Writers' Chasm

Like I said yesterday, books are influential. Behind every book is a message, whether it's intentional or not. Authors need to start thinking about whether the message they're sending out is the right one or not. With the rush of bad messages coming through, I find myself thinking back to what my books are saying. I want to know that the messages in them are the right ones, even if they're never read by anyone but myself and my betas. Because they're NOT just books. Just like TV is not just TV. TV is giving out messages whether everyone acknowledges it or not.

This has been a popular subject lately. I wasn't going to write about it since so many awesome people already have, but then I changed my mind. Same rules from yesterday apply: conflicting viewpoints welcome, debates welcome, arguments not. Yes, there is a difference. YA has been featuring a lot of...unhealthy romances lately. Particularly in the area of paranormal. There are a few different types. First, we have the stalker boyfriends. You know the ones that sneak into the female protagonist's house and watch them sleep. The ones that never leave the girl alone. And she thinks this is CUTE. Awww so sweet, he's been sneaking into my house and watching me sleep at night. [Let it be noted that I too was one of the teenage girls that though it was kind of cute in Twilight. I am now ashamed to be me.] It's creepy. You know, they have something called a restraining order for cases like these. Then we have the abusive boyfriends. The ones that constantly try to kill the girl ...

This week is going to be Tough Subject Week here at Writer's Chasm. I'm going to say things that I feel need to be said. There will be people that agree with me and people that don't. Varying opinions are encouraged. As long as you're opinion is valid and can actually be supported in a debate. No, I won't be discussing health care. You don't want to hear me talk about that. Today, we'll be discussing negative reviews of books. A lot of people seem to subscribe to the theory "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" when it comes to book reviews. But WHY? There are always things that can be improved in books. Sometimes there are truly horrible books. What's so wrong about saying you don't like a book and explaining why? There's a difference between flaming a book and giving it a less-than-glowing review. There's nothing wrong with giving a book a bad review. Critics do it ALL. THE. TIME. If you can...

Happy Friday! My random comment of the week is this video . Watch it, it's hilarious. Old Monty Python skit. *** The Must Reads are a picture guide to publishing and 25 character interview questions . Contest: Querytracker is holding a one-line pitch + first paragraph contest judged by Jason Yarn from Paradigm Literary Agency! News: "It looks like the new Camp Half-Blood series will launch in October, but when I have more details I'll let you know." (Riordan's blog) AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! BookEnds answers questions on submitting partials . GLA shared 4 articles on agent pet peeves . Rachelle Gardner critiqued a paranormal romance query . Shooting Stars explained showing and telling . Story Flip had world-building week this week with a house metaphor: foundation , walls , rooms , painting , and showing off the house . YA Highway interviews James Dashner , author of The Maze Runner; and talked about character description . *** Unfortunately, I used a lot of my writing...

I have massive issues with time lines in novels. One day it could be Saturday and the next it could be Thursday. I tend to just make it whatever day would be most convenient for the story. That's somewhat okay for the first draft, but at some point it has to be fixed. This is especially important in YA stories where the character goes to school. If one day is Friday, they can't be going to school the next day. The same goes with seasons and months of the year. Plus I have to take school breaks into account. I can barely remember what day it is in the real world, let alone my novels. It's also a major issue in Three Days where the entire story has to take place over 28 days (not three despite the title). I can't lose a single minute in the telling of the story. My original plan was to put all the scenes on note cards and make notes of when each took place so I could fit it into a time line. Then I had a better idea. I Googled "timeline creator" in the hopes t...

This week's topic: What author's career would you love to emulate? This was a really, really tough one for me. Every author had to go through a lot to get to where they are today. Even if their journey started out smooth, it didn't stay that way. I think it would be easier to choose an author who's career I wouldn't want to emulate than choose one I would want to. But if I had to choose one, I think it would be Lisa McMann. Or Anna Sewell. Or Suzanne Collins. Or S.E. Hinton. See, I told you this would be hard. So why those authors? Lisa McMann and Suzanne Collins because they're amazing YA writers. Anna Sewell because she saw a problem and wanted to fix it. Hence Black Beauty. S.E. Hinton because her work is still being read today. She was 16 when she wrote The Outsiders. It was something new to the time period. But to me, it was the start of Young Adult literature. I wouldn't really want to emulate any writer's career. I think I'd rat...

Instead of my usual teaser, I decided to interview Jeremy and Camryn, the main characters from my new WIP, Three Days. I've been planning on doing this for awhile now because I really need to sit down and get to know them better. Teasers might resume next week, I have to see where I am with things. Me: Good afternoon, guys. Glad to see you could join me. Why don't you introduce yourselves? Jeremy: (in his soft Irish accent) I'm Jeremy. Yes, I'm Irish, but I've lived in America for years. Camryn: I'm Camryn, but everyone calls me Cam. Me: We're glad to have you both. You're both spending four weeks of your summer at Sunrise Summer Camp. How do you feel about that? Cam: I never wanted to go to the camp in the first place. I much rather would've been at home hanging out with my best friend, Rachel. But after I met Jeremy, I didn't want to leave. Jeremy: I love spending my summers at Sunrise. I learn something new every year. Me: Why don't you bo...