Free Friday: Personality Tests for Your Characters!

Revising Song of the Day: "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour
You know that feeling you get when you bump into an old crush? A part of you is excited to see him--to check him out, see how he's aged, get those butterflies all in your stomach. However, there's also the chance you'll be a bit terrified: Oh my God, why did I EVER check him out? Look how he's aged! I shouldn't have had that omelet for breakfast...
Yeah. That's kind of how I feel about revisions. I'm either going to open up the manuscript and get all giddy like a middle school girl...or I'm going to want to puke all over my keyboard (thankfully, the latter has never happened. Yet.).

As you probably can tell, I'm strapping on the fingerless gloves and diving back into revisions for Project J. I've always struggled with plot--so during my first few rounds of revisions, I focused on climaxes and conflicts and resolutions, oh my!

But then I lost my character.

That's right--I struggled with my main character. I NEVER thought I'd have trouble with character, but when I zoned in on plot, I forgot about letting my protagonist guide the story.

So what did I do? I popped open an issue of Writer's Digest and read a great article by Mike Nappa, "Skill-Builders for Fiction Writers." One of his suggestions was to complete personality tests for your characters. I thought: hey, I'm a writer. I'm a counselor. This should be fun!

And it was. I knocked a couple of those babies out, and soon I remembered what it was that I loved about my main character, Jonah. I remembered who he was and what he wanted and how he thought--and the butterflies were still there! So, I thought I'd share some of my faves:

Personality Type: This quiz only has 4 questions, but it reveals if your character is an introvert or extrovert. A thinker or a feeler. A scheduler or a freestyler. Pretty cool.

The Stress Test: Allow your character to pick 3 pictures. The one he/she does NOT choose reveals what he/she is stressing about. Great way to figure out potential conflict.

Driving in a New City: Your character gets lost with his/her partner. How does he react? This is awesome in seeing how your character interacts with others.

I could go on and on and on with all the cool quizzes that can help figure out your character, but instead I'll direct you here so you can choose more of you own.

So what do you think? Can personality tests help you with revisions?

12 Days of Revision: A Christmas Carol!

Carolling Song of the Day: Check out the one below!

We've bought all our Christmas presents, put up our tree, and are about to begin our holiday break from the day jobs. Needless to say, we're feeling a little festive. So we decided to share a little carol that only writers can appreciate:

The 12 Days of Revision!!
(Sung to the melody of...well, you know)

On the twelfth day of revisions, my beta gave to me...

12 packs of Post-Its

11 sugar comas

10 songs for musing

9 friends assuring

8 hours "Scrivening"

7 authors tweeting

6 coffees brewing

5 A-HA MOMENTS!!!

4 colored pens

3 synonyms

2 fingerless gloves

And a port-a-ble PC!!!!!!

So, did I leave anything out fellow writers? Please leave your thoughts below. Oh, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Baby WIPs: Quita's Edition!

Reminiscing Song of the Day: "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus

As Pam mentioned here last Monday, we just moved into a house that she bought. During that process, we came across some of our old stories and "novels". Now, I can't go back as far as Pam did with "Never Say Never". I wish I would've kept the cute stories I wrote when I was a kid, but instead I kept mountains of notebooks from my teenage years. One of those notebooks (this one was actually a folder) is a book I wrote at age 15, called: Milton High: Volume 1, Book 1: Lover's Quarrel. I was ambitious, huh? I thought I was gonna have volumes of this book!

Okay, I know you're dying to read a piece of this epic novel (if not, please feed my ego and pretend that you are). So, without any more delaying, here is page one of Chapter 1.

Chapter 1: A Look In the Lives... (typed verbatim--typos, grammatical errors on purpose)

"Good Morning Milton High. Amanda's arrived so all conversation may begin." Amanda Donaldson said walking into the school. Her deep blue eyes glistening. Austin Donaldson's eyes were doing the same as he laughed at his fraternal twin sister.

