Writing what you know ... writing what you don't. By Bryony Pearce

Last weekend I presented at my first literary festival (which was nerve-wracking, but really good fun).  After my talk a member of the audience asked me if I wrote only female protagonists.  In answer I said that the first three full-length novels I had written (including Angel’s Fury) had female protagonists, but the most recent two (both in early stages) have male leads.  There was no real conscious decision making process there – a boy’s voice simply took over the book.

A man in the audience was surprised and asked if I thought I’d really be able to write from a boy’s viewpoint.

On one level we’re always told ‘write what you know’ and admittedly I have no experience being a teenage boy; but then are teenage boys really so alien that no female adult could put herself in their place?

As writers we are meant to use our imagination, our empathy and our own experiences to put ourselves inside our characters. We do it all the time when we create worlds that are not our own, when we write anything that doesn’t have ‘Diary’ on the title page.

I have experienced being different, I have experienced unrequited love (and requited love, thank goodness), I have been bullied.  Haven’t boys experienced these things too?

Can’t I use my own memories of being bullied to write about a bullied boy?  Would a victimised boy really feel differently to a girl in the same position?  Or would the feelings of humiliation, powerlessness, frustration and rage all be the same?

I can imagine myself inside a boy – I believe it’s just like being inside a girl. 

What I find harder to imagine is the physical side of being a boy, having those muscles - being bigger and stronger, having (whisper it) male … equipment.  But that shouldn’t preclude me from writing a male lead.  I don’t talk about female specific body parts when I write a female lead, so why should I need to focus on them when I write a boy?

Keren David’s Ty has a convincing voice, as does Gillian Philip’s Seth, Maggie Stiefvater’s James, Candy Gourlay’s Bernardo, Savita Kalhan’s Sam … the list could go on and on.

So I shall continue writing my male leads.  I enjoy being in their heads and I don’t even think of them as boys. They are called Odie and Elliot and that’s how I see them.  Maybe that’s the answer – I can write male leads because think of my characters as people, not generic examples of a gender.

Shakespeare’s Shylock said it best:

“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?” 

So shouldn't we authors be allowed to imagine ourselves in the place of someone different? Whether it be a boy, a girl, an ethnic minority, a different religious background, or a different sexual persuasion … ?

And if readers can accept a book about a boy that was written by a woman, then perhaps that’s a step towards thinking that it’s okay to put themselves in someone else’s place too. The world could do with a bit more empathy … couldn’t it?

Being Gay in Teen and YA fiction -- Savita Kalhan

Over the last few weeks I keep coming across the story of the two American writers, Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manja Brown, who were asked by their agent to either remove gay characters from their YA books or to ‘straighten’ them. The story first appeared on the Publishers Weekly Genreville blog, but the authors, although happy to discuss what they were told to do by the agent, refused to name them. The name of the agent ultimately came to light, but they subsequently refuted the story put forward by the two authors.

There seems to be several sides to this story. Was it a case of two over-sensitive writers being unwilling to change/rewrite a book that wasn’t up to scratch? Or was it the agency who felt that gay characters in YA just don’t sell books? From a publishers point of view, a book with gay central characters is going to have a very limited market compared to one with heterosexual characters. From their perspective, that’s not homophobia, that’s just a question of numbers.

The whole issue is still out there. Soon enough, discussions about what really went on, or might have gone on, or what it was all really about hit Twitter with: #YesGayYA. Many of the commentators felt that the real issue here was the censorship practised by the gate-keepers. We’re talking about the States here, not the UK.

As far as I can tell, and from personal experience, gate-keepers here are very much kept in mind when teen books are published in the UK. The reason why I had to remove a few ‘hells’ and other minor expletives from my book, which is aimed at teens, was because it was felt that librarians wouldn’t approve. I don’t think the same is necessarily true of YA fiction with a slightly older readership. 

In Malorie Blackman’s Boys Don’t Cry, the younger brother of the central character is both black and gay. Malorie has said that she has had a positive response to this.

Have other writers had a similar experience to Malorie, or have there been problems? And is the divide between what’s deemed acceptable in teen lit and in YA lit becoming wider?

