Fellow #1: Hi, I'm a scoundrely rogue! The heroine will meet me first and be put off by my bad manners ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

I just finished reading a nifty YA novel! There was a lot to like, but I had a few minor issues with the writing. On the plus side, reading a novel with problems lets you see the mechanics of story better, sometimes, than a reading a novel where it all comes together wonderfully. When everything in a story works, you don't see the parts, just the ( Read more... )

Real talk, y'all: I am Team Peeta for life ( Read more... )

I recently decided to have another go at reading some YA paranormal romance. There's so much of it, and it's so popular, that I thought there must be more of it I would like than I have thus far discovered. I do have luck sometimes - I enjoyed Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore, and I loved the sequel, Magic Under Stone. (I even drew fanart of ( Read more... )

That's right, I mean you, character in a YA or middle-grade novel. Do your parents know you're out fighting evil at this time of night? And/or solving mysteries, and/or romancing and being romanced ( Read more... )

I just read a book that was billed as a companion to another book I'd read, but which turned out to be sort of a prequel. That is, it includes the origin of the villain who's villainizing around in Book I'd Already Read.

(Just for the sake of simplicity, let's go ahead and call the first book I read "Graceling by Kristin Cashore" and the prequel ( Read more... )

You know one piece of writing advice I see all the time? It's that one that says that your protagonist must have a clear goal that s/he desperately desires, and the conflict must come from obstacles between her/him and that goal.

To that I say: Maybe.

Honestly, I've seen this particular nugget everywhere. I saw it again today, in this article ( Read more... )

When I heard about Sharyn November’s blog tour celebrating Diana Wynne Jones (take the tour here - I highly recommend it), and I heard it was open for submissions, I knew I would have to participate. The dates available at this point were in early May, when I would be just recovering from a whirlwind trip through two states, but this was two steps ( Read more... )

I'm on a book discussion listserv for the Young Adult Library Services Association. Recently, we had a thread going about how common heterochromia is in works of fiction - and man, it's all over the place. This got me thinking about unusual conditions and how they're often more common in fiction than in real life. (Considering that a major ( Read more... )