THE SUMMER AFTER YOU & ME Cover Reveal!!

So thrilled to help my friend, awesome author, and fellow blogger at YA OUTSIDE THE LINES, Jennifer Doktorski, reveal the cover of THE SUMMER AFTER YOU & ME, which releases in Spring 2015, from the lovely folks at Sourcebooks Fire !

On the day before Superstorm Sandy crashes into the New Jersey shore, local girl Lucy Giordano spends an intense morning with the summer boy next door, Connor Malloy. Lucy believes it’s the start of something special between her and the boy she’s been watching for years from behind sunglasses. But when Connor returns home and doesn’t call like he promised, Lucy realizes she made a big mistake—one she vows to keep a big secret. A smart girl like Lucy knew better than to cross a line that big with a player like that. She accepts that her love life is just one more thing that took a big hit from the devastating hurricane and moves on.

Now it’s the first summer after the storm, and the boy Lucy spent all winter trying to forget returns to Seaside Park with a new girlfriend, Bryn. Lucy tells herself it doesn’t matter, she’s with Andrew Clark now, her best friend who recently became more. Forget love and destiny, Lucy is more determined than ever to think with her mind, not her heart, and spend the summer hanging with her Seaside friends, working at Breakwater Burrito, and focusing on her goal of becoming a marine zoologist. But Lucy’s grand plans unravel before the first tan lines appear. When Lucy discovers her twin brother, Liam, and their parents have secrets of their own, and her rock-solid boyfriend is not-so-solid after all, she struggles to rebuild a life with the people she cares the most about in the place she loves.  

THE SUMMER AFTER YOU AND ME on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23299562-the-summer-after-you-and-me

Where to find Jen Doktorski:

www.jendoktorski.com

Twitter: @jdoktorski

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jendoktorski

Mulling over the Point of View

Among other things this month, I've been getting ready to teach a workshop on point of view for the brand new WritespaceHouston.  So I've been pondering and reading craft books like Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, which I highly recommend. And I've been writing, too, for a variety of deadlines and it's been quite a lesson shifting from the final copy edits of FINDING PARIS, (April 21, 2015, Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins) which is written in 1st person, present tense and my first, still rather exploratory draft of IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS (Spring 2016, Soho Press), which is (at least at present) written in close 3rd person past tense.

What I always like to remind my writing students is that we have a huge amount of choices when we craft a story.  And each choice we make will shape the story in different ways, both obvious and subtle. Working in third person past tense for IWALT is a brand new challenge for me, but my gut said that the main character's voice and the overall fairy tale-like tone of the story couldn't be achieved without it.  Interestingly, when we'd first chatted about the story when he acquired it, my editor said that he saw it as a first person story. It wasn't a mandate, but just his vision, and to an extent probably in keeping with what I've previously written, which has been all in present tense. The DREAMING ANASTASIA series, (Sourcebooks) even with its multiple narrators, is all in first person present tense -- a choice that I stand by, but occasionally produced some rather thorny voice dilemmas because if you're not careful, 1st person present tense, while the most immediate and intimate of POVs, can also produce narration that sounds stilted or self-absorbed. Sometimes it feels tiring to be so constantly in the moment with your narrator. The exception to this was always the witch, Baba Yaga. Because she is such a cryptic character, even in the original Russian fairytales that help form the framework for the series, writing her voice in 1st person always seemed to flow easily-- I think because I found it fascinating to know exactly what she was feeling and thinking in any particular moment, even as other characters in a scene were terrified or mystified by her. So 1st person present tense worked well to establish the juxtaposition between those two things.

When I wrote the SWEET DEAD LIFE and its sequel, THE A-WORD (Soho Press), we decided that the book would be narrated through the journal entries of stoner-turned-teen angel's younger sister, Jenna. So it was first person again, but past tense this time, since ostensibly the events had all occurred by the time she was talking about them. For Jenna, fourteen going on fifteen by the time we get to book two, this was the perfect way to free her sassy, wise but still young voice. The novels are very much Jenna's journey, even though it's Casey who's died and come back as rather dysfunctional heavenly being. So 1st person, past tense allows us the best access to Jenna's experiences as she tells us 'this is what happened to me.'

