Two years ago, we were just five women who’d met on Absolute Write, and who had just enough in common that Kirsten Hubbard decided to ask if we’d like to form a group blog. Of course we wanted to. Who would say no? We brainstormed names and we made plans and on May 26th, 2009, our first post went live. Over the course of that first year, we added more members -- Kody, Kristin O, Lee, Leila, Emilia and Kate -- and went from five members to eleven.

By the time we got to our first anniversary, we had already far surpassed our expectations for the blog and now, on our second anniversary (okay, okay, we’re a few days late), we are even more blown away. We’ve formed closer friendships than we ever expected to, we have been blessed with some wonderful guest posts and most of all, we are so grateful to our readers for supporting us and, in a lot of cases, befriending us! We love being a part of the wonderful, magical YA community with all of you.

So! To celebrate our second anniversary, we are having a giveaway, because what better way to celebrate than by giving free books to others? Conveniently, our anniversary comes just as a few of us are returning from BEA, and of course, we returned with books.

Almost everything in this giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (we’re sorry!! Shipping is expensive), however we do have one international prize package as well, courtesy of our lovely Leila. To enter, just fill in the form at the bottom of this post! You must be a follower to enter.


The Prizes:

Two Year Anniversary Giveaway!

We're so excited to help launch Elana Johnson's thrilling dystopian novel, Possession, for her Teen Book Scene blog tour! Possession will be released by Simon Pulse on June 7th, 2011. To celebrate Possession's release, we're giving away an Advanced Reader Copy! About the book:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.



And now, a vlog from Elana:



Enter to win an ARC of Elana Johnson's Possession by commenting on this post with your name and email address. US/Canada only, please. We'll pick a winner one week from today.

Good luck!

POSSESSION by Elana Johnson + Giveaway

BOOKS!

AUTHORS!

after my teen author carnival panel with sarah enni, phoebe north, (me), emilia plater, and kaitlin

Kaitlin Ward and I stayed together in a hostel in Chelsea, because we were feeling adventurous. It was just fine, as far as hostels go, and honestly not much of an adventure.

me (kirsten hubbard) and kaitlin at a chelsea starbucks. hi there!

Unlike our late-evening subway ride from downtown to visit Kody Keplinger's new Washington Heights apartment -- which turned out to be wrong subway, as discovered by the YOU ARE HERE on the station's map, right in the center of the Bronx. But all in good fun! Like the entire conference, which included meeting TONS of friends....

sumayyah daud, kaitlin, me, sarah, phoebe and emilia

...and also early mornings camped out in line, joyous ARC-snagging, accidental free donut lines (thanks, Harper!), Hell's Kitchen thai food (see photo above), and seeing YAH friends like Michelle Hodkin (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer), Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me) and Kody Keplinger (Shut Out) soar.

kaitlin, kody and me at kody's signing. behind kaitlin: joanna stampfel-volpe, kody's agent. behind me: kate sullivan, her editor.

And of course, meeting SO MANY amazing book bloggers! I loved putting faces to names, and to blog names. Everyone was so enthusiastic and wonderful.

Anyway, we have tons and tons of AWESOME ARCs, just in time for YA Highway's Second Anniversary Giveaway. Keep an eye out for it!

part of kaitlin's ARC stash!

me and phoebe perched on our ARC boxes in what seemed like an imaginative pose at the time

If you didn't make it to BEA, I hope to see you at ALA in New Orleans next month. And if not there -- someplace else! :)

BEA Recap, Hooray!

But Hulk and Chuck got nothin' on Darth. Especially Darth salsaing.

Field Trip Friday: May 27, 2011

Welcome to our 80th 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, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic:
Who in your life has most inspired your writing?





Next week’s topic:
TBA

Road Trip Wednesday #80: Inspirational People

Picture irrelevant.

The benefits that come from having your work critiqued, and critiquing the works of others, is undeniable. And writing is such a solitary activity that the social aspect of having a group of like-minded writer buds to spend time with is necessary, at least for me. I'm fortunate enough to have a wonderful online writers' group, as well as a social, happy hour-hunting one where I live. If you're interested in forming your own group either online or in your town, here's a few tips to get you started.

