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The incomparable Tamora Pierce talks about why she writes books for young women:
Why do I write so many strong female characters? When I was a kid, 7-8 books out of all books written for kids through teens had boy heroes. Those that had girl heroes showed them at “feminine” pursuits, or if they were a little feisty, a male hero had to bail them out by book’s end. Only the historical novels had strong girls; most of them “settled down” by the end. I was reading “boy books”: TREASURE ISLAND, TOM SAWYER, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. When I encountered fantasy, I had the same problem: virtually no girl heroes. The ones I found, adult women all, settled down, hated other women, or died. I didn’t understand why there were no girls (or those that existed were severely compromised) in the adventure books, so I began to write what I wanted to read: adventure books with girl heroes. As a published YA writer I came along at a time when that was what booksellers, parents, and librarians were looking for, and along with some other writers, I found my place in publishing.
Pierce’s work is what laid the groundwork for books like mine. If her Alanna books weren’t still sitting on the shelf in every bookstore almost three decades later, no publisher would take a chance on Astrid, or Katsa, or other female heroes of teen fantasy. I write the books I do because I could never find enough of them growing up. I read and re-read Greek myths and fantasies like The Horse and His Boy because Aravis Tarkheena was a warrior woman, and they were few and far between. (It was much later in life, sadly, when I discovered Tamora Pierce and other writers like her.) We have been enjoying (for the last four or five years) a wonderful influx of these kind of books. The current discussion of whether or not boy readers are getting the shaft is… not entirely accurate. I didn’t see “but what about the girls?” whines when it was all Harry Potter all the time. Girl readers were expected to love Harry, or make do with Hermione (who is awesome, it’s true), but people seem to accept that girls will read “boy books” and not vice versa. (I think sometimes you can sneak ‘em in, especially if the writer is a boy, like Scott Westerfeld’s Tally Youngblood in the UGLIES series). I have very few boy readers. My dad, however, adores my books, but he’s in large part responsible for my love of warrior women, so there’s that.
The whole essay is worth a careful read, because Pierce also discusses the way you can get a boy interested in reading a so-called “girl book” (hint: talk about the decapitations, not the girl finding love), and since she’s been in the biz for a while, she knows this conversation pops up every few years. For myself, I think it’s obvious from all my published books, action fantasy and chick lit, that I’m interested in exploring the way young women interact with society, so women’s issues do find a way to worm themselves into my books. I am doing it purposefully, but it is purposefully for ME — it’s what I find myself drawn to writing. (I am finding that is less explicitly the case in the book I’m writing, though that’s a bit of a one-off.)
Speaking of what a writer wants to (or should) write, yesterday I read this fantastic essay by my friend Marianne Mancusi, about how maybe you shouldn’t write what you love if you find you aren’t great at it.
I hear, over and over again, authors and editors and agents urging writers to “Write what they love.” But I’d argue this is not necessarily the best advice for everyone. While some of you may love to read the genres you’re equally talented at writing in, some of you may find your writing strengths lie elsewhere.
And if so, my advice is to not fight it.
For me, I’m best at comedy. I can easily whip up quirky characters and odd situations and pop culture references galore. And when I’m writing comedy my hands fly on the keyboard and sometimes, I admittedly even make myself laugh out loud, wondering where on Earth my brain conjured up that particular joke.
But for many years, I fought against my natural light style. I tried to write bigger, deeper, more epic novels with dark themes and alternative dimensions. I wanted to be that author with the kick-ass cover of a woman in leather, wielding a sword in a dark, twisted world. Because that’s the kind of book I’d pick up in the bookstore, over the one with a silly cartoon cover and a quirky title. But I’m just not that author. I’m the cartoon cover kind.
A couple of things: you could have bowled me over with a feather when I first read this essay, since I would never have categorized Marianne that way at all. She’s one of the most versatile writers I know. Everything she does, indeed, has that signature snark and pop-culture touches, but she can do light contemporary romance (such as her excellent GAMER GIRL) as well as post-apocalyptica (my other favorite book of hers, RAZOR GIRL). That they both have the word “girl” in the title is pure coincidence, because they are very different books.
Also, who doesn’t love zombies with a touch of fun? I do! (Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, and I’m salivating for the upcoming Jesse Petersen series.)
So aside from thinking that Marianne is wrong in her estimation of her own talents, I think she has a very good point, here:
Now that’s not to say you can’t include certain beloved themes in your book. You just have to give the story your own voice and twist. For example, I knew I wouldn’t be great at writing a straight medieval. So instead I decided to bring a teen King Arthur to the 21st century in my upcoming novel “The Camelot Code.” He Googles himself and learns his true destiny and decides to join the football team rather than go home and pull the sword from the stone. So, in this way, I was able to incorporate something I love–medieval fantasy novels–with something I’m better at writing–light, humorous young adult fiction. And in doing so I was able to create my own sort of genre mash-up. (After all, where else are you going to find Morgan La Fay accidentally agreeing to a Brazilian wax…)
Sometimes we have to figure out how to write what we love, or, as my other pal Julie Leto might put it, how to incorporate the book our voice into the books of our heart. RAZOR GIRL, for instance, works for me because it utilizes Marianne’s familiarity with genre conventions (the titular Razor Girl is actually a genetically-enhanced warrior created by her father, who was obsessed with William Gibson and cyperpunk stories — Gibson wrote about the “original” razorgirl Molly MIllions), and light teen voice allowed her to tell a post-apocalyptic story using her strengths as a writer. She poignantly juxtaposes scenes of a zombie-infested wasteland with scenes from the before time, when the main characters Molly and Chase were very different people.
I am often asked in interviews why I am still so active in RWA, given that I don’t write romance novels. For years, I tried to write romance novels (I have four of them sitting under my bed), and though my rejection letters would praise my voice/prose/characters, the romance wasn’t quite clicking for them. But then I wrote Secret Society Girl, which, while not a romance novel, ended up being a hit with its readers because of the romance within its pages. Lesson learned: it’s not that I can’t tell a love story, it’s that I’m better when it’s a subplot, and when the book exists out of the genre conventions of the romance novel.
