You Might Not Like My Books...

There, I said it. The one admission most authors are loathe to make. My books are not going to be for everyone, and really, that's okay.

I've been reading through a lot of feedback this week on my first book, The Six - old and new Amazon reviews and Facebook feedback, mainly, and there's a trend I've noticed among it all, both the good and the bad: commentary on how unlikable my main character, Darcy, is. This isn't anything new, but it seems to have come up a lot lately, and it's gotten me to thinking about American consumerism and what we expect out of our entertainment these days.

So if you haven't read The Six, or if you've read it and were turned off by Darcy's attitude in book one, here's what I have to say to you: If you want your heroes to arrive ready-made, spunky, capable, and flawless, then my books are probably not for you. Sorry. I know we live in a culture that demands instant gratification, but I often find instant gratification disingenuous, unrealistic, and false. I believe in developing a character - especially a heroic character - from the ground up, and that means you're going to have to slog through the bad stuff to make the good stuff (when you get there) that much more rewarding.

There are many reasons why I wrote Darcy to be so insufferable in The Six. Here are a few of the main ones:

1) It's realistic. She's 13 in book 1, and while there are some truly delightful 13-year-olds out there (my character Sam is one of them), the greater preponderance of them lean toward selfishness, whininess, and moodiness. And the thing is, they don't even realize it! 13 is a difficult age, an age at which you believe the world revolves around you, and an age during which your emotions border on out-of-control on a daily basis. This is how I was at 13, and I wanted to bring it to life in Darcy.

2) It gives her room to grow - a lot of it! A main character should be dynamic, and the change that takes place should be for the better. I could have started Darcy off as a more likable character and still given her some ups and downs, sure, but I thought a full transformation from self-centered to selfless would pack a greater punch. She has to start off pretty awful for there to be any real change over the course of her story arc. I also didn't want her to hit her heroic high point in book 1 (or 2, or 3...). This is what I felt happened in The Hunger Games. Katniss is as good as she's going to get in the opening chapters of the first book, and it kind of feels all downhill from there. (Just my opinion, of course, feel free to disagree!)

3) The Gateway Chronicles is a six-book series. That's a lot of story to get through, and again, I wanted Darcy to grow at a realistic pace side-by-side with her natural maturing, and to allow the events of the adventures and trials she goes through to shape her into a better person. She definitely has highs and lows as the books progress, but overall, she should be the worst she's ever going to be in book 1, and the best she's ever going to be in book 6. That's been my goal from the beginning. Most people don't change over night, and if I'd had Darcy improve too much by the end of book 1, there wouldn't have been enough transformation left for five more books.

4) The Six is a Nigredo-stage book. This gets a little technical, but if you've read any of the other blog posts I've written about literary alchemy, that's what it's all about. There are three stages of alchemy Darcy has to progress through, and it all begins with the Nigredo, or black, stage of dissolution. This is a burning-away-the-dross stage, a stage during which the character is often beset with both internal and external problems that challenge the character's preconceptions about his/herself. It is the first step in a spiritual journey during which the character has to come to realize that he/she maybe isn't as great as he/she always thought. It is a peeling away of what is bad so purification can take place. This is where Darcy is at in The Six and The Oracle. Because I have six books, there are two books per stage. Darcy begins the Nigredo in The Six and progresses through it in The Oracle, which ends with a sort of crucible that challenges Darcy's notions of what love actually is and launches her into the next stage. By the time The White Thread opens, Darcy is ready to step into the Albedo, or white, stage of purification, and it's at this point that she starts to really learn selflessness.

To wrap up, it really is okay if Darcy turned you off SO much that you just couldn't get into my books. I still appreciate you giving them a chance, and I acknowledge that my books are not going to be enjoyable for everyone. But if you read all this and get what I'm trying to do with her in the stories, maybe you'll want to give them an extra chance. I promise you, she does get better - much, much better - as the story progresses, but you have to be willing to take the journey alongside her. She stumbles a lot along the way, but that's because she's human. And I believe a human character is more relatable in the long run. And if you're one of my industrious fans who have always understood that this is what I'm doing with Darcy from the very beginning, bravo to you! I commend you for giving her a chance, and I hope I don't let you down with how I conclude her story in book 6!

***As a very nerdy aside, I couldn't help thinking about the Marvel superheroes as I wrote this post. I'm a huge Marvel fan (geek), and I have strong and real opinions on all the Avengers. I love them all for various reasons, and while Captain America is probably my favorite Avenger at the end of the day, the two with the best origins stories, hands down, have always been Thor and Iron Man. Seriously, does anybody like Tony Stark before he's kidnapped? Or Thor before his dad banishes him to earth? They are both monumental jerks, and they're supposed to be, but that's what makes their transformations into heroes so satisfying in the end.

Idiotic Adults, and Other Problems with YA Literature

I love Young Adult literature as much as the next person, probably more than most, given my position, but because I spend so much time reading YA, I've come to identify some recurring and troubling problems. The following are, of course, generalities, and the presence of any of these elements in a book doesn't mean that I won't/don't like the story, but they do tend to grate on me. These are also things I've tried to avoid in my own writing, so if you think I am myself an offender, definitely call me out!

