Jennifer Echols's Blog, page 10

Why I (usually) don't write sequels, part 2

Love Story is out and, as I predicted, I have been flooded with e-mail asking for a sequel. In fact, of all the e-mail and other social media contacts I receive, I would say 75% of it contains a request for a sequel to at least one of my books. I answer these folks with a polite no. For most of my books, I do not hear back from the reader again. For The Boys Next Door/Endless Summer, the reader writes back, "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEESE," which is funny. And it breaks my heart because the answer is still no.

I am flattered by these requests. They mean readers enjoyed the first book so much, they want it to continue. But these comments also make me sad because I am not delivering what readers say they want. I have given this a lot of thought, to the point that I have considered writing a combined popular culture and reader-response study of the rise of the sequel as a driving force in commercial fiction, and then I have to remind myself, ***wait***, English PhD candidate/writing instructor/English professor wanna-be was two jobs ago.

So I am going to lay it all out for you here: why I never intended to write sequels to most of my books, why I have written a sequel to one, and why there aren't more sequels to that book. If you ask me this question from now on, I am going to point you here, and please don't be offended that I didn't answer your question personally. The answer is long and not something I can explain in a short e-mail response back to you.

When you say "sequel," what do you mean?

If you want a new book that features a minor character from the last book, I am all for it--at least for my romantic comedies, at least in theory. This is a well-loved device in adult romantic fiction. For instance, my critique partner Victoria Dahl has a series of three adult romantic comedies coming out in September, October and November--GOOD GIRLS DON'T, BAD BOYS DO, and REAL MEN WILL--each of which features a different sibling in a family that runs a brewery in Boulder. In fact, romance fiction is so full of this device that it is not unusual to find a series of ten books and I am like WHERE DID ALL THESE SIBLINGS COME FROM but you know, sometimes that gets a bit unrealistic and the author starts writing about cousins. Vicki does a particularly good job of interweaving her stories so that each book contributes to the overall journey of this family, yet the focus of each book is still firmly on the couple at hand, and a reader could easily pick up the second book or the third book and read, understand, and enjoy it without ever reading the others.

When I sold Major Crush, it was designed to be the first of four books, each about a different couple in the same marching band. The publisher wanted only one book. When that book sold well, I asked permission several more times if I could write a book about the minor characters Walter and Austin, and the publisher said no. Because of this, I did not leave myself this type of opening in The Boys Next Door at all. In The Ex Games, I tried again. I wrote in two more couples who liked each other but had not gotten together at the end of the book, so I could write their novels next. The publisher did not want me to do this, so I revised the manuscript, and those couples are now happily together at the end of the book. I would have loved to write a book about Hayden's little brother Josh and I left myself a little opening there, but that opportunity never came up either.

In short, if THAT'S what you mean, I am all for writing sequels. I just haven't been successful in getting this approved.

But if you mean you want another book about the same couple I have just written about, you have lost me.

What do you want a sequel for?

My favorite YA authors when I was a teenager were Paula Danziger, Judy Bloom, and Lois Duncan. These authors have written almost no YA sequels. Their books are stand-alone. The one sequel I can think of off the top of my head is Danziger's There's a Bat in Bunk Five, the sequel to The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, but that's it. My favorite adult romance author was Mary Stewart. No sequels (and I'm not counting the Merlin series, because those aren't romances). My favorite adult romance author today is Jennifer Crusie. No sequels. I have so many favorite YA authors, and while sequels run rampant in this age group as a whole, of course my very favorite YA books are going to be contemporary romances (set in the present day with no paranormal elements), and I can't think of any sequels.

I love to pick up a contemporary romance, read it, enjoy it, finish it, and move on to something else. If I absolutely love the book, of course the first thing I do when I finish it is buy everything else the author ever wrote. But I expect the author's other books to be about different couples, possibly set in different towns, with two books having no connection with each other as far as setting and characters go. I do NOT look for or pine for another romance about the same couple.

Because that would suck.

I am talking about contemporaries, okay? Paranormals are different, and so are other genres in which there is a lot more going on in the plot than just lurve. In paranormals you could write a long story arc in which a couple moves a little closer to each other every time but doesn't get together for good until book ten. But in that case, there can't possibly be whole lot of romance in each book. The book would focus more on the demons that are trying to eat the couple's brains or whatever. It would be like a TV show and the hero and heroine battle a new critter each time, right?

