How much SCI in your FI?

I love that YA sci-fi encompasses such a diversity of books, and a diversity of the science within them. Some possess more intense science, some are more soft sci-fi.

CONTROL was written with a very purposeful hand when it came to making the science accurate, or at least believable. Even the world building--things like transportation or growing crops--was carefully thought out. There had to be a reason behind the design, even if I never explain it in the actual book. I spent countless hours refreshing my understanding of genetics, neurobiology, photosynthesis, olfactory physiology...

But at the same time, I also knew I didn't want the science to take over the story.

In the end, CONTROL is simply about a 17 year old girl who's trying to get back what she's lost. And though the science is not a quiet bystander, it's there. Waving its hand, like a total spaz, from a few rows behind my main characters.

So I'm curious. For you sci-fi readers--how much sci do you like in your fi?

Celebrate the paperback launch of BLACK CITY

Today we're celebrating the paperback launch of one of our new League member's books: Elizabeth Richards' BLACK CITY!

About Black City

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable — they fall in love.

Bonded by a mysterious connection, that causes Ash's long dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught they'll be executed —but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

Watch the trailers

Fun facts about BLACK CITY

• The book’s original title was CRAVING
• The city is based on Victorian London
• The female MC, Natalie Buchanan, is named after one of Elizabeth’s closest friends
• BLACK CITY is the first in a trilogy. The sequel, PHOENIX is out on 4 June
• The series has been optioned by Screen Gems
• BLACK CITY was selected as one of Penguin’s Fall 2012 Breathless Reads 

Giveaway

Here on the League, we're giving away a paperback copy of BLACK CITY to celebrate it's launch! The competition ends on Sunday 12 May, and is open internationally.

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Keep 'em hanging

“Just one more chapter...”

Does that sound familiar? We’ve all been there. Fifteen chapters later, it’s four o’clock in the morning and your eyes feel like they’ve been licked by a thousand newborn kittens (it's not as cute as it sounds), and yet you still can’t stop reading. What sort of witchcraft do these authors have over us? Why can’t we just PUT THE DAMN BOOK DOWN AND GO TO SLEEP? Well, chances are they’ve perfected the art of the 'chapter out'.

Chapter outs are something I spend a lot of time over when writing my novels. In fact, I won’t start a chapter until I know how it’s going to end, so I know how to build up the tension and keep the action rushing toward that (hopefully) exciting end point.

Good chapter outs should finish on a revelation, turn the story on its head, or raise the stakes (and preferably do all three), so it keeps the reader on their toes and desperate to find out what happens next. Of course, some endings are more successful than others, and I don't suggest every chapter ends on a 'dum-dum-duuuuuuuum' type cliffhanger, but it should keep the reader curious. Don't give them an excuse to put your book down and go to sleep!

In my opinion, the queen of the 'chapter out' is Suzanne Collins. She's made it something of an art form. If you don’t believe me, here are the chapter outs for the first three chapters in The Hunger Games (by the way, this next part of the post is going to contain some SERIOUS spoilers, so if you haven’t read The Hunger Games, then just assume everything I write next is life changing and awesome, and skip to the bottom...)

Chapter 1

Effie Trinket crosses back to the podium, smooths the slip of paper, and reads out the name in a clear voice. And it’s not me.
     It’s Primrose Everdeen.

(Chapter 1, Pg 24, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Children's Books)

Holy hell fire! That’s an opening and a half.  The reader expects Katniss Everdeen’s name to be read out, so the swerve-a-rooney is not only shocking but it’s amazing character development, as it gives Katniss something to fight for, which isn’t just a ‘selfish’ need to save her own life. Brilliant. *tips hat*

Chapter 2

Oh well, I think. There will be twenty-four of us. Odds are someone else will kill him before I do. 
Of course, the odds have not been very dependable of late.

(Chapter 2, Pg 40, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Children's Books)

By this point, Peeta is clearly being set up as the love interest, and yet Katniss realizes she’s going to have to kill him. Talk about a doomed love! The reader is instantly gripped. How is this going to be resolved, so we get our ‘happily ever after’? Is it possible that we *gulp* won’t get a happy ending?

