Just wanted to let y'all know about some upcoming events! Hope to see y'all there!
Saturday, November 8, 2014
YALLFest Book Festival in Charleston, SC
Blue Bicycle Books, 420 Kings Street
Join 60 of the country’s top YA authors, including 25 New York Times bestsellers for panels, presentations and signings on three stages on Upper King Street, as well as the infamous YA Smackdown! Click here for more info!
Saturday, November 22, 2014 at 2:00pm
Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC
Join JP and I as we celebrate the launch of The Map to Everywhere! For more info, click here.
UPCOMING in 2015 (subject to change):
May 15-16: South Carolina Book Festival
PREVIOUS EVENTS:
Monday, July 26, 2010, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Spartanburg Public Library Headquarters - Barrett Room
151 South Church Street, Spartanburg SC
Monday, July 26, 2010, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
July 28-29
Online YA Workshop Panel
Link to come!
September 4, 2010, 3:00 pm
The Escape at the Old Courthouse, Decatur, GA
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 6:00 pm
Event with Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Mary Pearson, Rachel Caine, Rachel Vincent, Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia
Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 7:00 pm
Event with Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Jackson Pearce & Jennifer Barnes
NOTE: for this event, it is free with the purchase on one book by a featured author or $5 without purchase
Friday, September 24, 2010, 5:30 pm
Baltimore, MD
Panel Discussion: Zombies vs. Unicorns debate with Justine Larbalestier, Holly Black, Scott Westerfeld, Diana Peterfreund and Kathleen Duey.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Novello Festival
Tribute to Novello Festival of Reading! Here's the info on my panel, Saturday October 9th:
1:15 p.m. Young Adult
Carrie Ryan: Dead-Tossed Waves, Forest of Hands & Teeth
Karon Luddy: SpelldownJoyce Hostetter: Comfort, Blue, Healing Waterils to come.
Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 4:30 PM
Neuse Regional Library, Kinston, NC
I'll be speaking at the Kinston-Lenior Public Library. You can find more information here.
Friday, October 29, 2010 at 6:00 PM
New York, NY
The Princeton Club, 15 West 43rd Street
I'll be speaking at the Williams Club and reading from The Dark and Hollow Places (the first sneak peek!) and signing afterward. There should be books for sale after the event! The event is free but reservations are required -- you can email eventsATprincetonclub.com or call 212.596.1261 to reserve. See below for more details!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Charlotte, NC
Charlotte Geeks Gala
I'll be the guest judge for the Geeks Got Talent contest! There is a cost for admission and all proceeds go to Youth Homes, an organization dedicated to providing supportive human services to children and families. For more information about the event, click here. This is going to be a super fun gala and I can't wait to see y'all there!!
To learn more about the Charlotte Geeks, the Gala and to see me on TV, click here!
November 19-20, 2010
NCTE/ALAN
Orlando, FL
Details to come!
THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES TOUR:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Miami, FL
Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Chicago, IL
Naperville location:
123 West Jefferson
Naperville, IL 60540
Tel: 630-355-2665
Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Chicago, IL
Borders Schaumburg
Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Cincinnati, OH
2692 Madison Road
Cincinnati OH 45208
(513) 396-8960
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Dayton, OH
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Salt Lake City, UT
1511 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 7:00 PM
West Jordan, UT
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Phoenix, AZ
6428 S McClintock Dr
Tempe, AZ 85283
Tel: 480-730-0205
Friday, April 1, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Phoenix, AZ
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Los Angeles, CA
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 2:00 PM
San Diego/Los Angeles, CA
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Los Angeles, CA
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. Hollywood CA, 90069
This is a joint signing with other awesome authors I shall reveal shortly :)
Saturday, April 9, 2011 all day
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
click image to make bigger so you can read all the fun details!
|
Monday, April 11, 2011
from 5:00-6:00PM
Spartanburg, SC
I'll be signing and chatting with readers from 5-6 and then from 7-9 I'll be giving a writing workshop on how to put tension on every page, especially when it comes to writing YA. Space is limited -- click here for more information! You don't have to be a part of the workshop to come to the signing!
April 12 - April 15, 2011
Austin, TX
TLA (I don't have a schedule of events yet but will post when I do)
April 15 - April 16, 2011
Austin Texas
Writer's League of Texas, YA A to Z Conference
Sunday, May 15th, 3:00 PM
414 Hasty Street
Marshville, NC 28103
704.624.2828
September 23-25
SCBWI-Carolinas Conference
Charlotte, NC
I'll be hosting a round table of published authors answering your questions (registration for the conference required).
October 4, 2011, 6 pm
Lansing, Michigan
Another fantastic lineup of YA authors traveling around the country to celebrate books! Click here for more info.
Friday, October 21, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Teen Read Week, Palm Bay and Satellite Beach Florida.
Satellite Beach Library at 11 a.m. Details here.
Franklin T DeGroodt Memorial Library at 2 p.m. Details here and below (talk followed by a Zombie self-defense class)!
Wingate University, Wingate, NC
Zombie walk at 6pm, hors d'oeurves at 6:30pm, talk at 7pm with signing to follow! Click here for more info.
