Getting Closer to Cy of Lydia Kang's CONTROL

As you can see from my review, I found so much to love about Control. One of the reasons it's so enjoyable is the character of Cy. Let's take a closer look at what makes him so fascinating via excerpts from the novel.

First impression

At first, all I see is tattoos. The tallest person, a guy, leans against a big dining table in the center of a sparsely furnished room. He’s dressed in ash-colored clothes and is blanketed with ink. Black swirls, bodies in motion, scythes and hellfire twist together on his arms, neck, and half his face. A black ring hangs on his lower lip, while his ears are pierced with chunky black bars. Under a headful of closely cut, brownish-black hair, his eyes stare at me coldly.

Not exactly the warmest reception, but you can already tell that this guy has a story. And that it's going to be worth it to stick around and find out what it is.

Hint of attraction?

“Here, take it.” He hands his shirt back to me, which is now damp from his sweat and smeared with chalk. He’s making a clear effort to keep his eyes away from my body, as if he actually wants to see me in my underwear, but is being polite.

Up to this point, Cy has been nothing but rude to Zelia. Might he be warming to her? I think so!

Protective mode activated!

Cy opens my door and I shimmy closer to Wilbert. There’s no avoiding Cy now. His lean body squishes up against mine, leg to leg, hip to hip. In fact, there’s no room for our arms side by side, so I hunch forward to clasp my hands together. 

Cy never goes outside, but he joins the gang on a night out at a club to keep Zelia safe. And Zelia might or might not experience something thrilling together (I'll let you discover it for yourself).

 Looks good in the morning

Cy walks in as I say this, rumpled and gorgeous in what must be his pajamas. A loose white T-shirt hangs off his angled shoulders and a pair of drawstring pants barely hang on to his hips. Yesterday’s tattoo mask is completely gone and his skin is uninked as yet. His face looks softer, kinder.

 Need I say more?

Okay, so maybe the quotes I chose make me sound a bit shallow, but I swear there's more to Cy than surly hotness. He is smart, loyal, and has some deep dark secrets to discover during the course of the narrative.

Enjoy!

What I Love about CONTROL by Lydia Kang!

Yesterday CONTROL by Lydia Kang came out and today I want to tell you why you should buy it. But first the beautiful cover: 

When a crash kills their father and leaves them orphaned, Zel knows she needs to protect her sister, Dyl. But before Zel has a plan, Dyl is taken by strangers using bizarre sensory weapons, and Zel finds herself in a safe house for teens who aren’t like any she’s ever seen before—teens who shouldn't even exist. Using broken-down technology, her new friends’ peculiar gifts, and her own grit, Zel must find a way to get her sister back from the kidnappers who think a powerful secret is encoded in Dyl’s DNA.

A spiraling, intense, romantic story set in 2150—in a world of automatic cars, nightclubs with auditory ecstasy drugs, and guys with four arms—this is about the human genetic “mistakes” that society wants to forget, and the way that outcasts can turn out to be heroes.

What I love about Control:      

• the Technology : Lydia has filled the world of CONTROL with all kind of cool gadgets that give it flavor and make it all the more believable. There are magpods (which people use as cars but which are mostly driven by an autopilot.), scent downloads (like music downloads, only that you can choose a scent for a month), holos (which are ear studs used for communication as well as for information) and many more 
• The science: Lydia explains the science behind everything, so that it makes sense and is believable. You can tell that she knows what she’s talking about. The main character Zelia is interested in science and the experiments she’s doing are explained well enough that even someone who doesn’t know anything about genetics understands what’s going on. So if you like your sci-fi with science that makes sense, then this one is for you.

•         Cy.  He's covered in tattoos when we first meet him, but they change on a daily basis. Later we find out the meaning behind this. I think her and Zelia are really cute together!
•             Zelia and her sister Dylia. I love their relationship. I love that Zelia is determined to save her sister no matter what’s thrown at her. And even when she meets an interesting boy (Cy), she doesn’t suddenly forget her main goal: to get her sister back.

The CONTROL Book Trailer Reveal!

Hi guys! I'm so excited to share the book trailer for CONTROL with you. The lovely Phoebe North created it and I'm beyond happy with how it turned out!