1) Idiotic Adults. This one can be found all over. It's present in almost every YA book I read, and it never ceases to bother me. YA books these days tend to have a cast of teenage characters who are inexplicably wiser than any of the adults in the stories. Adults in YA literature are idiots, worthless, and/or wicked. They never have the answers, and they tend to contribute to the problems. Now, I understand that YA authors are trying to reach out to their primary fan base - teenagers - by giving them wish-fulfillment stories in which the teenagers save the day, and I don't have a problem with teenagers saving the day. But I do have a problem with the consistent lack of adult leadership. It sends a message to young people that they don't need adults in their lives, that when they enter adulthood themselves, they'll be relegated to the ranks of stupid and senile, and that wisdom is attained by the age of 17. Not only are all of these things false, but they are potentially damaging to a teenager's psyche and to the families of which they are a part. A wise mentor - at least one - was a staple of older literature for good reason, and I'd like to see it return to modern YA lit. Let's send a message to young people that, yes, they do have great potential, and yes, they can do great things, but they should also follow in the footsteps of wiser adults who have gone before them.

As a side note on this issue, I find it difficult to suspend disbelief when the teenagers save the world/have all the answers sans the expertise of any adults.

2) Age-inappropriate romance. Oh, the throes of teenage romance! Is there anything more dramatic or angst inducing in a young person's life? I fully understand the depth of feeling and emotion that comes with teenage romances, and I do believe that teenagers can fall legitimately in love, but it's rare for a teenage romance to be fully mature - especially after only a few days, which we're constantly asked to accept in YA lit. Teenagers do behave differently in relationships than adults do, and there are some things that come only with age and maturity, but I think many YA authors forget this when writing their romantic pairings. I recently finished a book in which the two main characters are only 15 years old, yet the way the author describes their thought processes toward each other (including sexuality) is more akin to how two 30-year-olds would think about each other. The mental processes of the characters did not match their ages, and that leads me to the next issue...

3) Age-inappropriate characterization. Kids should act and think primarily like kids. And like it or not, teenagers are still kids! When I read a book where the characters are 13, I want them to think and act like 13-year-olds. And this should be different from how 15-year-olds think and act, which should be different from how 17-year-olds act, etc... In fact, each year of a teenager's life bring great changes - intellectually, physically, spiritually, and in maturity - and to not differentiate between the ages is sloppy writing and disingenuous to teenagers themselves. I think a reader ought to be able to accurately guess the ages of the characters without them actually being stated, yet I'm constantly surprised when reading YA. "Wait... this character is only 14? I thought she was 18!" I think sometimes authors just want to publish a YA book, but they don't really want to put the time and effort in to figuring out how teenagers act, think, and speak. So what I find over and over again are stories that contain adults parading around as teenagers.

4) The most specialist girls in the world! I don't have a problem, per se, with the trend toward spunky female protagonists in YA lit, and I can't be too critical of it, as I also have female protagonists, but it is getting a little... overdone. Female YA protagonists are beginning to look like cookie cutters of each other, and it's almost without fail that the stories hinge on these girls being the most specialist girls in the world. But how long will readers buy into this repeating storyline? Spunky teenage girl discovers she's the key to solving all of society's ills while teaming up with tragic, brooding, attractive male counterpart. I tried to avoid this cliche by making Darcy reliant on a cast of characters (and wise, adult mentors!), rather than finding all the answers within herself.

All right, these are just a few of mine, but this blog post is getting long, so I'll leave it at that. Agree with me? Disagree? What are some trends of YA lit that bother you?

"The End is Where We Begin"

You know, I don't often comment about books I don't like on here. I usually only comment on books that I LOVE and want to make sure y'all know influenced me, but I was reading through reviews for the third in a YA trilogy I was mildly interested in finishing - not madly in love with as many other people are - but interested in finishing . . . until the preponderance of the reviews came back negative. I won't name the book because I'm not interested in damaging the career of any fellow author, no matter how misguided she may have been with this book, but I mention this here because a) I think it's important for authors to pay attention to both good and bad reviews because we have a responsibility to our readers, and b) There was a comment made in one of the reviews that made me go, "uh huh! That's why." One reviewer said that this author has been quoted in interviews saying that she had "no idea" where the story was going when she first started writing the series. My creative writing students will chuckle at this, but if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times - you DO NOT START WRITING A BOOK BEFORE YOU KNOW THE ENDING. This holds *especially* true for writing a series! If you are scrambling to make sense of everything you've already written at the end of the series, your readership can tell. At least, with this particular series, I could already tell from the beginning that she didn't have a plan, which is part of why I didn't get too emotionally invested in it in the first place.

So, here's what I promise you.

I have a plan. I have always had a plan. I planned out the basic premises of all six books before I started writing book 1, and I've known how the whole series will end before I started writing book 1. Have there been some changes to my plan along the way? Sure! Have I come up with new and different ideas as I go? Of course! Has the story evolved somewhat organically once the ball got rolling? You bet! But I have striven very hard to keep everything pointing toward the ending I planned out six years ago, and that has helped me to write a story that is coherent, logical, and enjoyable. You, the reader, can trust me. I take your feelings into consideration, and as long as I CAN work something in that I know you want, I WILL. Everything that you think "means something" probably in fact does, and there really is a "puzzle" for you to figure out. AND I have beta readers already lined up to read book 6 when I finish who will let me know if my plan has been executed to satisfaction and whether or not you, the reader, will feel fulfilled by it. I don't want to let you down, and I think any author who puts edginess or shock value above the needs of the readers has lost his/her way. I promise to give you an ending that has a eucatastrophe, an ending that makes sense, and an ending that has, really, existed all along.

