I LOVE that YA is dealing with seriously dark stuff lately--psychological struggles teens might face, traumatic events...
...and, of course, serial murderers.
I know I was most deeply in my James Patterson/let's read about a gruesome torturer phase around age 12-13; it shouldn't be particularly surprising that there's a thriving subgenre of YA that's about grisly, HBO-worthy murders.
But can you tell which stories are fiction and which are (horrifyingly) true?
See you you do! (And make sure to scroll down slowly so you don't spoiler yourself!)
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
New Article on Newsweek!
I've always felt like 9-5 jobs were specifically created to replicate the experience of hell on earth.
But it could be worse; I could work one of the jobs I wrote about for Newsweek today.
But it could be worse; I could work one of the jobs I wrote about for Newsweek today.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Like-Minded Individuals
Clearly I've been a lazy blogger.
Bad. Bad Jilly. Shame on you.
But as usual, I have an excuse, and as less-usual, it's a pretty good one: I've been busy finding my people!
Last year at a writing retreat, I met the fantastic Kim Savage, who told me about a group she was in, the Sweet 16s. It was a group of writers, all of whom were having their first YA or middle grade novel debut in...you guessed it, 2016.
Clearly, the minute I heard about The Swanky 17s I raised my hand as high as it would go and started shaking in my seat, hoping they'd pick me.
They did--hooray!
In the last two weeks we've been kicking it into seriously high gear, getting the website up and running (thank you infinitely, Sara Biren!), the twitter account active, and all our ducks lined up so we can start welcoming our fellow 17ers.
A couple of the things people tell you about this process that's impossible to believe before it happens to you are 1) how slowly publishing schedules move, and 2) how much of your work as an author is about finding interesting ways to get your books to readers.
Thankfully, the Swankies are helping me manage both of those. I can't imagine a better way to spend the 18+ months between now and my book actually existing than connecting with other authors (with books that I can't wait to read), promoting our work together, and--let's be honest--knowing who to turn to when the headaches and the nerves and the frustration and the elation start coming fast and thick.
Of course I've also been working to get the 2016 comedy debut lined up and ready to go...
...but that's another story.
Bad. Bad Jilly. Shame on you.
But as usual, I have an excuse, and as less-usual, it's a pretty good one: I've been busy finding my people!
Last year at a writing retreat, I met the fantastic Kim Savage, who told me about a group she was in, the Sweet 16s. It was a group of writers, all of whom were having their first YA or middle grade novel debut in...you guessed it, 2016.
Clearly, the minute I heard about The Swanky 17s I raised my hand as high as it would go and started shaking in my seat, hoping they'd pick me.
They did--hooray!
In the last two weeks we've been kicking it into seriously high gear, getting the website up and running (thank you infinitely, Sara Biren!), the twitter account active, and all our ducks lined up so we can start welcoming our fellow 17ers.
A couple of the things people tell you about this process that's impossible to believe before it happens to you are 1) how slowly publishing schedules move, and 2) how much of your work as an author is about finding interesting ways to get your books to readers.
Thankfully, the Swankies are helping me manage both of those. I can't imagine a better way to spend the 18+ months between now and my book actually existing than connecting with other authors (with books that I can't wait to read), promoting our work together, and--let's be honest--knowing who to turn to when the headaches and the nerves and the frustration and the elation start coming fast and thick.
Of course I've also been working to get the 2016 comedy debut lined up and ready to go...
...but that's another story.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Guilty Pleasures
What, exactly, defines a literary guilty pleasure?
I know they exist, at least insofar as there are books I'm frankly embarrassed to admit I've read (no, I will NOT name names, so don't ask...publicly). But I'm not sure where the line is drawn between "fun, light read" and "guilt because I read."
I know they exist, at least insofar as there are books I'm frankly embarrassed to admit I've read (no, I will NOT name names, so don't ask...publicly). But I'm not sure where the line is drawn between "fun, light read" and "guilt because I read."
Guilt because you're reading about pleasure is another thing entirely.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Choose to Learn About our Choose Your Own Misery Books!
Something other authors always talk about on the interwebs, but which you sort of fail to appreciate until your book is in that weird pupal stage between "being done" and "existing in the world," is that there's a LOT of not-really-book-stuff you have to do.
You know, so that people have any idea your book exists in the first place.
You know, so that people have any idea your book exists in the first place.
That should be enough, right?
Monday, May 18, 2015
How Can You Tell When It's GOOD Advice?
Yesterday I went to my writing group, where two of my fellow writers had submitted pages, and the rest of us told those (un?)lucky two what we thought.
Sometimes we agreed, which is always reassuring, both as a writer and a critiquer--it means there's probably something legitimate in the criticism.
And sometimes we didn't. At all. Or sometimes we offered wildly different potential solutions to perceived problems. Like mine was "maybe more dialogue" and someone else's was "if she passed out from pain, that would explain things"-level different.
