Exploring Genre - Young Adult

by Cecily Anne Paterson

Want to start an argument? Ask someone in publishing to define ‘YA’. Don’t know anyone in publishing, but you’re still curious? Just enquire of Dr Google, who’ll spit you back more opinions about what YA is and what it means, than you’ll ever have time to get through.

I have an apparently controversial task ahead of me.

What is YA?

So what is YA? It’s the short-hand term for ‘Young Adult’ books and stories. As to who those ‘young adults’ are exactly, well, that’s anyone’s guess.

It’s safe enough to say that a YA book will feature a teenage protagonist who faces a challenge, learns and grows.

Here’s where it gets tricky: if the character is 12-14 years of age, some people will say it’s a ‘teen book’. They’d argue that a young adult is 14+, and I can understand their reasoning. A kid of 13 is dealing with different life issues than a young person of 16, and that young person is a different creature again in comparison to an 18 or 19-year old.

So within YA, perhaps we have three categories: teen, featuring characters aged 12-14, YA, with a character who is 14-17, and New Adult, following a protagonist who is aged 18-21.

What are YA books about?

Just like books for younger children deal with different issues according to age, you’ll find a huge variety of subject matter – and standards of what’s acceptable - within the YA genre. While you might not find sex, drug and alcohol use or swearing in a book at the younger end of the spectrum (they have to get past parents and librarians after all), you’ll almost certainly find some or all of it as you head up to the New Adult end.

You’ll find in current YA titles a tendency to feature characters from diverse backgrounds, religions and cultures. YA loves to tell tales of ‘outliers’, or the people who don’t fit in. Words like ‘searingly honest’, ‘an unflinching look at life’ and 'achingly funny' sell YA books. They can be brutally honest, sizzlingly harsh, and unbearably beautiful.

Years ago, YA books were often known as ‘coming of age’ stories. A young person can ‘come of age’ whenever they understand themselves or something in their world differently, whenever they cross a threshold or have a significant ‘first time’ experience, and whenever they move out and away from what has constituted safety in their life.

Because we’re dealing with young people, YA titles have all the feels, and lots of them.

My mother once read my (younger) YA title, Invisible, and said, “Well, there was plenty of teenage angst in it.”

“That’s the point,” I said.

The richness of working with a teenage protagonist is that they do have all that angst, and passion, and energy, and terror, and bliss, and wonder. Life is tough, and the first time you deal with it as a young person, you haven’t learned the wisdom older people use to discern truth from lies, shield yourself from unnecessary hurt, or set limits. The passion and intensity of young people is what makes them such wonderful characters.

Additionally, seeing the world through the eyes of a young person means that a YA writer can comment on society in unique ways. If Suzanne Collins had told the story of Katniss’ mother, The Hunger Games would have been an entirely different story. Instead, readers follow angry, idealistic Katniss into the dystopia of the Districts and its lavish Capitol, gaining with her a thirst for justice and peace, and a longing for change. 

It’s no coincidence that some of the best dystopian literature is found in the YA genre: it’s young people who have the passion and energy to make the world better.

Some Christian YA books I've enjoyed

I'd recommend Penny Jaye's Out of the Cages.
I'd also recommend Roseanne Hawke's books.
And Claire Zorn is a multi-award winning writer who is also a Christian.

Who reads YA?

Obviously you’d expect that teenagers would be keen to read books featuring characters of their own age, and you’d be right. But—and this has been a surprising development over the last 25 years— it’s not just young people. Adults are keen readers of YA and New Adult books.

In fact, adult readers make up 55 per cent of the YA audience, for which we have to thank Harry Potter. Before JK Rowling’s ascendency it might have been shameful to be seen reading a ‘kids’ book’ but a YA book in a grown-up’s hand is no longer notable.

Adults read YA because they still relate to the characters, because they still appreciate a challenge, and because a good, well-told story is still a good well-told story, no matter how old the protagonist is.

What about you? Do you read or write Young Adult or New Adult books? Which ones have you enjoyed reading or would recommend and why?

---

Cecily Paterson writes ‘brave-heart’ stories for girls aged 10-14, which puts her books at the very youngest end of the YA spectrum. Her novel, Charlie Franks is A-OK won the CALEB Prize in 2017. Find her at www.cecilypaterson.com

Book Recommendation: Being Jazmine by Cecily Thew Patterson

Review by Christine Dillon

Being Jazmine is the third in Cecily’s series about Jazmine Crawford. Cecily writes fiction for ‘brave-hearted girls’. Her books are about young teenagers dealing with every day issues like moving to new schools, death and bullying.

