What Message Are We Sending?

Angela's post last Wednesday inspired me. Made me think about the messages we send out to the world, particularly to young adults.

**Image borrowed from Deviantart**

I think about the messages I got growing up and how they shaped me.  As a girl, the primary one was this:

You're just as good as a boy and you can be anything you want to be.

Right on!  Well, almost.  We're so focused on what we want to be when we grow up, and the greatness we will attain.  We head off to college, earn our degrees, start careers that put us on the path to manager, partner, business owner. And then what?

We've proved we're just as good as the boys, but for many of us, there's a pesky thing called a biological clock. And being a stay at home mom now sort of feels like quitting.  The boys don't quit work just because they became dads.  But how do we balance being that mom who sends in homemade cupcakes and the executive who answers client e-mails at 10 pm?  How do we continue with our creative outlets so we don't lose our souls in the process of becoming just as great as our male co-workers?

I'm not sure there is a right answer. Everyone's paths will be different naturally.  But what I do know is that through time, subtle messages get pounded into our heads until we've set unattainable standards for ourselves.  Yes, girls, you CAN do or be anything. But you can't be it all at the same time.  That's the part of the message that gets left out.  You can make partner in your law firm, but that means you can't work part time and attend all your kid's school plays.  You can be an awesome writer/artist/musician in your spare time, but you won't be the world's best spouse if that's where you're channeling your passion.

As authors, we love writing these "kick butt" heroines who save the world and get the boy.  After all, it makes for a good and entertaining story.  But what happens to their school work while they're off battling demons?  What about their family relationships?  Are they simply not as important?  Not to our story lines perhaps, but I wonder if we aren't perpetuating the myth that our girls can be everything all at once when we downplay the crucial elements of our everyday lives.

Maybe not.  I'm no psychology major and I, as a writer, haven't ever given the subtle messages I'm sending that much thought.  But maybe I should. As a victim of society's subtle pressures myself, maybe I ought to be more cautious about what I put out into the world.  And just like everything else, find a balance between good story telling and good living.

What do you think??

The Art of Novel Ninjutsu

It's true. I'm a little ninja-obsessed. But not because I think killing people in their sleep is awesome. Or that I'd look good in black pajamas and toe-socks. It's writing ninjas that I think are cool.

See, writing ninjas train until our writing muscles are wearing and we just can't take any more.

And then we train some more.

We kill our darlings. Slit the throat of our beautiful prose.

We slash pages and pages of worthless stuff.

 

A writing ninja knows the importance of focus, imagination and feeling. She regularly seeks the opportunity to meditate on her story. 

The writing ninja can write anytime, anywhere. He knows the best time to get the job done is right now.

A writing ninja expects to work. Expects to be awesome. She expects it--and so it is true.

A writing ninja is successful not only because she is fearless and fierce, but also because she doesn't do what's always been done.

A writing ninja shows respect for those who have come before him and he helps those who are following behind.

The writing ninja knows he can always improve; that there is no end to learning. 

Wait. Didn't say this was the art of NOVEL ninjutsu? Sure, I didn't tell you how to write a novel. But I promise you, if you practice the way of the writing ninja, you will write THE END on the most amazing novel you can write. 

Because that's what writing ninjas do--they write, and they conquer.

Ah, Young Love!

Whether it's the main story-line or just a sub-plot, romance is one of my favorite parts of any novel or movie. I love that moment where the heroine first sees the hero of the story. Sometimes she hates him. Other times, she looks into his piercing green eyes and feels that first spark of something special. Either way, it's an electric moment for me as a reader. Especially in teen novels.

But why? Why do I love reading about teen romance? I guess it's the same reason I love reading young adult fiction in general. It's all about firsts. We all remember that first time we really fell for a guy, don't we? The boy we grew up sitting next to in math class. The one who never noticed us. Or maybe it was the guy who caught up to us in the parking lot after school to ask us to the Prom. Those first moments where we thought our hearts would practically beat out of our chests. Our hands were clammy and our mouths went dry. Those were terrifying moments, but at the same time, they were exhilarating and fun and beautiful and life-changing.

Every time I read a new teen novel, I find myself looking for those romantic moments. I want to relive the heart-stopping beauty of it all. I want to experience the heroine's hope and uncertainty. I want to know her happiness when she finally does realize that the hero cares about her just as much as she cares about him.

