Teaser Tuesday

Today is a special day: it's the first FELL Tuesday in which Birch (the main character) and Steinbeck (that boy on the bus) actually exchange words. Just a few words, yes. This is a cliff-hanger teaser, which just means you'll have to come back next week.

* * *

Oh, and!

This is a really bad picture, haha, but it's from my FELL photo shoot over break, and it's Birch's bus (#17). My shutter speed was set for something else, so it was too slow to catch the bus. I have about five pictures of this blurry thing speeding by ...

* * *

I wonder what Steinbeck's running away from. If he has no home, maybe no possessions except his clothes and that novel, does he have any money? What does he eat? And why am I half terrified that he’ll get on the bus at the next stop — and half desperate to see him?

Maybe, I think, closing my eyes as the bus makes its downtown Ballard stop, maybe he ran away from a perfect home in the suburbs to explore real life, real human living and breathing and thinking and striving, in the middle of the city. But maybe he’s running away from the grimy living, breathing, thinking, and striving — to find that perfect home.

The bus’s doors whisper shut and people shift as the driver pulls out into traffic. A light smell drifts under my nose: the smell of summer time, forest leaves. Blue sky and long afternoons with nothing to do but lie in the sun and dream. My eyes pop open. Steinbeck’s standing right next to me.

If I want to be sane (and normal and safe), I will swap places with the other guy behind me so that Steinbeck and I can’t even trade glances all the way up 32nd; but I am not sane and I don’t want to play things normal or safe. I pull the Steinbeck novel out of my bag.

“You left this in the doorway last night,” I say just as our eyes click together. A burst of surprise blossoms on his face, widening his muddy eyes, which are, this close, an unnatural mix of brown and green and gold. His lips fall open a little. His teeth are perfectly straight and white: he definitely ran away from the perfect suburb home.

“It’s not mine,” he says. His voice is like a golden summer breeze except it has a rougher edge, a husky note that makes me wonder if he’s spoken at all in the last week.

“You left it in the doorway,” I say again. “By my apartment.”

Steinbeck’s mouth closes. Opens. “Oh,” he says. “Thank you.” He takes the book, the other end of the book so our fingers don’t touch, and then shuffles back an inch or so. I can read that bus language: leave me alone.

But tonight is not his night.

Teen Talk (Or: why your teenagers shouldn't talk like that)

You know the way teenagers talk, right? I'm one of them, so I should know. We, like, use filler words all the time, and it's almost impossible to understand what we're saying, 'cause, like, we say like all the time. ALL the time. It's like some sort of disease or something.

But.

While it'd obviously be awful to read a book whose teenage characters talked like that, I want to give another reason for why peppering your teen talk with like is a big no-no.

It's because we don't hear ourselves talk like that. I was talking with my friend the other day, coming back from the airport after break, and the driver (an adult) was cracking up about how much we were saying like. The thing was, though, we didn't even notice. We're so used to hearing it that we tune it out.

In one of my communications classes, the professor really picked on fillers such as "like", "um", etc. Whenever a student would say "um", the whole class would have to chant "uuuuuummmmmm" - all in good fun, of course - to not only make the speaker back up and try again, but also to make them realize they'd used the word. I remember always being surprised when the class uuuummmm-ed back at me, because I didn't remember actually saying um.

Point taken?

It's like when you walk into a musty-smelling room: at first you notice the smell, but gradually your nose starts ignoring it, and pretty soon the room smells normal.

Anyway, all that to say this: unless you're writing satire, avoid like in YA fiction. Your teen readers will think you're speaking a foreign language - because seeing that word everywhere looks strange even to us.

Let's Talk Romance.

Choco hit on a nervy spot in the YA blogosphere the other day with this post about romance in YA. If you haven't read it, go check it out right now. She's jumped on a subject that I've been thinking a lot about recently, so I thought I'd catch the thought-train with a follow-up post on one issue she brought up. See these posts, too, for more insight and background.

***

Lust vs. Love

I'm learning in philosophy class that definition is a key element of an argument. Before I argue: What's the definition of lust? Definition of love?

Lust is, according to my handy American Heritage Dictionary, "intense or unrestrained sexual craving."

Love is, according to same dictionary, something very different. Love is "a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness."

And while a dictionary definition can never encompass something as huge and mysterious as love, this definition does point to something obvious. Lust and love are not the same thing.

Lust is merely physical attraction and desire. It's got nothing to do with personal connection, mutual understanding, or intentional commitment. Love, however, runs deeper than lust. It sees beyond instant attraction, hot looks, sizzling eyes: Love is a person-to-person thing that's rooted in friendship. Best friendship. And long hours talking, lots of laughing, lots of questioning and arguing and learning to work together.

Mainstream YA fiction has forgotten that. Worse, it's twisted that up.

See, Edward and Bella must be in love because he's hot and she's attracted to his marble moodiness. They must be in love because they both obsess about each other and dream about kissing each other. They must be in love because when they kiss, sparks fly and things sizzle. They must be in love because --

I don't want to rant about Twilight, and I don't mean to single it out. But I think it's a good example of a broader trend, and so I'm going to use it to elaborate.

Why must they be in love?

Speaking as a teenager myself, I know it's easy to fall for "love" stories like Bella and Edward's. The tension in YA paranormal/romance books runs so high it's impossible not to get caught up in eyes staring, hands touching, bodies wanting.

But. What else is there to a relationship like that?

This lust-mance isn't real life. This lust=love stuff is a myth, a sugar-coated and highly addicting myth that we're swallowing like candy - because it is candy. It tastes good for a while. I'm not going to lie: I like sizzling chemistry between two characters who are insanely attracted to each other.

