Encouragement for Writers

I don't pretend to be an expert, but here's my advice:

Getting published is tough but not impossible. Read everything you can get your hands on. Study the market. Learn your craft. Seek honest criticism. If you have discipline, resilience and persistence... if you write what people want to read... you will be published. No matter how many times you're rejected, never stop believing in yourself and do not give up. Someone, somewhere will read your book and say, "I love it!"

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Need some writing advice?

Marilee says...

Find Your Voice

Adapted from Marilee's post on the GotYA blog

I wasted a lot of good years writing depressing poetry about life's gloomiest and/or wackiest topics. Teenagers meandering down the highway of life searching for answers. My fear of spiders. Lonely old women who drink too much beer. Seriously. Some of it even got published. When I started my first book, a historical romance, I learned something important about myself and, in the process, found my true, authentic voice.

In the beginning, Castle Ladyslipper (my first book) had the most dreadful, dark and dreary plot one could imagine. Sir Garrick of Hawkwood, my hero, was emotionally damaged, thanks to all the conniving women in his life, starting with his mother. (Why is it always the mother who screws up the son?) The opening scene was an epic downer. As my heroine, Emma, scurried across the bailey, she heard William, her brother, calling to her from an upstairs window. She looked up to see the poor lad plunge to his death, a victim of over-enthusiastic waving. Is it any wonder I could barely drag myself to the computer each day?

When my output dwindled to nada, I finally realized I was fighting my nature and consequently hated what I was doing. I ditched the first scene and came up with a new recipe. Step 1. A dash of magic in the form of a crystal, a curse and a ghost. Step 2. A castle full of strong, opinionated woman. Step 3. A hunky, chauvinistic knight who believed women were basically large children and should be treated as such. Step 4. Mix thoroughly and see what rises to the top. I started to have fun, found my voice and completed my first book.

What does this have to do with young adult (YA) fiction? Only everything. Kids can spot a phony faster than the time it took William to go splat after his plunge from castle window to cobblestone. I try to remind myself of that fact each time I sit down at the computer. As writers, as human beings, we all have to be true to our natures. When we aren't, we're fighting a losing battle that manifests itself in stress-related illness and depression as well as incredibly bad writing.

Shakespeare said it best...

"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the day the night,
Thou canst not be false to any man."

Read more advice on:

Keeping the Faith

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