YA Highway

This Week In Writing

• #1 complaint of writers? No time. Check out "Struggling with Time-Debt" for tips on how to manage yours.
  
  
• Scientific look at lying and body language at Novel Journey.
  
  
• Author Sarah Enni gives a glimpse of her "process journals," and author Christa Allen describes her own journaling process.
  
  
• Author Myra McEntire discusses workshopping and crit groups with authors Holly Black, Casandra Clare, Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff and Maggie Stiefvater.
  
  
• Author Janice Hardy on how to add tension to a scene
  
  
• Author Maggie Stiefvater isn't scared to suck at 100 decibels. Are you?
  
  
• Writing can be a hobby. Agent Rachelle Gardner says writing to be published is a lifestyle, and author Natalie Whipple has a brutally honest post about writing after the honeymoon is over.
  
  
• Kristin Lesko has "ten" steps to improving your first draft.
  
  
• Stuck? Check out these sites:
  Ten Ways to Become Inspired at Exile Lifestyle
  57 Questions to Spark Your Creativity at A Beautiful Ripple Effect

This Week In Reading

• Chasing Ray has a look at the various roller derby books that have come out lately. (A friend of mine played for the Gotham Girls team in NYC-- she was "Margaret Thrasher: The Prime Minister of Your Demise." That right there is the definition of awesome.)
  
  
• Scholastic wants to know: Who would you cast in the Hunger Games movie? And speaking of HG, author Suzanne Collins makes TIME's "100 Most Influential People" list!
  
  
• According to the HuffPo this week, publishing is alienating male readers and the "cult of niceness" in YA book blogging "is at its heart a pernicious kind of misogyny." Can't win for losin', apparently, but librarian Liz B. takes issue with the latter and agent Jennifer Laughran addresses the former.
  
  
• What's missing in YA lit? Blogger Steph Su has the answer.
  
  
• Interesting collection of unknown children's books written by "adult" authors (via @pambachorz)
  
  

• Agent Sarah LaPolla is mixing it up on her blog, and this quote cracked me up-- go help her out!
  
  
  
  

  "We all know about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Jane Slayre, but, to me, those are more Puff Daddy-style remixes, using samples of the real work with the heavy beats of vampires and zombies thrown in the mix. I'm talking about a full, Glee-style mash-up."

This Week In Getting Published

• Agent Jill Corcoran presents a "Dissection of Rejection."
  
  
• To post work online, or not post work online, that is the question.
  
  
• The line between personal and private-- your career and social networking, by agent Jessica Faust at BookEnds.
  
  
• For the mathematically-minded (aka NOT me): Agent Kathleen Ortiz breaks down her query stats.
  
  
• Ten things authors should not do to promote their books from Dana Kaye (via @elizabethscraig, who tweets a steady stream of great publishing info)
  
  
• Author Cory Jackson spotlights YARN: Young Adult Review Network
  
  
• Very literally "in getting published," a cool graphic explanation of how books are printed, via agent Michael Bourret.

This Week In Contests

• Claire Dawn is having a KitKat contest.
  
  
• Win a 30 page crit from agent Taylor Martindale at the GotYA.
  
  
• I'm giving away something handmade at my blog.

And finally...

101 Bad Romance covers-- which just goes to show that execution > concept.

~Kate Hart

Field Trip Friday: April 30

Grammar: It Can Be Fun I Swear

Welcome to our 27th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link in the comments -- or since this week's topic is a short one, you can include your answer in the comments.





Kate: Please, please, please, please, please turn this book into a movie so we can see "Tiny Dancer" on stage . . .

Amanda: Made my heart swell up, tore it out, then did some of those crazy Lord of the Dance steps all over it . . .

Lee: It was amazing. It was dark. It was real . . .

Kaitlin: Everyone should read it ASAP . . .

Kirsten: The dog is one of the best characters I have ever read...

Kristin: Hard-hitting and unapologetic and emotional and honest...

Road Trip Wednesday #27: Best Book of the Month

16-year-old YA Highway contributor Emilia Plater is currently stressing out over the real SATs - but it's all good. For more about Emilia, visit our Who We Are page.

All right, everyone, got your number two pencil? Your calculator? Your sense of impending doom?  Well, you can throw those all out the window, because baby, this isn't some wacko standardized test involving lots of math. This is the YASAT. (They're different, I swear.)

Let's break it down. The YASAT measures literacy and writing skills needed for success in college reading and writing YA novels. Sections include Sexy Love Interests and Whoa Whoa Drama. The YASAT pretty much assesses how well you analyze and solve important problems - skills you'll need while reading or writing YA of all genres and styles.

