Maggie Stiefvater's Blog: Maggie Stiefvater, page 379
February 12, 2013
The sequel to The Raven Boys is ...
Man. This is the part where I get to tell you the title and show you the cover for the sequel to The Raven Boys. I'm just . . . really excited.
Remember how I told the Canadian border guard that my license plate was spoilery?
And if you were on Twitter, remember that time I was looking for scrap paper on my desk and found this?
Well, if you combine those things, sort of, you get the truth of the sequel, which is:
It comes out September 17th, and right now I only have two pre-order links: Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But I'm going to add on Indiebound as soon as I can get my paws on a link.
And oh am I excited for you guys to read it. It has All of My Favorite Things. Which means I will be nervous as anything the week it comes out. But there you go.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Remember how I told the Canadian border guard that my license plate was spoilery?

And if you were on Twitter, remember that time I was looking for scrap paper on my desk and found this?

Well, if you combine those things, sort of, you get the truth of the sequel, which is:

It comes out September 17th, and right now I only have two pre-order links: Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But I'm going to add on Indiebound as soon as I can get my paws on a link.
And oh am I excited for you guys to read it. It has All of My Favorite Things. Which means I will be nervous as anything the week it comes out. But there you go.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Published on February 12, 2013 13:45
Truth & The Thinking Writer
This is gonna be a writing one.
I haven’t done a writing post in awhile because I feel like, in many ways, I have said all the things that I can possibly say about writing. And in other ways, I feel like I am still trying to figure this whole literacy thing out for myself and who am I to tell you anything. Also, I don’t want to be that tedious person who talks about their job all the time. Blah-blah-blah-I-make-up-whole-worlds-for-a-living-blah-blah-blah.
However, I feel as if this topic is actually relevant to readers as well as writers, so I’m going to give it a go. I want to talk about how we, as writers, ought to think about how we say things on purpose and also say things by accident. And I also want to talk about how I don’t mean messaging or pedagogy.
Let’s do this thing.
When I first started out as a writer, I didn’t think about any of this. At all. I didn’t think about theme. I didn’t think about what people might take away from my writing. I couldn’t. Writing was a bunch of balloons and it took all my concentration just to hold them all. Sometimes one of the balloons would get away and I would just have to hope it was not an important one, because I didn’t have any hands free to try to grab it.
Now, however, I don’t write a scene WITHOUT thinking about this. Which brings me to:
SAYING THINGS ON PURPOSE
My novels are character-driven, which means reader satisfaction comes largely from seeing people change over the course of the novel. For instance, I knew I wanted Sean from The Scorpio Races to start out solitary and end up learning the power of human relationships. Right here: this is my first decision. I am consciously choosing to say that being solitary < good family relationships.* Sean Kendrick becomes a thesis statement and the novel’s events become my proof.
*this is grossly over-simplified but basically blah-blah-I-make-up-whole-worlds-for-a-living-blah-blah
At the very beginning of the novel, Sean-As-A-Child watches his father die messily during the races. It’s an action that could have many different effects on a person. As a writer, I have to make a choice for my character in this moment.
So, Sean sees his father die. As a result, he vows to never be afraid — his father had been afraid before he died — and he also withdraws from human contact.
Decision! Done! But if I’m a good writer, I’ll question it: Do I think I’m saying a true thing? Let's look. What I’m saying is I think seeing someone die could make you guard your heart against later damage. But what I’m also saying, you'll notice, is I think a kid can watch his father die and not be destroyed by it. I’m saying if you grow up on a savage island populated by savage creatures and men, you might already be inured to death as a child.
As a writer, I should know that I’m saying not one of these things, but all of them. And as a writer, I have to believe they could be true reactions, or I should change what I’m saying.
Now, this was why I got upset about literary rape earlier this year. Because I felt writers were thoughtlessly and simplistically using rape as a defining moment for their female characters. For instance, I read a novel where a woman was raped and as a consequence became a cold-blooded killer/ sex fiend. What the writer was saying, by choice or by not, was a thesis statement about rape. Yes, the writer says, I think it is plausible that being raped would remove all of your tender emotions and render you without empathy or soul. And also make you crazy for . . . more sex?
If that is what the writer believes, go for it. Write what you believe is true.** But as a reader, I want to feel that the writer has thought about it. That they know what they’re doing and are in control. That they’ve made character decisions they believe could be true. Not just character decisions that are easy.
**and yes, I do think all fiction of every genre should aspire to truth in order to have maximum emotional resonance.***
***and if you're not writing to make readers have FEELS, what in the world are you writing for?****
****fine, fine. But I'm talking commercial fiction here. It's what I do*****
*****blah-blah-I-make-up-whole-worlds-for-a-living-blah-blah
Which brings me to:
SAYING THINGS BY ACCIDENTAs writers, we all have our biases, and a good writer — one that’s learning how to hold all the balloons without letting them escape— will be aware of their own. And a good writer will know that it's hard to avoid saying things by accident. For instance, here’s some things I should know about myself:
1- I have no negative baggage with kissing. So I’ll tend to see a kiss as a positive. Not universally true, Maggie. 2 - I like living in the middle of nowhere. I have to work extra hard to not make all of my characters prefer the middle of nowhere. Some people prefer cities, Maggie. 3 - I play musical instruments. Not everyone plays musical instruments, Maggie. 4 - I freaking love cars. Not everyone cares about manual transmissions, Maggie. 5 - I have a complicated and adoring relationship with my father. Why you write so many daddy issues, Maggie? 6 - You have an underdeveloped sense of self-preservation, Maggie. Remember to make your characters afraid, Maggie!
