Writers Like Us - Nova Ren Suma

This week, Nova Ren Suma is here to share all her writing and publishing secrets! Not only is Nova the author of such amazing books as Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone, but she also teaches workshops, chats with Sara Zarr, and heads up two of my favorite blog series Turning Points and Book Of Your Heart.

Nova's answers are below in bold.

Nova on Writing

• I've written SIX books (under my own name... I also ghostwrite more than seventeen books, including series novels and movie tie-ins and very weird things you would never expect of me!), and FOUR of my own books have seen the light of day.

• My favorite type of scene to write is something dreamy. I’m also a fan of epiphanies, but I try to not let them go on too long. (Sometimes someone needs to stop me.)

• No matter how long I've been writing, I still have issues with the P-word. Plot.

• A typical comment from my critique partner is, “What should we order for dinner?” No, seriously, I don’t have a critique partner. I show all my writing at every stage to my other half, E, who is my first reader. We often don’t know what to order for dinner, that’s true, but he always knows what to say to help me reach my goals for each of my books. He’s my secret weapon.

• The book I wished I wrote is The Diviners by Libba Bray. She’s a mad genius.

Nova on Getting Published

• When I was querying, I felt like giving up. I queried an adult novel to many agents years ago... and DID give up. Then I found YA and wrote something new and... here I am!

• The biggest mistake I ever made querying my YA novel was not giving all the agents who were interested enough time to respond. I chose the right agent for me, and I don’t question that. But I didn’t act professionally—I was rushing, and way too excited!—by not notifying one of the agents in time, and he still teases me about that to this day.

• When I got "The Call," my first thought was, “Sit down.” In my excitement, I somehow found myself standing up on top of the couch.

• When I saw my book sale in Publishers Marketplace, I didn’t believe it was real. I had to stare at it for a while to be sure.

Nova on Life Outside Writing

• If I weren't a writer, I'd probably be a photographer. When I was in college, I had two dreams and a self-designed combined major including both writing and photography. Then I got into MFA programs in fiction, and so I chose writing first, and never found my way back to making pictures. I still wonder what would have happened had I chosen photography, but I think the visual influence has made it into my fiction even still.

• Secretly, I'm terrified of BATS. Actually, my fear of bats is no longer a secret, because when I was away recently in the mountains of California teaching a writing workshop, my students got to see up close and personal just how afraid of bats I am... because on two nights, bats got into the barn, and I freaked out. I was totally cool with the spiders, though.

• Sometimes, when no one is around, I dance around my tiny city apartment with abandon. It helps with the writing stress. I’ll do it for ten, fifteen minutes... then I’ll get back in my desk chair and write.

Nova Ren Suma is the author of the YA novels Imaginary Girls (Penguin/Dutton, 2011) and 17 & Gone (Penguin/Dutton, 2013). She also wrote the middle-grade novel Dani Noir (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, 2009), reissued as Fade Out for a YA audience (Simon Pulse, 2012). Her new novel, The Walls Around Us, is forthcoming in March 2015 from Algonquin YR.

Visit Nova online at www.novaren.com or read her blog at www.distraction99.com.

Want more Writers Like Us? Check out the entire series, including interviews with Elizabeth Fama, A.S. King, Sara Zarr, Jennifer E. Smith, Kristin Halbrook, Tara Lynn Childs, Robin Benway, Katie McGarry, Trish Doller, and many, many more.

Writers Like Us - Alyssa B Sheinmel

This week I'm so very excited to have Alyssa B Sheinmel here for Writers Like Us! Her book SECOND STAR is one of my faaaavorite books this year--and a contemporary Peter Pan retelling!

In the search for her missing surfer brothers, Wendy Darling is caught up between the somewhat-childish, straight-laced Pete and drug dealer Jas and their turf war for the beach.

Alyssa B. Sheinmel did a fantastic job capturing the magic and adventure of surf culture, and drew some pretty awesome comparisons between those who don't follow a traditional academic path to college, opting for adventure. In SECOND STAR's case, boys who want to follow the waves so they can catch the biggest ones. So I loved, loved, loved it--and of course that meant Alyssa needed a space in Writers Like Us.

Alyssa's answers are below in bold.

Alyssa on Writing

• I've written more… books – well, ideas for books – than I can count, but so far I’ve been lucky enough that four have seen the light of day, with a few more coming down the pike. Every time I have an idea, I start making notes and writing chapters, but very few of them turn into actual books. 

• My favorite thing to write is... dialogue. When I was in school, dialogue really wasn’t my favorite part of writing a scene. But it’s become something I really look forward to writing. I think it’s when I get to know my characters best. 

• No matter how long I've been writing, I still have issues with…um, everything? I feel like with every book I write, I learn something more about how to tell a story, but I also come away with a list of things I want to do better next time. 

• A typical comment from my critique partner is… probably to slow down. Early in a draft, I tend to get wrapped up in either plotting or my character’s voice, and sometimes I need a reminder to slow down and try to do both. 

