Introducing the (RE)Sisters YA Anthology (and some of my writing...)

The first two months of the year are usually ones of laziness, boredom, regret and hiding under the duvet. But not in 2016! Oh no. Not for me anyway. Ok, maybe just a little bit. But my traditional post -Christmas blues have been warmed up somewhat by some exciting news...

Last year I submitted a short story to the wonderful For Books Sake when they announced they would be putting together a YA anthology and lo and behold it got selected! With the release date for (RE)Sisters now on the horizon (8th February people), I thought I'd share a bit about how my story came about as well as a sneaky extract.

It all started with a prompt. My writing buddy Jo and I selected three music videos for each other with the idea of creating a few paragraphs inspired by each one, and my story, Operation M, began life as a response to the video for 'People Help the People' by Birdy. For this particular prompt, I quickly found I couldn't stop until I eventually ended up with something that had the potential to become a fully formed short story which doesn't happen too often with me. I suppose the moral is that you never really know where you're going to find your next dollop of inspiration. Oh, and try out writing prompts because they really work - you might not come out with a story at the end of it all, but they're great practice and a good laugh which is just as important in the whole scheme of things I think.

I don’t expect it was how they’d planned it. Maybe they didn’t have a plan at all. Maybe they were just going to wait and wait and eventually forget that I hadn’t left the house in several years, or that I was even there at all. I’d tried to explain to Dr Carroll that the triggers, the clues, they weren’t working. But he said I needed to have patience and that eventually I might be able to remember the name of our first dog (Barry, apparently) or what my favourite subject at school was, or what my cousin Christine looks like, or that our neighbour used to have a budgie called Brilliant Bill who I liked to talk to when I was six (according to my sister Caitlin, Mrs Briggs was very disappointed that this wasn’t one of the very first things that came back to me after I woke up). I hadn’t forgotten everything. I could remember what it felt like when Mother was in hospital giving birth to my brother Alastair (like standing on the edge of a ravine). But I couldn’t remember the name of Alastair’s boarding school, or why he’s scared of cats. And I knew almost immediately that I didn’t particularly like the company of Caitlin, but I still couldn’t remember her middle name, no matter how many times I’d been told it before she’d slammed yet another door in my face. 

So what about this anthology then? Well, it's called (RE)Sisters and it's a celebration of women and girls in all our diverse glory. To find out more (and to pre-order), have a look here, and if you end up reading my story in full, you might find out how what that extract has in common with the video below...

YA Shot Readathon: My Review Picks

About 18 months ago, we were very, very close to moving to Hillingdon in west London. It didn't happen in the end and I've never regretted so much as when I found out about YA Shot. This is a day-long festival involving 71 Young Adult and Middle Grade authors participating in talks and workshops across Uxbridge on 28th October 2015, with the event launching a year long series of author visits throughout the London Borough of Hillingdon.

Alas, I no longer live anywhere near Hillingdon and am absolutely gutted that I can't attend*. However, I can do the next best thing and read some of the books by some of the authors involved in YA Shot. The lovely Michelle over at Fluttering Butterflies has organised a YA Shot Readathon for the coming month leading up to the event and I've picked out 3 books that I'm going to devour and review before 28th October...


Banished by Liz de Jager

This one's been on my TBR list for a criminally long time, so I think this is the ideal opportunity to rectify that situation. I have a confession to make about YA fantasy - I don't read that much of it. Not because I don't want to, but more because these days, my reading tends to be done in short, sharp bursts and with fantasy novels, I feel like I have to have the space and time to completely immerse myself in that world. But I'm going to do my darndest to find that space and time for this book, I promise.





Bitter Sixteen by Stefan Mohamed

A book that I was absolutely convinced I'd already bought but after some investigation, it turned out I was mistaken, yet another situation I need to rectify. Anyway, I think I first heard about this one through following the publisher, Salt, on Twitter. I've always found their short story anthologies really interesting, so picking this one was a no brainer.






Monster by CJ Skuse

God, there's so much to get excited about with this book, I don't know where to begin. A boarding school, a mythical (or perhaps not so mythical) beast, people disappearing...unfortunately I can't afford to buy a copy until after pay day (I mean, who else has a pay day in the middle of the month?), but when I do finally have some quids to spend, I'll be on it like a car bonnet.








I have my realistic spectacles on and I know it's very unlikely that I'll finish more than 3 books before October 28th, but I promise I shall review all of them as and when. Hopefully before then.

Maybe.

No, definitely.

*YA Shot attendance update! Since I started writing this post, I've realised that I might possibly be able to attend after all. So I'll see you there!

Maybe...

1K a Day - My First Draft Journey

This is the first writing post I've done in quite a while and for once, one of the main reasons for my lack of blog posts isn't to do with stress or workload, or any of the other slightly depressing reasons I usually give, but because I've actually been doing some actual writing! Of a book! It's all very exciting. Well, for me it is.

I very much conform to the rule that writing shouldn't have rules, because everybody is different, everybody works in a different way. However, in the past I've found it very useful to read about how writers write, because in order for me to discover what way works best for me, I need to give different methods a go. In fact, I've gone through several years of trying a number of different ways to get that first draft written.

And most of the time I have failed.

