Guest Post: The YA Character Trope is becoming extinct

I first met Tamasine Loves at a writing event I presented at in Melbourne several years back, so it's awesome to be be hosting a guest post from her today as part of the blog tour for her debut YA novel, Remhurst Manor. She's an Australian author who's now based in Northern Ireland. I hope you enjoy her post about the extinction of YA character tropes!

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As infuriating as they are, if a character in a YA novel is a trope, a storytelling shorthand for a concept that the reader will recognise and understand instantly, their inclusion in a narrative serves a function. This is because stereotypes and tropes are narrative devices. They’re there because they have a job to do, and most of the time, across all media forms, for better or worse, tropes get the job done.

YA character tropes have been around as long as YA, lending themselves particularly well to a genre where word count is everything – young adult novels are shorter than their ‘adult’ genre fiction counterparts. Plots have to move faster and have fewer words with which to build a character. Now, it’s not impossible to effectively make a wonderful, rounded character, and develop them, in a plot with 60,000 words or less. It’s been done loads of times. It’s an impressive thing to be able to do. Not all writers can or want to do it, though, and so phone-in-a-trope means a half-built character from the get-go. The inclusion of a trope means reliance on a reader's prior knowledge of that trope and the connotations that go along with it.

Their use has widely gone uncontested, seeming like a lot of YA fiction readers sort of resign to their inclusion in the books because after all, when you love something, you are more likely to overlook flaws that would otherwise be obvious. But lately, the number of YA character tropes being cast in new releases in young adult fiction have noticeably been on the decline. Sure, there’s still Chosen One’s a-plenty, and heroine’s left, right, and centre are still ‘letting out breaths they didn’t know they’d been holding’. But the numbers are dwindling.

It seems as though authors aren’t using character tropes as often because the surety of their effectiveness as a narrative device is becoming more and more shaky. 

What has changed is that now we’ve got things like Goodreads and Tumblr. With the advent of platforms like these, book readers have become more vocal and have proven that you can be part of a fandom but also think critically about themes within novels that don’t sit quite right with your own views and values.

Readers of YA can be excited about the absence of character tropes in their fiction because of what that means: space. That space is a promise and opportunity for more diverse content in YA fiction, richer casts of characters that are more representative of books’ target audiences and their concerns.

The extinction of YA character tropes may be slow, but it is also inevitable: because they were not made to survive in the world of YA. The very nature of Young Adult Fiction and the trait that sets it apart from genres of fiction (other than intended age range) is the freedom to challenge current societal norms. 

Yes, it’s true that tropes and stereotypes have their place as a storytelling device. Using them doesn’t immediately equate to offensive sterotyping, and there are instances where they’re used masterfully. But, it is becoming increasingly evident that the place for tropes and stereotypes is not in modern young adult novels.

YA books are transformative in every sense of the word, and the genre moves fast, with roughly 10,000 books being published every year. It’s incredibly influential, and its ideas are increasingly becoming more representative of its readership. YA readers want their fiction to reflect their state of affairs; a global community. This globalisation of young peoples’ peer groups via online forums like Tumblr (specific to YA fiction is Bookblr) instils hope. 

This community of young people, who are already thinking critically and holding socially-aware understandings of their world, are focused on the traditional YA-novel theme of ‘understanding your place in society as a whole’, but are focused on making the society they’re trying to understand a global one. Their interests are reflective of their want to make the world in their immediate surroundings, and the young adult novels immediately available to them, reflect the way they see the online young adult community – a global, reciprocal, critical, varied and ever-progressing and expanding, organism. That, I think it is safe to say, is pretty hopeful for the future of the world at large. 

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About Remhurst Manor:
There is a mystery that lies in the grounds of Remhurst Manor; a mystery concerning the unsolved 19th century murders of four teenagers. 

Laine Brimble is slipping between two lives. Her life at home in present-day Australia, and the life of a nobleman’s daughter living in 19th century England’s Remhurst Manor. 

Until now, Laine was able to keep her two lives separate and secret. But, Laine is about to find out that though centuries past and oceans over, Remhurst’s mysterious history is about to get a lot closer to her than she expected; a dark presence has arrived in her hometown, seeking to settle a centuries-old vendetta. 

Between home and school and the 19th-century, not to mention a blossoming relationship with new-boy-in-town, Laine struggles to keep past and present on parallel paths … but it seems as if they are on a collision course where the inevitable outcome is death. 

Will Laine unearth the mysteries lying in the grounds of Remhurst Manor? Can she be the one to finally put Remhurst’s past behind it? Will she do it before a deadly history repeats itself?