One of my favorite bands has a recently-released album entitled, "The End is Where We Begin." Good advice for any author, especially an author with thousands of people riding on his/her books. At the end of the day, I don't want my readers to close book 6 and say, "What was the point?" And that is clearly what has happened to this author.

Make Time to Read!

I thought of this post as a piggyback off the post I did a little while back called, "Make Time to Write!" I can't claim full credit for the idea, as a fellow author had recently posted in a discussion thread what is perhaps a little-known fact: that once we - authors - really get enmeshed in the business of being an author, we find it very difficult to actually read what our fellow authors are writing anymore! I read her comment and sat back and chuckled, because it is a very true statement. I know I'm speaking for many an author out there, but I think it's fair to say that authors love to read. Of course we do! Why else would we be writing stories of our own? But the tasks that surround first taking a story idea from conception to completion, then revising and producing it, followed by selling and promoting it, make for very little time to do other than those things. As I touched on in my previous post, it can be difficult enough to find the time to do that very quintessential thing which is writing. Sitting down to engross ourselves in any sort of leisure reading, therefor, tends to go out the window in a pinch.

But this is something that must not happen. If you consider yourself a writer of any sort, you must always make time to read!

Reading is one of the most important ways we hone our craft. As a teacher, I can always pick out my readers in my classes as the readers will almost inevitably be better writers. I have found over the years that people who don't read don't know how to craft engaging sentences, they don't know how to bend words to their needs, they don't understand, and therefore cannot utilize, the intricate subtleties of language. Writing is in large part imitative, and as writers, we first seek to emulate other writers we admire. And there is nothing wrong with that, in fact, it ought to be encouraged! I have never ascribed to the theory that everything we need to create a masterful work already exists within us. Rather, I believe writers are all born with an innate talent and predisposition for writing, but that writers must look outside themselves to learn the craft and hone it. Much like in physical disciplines such as martial arts, writers must also learn from a master, and it will only be after a great deal of "wax on, wax off" that a unique, creative voice will emerge. Once you know the craft, then you can really have fun with it! My creative writing students often don't like to hear this, but with the exception of a few creative geniuses, it will always hold true that most of your early writing will be little more than practice and imitation.

This is why writers must always read. Not only is it enjoyable and relaxing, but it helps with the ongoing task of learning how, and how not, to write. And if your time for leisure reading, like mine, is short, just be exceedingly choosy about your choice of reading. I've said it before, but I mainly only read books in the same genre in which I write - to see what's out there in the market, to see what "the kids" are reading, and to see what I find to be effective and ineffective writing (and storytelling, but that is often a different thing entirely!). So remember, "wax on, wax off!" Make time to read.

You Don't Sell Books Sitting Down

I spent the weekend in Decatur, GA (a beautiful and historic suburb of Atlanta) at the Decatur Book Festival. I was a participant in the Emerging Writers Tent, and it was not only a very profitable weekend for me, but it was also a time of reflection and observation. There was also one BIG lesson I learned: always, always bring more books than they tell you to bring. The rules for the Emerging Writers area stated that each author (and there were over 100 of us participating) could only bring 20 of each title. So I brought 20 of each title. I started selling at 10 AM. I sold out of book 1, The Six, by 1:50 with a day and a half left to the festival. Thankfully my publisher and I rallied and were able to offer a special deal for people who wanted to order copies of book 1 directly from me, and I sold several more copies that way, but I was really kicking myself for not bringing more than the prescribed twenty, because I know I could have doubled my sales on all the rest of the books. All of this led to a general observation though. Selling books doesn't just happen. Of all the authors there, I was the only one selling books in the Emerging Writers Tent in high quantities. In fact, of all the authors there, I was one of the only ones actively selling any books at all! Early in the day on Saturday I spoke with a fellow author who was there with his debut book, and I asked him what his strategy was for the weekend. He chuckled and said that he didn't really have one. He just wanted to put his book out there and see what happened. For the rest of the day, I saw him sitting on a bench watching the crowd go by. Meanwhile I (and my sister who came along for moral support and ended up being a great sales assistant!) was on my feet handing out flyers and bookmarks, engaging in conversation with people, smiling, laughing, and in some cases practically tackling people to bring them over to my books. I didn't scalp people away from other authors' books or anything like that, which would have been wrong and unkind, but I made an attempt to actively engage every person who so much as paused in front of my books. And you know what happened? I met wonderful people, I got to know some of my future readers, I learned what sorts of things they look for in stories, and I sold books! Now, I don't mean to be overly critical of the gentleman who spent his day on the bench. Novice authors tend to have this, "If you write it, they will come" mentality when it comes to publishing their first books, but the fact of the matter is that that's simply not true. Writers are generally introverted, but if you're like me - an author who is making a career out of writing - then you have to attack the pragmatic side of the coin as well. This year I can finally say this is my career, and I'm going to attack it with what financial guru Dave Ramsey would call "Gazelle intensity" (imagine a gazelle outrunning a cheetah and you'll understand the metaphor a little better). I will not sit down. You don't sell books sitting down.

