WORLD'S GREATEST POOL PARTY

Holden Caulfield of CATCHER IN THE RYE fame said, "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."

…What knocks me out is when a book is so real, you're just absolutely sure the main character’s got to be walking around out there somewhere. And I think a lot of bloggers must feel the same way! Been seeing a lot of variations of this question in interviews...(This one came specifically from The AnaRissa Chronicles):

Can you relate to any of your characters that your have written? Are they based on real people?

…My answer?

"The voice of Aura is really closest to the voice that just rattles around in my own head. But my characters are never based on real people. They’re always complete fiction.

A lot of my readers seem to WANT the characters in A BLUE SO DARK to be real people…I’ve often been asked if I grew up with a schizophrenic mother! (I didn’t—but Mom and I both laugh about the question…she was a psych major in college!)

Really, though, my characters don’t live anywhere but in my mind…And I can’t wait to introduce the world to my next cast of characters, which I’ll be able to do next March, when PLAYING HURT is released!"

…Just think, though, if we could populate our neighborhoods with our favorite characters from novels…contemporary and classic! Now there’s a pool party I’d like to go to…

INTERVIEW AT TRISHA'S BOOK BLOG!

Okay, so I'm getting better about writing to music...which is a good thing, because writing can get pretty darned solitary if you don't have another voice in the room.

Sometimes, though, if the song's really good, then I'm online, listening to it about six thousand times, and Googling the band, and...

You get the point.

I address writing to music and so much more in the latest interview at Trisha's Book Blog!

TELL ME A SECRET FREE PODCAST

Attention all you techie readers out there: Holly Cupala has just released the audiobook of her debut novel TELL ME A SECRET as a free podcast at the novel's website!

...I must admit, when I sold A BLUE SO DARK, I really kind of balked at the idea of having to do anything tech-related. I was a pen and notebook gal, after all. Now, though, it all completely excites me.

What do the rest of you think about tech-meets-old-school-paper-books? What's your favorite way to get your lit fix? Kindle? Print books? Audiobooks? Any writers out there currently podcasting their own fiction?

ODE TO OUR FOUR-LEGGED EDITORS

You know the ones—the guys who lick our faces through rejection and curl into our laps as we revise. The guys who pull us out into the sunshine for a walk when we get muddle-brained. The guys who offer up some funny antic (like, say, hiding under a curtain when it’s time to get their teeth brushed...)

...so that a fresh round of belly laughter makes us lighten up our manuscripts. The guys who race across the house with our rough drafts in their mouths, or blur ink with muddy footprints, and look at us as if to say, What are you so mad about? You weren’t actually thinking of submitting that drivel, were you?

Yep, this one’s for the fuzzy, long-eared editors, who see us at our absolute worst, roll their eyes, wait for the worst to pass, and love us the way we love our writing. Unconditionally. No reserve.

…My own four-legged editor recently had a birthday…and we celebrated with gusto. Party galore. Yeah, that’s right. I said it. Birthday party for my dog…He’s not the only one that loves unconditionally and without reserve ‘round here…

FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE: ALL THE DETAILS!

I'm so thrilled by the early response to my Flash Fiction Challenge! I first teased you guys about the challenge when I posted my "Rocket In Real Life" flash fiction...and now for the full lowdown:

THE RULES:

Okay, I'm not much of a rules kind of gal (as you'll be able to tell by the loosey-goosey requirements outlined below). But here they are:

1. Come up with a writing prompt. It can be anything. Totally random. (The prompt in no way has to relate or reflect back to the original "Rocket In Real Life" flash fiction post...unless, of course, you want it to.) The prompt can be a title. A first line / last line. A list of words I have to incorporate. A character name. A setting. A metaphor I have to use. Or anything else you come up with. And I welcome, welcome challenges. The tougher the better. Try to stump me!

(FYI: I called it a blogger-generated prompt on Monday, but if you're not blogging, don't sweat it. Anybody can play! Fellow writers, reviewers, readers, teachers, followers of this blog / non-followers of this blog...no restrictions. See? I'm sort of allergic to rules...)

