Oh MGYA Canada: Interview and DREAMLINE Giveaway with Nicole Luiken

I have a Canadian Author to introduce to you.

But-before that, I have the winner of TILLY'S MOONLIT GARDEN. It is...

Julie!

Congrats, Julie. I'll be in touch to get your mailing details.

Now, it is my great pleasure to have Nicole Luiken on the blog. She's joining me for Oh MGYA Canada! and we're talking her books, her recent award nomination, her writing process, how she creates worlds, handles backstory and how she balances her writing life!

It's been some time since I've done one of these and I'm thrilled Nicole was able to do this. With all that said, let's begin with a little bit more about Nicole from her website:

Nicole Luiken wrote her first book at age 13 and never stopped.

She is the author of eight published books for young adults, including Violet Eyes and its sequel Silver Eyes, Frost, Unlocking the Doors, The Catalyst, Escape to the Overworld, Dreamfire and the sequel Dreamline. She also has an adult thriller, Running on Instinct, under the name N.M. Luiken and a fantasy romance ebook, Gate to Kandrith.

Nicole lives with her family in Edmonton, AB. It is physically impossible for her to go more than three days in a row without writing.

Most recently Nicole's book, DREAMLINE was a finalist for The Monica Huges Science Fiction Fantasy Award. So, it seems fitting that that is what the giveaway is for. More about DREAMLINE:

Cross over into the world of dreams...

 Years ago, Lissa decided she could either have friends or secrets, but not both. Now there's a new boy in town who sees past her social outcast label, but is he someone Lissa can trust, or a spy for the wulfdraigles?

 The wulfdraigles are ancient enemies of humanity who are trapped in the world of dreams. Eight years ago, Lissa helped her sister Brianne stop a wildfire from burning Grantmere to ashes, but now the wulf- draigles have returned. They have a new plan to spill their nightmares into our world, and live again. It is up to Lissa to stop them. It is her destiny; what she was born for. And quite possibly, what she will die for, too. Read an excerpt.

Thanks for being here, Nicole. First thing I want to do is congratulate you on being a finalist for the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy! Given the storytelling, the world building and mythology and the list goes on, I'm not surprised. What about you? How did you hear and what does it mean to you receive that honour?

I was notified by email, and I was very surprised, because I'd never heard of the award before!  This is actually its inaugural year, though the CCBC (Canadian Children's Book Centre) puts on a whole slate of other YA awards.  I'm thrilled and honoured to be a finalist for such a prestigious award. 

The fact that the award is named after Monica Hughes makes it doubly meaningful to me.  When I was in junior high, I read all of Monica Hughes's books that I could get my hands on (and in many cases reread them.)  Keeper of the Isis Light and Guardian of Isis are  my favourites.  I recently read Keeper to my son Simon and so got to enjoy it all over again.  She was a wonderful writer. 

One of my favourite aspects of your book is the mythology you have around dreams, something you introduce in DREAMFIRE. What is your process for this? 

I'm not sure I have a process!  It grew rather organically over a number of years.  

Ever since reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader I've been intrigued by the idea of dreams coming true.  I was a little disappointed when in the book Lucy, Edmond and Caspian prudently sail away before landing on the Dark Island.  So, when I was in grade ten, I decided to write a book about a girl whose dreams came true.

I started work on the novel and then got stuck.  To kickstart the idea process I tried  to remember scary dreams that I'd had and recalled a real doozy of a nightmare I'd once had about being alone at a campfire and fighting off a ring of wolves.  At the end of the dream a voice said, "The wolves are bad, but the wallies are worse."  Hmm, I thought, is there such a thing as a wally?  So, I looked it up in the dictionary.  There was an entry for wally, but it was a adj, meaning sturdy.  However, the entry beneath it caught my eye: wally-draigle, a slovenly or feeble-minded creature.  I liked the way the word sounded and thought it had possibilities so I kept browsing: wallaby, wallet, etc.  Then I hit on Walpurgisnacht, 1/ the Eve of May Day on which witches are said to ride, and 2/ and event or situation with a nightmarish quality.  It was so perfect I got goosebumps.  

My mythology grew out of that dream (which Lissa also has in Dreamline) and Walpurgisnacht.

I love that DREAMLINE is about the little sister we meet in DREAMFIRE. Was this always your plan and has the book been in the works for sometime now then?

