Writing Wednesday: Heros vs. Villains

There are basically only two ingredients to any story—characters and plot—and you can probably argue away at least one of them in any given situation.

Still, if I had to take a guess at the number one thing people asked of me when I started this project, at least half linked back to character development in some way.

So today I’m going to talk about arguably the two most important characters of a book: the hero and the villain. 

Jessica Spotswood, author of BORN WICKED (a brilliant story of magic, history, kissing, and sisters), has often said that a lot of times siblings will define themselves by opposites. You have the smart one and the pretty one; the rebel and the book lover; the loud one and the quiet one. 

You should probably think of your hero and villain in the same way.

So, start with the hero. For him or her to have a story, that hero needs to want something. Then make the villain want the opposite thing. 

In all reality, the villain should be the hero of his story. Think about it. The villain wants something just as passionately as the hero. He just wants the opposite thing as the hero. If you swapped points of view and wrote the story from the villain’s perspective, the villain should have just as compelling of a story as the hero. The hero is the villain of the villain’s story.

A Word of Caution: Taking It Too Far

A lot of stories—particularly fantasy—will have the hero be the champion of good, and the villain be the champion of evil. This is, at its roots, exactly what I’m saying here: the hero and the villain define themselves by opposites. But I want to take a moment to point out that this is actually a pretty weak way to do it. Look, I love Star Wars and Harry Potter as much as the next girl, but my biggest complaint with both is that the villain isn’t compelling. They’re too evil. The story becomes too much of right/wrong, good/bad. 

But the best hero isn’t so obviously evil. I think I first realized this when my tenth grade teacher assigned THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. (Please note: the book is nothing like the Disney movie, and the Disney movie makes me so mad I want to punch things because of it.) I won’t ruin the story because you should read it. But part of Hugo’s point of the novel is that the bad guys are sometimes pretty, and the good guys are sometimes ugly. 

Take a look at Voldemort.

I mean, come on. 

You know that mofo is bad news just by looking at him.

What you don't want is the bad guy who's a bad guy just for the sake of being bad. Okay, sure, he has his story--he wants to take over the world. Or he wants immortality. Or he wants revenge. Whatever. Don't make him a cardboard cut-out of a puppy-kicker. Make him have realistic motivation. How many people really want to take over the world? There's no profit in it. It'd be a giant pain in the arse. And who really wants to live forever? Both JK Rowling and George Lucas (later) tried to give their villains backstory, explaining why they want these things that make them both so evil, but...well, let's just say that my least fave HP book is the 6, and the prequels to Star Wars are not to be mentioned. 

And honestly? Who wants to be good? I mean, yeah, we have a basic principle and morality code bred into us, but being good isn't easy. I think the recent Batman movies symbolize this pretty well. Being the hero has negative consequences, and maybe it's sometimes easier to just...not. You have to have a pretty good reason for the hero to stand up and fight, something beyond just that he's good. 

You know a story that gets it right? SERENITY. Yeah, I pretty much always refer back to Joss Whedon. But the villain—known as The Operative—is spot. On. If you’re having trouble making your villain balanced, go buy this movie. (Buy. Not rent. Because this is a movie you should own.) The Operative’s motive is so clear and well drawn that he clearly has his own story. He doesn’t hate the heros of the story because he’s eeeeevvvvillll. He opposes them because they are actively fighting for something he’s against on a deep, philosophical level. He believes—he believes—he’s right and they’re wrong, and he has reasons for believing this.

The key to a good hero is making him have the right motivation. He doesn't necessarily want good--he just wants something that the reader will perceive as good. But the villain is the same way. He doesn't want evil--he just wants the opposite thing the hero wants. 

To see a complete list of writing posts as well as request topics, please see the master Writing Wednesday post here.

New Social Media Buttons

I just wanted to give a shout-out to Hafsah, who was kind enough to design me some new social media buttons! Aren't they shiny? Scroll over them--they light up!

Hafsah blogs at Icey Books, and she also runs Icey Designs. If you're in need of a new blog or website design, I highly recommend her!

Writing Wednesday: WHEN to Outline

This is probably a surprising topic for many. “When” to plan a novel is not nearly so often discussed as “how” to plan a novel.

But here’s the thing: there are a hundred and one different ways to plan a novel—but when to plan it—that’s a different question. See, most people assume that you plan the novel before you start. After all—that’s when you’re planning to write.

But I’ve found something very different when I write. I’ve discovered that often, the best time for me to make an outline and story map is after I finish the first draft. For me, I don’t need to know what to write until after the first draft, but I do need a plan of what to revise after I finish.

I’m what you call a pantser—I write by the seat of my pants. (As opposed to a plotter, who outlines before writing.) I’ve long eschewed outlines. My attitude has been “if I know what’s going to happen, I don’t care about writing the story.”

However.

I have learned that at some point in the writing process, you must get organized, and you must create an outline. 

Sometimes called a “backwards outline” due to the fact that you write it at the end rather than at the beginning, organizing my novel after the first draft has been enormously helpful. So helpful, in fact, that I suspect if I were to use an extensive outline (as I am doing now with my current WIP), I’d still want to do a backwards outline.

SEGUE!

When I was a teacher, one of my units to teach my tenth graders was Holocaust literature. The Holocaust was truly a tragic mark in our world’s history, but it’s difficult for us to comprehend just how tragic it was. The human mind cannot think in numbers like six million dead or population shifts. It’s too big. Our mind shrinks things down to comprehend them, but that means it becomes impossible for us to realize just how big a number six million really is. If you need proof of that, look at how blase we Americans are about our trillions of dollars in debt. We get that it’s a big number—we don’t truly get how big that number really is.

So to help my students better grasp the scope of the tragedy of the Holocaust, I create a scroll. It was over 300 pages long, and each page was filled with thousands of tiny dots. Each dot represented a human killed in the Holocaust. There were over six million dots. It took at least a half hour to unscroll the entire project, and every student had to hold up a piece of the giant document. And it was only then—after seeing six million tiny dots and realizing each represented a human being—that most students were able to grasp just how big a number that is.