You can find Remhurst Manor on Amazon, or find out more at the book's site. You can also find Tamasine on Twitter.

Guest Review: On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis

Today, I bring you a guest book review from an amazing young writer! Wendy Chen is a writer and student from New South Wales. I met her at National Young Writers Festival last year, after emailing for years. Lately, I've enjoyed reading her thoughtful reviews over at online magazine that reminds me. She's written about Preloved by Shirley Marr and the depiction of minority characters, I Am Malala and the power of education and peaceful protest and Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart and being an aspiring young writer. I thought it would be awesome to have her guest review here on the blog! So: here's Wendy's review of Corinne Duyvis' On the Edge of Gone!

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Release date: 8^th of March 2016

Rating: 8/10 (leaning towards a 9). Thank you to Netgalley and Amulet Books for the ARC.

January 29, 2035. That’s the day the comet is scheduled to hit—the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter outside their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going, they’ll never reach the shelter in time.

A last-minute meeting leads them to something better than a temporary shelter—a generation ship, scheduled to leave Earth behind to colonize new worlds after the comet hits. But everyone on the ship has been chosen because of their usefulness. Denise is autistic and fears that she’ll never be allowed to stay. Can she obtain a spot before the ship takes flight? What about her mother and sister? When the future of the human race is at stake, whose lives matter most?

I loved Corinne Duyvis’s debut novel, Otherbound, for its skilful writing and plot, so I was really excited for this book. The premise immediately hooked me, and I love apocalyptic stories when they are done well. The refreshingly diverse cast of characters was another factor in drawing me in.

First off, On the Edge of Gone’s greatest strengths were its narrative voice and the characterisation of its protagonist. Sixteen-year-old Denise is autistic, which, sadly, is rare to see in YA fiction; so, too, is the author, which is even rarer in comparison to problematic depictions of autistic characters I’ve seen from neurotypical authors in the past. So it was fantastic to read an ‘own voices’ story from the point of view of such a wonderfully constructed character. Her voice – an important element in first-person books and YA – was distinctive and memorable. Whilst I’m neurotypical and couldn’t personally identify with Denise in some ways that were specific to her autism, she was created with so much depth that I was on her side every step of the way, I felt every bit of her pain when she was put in situations or forced to do things that made her uncomfortable, and her vulnerability made her incredibly and personally relatable. Denise is also biracial (Surinamese/Caucasian) and this aspect was also depicted authentically.

The world-building, too, was top-notch. The book is set 20 years into the future, and thus has some updated technology (which were included logically and consistently) but on the whole, the world felt very familiar, which added to the apocalyptic atmosphere and the suspense.

I loved the moral themes that were woven throughout the novel. They felt natural, due to the situation – how do you decide who gets to live and who dies when humanity as a whole is threatened? What makes one person more valuable than another? Issues regarding the very nature of survival also ran throughout the story. Like the best books which do this, there is no overdone preaching or specific take-away message at the end; instead, there are questions that linger with you.

The book was also pleasingly inclusive in the range of characters featured – Black, queer, and Jewish characters, amongst others, are present, and in each case their identities were woven in naturally and felt very true to reality. The side characters were crucial to the storyline, as the thematic focus of the book meant that it centred on their relationships, interactions, and how they dealt with the apocalyptic situation. I connected and empathised particularly strongly with two of the characters, Anke and Max, whom Denise met aboard the generation ship – and there was also some great moral ambiguity in their motives and actions.

Based on these elements, the storytelling in the first quarter of the book was almost perfect. However, there were a few issues that came up later that prevented me from enjoying it completely.

Denise’s sister Iris, whom she spends much of the book looking for and trying to help, didn’t feel fleshed out enough to me. Iris makes some questionable actions throughout the story, and I found it hard to understand or side with her. That said, I thought it was insightful to see such a respectful depiction of a transgender character.

I was also uncertain of my attitude towards Denise’s mother. I felt sympathy and frustration towards her, like Denise did, but there wasn’t enough depth or connection to her beyond that. More backstory may have helped with this.

The final issue was the pacing. Whilst this was fine in the beginning and there was an effective build-up of tension – always enough to keep me reading – the middle of the book felt unnecessarily slow. After that, it sometimes felt like the storyline was going in circles and not moving forward enough. In the last quarter or so, the opposite happened – the plot sped up excessively. The ending could also have used more set-up – there were plot points which tied in that should have been established earlier on.