3...2...1...

Here it is!

(Click below for YouTube link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNW0DTdycXk&feature=youtu.be

Making the trailer was a little freaky at first. I'm used to working on manuscripts, no video! Trying to get the feel of the book in the short amount of time wasn't easy. Phoebe read an ARC so she could really immerse herself in the world. Then we bounced the script back and forth and listened to oh-so-many music samples. She did a lot of experimenting with different backgrounds and fonts. The whole process was eye-opening for me and so much fun.

Hope you enjoyed it! I can't believe that CONTROL is going to be out in the world in only ten days! Wow. Now THAT is truly freaky.

Pre-order on Amazon / IndieBound / Books A Million / 

Bookworm Omaha / Book Depository / Barnes and Noble

Art Inspiration, Book Exhalation

Have you ever read (or written) a scene inspired by art? Maybe it was a photograph. Maybe it was the lyrics to a song.  

When I was writing the club scenes in CONTROL with the Alucinari Rooms (psychedelic single-sensory hallucinogen cloud rooms), I started Googling images to help me see what I was imagining. That is how I found Thomas Jackson's photography. I couldn't stop staring at this series! Those clouds seemed like living things. With those images in my head, the scenes almost wrote themselves.

Isn't that gorgeous?

This is from his Nebulae series. Soon, I found his Emergent Behavior series:

Those are LIGHT STICKS, yo.

I haven't written a book or scene to go with the Emergent Behavior series, but doesn't it make you wonder what kind of book it would inspire? I'd read it!

It's funny how "inspiration" is the same word that means "to breathe air." It's life. It's transforming something outside of yourself into something new, and not just carbon dioxide. 

Okay, okay. My new-age/granola break is over! I guess what I'm saying is this: if you're ever in a writing rut, go to a concert. Or a museum. Or an art show. Sometimes you need a little inspiration. And who knows what your mind will exhale from the process!

(Photographs reproduced with permission by the artist. 

Please check out Thomas Jackson's beautiful work on his website!)

Interview with the authors of THESE BROKEN STARS

I'm so excited to have you meet Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman via this interview today. It's rare when authors collaborate on a YA book, but these two do it from across the universe (yes, League joke). I think you'll find their process as fascinating as I do. - Lissa



         Meagan Spooner                                                                                           Amie Kaufman


Whose idea was it to write as a team and who came up with the idea?

We'd been writing together, a series of collaborative story-telling games, for years before it ever occurred to us to write a novel together. The idea for THESE BROKEN STARS came when we were ready to start one such new game, and Amie wanted to make the setting a shipwreck, and Meg wanted to make the setting space. We came up with the idea of a shipwreck in space and intended to write a bunch of little vignettes to entertain each other, all about the little groups of survivors. But we got completely carried away by the very first such group we made: Lilac and Tarver. We never got to writing any other survivors, and ended up playing with the characters for over a year before we started to wonder if maybe other people might have fun reading about them too.

What is your writing process together?

We often play out conversations and events together via instant messenger long before we start drafting the book, just to make sure the characters are well-established, and we have a vague idea of the events to come. Once we feel we've got a good handle on our characters, we then alternate writing chapters; Amie writes the boys, and Meg writes the girls. In revision, however, all bets are off, and we both rewrite stuff from each other's chapters. There are actually significant chunks of THESE BROKEN STARS where we honestly can't remember who wrote what.

Is it faster or slower writing as a team?

It's usually faster to write together, because we can literally work around the clock--due to the time zone difference, Amie's going to sleep in Australia around the time Meg's waking up in America. We usually do a little hand-off, recapping what we did and where we're up to, and then the other one takes over. That said, it's much slower to revise as a team. With revision we're much more careful to discuss everything, and make sure we're not making unwanted changes. That requires us to find more time to be online at the same time, and a LOT more working around the time difference, so it often requires more time than it would if there was only one person making decisions.

Any advice to writers considering writing as teams?

Communicate! The number one thing we see that tears collaborations apart is a lack of communication ahead of time. You have to make sure your goals are the same (do you want to get published? are you just writing for fun?). You have to make sure your expectations are out in the open (how fast do you expect your partner to work? how much of the book does each person write?). You have to make sure you agree on where the story is going--and if you don't agree, you have to know exactly how to work out that dispute. We've known each other for so long that we already had that communication in place, but it can be frustrating to work with someone whose expectations don't match your own.

