WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE FOR ME
by Nancy Kress


Like most writers, the beginning of my career featured an impressive pile of rejection slips. They seemed unending, like snow in January (I lived in Buffalo, NY; those blizzard-scene commercials for snow tires were all filmed in my driveway). Nothing I tried got me out of the slush pile.

Until something did.

It sounds simple, but what moved my stories from slush pile to sales was this: I learned to write in scenes. Previously, I had been letting my stories just pour out of me as I visualized them. Often the hero or heroine seemed to be simultaneously telling his story, acting in it, and reacting to it all at once, in whatever order sentences occurred to me. I was planning the arc of my overall tale, but I was not planning the shapes of individual scenes.

The scene is the building block of commercial fiction (it may or may not be of literary fiction, which has its own requirements). A good scene is almost a mini-story in itself, with its own purpose, shape, and ending. Here is what I learned about writing scenes that finally made my stories salable:

• A scene must have a definite purpose, which is to advance the plot, deepen characterization, or—preferably—both at once. Before you write a scene, you should know what it is supposed to accomplish, and how.

• The shape of an effective scene is this: First, it orients us in time and place (How much time has passed since the last scene? Are we in the kitchen or outside on the patio? What does it look like?) The scene introduces a question we want answered (What will the heroine decide to do now? How does this new piece of information change things?) Finally, it finishes on some sort of slightly rising note: another question or a heightened emotion or a new complication or a change of situation—something to keep us reading into the next scene.

• Every scene should contain some tension. This might be tension between characters, within a character, or inherent in a situation (a bank robbery or kidnapping, for instance, is automatically tense.)

• Dialogue is the heart of most scenes. Yes, sometimes you will write a scene of a person alone, and sometimes your characters will interact in other ways (fighting, kissing, hiding from each other, hiding the evidence, hiding their true feelings). Mostly, however, they will be talking. Think about this: when you, as a reader rather than writer, skim a sort-of-but-not-very-interesting book, what do you usually not skip? The dialogue. Build your scenes around good dialogue and they are naturally more interesting and vivid.

As time went on, I began to write novels, and then writing in scenes became even more important. FLASH POINT, my YA novel from Viking (2012), was laid out in scenes as I wrote it, pretty much according to the above guidelines. The opening scene, for instance, began with two paragraphs that show Amy, the protagonist, already tense at an interview:

“All the other girls were better dressed and prettier than she was.

“Was dress going to matter? Was prettiness? Of course it was—it always did. But how much, here and now? What were the interviewers looking for, anyway?”

Paragraph three establishes the setting, “A bare, ugly concrete room in a warehouse close to the waterfront,” making us wonder what kind of interview would be conducted, with hundreds of teen-age girls, in such a setting.

By paragraph four, Amy is talking to another of the interviewees, Violet, who will become an important character in the novel. Violet is funny, self-assured, and kind, both a competitor with Amy and an eventual friend. Their conversation helps readers understand both girls.

Finally, the end of the scene leads us to the next one by having Amy proceed through a door to the room where the actual, still mysterious interview will be conducted. The last two sentences raise the stakes as we learn why Amy is so desperate to get this job: her grandmother is dying. If I as writer have done my job correctly, readers will now keep turning pages, eager to know what the job is, whether Amy will get it, and how it will change things for her.

Sometimes, of course, a scene will differ from this general plan. A character is by herself, thinking over her situation, and there will be no dialogue. Sometimes a scene is a “bright spot” in the novel, in which a character thinks she has triumphed (she is mistaken because we still have 200 pages to go), and joy will replace tension. Sometimes it’s already clear where and when the action is taking place, and you don’t need to establish the time or describe the setting. In general, however, this is how successful scenes look. And you must always know why you are writing this particular scene, its function in your novel as a whole.

As with all advice from all authors, mine is neither a hard-and-fast rule nor useful for every aspiring writer. Different ideas about writing “spark” different people’s imagination. But this is what has worked for me through twenty-five novels—and I hope it is also of use to you.


About the Author

Nancy Kress is the author of 26 books: sixteen science fiction novels, three fantasy novels, four short story collections, and three books on writing. She writes often about genetic engineering, as in her most widely known novel, BEGGARS IN SPAIN. Nancy’s most recent book is STEAL ACROSS THE SKY (Tor, 2009), an SF novel about a crime committed by aliens against humanity 10,000 years ago – for which they would now like to atone. Published last year were NANO COMES TO CLIFFORD FALLS AND OTHER STORIES, a collection from Golden Gryphon, and DOGS, a terrifying bio-thriller from Tachyon Press.

Nancy’s fiction has won four Nebula Awards, for “Out of All Them Bright Stars,” “The Flowers of Aulit Prison,” “Beggars in Spain,” and “Fountain of Age.” “Beggars in Spain” also won a Hugo. Nancy won her second Hugo in 2009, for the novella "The Erdmann Nexus." In addition, “Flowers of Aulit Prison” garnered a Sturgeon, and the novel PROBABILITY SPACE won the 2003 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Nancy’s fiction has been translated into nearly two dozen languages (including Klingon).

In addition to writing, Nancy frequently teaches at various venues: Clarion, writing festivals around the country, the arts center Writers & Books in Rochester, NY, and – most recently – as the Picador Guest Professor at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nancy Kress lives in Seattle.

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About the Book


Reality TV meets a chillingly realistic version of America—and the fame game is on!

Amy had dreams of going to college, until the Collapse destroyed the economy and her future. Now she is desperate for any job that will help support her terminally ill grandmother and rebellious younger sister. When she finds herself in the running for a slot on a new reality TV show, she signs on the dotted line, despite her misgivings. And she’s right to have them. TLN’s Who Knows People, Baby—You? has an irresistible premise: correctly predict what the teenage cast will do in a crisis and win millions. But the network has pulled strings to make it work, using everything from 24/7 hidden cameras to life-threatening technology to flat-out rigging. Worse, every time the ratings slip, TLN ups the ante. Soon Amy is fighting for her life—on and off camera.

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I am known as a “Caribbean” writer. Is it because I am from Trinidad, where I was born, and where I lived for the first nine years of my life before assuming a bi-country existence; nine months in the United States and three months in Trinidad every summer until I was 21? Or is it because, birthplace aside, the settings for most of my books are on Caribbean islands? But suppose I was born in the U.S. or England, or Thailand, and I wrote books set in the Caribbean, would I still be considered a “Caribbean” writer?

I ask that question because most of my schooling, from the age of nine has been in the United States. I attended a predominately all-White high school, college and law school. Now, I am happily pursuing my craft in a MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts where the majority of students and teachers are White. Why am I considered a “Caribbean” author if I learned to write creatively in all-White establishments? If I grew up reading books about White protagonists (Beverly Cleary’s as a child; the Trixie Belden series as a tween)? Why is it “acceptable” that I write about people of color but another writer fears she might offend someone? And, why did I feel compelled to write two books set in the Dominican Republic, featuring Dominican characters, when I can’t even speak the language there?

The truth is that lately I’ve been hearing so much “concern” about authenticity in diverse literature that even I, a “Caribbean” author, am becoming fearful to write about characters from a background that is not mine! More importantly, if I had immersed myself in this puzzling issue of what it means to write diverse stories, I might have steered away from writing The Color of My Words or Flowers in the Sky knowing I am not Dominican and can not speak Spanish, try as I might. Because if the measuring stick is that we write only about what we know, maybe I would have stuck to writing about the high school friends I knew so well, who are all Caucasian.

So, I am just going out on a limb here and saying it plainly: Please, dear writers of YA fiction, please consider coloring your characters without fear of criticism. Write them with the same conscientious mindset you give to creating any of your characters. Because writing authentically means doing so across the board, not just if you have a diverse character in mind. And if you are writing conscientiously then you can write diversely.

It makes me, a reader, very happy when I discover characters of color doing ordinary things in novels, like the character of Julia in Rebecca Stead’s Newbery winning When You Reach Me. She’s Black! I had no idea. It wasn’t obvious, and in fact, when I discovered her race, I re-read the beginning to see if Stead had mentioned it and she had! With an art project. But it was subtle and technically brilliant.

In Susan Fletcher’s dracling novel, Ancient, Strange, and Lovely, there is an Indian graduate student and a Black professor/scientist who play major roles although the novel is set in Oregon and Alaska. In Sarah Dessen’s novel Just Listen, protagonist Annabel has a Chinese best friend named Clarke who is adopted. I feel a thrill when I see diverse characters in novels, so I can just imagine how children and teenagers like me must feel, too. It’s a recognition, an affirmation, and a empowerment that, oh yeah, we exist, we are worth writing about, and we are strong, individual characters in our own right.

Patricia McCormick, with whom I was in a writers workshop two years ago, plunged headfirst into researching and writing about characters from other cultures; a Nepalese teenager sold into sex slavery in Sold, and a Cambodian kid who survives the horrific genocide of the Khmer Rouge in Never Fall Down. Both are amazing books and no one cares that McCormick is White.

The same is true about my writer friend and neighbor, Peggy Kern. Peg is White and has successfully written two novels for the Bluford High series, The Test and No Way Out, both featuring Black teens in urban settings. Her new novel Little Peach is coming out next year and is about two Black teenagers caught up in the gritty world of teen prostitution. Do we care what Peggy’s race is? Hell no. This is an important topic and Peg has done her research. And since all of Peg’s books are about Black characters dealing with real-life urban issues, can we call her a “Black” writer? Probably not.

The bottom line is, we need books with diverse characters doing ordinary things, and books that address multi-ethnic situations, and books about the complex issues from the margins of society. All of our world’s children benefit from reading books that represent this planet’s multiple points of view. Because ultimately, there is only one human view and we writers need to open our minds and hearts to presenting the views of others who may be less represented so that we can be co-joined. It’s like what the great mythologist Joseph Campbell said, “Beyond the world of opposites is an unseen, but experienced, unity and identity in us all.”

So, with that in mind, here are some suggestions on how to write authentically about other cultures and how to feature ethnic diversity in your books regardless of your race and background.

1. Look at where you live

Most of us live in multi-ethnic communities, even if, from your vantage point as an adult writer, it may seem homogeneous. For instance, my sons attended high school in Long Beach, New York, a predominately all-white enclave. I stayed at home and wrote, and I hardly saw anyone at all unless I ventured to the Mall thirty minutes away. That was until my sons began bringing their friends to our home. Suddenly, I was surrounded by a talented Black artist named Shaakir, an Ecuadorian girl, Poullete, whose second language is English, a half-Puerto Rican football star named Lorenzo, the president of the high school African-American Club named Gavin, who is 100% Irish, a perky cheerleader named Kelly, also Irish, a beautiful videographer named Sarah who is Italian, and a Peruvian guitarist named Mike. My sons are both African-American. My home was a melting pot of racial identities. I didn’t have to go far to experience divergent viewpoints.

However, if your immediate surroundings are less than stellar in terms of diversity, then expand your horizons. Visit museums, restaurants, give talks at high schools, attend documentary film festivals, read magazine articles, join clubs that feature other cultures, because if you’re interested in including some diversity in your work, you will need to open your mind and heart to EVERYTHING!

2. Interview People of Other Cultures

Pat McCormick told of how she was introduced to her neighbor in New York City who turned out to be the source for her story Never Fall Down. It is his story that she fictionalized. But first she interviewed him extensively to bring his life and words alive in print. I do the same thing. I interview everyone! I probably drive people crazy but I ask a million questions whenever I meet someone whose life is different from mine. For The Color of My Words, I met a waiter named Guario in a restaurant in the tourist area in Sosua, Dominican Republic. I began asking so many questions that I ended up going to his home and meeting his family. I went back often talking to them in my awful broken Spanish and just hanging out as an observer and I ended up setting my story right there on their porch.

3. Look for the Similarities

This was the key for writing about Ana Rosa, my main character in The Color of My Words. She’s a girl who longs to be a writer. I know this girl. It doesn’t matter that she lives in a foreign country or speaks a foreign language that I can’t grasp. She’s a twelve-year-old like any other, with a crush on her older brother’s best friend. She feels isolated and different in her neighborhood because she likes to sit in a tree all day and write, and she has dreams that she thinks no one else understands. Worst of all, her major crush is in love with her older sister! Sheesh!

While your character may be a different race or ethnicity, ultimately he or she is human and has the same emotions, desires and dreams as any teenager. Identify your protagonist’s shared humanity before you focus on her culture and differences. Write from inside her heart before you write from outside of it.

4. Read Up on Diversity Issues but Don’t Be Paralyzed By Them

The Children’s Book Council Diversity Committee was recently formed by a group of book editors interested in promoting and increasing diversity in children’s literature. I read their articles regularly and find some that reinforce my beliefs, some that open my eyes to issues of stereotypes such as Diversity 101, and some like Forced Multiculturalism, about the fact that to many kids what adults perceive as “forced multiculturalism” is not forced to kids, so do include minorities in your group of characters. There will always be “issues” to argue over when it comes to how we identify groups of people. Should we capitalize the word Black and White? Should we say African-American instead of Black? Don’t fret too much on the politically correct names. The copyeditors will figure out the appropriate words for the time period of your novel when the time comes.

I wanted to accurately identify the orchids in Flowers in the Sky that Nina grows on her fire escape, but I wrote and left bank spaces and went back later and filled them in. The same is happening with my current work in progress. My male protagonist is a surfer. I am concerned about nailing the surf lingo, but I am not letting that hold me up. I write the story and leave blanks whe I don’t know the exact word for something. Later, I do more research either online or I hang out on the beach and interview surfers or I watch surfing documentaries and read books on surfing, because I want to be authentic. Which brings me to my last point.