But this is all part of the process, something I have to remind myself of on a daily basis.

This isn't the first draft I've ever started by the way. The first one I completed nearly five years ago and mainly came about through the process of spewing out a ridiculous amount of words with only a half-formed idea in my head. I'm not saying this might not work for some, but on that occasion it left me with something completely unreadable that I couldn't even begin to start editing. A year or two later I managed to get halfway through another draft based on the same idea. This was a bit more successful, but then a problem arose that I wasn't really sure how to approach - I fell out of love with my story. I suppose I had a choice, whether to battle on through or to abandon it and I chose the latter. I'm still not really sure whether this was the correct decision, but that WIP is still there, waiting for the day when I shall hopefully develop warm feelings towards it again.


via GIPHY

After that I left a new idea to stew in my head. Some might call this procrastination (probably because it is procrastination), but I still maintain that letting it stew was the best possible thing I could have done. Every time I started to jot down notes on a piece of paper, I instinctively knew I wasn't ready and that with every word I wrote, I lost just a little bit more faith in the whole thing. So in order to feel like I was actually working towards something, I put my research hat on.

And this brings me up to the almost-present. I'm attempting to write historical YA and I was recently faced with yet another decision - when to stop researching and start writing. After consulting with my writing partner Jo, whose advice was something along the lines of 'just get on with it' (said in a much nicer way because she's a very nice person), I realised the time had come to begin another first draft.

In the past I've tried not planning, planning a bit, spending one day a week writing, getting up at 5 in the morning to write and writing in the evening, all with varying degrees of success. I used to be able to do plenty after I'd put the kids to bed, but these days my brain shuts down at 7.30 pm on the dot. I spent a while wondering why this was the case until I realised it was probably just came down to the fact that I'm now OLD and I for the time being I would just have to accept that evenings weren't my most productive period of the day.

Unless being productive means binge-watching Parks and Recreation, in which I case I'm the Queen of Productivity.

My brain now works best in short, sharp bursts, and it's peak performance time is when I've come home from dropping the kids off at school and I've had a least two black coffees. So this is when I write my 1000 words every morning, before I do any other work. I very rarely go over 1k because it then starts to feel like a chore.

And you know what? It's actually working for once. Not only am I getting words down, but I'm enjoying writing again. This book may not be 'The One', but right at this moment, writing it is making me very happy indeed and that's all I can really ask for.


via GIPHY

But be sure to return at a later date when I write a post entitled 'THE SECOND DRAFT FROM HELL'.



via GIPHY

Recent Review Round Up - Holiday Reading

Its'a amazing how many books you can go through when you give you brain a week off from everything else. Ok, so three and a bit books in two weeks might not sound like very many, but this is pretty impressive for my easily distracted brain right now. I'll start doing the odd full review again soon, but in the mean time here are three reads that got me thinking this summer...


The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters

This is the first Sarah Waters book I've read and it certainly won't be the last. Is that enough of a review do you think? If I don't end here then I'm in danger of offering you up an essay about it, but I shall continue and try to keep it brief. I've made a resolution to start reading a bit more adult fiction, and this book has set the bar, quite frankly - a masterclass in how to write a well-drawn, living breathing character. I was slightly daunted by the length (as I said, I get easily distracted), but there wasn't a single wasted word. The story of how the arrival of Lilian and Leonard impact on the formerly well-to-do Frances Wray and her mother is tense and romantic in equal measure.

Am staring to think I should have written a full review of this because now, as I'm typing, I have ALL THE THOUGHTS. Oh well.



Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - Jesse Andrews

I'm conflicted about this one. I enjoyed it. It was smart and funny (very funny) and refreshing, and I wish there was some way to bottle that feeling you get when you read something truly unique in YA fiction (sorry, but it just doesn't happen that often). I just wasn't entirely convinced by Andrews's attempts to subvert a the common dying teenager YA trope. It just felt like he should have pushed the button a bit more - tricky, I know - because I was just left with the feeling that the book hadn't quite managed to detach itself completely with that particular trope and that it had shied away from a few issues it touched upon. But whatever drawbacks I had with it, the voice is one of the most convincing I've read in recent months.



Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

I enjoyed Roger and Amy's Epic Detour and I was looking for a good contemporary YA to get my teeth into. This had been sitting on my kindle for a while and seemed to fit the bill. However, I was THIS (imagine me holding up my fingers to indicate a short distance) close to giving up on it about half way through - shy Emily may have felt realistic, but my patience with her as a main character was starting to wane, I still hadn't gotten any sense of who her missing best friend Sloane really was and the flashbacks felt cumbersome. BUT, exactly slap bang int he middle, it drew me in and I started to care, really care, about all of them. I adore YA books about complicated friendships and I'm happy to say this one ended up being incredibly moving. Plus, there were also some excellent playlists hidden in these pages (although I much preferred Frank's taste in music to Emily's - sorry country fans).

Judy Blume Readalong - 'Forever'

I see the words 'Judy Blume readalong' crop up on my Twitter feed and my first thought is I'M THERE. Wouldn't that be everyone's first thought, surely? I had planned on my own read through of the Blume's back catalogue last summer after going to her talk at Waterstones in Piccadilly, but I only got as far as Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing swiftly followed by Superfudge. Might get around to writing those reviews one of these days...

