Fuel Your Writing

Top 10 YA Books Every Writer Should Read

2012-05-24T13:55:08Z

There’s a lot of YA fiction out there, some of it good, some of it not so good, and some of it awesome.

If you want to write YA that comes in that latter category, then you can’t go far wrong with reading this Top 10.

This isn’t a ‘favourites’ list – this is a list of Young Adult novels that you should read if you’re planning on working in the genre. These books all do a particular thing particularly well and you can learn from it – whether it’s how to write teen dialogue more convincingly, or how to write difficult subjects for a young audience.

And of course, this is only 10, so we’ll have missed some out. If there’s one you feel should be included, please get in touch and let us know what it is and why you think it’s one to be read!

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

It’s vital for a YA novel to have a role model – after all you’re moulding young minds here! – but none have ever managed to replicate the ultimate role model: Atticus Finch. Now, I’m not saying that the role model in your story has to be an ageing Southern lawyer, just that they don’t have to be some waifish hero genius around the same age of your readership. Role models come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s not who they are that matters, it’s what they stand for.

MT Anderson’s Feed

If you want to know how to write convincing teenage dialogue, pick up Feed, a novel narrated by a teenager called Titus set in the future where everyone has their brains hooked up to the Internet. From the opening sentence Anderson absolutely nails the voice of a bored youth.

We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.

There’s also a lot of invented future-slang like ‘null’ and ‘unit’ which adds to the authenticity of the jaded teens.

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials

A ridiculously good book, but I put it on here because it’s actually a lesson in treating your young adult reader like an adult and not an idiot. Pullman’s masterpiece is a provocative polemic on the dangers of organised religion, a sequel to Paradise Lost (yep, another one), and a re-telling of the Fall of Man.

It’s also just a magnificent story. You can read more into it, you can intellectualise and debate it, or you can just enjoy it. In other words, it’s a book that rewards its reader for being smart.

Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now

Love is a many splendored thing, but often becomes a cliché when put down on paper. In the ink of Meg Rosoff however it’s a violent, mysterious, beautiful story. Against the backdrop of a mysterious war, a 15 year old girl called Daisy falls in love with a boy called Edmond. I don’t want to spoil an excellent novel for you, so I’ll just say that if you want to know how to write realistic, heart-wrenching love between teens, this is a book to pick up.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

Decades before The Hunger Games came one of the seminal novels of the 20th century, about kids kicking seven bells out of each other. To this day it’s one of the most honest and realistic portraits of human behaviour, made all the more shocking because its portrayed by people so young. So often YA works portray a growth to maturity and sense but Golding’s novel shows just the opposite; a devolution to base instincts.

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

Coraline is the scariest YA book I’ve ever read, and is a masterclass in frightening your reader with what Freud called the unheimlich, or ‘uncanny’: taking the everyday and making it just a little ‘not quite right’. In this case, what’s more uncanny than a parallel world where everyone has buttons sown over their eyes? If you want to know how to write good psychological horror without a drop of gore, pick up Coraline.

R L Stevenson’s Treasure Island

I like to think of Treasure Island as one of the first ever YA novels (plucky young hero, boo-hiss villain, dangerous quest). You might disagree. What you can’t disagree with is the fact that it is a rip-roaring adventure with a brilliant villain in the slimy Long John Silver. It’s a template repeated over and over in the Young Adult genre, and it doesn’t get much better than here. Or just watch the Muppets version, which is brilliant too.

Nicky Singer’s Doll

I’m not going to lie, this is a hard book to read as it deals with self-abuse, alcoholism, and cutting. I studied it at university and at one point in class a girl left to go throw up because one scene was so upsetting. But these difficult subjects are handled remarkably well in the context of the book. As something to read in order to learn how to present difficult issues prevalent to teens, I can recommend it. As bedtime reading, I cannot.

Aidan Chambers’ Breaktime

A boy’s story all about the power of literature. But is his story truth, or fiction? Or is it non-fiction purposely disguising itself as fiction? What makes Breaktime truly great though is how it plays with the structure and typography of a book to make the story. At one point during a fight scene the words stop and the fight is told only in pictures for four pages. Different fonts are used for certain conversations, perspectives will suddenly shift from 1st to 3rd, and even the writing style and layout changes from a novel to a play and then back again. It’s beautifully, deliberately, put together to make the words on the page actually feel like a part of the story they’re telling.

Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight

Because you can write so much better. And you deserve to hold the proof in your hands.

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What other YA novels have taught you about writing? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Images courtesy of Super Cogitans, Beatriz Dominguez and Mike Baker.

“You Have No Idea What You Are Doing. And That’s Great!”

2012-05-23T15:59:44Z

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Recently, Neil Gaiman gave a commencement address to to students graduating from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts. And it is absolutely wonderful.

I wish I could have seen this speech when I was graduating from University. Even now, I find his wisdom and advice incredibly inspiring, but hearing such words of passion and encouragement must be amazing for anyone just making their first steps into the arts.

I love the way that Gaiman describes his life goals when he was starting out. He saw his life, the way he wanted it to be, as a mountain. A huge mountain in the distant. As long as, whatever work you do, you keep walking towards that mountain, you’ll be alright.

Awesome stuff.

Hat tip to BoingBoing.

