Teen Writers Bloc

Dear Every Writing Professor I’ve Ever Had,

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for all of those times that I wasn’t the model student. Remember when you assigned five page essays and a convenient deathly illness would strike me the day that they were due and you would get an e-mail from me apologizing profusely about how I wish with all of my heart and soul that I could’ve been well enough to come to class because I loved the class and you and this five page paper that I conveniently forgot to attach?

Yeah, I apologize for essentially calling you a fool with the above excuses for not being in class and turning in my paper on time. Now that I’m on the other side of the teacher’s desk, I know how you felt. Had I actually been sick (and prepared), I would’ve e-mailed you my paper well before the paper was actually due, not a day or two later.

I now know how excuses feel.

I remember when you all would joke about how you knew all of our “tricks” for getting out of class and for handing in assignments late. But I scoffed at this. I thought, “How could you know that I was out drinking all weekend and I simply didn’t want to write your essay?” I was 100% certain that my excuse that I was throwing up all day with a 105 fever and green spots all over my body was legitimate enough for you to buy into. My favorite excuse was, “I really loved this assignment and the idea behind it, but I just couldn’t figure what to say because I wanted to just get it right. Can I get an extension until tomorrow?” I thought I could undermine your intelligence and appeal to you with a flattering comment about how intelligent your essay assignment was. But I never thought, “How will one extra day suddenly spark the necessary inspiration needed to complete this assignment correctly?”

I also never thought about your feelings. And for that, I am sorry.

I never realized that my presence in your class was, in fact, appreciated…even if I didn’t say anything in participation that particular day. I know now that, if one of my students is absent, I feel like I’m not doing something right, or that I won’t have enough of a discussion to adequately teach. I never knew this before.

I also know how you felt when, had I been absent because I simply didn’t feel like doing an essay, I missed receiving new homework and essay assignments and you’d wait for me to contact you because that’s my job as a student. I cursed you for not contacting me and telling me what I missed…now I know that it wasn’t your job. I probably shouldn’t have called you all those nasty names. I know you didn’t know about that, but now you do, so now I’m even sorrier.

Thank you for dealing with my shit all of those years. Seriously.

You rock so hard,

Steven

Cartoon courtesy of Saturday Cartoons by Mark Stivers

Popularity: 16%

The year 2011 was hyped by many as the year mermaids would dethrone vampires as the reigning monarchy of YA paranormal fiction. USA Today proclaimed mermaids were going to be the next big thing and even mentioned the vampire queen herself, Stephenie Meyer, was working on her own spin of the mermaid genre.

So, where are all the mermaids? While there was a school of mermaid YA titles published in 2011 and a small herd swimming to bookstores in 2012, I have yet to see the genre live up to the hype. Publishers seem to be focusing their attentions on the tried and true, vampires, ghosts, and angels, when it comes to paranormal YA fiction.  A quick look at Barnes & Noble’s list of the top selling paranormal YA novels reveals that vampires still dominate. In fact, I was unable to find a single mermaid novel on the entire list. Over in fantasy, dystopian novels like The Hunger Games and tales involving the supernatural or high fantasy such as Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance series are the bestsellers, with mermaids nowhere to be found.

Are readers not ready to give up their beloved vampires? Or is the market just not delivering the goods? There are plenty of readers who love a good mermaid tail* (the year 2011 saw the introduction of a magazine and convention devoted to mermaids), but it’s still a small niche. Perhaps publishing houses are finding it difficult to widen the appeal of mermaids or maybe YA readers just aren’t that into tales from the sea.

While I would welcome a change from the blood suckers that currently rule the YA roost, I’m not convinced mermaids are what’s next. To me, mermaids seem a little too fantastical for today’s YA readers. Maybe when the Disney-fied mental image most YA readers probably conjure up at the mention of mermaids loses its impact, readers will be able to take the genre more seriously. Vampires have had centuries to develop their cool, from Bram Stoker’s iconic Count Dracula to Anne Rice’s genre-busting Interview With A Vampire.  So, until then, I can’t agree that mermaids are the new vampire, but they are definitely washing up on shore**** more often. In an interview with Susan Marston of the Junior Library Guild, she mentions that novels featuring half-mermaids will be a popular trend for 2012. And a half-mermaid is nothing to shake your trident at, right?

*Pun very much intended. I’ll try to scale** back on punning from now on.