Anything else you'd like to tell the League readers?

Thanks so much for reading, guys! If you want to know more about THESE BROKEN STARS, we put up all our news, along with contests and sneak peeks of upcoming projects, on our newsletter. You can sign up for that here. You can also find Amie and Meg on Twitter at @amiekaufman and @meaganspooner. And finally, if you've got questions, we're both on Tumblr: meaganspooner.tumblr.com + amiekaufman.tumblr.com. Isn't social media awesome? Authors and readers, a click away from each other.

 

 

 

 

The Top Ten Reasons to Rush Out and Buy THESE BROKEN STARS Today!

It's no secret that I freaking love THESE BROKEN STARS by the brilliant Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. I still remember the first time I read it. There's a certain point, about three-quarters of the way into the book, where I just could not put it down. That is so rare for me, but such a wonderful experience when it happens.

So, today, I'm going to tell you...

The top ten reasons why you should grab your own copy of THESE BROKEN STARS!

10. There's a spaceship. This is key for two reasons: first, this is spaceship sci fi, one of my favorite genres. But second, this ship. Guys. This ship. The book starts off like Titanic of the stars--it's an opulent epic ship with all the luxe and beauty of Titanic.

9. Also, it crashes. This isn't really a spoiler--I mean, it's in the GoodReads description--but take a moment to consider this epic. Remember how in the movie Titanic, the ship crashed and suddenly who cares if Rose is being painted like a French girl because DUDE. THE SHIP CRASHED. NOW IMAGINE THAT HAPPENING IN SPACE.

8. It's the best of both worlds. I love me some perspective in a novel, and this novel has it in spades. You have a Titanic-esque world of riches, then you have a Lost-esque world of survival in a strange place. The planet the survivors of the crash land on is the complete opposite of the ship, and it's fascinating to see how the different characters deal with the switch.

7. Also, it's creepy. If the thing you loved about LOST was the mystery and the strange and holy-shit-there's-a-polar-bear-chasing-us, then you'll love the planet Tarver and Lilac end up on. Not that there's polar bears. There's not polar bears. Look, forget the polar bears. Just know that the planet is weird and creepy and tries to kill them a lot and it's epic.

6. No, I mean really creepy. I won't spoil the novel. But. Look, everyone has secrets. Even planets.

5. Lilac is no wilting violet. Bwahaha, I've been saving that pun forever. But it's true! Our heroine, Lilac, may be from a world of riches and may be wearing a gorgeous dress for much of the novel (perfect for a space ship! not so much for a planet...)--but she's not a cliche. She's got a brain in her head, she's got courage, and she uses both throughout the book.

4. Tarver is a perfect match for Lilac. Pet peeve time: I hate when, in a book, only one half of a couple is smart/strong/brave/whatever. This isn't true in THESE BROKEN STARS. Tarver is just as smart and brave as Lilac--it's just that they're smart and brave in different ways from each other, making them the perfect match.

3. Did I mention the sass? Because they have it. And it's is awesome.

2. And the chemistry? Because it sizzles on the page. These two people made me want to smoosh the pages of the book together and pretend that was them kissing.

And finally, the number one reason you should read THESE BROKEN STARS IS...

1. It's the best of both worlds, round two. Science fiction is sometimes either philosophical or entertaining. You get a deep societal commentary, or a fun romp through space. But the very best sci fi does both. It makes you think, but it also fills you with joy and excitement. That's what THESE BROKEN STARS IS.

THESE BROKEN STARS comes out TODAY! You can grab a signed copy from Malaprops, or from your favorite bookstore. If you want to see me play with the dress that was on the cover of the book (yes, the ACTUAL DRESS), click here.

Launching THESE BROKEN STARS by Leaguers Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman!

Okay, so it's that time again: Launch Time!

THESE BROKEN STARS by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman releases in the US tomorrow, December 10. You MUST pre-order this book right now, because you're going to LOVE IT.

