YA Guy Defines... Success!

What does it mean to be a successful writer?

For many writers--and, perhaps, for the general public--"success" means six-figure advances, bestseller status, big-ticket awards (including those just announced for this year's very deserving Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz Award winners).

By that definition, most of us--including YA Guy--are abysmal failures. Given the very nature of publishing, the very nature of any business venture, most people don't achieve that kind of success. Most of us plug along somewhere in the middle, perhaps making some money, perhaps not, perhaps making a career of it, more likely not, perhaps winning an award or two, perhaps not, but never becoming household names.

I've been writing since I was about eight years old. (Actually, earlier than that, but it was around age eight that I tried to write my first novel--on my mom's manual typewriter. After a page of typos and frustration, I gave up.) Since that time, and with increasing frequency from the year I started college (1983) to the present, I've produced numerous creative nonfiction essays, short stories, academic books and articles, and partial or completed novels. Some of the above has been published, some of it hasn't. None of it has skyrocketed to fame. But all of it, even the things I didn't finish for one reason or another (because the idea wasn't as good as I first thought, because I ran out of steam, whatever), has been written.

So I decided to pursue a different definition of "success," one based purely on page totals. In my calculations, I ruled out academic books and articles, as well as short pieces (fiction and nonfiction), and focused on novels. The numbers are skewed downward by that decision, considerably so, but since novel-writing was and is my highest aspiration (as it is for many writers), it made sense to me to narrow my output in that way.

For purposes of this quantitative analysis, I estimated a completed novel (whether published or unpublished) at 300 manuscript pages (except for my earliest novels, written in the years 1981-1987, which tended to be shorter, so I averaged those at 250 pages per novel). An unfinished novel--either one that I've discarded permanently or that I'm still working on--I assigned an average of 100 pages. With those estimates, here's what I came up with:

In total from the years 1981 (when I completed my first novel at age 16) to the present, I've written roughly 4,750 manuscript pages of novel-length works. This breaks down as follows:

• On average, I've written 125 pages worth of novels per year over a period of 38 years, or about a page every three days.
• Narrowed down to the years of my greatest productivity, from 2010 to the present, I've written about 3,900 pages, for an average of 433 pages per year. That's over a page a day for almost 10 years.
• Limited to completed novels, it works out to approximately 3,300 pages or 366 pages per year.
• Confined further to completed and published novels, it drops to about 2,100 pages or 233 pages per year. However, that number is unacceptably low--because, of the seven novels I've started but not finished, only three of them have been completely abandoned, so the other four might be considered "on their way" to completion and, hopefully, publication. Ditto with the four novels from 2010-2019 that are completed but unpublished; two of them will never see the light of day, but one is currently being shopped by my agent and the other I plan to self-publish.

The point is, any way you slice it, I've been pretty productive as a writer of novels throughout my life, and especially in the past decade.

Dare I say I've been successful?

Maybe yes, maybe no. If the almost 5,000 pages of novel-material I've produced in my lifetime have been complete and utter garbage, then maybe I'm less successful than delusional. But on the other hand, even if those pages have been junk, I've written them, and writing counts for something in and of itself. I like to think my success as a writer has been like my career as a writer: somewhere in the middle. No, I'm not one of the great writers of my own or any time, but I'm not a hack either. I'm a writer like most writers, producing as much work as I can that's as good as I can make it.

I hope this exercise doesn't seem merely a pep talk to myself. My purpose in conducting it was to offer words of encouragement to the many writers who are in the same place that I am: people who've been writing for years without the obvious signs of "success" that some writers have achieved. I'm thinking it would be a good idea for those writers to take the time, now and again, to redefine "success." You can do it quantitatively as I've done, or you can find some other qualitative measure: satisfaction, personal growth, positive reviews, the stranger on the street who recognized you. All of those measures (and many more) are valid, and validating.

So be a successful writer. Your own kind of successful writer.

YA Guy Hosts... Kai Strand, author of I AM ME!

YA Guy is tickled to host one of my favorite authors, Kai Strand, whose latest novel, the YA contemporary I AM ME, is now available. Kai's here to talk about how she manages to be so prolific as an author, and then, as a special treat, she's provided an excerpt from her new book. Read on, and then find out about Kai and where to buy I AM ME!

Just Ger ‘Er Done!

Inspiration from Kai Strand

People often think I’m a fast writer, but I know plenty of authors who write faster than me. They’ll post their daily word counts of upwards of 5,000! I’m lucky if I hit 1,500. What I am – or have been – is consistent. Think: The Little Engine That Could or the tortoise from The Tortoise and The Hare.

My first book, a middle grade fantasy, The Weaver, was published at the very end of 2010 and I immediately began a quest to make it the world’s best-selling book. When I wasn’t even successful in scheduling my first book signing until March of 2011, I realized that marketing a book was both harder than I expected and very time consuming. I didn’t understand that I needed to concentrate more on writing the next book until well into 2011. Therefore, my second middle grade – a contemporary titled SAVE THE LEMMINGS – wasn’t published until 2012. But the second book in my Weaver Tale series was also published in 2012, The Wishing Well. I discovered that I liked publishing two books a year. I liked it very much, so that became my goal.

My first young adult book, King of Bad, was published in 2013 and I got a taste of good sales and that bestseller title I’d hoped for. In 2014, I decided to try my hand at self-publishing with a couple young adult novellas, all while publishing two different titles with publishers – making my publication count for the year FOUR books. I found it difficult to promote, though, and learned I wanted to keep it at two books a year. In 2015 I added a new pen name (L.A. Dragoni) so I could write romance for the grown-ups among us.

Needless to say, in order to publish all of these books, I had to keep writing. And if I average fewer than 1,500 words a day, that means I have to sit down and write on a regular basis. It isn’t always easy. I get sucked into social media or composing blog posts. There are plenty of times I have simply forced myself to open my WIP and just put some dang words down. And the crazy thing is…when you do that…seven years later, you have FIFTEEN books published.

It’s hard for me to comprehend that I’ve accomplished that, but with more books in the pipeline and several others underway…I know it won’t stop there.


I Am Me by Kai Strand
YA Contemporary

Despite—or perhaps because of—her fancy car, private school education, and life of privilege, Lola Renaldi has become a volunteer junkie. Feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, visiting the elderly—if it’s a good cause, she’s done it.

Lola’s favorite stint, building affordable houses, puts her directly in the path of Rodney. He refuses to discuss why he’s doing community service, but it’s clear he’s hiding something dark about his past. As their friendship grows, Lola begins to question the true reasons for her obsessive volunteerism and her view of those she has pledged to help.

She is only beginning to understand how lucky she truly is when her life falls apart. After losing friends, her boyfriend, even Rodney, Lola finally recognizes which parts of her life she wants to hang onto and what specifically she wants to go after. But with all she’s been through, will she be able to hang onto who she wants to be? Or will she lose all that defines her?


Excerpt: 

“Have you ever been completely surprised to learn the truth behind someone’s circumstances?”

