Today, as part of the Landline blog tour, I’m going to be talking about s0me of the symptoms of being a Rainbow Rowell fanatic.
1. You regularly host Emergency Kanye Dance Parties.
There is nothing better than throwing one of these when you’re feeling a bit down, and they remind me of Cath and Levi.
2. You stare at your phone all day, waiting for a phone call from the past.
I’m not sure what I’d even say if somebody rang me from the past. I’d probably be extremely freaked out at first, maybe even the whole time. If I could speak to anyone, I’d speak to my Granddad just because I can’t think of anyone I’d want to talk to more.
3. You desperately want to read the Simon Snow books, and ship Simon and Baz.
I need more Simon Snow in my life. Gemma T. Leslie, why aren’t you real?! I want to go to Watford!
4. You plan on calling your kids either Cath, Levi, Lincoln, Beth, Jennifer, Georgie, Eleanor, Park or Neal.
I’m serious. It better happen. Populate the Earth with mini Rainbow Rowell characters please!
5. Park isn’t just a place you visit, Levi’s aren’t just jeans, Lincoln isn’t just a president, and Wren isn’t just a bird.
Too many bookish references in everyday life! TOO. MANY. TOO. FUNCTION. NORMALLY.
Are you a Rainbow Rowell fanatic? I know I am!
Landline is out now from Orion Books, and YOU NEED TO HAVE IT IN YOUR LIFE. I mean it! Go out and buy it right this minute (preferably in your local indie bookshop) and then enjoy every single word.
Revealing the book cover process between author and publisher
One thing that everyone seems to really love about Smart is its beautifully illustrated cover. It really stands out and serves as an excellent representation of the book’s content.
When I first got my book deal with Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB), my agent told me they were going to give the book an iconic cover. And boy, didn’t they just?
The amazing illustrator, Helen Crawford-White did a fabulous job as did the entire art department at MCB.
But the final version was the result of a rigorous and fairly lengthy process and began as a pooling of ideas between myself the author and my MCB Editor, Rachel Kellehar.
Publication date for the book is 5th June 2014 but the cover process began way back in June 2013, when Rachel emailed me with a Cover Dialogue. This was basically where we both discussed our ideas and impressions that could be moulded into the beginnings of a vision for the cover.
Today I’m very lucky to have Rachael Lucas, author of Sealed with a Kiss, on the blog. I loved Sealed with a Kiss and my review will be up later this week, but, in the meantime, here’s a bit about Sealed with a Kiss:
Kate is dumped on her best friend’s wedding day by the world’s most boring boyfriend, Ian. She’s mostly cross because he got in first – until she remembers she’s now homeless as well as jobless. Rather than move back home to her ultra-bossy mother, Kate takes a job on the remote Scottish island of Auchenmor as an all-round Girl Friday. Her first day is pretty much a disaster: she falls over, smack bang at the feet of her grouchy new boss, Roddy, Laird of the Island. Unimpressed with her townie ways, he makes it clear she’s got a lot to prove.
Island life has no room for secrets, but prickly Roddy’s keeping something to himself. When his demanding ex-girlfriend appears back on the island, Kate’s budding friendship with her new boss comes to an abrupt end. What is Fiona planning – and can she be stopped before it’s too late?
My Top Five Romantic Novels by Rachael Lucas
– and this is such a tricky one to do that I’ve actually sneaked in six, and one is actually a whole series, but shhh, don’t tell… Continue Reading
A Q&A in Which We (Other Authors) Ask Sarah a Bunch of Questions and She Answers Them (part one)
Q. From your first thoughts about writing Don’t Even Think About It to your last revision, what concept or character changed the most? —SUSANE COLASANTI (Susane is the author of seven teen novels. She is thinking that visits to the nurse’s office aren’t what they used to be.)
A. The most radical change in my book was the point of view. When I outlined the novel, it was all from Olivia’s perspective. But some early readers—hi, Jess Rothenberg!—suggested that the book might be better served by showing multiple points of view. So that’s what I did.
