Let's talk about YA

I'm not sure about other genres, but YA seems to have a lot of controversy surrounding it, not including the general question made by many cynical adults of whether it's actually any good. I mean, between people complaining about sexual assault, the usually less than extensive diction, lack of characters that are completely out of their mind by circumstance, and the supposedly weak plot, people find a lot to complain about.

I've noticed a reoccurring issue lately and it's a bit bothersome to me. Twice in a matter of three days, I found posts talking about authors being treated poorly. First, it was a post about Cassandra Clare, author of The Mortal Instruments, among other things and how some fans treat her over the death of her own characters. Two days later, John Green, which I believe is enough of a household name at this point that I don't need to name off any of his work.

When Cassandra Clare spoke about it, she seemed to think dehumanizing was something only female authors dealt with, but crazed fans aren't the only things that can lead to this problem, which became apparent to me when I ran across a Buzzfeed article about John Green. The article seems to be missing now, unfortunately, but the gist of it was some girl was basically calling him a pedophile... for writing YA romance. Kind of absurd, really.

Outside of that, I've seen a plethora of other authors get nailed for not drowning their characters in mental disorders from the ordeals they've witnessed and gone through. It's totally bizarre to me.

As for the matter of it being any good or not, that's completely subjective. But... I don't think the length of words should really be taken into account. Who was it that said, "Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" Right. I believe that was Ernest Hemingway. How can someone judge an author or book's value by things like this? Some of the most hauntingly beautiful stories I've read have been YA. Big words don't carry big meaning. Description, voice, style, and a good story are what make the book. 

"But the plot is over done. How do they keep pedaling this crap out?" What plot isn't over done? How many books, movies, video games, and comics are there out in this world at this point? And tell me, please, how any story can be entirely unique at this point. A story having similarities to others is inevitable at this point. That doesn't break the story, though. It can still be a completely enchanting tale. The only one's complaining are the people that think YA is strictly for teens.


I just think people really need to give YA authors a break. There's enough hate in this world already and so much disdain towards a book genre is a waste of energy.

"Tails for Pouncing."

So about a month ago, I was at Hastings in Conway, Arkansas with my best friend and there was a woman with a little table set up in the front, doing a signing. At first, I was feeling a bit anti-social, so we sort of just skipped over the area.

I was telling my friend about how awful I had seen some authors get treated in that particular store in the past and in doing so, I had convinced her to talk to the lady. So on we went to the little table in the front.


As it turns out, her name is Karen Hill and she's a really nice lady.

She wrote Cat Tails along with My Peekaboo Moon. Now, as you can tell by the names, they're children's books which generally isn't my cup of tea. But the artwork for My Peekaboo Moon had caught my eyes.

She went on to tell us about the illustrators and her inspiration for the books. It was a pretty pleasant meeting and if you are interested in buying children's books, these two are ones you should look into.

And if you are looking for other writers/authors of the genre to befriend or simply talk to, you should try getting a hold of her. She has a website called cattailsandfriends.com Just click the link and you're there. You'll find contact information there.

Can we just find a balance between character and plot?

I can't manage to find a book that isn't unbalanced lately. These authors are putting so much detail and work into their stories, but in doing so, they're somehow forgetting about the characters. How? Well, I'm not entirely sure. Obviously, books can be plot driven and that's fine. But it's generally apparent when it is, which brings me to my point.

All the detail in the world will not make up for poor character development. If your character has the personality of a box of rocks, it's going to take away from all that work you put into world-building. I've read reviews on books by authors guilty of this and I'm not the only one feeling this issue. Of course, it's probably not intentional. Which I guess leaves me with saying (yet again) find some character development sheets. Fill them out for every important character and don't put more into a side character than you do the main. The main character, if the story is character driven is-- as the title would suggest-- the driving force.

Detail is great. Always work on detail, but don't slight the characters while you're at it. It could most definitely be a problem that drives readers away.

Manuscript Maven

One of my writing friends, Sharon Mayhew, has started a business these past months and I've been wanting to talk about it but I've been having issues logging onto here for months. Fortunately, I'm here and able to talk about it now.

I had been having issues finding someone to look over my work for me, and she was there. As far as editing businesses go, I'm not well versed, but she's been helpful ever since a friend of mine introduced me to her last year. She pushed me to submit a query into a contest she and Terrie Wolf were doing and I am so glad I did. As for her line edits and critiques, I couldn't say enough. Her work is thorough and diligent. She is so incredibly gentle in delivering her thoughts about the work and she keeps the writer's voice in mind. Her penchant for minimalistic word usage has helped the flow of my writing tremendously as has her eye for noticing my typos and occasional laziness. 