But, like Marianne, I still love romance novels, especially historical romances! But I regularly write with a published historical romance novelist, and the work I see her doing to make sure every word in her book is historically accurate — yikes! Makes me glad I write books set in the 21st century.
I recently came out with my first historical short story, and I had to do a ton of research — about clothing, about inheritance law, about marriage law — to be able to work my way around what was actually a pretty straightforward plot. I specifically chose to set the story in a country where they don’t speak English so that any non-standard word usage could be chalked up to “translation” rather than “but the OED says they weren’t using that word then!” (Quoth my historical writing friend: “Cheater.”)
My love of historicals, romance, and post-apocalyptica combine in my current work in progress, the much-teased post-apocalyptic retelling of Persuasion. But it took years before I figured out exactly how to tell such an unusual story in a voice that worked for me and for what I do. Sometimes it takes getting creative, as Marianne did with her upcoming Camelot Code, another book that was a bit in the making.
I truly believe you can write what you love if you make it your own — and that, as Tamora Pierce says, you should write what you love, because it always is your own.
Home from RWA 2010. What a fun, invigorating National Conference! I haven’t been to Nationals since 2006 (otherwise known as “my pink ribbon year”) so this was a very different experience. My career has changed so much since those days — I now write for several publishers in several genres, I have a bunch of books under my belt, I know so many other writers.
I was discussing this with my fantabulous roommate Erica Ridley, who was signing at her first ever RWA Literacy signing:
Like me, Erica had no books at her first ever literacy signing. I had a bunch of copies of RAMPANT to sign at this signing, and was so pleased by all the fans that dropped by!
I did manage to attend a few workshops at RWA, and they were great! My favorites were “Mending a Broken Scene” with the brilliant and awe-inspiring Roxanne St. Claire (a workshop you should take if you ever get a chance — and one of hte few workshops taht truly works for writers at any level of their careers), “Do As I Say, Not as I Did” with Mindy Klasky and Maria V. Snyder, and the chat with Meg Cabot. Speaking of Meg Cabot, I finally got a chance to meet her, and she signed my ARC of Zombies vs. Unicorns.
I also made a bunch of new friends, like Molly O’Keefe (who won a RITA this year)!
This is Maureen McGowan, Molly O’Keefe, and me. (I am currently trying to decide if I should change my name to Diana O’Peter or Diana McFreund to better match the others.)
Speaking of the RITA, pals of mine made out like bandits this year. First and foremost, a HUGE HUGE congratulations to the marvelous Simone Elkeles, for rocking out the YA Romance category with Perfect Chemistry:
Man, I was giddy when she won. I felt like *I* had won a RITA (you can see my sticky fingers on hers in the photo). I know everyone’s talking about Julia Quinn’s hat trick this week, but I feel like Simone’s win is one of the best stories from RWA — her book is a true romance for teens, and its RITA nod is a recognition by the romance genre establishment.
Here she is enjoying her golden lady:
Simone is represented by Kristin Nelson, whose whole agency made out like a bandit last night:
Congratulations to Kristin and to Sherry Thomas!
And last, but certainly not least, there’s Kresley Cole’s paranormal win for her #1 New York Times bestselling book, Kiss of a Demon King. Here I am trying to keep up with the beautiful blondes Kresley and Roxanne:
I guess I should be spending more time in the sun this summer. And wear more black.
And, I hung out with so many other wonderful writers! I had lunch with Team Castle-mates Ally Carter and Jennifer Barnes, as well as the aforementioned Meg and Erica:
I met historical author Victoria Janssen, journalist and young adult writer Gwenda Bond and her husband, sci-fi writer Christopher Rowe:
Gwenda was there to receive her Veritas Award. Christopher was there to support her and to get sick of people saying “a sci-fi writer? What are you doing here?” (Not true, actually, I’m sure he only got that like thirty-five times or so.) That night at the Avon party, which took place in the gorgeous wood-paneled party room of the Living Seas exhibit at EPCOT, Gwenda, Christopher, and I decided that my next project was going to be about the forbidden love between a girl and a were-ray. Behold my inspiration (as pathetically dark and blurry as it is):
We had to get this pic quickly, you see, because of that whole forbidden thing. You guys, he’s a CAPTIVE were-ray. A captive of the Disney Corp. It’s gonna be like Twilight meets Finding Nemo, with a dash of Splash! and a soupçon of Lovecraft.
Ah, RWA. It’s so inspiring.
Thanks to Twitter, I came across a blog post by one Racecar Brown referencing one of my earlier rants diatribes explorations of the topic of bad boys and nice guys in fiction. And, naturally, I was reminded that I never did finish that series. I suppose that’s a good thing, as now, in the midst of an entirely new book, with a very different sort of romantic pairing than I’ve ever written before, my thoughts have changed again.
Racecar Brown talks mainly about the intense fan reaction to two odious but popular characters: Chuck Bass of the Gossip Girl television show, and Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter. I am most of the way through the second season of Gossip Girl now, and I think Chuck falls on the “love to hate him” side of the spectrum. He’s awful, and he whores around, and etc., but leaving aside the pilot episode in which he tries to rape both Jenny and Serena, his “awfulness” is mostly posited as a sort of rich guy boredom. This is the dude that flies in high priced call girls from Asia — usually two at a time. He opens strip clubs, he takes dirty pictures of Skull & Bones members who try to get him to hurt his friend, and, in a total 180 from his behavior in the pilot, he drops off an underage girl who is throwing herself at him in his limo.
Sailor Boy says that you should usually take everything you see in the pilot of a television show with a grain of salt. The characters aren’t really set yet. How often have you gone back to see the pilot of a show you loved and been like — wait, who IS that person? So I’m willing to give the Gossip Girl people a pass with the whole Chuck Bass: Rapist thing — at least, as far as I’ve seen the show (I just watched the Snowflake Ball episode where Jenny puts Vanessa in the see-through dress.) So I agree with Racecar on that one. The pilot is the problem. He gets it together later on — which is not unlike what the Veronica Mars people do with Logan, though aside from the bum fights and the whole [spoiler spoiler spoiler] at Carrie Bishop’s party, most of what he does isn’t too heinous (and is in fact very similar to Veronica’s shenanigans, and even those two things are certainly no worse than what Weevil pulls. Remember, he and Veronica were actually friends before Lilly died.