Anyway, when I saw Keris Stainton had organised a Judy Blume readalong in preparation for the author's appearance at YALC in July, I was grabbing my copy of Forever off the shelf before you could say 'no, I really don't want to take a look at Ralph thank you', because, yes, the first book to be read was Forever, and the Twitter hashtag was #readalongralph. Anyone who read this book in their youth (or indeed their adulthood) knows all about Ralph.

RALPH.

My own memories of Forever are vague to say the least. I remember Ralph, of course, and I remember the rug and the events which took place on the rug but other than that, it was all a bit hazy. Basically I remember the sex. When I first encountered this book I was about 11 and I couldn't quite believe there was a book that talked about willies, and now, as a 35-year-old reading this is 2015, I'm still struggling to get my head around that fact. It's so strange to think that a YA book written and published in the 1970s with this much frank sexual content probably wouldn't be published now (or would it? My instincts think not. Maybe I'm wrong). Does this mean we're regressing, or that teens want less-in your-face sex in their books? Or that (more likely) we're underestimating teenagers' abilities to grasp the realities of sex, downsides and all?

This leads me onto the book itself. There is a lot to love about Forever, but I'm not entirely convinced it worked as whole. I remember when I went to her talk last year, she said she wanted to write a book about teenagers having sex where no one died, and this is the thing I appreciated most about it - a realistic depiction of teenage sex that feels just as relevant now as I imagine it would have done when first released, and the fact that this sort of frankness isn't rally found in most contemporary YA means Forever is even more vital today. I loved the trademark Blume sense of humour, the rich selection of engaging supporting characters and perhaps most of all, I loved the positive depictions of women and girls - a grandmother who once ran for Congress, a supportive best friend who's mother is a leading film critic, a anthropologist sister - all this is depicted in a very naturalistic way, just as it should be, because it is natural to be surrounded by strong, clever, supportive women.

But the fact that these supporting characters were so well depicted shines a light on the shortcomings of Katherine and Michael. They were just a little bit dull in comparison. Katherine made a lot of mature decisions but I never really understood what she saw in Michael. It's never really explain why he is THE ONE, the only really indication being that she loves him because he shows an interest in her - realistic, perhaps but still not very satisfying from a reader's point of view, and I think that same sentiment can be used to sum up Michael too.

PRECIOUS

Forever still feels like a very important book and I'm glad I revisited it. However, in writing a book about sex, some other things that would have made this a better read, like plot, took a back seat. So a vital book, yes, but by no means a perfect one.

Just quick request for publishers to please keep in the small, beautiful reminders that this is a period piece in future editions - Katherine's brushed nylon nightdress, her joy at the mushrooms embroidered onto her jeans, a teenagers' fondue party (although perhaps this would happen today in an ironic way) and the icing on the cake, Theo and his glorious moustache.

Long live Theo and his glorious moustache!

YA REVIEW: 'This is Not a Love Story' - Keren David (Atom, 2015)

Kitty dreams of a beautiful life, but that's impossible in suburban London where her family is haunted by her father's unexpected death. So when her mum suggests moving to Amsterdam to try a new life, Kitty doesn't take much persuading. Will this be her opportunity to make her life picture perfect? In Amsterdam she meets moody, unpredictable Ethan, and clever, troubled Theo. Two enigmatic boys, who each harbour their own secrets. In a beautiful city and far from home, Kitty finds herself falling in love for the first time. But will love be everything she expected? And will anyone's heart survive? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

It's no secret that I love Keren David's books (see here and here) - I don't think there's any other author that nails the British teenage experience quite like she does. Although I've haven't reviewed it here, her previous book Salvage manages to balance realistic characters, engaging plot and heart-rending issues, something that I imagine is far trickier than it looks. I hate describing reads as 'issue' books, because it somehow feels like a disparaging comment rather than a compliment, with an automatic assumption that for a book to deal with tough or diverse issues, it has to sacrifice something in terms of plot or character. Ok, this has been true of some books but as This is Not a Love Story shows, just as Salvage did, it's more than possible to write about issues without sacrificing anything at all.

This where the similarities with Salvage end, however. Whereas that previous book put me through the emotional ringer by confronting some of the darker parts of society, This is Not a Love Story beams positivity and is one of the most refreshing books I've read in a long time. In fact, I can't think of anything it really falls into the same bracket as at all. Kitty's optimistic outlook on life is infectious and seeps through every page. I adored Kitty, but then I adored Theo and Ethan too - can't actually choose between them and wouldn't want to! This is the most realistic depiction of modern teens I've read in a long time - they're funny, emotional, they don't always have all the answers and they make mistakes, but then they move on. Their small expat community reminded me a lot of my gap year interactions many moons ago - you arrive in a new place, you fall in with a group and you get along with people no matter what your differences.

This is the first YA book I've read about Judaism and I loved the way it was presented as both a uniting force and common ground between Kitty and Theo, but also showed how religion isn't one dimensional - their upbringings had more differences than they did similarities and this connection wasn't the be all and end for them. Also, a shout out to the structure of the story - the added element of mystery ensured this a proper, bonefide page turner.

