signed within months of each other. We began circling each other on blog posts and writers' websites, and then she emailed me right about Thanksgiving last year, promised she wasn't a stalker, and struck up a friendship that led to exchanging work.

I've had other eyes on my work, but these are the people who have had the greatest influence on my writing. Sometimes crit relationships don't work out, and that sucks. It's like any relationship--you have trust and everyone's needs have to be met for it to be successful. In my case, Amanda is my cheerleader. She has read EVERYTHING I've thrown at the wall to see if it might stick. Shawny and Cole are good at making sure I'm keeping it real. Windy brings the logic I often lack and is like the teacher shaking a finger at me. "No, no, no, you forgot Vayda was in the kitchen. She can't suddenly blink her eyes and be on the front porch with Ward. Smooth out that transition." Hillary's good for me in that she hits me over the head in my weak areas. She's funny, uninhibited, and intense, and I love her for it.

All in all, my crit partners force me to step up my game, to write better, and to know that I can't please everyone. We don't tear each other apart or be unnecessarily brutal. We point out the good with the flawed. We want to help each other succeed in our goals, and that requires being truthful. So that may be another way my crit partners have influenced me--to be honest in my words.

So let me know if you have crit partners and what they have done for you. Make sure you check out Jon's post on this topic, too.

Blog Chain: Keep Reading!

2011-09-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

Once again, it's blog chain time. This round is brought to us by Shaun who wants to know:

What are three books you would tell people that they need to keep reading even if they aren't immediately sucked in by the first page?

Oh. Golly. I love the books that take time to build. They don't have the wham, bam, thank you ma'am right up front. For me, the books that lure you in slowly are often the ones that truly do pack the most punch.

1. BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves. The first scene of the book is a little confusing, but what comes afterward turns logic and reality on their head. Reeves' book is an absolute trip of horror, confusion, and a girl desperately wanting her mother's approval. I loved it.

2. REBECCA by Daphne DuMaurier. "Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again." It's probably one of the most harmless first lines of a novel I think ever composed. So simple, and yet finding out why the narrator is plagued with dreams of this place is a sweeping, romantic and yet terrifying journey. REBECCA is a prime example of a Gothic novel, and through it all, you can't help but wonder how much worse things are going to get for poor Mrs. DeWinter. DuMaurier heaps trouble after trouble onto the narrator and there's another thread of not being able to measure up to the first Mrs. DeWinter, the late Rebecca, and her ghostly presence still lingering in the house that is simply chilly.

3. AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman. I have had friends who struggled with this book at first when I recommended it to them only to come back to me and say it blew their minds. If you're a writer or reader of fantasy work, you are undoubtedly acquainted with Neil Gaiman. Some don't want to give him a chance. I say they're missing out. What looks initially like yet another "broken male goes on long journey to find himself" book is far beyond such. What makes the book exceptionally rich is Gaiman's use of various mythologies and the way he brings the old gods to life.

So those are my picks. What books do you recommend for people to keep reading even if the first page does draw them in? Make you check on Jon's post on this topic as well.

Back on the blog chain gang!

2011-09-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

After a long hiatus, I'm back on the blog chain! It's nice to see some new faces, and I hope my readers will follow the chain and come to know the new posters as well. Speaking of new faces, I brought a new face into my family during my break. He's cute. I'm allowed to say that as his mother, and if you disagree, I will eat you like the mama bear I am.

That said, this time the blog chain topic comes via Christine: Since we are all writers, I thought it was about time for us to stretch our creative muscles and do a little writing. So, take the following topic and go crazy! Show us what you’ve got. Your story can be as long or as short as you choice.

The topic: A dark and stormy night.

And she also wants us to follow these rules:

Write for a minimum of 5 minutes… AND THEN KEEP GOING!

NO editing. (well.. do the obvious spelling and punctuation.. but nothing major)

Yo, ho, here we go:

There were no living things here. Just a wandering pattern of cracks like a map laid atop the earth's surface. The very dirt had been sucked dry by months of sun and wind. Dust coated the toes of my shitkicker boots, and I slammed the '72 Mustang's door, half-surprised it didn't crank right off and land on the highway. I'd made a promise to Pearl Girl, and I sure as hell was gonna keep it.

Save the land, Jacky Boy, she'd pleaded when her eyes were all welled up with tears. We caught those tears in a Mason jar and sealed them up. It looked like she'd been saving the tears for weeks. Maybe even months. Took a hell of lot of tears to make magic.

Pearl Girl ain't here anymore. It was up to me to see this through. It had to be by midnight, and right now, the sky was black as ever and freckled with a million light points that still seemed so insignificant, so ready to be swallowed up by the same void that killed the crops and rendered these grounds useless.

With my boots and my jar of Pearl Girl's tears, I crossed the earth and found the spot on the map I'd come to know as well as I knew the creases of my own right palm. The metal made a swirling noise, and the lid of the Mason jar gave soft sigh when the cap popped off.

"This is for you, Pearly Girl. I hope to hell you were right."

I lifted the jar of tears in a toast to the sky and then poured the saltwater on the sad earth. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Just the same old coyotes howling against the same old night.

Then the clouds rolled in. Lightning flashed somewhere in the distance, and the rumble of thunder raised every hair on the back of my neck.

Sure as hell, a storm was coming.

All right. I gave it my best effort. Please check out Margie's take on Christine's homework and then tomorrow have a look-see at Jon's approach.

Do you ever force yourself to just get out some words with writing prompts? If so, tell me about in a comment.

First True Love in YA

2011-08-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, while playing around on the shiny Internet instead of writing, I saw a quote that I agreed with which basically said that being a teenager is a time to figure out who you should be, not who you should be with. Cool, I thought. It's very true. Much of the scaffold for the personality you will have the remainder of your life begins to sort itself out during your adolescent years.

But then the quote went on to, in essence, claim that your first love is not the one that will last. This person got lots of "Dude, you're dead on!" and "That's so true!" Okay. Cool.

Maybe it was just me, and I admit I was in a cantankerous mood yesterday because of the migraine of doom and destruction, but the tone of the quote felt condescending. Like, "This absolutely cannot happen and if you think the guy you date at 16 is the one you'll be with at 36, you're dense and living in a dream world."

Well, guess what? The guy I dated at 16 IS the guy I'm with now that I'm closing in on 31 years old. We've been married since I was 19. Huzzah!

He was my first love, my true love. Sure, there were other little puppy lovies, the boys who flipped notes to me in religion class or held my hand in the hallway between classes. But the first boy who took me on dates, who made me feel like I meant something special to him, that is the guy I married. I wanted to grow into my own person...but with him at my side.

It's rare but not all that rare. I can think of at least 10 couple friends of mine who dated in high school and are still together now. No, it hasn't always been roses and sunshine. No, the love isn't the same "My heart stops for you" infatuation that it was when new. But what it is, what matters, is the love has matured into something more encompassing than, "I hope he thinks of me when he hears this song." My husband and I, since we began dating, have had rough patches. We lost my parents, moved away, dealt with unhappiness in work, gone back to school, had children, had health problems with my pregnancies, dealt with depression and anxiety disorders. We also had some high-flying, kick ass times, too. Because of the same groundwork that went into developing our personalities as teenagers, we also had the groundwork in our relationship to not let those hardships pull us apart. Kids are capable of knowing what they want from life, you know.

I look at his now 33 year-old face and still see the 18-year-old who drove me around the countryside in the dark while we listened to The Doors on his car stereo. I also have gotten to see that boy lose the dark, brooding edge that first drew me to him and become a gentle father holding his first-born child.

It grates on me when I see sweeping proclamations that the true love exemplified in YA lit is unachievable to teens. I've spoken to my agent about it because I do tend to write YA love relationships with the assumption that it will last beyond high school. That was my experience, and I write what I know. Maybe it wasn't the experience of the person who said young love cannot last. Probably not if she's saying that. But don't denigrate those who did find that love when young. Don't say it's not valid or merely the result of special circumstances. Some kids honestly do have the emotional wherewithal to make it work. Not all of them, naturally, but not so few that those who do make it work are freakish. Some say they are offended by this idea that the first boy a girl falls in love could possibly be the one she's with for a lifetime. To me, it's offensive to say that it's doomed simply because of one's age. Because you just don't know that for certain.

And what is YA lit without a little uncertainty?

Maybe I'm a sap. Maybe I believe in hope and the will of people to pull together and stick it out when the going gets tough. What do you think? What are your favorite portrayals of love in YA lit? Are they couples you think could last or are they a temporary thing to be enjoyed for now and later a fond memory at best?

On book signings and why I stutter before awesomeness

2011-08-03T07:02:00.001-05:00

Growing up, I never had the chance to go to book signings. Authors just didn't stop in my northern Illinois stomping grounds and my parents treated Chicago as if it were half a country away. So the first book signing I ever attended was in college. I was going through an "Evil Dead" phase and was pretty stoked when Bruce Campbell came to my college to talk about his book and show one of his movies. Nice guy. Wore a lot of cologne. Very, very tan. I could say more about this, but I'll save that for another time except to say that the mere mention of Bruce Campbell still makes me break into giggling fits nearly ten years later.

Last week, Shawntelle, Cole, and I went to see Maggie Stiefvater on her St. Louis stop on the book tour to promote her new novel FOREVER. For Maggie Stiefvater, there were lots of people in attendance. I was glad to have arrived early. I caught more than a few people not altogether happy to see that I had a little baby with me ("He better not cry," their sideways glances threatened). One caveat: Baby B is a shockingly quiet baby, and I wouldn't have brought him if I wasn't his soul food source and didn't expect him to be good. Maggie has mega stage presence. She knows how to tell a story on paper, but she can also tell one to a crowd. When she was finished with her stories and question-answer session, we all got in line and had our books sold. When she got to me, I entirely forgot anything I wanted to say to her and began stuttering. Yep. I'm one of those people. Nerves get the better of me. Fortunately, she realized I'm underslept and commented on how quiet Baby B was ("Wow, he's real after all!") and we talked for a moment about midnight mothering and writing time. Cole got flustered as well (because Maggie is a hero-author, after all), and Shawntelle...well, Shawny always makes an impression in the best of ways.

By the way, you can enter to win a signed copy of FOREVER over at Cole's blog and there will be another chance to win one at Pots n' Pens in the upcoming weeks!

So have you been to any book signings? Have any memories you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments!

Interview w/ Literary Agent Miriam Kriss

2011-07-25T08:54:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen already, I'm over at Pots 'n Pens today blogging an interview with my literary agent, Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. Find out how food and fiction come together for her and also snatch up her recipe for Oatmeal Awesome cookies!

Go. Now. Read.

The Birth of Another Blog

2011-07-07T08:03:00.000-05:00

Some months back, an idea struck.

Author of the upcoming YA novels KATANA and BREATHLESS, Cole Gibsen (on Twitter): I like food. I like writing. It would be fun if there was a blog where writers talk about food and fiction.

Me (promptly calling Cole on the phone 'cause I'm hyper like that): I'M IN! But I'm pregnant and grouchy and currently unable to taste salt, so my cooking kinda sucks at the moment.

Cole: That's okay! We'll see if others want to join us and plan to launch in a few months.

A call was put out on Cole's blog and on Twitter for writers with a love of recipes and writing, and the response was encouraging. After some tinkering and waiting and more waiting and having a baby and subsequent sleeplessness, the blog was ready to go.

Come visit Pots 'n Pens!

Right now, the contributors are introducing themselves. Our plan is for a variety of contirbutors to post Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We will share recipes, writing anecdotes and advice, and will feature interviews with authors, agents, and editors disclosing some of their favorite food, books, and recipes.

Come see us and stir the pot!

To quote or not to quote

2011-07-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

You know those little quotes at the beginning of books, usually from a different writer or a song lyric? I've been thinking a lot about them lately. I used one in the last MS I turned in to my agent, and I'm using another one for this book.

One example that stuck out to me was in Jeri Smith-Ready's YA novel SHADE, which opened with an Edgar Allan Poe quote from "The Premature Burial."

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.

Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?

It's a perfect taste of what is to come in Ready's novel, which is a wonderful ghost story. I like the introductory quote. In a way, these quotes are almost prologue-like. They set the tone and should be kept in mind for the duration of the story.

Now you might run into copyright issues with using quoted material, so make sure you have the right to use it or choose work that is already public domain.

What about you? Do you read the introductory quotes or skip them? What purpose do you think they serve?

My latest creation--Baby B

2011-06-01T12:07:00.001-05:00

If you know my blog, then you know my last post was a head's up that I was set to have a new baby. Well, he is here.

Brendan Jude was born on May 11, 2011 at 8:25 pm. He has the same big eyes my grandpa Bromley passed on to my mom who passed them onto me, and he has my husband's lips. He is a good baby--sleeping and eating on a schedule he put himself on. Named for Saint Brendan because we hope he will go far in the world and for Saint Jude because, after nearly losing this pregnancy and many complications, he is a miracle against the impossible. Big sissy and big brother are in love with him. As are we all.

I'm still in babymoon mode, but the writing bug is itching away at me. I'll soon have something spooky and weird to share with my crit partners and the divine Agent M. The midnight nursings in a dark, quiet house make for fantastic times for my mind to wander to ghostly matters.

Creation Cave

2011-05-03T07:16:00.000-05:00

A lot of us writers out there are guilty of describing our books as our babies. We nuture them inside our minds for months, plunking down the words and loving the story even if we know it's not yet perfect, and eventually we write THE END and send the project off into the world be it for beta reading, critting, querying, submitting to editors, whatever.

It's really, really easy to get reclusive while in writing mode. To forget your friends and your life outside the written word. That's not really healthy. We need others for inspiration and relief, for connectedness.

As of late, I've been terribly reclusive. I've been between writing projects, having turned in a project to my agent and getting her support on it. I'm floundering and found a new project I can sink my teeth into. But I can't fully commit to it, no matter how much I want to. See, I'm also due to have a baby literally any day now. The last couple of months have been rough for the pregnancy, hence why my blog has been far too silent. Preterm labor, bed rest, and a very prolonged early labor period don't make for a chatty or productive writer. Baby will be here very soon, and eventually, I'll be out of the human creation cave and feel like talking again.

In the meantime, I owe some friends phone calls and will take the time to get a few more words onto the page.

Talk to you all soon,
S

Writer Wednesday: Jeri Smith-Ready

2011-03-09T18:04:00.001-06:00

I am a sucker for all things ghostly and dark, which is why I went ga-ga for Jeri Smith-Ready's YA debut SHADE. I came by it on recommendation from one of my crit partners, and it did not disappoint. Spooky, sexy, sublime. LOVES it, I do.

To sum up what the lovely SHADE is about, we turn to Jeri's website:

Love ties them together. Death can't tear them apart.

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding—and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.

SHADE is the first in a planned trilogy, the second installment of which--SHIFT--is set to hit the shelves on May 3, 2011. Less than two months away! I can't wait! The third book in the series will come out in 2012, and Simon Pulse has also acquired at least one post-SHADE YA book from Jeri.

Not only is Jeri the author of this ghostly YA series, she has written a number of releases in the adult market as well, going back to 2001 with her debut REQUIEM FOR THE DEVIL. Some of her adult works include the ASPECT OF CROW and WVMP RADIO series. She makes her home in Poe's state of Maryland, so we know where she gets her spooky side from, and what makes her even in cooler in my eyes is that she's a fellow friend to animals. Not to mention, she is active on Twitter and super cool and sweet.

Jeri Smith-Ready's Online Haunts: Website, Blog, Twitter

Where to buy SHADE: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders

Writer Wednesday: Antony John

2011-03-02T10:56:00.000-06:00

Now I fully admit I'm not the biggest reader of contemporary YA. I truly do enjoy the genre and one author whose recent work I really enjoyed is Antony John. Funny and endearing, if you haven't heard of Antony or his most recent release FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB, you're missing out.

Here's the rundown of FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB from Antony's website:

The Challenge:
Piper has one month to get a paying gig for Dumb—the hottest new rock band in school.

The Deal:
If she does it, she'll become manager of the band and get her share of the profits, which she desperately needs since her parents raided her college fund.

The Catch:
Managing one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl who is ready to beat her up. And doing it all when she's deaf. With growing self-confidence, an unexpected romance, and a new understanding of her family's decision to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, Piper just may discover her own inner rock star.

FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB is Antony's second release. His first, BUSTED: CONFESSIONS OF AN ACCIDENTAL PLAYER, was released by Flux in 2008. His next book THE HALLELUJAH BOOK TOUR sounds fantastic, too. I have the honor of called this transplanted Brit a local St. Louis author. He is as genuine and fun in person as his characters are on paper. He's online at his website and Facebook, but we really must work on getting him to join Twitter.

Antony John Online:
Website
Blog
Facebook

FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Borders
Indie Bound

Blog Chain: The Unexpected

2011-02-28T20:45:00.000-06:00

All right, it's my turn to start a round of the blog chain. Life can sometimes be a big ape who sits atop a platform and throws barrels at you when all you want to do is rescue the princess. You go into it kind of knowing what you want to get out of it, but things change and suddenly your goal isn't really saving the princess. It's just making it up the next level.

Like this last week. Everything went haywire for me on Tuesday. I'm 29 weeks pregnant and fell hard on my belly. Not good. Really not good when such a fall causes preterm labor issues, hours of monitoring in Labor & Delivery, and a trip to the ER for x-rays on my wrist and ankle. Didn't see it coming. Couldn't have predicted it. I was just going along trying to get to my princess (actually, the baby's a prince) and, BAM, a barrel hit me. Damn ape. We're fine, and even though it hurts, I keep moving toward my due date.

Which brings me to the question for this round of the blog chain: what has been the most unexpected part of your writing journey up to this point? What has happened that you could never have predicted? Has it been a help or a hindrance?

The princess I want to save, my end goal, is still publication and having a writing career. But there have been more than a few barrels that tripped me up. After getting such positive feedback on my first MS from crit partners and contests, I was pretty bummed when that book didn't find me an agent. It's not that I thought it was, like, THE BEST BOOK EVAH! Just that I had no idea how hard querying was. I can't tell you the number of times I heard, "I really like this, but..." And it was disheartening. It made me sad because my expectation had been that, since other writers and readers had liked it, an agent would. That barrel just bowled me right over and flattened me. I seriously considered GAME OVER on this whole writing thing--despite that writing had been a huge part of my life since my mid-teens.

But what could have been a huge hindrance turned into a major help. I fought to better my writing. I took my time and carefully picked who read and critted for me. The second time I queried, there was no expectation. It could happen. It could not happen. Either way, all I did was try.

Along the way, more unexpected things happened. My crit partners became my best friends, which I honestly didn't expect to happen. Then I signed with an incredible agent. Now I'm awaiting her thoughts on a manuscript I hope to polish into something presentable. So, yeah, that first unexpected part of my writing journey--the failure part--made me regroup and figure out a new strategy. It made me think long and hard about what I wanted and how I could get there. This time, instead of letting the barrel roll me over, I jumped over it. And I'm still climbing toward that princess.

Make sure to check out what Christine has to say tomorrow and tune in to the rest of the blog chain.

Writer Wednesday: Kelly Keaton

2011-02-16T07:30:00.000-06:00

This week's Writer Wednesday is all about Kelly Keaton. Her debut YA novel DARKNESS BECOMES HER (Simon Pulse) is set to hit the store shelves on February 22, 2011. That's NEXT week! I couldn't be more excited because I'll finally get to dive into the dark pool of goodness I've been looking forward to since this book first came on my radar. With its beautiful cover featuring a creepy gate, the book promises a hell of a good read.

Here's what Kelly's own website has to say about DBH:

Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very…different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Awesome, right? All things Gothic and mysterious, and I am there. You should be, too.

DBH might be Kelly's YA debut, but you should also know that she's made quite a name for herself in the adult urban fantasy market as well. As Kelly Gay, she is the author of the Charlie Madigan series about a detective who is taking out predators one at a time. Living with her family in North Carolina, Kelly is a fellow warrior-writer mom and keeper of pets. She is currently working on her next YA novel (a sequel to DARKNESS BECOMES HER!) set for release in 2012.

Where is Kelly Keaton online?
Website
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook
Amazon

And don't forget to check out her work as Kelly Gay:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Amazon

Blog Chain: Love, Literary Style

2011-02-15T16:12:00.000-06:00

Time for another link in the blog chain, and this time the question comes to us from the superb Shaun. He's got Valentine's Day on the brain and wants to open our hearts to answer:

Who is your favorite literary couple and why?

