YA Muses

Friday Five

Posted on by Beth Hull

1. I made my first green smoothie yesterday, thanks to advice from my BFF K-Joy! It was a beginner’s green smoothie, with spinach, banana, and lots of blueberries. Actually quite tasty. Maverick loved it. Z loved it until she heard that I put spinach in there. I’ll make another one tomorrow. Wonder if Z will believe me when I say the green color comes from candy?

2. The YA Muses recently gave their website a “mindblowing” overhaul with a gorgeous redesign by Lia Keyes. They also expanded their ranks to include six New Muses, and I’m thrilled to be one of them. My first post went up last week. It was fairly straightforward to write a post talking about myself (although, yes, terrifying). But even worse is next week, when I’m supposed to write something about character. I think I’ve mentioned here before that I shy away from giving advice on craft because I am hardly an expert and have no street cred whatsoever. But I have to figure out something, and soon. It’s probably bad form to find a guest-poster for my first craft post…but I’m tempted.

3. What is it about kids and how no matter what one kid has, the other one wants it?

Never mind. I don’t think it’s just kids who do this.

4. Last week we had four excellent entries in Colonel Shifty’s Haiku Made Easy query critique/poem giveaway! I’ve decided to select more than one winner. In fact, we’ve got four winners. PB Rippey, Randi (AKA my mom), Myrna Foster, and Jamie Weil! Congratulations! I’ll be in touch to find out if you want a query critique or a poem.

5. A Shiny New Idea came to me the other day, giving me some energy & extra motivation to finish up the books I’m working on now. Once again, my Shiny New Idea is about something I know laughably little about. I think that’s part of the fun, though – exploring something so new that I start by borrowing children’s books on the topic. (Apologies to any local kids who need to do book reports on that subject anytime soon. I just cleared a shelf out of the library.)

NiFtY Author Donna Cooner

Posted on by Beth Hull

I met Donna at Katherine Longshore’s book launch, after I’d been stalking following her and her fellow muses via the YA Muses blog. Her debut young adult novel, SKINNY, will be released this coming Tuesday, October 1st, and I’m thrilled for her, and can’t wait to get my hands on that book!

BH: Welcome, Donna! I am so looking forward to reading SKINNY. What was the biggest joy of writing the book? What was the biggest challenge?

DC: My biggest joy in writing this book has been the personal connections people seem to have with the story.  Readers have shared some amazing struggles with self image and many of them have nothing to do with weight.  I love the fact people are able to relate to the story in so many different ways.  The biggest challenge for me was just completing the story.  My full time job as a  university administrator is hectic and time consuming, so finding time to write is always difficult.

BH: I heard from a little bird (or two birds) that SKINNY wasn’t your first choice of a book to work on. Can you share why it was more difficult to commit to this one than the other ideas you had?

DC: This book is incredibly personal.  In many ways, that made it a difficult choice to write.  I’ve tried to avoid the topic of obesity all my life.  The thought that I was actually going to write about it for the whole world to see was terrifying.  It probably would have been much easier to work on something that wasn’t so close to my heart, but I also think that’s the very reason it connected with readers.

BH: If you had a daughter, which of Ever’s attributes do you wish she shared? Which ones would you never want to see her display?

DC:  Ever is a talented singer. I would definitely hope any child of mine would be involved in the performing arts in some way.  Singing solos in church and performing in school musicals as a choir member gave me the self-confidence to be in front of people.  I learned to prepare well, practice, and perform under pressure.   As an adult, I still draw on those skills today when teaching and speaking to groups.

Ever is so extremely self-absorbed and self-critical that she almost misses out on some fantastic opportunities and potential friendships. Her journey is all about learning that lesson and coming to some positive realizations about herself.  I would hope my daughter wouldn’t have that same, so so difficult, struggle.  Reflection and introspection might be good for writers, but there definitely needs to be a healthy balance.  Especially when you are a young adult.

BH: Do you have a new project in the works you can tell us a little about?

DC:  It’s a little too early to talk about yet, but there is definitely a book two in the works.    It’s not a sequel to SKINNY, but will be set in the same Texas town.  You might even get to see Ever and Rat again.