Rod freezes, paintbrush held high overhead. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I have a friend who seems to have everything, you know? I’ve always known how far from the truth that is, but she’s got a rock solid façade. Or, she did until last weekend.”

Rod’s rigid posture relaxes, and he resumes spreading paint along the fascia. “Wasn’t last week homecoming?”

Tipping my head up, I stare at Rod in surprise. “Yeah, how did you know?”

I see one side of his mouth quirk. “You weren’t here last week. Hank said something about hair and makeup and fingernails.”

I continue to stare up at Rodney. His long frame at the top of a tall ladder makes my head spin in some reverse vertigo thing.

He stops working again and shifts sideways on the ladder. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Oh.” If I shake my head, will the myriads of thoughts spinning through it dissipate into dust, or at least fall into a nice orderly pile that I can sort through later? “I’m…it’s just…” Shrug.

Resting the brush in the paint tray, he somehow adopts a super casual pose on the ladder, perched precariously sideways, with his arms crossed over his chest. His tone is unexpected in its gentleness. “Is this 'friend' really you?”

“What? No!” I leap to my feet and his eyebrows arch, which for some reason makes me mad. “Rodney, why would you even think that?”

His head cocks sideways in consideration. “Someone who seems to have everything. Someone you know well enough that you’re the only one to know she doesn’t.”

I slam my hands on my hips, though really, I want to slug him. “It’s a friend of mine. I’ve known her forever.” A strange expression passes over his face and my anger wafts away on the chilly breeze. “Do you have any friends, Rodney?”

He gives a strange one-shoulder shrug that he probably hopes appears dismissive but is actually an admission of truth. The question of what he did to earn community service—tons of hours of community service, apparently—flashes through my mind and for the first time I wonder if befriending him like I have was really so smart.

A tinge of anger darkens his caramel colored eyes making me think of toffee.

“We’ve moved a lot.”

Oh. Not what I expected. Before I can reply, he continues.

“Poor people do that, you know.”

I open my mouth to voice my offense. His tone is so accusatory. But I see guilt and regret and embarrassment flash in his expression, so I slam my lips shut.


Here's where to buy I AM ME:

Amazon
B&N
iBooks

About the author: When her children were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died. The end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers, Kai entertains children of all ages and their adults. Learn more about Kai and her books on her website, www.kaistrand.com.

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YA Guy... Visits Schools!

As YA Guy has said before, probably the coolest thing about writing for young people is that I get to visit schools (and libraries). And probably the coolest thing about those visits is answering questions from students, who always challenge me and give me a new perspective on my own writing.

Recently, I visited Shaler Area Middle School (close to the city of Pittsburgh) and talked about FREEFALL, science fiction, and social justice to a group of young readers who'd just finished a unit on segregation. Here are some of the great questions they asked me, with my reconstruction of how I answered them:

Charlotte: Do you believe the society represented in FREEFALL is likely to occur in the future?

YA Guy: Actually, I think it's happening right now. Not only nationally but internationally, we're a people divided by race and class, and in some respects those divisions have worsened despite legislation that was meant to shrink them. That's one of the things with science fiction: though it's typically set in the future, it comments on events that are happening right now, sometimes tweaking those events just the tiniest bit for the purposes of fiction.

Jamin: When you're writing a story, how do you know if your idea is good or not?

YAG: The short answer is that you don't. Or at least, if you mean "good" as in "lots of people will want to read it," it's hard to gauge that while you're writing. So my best advice to writers is to write what YOU think is good--the story that you want to tell (or that you'd want to read). You can't really control whether others will think it's good, so you probably shouldn't waste time worrying about that.

Taylor: Have you ever based a character off your own personality?

YAG: In the largest sense, every character I create is based (at least in part) off of me, because I'm the person whose thoughts and feelings I know best. But sometimes there's an even closer connection. For example, Cam Newell, my narrator in FREEFALL, is a guy from a relatively privileged upbringing whose viewpoint is changed when he comes into contact with people from very different backgrounds. His process of development is quite similar to what I experienced when I went to college, where for the first time my eyes were opened to people, perspectives, and issues that I'd never been exposed to before.

Tiffany: Where did the title FREEFALL come from?

YAG: Sometimes, I don't have a title for a book until I'm about halfway through, when I've finally figured out what the book is about. Other times, a word or phrase just pops into my head, and I decide it would make a good title--but then I have to figure out how it's relevant to the story I'm telling. That was the case with FREEFALL. I liked the word, partly because I knew I was writing an outer space adventure, and I was playing with the ideas of gravity and being grounded (or being thrown out of one's accustomed ground). But I also started to think about how being in love is kind of like being in freefall; it's scary and exhilarating and unpredictable all at once. So since the book has romance elements too, FREEFALL seemed like a good title. Eventually, to make it even more relevant to the story, I named one of the starships the Freefall.

Shahaan: Do you write books to inform or to entertain?

YAG: Many authors will say that the only purpose of writing is entertainment, and I do agree that entertainment is primary. But with a book, we're not talking about random light shows or clown acts, which might be purely entertaining; we're talking about language, which means that there's also going to be information conveyed from author to reader. I don't believe in hitting the reader over the head with a "message," but at the same time, I see nothing wrong with the author having information s/he wants to convey to the reader, so long as s/he leaves it up to the reader to receive and process that information.

Chris: When you use first-person point of view, what's the best way to describe your narrator?

YAG: Well, you probably want to avoid the overused device of having your narrator look in a mirror (or other reflective surface) and describe him/herself. You might ask whether you really need a physical description of the narrator, or you might drop little nuggets of physical description here and there. But if you want a single, sustained description, you should try to find an original way of doing it, such as I tried to do in FREEFALL, where Cam reads his own physical data on the screen of the life pod where he's been in suspended animation for 1000 years.

Logan: Where do you get the names for your characters?

YAG: Lots of places. I'll meet someone with a name I like, or I'll hear something on the news, or I'll create a name from scratch. In the manuscript I'm currently working on, everyone has names from Greek myths, so it was fun researching those names. For FREEFALL, I named the three male leads after my son's favorite NFL players.

Sammy: What was your inspiration for the Upperworld?

YAG: I honestly looked around at the real world and thought about wealth disparity, segregation, and oppression in the here and now, and then said to myself, "What if current trends get worse and worse in the next hundred years?" I'm no prophet, but there are very troubling signs that the world's wealth is becoming more and more concentrated in a smaller and smaller percentage of the global population, and if that keeps happening, we might literally have an Upperworld and a Lowerworld in the next century: an elite 1% with all the wealth and a remaining 99% with none.

Candace: How do you stretch a short story into a novel?

YAG: First, I'd point out that if you're writing short stories right now, there's no need to stretch them into anything other than what they are. Short stories are the perfect length for young writers: you can complete them in a week or a month, and thus feel a great sense of accomplishment, whereas for most teens (including myself forty years ago), tackling a novel is an exercise in frustration--it's just too much, and the likelihood that you won't finish it tends to produce feelings of failure. That being said, I've found that the key difference between a novel and a short story is that in a short story, the narrator or main character has ONE challenge s/he has to face and resolve, whereas in a novel, there will be multiple such challenges, each one yielding to a greater one. But I do want to repeat that for young writers, I think short stories are the best way to go: they give you a chance to hone your skills, and possibly even to gain some publishing credits.

