Claire Hennessy's Blog, page 32

Book-review post!

(Back to the YA reads for this one!)

Ian Somers – The Million Dollar Gift

I have a feeling 11+ boys will lap up this one – a boy with superpowers and a skateboard living in the world as we know it (lots of contemporary references). Ross has a gift he’s never shared with anyone – but when his summer job at the supermarket proves just too hideous and there’s an opportunity to win a million dollars, he reveals the gift to his testers – and gets pulled into a web of secrets and lies and explosions. There’s some fun playing about with formats here and I particularly loved seeing the history of all the different gifts. There’s a sequel on its way, too.

Sophie Flack – Bunheads

Sophie Flack danced with the New York City Ballet for several years, and puts her experience to good use in her debut novel for teenagers. Bunheads depicts the life of nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward as she struggles through the grueling, all-encompassing (yet addictive) world of professional ballet dancing, and begins to question whether this life – without much space for anything else, including a blossoming romance and other passions – is really what she wants. This is a fascinating read and one well worth checking out, particularly for ballet fans or for anyone with a consuming passion of their own.

Siobhan Vivian – The List

Siobhan Vivian’s latest book features her trademark blend of smooth writing, memorable and unique characters, and feminist-without-being-preachy issues. This book tells the story of one week in a particular high school, and the story of eight girls on a list that labels them as either Ugliest or Prettiest in their year. It’s a really interesting book, going beyond the pedestrian (not quite ‘but we’re all beautiful inside’). I remember reading an interview with the author in which she said it was like writing short stories rather than a novel, with the eight main characters, and there are definitely times when it feels like interlinked stories – no bad thing, but it does leave you with that short-story feeling (havng had an intense connection with a character yet knowing there’s much more to their life than you’ve seen) at the end. Definitely worth reading, though.

Paige Harbison – New Girl

I am slightly bewildered as to why this book doesn’t advertise its origins more clearly. When I first encountered it, my response was ‘meh’; when I read a piece that pointed out that it’s a modern version of Rebecca (set in a boarding school, no less!) I was immediately intrigued. The allusions are not terribly subtle – the narrator’s roommate is named Dana Veers! – but it’s a very nifty retelling/reworking of a text, complete with much teenage angst and craziness and sex. Really enjoyed it.

Beth Revis – A Million Suns

I hugely enjoyed this follow-up to Across the Universe. As with the first volume, there’s plenty of mystery and intrigue alongside romance and social unrest – all within the confines of a spaceship in trouble. The book is narrated by both Amy – a girl from our near-future who was woken from cryogenic stasis – and Elder, who’s lived on the ship his whole life and is the chosen leader of the people. Although their romantic relationship is an ongoing part of the plot, it never overwhelms it – there’s so much more going on than just a romance, or even just a murder mystery. Also, it’s set in space! I can’t wait until the third and final volume in the trilogy, Shades of Earth, is published (early 2013).

Carrie Jones – Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend

I’d been meaning to read this for years. Belle lives in a small town and her perfect boyfriend has just told her he’s gay – what’s a girl to do? This is a quick read, but very enjoyable – the characters are quirky and compelling, and it’s hopeful without resolving everything too tidily.

Writing wisdom from Donna Jo Napoli

The author of many, many books for kids (all ages) Donna Jo Napoli is currently a research fellow at the Long Room Hub, TCD, and gave a presentation on Monday, June 18th, on writing for young adults and in particular her novel The Wager, based on a Sicilian fairytale and set in the twelfth century. There was a lot covered, but some of the useful points for writerly types here:

She is a big advocate of making stories out of stories. She likes taking stories that are ‘brief’ (maybe only a page or two) and have ‘lots of odd things’ in them – like fairytales or myths – and then figuring out a way of making those events historically and psychologically plausible, while still respecting the story points of the original text.
She does a huge amount of research before she starts writing her first draft, immersing herself in the time/place/world she wants to write about. In her research notes, she pays particular attention to anything she encountered when researching that fascinated her – anything weird or unusual or engaging, something that provoked an emotional response – and tries to fit that into her first draft.
She writes her first drafts in a ‘white heat’, very very quickly, over summer or winter break (in her day job she’s a professor of linguistics). Second drafts get written along with the rest of life, after feedback from her (now-grown) kids, and take much longer, and usually are much longer. Her third draft gets written after she’s got feedback from kids or teens at schools, and this is the point that it goes to editors and editorial revisions start.
She believes in being kind to yourself when you write and rewarding yourself for reaching certain targets – end of the page, end of a chapter, end of a draft.
The most drafts of a novel she’s ever done is thirteen. For picture books she’s done many more – she finds picture books harder. [Almost everyone who writes both novels and picture books says this. It really is worth keeping in mind - so many people think they're easy. Madness!]
She notes that for plots, it’s not so much about making something brand-new as it is about making the plot matter to the reader. Sometimes this can be achieved by changing the setting or the time – other times it might just be about taking the source story really seriously and seeing what happens, making the reader care.
For accuracy in historical fiction – despite the research, you’ll always be wrong. The question isn’t ‘are you right?’ but ‘does this ring true?’

Book-review post!

(aka, Occasionally I Read Books Intended For Grown-Uppy Types)

Tina Fey – Bossypants

Very, very funny memoir from Tina Fey, aka the genius behind 30 Rock and Mean Girls, among others. This is among those rare ‘I am actually, literally laughing-out-loud here’ books. Those looking for a tell-all style book will be disappointed – there are some personal insights and behind-the-scenes snippets, but nothing too revealing. When faced with the choice of getting intimate or making you laugh, Fey goes for the laugh every time – and pulls it off. Worth reading if you need a good laugh, or indeed if you’ve ever pondered just how autobiographical the more lunatic bits of 30 Rock are.

Andrew Kaufman – All My Friends Are Superheroes

Lovely, funny, slightly mad book about a world in which the narrator’s friends are all – as the title suggests – superheroes, and in which his girlfriend, The Perfectionist, has been hypnotised not to see him. The descriptions of the ‘superpowers’ are particularly delightful. Well worth picking up, and as it’s quite short, a nice one to try in between longer tomes.

Meg Cabot – Queen of Babble in the Big City and Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

Ah, Meg Cabot. Occasionally I will stop reading a particular Meg Cabot series for a while. But inevitably I am pulled back in, and glad of it. I hadn’t kept up with the Queen of Babble books since the first one, but was craving some Cabot-ish goodness and ended up zipping my way through the second and third books. Lizzie Nichols, aspiring wedding dress designer, moves to New York and gets engaged – but things don’t quite go as planned. It’s skilfully-done romantic comedy, and I loved the ending. I also loved how by the end of the second book one could make a reasonable guess at how the trilogy would end, and yet it was still satisfying and interesting to read about how they got there. Knowing/suspecting the ending doesn’t necessarily make a book predictable, as is often a criticism of this genre in particular – it takes skill to portray the journey convincingly. Nicely done, Meg Cabot, as ever.

Sarah Mlynowski – Monkey Business

I have a weakness for books about people doing masters’ degrees. (See also: Megan Crane’s English As A Second Language.) This one is an MBA, and the focus is on two men and two women in their first year at a top business school. There’s a fast pace, lots of humour, and plenty of romance and sex (and studying. Well, less of that). A fun (but not brainless) read.

Miranda Dickinson – It Started With A Kiss

Very funny and sweet and romantic tale of a woman named Romily, who is kissed by a stranger shortly before Christmas (just after she’s told her best friend Charlie she loves him – to a less-than-enthusiastic response) and decides to spend the next year searching for him. She sets up a blog, and along the way makes a whole lot of new connections as well as some old ones – could Charlie finally be starting to see her as more than just a friend? I loved how the blog side of things was handled – at one point she becomes a Twitter trend! – and all the other aspects of the book. Romily and Charlie and a few of their friends are part of a wedding band (although it’s not their full-time job) and there’s lots about the different weddings, as well as the dynamics of this group of friends. I adored the ending, too. Well worth reading.

Summer seems to be here…

… and there is occasionally actual sunshine. Madness!

This summer I’ll be doing the usual round of summer camps – in June/July I’ll be teaching Novel Writing at CTYI, DCU, and later in July I’ll be co-facilitating Song and Writing with Dara Black. In August I’m back at Inkwell4Kids. (I have a few other workshops lined up, and some ongoing projects, but generally speaking the summer is mostly stuff for kids/teens.)