I wrote both books while still in high school so they've *definitely* been around for awhile. :)  When I originally wrote Dreamfire, I intended it as a stand alone, but because the wulfdraigles weren't fully defeated in book one, an editor suggested that the story could continue.  Lissa was such a spooky little girl in Dreamfire, that I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to grow up with the power to cross the dreamline at will.

Actually, there also used to be a second book, featuring the middle sister Suzy, but since she didn't have any supernatural powers like Brianne and Lissa the book didn't work as well.  I eventually took my favourite Suzy scenes from book two and added them into book one as well as giving Rex a cameo in book three.

Sometime back you and I briefly talked about backstory and how to include it in your book. That conversation was particularly about DREAMFIRE. I really was impressed with how you did it and especially taking notes on how you used backstory as a tool to keep the reader turning those pages because you want to know what happened before. But. You also knew when to let the reader in on the full story. Just as I felt myself thinking, okay, I really want to know what happened with Brianne...you showed me. Well done! Can you talk a little about that? 

In Dreamfire I use the mystery of Brianne's backstory as a secondary hook to draw the reader in.  In chapter one, there are several references sprinkled about, "If my nightmares were returning again, making a fool of myself in front of the class was the least of my worries."  "Just a dream... Right?  Wrong.  My dreams had a nasty habit of coming true."  Chapter two starts with Brianne remembering "being treated like a walking leper.. The last time I'd tried to use the knowledge my true dreams gave me to help solve a crime I'd ended up being accused of the crime myself.  Thinking about the unholy mess I'd made of my life last year... made me sick to my stomach," but the full story doesn't come out until she relates it to Ben in chapter six.  

I think the key to dropping these hints is to make them progress a little further each time.  If all I had done was make the same mysterious reference over and over it gets annoying (as my editor gently pointed out to me.)  

The big reveal needs to come before the big confrontation.  In Dreamfire it's at the 1/3 mark, but in a different story it might be delayed to the halfway of 2/3 mark.  Pushing the reveal much past that and you risk alienating or frustrating your reader.  I prefer to give them a pay-off for reading the earlier chapters.  By the 1/3 mark in the story, the reader should be well hooked on the main plot anyway or you've failed.

If the backstory reveal is the climax, then it shouldn't be backstory at all, it should be the main story (or at least book one).

Now,Wulfdraigles are bad bad and scary! (readers: note the image behind Lissa on DREAMLINE cover) Even typing this I love how scary and downright bad they are. What was it like writing them, carrying them around in your head? Did you write into the wee hours with them, scare yourself? 

I do find the wulfdraigles rather scary, and for years the words "dream come true" made me shiver.  We use the phrase so casually and yet I suspect few of us would wish our actual sleep dreams to come true.

The only time I remember being really freaked out was during the plotting process when I stumbled on the word Walpurgisnacht.  

You write for adults as well as teens. Do you work on one then the other or do you do both? In other words, are you are more than one project at a time writer? 

I am experimenting with working on more than one project at a time.  For the last year while I worked on the 2nd and 3rd drafts of my adult fantasy novel Soul of Kandrith, I set aside every Monday to work on a YA project.  (The sequel to Violet Eyes and Silver Eyes.)  I worried that it would be hard to switch tracks, but it worked quite well, and now I'm experimenting with working on two books every day, setting myself a quota for the 'priority' book and allowing myself to work on the second one if I meet the quota.


You've have been writing since you were 13. How has your writing changed over the years? Any particular pieces of advice you have for others? Thinking of keeping that writing routine going, in particular. Over the years I am sure the time you have to write has changed considerably. I do see in you bio that it is physically impossible for you to go three days without writing.

My writing process has evolved a lot over time.  My original model was  to plot out a book, do a first draft, then let it rest awhile and work on something else, then go back and do another draft.  Only sometimes I would be distracted by a third shiny new idea and never get back to the first draft.  This haphazard process resulted in books like Dreamfire and Dreamline which I wrote the first drafts of in high school not being rewritten and published until much later.  