We bring our own biases and beliefs and politics to the table as a writer. I don’t think we have to try to scrub them all out — specificity and voice are glorious things. But the more we make those subconscious choices into conscious ones, the more control we’ll have. And more control means better writing. Which brings me to:
MESSAGING
I don’t like it. People ask me a lot of time if I’m trying to send a good message to the youth of America, since I write for teens. I’m not, I’m afraid. I would if I was writing for middle graders. Because they are young and squashy and their heads are still being formed. But I write for upper teens, and I’m not going to condescend to Teach Them Lessons.
I did worry when I started this post that folks would read it as a handbook for subliminal messages and pedagogy. But when I say I’m choosing what my book is saying, it’s not because I’m trying to say what’s Right. It’s because I’m trying to say what’s True.
I haven’t done a writing post in awhile because I feel like, in many ways, I have said all the things that I can possibly say about writing. And in other ways, I feel like I am still trying to figure this whole literacy thing out for myself and who am I to tell you anything. Also, I don’t want to be that tedious person who talks about their job all the time. Blah-blah-blah-I-make-up-whole-worlds-for-a-living-blah-blah-blah.
However, I feel as if this topic is actually relevant to readers as well as writers, so I’m going to give it a go. I want to talk about how we, as writers, ought to think about how we say things on purpose and also say things by accident. And I also want to talk about how I don’t mean messaging or pedagogy.
Let’s do this thing.
When I first started out as a writer, I didn’t think about any of this. At all. I didn’t think about theme. I didn’t think about what people might take away from my writing. I couldn’t. Writing was a bunch of balloons and it took all my concentration just to hold them all. Sometimes one of the balloons would get away and I would just have to hope it was not an important one, because I didn’t have any hands free to try to grab it.
Now, however, I don’t write a scene WITHOUT thinking about this. Which brings me to:
SAYING THINGS ON PURPOSE
My novels are character-driven, which means reader satisfaction comes largely from seeing people change over the course of the novel. For instance, I knew I wanted Sean from The Scorpio Races to start out solitary and end up learning the power of human relationships. Right here: this is my first decision. I am consciously choosing to say that being solitary < good family relationships.* Sean Kendrick becomes a thesis statement and the novel’s events become my proof.
*this is grossly over-simplified but basically blah-blah-I-make-up-whole-worlds-for-a-living-blah-blah
At the very beginning of the novel, Sean-As-A-Child watches his father die messily during the races. It’s an action that could have many different effects on a person. As a writer, I have to make a choice for my character in this moment.
So, Sean sees his father die. As a result, he vows to never be afraid — his father had been afraid before he died — and he also withdraws from human contact.
Decision! Done! But if I’m a good writer, I’ll question it: Do I think I’m saying a true thing? Let's look. What I’m saying is I think seeing someone die could make you guard your heart against later damage. But what I’m also saying, you'll notice, is I think a kid can watch his father die and not be destroyed by it. I’m saying if you grow up on a savage island populated by savage creatures and men, you might already be inured to death as a child.
As a writer, I should know that I’m saying not one of these things, but all of them. And as a writer, I have to believe they could be true reactions, or I should change what I’m saying.
Now, this was why I got upset about literary rape earlier this year. Because I felt writers were thoughtlessly and simplistically using rape as a defining moment for their female characters. For instance, I read a novel where a woman was raped and as a consequence became a cold-blooded killer/ sex fiend. What the writer was saying, by choice or by not, was a thesis statement about rape. Yes, the writer says, I think it is plausible that being raped would remove all of your tender emotions and render you without empathy or soul. And also make you crazy for . . . more sex?
If that is what the writer believes, go for it. Write what you believe is true.** But as a reader, I want to feel that the writer has thought about it. That they know what they’re doing and are in control. That they’ve made character decisions they believe could be true. Not just character decisions that are easy.
**and yes, I do think all fiction of every genre should aspire to truth in order to have maximum emotional resonance.***
***and if you're not writing to make readers have FEELS, what in the world are you writing for?****
****fine, fine. But I'm talking commercial fiction here. It's what I do*****
*****blah-blah-I-make-up-whole-worlds-for-a-living-blah-blah
Which brings me to:
SAYING THINGS BY ACCIDENTAs writers, we all have our biases, and a good writer — one that’s learning how to hold all the balloons without letting them escape— will be aware of their own. And a good writer will know that it's hard to avoid saying things by accident. For instance, here’s some things I should know about myself:
1- I have no negative baggage with kissing. So I’ll tend to see a kiss as a positive. Not universally true, Maggie. 2 - I like living in the middle of nowhere. I have to work extra hard to not make all of my characters prefer the middle of nowhere. Some people prefer cities, Maggie. 3 - I play musical instruments. Not everyone plays musical instruments, Maggie. 4 - I freaking love cars. Not everyone cares about manual transmissions, Maggie. 5 - I have a complicated and adoring relationship with my father. Why you write so many daddy issues, Maggie? 6 - You have an underdeveloped sense of self-preservation, Maggie. Remember to make your characters afraid, Maggie!
