YA, Pop Culture, and You, the READER!

Hi everyone. I've had this blog post rattling around in my brain for a few weeks now and I think it's finally time to put it out there. There's no place like the YA-5 to question the norms and find out what the readers REALLY think of industry standards and yadda yadda yadda.

So here's the thing: pop culture in YA can be kind of a hot button. Some people think that referencing a popular actress or hit song immediately dates a book -- and I can't argue with that. If I set out tomorrow to write a book, whether it's YA contemporary or adult horror, I'm probably not going to talk about my protagonist's addiction to Ke$ha. No matter how catchy Ke$ha's music is. I mean, I have no idea which pop stars are going to be remembered just two years from now (which, even if my book sold the day I finished it, is probably about how long it would take for the novel to hit stores), let alone five or ten years.

Do you watch your fave
shows with your friends?

But here's the dilemma: a lot of teens -- a lot of people -- really think in terms of pop culture. We schedule our evenings around our favorite TV shows. (I have friends who go to Glee-watching parties, and in high school I had my BFF over once a week for Buffy night.) We stand in line for hours to be in the front row at a concert for our favorite band. We make play lists for ourselves and our friends on iTunes. We idolize actresses and models and pop stars and emulate their styles. Is there any way to write a book without talking about some of these things? Sure. Do I want to? Not really.

I aspire to write characters that feel like your friends, your family. I like it when I'm inside a character's head and I can see what she likes and how she relates to her world. If my character is an audiophile, you can bet she's going to relate to her world through her favorite bands. If my character is a musician, she'll probably talk about her influences. If my character loves fashion, she's definitely going to describe clothing in terms of style icons. For some, it might cut it to make up names. This doesn't always work for me.

So when is it too much pop culture? I think it comes down to context. If I can talk about a band from 1994 that you don't know about, and make you feel like you know why it's important, does that work for you? If my book takes place in 1980, is it more obnoxious to have my character reference made up movies and fashion icons, or to talk about real ones that you don't know much about?

Like all things, I think pop culture in literature is about balance. And like all writing, there's got to be a reason for anything an author puts into a book, whether it's violence or a sex scene or swear words or a sub plot or your character's iPod playlist. I mean, if I can go again to HIGH FIDELITY, that book simply wouldn't have been right without all the real pop culture infusion it showcased. Music is what makes that book work. As a reader, what makes a music-y, pop-culture-y book work for you?

Celebrate International Women's Week With Me!

Hi everyone! Sorry about the crazy inconsistency of my posts over here at the YA-5 lately. I promise, I'm going to work hard to make my Mondays awesome! BAM. There, I said it -- I PROMISE!

Okay, so, there's this thing this week. It's INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK. Yeah, feminism is a dirty word to some. I know some women who don't even like to call themselves feminists because they associate the word with man-haters and bra-burners. To me, feminism just means being able to be who I want and do what I want and achieve what I want regardless of my gender. I believe in equality. I believe in fierce, fabulous ladies making names for themselves in a world that would rather they stay silent. I believe in stay at home moms and career women. I believe in girls who want to be quarterbacks and cheer captains. I believe in fashion models and rock stars and engineers and math teachers. And, DUH, I believe in women writers.

Author Cayla Kluver

So this week over at my personal blog, I'm celebrating women in writing. From LOTS of different angles. Today, the fabulous Cayla Kluver (whose debut novel LEGACY will be coming out with HarlequinTEEN later this year) is talking about writing "That Woman" -- the Mina Harker, the Buffy Summers -- the woman that every man and even a lot of the ladies want to write off but, you know, they sort of kick butt anyway?

I love Cayla's post and I am looking forward to the lineup I have for the rest of the week: Tess Hardwick on the sometimes limiting labels of "chicklit" and "women's fiction," The YA-5's own K.A. Holt on writing male-voiced middle grade, Tiffany Reisz on writing naughty novels WITHOUT a penname, Gretchen McNeil on being bold, and Jeanette Larson on literary awards. I'm so so so excited for this week, and I hope you'll join me in celebrating the literary ladies who make our bookshelves so much more badass. And, you know, go give some chicks a hug today, okay? The world would totally suck without women!

Panic! Here are some random things!

