How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

Earlier this month, agent Janet Reid had an encounter with a writer over the phone. You can read about it here. That's not the crazy part. No, the crazy part is that when Janet stated that she could not help the writer over the phone*, the writer got mad and sent Janet an email saying that she was rude. HA! You know what's rude? Emailing someone to tell them that they're rude. Seriously. But that brings me to my point, which is this: you are not entitled to help. Ever. Not in life, and especially not in pursuit of your goal of becoming a published writer. Now, a lot of people will probably help you. I personally have had the help of the many people in my fledgling writing career. Teachers, friends, other writers, agents, writing groups, fan fiction beta readers, fan fiction readers...many many many people have helped me, out of the goodness of their hearts, for free, because they wanted to. But I wasn't entitled to that help. I didn't "deserve"...

This week over at Editorial Ass , Moonrat asked an interesting question about self image of characters in YA stories. Here's the question in her words: Which kind of heroine do you think is better in YA fiction--one with a really positive self-image (to promote self-confidence in teen readers), or one with a flawed self-image (e.g. someone who has always felt like a misfit, who has never been labeled conventionally pretty, etc, to promote reader identification)? The comments are pretty interesting, but I find myself disagreeing with the premise. I don't write, and I don't know many other writers who write to promote an agenda. I'm sure they're out there--the "message" writers--but I don't have any personal experience with them. I, personally, don't write to promote self confidence in readers. That's not to say that I don't care about the effect of characters on readers, because I do. I'm all about characters and their effects o...

1. My dog was bit by another dog last week. It was a pretty serious bite, and it was totally the fault of the person in charge of the other dog* who didn't have her dog wearing a leash or even a collar, so when the dog RAN ACROSS THE STREET to attack my dog, all she could do was yell at it. ::sigh:: My dog will be fine, though. And she may eventually forgive me for making her wear The Cone Of Shame. Maybe. 2. This video, by Ok Go,** is just the latest in a long line of awesome Ok Go videos. Take a look: 3. I am watching another hoarding show, this one on TLC. I have to say that just watching this show makes me want to throw out everything I own and live in a t-shirt and jeans. I'm not a hoarder, but I do have a tendency to collect certain items*** and these shows make me nervous, like I'm going to open a closet door and discover that my stuff has multiplied when I'm not looking. 4. Thinking about writing? Is not the same as actually writing. Just in case yo...

By the title of this post, I don't mean "dreams" in the sense that I dream of being a published author some day (World Domination 2010!), but those dreams that characters (and real people, too) have when they are asleep. You know, real dreams, as opposed to aspirations, hopes, goals, whatnot. Recently, over at Mysterious Matters, Agatho said that dreams in stories often make him cringe. Why? Because, as he puts it: Let's see, your protagonist has just had a narrow escape from the clutches of a serial killer. That night, she dreams that she is being chased through a carnival by a wolf whose face she cannot see. She wakes, terrified, wondering what it all means. It means that your manuscript has just been shit-canned. Heh . The rest of the post about what makes him cringe is pretty good, too, but this part made me giggle. What does it mean? "It means your manuscript has just been shit-canned." I'm going to have to start using that. Seriously, t...

Gacked from a guest post by Rachel Simon over at Hey, Teenager of the Year! These are my top 5 YA literary crushes: 5. Quentin Compson. The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner. Okay, so this is cheating a little bit because neither The Sound and the Fury nor Absalom, Absalom are really YA books, like, at all. Like not even in the way that you might say Catcher in the Rye is a YA book. But I can't help it. I love Quentin Compson. Is he screwed up? YES. Is he ultimately not a very heroic character? YES. Do I love him enough to put up with William Faulkner, who I actually can't stand as an author? God help me, yes. When I say I am character driven, this is what I mean -- I will read William Faulkner in order to be close to Quentin Compson. That, my friends, is dedication. 4. Matt Perino. Twenty Boy Summer , by Sarah Ockler . Matt Perino is not on this list because Sarah Ockler is a cool person (although she is), or because she, too, is...

I'm working on some revisions of The Book right now and it feels a little bit like when you see someone you used to date a while after you broke up and you remember everything that you loved about them and wonder "why did I ever leave you?" I don't know what else to say about that, except that I'm glad I'm not thinking "why did I ever go out with you?"

I've already written a little bit about prologues , but recently, Agent Kristin did a post listing the reasons why, in her experience, most prologues don't work. Yeah, I agree with her. In my own experience as a reader, most prologues either give away too much, thus ruining the book, or don't tell me enough, leaving me confused and wondering why I should care. I can think of only one prologue in the books I've read recently that worked at all, and even then, when I saw it I almost put the book back on the shelf.* Perhaps part of the reason why I'm anti-prologue is that I haven't had an idea yet that would require one, so I don't understand why every one else shouldn't just chop theirs off their books to conform with my ideas of right and wrong. I don't understand why they're necessary, why a writer would think it was important to have one.** Some authors have said that they use a prologue to convey backstory, but can't backstory be worke...