In general, a contemporary romance doesn't work this way. There are no demons or serial killers. The book is about the couple getting together. At the end, you are waiting to see whether they get together, NOT whether they survive (and get together). The love story is the entire focus of the book. In addition, there is probably a life-changing shift going on in the characters' view of the world and of themselves that lends even more poignancy to the discovery of the love of their lives.

How many times can this same couple do that? For how many books?

I have felt this way about sequels for a long time, but I was delighted to find that Jennifer Crusie feels similarly, and this is what she has to say about it on her web site . She puts it much more succinctly and elegantly than I do:

"I think a great book is about the most important moment in a character's life. So the next book would be about the second most important moment, and then the third book…"

In my romantic dramas (Going Too Far, Forget You, and Love Story), I write about a couple getting together at the same time they are both going through a shift that will change the course of their lives forever. I set that up very carefully to be as hard-hitting and dramatic as possible. I pull out all the stops. I throw everything but the kitchen sink in there. That means that I am not thinking about leaving myself room to write books about the minor characters later. No. Everything in that book is honed to that one point. That's why I have never attempted to spin off a couple from my romantic dramas like I have for my romantic comedies.

And I have no interest in writing another book about these same characters. I have been getting lots of e-mail asking for a book about Hunter and Erin moving on through college, and Doug and Zoey going to college together, and Meg and Johnafter going to college together. But see, you do not need that book because there is no major conflict left. They have worked things out and are happy and in love and they are going to have a great time together. That might be a pleasant read but not a very exciting read. It is the literary equivalent of a Twitter account. I could write about some other event in their lives, but that is not a romance anymore, so I am not interested in writing it. And I could break them up and then get them back together at the end, but I don't think that would be nearly as good a book as a "fresh" one I wrote with completely new characters and conflicts. I want every book I write to be the best one yet.

What about Endless Summer, then?

Yes, Endless Summer is the sequel to The Boys Next Door, and to write it, I went against my own instincts as I have laid them out here for you. The first review I saw for Endless Summer said simply, "Not as good as the first one," and I nearly had a heart attack. And then I tried to go back and write even more books about Adam and Lori, so let me spell this out for you people who e-mail me and say "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!"

As I've said, by the time I wrote The Boys Next Door, I had given up on writing sequels to my romantic comedies, so I didn't leave myself any room here. Or so I'd thought. But the instant I wrote "The end," I knew exactly what happened to Adam and Lori that night. The thing is, in The Boys Next Door, the events are very important to these characters and they do work out their problems and get together in the end, but Adam is so volatile and Lori is so...Lori...that at the end you are really shaking your head and looking at your watch and waiting for the other shoe to drop. So I dropped the other shoe, and that was Endless Summer.

When I wrote "The end" for Endless Summer, I did think I could write another book about Adam and Lori--two more, in fact. In The Boys Next Door, they get together. In Endless Summer, they learn to stay together. But they have spent both these books in their family units, pretty much away from most of their social peers. So in book 3 I was going to send them back to school in the fall, where they have such jealousy issues that they actually can't stay together and they break up at the end of the book. I mean, a bad, ugly, emotional break-up like only Adam and Lori could do it. For good. Or so they think. Book 4 was going to circle back around to the beginning of the following summer, sort of where The Boys Next Door started, and now they rediscover what they loved about each other in the first place and get back together for good. Awwwwww.

I was given approval to propose a sequel to Endless Summer--but only one. As the people close to me reminded me, presenting a proposal for two when I had been asked for one would just be a nail in the coffin. So I proposed basically book 3 but with a happy ending. The publisher rejected it. And you have to see things from their point of view. The Boys Next Door/Endless Summer is an easy sell because it's all right there together in one volume. But if you saw a third book in the bookstore, as soon as you saw that it was the third book in a series and you had not read the first two, you would put it down. Even though these books have sold a lot of copies, I am not exactly a household name. I'm not sure how many copies I would need to sell in order to make a sequel viable, but it would be...more than that.

