This Is Why I Write YA

Three Things on a Thursday (WINNERS!)

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!
Don't drink and drive!

1. Look what Pretty Little Liars sent me! A clover plant! How cute is that?

Next Monday, March 21, they're doing a marathon leading up to the Spring Finale! Don't miss it!

2. I wrote a letter to my teenage self for the awesome website Dear Teen Me and it's up today. Read all about My Tragic Youth (And see some rather embarrassing photos of my "fashion sense")! And then read the other letters from some amazing YA authors like Sarah Ockler, Hanna Moskowitz, Shannon Messenger, Jo Knowles, Sara Zarr, Elana Johnson, I could go on and on!

3. Now for what you've been waiting for, the winner of my Back From Branson Giveaway Part 2! They are:
BEA
TRISHA

Congrats to the winners! Look for an email from me soon! Thanks so much to everyone for entering and spreading the word! I have a lot more books to give away now that BEA is coming up! So you've got plenty of chances to win!

Kill Your Darlings - The Movie Musical Edition

I'm in the midst of serious revisions and feeling a little loopy, which is why this post is about revisions and one of my all time favorite things, random musical movie moments! And um, how those two things relate to each other.

We've all heard that saying "Kill your darlings." (Or murder them, whichever.) Essentially it's saying any time you have something you find especially clever or that's close to your heart DELETE IT because it probably doesn't fit with the rest of what you've written or even belong in your book. This is killing your darlings to the extreme, but you get the idea. I think it's easy when your book is about A, and all your scenes are focused on A, to slip off into tangent B and then think it's brilliant just because it's so different from the rest of the book.

It's at that point that you must stop and really look at the scene about B. Does it have anything to do with the plot of your book? Is it there just to be awesome? Will it stop readers in their tracks as they wonder when this dark thriller turned into a slapstick comedy?

How does this relate to my love for random spontaneous musical scenes in movies? I'll show you!

Take the 80s classic TEEN WITCH. (Shut up. It IS TOO a classic!)

This is the blurb for TEEN WITCH:
Louise is a shy misfit with a huge crush on and no chance of dating Brad, the hunky star of the high school football team. When Louise discovers on her 16th birthday that she's descended from Salem witches, she uses her newfound powers to become the most popular girl on campus! But when sparks fly between her and Brad, how can she be sure it's true love and that he's not simply spellbound?

You'll note that nowhere in the description is the movie called a musical. Yet, fairly early on, we're given this:



(Take a moment to recover from the 80s explosion. I'll wait.) I remember even as a kid, the first time I saw this I thought, WTF is this a musical? BUT IT WASN'T. It was just a movie with a scene where everyone broke out into a choreographed dance routine for NO REASON OTHER THAN THAT IT WOULD BE SHEER AWESOME. And as you can see, it was, but that's not the point.

The point is, as a first time viewer, I was confused. I kept waiting for more dance routines, but there really weren't any. And in the end I was sort of disappointed about that. And I wondered why that scene was in there anyway. Just to tease me with a glimpse at how awesome Teen Witch would've been as a real musical?

So as you can see, if Teen Witch was a book, as much as I love the random dance scene, because I love random dance scenes, that particular darling would have to go. It sticks out and it's distracting because it doesn't really belong.

Do you have a scene like this? So full of awesome it could be it's own book? So unrelated to what's actually happening in your plot? You might have to save it for a different project. Put it in a drawer and when you're sad, take it out and read it and know that it's proof of your magnificent talent.

And now, just in case I have thoroughly depressed you by telling you to take out your favorite scene, here's my all time favorite spontaneous musical scene. I SO wish this would happen while out at a restaurant in real life!

Books I'll Always Remember

There's a meme going around about what books will you always remember and why. I love seeing what books matter to people and I thought I'd share some of mine. Here are ten books I'll never forget:

Ramona Quimby Age 8
This is the first book I checked out of the library by myself! I was in kindergarten. It was the first chapter book I ever read. I thought every chapter was a story because they had titles! At first I read them out of order, based on which one sounded most interesting, but then I figured it out. (Also cool, the grandmother's last name was Kemp!)


Bridge to Terabithia
And thus began my love for sad books where people die.

Inexplicably, this audio book was one that they played over the loudspeakers when we went to bed at school camp. Nothing like being 10, far from home in the middle of the woods, and listening to the story of a little girl who dies alone in the woods!


Tuck Everlasting
And thus began my love for sad books about immortal people who wish they could die.






Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
I think I read this book around 20 times between 4th and 6th grade.






A Wrinkle In Time
Thus began my love for all things time travel, sci-fi, and fantasy.