5. Be Authentic By Doing Your Research

I cannot stress this enough. You can write about anything at all. Anything. As long as you are committed to doing the necessary research to bring your topic alive for readers. Be real! It may involve traveling, interviewing people, just sitting and observing, but do it! Writers tend to overlook the research because they are so busy focusing on plot and character and structure and outlines. But the craft part of writing is the last thing I worry about. First, I want to know my subject, and my characters, and their world. And I can only do so by living it.

Not for nothing, Rita Williams Garcia acknowledged six different high schools that allowed her to roam their hallways and take a seat in the back of their classrooms so that she could research her National Book Award Finalist novel, Jumped. Now, that’s what I’m talking about! Rita is Black, and her characters in Jumped are mostly all Black or Hispanic, yet Rita was out there in the high schools doing her research before she took pen to paper to portray the truth.

And isn’t that what we writers ultimately are trying to do. Tell the truth. So I urge you to tell it from every viewpoint, from every perspective, and include as many divergent voices as you can. But make it Real! And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if they call me a “Caribbean” writer because of where I was born or my subject matter. I’m going to write what is dear to my heart.



About the Author

Lynn Joseph was born and raised on the island of Trinidad and is the author of books for children and young adults, including The Color of My Words, A Wave in Her Pocket, The Mermaid's Twin Sister and Coconut Kind of Day, all of which take place in the Caribbean. She travels extensively and has lived in the Dominican Republic, and on the Caribbean islands of Carriacou, Anguilla, and Water Island. She is also an attorney and mother of two wonderful sons, Jared and Brandt. Her new Young Adult novel, Flowers in the Sky will be published by HarperCollins Children's Books in Winter 2013.

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About the Book

Fifteen-year-old Nina Perez is faced with a future she never expected. She must leave her Garden of Eden, her lush island home in Samana, Dominican Republic, when she's sent by her mother to live with her brother, Darrio, in New York, to seek out a better life. As Nina searches for some glimpse of familiarity amid the urban and jarring world of Washington Heights, she learns to uncover her own strength and independence. She finds a way to grow, just like the orchids that blossom on her fire escape. And as she is confronted by ugly secrets about her brother's business, she comes to understand the realities of life in this new place. But then she meets him—that tall, green-eyed boy—one that she can't erase from her thoughts, who just might help her learn to see beauty in spite of tragedy.

From the acclaimed author of the color of my words comes a powerful story of a girl who must make her way in a new world and find her place within it.

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A huge thank you to all the fabulous agents who participated in this months round-up!

This month we asked the agents: What is different about the way you read the first pages of a manuscript as an agent versus how you would read them as a reader or critique partner? 


Catherine Drayton, Inkwell Management


That’s a really good question! When I read the first pages of an unsolicited manuscript as an agent I’m hoping that the author will impress me, make me feel that I’m in the presence of a writer who has command of the language and their characters. I am looking for a distinctive, confident voice that isn’t afraid to take risks and which makes me curious to keep reading. I’m basically looking to make a quick decision. When I read a published novel that level of trust has already been established ( especially if I know if has sold well and been published by well-known imprint) so I’m more forgiving. I believe that the it will be worth my while to continue and trust the author to take me on that journey. I’m also always thinking about my clients - how the book I’m reading relates to their work in terms of quality and the market. It’s a 24 hour job being agent!




Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency


When I read a submission, I read it like I would a "real" book - to be delighted, surprised, and to fall in love with the characters. I want to read it until the very last word because I'm loving it that much. Unfortunately, that doesn't usually happen and I have to stop reading when the story isn't carrying me away, is too familiar, the character isn't someone I want to go on a journey with, or any of the other reasons that a manuscript stops keeping my interest. (I would stop reading a published book for any of these reasons too.) Of course, many of the authors whom I've offered representation to had sent me submissions that I still thought needed work. So, beyond simply falling in love or being carried away, I need to see that there are problems that can be fixed, and that are within my abilities and time limits.

When I'm reading a manuscript that is one of my client's, however, I'm already starting off with a critical eye. I'm challenging every word, sentence, and paragraph, to make sure my client has chosen the best words. I'm looking for holes so that I can help him/her fill them. I'm pushing the author to ask difficult questions of his/her characters and looking for the places an editor/reviewer/reader might have problems. This is where I get my hands dirty, so that the manuscript is the strongest it can be when we send it out to editors.


 
Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown Ltd.


There is no difference. I read the first pages of a book thinking about whether a customer in a bookstore somewhere will pick up that book and start reading it and be enthralled. And if that customer won’t be enthralled, then why? And are the problems something I can assist an author in fixing, or not?







Juliet Mushens, The Agency Group, Ltd.


When I read as an agent there are three different responses to what I'm reading. One is the 'reader' response, which is fairly instinctive stuff. Is it gripping? Do I like the characters? Do I want to know what happens?
One is a more technical response which is where my editorial side comes to the fore. Does the dialogue feel believable? Does the style work? Do the sentences flow? Do the character motivations work?
And finally I consider it with my 'sales' hat on. What would an editor think? Who would I send it to? How would I pitch it?
That makes it sound very complicated when in reality it is much more of a gut feeling. However, if I am seriously considering something I am always aware of these three aspects to my reading process.


Marie Lamba, Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency

I think when you read an opening as a critique partner, you've got your "editing hat" on. Meaning you are on the lookout for ways the manuscript can be improved right from the get-go. But as a reader, you are looking for a way into the story. Something that makes you flip the page and want to continue. With my "agent hat" on (which I imagine is large, flouncy, and probably has purple feathers sprouting from it), I'm seeing things more as a reader would.

Does the writing and story pull me in and make me want to continue flipping pages? Is this a book that I'd purchase? Or would I set it back on the shelf and move on to something else? As an agent, I'd hope to not see a ton of things that need fixing in those opening pages, since I assume the writer is sending me her very best work. Sometimes the pluses in a manuscript's opening will have me overlook bits of clumsy writing and read on, but more often it'll signal that this manuscript isn't at the level it needs to be for me to take it on.

The most successful openings are the ones that suck me in and make me quickly forget that I'm reading something. These are stories that get me involved in the character and welcome me with a voice I'll want to spend lots of time with.


Carlie Webber, CK Webber Associates

The biggest difference in reading a manuscript as an agent vs reading for entertainment is that I have to look at the pages with an eye towards the current book market and how well the manuscript fits into its gaps. I have to ask myself not only, "Do I like this book?" but "Will someone else like this book and want to invest time and money in it?" Reading as an agent means reading not only for pleasure, but for commerce.

Having never been anyone's critique partner, as I am not a writer, I don't have an answer for how I would read one as if I were. But as an agent I do a lot of editing of manuscripts so they can be in great shape before I send them to editors. When I do that, I read for flow, voice, continuity, plot holes, or anything else that could keep a book from being the best it can be.


Gina Panettieri, Talcott Notch Literary Services

When I read opening pages to a manuscript, naturally I'm looking for my 'reader reaction', but I'm also reading with an immediate eye toward the market. So not only am I purely gauging my enjoyment of the writing, but I'm evaluating where the book might fit and who I've heard asking for a project like this, how fresh and unique the concept feels, what I know is already 'in the hopper' at publishing houses that would compete with this book, and how it could be positioned.

That doesn't mean I won't keep reading if something is amazing and I'm not getting a clear view on those issues immediately. A beautiful voice and compelling character will keep me turning the pages every time. I'm so excited to see the envelope being pushed in YA and I'm looking for books that can do just that.


Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency

When I read the first pages of a manuscript it is always in the interest of find a new voice, a new author to represent. And we are in the business of representing what we believe we can sell. When I begin the sample pages I would have already read the cover/query letter which will have given me a brief introduction to the story. With the genre, hook, word count in mind, I may be starting out feeling like the work is super promising because of the general state of the market or a total long shot. At the end of the day, every agent knows that we can love something that may not be very marketable. And we can love work that isn't in our best interests to take on. We have to be mindful of business and not just purely at the mercy of our emotional reactions. Does emotion and our gut reaction play in to our decisions? You bet. On the flip side, if I am reading for fun, I really don't have to do anything BUT emotionally react to the story. I definitely don't have to be mindful of anything other than my own enjoyment. When I read to critique, I usually take the perspective of playing devil's advocate. What would an editor think about it? Would the average reader who can choose from a gazillion books keep reading after the 1st page? I listen to my own reactions but I also try to project how it could be received by others.




Jennifer Mishler, Literary Counsel


What is different about the way you read the first pages of a manuscript as an agent versus how you would read them as a reader or critique partner?
As I read manuscripts that are sent to me, the first few pages undergo the most scrutiny. As I read, I have a checklist beside me with questions like: Do I like how this starts? Are the main characters interesting? Do I care about them? Does this fit my list?
Of course this list is a lot longer but I think you get the point. If I find myself wanting to skip past the first three chapters, odds are that I will most likely reject a manuscript. If the story cannot keep me interested, then how is it going to keep a reader’s attention?
Unfortunately I think like this as a critique partner but not as a reader. When I have the time to read for enjoyment, I read the book without my agent cap on and try not to analyze every paragraph.



Jessica Regel, Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency

I actually don't see a difference in how I read a book as an agent versus how I read a book as a reader. The questions are the same: Does it immediately draw me in? Is it well-written? Is it fresh (or have I read an opening like this a million times before)? Does it flow nicely? Do I get a clear sense of setting or a clear sense of character? Ultimately, do I want to keep reading?

As an agent and as a reader, I have a limited amount of time I can devote to reading, so I'm constantly asking myself that question: Do I want to keep reading? If the answer is no, I have plenty of other things on my office to-do list, like read a current client's next book and catch up on my emails or, if I'm reading for fun, catch up on my laundry or watch the next season of Game of Thrones. So if a book doesn't demand that I keep reading it, I won't... and neither will the editor that I'm trying to sell the book to... and neither will the reader who picks it up in a bookstore.



Gordon Warnock, Foreword Literary Agency

If it’s something I’m looking to sign, then it also has to pass the subjective test. I’m very hands-on with my clients’ manuscripts, so it has to not only work for a specific market, but it also has to excite me enough to make me put the kind of time, effort, and enthusiasm into it that it deserves. When seeking an agent, it’s all about finding the perfect match for your work. You might find someone who handles your genre, but if they can’t connect with your work, it’s best to keep looking.

I get asked to read a lot “as an agent” for critiques and consultations, and for those, I’m quicker to let go and be purely objective. Sure, if it works for me, I’ll want to snap it up, but I tend to be more focused on matters of craft and marketability for the pure benefit of the author. Most of what I critique doesn’t excite me enough to garner an offer of representation. But that’s perfectly fine when I get the email later on thanking me for helping them attract an agent or publisher.



Christa Heschke, MacIntosh & Otis, Inc.

That’s a great question. When I am reading for fun , I try to turn off that part of me that critiques and thinks about what imprint and Publisher may be a good fit for a novel (although as an Agent it can be hard to turn off). I’m thinking more about the big picture and that is---is this novel entertaining me? Has it grabbed a hold of me? As an agent, I think about this too, of course. The first pages are so important. They need to pull you in---something exciting needs to happen. If they’re too slow or I can’t see where the story is going, I’m not likely to read on. This is why it’s paramount, that as a writer, you really think about your opening pages as you’re writing and after you finished the novel. Do they foreshadow what’s to come and pull readers in? This is also why critique partners or trusted readers can be such a crucial asset to have in your corner. Think of them as a test audience before sending to Agents (and beyond)—just make sure it’s someone who isn’t afraid to be completely honest with you.

As an Agent, I’m also thinking whether what I’m reading is sellable in the current market. While entertainment value and compelling first pages are important, if the plot is too familiar or doesn’t stand out to me in a meaningful way, a little red flag pops up as I read. The writing could be wonderful, the story well executed, but if it reads too much like other novels on the shelves I may pass. Reading for fun (or as a critique partner) I may not think about this as much. If the story is engaging, even if it’s just like Twilight except with another paranormal creature, I probably won’t care. I’m enjoying the read, not thinking about how to pitch the novel to editors.

My advice is this: Actively read other books in your genre/ for your target audience and don’t write for trends. Remember it takes a book 1-2 years to publish after it’s been sold, so while you may be seeing a lot of one genre now and it’s selling well, the market may be oversaturated in two years and editors will already be looking for other genres for their list. Write what you love. Write the story that you have to get out or you can’t sleep at night. Leave the rest to us!

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Hey everyone! It’s Clara Kensie, back with a new Question of the Week! Pretty much the only thing writers love as much as writing is talking about writing. So each week here at Adventures in YA Publishing, I post a question for you to answer. The questions cover all topics important to writers: craft, career, writers’ life, reading and books. Together we’ll become better writers by sharing tips and discussing our habits and practices.

I hope everyone had a nice spring break! Now that we’re all back to our usual schedule, let’s talk about how much writing we did over our spring breaks. How did your writing schedule change, if at all? For those of you with kids home from school, were you able to get any writing done? If you went away, did you bring your manuscript and make time to write? Or did you take a break from writing altogether?
My answer: I always have a hard time going “off schedule.” My kids were home from school and we went on a three-day getaway at the end of the week. I scheduled time to write each day, but that time was often cut short. I wrote a whopping 1400 words the entire week. I’m back to my regular writing schedule now and trying to catch up. I’m always envious of those writers who are able to stick to their writing schedule no matter what else is going on. I need to be that disciplined!

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Don't forget the April 1st 5 Pages workshop with mentor Lauren Bjorkman opens for submissions starting at 12:00 pm Eastern today!