Alexandra: Do you plan your novels out first, or figure things out as you go along?

YAG: I'm what people call a "pantser"--that is, I don't plan much, and so I kind of fly along by the seat of my pants. I'll have a basic idea for a novel--such as in FREEFALL, where the idea was to write an adventure/romance having to do with outer space colonization--but I'll let the rest unfold as I write. The reason I like to do it this way is that I feel as if I make my best discoveries as a writer "in the moment," where one idea will lead to another that I hadn't foreseen. But other writers like to plan out more than I do, and I think it's important for each writer to find the method that works best for her or him.

Maddox: How did the plot of FREEFALL develop?

YAG: This is a perfect example of the process I just described, where one idea leads to a wholly unexpected one. I'd created my main characters, Cam and Sofie, but I felt that something was missing--they were too similar to each other, and thus there wasn't enough tension and conflict in their relationship. But then the idea of Upperworld and Lowerworld popped into my head, which led me to the obvious conclusion that one of my teens would be an Upperworlder and the other a Lowerworlder. Once that idea was in place, the story took off: if they were from different parts of the planet, they'd have to meet somehow, and there would be some kind of conflict when they did, and each of them would have to learn from the other, and so on and so on. I didn't plan any of that when I started writing, but all of it unfolded in a series of discoveries during the writing process.

Emma: What's your favorite part of FREEFALL?

YAG: I think my favorite part is a scene where Cam and one of Sofie's Lowerworld friends are working together to rescue her from the book's villain, and they have a conversation where Cam realizes that, though they have the same objective, they have drastically different motivations. That was an important scene for the story, not only because it leads Cam to question his own motivations, but because it raises the question of whether it's possible to understand the life experience of someone whose circumstances are very different from one's own. I personally think it's possible to respect someone's position even if one doesn't fully understand it, and I hope that's what Cam learns too.

Dante: Have you had any hardships while writing?

YAG: Many. For example, with FREEFALL, my first draft was so horrible I almost gave up on it, but fortunately, I had the experience to know that if I set it aside for a while, I'd come back to it with fresh eyes and be able to make an objective assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. Writing is hard work--though nowhere near as hard as many of the jobs that people perform--and you have to be strongly motivated to persevere in it.

YA Guy is... Done with Dystopian!

Industry insiders have been saying for years that dystopian is dead. From what YA Guy can tell, that's not really true.

But it should be.

It took me a while, but I've finally gotten tired of dystopian YA. There's just too darn much of it. And too darn much of it is too darn much alike.

It goes like this. There's a City. (And yes, everything in dystopian YA is Capitalized to make it seem more Portentous than it really Is.) This City is surrounded by a Wall. People are either trying to get Out of it (because it's oppressive) or get Into it (because it's oppressive, but it has Really Good Cake). A Teenager who's a Rebel in some fashion--s/he Hunts, or Reads, or is Not Like Other People--goes Over or Under or Through the Wall and Discovers the Horrific Truth about Reality. Then s/he does two things: s/he engages in a Love Triangle, and s/he starts a Revolution. Both of which will probably take Three Books to be resolved so the Publisher can make Lots of Money.

You know you've read this story before. It's The Hunger Games (or, if you want to go farther back, The Giver, which has the advantage of being a stand-alone). It's not a bad story at all: it's got action, romance, excitement, death, redemption. It's a story that's found its way, in whole or in part, into many other books that aren't strictly dystopian. It's simultaneously simple and powerful, and that's why it's so appealing. If you're a writer in any speculative genre, I bet you've used elements of it. I know I have.

But oh, gosh, in its pure form, I think it's time to call it quits.

Dystopian YA--unless I'm reading the wrong dystopian YA--has become too formulaic to carry on. It's become nothing but formula, with the only changeable parts being the characters' and the City's names. For me, at least, it doesn't interest anymore, and that's because, while I'm reading it, I can't help reading through it to the formula beneath. Formulas--or, if you want to be literary about it, tropes--aren't a bad thing in themselves. They're one of the major building blocks of literature, not to mention one of the major ways readers identify with particular stories. But when they ossify, when they become greater than the story they're supposed to serve, they're done.

There are many ways to overcome stale formulas, and as literature for adults demonstrates, these don't necessarily involve eliminating dystopian altogether. One could, for example, create dystopian parodies, works that use the formulas in order to poke fun at them. One could reinvent dystopian storylines by generating unique hybrids: dystopian comedy, or dystopian picaresque, or dystopian metafiction, or dystopian backstage drama. One could play against the dystopian formulas in unexpected ways, such that the City, for example, turns out to be genuinely, and not just apparently, utopian. There are plenty of approaches to reinvigorating dead or dying tropes. If you know of any YA books that do any of the above (or that revitalize dystopian in some other way), please let me know.

But if you want me to read the latest straight-up YA dystopian, I think I'll pass. I've climbed that Wall one too many times.

YA Guy... Says It with a Smile!

YA literature is full of cliches, and YA Guy's seen 'em all. (Wait, was that a cliche?)

There are plot cliches (teen resistance leader, armed only with a medieval weapon, defeats the technologically-advanced Empire), character cliches (kick-butt heroine! brooding hero! implausibly motivated villain!), symbol cliches (parental hand-me-down with astonishing magical powers). There are also sentence- or word-level cliches, expressions so overused it's hard to find a YA novel without them. I pointed out one such cliche in a previous post ("I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding"), and I'd like to address another today.

This one goes something like: "His smile didn't reach his eyes," or "She smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes." Lots of smiles out there in YA Land that don't make it to the smiler's optic apparatus.

You know you've seen this before. Maybe you've even written it. (I have.) But I think it's time to stop.

I get what the writer's saying. I really do. It sounds silly--as if it were possible for the corners of one's lips to penetrate the cheeks and make physical contact with the eyes--but I do understand that's not what's being implied. The implication is that this is an insincere smile, or a smile without real joy, a perfunctory smile that conveys just the opposite. It's the kind of smile you give your boy/girlfriend when you're ready to break up with him/her, or the kind you throw at your companion right before you jump off a cliff, armed only with a medieval weapon, into a nest of flesh-eating guggernauts. Since it doesn't reach the eyes, and since the eyes (according to another cliche) are the windows to the soul, it's not a very smiley smile. I do get that.

But aren't there other, equally good, or even better ways to say this? Couldn't one describe the smile in more concrete terms? Or couldn't one dispense with the smile and describe some other, more interesting character action that conveys the same thing? Or, heck, if you've done a good job setting the scene and characterizing the characters, do we really need to be told that the character is less than delighted to be taking a plunge into that nest of guggernauts? Shouldn't we be able to figure this out ourselves?

YA Guy thinks so, anyway.

So let's save the smiles, genuine or not, for when they're really needed. Chances are you'll find they're not needed much at all. Surely, at moments of high tension, people can be doing something more captivating than smile at each other, whether they really mean it or not.