• The book I wished I wrote is … I’m not sure I have an answer for this one. I consider myself more of a reader than I am a writer, so I don’t think I’ve ever come away from a book I read wishing that I could have written it. It’s more that I feel like the books I read teach me about the kind of writing I want to do. 

Alyssa on Getting Published

• If my agent really knew how nervous I was, she would find out…I try to be sort of professional (well, relatively speaking!) when I meet with my agent and editors. But the truth is, most of the time I’m kind of goofy-nervous for every meeting and call. 

• When I was querying, I felt...vulnerable, but also excited. 

• The biggest mistake I ever made querying was…I actually had a really nice querying experience. I’d worked at a literary agency and then a publishing house for years before my first book was published, so I feel like I was lucky enough to know the way things worked before I dove in myself. 

• The craziest thought I've ever had while being published is ... Oh my goodness, I don’t know! Pretty sure my thoughts have run everywhere from fear to misery to excitement to…etc. 

• When I got "The Call," my first thought was ... I found out an offer had been made on my first book over email while I was on vacation, the day after my birthday. I think the first thing I did was call my best friend for advice. 

• When I saw my book sale in Publishers Marketplace, I ... Actually, the first time I saw that the deal for my first novel had been announced was when someone else forwarded it to me – I think the subject line read “Is this you?” It was actually so lovely – I saw it because someone else was congratulating me on it. 

Alyssa on Life Outside Writing

• If I weren't a writer, I'd probably be a ... Before I began writing full time, I worked in the marketing department at a children’s publisher. I loved my job, so I’d probably still be doing that. 

• Secretly, I'm terrified of ... This isn’t much of a secret– most everyone who knows me know this – but the thing that scares me most is seeing dogs unhappy, neglected, or in pain. I have to run from the room when an ASPCA commercial comes on. (Usually straight to my computer so I can make a donation.) 

• My secret girlfriend/boyfriend is ... This also isn’t really a secret, since I’ve written about it a lot: I’m a huge fan of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. I want to be friends with the whole cast. And all the writers of the shows. 

• Sometimes, when no one is around, I … talk to my dog more than is normal for a person to do. (To be fair, I do this when people are around, too. He’s truly an excellent conversationalist.) 

Want more Writers Like Us? Check out the entire series, including interviews with Elizabeth Fama, A.S. King, Sara Zarr, Jennifer E. Smith, Kristin Halbrook, Tara Lynn Childs, Robin Benway, Katie McGarry, Trish Doller, and many, many more.

For Your TBR Pile - The Walled City

The Walled City
By Ryan Graudin

Published: November 4, Little, Brown

From GoodReads: There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Right now, my life depends completely on the first. Run, run, run. 

Jin, Mei Yee, and Dai all live in the Walled City, a lawless labyrinth run by crime lords and overrun by street gangs. Teens there run drugs or work in brothels—or, like Jin, hide under the radar. But when Dai offers Jin a chance to find her lost sister, Mei Yee, she begins a breathtaking race against the clock to escape the Walled City itself.

My Thoughts:

Honestly, who did not want this book after all the BEA buzz around it? I was so excited when Little, Brown approved me for an ARC and read it right away. It was such a great read--so much so that I wasn't sure what to say about it afterwards. I could join the chorus and say how beautiful the writing is (it so is!) or how phenomenal the world building is (truly!) and how tight and intense the pacing was (oh my God, I couldn't stop reading if you tore this one out of my hands!) or how gorgeous the cover is (because I have eyes).

The Walled City was all of that, and yet, it felt like something more. Something I couldn't quite put into words. And then I took a glance at Ryan's note in the back:

The Walled City was real.

Even though the city was closed down by the government, the human trafficking still continues. The characters I came to fall in love with: Mei Yee, sold for her beauty and youth and Jin, whose resilience to survive behind the walls in the search for her stolen sister could very well be real. It was chilling and heartbreaking. 

So, rather than give a reader review, I want to devote this space on my blog to promote how we all can learn more about this issue. Ryan suggests visiting the International Justice Mission at www.ijm.org.

Read this one, because The Walled City will open your eyes and have you Googling for more information and seeking ways you can help.

For Your TBR Pile - The Vanishing Season

The Vanishing Season 
By Jodi Lynn Anderson

Published: July 1st, HarperTeen

From GoodReads: Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell.
The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both.

All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

My Thoughts:

Oh, Jodi Lynn Anderson. You are my favorite. Like, my absolute favorite. Tiger Lily left me sobbing in my office at 2 AM while I finished the last 20 pages and kept me up all night FEELING ALL THE FEELS. So when The Vanishing Season left a fist-sized hole in my chest, I was like "damn, she's done it again."

Here's what I love about Jodi's work: she's not scared to play with narration. In Tiger Lily, the story is told through the eyes of Tink, the faerie that skims the surface of the main characters' lives. In The Vanishing Season, we're again told the story through the eyes of the ghost trailing after our main characters. I loved this because the reader isn't tethered to one POV or angle of the story.