My point is, when we write novels, there are tens of thousands of words. Hundreds of pages. And it’s really impossible for us to carry around the whole book in our heads—that’s why we wrote it in the first place. But once you finish writing the whole novel, you need to cram it all back in your mind so that you can see what works, and what doesn’t.

To do this, make a backwards outline. I typically do this on paper—I’ve found that if I write on the computer, it helps to plan on paper. I make two columns—the first is a list of the things I already have in the book. I go through each chapter and major scene and write just a sentence—sometimes just a few words—about what happens in that scene. 

Then I make another list, right beside it. I list out everything that needs to be in the book. If my book is a romance, I’ll point out when the girl meets the boy, when the complications arise. If I was writing THE HOBBIT, I’d make notes about the introduction of Biblo Baggins, when Gandalf arrives, etc. I’m looking for the bare bones, most essential bits of the story.

It might look something like this. (Excuse the hastiness! I made this up on my iPad just before writing this.)

Doing this will typically show me that I have things in the novel that I don’t need. In this example, I’ve made up that the girl wakes up, talks with her mom, and goes to school—presumably over three major scenes or chapters. But the important part of the story is that she meets the guy and then learns he’s bad news. That—a desire and a complication—is plot. The other stuff is fluff. So I cut the first two scenes that don’t reflect on the story, and then combine the next two. Do I really need a long scene of the main character going somewhere? That’s a typical problem for me—I show just how the characters move around, when in reality, I could just say something like “On the day Maria went to school to take her SATs, she met Brian.” BOOM. She’s at school, and the first part of the plot is now showing up in the first scene, just like it’s needed.

Typically, a backwards outline is most helpful to revise at the end of a first draft. I guarantee you that there are scenes in your novel that you don’t need. And there are scenes that you do. Doing the backwards outline helped me revise ACROSS THE UNIVERSE when I realized that I had too few clues for the characters to solve the mystery. I was able to figure out exactly where I needed to add a clue. It helped me streamline red herrings and know where to add complications. 

You can also use a backwards outline if you’re stuck. For me, writer’s block just means I’ve messed up somewhere and I don’t know how to fix it. A backwards outline can get me unstuck—I go through what I have first, then what I need, and then I continue with the “what I need” chart. After that, I can add ideas of what to add to the novel to get to that part of the chart.

And another point? A lot’s been said about the difference between plotters and pantsers, but my main point today is: it doesn’t matter if you’re a plotter or a pantser. You’re going to get the planning work done at some point in the manuscript, either before or after. 

To see a complete list of writing posts as well as request topics, please see the master Writing Wednesday post here.

Writing Wednesday Master Post

This is a static page collecting all the tips and articles I've written about writing. Please feel free to add suggestions in the comments to this post!

And you can help! I don't want to be working on something that no one wants to read, so please, if you enjoy these articles, help spread the word about them. I've got links at the bottom of this post for all major social networking sites.

Right now, these are the topics that I plan on doing soon. I don't want to nail anything down too much, because if this starts to feel like homework, I'll probably blow it off. Besides, spontaneity and surprise is fun!

Writing Topics Already Covered:

On Plot Holes
How to Respond to Negative Reviews

The Book of My Heart

 On Never Being Good Enough

Guest Vlog at WriteOnCon: Failure/Success

Advice to New Writers

Hooking Readers with the First Chapter (League Post)

Show vs. Tell

Simple Rules to Grammar
When to Outline
Heroes vs. Villians
The Shape of the Novel
MG vs YA: Plot
MG vs. YA: Characters
Where Ideas Come From: Brainstorming Processes
How to Find and Use Critique Partners
Researching and Writing a Novel with Scrivener for the Non-Outliner
For fun: What my writing desk looks like (off-site)
Tips on Writing a New Sci Fi World (off-site)

Upcoming Topics for Writing Wednesdays:

-The Difference Between Editing with Crit Partners and Editing for an Editor

-Writing Sequels

Things I'm Not Planning on Writing About Because They Have a Really Short Answer and Here It Is:

Q: Do you need a degree in creative writing to write a novel?

A: No.

Q: What do you do when you get writer's block?

A: I don't get writer's block. I get lazy. When I feel "stuck" it's because I'm being a lazy writer, so I force myself to work harder. This is not to say that writer's block doesn't exist. This is just to say that I'm a terrible person to try to help with this question.

Q: What do you do when you don't feel inspired/don't feel like writing.

A: I do one of three things: (1) don't write, (2) write anyway, or (3) drink heavily.

Q: What do you do when you finish the novel? What's the next step?

A: Get critique partners, and then rewrite the novel because it sucks.

Q: How do you trim fat from the novel without feeling guilty about cutting something/someone?

A: I don't feel guilty. I slash my novel to bits. I'd much rather cut everything and start from scratch rather than try to force something to work that doesn't work.

Q: Do you ever feel bad about hurting your characters?

A: No.

Q: What do you do when there's something in the story you love, but you can't make it work without shoe-horning it in?

A: Cut it.

Q: How do you keep a story from being boring?

A: When in doubt, blow something up and/or kill a character.

Q: Tips for keeping your butt in the chair?

A: When you're on a roll writing, come up with an idea for what your next scene should be--but don't write it. Just write like a sentence of description. Then, the next day, when you start writing again, you already know exactly what you want to write next. Finishing before the creative well is dry means you get started on a roll right away with the next scene.

Q: Are there tips or things that you always do when writing?

A: No. Every book is different, from creation to completion. What works for one will NOT work for the other (at least for me).

Any questions that I've not answered here or listed as an upcoming topic that you're dying to learn about? Leave it here in the comments and I'll try to tackle it one way or another!

Coming Soon: Writing Wednesdays

Hi all!

