YA Writers: Read It, Or Don't Bother Writing It by Julie Cross

Welcome back to genre Monday! My good friend Julie Cross has an awesome, impassioned post for you this lovely Labor day. And Julie knows of which she speaks. Not only is she debuting with her YA Thriller, TEMPEST, in January, but she really does devour YA books. She's always full of great recommendations for me. So over to you, Julie...

Direct Message To YA Writers: Read It, Or Don’t Bother Writing It

Oh boy, you guessed it. I’m not planning on being cute and fluffy today. I can already hear many of you forming your arguments just from reading the post title. Since I’m taking the direct approach today, I’m gonna say, “Save it” and hear me out. We can play debate team later in the comment section. Roni will love that.

I’m not going to go into what determines that a book be categorized as YA versus Middle grade, versus Adult. Agents and editors are the best people to answer those types of questions. Besides, you’ve already decided that you’re writing YA. And right now, it seems EVERYONE and their grandmother is writing YA.

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS TOPIC?

I can’t even tell you how many unpublished writers I’ve chatted with, whether in person or through crit sessions, that have decided YA is for them and when I ask them, “Oh, have you read….”and I either get, “No, never heard of it, but I LOVED Twilight” or even, “No, but I hated Twilight so…” And then you get the rare few (and I say rare because most of these writers wouldn’t bother talking to someone like me who wastes time writing *gasp* commercial fiction), the intellectuals, the ones who are determined to create the next Catcher In The Rye and are so above anything non-literary and couldn’t possibly rot their mind on something like, Vampire Academy. But…in my most honest, uneducated, yet credible opinion…

If you plan to be successful at writing YA and possibly pursue publication, you had better make time to read current YA books. It’s just as important as writing that synopsis (yuck!) and finishing that last chapter. Books are cheaper than writing conferences and until you are very well read in the genre, you’re gonna learn more from reading than any workshop could teach you. Since I have a gymnastics coaching background, I’ll use this analogy: even the best trained dancer…someone who had years and years studying dance forms in every country and at every college…heck, even Mia Michaels and Adam Shankman, if asked to choreograph a gymnastics floor routine, will have to actually watch a gymnastics floor routine to do this well…probably a whole lot of floor routines. Yes, they are essential creating a dance routine, but it’s a unique area that a choreographer must become familiar with in order to:

1) Make it authentic and correct

2) Create something original that will stand out against hundreds or thousands of other routines. Remember how I said everybody and their grandmother is writing YA?

WHO ARE YOU WRITING FOR?

Please, please do not say, teens! And if you did, that’s okay, it’s what I’m here for. I was recently asked the question in a group debate situation, by a pre-published YA author if we (the group) thought it would be okay for her to use the F-bomb in her book…just once…the character was in a situation of serious distress and no other words fit. No, we’re not going to open the giant can of worms that is the great “YA Content” debate. But that is what stemmed from her question, people debating whether it was appropriate for a YA book in general. My first thoughts, however, had nothing to do with any moral obligations a writer may or may not have to the reader.

1)As a writer, you should know your character well enough to know whether that’s what they’d say in that moment. First and foremost—always be true to your characters. Wait…I can hear you debaters now…you’re ready for this one, aren’t you? And it’s gonna sound something like this:

Side A:

There’s too much violence, bad words and sex in teen books! Leave it out!

Side B:

Just say no to censorship!

This debate is not happening or important right now…which leads to my second thought when asked this question:

2) Who’s the audience? Saying it’s a teen book isn’t specific enough. Here’s why: Let’s say this author’s story is the sweet and syrupy novel equivalent of a Disney Channel Original Movie (which I’m a total sucker for). If she throws in an F-bomb, the book is now not appropriate for the 10-12 year olds that may have really enjoyed the High School Musical on a space ship story. And hand that book over to a group of 16-17 year olds and there will be nothing, but eye rolling.

Now, on the flip side, if this is an edgy story with some serious and mature issues and you are scared to let the character say the F word in a life or death moment and throw in something like, “Oh fiddlesticks”….uh, yeah, that’s not gonna fly. I’m sure there are other alternatives, but I just wanted to give you an idea of how large the audience span is within the YA genre and how you need to know who you’re writing for and make sure the story is consistent with that throughout. One way to help figure this out is to read a wide range of YA books, especially the ones geared toward a different audience than you might be aiming for.

As much as we all want to be completely original, editors and agents will need to directly compare your book to another currently published book... fans of John Green will appreciate this story ...or something along those lines.

Believe me, I realize every YA writer would love to create a story that 10-30 year olds would eat up, but the reality is, we can all probably count on our hands how many times that has happened in history *cough* Harry Potter. Writing in the adult genre is easier in a lot of ways because your audience can just be, “females who like romance, aged 20 and up.” For younger readers, they change so much between 10 and 13 years old and then again between 14 and 17 years old. You’ll have a much stronger story if you get more specific about your audience. Other wise you may end up writing a watered down version of something that might have been good for upper YA readers or “new to middle school kids.” 

If you are committed to becoming a better YA writer, than I’m going to challenge you right now and suggest you read at least one book from each list…remember this is educational. This is essential. Repeat that three more times, so you don’t feel guilty about taking time to read instead of revising draft 28 of your query letter. Now, I’m sure some of you are great about keeping up with the latest YA trends and reading plenty of books. But even I catch myself avoiding certain types of YA, thinking I might not like it and have to give myself that little nudge to expand my horizons. It’s all about growth. I would love to hear from any of you who take this leap and pick up some YA books. My very favorite past time is talking books with people. 

And even though this is a little harsh, I feel like I have to say it: if any of you read a BUNCH of these suggested books and find that you don’t like them because the characters are immature, over-dramatic and you can’t understand or relate to them, then there’s a good chance you might be writing in the wrong genre. There are exceptions, of course, but remember these books were picked up and loved by the same agents and editors you’ll be seeking out on your path to publication. As Shakespeare so wisely said, “To thine own self be true.” Write what you know and feel passionate about.

