Ellie Marney's Blog, page 20

#LoveOzYAbookclub – March 2017 title selection

Greetings and salutations, folks – I’ve had some time away from social media, which was both necessary and nourishing, and now I’m back just in time to announce the bookclub title for March.

This month, we’re reading a brand new title by Nicole Hayes, the author of The Whole of My World and One True Thing, and proud footy tragic. Nicole has been one of the forces behind The Outer Sanctum, a podcast that spends time on the big questions of AFL (like, will Cyril Rioli ever come to Richmond? – unlikely *sads*). These rockin’ women were the team who broke the Caroline Wilson-Eddie McGuire story last year, and they’ve been integral to the long-time-coming new AFLW movement. With Alicia Sometimes, Nicole has co-edited From the Outer, a well-reviewed collection of stories from fans of the game whose voices are sometimes lost in the margins, and this year she and Alicia collaborated on A Footy Girl’s Guide to The Stars of 2017, a showcase of the key players in the first ever elite women’s AFL comp.

But in the flurry over her AFL/AFLW commentary, Nicole’s other talent – as an extraordinary writer of YA fiction – is sometimes overlooked. Last month her third title, A SHADOW’S BREATH was launched by Amie Kaufman (The Illuminae Chronicles) and Emma Race in Melbourne, and I’m predicting that this book could go on to do Good Things.

A SHADOW’S BREATH is the story of Tessa, whose life is looking up now that her mum is back on the wagon. But things go painfully awry when Tessa and her boyfriend, Nick, are stranded in the wilderness after a horrifying car accident. The story is described as one of ‘heartbreak, courage and forgiveness’, and I hope you enjoy it! Remember, you can order A SHADOW’S BREATH through Boomerang Books this month and get free shipping by using the ‘loveoz’ promo code.

Now, to another order of business: I would very much like to give someone else a go of choosing the bookclub title from time to time. To that end, I’d like to run a little competition. It’s extremely easy to enter: if you would like to be the person who selects our title for April, all you have to do is spread the word about #LoveOzYAbookclub, and let me know.

Whether you post about this month’s title on Instagram, write about bookclub in a blog post, chuck up your fave OzYA reads and give us a nod on Facebook, dash off a quick Snapchat message, or blag the news around on Twitter, or Tumblr, or Google+, or GoodReads, or…anywhere you like, really – the format of the message is up to you. The only important thing is that you let me know about it in some way, so I can then put your name in the hat. If you use FB or Twitter or Insta, just tag me (Ellie Marney, or @elliemarney) in the message. If you use another format, take a quick pic and paste it up either here, in comments, or in the FB thread for this title selection post.

The winner will be announced in two week’s time, and will win a) the chance to steer the course of bookclub by choosing our April title, and b) a $20 book voucher from Readings. So good luck!

Finally, thanks for your patience this month – I really needed to step back for a little while, to give myself a chance to breathe, and also so I could muster the discipline I needed to finish writing a book! Now my book is all sorted, and I’ve had a good break, and I’ve missed bookclub so much! I’m really looking forward to talking about what I’ve been reading this Friday, in our ‘Weekend Reads’ spot. See you then, and have a good week

Hiatus

Hi, all you lovelies.

I am taking a significant break from social media, so I just wanted to let you know here. If you need me, you can contact me at my email addy (on the ‘Contact’ page), or if you’re a pal, you can always call. I won’t be receiving any DMs for the time being, and I’ve put a hold on my other platforms on Twitter, FB and Instagram.

But I’ll be thinking of you all! I hope you have a fantastic year, and all good things come your way. Take care of yourselves and each other, #LoveOzYA and see you round.

xxEllie

#LoveOzYAbookclub – Dec-Jan 2017 discussion post – INBETWEEN DAYS (Vikki Wakefield)

I’d originally planned to send out this discussion post on Jan 28, but given the tumultuous events in America over the weekend I opted to delay going live until today. It didn’t seem quite right to be promoting bookclub chats when people in the US were being herded off airplanes like cattle, and to be honest, people’s attention seemed to be diverted elsewhere. Nonetheless, the show must go on – and I’m sure many of you have thoughts on this month’s bookclub title that you’re keen to air.

