Randy Ribay's Blog, page 8

Originally posted on 2015 YA & MG Debut Authors:

2nd: THE D’EVIL DIARIES by Tatum Flynn
7th: SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli
7th: I AM HER REVENGE by Meredith Moore
7th: THE LOST MARBLE NOTEBOOK OF FORGOTTEN GIRL & RANDOM BOY by Marie Jaskulka
7th: NONE OF THE ABOVE by I.W. Gregorio

8th: DATING DOWN by Stefanie Lyons
8th: ZEROBOXER by Fonda Lee
14th: DENTON LITTLE’S DEATHDATE by Lance Rubin
14th: THE WATER AND THE WILD by K.E. Ormsbee
18th: ALICE IN WONDERLAND HIGH by Rachel Shane

21st: BECOMING JINN by Lori Goldstein
28th: AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir
28th: GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL by Megan Morrison
28th: IN A WORLD JUST RIGHT by Jen Brooks

Jennifer Chambliss Bertman’s BOOK SCAVENGER will be published in Polish and Chinese, which makes 7 foreign languages total!

Tatum Flynn’s THE…

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New vlog post for Writing in the Margins, in which I talk about why I think diversity is important in books.

I’m a little late on this, but last week some other writers and I launched a YouTube channel called Writing in the Margins. We’ll be talking about issues of diversity and representation in publishing/media. Check it out when you have a chance, and if you like what you see, hit up that subscribe button!

Here’s my first video for the channel:

Originally posted on 2015 YA & MG Debut Authors:

3rd: MOSQUITOLAND by David Arnold
3rd: THE STORYSPINNER by Becky Wallace
3rd: DEAD TO ME by Mary McCoy
10th: LITTLE MISS EVIL by Kristy Shen & Bryce Leung
17th: DR. CRITCHLORE’S SCHOOL FOR MINIONS by Sheila Grau

17th: DUPLICITY by N.K. Traver
17th: THE WRONG SIDE OF RIGHT by Jenn Marie Thorne
17th: UNDER A PAINTED SKY by Stacey Lee
17th: EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU by Moriah McStay
24th: BLACKBIRD FLY by Erin Entrada Kelly

THE UNQUIET by Mikaela Everett @Frenzy HCC Book Love

THE NEXT TOGETHER by Lauren James @Queen of Contemporary

THIS MONSTROUS THING by Mackenzi Lee @Epic Reads

Mackenzi also made an illustrated synopsis for THIS MONSTROUS THING!

Fonda Lee asks about fighting in zero gravity in her book trailer for ZEROBOXER!

Free books! Sharon Huss Roat is holding a Goodreads giveaway through…

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In case you missed it, this Andrew Smith interview over at Vice pissed off many in the YA world. Here’s the notorious excerpt:

“VICE: On the flip side, it sometimes seems like there isn’t much of a way into your books for female readers. Where are all the women in your work?

AS: I was raised in a family with four boys, and I absolutely did not know anything about girls at all. I have a daughter now; she’s 17. When she was born, that was the first girl I ever had in my life. I consider myself completely ignorant to all things woman and female. I’m trying to be better though.”

This unleashed a storm of criticism in the Twitterverse, to the extent that Andrew Smith has pretty much peaced out from Twitter.

I felt some type of way about what he said, but it’s not really my style to rage via Twitter. I need time to think things through, and then I need to write to bring cohesion to my thoughts. So that’s what I’m doing here.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Smith, he’s a YA writer kind of blowing up right now. He’s the author of THE MARBURY LENS, WINGER, GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE (2015 Printz Honor Book & 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner), and the just released THE ALEX CROW, among others. I reviewed THE MARBURY LENS a few years ago, and he instantly became one of my favorite YA writers.

Before I respond to his comments, let me acknowledge that I am male and therefore read from a privileged standpoint. I’ll admit that I’m not reading with my feminist critique lens 100% of the time. And I know I can do this because I’m male and the world has been shaped by my ilk. If you don’t believe that I have no right to enter this conversation because of my gender, that’s fine. I disagree, but that’s fine. Nobody’s forcing you to read this.

So onto my response.