And FINDING PARIS, (the arcs are almost printed!) with its twists and turns (all I will say for now!) needed to be in first person present tense both to place the reader very intimately inside Leo's head but also so that the reader can be surprised at many things along with Leo, feel what she feels and how she feels exactly in the moment. Distance of any sort would dilute this, I think.

My brilliant friend Jen Mathieu's equally brilliant debut novel THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE (Roaring Brook) does wonderful things with multiple narrators written in 1st person past tense. Again, there is a 'reportage' feel to each character's telling of their version of the truth about Alice, who doesn't actually speak her piece  until the very end of the novel. Its a clever conceit because it's a story about rumors and gossip and slut shaming and about how quickly lies become truth. Fascinatingly, Mathieu points out in a recent interview that much of the most hurtful lies don't come in the form of texts or other social media but simply in sharpie on a bathroom stall, a tried but true method that's been around since, well, there have been writing implements and bathroom stalls.

But back to IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS. So there was my editor, thinking the book would be first person. But there I was, thinking, no. This book is going to have to be very different. It stretches over a long period of time-- 1913 to present-- and the story weaves back and forth over that continuum, but always with the same narrator. (This is not giving away anything; the deal announcement states that this is a story of 'a girl, a boy, a fountain of youth, and what happens when you're stuck at 17.' Of course the story is much larger than that, but that's the basic premise.) Which means my narrator while technically seventeen, evolves and changes emotionally and in terms of what she knows and understands, over that large period of time. So while she is always Emma, she is not exactly the same Emma in the various past scenes as she is in the present. And third person seemed the best way to bring that forth. Because I put your in her head, but I do so from a slight distance that allows you to assess her experiences and subtle changes without being so tightly in her head that you lose that extra frisson of perspective.

That's all I'll say for now except that I am in love with this book and I'm sorry you'll have to wait until 2016 to read it! (In publishing, you never know, though. Anything could happen. So I'll keep you posted.)

Anyway, I've taught newbie writers who refuse to write anything but first person. And those who slip automatically into third person. And readers who express a preference for one or the other. But really, it's about choice. It's about the best way to tell a story, about not only who is telling the story, but how you're having them tell it.

Anyone else have thoughts about point of view? About books you've read that do a particularly good job using their chosen POV?

CAGED GRAVES, DIANNE SALERNI, AND OTHER AWESOME STUFF

Today I am welcoming the delightful and brilliant Dianne Salerni, whose new historical and spooky YA CAGED GRAVES came out on May 14^th, the same day as THE SWEET DEAD LIFE! 

As you will see in our interview, Dianne and I have known each other since we were both debut authors in the inaugural Sourcebooks Fire YA imprint. We met at the Sourcebooks Fire launch party at Books of Wonder in NYC, where we were treated to the musical renderings of Tiger Beat, the only all YA author band, with our then editor Daniel Ehrenhaft on guitar and Libba Bray singing vocals. I know, right?!

Here’s the summary of CAGED GRAVES:

The year is 1867, and seventeen-year-old Verity Boone is excited to return from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, the hometown she left when she was just a baby. Now she will finally meet the fiancé she knows only through letters! Soon, however, she discovers two strangely caged graves . . . and learns that one of them is her own mother’s. Verity swears she’ll get to the bottom of why her mother was buried in “unhallowed ground” in this suspenseful teen mystery that swirls with rumors of witchcraft, buried gold from the days of the War of Independence, and even more shocking family secrets.

You had me at Verity’s name and at ‘rumors of witchcraft,’ Dianne!!

Dianne at Sarah Ann's caged grave

And here’s Dianne’s bio:

Dianne K. Salerni is an elementary school teacher living in Chester County, Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. Dianne's first novel, We Hear the Dead (Sourcebooks 2010), recounts the true story of Maggie Fox, a teenaged girl credited with the invention of the "séance" in 1848 and the founding of spiritualism as a nineteenth century phenomenon. A short film based on We Hear the Dead and titled The Spirit Game premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Her second novel, The Caged Graves, out now with Clarion Books, is inspired by a real historical mystery in the mountains of Pennsylvania. She is currently working on a middle grade fantasy series for Harper Collins, with the first book, The Eighth Day, due to be released in the Summer of 2014.

And now for a little conversation with Dianne. Read to the end (of course you will!) because Dianne is also doing a giveaway for a CAGED GRAVES t-shirt. Pretty awesome!