**just so you know, no one paid me to plug their books…it’s completely from my own personal favorites list.

YOUNGER YA

: Appropriate for ages 10-12 and older

**these are harder to find so please feel free to add to this list. I won’t specify ages on other lists

Paranormalacy by Kiersten White

Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins

Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girl series and also Heist Society series

CONTEMPORARY EDGY UPPER YA

(lots of “issue” books)

*FYI-this is my very favorite subgenre!

Story Of A Girl by Sara Zarr

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers (read how Courtney changed my writing here)

Winter Girls by Laurie Halse Anderson, also Speak—her most widely known title

Crash Into Me by Albert Borris

Clean by Amy Reed

What-If-I-Don’t-Like-Twilight YA Paranormals

**if you are a fan of Twilight, you’ll probably like these too

Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Also Linger and Forever)

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

MALE POINT-OF-VIEW YA

(I'm so surprised with how many people are looking for these!)

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Break by Hannah Moskowitz

I Know It’s Over by C.K. Kelly Martin

Paper Towns by John Green, also Looking For Alaska (I haven’t read that one yet)

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (this is the 2nd book in a series, see “sob worthy” list below)

*cough*

Tempest by Julie Cross (sorry, just had to do it)

YA DYSTOPIAN FOR PEOPLE WHO MIGHT NOT LIKE DYSTOPIAN

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

Bumped by Megan Mccafferty (hilarious!)

SOB INDUCING EMOTIONALLY BEAUTIFUL YA

*also a favorite of mine and reading these deep stories helped me add emotional layers to my sci-fi trilogy…so, even if tear-jerkers aren’t your thing, you can use it in other types of stories to create something that sticks with readers long after that final page. 

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (might even please the literary fans!)

Before I Die by Jenny Downham (This is British...and I LOVE a good English book)

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly

ROMANTIC, FUNNY, GIRLIE, COMING-OF-AGE YA

Along For The Ride

by Sarah Dessen

Anna And The French Kiss

by Stephanie Perkins 

The Summer I Turned Pretty

by Jenny Han

Tangled

by Carolyn Mackler

The Boyfriend List

bye. lockhart

Any And Roger's Epic Detour

by Morgan Matson

Two-way Street

by Lauren Barnholdt

Nature Of Jade

by Deb Caletti

And Then Things Fall Apart

by Arlaina Tibensky

Julie Cross lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children. She never considered writing professionally until May of 2009. Since then, she hasn’t gone a day without writing.

TEMPEST, Julie's first novel in a YA trilogy about a nineteen year old time traveler will release January 3, 2012 (St. Martin's Press). Tempest has already sold in sixteen territories and has been optioned for film by Summit Entertainment (Of Twilight Fame). Follow her blog or twitter-@Juliecross1980. Also, check out the publisher's fanpage for The Tempest Series to read an excerpt, enter the sweepstakes and win one of 300 advanced copies of Tempest. There's also a Goodreads Giveaway of 200 copies through October 1, 2011

Writer Under Construction - 10 Things I'd Do Differently

I feel like over the last few months (and even now) I should have yellow and black construction tape wrapped around my head. Just like anything else in life this whole being a writer thing is a learning process. You do the best you can as you go along and do better when you know better.

And the hard part is that no one is really sure what the right way is anyhow. There's a lot of advice out there (including the stuff on this here blog). But for every post you find, you can find one contradicting it. It's both beautiful and terrifying that there is no definitive way to do things.

And this is most evident when looking at advice for building your platform and blogging.

Some things you'll hear out there...

Don't just write about writing because you're only reaching other writers. 

Write about writing because readers aren't visiting author blogs anyway, so you should hook into the network of writers.

Don't get a website until you have a book to sell.

Have a website when you start querying because agents will look you up.

Don't do group blogs because no one will know your name.

Do group blogs because it will free up more time for writing.

Social networking is the only way to be a successful authors these days.

Social networking doesn't matter, the only thing that counts is writing a good book.

You must have your blog on _______ (fill in the blank) --wordpress, blogger, your own domain, tumblr

And the people behind each of these views have totally valid points to back up their case. So I can't tell you who is right or wrong. But I will tell you what I've learned in my two years of blogging and along the journey of going from very pre-published to preparing for my debut.

How I'd Do Things Differently If I Did It All Over Again

1. Build your blog where you want to keep it.

This is the one that has caused be much grief these last few months. I built this blog on blogger. And I like blogger. I find it an easy, no-fuss blogging platform. I also like the community on blogger and love the people I've met over here. However, blogger isn't really set up to integrate with a real website once you have one. And moving your followers (and archives and permalinks) to a new place (unless you move to Wordpress) is pretty much impossible from what I can tell.

This doesn't feel like a big deal when you're just starting out and are happy to have fifty followers. But blogs can grow fast. I've pretty much locked myself into blogger now unless I want to start all over again. So that's why I've had to move to maintaining two blogs.

2. Don't limit yourself to one kind of topic like writing.

This is one Kristen Lamb has talked about recently. And I tend to agree. I made this a writing blog. I'm happy I did and I don't think I would have built the following I have if I had started up a blog without a unified focus. However, this approach does box you in a bit. When I wanted to start stretching so that my posts appealed not just to writers but to non-writing readers, I was left in a bit of a quandary. Some of you would be totally fine with me putting both romance-y posts (like my Boyfriends of the Week) mixed in with the writing stuff. And honestly, if I could've figured out a way to merge and move my blogs, I probably would've done that. But I also know many of you aren't really coming here for that type of posts and are only here for the writing stuff. It would've been a bit of a bait and switch. So that's why if I had to do it over again, I'd still blog about writing, but I'd mix in the other stuff as well from the very beginning so that everyone knew what to expect.

