Marie Lu's Blog, page 109

I tend to doodle on most mornings. This morning involved a Day...

I tend to doodle on most mornings. This morning involved a Day face.

Why I write

With all the chaos of writing, revising, publishing, traveling, etcetc that goes with being a writer, I sometimes lose sight of the moments that really matter. It’s easy to get lost in the trees, especially when all the trees are made up of words. You start to bury your head in all the adjectives and grammar and research and questions and pretty soon you’re drowning and you can’t see the surface.

But every now and then, I’ll get letters from readers that pull me out of the woods. They remind me what the forest looks like.

A year ago, a teen fan emailed me with a heartfelt message of despair; I wrote back, encouraging him to keep his chin up. Fast forward to this past holiday season, when I received another email from him. Inspired by Day and June’s story, he decided to volunteer with two groups in Peru and spent the better part of a year both educating children in Trujillo and working at a clinic in a small, remote, and poor village. (With his permission to share,) he wrote: “My mind kept going back to how disparate parts of the world can be.  The paradise that people in the US believe to be dystopic, and the dystopia that people there believed to be their paradise…. I wanted to be like Day. I can’t really parkour, but, maybe if I tried, I might be able to change a couple of things that I thought weren’t right.  And, so I tried.  I’m not sure if I made a big difference, but I know that I tried my best to fight against some harsh realities of a pretty dystopian reality of poverty and disease.”

And a couple of days ago, I received a letter from a teacher that reduced me to happy tears. She told me about one of her students, a bullied 7th grader facing immense challenges both at home and in school, and how he cried when he succeeded in finishing Legend. Legend was the first book he had ever finished. (I cried too.)

Every step in the writing journey is magical in its own way. The moment you get your first offer from an agent. The moment you get the first offer from a publisher. The moment you hold your first hardcover in your hands. The signings you attend, the people you meet, the expos and articles and excitement and lists and deals!deals! and traveling and meeting other writers and so on and so forth.

But truly, the reason I write (and, I think, the reason most of us write) is to reach out to a reader, to tell a story that matters to me in the hopes that it will also matter to someone else. We write literary fiction, commercial fiction, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, historical, etc. It doesn’t matter. You never know how your words will affect someone’s life.

So thank you, readers and fans, for all of your letters and words of kindness. I told you my story, and now you all tell me yours. Your stories are incredible. I’m so proud and honored to write for you.

And to booksellers, publishers, educators, and librarians out there—you guys do amazing work. You change the lives of our young people every day.

[The organizations that the first reader volunteered with are Mosoq Ayllu and Una Sonrisa de Amor. They do fabulous things.]

sophronians:Best of my June Iparis cosplay from earlier...

sophronians:

Best of my June Iparis cosplay from earlier today!

Photos taken by Lauren

Character from the novel Legend by Marie Lu

So this is pretty much the most awesomest ever.

This is one of my dogs. This is the face that I have to say...

This is one of my dogs. This is the face that I have to say “No more treats today!” to. Sigh. Just take the treat. Here, take the whole bag.

Malinda Lo: Wellesley Women Who Will Seek Treatment

Malinda Lo: Wellesley Women Who Will Seek Treatment:

wellesleyunderground:

Last Monday ended National Mental Health Awareness week. July marked Minority Mental Health Awareness (MMHA) month. Both of these have encouraged those of us suffering from mental health illness to “come out”, so that is what I am doing. I am currently recovering…

I’m back from my trip through Paris, Frankfurt, and Berlin...

I’m back from my trip through Paris, Frankfurt, and Berlin (courtesy of my wonderful German publisher Loewe Verlag and my awesome French publisher Bragelonne/Castelmore!). Click the photo to see some photos from the trip. Thank you so much again to all of you who came out to our various events. I had a blast!

Another day, another YA label battle

I feel a need to comment this time.

The thing is, I understand what Mr. Marion is attempting to say (“YA as a label is used incorrectly in the publishing/marketing world and I want to distance myself from what it implies”) and I can sympathize with that idea. I understand frustration against what marketing wants to label you. But in my opinion, he is saying it in absolutely the wrong way. Insisting that you are not insulting anybody is useless if people are obviously insulted. As a writer, it means you are grossly miscommunicating.

I am constantly surprised by authors who strive to distance their work from the YA label. I had not intended Legend for ‘teens’. I’d intended it for anybody who might like a story about a young criminal vs a young detective. When I first sent it off to my agent, I said I thought it was probably science fiction. Then, when I was told that it fit rather neatly into the YA label, and more specifically the dystopian YA label, I shrugged and said “Cool”. I’m pretty sure I would’ve had the same reaction had Legend been labeled for adult SF/F or whatever. I can certainly agree that the YA label is not always used correctly by the publishing/marketing world, but let’s face it, all labels are used incorrectly in some fashion. All labels are broad umbrellas that lump all sorts of different things together. So perpetuating the idea that being labeled YA is “a rash on my eyeballs” is….well, kind of hurtful to see. Surely it’s obvious why this is insulting.

Personally, I’m more saddened than insulted. I sympathize, but I also disapprove. And I’m disheartened to see yet more fuel on the fire against the merit of YA.

Of course an author has the right to say that he thinks his book is misplaced in the bookstore. But the kind of vehemence shown here speaks to me of something deeper and more subconscious than that. This is not just somebody who thinks his book is being pitched at the wrong audience. This is somebody who truly believes that being labeled as YA is an insult. That the idea of your book being discovered by young readers instead of adult readers is an insult. That being placed in the same category as Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games is an insult. To each his own, of course. But don’t be surprised if, as a result, people think you’re a bit of an ass for saying it publicly. Yes, the YA label is imperfect, but please do not help perpetuate the same tired myths.

My advice: just flow with it. Own it. If you are proud of your work, then embrace whatever category/categories it’s in. That, more than anything, will help break this YA industry mislabeling that you are complaining against. If it’s sales numbers that you are worried about, then let me reassure you that being YA has not hurt your sales. If it’s not sales numbers you’re worried about, then….what’s the problem? Once your book is out in the world, you have zero control over who picks it up. So just appreciate any reader who happens to find it, regardless of his/her age, reading level, etc. Why does it even matter? Who cares? Somebody is reading the book. It’s a win win.

After a summer of indecision on what camera to get, I finally...

After a summer of indecision on what camera to get, I finally settled on one and have started practicing in preparation for some of my fall travels. My brain is a mess of new photography terminology.

What does it mean

Last night, I dreamed that I was teaching a class of 20 how to break into my house by picking the lock. Then I tried to make my getaway in my car, except my car was a white Apple iCar, and the ignition slot was on the roof of the car, so I had to climb out and insert the key, and I woke up right as I was thinking, “This interface design is horribly inefficient.”

(Obviously I did not take the supercool photo above)So I was...

(Obviously I did not take the supercool photo above)

So I was following Shuttle Endeavour’s trail over Southern California today, and when I saw that it had flown over Santa Monica already, I sadly went inside and moped, thinking that it must have already begun its descent into LAX airport and thus I wouldn’t see a flyby in Pasadena. But THEN, ten minutes later, I heard a loud roaring outside. Went to my window, and what did I see? SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR, FLYING ALMOST EXACTLY OVER MY HOUSE, SUPER LOW AND SLOW, WITH TWO ACCOMPANYING FIGHTER JETS. ENORMOUS. OMG. Eyegasm, you guys. I freaked out SO hard that I couldn’t take a photo of it. But it is seared into my memory forever.

I love you, NASA. I love everything you do. All my hearts for you, and thank you for completely making my day.