A few months later, I was asked to write a new romantic comedy for e-book release only, and the publisher was willing to consider the Endless Summer sequel again. This time I was the one who said no, for similar reasons. Many of my readers who are so sweet to seek out my books--they do not have e-readers, so they will not be buying this book. A lot of people who do have e-readers and might be brand new to me would not want a sequel to a book they had not read. Faced with the prospect of a poor sales double-whammy, I elected to propose a romantic comedy about a brand new couple, Max and Gemma, and that is The Novel Formerly Known As Double Date. Anybody who happens upon this e-book can read it and enjoy it with no prior reading required.

Why don't you write a sequel to Endless Summer and publish it yourself?

Right now I am contractually obligated not to. Publishers want they book they publish by you to sell well, so they do not want you to flood the internets with other books that people could buy instead. I certainly see their point. I want my books to sell well too!

Why don't you write a sequel to Endless Summer and make it available for free?

I am a full-time novelist now. This is the only way I make money. I can't take months out of my life to write a book I know will not make me any money, any more than your parents could take months off work to stay home and garden. I mean, I guess they could, and you could write a YA novel about your experience, because it would be full of conflict. Why won't you go back to work, Ma? Why are you so obsessed with the GARDENING??? *sob* Of course, through the gardening your mother is trying to work through some kind of past family trauma. You could add a cute, mysterious boy and now this is actually sounding pretty good.

Ahem.

In short...

I am writing Such a Rush, my romantic drama that will be my hardcover debut in July 2012. Because it is about new characters in a new setting, I am able to fill it with as much drama and poignancy and longing as I can possibly muster. None of this is diluted by the need to make it "match up" with a plot or characters I've already written. I am having the time of my life, because I am writing the book I want to read, and even though it has nothing to do with my other books, I hope you will give it a try.

Where can I find "Why I (usually) don't write sequels, part 1"? I think I missed it.

There is no "Why I (usually) don't write sequels, part 1." A little sequel humor there.

Everything you wanted to know about me and then some + more giveaways!

The Novel Formerly Known As Double Date is DONE! Some of you have asked what the title is now and why we are changing it. My editor didn't like it. Title changes are very, very common. In fact, my only novels with titles that haven't changed are The Ex Games, because the title created my whole idea for the book in the first place, and The Boys Next Door, which my editor named before I even started writing the book, and Endless Summer. As for the new title, I have made suggestions and I haven't heard back. I am expecting the title and cover soon, since the book is coming out on December 20, and I will post them here when I get them. In the meantime, it's available for pre-order under the title Double Date on Amazon and BarnesAndNoble.com.

For the record, the original titles for my other books:

Major Crush was Queen Geek

Going Too Far was Boy in Blue

Forget You was No Parking

Love Story was The Writing Class, or, Sawyer Allen's Sex Life (because Hunter's name originally was Sawyer)

Such a Rush was Free Falling

While I was finishing up The Novel Formerly Known As Double Date, my chicks on the Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit were taking Love Story on a blog tour! Everything you wanted to know about me AND MORE is here:

Eileen Cook: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Lucienne Diver: What is the hardest part about the publishing process for you and how do you get through it?

Caridad Ferrer: Growing up, astronaut or supermodel?

Linda Gerber: Give us a writing tip!

Sarah Hantz: What is your writing process like?

denisejaden : Other than your main character, who's a favorite character of yours in your novel and why?

Elana Johnson: What made you decide to go that "extra step" and seek publication?

Stephanie Kuehnert: If there was a soundtrack for your book what are four songs that would be on it and how do they relate the story?

Kelly Parra: What is your favorite comment you've received from a fan?

Debbie Rigaud: On average, how long do you let a story idea marinate before you dive in and start building it?

Sydney Salter: What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you on vacation? Sydney is also giving away a copy of Love Story, so go leave a comment!

Elizabeth Scott: What do you wish you'd known about being published/publishing before your book/first book came out?

Jeri Smith-Ready: Have you ever been starstruck when meeting another writer? If so, by who?

Kristina Springer: What's your favorite coffee drink?

Lauren Strasnick: What music inspired this book?

Melissa Walker: How did the book get its cover?

Diana Rodriguez Wallach: Let's talk publishing. What was harder for you, finding an agent or an editor? Why?

There are also lots of giveaways of Love Story and other prizes all over the web! Here are the newest links. Some of these end TODAY so enter now!

