More advice on YA

So many of you are writing for Young Adult markets these days I wanted to share a link to Steven Piziks' Book View Cafe post on teens and texting. He's the father of teenagers and writes YA fiction, which gives his advice a double-whammy of weight on this subject.

Snippet: 
Whether we adults think this is a bad idea or not DOESN’T MATTER.  The teens themselves like it that way.  If you thinks it’s dreadful, that’s fine, but KEEP IT OUT OF YOUR WRITING.  You’ll alienate your teen readers, who’ll feel like you’re lecturing them about the evils of texting.

Steve's most recent book, The Doomsday Vault: A Novel of the Clockwork Empire.  

I also want to take this opportunity to apologize to those who were signed up for the Blueprinting class. My scheduling issues caught me by surprise, and I am very sorry not to be able to teach further this  spring.  I had looked forward to it.

See you in the autumn, I hope!

I have been attacked by a casserole!

A casserole that can't spell. [The casserole went back and corrected the spelling of my name, so at least the casserole edits!]

At least, I think that's what happened. I may be a bit inclined to hyperbole....

I Hate Patricia Borroughs!

 

Morning Pages and Journals

My friend Diane has a terrific blog entry about the benefits of morning pages, dream journals, and other diaries. Her summation of the MPs is particularly strong, because they've certainly served this purpose for me in the past:

The “morning pages” journal is my way to vomit out all of the angst, upset, rage, etc, etc that I’m feeling. The fabulous thing about doing this is that once you’ve done it, your brain records “Okay, she has shared her feelings on this matter!” and your desire to tell each and every person in creation about That Annoying Person or Incredible Realization #190 you just have basically goes down to zero. You get it out, you’re done with it.

I think I’d forgotten how bloody fabulous and mind-clearing that particular use of journals can be.

While Diane went on to analyze various ways of journaling from paper to computer to iPhone, it made me want to go check out the origin of Morning Pages again, and I discovered that the book that started it all is now available in many variations. The Artist's Way Starter Kit looks amazingly inviting:

But I have an aversion to pouring out my thoughts in a book that may as well be labeled, "Herein Lies Private Thoughts!" (or, you know, "Journal" or  "Diary" or such).

I see it's also available in a beautiful deckle-edged hardcover which is truly tempting to me, since my old copy is battered, and I think this book is a keeper:

There are workbooks and other side-items, some no longer available as new, but still out there. I haven't worked my way through this in many years, and it's kind of tempting to do it again.

I also bought The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart, the sequel, years ago and never read it.  And now I find that there are even more books by Julia Cameron that I haven't read.

Have you read any of them? What did you think?

Read, read, read. Write, write, write.

Those are the two most important things for a writer to do.

While writing edges out reading for obvious reasons, the fact is, you still need to be reading, and you especially need to read that which you are writing.  Writing Young Adult? You'd better be reading Young Adult, and keeping up with what's new and hot.

The same with romance, mystery, or literary fiction. It's all the same in that you should read what's out there, read what's good, read what's bad, and read what's current.

I was surprised and pleased today to stumble across a page on Amazon that I hadn't noticed before:

Shop Amazon Books - Featured Debut Fiction

Fiction by new authors.  First published novels.

Go. Explore. See what's out there and figure out how it impacts what you're writing. Don't panic if your passion takes you in a different direction because I truly believe passion can't be trumped for the most part. But let your turn in a different direction be deliberate, not because you didn't know.

Get after it!

"Where do your ideas come from?"

There is not always an easy answer, because it's not something that I can always pin down.

This time, however, I can. I wrote about it here.

Remember how I said an emotional hook will take a reader some place they never wanted to go?

It happens to writers, too. Because of all the places on the planet, I would not have chosen to write about  the Trans Pecos.

But I did.

See ya over at planetpooks for the rest of the story.

Boosting the Signal Strength

Jacqueline Christensen passed along this message from Parris Afton Bonds, and I'm delighted to share!

I published my 36th novel ~ this one an ebook at Amazon.com/kindle.

