Agentopia: Peter J. Knapp

Click here for more info about Agentopia, including past posts. Today, we're thrilled to welcome Peter J. Knapp and hear all about his wishlist!

Bio

Pete Knapp joined the Park Literary Group in July 2011, where he has had a chance to work with many of the agency’s bestselling authors -- Nicholas Sparks, Emily Giffin, and Debbie Macomber included -- in all stages of the publication process. He has been actively involved in the company's film activities, helping to coordinate marketing and publicity efforts for The Lucky One (WB) and Safe Haven (Relativity, February 2013). Prior to joining Park Literary, he was a story editor and book scout at Floren Shieh Productions, consulting on book-to-film adaptations for Los Angeles-based film companies, including CBS Films. He has also interned in the literary affairs and development offices of New Line Cinema, Overture Films, and Maximum Films & Management.

Peter is an avid reader of young adult and middle grade fiction, frequently trading book recommendations with his nine-year-old sister. Having graduated from NYU summa cum laude with a B.A. in Art History, he maintains a (mostly) healthy interest in the visual arts, particularly with animation. He is an advisor for Builders Beyond Borders, a nonprofit that organizes international humanitarian trips for teenagers, and though he loves to travel, he happily calls Brooklyn home.

Find Peter at: www.parkliterary.com; peteknapp.blogspot.com; @petejknapp

Wishlist


Smart, realistic teen fiction with a narrative hook. In other words, books with a storytelling device that makes realistic teen fiction feel high concept. Examples would be: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (device: story told largely from a dead person's perspective through recorded tapes); Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (device: story told as a letter from the narrator to her ex-boyfriend, chronicling the stories behind various keepsakes of their relationship, all of which she is returning to him); If I Stay by Gayle Forman (device: told from the perspective of a girl in a coma, as her soul wanders around the hospital after a devastating car accident, deciding whether she should fight for her life.).

Smart, contemporary teen and MG fiction WITHOUT a narrative hook. A story doesn't need a clever narrative framing device to get my attention. As long as the story is fresh and the characters are there, I will pay attention. Think John Green's The Fault in our Stars; Nina LaCour's The Disenchantments; Rebecca Stead's Liar & Spy; R. J. Palacio's incredible debut Wonder; Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now.

Middle grade books that are bittersweet. Think When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead; or Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker, So Totally Emily Embers by Lisa Yee, all of which comes at serious issues (loss, abandonment, finding family, unlikely friendship) through a funny angle (aka a Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead concept); or any of the MG mentioned above (Okay for Now, Wonder, Liar & Spy)

YA/MG books that are realistic -- and not. What I mean by this is books that are grounded in a world that is recognizable as our own, but the rules are different. Think: Kat Zhang's What's left of Me, which takes place in a world much like ours, except everyone is born with two souls that must compete for one body; Maggie Stievater's The Raven Boys, which is grounded in a familiar campus town in Virginia, but with psychics and forests that bend time; Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls, a heartbreaking story about love and loyalty between two siblings with a supernatural twist; Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, a mystery set in New York in the 1970s, but with time-travel. What makes these stories particularly compelling and "real" is not just the setting but the emotional challenges each character faces  -- even in Kat Zhang's book, where the topic of two souls raise questions about identity and the assertion of independence that are relevant to every teen's life. 

YA/MG books with LGBT characters. This is not its own genre -- LGBT characters can fit into any of the above -- but I would love to find a story that deals with LGBT issues like Brent Hartinger's Geography Club. Another book that recently sold that I've only read the announcement for, but which looks extremely interesting, is Bill Konigsberg's Openly Straight (what interests me about this is that it takes a now common story -- the coming-out story -- and flips it on its head: what happens with a gay kid goes back into the closet?). Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is another book that tackles gay teen life in a thoughtful, moving way.

YA/MG gritty crime thrillers and mysteries. I'd love a YA book in the vein of Tana French, Gillian Flynn, Patricia Highsmith. Kat Rosenfeld's Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone is a terrific example of a heartbreaking crime story with a complicated protagonist, complicated morality, a book that goes beyond whodunit and examines different types of fear -- while keeping readers at the edge of their seats. These books can but don't have to have a fantastic element (ie, Jill Hathaway's Slide, where a girl with epilepsy slips into other characters' perspectives.)