1. Take your time. Join a few forums, hang out in the comments section of your favorite blogs (winkwink), and pay attention to what other writers are saying. Engage in conversation; find a few people that you feel you can relate to before broaching the subject of forming a group.

2. Set a number. This sounds cliquish of me. But here's how I see it; there are quadrillions of writers out there. Why not quadrillions of writers' groups? My personal opinion is that critique groups in particular work best when the group is small. Would you provide better feedback if you had five WIPs to critique, or twenty? There IS room for everyone – everyone can join or start a writers' group! But smaller tends to be easier, as it's less overwhelming for everyone involved.

3. Consider genres. I hesitate to say "find other writers in your genre," because I think reading and critiquing books outside the genres you normally write/read can only make you a better writer. But if horror makes you squeamish, then you may not want to join a group with a horror writer, as you won't enjoy the experience and probably won't offer her the best feedback on her work.

4. Drop the defensiveness. Let's face it; even when we say "oh yes, I want criticism!" deep down, part of us longs for praise. And sometimes, we get it! But that's not the point of a writers' group. One or more of your fellow writers may give you feedback you disagree with – strongly. A defensive attitude is not the way to go, as it will only make folks hesitant to critique you in the future. And more often then not, after a few days of stewing over the comments, you might start to realize they make a little bit of sense.

5. Provide honest, polite criticism. If you think the story has serious issues, you'll be doing the author no favors to keep silent. Tell them the problem (nicely), and if at all possible, offer a few ideas on how to solve it. And if they get defensive, send them up to number 4. Being fairly timely also helps, and hopefully your buddies will return the favor!

How to Start a Writers' Group (And Keep It Going)

Field Trip Friday: May 20, 2011

I suck at plotting.

This realization has been a long time coming. When I first beamed at my open laptop with a sparkle in my eye and a maniacal grin on my face and exclaimed with all the innocence and joy of a child, "I am going to write a book!" (see right), plotting was the one thing I thought I had a grasp on.

I had ridiculous spreadsheets upon spreadsheets of story arcs and scene descriptions and sneaky little twists and turns (despite the fact that I didn't really know my characters yet). This was, of course, my way of procrastinating the actual act of writing. Once I did, I realized I had a lot to learn by way of voice, tone, style, nuance.

But – I thought I had the plot thing down.

Most of us struggle with plot in different ways. Some writers know where the characters are going but don't know how to get them there. Some have the logistics nailed down but haven't grasped the emotional arc of the plot quite yet. Some struggle with finding even a single subplot, some have so many the plot is all but indistinguishable.

About a month ago I heard Holly Black's keynote speech at the SCBWI Western Washington Conference. Imagine my joy when I discovered her topic: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Plot.

I took a lot away from Ms. Black's speech that really helped me figure out a few things on my current project. These ideas came from the speech but with my own paraphrasing and additions:

1. Get out of the story.

This might involve closing the document for a day or so, especially when the plot starts to feel thick and confusing and out of your control. Simplify and go for a bird's eye view - what is the character's goal? What is stopping her? How will she overcome it? - to help you focus on what matters.

2. There are 4 types of plots. Which is yours?

Ms. Black stated that the four types are to stop, to escape, to retrieve and to win. Fitting your story into one of these categories and analyzing the plot from that angle can help clarify things.

3. What do you want to see? What do you expect to see?

Those are two very different questions. Most often, as we plot we know (or think we know) what we want to see. If you get stuck, forget what's supposed to happen next and look at your project like a reader. What would you expect to happen next? It may not be the right thing necessarily, but it can trigger an idea or help one of those tricksy plot pieces fall into place.

4. Understand subplots.

From Ms. Black: "Interaction between plot and subplot makes a story." There was a nifty chart to illustrate this. I do not have the chart. Picture a grid with two wavy lines. Does that help?

This is not the chart. But it is genius nonetheless.

Seriously, the point was that the two are not separate. They're inextricably tied, one can't exist without the other, they're basically Harry and Voldemort. Oh wait, except Harry could exist without Voldemort after all. Scratch that analogy.

The example used in the keynote was how, in so many stories, the book begins and ends with subplot. Take a story about a king whose brother is trying to overthrow his kingdom. That's the plot. A nice subplot: the queen is in love with the brother. Damn, that's cold.