That said, I’m willing to overlook these more minor issues (pacing is often less of a concern for me upon reread, anyway) and highly recommend On the Edge of Gone. Fans of The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn should enjoy this!

Wendy Chen is a writer and student from New South Wales, with a particular passion for fiction, review writing and advocacy. She co-runs the  blog LoveOzYA on Tumblr, and is a contributor at That Reminds Me. You can find her website here.

Guest Post: Georgia Clark's Five Favourite Adventure Novels

Georgia Clark is the author of futuristic fantasy novel Parched, a story of robots, renewable resources, and romance. After the death of her scientist mother, sixteen-year-old Tessendra decides to join a rebel group and risk her life to bring justice to the people living outside the utopian city of Eden.

Georgia is also a teen and lifestyle journalist who's written for Cosmo, CLEO, Daily Life, Sunday Life, Girlfriend and more, and an Australian who is now based in New York. She's a travel enthusiast (having visited fourteen countries) and studies improvisational comedy. Pretty cool, right?

I'm thrilled to be hosting her today on the blog to talk about her favourite and most compellingly page-turning adventure novels!

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The Hobbit, by JR Tolkien

This was one of the first ‘adult’ books I read as a young girl. I remember being thoroughly enchanted by the cover, which promised otherworldly adventure, and the size of the sturdy little paperback: at four inches thick, this would be no small feat! The Hobbit is simply marvellous: a true adventure novel in every sense of the word: entirely unique with breath-taking action, high stakes, unforgettable characters and lore that has stood the test of time. One ring to rule them all… Wonderful!

The Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper

Another beloved staple of my childhood, consumed when my imagination was such a ripe and fertile thing that it really felt like I was there, alongside the Drew family, searching for the legendary Holy Grail in the windswept hills of Cornwall. I have vivid memories of the Greenwitch, Will Stanton, the Things of Power; the mix of myth, magic and memory that all good fantasy-adventure stories possess. Being an Aussie, I was raised with equal parts American and British culture, and thus feel quite fond of UK classis such as The Five Children and It, the Narnia chronicles and the Famous Five. But The Dark is Rising was always my favorite, kicking off a lifetime love of action and adventure!

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

They could have called this The Hunger Game-CHANGER because that’s what it was. Never have I turned pages so quickly as when Katniss first enters the arena, waiting during the countdown for the bloodbath to start…. Argh! And even though our heroine isn’t on a literal quest, she does embark on a harrowing journey through changing landscapes, so I think we can call this adventure. I’ve read HG multiple times, and used it as something of a handbook when writing the action sequences of Parched (Hint: keep your sentences short and sharp. Invoking a sense of smell or taste also puts a reader in the hot seat)

Jurassic Park, by Michael Chricton

I bought Jurassic Park when I received a book voucher for coming first in something in Grade 10 (English? I can’t remember), and was so excited to buy the just-released, much-hyped Jurassic Park. Funnily enough, by the next year I’d come to see this purchase as embarrassingly popular and not in line with my growing love for clever, wordy intelligent art: Grade 11’s voucher was used to purchase a biography of Woody Allen. Now, taste (and my concern with how its perceived by others) has come full circle, and I am happy to say: this is a fantastic book, made into one of my all-time favorite Spielberg rollercoasters. If you liked the movie, try the book!

Glamorama, by Bret Easton Ellis

Okay, now I’m rrreeeaaaallly stretching the definition of ‘adventure’, but it’s worth it and here’s why. Glamorama is a monster of a book. A snarling, terrifying, truly impressive monster. Definitely NOT YA, definitely NSFW. This brutal, startling novel is Bret in full control of his literary ability, flexing like a jungle cat looking to intimidate his prey. The story follows achingly hip, intensely vacuous Victor Ward, who accepts a mysterious offer to leave New York for London to track down a college friend, Jamie Fields, and return her to America. This plan quickly goes awry, and Victor’s shallow, simple life of parties, paparazzi and posing nosedives into something much more serious and threatening. Equal parts satire, thriller and post-modern exploration, this very funny, very dark story is one of my all-time faves. High recommended!

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Thanks, Georgia! For more info about Parched and Georgia Clark, check out www.georgiaclark.com.

On following your passions and finding your posse

A wonderful (and hopefully inspiring!) guest post today from fantasy/sci-fi writer DK Mok, who 'grew up in libraries, immersed in lost cities and fantastic worlds, populated by quirky bandits and giant squid. She’s fond of cephalopods, androids, global politics, rugged horizons, science and technology podcasts, and she wishes someone would build a labyrinthine library garden so she can hang out there. Her favourite fossil deposit is the Burgess Shale.' Pretty cool, yeah? Here's her website.

