Those of you who know me will find this fairly amusing. I've agreed to do a young adult story for an anthology about a high school of witches.
Yep. Young adult. High School. Witches.
I read a ton of fantasy, horror, paranormal. I've read it all my life, but now that I'm doing this story I feel the need to "research." To plough though a ton of young adult books, especially when I learned there is a lot of cross-over adult readership in many of the young adult titles. That was my clue that I really needed to get current.
Guess what? A couple have really changed my perception of what is being published in young adult. It's amazing. But first I had to research young adult authors. I did the standard internet searches, chatted with nieces, talked with a couple of folks who wrote young adult, listened to a couple of workshops on writing for teens. Then I trudged to the bookstore, rounded up the YA section employee and said, "Dude, here's my stack. Add anything to it that I absolutely have to read."
I love this employee. She (get hip will ya? We call girls dudes too.) is now my favorite person. Not only have her books been the winners on my list, but she went back and rounded up some advance reading copies.
She liked TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer so much that on her vacation (after finishing TWILIGHT) she went to a bookstore and bought the sequel in hardback without an employee discount. This is a big book and gives new meaning to the concept of "safe sex" when your new boyfriend is a vampire, and to "dead run" when a nasty band of vampires targets our human heroine.
She recommended ANGUS, THONGS AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING by English author Louise Rennison. Hilarious book, not what I was expecting. I gave it to my 25 year old son and said "Read this scene." He laughed and wasn't in a hurry to hand it back. I've now given it to my bestfriend to read just because I think she'll find it amusing too.
Holly Black has a very edgy and somewhat profanity-laced series about contemporary fairies. I liked the book but her subject matter and frankness took a bit of getting used to.
And a final recommendation is a book you may have already seen and read--PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld. General fiction, a NY Times Best 10 Books of the Year book about a Midwestern girl who heads to an Eastern prep school. This is a beautifully written book with a nod to being a "commercial" piece of fiction. The story is accessible and interesting. I find myself caring about the characters. This isn't young adult but the subject matter is clearly about the experiences in the age group I'll be writing. And anyone who's had any acquaintance with boarding/prep schools will recognize the authenticity in these pages.
And finally, in doing reseach I came across several sites that offer quaint quizzes for helping you find out what element you are (air, water, earth, etc.)
http://www.streea-davis.com/element.htm (They said for ties, multiple description windows would open with descriptions. Apparently I was all elements. Someone report back if they get like 5 windows open. Maybe everyone is schitzophrenic.)
And to find out what occult power best suits you...
(I'd be careful around me because I'm clairvoyant apparently. And my I seem to be at 50% power in all aspects of the supernatural. Who knew I had such power?
And if you want to know your magical personality...
So, who out there is reading "out of their element?" Finding good books in places you weren't looking? Or simply gathering knowledge you didn't know you were interested in until you stumbled on the subject?