3. Only do the social networks you enjoy.

There is so much out there to connect with. I feel like sometimes it's like being in a bed strapped to all those machines and tubes in a hospital. Except all the wires are attached to our brain. It can become too much. So pick which social networks you like the best and focus on those. I like blogging, twitter, and tumblr. So that's where I put my effort. Yes, I'm also on facebook and google+ and goodreads, but anything I post at any of those is really just a feed from my other sites. If I totally dialed into all of them, I'd never get anything else done.

4. Think hard about the kind of books you want to write and what that author brand would look like.

This isn't always possible. I started out writing YA and ended up getting pubbed in erotic romance. o.0 Yeah, I know. Big leap. But this also meant my brand kind of shifted midway through. I'm always me, but I'm talking more about topics I covered and the "look" of my websites. I'm getting pubbed in dark, erotic romance and I had this bright, colorful Fiction Groupie blog. It didn't really jive. So that's why I eventually changed it to match the feel of my website. So if you know you're going to be writing dark horror, don't build your site with sparkles and puppies. You're not going to attract the people that are actually going to want to read your book.

5. Do hook into the community of writers.

I actually got this one right. Writing can be a very solitary act. I don't know if I'd have survived it through writing my books if I hadn't found lovely writer friends and crit partners. This is by far the best thing about blogging and social networking.

6. None of it matters if you're not writing and working on your craft.

Duh. I know. But it's SO easy to get so caught up in the social networking that you start sucking up your writing time. I have fallen into this trap because I love blogging and twitter. But writing has to come first. This is why I've been shifting around my blog schedule so often lately as I try to find the right balance.

7. Put your name on things and reserve your web domain early.

When I started I was just Fiction Groupie. I didn't want to put my name out there and *gasp* have people actually know that I was attempting to write something. What if I failed? But this was a mistake. You are your brand. Kristen Lamb says it best when she says, you can't go into the store and look for a book from Fiction Groupie. People need to know your name. Otherwise, what brand are you building? (And you'll notice I put the Fiction Groupie title back at the top this week. But I have my name on top. Now that I've decided to keep this a writing blog, I figured it needed it's name back to decipher it from my author blog.) 

As for web domain, go into this with the expectation that you will one day be published. You don't want to miss out on having yourname.com because you didn't spend the twenty bucks a year it costs to reserve it. So get thee to a service like Go Daddy and spend a few bucks to hold on to that name. 

8. If you plan to use a pen name pick one and use it early.

Made this mistake too. I used my real name for the first year that I blogged. Then when I decided to write erotic romance and wanted a pen name, I had to change EVERYTHING. Domains, email addresses, facebook, twitter, yadda yadda yadda. It was a major pain. Luckily, I kept my first name so everyone knew me as Roni and that didn't change. But on the logistic side, it was a bit of a nightmare.

9. Trust your gut and weed through advice.

Sometimes you (and by that I mean I) can get caught up in the "expert" opinions. Like I said at the beginning of this post. There is not RIGHT way to do things. Read the advice that's out there and then use what resonates with you. Different things work for different people. No one thing is going to work for everyone. So take things as guidance not gospel. (There is irony in me giving advice about not taking all advice. Hmm.)

10. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

I'm a control freak. That's not going to change. I tried a group blog on Tumblr and it quickly fell into feeling like I was back in high school working on a group project where I wanted to keep everyone on task. Not good. However, I knew when I decided that I was going to keep this blog on writing while maintaining an author blog as well that I was going to have to ask for help.

So this is where I get to the exciting news part of this post (if you've made it this far in this LONG post, lol). I am implementing a new feature here on Fiction Groupie. Every Monday we are going to have regularly occurring guests who are authors in genres other than mine. They are author friends who I know are great at posting about writing craft and publishing and I am SO excited to be bringing people with fresh and different perspectives to the blog.

So here's what the new schedule is going to look like starting next week:

Monday: Guest post from one of our Monthly Genre Columnists 

Wednesday: Writing/Publishing Post from me 

Friday: Fill-Me-In Friday -- best links of the week 

Tuesday and Thursday, I'll be posting on my author blog.

So join me in welcoming our five new stellar guest contributors!

♥ 

Julie Cross

 - YA Debut Author

(first Mondays)

♥ 

Ashley March

 - Historical Romance Author

(2nd Mondays)

♥ 

Suzanne Johnson

 - Debut Urban Fantasy Author

(3rd Mondays)

♥ 

Joan Swan

 -Suspense/Thrillers - Debut Romantic Suspense

(4th Mondays)

♥ 

Sierra Godfrey

 - Women's Fiction & Marketing

(5th Mondays)

See all their

bios and books here

!

I hope that you all are as excited as I am about the new re-re-re-revamping. :)  Thanks for sticking with me through all my changing as I continue to figure things out as I go along.

Now, I'd love to hear what you've learned since you started this whole writing thing. What would you do differently? Do any of the points on my list scare you? Oh, and if anyone knows any brilliant way to combine my blogs all onto my squarespace and still keep followers and archives, let me know--I'll love you forever.

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All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2011 |Copyright Statement|

My Epic, Two-Year Blogiversary MEGA BOOK GIVEAWAY!

I realized last week that I had passed my two year blogging anniversary on July 13th. Yay! Time flies when you're having fun, right?

So in two years...

• I've posted almost 500 posts.

• Have written three books.

• Have switched from writing YA to writing romance and erotic romance.

• Have met thousands of other lovely online writers, some of which I know will be friends for life.

• Have gotten an agent.

• Have sold two books.

• And have not (quite) lost my mind yet.

So I consider that a win all around. :)

And to thank all of you for reading this blog, for taking the time to make supportive and thoughtful comments, for retweeting me, and for just generally being awesome, creative people, I've decided to have a super fantabulous contest!