So whereas This is Not a Love Story isn't a love story (or is it?...), this review definitely is - a love story between woman and book (imagine a heart emoji right here - I don't how to do one on my desktop, sorry).

Past on Paper: 1950s YA REVIEW - 'Out of the Easy', Ruta Sepetys (Speak, 2013)

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan to get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test. (Synopsis from Goodreads)


I'm resurrecting my Past on Paper feature! Hurrah! And seeing as this book is set in 1950 then it will hopefully be the first of many more 20th century-set book reviews (the books are set in the 20th century, not the reviews, obvs).

I've been on a historical fiction binge at the moment which inevitably led me to this. Unlike pretty much everyone else in the universe, I've haven't read Ruta Sepetys debut, Between Shades of Gray so I was coming to this one without any preconceptions apart from perhaps the irresistable-sounding synopsis - I mean, hello? 'Mysterious death', New Orleans in 1950 - how could anyone NOT be excited by this?

I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint in the slightest. In fact, it might just be one of my favourite pieces of historical fiction, YA or otherwise. This is largely down to the expertly balanced combination of intriguing plot, brilliant protagonist and a coming of age tale that got right under my skin. This is a YA that isn't afraid of the seedier sides of life, with sex, power and frustration filtering through it's every paragraph. 

There is an impressive array of complex supporting characters. Much like she has used this historical setting to bring an authentic background to the story, I feel like Sepetys has done the same with all the players in this tale - from Josie's various surrogate parent figures in the form of brothel madam Willie, driver Cokie and bookshop owner Charlie Marlowe, to the characters who drift in and out of the story in a way to create a richer picture. Without going into spoiler territory, the romance element feel almost like a bonus, not integral to the story, more like a happy side effect, and it was all the more refreshing because of this.

However the very best thing about Out of the Easy was Josie. The description 'bad ass book lover' may sound a bit cringey but it perfectly sums her up. More than aware of the cards her upbringing has dealt her, she remains focused and determined, using her experience of the slightly seedier side of the tracks to push her own agenda. 

I'd just like to thank Ms Sepetys for writing a book that bought me out of my reviewing slump and given me a renewed appreciation for the intricacies and power of great historical fiction (and great mysteries).

(Thanks to my old local bookshop, I have a copy of the US edition, rather than the UK, hence the photo)

Anna calling...

Hello there.

It's been a while.

I've just scanned through my recent (ahem) posts and have noticed that I titled a blog post similar to this one as 'It's been a while' but I feel it needs to be said again because it has. Again.

Without going into a huge amount of detail, the last year was, on the whole, a bit crap. We moved house twice, my dad died and a lot of things, including this blog, fell by the wayside.

The thought of writing reviews put me off reading books in the first place, and recently, without the pressure of making myself have an opinion on them, I've found myself enjoying books again. I've been reading a lot more widely than I used to and the result is that, in not forcing myself to review, I've actually wanted to to, as it the way of life sometimes. So I'm making tentative steps towards blogging again, not just writing about YA books this time, but also other stuff, including posts about my own writing, something that also fell by the wayside last year.

However, some good stuff has happened. We are now the owners of two gorgeous cats, I started posting a lot more pics on Instagram (cat ownership may or may not have something to do with this), and I'm starting to become a lot more active on Tumblr (well, more at the re-blogging rather than the actual blogging but it's a start).

Anyway, it's good to be back xxx

YA REVIEW: 'We Were Liars' - E. Lockhart (Hot Key Books, 2014)

Three cousins, Cadence, Johnny and Mirren, along with outsider Gat, make up the four Liars. The cousins are Sinclairs, born into privilege and promise and every summer they congregate on the family's private island. After a terrible accident, a damaged Cadence has to sift through the murky waters of her extended family to find out the truth about the incident...

When I finished this, I stated on Goodreads that I probably wasn't going to write a review because the less you know about this book before you read it the better. Even though I didn't know any concrete facts, I had heard whispers on the breeze and even whispers can do damage to a reading experience such as this. But then certain books live on in your head long after you've finished them and they deserve to be praised. I've successfully managed to write a spoiler-free review of a book before, a similar sort of book that requires spoiler-free reading and I think I did an alright job if I say so myself. So here goes. If you really, really don't want to know anything else about We Were Liars before you start it, I suggest you stop reading here (but only after I've said you really need to think about starting it very soon)...

I'm rubbish with books that are steeped in hype. I become a very cynical sort and even more judgey than I usually am (not something I'm particularly proud of) but this makes it all the more satisfying when a book does live up to all the praise. Let's start off with the best thing about We Were Liars - the writing. It's sparse, but I like sparse. Why use five words when you can use one? And because this style is so uncompromising, the voice is too and I don't think it needs pointing out that this is a Very Good Thing indeed (but I will anyway - it is a Very Good Thing). Cadence is the perfect character to lead us through the lives of the Sinclair family - revered, but enough of an outsider to show them warts and all.

