YA Lit & Social Attitudes

Fashion to hairstyles. Sexual orientation to lifestyles. Racism, bigotry, prejudice, bullying, and even rape. How does social attitudes affect YA literature? 
 (This is a repost from my personal blog. I felt it was such an important topic in YA literature that it deserved a second look, even a third if you'd like to write a post on this subject yourself.)
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I recently came across a video showing a young man taking a stand against a fashion mogul. Some of you may have seen this video or read the post. I've posted links to both at the end of this article.

The gist of the story is that Abercrombie & Fitch - huge young adult fashion icon - has publicly stated they want to cut off the not-so-cool-kids from purchasing their products. Uh-hmmm. Excuse me? This is just as bad as the recent admission from Starbucks that traditional marriage lovers should stay home. Dude, I'm cool with however someone wants to live their life, but I'm thinking that being married to the same man for over twenty years kind of makes me a traditional marriage lover.

Apparently, Starbucks believes those who've been in a traditional marriage are against anyone else's views. Or maybe they think we might be allergic to their coffee or that it causes teenage acne; teens do drink boatloads of coffee today, do they not? That must be the reason, yes? And it looks like A&F has developed a perfect description of the not-so-cool-kids in America and around the world. So, who exactly is this group of kiddos?

• the teen boy, who wears hammy-downs from his cousin because he works two jobs to help his family buy oil for the winter?
• or what about the sophomore girl, whose eyeglasses are too big for her face but her parents can't afford to buy her more expensive ones?
• maybe it's the high school senior unable to afford college or simply feels that school is not his/her thing?
• could it be the teenage cashier or bus-boy, or babysitter? 

Another issue A&F has decided to go public with is their opinion of overweight people, woman in particular. A&F will not make large or extra-large clothing for woman, wanting only the fit or lean woman showing off their brand. 

What I want to discuss today is how social attitudes such as these affect young adult literature and how much responsible should rest on those larger entities for influencing our YA population. Do young adult authors include such dynamics in their stories. If they do, how much responsibility is theirs--ours?

Now, I'm not a bible toting person and I rarely refer to religion here. But the later half of the above sentence brought to mind a life lesson I've learned over the years, which just happens to be a biblical truth: Do well in the smaller things and you will be entrusted with larger things.

We've seen YA literature of the past address racism, prejudice, and teen gangs. To Kill A Mocking Bird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn came out in a time when racism was outwardly prevalent. Did writing about such a social issue during its modern height add to social awareness or simply poke a stick at it, giving haters the nod? The Outsiders released later, but also dealt with racism, gangs, acceptance or the lack of it. Did that story open new views about such issues?

Now writers have no control over how their audience will react to the social issues they choose to explore through their work. However, they can control the manner in which it's delivered. It is my opinion that To Kill A Mocking Bird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Outsiders did open new views on those social issues. Countless other young adult stories, whose authors had the courage to explore such social thorns and expose them for what they were/are, have done the same.

How did these authors and these particular stories open new views? Was it timing, delivery, character & story setting, a combo of both, or something more? Does society have to be ready for the challenge to change?

Granted, there are more pressing issues than the one raised here about A&F. But we, as young adult authors, are in a unique position. We can stand up and shed light on such issues. And in doing so, we can lean to the right or the left, weaving our opinions through our characters, settings, and overall arcs. We can remain neutral and thread both sides of a social attitude through our stories, letting the reader form their own opinions. We must always remember--as A&F and Starbucks have obviously forgotten--that we're dealing with impressionable teenagers. We have the ability to make a difference, change wrongs of humanities' past, and pave the road for a brighter mankind.

But on the other hand, we are merely writers. Each of us living in our own space and time, towns and ideals--social attitudes. Where do the young adult readers fit into this? My three teenagers would be the first to tell you they know it all or that they can handle it. They've even told me that I've raised them to know better. Although that is encouraging, the world is much bigger than me alone. Then you alone.

With today's social media and technology being merely a fingertip away, teens are inundated with social opinions and attitudes. So many of these are delivered by retailers through products or services attractive to young people. Just look at the Homecoming or Prom gowns of today. Most of the gowns I see make me ask "Where the heck is the rest of it?" Retailers airbrush amazing images of high school girls draped in gorgeous gowns, coxing teen girls to want whatever they are selling. Once again, how does this simple act of buying a prom dress affect YA literature?