So I've been thinking a lot about the process of writing lately--mostly because I've just wrapped up one book trilogy with the completion of SHADES OF EARTH and am also starting another project on something that both excites and terrifies me. The whole situation has made me think about the processes and how I write and edit, and since I usually think in words and because I've been meaning to beef up the "for writers" section of my website....all this led me to come up with a new idea for a series of posts.

I'm calling it Writing Wednesdays because (a) I like alliteration, and (b) it's smack-dab in the center of the week, so no pressure to be smart right out of the gate on Mondays. 

But I'd love to get your feedback on this. I've already done a few writing posts before (check out the Quick Links on the menu bar to the right). And I don't want to do the same stuff you can find anywhere else, and I don't want to be boring.

So: a few questions for you!

Would you like to see weekly-ish posts about writing on this blog? Please be honest! You're not going to hurt my feelings if you think this is a bad idea--I want to know if this is something people want or not.

If so, what are some writing related topics that you're most interested in seeing me write about? Is there a burning question? A need-to-know subject? Let me know!

Related: some people have mentioned they're having trouble with the comments on my site--it's something I'm working on, but don't have an easy fix for right now. If you can't get to the comments by clicking COMMENTS below, please try clicking here.

Shades of Earth ARC Requests

SHADES OF EARTH is officially sent off to the typesetter--today! This is so exciting...the final book of my first trilogy is about to be a real book. Understandably, SHADES was on my mind a lot today--which meant seeing this rainbow on my drive home after meeting with great friends made everything feel a little bit like a promise fulfilled and a hope for the next thing in my life.

So! A little bit about the process! The typesetter will take all those words my editor slaved over with me, and will turn them into pages, with those words neatly arranged upon them in the right order. Then, those pages are printed into an ARC--Advanced Reader Copy--and then my publicist will mail those ARCs to people who want to review the book. Then early reviews come in, I try not to obsess about them, and soon after that: the book comes out for REALS.

If you are one of those reviewer type people who would like an ARC, then (finally!) I have the means for you to request one! CLICK HERE to go to a form where you can put all your information in. Please keep in mind that I'm basically acting like a medium here--I take your information, and I give it to my publicist, and some (definitely not all) of the people who request an ARC will get them. I know the ARCs are going to be limited, and I know there won't be enough for everyone. What I'm saying is, please don't hate me if you don't get an ARC. Because I think you're pretty and I want to be your friend.

So yeah...CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO REQUEST AN ARC OF SHADES OF EARTH!

Neil deGrasse Tyson is my Hero

Seriously. My hero of the modern world is Neil deGrasse Tyson. If you're not aware of his work, Neil is an astrophysicist at the Hayden Planetarium (in NYC), an advocate for the sciences and exploration, an educator and philosopher who teaches by example.

He's basically all around awesome.

I posted awhile ago when Zen Pencils made a comic using one of his quotes, but now that quote's been put to Neil's words and made into a video, and it's pretty freaking cool. Here ya go:

YA Scavenger Hunt: Prizes and Secrets, Oh My!

It's that time of year again! Time for the YA Scavenger Hunt! The hunt is basically a blog hop among YA authors. Follow all the links, and you not only get to find out exclusive information from some of your fave authors, you're also entered into a contest that has a crap ton of prizes!

HEY HEY HEY: if you find my stop on the hunt, you will learn three exclusive, top-secret clues about SHADES OF EARTH. So yeah. Check that out.

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM--but there is also a blue team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.

BONUS PRIZE!!

Just for people who stop at this site--fill out the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a signed copy of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE or A MILLION SUNS (your choice; open internationally!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tweet #YASH

Upcoming Short Stories and Anthologies

I just finished the copy edits for SHADES OF EARTH (at 3am last night) and you know what that means...ARCs soon! I cannot wait. I am still at the stage where it feels as if SoE might not quite be real. I sort of expect to wake up soon and find out that this was all a really vivid dream.

Anyway! While we all wait for ARCs and proof that I'm not hallucinating my whole writing career, I wanted to tell you guys about some other awesome projects I've been working on. Namely: anthologies!

Anthology Title: SHARDS AND ASHES
Edited by: Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong
Release date: February 19, 2013
Add it to your GoodReads here.

About my story: This YA dystopian anthology is going to be amazing, and I can't wait to read all the other stories in it! My contribution is titled "Love is a Choice," and is all about Orion before Elder was born. It describes what happened in those first few months after Eldest tried to kill him. It explains how he became the Recorder and in charge of the Recorder Hall. And it's also about a girl, and love, and the choices we make that divide us.

It was really difficult for me to write this story because it forced me to take a closer look at Orion. When I first came up with this character, in the very first draft of the very first book, he was a mustache-twirling crazy bad guy. He had no depth, and it was way obvious what his role in the book was. As I revised and rewrote ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, though, I found that the character who changed the most was Orion.

And I really started to sympathize with him. This was not something that I expected, and as I was writing the books, I was a little startled by how much I could myself in this character. After finishing A MILLION SUNS, I knew I wanted to do a short with Orion, so I could let other readers see how much I discovered about his character.

Anthology Title: DEFY THE DARK
Edited by: Saundra Mitchell
Release date: June 2013
Add to your GoodReads here.
Official anthology website here.
A little something extra extra: The last tale in this book is being reserved for...you. If you're an unpublished author, you're going to want to check back with the antho website and look at the competition with a prize of being published in the antho (and paid for your contribution)! More information on the contest here.

About my story: The title of my story is "Night Swimming"--in the antho, each story takes place at dark. Mine is about Kayleigh and Harley and the night Kayleigh died.

But the reason why I love my story in this antho extra much is because the narrator in the story is gender ambiguous. In my mind, it could be narrated by either Bartie (the man who started the rebellion in A MILLION SUNS) or by Victria (the woman who was in the Hospital with Harley). I leave it up to the reader to decide who's narrating the story. It's about betrayal and longing, whether you should stand up and fight or bow down and survive. It's about love, too, and what happens when the person you love doesn't love you back.