When romance is boiled down to mere sex, though, it loses something valuable. Yeah, it seems like candy; our society, our teen readers, and our YA writers are gulping it down by the handful. But it's just going to make us sick.

Maybe we already are: we're so obsessed with sex - our culture is so saturated with it - that we forget about love and trade it for something cheaper.

How cute would it be to read about two characters who connect like kindred spirits not because they can't stop staring at each other in the halls, but because they trade words that matter? Because they come to know each other? Because they learn the meaning of selfless love -- not selfish lust, but selfless love?

***

I know that some people think that fiction is just fiction, and characters are just characters - and that analyzing romance in YA is just plain dumb. And... to be honest, I think that's a cop-out argument. Books influence their readers; the myth of YA romance has influenced our culture. We've gotta change something - because we've lost something precious.

Comments welcome. Arguments too. I'd like to hear what you think!

RTW: Career

This week's Road Trip Wednesday topic: which author's career would you most like to emulate?

































And... I just had to be cliche and post those pictures.

Several caveats first:

• I'm a very ambitious person. I'm also a perfectionist. That's a dangerous combination.
• But, in case you're worried, I don't want to be Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, or Stephen King.
  

A while ago, I was talking to my dad about being famous.

Me: If people ever obsessed over my books like they do over Twilight, I'd tell them to get a life.

Dad: Maybe you would -- until you saw the $$$...

Okay. Maybe. I suppose if the teen world wants to shower love on my head, I won't say no. But while I'm for sure shooting for the NYT Bestseller's List, I don't want to be as overwhelmingly popular as Meyer, Rowling, and those types of people.

What I'm trying to say here is that I'd rather be like Maggie Stiefvater: awesome writer and storyteller, definitely NYT status, definitely a known name, but not crazy insanely famous. Or I'd like to be like Suzanne Collins, whose books are addicting and challenging and taking the world by storm, but in a reasonable way.

Does that make sense?

Most of all, though, I want my career to be my own. Meyer, Rowling, and King have very distinct careers and changed the writing world in distinct ways. Same with Stiefvater and Collins. I want that. I want people to say that my stories are unique -- not that I'm the next Maggie Stiefvater or insert name here, but that I'm Kirsten Rice. Something new.

All of that to say: I'm stoked for the ride ahead. Whatever happens, I am soaking it up with a big grin. This whole writing thing is a grand adventure.

What about you guys? What does your dream writing career look like?

Teaser Tuesday

From FELL... (picture from of my photo shoot of Birch's neighborhood - it's the neon sign in the window of the video store that inspired the video store in the book)

Across the street, something shifts in the shadows. Someone's in the alcove of the hair salon's door. Shivers of surprise zing up my spine. It’s Steinbeck — still there. The kid is weird. Like a stormy evening, he scares me and intrigues me at the same time. He looks like he could be thunder, danger, dark clouds — but the power and draw of his stare won’t let me look away. And I don’t have anything to lose. In fact, I could gamble every single card in my hand and lose every single one and not even care.

Outside, I hide the box of stir fry inside my coat and hurry around the corner. The street’s empty. Rain sparkles like fireflies in the light of the streetlights. As I walk past the grocery store, its lights flick off and the neon closed sign in the window buzzes to life.

Then, right across the street from the hair salon, I stop. I can’t see into the alcove over the doorway. Steinbeck’s probably curled up shivering, probably watching me and wondering and —

Oh gosh. I try to swallow a few times. The rain feels like ice on my hot forehead. Everyone in the city knows the rules: women shouldn’t really walk alone at night and definitely shouldn’t talk to homeless teenagers. It isn’t safe.

But, steaming food making a hot wet patch on the sweatshirt beneath my rain coat, I step out into the street. Something moves inside the alcove. My heart patters faster than the rain. Rehearsed lines swim around in my head: are you hungry? But I mostly want to ask: who are you? Why do you ride my bus routes and where do you come from and why do you have nowhere to go? And can you play more music?

On the sidewalk now, I squint into the alcove. “Hello?” My voice squeaks. No one answers. I tiptoe closer. Wind skips down the street, carrying smells of rain and wet leaves and — wild woods. I shiver and whisper, “Hello?”

No one is in the doorway. Pent-up fear rushes out of me and I close my eyes. Open them again, though, in the next second because the alcove isn’t quite empty. That Steinbeck novel is splayed out on the doorstep, binding twisted open and pages soaked with rain.

Steinbeck left fast.

Contest Winners!

Congratulations to ...

clairegillian, first prize winner! Claire racketed up every point possible in the contest -- congrats!
Christina Farley, second prize winner!

I'll be emailing/tweeting you soon so I can hook you up with your books and other prizes... Also winners of the drawing:

Creative A, third prize!
Rachel, fourth prize!

You two will get an email/tweet, too, about guest posts or critiques.

Thanks to everyone who entered! I can't wait for the winners to enjoy their books -- and maybe we'll see some guest posts popping up on the blog soon :)

Happy Monday!

Friday Five

1. I'm in shock: How is it already Friday? Where did this week go? WHHYY do I have to go back to school in three days?

2. Besides that sadness, spring break has been full of spring-y wonderfulness. I've hung out at my two favorite coffee shops in the whole world, baked cookies, ignored my homework... and spent some quality time with my family. Perfect!