YA/MG historical light fantasy. My favorite fantasy often feels like it's grounded in the past -- whether it be steampunk, Dickensian, noir, or anything else. Think books like The Diviners, The Peculiars, The Monstrumologist, Liesl & Po. Emphasis on the word grounded. I do not typically go for high fantasy or heavy fantasy -- but rather stories that have a fantastic twist.

YA/MG survivor/nature/boy or girl with animal stories. And yes, I still like literary middle grade with dogs. I love the classics like Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Shiloh, Where the Red Fern Grows, Because of Winn Dixie. And, more recently, I loved Eliot Schrefer's Endangered. More like these, please!

Here are some specific projects I would love: writing comparable in subject and tone to Courtney Summers; something similar to Endangered by Eliot Schrefer; a YA Chariots of Fire (doesn’t need to be track & field, but similar feel—perhaps skiing?); a YA noir like Brick; a realistic contemporary YA set on a ranch; a thriller or suspense in the vein of Erik Larson’s nonfiction; a cute YA love story similar to Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares; YA or MG similar to the FX show The Americans; a YA Thomas Crown Affair. 

How to query

To submit to Pete Knapp, send a query letter and the first three chapters or up to 10,000 words in the body of an email to queries (at) parkliterary (dot) com. No attachments. (For security reasons, all emails with attachments will be deleted.) Be sure “Pete Knapp” or “Peter Knapp” appears in the subject line of the email.

The Importance of Being a Bookseller

You know how in the movies and on TV, the aspiring actors/singers always work part time as a waiter/waitress? Well, the literary universe has its own stereotypical side-job for those wanting to break into publishing. You may have noticed that a lot of us work in bookstores. Now, it isn't all about a simple love for books that drives us to be booksellers. Working in a bookstore can provide valuable knowledge and connections that can help you as you work your way through the publishing waters.

As a bookseller, I have been fortunate enough to meet many wonderful authors, interact with various publisher reps (including sale reps, publicists, and editors), and I get to see firsthand what readers want, love, and hate. The thing I love most, though, is that I have been able to dip my toes into the various aspects of the book-selling world. I've helped plan events, create new marketing strategies, and I edit customer-submitted reviews. What do these three things have in common? They resemble aspects of the publishing industry. I love that the industry possesses this sort of fluidity that allows its members to work in the different areas, yet still walk away with valuable experiences that can help in other areas.

So, my advice to anyone wanting to be a bestselling author, editor, agent, or cover artist is this: work at a bookstore. A job like that can give you incredible amounts of knowledge and experience, and besides, working with books is fun! :-) If you can't find a job at a bookstore, though, then I encourage you to apply for some internships. Check out Sharon's post on How to Become an Intern.

Keep Your Writing Active: The Motivating Stimulus and Reaction Unit

Motivating Stimulus: Anything external to the focal character to which he must react.

Reaction: An appropriate response to the motivating stimulus (through feeling, action, and / or speech).

I'm going to keep this simplified for the ease of understanding, but here's a few cues to help:

A motivating stimulus can be anything from a word, to something falling off a shelf, to an apocalyptic event. But, whatever it is, it must first and foremost be 1) organic to your story, and 2) stimulating enough to require a response.

Without conscious thought, motivating stimulus and reaction is the rhythm of human life. (I.e. We wake up, we open our eyes. We have to go to the bathroom, we do. We're thirsty, we get a drink).

When dramatic events occur, consider that our reactions tend to build on each other. When a real person is shocked, their response is often fairly subdued at first, then builds as their understanding and acceptance of what is occuring develops. (I.e. A person is shot in the street in front of us. Most will freeze, then either rush to help, or run away. Shaking, screaming, hysteria, etc, occurs seconds or minutes after the event. Not in the immediate aftermath).

The problem with a lot of fiction is that it attempts to step outside the realistic bounds of motivating stimulus and reaction.

Example: Woman tells her boyfriend of two years she's breaking up with him.

Normal life response: Boyfriend feels shock and fear. He says, "WHAT?!", demanding an explanation. (Note: You've got a motivating stimulus that required response, which sparked another motivating stimulus requiring response. See the natural cycle?)

Unfortunate fictional response: Boyfriend immediately and without preamble, drops into depressed state. He pleads with his girlfriend not to leave him and threatens suicide if she does.

