Susan Vaught and GOING UNDERGROUND

I have a confession to make - Susan Vaught is one of my literary heroes. Her novel TRIGGER was a huge inspiration when I started writing YA, and a seminar I took from her years ago still resonates every time I have to write a killer synopsis (which I can now do because of what I learned from Susan). Her books take hot topics and turn them into intensely personal stories (BIG FAT MANIFESTO, EXPOSED). When I found out she was writing a YA about sexting and the repercussions of laws that don't keep up with today's reality, I had to get an advance copy.

I don't cry easily. It seriously took most of Titanic before I shed a tear, but by the end of her new book GOING UNDERGROUND, I was sniffing and wiping away tears in a good way. I really fell for her main character and the difficult and ridiculous situation the all-knowing adults around him have put him in (I have to say, the parents got off pretty well in this book. The law and those who enforce it rightfully don't) and what it does to his psyche and his future.

Here is a snapshot of GOING UNDERGROUND:

Del is a good kid who's been caught in horrible circumstances. At seventeen, he's trying to put his life together after an incident in his past that made him a social outcast-and a felon. As a result, he can't get into college; the only job he can find is digging graves; and when he finally meets a girl he might fall in love with, there's a sea of complications that threatens to bring the world crashing down around him again. But what has Del done? In flashbacks to Del's fourteenth year, we slowly learn the truth: his girlfriend texted him a revealing photo of herself, a teacher confiscated his phone, and soon the police were involved.

Basing her story on real-life cases of teens in trouble with the law for texting explicit photos, Susan Vaught has created a moving portrait of an immensely likable character caught in a highly controversial legal scenario.

These are the first lines of the new book:
Dead zones are places without life, without feeling, without air. I've seen them in pictures of polluted oceans and read about them in descriptions of the cold void of space. Sometimes I think parts of my body have turned silent and dark like those pictures and descriptions. Sometimes I think I've become a dead zone.

I told you her writing was amazing. I had the pleasure of interviewing Susan recently and asked her a few questions about the book.: As the parent of teen and pre-teen boys this was a topic that really hit home for me. How do you think having kids of your own changed the topics you write about or the way you write fiction?

My childrens' enjoyment of stories inspired me to start writing for children and young adults, and whenever I write fantasy, my son's tastes definitely weigh into the equation. My daughter is the contemporary literature fan, as is her best friend, who is now a high school teacher. I think about them as well. At times, I explore topics that were fears of mine when my kids were younger, or I imagine how I'd deal with newer-to-the-world issues now, if my children were still young. I believe I tune into injustice more quickly, because kids, teens, and young adults have a hard enough time surviving to adulthood without being strangled by the mistakes and shortcomings of adults.

I think my favorite lines of Del's are toward the end where he's explaining his situation in a letter to a college admissions officer; "....my personhood got revoked. I got kicked out of society. It felt like getting kicked off the world." My heart was just breaking for him and I was so angry at the outcome of such a ridiculous situation. Do you think things are getting better legally with Romeo and Juliet laws?

Some states are, some states aren't. I really wish it could be addressed at a federal level, and I believe we have to find some way to keep up with technology, and to focus more on real protection and safety issues for teens and young adults vs. trying to legally enforce morality. This last is the socially sensitive issue, I know, but it drives me insane when kids lose their futures because of ridiculous laws or legal decisions, or the over-legalization of the normal mistakes kids, teens, and young adults make. Sooner or later we have to face the fact that we have essentially criminalized consensual sexual activity between teens--something no society ever in time has been able to control--and we are ripping futures away from teens and young adults because we can't a) keep up with technology that they are mastering faster than we do, and b) get our act together on accepting the fact that teens think about and experiment with sex. I'm not saying don't have rules, don't educate them, don't attempt to dissuade them, don't have consequences (within the family group)--just, how about let's not send them to jail and prison and put them on sex offender registries for life for falling in love or doing the modern technological equivalent of "playing doctor."

I know you were inspired by some of the cases you worked with as a psychiatrist - what other research did you have to do to make the book ring true?

