Holly Cupala's Blog, page 15

YA Bloggers Want...Books Incognito: Little Willow

I have to admit when my editor sent me the early draft of the TELL ME A SECRET cover, I was thrilled - the picture is breathtaking and captures the undercurrents of the story.

But what if I wasn't so lucky? What if I hated it? What if everyone hated it?

Little Willow--brilliant blogger at Bildungsroman, writer, singer, dancer, actor, and dear friend--is here to propose something even more outrageous. More breathtaking.

What if...gasp...books went incognito? This is a tantalizing idea to me, and I'm curious what you readers think.

Welcome, Little Willow!

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You know what I'd like to see on the YA shelf, or on all shelves, for that matter? Books with plain covers that simply bear titles and bylines. I know the art and marketing departments of various publishing houses would be shocked by this endeavor, but think of the results such an experiment would yield. People would actually have to pick up a book and READ the first few pages in order to discover the premise of the story. Perish the thought!

Really, though. Think about how it would be if book covers were as plain and simple as they used to be years ago. You wouldn't be drawn to (or perhaps not drawn to) a book because of the model on the cover. You wouldn't be upset when you saw a flawless blonde depicted on the cover when the main character is actually a nearsighted brunette. Instead of being repulsed by the awkwardly combined photos and clip art (When Good PhotoShop Goes Bad: Coming up next on the 10 o'Clock News!) you would be curious to discover what the title meant and who was telling the story and why.

The books might surprise you - and you might surprise yourself when you discover what you really look for when you go hunting for a good book!

Here are three wonderful YA novels with titles and covers which may deceive you:

Boy Heaven by Laura Kasischke (LW's review here)
Swollen by Melissa Lion (LW's review here)
The Queen of Everything by Deb Caletti (LW's review here)

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Thank you, Little Willow, for coming to celebrate YALSA's Teen Read Week and National Book Month with us!

Readers, what do you think about Books Incognito? Do you judge a book by its cover? I admit I sometimes do, though I primarily rely on friends' recommendations. Comment for a chance to win this week's book prizes! (US addresses only.)

YA Bloggers Want...Contemporary Allure: Words on Paper

Welcome to Cass from Down Under! More specifically, from Words on Paper, her fantastic blog chronicling her take on YA near and far. Cass is here for the What YA Bloggers Want series to tell us what she's dying to see on her shelf.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Cass through my blog--I don't know how she found me, but I've been glad ever since! So please give a warm welcome to Cass...hopefully she'll pull up a chair and stay a while.

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I love contemporary YA novels. As opposed to other teens my age that prefer to stick their nose in a good fantasy or paranormal, contemporary is my first pick. Characters who could be the girl next door; issues that are realistic and actually happen to people . . . there's just something so intriguing and alluring about the whole genre. Some of my favourites include: TELL ME A SECRET, BEFORE I FALL, IF I STAY, THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE.

I'd love to see more family interaction, I mean, lately I've been reading books where parents are either absent, passed on, or just not important enough to have some "screen time" within the story. For example, in TMAS, a familial situation was an integral part of the storyline, which I quite liked. It's refreshing, and a good change from the typical romantic love which is almost always thrown into any YA novel.

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Thank you, Cass, for visiting my blog and for the TMAS shout-out! (She wrote a very kind review here.)

Readers, what do you love about contemporary realism? Any favorites? What kinds of realistic issues haven't been explored enough? Comment for a chance at this week's book prize!

YA Bloggers Want...Diversity with their Adventure: Lee Wind

Ack, not sure how this happened but blogger ate today's post featuring my friend Lee Wind, who is an author, blogger, and all-around generous guy and advocate for teen lit.

Lee is another one of the amazing folks I met at the Portland Kidlit Conference a few years back, and I'm very pleased to be welcoming him today.Take it away, Lee!
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I love adventure books (like Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games") and fantasy books (like Kenneth Oppel's steampunk "Airborn") What I crave are teen books with these big adventure arcs where the romantic arc is gay. While there are a handful of GLBTQ Teen books released in the past few years that are genre books - stories not about the character's being Gay, but rather a Gay character who has an adventure - I want more. There's Perry Moore's "Hero" and Hayden Thorne's "Masks" series about gay superheroes, but I want the teen gay vampire books (they don't even have to sparkle in the sunlight! Where's The LGBTQ Teens save the world book? The Teen adventure where Katniss falls for another girl? The Gay Teen Dragonrider of Pern? (How I loved Anne McCaffrey's books when I was a teen!) I like my stories big and my teens heroic - and I'd love to read more stories where the heroism is accompanied by a teen-guy-falling-for-another--teen-guy romance.