I'll make an exception, of course, for when someone's smile actually does reach their eyes. You never know with those guggernauts. They've got really big mouths.

YA Guy... Meets the Authors!

It's easy to get so wrapped up in the day-to-day anxieties of the writing life that one loses sight of the big picture.

At least, that's what YA Guy has learned.

As a writer, you're always fretting about something. The manuscript you're working on. The manuscript you should be working on. The revisions due back to your editor. The upcoming release of your book. The marketing for that release. The sales figures for your previous book. The next project you have to write, and the sales figures for that one.

What can be forgotten in all of this is that you've realized a dream many aspire to but relatively few achieve.

I was reminded of this fact most recently when I received the following flyer via email:

Look at that title: "Meet the Authors." And I'm one of them. Whatever might be going on in my mind or my life, in the eyes of the rest of the world, I'm an author.

And that's pretty cool. It's something I've wanted to be for most of my life. It wasn't in any way guaranteed. It took hard work, lots of support, and more than a little luck. But it's here now, and whatever happens from this moment forward, it's here to stay.

I'm not saying I won't fret anymore, that I won't from time to time lose sight of the big picture, that I've become some kind of Zen writer. I'm sure I'll need reminders like this one every so often.

I'm just saying to other authors: you should be on the lookout for reminders like this. And when you find them, you should revel in them.

YA Guy can't wait to meet you.

YA Guy... Takes a Break!

YA Guy's been writing novels for over forty years.

Well, that's not entirely true. I started writing novels when I was a bit under ten, and I'm a bit over fifty now, but I didn't complete a novel until I was sixteen, and I took a major break from novel-writing between graduate school (when I was in my early twenties) and my mid-forties. Plus, you know, I take the occasional break to eat, sleep, spend time with my kids, and so forth.

But my point is, I've been writing for a long time. And particularly in the past five years, from the completion of the first draft of Survival Colony 9 in 2011 to the publication of Scavenger of Souls just last week, it sometimes feels as if I've been writing nonstop. No sooner have I completed one project than I've moved on to another. That's the writing life: you're either working on one thing or promoting something else (usually both at the same time). It's relatively easy work physically, but it can be exhausting mentally and emotionally.

So I've decided to take a little break. Roughly four months, to be precise. From now until the beginning of 2017, I won't be writing anything new.

The timing is actually quite good. My daughter's a high school senior, so we'll be driving her around to visit colleges and so forth this semester. I'm teaching five classes (one more than usual), so there'll be a bit of a time crunch there. Plus I'm traveling some to promote Scavenger of Souls, so that's another time commitment. I've heard back from my editor about my forthcoming YA science fiction novel, Freefall, and she wants only minor changes, not any major rewriting. And I'm scheduled to have a sabbatical this coming spring, so for a solid four months I'll be able to devote the full workday to my current work in progress, the YA historical horror novel I'm calling Polar.

When I resumed writing novels five years ago, I had no idea how much work it would be. How could I? Like many novice authors, I had the illusion that I'd write a book, it would become an instant bestseller, and I'd be able to sit back and collect royalty checks while leisurely producing my next classic.

Well, live and learn.

When I told my agent, with some trepidation, that I'd be taking a little break from writing, she had this to say:

I support this 100% and am here whenever you are ready. Writing ebbs and flows and I totally respect that you need time to revitalize. Do what you want to do – take your time – write when the mood strikes and know I am always here!

So now you know, for one, why she's my agent. But you also know why I needed this break. Writing does ebb and flow; authors do need time to revitalize. Much as I respect those writers who seem able to work pretty much nonstop, I'm not one of them. Each writer needs to recognize his/her own strengths and needs and limitations; otherwise, you run the risk of burning out for good.

I'll still be blogging from time to time--when the mood strikes--and you'll probably see me around on Twitter or Facebook or live and in person. I hope you'll read Scavenger of Souls, and I hope you're looking forward to Freefall. Down the road, I'm sure you can expect more from me, starting with Polar and moving on from there.

But for now, YA Guy's taking a break.

YA Guy... Feels Like a Failure!

A friend of mine feels like a failure.

She’s young, incredibly bright and personable, hugely talented. She’s in a graduate program, studying a subject she loves, and she’s surrounded by caring friends and family.

But she hasn’t been published yet.

I don’t know the specific details. She’s not ready to talk about them at the moment. I know she had an agent and was working on revising her manuscript, but I don’t know if the agent backed out, or the manuscript didn’t sell, or something else. All I know is, right now, she feels like a failure.

When she told me that, my first impulse was to try to talk her out of it. But as a parent, I’ve learned that you shouldn’t try to talk people out of their feelings. That’s a parental impulse, guided by the desire to protect one’s children from bad things in life (or to not have to deal with them oneself). When children are sad, or angry, or feel like failures, you should affirm that feeling and let them talk about it if they want to, give them a hug if they’ll let you. We can’t go around trying to pretend bad feelings don’t exist or aren’t valid or must be avoided.

So let’s talk. (I’m not able to give you a hug right now, sorry.) Let’s talk about feeling like a failure as a writer.

I felt that way for, oh, the first forty-eight years of my life (or at least the part of it I remember). That’s because I didn’t publish my first novel until I was forty-nine.

I had an offer from an agent when I was in my twenties, but she turned out to be a shyster. I had a few short stories published, mostly in online magazines, but all of my novel-length manuscripts went nowhere. I parted ways with an agent who told me she loved my manuscript, then turned around and told me it sucked. But it wasn’t until age forty-nine that I was published.

And you know what? Despite that, I still feel like a failure at times.

I feel like a failure when I get bad reviews like this recent one on Amazon: “Boring. No excitement. Waste of time. Hated it.” I feel like a failure when my books don’t make the bestseller list and some of my friends’ books do. I feel like a failure when my agent rejects a new manuscript of mine. I feel like a failure when I hold a signing and no one shows up.

All of these things, and far worse, happen to authors. And when they do happen, the authors in question feel like failures.

Do they feel as much like failures as people who haven’t been published yet? Maybe not. But what are we going to do, start ranking feelings?

I feel terrible for my friend, and for everyone who aspires to authorship but hasn’t gotten there yet. No one deserves to feel like a failure. Everyone, however, does feel that way sometimes.

If you feel that way most or all of the time, or about your whole self instead of just your writer-self, then you need to seek psychiatric help. I’m not being facetious. You might be clinically depressed, and if so, you’re at risk for self-damage.

But if you feel that way from time to time, and mostly about writing instead of about everything, you’re perfectly normal. Go ahead and feel that way. If it helps to talk to others about your feelings, do so. I guarantee they’ve shared them at one time or another. But if you’re not ready to talk, then simply allow yourself to feel the feeling, as much as it hurts to do so.

And if you need someone to give you a hug, don’t hesitate to ask.

YA Guy... Holds His Breath!

From the title of this post, you might think I'm waiting to hear back from my editor or something. Actually, I am, but that's not what the post is about.