We bring our own biases and beliefs and politics to the table as a writer. I don’t think we have to try to scrub them all out — specificity and voice are glorious things. But the more we make those subconscious choices into conscious ones, the more control we’ll have. And more control means better writing. Which brings me to:
MESSAGING
I don’t like it. People ask me a lot of time if I’m trying to send a good message to the youth of America, since I write for teens. I’m not, I’m afraid. I would if I was writing for middle graders. Because they are young and squashy and their heads are still being formed. But I write for upper teens, and I’m not going to condescend to Teach Them Lessons.
I did worry when I started this post that folks would read it as a handbook for subliminal messages and pedagogy. But when I say I’m choosing what my book is saying, it’s not because I’m trying to say what’s Right. It’s because I’m trying to say what’s True.
Published on February 12, 2013 08:56
February 4, 2013
Band Name Alert: Damage Waiver
Three things.
1. Today, my face exploded.
Not my entire face. Just a small part. Wait, maybe I should back up.
A new piece of furniture arrived at the Stiefvater Hacienda (spoiler: it is shelves. Whenever I buy new furniture, it is something designed to hold books) and Lover called for me to help carry it. I roused myself from editing and agreeably took one end. I had only made it a few steps when I thought to myself, a little dispirited:I believe I am about to die.
Now, I have pretty beefy arm muscles and we'd only been a few feet, so I was rather ashamed of myself. But I really did feel the old scythe coming down, heave ho, off with your head and all that. So I sat down in my office and put my head between my legs and discovered that I had in fact busted a vein in my temple.
So there is that.
2. Three days ago, I rebroke my pinky toe, the one I broke last summer. I'm telling you this now to cheer you up after the whole vein-busting story. I was tearing around my house barefoot, not a care in the world, and then I tripped.
Go ahead.
Ask me what I tripped over.
My new steel-toed boots. I took ibuprofen for the swelling, but they don't make a medication for irony.
3. Nine days ago, I did this:
to this:
for two days solid. We hit several snow banks, flattened two tires, and generally traveled exceptionally fast on very little sleep.
I injured nothing.
I'm telling you this because I want to impart an important lesson: life is safer with a roll cage.
1. Today, my face exploded.
Not my entire face. Just a small part. Wait, maybe I should back up.
A new piece of furniture arrived at the Stiefvater Hacienda (spoiler: it is shelves. Whenever I buy new furniture, it is something designed to hold books) and Lover called for me to help carry it. I roused myself from editing and agreeably took one end. I had only made it a few steps when I thought to myself, a little dispirited:I believe I am about to die.
Now, I have pretty beefy arm muscles and we'd only been a few feet, so I was rather ashamed of myself. But I really did feel the old scythe coming down, heave ho, off with your head and all that. So I sat down in my office and put my head between my legs and discovered that I had in fact busted a vein in my temple.
So there is that.

2. Three days ago, I rebroke my pinky toe, the one I broke last summer. I'm telling you this now to cheer you up after the whole vein-busting story. I was tearing around my house barefoot, not a care in the world, and then I tripped.
Go ahead.
Ask me what I tripped over.

My new steel-toed boots. I took ibuprofen for the swelling, but they don't make a medication for irony.
3. Nine days ago, I did this:

to this:

for two days solid. We hit several snow banks, flattened two tires, and generally traveled exceptionally fast on very little sleep.
I injured nothing.
I'm telling you this because I want to impart an important lesson: life is safer with a roll cage.
Published on February 04, 2013 14:57
January 18, 2013
This is a Post About Literary Rape
I’ve been a reading machine in the past eighteen days. In fact, I’ve read five novels, across five different genres. One was young adult literary, one was young adult genre, one was an adult literary, and two were adult contemporary fantasies.*
All five featured the main female character getting raped.
By the time I got to book number five, I was so weary, so emotionally drained, so angry. It took me quite awhile to calm down (even if the main character isn’t written as scarred by her experience, I sure as heck am) and parse the source of my rage.
I galloped over to Facebook and told the world how angry I was. I added that none of the male characters in these books had to undergo a sexually degrading experience in order to come of age or bulk up their character development or move the plot. Facebook replied with a host of suggestions for books with boys being raped in them, but that wasn’t really what I was after. I wasn’t really looking for equal-opportunity violation.
What I want is for there to be less gratuitous literary rape.
I’m not talking about books like Speak. I’m talking about novels where the rape scene could just as easily be any other sort of violent scene and it only becomes about sex because there’s a woman involved. If the genders were swapped, a rape scene wouldn’t have happened. The author would’ve come up with a different sort of scenario/ backstory/ defining moment for a male character. Really, this sort of rape is such a medieval, classical way to tell a story. Need to establish some stakes? Grab a secondary character and rape her. Possibly with a god or a mythological object if you have one handy.
And that starts to feel a lot less like realism and more like a malingering culture of women as victims. And it starts, especially when the author is male and the rape scene is graphic, to feel suspiciously like the goal is titillation. It starts to feel like the author believes the only interesting sort of GirlAngst is sexual abuse.
Yes. Having someone force themselves on us is pretty damn traumatic, folks. But guess what? Our personalities are formed by a whole host of experiences. Pretty much the same host of experiences that any man might encounter.
Now, on Facebook and Twitter, people said “but then you’d complain about rape and violence against women being under-represented in fiction.” First of all, no. I wouldn’t complain if there were no more gratuitous rape scenes. And second of all, the rape scenes I’m referring to are not scenes that are going to start dialog about rape. They’re scenes that enforce the woman’s role as Sidekick and Victim and Rescue Me! and I-Am-Only-The-Sum-Of-The-Places-On-My-Body-You-Can-Violate-Me.**
I want to know why this is an easy fall-back, rape. Some folks on Facebook said, “Because it’s the worst thing that can happen to a woman.”