I love summer camps – the intensity, the fun. Almost always everyone there wants to be there, which makes for a brilliant environment. People make new friends (and enemies, sometimes, and crushes) so quickly, and sometimes it’s a space where they get to be a version of themselves they don’t in their ordinary school-year lives.

They also make for brilliant settings, fiction-wise, so in honour of it almost being summer-camp season, here are my very favouritest YA and MG summer camp reads (some are artsy/academic camps, some are of the more traditional variety):

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) – Justina Chen Headley

Empress of the World – Sara Ryan

The Order of the Poison Oak – Brent Hartinger

There’s a Bat in Bunk Five – Paula Danziger (sequel to The Cat Ate My Gymsuit)

Sleepaway Girls – Jen Calonita

Dramarama – E Lockhart

Camp Girl-Meets-Boy and Camp Reunion – Caroline B Cooney

Love and Betrayal and Hold the Mayo – Francine Pascal (the third Victoria Martin book)

Summer Switch – Mary Rodgers (sequel to Freaky Friday)

The Babysitters Club Super Special #2: Babysitters’ Summer Holiday (or Baby-sitters’ Summer Vacation in original US version) – Ann M Martin

I have Nerd Camp by Elissa Weissman on the to-read list. Are there any other summer camp books you’d recommend?

Book-review post!

Jeri Smith-Ready – Shine

The third and final volume in the Shade trilogy. Aura has finally said goodbye to Logan, but there’s still trouble and heartache again – especially when something terrible happens to Zachary, and the anti-ghost anti-Post-Shifter measures are amped up by the government. As with the previous volumes, this is a compulsive page-turner – a terrific blend of romance and mystery. The reasons for the Shift are further delved into, alongside what the Shift means for big business and government. The world of this trilogy is really appealing and so well done – with characters that feel real even in that alternate-world – and it’s a shame to say goodbye to them. Really looking forward to seeing whether JSR writes any more YA fiction.

Laura Jane Cassidy – Eighteen Kisses

The second story about Jacki King sees this girl detective with paranormal abilities haunted by another missing woman. This time Jacki has the support of the police (well, mostly) and some definite leads – yet it seems like someone involved in the case, about a girl who went missing on her eighteenth birthday, is lying. As part of her cover story, Jacki’s back in Dublin, doing an internship at a music magazine and reconnecting with her old friends – and making one or two new ones. As with the first book, the balance between the paranormal stuff and the real-life emotions is expertly handled – the world here is completely believable. Fast-paced, with some marvellously funny bits alongside the creepier and angsty ones.

Deb Caletti – The Story of Us

I generally adore Deb Caletti’s books, but this one felt a little ‘meh’ – which I even feel vaguely guilty about saying. I love the quieter feel of Deb Caletti’s books, and the rich cast of quirky supporting characters, and the reflective parts, but in this case it felt a little too understated at the quiet parts, a little too reflective, a little too quirky. The story is centred around a wedding, and the focus is on high school graduate Cricket, who’s worried that her mother will run off before the wedding (as she’s done before) and also concerned about her own relationship with her long-term boyfriend. There’s also a lot about dogs. Maybe that was it, for me. There’s a lot to like, and I really did enjoy Cricket’s insecurities and uncertainties about moving away from home, but I felt the show/tell balance was off a little, I guess. YMMV – I’ve come across reviews naming this as Caletti’s best book yet.

Meg Rosoff – Vamoose

Short yoke from a while back. A teenage mother gives birth to a moose. Just the right level of zany and snarky you’d expect. Nice quick read.

Leigh Stein – The Fallback Plan

Ah, 20something post-college angst! My second-favourite kind (after, of course, teen). Esther has just graduated with a degree in theatre and is back living with her parents, hoping she develops some kind of chronic illness so she can stay cocooned forever. Instead she finds herself with a job – nanny to a family still recovering from the loss of their first child a few years before. This moves along nicely and there are some gorgeous observations in here – looking forward to reading her next book.

Sarah Rees Brennan – Unspoken (via Net Galley)

I mostly want there to be a whole book about Holly and Angela. There is lots of other good stuff in here, but mostly that’s what I picked up. Basically, this is the tale of a young intrepid reporter, Kami, and what happens in a small village when the creepy gothic family, the Lynburns, return. There are lots of gothic-y tropes and secrets and intrigues, blended with realistic contemporary heroines and heroes. The tone is very very Sarah-ish, especially in the dialogue. Worth checking out – on shelves in September.