 INBETWEEN DAYS by Vikki Wakefield was our ‘lazy summer holiday’ read over the December/January break. It was a good pick on that score: the story has a hazy, dream-like feel that seeps into your head the further into it you get. It also has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve encountered in a while. You know how you sometimes read a good book, and you’ll make note of the occasional phrase or sentence that really glows? Well, incredibly, INBETWEEN DAYS has those phrases on every page. The first description of Jack: She minded the shop. During a conversation with Astrid: I can’t read subtext…It seemed to me that if people would just say what they meant, we’d all get back half our lives in wasted time. Whatever is in the water Vikki Wakefield is drinking, I want some of it.

And it’s apt that the language is so beautiful: it felt to me like one of the themes of this story was communication, and how people can’t express themselves properly and the impact of that. It comes up all the time, when Jack talks to her Dad (‘to say nothing was far less destructive than letting it all out’), the way Jack seems to understand Mr Broadbent despite his inability to communicate properly, the way Jeremiah has to confess his love by saying ‘she’ and not ‘you’.

But that was only one of the meticulous details I noticed about INBETWEEN DAYS, as well as being invested in the characters and plot. Kirkus said of this book: ‘…there’s not a relationship depicted here that is not nuanced and fascinating. Fans of realistic fiction will be all in and will relish the gorgeous writing.’ It was described in Publisher’s Weekly as being ‘unflinchingly honest’. And who wasn’t barracking for Jeremiah?

So what did you think? Did INBETWEEN DAYS hit the spot for you over the holidays? Leave your review on the #LoveOzYAbookclub Facebook group thread, or here in the comments. If you’re strapped for time, feel free to leave an out-of-five star review. And if you didn’t have a chance to join in the live author chat with Vikki Wakefield, you can check it all out here.

I’ll be announcing February’s bookclub title this week, but in the meantime, what do you think about a competition? I was thinking that you folks on the bookclub team might like the chance to select a great title for us this year, possibly in March. I’ll announce details of the competition next month – I’m keen to see what a guest title-selector will pick!

So until the next bookclub announcement, have a great week, take care of yourselves out there!

xxEllie

 

 

 

#LoveOzYAbookclub – Dec-Jan author interview: Vikki Wakefield (InBetween Days)

Hello! I’m back, after a long stretch away, camping with the family. I find getting to the beach refreshing, like I can finally stretch my arms after being cocooned for a long time. I also find completely abandoning all tech and social media (letting my phone die, no pics, no reception, no charging capability, nil, nada, nothing) for an extended period incredibly rejuvenating. I recommend it highly. I got a lot of writing and thinking done, and did a lot of kayaking, and hung out with my fam and friends, and basically had a really excellent, relaxing time.

But I wasn’t the only one who did this over Christmas – Vikki Wakefield is also a Camping Person. I know this, because she and I have been comparing how much sand we’ve had in our washing over the last week or so, while sorting out some questions and answers for this author interview. Vikki is a writer of very exact words, as you’ll see from her Q&A below. She also told me once that, during the editing process for her books, she deletes excess copy. Deletes it. Just like that. (Most writers I know – me included – are not that gutsy. We cut bits out and put them in a ‘Nice bits that we might try to cram in somewhere else’ file. But Vikki just hits delete – and BLIP, the bits are gone forever. I find this whole idea terrifying.)

So here’s Vikki, on movies, music, fave openers, and her other non-writerly skills:

1) One curious or unusual thing about you that most people don’t know:

I’m pretty much unemployable (I mean thatーI have no qualifications in anything) but I’m freakishly good at reading and deciphering instruction manuals. And assembling flat-pack furniture.

 

2) You have to select movies for a school film night, and you choose:

Little Darlings starring Kristy McNichol and Tatum O’Neill for its honesty, humour and condom liberation scene, plus a groovy soundtrack

Little Miss Sunshine for the finale, because everyone wants to be that kid who doesn’t GAF

and Little Man Tate for the weird kids (and to complete the ‘Little’ trifecta)

 

3) We’re at a dance party right now, and the DJ wants to know which song gets you out on the floor for major boogies and you say…:

Livin’ Joy’s Dreamer and Don’t Stop Movin’ get me every time.