Laurie Halse Anderson spotlighted the topic of teen rape in her amazing book SPEAK. The gripping story of a young girl, who was raped yet feared to tell anyone, created a great stir among teen and adult groups alike. As most of you know, that book was placed on a band book list years ago.

Let's talk about branding and platforms. As authors, we all want to sell books. For the most part, authors say they write because they want to share stories with the world, love to create and explore, and simply enjoy writing. But let's be honest, we also have to make a living. So that lends to the subject of platform. What content do I use on my blog? What topics do I steer away from? What social attitudes am I willing to include in my work, and will any of those alienate a group of readers, marketers, publishers? I'm not sure about you, but even though I write for kids/tweens/teens, I'd love for my books to be read by everyone regardless of age, race, status, etc.... The question we have to ask ourselves here is "Am I willing to sellout my personal ideals, morals, and opinions to sell my books? If not, how far am I willing to push the envelope of bucking-the-social-system?"

So why would A&F cut off certain buyers? Is it solely for appearances? Social status? Do authors do the same thing?

How do young adult authors incorporate these social attitudes in our stories without preaching? How do we deliver material in such a way that gives the young adult reader the freedom to form his/her own attitudes and feel courageous enough to stand up for them?

My answer to those two questions is simple: I will remain true to myself in all things, even if it goes against the grain of accepted social attitudes. What is your answer? 

Here are the links: ARTICLE - VIDEO. (I would love it if you'd share this article. I'd really like to start a discussion about this, maybe make a difference. THX!)

Writer Wednesday: Passing the Buck

I'm getting this in just under the wire--sorry about that. It's a busy time of year (like whoa).

That being said, I am not only posting late, but passing the buck on my post. But it's for a good reason, I promise.

Revisions and rewrites have kicked many a writer's behind.  We've even had more than one post on them here at the Oasis.

But I recently read a post on revising and rewriting that blew me away. If you haven't read Kristen Cashore's post on the writing and rewriting of BITTERBLUE, you need to go now: http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/2012/12/pictures-of-book-being-made.html

Have you ever done such an extensive revision? How did you approach it? How do you feel about revision?

Keeping Your Creative HEART In The Publishing Business

Here on the Oasis, Wednesdays are for sharing writerly wisdom. And what better wisdom to share then how to stay your creative course, protecting your heart from the business of publishing.

I've done just that, today, over on Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing. Take a hop over and tell me what you think.

For those who don't know, WOW Wednesday Posts are their regular author to writer feature. Authors share their most important pieces of advice from their writing journeys, how they made the leap from writer to author. Click HERE to check out what I had to share!! Psst....make sure to leave a comment and I'll comment back.

Self-Publishing 102: Creating a Captivating Cover

Welcome to another addition of Writer's Wednesday.  A number of you seemed to enjoy my self-pub tips on the last go around, so I thought I'd share the nuts and bolts with you about creating a captivating cover. 

I cannot emphasis enough that you do not want to skimp on your cover. This is the single-biggest marketing investment you will make in yourself.  Unfortunately, if your cover looks unprofessional, readers will tend to assume that what's inside isn't any better.

Let me also point out that if you intend to publish paperback (or hard bound) copies of your novel, you have a lot more work cut out for you.  Just making the front cover is relatively easy compared to creating a whole cover (including the spine and back).  If you, like me, are not tech savvy, you will find you are entirely dependent on your cover designer to get the details right.  Which means -- do your homework and pick someone you want to work with.

But for now, let's just start with the front cover and the artwork or photography that will grace it.  Basically, you have three options: (1) use your own photo/art (un-comissioned); (2) buy stock photos/art; (3) commission photos/art.

Using your own photograph can yield good results if you or your designer have the skills to manipulate the photo well.  The first example that comes to mind is book one in Willow Cross's Dark Gifts series.  The girl on the cover is Willow's daughter and her neighbor was cover artist.  If you can get lucky enough to have a free model and designer, go for it!

The next option -- to which most of us will be relegated -- is using stock photography and art.  Here's my biggest concern about stock photography: anyone else can buy the same picture and use it on their cover.  You'd think with the millions of images out there (check out iStockPhoto.com for example), that this wouldn't be a big concern.  Unfortunately, it is.  Just check out these examples if you don't believe me.

 This this is problem is limited to Indie authors?  Think again. This one shocked me when I saw it recently.  While the dress and hair color had been changed, the girl is obviously the same in both photos.