Why I Wasn't Surprised by Miley

I try to keep my finger on the pulse of YA culture. What are teenagers doing these days? What and how are they thinking? What do they like and dislike? How do they talk? What is important to them? I've been a teacher for several years, so observing them has been pretty easy, and even though I'm no longer teaching full time, I'm still teaching a creative writing course and keeping in touch with my students. As a YA novelist, I think it's very important to keep up with "what the kids are doing." A couple of things this week have made me rather thoughtful about YA culture, especially from the perspective of someone who writes for a YA audience, so I figured my blog was as good a place as any to ruminate on them.

I wasn't surprised by Miley Cyrus's performance at the VMAs. While everybody else seems to be sounding off in shock, awe, dismay, and disbelief, I watched the performance (for the record, not live, but on YouTube) and thought to myself, "Yep, that seems about right." I don't mean that sentiment in any sort of condoning sense. It was vulgar, and the use of children's motifs in sexual ways ought to disturb and infuriate anyone with any sense of morality. What I mean by it is that Miley Cyrus merely followed her pop star trajectory to its logical conclusion - self obsessed, convinced of her own perfection, impulse driven, and hyper sexualized. These things are the markers of YA culture at its worst, and they feed and are fed by the natural inclination of all young people to be self absorbed. These are also all the things I have kicked back against in my writing for young people. Along those lines, I found a great article this week that perfectly articulates what I try to do when I write my books. It's a very short article and worth a read (click HERE), but the gist of it is that young people need to be encouraged to look outside of themselves and to see that they aren't the center of their own little worlds, but rather they are participants in a world much bigger than themselves. I love this quotation from the text: "One way to display a higher opinion of children than the popular fashion is to address them as members of the human family and not as a special class of self-worshiping mirror-gazers." (Zach Franzen, "Get Children Outside - Of Themselves). I will always try to drive this point home in my stories, no matter what I am writing. I don't keep my finger on the pulse of YA culture so I can regurgitate back to them what they already believe and are doing, I do it so I can know how to encourage them to be better people. It is important for young people to know they each have unique, God-given gifts and abilities, and that they are important as individuals, but concurrent with this, they need to be encouraged to focus not just on themselves and how they can make their own lives better, but on others and how they can use their gifts and talents to serve other people. I try to avoid doing this didactically, but it should be clear in all my currently published books that selfish behavior results (ultimately) in bad things happening. If this is a message we can drive home to our youth, perhaps we'll have fewer Miley Cyrus's running around in the future. 

*For the record, I should note that I don't in any way believe it is only young people who are inclined to selfishness - it is a malady, rather, of humankind. I'm merely addressing young people since they are my target audience. Furthermore, I believe that young people, more so than adults, have a much greater capacity for great acts of love, heroism, and kindness. What I see in young people is the potential for great good and for great evil, and also a great potential to change. This is why I think children's and YA literature is so important - because it addresses the formulative years when almost anything is possible. 

Once Upon a Time

I actively watch very few television shows on a regular basis. The only show I can remember setting out to watch from the pilot episode (based on the excellent marketing and Spielberg's attachment to the project) is Falling Skies, and that's been a very fun experience, although the special effects are at times cringe-worthy (which is why I avoid the SyFy channel like the plague.) But for a couple years now I've heard people talk about the show Once Upon a Time, and I've always had a mild interest in checking it out. After all, fairy tales are right up my alley! Well, my husband and I finally got Netflix and lo and behold, there was Once Upon a Time.

I watched the pilot episode and was immediately hooked. Needless to say, it's been a little bit of a productivity killer this week, BUT I can view it as research for my writing (right? Sure, why not.). The fairy tale side of the show is, truthfully, a bit cheesy, a bit tongue-in-cheek, and while I usually despise cheesiness, for some reason I don't mind it in this show. So that put me in a contemplative mood.


Why don't I mind that the evil queen is so over-the-top evil? Why don't I mind the love-at-first-sight cliches, the magical solution to every problem, and the obvious story outcomes perpetrated by over-the-top writing, acting, and costumery? I think the answer lies in the very fact that these things are what fairy tales are all about. In Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, you're not supposed to wonder who is good and who is evil. Heroes and heroines are pure of heart and ready to love, often demonstrated by dashing displays of selflessness and friendly animal companionship. Villains hate everyone and everything that doesn't further their own agenda and drive for power. They are Machiavellian to the extreme, and they relish death and destruction. Except for in fairy tale revisionist stories, there is no place for the "misunderstood" villain that is so prevalent in our postmodern society in traditional fairy tales ... and I love this! Fairy tales draw a clear distinction between good and evil, and when they are transformed into a visual medium, you can literally see it. For children, and for those of us who sometimes yearn for things to just be cut and dry from time to time, this is a beautiful thing. There is obviously also a time in fantasy (and in all literature) for a not-so-obvious distinction between good and evil. In my opinion this is only appropriate if the purpose is not to blur the lines in actuality, but to make the reader dig deeper to figure it out for themselves. In fact, this makes for much more complex forms of storytelling than one finds in the traditional fairy tale, so I'm not saying doing things one way is better than doing things the other way. Where I think the show Once Upon a Time has really hit it on the nose is that the over-the-top obvious morality of the fairy tale realm is tempered by a more subtle figure-it-out morality of the "real world" setting of Storybrooke, Maine. Where the evil queen is SO EVIL in the fairy tale realm, in Storybrooke she's much more seductive and sly; at times the viewer almost wants to feel bad for her (before she hauls off and does something wicked again to remind you who she really is). I think the end result of the show is one that shows both sides of evil - how sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes it is not, and you need to be on guard against it regardless. It engages the cerebral and the emotional centers of the brain.