(I actually started watching Gossip Girl because I got so many letters from readers saying that Chuck Bass reminds them of Poe and now, having seen it, I can honestly say — Whaaaaaaa? They are both manipulative and given to cruelty, but loyal to the people they love, I’ll grant you that. But Chuck’s every action and entire lifestyle comes from a place of enormous privilege — no one has ever said no to him, and he is depraved because he’s so rich that he’s bored. He is a modern day Valmont. Poe is…. none of those things. His cruelty and manipulation actually come from the fact that he was not born into privilege and he feels he constantly has to fight for it, prove it, and hold on to it by any means necessary. And he isn’t bored because he does have to work so hard ot get what he has — as well as to protect himself from any idea that he might not deserve it. So… I don’t really see it. George and Chuck have more in common, except George is too happy go lucky. A bit more like Nate, perhaps.)
The other example of excessive fan-love Racecar points to is Draco Malfoy. Now, though a fan of Harry Potter, I’ve never participated in the vast, vast world of Harry Potter fandom. I’ve never read the fanfic that some of my writer friends are actually famous for. I don’t know what people like in Harry Potter fandom. I’ve read the books, I’ve watched the movies, I have a Griffindor t-shirt and a sorting hat keychain. That’s it. The nearest brush I ever came to was when a writer friend of mine were at Dragon*Con last year and she went to a panel with Tom Felton on it. Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the movies, is I’m sure a very nice young man, and he’s certainly an excellent actor. He was apparently discussing on the panel how a lot of times, the actors visit children’s hospitals and the like on goodwill tours, and he feels bad because the children always want to see the folks who play the “good guys” but never him.
However, this is not the case with the fandom. They love Draco Malfoy. Sometimes they may love him a little too much, as my friend who attended the panel told me that someone came up to him and asked him to autograph a photo she had, which was an erotic photo with his and Daniel Radcliffe’s heads photoshopped onto the bodies of naked men. Understandably, this 22 year old young man refused to do so, which apparently made the fan very upset. But I don’t blame Tom Felton at all. That was not a picture of him and why should he “legitimize” a fake naked photo of himself by signing it? Draco Malfoy may be a fictional being that you can do whatever you want with, but Tom Felton is a real person.
Apparently, even JK Rowling is of the opinion that people’s obsession with Draco is a product of their confusing Felton, who imbues his character with pathos (and good looks) with the very bad person that Rowling created in the book.
“People have been waxing lyrical [in letters] about Draco Malfoy, and I think that’s the only time when [pulling for a certain relationship] stopped amusing me and started almost worrying me. I’m trying to clearly distinguish between Tom Felton, who is a good-looking young boy, and Draco, who, whatever he looks like, is not a nice man. It’s a romantic, but unhealthy, and unfortunately all too common delusion of girls that they are going to change someone.”
(And yet, Malfoy gets off scot-free in the books. I never understood that.)
As I said in my previous post, I was never into the fantasy of the bad boy. I don’t buy that we can really change someone. There’s a part in Pride & Prejudice where Elizabeth explains to Mr. Wickham that Mr. Darcy improves upon acquaintance, but not in “essentials.” She is saying to him that she now understands that Darcy is prickly, closed-off, etc. but essentially, he’s a stand-up guy. (Also that she knows Wickham is lying about Darcy, but that’s a whole other thing.) But that is pretty much where I draw the line, too. I’m okay with bad boys who are essentially okay.
Darcy is not changed by Elizabeth, except in the minor way that he realizes he needs to stop being such a snob. His changing is not from cruelty to kindness, but from impoliteness toward people of a lesser social station to politeness. Still, this is not a major change in who he is. Yes, now he can be friends with Mr. Gardiner. But one imagines that, had he met Mr. Gardiner before, he would not have been cruel to him, but perfectly cordial and distant.
I think we can all agree that getting a snob to lighten up is on a whole different scale than getting an accessory to murder/attempted murderer (which Draco Malfoy is) to “change.”
Jane Austen loved writing about the bad boy/nice guy dichtomy. There’s one in almost all of her books. Yes, even Persuasion. But enough about that for now.
 So last night I went to the Printz Award ceremony at ALA — I’ve never been, and it was awesome. All the speeches were so wonderful. I especially enjoyed the one by John Barnes, a long-time science fiction author whose Printz Honor was the result of writing a true book of his heart, a semi-autobiographical novel about a teenage boy in the 1970s: TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND.
(Ah, my book list. It grows ever longer.)
And of course, Libba’s talk was gorgeous. Have you all read GOING BOVINE? It’s not the easiest read in the world, especially if you have a weakness for hamburgers, like me. I had to put it down a few times because I’m freaking terrified of prions, y’all. Pretty much any disease of the brain give me the heebie jeebies. It’s that whole “I think, therefore I am,” stuff — I would like to be able to trust my own brain. It’s why zombies are so terrifying. And [spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler]. But GOING BOVINE is such a powerful, masterful work that I kind of had to get past that, because it is the sort of book that must be read.
I loved hearing Rick Yancey speak, because hearing him talk about crafting his gory Monstrumologist and freak himself out in the middle of the night and deal with his spouse’s take on him writing such a gory book — well, it reminded me of my own process with Rampant. I thought Monstrumologist was definitely gorier than Rampant, but I was pleased that YA had too such bloody books on the shelves at the same time last fall. Occasionally, I see us linked on “if you like this” type of features. I guess we’d fall under the “if you like creepy, coming of age fantasies with maggots, decapitations, and severed eyeballs” heading?
I haven’t read Punkzilla or Charles & Emma, but now I really want to! (See above, re: book list).