Dianne and me at Books of Wonder

Joy: You and I met when we were both part of the inaugural list of Sourcebooks Fire—me with DREAMING ANASTASIA and you with WE HEAR THE DEAD. Tell us what’s been going on since 2010!

Dianne: I spent a big chunk of 2010 writing THE CAGED GRAVES, revising another historical/paranormal novel, and looking for an agent. I signed WE HEAR THE DEAD in 2009 un-agented, but I realized I had no negotiation skills and really needed professional advice. It took several months and many revisions of my new manuscript, but I was lucky to land with Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, Inc. Her first sale for me was actually the second book I sent her, THE CAGED GRAVES. Since then, I’ve written another historical and then ventured into a contemporary fantasy which Sara sold in a 3-book, pre-empt deal with HarperCollins, putting all my other projects on hold.

Joy: Both WE HEAR THE DEAD and THE CAGED GRAVES can be categorized as historical fiction. What draws you to this genre?

Dianne: I find history fascinating. There is so much (in our self-centered technological hubris) that we’ve forgotten about our past. For instance, did you know that the railway and public transport system in our country used to be far superior to what we have now? When my grandfather was 10 years old, he could travel by trolley from his rural town to a larger town fifteen miles away for mandolin lessons (yes, mandolin). Today, there is NO way to travel between those towns except by car.  A small boy could not do it alone, like my grandfather did in the 1920s. In some respects, we’ve gone backwards!

When you add a little bit of spooky alongside our forgotten past, you have an irresistible combination (for me).

Joy: I know there’s this great story behind the idea for THE CAGED GRAVES, and in fact you just wrote about it for Huffington Post.   Can you tell us the brief version of the real life graves that inspired your new novel?

Dianne: These two caged graves are located in an abandoned cemetery near Catawissa, Pennsylvania. They are maintained by the local historical society, which has been unable to uncover a satisfactory explanation for them. The graves belong to two women who were sisters-in-law. They died within a couple days of each other in 1852. Suggested explanations for the cages include protection from grave robbers or animals, pure decoration, and other, weirder, and more paranormal reasons. No one alive today knows the real answer.

Joy: How would you describe Verity Boone?

Dianne: Verity is an outspoken and strong-minded 17-year old girl (by 1867 standards) who returns to her hometown after being raised by distant relatives for 15 years. She is coming home to take part in an arranged marriage to a young man she knows only through letters. She expects that everything will go her way: Her homecoming will be joyous and romantic, her fiancé will be charming, her father will be welcoming, and she will impress the rural townspeople with her sophisticated city ways. Of course, nothing goes as planned, especially when she discovers her mother is the subject of malicious rumor and buried in a caged grave outside the cemetery grounds.

Joy: Give us the down and dirty elevator pitch for THE CAGED GRAVES. Why should we read it?

Dianne: THE CAGED GRAVES is a mystery and a romance in a historical setting. Verity’s arranged marriage is the 19^th century equivalent of meeting somebody online and then discovering they aren’t what you expected. And when Verity digs into her family’s history to vindicate her mother, she uncovers ugly secrets – jealousy, greed, and murder.

Joy: You and I chatted some about the balancing act of teaching, family, and writing. How do you do it?

Dianne: Sometimes, I do it badly. I get my teaching, grading, and planning done, and I get my writing done, and my family is very patient with me when they have to pick up the slack. I absolutely couldn’t do this without the full support of my husband – who cooks dinner and cleans and chauffeurs the children so I can write. And when my husband travels for work, my daughters pitch in. They are my pit crew and my biggest advocates.

Joy: Your previous novel WE HEAR THE DEAD has had some thrilling film developments. Can you talk about that? Can we all come to Cannes with you?  If we ask nicely?

Dianne: Ha! I wish I could have gone to Cannes myself! WE HEAR THE DEAD was adapted into a 10 minute short film called THE SPIRIT GAME. It premiered at Cannes in May of this year, and the producers will be pitching the premise of the film as a potential television program about the three Fox sisters who ran a séance business in the 1850s. They are, supposedly, frauds, but one sister’s uncanny ability to envision the darkest secrets of their clients reveals a true supernatural power. The movie trailer is available HERE

Joy: What’s coming next for Dianne Salerni?