So maybe the story starts with a council. Amidst the tension, the queen is casting longing looks at said brother. We've got subplot. And when the plot passes its climax, whether the king is triumphant or dead or riding off on a dragon never to be seen again, we're still dying for that subplot to resolve. What does the queen do??? (Insert joke about a second climax here.)

5. Talk. It. Out.

Writing and talking aloud are not the same thing. We communicate with one another differently through written and spoken word, as Leila explained brilliantly in her post on epistolary novels. When I get stuck on plot, my instinct is to open a document and write it out, explain it to myself, type out questions and try to find answers.

That works...sometimes. But talking about it with vocal cords and flapping lips is another thing entirely. Have you ever had someone ask "so what's your book about?" and as you try to explain you realize how rambling and weird it sounds and your companion starts nodding with that oh dear lord she's lost it expression and you just keep going and going and going...

Saying it out loud brings a whole other perspective. I tested this out with fellow Highwayer Amanda Hannah last week. Through the magic of Skype, we saw each another's faces and heard each other's voices (she has the cutest accent ever, y'all) and, after much laughing and only a few hours of giddy chatting, we talked out the plots of our current projects.

It was so helpful for me, and I think Amanda would say the same. We both threw out ideas, wrote them down, and I know when the call was over I was totally ready to get to work. (It might be important to note that it's more useful to talk it out with a fellow writer, not your neighbor or science teacher or that girl who sold you those cute shoes at Payless.)



Okay, all you Plot Masters out there - what other tips on making plots not suck do you have for us?

Why Plotting Sucks and How to Make it Suck Less

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and who joined us with Shut Out pics! Here are some of them -- a couple, I couldn't save, and the myspace ones didn't show up for some reason. You girls look FEROCIOUS!!

SHUT OUT ARC Winner!

Welcome to our XXth Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, 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 - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic:
How do you reward yourself when you meet your writing goals? Answer for big goals (i.e. I will buy a Lear jet when I get published) and/or small goals (I eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's in one sitting when I finish each chapter).

Road Trip Song of the Week:
"We Are The Champions" by Queen

Road Trip Wednesday #79: Your Writing Goal Rewards

source

1. You're either born with it, or you're not.
Sure, some people have a natural knack with words and a killer imagination. But writing is still something everyone can learn. In fact, the best writers out there are the ones who never stop learning.

2. A perfectly wonderful book will get you published.
Sadly, not always the case. Plenty of amazing books never make their way to print. The publishing industry is no different than any other industry. There are trends readers flock to and it's a publisher's job to know and understand how they work. Does that mean you shouldn't try to polish your book if it's not what a publisher is looking for? Heck no. Someone has to be the trendsetter, and if your book captures their eyes, it might just be you.

3.Once you've published a book, your career is set. 
One book deal won't always lead to another. Good sales and another solid book will help your chances, but writing isn't a show up and cash the check kind of job.

4. Writing gets easier.
You might find outlining or structuring easier. Maybe you lock in on a specific revising technique that works great for you. But the actual writing? The meat and bones of diving into a character's mind and bringing it to life on page? Not so much. Each story comes with its own struggles, be it world-building or character development, and it's completely normal to reach the point of wanting to chuck it in the trash. The key is to not give up.

Writing Myths Busted

You think you know a place. There are the streets you drive down, the shops you buy your groceries from, the houses you walk past every day. But at the same time, there’s another place all around you as well: the abandoned places, the condemned buildings, the strange stuff you don’t notice unless you’re looking for it, often hiding in plain sight.

Today I went to see some wonderful fantasy authors talking about their writing, and Cassandra Clare was one of them. She mentioned a few things that particularly stuck with me: one was that most of us writers are "strange people interested in strange things", and the other was the idea of shadow cities.

Urban exploration is a source of inspiration for Clare. She talked about how she went out looking for the shadow sides of New York and London to research the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices, seeking out the forgotten and mysterious, finding the places where each city’s shadow self lurked most strongly. (Apparently at one point she and Holly Black even got in trouble with the law for sneaking into an abandoned hospital.) She also talked about that game almost every kid plays, where you imagine all sorts of magical things only just outside the corner of your eye, and how, in creating the Shadowhunters and their world inside our real one, she recreated this game, of things that are there that you can’t quite see.