The Emotion In Your Writing Is Failing, and Here’s Why

2012-05-22T10:17:47Z

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Have you ever read a story you wrote and feel like it’s missing something?

It’s probably got something to do with that age-old writing advice: “Show, don’t tell.”

But why does “telling” fall flat? The part of the brain where we process words is not the same part of the brain where we process emotions. Sure, you know what “grief” means, but when you read the word it doesn’t make you feel grief, does it?

There is a part of the brain that translates visuals into emotions. It’s called mirror neurons. We are all born with these special neurons. It’s why babies get distressed when their parents are also upset – they may not know what’s happening, but they can, and will, mirror what their parents are feeling simply through observing their subtle body language.

It’s why you feel sad when you see your partner sad, and why you feel joy when your friends are happy. It’s why emotions are contagious.

It’s also why, most of the time, a picture elicits a greater emotional response than do words. You don’t need a great painter to produce a picture that mirror neurons could latch on to, but you do need a great writer who can do the same.

So why don’t we all paint with words?

It’s simple: it rarely occurs to most writers to study body language. They don’t know what to show in their writing.

A common symptom of this is when you include only the facial expressions of your characters to convey emotions. But what was happening to the character’s body? Did she slump (depressed)? Was she playing with her hair (interest)? Was she sitting on her hands (guilt)?

Of course, the field of body language is a complex one: It would take an entire book to explain everything researchers know about it.

But I hope sharing a framework to make it easier might hook you in into this interesting world. Here goes.

Identify The Emotion

Begin by identifying what your character feels in the scene. And be specific about it.

Is he angry, pissed, annoyed, furious or raging? These are all the same emotion, but on a different level. Certain words also convey context. For example, “provoked” is just another word for angry, but it implies someone else’s involvement. The same is true with “impassioned”, “bitter” or “cranky”.

If you’re not sure what the right word for your character’s emotion, use a thesaurus. It’s crucial you get this right because the word you use to describe the emotion will determine your character’s behaviour.

Give It Context

Animals express their emotions freely, but humans have a filter that manages our behaviour. We might scream when we are furious at home, but simply take a deep breath in a public space.

Plus, all body languages must be read within context. Taking a deep breath after a conversation might mean that person is trying to keep calm – but it’s normal activity if he/she is meditating.

So determine where your character is when she feels that emotion. Who is she with? Why does she feel the way she feels? Sometimes even her broader circumstances might play a role in her current emotions.

Here is an example. Let’s say Sue is furious.

Where is she? At home.
Who is she with? Her 4 sons.
Why does she feel the she feels? Because her 4 sons just wouldn’t shut up.
How do her broader circumstances affect how she feels? She was exhausted after a 15-hour shift and her sons wouldn’t give her a break.

Translate Emotion Into Action

Once you determined the emotions and the context, now you can ask yourself what would your character actually do?

The way Sue behaved above would be very different if say, she came home to find her boyfriend cheated on her. Or, if her mother keep yapping about moving on with her life.

This is where your research into body language comes into play. The more you know how humans behave in certain conditions, the more impact your story will make. What you are looking for in your research, is something “obvious” yet profound.

For example: self-preening. We all know it’s insulting when people do that while you are talking to them, yet few of us have thought about it consciously. Or sitting back, interlacing your hands behind your head and crossing your legs. We know only people in power would do it (interviewer vs interviewee) but again, few of us give it any thought.

And remember, no details are too small when you interpret an emotion to behaviour. Sometimes it’s the small details that matter the most.

Last, also take into account what behaviour is unique to your character. Perhaps she snaps her fingers when she’s impatient. Does she make wild hand gestures when she’s nervous? Or perhaps she blinks too much when she’s guilty.

Every time you come to include an emotion in your story, follow these 3 steps to portray it through body language. After a while you probably won’t even realise you’re doing it.

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Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Chris Devers and Kerr Photography.

This Is EXACTLY How Books Are Published

2012-05-17T11:23:04Z

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Well, perhaps not quite.

But still, this infographic over at the Weldon Owen site is a brilliant and funny representation of our your idea gets turned into a book. I particularly like the part where the creative director starts drinking heavily from the stress, and then decides to write a memoir about his alcoholism…

Thanks to Iain Broome for the hat tip!

‘Murder 101′: 7 Reasons to Kill your Characters

2012-05-16T17:24:36Z

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You may have seen the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. It’s a beautiful thing, but it’s also has an unusually lugubrious tone. A tone that suggests that Batman might not make it through to the credits. For any other film this may be dramatic hyperbole, but if you’re a fan of Christopher Nolan’s take on the Bat, then you may know that he might well just kill the man in the cape and cowl.

Why would he do that?

Because sometimes killing a main character makes perfect sense for the story you’re telling.

**Be warned: literary SPOILERS lie ahead!**

Immortality in Ink…

As authors, we tend to want to engineer main characters, and especially protagonists, to be immortal engines of adventure; fixed points in fiction that live forever on the page as well as in our imaginations. But death of main characters is actually incredibly common, simply because it befits who they are and what they do. Captain Ahab, Hamlet, Robert Neville, Sherlock Holmes (we never see him die, but we know that he does after his retirement), Captain Nemo, Little Nell… all dead. It’s not enough just to birth a character – you also have to see them through to the bitter end.