The problem with the "unfortunate" response is that the male character's emotion is too strong too fast. It hasn't had the natural time to build. If they were to argue for two hours first, with her eventually leaving, declaring she's never coming back, then his response would become more realistic.

The other potential hazard of motivating stimulus and reaction, is the order in which things occur.

In real life we react to events in a specific order. It's physiological. Our bodies react first - we feel. Then our brains kick in reflexively and we can think and move. Finally we're able to speak (usually).

That entire process can occur inside a second. We don't always portray all of those responses. But all of them occur and they always occur in that order.

Example: A young couple are making out in the girl's bedroom. Her father throws the door open and yells "What is going on in here?!"

Normal life response: Adrenalin floods the girl's bloodstream. She shoves her boyfriend back and jumps away from him, then whirls to face her father. She shrieks "It isn't as bad as it looks, Dad!" as she tries to straighten her clothes. (Note: Not all of these would need to be depicted, but I'm using them to demonstrate the point).

Fictional response: Girls says "Oh, #$%@!", pushes her boyfriend away and starts straightening her clothes, saying "It isn't as bad as it looks, Dad!"

Now, the responses themselves are the same. But the author has done a disservice to their story and reader. Because the reader isn't aware of this technique of reflecting "real" responses, they won't identify the falsity in the order of the second response. In fact, in this specific scene, they probably won't even think twice.

But when a book is chock-full of unrealistic and out-of-order responses, you'll get feedback from readers like "I just couldn't get into it,"; or "I dont' know why, it just didn't feel real to me,"; or "I couldn't relate to the main character..."

So, in order to ensure our fiction is truly believable, we have a four step process:

1. Identify what we need the character to do (or where we need them to arrive).
2. Identify an organic and realistic stimulus (for the story world) that will drive them in that direction.
3. Create a response to the stimulus that is realistic in both its depth and the order of reactions.
4. Ensure the end of the response is itself a motivating stimulus (thus kicking the entire cycle back into gear).

Does that make sense?

Your Turn: Any questions? Any points you don't understand? Have you heard of the motivating stimulus and response unit before?

 

Breaking the law, breaking the law!

As writers we tend to spend a lot of time in our solitary writing caves, hunched over keyboards, grumbling about revisions.  So when you gather us together in public and add melt-in-your-mouth buttery crepes and book talk, we get a little giddy. 

And possibly loud.

This past weekend I met with four other kidlit writer friends for a semi-frequent get-together (semi-frequent, as in, whenever one of us thinks “Hey, it’s been a while” and sends off a flurry of emails to corral us.) Once we finished oohing and aahing over one of our groups shiny 2-book deal with Harper Collins (everyone add MONSTROUS to your TBR list now!), someone posed the question, “So, how established do you think you need to be before you can break all the ‘rules’?” 

“Rules? What rules?” we asked, slurping our café au laits.

“Well, for instance, before you can get away with starting a book with a dialogue line.”

“Or a prelude,” someone added.

“Or on the first day of school!”

“THE MAIN CHARACTER WAKING UP TO AN ALARM ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!” we chanted as one.

Oh, this was fun.  Rule talk turned to cliché talk. Red haired characters (2% of the natural population, 98% of the literary population)!  Green-eyed characters! Ooh, better yet, emerald-eyed characters! Characters with symbolism-filled names of flowers, birds or variations of “the chosen one”.

And those oversold categories: dystopian, paranormal, dystopian paranormals.  

In honor of my over-caffeinated, weighed-down-with-butter writing friends, whom I truly love seeing outside of my computer, my new WIP is just for you. Everyone else, feel free to add on in the comment section- I'm sure I've forgotten some good ones (and please take it with a grain of salt and a healthy sense of humor if your ms happens to have one of these cliches- no offense is intended!)

Prologue:

It was a dark and stormy night when crazy, crazy action happened.  This action will not happen until page 776 of the book, whereas the first 775 pages will be extremely quiet and contain oodles of flowery, adjective-filled prose.  There will be frequent six-page descriptions of the barren landscape.  But hang in there, because you KNOW from this prelude that the action is coming…eventually.

Chapter One

Sigmund Freud: “Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.” (much like the characters in this book)

Elmer Fudd: “We’re hunting wild wabbit”

“Wake up, Chrysanthemum!”