I researched age of consent laws in various states, researched cases where children have been convicted of sex offenses based on sexting, and spoke to a district attorney. I remember one question I asked the DA--what if two teens, one under the age of consent by one day and one over the age of consent by one day had sexual contact? Would you prosecute? The DA said, "I wouldn't in that situation, but if a parent chose to press charges, I wouldn't have a choice." I then asked her if she had seen cases like that, and she got tears in her eyes, nodded, and didn't answer out loud. That made quite an impression.

My favorite part of writing are the 'happy accidents' that come while you're writing when a character or situation just shows up. Did you have any 'accidents' that made it into the book?

The inclusion of Fred the parrot and the rescued animals happened by accident. That was nowhere in my outline when I started, but my own parrot was plucking my nerves (and my hair) while I was writing the first couple of chapters, and shortly thereafter, Fred the parrot stormed into the narrative.

In spite of having a difficult real world job, you write so many great books - what's up next for Susan Vaught?

I have one manuscript completed and in the editing process. My title for it is FREAK, but that may change. FREAK is told through the eyes of Jason, a young man with schizophrenia. When his best friend and maybe girlfriend Sunshine disappears, he knows he has to find her--even though the police and the FBI consider him the primary suspect. His voices and distorted perceptions confuse him and make him doubt himself, but he'll never give up, not if there's the tiniest chance of finding her alive--but Sunshine's time is fast running out.

I also have another manuscript still in the revision/writing process. It's a contemporary romance with some . . . unusual . . . fantasy elements. :)

Thanks Susan! Find out more about Susan and all of her books here. GOING UNDERGROUND is an important book for anyone to read, but I think it is particularly eye-opening for the parents of teen boys. And it's on sale TODAY!!!!

Hoarding Resources

After writing DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, I made some amazing connections in the hoarding community. One of them is Geralin Thomas who is a wonderful organizer and one of the key players on A&E's show Hoarders. Today on her blog is a fabulous list of resources for books and DVDs on hoarding. Check it out with this link. Interestingly, there is only one fiction book on it (yeah, it's mine). Apparently more people should be writing about this subject for all age groups - get on it people.

...And Another Thing

I'm so glad that some people have found that last post helpful. One thing I forgot to mention that I think is key in the process of maintaining forward momentum - stop writing in the middle of something exciting. That tiny piece of advice has saved me countless hours of staring at a blank screen. Just when the scene really gets going, when you can't wait to write the next part because you know it's going to be awesome, when you've flown past your word count for the day and are on to a new personal best...hit Save and close the file. Sounds crazy I know, but it works and that excitement is what is going to carry you on to the next day's writing session.

I love the scene I wrote yesterday - a bunch of them go to a snooty party and I knew that Griffon and Cole were going to have a really heavy make-out scene up on the roof of the building looking over the lights of San Francisco (sorry to all of you who hate romancy stuff - these books are full of it). This is the point in the book where we see all of the good stuff happen before the shit hits the fan (Beat 4,: The Catalyst, for those of you SAVE THE CAT fans out there) and I was really looking forward to writing it. I wrote the beginning of the party, some cool stuff happens, and then just as Griffon was reaching for Cole's hand, I stopped. Closed it up and drove the kid to guitar lessons. I've been thinking about the next scene ever since - picturing it in my head and tweaking it here and there to make it even better - and now I get to sit down today and write it.

Just after that scene, there's a little bit of a cliffhanger where Cole bumps into another major character in the hallway and a big 'dum dum dum' is revealed. Yeah, you guessed it, I'm saving that scene for tomorrow. And am I writing on Labor Day? You betcha.

Have a great weekend everyone, but don't forget to squeeze in your 1k!

Write a Novel in 90 Days (or Less!)

So I'm about 8, 000 words into the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE (still a little bit of a thrill to actually write that) and it's occurred to me that I've learned a few things since I sat down to write my first book that might possibly be helpful to someone.

I have people come up to me all the time and ask how to write a book. My standard answer is that I don't know. Because I don't. For me, writing is like seeing a movie in my head and writing down what happens. But then I started to think, that, except for the magic part of the whole thing, I actually do know how to write a book because I've done it four times already (yes, I only have one novel published and one coming out next year - your math isn't wrong). And I have a guaranteed way to do it in 90 days. I wrote both DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS and TRANSCENDENCE in about three months each. (So what do I do with the rest of my time? It's called authoring, as opposed to writing, but that's another topic for another day.)