I got to sit with Ally Carter and right behind David Levithan and John Green. I caught sight, a few rows back, of Annette Curtis Klause — squee!
Afterward, at the reception, I ran into even more YA pals: Jennifer Lyn Barnes, Coe Booth, and Holly Black.
Some pictures from the evening:
Team Castle reunion! (Me, Jen, Ally, and Holly)
I bask in the glow of talent emanating from David Levithan and Coe Booth. (Do you think it’ll rub off?)
The stunning Libba Bray and her glorious Printz.
I also got to chat at length with a bunch of fabulous librarians, as well as a bunch of folks from New York.
And and AND I got my bookmarks. They are fantastic. But I don’t have a picture of them. I seem to be having some sort of problem with my photo uploader. I’ll remedy that and be back later.
So I survived ALA, thanks to the support of my editor and author friends.Friday afternoon, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl took pity on me and called up, inviting me to come hang with them on the floor. We did. We snagged some swag. I also met their lovely editor Julie, and I may have accidentally sold her a book for $0.35 worth of parking meter change.
Oops. My agent’s totally going to kill me.
The next day, I left the house at 6:30 AM to make my early, early early morning breakfast with Harper Collins, where I met some other authors and a bunch of lovely librarians. Man, I love librarians. So knowledgeable! So passionate! So stylish!
Then, I headed back to the exhibit hall, where I ran into heaps of authors, attended a few signings, picked up even more swag — swag! Swag! How do I love thee? A few of the authors I hung out with: Malinda Lo, author of Ash; Danielle Joseph, author of Shrinking Violet; John Green, author of Looking for Alaska and PaperTowns and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Here I am with the beautiful Malinda Lo, whose moody, evocative debut ASH I read last year by firelight during a blackout. It’s also a great book to read over your air-conditioning vent this summer, though. Malinda’s next book is called Huntress. As you can imagine, I’m all over that. We had lunch and talked about researching hunting. She lives in Northern California, which is great for that.
I ran into Alaya Dawn Johnson ever so breifly — just long enough to tell her how much I love her story in Zombies vs. Unicorns (it’s awesome, ya’ll, even if it is about zombies). Speaking of zombies, check out this travesty:
She was so SMUG about it, too! To my face, y’all. To my face. Do you think Astrid would put up with that?
Actually, Astrid is afraid of zombies, too. She has no special powers to deal with those.
And, since I know y’all are wondering about the ice cream, I am so happy to report that at ALA, ice cream is free! Yeah, they were just handing it out on the street corner. Here’s Malinda, me, and Danielle Jospeh eating our free ice cream, in a picture taken by John Green. (You’d think someone who spends so much time filming could have snapped a pic where we were all looking at the camera, but whatever):
This was taken on our way to lunch with Pam Bachorz, author of Candor, Jon Skovron, author of Struts & Frets, Holly Cupala, author of Tell Me a Secret, and L.K. Madigan, award-winning author of Flash Burnout. Yeah, it was kinda a debs party I crashed. They’re very nice.
And yes, that means we had ice cream on the WAY to lunch.
After lunch, I rushed back to the exhibit hall for my signing. Yay, signing!
It went great — we gave away ALL my copies of Ascendant ARCs, and the unicorn horn lollipops were a hit. Killer unicorns FTW!
No matter what John Green says. (Also, I totally did the filming of the part where John steals the book.)
Today we have a very special treat: a guest blogger. I hardly ever have a guest blogger here, but I think I should start doing so more often. All the fun of blogging, none of the pressure of staring at that damned blinking cursor. (Ah, Hemingway, your white bull has been replaced by something even more phallic).
But I digress. Today we are visited by the utterly awesome Saundra Mitchell, whose debut novel, SHADOWED SUMMER, knocked off my flip flops when I read it last year. (I wasn’t wearing socks because her descriptions of a steamy Southern summer were so spot on I felt like I was getting heatstroke just turning the pages.) It’s a very creepy ghost story, and to my genre-loving heart’s eternal delight, it’s been racking up the award nominations and wins ever since it was published. (I am the girl who defiantly turned in a ghost story as a final project after the instructor of the one creative writing class she ever took sneered to another student that he did not accept genre works in class.) This book was an ALAN nominee, a Junior Library Guild pick, on the VOYA summer reading list, and up for an Edgar Alan Poe award. Y’all — read it.
Oh, how I love it when the ghosts win, and when savvy genre writers like Saundra show the world that family secrets and coming-of-age can fit perfectly into stories that go bump in the hot, humid night.
Today, Saundra is here to promote hte release of the SHADOWED SUMMER paperback and to talk about one of my favorite topics: strong, kick-ass heroines. And — I blush to type it — she is talking specifically about Astrid. Take it away, Saundra!
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INDEPENDENT WOMAN
Astrid Llewelyn is the ideal kind of awesome. I found myself thinking this often while reading RAMPANT on a train toward Chicago. I forgot to be nervous about the trip, because I was so wrapped up in watching Astrid grapple with her unexpected destiny.
Now, there are a lot of awesome female characters in fiction and in film. Gwen from Merlin is awesome. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter is awesome. Katara from The Last Airbender is awesome.
And Astrid is awesome, not because she’s perfect at everything, or gets it right all the time, or makes ideal decisions–but because she’s not, and she doesn’t. In fact, her reaction to discovering that her mother’s seemingly dippy attachment to killer unicorn stories is true is one of the best portrayals of dumbstruck incredulity I’ve ever seen.
In short, Astrid is exactly what a real girl would be, if confronted with an Ancient Destiny, a Mystical World, and Her Part In It: conflicted, and confused. And I love that she doesn’t rebel just for the joy of it. When she comes around to her mission, it’s not for the convenience of the plot.
Even though RAMPANT is full of mythology and mystical creatures, it’s completely honest. I believe in it, and that’s why I eagerly await September, when I can dip back into this amazing universe with ASCENDANT. It’s why Astrid Llewelyn is the ideal kind of awesome for me:
She’s real.