As you may recall, YA Guy decided a few months ago to post writing advice from time to time. As you may also recall, the plan was to post only when I saw some writing issue in a YA book that I felt needed to be discussed.

Well, the time has come again! Having read lots of YA books this year, I've discovered that it's almost universal in YA to have a sentence that goes something like this:

"I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding."

There are variations on this ("I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding," etc.), but the idea's always the same: the character is so focused on whatever makes her/him nervous, s/he doesn't even realize s/he's manifesting one of the physical signs of nervousness.

I've used this line myself. When I did use it, I thought it was amazingly original. Now that I've seen it in roughly six thousand YA books, I realize it wasn't.

Why is this line so over-used? Probably because it sounds cool. "Wow! The character's so nervous s/he doesn't realize s/he's nervous!" But when you actually look at it closely, it's not only unoriginal, it's pretty silly.

When you're nervous, you know you're nervous. In fact, if you didn't know you were nervous, you wouldn't be nervous, inasmuch as nervousness depends on your being aware of it. Ditto with the breath-holding: though I can imagine someone not being aware that s/he was engaging in some sort of random, repetitive motion that manifests nervousness (tapping fingers, etc.), it's a little hard to believe you wouldn't be aware of the fact that you're not, well, breathing.

I also suspect that this over-used and basically nonsensical assertion shows up so much simply because it's used so much; we YA writers have read it so many times we've internalized it, and then it comes pouring out when we want to describe a character's nervousness. And then other YA writers read it in our books, and the cycle continues.

So YA Guy's here to break the cycle. If you want to show that someone's nervous, show that they're nervous. Have them tap their fingers, or sweat, or feel their heartbeat racing, or whatever. You can even have them let out a breath, if you like, but don't pretend they didn't know they were holding it. Better yet, find a way to suggest nervousness that's unique to that particular character. Maybe she tells a bad joke. Or maybe he picks his cuticles. Or whatever. The point is, you'll reveal much more about the character if you don't fall back on stale, stock expressions.

So you can let out your breath now and get back to writing. I bet you even knew you were holding it this whole time.

YA Guy Hosts... Eric Price!

YA Guy's happy to welcome back an old friend (well, he's not that old!) and fellow writer, Eric Price. Having published the first two books in a fantasy trilogy, UNVEILING THE WIZARDS' SHROUD and THE SQUIRE AND THE SLAVE MASTER, Eric's here to discuss a topic near and dear to my heart: the struggles of writing a series. I know I had some of the same issues Eric discusses when I was working on SCAVENGER OF SOULS, so I'm happy to hear I'm not alone!

WELL, I WON’T DO THAT AGAIN

By Eric Price

When I set out to write my first novel, all I had written were some short stories, a couple of newspaper articles, a few lesson plans, and some failed attempts at poetry. I wanted to try my hand at something longer, so I wrote a stand-alone novel with the potential for developing it into a series. After several revisions, and a few rejection letters, I did a major rewrite and introduced a secondary character I intended to write as a main character in a future book.

MuseItUp Publishing gave me a contract for the first one, which eventually became Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud. My intent was to take some time off from the world of Wittatun and develop some of the other story ideas first, but my new character, Yara, kept calling to me, and I had no choice but to proceed with her book. After taking much longer than anticipated, it finally became The Squire and the Slave Master, also with MuseItUp Publishing. Now, as I struggle with the third and (I’m almost positive) final volume of The Saga of the Wizards, A Wizard Reborn, I think I know what I’ve done wrong, and hopefully I’ve learned my lesson.

Anyone who hasn’t written a book would probably think that after writing a first draft, revising it countless times, rewriting it, working through it three times with the content editor, another two times with the line editor, and reading over it one last time for formatting before it finally gets published, the author would have every word of the book memorized. I can’t say I know how it works for other authors, but for me . . . no, there are so many details about my own book I don’t know. I constantly had to refer to Unveiling while writing Squire, and now I find myself checking back with both of them while I write A Wizard Reborn. What did we last see this character doing? How did this character die? What is this character’s brother’s name?

Even if I had one of those photographic memories, a second issue that frequents my pages is some minor detail in the earlier book(s) that really throws the proverbial monkey wrench in my current work in progress. I’m constantly saying, “Why’d I do this?” or “Why didn’t I do that?” If this were a major movie franchise, I suppose I could ignore what happened in the previous volumes and move on with the story I want to write. (*Ahem* Yes, X-Men, you’re one of the franchises I’m talking about.) But since they’re books, I feel the need to make them as consistent as possible.

In both these instances, a little planning could have saved me a lot of headaches and time.

And speaking of time, this brings me to my final issue. I never seem to have enough time. In my ideal world, I would have had each book of the series release about a year apart. Two years separated books one and two. Time will tell how long it takes book three to see the light of e-readers.

I have nothing against series or series writing. I may do it again someday, but first I want to take a break and try writing some stand-alone titles. What I won’t do is write a series one book at a time. If I do take the plunge, I’m writing the bare minimum of a first draft for each book of the series before the first one starts finding its way into publishers' inboxes. But that’s me. How many series writers are out there? How do you like to organize your work and meet your writing goals?

Find THE SQUIRE AND THE SLAVE MASTER in e-book on:

MuseItUp
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iTunes

Find UNVEILING THE WIZARDS' SHROUD (recipient of a Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval and 2014 CLC Award for Best First Novel) in paperback or e-book on:

MuseItUp
Left Bank Books
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Kobo
Smashwords
iTunes
OmniLit

Visit Eric on:

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YA Guy... Begins at the Beginning!

As a writer, YA Guy pays careful attention to what I read. I'm also a writing teacher, so that makes me particularly alert to the strengths--and, sometimes, the weaknesses--in published works.

With that in mind, I've decided to launch an occasional series of posts in which I offer writing advice. The occasion will usually be when I notice a common stylistic feature in YA literature that I have a problem with. (Or, who knows, I might also call attention to a particularly effective feature I've encountered.) For today, I'm going to begin at the beginning: by focusing on the word "begin."

The verb "begin," along with its various forms ("began," "beginning," etc.), is totally overused in YA. (As is its cousin "start.") While I'm not averse to the word "begin" in and of itself, I typically find it problematic when it's used in conjunction with another verb, thereby transforming the second verb into an infinitive or a participle. For example:

"He began to feel woozy."

"She begins searching for clues."

I'm sure you've noticed this tendency in YA, where virtually every action (or at least far too many of them) is characterized as having "begun" or "started." So we'll have a paragraph like this:

The monsters begin to climb the cliff toward me. Their maws gape wickedly. I begin to back away, my pulse starting to race. When their enormous, fur-covered bodies clear the top of the cliff, I begin to panic. I turn and, not looking behind me to see how close they are, start running through the forest.

I'm exaggerating to make a point, of course, but you know you've seen this kind of stuff. And it's not good.

Actions always have a beginning (and an end). For that reason, it's not particularly pertinent to call attention to this. In fact, doing so defuses the action, making it secondary to the beginning. Wouldn't it be better to write the above paragraph as follows?