3. I went on a FELL picture-shoot in the neighborhood where the book is set! The fictional neighborhood is a little different, but still definitely based on real life. That's Birch's front door (THE FRONT DOOR! OMG!) over there. I even got to take some pictures inside the grocery store that her apartment sits over: to quote the cashier, I could take pictures "as long as they weren't for any nefarious purposes."

4. Seattle is my favorite city ever. See my skyline @ night shot for evidence :) All this picture-taking has inspired a blog post for next week, so come back to discover how shooting scenes can be a lot like writing them.

5. Still a few days left to enter the contest -- see sidebar for link. And come back on Monday to see who won!!

Happy Friday!

AW Interview: JoNightshade

This week, I caught JoNightshade (aka Nikki) at the perfect time - baby's naptime! - for an interview about critique groups, babies, and being busy. Thanks, Nikki, for stopping by!


AW Identity
Screen Name: JoNightshade
Post Count: 5,667
Favorite Forum: Sandbox - even though I don't go there often, this is where I end up when I get REALLY stuck. Often just the act of posting here jogs my brain into action.
What's the best lesson AW has taught you? How to take criticism. When I first joined I was one of those overly sensitive writers in love with her own words. The first time I put something in SYW, I ran to my husband crying when I saw the comments. But I was determined not to give up so I bit my tongue and tried to resist arguing or justifying myself as much as possible. And to my surprise, it got easier and easier. Now I understand that criticism is a good thing, because it shows me exactly how I can become an even BETTER writer. A little over a year ago, I joined a real-world writing group, where I now go once a month to have three people tell me to my face what's wrong with my work. And I love it. I couldn't have even contemplated doing that before AW.

About:
In real life, you are... well, a mom, now! I also work part time from home for a high-end travel company. I write a weekly newsletter and whatever other writing/editing needs doing.
Book title: Courting Greta
Genre: Contemporary fiction? Romance? Please don't make me choose.
Blog: www.thehootmans.blogspot.com - it's not writing related. I blog to keep my widespread family and friends up to date, so right now it's overwhelmed with BABY.

Describe your current WIP in 50 words or so.

An awkward, unlikely romance between a nerdy, crippled computer programmer and a gruff girls' basketball coach ten years his senior. It'll make you laugh at things you shouldn't.

I gripe about balancing writing and college, but you recently had a baby! Talk about that ultimate balancing act, and where you see your writing going now that you have a little boy.

College? Oh man, trust me, when you get out you're going to look back and think "Holy crap I had SO much time then!" As for me, I don't even know right now. I guess as far as subject matter, I'm still interested in the same things. Mainly, I see my writing going slower! Seriously, though, I think I will have to be more disciplined. Having less time to write actually focuses me more - I spend all those hours rocking and feeding thinking about various scenes, so when I actually have time I sit down and pound it out rather than staring at the keyboard. Okay, I still stare at the keyboard, too. Sigh.

Has having a baby changed your writing in any way -- as you observe your child grow and learn?

It's only been 3 months so it's a little hard to pinpoint anything fundamental. But I do have a character who lost a child shortly after giving birth. In the time line of the story it's been over 20 years. I was a little afraid of going overboard with the whole issue, because I wasn't sure it was realistic to have someone still upset after all that time, especially since she was only with the baby for a couple of days. But after having gone through the experience, I realized I actually needed to go back and intensify her feelings. I know childbirth is different for everyone, but when they put my little boy in my arms, I fell in love in a way that's beyond words. If anything ever happened to him, my life would just be over. Period. And I think losing a child after being able to hold him would make things exponentially worse.

Right now, where are you on the road to publication? What's the journey been like so far and what have you been learning as you work toward getting an agent?

Where am I on the road? Stalled, I think. Sitting on the shoulder waiting for a tow truck! Once upon a time I had an agent, who turned out to be a crappy agent, so I left. Then I came incredibly close to landing a really cool agent, who actually helped me get out of the situation with the crappy agent, but she wanted changes and I rushed it and blew the whole thing. So now I'm taking my time. I am actually going through my entire novel with my critique group - one chapter per month. It's making me take a hard look at each step of the plot, which is my weakness. Sometimes I feel like I'm letting everything pass me by, but then I read about all the crazy stuff going on in the publishing industry right now and I think, hey, maybe waiting until it all sorts itself out isn't such a bad idea.

If you had to name one book on writing that's changed the way you write forever, what would it be? What's the biggest lesson the book taught you?

A book on writing? Uhhhh... I don't read books on writing. I had to read a couple in college and found them really boring and useless. I've always been someone who learns by example and by doing it myself. If I see an author doing something I like, I'll emulate that.

Lastly, if you could score a lunch date with any author who's ever lived, who would it be and why?

Who: Samuel Johnson. Why? Because he's such an incredibly quirky dude. I am fascinated by bizarre people, and I especially love bizarre people who are also incredibly smart. (My husband fits this description.) I probably wouldn't even say anything - I'd love to just sit and hear him ramble about whatever topic is on his mind.

RTW: Limericks!

I don't call myself a poet for good reason, so this week's Road Trip Wednesday looked like a beast until I discovered that limericks aren't actually that hard to write -- although I'm not sure mine's last line makes any sense (not my fault; according to rhymezone.com, only three other words in the whole English language rhyme with Birch). Anyway, there's something addicting about their trip-ul-let rhythm that makes my whole mind dance to the beat. Now all my thoughts are coming in limericks -- it's bad -- so before it gets worse, here's FELL, the limerick.