So here are 7 good reasons to kill your creations…

Born to Die

Some authors create characters in order for them to die, simply because their death and the journey leading toward it is the whole point of the story. Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab has to die because his death is the culmination of the morality lesson about obsession and revenge.

The same sort of rule applies to Hamlet on a more heroic level, as his whole purpose as a character is complete once he avenges his father’s death. Once a character has fulfilled their entire reason for existing, be that killing a whale, seeking revenge, or protecting a city, death not only comes as a satisfying termination of their struggles, but also a noble reward; eternal rest after a life of hardship and trials.

Beyond the Grave

Killing a character just so they can become a character to narrate omnisciently from beyond the grave is an old trick in movies, and is probably best known in fiction through The Lovely Bones, as Susie Salmon is murdered and then spends the rest of the book watching her family and narrating it all from Heaven. If anyone can think of another book where a dead character narrates I’d love to know as I couldn’t recall any others, but I know they exist.

For a Spectacular Return!

In fantasy and sci-fi, where the rules of death tend to be elastic, death is often a one-two punch; used as a dramatic tool when the death happens, and then used to create dramatic ‘ta-dah! I’m not really dead!’ moments when the supposedly dead character returns. Think Gandalf, or Aslan, or The Master from The Master of Ballantrae, or any one of a thousand others. It can also be done in more serious fiction – Sherlock Holmes, for instance. It’s a risky move though. At its best it can be a fantastic twist, at its worst, it can look cheap and a desperate attempt to manipulate the reader.

They’re the ‘Enemy’

Bad guys die in fiction because death is seen as a fitting punishment, and because its as neat a way as any to end the story. If they didn’t then they’d continue to antagonize your protagonist and the story would never end. There are thousands of villain corpses littering the pages of fiction, but for one unusual twist on the classic have a look at I am Legend’s Robert Neville (book, not film) who isn’t actually an enemy in the eyes of the reader, but he has become the villain to the new vampiric population and dies at their hands.

It’s Motivation

Creating a prominent character just so their death will influence every other character is the classic murder mystery plot. It doesn’t just have to be used to spark your classic police investigation though. It can be used simply to launch another character in a new direction, or remind them of what their true goal is. Roger’s death in Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights (The Golden Compass to those in the US) serves to strengthen Lyra’s resolve, while Lady Dedlock’s death in Bleak House kicks off a mystery that ends up binding together half the cast of the book in a typically Dickens soap-opera style plot.

The End is just the Beginning

Just because you killed a character doesn’t mean you’re done with them.

Mike Mignola killed his comic creation Hellboy simply so he could tell a whole raft of new stories about Hellboy journeying through the afterlife. Just because your character is non-corporeal there’s no reason they can’t have further adventures, and it’s chance for you the writer to get right down into the soul of your character (pun intended) and find out what really makes them tick.

It Reflects Life

Death in the real world is cruel and unusual, so we tend to ascribe greater meaning to death in fiction, simply as a way for it to make sense to us. Heroes die doing heroic things, bad guys die because it is a punishment. Rarely do characters just ‘die’ a meaningless, senseless death like we all do. Once again Susie Salmon is a good example, as she’s murdered for no reason. She’s not bad, she doesn’t deserve it, and though you can argue that her death is given meaning by what she does later on in the story, the act that takes her life is without any dramatic or poetic meaning, just like death out here.

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So there you have it: 7 good reasons to kill your creations. If you can think of any others, do let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of UlaFish, pixellorac and io9.com/Mike Mignola.

The Secret To Earning Absurd Money from Your Writing?

2012-05-15T12:49:11Z

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Last month, Neil Gaiman interviewed Stephen King for the UK’s Sunday Times Magazine.

You can read the unedited version at Neil’s blog. It is a fantastic article, with some interesting insights into what it means to be pigeon-holed as a writer, with a hilarious anecdote from King about when he was once approached in the street by an old woman.

The article is also wonderful because it is so nice to see two brilliant, successful writers talking together. The mind of a creative is an interesting one, and so it’s always fascinating when a writer, singer, or artist is interviewed by someone within their field.

I urge you to read the whole article.

But from the whole thing, it was one line from King that really stuck with me:

They pay me absurd amounts of money,” he observes, “For something that I would do for free.

Quite simply, if you want to earn some serious dough from your writing, then maybe you’ve got to want to do it for free.

You’ve got to love it. You’ve got to be passionate about it. You’ve got to come to it with the story in mind.

Not the fame.

Not the money.

The story.

Image courtesy of StephenKing.com

Your Workspace Might Be The Wrong Color

2012-05-14T17:08:54Z

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Your workspace can greatly influence your work quality so you have to exert some effort to make a stimulating working environment. Budget and room restrictions are understandable, but you can always apply simple means to achieve your dream workspace. All the following things can enhance your creativity and productivity, with one of the most important things being something you might not have thought of: color.

Here are some things you you should bear in mind:

Have a Dedicated Workspace

You need to have a dedicated place to work. The flexibility of being able to work anywhere in the house, like in the kitchen or living
room, is enticing but working in these areas can distract you a lot. You have to make a physical and mental borderline so that you can stay focused while working, despite the ongoing activities in your household.

Whether it is a whole room or just a small area in a room, your workspace should be for you only. This way, your state of mind will be focused on work once you step into it. It will also let your family and friends understand that you should not be disturbed while you are in your work area.