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I used to buy fish and chips from a shop near the beach, where a cheerful young man with gravity-defying hair would put together my order. One day, we got to chatting about sport, and he confided that he aspired to be a professional wrestler. He’d competed in high school, and he said that whenever he was wrestling, he felt truly alive, as though it were what he was meant to be doing.

I don’t know much about wrestling, but I know about passions – the kind that make you feel alive, but rarely pay the bills. Things like writing, art and music. I sometimes wonder what compels some people pursue their dreams, while others walk away, or shelve them for some nebulous ‘one day’.

One obvious factor is opportunity. An illiterate girl in rural Zimbabwe faces far more challenges than a middle-class girl in a country with free public education.

Another factor is choice. Some people make the valid decision that financial security, and being able to take care of the people who matter to them, are more important than pursuing an uncertain career that may never amount to more than a hobby.

However, the factor I find particularly interesting is the social environment. I once heard a great talk by writer and director Kevin Smith, in which he extols the importance of surrounding yourself with people who say ‘Why not?’ Whether you’re thinking about writing a novel, shooting a short, or entering an art competition, it can make a huge difference to have people around you who encourage your creativity, whose default attitude is ‘why not?’ rather than ‘why bother?’ The kind of people who get excited by your enthusiasm. The kind of people who fuel your dreams rather than hit the brakes.

I’m incredibly fortunate to have family and friends who’ve been supportive of my writing ambitions from the beginning, who’ve helped me to bounce back from rejections, and encouraged me to persist even when things seemed impossible. Whenever I flagged, they gave me the strength to keep dreaming, and keep working, and last week, I held a copy of my debut novel The Other Tree in my hands for the first time.

Whatever your creative interests, I encourage you to find yourself a supportive community of like-minded people, online or offline. Seek out mentors, allies, fellow travellers. The road for creative professionals is often slow, turbulent, and at times, disheartening. But I remember reading an article in which a musician lamented the number of artists who gave up, never realising how close they’d come to making it.

In my experience, the journey is more rewarding if you enjoy the process, rather than focusing solely on your progress, or sometimes lack of it. Don’t see time and effort as being wasted, as long as you’ve created something unique or interesting, or learned something from it. If something positive captures your curiosity or imagination, give it a go. If it’s something that really matters to you, then persist.

I don’t know if the man at the fish and chip shop is still working towards his dream of pro-wresting, but I wished him well. There are no guarantees that you’ll make a living from your passion, but pursuing something you love, something that makes your life more amazing and fulfilling, something that makes you feel truly alive, is still a pretty fantastic way to live.

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DK Mok lives in Sydney, Australia, and writes fantasy, science fiction and urban fantasy novels and short stories. DK graduated from UNSW with a degree in Psychology, pursuing her interest in both social justice and scientist humour. Her urban fantasy novel The Other Tree is available now (Spence City). Find more online at www.dkmok.com, on Twitter @dk_mok or on Facebook.

Blending fact and fiction: Guest post by Cally Jackson

On the about page of Cally Jackson's blog it says she is 'employed by the government' and I am going to assume this is code, and she is actually a spy! She is also a Queenslander and a writer (obviously an awesome person), and recently self-published her debut novel. This guest post is about including real-life experiences in your fiction! Thank you, Cally!

Many people have asked whether my debut New Adult novel, The Big Smoke, is autobiographical. I always answer with an emphatic, ‘NO,’ but that’s not 100% true. While the vast majority of The Big Smoke is fiction, there are parts based on my own experiences.

The Big Smoke is a coming-of-age novel about Ceara and Seb, two country teenagers who move from small country towns into Brisbane (Australia) to go to uni. Considering I grew up in a small country town and moved to Brisbane for uni, you can see why people might assume that it’s my personal story.

Here are some more examples: Seb, The Big Smoke’s main male character, works at a pizza place.
And here’s me, working at a pizza place.

Ceara, The Big Smoke’s main female character, works at a video store.
And here’s me, ‘working’ at a video store (I usually worked very hard in this job, I swear!).

Ceara met her first serious boyfriend at the Rock Eisteddfod finals. So did I. Ceara is a book worm, she’s ultra-sensitive and she’s studying Public Relations. All of those things can also be applied to me.