And the secret is...are you ready for it?....write 1,000 words a day, every day, no matter what. Thanks for reading, I hope that helps.

Wait, what? You need a little more? Okay, there actually are some guidelines for this groundbreaking butt-in-chair writing method.

1. Commit to write 1,000 words a day. I pick this number because honestly, it's not that much. Maybe an hour, maybe an hour and a half if I don't know exactly what's going to happen. 1,000 words in a standard, double-spaced manuscript with an average amount of dialogue is about 3 pages. You can do three pages, can't you? If you write really slowly (I always say that the typing course I took in 8th grade was the single most helpful thing I ever did), then you can change your word count to something like 500 words a day, but that moves you on to our 180 day guarantee. I have to keep myself accountable, so I write the date and the word count on the back of the notebook I use for, well, notes and stuff I print out from the internet. 1,000 words a day for 90 days = 90,000 words or about 300 pages, which is about how long my books tend to be these days.

2. That's every day. But what about Sundays? Or birthdays? Or soccer tournaments? Too bad. No matter what else is going on you have to commit to 1,000 words a day. Get up early, stay up late, stop watching TV, write during practice. I wrote most of DLS in a cold, drafty gym waiting for my son to finish his workout. Even people with crazy schedules can find the time if they want to badly enough. Looking at my notebooks, I see that I started both DLS and TRANSCENDENCE on November 17th. Why? I have no idea, but I had to force myself to work through the craziness of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last Saturday was packed with soccer and a pizza party we threw here at the house until fairly late. I was exhausted, but sat down at 11pm to do my 1k because I had to. The secret here is that it's not about word count per se, it's about sitting down and opening the file every day (we'll talk more about that later). If you're going on vacation for three weeks and know you won't write every day, then don't start the book yet. Which brings me to the next point....

3. Don't start your book too early. You know when a great idea hits you. You get that excited feeling in your stomach and your mind starts racing with possibilities. You feel like you should run to the laptop or notebook and start writing right away. Well, don't. Every idea needs time to stew and develop. For you to get to know the characters and the plot, even if it's subconscious. I got the idea for DLS from a magazine article I read in August, but started writing on November 17th. That's about the right amount of time for me. Your mileage may vary. Someone on chat asked last night when you know it's time to start writing. For me, it's when I find myself saying bits of dialogue out loud and I have a great first line.

4. Don't fly blind. Yes, my favorite writing quote is still the one over there on the sidebar about driving at night, but you do need to know that there's a road somewhere beneath you. I've tried a lot of different ways, from the 9 Point Plot Process to the method laid out in Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT (which I love), and find that I like a mashup of several different methods. I do like to have a lot of scenes plotted out on my bulletin board before I start so I have some idea of where to go, but leave a lot of room for the magic to happen where I have no idea why the characters are driving to the zoo, but I just go with it. This is the board for the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE (it was called FATED, but we're changing it - will NYT bestselling authors please stop stealing my titles!). Each card is a scene, and they're divided into acts. You might notice that the last two acts, basically from pages 151 to the end are a little...um...skimpy. That's because I get bored outlining and planning. This is enough info to get me halfway through the book. At some point before I reach the halfway mark, I'll go back and write a bunch more scenes for the last half of the book. You only need to stay a little ahead of yourself so that you don't get stuck.

4. Can you 'bank' words for the next day? No. Are you really on a roll and want to keep on going until you've cranked out 4k for the day? Awesome! Go right ahead. But you still need to sit down the next day and write your 1k. The deal is that it's not so much about word count as it is about sitting down and opening the file every day, whether you feel 'inspired' or not. It's like skipping class in college. I used to go as long into the semester as I could without skipping a class, because the first one is the hardest and the rest were easy. If you go one day without writing a word on your manuscript, it's that much easier to not open it the second day.

5. What if you get writers block? Then just write garbage. That's right , 1k of complete crap. Stuff you know you're going to dump. It's all in the doing, not what's done. Eventually, you'll get back to a place where it's working again, and you might surprise yourself that what you wrote isn't a total loss.