Anthology Title: AFTER
Edited by: Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Release date: October 2012
Add to your GoodReads here.
A little something extra extra: I'll be celebrating the release of this anthology--along with many of the other contributors--in New York at Books of Wonder! It will all go down October 11--hope to see you here! More info.

About my story: My contribution to this dystopian anthology is called "The Other Elder." It was the very first short story set on Godspeed that I wrote, and I love it extra special because of that.

But I also like it because it tells a little bit about Godspeed and how it came to be the dystopic dictatorship that Eldest controlled. "The Other Elder" describes how the society went from an Eldest who was retiring to the next Eldest, and the young Elder who was going to take over next. It explains what went wrong, and it shows the reader how Godspeed's society came to be.

Also? The narrator is a young Elder, one who thinks about fighting back, bucking the system. And because of the nature of the Eldest system, it could be the Eldest that you met in ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. It could be Orion. It could be neither of them. I leave that up to you.

As with most my stories and books, "The Other Elder" centers on a choice: whether it's worth it to give up freedom for peace.

Those are all the anthologies I've contributed to, and each story takes place in the world of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and Godspeed. But I am working on two other things--there are at least two more stories that I'd like to share about Godspeed. One is about Luthor and what he was like before Amy woke up. The other is about Kayleigh, and what she discovered, and the night she died. I'm working on both of these stories right now, and hope I'll be able to share more with you about them soon!

PS: If you haven't voted for your favorite novels on the NPR List, please do so here! 

Vote for Your Fave YA!

NPR is doing a list of people's favorite YA titles...and ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a finalist! I don't want to get on everyone's nerves by begging for votes, but I do encourage everyone to go over to the list and vote--each person gets ten votes, so you can make your very own top ten list! And if you want to include ACROSS THE UNIVERSE it's right there on the top of the list (it's alphabetical) and I sure would appreciate a vote! <3

(PS: If you happen to have extra space on your top ten list and don't know what other book to vote for, I highly recommend THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak. It's seriously amazing.)

The Definition of Badass

So this past weekend, I was at Ascendio, the Harry Potter conference run by HPEF. Which was fantabulous. So much fun. Partly because Libba Bray is my new hero. Also because anything associated with Harry Potter = awesome.

One of the panels was Katniss, Bella, and Hermione: Finding the Balance Between Asskicking Prowess and Emotional Realism in the Girls of YA Fiction.

Which I am I very happy to say turned out to be more along the lines of Let's Talk About All the Awesome Ways Books Are Fighting the Good Fight for Feminism.

Keeping in mind, of course, that my definition of feminism is: women deserve equal rights and anyone who wants to take those rights away deserves to be kicked in the face.

So. The panel. It was epic. I was a tad bit afraid it would end up as people comparing characters to the point that one would be downplayed more than others, but our excellent moderator started us off on a positive note by pointing out that being a badass doesn't necessarily mean fighting--that there is a certain courage toward going after whatever it is you want, even if it's not something grand like winning a rebellion. There is strength in knowing that what you want is love, and going after that.

I ended up summing our panel conversation up thusly:

If you are someone who consciously decides what you want

and make the choice to go after it,

you are badass. 

And honestly? This might be one of the most important things I've ever said. Another way of saying it is thought comparisons. Passiveness and apathy are the exact opposite of choices and actions. 

When I was a teacher, that was the number one thing I tried to instill in my students: to determine what you want, and to go for it. I centered whole units around identifying and eradicating apathy--particularly through the works of Elie Wiesel, who is one of the greatest minds and most beautiful souls of our century, but it was the underlying message of every lesson I taught (I hope). 

I blogged about this before--how the saddest thing I've ever seen was the student who had no dream. I think there's a valid argument to be made that apathy is one of the greatest evils of mankind. 

Another great evil? Trying to take away someone else's choice. Choice comes in many different varieties--the girl who goes after romance is no less valid than the one who starts (or finishes) a war. It's silly to belittle a book character (or a person) for not wanting the same thing you do. You might think a person should choose a certain path, but it's not up to you. The heroine of a romance will want something different from the one who lives in a dystopian novel. But they're not wrong. Just different.

It's when someone else makes a decision that someone doesn't deserve the right to choose something, tries to take away a person's freedom, or try to counterattack an idea when things go wrong.

This sort of evil takes many different forms. At it's extreme, you see it in dystopian literature where the government won't give people the freedoms to choose their own lives. At a smaller--but just as evil--form, you have individuals who want to control others, take away rights, or make others inferior just because they can. These are the bullies of the world, and they exist every bit as much in real life as they do in books.

Which led me to continue my classy statement in summing up the panel thusly:

If you are someone who tries to take away

choices from someone else, then

you are a douche bag. 

Those are words I can live by. 

Also? That's basically the theme of all my books. 

YA Scavenger Hunt Call For Authors!

Hi guys! As some of you know, I help out with the technical side (like website design) of the YA Scavenger Hunt, which was created by the awesome Colleen Houck. It's a triannual event where YA authors from all over basically do the most epic blog hop ever--with a grand-prize of a signed book from every author on the hunt. I'll be participating later this year, but for right now, I wanted to send a shout-out to all my author-friends:

Authors, you can sign up to participate in the YA Scavenger Hunt now! Authors can find out more information here, but here's some reasons why you should sign up:

• Increased web traffic--at the last hunt, we had around 1,500 entrants for the grand prize, and authors saw about a 6,000 pageview increase on their websites during the hunt.
• Meet new authors--part of the hunt is about swapping information with other authors, as each author hosts someone else
• Meet new readers--more than 600 people voted in our poll last hunt that the #1 thing they looked forward to on the hunt was not the change to get a prize, but the chance to find new books to read.

Readers, you can invite your favorite authors to join! Just send them a tweet or an email with a link to the YA Scavenger Hunt page, and invite them to join.