Here's what's up for grabs. There's something for everyone I hope!

CONTEST CLOSED

by Alyson Noel

Erotic Romance Prize Package

(must be 18+ for these): Includes 2 ebooks from the fabulous

Cari Quinn

and 2 print anthologies

Reveal Me

by Cari Quinn (ebook) AND

Provoke Me

by Cari Quinn (ebook)

Ellora's Cavemen 

Anthologies (2 print)

Historical Fiction Prize: (2 of these up for grabs)

THE SUMMER GARDEN: A Love Story

by Paulina Simons 

Historical Romance Prize Package (2 paperbacks):

THE HEIR

by Grace Burrowes

A SECRET AFFAIR

by Mary Balogh

Contemporary Romance Package

(2 paperbacks):

THE FIRST LOVE COOKIE CLUB

by Lori Wilde

Seduction by the Book

by Stephanie Bond

Paranormal Romance Prize Package

(3 paperbacks):

Six Month Countdown!

Just got back from RWA and had an amazing time and met so many fabulous people (many of which I met first online via this blog.) I'll have more RWA posts in the upcoming week.

I usually don't post on Sundays, but just wanted to stop in for the "My book comes out in six months" squee! And I'm sharing the squee with my RWA roommate and beta buddy Julie Cross whose YA thriller TEMPEST comes out the same day as mine.

Here are me and Julie in NYC:

Julie and I met each other blogging. When we started reading each other's work, neither of us had an agent or even a glimmer of a book deal. We each just had a pile of rejections. We were both newbie writers trying to figure all of it out. Less than two years later, we're six months from seeing these on the shelves...

Everything really can change in a blink. So those of you still in the pre-published trenches, don't give up hope!

Have a great fourth of july everyone!

Tweet All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2011 |Copyright Statement|

YA Author Julie Cross: How I Write

 

Hooray! Blogger is working again. Now I can bring you the super fabulous conclusion of our How I Write series this week. Today, YA debut author Julie Cross!

How I Write by Julie Cross

When Roni asked me if I’d like to participate in a guest post explaining my writing process, I immediately told her, “I’d love to, but I don’t really have a process.” And I know Elana Johnson basically said the same thing in her post as well. I’m sure there are plenty of authors out there who can give you a more logical, easy to follow approach to writing a book, but I’m not one of those, however, I DO have some unique methods that 

have been very successful for me.

The first thing I did when devising a plan for this post was to ask a couple of important people if they could summarize my writing process:

1.      First up was my agent, Suzie Townsend and her answer actually, really helped increase my own self-awareness, believe it or not. I’m learning and teaching right now. I especially loved how she admits that even agents and editors find scenes they love and also find good enough reasons to cut those beloved scenes. We all must learn this lesson.

“Julie's first drafts tend to run a little long--they have this wealth of character details, worldbuilding, and backstory that allow a reader to really know everything about the story. They also allow Julie herself to really know the characters too. Even some of the minor characters--they're completely alive with a unique history. It's awesome. Of course, the next step is to look at that draft and see what details we could possibly remove to keep a page-turning pace.”

“There are definitely details I've loved that I've said, "maybe we should cut this because ultimately it doesn't move the plot forward," but those are great scenes that might be used in later books or kept for a deleted scenes section of her website. But in the end, the fact that Julie knows all of those details about the characters and the world comes out in the final draft. Even when we remove certain scenes, the heart of each character is still in the manuscript, and that's one of the reasons it's so easy to fall in love with her stories.”

2.      Next up for questioning was my editor at Thomas Dunne Books, Brendan Deneen. He wrote up such a nice answer, I’m almost embarrassed to put it here because obviously, I’ve done one thing very well… fooled him into thinking that I actually know what I’m doing *evil laugh* Just kidding. He really gets me, as a writer, and that is kind of awesome.

“Julie’s writing process is similar to my creative process, which is largely gut-based.  She has ideas and needs to get them out, almost to exorcise them, and that’s why her first drafts are like reading a young adult Faulkner novel (and that’s a HUGE compliment since Faulkner is one of my favorite authors).  Then, we work together to clear away some of the dense underbrush, and we end up with something that’s more like a young adult Hemingway novel… clean and amazing and genius in its apparent simplicity.  Julie’s gut instincts are a thing of beauty and I wouldn’t change her process for anything.”

As a disclaimer, I have to say that many editors out there would probably be driven crazy by a writer like me. Pure insanity at times. Anyway, here are some of my philosophies that may help you along in your process.

·         DRAFT 1 Philosophy—There Are NO Rules!

1.      I don’t limit my creative flow in these early stages. Not even a little. Those of you that have kids will like this analogy. I used to use bribery with my three monsters. Like if I needed some quiet writing time last summer, the first couple times, I’d make a deal with them, give me an hour or two of quiet and then we’ll go to the pool. Even if they try their hardest, I’m gonna get interrupted, cutting my hour in half and they’re gonna have to do something REALLY bad to keep me from taking them to the pool. So, that kills the rest of the day. What I found works better, is to take them to the pool first, get all that energy out and then hope the quiet time will come on it’s own, without force or restriction.

2.      Brendan (my editor) reads chapters as I write them. He did this from the beginning. It’s kind of “our thing.” After he originally rejected my manuscript (twice), he came to me saying he liked the premise… as in the one sentence tagline that tells you my MC watches his girlfriend die and jumps back two years in time and gets stuck there. We threw everything else away and started over with that premise, one chapter at a time. I didn’t plan on following the same procedure with draft 1 of book 2, but he asked to read some early on and we just kept going that way. And I like it. It makes writing a little less lonely.

3.      Sharing your work during the process is a personal choice some people avoid like the plague. But we aren’t talking about the avoiders, since I’m not one of those. With my series, and any early readers, the feedback doesn’t come in documents marked up in word review. It happens in a short phone call with my older sister or a text message from Brendan… here’s one I got a few a weeks ago after he read chapter 35 of TEMPEST book 2: “Wow. Bold choice. But the explanation afterwards really works.”  