The monsters climb the cliff toward me. Their maws gape wickedly. I back away, my pulse racing. When their enormous, fur-covered bodies clear the top of the cliff, I panic. I turn and, not looking behind me to see how close they are, run through the forest.

Still not great prose, perhaps, but much better.

I said above that I don't have a problem with the word "begin" by itself--nor do I think it can NEVER be used in conjunction with another verb. But I believe YA writers often use it habitually when a better choice could have been made. Instead of "I began Moby-Dick three months ago," why not say, "I spent three months on Moby-Dick"? (Or "I wasted three months on," or "I devoted three months to," etc.) These are all much stronger verbs than the vague and tepid "began."

So let's begin to end beginning with "begin," shall we?

And let's start starting to start our sentences with more interesting, dynamic, in-the-moment verbs.

YA Guy Says... Don't be a Taker!

In all walks of life, there are givers, and there are takers.

You know what I mean. There are people who are generous with their time and talents, and there are people who take advantage of that generosity.

In YA Guy's experience, it's no different with authors. There are some amazingly generous authors out there, people who are all too happy to help out their fellow authors in any way they reasonably can. And then there are those authors who take, take, take and give very little, if anything, in return.

So you have authors who happily read manuscripts, write blurbs, tweet about their fellows' books, attend launches, post reviews, and do everything they can--once again, within reason--for other members of their profession. And then you have authors who do . . . none of the above.

Note here that I'm talking about reasonable acts. We're all busy--some of us more so than others. We can't possibly write every blurb, read and review every book, tweet about every event we'd like to. For those authors who are on the bestseller lists, requests for their time, expertise, and brand far exceed what they can reasonably provide. For those of us who work full-time jobs while simultaneously maintaining a writing career, the requests are likely to be fewer but the time crunch every bit as great.

So no, I'm not saying that if you don't leap to fulfill every request, there's something wrong with you.

But I am saying there's something wrong with the author who NEVER reviews a peer's book, NEVER offers or agrees to read a manuscript-in-progress, NEVER celebrates in word or deed the accomplishments of others. Those are the authors who tweet incessantly and exclusively about their own books, who DM you to death about the books of theirs you should buy but never offer to provide anything for you, who would sooner fling themselves into a vat of crocodiles than read or review a fellow human being's words. There's something very wrong with those authors, and we as a community shouldn't tolerate them.

So YA Guy's here to say to you: don't be a taker. Be a giver. And be a giver for the right reasons--because it's the nice thing to do--and not for the wrong reasons--because you expect something in return. Chances are, if you're a sincere giver, you'll get the return anyway, so no worries there.

And when you meet a taker, pay them no heed. Spurn them. Have nothing to do with them. You might think, if you give enough, they'll come around. But they won't. It's not in their nature.

Seek out givers like yourself instead. They're a lot nicer to be around, and you'll feel a lot better about yourself when you share your giving nature with them.

YA Guy Asks... To Free or Not to Free?

The question of whether authors should charge for their appearances is a big one. Many authors maintain that it's degrading to the profession of authorship to expect authors, almost alone among working professionals, to offer their services for free. Yes, lawyers do pro bono work and such, but no one expects them to work for free always and everywhere. Some folks seem to expect authors to do just that.

On the flip side, others in the field (authors, agents, publishers, publicists, etc.) will argue that exposure for an author, especially one at an early point in her/his career and/or not published by a major house, is so valuable that no opportunity should be passed up, even if it's a freebie. (In fact, this might be why some venues are shocked when authors ask to be paid; they're probably assuming that the exposure is worth it in itself.) According to this logic, alienating a prospective client or losing potential appearances by demanding payment is a big no-no.

YA Guy's been doing this author thing for over a year now, and I've spoken at many venues. Some have paid me, some haven't. For what it's worth, I offer the following thoughts about when it's appropriate to expect payment and when it's okay to work for free. These are based on my own experiences and instincts, mind you, so you shouldn't feel as if these suggestions are written in stone.

Bookstores. Unless you're a mondo gigantico bestseller--and even if you are--you're probably not going to get paid for bookstore appearances, and that's fine. This is one of those instances where the exposure, sales, and interaction with paying customers are sufficient unto themselves. Plus, you can often make contacts at such events that lead to other, paid gigs.

Schools. Personally, I believe schools should pay authors for their time. (Not only for physical visits but for Skype sessions.) The reality, however, is that not all of them do (or at least, not all of them will offer to pay up front, and some will get miffed if the author asks to be compensated). In some cases, this is a simple budgetary matter; some schools are financially strapped, and they genuinely can't afford to pay. In other cases, there might be less savory explanations. But to me, having some quality face time with my target audience--by which I mean not only students but teachers and librarians--makes a freebie worth it. So I always ask to get paid--or, failing that, to have the school order a certain quantity of my books--but I don't turn down a school gig just because they can't pay.

Libraries. In my experience, they seldom pay, or if they do, it's a mere pittance. I believe this is because libraries are chronically underfunded, not because they're clueless; librarians, of all people, recognize the value of a writer's time and labor. But as with schools, the opportunity to chat with young people and schmooze with librarians makes a free visit worth it to me, not only in terms of possible sales but because it's what I like to do. So I ask for money, but I don't turn down an unpaid gig.

Festivals. Unless you're the headliner, forget it. The point of being there is to sell books; no one's going to pay you on top of that. (In fact, the likelihood is that you're going to have to pay to have a table there.) Ditto with conferences (unless, again, you're the headliner). Don't bother asking; you'll look like a rookie and a doofus (not to mention a megalomaniac) if you do.

Colleges. These folks should pay you. They have money, and if they're the kind of place that wants authors on campus, they're the kind of place that values authorship enough not to be shocked if you ask for money. I recently sat on a thesis defense committee at a local MFA program, and they paid me, as is entirely proper. The only exception you might make here is if a student group asks you to speak on campus; then you might need to explore their budgetary situation.

Professional organizations. I recently gave a talk for the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). I didn't ask, or expect, to get paid (though they did give me a B&N gift card). To me, this kind of appearance falls under the category of professional courtesy or obligation, and I wouldn't insist on payment.

Media. Radio, TV, podcast, etc. Obviously, if you're appearing on some major TV talk show, they're going to pay you. Otherwise, not. That's journalism, and it would be pointless to ask the local radio station to pay you for being interviewed on their morning show.

Miscellaneous appearances. Such as, you've been asked to give a keynote address somewhere or other, or to be part of a lecture series, or anything of that nature. There's no doubt in my mind about this one. Payola!

So those are my thoughts. As with just about everything in writing, each author has to find what they're personally comfortable with. (Nor are you locked into a particular course forever; just because you didn't charge for school visits this year doesn't mean you can't change your mind next year.) Determine how much your time is worth to you, how much you enjoy or gain from appearances, and develop your own guidelines accordingly. The only thing I'd say as an absolute is that you should never, EVER feel guilty about asking for money. This is your job, or one of your jobs. You're a professional with a highly desirable and relatively rare skill set. You write for love, sure, but you write for money too. There's never any need to apologize or feel bad for that.

YA Guy Talks about... Sequels!