Please pop a beer tab or uncork a wine bottle and join me to celebrate Dancing With Wild Woman ~ Janet Lomayestewa, tracker for U.S. Customs (ICE), who must learn to dance in order to find a serial killer and keep our earth in balance as well as her own off-kilter love life. 

Check out this new ebook from one of the romance genre's biggest names!

Writers Groups and Writers--The Ongoing Dilemma

There are so many fabulous blog entries over at Book View Cafe if I linked to all of them, I'd do nothing else but link to them.

But finding a writing group for critique can be a challenge, and Sherwood Smith tackled the subject yesterday.  She links to many different resources, and then there is even more great information in the comments.

Check it out.

A Posse of Princesses  

by Sherwood Smith

Lanetta's Excellent Worldbuilding

Awhile back I posted about worldbuilding and writing and such over at planetpooks. I even threw in a heavy dose of Regency cant at the end. In comments, my friend Lanetta mentioned that she does the worldbuilding for her books in Excel. That intrigued me, and I asked her to blog about her process and I would link to it. She did! And now, a month later, I'm finally linking. This is really interesting to me, because I never considered importing images into Excel.



I'll still be using Scrivener [pooks recommends page] because of the degree of detail I need, but I can definitely see how Excel works, and it is often a program people already have. What are you tricks of the trade? How do you keep your research organized and your worldbuilding at your fingertips? Send pics! Tell me. I love this stuff.

Bloody Coincidence?

Perhaps it is, but I found it interesting that PN Elrod mentioned on Facebook today that she's had a sudden upsurge in sales for her ebooks in the past couple of days.  Perhaps some of you contributed to that uptick? [You might remember her first page--with Ms Vandermore's spangled dress getting ripped, and of course, poor Escott, interrupting to artist at work in The Vampire Files?]

Of course looking up her current books available for Kindle was my lucky break.  I had no idea she'd also written a historical, Jonathan Barrett, Gentleman Vampire.

Yes, I'm downloading again.

First & Third Person pov, examples and discussion...

Good ol' Jenny Crusie. Again, perfect timing with a blog entry that addresses something we've just discussed, but she gets into much greater depth in the mechanics of the technique.

I am not one to argue with a gift horse and this time the gift horse is yours.

Read this great examination of the difference between first and third person, and why you can't write in one pov and just change pronouns to the other (from "I" to "she" as an example) and have it work well.

"Lots of commenters on the previous post said, “Write it in third and then change it back to first.” That doesn’t work for me (I’ve tried), which doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. But for me, it’s two different languages. It’s like saying, “Write it in English, and then translate it into German, and then translate that back into English.” If you’re talking about a page full of dialogue, it doesn’t matter much, but for anything else, I lose a lot in the translation both ways. Here’s a piece from Maybe This Time..."

And she goes on to give the same paragraph in third person, then change to first, then rewrite to first... and it keeps going from there. If you want to see the mechanics played out before your eyes, check out her post!

This may or may not be the start of something.

Which is why I thought it worth mentioning.

"Where do your ideas come from?"

So many answers, so little time.

But sometimes a book may just begin on a morning like this.

Picture this: Jenny Crusie & her collage method

Timing is everything! Today Jenny posted about one of her current works in progress and ended with the beginning of a collage. And for the first time, I'm tempted. Perhaps seeing it in an early stage where it still looks amazing did that.  

Perhaps it was seeing Benedict Cumberbatch on her collage.

No matter. Fact is, tonight we're looking a bit at plotting again and I was going to hand out a card with her URLs on it, and decided to just put them in my sidebar.  Right over there near the bottom in Special Writing Topics.


And because you asked so prettily, I'm sharing her new, barely started, collage.

[Oh, and I might as well. To make it easy for you since we'll also touch on this tonight and tomorrow morning, Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need and its sequel (yes, this cracks me up that the "last book you'll ever need" has a sequel, which is why I had to include the subtitle) Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told. From where I'm sitting, you really can't use one without the other. Although, everybody is different, yadda, yadda.]