There once was a girl named Birch
A fire had left her in the lurch
But when she met Harley
Life really got gnarly
She couldn't abandon her search

Now I'm going to go dance a jig (no joke, I did Irish Dance for five years) and chow down on a Rueben sandwich. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Deadlines, Extensions, and Teasers

Hopefully none of you contest-entrants were hanging around yesterday waiting to win. Here's the thing. I was gone all day yesterday (no computer for a day! ah!) and so I've decided to extend the old contest deadline (March 15th) to next Monday (March 22). That's a whole other week to enter, if you haven't already!

Here's the link to the contest: make sure to leave a comment and tally your number of entries.

Now... Hello, Teaser Tuesday. This is from FELL, of course.

***

It’s late-morning quiet, the pause before lunch hour like the pause before a storm. A few cars blow through the yellow light in front of me and a metro bus hovers by the stop across the street. That green and yellow, and the red of the trees along Market Street that cling to their leaves, are the only splotches of color. Pavement and sky wash everything else gray.

Everything else except the boy sitting against a closed storefront half a block away from me. He’s sitting next to another man, who’s wearing gray and brown and a tattered hat. The window, papered with gray FOR LEASE signs, makes a stark background behind them. The boy, though, is wearing a blue plaid shirt. Bright blue. Steinbeck.

The wind skitters down the street, bringing spatters of rain and the tinkle of music. The boy is playing a guitar. It’s about as ancient as the man sitting next to him, and the case lying on the sidewalk in front of them has many scars and bruises. A few coins glint inside the case.

I debate. Steinbeck’s eyes are closed. His fingers possess the strings, posses the guitar, possess the music. I take a few steps closer. The old man looks up. Somewhere beneath his beard, he smiles at me. I nod at him, then fall back to watching Steinbeck. He is the guitar. He is music and his music sucks me in like a whirlpool. It’s vaguely Irish or Celtic, but something about the way the melodies twist and tug sounds wilder — like waves rushing a rocky beach, rain battering a forrest, clouds tumbling across a black sky. Or like ancient strength dripping through a tree’s veins. The notes flare like sparks of autumn color or a shivery battle cry — or first love at moonlight or laughter spicing firelight.

Wild peace sizzles into my soul, leaves a mark there like a handprint or a whisper that says

Breathe

Only that.

I open my eyes a long time after the music’s stopped. The street is more gray. Rain patters against the leaves of the trees lining the street. There are no cars. No people. Just one old man with his guitar —

The tug of the music lets go of my mind and senses rush back into me like the tide. The silence of the street is like a slap in the face. I hug my arms around myself and turn in a circle. No one. The old man starts playing a simple melody…

“Where did he go?” I say. Gravelly as if I haven’t spoken in hours, my voice confuses the old man’s fingers. The melody crashes; he stops the ringing by pressing one hand against the frets.

“That boy? He’s gone.”

“He was just here.” I whirl in a circle again — because Steinbeck has to be close. I have to see him. See his eyes. They’re like that music somehow, so wild and calm, untamed and peaceful.

“He disappears like that,” says the old man.

“You know him?”

“He’s been hanging around here for a few days. Never seen talent like that. Wish he’d stick around.”

“Do you know — who he is?” I say.

“He doesn’t talk.” The old man’s chin drifts down as he starts to play something else. He tries to play too fast, too fancy like Steinbeck, and messes up. “Nah, he keeps to himself and comes and goes when he wants. Never seen talent like that.”

“I’ve never heard music like that,” I whisper.

“What’s that?” His head pops back up and he squints at me. I shrug.

“Have you ever heard music like that?”

“Nothing I know,” he says. I nod, frown, stare at the spot where Steinbeck was just sitting until the old man clears his throat. “He’s not there, missy.”

“He disappeared so fast.” I shiver again and try to think of the melody of his music, to warm me back up, but it doesn’t come. Everything’s gray again, as gray as the old man’s beard.

“He does that,” he says.

Friday Five

Oh man, you guys, it is FINALLY FRIDAY! And...

1. Still time to enter the grand-opening contest. See that link over on the right? Click it. You should enter. BOOKS!

2. A few nights ago, we were watching "Twister," that movie about tornado chasers that is epically (yes, I've used that word twice) intense, and right as the mother of all tornadoes was crashing toward the town and the doom music was pumping through our too-loud speakers, the power went FFFFFzzzzzzz..... Out. I haven't been that creeped out in a looong time. It didn't help that cell phone service went out, too. Weird feeling -- complete darkness and isolation and, after everyone calmed down, silence. It came on about two hours later and I have never loved the sound of heaters and refrigerators and electricity so much. Yes, I am modern and lame, and have trouble surviving two hours without lights, cell phones, and internet.

3. If the power had stayed out for a couple days, I would have had an excuse for this next thing: FELL is still 30k just like it was last week. Hm. I wish it would grow by itself while I stare at this lovely cover...

4. It's Spring Break time, and I couldn't be happier to be heading north. Thank you, universe, for things like vacations.

5. Oh, and did I mention? SPRING BREAK IS HERE!!

PS: If you need a Friday night movie idea, pick this. It's...epic.

AW Interview: Ink Wench

Today's Absolute Write Interview features Ink Wench, a.k.a. Tracey. On her blog, she describes an ink wench as "a pathetic creature subservient to her writing and who infinitely prefers living in her imaginary worlds." I love that definition -- and I also love what Tracey says below about the themes in her YA novel, the draws of the paranormal/fantasy genre, and the joys of blogging. Welcome, Tracey!

