Christa Talks To The Teen--The July Edition

You've all been waiting for it...the time for questions to my teen beta Aliya has finally come. But first, a little bit about Aliya. From her blog (A Story to Love), she is a 17 year-old book fanatic. She was homeschooled and couldn't read until she was 11. She's now taking college classes. Her blog includes fabulous book reviews and she loves to meet other fellow book lovers. 


As a beta, she is about the fastest teen reader I've ever met. She is also adorable, funny, and has lots of great suggestions and ideas. I hope to keep her as a teen beta reader forever (although I guess the "teen" part may go by the wayside fairly soon). 


So on with the questions...


From Christa: Do you or any of your teen friends own ereaders (Nook, Kobo, Kindle, iPad)? Do you get more books from the bookstore or the library? Where do you hear about most of your books?


Aliya: a) not one of my friends own an ereader, but my mom owns the Nook and I'm about to get an iPad specifically for reading ebooks. b) I get nearly all of my books from the bookstore now. I used to get a lot from the library, but I like rereading and pretty much buy them all now. Plus, I have a goal to own 800 books. c) Usually books that bloggers rave about, books by familiar authors (author websites), and my most used is Amazon.com. When I look at a book on Amazon I often check the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" and from the next book I click on I discover even more similar books I'll want. 


From Jen: What would make you want to put a book down, or rather, throw it against a wall?


Aliya:  Love this question. Sometimes I won’t be in the mood for that particular type of book, or I’ll find it boring and not want to finish it. Other times a book will be so aggravating/intense/unsatisfying/powerful that I feel I can’t finish it, and, sometimes, want to throw it in frustration. I know that those are the most powerful books. However, the most common is when I’m so excited for a book that every time I pick it up I have to put it back down.


From The East Coaster: Do you read authors blogs, or do you just hit up their websites and/or Twitter? My (dark and twisty) website isn't mentioned at all on my blog...just wanting to know if I should keep it that way.


Aliya: Usually author websites and Twitter, but I think that’s mostly because I don’t stumble upon the blogs very often. When I do find them I follow them.


From Stephsco: Do many of your friends read? Do your guy friends read or is mostly girls?


Aliya: My friends do read, but, honestly, most of them don’t read that often. The guys used to read as much as the girls, however, only a few of my guy friends still read.


From Bruce: Why do those boys walk right down the middle of my street instead of using the sidewalk?


Aliya: Since I’m a new driver that is one of my two biggest pet peeves! There is a perfectly decent sidewalk right next to the road for them to walk/run/bike ride on! Use it! They’re not cool like they think they are; they just make drivers nervous! If you ever find out the answer, please, tell me.


And finally from Christa again: How many f-words do you think I can get away with putting in MANHOLE?


Aliya:  Around 40 maybe. I get that teenagers swear a lot, but most of the time it isn't appealing to read it.


Aliya, thanks for joining us today. We look forward to seeing you here again next month. If any of you have questions for Aliya, throw them in the comments and we'll add them to next month's pile. 

The Rock That I Live Under

I have three small children so I don't watch the news. I have 17,865 manuscripts to read so I am not great with reading the paper (except for the articles about books that friends and family send to me as links from the NYT and the Guardian). I follow AP, NYT journalist Nicholas Kristof, and Roger Ebert on my Twitter feed. Because of the organization I work with, I know every action in the global community that impacts rape victims. It is a very crazy and distorted view of the world. It's a bit like hearing all the news about what's going on in Walnut Grove from Mrs. Olson in the General Store.

My most recent Google searches included: Who is Amy Winehouse? Who is Casey Anthony? Who is Donald Draper?

I live under a rock.

In other news...

I'm almost at 35,000 words on MANHOLE. I sent a note to my mentor mentioning my fear that in adding more words, I have lost the boy voice. She recommended I read this one.

Josh Mendel has a secret. Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is. Five years ago, Josh’s life changed. Drastically. And everyone in his school, his town—seems like the world—thinks they understand. But they don’t—they can’t. And now, about to graduate from high school, Josh is still trying to sort through the pieces. First there’s Rachel, the girl he thought he’d lost years ago. She’s back, and she’s determined to be part of his life, whether he wants her there or not.Then there are college decisions to make, and the toughest baseball game of his life coming up, and a coach who won’t stop pushing Josh all the way to the brink. And then there’s Eve. Her return brings with it all the memories of Josh’s past. It’s time for Josh to face the truth about what happened.If only he knew what the truth was . . .

Finally, to make all of you smile, I am including my favorite line from my editorial intern letter written over the weekend:

"If you are going to tie someone up, you better be all in."

What's on your bookshelf this week?

I Knew All Those Jobs Would Pan Out One Day...

So you may all not know, but I've had about 247 jobs in my life. This is because:

1. I started working when I was 12 (a friend and I were hired by a craft fair woman to tie tiny ribbons and hot glue them on to napkin rings---in retrospect, this is a little like the young Chinese girls in the silk factory, burns and all, but we'll pretend I wasn't paid pennies for each piece bc I didn't know any better).

2. I never fell in love with anything long enough to stick with it for long (which is why my life is so exciting right now bc I'm so in love with writing/editing/publicity).

3. I love working.

These jobs have included: kickboxing/aerobics instructor, Blockbuster employee, bookkeeper, dental front desk assistant, feminine hygiene product copywriter, secretary, Weight Watchers employee, forest preserve construction worker, barista, waitress, camp counselor, office manager, producer, talent negotiator, house painter, stage manager, box office manager...well, you get the idea.

Add to this my interest/volunteer/hobbies: Sunday school teacher, homeless shelter overnight volunteer, rape crisis counselor, gifted education supporter, knitter...blah, blah, blah.

The point of all of the above is not to show you how capricious I am (cough, cough) or how I am a Jane of All Trades, Mistress of none, but rather to let you know how critical researching your manuscript material is. Because I certainly can't be the only intern out there with information about the inner workings of myriad businesses. And yet this lack of research happens ALL THE TIME. I've read enough manuscripts to know when writers have no idea what they are talking about and have gotten information from sitcoms instead of real facts.

My best friend Rebecca is a pediatrician. She won't watch doctor shows unless they are completely unrealistic (i.e. Off The Map) because all the inaccuracies of "hospital" shows annoy her too much. I worked in advertising for almost ten years. The movie "What Women Want" bugged me to no end because first, no one has a chance to land the Nike account (ahem). Also, you don't come up with commercials that way. The whole process was absolutely wrong and I couldn't stand it. It is one thing for us to accept Bewitched as the model for how advertising works, but in an age of research and information access, I thought it was downright irresponsible for "What Women Want" to perpetuate a false model.

So too is the case with writing. If you are writing contemporary, make your stuff plausible. Make your problem be a real problem (not able to be solved if the MC just did one very obvious thing). Do your research. Because I guarantee, your readers will call you out on things. And you'd rather not be rejected for something easily solved by a trip to               .

How do you do your research???