Book Divas : three copies of Love Story

Sarah's Random Musings : two copies of Love Story

Booking Mama : two copies of Love Story

Harmony Radiant Reads : two copies of Love Story

Book Addict Patti : two copies of Love Story

The Book Cellar : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

Pure Imagination Blog : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

Stiletto Storytime : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of this book. Such a Rush is due on September 1, and I am writing very happily thanks to your kindness. It really makes a difference.

Love Story giveaways!

The romantic comedy Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis opens tomorrow, and I'm thrilled that three theaters are giving away copies of Love Story!

Showcase Cinemas, Warwick Mall, Warwick, RI

Showcase Cinemas Randolph, Randolph, Mass

Springdale 18 Cinema De Lux, Springdale, Ohio

Each theater is giving away 500 books until they run out. But let me tell you a little story. Last Friday I got a rare opportunity to sneak out of the house to see Bridesmaids. I looked up the theater and the 8 p.m. showing online, drove all the way over there in time to fight the Harry Potter crowd...and Bridesmaids was CANCELED! and replaced with A TWENTY-SEVENTH SHOWING OF HARRY POTTER! I gaped at the box office dude for quite a few minutes and gave him the hairy eyeball, but that did not bring Bridesmaids back. What I am telling you is that if you are planning to go to one of these theaters and see Friends with Benefits and snag a copy of Love Story, call ahead to make sure. There was a disclaimer on my theater's web site that said "Movie showings subject to change without notice," and there OUGHT to be a disclaimer on this blog that says "Jennifer is kind of vague on this."

Also. More kind book bloggers have posted giveaways of Love Story and other prizes, so check them out!

G-Reads : Copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

The Book Scout : 2 copies of Love Story

Luxury Reading : 2 copies of Love Story

You can see the past giveaways here and here (or just scroll down this blog), and many of those are still going on. Fingers crossed!

Love Story hits the shelves today!

Happy release day to me! Love Story appears in bookstores and Kroger today!

It was almost exactly five years ago today when my first book, Major Crush, hit the shelves. I had been looking forward to that day for more than half my life. I was so excited. And when the day came...well...the book was about a marching band, and I rather expected some random band to wander down my street and spell HOORAY on my front lawn. They didn't. Nothing happened. It was a big let-down. I cheered up later in the week, but on that particular day...Going Too Far was long finished and I'm pretty sure I hadn't started writing The Boys Next Door yet, so I probably spent the day wandering aimlessly around my house and copyediting medical articles about nasal polyps.

Love Story is set in a creative writing class. By now I know better than to expect E. M. Forster to rise from the grave and give me his Aspects of the Novel lectures in person as a book birthday present. (Which is a shame. I picture Forster as such a gentleman, so very polite, with a rich British accent, in a suit with a subtle plaid running through it, and wearing a delicious, spicy, old-man cologne, but I am making that up because I love his books. Maybe he was stinky.) Nothing special is going to happen to me on this day. If my novel sells well, I won't know for at least a week.

The day hasn't changed, but I have. Five years ago I appreciated being published because it had taken me so much time and effort to get there. Now I appreciate still being published even more. I am going to spend this day just as I should--writing--and I am going to enjoy every second.

Of course, I would have no writing career without the kind book bloggers who have helped publicize my work. Lots of them are giving away Love Story and other prizes. The links from last week are here (or just scroll down two entries on this blog), and here are the newer links:

Book sites

Anna Reads : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

Love YA Lit : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

The Perpetual Page-Turner : 2 copies of Love Story

Emily's Reading Room : 2 copies of Love Story

Girls Just Reading : 2 copies of Love Story

Other sites

Teen Spot : a copy of Love Story and a Kate Spade journal

Go win some books! And have a great day, and don't forget to enjoy it.

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit presents Melissa Walker!

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit is a web ring of YA authors. Check these posts for the latest releases!

Inspired by an article on Hell Houses (haunted houses of sin) she wrote for ELLEgirl magazine, journalist Melissa Walker set out to delve deeper into the culture of this phenomenon, as well as the community that creates them. The result: Small Town Sinners, a universal story of first love and finding your voice set against the backdrop of extreme religion. This thought-provoking, touching story of faith in family, friends and self will have readers endlessly talking about and sharing this break-out novel.

"I was so intrigued by the small town I traveled to and the warmth of all the teenagers I met, plus their obvious passion for this production, that I had to revisit that world," said Walker.