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The Easy Way to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed
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My Kindergartener Teaches Me A Lesson In Productivity
from QueryTracker Blog

9 Sure-Fire Ways To Meet Your Next Writing Deadline
from Courage 2 Create

Writerly Quirks
from YA Author Elana Johnson

It's Okay to Take a Break From Writing (or Blogging)
from The Other Side of the Story

The Writing Life: Knowing When to Say No and When...
from Roni Loren, Author

Draft Is a Writing App with Serious Version and Draft...
from Lifehacker

Cloud Storage for Writers: Comparison & Caveats
from QueryTracker Blog

Control, Creative
from Ragged Feathers

Prepping for the Tax Man
from Writing and Rambling

10 Things You Think About Too Often
from Marc and Angel Hack Life

Take Nothing for Granted
from Daily Writing Tips


Craft of Writing

Why Should the Reader Care About Your Story
from The Story Template: Amy Deardon

David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—Storytelling...
from DavidFarland.net

Exploring Character Emotions and Your Own
from Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers

5 Tips to Help You Make Your Deadline
from WritersDigest.com » Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to

Top 10 Storytelling Cliches Writers Need To Stop Using
from LitReactor

Ten Secrets To Write Better Stories
from The Write Practice

Self-Publishing Is The Blah Blah And Floo-Dee-Doo...
from terribleminds: chuck wendig

Research is Authenticity, Guest Blog by Jackie Garlick-Pynaert
from YA Muses

Character Development - Day 3: Finding the motivation...
from Babbles from Scott Eagan

Saggy Middles
from Taryn Writes

Avoid Clichés in Writing
from Between the Lines: Edits and Everything Else

David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—Storytelling...
from DavidFarland.net

Re-Visioning by Lily White LeFevre
from Amwriting Blog | Amwriting Blog

Writing Fiction. What Is Urban Fantasy Anyway?
from The Creative Penn

5 Ways To Practice The Art of Double-Duty Writing
from Writers In The Storm Blog

Re-Search
from YA Muses

It’s Taxing
from Writer Unboxed

Advice for Writers at Different Stages of the Journey...
from Adventures in YA Publishing

5 Signs You Might Be a Windbag
from Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors

Writing Club Wednesday: How to effectively worldbuild...
from YA Misfits

Three Phases of Becoming a Master Author
from Kristen Lamb's Blog

Learning to Let Go: A Control Freak on Publishing...
from Beyond The Margins

Living In Exclamation Points
from The Lucky 13s

How Much Detail Is Enough For Your Story?
from Writers In The Storm Blog

Quick Tip: Remember the Quiet Moments
from The Sharp Angle

Pub(lishing) Crawl: Maintaining Passion for a Story
from Susan Dennard

TTYU Retro: Translating "issues" from our world into...
from TalkToYoUniverse

How Obsessive Are You? The Reward of the Relentless...
from Kristen Lamb's Blog

Repairing a ‘broken’ manuscript
from Carly Watters, Literary Agent

Learning to Love Research
from YA Muses

Crafting an Epic – Part 3
from Get Me Writing

Developing Characters: An Interview with Novelist...
from A Way With Words Writing

Crafting your #amwriting by Susan Gottfried
from Amwriting Blog | Amwriting Blog

The Push/Pull/Lock of an Effective Opening
from The Sharp Angle

Notes From a Desk (2): Respecting Your Process
from Writer Unboxed

Here's the "Skinny" on How to Trim the Fat From Your...
from Pen & Pro$per

90 Writing Tools in a Single Post
from GalleyCat

David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—Interview...
from DavidFarland.net

Fuck The Straight Line: How Story Rebels Against Expectation
from terribleminds: chuck wendig

Don't Be An Information Dumper! Guest Post by Don...
from Mystery Writing is Murder

Why You Should Join a Critique Group
from Men with Pens

Editing Workshop Part 4: Boost Your Line Editing Skills
from Word Café

Rewriting
from Karen Woodward

Killing Your Darlings is Not Enough
from Writer Unboxed

Weak and Strong?
from Patricia C. Wrede's Blog

Entering Writing Competitions? Here Are Six Quick...
from Amwriting Blog | Amwriting Blog

Let Your Characters Live and Breathe
from The Kill Zone

A Quick Word About Editing
from Operation Awesome

How to Write Real Villains
from There And Draft Again

Physical Attributes Entry: Faces
from The Bookshelf Muse


Getting Published

So You Want to Find an Agent?

from Writer Unboxed

Answers to 13 Questions You’re Too Afraid to Ask Literary...
from WritersDigest.com

Query in box, what will you bring me today? post from...
from Bent on Books

Choosing Your Pub Path
from The Daily Dahlia

Some Pub-Related FAQs
from The Daily Dahlia

A Mock 15-Minute Meeting at a Conference: Follow Along
from Books & Such Literary Agency

A Writer’s Guide to Types of Publishing Companies
from Writing Forward

Agent Tales: They Might Even Be A Rockstar
from Fizzygrrl

Indie & Agent Partners: Thought 1
from Pub Rants

Cart Before the Horse in Queries
from Kidlit

BRING ON THE AGENTS! Erin Murphy, Sarah Davies, Alexander...
from JILL CORCORAN BOOKS

Ask The Agent: A Review of When to Query Agents
from LitReactor

New Agent Alert: David Haviland of the Andrew Lownie...
from WritersDigest.com » Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to

Agent Advice: Kristina Holmes of The Holmes Agency
from WritersDigest.com » Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to 


Inspiration and Smiles


Finding Fresh Ideas
from YA Stands

Five Years of Miss Snark's First Victim
from Miss Snark's First Victim

How a Book is Made by Lauren Oliver
from Reading Teen

Brainstorming at the Spa: A Unique Italian Retreat...
from Publishing Perspectives

Travel the World with Free Children’s Books
from GalleyCat

A to Z Challenge Day #1, (Pixar #6)
from Ink in the Book

When You Want to Quit Writing
from The Write Practice



Networking and Promotion


Is Your Author Website Working for You or Against...
from Wise, Ink.

Book Promotion Strategies That Actually Worked
from GalleyCat

How to Choose the Right Conference
from DIY MFA

Be A Successful Author: 3 Book Marketing Strategies...
from Write to Done

The Changing Nature of Blogging for Fiction Writers
from Author, Jody Hedlund

The Publishing Industry Owes You Nothing
from Bookalicious.org

Successful Author Presence—Do You Have It?
from Kristen Lamb's Blog

How Not to Network — A Guide for the Pushy and Clueless
from Make A Living Writing

Social Media for Writers: Be Social
from Foreword Literary

Book Marketing: 9 Activities to Boost Your Author...
from The Creative Penn

Readers, Writers, and Pressing the Flesh
from Blood-Red Pencil

Making Your Online Marketing Work: Sharpen Your Focus...
from Copyblogger

Author Visits that Impress and Inspire
from Blood-Red Pencil

The Art of Asking... people to buy my books
from Pretentious Title

Does Your Platform Represent The Complexity Of Your...
from Writer Unboxed

A Surprisingly Satisfying Alternative to Self-promotion
from Goins, Writer



Publishing and Book News

European Commission Approves Penguin Random House...
from GalleyCat

The Night Shade Writers of America
from Brillig

Stage and Page: The Relationship Between TED Talks...
from Omnivoracious

Should Amazon Change Its Kindle Book Return Policy?
from GalleyCat

Judge Rules Against Marketplace for Used Digital Music
from GalleyCat

A Pile of News
from Maggie Stiefvater

A Post-Bologna Post from Molly
from Bent on Books

The “Amazon Is Bad For Authors” Meme
from terribleminds: chuck wendig

Penguin Announces Big Changes in Library eBook Availability
from LitReactor

Amazon To Buy Goodreads
from GalleyCat

Barnes and Noble and Simon and Schuster Go to War,...
from Writerswrite.com's Writer's Blog

Random House Signs 17 Year-Old Welsh Student
from LitReactor

Colombia Pictures Acquires ‘Seeker’ by Arwen Elys...
from GalleyCat

Melville House Opens Publishing Company in London
from GalleyCat

Ally Condie Lands Deal for Two New Novels
from GalleyCat

Philip Pullman to be Society of Authors' new president
from Books: Publishing | guardian.co.uk

Readium Foundation Unites Int’l Parters to Develop...
from Publishing Perspectives

Bologna Recap: Are Teens “Snapping Back” to Print?
from Publishing Perspectives

Simon & Schuster to Share Piracy Data with Authors...
from LitReactor

Paper Lantern Lit UPDATE
from Bookshelvers Anonymous

Bologna Book Fair 2013: The "Before" Post
from between the pages


Story Elements

Digging the Well
from YA Muses

8 Tips for Awesome Dialogue
from Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors

A Clever Way To Give A Story Hidden Depth
from Procrastinating Writers

Differentiating Through Dialogue
from MOODY WRITING

Les Edgerton Shows How to Write Amazing Dialogue–Part...
from Kristen Lamb's Blog

Choosing Character
from MOODY WRITING

My view of viewpoint
from Patricia C. Wrede's Blog

Communication Breakdown
from The Bookshelf Muse

Character Development - Day 1: What brought them together
from Babbles from Scott Eagan

Monday Pep Rally: To Worldbuild Or Not To Worldbuild?
from YA Misfits

Character Development - Day 2: Conflict, or what is...
from Babbles from Scott Eagan

The 9 Ingredients of Character Development
from WritersDigest.com » Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to

Imperfect Dialogue: Making Characters Sound Real
from Fiction Notes

Lost In Transitions
from MOODY WRITING

David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—Flashy Flashbacks!
from DavidFarland.net

Combining Two Worlds: Compare and Contrast
from The League of Extraordinary Writers

How do you take YOUR heroes?
from Sonia Gensler

Notes from Both Sides of the Desk: Pacing
from The Sharp Angle

Creating the Underworld: Defy the Clichés
from The League of Extraordinary Writers

TTYU Retro: Deep Worldbuilding and POV Preparation...
from TalkToYoUniverse


Story Structure

5 Ways First Pages Go Wrong
from Fiction Notes

Make Your Scenes Work Harder
from YA Author Elana Johnson

How to Write a Great Scene
from Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers

Ink or keyboard? When a computer-loving writer prefers...
from Nail Your Novel

Sagging Middle-- dropped plot?
from edittorrent

Why Bother Grasping Plot Concepts?
from Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers

Goals for You and for Your Characters
from Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers

Save the Cat Beat Sheet Cheat Spreadsheet
from Blood-Red Pencil


YA Books and Giveaways

New Voice: Joe Lawlor on Bully.com
from Cynsations

Freebie Friday: Enter to Win A Box Set of The Infernal...
from Mundie Moms

Naturals Blog Tour: Author Guest Post / Giveaway
from Mundie Moms

NAMELESS Release Day!
from Ragged Feathers

Lauren Bjorkman Shares the Bucket Lists of Erin, Linny,...
from Adventures in YA Publishing

ARC Giveaway!
from The Story Siren

Book Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott
from Mundie Moms

New Voice: Nicole McInnes on Brianna on the Brink
from Cynsations

The Best Fantasy Trilogy I Almost Didn't Read
from The League of Extraordinary Writers

Quick-Fire Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry
from Reading Teen

Giveaway of The Taker and The Reckoning by Alama Katsu
from Reading Teen

April 2013 YA / MG Releases
from Mundie Moms

CELEBRATION GIVEAWAY!
from YA Confidential

The Wish List (1)
from WORD for Teens

The #TakenWithTAKEN Contest
from Erin Bowman

Prophecy Girl Release Day + contest!
from Bookalicious

Review — The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie...
from Bookalicious.org

Writer, Writer, Pants on Kindle Fire Giveaway Continues!
from Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire

[Review] In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
from Reading Teen


Other Weekly Roundups

The Publishing Pulse: April 5th, 2013
from QueryTracker Blog

Cynsational News & Giveaways
from Cynsations

Field Trip Friday: April 5, 2013
from YA Highway

This Week in Writing: My Favorite Posts & Tips 4/5/2013
from Kami Garcia -- NYT Bestselling Author (The Beaut

Twitterific
from Mystery Writing is Murder

Display Comments Add a Comment

Don't forget the April 1st 5 Pages workshop with mentor Lauren Bjorkman opens for submissions starting at 12:00 pm Eastern tomorrow!

We have more great giveaways this week! One person will win the first 3 books in the Zom-B series. We also have a signed copy of Dead River by Cyn Balog and hardcovers of The Stone Demon by Karen Mahoney, Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Revenge of a Not-So-Pretty Girl by Carolita Blythe, and Nine Days by Fred Hiatt. Enter below to win!

Which of this past week's new releases did you enjoy? Which of this next week's releases are you looking forward to?

THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAY

Zom-B City
by Darren Shan
Giveaway of 1st 3 Zom-B Books
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 4/9/2013

After escaping a secret military complex amid the zombie apocalypse, B roams the streets of a very changed London, dirty and dangerous and eerily quiet, except for the shuffling of the undead. Once again, B must find a way to survive against brain-eating zombies --and now also against those who have seized control of the city. With danger lurking around every corner and no one to trust, B must decide whether to join the creepy Mr. Dowling in exchange for his protection. When everyone around you is dead, where do you turn for help?


Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Zom-B City?

Although Zom-B City is the third book of the series, it is the first not to revolve around a confined location. Much of Zom-B was set in a school under attack from zombies, while all of Zom-B Underground was set in an underground prison complex where soldiers and scientists were conducting experiments on teenagers. In Zom-B City the action opens up, as our main character wanders the streets of London in the wake of a zombie apocalypse.

This was the first chance I had to show the consequences of a living dead uprising, and I loved exploring the deserted streets of a ghost city. We get to meet some survivors, who have all been understandably shaken up and severely disturbed by their encounters with the undead. And we get to meet some creatures who are neither human nor zombie, as it begins to become clear that this will be a zombie series quite unlike any other...

Purchase Zom-B City at Amazon
Purchase Zom-B City at IndieBound
View Zom-B City on Goodreads



Dead River
by Cyn Balog
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 4/9/2013

My friends and I are spending prom weekend at a remote wooded cabin on the Dead. The Dead River.

I thought it was going to be just us.

I was wrong.

Nothing is what it seems in this creepy paranormal thriller by Cyn Balog.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Dead River?