Is it? Is rape then also the worst thing that can happen to a man? No? It’s different for women, you say? Why is it, then, that we as women should find having our sexual integrity robbed from us worse than torture and death? Is it because . . . I-Am-Only-The-Sum-Of-The-Places-On-My-Body-You-Can-Violate-Me?***
So what I’m saying is: yes, write about rape. I don’t believe in censoring fiction. But I do believe in writers knowing why they’re writing what they write. And if authors are writing a scene because they subconsciously believe that a woman’s sexual purity is the most important thing about her, they need to reconsider.
I can’t decide if a gratuitous rape scene offends me worse when it’s written by a man or a woman. One makes me angry because it feels like it’s selling rape culture. And the other makes me angry because I feel like women are buying it.
World, we need to talk.
*No, I’m not going to tell you what they were. A book that turns me off might be someone else’s favorite, so I try not to UNrecommend books. I prefer to just recommend the ones that I enjoy.
**Oh, wow. I am still very angry, it seems.
***Still angry.
[recommended reading given to me by readers: Seanan McGuire’s blog post on rape, and Women in Refrigerators]
All five featured the main female character getting raped.
By the time I got to book number five, I was so weary, so emotionally drained, so angry. It took me quite awhile to calm down (even if the main character isn’t written as scarred by her experience, I sure as heck am) and parse the source of my rage.
I galloped over to Facebook and told the world how angry I was. I added that none of the male characters in these books had to undergo a sexually degrading experience in order to come of age or bulk up their character development or move the plot. Facebook replied with a host of suggestions for books with boys being raped in them, but that wasn’t really what I was after. I wasn’t really looking for equal-opportunity violation.
What I want is for there to be less gratuitous literary rape.
I’m not talking about books like Speak. I’m talking about novels where the rape scene could just as easily be any other sort of violent scene and it only becomes about sex because there’s a woman involved. If the genders were swapped, a rape scene wouldn’t have happened. The author would’ve come up with a different sort of scenario/ backstory/ defining moment for a male character. Really, this sort of rape is such a medieval, classical way to tell a story. Need to establish some stakes? Grab a secondary character and rape her. Possibly with a god or a mythological object if you have one handy.
And that starts to feel a lot less like realism and more like a malingering culture of women as victims. And it starts, especially when the author is male and the rape scene is graphic, to feel suspiciously like the goal is titillation. It starts to feel like the author believes the only interesting sort of GirlAngst is sexual abuse.
Yes. Having someone force themselves on us is pretty damn traumatic, folks. But guess what? Our personalities are formed by a whole host of experiences. Pretty much the same host of experiences that any man might encounter.
Now, on Facebook and Twitter, people said “but then you’d complain about rape and violence against women being under-represented in fiction.” First of all, no. I wouldn’t complain if there were no more gratuitous rape scenes. And second of all, the rape scenes I’m referring to are not scenes that are going to start dialog about rape. They’re scenes that enforce the woman’s role as Sidekick and Victim and Rescue Me! and I-Am-Only-The-Sum-Of-The-Places-On-My-Body-You-Can-Violate-Me.**
I want to know why this is an easy fall-back, rape. Some folks on Facebook said, “Because it’s the worst thing that can happen to a woman.”
Is it? Is rape then also the worst thing that can happen to a man? No? It’s different for women, you say? Why is it, then, that we as women should find having our sexual integrity robbed from us worse than torture and death? Is it because . . . I-Am-Only-The-Sum-Of-The-Places-On-My-Body-You-Can-Violate-Me?***
So what I’m saying is: yes, write about rape. I don’t believe in censoring fiction. But I do believe in writers knowing why they’re writing what they write. And if authors are writing a scene because they subconsciously believe that a woman’s sexual purity is the most important thing about her, they need to reconsider.
I can’t decide if a gratuitous rape scene offends me worse when it’s written by a man or a woman. One makes me angry because it feels like it’s selling rape culture. And the other makes me angry because I feel like women are buying it.
World, we need to talk.
*No, I’m not going to tell you what they were. A book that turns me off might be someone else’s favorite, so I try not to UNrecommend books. I prefer to just recommend the ones that I enjoy.
**Oh, wow. I am still very angry, it seems.
***Still angry.
[recommended reading given to me by readers: Seanan McGuire’s blog post on rape, and Women in Refrigerators]
Published on January 18, 2013 06:25
January 10, 2013
Maggie Gets Younger
You guys probably all know that I have two children, Thing 1 & Thing 2 —they're seven and eight at the moment, but I'm guessing that will change. Anyway, the Things are quite enthusiastic about me being a writer. They follow all book conversations between Lover and I with interest. They know all of the characters' names and the rough plot lines.
Of course, they're not allowed to read any of them until they're, like, 30.
I have a nephew around that age as well, and he always begs for copies of my books. He has all of them! . . . in Lithuanian. And Italian. And Japanese. He can have English copies of them when he's, like, 30.
So, I'd been contemplating writing a middle grade book for them, but timing was never right, and the idea of trying to write a book without gore, swearing, or extreme nookie just seemed daunting. So when Scholastic asked me if I'd like to be part of a new middle grade project, I consulted the Things, and cheerfully said YES.