Or is it that better-known writers are afforded more latitude??

In the beginning...

Edge author Sara Grant talks about humble beginnings and time travel

Today I leave for my home state of Indiana to launch my debut novel Dark Parties! I’ve got a number of book signings and school events planned, but I’m most excited about speaking to the students at Washington High School. I graduated from good ol’ WHS twenty-five years ago. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to tell them. It will be my first real school visit since Dark Parties was published. Sure, I’ll talk about writing and publishing. But I think my main message will be – dream big anyway.

I’ve created stories since I was a little girl, imagining epic dramas for my Barbie dolls. I wrote my first short story when I was eight years old. It was titled “A Dream I Wish Was True” and it was a complete rip off of a skit from The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. I dedicated the story to Farrah Fawcett Majors (Yeah, I was unduly influenced by television and a huge fan of Charlie’s Angels.). I think I still have the original copy somewhere. I wrote it in pencil and bound it with three pieces of string I found in the family junk drawer.

WHS - Home of the Hatchets

I wrote my first original story, titled “Adventure in the Bread Drawer,” when I was ten years old. It was about a girl who shrinks and meets a family called the Germs in a stale Twinkie. The story had a surreal and slightly cannibalistic ending where the girl wakes up and her brother has eaten the Twinkle and he’s picking something -- which may or may not be the Germs’ family photo -- from his teeth.

Growing up my creative writing assignments usually were returned covered in red ink with points deducted for spelling errors. I was convinced I could never be a writer because my spelling was appalling. Thank the writing gods for spell check!

I have a drawer full of rejection letters from editors and agents and a brain full of memories of people telling me I was wasting my time or I wasn’t quite good enough.

But now I also have a book with my name on the spine, sitting on a bookstore shelf under a sign that says ‘Top Teen Picks’.

No one is ever going to beg you to write a book. I’m not going to tell you it will be easy. But if it’s your dream, do it anyway. Never stop reading and writing and revising and learning and failing and dusting yourself off and starting all over again.

At the Barnes & Noble in Bloomington, Indiana

I wish I had a time machine so I could travel back to my chubby teenage self and tell her about her future. How she’ll one day – yeah, she’s going to have to wait a long time – live in London, England, and make a living writing books. She won’t believe me. But, hey, I almost can’t believe it myself.

And since I don’t have a time machine, I’ll hope that one day some budding young writer will be sitting in the audience and I can tell her or him to keep the faith!

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What was your first story?

Dark Parties -- a dystopian novel for young adults -- will be published by Orion in December 2011. Find out more about Sara and her books at www.sara-grant.com.

Wired for Sound

The Truth about Celia Frost author, Paula Rawsthorne, asks will soundtracks on our ebooks enhance our reading experience?

I’ve been fascinated about the recent release by Booktrack of certain ebooks with added, synchronized sounds that hope to “dramatically boost the reader’s imagination and engagement”  (quote from Booktrack’s website).  These soundtracks include ambient music and sound effects such as rotating helicopter blades, creaking doors, lashing rain-whatever detail is chosen from the text.

Booktrack, have only released a very limited range of soundtrack ebooks so far, but their first efforts seem to be concentrated on the Young Adult market.  I presume this is because they think that teenagers need the added stimulation of music and sound effects as they read, because they haven’t got the capacity to conjure up the world of the story in their imagination.   Or maybe it’s because the company reckon that young people are growing up in an environment where they are plugged into a virtual world provided by game consoles and the internet, which makes them reliant on being spoon fed images, sights and sounds.  Therefore, just plain reading a story is not enough to hold their attention.

I wish they had more faith in teenagers and in readers in general.  We already have audio books and radio plays and I can see how, this medium might be enhanced by well chosen music and sparingly employed sound effects.  However, I have seen and listened to short samples of the new Booktrack releases and, for me, the soundtrack was intrusive, distracting and rather than enhancing my reading experience it felt that I was battling against noise pollution.