Sometimes we agreed, which is always reassuring, both as a writer and a critiquer--it means there's probably something legitimate in the criticism.
And sometimes we didn't. At all. Or sometimes we offered wildly different potential solutions to perceived problems. Like mine was "maybe more dialogue" and someone else's was "if she passed out from pain, that would explain things"-level different.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Fantastic Reading with Elephant Rock Books
Just got back from Storrs, Connecticut, and I'm still glowing about the fabulous Roar Reading that Elephant Rock Books put on there tonight!
Mary Collins and Emily Lyon both read fantastic, funny, moving pieces, and the room was full--no small feat for a Monday night reading series in a smallish town!
Mary Collins and Emily Lyon both read fantastic, funny, moving pieces, and the room was full--no small feat for a Monday night reading series in a smallish town!
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Getting into the Routine
I'm fascinated with the routines people develop for themselves, especially artistic people who's only boss is themselves and who are therefore simultaneously not required to report to anyone ever but also plagued by guilt because really this is all about YOUR success so why aren't you working now, say, or now, or also now?
It's normal and healthy, I swear. Or a facet of my OCD. Take your pick.
Anyway, as I venture into the utterly uncharted territory of someone saying "yes, we DO want your books," I'm having to develop one for myself (a routine, but yes, also the books).
Which results in all the guilt.
It's normal and healthy, I swear. Or a facet of my OCD. Take your pick.
Anyway, as I venture into the utterly uncharted territory of someone saying "yes, we DO want your books," I'm having to develop one for myself (a routine, but yes, also the books).
Which results in all the guilt.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life (Hopefully)
It's official. After nearly two years of forcing myself into an ill-fitting 9-5:30 lifestyle, today is the first day that I'll be working primarily for myself, primarily on my capital-w Writing, doing the thing I've been desperately trying to get anyone to let me do for almost a decade.
It's pretty terrifying.
Luckily, having a ton on my plate right from the start is helping. As is having amazing coworkers (with some serious personal space issues):
It's pretty terrifying.
Luckily, having a ton on my plate right from the start is helping. As is having amazing coworkers (with some serious personal space issues):
Friday, March 13, 2015
Book Deal News
I've been a little spotty about posting here lately, but I swear, I have a good excuse.
Actually I have good excuses.
Last week I got an offer for my YA debut, #famous, from HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen.
Which is enough to make me vomit rainbows for about a year, especially since I get to do it with the FABULOUS editrix Anica Rissi, supported by the EQUALLY fabulous agent-extraordinaire Heather Alexander.
But wait, there's more.
Actually I have good excuses.
Last week I got an offer for my YA debut, #famous, from HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen.
Which is enough to make me vomit rainbows for about a year, especially since I get to do it with the FABULOUS editrix Anica Rissi, supported by the EQUALLY fabulous agent-extraordinaire Heather Alexander.
But wait, there's more.
Friday, February 27, 2015
No Boys Allowed?
I came across a really frustrating but thought-provoking post this morning by Shannon Hale (h/t Sharyn November) that commented on the general attitude--and the specific times Hale as a writer had seen it playing out--that many, many children's books are "just for girls."
Frustrating because it reinforced what so many of us know in our guts but (until you're as successful as Hale and therefore able to collect a bit of your own data) can't necessarily "prove" :
That books by women, and books with female protagonists, are exclusively billed as being for girls, so much so that many boys quickly learn to be too ashamed to even consider them.
Even author visits to a school--something I'd think of as a one-perspective version of career day--are segregated; Hale talks about the several times she's found herself speaking to a conspicuously female crowd, though male authors had addressed the entire school.
There's a lot of talk in the kid's lit world about boy readers--how we lose them, often, and how we need to fold them in.
But clearly we're not expecting parents, and educators, and ourselves to give them "girl" books as part of that effort. We're not taking "girl" books and telling boys "there are good reasons to like this."
It should go without saying, but clearly it isn't being said enough: reinforcing the idea that stories about more than half the population are somehow not worthy of male attention makes it very, VERY hard to argue that female people are worthy of the same level of thought and respect as male people.
Teaching boys and girls both that female stories are specific but male stories are universal is a gut-punch to really valuing those groups of stories, and of people, equally. We always try to bill reading as a way to open your mind and see new worlds and develop empathy, and yet we're not asking boys--are in fact making it shameful and difficult for them--to open their mind to girlhood.
This isn't just a problem with "boy" books and "girl" books--it's a problem for all kinds of sub-categories. Books that feature diverse characters, or LGBT characters, or disabled characters, or, or, or, shouldn't exist SOLELY to make those groups feel like literature finds value in their experiences. Those books should also be something we push to every other kid, kids who don't fit those specific boxes, so that they realize this is an experience that is as valid as their own. You can't normalize anything by keeping it "other."