AW Identity:
Screen Name: ink wench
Post Count: recently broke 4k - yikes!
Favorite Forum: Rejection and Dejection, specifically the purgatory thread
What's the best lesson AW has taught you? Never give up. I think that’s one of the reasons I spend so much time in the R&D forum. I would have quit long ago without encouragement, and without meeting so many other people determined to succeed. So I like to pass encouragement along to others.

About:
In real life, you are... Usually lost in my imagination, heh.
Book title: Just one? :-) I tend to have several I’m working on at once. ‘Twixt is the one that I found an agent with. Then there’s also Strange Misery, which is complete, and Necromance Me, which is almost complete.
Genre: ‘Twixt and Necromance Me are YA contemporary fantasy. Strange Misery is urban fantasy.
Blog: inkwench.wordpress.com

Describe 'Twixt in fifty words or less.

‘Twixt is about a girl who loses her dreams and her younger sister in a car accident. When she finds the underworld’s lost spell book for reincarnation, she hopes to use it to get her sister back. Instead she’s the one who ends up being reborn.

Like a lot of YA books, 'Twixt deals with themes of death. Firstly, why'd you pick this theme? And secondly how does 'Twixt stand out?

Cool question. I didn’t choose to write about death. Being the cheery person I am, I’d decided I wanted to write about a character who was totally miserable and had no hope for the future. Death—and that she feels responsible for killing her sister—just became part of that misery. When I think about it, it strikes me that ‘Twixt is more about rebirth. Gabrielle, my main character, has to journey, literally, to the underworld so she can return and start to live again.

One of the things that makes ‘Twixt a bit different is that my main character has some debilitating physical issues thanks to her car accident. She lives with chronic pain and it frequently gets in the way of normal (and paranormal) living. On the plus side, she can use her cane to beat off the creatures that attack her. There’s also a shocking lack of romance.

'Twixt is currently on sub to editors with your agent. Talk about this process. Lots of people say it sucks. Does it?

‘Twixt actually isn’t on sub at the moment. I had to find a new agent in January, and she pulled ‘Twixt from submission so we could work on revisions. But when I was on sub, I have to say I didn’t think it was that bad. No worse than the whole signing with an agent process is anyway. To me, the signing was the killer. Suddenly, I no longer had complete control over my writing life. At least when I was querying, I chose when to query, who to query, etc. Now… it’s all out of my hands, and that’s kind of scary. (I never realized I could be such a control freak before.) Subbing was definitely better than querying though. I knew I wasn’t alone in feeling dejected, heh.

You describe on your blog how much you love the paranormal and fantasy genres. What's its biggest attraction for you, and why you think it's so hot right now?

I’ve always loved paranormal, ever since telling ghost stories around the campfire in Girl Scouts. I think the reason is that fantasy/paranormal allows for almost anything. You can give in to your wildest imagination—and mine can get pretty wild—so the stories can go anywhere. Who’s never wished they could cast a spell on the people who annoy them? Or wished they could live forever, or be faster and stronger than a mere human? It also allows for vicarious thrills. The chance to experience living on the edge of death (sometimes literally), and as a whole humanity seems pretty intrigued by what happens after death.

I’m not sure I’d say paranormal is any hotter now than it’s ever been. Maybe as a specific genre, yes. But ghost stories, urban legends, myths, etc. have always been around and popular. I think we’ve only started seeing them marketed as their own niche. I also think the prevalence of female main characters in the genre has been a huge part of the success. No surprise that girls and women like reading about strong girls and women, and paranormal has embraced that sort of character.

Just recently you celebrated your one-year blog anniversary. Congratulations! Firstly, what have you learned about blogging and social networking (and their benefits vs. drawbacks) in this past year?

Thanks! Oh boy. I learned that keeping a blog regularly updated is a lot harder than I thought it would be. If I don’t want to post totally inane things, that is. (I’m sure I do regardless of intent.) But it’s been great to be able to put my thoughts out there and see if/when they resonate with others. I’ve gotten to (virtually) meet some great people through my blog and by visiting other blogs. It’s a great way to share and learn from each other.

The biggest drawback I can think of, besides the pressure to post, is knowing when to post a thought and when to hold back. Putting yourself out there is a good way to find an audience for your work, but like with the law—anything you say can and (potentially) will be held against you.

Secondly, what do you hope to accomplish and explore on your blog in year number two?

Good question, and something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’d like to make my blog helpful to others in some way, but I’m not sure how. I’ve been thinking about doing series of posts on the querying process since I have a lot of experience with it, but there’s so much already out there. I don’t want to rehash stuff.

Besides landing a publishing deal sometime soon, what are your highest hopes for your career as a writer?

Fantasy writer, right? Wild imagination… :-) I’d love to be able to earn a living as an author. To me, that’s the dream—to make money entertaining other people with my stories. More realistically, I simply hope that I can do the entertaining bit. Reading has always been my escape, and I’d love to be able to create worlds and characters that others can lose themselves in.

RTW: My Works Cited

Road Trip Wednesday, a blog carnival sponsored by YA Highway. This week: favorite writing/reading resources.

Writing isn't a solitary exercise. Even if you're born with a natural, wordy talent -- even if you can spin sentences like Steinbeck -- you're probably not going to make it far without some outside help.

Talent needs technique.

So here's a mini works cited of my favorite writerly sources that have influenced my technique, organized into a few categories: character, plot, query/publishing, and general.


Character

Character Chart: This resource pushes for a no-boundaries relationship between you and your characters. When you finish this, you'll know everything. You've been warned.

Plot

Blake Snyder: I heard him speak at a conference in 2008, and his 15-beat structure, while intended for screen writers, totally transformed my perceptions of plot structure. I was sad to hear that Blake died unexpectedly last year -- he was a hilarious and brilliant man.