I happened to get an early copy of the book on NetGalley. I started reading it at the gym (because that's where I get in all my reading time), but it became very apparent very soon that I was going to need to carve out some additional reading time. Because 45 minutes on the treadmill 3 times a week wasn't going to cut it for this book.

So I stayed up late reading. And went to work bleary-eyed, and then stayed up late again. Then I may or may not have sent this email to Meg and Amie: "I just finished THESE BROKEN STARS and I think it's my favorite book I've read this year! It is SO FANTASTIC!! You did such a great job, and I can't wait until it's released into the wild!

Just wanted you to know. :)"

And I think that's still true, even though I've read a few more books now. It really IS a fantastic book, and my favorite read of 2013.

Let's learn more about it, in case you haven't heard of it.

Isn't this a beautiful cover?

About THESE BROKEN STARS: It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other's arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder-would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won't be the same people who landed on it.

I found Lilac and Tarver to be well-developed and fully imagined characters. Lilac especially intrigued me. She's a rich girl, hardly having to do anything but look pretty. But she has a past, and in the book, she finds her spine. It is an amazing journey to watch her go through some of the things that happen on the planet.

Tarver is equally likeable, with an equally interesting past. Since he's military, he takes the lead on the planet, but my favorite scene is when Lilac has to take care of him. It shows them both in a new light, and I really loved their relationship.

But lest you think the whole book is simply a romance, let me assure you that it's not. There were several twists and turns in the book that kept me up late (two nights in a row!) frantically trying to guess what was going to happen next. I NEEDED to know.

I had to find out what those lights were (no spoilers!). And what was with that canteen. And why all the trees were different here. There's an element of the supernatural at play, and I love that sort of genre mashing: science fiction with paranormal with romance. Sign me up!

I hope you'll get THESE BROKEN STARS this week. Heck, tomorrow--on release day! Here's where you can get it:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• iTunes
• Indiebound
• Book Depository
• Or your local bookstore!

You can join Amie and Meg's newsletter, and find out way more about THESE BROKEN STARS here. You can also see their launch day festivities here.

Congrats Meg and Amie!

Year-End Giveaway Celebration!

Well, we've done it again! Finished another successful year here at the League. We're so glad you've all come along with us for the ride.

We still have two more amazing books to launch (THESE BROKEN STARS, December 10, and CONTROL, December 26), but we're launching our annual year-end giveaway today!

There will be four winners, each getting one of the most awesome prize packages available. We are also launching our new Tumblr in conjunction with this giveaway, so be sure to follow us over there to earn 10 entries!

Here are the prize packages!

Audio Book Package #1

Altered by Genn Albin

The Forgetting Curve and The Meme Plague by Angie Smibert

Audio Book Package #2

Starters by Lissa Price

Impostor by Susanne Winnacker

Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman

Book Package #1

Signed copy of NOT A DROP TO DRINK by Mindy McGinnis + swag

PHOENIX by Elizabeth Richards + bookmarks

CONTROL by Lydia Kang + bookmarks

signed copy of FAIR COIN by E.C. Myers + bookmarks
signed copy of THESE BROKEN STARS by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner + bookmarks

Book Package #2

signed copy of STARTERS by Lissa Price + swag

signed paperback of THE MEMORY OF AFTER by Lenore Appelhans + swag

Landry Park swag, including necklace

signed paperback of POSSESSION by Elana Johnson + swag

a signed copy of SHADES OF EARTH by Beth Revis

And here's the Rafflecopter to sign up! We look forward to a great year in 2014, and we hope you'll be there with us!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jay Kristoff and The Dude

So, I’m getting into the business end of editing Stormdancer 3. I feel ridiculous saying “Stormdancer 3”, btw. The book has a name (some clever people have already figured it out—the clues are there in KINSLAYER), and though I’m not allowed to reveal the name yet, calling it “Stormdancer 3” feels like referring to my baby sister as “Jay 3”. She has lady parts (I assume). Calling her Jay is silly. So enough of this. Enough I say!

From the remainder of this post, “Stormdancer 3” will be hereby referred to only as “The Dude”.

So.