From my own experience, there is not much to relate to with the wealthy Sinclairs but as with all good storytelling, this didn't matter a jot. This may have been a book about rich white dudes but it was also a book about prejudice and the abuse of power and love, common themes in many novels but here used in a very clever way. It felt very old-fashioned in some ways, perhaps to do with the setting. On starting it, I kept getting flashbacks of scenes from Dynasty, but here there were less shoulder-pads and more shabby-chic preppiness. I guess this is all testament to the strength of the writing again and her amazing ability to build this world of privilege in such amazing and convincing detail.

There were a few things that made it not quite perfect - it slowed down quite a lot in the middle for me (that's all I will say about this because to say anymore would be alluding to those whispers on the breeze mentioned above) and I would have enjoyed a bit more detail about the other Liars at the beginning. This is quite a quick read and we're thrown into the middle of events early on - as a consequence, it took me a little while to get to grips with some of the characters.

But these are minor gripes. We Were Liars deserves all the attention it's been getting. It is a clever, involving story with plenty of mystery, and I'm all for clever stories, especially when they are told this well.

MG REVIEW: 'Murder Most Unladylike' - Robin Stevens (Corgi, 2014)

Deepdean School for Girls, 1934. When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't, really.) But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident - but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls know a murder must have taken place . . . and there's more than one person at Deepdean with a motive. Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning, scheming and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Although this book is set in 1934, I'm not going to put it in my Past on Paper feature because it just feels all wrong calling it historical fiction. Even though it's historical and a work of fiction.Yes, the voice very much depends on this particular time period but (and there's massive clue in the title here) this is very much in the realms of the mysterious for me. It pays homage to both Agatha Christie and her ilk as well as classic boarding school stories but somehow manages to be something else entirely.

First admission: the crime element wasn't the page-turner I thought it was going to be. Maybe it was the 'school girl investigators' angle because this subsequently put a bit of distance between the main characters and the other players or just that the plot didn't unfold quickly enough for me. Not really sure, but the book made up for it in other ways...

The cover design and synopsis gave the impression of something light-hearted - apart from that whole murder thing - and even though the tone was upbeat, it surprised me with an underlying darkness, not to do with the murder (maybe partly to do with the murder *resists urges to say MURDER in Taggart-like fashion*) but with the relationship between Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells, our two detectives. Hazel is the put-upon 'secretary' of their secret society who records everything in her casebook and describes the frustration and occasional upset the actions of her best friend cause. Daisy is definitely manipulative, possibly slightly sociopathic (can someone be slightly sociopathic?) but never boring. What kept me turning the pages was their 'friendship' - a very realistic depiction of how one personality can dominate another and it gave the book another dimension.

A good voice can make a book and here it never falters. Hazel is a very sympathetic character and the combination of her keen observation and naivety make her a great storyteller - I would have loved to hear more about her life in Hong Kong but hopefully this might be developed further on in the series. And even though this is Hazel's story, I hope Daisy and her background get featured in future adventures, especially after that little taster at the end...

Despite being the tiniest bit disappointed in the actual crime (although I applaud the clever resolution), this was a surprising mystery in more ways than you might think...

Recent Review Round Up

In lieu of about six month's worth of reviews, I bring you one big post containing some of the stuff I've enjoyed recently. You may have noticed that this is not a 'YA Review Round Up' because it is not exclusively YA (trying to broaden my reading a bit here). But it's still mostly YA. There's no way I'm cutting down the YA intake.


If you remember my review of Pantomime then you've got a great memory - well done. If not, the gist was that I loved it and it brought me out of a reading slump so top marks all around. So of course I read the sequel Shadowplay and loved that too - more Micah, more Drystan, more magical sexual tension than you could shake a stick at (not that I would shake a stick in the face of sexual tension - that would be very odd behaviour). As a result of my love for these, I was very sad to hear that the publisher of these fine books, Strange Chemistry, was folding. However, I also love a good silver lining and the author Laura Lam has already self-published a short story, The Snake Charm about Drystan before he met Micah, with more stories to follow and perhaps a third book in this series...


I'm not quite sure how I can sum up reading a Courtney Summers book. I finished Cracked Up to Be a while back and I barely said a word about it because I couldn't form a coherent sentence that summed up my feelings, apart from perhaps 'I would saw off my right arm to be able to write a book like this.' Jo buys the best presents and she didn't let me down at Christmas with a copy of This is Not a Test. Just read it. Please. You'll know what I'm on about then. Oh, and there's going to be a sequel.

THERE'S GOING TO BE A SEQUEL



I've been increasingly drawn to middle grade books (do we call them middle grade in the UK? Apologies if we don't) and they've been another thing that has rescued me from many a reading slump recently. My eldest daughter is just getting to an age where she's starting to enjoy chapter books and I'm getting great satisfaction out of stockpiling titles that I'll probably foist upon her at some point in the future. First one? Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St. John. Think Enid Blyton but as contemporary as they come. I would have adored this when I was nine or ten because I adored it when I read it a couple of weeks ago. Proper good mystery, topical, beautifully written, just ace.



I'd been meaning to start a book by CJ Skuse for ages because she is one of the funniest people on Twitter and now I feel stupid for leaving it so long - Dead Romantic is very amusing, very British, very icky and very very very very very good. A YA contemp with an undercurrent of The League of Gentleman, if you can imagine such a thing. Go read now please.