UPDATE: I fixed the fracking link. WHY DID NONE OF YOU TELL ME I WAS A TOOL?! :|

I seriously need to be working on my revisions right now. I have just a couple chapters to go and I absolutely must finish today. So when I remembered that it was Monday and therefore my YA-5 day, I sort of freaked. Like, OMG, now what do I do?

So, I present you, with a link to an interview I did for deviantART.com recently. Weak, I know, but I MUST get back to these revisions.

In case you were wondering, yes, I often forget what day it is. And as you will learn in this interview, I also often forget to eat. Fear not, I also just remembered that I haven't eaten yet today and ordered a pizza.

And, because the least I can do is offer you a dose of cute, here are my cats:

Forces of evil on a Bozo nightmare

The other night, some writing friends and I decided to have an all night write, wherein we would virtually encourage each other on The Twitter while we stayed up all night long to write our faces off.

If you are so inclined to see what happens when I stay up past 11pm, I invite you to search The Twitter for #allnightwrite. You will not be disappointed.

Unfortunately, #allnightwrite only lasted until about 1:30am. Yes, we were flailing wimps, but some writing was accomplished, much hilarity ensued, and an important fact was discovered.

FACT: Some writers enjoy rocking their faces off as they write their faces off.

OTHER FACT: Some writers enjoy listening to things like Gregorian Chants, even though they are mocked by the writers in the previous fact.

I fall into the first group, choosing to really enlouden things up while I'm working. This rarely poses a problem, unless I'm forced to wear ear buds, and then there's a lot of complaining and less writing because I am afflicted with tiny, shrimpy ear holes and I can't find ear buds that don't, basically, try to dilate my ears open wider in a painful ear gauge kind of way, except, you know, a painful ear gauge kind of way - in the wrong hole. It is unpleasant, and it hurts, and I might have to start a foundation in support of those of us with tiny ear holes so that the ear bud industry will be forced to provide miniature ear buds that conform to our hideous features.

ANYWAY. I like to rock my face off with a variety of noisy music. Sometimes I go old school with Metallica or Marilyn Manson. Sometimes I enjoy Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica drumming. Sometimes I continue to go old school and whip out the Nirvana.

Well, who am I kidding, really? I predominately listen to 90s grungy type stuff while I'm writing. Though I allow Pandora to widen my horizons away from just Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Jane's Addiction. Though not much wider. My horizons, they are small and familiar.

To wit: Pandora chose this lovely offering for me this afternoon:

Heaven Beside You, Alice in Chains
Lump, The Presidents of the United States of America
Aneurysm, Nirvana
It tried to throw in some Wonderwall, but I refused to allow this travesty.
Loser, Beck
Longview, Green Day
Some Postman, The Presidents of the United States of America
Learn to Fly, Foo Fighters
Lithium, Nirvana
I Alone, Live

Excellent writing music, and also excellent driving music.

(Do not judge, lest ye be judged. Once you have been to a million concerts where you get kicked in the face with Doc Martins on purpose so that you can see Eddie Vedder/Scott Weiland/Layne Staley (RIP) up close, sweating on you, then you can be all, "Ha Ha, she's so old.")

So, lovely YA-5 readers, what music do you like to listen to when you write? The noisier the better? The chantier the better? The nothing the better?

TELL ME. I WANT TO KNOW. IT IS MAKING ME SHOUTY. THE EXCITEMENT, THAT IS. OF WANTING TO KNOW.

And as a reward for telling me what you listen to when you write, here is a picture of me when I was a junior in high school, taken by my boyfriend at the time - a young man who was very serious about educating me in the ways of... music. I'm sorry you can't see my flannel. It was awesome. And warm.

Me, possibly musing about the world, but most likely wondering if there is somewhere to go get coffee.

Oh yes. I kicked it with the Smart Chicks.

Last weekend I hauled myself up to my local indie to see the Smart Chicks. So many people turned up, and the Chicks were on FIRE.

Well, I mean, not, like, literally en fuego, just, you know, totally awesome. Smart Chicks organizers Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, and Alyson Noel sat on a panel with buds Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Rachel Caine, taking questions from the crowd. I wrote down some of the stuff they had to say about writing, 'cause I wanted to share my Smart Chicks experience with y'all.