**Get it? Alright, alright. Starting now, I promise: fin*** to bad puns.

*** Okay, starting now.

**** Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Bio: Jean-Paul Bass recently decided to quit her job to focus on writing full-time and she swears she doesn’t miss having a regular paycheck at all.  She is currently working on her M.F.A. in fiction at The New School and is writing a memoir about growing up in Cleveland, Ohio.   

Popularity: 15%

The year of 2012 has turned out to be a successful year for many so far. A good friend of Teen Writers Bloc, Lisa Amowitz has great news to celebrate. She sold her awesome book titled Breaking Glass.

Here’s the blurb from Publisher’s Marketplace: Lisa Amowitz’s Breaking Glass, about a troubled boy struggling to keep his grip on reality as he unearths long buried secrets and reawakens old nightmares after launching an investigation into the disappearance of his longtime crush who vanished only to contact him from beyond the grave, to Kate Kaynak at Spencer Hill Press, by Victoria Marini at Gelfman Schneider.

My very dear friend (and Jewish mother) Lisa Amowitz is the graphic artist responsible for our gorgeous website banner at Teen Writers Bloc. I’ve known this energetic and spunky lady for what feels like my entire life. She let me into her wonderful critique group back when I was a small-fry, trying to learn to write. Now, this group, populated with the fantastic writers — Heidi Ayarbe, Christine Johnson, Kate Milford, Cynthia Kennedy Henzel, Lindsay Eland, Trish Eklund, Pippa Bayliss, and Lisa Amowitz — has become my writing life-line. Coupled with the Teen Writers Bloc crew, if I can get a manuscript past their sharp critiquing eyes (and teeth), then I know it’s viable.

After a long journey and several manuscripts, Lisa has done it (courtesy of her fabulous agent, Victoria Marini, who also represents one of our own at Teen Writers Bloc — Corey Ann Haydu)! And the book is good!!!!!

Photo Credit: Dribble.com; John Duggan

Popularity: 13%

I think it’s safe to say that my three favorite female authors writing today are and will probably always be Sarah Dessen, Toni Morrison, and J.K. Rowling. Many of my previous posts discuss Ms. Dessen and her amazing body of work, her ability to create realistic characters and put them seamlessly into relatable conflict during their ‘teen years.’ I’ve also posted about Ms. Morrison before. She is extremely talented and has the ability to write clean and powerful prose while weaving themes and tropes intricately into her novels without being too overbearing, but still drawing the reader into the tale she has crafted. The Bluest Eye had an enormous impact on my life, as did Beloved and Song of Solomon. They are haunting texts for sure, but as an aspiring author I often dove into them curious about how she was able to write such focused, detailed and purposeful narratives.

That said, I probably haven’t mentioned Ms. Rowling before, because most likely I figured there was no need. I think everyone can understand the enormous impact she and those following in her footsteps (Hunger Games, Matched, and other series-laden franchises, anyone?) have had on the literary world. She is probably the most successful author on the planet, except for maybe James Patterson, Stephen King and Toni Morrison, and that’s a big maybe. And the most inspiring thing about her is the fact that she believed in her creation, her characters and their story, despite the fact that few others did at the time. She persevered through tons of rejections, just like most writers do, and it ended up paying off for her many times over.

When I mention that I’m getting my MFA in Creative Writing, a lot of people that I respect are encouraging, but there are still those who say it’s foolish to pursue a writing career and that it’s a career where you don’t make any money and one that is completely impractical — as if I didn’t already know or hadn’t heard all of that before. But the longer I’m in this program, the more I realize that the most important thing is to be committed your craft, despite the naysayers (and there are many), and to go after your passion. There may never be another J.K. Rowling, such a groundbreaking phenomenon may never repeat itself, but that isn’t really the point. The point is that every author has to make a commitment to her craft, block out those who tell her no, and run towards what she wants — just to see if maybe, just maybe, it’s possible to make her ambitions a reality.

Book cover image courtesy of Vintage

Popularity: 11%

Some girls learn about the desire to kiss a boy after they see a cute one in a movie or a band or a TV show or a magazine. (Am I dating myself if I give a brief shout out to JTT in Tiger Beat?) Some girls ask their parents about their new feelings, or talk to their friends, or discover the particular chest-fluttering rush of knowledge that there is something secret and delicious about a boy’s hands on your hips and face next to yours when they are in Sex Ed or playing Truth or Dare or watching Zack kiss Kelly in one of Saved by the Bell‘s racier episodes.

But for me, it was Judy Blume.

For me, in particular, it was Deenie.