This weekend! If you're writing science fiction/fantasy...

Or aren't sure, but want to explore it.

Or love to read it.

Or... are just interested.

ConDFW is here this weekend, and has a great lineup of sessions for writers, artists and readers, all.  I'm not sure if I will be there, but I will try.  In the meantime, check it out.  It's probably the least expensive convention that includes writers around here. It's too late to pre-register, but you can register at the door, $40 for the 3-day weekend. That is a bargain.

Let me know if you go. I want to hear all about it! (Unless I'm there. If you see me, then say, "Hi!")

If you're going to write a romance novel...

File this in the "you learn something new every day folder."

I found this image of Barbie Romance Novel Collection while looking for an illustration.

If you read or write romance, you are probably familiar with these kinds of thoughts, but it never hurts to refresh your memory.

Author R. Ann Siracusa welcomes you to her blog

Not long ago, I happened to run onto a reader’s comment thread on Amazon.com entitled “Dear Author: Please Don’t…” at the following link.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/romance/ref=cm_cd_dp_rft_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxM42D5QN2YZ1D&cdThread=Tx1U9IFOLVQRGXV

There are 62 pages of interesting reading.  Over 1,500 comments from readers.  I had to restrain myself from writing responses.  While some of them are a little [or a lot] off the wall, many of the readers had something worthwhile to tell us.  Many of the don'ts we’ve heard from agents, editors, and other authors.

As authors, we may not agree, but each comment represents the personal reaction of a reader.  To me, they speak volumes about what people read and what is getting published by today’s industry.

Check it out!

Practical Meerkat’s 52 Bits of Useful Info for Young (and Old) Writers

This is the writing book I've been waiting for!

If you look at the bottom of my sidebar you'll find Practical Meerkat linked from last year, when Laura Anne Gilman--novelist, short story writer, editor, industry pro--wrote a weekly series of advice to writers mined from her experiences and those she's observed.  It's all there still, free for the reading.

What kind of subjects does she tackle?

Writing is a craft. Publishing is a business. Today’s world requires you to understand both.

A year’s worth of first-hand advice from the popular “Practical Meerkat” series, including:

• Knowing When Not to Complain (and how to do it)
• Bar Schmoozing with the Big Dogs (even if you don’t drink)
• Dealing with a Difficult Editor/Agent
• and 49 more!

I'm buying and downloading the ebook so I can have it all together at my fingertips.  I don't buy a lot of writing books any more, but I'm buying this one--and it's only $2.99.

Paperback Writer: Scarab Outlining

Scarab Pectoral, from the Tomb of Tutankhamun

A couple of things. First, I'm about to add Paperback Writer to the sidebar. I can't imagine why I haven't already.

Second, what a clever idea for outlining. I love her "scarab" outline, especially since I love things from the flapper era and scarabs were all the rage. (I even included a scarab in one of my novels.)

What is a scarab outline? Well, follow the link below and see!

Paperback Writer: Scarab Outlining

Morning Pages, Writing Spaces

I love seeing where writers write.

I love hearing and reading how writers write.

"Process" fascinates me, and I learn so much from it.

It's somewhat timely that when I discovered this blog that has pictures of many writers' offices, I found Heidi Durrow [The Girl Who Fell from the Sky] who  mentioned her morning pages.  [Now if you're in my evening class you know what that is. If you're in the morning, you don't, yet. At least, not from me. I will tell you Tuesday.]

The space of Eugenia Kim [The Calligrapher's Daughter] appeals to me this morning.  I love her view because I love trees, and yet it's so cozy.

And look at that board and bookcase:

 I could create there.

And finally, a few takes on morning pages:

Here.

And here.

And here.

Do you do morning pages? Like them? Hate them?

Where do you write?

YA books for you to read.

If you're writing YA, you should be reading YA. Sounds obvious, right?  (I might have mentioned this before, ahem.)

To answer a few questions that came up in week one's classes, I went back to Doug Solter:

Me: Suggestions for YA books that might be along the lines of Harry Potter?

Doug: "The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann: Harry Potter meets Hunger Games."

