YA is an opportunity

I read YA. It feels like a huge, embarrassing confession now given recent articles like the latest from Slate, which makes a firm, unyielding argument that adults should NOT read books meant for teens. That they are not for us. That they are somehow lesser—the diet version of real literature, dumbed down for teenage consumption.

Is it me, or does that seem backwards?

Here’s the thing: I started writing YA because it was one of the things I really liked to read. Because it fit the story I wanted to tell. Because it fit my writing voice.

I stayed because YA is an opportunity.

If you want to really make a difference in the world, I’d argue that your best bet is not to write for adults. After a certain point, we’ve got our worldview pretty well locked in. We might even get a little jaded. Things happen, you know? Those big dreams that once seemed so possible…not so much. But if you think about the times when the world really changed, it was because people held on to those big, impossible dreams. When they defied the way things are, dared to take a step into the unknown. When they were inspired to think of things in a new way.

YA is an opportunity to light that spark with an audience who is actively looking for answers. An opportunity to say something about the way things are or should be to people who dare to dream about how to change it. People who are already asking those questions and engaging in that discussion.

Why on earth would we automatically assume that literature is and should be dumbed down if it’s written for teens? If they’re our future, if they’re in the process of figuring out what they want their legacy to be, then it’s in our best interest to make sure they have the BEST literature available. Good YA is about asking the biggest questions, taking the biggest risks. Challenging teens. Asking them point blank what they hold important, where their moral compass points. Sure, not all YA holds itself to that standard just like not all adult lit is earth-shatteringly good. But dismissing the entire genre of YA as lesser and unsophisticated because it’s written from the POV of a teen? Completely misses the point. If you don’t get it, that’s fine. That’s your prerogative. But don’t judge other adults because they’re not too jaded to say that we could learn something from young people. Because they’re willing to dare to dream. Because they’re willing to question what they hold true, regardless of how old they are.

Ultimately, that’s what YA is all about. It’s a search for answers. And I say that’s a good thing at any age.

Writing Process Blog Tour

It’s the writing process blog tour! Nothing like a good swift kick in the pants to get you blogging again, right? You can thank my friend and bacon sister Gretchen McNeil for tagging me and giving me that kick in ye olde pants. Gretchen’s awesome yet scary books include Possess, Ten, 3:59, and the upcoming titles Get Even and Get Dirty, which she describes as John Hughes with a body count. I think this is the most awesome thing ever. If you don’t already follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog, you’re missing out. Particularly since she's doing a Get Even giveaway right now.

The whole idea of this tour is to get authors talking about their process. I find stuff like this fascinating; I like to read about how other people get words on the page. Half the time I end up stealing their processes, and the other half, I go all googly eyed and say things like, “Wait. You do WHAT?!?!” But it just goes to show that the right process is the one that works for you, and who cares what other people think? Having said that, feel free to steal any bits of mine if they appeal to you. :)

What am I working on?

I don’t like to work on a bunch of different books at one time, but of course I keep doing that. I just finished a round of edits on a book for my agent which is a really different direction for me—it’s not funny at all. It’s a book about cyborgs inspired by the Boston Marathon bombings, and it was really emotional for me to write. I’m also starting to work on a new book whose sale we haven’t yet announced, but I can promise lots of action and punching and one-liners. And if that’s not enough, I’m also starting to work on my world for the Storium Kickstarter. You could play in my world of teenage pulp adventurers traveling the world with a circus. That would be awesome.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I think part of what makes me different is that I’ve been very lucky to work in multiple genres! My first few books were comic horror, and now I’m moving into more serious YA. Plus, I have a lot of work in the game space, and I think that really influences all of my writing. In character driven games, you really have to think hard about what the characters are likely to do and build your plot around that. It’s really forced me to take a good hard look at my own plots and move away from writing scenes just because they’re fun. I admit, I’ve done a lot of that. Don’t get me wrong; fun is good! Fun is awesome! But if they can be fun and make sense, that’s an added bonus.

Why do I write what I do?

Well, people pay me for it.

KIDDING. I have tons of book ideas, and I’m really not exaggerating. At least once a week, I come up with an idea that seems like it should go into a book. The ones that make it are the ones that I can’t stop thinking about. Okay, let’s be honest. I obsess about them.

How does your writing process work?

I used to be a firm pantser, as in I wrote every book by the seat of my pants. This may help to explain why Bad Taste in Boys was revised about ten times (ish?) before it sold, and then my first edit letter from my new editor asked me to scrap everything after chapter eight. Pantsing is fun, but for me it doesn’t do a great job of creating a plot that holds together logically and moves at a good pace. Mostly, it’s an excuse to write a bunch of one-liners strung together by things that might be scenes. Maybe.

From there, I moved onto pantsing the first draft and then using a spreadsheet to look at the book’s structure. I liked that approach, partly because I have this weird love of spreadsheets and partly because it gave me an easy way to see the whole book at one time. But still, I found myself editing a LOT.

So now, I’ve moved onto pantsing the first chapter or two just to get a feel for the characters and voice and really get into the book. Then I write what I call an outline, but really it’s a paragraph for each chapter of the book. It walks me through what happens in each chapter and how that makes logical sense. It also gives me the opportunity to see big chunks of the book at one time and get an idea of whether or not there’s enough action or too much action or if a character disappears for too long or whatever. Then when I write the actual pages, I’ve already taken care of a lot of the plot problems, and my edits are usually much smaller in scale. I used this approach for Sally Slick and the Steel Syndicate, my upcoming title Demon Derby, and for the cyborg book I just turned in, and I still love it. So I guess that makes me a plotter/pantser? A plantser? A pansotter?

Completely nuts? THAT. Probably that.

My Kid Reviews Zeppelin Attack!

Disclaimer: I work for Evil Hat, the company that is producing Zeppelin Attack! This is awesome, because I often get an advance peek at new stuff. Although my son likes to give me credit for ALL THE THINGS, I really only worked tangentially on this game--I wrote material for the website and that's about it. So of course he likes it more than the stuff I actually worked on. Yeah. That happened.

Anyway, if you're interested in learning more about the game, you can check it out here. This is definitely a play-at-home family-game-night kind of game, since it takes about an hour. It's a little complicated for my seven year olds, but as you'll see, my ten year old is pretty jazzed about it. If you'd like to pick one up, you can get a copy via the Kickstarter, which is open through March 1st. Buying a copy there gets you some extra cards that won't be available later, and then you can taunt people with them.

ANYWAY anyway. The review:

Hi. I’m 10 and my mom helped to make this game. I like attacking games and this is the best one so far. I like this game because it makes you think what’s in the other player's hand and you build your army of zeppelins and attacks just the same as defenses. I like how you can get the fate points to buy special stuff. I like how the characters look. My favorite character is the Walking Mind because he looks cool and reminds me a little bit of a zombie. I like buying atomic stuff because there isn’t much stuff that can defend against it. So if you’re a kid looking to spend time with your family this game is definitely for you.