2. Email your prompt to writehollyschindler (at) yahoo (dot) com.

3. I'll choose a prompt (hint: I'll choose the wackiest, toughest prompt that hits my inbox), and write a new piece of flash fiction (no longer than 500 words).

4. I'll post one new piece of flash fiction per month...the first will go live September 9. There's not really a hard-and-fast deadline, but I'd like to get all the prompts for the first flash fiction in by September 2 (this gives me a week to write the new piece).

5. I'll run the challenge again in October, November, and December. (Each post will go live on the 9th.)

6. After the December challenge, I'll set up a poll, so that everyone can vote: Which prompt led to the best flash fiction? The winner will receive a special prize...just in time for the holidays!

Didja hear that? A special prize to the winner of the best writing prompt! Yes, oh, yes.

Okay, prompt away! Go for it! Send one, send ten. No limit! If you have any questions, feel free to email. Thanks in advance for playing...can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to September 9!

BECAUSE AUTHOR / BLOGGERS ARE AWESOME

Remember the interview I recently ran with Medeia Sharif, author of the forthcoming BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER.? She ran an interview with me that just posted this morning.

(I just love the writing community. So much support all around...)

Check out the interview at Medeia's blog!

NEW FLASH FICTION: "ROCKET IN REAL LIFE"

Calling all bloggers! From here on out, once every month, I'll be posting a brand spankin' new piece of flash fiction...and I'll be asking you for the subject. Yup...you'll be sending me the prompts, and I'll be writing a piece of flash fiction (no longer than 500 words) from your suggestions!

The first piece, "Rocket In Real Life," was written using a prompt from Figment, a site scheduled to go live this fall, where I'll be cross-posting my flash fiction. (First line of the story had to be: What were you thinking?) I've included a video reading (turn 'er all the way up to hear me...or just watch Jake, my constant companion, who steals the show...) I've also pasted the entire story below.

...So go ahead, bloggers and YA fans, brainstorm some prompts! (The harder the better...I dare you to try to stump me!)

Email all your suggestions to writehollyschindler (at) yahoo (dot) com. The first piece of blogger-generated flash fiction will go live September 9 (one month from today). Can't wait to see what you have in store for me!

"Rocket In Real Life"

by Holly Schindler


“What were you thinking?” the girl cop asks, shaking her head beneath the throb of patrol car lights.

I let loose a sloppy laugh, because I screamed the same thing at Jason maybe ten minutes ago, as the party clanked around us. “What were you thinking?” while my fingers dug ditches into his bicep and she ducked behind his shoulder, her eyes too wide not to be guilty.

His friends laughed. In the law of guys, best friends got the pass. A girlfriend lived like a blind mole, in the dark, happy and unsuspecting until the metal trap shot into the earth and stabbed her.

“Rocket,” they all moaned, his friends and mine, the way you moan at a bad joke, because I’d had a full cup since the party’d started. As though drunk and overreacting were one and the same.

“Rocket,” they called, using that ridiculous name my parents had given—What were you thinking? I could have asked them sixteen years ago. Okay, so it was Raquelle on paper, but Rocket in real life, because I loved the sound of the engines at the nearby airport. Speed—I’d craved it always, sprinting straight into the arms of anything the rest of the world thought I wasn’t yet ready for…

Especially Jason.

I chased them, out of the house and then down the street when she got in his car, two blocks, around the corner, until the steering wheel slipped from my loose fingers and I hit them, laughing at the crunch of the metal like we were in bumper cars.

But they’d already been following us, the cops. Called to a loud party, and now, it’s the straight line I can’t walk and the nose I can’t find, even on my own face…And Jason’s mouth, which I’ve tasted too many times to forget—the same way I could never forget the taste of Dr. Pepper. And her, still in his passenger’s seat.