The way I got around this with Destined was to look for art on DeviantArt.com.  The image I fell in love with was not for sale (meaning it wasn't a stock image), but I contacted the artist to see if she'd be willing to sell me the rights to use it.  She was not only flattered, but sold me rights at stock price.  This is not always going to happen.  Some artists won't want to sell; some will want exorbitant prices.  But the bottom line is, you won't know if you don't ask.  So what's the harm?

Finally, you can commission the cover art.  That means either hiring an artist to digitally paint your cover or hiring a photographer to shoot a model and then manipulate the image into a cover.  Here are some really stunning examples by Indie authors.

 The most important benefit of spending this extra money is that no one will have a cover like yours.  Plus, you get to pick every last detail.  No worries about manipulating polka dots off pillows and making a dress look less modern (see my example above).

Don't forget when designing your cover that you will oftentimes need to pay for the right to commercially use the font you select (see dafont.com), but your cover artist should already own the digital brushes or be able to purchase them economically.

Finally, for your spine and back cover, how you format will depend on who you decide to use to print your books. I used Lightning Source and Create Space and both have different formats and templates.  So yes, my designer had to put the full cover together twice (although, since I'm not tech savvy, I have no idea how much work this actually was).  You're also going to need to know your final page count because that determines the width of your spine.  Just some things to keep in mind.

Regardless of which route you take to create your cover, I recommend combing Amazon and Goodreads for covers that you love.  Once you have an idea of what you like, it will make the process of selecting art/photography and a feel for your book that much easier.  Just for fun, here are some of the covers that had me drooling when we created the Destined cover.  Can you tell??

 Have any questions or tips ? Please share!

Writer Wednesday: Cause & Effect

(This is a repost from yesterday on my personal blog. I felt it was important and may jar some discussion here, too.)

At first, a faint pang taps under my ribcage--the place where my heart should be. My pulse picks up speed, but I ignore it, the mumbling over the phone luring more of my attention and my husband's facial expressions drooping. My chest tightens, the pang now twisting, piercing with each shallow breath. I glance out the window, the summer sky hopeful and bright, and in total opposition of the dread infecting my soul.

Fear, doubt, worry consume the air around me. There's no way out--a black hole. I'm sinking, drowning amidst the muffled words I just heard. My husband drops his cell phone. The car suddenly slows, and he heads towards an off-ramp. Despite the cool from the air conditioner brushing against my face, the ends of my long hair frizz from the extra heat I'm suddenly giving off. I fiddle with my fingers. My brain is a machine, calculating all possibilities from the mundane to the horrific. 

My husband glances at me, our connective stare blank yet brimming with panic. My brain hurts, my eyes now glassing over. So are his. He grips my hand as the car whizzes on the road. I stutter an inhale, words pouring from my mouth with no direction or sense. We tell each other to relax, stay calm. But the rot in my gut won't stop, the gnawing too strong. I want to curl into a ball and hide, pray, beg "Please, oh good God please..."

There are no words feared more by a parent than "Your child has been in a car accident." The above is a lesson in Cause and Effect in writing. Something obviously happened to Cause these reactions and the Effect is surely to be revealed in the text soon. 

But this is also a true story. My story. On Sunday--Father's Day. As my husband and I drove our 12-yr-old daughter to her soccer tournament an hour away, we received a phone call that our two sons--Josh (17) & Jake (14)--were in a car accident. It was not Josh's fault. He had his blinker on and the boys were wearing their seat belts. Apparently, a driver two cars behind Josh decided to pass on a straight-away at approximately 50 MPH just as Josh was turning left into the ice rink parking lot for a hockey game. The impact spun the car in the opposite direction and straight back into the rink sign. The straight back part is most befuddling. It makes no sense that the force didn't keep them spinning or toss them into a roll. 

Josh's car is a total loss. It's a miracle neither boy was hurt severely or worse....2 more feet to the left or if Josh had turned a moment later, the impact would have been on his driver's side door.

My brain is still that muddled mess I wrote about above, examining the what if's and the how come's of Cause & Effect.

How do you deal with Cause and Effect in your writing? 

WRITER WEDNESDAY: The Last Line of The First Chapters

In my continued effort to examine the successes of several YA novels, I thought I'd showcase something besides the "opening sentences" and "last lines" of my favorite books.

