Tag: books for teens

Dark Days with Kate Ormand

1 Comment

DarkDays by Kate Ormand - Book cover kate-ormand
This time next month, Kate Ormand’s YA novel DARK DAYS could be in your eager little hands. (Unless you have big hands of course–in which case it could be in your eager big hands. Either way though, your hands will be eager. Get your hands ready, and order here.)

Launching on June 3 from Skyhorse Press, this futuristic dystopian novel imagines a world in which an elite few chose who is allowed to live or die.

What sparked the idea for DARK DAYS?

With most of the stories I write, there’s a particular object or image that sparked the idea. With DARK DAYS, it didn’t quite work that way, or if it did I’m unaware of what it was I saw! I remember thinking first about a clock tower with red digital numbers counting down to something. Dull grey buildings and a metal wall surrounded it. And I thought about the cyborgs, and realized that was what the clock was counting down to. So I guess that’s where my journey with this particular book started, but what triggered it is still a mystery.

How did you decide to write for a young adult audience?

It’s pretty much all I read. I discovered it a couple years ago and fell completely in love with so many YA books. If it wasn’t for YA I’m not certain I’d have started writing at all. At least not when I did. Maybe I would have in the future. But YA sparked a real passion and I just went with it!

What was the first sentence of your first draft?

I woke to the sound of my alarm.

What is the first sentence of your current draft?

I wake to a shrieking sound.

What do you hope your readers come away with at the end of Dark Days?

I wrote the book I’d want to read. My favourite books are fast-paced and action-packed with a thrilling romance and a lot of excitement. I want DD to be an exciting ride for readers and for them to come away thinking what good fun it was and how much they enjoyed it. That’s all I hope for!

What was the most fun part to write? What was most difficult?

The most fun was probably the action scenes and the romantic scenes. They’re my favourites when reading and my favourites when writing. The most difficult was probably the last few lines of the final chapter. Ending is so hard!

You are an artist as well as a writer. What is the connection for you between creative writing and fine arts?

I found writing whilst studying my degree, but I’m not sure I’d say there was an obvious connection between painting and writing for me. Sitting painting at my desk in the studio was quiet, and I always had a book in my bag for breaks and traveling to and from class, so I started to really love reading while I was on that course. I’ve always been creative and enjoyed using it, so writing was just another path I decided to explore. And I’m so glad I did!

Can you share one of your visual works with us and tell us about it?

Painting by Kate Ormand

Sure! This was one of the pieces from my final year. It’s two boards (which I found and painted white) nailed together. I was fascinated by discovering beauty in unlikely places and started the third year of my course engaging with found objects that held scars of previous use and marks of history upon their surfaces. Then I manipulated these objects slightly and displayed them this way. I had quite a few of them, but this one was always my favourite piece.

What’s next for you as a writer? Can you tell us about something you’re working on now?

I have two children’s picture books scheduled for release with Sky Pony Press. THE UPSIDE-DOWN FISH, illustrated by Laura Matine, is out later this year. And PIERRE THE FRENCH BULLDOG RECYCLES, illustrated by Bethany Straker, is coming in 2015. I’m working hard on a couple other YA titles and really enjoying delving into new worlds!

Finally, can you give a brief except or a quotation from DARK DAYS to whet my appetite?

The silence is thick and heavy, but my heart pounds so loud in my ears that they must be able to hear it. I blink sweat from my eyes. I don’t want them to know how afraid I am.

About Kate Ormand

KATE ORMAND is a YA writer represented by Isabel Atherton at Creative Authors Ltd. She lives in the UK with her family, her partner, and a cocker spaniel called Freddie. She recently graduated from university with a first class BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Painting. It was during this course that Kate discovered her love of reading YA books, prompting her to try a new creative angle and experiment with writing. Kate is also a member of an online group of published writers and illustrators called Author Allsorts. And she writes children’s picture books under the name Kate Louise. You can see more about Kate and her writing by visiting her website (www.kateormand.wordpress.com) or on Twitter (@kateormand).