The best part? All ages can take it! So are you ready? Okay, probably not, but this is just for practice. The test that actually determines your future and whether or not you will ever be happy comes... later. Get ready. GO!

Question 1
When a protagonist converges with his or her love interest at Point A, all of the following must happen EXCEPT:
(A) All their friends know they're meant for each other
(B) An immediate explosion of fated true love
(C) One long, fluttering, emotional glance
(D) Protagonist considers his or her options and realizes he or she isn't really ready for an epic life-changing romance at age 16

Question 2

Question 3
In proper context, the usage of drugs and alcohol by teens is:
(A) A choice which may or may not result in negative consequences
(B) A cool way to amp up the drama
(C) Two words: plot device
(D) What? Do not mention drugs and alcohol in this house! BANNED!!

Question 4
When Jackson and his friends tore down the totalitarian government, it was ____ and totally epic.
(A) Awesome
(B) Considerable - should a teen, nay, a child, be portrayed in the role of a terrorist aggressor? These questions truly
(C) Have a place in today's world of YA literature and we must not overlook them for fearing of raising a new generation of
(D) Misguided youths who wonder at night whether their own society is broken and if they should go to such violent extremes to be

Question 5
A boy should love a girl for her ____, as well as her irresistible ____.
(A) Personality; charm
(B) Mysteriousness; pixie-like allure
(C) Blood; scent
(D) Hey, he's a badass supernatural creature, he doesn't even know why he's falling for this insecure wimpyface

Question 6
Jess and Sara left their houses at the same time for a fitness run to the park. Jess ran at an average speed of 7 miles per hour, and Sara ran at an average speed of 5 miles per hour. If Jess ran 4 miles farther than Sara, are Sara's parents dead?
(A) Probably - well, at least one of them is
(B) Yes
(C) They disappeared under unknown circumstances ten years ago, leaving Sara to grapple with the issue even now
(D) What is parents?

Question 7
If Zombies + Teens = Death, and Vampires + Teens = Love, then Vampires + Zombies =
(A) Werewolves
(B) Hold up, how about something else besides zombies, vampires and werewolves, preferably something asexual?
(C) CANNOT COMPUTE; TOO MANY TRENDS
(D) Purple sasquatch loch merpeoplian

Answers
1. D 2. D 3. A 4. A 5. A 6. D 7. D

So how'd you do? Did you rock the house? Or did you FAIL?*
*This is not a legitimate test in any way, so no worries. Unless you want it to be.

The Official YASAT Practice Test

Lisa, contact us at yahighway (at) gmail with your address so we can send you THE DUFF!

If you didn't win, never fear -- we have some huge (huge.) (huge!) contests coming up for YA Highway's one-year anniversary next month.

The winner of THE DUFF ARC contest!!

Today I have two reviews for two very different books I've recently read. Both were good. I had some commentary about literary vs. commercial and the ultimate power of entertainment and depth and how a reader doesn't have to like either/or floating around in my head, but it's Sunday and sunny outside and that lets me off the hook. =D Instead, I'll just give you my reviews.

CROSSING by Andrew Fukuda: CROSSING was a semi-finalist in the Amazon Break-Out Novel contest and will be released April 27th by AmazonEncore. Preview copy was sent by publisher. Xing (aka Kris) is a loner, a Chinese American in a school devoid of multiculturalism. He struggles with his identity, bullying, girls and a string of murders putting his small town on edge. Fukuda tackles heavy themes of racial profiling and isolation through Xing's sometimes angry, sometimes funny, always insightful voice. And yet, is Xing a "reliable" narrator? Can we count on him to tell the "real" truth, to give us all the clues to his person -- and the mystery -- as we read? It's both fascinating and eye-opening to discover the town through Xing's outsider eyes, most notably the quick way others dismiss Xing's talents (especially his own best friend) and the treacherous way they point their fingers accusingly at Xing in the belief he could be a killer. His observations reveal wrongs that others are quick to dismiss. Fukuda's writing is dense and rich, with layers of meaning and characters to discover. You might want to read it slowly to capture all the depth of the writing. I was disappointed with the revelation of the murderer. I felt there were so many more interesting possible murderers in the characters Fukada really developed that the true killer -- brought in at the last minute with a Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs) flavor -- was a letdown. A good read nonetheless.