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Hey, guys. It’s Diana again. So, who wants to read SHADOWED SUMMER NOW? I hereby provide you with six easypeasy ways to do so:
- Buy it though Indiebound at your local independent bookstore
- Buy it at the Book Depository (international shipping!)
- Buy it at Powell’s
- Head to Amazon
- Borrow it from your local library (Since it’s a JLG selection. you can find it at a lot of libraries)
- (I know this is the one you’re waiting for) — win it here, today!
All you have to do is leave your name in the comments. And yes, I know i never announced winners from the ASCENDANT ARC giveaway contest. Oops, sorry. But I will on MONDAY, as well as announce winners for this contest. That means you have until Monday to enter this contest and the other one.
Have at it!
Okay yes, winners. We’ll get to that. Tomorrow, I promise. We’re doing all this home improvement stuff around the house so I’ve been a little distracted.
First up, BEA.
So this was my second time at BEA (last time was 2006, in DC) and I was a LITTLE more prepared for what to expect. This time, I came prepared with canvas bags and comfy shoes. (Well, sometimes.)
I arrived in New York on Tuesday afternoon, checked into my hotel and hurried downtown to meet Angie from Angieville at Otto, a Mario Batali restaurant I like a lot. What I’ve learned from my many many trips to Otto is that it’s nearly impossible to go there for dinner, but off-hour lunches are actually fabulous. Angie is lovely (and much more blonde than I was expecting from her profile picture) and we had a long, chatty lunch and talked books, books, and more books, and I kinda sorta inadvertently spoiled her as to the entire storyline of For Darkness Shows the Stars. Oops. (But seriously, this is what one gets when one asks about an upcoming book while I’m in the middle of writing it.) But it was so nice to finally meet face to face since I’ve been enjoying her blog for such a long time. (You’ll note this is a running theme at this BEA — I met so many amazing bloggers!)
Here we are:
And here’s what we had for desert:
I was very big on desserts at this BEA. Especially ice cream.
After that we went to the Javitts Center to pick up Angie’s badge (I already had mine). It wasn’t too crowded yet, so I got a chance to enjoy the full glory of a promotion for Heather Brewer’s awesome Vladimir Tod series:
Angie also gave me a copy of an Ellen Emerson White book (because she knows I’m a fangirl) that’s out of print, about a Vietnam nurse. I was already devouring it on the subway ride home. Then, I called Julie Leto, who was at BEA to promote her new book Hard to Hold, which is actually based on a true story, and we had dinner at a little pub near Rockefeller Center. I ate salad, short ribs (actually, Julie’s daughter had most of my short ribs) and a brownie fudge sundae.
Tuesday tally:
Ice cream: Otto’s olive oil gelato; Pub brownie fudge sundae
Books: The Road Home, by Ellen Emerson White (OOP), and Beautiful Darkness my Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (ARC brought from home)
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The next morning (Wednesday), I had a few moments to wander around before I met up with my Harper editor and went to Children’s author speed dating, where I FINALLY met the awesome and snappily-dressed and hair-dyed Heather Brewer (and showed her the stairs picture) as well as Lauren Kate and Wendy Loggia. Apparently, Lauren and my editor Kristin used to work together. Speed dating was a lot of fun, if rushed, and my tables of booksellers and librarians could be categorized into one of three groups:
- “Oh! Rampant! We love this book! We can’t keep it on the shelves!” (Hugs and pictures ensured, such as this one with Talya, a bookseller from Boston):
- “Killer unicorns? Really? Well, I guess if Tammy Pierce liked it…” (puts bookmarks in bags)
- “Killer unicorns? What the…”
I was so tempted to pull one on this last group. “Just kidding, I mean vampires!” And see what happened. Some people jsut won’t get on board with this concept. I’m learning to accept it. Philistines. 
I also saw Mitali Perkins across the room, but I was not able to go say hi.
Afterward, my editor and I wandered around a bit more, and snagged copies of Nightshade, Matched, and Delirium. Then we went to lunch at this cool restaurant called Cookshop, where I ate shrimp tacos (on actual corn tortillas, bless them!) and then the most delicious dessert EVER — a strawberry float made with deep mauve homemade strawberry soda and vanilla ice cream. Wow, it was phenomenal. My editor and I also talked about For Darkness Shows the Stars and what my next project for her might be. (And I feel like I have to let y’all know now there’s no guarantee it’ll be a unicorn book.)
After THAT, we headed back to Javitts (ran into Richelle Mead in the bathroom) and got ready for my signing! I was signing at the table right next to Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier’s Zombies vs. Unicorns signing, which means I got my very own copy of Zombies vs. Unicorns AND got to sign a bunch of copies for people who happened to be standing in line. (My story in the ZvU anthology is called “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn”) and it stands alone as well as serves as a nice segue into Ascendant.) Scott Westerfeld and Alaaya Dawn Johnson, also contributors, were there to sign as well.
In passing, have you seen Alaya Dawn Johnson’s new book, Moonshine? Vampires in 1920s Harlem. People, I’m in lust with this concept (and this cover). I can’t wait to read it.
And then, the Ascendant signing. A huge thank you again to all the folks who turned out for the signing. I really wasn’t expecting that kind of crowd:
Nor was I expecting the signing to go over by an HOUR. We had to move me to an overflow table so Melissa Marr, who was signing after me, could have her scheduled table and I kept expecting my editor (or Justine, who was waiting for me to finish so we could go party) to start telling me to stop talking to all the great readers I met. I met so many people whose blogs I read daily! I met so many Twitter friends. I met so many fans of Rampant. I love you all! Here are a few pictures:
Me with Cassandra:
(That’s Holly and Justine there in the background.)
Me with the Booksmugglers, Ana and Thea:
After that, I went (walked) downtown with Scott and Justine to the Simon & Schuster cocktail party, where I met a bunch of other authors and got to hang out with Simon Pulse editor Anica Rissi, who it turns out I went to college with (though we never knew each other), as well as Sarah Beth Durst and Robin Wasserman.
