Teens, dialogue, and TMI

I participate in two carpools with two families involving six kids from the ages of 11-14. It's all I can do to remember whose turn it is to pick up whom at what time. You should see my calendar...it's crazy.

But I wouldn't trade those moments in the car for any amount of money. My sons are growing way too fast, and I gobble up those concentrated moments between here and there.

The most tender moments are those between me and my 14-year-old son, just the two of us, discussing life, girls, classes, dreams. The craziest moments? When I've had six JV football players stuffed in my car, gear bags and all (pre-practice, so my nose was lucky).

Real conversation, I kid you not:

"Dude, are you wearing your cup?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

"In your strap?"

"Nah, in my girdle."

"Dude, it'll move around in there."

*invisible mommy driver blushes*

As a YA writer, this type of dialogue is the treasure Indiana Jones would wrestle snakes for. And it's interesting to hear how different the boys talk when girls are in the car--and how much Axe body spray is used in the process.

Carpooling reminds me that today's kids have many of the same concerns we did:

• Capturing the attention of the person they're crushing on
• Peer pressure/trying to fit in
• Worries about homework
• Balancing the precarious social life at school

It's also interesting to note the things modern teens worry about that we didn't:

• Will that embarrassing text be forward to everyone?
• How could she post that on Facebook? Doesn't she realize it's now public?
• I'm only 14, do I really need to know what I want to do with the rest of my life?

As a writer, my ears are perked up and listening. As a mom, I'm enjoying every mile.

Can you add something that today's teens are concerned about? Or have you overheard some funny/interesting/crazy teen dialogue? Please share!

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Studying Mr. Darcy--the likable unlikable character

My husband and sons were gone on a scouting trip this past weekend. In their absence, I got lots of writing done, but can you guess what else I did?

a. Frolicked at clubs late into the night

b. Threw a wild party at home until the cops broke it up

c. Watched Pride and Prejudice, in my jammies, for the 112th time

No contest--Mr. Darcy will always win. My favorite is the Colin Firth version...tall black boots, breeches, the damp white shirt clinging to his skin after he swims in the lake...

Now where was I?

Ok, this time my indulgence was work-related. Seriously. I'm studying unlikable characters, and although Mr. Darcy is one of my favorite characters of all time, he starts out as a real jerk. This time I paid close attention to how the lovely Ms. Austen turned a real cad into the dreamboat we know and love.

When we first meet Darcy, here is how I'd describe him:

• Cold
• Moody
• Snobbish
• Contemptuous
• Vain
• Cynical
• Proud

We don't feel this way for long, though. Austen provides little nuggets early on, which helps the reader/viewer question this original impression. We learn from others that Darcy is a loyal friend to Bingley, and that he's devoted to his little sister, Georgiana. He can't be all that bad, right?

And then Elizabeth Bennet throws him off his game. She doesn't cling to him, trying to catch his attention. Instead she's independent, opinionated, and she laughs at him. She doesn't like Darcy at all, and this tilts his privileged world off balance.

Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth, but when he pronounces this love, he botches it. Big time. We feel sympathy for him, especially when Elizabeth rejects him. And as the story unfolds, we learn the following about Darcy:

• He is honorable (respected his dying father's wishes)
• He's been betrayed (darn you Mr. Wickham!)
• He is silently generous (rescues the Bennet name, despite Lydia's ruinous actions)
• He loves deeply (wants to marry Elizabeth, despite her embarrassing family)

So there you have it--my thoughts on how Darcy goes from bad to rad at lightning speed. Do you have a favorite unlikable character? And if you're a fan of the Pride and Prejudice movies, which version is your favorite?

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Talent vs. Hard Work

Terri Guiliano Long wrote a wonderful post that really resonated with me. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly urge you to jump over and read Why Work Matters More Than Talent.

*elevator music plays*

In summary, she asks these questions:

1. What is talent, anyway?
2. If we can't define talent, how can we possibly know if we have it?

She makes an excellent point that with writing, we control how hard we work. We each have varying levels of talent, and yet it's the hard work that makes the biggest difference. An incredibly talented writer won't get very far if she fails to produce pages or improve her skills. Likewise, a s0-so writer can work hard, learn new things every day, and spring ahead. I find that comforting.

