Bright Things in Books
This may be just me, but I need occasional bright things in books. Once, when I read a string of YA dystopias back to back, the physically dark settings had me feeling like I lived in a cave, and I needed a break. By contrast, I was rereading Levine’s Ella Enchanted this spring, and I actively noticed the happy scenes of friendship, which were just as nourishing as physical brightness. Of course, it made the contrast all the worse when Ella lost those friendships and had… Continue reading
Birthmarked in Turkey
Birthmarked is out in Turkey! “Dogum Lekesi” translates, I believe, to “Date of Birth.” Many thanks to my Turkish translator, Zeynep Yeşiltuna! What does it feel like to be published in Turkey? Pretty amazing.
Below is the Turkish description, and you can discover other Turkish titles from publisher Marti Yayinlari on their Facebook page.
Geleceğin dünyasında insanoğlu ikiye bölünmüştür.
Bir yanda son derece ihtişamlı ve korunaklı hayatlar yaşayan üstün bir ırk,
diğer yanda bu ırkın varlığını sürdürmek için görevlendirilmiş, zor koşullar altında yaşayan… Continue reading
Stepping Back
Sometimes, when my plot has become snarled in a traffic jam, I think of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men with its straight-forward, train-wreck focus, where we start steadily down a track and accelerate fast toward a visible and unavoidable disaster. Lennie kills a mouse, then kills a puppy, then crushes a man’s hand, then kills a woman, and each time we try to forgive him and search for someone else to blame because we believe he is an innocent at heart.
I look at this plot, this driving plot… Continue reading
The Rejoicing
I attended a unique earthling ceremony this weekend. The main participants dressed up in extraordinary hats and flowing black gowns, men and women alike. Restless spectators filled the pavilion to listen to a series of speeches, impatient for their chance to make noise. At last, while each individual participant was called for a victory lap (Gampel5.11.3) around the arena floor, their family groups howled from the stadium. Howl after howl went up in a stream for an hour, no family quite able to… Continue reading
Revisin’
Another, complete world exist in my computer now, right there in the file behind this one. I don’t know how to describe it or explain it to people, not the book itself nor my process of working on it. When friends ask if the draft needs big changes or if I’m working line by line, I feel the novel world suck me out of the now toward rainy plains and a silent window and the blue glow of night glass. Depths, colors, and currents swirl there. … Continue reading
Fun Was Had: Teen Book Con, Houston
Let me pass along a few favorite photos from my very happy weekend in Houston when I attended Teen Book Con, April 20th. Thanks again to Blue Willow Bookshop for throwing the stupendous event, and to MacKids for sending me down. To see hundreds of teens excited about reading and writing was completely inspiring, and I’ve been writing in a blue streak ever since.