Even though I love Smith’s writing, I absolutely agree that his aversion to writing female characters is a cop out. Even though one of the most repeated pieces of writing advice is to write what you know, I believe that writing fiction is ultimately an exercise of imagination. You create a character that is not you. You put them inside of a world and in a situation you created. And you arrive at a plot by imagining how that character might think, feel, and react to the situations. It takes an incredible amount of empathy and time and thoughtfulness.

So of course it’s easier to write what you know. The closer the character resembles the author, the easier it is for the author to inhabit that consciousness.

But how many self-portraits can an artist paint?

Smith’s acknowledgment of his fault would be acceptable if he were just starting out. But this is a man who has written several books and won awards for some of them. A writer of that level should be able to depart from his comfort zone, and I think it’s fair and necessary to call him out for being unable to do so–ESPECIALLY WHEN HE IS DISMISSING HALF OF HUMANITY. To ignore or accept his comment would make us complicit in maintaining the parade of white male protagonists in children’s lit.

With that said, I don’t think Twitter is the best place to have this conversation–maybe it was a good place to start it, but certainly not to continue it. 140 Characters is not enough space to engage in a thoughtful and productive conversation. Even if one uses several tweets, they’re still fragmented and easily taken out of context. And it is just too simple to pile on, too simple for someone who doesn’t really know what’s going on to tweet or retweet an incendiary comment that might just perpetuate misunderstanding or unchecked anger.

I’m glad that we are talking about this, and I hope we continue to do so. I hope this conversation produces lasting change in the writing and publishing community. As for me, I’ll still continue to read Andrew Smith because I enjoy his storytelling. However, I hope that I see a difference in his forthcoming books.

Whew. I’m emerging from about two weeks deep in the revision hole. This was by far the most intense writing experience of my nascent career. Normally, I write daily, but with no real pressure. However, this time I had a deadline to meet. I did not have a lot of time. And I had a lot of work to do.

So here’s what my days looked like…

Weekdays: Wake up at five a.m. Write. Go to work at seven. Come home at five. Write until midnight. Sleep. Repeat.

Weekends: Wake up at five a.m. Write until midnight. Sleep. Repeat.

Until I clicked send at midnight and met that deadline.

Without a doubt, this was great for my writing. It showed me what I was capable of. I stopped worrying about word count and focused purely on what the story needed. My non-deadline experiences with rounds of revisions in the past were long, drawn-out affairs. But in one fell swoop, I drastically improved this book. It was wonderful to be so steeped in the story that I thought and dreamed about it almost nonstop. That kind of immersion put me in the zone I needed to be in.

On the flip side, it was not good for my personal life. Dishes piled up. Dogs whined for attention. My body yearned for movement, social interaction, and non-take-out food. Friends and family were beginning to wonder if I had died.

But I didn’t, so yay!

Originally posted on 2015 YA & MG Debut Authors:

3rd: CITY OF SAVAGES by Lee Kelly
3rd:RED BUTTERFLY by A.L. Sonnichsen
3rd: SHUTTER by Courtney Alameda
3rd: VILLAIN KEEPER by Laurie McKay
5th: SCRIPTED by Maya Rock

5th: SEVEN DAYS by Eve Ainsworth
10th: MONSTROUS by MarcyKate Connolly
10th: MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES by Jasmine Warga
10th: ONE OF THE GUYS by Lisa Aldin
10th: WHEN REASON BREAKS by Cindy L. Rodriguez

17th: THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND by Kathryn Holmes
24th: MY NEAR-DEATH ADVENTURES by Alison DeCamp
24th: VENDETTA by Catherine Doyle
26th: THE DREAMSNATCHER by Abi Elphinstone

Gail Nall sold a new MG to Aladdin/S&S:

BREAKING THE ICE author Gail Nall’s OUT OF TUNE, about a girl who aspires to win a spot on Nashville’s newest country music reality show, but whose parents sell their house and move the…

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, so I just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive. Winter is a crazy busy time of year for me because in addition to teaching, I also coach our school’s wrestling team. But the season is winding down so perhaps you’ll hear from me more frequently.