My problem is that I enjoy the plotting and first draft part of writing more than I do the revising and polishing bits.  My current solution is to write the 2nd and 3rd drafts simultaneously.  Confused?  Let me try to lay it out: 1/plotting 2/first draft 3/second draft in which I attack large plot problems and deepen characterization 4/third draft in which I pore over the printed manuscript, looking at every scene as a unit, honing my word choice, tightening my sentences and adding in description.  (If the story is a movie playing in the author's mind, my movie has an extreme zoom focus in on the characters faces.)  The thought of facing several hundred pages of third draft makes me whine, so after I've done two or three chapters of 2nd draft, I set myself an additional goal of doing 3rd draft-level revision on one scene a day.  That way by the time I finish the 2nd draft I'm about halfway through the 3rd draft and it's not as daunting.

Advice to writers?  Read a lot and try to write every day.  I started out in junior high with a goal of writing 1 page a day and gradually increased to about 4 pages (1000 words).  When I was in college and working full-time I usually wrote in the evenings.  At that time if I didn't have at least 2 hours available, it didn't feel worthwhile to make the effort and I'd blow it off.  Then I had my kids.  Now 20 minutes is a valuable block of time.  Make writing a habit.  I have days when I don't get as much accomplished as I would've liked to, but very few days (like Christmas) when I don't fit in a little writing.  Oh, one more piece of advice, don't just count words.  That time you spend thinking about your book while you take a walk or shower still counts as writing.

What is up for you for the rest of 2012? Writing projects? School visits? Conferences?
My current project (tentatively titled Angel Eyes) is book three in my Violet Eyes series, featuring Mike and Angel.  I have another six chapters to revise.  My next priority project is a fourth draft of the first book in a YA fantasy series called Otherselves (think mirror magic and multiple worlds).

I am a member of YABS, but I don't have any school readings booked for this fall yet. :(  I plan to attend the Pure Speculations SF conference this fall.  And, of course, I'm hoping to go to the gala where the CCBC winners are announced in Toronto.

Oh my gosh yes, Nicole. I hope you can go to that gala, as well. Good luck with your current projects and enjoy that conference.

On to the giveaway details...the usual, leave a comment with a way for me to contact you.  You have until midnight MST next Sunday (Sept. 23). International! 

You can check out Nicole's Facebook fan page here and you can find her on twitter, here.

Say, if you go on and like that page, I'll give you another entry. Tweets will result in the same. 

I'd love for you to help me spread the love for this fantastic Canadian author!

Courtney Summers: An interview plus a giveaway of THIS IS NOT A TEST

I have the opportunity to read the ARC for Courtney Summer's latest book, THIS IS NOT A TEST. Needless to say I jumped at the chance and needless to say I read it in one sitting. So. So. Good. Here is more about it from the author's website:

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up.

As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, everyone’s motivations to survive begin to change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life–and death–inside. When everything is gone, what doyou hold on to?



And to double up on the cool I was also given a chance to interview Courtney as part of her blog tour.  So, here is that interview. And, if you'd like to win of copy of Courtney's book, just leave a comment by the end of today. Midnight MST, that is.


Courtney, I've been a fan of yours since your first book. When I started to read THIS IS NOT A TEST and you dropped us into an apocalyptic novel (zombies no less!) I was amazed. I loved the premise. What if a teen who thought she had nothing to live for was thrown into a world where instinct would make her fight for her life. And once she started that fight, how would she (and could she) stop the fight. What made you decide to write this particular book? How did the idea come to you, in other words.

Thanks so much, Deb!  Everyone who knows me knows I've always been a fan of zombies, so writing a book about them wasn't much of a stretch for me.  After my editor gave me the
greenlight on the pitch, which was basically, "teens stuck in a high school during the
zombie apocalypse," I began to develop the idea.  I thought a lot about the zombie movies
I liked and one thing I noticed was that the main characters in those movies usually had
this unwavering will to live and I thought--would I be that person, if I was in the
zombie apocalypse?  Would I want to live in spite of it all?  When I took away the the
things that were important to me, I realized my answer wasn't so cut and dried.  I
thought it would be interesting to write about a character who doesn't want to survive,
who is determined to die, during the zombie apocalypse and it all sort of grew from there.

As you developed the story, what were some surprises the characters and plot had in store for you? For example....characters you knew for certain would survive who were suddenly not so fortunate. (If answering this question makes you think you might be in a position to spoil some of the book, we can totally skip it!)