How to ruin a character in a single line

I have mentioned, I believe, my fondness for April Kepner on Grey’s Anatomy? And then along came episode 8.21, in which she is a hysterical sobbing mess (a little too hysterical for someone with her capabilities), gets into a drunken brawl (okay, that part is sort of awesome), sleeps with Jackson (a sort of oh-no-you-guys-are-friends-yet-really-there-are-no-friendships-in-Grey’s-without-sexual-tension-so-go-for-it mishmash), and then freaks out (bad). Because Jesus will be mad at her that she’s had sex.



As this piece discusses, it is a prime example of Retconning, in which a series rewrites its own history, and not terribly effectively. There’s a difference between a shock reveal and something that makes you go “uh… what? That doesn’t even make sense.”

So for everything up to that moment, there was never any mention of April having particular religious beliefs. Not even when she had to face down a psychotic gun-man. The ‘adult virgin’ status was about wanting to wait for it to be ‘special’, then waiting too long and finding it awkward and a big deal. Then suddenly: angst! But not angst that would have made sense and fitted with the consequences of drunkenly sleeping with your best friend the night before the biggest exams of your life and it being your first time and oh-what-does-it-all-mean and where-do-we-go-from-here. Oh no. Jesus-angst. Sudden Jesus-angst.

What the hell?

Even Christian fans are going “Jesus wouldn’t hate her!”, incidentally. Which is sort of missing the point – that what we learn about April here isn’t just an articulation of misguided beliefs (although…), but something that flat-out doesn’t fit with everything we’ve learned about her before.

And on a storytelling level, honestly, it’s far less interesting. Super-Christian girl ‘saves herself’? Yawn. Woman with sexual desires but uncertain about what to do or how to get what she wants because society deems there’s an acceptable window for ‘first times’ and struggling with all that? And searching for meaningful connections in the oversexed hospital which realistically is going to be where she meets most potential love interests? That’s interesting.

Sometimes retcons can be fun, if they’re done knowingly. (The Simpsons episode ‘That 90s Show’ is one of my favourite episodes of TV ever.) But this one feels… a little ick. A little not-really-thought-out. A little let’s-amp-up-the-drama-by-surprising-everyone-without-considering-whether-the-surprise-makes-sense.

Plot twists and shock reveals are supposed to surprise and, well, shock. But when they come out of nowhere, it’s not clever plotting. It’s cheating, and it’s unsatisfying for readers, or viewers, or whoever.

Sigh. Back to my Cristina-worship and Arizona-adoration I go…

Book-review post!

(Catching up on my bookish thoughts…)

Megan Crane – I Love The Eighties

This is a slightly new departure for Megan Crane, who veers away from the strictly-real contemporary world to a science-fiction mystery one. 30something Jenna is obsessed with an 80s band and in particular the main singer, Tommy Seer, who died in 1987. An electrical storm sends her back to that year – mere months before his death. It’s up to her to figure out how to prevent his death – which is looking like it wasn’t an accident – while ensuring that no one finds out how she knows everything she does about the ‘future’. There aren’t quite as many wry observations on life as there are in Crane’s other books, but I really liked the take on Manhattan now-and-then, and political correctness, and 80s fashions. And the plot is delightfully twisty and dark, without ever getting too gritty. There is also, of course, a romance. And that too is rather fun.

Madeleine George – The Difference Between You and Me

I adored Madeleine George’s first YA novel, Looks, so was very excited about this book. Jesse is an angry activist rebel type, with big clunky boots and messy hair and a serious crush on Emily – student council vice-president, all pink and sweet and earnest and hypocritical. At school, they pretty much ignore each other; at the library every week they make out and it’s like nothing either of them have ever experienced. But things can’t stay secret or safe forever – and when the girls come into conflict over big business interfering with the school, something’s got to give. The narrative is mostly divided between Jesse and Emily, and I really loved seeing Emily’s self-justification and self-congratulation – she’s frustrating at times but very, very real. Gorgeous writing, relatable characters, and ‘issues’ without super-preachiness make this a YA book to keep an eye out for.

Hannah Moskowitz – Gone, Gone, Gone

David-Levithan-esque tale of two boys, Lio and Craig, falling for each other in Maryland in 2002, a year after 9-11 and against the backdrop of a sniper on the loose. Lots of interesting thoughts on loss and love, filtered through the two angry-angsty-teen-boy voices.