Choose a Good Chair and Desk

If your home-based job requires you to use a computer or laptop, then you must have a work chair and desk that is ergonomically comfortable especially when you work for long hours. You have to ensure that you see your computer or laptop in an appropriate angle so that you won’t strain your eyes. Your chair must also be designed and positioned well so that your neck and back are comfortable too. If your job includes paper and computer works, you have to invest in these things because they are essential for you to be mentally and physically well in carrying out your tasks.

Light It Up

Another essential element for a stimulating workspace is your lighting. As much as possible, make use of natural light. And if you must use more lighting, use bright bulbs to make the ambience more comfortable. There is actually a scientific explanation to proper lighting because studies show that badly lit workspaces cause our eyes to blink less, which dries them and eventually leads to eye strain. Adequate lighting is essential to save your eyes from tension and injury. You can also install a dimmer for your lighting so that you can always adjust to any desired level of light.

Stimulate Yourself

Make a visually stimulating workspace by filling it with pictures or objects that inspire you or remind you of why you chose to work from home. If your main reason why you want to stay home-based is to have more time with your family, then hang a portrait of your family in your workspace. If you love nature, put some picturesque landscape or seascape paintings on the wall. Whatever it is that inspires you, make sure that they are well represented in your workspace. Whenever you feel down and frustrated, you can just look around and gain encouragement from the things that you see.

It’s also a big plus if you can position your workspace by the window. When you are drained or uninspired, the wide horizon and fresh air could rejuvenate your thoughts and calm your feelings.

Color Your World

According to Pablo Picasso, colors follow the changes of our emotions. This has long been proven by interior designers and artists, who are fully aware of how colors can influence people’s emotions and physiological responses. Colors can either make you feel anxious, relaxed, or strained.

Color psychology, which is the study on the mental and emotional effects of color, is widely used by many businesses in creating a stimulating or inviting environment. You too can take advantage of this for your home workspace. Shades of yellow, orange, and red arouse mental activity while shades of blue, green, and violet relax the mind. You can either choose one or combine different colors to set your mood. You also have to assess yourself in order to choose the right color or color combinations. If you are a highly stimulated person, the relaxing colors of blue, green, or violet can counterbalance your emotions. If you are the type who gets distracted easily, the stimulating colors of yellow, orange, or red can help you get focused.

Now this is another project that you will need to spend on but with the help of your family members, you can actually design and paint your workspace without hiring a designer to do the job. This needs some time and effort to be achieved but applying color psychology could really contribute a lot to your functionality as a home-based worker.

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Is your workspace the perfect color for you? We’d love to see your pictures! Please send them here, and we’ll show the best of them!

Images courtesy of baliboro and Viktor Hertz.

What Gun-Toting Pandas Can Teach You About Writing

2012-05-09T13:15:14Z

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Eats, Shoots & Leaves

by Lynne Truss

Ok, pencil’s ready. You have my permission to write on your screen to correct my punctuation (but do so at your own risk).

“The standards of punctuation in general… are indeed approaching the point of illiteracy.” I’ve fallen victim to this axiom, and, after reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves, I’m appalled at myself. How could I let this happen? I knew the basic rules of grammar and punctuation… didn’t I? It’s such a basic that I took these rules for granted. My inner-editor was never the stickler that I should have been, but now, thanks to punctuation-fetishist Lynne Truss and her wonderful book, I see why I need punctuation now more than ever.

If you’re not a stickler for proper punctuation yet, you will be after reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Aims

Despite being a British book (with a preface to the American edition), and clearly noting the differences in styles across the pond, Lynne Truss points out the importance of being a punctuation stickler… and writes in a manner than inspires you to become one. Whether you are a beginning writer or a published author, or just someone who writes emails, Eats, Shoots & Leaves needs to be on your shelf.

Have you ever been confused by an email? Has a text message ever started a fight unintentionally, only to find out it was all a misunderstanding? Ever think it may have been your punctuation? This book shows you why and how we use punctuation to properly translate the written language. Without these simple rules, we can find ourselves missing the message the author intended, or misrepresenting ourselves to our friends and colleagues. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is here to help end the confusion.

Pros vs Cons

Beginning with the title, Eats, Shoots & Leaves illustrates the importance of punctuation.

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

‘Why?’ asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit.

‘I’m a panda,’ he says at the door. ‘Look it up.’

[The waiter does, and finds…]

‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.’

If you don’t see the life-and-death nature of that comma then you need to read this book! And that’s not the only exquisitely illustrated example of how important punctuation can be. Though wordy at times, Lynne Truss uses examples, historical reference, and numerous citations of other punctuation experts to make a case as to why our society is suffering from this poor-punctuation epidemic.

Pros

Cons

Examples
Illustrative Anecdotes
Moments of Sardonic Humor
Many, Many, References from Other Works

Wordy
Dry
Often feels like being back in school

PI Scale*

* Since most writer’s guides vary in a range from practical advice to inspirational wisdom, I have developed the Practical/Inspirational (PI) scale. I feel these qualities rank on a continuum rather than exist exclusively. While a book may certainly have both qualities, the included graphic is meant to illustrate where I personally rate this book on the Practical/Inspirational continuum.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves is packed-full with practical advice. It makes a handy reference guide for the rules of punctuation that every writer should read. (I, personally, am going to make a habit of rereading this book every couple years.)

