#voicesofYA

I have been tagged, for the first time ever.  (Okay, so in the blogging world, anyway...I have played lots of "running-around-in-the-backyard" games before.)

It was by my lovely Aussie friend Jem, from her blog Jem Jones, Writer.  Feel free to check her out - she's super nice, very friendly, and her blog is amazing.  Seriously.

The tag is the #voicesofYA

And I (as aforementioned) have never done this before, so hopefully I do this correctly.  You just copy the questions that have been circulating around? 

Okay, here goes...

What draws you to YA?

Mostly because I am writing for young adults/late teens like myself, who are looking for good books out there to read, and have to choose between content we don't approve of, or else reading way below our level (or re-reading and re-reading the same books) to avoid such content.

Describe your writing process. Do you like outlines and structure, or seeing where the story takes you?

I get hit with a story idea.  Sometimes just a simple sentence (like "a girl discovers she has a twin brother who was given up for adoption"), and sometimes it covers entire pages (like my idea for Rauladin, my Camp NaNo WIP), and sometimes I just have a few paragraphs, or a character idea.

I jot the idea(s) in my story notes, and I let it sit.  (Betrayal and Bravery sat for a few months; Rauladin over an entire year.)  And while it sits, I think things over.  I add things.  Tweak the plot.  Add a character.  Sometimes, however, the story idea just sits, and I might even loose interest.  (Like my one-liner about the twin brother.  I haven't added a thing to it yet - good thing I didn't start writing, or I would have been stuck after a chapter or two!)

I have a decent-enough idea of the story, and I know that I still want to write it, I do a synopsis covering everything that I know of so far.  In my waiting period, I usually have figured out most of the main characters, and what the end results of the story will be.  (Words of Gold started with a 521 word synopsis split into three paragraphs, for beginning, middle, and ending.  My first draft ended up being over 80,000 words.)  I don't write a chapter-by-chapter outline (because then it gets plain annoying; I can't write that way at all), and I often have only hazy ideas of the middle/ending should go.  But I know what happens.

Before I start writing, I do a few brief character sketches.  I'll pick one scene (sometimes from a scene from the actual story outline, sometimes I'll just put them all in the same place) and write a page or two from each character's POV.  It'll give me a quick insight into their personalities and the way they see things.

Then, with a synopsis outline, and some character sketches, I loose myself into the first draft.  (I may post on how to finish first drafts sometime soon.)  If something happens and I need to change something, I make a note of it and keep writing as if that change had been there from the beginning (gender/name change, new character, character removed) .  I do whatever it takes to get the draft finished (once, some characters were in middle of an important meeting and I came to the realization that they really would not have done so, and really should have just started fighting - so I was like....*hits enter button a couple times*....*starts making them fight*....).

After a month or so, I have a finished draft!!  Then I start the editing process.  Which I will not describe here, because I've probably already gone on for too long.

How long have you been writing? Where are you in your journey?

I've been writing seriously (actually trying to do a good job, and with publishing ambitions) for three years.  I've been typing stories on a laptop for four years before that happened.  I've been writing in notebooks for eleven years before I got a laptop (okay, I'm kind of counting little doodles I did when I was five or something).  So basically, I've always been in love with making up stories.

Right now, I have a number of finished drafts under my belt (I think I counted 15+ or something??  I can't remember what I ended up with when I did a count).  But nothing is published yet.

What do you need to write? Coffee? Music?

A laptop (really nasty carpel tunnel issues if I write with a pen/pencil for too long)(and with either hand, so that really makes things harder) and my flash drive.  I don't need music, but I usually listen to some soundtrack or instrumentals (if I listen to something with words, I'll start paying more attention to the song than my writing).  If I need to focus, I'll turn the music off.

And that's it.  I'm fairly low maintenance.

If you could offer one piece of advice to another writer, (OTHER THAN "don't give up"), what would it be?

Get that first draft finished, and do that by forcing yourself not to edit and re-start and not start something new.  Don't get stuck in the loop-hole of starting something (whether a different beginning or a new story altogether) every few days.  Find a system that works for you and push yourself to keep writing until that draft is done.  It will encourage you, and you will learn a lot from it.

What book still has you reeling from its plot twist?

The Warden and the Wolf King, by Andrew Peterson.  The ending still has me going "whoa....wait....no....please....no....but....why...."

What books are you most anticipating for this year?

I wish I could say mine....but alas, the trilogy is not finished with editing yet....but now that Wingfeather Tales is finally out and on my bookshelf, I'm going to have to find something else to wait for.

In your opinion, which YA book/series has the most unique premise?

The Girl Who Could See, by Kara Swanson.  Imaginary friends?  Connections to another universe?  Coolio!

What is your all-time favourite quote from YA?

Don't ask my why, but this is what jumped to my mind first, so I'm going with it...

"What do you think you'll do?"

"About Leifer?  Knock his head and listen for the hollow thunk."

                 -From Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale. 

What book do you most hope will have a movie adaptation?

My personal copies - the covers are so pretty!

The Books of Bayern, by Shannon Hale.  The characters are so vivid, and Hale's storyworld is amazing.  The languages of everything put an interesting twist to the plot, and the humor is really good.  Plus, I read these to my younger sister (and my brother listened in for most of it, ha ha), so these hold a special place in my heart.  (Not to mention I was introduced to them by my Grandfather buying me the fourth one for my birthday, and I had no clue it was the fourth one, so I read it and ruined the ending, but I still love these books!)  (And if that's not a good example on how my family works, than I don't know what is.)

The Re-Tag

Seems like everyone I know has already done this, but I tag Evangeline Diasimah, over at Tumblr.  She's a fellow member of the writing group The Order of the Pen.  She said she can do blog-like posts on Tumblr (which I know nothing about), so I thought I'd give it a try and tag her...

Anyone else read them?  Any comments?  Criticisms?  Should I have used more gifs or pictures (or less)(I never know what's too many or what's too boring)?