Hell Houses are often run by fundamentalist Christian churches and emphasize the belief that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior is condemned to Hell. The way they often work is that a script is written covering a variety of sins each of which is performed within its own vignette in its own room in the house. A guide leads the visitors through each room acting as narrator. The performances have a controversial tone focusing on issues such as abortion, suicide, drinking and drug use, premarital sex, and homosexuality. Hell Houses usually take place in the fall.

Small Town Sinners is the story of Lacey Anne, daughter of the pastor and perennial good girl, who is eligible for a lead role in the season's Hell House production—a role she's been coveting for years. But when Ty moves to town as casting begins, a new perspective is added to Lacey Anne's world and she starts to see her tight-knit, Evangelical community in a different light. With the help of her two best friends Starla Joy and Dean, and her potential first love Ty, Lacey Anne begins exploring her own thoughts and feelings about her religion, her community, and her place within both. While this novel deals with provocative issues like religion, teen pregnancy and underage drinking, it is not an "issue" book; the topics are masterfully interwoven into this story of friendship and family.

Jenn: What's your favorite gizmo advertising your book?


Jenn: My current release, Love Story, is set in a creative-writing class. Did you ever take a class like that, and what was your experience?

Melissa: I took creative writing in college, and I completely wrote about my real life without much fictionalizing at all. I had a lot of friend-and-guy drama, and I used that class more like therapy than a writing class... I don't think I learned much, which was my own fault.

Jenn: My heroine longs to be a novelist. Was your journey to publication filled with longing? Quick and easy? How did you make it?

Melissa: My journey involved 7 years of writing for magazines. I sold my first three novels, the Violet on the Runway series, pretty quickly after I decided to try books, but those magazine years laid a lot of groundwork! Here's the full story, uncut: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a9841.asp

Jenn: In one of my creative-writing classes, I was taught never to write about writing. Oh well. Were you taught this too? Are there other writing rules you were taught that you still remember and either follow or throw out the window?

Melissa: I do think someone told me never to write about writing. But how can you avoid it?! We also learned to "write what you know," right? I'd expand on that one and say, "Write what you want to know," because I think exploring new things can lead to better writing.

Jenn: What good books have you read lately?

Melissa: I'm in the middle of THE SUMMER I LEARNED TO FLY by Dana Reinhardt and I'm just adoooring it. I also just finished three great books that blur real-world lines by Tara Altebrando, Micol Ostow and Nova Ren Suma. See more about those titles on I Heart Daily .

Jenn: When readers tell you they've read and loved all your books and they want recommendations for similar books to read now, what do you say?

Melissa: I write so many different kinds of books (fashion, romance and now... um, faith?) that I'd be a little lost! But I can never go wrong recommending writers I admire, which include the people named above as well as Sarah Dessen, Blake Nelson, Michael Northrop, Lynn Weingarten, Gayle Forman, Libba Bray, David Levithan, Jenny Han, Natalie Standiford, Donna Freitas and a TON more...

Jenn: What's next for you?

Melissa: I have a May 2012 novel with Bloomsbury that's untitled at the moment... but it involves summer sun and a very fraught double-love story.

For the very latest on Melissa's books, check out her web site at www.melissacwalker.com!

Let's win this thing!

Love Story is available from Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com already! But in preparation for the book's debut in stores next Tuesday the 19th, many kind people at book blogs and other web sites are giving away copies of the book, Forget You, Going Too Far, and a Kate Spade journal to write your own novel! (I love being associated with this woman, even if in brand name only.) If you want to snag some of this swag, here's a partial list, and I'll keep posting as I get more links:

Book sites

Goodreads : 30 copies of Love Story

YA Bibliophile : 2 copies of Love Story

Overflowing Shelf : 2 copies of Love Story

Chica Reader : 2 copies of Love Story

Books at Midnight : 1 copy of Love Story

Naughty Book Kitties : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

Books, Sweets, and Other Treats : copies of Love Story, Forget You, and Going Too Far

Other sites

Teen Hollywood : a copy of Love Story and a Kate Spade journal

My Jelly Bean : 4 copies of Love Story and 1 Kate Spade journal

Now here is where it gets even cooler. Are you looking forward to the movie Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis? ME TOO. Sexy romantic comedies are my very favorite. And if you see it on opening weekend starting July 22 at Showcase Cinemas, Warwick Mall, Warwick, RI; Showcase Cinemas Randolph, Randolph, Mass; or Springdale 18 Cinema De Lux, Springdale, Ohio, you can snag a copy of Love Story just for showing up! Each theater is giving away 500 books until they run out, so do me a favor and give Justin some love.