When I was just starting out after college, I had a great job in marketing and was really living the dream-- I was making good money and successful, but I was feeling unfulfilled. When my husband had the opportunity to move to a remote part of the country for his job, people thought I was crazy to
let him accept, because it would be impossible for me to work as a marketing manager out there. But I kept thinking, I'd have all this time to write! And I could experience different parts of the country and THAT would give me things to write about! So I tendered my resignation and we moved to the
desert of California, and a year later, up to Maine. It was a roller coaster ride, which often led me to wonder if it was worth all the work, or if I might have been happier and more successful had I just stayed the course in my boring marketing career.

But even though I moved a few times and traveled a lot as well, trying to accumulate "life experience" to write about, until now, the only place I'd ever written about has been where I grew up-- New Jersey. It's been my rut, the place I just normally fall into whenever I start writing. When I started Dead River, though, I realized it was my first time writing based on an experience that happened during those travels after I left my job. Although so many people thought I was crazy and it was a risky move, I feel like Dead River is a product of those years-- something that never could have happened if we hadn't taken that risk.

Purchase Dead River at Amazon
Purchase Dead River at IndieBound
View Dead River on Goodreads


Revenge of a Not-So-Pretty Girl
by Carolita Blythe
Hardcover Giveaway
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 4/9/2013

Faye doesn't mean to hit the old lady she and her friends are mugging. But she does. The old lady isn't moving, but Faye has no reason to feel guilty for leaving her there. The old lady might be ancient and wrinkly now. But back in the day, she was as beautiful as they come, a famous movie star. And everyone knows that pretty and mean always go together. But Faye does feel guilty. So she comes back. Slowly, Faye and the old lady form an unlikely friendship, one that pulls Faye out of her life with her abusive mother and destructive "friends" and allows the old lady relief from her loneliness. But in an unfair world in which the pretty girls, no matter how mean, always seem to get everything, while Faye gets nothing, will Faye be able to keep from slipping back to her old ways? Will her mother ever be happy? Will her father ever come home to stay? And what if Faye goes her whole life without Michael Jackson ever loving her back? Faye is an honest, straightforward narrator who is likable even in her most flawed moments and will be cheered on by readers of every age and from every walk of life.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Revenge of a Not-So-Pretty Girl?

My favorite thing about Revenge Of A Not-So-Pretty Girl? I have to cheat a little on this because I actually have two favorite things, which I rank equally. The first is Faye's (my protagonist) voice. Although she's only fourteen, Faye has had a pretty complicated life. She's not had a lot of friends, or support, or kind words come her way. It would be easy for her to look at the world through jaded, pessimistic eyes. And while she doesn't hold back from pointing out certain negatives, she does it in a dry, part-humorous way. I think the humor is what keeps her afloat and keeps her from giving up completely on the possibility of one day being happy and having a good life.

My other favorite part of the book is the idea that we all have the ability to change our lives. It's definitely not easy to do, but it's not impossible. We have to be able to recognize and admit that there might be something keeping us down, keeping us from being the person we should and could be. We have to be able to look into ourselves and say, "I've not been generous," or "I've been mean to a particular person," or "I need to exercise and get better about my health." Once the issue is identified, we can begin working on it. Faye sees her faults, admits to them, and slowly begins to change what's in her control, despite the cards she has been dealt. I think that's pretty inspirational.

Purchase Revenge of a Not-So-Pretty Girl at Amazon
Purchase Revenge of a Not-So-Pretty Girl at IndieBound
View Revenge of a Not-So-Pretty Girl on Goodreads





Nine Days
by Fred Hiatt
Hardcover Giveaway
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 4/9/2013

A fast-paced contemporary thriller in the vein of James Patterson and Anthony Horowitz set against the bustling backdrop of Hong Kong, Vietnam, and the border of China. This heart-pounding adventure takes place as two teens, an American teenage boy and his friend, a Chinese girl from his Washington, DC-area high school, must find her father who has been kidnapped - and they only have nine days. Although the characters in the novel are fictionalized, they are based on a real Chinese family who were part of the Chinese Democracy Movement and inspired this story.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Nine Days?

I think my favorite part of Nine Days is the friendship between the two main characters and how it evolves over the course of their adventures. Originally I thought the book would be mostly about Ethan, the narrator. But as I worked on the manuscript, his friend Ti-Anna, whose character is inspired in part by a real young woman, Ti-Anna Wang, became a more and more important part of the story. The two of them, tenth-grade classmates, set off from Washington, DC, to Hong Kong, without parental permission, of course, after her father disappears there. He is an exile from China, a fighter for democracy, and Ethan and Ti-Anna fear that his activities have somehow gotten him into big trouble. Over nine days, they get drawn deeper and deeper into worlds they don't totally understand, facing unexpected dangers and having to decide whom they can trust and who is leading them into harm.

All along the way, the adventures test their friendship. Sometimes Ethan has to protect Ti-Anna; sometimes she has to rescue him. Under unimaginable pressure, they anger each other, exasperate each other, amuse each other. They are in many ways an unlikely pair from the start. But when it matters, they stand by each other in ways that surprise even them. I like that.

Purchase Nine Days at Amazon
Purchase Nine Days at IndieBound
View Nine Days on Goodreads



The Stone Demon (Iron Witch)
by Karen Mahoney
Hardcover Giveaway
Flux
Released 4/8/2013

The stunning conclusion to the international mega-hit series
The just-unleashed demon hordes have delivered an impossible ultimatum to the Order of the Crow: produce the Philosopher's Stone, or suffer a reaper storm of demonic tribulation. If alchemist's apprentice Donna Underwood can't recreate the mythical artifact, the world will be plunged into a devastating modern-day Dark Age. Pitting her dangerously unpredictable powers against a vengeful demon king, two maleficent faery queens, and an immortal magus with his own shadowy agenda, Donna must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, but this time, even death may not be enough.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Stone Demon (Iron Witch)?

This is difficult to answer because The Stone Demon is the final book of my trilogy - the culmination of an idea that first took root in my mind way back in 2007. The books, and the characters, are very special to me. But if I had to say just ONE thing that's my favorite, I would have to say how cool it has been to put Donna in so many different locations. The first two books are set pretty firmly in Ironbridge, Massachusetts (the town I created for the ongoing battle between alchemists and fey), but The Stone Demon opens in my own city of London. Donna also travels to more than one kingdom ruled by the demons (I won't spoil any of the details!), as well as returning to Ironbridge for the epic showdown. Oh, and there's one other realm she visits, but again... I'd better not say any more. You'll have to read the book to find out what I'm talking about, but I definitely had a lot of fun coming up with my own vision of some classic folkloric locations. I hope you enjoy traveling alongside Donna, Navin and Xan as we bring The Iron Witch trilogy to a conclusion!

Purchase The Stone Demon (Iron Witch) at Amazon
Purchase The Stone Demon (Iron Witch) at IndieBound
View The Stone Demon (Iron Witch) on Goodreads





Inferno
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Hardcover Giveaway
St. Martin's Griffin
Released 4/9/2013

The heat is on, and a new threat to humanity has risen . . .

Nick has his driver's license and he's not afraid to use it. But turning sixteen isn't what he thought it would be. While other boys his age are worried about prom dates and applying for college, Nick is neck deep in enemies out to stop him from living another day. No longer sure if he can trust anyone, his only ally seems to be the one person he's been told will ultimately kill him.

But life spent serving the undead is anything except ordinary. And those out to get him have summoned an ancient force so powerful even the gods fear it. As Nick learns to command and control the elements, the one he must master in order to combat his latest foe is the one most likely to destroy him. As the old proverb goes, fire knows nothing of mercy, and if Nick is to survive this latest round, he will have to sacrifice a part of himself. However, the best sacrifice is seldom the sanest move. Sometimes it's the one that leaves your enemies confused.

And sometimes, you have to trust your enemy to save your friends. But what do you do when that enemy is you?

Purchase Inferno at Amazon
Purchase Inferno at IndieBound
View Inferno on Goodreads

LAST WEEK'S GIVEAWAY WINNERS

The Rising (Darkness Rising)
by Kelley Armstrong
Hardcover
HarperCollins
Released 4/2/2013

Winner of the Darkness Rising Trilogy - The Magic Violinist

The heart-stopping final book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, from New York Times-bestselling author Kelley Armstrong!
Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by two powerful Cabals, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, they can't simply go to the authorities for help. All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable to the Cabals, and why their supernatural powers are getting more out of control. Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her, but she'll have to face them if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because she can't keep running forever.
With all the twists, thrills, and romance that have made Kelley Armstrong an international bestseller--plus the surprising return of some favourite characters--The Rising will keep you under its spell long after the last page is turned.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Rising (Darkness Rising)?

My favourite thing about The Rising was that I finally got to wrap up a story line that's been going for six books. This is the culmination of the Darkness Rising trilogy, but it's also the culmination of the Darkest Powers trilogy. At the end of the Darkest Powers, I'd left those characters in a
relatively safe place. Their journey wasn't over, though, as readers realized. They needed firmer ground to stand on and a better solution to their problem. When I left those characters behind, I switched to a new set, clear across North America, facing a similar problem rising from the same
source. Separately, these two groups couldn't solve their problem. Together, though? That was different. They both brought some skills and some knowledge, and when I put the two together, I finally had a winning team.

The thrill of writing The Rising wasn't just about resolving a problem, though. It was bringing those past characters back again, which is always exciting. Having them interact with my current characters--for better or worse--really made this book a lot of fun.

Purchase The Rising (Darkness Rising) at Amazon
Purchase The Rising (Darkness Rising) at IndieBound
View The Rising (Darkness Rising) on Goodreads


Rise: An Eve Novel
by Anna Carey
Hardcover
HarperCollins
Released 4/2/2013

Winner - Jeri Baird

How far will you go when you have nothing left to lose?

When she lost her soul mate, Caleb, Eve felt like her world had ended. Trapped in the palace, forced to play the part of the happy, patriotic princess of The New America, and the blushing bride of her father's top adviser, Eve's whole life is a lie. The only thing that keeps her going is Caleb's memory, and the revolution he started.

Now, Eve is taking over where Caleb left off. With the help of Moss, an undercover subversive in the King's court, she plots to take down The New America, beginning with the capital, the City of Sand. Will Eve be able to bring about a new, free world when she's called upon to perform the ultimate act of rebellion - killing her father?

In Rise, Eve must choose who to leave behind, who to save, and who to fight as Anna Carey's epic tale of romance and sacrifice in the chilling dystopia of The New America comes to a stunning conclusion.

Purchase Rise: An Eve Novel at Amazon
Purchase Rise: An Eve Novel at IndieBound
View Rise: An Eve Novel on Goodreads



Unbreakable
by Elizabeth Norris
Advanced Review Copy
Balzer + Bray
Released 4/3/2013

Winner - Vivien Probst

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she'll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths, and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn't turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about, someone from her own world, has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they're lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she's in way over her head, and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

Purchase Unbreakable at Amazon
Purchase Unbreakable at IndieBound
View Unbreakable on Goodreads



White Lines
by Jennifer Banash
Hardcover
Putnam Juvenile
Released 4/4/2013

Winners:
Tiffany Johnson
Christina Kit
Kayeleen Hamblin
Stacie McAdams
Angela Brown

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We're thrilled to have Lauren Bjorkman for our guest post today. Lauren is also mentoring the April First Five Pages Workshop, which will open for submissions this Saturday 4/6 at noon Eastern time. Get more details here.


Miss Fortune Cookie is the story of Erin, a girl living in San Francisco’s Chinatown, a loyal daughter, a senior at an academic high school, and half-Irish with a Chinese heart. The fact that she doesn’t look Chinese causes her a lot of pain. She even created an advice blog, Miss Fortune Cookie, so she can express herself in secret. She has a complicated relationship with her closest friends, and thinks of herself as “the lesser third” in their little group. When some questionable advice she gives catapults her into the adventure of her life—one terrifying night followed by one amazing day—she discovers how much her friends need her and develops new confidence.

Erin’s bucket list:
A second chance at a first kiss (kissing by accident does not count)
Speak to a boy without babbling random facts
Live to see the day when Mei apologizes for what happened in 8th grade
Go to the same college as Linny (without Mei there to ruin it)
Find a boyfriend for Mom that doesn’t yell at the TV during bowling championships.
Develop a superpower


Linny’s Bucket List:
Move a thousand miles from home (or farther)
Do something amazing
Survive the last month of high school
Lose virginity before summer
Make Erin stop putting herself down

Mei’s Bucket List:
Get rejected from Harvard, so that I don’t have to move away from the love of my life
Stay in love forever
Disobey my mom for the first time
Steal back the thing that Erin stole from me




About the Author

Lauren Bjorkman is a hopeless romantic. She met her husband-to-be in her final semester of high school. He had already graduated from college. Three years later on their honeymoon to China, she learned the art of squeezin onto a very full bus, mastered chopsticks, and managed to converse with locals in Mandarin, despite a limited vocabulary. She is the author of two YA novels, MY INVENTED LIFE and MISS FORTUNE COOKIE.

Check out Lauren’s website
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About the Book


Meet Erin. Smart student, great daughter, better friend. Secretly the mastermind behind the popular advice blog Miss Fortune Cookie. Totally unaware that her carefully constructed life is about to get crazy.

It all begins when her ex-best friend sends a letter to her blog—and then acts on her advice. Erin’s efforts to undo the mess will plunge her into adventure, minor felonies, and possibly her very first romance.

What’s a likely fortune for someone no longer completely in control of her fate? Hopefully nothing like: You will become a crispy noodle in the salad of life.