THE NAUGHTY LIST by Suzanne Young: This book came out back in February, but I only just got a copy and read it. I liked it so much, I wanted to share it! The premise itself is super: Tessa Crimson’s the sweet and spunky leader of the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens), a cheer squad–turned–spy society dedicated to bringing dastardly boyfriends to justice, one cheater at a time. Boyfriend-busting wouldn’t be so bad . . . except that so far, every suspect on the Naughty List has been proven 100% guilty! When Tessa’s own boyfriend shows up on the List, she turns her sleuthing skills on him. Is Aiden just as naughty as all the rest, or will Tessa’s sneaky ways end in catastrophe? But even better is Suzanne's fun, fresh and fantastic writing. I adore Tessa's brand of swearing. Each character in the novel pops from the page. It's an easy read, one that I finished in a single sitting, perfect for lounging in the sun or getting perked up after a long day.

Two Reviews: CROSSING and THE NAUGHTY LIST

Hi Greece!

We see you, New Zealand.

Senegal, you rock our socks!

One of the great things about a blog about YA books is that it brings together readers from all over the world. We appreciate our readers and love that they come from many, many countries and all parts of the U.S. and Canada. We want to see what YA looks like where you are. Where do you buy your Libba Brays and Suzanne Collins? What does the library that keeps you stocked with John Green and Walter Dean Myers look like? We really want to know!

So, we're putting out a call for pictures. From everyone. Bookstores, libraries, mailboxes. Where do you get your YA books? Take a picture and send it to us at yahighway@gmail.com. Tell us the location of your picture and your initials, only. Please, no people facing the camera or too-detailed location info, in order to be as safe as possible.

We will feature these photos in a series of upcoming posts, so you can see where your fellow YAHighway readers around the world get their YA fix. Start snapping!

Send Us Your Photos!

• The Rejecter explains proper etiquette at conferences like BEA.  
  
  
• Want to celebrate Earth Day a day late? Visit author Lydia Kang's blog to find out how to make your blog carbon neutral.
  
  
• Huge congrats to our friend Kathleen, who signed with agent Emmanuelle Alspaugh at Judith Ehrlich Literary Management!
  
  
• Check out the premiere of editor T. H. Mafi's new Querypolitan magazine!

Field Trip Friday: April 23

Happy Earth Day! In celebration of our planet, staying green, and being aware, here's a few books to pick up for your favorite teen (or yourself!)

The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen's Guide to Saving the Planet

Written in easily accessible language, The Green Teen combines simple and quick eco-friendly tips, interviews with “green teens,” ideas for organizing and communicating environmental change, and a host of resources in a handy “grab-and-go” format. Teens will learn:

• How the choices they make each day impact the environment
• How to fit eco-friendly decisions into their tight schedules and budgets
• How to effectively get today’s decision makers involved in environmental stewardship

Teens want to learn how to minimize their environmental impact at home, at school, and in their communities and get their concerns recognized by school officials, politicians, media, and even their own parents.

The Green Teen is the book that will help them do it, and it is also a must-read for parents, grandparents, teachers, and school administrators who want to help the next generation make environmentally responsible choices.




The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids: The Secrets Behind What You Eat

Based on Pollan's best-selling adult book of the same title, The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids will appeal to thoughtful, socially responsible teens. Pollan's own research includes slaughtering a chicken himself and eating a fast-food meal in a moving car with his family.

He explains complicated issues clearly, offers compelling evidence of the environmental damage done by what he calls the industrial meal, and urges readers not to look away from animal-welfare issues: "We can only decide if we know the truth." An afterword, "Vote with Your Fork," recommends simple actions that will improve the health of our bodies, our society, and our planet. —Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL





Climate Change (A Groundwork Guide)

Climate change has been called the single greatest threat facing the planet, but there is little consensus about how to deal with it. The problem is vast, the science complex, and the economic, political, and social implications of taking action are immense. It is an issue of particular importance to young adults, who will inherit the consequences created by today’s policy makers.

Climate Change addresses the key questions surrounding this issue: What is the basic science behind climate change? Why is it difficult for people to accept what is going on? What is going to happen in the future, and what can be done about it? Perhaps most importantly, the book acknowledges that the issue involves much more than agreeing on the underlying science. Climate change is an emotionally charged political and philosophical issue as well — one that affects how governments and industry form policy, the choices people make in their daily lives, and the kind of world that awaits future generations.

YA Books on Saving the World

Welcome to our *26th* Road Trip Wednesday!

First off, as you may have seen yesterday, YA Highwayers Kirsten Hubbard and Kristin Miller will be borrowing the reins from the amazing Georgia McBride and hosting #YALitChat! Join us tonight at 9PM EST to talk about buzz: how a project gets it, what's already got it, and what makes some YA novels break out while others seem to not catch on despite their awesomeness.
(Big thanks to Michelle Hodkin for the suggestion!)