Writing the Breakout Novel: A classic read by industry-stud Donald Maas. It's one of the few books I brought to school because it ROCKS. It could also fit under the character category, but I remember it really shaping the way I plotted my WIPs to heighten the stakes in believable ways and create unstoppable tension. And did you know you can win this book if you enter the blog contest?!? What a good deal!

Query/Publishing

Nathan Bransford: I just can't leave this guy out. His insider's look at query letters and the publishing industry is invaluable -- plus his quirky humor just makes everything better.

The Sell Your Novel Toolkit: My mommy gave this to me back when I first fell in love with writing. In it, Elizabeth Lyon (whom I also heard speak at a conference) offers structured query and synopsis advice. Success stories conclude each chapter -- this is a "you can do it!" kind of book!

General

Absolute Write: need I say more? Sign up now. Real people sharing advice and stories.

Bird by Bird: Anne Lamott in her element... humor and advice and stories from a writer who's been at lower lows than yours -- and higher highs. I read snippets still when I need a pick-me-up. Did you know you can also win this if you enter the blog contest?

If You Want to Write: Brenda Ueland can be a little over the top. Um... scratch that. Make that way over the top. But. The way she talks about anima and inner creativity is both inspiring and thought-provoking.

Your turn! What are your favorite writing resources?

***

Don't forget to enter the grand opening contest -- win books and guest posts and critiques!!
Also: Tomorrow's interview is with AW's Ink Wench -- stay tuned!

Teaser Tuesday

*drumroll please*

*...*

Katie (Sophistikatied), an extremely talented graphic designer with a really bright future ahead of her, created this beautiful and inspiring and JAW-DROPPINGLY COOL cover for FELL over the weekend, since I won her cover-design contest last week (squee!!)

It looks like this:

Drooling? Yes. So am I. I've been staring at it nonstop for the last few days. LOVE. So much love that I have to post it again:

AH! It's so good and so perfect that the current draft of FELL, as it stands, is very lame in comparison. But I'll post an excerpt anyway. This is the second half of the first chapter (the first half is here).

***

At my stop, most of the rest of the bus drains onto streets soggy with late winter rain. I bite my lip before plunging forward, because Steinbeck stands between me and the door. He’s pretending to read the book again, nose deep in the binding and eyes locked on the words.

“Excuse me.”

His fingers squish the book closed, jamming his thumb between the pages.

“Um, excuse me. I’m getting off here," I say.

He looks up slowly. Eyes as wide and brown as deers’ eyes — except with flecks of gold in them — stare into mine. Up close, he’s too tan to be from Seattle, a golden boy who could be hunky and hot if he weren’t so skinny.

“Hello?” I say, rude because I have to be.

“Sorry.” His eyes break away from mine. “Sorry —” He squashes back against the seats and I squeeze past. Our shoulders touch and I blush like a little girl. Can’t help glancing back at him as I drop my quarters into the machine by the door. He’s not looking at me anymore. He’s looking at the back of the bus. And white fear floats under his tan, making him look sickly and terrified. I stop. Who’s he looking at?

He’s looking at two guys with black beanies and black windbreakers and sun-golden faces sitting at the back of the bus. Steinbeck shoves his book under his arm and dives for the door. The men stand up. As I turn toward the door, Steinbeck leaps past me, jumps out the door onto the sidewalk.

“Kid,” the driver shouts as he tumbles into the rain, “gotta pay one-seventy-five on the way out —”

But he doesn’t seem to have one-seventy-five or time. The night swallows him up as he runs down the street. And then the guys start to move toward the front of the bus, but I scurry out and the door whistles shut behind me.

They — and the way Steinbeck looked at them, the word They is capitalized — don’t stop the bus. And when the swirl of exhaust fades, leaving me standing in the rain and dark, Steinbeck is gone.

Just — gone.

***

PS: Don't forget to enter the contest!

Grand-Opening Contest!

contest (kon'test)

n.

1. A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals.
2. A competition, especially one in which entrants perform separately and are rated by judges.
   

Grand Opening Contest (grand o'pun'ing kon'test)
n.

1. A struggle to WIN BOOKS between rival blog followers in order to (a) celebrate the new blog and (b) WIN BOOKS and other cool stuff.
   
2. A competition, especially one in which YOU frantically follow, blog, tweet, and retweet in order to gain points, and are rated by ME.

The Prizes

The prizes - if I may say so myself - are pretty cool: free books! Hilarious books! Romantic books! Helpful books!

First up, the hilarious book: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

Second choice, the romantic (and exciting!) books: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Third choice, the hilarious and helpful book: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

And fourthly, the helpful book (which I highly recommend you get even if you don't win): Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas.

First prize
Two free books - winner picks
One critique (query or first five pages) by me
One guest blog post -- here!

Second prize
One free book - winner picks
One critique (query or first five pages) by me
OR a guest blog post -- here!

Third and fourth prize
(picked at random from contest enter-ers)
One critique (query or first five pages) by me
OR a guest blog post -- here!

The Rules

There are several ways to enter - and the beauty of this contest is that you can still win a critique/guest post even if you only have one or two entries, since third and fourth prize are random picks. But...the more you do, the more chance you have of winning first prize!

+1 entry: Comment on the blog
+2 entries: Become a twitter follower (unless you already are, in which case you get two automatic entries!)
+3 entries: Tweet about the contest
+4 entries: Become a new blog follower
+5 entries: You're already an old follower
+6 entries: Add kirstenjoyrice.blogspot.com to your blogroll
+7 entries: Blog about the contest

Tally your entries in the comments section -- with links to posts, tweets, etc.