Talking of YA contemp, if you haven't read Trouble by Non Pratt yet, I think you need to have a good long think about your life choices. Please do not think this is an 'issue' book and you must therefore avoid. Because as we all know, when books that are written about the big stuff (teenage pregnancy in this case) are well written (as in this case), then that's a good as books get (as in this case).






Do you remember where you were when you found out that Robert Galbraith was none other than JK Rowling? Ok, so we didn't have a clue who Robert Galbraith was but still, the news that she had written a crime novel was a welcome one. It took me a criminally long time to get around to reading The Cuckoo's Calling but as I suspected, she does this sort of thing very well indeed. And the fact that a novel written by JK Rowling contains the word 'pubehead' pleases me greatly.





Beautiful Ruins was the first bit of literary fiction I'd read in quite a while and it was my 'dipping into when on the bus or tube' book. It wasn't until about a third of the way through that I really started to get lost in it and this is why I don't read literary fiction that much anymore - I have the attention span of a gnat these days - but then again, it makes it all the more satisfactory when a title holds me within it's grip like this one did. And it made me cry on the bus. 'Nuff said.






Better finish here because this post is getting far too long but I promise I'm going to start writing proper reviews again soon...

It's been a while...

It really has.

I've been wanting to get back to blogging again for ages, but there's always been a combination of things stopping me, the main one being my own ability to procrastinate at all costs.

And then there's the added pressure that comes with choosing to review books on a regular basis, that underlying guilt when you finish one, leave it a while and say 'oh, I'll probably write a review next week', but then you start another book and another and before you realise it, several months have gone passed and you've all but given up on the reviews, because, really, what's the point?

And then you start to miss it, writing and discussing books, writing for the love of it, writing because you can and not because you have to.

And then there's the more practical reasons associated with non-blogging - life stuff, moving house, family, work, not being able to bear to look at the screen of my laptop in the evenings without my eyes glazing over. The usual.

Things I found whilst packing, some more respectable than others.

Which all brings me back to right now. This blog has alwasy had a reading and writing theme and this has mostly been to do with YA because that's what I like to read and write about. This probably isn't going to change in the future but I think I'm going to enjoy the fact that my blog doesn't really have any particular theme or remit and write about other stuff too. Life stuff, books other than YA (which I have been reading a bit of recently) and maybe even bits of my own writing. Who knows.

Anyway, in short, I'm back for a bit. Not going to make any promises, but here are a few things you can expect in the coming weeks, months etc...

I recently attended the Judy Blume talk in London and I still can't get over the fact that I sat a few feet away from Judy Blume. JUDY FRICKIN' BLUME. When I think about my favourite books as a kid and a teenager, I think about Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Deenie, Are you There God? It's Me Margaret and Tiger Eyes, so not only did this talk bring a huge grin to my chops, but it's also inspired me to read the Judy Blume back catalogue, to revisit those old favourites and discover the ones that weren't stocked by my local library the first time round.

(By the way, this will be a lot of different blog posts over a long period of time, not one MAMMOTH  JUDY BLUME POST, as amazing as that would be).

Before that though, I'm going to write a bit about all the books I've enjoyed and haven't reviewed in the last six months or so, because they deserve a little bit of love for being so fantastic.

But that's for next week. This week is about me saying hello again and this photo....

Guest Post: Jeff Norton, Author of the MetaWars Series

A little while ago, I reviewed the first book in the MetaWars series, a interesting and fast-moving take on the dystopian genre. Well, now that series is coming to an end with the release of the fourth and last book, so today, I welcome the author Jeff Norton, to talk about the mixed feelings that come with saying goodbye to characters after a long journey together...

I’ve spent the past four years with my characters.  And now it’s time to say goodbye.

Characters occupy a strange part of a writer’s brain, an uncharted netherworld somewhere between dream and reality.  To me, these people are real. I see them. I hear them. But to everyone else, they are fictional constructs that exist only on the page.

My greatest hope is that Jonah and Sam become as real to the reader as they are to me. They’ve already made the great leap from my brain to the page.  And now they exist on their own, for readers to meet and inspect and analyze.  I’ve done what I can. It’s up to them to make the final jump from page to heart, to take up residence in some small corner of the reader’s life. 

If you’ve read the MetaWars novels, you’ll know that immortality is a central theme of the books.  In the world I’ve created, people yearn to live forever in a digital way – “Uploading” their consciousness to the internet in order to outlive their mortal bodies – digital immortality.  And I suppose that’s what I hope to achieve for my characters. 

Long after I’m gone, like authors of long gone generations, I hope that future readers will discover Jonah’s quest, his troublesome coming of age in a confusing world, and his friendship with Sam, and the two main characters will live anew in the mind of those unknowable, future readers.  Likely, they’ll read the books in some digital form that we haven’t yet dreamed up, and not on paper, and in that way, reality will mirror fiction: Jonah and Sam will achieve their digital immortality.  They will outlive me, outlive their current physical (paperback) form, and jump from generation to generation along a digital spectrum.  And if they do that, they can truly live forever and my “goodbye” will not final.

Thank you so much Jeff for sharing this rather moving take on well-loved characters. And I'll be reviewing some more of the MetaWars book in the very near future...