This week I'm going to cover the last line of the first chapter (or prologue). That inevitable point where a reader is either going to keep going, or put your book down ... possibly forever. I'm a huge fan of the cliffhanger, whether it's physical or emotional. Or, in the case of The Hunger Games ... even just a name.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
He couldn't now that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"

Hush Hush (Becca Fitzpatrick)
The air resonated with the boy's low laughter.

Fallen (Lauren Kate)
Then there was nothing, nothing at all.

Paranormalcy (Kiersten White)
Where did they come up with this stuff?

Clockwork Angel (Cassandra Clare)
"Tessa put a hand to the clockwork angel at her throat, taking comfort in its steady ticking, as the carriage lurched forward into the rain. "

Incarceron (Catherine Fisher)
"Well done, brother," he said.

The Maze Runner (James Dashner)
"Nice to meet ya, shank," the boy said. "Welcome to the Glade."

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
It's Primrose Everdeen

And (just for the heck of it) here's the last line in the first chapter of my WIP:
And then it stopped.

Which ones are your favorite, and share from your manuscript below!

Writer's Wednesday: Avoiding a Faceless Voice

 **Image snatched from Deviantart.com**

VOICE.

You know your characters have to have one. We hear it all the time: agents and editors are looking for voice.  Sounds simple enough in theory.  Your characters speak, and that's their voice.  But so many times, I feel like all I'm getting out of a character is a voice without a face (hence, the picture).  I think this is what happens when people describe characters as being flat or 2-dimensional.  These are all ways of saying the character lacks a distinctive voice.

When I think of VOICE, I'm thinking about understanding the core of the person.  Knowing a character's personality so well that I can curl up inside their brain for a bit.  I don't need to be TOLD what a character looks like, I need to be allowed to see it on my own by knowing them from the inside out.

As an author, one of the things that helps me (I hope) create characters with voice is to find faces for them.  I'll scour the internet searching for faces that represent the characters who are already playing around inside my head.  For me, having a face to look at, eyes that peer back at me from a storyboard, helps me dig deeper into that character's personality.  Each of us has many sides, feelings, thoughts versus actions, etc.

Take this personal example. I played a lot of carpool last week and brought 2 other kids home for a 4-hour playdate.  Their mom called me super-mom.  What she didn't see was me frequently checking my watch or working to modulate my routinely brusque tone so I didn't scare the 4 year old in my charge.  What I appeared to the other mom on the outside was quite different from how I felt on the inside.

Your characters have to be multi-dimensional too, or they will lack voice.

Hopefully the following examples will illustrate what I'm trying to say.  In each of them, these MC's voices are so clear to me that I can picture being best buds with this person. I understand them, where they're coming from, and that gives them "voice":

Example 1 --

Mia's words rattle something loose in me and suddenly there are tears all over my damn face again.  I haven't cried in three years and now this is like the second time in as many days.


"It's my turn to see you through," she whispers, coming back to me and wrapping me in her blanket as I lose my shit all over again.  She holds me until I recover my Y chromosome.  Then she turns to me, a slightly faraway look in her eyes.  "Your festival's next Saturday, right?" she asks.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman -- voice of Adam Wilde, 21 year old rock star

Example 2 --

The "Holy-crap-that's-a-lot-of-pink" Zone would have been a more accurate description.


I don't know what I was expecting a vampire's room to look like. Maybe lots of black, a bunch of books by Camus ... oh, and a sensitive portrait of the only human the vamp had ever loved, who had no doubt died of something beautiful and tragic, thus dooming the vamp to an eternity of moping and sighing romantically.


What can I say? I read a lot of books.


But this room looked like it had been decorated by the unholy love child of Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, voice of Sophie Mercer, 16 year old witch

For me, each of these characters have a three-dimensional voice in completely different ways.  Their word choices, in particular, give concrete clues about what's going on inside their brains.  Whereas Adam is showing us that he's disgusted with himself for crying (tears all over my damn face, lose my shit), Sophie is displaying her shock and biting wit (unholy love child of Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake).  Just by reading a few paragraphs of their voice, I have an image of them in my brain.

So as an author, I'd encourage you to think about not only the "voice" you want to project, but the face as well.  If the tone, word choice and sentence structure aren't consistent and distinctive enough to allow your reader to form their own mental picture of your characters, it might be time to get out the red pen.