More to the point, her business is called The Manuscript Maven. She does line editing, critiques, and author coaching for YA, MG, CB, and PB manuscripts. Any other information can be found in the link including how to contact her. 

Also, if you'd like to follow her, here's the link to her blog. 

Just a quick less technical tip

Ok, so lately I’ve been having some issues. Issues being… I feel like everything I do is mediocre. I sat around all day moping, wishing I were better at something. Anything, really. And after a few hours of this, I thought about where I started.

My writing was tantamount to the writings of a bored, eighteen-year-old’s attempt at writing… Well, "tantamount" is putting it lightly since that's exactly what it was. It was my senior year and I had just come into my love for reading. I had plenty of time on my hands so why not? I didn't note what it was going to be about. I didn't outline. I just... went for it. Oh, what a mess it was.

Three years later and my writing has gotten better. I don’t know how much better, but better, nonetheless. 

So, really, my tip is just don’t give up because you feel like you’re failing. Practice makes perfect. Reading doesn’t hurt either. If you feel like you are at a dead end, read. Read until you are nearly frantic to get back to your writing. 

If you’re serious about your writing, understand that it isn’t just something you jump into and are magically good at. It takes time-- years-- to understand and there is always room for improvement.

Just throwing more tips around

This is just a short list of tips I wrote last year. These, by the way, are lists I originally made on my Tumblr. I figure they may do some good on here.

Let's just get right into it. Your characters need to be dynamic. They need to seem like they could be real people and not robots. Make them cruel. Make them compassionate. Make them individuals. Make them real and remember events they go through will effect them. Character development sheets can help out a lot with this. Just look up “Character development sheet” on google and go. After that, you can write out their characteristics and make it come to life and apply it to your writing.

If you aren’t going to make an outline, at least go into it with at least a basic understanding of what the piece will be about. I made the mistake of just going at it and I paid for it. I had to do so much editing to make something of my first book because I had no idea what I was going to write about. So, please, at least think your story through. Once you have the major details worked out, you can deal with minor details later.

I’m not sure of the amount of people that pay attention to small details, but personally, I think you should make sure there are no holes in the story. When I read books, a lot of the time I’ll notice holes in a story and they’re usually small details but it bothers me that people are that careless. Fill in holes. Make sense of what you’re writing.

That's it for now. I'll post more another time. Have a nice day. :)

Sexual harassment in writing

Alright, I've seen a decent amount of YA authors get slammed with this subject in the past years. It's a touchy subject, definitely. So touchy, in fact, I'm a bit uneasy about even covering the topic right now. But reviewers seem to be a bit out of touch with the reality of it and I was actually questioned about it in my own writing.

Readers and reviewers seem to think sexual harassment and molestation (God forbid I say the R word) are extremely traumatic events that leave the victim restless, rocking back and forth in a corner, drenched in their own tears and self-loathing. This just isn't the truth. The events can definitely be traumatic, but not so much that the victim can't function properly, can't go a moment without thinking about the events they went through.

As I said, this is a touchy subject, for many sensible reasons. Touchy for myself, a victim of the crime. Touchy to readers and the public in general, seen to be bad juju or something. I think it needs to be discussed though. There is a major misconception in writing about what it does to a person's mind. So many YA authors have been given bad reviews because they didn't write their MCs to be royally screwed up after being molested once, twice, however many times.

Here's the truth though. I know people that were molested every day of their life for years. I know people who trusted someone who wound up taking innocence from them against their will. They didn't break. They didn't sit awake at night trying to figure out what they did to deserve what happened to them. They went about their life silently, only remembering when they saw the face of their molester or, maybe in a worse case, when another person laid a hand on them. It doesn't leave the victims broken. It leaves them weary, yes. It may cause anxiety, depression, haphephobia (fear of being touched by others, usually of the opposite gender depending on what caused the phobia). We don't lose ourselves to despair though. We don't fall apart, unable to go about our days like a normal human being.

I know, it's all meant to be constructive, but as a victim of these things, It becomes a bit exasperating being told I need to reevaluate my characters mental state because their behavior isn't realistic enough for a victim. These are the truths of it as I see it. Maybe you don't agree and that's fine. This is just how I see it in myself and how I see it in others I know.

Honestly, all I hope for is that reviewers and editors will let it go when someone's MC isn't torn to pieces in these events.

I apologize for the topic. Like I said, I'm well aware of how touchy it is. I just needed this to be said.