Conclusion

Have you been following along? Is your screen covered in editing marks correcting my punctuation? If you’re that much of a stickler, you need Eats, Shoots & Leaves. If you haven’t made a single mark on your screen, you need Eats, Shoots & Leaves. If you haven’t thought about your grammar since high school English class, you need Eats, Shoots & Leaves. And if you’re reading this blog about writing, you need Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Stay tuned as next time I’ll do a 180-degree turn and strip away the rules, and get an “uneducation” as I begin Writing Down the Bones.

The YA Genre Is Killing Itself

2012-04-23T10:25:27Z

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The Young Adult genre has never been more popular, with publishers, producers, and writers, all eager to unleash the next Harry Potter, Twilight or Hunger Games onto the page and then the screen.

Sci-fi blog io9 has noticed the trend, beginning an article last month with: “In the wake of The Hunger Games dominating the box office, studios are rushing faster than ever to find more young-adult books to turn into movies.” Producers and execs are panning through the dirt of a thousand similar plots and angst-ridden protagonists, all in the hope that they’ll find that one nugget that they can brush the mud off and show to the world.

So what’s the problem? Everyone wins right?

An author writes a book, people read that book and like it, then a movie studio picks it up, makes a blockbuster film that more people see, which leads to more people reading the book, and the publisher, the studio and the author are rolling in cash while fans are entertained.

That sounds like a win-win scenario. And it sort of is. But this recipe for success is leading to some bad habits, and a lot of practices that you, as a creator and consumer of entertainment, should be worried about.

Ka-ching!

Young Adults are a consumer group with increasing amounts of disposable income that they don’t have to spend on rent or car repairs or groceries. They can spend it on books, and film adaptations of books. And merchandise that accompanies films and books. It’s a synergist’s dream.

They’re also tech-savvy and tribal, making them the perfect group to incubate and nurture brands. As a demographic they’re the ones that Hollywood panders to because they’re seen as the trend-setters, and the people who, if you can snare early, can be squeezed for every penny they’ve got.

Homogenisation

So making a feature film from a popular book is seen on the surface as a financially wise idea. What makes it bad for authors? For one thing, success tends to breed imitation, and imitation stifles innovation. The YA genre has been obsessed with magic and superstition for over a decade now, not simply because the supernatural is an easy allegorical fit for the loneliness and confusion of teenage years, but because authors and publishers have been trying to clone the trends for it started by Harry Potter, and continued with Twilight. In its glittery wake, especially after the films, came a slew of books about teenagers and vampires – Google ‘teen vampire fiction’ to get an idea of just how many.

While some imitators have been exceedingly popular none of them have managed to emulate the billion-dollar ‘book to film’ model for success. But success isn’t really the point here: it’s that trying to copy the success of a handful of massive sellers within Young Adult has led to an homogenisation of the genre, to the point where it’s now seen as a world of strong-but-angsty teens and supernatural powers (just browse your local bookshop’s YA section for proof), when it should be as diverse as the people reading them.

Writers’ and publishers’ desire to imitate the success of a handful of books has led to more original ideas being overlooked.

Book to Film to Book…

The trend for treating YA literature like a cash cow reached it’s most obvious a few years back when the book I am Number Four was released. It was rather popular, and that it spawned a film that performed well at the box office.

If you read the papers at the time you’ll know that it was a book that was practically genetically engineered to be turned into a film. It was created by Full Fathom Five, a publishing company which aims to produce books specifically so that they’ll be marketable: create a series of books, be adapted into movies or TV, and generate revenue through merchandising.

It was widely reported that the film for I am Number Four was already being shot before the book was even finished and published. But that’s not even the most unbelievable part. According to a brilliant article (seriously, read it) in the Wall Street Journal, Dreamworks and the scriptwriters for the film actually asked the book’s writers to change things in the book so they worked and looked better in the film!. Changes included putting in some new weapons that the aliens could use, and changing the book’s finale to a football field rather than the woods, which were seen as not dramatic enough.

If the idea of a book specifically created to be made into a movie and sell merchandise makes you feel sick, you better reach for a bucket. I am Number Four is not the only book written this way.

A Factory for Movies and Merchandise

The idea that the YA market promises untold wealth and cross-media fame needs to disappear, before the genre kills itself. It attracts the wrong kinds of author: ones who think that their book about a teenager who turns into a unicorn and fights crime is just the foundation for a lucrative media empire. Very few books get turned into films, and few of those films are truly successful (for every Potter or Hunger Games there’s a Golden Compass or Inkheart).

To treat YA literature as a breeding ground for movies and merchandise and the ‘Next Big Thing After The Next Big Thing’ not only feels horribly wrong, but its in danger of destroying a vibrant genre full of great writers and wonderful stories. It also does a disservice to its young readers by treating them like idiots and giving them second-rate, half-baked stories. And those young readers need good stories, because they’re the next generation to be writing them.

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Over to you, readers and writers. Do you worry that YA literature is being damaged by it’s own success? Or does the prospect of success draw you to write for the genre?

Images courtesy of Kendra Miller, John Kirriemuir and Adam Cohn.