I cover all YA books with significant GLBTQ Characters and Themes on my blog, "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read? And while there are over 230 books out there, there are so many stories still to be told! It's why I'm a writer... and it's what's going to keep us all reading!



***** Thank you, Lee, for dropping by! (And I'm sorry about the blogger snafu, everyone...!) Readers, what kinds of characters and character traits do you look for in an adventure? Do you relate more to characters who are like you, and/or do you enjoy reading from the point of view of someone different? Prize info is coming soon, comment to enter! (US)

Story Secrets: DRAGONS OF NOOR by Janet Lee Carey

Hooray, the dragons are on the shelf! I'm very very very excited (can you tell how excited I am?) to invite my dear friend Janet Lee Carey, one of the most amazing authors and one of my own mentors, to Story Secrets today to talk about her latest YA fantasy, DRAGONS OF NOOR.

It's epic. It's wonderful. I've been incredibly fortunate to get to hear this book from the very beginning, so it's like watching a beloved niece or nephew go off to high school. It's here!

You must read it.

Plus, if you are in the Seattle area, you can come to the launch party at Kirkland Parkplace Books on Saturday, October 23rd, at 7pm!

Ok, enough strongarming...er, recommending. But Janet is wonderful. She contributed to my Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market article, "Telling Your Secrets!" She's the author of STEALING DEATH and DRAGONSKEEP. You will love them.

Welcome, Janet!

*****

Miles, Hanna, and Taunier are swept into a new adventure in the haunting sequel to THE BEAST OF NOOR. The tale begins when a mysterious wind steals Miles's and Hanna's younger brother Tymm. Tymm and other wind-stolen children are swept east across the sea. The three teens sail after Tymm blown by the wind into a Dragon war. Siding with the Dragons of Noor fighting to save the ancient trees is the only way to bridge the broken worlds, the only way to reach the missing children.

Holly Cupala: I love to hear the stories behind the story – how did you come up with the idea for DRAGONS?

Janet Lee Carey: THE DRAGONS OF NOOR began with a daydream. In a kind of trance, I saw a mysterious wind sweep in, steal a child and blow him across the sky. I followed the dream to see what lay behind it. As I asked questions the dream expanded on paper. I was soon traveling across the Noor Sea with Miles, Hanna, and Taunier to find Miles's and Hanna's little brother. When I began I didn't know they'd meet up with Dragons who were fighting their own fierce battle, I didn't know how the Dragon's battle for the last great forest of Noor intertwined with the missing children. I discovered it as I wrote my way in. Hanna is a Dreamwalker. In a way I am, too. I Dreamwalk into the story and write as I move along.

Holly: How has the novel tied in with your own love of nature?

Janet: Egmont USA made an offer for THE DRAGONS OF NOOR on Earth Day 2008. Ecstatic, I celebrated the acceptance by adopting an acre of rainforest through The Nature Conservancy. I did this because Ancient Forests play a pivotal role in the book: Evver the Tree Deya says this to Hanna as they part:

Feel the ground beneath your feet as you walk. Heart to root; remember the ones who hold you up

Ancient Forests play a crucial role in our world. "The Facts" flash show on the Plant a Billion Trees campaign site was startling and convicting. Having grown up in the ancient redwood forest in California, I've always loved trees, but I didn't know the full extent of their impact on planet earth until I began researching this book. Now the book is coming out, I'll be offering readers and schools through my author visits a chance to participate in the Plant a Billion Trees project.

The book will envelop readers in a battle to save the Ancient Trees of Noor. Readers inspired to do something about the same problem in our world today can pitch in with me planting trees in the endangered tropical rainforest of Brazil.
Why plant trees? One simple reason: "Tropical forests are the lungs of the earth storing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen in a never-ending life cycle." So what to breathe? Plant trees. More info about this in the "Giving Back" section on my website
Holly: I'm all about digging deeper to find truth – how have your life experiences helped you get to the heart of your story?

You do know how to dig, Holly. Okay here goes: As a young mother, I was constantly worried something would happen to my sons. I still worry too much and still have a recurrent "someone kidnapped my kid!" nightmare. (anyone else out there have those?)

Nightmares and Daydreams both play a role in my books. This haunting phrase about wind-stolen children came to me in the Daydream and became iatrical to the book:

Children fly when worlds are shaken,
Now the children are Wind-taken.
Seek them there, seek them here, before the children disappear.