Mostly, I think I love fairy tales because all fantasy literature is essentially an offshoot of traditional fairy tales. Modern fantasy authors, in using fantasy, have the same ability to draw distinct contrast between good and evil, and to do so in a way that takes the reader to the extreme moral highs and lows without it seeming out of place in the real world (because, after all, it's *just* a story!). To quote a scholar on the subject, "Fantasy literature takes us out of our world, enabling us to see moral principles more clearly... In addition, fantasy literature gives us more stark examples of heroism and villainy than realistic fiction usually does." (Cole Matson, "Is Tolkien Useless?") These stark examples can encourage us to be better people than we are. After all, who ever roots for the evil queen?

Why Traditional Themes Work

There's a lot to be said for tradition. If something is a tradition, it means it has been around for a long time, and if it has been around for a long time, there is probably a good reason. In literature, the Great Books are (simply put) books that deal with Great Themes - themes such as good vs. evil, power, sacrifice, redemption, life and death, love, and many others. Themes such as these speak to the human condition, and authors ought to seek to imitate the Great Books if they want their work to speak across the ages. I frown on authors who tailor their books to the ever-changing tide of cultural opinion. You might find success for a moment, but when that tide changes, your books will be washed away with it, as irrelevant in the next moment as they were relevant in the moment before. If you write to please pop culture, or with only your immediate generation in mind, you will never find lasting success. And I'm not talking about Kleos, that greatest of ancient Greek virtues that makes the hero (or the writer, in this case) "immortal." I'm not talking about your reputation at all, I'm talking about themes and messages that transcend you, as the author, and speak directly to the heart of mankind. Ask yourself this - if someone were to pick up my books in 100 years, would they read something that still speaks to them? If the answer is no, then you have not written something worth reading.

But let's face it, books have to sell, right? Publishing is a business, and you must write books that appeal to your generation. Absolutely! Of course you do! But that is what is on the surface. It's the candy-coating, if you will. But what should be at the heart of your books, beneath the surface, are stories filled with traditional themes that grab the hearts of the readers and make them come back over and over again. In this scenario, you cannot lose.

Avoid, avoid, avoid the pop culture trap. Avoid promoting the current fad, the current political agenda, the current soapbox topic... anything that will be here today and gone tomorrow. Avoid it! There are Greater things to be said. If I am granted the ability to look back on my body of work at the end of my life to evaluate what I am leaving behind me, I want to see that I have written stories that are true, that are beautiful, that are good - stories that are lasting.

And NOW for a little teaser! Speaking of authors who have written lasting works, if you're familiar with my books, you know that I pair each one with a C. S. Lewis quotation, and that quotation so far has always been about Darcy. In book 5, The Scroll, I've chosen one that speaks to Darcy, but is about another character, and I bet my biggest fans will be able to guess who! Here it is:

"What can you ever really know of other people's souls—of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands." C. S. Lewis

A Very Valentine's Day Post

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a good idea to post my thoughts on romance and how to write it effectively into a novel. Now, I don't write in the romance genre, but I will always have an element of romance in my books. Why? First of all, I enjoy it! When I'm reading a novel, I always think that some sort of romantic story arc edifies the overall story. Romance can be done really well, or really poorly in a story, and as a writer, I've tried to imitate what I think is the best of what I've seen, and avoid the worst. Here are some of the common pitfalls I've tried to avoid in writing romance into my books...

1) Romance that moves too fast.
Romance in a story ought to be a slow burn. It is so much more satisfying to watch two characters slowly grow together over the course of a novel, or a series of novels, than to watch them meet and fall head over heels in love in the first fifty pages of the novel. The progress of romance from hints to resolution is meant to leave the reader with a sense of satisfaction, and if you reach that resolution too soon, the reader can lose interest in the rest of the progress of the character development. It's not as though every romantic story arc in a story has to be long and drawn out, but the ones that are the most important often ought to be. The tension leading up to the declaration of love is more interesting for a reader than much of what happens after. Along these lines too, this is especially true if the author has two characters almost immediately jump into bed with each other. Where do you go from there? If you're going to write a speedy romance into your story, you'd better have a darn good reason for doing so!

2) Why do they love each other?
As often happens with romances that move too fast, this one is tied in with the first pitfall, but I thought it was big enough to be worthy of its own point. Sometimes characters fall so instantly in love that I, as the reader, simply don't buy that they could possibly BE in love yet. This doesn't always happen with the romance moving too fast, either. Sometimes the characters who are supposed to be falling in love are so wrong for each other, I simply can't see them together. Authors sometimes get married to an idea in their heads (such as two disparate oddballs falling for each other) and they hang on to the idea like bulldogs even when they may have written another character into the story that the reader can clearly see would be a better choice for one of the characters who is supposed to be falling in love with someone else (boy, does that sentence make sense?). This often happens when authors try to write clever love triangles. Either way, that loss of secondary belief is the kiss of death to a novel, for me at least.