ON WRITER'S BLOCK.

Cassandra Clare uses "the House method." I.e., writer's block vs. a symptom of something greater. If you can figure out where the block is, you can flush it out and get your story back to health.

Melissa Marr, in all seriousness, stated that when she's battling writer's block, she snorkels in her bathtub until she figures it out. She willingly admitted that she's probably the only writer who does this, and that it's a little bit of a weird solution, but that it's what works for her.

Alyson Noel said that writer's block is from not knowing "enough about your story, your characters, or your world." If you can find out more about these things, you can probably get over the writer's block.

ON ADVICE FOR YOUNG WRITERS:

Melissa Marr said, "Whatever you want to do, follow your passion." According to Ms. Marr, the books that stand out are the ones written with passion.

Holly Black advised young writers to "get a critique partner, who will keep you honest and motivated." She said that there are plenty of people out there who will read your work and tell you its great (like mom or your best friend), but you need to find someone who will read with a critical eye.

Rachel Caine said, "Be Patient," because you're not instantly good at any art form.

ON HOW LONG IT TOOK TO PUBLISH THEIR FIRST NOVELS:

Cassandra Clare: 4 years.
Alyson Noel: 15 years.
Melissa Marr: 2 years.
Rachel Caine: 8 years.

Every book's journey is different, and you can see here that if any author gave up easily their books would never hit the shelves!

All of the Smart Chicks admitted to making playlists, though Kelley Armstrong said she only does one song per character.

Of course it was a fabulous night, and it was so fun getting to say hi to all the fabulous Smart Chicks. I love the message they are sending to the young women of our country, because we all need to hear it sometimes: You can do it!

Here's the video the Smart Chicks made at the Austin tour stop. Enjoy! (I'm in there somewhere, but it's such a blur, I can't even see me!)

Tough Chicks & Girlie Girls

I've seen some back-and-forth in the YA community this year on needing more STRONG female characters. We need tough girls, buff girls, girls who kick butt and take names. Some folks, though, say there are PLENTY of alpha females in the YA world. That there's room for girlie girls, too. Mousey girls, sweet girls, girls who played with Barbies and grew up to read fashion mags.

I say this: we need both.

Teen girls can't be lumped into one category. There are girls out there who are both feminine and fierce. There are girls who will relate to a character who gave her Barbies green Mohawks and there are girls who will relate to an aspiring model. And there is NOTHING wrong with that. There are books out there for both of these girls. And, in all likelihood, these girls are bffs, and end up sharing books with each other. Mohawked Barbie Girl reads GIRL IN THE ARENA by Lise Haines, loves it, and trades with Fashionista Girl for VIOLET ON THE RUNWAY by Melissa Walker. And what do I love about both of these books? They're well-written, insightful, and feature REAL girls. Girls who are three-dimentional, make good and bad choices, have complicated relationships with their family and friends, and are developing their own sense of identity.

I think there's also something to be said for girls who are strong in a more subtle way. Right now I'm reading JEKEL LOVES HYDE by Beth Fantaskey, and what I love about her character, Jill, is that while she's quiet and reserved and innocent, she is super super smart. She understands and LOVES chemistry. And even though she doesn't always stand up to bullies, and loves to be rescued and comforted by her crush, she's learning to make her own way. And girls can relate to that -- being the science nerd, feeling insecure and unpretty compared to a friend, crushing on a bad boy and wanting Prince Charming to come riding in on a white horse. And that's okay. Sometimes we need that. And sometimes -- like for Jill -- your brain is your biggest weapon.

I also love books like HOTTIE by Jonathan Bernstein, where you have a girl who kicks bad-guy booty while wearing designer heels. HOTTIE is like Clueless meets The X-Men, hilarious and girlie and badass. How perfect, because, in my mind, inside every don't-break-a-nail diva is a superhero ready to strike. And with a book as fun as HOTTIE, does it get any better?

The best thing writers can do for teen girls is to write REAL girls. And real girls are a lot of different things -- tough, happy, sad, lonely, strong, fearful, girlie, smart, feminist -- and there's no reason we shouldn't accommodate all these girls. There's plenty of room on the shelves for girl characters of every shape and size, mood and mentality!