The guy cop sticks his hand inside Jason’s window. Cross-eyed with booze, I swear I see a fist bump. A pass.

And in the throbbing blue lights, I finally begin to curse my precious speed, because it’s only raced me here—handcuffed, watching Jason pull away. And wondering if anything will ever feel uncomplicated again.

WHILE I WAS AWAY...

While dealing with my techno-issues last week, a fantastic review and fun guest post went live!

Debasmita at Bookaholics Oye!! said, "Holly Schindler’s writing is beautiful, lyrical, poetic and almost magical." And as she hails from India, I believe she's my farthest-away review to date! (Talk about "magical," there's something about knowing my words were read so far away that gives me goose bumps...)

And Krista at Up the Tower of Books posted my guest blog on how to wrench yourself from a writing or reading slump...


Race on over to check 'em out!

SQUARE BOXES, WIRES, AND HAIR BAND LOVE

I’m just now recovering from a computer malfunction that took the majority of the week to resolve…I’m sort of torn between feeling ultra-grateful that I’m now able to get back to emailing and updating my online life, and really hating how absolutely dependent I am on a square box and a bunch of wires. (I was the last person in the universe to sign up for Facebook. Now, suddenly, I can’t breathe without it? What gives?)

Anyway, first headline I saw this morning when I logged back on was about the Whitesnake video. You’ve seen it, right? “Here I Go Again,” ten million hits on YouTube.

…And suddenly, I’m thinking about me, 1992. Five years after the ‘Snake vid, but still loving—and I mean loving—my hair bands (and anything metal-ish) nonetheless. (Yup, I’m fifteen in the picture below…and that’s the drummer of Tesla signing an autograph for me…)

And I’m thinking about life before computers, before cell phones (in 1992, it was before answering machines in the Schindler household), and I’m tallying up the incredible—seriously—incredible word count I racked up during this past week when I was unplugged, and I’m wondering if I shouldn’t unplug more often…I mean, even for a few hours, one day on the weekend…

Sounds like heaven, actually…a little circa ’92 living…hmmm…

HOLLY CUPALA'S TELL ME A SECRET TRAILER PARTY

I'm so happy to be part of the launch party for the trailer of Holly Cupala's TELL ME A SECRET!

But the fun doesn't just stop with the trailer...Holly's given us a chance to win:
Signed TMAS books! TMAS t-shirts!
Fan-made bracelets by Hannah S! Music that inspired the book!
Sneak Previews! Bookmarks and Handmade Magnets!
and...
A Tell Me a Secret handmade necklace!

To enter, head to YouTube, then click the Share button to send to your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or blog! (Each "share" is worth 5 points.)

Click here to tell Holly where you posted, and enter to win!

AUTHORS TELLING SECRETS

Holly Cupala, author of TELL ME A SECRET, has put together an incredible video of authors unleashing their own well-kept secrets. I can't tell you the number of times I laughed out loud at this one...too much fun...

The moral of my own secret? Listen to your moms, kids. (Mine is always right. Always, always, always...)

INTERVIEW WITH MEDEIA SHARIF, AUTHOR OF BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER.

I’m so excited about this forthcoming title, I had to post the interview with the author right away. Fellow Flux-er, Medeia Sharif, will release her debut BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. in the summer of '11. (And those of you as hungry as I am for a new POV in the YA genre will surely put this title at the top of your TBR list…)

Medeia’s here today to share a few insights on her novel in development…


Congrats on selling your debut novel to Flux! Tell us a bit about BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER.

Almira Abdul, a Middle Eastern mutt of Syrian and Iranian origins, is fifteen going on sixteen and she’s fasting for Ramadan for the first time ever. Coinciding with the holy month is her first major crush with a boy named Peter, whom her best friend Lisa also is in love with. She also has a new enemy at school, catty Shakira Malik, a fellow Muslim who trades barbs with everyone. Her dentist father proclaims that she needs braces. Along with the hectic month her grandfather, who knocks down mailboxes and garbage cans when parking, is teaching her how to drive in his tank-like car.