"A-dog!" Kevin Bowlen said jogging up to Austin.

"What's up, Kev?" Austin asked as they dapped each other up.

"Let's walk and talk...what's up Lila?" He asked as him and Kevin walked past her.

"Eat me." She said holding up her middle finger.

"Ooooh!" Austin said as he and Kevin walked away.

"Well, I see someone has expanded their vocabulary." Amanda said opening her locker.

"What? Why the hell are you talking to me, Barbie?" Lila Fargo asked as she put her combination in.

"Hey, Mandy! Guess what!" Live Fargo exclaimed. She threw a disgusted look at her identical twin sister then continued on smiling at Amanda.

"Well...what? Don't leave me in suspense!" Amanda said.

And with that, I will leave YOU in suspense! Anybody else have a piece of early fiction they want to share? Oh, and feel free to critique. Who knows? I might take a crack at Volume 1, Book 2 ;)

Baby WIPs: Pam's Edition!

Reminiscing Song of the Day: "For the First Time" by The Script

We're baaaaaack!! And seriously, we've missed you guys. Never fear, though--over the next few weeks, we plan on giving you book reviews, recaps of our trip to this year's LA SCBWI conference, and maybe even a giveaway or two.

But first...as some of you may know, Quita and I were in the middle of moving. And in the middle of moving, we came across a few hidden gems. For me, it was this:

This just happens to be one of my very 1st notebooks. At 7 years old, I already knew I wanted to be a writer. I thought it would be cute to type up one of my early stories for our lovely followers (Quita will dig up something from her archives next week). So, without further ado, here is:

Never Say Never by Pamela Harris (typos purposely left in so that you can tease me)

One Spring morning there lived a boy named Tootie. He was 6 years old. He lived with his big sister Mary, his mother Suzie and his daddy Niko. His sister always picks on him because she thinks he gots a girl name.

Why are you always picking on me, said Tootie.

Because you got a girl name, said Mary.

I never want to see you again! said Tootie.

Suits me! said Mary.

He told his friend Erica how mean his sister is. Well, said Erica, Sounds like you got a real bad sister.

Erica told her friend Sesly who told her friend Nick who told his friend Johnathan who told his friend Jenifer who told Marys boyfriend Mike.

I wish I could move in here and never see you again, Tootie! said Mary.

Then get out! said Tootie.

Shut up! said Niko. Your mother got an headache from yall and she had to take an aspirin!

Thats OK said Suzie. It's gone now.

You just made all my friends think I'm not shiek! said Mary.

Humph, said Tootie. I don't care!

Grrr! said Mary.

I want you to tell all of her friends that your sister is not bad at all! said Suzie.

So Tootie told all her friends that Marys not bad at all.

Thanks said Mary. Now I won't tease on you any more.

Sure, said Tootie.

The End!

Such tension! Such conflict! Oh, and to cap it off, here is my drawing of the happy family:

I really must love you guys to share that "masterpiece." What about you all? Come across any early stories that were as epic as "Never Say Never" (by the way--why in the world did I call it that?)?

WIP Snapshot: Project J

Writing Song of the Day: "Fake It" by Seether

Okay, so we blatantly stole this idea from the lovely Caroline Tung Richmond (who, by the way, you should SO follow--her blog is incredible!), who has admitted that she stole this idea from super author Kiersten White. Basically, they both gave details on their current works-in-progress. I'll tackle mine this week--but stay tuned for Quita's breakdown next Monday. And now...let's do this!


Title: Some of you may remember me mentioning Project J on the blog. Well, I had to quickly give it a title for an SCBWI novel retreat, and I settled on Faking It. Don't worry, it's only temporary.


Genre: Hopefully humorous, contemporary YA


Pages: 283. This is double-spaced with 12-point Times New Roman font.


Chapters: 28--maybe I'll lose one or two of them during the revision process (which I'm devoting the whole month of July for).