About DARK DAYS

The future world has been divided into sectors–each the same as the other. Surrounded by thick steel fences, there is no way in and no way out. Yet a cyborg army penetrates each sector, picking off its citizens one by one, until no one is left. Behind the sectors’ thick walls, the citizens wait to die. Few will be chosen to survive what’s coming; the rest will be left behind to suffer. A new world has been created, and its rulers are incredibly selective on who will become a citizen. They want only those with important roles in society to help create a more perfect future.

Sixteen-year-old Sia lives in one of the sectors as part of a family that is far too ordinary to be picked to live. According to the digital clock that towers high above her sector, she has only fifteen days to live. Sia has seen the reports and knows a horrific death is in store for her, but she is determined to make the most of her final days. Sia refuses to mourn her short life, instead promising herself that she’ll stay strong, despite being suffocated by her depressed mother and her frightened best friend. Just when Sia feels more alone than ever, she meets Mace, a mysterious boy. There is something that draws Sia to him, despite his dangerousness, and together, they join a group of rebels and embark on an epic journey to destroy the new world and its machines, and to put an end to the slaughter of innocent people.

Pre-order DARK DAYS.

The Beauties and Beast of Writing with a Friend

Leave a comment

Last week (at the very moment my friend Madelyn Rosenberg and I were announcing to the world the good news that our young adult novel DreamBoy will be coming out next summer from Sourcebooks Fire), a friend shared with us this New York Times article,”On Writing with Others” by John Kaag.

Having just finished a young adult novel with the awesome Madelyn (and begun another with the awesome Jenny Bitner), I have found the experience to be full of surprises–almost entirely the good kind.

Here’s my take on five reasons that having a co-pilot on that long trip across a novel is a good thing… and one reason it’s not. Some are echos of Kaag’s excellent insights; others are my own.

The amazing Madelyn Rosenberg

The amazing Madelyn Rosenberg

THE BEAUTIES

1 ~ a committed relationship ~

Perhaps the most encouraging part of collaborative writing is the commitment I bring to the project. When I work on my own, it’s easy for me to convince myself (after 20 or 30… or even 120 pages) that what I’m writing is crap. When I write with a friend, however, I am committed for the long haul,whether or not it seems crappy during those horrible spells of self-doubt. I can’t help thinking of all the time and work my friend has put in on the project, and that makes me push through the muck, even when I’m not sure where exactly we’re headed.

2 ~ instant editor = better risks ~

I am, as Kaag suggests, much more likely to let loose with some half-baked notions in early drafts when I know my co-writer is there. These risks are usually huge fails, but every so often, they work fantastically.

When I write fiction on my own, I may take the same risks, but I worry much more over them. On my own, a serious misstep could head me down a long and fruitless path. Since I don’t have an instant editor, I may not be convinced of my mistake until I’ve already pounded out another 50 pages or so. And we all know there’s nothing quite so sweet as trashing a huge stack of pages just start over where you were a month before! Yippee!

When I write with a friend, I know I have an instant editor who can shake her head and point me in a better direction. Yippee, for real!

The astounding Jenny Bitner

The astounding Jenny Bitner

3 ~ operation UNblocked ~

There is nothing so amazing as getting stuck with a scene, sending it off (sometimes mid-sentence) to a trusted friend, and having it return a day or so later with that scene successfully finished and another started.

Gone is the head-pounding!

Gone the endless trips to the kitchen’s candy jar!

Gone the long walks full of mulling and wondering and wishing I knew what came next!

4 ~ surprise! ~

The surprising things that happen when you write with a friend are beyond fun. I’ve created structures that I thought were headed one way, only to find out when Madelyn returned her editions/additions that there was a whole other dimension to the scene if I just tilted my head one way or another.

Sometimes it’s a matter of a fortunate misunderstanding. For example, when I first named the character Talon for DreamBoy, I intended for her to be a male. Madelyn read the name as a female and used a female pronoun for her. So I’m easy… and here’s proof. I just rolled with it. Now Talon, the girl, may be my favorite character in the novel, and calling her a boy would probably prompt her to reach through the pages of the book and whack me on the head. (Yeah, she’s got that kind of spunk.)