Here are the details (full story at Publishers Weekly):
Basically, it's a multi-platform series like 39 Clues and The Infinity Ring. We write the stories; a computer game springs up in response to those stories, and off we go. It's for ages 8-12, so rather younger than my usual audience, but I reckon folks will definitely be able to see the Maggieness in mine. As I wrote the outline for it, I realized that I can't really turn off the Maggieness even if I wanted to. I did at least remove the swearing, gore, and extreme nookie aspects.
Things 1 & 2 are so pleased.
Anyway, have a logo.
P.S. I know people will ask. I'm still working on the third faerie book. I am doing serious edits as I wasn't completely happy with my previous draft. Scholastic drums their fingers mildly. It is all me, the hold up. I'm sorry. Spring 2014 looks like the date for it at the moment.
Of course, they're not allowed to read any of them until they're, like, 30.
I have a nephew around that age as well, and he always begs for copies of my books. He has all of them! . . . in Lithuanian. And Italian. And Japanese. He can have English copies of them when he's, like, 30.
So, I'd been contemplating writing a middle grade book for them, but timing was never right, and the idea of trying to write a book without gore, swearing, or extreme nookie just seemed daunting. So when Scholastic asked me if I'd like to be part of a new middle grade project, I consulted the Things, and cheerfully said YES.
Here are the details (full story at Publishers Weekly):
Basically, it's a multi-platform series like 39 Clues and The Infinity Ring. We write the stories; a computer game springs up in response to those stories, and off we go. It's for ages 8-12, so rather younger than my usual audience, but I reckon folks will definitely be able to see the Maggieness in mine. As I wrote the outline for it, I realized that I can't really turn off the Maggieness even if I wanted to. I did at least remove the swearing, gore, and extreme nookie aspects.
Things 1 & 2 are so pleased.
Anyway, have a logo.

P.S. I know people will ask. I'm still working on the third faerie book. I am doing serious edits as I wasn't completely happy with my previous draft. Scholastic drums their fingers mildly. It is all me, the hold up. I'm sorry. Spring 2014 looks like the date for it at the moment.
Published on January 10, 2013 07:19
January 9, 2013
Raven Boys Doodle winner
The randomly picked winner is https://www.facebook.com/tal.rejwan. Congrats and thanks everyone for entering!
Published on January 09, 2013 16:16
January 8, 2013
Win a Raven Boys Doodle. And an Audiobook.
Today I was laying about and complaining about my missing teeth and eating ibuprofen and instead of working, I did a little doodle of the characters from The Raven Boys.
ME: I did this. Is it fan art if I'm the one doing it? FACEBOOK: No. Yes. Maybe? Whatever! Give it away with a contest!
I always do what Facebook says, because surely, surely it is never wrong. So here's a contest for this doodle. Because it seems like not a very exciting prize to me, I'm also adding in a signed audiobook of The Raven Boys. Will Patton narrates it and does a freakin' fantastic job with all of the voices.
Because I'm mostly laying about being useless, I'm making this a really simple contest. Basically, change your icon on any of your social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, whatever, to the cover of Raven Boys until this time tomorrow. Then post the link of where you've changed it into the Contest Machine site as your entry. Please note that unless you enter on the Contest Machine thingy, you are not entered! A blog comment doesn't count!
Here's the cover. You can right click on it to save and all that good stuff.
Tomorrow evening, I'll pick a random winner, double check that the icon of the person I drew is changed, and taDA. And everyone can change their icons back to their dogs and stuff. It's open internationally. Sound good?
Goooo.

ME: I did this. Is it fan art if I'm the one doing it? FACEBOOK: No. Yes. Maybe? Whatever! Give it away with a contest!
I always do what Facebook says, because surely, surely it is never wrong. So here's a contest for this doodle. Because it seems like not a very exciting prize to me, I'm also adding in a signed audiobook of The Raven Boys. Will Patton narrates it and does a freakin' fantastic job with all of the voices.
Because I'm mostly laying about being useless, I'm making this a really simple contest. Basically, change your icon on any of your social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, whatever, to the cover of Raven Boys until this time tomorrow. Then post the link of where you've changed it into the Contest Machine site as your entry. Please note that unless you enter on the Contest Machine thingy, you are not entered! A blog comment doesn't count!
Here's the cover. You can right click on it to save and all that good stuff.

Tomorrow evening, I'll pick a random winner, double check that the icon of the person I drew is changed, and taDA. And everyone can change their icons back to their dogs and stuff. It's open internationally. Sound good?
Goooo.
Published on January 08, 2013 13:21
January 7, 2013
May I Borrow Your Pen?
I want to know where all the pens go. Every month I buy a new box of them. Not the box of six. The box of twenty. I used to buy nice ones. I read reviews. I asked around. I tested them. I weighed them in my hand like a #$%^%$#ing broadsword and I asked myself “is this a pen I want to spend some time with?” “Is this a pen I can do some damage with?” Now, I just buy the cheap ones. There’s no point. We’re never going to have a relationship. But I’m trying to understand. I have a lovely office that I work in 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time I work on the couch. Pens are not allowed on the couch because they are sharp as #$%^%$#ing broadswords and might pierce the couch’s surface. So I have no reason to take the pens from my office.