True to campfire rumor, The Dude has been far easier company than KINSLAYER. Second books are all about set up. You can have conflict, you can have minor resolution, you can have earth shattering revelations of the Empire Strikes Back variety (No, Darth Vader is not Yukiko’s father in case you were wondering) but in true man of mystery style, KINSLAYER leaves  the big questions unanswered, and the big bad guy undefeated.  By comparison, all the pieces are on the board in The Dude, and my job as an author is to tie up the threads with some suitably crunchy action and gut-wrenching tragedy and make everybody cry at the end.

Yes, it is The Dude’s intention to make you cry. He’s mean like that.

I’m also finding The Dude comes with a whole bunch of battles. And not Michael Jackson filmclip style battles, either, where hardened street thugs (with inexplicably high pants) work out their differences with a dance-off. I’m talking Pelennor Plains style battles. Cities under siege. Fleets of sky-ships riddling each other with shuriken-thrower fire, armies clashing on stretches of dead earth while colossi of black iron and smoke crush legions underfoot and godDAMN it’s fun to write.

I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m possessed of XY chromosomes, but I like writing violence. I like building sand-castles made of words and then smashing them to pieces before the tide comes in to wash them away. And maybe my epic battles suck more than the Green Lantern movie (no, wait, suckage that severe would bend the universe…), but since I’m writing so many of them lately, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on how I go about writing them, which you can feel free to ignore or adopt as you see fit.

1.     Short introductions - In an epic battle, you’re dealing with thousands of people trying to murder the bejeezus out of thousands more. The armaments, formation, disposition, size, mood and personal hygiene standards of your combatants is something you can spend a lot of time on if you really want to. But I’m not sure many people care. You need your establishing text to describe the badasses involved, but spending enormous amounts of time talking about the peculiar braiding on the elven archers cloaks, or how the pikemen from Southern Whosiwhatsit were descended from a race of sheep buggering madmen from the Upper Thingamabob… I’m not sure. Flavor text is good. Flavor text will help establish some color in the scene. But spend too much time on intros and you’re going to bore your reader stupid, particularly when they know most of these fellows are going to be decorating the sharp pointy things of your main protagonists soon.

2.     Keep your wide shots to a minimum – Think about any showpiece battle you’ve seen on film – after initial introductions, the camera usually spends very little time following the movements of large bulks of troops. After we’re shown that, yes, that is an awful lot of Uruk-hai, and yes, those Riders of Rohan are proper fracked, the camera takes us up close and personal. It’s only in clutch points during the battle, when the tide swings one way or the other, that we’re given a wide view. Most of our time is spent medium/close up. Battles are visceral. Terrifying. If you find yourself using terms like ‘pincer movement’ or ‘flanking manoeuvre’ you’re shooting way too wide. A guy in the thick of battle doesn’t know the enemy is performing a ‘pincer movement’. All he knows is that there’s another guy with a broadsword the size of a small tree trying to cleave him in twain.

3.     Cleave him in twain – NEVER use this turn of phrase in an epic battle. Or in any other fashion, actually. There is a special circle in Tosser’s Hell for writers who do.

4.     Carnage – People die in battle. And to be honest, they die in brutal, painful ways. Compare the melee in a film like Braveheart to a film like the Phantom Menace. Menace has these huge set-pieces with thousands of figures all pew pew pewing at each other, all very visually impressive. Braveheart has a couple of hundred dudes swinging sharpened chunks of metal. The difference? In Menace, the combatants are robots. In Braveheart, the combatants are big sacks of meat and blood. When someone gets hit, you feel it. You see the aftershocks. The camera gets little splashes of blood on it. Which battles are you more heavily invested in? Which one will you be more excited reading? Battles are about crunching bones and spraying arteries and people screaming. They’re about the stink of blood and smoke and excrement (Fun fact! People void their bowels when they die!). They are noise and chaos and red, red krovy. PG’ing it isn’t going to work. Nobody will care.