[From Amazon] Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret--behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime. In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation. But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

Me: Suggestions for high school settings, non-sff?


Doug: "I would recommend anything by Courtney Summers, John Green, and Amy Lynn Reed. Good Contemporary YA stuff to start with. If they want to write stuff that's contemporary high school they need to look for the sub-genre 'contemporary YA.'  Ellen Hopkins comes to mind too. Check her out also."


There. That should get you started! (Me, too. I'm going to look into The Unwanteds, myself.)

WEEK ONE – HOMEWORK

1. Take yourself on an Artist’s

     Date.

2. Try “morning pages.”

3. Read the “first pages.”

4. Use your “capture device.”

5. Watch WITNESS.

6. Be a writer.

Got questions?  Ask!  (Or email me.)  And don't forget to sign up for email delivery of this blog.

Go write something!

A Must-Read for Friends of New Authors!

This is a link that you're going to want to keep handy and send to people when your book is about to be published by a traditional publisher. (Traditional publisher means a publisher that pays you an advance, that puts print books into book stores, that is not self-publishing or some variation of it.)

Publishing has become more and more like movies, and that's not great news.  Bottom line, "opening weekend ticket sales" (or in the book world, pre-orders and the first two weeks your book is available for sale) can make or break you. 

Not All Sales Are Created Equal—What Your Writer Friends Wish You Knew But Are Too Polite to Tell You 

 

Inspiration and Advice, 2011 looking to 2012

I stumbled across this "year-end wrap-up" of an aspiring writer who is going after the dream with all the energy and heart and brain-power she possesses.  I think reading her 2011 accomplishments and thank-yous might prove both inspirational and informative to my students (and others following with this blog).

From Darcy to Dionysus: A Writing Repository: Mentors & Magicians of 2011

I'm also very pleased to say that the "Practical Meerkat" weekly series of writing advice that I've pointed you to all year (check the sidebar) has completed and will be appearing in a great writing book soon. Stay tuned for more info on that.

I look forward to a new semester of classes and I hope to hear from more of my former students as time passes.  In fact, I should probably start posting updates on them as I get them.  Good idea, huh?

Deep Point of View

It's always helpful to find support for things I teach, like how to write point of view. Our friend Doug Solter pointed me to this five-article series on "deep point of view" written by Toni Andrews.

Stephen King is a great example of an author who often writes in deep point of view. His popularity doesn't come from his ability to create the scariest monsters. It comes from his ability to make the readers experience what his characters are experiencing when they encounter the monsters.

Yes. That.


[And if you haven't already entered my contest for a free book of your choice from bookdepository.com, go do it now! Contest ends January 6, 2012.]

I'm giving away books!

In order to get my new website/blog site started, I'm giving away at least one free book, maybe more. Any book of your choice (up to $20 value). Find out more about it here!

Contest ends January 6, 2012.

Forget the word "network" and all it represents.

You will be told you need to network in the publishing biz. You will be told that twitter, facebook, blogs, all sorts of social media are how you do this.

I know you will be told this because I have told you this myself. And it's true, except for that word--that word network. It sounds cold and businesslike, or possibly smarmy like a bad salesman glad-handing everybody in the room with a big grin making sure he doesn't miss a soul because any single person there might be his Next Big Sale and by golly, he wants to talk to you about that!

 Do not be that guy.

So, you ask in frustration, how do you network without networking?

I have been told this about the film business.  I have been told this about the publishing biz.  It may be true of other biz as well, but I know it is true about these. And that is, stop looking at people--whether they be authors, agents, editors, potential readers, in terms of what they can do for you.

Instead, relax. It's a party, but it's the lowest key party you've ever been to.  You can sit back and observe and nobody knows it. And you can--brace yourself--find the people you like. Find the people who you find fascinating or entertaining or have things in common with.  Find people you like to spend time with.

And start following them, whether it's reading their blogs or following their tweets or reading their reviews on goodreads. The internet makes this the best time ever to meet people without having to get dressed up, without having to leave your home. And you get to choose which people you meet. Now how cool is that?