To be fair the ebook reader is in complete control of the soundtrack so it can be turned off and the soundtrack can, cleverly, keep pace with your reading speed, so shouldn’t drive you mad in that respect.  It will be interesting to see if this concept does take off with readers, teen and adult (short stories by Salman Rushdie will soon be getting the soundtrack treatment). 

You could argue that any new angle that might get more teens reading is to be applauded.  However,  I think that I’ll be keeping faith in young people’s ability to let their imaginations be fired up by the words on the page, alone.

What do you think about ebooks with soundtracks?       

Summertime and writers go out in the world........by Miriam Halahmy

Writers constantly need to replenish their imaginations and for me that has always meant taking to the road. When I was young I travelled all over the UK and Europe, sleeping in youth hostels, tents, barns, railway stations and under the stars on the beach. 

The earth belongs to me ( and to you of course) and I have continued to travel all my life. I have paddled in four oceans and withstood temperatures from -30C all the way to +45C. I have spoken in languages from Russian to Arabic and everywhere I went I always had a notebook at the bottom of my bag. 

This summer I started a new book and I had to dig very deep for the words. My travels took me to Crosby beach within sight and sound of Liverpool and its great historic docks.

On Crosby beach are 100 cast iron life-size figures, sculpted by one of our great modern artists, Anthony Gormley ( Angel of the North.) The figures are made from casts of the artist’s own body. They are dotted along 3km of the foreshore and 1km out to sea.  Gormley says, “they harness the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man’s relationship with nature.” 

When we first reached the beach at 11.00am the tide was in and huge waves crashed against the concrete walkway. The sculptures were completely covered but as the waves rose and fell; heads and sometimes shoulders were revealed like upright drowning men. 

People hang jumpers, scarves, sunhats and even a motorbike helmet on the sculptures, casting them as modern scarecrows trying to frighten the gulls and the wind farms out at sea.

 By 4.00pm the beach was like a different planet. The sea had receded by almost a quarter mile and all along the damp sands we could see the iron men facing out to sea as if seeking a new world. Gormley calls the installation, ‘Another Place’ and says, “This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body. It is no hero, no ideal...

The entire experience blew a new world through my body and my mind, giving me inspiration, mystery, imagination, pictures, colours and streams and streams of words. If I am to remain true to my art of writing and writing without compromise to the edge, then days like this are the structure and sculpture that I need to propel my work forward.

Do you write to travel or travel to write?

Latest news from The Edge

This week Edge author Dave Cousins provides a round-up of all the latest news from The Edge.

While you've been away basking in the sun with a good book (I hope!), here at The Edge we've been busy being edgy and getting ready for lots of activity towards the end of the year. Already confirmed for November are Edge authors at the Broxbourne heat of the Kid Lit Quiz and a Pulse Panel discussion at the SCBWI conference, plus lots more in the pipeline. So, what else have we been up to?

The very strokeable embossed cover for 15 Days!

I've spent most of the summer hidden away in my attic, fighting wasps and working on my next book for OUP. Meanwhile preparations for the publication of 15 Days Without a Head are picking up momentum. I received a very strokeable embossed cover proof in the post last week along with a stack of proof copies which have gone out to readers for review. I'm delighted to say that the response I've had so far has been fantastic, including this one from 14 year old Rewan Harper.

"This book is truly awesome! It has everything a good book needs. It is funny and witty, but with a serious edge giving the novel another layer. Excellently done!" 

For more reader reviews have a look at my new website.

Katie is delighted with a wonderful mention for Someone Else's Life in The Bookseller, under the heading of One to Watch: 

“A girl who discovers she was swapped at birth triggers an unstoppable chain of events in this riveting debut about families, relationships, and long-buried secrets. A really gripping family drama that reads like a Jodi Picoult for teens.” – The Bookseller. 

Katie is now also able to share the cover artwork for the US edition of Someone Else's Life, due out in February.

Apart from the recent publication of her third novel, Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery, which is already picking up some great reviews, Keren is busy writing her next book. In the meantime When I was Joe continues to collect awards and accolades, featuring in the Waterstone's Summer Guide to Teenage Fiction for Boys, and winning the Wirral Paperback of the Year award.