5.     Point of View – God’s eye is functional for establishing the ebb and flow – who is winning and who is losing. But as discussed above, it’s also impersonal. Epic battles are not about armies. They’re about the people inside them. And not necessarily the heroes leading the charge atop a disco unicorn, golden locks all blowing in the breeze and whatnot. Sometimes, sure, you want to see spectacular heroism and feats beyond the ken of mere mortals. But doing it too often gets boring quick. Try writing the battle from some grunt on the front line. Lord Richard of Spankersville, last Scion of the great House of Withknobson wants to win this battle to claim the throne from the evil clutches of usurper King Tackleout. But Garreth of Pigswill, some pressganged farmer with a wife and three kids to feed and the local Magistrate eying off his plot of land? He just wants to stay the hell alive. Reading from his point of view, rather than the Lord atop his gleaming unicorn, will give your battles a different kind of gravity. And gravity is what you’re after.

Lastly, never, EVER use the phrase ‘Cleft in Twain’ – I know I said this already, but it’s so important I thought I should mention it twice.

Jay Kristoff is November's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Surly. Mammalian. Australian. Tall.
(Editors note: Jay took the directive of "short bio" quite literally!)

Stormdancer

Kinslayer

by Jay Kristoff

More info

A SHATTERED EMPIRE
The mad Shōgun Yoritomo has been assassinated by the Stormdancer Yukiko, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The Lotus Guild conspires to renew the nation’s broken dynasty and crush the growing rebellion simultaneously – by endorsing a new Shōgun who desires nothing more than to see Yukiko dead.

A DARK LEGACY
Yukiko and the mighty thunder tiger Buruu have been cast in the role of heroes by the Kagé rebellion. But Yukiko herself is blinded by rage over her father’s death, and her ability to hear the thoughts of beasts is swelling beyond her power to control. Along with Buruu, Yukiko’s anchor is Kin, the rebel Guildsman who helped her escape from Yoritomo’s clutches. But Kin has his own secrets, and is haunted by visions of a future he’d rather die than see realized.

A GATHERING STORM
Kagé assassins lurk within the Shōgun’s palace, plotting to end the new dynasty before it begins. A waif from Kigen’s gutters begins a friendship that could undo the entire empire. A new enemy gathers its strength, readying to push the fracturing Shima imperium into a war it cannot hope to survive. And across raging oceans, amongst islands of black glass, Yukiko and Buruu will face foes no katana or talon can defeat.
The ghosts of a blood-stained past.

Jay Kristoff on Rejection

It’s been almost three years to the day since I was plucked from the slush and pledged my soul to el Diablo signed with my literary agent. So in this post, I thought I’d discuss a pit where once I dwelled, neck deep in danky doom, like some 6’7 piece of bearded navel lint. Stick with me through the depressing intro – much like asphyxiating on carbon monoxide, it gets more pleasant towards the end.

Old crusty men will tell you there are only two certainties in life – death and taxes. But old crusty men tell lies and smell of vaguely of urinal cake (have you ever noticed that? BIZARRE). Bollocks to old crusty men. There are actually three absolutes in this rollercoaster we ride.

Death, taxes and rejection.

If you’re a writer with aspirations of getting traditionally published, comprehending the third is just as vital as realizing that Frank Miller is a dude who once wrote some pretty good comics but has now turned bitter and gone pantsless hobo crrrrrrazy. The truth is this: the road to autograph-signing-induced RSI, drowning in fangirl undies and throwing TVs out the window at San Diego Comic Con is paved with boiler-plate rejection.

Rejection is someone you’ll hear rumours about from your crit-partners, maybe catch a glimpse of in your writing groups, but you’ll first become intimately acquainted on your quest to find representation. And when I say ‘intimately’, I’m not kidding. You’ll know where Rejection’s birthmarks are. You’ll know about that tattoo it got when it was 18 and drunk in Tijuana. You’ll know it’s not a natural blonde.

People will come at you with gems like “Stephanie Meyer got rejected nine times before Twilight got bought” or “JK Rowling ate a dozen rejections before she got her deal”. Let Phoenix Wright, attorney at law, put all such delusional cracky-talk to rest. I know writers who’ve swallowed three hundred rejections before they found an agent. Three hundred. Before they even got a ticket to the dance. Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to representation.

Got an agent? Awesome! Achievement unlocked! Now comes level two: Submissions. Your work gets sent out to publishing houses – one blind, wriggling little tadpole thing amidst a thousand others, all struggling together up that long, moist tunnel, vying for…

Nonono, wait. I’m putting a stop to this analogy right now.