 

4) Horror Challenge – which fave horror movie would you cheerily inflict on your friends?:

It Follows (I’m a hard-core horror fan but this one made me look away)

 

5) The best opening line from a book, in your opinion, is:

 ‘I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.’ I Capture the CastleーDodie Smith

I love how this simple sentence gives such a perfect introduction to the MC.

 

We’re going to be finding out more about Vikki and her work on Monday January 23 at 8pm, when she joins us for a live Facebook chat for #LoveOzYAbookclub. Come over to the Event page to sign up, and then pitch in with your burning questions, as we chillax for half an hour, talking books (InBetween Days, Friday Brown and more), writing and author life. The discussion post for InBetween Days (there’s a pic of the US cover, at right) will go up on January 28.

I also wanted to give you an early heads-up that I’m running a competition soon to find a bookclub title for March – the winner of the comp will get to choose our March read, and win a copy of one of my books (unless I can think of a more interesting prize). More details about that coming shortly, so stay tuned in. I’d also like to encourage you to drop by #LoveOzYAbookclub on Fridays – we’ve been posting about our Weekend Reads (both YA and not-YA), and I always like hearing about what other people are getting up to!

Meanwhile – I wish you all the very best for 2017! I hope your holiday season was a happy and peaceful one, and you managed to get in some rejuvenating of your own. May all good things come your way this year! Have a great week, see you on Monday 23

See ya, 2016 – don’t let the door hit you on the way out

This has been a shit year.

Sorry to say it so baldly, but it’s true. On the world stage, lots of famous people who I like died – Alan Rickman, for god’s sake! That’s crap.

And politics was equally shite. By the most excruciatingly small margin, Australia voted in another conservative government for a few more years of pallid ‘save-our-bacon’ policy, spiced with the occasional blatant attack on good sense and common decency. We’ve got shit public transport everywhere in my state (that’s Victoria, for the uninformed). Education is going down the drain. Health care costs are rising. The arts community in this country has had its funding slashed. We’re still locking people up in concentration camps on Nauru and Manus Island for having the audacity to want to live in a place where they’re not being bombed to death by their own governments, like in Syria. We don’t seem to have any kind of coherent national sustainable environmental policy. I can get better internet service in a small rice-farming village in West Sumatra than I can in my own home in the ‘first world’ (I know this because I visited friends in West Sumatra a few years ago). And it looks like we’re heading into a financial recession (I know, you’re not supposed to say the ‘r’ word, but what the hell).

So yeah, the government here is absolute balls. And then I look at Aleppo and weep. And Brexit. And America, where it seems like they’re going to be stuck with a racist misogynist nepotistic fascist fucktard for four years – that makes me weep, too. Yep, a lot of weeping in my house this year.

And I still haven’t told you about the personal stuff. My health has been a bit average this year, but more significantly, one of my kids has been seriously ill, and it looks as if he’s going to continue to be ill for a while. You can handle it when it’s your own stuff, but when it’s your kids…well, you don’t want them to get a cold, y’know? Let alone get proper sick. So that has been really shit.

Anyway, that’s the whinging over. Because on some levels, this year has been amazing. I wrote a new book, and although it was incredibly hard to write, and I quite often despaired and didn’t know what I was doing, I finished it. My editors and my agent like it, and after a strong edit it’s taken a shape that I’m really quite proud of. It still has a way to go before we can call it a book and release it, but yeah, it’s on its way.

I submitted a story for a #LoveOzYA anthology (edited by Danielle Binks) called Begin, End, Begin. My story is called Missing Persons, and it’s a prequel story to Every Breath, and I really like it, and I hope you do too, because the anthology is being released next year (it’s on GoodReads, if you want a sneak peek).

I visited a lot of schools and was invited to many festivals and ran many writing workshops this year – having regular work was a real boon. I’d like to say special thanks to Will Kostakis and Shivaun Plozza, who roadtripped to NSW with me in November, and to Sulari Gentil and Jesse Blackadder, who were my workshop-mates during my extended trip to Coonabarabran (hi, Coona folks!). I’d also like to thank Booked Out and Writers Victoria, who were wonderful to work with this year.

Another important thing – I got a grant this year, which has made my life immeasurably easier on many levels. I am grateful for my grant every day, so thank you Creative Victoria.

#LoveOzYAbookclub has been going from strength to strength – if you’re a bookclubber, I just want to say ‘You Rock!’, because bookclub has been amazing.