Pet Semetary
The first truly scary book I read. I was 12 and I made the mistake of reading it one night when I was home alone.






The Stand
It was over 1000 pages! And awesome.







Interview With A Vampire
The first truly dark and emotionally complex book I ever read. And of course the beginning of my love for vampires!






All The Pretty Horses
I loved John Grady Cole so much that I didn't want to read the next book because I couldn't bear to see him go through the changes I knew would come and turn him into a grizzled cowboy. Plus, it was the book that taught me there are no rules when it comes to writing a book. Want to write would of instead of would've? Hate commas? Go for it!


The Time Traveler's Wife
Did I mention that time travel is one of my favorite things in the world? Plus, sad books where true love faces inevitable doom? This book will break my heart forever.





What about you? What are some books that you'll remember forever?

Guest Post!

My guest post The All-Important First Chapter is up on Nathan Bransford's blog!


I'm like Jesse Spano on the very special episode of Saved by the Bell when she took caffeine pills! I'm so excited! I'm so scared!

It Gets Better

Last week, Stephanie Perkins posted something that really got my attention. It was about Dan Savage and his It Gets Better Project which was started in response to the suicide of fifteen-year-old Billy Lucas who was bullied at school because he was gay.

You can read an article about the project here:
Showing Gay Teenagers a Happy Future

As part of the project, Dan and his partner of 16 years, Terry, created a video where they share their own experiences with being bullied and how they made it through. And the one message they want to get out to gay teens is IT GETS BETTER.

I am not gay, but as you know if you read my post last week for #SpeakLoudly, I did NOT have a positive high school experience. I was miserable, depressed, not cool, and there were many days I wanted to just curl up in a ball and stay that way forever. But this is what I want to tell you, IT GETS BETTER. I swear to you it does. Junior high/middle school/high school is one of the hardest things you'll ever go through and when you come out on the other side, you'll be a true survivor.

Stephanie said this, and I want to say it was true for me too. The day I graduated high school, literally, THE DAY, my entire worldview changed. It was like a thousand pounds were lifted from my shoulders when I realized, I never have to go back there again. I promise you, if you stick it out, you will feel this too. IT GETS BETTER!

If you know someone who is struggling right now, please share these links, and if you've survived high school, share your story with someone that needs to hear it!

Dan and Terry's video:

Finding My Courage to #SPEAKLoudly

If you haven't seen it around this weekend, there are a lot of great posts (as well as the twitter hashtag #SPEAKloudly started by Paul Hankins) going around about this article where a man is claiming that the book SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, a book about a girl coming to terms with rape, is akin to soft-core porn. He is making similar statements about TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler, a book about grief and growing up, (and one of my favorites of last year.)

There have been some great posts on this by Laurie and Sarah, as well as Myra McEntire, CJ Redwine, and Veronica Roth. People are finding the courage to speak loudly and openly about why SPEAK is important and I realize now that by not doing the same, I'm taking away the chance to help someone else feel, at the very least, less alone.

So, here goes. I want to say first off that many people take issue with the fact that Mr. Scroggins considers himself a good Christian, and feels that those who allow these books in schools are not. And there have been some very eloquent posts on that topic. This is not the issue I have with Mr. Scroggins. I consider myself a spiritual person. I don't attend church regularly, and I'm more interested in Buddhism than I am in western religions. I don't feel I can judge. Only God knows Mr. Scroggins' heart.

What's important to me is that no girl ever feels that society thinks her rape was okay because it's just sex. And that the sin in it was her "allowing" it to happen. What's important to me is that girls who have been raped have access to stories that mirror their own, proof that they're not alone, and examples of how to keep going when it feels like she'll never get out of the hole her rapist dug for her.

I am a rape survivor. I was seventeen. While the details are mine to keep, I can tell you that there was nothing soft-core porn about my experience. And to anyone who can read about a brutal attack on a young girl and claim it's sexual, all I can say is shame on you. Shame. On. You.

There is more at stake here than sex education. Books like SPEAK and the upcoming THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney, save lives. It's that simple.

I wish these books had been out when I was in high school. I wish someone had explained to me that I didn't deserve what happened. That it was wrong, and it wasn't my fault. And that I wasn't the only one it had ever happened to. I wish they'd told me not to believe the people who claimed that I was a slut and somehow worth less than other people. I wish someone had told me that I had the right to stand up and tell what happened to me. And that the perpetrators should and could be punished. I wish someone had told me that I would eventually come out on the other side of the long dark tunnel of my rape and survive. That's what these books, and so many books like them do.

I wish these books were required reading for every teen, so that boys might better understand the aftermath of their actions and choose differently.