Purchase Miss Fortune Cookie on Amazon 
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I don’t really feel, after having only published three books that I’m qualified to pass on many gems of wisdom to new authors, but I can have a stab. I guess it depends on where you are in your creative process. If you’re just at the thinking stage, my advice would be JUST DO IT. Don’t let anyone hold you back or keep you down or tell you you’re not good enough. When everyone around you is swimming in the other direction, paying the mortgage, raising the kids, complaining about their humdrum lives and you just wanna write - you damn well swim against their tide. You damn well put that pen to the parchment and write. Sorry, got a bit carried away with all the damns there...

If you’re midway through your manuscript, then I would advise you to KNOW WHEN (AND HOW) TO TAKE ADVICE. When you’re on your own, slaving away at the coalface, thinking you’re knocking out 24 carat diamonds in word form, remember - it’s more than likely just quite nice quartz. I had 48 rejection letters for my first (unpublished) novel that I started at 17, and these were all from reputable agents. I couldn’t understand it. It was brilliant, wasn’t it? I liked it. My mum liked it. My mum’s friend Sue liked it. Then the epiphany came and the epiphany was that I just wasn’t good enough to be published yet. Forty eight agents couldn’t all be wrong. It was a jagged little pill to swallow, but because being published was something I wanted so much, I determined to make myself better at writing and force these agents to sit up and listen. I enrolled on a creative writing degree to get myself to the standard required so that I would one day see my book on a shelf in my local bookshop. I went to every class. Read every book they told me to. Made the contacts I would need. And I took on board all the advice. I didn't agree with all of it, sure, but I still took it.

And try not to get huffy about criticism either. I mean, yeah, you probably will get huffy at first when someone takes their red pen and puts multiple stab wounds through your masterpiece. But I’m telling you, it will be so much better once it’s gone through the process. Let’s take the rock metaphor further. Try and think of your writing like a grubby old piece of stone. The more it’s read and redrafted and read again and redrafted again and polished and honed and revised, the greater chance of it being sculpted into a precious jewel. Yeah, some people still might say it’s gawdy or garish, but to you (and your publisher) it will just shine.

The next pebble of advice I would skim across your millpond (see what I did there?) would be that you need to READ WHAT’S OUT THERE. If you wanna write for YA and you don’t read any YA or know or like what young adults like to read, how could you possibly think you can write for them? I don’t mean read to know what the market wants – you can’t ever predict what the market is going to want and remember, it’ll be a year plus before your manuscript gets onto a bookshelf – but I think it’s vital to at least know what your market likes.

I’ll also let you in to a little secret no one told me before I was published – the REJECTION DOESN’T END ONCE YOU’VE SIGNED THE CONTRACT. I had the delusion that once I got a publisher, that was it. Everyone would love me. I’d be world famous. I’d be invited to the Oscars for no apparent reason, I’d have as many swimming pools as Jackie Collins and get given all the free Ben and Jerry’s I could eat (you know the kind of dreams you have). But the level of rejection just goes up a notch. Instead of UK agents or publishers rejecting you, you then get to be rejected by foreign publishers too! And film companies. And booksellers. And some reviewers. Being published opens you up to a whole new world of pain and people ready to tell you your baby’s ugly or unwelcome or just generally shove them from wall to wall in the book playground. The first time you see your book in the bargain bucket of a discount store, you’ll wanna buy it just to get it out of there, like you’re liberating a hostage (not that I’ve done that of course). I try hard not to take it all personally – publishing is a business after all – but yeah, it always hurts. My advice? Try not to read too much into the bad stuff – it’s not personal. If you accidentally read a bad review, use it as a pin to prick the bubble if your head is swelling from too much praise. I couldn’t think of a rock metaphor there so the balloon one will just have to do.

At times of extreme self doubt, when I’m wandering around the bookstore and seeing that the only books selling are Dystopian or Dark Romance, you know what my stolen maxim is? ‘TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE.’ You don’t need to deviate from the path you have taken if it’s neither of those paths. You don’t need to try and write something more suited to what you think people want. You shouldn’t think about giving up or making a spineless compromise just ‘cos it’s “not the right time for YA contemporary” or if someone says your main character is “squalid” and “loathsome” or that “teenagers don’t act like that” (not that bad reviews play on my mind, of course). I guess what I’m trying to say in my ill-educated-only-three-books-published-never-gonna-be-Salinger kinda way is try and remember why you chose to do this as a career and just keep going. Have faith in your books, have faith in your publisher and stay true to your method.

Roald Dahl always crosses my mind whenever I’m starting a new project. There’s a quote from Matilda that always galvanises me into action:

”Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”

Because that’s the reason I started doing this. Not to get published and earn lots of money and get a film deal and cast Ryan Gosling as the hot dad who’d I have to have lots of private script meetings with. There is that as well, but most of all it’s that line in the quote: You are not alone. Books kept me company at a time in my teenage years when no one else would. I wanted my books to do the same. I wanted my readers to latch on to some aspect of them and realise someone else had gone through the same thing, be it grief or anger or resentment or passion or loneliness or friendlessness or pain. The humour works to sweeten the medicine, but overall I wanted them to reach the people they were written for – the Matildas of this world who think they’re alone and who have no idea how awesome and unique and understood they truly are.

And we’re back to the rock metaphor again. The scenery on that long and rocky road to publishing gets more pretty the further down it you travel. For every one wicked fairy that comes to your feast just to tell you they don’t like your writing, another ten will bestow it with the best gifts you can possibly imagine. You’ll get emails, tweets and letters from people who identified with every word you wrote, from guys who were forced to read it by their girlfriends and found themselves really enjoying it. From people who read your book on a train and laughed the whole way home after being told they’d been laid off. From girls who read it after their grandfather’s death and for just one day, it transported them from darkness and back into the sunshine. Those are the gems for your collection. The rest can be thrown back into the sea.

Walt Whitman had it right when he said ‘THE POWERFUL PLAY GOES ON AND YOU MAY CONTRIBUTE A VERSE.’ For authors, their verse is their books. Don’t fret it or sweat it. Don’t copy others. Be brave. Be bold. Be true. Decide on what your verse will be and then sing it as loudly and as proudly as you can. Because no one can sing it better than you.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.J. Skuse is the author of PRETTY BAD THINGS, ROCKOHOLIC and DEAD ROMANTIC. She was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England. She loves: graphic novels, sitcoms, Gummy Bears and My Chemical Romance. She hates: hard-boiled eggs, carnivals and coughing. The movies Titanic, My Best Friend's Wedding and Twilight were all based on her ideas, she just didn't get to write them down in time. Before she dies, she would like to go to Japan, try clay-pigeon shooting and own a malamute. C.J. has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and, aside from writing novels, works as a freelance children's fiction consultant and lectures in writing fiction for teens at Bath Spa University.
C.J’s Tumblr page
Twitter @CeejaytheAuthor
C.J’s Facebook



ROCKOHOLIC, available now 

She's got it bad, and he ain't good -- he's in her garage? Gonna have to face it: Jody's addicted to Jackson Gatlin, front man of The Regulators, and after her best bud Mac scores tickets, she's front and center at his sold-out concert. But when she gets mashed in the mosh pit, loses her precious moon rock, and bodysurfs backstage, she ends up with more than a mild concussion to deal with. By the next morning, the strung-out rock star is coming down in her garage. Jody -- oops -- kind of kidnapped him. By accident. And now he doesn't want to leave. It's a rock-star abduction worthy of an MTV reality series . . . but who got punk'd?!

ROCKOHOLIC on Amazon

ROCKOHOLIC on Goodreads 

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Today, we're so happy to have Anne Cassidy for our Craft of Writing post. Patience is something I think most writers struggle with. Personally, my maximum level of patience is about 3 minutes. (Martina can vouch for this!)

Twenty years ago, when I first decided to write a novel, I felt this whirlwind of impatience inside my chest. I saw the book cover, the blurb, the place on the bookshop shelf where it would sit (the single copy in the window where it would be BOOK OF THE WEEK).

All I had to do was write it. If only I didn’t have a full time job.

I had an idea. I had a plot. I had an audience in mind, teenagers. I had a main character based on me when I was a teenager. I had a grisly murder.

All I had to do was write it. If I ever got any time to myself.

I had a title BIG GIRLS’ SHOES, triggered by the title of an Elvis Costello song, Big Sister’s Clothes.

I had to work around my job and develop patience. I agreed a target with myself. I thought it would take a year. I did it in short bursts; early in the mornings, free time in work, in the evenings, at weekends and holidays. I never wrote for longer than about thirty minutes without a break, going and doing other things. This piecemeal way of writing a complex story actually helped rather than hindered. It meant that I never got so attached to a piece of writing that I didn’t mind tearing it apart the next time I looked at it. It also meant that the plot grew as I wrote and as characters developed I began to think of things that they would really do instead of things I wanted them to do. The plot began to twist and turn and I never minded going back and changing things, this process made much easier for when I got my first Amstrad.

I think the fact that I wrote the book while at work meant that for many hours I couldn’t do any actual writing but I had loads of time to THINK about the story. That thinking meant that the plot wasn’t rushed. The story slowly unfolded.

Now I write full time but my piecemeal approach is still there simply because with it, I believe, I write a better novel. So the very things I was forced to do at the beginning, have patience, write little and often, have long periods of time when I couldn’t write, established a template for the way I would write even when I had no full time job to go to. It worked for me.

Developing patience as a writer is probably the best piece of advice I can give. Once your book is written there is then the interminable wait for agents/ publishers/ contracts/ edits/ book covers/ publication dates.

And what should you be doing while this is all going on?

As soon as I sent off my first novel, BIG GIRLS’ SHOES, as soon as I posted it (snail mail,) I started my second novel IN REAL LIFE. I’m currently writing my thirtieth novel.

About the Author

Anne Cassidy was born in London in 1952 and was a teacher in London schools for 19 years before she turned to writing full time.

Anne has been writing books for teenagers for many years and concentrates on crime stories and thrillers.

Before she began to write Anne was an avid reader. Her favourite kind of books are those that have a mystery of some sort at their centre. She has a passion for crime books, mystery stories and detective novels. It's not just 'whodunnit' books she likes but why something happened, how a crime was committed, the effects of terrible events on ordinary people's lives. Her favourite crime writers are Ruth Rendell (particularly when she's writing as Barbara Vine), Sue Grafton, John Harvey, Lawrence Block, Scott Trurow and Donna Tartt.

Teenagers inhabit a transitory world between childhood and adulthood. Certainties and expectations are often turned upside down in this period. It seemed therefore an ideal point at which to throw a young adult in the path of crime. To see what happens if a young girl, previously only interested in clothes and records, is late to a meeting with her best friend and when she arrives, finds her murdered. Does she ignore it and get on with her life? Or does she find herself drawn into it?

To Anne there seemed to be a lack of these sorts of books for younger readers so since then she has written a variety of mystery and crime novels for teenagers.

Check out Anne’s website 
Follow Anne on Twitter

About the Book


Rose's mother and Joshua's father have disappeared. Police inquiries have gone nowhere and the case, it seems, is closed: Rose and Joshua have been told that the police believe their parents are dead. But Rose and Joshua still hold out hope that they are alive. Joshua is determined to follow up his own inquiries, which includes working out the meaning of the cryptic notebooks - the murder notebooks - they have discovered. Then Rose is distracted by odd, desperate messages she receives from Rachel, a former best friend from her school, followed by the terrible news that Rachel is dead. But perhaps Rachel's death will provide one more piece of the puzzle about what has happened to Rose and Joshua's parents.

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We're so thrilled to have Christine Fonseca on the blog today. She has great new non-fiction book for teens coming out in May, and we have an ARC to give away! Fill out the form at the bottom of the post for your chance to win.

I will never forget my first foray into writing, I wrote a book and thought I’d be able to get it published with no problem. And then I tried. And reality hit. The book was not ready. At all!!!

So I did what many writers did...I found a few critique partners and learned how to write, really write. One of the first things I learned...

You only have a few pages in which to hook a reader/agent/editor. That’s it.

Thus began my journey into learning how to start a story. I began reading the beginnings of every new book I could find at the local bookstore. Then I crafted and recrafted my books, always keeping in mind the things that I liked in the books I had read—a beginning with action that drew my attention, characters I could care about from the start, and a measure of intrigued. These are the things that make a strong story in my mind.

Let me expand on each of these just a bit:

Action: I like to start stories close enough to an intriguing event, but not so close that the reader is confused.

Characters: I love it when there is something that happens in the beginning that makes me care about the characters from the very beginning, something that taps into a universal theme that the reader can relate to.

Intrigue: Yep, mystery. I LOVE it when there is a dash of mystery in the first few pages of a story, something that draws me in, forcing me to continue the story.

I want to give you a non-book example of what I am talking about, a movie opening that is still one of my all-time favorites and serves as a reminder to me of how to open a story—the opening scene from Star Trek (the 2009 movie). The movie starts with a science vessel investigating a “lightning storm” in space. Within moments, the antagonist arrives and attacks the ship. The starship captain goes to the enemy ship to negotiate a peace, but not before he appoints his second in command as captain. The enemy kills the starship captain and the second must now save everyone on the starship, including his wife and unborn child. Within the first ten minutes of the movie we are captivated into the story, the history and care about the characters. It is a brilliant opening.

As I mentioned earlier, I try to keep the three attributes of a strong opening in mind with every story I write, including shorts and novels. It is certainly something I worked on with Lacrimosa, my YA gothic romance. Here is a little snippet of its opening lines:

“I shift in the booth, careful to remain hidden in the shadows. My human form feels foreign, awkward. Nothing about tonight’s assignment seems right; not the constant thoughts echoing through my mind or the ever present feelings I can’t seem to shake.”