Second: We need your suggestions for future Road Trip Wednesday topics! Please leave us your ideas in the comments-- if we use your idea, we'll include a link to your blog in that week's post!

Road Trip Wednesday #26: Buzz!

YALitChat is a boisterous and enlightening weekly chat organized through Twitter. Participants range from writing newbies to bestselling authors, agents and publishing folk -- you never know who you might encounter!

Founded in September 2009 by Georgia McBride, over the months YALitChat has bloomed into a popular online community. A new YALitChat wordpress allows participants and community members to keep track of topics and chat transcripts.

The easiest way to participate is through TweetChat. Just sign in with your Twitter account and enter the #yalitchat hashtag. No serial refreshing necessary.

YALitChat takes place Wednesdays at 9pm EST. Tomorrow's topic is still to be determined. If you have any great ideas, let Kirsten and Kristin know in the comments. We hope you'll join us!

• Kirsten's Twitter
• Kristin's Twitter
• Georgia's Twitter

YA Highwayers Hosting #YALitChat Tomorrow!

The definition of Teen Speak is muddled at best. Too much teen slang and you’re trying too hard. Too little means your characters might not be relatable enough. Too much melodramatic fluff and your characters are insipid. Too many heavy themes and you could run the risk of writing over the reader’s head or worse, boring them.

This past weekend, I was on the phone with my younger sister who is very much in the throes of teenagedom. While talking with her on her home phone, her cell phone rang. Below is the side of the conversation I was able to hear:

*dramatic gasp*
“Oh my God. Are you serious?”
“Why?”
“I can’t believe it.”

There were a few other things said (things that I’m certain were beyond the tiny realm of coolness I occasionally get to visit). I won’t bore you with the rest, but you get the idea. Not exactly the stuff novels are made of. And, really, not all that different from how we adults speak at times. But after she hung up, she told me what the conversation was about and . . . there was the story. Something that could be the plot or subplot in a YA book. Something that would make people want to stay tuned to see the outcome.

Being the older sister, I listened and sympathized while in the back of my mind I wanted to tell her it wasn’t the end of the world. That life would go on and what seemed liked the most horrible thing in the universe at the time, wasn’t. But I didn’t. Bottom line: it mattered to her.

Pop culture, slang, or any other thing writers use to relate to teens will never make a story as relatable as understanding the way they think and feel. It's hard to keep up with the teen speak, and really, it isn't a necessity. A simple journey back to that time in our own lives will help us write something that will resonate with the youth of today.

Teen Speak vs. Teen Think

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

TO ENTER:

• One point for being a follower of YA Highway. (you must be a follower to enter.)
  
• One point for blogging or tweeting about this contest.
• One point for coming up with a creative/hilarious acronym of DUFF* in the comments.

As usual, tally up your points (from 1 to 3) and leave them, along with your acronyms if you're playing along, in the comments of this post. (make your total really clear, as in total: 3)

Contest closes at midnight PST on Sunday, April 25th. The winner will be determined via random number generator and posted Monday the 26th.

THE DUFF ARC Giveaway!!

• "If writing is always fun you may be doing it wrong." Agent Nathan Bransford on willpower.
  
  
• "It isn't egotistical to say that your work has merit, as long as you acknowledge that it also has flaws." This post is one of the many reasons I just love author Vee Roth.
  
  
• Punctuation is your b!tch. Or should be, anyway. From author Simon C. Larter
  
  
  
• Why authors fail, from Penny Sansevieri (via the Dystel & Goderich blog)
  
  

• Is your book ready to be published? Please consult this insanely detailed poster. (via tons of sources)
  
  
• If you get a request for a full, how long can you wait to send it? Agent Mary Kole suggests that slow cooking is better than fast food. Yes, those thoughts are related.
  
  
• Author Sarah Ockler has a fantastic list of questions to ask when you're offered representation.
  
  
• Blogger Simon Owens wonders, "Will the iPad change book publicity?"

Field Trip Friday: April 16

Today, we have an awesome guest post from my agent-sister, Samantha Mabry:

Samantha Mabry is the author of the YA novel, May the Stars Fall Down on You Like Rain. She's represented by Michelle Andelman of Lynn C. Franklin Associates.

Last weekend, my friend Lori Ann Stephens and I joined roughly 6000 other writers in Denver at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference. Here’s an excerpt from my diary with helpful writing and business tips. The extended version, featuring legless mannequins, stranger danger, and prolonged gushing over Michael Chabon, can be found at my blog, Stars Like Rain. Thanks YA Highway for allowing me to be a guest blogger!