I find it hard to understand anyone who feels these stories should be kept away from the people directly involved. Rape is awful. Of course we don't want it happening in our society, but it DOES happen. Ignoring it, or refusing to address it won't make it go away.

I bought my copy of Speak today to show support. If you agree with what I've had to say, do something to show your support today too.

Poetry Day! - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

So, as usual, I'm late to the party, but I just found out that Shannon is hosting Poetry Day! (Also, you can win ALL of Lisa Schroeder's YA verse books, so go check out her blog!)

Some of you may remember a while back I shared one of my totally amazing teenage poems. *cough*

I thought today I would share another, as well as one I wrote when I attended an SCBWI Conference workshop taught by the amazing Ellen Hopkins who walked us through the steps to creating a real live poem in 15 minutes, and then one of my all time favorite poems by one of my favorite poets e. e. cummings. It'll be the good, the bad and the ugly, in reverse!

The Ugly
This is a poem I wrote at 14, inexplicably, about narrowly losing out on getting NKOTB concert tickets in a radio station scavenger hunt. I remember it was sort of a joke, intentionally melodramatic, but I don't think I realized just HOW over the top it was at the time. Still, it's a true representation of the trauma I felt about hesitating when I had the chance to grab those tickets - thereby ruining my entire life!

Note the excessive use of punctuation. (!) This is quite possibly the worst poem in the history of the world. You've been warned.

My love for you is real!
Couldn't you tell?

My need for you is real!
Couldn't you feel it?

I've never found anything
more perfect than you.
My search for you was
long and hard.
I looked everywhere!
And then I saw you.

You were my beacon of hope.
A light in the hazy shades
of gray in which I live.
Pain. Grief.
If it weren't for my shyness,
my confusion you would be
mine.
I was so close, but in the
struggle someone took you
away. Never to be seen again.
And now my dreams will
never be fulfilled.

The Bad
This is the result of a series of exercises that culminated in spending about 5 minutes jotting down a poem. It's rough, but I kinda like it. (Also, Ellen liked it, which makes me squee every time I think about it!)

he lied
of all the people i
knew
he was the last
i'd suspect

too easy
i was too easy
to trick
too willing

he sucked me in like quicksand

swallowing me whole
crushing my chest
until my stuttering heart
went still

and

he spit me out

no longer a girl
but ice
cracked and mangled
by his teeth

no longer solid
but in pieces

no longer stupid enough
to believe
in love

The Good
I'm actually not big on love poems, and most of my favorite things about e.e. cummings has to do with his formatting and unique world view, but this is a beautiful poem.

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Also, I spent some time reading through my old high school journals while looking for poems and found this interesting line. "We went to a party at M's. It was cool but we left when that guy started chasing people around with an ax." Sadly, I don't remember this event, but I think that fact alone - that it wasn't so shocking that I'm haunted by it - says so much about my teen years and the kind of YA I write.

NaNoWriMo and Epic Fail Poetry!

So I finished out the month with just under 41,000 words. I'm okay with that given the fact that I've been laid up with a cold for the past few days. I'm off work until the 4th and am giving myself those 3 more days to finish the 50,000 words. Despite technically failing I'm feeling pretty good about the whole project. I really like my characters and my plot and there is some really good stuff mixed in with all the rambling. 41,000 words is the most I've ever written in a month. Plus I'm confident that I will finish this book because I know my ending and am excited to write it. So overall, NaNoWriMo was a win for me. I can't wait to dive into revisions and make this thing a book!

It's Teaser Tuesday and I've been inspired by some of the writers out there like Maggie Stiefvater (and the rest of The Merry Sisters of Fate) and Victoria Schwab who have been sharing their teenage writing. It's fun to look back and see how much I've changed.

I think the biggest surprise to me was how much all my writing was about love. Desperate, yearning, melodramatic love. I'm pretty sure I could win an award in the flowery, purple prose category. And so, without further adieu I present to you this little ditty all the way from 10th grade (transcribed exactly as handwritten) that will forever more be known as:

Epic Fail

Love is lost...
like a moment's twinkling in an eye
Never to be recaptured.

Love is lost...
like the heartbeat of pure beauty
when your eyes meet a young fawn's
Lost forever.

Love is lost...
like the single dew drop on a rose petal
before the sun rises completely
to pluck it's diamond like essence
from its red velvet cushion.

Gone.

Love is lost...
on you.

*sigh* Really hits home doesn't it? I could make so much snarky commentary on this, but I think, really, it speaks for itself.

Now, get on over to Kiersten White's blog and enter her YA book giveaway! She's giving out books to two of her favorite funny writing snippets. Plus she's giving out more to people who enter at random! It ends tomorrow. Go!