There is a scene in that still sticks with me in the vague and fuzzy way a dream would. I believe Deenie and a boy kiss and touch in the school hallway, and I believe it is at that exact moment that I realized I wanted to kiss a boy. Maybe not that day, but someday soon.

Judy Blume is the definition of a groundbreaking female author. Not only were her books unbelievably popular and long-lasting in their popularity. They were also just great. Lively, honest, fun and wise. Her writing about that moment where a girl turns from a child to an adolescent is unmatched. Those books aren’t just stories, they are reference points for my friends and I, they are bibles, they are instruction manuals, they are self-help books, they are the assurance that what you are feeling is normal, they are the bit of danger that comes from learning something new about your own impending adulthood.

And they are sweet.

Deenie has all the necessary pain and angst and confusion, but with it is Blume’s special knack for loveliness and innocence. Her books promise that discovery, sexuality, and growing up will be confusing and thrilling and dangerous and maddening and heartbreaking. But they also promise that growing up will be beautiful and small and nice. Judy Blume didn’t lie to us. She didn’t tell us it would be perfect. She admitted that sometimes it would suck. But she didn’t want to scare us either. It wouldn’t always be pretty. But sometimes, maybe even often, it would be.

Photo courtesy Bradbury Press, 1973

Popularity: 10%

Back in January, I got my hands on an advanced copy of Starters, the new dystopian YA novel by debut author Lissa Price. And I was intrigued from the very first line: “Enders gave me the creeps.”

The story, in a nutshell, is about Callie, a teenager, or as they’re called in this story, “Starter,” who lives on the streets of Los Angeles with her sickly younger brother. It’s the future, and America has been hit by a biological war which left everyone between the ages of 19 and 80-ish dead. Children who don’t have living grandparents or elderly relatives are considered “unclaimed minors” and are being rounded up by the government to live in unsavory institutions. Callie and her brother have been on the run for about a year, and now that Tyler is getting sicker, she knows she has to do something to get money. But the only “job” available to her is to rent her body out to old people, aka “Enders,” who want the experience of being young again, via some fancy-yet-highly-illegal new technology. The donor is supposed to remain in a coma-like sleep while the renter is out gallivanting with the rental body, but a week into her month-long rental period, Callie wakes up. She hears a voice in her head — the voice of the Ender who has rented her — telling her that her life is in danger. Thus begins a complicated story of many twists and turns, having to do with political corruption and greed and the murder of children.

In the beginning of the galley, there is a note from the editor, Wendy Loggia, Executive Editor at Delacorte Press. In her note to the reader, Ms. Loggia says, “Starters is one of the best first drafts I’ve ever read, and Lissa Price is a tremendous bestselling author in the making.”

Okay, with an endorsement like that, a reader is going to expect a LOT from a book. Doesn’t Loggia know that going into something (a book, a movie, a play, etc.) with low expectations or no expectations at all is far better than going into it with crazy high expectations? If you start out expecting greatness, you will inevitably be let down. She’s setting her readers up for certain disappointment with this letter. And that’s exactly what happened when I read it.

Things I enjoyed about this book: It was definitely a page-turner. I kept thinking about it during the times when I wasn’t reading, wondering what was going to happen next. I also quite enjoyed Price’s writing style. In contrast to other dystopian-type books like Matched and Delirium, the language in Starters is very bare-bones. Not that I don’t have the greatest respect for Ally Condie and Lauren Oliver — I do — but Price’s simple, unflowery, scant-on-metaphor language was absolutely appropriate for the fast-paced, never-a-dull-moment plot of Starters. I also loved that the story takes place in a city that we all know and recognize, one that doesn’t look that much different after a major war than it does today. Most dystopian stories take place in made-up futuristic societies, and Starters turns that dystopian setting blueprint on its ear.

However, there are certain things about Starters that I wish had been different. Without giving too much of the plot away, let’s just say it follows the unassuming-teenage-girl-takes-down-the-establishment-and-saves-the-world formula made famous by The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins pulled it off beautifully, but I don’t quite understand why so many authors today are following her lead. It’s just not all that believable.

There are many other similarities to The Hunger Games as well, such as Callie’s almost super-human accuracy with a deadly weapon and the childhood guy friend versus sexy new boy dilemma.

But my biggest problems with the book are things that I can’t go too far into without giving away the story. Let’s just say that there is at least one major plot hole that I really wish Price’s editor would have caught (hint: it has to do with a will), and the big “twist” at the end was less surprising than completely disturbing and unsettling.

I do think Loggia is right about one thing, though — Starters is destined to be a bestseller. Look for it in bookstores March.