Anyways, here’s a real quick update on the writerly/readerly stuff I’ve been up to:

Revising a manuscript that I hope to send out on submission soon. I’m about two-thirds of the way through. It’s about…meh, I’ll tell you later.
Making final edits on AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES which is coming out in July. Woot!
Attended the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators winter conference in NYC. Got to meet some fellow Fearless Fifteeners and learn some more about writing. Awkward conversations. Mashed potatoes in a martini glass. Interesting speakers. Good times were had by most. Presumably.
I have continued to read despite failing to post any reviews. I find that when I’m pressed for time I’d rather move onto the next book instead of spending time writing a review. Lame? Maybe. Here are some highlights from what I’ve been reading: WHEN I WAS THE GREATEST by Jason Reynolds, A WORK OF ART by Melody Maysonet, THE NUMBER 7 by Jessica Lidh, THE CROSSOVER by Kwame Alexander, and THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS by Patrick Rothfuss.

That’s it for now. I shall crawl back into my revision hole.

So I remember hearing someone say that one of the difficulties of writing is that you have to create your raw materials. A painter starts with a canvas and paint. A potter or a sculptor starts with a lump of clay or rock*. However, a writer starts with nothing. You pluck words out of your head, string them into sentences, and try to wrangle them into a narrative. Once you write, “THE END,” it is far from the end. You have created a first draft. And that is your lump of clay, your palette of paint. It is only in the process of revision that you actually shape your story.

Right now I am revising a manuscript I originally wrote two years ago in order to get it submission-worthy. Damn is it a rollercoaster of emotion. If you are revising a work or getting ready to, it’s important that you recognize the six stages of revision grief. The better you understand what you are going through, the greater chance you have of surviving the process with your insanity intact.

STAGE ONE: “SHIT. THIS ISN’T THE MASTERPIECE I THOUGHT IT WAS.” 

You begin by realizing the imperfections of your first draft. The greater soberer Father Time has allowed you to revisit your writing more objectively. And, man, it’s not what you thought it was. Cue crippling feelings of inadequacy.

STAGE TWO: “LET’S DO THIS.”

You accept that this isn’t the best you can do because it’s a first draft, after all. So you roll up your sleeves (literally and metaphorically) and get to work.

STAGE THREE: “OH, MAN, THIS IS SO MUCH BETT–AW, CRAP. NEVERMIND.”

You plan. You rewrite. You add. You delete. You rearrange. Things are starting to look good. Aaaaaaand then you realize you effed up some major plot point or just generally went a little too crazy with the scissors and glue.

STAGE FOUR: “MAYBE I SHOULD JUST WRITE A NEW BOOK.”

Crushed by the tangles mess you’ve found yourself within, you consider just tossing the whole damn thing into the trash can, dousing it in lighter fluid, and tossing in a lit match.

STAGE FIVE: “NO–I WILL DO THIS.” 

You dig back in. You sort things out. And you see things through to the last page.

STAGE SIX: “HUZZAH!” 

Stepping back, you reread that manuscript and realize it is now much closer to the masterpiece you thought it was. For the sake of your sanity, you ignore the fact that there may be additional rounds of revisions in your story’s future.

So there you have it, fellow revisers. You are not alone. Know where you are and have faith that you will persevere.

*I am not a painter or a sculptor, so I apologize if this is an unfair characterization of their process. Just go with it for the sake of metaphor! 

Originally posted on 2015 YA & MG Debut Authors:

13th: BREAKING THE ICE by Gail Nall
13th: THE CONSPIRACY OF US by Maggie Hall
20th: TUNNEL VISION by Susan Adrian
27th: PLAYLIST FOR THE DEAD by Michelle Falkoff
27th: THE HONEST TRUTH by Dan Gemeinhart

Erin Entrada Kelly signed a two-book deal with Greenwillow

Author of the forthcoming BLACKBIRD FLY, Erin Entrada Kelly’s ALMOST VIRGIL, about a superstitious boy who finds his inner strength, and YOU WERE HERE, about a troubled girl who aspires to be a Scrabble champion, again to Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow, in a very nice deal, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger.

Gail Nall sold to Harper Teen Impulse:

Gail Nall’s EXIT STAGE LEFT, about a teenage girl who’s known theater is her destiny ever since she was cast as the apple in her kindergarten production of The Food Pyramid, but when her best friend wins the lead role in…

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