Q. Hi, Sarah! Speaking of point of view, I love how the narrator in Don’t Even Think About It isn’t just one person—it’s everyone! What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in writing from the perspectives of so many characters at once? —JESS ROTHENBERG (Jess is the author of The Catastrophic History of You and Me. She is thinking about how much more fun high school would have been if she could have read everybody’s mind.)
A. The biggest challenge I faced was deciding when and how to jump into various characters’ heads. I had to balance staying true to rules of first person plural with helping the reader care about the individual characters. I also had to choose whose thoughts I showed—and whose I left out.
Q. Should I write a book in first person plural? It seems hard. And I’m lazy. —ROBIN WASSERMAN (Robin is the author of The Waking Dark and The Book of Blood and Shadow. She is thinking about taking a nap.)
A. Since you’ve written over seventy books, I don’t think the word lazy can be applied to you. But yes, it was hard. And yes, you definitely should do it. A book in first person plural by you would be amazing. And likely scary. Oh! Oh! It should be from the perspective of a group of serial killers! Or murder victims! Or decades-old-secret- society members! C’mon, Robin. Everybody’s doing it.
Q. Sarah, there is a character in this book named Courtney. She is not very likable. But you find me likable, don’t you? —COURTNE Y SHEINMEL (Courtney is the author of several books, including Positively and the Stella Batts series for young readers. She is thinking about naming a character in her next book after Sarah.)
Daughters of Time is an anthology written by a group of the most talented UK historical YA writers and it’s a real treat to read.
One of the things I love most about anthologies, and Daughters of Time in particular, is that you can dip in and out of it whenever you so choose. For this review, I will be focusing on one of the stories, written about the Greenham Common Women.
At the end of each short story, the author talks about their inspiration behind writing it and Leslie Wilson talks about how she was involved with campaigning in the 1980’s. It was nice to hear how each person came to write about their event and characters.
It surprised me how easy it was to get to know a character within a limited amount of pages. In this story, we get to know the main character quickly and I loved how realistically she was portrayed – her emotions and feelings. It was one of the things I loved most about the story.
The stories included in the anthology are things I believe should be taught more often in schools and given a wider recognition. I’ll definitely be delving into Daughters of Time again because it’s filled with knowledge and facts. It’s perfect for those people who adore history, and even those who don’t because of the way it is taught.
You should definitely pick up Daughters of Time, whether you like reading about history or not. You’ll come out with a greater knowledge than when you went in, and you’ll enjoy it at the same time.
Hey everyone! I’m very lucky to have Helen Eve on the blog today, who is the author of Stella. She has written a great post about the books she has read recently, and I really hope you enjoy it.
GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn)
I was slow to discover this book, but I loved the exploration of unreliable dual narrators, a beautiful anti-heroine and the intricacies of media representation.
THE BONE DRAGON (Alexia Casale)
Narrator Evie both reveals and conceals harrowing details from her past in this haunting thriller which leads the reader, via magic realism, the beauty of nocturnal nature and the redemptive power of revenge, to a wonderfully unsettling conclusion.
DARE ME (Megan Abbott)
I loved the lyrical prose of The End of Everything, and the subject matter is equally dark in this high school-set crime thriller where a new cheerleading coach threatens the status of the current queen bee.
WHY WE BROKE UP (Daniel Handler)
A letter from Min to her erstwhile boyfriend Ed, this vivid colour-illustrated novel details the pain and angst of a teenage relationship gone irreversibly awry.
THE FIFTH WAVE (Rick Yancey)
A beautifully rendered father-daughter relationship was my favourite element of this dystopian novel detailing an alien attack that decimates most of the earth’s population.
THE TWISTED THREAD (Charlotte Bacon)
I found this boarding school-set mystery distinct in its primary focus on the reactions of adults following the murder of a popular student and the disappearance of her previously undiscovered baby.
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (Philippa Gregory)
I enjoyed the film but only recently read the book, and was pleased to discover that the sisterly dynamic between Anne and Mary as they vie for the King’s attentions in this historical interpretation was every bit as fascinating as I’d hoped.
RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA (Kimberley McCreight)
Social media is almost a character in this book, such is its part in Amelia’s downfall and her mother’s subsequent investigation of her apparent suicide as she uncovers the rituals of a venomous school clique.
…AND FIVE BOOKS I’M ABOUT TO READ
FOLLOW ME DOWN (Tanya Byrne), THE LIST (Siobhan Vivian), AMELIA ANNE IS DEAD AND GONE (Kat Rosenfeld), ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS (Sarah McCarry), BURN FOR BURN (Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian)
STELLA is out now from Macmillan Children’s Books.
Today I’m very lucky to have the lovely Lisa on the blog to talk about her novel, Freaks, which is out now! I’ve known Lisa for a while now and she’s one of the greatest people ever, so you should definitely check out Freaks! I hope you enjoy the post!
Can I just begin by saying a MASSIVE thank you to the very lovely Lucy for having me on her blog today. I’m a huge fan of Lucy’s blog so I feel very honoured to be here!
Lucy has been such a big supporter of mine and I have been in touch with her since the days when FREAKS was still very much a work in progress. So to see it here… a full book… on her blog…. Is VERY exciting!
I’m still at the ‘pinch me, is this real?’ stage when it comes to having a book that people can actually buy. ‘FREAKS’ has just existed in my head for so long that it feels strange but quite exhilarating to expose the characters and the locations to other people. Creating the characters was one of the two things about writing that I enjoyed the most. Finding a location was the other. It’s so much fun to create a character; what are you going to call them? What are they going to look like? Are they nice characters or evil, twisted souls? Are they going to feature heavily in the story or will they have a fleeting part? Each character is different and you get to make them do anything you want them to do. You are the puppet master.
Finding a location has a slightly different feel. It’s still very fun, but there are a few other pressures. Whereas with character creation you can do exactly as you please – you can’t always do this with a location. As a writer – you have a couple of options. You can either make up a location entirely, or research a pre-existing one.
If you choose to make up a location entirely then you have full and complete control over everywhere that your character steps. You can have them walking on clouds in the sky if you want them to… the world is your oyster. But can your imagination handle it? Can your imagination handle creating an entire world? It’s a lot of pressure to make a fake world seem believable.
Whereas if you choose a pre-existing location, you’re creativity can be stilted – but a lot of the hard work is done for you. Sometimes people get annoyed when you tamper too much with a pre-existing location. There is a certain expectation that you will stay completely true to the map – and often writers can get feedback saying things like ‘on chapter four you mention the post box on Richmond Street. Can I please advise you that there is not a post box on Richmond Street’. Sigh.
Despite this possibility, this was the option that I chose. My characters needed a place to congregate. A place to meet. A place where all of the action happened and I decided that I didn’t want this to be a place that I’d invented. I wanted it to be a real life place with a real life feeling to it. I set to work and, thanks to the wonders of google street view, I stumbled upon Lincoln, Alabama. It was (and is!) perfect for my story. I have loved wandering around the town and finding the perfect streets and houses to use. I’ve loved using their real estate websites and their local newspaper websites to get a feel for the town. Don’t get me wrong – I have tweaked things slightly. There may be shops in my story that don’t exist in real life, but I’m sure the residents won’t mind too much. Lincoln is still very much at the heart of the story, and I hope that they embrace it and enjoy reading about their town.
Now that FREAKS has been released – the people of Lincoln have been amazing. The school are planning a library display all about the book and I have sent a signed copy over to them. I get messages on twitter and facebook from the students asking about Freaks, which this is the kind of support that you can never get from creating a fictional town. A fictional town has fictional residents, whereas the residents of Lincoln, Alabama are very real (and very awesome!)
Once I had my characters and my location – I was set. And I have pretty much typed non-stop in order to get to where I am right now. I have a finished book! A finished book that people can actually buy! Eeek! It has been a very long process but thanks to the support of amazing bloggers like Lucy (and the amazing residents of Lincoln) I am here. An author. With a real life book that people can buy.
Pinch me!