It's fair to say that most of us probably have days when we feel like talentless hacks. (Or is that just me?) Feeling that way on one day doesn't mean we don't have talent. It just means we're having an off day. We have the choice to either quit or keep working, and I know most of us choose to keep working.

Long quotes Stephen King's yardstick for talent--"you wrote something for which someone sent you a check...you cashed the check and it didn't bounce." Even if you've never received money for your writing, have you improved with each piece you've written? Has an online magazine published your work? Has an agent requested a partial or full? Doesn't this prove you have talent?

We can't control what other people think of our words, but thankfully we're blessed with the opportunity to nurture our talent through hard work.

If you read Long's post, were you inspired? And what's your opinion on talent vs. hard work? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

And if you need additional inspiration, be sure to read Tahereh Mafi's post Don't Be Afraid to Write a Bad Book. It's amazing.

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One Teen Reader's Thoughts About YA Literature

Friends, I have a special treat for you today. My beautiful niece, Amanda, has agreed to answer some questions about books on my blog. She's 17 and a senior in high school. I thought it would be fun to get an honest snapshot of one teen reader's opinion of YA literature. Whether you write young adult fiction or not, it's fun to see what's on a teen's mind. Here goes:

Amanda, what genre of books do you like to read?

"I like romance novels, and dystopian. I read Two Way Street, which was really good. I loved Hunger Games, and I'm now reading Catching Fire. I'm so nervous for Katniss!"

What types of books do your friends like to read?

"They also like romance books, like guy meets girl stories. And they also love a good mystery."

Can you tell us what draws you and your friends to these types of books?

"We get to live vicariously through the characters. It's fun to see ourselves in the character's lives, instead of going back to our own, less exciting lives."

What do you like and dislike in romance novels?

"It's exciting to read about romance, and experience it along with the characters. Graphic sex can ruin it, though. We want to use our imaginations. I like it when the writer outlines what's happening, without going into too much detail."

What's something you don't like in YA novels?

"A bad ending. Like, when an important character that you love dies. If the book doesn't end well, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth."

What might surprise writers to learn about teen readers?

"Maybe it's that teens do love to read, but it takes a special spark to get us hooked. All through school we have books forced onto us that really don't interest us at all. A book needs that certain catch. For instance, a book the school makes us read catches the attention of an adult but not necessarily a teen. Our minds work differently, but if you hit it just right it'll spark our interest. Don't think so much like an adult."

What would you like writers to know about teens?

"We're deep thinkers. We pick up on details and connect them to other parts of the story. We get it."

Amanda, thank you so much!

Writers, did Amanda's answers surprise you? How did they compare with what you already knew about teen readers?

If you'd like to ask Amanda more questions, feel free to do so in the comments. We could do a follow-up post on another date!

Writing lessons learned from A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL

BAD BOY, by Tanya Lee Stone, was a quick, powerful read. I blew through it in one afternoon. This is the first novel in verse that I've read, and although it took me a few pages to get used to the style, I soon became comfortable with it and enjoyed the story.

From Goodreads: Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva all get mixed up with a senior boy--a cool, slick, sexy boy who can talk them into doing almost anything he wants. In a blur of high school hormones and person doubt, each girl struggles with how much to give up and what to ultimately keep for herself. A bad boy may always be a bad boy, but this bad boy is about to meet three girls who won't back down.

Here's what I learned from this book:

1. Economy of words = major impact. The book begins, "I'm not stuck up. I'm confident. There's a big difference." So much voice and character in those three lines. The author didn't waste words on unnecessary scenery or backstory.
2. Choose a title that asks a question that begs to be answered. Throughout the entire book I kept wondering how in the heck a bad boy, this guy who is awful to these girls, could possibly be good for them. That alone kept me glued to the pages, and the ending didn't disappoint.
3. Tie a current book into the plot. In this case it was Forever by Judy Blume. One of the scorned girls uses the pages of this book to warn other girls about the bad boy, which I think is something teens can relate to. And besides, I've never read Forever and now I must!
4. If done right, sex in YA can be a powerful tool. (Insert sex joke here). But seriously, in this book, sex serves a unique purpose. I'd imagine many teen readers related to what these characters went through.