Contest closes on Monday, March 21st. And, due to my mostly-empty pockets and college-student status, books can only be delivered to winners from the U.S. -- international people still get query/page critiques, though! And, in case of ties for first/second prizes, there will be some sort of tie-breaker, also due to my empty pockets. Also, I'm adding a ton of caveats, but this is another necessary one: Shiver and The Hunger Games are only available in hardcover, so I'm only giving away one copy of each. Yes, I'm poor. So the first prize winner gets first pick, obviously, but if they want something else, those books will remain up for grabs.

May the best followers win!

Friday Five

I've never done a Friday Five before, so forgive me if I do it wrong. I think it goes something like this...

1. I went on a hike this afternoon: it was so steep and scrambly that I almost passed out, but the view at the top was stunning. Ocean, beaches, city. LOVE where I live! Then the cafeteria had cupcakes at lunch. I probably ate back all the calories I burned on the hike, but hey, chocolate frosting is the bomb.

2. The WIP, Fell, is almost 30k. It will be 30k by the end of the weekend. Thinking in terms of word count, it's almost halfway done! Thinking in terms of days/months/years, it might be a while.

3. On the subject of writing, I have a 15 page paper due next week. Writing 15 pages of fiction is a breeze, but 15 pages on Mr. John Milton and his epic poem Paradise Lost sounds so much harder. Thank you, Mr. Milton, for your contribution to English literature. What would happen if I told my prof that I've written a novel, so I don't need to write this paper? ... hm.

4. Spring break is exactly ONE WEEK away! Cue family, sleep, and home-cooked food. You know when you reach that point when you're just really ready to go home? Well. That's me. Not to say that this coming weekend and week aren't going to awesome. But. Home is calling to me.

5. CONTEST next week! Cool prizes, easy entries, anyone can win! Be excited!

Have a great weekend!

AW Interview: Sage

The wonderful thing about moving to a new blog site is that the location is different (isn't blogspot pretty?) but I have not changed. You can expect the same brilliant advice and hilarious wit -- so don't be alarmed. Blogspot is a good thing.

Now that I've made myself sound like an infomercial, I'd like to introduce the AW interview-ee of the week, Sage. She's a member of the AW mod-squad, and she very graciously stopped by to chat about her love for YA, lessons learned from WIPs, and the ups and downs of AW. Mostly the ups, because we all love that place. Thanks to Sage for kicking off the interviews at Blogspot! If you want to check out some old interviews, click here. Three more exciting guests will be dropping by before the end of March and this series, so make sure to come back on Thursdays for more!

AW Identity:
Screen Name: Sage
Post Count: Not quite 40K
Favorite Forum: YA, though I'm having lots of fun in the Bewares and Background Checks forum
What's the best lesson AW has taught you? I have to admit, I was one of those new YA authors who thought that YA had to be fairly innocent. In the 3 years since the YA forum really took off, I've obviously learned differently, but since I massively fail at being edgy, it doesn't actually matter that much to me

About:
In real life, you are... very stressed, lol.
Book title(s): I have no published books, but I will be happy to give you the titles of my finished (query-ready) mss. AFTRLYF, HEVN SNT, DownLoad, Love Sucks, Trouble is a Friend of Mine, and Fireflies.
Genre: Urban fantasy (A and HS), YA SF (DL), YA contemp. fantasy (LS, TiaFoM), and literary MG (Ff)
Blog: http://sagelikethespice.wordpress.com/

You write some YA: what draws you to the genre?

This is an excellent question. I think part of it is that I was reading YA early on, and then continued through high school, and in college I didn't really have time for pleasure reading. So when I thought about reading for fun after high school, I still usually thought about my experiences with YA, even though now YA is so far from the Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club books of that time.

Also, I always kind of wanted the kind of high school experience that we got to see in YA books and shows when I was younger, and I never got it, so there's always been an element of vicarious living that way. There's just something very natural to me about writing a character at the age of 16. I usually start my MCs there and then adjust their age according to what I really need it to be.

Finally..., my favorite show of all time is Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, so you can see how I might end up with YA contemp fantasy.

What's the most important way your writing has changed from your first novel to your latest?

Well, what's interesting is that my last novel was so different from anything else I had written. But, okay when I wrote my first novel, I was convinced that a) fantasy readers expected to see quests and portals and magic and languages and weird races, b) I couldn't possibly limit myself to one POV, in fact, I should do many many POVs, and c) I needed to show every bit of history that led to my MCs becoming who they were by the beginning of the actual story. Furthermore, it was 113K long... after cutting it significantly before and after finishing the first draft. (Now, I'm considering revamping that novel, and taking out some of the "necessary epic fantasy" stuff, limiting to one POV, cutting even more, and giving one of the MCs a medical problem that explains part of the characterization I already gave him).

The next novel had many of the same problems. I found AW just before writing the second novel (which was a NaNoWriMo novel), and my writing began to mature from there. When I got to AFTRLYF, which was set in the "real world," I made myself stick to one POV, gave her a snarky voice, and really set it up as a mystery (which was an element that failed in both my early novels). The first-person, female POV with attitude really worked for me, voice-wise, and I got a little stuck in it for a few books (even in DownLoad, where I had 2 third-person POVs, one of them was a pissed-off girl).