November 11-12, 2011
YALLFest: Charleston Young Adult Book Festival
Charleston, SC
I'm so excited to be a part of such a wonderful list of authors at this year's YALLFest! For more information click here and I'll update my schedule as I get more details!
December 13, 2011
Writing Workshop at Myers Park library
Charlotte, NC
I'll be giving a writing workshop at my local library. Click here for more details!
 Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
Fireside Books and Gifts, Forest City, NC
Join author Stephanie Perkins and me as we help Beth Revis celebrate the launch of A MILLION SUNS! Book talk, discussion, signing and just generally hanging out :) There will also be a virtual component of this event, click here for more details!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Books of Wonder, NYC
Discussion and signing featuring me, Beth Revis, Julie Cross, Megan Miranda and Maureen Lipinski. For more info, click here!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 5 pm
Mint Hill branch of the Mecklenburg Co. Library, Charlotte, NC
I'll be talking about the process and craft of writing and answering questions!
Thursday, April 26, 2012, 7pm
Malaprops Bookstore, Asheville, NC
Southern Kidlit Writers Cabal
Join nine of the south's best authors of middle grade and young adult fiction as they descend on Malaprop's for one crazy night of writer revelry. With more than two dozen critically-acclaimed and New York Times bestselling books between them, the kidlit cabal runs the gamut of historical, fantasy, sci-fi, and contemporary novels. Come and see your favorite authors and meet new favorites you haven't read yet as they answer your burning questions about writing, editing, publishing, and the zombie apocalypse: Alan Gratz, Gwenda Bond, Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, Megan Shepherd, Megan Miranda, Tiffany Trent, Laurel Snyder, and Kristin Tubb!
Thursday, October 25, 2012, 5:30-7:30
Tulsa City-County Library - Peggy Helmerich Library, Tulsa, OK
Come celebrate Teen Read week with me! The theme this year is "It Came From the Library" and what better way to celebrate than with all things zombie? Here's the official description and poster for the event (click poster for larger version):
Zombies love prom almost as much as brains! Help us celebrate Teen Read Month with a zombie costume and walk-off contest, an apocalypse survival box challenge, zombie peg doll crafts, and a zombie prom photo station! Carrie Ryan, New York Times bestselling author of zombie series The Forest of Hands and Teeth, will be on hand to dish about zombies, writing and her novels. A book signing will follow.
Saturday, November 10, 2012, all day
Charleston, SC
Just last week I posted a collection of the foreign covers for my books and I have a new on to add to the collection! As I said before, I feel so lucky to have gotten such beautiful covers and that means that to a certain extent, I now open cover related emails with one hand over my eyes because I'm just not sure how much longer my luck can hold out.
As it turns out, my lucky streak continues! This is the cover Gollancz designed and it will be released in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. If you read the flap copy for The Dark and Hollow Places you'll understand the significance barbed wire plays in the story. I couldn't be more thrilled with how this cover turned out!!!
Yep, I love everything about this cover: the ominous sounding tag line, "The worst secrets are about the future," the smeared blood, the dirty concrete, the barbed wire heart, even the font (and yes, I also love the descriptor "International Bestselling Sensation" - squee!)
Thank you thank you thank you Gollancz for such a gorgeous cover!! Of course this does mean I've been doing a lot of staring and not quite as much writing/revising. Oops!
Hurray! I just saw that the listing for The Dark and Hollow Places is up on Amazon - squee! It lists the release date as March 22, 2011 - also big yay! No cover yet, though -- it's not final and as soon as it is and I get permission to post it I'll be shouting from the rooftops :) However, the flap copy describing the book on Amazon (and elsewhere) is wrong so here's the official description of the book:
There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.
Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.
Except, Catcher has his own secrets—dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah—can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction? Very exciting! I tend to think of The Dark and Hollow Places as more of a sequel to The Dead-Tossed Waves than a companion. I know there's been confusion before about why DTW is called a companion and I'll post more on that decision later this week. It's not really a huge distinction and it was more for clarification and to establish expectations than anything else.
But for those of you who have emailed, wondering if we get to know what happens to the characters from the end of The Dead-Tossed Waves -- yes :)
I'm not gonna lie, one of the best parts of selling foreign rights is seeing how other countries imagine the covers. There's really nothing like that first moment you see a cover -- whether it's the first cover for your first book or the third. It's been really really fascinating to see what other countries have come up with -- how they see the characters and the books and how different they all are from each other. And I have to say, I've been super super fortunate that all the covers I've seen so far have been amazing -- I really do have some fantastic foreign publishers!!
Here are a few that I've seen so far:
Brazil, Editora Underworld (you can visit the microsite for the book here):
 |
| Brazil |
France, Gallimard-Jeunesse:
.jpg) |
| France |
Greece, Platypus Publication:
 |
Greece
|
UK/Aus/NZ, Gollancz
Germany, Verlagsgruppe Random House
 |
| Germany |
I love all of these so much and am a lucky lucky author!