Or this one: “Ch 32 is probably the most emotional one in the book so far. Tears in my eyes.”

These little tidbits of info keep me going and give me some insight. And I know when he uses the words, “bold choice” we will most likely be looking for other opinions on that particular plot point… but later. Not now. Now there’s no rules.

·         DRAFT 2 and Beyond—Reality, Necessity, Forward Motion, Organization, Fact Checking

1.      Outline changes for next draft—I usually start making a list of notes based on my 1-3 early readers. With TEMPEST 2, I chose Brendan, my older sister, and my agent (I should note that Suzie doesn’t like to read until it’s all finished cause she’d hate me if I left her hanging 2/3 into the book and I kinda LOVE that about her).

2.      Removing Plot Threads—I always have too many subplots, too much complexity, and have to figure out what to remove as far as plot elements. Extra scenes will come later. Extra words will come later.

3.      Line edits—this is where Brendan usually will take the whole revised document and edit for me, on paper and mail it. This will include word choice and grammar and sentence structure and all that. A LOT of clarification type stuff.

4.      Another round of Test Readers—For TEMPEST we used a couple of interns at FinePrint and a friend/family type reader. For book 2, we will probably use Brendan’s new editorial assistant who gave me such nice compliments on book 1 and has asked to read 2 ASAP. Possibly the UK editor or one of the awesome people over at Summit Entertainment. And probably my husband and one other family friend.

5.      Rinse and Repeat—steps 3 and 4 are done over and over again until it’s declared ready and until we’ve exhausted every FinePrint intern and assistant available along with all the St. Martin’s awesome people and Roni Loren, herself, of course. And yes, I made some MAJOR changes beyond draft 3 of TEMPEST. I’ve changed/cut scenes and plot threads… even characters. You have to keep an open mind all through the process and know when to dig in and when to step back.  

I’m open to any and all question so go ahead and hit me with em’… whatever you’d like to know about my experience and any tips I might not have mentioned.

Julie lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children where she works as a YMCA Gymnastics Program Director. She never considered writing professionally until May of 2009. Since then, she hasn’t gone a day without writing. She's represented by Suzie Townsend with FinePrint Literary Management. TEMPEST, the first book in her young adult trilogy is set to be released in the US, January, 3rd, 2012 (St. Martin's Press). TEMPEST has sold in a total of twelve territories (all forthcoming) and has been optioned by Summit Entertainment (of TWILIGHT fame). 

Tagline: "Jackson thought he had all the time in the world with Holly. Until time took him away from her."

The Top 5 Things A Writer Should NOT Do

I had planned to answer the questions from Wednesday's post today, but this morning my car wouldn't start. So I've spent the morning getting a jump and then hanging out at the repair shop. All is well now, but it means I'm not going to have time to do the blog I planned.

However, I am the guest over at Julie Cross's blog today listing my Top 5 Things a Writer Should Not Do (in my opinion, of course). This is a new series Julie has started and a few others have already listed their "don'ts" earlier in the week--including her agent, Suzie Townsend's, top five. So hop over and check and out and leave me a comment if the spirit moves you. :)

Have a great weekend!

Writing Teen Angst--Guest Post by Author Julie Cross

Today, I have a special treat for you! Julie Cross, my friend and the author of the upcoming Tempest trilogy is here to shed some light on writing that lovely part of teenage existence--angst. Ugh. Even the word sounds gross and painful. But there's no writing YA without an in depth knowledge of angsty-ness. I mean, what fun is a totally well-adjusted teen character? Bo-ring! 

So, take it away Julie...

 

The Essence of Writing Teen Angst

One concept that I grasped early on in my writing journey is how different teen angst can be from what you might read in an adult novel. And when I say angst, I’m talking about the drama, the emotion, the character’s internal struggles that evolve from a well crafted story. Adults who are new to writing YA may struggle to make this believable for readers. Mostly because we are more removed from those years.

I’ve created a few basic guidelines for writing YA drama and emotion that is both authentic and true to teen characters, but also appeals to a wide variety of readers—adults included. A lot of what teenagers go through, to an adult, seems ridiculous to even dwell on. But a good YA writer will pull us so completely into a character’s head that we are living the emotion right along with them. First kisses, first boyfriends, fighting with your best friend, fitting in… all of it becomes so real we can feel it. And then we immediately thank whatever all-powerful being we pray to, that those years are really over.   

Onto the real lesson. Point number 1:

UNDERSTAND NOWHERE LAND

-          Nowhere land is the in between world teens have to live in. They aren’t adults, they aren’t kids, but they have to act to like both sometimes and shouldn’t act like either at other times.

-          Think about it. Teens are expected to operate a vehicle responsibly on the same road as families piled in minivans. And yet, they can’t go to the bathroom during Biology without permission and a hall pass. That is seriously confusing!

-          Nowhere land creates this “Right Now” state of mind. All focus is directed on the present. Teens are impulsive and everything going on in their lives, right now, truly becomes the most important thing in the world.

-          This is the reason YA books are typically very fast paced and the stories rarely stretch over long periods of time. Even teenagers that appear to be responsible-future-planning-good-decision-makers are faking it most of the time. By “faking it” I mean they’re following the steps, but not really understanding or visualizing the long term outcome. They really can’t at that age.

-          As a writer, you have to figure out how to embrace Nowhere Land and freeze a moment in your character’s life. Start with the beginning of the book’s major event or conflict (or just before). Then dissect it and make your reader feel like there is no other day, month, or year except this one.

-          Personally, I LOVE to write the way-before-my-story-actually-starts pages because it helps me get to know my characters better. And besides, prequels are totally in right now. So go ahead and write those excess pages if you need to, then cut them out later.