I'm not really a big fan of the I-See-You-And-Instantly-Know-You're-Mine-Forever take on relationships. I tend to prefer couples whose love develops over time, either by having the history of knowing each other from even before the story begins or one where the story allows time for a relationship to develop. As a YA writer, I'm aware of how adolescents can quickly fall in "like." But I'm also willing to believe that true love can happen fast and at a young age--because it happened to me. I began dating my husband at the end of January when I was sixteen. By Easter, I knew I was going to marry him. I was engaged at seventeen, married at nineteen. One caveat: before I began dating my husband, I'd known him my entire life because our moms were best friends. We had a history even if it wasn't a romantic one, and when our relationship did turn romantic, everything moved fast. Yet despite being so young when we got together, we are still comrades at arms and figuring out our lives hand-in-hand. I'm getting closer to the age when I'll have been with him longer than I haven't. That kind of staying power doesn't come easily.

Because my view of relationships is colored by my experience, I would say my favorite literary couple from a recent YA release is Grace and Daniel from Bree Despain's THE DARK DIVINE. The characters have a complicated history going back to before the book's beginning and that history also makes it nerve-wracking for them to take it farther. They know that by getting romantically involved, it will change not only their relationship but also how their families and friends look at them, too. The progression feels right and natural and yet conflicted because of the consequences of what being together means. Maybe I like Grace and Daniel because I see something of my own relationship in them (and perhaps the paranormal part makes me excited, too, since I'm a sucker for the supernatural). I haven't read THE LOST SAINT yet, so I don't want any spoilers for what happens to Grace and Daniel, but what began in THE DARK DIVINE is definitely up there for my favorite literary love relationships.

To keep the Valentine's Day spirit going, please check out what the always classy Christine has to say.

Animals need love, too

2011-02-14T07:28:00.000-06:00

I know a lot of writers are posting romantic scenes from their novels or WiPs this Valentine's Day, but I'm not. Maybe that's because, in my family, affection is shown daily. Love is shown hourly. We Bromleys are a huggy bunch.

What I want to talk about this Valentine's Day is love for animals. I frequently feature animals in my projects. From a black cat named Tesla to a geriatric schnauzer called Bernadette, I think animals are a great way to show a character's true self. Animals are good judges of characters. You can't BS an animal. They are dependable and forgiving.

When my father was in hospice care at home, my very old husky-wolf mix Belle, who herself was also ill, would not leave his bedside. Many of my blog posts are written with one of my own beloved pugs, Hazel and Josephine, in my lap or curled up against my hip on the couch. Friends of mine on Facebook and Twitter have seen my posts about Hazel's back injury and slow recovery. Animals seek companionship and their loyalty knows no boundaries. It's only fair to give it back to them.

Yesterday, we added two new members to our family. Two young female guinea pigs were surrendered for adoption, and we decided they needed to live with us. Gotham (named for Batman's city) is a little black and white piggy, and Annabelle (from Poe's "Annabel Lee") is a honey-blonde with white patches. This morning, my children came down the stairs from their bedrooms and immediately went to check on our new friends.

On this Valentine's Day, while smooching your SO, make sure you also reach down to give your furry friend a scratch behind the ears, too. Animals might not have as big a heart as humans, but they sure do have a lot of love.

Do you have a story of an animal or pet you'd like to share? Do your characters have pets? What role do animals play in your writing? I'd love to hear it!

Writer Wednesday: Karen Mahoney

2011-02-09T11:52:00.001-06:00

One of things I've wanted to do for a while is give a little shout out to some writers with new releases. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for future Writer Wednesdays.

For my first Writer Wednesday, I want to introduce you to Karen Mahoney. Kaz, as many of us on Twitter know her, recently released her debut YA novel THE IRON WITCH (Flux).

Here's a quick snippet of what THE IRON WITCH is about:

17-year-old Donna survived an attack by the fey that killed her father and lost her mother's mind. She was saved by the iron tattoos on her arms but is now an outcast. When her best friend Navin is kidnapped by wood elves, Donna is thrown into war between the humans and the fey and it is also a war within her own heart and heritage, a war that could take her life.

Kaz has also had work featured in the collections KISS ME DEADLY: 13 TALES OF PARANORMAL LOVE and contributes to the renowned Deadline Dames blog. Up next for this Londoner is THE WOOD QUEEN, the second in a planned trilogy beginning with THE IRON WITCH. Karen is made of awesome and is a nearly daily presence on Twitter. Make sure you tell her hi!

Karen Online:
Website (She also blogs here)
Deadline Dames
Twitter

THE IRON WITCH:
Flux
Amazon

KISS ME DEADLY
Amazon

Time Leeches

2011-02-07T09:50:00.000-06:00

I was going through my blog chain roll this morning and catching up on posts. Pretty typical morning--be it catching up on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, whatever. One of the posts pointed out just what a time leech social networking is.

It's true!

I like being around other people with the same interests as me. The interactive quality of Twitter and Facebook can be fun, but let's face it--I don't really need to leave either of them open on my laptop. One of my worst habits is multitasking when I sort through a mental block, usually the kind related to answering questions that creep up while I'm writing, and I click through my links over and over again. It's this never-ending circle that, when left unchecked, eerily resembles my productivity going down a toilet bowl. Nothing gets accomplished.

I've said it before, the time I have to write is already limited enough. It's something pretty much every writer I know struggles with because they have daytime jobs, family needs, hell--a social life (what is that again?). Writing time doesn't need further compromise by lack of focus. Anything from my kids' morning cartoon (echoing down the stairs from the second story of my house) to the snuffle and snort of two pugs cuddling up beside me to my own wandering mind are all things that can pull me out of "the zone." Time leeches like the Internet really don't need to add to that.

So how do I regain my focus? How do I say no to the time leeches?

I turn off all excess noise. Pandora? Sorry, you're distracting me. TV? There's a reason you're also known as "the idiot box." Kids? How about you each sit down with some crayons and have coloring time or go crazy with the Legos. I screen my phone calls and don't pick up anything that isn't immediately necessary.

Focus becomes easier for me to find if I allow the quiet in.

But if it's still not working, I open the desktop edition of Write or Die. If you don't know what Write or Die is, you are missing out a great tool for the distracted writer. You can download an inexpensive version of it for your home computer, plug in a word goal and time, and go crazy. But if you dawdle, be prepared to face the consequences of screeches violins, alarms, or even having your words deleted. I use it only as a last resort, but at least one of my crit partners has written the bulk of an MS with it and she wasn't even under deadline.

Now some time leeches can't be remedied with a fall into a soundless, distraction-free cavern. If you have a bitchin' migraine, take the day off. Most likely, what you'd write while your head is pounding would wind up in the recycling bin anyway. Everyone needs a vacation once in a while. Just be sure that, once you're out of the relaxing waters, you don't come out still covered in time leeches.

Do distractions get you down while writing? How do you battle lack of focus? Tips and comments are welcome!

Blog Chain: YouTwitFace

2011-02-04T20:37:00.000-06:00

After a long break, I am back and forging a new link in this round of the blog chain. The topic comes to us from my crit partner Amanda who wants to know:

Are you a good social networker? What aspect of platform building do you focus on the most? Which aspects freak you out?

Social networking is a challenge but I like it. I enjoy talking to other people, yet I'm also painfully shy. Being so shy, it's easy for me to hide behind the no-one-will-think-what-I-say-is-interesting shield. So I really have to put myself out there to talk to others. Social networking is a way to reach a wider net of people while still having a kind of intimacy in conversation.

I suppose Twitter is where I've done the bulk of my platform building, though really it just feels like where I go to chat and it happens to be public. I've networked and learned a fair bit about the publishing industry through links and commentary. On my Twitter page, I tend to follow other people interested in writing and a few personal friends who have nothing to do with writing. There are a handful of writerly chats I participate in and the exchange of ideas is enjoyable. Twitter can be fun because I've had conversations with multiple agent mates of mine at once or kept my ear to the ground of what's happening at that very moment in the publishing industry. Other writer friends of mine who have established their careers use Twitter to reach out to their readers, and I have to admit I get fan girlish if I tweet something to an author whose book I've really enjoyed and they tweet back.

I also have a Facebook page, but I don't usually publicize that much since it's where I keep up with family and friends. To me, it's a bit more private than Twitter and that's how I like it. As for YouTube, oh, dear, I still have yet to cross into that field. Again, that whole shyness thing...

To answer what aspect freaks me out, I get a little overwhelmed with the idea of self-promotion and using social networking as a broad marketing tool. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, any of the main social networking sites can be utilized to promote yourself, but I have to wonder how you straddle between letting others know you have something coming up and ramming it down their throats. I've seen people be relentless in their self-promotion to the point where they're being spammy. I don't want to be that person. But I also don't want to be the person who disappears because I'm too shy to get loud enough to be heard in a crowded room. It's a strange balance, and fortunately, I have some great friends who are showing me the ropes.

What parts of social networking do you love or loathe? Do you really enjoy it or does it feel like a necessary evil? Please check out Shaun's post from yesterday and Christine's post tomorrow to read about their thoughts.

Making the Best of Snow Days

2011-02-02T08:38:00.000-06:00

Like a lot of other people this winter, we've had more than a few snow days. Right now, we're on our third snow day in a row. Maybe I'm strange, but I don't mind the snow days--my work is what I do from home, writing. My other job is being a parent, and this is where snow days can get a little precarious. With a five-year-old and three-year-old, snow days aren't exactly these idyllic, quiet days where I can sit down with a laptop and coffee and watch the pretty snow falling.

I'm not a terribly organized person, but the way I'm surviving the snow days with both the mom and writer intact is to be scheduled. Freakishly scheduled. My writing is coming in increments dictated by an egg timer. The kids know when the timer's ticking, Mommy's working. Once it dings, they can have me again.

But the egg timer isn't foolproof. Sometimes they really need me to not be "in the zone." If I want to work but need to be able to break quickly for the kids, I spend that time in revisionland. It's much easier for me to fall in and out of the groove of revision than it is when I'm plunking down new words. It's very similar to the way I wrote before my oldest went off to preschool for a few hours a day, hours her brother usually spends napping while I write.

So how are you spending the days trapped inside when the weather goes bad? If you're a parent, how are you keeping the kids occupied? If you're not a parent, isn't this just a slice of writer heaven?

It's Harder Than You Think: Conflict

2011-01-27T11:18:00.000-06:00

Sometimes there's a trap writers risk falling into. We have an MC we love. We have a supporting cast we love. We don't want bad things to happen to them because we like them. We don't wish things to be hard for them because we don't want things to be hard for our loved ones in real life.
Here's the thing with fiction: if there is no difficult situation for your characters to overcome, you have no story.

Tra-la-la, go ahead and write about unicorns sliding down the rainbow. Unless the rainbow leads to bubbling pit of acid and the unicorns must scramble away but discover a nasty pegasus with flaming hooves awaits them, your readers will put your story down and find someone else's book, probably one with a lot more conflict and characters they can root for when the going gets tough.

Conflict, the obstacle the MC must overcome, is the driving point of the story. Not enough conflict and the story will run flat.

But what happens where there's too much conflict? You have readers rolling their eyes and going, "Come on already! This is unbelievable!" Or, worse, you have readers deciding the author is deliberately toying with their emotions. Case in point: I turned in a synopsis to my agent a while ago. She loved the idea but said, "Sarah, all this bad shit happens to this poor girl. It's kind of depressing. Maybe break it up a bit." And, of course, because my agent is genius, she was right. I had loaded too much conflict into one story.

Conflict creates tension. It keeps the pages turning. It should draw on a reader's want to see things work out for the MC without leaving them feeling exasperated or manipulated.

So tell me: how do you create conflict for your characters? How do you keep it believable?

Pow! You've been Critted. Now what?

2011-01-26T08:42:00.000-06:00

Very few things are as daunting as sending your work off for a thorough exam by your critique partners. It's sort of like going in for your high school physical. Anxiety-inducing, you know you have to show parts of yourself you don't let ANYBODY see, you expect a few shots, and you pray the person looking you over doesn't bust out laughing at the mere sight of you. Putting your words out there for judgment can be just as awkward.

I'm not about to delve into what makes a good crit partner. Rather, let's think about what happens after you've gotten back your crit from a trusted partner. How do you apply the feedback you're given?

1. Read through all the comments. Then read them again. Make sure you understand exactly what your crit partner is telling you. In cases where I'm not sure, I will call or email them to hash it out a little more deeply. There's only so much space in a comment bubble but the room for interpretation is boundless.

2. Think on it. Don't rush into making a bunch of changes just because a crit partner told you to. If it doesn't make sense for your character or plot, maybe it's feedback you can ignore. This is where it is particularly helpful to have more than one crit partner. If they have opposite opinions, you'll have to decide which feedback makes the most sense. If you think a crit partner's feedback falls in the "maybe" category, double-check with another partner. If their opinion's are the same, then it's feedback you really should consider applying.

3. Apply the changes that ring most truly with your MS. Sometimes you'll get suggestions to do this or that with a character and you feel yourself tensing up at the idea. After you've thought it over, you decide it really is a good suggestion. Or you decide it isn't. You have to make a judgment call.

4. Don't throw out feedback just because following it will be "hard" or change things too much. Sometimes that's the most valuable feedback of all because it pushes you to take your story farther than you thought you could. It pushes you to grow as a writer.

What has been the best feedback you've ever received? Care to share a feedback experience that wasn't so good? How do you know which feedback to apply and which to set aside?

First post of the New Year

2011-01-12T06:05:00.000-06:00

Gosh, how are we already almost two weeks into the New Year? It's been a long time since I posted. I guess the holidays and a nasty chest cold which hit me right about New Year's Eve knocked me off my toes.

And to top it off, Hazel the Wonder Pug thinks she's part kitty and has a bad habit of getting on top of our kitchen table. At counter-height, it's pretty frickin' high. We learned that pugs don't fall with the grace of cats. So as Hazel recuperates from a back injury, I have a heating pad warming me as I write.

A few bobbles, sure, but the New Year is here. Do you know what means?

Opportunity!
New goals!
More time than you know what to do with...or not.

Managing time is hard for most of us. Most of us would love to write full-time. Wake up. Have coffee. Open document. Go. Keep going. All day long.

This rarely goes as planned.

In my case, there's the inevitable "MOMMY!!!" Totally breaks my word flow. Oh, well. That's life. The trick is to not let the interruptions put the brakes on productivity. Take the interruptions as a moment to regroup your thoughts. Maybe look over the words you've put down. Walk around. Let the dog outside. Eat. Whatever it is you need to recharge your brain and give your fingers a rest. And then don't use the interruption as an excuse to lose your writing mojo. It will come back, but you have to give it a chance.

I mentioned goals. Here are mine for the New Year:

*More butt-in-chair time. I have the ideas. Now just need to pound them out on the computer.
*Finish my WiP. Agent M would be most pleased, I think.
*Fully flesh out the synopses for a couple of other WiP ideas.
*Take a break. I've got an extended break coming in late spring--at which point I'll be answering the pink or blue question from my last blog post.

What are your goals for this year? How do you stave off writing distractions? Leave a comment to let me know.

Some news: pink or blue?

2010-12-19T15:00:00.001-06:00

I'm completely aware I've been beyond quiet this month--actually, much of the fall. I will try to be more communicative come winter. Hopefully, that will mean hopping back on the blog chain on a regular basis. But, honestly, it was hard to write ANYTHING when the sheer act of sitting up was enough to send the whole room twirling like the spin cycle of the washing mashing. The vertigo's mostly better and, truly, there was a great reason behind it.

I'm expecting a baby.

Let me say, I have two kids, a fantastic daughter and son, but our family just wasn't complete. Come mid-spring, I'll be up to my ears in tiny socks and cloth diapers. But it's not my nature to be quite so...silent. I've been there, done that before, and I can say--aside from a brutal bout with pneumonia--I've never been as sick as I was for the first 18 weeks of this pregnancy. Yeah, 18 weeks, not the usual 13 of the first trimester. I'm thrilled to have lost 23 lbs since September. Not thrilled it was because eating or drinking was a daily struggle. It also caused extreme sensitivity to motion. Any fast movement, and I'd be grabbing the counter as I waited for the world to straighten out again. Driving my car? Ha! Wrangling greased pigs would be less perilous. My doctor tried several medications to minimal relief. It's a high risk pregnancy for other reasons, and I have great medical care. Baby's fine. I'm fine. I've reached the turning point.

So here's where writing comes into play. There's this phenomenon called Pregnancy Brain. You forget everything and you're so tired you fall asleep sitting up. It's not exactly conducive to the creative process, so writing my WiP has been abnormally slow. My agent and critique partners have been amazingly supportive. It's frightening when you're trying to launch a career that has deadlines and needs serious brain power and you find yourself very sick without warning.

But something wonderful has happened: I feel pretty damn good these days--compared to how I'd been. I've had a surge in energy and started writing my WiP again. I have direction from my agent and will hopefully finish up my WiP in the coming months. Before baby comes for sure.

And as for the title of this blog post...well, tune in this spring to find out. ;-)

Book Review: THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff

2010-12-06T11:03:00.000-06:00

THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff was my most highly anticpated book of 2010. Months ago, I saw the cover and read the blurb and felt a little squiggle inside that said, "This will be awesome." For one thing, the cover is gorgeous--dark, mysterious, sharp metal objects hanging over a baby carriage. What wasn't to love? Then the tagline: Something's rotten beneath the town of Gentry... And both of these images are central to THE REPLACEMENT in a way that gives me chills.

Narrated by 16-year-old Mackie Doyle, THE REPLACEMENT is about a boy who has always known he is different and tries to pass as normal in his town of Gentry. He is allergic to blood and has black eyes. What was once ugly is now beautiful, albeit strange. When his classmate Tate's sister is buried, he and Tate both know it wasn't her sister in the coffin but something else. And Tate is determined to make Mackie admit that he knows. Uncovering what happened to Tate's real sister means exposing what should've happened to Mackie. With the help of his friend Roswell, his sister Emma, and a host of ugly-beautiful girls, Mackie must decide where he belongs--to Gentry above or Gentry below.

I love Yovanoff's writing. It's dark and fluid, every word specifically chosen. And, for me, it's oddly familiar. I had to make a choice when I began reading THE REPLACEMENT--either dive in and read it in a matter of hours or savor it. Take my time and relish every nuance of the story. Though the former could've been quite easy (I opened the cover and read fifty pages in twenty minutes because it was so absorbing), I chose the latter. I wanted to live in Mackie's head and world for as long as possible.

Everyone says male main characters in YA lit are difficult to interest female readers unless they're crushworthy or there's a romance dragging them into the story. I disagree. It's about the character being real and empathetic enough, which Mackie certainly is. He's interested in girls, but the story has more to do with the changes within himself and how he's separate from everyone. He is flawed but tries hard to be decent to others. There's a reason his friends are loyal to him. Throughout the book, the characters grow while remaining true to who they first presented themselves as. They are honest.

Yovanoff doesn't present a clear conflict of good versus evil. It's not human versus inhuman either. There is no black and white in the morals of the characters. They are gray like the cover. Beautifully gray. All anyone in the book wants to do is survive or help others survive. It's not some bleak dystopian. It just is. And sometimes that's hard to accept.

More than once, I went to bed after reading a chapter of THE REPLACEMENT and woke up during the night with thoughts of the characters running through my head. This is a book I'm going to read time and again, a quick leap to my favorites' shelf alongside my Poe, Shirley Jackson, Annette Curtis Klaus, and others. Read it. Read it under a blanket on an icy winter night with the crackle of the fireplace and the glimmer of a Christmas tree for light.

Sarah's rating: 5/5 stars

When It's Hot, It's Hot and Fast

2010-11-29T09:09:00.000-06:00

Lately, on various message boards for writers, I've seen it bandied about that if you have a hot query/manuscript, agents and editors move lightning fast. Some say they had loads of request and offers of rep within weeks of beginning to query and repeated it went the same way once their manuscript was on submission to editors. Two weeks, boom, they had a contract offered from an agent. Six weeks later, boom, an offer from a publisher. Then they spout that, because it so quickly happened for them, that most viable manuscripts move this quickly. Because it's a business, a competitive one at that, and the powers at be know what's hot.