Over the years I learned to turn my smotherhood into stories and plant my fears on the page. The "someone has kidnapped my kid!" theme comes up in Chapter 1 of THE DRAGONS OF NOOR when Tymm is stolen by the wind. Of course I wanted to rescue him, so I sent Miles, Hanna and Taunier after him --the rest is Story.

Holly: What's up next?

Janet: The companion book to DRAGON'S KEEP. Current working title is TESS OF DRAGONSWOOD. If you think I'm obsessed with forests and dragons, take it up with my muse...
***** Thank you, Janet! Readers, how important are daydreams and nightmares to you? Have you ever dreamed a story and wanted to write it down? Is nature an important part of your life? And do you love to read about dragons? ;-)

YA Bloggers Want...Books That Pass the Reread Test: Steph Su

Smart and book-savvy Stephanie Su of Steph Su Reads is one of the people who make me really, really want to move to NYC because of the cool people there - I was lucky to meet her in person at the blogger-created Teen Author Carnival.

I have a lot of admiration for Steph, so it made me ridiculously happy when she loved Tell Me a Secret.

Welcome to What YA Bloggers Want, Steph!

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It's hard for me to quantify exactly what I want to see more of in YA--it's actually a question that will tie in with my thesis work! Very exciting!--so I'm going to talk about several of my all-time favorite YAs, which have all withstood the important "reread" test, and how they exemplify the kind of writing that I want more of.

POISON STUDY by Maria Snyder: This plot-driven, high-quality-character book has one of the most successful original fantasy premises I've discovered in recent years. It's not necessarily more or less complicated than other fantasy premises that have emerged in the past half decade, but Yelena's narration doesn't get bogged down in descriptions and explanations; instead, those unfold effortlessly in the crisp writing. On top of that, Yelena is extremely smart in situations that would've broken me down. Every time I reread this book, usually at least half the book goes by before I come up for my first breath of air!

FAT CAT by Robin Brande: One of those gems of YA lit that I wish more people knew about. What is it about Cat's story that I can't get enough of? I like that she's smart, but from the very first chapter the reader can simultaneously empathize with her AND see the potential for growth in her. I'm in awe of this sort of literary duality, because it is often much easier to portray a character as either totally put-together or completely broken.

The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty (Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, etc.): Arguably my favorite series of all time. McCafferty's introduction to us of her memorable characters is effortless: the use (and misuse) of class superlatives was a clever way of painting the characters from Jessica's snarky POV. Every sentence has its purpose in these books; that is something easier said than done in writing!

So what do these mini-analyses conclude? I'm not too sure, but I think it has something to do with minimizing the distance between the characters and the reader. The best kind of fiction writing for me is often "invisible" yet indispensable... kind of like the stage crew in a no-hitch performance. :) The first read-through should be inexplicably all-consuming and un-putdownable; subsequent read-throughs should reveal the painstaking work that the author has put into the book to make it read effortlessly. Hey, no one said writing is easy, and good writing will not be!

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Thank you, Steph!

Readers, what books pass the all-important Reread Test for you? What do you think sets them apart? Would you reread a book you didn't really care for the first time in order to find the hidden gems? Let us know! (Plus we're doing a drawing for this week's prize soon! US addresses only.)

By the way, this What YA Bloggers Want series is in honor of YALSA's Teen Read Week and National Book Month!

YA Bloggers Want...Stories That Will Keep Them Up Reading: Alice Pope

Alice Pope, former longtime editor of the Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market and current official blogger for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, is our guest today at What YA Bloggers Want, a month-long series from many of my blogger friends who tell us what they'd like to see on the YA shelf.

Alice is just one more amazing person I met at the 2nd Annual Kidlit Blogger Conference - consider this a hint that you might want to attend the upcoming one in Minneapolis! She also asked me to contribute an article, "Telling Your Secrets," to the 2011 edition of the CWIM.

Welcome, Alice!

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CREATE CHARACTERS THAT KEEP ME AWAKE

There are a lot of books in my house (YA and otherwise) that I've started and never finished. I only have so much reading time and if I'm not super into a book, I simply stop. (After five years as an English major, I was pretty much over forcing myself to finish books I find dull. No offense Brontë sisters.)

I want—no, I need—a book that I'll have to stay up all night to finish. Here are the first four titles that came to my mind when I thought about books that kept up until the wee hours.