Word Count: A little over 70K. Yeah, I definitely have to ditch a few chapters.


Draft Time: Well, I technically started Project J last summer, but then I hit a roadblock so I went back to my Wants revisions. I had to ask Quita when I started writing it again, and she said she thinks either February or March. I'll take her word on that. I just know that I FINALLY finished my first draft near the end of April.


Origin: I was inspired by the 80s classic, Can't Buy Me Love. I knew that I wanted to write something a bit lighter since Wants was so dark (though it does have its light moments, too). I also still wanted to tackle "heavy" issues and underrepresented populations. I haven't read many stories with gay/lesbian parents, so I found a way to combine the ideas together.


Random Facts:

• My protagonist's name is Jonah. I recently went through another revision of Wants and noticed I had a minor character named Jonah. Wants Jonah is a douche--which is the complete opposite of my new protag.


• Jonah's mom's name is Beverly--which I also realized is the name of one of my character's moms in Wants. I really need to visit one of those baby names websites more often, huh?


• I've written three YA manuscripts so far, and basketball is featured in every one of them. I have no clue why since...well, I have NO CLUE about basketball. Which sucks because Jonah was trying out for the basketball team. Let's just say I utilized Google and my dad a lot.


• My story is set in a small city in Virginia, which is pretty much where all of my stories are set. Can you guess where I'm from?


• Jonah doesn't use a lot of profanity, which makes this one of the "cleanest" stories I've ever written. Hmm, I wonder if that's why it took me forever to complete the first draft...


• When Jonah was younger, he was in a school production of A Christmas Carol. His only line was: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge." I so stole that memory from my dad.

There you have it--this is what I'll be working on over the summer. I'm hoping to send it out to betas soon so that I can really dig into the heart of this story. What about you all? How's your writing going? We'd love to read about your WIPs. :)

WIAWAB Acknowledgements Blogfest!

Writing Song of the Day: "Thank You" by Jay Z

Okay, so our sister from another mister, Blue Lipstick Samurai, is throwing a WIAWAB Acknowledgements Blogfest--or "When I Actually Write A Book, You Will Be Acknowledged." Here are the rules:

Write an acknowledgement blurb for 12 people, with 12 reasons. But not just ANY twelve people:
•3 people you know IRL.
•3 people you know online.
•1 person who has died.
•1 person you never met.
•1 person you met once.
•1 couple (so, 2 people).
•1 author.

Pretty tricky, huh? Nevertheless, we wanted to give it a stab. Here we go...

Pam's Choices:

3 People I Know IRL (In Real Life):
1. Quita: Because she'll hit me if I don't.
2. Trisha: My cuz and Quita's older sis. She was technically the first writer of the family because she's the oldest, and I used to love copying everything that she did.
3. Tee Tee: My niece, and favorite cranky teenager. She keeps me "hip."

3 People I Know Online:
1. Racquel: Okay, technically this is cheating because I met her in my MFA program first--but since she lives so far away (*cries*), we mostly communicate online. She's our adopted little sis--not to mention co-founder of Black Fox Literary Magazine.
2. Blue Lipstick Samurai: Hello? She comes up with awesome blogfests like this--not to mention she's the coolest teenager aside from my lovely niece.
3. My Paper Hangover Crew...oh, and Abby...oh, and Erinn...oh, and Jamie...oh, and the lovely ladies from YA Highway...Gah! Far too many to thank...how about just all my awesome followers??

1 Person Who Has Died: Okay, sentimental moment, but I'd have to thank my uncle, Duke (and Quita's dad).

1 Person You Never Met: I've technically never met my super agent, Sarah LaPolla, so she'd obviously have to go here. :)

1 Person You Met Once: Ummm, I have no clue. I hardly remember ANYONE I've met if it was only once. Hmm, well, I did see Kirsten Hubbard for a millisecond at LA SCBWI--and I think she's a pretty fantastic writer. So, there you have it...