My current story, Dominus, is the third and final installment in the Requiem series. For this opening, I wanted to immediately place the reader back into the world of Nesy and Aydan, while still making it fresh. Although the action is not immediate, the main characters memories provide the immediate hook as she replays the end of the preceding book in her thoughts, anchoring the reader back into the storyline instantly. In addition, she introduces her new situation to the reader bringing a dash of intrigue. As the story is told from two distinct points of view, I used the opening of the second POV to do the same thing – anchor the reader into the storyline involving that character and introduce her new dilemmas. Hopefully, the readers will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

With my latest brand new book, A Beautiful Mess, I opened with action and intrigue as well, presenting a character situation that I hope will draw the reader almost immediately.

Enough about me. I want to end the post with two openings from books I love that I think also demonstrate what I mean:

From Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi: “I’ve been locked up for 264 days.”

See, I LOVE this opening line. In a few words, I am already hooked, asking myself who is she, why was she locked up. Brilliant!

From Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi: “The called the world beyond the walls of the Pod “the Death Shop.” A million ways to die out there. Aria never thought she’d get so close.

Another great opening that guarantees I will read more.

I am not saying every good opening must have amazing opening lines. But there does need to be action, characters I care about, and intrigue within the first few pages if I am going to keep read.

What do you think?


About the Author

Critically acclaimed nonfiction and YA author Christine Fonseca is dedicated to helping children of all ages
find their voice in the world. Her titles include the YA Gothic Romance Lacrimosa, the YA thriller, Transcend, parenting guide, Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students, and the anticipated book for teen girls, The Girl Guide, releasing May 14, 2013.

In addition to The Girl Guide, Christine will be releasing Dominus (Requiem #3) in June 2013, and Quiet Kids, a parenting book for parents of introverted children, in October 2013.

When she’s not writing or developing programs to support children with exceptional needs, she can be found spending time with her family, sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes at her favorite coffee house or playing around on Facebook and Twitter. For more information about Christine Fonseca or her books, visit her website.


About the Book

Finding your unique voice in a noisy world can be hard—very hard. But not if you have a great guide! The Girl Guide: Finding Your Place in a Mixed-Up World is a must-read for girls in grades 6–8 as they enter the tumultuous world of adolescence. Packed with fun worksheets and quizzes, as well as stories from older girls and women, The Girl Guide covers everything a teenage girl needs to know on the journey toward her own identity. Proven strategies for dealing with stress management, confronting relational aggression, being safe online, navigating the changing mother-daughter relationship, and more make this the ultimate guide for any girl to get through the teen years and discover her unique point of view in the world.

"The Girl Guide is a game-changer and should be in every girl's backpack." ~ Ali Cross, author of the Desolation series

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Wow! We have some fabulous giveaways this week! One person will win the full Darkness Rising trilogy, signed by Kelley Armstrong. We have hardcovers of Rotten by Michael Northrop, Rise by Anna Carey, and Dark Triumph by R.L. LaFevers, plus 2 paperbacks of Pretty Ugly by Karyn Langhorne Folan and Paul Langan. We have an ARC of Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris and 5 ARCs of White Lines by Jennifer Banash. Thanks so much to all the generous authors and publicists who have provided us with giveaway copies!

 

THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAY

The Rising (Darkness Rising)
by Kelley Armstrong
Hardcover
HarperCollins
Released 4/2/2013

Signed Trilogy Giveaway (International)

The heart-stopping final book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, from New York Times-bestselling author Kelley Armstrong!
Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by two powerful Cabals, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, they can't simply go to the authorities for help. All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable to the Cabals, and why their supernatural powers are getting more out of control. Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her, but she'll have to face them if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because she can't keep running forever.
With all the twists, thrills, and romance that have made Kelley Armstrong an international bestseller--plus the surprising return of some favourite characters--The Rising will keep you under its spell long after the last page is turned.

What is your favorite thing about THE RISING?
 
My favourite thing about The Rising was that I finally got to wrap up a story line that's been going for six books. This is the culmination of the Darkness Rising trilogy, but it's also the culmination of the Darkest Powers trilogy. At the end of the Darkest Powers, I'd left those characters in a relatively safe place. Their journey wasn't over, though, as readers realized. They needed firmer ground to stand on and a better solution to their problem. When I left those characters behind, I switched to a new set, clear across North America, facing a similar problem rising from the same source. Separately, these two groups couldn't solve their problem. Together, though? That was different. They both brought some skills and some knowledge, and when I put the two together, I finally had a winning team. The thrill of writing The Rising wasn't just about resolving a problem, though. It was bringing those past characters back again, which is always exciting. Having them interact with my current characters--for better or worse--really made this book a lot of fun.

Purchase The Rising (Darkness Rising) at Amazon
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View The Rising (Darkness Rising) on Goodreads


White Lines
by Jennifer Banash
Hardcover
Putnam Juvenile
Released 4/4/2013

5 ARC giveaways

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Ward, Felicia. Memory # 32367
Tags: Ohio, Neil, Bucket List
Number of Views: 489
Owner Rating: 5 Stars
User Rating: 3 Stars


Neil and I lie side-by-side on the merry-go-round again. We’re close enough that our shoulders are touching, but he hasn’t yet reached for my hand. I sit up, shrug out of my sweater and arrange it under my head to use as a pillow. The warmth of the metal feels good against the skin of my arms.

He hasn’t said anything for several minutes, and when I peek over at him, his eyes are closed. Is he asleep? I’m about to nudge him when he asks, “Do you ever think about your bucket list?”

Where did that question come from? “Not usually, but I am now.”

He props himself up on his elbow, leans over me and trails a dandelion down my cheek. It tickles. He must have picked itat the edge of the playground when I went racing for the swings. “So what’s on it?” he asks.

I want my parents to forgive me. For my mother to pick up the phone and tell me I’m welcome back. But it’s too pretty of a day for such heavy thoughts. “Disney World,” I say.

Neil laughs. “You’ve been to, like, forty countries but you’ve never been to Disney?”

“Thirty-seven,” I correct him. “I’ve been to Disneyland Paris. But all the shows are in French.”

“I want to learn French, then” Neil says, sliding the stem of the flower behind my ear. “So I can translate the shows for you.”

“Or how about we learn it together?” I say, smiling up at him.

“Even better.” He taps his watch. “Ok, bucket list lightening round. Time is running out. Don’t think about it - just tell me whatever pops in your head. Go!”

“Ummm…” Under pressure I’m drawing a blank.

“Ten seconds!”

“Okay!” I squeeze my eyes shut to concentrate.“See The National in concert. Swim with dolphins. Finish Autumn’s novel. See you in a play. Learn to cook Spanish omelet.” I open my eyes. “Kiss you.”

He laughs again. “Doesn’t count. You’ve already kissed me.”

“Kiss you again,” I say, and then I do.



About the Book


In this gripping exploration of a futuristic afterlife, a teen discovers that death is just the beginning.

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind.

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About the Author


Lenore Appelhans has been blogging about books at Presenting Lenore since 2008. She is the author of the Memory Chronicles, which includes Level 2 and the forthcoming Level 3. She lives with her illustrator husband Daniel, and their first picture book together, Chick-O-Saurus Rex, is being published in 2013 by Simon & Schuster. She splits her time between Frankfurt, Germany, and Benton, Kansas.

Fun facts about Lenore:

-- She's lived in 7 US states (North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, California, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma) and 5 foreign countries (Greece, Ecuador, Spain, Japan, Germany)
-- She has 3 fancy Sacred Birman cats. You can see pictures of them in cute and crazy poses on her blog.
-- She wrote her first book, Timothy the Bug, in the car on a family vacation when sheI was in the 5th grade. In 8th grade, she made it to the state semi-finals in Ohio's Power of the Pen competition (She placed 5th at the regional level).
-- She's swam with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands, walked with lions in Zimbabwe, fed anteaters in Tikal, Guatemala, braved fire ants in Australia, chased a puffin across a black sand beach in Iceland and narrowly avoided stepping on a snake in Burma.

Lenore’s website
Lenore's blog 
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Hitting My Target
By Sherry D. Ficklin

Writing as a craft is vastly different from writing to publish. I began writing as a teenager, and I loved it. I was always a reader, but there was something special about being able to create worlds and stories of my own that called to me. I didn’t begin writing with the intent of publishing. For years I played in other people’s sandboxes doing fanfic and short stories based on books and characters other people had created. One day, while frantically typing a Harry Potter spin off story, my husband looked over my shoulder and said, “Why don’t you try to publish something of your own?” He had a point. I had stacks of stories and even a few novel drafts lying around. But for some reason it had never occurred to me to publish them.

And so, going into it, I was completely naive about the process of publishing. I didn’t know I couldn’t just call up the editor of a major publisher and ask them to look at my novel, so I did. She was very kind and agreed to take a look. So I mailed it off. (Yes, those were the days of snail mail) And a few weeks later I got a letter back that said, that while the premise was wonderful, it needed a lot of editing. WHAT? I was confused. Wasn’t that an editor’s job? So I hit the books and the internet. I learned how to pitch an agent. I had a fantastic manuscript, but no one was biting. Only later did I discover why.

I was off target.

That is, off trend. My novel, a YA fantasy, was going around at a time just after Twilight became a mega hit and no one wanted anything but vampires. Then something sort of amazing happened. I learned that big publishers weren’t the only game in town. Small publishers were cropping up all over the internet. The best part? No more fighting for the attention of an agent. I could submit directly to the publisher, no middleman required.

So I did. And you know what? I had my first three book deal in a matter of weeks. What I didn’t know is that smaller publishers often can’t get you into brick and mortar stores and almost never get the sales numbers as the big boys. (Again, something I learned with experience and time.) But, once I had my first book published, even with a small publisher, when I went to sell my next book, I got looked at much more seriously and was able to use that credibility to sell my next book, and my next. But my books never did what I hoped they would, what every writer hopes for, become best sellers—to be read and loved (or hated) by the masses. For me it’s not about money or numbers, it’s about getting my story into the hands of readers. That has always been my #1 reason for writing. (What fun is a story if you don’t have someone to talk about it with??) To some degree it’s difficult to get these small press books into the hands of readers, but that wasn’t the biggest hurdle for me. They were contemporary when everyone was shoveling down paranormal, mystery when all anyone wanted was romance. Again, I was missing my target.

Now they say, never write to a trend. Because publishing is unbelievably slow and by the time your masterpiece is written and ready to sell, what was a trend is now a flooded genre that no one wants. Despite never quite being on trend, I just kept writing what I loved, what inspired me. After all, I was still writing and still publishing. It’s pretty hard to complain about that. Score one for perseverance.

Which brings me to present day.

When I had the idea for EXTRACTED, I knew what story I wanted to tell and how I wanted it to be told. And it literally broke ALL the rules. First person present tense with alternating male and female POV’s? There was no way I was ever going to be able to sell this. But I (and my fantastic co-author) wrote it anyway, just for the sheer love of the story. Then, once again bypassing the traditional method of querying an agent, we went straight to a publisher. And rather than use an industry standard and never to be deviated from query letter, we made a query video. Similar to a book trailer, it was a bold, radical (see: stupid) idea that completely tossed the rule book out the window. Unsure how it would be received, we submitted to a publisher that was, basically, the top of the food chain for small publishers. It had all the perks of a small press with the distribution and amenities of a big house. Perfect, right? The problem was, they were closed to submissions. So we tossed the rule book aside (again) and submitted the video anyway. And they loved it. And after letting us submit our manuscript, they loved that too.

Let me be clear that I don’t condone rule breaking and I think that respecting the process is very important to a successful career as a writer. But I’m also a big proponent of taking risks and following your instincts. Does that mean this is the best way to do it? Nope. It was my own, personal shot in the dark. I only tell you all this because I want you to understand, I honestly didn’t think this book, off trend and off the industry norm for a million different reasons, had a snowball’s chance in hell of landing on shelves.

Then something remarkable happened.

All of a sudden first person POV became all the rage. Steampunk books popped up like flowers in spring. Science fiction in YA came into trend. And all in the same year MY book is set to release. Even the IBM trend predicting computer is saying that this genre is going to explode in the next year. And my some miracle, my book is going to be smack in the middle of it. Completely on accident (at least on my end, I maintain that my publisher has a crystal ball or something) without rhyme or reason, I finally hit my target.

Does that mean EXTRACTED will be a best seller? Who knows? I sure hope so. But more than that, it means that now I have a better chance of getting my book where I really want it to be, which is in your hands. It means that you can write what you love AND be on trend. Just maybe not on purpose.

About the author
Sherry is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. In her spare time she co-hosts Geek Chick Radio and generally causes havoc and incites shenanigans. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she's on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is often only seen in blurry photographs. EXTRACTED is the seventh novel by Sherry D. Ficklin and the first with co-author Tyler H. Jolley.
You can find Sherry on her website
On Facebook
On Twitter

About the Book

Welcome to the war.

The Tesla Institute is a premier academy that trains young time travelers called Rifters. Created by Nicola Tesla, the Institute seeks special individuals who can help preserve the time stream against those who try to alter it.

The Hollows is a rogue band of Rifters who tear through time with little care for the consequences. Armed with their own group of lost teens--their only desire to find Tesla and put an end to his corruption of the time stream.

Torn between them are Lex and Ember, two Rifters with no memories of their life before joining the time war.

When Lex’s girlfriend dies during a mission, the only way he can save her is to retrieve the Dox, a piece of tech which allows Rifters to re-enter their own timeline without collapsing the time stream. But the Dox is hidden deep within the Telsa Institute, which means Lex must go into the enemy camp. It’s there he meets Ember, and the past that was stolen from them both comes flooding back.

Now armed with the truth of who they are, Lex and Ember must work together to save the future before the battle for time destroys them both…again.
Find EXTRACTED on Goodreads
The Official Website

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I’ve made no secret that writing OVERRIDE, the second book in my trilogy, was crazy tough. I’d heard other writers talk about have to start a book from scratch several times over because it wasn’t working, but I’d think, nah, that will never happen to me!

Ahem. Yeah. Famous last words. I wrote one complete draft of OVERRIDE, then half of it over again, and then I had to scrap all of that and start over AGAIN. The good news is, I’m really, really happy with the final product.