RATS SAW GOD by Rob Thomas: This debut from the man who would later bring us Dawson's Creek and Veronica Mars might be my favorite YA ever. It's certainly the one I've re-read the most. Main character Steve York rings true as he deals with father issues, girlfriend issues, writing his life story, and Dadaism. He breaks my heart just a little and he makes me laugh.

WHEN JEFF COMES HOME by Catherine Atkins: Also a debut, in 2001 I read Atkins' book about a 16-year-old boy returning home after being abducted and held captive for 2½ years and to this day I still can't bring myself to go to a road side rest stop (the scene of the abduction). Every time I drive by one I still get a chill, haunted by Jeff's pain.

SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr: In this follow-up to Zarr's National Book Award finalist STORY OF A GIRL, main character Jenna is someone I could so empathize with—someone who's trying to re-invent herself and fit it. Then enters a compelling character from her past who complicates her life. I read this on a late-night flight and openly wept among the sleeping strangers.

WAKE by Lisa McMann: The first of a trilogy, McMann's novel offers a contemporary main character with a fantastical twist—Janie is sucked into people's dreams. McMann so adeptly handles the back and forth between Janie's reality and the dreams she witnesses that it's hard to pick which is more intriguing. I rooted for Janie; I fell in love with her boyfriend. I read it in one sitting and couldn't wait for book two.

These books all have compelling plots full of complications, but what's most important to me are the characters. These authors created in Steve, Jeff, Jenna and Janie characters that are believable, empathetic, real, flawed teens dealing with what life was dishing out with what strength they could muster. These authors created character I could care deeply about. And without that I would have been unwilling to go on their journeys with them.

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Thank you, Alice!

Readers, it's your turn: what books have kept you up late reading? Is it the characters? The plot? Suspense? What kind of books would keep you up?

(Plus don't forget, one comment/post is entered to win this week's book prizes and the grand prize!! US addresses only.)

Bid on #tellmeasecret to benefit Family Violence Prevention Fund!

My friend and fellow 2010 debut YA author Swati Avasthi (the one who I cornered in an elevator to help me wrap my red sari at the SCBWI red party?!) has put together this very cool blog tour and fundraising event:


To spread the word about her novel, SPLIT, and to raise awareness of family violence and prevention, she gathered a bunch of YA authors to donate nifty prizes to benefit the Family Violence Prevention Fund!


Plus there is more: critiques from agents and authors! ARCs and t-shirts and signed books! To check out all of the items, go here. And you can follow the SPLIT tour here! TMAS will be Wednesday's featured bid item at The Book Scout's SPLIT tour stop.

Thanks, Swati, Kari, and Kelsey, for featuring me!

Cynsational!! And...come title my novel?

Quick post about cool stuff: Cynthia Leitich Smith of Cynsations (and TANTALIZE! and ETERNAL!) invited me to chat about "the call," fifty roses, and getting into Miranda's head right here. Check it out!

Also:

YA Addict invited me to talk about failed drafts and awesome people in my life who see my stories not just as they are, but as they should be. (Plus a bunch of other cool authors talking about the power of failure!) Thanks, Jami!

It's not too late to vote for the TELL ME A SECRET trailer for the School Library Journal Trailie Awards! Hooray! Voting closes 10/22. (I know it's a huge longshot, but still...wow! Thank you, SLJ!)

And...2nd novel update...

TITLES! We need a title. Any ideas? Here's my quick summary:

[YOUR TITLE HERE!] is the story of a girl who runs away from her suburban home for secret reasons to join a band of homeless teens on the streets of Seattle—there's grit, there's romance…and an amazing boy. It's about what it means to love.

Seriously, if we pick your title, I will personally send you a signed ARC when they become availalble. Collective brainpower, help!

Oh, and here's the TMAS trailer in case you missed it. ;-)

YA Bloggers Want...Believable Characters and BOYS: A Good Addiction

I'm thrilled to welcome blogger Kari from A Good Addiction - you also might know her as @flamingo1325 on Twitter. This girl lives and breathes books, and I don't think it's a stretch to say she has her finger on the pulse of YA. She's also in the midst of writing her own, so give her a shout of encouragement in the comments!

Kari also co-runs the Teen Book Scene book tour site with Kelsey of The Book Scout. (And Kari generously offered to put together a TMAS blog tour with lots more secrets and outtakes - stay tuned for late November!)

Welcome, Kari!