YA Guy hasn't posted in a while, and there's a simple reason for that: I'm working on revisions to my sequel. (The title of which is no longer Skaldi City, but I'm not ready yet to tell you what the new title is.) Chances are I won't be posting much throughout the month of May.

Sequels are weird. Everyone says they're harder to write than the first book, and everyone is right.

I can think of lots of great sequels, books (and movies) that matched or surpassed their originals: The Lord of the Rings, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Tombs of Atuan, The Illearth War. I can also think of plenty of sequels that disappointed me for one reason or another.

But until you write one, you don't really realize what you're getting into. You've got to extend the story that started in the first book, keeping things consistent yet taking the narrator and other characters into entirely new places. You've got to expand and enrich the world, revealing information that wasn't evident in the first book (but that appears to unfold naturally from what was provided in that book). You've got to find the right balance between filling in what came before (for new readers) and assuming a certain familiarity (for returning readers). You've got to up the stakes, complicate the situations, heighten the tension, and pretty much blow every reader's mind, new or returning.

Oh, yeah, and you've got to tell a good story while you're at it.

Maybe this is why my sequel has gone through three distinct phases. In the first phase, it was a mess. I didn't know what the heck I was doing, and I went in a direction that simply wasn't workable. I basically had to jettison 80% of that manuscript and try again almost from scratch.

In the second phase, things were moving in the right direction, but there were significant issues with plot and character that needed to be resolved, not to mention significant dead spots in the manuscript that needed to be removed. Maybe 40% of that manuscript ended up on the cutting room floor.

And now we're on to phase three, which contains the 20% from phase one and the 60% from phase two. But it's not as if I could just stick those two chunks together and add another 20% to produce the 100% I need to have a complete manuscript. No, I'm having to rethink the whole thing yet again--not only to reconcile the disparate parts but to transcend them, to produce something better than either of the previous two attempts.

Survival Colony 9 went through multiple revisions too. But though some of those revisions were substantial--chapters moved around, character relationships altered, and so forth--none was as substantial as each of the major revisions I've undertaken with book two.

I'm happy with where the manuscript is going right now (though I still have lots more to do). I not only hope but believe it'll be at least as strong a book as its predecessor.

But after I'm done, I'm going to stick with stand-alones for a while. YA Guy needs a break.

YA Guy Talks about... Talent!

Recently, YA Guy noticed an essay that was making quite a stir on Twitter: a piece by a former MFA teacher, Ryan Boudinot, that advanced a number of claims including the following:

1. Writers are born with talent.
2. If you didn't decide to take writing seriously by the time you were a teenager, you're probably not going to make it.
3. If you complain about not having time to write, please do us both a favor and drop out.

Lots of Twitter folks had issues with Boudinot's essay--not surprisingly, since he obviously wrote it to tick people off. And I'll grant, the tone of the essay, as well as some of its specifics, were annoying.

But I have to be honest: as both a teacher and a writer, I find a core of truth in the above three statements (however snidely phrased). Taken together, they define a basic formula:

TALENT + EFFORT + PERSISTENCE = SUCCESS

Is there any sane person who disagrees with that? Yes, it's true that lots of other factors play a role in success: luck, timing, nepotism, skin color and other visible or invisible markers of privilege, and thus that some people without much talent, effort, or persistence do very well in life (while others with lots of talent, effort, and persistence don't). It's also true that "talent" and "success" are very broad terms, capable of being expressed in a great variety of ways.

But on the whole, isn't it the case that those who hone their innate gifts through a lengthy period of time are putting themselves in the best possible position to achieve success as they themselves define it?

Some of those who responded to Boudinot's essay objected to his claim that talent counts in writing. Why should this claim be controversial? Talent counts in everything else. I'm a pretty good baseball player (even at the age of fifty). But I was never good enough for the majors. I did well in high school math. But I never had the aptitude to be a mathematician or astrophysicist. I can follow a recipe on a box. But I don't possess the keenly refined senses necessary to be a great chef.

Personally, I'm more insulted by the proposition that anyone, anywhere, can learn to be a writer. To me, this demeans the craft and profession of writing; it suggests that writing is no more than a bagful of tricks that can be distributed to anyone with the time or money to collect them.

MFA programs have proliferated in the past couple decades--due not to some mysterious increase in the number of talented writers nor to breakthroughs in the teaching of writing but to colleges and universities recognizing a growth market and capitalizing on it. Personally, were I teaching in such a program, I would choose to be honest with a student who exhibited significant deficits in the areas of talent, effort, and/or persistence. I wouldn't tell that student to drop out, but I'd investigate what that student wanted from the program. If the student wanted to develop his/her skills, have fun, interact with others, possibly publish a bit, I'd say okay, you're in the right place. But if that student labored under the illusion that he/she was going to become a literary sensation, I'd consider it unethical (the student is, after all, paying a lot of money for this) not to tell him/her that such an outcome was unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely.

I just finished reading Anthony Doerr's bestselling ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. I had some issues with it (see my previous post on this), but is there anyone who doubts that Doerr is a phenomenal talent, a writer with remarkable gifts? I'm currently reading Ursula K. Le Guin's A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA with my son. Does anyone doubt Le Guin's astonishing, jaw-dropping talent? Does anyone doubt that both of these writers honed their innate gifts through years of hard work? And does anyone believe that everybody could be just as good as these two writers (and many others I might name) if everybody had a teacher willing to work with them for however long it took?

Well, I don't believe this, anyway. Doerr and Le Guin (and many others) are just flat-out more talented than I am or ever will be, and I'm no more ashamed to admit that than I am to admit that Pittsburgh Pirates center-fielder Andrew McCutchen generates considerably faster bat speed than I can or ever could.

We can criticize Boudinot for his condescending tone, insensitive remarks, and sexist assumptions (though really, we'd probably have been better off not rising to his bait). But I don't think we should criticize him for stating the uncomfortable truth that writing is not only an occupation but a discipline and a gift.

YA Guy Has... 5 Requests for Non-Writers!

Like most people who write books, the majority of YA Guy's friends and family aren't writers. This is a very cool thing in at least two ways: first, because the non-writers in my life are genuinely thrilled (or even amazed) that I've published books; and second, because they like to read what I've written. (Maybe third, because they keep me sane and remind me there's more to life than writing.) I pity the writer who's surrounded solely by other writers; that would be hell.

But I have to confess, there are some things I wish my non-writer friends and family understood about writing. I'm sure they wish people understood their professions better too; I'm sure doctors are tired of dispensing free medical advice, plumbers of frantic late-night calls, and so forth. It's hard to understand another's profession, especially when it seems so glamorous and unusual as being an AUTHOR.

That being said, here are five things that I'd like to ask my non-writer friends (but that I'm basically too chicken to say to their faces). If you're a writer, maybe you'll sympathize. If you're not, I hope at least you'll understand.