It's hard to tell you what surprises the characters and plot had in store for me without
giving anything away.  I will say that going into this zombie novel, I knew there HAD to
be a body count and I knew that I didn't want every death to be entirely expected.  I had
a pretty clear idea of who was and wasn't going to make it from the beginning--except for
one character.  That particular character ended up rewriting their fate.  But I'm not
saying who it was. ;)

Every single character you created was compelling and so, so real. It was like a cross
section of kids from high school. They also represented, for me, different aspects of
family relationships-sibling to sibling, child to parent. How did your settle on the
characters you chose and I'm curious who came first in terms of their development. Anyone not make in into the final draft?

I'm so glad you found them compelling and real!  The characters revealed themselves to me
as I wrote.  The first draft of TINAT was about finding their voices and the second draft
was about fine-tuning their motivations.  The character that came first in terms of
development was Sloane.  She always had the same background with her father, but how that defined her and how she interacted with other characters because of it evolved from one
draft to the next.  In the first draft of THIS IS NOT A TEST, there were eight teens who
made it to the school:  Sloane, Rhys, Trace, Grace, Cary, Harrison... and Sabrina and
Will.  Sabrina and Will were two characters too many and they really watered down Grace
and Harrison arcs.  So when I wrote the second draft of the book, I combined Sabrina and
Grace and Harrison took on some, but not all, of Will's traits.

I'd love for you to share your zombie research. How'd you establish the rules for them in this world? Favorite movies? Book of rules for zombies we could go check out, too? Although the ending is completely satisfying (and oh so _well_ done. When I was done reading I just had to sit and think for bit. Loved it.). I could totally see a sequel to
this book or another book set in this world. Is this a possibility?

In terms of research, I mostly looked into the ways power and technology would fail and
how water could continue to run in the school.  I also did a lot of research relating to
how I wanted the school to be designed--I wanted the place to be easily fortified since I
knew most of the conflict would be interpersonal, so I looked up windowless schools,
various kinds of lighting schemes, things like that.  In terms of the zombies--the
characters don't know how the outbreak started but I do.  :)  I'm keeping that under my
hat for now, though.  I did decide on some fundamental basics for my zombies right away,
however.  They had to be fast moving because I wanted the outbreak to take people by
surprise--no time whatsoever to prepare for it, just instant chaos.  I wanted how fast
people became zombies to depend on the bite--that's a pretty classic zombie rule.  I
didn't read a book of zombie rules to establish the way my zombies operated so I can't
rec one but I can tell you my favourite zombie movie is Night of the Living Dead (a
classic for a reason!).  For now, it's best to think of THIS IS NOT A TEST as standalone
though I can't promise I'll never revisit zombies again.  :)

Thanks for having me on your blog, Deb!


Thanks for being here and double thanks for writing the books you do. Happy touring.


More books from Courtney, you know you want to check them out and so you should because she is one talented writer!

 When “Perfect” Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter’s High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher’s pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace? Parker doesn’t want to talk about it. She’d just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her counselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there’s a nice guy falling in love with her and he’s making her feel things again when she’d really rather not be feeling anything at all. Nobody would have guessed she’d turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth. Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault. 

When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on… but are some questions better left unanswered?

Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard–falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High… until vicious rumors about her and her best friend’s boyfriend start going around. Now Regina’s been “frozen out” and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn’t come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend… if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don’t break them both first.

YA Roundtable, Book Reveal, TASTE by Kate Evangelista

Recently, Kate Evangelista asked if I might be interested in taking part in the cover and book trailer reveal for her upcoming book, TASTE. I said yes and here we are today doing just that! Very often when deciding on which books to read I will decide based on cover and blurb [mostly blurb]. The cover, the trailer and the following blurb, provided by Kate, have me very interested to read her book.

At Barinkoff Academy, there's only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.

When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.

Further information: 

Author Website: www.kateevangelista.com

Twitter: @KateEvangelista

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Evangelista/165693410143202

Find Taste on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13484226-taste

Crescent Moon Press page for Taste: http://crescentmoonpress.com/books/Taste.html

And finally, for your reading pleasure, an excerpt from the book:

***

I mentally stomped on the intimidation their perfection brought into my mind and said, “Excuse me.”

The group froze, startled by my words. The girls had their brows raised and the boys stopped mid-speech, mouths agape. They stared at me with eyes the shade of onyx stones.

I smiled and gave them a little wave.

The boy a step ahead of the rest recovered first. His stunning features went from shocked surprise to intense interest. He reminded me of a hawk eyeing its prey. I gulped.