Maybe it's meant to be enouraging, but many responses are from frustrated writers fearful their own books won't generate such heat.

And the truth is, it's BS. Sure, for some writers, it goes quickly and kudos to them! But for most of us, this process is slow. Agents and authors admit publishing moves at a glacial speed--because of the volume of submissions and the time to evaluate a manuscript.

If you receive requests on a manuscript, it means a couple of things. Congrats, you wrote a compelling query; and congrats, you have an interesting concept. Be proud of both these feats--you are in the top 5% or so of submissions! But just because you're not getting immediate requests isn't a sign that your book doesn't have merit. Many agents read queries and submissions requests in the order received. Sometimes they have a backlog and not much short of rearranging the alignment of the planets will leapfrog you at the top of the To Read pile. Agents have clients who are their first priority. Further down in their priorities is requested material. Unless they are actively building their list, queries usually scrape along the bottom of the priority pit.

And that's okay. Your work will be gotten to. Your work will be evaluated. And you need to be patient.

I've said it before--my own agent took two months to answer my query with sample pages. I'd been ready to close the query as uninterested. Turns out, she was very interested indeed. Even after I had signed with her, I had several queries which were months old come back and ask for the manuscript.

Really, submission to publishing houses is more of the same. Only a handful of editors at any given house might be right for your project--and the projects of other writers in your genre. Again you wait your place in line. Whereas in some agencies the agent makes the decision of whether they take on a new client without input from others, few editors have buying power. If they like your work, they have to take your book for second reads from other editors, hopefully to garner enough enthusiasm that several editors in-house will be telling the business buying end--acquisitions--that your book is worth investing in. Second reads means waiting for other editors to finish up the work already lined up before they can get to your manuscript. Yes, your agent can use the fact that you're getting second reads to let other editors know there's interest in your book, but it's not going to deliver an instant answer in most cases.

Then there's waiting for contracts, waiting for revision notes, waiting for copy edits. Suddenly, understanding why there's a gap of years between signing with an agent and finding your book on the shelf doesn't seem so confouding.

This post isn't a whine about "Oh, golly, this whole process takes forever!" It's a reality check that traditional publishing isn't a fast industry. It's a call not to get disheartened when things don't happen as fast as you might hope they would. It's a call for patience. For those who do have it go quickly, excellent, but it's not the case for many debut writers. And, truly, how fast or slow it takes doesn't mean a damn thing as long as your story is ultimately shared.

Giving Thanks

2010-11-23T09:51:00.001-06:00

With Thanksgiving a mere two days away, I want to take some time to give thanks for the people I am blessed to be on this writing journey with.

My husband and children...they are amazing and understanding. When I want to hide out in the world in my head for a while, they let me. But they are also a source of strength. When I have doubt, I look at them and know that I'll keep moving.

My in-laws and my sister...they might not always get what I'm doing, but they are a great group of cheerleaders.

Shawntelle, Cole, and Amanda...they tell me what works and what doesn't. I don't think I would know how to write without them. We are the four winds, the four elements. They are three of the most different, similar, and amazing people I've ever met, some of the closest and truest friends I've ever known.

Windy, Suzanne, and Christine...Strong women who have had their share of ups and downs. A lesson in persistence, belief, support, and friendship.

My blog chain pals...the varying opinions and lessons to be learned are invaluable. Their successes bring me joy and their struggles bring out empathy.

My agent, Miriam Kriss...for believing in ALL THESE DARK THINGS, for believing in my writing voice. If I'm teetering on a ledge, she's there to talk me back to safety. She gets me as a writer and a person. Her sharp eye and passion are priceless. I am truly lucky to be in this partnership with her.

And the readers...thank you for letting me share with you.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

The 3 Rs: Read, Revise, Rewrite

2010-11-20T10:35:00.001-06:00

There's a lot of chit chat online about progress on everyone's NaNoWriMo projects. Fantastic. Your butt is in the chair and you're plunking down words. Your MS is coming along swimmingly, and you suspect you might reach that goal of having a completed novel by the end of November 30th. Time to open up a brewsky and put your feet up on your desk because this puppy is done. You even have a kick-ass query all set and ready to push send on December 1st.

Wrong. Your novel won't be complete. Do NOT send a query on December 1st. Just because you've made your word goal and typed "The End" does not mean the work is by any means finished. The truth is it's probably a hot mess. And that's okay. Calling a book done and securing representation or publication is not a race, not with how slow this industry moves.

What you need to do now is let your work simmer. Anytime you finish a novel, be it a NaNo novel or an anytime novel, it needs to stew, to let all the elements rest and come together. If you make chicken noodle soup for your dinner guests, you don't toss all the ingredients in the pot, heat until it boils, and slop it into bowls ten minutes later. (And if you think opening a can and nuking it the microwave will produce the right results, just don't. It shows in taste and texture. It's okay to enjoy in private, but you really ought not to serve it to guests.) To be a truly hearty and satisfying meal, it needs time to slow cook and let the flavors develop.

So how do you develop the flavors in your novel? The first thing you need to do is take time away. For me, time away isn't very long--a day or two at most is as much time as I can stand, but other writers will tell you they let their MS sit for weeks, sometimes months, before they can return with a clear, detached mind. That detachment is crucial. You need to be able to see flaws. Not every word is golden.

When you come back to your work, read it. Don't rush through it. If you want to make small grammatical corrections, go ahead, but it might be futile since who knows if you're going to ultimately keep those words or not. In your margins, use the comment feature of your word processor to makes notes on what needs strengthening, what might need to go, plot holes, increasing character development, consistency, and more. Look at your pacing. Is it too fast, too slow, just right? And some of this critical thinking about your work won't show itself or its answer during this initial sweep through your MS. So be prepared to have to do it all again.

After you've read your work and have some idea of what needs fine tuning, you can begin to revise. This is where you implement all the notes you made during your first read. Again, this is something that can't be hurried. Find a pace that works well for you--be it ten pages a day or thirty. Post-revision, it would be most helpful to have fresh eyes on your MS. This is where crit partners or a writing group are invaluable. They will read your MS, making corrections and pointing out places still in need of work. A good crit partner will also point out your strengths. It can be overwhelming, so take a deep breath and relax. Crit partners also won't let you put out sub-standard work. If they are good ones, you'll be able to trust them entirely.

After critting, again it'll be time to revise as long as you agree with the suggested changes. When that is complete, read the MS again with a critical eye. This is where rewriting may need to come in. Every word must be deliberately chosen. Every word counts toward evoking the exactness of what you want from this story. Past this, another reading would be wise to clean up grammar or other typographical errors.

But you're not done yet. Send it back to crit partners and see if you've accomplished what you set out to achieve. If you have to do another revision, so be it. Anything less than putting a full-on effort into making your MS as sparkling as possible isn't doing it justice.

Once you've gone through this process--usually more than one or even two times, you can consider your book as complete as it's going to be at that time. There may still be a need to revise and rewrite, but you won't know that until you take the plunge and send out some queries and see what feedback your submissions receive.

To assume your book is complete on December 1st just because you've typed "The End" is absurd. Books aren't complete until they've hit the shelves in the bookstore, and even then, I bet there are some authors who'd still like to make some changes.

What are your thoughts on the revision process? When do you consider a novel complete? I'd love to hear about it.

Blog Chain: These Friends of Mine

2010-11-15T07:53:00.000-06:00

Here we are, back on the blog chain. This link is brought by the awesome Abby who wants to know: Where do your characters come from? And once they've been introduced to you, how do you get to know them?

Oh, my imaginary friends. I have to say, it's never boring when I'm driving alone in my car. Someone's always talking to me, telling me about him or herself. Well, not literally. Usually.

What I'm saying is that my characters come from different places and show up at different times. When I was first writing as a teenager, many of my characters were based on my friends, but the more developed I became as a writer, the stranger places my characters came from. I couldn't look at someone I knew and say to myself, "I'm going to put them in my next project." I became uncomfortable with basing characters off people I knew. I won't use the names of close friends or immediate family. There's too much influence I don't want.

Sometimes characters come out of a song. I remember listening to Modest Mouse's "Sleepwalking" which has the lyrics, The white trash boys/ listening to their headphones blasting white noise/ in the convenience store parking lot./ I hung around there/ wasting my time,/ hoping you'd stop by. I'd been playing with the love interest of an MC and there he was, fleshed out and tangible. I could see him. I knew that boy. He had combat boots mended with electrical tape and tattered black pants. He was skinny with homemade tattoos on his wrists. With this reference point of appearance, his personality came through. What kind of boy would be listening to music while hoping to get a glimpse of a girl he liked? Would he be disinterested in his surroundings? Would that disinterest be a farce? The more I wrote about him, the more real he became.

Right now I'm working on a WIP with references to a specific trope. There are already certain expectations for the characters, most of whom are outlaws. When you work within a trope, you have to pay respect to the groundwork laid out for the characters while still putting your own spin on it. My outlaws aren't so much playful rogues but street kids who got there by running away, by being kicked out of home, by bad luck. They live in an abandoned railway car and band together to survive. Each character has his or her roots in a previously drawn character, yes, but again they are twisted, modernized, and bent out of their mold. Personalities come through based upon who they were in the trope and who they are to me.

How I get to know my characters once they've come to me is like untying a knot. Everytime I loosen a thread, some new information about them drops out. Honestly, I don't get to know my characters until I write them. I might have ideas about how I want their personalities to be, but most writers can agree that characters sometimes have their own ideas and aren't going to do anything that's not natural to them.

So that's where my characters come from. A hodgepodge of places and ideas. Where do your characters come from and how do you get to know them? Please check out Laura and Margie's blogs for their take on the question. Also make sure you check out Margie's debut novel INCONVENIENT! Congrats on your release, Margie!

The Responsibility of Writers

2010-11-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

I've done some thinking lately. I know; dangerous, right? But hear me out: as writers, we're told to write what's honest and true for our characters. Our responsibility to getting their story right is what makes or breaks a book.

But what about the responsibility to our readers?

This is particularly tricky if you write YA. Maybe this goes back to my post on what's too edgy for YA. I am a firm believer in writing a story the way it needs to be written, in authenticity. It's a belief my agent shares with me. If something needs to be toned down, it'll reveal itself in time.

But why would a story need to be toned down? So many people tow the line, "Anything goes in YA these days!" And it's true that--short of gratuitousness in sex/violence/you name it--YA is pushing boundaries further than ever before. If you write edgy or gritty YA, you have to consider your responsibility to the kids reading your book. Do you think a teenage audience is ready to tackle mature themes and content? Are you okay with the idea that parents, teachers, maybe even some of your readers are going to be upset by your words?

It's easy to retort with, "Parents should be aware of what their kids are reading and be available to talk about it." Well, sure, that's true, but not every kid has that parent around. A writer's responsibility to their audience can't be dodged. You might be exposing a kid to ideas they haven't encountered before. Some of these ideas aren't pleasant.

Here's my take on a writer's responsibility to their readers: you find the balance between writing what's best for the story and what's best for the audience. In no way should a writer "dumb down" or santize what they're writing. Instead present the situations in a way that there are consequences--realistic consequences--for the characters. Violence can be realistic and present without being exalted. Books are a learning device. And books are a safe means to exploring situations your readers might have questions about.

As a teenager, I was curious about sex. I was curious about drugs. And at a young age, like 12 years old, I read about characters engaging in these things--and facing the consequences of their choices to do it or not to do it, to smoke it or not to smoke it. It better informed me so that, when those opportunities arose in my real life, I had more information on which to base my response. I didn't always make great choices, but at least I was informed about what I could be getting myself into. By exploring these things in books, I was helped in figuring out where I stood on these issues.

So, yes, I'm in favor of depictions of kids in questionable situations. I also don't write these things "just because" or present them in a way that glorifies them. One of my crit partners will mention drugs in her book but her MCs won't use them because she wants her MC to be a good role model. I do have MCs who've used drugs--and paid for it in some way. Maybe they're role models of what NOT to do. In any case, neither my crit partner nor me is right or wrong. Our portrayals of these kids is our way of being responsible to our readers.

I'm a writer. I'm also a mom. If I'm worried I might be pushing things too far, I ask myself if I'd be okay with my own child reading this when she's thirteen. If I am, it stays. If I'm not, I don't cut it but modify it until I would be okay with my daughter reading it. Each writer has to come to terms with reader responsibility in their own way. Writers tell stories because we have ideas that we want to share, and sharing is what makes it impossible to avoid thinking of our audience. Be respectful of them and they will be respectful of you.

Dreams Made Reality

2010-11-02T20:31:00.001-05:00

I still consider myself a northern girl at heart even though I haven't lived there since I got married ten years ago. I love woods and cold weather, and those were two things I missed during the years I lived in apartments with my husband and then our shoebox-sized house in a 1960s-era neighborhood. Oh, I longed for the north. I daydreamed of moving back there. My crit partner, Shawntelle, often teases me about my northern accent, which I haven't totally shaken after all these years. But more than anything, I longed for woods and nature. To be able to walk outside and get lost on a path.

Write what you know. Write what you're inspired to write.

We hear it time after time.

I set most of my work in Wisconsin. There's often farmland or forest or sometimes both because that was what I knew. But there was a lack of authenticity in recent years because I wasn't seeing these things outside my window anymore. I conjured them from memory, but my memory had faltered after enough years' absence. The woods I dreamed of were fading.

But a year ago, my family moved into a new house. As with any move, we had hopes and dreams for our new house, but I resurrected a dream I thought was all but denied. A walk through my backyard leads to a nature conservation area with woods, fields, and a small pin oak swamp. It might not be quite cold enough, but this is enough to bring back what it felt like living up north and remind me of what my characters see when they go outside. It stirred up feelings of why I love the woods, why I love nature, and why these things are critical to my writing.

For my NaNoWriMo project, I've taken the conservation area behind my house and turned into the backyard of my MC. The water, mud, and cattails of the pin-oak swamp is the marsh where my MC has clandestine meetings with a boy who was practically family and is now an outlaw.

The field is the same path she takes while walking to school.

And the woods, well, there are many dark things living and hiding in the woods. Every snap of a twig is a bogeyman. Every shift in the shadows is perhaps something unnatural.

All of these pictures were taken yesterday while my kids and I were on a walk. One of my dreams was to live by woods and water. That dream has become my reality. I wish I could say we knew this was behind our house when we bought it. We didn't. It was a happy accident. Things just clicked into place.

During NaNoWriMo, countless writers pick up a pen in hopes of achieving a dream. Some of these NaNo manuscripts will be like our first apartment--nice, a springboard to bigger dreams, and some of these NaNo manuscripts will be happy accidents that turn into dreams achieved.

Congrats to my crit partners!

2010-11-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Nanowrimo everyone! Hope you're all getting in your word counts (even if these writing sessions are fueled by Halloween candy).

Just a quick post to congratulate two of my crit partners.

Amanda Bonilla has announced that her agent, Natanya Wheeler of the Nancy Yost Literary Agency, sold the first three books of her urban fantasy series to NAL/Penguin!!!

And....

Shawntelle Madison's urban fantasy about an obsessive-compulsive werewolf was sold by Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management to Random House's Del Rey imprint in a two-book deal!!!

Way to go, ladies! I've read and critted the books that both Amanda and Shawny sold, and I can say they are really fantastic. I couldn't be happier for both of them. Job well done!

In Preparation for Halloween

2010-10-27T07:38:00.000-05:00

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. When I was a little kid, nothing was more thrilling than wandering the neighborhoods in the dark (often in rain or sleet, being from the northern Midwest). My best friend and I would fill our bags with candy. Sometimes schoolmates would try to scare us. Sometimes we were afraid and ran to escape the danger in the shadows. But it was always a delight to settle down in the house once trick-or-treating had ended and peruse our candy treasure.

As an adult and parent, I still love Halloween and so do my kids. My son just turned three and is starting to understand what Halloween is. My daughter's so excited about getting to wear her costume to school and church this week. We put up our decorations inside and out of the house, and I think I must have close to a dozen pumpkins by now.

But one other thing I love about Halloween is being in the mood to read spooky books and watch horror movies. I write dark urban fantasy and some horror, so naturally I'm drawn to books and movies of the same vein. When it comes to horror movies, I'm usually more suspense than gore, and I love the classics. How can you not get a chill when, in fear of Freddie, Nancy tells her boyfriend, "Whatever you do...don't fall asleep"? And knowing much of the story behind THE EXORCIST took place here in St. Louis, it is kind of fun to let the imagination run wild about what really happened.

Here's my list for some Halloween-inspired reading:

1. THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff (my current reading and OMG...wow)
2. DRACULA by Bram Stoker
3. "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe
4. BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves
5. THE HOLLOW and THE HAUNTED by Jessica Verday

And for a few more chills, watching these classic movies is sure to do the trick:

1. HALLOWEEN (1978)
2. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
3. CARRIE (1980)
4. THE EXORCIST (1973)
5. Tie: THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) and POLTERGEIST (1980)

So what are your favorite scary books and movies? I'd love to hear about it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Blog Chain: Dinner Date

2010-10-23T07:01:00.001-05:00

It's that time again. This circle in the blog chain is brought to us by Michelle Hickman who'd like to know: If you could dine with any author, and I do mean whether alive or dead (yes, we're going into the realms of time travel-but hey, we have science fiction writers on this chain so we can always ask them to write up the time machine specs), who would you want to dine with? And if you can ask them for advice on one writing element you feel you might be struggling at, what would it be?

Yeesh. I can't pick just one. Who could, really?

But I think I'd enjoy having a ghostly girls' night out with Daphne du Maurier and Shirley Jackson. They are the mistresses of Gothic literature and wrote two of the key Gothic novels anyone interested in the genre has to read: REBECCA and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, respectively.

I remember the first time I read Jackson's "The Lottery" for an English class and was so gobsmacked by the ending--I hadn't seen it coming. And it blew my mind. My mother, an English teacher, thought it was an ugly story and wondered how I could like such ugly things (I know, this was the same woman who read me Poe stories when I was in grade school), but I had a real love for the dark and mysterious. After reading "The Lottery," I devoured everything I could of Jackson's.

Du Maurier was an author I discovered later, in my early 20s. I read REBECCA and it wasn't the flowery language that drew me in. It was the suspense, the how-much-worse-can-things-possibly-get-for-the-new-Mrs. de Winter that kept me cranking through the pages. Often when it was break time, I was found at the desk where I worked in an art museum library with the book open in front of me and my eyes wide. You can't imagine my amusement when I caught a dear friend of mine reading the opening pages of REBECCA to my then four month-old daughter. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." No wonder the child has the same affinity for ghost stories that I do. Like daughter, like mother, like grandmother.

On a night out with du Maurier and Jackson, I'd love to do a showing of some film adapations of their work and get their honest opinions just because I think that could be fun. I'm sure there would be some wine and sushi on the menu and once I got them in the bliss of having a full belly I'd pick their minds. Both women were inventive when it came to showing horror in truly subtle ways--psychological horror and real, sinister even supernatural horror. I'd love to learn from how they were able to convey the terror without feeling like they had to spell everything out for the reader, how they were successful with suggestion and not full-on explanation. Too often I feel like, if I don't lay everything out and explain it, the reader won't understand, so finding the right mix of how to balance explanation and subtelty is a lesson I would really enjoy.

Please check in with Margie to see which writer she picked yesterday and who Laura will pick tomorrow!

Blog Chain: Fail for the Win

2010-10-18T08:56:00.000-05:00

Time for another link in the blog chain. This time, the question comes to us from she who shines brightly, Laura Diamond, and she wants to know: Regarding your writing career, what's the best mistake you've ever made and why?

Some months ago, I answered a similar question by saying that allowing myself to get discouraged about my writing also made me more determined to get up and do it again and again, to become a better a writer.

My answer now is a spin-off from that: I quit querying my first book too quickly.

Everyone says to query a book until you've exhausted every agent in your list, that if you feel really passionate about it then you won't give up on your project without peddling it to every reputable agent in your genre.

I didn't. While that book garnered a lot of requests over six months, I couldn't make up from down when it came to the feedback I'd gotten from agents. All basically boiled down to the same thing--we love the writing, the story, the characters, the pace, and more, but there's something missing and we don't know what so good-bye. Instead of taking time to figure it out, I let myself get burnt out and decided not to pursue a revision at that time. I didn't follow up with invites to revise and resubmit. I just let. it. go.