About Freaks:
FREAKS: Nobody’s perfect… or are they? Abigail always knew that she was different, but what she didn’t know was just how different. That was until her 16th birthday, when her parent’s revealed a devastating secret that confirmed her worst fears and changed her life forever. Abigail is an Allelobrid: one of five children born as a result of their parents illegal science experiment in genetic engineering. The aim: to create a perfect human. Yet perfection comes at a price. Forced into a life on the run, Abigail finds love, danger and an organisation that will stop at nothing to get what they want. When lives are at risk and freedom is threatened – could being perfect be enough to survive?
FREAKS is available to buy on Amazon and Smashwords.
I’m so pleased to be welcoming Holly Bourne, author of Soulmates, to the blog today! The post below is a real masterpiece and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I first read it.
I’m half American and, sometimes, I really do feel that way- like I’m culturally split right down the middle.On my USA side, I tend to tell everyone, genuinely, to ‘have a nice day‘ before I hang up the phone, and I really really enjoy eating artificial cheese. Yet, on my British side, I think sarcasm is the best thing ever invented, I self-medicate with cups of tea, and I’m so obsessed with the weather I wrote a whole love story based around it.
Generally I’m happy with my hybrid identity. However, there are times when you have to pick a side and, when I sat down to write my debut novel, I wanted Soulmates to be British…why?
Because I wanted readers to be able to relate to the every-day life…
I love so many American YA novels and yet I can’t always get lost in them. Why? Because I grew up in England so I never took SATs, I never had a ‘Prom’, there were no cheerleaders or jocks or Taco Bells. It’s these little everyday moments in stories that make them believable – and when you read a book, you bring all your own experiences to the page and story. So, with Soulmates, I wanted these to match. I wanted British teenagers (and adult readers) to recognise things like A Level coursework, Cafe Nero, rugby players, cups of tea, beer gardens and the word ‘wanker’. That way, they could more easily imagine falling crazy in love and get lost in the story.
Because British people take the piss out of each other…
We bond by being horrid, and I bloody love that about being British. Since I got my book deal, my friends have sort-of congratulated me – but more used it as ample opportunity to take the piss. One introduced me at a party, saying, “This is my friend Holly, she’s a published author and she’s written a kids version of 50 Shades Of Grey.” I had to spend the rest of the evening swearing that wasn’t true! Or my boyfriend saying: “I’ve come up with a better idea than your book. ‘Trollmates – two trolls fall in love online whilst sending death threats to celebrities.'”
I honestly don’t think you get this I-take-the-piss-because-I-love-you anywhere else other than the UK. And it was really important to me it was in Soulmates. In fact, it turned out writing all the piss-taking scenes, where Poppy and Noah are ripping it out of each other, was actually more fun than writing all their smoochy stuff.
Because Brits really know how to tell a love story…
Soulmates is a self-referential romance book. It’s a homage to the genre, as well as a twist on romantic generic conventions. And, undeniably, the greatest love stories are British. Romeo and Juliet – written by a British bloke. Jane Eyre – British chick. Pride &Prejudice – British chick. Wuthering Heights – British. Even, One Day – British!
I think it’s our repressed stiff-upper-lip tendencies that lend themselves so well to romance. There is nothing more riveting than a love that takes a long time to be. The stolen glances, the repressed feelings, the missed opportunities, the unspoken declarations of affection… MY HEART IS THUMPING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.
Then there’s the fact that the English language is so well-equipped to deal with the sumptuous topic of love. Italian may be beautiful to speak, German may have more logic to it, but English has such an abundance of words! Verbs, nouns, adjectives – our language is so crammed with options that making sense of love and romance has such variety .
Because I’d be in really great company…
This is such an exciting time for YA books by British authors. From the no-topic-is-barred Cat Clarke, the quick and hilarious quips of Holly Smale, to the uncomprehendingly-brilliant Patrick Ness – there is a literary feast of writing talent on the go. And I feel very blessed to be a part of that.
It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of Rainbow Rowell’s books. Like, seriously, if you were to come up to me and mention one of her books, it’s possible I may scream at you. I really am obsessed. Sometimes I even do silly things in the name of Rainbow and her books.