-          Think about Judy Blume’s famous YA book, FOREVER (if you’ve read it). Katherine is so absorbed in her relationship with Michael, her first love, she can’t imagine ever being with anyone else. No one can shake her and tell her she’s wrong. It won’t work. And the reader is in there with Katherine. On her side. That’s what you have to do as a writer.

THE TRUTH….WHAT’S THAT AGAIN?

-          Honesty is probably more rare in teens than anything else. They lie to everyone. When they’re trying to be nice they lie, when they get angry and shout horrible things they lie. Teens aren’t supposed to get too excited about anything, or too upset. They’re not supposed to care what other people think, which means they can’t do anything but care.

-          When writing a YA book, the external dialogue and internal dialogue should show that sharp contrast of truth and lies. But don’t spell it out, let the reader slowly interpret it for themselves. If you’ve read CATCHER IN THE RYE than you know exactly how this can be done. Holden is the ultimate unreliable character. I also have a tiny excerpt from an old manuscript that basically displays the lack of truth flowing between two teen characters:

When I turned around Drew was there, standing in the door way. The instant our eyes met, I knew I was in love so much my heart would shatter into a million pieces, and there was no way to put it back together. No going back.

It was an unhealthy obsession, like Alice. A delusion. 

I forced myself to suck in a breath, even with the stabbing pain. “Are you taking off?” I asked him.

“Yeah, my dad wants to hang out.”

“I guess we’ll both be at the dance tonight.”

“John asked you?”

 I nodded, trying to read his face. Searching for some kind of reaction.

He turned and walked toward the door and then in an instant snapped back around. “Tawny, if you want to me stay, I will.”

Which means you feel guilty about screwing me. I didn’t want any part of the needy girl routine. And I didn’t need any guilt from Drew. This wasn’t his fault, it was mutual.

“Just go, quit worrying about me.”

He opened his mouth to speak and I turned my back on him. A few seconds later the front door closed.

-          What I love about writing this dishonesty aspect of the teen years is the opportunity to write the few subtle moments of pure honesty. The raw observations of the world that are so unique through fresh eyes. Another example from my character developmental journals I use to help write TEMPEST.

 “The second I walk back into the room, I get an entire eyeful of David’s man region. It doesn’t look anything like I imagined. Like it’s a complete stranger attached to the body of someone who I feel very comfortable with.”

-          This excerpt was stolen from Holly’s Diary and is very briefly referenced in TEMPEST. When I told my agent, Suzie Townsend, that I needed to write Holly’s disastrous prom night but it would be too painful to produce a detailed description, she basically said, “You have to do it… no glossing over.”

-          The retelling of this was so painfully embarrassing for me as a writer, but I did it and the whole 10 or 12 pages is basically full of blunt, humiliating honesty. And so far the feedback has been good. It reminded me of reading those embarrassing stories in YM magazine with my friends. Everyone devoured them. 

BE TRUE TO YOUR CHARACTERS

-          You gotta keep it real…above and beyond anything else. Your character doesn’t represent you, he or she represents your ability to bring a fictional soul to life.

-          In my opinion, YA books do this better than most other genres. Yes, the language can be bad, the rating can be worse than R, but the experiences are real and raw.

-          The journey that a YA character takes can be amazing and life changing for readers. Seriously. If you don’t believe me, try reading one of these books (if you haven’t already)-- 13 Reasons Why, Before I Die, Twenty Boy Summer, Story of A Girl, Or anything Courtney Summers has written. Those are stories that stick in your head long after that final page.

EMOTION COMES IN LAYERS

-          Build up to the tension or angst slowly throughout the story and then hit that peak close to the end

-          Feel free to take every amount of support and help away from your character until you’ve left him or her standing in the middle of the woods completely naked in twenty below temperatures. But do this one layer at a time.

-          The first layer of emotion needs to come early on and not be too heavy or cheesy. It should be carefully inserted and possibly open the door for an unresolved issue that the main character is dealing with or going to have to deal with. This one is from the end of the first 20 pages of one of my earlier contemporary YA manuscripts. The story is about a painfully shy Catholic school girl who gets tangled in a web of mean girls, a cute older boy, and a lot of really bad rumors.

I was writing my answer to Hailey’s riddle when the rest of the lights went out. I leaned further forward, squinting so I could see the letters properly. I heard Alison gasp beside me and I lifted my head and was completely horrified when I saw the words on the giant screen. They read:

THE ELEANOR STORY – A STORY OF A GIRL WHOSE REPUTATION GOT IN THE WAY OF HER RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

Translate that into eighth grade terms – the girl was easy and boy crazy and would rather be kissing than praying. And she had my name! And reddish-brown hair, like me.

My heart was pounding so loud I thought blood might start pouring out of my ears. It was slow motion. Heads were moving around, twenty-nine of them, until finally fifty-eight eyes were staring at me. This was the worst spotlight ever. Or like the dream where you go to school naked. Alison gripped my hand and Hailey’s fingernails dug into my arm confirming that my worries were justified. I was never going to live this down.

I watched in horror as movie Eleanor became the most exaggerated flirt ever in the history of fourteen year-old girls. I mean get real! They had this girl hiding in a closet with one boy and then telling another boy she wants to meet him after school behind the dumpster. Seriously. The dumpster. The worst part was the end when she went to the priest crying because everyone was calling her an inappropriate word I won’t say. When the movie ended Sister Clarisse turned the lights back on and the three of us sat there frozen while everyone filed out.

“I would have rather put condoms on fruit,” I said.

“Definitely,” both girls said together.

So, there you have it. The essence of teen angst. And yes, lots of these techniques can be applied to other genres, but the actual moments in a YA book, the reactions of the characters, are extremely unique. This genre is blooming more than any other and that alone is certainly worth taking a hard look at the reasons behind the popularity of YA novels. Not just teens are reading these books anymore. The audience is very broad. 