3) Sappiness.
If it's too sappy and sentimental, it makes my gorge rise. If I can't picture myself or someone else saying or doing what's being described in real life, I'll never buy it in a novel. Romance doesn't have to be overly gooey. Enough said.

4) Age-inappropriate expressing of feelings.
This happens all the time in young adult novels! The two characters falling in love, who are supposed to be maybe sixteen or seventeen, talk and behave like full-grown adults in the expression of their deep love for each other. Now, it's NOT that I don't believe teenagers can fall in legitimate love, because I do. But teenagers have a certain vernacular about them that is different from how adults think, speak, and behave when they are in love. I try very hard to keep my teenage characters acting like teenagers, even when they are in love. The expression of love matures as people mature, and sometimes YA authors lose sight of that and write their teenagers as if they are adults.

5) Surprise! They're not actually getting together!
Authors can get really high and mighty about their art sometimes, and can take it to the point of refusing to bow to crass commercial expectations (nose tilt, superior expression). This sometimes takes the form, in a novel, of an author hinting all along that two characters are going to end up together, and then never bringing those hints to successful resolution. This drives me, as a reader, CRAZY! If you're going to lead the reader into thinking that something is going to happen, then for the love of Pete make it happen. To do anything else is just mean.

These are just a few that came to me off the top of my head, and you may not agree with me on all of them, but that's okay. :) I've so enjoyed getting to the romantic parts of my bigger story (the story arc that covers all six books), and because I knew the end when I started writing the beginning, putting in those little tidbits here and there that would lead to the coming together of two characters was so much fun. If you've read all the way through book 4, hopefully you'll appreciate going back and seeing how Darcy and Tellius interacted in book one when they were really just children. And there's a new romance blooming in book 5... but I can't say much about that yet. Those of you who know my style best will have seen it coming from a mile away.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

5 Reasons Why...

Investing in a new book is sometimes a risky business. I know that I typically want to be absolutely certain that I have a good chance of enjoying a new read before I invest money into buying it and time into reading it. As I've had a lot of new visitors to my blog lately (hello!), I thought it might be good to provide a little overview of my books as a way to introduce you to what I write. So here are 5 reasons why you should read The Gateway Chronicles...

1. Unlike anything else out there right now
          I love Young Adult literature, and I love that fantasy has made a sweeping comeback in the young adult world, but it struck me as I perused the YA shelves that the preponderance of fantasy material out there right now is paranormal romance. Not that there is anything wrong with paranormal romance as a sub-genre, but the market seems to be flooded with it at the moment, and for someone like me, who was raised on a diet of more traditional fantasy like Narnia and The Hobbit, paranormal romance isn't quite isn't quite what I want to read. The Gateway Chronicles gives you a modernized fantasy option that contains elements of the paranormal and elements of romance, but without those two things being the main focus of the stories. The Gateway Chronicles is really more fantasy adventure with romance mingled in, and I haven't seen anything else quite like that on the bookshelves as of late. If you crave an updated version of some of your childhood favorites, written with a focus on teenagers rather than children, then The Gateway Chronicles is what you're looking for. 

2. Family friendly
          Teenagers, you won't find anything in The Gateway Chronicles that you would be uncomfortable having your parents read over your shoulder. Parents, you won't find anything in my books that I would consider inappropriate for your teenage or middle grade reader. I've had children as young as 8 and 9 read my books, and I keep that age spectrum in mind when I write them.

3. Something for everyone
          While I wrote these books with young adults as my target audience, I've been pleasantly surprised to note that they have appealed to a crossover audience. As I mentioned above, 8 and 9 year-olds have read and enjoyed them, as well as people as old as my grandparents. Neither are these books just for girls. Although my protagonist is a girl, I've had many boys read The Gateway Chronicles and respond very enthusiastically. Some of the best reviews I've gotten have been from adult men. There are plenty of battles and adventure, as well as relational issues and romance, to appeal to any reader.

4. Escape to a new world
          My favorite thing about good fantasy is that it enables you to escape to a new world, and it encourages imaginings about that new world long after you put down the book. I believe The Gateway Chronicles can transport you, and everyone needs an escape from time to time. And not only can you escape into my new world, Alitheia, but you can also grow with it. Each book takes place one year after the last book, so that you start the series with the characters at 13, and end the series with them at 18. I love series where I can watch the characters grow and mature before my eyes, and so I wrote The Gateway Chronicles in that fashion.

5. Be an early part of the experience
        Part of the joy of starting a new series of books is the agony of having to wait for the next installment in the series. And while some people prefer to wait until all the books are out in a series to start reading it, I think the anticipation of waiting for another part of the story makes the whole experience richer. If you start reading The Gateway Chronicles now, you're still getting in on the front half of the experience! Books 1 and 2 are now available, with book 3 coming in August. Book 4 will be out this fall, and then there are still two more books to come after that. I love hearing my students discuss their theories about where the story is going to go next, and sometimes I even incorporate reader feedback into a later book. It's simply fun to be an early part of a book series.