So! Your job this week is try to win a free copy of this thing. My job this week is to pretend this is not going on and forge ahead with writing The Book Formerly Known as Double Date, which is due on August 1. Let's check in next week and see how we did.

Back from New York!

I just spent an amazing ten days in New York City, first at the Romance Writers of America conference, then spending time with my family and friends and wandering aimlessly around the setting of Love Story. While there, I got lots of terrific news about publicity and giveaways MTV Books is planning for the book. The trip culminated last night with the news that my novel Forget You has gone back for a ninth printing, and with a glimpse at the gorgeous cover of my December book (which used to be called Double Date and now is called...TBA). It has been a very happy summer for me.

So much happened at the conference, and I saw and met so many friends, that I can't possibly recount it for you, so I won't try. Suffice it to say that whenever I saw someone with a "first timer" ribbon on her badge, I asked, "How is your conference going?" and she always said, "WOW IT IS SO AMAZING I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T COME SOONER!" That was my experience, too, at the Reno conference in 2005. If you have been debating about going, please don't debate any longer but make plans to attend next year's conference in Anaheim . Whether you are published or pre-published, you will learn so much from the workshops, you will hear amazing speakers at the luncheons, and you will make new lifelong friends who will help your career along and understand you completely.

Now I'm back home in Birmingham. Love Story is coming out in eleven days (!!!) and I would say I'm glad to get back to doing interviews for the release and writing The Book Formerly Known as Double Date...except that MY AIR CONDITIONER IS BROKEN. It is 89 degrees in my house right now. It is 85 degrees outside but "feels like" 91 because of the humidity. Decisions.

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit presents Suzanne Young!

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit is a web ring of YA authors. Check these posts for the latest releases!

A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
by Suzanne Young

We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be Forgotten…

Charlotte's best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she's cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what's really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become—her mark on this earth, her very existence—is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny—no matter how dark the consequences?

Jenn: What's your favorite gizmo advertising your book?

Suzanne: Definitely my book trailer! I adored the job that VLC Productions did with it!
Link: http://youtu.be/k67ZYwrAJzI
Embed:

Jenn: My July release, Love Story, is set in a creative-writing class. Did you ever take a class like that, and what was your experience?

Suzanne: I was a creative writing major in college, and it was definitely my favorite class as well. Brightest memory? When my teacher read my first short story Gram's Birds to the class. He thought it was awful! But loved the writing.

Jenn: My heroine longs to be a novelist. Was your journey to publication filled with longing? Quick and easy? How did you make it?

Suzanne: My journey was filled with highs and lows. There were a couple of points where I thought I would quit before selling. And then after my first series, I thought it was over again. I think the process is all about never giving up. My motto is always Just Keep Writing.

Jenn: In one of my creative-writing classes, I was taught never to write about writing. Oh well. Were you taught this too? Are there other writing rules you were taught that you still remember and either follow or throw out the window?

Suzanne: Yes, I was definitely told never to write about writing. I was also told to write what you know—which is decent advice if you understand how to transfer feelings. But my professor once refused to accept my story because I wrote it from a male perspective.

Jenn: What good books have you read lately?

Suzanne: I loved Lisa Schroeder's The Day Before and Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls is high on my list. So many great books, so little time to take baths and read them.

Jenn: What's next for you?

Suzanne: The sequel for A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL is called A WANT SO WICKED and it comes out next summer. After that I have a new series called THE PROGRAM which is scheduled for Spring 2013 with Simon Pulse.

Get the scoop on Suzanne's books by visiting her web site at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com/!

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit presents Elana Johnson!

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit is a web ring of YA authors. Check these posts for the latest releases!

POSSESSION

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashed Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous: everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Jenn: My July release, Love Story, is set in a creative-writing class. Did you ever take a class like that, and what was your experience?

Elana: I haven't! I took a couple of online writing classes when I first started writing, but they were geared toward novel-writing.