Jazmine has two other, less common, challenges, her father has died and she is ‘hard of hearing’ and needs to wear hearing aids.

In the first of the trilogy, Invisible, Jazmine tries to keep out of trouble by seeking to be as invisible as possible. She learns to tackle some of her challenges with the help of her grandmother, a teacher, and a friend.

Initially, Cecily only intended to write two books in the series, Invisible and Invincible but an English professor from the US who works with the deaf contacted her and begged her to write another book about Jazmine mixing with at least one other deaf character. In Being Jazmine, Cecily takes us on a new journey with Jazmine.

Jazmine has conquered many challenges but she is tired, exhausted really. She slowly works out that what she’s feeling isn’t normal. Her need for sleep is because in every class and every conversation she is struggling to lip read and hear everything. But she’s not hearing everything, she’s missing a lot.

One day she sees some deaf people signing together and she is given the chance to make friends with people who talk in Auslan (Australian sign language) rather than lip reading.

But even this new group of friends have their cliques and own culture. Besides which, Jazmine isn’t fluent in sign language, she’s never had to be. The book shows you her struggles in both worlds.

Cecily is a master at immersing you in the world of young teenage angst. Each book keeps you in that world to the end. I particularly appreciated learning about the challenges of being deaf or hard of hearing. Cecily is not a member of that group but she grew up in a completely different culture herself and so understands and is able to show someone who is between worlds, never quite fitting in either.

These books are written for the general market. They would make excellent texts for year 7-8 English as they raise many common issues and have plenty of potential discussion issues. They would also be good books for mothers and daughters to read and discuss. Issues of friendship and rejection, grief, struggle, parent/child conflict, victory and success. Clean reads with an occasional tiny mention of things like prayer.

Cecily has also written two books in another series Love and Muddy Puddles, and Charlie Franks is A-OK. This series is more light-hearted and the second book has just won the Caleb award for published fiction and overall Caleb award for best book 2017.

Cecily has also written non-fiction and is an editor. She has recently produced a video course on writing your memoir. Her website is http://www.cecilypaterson.com/

About Christine Dillon 

Christine Dillon was born in Australia but grew up in Asia. She now works in Taiwan as a Bible storyteller. Her book 'Telling the Gospel Through Story' was voted 2013 Outreach Magazine's Resource of the Year in Evangelism and continues to inspire innovative and engaging Bible storytelling. Believing in the beauty and power of story prompted her jump into fiction. Grace in Strange Disguise was runner-up in the Athanatos Christian Writing Contest. Christine loves reading and keeps sane by cycling, swimming and hiking.

Website | Facebook (Page) | Facebook (Group) | Pinterest

Book Review: Unspoken Rules by Lora Inak

Review by Iola Goulton

Natalie is a Syrian Orthodox Christian, the child of immigrants to Australia, currently in her final year of high school. Her older sister wants nothing more than to marry a Baba-approved man from the Syrian expat community, but Natalie is falling for a guy from school. An Australian. And she wants to become a journalist and travel the world, not get married and start her own family.

She has many of the same struggles as normal seventeen-year-old girls, but she also has the struggle of straddling two worlds—the conservative patriarchal culture of her Syrian family and community which is full of unspoken rules, and the more liberal Australian culture of her school. And things are difficult at home. Her older sister is moody, but that’s nothing new. Her mother is acting out of character. Baba carries on making bad jokes.

Natalie might hide her Syrian culture from most of her schoolmates, but she can’t hide it from the reader. 

Instead, we see that the girls at her church are just as focused on clothes and boys as the girls at school. What was good to see was that none of the characters experienced any racism—although that could be more because racism wasn’t the focus of the book than because it doesn’t exist in modern Australia.

One thing that bugged me was that while the family were strict Syrian Orthodox Christians, the focus seemed to be on the cultural aspect rather than the spiritual. Natalie’s sister was the only character who seemed to pray—I never really understood whether Natalie believed in what the church taught or not. Sure, she followed the rules, but that’s a matter of outward behaviour, not inner faith. I guess I’d have liked to have understood that a little better.

