On Writing

Tag! I’m It in the Writing Process Blog Tour

I know. I never blog anymore. But Karen Krossing asked me to, so of course I must because Karen is one of my favorite people. Karen has tagged me in the Writing Process Blog Tour, a fun way to connect with other authors and learn about how they create. Karen writes novels and short stories for kids and teens, including Bog, Cut the Lights, The Yo-Yo Prophet, Pure, Take the Stairs, The Castle Key, “Profanity,” and “Dragon’s Breath.” Her YA novel, Punch Like a Girl, will be published by Orca Books in Spring 2015. My favorite book of Karen’s is Bog, which I...

The Next Big Thing: What I’m Working on Now

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Authors are tagging each other with a questionnaire about what they’re working on now. I was tagged by Karen Krossing, who was tagged by Karen Bass. I’m tagging authors Keely Parrack, Megan Crewe, Anne Laurel Carter, and Kari-Lynn Winters. I hope they’ll share a glimpse into their works-in-progress. What is your working title of your book?  The working title is The Worlds Below but I expect that to change. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Sixteen-year-old Emily Brontë and her three siblings, Charlotte, Branwell, and Anne, have never questioned their ability to make the worlds...

Deal News!

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Ahhhh! I have been sitting on this news forever, but my agent tells me that the deal for my forthcoming book has been announced in Publishers Marketplace. I am so thrilled, delighted, nervous–and many other adjectives!–to be working with legendary editor Susan van Metre at Abrams and also with my former colleague at the CCBC and longtime friend, Hadley Dyer of HarperCollins Canada. Here it is! (Note: You won’t be able to follow the links in the announcement unless you have a PW subscription) Crystal Kite Award-winner Lena Coakley’s THE WORLDS BELOW, an historical...

Baaaaaad Blogger: Do I Have Social Media Fatigue? Or Am I Just Lazy?

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Wow. It has been exactly one month since I last posted. I don’t think I’ve ever let that much time elapse since I began this blog way back in February 2011. Oh, what interesting things I had to say back then. I blogged about worldbuilding, “Developing Desire,” and how I gave up true love with the mailman. I took my readers on the roller coaster of publishing my first novel. For quite a while I was habitual about blogging at least once a week. What happened? Yes, I did have some illnesses and some house guests this past month. (My fifteen-year-old nephew is staying with me this week...

The Truth about Trends–a guest post by Megan Crewe

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I’m thrilled to be hosting Megan Crewe on the blog today. Megan and I spoke about speculative fiction at last November’s CANSCAIP meeting and I found her to be nothing less than profound. I asked her to write up a few words about something every writer thinks about: trends–and I think both writers and readers will enjoy what she has to say. Megan’s new book, The Way We Fall will be coming out on January 24th. You can read more about it at the end of this post. The Truth about Trends by Megan Crewe Hang out in writerly circles for very long, and you’ll hear...

Some Thoughts on Scene Structure

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I was minding my own business one day when a piece of wisdom floated by on my Twitter feed: “What’s the precise turning point in your current scene? Make its trigger more dramatic—or less obvious.” It was from the agent Donald Maass, who I follow because of his wonderful book: Writing the Breakout Novel. (All this year, he’s been tweeting Breakout Novel prompts from @DonMaass which you can find here.) As it happened I was about two thirds of the way through writing a scene and it was starting to bore the life out of me. (Perhaps this is why I was checking Twitter in the first place?) I...

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