Brnnngggg!

My brother’s deep and authoritative voice cuts through my restful sleep and I finally realize my alarm clock has been ringing for some time. I gingerly sit up in bed and stretch, nerves already jangling as I remember what today is.

I shouldn’t be this nervous. With everything we’ve been through this last year: losing our parents to the uprising, discovering my superpowers, finding out I have to be the one to save the world, and Jake’s final transformation to full-on vampire, starting at a new school should be a piece of cake.

I sigh deeply, moving aside the ruffled, petal-pink duvet and placing my feet tenderly on the ground.  With a heavy heart I move to the mirror and examine myself carefully, noting that even at this early hour, my luxurious, wavy hair looks perfect and is the same luscious red as an old-time movie star’s lips.  My eyes are a brilliant emerald green.  They sparkle at me in the reflecting glass.

I’m so grateful that I still have my piece of mirror, a small reminder of what our world used to look like, before The Great Disaster struck, and took my parents, along with most of the world’s adults.  Mom and Dad would be proud of the way my younger brother Jake and I are handling this brave new world.

We’ll get through today just like we’ve gotten through the last 300 days.  One step at a time. I may be the chosen one, but today I’m just a normal sixteen year-old.  And my forever love could be waiting for me right now, in Geometry class.

I grab my lucky talisman and race downstairs.

New YAtopian: Fiona McLaren

It is with great excitement and happiness that I announce a new addition to our YAtopian family: Fiona McLaren! Fiona will be posting on the 10th of every month. Please give her a warm YAtopian welcome!

Bio


“Odd ball”, “the quirky one” or “black sheep” are all badges author Fiona McLaren wears with pride.  She is always looking for unique perspectives on common knowledge and loves to dig into history, myths, culture and science, or any mixture thereof.  A passionate horse woman, she owns two beautiful horses and a German Shepherd, all of whom are known as her misplaced children.

Throughout her formative years, Fiona could often be found scribbling away in notepads, reading Encyclopedias or inventing things from toilet roll tubes and macaroni.  Needless to say, her creative talents have now progressed into more literary endeavors.

She is a passionate writer, critique partner and animal lover.  She divides her time between the wind-torn hills of her Scottish home, and her love-affair with the sun-filled island of Cyprus.

Fiona is represented for her YA Contemporary and her YA Gothic Horror by Jamie Bodnar Drowley of Inklings Literary Agency.

Twitter * Blog * Facebook

Interview


Sarah: Which book do you wish you had written?  

Fiona: I wish I had written Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma.  It is just so evocative and looks at some tough issues in a touching way.

Sarah: Describe yourself in three words 

Fiona: Committed, stubborn, hard working.

Sarah: What is your biggest pet peeve?

Fiona: Being ignored!

Sarah: Team Edward or Team Jacob 

Fiona: Jacob all the way!  It's all about the heart!

Sarah: If you could be a Disney character, who would you be? 

Fiona: I think I'd be a boy character - most likely Aladdin!

Look out next month for Fiona's first official post as a YAtopian and make sure to welcome her in the comments below! All of us at YAtopia are so excited to have her on board!

Guestopia: Meredith Towbin

Click here for more information about our monthly Guestopia feature! Today, we're proud to host Meredith Towbin.

Fright night, and day and night…
by Meredith Towbin

I’ve been stuck in an elevator, diagnosed with cancer (skin cancer, but still…), survived an accident in which my car flipped over on the highway, and birthed two kids. But none of these things were as terrifying as—wait for it—writing.

No joke. I was three seconds away from a nervous breakdown before I managed to get those first two sentences down.

Fear has tagged along on my writing journey from the very beginning.

First, there’s the blank page. Want to know pure terror? Stare at a stark white Microsoft Word document for long enough. That stupid cursor, so full of itself, each blink mocking me over and over. Every time I sit down to write something new, it’s the same. What if I can’t think of anything to write? Like, literally, ANYTHING? Or what if I can think of something and it’s so horrendous that it just proves I’m a total joke and I should just stop before I completely humiliate myself any further? Granted, I might get myself a little more worked up than the average person, but I dare you to find a writer who hasn’t felt this at SOME point in his or her career.