Part of the reason I wrote Fireflies, which was the first book where I tried to focus on language as much as plot and characterization, was to experiment with a different voice. Fiona's voice is still first-person, but it is rambly and soft and younger (IMO). And I absolutely love it. One of my favorite things about Fiona's voice, and this happened almost naturally, is that she'll go off on a tangent, and then by the time it's done I'll realize it's done one of two things--either it went around and came back to the beginning of the tangent, getting me back on course for the narrative, or it turned out that she was secretly talking about one of the themes of the book, metaphorically. One example of this is she's talking about the doors of the inn and how none of them fit their doorframes correctly. It comes about because she's feeling her way down the hall and doesn't want to bang the door against its frame as she presses on it, but what it relates back to is how her brother has a traumatic brain injury and his brain swelled up against the skull and doesn't fit properly. And I didn't make that connection until I got to the end of the scene.

You're in the middle of the querying process: how's it going so far?

I don't want to sound as impatient as I really am. ;-) I actually have three novels that have fulls and partials out there with agents, and I've only been querying the last one for a month and a half. I know this is a miniscule amount of time in the publishing world, but considering that I have fulls that have been out for 8 months, I feel very impatient when thinking about how long I might have left for these Fireflies fulls.

You're also an AW moderator. Firstly, you must invest a lot of your time on the boards. What drives you to commit such a big chunk of time to the writers, lurkers and learners at AW?

I'm a fairly new mod. I go through stages of being obsessed with AW and then others when I'm feeling depressed about writing and don't want to hear about it anymore, lol. That latter time is when it's really hard to convince myself to go hang out with all the prodigies in the YA forum. But the YA forum really didn't have a mod for a while, and then we had one that we shared with other forums. The nice thing about the YA forum, though, is that it's a great bunch of writers. They're very good at modding themselves, and I usually end up just being the person who sends threads to the right forum or merges the hundred word count threads that pop up in a week. Right now I'm working on a FAQ, where I'm just placing every post that covers our most talked about subjects in that thread. You can't imagine how often we get asked about edgy topics. And I know the regulars are trying soooo hard not to roll their eyes or yell, "READ THE STICKIES," so I thought I'd give them a few less instances to do that. Because I was a newbie four or five years ago too, and I've learned so much on AW, I want to make sure we don't scare away the newer members.

Secondly, you have an insider perspective on how AW works. What do you see as the top benefits (and maybe drawbacks, too) of any writer's being a part of this community? How has it enhanced your own writing?

I'm going to start with drawbacks. There are two drawbacks I can see from how AW works.

1) There are so many threads about so many things, both writing-related and not, and it is so easy to fall into procrastination-mode once you get online.

2) There are a few "rules" that occasionally get drilled into people's brains that you hear over and over and over, even as you see new books from debut writers breaking them. Now, of course, they are "rules" for a reason, but you cannot believe how set people will get in their belief that a prologue ruins a novel or first-person present tense is a gimmick.

As for the benefits, there are so many. One of the best is the support you get. When I started writing TiaFoM, I wasn't getting much love from another group of writer friends. But when I posted my first excerpt on AW, I was given this huge boost of reps from people telling me what they loved about the scene and the character (who was being a brat, so I'm glad they loved him). When I posted my trial beginning to Fireflies, my first comments were how beautiful the writing was and how literary, which were exactly the comments I needed at the time.

And of course there is a lot of good advice to be found on the website. I talked about people getting stuck on the "rules," but a lot of those guidelines are based on good reasons, and that really can help enhance a newbie's writing. And for those "rules" that aren't really "rules" (like about first-person present, which is a pretty popular POV in YA), you can have many different voices giving their opinion and reading and writing experiences, which isn't true of other sources of info for writers, like a book on writing or a writing class. And the Bewares and Background Checks forum is vital for any querying writer. Obviously Share Your Work, where you can get critiques on pieces of your novels or on your query gives you invaluable experience. I hang out more in Query Letter Hell than other parts of SYW, and I was surprised by how naturally I was able to write this query for Fireflies, which is my most successful query.

Lastly, your wildest publishing dream comes true... what is it?

I'm usually quite modest and fine with just getting published and having a small cult following who write fanfic (but, of course, I wouldn't know about it) about my books, but when I dream big, I imagine television shows based on my books. Or, like, AFTRLYF would make a pretty awesome movie, I'm not going to lie. But one of the agents who recently rejected Fireflies made revision suggestions, and she said that if I followed them she had no doubt that the book could win an award. And I was just blown away by the thought that any of my books could win an award. So now that's stuck in my imagination too, lol.

Wait, Blogspot?

Well. I'm here.

It took me a while -- Wordpress was my first stop on the blog train. I have absolutely nothing against Wordpress (actually I'm rather nostalgic about ditching my very first blog) but several things hooked me into Blogspot.

1. Followers. Yes... I am lame like that. I need followers to prove to the world that I don't ramble to a deaf world. I also thought it would be easier to follow other people's blogs if I had a Google account.

2. Pages. Actually this was the one reason it took me so long to get here. I love the Wordpress Pages feature, and I didn't think Blogspot had it. Until this morning, when I sneaked into Google and created this account just to test things out... and discovered that Blogspot has an all-new Pages feature! I was sold.

3. People. I started hinting at this change on Twitter this morning, and the replies were instantaneous and unanimous: make the move!

So change your links: kirstenjoyrice.blogspot.com is the new place to be. Don't forget the "joy" part -- that's new and improved and also very important, because Kirsten Joy Rice is going to be the name you'll see on bookshelves someday.

Also, click that "follow" button over on the sidebar! Watch for a contest coming soon to celebrate this blogspot into existence -- in style.