So, maybe there won't be a garden gnome attack...

But... That's not the point. You see, I run a non-profit literary membership organization whose members are comprised mostly of pre-published writers. We rely heavily on information from reliable sources and industry professionals who keep us up to date on the latest trends in the business, guidelines, agents and editors, etc. Without this information, the books we passionately write would likely sit in drawers much longer than we can reasonably stomach.

And while we may not get an opportunity to thank these professionals in person or with hand-written notes, we sometimes get an opportunity to show our appreciation for the value they provide us.

I've come across such an opportunity this week and I hope you will take it. Chuck Sambuchino, is an editor for Writers Digest books and two annual resource books: Guide to Literary Agents and Screenwriter's and Playwright's Market. He also assists in editing Writer's Market. He recently helmed the third edition of Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript. Yes, Chuck is VERY busy. You may be most familiar with his blog, Guide to Literary Agents where he has been gracious enough to feature a few of my writing contests in the past.

What you may not know, is Chuck is also an author. His book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack was released this week from Ten Speed Press/Random House. I encourage anyone and everyone who has benefited from Chuck's awesome blog, books and advice to BUY THIS BOOK! Order it online or pick up a copy at your local bookstore. Why? Because you CAN say thanks to someone who has had an impact on your personal writing/publishing journey. Not to mention the fact that the book looks like roaring fun.

And who knows? It may come in handy in case those little buggers ever do decide to attack. It could happen.

xoxo-

G

What's In a Name?

People often ask me how I name my characters and truth be told I prefer astrology and Greek or Roman names. No, I don't do the whole baby names site but for those writers who do--more power to you. I feel a certain kinship when I find an author with a protag named Grace. I'm sappy that way.

I think about successful YA books of recent years and the names of their protags or leading men--even antagonists. I believe that great character names make great characters even greater. And great characters make a great book amazing. Even quirky characters with great names can leave a lasting and memorable impression. One thing is for sure, a HORRIBLE name can also leave a lasting impression too--can you say, "Renesmee?"

Whether named for a plant, star, planet, ancient Greek or Roman figure, old friend, ex-boyfriend, soap opera star, musician or favorite pet; character naming can be hard and fun. It can also make or break your book. A hard to pronounce name or one that the reader dislikes interrupts the flow of your lines and story. An annoying character with an equally annoying name makes reading...annoying. Get my drift?

When naming your characters, be original but don't be hard on the reader. There's nothing wrong with Mary (The Forest of Hands and Teeth), Grace (Shiver) or Bella. Yep--I said it. What are you gonna do? How about Edward or Jacob? Hah. Bet you're really mad now, eh? And no, I'm not Canadian. Not that there's anything wrong with being Canadian.

What I'm trying to say is, if YOU can't pronounce your character's name, chances are your reader won't be able to either. Make sure you let betas or critique partners have a look and that your choice of names flows just as smoothly as the plot, voice, pacing, character development, etc. If you can read your sentences out loud and get stuck on the name of one of your characters, it may indicate a need to change it.

Below are some of my favorite character names of recently released YA books. Can you name the book?

• Katniss Everdeen
• Ever Bloom
• Clary Fray
• Katsa and Po
• Grace Ann Miller
• Lia Milthorpe

Write well-

Georgia

Hindsight is 20/20

Or so they say...

Writing is like life--in that there is a beginning a middle and end. While working on my latest book, it became quite apparent about midway through the story that past tense wasn't the best way to tell the story. Well, not quite midway but about a third of the way. Still--it was a significant chunk of the way in--36,000 words.

The previous 3 books I'd written were done so in past tense and they all made perfect sense. However, this particular book did not. It begged for the present. I read from it aloud in the middle of chapter ten in the present tense--just to try it on. It flowed so much better. I knew then what I had to do.

It got me to thinking about life and do overs. How often do we think about our lives and the things we could possibly change that would make our it flow better? Simple things that if we took a minute to say out loud to ourselves, "hey, this isn't working," perhaps maybe we could go back and change it--make it better.

In writing, as in life--you can go back and change things. You can recognize mistakes, missteps or minor tweaks that if altered even slightly can make a huge impact on the overall outcome. You can have a do over. You can change it. Revision is a bitch. It takes time and a lot of patience. But it can be done.