The truth is, a novel doesn't even have to be all-romance all-the-time for me to feel this way. Just look at The Hunger Games. (*Somewhat Spoiler Alert if you haven't read the books) The initial story-line has more to do with how much Katniss loves her sister than any boy in the story. Still, from the moment we see her with Gale out in the woods, we wonder if he's the one. Will they fall in love and manage to stay together somehow? Or will her decision to volunteer for Prim change their fate? Then when Peeta confesses his crush on her during his interview at the Capital, we feel our hearts go out to him. Does he mean it? Is he really going to be forced into a competition to the death with the girl he's always had a thing for? Even though the romance isn't the main focus of the series, it's a huge part of what kept me turning pages.

It's the same with Harry Potter. At the beginning, it's all about friendship. These kids are too young to know love. But we watch them all grow up and we keep turning pages to see who will end up with who? Will Ron ever tell Hermione how he really feels? Will Harry live to find true love? These are questions that carry us forward even when they aren't the main story questions.

Then, of course, there's Twilight. Romance is the focus here. Love is the point of it, really. Love is

the reason we read it. (and maybe even re-read it) It's human nature to root for love. To long for it and to take great satisfaction in it. To even mourn it when it doesn't work out the way we'd hoped. We do it in our own lives, of course, but those are stories that take months - sometimes years - to figure out and to experience. With a novel, we can watch two people meet, fall in love, argue or face death and danger, and eventually come together in one successful and satisfying ending all in a matter of hours. There's something so rewarding about that, isn't there?

So tell me, do you love reading teen romance? What are some of your favorite romantic couples in YA fiction?

Should children's books be content rated?

"What content-rating would you give the Hunger Games book?" my friend asked me.

"Probably the same as the movie.  Thirteen and up, for most kids." I said.

"Why don't they put ratings on books anyway? They do on music, TV, video games, and movies but children's books are so inconsistent. I feel like I have to screen every book my eleven year old picks up."

I couldn't answer my friend except to say that children's books target a broad spectrum of ages, emotional maturities, and reading levels making any rating system difficult if not impossible to apply. Not to mention that everybody seems to have their own opinion of what is appropriate and inappropriate for children.

If I were to draw a spectrum of children's books it might look like this:

Depending on the bookseller, the ages might be different on each of these sections but not by much.

So, what determines where a book falls on the spectrum? It comes down to what ages the book is accessible too, i.e. most of that age group would understand the book and find it interesting. Usually the age of the main character is a good indicator because if the character is having realistic, age appropriate experiences, the book will naturally fall into place on the spectrum. Vocabulary also tends to increase as you move left as does the complexity of the plot and characters. Some people say that MG books have main characters that are more internally focused where YA characters are externally focused but it's not hard to come up with exceptions to that rule.

So why do I think it would be almost impossible to rate books like movies? Children develop at different rates and have difficulty with varying aspects of life. A twelve year old (sixth grader) might not be able to read Harry Potter before bed without having nightmares but could read Wintergirls and have a deep discussion on the real threat of anorexia. For other kids it would be the opposite. Some people are sensitive to any sexual content. (I believe this was why Scholastic dropped Breaking Dawn). Others don't like violence, drug use, or swearing. All of these become more prevalent as you move left on the spectrum but it really depends on the book. 

Also, I think there's a vast difference between what we read and what we see. When we read, our minds must produce the picture from the words and if you don't have the life experience to produce that picture accurately you won't "see" it. For example, a young person who reads Breaking Dawn might have a very different picture of what happens in the bedroom scene than an adult. That's very different from TV, video, or movies where the picture is painted for you.

What do you think?  Should children's books be content-rated like movies or TV shows? Do you think there are topics, words, or experiences that simply don't belong in any children's books?

Strung to Pieces

A hush fills the auditorium. The awestruck audience sit on the edge of their seats, focused on the graceful marionette dancing across the stage, his strings blending into the background as if the puppet were a real boy. When the curtain drops and the fans jump to their feet to applaud the performance, the puppeteer steps upon the stage to take her bow.

A flawless performance. Or so it seems.

What would have happened if that puppeteer had ten puppets to manipulate at once? Her focus spread across many instead of just one? That audience probably would have left within the first five minutes. Nobody wants to watch a poor performance.

Say we do the opposite and have ten manipulators to one puppet--each in charge of a string. Suppose we replace them with all our goals and the marionette with time. What do you think will happen?

Many of us, whether a student or an author or a stay-at-home mom, believe we can do it all. I'm one of those peeps. But lately, the strings are being pulled in different directions. Soon, the marionette will be shattered into several pieces. What good would that do?

We need to take a different approach.

Yes, we can do it all, just not at the same time. We spread ourselves too thin, and can't perform our best in what we're trying to accomplish.

This may seem like a no-brainer to some, but I've recently come to this conclusion. Taking a step back to focus on the top few priorities in life, the most important things, will produce far more happiness and success than attempting to accomplish the vast list we create for ourselves. See, I think that's a key to enjoying the journey. To me, there is no point in reaching a goal if the results aren't standing ovation worthy and I didn't have a good time getting there.