6. Can you revise as you go? Yes, but you still have to keep up word count, which is why I suggest not doing heavy revisions until the first draft is done. Yesterday, I was trying to get the first chapter in shape to show my editor, but my darling and wonderfully harsh critique partner insisted I cut a bunch of fluff, which amounted to over 1k words. That stunk, but she was right, so I did it, and then had to add enough words to make the final count for the day 1k over the count from the day before. Does that make sense? If you start with 5,500 words from the day before, and then cut 1,000 words, then you have to add 2,000 words that day to make up for it. Sound unfair? It probably is, but those are my rules.

7. Writing is not a 365 day a year exercise. At least it's not for me. I know Stephen King would probably disagree (and if you haven't read his On Writing or Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird you should). I do the 1k-every-day thing until the first draft is done, and then I go and do other stuff like revising, copyediting, website improvement, playlists, laundry and dishes. I can get about two books done a year at this point without completely burning out, and books are wonderfully cyclical in what they demand from you - create, fix, wait, promote.

8. What about punishments/rewards? I don't use them, but you can if you want. The guilt of not completing what I set out to do that day, combined with the crankiness I always get if I'm drafting but haven't done my count for the day is enough for me. Although I never say no to chocolate and I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee.

I hope some of this helps you zero in on the method that will work best for you. As for me, I only got 50 new words done this morning, so I'm off to do the other 950.

And the New Title is......

TRANSCENDENCE

I love it and think it works perfectly with the theme of the book.

If you're a regular around here, you might know that figuring out what to call this book has been a bit of a struggle. I blogged about it here and here. Right as we were submitting it we decided to call it DESTINED because it deals with reincarnation and the meaning of life (simple stuff, I know) and the publishers loved it too. After meeting with marketing, my editor told me that P.C. Cast was coming out with a book called DESTINED at about the same time, so we couldn't use it. Dang.

After throwing around literally hundreds of titles, my editor, the marketing department and I have all agreed that TRANSCENDENCE is the winner and I'm so glad. Even better, here's the catalog copy:

Love isn’t the only emotion to survive death . . .

When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider.
As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet—an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.
Full of danger, romance, and intrigue, Transcendence breathes new life into a perpetually intriguing question: What would you do with another life to live?

They're including a really kick-ass excerpt as the flap copy, but I don't want to give everything away. I've seen some cover-mock ups and they're amazing, and hopefully I can share sometime in the near future.

On another note, today was the first day of school, and like I promised, I wrote the first thousand words of the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE today - so far, it's still called FATED, and we should be able to firm that up soon. But that is another post for another day.

Look for TRANSCENDENCE sometime in June of 2012!

Now That's Cool!

Remember the Scholastic catalogs that you used to get as a kid?




















Look what's in the Fall Teen catalog!



















(Closeup of page 7.)















And what a bargain!

So How Was LA?

Every August, kidlit writers converge for summer camp, also known as the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's) conference. This year was the 40th anniversary, so there was record attendance with over 1,300 people.









This was the view from our room. LA even looked pretty for us.


















There were some amazing speakers!



Richard Peck was a master of the subtle glance to get a laugh. He was awesome.








Laurie Halse Anderson told us to stop volunteering and get to work. She even gave me a hug, because that's how we roll.
If you ever get a chance to sit down and talk to Gary Paulson, take it. Tell us more about jail Gary!


And then Judy Blume stopped by to chat with Lin Oliver for awhile. It was the dream of just about every woman in the room to hear her speak. She even told us what she wants on her tombstone. What is it? You had to be there.










Of course, everyone knows the real doing is happening in the lobby. Here's me with fabbo EMLA clients Ruth McNalley Barshaw (my son's personal hero) and the amazing (and not-so-shrinking violet) R.L. LeFevers.








And Robin with up-and-coming superstar Mike Jung.











Robin Mellom and her lovely agent Jill Corcoran.













Me and the lovely Lee Wind.





Greg Pincus and the glowing Eve Porinchak.














And then there was the party. It was crazy. Crazy good.
















Shelli Johannes-Wells and Robin Mellom looking a little sleepy.












Suzanne Young and my roomie Christy Raedeke getting reacquainted.











We're still not sure who let Miss Elaine in.

















And those are all of the photos that I'm allowed to post. So how was LA? Let's just say we're counting down the next 359 days until we can do it again. Ahem. Because it's such hard, hard work.