It hurt. A lot. That book was a return to the writing I'd put on hold for a couple of years, and I deemed it a failure.

But setting aside that book freed me up to write ALL THESE DARK THINGS which is now on submission to publishing houses.

And what's become of that other book? Ten months after I put it aside, I pitched it to my agent on a lark. She offered to guide me through a revision and I declined. I have faith in the book and faith in myself as a writer to get through this first revision on my own. I know she'll have awesome suggestions once I show it to her, but for now this is something I have to do myself. Making the "mistake" of pulling that book from querying early taught me to trust my instincts as a writer, and those instincts were to write something else and come back to this one after some distance.

Well, I'm the last link in this blog chain, but to see what others have to say, check out Margie's blog if you haven't already.

Walking the Edge

2010-10-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

Some of the questions asked time and again on messageboards, on Twitter, even in conversation, are "What is edgy YA and what's too edgy for YA?"

Quick answer: Nothing.

Better answer: It's all in how it's written.

Before we get into the writing of edgy YA, let's define it. Plain and simple, edgy YA is YA fiction that contains subjects which may be considered unsavory or taboo. Would this include sex and drugs? How about abuse of one's self and others? Incest? Twincest? Sociopathic characters? Religion? Terrorism? Edgy YA can include all that and more.

Writing edgy YA isn't merely to push barriers. To shock for shock's sake. The purpose of edgy YA is to examine an uncomfortable subject matter with thought and authenticity, to neither praise nor condemn these actions but to show how kids in these situations really are.

I've seen writers lament feeling pressured to include sex or drugs in their story because it's expected in YA. I say ridiculous. Sex, drugs, or any other so-called edgy material should be only included if it's truly what the characters would do, if it's necessary to the character development or the plot. If you're writing only because you think you need to and not because the story requires it, it won't ring true. Your readers will roll their eyes and call you out on it.

Some of my work could be considered edgy, but I have a hard time agreeing with this because none of the subject matters I've tackled are anything out of the ordinary. Violence has been written before. Matters of teenage sexuality have been written countless times. Rather than labeling my work edgy, I actually like my agent's description of "gritty" better because it's more indicative of the tone of my writing. In my opinion, edgy is more ground-breaking than gritty. Gritty is more often a dark tone and a pervasive seediness, a moral ambiguity, that flows throughout the story. But edgy is the subject matter at the heart of the book.

For example, STRANGE ANGELS by Lili St. Crow, a book about an orphaned girl in a violent paranormal world, is gritty, but THE CHOSEN ONE by Carol Lynch Williams, about a girl in a polygamist cult, is edgier in my opinion because it is examining a subject that tends to make people squeamish. And it does so with frankness and understanding. STRANGE ANGELS has stomach-churning situations and broken taboos, but they're not the core of the story.

In determining what's too edgy for YA, I don't want to place boundaries on subject matter. You can take the story as detailed and even brutal as it needs to go as long as you're doing so because the story needs it. Write your edgy YA with honesty. If at some point you need to rein it in, you'll be told to do so by crit partners, agents, or editors. It will be up to you if you can tell the same story even if you have to pull back a skosh. And most of the time, you can. If the emotions and subject at the core of the story are dealt with authentically, your readers will feel it and appreciate it.

Being edgy for edgy's sake rarely turns out well. When it's fake, it shows, but when it's the real deal, it can touch your readers in a deep way and maybe even give them something to think about long after they read The End.

After the agent, while on submission, what next?

2010-09-25T15:50:00.001-05:00

I realize my blog's been a bit neglected as of late. Summer was a busy season, of course, and I'm still taking some time to find my fall footing. After signing with my agent in July, I did a quick round of revisions and we retitled my book ALL THESE DARK THINGS since its original title was occupado by another awesome book coming out next year. With my book currently on submission, this begs the question, "What comes next?"

A funny thing happens when you sign with an agent who loves your book. You get a little paranoid about what the hell you're gonna write as a follow-up. I'd written about a quarter of FATHOM and had several new projects brewing. Plus, there's another completed manuscript that needs a lot of TLC but is definitely a workable story. So what do I write next? Do I finish FATHOM or work on something more in the vein of ATDT?

AHHHHHHH!

This is where I send an email to lovely agent and ask, "Can we talk about my next project?" She responds enthusiastically. Yes, she would love to hear about what I'm working on. I pitch the projects. She asks to see what I've written so far. From here, two things happen: lovely agent figures out I'm not a one-trick pony and I get to show lovely agent where my passion lies. We'll decide what's most compatible with ATDT's audience and go from there. Writers, we're a flaky bunch, distracted by bright, new shiny ideas. Instead of floundering around, I have some guidance pushing me to move forward in a certain direction.

Book Review: SHADOW HILLS by Anastasia Hopcus

2010-09-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

Anastasia Hopcus' debut novel SHADOW HILLS was on my radar a long time before it came out. When I first heard of it, I was then unagented and had a full manuscript sitting with her agent and SHADOW HILLS was among her listed sales. The premise interested me right off the bat, and I immediately placed it on my "Books to Watch" list. Ultimately, I wrote a new project and signed with my own agent, but I was counting down the days until SHADOW HILLS' release.

In SHADOW HILLS, 15-year-old Persephone "Phe" Archer comes to the Gothic-esque Devenish Prep school in Shadow Hills, Massachusettes. Far from Phe's California hometown, she quickly acclimates to life at the prep school, making friends with rebellious socialite Adriana and good guy Graham. But what drew Phe to Devenish has nothing to do with educating herself--unless you count her wanting to learn why her late sister Athena had recurring dreams about the prep school despite never having attended it. Plagued by dreams similar to her sister's, Phe discovers something very unusual about the town Shadow Hills, the powers of its residents, and the powers within herself. Helping her along is Zach, a mysterious young man willing to risk everything for Phe.

Hopcus' teen dialogue is snappy and believeable, and she weaves a dark tale in a Gothic setting. Her characters aren't "bad to the bone" and they're not edgy for edgy's sake--they're real. Every character feels fleshed out as if they could be the main character in their own story. For me, if I can devour a book in one or two sittings it means one thing: the plot and writing are ass-kicking strong. Hopcus has a love of indie music and it shows: a lot of the bands she references are bands in my own indie rock collection, so she gets extra points for authenticity. I am eager to see if Hopcus will be writing a sequel to SHADOW HILLS or more stories set at Devenish Prep. Watch this one--she's a powerhouse.

Sarah's rating: 5/5 stars

Book Review: THE HAUNTED by Jessica Verday

2010-09-06T07:36:00.000-05:00

Reading book one of Jessica Verday's The Hollow Trilogy is an absolute must before reading book two. If you haven't done so, do it now.

Go on. I'll wait.

Done now? Good.

THE HAUNTED picks up right where THE HOLLOW left off. This isn't so much a sequel as a continuation. Abbey Browning is still reeling from her best friend Kristen's death the previous year as well as finding out that the love of her life, Caspian Vander, simply cannot work. Caspian's a ghost. A nervous breakdown later, Abbey returns to her hometown of Sleepy Hollow where she feels like perhaps she invented Caspian as a way to cope with Kristen's death. Not so, as Caspian soon shows up, and after some internal tug-of-war, Abbey decides she must find a way to make this relationship work. The book focuses on the deepening of that love while never forgetting that Abbey is still trying to figure out who the mysterious D is mentioned in Kristen's diary and if he had anything to do with Kristen's death. Fans of the first book will be glad to see Ben making his return as Abbey's faithful friend and the backdrop of Washington Irving's famous tale of the Headless Horseman as well as the introduction of some new characters. Jessica's writing is fluid and easy to fall in to--I read the book in one day--and her attention to detail is impressive. With fall weather coming upon us, THE HAUNTED is a fun ghost story, perfect for a midnight read.

Sarah's rating: 4.5/5 stars

Blog Chain: Pick a genre, any genre

2010-09-05T12:35:00.000-05:00

I'm back on the chain gang again, and this time the question comes from the talented Margie who wants to know: How did you come to write your YA genre (contemp, fantasy, etc.)? AND (yep, it's a 2 parter) if you weren't writing that, what genre would you be interested in exploring?

All but two works of I created between ages nine and (gulp) thirty, were always YA with supernatural creatures or events. My head has always gone toward the dark and Gothic, to horror. The first short story I ever wrote and illustrated in fourth grade was a retelling of "The Little Shop of Horrors" wherein I cast my childhood best friend as a man-eating plant from outer space. Even the novels I cut my teeth on in high school when I decided I wanted to be a novelist involved reincarnation, ghosts, witches, vampires, and quite often a murder mystery. It might sound cliche, but I didn't pick my genre--it picked me.

If I wasn't writing dark YA paranormal/UF/horror, I'd probably be writing either YA dark comedy (I have a wicked and very dry sense of humor). The problem with that is my sense of humor doesn't always translate very well into print. However, I've got some ideas and who knows what story will pop up next?

To find out Bonny's take on this question, pop on by her blog next!

Blog Chain: Challenges & Rewards

2010-08-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

Time for another go-round of ye olde blog chain. This turn's question is posed by the talented Eric, who asks: What is the most challenging aspect of being a writer? What is your greatest reward?

For me, the most challenging part of being a writer is getting the story onto the page. Aside from the balance of being a writer and a stay-at-home parent to small children, words don't fly out of me as fast as they once did. My internal editor is something of an infernal editor--a devil on my shoulder prodding me with a pitchfork and barking, "Fix that typo. That dialogue isn't believeable. Don't forget the visceral reaction. Dude, not good enough." It slows me down, and I don't like it. I didn't have this issue with ALL THESE DARK THINGS but FATHOM's a different beast that requires more time and care to produce the words. It's the nature of the story. I have the entire plot and character development in my head and know what needs to happen but getting it out is proving to be a huge challenge at the moment.

Still, once the story's written and I've had the rush of putting out words I'm happy with, the greatest reward I find in writing is being able to share my work. God gave me some skosh of talent, and I'm proud of my work. I enjoy (and dread) showing it to my crit partners, beta readers, and my agent because they will tell me things about my story that I didn't even know. They help me to make my work even better. Hopefully, I'll be lucky enough to someday have a book on a shelf in a store where it'll be picked up by some stranger who thinks it will make for a good read.

So what are your biggest challenges and rewards with writing? Leave a comment and please make sure you check out what Margie and Bonny have to say on this topic.

Book Review: THE DEATHDAY LETTER by Shaun David Hutchinson

2010-08-16T09:01:00.001-05:00

THE DEATHDAY LETTER by Shaun David Hutchinson lays it out for you on the first page. "The first thing you need to know about Oliver Travers is that at the end of this story he's going to die." 15-year-old Ollie gets a letter telling him he has 24 hours to live, and now he must decide how he's going to spend the last day of his life. At first, like many teenage boys when faced with a deadline, Ollie doesn't want to do anything, but he quickly embraces the "seize the day" mentality.

Hutchinson's writing is fast-paced and witty. The events making up Ollie's day are told in a light-hearted, out and out funny way, without ever venturing into the silly or saccharine. The humor with which he dispenses jokes about life, death, and the afterlife takes what could've been a grim topic and instead celebrates a teenage boy's life. Ollie's obsessed with sex, food, and trying to get the very most out of his final hours. Even though Hutchinson told us from the beginning how the book would end, the reader can't help but hope there will be some intervention, some postal snafu, some, "Oh, gee, I'm sorry. Wrong letter for you, kiddo. You were supposed to win Publisher's Clearing House."

Hutchinson's book about death and life and how to live--not a life with meaning but one that is simply enjoyed--is about more than a teenage boy's last day. More than a book about boob jokes. It takes some of the fear out of death and replaces it with the euphoria of living fully.

Sarah's rating: 5/5 stars

Blog Chain: What's Up?

2010-08-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

Time for another link in the blog chain! This time, the question comes from my awesome crit partner, the always lovely Cole Gibsen, who asks:

Are you querying? Gearing up to go on submission? Writing? Revising? I'd love to hear what's new with you. And if you'd like to share a snippet of your WIP, even better!

If you haven't already, make sure you stop by Margie's blog and then check out Bonny's answer tomorrow.

So what am I up to? After signing with my agent a month ago, things have moved pretty quickly. She had my revision notes for ALL THESE DARK THINGS ready the day I accepted her offer of representation. After finishing the revisions, she asked me to write a synopsis for book 2 and gave me some ideas about things she'd like to see in the next installment of Vivien's story. And her suggestions were things I agreed with. I'm not much of a plotter so writing a whole synopsis without plunking down word one of the book was a challenge. But it's done and I'm happy with it. Very soon now, my book will go on submission to editors, and I'm sure my hair will turn gray.

In the meantime, I continue to work on FATHOM, my YA horror/Gothic. The MC is 17-year-old Noah Sedgewick, and this scene features a conversation with his father, who wasn't home the night before:

"Where were you last night?" I asked.

"Accident," Dad said with a frown. "The road crew folks had a car wreck to clear before I could work." My father was the Stillwater County Coroner, the kind of work not exactly fitting for Take-Your-Kid-To-Work-Day.

"Such a tragedy," Dad went on. "The Tysons lost their daughter, the one going to college way south in Madison. She was home for the weekend and heading back to school."

Mom took her her cereal bowl to the sink. The metal spoon rattled against the bowl, her hands unsteady. "Didn't the Tysons already lose one girl?"

"Ya, they sure did. Years ago. The one last night smashed into a tree. A mess, like someone cracked open a pumpkin."

Jesus. We Sedgewicks weren't capable of normal morning small talk.

I opened the fridge, dosing my caffeinated poison with cream, and hustled out the door into the morning chill. The smell of moss long-buried under snow greeted me, and some chickens pecked at the ground still slushy from last night's storm. This was March, the blackest month. In summer, the scent filtering through all of Fathom was more offensive because of the reservoir--stagnant water and mud. Lifeless. It's said the mud in Fathom could suck a whole cow underground. Imagine how easily a person could disappear.

The screen door cracked against its frame, and a hand fell on my shoulder. I whipped around toward the farmhouse with the sagging roof.

"I'm driving you to school," Dad said.

"I could drive myself if you'd give back my keys," I reminded him, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Not today."

The way he looked me over from behind his glasses, there'd be no arguing with him. A kid died last night.

The drive through Fathom from my family's farm on Nathan's Hill took about ten minutes. Past the gray farms with billowing chimneys, past the Sons of Fathom memorial honoring our fallen military, Dad drove toward the valley of the reservoir. One lane of Galge Bridge was blocked with traffic cones, glass spilled on the road like a handful of blue gems. A white rag caught on one of the bridge's trusses waved in the wind. An oddity that made me suddenly very uncomfortable. As we crossed the bridge, I noticed Dad holding his breath. He always held his breath when we left Fathom.

"That wreck must've been really bad," I remarked.

"It was dark. I don't recall," he said flatly, rehearsed. His mouth was a grim line, and his knuckles stretched white as he gripped the steering wheel. "Noah, promise me--swear like you never swore before--that you'll be careful."

Clenched in a fist, my left hand ached along an old scar. "I'll keep an eye out."

"I said for you to swear."

"All right, I swear," I said. "Now what am I swearing to?"

"Promise me you won't go near the reservoir, not with your friends, definitely not alone."

Dad's green eyes weren't done with me. He'd investigated Fathom's dead long enough that he was hard to rattle, but something about the Tyson girl's accident needled him.

I looked out my window of the car. A church's stone bell tower and steeple rose from the water. The domed tops of a few rusted silos also broke through, reminders of Old Fathom, the town swallowed by a great flood. Each year, there were drownings. Last June, a boating accident below Galge Bridge spilled fuel on the water which ignited when struck by lightning. An honest-to-God lake of fire. But for now the reservoir was still and the water black and glassy as if biding time until something shattered its surface.

Book Review: Immortal by Gillian Shields

2010-08-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I love Gothic novels, and Gillian Shields' IMMORTAL is a great example of the genre. I was drawn to the book after Melissa Marr, author of WICKED LOVELY, recommended it on a message board, and I wasn't disappointed.

Sent off to the exclusive Wyldcliff boarding school in the countryside, Evie Johnson is soon wrapped up in a world of ghosts, romance, and curses. With sweeping descriptions of the school's creepy corridors and foggy moors, Evie's world is balanced between the snobby girls trying to make her an outcast and the mysterious and handsome Sebastian who will only meet with her late at night. Interspersed with Evie's narrative are journal passages written by a young woman named Agnes telling the story of lovers torn apart by elemental magic. When the journal entries and Evie's life collide, it makes for a dramatic fourth quarter of the book and sets up nicely for the recentlyreleased sequel BETRAYAL.

Personally, I found it easy to get lost in Shields' rich world. Shields follows the Gothic trope of a young girl in distress, and while the story was perhaps a bit predictable, I was fully engaged by the characters and plot. Perhaps most telling is that once I picked up IMMORTAL on the Fourth of July, I didn't put it down until six hours later when I'd read the whole book.

Sarah's rating: 4/5 stars

It Takes a Village

2010-08-05T15:31:00.000-05:00

May I say it just one more time? My crit partners are fan-frickin'-tastic. Just as they say it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to write a book.

But, wait, aren't writers supposed to be these reclusive introverts shacked up in a cabin in the woods somewhere? Ideally (at least in my fantasy world), yes, but I live in the suburbiest of suburbias--with woods and water close by, we'll call it a compromise.

An honest-to-God truth is, if you want your writing to grow, you MUST talk with other people learning the craft, people who challenge themselves and you to go outside one's comfort zones, people who are at the place in their career where you aspire to be. You cannot grow if you insist on writing in a vacuum.

In the last couple of weeks, I think I've talked with most of my crit partners about stumbling points in my own WiP and the synopsis for a new project. They've bounced ideas off me for their own works. And you know what? The feedback we gave and received was awesome, and we'd probably still be floundering around if we'd relied solely on ourselves and our own sometimes shallow reservoir of creativity. You alone cannot recreate the dynamic of a back-and-forth brainstorming session with other like-minded writers.

"That's great, Sarah," you say, "but I don't have critique partners or writer friends."

All I can say to that is: find them. They will not magically show up and find you one day. And that means putting yourself out there, which is a really scary thing to do. I get it. I've been there, done that. If I hadn't, I'd have stagnanted as a writer.

Only one of my crit partners was someone I knew before I made my return to writing. The others I met through online writer forums (Query Tracker, for example) and even through the blog chain in which I participate. Other writers I've read for I met on Twitter by following the #amwriting and #yalitchat threads. You better believe I was scared sick at the idea or exposing my work to people I hardly knew. If nerves or fear are preventing you from showing your work to other people, try to remember that anyone who sends you their work for critiquing is probably nervous, too.

This is how I know working with others is beneficial. I've seen real progress, both on a personal level and a creative level. When my core crit group began almost a year and a half ago, only one of us was agented. Now we all are. One of us has a book deal, and the rest of us are on submission to publishing houses or will be shortly. We spur each other on through writer's block and rant together when frustrated and cheer for each other's success.

This is my village, and none of my books could be written without them.

Say My Name, Say My Name

2010-07-29T13:09:00.000-05:00

My name was always sort of a let down.

Sarah.

From the Hebrew word for "Princess." Historically, the wife of Abraham in the Bible. Also the name of about half the girls born in 1980. That might be an exaggeration, but I do recall that at one point in my tiny graduating class of around 90 students, there were 6 other Sara/Sarahs. Very common, bland. Skim milk-safe name. My friends called me Saery to differentiate me from the others. It was spelled that way 'cause I was really into fairies as a teenager and thought faery and Saery were cute. *makes gagging gesture but is secretly nostalgic*

My husband's surname is very common, perhaps more so than Sarah as a first name. When we named our children, we wanted names that were different without going into the Land of Weird. When we came across the right names, something inside clicked. "OH! Right! That's the perfect name for my baby!"

For me, naming characters isn't much different. It has to be the right name for the character, otherwise his or her identity doesn't seem to match up with what she's called. When I named Vivien in ALL THESE DARK THINGS, I was using a name that I'd long adored. You might recall that Vivien has the power to raise the dead. Which makes it really amusing that Vivien means "Alive." I didn't know this until after her name was set in stone.

Meaning comes into play but so does rhythm. The name has to roll off the tongue. I have to be able to hear other character saying the name without getting tripped up. Vivien's boyfriend is Dez Castillo. I liked the way saying his name felt, the "z" at the end of the first name and "y" sound given off by the double Ls.