5 ~ balance ~

Let’s face it. I have obsessions — those go-to things that give me energy and make me glow. I would write about rivers and earthworms and clouds all day if someone would buy me food and cover my mortgage for doing so. But a book about nothing but rivers and earthworms and clouds is… well, I was going to say boring, but since I’m obsessed, I actually find that idea pretty intriguing. Maybe I should write a book about nothing but rivers and earthworms and clouds? Hmmm… But I digress. Back to point: I have obsessions, so do my my co-writers. And sometimes those obsessions, being as they are obsessions, get to be a bit much.

I mean, what is it about the canned peaches in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? And I’m pretty sure Nora Roberts was watching way too many of those cook-off shows when she wrote Angels Fall.

So having two different writers with two different sets of obsessions gives a bit of balance to the work. Or at least I like to think so.

THE BEAST

There are some projects that are not good candidates for collaborative writing because co-authorship requires you to let go. And letting go of something extremely close to you can be difficult and scary… and quite frankly, unnecessary. Here are the facts: The final writing will not reflect your solitary vision nor be subject to your solitary control, and there are some things that won’t come out right without your solitary vision and control.

So choose wisely when considering a project. Are you willing to let go of your idea and allow it to become what it becomes? Do you have a friend whom you respect enough to work with? If you can answer yes without reservation, you might want to give collaboration a try. If not, keep it to yourself until you’re ready to publish. And then let it go the old-fashioned way.

(… oh, and the waiting… sometimes the waiting can be be a drag…)

The 3rd, 2nd & 1st Best Thing Kiera Cass Said @ the Blacksburg Public Library / PART 4

Leave a comment

(These last three are short so I’m just clustering them together.)

3. “I knew there was something a little off about me; I just didn’t know what it was… but now I own it. I’m okay with being a weirdo.”

If that isn’t the journey through young adulthood, I don’t know what is. Everyone is off, and everyone feels that it’s only them. And then they get over it.

2. CENSORED.

Ok, this one was really odd and funny, but I’m editing it out. For those of you in attendance: no, this was not Keira’s comment about “soft core porn.” It was better than that. But after some reflection, I couldn’t recall with 100% clarity whether or not this was one of the “hushhush secrets not to leave this room” or not. To be on the safe side, I’m just cutting it. One might ask why I didn’t go with FIVE Best Things in the first place? Well, that would have made sense of course, and in a perfect world I would have planned better. Sorry! For now, I just need a placeholder… or a math tutor… or something.

KieraCass (1024x656)1. “Maybe I can be there for your next baby, too.”

This has nothing to do with Kiera Cass the writer, but a good bit to do with Kiera Cass the person. Earlier in the evening, Kiera had mentioned how she was tweeting in the delivery room after the birth of her daughter. When I got my book signed, I told her I would follow her on twitter so I could be there for the birth of her next baby. (Not that she’s pregnant, people… don’t get excited! I mean in the far future, whenever that day should come.) As I walked away, she called, “Maybe I can be there for your next baby too!”

And as unlikely as that is (I have four kids already, which is, let me tell you, a LOT of kids), I thought it was so sweet of her to make that gesture—in essence to say that there might be a world in which we could be actual friends.

The Fourth Best Thing Kiera Cass Said @ the Blacksburg Public Library / PART 3

Leave a comment

“Who decides to start a career when you have a two month old?”

I loved this because it is so life.

Kiera was talking about how she was had just given birth and gotten her land-legs as a new parent when she started trying to find an agent to represent her for The Selection. In something of a whirlwind, she found several agents who wanted to sell her book and subsequently received bids from a couple of different publishing houses.

Meanwhile, as she set forth on this new career path, she was also doing all the normal diaper-changing/singing-the-baby-back-to-sleep-at-2-in-the-morning things that infants require. And somehow, it worked.

As I repeatedly tell my husband (usually after he asks me “What were we thinking?!”): if we waited until we were ready to have kids, we’d never have them.

Life doesn’t just stop and present you with a flawless bubble in which to birth and rear your children. Case in point: I am literally nursing my son as I write this blog.

(Sorry if that was TMI, but it had to be said.)

So here’s the nutshell: Don’t wait for the perfect hour to start something. The perfect hour doesn’t exist. Just figure out where your priorities are and start acting on them.