Letting it Go: Thoughts on Editing

Okay, first off, I realize that I am so far overdue for a blog post it isn't even funny! Perhaps I can be forgiven, however, after some insight into the past six-eight weeks. In this span of time, I have wrapped up my blog tour for The Six, edited The Oracle, edited The White Thread, and finished writing the rough draft of book 4, The Enchanted - which I started in January. I have also prepared for and given birth to my third son (three boys, oh my!), and now I have a two-week-old at home along with my three-year-old and my five-year-old. As a teacher, I had to prepare for my maternity leave that would overlap final exam time for my 10th graders and finish teaching as much material as I could get through before the arrival of baby #3.

Can you forgive me for neglecting my blog? (Cue mini violin)

Moving beyond the hectic craziness that was the last 8 weeks, I'm now looking forward to a summer spent editing The Enchanted, working with my publicists to organize interviews and appearances, and writing book 5, as well as kicking off another blog tour for The Oracle and, later in the summer, a third blog tour for The White Thread. All things considered, however, it's actually less work than I've been engaged in this spring, so I think the future is bright!

Out of all this mess of stuff, the most difficult part has been the editing process, and I just wanted to share a few thoughts. Allowing a team of people to come in and rework your manuscript is a difficult thing, and I've actually called it humbling several times over this past spring. I knew that it would be hard to release my books into the hands of others, but I don't think I anticipated just how difficult it would be at times. Working with editors takes trust - a lot of it. I decided from the beginning that I would trust my editing team to make my books better, even if I didn't agree with changes they made and even if I didn't understand all the changes they made, and I'm glad I made this promise to myself. The fact of the matter is, they want me to succeed; they are not out to make my books worse, and I sometimes need to remind myself of that. The most difficult changes to swallow are the stylistic ones. For example, they do not want me to use hardly any creative dialogue tags or ly-adverbs, but I love using them! And when I read my favorite books, I see the pages full of them, as well (probably why I enjoy using them, as writing is an imitative art). However, if I can hold my books in an open palm and allow my editors to use their expertise to fashion my stories into more professional-sounding prose, then I think I've taken an important step. And quite frankly, nine times out of ten, when I go back and read a section they have helped me rework, it really is better. I find that I'm actually looking forward to editing book 4. As it is the first manuscript that was not previously self-published, I think I'll be able to approach it with more of an open mind. Although maybe I've just learned a little more trust and humility, which are things that we all need in life.

A Camera on Her Shoulder

I had to choose very early on what voice I would be using to tell my stories, and I hadn't given it much thought for a long time until recently. I have since come to believe that point of view in a story is wildly important to its overall success. Let's take two worldwide bestsellers: Harry Potter and Twilight. With a few exceptions, J. K. Rowling sticks to 3rd person limited in telling the story of Harry Potter. Hogwarts Professor John Granger describes this as like to having a camera on Harry's shoulder through which you, the reader, are viewing the story, but that camera can also look inside of Harry's head. Using this perspective, the reader never gets outside of Harry's own experience (again, with a few exceptions) and therefore empathizes with Harry as they see what Harry sees, feels what he feels, and senses what he senses. This works very successfully for the Harry Potter stories because of the elements of mystery within them. We only feel and think what Harry feels and thinks, and we only see whatever is in his immediate periphery, and that limits our perspective and prolongs the mystery. Twilight is written in 1st person limited. This means that the narrator's voice IS Bella Swan and the reader only gets Bella's perspective, but in a much narrower sense than in Harry Potter. This also causes Stephenie Meyer's target audience (young woman) to feel as though they ARE Bella as they read.... Do I even need to elaborate on how this was successful for her romance driven series? Both of these voices are very successful, although I prefer 3rd limited. I am telling my stories similar to Harry Potter in that there is a "camera" on Darcy's shoulder usually looking out, but sometimes looking into her head. I love telling the story this way. It simplifies the process for me and allows me to limit what the reader is aware of. Readers typically come to trust certain characters and distrust others. When you tell a story that is limited in some way to one character's perspective, you can manipulate that trust or distrust. For example, if you tend to distrust Darcy's opinion because of the bad decisions she's made, I could, hypothetically, throw you a curve ball and have Darcy be the voice of wisdom in a future book, causing there to be a twist at the end when you realize that her opinion was actually right for once! Hypothetically I could do that, I'm not saying that I WILL.

Because this blog post is already quite long, I might as well tell you the point of view that I seriously dislike reading. I hate reading books in 1st person present tense. That means that the story is told how I am writing this blog. "I am sad. I open the door and walk to the store. As the sun shines down on me, I think what a nice day it is. I meet a friend and we have a conversation. Etc..." This type of perspective works well for, well, a blog, but when used to write a story, it feels too abrupt and too much like stream of conscience. If I find that a book is written in this manner, sometimes I won't even buy it because I find the voice so distracting! For example, I really enjoyed the movie I Am Number Four, so I looked into the book, but sure enough! First person present tense. Yuck. Plus which, it must be so difficult to write a book like that! But now I'm just ranting. I should get back to work. I'm over 200 pages and over half way!

