Make It

On What Is Deemed Worthy Of A Book Deal

So last week, this big story out of Duke University went viral. Basically, a female student made an in-depth PowerPoint presentation ranking the, um, performance of 13 members of various Duke athletic teams. The presentation which was only intended for a small group, got on the internet and the rest is history.

As soon as I saw it on Jezebel, I read the whole thing (obviously), then I thought, this girl is going to get a book deal. Sure enough, by the next day several producers and agents had contacted Jezebel to get her contact info. (Note: language on links is NSFW)

I'm not even jealous. She's a good writer and it was obviously a subject matter that held my attention enough to read the entire thing. (Not just for entertainment value. It's a sort of weird sociological  snapshot of this very privileged, insular, Southern world. And the casual racism is both disturbing and completely unsurprising) But I can't help but feel, well, depressed at the entire situation.

I thought about this again this morning when I read Garance Dore's blog post of her recent experience in Paris getting an invitation to a masquerade ball at Karl Lagerfeld's house. As I read, smiling at her account of hearing other people talk about this major party she'd been left out of and then cheering with her when Carine herself stopped by to extend a personal invitation, I thought, again, this girl is going to get a book deal. She's charming, she writes well, and she knows how to tell a story.

As far as I know, Dore does not have a deal for any fiction books, but I hope I am eventually proved right, again. If only to provide some much needed balance on the bookshelves.

My Mindy Kaling Girl Crush

I admire Mindy Kaling for being a woman of color who is succesful both in front of and behind the camera. In addition to being a cast member of The Office, she's also one of the writers.

Even though I've long since given up on The Office (I found Jim and Pam insufferable when they got together and the whole show revolved around their relationship), I still root for her to succeed in Hollywood and go on to bigger and better things. Like the movies.

So when I read this quote, I fell even more in like with her, because if I had to say why I've chosen to write YA books, this is it.

"And I have that same feeling [as Woody Allen] —that there’s nobody that looks like me in movies, nobody would cast me as a romantic lead, but I want to do it and I feel confident that I can.”

 

Road to Publication

I haven't posted on my querying progress lately because I haven't wanted to jinx it, but now, two months  into my second round of queries and many rejections (and a few requests) later, I think I'm nearing the end of the journey for my first ms, a YA urban fantasy I've titled THE MERMAID'S DAUGHTER.

I started writing sometime in June 2009. I don't remember exactly when, only that on the 13 hour drive to Boston for a wedding last June, Matt and I spent hours talking about mermaids, sea creatures, the Amish (yeah, I used some inspiration from their concept of Rumspringa), religion, and the million ways to plot a book.

The ms went through a lot of transformation and in its current form is completely unrecognizable from the notes I took on that trip. It is the first novel I've written and I'm very proud of it. I think it's smart, entertaining and different from what's on the market, but I've reached the point where I'm running out of agents that I really want to work with.

According to Querytracker (a great free resource for querying writers), I have sent out 50 queries. Plenty of other authors have sent out more and eventually gotten an agent, but I'm not looking to get any agent, I'm looking to get the right agent.

Currently a handful agents have my full ms. This is essentially the last step before getting representation, so I am still in the running at a few agencies and this is still very exciting and full of possibility. But because I'm going to stop actively researching agents and sending out new queries (with the exception of a small few I am waiting to come off of summer breaks and what not), it feels like this process is winding down.

But this isn't a sad post, it's an optimistic post because I am working on a new story, a sci-fi retelling of Rapunzel with a title so great that I don't want to post it here for fear of being poached. I feel excited about putting everything I learned from my first novel into this one to work faster, sharper, and better and hopefully be ready to query my new project at the beginning of 2011. 

I'll keep you posted.

If My Book Was Going To Be Published

I'd want to have input on the cover. I realize this is highly unlikely for any author, let alone a first time author. As a result, there have been alot of...issues with YA covers lately.

I know that photographic covers are the standard for YA books. Maybe this is what appeals to teens. It doesn't appeal to me. I like more abstract covers. I don't want to see an image of what the main character looks like. Let's save that for the movie deal.

In the first draft of my book, which I completely revised, I even wrote a scene in which the character creates a block print of herself, because I had a very clear idea in my mind that I wanted that to be the cover image. That scene came out in subsequent rewrites. But I still daydream about having a block print or cut paper image for the cover.

It almost, almost, makes me want to self-publish just so I could design the cover myself.