With a lot of prodding from my agent and some wise advice, I’ve taken a good hard look at my professional goals and my general author-y direction, and I’ve decided to try something different. I’m still nutting stuff out, and I’ll tell you about it more next year, but it’s given me a greater sense of purpose – I feel like I know where I’m going now. That’s always reassuring, to know where you’re going.

I’ve received a lot of support this year, and that’s no small thing. Writing and non-writing friends, I love youse all. Writer friends who I’ve worked with, and workshopped with, and angsted with, and retreated with, and cheered with – respect. You guys are the actual best. Somebody (who will remain anonymous) gave me a present this year which made it possible for me to keep writing. That was just…amazing. Dude – thank you from the bottom of my heart (you know who you are). And I’d especially like to thank a bunch of special women who cheer me on and share confidences and prop me up every day – like the dentist in that toothpaste ad, I can’t tell you their names, but they know who they are too. These hugs are for them *huuuuugggs*.

At home, we put a verandah on our house. Such a simple thing – it got knocked together in about 3 weeks – but it’s made our homelife so much better. For one, our house is no longer an oven in summer. We’d sweltered for 14 years, and I have to say it’s nice to be cool. Always a win, being cool in summer.

So 2016 hasn’t been a total loss. Yes, many many crappy things have happened. But good stuff was there to compensate for the bad. You just have to dust yourself off and get on with it, don’t you? I plan on having a better 2017, and I hope the world sees an upturn in Good Things happening (I won’t hold my breath, but yeah, I hope) for people everywhere.

May you all have a safe, nourishing and peaceful holiday season. I’m going away with my fam, as is my wont – it’s our annual camping trip, and I will be going dark social-media-wise for a time. I’ll be back online in early January. Don’t be sad if I don’t reply or comment or anything during that period! I haven’t died, I’m just taking a break – we all need a little break now and again. I encourage you to have a break of your own.

All the best for the Christmas and New Year period – I hope you get lots of books for Christmas. I pray that all bad things turn good, for all of us. Lots of love from me and my family to your and yours. Take care, look after yourselves, drive safe etc. I’ll see you again in 2017.

Hugs and best wishes –

xxEllie

#LoveOzYAbookclub – thanks! and December-January 2016/7 title selection

Team, we’ve made it to the end of the year.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a very large, Christmas-wrapped thank you to all the authors who have participated in bookclub this year. Authors are usually pretty busy people, but everyone I’ve contacted during the course of 2016 has been unfailingly generous of their time, and given us all the chance to have a good chinwag on Facebook, or provided thoughtful replies to the (slightly silly) questions I ask on behalf of bookclub, all in an effort to give us some insight into the writing process or the book we’ve read.

So thank you to (in receding order) Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufmann (Gemina), Kirsty Eagar (Summer Skin), Dianne Touchell (A Small Madness), Ali Cobby Eckermann (Ruby Moonlight), Ambelin Kwaymullina (The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf), Chris Currie (Clancy of the Undertow), Dave Burton (How To Be Happy), Simmone Howell (Notes from the Teenage Underground), Alison Goodman (Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club) and Lili Wilkinson (Green Valentine).

Bookclub has been kicking on for over 14 months, and this brings me to another thank you – I’d like to say thanks to all of you! Any group is only as strong as its members, and bookclub is going great guns. We have over 400 members now, from Australia and other places far away, and if I could hug each and every one of you, I would! (maybe next Christmas, over a few drinks, lol) You have all made this group happen, and you are the ones who make it possible. Everyone has been considerate of each other in comments and posts, and there have been some first-rate book discussions. Loads of people have spread the word about bookclub, tweeted or RT’d, posted on Instagram, Facebooked and Tumbler’d and told their friends via word of mouth – that has made a big difference. It would be just me reading books in the corner on my own otherwise.

So thank you, each every team member, for making this bookclub the wonderful place it is.

And now – on with the show! Our final title for this year, which will be the first book we discuss in 2017, is INBETWEEN DAYS by Vikki Wakefield. Vikki is an Adelaide author, and apart from being an all-round grouse person (for the non-Aussies, that’s ‘grouse’ as in cool, not ‘grouse’ as in a type of pheasant), she has written some amazing books – including Friday Brown and All I Ever Wanted.