You Know You're a Writer When, Part 2

You know you're a writer when... With the imminent tornado threat heading our way in a couple hours, my husband and children and I are going to be heading for a safer location in a short while. As we knew that this weather was coming even early this morning, I began to think about what I wanted to bring with us from the house. And what do you suppose the first things I thought of were? My laptop, flash drives, and multiple writing journals containing all my notes for all my books. It wasn't until several hours later that I thought about packing an overnight bag with clothes and toothbrushes and food. Lol, I guess that says something about my priorities.

Covers that Kill

Don't judge a book by its cover, right? Yeah right. That is, of course, exactly what most people DO. I've witnessed many book covers that kill in a good way, and many more that kill in a bad way. I would prefer that mine be the former, of course. But what, exactly, makes for a good cover? Firstly, and I got this from watching, of all things, a reality show this summer, the cover art should serve the title. It really is an act of marketing; draw the consumer's eye to the title. Have you ever noticed how many very popular authors have their names as the largest thing on the front of their books? (eg. Nora Roberts) This is because they have become SO popular that their readers no longer really care what their stories are called, so long as they are the authors. In the case of starting out authors, however (such as yours truly), the title should really dominate the scene. But that is not to say that the artwork should be boring, or, heaven forbid, cheesy. Cheesy covers can kill an author dead. Case in point, one of my favorite modern fantasy authors (who shall remain unnamed) has had the misfortune of having the worst covers imaginable put on her books. They are cliched in every sense of the word, and scream "I am a cheesy Christian fantasy novel," when the books themselves are anything BUT. She is an amazingly talented writer and crafter of stories whose books have often been passed over by people too embarrassed to be seen with them. Even I carry them around face down. Anyhow, I diverge... What I'm really trying to say is that I know my cover on The Six isn't anything to write home about, but I think that I at least avoided the cheese-train. I am working with, however, some very talented and wonderful student artists to craft new covers for my books, and I am confident that they will turn out spectacularly. We are aiming for simplicity, yet something eye-catching. They should appeal to both males and females, and they should be relevant to the stories. This is one of those aspects of the publishing process that most established authors don't get to take part in (as far as I've always heard, I could be wrong), and I am so happy, as a self-published author, to be able to have my hands in the process. Hopefully the end result will be covers that kill in a good way, helping my books to reach a wider audience, and helping my artists to share their craft with the world. And now, I realize, I have written too much. I'm sure that most of you have given up on this rambling blog post by now. If you have stuck with it to this point, my hat's off to you. You are either very bored, or a very big fan... or perhaps just curious... like a cat. (That's why my friends call me Whiskers). Oh boy, it IS late when I start pulling out Will Ferrel lines. Good night.

Good Fantasy

I've long had some thoughts about what makes for really good fantasy, and I've come to the conclusion that that there are a few elements that must be present. One of the most important things that must be in any good fantasy novel is, I think, comedy. Now, I don't mean roll on the floor with laughter comedy, but there must be at least something that makes you feel good when you're reading; something that makes you smile. The Lord of the Rings certainly has this. Who can resist a grin when Tolkien describes hobbits and their oddities? Or when Gandalf says "Fool of a Took!" The Chronicles of Narnia also has plenty to make one smile. I particularly like the dufflepuds. And Harry Potter has comedy in spades in the antics of Gred and Feorge (Oh, I'm sorry, Fred and George) and all the little ways that Rowling so perfectly captures adolescent nuances. In my own book I have also attempted to capture the adolescent ways in such a manner as to make people smile and say reminiscently "I knew somebody like that!" or "That was so me in junior high!" I also have a humorous character or two, but I will have to talk more about that later . . .

Anything worth doing...

As I work my way through the goals that I set for myself this week, I've had to conclude that my expectations are unrealistic. Although I worked far ahead on my assigned readings, as I began to research agents to query this afternoon, the impossibility of having 20 queries out within a week assailed me . . . and that's okay. It really is true that anything worth doing should be challenging. I researched for a solid hour this afternoon (solely in my Writer's Market) and didn't even make it out of the B's. I really want to do this right, however, so I believe that it was time well spent. Right now I am just reading over the agent entries and selecting agencies that accept the following: New, unpublished authors, YA literature, and Fantasy literature. Once I have compiled a list of possibilities, I will have to research each one on the internet and check submission guidelines. Then it will be a matter of writing a good, strong query letter that I can tailor to each individual agency, and putting together a profession book proposal (for those that will accept it). All things considered, it's a long process. I'm going to sit down this evening and rewrite my query goals for the week.

With all of these things to occupy my mind, I think I'm entitled to a little recreation as well, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunately the object of my summer movie-going is still a couple weeks off, and I'm hoping that my anticipation of the movie will not eclipse the movie itself. I'm speaking, of course, of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I understand as well as anyone that film-makers need to make changes from book to script, but I've failed to understand (in the last three movies) the addition of story elements in lieu of tried and true elements from the books. Do the film-makers not realize that what makes Harry Potter beloved to the fans is . . . Harry Potter? I, for one, certainly do not go into a Harry Potter film desiring to see something new and cutting edge; I want to see the stories that I love come to life. With any luck, this most recent installment will not disappoint.