Writing A Novel: "Innocent" Characters

One of the most surprising and frequent praises I've seen of BAND GEEK is that it's "wholesome" and "not too racy." I certainly don't mind the praise and am glad that parents feel comfortable letting their kids read my work. Truthfully, though, I had fears that my novel would be written off by the YA audience -- no pun intended -- for being too mature in certain parts.

For one thing, my characters talk like teens. And by that, I mean they swear. Josh, in particular, has a bit of a potty mouth and often uses the F-word. He even uses it to address his school's principal at one point. Meanwhile, Melinda curses at her mom during a major argument. Mind you, I don't have them cursing all that much; I felt that if every other word was a swear word, my dialogue would get pretty boring. Still, I didn't want to whitewash my kids' speech. Having them say, "Oh, golly gee, what the heck?" in 2012 just didn't feel realistic in my opinion.

On that note, there is also a big scene that features underage drinking. I don't paint it in a great light, but I don't condemn it, either. Let's just say that some characters handle their liquor better than others. In real life, I'm not a big drinker myself and wouldn't encourage my friends' teenagers to do it. But teens do drink and I wasn't going to pretend that they don't.

As for those other things that teens do, there are no actual sex scenes in BAND GEEK, but there's plenty of talk about it, some graphic makeout scenes and some very naughy band locker room behavior. My characters also say some pretty bawdy things, especially Mel's friend Lana. There is also bullying (both in person and cyber) and some minor violent acts beween students. I mean, my title is REVENGE of a band geek gone bad...

I guess my book is being called "wholesome" because compared to a lot of other YA stories out there, like the GOSSIP GIRL series or the BRENNA BLIXEN trilogy, it is pretty tame. But compared to some of the books that I grew up with, I think it's kind of edgy. Besides, I'm always surprised to see which books get knocked for having "inappropriate" content; the ALICE books, for instance, are often maligned because Alice and her friends have very frank discussions about sex. Yet Alice herself rarely cusses or does anything that out of line. Judy Blume's JUST AS LONG AS WE'RE TOGETHER also has some reviews with complaints about its "racy" content, which I find ridiculous. I LOVE that book, but the 13-year-old girls in that story from 1987 are BABIES compared to today's 13-year-old's who have exposure to so many more things.

I think what perhaps people are reacting to in my story is that there are consequences for the bad behavior and that ultimately, BAND GEEK is a tale of redemption. I don't know if I'd call my work wholesome, but I do think that there are some lessons to be learned from it.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Publishing A Novel: Writing A Plus-Sized Heroine

Today BAND GEEK was reviewed at the blog Buried In Books. The blogger, Heather, wrote a very thoughtful review which has provoked an interesting discussion among commenters: Does having my narrator's mother nag Melinda about her weight send a bad message to young readers?

When I wrote Melinda, I made her a Size 12 (and eventually a Size 10) because I wanted it to be clear that she's not stick thin. She's definitely not fat, but she's curvy -- and it takes her a while to accept that she's beautiful inside and out. The mother, Lydia, is hypercritical, but it's the mom's problem; she can't control the health of her sick father so she's instead trying to control her daughter's weight. Many of the things that the mother says aren't kind, but in her own messed-up way, she's trying to help her daughter. I've had arguments with people in my life about my weight and know that I'm not alone; I wanted to present a realistic and raw dynamic between the mother and daughter. I attempted to show that it was the mom's issue as Lydia eventually comes around and lightens up. Perhaps I should've done more to show that, but the weight storyline is only one aspect of my novel. One of the commenters referred to Lydia as "horrid," but if you read the book, you'll see that she's not horrid at all; she's just dealing with a lot of sress and anxiety and because of that, isn't as kind to her daughter as she should be. The mom is very flawed, but does redeem herself.

In the end, though, Mel comes to appreciate herself, curves and all. Meanwhile, Kathy, the character with the "perfect" figure has her own insecurities. I tried to show how being bone thin doesn't automatically equal happiness. It takes a while for Melinda to learn this, but she does.

I guess weight will always be a controversial topic, one that as a plus-sized woman, I'm all too familiar with. I think it's really great that this discussion was sparked and want to make it clear that I don't see others' opinions as being "wrong." I'm always happy to get a new perspective on my writing and appreciate the posters for chiming in with their thoughts.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and let me know what YOU think!

Writing For Teen Publications

My next stop on my virtual book tour is at Cindy Vine's blog . Here, I talk about my decision to become a writer of Young Adult Fiction. As Cindy points out, there are dozens of genres that writers can choose from, from mystery to self-help. But I've always felt at home writing for and about teens. I explain why in detail in my entry.

What's interesting is that my love of YA literature extended to my journalism career. My original dream was to write for Seventeen Magazine or Sassy. I adored these publications when I was a kid and respected how they had typical fashion and celebrity pages, but also had serious articles. Seventeen didn't talk down to their audience; they embraced teens and presented many intelligent pieces. As I've said before, the teen years fascinate me because they're such an exciting and turbulent time. However, as a very young adult, I think that my interest came more from the fact that these were the magazines that were currently influencing me.

Though to be fair, I liked their fun pieces, too. I still have an issue of Seventeen that's from July, 1991. I specifically remember where I got it -- at the lodge at Yellowstone National Park. It was raining so we stayed in before dinner and I picked up the magazine in the gift store. It had an article about Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder's upcoming nuptials (talk about being dated!). It also had a quiz, "How much of a daredevil is your guy?" Said quiz was hilarious! A sample question: "What's the most daring thing he's ever done? a) Jump 10 garbage cans with his motorcycle b) take out his parents' car -- without permission c) put tinfoil in the microwave to watch it burn." I took it over and over again, answering for all of my male friends (Sorry Greg and Scott -- neither of you was very daring!) and crushes, and saved the mag as evidence of that fun and memorable rainy day. Of course, 1991 Johnny Depp aced the quiz! My husband, Jon, adds that he actually did take his parents' car without permission and was "somewhat daring" in his youth.