What are your tips for creating a distinctive voice?

Writer Wednesday: How I got my editor (the slightly long version).

I know published authors rarely make a ton of money,

but this pic was too funny to pass up!

**I wrote this at midnight, so please forgive my numerous grammar and spelling mistakes. :) **

Okay, my Oasis sisters wanted me to write a little bit about how I got my publishing deal.  And, silly me, went “oh sure! That’ll be easy!”  Then I sat down to write the post and I realized, I didn’t know where to start. 

However, like with any story, it’s best to start in the beginning, when things changed for the MC, so this might be a bit long. 

For me, this day would be the day I sat with my leg in a cast, my infant daughter asleep next to me, and nothing but time and worry on my mind.  I was staring at a blank TV screen and thinking about the dream I’d had the night before of my uncle, who’d passed away 6 years ago, telling me to write it.  At the time I had no idea what he meant, but then it hit me.  He meant to write a book!

So, that’s what I did.  I wrote in a flurry of sleepless nights, and a month later I had it.  I took 2 months to edit it, and then I sent it off, confident that it was the next best thing.  I got my first rejection and I started laughing. “Everyone gets rejections, it’s fine,” I thought, with a smile.  I tucked the rejection in a drawer and subbed it to more agents.

In the meantime, I continued to write.  A whole SERIES of books based on the first one.  I was still confident that I would find an agent pretty quickly.  It wasn’t until I’d reached about 30 queries that I realized it wasn’t that great after all and maybe I should get help.  I joined critiquing site after critiquing site.  

In the meantime, I wrote a contemporary category adult romance and, I found a beta reader to read it before sending it out.  I waited patiently for her to read it; positive she’d love it.  What I got instead, was someone who pointed out ALL of the flaws, right down to those darned dangling participles.  : P

I cursed her (in my head), yelled at my husband when he didn’t feel sorry for me, pouted, then, finally, agreed with her. I emailed her back and asked her to please continue tearing it apart, being as “nitpicky” as she could.  (She doesn’t know all this, because I never told her, but now she will.)

This person is now my best friend and fabulous crit partner, Liz Czukas.  (<3 you!) 

Feeling more confident than ever, I queried again, but only sent about 5 before I realized I just didn’t want this book to be my debut.  I wanted to write Science Fiction Young Adult. 

So, I wrote another book, had Liz tear it apart as I was writing it, then gave it to my other best friend/beta reader, then finally about 5 more beta readers (people I didn’t know) before querying again.

I started with small batches of carefully picked agents, and immediately got requests.  Already I was doing SO MUCH better!  But I wanted even better, so I joined YALITCHAT.ORG, where I took advantage of the first 5 pages and query crits, and where I met my other best friend/crit partner, Larissa Hardesty.

In the meantime, I was scouring absolutewrite.com for the perfect agent.  And then, I found her.  She was a new agent, at a fantastic agency and she was looking for exactly what I had.  So I flipped over to her site, and it was like being hit by ice water.  They only took snail mail queries and the proposal needed to include the first 50 pages not to mention they only respond if interested.

I knew I couldn’t do it. I was on a tight budget and really couldn’t afford to buy a ream of paper or the postage to send it.  But I just couldn’t get this agent out of my mind.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. It was like when I met my husband for the first time.  He got into my head and I just couldn’t get him out.  : P

So, I talked to my husband who looked at me as if I’d grown a second head.  He was astounded that I hadn’t sent it out already.  He pulled me to his office, where his boss let me print out the query and partial, then shooed me out the door, telling me to “just do it.  You don’t want to wonder ‘what if’.”

So I sent it and forgot it. 

A few weeks, and a bunch of really exciting things, later, Natalie Fischer offered representation!  (My blog has a slightly more detailed version of the whole agent thing, if you want to know more.)

After that we revised for about a month, and then went out on sub. Our first round eventually ended in rejections, and in the meantime I’d had another ready to go.  She decided instead of going on another round with that original MS, we’d go out with this 2^nd book. Unfortunately, the market was flooded with that type of book, and while we had some good interest, that round came back with rejections, too.

In the meantime, I’d written a third book for her.  My favorite.  I couldn’t get the characters out of my head.  I finished it in September 2010, gave it to my CPs all 4 of them at that point, then betas, then, finally, in November I gave it to Natalie.