1. Please stop asking me how my book is doing. This is the number-one question friends and family (as well as casual acquaintances) have been asking me ever since SURVIVAL COLONY 9 was published four months ago. I can't answer it. I probably won't see a royalty statement until March, maybe not until June. Until then, the only numbers I have are pretty much worthless: point-of-sales information that's demonstrably flawed, rankings on Amazon, etc. I wish I knew how my book was doing, but I genuinely don't.

And the other problem with asking this question is: what am I going to say if my book is doing really badly? If it's a best-seller, presumably I'll know that, and I'll tell them. But what about if it's tanking? I know that when people ask this question, they're both interested in the response and hopeful that it'll be a positive one. But it puts me (and all writers) in an uncomfortable position; it's like asking anyone to talk about the success of their fledgling business, and that's a tough thing to talk about.

2. Please review my book where other people will see it. A lot of friends and family members have sent me personal notes or emails telling me they liked my book. Of course that's gratifying, and of course I'm thankful to them. But in terms of improving my book's prospects (see #1 above), it's not helpful. A single line on Amazon--"I loved this book!"--would be greatly appreciated, but it's very difficult to ask for. In fact, I have asked for it, on Facebook and via email and face-to-face, and only a tiny percentage of those I've asked have delivered it. I know it's not anyone else's job to promote my book, and I also know it's hard for non-writers to be asked to write. But it's one of the best ways to make sure that people beyond the writer's immediate circle of friends and family know about the book.

3. Please don't ask me when the next book's coming out. As with #1, this is something I simply don't know and over which I have minimal control. Thus, it's a question that's both difficult and a tad painful to answer. Yes, I've written other books since SURVIVAL COLONY 9; one of them is in an editor's hands, and I hope another will be soon. But I received a single-book offer the first time around, and there's no guarantee I'll receive another. Trust me, if/when I do, the entire universe will know; no need to ask.

4. Please understand that writing takes time and intense concentration. Which means that, sometimes, I'll be very busy and/or distracted. Because, for most writers, writing isn't a 9-to-5 job, it looks rather weird to people who are accustomed to shifting into non-work mode after quitting time. Depending on the phase of a project a writer's involved in, s/he might be completely unavailable for an extended period (for example, when her/his editor allows only a month for major revisions). Other times, it'll be more sporadic and unpredictable. But one way or another, the nature of writing as a profession requires very different rhythms and patterns than most people are accustomed to.

5. Please understand that though I'm a writer, I'm not ONLY a writer. Writing might be the most exciting thing happening in my life right now. (Or then again, it might not be.) And yes, I did just say in #4 that writing does to a large extent shape my life. But being a doctor shapes doctors' lives; being a cosmetician shapes cosmeticians' lives; being an anything shapes anyone's life. There will be times when I simply don't feel like talking about writing. Maybe that'll be because I'm struggling, or I've heard bad news, or whatever; maybe it'll be just because. Let me take a break from being a writer sometimes. Ask me about my children. Or my favorite movie. Or my opinion of fracking. (I think it's a really dangerous substitute for conventional fossil fuels that will lock us into a new fossil-fuel economy for another hundred years and thus forestall indefinitely a sustainable-energy future, thanks for asking.) I'm a writer, sure, but I'm also a person. Treat me like one, just as I treat you like one.

I fear that all of the above sounds whiny and ungrateful; it was merely meant to sound genuine. I hope non-writers don't take offense. And I hope that, the next time I see you, I can happily report on the sale of my next book, the movie option on the first, and the permanent defeat of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Hey, it could happen, right?

YA Guy Says Goodbye... to the Fall Fourteeners!

YA Guy's debut year wouldn't have been half as much fun--or half as bearable--without a writers' group called the Fall Fourteeners.

The brainchild of my agency buddy Sarah J. Schmitt, the group--which included 14 debut YA authors, all of us with books due in or around Fall of this past year--provided opportunities for networking, celebrating, commiserating, brainstorming, back-patting, thumbs-upping, and everything else a debut author needs. (Trust me, we needed it: through Kirkus reviews, the collapse of a couple of our publishers, and other vicissitudes of the writing life, we REALLY needed it.) I also belonged to the much larger debut group OneFourKidLit, which was wonderful too. But the Fourteeners, being small, enabled me to forge even closer relationships with peers embarking on the same journey as I.

It being 2015, we're ringing down the curtain on the Fall Fourteeners as an official entity. If you haven't visited our website, check it out before it goes (sometime later this year). And if you want to track down our books, here's the complete alphabetical roster of our members, with links to their websites:

Austin Aslan, THE ISLANDS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Kristine Carlson Asselin, ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT

Joshua David Bellin, SURVIVAL COLONY 9

Kate Boorman, WINTERKILL

Jaye Robin Brown, NO PLACE TO FALL

S. L. Duncan, THE REVELATION OF GABRIEL ADAM

Amy Finnegan, NOT IN THE SCRIPT

Joy N. Hensley, RITES OF PASSAGE

Kendall Kulper, SALT & STORM

Kristen Lippert-Martin, TABULA RASA

Lisa Maxwell, SWEET UNREST

Shallee McArthur, THE UNHAPPENING OF GENESIS LEE

Kat Ross, SOME FINE DAY

Sarah J. Schmitt, IT'S A WONDERFUL DEATH

For anyone who's debuting in the next year or two, I strongly encourage you to join (or, if no existing group is available, create) a writers' group comparable to the Fall Fourteeners.

Though in my mind, of course, no group could ever compare to this one!

YA Guy... Just Writes!

With the release of Survival Colony 9 less than two months away, pressures are building.

I've got a podcast interview scheduled for Monday. A Skype interview for later in August. Several blog interviews I have to write. Another several guest posts. Keeping my website updated about reviews and events. Inviting people to the launch party. Ordering food, decorations, and door prizes for the same. Making travel arrangements for a couple conferences where I'll be signing books. And so on.

Don't get me wrong. These are all nice pressures. I'd be a fool to complain about them. But they're pressures nonetheless.

And there are other pressures that go along with debuting that aren't so nice. Worrying about pre-sales. Checking Goodreads numbers and Amazon rankings. Wondering if and when my second book will sell.

These pressures are self-inflicted, of course. I don't have to check rankings or worry about numbers. But trust me, it's hard not to.

So today, I decided to take a break from all that stuff and do the one thing I most love about being a writer. Can you guess what it is?

That's right. I wrote.

I just wrote. I didn't open my browser until I'd finished a chapter of my current work-in-progress, the final installment in the YA science-fiction trilogy that begins with Survival Colony 9. (As it turns out, that was the book's final chapter, so I only need to add the epilogue and I'll have a complete draft.) I didn't worry about how well Survival Colony 9 might be doing in pre-sales, or how many cupcakes I have to order for the launch, or whether reviewers are going to like or hate my first book, or whether my editor is going to make an offer on my second. I just wrote.

All writers--and, perhaps, debut writers in particular--feel the pressure. Writing might seem like a carefree, glamorous life, but it involves lots of hard work and worry. Again, it's work and worry I'm more than willing to take on. But when you're stuck in the middle of it, it's easy to lose sight of what all the work and worry are for.

So my advice to writers? Every once in a while, just write.

Take my word for it. It'll do wonders.