When do you know that you need to do a rewrite?

Usually, you know because of feedback. Also important to note here is that you need critique partners who will be brutally honest with you. Or you need to read between the lines about the critiques you are getting. I recognized I’d need a rewrite when all of my beta partners, my agent, and my editor seemed less than enthusiastic about the draft. Nobody came out and said it was horrible, but there was a lot of beating around the bush about how bad it was. I think I probably scared my editor with that first draft. I imagined her in the office reading it and being like ‘why on earth did I ever buy this trilogy?’

Eventually, though I balked and balked and balked internally, I finally looked at the draft again myself and realized the problem—it had no soul. Which is a flowery way of saying I hadn’t connected to my main character emotionally as I was writing, so she was just like this lifeless puppet I was swinging around through various plot points. The thing is, when you as a writer don’t connect to a character, the reader isn’t going to either. Which you know, is kind of a big problem—the kind of systemic problem that requires you to chuck everything you’ve got and start over. Usually you also need time away from a draft, maybe a month or more while it’s out with critique partners, to be able to have the perspective to see your own work clearly enough to see the problems.

Commence freaking out and screaming, no I don’t WANNA!!! But alas, the bad draft is still sitting there staring at you. Now what?

I’m not one of those crazy people who just starts a new document and begins over at page one. That’s far too daunting and scary. So what I do instead is take some time to outline the book as it is currently. I’ll re-read sections and decide what the big problems areas are. Then I brainstorm possible fixes to the problem. In OVERRIDE one of the biggest problems (in addition to the lack of voice) was the first half. Nothing really happened in it. There was no tension, no cause and effect to keep pulling the reader along from one chapter to the next, just a bunch of people kind of sitting in one place being boring.

A lot of times with a rewrite, I’ll find my favorite part and start working there, to give myself incentive to actually start (usually for me this means working on the romantic storyline and scenes), but because of deadlines with OVERRIDE, I had to dive straight into this problematic first half. Instead of having my characters sit still for a hundred pages, I found ways to make them be on the run. In almost each chapter dramatic things happen to push them from one location to the next. And as I worked on making them move, I tried to also key in on the bigger voice problem. At every step, I kept asking myself, what does Zoe want? What are her motivations and her worst fears? This is key to figuring out voice. It’s the most basic question writers should always be asking themselves: what does my character want and then, what obstacles can I throw in their path to keep them from getting it?

I finally realized that what Zoe wants most is family, a safe place where she can protect the people she loves. This was key to unraveling her character for me so that I finally firmly knew who she was.

After I’d gotten the beginning fixed, then I moved onto the other big problem areas (aka, the middle and the end!), both of which centered around action scenes. As you write more and more, you’ll discover your own strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is writing action scenes. There’s so many moving parts and people you have to keep shifting around like chess pieces and there’s so much going on at once. For me action scenes can too easily turn into a boring list: this happened, then this and this. And on top of all the moving parts, you also have to weave in emotional stakes in each action scene.

So here’s the key: knowing your weaknesses, you can work around them. Some people are excellent at writing huge tableau battle scenes like Scott Westerfeld did in his Leviathan series. I am not like that. For me, the solution lay in cutting a few characters off from the melee and focusing in on them. I could keep track of two or three important characters at once.

Another trick was to change the nature of the battle. In my first couple drafts there was a huge all-out fight with everyone there at once at the end. In my last rewrite, I made the conflict a lot more intimate—it’s Zoe alone going in to search for something, and the main obstacle I threw in her way forces her to face her worst fears. That way I brought both the action plot and the emotional plot to a climax at the same time, which is the best way to pack an emotional wallop for your readers.

So these are the big things to keep in mind when you do a re-write:

Take some time away from the draft. Get feedback and then try to look at it with fresh eyes. And be brutal with yourself—not the self-defeating kind of brutal, aka, ‘I suck and will never be successful at this writing thing!’ Instead, you need the productive kind of brutal, acknowledging that this is a work in progress, that all writers (both published and unpublished) are facing these same problems, and gearing yourself up to dig in to do the work that needs to be done.

What does my character want and what do they fear? Am I crafting the plot to really push these desires and fears to the forefront so I can get a full emotional arc for my characters? Your characters are what stay with a reader, not clever plots. Your character’s emotional arc is what will make readers laugh and cry.
Do I lose tension during any section of the book? Do I keep the stakes high? Usually this ties back into the first point—does the reader genuinely feel like the main character has something important to lose, that their wants and desires are challenged in some way in each chapter? Don’t be afraid to hurt your main character or take them scary places. Being a writer means being willing to gut your main characters and then kick them while they’re down. Conflict is what stories are all about.

What are my strengths and weaknesses as a writer? How can I key in on those weaknesses and what do I need to change to work around them? Often this means figuring out a way to be tricky and use your strengths to hide your weaknesses. Good at writing lively characters but have difficulty with plot? Brainstorm obstacles to your main character’s happiness by having them challenged by another character and let the personality sparks bring on the conflict. Good at plot but weaker on characterization? Craft plots that will threaten your main character’s wants and desires (I realize I’m kind of a broken record on this point, but seriously, it’s the single most important way to create an emotionally powerful story!!!).

And at the end of all that work? A book I’m very proud of, and one that almost across the board has garnered more critical and popular acclaim than GLITCH did. That’s the real magic of the rewrite—you can create something truly special, a book that others will want to read and then think about for weeks after they finish it.

About the Author

Heather Anastasiu recently moved to Minneapolis with her family, and when she's not busy getting lost exploring the new city, she spends most days writing at a café or daydreaming about getting a new tattoo.

She is the author of GLITCH, OVERRIDE, and the forthcoming SHUTDOWN.

Find out more on Heather’s website 
Check out her blog
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About the Book

Zoe lives in a world free of pain and war. Like all members of the Community, a small implanted chip protects her from the destructive emotions that destroyed the Old World. Until her hardware starts to glitch.

Zoe begins to develop her own thoughts and feelings, but nothing could be more dangerous in a place where malfunctions can get you killed. And she has another secret she must conceal at all costs: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As she struggles to keep her burgeoning powers hidden, she finds other glitchers with abilities like hers, and together they plot to escape. But the more she learns about beauty, joy, and love, the more Zoe has to lose if they fail. With danger lurking around every corner, she’ll have to decide just how much she’s willing to risk to be free.

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Somewhere along my writing journey, this maxim got tattooed on my brain: “Start a story as close to the action as possible.” No dilly-dallying allowed in children’s literature. Step lively! A reader has their pick of ponies on this merry-go-round of published books; do what you can to make sure they choose yours.

Because this advice was shared by experienced writers, it never occurred to me to question it. And, honestly, it is good advice.

Except when it’s not.

Some years ago, during a dark period in my professional life, I received a gift in the form of a family story. Actually, a story fragment: one tiny rung on a ladder that would lead out of the dark and into a manuscript called Hattie Big Sky. Unbelievably, one of the first editors to see it signed it on. But she suggested some changes to the draft she’d seen (number thirteen!) and one of them gob-smacked me: “I want to know more about Hattie’s ordinary life,” she wrote in her editorial letter, “before she launches into her adventure.”

What? Slow things down? Set up a hurdle between the story and the chomping-at-the-bit reader? I groused and grumbled. And then I got a grip. I could always try her suggestion; if I didn’t like it, well, I could leave things as is.

As I dove back init hit me that, while I fully understood what my 16-year-old orphaned main character had to gain by leaving Iowa, my reader might not. I began to see an opportunity. Rather than telling the reader that Aunt Ivy resented Hattie, I could now show Ivy’s scheme to hire Hattie out as a chambermaid.

Now I found I had space to introduce Hattie’s school chum, Charlie: “Dear Charlie, Miss Simpson starts every day with a reminder to pray for you—and all the other boys who enlisted. Well, I say we should pray for the Kaiser—he’s going to need those prayers once he meets you.” This letter from Hattie allowed me to clarify the story’s timing – WWI – and set up her relationship with Charlie.

I soon found myself thinking that this stroll to the story’s starting line was not such a bad idea after all.

The story’s inciting incident (Hattie’s “scoundrel” uncle’s surprising letter) is still found in the first chapter, but on page eight instead of page two, as it was originally. By taking a few thoughtful steps back from her impulsive response to that letter, I gave myself the room to underline Hattie’s motivation, and bolster the story’s dramatic question.

I’ve noticed this technique elsewhere. In the Newbery honor book, Catherine Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, we are introduced to Birdy’s ordinary world through the first ten diary entries. It’s not until the eleventh entry that we learn that “something is astir” in Birdy’s life. David Patneaude employs the first pages of his thought-provoking novel, Epitaph Road, to reel us into Charlie’s world. We hike a ways through the forest with Charlie, his sister and mother before Patneaude startles us with the reason they are hurrying away from the rest of humanity. And Barbara O’Connor uses the first pages of On the Road to Mr. Mineo’s like a camera, panning in on Stella and her predictable life in Meadville, South Carolina --before a one-legged pigeon changes everything.

My editor’s advice might work for you, too. Consider starting a few feet back from your original starting line.

Give it a shot. You never know, it might take you and your readers on one heck of a ride.

About the Author

Kirby Larson is the acclaimed author of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book, Hattie Big Sky, a young adult historical novel she wrote inspired by her great-grandmother, Hattie Inez Brooks Wright, who homesteaded by herself in eastern Montana as a young woman. Just released—due to popular demand by her readers—is Hattie Ever After, the final installment in Hattie’s adventures. Her passion for historical fiction is evident in The Fences Between Us and The Friendship Doll, as well as a fall 2013 title, Duke. She is at work on a companion novel to Duke as well as a novel set in 1910.

In 2006, Kirby began a collaboration with her good friend, Mary Nethery, which has resulted in two award-winning nonfiction picture books: Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival (illustrated by Jean Cassels) and Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle. They think three’s a lucky number so have their eyes peeled for another project to tackle together.

A frequent speaker, Kirby enjoys sharing her passion for research, reading and writing. She has presented at more than 200 schools, workshops, and seminars in nearly twenty states and as far away as Qatar and Lebanon.

Kirby lives in Kenmore, Washington with her husband, Neil. When she’s not reading, writing, or walking Winston the Wonder Dog, Kirby enjoys gardening, bird watching, traveling, or drinking lattés with friends.

Check out Kirby’s website
Read Kirby’s blog
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About the Book

Great Falls, Montana, 1919

When Hattie mails off her last check to Mr. Nefzger, her uncle’s debt is paid in full. Now she is free to go anywhere, away from Mrs. Brown’s boardinghouse and the less-than-glamorous life of a chambermaid. Hattie’s dear friend Perilee urges her to do the sensible thing and join her family in Seattle. But Hattie is not prone to the sensible. What sensible girl would say yes to spending a year under Montana’s big sky trying to make a go of a long-lost uncle’s homestead claim? And what sensible girl would say no to Charlie, who is convinced he and Hattie are meant to grow old together?

For all its challenges and sorrows, Hattie’s time on the homestead gave her a taste of what if might be like to stake her own claim on life. She hasn’t yet confessed it to anyone, not even to Perilee, but Hattie has thrown a lasso around a dream even bigger than a Montana farm.

She wants to be a big-city reporter.

And thanks to a vaudeville vanishing act, a mysterious love token, an opera star and her unique ability to throw a snake ball, it looks like Hattie just might have a chance.

With Hattie Ever After, Kirby Larson has created another lovingly written novel about the remarkable and resilient young orphan Hattie Inez Brooks.

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Hey everyone! It’s Clara Kensie, back with a new Question of the Week! Pretty much the only thing writers love as much as writing is talking about writing. So each week here at Adventures in YA Publishing, I post a question for you to answer. The questions cover all topics important to writers: craft, career, writers’ life, reading and books. Together we’ll become better writers by sharing tips and discussing our habits and practices.

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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, everyone! Before you head out to that parade, why don’t you take a couple of minutes to answer the new Question of the Week?

Pretty much the only thing writers love as much as writing is talking about writing. So each week here at Adventures in YA Publishing, I post a question for you to answer. The questions cover all topics important to writers: craft, career, writers’ life, reading and books. Together we’ll become better writers by sharing tips and discussing our habits and practices.

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Where to begin? Well … I’m someone who thinks about the beginning of a story all the time. Every day, in fact. One of my New Year’s Resolutions – the only one I can remember, actually – was to read a short story every day this year. A new story and a new writer, to keep widening the circle.

A lot of these stories I’m finding in books like Best European Fiction 2013, or Everyman’s Bedtime Stories. When I flick through the pages of a collection or anthology, looking for that day’s story, what I’m really doing is reading beginnings. Here’s a great example: “My father lost me to The Beast at cards.” (Angela Carter, The Tiger’s Bride). That’s the kind of first line that makes me want to keep reading.

But another lesson from all these stories – seventy-six and counting – is that there are principles of good writing, but not really any rules. One of the most gripping, brilliant stories I’ve read so far this year is The Night Face Up by the late Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar. The story begins in a deceptively ordinary way:

“Halfway down the long hotel vestibule, he thought that probably he was going to be late, and hurried on into the street to get out his motorcycle from the corner where the next-door superintendent let him keep it. On the jewelry store at the corner he read that it was ten to nine; he had time to spare. The sun filtered through the tall downtown buildings, and he – because for himself, for just going along thinking, he did not have a name – he swung onto the machine, savoring the idea of a ride. The motor whirred between his legs, and a cool wind whipped his pantslegs.”

Now, as anyone reading this story will discover, that little throw-away detail of not having a name will be crucial. And the modern-life ordinariness of this episode will also be relevant in ways only the worst possible spoiler could reveal. Beginnings may not grab you by the throat, like the first line of the Angela Carter story, but they have to be there for a reason – for both the art and craft of the story.