Megan McCafferty – Thumped

Sequel to Bumped, so more delightful zappy zany dystopian comedy. Melody and Harmony are both pregnant with twins – at least, that’s what the world thinks. In reality, there’s a tangled mess of secrets – one which might just have to unravel once someone goes into labour. The cast from the first book, including the swoonworthy Jondoe and lovely Zen, return, and there’s the same mix of snarky social commentary and genuine relationships (between sisters, friends, and partners) as in the first book. Feels more like a ‘part 2′ than a sequel, so well worth reading if you enjoyed the first book – but here’s hoping they get packaged as a single volume in the future.

Sarah Ockler – Bittersweet

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous story about winter and cupcakes and cute hockey boys and friendship and family and competitive skating. This is the sort of story you sink into, the kind that reminds you why contemporary YA is just so darn good. Loved it.

Things I wish were trends

In YA fiction, especially, we’re always hearing about the Next Big Thing, the Next Big Trend – vampires or zombies or space opera or fallen angels or whatever it’s going to be. Sometimes we’re wrong – sometimes there’s educated guessing and speculation that never really amounts to much. Other times there are mini-trends (I don’t think we’ve seen a big-big one very recently – not like vampires or dystopian) that do appear.

And then there are the things that you sort of wish were trends, or could be, but are highly unlikely to ever be. The things that do turn up in YA fiction, but aren’t a Big Thing, that probably never will be. Here are mine:

YA set in the glam rock era, a la Velvet Goldmine
boarding school stories (they’re more a staple than a trend)
books set in Paris that are actually about French teens (rather than American or British teens visiting) but written in/translated into English
contemporary YA focusing on artsy/performing students (possibly a mini-trend at the moment?)
summer camp books
LGBT fairytale retellings
books about academic pressure
teens in business (either setting up their own or working for one)
dystopian comedy

What are yours?

Write down your ideas

Write down your ideas.

Some writers don’t. They don’t because they insist that if an idea’s good enough, they’ll remember it.

This makes perfect sense for big-concept ideas, but not everything arrives into your brain as a big-concept idea. Sometimes what you write down isn’t the whole idea, even if it feels like it at the time. A book involves lots and lots and lots of ideas, not just one single concept.

(This is also why, incidentally, many books/films sound very similar when boiled down to their one-line synopsis. And why people worry much more about their one-line premise before ever having finished a manuscript. Once you’ve written one, you see how much more there is to a book – even if it can be tricky to reflect that in an initial pitch.)

Write down your ideas. No matter how vague they seem. Not all of them are the brilliant flash of genius concept-encapsulated-in-one-line type, but the less-brilliant can be added to something else to flesh it out a bit, and suddenly, there you go, you’re a step closer to writing that book.

Write down your ideas. And if you feel sheepish pulling out a big obvious I-Am-A-Writer notebook and scribbling away, take out your phone and write it in a text message to yourself.

(This also nicely doubles up as a useful activity for those moments where you’re awkwardly waiting for someone, don’t have a book to read, and need to pretend to be fixated on your phone. Win-win situation!)

Drinking games NOT to play

Occasionally (feeling slightly navel-gazey as I do so) I check out the search terms that lead people to this site. Sometimes they are very ordinary (“Claire Hennessy writer” ), other times they’re slightly more unusual.

One recent one was drinking games with Hennessy, which I presume means the cognac, rather than, you know, me. But then I started thinking about drinking games I would suggest to this person. Many of them were TV-related.

For example, while watching Desperate Housewives, drink every time Mary Alice says, “Yes….”

When watching Boston Legal, drink every time Denny Crane breaks the fourth wall. And start chugging whenever he and Alan Shore dance, dress up as flamingos, or get married.



Drink whenever Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock alludes to any other Alec Baldwin characters.

When watching anything featuring Betty White, drink whenever she gets the best lines.

For Brothers and Sisters and Cougar Town, drink when they drink.

Then I realised that these were very bad ideas which would leave people comatose and/or dead. Especially the last one.

Alas, searcher-person, I can’t help you on this one. Have a link to that episode of Black Books where they write the children’s book instead. Do not drink when they drink. Ever.