(left: Kara Walker, right: Village)

Favorite Book of 2010?

I know the year isn't over yet, and I haven't yet got my grubby little hands on Mockingjay, but Before I Fall is the best book I've read this year.

From Amazon:

In this Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls teen hybrid, Sam Kingston is pretty, popular, and has a seemingly perfect boyfriend. But after a late-night party everything goes terribly wrong, and the life that she lived is gone forever. Or is it?

At the start of Before I Fall, Sam is self-consumed and oblivious about the impact of her actions on others. But as she repeatedly experiences slightly altered versions of the hours leading up to her death—and her relationships with friends, family, and formerly overlooked classmates bloom, end, or shift—it’s impossible not to feel for the girl whose life ends too soon.

Alot of YA book blog reviewers have said that Samantha was too self-centered, so mean and unlikeable that they had trouble reading her story. Really? I didn't think she was that bad. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT ME?

Beach Books

So obsessed with 20x200. I love the concept, love the style of the website, love their artists. I haven't purchased anything from them, but I visit often and imagine. The beach image above would make a great book cover.

Speaking of book covers and speaking of obsessed, I am eagerly awaiting the movie version of Leanne Shapton's "Important Artifacts..." I highly recommend the book, I guarantee it will be unlike anything you've ever read. Not sure what to expect from the movie, which they're spinning as a romantic comedy (which seems wrong to me).

(top photo: 20x200, bottom photo: Leanne Shapton)

A Hundred Jonathon Livingstons

Eventually, I want to write about how writers can use Creative Commons licensed images for their online promotions. But today, I simply want to share this photo from K. Hurley, which is available for commercial use and to modify. I stumbled across this shot while trying to find a photo for a new online portfolio of my writing related stuff.

If Clueless Was A Book

It would be Poseur by Rachel Maude. I picked up this book because my current work in progress is a contemporary YA in which two very different girls have to work together at a design internship. The plot
of Poseur is somewhat similar – four girls from different cliques have to work together on a fashion line for a school project – so I thought it would be helpful to check out. I ended up being totally surprised by how much I loved it.

Yes, it’s kind of chick lit in that it’s funny and light and a quick read, but it was also much smarter and funnier than I expected. Love when that happens.

I usually don’t find books funny. I’m not sure why. I mean, I enjoy David Sedaris, but I’ve never laughed aloud while reading one of his stories. But when I hear him on audio book, the experience is much different. So I was surprised to find myself actually chuckling repeatedly at a lot of sentences in Poseur.

Saying that this movie reminded me of Clueless is essentially the highest praise I can bestow. Clueless was incredibly influential for me. I saw in the theaters 4 or 5 times, I can’t even remember. It remains the movie I’ve seen the most in the theater. All I know was that when it came out, I was in middle school in Southern California and I wanted to BE Dionne. She even had braids, just like I did. And she was popular and pretty and had a boyfriend and a convertible. Yes, I’ll take that life, please. Remember, this was during the post-John Hughes wasteland when there wasn’t a lot of smart movies for teens. Clueless kicked off a resurgence of contemporary teen flicks that really hasn’t let up ever since.

So, Rachel Maude, I salute you. Thank you for allowing me to relive the Clueless experience all these years later in a very fresh and smart way.

Books + Design

I'm trying to think of a way to merge books and design on this blog. That was harder to do over the past year, when I was writing about a subject matter that had no intersection with the design world. But as I query the mermaid book, I've started a new work in progress, this one also YA, but set in a summer internship at a textile company. Hijinks ensue.

It's fun to write about a world closer to my own experience. Given that I've now completed one book, and learned alot about writing and plotting in the process, I'm hoping that this one will come together much more quickly. If I ever have the honor of getting my book published, I'd love to have a stylized, abstract cover like the ones above, even though covers with faces are the norm in the teen book world. See this article from Publisher's Weekly for a behind the scenes look at what goes into creating a cover for super succesful book packager, Alloy. (images above via All The Mountains)

My High School Is Famous

This is kind of fun. John Green is a big time YA writer, whose first book, Looking for Alaska, was based on his experience at a Birmingham, AL boarding school. The same school I went to. He made a video revisiting the school and pointing out the real life spots that correlated to the fictional spots in the book.

p.s. While Looking for Alaska is good, and a must-read for anyone writing YA, I liked his latest, Will Grayson, Will Grayson much better.