When choosing names for characters, I like to go to Nymbler. You can plug in six names, choose gender options, and hit search to find names that are similar in sound and theme. I especially like to use it when naming minor characters in order to find a character name that won't seem out-of-place in any given project.

I also check out the Baby Name Wizard to look at naming trends over time. If you're writing a character who was born in the 1960s, you might want to know what types of names were popular then.

As I said in the beginning, I didn't much like being named Sarah when I was younger. My mom nearly named me Courtney until my sister intervened. I like the name Courtney, but you know what? I'm NOT a Courtney. If I was, who's to say I'd be the same Sarah.

Tell me: how you do name your characters? Do names matter to you? Does meaning?

How I Found My Agent

2010-07-23T07:42:00.001-05:00

Over the last two weeks, I've gotten a lot of really wonderful emails and messages from other writers. The writing community is filled with good apples, and they are super sweet. I also had a few friends ask if I planned to do a blog post detailing how I found my agent, so here we go on my writing trip.

I'd been through querying before. A book I queried last year good number of requests, but ultimately I was in the same place where I started, except none of the stories I'd began writing while querying were working for me. During the summer, one of my crit partners and I were brainstorming. She said that I should write a book about the teenage daughter of a necromancer. I got an idea for a dark comedy and wrote about five pages. I set it aside.

Then in December, that idea rebooted into something much darker. REVENANT.

In March, I finished writing the new book. I'm a revise-while-writing type of writer, and the book had already gone through several rounds of critting by the time I finished it. I took about two weeks to really polish it, sat on it for another week, and then began sending queries. I was happy with my query letter. It had been vetted by my critique group and members of my blog chain. One thing I've learned: before even one query letter goes out, get that letter looked at by writers you trust who have crafted successful query letters.

In April, I sent my query letter to Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. She was one of my "dream" agents, and I was intimidated because her stats on Query Tracker weren't promising. But I also knew from interviews and her client list that she might just make a good match for me. In the meantime, I kept sending queries and was getting requests and rejections and some non-responses.

There were times I wanted to quit. I felt like the same thing was happening as with my first book. "Love the writing/concept/characters, didn't connect/can't sell/not for me." My crit partners talked me down from that ledge.

In late June, I got an email from Miriam saying she loved the beginning of REVENANT and was "desperate" to read the rest of it. I screamed and danced a little bit, then reined myself in because, while it's exciting to get a full request, I had to be guardedly optimistic.

Over the Fourth of July holiday, I traveled out of town with my husband and kids to visit my mother-in-law (she who defines "awesome) for her birthday. I checked my email once on Saturday afternoon. No new messages. On Monday, the fifth (my late father's birthday), we drove home. Within five minutes of unpacking the car, I was at the computer and found a message in my inbox from Miriam.

Sarah, I absolutely loved this and would like to offer you representation.

I had a full body earthquake, I was shaking so hard. My husband came over to see what the fuss is about and, being such a big stoic bear, he had a smile on his face and wrapped me in one of his giant hugs. I stopped gulping air and managed to call my crit partners. I think my ear drums were damaged by their yells. I'd gotten to share in their joy when each of them became agented or was offered a publishing contract, and it was fun being on the other side.

Miriam and I spoke on the phone on Tuesday, and I knew she'd be a great match for me. However, I had a number of submissions still out and notified those agents. A couple bowed out, a couple asked for more time to review the manuscript, and another asked for a phone call. It was good to hear another agent's perspective on my book, but I also knew my gut was right about Miriam. The goals for my book and career were in sync, and I think our personalities gelled well. Within a few days, I accepted Miriam's offer of representation.

Currently, I've gone through one round of minor revisions for ALL THESE DARK THINGS (yes, REVENANT has a new title). I want this book to be as honest and rounded as possible, and Miriam will be taking Vivien and her crew out on submission before long. Having an agent doesn't suddenly mean everything is different, but it does mean that you have someone in your corner telling you what works and what doesn't while still believing in you, which is invaluable.

If I have any advice to other writers, it's to read and write as much as possible. To find a critique group of like-minded writers, all with the same goals for their writing. To be persistent.

Title Me

2010-07-20T07:11:00.000-05:00

Ever completely fall in love with the title for one your projects? Maybe it's a word or phrase that defines your story so well that you can't think of calling it anything else. Your crit partners like the title. "It's catchy," they say.

And then you find out your beloved title must go.

I like to have my title in place within the first chapter or two of any project. For me, giving a book a name helps me to pinpoint what it's about. I had really loved the title REVENANT. My agent liked the title a lot, too. One caveat: in 2011, Sonia Gensler is releasing a YA novel called THE REVENANT.

Ouch.

I didn't become aware of this until after I'd already begun sending queries. When I titled it, I triple-checked Amazon and elsewhere to see how many books were called REVENANT or THE REVENANT. None recent enough to compete with mine. Whew! Until one of my crit partners told me that Gensler's book had sold with a familiar title. Sometimes having two books with the same name isn't a big deal, but I've seen agents lament, "Not another angel book called FALLEN" on Twitter. And if you're writing a YA book about vampires, you probably don't want to call it TWILIGHT.

Sonia Gensler's book and mine couldn't be more different except they both have ghosts. Her book looks really cool, and it's in my "Can't Wait Until This is Released" queue. But the fact of the matter is, my book will be going on submission soon, and my agent and I decided it would be best to retitle REVENANT.

So REVENANT is now called ALL THESE DARK THINGS, taken from a line in the book. I like it, though I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have any trouble getting used to it.

And there's a good chance a publisher may want to retitle it again. I've known a number of writers who love their title only to lose it along the way.

So tell me: how do you come up with titles? Once you name a project, is that name set in stone for you?

Blog Chain: Revision

2010-07-15T10:11:00.000-05:00

It's my turn to start the blog chain, and my topic is one all writers have to face at some point.

How do you handle revisions? Do you revise as you're writing, or do you wait until you've gone through beta readers and crit partners to revise? How soon after you finish do you begin your revisions?

The question is a timely one for my crit partners and me as we're all doing revisions or waiting for revision notes on our manuscripts. The way I work, I generally revise as I'm writing. I like to produce as clean a draft as possible. That means I have a hard time turning off my internal editor and will write a chapter and revise it a bunch before it ever gets to my crit partners. Once my crit partners and betas send their notes back to me, I'll revise again. And again. Sometimes there will be a few more volleys back and forth between my crit partners and me before I'm ready to launch into revising for a final draft. I can't stand letting the manuscript lie if I know there's something that needs work.

Taking time away from a manuscript usually doesn't work well for me. It goes back to the "If it's broken, it has to be fixed," mentality. That said, taking time away and coming back to it really can do a world of good for a manuscript. The time away gives you new eyes, and revision really is to re-vision your work.

Make sure you check out what the lovely Laura has to say about revision tomorrow.

Blog Chain: Come Into My Parlor

2010-07-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

Real quick, I just want to say thanks for all the nice congratulations I've gotten over the last week. I am continually amazed by and happy to be part of such an awesome group of writers and friends.

So...Blog Chain time again! This go-round comes courtesy Bonny, who wants to know:

Is there a place you like to write that's extra special? Have you carved out a writing niche? Is there a certain time of day (or night) when the words fall into place and you brain is focused on nothing but writing?

I have a few places around my house where I like to write. Our house has a formal dining room, but my kitchen table can seat eight, so I changed the dining room into a small office for me. I'm a super-visual person, so I have a storyboard with pictures that inspire whichever project I'm working on. That's my FATHOM board. My beaten-up laptop sits next to my sewing machine. This is my I'll-Work-Here-If-I-Must area where my kids can come screaming for Mama's help. That chair's super old (hench the chewed up arms) and uncomfortable, too.

I wrote almost all of my last MS on this couch after that carrying that little blondie in the picture down the stairs at 5:30 am resulted in me breaking my right ankle. He was just helping Mama along, right? I still will hunker down here when revising or critting so that I can watch the kids play while at work.

But here's my favorite place to write. The screened-in porch off my kitchen. My house sits on a half-acre and if you go out our backyard and down the hill, there's a walking path and some woods and water. We get a lot of birds and some other wildlife. Unfortunately, in St. Louis, come summertime it's almost always too hot and humid to sit out there, but if I'm up early in the morning, you can usually find me there with my laptop and steaming cup of coffee. And my familiars, Hazel and Josephine, are often there, too.

I'm a writer-mom. I can't unplug from my family, so I've found ways to make writing fit into my family life. I try to write while my daughter's in school and my son's napping and again once they're in bed. However, I'm in the middle agent revisions and the kids are, so far, being awesome about letting me have more time to work during the day. But it is definitely a balancing act.

I'm closing out this link in the blog chain, but please make sure to visit Margie's blog if you haven't already.

The Cat's Out of the Bag: Announcement Time

2010-07-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

Writing is a crazy industry where we continually put ourselves out there, knowing that we're gonna take some knocks along the way, with the hope that we're going to find someone to champion our work.

I have found my champion.

I have accepted an offer of representation from Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency!

Book Review: THE DEVOURING by Simon Holt

2010-07-05T21:45:00.000-05:00

It's the obvious thing to say, but I devoured THE DEVOURING by young adult horror novelist Simon Holt. The first in a series, THE DEVOURING tells the story of 15-year-old horror buff Reggie, her little brother Henry, and some seriously scary creatures called Vours. Reggie works at a bookshop and discovers a one-of-a-kind book called "The Devouring," which tells the tells of black smokelike creatures that prey of your worst fears in order to take control of your body. The soul is gone, the shell remains, inhabited by the Vour. When Reggie and her friend Aaron decide to take on their fears, they lure a Vour to her house. While nothing happens to Reggie, she soon notices a change in her brother Henry. Before long, she suspects a Vour has taken control of her little brother's body and she's the only one who can rescue his soul.

I enjoyed THE DEVOURING. It fits neatly into the horror genre between R.L. Stine and Stephen King. Scary but nothing that most YA readers can't handle. It does have some gore, but what really makes this book special is the atmosphere Holt creates--winter, New England, spooky. Definitely a great book to curl up with during a thunderstorm. The only thing that could have made my reading experience better was if it'd been cold outside instead summer. I'm very eager to dig into book two: SOULSTICE.

Sarah's rating: 4/5 stars

Julnowrimo: How to break the summer slump

2010-07-01T08:58:00.000-05:00

I love my current WiP, but let me tell you, I have a bad case of the summer slump. I have a hell of a time turning off my internal editor. Every time I move forward, all I really do is shuffle words around like a kid moving the peas on her plate to make it look like she's eaten. To top it off, my small children drive each other (and me) nuts because it's been too hot to play outside until after dinner.

But I have a cure.

Julnowrimo. July Novel Writing Month. Sorta like Nano, but in the summer.

I don't think I'll be able to bang out the whole WiP in 31 days, but I have a modest goal of reaching 1K words a day. Preferably before my pint-sized hellions crawl out of the depths of their bedrooms for the day. Admittedly, I'll be off to a rocky start--I'm heading out of town for the Fourth of July weekend--but I'm taking my laptop and searching out quiet places. With my daughter heading back to school midmonth (year-round schooling here), I should be in a good place to set all systems to go.

So does anybody else have a case of summer writing slump? What are you doing to keep going? Anybody else attempting Julnowrimo?

Blog Chain: Muse It or Lose It

2010-06-23T08:13:00.001-05:00

Time for another link in the blog chain. This time, the question comes from Shaun: From where do you get your inspiration for stories? Give me the oddest, coolest things that inspired you. After you've finished checking out Shaun's just released book, THE DEATHDAY LETTER, make you wander over to see Margie's answer from yesterday and what Bonny will say tomorrow!

Half the time, I don't know where the stories come from. A song ("All Mixed Up" by Red House Painters). A sound (elk bugling). A thought (What if your mom and aunts were the three sisters of fate?).

Most of the time, a character or an idea will pop up in my head, and I run with it. For one of my projects, I kept seeing a commercial for a local mega-church where the pastor sits in head-to-toe denim and talks all about how you never have to feel alone. If you squint hard enough, you can see his halo. I wondered what it would be like if that guy was your dad and you were a seventeen-year-old without a soul. Voila, an idea was sprung. (I will go back to that project one day, I promise.)

My current WIP hit me when I was taking my kids to the pediatrician. During the long drive, I kept coming across car accidents the closer I got to the bridge going over the river. Then the car in the lane next to me swerved and crashed for no reason. It was bleak outside and everything looked gray, and I couldn't shake the idea that we weren't supposed to cross the bridge. Of course, my car got stuck in a traffic jam on said bridge, and I spent a long time staring out at the flat, black water in the Missouri River below. I began to wonder what lay beneath the surface of the water. To say, I got unsettled is an understatement.

But an idea nibbled at me. I'd been kicking around writing a Poe-inspired ghost story. Hmm. What could I do with a creepy bridge and a body of water?

Not long afterward, I was walking through the woods by my house when it began to rain. Lightning streaked in the sky and, very truly and quite cheesily, a memory hit me hard. I was very young, visiting my mother's hometown in rural Illinois. Again, we had to cross a rather despairing bridge to get to our family farms that were at least a hundred years old. The fields surrounding the farms gave way to a fog-laced forest. Such a desolate place. And there I was, a kid, walking down a lonely gravel road scattered with hundreds of the strangest stones, like pieces of shiny black glass.

That memory gave me a setting and merged with the idea of a ghost story about a bridge and a body of water. Throw in The Cure's "Disintegration" album and Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks," now I have my WIP. A hell of a creepy ghost story called FATHOM.

For me, inspiration comes from what's already inside you as well as what's around you. All you have to do is wait for the lightning to hit and be ready with a pencil.

Book Review: The Prince of the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

2010-06-17T16:30:00.000-05:00

THE PRINCE OF THE MIST by Carlos Ruiz Zafon caught my eye because it was on an endcap at the store and had a great cover. No lie. I read the description and that, too, sounded like something I'd be interested in. At just over 200 pages, I knew I could knock the book out and prepared myself for an easy read.

Zafon's book is about 13-year-old Max and his 15-year-old sister Alicia who, with their parents and younger sister, have to move to avoid the war sweeping across Europe. Ruiz doesn't give a year but it sounds like World War II. At their new home, a host of strange experiences begin to happen, and young Max believes the house may be haunted by the previous owner's son, Jacob. Helping the siblings to learn the truth is Roland, a boy from the village, and they soon learn an evil presence is lurking in the mist coming off the ocean. The Prince of the Mist still has a score to settle, and the payment he'll accept is someone's life.

TPOTM is great if you're looking for a book with a lot of atmosphere--enchanted gardens full of stone statues, sunken sinks--it's fun. But I have to admit I think the book might've lost a little something when translated from its original language. It's gothic enough and entertaining enough to enjoy and get lost in the pages for a few hours, but it read to me more like a very young YA novel or even a middle grade. With YA, I usually hope to see more character development and what I did see in TPOTM was slight changes. These summer days were supposed to greatly affect these kids and I wasn't really left with that at the end. Sort of like Max didn't get just how bizarre and life-altering his experience with TPOTM was. Because of Max's age and the adventure book quality of the story, I'd think this would be better labeled a middle grade novel.

There is much to enjoy about TPOTM--it has some nice gothic elements and some truly creepy scenes, but, for me, it didn't totally match up with the description on the jacket flap. It's worth the read, but I'd probably reserve this for a run to the library rather than buying my own copy.

Sarah's rating: 2.5/5 stars

THE DEATHDAY LETTER out now!

2010-06-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder...

Shaun David Hutchinson's YA debut THE DEATHDAY LETTER is out today. I spotted a copy at my local Borders and was quick to snatch it up. A little while ago, I did an interview with Shaun which you can find here. Learn his answers to where TDL came from as well as if he prefers Madonna to Lady Gaga.

Book Review: CANDOR by Pam Bachorz

2010-06-14T08:28:00.001-05:00

CANDOR by Pam Bachorz is about a Florida town of the same name where all the kids are perfect. Day in and day out, they are fed subliminal messages that take away their will and replace it with the urge to "be good." Oscar Banks, the teenaged son of Candor's founder, knows how to work the system. While not completely immune to the Messages, Oscar has found a way to retain most of his free will, pretending to be his father's perfect pawn the entire time. He has helped kids out of Candor before in exchange for money and favors. But when free-spirited Nia moves to Candor, Oscar wants to help her escape but ultimately decides he wants to keep her in Candor and teach her how to be herself despite the Messages. To save this girl, Oscar risks everything--his cover, his identity, his mind.

CANDOR's gotten some great buzz among agents and writers but is kind of hard to find. I live in a suburb of St. Louis, not exactly a small city, and couldn't locate a copy in any of the stores or chains I frequent, which is a shame because, really, it's a great book. It's on my list of Must-Read Books for YA writers, especially if you write from a boy's POV. If you have trouble finding CANDOR, it's worth the price on Amazon or Alibris.

Bachorz writes in an easy, simple style that gets you deep into Oscar's head. Oscar himself is a character who's initially hard to like--manipulative, cocky--but the reader quickly finds these are his defense mechanisms. Candor the town is well-developed, and while I read that Bachorz has no plans for a sequel, she could certainly set other novels in Candor. A dystopian novel that doesn't rely on an end-of-the-world or a far-and-distant-future scenario, CANDOR is frightening because it shows the dangers of taking away free will.

Sarah's rating: 4/5 stars

My Pug Baby, Hazel

2010-06-07T23:13:00.000-05:00

I have this pug. Her name is Hazel. She is a strange creature. Yesterday, Hazel turned 10 years old. She was my first baby. She snorts a lot and has velvety ears, a tail like a coiled up cheese danish and a muzzle speckled with gray.

I have another pug named Josephine. Hazel, while frequently annoyed with Josie, is a great big puggy sister. They are like two little old ladies roaming my house.

Hazel likes to act like a cat and climb on top of furniture where she doesn't belong. She also likes coffee. Almost as much as I do. Hazel is crucial to my writing process because she sits in my lap or lies across my feet, her snoring a living metronome to which I write.

Our pets are our family. They give us joy when we are sad, affection when we are lonely. My life would certainly be missing something without my girls. My beautiful, snorty, hyper, cuddly, puggly girls.

You Like Me. You Really Like Me.

2010-06-05T08:09:00.000-05:00

My crit group met last weekend and, in her wisdom, Cole Gibsen looked me in the eye and said something to the effect of, "I'm having trouble liking your MC."

This is a problem. So far, out of my four critters, she's the only one who had an issue with him, but he's the narrator. If it's hard to like a book's narrator, well, there's only so many tricks we writers have to propel the reader forward.

I had two options. The first, to grab her, and bemoan, "Why don't you like him?" probably wasn't a safe option. I'm pretty sure Cole would whip out a katana and pare me down to a pulp if I barged into her personal space. Besides, histrionics aren't generally my style.

The second option was to be sensible. After ferreting out why she didn't like him, I came to conclude how she read him wasn't how I thought I wrote him. That was what bothered me more than that she simply didn't like him--she didn't "get" him. That was totally my screw-up.

We did a little back and forth to see how I could address her concerns while still being true to my MC. A tweak here, a tweak there, she's seen the changes. I have the Cole stamp of approval.

I could've disregarded Cole's comments (though I'd never suggest it--the girl knows her stuff), particularly since she's the only one of my crit partners who felt this way. But she had such a good point.

If you don't like the MC, the rest of the story has to be beyond ace to keep the reader engaged. Everyone knows of at least one book where you finish it and say, "Well, I liked it, but I hated the MC."

I'm not saying you have to write these perfect, unflawed characters to make them likable. I find those characters boring. Grouchy, damaged characters are fun but challenging. They work when there's a hint of something deeper, a hint they could be redeemed. Make them worthy of their flaws. Giving characters added depth makes for a richer reading experience.

So how important is likability in an MC? Will you stop reading a book just because you don't like the MC? I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

Stirrings Around the Web

2010-06-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

There are some fun goings-on around the blogosphere that you really should check out. And I'm super-stoked because they're all courtesy of my crit partners. You should be stoked, too, since all these things are for YOU, fellow writers.

1. Amanda Bonilla and Suzy Hayze have teamed up to form a new blog. Not only are they holding a query critique contest, but they are also going to be holding a Q&A with agent Julia Kenny of the Markson Thoma Literary Agency. And guess what? You get to ask the questions! All you have to do is read this post and comment.