Yesterday JP and I drove down to his family's house at Pawley's Island for our annual 4th of July vacation. I have to say, this is one of my favorite times of the year and spots -- our days are filled with playing games, crabbing, picking crabs, eating crabs, kayaking, bocci ball on the beach, sleeping, and one very small town parade that is taken quite seriously. You know, the usual. Of course, it's raining today which means lots and lots of game playing.
 |
| Cthulu figurines!! |
The game of the hour is Graverobbers III: Suburban Slashers from Sunnydale Street where the object of the game is to create a B-horror-movie. Which is of course quite appropriate for JP and I since we tend to be big fans of B-horror movies. Last night we played Smallworld (an easier and more fun game similar to Risk but without the inevitable fights Risk always causes) and pretty soon we'll probably transition into A Touch of Evil (with expansions -- similar to Arkham Horror but I think more manageable and a little easier), Unspeakable Words (scrabble with Cthulu figures), Bananagrams (word game) and the old standbys Arkham Horror (with too many expansions to fit on our table) and Dominion (with expansions -- always a favorite).
All the games took up most of the trunk for the drive down here -- clearly we are a family that loves games :)
 In the writing world I'm working on revisions for book three (The Dark and Hollow Places), working on a few proposals, working on some short stories, trying to catch up on my reading and trying to catch up on various odds and ends. Yesterday I jumped for joy when I found Ally Carter's latest installment in her awesome and fun Gallagher Girl series, Only the Good Spy Young. I LOVE Ally Carter's books and can't wait to dive into this one.
I also brought a bag of other books to read -- more of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series (of which I've already proclaimed my love), a few ARCs and some books I'm reading for my proposal :) I'd say what space wasn't taken up in our trunk from games was taken up with books.
Is there any other perfect vacation than one that starts with books, games, and a suitcase full of shorts, tank tops and bathing suits? And of course my wonderful husband and his family! Going to be a fantastic week! And when this one is over I'm heading up to Isle of Palms to spend a week with my family -- one mom, two sisters and six kids under the age of seven :)
 Way back when I signed with my wonderful agent, Jim McCarthy, he sent me a box of some of his other clients' books. In that box was Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. My editor also sent me a box of books and I arranged everything on new shelves and started reading my way through them. My mother started to read more and more YA and when she realized just how many books I had, she started making visits to haul them away. (Yes, I've turned my mother into a huge YA reader and it's totally awesome.)
Early on my mom carted away Vampire Academy and it lived at her house for a long while until she picked it up. She devoured it, raced to the store and bought the entire series. Every time she visited or we chatted on the phone, she asked when a new one would be coming out.
 See, you'd think that would have been enough to prompt me to drop everything and pick these books up. But I didn't for a whole host of boring reasons like revisions, writing, other books I had to read for whatever reason.
I even met Richelle in person and yes, I was embarrassed that here she's written this amazingly successful series (multiple series!) and we share an agent and I hadn't read her books! I really like to be in the perfect mood for a book because I really really want to love every book I read. And then a few weeks ago the perfect mood struck and I picked up Vampire Academy.
OH. MY. WORD!!! I am SO STUPID for not having read these books earlier!!! Seriously, they're amazing and I've been devouring them! My mother never gave me Frostbite, the second book, and I had to race to the store to pick it up because I just couldn't wait. I was up so early this morning reading the third that it was dark out (I don't do mornings well).
 This world is just really wonderfully crafted and complex. Richelle does a brilliant job of building the characters and the plots and raising the stakes and weaving it all together so tightly and compellingly. There are layers and twists and depth -- these are books that have made me gasp, that have kept me up late and gotten me up early (anything that can get me awake at 5am has to be incredible). And yes, these books have made me teary which is a massive feat all on its own.
They're also really well written. As an author I really really love seeing how Richelle pulls it all off -- truly, I'm in awe of her mad skills. And yes, I feel stupid for not reading them earlier but I'm super SUPER thrilled that I get to just devour them one right after the other without having to wait.
Thanks Richelle for writing such phenomenal books and I'm sorry I didn't read them earlier! And everyone else out there who has been putting off picking up this fantastic series, I wholeheartedly recommend it!
I just read this blog post by Kristin Cashore. One of the things I love about Kristin (other than her awesome books and that she graduated from Williams two years before I did, go Ephs!) is that she's so open and honest about her feelings about writing, including struggles and hurdles, on her blog. Sometimes I wish I were more like her in that way -- there's such an honesty and vulnerability in the way she writes about the process of crafting a book and I love seeing how everything comes together in the end.
I think perhaps for me, I'm not someone who shares vulnerability easily, esp when I'm still not sure I'll be able to overcome whatever aspect of the process is making me feel vulnerable. Which is a little ironic (and perhaps hypocritical) since one of the reasons I started this blog way back when was so that I and other people could hopefully one day read the process of writing and selling a book as it happened, without looking back through the lens of success.
In fact, one of my favorite posts is one in which I talk about questioning whether I'd ever actually reach my writing goals -- whether my full faith in myself and my dream of being a published author was misplaced. I love reading that post now and knowing that it worked out (and I love reading JP's motivating response here). And yet I don't write posts like that anymore and I'm not entirely certain why.