CPD Is Like A Toolbox: Use It & Improve It for Better Writing

2012-04-18T11:24:37Z

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Years ago, if you put in time practicing the skills you needed for your job, you were considered to be ‘learning your craft’. Nowadays, it’s been given a fancy new title, and most professionals will be all too aware of ‘continued professional development’, or CPD. The idea is that you continually build and improve your toolbox of skills you need to do your job, and you’re continually on top of new ideas or codes of practice within your industry.

If you’re reading this blog, then you’re clearly serious about your writing, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t consider writing as your career. It might not be your primary, bread-winning career, but it’s a career nonetheless. To get the most out of it, you really need to make sure you’re continually learning, always pitching yourself to the right places, and aware of anything that might have an impact, both positive and negative, on your work!

So how can you apply the principles of CPD to your writing?

Never Underestimate the Power of Books

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of titles about creative writing. Personally, I like those published by Writer’s Digest (a magazine I also recommend you subscribe to). Why not invest in one or two, or borrow them from your local library? Select a particular title and treat it as a mini creative writing course. If the author sets exercises, then work through them. You might want to try a ‘general’ text on creative writing to refresh your skills, or you might choose a book specifically about an area on which you feel you need to work. The books are there to help you, so let them!

Free Information from Blogs

If you’re not the bookish type (though why on earth would you be a writer if you weren’t?) then you can find thousands upon thousands of blogs about creative writing. Read the posts that interest you, but don’t forget to comment – very often, the best information comes out through discussions in the comment threads, and contributing your own experience can be a good way to hone what you know, but also learn something new!

Find Conferences or Events

If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere that has a writer’s group, or a venue that hosts events or conferences for writers, then try to go along. It could be a good way to network, as in the previous point, but it could also put you in touch with professionals who can help you along your writing path. Beyond that, the workshops you might attend could help you improve all sorts of areas of your writing, and are an invaluable source of dynamic information that may be easier for you to absorb if you’re not the type to learn through dry, ‘academic’ book learning.

Network

A good way to start networking is to get involved in the wonderful world of blogs, but never underestimate the power of Facebook or Twitter. I’ve met some absolutely fantastic writers through social media who have become firm friends of mine, and I know I wouldn’t have had some of the opportunities that I’ve had without a social media presence. CPD in the workplace often entails networking with colleagues to share knowledge and best practice, so why not do the same with other writers? We’re all in the same boat!

Regularly Reflect

This is hugely important. A lot of books recommend this but it bears repeating – keep a writing journal and regularly reflect on your writing. You can talk about how far you’ve come, what you feel you need to improve, stories you’ve been proud of, plot points you’re having difficulty with – anything you want. By focusing on these areas, and actively reflecting on them, you force the brain to process the information, and actually make sense of it, instead of shoving it away at the back of your mind with all of that other useless nonsense you can’t help but store away. Then, on those days when you feel like you’re wasting your time with writing, you can read your journal and see how far you’ve progressed!

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How many of these things do you do without even thinking about it, and what might you like to try in future? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Images courtesy of shindoverse and Harold Abramowitz.

You Don’t Publish a Book, You Give Birth To It

2012-04-04T15:46:23Z

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Every time a video pops up on the Internet that explores and celebrates the traditional methods of doing something, such as knife-making or film projection, they invoke feelings of nostalgia, pleasure and inspiration.

With hindsight, the once very ordinary methods and crafts become magical things, vignettes that remind us why we do what we do.

Why we fell in love with our craft.

The ‘Birth of a Book’

This video was created by Glen Milner for the Daily Telegraph, and is shot at Smith-Settle Printers, Leeds, England. There is something simply wonderful about it, isn’t there? And a sadness too, at looking at a dying art as the world becomes more and more digital.

Perhaps this method of printing a book should be a dying art. It’s antiquated and expensive, and with the rise of the ebook and desktop publishing it is so much easier for us to get our work out there and in front of an audience.

But sometimes it is good to remember where we have come from.

You Are a Craftsman

This video shows us the incredible craftsmanship that goes into making a book. What this reminds us, is that it is important to remember the craftsmanship that goes into writing that book too.

Of course, audience-building and researching the market and getting an agent and finding a publisher or marketing on your own and promoting your work are all important. There is a business to writing and publishing a book that obviously cannot be forgotten about.

Yes, you have to practice your craft. Yes, you must get your hands dirty in the business side of things if you want to sell your work. But never forget the magic in what you do.

Physical or Digital Is Not the Point

What I’m trying to say is – physical vs digital is kind of irrelevant. Regardless of whether or not we are making a physical product anymore, the point is that when we write a story we are still creating something from scratch.

Think of the video. From a blank sheet of paper to a book with words on the pages that you can hold in your hand and read those words and find yourself in another place and meet new people. All that from some blank sheets of paper.

Whether you publish your book physically or not, you still have to write those words. Creating something from nothing.

Whatever form it takes in the end, you are still giving birth to a story.

What Does A Writing Life Look Like? – King’s ‘On Writing’

2012-03-28T09:37:07Z

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On Writing

by Stephen King

“This is not an autobiography. It is, rather, a kind of curriculum vitae – my attempt to show how one writer was formed.”