That leaves Lover and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Things 1 & 2 are recently literate and Lover has been literate since I’ve known him, so it’s not inconceivable that they could be pen-stealers. Only the Lover has his own desk with his own pen can. I looked. Do you know what’s in it? Pen caps. Because sure as snot drips downhill there aren’t pens in it. Wherever my pens are going, his are on their way there as well. This morning, I was so certain that Things 1 & 2 were to blame that I tossed their rooms (they are still young enough that tossing their rooms is considered culturally and psychologically acceptable)(i.e. any time under age 32). I looked under their mattresses. I looked in their closets. I looked underneath Thing 2’s rat cage and on top of Thing 1’s bookshelf. I found a pen cap in Thing 1’s room under her ninja outfit, but it didn’t match any of my pens. It was pink and glittery. Thing 1 hasn't possessed anything pink and glittery for over a year, not since she decided to become a ninja veterinarian. So this was a cap for a long-ago pen. Without much hope, I searched for the rest of the pen, but it was nowhere in evidence. All I had proven was that wherever my pens were going, Lover’s pens were also there, and so were Thing 1's.I sat down and had a think about this. Actually I sat down at the dentist’s office and had a think about it. I thought about it for an hour in the waiting room and then I thought about it while they extracted two teeth and then I thought about it after I had returned home to sit in my office chair, wishing I had a pen. Here we go. Pens are time-travelers. That’s the only explanation. In some future time that none of us have gotten to, the world is made of pens. It is like a hideous Dali-Shakespeare-H.G.Wells landscape where the horizon is formed of tidal slopes of Bics, Papermates, and Staedtlers, rolling about in plastic, pigment, and spring-powered carcasses. Overhead an anemic sun the color of an egg yolk weeps a dry eye for humanity. You know why? Because paper isn’t a time traveler. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and I have to agree. If I hung #$%^%$#ing broadsword on my wall, it would stay there. I hang a pen in the same place, and I guarantee you, this time tomorrow, that’s pen’s gone. To the future. Which is where I’m headed now. Just, um. Slower.

Published on January 07, 2013 20:02
January 1, 2013
Not Quite Terrible Musical Top 20 of 2012
As a listener, I'm pretty sure my musical taste peaked sometime around the second half of 2010. That's when my iPod hit the commercially ideal ratio of indie songs no one had heard of but everyone could enjoy, songs everyone had heard of but hadn't gotten tired of, and the Beatles. All of my friends wanted playlists. And with an iPod like that, well, hey, they practically made themselves!
But something seems to have happened since then. The ratios have gone pear-shaped. The pie chart has now shifted to something more like this.
My 2012 musical conversations are rather different than my 2010 conversations.
2010 MOM: This is a lovely song about parting and loss. Who is it?
2012 MOM: I just walked into your office and a man in your speakers suggested that I "get crunk?"
Lover didn't even know what getting crunk entailed. As I explained it to him, it occurred to me that discussing the etymology of "getting crunk" with a loved one is the opposite of actually getting crunk.
I blame the most recent rash of music on the sequel to The Raven Boys. There is a character who is terrible in Raven Boys II, and I very much needed for him to stay terrible. As a writer, I have a tendency to secretly give all of my characters hearts of gold. You will spot this through my works. The ice queen with the heart of gold. The child abductor with a heart of gold. The teenage drug addict/ womanizer with a heart of gold.
This particular boy needed to remain black-hearted. To remind myself of that some people in fact have a deeply hidden heart of mulch, I created a playlist of terrible music that I played whenever he appeared on the screen. Mostly, I just picked songs that were slightly more offensive than I would like.
Which turned out to be a sliding scale.
Now, while much of my iPod is still dominated by acceptable songs that I can play in the car while riding with our distinguished realtor lady friend, there is now a not inconsiderable number of songs that advise my distinguished realtor lady friend to place her booty in someone's face and back it up. Others that confess that they will sleep with her friends. And still more that just scream at her in German.
I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm going to start off the year with a list of my recommended songs from 2012, but I'm going to warn you that my sense of what other people like might be broken. I don't think there's anything on this list that will take your wallet or your virginity, but . . . if there is, I'm sorry.
Mild:
1. "North Col" - Shearwater
2. "Dear Fellow Traveler" - Sea Wolf
3. "How Many More Times" - Field Music
4. "Lay it Down" & "The Best We Got" - The Rubens
Cheery
5. "Dissolve Me" - Alt J
6. "YoYo" - Pop ETC (formerly the Morning Benders, if you care)
7. "I'm a Pilot" - Fanfarlo
8. "Submarines" - The Lumineers
9. "This is What I Said" - Cloud Control
10. "Rapunzel" - Drapht
11. "Can't Touch It" - Ricki Lee
Plain Awesome
12. "Sun" - Two Door Cinema Club
13. "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" - Tame Impala
14. "Fingers Never Bleed" & "Longevity" - Yeasayer
Things that Sound Good While I Drive Sideways
15. "Fame" - Santigold
16. "Nothing Else is Real" - Mackintosh Braun
17. "Again (Original Mix)" - Elizabeth Rose feat. Sinden
18. "Monsoons" - Puscifer
19. "Love from a Stone" - School of Seven Bells
20. "Afterlife (Neon Feather Remix)" - Switchfoot
But something seems to have happened since then. The ratios have gone pear-shaped. The pie chart has now shifted to something more like this.

My 2012 musical conversations are rather different than my 2010 conversations.
2010 MOM: This is a lovely song about parting and loss. Who is it?
2012 MOM: I just walked into your office and a man in your speakers suggested that I "get crunk?"
Lover didn't even know what getting crunk entailed. As I explained it to him, it occurred to me that discussing the etymology of "getting crunk" with a loved one is the opposite of actually getting crunk.