Sigh.
I'd cry about it, but that would be such a GIRL thing to do.
Frustrating because it reinforced what so many of us know in our guts but (until you're as successful as Hale and therefore able to collect a bit of your own data) can't necessarily "prove" :
That books by women, and books with female protagonists, are exclusively billed as being for girls, so much so that many boys quickly learn to be too ashamed to even consider them.
Even author visits to a school--something I'd think of as a one-perspective version of career day--are segregated; Hale talks about the several times she's found herself speaking to a conspicuously female crowd, though male authors had addressed the entire school.
There's a lot of talk in the kid's lit world about boy readers--how we lose them, often, and how we need to fold them in.
But clearly we're not expecting parents, and educators, and ourselves to give them "girl" books as part of that effort. We're not taking "girl" books and telling boys "there are good reasons to like this."
It should go without saying, but clearly it isn't being said enough: reinforcing the idea that stories about more than half the population are somehow not worthy of male attention makes it very, VERY hard to argue that female people are worthy of the same level of thought and respect as male people.
Teaching boys and girls both that female stories are specific but male stories are universal is a gut-punch to really valuing those groups of stories, and of people, equally. We always try to bill reading as a way to open your mind and see new worlds and develop empathy, and yet we're not asking boys--are in fact making it shameful and difficult for them--to open their mind to girlhood.
This isn't just a problem with "boy" books and "girl" books--it's a problem for all kinds of sub-categories. Books that feature diverse characters, or LGBT characters, or disabled characters, or, or, or, shouldn't exist SOLELY to make those groups feel like literature finds value in their experiences. Those books should also be something we push to every other kid, kids who don't fit those specific boxes, so that they realize this is an experience that is as valid as their own. You can't normalize anything by keeping it "other."
Sigh.
I'd cry about it, but that would be such a GIRL thing to do.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
How Many Stories Do We Have?
There's a theory that most writers have probably heard, and some readers would probably agree with in an ego-cripplingly short amount of time:
Every writer, great, good, or otherwise, really only has one story to write, and s/he keeps on writing it over and over.
Or, in the case of Harper Lee, just the once, then mic drop.
Every writer, great, good, or otherwise, really only has one story to write, and s/he keeps on writing it over and over.
Or, in the case of Harper Lee, just the once, then mic drop.
And that's how you kill a mockingbird. Bitches.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Signs You're on the Right Track
I'm just starting a new project, and it's in that extremely exciting phase where you haven't realized all the traps you've set for yourself, yet, and you fool yourself into thinking maybe you really ENJOY this writing thing, and it's totally going to go smoothly this time, and probably every other time from here on it it will too, since clearly you've now figured the whole thing out.
Fool's paradise, I know. I feel like first chapters in a first draft are like the writerly version of doing whippets or something.
Fool's paradise, I know. I feel like first chapters in a first draft are like the writerly version of doing whippets or something.
Except, you know, way less fun.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Points of Reference
A few months back, when I still had girl hair, I needed to get it up off my neck.
"Hey, do you have a binder?" I asked the friend I was with.
"What?"
"A binder. A hair binder."
"What?"
"You know, a...I don't know, a ponytail holder."
"OH, a HAIR tie."
Uh, yeah. A binder.
"Hey, do you have a binder?" I asked the friend I was with.
"What?"
"A binder. A hair binder."
"What?"
"You know, a...I don't know, a ponytail holder."
"OH, a HAIR tie."
Uh, yeah. A binder.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Killing Your Darlings
We're all supposed to do this. Go in with a blood-red pen and slash through all the words that we love--GOD how we love them--but which aren't doing what we need them to.
Maybe they're part of a hilarious scene that connects to nothing else in the larger work.
Or lyrical and challenging and lovely but the character they're describing/being spoken by should be cut from your MS.
Or they're pretty-good, and have one REALLY awesome metaphor buried somewhere in the creamy center, but the entire surrounding scene is just unnecessary, under-baked novel-dough. It's the incipient spare-tire of your novel. Verbal saddle-bags.
Maybe they're part of a hilarious scene that connects to nothing else in the larger work.
Or lyrical and challenging and lovely but the character they're describing/being spoken by should be cut from your MS.
Or they're pretty-good, and have one REALLY awesome metaphor buried somewhere in the creamy center, but the entire surrounding scene is just unnecessary, under-baked novel-dough. It's the incipient spare-tire of your novel. Verbal saddle-bags.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Telltale Laptop
It's sitting there.
I can feel it looking at me. Accusing me of the darkest misdeeds, the foulest of sins. Staring through me with its dead, soulless eyes, the light on the edge pulsing rhythmically...
ONoff.
ONoff.
ONoff.
DEAR GOD, WILL I LIVE THROUGH THE MADNESS I'VE CREATED BY CLOSING THIS LAPTOP?????