In passing, are you all watching Robin Wasserman’s Seven Deadly Sins miniseries on Lifetime right now? If not, clear your schedules. It’s divine. I don’t know what I’d do if one of my books was made into a movie, let alone a whole series! No wonder she looked so glowing and happy on Wednesday night!
After that, Robin, Scott, Justine and I met up with Maureen Johnson and Daphne Unfeasible (whose name is really Kate Testerman, but honestly, I wanted to call her Daphne all night long) for dinner. Yes, I had ice cream. I had Mexican Chocolate, Corn, and Kahlua ice cream (different scoops). And a salad. Must save room for the ice cream! The corn ice cream was really much better than I’d feared, but the Mexican chocolate was my favorite.
So that was Wednesday.
Wednesday Tally:
Ice Cream: Strawberry soda float; three flavors at Mexican restaurant
Books: 18 free books, including Rot & Ruin, Zombies vs. Unicorns, Matched, Delirium, Nightshade, Sapphique, Vladimir Tod, The Enemy, a new Jonathan Stroud and many, many more!
Lessons Learned: No matter how adorable your unicorn shoes are, they aren’t very comfortable and no one sees them under the booth anyway.
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Thursday was my “chill” day. My job was mostly to run around and see the sights of BEA. I didn’t do much running. I wore flat sandals. I carried lots of tote bags. I ran into Sarah Cross and Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Angie again. Angie took me to meet the stunningly gorgeous Deanna Raybourn, who really looks like the cover model on one of her books — and I know I get that all the time about Astrid on Rampant, but I don’t see it at all, and yet with Deanna, oh my gosh!), and then Angie and I stood in a VERY long line to meet Mary Roach, who was promoting her new book, Packing for Mars, which looks fantastic.
I also met Leah Cypress, who signed me a copy of Mistwood (yay!) which I hear is wonderful –even better than Graceling, which to me is high praise indeed! — and I can’t wait to read it.
And I also got a signed ARC of Firelight from Sophie Jordan, who I didn’t realize I’d already met.
Then I had lunch with my Random House editor, who had all kinds of great news about my October Ballantine release (it’s killing me not to talk about it, ya’ll. Soon, I promise!) No ice cream there, sadly.
After that, I stumbled across the Running Press booth and I snagged two copies of Kiss Me Deadly ARCS (my July release), hoping to give one away on the blog, but then I ran into a bookseller from Kepler’s and she had such nice things to say about both my book and Carrie Ryan’s that I gave her my spare copy, because it has Carrie and my stories in it (Mine is called “Errant.”) Sorry, guys. I’ll find an alternative giveaway. And then later, when I finally, FINALLY met the awesome and talented Rachel Vincent, after only knowing her online for years, I felt really bad, because they were out of ARCs, and not only does she also have a story in there, but her name is on the cover. Here’s me and Rachel:
Or, as I told Rachel and photographer Lenore I’d title the picture: “Diana Peterfreund with Kiss Me Deadly and Rachel ‘the Hobbit’ Vincent.” Nice framing, that.
However, I did get to meet Laurie Halse Anderson. And yes, I managed to type that without the emphatic expletives that I was thinking when I saw her, which was pretty much, “OMG, it’s ******* Laurie Halse Anderson OMG OMG OMG.” And then, y’all…. she HUGGED ME. Laurie Halse Anderson hugged me, and it was a really miraculous hug, too. Here is Laurie and me, post-hug (you can see how she made me glow):
There was a librarian standing in line with me for Laurie, and I failed to get her name, but she ran out of line to go to the bathroom and I got a copy signed for her and waited around but she never came back and eventually I had to leave. I feel really bad about that, but if you are that librarian — and you know who you are and where you’re from — CONTACT ME, and I’ll send you the ARC.
Ooh, and I finally met my editor of the Smart Pop books from BenBella, Leah Wilson, and we talked about the new cover for the Narnia anthology (isn’t it AWESOME?) as well as future anthologies that I may or may not be a part of (stay tuned)
I also got a copy of the much-acclaimed Shade from Jeri Smith-Ready, and the highly-anticipated Raised by Wolves from Jennifer Lynn Barnes. And oh, so many more!
Me and Jeri at the RWA booth:
Then, I met up with Lenore from Presenting Lenore, and her husband, the talented illustrator Daniel Jennewein, whose children’s book Is Your Buffalo ready for Kindergarten? will be out this month! This was a fabulous two-for one. First of all, I adore Lenore’s blog and was long awaiting a chance to meet her, and secondly, Daniel and I have the same editor at Harper, and I got a chance to read an early copy of Buffalo, which is seriously adorable and I highly recommend it to any kids reading this blog (or adults who are looking for picture books for kids). We went to a nearby diner and ate cake and lentil soup (Daniel and Lenore) and milkshakes (me, of course). We talked books and TV shows and blogging and illustrating and then Daniel gave me the best thing EVER (my editor is so jealous):
And, in close-up:
The caption reads “Buffalo the Great” btw. Clearly from our upcoming release, Is Your Buffalo Ready to Be a Unicorn Hunter?
How awesome is that? I am having it framed and hung in my office. I love it so much I can’t see straight.
One more time to the Javitts Center, this time to go to a blogging reception –which I couldn’t find for like half an hour, but when I did, I was rewarded with some very friendly faces, namely:
Laura Bowers! (who has a new book coming out)
The Booksmugglers! (we gossip gossip gossiped, and I totally volunteered Carrie and me to do something for their next Halloween week.)
Kristi the Story Siren! (I wish I’d gotten to talk to her more. We chatted about Rio and Xander, mostly. I love book people who are also dog people.)
And then after that, I ran across town and had Chinese food with newly-minted New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Simone Elkeles (who told me all about the incredible in-depth gang research she’s doing for her new book and we dished for a few hours about how much fun it is to research books). Also, I’m sorry to disappoint you Alex-lovers in the blog audience, but though I met the gorgeous model who plays him in the Rules of Attraction trailer, I didn’t grab a pic with him. He did shake my hand though. And then, later, drinks in a VERY VERY loud bar with Simone and her agent, Kristin Nelson.