Photo Courtesy Delacorte Press

Popularity: 19%

Hurray for women! And especially hurray for women authors!

In honor of March being Women’s History Month, we at TWB are taking a look at our favorite groundbreaking female authors from history and today. My favorite female author from the past came to me immediately, but choosing just one from the present was a hard one for me. But after weighing all the wonderful merits of today’s female authorial world, I finally reached a decision.

Jess’s Favorite Female Author from History:

Jane Austen! Duh. Not only was the woman a total genius, she managed to write six amazing novels (and publish four while she was still alive) while living in a less-than-ideal time for women who wanted to work outside of the home. And on top of that, she managed to use her stories to somehow get away with making thinly-veiled and oftentimes scathing observations of the society in which she lived.

Jane figured out something long ago that many of us writers are just only starting to realize – in fiction, anything can happen. Though she desperately wanted to fall in love and get married, it never happened for her. So she made certain that her characters would get to live the life she always wanted for herself but could never have. Elizabeth, Emma, Elinor and Marianne, Fanny, Catherine, and Anne all live get their “happily ever after” – even if they do face some obstacles along the way.

Jess’s Favorite Female YA Author Today:

Laurie Halse Anderson! The woman is a genius, ‘nough said. One of the main reasons I love Laurie is that she isn’t afraid of the scary issues. Speak, her first young adult novel, is about a 13-year-old girl who becomes mute after being raped. Wintergirls is about eating disorders and self-mutilation. Catalyst is about incest and death. Twisted is about depression and suicide. Yeah, not exactly light reading, but these stories are so, so important and I commend Laurie for tackling them so beautifully and astutely.

Happy Women’s History Month, everyone!

Popularity: 15%

#DidYouKnow that we live in a world of technology? Everyone has a cell phone – now-a-days the iPhone is like the common cold: everywhere and hard to shake – and with the surge in applications like Twitter and Facebook comes the death of #grammar.

I’ve noticed this when I’m editing papers. When did it become acceptable to write “n” instead of “and,” or “cuz” instead of “because”? When did the use of the semi-colon become so widespread it’s like the plague of essay writing?

It’s commonly referred to as Text Language, as if improper spelling and grammar deserves its own proper name. What used to only be commonplace in instant messaging (you know, back when AIM was an actual form of communication) is now creeping into academic essays and worse – young adult fiction.

Maybe it’s a believability issue, but I think writing in Text Language in a YA book is not an artistic move; it’s just perpetuating the idea that all teens write grammatically incorrect sentences when they text their friends, or update their statuses (or worse, when teens IM each other in books – since IMing is so popular #insertsarcasmhere). Take, for example, my 17-year-old sister, who is a frequent contributor to my Facebook Newsfeed. I’ve had conversations with her multiple times over the last few years where she has expressed her disgust when her friends (or people she knows) text her grammatically incorrect text messages. In her words, “How %@$^&#$*& hard is it to type a complete sentence with punctuation?!”

I just think that those who write young adult novels and employ Text Language are just encouraging today’s youth to continue writing (and text messaging) in grammatically incorrect sentences. If not, I fear the apocalypse. Trees will shrivel up like old, dried-up broccoli. Volcanoes will spew out venom-squirting raccoons that will take up residence in our garbage cans and eat us when we throw out the trash. Stars will collide (and not in the romantic way that songs inaccurately depict – I’m talking Bruce Willis in Armageddon or Tea Leoni in the oft-forgot about Deep Impact). Britney Spears might even cease to exist altogether.

So this is a call to all YA writers: #GrammarSavesLives

Cartoon courtesy of Chris Madden

Popularity: 21%

I had several favorite female authors when I was growing up. One was Ellen Conford, who usually wrote about pre-teens and teens going through problems that were familiar to most of us, such as first love and being bullied, and the unfamiliar, like finding out you’re the long lost princess of a small country. But no matter what the subject was, Conford’s characters always had confidence and a sense of humor.

I read The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin for our seminar class last spring, but I was already familiar with her works. When I was in the sixth grade, I discovered The Westing Game in my local library and I loved how it was a mystery book just for kids. I searched for more works written by Raskin and found similar books like The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues and The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel). These last two also had mystery themes, which appealed to me.

But out of all the female authors whose books I’ve read, Judy Blume is definitely one of the most well known. Her stories, sometimes viewed as controversial, dealt with the pains of growing up. Comparing her books to some of the ones that are available now, the subject matters seem almost tame.