Perhaps part of it comes from a need to be a little more protective of myself. At one point after The Forest of Hands and Teeth came out a professional reviewer actually combed through my blog archives and found instances of me doubting myself and used them as reasons my book failed or had holes. That felt like a breach of trust to me -- I felt like I'd opened myself up and shared my fear and hesitation and suddenly it was turned back on me to prove why I somehow failed. After that I just stopped really opening myself up online as much.
And I think that's a little unfair -- not to me because I still have people I can turn to with my thoughts and ruminations -- but to other people out there in this business trying to find their path. Often I feel like authors start to put this "everything is easy" face on so that people don't prod at the vulnerabilities and somehow this makes people believe that it *is* always easy and then when it's not easy for them they think something is wrong with them.
This is one reason I love Kristin Cashore's blog -- she shares it all and it makes me admire her so much for doing so. In the blog post I mentioned above, she talks about the fears and anxieties that intensify as she comes to the end of a draft: The other thing that happens is less welcome: the hopelessness sets in. I can see the book as a whole now, and every single day, I struggle with the voices that are telling me it's not going to work, it's going to fail. It isn't about anything. I'm not good enough to pull all the loose ends together. I'll get to the climax and realize that it's a dumb climax. It's a mess and revisions won't solve the problems. And then she goes on to say that she's learned to remember that the voices don't control her. Kristin writes: You acknowledge the voices, but you write anyway. This faith is performative. I believe in this book. As soon as I read this I thought "Yes! This!" I'm often asked if I've learned anything from the books I've written and I tend to answer with the oft-repeated phrase that writing a book teaches you how to write *that* book and every book has its own new set of problems. However, there is something I've learned: that I can do it.
With the past few books I've written I've always come to the point when I look around me and think "I've broken it." It's a feeling of utter helplessness -- it's over. Done. The book can't be fixed. It is beyond repair. In fact, on Christmas Eve I found myself sobbing to my husband, JP, on the phone while hiding in the guest bathroom at my sister's house because I could not fix the book I was working on and it was due. I was frozen in panic.
He reminded me that I'd been there before. That I always end up there with my books. And he was right. I'd felt that unbearable helplessness before and I'd found a way to work through it. I'd figured out the character/plot/scene/hole and I'd fixed it and I had to have faith that I could do it again. I just had to keep pushing -- keep writing.
This is exactly what I think Kristin was saying when she wrote "This is faith performative." Not just faith performative, but absolute faith. With no guarantee that I *could* fix the book, only the knowledge that I had in the past, I had to believe I could do it again. I had to have faith and I have to continue having faith.
And just as Kristin sharing her process helped me understand my own, I hope sharing my process helps others. Have faith in yourself and your writing, even the only thing you can hold on to is that faith.
Today I have a guest post from Edgar Award nominated author Saundra Mitchell. I've gushed about her book, Shadowed Summer, many many times and it's out in paperback today ( Indiebound, Book Depository, Powell's, Amazon)! YAY!! Saundra writes about how we became imprint buddies and honestly, it made me tear up a bit. Saundra is not only a phenomenal writer (seriously, some of her prose makes me want to weep) but she's been a really fantastic friend and critique partner. I feel very lucky to have met her!
Without further ado, Saundra Mitchell:
 |
| Out in Paperback Today!!! |
When we're still aspiring, our main concern as writers is getting to the agent, and getting to that contract. As it should be- both of these goals require hard work to reach, and wishing and dreaming is only the fun part.
But what no one tells you is that after you get that agent, after you get that contract- it's a lonely place. You never realize how much time you spent researching and querying, until it's no longer your job to do
those things.
Sometimes, the authors you shared those hardships with can disappear. It's not intentional- you're just in different places, and the support they need, the support you need, diverge. And that's why you need an imprint buddy.
I met Carrie on the Absolute Write boards- and you know how I met her? I was scanning the "New Sales!" thread, and I noticed that she had recently sold to Delacorte Press. Hey! Me too! And- completely out of character for me- I sent this total stranger an e-mail that basically said, "HOMG WE ARE WITH THE SAME HOUSE YAY!"
She replied, "HOMG WE SO ARE YAY!"
And that's how we became Imprint Buddies. Her book was scheduled a month behind mine, so we always had someone to compare notes. If I got my copyedits two months after final revisions, she probably would, too. She got her marketing plan a few days before I did. There was so much to learn about being published, and we never had to wonder, "Is this just me?"
Having Carrie for my imprint buddy kept me sane before publication, and she still does- now a full year after my book came out in hardcover. A long while back, we discussed what we should wear if we did events. She was thinking about all black with red shoes, because the splash of red in the dark is an element in THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH. And somehow, we agreed that we should both wear red shoes.
It was a silly conversation in the middle of a really chaotic time, but it stuck. Every time I do a signing, or a school visit, or an event- I never have to walk in alone. I've got my red shoes on, and my imprint buddy is with me.