The Hunt is really only as good as the people participating--both authors and readers. I know I sound a bit like a car salesman right now asking y'all to check it out, but the truth of the matter is that I think people will have a lot of fun with it. :)

A few important notes:

• Space on the hunt is limited. Not every author who signs up will be able to get in--but that doesn't mean you shouldn't sign up. We're looking for fresh blood, that's what I'm saying :) 
• You need to sign up SOON! Like...NOW! Don't hesitate! :)

Guest Post: Meagan Spooner on Making Fantasy Real

Today it is my very great pleasure to welcome Meagan Spooner, author of the debut novel SKYLARK, to my blog! Meagan's a great author (and PS, doesn't SKYLARK have a pretty cover?!), and she's talking today about world building and fantasy. Make sure to read the whole post...and enter the giveaway at the end for a signed, first edition copy of SKYLARK!

Quick Links:

• Website: http://www.meaganspooner.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/MeaganSpooner
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SkylarkTrilogy
• Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10352973-skylark

Bio:

Meagan Spooner grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a degree in playwriting, and has spent several years since then living in Australia. She's traveled with her family all over the world to places like Egypt, South Africa, the Arctic, Greece, Antarctica, and the Galapagos, and there's a bit of every trip in every story she writes.

She currently lives and writes in Northern Virginia, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there's no telling how long she'll stay there.

In her spare time she plays guitar, plays video games, plays with her cat, and reads.

She is the author of SKYLARK, coming out August 1 from Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner Books. She is also the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, forthcoming from Disney-Hyperion in Fall 2013. 

Synopsis:

Vis in magia, in vita vi. In magic there is power, and in power, life.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley waited for the day when her Resource would be harvested and she would finally be an adult. After the harvest she expected a small role in the regular, orderly operation of the City within the Wall. She expected to do her part to maintain the refuge for the last survivors of the Wars. She expected to be a tiny cog in the larger clockwork of the city.

Lark did not expect to become the City's power supply.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she's ever known...or face a fate more unimaginable than death. 

Using Real-World Tools to Make Fantasy Feel Real

One of the things most people don’t know about SKYLARK when they read it is that it started out set in our own world, our own universe—it took place after the future scientific discovery of a new energy source referred to as magic. That ultimately didn’t stick, obviously. The book’s now set in an alternate universe in which magic was the dominant power source behind technology all along, because I wanted to simplify the straight-up fantasy aspects.

But ultimately, this original setting ended up benefitting the book tremendously. It was originally set in the remnants of what had once been Washington, D.C.—where I’ve lived almost my entire life. The forests Lark fled through were the forests I played in as a kid, in suburban Virginia. It gave my fantasy setting a real-world texture that I don’t think I would’ve had if I’d started writing originally set in this new, different world.

And now, even when I write stories set in fantasy worlds (or, as is the case with THESE BROKEN STARS, D*H-2013, other planets) I still start off by correlating them with real world places I’ve been to. Why, you ask? Keep reading, I say!

When you base your fantasy worlds on real-life places, you can use real-life tools to make them lifelike and fully-realized. Here’s a list of a few online tools you can use to make your invented worlds feel more real!

Google Maps (Or any map/GPS system that allows for walking routes!)

Boy, did I use the heck out of Google Maps while writing SKYLARK. Yeah, the maps are nice, but what I got the most mileage (hah) out of was their time estimates for walking routes. Lark spends much of her time on foot, walking (or running for her life) from place to place. I needed to know how long it would take to walk, for instance, from D.C. to the nearest point in the Appalachian mountain range. And then, how long would it take to walk through the mountains? And while I was researching this, I discovered a beautiful little waterfall tucked away there, and that made it into the story. The scenes that take place by the summer lake are some of my favorite in the entire book, and they never would’ve even happened if I hadn’t been tracing Lark’s route through an actual landscape.

Calorie Counters (I like Livestrong.com, but there are a lot of good ones!)

Of course, this one is really for anyone writing a survival story—any story, really, where your characters don’t have enough food. But one of the dangers Lark faces is starvation. When she crosses the Wall, she has absolutely no survival skills and very few supplies, and I had to know how much she’d need to eat per day just to be able to keep moving. I knew from my research Google Maps how many days she’d need to be in the wilderness, so I could find out just how much food she’d need with her to survive—and how much she’d need to find along the way.

Wikipedia

Um, hello? Doesn’t every author use Wikipedia these days? But see, here’s the thing. Because my setting was based on a real-world location, I could specifically look up lists of flora and fauna in the Virginia area—I could look up animal’s breeding seasons, their territorial habits, how easy they are to catch. I could look up plants, whether they’re edible, poisonous, itchy. Yes, some things are different in Lark’s world, but having access to info on an entire ecosystem on the web meant that I could keep everything in balance, make the wilderness Lark was trying to survive in feel like a real place. Because for her, one of the biggest and most constant threats to her safety is the wilderness itself, and if readers didn't buy the world, they weren't going to buy Lark's peril.

I’ve always been fond of books that have incredibly vivid settings—I like the setting of a book to almost feel like its own character. For example, I was never a big fan ofWuthering Heights (have I just committed sacrilege by saying that?) but the saving grace, for me, was the moors. They were so real and so wild and so atmospheric. And, of course, real—if not actually that creepy in real life. And while reading The Golden Compass, I wanted nothing more than to be a child at Jordan College myself—I almost felt like I could smell the dusty books. And while Lyra’s Jordan is in an alternate universe, it’s based on Oxford, a real place.

That’s not to say that every fully realized fantasy world comes from our world, but it’s definitely a fantastic place to start. 

Thank you, Meagan, for sharing that awesome post with us! Now everyone, comment below by the end of the week to be entered to win a signed, first edition copy of SKYLARK! Sorry, but this is US only as the author is shipping it herself.


---Winner selected. Congrats Daisy R.!---




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Ch-ch-ch-changes! Cover and summary reveal of SHADES OF EARTH!