INBETWEEN DAYS is a slow-burn read. The story of Jacklin ‘Jack’ Bates, whose life seems to be coming together and falling apart all at the same time, it’s a tale of obsessive love, family, and facades. In a town called Mobius, on the edge of a forest where people go to commit suicide, Jack is living with her off-the-wall sister, Trudy, and longing for Luke. Then an old acquaintance, Jeremiah, returns to town, and things begin to go awry with Jack’s friends and family – even Jack herself…

Remember you can order through Boomerang Books and receive free shipping by using the ‘loveoz’ promotional code. Also remember, our process for the end of the year is a little different, to accommodate the holidays – I’m going north with my family over the Christmas period, so I won’t be updating or posting anything for bookclub before the week of Monday 9 January. But after that, we’ll have our normal author spotlight post, and then a discussion post in the last week of January 2017. Keep your eyes open for cross-posted alerts on FB, Twitter and Instagram after 9 January.

I really hope you enjoy INBETWEEN DAYS, our year-end-finale book! All best wishes from me and my family to you and yours for Christmas and the New Year. I hope you get loads of books from Santa, and may you all have a safe, peaceful and refreshing holiday season – see you in 2017!

xxEllie

#LoveOzYAbookclub – Nov/Dec 2016 discussion post: GEMINA (Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff)

I’m often reluctant to schedule Big Books for bookclub. I’m sure you know what I mean by Big Books – novels that are so heavily promoted and frequently talked about that additional introduction seems unnecessary. It seems almost a shame to give these books extra attention because they already have such huge buzz, and there are so many other under-appreciated OzYA books out there that are begging to be read. I generally prefer to schedule books that I think need some special lovin’ from new fans, so I generally have a knee-jerk, ‘Uuuhhh, no’ when a Big Book comes along.

My primary consideration for scheduling novels in bookclub is generally: a) do I want to read this book, also – b) does this book deserve closer attention, followed by – c) will teenagers enjoy this book? Is there something special in it for them? Because I believe you should always take it back to the teens. YA books are designed and written with them in mind.

GEMINA falls into Big Book category. But I had no problem scheduling it for bookclub because I have seen, again and again, how much teenagers LOVE this series. Also, it’s just SO FREAKING GOOD.

I am in a constant swoon at the format of these novels. The epistolary story-telling technique – using notes, memos, reports, interviews, transcripts, pics, drawings (Marie Lu did the drawings! – what a SUPERSTAR), diary entries, ship’s logs, emails, audio recordings, IMs, computer printouts and more – lends the story a feeling of authenticity and immediacy. I wanna write an epistolary novel!! (Actually, no, I probably don’t, cos it looks freaking hard, not to mention I think my copyeditor would want to bathe in my blood) But basically, you feel as if you’re IN the story while you’re reading it – it’s like being on-set in a documentary. And that feeling of immediacy and up-to-the-minute action is something that has drawn teenagers (and other readers) into the story.

And of course, there’s the characters. Let’s just get this out of the way: Nik is hot. He’s the criminal with a heart of gold, and there’s something personable and vulnerable about him that gave him more than sufficient heft to transcend any stereotype. And Hanna is also hot. And she kicks butt in this book, in quite a realistic way. I totally got the Die Hard references in this story – Hanna and the lightbulbs, folks? – and I ate that stuff up.

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON ELLA PAUCHOK, MY LITTLE SPIDER, I LOVE YOU.

All the way through, I was literally nail-biting and racking my brain to figure out how Kaufman and Kristoff were going to write their way out of this scenario. The odds are so heavily stacked against the heroes (excuse me, the Lanima?) that I was wondering if it was even humanly possible to pull this off. But they did. And I totally loved it.

So that’s my review. I’m not linking to other reviews, because there are so so many, and I want to hear what you all have to say about GEMINA. Call out in the comments, give the book a 1-5 star rating if you’re strapped for time, or contribute to the on-going discussion in the Facebook group thread.

And see you next week for the announcement of the title that will keep us going into 2017 – excitement!

xxEllie

 

#LoveOzYAbookclub – November-Dec 2016 – author spotlight: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Summer has finally arrived here – very late indeed. We’ve had buckets of rain, and highly unusual temperature fluctuations that have seen us lighting the woodfire stove at least twice this November, which is totally weird for November.