The Fifth Best Thing Kiera Cass Said @ the Blacksburg Public Library / PART 2

Leave a comment

IMG_2131“I couldn’t find a place to put it, so I just put it in the future.”

When planning out her setting for The Selection, Kiera Cass (a history major in college) struggled to find the right moment in time for her story. She knew she wanted something with a bit of a fairy-tale gloss, but the whole long-ago/far-away thing just wasn’t working for her. So she decided to free herself from the confines of the past and place her tale in an imaginary future.

This, folks, is problem solving at its best.

Sure, there’s the whole world-building thing to figure out, but there’s also a blessed freedom to the idea of going out into the unknown—in an entirely opposite direction from your own preconceived notions about what should or should not be.

So when life gives you lemons, you don’t have to make lemonade. You can just cut up the lemons and add them to your iced tea. Or juggle them while gargling soda. Or throw them out altogether and pour yourself a glass of bourbon. Whatever works.

Good to remember. Thanks, Kiera.

IMG_2130

The Sixth Best Thing Kiera Cass Said @ the Blacksburg Public Library… plus way too much randomness from me / PART 1

1 Comment
IMG_2130

Kiera Cass @ library book signing

“My soul is seventeen.”

Kiera Cass is a woman with open arms. Open eyes. Open mouth. (And I mean that as a compliment. Open mouths lead to all kinds of good things: understanding, song, the eating of peanut butter M&Ms.) Unlike certain writers I know, she appears genuinely to appreciate the existence of other human beings, specifically young ones.

In the hour or so that she chatted with a smattering of folks at her hometown library on Tuesday, Kiera had kind words to say about the gazillion people she’s encountered in her career as a writer. However, the one (nameless) person about which she did NOT have nice things to say was a young adult writer she met who hated young adults.

Kiera may have been too polite to ask the obvious question—“WHY IN THE HECK ARE YOU WRITING FOR TEENS?”—but it’s a question worth asking.

It’s one I’ve had to ask myself of late. Not because I’m a hater; I happen to adore teenagers and all their energy and intelligence and worry and wildness. The question is one I need to ask myself for the simple reason that I am also writing for teens. So really, why am I doing it?

When I was myself a young adult, I wasn’t exposed to a lot in the teen lit genre. I went straight from Ella Fannie’s Elephant Joke Book to Chronicles of Narnia to Kurt Vonnegut. Oh yeah, I cried me good over some Judy Bloom at some point in between, but that was about it.

Thus, as a young writer, it never occurred to me to write for young people specifically. I didn’t know people DID that. (And at that time, not so many of them did.) Plus, I just wanted to play with language and make up tiny stories and think about true things. Translation: I became a poet. And in good poet fashion, I spent years and years writing lyric observations of the sky that were ignored by everyone and everything, including the sky.

Then I had an idea that was not a poem and was not a tiny story and was not “great literature.” It was fun and light and entertaining (or at least it entertained me). Around the same time I was teaching a class on the American bestseller, and a whole slew of college freshmen started telling me about their favorite books. I started reading the books they were excited about, which were in this new (to me) genre called “young adult.” As a writer, the notion that authors could write books for young people—not for snooty intellectual-types—was quite frankly a revelation.

Suddenly, writing the big bad novel was not so scary anymore. I just needed to focus on the idea of telling an entertaining story and let the rest take care of itself. I didn’t have to impress Kurt Vonnegut or the people who read Kurt Vonnegut. I didn’t even have to impress the people who kept books by Kurt Vonnegut unopened on their bedside tables. I simply had to please myself and my imagined audience. (Oh yes, and my co-writer, the astounding Madelyn Rosenberg… but more about her in a future blog.)

This experience of writing a YA novel has opened a sort of floodgate of possibilities for me. When I was in high school, I may have had the soul of a crusty 80-year-old fisherman… but now, as I have gone forward into life, I think my soul may be aging in reverse order.

I’m not quite sure I could say, like Kiera Cass, that it’s seventeen.

My soul is a little more gawky and hopeful and clueless than that.

Closer, I think, to sixteen.

~

~

** FOOTNOTE: Just want to add that I do not intend to dis Kurt Vonnegut in any way. He is one of my faves. And he had some great stuff to say about the writing process, too.