A few tense weeks (compounded by her move) rolled by while I waited for the determination of yay or nay. Finally, I got the email stating she LOVED it and couldn’t wait to start working with me on it.

Finally, in March, it was ready to go and we went on sub.  Almost immediately we got interest and a month later, after a few R & Rs, a terrifying and nerve-wracking phone call with an editor about the first book I went on sub with that also included

a huge spider deciding to plop down on my notebook while I was writing down notes making me stifle a scream and I dance around not hearing a thing she said while I tried getting away from the gross thing, I got news I was going to acquisitions at another house.  I’d been there before so I just went on as usual, knowing anything could happen, but silently crossing my fingers. 

Then, the day before I was supposed to go to acquisitions, I got THE CALL.  Well, actually, it was a voicemail because I’d lost my phone and the battery had died.  When Natalie couldn’t get a hold of me, she DMd me telling me she needed to talk.

I immediately went into panic mode and tore apart my room to find my phone, which I did and promptly called Natalie, who told me that I had an offer from Melissa Frain at Tor Teen.  There was more to that call, but since I started crying after hearing that, while also trying to stop my daughter from trying to steal the phone and scold Natalie for making me cry, I don’t remember much about it.  J

Then there was a bunch more stuff that happened (that I don’t really know a whole lot about and, probably, can’t talk about) and now I’m here, telling you how I got my book deal.  :D

That was a lot in such a short space, amiright?  But let me tell you, all the stuff I went through from that very first rejection two years ago to now is COMPLETELY worth it.

I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me, but I’m ready to take it on, because I know all I need is perseverance, a thick skin, a good attitude, patience and a good support system.  If these last two years have taught me anything, it’s that I have all of those.  Well, except maybe the patience.  That I’m not.  But I’m working on it.  : D

PROMing IT!

Wednesdays are specific to picking up tricks, insights, or advice geared to the YA writer. So as I pondered what great wisdom I had to share on said subject, I thought about my life. As it is now. As it was when I was a teenager. And appropriately so for this time of the school year, prom came to mind. It also helped that I just hosted a prom dinner for my oldest, his date, and their friends.

credit

You may have been a prom-junkie who longed for the dress shopping and hair appointments or the tuxedo sizings and the after-party planning. Then again, you could have seen prom as a waste of time, money, and a heartache waiting to happen. Despite your personal experience, prom is a reality for the upper half of our specifically-targeted, YA audience.

Use your experience. Don't want to. Then use the experience you wish you'd had...or hadn't had. Dig deeper into an old friend's prom experience and mix it up a bit. Draw from it and build on it. It doesn't have to be sweet sixteen and blowing out the candles. It can be out of the ordinary. Different.

Prom can be a plethora of misgivings, mishaps, and mistakes, or pleasures, pretty prose, and proposals. If appropriate to your story, don't be afraid to use it or other typical high school events to draw more from your characters and your story. Add a new spin or twist to the prom. You can do anything. Now go write it!

WRITER WEDNESDAY: To Prologue or Not To Prologue

I'll admit it, I'm a fan of prologues. I have one in my last three manuscripts (each from a different POV character than my Main Character). My current one does not.

But some people do not like prologues, agents included. At several conferences I've heard agents suggest you to rip it out of your manuscript. A select few don't seem to mind.

As Nathan Bransford says:

What is a prologue? Typically it is 3-5 pages of introductory material that is written while the author is procrastinating from writing a more difficult section of the book.

Ah, I'm kidding.

The most common question I get about prologues: are prologues necessary? Personally I think the easiest litmus test is to take out the prologue and see if your book still makes sense.

If you can take out a prologue and the entire plot still makes perfect sense, chances are the prologue was written to "set the mood".

I thought I'd take a glance through my bookshelf and take note of the YA novels that have a prologue ... and those that do not:

• Red Glove (Holly Black): No
  
• Clockwork Angel (Cassandra Clare): Yes
  
• Across the Universe (Beth Revis): No
  
• Blood Magic (Tessa Gratton): No
  
• Like Mandarin (Kirsten Hubbard): Yes
  
• Divergent (Veronica Roth): No
  
• Between Shade of Gray (Ruta Sepetys): No
  
• Starcrossed (Josephine Angelini): No
  
• Twilight (Stephenie Meyers): Yes
  
• Fury of the Phoenix (Cindy Pon): No
  
• Paranormalcy (Kiersten White): No
  
• Hex Hall (Rachel Hawkins): Yes
  
• Enchanted (Heather Dixon): No
  
• Fallen (Lauren Kate): Yes
  
• Incarceron (Catherine Fisher): No
  
• Cryer's Cross (Lisa McMann): Sort of
  

I could keep going, but you get the point. Does your favorite book have a prologue? Do you write prologues?