Dianne: Next up is a departure from ghosts, historicals, and teens. I am working on a Middle Grade contemporary fantasy series for HarperCollins.  The first book, THE EIGHTH DAY, is about a 13 year-old boy who discovers an extra 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday – and a mysterious girl hiding in the house next door who exists only on that secret day.

THE EIGHTH DAY is expected to release in the Summer of 2014. A synopsis can be found HERE – and I’d like to note that my husband whipped up a last minute trip to Mexico last summer, just so I could climb the Sun Pyramid of Teotihuacan as research for the conclusion of this book.

Lightning round:

• Twizzlers or M&Ms?     ~M&Ms without a doubt. I have no interest in Twizzlers.

• Ghosts or witches?    ~Ghosts every time.

• Favorite guilty pleasure TV?   ~SUPERNATURAL. I love to ogle, um, watch those Winchester boys.

*Joy’s note: Oh the Winchester brothers. Austin author Cynthia Leitich Smith has a similar opinion. Just ask her. It took me awhile to stop seeing the one as Dean from Gilmore Girls. But once I did…

• Perfect summer day?   ~Sitting by my goldfish pond, with the pool nearby in case it gets too hot, writing on my laptop

• Book(s) you’d take to the desert island?    ~Oh crap. Can I bring my Kindle? Please don’t make me choose!!!

• Wine or whiskey?  ~Whiskey for sure.

• Favorite ghost story/movie?     ~ This is going to seem weird, but I’ve got to pick THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, with Don Knotts (1966). It’s got a haunted mansion with a murder/suicide story, a painting of a beautiful woman pierced in the throat with gardening shears (the painting bleeds!), a secret passage behind the fireplace, a tower room, and an organ that plays by itself. What’s not to love?!

*OMG, Dianne—My brother and I loved that movie! Also Don Knotts in The Amazing Mr. Limpett, which is not a ghost story but is right up there with Finding Nemo in our book!  Also, let me add here that another movie, without Don Knotts, that I love is THE GHOST and MRS. MUIR, which as a kid I found to be deliciously romantic. (I didn’t use that phrase as a kid. But if I did, I might have said that.)

Want to know more about Dianne? Check out her website: http://www.highspiritsbook.com

Want to win a CAGED GRAVE t-shirt? Enter here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE ONE WITHOUT THE ANIMATED BAT: WHY YOU NEED TO READ THE DREAMING ANASTASIA SERIES

I like to think of my first book -- and eventually first series, DREAMING ANASTASIA (Sourcebooks)--as the 'little book that could.'

In many ways, back in September, 2009, it was ahead of the curve: Like so many series and books that came after it and very much like Marissa Meyer's CINDER and SCARLET and the rest of the forthcoming LUNAR CHRONICLE series, it reimagines a set of fairy tales, in this case the Russian stories of Baba Yaga the witch, Vasilisa the Brave, the doomed rusalka and the immortal guy of soul jar trope fame, Koschei the Deathless. It does so within the context of a modern day girl named Anne whose life and journey in many-- but not all-- ways parallels Anastasia Romanov's and the hapless hero Ethan who begins the series with a temporary case of immortality.

Or as recent reviewer Jason Gallaher, writing at YABooksCentral about the series, says: IT'S THE ONE WITHOUT THE ANIMATED BAT!

I'm good with that. It is the one without the bat. And it is -- like CINDER, which I recently read and adored,  in case you're wondering what's sparking this discussion--an ambitious and often complex series in its attempts to meld three different sets of fairy tales characters that were previously unconnected, with a historical family that met great tragedy. There is the central mystery of Anastasia, but there are also interconnected mysteries of Anne's family and the rusalka's family and Ethan's family and Viktor's family and the witch Baba Yaga's backstory and Anne's own hero's journey. Plus a romance with Ethan! Which is a lot. And (yup, like CINDER, where Cinder and Kai both narrate), there are alternating points of view, in this case in 1st person. So the stories unwind and twist and turn.

And oh yeah, did I ever mention that the whole series was largely influenced by my story telling hero, Joss Whedon? That Buffy and Angel and the reverse fairy tale concept -- because yeah, Anne is the strong one in this series and Ethan falls for the bad guy's tricks way too often even though he is a blue-eyed handsome hottie with bangs falling over his eyes-- all that was a HUGE influence on my first series. That Whedonesque mixture of humor and angst -- that's what I wanted to bring you. And it was a labor of love.