1 Couple: My mom and dad. Well, they aren't actually together anymore, but come on! It's my mom and dad! I'd have to thank them somewhere.

1 Author: This is so unfair. I have too many favorite authors! Okay, okay, if I had to choose, it'd be the lovely Judy Blume. Hey, she's the one that made me fall in love with words.

Quita's Choices:

3 People I Know In Real Life (IRL):
Okay...sorry but this gonna be slightly repetitious:

1. Pam: cuz she's my cuz...and she makes me write better.
2. Trisha: My older sis who used to write with me and Pam on a daily basis. She was a part of our first critique group and I hope she starts to write again soon.
3. I have to tie all of my nieces and nephews (cheating, I KNOW!) Tee Tee (like Pam said), and the boys b/c they are 5, 4, and 2...so much material there.

3 People I Know Online:
Okay, I'm going to try to not repeat all of Pam's choices (btw- our online friends are interchangeable- meaning ALL of the people in both mine and Pam's choices would be thanked by BOTH of us)

1. Racquel- duh, same reasons Pam said :P
2. Alicia- for providing such dry wit and support whenever necessary. And also for the fact that she is willing to BETA read for me :D
3. Jamie Manning- for being such an awesome support and providing excellent eye candy on Fridays...and also being willing to BETA read for me!

1 Person Who Has Died: My daddy. We lost him almost three years ago (April 24th, 2008) to cancer. He left us way too soon. He won't get to see me get married or sell my first novel, but I know he'll be looking down on me.

1 Person You Never Met: R. L. Stine for assuring me with his books that I NEEDED to write thriller, mystery, horror-esque novels at some point in my life.

1 Person You Met Once: Michelle Wolfson (cheat alert and Mitchell Waters), for showing me that agents really ARE just people and it's not so bad to go up and introduce yourself.

1 Couple: Can I cheat here and say my mom? Just b/c I would definitely thank her and I didn't get to put her anywhere else, yet. After dad passed though, mom is technically a "couple" on her own. She has always been strong and there for me whenever I needed her. She supports my dreams and because of her pushing me to wake up every morning and go to school, I'm where I am today.

1 Author: Like Pam said, this is a mean one. We luvs our authors! I guess I would have to go with Joyce Carol Oates b/c she writes Young Adult with just as much badassness as her Adult works.

First Lines Critiques: Last Day!

Critiquing Song of the Day: "Between the Lines" by Sara Bareilles

Okay, we're a little sad. We had such a good time helping out our fellow writers this week. In case you've missed it, last week we asked some of you to submit your first few lines of your WIPs, and we offered an open forum to receive some awesome feedback. Click here to check out Day 1's submissions, and here for Day 2.

We know you know the rules, but we're a bit anal (insert 13-year-old boy snicker). Here are some questions to ask yourself when critiquing:

1. Does the opening shock you?
2. Does the opening pull you in and make you want to read more?
3. Is the voice apparent?
4. Do you have an idea of the pending conflict?
5. Do you get a sense of the setting?

Again, you do NOT have to answer all of these questions--they're just to get the ball rolling. By the way, thank you SO MUCH for all of you brave souls who were willing to put your work out there, and thanks TONS to our followers for chiming in with help.



Now, for the last time, here are the submissions:

Title: Freakhouse
Genre: Middle Grade
Author's Name: Lisa-Marie
First Lines: "Of course you know, the place is haunted," the real estate agent said with a big, dorky grin. The tag pinned to his bright blue blazer read George Finkle. A funny sounding name for a funny looking guy: short, not a lot of hair, and has what my dad used to call a “beer belly”.

Title: Between Shades of Gray
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Author's Name: Amy Thomas
First Lines: People are selfish. It’s a basic truth, just like the sky is blue or the grass is green. People are selfish, cruel and weak; and I must do everything in my power not give in to the weakness.