I've just come back from a much-awaited family vacation to the wilds of thrilling Canada, and while I was gone, something big was announced, something that I know a lot of you have been waiting for! Last week, the cover was exclusively revealed by GeekDad at Wired.com (thanks GeekDad!)...along with another surprise...

All the books in the trilogy are getting a new look!

Click to embiggen!

Now, I know this has come as a shock to some of you. My first gut reaction when I saw the new covers was, "But they won't match the originals!" And that's true--but the more I look at them, the more I love them, and I hope you like them, too.

Some facts:

• Penguin/Razorbill didn't change the covers lightly. We talked about the whole process, what was best for the books, and what the readers would like. That said, of course, we also knew...
• We can't please everyone. There will be some people who don't like the new covers. There are a lot of people who didn't like the old ones, too. It would be absolutely impossible to please everyone, but I do believe that...
• These covers capture the essence of each book. I really love that they are each stylized to look like the outside of the ship (rivets! Yay for rivets!). The ice is obviously symbolic to Amy for the first cover, and the leaves line up great with the third book, but my favorite is the second book. True fact: in the original book designs, they did several mock-ups for AMS. My favorite mock-up was a cover that was mostly orange, but no one else liked that one as much. So I'm secretly pretty thrilled that the second one is finally orange :)
• The covers don't spoil the plot. This one was a huge issue for me, because I like my twisty plots! Every idea we had for the cover of Shades seemed to reveal a plot element that I wanted to keep hidden. This cover, though, seems to perfectly encapsulate the secrets of what is left for Amy and Elder to discover, and I truly appreciate that! 

Changing covers, especially before the series ends, is always controversial, but I hope that you like the covers as much as I do! And if you'd like to read the summary of SHADES OF EARTH, you can do so here! (I didn't want to copy and paste it here since there are mild spoilers if you've not read the second book yet.)

Please feel free to leave your thoughts here, positive or negative. But remember: a book cover is like the gift wrap on a present--the real gift is the words inside. And speaking of that...I need to get back to editing those words for you! :)

The Big Epic Post of Events in July!

Lots of things are happening next month! Which means I'm probably not going to post much. But! This means I might be coming to an area near you, and if I am, I hope I can come meet you!

So! Events!

ASCENDIO 2012

Orlando, FL

July 12-15, 2012

This Harry Potter fan conference is much more than just Harry Potter.

This year, they're doing a Quill Track, a series of workshops specifically for writers. I honestly believe that if you're a writer who can feasibly come to this conference, this is one to definitely attend. Totally worthwhile. The programming looks amazing.

MORE INFORMATION 

REALM OF THE UNKNOWN

Irving, TX

July 19, 2012

Other authors in attendance: 

-Andrea Cremer

-Marie Lu

-Jackson Pearce

-Rosemary Clement-Moore

2pm: Realm of the Unknown Party (open to teens only)

7pm: YA Author Panel and Signing

Irving, TX has a fantastic library system. You should absolutely check them out and see what cool things they are doing--not just on July 19 (I hope you come!) but also throughout the summer. 

MORE INFORMATION 

BOOK PEOPLE SIGNING

Austin, TX

July 21, 2012

Other authors in attendance: 

-PJ Hoover

-KA Holt

Signing at the Book People bookstore is one of those nerdy book dreams I've held onto for awhile. My friend PJ Hoover has signed there before, and the pictures I've seen of her events make me want to run to the store and just explore. So I'm especially excited to sign there with her and KA Holt! 

MORE INFORMATION 

TEENS READ ART CONTEST

Online! 

Opening July 21, 2012

This online contest is a great idea--a way for teens to celebrate any book through art (art of any kind--painting, photography, or more). Basically, a teen submits a digital photograph of a work of art, and could win $50 book gift card, signed books, and more! Be sure to check it out and encourage the teens in your life to celebrate art with art!

MORE INFORMATION 

A Writing Experiment

It all started with this article by Rachel Aaron: "How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to Writing 10,000."


Or, I guess for me at least, it started with the rewrite for SHADES OF EARTH that I recently finished. To finish the rewrite on time, I had to commit to 6,000 words a day, every day, until it was due at the end of May. And in order to do the rewrite, I had to *gasp* outline.


But it wasn't really and outline--I had already completed a draft, after all--and it wasn't really a rewrite, because I was able to keep some scenes I'd already written, so while there was new material, it wasn't all new material, and while it required an outline, it was an outline based on the draft I already had.


So, when Holly Black started asking on Twitter if anyone had tried Aaron's method of increasing word count, I was eager to jump on board and try my hand at it, too.


I'm working on a new book currently. I won't tell you what it is except to point you to this clue. But the point is, it's a completely new, from-scratch idea that I'm building from the ground up. Not a sequel (so the characters are not yet established), not a rewrite (so the story's not already established).


The point of Aaron's article can be summed up like this: plan what you're going to write first, then you can write it easier. This is definitely true for me. When I was teaching, I had a 40 minute drive (each way) to get to work. I spent that time thinking about my stories--so when I sat down to write when I got home, I already knew what I was going to write. It wasn't much detail, but it was there.


Since I quit teaching, I realized that I spend a lot more time on my butt, staring at the screen, and not actually, you know, writing. I've been a bit disappointed in myself that now that writing is my full time job, I'm not writing that much more than I had when working.


I still don't truly believe in outlines--not very detailed ones at least--but I'm going to show you what I've done this past week that left me with a complete proposal and the start of a new book. In all fairness, I have been working on the proposal for awhile now, so that part wasn't new--but the actual text in the story is!


STEP ONE: ORGANIZATION


This story is going to be a fantasy, so I had to think a lot about world-building and how the magic system worked. This is the stuff I mostly did a while ago, while I was brainstorming. I have a big art pad, where I've doodled a map of the world I'm building, listed out characters and how they relate to each other, and created the rules of the magic system.