So yes, there are definitely some similarities between my characters and me. I imagine that many debut novels have similarities with their authors’ experience. But is it a good thing? In my opinion, these are the main benefits and drawbacks of weaving your own experiences into your fiction:

Benefits

• It can help to add an extra layer of authenticity to your writing.
• You know the topic inside out so you can have confidence you’re getting it ‘right’.
• You don’t have to do as much research.
• You can reminisce as you write!

Drawbacks

• Because you know so much about the topic/experience, you might include unnecessary, boring detail.
• People might assume the whole book is about you, which can be awkward depending on what your main characters get up to.
• You’re not pushing the limits of your creativity.
• Friends and family might get offended by characters or scenes in the book. (Whether it’s legitimately about them or not, they may think it is.)

I’ve personally experienced almost all of these benefits and drawbacks with The Big Smoke. I had to cut a number of scenes from early drafts because they were simply my memories in disguise and didn’t move the story forward, and I’ve had friends ask me whether such-and-such-a-character is based on them when that thought had never even crossed my mind.

One friend even went so far as to say to me, ‘I didn’t know you had so much trouble with your flatmates when you first moved to Brisbane.’ ‘Err, I didn’t,’ I said. ‘You know this book is fiction, right?’

If you asked me whether I would use my own experiences in my fictional work again, I’d say yes. For me, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and I believe The Big Smoke is richer and more authentic because of the personal experiences I’ve weaved throughout it.

What do you think? If you’re an author, do you weave personal experiences into your writing? If you’re a reader, do you think authors should? Why or why not?

More about The Big Smoke

Ceara’s desperate for love; Seb’s desperate to get laid. Ceara adores reading novels; Seb hasn’t finished a book in years. Two strangers, both moving from small country towns to Brisbane – the big smoke. As they prepare to attend the same university, their paths seem set to collide, but they keep missing each other. Maybe fate is keeping them apart, or maybe it’s just chance.

When the semester starts, things get complicated. Ceara’s best friend withdraws from her, Seb’s closest mate turns into a sleazebag, and the relentless demands of university make their stress levels soar. Before their first semester is over, both Seb and Ceara will be forced to question who they are and what they want from their lives. Will they have the courage to find the answers, or will they crumble under the pressure? And when they finally meet, will it be love at first sight or a collision of headstrong personalities?

For more about Cally & her work, visit her blog: http://callyjackson.com/

The Sophomore Novel Blues: A Guest Post by Shirley Marr

Hi everyone! Welcome to Steph Bowe's wonderful blog. As Preloved is my second novel and Steph is currently writing her second novel, what better thing for me to guest post about than well, second novels?



Second Novel Syndrome is a real affliction. I know because I Googled it and the Internet told me it’s real. Apparently it’s a type of performance anxiety that specifically happens to first-time authors trying to write their second book. And apparently it strikes down the majority of all authors. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I certainly got it. In fact I got it so bad that it lasted approximately a year and my Publisher who was hoping for a 2011 book after my 2010 debut didn’t even get a draft until after the deadline for publication ticked past! Shirley’s never been one to shy away from telling the truth or revealing the unglamorous side so I'm just gonna be frank.

It makes sense that it should be hard. It’s just like the second attempt at anything really. Album. Movie sequel. The relationship that comes after that first one true love where that asshat you’ll never-ever-ever speak to again tore out your bleeding heart and stomped all over it. The media always speaks about the "difficult sophomore album" to the point that the term has become accepted vernacular. The expectations can be enormous.

The fact that there are actually expectations is itself mind-blowing.

After all, there was most likely zero expectations for the first novel. Being the first would imply that it was probably a hobby, a dream, something that you wrote it as if you were all alone in your bedroom singing into your hairbrush (like me) and publication seemed a vague, mystic and distant possibility (me also).

It might have been an easy write or it might have been difficult, requiring many years and re-writes, but the most important thing is that the manuscript belonged to you. And you didn't belong to anyone, so it's no wonder that this is a time where something brilliant and unexpected might come together from nothing. I personally believe that everyone has one great story in them (even if it is the story of their life - it could be one awesome life) so the reason to write is simple, the actions involved tacit.

When I came to write my second novel, I told myself I was just going to do exactly what I did for the first novel. Just write. Sounds easy enough right? As much as I would like to insist I was still the same person and I was never going to change, things had changed and whether I liked it or not, it was having an effect on me.

Firstly and foremost, I now had a publisher. I don't think most people realise this, but as opposed to churning out everything I now write because I'm an author  - they are under no obligation to sign me for another book. They have to actually like my manuscript. But what have I got to lose right? Actually... I had a lot to lose! I was now doing what I had been dreaming of since I was a kid. I had a real book at real bookstores. Secondly, other authors were freaking me out by saying stuff like "Do you know 80% of authors never write a second book? Do you want to just be a statistic?" And thirdly, it is a bit freaky when my publisher wants to talk to me about the marketing plan for... Book 3 and I hadn't even got a Book 2.