While a lot of YA is written in first person, there's something incredibly important about being shown a story from multiple angles. There's always two or three--or hell, even four--sides of a story. A lot of readers tend to focus on "I don't agree with this character's decision or reaction" or "she was very unlikable because of X." Showing more angles, the multiples of factors that go into an action or a choice, means we're showing our readers to examine the POV deeper before they judge a character's action.

It also allows breathing room for a story to not just be one person's. Sometimes when we single out just one character and just their side, we leave out the range of moments and consequences and feelings that a wider cast could come together to tell. Since when is an event in someone's life isolated?

Pick this one up. Not just because Anderson knows how to tell a story, and write it well, but because it will leave you contemplating stronger story-telling narration.

What's Up Wednesday - 6.25.14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up.

You can participate by going to Jaime's blog here. Or Erin's blog there.

Woot! It's Wednesday! Which means this time next week, I'll be at the beach.

What I'm Reading
I hit my 2014 GoodReads Reading Challenge this month and have no intension of slowing down. My local indie bookstore (Children's Book World, holla!) had a Sidewalk Sale last weekend and I walked away with this stack. I'm really want to attack this pile next. Any suggestions?

What I'm Writing

The cork board is filling up with lots of good ideas. I'm starting to move the post-its around and plot out the story. I'm using the blue post-its to mark each Act and what the focus and turning points in each are. Pink is for any scenes where the MC is moving closer to her goal. Purple is for scenes that take her farther from it. I use the smaller flags to indicate subplot ups and downs. It's a little complicated, especially when the story becomes more layered and the post-its start to stack up on top of each other, but it helps a lot to get the basic structure down.

The multi-colored post-its on the sides of the board have writing advice written on them. These say things like:

• EFF DOUBT; JUST WRITE.
• Conflict! Happen. Happen. Happen.
• Who are the characters that would end up in situations like this?
• Goal: Everything takes her closer or farther away from it.

What Else I've Been Up To

Shannon's guitars are taking over the house! I went to sit in this chair on Saturday to read and it was like "Haha! Nope! Guess again." Also, his work is gorgeous and I love showing it off. I want his guitar building career to take off almost as badly as I want to be published one day. It's awesome being married to someone who has a creative passion and understands the need to put something awesome out into this world. 

Have an awesome week!

Agents Like Us - Heather Alexander

Heather Alexander recently made the jump from editor at Penguin to agent at Pippin Properties, so of course I rushed to interview her for Agents Like Us! She's sharing all her agenting secrets and slushpile wishes!

She's looking for picture books, middle grade, YA, and graphic novels. Specifically contemporary, funny, historical, gothic style horror, and magical realism, but not high fantasy, medieval, or time travel. She favors literary over commercial.

You can read more about her here and follow her on Twitter @HeatherAlexand. Her answers are below in bold. 

Heather on Agenting

• When writers query me, I really wish it were a homerun every time.

• My favorite part about being an agent is getting to develop new talent and new ideas. Nurturing a grain of an idea into a whole book is very satisfying.

• Rules and trends aside, what I really look for in a story is gorgeous writing and characters I wish I knew in real life. And a story that changes the way I think.

• I really wish I saw more truly fresh ideas in the slush.

Heather On Clients

• My ideal client would be someone who loves to brainstorm ideas, and then develop them into something unique and cool. Someone with a million ideas (but who knows how to tell which ones really have legs).

• What I love most about my current clientele is how eager they are to work.

• What I want most for any client is a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Heather On Life

• If I weren't an agent, I'd probably be, well, I’ve been so many things so far, and there are a lot of things I’d like to try, but let’s go with cheese monger. No, textile designer. No, wait, art restorer. Racecar driver? Spy? At least one of those things.

• My favorite (non-client) book is, right now, in this moment, Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour. Ask me again tomorrow.

• Secretly, I'm terrified of contentment, which I equate with stasis.

• My secret boyfriend is Gene Wilder.

• I have a total girlcrush on Tina Fey. Of course.

• Sometimes, when no one is around, I eat chocolate for breakfast.

• My favorite drink is seltzer. I drink it a liter at a time. I’m going to get the bends!

Want to see more Agent Interviews? Check them all out here.

Currently Reading - July 2014

It's not July yet, but--well--I beat my GoodReads Reading Challenge Goal for the year. How awkward...I mean, in some ways, I'm damn proud. I've annihilated that goal! I'm totally on track to read 100 books this year. Is it completely nerdy that I'm excited by this?

So here's what I've read so far. How are you doing on your reading goals this year? Does anyone want to borrow any books?

PS--do not judge my NA reading choices. Sometimes a girl has to read about some hunky boys.

2014 Reading Challenge

Valerie has read 1 book toward her goal of 55 books.

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1 of 55 (1%)

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