This blog is no longer maintained, but it contains posts dating back to when I was first trying to get published, so I'm keeping it here in the hopes that it might help other aspiring writers.
In Search of the Write Space: Brigid Kemmerer
May 08, 2013
News: BEA Schedule
May 04, 2013
Are you going to be in NYC at the end of May? Amie and I are headed to Book Expo America! Check out our schedule and come say hi!
BEA Schedule!
May 03, 2013
If you haven’t yet, be sure to go check out the official SHADOWLARK cover reveal on YA Books Central for a chance to win an ARC of SHADOWLARK!
As some of you already know, at the end of this month there will take place a wondrous, super rare phenomenon… Amie Kaufman and I are going to be in the same country at the same time! WOOOO!
Yes, we’re headed to Book Expo America in NYC at the end of this month. We’re both tremendously excited–it’ll be our first time ever signing our book together, and I’ll also get to sign copies of SKYLARK’s sequel, SHADOWLARK. (Which is in Publisher’s Weekly as one of BEA’s “Galleys to Grab!”) We’re also really looking forward to connecting with people we haven’t seen in a while, as well as meeting those we’ve never met in person. Our official schedule is below, or you can check it out on the events page. We hope you’ll come by and see us! (Read more…)
SHADOWLARK Cover Reveal!
May 01, 2013
Well, as you may have noticed, there’s no Write Space post this week. Why, you ask? Because I have something totally awesome for you instead….
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THE COVER FOR SHADOWLARK IS LIVE!
Hurry on over to YA Books Central to check out the lean, green awesome machine that is SHADOWLARK’s new outfit, and enter to win an advance reader copy!
In Search of the Write Space: Justina Ireland
Apr 24, 2013
Ask A Question (#5): What part of the writing process do you find most difficult?
Apr 22, 2013
Katelyn L. asked, “What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? For example, world building, character developments, editing, etc.”
Each aspect of writing has its challenges for me, and they crop up unexpectedly. I might be as familiar with a given character as I am with my own family, and one day just suddenly struggle to get through a scene with her. Or I might just be ripping along at a good pace and then suddenly hit a huge plot hole I never saw coming and sit there for four hours trying to figure out how that happened. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but for me, it’s not that any one thing has a tendency to go wrong… it’s that anything could go wrong at any time!
I actually did used to really struggle with action scenes, because I was afraid of committing to them and then not really pulling them off. Sometimes my short stories would read like a classic Greek play, where all this dialogue and character building would happen “on stage” and then the real action would sort of happen off-camera and we’d be watching the characters dealing with the aftermath. It became such a habit that I still occasionally catch myself doing it–not because I can’t or even don’t want to write the action scene, but because I was so used to doing things that way for so long. (Read more…)
Ask A Question (#4): What inspired you to write SKYLARK?
Apr 19, 2013
Mary O. and Bookwyrm16 both asked, “What inspired you to write SKYLARK?”
What a great question—inspiration is so hard to pinpoint! For me it comes from everything around me, from the people I talk to to the books I read, the music I hear, the movies I see. But for SKYLARK, I can actually point to a single moment that inspired the idea for the world, which then led to everything else. (Read more…)
In Search of the Write Space: Cat Winters
Apr 18, 2013
Ask a Question (#3): How did you come up with Nix’s character?
Apr 15, 2013
This question deals with a character in SKYLARK–there are some mild spoilerish parts in this answer! Nothing major gets revealed, but if you’re as anti-spoiler as I am and you haven’t read SKYLARK, be warned!
Carolina S. asked, “Nix is positively my favorite character! How did you come up with him?”
It’s funny–Nix is genderless, but almost everyone uses a gendered pronoun when they talk about the character, because we’re not used to saying “it” to describe sentient, animate creatures. More people seem to call it a “him,” but I’ve definitely come across plenty of people who call Nix a “her!”
For those who aren’t familiar with SKYLARK, Nix is a pixie–which, in Lark’s world, is the name for little mechanical insect-like creatures that the Institute uses to spy on its citizens. When Lark escapes, Nix tracks her, and after she incapacitates it, it’s forced to become her reluctant ally.
Nix started out as sheer necessity. As I was writing the first draft of SKYLARK (which was then called THE IRON WOOD, but that’s another story) I was just ripping along at a great pace until Lark escaped the city and was out in the wilderness. Completely alone. I realized she had no one to talk to and no one to interact with, and while there are a lot of amazing books out there which handle this situation beautifully, it wasn’t actually what I was going for. So I decided she needed a companion (aside from Oren, who she meets later). (Read more…)
Ask a Question (#2): What was the process behind naming SKYLARK?
Apr 12, 2013
Amie Kaufman and I are running a MASSIVE giveaway with swag and ARCs from over twenty YA authors in order to kick off our brand new joint newsletter. Be sure to go check it out!
Katelyn L. asked, “What was the process behind naming SKYLARK?”
The original title of SKYLARK was THE IRON WOOD. That was the title I’d called it from the very beginning. I don’t outline, but I do usually have a pretty good idea of where a story is headed, and I knew where Lark was going when she escaped. So that was the title of the manuscript when I queried and signed with my agent, and that was also the title under which the book sold.