So by some miracle I write something. Maybe even a whole book. Now what? More paralyzing fear. Because if I ever want to get published, I actually have to show my writing to someone. What if whoever I show it to thinks it’s terrible? What if they think I’m a lunatic? What if they write a three-page email telling me point by point how absolutely dreadful it is? That last one actually happened. Yeah, I survived it, but I’m kind of emotionally scarred.

Yet somehow I force myself to put my book into the hands of a lucky few. They’ve come back with some honest and helpful criticism that doesn’t drive me off the deep end. I revise a bazillion times. Time to send my baby out into the world and try to get it published. But will literary agents ooh and aah over my cute little manuscript? Will they think everything about it is so freaking adorable, even all the gross stuff?

Umm, no, they will not. And they will tell me so. My fear of being rejected is realized! As in, it’s for real! I am being rejected! Dozens of times! A day!

But maybe, just maybe, there are a select few who don’t think I totally suck. They even think OTHER PEOPLE might not think I totally suck. Things happen, papers are signed, and before I know it I have an agent. Shortly, or not so shortly after, I get a book deal.

Success! I can kiss that crazy fear goodbye. I came, I saw, I conquered.

Except that now anyone on the planet can take a peek at my book with the click of a button. And with a second click, they can tell the rest of the world exactly what they think of my writing, for better or for worse.

I know what you’re thinking—this chick is going to blow her stack any second. But no, I’m not. And I’ll tell you why—if I’ve learned anything through this whole process, it’s that whether you freak out over every rejection (potential or actual) or not, what’s going to happen is going to happen. All you can do is put your best effort out there and be at peace with it.

So as I release my first book into the big, bad world, I’m going to try to remember that. Because a girl can stuff her feelings down with burritos for only so long before heartburn rears its ugly head.


Meredith Towbin grew up in Massachusetts and graduated with a degree in English from Wellesley College. She’s worked as a high school English teacher, a freelance writer, and a magazine editor. She writes whenever she has a free minute, usually when her kids are at school or after they’ve passed out for the night. The rest of her time is spent driving her kids around, cooking, driving her kids around, listening to indie rock, watching movies and swooning over Cary Grant, and driving her kids around. She blogs about ridiculous things that happen to her at www.meredithtowbin.com. STRAIGHTJACKET is her first novel.

Twitter * Facebook

Eighteen-year-old Anna has lived her whole life in shame, losing herself in books to cope with crippling panic attacks triggered by her abusive parents. Forced into a psychiatric hospital, she can’t imagine a future that’s anything but bleak—until she meets Caleb, a gifted, 19-year-old artist who insists he’s an angel.

He swears his mission is to help Anna break free from her parents’ control and fulfill a destiny that she can only dream of. The doctors, however, are convinced that Caleb is delusional.

Anna doesn’t want to be that girl who’s in love with the crazy guy, but when she sees his stunning portraits of her and the way he risks everything to keep her safe, she can’t help but imagine a new future for both of them, filled with hope. But just when it seems they’ve created heaven on earth, Caleb’s past emerges full force, threatening to destroy their tiny, blissful world. And Anna has to decide if she should follow her heart, or if Caleb’s really as troubled as his doctors say…

Amazon * B&N
Print book available March 15, 2013

You didn’t “trend” … and other subtle Twitter confusions

If you google “Twitter mistakes,” you’ll find a whole slew of big-picture twitter snafus to avoid. While those are (usually) good, that’s not what this post is about. This is just an FYI on some of the smaller Twitter misunderstandings that tend to confuse people (and me when I try to explain them – so please ask questions in the comments if I didn’t explain something well enough).

1. You didn’t really “trend”

Have you lately noticed a lot more tweets like “Yay! We got #randomhashtag to trend!” than you used to see? There’s a reason for that.

 Twitter recently quietly changed the default trends you see on twitter.com to “tailored” trends that are specific to both your geographical area and the people you follow. How can you tell if you’re seeing tailored trends or not? Click on the word “Change” at the top of your “Trends” list.

If you are seeing tailored trends, you’ll see something like this:

If you want to, you can click on “Change” to choose to see trends that are worldwide or for a specific country, including the US – or even to a specific city.

I prefer tailored trends because I have not seen the word “Bieber” in my side bar since they made the switch – but I do occasionally look at them just to see what the world is talking about. Note: If you follow a wide range of people (i.e., not just publishing industry people), your tailored and national trends are going to be similar.

