Kate's Book Blog

This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I'll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here." 

It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids.  2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors.  (You'll even be able to read some successful query letters!)  If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!

Today...Megan Crewe, author of GIVE UP THE GHOST!

I had the good fortune to read an early copy of Megan's book, and I loved the mix of modern high school kids with that paranormal twist.  A girl who sees ghosts is compelling enough, but the fact that she can talk to them AND that they feed her gossip?  It adds up to a fantastic read (and just in time for Halloween, too!)

Welcome, Megan! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.

When I was in fifth grade, we had an assignment around Halloween to write a suspenseful story. I loved making up stories, so I put a lot of effort into mine, which I believe was about a werewolf. My teacher picked it as an example to read to the class. I remember looking around and seeing all the other kids totally wrapped up in the story, and realizing that maybe writing wasn't just something I loved, maybe I was good at it, too. Maybe I could be a "real" writer.


Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge.  When and where do you write?   Do you have any special rituals?  Music?  Food & beverages?

Part of my bedroom is my sort-of office space: my desk, my special writing chair, bookshelves with my YA and reference books. When I have a project I'm working on, I write for a few hours every morning, on my laptop. And I'm not allowed to turn on the desktop computer with the internet connection until I'm done my goal for that day. During the rest of the day, I'm often jotting down ideas or outlining scenes in my notebook, wherever I happen to be.

Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?

I read over the previous draft and make notes on things that I want to change. If I've gotten critiques I consult them and add any ideas from those comments to my list. Then I either make an organized list of things to change/work on in each chapter, or, if I'm making larger changes, re-outline the book scene-by-scene to work in the changes. Finally, I open a new document and start writing the new draft from scratch--though I have the previous draft open beside it so any parts I'm keeping I'm really just re-typing.

What’s your best advice for young writers?

The most important part of becoming a good writer is just to keep trying. Write whenever you can. Read widely so you know what's out there and how other writers have handled different types of plots and characters. Study your stories and look for ways to make them better. Realize that it's okay that a story's not going to be perfect the first time you write it. Writing can be a lot of hard work, but if you love doing it, it's totally worth it.

What’s special about your debut novel?

Unlike most stories where the main character can see ghosts, Cass embraces her ability and actually feels more comfortable with the dead than the living. Exploring how she got to that point, and how she can move on from it, is something I feel makes the book special. :)

What were the best and worst parts of writing it?

The best part was getting to know Cass and the other characters better and better as I revised, and being about to show their stories more fully. The worst was struggling with feedback that Cass wasn't sympathetic enough, even though she was to me and some of my readers--finding a way to soften her up without losing the edge that was so important to her personality. But I think I've managed to do that!

How did you find your agent and/or editor?

I found my agent the usual way--no connections, just queried, sent the manuscript when requested, and got an offer of representation. And I found my editor through my agent, of course. :)

And here's the pitch from Megan's successful query letter:

Sixteen-year-old Cass McKenna would take the company of the dead over the living any day. Unlike her high school classmates, the dead don’t lie or judge, and they’re way less scary than Danielle, the best-bud-turned-backstabber who kicked Cass to the bottom of the social ladder in seventh grade. Since then, Cass has styled herself as an avenger. Using the secrets her ghostly friends stumble across, she exposes her fellow students’ deceits and knocks the poseurs down a peg.

When Tim Reed, the student council V.P., asks Cass to chat with his recently-deceased mom, her instinct is to laugh in his face. But Tim’s part of Danielle’s crowd. He can give Cass dirt the dead don’t know. Intent on revenge, Cass offers to trade her spirit-detecting skills for his information. She isn’t counting on chasing a ghost who would rather hide than speak to her, facing the explosive intervention of an angry student, or discovering that Tim’s actually an okay guy. Then Tim sinks into a suicidal depression, and Cass has to choose: run back to the safety of the dead, or risk everything to stop Tim from becoming a ghost himself.

Thanks for joining us, Megan!

You can read more about Megan at her website. You can pick up your copy of GIVE UP THE GHOST at your local independent bookseller, order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking out IndieBound!

This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I'll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here." 

It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids.  2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors.  (You'll even be able to read some successful query letters!)  If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!

Today...Lauren Bjorkman, author of MY INVENTED LIFE!

With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest—who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.

This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I'll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here." 

It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids.  2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors.  (You'll even be able to read some successful query letters!)  If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!

Today...Pam Bachorz, author of CANDOR!

I was lucky enough to read an advance reader copy of CANDOR (Egmont, 2009), a powerful YA novel about a "perfect town" where everything is far from perfect under the surface. Candor's "messages" program teenagers to behave perfectly, but what happens when one stops listening?  What happens when a new message gets out there?  It's a fantastic dystopian novel -- one that would make a great discussion choice for book clubs and literature circles.  And without giving out any spoilers, I have to say that the ending of this book absolutely blew me away.  I'm pleased to welcome Pam to the blog today for an interview!

Welcome! What books did you love when you were a kid?

My mother and I shared the LM Mongtomery books together--Anne, Emily, Pat, Marigold, all of them. As I grew older, I fell in love with the Sunfire Romance series, and then Lois Duncan and all the other authors writing "creepy" YA at the time (Mildred Ames, anybody?).

Is there a particular teacher or librarian who was a mentor for you in your reading and writing life?

I was so lucky to have a number of teacher and librarian mentors in my life, and I thank a number of them in my CANDOR acknowledgments. In particular, my middle-school English teacher, Emily Adams, convinced me that I had talent--and that I still would have to write draft after draft before my stuff was good enough for publication. She died a number of years ago, and I'm so sad that I can't send her a copy of CANDOR.

Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge.  When and where do you write?   Do you have any special rituals?  Music?  Food & beverages?

I make a schedule every week for my writing, and post it on my study door. I also make goals for that time, such as writing 20 pages, outlining a third of the book, whatever. I do play a lot of music while I write, though sometimes I need total silence. I keep See's hard chocolate lollipops and decaf green tea close at hand!

Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?

I love Holly Lisle's One-Pass Revision method. Print your manuscript out and rip it to shreds with a pen--then enter it all in a computer. It stops me from the endless, addictive cycles of stopping in the middle of a manuscript and going back.

What’s your best advice for young writers?

Love your first drafts while you write them--but after that's done, spend a ton of energy and time on making them better. Lots of writers, whether young or old, make the mistake of thinking their first effort on a story is brilliant. It never is!

What’s special about your debut novel?

CANDOR was inspired by the 6 years I spent living in a planned community in Florida. It's filled with settings that were inspired by the town, and I tried hard to capture the feeling of living in a place like that.

How did you find your agent and/or editor?

A friend found my agent for me--she had posted on the Blue Boards that she was a new agent and was looking for people who had written smart YA fiction with a boy's voice. But I hadn't been checking the BB so I'm glad my friend was! My agent, thankfully, did the job of finding me my wonderful editor.

Thanks for joining us, Pam!

You can read more about Pam at her website (Check out the fabulous trailer for CANDOR while you're there!) You can pick up your copy of CANDOR at your local independent bookseller, order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking out IndieBound!

This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I'll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here." 

It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids.  2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors.  (You'll even be able to read some successful query letters!)  If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!

Today...Jennifer Brown, author of HATE LIST!

I had the good fortune to read an early copy of HATE LIST. Jennifer Brown's YA novel about the aftermath of a school shooting, narrated by the shooter's girlfriend and loaded with questions. The characterizations in this YA novel are some of the best I've ever read in any book for kids or adults. The characters, their motivations, and their responses to that awful thing that happened in the Commons on May 2nd all feel so very true and real that I had to keep reminding myself I was reading a work of fiction.

This is a story about high school and bullying, about stepping too close to lines and crossing over them.  And even though it's also the story of a community's worst nightmare, ultimately, it's also a story about hope. Highly recommended...with a special note for teachers & librarians that this will make one heck of a compelling book club/literature circles choice. 

Welcome, Jennifer! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.

While I can remember writing short stories as far back as 2nd grade (and thinking writing was really cool), I probably didn't start thinking of myself as a potential writer until high school. I took Creative Writing my junior year and did really well with it, even writing and illustrating a children's story. The story was about a kid who'd eat nothing but pizza. And then one day, pizza just started falling from the sky and just covered everything, and the only way for this kid to get home from school was to eat his way home. It was written entirely in verse and was really (pardon the pun) cheesy. But my teacher's young daughters declared it their favorite of the class, and I was really proud.

What books did you love when you were a kid?

The Ramona books, Runaway Ralph, the Fudge books... basically anything Beverly Cleary, and also Judy Blume. Boy, I wanted to be Judy Blume!

Is there a particular teacher or librarian who was a mentor for you in your reading and writing life?

My mom was a volunteer librarian when I was very young (preschool-aged), and she would take me to the library with her and park me on the floor behind the desk with stacks and stacks of pop-up books. That is what started me on the road to loving to read!

Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge.  When and where do you write?   Do you have any special rituals?  Music?  Food & beverages?

Depends on what I'm writing. If I'm working on a column or a blog, I write at my kitchen table, on the laptop. But for my Very Serious Writing (AKA: novels), I work in my office at the desktop. I always have to have something to drink with me at all times (morning = coffee, afternoons = big glasses of water, late afternoons = Diet Coke), and I have to have a hair elastic and hand lotion with me, as well. I usually light a good, smelly candle (because my office is in the basement, where the litterbox is), give the dogs a couple rawhides to keep them out of my hair, and get going!

Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?

I don't really find revising to be all that difficult. I like the idea of making my work the best it can possibly be, and very rarely do I get upset over having to cut or change something. So I tend to just plow right through revisions, one chapter at a time.

What’s your best advice for young writers?

Keep going. There will be rejections, no matter how good you are. There will be days you think it will never happen for you. There will be people who will work hard to make you believe it will never happen for you. But if you just keep going... keep looking at the finish line... you will get there.

What’s special about your debut novel?

One special thing about my debut novel is that it was also my editor's first acquisition. I think it's so cool that we're both going through a first together. And he's the best!

But the most special thing about Hate List is that it's making people think. Making them look really hard at their lives and the things they say and do and the impact that can have on other people and on the world in general. I really like novels that make me think, and get a special little happy jolt every time I hear that Hate List is doing that for other readers.

What were the best and worst parts of writing it?

Best -- Revisions, because that's when I really got to know my characters and make them come to life.

Worst -- Because of time and work constraints, I had to get up at 5:30AM every day for most of a year to write it.

How did you find your agent and/or editor?

I've actually had my agent for several years, when she signed me to represent a women's fiction novel I'd written. It was a blind submission -- I think I was actually querying another agent in the agency -- and we didn't sign until more than a year after I made the initial query. We're a perfect match, and I'm so happy with my agent. She's like a friend.

Thanks for joining us, Jennifer!

You can read more about Jennifer at her website. You can pick up your copy of HATE LIST at your local independent bookseller, order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking out IndieBound!