Unspoken Rules was a fascinating insight into other cultures—the Syrian Orthodox culture, the tightknit Syrian community (which can’t really be separated from the Orthodox), and modern Australian teen culture. And it’s a warts-and-all insight, told from Natalie’s point of view. The writing has a slightly foreign flavour, especially when Mama and Baba are talking. But that makes sense, because their first language is Arabic.

A fascinating and engrossing Young Adult novel that shows growing up is hard no matter what your culture.

Thanks to Rhiza Press and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nzto download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

An Exciting Opportunity for Your Facebook Author Page

A guest post from Jebraun Clifford.

Facebook just made it easier to create visually engaging content on your author page with a new feature: a video instead of a static image for your cover picture. You could play a book trailer. A very short interview. A montage of all your book covers. You’ve got 20–90 seconds to grab your visitors’ attention, and the possibilities are endless.

I made a video on http://lumen5.com. 

The process is simple, even if you’re not a superstar with technology. I played around for an hour or two and ended up with a 38 second video that I feel represents my brand well. The website is very self-explanatory and coaches you through each step.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Collect images. 

These can be stock photos (I like stocksnap.io for a good, free selection), or use your own photos. This website also suggests photos to go with your text, though—lookout!—there were some dodgy photos! I recommend including a recent head shot and certainly pictures of your book covers if you’re published. Each image runs for about 4 seconds in a slide-show format.

2. Figure out what words you want your video to say. 

I briefly described what genre I write and then organised the images to go with my chosen text. Don’t try to squeeze too many words on each picture as your visitors will only have 4 seconds to read each frame. Other ideas include brief testimonials or endorsements, a blurb of a chosen book broken down into several sentences (you could do one trailer for each book you’ve written if you’re so inclined and rotate them through!), or your tagline which I also included at the very end of my video.

3. Upload your images onto the website.

Then drag and drop them in the order you want. It’s easy to switch them around until you’re happy with the placement. Keep in mind that your Facebook cover photo area will only show two thirds of your video (top, middle or bottom two thirds since you can shift the video up or down to place it), so make sure the important parts of the images are in a consistent location.

4. Type in the correct text to go with each image. 

Choose ‘title’ ‘text’ or ‘quote’ to format the text (though there’s only one font), and decide the placement of all your words. There’s a grid for upper left, upper middle, upper right, middle left, etc. for you to put your text in. Here’s where I messed up: because only 2/3 of the video fit on my Facebook cover photo area, I had to go back and switch my text to show at the top of the photos so it was all visible. I actually ended up making four videos, changing the word placement here and there, until I was satisfied with how it looked on Facebook. You can also have your text in different colours (including custom colours!), so play around and have fun with it.

5. Choose your music. 

There’s a melody for almost any mood or style you can imagine!

6. Preview. 

Make sure the music fits with your pictures. I even added an extra photo to take advantage of the music’s timing for some extra punch.

7. Publish your video. 

Wait for them to email it to you (it can take up to an hour), then upload it onto your Facebook page.

8. Admire your awesome looking Facebook page!

What are you going to put on your video?

About Jebraun Clifford

Growing up, Jebraun Clifford always wanted to step through a door into an imaginary kingdom, so it's no surprise she now calls Middle Earth home. Too short to be an elf and too tall to be a Hobbit, she lives in the centre of New Zealand where she and her preacher husband planted a church over a decade ago. She has three children, a crazy Jack Russell named Bree, and Gidget, a tortoiseshell kitten. She studied English Literature at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and the Central Coast of California is still one of her favourite places ever.

You can find out more about Jeb at her website, or on Facebook:

www.jebraunclifford.com

Jebraun Clifford on Facebook

Book Review: Intermission by Serena Chase (and a giveaway)

Review by Iola Goulton

I’d heard good things about Intermission, so when the opportunity came to read a review copy, I was in.

Intermission is written in first person present tense—which is common in Young Adult novels, but something I always find takes me a little while to get in to. It just doesn’t feel as natural to me as past tense. The other slightly weird thing was that it started in the present, then slipped three years into the past, and my brain said that definitely should have been written in past tense. As such, I did find the opening a little odd.

No matter. I always have that reaction to present tense, and I always get over it. In the case of Intermission, I was hooked by the end of the first chapter and could probably have read the whole book in one sitting if I’d been allowed. If you’re like me and bothered by present tense, don’t let it put you off. Keep reading, and I’m sure you’ll be hooked as well.

