RECOMMENDED READS FOR WRITERS

Need some new direction for a WIP? I highly recommend WIRED FOR STORY by Lisa Cron. A great book that'll have you thinking about the purpose and structure of your stories in a new way. Get out your pen before you open this one up--I guarantee you'll be writing in the margins from the get-go.

If you're looking for strategies to better your word count, I also recommend 2K TO 10 K by Rachel Aaron. This one will have you instantly thinking about how you can break your WIP into far more manageable chunks.

INTERVIEW WITH CATHERINE LINKA, AUTHOR OF A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS / A GIRL UNDONE

I recently got my hands on A GIRL UNDONE and was so impressed, I had to chat with the author, Catherine Linka:

Having never tackled a series myself, what was your process? How do you decide on the proper dividing point for action? Do you outline two books at the onset of writing? Were both books finished at the point at which the series was acquired? Or did you write the second book once you’d found a publisher?

Well, I bumbled though my process, because I didn’t intend to write a sequel, but St. Martins insisted when they bought A Girl Called Fearless. After saying yes, I was slammed with writer’s block. 

Several characters had unfinished business, so I started thinking about what needed to be resolved. Then at a retreat with the Plot Whisperer Martha Alderson, I realized that since Avie was on the run in A Girl Called Fearless, she had to be caught in A Girl Undone, because that was the worst thing that could happen, and she’d be forced to face her nemesis. 

But my biggest obstacle was identifying Avie’s emotional journey. Avie says, “I am fearless,” at the end of book one, so where could she go from there? Then I realized Avie had to go from being intent on her survival to sacrificing herself for the good of others. 

While I haven’t written a series, I am in the midst of tackling the sequel to one of my YAs. I know firsthand what a balancing act it is to filter in backstory without relying on the dreaded info dump. What techniques did you rely on to provide backstory in book two? How much backstory was necessary?

Ugh. It’s so hard to know how much backstory is enough. A Girl Undone begins two days after A Girl Called Fearless which helped limit the amount of filling in that was needed. I tried to get the reader engaged immediately with my main character, Avie using the high stakes threat of the police looking for her. Bringing Luke back in the first chapter meant that he and Avie could catch the reader up as they caught each other up. 

I like to deliver backstory in dribbles and focus on the dangers of the moment, so I kept asking myself: what key pieces of information does the reader need NOW  to understand what is going on in the scene and to get why the characters are acting the way they are. And it’s good my critique partners for A Girl Undone had a long break after reading A Girl Called Fearless, because they reminded me of what they’d forgotten.

Do you feel your prior experience as a YA book buyer gives you special insight into what your readership wants from a novel? (I don’t feel as though I can ever turn off the writer in me—even when I’m reading a book for enjoyment. Do you ever get to turn off the bookseller inside you? Do you look at your own work the same way you looked at work as a bookseller?)

Oh, my gosh. As part of my job, I ran a teen board, so for seven years I listened to kids complain about sequels—how the main character changed in the second book in a way they didn’t like, or how the love triangle was getting annoying, or how the first book was amazing, but the third was boring. I realized fans set the bar really high, and I had to work my butt off to satisfy them.

Even though I know what’s “commercial” doesn’t mean I write for that. In fact, I didn’t submit a number of manuscripts, because I knew they weren’t commercial. I write because I love to write, and I write what interests me.

What are you reading now?

 

It’s a memoir by a hummingbird rescuer in LA. We have tons of hummingbirds in our neighborhood and I’m fascinated by them.

I love that you speak on girl power. Your protagonist Avie is the perfect symbol of girl power—what a hero! Having seen how you approach the subject of girl power in your fiction, I’m curious: how do you approach it as a speaker?

I want kids to know they do not have to be ninjas or superheroes to be amazing. We love these characters, but I try to get across to kids that it isn’t martial arts training or weapons skills that makes a girl a kickass chick—it’s the will to not give up—even when you’ve fallen down or messed up or been the victim of something awful. Surviving makes you a survivor and that is powerful. I want kids to know they have power inside them they may not realize they have, because it hasn’t been tested yet. 

As authors, I know we both cringe at the idea of book banning. In what ways have you spoken regarding book banning? Have you ever stood in defense of specific works that were in the process of being banned? 

I think our librarian friends are on the frontlines in that fight. As a bookseller, I’ve set up displays for Banned Book Week and advised a Girl Scout for her Gold Award project on book banning,  but I can’t claim to be a hero. 

What I love about your series is that it’s set in the future, but the themes are reflective of today’s world. How did the idea for this series begin—was it born from a headline? Current events? Personal observation?

It was born from frustration with the futuristic stories I was reading, because the characters and situations felt less and less real. I thought I’d play with what I thought would really happen to a regular girl if a pandemic changed the US. 

How much research was involved in putting the series together?

Not that much, actually. I’m a news junkie, so I’d already been following stories about women’s issues around the world. But I had to research how to shoot a gun, and how survivalists live and think when I wrote A Girl Called Fearless. I even went to shooting range to fire a Glock and a semi-automatic. Research like this makes you wonder if you’re on a Homeland Security watch list.

Congrats on the series being developed for TV! How did that happen? Are you involved at all in writing and developing the story for television?

I live in LA, so a friend connected me to an agent, and to my shock, he loved A Girl Called Fearless. I’ve consulted on the pilot script, and if the series sells, then I will continue to consult. It’s fun to think about, but nothing’s guaranteed in Hollywood. 

As a dog lover, I have to ask: Did you get that puppy?

Yes. Carter (named after John Carter of Mars) is a 15 week old yellow lab, and he’s as athletic and determined as his namesake. He could be the next ruler of Mars!