“A Day Student,” he said, his eyes insolent and excited.

Something about the way he said “Day Student” made my stomach flip. “Excuse me?”

They snickered. The boys looked at each other while the girls continued to stare, muffling their laughter by delicate hands. I seemed to be the butt of some joke. 

“You broke the rule.” The boy’s grin turned predatory.

The students formed a loose semi-circle in front of me. My gaze darted from face to face. Hunger filled their eyes. The image of lions about to chase down a gazelle came to mind. I mentally shook my head. I was in the mountains not the Serengeti for crying out loud.

I took a small step back and cleared my throat. “Can any of you give me a ride back to the dorms?”

The boy wagged his forefinger like a metronome. “Ah, that’s unfortunate for you.”

One of the girls pinched the bridge of her nose. “Eli, you can’t possibly—”

“It’s forbidden, Eli,” another boy interrupted, pronouncing the word “forbidden” like a curse.

The nervous murmur at the pit of my stomach grew louder. Six against one. Not good odds. Instinct told me to cut my losses and run. Bad enough I faced expulsion, now it seemed like weird, beautiful people who’d suddenly appeared on campus wanted to beat me up. No, scratch that. Judging from the way they studied me, beating me up wouldn’t satisfy them. Something more primal prowled behind their looks.

I definitely wasn’t going down without a fight. Years of self-defense and hand-to-hand combat classes had me prepared. While other children from rich and important families got bodyguards, I got defense training. But I think my father meant for my skills to go up against potential kidnappers, not against other students who may or may not be crazy. Oh God! Maybe I stepped into a parallel universe or something when I reentered Barinkoff.

“None of the students are supposed to be on campus,” I said. Then, realizing my mistake, I added, “Okay, I know I’m not supposed to be here either. If one of you gives me a ride back to the dorms, I won’t say anything about all this. Let’s pretend this never happened. I didn’t see you, you didn’t see me.”

“We’re not ordinary students,” Eli answered. “We’re the Night Students.”

He’d said “Night Students” like the words were capitalized. I didn’t know Barinkoff held classes at night. What was going on here?

Eli smiled with just one side of his mouth and said to the group, “She’s right, no one will have to know. We’re the only ones here. And it’s been so long, don’t you agree?”

The rest of them nodded reluctantly.

“What’s been so long?” I challenged. I fisted my hands, ready to put them up if any of them so much as twitched my way.

“Since the taste of real flesh passed through my lips,” Eli said. He came forward and took a whiff of me then laughed when I cringed.

“Flesh.” Yep, parallel universe.

“Yes,” he said. “And yours smells so fresh.”

Someone grabbed my shoulders from behind and yanked me back before I could wrap my mind around the meaning behind Eli’s words. In a blink, I found myself behind someone tall. Someone reallytall. And quite broad. And very male.

I realized he wore the same clothes Eli and the other boys did. Not good. He was one of them. Although… I cocked my head, raking my gaze over him. He seemed born to wear the uniform, like he was the pattern everyone else was cut from. My eyes wandered to long, layered, blue-black hair tied at the nape by a silk ribbon. Even in dim light, his hair possessed a sheen akin to mercury.

I looked down. The boy’s long fingers were wrapped around my wrist like a cuff. His fevered touch felt hotter than human standards, hot enough to make me sweat like I was standing beside a radiator but not hot enough to burn.

“I must be mistaken, Eli,” the boy who held my arm said in a monotone. “Correct me. Did I hear you say you wanted to taste the flesh of this girl?”

A hush descended on us. It had the hairs at the back of my neck rising. How was it possible for the atmosphere to switch from threatening to dangerous? Unable to help myself, I peeked around the new guy’s bulk. Eli and his friends bowed. They all had their right hands on their chests.

“Demitri, I’m sure you misheard me,” Eli said.

So the guy standing between me and the person who said he’d wanted to taste me was named Demitri. I like the sound of his name. Demitri. So strong, yet rolls off the tongue. Definite yum factor.

“So, you imply I made a mistake?” Demitri demanded.

“No!” Eli lifted his gaze. “I did no such thing. I simply wanted to show the girl the consequences of breaking curfew.”

“Hey!” I yelled. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

Demitri ignored my protest and continued to address Eli. “So, you threatened to taste her flesh.” His fingers tightened their grip around my wrist. “In the interest of investigating this matter further, I invoke the Silence.”