There is good news, though! Assuming you follow people who are similar to (or influence) your target audience, you’re still reaching who you want to reach!

2. Limiting your tweet’s audience 

Here’s another thing a lot of twitter users don’t realize: If you start a tweet with the “@” character, only the people following both you and the user belonging to the “@” will see it in their stream. Meaning, people who follow you, but don’t follow the other user will not see your tweet. For example:

@mtgreviews is my favorite book blogger! Check out her review & giveaway of PIVOT POINT! mtgreviews.com/book-review-pi…
— Sarah Nicolas (@Sarah_Nicolas) February 21, 2013

(Yes, we currently have the same avatar, sorry for any confusion this may cause!)

In this tweet, I’m probably trying to tell all my followers about Jenna’s awesome giveaway, right? (Seriously, go enter. And follow her. *ahem* back to the post…) But only those who follow both me and Jenna will see it in their stream. This means I am not reaching anybody she hasn’t already reached with her own tweets.

“But I can still see it.” When I try to explain this to Person 1, they sometimes go to Person 2’s page and point out they can see Person 2’s tweets to users Person 1 doesn’t follow. Yes, you can see it on their page, but not in your own stream.

So when you’re posting a tweet that you want all of your followers to see, you can either reword it so it doesn’t start with “@” or start your tweet with “.@”



I definitely didn’t intend for this to turn into “This is how you’re doing twitter wrong,” so how about we go in the positive direction with some little-known features of twitter.

3. Turn a user’s RT’s off

Do you know someone who you love to follow because you love their original content, but hate that they RT every single thing Justin Bieber (or whoever) tweets? I think we all know someone like that. It’s a tough decision: keep following them and put up with the ridiculous RTs or unfollow them and miss out on their awesome original content.

 You don’t have to make that decision.

Twitter allows you to turn off RTs from an individual user. Yes, a lot of clients allow you to do this too, but twitter.com itself has a way. Go to that person’s page (I’m going to use Jenna again as an example but I know she won’t take offense… right?) and click on the little button to the left of the Follow/Following button:

Easy, peasy!

 4. Twitter’s Advanced Search 

Twitter has incredible search functionality – but so few people know about it! To use this, start by using the usual search function – however you access it. You will see results like those below for “#sunshinetour.” In the top right corner of the search results there is a gear symbol, click on that and then click on “advanced search.”

You can then use any of the options shown below to narrow your search. Again, I’ll use Jenna as an example:

You can also use this to narrow your search when you are searching for something that is part of a common phrase. For example you can enter “lady” in the “any of these words” field and put “gaga” in the “none of these words” field.

(Seriously, play with this one. It's fun!)


That’s all I have today – but please leave any questions you may have in the comments! Anyone who’s been following this blog for a while knows how much I adore social media so I’m always happy to answer general questions. I hope I’ve helped!

What is an "authentic" voice and how do you write it?

I'll admit it. I couldn't write a teenage girl's voice to save my life. The idea of writing a YA novel with a female main character scares the bejeebers out of me. Why? I have no idea how to do it! My problem is that whenever I think about what an "authentic" girl's voice is, I can't help but go straight to the stereotypes--emotional, constantly ruminating, obsessed with appearance, boy-crazed, etc. In my mind, that is the authentic teenage girl. These are simply the default traits my mind comes up with. I don't even realize that they are just part of the stereotype, a stereotype that has been subconsciously ingrained in my poor, weary brain.

I'm not alone on this (at least, I hope not!). When we think about "authentic" teenage guy or girl voices, especially when writing about our opposite gender, we are so prone to falling into the trap of stereotypes. It's not something we consciously do; like I said, it has simply been ingrained in our minds that the authentic teenager acts a certain way. It's really difficult for us, as readers and writers, to break away from viewing things with stereotype-tinted glasses. 

So, unfortunately, what we think is "authentic" really isn't all that authentic at all. And boom, we are halfway into a story with a main character we think is authentic and complex but in reality is flat as a board and completely cliche.