Title: Distraction
Genre: Women's Fiction
Author's Name: Anonymous
First Lines: They lay coiled together like two serpents, spent by their passion. Justine’s lashes lowered once, twice, and she shifted to stay awake. Xavier stirred behind her and a hand crept over her hip and covered her breast.

*BTW, are you a fan of flash fiction? Then swing by here and my group blog, Paper Hangover, tomorrow for Flash Fiction Friday. Tomorrow's topic: "In 300 words or less, write a story beginning with the cliche, 'Another One Bites the Dust.'" Just post it on your blog and leave the link on Paper Hangover's comments! :)

First Lines Critiques: Day 2!

Critiquing Song of the Day: "Straight Lines" by Silverchair

It's time to take another look at your awesome first lines! Last week, we requested and you all came through big time! Please Note: You can STILL critique for Day 1--I'm sure the authors would love more feedback. :)


Brief overview: we're posting some first lines entries from a few of our brave followers, and you all help them out by giving them feedback (which you guys rock at, by the way).

We mentioned this yesterday, but we're known for repeating ourselves. Here are some questions to ask yourself when critiquing:

1. Does the opening shock you?
2. Does the opening pull you in and make you want to read more?
3. Is the voice apparent?
4. Do you have an idea of the pending conflict?
5. Do you get a sense of the setting?

Anything else that you can help them out with would be great. Remember, you don't HAVE to answer all of these questions. Heck, you don't even have to comment on each of the entries, but it sure would be nice. :) Here's our next 4 submissions:


Title: Untitled
Genre: New Adult
Author's Name: Alicia Gregoire
First Lines: I was late for the first day of freshman orientation, but as far as I was concerned, it was justified. My best friend, my confidant, the sole person who understood the betrayal I had felt when I discovered my ex with someone else, had left me that morning for the army. The understatement of the year would be to say that I handled his departure poorly.

Title: Cursed
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Author's Name: Amie Kaufman
First Lines: Samuel was already running when the miller's shed exploded. The wind whistled behind him and he closed his eyes as it overtook him, lifting him off his feet. For a brief moment, he soared.

Title: The Way Things Fall Apart
Genre: YA Contemporary
Author's Name: Danielle Bunner
First Lines: It all started when the cold came. Fast, brittle, unexpected. That first morning in late October when it snowed on the way to school and I stopped walking to watch it all fall around me.

Title: Untitled
Genre: Fantasy
Author's Name: Alex Mullarky
First Lines: Even in the dark I could tell it was there. It is the black shape in the sky that blots out the stars.

First Lines Critiques: Day 1!

Critiquing Song of the Day: "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash

It's here, you guys! Last week, we put out a call for you all to submit the first few lines of your WIPs, and we have quite a few brave followers. So brave, in fact, that we're able to spread out the critiques throughout this week--woo hoo!

Here's the deal: we're posting 3-4 submissions each day, and in the comments section, please provide constructive feedback (click here if you want to know exactly what NOT to do!).

Here are some questions to ask yourself when critiquing:

1. Does the opening shock you?
2. Does the opening pull you in and make you want to read more?
3. Is the voice apparent?
4. Do you have an idea of the pending conflict?
5. Do you get a sense of the setting?

Include any other kind of feedback that may be helpful. Remember, we're all here to help. Without further ado, here's the first 4 submissions:



Title: Generation Z
Genre: N/A
Author's Name: Jamie Manning
First Three Lines: I want to brand the cow’s hide so bad it hurts. I want to push the glowing red “G” into the heifer’s large black-and-white rump and hear it sizzle and watch it smoke and hear the cow yell in protest. I want to see my Dad smile and be proud of me for once.



Title: Safe
Genre: YA Fantasy
Author's Name: Glenna
First Three Lines: Life began at the Source, and life will return to it in time. That is the truth that none can dispute. That is the law that birthed all others.