Inspiration for fantasy is all over the place. Even in what we think of as our mundane, everyday world, there are secret places waiting to be discovered. Now, I’m not encouraging you to go break into abandoned buildings, but still. Next time you’re out and about, keep an eye out for the shadow places. There might be spectacular stories lurking inside them.

Shadow Cities

Thanks to QueryTracker for the pre-made edgy YA pic!

Field Trip Friday: May 13.... um, 14, 2011

A creative writing major could focus her thesis on the differences between young adult and middle grade novels. There are tons of articles online covering this topic in depth. My goal here is just to provide you with a hard and fast reference to glance at when you're trying to decide if that SNI tiptoeing around the corridors of your brain is one or the other.

I hear you. "Duh." But it's not the age of your characters, is the age of your readers. Granted, usually a book starring a preteen main character is aimed at preteens and (even more so) younger. That's not necessarily the deciding factor, though – Janice Hardy's character Nya is fifteen in THE SHIFTER, which is middle grade, while Kirsten Hubbard's character Grace is fourteen in LIKE MANDARIN, a definite young adult. When you think age, think age of the reader, not character.


There's no romance in middle grade. I mean, you didn't have crushes at that age, right?

Riiiight.

Both middle grade and young adults can (and often do) have romantic storylines. The romance in a middle grade tends to be sweeter, more innocent, like you were in seventh grade. (No, please don't tell me what you did with Jason Hunter under the slide.)

Young adult romances can be (but do not have to be) more sexual, both in feelings and actual action. Middle grade romances are more about the butterflies, the hand-holding, the first kiss.


This one is less obvious. Middle grade characters are focused internally; it's about self-growth, learning who you are. Young adult characters are focused more externally, noticing the world around them and how they fit in, how they affect things. Often, that's a huge part of a YA character's growth throughout his or her story; moving from a naturally selfish stage in life to becoming more aware of the feelings and situations of others.


Fantasy, dystopian, contemp, literary, even horror – there are middle grade and young adult books in all these genres and more. But both tend to have more favored genres. I'll let Stephanie Lane Elliott, Senior Editor with Delacorte Press, explain:

"Storywise, too, I think you see a difference between YA, where the characters are old enough to be pretty independent and get into trouble on their own, and middle grade, where kids’ lives are still fairly controlled by their parents—and so you see a lot of fantasy and magical realism. In middle grade, I think a lot of the action tends to come from imagination, whereas in YA, it’s tends to be a little more gritty and realistic."

And here we are – the dreaded "edgy." For lack of a better word, YA stories can, but do not have to, cover "grittier" topics. Rape, sex, drugs, drinking, abuse, etc. MG, not so much.

I'll wager we can all come up with exceptions to all five of these points. And that's what they are - exceptions! Generally speaking, if you aren't so sure whether your current project is YA or MG, I think asking yourself - what age am I writing for? what's the romance like? where's the focus? what's the genre? is it...naughty? - will help you figure it out.

5 Fast Differences Between YA and MG

Welcome to our 78th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday #78: Who Should Narrate the Audio Book?

We're giving away an ARC of Kody Keplinger's second novel, SHUT OUT!

Shut Out is "A contemporary reimagining of the Greek play, 'Lysistrata', in which high school senior Lissa decides it's time to end her school's ridiculous sports rivalry once and for all by starting a hook-up strike."

Available from Little, Brown/Poppy on September 5th, 2011, Shut Out takes on the sexual politics of high school through a comical cast of characters, not least of all Lissa herself. It's a great followup to Kody's first book, The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). We convinced Kody to provide YA Highway with one of her precious first ARCs for this giveaway, because we knew exactly how we'd do it...

TO ENTER

• For one entry, follow YA Highway and comment with your name and email address
• For five extra entries, include a link to a SHUT OUT photo of yourself -- a scowl and black stripes. Some of us used makeup or face paint, others of us used Paint or Photoshop. Let us know if we can include your photo in the winner announcement post.
• US/Canada only (sorry!)

We'll pick a winner Wednesday, May 18th. Good luck!

ARC Giveaway of Kody Keplinger's SHUT OUT!