This problem isn't exclusive to writing about the opposite gender either. Let's face it, most of us haven't been teenagers for a few years, so we are quite a ways removed from our teenaged selves--and the teens of today. Case in point: I wrote an upper-middle-grade novel about a 14-year-old boy, who served as the story's first person narrator. Try as I might to get his voice to be authentic, I too fell into the trap of the dreaded stereotypes--he was quick to anger, obsessed with the hottest girl, worried about status, etc. I was quickly called out on it by some of the agents I later queried. One even said it seemed like I was "trying too hard" to be authentic. It was a shock to me because all along I thought I had given him the perfect voice, when really I gave him the stereotype of the perfect voice.

As readers we are often prone to thinking in terms of stereotype too. This came up in a discussion I had with my writing group. We were talking about why women writers and their characters are more heavily scrutinized when writing a boy's point-of-view. They are quick to be criticized for not having an "authentic" male voice. While this may or may not be true, what is true is the tendency for readers and critics to criticize a book if the main character doesn't have the traits usually associated with that gender. Problem is, they aren't looking for an  authentic voice, but the stereotype of an authentic voice. The fact is that it's incredibly difficult for us to break away from this thinking, as writers and readers.

So how do we do it? How do we write truly authentic characters? The answer is more simple than you think.

There are no authentic characters!

Every teenager is different. And more importantly, times are changing--teenagers are even more different today than they were even five years ago. Gender norms are breaking down. Even the concept of gender is vastly different now. Teenage boys can be sensitive. Some might not even be interested in girls! Teenage girls play video games. Some might even play football!

Throw the stereotypes out of the window. Now that we realize that they are in our heads whether we mean them to be or not, we can think outside of them. We need to worry less about how the typical girl or boy might act and more about creating unique, complex, interesting characters. Bend those social norms. Dare to be controversial. Make the reader think less like, "Hey, that's not an authentic voice!" and more like, "Wow, what a unique character!"

There's no Faking It with Cora Carmack!

 

Today I'm talking to Cora Carmack about New Adult, self publishing and her best selling book LOSING IT.

 

Sharon: Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind Losing It?

Cora: There was no one thing that inspired LOSING IT, unfortunately. I love reading about awkward situations (because I’ve lived through plenty of them). I really wanted to read a book with a heroine like Bliss. We see girls like her in books, but she’s usually the funny best friend. I, personally, had never read a romance novel with a girl like her as the main character. Some of the things in the book are inspired by my own college experience. My friends read the book and recognized lines or events that really happened when we were in college (I promise… Garrick was not one of those real things).

Sharon: How did you feel about your decision to self publish?

Cora: At first, it scared me. There still is, unfortunately, a stigma associated with self-publishing. But I knew in my gut that it was right decision for this particular book. And by the time I hit publish, there were already so many bloggers and readers on Goodreads and twitter were excited about the book that I wouldn’t have changed my decision for anything. That being said, I am IMMENSELY happy that LOSING IT and two companion novels (one about Cade and one about Kelsey) have been picked up by Harper Collins in the U.S. and Ebury/Random House in the U.K./Australia. As nice as it to have complete creative control over a project when self-publishing,  prefer to spend my time writing, rather than the business side of things.

Sharon: What did it take for you to make Losing It a success?

Cora: I started to answer this question by telling you about writing the book and making the cover and blog tours and all of that, but the truth is—everyone does those things and it doesn’t guarantee a book will be successful.

The number one thing that made my book a success was readers. They got excited about the book, and told their friends. They read the book, and told their friends. Those friends told other friends. They posted on blogs and Facebook and Twitter. You, as readers, wield so much power, more than any of you probably know. If you like a book, and want the author to succeed and to keep writing, the best thing you can do is tell another person about the book. Leave a review on Amazon or iBooks or wherever you bought it. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but reviews REALLY do sell books. So, if you want to read more New Adult books like LOSING IT, the best thing you can do is to show publishers with your money and with your mouths, that this is something you want, something you believe in. The power in publishing belongs to the readers as much as the big corporations.

Sharon: What would you say to others considering to self publish?

Cora: I would say it’s a very personal decision that must be made with the specifics of each novel in mind. It’s not for everyone. If you’re not willing to put in the money and time to make your book stand out and look professional, it’s not for you. You are quite literally doing the work of an entire publishing company alone when you decide to self-publish. And if you half-ass it, readers can tell. In particular, self-publishing is a good choice for people publishing books that fall into a very particular niche that publishing as a whole is not addressing—like New Adult books. Or, maybe you’ve written a YA paranormal about vampires. If that’s you, you’ve no doubt heard from dozens upon dozens of agents and publishers that the paranormal market is over-saturated, and publishers just aren’t buying. Yes, that may be true. But there are readers out there who would still buy vampire books. Those readers will look to self-publishing when publishers don’t provide the kind of book they want.