STEP TWO: OUTLINING/PROPOSAL


If in the first step I was to gather together all of the ingredients to the story, this is the step where I started mixing them together to create a tasty, tasty story. This is also the point where the random brainstorming had to start fitting into the shape of a story.

Now, here's the key thing for me. I hate outlines. But as Rachel points out in her article, it's not so much about a single outline, but about knowing what you want to write beforehand.

For me, another important issue was knowing where in the novel I wanted things to happen. I have a pretty complicated plot with a lot of characters, so I new I wanted Character R, for example, introduced before the first third of the novel was over, and I knew I wanted Clue A in the first quarter of the book, then at least a few chapters spaced out before I introduced Clue B.

This is the sort of stuff I usually thought about after I finished writing, and then it usually came about as Oops! Of course I need to put this here before this, now I have to go back and change it and cut this and move that and then drink a lot of vodka because holy shizz, this is going to take a lot of work.


So, to do this, I turned to Scrivener.


I used the corkboard feature, something I've never really bothered with before. I basically made a different notecard for each key part of the story that I knew needed to happen. It was very basic--two different cards were about introducing two different characters that are not at the first chapter of the book, there was no more than one sentence description of some key events. I ended up with about 15 index cards.

Once I had that, I worked on re-arranging everything, so that the character were introduced a few chapters apart. I looked at the clues I had, and spaced them out, adding in new cards for red herrings. I noticed that the main character had a bunch of high moments--I kicked her down and added a low moment (and vice versa). This brought my card count up to over 30.

STEP THREE: WRITING


Now I had 30-ish index cards with a brief note of what needed to go into each chapter. From there, I needed to just...write.

What I've been doing--and what's worked very well so far--is that I'll write the chapter I'm working on, then scan ahead a few index cards to see what needs to be done next. This will job my memory--it's sort of like scouting ahead on a road map before starting the car. Then I go through and add more details to the next card after the chapter I just finished. This means when I start on the next chapter the next day, I have a pretty specific idea of what needs to happen.

RESULTS


I've only been using this method a few days. But in those few days, here's what I have:

• A complete proposal. I went from notes and brainstorming to a complete idea of what I want the book to be, in terms of tone, action, everything.
• A limited outline. I don't like working with highly detailed outlines. I have no more than a sentence for about 30 chapters, and the full knowledge that I'll probably deviate from this.
• A road map of where to go. While I don't plan on rigidly sticking to my outline, I do have an idea that within a certain percentage of the book, certain things need to happen. I'm more aware of the direction I need to take the story to be able to hit the highlights.
• Specifics for a few chapters ahead. This helps me to sit down and immediately start writing, as opposed to sitting down and staring at the computer screen.
• 10k words. True--I had about half of that already in a rough form. But now I've got a polish 10k that has a lot of the layers and details that I'll often not get to until the final draft.

Will I be able to keep up the pace? I don't know. I'd like to shoot for a steady 3-4k words per day, about double what I typically do (2k/day). But mostly, what I want to cut out is the idle time where I just sit and stare at the screen, or goof off and go online, or make excuses. 

What about you? Do you have any methods you use to write more efficiently?

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Destination Elsewhere

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Penguin? Because I love them like whoa.

Not too long ago, they launched a program called "Destination Elsewhere." It was a ning community where people could talk about all the cool sci fi and fantasy books, movies, and TV. Recently, Destination Elsewhere has moved to Facebook, and they're really focused on creating a strong community full of awesome discussions. Look at their credo:

Destination Elsewhere is an online community dedicated to talking about the best in Science Fiction and Fantasy, from books to film to TV, from any creator or publisher, past or present (or future). Come one, come all.

Awesome, right?

And you might have noticed that the cover photo for Destination Elsewhere has Amy and Elder on it. When I saw that, I thought: this would be an awesome time to give away another book.

This is just a quick, simple giveaway. Like Destination Elsewhere on Facebook (you can do this without even leaving this page through the Rafflecopter widget below), let me know about it on the widget, and you're entered. The prize is either a hardback copy of A MILLION SUNS or, if you prefer, a paperback of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Open internationally, giveaway ends June 13th.


a Rafflecopter giveaway







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Ray Bradbury & His Gift of Hope

I think it was Ray Bradbury's book, Fahrenheit 451, that taught me that the world isn't fair.


I was in high school when I read it, I believe. For a class. I can't remember which class or even what grade I was in, but I remember reading it at one of those hard-seated student desks my high school used. And, later, discussing it with the class.


I remember being so angry that the characters in this book lived in a world that just wasn't fair. It wasn't right that they were censored and controlled by the government. It wasn't fair.


And yet--despite living in a world that was supremely unjust--some of the characters fought back.


This was hugely influential to me and my attitude about stories and writing. My mother is a big believer in happily ever after, but I've found that the stories I like best are the ones like Fahrenheit 451--the world isn't fair, and the characters can't truly escape it...but they fight anyway.


Much later--only a few years ago, actually--someone mentioned that their favorite short story was "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury. At the time, I'd never heard of that story before, so I quickly went online, found a copy, and read.

"All Summer in a Day" has many of the same themes of an unjust world as Fahrenheit 451--in it, a group of children live in a colony on Venus, a planet where, due to clouds and rain, you can only see the sun once a year. This story is about hope--and how easily it can be crushed and taken away. I won't ruin the story for you--it's short, and you can easily find it online. Read it. 

"All Summer in a Day" and Fahrenheit 451 are very dark. They are sad. They do not end happily ever after. In particular, "All Summer in a Day" speaks of cruelty--even at the hands of our peers--and the ceaseless darkness in any person's heart, even the heart of a child.

And yet despite all this--Ray Bradbury's works give me hope.


I've said before how to me, dystopians are not depressing books. They're books of hope. They're books that say even when things are at their darkest, there is still a glimmer of light.

Ray Bradbury was the first person to teach me that.