What was the inspiration?

At first I was going to write a children’s or MG book about a boy’s experience with Ramadan, but then the idea of a teenage girl took hold of me. Almira’s voice became loud and clear.

The YA genre as a whole seems to be so heavily populated with white females. I love that your book features a "Middle Eastern mutt." I think I speak for many fans of YA when I say I'm so hungry for a different POV! Did you ever think your main character's ethnicity would help or hurt in your search to find a publisher? How so? Did you write BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. because you saw a hole that you could help fill in the YA genre or because it was the story you felt compelled to tell?

I believe it fills a hole, and I was fairly positive that the novel would garner attention. My main character and premise is unique, but at the same time I worried that people might not relate. I felt compelled to write the novel because a) I truly adored my story idea and b) I wanted to contribute to multicultural literature.

Why Flux?

I knew about Flux before getting agent representation. I admired the covers and titles I saw on their website. Also, I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few of their books.

How'd you snare the deal? Agent? Slush?

I have a wonderful agent who got me the deal, Marlene Stringer of The Stringer Literary Agency.

What's the development process been like so far? What's been the highest point?

Each step is different to me and draws out better things from both me and my manuscript. I don’t know if I’m at the highest point yet, because something new keeps popping up. Right now I think the highest point will be when I see my cover since this doesn’t seem real to me yet.

What's been the biggest surprise since you sold your book?

I’m surprised that people are reaching out to me. The YA community is warm and generous. I’ve had established authors visit my blog, tweet at me, and email me when I used to believe that authors were inaccessible. Complete strangers approach me to ask about my debut novel. This is a delightful and welcome surprise

Are you working on anything new right now?

I’m working on a sequel to BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. Also, I take breaks from it to work on a new, unrelated work-in-progress.

How has the acquisitions and development process changed the way you read?

I find myself questioning the publishing journey of the novels I read: how long did the authors take to write them and what kind of feedback did they receive to fine-tune the work? These intrusive thoughts thankfully don’t get in the way of me comprehending the text.

How has the acquisitions and development process changed the way you write? Do you think you'll pay more or less attention to the market as you draft new work?

I’m a more patient writer. With previous works I did revisions in a rush, within a few weeks with poor results. Ever since I had hope brewing in me that BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. might be the novel that gets my foot in the door of the publishing world, I spent months revising it. Even with my current projects, I take my time on revisions. I’m better at utilizing feedback and putting a manuscript away and taking it back out to view with fresh eyes. Also, after my book deal, I tested the waters with a few critique groups and finally found one that I’m comfortable with. If I’m stuck on BESTEST or another project, they give me great advice.

As for the marketability of my work, I don’t really pay attention to trends, but I do ask myself if my new projects would be of interest to people. I’m a voracious reader, so I wonder if someone else were to write my story idea, would I be compelled to read it? If I look deep inside of myself and the answer is no, then I save the idea for later and instinctually pick another one.

What are you most looking forward to as your book nears publication?

I’m curious to see people’s reactions to my novel. I hope I strike a positive chord in my future readers, whether I entertain them or teach them something.

You can continue to check in with Medeia as her novel nears publication at her website and blog. Congrats again, Medeia—can’t wait to get a peek at the cover art!

INTERVIEW WITH ILLUSTRATOR ANDY J. SMITH

I’m delighted today to be joined by Andy J. Smith, who describes himself as “an illustrator specializing in silly, cartoony children's art.” So many of us have bandied about the idea of writing picture books—and Andy’s here to let us know what the picture book world is like from an illustrator’s POV.


What's your background?

I went to The School Of Visual Arts in NYC and graduated with a degree in animation but took a handful of illustration and film electives and as many drawing classes as I was able. I worked in animation for about seven years in New York designing characters and backgrounds for TV and internet shows. After that I taught high school art and college illustration for a year before stumbling into illustration fulltime.

Why did you choose illustration (and kids' books) over other artistic pursuits?