No ice cream there, either. (Sad face.) If it hadn’t been for that milkshake with Lenore and Daniel, I might have gone into withdrawals!
Thursday’s Tally:
Ice Cream: One little chocolate milkshake
Books: Oh, so many! (Actually, only 18, including the ones listed above — sorry, getting lazy — as well as Halo, Shift, The Marriage Ring by Cathy Maxwell, Hold Me Closer Necromancer, and many, many more!)
Friday morning I was seriously wiped. Too many books, too much socializing, too many days away from my quiet little house with my manuscript and my garden and my puppy asleep on my feet. New York is nice to visit and all, and who doesn’t love book talk with the coolest people in your business, but I guess five years at this job are turning me into an introvert. I was supposed to catch an 11:30 bus home, but I was exhausted and impatient to see Rio and got a 9 AM bus instead. And seriously, wouldn’t you want to get home to this?
Since, y’know, I’m writing one.
I am a big, big fan of retellings, in general. I think the first time I was aware of one was when my parents introduced me to West Side Story. My dad is not the biggest musical fan, but he loves West Side Story, because ballet-dancing gang members are totally awesome. I saw West Side Story way before I saw or read Romeo and Juliet, in fact.
(My husband, Shakespeare lover that he is, is probably even now drawing up divorce papers. Nah, just kidding. In fact, last year, he got me tickets to the new bilingual WSS when it was in DC gearing up for its Broadway run.)
Anyway, thus began my long love affair with retellings. I love Clueless, I love Bridget Jones’s Diary, I love Valiant, I love O, Brother, Where Art Thou.
And of course, given my long and devoted love, I’ve come to several conclusions about what makes for the best kind of retellings,or indeed, what even constitutes a “retelling” as opposed to an “adaptation” or a “reboot.”
For instance: The Baz Luhrman film Romeo + Juliet is not a retelling. It’s an adaptation. Though set in modern day California, it uses Shakespeare’s dialogue. West Side Story, on the other hand, takes the general plot (two young people from feuding groups fall in love, igniting street warfare and death) and certain character relationships (the “Romeo” and the “Mercutio” are best friends, the “Juliet” and the “Tybalt” are closely related) from Shakespeare’s play, and creates something entirely new.
On the other hand, I think the Drew Barrymore film, Ever After would definitely count as a “retelling.” The framing device reveals that the story is going to be about the “truth” behind the legend of Cinderella. There’s no magic, and the fairy godmother is really Leonardo Da Vinci. (Oh, and the prince recognizes a heck of a lot more than Cinderella’s slipper!)
It starts to get a little sticky at times. Now they’ve even got these “remixes” — stuff like Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, which takes the actual text of P&P and mixes it up with original material. (And no, since i get asked this all the time… my book is not one of these.)
Adaptations (by their very nature) and “reboots” (due to the rights issues involved) are much more common in film than in books. (I say, just as John Scalzi announces his sale of the “reboot” of the Little Fuzzy series.) So what differentiates these things? Might be one of those “I know it when I see it” things. It usually requires a very different setting. Batman Begins is a reboot, because there have been other Batman film franchises. Otherwise, it would have been an adaptation, because it was adapted from the comics.And yet, Ever After, which takes place in a frocks and swords European fairy tale-ish setting, is a retelling.
Gah, now I’m even confusing myself. Perhaps I should just stick with “I know it when I see it.”
How excited am I about the movie adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast retelling BEASTLY, by Alex Flinn? 1) I totally loved the book, 2) I love how many adaptations are coming out of YA novels these days, 3) Neil Patrick Harris.
Also, dudes in hoods are hot. I think I spent four books detailing that little insight into my psyche.
In passing, is it me, or does Beauty and the Beast, in particular, lend itself very well to retellings? I can’t tell you how many romance novels I’ve read that are retellings of that book, and one of my favorite YA novels of all time, Valiant (my troll love is vast), is also a retelling of that story. I think because it has a really great theme about loving someone for their insides, and the magic in that story is so metaphorical in nature, that it can truly be whatever you want it to be.
Speaking of Holly Black, I definitely credit a few conversations I had with her in Ireland last year with my decision to move forward with this project. Holly has tacked several retellings, and done it so skillfully that more than one person I know has said to me, “Oh, yeah! Valiant *is* Beauty and the Beast! Now I see it!” Her newest retelling is, of course, White Cat, which is based on the (rather obscure) fairy tale by the same name. Having read both Holly’s incredibly awesome fantabulous book and the fairy tale, I would argue that even fewer people would make the connection. You know, if they’d ever read the fairy tale. Which most people haven’t.
My point being, is that Holly’s way of thinking about retellings freed my mind from some of the doubt demons I had about tackling my own. And basically, what I got from the conversation was this: fair game. No matter what the source material, that’s THEIR story. Your story is your own, and you can feel free to jettison, combine, and remix whatever elements you need to to make your story the best it can be.In fact, the more it is your own, the better I like the retelling.
For instance, the troll in Valiant (unlike the boy in Beastly) is not under a curse. He is, in fact, a troll. True love will not make him “beautiful” again. Because that wasn’t the point of Black’s retelling, which was more about Val (the “Beauty” character) and her personal journey. Whereas it is the point of Flinn’s retelling, because her story focuses on Kyle’s (the “Beast”) personal journey and how his “curse” was the catalyst for that to occur.
 In Bridget Jones’s Diary, it’s not Bridget’s little sister who runs off with a disreputable man, thereby ruining the family’s reputation, it’s her mother, whose lover scams the Jones family friends out of their savings. (If you’ve only seen the movie, you are probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about, since they cut this plotline.) But in both cases, the fact that Darcy (it’s so convenient when characters get the same names in retellings, isn’t it?) tracks down the scoundrel in order to save Bridget/Lizzy’s family is the catalyst for them to reunite. In West Side Story, Tony (Romeo) still kills Maria’s (Juliet’s) beloved relative after the man kills Tony/Romeo’s best friend, sending him on the run and forcing Maria/Juliet to make a horrible choice between her family loyalty and her one true love.