WRITER WEDNESDAY: Last Lines

In an SCBWI San Diego workshop in 2009, Mary E. Pearson talked about the importance of first lines ... and last lines of your manuscript. She said that the last line is the one that rings in your reader's ears, long after they've finished it. So make it count! It should either tie up your novel, or set you up for that sequel.

I'd never really thought about last lines that way, but it definitely makes sense. And in the same venue as my first sentences post, I'm going to take some famous novels and take a look at their last lines. (Note: There may be spoilers!)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
I'm gone to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer ....

Hush Hush (Becca Fitzpatrick)
I curled my hands into his hair, pulling him closer. "More."

Fallen (Lauren Kate)
And while Luce dreamed below of the most glorious wings unfurling - the likes of which she'd never seen before - two angels in the rafters shook hands.

Paranormalcy (Kiersten White)
I wasn't cold anymore.

Clockwork Angel (Cassandra Clare)
"Very well," he said. "Why don't you tell me what the problem is?"

Incarceron (Catherine Fisher)
"Closer than you think, Finn," he said.

The Scorch Trials (James Dashner)
That's all for now.

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
I take his hand, holding on tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I will finally have to let go.

And (just for the heck of it) here's my first sentence for Shoreline:
I shook my head in wonder and plunged in after him.

Which ones are your favorite, and share your last line below!

Writer's Wednesday: Can you Plot Without Voice?

**Art from Deviant Art **

At my last SCBWI conference, I heard one of the presenters say: The question isn't what should HAPPEN next, but what would your main character DO next.  Which seems to tie in with a predominant theme Nikki said she kept hearing at her SCBWI conference last weekend - an author must have a solid voice.  If it's possible to combine these two pieces of advice, it means that if we're thinking about what our characters would "do" next, we have to already know their voice. (I mean, Bella wouldn't be Bella if she willingly wore a prom dress and had anything nice to say about it, right? )
**Art found here.**

Which has me thinking... can we effectively plot a novel if we haven't already nailed our MC's voice?  It seems that for most of us, this kernel of an idea sprouts inside our brains and we grow it around the  storyline.  The MC often takes shape by the actions we're forcing him or her into as part of the story arc.  And I wonder - is this backwards?

Do the "pantsers" have the edge in today's market because they develop their MC's voice and follow where it leads?  Or is voice just a packaging for character traits and can be added in or tweaked later?

I wish I knew the answers to these questions.  I can say that writing Destined was relatively "easy" and freeing because the plot was already in place -- I simply drew on the ancient myth and let Sadie's new & improved (IMHO) voice tweak the old story. For example, in the original Cupid & Psyche myth, Psyche waits around for others to help her solve her problems.  In my version, Sadie is proactive and clever.  The end result is the same: Psyche/Sadie completes Venus' seemingly impossible tasks. But her voice changed. Her character changed. All while the basic story structure remained in place.

Which tells me that as an author, I need a basic plot (points A, B, C and D) in place, but when determining how to navigate within those points, that's when I need to let the voice of my character be my guide.  What about you?  Do you heed the siren song of your MC's voice or do you create an elaborate plot and your MC falls in line accordingly?

WRITER WEDNESDAY: Schedule In Some Writing

I'm in that in-between place right now. Jessie and I finished up some extensive edtis and are now are subbing our manuscript to agents. I have a couple ideas mulling in my brain, but can't seem to get in a groove of writing!

I picked up Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird today for a little inspiration. Her advice?

You sit down, I say. You try to sit down at approximately the same time every day. This is how you train your unconscious to kick in for you creatively. So you sit down at, say, nine every morning, or ten every night. You put a piece of paper in the typewriter, or you turn on your computer and bring up the right file, and then you stare at it for an hour or so ...

Somehow in the face of all this, you clear a space for the writing voice, hacking away at the others with machetes and you begin to compose sentences. You begin to string words together like beads to tell a story.

If you haven't read Bird by Bird, definitely pick it up! Lamott takes you from beginning to end (with humor and sarcasm included) in writing a novel.