Going through that all-consuming desire to become a published author when I wasn't one was hard. Knowing that I finally got what I wanted and it could be taken away from me was a new type of hardness!

It didn't help that I didn't know what to write next. I mean, I had been writing variations of Fury on and off for the past 10 years until it finally came right, I had no Plan B.

StupidIy, I went onto Google (true story) to find a solution. Somehow I ended up on a music website which told me that the second album (and applicable to novels) was “an opportunity to transcend the original fan base and capture the rest of the market”. So I had to please the people who liked my book (who seemed to like my laissez faire writing style) and also the people who didn't like my book (who seemed to dislike my laissez faire writing style)? I'd probably end up writing a book that's going to be shelved as "Biggest Disappointment 2012" on both camps!

Eventually, I did the only thing I could. Which was probably the sensible thing. I sat down and I wrote something that mattered to me. I started arranging and compiling the ghost stories and tales of superstitions my mum used to tell me when I was little, into a narrative. And I started filling it up with all the things that I personal loved and which were symbolic of what made me happy. Regardless of what I should do and what the readers wanted and what was popular and what market I could capture. I can only write for myself and by finding something that made me carry on regardless of whether it was publishable or not, put a new fire in me. I was able to love the writing process again.

I dared asked myself the question I knew the answer to when I first started writing 10 years ago:  if I was told that my writing would never be published, would I still write? The answer was still yes!

It was still playing on my mind that I had to lift my game - both in terms of writing ability and commercialbility; that this book had to be better in all aspects than the first – but this goal was challenging in a healthy way and I started to relish it.

Having said that, after I finished, I cried. I cried like a poor little puppy separated from it’s mammy for the first time. But it felt good.

As I write this, I am still unsure about the general reception of my book. And strangely enough, even if it is bad or good, I will still feel proud of myself. It feels I have come a long way and that I went through something necessary.

So my evaluation of Second Novel Syndrome? I wouldn’t change my experience of it. All I can say it is a rite of passage that has taught me how to handle these newfound pressures and what I need to do as a writer. Sometimes I think you have to learn things the hard way. And the fact that many other people go through the same thing gives me a beautiful, bitter-sweet feeling. It makes me feel very human.

Right now, I look forward to what I will term the Redemptive Third Novel. I know that I am not a One Novel Wonder. My publisher knows I am not a One Novel Wonder. I can do it. I feel good. What it is to be and what the experience will actually be like is still unknown, but I have a feeling it will be wonderful. And who knows, maybe I will be back on Steph's blog next year to talk about it.

Third book, here I come.

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Thank you once again Miss Steph for having me. Please make sure you have a look around her blog as she writes these effortlessly cool and very funny introspective pieces (I love the 10 Things that baffle me about YA paranormal romance books). 

Please join me tomorrow at The Nocturnal Library where it is my very last day and we do best and worst lists of the 80s! Plus there’s a bonus goodbye present to giveaway. Seeya on the flip side!

The Writing Process (or From Crazy Notebooks to Draft): Guest post by Sue Lawson

Here's a guest post from Sue Lawson about her novel planning process, as part of the blog tour for her new novel, Pan's Whisper.

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Thanks so much for inviting me to visit Hey! Teenager of The Year, on the Pan’s Whisper Blog Tour. I read your blog regularly, Steph, and love it (as I do Girl Saves Boy).

Writers all approach the process of writing differently, so I thought it would be good to explore how I write and how it has changed since I wrote my first book.

Each book I’ve written has been an adventure with differing challenges and successes, but the one thing that is constant is that with each book I’ve learnt so much about writing and about myself. The exciting thing about being a writer is there is so much more to learn.

My writing process has changed dramatically since I finished my first book, Dragon’s Tear, in 2003. I used to be what I heard John Marsden describe as a ‘brick layer’ where I’d write a few pages, stop, edit and write a few more before stopping and editing again. Talk about a stilted process!

My lack of confidence contributed to that stop and start process, plus the inability to turn off my internal editor (Boy is he loud! – and yes strangely, it is a male voice – go figure!). While I still am wracked with doubt as I write, I’ve now forced myself to either ignore the internal editor until I’m ready to polish, or if all else fails, I yell at him. True! ‘Just write, edit later’ is my writing mantra.