I was always interested in children’s books and illustration but I never CHOSE illustration, per se. The idea of freelance ANYTHING was pretty scary to me. I would say I do kids’ books along with a lot of other artistic pursuits.

How do you continue to find work as an illustrator? Is it always through an agent?

I find work in as many ways as I’m able. Finding new clients and maintaining relationships with old ones is as big a part of being a freelance illustrator as anything. I send promotional mailers, display my artwork on my own website as well as “portfolio” sites like childrensillustrators.com, continually give and get work through friends (one hand washes the other!), and occasionally clients find me on their own. My agents do a great job of getting my work into the right hands and getting it seen promptly. I’ve been writing a lot and I couldn’t imagine sending my work out to publishers without an agent, knowing it might just be festering in the slush pile.

Have you ever teamed up with a writer on your own? Do you always illustrate books that have already been acquired by a publishing house, or have you ever illustrated a book with the hopes that it would then find a house?

All the books I’ve illustrated were already acquired by the publisher. I haven’t worked with a writer prior to that process. I DO, however write and illustrate my own rough “dummy” books (with two finished pieces) that my agent will send around in the hopes of publication.

How does an illustration project begin?

That’s different with every project, publisher, book, and individual illustrator, but for my own original story ideas, I’ll usually ping pong back and forth between the words and pictures until each becomes more concrete. It’s a very reciprocal process for me.

Do you work collaboratively with the author? Do you submit initial sketches, or are the illustrations all your own?

I’ve never worked hand in hand with an author. It’s collaborative only in the sense that each person lends their talents to the marriage of words and pictures. The artist needs freedom to be able to bring their own ideas to the mix and not just be a mechanical hand. And yes, I submit rough sketches (often several rounds) to the publisher’s Art Director for approval prior to creating finished pieces of art.

What tools to do you use (watercolors, pencils, computer, etc.)?

Everything’s becoming more and more digital for me, but it’s fun to swing back into more traditional mediums to keep things fresh and challenge myself. You can’t really duplicate that tactile feel of canvas or pastel paper with a computer.

What's your daily schedule look like?

Freelance provides some degree of flexibility which is essential with my (lack of) schedule. It’s a daily struggle to juggle a 19 month-old daughter, 9 month-old puppy, never-ending home improvement jobs, exercise, time with my wife and various overlapping illustration/animation jobs.

What book or completed project are you the most proud of?

Hopefully the next one! I have a series of picture books making the rounds at the publishing houses now.

What are you working on now?

Doing freelance design and animation work for Sesame Street by day and writing and illustrating a new picture book manuscript/dummy involving an elusive peanut butter sandwich, in my free time.

What would you most like to work on in the future? What would be the dream assignment?

I’d really like to make some books that mean something, that have something to say, however silly and absurd that something might be.

Any advice for aspiring artists and illustrators?

Be yourself and let that come through in your artwork. It’s natural to have favorite picture book illustrators, but you’ll get nowhere copying their style. I could go on here forever, but really, just draw. Just draw—a lot.

…We’ve all got our fingers crossed for your picture book subs, Andy! In the meantime, you can check out more of Andy’s work at his website and blog.

TWO NEW REVIEWS (A BLUE SO DARK)

In the midst of all this PLAYING HURT cover excitement, two fantastic new reviews of A BLUE SO DARK were posted last week!

Steph at Steph Su Reads asserted that “A BLUE SO DARK is an astonishing achievement by debut author Holly Schindler. Aura's story is horrifying, enthralling, and touching all at once, and will certainly open readers' eyes to situations they've probably never considered before.”

And Aly at Fantasy 4 Eva said, “Haunting but beautiful A Blue So Dark is a novel that gripped me in so many ways, i savored each and every moment, and was drawn into Aura's world that was filled with danger, sadness, anger, and hope but most of all a chance of new beginning's, this will be a book that will continue to touch people for many generations to come.”

...Wow-zahs...