Anyway, when I entered college a couple of years later, I decided that I wanted to write for a teen magazine. I even did a report on Seventeen for one of my journalism classes; we had to dissect a magazine and explain how it was laid out and what made it so successful. Having such a specific goal helped me land an internship at Binghamton's daily newspaper, The Press & Sun Bulletin. Most students who'd applied wanted to cover hard-hitting news -- local elections, police beats, etc. I requested a position with the Features and Lifestyle sections -- and I got it. So for two years, I did everything from review local musical acts to interview local celebrities, and had six sectional cover stories published. I also helped edit their "Teens In The Tier" column, which was a section written for and by teens. It was very similar to Newsday's "Kidsday" section which I wrote for when I was in school, so The Press took advantage of my experience. I learned so much from my time there and appreciate the fact that they treated their student reporters like real staff writers.

I continued to write for teen publications after I graduated from college. The summer between my senior year and my year of grad school, I worked for Scholastic. I'd always associated the company with books, but they actually had a very large educational magazine division and I was assigned a position with the teen magazine Scope. Basically, it was your typical teen magazine -- there were movie reviews, interviews with teen stars ... only each article had an eductional angle. For instance, I interviewed the actor Richard Lee Jackson, who then starred on Saved By The Bell: The New Class (fun fact: His brother, Jonathan Jackson, played GENERAL HOSPITAL's Lucky). When I wrote out the story, though, I had to leave out certain words and place them in a vocabulary bank at the bottom of the page. Readers then had to choose the appropriate word to fill into each blank. Other stories I wrote came with a question and answer section; some came with ideas for reading comprehension essays.

It may sound like a dull way to put together a teen magazine, but it was so much fun and my editor Denise was the best. She trusted me and let me do whatever I wanted. She knew that I was an avid reader so she had me review scores of YA books. I'd sit in Scholastic's surprisingly lush library all day, just reading and taking notes, and looking out the large windows at bustling SoHo. She was also open to some of my more out-there ideas. After we received a letter from a kid in juvie, I suggested that I write an article about life in a juvenile detention center. She was all for it and the kid who wrote to us was all set to be interviewed ... but unfortunately, the center didn't want to be involved in the story. I made dozens of calls and appealed to several juvie halls, but none would bite. Oh, well. I still thought it was great that Denise had so much faith in me.

Once I landed the job at Soap Opera Digest, I put my teen magazine dreams on hold and fully embraced the soap world. However, a few years ago, our parent company had us put out a second magazine for teens called Pixie. I was finally getting to write for a YA publication! I should've been ecstatic, right? Only at this point, I was in my mid-30s and wasn't too thrilled about putting together four pages on Justin Bieber's hair (Yes, this was a real article that I was assigned to write). As Pixie found its voice, though, my editor gave me more freedom to write things other than celebrity puff pieces -- and I turned to my Scholastic and Press experiences for ideas. I composed an instructional piece on making jewelry, ran a regular feature on new bands that were worth checking out and even reviewed YA books. I was all set to do a teen travel feature, but alas, lost my job before I could make that happen. But during that time, I found that I still had a passion for writing for a younger audience.

I no longer have the platforms that I did when I wrote for magazines, but am thrilled to be gaining a new audience on my own. More importantly, I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to follow my passion in two different forms.

Please read and review my Young Adult novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD

How I Fell In Love With YA Literature

When I decided to write a novel, it was no question that it was going to be a book about teens. What can be more angsty than being at an age where you're old enough to make some adult decisions, but are still so young that you haven't experienced much of the world?

I actually began reading YA books before I was a teen. As I've said before, I'm a huge fan of Judy Blume. While I loved her books aimed toward younger kids, like the Fudge series, I really enjoyed reading her books for older girls like, "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret." I read that when I was 9 and LEARNED things from that story. I wanted to hang out with Margaret and her friends.

A few years later, I got into the Sweet Valley High series. My grandmother had a friend whose son worked for a big publishing house -- Random House, I think -- and he'd send me stacks of free books. So for the next few years, I'd receive stacks and stacks of free Sweet Valley Highs and various other teen romances. My parents had always encouraged me to read classic authors like Mark Twain and Dickens, but I worked really hard in school and they understood that these books were my not-so-guilty pleasure. I devoured these YA novels, wishing that I could be as cool as Liz and Jessica, and wishing that I could be as pretty as the girls who were hired to model for the books' covers.

Whenever I read these books, I'd make up stories to go along with them. Much as I loved SVH, some of the books seemed to be a little thin for me so I'd think, "Hmmm... I would've had Jessica do this or Liz say that..." In the back of my mind, I always had a plan for writing a teen book of my own.

What's great is that YA books have really evolved. When I was a teen, most of the books that were considered to be strictly for teens were romances or series like SVH or All That Glitters. These days, you have many YA books that cover heavy topics like rape, abuse, etc. In my opinion, they're more sophisticated. Even the series like Gossip Girl are edgier. Let's face it -- Blair Waldorf would eat Jessica Wakefield for lunch!

Recently, I went back and read some of the books I had from my teen days. SVH still held up; it was fluffy and fun, and that's what it was meant to be. As one of my Soap Opera Digest colleagues once stated, SVH was basically a teen soap in book form. But some of the other YA books I had were AWFUL! And yet, I loved every one.

We really have come a long way in the YA industry. I hope that my novel entertains readers the way YA books entertained me in my youth.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now 99 cents!