Our first person narrator is Madeline Faith Prescott, known as Faith because Madeline is her grandmother’s name and her mother and grandmother don’t get on. Even though they live in the same small town Iowa. This should have been a clue …

Faith is sixteen, a sophomore in high school, and wants to major in musical theatre at college. Her father is a doctor and her mother is an accountant, and they’d rather she majored in something more practical. Less artsy. They have their reasons and some of them are even good reasons, but that doesn’t stop Faith auditioning for a major part in The Sound of Music … and falling for Noah, her blue-eyed co-lead.

Is that cute or what?

Noah isn’t perfect, and every time I suspected he was he pointed out to Faith (and me) that he wasn’t. But he’s a gentleman who has a real faith in God, and who is doing his best to live according to that faith. Sure, he makes mistakes … but he’s the kind of boy I’d want my daughter dating (hint, hint).

The shame is that Faith’s mother doesn’t see it that way (despite obviously being the woman who signed Faith up for dance classes, and paying for her vocal lessons. Who knows why. I guess because she knew Faith would have to have strong extra-curricular talents in order to get into the ‘right’ college).

Anyway, Faith’s mother sees Noah as too old for Faith … and while that might (might!) be the case when they are 16 and 19, many couples have far more significant age gaps when they marry, and always have (although I do admit to not liking the sixteen-year age gap in Jane Austen’s Emma. That always struck me as a little creepy).

As the story progressed, I found myself getting more and more angry with Faith’s mother, for her over-the-top reactions and pronouncements. And they were all too believable, as was Faith’s wimpy father. I won’t say more. Just read the book. The plot is excellent, the characters are excellent, the writing is excellent.

Recommended for fans of YA fiction that gives you the feels (like The Fault in Our Stars, or Me Before You, although I think I can give this to my daughter to read without her threatening me over the ending. Unlike Me Before You, which she’s still angry about).

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

About Serena Chase

SERENA CHASE is the author of the critically-acclaimed Eyes of E’veria series and a regular contributor to USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog. A lifelong performer who sometimes speaks in show tunes, Serena lives in Iowa with her husband Dave, teen daughters Delaney and Ellerie, and a 100-pound white Goldendoodle named Albus, who is the biggest star of her Instagram account. Connect with Serena Chase by visiting her website and signing up for her newsletter, “like” her official Facebook page to stay up-to-date on new release news, and enjoy her sometimes poignant, but more often chuckle-inducing random observations of life on Twitter.

If you'd like to win a copy of Intermission, Serena is running a giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more at www.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

Character, Character, Character!

Heard of the movie? I’d read a couple of reviews, watched the trailer, and knew it was sad. So, armed with tissues, five of us toddled off to the local cinema.

Everything seemed normal at first. There were the usual sounds of lolly bags being wrestled open, frozen Cokes hurtling up straws, low-key chatter during the ads and previews. And then, the instant the movie began, a collective ‘Awwwwwww?’ erupted from all around us. Loud, shrill, and very, very female.

I looked at my bestie. She looked at me. I caught my daughter’s eye and then that of her friend. They both raised eyebrows and shrugged, as did my sister-in-law next to me. What was going on?

Teenage girls, that’s what.

The ‘awwww’s just kept on coming – every time Augustus spoke. Every time he smiled. Every time he so much as raised an eyebrow.

And then came the tears. Except they weren’t just tears. They were sobs. Violent ones. So loud in some parts we couldn’t actually hear the movie. The girl in front of me rocked as she cried into a jumper shoved against her mouth. And I kid you not, the girl behind me was curled in a foetal position. And then, when I looked around, I saw there were literally hundreds of them doing it. Yeah, I was a little freaked.

Once the movie ended (and it was a beautiful story), us twenty-, forty- and fifty-somethings stayed glued in our seats, watching the aftermath with a kind of macabre fascination. Girls sat huddled on the stairs, arms around each other. Group selfies were taken, even videos. After fifteen gobsmacked minutes, we left them to it.

So why did this happen? Why did this movie have such an effect on these girls?

I asked one of them (several had recognised me from their primary school days where I’d been a teacher) and she was more than willing to explain. Between sobs, that is. Yep, she was still crying and shaking twenty minutes after the credits had finished.

She had read the book, she said, over and over. As had all her friends. She was going home to read the book again if she could. She mightn’t because she’d probably get even more upset. She just LOVED the characters. They meant so much to her.