All six students gasped, passing surprised glances at one another.

Before I could ask about what was going on, Demitri yanked me down the hall toward the library. But why there? Oh, maybe we were getting my things. No, wait, he couldn’t have known about that. Everything was too confusing now.

Eli and the others didn’t try to stop us when we passed them. Demitri’s cold command must have carried power. Handsome and powerful, never a bad combination on a guy.

We reached the heavy double doors in seconds. He jerked one open effortlessly. I’d needed all my strength just to squeeze through that same door earlier. To him, the thick wood might as well have been cardboard. I raised an eyebrow and mentally listed the benefits of going to gym class.

“Why are we here?” I asked after my curiosity overpowered my worry. I’d almost forgotten how frightened I’d been right before Demitri showed up. I wasn’t above accepting help from strangers. Especially from gorgeous dark-haired strangers with hot hands and wide shoulders.

Demitri kept going, tugging me along, snaking his way deeper into the library. I had to take two steps for every stride his legs made. I tried to stay directly behind him, praying we didn’t slam into anything.

He stopped suddenly and I collided with him. It felt like slamming into a wall.

“Hey,” I said, momentarily stunned. “A little warning would be nice!”

He faced me, and I gasped. His eyes resembled a starless night, deep and endless. Their intensity drilled through me without pity, seeming to expose all my secrets. I felt naked and flustered beneath his gaze.

“You could have died back there,” he warned.

A lump of panic rebuilt itself in my throat.

***

 Now. I'm curious. How do you pick which books to read. Cover?  Blurb? Reading the first chapter or an excerpt? A combo?

YA Roundtable-13 to Life by Shannon Delany and Mighty Fine Use of Backstory

Introducing....YA ROUNDTABLE!

Up until I moved in fall of 2011 I had the great (great!) pleasure of heading out to monthly lunch dates with some fabulous friends. All writers. All talented. And all readers of MG and YA. Eventually those luncheons expanded into us bringing books to exchange. We'd show and share the books around the table and each of us would pick the books we wanted to take home and read. Next month (or so) we'd return with the books we borrowed and new books to lend. Needless to say the table was often filled with piles of books! It. was. wonderful. As were some of the lunches (er, yeah, we have some lunch horror stories otherwise I would have said all). As was the company (talking about family, writing, the craft, the business). Now I don't get to do that so much anymore. BUT. Decided that in the spirit of those lunches I'd start a new blog feature. I talk about MG on Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays, but have yet to get going on YA. That's why YA Roundtable was born. Today I am going to feature only one book. Sometimes it be more than one, but never less (ha ha!).

I recently read 13 to Life by Shannon Delany. It's been out for some time now, it just took me this long to get to it. AND-there are more in the series so I am one happy carry on reader!

I'd recommend it to my writer buds (some of whom have probably already read, lol!) and all of you.  And I'd say read it for the great story but also to see how you can use back story to create mystery and tension. The kind of mystery and tension that keeps you turning the page. The best part for me was also the timing...that is, how the author pulled you along to almost the middle of the book, but then finally revealed the whole story behind the back story. If she'd gone on any longer with it, it would have been too much, frustrating the reader (er, me). The main story line was compelling in its own right and had to be. If it had not been only being given hints at the backstory, the what happened would not have worked. The balance the author had worked. And as I writer I TOTALLY admired how she did it. A bit of take away on how to use backstory for aspiring author me. So. Would ya like to know about the book in case you don't already? Of course you would!

The trailer:

From IndieBound.org
Everything about Jessie Gillmansen's life changed when her mother died. Now even her hometown of Junction is changing.  Mysterious dark things are happening. All Jessie wants is to avoid more change. But showing a hot new guy around Junction High, she's about to discover a whole new type of change. Pietr Rusakova is more than good looks and a fascinating accent--he's a guy with a dangerous secret. And his very existence is sure to bring big trouble to Jessie's small town.  It seems change is the one thing Jessie can't avoid...

That be it from me. Hope to see you soon for another YA Roundtable where I'll share my YA reading and what books I think you can learn a lot from as a writer. Or something along those lines. I imagine this feature will grow and change as the year moves along. If there is anything in particular you'd like to see (maybe to soon to ask) do let me know!  Plus...any books you know of that make particular good use of back story?