Julie Cross is represented by Suzie Townsend with FinePrint Lit. Her young adult novel, TEMPEST has been sold to editor Brendan Deneen with Thomas Dunne in a 3 book deal. TEMPEST is the first in a trilogy about a 19-year-old time traveler who witnesses his girlfriend's murder and inadvertently jumps back two years; stuck there, he's recruited by a shadowy government agency run by the man he thought was his father and vows to save his girlfriend no matter the cost. Visit her at http://juliecross.blogspot.com/

Creating an Authentic Teen Guy's Voice

 

How can we top off a week of fabulous guest bloggers? Well, duh, invite my friend and soon-to-be debut YA author Julie Cross to hang with us.

Julie and I met in bloggy land early on, and I've had privilege of both beta-ing some of her work and having her beta mine. And let me tell you--this girl knows voice. No matter what story excerpt I read of hers, that's the thing that came shining through in every piece. I'm half-convinced she's not a fellow mom like me and is secretly a high school student. :) 

So, I hope you'll take the time to absorb this terrific post and if you're not already doing so--go follow her blog. She's going to be the next big thing, people, with her debut YA time travel novel Tempest coming out next year.

CREATING AN AUTHENTIC TEEN GUY’S VOICE

First of all, I just want to come right out and admit a couple things:

1)      Roni’s blog totally rocks and I’m totally nervous to be guest blogging today. I’ve got butterflies just thinking about all the amazing people who might read this post.

2)      Until very recently, I completely stunk at writing real teen boys. My guy characters were basically girls in cute boy bodies. Seriously. I’m so not kidding.

Okay, on to the real information

MY CREDENTIALS

**feel free to skim this if you want to get on to the information, I felt obligated to establish credibility so you all weren’t like, “Who the freak is this lady and why is she telling me what to do?”

In the past year, I’ve written 7 young adult novels (5 girl MC’s and 2 boys). All of them are written in first person. All of them have some kind of romantic element and I made the mistake of assuming if I’m writing for a female audience, my guys have to be perfectly caring and sensitive or complete a-holes (which leads to a sensitive girlie-boy, who’s of course totally cute, sweeping in to rescue the girl from the manly a-hole).

When I started creating TEMPEST with my editor Brendan Deneen, we both knew the concept was big enough to reach a larger audience than just teen girls. So, the real challenge was creating a guy that girls enjoyed reading and boys could read without gagging.

Not as easy as it sounds. At first, I didn’t over-think it. I wrote one chapter at a time and just before I’d hit the send button to pass it along to Brendan, I’d chicken out and remove at least half of the sappy, over dramatic crap. That was my only motivation in the beginning.

The second person to read TEMPEST was my agent, Suzie Townsend and the very first thing she said to me in an email and then again on the phone was how much she loved Jackson. And I’m seriously not trying to toot my own horn. I was completely shocked to hear this was what stuck with her most. And it kept on coming from all the readers that followed. I would get words like, “Swoon” and “Major swoon.” This is straight from Suzie’s notes on Draft 2 (and Suzie has a well-deserved reputation for giving kick-ass notes): “I love Jackson from the first time we meet him. He has a great voice, I was rooting for him the whole way through the book – and he is rather swoon-worthy. (ah, sa-woon!)”

Okay, so here I am, ready to write the next draft which required some MAJOR revisions and I’m all full of warm fuzzies because everyone loves my nineteen year-old time-traveling guy.

Great, right?

I get everything ready and start to attack the MS for the next draft and then I get really freaked because I knew Jackson was the favorite, but I hadn’t figured out exactly how I got it right. How I got him right. It was completely on accident (mostly because I hated sending Brendan the mushy-girlie stuff) and now I had to write new scenes and not turn him into something different. Major, major freak session followed along with writer’s block (that I completely denied).

The first thing I realized and was pretty shocked with, was the fact that Jackson is never really described physically and neither is his main love interest. Her height, hair/eye color are noted, but Jackson never comes out and says she's the hottest girl on the planet and every guy wants her (I made that mistake in a very early version—readers don’t like that). Jackson doesn’t have girls falling all over him either. He comes across as fairly polite when compared to an insensitive horn-ball character. He has a few moves, but kinda bombs with them. Readers interpreted him as “swoon worthy,” but I never came out and said he was a Mr. Gap model guy or anything.  

After careful analysis, I figured out a few things about my MC that anyone can apply to help create an authentic teen guy. Even if your audience is mostly female, they still want the guy to seem as close to real as possible with just a hint of something amazing. And I swear you can do this without mentioning the word erection or boner and without sessions of “guy talk” involving embellished (or completely made up) sexual experiences. My guy is nineteen, so a younger guy (13-15) may have more mention of those things in the internal dialogue. If it’s important, don’t skirt around it. My book just happens to have life threatening events on every other page so there’s not much room for mention of every moment of arousal or time spent looking at internet porn. 

** keep in mind, writing a teen boy is SO hard for me. When I work on my character development journals and I get to write from Holly’s POV (my female MC) the words just fly onto the computer like the most natural thing in the world. Don’t expect it to come too easy (unless you’re actually a guy, but grown men sometimes forget what’s it’s like to be a teenager, more so than women). 

  

BOY BASICS

EMOTIONAL PACING (No Crying on page one!!)

n  Where your boy is, emotionally, in the beginning of the book has to escalate enough to show growth and keep him from being a flat character.

n  If you start at 8 and 10 is the goal, you’ve got a problem.

n  With TEMPEST, you know just from the short description, Jackson witnesses his girlfriend’s murder and gets stuck two years in the past. In my very earliest version, Jackson was hopelessly, forever and ever in love from page 1. Which is really sweet, but then what?

n  The new and improved Jackson isn’t an asshole, just less focused, not completely sure why he likes being around Holly, just that he usually does. For him, that’s enough. For her, it isn’t always, which is an awesome conflict you in the first 2 pages.  Here’s a little sample of Jackson’s internal dialogue  in the opening pages during a fight with his girlfriend:

It would have been impossible to insert even one more drop of sarcasm into her voice. And it hit me like a gust of icy air. I ran my fingers through my hair and tried to come up with something decent to say. Or to decide if I should run. Instead, I went for a change in subject.