We are given a certain amount of hours in each day. Some think it's not enough. Others believe it's just the right amount. Whatever the answer may be, make what you do with it a joyful ride.

Peace.

_____________________________

Angela Carlie writes fiction about young people. She's the author of the Lords of Shifters series, Dream Smashers, and Land of Corn Chips. She lives in the beautiful state of Washington with her husband and teenage son and crew of furry critters. Traveling, hiking, kayaking, reading, and writing are activities that rock her world. For more information, check out http://angelacarlie.blogspot.com or http://angelacarlie.com

Creating Your Own Cover

The first thing you need to decide when making your own book cover is the size. The average size for a digital novel is 6 x 9 (inches). The pixel count is 1800 x 2700 at 300dpi. Be sure you get the highest quality photos available. You'll want your cover to ROCK! It's the first thing potential readers will see and it could mean the difference between a sell, or them moving on to the millions of other e-books available to them.

I had an idea of what I wanted my cover to look like. That's good in some ways, bad in others. Because I had the picture in my head, it made it very difficult to find the right photo. I scanned hundreds of stock photos on three different sites before finding it. And it's PERFECT.

This is Kira, the main character in my YA Paranormal Romance, BOUND. Don't you just love her eyes?  Okay, so I love the photo, but right away I see problems. For one, it has an ugly blue background and it's taken in landscape, not portrait, which will limit how much of the photo I can actually use. But I still love it, so I played with the "watermarked" version until I knew it would work, then ordered the high quality version from DREAMSTIME. Here it is:

As you can see, I flipped it horizontally. I didn't want her nose on the spine of the book. Something you need to consider when making your own. Think of the placement. Now I needed to crop it and get rid of that background. I use Photoshop CS3 to edit photos, but there are a ton of free programs out there.

This was the most time consuming and tedious step. I didn't want to lose the integrity of the photo or all her whispy hairs, so I blew it up and literally erased one pixel at a time along her hair line.

Now for the back ground. I spent several more hours (yes hours) searching for the right background, but didn't find it. Then I remembered a few photos I took when camping a few years ago. Here's the one I used.

I cropped the section I wanted and placed it behind the portrait of Kira. When I was finished, I realized I had yet another problem. UGH! The portrait didn't fill the 6 x 9 inch cover, at least not at the size I wanted. You can't see it very well above, but there is blank space at the top and bottom. I didn't want her face any larger and I didn't want to distort it by stretching it.  What I decided to do was fill the space with black and then texture it a little.

Here it is!

MY AWESOME COVER!

Here are some tips to keep in mind while in the creating process:

1) THINK AHEAD!  Thank goodness for my friend Ali Cross who asked a very important question. What about the other covers? Will you use the same model?  *panic* I hadn't thought of that. Frantic, I searched the stock photos and luckily found a whole slew of pictures taken of this same model. Whew!  I've since purchased two for the same price as this one. Now I'm set for the entire series. I've also saved all three photos in several different places in case my computer crashes.

If your book is the first in a series, make sure you like the style of the first cover because the rest of the books in the series should match. I'll use the same font and place the title and my name in the same positions. The only real difference will be the photo used, and even that will be similar. The photos I purchased for the other covers are all head shots of this same model. Uniformity is key here. You want your "fans" to recognize your work. (Yes, you're going to have fans.) SQUEEEEE!

2) THINK SMALL!  Remember that this cover will be a little tiny thumbnail on Amazon.com or wherever you choose to sell your book online. Make sure it rocks TEENY. Is the title visible? How about the author's name?


3) THINK POD!  Are you doing a printed version (print on demand)? If so, you'll have to create a back cover as well. For mine I used the same background photo of the forest. I darkened it a little so my cover copy would show up and then added a fun element. The story has a white tiger in it, so I cropped one from a free stock site and placed it in the forest. I still might darken it a little more, but you can at least get the idea here. What do you think?

You'll also need to create the book spine detail, but that should be easy enough. Be sure to leave room at the bottom right for your BAR CODE and ISBN number. And you'll want to leave plenty of room for those endorsement quotes from Stephanie Meyer and J.K. Rowling, right?  RIGHT?

If you'd like to know more about creating book covers, join the INDELIBLES on Tuesday, March 27 on Twitter for #IndieChat. Heather McCorkle will join me and a few of the other Indelible authors to answer any questions you may have about covers. It starts at 9:00pm EST.  


SEE YOU THERE!!



The cover for Christine's second novel, BROKEN, will be revealed on April 1st, 2012. Watch for it!!