Talk about a smack between the eyes. (Me, I mean, not my young friend J)

These girls would have had the same reaction if Hazel and Augustus had been Medieval peasants rather than contemporary Americans. Why? Because John Green, the author of 'The Fault in Our Stars', had made them so real and engaging, they had leapt off the page and into their hearts.

So, I’m throwing it out there by saying this:

If my characters don’t connect with my readers, I’m wasting my time.

I could have the most beautiful and eloquently described setting; a clever and intriguing plot; godly themes. But if I have wooden rather than resonating characters, my story will be weak and illicit only a small amount of empathy. And that’s the last thing I want.

I’m a visual learner. Therefore, my movie experience was a brilliant, God-given eye-opener. Because I saw the impact on several hundred lives made by excellently crafted characters. And as a writer (and a Christian), I have the potential to do that. It may take a lot of practice, but I’m determined to get there. Anyone want to join me?

About Andrea Grigg

Andrea writes contemporary romance. Her second novel Too Pretty will be released on August 1 by Rhiza Press. Her first novel A Simple Mistake was a finalist in the CALEB Awards 2012

Andrea would love to hear from you via her website or Facebook page:
http://www.andreagrigg.com/
https://www.facebook.com/author.andreagrigg

Author Interview: Rajdeep Paulus

Today I'd like to welcome Rajdeep Paulus, author of Swimming Through Clouds (which I recently reviewed) and the sequel, Seeing Through Stones.

Welcome, Rajdeep! First, please you tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from?

Sure. I was born in North India, but celebrated my third birthday in NYC. Then my family moved to Canada, where I grew up until right before senior year in High School. Finished high school in Livonia, Michigan, studied English Lit at Northwestern near Chicago and met my husband there. Followed him to the Caribbean as he started Med School and that’s the reason we ended up in New York thirteen years ago. I spent close to a decade doing the full-time Mom thing, with a short break as a teaching assistant and now I’m finally doing what I always dreamed of: writing!

It has been said that authors should write the kind of book they like to read. What is your favourite genre? Who are your favourite authors?

Funny you mention this, because I am a huge Teen Fiction fan. I loved Hunger Games and Twilight and the Matched series. I also loved the books, The Book Thief and anything by John Green. But my all time favourite book is not Young Adult. A Thousand Splendid Suns is the book that changed my life as an aspiring writer. From the moment I turned the last page, I set out a goal to affect readers the way that book effected me. With an aftertaste of hope, if that makes sense.

Having read Swimming Through Clouds, that "aftertaste of hope" absolutely makes sense. 

What kind of books do you write? Where and when are they set?

I write contemporary Young Adult fiction, set in present day, and my first two books are set in and around Chicago. But ultimately, my goal as a writer is to write stories that stretch readers between two extreme emotional ends. And as they read my characters’ journeys, perhaps we can all learn a little about how to navigate the waters of the madness of this life. One minute amazingly sweet and the next a tragedy beyond our wildest imaginations. I’ve heard so many real life stories in the last decade that just break my heart, I know my stories barely scratch the surface of what’s going on out there, but I try to introduce some tough problems into my characters’ worlds and then advocate the power of kindness and hope of unconditional love.

Tell us about your latest book, Seeing Through Stones. Who will enjoy it? 

Sure. Seeing Through Stones continues the journeys of Talia and Jesse, this time telling the story from duel points of view, giving readers a chance to get to know the brother’s journey when the two go their separate ways. I think teens and women in general will fall in love with this story because of the unique cast that **SPOILER ALERT** shows up in the shelter where Talia checks into at the end of Swimming Through Clouds and in Jesse’s life as he searches for justice and purpose.

What was your motivation for writing Swimming Through Clouds and the sequel?

Simply put, I want to write great stories. Stories that give readers a whirlwind experience, break their hearts and fall in love. I also want readers to consider the madness of this life and how we are not in it alone. To perhaps find a Talia or Jesse in their own lives that is quietly suffering and extend a hand of kindness. And widen teen readers’ scope of understanding the world around them. Because a lot goes on in the lives of those around us. We just don’t see it, so we don’t bother worrying or wondering about it. In a country where it’s discouraged to get involved in others’ lives, I want to challenge readers to go against the norm and love someone that is easy to walk by and ignore. Everyone needs love. And everyone can use a little kindness. Everyone.

