Thanks for participating in the Spring 2016 YASH! The hunt is now over. Visit YA Scavenger Hunt for information on Scavenger Hunt winners.
PANDEMIC and Gift Card Giveaway
In addition to contributing to the YASH giveaway, I'm offering my own personal giveaway as well. Good luck!
By Yvonne Ventresca  Next week, I'm excited to take part in YASH, a giant online scavenger hunt focused on young adult novels. It runs from March 29-April 3, and I'm on author TEAM ORANGE. (It's funny that I'm on the orange team, because my short story that was chosen for the Prep for Doom dystopian anthology is called "Escape to Orange Blossom." ) If you'd be interested in playing, there are detailed instructions about how the hunt works on the YA Scavenger Hunt website. There are 9 author teams, each with their own color, so you can play 9 times with different sets of authors and different grand prizes. (You can see a complete list of teams and participating authors here.) I'll also be hosting a personal giveaway, so please come back on March 29 to join the fun! YA Scavenger Hunt: Team Orange
 Feeling like we don’t have enough time is a common problem. There never seems to be enough hours to accomplish everything we want in a day, week, year. For 26 days in April, I’ll be blogging about personal productivity, especially as it relates to creative people. My goal is to provide ideas, techniques, and inspiration for increasing your personal productivity. The A to Z challenge starts on April 1. 2016 A to Z Theme: Productivity for Creative People 2016 A to Z Blogging Theme I also blogged about productivity in the 2015 challenge. My previous posts are listed below. (Obviously, 2016 will feature new material!) 2015 A to Z: Posts about ProductivityA is for Analyze: How Do You Spend Your Time? B is for Beginning: Wisdom from Newton, Hemingway, and Others about the Power of Getting Started C is for Ciotti: Interview with Sparring Mind's Gregory Ciotti D is for Digital Procrastination and the Illusion of Productivity E is for Exercise F is for Focus and Flow G is for Getting Things Done H is for How to Procrastinate I is for Important Things First: Prioritizing Tasks J is for Julie: A Calendar Trick from Author Julie Lindsey K is for Killing Time: An Unscientific List of the Best 5 Ways L is for Lifehacks and Links M is for Myths about Productivity N is for "No" O is for Open Loops (Unfinished Business) P is for Pomodoro Technique Q is for Quit Bad Habits R is for Routines and Rituals S is for Sleep T is for Technology Tools U is for Unclutter: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up V is for Vanderkam: Interview with Productivity Author Laura Vanderkam W is for Will Power (Which Isn't Enough) X is for Xeriscape Y is for Yours Truly: Productivity Advice from Yvonne Z is for Zig Ziglar Quote If you're participating in A to Z, include your theme below.
If not, do you have a favorite topic you like to read about on blogs?  Writers tend to be curious people. It leads us to think about “what if” scenarios and imagine various possibilities. When the Swine Flu occurred in 2009, it wasn’t particularly lethal, but it did make me wonder. What if a virus was extremely contagious and caused a high death rate? And what if a teen girl became separated from her parents and had to survive on her own? Even though the resulting young adult novel is a work of fiction, writing Pandemic required many hours of research. As author Zora Neale Hurston said, “Research is formalized curiosity.” Five types of research for fiction (and some thoughts on finding useful information) Character development: The psychology of the main characters is a key element in creating authentic fiction. Since my protagonist, Lil, was healing from a traumatic experience, I wanted to make sure that her behaviors fit the recovery process. Some information was available online, but I also found it valuable to speak with a social worker. She was able to help me further understand how someone in Lil’s situation might act.  Plot ideas: Depending on your storyline, experts can be helpful in generating new sources of conflict within your novel. For Pandemic, talking to a local public health officer inspired further complications that could result from a widespread illness. I was also able to locate several government emergency planning documents online that helped me imagine what might happen in dire circumstances. Nonfiction books about historic and emerging diseases were also useful in creating my fictional disease. While these examples apply to Pandemic, they could easily be adapted for other plotlines as well.  Dialogue: Writing out every “um” and “like” that people really say would weigh down a scene. You can research how teens talk by doing some careful listening. You don’t necessarily want to include slang that will date the story, but you want your characters to sound real. If you don’t have your own handy teens to eavesdrop on, go someplace that teens congregate and listen in a non-stalkerish way. When you’re writing, be sure to cut out the boring parts of a conversation.  Setting: I have a separate blog post about setting here. Even if you are extremely familiar with a place, make sure to accurately describe details like plants, trees, and the weather during the time the story is set. Google Earth is another tool for researching a setting.  Interesting Tidbits: Sometimes you don’t know how you’ll use a piece of information that strikes a chord with you. Create a system for saving these tidbits and their sources. For example, one interesting thing I learned is that during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, colored ribbons were placed on doorways to indicate a death in the household. The color of the ribbon indicated the age range of the dead. White, for instance, was used for children. These details inspired me to think about how we would use technology to track deaths today, which led to one of the characters creating a blog to share information with other characters in the story. Research can add the details that make your novel stand out. If you have any tips or techniques, be sure to share them in the comments below.
 This week is the New York City Teen Author Festival, an amazing festival of *free* events.
"Eight days. Over 110 authors. The New York Public Library, Indie Bookstores, Barnes & Noble, and Dixon Place. The 9th annual NYC Teen Author Festival is here, with panels, readings, and our mega-signing at Books of Wonder as the grand finale. Come be a part of New York City’s biggest YA event. All events are free to the public, though book purchases are STRONGLY encouraged. Seating is first come, first served." I'll be at the NY Public Library on Friday afternoon as part of an author panel called "Suspicious Minds." If you live in or around the NYC area, be sure to check the complete schedule of events. On a recent author panel, the moderator asked us about our favorite TV shows. I don't know much about fashion, but I *love* Project Runway. Creativity and Reality TV
 Do you love dystopian stories? The Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans is a Facebook group that brings together readers and writers of that genre. (My YA novel, Pandemic, isn't technically dystopian--it's more apocalyptic, but close enough.) Last weekend, the group celebrated having 3000 members and I was happy to serve as an author host during the Facebook party.
If you've never participated in a virtual Facebook party, the way that BOD runs the event is that different hosts take time slots. The hosts provide links to quizzes, play games like "caption this," and ask questions to promote discussion. Each host also sponsors a few giveaways, often related to their books. I thought I'd share two quizzes here. Here's one I didn't get to include during the FB event. Since Pandemic centers around a fictionalized version of bird flu, how much do you know about contagious diseases? Take this quiz from WebMD to find out. (I was hoping to get 100% but scored 12 out of 15.) From the BOD party: Which dystopian novel world do you belong in? (I got the Hunger Games.) Share your results in the comments! |
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