Libba Bray wrote the following: "Meet Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva--three girls who've got something to tell you that you definitely want to hear. Tanya Lee Stone has written a book that's crawl-under-the-skin true, filled with humor, hope, and a little heartbreak, and the kind of tell-it-like-it-is wisdom that comes from your best girlfriends. It's irresistible."

What do you think of the above points? And if you've read this book, what was your opinion?

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10 things NOT to do when building characters

I'm obsessing over characters these days. Like, what can I do to make mine more likable? What can I do to make them leap off the page? What can I do to make them memorable? So I dug up some answers. This time, the tips are from Noah Lukeman, author of THE FIRST FIVE PAGES. Don't have it yet? It's amazing. Here are ten things Lukeman says we should avoid when building characters:

1. "Switching between first and last names." If we're going to call our main character Ryan, we should stick with that. Not Ryan in paragraph one, Mr. Reynolds in another, and Hunky Beefcake in another.
2. "The use of stock, cliche, or overly exotic names." John and Mary might be boring names (my husband John objects!), but we also want to avoid names that are so original that they're hard to read and distract from the story.
3. "Launching into the story without stopping to establish any of the characters." Readers want to meet our main character and care about him before Hunky Beefcake rescues the aging author from the train tracks (ahem).
4. "The presence of stock or cliche characters and/or character traits." The dumb bodybuilder, the smart nerd, etc. We can do better than that, can't we?
5. "The introduction of too many characters at once." If there are too many hunky beefcakes thrown in at the beginning, how will the reader know which one to follow? Add those beefcakes in slowly.
6. "Confusion over who the protagonist is." Whose story is it? Readers should know up front who they're investing their time in. (Hint: the hunky beefcake rescuing the writer)
7. "The presence of extraneous characters." Does the guy cleaning the bathrooms at the train station matter to the story? If not, don't add him and definitely don't give him a name.
8. "Generic character description." We want our characters to stand out, right? So let's give that aging writer who's tied to the train tracks a unique description. Maybe she wears 20's clothing, has a mole above her lip--Cindy Crawford style, and golden curls--Taylor Swift style (yes? yes.)
9. "Characters we don't care about." Why should we care about the hunky beefcake who tries to save the aging writer? Maybe his dad said he was a loser and wasn't worth anything. Now we hope he saves the writer because hey, we want him to prove his dad wrong.
10. "The unsympathetic protagonist." Even if he's a bad guy, he should be likable. Hunky Beefcake might be cocky, but he's willing to rumple his pristine clothes to save the writer. He can't be all bad, right?

Have I made these mistakes? Um, yes, which is why I'm reading up on the subject. How about you?

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The Catastrophe of Success

I recently read the essay The Catastrophe of Success by Tennessee Williams, which is located before the opening pages of his play, The Glass Menagerie (you can read the full essay here). He wrote about how success had changed him for the worse, making him cynical, distrustful, and lazy. He pointed out that a struggling writer, one who is hungry for wisdom and artistic release, is better off than a successful writer who no longer cared about the world around him.

He wrote, "Security is a kind of death, I think, and it can come to you in a storm of royalty checks beside a kidney-shaped pool in Beverly Hills or anywhere at all that is removed from the conditions that made you an artist, if that's what you are or were or intended to be."

It got me thinking about the outside factors that influence our writing. If a writer has faced extreme hardships, they can bleed those experiences onto the page. If a writer has only experienced a cushy, happy life, does their writing lack the same depth? I don't know.

Williams ends with, "Then what is good? The obsessive interest in human affairs, plus a certain amount of compassion and moral conviction, that first made the experience of living something that must be translated into pigment or music or bodily movement or poetry or prose or anything that's dynamic and expressive--that's what's good for you if you're at all serious in your aims."

From where I sit right now, success and royalty checks sound pretty darn good. I know I'll never have to worry about growing bored with five star hotels or kidney-shaped pools in Beverly Hills, but still. It reminded me that sometimes we strive for success without considering the flip side. Maybe it's a case of "be careful what you wish for."

Have you read this essay? And what's your impression of the above quotes?

And in case you missed it, I was a guest blogger over at the amazing Adventures in Children's Publishing, where I wrote about the power of going for it. I hope you'll stop by for a visit!

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