So if there's something you're thinking about changing about yourself or your life--think about this: you can do it. It'll be hard and it may take some time. But you can do it. And while you're working on that, I'll be here revising 36,000 words, changing each sentence from past to present tense.

Talk amongst yourselves.

xoxo-

Georgia

Congrats to our very own K.A. Holt!

Hey YA-5 Readers! Today is normally K.A. "Kari" Holt's day to post, but seeing as she's out of town and super busy being a supermom and saving the world and stuff, I thought I'd post a little somethin' somethin' on her behalf. You see, Kari has a fabbity fab book coming out NEXT WEEK called BRAINS FOR LUNCH from Roaring Brook/Neal Porter Books, featuring illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Gahan Wilson. And it is (imagine Zoolander voice here) ridiculously good.

Yeah, I know. You all are screaming NEPOTISM in your heads, right? Because, duh, of course YA-5ers love K.A. Holt books. Or maybe you're not as cynical as I imagine. And you all are like GIVE ME MORE, GIVE ME MORE! Well, in either case, I'm not the only one who loves BRAINS FOR LUNCH. In fact, I am so proud of and excited for Kari, who just got a STARRED REVIEW in Publisher's Weekly! In case you're unfamilliar with PW, basically it's a magazine that industry professionals, booksellers, librarians, etc. read to find out what's going on in the book world. And a starred review is KIND OF A BIG DEAL. It says, HEY, LIBRARIANS! BOOKSELLERS! EVERYONE! YOU NEED THIS BOOK! And, no lie. Everyone does need BRAINS FOR LUNCH.

In case you STILL don't believe me, I'm giving away my very own ARC (advanced reader's copy) of BRAINS FOR LUNCH. What you have to do is Tweet a kick-butt zombie haiku, and then follow AND @reply me (@emilytastic) AND the YA-5 (@YA5updates) to let us know you have completed your mission. By this time next week, the very best zombie haiku gets BRAINS FOR LUNCH.

In case you missed it when Holteriffic posted the trailer last week, here it is, in all it's ridiculously awesome glory:

PS, here is a unicorn, because K.A. Holt loves unicorns. Woooo!

UPDATE:
Here are some rules, as per some questions! One submission per person, and the haiku are 5-7-5 haiku like in BRAINS FOR LUNCH. Also, feel free to use the #braisnforlunch hashtag if you have room! Any other quessies, leave a comment or @emilytastic on Twitter!

Crit This--Writing With A Critical Eye Toward Your Story

So most of you know that I get paid to evaluate manuscripts, partial manuscripts, queries and synopses for writers who are struggling to get theirs ready for submission. My job is to point out areas for improvement and teach them how to strengthen the overall plot, even out the pacing, increase the tension, enhance the voice, find the theme, hook the reader and balance the elements of the story in a cohesive manner. I point out what is not working in what they've written (and why) and then show them how to make it work.

But writers must learn to write with a critical eye toward their own work. They must learn to anticipate the questions that agents, editors, crit partners and readers will have about their story. They must learn that for every writing decision they make, there is a consequence. Just what do I mean?

I'm finding more than ever that there are many writers who are capable of penning entire books without the first clue as to what their book is really about. Ask them and they will not be able to answer. Ask what their main character needs to overcome--what motivates the main character and they will be completely stumped.

But I'm not judging. I've been there. It took me two long years to understand that my first novel while it has angels in it, is not about angels. And to allow others to reduce it to "an angel book" would be like allowing people to reduce Cinderella to a book about Princesses.

As a writer you must be able to fully understand what drives and motivates your characters. Otherwise, their actions and reactions will be forced and unrealistic. You must have a realistic portrayal that rings true to the reader. Action-reaction.

For example: Your character is leaving for boarding school. She doesn't want to go but is being forced to as punishment for an incident involving alcohol, the police and a boy. Your book opens with the protagonist talking to her mother about leaving. Yet, they are very calm. No one even mentions the incident. There is little indication that the mother is at all concerned about the daughter's behavior or that the daughter has resentment for being sent away. But maybe the daughter is glad to be getting out of the house and away from her too strict parents. At the very least it is not the opening one would expect given the set up created by the author. There is little tension, casual conversation and the sixteen year old spends time on the phone with a friend. I would have to assume that this teen would be grounded for a long time behind an incident like this and if she were on the phone, she would be sneaking and talking lots of smack about her horrible parents--I know I would.