Sharon: Tell us a bit about your journey since your published your novel.

Cora: Oh, boy, it has been a journey. A whirlwind of one in fact. I self-published LOSING IT in mid-October 2012. By day two, it hit #1 on the Barnes and Noble Bestseller List. In that first full week on sale, it also hit the New York Times List and the USA Today Bestseller list. By day three, I was receiving emails from agents and publishers (both foreign and U.S.). I spoke to several agents, some of whom had contacted me, and others I had contacted. After a lot of stress-eating, I chose an agent, who then immediately went out on submission with the book to traditional publishers. Hurricane Sandy hit New York a few days later, which slowed things down, but eventually my agent came back to me with multiple offers. Each publisher that offered was AMAZING, and I would have been happy to work with any of them, but I quite happily chose William Morrow Books, an imprint of Harper Collins.

 

LOSING IT stayed on the New York Times list for four weeks in a row, during which time, we worked on getting the deal ironed out with Harper Collins. It went off the bestseller list for a week, but then jumped back on it the first week that Harper Collins took over control of the eBook. Around that time, we started getting offers from foreign publishers. So far we have signed deals with publishers in the U.K., Spain, Turkey, Greece, and Korea. It’s pretty mind-blowing to think that my little book that I wrote in three weeks time, was going to be read all over the world in multiple languages. I also can’t wait to hold a physical copy of the book in my hands. Harper Collins actually moved up the U.S. release, and now that dream will come true on February 26^th! When we sold LOSING IT, we also sold two more books, so I’ve also been working non-stop to get those books written and off to my editor.

Sharon: I want to talk to you about New Adult for a little bit. A lot of publishers are starting to have NA imprints. Why do you think NA is starting to take off?

Cora: The simplest answer, as I addressed above, is that the readers have spoken. They’ve made quite clear that they’re interested in reading NA, so publishers are jumping on the bandwagon so to speak. I also think it has a great deal to do with a generation of readers that spawned the boom of the YA market, who are now growing up. It has never made sense to me that readers had to go from reading about sixteen and seventeen-year-old characters who are just figuring out who they are to reading about thirty-year-old characters who have steady jobs and their lives all figured out.

I hate to break it to you teens, but life is not that simple. It gets messy and complicated before all the pieces get put together. You might figure out who you are when you’re a teenager, but then it becomes a matter of finding where you fit, finding your place in this world. And that, to me, is at the heart of New Adult. Art is supposed to imitate life, and your early twenties are a time of excitement and turmoil and fear and newness that deserve to be immortalized in fiction.

Sharon: What do you have to say to knockers of NA?

Cora: Not much. I think the sales numbers speak for themselves. Some people don’t like the name; others don’t like the narrowing down of books to such a specific age or category. The truth is—I’m a fan of whatever helps sell books. I will support whatever method gets and keeps people reading.

My first year in college (back in 2005-2006), I remember searching avidly for books about college-aged protagonists, and they were nearly impossible to find. There certainly weren’t enough of them to satisfy an avid reader like me. So, I went back to reading YA, and I got a lot of crap for reading “teen” books when I was no longer a teen. If my college-self could time travel to today and take a look at the burgeoning genre, she would be in heaven.

Sharon: What's next for Cora Cormack?

Cora: Next up is a companion novel called FAKING IT that follows Cade Winston (a secondary character in LOSING IT). It’s due to release this summer in the U.S. and in the fall in UK/Australia. It will be followed by a companion novel about Kelsey (another secondary character from LOSING IT).

Rapid Fire Questions:

Favourite Food: Baked Potato. Bring on the carbs!

Favourite Animal: I have to say Cat or my kitty named Katniss would be sad/murderous.

Favourite Colour: At the moment, teal.

Favourite Drink: Dr. Pepper. Otherwise known as… heaven in a can. 

Favourite Book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Favourite Place to Write: While traveling—planes, trains, buses, whatever the mode of transport may be.

 

You can find Cora on Twitter! Check her out, her tweets are cool.