“What’s Your Platform?” - Business

The first panel I attended, “What’s Your Platform?” was about the business side of things and was headed up by a genius of a woman named Christina Katz. Her advice to all writers: you need to develop a platform, which is an “ongoing effort to connect with your readers.”

Here are some ways to do that, even before your book is sold: start a website/blog, publish an e-zine, give public talks, engage in social networking, start a reading series at a local bookstore, give interviews, make online book trailers, get professional photos taken, don’t say “no” to anything. In short, the panel urged everyone who wants to sell books to get out there and become “the Poet Laureate of your neighborhood coffee shop.”

There are, however, some challenges that a writer must overcome in order to create a successful platform: you have to carve out time (ideally, you should devote 10% of your writing time to writing about writing – make sense?). You also have to get familiar with technology, overcome the attitude that self-promotion is “vulgar,” avoid making your blog too “self-focused,” and avoid coming across as if you have a bad attitude.

In short, the job of any writer is to communicate and connect with people, to “stand out” and “become known.”


“Voice in Middle Grade and YA Fiction” - Writing

Authors Swati Avasthi, H.M. Bouwman, and Julie Schumacher talked a lot about the abundance of first-person narratives in YA fiction these days. Their words (crudely paraphrased): the first-person narrative allows the reader to “try on” another identity. There is also an immediacy to the first-person narrator, especially in the parentless novel. A character who speaks in first-person does so because his/her support system has been cut off, and first-person is an immediate way to deal with the situation.

The first-person narrator can also be an unreliable voice, but that doesn’t mean that the narrator has ulterior motives or is duplicitous/evil. He/she might, rather, not know how to interpret his/her situation (think practically every YA novel ever written or the novel/film Atonement).

If you’re writing YA, you can experiment with narrative voice by fiddling with your characters’ vocabulary and their range of language (Swati suggested an exercise in which you take a character and have her write a letter to a grandparent, explaining a mistake she made. Then have that same character write an email to her friend, explaining the same mistake - then compare the different “voices”). You can also experiment with way that you write your sentences (long and rambling v. short and choppy). Most novels will exhibit some of change in voice by the end of the story due to the fact that the character inevitably changes!

The next day at the Bookfair, I met and chatted with YA author Ricki Thompson. She gave me her novel, City of Cannibals, asked if I’ll read it and write about it. I told her I would. Then I talked more to Swati Avasthi and Heather Bouwman as they did their book signing. They are wonderful people that tell wonderful stories. Read their novels.

That night, I finished City of Cannibals a little over twelve hours from the time the book was placed in my hand. All the while I was hoping that Lori had fallen asleep alright in the other bed, because I was refusing to turn the lamp off until I had finished the book. I dreamt that night of living and falling in love in Renaissance London.

I flew out of Denver four mornings after I arrived, with the knowledge that great writers write with unwavering ferocity, relentless joy, and without fear. But most of all, they write. And write. And rewrite. And write. A great writer’s life is spent swimming with, against, and through a current of words.


Reading List:

Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz (non-fiction)

Summerland by Michael Chabon (YA)

The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap by H.M. Bouwman (middle grade)

Split by Swati Avasthi (YA)

City of Cannibals by Ricki Thompson (YA)

Practical Advice from the AWP Conference

Welcome to our *25th* Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link in the comments - or, since this week's topic is a short one, you can include your answer in the comments.

Leila: "The advice he called out after me was one word long..."

Emilia: "I came across this quote by the freaky-awesome Lady Gaga..."

Kaitlin: "It's hard to pinpoint one piece of advice as The One..."

Kristin O: "All of these people believed in me..."

Kirsten: "They never saw it coming, but once they've read it..."

Kate: "Look. I think you went into this thinking that because it was young adult, it would somehow be easier." 

Road Trip Wednesday #25: The Best Writing Advice Ever

It's not that we're late to the punch...it's that this is news exciting enough to draw out nice and slow-like. YA Highway teen contributor Kody Keplinger's debut novel THE DUFF now has an official cover!

THE DUFF Cover!

In our new Publishing Interviews Series, teen contributor Kody Keplinger sits down with people on the other side of book publishing -- agents, editors, and more -- providing insight into industry happenings and just what goes into getting a young adult novel on shelves.
For the first interview in our publishing series, I decided to have a chat with Sarah Lapolla, a new agent at Curtis Brown and a graduate of Ithaca College (which is where I go! Woot woot for IC writing majors!). Sarah was nice enough to answer my questions about agenting, books, and her really awesome blog.

Publishing Interviews: Sarah LaPolla, Curtis Brown