 Yay! It's time again for Con-Carolinas!! Which this year is also DeepSouthCon and is being held at the Hilton University Place in Charlotte! This is my local con that I've had a total blast going to the past few years and I'm super excited that this time I'm going to be on some of the panels! Wahoo! Here's my schedule:
Friday at 6:00 pm: Book Launch!: Writer guests who have published in the past year share their newest creations.
Friday at 8:00 pm: Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: Creating monsters in your writing - and where have all the scary monsters gone?
Saturday at 2:00 pm: The Harry Effect: What Harry Potter did for young adult literature - and why so many distiguished authors are trying their hand at YA literature.
Saturday at 8:00 pm: I Like the Dark: The appeal of dark fantasy and how to write it.
Sunday at 4:00 pm: Don`t Be a Noob!: Common mistakes beginners make when starting in the writing business.
 |
| zombies in love |
I'll also be around before and after my panels selling books if anyone is interested! Of course, one of the highlights of ConCarolinas each year is the zombie walk (there's a zombie discussion on Saturday at 4 and the walk is at 6).
 |
| me after deadlines |
As you can see from the pictures, I've been a very avid participant in all the zombie treats this con has to offer :)
Here's more information about registration and whatnot. I've met some really amazing authors by attending this con and am so excited to be hanging out with them all again soon! I hope to see y'all there!
I've mentioned a few times that there's a third book in my series called The Dark and Hollow Places that is already written and should be coming out Spring 2011. I honestly can't be more thrilled about the emails I've been getting asking about it and wanting it sooner!* One question I've been asked a few times is why, since the book is already written, is it taking so long for it to come out?
This is an excellent question and a perfect blog topic :) The short answer: with all the different aspects involved in how a book if published, it just takes a long time. When I first sold The Forest of Hands and Teeth (October 2007) and learned it wouldn't be coming out for 17 months (March 2009) I was surprised. Now I understand how it all works...
So I thought I'd write out the steps involved in getting a book from the author's head into the reader's hands. This is all from my perspective and if I've gotten something wrong please leave a comment correcting me and I'll make the change!
 |
| draft of DTW, ready for work |
Step one: author writes and revises the book. The length of time this takes can vary wildly.
Step two: editor reads and sends edit letter. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months for an editor to put together a round of edits. These days editors often handle lots and lots of authors and they tend to focus on the closest season (i.e. they'll generally edit a Fall 2010 book before a Spring 2011 book because it's more pressing).
Step three: author revises based on editorial letter. Again this can take days, weeks or months depending on the deadlines and extent of revisions needed.
Step four: repeat. Sometimes the editor and author might go through several rounds of revisions.
 |
| Sam likes to sleep on edits |
Step five: line edits. These are the really detailed edits that get down to the sentence level rather than the plot level. This is where your editor asks if you made the right word choices, if the scene needs tweaking, etc. This can again take days, weeks or months depending on deadlines.
Step six: copy-edits. The manuscript is then sent to copy-editors who pour over the pages with a fine-toothed comb marking inconsistencies, grammar and punctuation errors, flow, etc. Sometimes a book will be sent to a second copy-editor and then to the editor for review. Then it's sent to the author to review and then back to the editor to check the author's comments.
 |
copyedits! (each person
uses a diff color) |
Step seven: typesetting. The manuscript is sent to be type set which is the point at which it starts to look like a book. Sometime before this point all the aspects of the typesetting have already been chosen and designed (what font, the layout of the pages, any chapter headers or symbols between sections). One thing I never realized is that new errors can be introduced at this stage so if you find a typo in a book, sometimes this is where it happens.
Step eight: proofreading. The typeset pages (first pass pages) are sent to proofreaders to make sure everything from the manuscript made it into the typeset pages correctly. Sometimes errors will be typos, strange formatting, etc. Then the pages go to the editor for review, to the author, back to the editor.
Step nine: Advanced Reader Copies. Generally I think the ARCs are created from the initial type-set pages BEFORE they've been proofed by anyone. This is why there can be so many errors in ARCs and also why the ARC isn't always the same as the final book (I rewrote part of the ending of The Dead-Tossed Waves at this stage which is why the end in the ARC isn't the same in the final book).
 |
| first pass pages |
Step ten: books printed. The books are then printed and shipped. Also during this time covers are designed and approved, marketing and publicity departments create plans and put them into action, sales reps and told about the books and go to stores to sell them. TONS of stuff goes on behind the scenes.
Updated to add: as Melissa Marr points out in the comments, the "marketing and publicity plans are created, implemented, etc" phase of the process happens throughout all of these steps, not just at the end.
So there's a fairly lengthy process involved in each book which is why, even though The Dark and Hollow Places is written, it's not nearly close to being ready for publication. But I'm super stoked y'all are excited about reading it!
* I read every email I receive but am behind on responding - sorry!
 Sometime this past summer my sister emailed me about a book she was reading that she couldn't put down. Over the course of the next few days, she kept emailing me little tidbits that had me in hysterics and then finally she wrote "I think I might have to go to the doctor because I just shouldn't be laughing this much" or something like that. Quite a recommendation and so I immediately picked up the book in question: Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster.