And it is through his memories and life experiences that noted author, Stephen King, guides us on his writer’s journey. He reflects on snapshots of his life that were pivotal to his development as a writer: from selling his first story to his mother, to his nail so heavy with rejection slips it fell off the wall, to being a poor newlywed and writing Carrie, to writing The Shining about himself without even realizing it. While the subtitle of the book says, “A memoir of the craft,” this is truly a memoir with a message.

Aims

King writes to tell his story, but not merely to craft another spine-tingling yarn. This story is meant to inspire the budding writer within and allow this prolific author to take you under his wing and mentor you from his own personal experiences.

Pros vs Cons

King tells his tale with calm, conversational tone. It almost feels at times as though you are sitting on his livingroom floor sifting through a box of old memories. Before you can be lulled into a trance by this master storyteller, he pulls you back and keeps you focused on the ultimate purpose: to learn what it takes to be a writer.

As much an instructional course as a bedtime story, King weaves his memories in and out of purposeful, often direct instruction like you would receive in a college writing class. He provides a veritable (and literal) toolbox of writing skills you’ll need to follow the blueprints and craft your story. To that end there are moments of dry instruction, but they are interwoven with snarky humor as they return to autobiographical analogies.

Pros

Cons

Conversational and Pleasant
Easy to Relate to Experiences
Toolbox of Writing Skills
Excellent Advice

Dry instruction
Moments of more story than instruction

PI Scale*

On Writing is overflowing with practical advice and real-life experiences from someone who has been there. Every snapshot shows more about a man and his journey to notoriety. Including both advice from the trenches and grammar-school education, this is a book that belongs in your repertoire.

Conclusion

On Writing has a broad spectrum of information to which writers from every level of experience can relate. If you haven’t read On Writing, you’re way off course.

Stay tuned as next time I’ll take a look at some more grammar tips as I get back to basics with Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Write What You Know, But What If You Don’t Know Enough?

2012-03-19T11:36:00Z

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It’s the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens this year, and while much has been written about his life and work, we can still learn a lot from his methods. His depiction of a supposedly-fictional London was so realistic – he clearly drew a lot from how people lived in worked in Victorian society. Some of this he would have just known, but he would have learned a lot from going out to observe the world around him.

We’ve discussed how to write what you know, but sometimes we need to know more. So…

Write what you can find out!

Walk The Streets

Explore places you might not have had occasion to visit before – this even goes for your hometown, or a city you know well. I managed to come across a whole part of my hometown that I’d never visited before, purely because I’d never had reason to be there.

If you find a building that catches your interest, find out about it. Who lived there? What was it used for? Has it always stood on that site, or was it once relocated from elsewhere? The streets are probably no safer than they were in Dickens’ day, so either take a friend, or let someone know where you’re going. Try to have a paper map of the area on hand in case Google Maps sends you down a blind alley, or your phone runs out of battery.

People-Watch

Even if you write horror or sci-fi, you can find the seeds of interesting characters in the people you see going about their daily lives. Why is the man on the Underground looking so furtive? What could that woman have in the oversized handbag? What if that scarf was actually a pet dragon draped around its owner’s neck? This is even better if you can spend a little while enjoying a coffee, and observing those around you.

It’s not eavesdropping – you’re not actually interested in the content of the conversation, just those little offhand phrases that might be just what you needed to ’round out’ a character, or spark an idea.

Consume Local News

I heard an anecdote that Dickens once heard a story about a man who lived by a river, who would pay for the burials of the unfortunate people fished out of the water. Dickens was so impressed by the story that he wrote the man into his own work as a character. The phrase ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ clearly meant a lot to Dickens, and it can mean a lot to you too – if a real person has actually done something, then it will hold more water to your readers than a complete fabrication.

Discover The Stories

Different parts of London were specific to different trades – for example, Spitalfields was once a centre for silk weaving, while mudlarks operated along the banks of the Thames. Your own city is probably no different – in my hometown of Newcastle, the Castle Garth area boasted a doll-making workshop, while the dockyards were a thriving industrial area for shipbuilding. Find an area of your town or city and investigate its history – you might find colourful local characters, infamous scandals or touching tales that could provide inspiration for your own stories.

Never Underestimate Your Local Library

They may hold archives of information, either as old maps, newspaper clippings, or photographs. Any, or all, of these could prove to be useful no matter what genre you write. You can easily get melodrama or ‘human interest’ stories out of photographs of bygone times, while newspaper clippings will provide you with story ideas whether you write steampunk or crime thrillers. Old city maps can be invaluable if you write fantasy and you’re in the ‘world building’ stage. Libraries are a fantastic resource beyond lending books – so use them!

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What about you? How have you ‘written where you are’ in the past?

Images courtesy of Andrew Warran and Swamibu.

There Is No Such Thing as a Decent Book Trailer

2012-03-07T10:09:51Z

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Movies have trailers. TV shows have trailers. Video games have trailers. And they all work.

But book trailers? They’re terrible. Utterly terrible.

Lost in Translation

A movie/game/TV trailer is the perfect synergy of product and advert. It’s a visual representation of a visual medium.

A book trailer is a translation: a representation of one form of media (words) by another (visuals/audio). And as when anything is translated – page to stage, stage to screen, French to English, something is lost in that translation. Some emotional component, some nuance to the message.

Have you ever heard a TV or movie trailer on the radio? If so you’ll know what I mean. It’s very hard to convey how good something is when the audience can’t experience fully what it is you’re selling. Book trailers are the wrong type of advert for the product.