Jenn: My heroine longs to be a novelist. Was your journey to publication filled with longing? Quick and easy? How did you make it?

Elana: I feel like it was a long, winding road, but looking back, I realize it was quite fast. I started writing in December 2007. I wrote POSSESSION in April 2008, and it was my third novel.

My query road was long. I queried my first book for 8 months and got no takers. So I shelved it. I cleaned up POSSESSION and started querying. 8 months later, I got a single offer.

After that, though, the journey's really accelerated. After a couple rounds of revision, the book sold quickly. I only did one round of edits, and then it's just been ARCs, first pass pages, cover, blurb, etc. from there.

Jenn: In one of my creative-writing classes, I was taught never to write about writing. Oh well. Were you taught this too? Are there other writing rules you were taught that you still remember and either follow or throw out the window?

Elana: Well, I'm self-taught through blogs. Ha! No wonder I break so many rules. See, I'm a lover of both the adverb and the flashback. So sue me.

Jenn: What good books have you read lately?

Elana: SO MANY. Divergent (by Veronica Roth) is one of my favorite reads of 2011.

Jenn: When readers tell you they've read and loved all your books and they want recommendations for similar books to read now, what do you say?

Elana: Well, my book has been compared to UGLIES, MATCHED, and DELIRUIM, so I'd probably recommend those, even if *I* don't think they're quite the same.

Jenn: What's next for you?

Elana: Who knows? That's one of the best—and worst—things about writing! Every day is unknown.

For the latest on Elana's work, check her web site at elanajohnson.com!

Imma be

I am a famously reclusive author without the famous part. But in the next few weeks I will be out and about, and you can come see me in person! Yes, you too can have an awkward conversation with me, and I will probably have spilled something on my shirt during the course of the day. In fact, that is probably the only thing I will be able to think of to say to you if conversation wanes. I am just warning you ahead of time. You can take a picture of us together and post it to your Facebook page, and I will look extremely shiny. You can even ask me to sign copies of my books for you, and I will try very hard not to misspell your name or my own. Sound like an offer you can't refuse? Here's where I will be:

Next Saturday, June 25, I will be one of the speakers at the Southern Magic meeting at the Homewood Public Library in Birmingham. Southern Magic is my local chapter of Romance Writers of America, and we are hosting a YA writers' panel consisting of moi, R. A. Nelson (who lives in Madison, near Huntsville), Rachel Hawkins (who lives in Auburn), Chandra Sparks Taylor (who lives here in Birmingham), and Rosemary Clement-Moore (who lives in Texas but hangs out in Alabama a lot and wrote a wonderful novel called The Splendor Falls all about us). We're expecting aspiring YA authors but also teen readers. Everyone is welcome, and you can get all the details at Southern Magic's web site here .

On Tuesday, June 28, if you are anywhere in the vicinity of New York City, you have GOT to come to the Literacy Book Signing at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Every year, Romance Writers of America includes this event as the kickoff to their national conference. Every year I am there. And every year I am astonished all over again, because it is a room full of 500 romance authors signing books and romance fans going NUTS. It's so much fun! Publishers donate authors' books to this event. Authors sign them, readers buy them, and all of the proceeds go to literacy charities. No guarantees, because sometimes there are mix-ups in shipping, but I am supposed to be signing ENDLESS SUMMER, FORGET YOU, and LOVE STORY, three weeks before it arrives in stores! This event is open to the public and admission is free. The line to get in will be frighteningly long before the event starts at 5:30, but you won't have to wait long once things get moving. You can find details and the impressive list of authors at RWA's web site here .

Finally, on Friday, July 1 from 12 to 1:30 p.m., I will be signing and giving away copies of LOVE STORY at the Pocket Book Signing. This event is for RWA conference attendees only and the conference is sold out--but if you will be there, I hope you will come find me! Lots of the big publishers have book signings like this at the conference and give away piles of books. I have been attending the conference since 2005 but it took me a while to figure this out.

And then I will disappear back into my hole, because DOUBLE DATE is due on August 1, SUCH A RUSH is due on September 1, and the outline for THE ROMANTIC DRAMA I HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF YET is due on October 1. So if you are dying to have that talk with me about whatever I have spilled on my shirt, act now while supplies last.