We’ve also had some weird action in bookclub: I’ve extended the reading period for this month’s book into December. It’s to give people time to catch up with their reading of our title, GEMINA, but mainly it’s a chance for me to draw out the announcement of our end-of-year title, which will hold us over until I get back from family camping in December-January.

Here’s another funny little thing – this month’s title, GEMINA, written by the lovely Amie Kaufman and the sweet-as-pie Jay Kristoff (although they do kill a few people off in their books…er, make that quite a few. Thousands), was being promoted in the US at the time of our reading. Both Amie and Jay have been flying/driving/boogey-ing around America. Last I heard, they had 28 GEMINA-related events in 23 days (even thinking about that kind of schedule makes me gasp). Which has made it kinda tricky for them to contribute to a normal author interview or FB chat.

But never fear! Amie has sent me some leads that will answer bookclub’s burning questions. So below, I’ve compiled a few of Amie and Jay’s answers to some of the things that intrigued me most about GEMINA, and Amie and Jay’s writing process. If you’d like to read the full interviews, the links are below.

So, for those of you who’re interested in how the world of GEMINA came about – and with thanks and full credit to the original sites from which these answers came – read on…

The skinny on Nik Malikov’s tattoos:

The tattoos are inspired loosely by the tattoos of the vory v zakone, the modern-day Russian Mafia. Jay researched vory tattoos to get an understanding of the patterns of the iconography (he has an unhealthy obsession with international criminal groups – give him a drink and ask about the Hell’s Angels and you’ll be there for hours). But the House of Knives, which is the name of the syndicate Nik and Ella belong to, is inspired by several international criminal groups.  Members of the HoK get tattoos on their bodies to denote stretches they’ve served in prison, and the crimes for which they were incarcerated, which is a vory v zakone tradition. But they also have tattoos to denote their House affiliation, which is closer to the practices of the yakuza.

Nik has a particular tattoo—an angel across his throat—which symbolizes a certain crime he’s committed for the cartel. But, we won’t say anything else about that one, because, spoilers.

On writing epistolary novels:

We have so, so much fun weaving together the stories and the design in these books. We start with a very general idea of the story, and then we build the design and the detail of the scenes hand in hand. Usually we plan about a hundred pages ahead, working out exactly what needs to happen. From there, we decide which character would best narrate those pages, and what format would suit them. It’s important that the storyline stand independent of the design – that if the story was told as a straightforward narrative in the usual style, it would still work all on its own. But that said, the design and the narrative are very much entwined – ideas about each drives the other.

Amie and Jay’s writing process:

When we’re co-authoring, we both outline and plan more comprehensively, because we’re both working on scenes simultaneously, and we need to make sure we’re singing off the same score. Once we’ve worked out the next hundred pages and decided on who’s narrating them and what format we’re using – for example, to deliver information we might use a briefing paper or a schematic, or to check in with a character we might use a diary entry or a private email – we divide up who’ll write what. From there, we write, emailing scenes back and forth and editing as we go. Oh, and when the characters have a conversation using an instant messaging program, more often than not, that’s us jumping into an IM program and writing it via improv.

Far-out sci-fi research:

For research, we followed the same channels as we did in Illuminae – listened to and read a lot of content from astronauts and physicists, then wrote the book and ran it all past our own astrophysicist buddy who vetted everything in Illuminae. A lot of what people think they know about space comes from Hollywood, and Hollywood often sacrifices facts for the sake of spectacle. But we’re pleased to report we didn’t have quite so many notes from our astrophysicist this time through – so we’re slowly learning to separate the fact from the fiction.

On killing off characters:

We’re firm believers in the idea that victory without sacrifice is meaningless. We want you to be afraid that not all the characters you love are going to make it through this thing alive, and spoilers, they won’t. But to us, that’s what storytelling is about, and the losses you suffer along the way make victory all the sweeter.

As for death tallies in Gemina, we won’t give exact figures. You may be assured they are frequent and plentiful.

  Tips for aspiring SF worldbuilders:

Start with the characters. They’re the core of any story, scifi or otherwise. Working in SF and fantasy, it’s easy to get caught up in the creation of the setting, but the heart and soul of your story needs to be the people that inhabit that setting.