Title: No System At All
Genre: YA
Author's Name: Erinn
First Three Lines: There was a rumor floating about the suburbs of Princeton, New Jersey that the McCaffrey brothers destroyed lives. If you were a douche of unspeakable proportions they paid you a visit. The McCaffrey brothers’ punishments were so swift and fitting the douches either changes their ways, moved, or went to jail. It wasn’t just a rumor.


Title: Alive
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Author's Name: TN
First Three Lines: The alcohol was always cold. Henry swabbed my arm, raising goosebumps with each swipe. My teeth chattered.

The First Line is the Deepest...

Writing Song of the Day: "The First Taste" by Fiona Apple

While traveling the blogiverse lately, we've noticed that a lot of our fellow writers are offering up their blogs as a forum for critiquing and helping out our writing brethren. We would like to join in this fun and open up our blog as yet another place to give and receive feedback.

...And on this lovely Monday (actually kinda cold and dreary Monday here in VA) we want to tackle the first step in the WIP and usually one of the parts that gets the BIGGEST makeover. The first lines. These lines are like your first boyfriend/girlfriend...you want to love him/her because they're your first, but you also want to change them constantly. Okay, maybe that was a bad analogy, but you get the point. The first lines need to pull in your reader, yet they also need to be subtle enough that it doesn't feel like the writer is trying too hard. For examples of really awesome first lines from some of our fave published YA novels, check out this post.

So, how do you write engaging first lines?

There are several theories out there about this. Some think you should shock your readers to make them read more. I hope the shock value works b/c in my WIP, The Blues (working title) this is how the novel starts:

Henry Knight was found bludgeoned to death early this morning.

Others think you should write a declarative sentence to start off the pacing of your novel: He was an old and cranky man.

OR you can give some description to let the reader know exactly where they are: It was a dark and stormy night with gray skies and tortured leaves whirling around the red brick two story house. (Yes, this sentence is awful)

One of the other effective methods is to ask a question: How do you get over your first true love?

Check out this article for more on the topic of first lines. Here is another one to help you out. Also, our buddy Erinn at Something Else to Distract Me had a cool first lines contest a while back that offered some good info on this topic. Check it out here. Lindsay N. Currie also offers up some info on the topic of first lines here. There's a pic of Tom Cruise in his undies--just a lil' more inspiration for you to go and read it :D

Which of these does your WIP have if any???

Now for the real reason behind this post...we want to have a critiquing day! We would love for you all (our devoted stalkers, er...followers) to participate by sending us your first lines. We will post the lines (it can be anonymously if you'd like) NEXT MONDAY, March 14th, 2011 and in the comments your fellow writers (who are quite nice and supportive) will leave critiques stating whether the first lines are effective or not and what you can do to revise them.

SOOO...if you want in (and we really hope you do!) send your firt THREE lines (can be less than three but no more than three) to cuzwewrite@gmail.com by Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at 12PM ET. In the e-mail put the title of your writing, your genre (YA/MG/Adult--historical, contemp. etc.), your name that you want posted on the blog (if you want anonymous, say so), and the first THREE lines of your piece of writing.

We hope you guys participate--it will be fun and helpful!

WAIT! Before you leave...share some of your own fave first lines OR tell us what you think makes a good first line.

99th Page Blogfest!!

Reading Song of the Day: "99 Problems" by Jay Z

This is IT you guys. Quita and I are joining some of our writer buddies in the 99th Page Blogfest. Basically, we show you all page 99 of one of our WIPs, and you all let us know if you'd continue reading or not. Cool, right? Right? Oh, and be sure to click here for other Page 99 madness!

Here we go...

Pam's Excerpt

This is an excerpt from my baby, Wants. As some of you may know, this is told from 4 POVs. All you need to know for this scene is that Alicia is insecure and having doubts about her relationship with her boyfriend, Austin:

My heart leaps to my ears and pounds right against my skull. I fold my arms across my chest, but my breasts get that swollen feeling again. “Um, what?”

“You're breaking up with me, right? I could hear it in your voice over the phone.” He lights up and takes a hit. “I'm used to it. Just didn't think it would be this soon.”

