Congratulations to Hannah Harrington!

Hannah isn't the Hannah who contributes to this blog, however, she's been friends with all of us at YAYA since the dawn of all things important, and so of course we had to congratulate her recent sale.

Hannah's novel, SAVING JUNE, was acquired by Harlequin's new YA line, Harlequin Teen.

Here's an edited version of the Publishers Marketplace announcement (edited to protect the innocent, I mean).

Hannah Harrington's SAVING JUNE, in which a girl trying to come to terms with her perfect older sister's suicide takes a road trip and finds love with a mysterious boy who may know more about her sister's life and death than he's telling.

Congratulations, Hannah!

More Housekeeping Notes from the Blogmistress General

Okay. I'm sure some of you have noticed the abundance of dust happening in the corners and the stacks and stacks of dirty dishes. Truth is, I haven't neatened up the blog in a while (college applications = death). Probably the archives aren't very archivey, and the links on the side of the page aren't linking to everyone they should be. Also all of the bloggers' ages on the side of the page... yeah. Those are all one year less than they should be. (I'm sure some of our cohorts wouldn't object if I left 'em like that, however...)

So I'll be straightening things up around here during the next couple of weeks. And gently prodding people to make posts more regularly, although I doubt we'll approach anything like a schedule.

That's about it, folks. I'll see you when the dust subsides.

How Do You Deal With Criticism?

This is really me searching for advice.

Who do you listen to you? Fellow writers, your best friend, your teacher? If someone critiques you, what process do you go through to separate the valuable stuff from the bullshit? How do you keep a critique that seems like a critique of you as a writer in general, not just of a certain work, from bringing you down completely?

Give me your methods, folks.

<3 hannah

Ignoring Common Genre Themes (Is It Shooting Yourself in the Foot?)

I decided to be adventurous and buy a book of short stories by prominent YA contemporary spec fic authors. The stories were all about love, and I read it in the two weeks leading up to Valentine's Day. I noticed that all of the stories except one, while very different, had one common theme. Human main character (all girls, in this case) gets romantically involved with a non-human character. Then I look at the last two YA contemp fantasy novels I read. One was Twilight (I'm sure I don't have to explain). The other, Wicked Lovely, which was slightly different in that there were more than one POV, some human, some not (although the MC was still a human girl, at least at first), and the romance played out differently.

Looking at my own novels, I see a huge reversal. Non-human MC (usually a girl) falls in love with a human love interest (or someone who thinks they're human and has been living as a human ;-) ). Now with the other scenario, you have the option of the classic human-character-discovers-magical-world, which is nice for the author because they get to introduce the reader to the fantasy world without an infodump. The reader discovers it with the MC. But is there anything wrong with taking the POV of the "other"?

Of course, this brings me to two huge concerns. One, that maybe readers do have a problem connecting to the "other." Most of my non-human MCs have been very human-like, and I've never had a complaint about them (or the one who I thought would be hardest to connect to). But maybe it is a problem.

More importantly to the post is this. Is the reason that the novels and stories I'm seeing are like this because that's what the market is expecting now? In the wake of Twilight, is it expected that a paranormal romance or a fantasy with romantic elements has a human MC with a supernatural love interest? And does that mean it's harder to get anything else published?

I sure hope not.

Don't get me wrong, my enjoyment of each of those stories wasn't ruined by the fact that they had this common element, but wouldn't it be boring if every genre or subgenre was required to have the same basic set up?

And it's easy to say, "No, you want to be unique. It will get the agent's and editor's attention!" But when you see four stories in a book of five with that same thread, it makes you stop and wonder.

Anyway, within your own preferred genres (reading and writing), what elements do you see commonly, that maybe you've conformed to or perhaps completely ignored?

A Rant

Now, I'm in a remarkably good mood for a rant, but this particular issue has been bothering me for a while. This probably doesn't fall under the category of young adult fiction, and it's probably not about fiction at all... it's more about young adults writing fiction.

As some of us know, I was recently accepted into the college of my choice. It's very exciting, yay, etc. Everything was peachy until I saw one sentence on the university blog. It said something to the effect of, "In every other way, this candidate was perfect: he had an excellent GPA, strong extracurriculars, and a published novel."

My reaction ran along the lines of: "uh-huh... huh... WHAT?!!?!?!"

Maybe it's just me, but I dislike the idea of people writing novels as some kind of prerequisite for college admissions or any other application process unless it has something to do with writing. So if you're applying for an MFA program at Iowa, then yes, please mention that you've published eight quintillion novels and they're all on the New York Times Bestseller List. In fact, feel free to bribe the admissions officers and buy the west side of campus. But I feel like people who toss around a published novel as if it were a prerequisite instead of an accomplishment are missing the picture.

I'm not quite sure what the picture is. Novel writing is art. I enjoy novel writing. You people are sucking the joy out of my novel writing by using it to weasel your way into an Ivy League school.

Wait. Do you think my prejudices are coloring my words here? (I have an unbridled dislike for Ivy League prestige...)

Young authors get such a bad rap in the writing world as it is. Adult writers point to examples on extreme ends of the spectrum as if teens can be easily classified as one or the other, or they tell us not to pursue publication until we've reached 25. Even writers of young adult fiction. This kind of behavior would be like Terry Pratchett announcing that the majority of people who read fantasy are idiots.

I don't understand. My incomprehension, it is huge and vast and eggplant-colored.

Here is a comic:



This is the end of my non sequitur.

I don't know if this is because the majority of teenage writers out there really do suck (I doubt it) or if it's the fault of society (wtf is society anyway, man?) but I'd like to see everyone move past criticizing other people without invitation and embracing that hey -- we all sucked at some point.