**If you’re worried about your character coming off as jerk in the beginning, then maybe, instead of saying something mean or insensitive, you can use the technique I used with Jackson and have him either not know what to say or be completely unaware that he’s even said the wrong thing.

This method = imperfect yet likable guy.

TRY PHYSICAL IN PLACE OF VERBAL 

n  And it’s not just kissing, but a physical action that shows the reader his emotional response without having your dude talk about his feeling.

TOTALLY MADE UP EXAMPLE

Guy MC doesn’t get along with his dad. Dad wants him to play football and he wants to join the GLEE club. Kid lets Dad know he wants to quit playing football after practice one day. They have a big argument outside, right in front of their car. Dad finally admits that his dead Grandpa’s dying wish was for his grandson to play in a state championships. Kid stares at Dad for a second, thinks about how Grandpa let him smoke a cigar when he was 10 and told him not to tell his parents, then he gets in the car without another word or complaint.  

                **So, even though no one sobbed or said I love you, a scene like this can carry a TON of emotional weight and works great with pre-teen/teen boy MCs. Even Dad’s confession can be subtle, “It’s the last thing grandpa said to me. ‘Damn, I would have loved to see Joey kick some ass in the state championships.” Seriously, people will cry. Trust me.  

n  But if we ARE talking about love stuff, kissing might be the way to go. Just when you’re about to have your 17 year-old guy give a speech equal to the worlds’ greatest wedding vowels, stop and ask yourself, “Could he just kiss her instead?” The answer is usually yes and your readers will probably LOVE it because it flows naturally rather than some awkward sentimental speech.

WHAT DOES A REAL GUY DO?

n  I know what you’re thinking, if I’m writing a real guy does that mean he has to play sports, sweat a lot, scratch his balls, sniff under his arm pits, drink out of the milk carton, have porn movie marathons. The answer is: NO, he can do essentially anything. Seriously, there are ways around any hobby or characterization.

n  Would you believe me if I told you that my realistically boyish and very likable MC does all of the following things:

1)      Recites poetry in French

2)      Performs a waltz to the song, Come Away With Me

3)       Recites several pages of Dickens

4)      Sits in a famous art museum in his free time to sketch things

5)      Willingly volunteers at a day camp and is very good with kids

**Did any of you roll your eyes? I totally would if I read this list without reading the book. It’s hard to explain the exact technique for achieving this so I’m just going to give you an example. Again, my motivation began with writing something my editor, a guy who loves action/thrillers, wouldn’t put the red lines through. This little mini-scene made it through without a mark. It follows an argument Jackson and his girlfriend Holly have at the beginning of the book. Jackson offers up a “Make-up gift” and Holly makes a request he’s not excited about granting.

 “You’re turning me into a complete freak. Or worse -- a chick.” I made the mistake of turning my head. One glimpse of the tears still drying on her cheeks and I caved. “If you tell anyone, I will kick your little ass. Got it?”

She mimed zipping her lips, then snuggled up to me. “Do you think you can manage a British accent this time?”

I laughed and kissed her forehead. “I’ll try.”

“Okay, on with it.”

I rolled my eyes then took a deep breath. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. . .”

My ninth grade English teacher always made us recite Dickens while standing in front of the class. I hated it. For Holly, I didn’t mind too much, but I’d never tell her that.

“Do you think he did the right thing?” Holly asked after I’d recited the first few pages.

“You mean Sydney? Getting his head chopped off so the woman he loves can be with another man?” I said.

Holly laughed and her lips vibrated against my chest. “Yeah.”

“No, I think he’s a complete moron.” I kissed the corner of her mouth and she grinned at me.

“You’re lying.”

I pulled her closer and kissed her again, ending the discussion that would inevitably lead to spilling out more secrets than I cared to share.

LESS IS ALWAYS MORE WITH BOYS

n  Give us only a little, tiny insight into the guy’s real feelings. This makes your readers crazy for more, which is a really awesome thing. Besides, readers love to read between the lines and interpret a simple moment into something bigger.

n  Like with the fake example from above, the kid could be imagining his Grandpa carrying him in the house after he fell and broke his leg, or when his grandpa told him how much he loved him. But instead, he’s thinking about how cool it was to smoke a cigar like a man. What it tells the reader is, “Joey” and his grandpa shared a special moment that no one else knows about. Everyone will go “Aaaww” when they read that. And it’s about a ten year-old smoking a freakin’ cigar.

n  Think about how powerful those “Almost kiss” scenes can be. It’s hard to pull off a teen guy voice that gets all sappy. But what if your guy, “Almost” says something sappy, but can’t quite go through with it. This especially works well in first person because the reader knows what he almost says and then we just feel sorry for him and we’re swooning at the words that were never actually spoken. It’s enough that he wants to say it. Actually, most of the time is more than enough. Less is better.

I’ll leave you with one more example of how this could work in your favor:

 That was the first time I really wanted to say it… I love you. It would have been perfect, just melting into the moment. Not like some overplayed drama. But my tongue tied up just thinking it, so instead I said, “Did you know you have a freckle on your-”

She put a hand over my mouth. “Yeah, I know.”

So, have you struggled with writing from the male POV?  Which authors have you read that have nailed the guy perspective?

Thanks so much, Julie! And for even more information on how dudes think, I did a post on adult male POV here.

**Today's Theme Song**

"Teenage FBI" - Guided With Voices

(player in sidebar, take a listen)