Interacting with the Box

Now that books are a part of the digital media fixture it should be the case that that problem is fixed, and that book trailers would be better; that through hyperlinks and hypertext embedded in trailers online you can connect with readers, taking them to a place where you can get a sample for your e-reader or an interview with the author, or exclusive content. But this just isn’t happening on any grand scale. Let’s take Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 as an example:

Now, all that trailer tells me is that Haruki Murakami has a new book out, that it’s called 1Q84, has two characters in it called Tengo and Aomame, and that things are not what they seem. That’s fine, but I can get that same information from a billboard or an ad in the newspaper – something I don’t have to go out of my way to click on. It’s just like every other book trailer – it’s just a box that, unlike the book, you can’t interact with or get emotionally involved.

You’re just watching, and you don’t watch a book. You take part in it.

Frankly, asking for something like a hyperlink in a book trailer is asking the bare minimum. That’s stuff that should have been happening five years ago. As the e-reader/tablet market has boomed the word has become another thing to prod with our fingers. Perhaps then the book trailer is obsolete. Telling a potential reader about a book in a 30 second moving picture show just won’t cut it. You need to create something someone can react to with a tap of the finger and/or something that will draw people in and want to find out more about your book. You need to create the itch.

The Itch

The purpose of an advert of any kind for any product is to connect with you. It’s to soothe an itch you didn’t know you even had. But rather than a connection there’s a weird fracture between a book trailer and it’s book. A book trailer always feels like a shadow of the work, rather than a representation. I think that’s because a book is a very personal experience, more so than any other medium of entertainment.

You and a book have a symbiotic relationship. You allow a book to sit in your mind, feeding it your imagination and being entertained by the results. You get out as much as you put in, and what you put in is your experience of the the world: all the accents you’ve heard, all the lips you’ve kissed, all the fear that’s slithered through you. Books are the ultimate interactive medium, so shouldn’t their trailers try to emulate that interactivity?

None so far have. They can only tell you what the book’s about, and maybe throw in a few adjectives for good measure – “Exhilarating!” “Moving!” “Hilarious!” – and the result is something like the 1Q84 trailer. Something that feels like a (well-made) Powerpoint sales pitch rather than something that’s trying to connect with you. There’s just no itch.

It’s all about You…

I wish I could think of a way to make book trailers better, or to find a replacement for them. I’m sure there’s a replacement/evolution, but I’m not an ad exec so I don’t know what shape that replacement would take. All I do know is that using a book trailer to notify people just that a book exists is unforgivably wasteful.

Books are about emotion, they’re about journeys; they’re the companion on the commute and the nightstand; they’re the conversation you share with a friend when you’ve both finished the final chapter. In short, Books are about YOU. What YOU get out of them. And the sooner book trailers understand the need for interactivity, and find a way to communicate it using the tools at hand, the sooner we won’t have to wince while watching them.

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Do you agree? Does watching book trailers grab your interest and get you excited for the book? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Image courtesy of Adam Rose.

Coffee Shop Losing Its Magic? Find Motivation in a Forgotten Environment

2012-03-05T12:36:08Z

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I take my laptop almost everywhere I go. As a digital creative professional and hobbyist, I never know when I will have a little down time and want to put in a few minutes or a few hours on a project. Often I work from home, from the wonders of my coffee table in front of the television. Sometimes I get the opportunity for a few minutes between clients at my day job. And every once in a while I will spoil myself with an extravagantly priced cup of coffee and work from the local coffee house.

New Environment

This afternoon a good friend, mentioned that she’d be doing some studying at the local library, and perhaps this would be a good chance to spend some time together face-to-face. I was at a breaking point in my work, and decided it would be nice to see her, and to be out of the house for a while.

At this point I should guiltily admit that since moving to Cleveland I had not taken the time to apply for a library card. Sure there are branches all over the greater Cleveland area, one even just a few blocks from my home, but it was one of those thing I kept putting off. Today I figured I had procrastinated long enough. I would take a few minutes and get a card.

Finding The Magic

If you’ve ever seen the movie The Pagemaster with Macaulay Culkin and Christopher Lloyd, then you’ve seen what I experienced. I handed the librarian my application and a few pieces of identification to prove my residence, she typed away at her computer for a few moments and then slid me a card that seemed to magically glow in the palm of my hand. I stared at it for a moment with a smile and then tucked it safely into my wallet.

I met my friend at the back of the library in the quiet study area. We whispered hello and caught up briefly before she set to her work and I to mine. As I sat in that quiet space, the magic card in my pocket began to glow. Its aura encompassed me. I was drawn to my work with a focus I had not experienced in years.

Like magic, the work flew by in no time! Video projects were completed within moments. Articles were written, and blogs updated. Surrounded by the wisdom of the years, I was productive and inspired beyond my wildest imagination.

Productivity When You Least Expect It

My friend and I occasionally exchanged glances, admiring each other’s productivity and casually wondering how our individual studies we progressing. But we each knew that this place had a hold of us. We knew that we were caught up I the magic of the library.

If you haven’t rediscovered your local library for a while, I encourage you to do so. Take the time to get a library card, your passport to adventure. It will lead you places you never imagined you could go. It’s the best investment I’ve made in a long time!