Where did the characters and story come from? What were your influences?

Truthfully, my imagination. And certainly there are seeds that start with various people I’ve come across in life. Certainly the physical description of Lagan is not too different from how my hubby looked when we first met some seventeen years ago, but I assure you, he never pursued me with Post-its. But he did send me a bunch of cassette tapes. Ha. What are those, you ask?? He was a deejay for his campus radio station and occasionally dedicated a song to me, would tape it, and send it me. And Talia, other than her taste in green clothes (which is my BFF’s favourite color,) her physical description, tastes and story are just a work of my crazy and overactive imagination.

Who is your favourite character and why? Do you have anything in common with him/her? 

Wow. Great question. I would have to say, and this might not make sense, but Rani, Lagan’s cousin. Only because she helped me to find Talia’s story. I wrote an entire book from Rani’s perspective before I ever penned one line of Swimming Through Clouds, so in some ways she was my first Fictional Love.

And there’s nothing like a first. Physical description and quirks of Rani (that barely come out in Swimming Through Clouds) were all me, although her story is not mine in any way, but in that first manuscript she was a freshman at Northwestern with long black hair, an addiction to chocolate and always misplaced things. That is me.

What are you working on at the moment? What other books do you plan to write?

Well, the truth I’m currently working on getting the word out about these first two books. Guest blogging, sharing interviews, and trying to enjoy the chatter about these first stories. I do have two books that are partially written or in first draft states, and I will get to those soon. I am also beginning a new blog this summer to document my hubby and his buddies who plan to bike form Seattle to NYC in the summer of 2015 to raise awareness and funds to combat childhood poverty and human trafficking. They’re calling themselves C4C Cycling 4 Change 2015. Best part about the new blog: I will be writing it with my thirteen year old daughter who is an aspiring author, so it will be a fun mommy-daughter venture. I hope.

Seattle to New York is a loooongg way! That's a huge undertaking, both in the planning and the execution. Kind of like writing a book, perhaps ...

You are a Christian but write books aimed at the general market. What made you choose this rather than the Christian market?

In a nutshell, I want to reach a wider audience. I did not grow up going to church and I guess I see myself more as a bridge builder, hoping to give readers questions to think about but not necessarily all the answers, if that makes sense.

Do your novels have an overt faith element? 

I think inevitably an author’s world view will slip into the story through the characters to some degree. So the faith element is part of Talia’s journey, but I don’t know that I have to take her “all the way,” if you know what I mean.

How does your faith influence your writing? How would that be different if you were writing for the Christian market?

I think my faith drives me to write generally clean fiction, in terms of sexual or profanity content, but more importantly, I feel drawn to write stories of hope, the source of hope not just human relationships. I haven’t read a whole lot of Christian fiction, so I suppose the overt use of church or the name of Jesus might not show up in my writing, but I don’t think that diminishes the power of the stories. If anything, I’m hoping that the story invites all types of readers, regardless of your faith background.

What do you see as the main differences between fiction written for the Christian market compared with the general market? 

Not sure to be honest. I love what Allen Arnold said at my first writing conference: He basically encouraged us to write the most compelling story we could. Make the story king. The message comes second. In fact, as a writer, any hopes to share any kind of idea will never happen if the idea isn’t packaged in a great story. I always sign my letters, Sincerely aware that great stories change lives. They’ve changed mine. As a writer, it’s my turn to change others. For the better. Of course.

For all the above questions, have a look at the recent blog post I wrote for CFOM (Christian Fiction Online Magazine.) I think it tackles the heart of these questions and will give readers a sense of how Playlist Fiction came about and what our hopes and vision have been for reaching teen and YA Fiction readers.

Here's the Book Trailer of the sequel, Seeing Through Stones:



Thanks for joining us today, Rajdeep. It's great to hear some more behind the story.

You can connect with Rajdeep on Facebook, Twitter, or her blog.

World AIDS Day (plus ebook giveaway)

by LeAnne Hardy

December 1 was World AIDS Day. It was also the launch of my new novel for teens and adults, Keeping Secrets. Keeping Secrets is about one of the millions of African young people affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. 