Jeff Norton is the author of the MetaWars saga from Orchard Books.  The final installment, MetaWars 4.0: The Freedom Frontier publishes 2^nd January, 2014.  Find Jeff on the web at www.jeffnorton.com, twitter at www.twitter.com/thejeffnorton and facebook at www.facebook.com/thejeffnorton.

Past on Paper - 1940s Review - 'That Burning Summer', Lydia Syson (Hot Key Books, 2013)

Romney Marsh, July 1940. When invasion threatens, you have to grow up quickly. Sixteen-year-old Peggy has been putting on a brave face since the fall of France, but now the enemy is overhead, and the rules are changing all the time. Staying on the right side of the law proves harder than she expects when a plane crash-lands in the Marsh: it's Peggy who finds its pathetic, broken pilot; a young Polish man, Henryk, who stays hidden in a remote church, secretly cared for by Peggy. As something more blossoms between the two, Peggy's brother Ernest's curiosity peaks and other secrets come to light, forcing Peggy and Henryk to question all the loyalties and beliefs they thought they held dear. (Synopsis from Goodreads)


Quick warning: the odd spoiler on the horizon folks...

With that amazing title and a synopsis that strongly hints of a secret wartime love affair, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this book is an out-and-out romance. Ok, it is a bit of an out-and-out romance, but as much as I adored this particular relationship and the mammoth objects put in its path, the thing I took away was a different sort of fire - having the strength to cope with the day-to-day realities during some of the most difficult and tense events in history.

As with her previous book, Syson's writing takes a particular point and place in the past and opens it up in a way I don't think I've come across in YA before. All the research and attention to detail is evident, yet it never feels like you're sitting through a history lesson. Or maybe just like you're experiencing the best history lesson ever. This book not only sheds light on the contribution of Polish pilots to the war effort, but also the story of those who chose to stand by their pacifist principles in the face of overwhelming pressure and the ripple effects this had on their families. I was initially a bit apprehensive about the large part Peggy's younger brother Ernest appeared to be playing in the story ( just wanted to get to the kissing bits to be honest), but his journey and how this tallied with Henryk's experiences, ended up being my favourite part of the book. This is a tale about a different sort of war time bravery - of coping with overwhelming mental as well as physical hurdles as well as standing up for beliefs in the face of public opinion and convention. But with all the complex issues floating about, there is still a strong and powerful chemistry between Peggy and Henryk that was a  joy to read. Some of the scenes actually made my page CRACKLE, I swear. 

As with all the best historical fiction, this provides a new perspective on a period that has been depicted on paper many, many times before. It's a very welcome addition to the growing number of YA books set during this period that I've had the pleasure to read in the last couple of years. Not only does it make you think AND swoon, but there's also does a rather good sideline in suspense too. Oh, and the cover's ace as well. Seriously, what more could you want? 

If it turns out you DO want more, then have a read of my interview with Lydia Syson in which she discusses writing historical young adult fiction and the presence of politics in YA. You're welcome.

Interview: Bridget Tyler, Author of 'Drummer Girl'

You may remember my review of Drummer Girl from a weeks back - this addictive tale of a group of London school girls winging their way to LA to take part in a reality show is a great page turner with the snappiest of snappy dialogue. Today I welcome author and screenwriter Bridget Tyler to my blog to chat about pop culture, friendship and happy endings in YA...


What first drew you to writing for young adults and what were your favourite reads at this age? 

-         I love writing for Young Adults because I think great stories about growing up have more impact on us over the course of our lives as readers than any other kind of book. I still remember the books I loved when I was a teenager vividly – The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, the Nancy Drew series, The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, anything by Anne McCaffrey, Harry Potter… the list goes on. Those characters, and their journeys, helped me understand and survive my teenage years and I will never forget them. If I can tell just one story that makes someone else feel that way, then I will consider myself a success.

        Pop culture and current trends are a major part of Drummer Girl – what do you think are the pros and cons of writing about music in YA? 

-         Obviously, anything related to pop culture is dangerous in a book because it is bound to be out of date in a heartbeat. That’s why, as much as Drummer Girl takes place during a reality competition, I worked hard to avoid too many references to contemporary pop culture. You’ll notice as you read that most of the specific references made to bands are either to icons like Madonna and the Beatles, or to fake bands that only exist in the world of Drummer Girl. I even tried to stick to fairly classic styles when mentioning clothes, hair and make up while still being on trend. I used the framework of reality television and the music business, but I really wanted to be sure Drummer Girl was also about these five girls and their friendship not about the world they find themselves in.

        You’ve clearly got a knack for both authentic US and UK dialogue – how does writing dialogue for novels differ from screenwriting?

 -       Not much, actually. Whether I’m writing a book or a screenplay, I read the piece out loud to myself many, many times before it’s finished. It’s really the only way to tell if dialogue is going to ring true or not, at least for me. The biggest difference with the dialogue in a novel is that you don’t have to make the characters say as many things out loud. In a script, I might need a character to say, “Wait. Mum can’t possibly know we cut school last week. She spoke to Mrs. James this morning and neither of us is grounded. What are you up to?” because otherwise the audience has no way of knowing what’s happening in the character’s head.  In a novel, I might do this instead:

Molly stopped short, starring at her sister as she dug through her dresser drawers. No matter what Jane said, Mum couldn’t possibly know that they’d cut school. She’d spoken to Mrs. James this morning and everything. They’d be beyond grounded if either had a clue. So what was Jane up to?