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Characters are what's most important to me. A good plot, sure, but my first priority is strong, well developed characters. I don't just want to identify with the protagonist, I want to respect, understand and appreciate them. I don't have to like them or want to be their friend—that won't always happen. But I want them to be real. Someone who is both brave and scared, has good qualities and bad ones. Who makes crappy decisions, and then tries to fix it. I want the full picture. But more than anything, what I want is more male POV. I love seeing the world through a guy's eyes…what he experiences and thinks. It really isn't just sex and girls. From romance to something dealing with issues to even fantasy…I want the boy's side. All those issues and firsts we see repeatedly from a chick? The guy has a perspective too.


Some of my favorite, well built, strong voiced and well defined characters:

Seth in Mindi Scott's Freefall
Alex in Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry
Ellie in Courtney Allison Moulton's Freefall
Zach in Ryan Potter's Exit Strategy
Dru in Lili St. Crow's Strange Angels

*****

Thank you, Kari!

Readers, who are some of your favorite guy characters? What makes a character's voice and actions believable to you? Comment away, and enter to win this week's book prizes and the mondo grand prize!

Oh, and just in case you forgot, this What YA Bloggers Want series is in honor of YALSA's Teen Read Week and National Book Month!

YA Bloggers Want...It All! Sarah and Tanita of Finding Wonderland

We are in for a huge treat today from the bloggers at Finding Wonderland: a conversation between Sarah Stevenson (a.k.a. Aquafortis) and Tanita S. Davis about what should be on the YA shelves.

These women know YA. They blog about it, they write it, they read it, and they even spearhead awards for it (The Cybils!).

I had the great fortune of meeting Sarah at the 2nd annual Kidlit Blogger Conference when it was in Portland, OR, then finally met Tanita (who spends most of her time haunting the foggy bluffs of Scotland) at the Newbery and Caldecott Awards dinner...quite possibly the coolest literary event I've ever attended, made even better by getting to meet her in person.

Welcome, Sarah and Tanita!

*****

(In addition to blogging and writing, Sarah is an awesome artist.)

What I Love in YA and Can't Get Enough Of:

Aquafortis (Sarah): As far as genre goes, I will read just about any dystopian book that crosses my path, and I love sci-fi and fantasy as well as contemporary stories. But one thing I'm really loving is the growing steampunk genre. Fun!

On a more serious note, what I love about YA as a whole is, when it's at its best it approaches readers honestly; it isn't afraid to be unconventional; and it reminds readers that coming of age is an ongoing journey, not the static endpoint of reaching adulthood.

Tanita: And this is why we're just geeks here together at Wonderland – I, too really love speculative fiction. I admit to being a little vampired-out at the moment, and I never did find that zombies did it for me, but I do so love the unusual in this genre – and every time I turn around I find something unexpected. Greek Goddesses! Killer unicorns! I love it.

Whether it's dystophia, steampunk, cyberpunk or any other subgenre permutation, the beauty of young adult fantasy and science fiction lies in its potential. Seen otherwise as just stories for children, fiction for young adults is perhaps the single field in which so much in terms of ideas is made accessible. I love that even outside of the speculative genre, so many of our stories are wrapped up in "what if?"

What We Need More of in YA:

Aquafortis (Sarah): Humor—the laugh-out-loud kind. Whimsy. Not just guy books but "unisex" books. Books with multicultural characters that aren't necessarily "about" ethnicity. Graphic novels. A return to traditional illustration/artwork on book covers.

Tanita: Ooh, this is a big question. Is it too weird to say we need more ordinary stories? Tales of characters who aren't SAT whizzes, whose mothers might be deaf in one ear from an accident, characters who don't live in perfect houses and own their own computers, whose fathers work for the Hormel plant and who have to take the bus but also stories wherein that is not the focus – that's what I mean by ordinary. Also, I think we need big, sweeping fantasy romances which feature multicultural characters. How weird of a world is it if all the Princes are blond and all the Princesses are Snow White? I dearly want to see some diversity in speculative fiction.

Favorite books, Aquafortis (Sarah):

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Favorite books, Tanita:

Oh, how I loathe picking five of anything. Recent favorites, off the top of my head include:
Girl, Hero by Carrie Jones
Dull Boy by Sarah Cross
Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
The Theodosia Series by R. L. LeFevers
… and so, so many more.

*****

Thank you, ladies!

Readers, what do you think about steampunk? Speculative fiction? Ordinary stories? Multicultural heroes and heroines? Tell us in the comments, plus a chance to win this week's book prize. Even better? Tell your friends to stop by! (US addresses only, one comment/post toward prize.)