Thirty-four million people in the world today are living with HIV. Thanks to early efforts at education, only about thirty thousand of those live in Australia, and those are primarily in what are considered high-risk groups. Yet for every person with the virus in the blood steam, weakening the immune system, countless others are affected—parents, children, friends, employers, employees, whole communities losing economic power as wage earners become too ill to work. Anti-retroviral drugs have greatly extended the lives of people living with HIV. Unfortunately, this transition to a “manageable chronic disease” has meant that Australians, like Americans, have grown lax in prevention. Last year’s rate of new infections was the highest it has ever been. 

More than two-thirds of people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa where I lived for more than fifteen years. As much as 40% of fifteen-to forty-nine-year-olds in some regions are infected. I have heard statistics as high as 70% in localized areas. Grandmothers who expected their grown children to care for them in their old age are instead raising orphaned grandchildren. Children as young as five attempt to care for younger siblings on their own. These are not statistics. They are people like you and me with hopes and dreams like ours. 

Keeping Secrets is about a promising South African figure skater who is afraid she will be kicked out of the rink if people find out her father has AIDS. Sindi’s love of skating represents the dreams that can be lost when a family is hit with a disease that still causes shame. But it’s not just a story about HIV. It’s about how easy it is for all of us to cut ourselves off from the very relationships we need because we are afraid that someone might find out the truth about us, the secret we’re trying to hide. We’re so busy preserving our image that we turn away even from those who care. We try to keep skating, we smile for the judges, but sometimes the hurt is too much. 

I remember what it was like Before. I flew over the ice like a swallow on the wind. Music filled my whole body, and I soared like a bird above the city of Johannesburg—eGoli—place of gold. I dreamed of gold medals and going to the Olympics someday. 

But that was Before. 

I was too young to know that life can collapse as fast as a skater can lose an edge and tumble to the ice. It hurts to fall, but you get up; you keep skating. You smile for the judges, and you don’t let them see the pain. That’s what winners do. 

But sometimes, the hurt is too much, and you can’t get up. You can’t keep skating. 

Then you lose. 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqXuva2gTuk&feature=youtu.be 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Secrets-LeAnne-Hardy/dp/0615928897/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385832992&sr=1-1&keywords=keeping+secrets+hardy 


ebook giveaway: 
LeAnne has kindly offered to give away an ebook copy of Keeping Secrets to a reader who leaves a comment on this post. The winner will be announced in the post comments on Tuesday, 24th December.

LeAnne Hardy has lived in six countries on four continents, most recently in South Africa where she conducted story hours for orphans and vulnerable children and trained as an adult figure skater. Her books for adults and young people use story to communicate truth in a way that touches the heart.

Book Review: Doon by Carey Corp & Laurie Langdon

Review by Iola Goulton

Amazon Summary

Veronica doesn't think she's going crazy. But why can't anyone else see the mysterious blond boy who keeps popping up wherever she goes?

When her best friend, Mackenna, invites her to spend the summer in Scotland, Veronica jumps at the opportunity to leave her complicated life behind for a few months. But the Scottish countryside holds other plans. Not only has the imaginary kilted boy followed her to Alloway, she and Mackenna uncover a strange set of rings and a very unnerving letter from Mackenna's great aunt---and when the girls test the instructions Aunt Gracie left behind, they find themselves transported to a land that defies explanation.

Doon seems like a real-life fairy tale, complete with one prince who has eyes for Mackenna and another who looks suspiciously like the boy from Veronica's daydreams. But Doon has a dark underbelly as well. The two girls could have everything they've longed for... or they could end up breaking an enchantment and find themselves trapped in a world that has become a nightmare.

My Review

Doon is apparently based on the well-known musical, Brigadoon, which is so well-known that I’ve never heard of it. Maybe it’s well-known to Americans and Gleeks. I decided not to read the Wikipedia plot summary and to let Doon tell its own story, although that turned out not to matter: Doon bears little resemblance to the musical.

The story is told in the first person from the alternating points of view of Veronica and McKenna. First person present tense is pretty normal for YA, but it does rely on having a likeable narrator (and most have a single narrator). Veronica was the main narrator, and I found her much more likeable than McKenna, whose narrative contained constant references to Broadway musicals (Sacred Stephen Schwartz!) and current pop culture. It got old fast, and will date almost as quickly.

Parts of the story felt contrived, particularly the final showdown (which, in hindsight, is symbolic of Jesus’s death on the cross for our sins, the final battle of Armageddon, and our ultimate destiny as His bride. If anything, this makes it worse. Making teens figure out the symbolism underlying a piece of writing should be a crime, especially when that writing is supposed to be entertainment).