Chapter 3

“…Haymitch can well be the difference between your life and death!”
Just then, Haymitch staggers into the compartment.
“I miss supper?” he says in a slurred voice. Then he vomits all over the expensive carpet and falls in the mess.
“So laugh away,” says Effie Trinket. She hops in her pointy shoes around the pool of vomit and flees the room.

(Chapter 3, Pg 57, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Children's Books)

By the end of chapter 3, we have all the conflict we need to keep reading to the end: a girl being thrown into the hunger games to save her little sister; a boy who loves her but their romance is doomed; and their only hope is a drunk. How is Katniss going to get out of this situation?

It's amazing how much you can achieve in just a few short sentences, so it's worth taking the time and effort to go through your chapter outs and ask yourself:

a) Does this reveal anything about the character/situation?
b) Does this raise the stakes?
c) Does this turn the story on its head?

By getting your chapters outs nailed, you too can keep readers up all night!

Guest Post Saturday: Shipping FanFi, Or, Why I Love Both

Welcome to a special Saturday guest post by the wonderful Margaret Stohl, one of the co-authors of the Beautiful Creatures series and the author of the upcoming Icons, a book that I think most readers of the League will adore. So, without further ado, here's Margie!

Shipping FanFi: Or, Why I Love Both

by Margaret Stohl

Some of our Beautiful Creatures readers were surprised to hear that my first solo series was going to be a Sci Fi near future romance. People understand things like Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books or Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, but from the co-author of the Beautiful Creatures novels (written with my partner in crime, Kami Garcia) an adrenaline-pumping pulse-pounding alien-landing city-destroying sci-fi love story was just – well, strange.

This is the part where I come out of the closet as a huge nerd. Melissa de la Cruz calls us the Geek Girls, and it’s actually true. My two favorite childhood books were The Dark Is Rising, a fantasy series by my most beloved Susan Cooper, and A Wrinkle in Time series, by my other most beloved, Madeline L’Engle.

When one of my very first videogame jobs in my sixteen-year videogame design/writing career gave me the opportunity to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, I was hooked.  I went on to discover Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land, along with one of my all-time favorites, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) and Dan Simmons (The Hyperion books, with a Catholic Space Army) and my personal god of the insane, Philip K. Dick. Sadly, my super crazy soulmate. I’ve read The Martian Time Slip more times than any other book, and that’s probably not a good thing. Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey books (2061 and 3001) have to be read all the way through. His Rendezvous with Rama books shouldn’t be missed. And ICONS itself was born after a giant re-read of his seminal (for me) Childhood’s End.

I love inventive universes, and I love to invent universes. I will always and forever love Hans Solo and the 10^thDoctor equally. As a die-hard #SuperWhoLock, I adore Supernatural’s Sam and Dean Winchester brothers, but I also worship Firefly’s Mal and BSG’s Starbuck (never Apollo.) I am a genre girl, and I have more than one genre.

I hope you do to, and I hope you’ll give ICONS a chance.

XO Margie

Links

Twitter: @mstohl 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIconsSeries

Tumblr: http://theiconsseries.com/

Revision Tips

As I write (and revise), I keep a running list of issues and/or things I want to fix or add later. I’m a list maker and Post-it note addict. Right now, I have dozens of sticky notes and lists and lists on sticky notes floating around my desk. When I’m ready to revise, I’ll compile them into one big list and tackle them one at a time. But before I jump into this project-specific list, I look at the big picture issues. And, guess what, I made a list of them.

1. Character arcs. Look at the growth of your characters throughout the story. How does each start? What does he/she want? What epiphany do they reach? How do they end up? You may have done this before you started writing, but the arc might have changed as you wrote.
   