I blame the most recent rash of music on the sequel to The Raven Boys. There is a character who is terrible in Raven Boys II, and I very much needed for him to stay terrible. As a writer, I have a tendency to secretly give all of my characters hearts of gold. You will spot this through my works. The ice queen with the heart of gold. The child abductor with a heart of gold. The teenage drug addict/ womanizer with a heart of gold.
This particular boy needed to remain black-hearted. To remind myself of that some people in fact have a deeply hidden heart of mulch, I created a playlist of terrible music that I played whenever he appeared on the screen. Mostly, I just picked songs that were slightly more offensive than I would like.
Which turned out to be a sliding scale.
Now, while much of my iPod is still dominated by acceptable songs that I can play in the car while riding with our distinguished realtor lady friend, there is now a not inconsiderable number of songs that advise my distinguished realtor lady friend to place her booty in someone's face and back it up. Others that confess that they will sleep with her friends. And still more that just scream at her in German.
I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm going to start off the year with a list of my recommended songs from 2012, but I'm going to warn you that my sense of what other people like might be broken. I don't think there's anything on this list that will take your wallet or your virginity, but . . . if there is, I'm sorry.
Mild:
1. "North Col" - Shearwater
2. "Dear Fellow Traveler" - Sea Wolf
3. "How Many More Times" - Field Music
4. "Lay it Down" & "The Best We Got" - The Rubens
Cheery
5. "Dissolve Me" - Alt J
6. "YoYo" - Pop ETC (formerly the Morning Benders, if you care)
7. "I'm a Pilot" - Fanfarlo
8. "Submarines" - The Lumineers
9. "This is What I Said" - Cloud Control
10. "Rapunzel" - Drapht
11. "Can't Touch It" - Ricki Lee
Plain Awesome
12. "Sun" - Two Door Cinema Club
13. "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" - Tame Impala
14. "Fingers Never Bleed" & "Longevity" - Yeasayer
Things that Sound Good While I Drive Sideways
15. "Fame" - Santigold
16. "Nothing Else is Real" - Mackintosh Braun
17. "Again (Original Mix)" - Elizabeth Rose feat. Sinden
18. "Monsoons" - Puscifer
19. "Love from a Stone" - School of Seven Bells
20. "Afterlife (Neon Feather Remix)" - Switchfoot
Published on January 01, 2013 14:58
December 25, 2012
My Best Books of 2012
Just this week, NPR asked me to share my top 5 YA of 2012 (it proved extraordinarily complicated, actually, to classify my 2012 reading that way — I read quite a lot in 2012, but not all of it YA, and of that YA, certainly not all of it was published in 2012, and the stuff that WAS published in 2012 I had in many cases read in advanced reader copy form in 2011 and so does that make it eligible for the list and also what am I to make of these crossover titles that are being sold as both YA and adult, do they count, and also, have I really exhausted my supply of cookie dough?). In addition to the list, they asked me to come in to the DC studio and talk about my absolute favorite YA of the year. You can find the list here, and the audio as well. I want to say something about the YA-dissing in the comments there, but I probably won't, because I'm too civil and the entire thing makes me feel weary and lofty.
So, I mention the trip to the studio because of something that happened on the way back. Where "something" means "foreshadowing." I drove Loki to the studio. This is unsurprising. For starters, it's my business car, all official with the IRS and whatnot, and so I'm supposed to use it for all businessy things so I can deduct my not inconsiderable fuel expenses.* And for finishers, I'm quite vain about cars in a way that I'm not about clothing, and I think Loki flatters me, especially my left side.
*Loki could never be construed as a fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly vehicle. Well, there is one case in which it would count, which we shall discuss presently.
Anyway, I did the studio bit and headed out of DC. It was all ghostly and quiet because of the impending holiday. And on I-66, Loki sort of went went "hockhock." Actually, in the words of James Herriot, “Well, tell me, do you mean two hocks or one hock-hock?"
Probably two hocks.
But nothing else came of it. I figured it was a spot of indigestion or bad fuel. Fast forward to the next morning. Time was of the essence as Lover and the Things and I were due to drive to Pennsylvania for holiday mirth. Quick as an assassin, I darted to FedEx to hurriedly pick up a delayed Christmas package. Of course, this happened:
If you like, you can add sound effects to this scene. You'll need a chorus of FedEx warehouse men hooting appreciatively from one of the warehouse bays, and a few FedEx customers saying things like "this is why I drive a Ford." Mechanical fuel pump, by the way, if you were wondering. I'm sure you were. That's the official term. The unofficial term is "broken."**
**Otherwise known as the only time Loki is considered a fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly car.
Anyway, I mention all this because readers of the Raven Cycle should know that every time Loki leaves me by the side of the road in real life, I write a scene where the Pig leaves Gansey in the lurch. That is all.
And now, without further ado, my complete list of favorite books I read this year.
1. The Secret History, by Donna Tart. I picked this book up reluctantly. Loads of people were reading The Raven Boys and saying it had the same vibe as this novel. Normally what happens in these situations is that I read the book in question and then feel sulky and deeply misunderstood. But not so with The Secret History. Instead I felt pink and flattered. Full thoughts here.
2. Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. I know if I tell you this is about a girl being tortured in World War II France, you won't want to read it. But I'm telling you to read it anyway. I tell you more here.
3. The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton. A pretty perfectly constructed little thriller. That sounds condescending, but it's not. It takes ever so much talent to write a book that is read so easily. More here.
4. Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley. This book and I had a rocky start, as I wanted a book about helicopters, guns, and magic, and this book is about woodpeckers, missing boys, and missionaries. But I still loved it.
5. Mr. Chartwell, by Rebecca Hunt. Remember that one time I told you to read a book about a girl being interrogated during World War II? Now I'm telling you to read this book about Winston Churchill's depression. It's a big black dog. And it's here to stay. Read it.
6. Endangered, by Eliot Schrefer. I talk about this one a lot on NPR, but I'm going to direct you to where I talk about it even more on Goodreads.
7. Purity, by Jackson Pearce. I feel weird writing about this book because Jackson Pearce sometimes comes to my house and drinks my coffee and I know she reads my blog. So I won't write about it here. I'll instead talk about it on NPR. SHE'LL NEVER SEE THAT.
8. Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman. I only just finished reading this one and haven't had time to do a proper blog post about it. It's dragons, but wait! they're awesome. More about it on NPR, too.
9. The Lover's Dictionary, by David Levithan. I know everyone is talking about David's Every Day this year, but Lover and I both enjoyed this short novel of his — a story told in dictionary form. It sounds gimmicky, but I thought the story was astonishingly true feeling.
10. chapter 8 of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. This book in its entirety was hit or miss for me, but that chapter. Best chapter of any chapter ever. That is all.
Probably I will be doing a best music of 2012 blog post this week, too. Once I put in a new mechanical fuel pump.
So, I mention the trip to the studio because of something that happened on the way back. Where "something" means "foreshadowing." I drove Loki to the studio. This is unsurprising. For starters, it's my business car, all official with the IRS and whatnot, and so I'm supposed to use it for all businessy things so I can deduct my not inconsiderable fuel expenses.* And for finishers, I'm quite vain about cars in a way that I'm not about clothing, and I think Loki flatters me, especially my left side.
*Loki could never be construed as a fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly vehicle. Well, there is one case in which it would count, which we shall discuss presently.
Anyway, I did the studio bit and headed out of DC. It was all ghostly and quiet because of the impending holiday. And on I-66, Loki sort of went went "hockhock." Actually, in the words of James Herriot, “Well, tell me, do you mean two hocks or one hock-hock?"
Probably two hocks.
But nothing else came of it. I figured it was a spot of indigestion or bad fuel. Fast forward to the next morning. Time was of the essence as Lover and the Things and I were due to drive to Pennsylvania for holiday mirth. Quick as an assassin, I darted to FedEx to hurriedly pick up a delayed Christmas package. Of course, this happened:

If you like, you can add sound effects to this scene. You'll need a chorus of FedEx warehouse men hooting appreciatively from one of the warehouse bays, and a few FedEx customers saying things like "this is why I drive a Ford." Mechanical fuel pump, by the way, if you were wondering. I'm sure you were. That's the official term. The unofficial term is "broken."**
**Otherwise known as the only time Loki is considered a fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly car.
Anyway, I mention all this because readers of the Raven Cycle should know that every time Loki leaves me by the side of the road in real life, I write a scene where the Pig leaves Gansey in the lurch. That is all.
And now, without further ado, my complete list of favorite books I read this year.
1. The Secret History, by Donna Tart. I picked this book up reluctantly. Loads of people were reading The Raven Boys and saying it had the same vibe as this novel. Normally what happens in these situations is that I read the book in question and then feel sulky and deeply misunderstood. But not so with The Secret History. Instead I felt pink and flattered. Full thoughts here.
2. Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. I know if I tell you this is about a girl being tortured in World War II France, you won't want to read it. But I'm telling you to read it anyway. I tell you more here.
3. The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton. A pretty perfectly constructed little thriller. That sounds condescending, but it's not. It takes ever so much talent to write a book that is read so easily. More here.
4. Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley. This book and I had a rocky start, as I wanted a book about helicopters, guns, and magic, and this book is about woodpeckers, missing boys, and missionaries. But I still loved it.
5. Mr. Chartwell, by Rebecca Hunt. Remember that one time I told you to read a book about a girl being interrogated during World War II? Now I'm telling you to read this book about Winston Churchill's depression. It's a big black dog. And it's here to stay. Read it.
6. Endangered, by Eliot Schrefer. I talk about this one a lot on NPR, but I'm going to direct you to where I talk about it even more on Goodreads.
7. Purity, by Jackson Pearce. I feel weird writing about this book because Jackson Pearce sometimes comes to my house and drinks my coffee and I know she reads my blog. So I won't write about it here. I'll instead talk about it on NPR. SHE'LL NEVER SEE THAT.
8. Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman. I only just finished reading this one and haven't had time to do a proper blog post about it. It's dragons, but wait! they're awesome. More about it on NPR, too.
9. The Lover's Dictionary, by David Levithan. I know everyone is talking about David's Every Day this year, but Lover and I both enjoyed this short novel of his — a story told in dictionary form. It sounds gimmicky, but I thought the story was astonishingly true feeling.
10. chapter 8 of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. This book in its entirety was hit or miss for me, but that chapter. Best chapter of any chapter ever. That is all.
Probably I will be doing a best music of 2012 blog post this week, too. Once I put in a new mechanical fuel pump.
Published on December 25, 2012 09:56
Maggie Stiefvater
I don't read blog comments here — it's a feed from my site at www.maggiestiefvater.com
I don't read blog comments here — it's a feed from my site at www.maggiestiefvater.com
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