I can’t say I have a favorite female author now, but there are two that have definitely caught my attention. The first is Laurie Halse Anderson. My first experience with her was reading Wintergirls in David Levithan’s seminar class. Wintergirls was well written and Anderson skillfully caught the pain of her main character who was suffering from an eating disorder. I was inspired to read Speak and Catalyst. In each book, Anderson knew how to express the isolation and confusion her narrators felt without overdoing it.

The other author is Libba Bray, who came to David Levithan’s class as part of an author panel to speak to our class. She had a great sense of humor and I hoped that was apparent in her writing as well. It was. Bray had a knack for picking unusual topics for her stories and giving them a twist. Going Bovine had a 16-year-old male narrator who contracts a life-threatening disease and goes on a quest for a cure with an angel, a video-gaming dwarf and a garden gnome for his companions. I thought Bray did an excellent job writing from the point of view of a teenage boy. Beauty Queens is about a group of teenage beauty pageant contestants whose plane crash lands on a deserted island. Bray uses just enough humor to let the situation still feel serious, yet believable when the contestants find ways to use their various pageant skills to survive.

I’m sure there are so many more excellent female authors that I’ve never read. Any recommendations?

Book cover image courtesy of Penguin Group USA

Popularity: 10%

March is Women’s History Month and what better way to celebrate the power of women than in recognizing their accomplishments — both fictional and not — in the field of children’s lit?

After all, we have an wide array of women’s superstars in our industry, from Katniss Everdeen and Hazel Grace Lancaster to JK Rowling and Judy Blume.  And this parade of women marches far back behind the page. The majority of literary agents representing children’s’ authors are women; the majority of editors putting kids lit on the shelves are women; the majority of authors and aspiring authors putting words on the page for teens and young people are women.

When people discuss careers dominated by women, they usually mention eduction, nursing, fashion, etc.  It’s a growing list and it’s wonderful to be able to add the very alive world of children’s publishing to it.

But all of this adds to the mystery of the New York Times Best Sellers List.

I first noticed this a few weeks ago (February 12th to be exact) when I was reading the paper with my dad. He was discussing how the adult’s Best Sellers List tends to be the same authors over and over again, and I posited that that was probably true of the children’s list as well. But that’s not what I noticed when I checked that week’s Book Pages. Instead, I noticed that the list of names was as follows: John, Rick, Random, Brian, Jack, Shel, Rick, Brian. Not one woman’s name on the list!

Because my own short time in this industry has been so dominated by women — eleven of our twelve classmates, four of my six professors, my agent, my editor, and all of the other agents and editors I spoke with are women — this seemed strange. But I figured it was just a current trent. Probably just a fluke.

So I crunched the numbers. I listed every author on the Best Sellers List over a year’s time, but I excluded the non-fiction titles (i.e. The Lego Handbook), which don’t seem to belong on this same list as The Fault in Our Stars or The Red Pyramid anyway. Here’s what I found:

*41 weeks of the year, there were more men than women on the list

*8 weeks of the year, there were more women than men on the list

*4 weeks of the year, the list was evenly split between the genders

*6.2 was the average number of men on the list

*2.88 was the average number of women on the list

*4 weeks of the year, the list was topped by a woman

*48 weeks of the year, the list was topped by a man

I have to admit, this shocked me. What’s going on? Obviously, it feels like we should be aiming for a 50/50 split, which we’re far from.  But considering the majority of qualified authors are women to begin with, it seems like the data should swing in the other direction. How is this possible? Why would this be?

I have been trying to fill in the reasons ever since, but I haven’t gotten very far.

Perhaps there is a gender-based reason for this. Perhaps men are simply better at publicizing themselves and pushing their ideas toward the big money. Perhaps men tend to be more focused on reaching a broad audience or perhaps they are more likely to define success through becoming a Best Seller. Perhaps the fact that there are fewer men out there to push means that more people rally behind them.

Or maybe the reasons are more benign. Maybe it’s simply the old lore that girls will read about anyone, but boys prefer to read about boys, so men automatically end up with double the audience. (Although in my time teaching for boys, this proved to be entirely untrue.)

Or maybe it’s even simpler than this. Maybe it’s just that the recent super-stars are Rick Riordan and Brian Selznick, so there are men who often appear on the list multiple times in the same week. And maybe these numbers would look completely different in a year when the rage was Twilight or The Hunger Games. 

But no matter the reason, it seems a mystery worth exploring during Women’s History Month.

Photo Credit: croniclebooks.com

Popularity: 23%