It's good to occasionally post a comment to a blog if the person says something that particularly resonates with you.  It's good to retweet something that struck you as clever or wise or witty.  It's good to simply assemble those people you have something in common with on the assumption that you have something to share that they might enjoy, too--your comments, your own tweets, your own book reviews. Whatever it is.

That is networking.  Everybody on the internet--unless they are already an internet rock star--is looking for like-minded people to share with. And you can be that person. And by being that person, you put yourself in a position to learn about the business, or the subject you love, or writing, or the current marketplace.

Check out my sidebar for starters. There are people there to read, to follow.  Will each person you follow be a best buddy? Of course not. But you will meet other people at their parties, you know. Somebody else who makes a smart comment, and maybe after they make a couple of smart comments, you check out there twitter stream or their blog and realize, hey, I think I like this person.

The network, from your perspective, is who you can enjoy and learn from. And in all probability, you will meet others who feel the same way about you.

Nathan Bransford said it in fewer words today.  Check it out.

Writing what's HOT!

The Practical Meerkat has done it again, nailed this one on the head.

About writing what is hot at Exactly the Right Time for the Market!

And yes, we're talking about what makes the big bucks.

Here’s the bitter part:  while “don’t chase the market” is advice that’s handed out freely, at the same time, we’re told by example and inference that if you want to make Real Money, you have to hit the hot markets.

And the hard truth is – that IS how you make Real Money...

Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day!

"On December 3rd, 2011, take the child in your life to a bookstore. Watch his face light up as you give him free access, not just to a new book, but to tomorrow."

And if you don't have a child handy, take your inner child.

Remember the magic of bookstores?

Yeah. That.

Books I loved as a child:  Sam and the Firefly, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, and Half Magic.

What about you?

James Scott Bell On Writing: The Best Writing Advice I Know

Recently tweeted writing tips

Here are a few good writing articles I picked up from twitter this week:

Five good editing tips for that rewrite

How to write a 7-paragraph synopsis

25 reasons a reader will keep reading your book

10 Commandments of writing

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban script breakdown

My favorite tip of the week comes from the 10 Commandments:

2. Thou Shalt write passionate first drafts

           

Don't edit yourself during your first drafts. The writing of it is partly an act of discovering your story, even if you outline. Write hot. Put your heart into it. Let your writer's mind run free. I edit my previous day's work and then move on. At 20k words I "step back" to see if I have a solid foundation, shore it up if I don't, then move on to the end. There's magic in momentum.

As always I remain--

Pooks, braving the twitter so that you don't have to.

Breaking News Alert--Professional Suicide

I don't care how smart you think you are (and nothing in this open letter convinces me that he is) or how right you think you are (and lots in this open letter is sadly true about how the publishing business operates)--

Never do this.

And be glad you aren't this guy's agent.

An Open Letter to Simon and Schuester CEO Carolyn Reidy 

[Note to self:  This just might be the time to recommend this book to anyone who doesn't understand why the following is a problem. Or even those who do.]

Act Fast, Free Writing Books!

ATTN:  The free book offer has ended.  Sorry if you missed it!

[I feel like I should be offering extra books if you act fast enough, and throw in a ginsu knife to boot.]

There are six Writers Digest Books available for free download right now on Amazon.  I have no idea how long this will last.

One of them is Getting the Words Right: 39 Ways to Improve Your Writing, by Theodore Cheney. I use this one in class. One of your handouts comes from it. In print it's almost $11.00, but check the Kindle edition. Today it's free. If you don't have a Kindle that's not a problem. You can download the free Kindle software from Amazon to read Kindle books on your computer, your iPhone, your iPad, your iTouch, blackberry, etc. I don't know how long this will last, so be sure you check the price before you download, just in case you missed it. Or if you prefer, buy it in print. It's a good reference book for writers.

ATTN:  The free book offer has ended.  Sorry if you missed it!

We've got ya covered.

Ever wonder what goes into designing a book cover?