NOW. Let me backtrack. My guess is that the author of the story I pulled this example from used this as a means to an end. We all do this when we write--I think. We say to ourselves, "I need a way to get my character from point A to point B." Here, the author needed a reason for the protag to be forced to leave her home. This is all well and good. The reason itself it a great one. HOWEVER. You must support the "reason" throughout the story and fully understand how the choice you make as a storyteller now impacts your story and your character.

As for the story--you must now spend some time on what an incident like that does to the teen and her relationship with her family. You need to address whether this was a one-time thing or if she is a troubled teen. You should consider how a teen may be feeling about her parents who are punishing her by sending her away. And what of the drugs? Hers? The boy's? Were they together? Does she have feelings for him? Has she been ostracised since the incident?

You don't need to address all of those issues in one scene or chapter but throughout the story, over the course of the book--since you brought it up and made it pivotal, the reader has a right to have closure. And by the way, so does your protagonist.

In other words, think about the doors you open in your work. Make sure the hinges are on tight, they (the doors) have a nice coat of paint and close properly. Every plot and sub plot should have a good beginning, middle and end. You can have a catalyst or bridge to get you from one plot point to another but that bridge had better not have any holes in it.

Remember, writing fiction does not consist solely of making things up. Your reader is intelligent and can sense a faulty plot a mile away. Be sure to close loopholes, answer all possible "whys" you anticipate a reader may have and don't leave your story or characters exposed.

I truly hope this has helped. Please visit my blog for more info on critique and editorial services. Best of luck with your writing.

xoxo-
Georgia

PS--Last day to enter Halloween in July Scavenger Hunt! Winner will be announced next week! Win signed books and stuff from Heather Brewer, Michelle Zink, Nancy Holder and Claudia Gray!

The tea I'm drinking right now smells like a grandma's house

I'm in a coffeeshop right now, it's a favorite haunt. I know special secret stories about the back room and am currently in the midst of a feud with an unknown person who keeps stealing the zombie stickers I put on the wall. (I shake my fist at you, Zombie Sticker Stealer!)

I try to come at least once a week to write for a few hours. If I'm lucky, some of my writing pals are here, too (Shout out to Jessica Lee Anderson, E. Kristin Anderson, and our own illustrious PJ Hoover.) PJ will set her timer to make us all stop talking and we will write write write until it's time to order lunch or pick up a kid from school.

(Side note: it's very upsetting that my tea tastes like a grandmother's house today. I tried something new and it was a big fat FAIL. It's distracting me. Very distracted today. Look! Something shiny!)

So I'm here this morning, in the booth in the coffeeshop (with a fresh zombie sticker on the wall) and I'm not writing. I want to be writing, but I can't. I can't because two days ago I went a little insane and I wrote just over 10,000 words. That's almost 40 pages, I think. I just kept telling myself that I was almost done with my draft. Almost done. Almost done! And then suddenly, it was a million o'clock, my elbows were tingling, my fingertips were buzzy and I WAS done. Then I fell face forward on my kitchen table and didn't wake up for two days.

Not really. I managed a nice five hours of sleep and then spent the next day chasing around my kids and doing all the stuff I was supposed to be doing when I had been finishing my manuscript. I thought I'd be recovered by today, after an actual night of sleep, but it appears I am still trending towards the fried brain end of the spectrum.

I'm not actually sure what point this post has other that to say, writing is awesome. And scary. And mind-numbing. And exhilarating. And I hope that those of you who are reading this, and who are writing, and who worry about time constraints and real life wandering into your path like cranky, slow elephants - I want you to know that on some days you're able to just bypass all that elephant crap. I don't know how it happens, or even how to MAKE it happen, but here and there the stars align and you have a 10,000 word day.

I think all of this writing has somehow how given me brain itch, though, so watch out. I can't concentrate on anything anymore. I'm surprised this blog post is this long.

Maybe I'm just trying to keep myself busy so that I don't drink more of this horrible tea.