I can feel it looking at me. Accusing me of the darkest misdeeds, the foulest of sins. Staring through me with its dead, soulless eyes, the light on the edge pulsing rhythmically...
ONoff.
ONoff.
ONoff.
DEAR GOD, WILL I LIVE THROUGH THE MADNESS I'VE CREATED BY CLOSING THIS LAPTOP?????
Thursday, November 13, 2014
The Liebster Award Blog Hop
One of the best reasons to go to writing conferences: you meet AWESOME people there, people like the truly spectacular Julie Artz. I'm excited to say she nominated me for a sort of "writer's chain letter" blog tour where we get to learn about how we all work (or fail to). With no further ado, let me tell YOU about ME...and the people that come out of my head:
Can you share one example of how you came up with the idea for a story?
Well usually I come up with just the tiniest hint of a character. All my stories spin from characters.
One book (that's in a drawer right now) started with "what about a really dorky social misfit who's actually quietly picking off the people she got too obsessed with and who failed to live up to her idea of their 'friendship?'" Teasing out the two girls who wound up as the central characters in the story, and what they loved and hated, and how they got along, and what was actually going to HAPPEN was much more involved, but the story IDEA sort of came to me like a character logline.
Sometimes. Other times I go through something funny or sad or awful in life and I say "some day, when I'm ready, THIS is becoming a book."
Can you share one example of how you came up with the idea for a story?
Well usually I come up with just the tiniest hint of a character. All my stories spin from characters.
One book (that's in a drawer right now) started with "what about a really dorky social misfit who's actually quietly picking off the people she got too obsessed with and who failed to live up to her idea of their 'friendship?'" Teasing out the two girls who wound up as the central characters in the story, and what they loved and hated, and how they got along, and what was actually going to HAPPEN was much more involved, but the story IDEA sort of came to me like a character logline.
Sometimes. Other times I go through something funny or sad or awful in life and I say "some day, when I'm ready, THIS is becoming a book."
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The Other Side of the Coin: Listening
Thanks in large part to a piece I published on ELLE last week--about speaking up on hard topics but also listening to them in the right way--I've been thinking a lot about listening, lately.
There's a reason I chose writing as my medium, forever ago: it allows me to be certain that I'm expressing things the way I want to, and that I then get to be "heard" from a safe distance.
"Safe" in this context means "anywhere further away than in person, at which range I have to react appropriately in real time."
I'm really well-adjusted that way.
There's a reason I chose writing as my medium, forever ago: it allows me to be certain that I'm expressing things the way I want to, and that I then get to be "heard" from a safe distance.
"Safe" in this context means "anywhere further away than in person, at which range I have to react appropriately in real time."
I'm really well-adjusted that way.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
REVISIONS.
So the current young adult book has probably been revised fully 10 times, partially a couple dozen more. I got it to a point where I wasn't happy with it--when is anyone ever happy with it?--but where I knew that I no longer knew what to do with it.
This is when you're supposed to query, right?
Long, boring, recognizable-to-all-authors story short, I was ready to leave it on the back burner, at least for a little while, because I couldn't fix it alone.
Then I really and truly lucked out. I got COPIOUS notes on the manuscript from an agent, the kind of notes that make yet another revision feel worth it, since I have someone confirming my instincts about where it's going off the rails, and I was able to move it onto the front of the stove again (has anyone ever tried to extend this metaphor beyond the back burner before? It's a little awkward...).
Which brings me to:
REVISIONS ARE THE HARDEST THING EVER.
This is when you're supposed to query, right?
Long, boring, recognizable-to-all-authors story short, I was ready to leave it on the back burner, at least for a little while, because I couldn't fix it alone.
Then I really and truly lucked out. I got COPIOUS notes on the manuscript from an agent, the kind of notes that make yet another revision feel worth it, since I have someone confirming my instincts about where it's going off the rails, and I was able to move it onto the front of the stove again (has anyone ever tried to extend this metaphor beyond the back burner before? It's a little awkward...).
Which brings me to:
REVISIONS ARE THE HARDEST THING EVER.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
"So Have You Published Anything?"
You've heard this one before, right?
You tell someone you're a writer, and almost the first words out of his mouth are "oh, so do you have a book published, then?"
Unless, of course, it's "I have some really interesting things that have happened to me--I should write a book," as though the two are even REMOTELY related to one another (okay, they're a little related, but not much, certainly not as much as, or in the way that, people seem to think).
You tell someone you're a writer, and almost the first words out of his mouth are "oh, so do you have a book published, then?"
And yet...no, it's not in there.
Unless, of course, it's "I have some really interesting things that have happened to me--I should write a book," as though the two are even REMOTELY related to one another (okay, they're a little related, but not much, certainly not as much as, or in the way that, people seem to think).
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