John Scalzi has revealed his new book cover for the book, Redshirts.

And Tor has allowed Irene Gallo, their creative director, to take us behind the scenes to see what they were aiming for and three of the designs they didn't use.

The Awl looks at iconic book covers, and six contemporary writers tell us all about their reactions to covers and blurbs.

The Enchanted Inkpot shows Fall 2011 YA covers and discusses the trends. (Interesting how few of the people on the covers actually look like young adults.)

And this may be a bit out of date but it's interesting--a look back at cover trends in 2010.

However lovely the covers, drowning girls looks like a disturbing trend, doesn't it?

Revision--from the editor's and the author's pov

Tonight I was on twitter and someone introduced planetalvina, Alvina Ling, Editorial Director at Little, Brown Bks for Young Readers. Editor of picture books, MG, and YA. How could I not #follow another planet in the literary solar system?

I went to her blog and found an entry about the same subject I discussed in class last week--revisions, and how she edits--and couldn't resist linking.  So go, read, digest.

The task of writing an editorial letter to me is daunting, and I certainly had no idea how to go about doing it when I edited my first novel (sorry, Libby!). But I learned as time went on; I learned from my mentors, and I learned from reading the correspondence files that circulate in my department: each week, everyone in editorial (when we remember) places copies of our editorial letters and other outside business correspondences into a centralized folder which is then circulated throughout the editorial department so that we can be aware of other editors' projects, problems that other editors are having that may be similar to our own, and also so the junior staff can read many different editorial letters to start to understand how to write them. I found this to be a crucial learning tool when I was first starting out as an editorial assistant.

I think you'll find the entire process more human and less daunting!

bloomabilities: How I edit 2.0

I give my students advice on how to deal with revision letters.  It's pretty simple.

1.  Wait at least 3 days before you do anything but thank the editor for them. No matter what your first reaction is, you need to think about them and live with them for a few days before you're really ready to address them, much less discuss them with your editor.

2.  Take 3 colors of highlighters.  Highlight the easy, no-brainer stuff in one color.  Highlight the, you're not quite sure you understand this/you need to discuss this a bit in another color. And finally, highlight the, if I do what you want me to I'll break my book and it will never be the same again!!! in the last color.  (There really shouldn't be much of this, if any, and you need to limit this reaction as much as possible. And yet, sometimes, this is the reaction you have and it has to be dealt with.)

3.  When you do talk to your editor about revisions, first cover all the easy, no-brainer stuff, and be sure you thank your editor for seeing these things you missed, for bringing a different and often more-experienced perspective to the table, for making your book so much better in so many ways.  Then talk about the things from the second group, the things you need clarification on, the things that you don't necessarily disagree with but need more discussion to make sure you do understand them. (Honestly, you may not.) And finally, last, you deal tactfully (without the drama queen hysteria you might have felt on first reading) with the note that you would really, really like to dismiss because you simply don't think it's going to work.  Hopefully by now your editor recognizes how much care and thought you've put into her suggestions, how much you appreciate her contributions to your work, and is open to your thoughts that may disagree with hers.

How do you deal with this?  Well, perhaps once the editor has explained his or her issues with the problem, you may have better ways to alleviate those concerns without making the particular change you want to avoid.  Or perhaps just knowing what the concerns are, you can do your rewrite and take great pains to make sure they are dealt with, short of changing what is important to you.

The one time I had to deal with a situation like this, I told my editor that now that I understood her concerns, I'd like to go ahead and do my rewrite and and see if I could make the scene work for her.  If it didn't, I would cut it.

But it did work, second time around. So we found a way to compromise and we were both happy, and it was a better book.  In fact, it was nominated for the Romance Writers of America Rita that year.

Never forget that the editor is on your side. Her goal is to make your book better. Together, you can rock the casbah!

What about you? What is your process for responding to editorial notes? Or giving them, if you're the editor?
 

I hate numbers.

Rachelle Gardner posted a rather horrifying but "this is where we live, folks" post about what publishers want to see from writers.

Yes, it's about facebook and twitter and more.