The thing is with writing fiction: you can get away with anything, as long as you can get away with it. The problem for lots of writers starting out is that they read a published novel or a short story and try the same thing, to much lesser effect. When they’re told something isn’t working in their draft manuscripts, they grow instantly indignant. “But Tolstoy did it! But J.K. Rowling did it! But Neil Gaiman did it!”

Of course they did. But writing good fiction is hard, and not everyone can pull the same things off. That’s why so many people who teach writing, or edit books, or sell books for a living, try to give apprentice writers useful advice. We urge you not to begin with a dream, even though we know that Haruki Murakami did it in The Dancing Dwarf: “A dwarf came into my dream and asked me to dance.” We urge you not to begin in dialogue, even though we know that Louisa May Alcott did it in Little Women: “ ‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.”

Chekhov contended that when you write a story, you have to get rid of both the beginning AND the ending. He thought writers “do most of our lying” in these sections. Certainly, I often try to persuade my own students to cut their beginnings, which read like dull on-ramps to the exciting highways of the real stories.

On my editor’s advice, I lopped off the first chapter of my first YA novel, Ruined. I did exactly the same thing with my second YA novel, Dark Souls. They were on-ramps. They weren’t necessary to the story. The prologue of Dark Souls, however, was barely changed at all. I wrote it quickly, and I like it more than almost anything I’ve written. The first line – “At night, cornfields looked like the ocean” – had been simmering in my head for years, waiting for the right story.

My favorite first line from a novel, by the way, is from The Trial by Kafka: “Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K, for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested.” This is the kind of line that could begin a comedy or a tragedy, or something that’s a mixture of both. Now that’s a beginning.

About the Author

Paula Morris is a fiction writer from Auckland, New Zealand. She's studied and worked in a number of places – London, New York, Iowa City, New Orleans – and is currently Fiction Writer-in-Residence at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

She has published a number of novels and stories for adults, and in 2012 her most recent adult novel, RANGATIRA, won the fiction categories of the New Zealand Post Book Awards and the Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards. It was published in German by Walde+Graf.

She is the author of three YA novels, all ‘haunted city’ mysteries published by Scholastic: Ruined (2009) and its sequel Unbroken (2013); and Dark Souls (2011). She’s working on another YA mystery, set in Rome.

Find Paula on her website
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About the Book

Welcome back to New Orleans.
Where the streets swirl with jazz and beauty.
Where the houses breathe with ghosts.

A year ago, Rebecca Brown escaped death in a New Orleans cemetery. Now she has returned to this haunting city. She is looking forward to seeing Anton Grey, the boy who may or may not have her heart.

But she also meets a ghost: a troubled boy who insists only she can help him. Soon Rebecca finds herself embroiled in another murder mystery from more than a century ago. But as she tries to right wrongs, she finds more questions than answers: Is she putting her friends, and herself, in danger? Can she trust this new ghost? And has she stumbled into something much bigger and more serious than she understands?

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The ability to handle constructive criticism with grace is very important for writers at all stages of the publication process. I had the great luck of having an honest person critique my very first book – my sister. Though family and friends tend to praise our writing for fear of hurting our feelings, she was brutally honest to the point of tearing the book apart and defining every little thing I did wrong, which was pretty much everything!

But she taught me how to accept criticism and use it to my advantage, which is a critical skill in the publishing business. People who have difficulty accepting criticism of their work will have a hard time working with agents and editors who will, undoubtedly, call for some amount of revisions prior to publishing any manuscript.

No writer should be without a critique partner or two and a few good beta readers, especially writers at the start of their careers. The ability to accept and integrate the opinion of other writers, agents, and editors is critical in polishing your manuscript and improving your craft. Critiquing for others is important, too, as it can teach you a lot about your own writing as you comb through a manuscript and learn to find its trouble spots.

I found my live critique group through the SCBWI website and my on line beta readers through the QueryTracker.net forums. Without the help of these wonderful men and women, I would be lost.

Each type of group brings a different experience to the table. With my live group, we meet monthly and submit a set amount of pages to each other via email a week prior to our meeting. That gives us enough time to read through the work, critique it, and then discuss it with the group when we get together. I enjoy this group because we meet at a Barnes and Noble and have the ability to discuss each critique with the other members. It’s also fun because as writers, we tend to spend a lot of time at home in front of our computers, and hanging out with real people in public gives us a chance to socialize while we improve our work.

My beta readers work differently than the critique group. Everything is done via email, and we set no limits on the amount of work we share with each other. We send a chapter or a scene at a time, and usually within twenty-four hours, it is returned to the writer with helpful comments about the plot, theme, character, or dialogue. Some comment on grammar and spelling issues and also suggest great ideas that I’d never thought of!

Having a diverse group of people involved in critiquing your manuscript is helpful as well. Each person brings a different perspective to your story and a different method of critiquing. Whether they go line by line suggesting changes or just comment on the things they see that are—or are not—working, every piece of advice will bring your story one step closer to perfection. Having writers at different stages in writing and publication also helps. Newer writers tend to comment more on broader ideas, such as things they like about the story, characters, and dialogue. People with more experience tend to be pickier, commenting on such things as grammar, style, voice, and consistency. No matter where your partners are in their writing life, they all bring value to the table.

Here are some links and suggestions for valuable sites to find critique partners and beta readers online:

* The Query Tracker forums are where I found all of my beta readers. Query Tracker is one of the most supportive writing sites I have found since I began this journey a few years back. The feedback from the members is excellent and helpful, and the resources on the forum and the main site, QueryTracker.net, are fantastic.

* The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a great place to find critique groups focusing on writing for children and young adults. I found my critique group there almost two years ago, and the women I meet with are amazing.

* Many authors now have Facebook pages. Social media is a great way to connect with other writers and find people who are willing to critique your work.

* Many authors are also on Twitter, which is another social media site in which to find help.

* author blogs - There are a ton of author blogs out there, all at different stages in the writing and publication process. Many of them look for critique partners and beta readers to swap chapters or manuscripts with for help in their own work. In return, they’ll help you with yours.

* agent and editor blogs and websites – Most, if not all, agents and editors are online. Many of them put up great posts on the craft of writing and offer links to help writers improve their books.

* Goodreads is an amazing place for writers as well as readers. The site has many groups for writers of all genres to connect and help each other out.

* The Writer’s Digest forum has a critique tab where members can read and critique each other’s work, and critique guidelines are offered to help newbies learn the ropes.

There are many other sites on the web that can be found via your favorite search engine.

Other options for finding critique partners and beta readers include networking at writer’s conferences, participating in online and live writing workshops and classes, and just sending out emails to writers you already know, asking to swap your manuscripts for feedback.

When reaching out for the first time, a great idea is to suggest swapping only the first chapter of your manuscript. That way, you and the other writer can get a sense of how you both write and how you both critique. If it’s not a good fit, you can go your separate ways. But if you get lucky like I have, you’ll end up with great help for you book as well as new friends.

Do yourself and your book a favor. If you don’t share your work with anyone, find the courage to get a trusted reader or two who will give you honest feedback. Understand that the feedback is meant to help your manuscript, not criticize you or make you feel bad about your skill as a writer. You won’t regret it, and your work will be much stronger in the end.



About the Author

Kimberly Miller received Bachelor's degrees from Georgian Court University and Rutgers University and a Master's degree from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She is an avid reader and particularly enjoys true crime and young adult novels. She grew up in New Jersey and currently resides in Monmouth County with her husband and three cats. When she’s not writing, she loves to travel to sunny islands where she snorkels by day and stargazes by night. She always takes her Nook with her.
Her first book, TRIANGLES, by Spencer Hill Press, is due for release this June.

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Twitter: @KimberlyAnnNJ
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About the Book

A cruise ship. A beautiful island. Two sexy guys. What could possibly go wrong?

In the Bermuda Triangle--a lot.

Hoping to leave behind the reminders of her crappy life--her father's death years ago, her mother's medical problems, and the loser who's practically stalking her--seventeen-year-old Autumn Taylor hops on a ship with her sister for a little distraction. When she wakes up in the Bermuda Triangle, she fears she's gone nuts for more than one reason: that loser's suddenly claiming they're a happy couple... a hot guy is wrapping his arms around her and saying "Happy Anniversary"... and suddenly, she's full of bruises, losing her hair, and getting IV medication. Autumn visits the ship's doctor, hoping for a pill or a shot to make the craziness go away. Instead, she's warned that these "alternate realities" could become permanent.

She just has to ask herself one question--how the hell is she going to get out of this mess?

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Getting published--a backwards fairytale with apologies to Jack London

In my teens, I read Martin Eden by Jack London, a searing semi-autobiographical novel about a passionate, struggling sailor-turned-writer that kills himself at the end of the book. When I finished the last page, I knew I wanted to be just like him.

I figured the best path to becoming a novelist would be to get a degree in creative writing. Or so I planned the summer before college. “My dad had other ideas. Don’t be an English major unless you want to bag groceries at Safeway,” he told me. You have to support yourself.

I pretended to agree, but enrolled in Classic Literature my first semester at UC Berkeley, anyway, as well as some more practical classes (Chem 1A and Mandarin). The Classics’professor hated freshmen, and the head TA had sold his soul to St. Augustine. By the end of the semester, my dreams of English Major-dom lay in shreds at my feet.

Fast-forward fifteen years and cue creepy music. I now had:

A bachelors degree in International Agricultural Development
A masters degree in Agronomy,
A nine year career at the USDA in Honolulu, Hawaii as a resource conservationist
One supportive husband
One cute and very demanding baby
3 months of leave without pay

Yep. Somehow my dream of becoming Jack London had gotten squashed along the way. Until …

…until my husband suggested that instead of going back to work, I try writing a novel. Hadn’t I always wanted to?

Except I didn’t know how. And I was too exhausted to get ice for my water let alone write a whole book. Sheesh! The idea stayed with me, though. When my son turned one, I traded baby-sitting with a friend for 2-3 hours a week. Every Wednesday, I’d run to a café with my laptop, get buzzed on double lattes, and write my heart out. I could almost see Jack London glaring over my shoulder. Are you sure you want to write about bullying in middle school?

A year later, I finished the first draft of my novel. Around this time, I did a few things right.

figured out the age of my audience and my genre
read a lot of books in my new genre
signed up for writing workshops
met with a critique group weekly
joined SCBWI and attended their annual writing conference

All this almost made up for my missing MFA. I still fell short of my Jack London fantasy, though, unable to survive on four hours of sleep like him. Writing sucked up every last atom of energy that my baby somehow missed. Then I had a second baby.

Fast-forward a few more years. Two editors from medium-sized publishers requested full manuscripts of my first novel, Vanessa the Contessa, and then rejected it. I started another book and abandoned it halfway through. We moved from Hawaii to New Mexico. I got an idea for a third book. I kept writing, reading, going to workshops, and seeking out critique. Someone once told me that you have to write a million words before you can consider yourself a writer. I was almost there. Then I finished my third novel, My Invented Life, and went on an agent hunt.

Many of the big publishing houses don’t read unagented manuscripts. I started my search by reading blog posts by Miss Snark, an incognito agent that shares an inside view on the industry. She has stopped blogging, but her posts are still up for anyone to read. I wrote and rewrote my query letter, and then sent it to Evil Editor to be torn apart publicly. I researched agents up and down and sideways. (This has gotten easier since 2005, btw. Just go here.) The fourth agent I queried sent me a request for a partial and then a full. Woohooo! I wouldn’t have to grind myself into the ground like Jack London to succeed.

But the agent passed on representing me in a five-paragraph email containing a lot of suggested changes. I asked him if he would look at the manuscript after a rewrite. He said yes. Who knew the revision would take me almost a year?

Here comes the surreal part. After resubmitting My Invented Life to the aforementioned agent, a writer friend of mine suggested we take a weeklong novel writing workshop together. Since I needed something to submit to the conference, I started on book 4. Then the agent wrote me back. “I’m sorry, but your novel is not for me.” I was devastated.

What would Jack London do? Keep going, of course. The fool.

I created a new list of agents to query, while polishing the first twenty pages of my new novel for the workshop. My writing instructor at the workshop was brilliant and helpful. He’d published many novels and taught at two different MFA programs. My week with him felt like a mini-MFA, and rekindled my desire to go for more education in writing. On the last day of the workshop, he met with each student privately. During my turn, he said, “I hear you have a completed novel, too. If you don’t mind, I’d like to recommend you to my agent.”

If I didn’t mind? I almost hugged his knees with gratitude.

The rest went fast. After reading My Invented Life, his agent offered to represent me. She brought in a second agent that specialized in YA. The second agent sold my novel to Henry Holt in a two-book deal. Ta da!!!

So what can anyone learn from this. The road to publication has many twists and turns. I did things wrong, and it didn’t work out for me. I did things right, and it didn’t work out for me. But when I least expected it, an opportunity fell in my lap. My advice to anyone who wishes to be published is this—use your head, listen to your heart, and be ridiculously persistent.



About the Author

Lauren Bjorkman is a hopeless romantic. She met her husband-to-be in her final semester of high school. He had already graduated from college. Three years later on their honeymoon to China, she learned the art of squeezin onto a very full bus, mastered chopsticks, and managed to converse with locals in Mandarin, despite a limited vocabulary. She is the author of two YA novels, MY INVENTED LIFE and MISS FORTUNE COOKIE.

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About the Book


Meet Erin. Smart student, great daughter, better friend. Secretly the mastermind behind the popular advice blog Miss Fortune Cookie. Totally unaware that her carefully constructed life is about to get crazy.

It all begins when her ex-best friend sends a letter to her blog—and then acts on her advice. Erin’s efforts to undo the mess will plunge her into adventure, minor felonies, and possibly her very first romance.

What’s a likely fortune for someone no longer completely in control of her fate? Hopefully nothing like: You will become a crispy noodle in the salad of life.

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