BH: What does your workspace look like?

DC:  I have a second floor loft in my house that is my study.  My cat, Stu, tries his best to get in between me and the computer screen (see picture).  Roxanne and Cassidy, my chocolate labs, are usually lying on the floor near my feet.  The wall is adorned with notes and scene cards for my next project.  I also tack up pictures from teen magazines to represent what I think my current characters might look like.

BH: What is your favorite book on the craft of writing?

DC:  Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

BH: Any words on advice to aspiring writers for keeping the hope alive?

DC: SKINNY is my third completed novel.  If anyone had reasons for giving up, and not writing book three, it was me.  But the story was there.  Waiting.  And so was this amazing journey.   I’m just so grateful for good writing friends who encouraged me when I most needed it or I would have missed it all.  Don’t give up.  Write your stories and keep writing your stories.  You never know what might be waiting for you just around the bend from your next “The End.”

BH: Thank you, Donna, for visiting and sharing about SKINNY and your writing adventures. For more on Donna and her writing, you can visit her website by clicking here. You can read the first chapter of SKINNY by visiting the YA Muses Blog here…and you can buy it on Tuesday!

NiFtY Author Talia Vance

Posted on by Beth Hull

Today we have a special guest – debut author Talia Vance. Not only is she a prolific writer (two books coming out within the year, AND one more under contract!), but I also count her as a friend.

BH: Welcome, Talia! You have not one, but TWO books coming out between now and next spring. Can you tell us a little about them?

TV: SILVER is a dark romance based on Celtic mythology.  Brianna Paxton accidentally binds her soul to the one guy it might kill her to love. SPIES & PREJUDICE is about a teenage private investigator, Berry Fields, who sets out to discover the truth behind her mother’s death and ends up questioning everything she thinks she knows about love and the one boy she is determined to hate.

BH: What were some of the joys of writing Silver?

TV: I loved discovering the characters’ secrets as I wrote (and there were some big ones), I loved those moments when they said the exact right line of dialogue, and I especially loved that I finished a book.

BH: We all have favorite minor characters in our own books, those characters we wish could have more page time. Who’s your favorite minor character in Silver?

TV: I am going to cheat here, because there are two characters I wanted to give more time to:  Joe is the conscience of the story, a voice of reason among chaos.  His past is full of violence and loss, but he’s always so calm and stoic.  I know what’s made him the way he is, but I often wonder what it would take to make him break. Someday he may get his own book, just so I can find out.

Portia barely makes an appearance in SILVER, but she definitely has her own story.  In early drafts, she began to take over the second half of the book, and I had to cut out her entire story from the final version.  All that background wasn’t for nothing, however.  She gets quite a bit more page time in GOLD. [note for the audience – GOLD is Book 2.]

BH: Switching from fantasy to contemporary is something I’m doing now with my own work-in-progress. Were there any challenges involved with your switch, and how did you overcome them?

TV:  The biggest challenge was switching from Brianna’s voice, which is more introspective and emotional, to Berry’s voice, which is more brash and confident.  Both stories take place in contemporary Southern California, but their worlds and challenges are very different.  One thing that helped me make the switch was having a separate playlist of songs that fit the mood and tone of each book.  I listen to the playlist while I’m writing and revising, and it helps puts me in the “head” of the character and the story.

BH: What does your workspace look like?

TV: I work on a couch with a laptop.  This picture is a pretty accurate depiction of how I write, complete with the lapdog lying across my legs.

BH: What is your favorite book on the craft of writing?

TV:  I am a fan of James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure.  Plotting is something that I tend to do organically.  Which usually means I have to figure out the structure and plan the plot in revisions.  Plot and Structure is a great book for reminding me what a story should look like in its purest form.

BH: What is the best writing advice anyone has given you?

TV:  Put everything you have on the page.  Don’t save your best stuff for another book.  Put it in this one.  You’ll come up with new stuff later.  Make this book count.

BH: Talia, thanks so much for sharing about your books and writing! I can’t wait to hold the published copies of Silver and Spies & Prejudice in my hands!

For more on Talia, including some brilliant blog posts on writing, you can visit her at the YA Muses blog by clicking here.