Miriam has had a busy summer, so I'll let her tell you what she's been up to.

"I spent a lovely week on Hayling in August where Hidden is set and visited a lot of bookshops. I signed books in Portsmouth Waterstone's and Blackwells University Bookshop. Both shops are giving prominent display to the book. The Hayling bookshop had sold out and has just ordered another 20 copies and so has WordSouth in Havant. So I'll be off to do another signing later on.

Meanwhile I will be at the Havant Festival in September and I have been contacted by schools and librarians in Hampshire for other events. I've also been asked to join the author panel of the Portsmouth Literary Quiz next January. 

After a quiet week or two there have been several reviews of Hidden and an interview on book blogging sites this week. My editor meanwhile is finishing her final tweaks to the second novel in the cycle, Illegal (March 2012) and will be sending me cover ideas this week. I have also sent her the third book Stuffed (October 2012) for editing. Busy summer? I suppose so. But maybe that is because I have started a new novel set in London this time and on a very specialist and extremely edgy subject. No spoilers - you'll have to wait a while!"

Paula also has a lot of news to share.

"My thriller, The Truth About Celia Frost, was published by Usborne on 1st August 2011. After a fantastic launch at Waterstones in Nottingham and a wonderful ‘author’s dinner’ in London with reviewers and booksellers, I embarked on my first ever book tour. I loved every minute of getting to talk to students, YA book groups and fellow writers. I was delighted at how enthusiastic groups were; willing to discuss reading and writing and asking a load of insightful questions.

I’ve been bowled over by the response to Celia Frost from reviewers, booksellers and readers. I’ve even received a batch of lovely letters from a whole class who read the book in school and wanted to tell me how much they enjoyed it.

The Independent On Sunday chose the book as one of their summer reads describing it as ‘riveting’, Books For Keeps made it Book of the Week and LoveReading4Kids made it a Debut Book of the Month. Numerous reviews from the press and readers can be found on www.celiafrost.co.uk but below is a taster.

"A stunning psychological thriller for young adults." – BookTime

"A page-turning thriller that's impossible to put down." – LoveReading4Kids

"A gripping psychological thriller, mixing issues of ethics with a poignant coming-of-age story." – The Bookseller

"I am a 14 year girl and I thought this book was amazing. It was so unlike anything I have read before. The story twists and turns, every page reveals something new and unexpected. I would recommend this book to all teen readers who enjoy a good story and a fast paced thriller. But it is more than that; some of the issues in this novel have made me think, long after I finished the book. I give this book ten out of ten!" – Georgie James, Reader Review.

I’m also delighted to report that the audio rights for an unabridged reading of The Truth About Celia Frost have just been bought by AudioGo (BBC audio books). The audio book is due to be released on 1st December 2011.

I’m really looking forward to going over to Belfast and Dublin in September when I’ll be doing events and talking to readers about Celia Frost. The next few months are going to continue to be a busy and exciting time for me as I’m involved in various literary events around the country and I’m working hard on my second (stand-alone) thriller which needs to be delivered to Usborne quite soon.

Celia Frost is available in all good bookshops. If you are interested in keeping up with news about Celia Frost’s progress then she’s on facebook, twitter and has her own webpage at www.celiafrost.co.uk

Sara's debut novel Dark Parties is now out in the US and received a great review in the May issue of the American Library Association's Booklist.

"It's really the heart-pounding rush of twists that will induce extreme page turning."

Also check out the great Dark Parties trailer, Sara's US publisher Little, Brown did for the book.