See the difference? Finding organic and natural ways for characters to say what they’re thinking out loud is actually one of the most challenging aspects of screenwriting.

Friendship is a strong theme in Drummer Girl – do you think this is something we should be seeing more of in YA and what other themes do you think deserve more attention? 

-         Yes, I think friendship, particularly female friendship, is highly under utilized in YA and in storytelling in general. Friends are such an important part of the growing up experience – good friends make everything so much better and bad ones can be downright dangerous, in the wrong situation. Romance is fun, and there’s a lot of that in Drummer Girl too, but it isn’t the only kind of relationship out there to explore. As for other topics that could use more attention, this isn’t exactly a theme but I have to say I think it’s important for YA writers to create more characters who are into science, female characters in particular. Too often math and science gets ignored, or even vilified, in teen literature. Those fields are both truly fascinating and very important for the future – we should be telling stories that encourage people to be interested in them.

        Drummer Girl has an incredibly fast-paced plot – how do you ensure that this is balanced out with strong characters? 

-         Well this is another trick that comes from screenwriting – plotting that doesn’t develop the characters is going to end up being boring and character development that doesn’t advance the plot has a good chance of ending up on the cutting room floor. The goal is to make every new twist and turn of the plot service the characters so that you don’t need to slow down and take a detour in order to develop them. 

      And finally, how important do you think ‘happy endings’ are in YA?

-        I think every story deserves the ending that best fits it. Some stories end well, some don’t. There are happy endings in Drummer Girl and very, very sad ones. And a few that are in between. That’s the way life is. The one thing I do think all stories should have is hope. I think there is a place in the world for bleak stories that lack hope for the future, but they aren’t the kind of stories I chose to tell, nor are they the kind of stories I like to read. 

 

I'd like to thank Bridget for taking the time out to answer my questions and in particular, those very handing tips on writing dialogue. So thank you Bridget - I'm certainly looking forward to your future YA titles! And it's always nice to find a fellow Nancy Drew fan...

I Need to Get Out More #5 - Wood Green Literary Festival

I don't normally manage to get out to literary or author events too often, so I was especially pleased to make it to a couple of events taking place as part of the Wood Green Literary Festival a few weeks back. I'm usually pretty clueless when it comes to doing write-ups (I suppose it's a good thing that I don't get the chance to do too many then), so I thought I'd take a different approach with this one as look at a few of the points raised and see how I can relate them to my own writing...


The first talk was about Uncovering Ancient London and featured Lydia Syson and Catherine Johnson. Now, if you follow my blog, you'll know that I'm a big fan of Lydia's writing and you can find out her thoughts on political YA in this interview from a little while back. As you can imagine, it was very interesting to get a writer's perspective on how London history has made them tick. Catherine Johnson talked animatedly about how a trip to the Huntarian Museum inspired her to write Sawbones, a book that sounds delightfully gruesome and rich in the historical detail of the backstreets of this city. Lydia Syson talked about how she is a fifth generation Londoner, something that is quite rare this days, and how she has grown up to appreciate the rich history London has to offer, in particular, surprising facts about her family history.


This got me thinking about stories that my own family have told me. I've lived in west London on and off for the last ten years, but I was brought up in a commuter town after my parents moved away from their original west London haunt. My dad used to tell me stories about when he used to place Underground Hide and Seek on the tube with his friends as a teenager. You might be able to guess what it involved...basically, jump on a train, jump off at different stations and try to remain illusive to the person tasked to find you. I had completely forgotten about this story up until that moment, and now it's taking pride of place in my notes for something I'm planning about London set in the 1960s. It's nice to be reminded that I couldn't live anywhere better in the world when it comes to writing about the past, so thank you lovely authors!


The second talk I attended featured Keren David and Hilary Freeman discussing Edgy YA Fiction. This is of particular interest to me right as I'm currently working on a contemporary YA, although I don't know if I'd describe it as particularly 'edgy', but I suppose that was the whole point of the discussion - what does constitute edgy YA and how do you get the balance right? One of the issues that has been at the forefront of my mind recently (especially now I am at the editing stage) is swearing in YA. A while back, I read this interesting article by James Dawson which got me thinking about whether established authors are in a better position to have swearing feature in their books rather than debut novelists. However, both authors didn't think this was really the case and that all authors need to compromise to a certain extent on this depending on the market.


When I first started working my MS, I was given some advice that I've always found useful - when it comes to swearing, don't censor yourself in the early stages - it's more important to get the first draft done and you can always compromise on this at the editing stage. Needless to say, my first draft was as potty-mouthed as it gets and I remember reading it back and blushing. As I'm going through my chapters now, I can appreciate that a little goes a long way in this respect. I think it's important to get my dialogue as authentic as possible (and this includes using swear words), but perhaps using too many can have the same effect as using none - it might only succeed in distracting from the story.



All in all, this was a great, informative afternoon, and I've very much looking to venturing north again next year. My only criticism would be that the talks were too short! I could have listened to them all for hours...