His voice shakes, but I can't tell if it's from sadness or the weed. The room seems to sway and I have to spread my legs to keep steady. My eyes land on the Rebel Without a Cause poster hanging right above Austin's headboard. Great, I forgot how much he liked James Dean. “Why do you like me?”

I expect him to flinch or do something else comical, but he just puffs on his joint. “Really?”

“Really.” I spread my arms, revealing me in my size fourteen glory. “I don't look like everyone else.”

“Neither do I.”


“You know what I mean.” I try tucking a strand of hair behind my ear but it just bounces back. “You could have anyone.”

He nods. “Probably.”

I remember in ninth grade, Sarah Bishop slapped him in the auditorium right in the middle of freshman orientation. I never knew what happened, but I really wish she was here right now.

Quita's Excerpt

This is an excerpt from my yet to be titled (b/c you know I suck at titles) contemporary YA mystery. Blake Farmer is trying to figure out what's happened to his best friend who he hasn't spoken with in over four days. He is speaking with the school's heartthrob football star who was rumored to have seen Blake's friend at a party two nights before.

I roll my eyes and huff. “Can we skip all the bullsh**? When did Kyle get there?”

“Oh, yeah. He came around midnight. David had just decided that he would sell to us, though. Kyle walked in when David had his goodies all laid out on the table. I mean, you should have seen Kyle’s face.”

I could imagine. One thing that Kyle hated more than people in general, were people who went back on a deal. David was never supposed to sell to the high school kids, that was their truce.

“When Kyle saw that, he just went off. He started going in on David—I mean, hard. Calling him a lying sack of sh** and saying that he would ruin him. It was ugly.”

“Let me guess...you got in the fight.”

Jaron shakes his head. “Not at first. I mean, I like Kyle and all…” Jaron coughs a little. “But when he started going at my girl, I had to say something.”

“He went off on Kendall?”

Jaron nods. “Big time. Said she was a slut and asked what she has to do to get her brother to buy her all those nice things. Kendall almost slapped him. Like I said, Kyle’s a good dude. I didn’t want to do anything, but he accused my girl of like, incest or whatever. I couldn’t let that fly.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. I just pushed him a little,” he answers, avoiding eye contact.

Omigod! We did it!!!! : ) So, what'd you think???

That's Soooo Been Done Before!

**Editors' Note: Well, Anonymous tooooold us :) Yes, I mistakingly left out the author's name. It was written by Joelle Anthony and it was a GREAT article. Again, as stated in the post, this was from the SCBWI Nov/Dec 2010 issue...and there is an actual link for the article in the post.**

Writing Song of the Day: "Heard it All Before" by Sunshine Anderson

There are so many perks to being a member of SCBWI if you are a children's writer (Young Adult, Middle Grade, Picture Books etc.). You get to go to conferences--both the regional and awesomeriffic national conferences-- you get insider information, a group of peers who understand exactly what you are trying to write, and a really cool bi-monthly bulletin that helps you stay sharp with your writing.

Because we love our readers so much we wanted to go deeper into a topic that was brought up in the November/December 2010 issue of the SCBWI Bulletin. This one page article briefly discussed the fifteen most overused things in YA writing. We are sure that just like us, as you read this list, a great YA book will pop up in your head...but since we REFUSE to talk about books b/c we love them all so much, we won't list examples...but I'm sure we'll all be thinking of the same ones. ;)

So, take out your pen and paper and write a check mark for each of the following that you have done in your WIP or manuscript...If you find that you have checks next to five or more, then you might want to go and fix it, STAT!