Generally I write from start to end, but when I’m writing more than one point of view, as I did with Pan’s Whisper, I complete one character’s point of view before starting on the next. This way I find I avoid the problem of the two voices being too alike. When I was writing Pan’s story, I’d add notes at the end of a chapter about Morgan’s piece. I write each character’s story in a different document and merge them when I’ve done a first edit on both.

I type my first drafts, though if I am having trouble finding with a scene or piece of dialogue, I pull out my trusty notebook and write by hand (with a Kilometric or Ball Pental, extra fine – I have pen issues!) until the piece feels right.

I guess where I differ from most writers in the planning. I’m an over the top planner, mainly as I find the better I knew my characters and the setting, the story flows more smoothly as I write. Each time I start a new manuscript, I buy a new notebook – nothing flash – spiral bound, plastic covered, stripes, pink, plain – and do all of my planning in this book. The science behind my notebooks isn’t impressive. It started because I’m disorganised and lose stuff. All the time! So my theory is, if I keep everything in the one book, I won’t misplace anything. At least that’s the theory!

In my notebooks I plot my story, take research notes, develop characters and even put together the character’s homes. I raid magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, tumblr and other places for snippets that suit my characters and settings. When I was writing Dare You, I created character collages as well as writing character profiles. Not only was it fun, but it helped me nail those characters. Since then collages have become part of my planning routine.

When I was writing Pan’s Whisper, I trawled through endless real estate pages to piece together the McMinn’s home. I discovered the perfect façade for Pandora’s last home around the corner from my place when I was on a morning walk.

I revisit my notebook throughout the writing and editing process, adding bits of information, fleshing out characters and re-designing the setting.

My blog tour continues on Monday when I visit the amazing Michael at http://littleelfman.blogspot.com/

Pan's Whisper on the publisher's website

Writing Bootcamp: Writer’s Bootcamp: Why You Should Celebrate Your Rejection Letter by Holly Schindler

Writing Bootcamp is a blog series in which I invite fabulous authors to share with you (yes, you! assuming you are an inquisitive writer) their best bits of writerly advice. Today Holly Schindler talks about the good things about getting rejected.

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Every writer faces rejection—at every stage of his or her career. And while it’s easy to focus merely on the “no,” the most important thing a writer can do is remind him or herself about all the wonderful things that a rejection actually implies and provides:

1). You have the guts to submit. I’ve heard writers described repeatedly as a shy bunch. Not so, I’d argue. It takes guts to put yourself on the page and to send that work—which feels so personal and private—out to be critiqued, possibly passed over for other work. If you’re submitting, you have courage—every bit as much as someone who gets up on a stage to perform. Period.

2). If you’re getting any kind of personal letter at all, it means that the editor or agent saw something quite positive and promising in your work. Keep at it.

3). If you submitted a book, rather than just a query, don’t simply concentrate on the fact that your book was passed over. Remind yourself that the book was read—which means that you’ve got a stand-out query! That in itself is quite an accomplishment. If one editor or agent found that query promising, another will, too. Believe that you’ll receive another request for the manuscript in full.

4). If you’ve received a rejection with a detailed critique and an invitation to resubmit, you’re lucky in many different ways. Sure, you’ve got an editor or agent who’s seriously interested and invested at this point. Just as importantly, though, you’ve not got the chance to test your revision skills.

Even after a book is acquired, it most often undergoes one or more rounds of revision—global revision, that is—before the copyedits start. And nothing prepared me for this process more than all the rounds of rejection and revision I endured before I sold my first book.

Rejection, in many ways, isn’t just a means to an end. It isn’t something a writer endures in order to finally snag that first yes. Rejection is itself a kind of college…and the lessons you learn during the rejection process will serve you, time and again, in your career as an author.

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Holly Schindler is the author of YA novels A BLUE SO DARK & PLAYING HURT, as well as a middle grade novel, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY. You can follow her on Twitter (@holly_schindler), Facebook, her lovely blog & hollyschindler.com for more info about her & her books!

Writing Bootcamp: Five Ways To Revive Your Novel by Luisa Plaja

Writing Bootcamp is a blog series in which I invite fabulous authors to share with you (yes, you! assuming you are an inquisitive writer) their best bits of writerly advice. Today, Luisa Plaja, author of novels including Split by a Kiss, Swapped by a Kiss, and Kiss Date Love Hate, shares five ways to revive your novel!

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When you wrote the first page of your manuscript, it was true love. But now, several chapters in, things have cooled a bit. Perhaps it's all starting to feel too much like hard work. Or you're totally stuck. Maybe your novel is flagging... or you are?