Readers fall in love with characters, not worlds.

Knowing an astrophysicist doesn’t hurt either.

The best advice Jay ever received from another writer:

Never finish a scene during a writing session. If you leave whatever moment you’re working one incomplete, even going so far as to stop writing in the middle of a sentence, you’ll always have something to go on with the next time you sit down to write. It’s a great way to keep momentum going – you’ll never be dreading sitting down to write because you don’t know what to write next.

Why Amie reckons story-telling is important for everybody:

As we so often hear, stories allow us to live the lives of others. And that’s important for so many reasons. Stories foster empathy, they allow us to live and learn from other experiences… and they also just allow us to escape, and have fun.

Do you have the full lyrics for ‘I Wanna Lick Ya (Lollipop)?:

Yes, of course we do! You’ll even hear a snatch of it sung on the audiobook! We’ll share the whole thing one day… when the time is right.

 

If you want the full interviews, please ramble along to these links:

Two Chicks on Books

The Book Smugglers

YAInterrobang

Jean Book Nerd

Amie Kaufman’s Website

Jay Kristoff’s Website

And see you next week, for the discussion of GEMINA (and all things involving space station infestations of carnivorous bio-forms) on bookclub

In a State – November 2016

What I’m writing

Ohmigod! I finished the structural edit on the new book!

Yes, that is awesome. But I still l have to prune about 4000 words off it before I’ll feel happy to send it back to my editors. That’s because I originally sent them a manuscript about 20,000 words too long, so…my bad. But now it’s starting to take shape, and that’s a nice feeling.

I’ve sometimes felt ambivalent about this book while writing it, so it’s really good to see that there’s a possibility it might all work out okay. I mean, who knows. It’s a crap shoot. But at least there’s hope.

What I’m doing

At the start of November I ran a two-day Advanced YA workshop intensive at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne, as part of the Writers Victoria program. People seemed to have a good time – phew. Yes, it was intense, as the word intensive suggests. I was trying to cram everything I knew about writing YA and everything I knew about the publishing industry into two days. I hope I did it right. Thanks to everyone who participated – you were super-engaged and great to work with.

On Nov 18-19, I’ll be running a workshop, and hosting a panel, as part of the women’s crime-writing extravaganza, SheKilda3, organised by Sisters in Crime Australia. The workshop will be about Writing YA Crime. And the panel will be me, Shivaun Plozza (Frankie), Fleur Ferris (Risk and Black) and Nova Weetman (Everything is Changed) talking YA Crime.

But we’re not the only people yapping – there are heaps of panels and events, so you can take your pick. There’s pitch sessions, bitch sessions, cocktail parties, a session with Melina Marchetta talking about Tell the Truth Shame the Devil, and then the announcement of the 2016 Scarlet Stiletto Awards, which should be hella good fun. If you want to come along to SheKilda, it’s open to everyone (not just SiC members) – follow this link to check out the program and get tickets.

After SheKilda, I’ve got one last school gig at the Victorian College of the Arts before I collapse in exhaustion. This has been a busy year, which, y’know, I’m grateful. But I’m hanging out for some family time over the Xmas holidays, and the chance to get stuck into some new story ideas I’ve had brewing.

What’s bugging me

Well, you probably all watch the news. You know what happened.

So this week I was told on social media to keep my political views to myself. Which, okay, I’m a fiction author and my job is making up stories and selling books. If you didn’t know, most every fiction author is forewarned about talking politics – you’re supposed to let your views reveal themselves subtly in your work, not be overtly proselytising about stuff.

I am in a largely privileged position, where I get to choose whether to expose my politics or not – for many people, there’s no choice; their politics are lived every day. So I get to choose, whether to speak or be silent. And sure, I’ve mouthed off about gender issues, or queer issues, or literacy/book industry issues, or diversity issues, or refugee issues at times. These have not been the dominant notes in my repertoire, however.

 

Some RealTalk now. What happened this week is nothing I wasn’t expecting, after the return of Pauline Hanson in Australia and after Brexit in the UK. But it still cut me. If you want to know how some Australians reacted, go here and here. If you want to know what life has been like for people in the US since the election, go here. If you’d like a historical analysis, go here, and then here, and then hear what Noam Chomsky has to say about it here. Or you could just listen to what people of colour have been saying about this issue from the start. Or, y’know, turn on FoxNews, if you can stand it.