   
2. Structure. Outline what happens in each chapter. Jot down just the gist of each. (If you outline before you write, do this anyway. It’s a good exercise, and often, if you’re like me, the original outline bears no resemblance to the final chapter.) You don’t need more than sentence or two. Think of it as the logline for each chapter. This helps me see the structure of the book. (And if you’re really industrious, you can map items 1 and 3 against this outline.) Then look at:
• Does the order make sense?
• What’s the purpose of each chapter? How does it advance the plot?
• What does each character want in the chapter? (Kurt Vonnegut said that every character had to want something, even if it was just a glass of water.)
• Who narrates? (This is for those of you, like me, who write in multiple POVs.) Is his or hers the best viewpoint to tell this part of the story?
• Do you have any gaps—in terms of plot or character arc or whatever?
3. Timeline. Put the events of the story on a timeline or calendar. (You can do this as your outlining the chapters.) Particularly, if your plot happens over a few days or weeks, this is helpful to make sure you don’t have too many things happening on one day or don’t have two Saturdays in the week.
4. Voice. Make a list of distinctive words that each character uses. Since I do write in multiple voices, this helps me keep them straight. (Actually, my editor is better at this than I am.)

There are probably a few other big picture things I look at before diving into the project-specific list, but I can’t think of them at the moment. I’m sure my editor will remind me!

What revisions tips do you guys have?

Editing Tips and Tricks

I used to think that the thing I excelled at was writing a good first draft. I've come to know that the thing I really had to learn to love is throwing away that first draft and working instead on rewriting and editing. I don't really get a decent book until after rewriting.

Usually, the first draft is where I discover the story. I don't outline, so everything's still a bit experimental in that first draft. So when it comes time to turning this mess into an actual book, most of what I need to do is pretty major--cut whole chapters, delete entire sections, rearrange everything, etc.

The first step of my editing process: Discover the scenes that I, personally, truly value. I usually make a list of the things I really want to be in the book--this could be individual scenes, or it could be a character's arc, or even a single line (for SHADES OF EARTH, it was actually a blank page). I list out the things that are essential and true to the story that I need to tell.

The next step: Cutting and re-arranging. This is really a two-step process for me. I need to both look at the scenes that aren't in the list I made in the first step, and decide if they are truly essential to the story. If not--cut. But at the same time, I have to figure out the right order for the scenes I want to keep in. You have to spread out the good stuff, and connect it like little bridges from scene to scene. I can't have all the action at the end and nothing in the beginning. I have to reveal things as I go, not all at once.

Really, my editing process is a matter of cutting out the scenes that I care about and piecing them together into a puzzle that makes a book. I'm very brutal in this--I typically have to rewrite the book at least once to get all the pieces together correctly. It is often very frustrating--but also satisfying, when I can make it work, much like the satisfying click of two puzzle pieces snapping together.

Editing Tips and Tricks - or how to find out what works for you

I actually enjoy revising more than I do writing. It’s not that I don’t like writing (I wouldn’t be a writer if I hated it), but I find it daunting to look at an empty page or at my word count only to realize I still have more than half of the book to write. But when I’m editing, I don’t feel the pressure from before. I know I have what I need; now I just have to make it better. For me it’s a liberating feeling. Of course I know that many writers don’t feel the same way. So what can you do to make revising easier?

Once you’re done with your book, write a query, a one-sentence pitch and a synopsis. If you condense your book into a few sentences or pages, plot holes or inconsistencies often become apparent. I’m a strict plotter, so I do this before I even start writing the book but often things change while writing and so I have to write a new query/synopsis.

I know many of you hate synopses even more than revising, so this suggestion probably won’t be very popular, but I’ve found that it’s really helping.

Personally I don’t wait before I start revising. One good night of sleep and revision time begins. One reason for that is, of course, that I have deadlines as a published author, but that isn’t the main reason. I’m a fast drafter. That means I usually write my books in 4 – 8 weeks. That helps me focus on that book. Otherwise I get distracted or bored or annoyed, and then I turn my attention to another project. I don’t want that to happen. And once I’m done with my first draft and absolutely immersed in the world and characters I created, I don’t want to get out of that “zone”. And to be honest, I’m always so excited to start revising and to send my book to my agent and beta readers that I simply can’t wait.

I also don’t print out the finished manuscript and edit with a pen. I know people say it helps them to see their book with fresh eyes, but for me it feels like a limitation. When I’m editing in the word document, I can implement any changes I have in mind immediately. I don’t have to write them down by hand first and then type them into the word doc. That’s less work for me. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that not all the tips or rules you’ll hear about will be good for you. Figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. It's learning by doing. So write and revise, and write and revise, and so on.