2. Shawntelle Madison has combined her dual lives of computer programming by day, writing by night, into an application for you. Get your story moving by laying out the goal-motivation-conflict of your characters in one tidy place. Meet Shawntelle's GMC Wizard. Use it, love it.

3. Cole Gibsen wrote an epic post "Write Like an X-Men." People are talking about her words of wisdom on Twitter and other blogs. Well-dserved, she's a wise chick. Cole lays it all out--how she learned everything she knows about writing from Jean Gray. Go see what all the fuss is about!

Explore. Get informed. Have fun. Keep writing.

Blog Chain: Keep Swimming

2010-06-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend, and now it's time for another link in the blog chain. This go-round, the question comes from my awesome crit partner Amanda who asks: what do you do to keep yourself motivated when you feel like you aren't making any progress in your writing career?

Honestly, this question stings a bit. I've written since I was 15 years old. I'll be 30 in September. 5 years ago, I was in negotiations with a small publisher about a YA paranormal I'd written. All I had to do was make a few revisions and, so easily, that opportunity slipped away. I was pregnant with my daughter. It was a nasty pregnancy with complications that put me on full bed-rest. We had dial-up internet and no laptop. The revisions lingered. My daughter, my everything, was born and the months that followed were plagued with first-time parent jitters and awful post-partum depression. After some time, I got back on my feet and contacted the publisher who was very understanding but couldn't commit. It was no one's fault but my own. So close, so very close.

I tried not to write. I flirted with it from time to time, but I was still very raw. It wasn't until November 2008 that I began writing in earnest again. The whole break, the stories kept coming but I pushed them off. This new story wouldn't let go. I wrote 200 pages by hand in mere days. I learned I'd become a much stronger, tighter writer in my break. I knew my voice. And I began thinking, Maybe...

That manuscript got a lot of attention from agents, a lot of compliments from readers and writers, and went nowhere.

But I learned more about the industry and more about myself as a writer. I found peers with whom I worked very well. Very, very well. My writing grew. I finished another book. It's being queried now. I'm terrified, absolutely terrified the same thing is going to happen--lots of requests but no one will commit. I'm scared because I want to move forward. My peers, my crit group, have all moved to the next level. Agented, publishing deals, they are there. I want to be there, too. I know I can be there. I check my email obsessively.

This morning I got a new request. A shiny request. A chance.

I query and submit because it's the means to the end I want--to be published. Throw in the towel? I won't reach my end goal. It is hope that keeps me motivated. I write for myself. I write because it's in me. Like so many other blog chainers have said, we have no choice but to do this because there is this strange drive for us to tell the stories of the people and places who invade our heads. Right now, my WIP is a book that's near and dear to my heart. The MC has been with me for 11 years. I started his story, got six chapters in, and then put him in a drawer. I took him out about once a year but it was never the right time, the right story. But now he's in the right one and finding his time to shine. He was last, too, you know. But his Last has become Now.

Now I'm thinking, Maybe...

Make sure you check out what Magnificent Margie and Brilliant Bonny each have to say on this topic as well.

Worldbuilder Part Two

2010-05-27T08:35:00.000-05:00

The last time I blogged about worldbuilding, I talked only about the physical world. The physical world, while important to the development of setting, will also play into the social world of your story. Where your character lives impacts their worldview, their beliefs, as well as those of the people around them.

We already talks about asking ourselves Where, What the World Looks Like, Why, What Happened, and When. Now we need to know Who lives in your world. People, three-toed sloths from Neptune, shapeshifters? Who is taking your characters and plunking them into the world you've created.

It's not enough to have your world populated. Ant farms are populated, too, and--if you're like me--they'll hold your interest for a couple of minutes before you move on. Keeping readers interested means crafting characters who are multi-dimensional. To flesh out your characters is to develop What They Believe -- the customs, values, laws, politics, religion, etc. of your world. Going back to my previous post on worldbuilding, I mentioned that a town's history can impact your characters' beliefs. In my WIP, my MC lives in a small town that suffered a horrible flood in the past. Because of the flood, the townspeople are superstitious and sometimes do strange things in hopes of preventing another flood. These superstitions fall under What They Believe.

Once you have the beliefs of your world set, you can look at the Way of Life. This is taking the belief and value system you've developed and making it stand up. Say your characters live in a religious community that values hard work but not on Sunday. Instead of work, what do they do on Sundays--family dinners, building pumpkin catapaults? The way they live is going to be at least somewhat dictated by their society.

This is certainly not a definitive list of all the questions you can ask yourself while building the physical and social world of your story, but it is a jumping off point. I tend to believe the deeper the world you've created the better off you'll be as a writer. It's time-consuming, yes, and not all of your notes will make it into your story. They don't need to because part of the joy of writing is turning it over to your reader and letting their imagination run with it, but you have to give them a good foundation. For a nice list of elements to consider while worldbuilding, you can take a look at this article on Fantasy WorldBuilding Questions by Patricia C. Wrede. I think it makes for a good checklist in developing a good physical and social world.

I hope I've helped you come up with a few questions to ask yourself about your world. Having great characters is a huge part of storytelling, but developing the world helps bring them to life.

Worldbuilder Part One

2010-05-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today's blog post is brought to by the letter "W." Worldbuilding. What it looks like. What the rules are. Not to mention Where and Why.

Worldbuilding has been a hot topic for a while, but I come across a lot of writers who aren't sure what it means. To worldbuild is to create a landscape for your story so vibrant your readers don't want to leave. It encompasses not only the physical setting but also a social one. Masterful worldbuilders include Tolkien and Joss Whedon. How detailed your worldbuilding is depends on the story--it may not go deep at all, but regardless you the writer need to be aware of what this place is wherein your characters dwell and how it affects them.

Today I'm talking only about developing the physical world of your story. I've got a few questions for you to ask as you begin Not every note you take on your world will make it into your story, but it's important to know. Your story will be richer for it.

Where? You've got your characters, now where will you put them? A story set in a galaxy far, far away will read much differently than one in Seattle. In real estate and in writing, the mantra is "Location, location, location."

Stemming from Where, you have to decide What the World Looks Like. Your story may well be set in Seattle, so you might expect lots of rain and gray. Urban. What the World Looks Like encompasses geography (physical location), terrain (mountains, coastal, desert, forest, farmland, etc), and the type of community (urban v. agricultural v. suburban v. dystopian).

Once you have those points hammered out, you can start building your city. What's the architecture like? Modest ranch houses, upscale Colonials, rundown rows of townhouses? Are there trees? Is it welcoming with parks and sidewalks and a bevy of things to do? Or is it isolating with desolate farmland that looks like nothing's grown there for a while? Think these things through. This is the world your characters have to interact with and will impact them and the choices they make further down the road.

If you know your Where and What, you need to start thinking about Why. Why your town's located there, why the buildings look a certain way, why the town has a particularly atmosphere. Why tends to get tied up in What Happened and When. Every town has a history, and history can affect peoples' viewpoints and customs. In my WIP, there was a disaster that deeply affected the way people view the town. It happened 125 years ago and has echoed through the generations so that it's still in the collective memory of the town today. on a personal note, I live near St. Louis. There were terrible floods in 1993, long before I ever came here, but I've talked to enough people who lived through those floods that you can tell the impact was mindblowing. The way things were then affects the way things are now.

I've lobbed a few questions to get you started on creating the physical setting for your story. Tomorrow I'll post on social worldbuilding, so please come back to see what that's all about. See you then!

Trapping the Plot Bunnies

2010-05-21T08:39:00.001-05:00

Plot bunnies tend to run rampant around me. They're those ideas that look fun and sweet and then munch off all the blossoms in your garden before disappearing. You're left with a mess. Currently, I'm trapping my plot bunnies. They're rascally, and I'm not too proud to admit I've needed help corraling them.

I started my WIP with the MC's trajectory in mind but really hadn't clarified how he'd get there. The first fifty pages of a WIP are usually written by the seat of my pants--no outlining, just let it come it out. It's worked well for me and allows me to know my MC and his world uninhibited. Then I go back and look at all the plot bunnies hopping around. If it's a good idea, I'll make sure to develop it. But if it's sort of meh, out it goes, deleted into the infamous Chapter X ('cause you know I don't ever really delete anything).

Because bunnies are quick to multiply, sometimes as I'm writing, new plot bunnies creep up. Ooh, I could take the story in this direction...but how will it work with what I've already got? That's been my current dilemma. One comment from a crit partner turned into a big, furry plot bunny. I chased it around for several hours and came up with some ways to tackle it.

This is also where crit partners become priceless. I called one of mine--the same one who unleashed the saber-toothed plot bunny of doom--and we hashed it out during an embarassingly long phone convo. Like hours. All while I have a raspy voice and cough. In this case, brainstorming worked really well. Plot bunny captured (though it's definitely still on the lookout to run loose again). I feel like I know exactly what has to happen in my WIP. I can't wait to dive back in!

Blog Chain: Under the Influence

2010-05-09T07:50:00.000-05:00

Blog chain time again! This time, Christine poses the question: Which author or authors have influenced your writing and how? Be sure to check out Margie and Bonny's blogs to see what they have.

That my answer falls on Mother's Day is fitting. Though she's been gone for nearly six years, Mom introduced me to the authors who've had the greatest bearing on my writing. I remember being very, very young and my mother reading me Poe, so ingrained in me that my daughter's middle name is Lenore. Poe gave me all things lushly dark and creepy.

When I began writing fifteen years ago, the dark and paranormal picked me. Poe played into that, but I was also influenced by Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics which I devoured as an early teen--their use of mythology in particular. The world-building in Neverwhere and American Gods, I can read these books time and again and still find something new.

My taste for the gothic certainly began with Poe, but again I owe my mother for finding me Shirley Jackson and Daphne du Maurier, who taught me the illusion of the supernatural and when to linger and when to strike hard and fast. The Haunting of Hill House and Rebecca have had their bearing on my work as well.

As far as young adult literature goes, I've said before Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate was a book I read at sixteen and made me say, "This is what I want to write." Contemporary teenagers facing supernatural and peer problems were unusual in 1997. Since then, the genre blossomed, and, of say of the newer generation of YA writers, Dia Reeves' Bleeding Violet, Bree Despain's The Dark Divine, and Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures have resonated with me the strongest. Reeves because I had no idea where she was going next. Despain because her style is so close to mine, and Garcia & Stohl because that's the kind of story I'm striving to tell.

These are my influences. When I'm stuck, I'll go back and read to see how they got through a difficult place. They are arrows in my quiver of knowledge and each aims right for my target.

Congrats to Cole and Amanda!

2010-05-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late to the party, but I want to send out a huge congratulations to my crit partners and two of my closest friends, Cole Gibsen and Amanda Bonilla.

Cole's agent, Chris Richman of Upstart Crow, recently sold her young adult novel KATANA to Flux in a two-book publishing deal. I've read KATANA many times and each time I can't put it down. Seriously, you'll all love it and wish you wrote it.

Amanda deserves a round of applause for signing with agent Natanya Wheeler of the Nancy Yost Literary Agency. Her book, SHAEDES OF GRAY, is made of awesome. Patricia Briggs and Laurell K. Hamilton have a new threat on the urban fantasy front.

I'm proud of you, girls!

Book Review: BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves

2010-05-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

Let me start by saying, Dia Reeves' BLEEDING VIOLET is a head trip. Plain and simple.

Centering around Hanna, a manic-depressive teenager who's hitch-hiked her way to Portero, Texas--the town where the mother who abandoned her lives. But Portero isn't just her mother's town. It's a doorway to a place where a bunch of "weird shit" happens. Everybody believes Hanna will die or lose her mind--everyone but Wyatt Ortiga, a boy who's also quite inventive when it comes to fighting back the dark things wandering through Portero. As she tries to fit in, Hannah finds herself not only proving she's more than just food for the monsters and evil that lurk in the town but also that she's worthy of her mother's love.

Gory and seductive, BLEEDING VIOLET has what all the elements to make it interesting--a bizarre cast of flawed characters, a rich setting, and plenty of dark love and action. It's a quick read, partially because the story is entertaining but also because of Reeves' casual yet descriptive writing style. Hanna, in my opinion, is a tough character to like. She's sassy and relatable but also self-absorbed and a user of people, sometimes bringing misfortune onto herself. Yet I found myself rooting for her and hoping she'd find a way to get the love of the mother she so desperately feels she needs to be whole and not have to face one more rejection in a life full of it. I think what stays with me the most from BLEEDING VIOLET in the unreliability of it, never knowing for sure if the monsters and "magic" were real or conjurations of Hanna's mind. Somehow it doesn't matter because it was all real to Hanna.

If you're looking for a read that's simultaneously engrossing and experimental, definitely check out BLEEDING VIOLET.

Sarah's rating: 4.5/5 stars.

Blog Chain: You're Such a Character

2010-04-25T08:45:00.000-05:00

Am I ever happy to be back on the blog chain. Sorry about skipping the last round--I had a bit much on my plate, but I do want to give a belated welcome to the new members of our blog chain. This time, Sandra proposes the question:

Have you ever created a character different from yourself in some significant way, such as (but not limited to) different gender, race, ethnic group, religion, or sexual orientation? If so, what, if any, research did you do to portray these differences? Was this character a main character, secondary character, or walk-on? Did these differences have an impact on the story?

The majority of my characters are different from me. I've written middle-aged Mexican men, homosexuals, atheists, weapons experts, and a myriad of characters who are not at all like me. Sometimes we share qualities--Vivien in my last MS has a counting quirk that I share with her--but I think the characters that are most satisfying to write are the ones who challenge me to go outside what I know.

In my current project, FATHOM, the narrator, Noah, is a 17-year-old boy who's a former OxyContin addict and has replaced that addiction with starting small, easily controlled fires. He struggles with sobriety, abandoned friendships and family members, and his feelings about a pair of seriously creepy twins who make him question everything--his sexuality, his identity, his sanity. On the surface, I can't say I put much of myself into this boy...or did I? The way Noah and I relate to each other is through his struggles. While I haven't been an addict or amateur arsonist, I have battled chronic depression and that sense of sinking, that feeling that every day threatens to be an insurrmountable struggle, is one I've shared with Noah.

At Noah's core, he and I are made of similar stuff. But I did have to do research on addiction because somehow I'm quite sure kicking my cigarette addiction is hardly the same as the hold opiates have on a kid. I've had to research arsonists, families of the military (Noah's brother is a soldier deployed overseas), and I've barely just begun this project. The things that make Noah different from me will move the story forward, and he's going to have to act accordingly.

I'm not one for "safe" writing. If you don't challenge yourself to go outside your comfort zone, you stagnate. Creating characters who are different from you forces you to learn about subjects and beliefs perhaps you wouldn't have considered you before. You might even learn something about yourself.

Please check out what Margie had to say before me and what Bonny says next.

Eosinophilic Esophagitis

2010-04-24T11:27:00.000-05:00

I want to share some info on a little recognized condition called Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE). It's more than acid reflux, more than food allergies, but it causes a lot of discomfort, pain while eating, and could possibly be a kind of autoimmune disorder. It's also on the rise in young kids.

Symptoms of EE are:

Reflux that does not respond to usual therapy (medicines which stop acid production in the stomach)
Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing)
Food impactions (food gets stuck in the esophagus)
Nausea and Vomiting
Failure to thrive (poor growth, malnutrition, or weight loss) and poor appetite
Abdominal or chest pain
Feeding refusal/intolerance or poor appetite
Difficulty sleeping

My kids are 2 and 4 years old. Both have this condition. While it's not life-threatening, it's scary to see your 4-year-old choking while she eats and complaining about throat pain constantly. Not much is known about it and even fewer people have ever heard of it. My daughter is going in for an endoscopy with biopsies next week to see how her condition has changed over the last 18 months since her previous scope. My son just had the same procedure last month. The diagnosis has only existed for about 8 years, so the longitudinal studies are going on now and getting any idea about the long-term effects is not easy.

So, along with other parents of EE kids, I hope that getting word out about this little understood condition will help other families.

*steps off soapbox*

Writing v. Physical Therapy

2010-04-20T08:35:00.001-05:00

After breaking my ankle in December and going through four months of physical therapy, I had the good fortune of graduating from treatment on a Thursday afternoon. The following Monday, I ripped cartilidge in my "good" ankle and sprained the tendons. Back to PT, I go. 'Cause I'm lucky like that.

This morning, while not cursing my faulty joints, I came to conclusion that physical therapy has a lot in common with writing.

It's hard work. Even though you're sitting there, not really moving a whole lot, your internal workings are in demand. Working tendons is akin to working the mental muscles of developing a story. Both can leave you oddly exhausted.

It shouldn't inflict pain. If your exercises cause you agony, you need to stop and pull back. Same goes when creating a story. When the words aren't flowing and all you get is frustration, maybe it's time to take a breather, go for a walk.

By the same token, it shouldn't be easy. Find the sweet spot of challenge. PT will get you nowhere if you don't have to work for it. If it's mindless repition of exercises, you're not being challenged and it shows because your injury isn't recovering well and you're not getting any stronger. With writing, if you stick to writing only what's easy, there is no growth as a writer. Challenge yourself. It'll be tough, but your mind and body will thank you later.

The more you do it, the stronger you get. Follow through. It might tough and frustrating, but the point of physical therapy is to get you moving and strengthen yourself so that, even if you're hurt again, the injury won't be as devastating. Coming from the high priestess of orphaned WIPs, following through with a story that is giving you fits seems like absurd advice. But again it goes to challenging yourself and knowing when to step back. You can always return to it. Also, with writing, the more you read and the more you write, the better you are at crafting your words.

In the words of Betrand Russell, "No great achievement is possible without persistent work."

Carpe Mortediem: Interview with Shaun David Hutchinson

2010-04-19T09:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome to a new feature on my blog. I'm going to periodically interview up-and-coming authors. For my inaugural Q&A, I'm picking on my friend Shaun David Hutchinson, author of the young adult novel THE DEATHDAY LETTER (Simon Pulse, release date June 15, 2010).

Shaun is a really cool guy. I've gotten to know him a bit since we joined the same blog chain last year, but he'd been on my radar before then because, let's face it, the guy's reputation for being made of awesome precedes him. THE DEATHDAY LETTER (which you can learn more about here) is his debut novel.

Synopsis: The clock is ticking... Ollie can't be bothered to care about anything but girls until he gets his Deathday Letter and learns he's going to die in twenty-four hours. Bummer. Ollie does what he does best: nothing. Then his best friend convinces him to live a little, and go after Ronnie, the girl who recently trampled his about-to-expire heart. Ollie turns to carloads of pudding and over-the-top declarations, but even playing the death card doesn't work. All he wants is to set things right with the girl of his dreams. It's now or never...

Doesn't it sound like a fantastic book? Time to fire up the grill and ask Shaun some questions!

Sarah: The concept of getting a letter letting you know you have 24 hours before you die is pretty novel (no pun intended). Where did the idea for THE DEATHDAY LETTER come from?

Shaun: At the time, my mom had just gone into the hospital with some heart problems. I was scared and I was in bed praying that nothing happened to her. I started thinking about how I was so far away, that if anything did happen, I wouldn't be able to say goodbye and that there should be some kind of system so that people could prepare for death. The deathday letters came right from that. Then the voice of Ollie, my narrator, started chattering away in my head. I tried to ignore him, but he wouldn't shut up until I got up and wrote down the first chapter. The next day I emailed friends and searched Amazon because I was sure that someone, somewhere, had to have come up with the idea before. Lucky for me, no one had.

Sarah: How much of Shaun is in Ollie and what qualities of Ollie’s are definitely not in Shaun?

Shaun: Ollie is so much more zen about things than I am. Ollie's got my awkwardness. I wasn't popular in high school but I had a great group of friends. Over all though, I'd say I share more of his best friend Shane's qualities. In terms of how I'm NOT like Ollie...well, he's got terrible taste in music. Really, really bad.

Sarah: So many writers—and YA authors in particular—talk about what music they listened to while writing. Did you have a playlist for your characters and, if so, what’d you listen to?

Shaun: Oh, gosh. I listened to a lot of The Kooks, Dave Matthews, and Amanda Palmer. I don't create playlists for characters. For me, I use music as a way to block out the world so I can hear the voices of my characters. Sometimes that means listening to the same dozen songs three hours a day for six or eight weeks. But I will be creating a Deathday playlist in the next few weeks...music that I think would go really well with each chapter.