I initially thought these aspects might have been parts of the plot of the original musical that just hadn’t translated well to 2013, but no. It felt as though the authors had written themselves into a corner, so they invented some new magic to get them out (at least JK Rowling had the skill and foresight to foreshadow her miracle magic. In Doon, it just appears). This shows a lack of concern for world-building (or perhaps a lack of understanding of the importance of good world-building in fantasy).

There are a number of other weaknesses in the writing, like redundancy, repetition, telling rather than showing (particularly with the pages of history of Brigadoon), excessive use of dialect, and insufficient difference between the voices of the two main characters (I kept having to flip back to see who was the current viewpoint character). It’s also annoying (and atypical of YA) that the first half of the book is largely driven by narrative rather than dialogue and action. It drags. However, bad writing hasn’t stopped either Twilight or Fifty Shades from selling stratospheric quantities …

Doon has attracted a lot of attention: it’s the first book in Zondervan’s new crossover Young Adult line, Blink. Over 3000 people have marked it as ‘Want To Read’ on Goodreads (compared to 300 for the next Dee Henderson novel). Most early reviews are positive—the negative ones are scathing, claiming the story is full of shallow characters (true) and cliché writing (also true). I’ve looked at the other books read and rated by these reviewers, and it seems they are the people Zondervan are trying to reach with this novel.

Will Doon reach secular YA readers? I don’t think so. It’s not edgy enough. Yes, Veronica has an awful home life, but the story of Doon isn’t how she deals with normal teenage problems. It’s how she escapes into another world and meets a handsome Prince who (if she can catch him) will love and cherish her forever. Even though they’ve only had a handful of superficial conversations before she decides she loves him.

And ‘crossover’ or not, I’m not convinced that a book where teenagers drink beer and champagne (albeit legally), where a lead character practices yoga (including positions such as Downward Dog, and practices ‘pushing negative thoughts out and drawing in the positive’) is appropriate in a book published by a Christian imprint, ‘crossover’ or not. Nor does language such as ‘screw that’, ‘what the heck’, ‘mother cusser’, or references to playing for the other team. Seriously. Adding a few almost-swear words isn’t going to make the book cool enough for the Cuddlebuggery crowd (who hate Fifty Shades because they’ve read it, not because they’ve read about it).

What about Christian teens? Will they enjoy Doon? If they’ve been raised on a steady diet of bonnet fiction and Amish romance, then Doon will seem fresh and edgy. But I’m not sure if they’ll get to read it. Those parents who wouldn’t let their children read Harry Potter or Twilight would be advised to avoid Doon for similar reasons. And if they haven’t read Twilight, they’re not going to understand references like “his conflicted Edward Cullen act would hook her faster than meth”.

Yes, there’s no sex in Doon. There’s no sexual abuse, no teen pregnancy scares, no drug-taking, and the only drinking is legal. But there is more to being a Christian than that. There’s stuff like being "in the world but not of the world". And having a personal faith in Jesus. Neither Veronica nor McKenna has any personal faith in anything but themselves, and the Doon villagers sing praises to the Protector, the one who cast the enchantment on the village. It’s implied they are praising God, but it’s not clear. The Protector who can cast stronger spells than the witch could be any witch, wizard or warlock.

Young Adult fiction isn’t about selling books to teenagers. It’s about writing books that speak to them. And speaking to them means talking about their problems.

I wanted to love Doon. I wanted it to breach the gap between saccharine Christian bonnet novels and edgy YA while still retaining a sense of a Christian world view. It has a fabulous cover and apparently has a six-figure marketing effort behind it. I liked most of the characters; I liked the story well enough. But I didn’t love it. I think it is let down by the writing, and it didn’t meet my hopes and expectations of what a YA novel should be, let alone a crossover.

Doon is trying to sell to teens, not speak to them.

Thanks to Blink (Zondervan) and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon at their blog.

Review by Iola Goulton. I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction, and you can find out more about my services at my website, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. I love reading, and read and review around 150 Christian books each year on my blog.

Remember, each comment you post this week gives you the opportunity to win one of sixteen books from some of the best Australian and New Zealand Christian authors. See Monday's post for details - and remember to comment!

What do you think about the concept of 'crossover fiction'? Will you read Doon?