Point is, the odds of getting picked up by a publishing house are long. You might get lucky. You might win the lottery on your first round and not have to dwell in the stinky butt-crack of Submission Hell for too long. But chances are, this isn’t gonna happen. I know plenty of writers who’ve gone from the dizzying high of landing an agent only to watch their book get passed on by every editor it’s sent to. I even know of an author who got signed, edited, then dumped by her house as her book was in artwork stages. And to get so close just to watch it slip away? Wedding tackle, meet steel-toed boot.

Yes, okay, it’s hard. We get it. What’s your point, Jay?

My point is this: Walking this road is a slog, and some days, it’s going to seem like it’s too hard and too far away. You’ll do the math (never do the math – math is your enemy), work out the odds and wonder why you’re wasting your time. But as you walk this yellow brick road of rejection slips, you should take a moment to listen. The soft squishing sound beneath your Chucks? That’s the bodies of the people who walked this road before you and let it get on top of them.

You don’t want to be them.

As hard as walking is, as long as the odds are of you getting to the end, the odds are longer if you stop walking entirely. The probability of you getting to the finish line if you lay down? It’s nil. And ten thousand to one odds are a damn sight better than an absolute impossibility.

I went from zero offers of representation to four in a single week. In the space of two months, I went from a guy with an inbox full of boilerplate rejection to having three different publishing houses bidding on my book. Two months. That’s how fast this worm can turn. And it can start turning tomorrow. But not if you lay down. Not if you stop moving.

So my point?

Keep walking.

Jay Kristoff is November's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Surly. Mammalian. Australian. Tall.
(Editors note: Jay took the directive of "short bio" quite literally!)

Stormdancer

Kinslayer

by Jay Kristoff

More info

A SHATTERED EMPIRE
The mad Shōgun Yoritomo has been assassinated by the Stormdancer Yukiko, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The Lotus Guild conspires to renew the nation’s broken dynasty and crush the growing rebellion simultaneously – by endorsing a new Shōgun who desires nothing more than to see Yukiko dead.

A DARK LEGACY
Yukiko and the mighty thunder tiger Buruu have been cast in the role of heroes by the Kagé rebellion. But Yukiko herself is blinded by rage over her father’s death, and her ability to hear the thoughts of beasts is swelling beyond her power to control. Along with Buruu, Yukiko’s anchor is Kin, the rebel Guildsman who helped her escape from Yoritomo’s clutches. But Kin has his own secrets, and is haunted by visions of a future he’d rather die than see realized.

A GATHERING STORM
Kagé assassins lurk within the Shōgun’s palace, plotting to end the new dynasty before it begins. A waif from Kigen’s gutters begins a friendship that could undo the entire empire. A new enemy gathers its strength, readying to push the fracturing Shima imperium into a war it cannot hope to survive. And across raging oceans, amongst islands of black glass, Yukiko and Buruu will face foes no katana or talon can defeat.
The ghosts of a blood-stained past.

5 tips on writing outside your gender

Ok, confession time:

I am not a 16 year-old girl.

Shocking, I know, but if you look closely, the facial hair is a dead giveaway.

The thing is, the protagonist of my book IS a 16 year-old girl, and having never been a girl, teenaged or otherwise, some might rightly ask “Well, how on earth did you write one convincingly?”

I won’t lie – it’s difficult. But is it any harder than writing a convincing 532 year-old vampire? Or 20-something fighter pilot who blows things up in spaaaace? Or any of the other bazillion things in this world that I’m not and never will be?

Not really, no. The second most successful series of modern times was written by a woman, starring a teenaged male protagonist. Creating well-rounded, believable characters is a challenge for all writers. However, I’ve discovered there are things you can do to help you step outside your chromosomal boundaries. So in the spirit of giving, and in the hopes that you’ll all say “Well, that Jay Kristoff is a lovely man, and his books sound frackin’ awesome”, I present them to you now:

Preparation

1. Read (duh).
Read books written by authors of the opposite gender, starring protagonists of the opposite gender. See how the home team does it first. Take particular note of the characterization that seems odd to you (see step 5) Note: You might feel odd at the bookstore, particularly if you’re a 30-something male buying books for teenaged girls. Just shrug at the scary clerk looking at you all weird and say the magic words: “They’re for my niece.”
2. 2.     Beta powerz…. ACTIVATE.
   Get yourself beta readers of the opposite gender. Not the kind that “squeeeee”. I’m talking about the kind who melt paint from the walls with their crits. Arm these betas with a rubber stamp that reads WDTLT (We Don’t Think Like This).
   Encourage them to lay that thing down like the frackin’ hammer of Thor.
   3.     Abandon fear.
   You may experience self-doubt when writing outside your gender. But really, unless you’re writing an autobiography, you’re always going to be writing someone different from you.
   If people were interested in reading about a guy who is frequently mistaken for Dave Grohl, but in reality, only gets his Rock God on with Guitar Hero 5, yeah, I’m pretty sure I could write that character convincingly. But considering no-one wants to read about that guy, I’ll have to, you know, make stuff up.
   Kinda like every fiction writer in the world has been doing since forever. :)
   
   Time to Write
   
   
   

   4.     Familiar ground.
   Start with similarities. Human beings, at their cores, are very similar regardless of gender. There are things all people want/need. Sure, the way we go about getting these things might differ, but our motivations don’t: We seek out happiness. Recoil from things that hurt us. Seek a place to belong. Friendship. Love. Joy.

   “Rescue the kidnapped hottie”, “Avenge my murdered {insert significant other here}” “Find out why things turn into skittles every time I touch them” – These motivations work for any protag, regardless of their chromosomes.

   We are not that different.

   5.     We are very different.
   There are some core differences between males and females (beyond the obvious), and you need a grasp of these before you begin.

   Basic example:

   I read a lot of fiction by female authors before I started writing my books, and I was struck by the differences in the way different genders perceive their fellows.

   When a girl meets a boy in these books, they invariably talk about the boy’s eyes. Or his lips. Or his bone structure.

   It won’t surprise many of you, but boys do not think this way. When boy character meets girl character, he generally notices her hair, then her body. The eyeline (and thoughts) of the average boy tend to… descend. This is in our nature – if it wasn’t, every XY on the planet wouldn’t be constantly caught doing it.

   
   

   Try it for yourself (No, I don’t mean ogle other people). Grab five books off your shelf. I’ll bet four of them follow the above rule. Now this is just one example, but you need to understand these differences to write a convincing character. If your male protagonist EVER mentions his love interest’s eyelashes, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

When in doubt, the best advice I can give is seek the opinions of betas, or writers of the opposite gender you may know. The brutally honest kind are worth their weight in gold. But whatever you do, never, ever fall into that baffling belief that you should only write in your own shoes. Unless you’re a part-time super-spy or possessed of mutant powers, chances are, a book about you is going to be a boring book. Unless you challenge yourself, you will never grow.

Be brave. Believe. And above all, WRITE.

Jay Kristoff is November's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Surly. Mammalian. Australian. Tall.
(Editors note: Jay took the directive of "short bio" quite literally!)

Stormdancer

Kinslayer

by Jay Kristoff

More info

A SHATTERED EMPIRE
The mad Shōgun Yoritomo has been assassinated by the Stormdancer Yukiko, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The Lotus Guild conspires to renew the nation’s broken dynasty and crush the growing rebellion simultaneously – by endorsing a new Shōgun who desires nothing more than to see Yukiko dead.

A DARK LEGACY
Yukiko and the mighty thunder tiger Buruu have been cast in the role of heroes by the Kagé rebellion. But Yukiko herself is blinded by rage over her father’s death, and her ability to hear the thoughts of beasts is swelling beyond her power to control. Along with Buruu, Yukiko’s anchor is Kin, the rebel Guildsman who helped her escape from Yoritomo’s clutches. But Kin has his own secrets, and is haunted by visions of a future he’d rather die than see realized.

A GATHERING STORM
Kagé assassins lurk within the Shōgun’s palace, plotting to end the new dynasty before it begins. A waif from Kigen’s gutters begins a friendship that could undo the entire empire. A new enemy gathers its strength, readying to push the fracturing Shima imperium into a war it cannot hope to survive. And across raging oceans, amongst islands of black glass, Yukiko and Buruu will face foes no katana or talon can defeat.
The ghosts of a blood-stained past.