This is an incredibly important lesson for anyone to learn. I am grateful that Bradbury's works helped me to see early on that even when the world isn't fair--and it never is, no matter what our childish hearts might want--it is still worth saving.


When I read about Ray Bradbury's passing this morning, that was the thought I was left with: here is a great man, who has left the world a brighter place than it once was. Thank you.



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Guest Post: Elana Johnson

Today we have the fabulous Elana Johnson, author of POSSESSION and SURRENDER, which just launched today! If you want to catch up with this fab author, you can find her at her blog, her Facebook, or on Twitter. And now, without further ado: Elana on launching a book!

Countdown to a (Book)Launch!

A guest post by Elana Johnson

Okay, so today is LAUNCH DAY for SURRENDER! It is always a super-fun day where I get to have my nails painted and eat as much bacon as I want. My launch party is also tonight at a fantastic independent bookstore in Salt Lake City, the King’s English. (If you want a signed copy of SURRENDER, call them! 801-484-9100. You buy. I sign. They ship.)

For this Launch Day post, I thought I’d bring you through my head as I launch a new book into the world.

T-minus One Week:

Status: Freaking out

Thinking: My book comes out in one week! Seven days. S-E-V-E-N days!

T-minus Six Days:

Status: The calm before the storm

Thinking: Everything’s fine. The book is done; can’t change it now. Fine. Everything’s fine. Fine.

T-minus Five Days:

Status: Zoned out

Thinking: I wonder if anyone has played in Words With Friends yet…

T-Minus Four Days:

Status: Stalking social media for early sightings of the book

Thinking: I want everyone to read my book! Hurry up launch day! Hurry up!

T-Minus Three Days:

Status: Can’t sleep

Thinking (all night long): Oh-my-heck-people-are-going-to-be-reading-my-work-what-will-they-think?

T-Minus Two Days:

Status: Stay Offline, Stay Offline

Thinking: Everyone needs one day they don’t check twitter or Facebook or anything, right? Right.

T-Minus One Day:

Status: Madness

Thinking: Nothing rational.

T-Minus Twelve Hours:

Status: Planning maniac

Thinking: Launch party tomorrow night! Prizes? Check. Pens? Check. New jewelry? Check. Blog tours? Check.

T-Minus Six Hours:

Status: Celebratory

Thinking: Thanks for taking me to dinner!

Launch Day:

Status: It’s my party and I’ll laugh if I want to

Thinking: I can buy anything I want today. I can eat anything I want today. It’s my launch day!

So yeah. Inside my head, that’s what happens during the launching of a book. You don’t want to see what happens outside of seven days beforehand. It’s not quite as pretty as this…

And that’s not all…

You can win one of five SPECTACULAR SECOND books this week! It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. All you have to do is fill out this rafflecopter widget with what you’ve done, and you can win a signed copy of either INSURGENT (by Veronia Roth), A MILLION SUNS (by Beth Revis), CROSSED (by Ally Condie), PERCEPTION (by Kim Harrington), and IN HONOR (by Jessi Kirby)—all spectacular second novels by some of today’s hottest YA authors.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

--------------------------------------------

Bio: Elana's work including POSSESSION, REGRET, and SURRENDER is available from Simon & Schuster wherever books are sold. She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query, which can be downloaded for free on her website. She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog. She blogs regularly at The League of Extraordinary Writers, co-organizes WriteOnCon, and is a member of SCBWI, ANWA and LDStorymakers.

She wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.

 About SURRENDER: Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi. All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn.

Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque…

Purchase your copy here. 

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Never Surrender

This week is the launch of Elana Johnson's sequel, SURRENDER. Elana's a good friend of mine, so I hope you'll stick around for her guest post (with giveaway!) tomorrow.


Meanwhile, today I'm going to blog about a time I didn't give up. SURRENDER is full of themes of when to surrender and when to stand up for what you believe in, so it's definitely an appropriate blog theme to celebrate Elana's launch. And--if you also blog about never surrendering, you can be entered in a giveaway on Elana's website and get extra points for a giveaway currently going on at Literary Rambles!

Never Surrender

I think I've blogged rather a lot about my query experience, and how many rejections I've gotten over the years. I definitely don't want to beat a dead horse, so instead, I thought I'd tell you about a time I actually did give up.

I was working on the book I wrote before ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. It was a fantasy (just like every other novel I'd written). I was tired of rejections, and I was tired of being close, but not close enough. I looked very carefully at what was selling and how YA was being marketed, and I wrote a book that I thought would hit all the right trends. I had a love triangle, a friendship-sidekick story, a funny character, a tragic character, a school-like setting, a formula for magic that slid into every Hogwarts copycat story there is.

And not only did I make this book fit all the standard cliches, I sent it out to nearly a dozen crique partners and readers. I took every. Single. Suggestion. Someone didn't like the character? I changed her. Someone didn't like a plot twist? Changed. I cut mercilessly, rewrote everything, and did my best to please every single person.

The problem? 

I gave up the story I was trying to tell.

Whenever you do something where you're not being true to yourself, you've surrendered. And I was so desperate at that time to get published that I wrote the story I thought everyone else would like...and lost myself in the process.

That book remains the only book of the ten novels I wrote before publication that I regret. The only thing I learned from my book is that, when it comes to writing (and life): never surrender.

Don't give up your voice. Don't give up what you want to write.

The next thing I wrote after this failure of a book was ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. I had learned my lesson: trying to please other people and write a story for a market didn't work. So I wrote the story I wanted to tell, and it was the story I also thought would never sell. 

And that's exactly the reason why it did.

_________________________________

Come back tomorrow to see a guest post by Elana on how to prepare for a book launch (and to enter into a giveaway for fabulous second novels, including one by yours truly!). Meanwhile, make sure to read this interview with Elana from Literary Rambles, and check out her novels! And if you have an experience where YOU didn't surrender (or, like me, you did), blog about it for another giveaway from Elana!

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