The job of a writer is to create stories that help society by encouraging people to dream, and think, and have empathy, and share experiences. But I don’t agree that this is a writer’s only role. A writer, because they have a platform, is also in a position to speak up (or alternatively, clear a space to give others who have more expert opinions the opportunity to speak). Lots of writers I admire speak up. There is plenty of shit in my own country to speak up about. There is plenty of shit to speak up about all over the place right now.

And for those who say this isn’t really part of my job description, well…I actually think it’s part of everyone’s job description, as a human being.

And for those who want to make this small, and say this has nothing to do with books, and the United States is far away from Australia – think about it. Because if you think the book industry in this country won’t be affected by new trends over things like book banning, and ‘appropriate’ literature within curriculums, and library shutdowns, and the repression of writing freedoms, and the destruction of the arts and humanities, then you’re fucking crazy. It will affect us. These things already affect us. Writer colleagues in the YA community on the other side of the water have been targeted. Librarians and teachers and bloggers and readers and publishers are fearful. And that’s putting aside the fact that US books will be actively and aggressively pushed into this market, if PIR lobbying is renewed under new economic agreements.

Look at this picture – I look so young. And daggy, of course, that goes without saying. I was nineteen in this picture. It was my first year of uni. I threw myself into everything then (but often the same things I throw myself into now, if you’ll notice the placard).

And now I’m closer to fifty than I am to forty. And I feel like I only have one go at this life, and I may as well do the things that are worthwhile. It’s worthwhile to stand up for equality and human rights, and other things you believe in. It’s worthwhile to signal boost about political issues that are of humanitarian concern. It’s worthwhile to join and donate to organisations that assist people who need it. It’s worthwhile to support colleagues who have an important message to share.

If that’s all I can do, then I’ll do that.

So I guess you might say my repertoire is expanding.

What I’m looking forward to

I’m looking forward to holidays, like I said. Not the ‘ohmigod it’s the hectic Xmas period time’ part. Not the ‘kids home all day and getting no work done’ part. But the ‘camping on the beach and reading’ part is always nice. And I like the ‘sitting on the cliffs writing down new stories’ part, too.

#LoveOzYAbookclub

This month we’re celebrating our first anniversary for bookclub, and it seems fitting that our November read should be GEMINA, considering our first month’s read was ILLUMINAE. Have I mentioned I love this series? I looooove this series. Anyway, if you want to read along, come join us at the FB group page. We’ll have some extra content from the authors, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and a discussion post in early December – this is so I can push our December book through to the end of January, to fit into the holiday schedule.

My TBR

These are some of the books I’ve read:

Please Ignore Vera Dietz and Reality Boy by AS King – have you chased up this writer yet? Freaking amazing. She’s coming to Reading Matters next year and I cannot wait to hear her speak.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – yes, it’s awesome. Yes, you should read it.

The Paper Hearts series by Beth Revis – an excellent, straight-talking series on writing craft, the publishing industry, and book marketing.

Everything is Changed by Nova Weetman – I’m reading this for the SheKilda panel, but I wanted to read this anyway. Nova is fantastic, and I’m talking both in her writing and as an all-round lovely person.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne – hot, snarky, well-written romance. Australian author. Do you need more?

I’ve also been reading the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher with the kids – we’re up to The White Mountains. I remember these books from when I was their age, and except for a few formatting idiosyncrasies, they’ve matured extremely well.

My next reads will be Fight Like A Girl by Clementine Ford, We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and The Diabolic by SJ Kincaid.

 

That’s it. Take care of yourselves, folks, in these tough times. If you can, support the people around you. Catch you again soon.

xxEllie

 

 

 

#LoveOzYAbookclub – November 2016 title selection: GEMINA

The title for this month’s bookclub read is GEMINA by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff *mic drop*

 

I’ve chosen this book for a number of reasons. First, I think almost everyone will already have a copy (and if you don’t, you can order from Boomerang Books, using the ‘loveoz‘ code to get free shipping). Second, we kicked off #LoveOzYAbookclub last year in November (I know! Our one year anniversary! Awww…) with ILLUMINAE, the first in this series, so it felt appropriate. And third, this book kicks arse, and I want the whole world to know