The publication of Dark Parties in the UK, has been moved to 29th December, and is gathering a host of great reviews, too many to include all of them here. To find out what readers are saying about Dark Parties, visit the news page on Sara's website. Here's a taster for now:

"With vivid imagery and realistically portrayed teen angst and emotions, Grant creates a believable, if horrifying, world peopled with interesting and well developed characters...There are plenty of twists and turns. The conclusion is satisfying but leaves things open for a sequel, which should seriously be considered. Grant is a debut author to watch." – Library Media Connection

“Dark Parties started out SO freaking awesome!...This book is fast paced and WICKED suspenseful! Yet really romantic, sweet and sensual... There's death, betrayal and most of all hope.” -- The Bookish Brunette

“I have to say that it was probably Grant’s writing style that truly drew me in; I was hooked by the way she was able to so perfectly captures the uncertainty, fear, and longing in Neva’s life, all in just the first chapter. Then she continued to reel me in closer to the heart of the story with such impeccable pacing and plotting until the very satisfying conclusion. Dark Parties is so much more than a mere summary of review can every do justice. It drags up old ideas and forces the reader to really examine them closely. This is one of those rare books that provides both thrilling entertainment and a good reason to reevaluate one’s outlook and values.” -- The Book Muncher

“I absolutely loved this book. I could not put it down for anything, and when I was not reading it, I was thinking about it. Grant creates a very believable world, and such strong characters.” – Books Complete Me

“Don't expect to get anything done while reading it because it's INTENSE! And fabulous. It's exactly the way any dystopian should be.” – Candace’s Book Blog

Bryony and Savita were both off promoting their books at the time of writing, so we'll have to catch up with their news next time. All that remains is to wish you all the best – enjoy the rest of the summer (of course it's raining outside as I write this!) and hope to see you soon.

Location Location Location

Edge Author Katie Dale asks How Important is Location in Fiction?

Is it important where a story is set? At first consideration it might not seem to matter too much, and in some cases the location is pretty interchangeable. For example, Sam in Before I Fall could pretty much attend any US high school – or even be relocated to the UK, as the teen social scene is fairly similar (which is one of the reasons the book is so thought-provoking – this could happen to anyone.) But imagine Wuthering Heights set anywhere but the Yorkshire moors, or The Beach anywhere but Thailand. Indeed, sometimes location even almost becomes a character in its own right, such is its impact on the characters and plot.

Location affects among many things the climate of the story, the culture, the laws the characters must live by, what they wear, how they speak – the list is endless. Consequently, choice of location must be considered carefully.

Some authors choose real-life locations – Forks in the Twilight saga (whose largely overcast and inclement weather proves beneficial to its resident vampires); Hayling Island in Miriam Halahmy’s Hidden (vital as the location Alix encounters an illegal immigrant); others use real locations under a fictional name (e.g. Sarah Dessen’s Lakeview is based on Chapel Hill, North Carolina); whilst yet others create worlds all of their own – Middle-earth, Hogwarts, Oz, Neverland, Wonderland, Narnia – where the reader is reliant on the author to paint absolutely every detail for them in their imagination. What a responsibility – and what an opportunity!

Detail is equally important when using a real place – it must be accurate enough that if a reader visits (or lives there) they will find it as described in the novel. In my upcoming book, Someone Else’s Life, my main character, Rosie, discovers she was swapped at birth and tries to trace her real family to the States. Luckily, I had visited all the US locations, but when I did research to flesh out the details I discovered that sometimes fact is even more incredible than fiction! – I could never have invented a giant lobster-pot Christmas tree or the giant black and white photos covering the pier!

Whether real or imaginary, as well as affecting and enhancing the plot, a well-created sense of place enriches the reading experience no end. To feed the reader’s imagination in such a way that they actually feel like they’re physically transported to that setting – seeing, touching, tasting and smelling everything around them – is one of the most powerful things about fiction, truly bringing a story to life. Wherever a book’s location may be – real, imaginary, or somewhere in-between – perhaps the most important thing is that it must feel real for the reader. I'll always remember feeling Lyra's cold in Northern Lights, the stickily warm exotic night air in Sarah Singleton's The Island, and Lucy's delighted amazement as she steps through the wardrobe into a snow-covered Narnia, and I thrill at the knowledge that at any time I can revisit any one of these places and many, many more besides, simply by opening a book.

What are your favourite literary locations? Do you prefer real places or imaginary worlds?

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale will be published by Simon & Schuster in the UK and Delacorte Press in the US in February 2012