Am I overreacting? I might be overreacting. But you know. The title should have warned you.

Also, college admissions are le suck.


Quick edit: The applicant in question was applying for law school, and had published a children's chapter book.

High Concept and Realistic Fiction...is it even possible?

Let me start by saying I'm no worshiper of high concept. I'd much rather write a good book than just a hooky book. It's just that when something is this hard to wrap your mind around, well, it's kinda like a rubix cube. It obsesses me.

And as a teacher, I see the appeal. I'm a salesperson of literature every day. I take the class to the library. The true readers (with the exception of a few who think I'm a genius) run off because they know what they want and where it is. The reluctant ones, we play a guessing games. What kinda stuff do you like? What movies do you like? You like sci-fi? funny stuff? realistic stuff? fantasy? sports? And then we start perusing the shelves.

In English-teacher-salesperson mode, high concept works for me. If I were to pull a book off the shelf and say, "this is beautifully written," they would either run away, or put it back as soon as I walk away. But a good concept, well, makes them really look at the book. Snappy cover art is helpful at this point. :)

So, since I am the bottom rung salesperson, just trying to get these picky customers to check out books that have already been purchased, I can see the high concept pitch working on up the ladder of sales and marketing.

Alas, I have never writtten anything high concept. And I don't know if I ever will. By definition (unless I'm wrong and I've twisted this rubix cube a few times too many), in a high concept book everything, even subplots, ties back in to that concept.

I don't think you can really do that in a contemporary realistic book. In a speculative book you can create a situation that everything revolves around. But I think modern life is just too complex and just too messy. In another conversation, Donut suggested Freak Show as a high concept book in which everything tied into the drag queen mc wanting to be prom queen. But honestly, I don't think he came up with that plan until halfway through the book, after his classmates put him in the hospital.

Maybe it works for Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. It does seem that everything does get tied in with the pants. Maybe it works with Audrey, Wait! the whole situation is related to the song about her getting so huge. Maybe my point is moot (like talking to a cow). I don't know. The rubix cube is spinning around again. I'm the kid who took theirs apart with a steak knife and then stuck it back together again.

One more blog, later this week, and I'll do a drawing for a hardcover (cause that's all there is) copy of Handcuffs. Sent from me to you.

HIGH CONCEPT (it's a contest, with a prize)

Okay, I have a theory about high concept books. The theory might be wrong. It is probably wrong, but it'll be fun to talk about it. Yes, talk. That means you have to respond and then we can have a discussion (new years resolution- be more agressive)...(real new years resolution- be more witty so people will like you). Okay, yeah, I'd like to discuss this with some other smart people- that means you.

Before we beging the convo, I need a list of books you consider High Concept, and if you feel up to it, a short explanation of the concept.

If you aren't familiar with high concept, it was first, I believe, a movie term- when you can sum up the idea of a movie (or book) in a catchy distinctive sentence of phrase.

Jurassic Park- Dinosaurs get cloned from DNA found in amber but are not ideal amusement park exhibits after all.

Sister Hood of the Travelling Pants- 4 girls have their lives changed by a "magical" pair of pants.

Both of these were books before they were movies, of course.

I want to do a couple of posts on high concept books, because it's something I've been thinking about. Just out of interest. So everyone who posts, will be put into a drawing to win a signed copy of Handcuffs. If you already have a copy- you can give this one to a lucky friend, or I can give you something else off my overflowing bookshelf. One of my real resolutions is to be more aggressive-about decluttering my house.

So post away. Post post post.
Happy New Year, I love you all. More posting = more love. Also, maybe my handcuffs book marks will be in soon. I will send those to anyone who wants some.

Christmas YA

Hey all, I'm Chantal, this is my first post here ever (but feel free to visit my blog ;) ). I write mainly Urban Fantasy of the crappy kind and adult Sci-fi of the even crappier kind. Yeah, I'm still working on the self-esteem thing.

I thought I'd write about Christmas YA fiction, something I've been thinking of trying my hand at some day.

I remember hating Christmas stories as a teen/YA. Even before that actually. They were always corny and full of happy warm mushy feelings without any sort of gripping, meaningful plot. Aside from Christmas traditional tales like the one with the Little Match Girl which, to this day, still makes me cry. One thing that really annoyed me was that the parents always saved the day. Or worse, Santa!

Most fiction around Xmas/Hanukkah/Yule etc seems to be aimed at very young children. Surfing with the Amazon, I found some books classified as YA with Christmassy themes but they all seem to be basically the same stuff with more words. At best, it some kind of teen love story of the sort "he kissed her under the mistletoe! He must love her now!".

So I ask you all, are there any decent, smart Christmassy YA books out there? Something with a meaningful, interesting, non-trivial plot that ties up nicely with the spirit of the season? Oh and, not uber religious for those of us who don't care for religion, just for the message?

Handcuffs is out!

In an act of BLATANT SELF PROMOTION I would like to announce that my YA novel, Handcuffs is now out.





Obviously, I am pretty fond of this book. My experiences so far make me think that it is a love it or hate it sort of book. Pick it up, read a few pages, let me know if you love it or hate it!

Handcuffs is a book about being trapped, and it isn't just being trapped by one thing. At heart, Parker is trapped by a persona that she has created for herself- being an ice princess. It hides the fact that she is awkward, painfully shy, and not as awesomely cool as her older sister. And the persona also affects her relationships with her family, her best friend, and her boyfriend.

The boyfriend is a big part of the book. I have a contest going on over on my website that if you guess his name I'll send you an autographed copy of the book. Check it out at www.bethanygriffin.com