And boy was my sister right! I DIED reading this book! She so perfectly nailed so many parts of my life -- it's like she was inside my own brain as she talked about writing, procrastinating, getting in shape, procrastinating, thinking about what to wear on tour, reality TV, etc etc (and though the book is about more than that, these are the parts that really hit home for me). I mean, Jen holds nothing back and she's fricking hilarious.
Naturally, I bought her entire backlist and have been cyber-stalking her ever since. Her most recent book, My Fair Lazy, just came out and in reading the first few chapters I wanted to email her a millions times and say "OMG me too!" Her story about a rat in the house -- we had that (a mouse, but pretty much the same talk with the four legged furry creatures that their JOB is to rid the house of such things); her story about winging over what luggage to buy for tour -- been there and boy have I done that (I dragged my mom around to seven different stores looking for just the right bag); going to a "writing retreat" while under deadline and knowing that really you're going to hang out and swim and not write -- totally done that!
So you can imagine my insane glee when I found out that Jen would be signing in Charlotte! My hometown! We rarely get authors and I've always wanted to go see how other authors do presentations on tour and so I *had* to go. Luckily, my mom (also a fan) was in town and so we hopped in the car and off we went.
 |
| Everyone packed in to see Jen! |
Of course, we forgot it was Race Weekend so a 20 minute drive turned into almost an hour and ended with me going way too fast down country roads to avoid the interstate. But luckily, Jen was also a little late (due to said race weekend traffic) so I didn't miss anything! Also, granted, the store perhaps wasn't expecting such a huge crowd and the set-up was a little awkward (probably over half the people there couldn't get into the area where Jen was because of people clogging the narrow entrance so we were spread out through the store with some people literally climbing the shelves trying to see her).
 |
this was my view, you can see Jen's
head under the D in Video |
But OMG it was so so worth it! Jen is HILARIOUS in person! She's the type of person you want to claim as your best friend (and I know everyone else there felt the same way I did). She's just awesome. She read a bit from her book, answered questions (lots of questions about reality TV that had my mom asking "who?" because clearly she doesn't watch as much as I do :)
While waiting for our time to stand in line (people stood in line according to what color ticket they got when they came through the doors), my mom and I headed over to the YA section where I ran into a display for The Dead-Tossed Waves which made me all squealy and happy!
 |
| Yes, I pet it a bit. |
And then.... it was my time to stand in line to meet Jen. I'm not going to lie, I got pretty nervous. I mean, she's just a huge idol of mine because I love her writing and her wit and the way she's so honest about so much of this industry. I'd been thinking about meeting her for WEEKS and I was afraid that I'd sound like an idiot or forget to tell her how wonderful I think she is. And what's funny is that I *know* authors are people too but still! And Jen was being wonderful because she was taking her time with each person or groups of people and you could tell that each conversation meant something to her.
It was time for Mom and I to meet her and I honestly can't remember much of what I said. I'm pretty sure I told her how big a fans my entire family is of hers (I'd bought a copy of her book for her to sign to my sister) and then how I'm a YA author with Random House and how much Such a Pretty Fat meant to me cause I'd read it right when I found out that I was going on tour so it just really cracked me up on such a personal level.
Her eyes got bright when I said I wrote and she said "Who are you?" at which point I told her I wrote post-zombie apocalypse books and she started laughing and telling me about a project she was working on. And then she asked if I had a card because she reads a lot of YA and thankfully I did have a card and then she said she'd read my books! *faints* She even tweeted about meeting me the next day!
Seriously, meeting Jen Lancaster was just pure amazing.
 |
| Mom, Jen and I. I <3 Jen Lancaster! |
Okay, I confess, I watch Reality TV. One of the shows I started watching recently is Tough Love on VH1. The basic premise is that Steve is a matchmaker and he's brought all these woman to a mansion to set them up on dates. There's no elimination and each week he works with the women to overcome some of their "issues" such as self-esteem, emotional barriers, etc.
The first season there was a woman named Taylor and she was a bona fide 100% gold-digger. She proclaimed that money didn't really matter to her that much but she decked herself out in expensive clothes from sunglasses to shoes. In one of the episodes, Steve set her up with a nice guy who had all the qualities Taylor claimed she was looking for in a man except for the money. They (and all the other girls with their setups) had the date at a gorgeous mansion with an amazing view and the twist was that the single and handsome "owner" of the house, someone clearly exceptionally wealthy, was an actor hired by Steve.
Unsurprisingly, within moments Taylor's ditched the guy she was set up with and is ALL OVER the "owner" of the house. She flirts, she says yes when he asks if she'd want to go away with him, blah blah blah. And at this point in the season as a viewer, we've seen her protest that it's not about the money and then pull this over and over again that we're done with her. As viewers, we've lost ALL sympathy for her and relegated her to gold-digging-reality-TV-fame-wanna-be-witch.
So Steve calls her up on the hot seat to lecture her about the way she behaved and she starts crying and says that he just can't understand. "Right," I'm thinking to myself, "no one can ever understand, blah blah blah." But then she starts talking about how she had a baby and she loved that child fiercely and she ran out of money and ultimately ended up having to give up her child for adoption because she couldn't afford to care for her. She started talking so passionately about how she would never in her life allow herself to be in that position again.