Lately my focus has been on THE SWEET DEAD LIFE, just out now on May 14th from Soho Press.

But your first book baby is always your first.

And while many, many thousands of readers have read DREAMING ANASTASIA (for which I humbly THANK YOU)m  I'd like to try an experiment, but I need you, gentle reader!

I would love to get a new group of readers to discover DREAMING ANASTASIA, HAUNTED, and ANASTASIA FOREVER (all from Sourcebooks)

I would love you to spread the word. How will I know? My Amazon numbers will tell me, among other clues.

And just to help you along, my other wonderful publisher SOURCEBOOKS and the lovely folks at Amazon are offering the e-book of DREAMING ANASTASIA as a Kid's Kindle Deal for only $1.99 from today 6/13 - 6/23! Plus, HAUNTED and ANASTASIA FOREVER kindle e-books are only $2.99. Yes, you can read the ENTIRE 3 book series for under ten bucks! Just CLICK HERE !

So spread the word. Try something new. If the Amazon numbers roll enough that I know you're buying-- and hopefully reading-- I will do a series of AMAZING GIVEAWAYS!! You really want this to happen. Trust me!

Russian Fairy Tales. The Romanov Tragedy. A love story. A kick-ass girl hero and a hapless boy hero who's been around long enough to know better, but he never does. A bad guy with many secrets. The wholesale destruction of many iconic Chicago landmarks. Plus kissing! And Chicago style pizza. And even some ballet. And more kissing.

But NO ANIMATED BAT.

You gotta read the DREAMING ANASTASIA series. Seriously.
JUST CLICK HERE

Under 10 bucks for the WHOLE THING.

Go back up there to the link. JUST DO IT.
HERE

ANASTASIA FOREVER TEXAS TOUR

So yeah -- I'm pretty darn excited that there is going to be an ANASTASIA FOREVER TEXAS TOUR starting on 10/16! Sourcebooks, my publisher for the DREAMING ANASTASIA series, has planned an entire week of Texas stops, starting in Dallas and ending in San Antonio -- schools and store events and basically hitting the road throughout the Lone Star state where I live.

So I am going to pull on my boots and hop in my truck-- because what else would you drive to tour Texas but your trusty pick up truck?-- and head out to meet readers and fans and talk books and writing at a variety of schools both public and private.

Plus giveaways and treats because that's what it's all about, you know? Some cool HAUNTED and ANASTASIA FOREVER t shirts and some arcs -- both of my books as well as other books by amazing authors! And treat, because WHO DOESN'T LOVE MINI PACKS OF SWEDISH FISH?

Here's the schedule of stores events:

Tuesday, October 16th
Barnes and Noble
861 North E Mall Boulevard
Hurst, TX 76053
7 PM

Thursday, October 18th
Barnes and Noble
2701 Parker Road Bldg A Suite 700
Round Rock TX 78681
7 PM

Saturday, October 20th

Twig Bookshop (nearby at Farmer's Market)

200 E. Grayson Street #124

San Antonio, TX 78215

10 AM-12 PM

I WANT TO SEE YOU!! Come on by and get some candy. Win something! Get a postcard or bookmark. Ask me about Baba Yaga and the Romanovs and the Anne and Ethan romance!  Let me tell you about what's coming next. And other good stuff like that. 

Then tell me about you. Because let's not forget -- this whole tour thing--- it's really about you, the readers. The ones who wanted to read more when there was only 1 book in the series. The ones who read and tell your friends. Or maybe you're new and you don't know me from Stephenie Meyer. (okay, you probably do know that, but you get the point) Maybe you're coming for the Swedish Fish. It happens. But you're going to read about Anne and Ethan and this series that's part paranormal romance, part historical fiction, part Russian folklore and all about power: those who have it; those who want it; those who lose it and what happens to an ordinary girl who becomes very, very powerful and finds out she has a destiny that maybe she doesn't want. Girl meets boy meets witch meets trapped, doomed princess. Stir. Simmer. Boil and burn. I think there's something for everybody in the DA series.

THANK YOU to Sourcebooks for believing in me these past few years. 

Rev the engines.

The TEXAS TOUR is coming.