15-Stories with irresponsible parents (leaving the kid to do the cleaning/cooking)

14-The MC likes retro music (usually b/c it's the music YOU liked in high school)

13-Hot, young moms who are the MC's best friend

12-Female MC who is obsessed with Jane Eyre

11-Lab partners where one person is the dork that does all the work...then they are the love interest later

10-A MC with only one best friend...then they get in a fight and the MC is all alone for awhile

9-A poor scholarship student in a private school

8-First POV and the MC describes themselves by looking in the mirror

7-MC that is a tomboy who doesn't know how to do anything "girly"

6-Younger sis. that is the popular, gorgeous one

5-Big vocab. words put in by the author and then passed off as an SAT word

4-MC who happens to be the only one in their group of friends without a cell phone

3-Clumsy characters who couldn't dance or play sports if someone had a gun pressed into their backs

2-Guys with striking, beautiful, gorgeous green eyes- this is used so much that green eyes are becoming as common as blue eyes. They no longer pack the same punch, so to speak.

Annnd the # 1 most overused thing done in YA novels is.....

Having your MC hate math

BTW- In Limbo had little traces of two of these cliches and has another one big time, so if you found a few, don't be ashamed!

Now that you have this list handy, there are two things we'd like you to do for us (and for yourself):

1.) Do a quick writing exercise (this will be graded tomorrow--sorry, that's the educators creeping out of us). Write for ten minutes straight using this beginning sentence: Mandy/Marc always hated his/her first day at a new school. Just write freely, then go back and see if you included any of the above cliches. If so, change them around and see how your free writing sounds now!

2.) Can you think of anything else that has been overused in YA that should be added to this list?

Really...you can come back and tell us later how the free writing went :)

Authors we Stalk...uh, Love!

Brainstorming Song of the Day: "Hero" by Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott (Check it out on the Rock With Us tab)

So we kinda um...heart...Kate Hart (one of the fantabulous girls over at YA Highway) and we noticed that over at her blog she did something really, really cool. As part of one of her Monday Memes, she participated in this activity that me and Pam just HAD to try!

Here are the rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who have always influenced you and will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes, and they don’t have to be listed in order of relevance to you.

Here are our 15 most influential authors (with reasons for some) in less than 15 minutes!

Quita's 15:

Start time: 4:o6 PM

John Grisham

Laurie Halse Anderson

Joyce Carol Oates

Cormac McCarthy

Dean Koontz (he may not be the best writer ever...but his stories sure can suck you in. Read The Good Guy)

Justine Larblestier (granted, I've only read Liar but it was enough to make me want to read more of her books)

R.L. Stine (Fear Street RULES! And I actually wrote an entire novel based on one of his when I was twelve years old)

Blake Nelson

Charlaine Harris (Yes, I have read/and I do own EVERY SINGLE ONE of the Sookie Stackhouse books- I even have short story collections that she's appeared in)

Suzanne Collins

Maggie Stiefvater

Judy Blume

Ann M. Martin (I LOVED the Babysitters Club, I had all the special books, and even had my own fill in the blank Babysitters guide!)

Arthur Miller

Albert Camus (read The Stranger...nuff said)

End time: 4:09 PM

Pam's 15:

Start time: 4:06 PM

Ellen Hopkins

Stephen King (He's not only the King of Horror, but he's the master of writing page-turners)

Jodi Picoult (She does an excellent job of writing from both the teen AND adult POV)

Tawni O'Dell

William Golding

Elizabeth Scott (She took a risk with Living Dead Girl and encouraged me to take risks with my own writing)

Courtney Summers

Brett Easton Ellis

William Shakespeare

Terry McMillan (The fact that she's African Amerian and so successful speaks volumes to me)

Stephanie Meyer (Okay, don't attack me, but she inspired MILLIONS of people to pick up a book and read. That says a lot.)

Tennessee Williams

Dr. Seuss (The first book I ever remember reading is Green Eggs and Ham)

Judy Blume (When I was a kid, I thought I was Blubber. One of my faves to this day)

Beverly Cleary

End time: 4:08 PM

**Pam is a little peeved that she left off one of her all time idols...John Green :( **

Tell us, who are some of the authors that have most influenced you?