I was shocked. And suddenly, this character who was so flat and one-toned and who I hated... I started to understand. I totally understood her motivation and she made sense to me. This really hit home to me as a writer too because it didn't even take much for me to utterly change the way I approached her character -- just a little explanation about motivation.
It really made me think about how I approach characters (written and read). Sometimes, that little glimpse of each character's story can go a long way to making you understand decisions that might otherwise be hard to swallow. Understanding other people's motivations can be a very powerful thing!
note: this post has some specifics about my books. I tried to mark them as spoilers, but just be aware.
I was just reading Beth Revis's blog about writing dystopias and I think she does a great job of explaining why dystopian literature isn't always depressing and I thought I might piggy-back off of her discussion here.
This is a question I got asked at almost every tour stop: when are you going to write something happy -- your books are SO DEPRESSING! And here's my answer: my characters live in a pretty brutal world, there's just no way around that so yeah, some bad things happen in my books.
But here's the thing (and I hope this isn't a spoiler but just in case you're extremely spoiler averse, stop reading now): when all is said and done, at the end of my books my characters know who they are. They know the core of their strength and they survive. They go up against some pretty difficult odds where daily existence isn't a given and they make it through -- they push themselves farther than I think many people could.
To me, that's a happy ending: knowing who you are, knowing you can survive, knowing what you want in life and how to go after it and not settling. These are good things.
**and here's where I do actually get spoilery and explainery**
If a happy ending for Mary were just about ending up with a man and a dog, she'd have stayed in the village and married Harry. That's what her mom did and though it didn't work out terribly well in the very end, she seemed to live a fine life up until her husband got infected.
I meant for Harry to be a viable choice for Mary. And I meant for Travis to be a viable choice for Mary. To me, that's the essence of a love triangle -- each man is a viable choice for the heroine but each speaks to a different part of who she is. The heroine isn't choosing between two men, she's choosing who SHE wants to be and that will dictate who the right match is.
If Mary chose to be content and not seek answers to her questions -- to let the status stay quo -- then Harry was the right match. If she chose to ask questions and seek out answers and push past the fence, then Travis was the right match. Mary wasn't choosing between them -- she was figuring out who *she* wanted to be.
**and here's where I get general again**
To me, a love triangle done right isn't about a female* character's affections bouncing back and forth between two men, it's about her internal struggle within herself as she figures out who *she* wants to be and what's important to her. This internal struggle then gets reflected externally as she wars within herself and grows. And that's the heart of any book -- a character's growth from first page to the last. Generally, even as a character grows and changes she backslides (what sometimes looks like a flip-flop in affections) and sometimes a character will cling to their old way of being even as the struggle to adopt a new way.
Growth isn't easy. Figuring out who you are isn't easy. That's why I think that a book that ends with a character who knows who they are and what they want is a good thing.
I think Beth makes an excellent point when she says: "That's why dystopic literature isn't really depressing. Because it's about the strength of humanity beyond the cruelty of the world." Someone once said that happy people make for short books. I tend to agree with that.
* I'm talking about a love triangle between one woman and two men, I'm sure the same applies to one man and two women or three women or three men or what have you.
I've realized that my FAQ page on my website is woefully out of date. I decided to toss it out to y'all to see if you have any questions you'd like me to answer -- feel free to ask anything and I'll answer all that I can and upload to my website (you can ask about me, my books, the world in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, writing, etc). Come on... I know y'all have questions :) Post away!
Thanks!
So I'm standing in line with Holly Black to buy books for one of the autograph sessions at the RT Convention (I was finally going to meet John Scalzi in person and was pretty stoked about this) when I get a tweet pointing me to Charlaine Harris's blog. I follow the link and lo and behold, she's not only read The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but also liked it! As I'm sure you can imagine, this excites me to no end and I blurt out to Holly something along the lines of, "OMG! Charlaine Harris read Forest!! And she liked it!! OMG!! She called it remarkable!!" and there might have been some jumping up and down as well.
Next thing I know, the woman in front of us in line turns around. Not in that "you're acting crazy what's wrong with you" kind of way but in that "did I just hear someone say my name?" kind of way. Holly breaks into a huge grin and I glance at the woman's name tag.
Yep, I was standing right behind Charlaine Harris in line and she heard it all. I'm pretty sure I blacked out everything that came next: Holly assures me that I said thank you and yes, I did turn bright red and stammery. I remember thanking her for taking the time to read and post and she said that she hadn't have said it if it weren't true. I pretty much beamed the rest of the day.