So what resonated in me from this? It's the sitting down part. It's the carving out a schedule. I know to do it. It's how I got my 3 manuscripts written. I sat down every day while the toddler was napping and the girls were at school. I know that if I sit down, my ideas will come. But I think I actually need to schedule it in. During nap time. Because, invariably, if I tell myself that I'll "find time today" - that time will never come. Laundry needs to be done, the kids have homework, I need to hop on Twitter ...

It's the same thing I need to do with hitting the gym!

Do you schedule in your writing?

Q&A with a YA!! (repost)

If any of you follow my personal blog then you know I'm on vacation. I haven't taken a break from blogging or posting since I began in February. So I decided to share with you pieces from my segment Q&A with a YA, on Writers' Ally, hosted by Jacob Milhouse and Riv Re. These particular questions were answered by Jacob.
Enjoy!! And please, chime in and give your opinions!! We love them.

Today our 1st YA question comes from Elana Johnson, author of Possessions due out in 2011.

What do you struggle with the most in your life? Managing your time? Self-esteem? The opposite sex? What do you do when you have free time? Are the stereotypical "jocks" and "cheerleaders" and "nerds" real?

Answer: I struggle with a bit of it all, and it all kind of ties in to one another. You like someone but not confident enough in yourself to approach them. In other words, afraid of rejection…or humiliation. When it comes to time, there’s so much you want to do, but so little time it feels like. Or maybe that’s just me, lol, I’m overly ambitious and get agitated when I can’t do everything at once.

As far as stereotypes, books have always taken this to the extreme in some cases. To be honest, where I’m from the most popular/most beautiful girl isn’t a cheerleader; she’s an A-student. I would be considered a “nerd” in most places, but I talk and get along fine with anyone and everyone. Jocks, on the other hand, tend to be the ones that fall within the same guidelines. I know jocks that are intelligent and have a future besides sports, but there are also those who partake in sports for the attention or because, academically, they don’t excel. They need something that makes them feel good about themselves.

Kittie Howard and Dianna K. Salerni ask:  

Who's driving the YA market, the teens or the authors? Is it the publishers? Is the market driven by what teens want to read, what authors want to write, or what publishers think teens want to read?

Great question! I wish I could give a definite answer, but it's one of those things that's a system, you know? We all work together to make this industry thrive. I don't even need to explain how this system works, because, as writers, you know just as well as I do. We all have an invaluable part to play. The important thing as a writer is to write what you enjoy, what makes you uncomfortable, what makes you cry, what makes you laugh. Hell, I started writing because I couldn't find books that I liked. I wanted to cater to YA's like myself who want that perfect combination of adult and YA. Hopefully, a publisher will take that work and deliver it to the readers who will appreciate it.

What do you think? Have any questions of your own? (Ooh...and don't forget to grab our button. Did you see it? Didn't the designer do a great job. thx, jessie.)

By:  Sheri L.  

(reposted due to technically glitch with comments.  Thanks for your patience)

WRITER WEDNESDAY: Writing with an Accent

I love how JK Rowling writes her characters' dialects and accents in the Harry Potter series. Its fun to read and the characters' voices literally leap off the page.

Unfortunately, writing accents and dialogues is not an easy task - and it's even harder to do well!



Accent:
Definition: An accent is the unique speech patterns and inflections (distinguished from other varieties of the same language) that identify a particular individual.

A character's accent can be hard to portray without phonetically spelling out the words in dialogue. Unfortunately this can get quite clunky and confusing to a reader. It also slows the reader down and can distract from the storyline.

Instead of using phonetics to show how a character speaks the word "roof" (does he say roooof or ruff?), you can describe his accent in the dialogue tags. This is a great opportunity to further your MC's voice as she describes the other character's accent in her own terms.

Another way to showcase an accent is to choose a key word or phrase that your character speaks repeatedly and spell the rest of the words in the sentence correctly.

Dialect:

Definition: A dialect is the choice of words a person uses and how a sentence is put together.

A character's dialect is much easier (and fun) to play around with because it involves manipulating specific word choices and sentence structure. It can be the difference between soda, pop, and Coke (I'm a soda girl myself)!

Just be careful not to always pick stereotypical word replacements. Fully research your character's dialect (even speaking to people from that area) if you're not fully immersed in it yourself.

Do you write dialects and accents? What are your tips?