Character or Plot? Part 2 of the YA Roundtable with Elizabeth Mosier, Siobhan Vivian, and Melissa Walker

Part 2 of the Philadelphia Stories YA Roundtable continues here, as Elizabeth Mosier, Siobhan Vivian, Melissa Walker, and I talk about character, plot, and the advice we give to other writers. Our great thanks to Michelle Wittle!

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Not Chasing Trends, Making Them: My Publishing Perspectives Story on the BEA's Buzz YA Authors

In a wall-to-wall session at the BEA, the season's top YA authors—Melissa Marr, Tonya Hurley, Siobhan Vivian, Jenny Han, Elizabeth Norris, and Bethany Griffin—gathered to talk about trendmaking, book writing, and teen readers. 

I covered the story for Publishing Perspectives here. 

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Talking YA With Elizabeth Mosier, Siobhan Vivian, and Melissa Walker (at Philadelphia Stories)

What a thrill to be joined by my friends Elizabeth Mosier, Siobhan Vivian, and Melissa Walker in a two-part conversation about favorite young adult books, writing influences, and process.  A big thanks to Michelle Wittle who pulled this all together for Philadelphia Stories.

Please visit this link to 'hear' us talk (Part 1).

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My BEA Day (with photos)

I rose at 3 AM, walked the just-before-dawn streets, took one train and then another (much, oh much too much delayed) train, then ran the long blocks toward the BEA.  I was, shall we say, windblown by the time I arrived.  But there to greet me were the ever-lovely, ever kind Danielle (There's a Book) and Florinda (The 3rs Blog)—first-rate bloggers and people. It was about time I met the generous Danielle.  About time I gave Florinda (who was my unofficial publicist last year at the BEA) another hug.

From there to see my dear friends at Philomel, to meet more of that tremendous team, and to finally say hello to the phenomenal Ruta Sepetys in person; she has a new book coming out that I think will be just as amazing (in many different ways) as Between Shades of Gray.  From there to listen to four of the buzz adult authors talk about the process, their books, their hopes.  A beautiful interlude with Lauren Wein.  Then to sit in the audience of Jennifer Brown (the fantastic children's editor for Shelf Awareness) and Kristi Yamaguchi, an Olympian with a heart of gold. A run from the Downtown Stage to the Uptown Stage so that I could sit in the front row (all other seats were gone) of the YA Buzz panel, featuring, among other people, Melissa Marr, Jenny Han, Tonya Hurley, and my friend Siobhan Vivian.

Just after dawn now, and I've filed all my stories for Publishing Perspectives. I'll link to them here when they go live.

Now I'm going to go fix my hair. Then settle down, and teach.

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Celebrating Siobhan Vivian and THE LIST

I first met Siobhan Vivian in a town called Lititz in the dark of a hotel restaurant.  It was after hours; the crowd was gone.  She was there with her best friends, her writing friends, each a lit star in her own right.  They were a raucous foursome, those girls at the other table, and I was feeling quiet, and besides, I was there with my husband, a man now nearly famous for avoiding what is known in my circles as lit talk.

Still, Siobhan insisted that we join them at her table.  She talked, they talked, I listened.  By the end of the night and a bottle of wine, I was talking, too.  More than talking, I was laughing.

In the years since, Siobhan and I have found each other in Florida, say, or in the mire of Facebook.  I have watched her career take off, her books earn praise; I have cheered her on.  Last week, when I realized that Siobhan was in my city for the Public Library Association meeting, I set off to find her once more.  We missed each other by minutes, no more.  We talked by phone instead.

We want the people we care about to write good books so that we can say—with all our hearts— I love it.  I am saying here, with all my heart, that I love Siobhan Vivian's new book, THE LIST, which is due out in early April, near my birthday (a good omen), and which tackles big issues—self worth, discrimination, vulnerability, beauty and all that beauty isn't.

There is so much that beauty isn't.

The premise is delivered in the very first lines:

For as long as anyone can remember, the students of Mount Washington High have arrived at school on the last Monday in September to find a list naming the prettiest and the ugliest girl in each grade.

This year will be no different.

Eight girls, then—four named pretty, four named ugly—and with thoughtful, third-person omniscience their stories get told.  It's a risky proposition, a novel that could only work if Siobhan went beyond stereotype and delivered fresh tales, if she made us think newly, if she hinged the whole thing around a searing who-dunnit, and if she wrote the heck out of every sentence. 

All this she does.  Siobhan is smart.  She pays attention.  To how teens think and talk, to the details that will matter to those who pick up THE LIST looking for some semblance of herself, or of them.  Siobhan's books resonate with teens because she has never forgotten what it feels like to be one, and because, on her tours with other books, she has stopped to ask the teens she meets what is going on right now, what is real right now, what is shaping young lives.  She has asked, and she has listened, and with compassion she has reached back out, writing a novel that is equal parts story and salve.  She's still inviting people to her table, that Siobhan Vivian.  I'm glad to sit there with her. 

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There I was, sitting beside John Green and right near Christine Hinwood and Ruta Sepetys

... I mean — there was SMALL DAMAGES sitting alongside the work of Those Great Writers (at the Public Library Association meeting in Philadelphia), and of course I had to take a picture, because, seriously, what dream am I having that my book would be right there, in that glorious Penguin mix?  Of course, we all do know that Penguin rules.

When I wasn't busy being starstruck by my own shelf position (I hope you all do know that I am kidding; I am biologically predetermined never to be self-starstruck), I was taking photographs of the real stars—people like Carl Hiaasen and Gayle Forman, pictured here.  I was also running around looking for my dear friend Siobhan Vivian, whose THE LIST is due out soon (check back here for more on that soon).  Siobhan and I never found each other (sadness and sobs) but we got to talk for a long time on the phone as I took the train home.  Making the day even more special.

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The Lititz Kid/Lit Festival (a brief reprise)

We drove toward Lancaster on a sour-skied day—past sheep, goats, horses, cows, corn-stuffed silos, chicken cathedrals. The sun kept trying to come out, and sometimes, in a skittish mood, it did, but once we reached the town of Lititz, I wasn't thinking about weather. I was thinking about the town itself—cohesive, grounded, charming. I was thinking about that marvelous independent, Aaron's Books, which had engineered its first Kid's Lit festival and invited me to take part.

The first order of business was a panel seamlessly (and, because she's beautiful) beautifully moderated by Julie Peterson. Together with A.S. King, Lisa Greenwald, Lee Harper, Matt Phelan, Eric Wright, and Mara Rockliff I reflected on questions big and small; more importantly, I got to listen to what the others had to say about ambitions and priorities, about stories not yet told. It was be far one of the best panels I've ever sat on. It elevated book making, stayed focused on the true why for.

Later, there was pizza with local teens. After that, a long evening of clamoring and dishing with Caroline Hickey, Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian, and Lisa Greenwald—long-time best friends who travel the children's/YA circuit together and (when you're lucky, as last night I was profoundly lucky) let you in for some of their outrageous (and so smart and it all comes from loving, seriously, I know it comes from loving) drubbing. An evening at the truly gracious Lititz House was next, a B&B you can't help but love, a B&B, let it be known, in which I actually slept five purified consecutive hours. That's no small thing. That's Lititz speaking.

This morning I rose early, walked the town, took photographs. Had a delicious Heidi breakfast at the B&B we were already calling home. Went off, then, to hear the writers read, to read a bit from Undercover.

We drove home on the same country roads, this time glossed by sunny skies.

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