Here are a few of my tried-and-tested methods for reviving a WIP...

1. Look at it from a different angle. Take a character who doesn't already have a direct voice in your story and freewrite from their point of view. Let this character rant about their likes and dislikes, and talk about what they think of your main character. I did this for my second novel, Extreme Kissing, which was originally told from one point of view ('good girl' Bethany). I ended up so involved in the new voice ('bad girl' Carlota) that I decided to keep it and write both points of view in alternating chapters. After that, there was no stopping me. I'm not sure I'd recommend that you go that far, but looking closely at another character's point of view can definitely get the writing flowing again.
2. Give yourself permission to delete. If you're stuck, you might want to delete a whole scene or scenes, taking you back to a time when you knew where the story was going and everything felt rosy. This can free you up to go in a shiny new direction. Keep all the off-cuts in a file so that it's not too upsetting, and remind yourself you can always put the chunks back. Chances are, you won't do anything of the sort. You'll rid yourself of some cumbersome darlings and never look back. But who knows when someone might be interested in a Director's Cut...?
3. Skip forwards. Is there a scene you're dying to write, but you just can't figure out how to get there? Write it anyway and work out the route another day. You might even find that you don't need the part in between after all. In either case, it's fine to write the bits that excite you today if it means getting unstuck and moving on with your story.

4. Join a writing challenge. Or, if there isn't one, start your own. Declare on Twitter/Facebook/offline - wherever the right kind of people hang out - that you intend to write a certain number of words or reach a particular goal. It's amazing how this can get you writing. (Personal note: I hadn't finished a novel until the first time I did NaNoWriMo, which is when I completed the first draft of the manuscript which is now Extreme Kissing. At that point I was stuck half-way through the novel which is now Split by a Kiss...)
5. Read something inspirational. There are a couple of how-to-write books I keep handy because there's always something there to give me the right kind of spark. (These books include Juicy Writing by Brigid Lowry and Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg.) Or sometimes I hang around on Twitter (!) and it's never long before someone posts a wonderful, inspiring link, such as this one by Karen Mahoney: http://kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com/248213.html or this one by Malinda Lo: http://www.malindalo.com/2011/09/how-to-not-give-up-when-writing/

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Luisa Plaja loves words and books. Her novels for teenagers include Split by a Kiss, Extreme Kissing and Swapped by a Kiss. She lives in Devon, England, and has two young children. Her next book, Kiss Date Love Hate, will be published by the Corgi imprint at Random House Children’s Books in February 2012. Check out her website: http://www.luisaplaja.co.uk/ and the teen book site she runs, the very awesome Chicklish: http://www.chicklish.co.uk/

Writing Bootcamp: Victoria Schwab says, 'Be Brave!'

Writing Bootcamp is a blog series in which I invite fabulous authors to share with you (yes, you! assuming you are an inquisitive writer) their best bits of writerly advice. Today Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch, tells you (yes! you again) to be brave...

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When aspiring authors used to ask me for advice, I would smile and say, “Be a great reader,” or “Be a sponge,” or something kind, encouraging, but to be honest a bit common.

My advice has changed.

If someone asks me how to be a better WRITER, then I still answer with the above. But if someone asks me how to be a PUBLISHED AUTHOR, then I say this.

Be brave.

Putting yourself and your work out there to be judged is a terrifying thing, to be sure. But this is a very hard industry, one built on critique and rejection, and in order to get through, you have to be brave. Your want of publication has to be greater than your fear of rejection. If you find yourself paralyzed by the mere notion of critique, then you do not want it badly enough. YET. You are not ready. YET. And that’s okay.

In publishing, rejection exists not only as a way of culling potential books, but as a test, to see if the author is ready for the next step. Because rejection, critique, judgment...they exist at every step. They are an integral part of this industry.

So.

If you want this, if you really, really, really want this in that way that physically hurts, that way that keeps you up at night, holds your mind hostage and your fingers always writing, then you will be brave enough to share your work, brave enough to take feedback, brave enough to get better. Do not be hindered by fear. Let it drive you. Let your want carry you through.

I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to be afraid, not saying you’re weak or unready if you feel that fear (we ALL feel it). I’m only saying that you must look at fear and want and see which is bigger. Do not let fear win that contest.

Be brave.

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Victoria Schwab is the author of The Near Witch (which you can find out more about on Goodreads). Check out her website (it is very cool) and ever fabulous blog (I really like this post). More about her here.