Seriously, that kind of coincidence is the type of thing I'd read in a book and roll my eyes at -- how crazy! Crazy awesome, that is :)
In a nutshell, the RT Convention pretty much rocked. I'd never been to RT before (I'd only gone to RWA Nationals) and I had no idea what to expect. Pretty much, the convention had everything: craft panels where I was struck with inspiration and furiously took notes, events like the Mr. Romance contest that had everyone hooting and hollering and laughing, and in between lots and lots of hanging out with pretty awesome people. Ally Carter has a great recap with lots of photos here and Jen has a list of ten things she learned here (yes, the evil hair is important!).
 |
| Pictured (clockwise from back left): Holly Black, Jeaniene Frost, me, Vicki Pettersson, Ally Carter, Patrice Michelle, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Melissa Marr. Photo taken from Ally and Jen's blog |
I'm sitting here trying to put into words what the whole experience was like and feeling like it's an impossible task (even though it's kind of my job to figure out how to put things in words, d'oh!). I think this is the best I can do for the moment: one night we were talking about going to our first writing conference and Holly mentioned going to World Fantasy when she knew no one and what that felt like. It reminded me of going to RWA Nationals in July 2006. I knew of a few people online but not that many and I went to the conference by myself.
Here's the part that I'd forgotten: standing in my room, wanting to cry because there were hundreds of people downstairs and I was going to have to push myself to go down there even though I knew no one. I remember standing outside the entrance to a ballroom where one of my chapters, the ChickLit chapter, was having a mixer and having to take a deep breath and tell myself over and over again, "You can do this" when all I wanted to do was go run and hide in my room. I remember forcing myself to go into the room, to introduce myself to people, to smile and not let anyone see how terrified I was.
For a moment, at the start of RT before Ally (my room-mate) arrived I had to tell myself the same thing: rather than stay safe in my room I had to tell myself "you can do this," and force myself to go downstairs. The elevator doors opened, I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the convention floor. The first people I saw were Holly and Jen and Melissa and that was that: I wasn't alone anymore. It made me feel like I'd found a home.
I've always thought that one of the best things about this industry is the people in it, and the RT Convention was no different. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to hang out with such amazing people and soak in their wisdom. And now that my well is refilled... time to get writing :)
Hey y'all! Just wanted to let you know that tomorrow, Saturday, I'm taking part in the big signing at the Romantic Times Convention in Columbus, OH.
The signing will be at the Hyatt Regency Downtown and it runs from 11:00-2:00.
I believe there is a $5.00 fee at the door (or something similar). There's more information at rtconverntion.com (including a list of authors there - there will be tons including some superstars of YA (Melissa Marr, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Kelly Armstrong, Heather Brewer, and many, many more!)
Thanks Ally for letting me steal all thi info from her blog!!
Okay, so I've known about Mac Freedom for a while but was never really interested in it. Essentially, it's a program that will lock your computer from the internet for whatever period of time you specify. If you want to go online you either have to wait until that time is up or you have to reboot your computer. It's SUPER easy to use.
 Honestly, I never though I'd need this program. Sure, other writers raved about it, but I've always been able to pretty much restrict myself to writing when necessary (usually the closer I get to a deadline, the more restrictive I become). I've been known to turn off my wifi during writing sprints if necessary but I always thought that if I totally disconnected from the internet -- and such disconnection was beyond my control -- that I'd just spend that time wondering about what I was missing (and checking my iPhone for email instead).
And the thing is, I *know* there are times when I'm in the middle of a scene and a new email comes in and I go check it and when I finally get back to the scene I've lost momentum. I've done this countless times. And even if I force myself *not* to check the email but to finish the scene then there's just this little gnat buzzing in the back of my head that there's an email there's an email there's an email.
I also know that I have a tendency to go flip around through twitter or email when I'm stuck on a scene and what I really should be doing is forcing myself to work through the stuck bit. Sometimes it's too easy to distract myself when what I really need is to not be distracted.
I don't even know why yesterday or the day before I tried Mac Freedom. Maybe I was more distracted than usual but for whatever reason I booted the program up (I'd already downloaded it ages ago) and gave myself 30 minutes of Freedom. Essentially all that does is just stop your computer from connecting online (my computer was still connected to my home network so I could continue to back up and access the time capsule).
Suddenly I didn't have to worry about interruptions. I didn't have to worry about *me* interrupting myself. Sure, I had one point where I really wanted to double check research online but waiting 30 minutes to do so is hardly a hardship.
It's hard to express what the feeling was like when Freedom kicked in. The best I can explain it was that there was just this calm silence filtering over everything. Suddenly, the part of my brain that's wondering what's new online and what I'm missing just... vanished. I thought it would get louder and more insistent but apparently even that part of myself can last for just 30 minutes.
It really was like silence. That's exactly what I felt at the time: calm silence. Life didn't have to jostle around in my brain: it was just me and my story and everything else could just wait half an hour.
I've used Freedom several times since then -- in fact, my new routine is to play around online (see eg. now) and then lock down for 30 minutes and write and then play around online. So far it's really worked: I've written over 9k words on my new project since coming home from New Orleans a few days ago. (I'm sure it doesn't hurt that I'm still in the honeymoon phase with this project :)
So yep, I was a total skeptic and thought I didn't need an external program to help me focus but it turns out that whether I need it or not, it sure is nice to have. Now I actually get a little tingle of excitement when I open up the program because it feels like I'm about to go on a date with my manuscript -- just the two of us and no distractions :)
PS: I have a free trial version, I can't tell from looking at their website if you can try it out before donating $10 to unlock the full version.
|
Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
.jpg)
Posts