The point is, in a retelling, you are taking a particular part of a story (a plot, a character, a story question, a theme) and using it as a jumping off place from which to create something entirely new. West Side Story used the plot and characters of Romeo & Juliet to talk about race relations in mid-century Manhattan. Valiant took plot elements and themes from Beauty and the Beast to tell a story about dark fairies, murder, and drug addiction. Clueless cut and combined and jiggled around character relationships from Emma to fit into a late 20th century lifestyle. And you can do those things because you are serving the needs of your story, and in order to create that omelet, well, you might have to break a few of the old story’s sacred eggs.
In other words: No fairy godmother? No problem. Use Da Vinci.
So New York Times Bestseller Carrie Ryan and I had an awesome weekend of eating, lounging around on the couch, brainstorming, and watching movies that reminded us of our books. It was half writing retreat, half slumber party.
Rio was utterly charmed by Carrie, and vice versa. I mean, I know she doesn’t look too thrilled in this picture, but Carrie’s more than making up for it, don’t you think? Trust me, Rio loved Carrie like only a “curl up on the guest bed, roll over and whine until Carrie rubbed her tummy all morning” little brat could.
Quoth Carrie: “She’s so little! She’s so compact! She’s like the mini-cooper of dogs!”
This is what happens when you’re usually living with an 85 lb. rottie mix. Don’t you worry, Rio. I think you’re the perfect size.
And then yesterday, we drove up to Baltimore to attend Carrie’s launch. In Carrie’s tour packet, it said “your friend will drive you up to Baltimore” and I am not one to disobey the mandates of the Random House publicity team.
Fortunately, it was a lovely day out, and we had lunch down by the Harbor, overlooking the Constellation. It was so beautiful, in fact, that Carrie found it problematic when she tried to turn on the air conditioning in her very sunny and warm (93 degrees!) hotel room only to discover it didn’t work. So she got ready for her launch party in an overheated hotel room filled with two hotel engineers and a phone call every 30 seconds from the front desk asking if the engineers were there fixing the problem. (“Yes.” “YES.” “YES.” “Please stop calling us, they’re here.”)
I pretended to be Carrie’s PA, which was especially funny when the wine and strawberries showed up.
 Carrie, a model of grace under pressure, ended up looking fabulous in a swingy gray dress and coral jewelry, and off we jetted to her launch signing at The Children’s Bookstore. I’ve never been there before, but it’s fabulous! I really had to have a talking-to with myself before I bought every single picture book in the place. As it was, one of the booksellers kept getting me to buy new unicorn books I hadn’t read, like Birth of the Firebringer, by Meredith Anne Pierce.
Research! Research!
Carrie’s launch was lovely. There was a great crowd there. Zombie fans, fantasy fans, writers, — there were even some folks who’d made her launch signing in Greenville last year. Talk about commitment!
Carrie talked about zombies, about her childhood fear of Poltergeist, and about how she and I have diametrically opposed creative processes that occasionally drive each other to drink. (I’m a planner; she is not.) She signed stacks and stacks of books, including two that I’m giving away to you, dear reader.
SPEAKING OF GIVEAWAYS, I am having a problem, guys. You enter my giveaways, and then when I announce the winners, they never show up and email me. I have a STACK of books that I’m supposed to send out to winners who have never contacted me. Like the Heist Society winner from a few weeks back? No word. I even left a comment on her blog. What should I do? I can’t chase you guys down all the time, and honestly, given that I’m buying these books with my own money and sending them out with my own stamps, I kind of feel like I shouldn’t have to. Should I give you a period of time to get in touch with me and if you don’t, your prize is forfeited? (Then no doubt I draw a new winner who never gets in touch with me and the darn cycle stars all over again.)
Okay, now that that little housekeeping issue is off the table, onto the giveaway!
Today I’m giving away a copy of the New York Times bestselling paperback of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, signed by one New York Times Bestselling author Carrie Ryan. AND, a copy of the amazing companion novel, newly released in hardcover: The Dead-Tossed Waves. Also signed by the author. May or may not include a small smear of wasabi from when it was sitting on the table at the sushi restaurant where said author and I had dinner last night. It’s that authentic, y’all.
HOW YOU ENTER:
Leave a comment in this blog entry saying how you would react in the face of the zombie apocalypse. I will randomly select two entries. When I announce the winners, if you are a winner, email me with your choice of which book you want. First come, first served.
So I got back from having the worst manicure in the world with New York Times Bestseller Carrie Ryan to discover that word on the street is out about my new anthology, KISS ME DEADLY: 13 Tales of Paranormal Romance.
It’s the follow-up to last year’s THE ETERNAL KISS, which was an (awesome) book of (awesome) vampire stories. Except for our book is not (necessarily) about vampires, but about all kinds of paranormal shenanigans.
My story is about killer unicorns. I know, shocking, right? It’s also my first historical ever ever — or at least, since i tried my hand at a regency romance when I was 15 and mainlining Johanna Lindsay.
FWIW, “Errant” is NOTHING like Johanna Lindsay.
(ETA)
The full list of authors in the antho are:
Becca Fitzpatrick
Caitlin Kittredge
Karen Mahoney
Justine Musk
Daniel Marks
Diana Peterfreund
Sarah Rees Brennan
Michelle Rowen
Carrie Ryan
Maggie Stiefvater
Rachel Vincent
Daniel Waters
Michelle Zink
And I’m sure they’re stories are totally awesome too. Actually, I’ve read the story of New York Times Bestseller Carrie Ryan, and it is totally awesome.
Though really, I think they must have designed this cover especially for me. New York Times Bestseller Carrie is sitting across from me right now, and when she saw the cover she’s like “oh wow, they illustrated your story.”
Then we looked closer and realized it was supposed to be a ghost of a fairy wing, and not a veil, like it looks. Still, I am sticking with my story. Read Kiss Me Deadly, with a cover that illustrates “Errant,” which is an 18th century French feminist killer unicorn story about a nun and a bride and a forest full of monsters.
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