Be sure to keep up with Catherine at her author site and Twitter: @cblinka. And don't hesitate to snag your copies of the truly incredible A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS and A GIRL UNDONE.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: THE FIX (NATASHA SINEL)

Natasha sent me a copy of THE FIX in manuscript form, and I was delighted to blurb it:

"First shot out of the gate, Sinel bravely addresses tough topics, demonstrating that the weight of secrets can pull us under—and their release can save us from drowning."

Holly Schindler, critically acclaimed author of A Blue So Dark and Feral

 

 About THE FIX:

One conversation is all it takes to break a world wide open.

Seventeen-year-old Macy Lyons has been through something no one should ever have to experience. And she’s dealt with it entirely alone.

On the outside, she’s got it pretty good. Her family’s well-off, she’s dating the cute boy next door, she has plenty of friends, and although she long ago wrote her mother off as a superficial gym rat, she’s thankful to have allies in her loving, laid-back dad and her younger brother.

But a conversation with a boy at a party one night shakes Macy out of the carefully maintained complacency that has defined her life so far. The boy is Sebastian Ruiz, a recovering addict who recognizes that Macy is hardened by dark secrets. And as Macy falls for Sebastian, she realizes that, while revealing her secret could ruin her seemingly perfect family, keeping silent might just destroy her.

The Fix follows two good-hearted teenagers coming to terms with the cards they were dealt. It’s also about the fixes we rely on to cope with our most shameful secrets and the hope and fear that comes with meeting someone who challenges us to come clean. 

 

~ 

 

Grab a copy.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: BREAK YOUR HEART (RHONDA HELMS)

In BREAK YOUR HEART, Rhonda Helms offers a fresh look at an old dilemma: teacher / student attraction. Instantly accessible, insightful, and intriguing.

About BREAK YOUR HEART:

Fearless and flirtatious, Megan Porter isn't your typical math major. On the fast track to graduating with honors, a spot in her school's masters program is nearly guaranteed. But her senior year is quickly turned upside-down by her new thesis advisor, cryptography professor Dr. Nick Muramoto. Young, effortlessly good-looking, and intellectual, he's far more intriguing than the immature jocks Megan usually goes for. And as she decodes the hidden messages he leaves in the margins of her assignments and in their emails, she realizes this might be more than a schoolgirl crush--especially after they share a passionate kiss...

Soon Nick and Megan grow closer, and their different worlds begin to merge. But if their relationship is discovered, Nick's career could be over. With Megan's parents close to campus on business, hiding their love becomes an even greater challenge. Yet keeping secrets will lead Megan to discover hers is just one piece in a much larger puzzle--next to her mother's stash of painkillers--that may put her carefully laid plans for the future in jeopardy.

Grab a copy.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: THE IMPROBABLE THEORY OF ANA & ZAK (BRIAN KATCHER)

One unusual setting + 2 alternating POVs + Katcher’s distinctive humorous tone = 1 amazing book.

I always gravitate toward a Katcher read because I know I’m going to smile all the way through it. Katcher consistently manages to address serious topics and reveal his characters through humor. (I don’t think anything illustrates a character’s world view quite as vividly as their own personal sense of humor.) In ANA & ZAK, Katcher also keeps from relying on stereotypical differences between his male and female alternating narrators; the differences in narration are both subtle and smartly handled. Fun read with some great, realistic characters that teens will instantly recognize and identify with.

~

About THE IMPROBABLE THEORY OF ANA & ZAK:

 The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak is Stonewall Book Award-winning author Brian Katcher’s hilarious he said/she said romance about two teens recovering from heartbreak and discovering themselves on an out-of-this-world accidental first date.

It all begins when Ana Watson's little brother, Clayton, secretly ditches the quiz bowl semifinals to go to the Washingcon sci-fi convention on what should have been a normal, résumé-building school trip.

If slacker Zak Duquette hadn't talked up the geek fan fest so much, maybe Clayton wouldn't have broken nearly every school rule or jeopardized Ana’s last shot at freedom from her uptight parents.

Now, teaming up with Duquette is the only way for Ana to chase down Clayton in the sea of orcs, zombies, bikini-clad princesses, Trekkies, and Smurfs. After all, one does not simply walk into Washingcon.

But in spite of Zak's devil-may-care attitude, he has his own reasons for being as lost as Ana-and Ana may have more in common with him than she thinks. Ana and Zak certainly don’t expect the long crazy night, which begins as a nerdfighter manhunt, to transform into so much more…

Grab a copy.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: ROBERT SHARENOW'S THE GIRL IN THE TORCH

THE GIRL IN THE TORCH - Robert Sharenow 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret meets True Grit in this heartfelt novel of resilience, hope, and discovering a family where you least expect it, from award-winning author Robert Sharenow.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, thousands of immigrants are arriving in the promised land of New York City. Twelve-year-old Sarah has always dreamed of America, a land of freedom and possibility. In her small village she stares at a postcard of the Statue of Liberty and imagines the Lady beckoning to her. When Sarah and her mother finally journey across the Atlantic, though, tragedy strikes—and Sarah finds herself being sent back before she even sets foot in the country.

Yet just as Sarah is ushered onto the boat that will send her away from the land of her dreams, she makes a life-or-death decision. She daringly jumps off the back of the boat and swims as hard as she can toward the Lady's island and a new life.

Her leap of faith leads her to an unbelievable hiding place: the Statue of Liberty itself. Now Sarah must find a way to Manhattan while avoiding the night watchman and scavenging enough food to survive. When a surprising ally helps bring her to the city, Sarah finds herself facing new dangers and a life on her own. Will she ever find a true home in America?

~

As someone who recently got hooked on digging into my own genealogy, I quickly devoured THE GIRL IN THE TORCH. I dare any young reader to experience Sarah’s tale, packed with drama and adventure, and running the gamut of emotions, and tell me they can’t get into history. 

Click to grab your own copy.