Sarah: What do you hope your readers will get out of reading THE DEATHDAY LETTER?

Shaun: Honestly, I hope they'll laugh. I didn't set out to write a funny book, I set out to write a book I wanted to read. But I also hope that people will learn to cherish their lives and the lives of those they love. Carpe Mortediem--seize the deathday--as Ollie says.

Sarah: Anything else you want to tell us about THE DEATHDAY LETTER or the writing process going from idea to publication?

Shaun: You know, this has just been such an odd process, but one that I've had so much fun doing. I was naive when I wrote the book and began sending it out. Truthfully I was lucky to find an agent and an editor who believed in me and my book. But the best part of this process is all the amazing people--authors and bloggers and random people. I don't know how writers did this before the internet.

Pick one:

Lady Gaga or vintage Madonna?

Shaun: I will admit that I've never heard a single Lady Gaga song. She just hasn't shown up on my radar. But even if I had, I'd still probably have to go with Madonna, who I think has been replaced with a robot. She's got better guns than me. And she's like ninety or something.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Shaun: Definitely chocolate. Only not right now because I'm on a diet. Man, I could eat my weight in Cadbury cream eggs.

Vampire Diaries or Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Shaun: I thought I'd hate Vampire Diaries but it's grown on me. That said, no one can beat the Slayer.

iPod or MP3?

Shaun: I love my iPods. I have this teeny one for when I run. It's insane.

Vampire or Werewolf?

Shaun: Werewolf. There's just something so tragic about someone with a monster inside them that they absolutely have to let out when the full moon rises. Vampires, on the other hand, are kind of OCD bloodaholics.

Potato Chips or Popcorn?

Shaun: Definitely Cheetohs!

Dawn of the Dead or Shaun of the Dead?

Shaun: Tough one. Both were spectacular but I think for zombie movies, the B&W Night of the Living Dead trumps Dawn of the Dead hands down. So the winner here is Shaun of the Dead.

Since you’re a Floridian, Disney World or Sea World?

Shaun: Disney. Although, I'm pretty psyched for the Harry Potter world to open up at Universal Studios.

Thanks, Shaun for a great interview! To learn more about Shaun David Hutchinson and THE DEATHDAY LETTER or preorder your own copy of THE DEATHDAY LETTER, follow these links:

THE DEATHDAY LETTER website
Shaun David Hutchinson's blog
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Borders

Book Review: THE DARK DIVINE by Bree Despain

2010-04-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

When I first got wind of Bree Despain's THE DARK DIVINE last summer, I threw the book I'd been skimming against the wall. It was one of those writer moments where you go, "Well, crud, that was a plot point from MY project. Noooooooo!"

And I immediately had to get my hands on it, which I did the day it hit the store shelves at Christmas last year.

The book follows 16-year-old Grace Divine as she tries to understand why her childhood sweetheart, Daniel Kalbi, has returned after a long absence. Complicating matters is that her brother Jude is furious that Daniel returned, and Grace is torn between her loyalty to her brother and her unresolved feelings for Daniel. But being with Daniel endangers her life as she discovers the untamed look in his eye is not entirely human.

I loved it. I'm writing this review almost a month after I read it because it has stuck with me that long. I'm STILL thinking about Grace, Daniel, and Jude. For a book to do that to me, I want to sing its praises.

Despain does some great things with characterization that I have talked at length about wanting to see more of in YA lit. Grace is a very strong-willed girl who can handle herself. She doesn't need some boy to validate her. The choices she makes are hers alone, and I love that about her. She does consider how her decisions will affect Daniel and Jude, but she follows her head and her heart equally. When she has to be tough, she's tough, and the same goes for when vulnerability is necessary.

Among the other characters, Daniel and Jude are both well-fleshed out and the reader can sympathize and root for both. They are likable and heartbreaking. I knew boys just like them in high school. Second tier characters, such as Grace's best friend April, fill their roles more than adequately. What truly impressed me was Despain's characterization of Grace's parents, a pastor and his wife, who are more prominent than in many YA books and more than just walking stereotypes. They are dynamic characters in their own right with their own sources of conflict, and it was refreshing to see parents handled so honestly.

Also, because Grace's father is a pastor, religion is a theme in the book. Despain uses Bibical references to her advantage and is so subtle that it doesn't feel at all heavy-handed. The religious aspects of her characters fit them--they live within the parameters and struggle with what they know is expected of them according to their religion. Yet the characters are never preachy. I have seen some YA books that use a religious theme and ultimately try to dismantle that religion. But Despain doesn't go there. She makes religion a backdrop to her characters and they feel fuller and more developed because of it.

THE DARK DIVINE is a layered, thoughtful book with a tense plot and enjoyable characters who keep the reader turning the pages. I cannot wait for the follow-up, THE LOST SAINT, which will be released in hardcover shortly after Christmas this year. To bide my time, I'm gonna have to read THE DARK DIVINE again.

Sarah's rating: 5/5

Call 1-800-Buy-Books-Now

2010-04-14T18:57:00.000-05:00

I literally just saw something on TV that made me sit up. This is kind of rare for me since I grew up in a house where the TV was ALWAYS on as background noise (Mom had a thing about silence).

What I noticed was a commercial--you know, those annoying things we use our DVRs to get past. What I saw was a commercial for a book. In an appropriately ominous voice, the title, the author, and "in stores now" were all blurted in hopes someone out there would be interested.

As a child of the 80s, I remember long commercials for book clubs: Stephen King, the Time book series on freaky/paranormal occurrences, and Encyclopedia Britannica--just to name a few. I actually begged my mom to buy the Time book series 'cause they seemed so cool and creepy. She wouldn't.

This brings me back to the point that I haven't seen a commercial on TV for a book in ages. Is this just a reflection of the way technology has changed? I know a lot of people who "watch" their computer rather than their TVs.

I'm aware of book trailers uploaded to websites like YouTube, and I'm sure they work. But it does beg the question of how do authors promote their books now? Blogs, chats, contests, trailers, and commercials. But, honestly, the way I hear about most books is good old-fashioned word of mouth.

Which means we all need to be writing something worth talking about.

Writing & Complacency

2010-04-12T15:14:00.000-05:00

Complacency and I aren't friends. I have been known to repaint rooms after a couple of years just because I'm "bored" and want something new to look at. The number of times my husband has come home to find I've rearranged our furniture is a bit worrisome (and hard on my back). And my hair color? I'm lucky I've stuck with black for seven months.

What does any of this have to do with writing?

I don't deal real well with feeling complacent in my writing either. Most of don't. Most of us want to get better and feel ourselves improving with each story we tell. My crit partner Shawntelle is a genre-hopper. She started off writing dark urban fantasy, signed with her agent for a paranormal chick-lit, just finished a YA steampunk, and has also dabbled a fair bit in contemporaries. The girl is all over the map and she likes it that way because of the challenge.

Right now, I'm battling complacency by going back to my very dark roots (though, to be honest, I'm a natural blonde) and writing what I hope is something that'll knock my socks off when I'm done. I wouldn't like it if my crit partners said, "Yep, this is pretty much what I know you can do skill-wise" when I handed something new to them. My current WIP is difficult because it is one that's making me reach awfully deep and seeing what dark things I can churn up. It's pushing me further in a direction than I've been willing to go before.

And you know what? It's fun. It's agonizing. But it's thrilling.

So now I ask: what do you do when you feel yourself getting complacent? How do you shake things up to get excited over writing again?

Going Goth

2010-04-08T00:19:00.000-05:00

I love Gothic lit. I crave stormy weather outside and curling up with an old, creepy book. Gothic lit has been a love of mine since my mom read Poe to me starting in second grade (she was an English teacher with a love of dark stories--it rubbed off on me). In college I was an English major who specialized in Gothic lit as well as rites of passage stories. With the release of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, I've seen a lot of YA writers talking about how they plan to write a Gothic novel. Admittedly, my own WIP is a Gothic novel and not the first one I've written either. So let's take a quick look at what makes your work Gothic and not just dark.

1. Elements of ruin. These are symbols of decay--old houses, crumbling castles, broken down buildings (and people), sterility. For instance, Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" features a house that has decayed beyond repair.

2. Suspense. Many Gothic works feature a dark world with a character dealing with frightening mystery. Homes contain secret passageways, and families are doomed because of hereditary curses. In Du Maurier's JAMAICA INN, young Mary is forced to move in with her alcoholic uncle who sets up shipwrecks.

3. The supernatural. Ghosts, doppelgangers, demons, angels, and more are all frequent guests in Gothic lit.

4. Love. There is usually a relationship between two of the characters. Du Maurier liked to use naive girls and pair them with men who were psychologically damaged or criminal. How they earned each other's trust was usually part of her story's unfolding, though not necessarily the central plot.

This is by no means an end-all, be-all list of Gothic elements. But they are things to keep in mind and try to really understand if this is the genre you're going to attempt. In a true Gothic novel, atmosphere is key--you want to go for the gloom and doom. Because of the world and atmosphere-building, Gothic novels are usually slower paced than your urban fantasy or paranormal romance. Lastly, the emotions tend to be extreme, and maybe this is why Gothic lit can work well for YA. The tension in the story comes as much from the emotions and atmosphere as from what's happening in the plot.

Gothic lit is hard to write. It sounds cool, but it's a challenge. We writers thrive on challenge, don't we? I just wanted to point out a couple of things before you all scrambled into a dark room lit by candles to scribble away on parchment with your quill and ill.

Now run, and Goth be with thee!

Need a WIP? Screw up your ankle

2010-04-06T08:33:00.001-05:00

At this point, all I can do is giggle maniacally.

If you're newish to my blog, I have to tell you that I began writing my last MS after breaking my right ankle on December 1st. Right ankle = no driving for this stay at home mom. No driving = lots of time at home. Writing was pretty much all I could do to keep from going completely stir crazy. I finished that MS a month ago, and my ankle has mended pretty well.

After revisions, I flopped around trying to figure out what to work on. I have a collaboration with one of my crit partners that's a lot of fun to write, but I wanted a personal project, too. None of my orphaned WIPs quite got my gears a-grindin'. Yet a fragment of a story that I've been kicking around for a while worked itself out while I was stuck in traffic a week ago. The writing's gone fast so far--10K words already.

And now?

I've injured my left ankle. By walking. In flat shoes on an even floor. Go figure.

I really hope this doesn't become a habit. I don't want to have to be injured to write. How very emo of me. (No offense to emos. I love you.)

Tomorrow I find out the extent of the injury. Yes, I could've gone to the ER and gotten X-rayed there yesterday, but they would've told me to ice and elevate and then told me to get an appointment with an ortho doc. Sad thing is, I already had one scheduled. The appointment was supposed to declare my right ankle healed and send me on my merry way.

Le sigh.

So what things have my writer friends done to get a WIP off the ground? Tales of other klutzes will be greately appreciated.

The Parent Trap

2010-04-05T08:06:00.000-05:00

YA lit has a big problem with parents. For years, we've been told that YA readers don't want to have parents in their books, but I never found that to be true as a reader or writer. Parents are a huge part in teenagers' lives. They should be given a chance to mill around with the other characters in books. While giving a parent MC status probably wouldn't be the best choice for a YA audience, they can certainly fill a second-tier character slot.

But it seems like when authors do try to tackle parents in YA, they fall into a few traps.

* parent are totally absent or just sort of "there" (either dead, otherwise undone, or simply off-camera)

*parents are bad (drugs, abuse, neglect, etc)

*parents are so insanely good and perfect it's sickening and unrealistic (who wants milk & cookies?)

When it comes to orphaning characters, some writers do it either as a way to deepen their MCs backstory or simply to get the MC on his/her own. And, let's face it, a lot of kids don't have their parents. I'm not one to argue much with the dead/absent parent(s) in YA because that was my experience as a teenager. I lost my dad at 17, my mom at 23. From the time I was very young, my mom worked three jobs, so I didn't see her a whole lot and was forced into self-sufficiency. I had several friends who had lost their parents to death, divorce, or work during formative years, and, really, it was comforting in a way when we came across absent parents in the books we read. It let us know that there were kids like us, fending for ourselves--be it physically or emotionally.

I've seen publishing folks gripe, "OMG, stop orphaning your YA MCs!" But sometimes I think they forget the YA audience might take comfort in seeing someone like themselves, going through the same situation of loss. The emotions of loss don't really get much sharper or alienating.

As far as bad parents are concerned, there's nothing wrong with writing a girl who has an abusive stepfather or a mother who's dangerous to be near. Parents can be crappy people. My mom had an open door policy at our house--no matter what time of night, if one of my friends was in trouble, they had a warm bed at our place without any questions asked. Sadly, that bed was occupied more than once.

And good parents don't fare much better. Betty Crocker doesn't live in most kids' homes and seeing a character on page who has Betty Crocker in her house tends to get an automatic eyeroll. None of us had perfect parents. Our characters shouldn't either.

So does where this lead us? Do we avoid parents? No, that's that the answer. Kids usually have their parents around in some capacity. Parents can serve a story without being a cause of melodrama or a plot device that goes nowhere.

Rather than fall into the trap that parents have to be absent, good, or bad, however big or little their role is in your book, they should be fully developed. You have to remember that kids really are an extension of their parents--appearance, attitudes, quirks, etc. Sometimes kids rebel against the ways in which their parents are set, and there's nothing wrong with that. Creating a well-rounded background, including parents, for your teenage MC will ultimately bring them to a more developed life.

Parents aren't one dimensional. They have tempers. They screw up, sometimes a lot. They get sick. They die. They make cookies. They worry. They punish. They let their kids go off with their friends. They pray their kids make the right decisions. They're unreasonable. They bail. They protect. They care in the best way they can. They explain a bit of where the MCs come from.

Most of all when writing parents, write them the same as you would any other character: with honesty.

Wolf in girl's clothing

2010-04-02T08:38:00.000-05:00

I sometimes participate in the #yalitchat on Twitter. It can be fun, informative, and frequently chaotic. But sometimes you learn something, you carve out a diamond in the rough that's worth retaining.

This weeks' chat had been something of a free-for-all. When I came on, people were discussing character names and I threw out that Nymbler is a great site for generating names that similar. Like say you know you want to name a character Edward and another one Bella. You can plug in those names and hit search to find other names that would feel appropriate alongside those names. I'm not in any way associated with Nymbler, but I did use it when trying to figure out a middle name for son. It's a fun tool.

But what I really want to talk about is the idea of strong female protags in YA lit. A lot of girls in YA are kind of milquetoast. They don't have a lot to them except that they've been picked by *insert immortal hot guy* and spend the rest of the book swooning over him, hating him, and finally succumbing to his charms. They're damsels in distress but won't do anything to help themselves.

I'm not one who's gonna go nuts and hit you with "OMG, we're giving our girls poor role models!" and "OMG, we're teaching our girls they need *gasp* a (supernatural) boy to save them!" Personally, I think that's kind of lame to pick on these female MCs for that. They have a place and a good one at that because we all need some rescuing at times.

However on YAlitchat, I brought up the notion that I just want to see a girl who was strong and kicked ass. It was interesting to see the reactions. A lot of other writers were excited at the prospect of seeing a girl who could take care of herself. Others, you just knew, were rolling their eyes. "Oh, so now a girl needs to be gorgeous, attract a supernatural guy, and save the world...yeah, right."

Well, no. We can leave out the gorgeous part. ;-)

The consensus was that, in general, writers need to give their MCs a backbone. Physical strength and emotional strength are great, but you also need to make them vulnerable. As I said during chat, vulnerability = relatability and relatability = better audience connect.

My last book that I'm now querying features a tough girl. Physically tough, emotionally tough. She's already been through the wringer. But she's more sensitive than she likes to let on and gets her feelings hurt. Who can't relate to having their feelings hurt?

And she does have a boy at her side but she works WITH him, not behind him. She takes control and not just assumes someone will come along and take care of her. As my awesome girl Cole points out, "It's Buffy versus Bella." Both have their place and each has a story, but the best story is a girl who's well-rounded.

Change is good!

2010-03-29T08:33:00.001-05:00

For several weeks, my extremely talented crit partner Shawntelle Madison and I have been toiling away on a redesign of my author page. Well, mostly, I picked out the pictures and colors and Shawntelle learned a lesson in patience and an artistic temperament. Damn, finicky artists.

Anyway, I've updated my author page. I also made changes to my projects and playlist. Have a look if you like. I'm very happy with Shawntelle's work.

2010-03-25T08:28:00.000-05:00

I'd like to hear about some fellow writers' favorite characters. While it doesn't have to be someone from YA, 'cause even though it feels like everybody's writing YA--not everybody is, everybody on my list is YA. I want to hear about the characters who made you think, the ones who made you wish you could know them.

My list:

Zoe from Annette Curtis Klause's THE SILVER KISS. She was one of the first paranomal YA heroines I could relate to. I read the book when I was about fifteen or so. In the book, Zoe's mom is slowly dying of cancer. At the time, my dad was dying and it was a long, drawn out illness that simultaneously consumed my life and sat on the backburner as I was falling in love with a boy (the one I'm now married to). Granted, Zoe fell in love with a vampire, but the way Klause portrayed her grief for her mother as a constant hum through her life was spot on.

Ponyboy from S.E. Hinton's THE OUTSIDERS. If you are a female writing YA and attempting a boy's POV, Hinton is a must-read. Well, she is anyway. But the way she got into Ponyboy's head, to show that he had depth and insecurity as he searched for answers, the way she let him make awful mistakes and pay for them, Ponyboy is a lesson in writing honestly.

Sinclair from Nina Malkin's SWOON. Patch, move over. Sinclair was the bad boy you love and hate. He didn't have a soft core like Patch--he was bad through and through and you loved him for it.

There are more characters I love and I'll post on this subject from time to time, but now I want to know who you guys love.

What I'm Reading

2010-03-23T09:07:00.000-05:00

Just a quick list of what's got my attention.

What I'm reading now:
THE DARK DEVINE--Bree Despain

Thoughts: I really enjoy this book. The religious angle is interesting to me, and the characters are quite well developed. Despain's writing style is actually really similar to my own, so it's easy for me to get into her narrator's head. I'm about halfway through and can't wait to finish it.

in my TBR pile:
THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES--Carrie Ryan
THE HUNGER GAMES--Suzanne Collins (don't shoot me 'cause I haven't read it yet)
RUINED--PAULA MORRIS
DEVOURED--Amanda Morrone
BLEEDING VIOLET--Dia Reeves
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES--Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (I need to get this back from my crit partner--no pressure, Shawntelle ;-) )
But this list is always exanding...

2010 Books I'm looking forward to:
THE DEATHDAY LETTER--Shaun David Hutchinson
SHADOW HILLS--Anastasia Hopcus
THE HAUNTED--Jessica Verday
THE LOST SAINT--Bree Despain
RADIANT SHADOWS--Melissa Marr
SKIN & BONES--Dawn Metcalf

And, as before, this list is always expanding.

I'll keep adding to this list from time to time and giving me thoughts on the books. I've been lucky enough to correspond a bit with some of these authors, and it's just so cool to see so many great YA books coming out. I was sixteen when Annette Curtis Klause brought out BLOOD & CHOCOLATE, and it was such a different type of YA. I really do think that book ushered in a generation of writers who were fearless to tackle the supernatural and set it in realistic worlds with realistic characters. So yay for writers being bold and creative!

What to do next?

2010-03-22T20:09:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm in a No Man's Land. One new MS revised and under my belt. Several ideas floating around--two would be completing stories I began last year. I have plans for a collaboration, but I kinda gotta see what my partner is thinking as far as that goes.

It's hard deciding what to do next. I could just wait and let the muse takes me where it wants while catching up on some reading. I know what I have to do--crit for my partners. My God, I'm so behind in that it's not even funny.

I feel sorta...lost. It's strange. I feel somewhat satisfied, like a kid who's eaten a big bowl of pudding and has that so-full-it-kinda-hurts feeling.

What do you do when you finish a book and the edits are complete? How long does it take before you begin working on a new project or return to an older one?

Blog Chain: Talk to me

2010-03-20T18:07:00.000-05:00

Blog chain time again! This week Kate asks: Do you enjoy writing dialogue? Do you use a lot of dialogue in your writing (for us "a lot" will be defined as more than a smidge and yet not so much that the quotes button on your keyboard is completely worn out)? Do you have example(s) of dialogue you enjoyed from something you read? Do you have examples from your own writing? What about these examples makes them special?

Part one: do I enjoy writing dialogue? Dialogue is actually something I agonize over. Though my crit partners would never believe this, I'm a very quiet person. I remember being criticized by a boy I liked when I was fourteen because I used "big words" like (his example) "eccentric." But that's just the way I talked as a teenager. As a YA writer, I struggle with writing dialogue that sounds like something a kid would say while not dumbing it down. So for me, dialogue is something I love to write when it comes naturally and has an inherent rhythm. When it's not coming out right or feels stilted, I spend hours stressing over the right words for my characters.

Part two: do I use a lot of dialogue? It all depends on the scene. Sometimes the silence is more powerful than the spoken word. If it feels right for a character to talk, he or she talks. If not, they hold their tongue.

Do I have an example of dialogue that I enjoyed from something I read? Yes, this is one that has stuck with me for a while. It's from Nina Malkin's SWOON and in it, Pen is discussing losing her virginity to the boy her cousin Dice wants.

"He'd make the smallest gesture, and I'd have to interpret it," she said. "Like when I started to undress, I knew by his expression I was right."

Dab, dab, jab, jab. The picture formed for me...Uh-huh. Got it. Figured out what Pen figured out, the supreme excitement of stoking a boy.

(Cut to a bit later in the scene)

"It hurt like crazy...Then it eased, and it was...you'd think the first time I wouldn't...but I did. Me! And it lasted forever, and not just down there but everywhere. No, literally, I curled my toes!"

I did edit a little bit because some of it's semi-graphic, but it's pretty clear that Pen's euphoric and Dice is jealous as all get out. And there's a hint of what wasn't said. There's Dice's internal dialogue where she's steaming because it should've been her, not Pen. As writers, sometimes we need to remember that understatement can be our friend and get our readers thinking about what happened without spelling everything out.

I do have some dialogue from my current MS that I enjoy. This exchange from my MS illustrates a girl who realizes her life has changed. Vivien and her dad were attacked, and now her dad is in the hospital and under arrest. She is with her dad's friend Manuel who is taking her into his care:

I flipped on the light hanging over the table and picked up a thin piece of wood, the mast for Dad's model boat broken during the attack. The rest of the pieces were neatly stored in a box on the table.

"Manny, did you ever go fishing with Dad?" I asked.

"Many times. Fishing and drinking and hoping we'd steer clear of la policia."

I gritted my teeth and returned the piece of wood to its box. My jaw quivered and my eyes flooded with tears. Dad came so close to finishing this boat...Manuel eased the box from my hands. A second of reluctance glimmered in his eyes before he hugged me. The cry ripped through my chest, a hollow, void thing.

Manuel hushed me and cupped my head. "Todo va a estar bien. Ya veras. It'll be okay."

Really, it wouldn't.

From this scene, you get a few things: the loss of her father has changed Vivien. Trying to remember the good times only makes her pain worse. Characterization-wise, you get that her dad and Manuel were close and that together they could be hellraisers. The reader deduces a lot about Manuel from few words, particularly that he speaks Spanish over English if he's uncomfortable.

Writing bilingual characters was challenging. Like Vivien, I know enough Spanish to get by but had to rely on native-speaking friends to help with authenticity. I also didn't want to alienate English-only readers. Manuel and other Mexican characters don't always flavor their speech with Spanish but, when they do, much of the Spanish dialogue is followed up with English that clarifies what was spoken or has a dialogue tag that conveys the emotion of what's being said. You know Manuel is comforting Viv because he hushes her and gently holds her head as he hugs her.

Dialogue, like any aspect of writing, should move the story forward or reveal something about the characters. If it doesn't, well, the saying goes, "Loose lips sink ship."

Please make sure to check out what conversation Christine and babbling Bonnie have to say about how to get their characters get chatty with them.

Coming up for air

2010-03-20T13:19:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, doing revisions can be a bit like someone who's walked into a pond thinking it'll be shallow enough to wade through. Before you know it, the mud gives way and your flailing in a far deeper hole that you'd imagined. You get panicky. You're not sure how you got into this mess. It all looked so innocent when you started and then...drowning.

I've been lucky enough to not be experiencing this with the MS I'm revising--the revisions are going uber-smoothly, but I have in the past. It's overwhelming. It's hard not to grasp at any flotation device thrown your way--crit partners, beta readers, etc. But ultimately you have to be responsible for choosing the best rescue.

Some say the best way to save yourself is to step away from your MS for several weeks, work on something different, and then come back to your MS.

I'm not that kind of writer. If I know there's a problem, I want to fix it. Now. Some writers I know finish a book and wait a while to revise. Others barely write THE END before hitting the send button on their query letter--though I generally wouldn't advise that.

Just as all of us write differently, we revise differently. So tell me if you're a jumper-inner or if you're a wading-waiter.

Shaun David Hutchinson: Sexuality & YA

2010-03-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

Shaun David Hutchinson seems like such a great guy. His YA novel THE DEATHDAY LETTER is coming out later this year. We've been on the same blog chain for quite a while now and we Twitter at each other from time to time.We also mutually rib our friend Cole Gibsen 'cause she makes it easy. Shaun recently wrote an awesome series of blog posts on Sexuality & YA lit.

It's important. Shaun talks about lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender characters and what makes for an honest portrayal of them. If you are thinking about including a LGBT character, read his blog posts. Seriously.

Part I: Full Disclosure

Part II: Why This Matters

Part III: Do Something

I've long been a proponent of YA writers dealing honesty with teenagers and sexuality. All types of sexuality. Shaun's posts are important. Please read them.

*end public service announcement*

Editing: the Devil's in the Details

2010-03-14T20:00:00.000-05:00

I finished the first draft of my WIP about a week ago, but if I want to get all techie about it only the last four chapters were the first draft. The rest of the book had already been first drafted, edited, critted, and revised not once, not twice, but three times. Three times, I went back to the beginning and revised my way through the whole thing before moving on to shiny new words.

Most writers will tell you this wrong.

Most writers will tell you to just write the *@# book and do detail work afterward.

This doesn't work for me. Sometimes I come to blockades that I just can't figure out my way around, thus I go back to the beginning and see if the answer lies somewhere in what was already told. Sometimes I want to take a harder look at a certain characters to make sure he/she is consistent.

Earlier today I just completed the fourth revision of the book. I like it. Is it done? Nope.

I'm now going through a fifth revision solely on a hunt for extra words and sentences I can tighten. I did a swear word run and pulled out 200+ extra instances of, well, dirty words. Let's face it--even though I talk like a marine, not all my characters need to as well.

Revision 6 will input the feedback from the final run by crit partners.

Revision 7 will be the final draft.

There are definitely cons to working in this way. It certainly takes longer to produce a first draft. A pro of this method is my work is reasonably close to being submission-ready when I type THE END.

I love editing. I love revising. Maybe I'm sick. Probably. But I mostly love getting the story right.

So tell me what kind of writer are you: a spill your guts and then clean it up type or a methodical chow down-clean up-then go back for seconds one?

Done!

2010-03-06T15:46:00.000-06:00

My WIP is...

REVENANT clocks in at a healthy 79,323 words.

Here are some fun facts about this WIP:

*It began in a haze of Vicodin and cabin fever one week after I broke my ankle in December 2009.

*It took exactly three months to write

*Number of cups of coffee consumed: 650 (an approximation, may be more realistically at 700)

*Days I forgot to eat because of writing: 4, though not consecutively

*Times I wrote the first chapter: 1 (aside from small edits, it hasn't changed)

*Times I listened to "You Go On Ahead" by Sunset Rubdown while writing: 73

*Times I listened to "New Year's Prayer" by Jeff Buckley while writing: 221

*Number of characters who switched gender: 3

*Number of words from roughly 5 pages of a similar story I began last summer: 10 (a single sentence)

*Number of episodes of "Criminal Minds" my DVR ate because I was too busy writing to watch them: 3. This pissed me off greatly.

*Number of words in my Chapter X document--you know, the one where you put all the good stuff you don't really want to delete but need to: 6800

*Times I almost deleted the whole damn thing: 3

*Times my husband asked if I was coming to bed: around 75

*Times my 4 year-old told me she wants to grow up to be a writer: 5

REVENANT's getting some time to rest now. Edits and revisions will come in due time, but I'm quite pleased with this draft. Most of the plot bunnies have been trapped and set free elsewhere. I'm going to sit back, do some reading, watch some "Criminal Minds" and "Supernatural" reruns, and lie low for a bit.

See you all soon.

~S

Blog Chain: Average Joe v. Joe Mighty

2010-03-04T22:12:00.000-06:00

All right, gang, here we go 'round the blog chain bush. This week's topic is brought to you by the letter E for Eric who asks: Do you create characters who are larger-than-life or are your characters more like the average Joe?

How about something in the middle? Since I write YA (and, really, damn near any writer can say this), relatability is a major hurdle. My characterizations have been praised by some pretty notable agents, so I feel comfortable saying the people who talk in my head are interesting, tremendously flawed, and *gasp* lovable. But more importantly reader can relate to them.

Often my characters are a blend of natural and supernatural. They are your average kids running around and getting into mischief all while raising hell...literally. In my WIP, Vivien was expelled from school for fighting. Happens to a lot of kids. Average. What makes her situation larger-than-life is she got kicked out for fighting because she was defending her dad who's the Pied Piper of dead things.

Through it all, Vivien has enough normalcy which kids can relate to while also wanting to slip into her skin for a while so they can make out with her boyfriend, wield a switchblade with ease, and get mouthy with a creepy-ass ghoul with glowing eyes. That's a lot of "with" in that sentence, but I'm sticking WITH it for now.

Whether you're writing Joe Schmoe or Joe the Human Volcano (not to be confused with a 20-year-old Tom Hanks' film), relatability is key to creating characters.

Check out what Kat had to say before me and Bonnie's words of wisdom next.

Hell week, redux

2010-03-04T14:20:00.000-06:00

I'm supposed to put up my blog chain post today. It will happen.

Let me just say I had a nasty start to my week, but the ending is going to kick some ass. Hell to the yeah.

Music Monday

2010-03-01T06:56:00.000-06:00

I'm gonna try this for the next few weeks. On Mondays, I'll post a song I'm listening to while working on my WIP. One thing you'll figure out pretty quickly is I like unconventional voices. I grew up with a mom who was an opera singer in college. Both of my parents were classically trained musicians. I have a pretty damn good ear myself, especially for harmony. But I like raw voices, particularly while writing YA, because they are truer to the emotion in my opinion.

So here's today's installment. Click on the link to go to YouTube.
"Percussion Gun" by White Rabbits. Enjoy.

Blog Chain: Down the Rabbit Hole

2010-02-22T08:53:00.000-06:00

My uber-talented crit partner and fellow warrior mom, Cole Gibsen, posted a fun question for this go-round of the blog chain: how do you get inside your character's world? Make sure you check out what Christine wrote before me.

Bringing a character's world into reality is such a reward. I don't necessarily make up the rules of how things work--sometimes it just comes out through the story. I love duality in writing and often build worlds that are incongruous. Double identities, doppelgangers, secret passageways. Let's call it my love of gothic lit finding an outlet.

The heroine of my current WiP, Vivien, is pretty kick-ass. Literally. She's not a knock-out hot chick. She's short and scrappy, and she fights, sometimes dirty, while dead things follow her around. The first things I knew about her was that she has a Magic 8-Ball, a rosary, and a stiletto (a kind of Italian switchblade).

Viv relies equally on her Magic 8-Ball for answers and her rosary to get her through tough times. It's blending superstition and prayer, and her stiletto is the practical side that forces her to be rational to cope with the shit that's thrown at her, even if she deals with it through violence.

Her world is a tight-rope of fact and faith that I've enjoyed exploring as a writer. But I wasn't done with her world quite yet.

Vivien's partner Dez wasn't supposed to be Mexican. But he is. He kept coming to me saying, "No, I'm not another emo white boy. I wear glasses. And I have a cast on my wrist. And I like cats. And I'm a hell of a good shot. And I need to get in Viv's pants--badly."

Throwing Viv and Dez together was hella-fun and their relationship was enriched by the collision of two very different worlds with one similar goal. I had to let them tell me who they are and that dictated the story, how they reacted to the circumstances and to each other.

As far as fleshing out the character's world, I did so much Google-mapping to figure out how to get from New England to New Mexico. Pictures of a town called Truth or Consequences (seriously, it's real) became my desktop. Another character came out looking like Chace Crawford, and, my God, the crush I have on that actor now is silly. Almost as bad as my thing for Robert Downey Jr. Really.

I learned all about switchblades and fighting and Mexican holidays and food. I studied catacombs, saints, Gibson guitars, and what kind of alcohol will hurt the most to spill on an open wound. Some wonderful friends were willing to help me translate phrases into Spanish that I didn't retain after taking four years of the language in school. If you hadn't noticed in my pics, I'm a munchkin-sized white chick but my cousins are the most beautiful Mexican girls, so I had to step back and remember how strange and interesting their mixed culture home had been to me when I was growing up and then apply that experience to Viv.

All this research and perhaps insanity is in the name of authenticity. I've gotten the thumbs-up from my beta readers and crit partners, so I guess I did justice to what I was trying to achieve.

One last thing: music feeds the muse. The soundtrack for this book is influenced by the Cure's early work which is sparse and dark like the "Faith" album. I also found Spanish versions of a bunch of their songs, too, which was really cool. The other music that revved my muse into action is a lesser-known indie band called Sunset Rubdown. I'm convinced Spencer Krug is a mad scientist-type of composer--distinctive, not necessarily "good" voice with a noticeable Canadian accent but his music goes off in directions you don't expect. Multi-layered. So I was juxtaposing sparse and old with new and complex. It made my muse very, very happy.

But, still, I think the best way to really get into your characters' world is to make them come live in yours for a while. And if that doesn't sound completely demented, go see what Bonny will say on this topic tomorrow.

Blog Chain: I sure done messed up thadda one

2010-02-09T21:28:00.001-06:00

Blog chain time again! This one finds us perched at Rebecca's feet as she poses the question: What is the best mistake you've made so far in your journey as a writer? How has that mistake made you grow?

My best mistake is the epitome of ways-to-squash-growth-as-a-writer. I get discouraged. Like, really discouraged. I know I have talent. I know I can put together a tight story. But I do not have faith. I doubt my instincts. I know I drive my crit partners nuts because I'm constantly asking, "Is this okay? Does this work?"

Okay, so I know this is a problem. How'd I get this way? Probably the chances I've had and squandered, opportunities snatched away. It's easy to kick yourself when those chances go awry. If you undercut yourself, nobody will do it to you later.

How has this mistake made me grow as a writer?

Well, it's taught me to get back up and do it again. No matter what I've ever done to deny it, writing is in me and ain't packing its bags anytime soon. The stories will keep coming and I'll put them to print. I have to shut up the doubts and know that, yes, I can write more capably than stringing a few words together in a semi-coherent matter. I trust more in the words that I'm spilling out now than I ever have in the past.

Please check out what snafus plagued Christine before me and what bloopers bugged Bonny afterward.

Picture Time

2010-01-26T12:09:00.000-06:00

Forgive me, friends, I am long overdue for this post. At the time, I had envisioned writing about the things writers do in the name of research. Well, that post didn't happen. Still, on a hot, balmy day in August, three writers--Cole Gibsen, Shawntelle Madison, and I--wandered onto a gun range, and it was very, very fun.

That would be yours truly firing a .45, a hand cannon. I was flinching before I even pulled the trigger and damn near wound up on my ass. I did much better with the sniper rifle with a scope, but this had the better souvenir bullets.

Shawntelle was, ahem, enthusiastic...downright gleeful when she got a chance with the M-4, a kind of AK-47. I believe her words were, "Ohhhh, schhhhhweeeeet."

Cole, while she enjoyed the rifles we tried, really likes handguns. She's one to watch, that girl is. Talented and lethal.

And yet we came out of it alive and better equipped to write about firearm usage.

A certain joy

2010-01-23T14:06:00.000-06:00

It truly is a lovely thing when a writer-friend/crit partner/kindred spirit announces they have finished writing a new novel or completed edits and are ready for the next step. Congrats to all of my peeps who've done so recently! Perhaps in a month, I'll have another one in my pocket, too.

Well, aren't you just the cutest little critter?

2010-01-22T15:29:00.000-06:00

I'm now doing a Friday wrap-up where I'll dive into a writing topic that's dominated my week. This is week's topic: critique partnerships.

A huge chunk of this week went to critting. I have partners who had deadlines (personal and professional) and asked that I get my comments on their work back to them in a timely manner. Because it is my nature, I set aside my own work to be an ear for theirs. Critting is probably one of the things I love best about writing. You get that sneak peek at a fantastic story and then, if you're really along for the ride, get to see how it changes. The things you say may help a writer in search of the right unwinding of their yarn.

A good crit partner is difficult to find as it HAS to be a reciprocal relationship if that's what's expected from the outset. Don't say to someone, "Read my book, and I'll take a look at yours" without holding up your end of the deal. That's just crappy. If something comes up and you have to bow out, let the writer know. I got very, very sick last spring and dropped the ball on two crits I was doing. I wasn't happy about it and I still feel bad despite apologizing.

Life does get in the way. It will happen to all of us at some point and the gracious thing to do is pat your critique partner on the back and say, "Hey, I get it. You'll get to my stuff whenever..."

Another personal rule of critiquing I have is making sure to point out the positive comments along with the negative. I have seen too many good writers become discouraged because the people looking over their work just throw it into the woodchipper without planting any new seeds. I mean, get over yourself, Negative Nancy (sorry to anybody named Nancy). If you do not feel that there is anything positive about a manuscript you're looking at, step away and do so gracefully. You're not doing yourself or the writer any favors if you force yourself to read a manuscript that just isn't your taste and it shows in the comments you make.

The last thing I want to say about critiquing for another writer is simple: it's not your book. There is a difference between reading someone's work and pointing out places that need tightening up and blasting through it with an AK-47 of line edits, voice comments, and trying to bomb the hell out the writer's personal style just because it's not the same as yours. You can have a strong opinion about your partner's work but always be respectful.

The point I'm trying to make is that critting and being a critter is a give-and-take process that relies on more than just saying "yea" or "nay" to someone's work. I am very lucky to have the crit partners I do--Shawntelle, Cole, and Amanda are incredible women and very talented writers. Janica is a writer who is new to critiquing, and I do hope in year's time she can say that we've helped her figure out who she is as a writer. Cole always says that something is dreadfully wrong if you come away from a crit bummed out and not wanting to look at your MS. Be real, be honest, be supportive.

Hanging out on the Shady Side

2010-01-20T22:23:00.000-06:00

Writing "dark" fiction is more than just not having a Happily-Ever-After for your characters. It's a style, an atmosphere, a view of the world where there's not time for cute things like bunny rabbits. Dark is gritty and morose, sardonic even when your MC has had the living hell beaten out of her. Dark is unyielding. Dark is sunshine that is cold and gray. Dark has no sweetness. Dark is calculated and calculating. Dark is full-throttle or else it'll come off half-assed. Do not be mistaken.

I've written dark paranormals for years, and I'm thrilled to see how they've taken off. SWOON by Nina Malkin, I love you. MERIDIAN by Amber Kizer, I have love for you, too. HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick, yep, you're in the pantheon of shade. THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan, the supreme overloard of dark YA. I hope to join you all one day.

Where does this come from? I've seen Twitters lately and different writers' boards where the aspiring authors talk about jumping on the cruise ship to the dark side. And the fact of the matter is, I don't think they get it. It's not just the plot of a story but how the story's told. There's a certain language, a tone. It's more than having characters who do "edgy" acts and an ending that leaves you feeling kind of like, "Oh...damn." It's an undeniable trait of the work that's unapologetic.

Two of the books I'm critting right now are prime examples of dark fiction. One is YA paranormal and the other is adult urban fantasy. Neither one of them lets up. Yes, each has LOL moments and characters I sympathize with, but the tone and the characters' world view is what keeps them firmly planted in the dark side. Maintaining darkness ain't easy-peasy. Even in my own work, my crit partners occasionally hit me over the head and say, "Too cute! Must go!" Thank God for them.

If you're gonna to the Shady Side, do it with a gusto and make sure you do it well. Otherwise, you're not dark, just transparent.