Always there - technology

A loose definition of technology might be "the ways in which a society uses its collective knowledge and skills to produce goods and services." Or more simply, the "tools" we use to get stuff done.

Historical authors have to research the technologies in place in the time and setting of the book. Fortunately, though, those technologies are not a moving target. A millenium or two ago, people had hammers and wheels and fire--and not much else. Once the author learned what was available in the historical period, she could remain confident about writing their books based on her research.

In the 21st century, technology is exploding at such a rapid pace that a book can be outdated before it reaches bookstores. I am constantly having to decide how to refer to things, like what should I call a phone? Smartphone, mobile, cell, landline? How quickly will a term go out of use? I often use a general term, like "phone", that will likely work for many years to come.

Really, though, it's only natural for books to include technology. Since it's the way we get things done, then it's also the way our (realistic) characters do too. The trick for the author is to get real technology correct--or to get made-up technology believable.

Here are some ways that technology appears in my stories.

Whisper Falls - In Susanna's half of the story, the most cutting edge technology is the grist mill. In the US, the third patent ever issued by the US Patent Office was for a milling system. Susanna's master installs one of those systems--and it nearly ruins him financially.

I Wish - Lacey's story points out how the lack of technology can affect a family. Because they need the money, Lacey sells off their phones and computers. She has a difficult time getting homework done--because she doesn't have a laptop at home to help.

Wishing for You - Kimberley has a memory disability. This book describes all of the technology that she has to use in order to remain safe, to remember details, and to track what she's done in the past and will be doing in the future. Kimberley has become dependent on her technology, and that concerns her.

The Possibility of Somewhere - Like Lacey, Eden's family is too poor to have computers and smartphones. When Eden needs access to computers, she depends on her high schools computer lab or media center.

Fade to Us (releasing in Feb 2018) - The heroine, Brooke, is from a middle class family. Her family members have computers and phones. Her stepfather is a geospatial engineer; his business is immersed in new and expensive technologies for mapping terrain. Brooke earns income by managing websites and doing data analysis on spreadsheets of data. In this book, technology really does match its definition: it's how Brooke and her stepfather use their knowledge and skills to produce services.

Always there - satisfying ending

I love stories with a happily-ever-after. 90% (or better) of the books I read have an HEA. That's also what I like to write.

Recently, I asked some friends for author recommendations on a genre called Women's Fiction. They gave me many suggestions, such as Liane Moriarity, Sarah Addison Allen, and Kristin Hannah.  I checked out their booklists and reviews. Each author sounds as if she writes beautiful books that readers love. But further research showed that their books often have sad, dark, or unsettling endings. I'm not sure I'm up to that.

It hasn't always been this way. I haven't always insisted on reading books (or watching films) where the villains receive justice and the girl rides off into the sunset with her adoring guy. But the real world has grown so much more complicated, certainly more for my daughters' generation that it was for mine. I want to focus on reading and writing stories that give me an escape from the bad stuff.

I won't pledge to give readers the ending of their dreams, the ending where all problems cease and life magically becomes perfect. I do, however, pledge to leave my protagonists on the road to happiness. There will be hope.

Always there - realistic parents

I have two awesome daughters. They're both in their 20s now, which means that I have survived mothering girls through their teens.

It was hard and fun and frustrating--and I'm so proud of the women they've become.

My girls - many years ago

Parenting is not easy. Most of us want to be good. We want to raise amazing, happy, healthy kids who will change the world (or their little corner of it.) Just when we think we have parenting figured out, another kid enters the family, and we learn that we know nothing. Again.

This is why I try to write realistic parents in my books. They're not all bad and not all good. They get things right and make mistakes. Some are more likable than others.

I will always give my main characters at least one parent who loves them and genuinely wants to be the best they can. That doesn't mean a parent without flaws; it means a parent with good intentions that don't always work out.

Here are some insights into my main characters' parents.

Whisper Falls - Mark's parents love and support him. His mother, Sherri, gets mixed reviews for how inconsistently she treats him. I actually loved writing her character. She's in a stage of life that is so hard for mothers of teens--trying to let go of their young adult while mourning their childhood and not being needed anymore.

I Wish - Lacey's mom is clinically depressed. Crystal wants to be a good mom, but her mental health isn't stable enough for her to succeed. Since depression doesn't solve itself quickly, it isn't until the book 3 that the reader begins to see signs that Crystal is slowly getting better.

Wishing for You - Kimberley's mother Teresa was an angel of patience and protectiveness in book 1. In book 2, readers can begin to see the cracks. Teresa has been Kimberley's "primary caregiver" for years, and it's exhausting. Teresa makes several slip-ups in this book, not because she doesn't care, but because Kimberley's life is growing more complicated, not less. And that is backwards for most teens.

The Possibility of Somewhere - Eden's healthiest parental relationship is with her stepmother. Marnie is as perfect as she can be, given that she's inherited (and wanted desperately) two kids from her husband's first (bad) marriage.  Eden's father, though, is almost impossible to like. Most people see him as a villain, and it's true that he does and says very bad things. But I don't think he's a thoroughly bad man. He's had only poor role models. He's a product of a world that is very limited, and he has no clue how to be a better person. I think America's current political climate is a good example of how decent people can have indecent attitudes.

Always there - no violence

I rarely read books with violence in them. Mystery novels are about the only ones. Even then, I prefer books where the violence or murder happens before the book begins, and I want justice by the end.

As an author, I don't like to write violence, but I have on a few occasions, when I felt like I had no choice in order to tell the story. I guess this post would be better titled "Almost never there - graphic violence."

Whisper Falls has instances of physical abuse during the series. The 18th-century half of the first book shows the plight of female indentured servants. I couldn't have given a true account without letting the reader see the brutality that haunted their lives. Our hero has been the victim of bullying. It's hard for either of those plot points to be authentic without alluding to some violence. In book 3, the villain is again the cause of abuse to both the hero and heroine, although less is visible on the page. The reader knows it's happened, but the details are not graphic.  In this series, justice prevails.

In The Possibility of Somewhere (writing as Julia Day), the realities of the heroine's life are fairly harsh. Physical abuse lurks constantly as a possibility. The heroine, Eden, is prepared to take care of herself, though. "The Mundys of the world believed in a sunshiny legal system... [but] I knew better. The Edens of the world grew up in trailer parks, and they had different rules. Justice changed depending on where we lived."

So, perhaps instead of pledging to never write violence, I'll promise instead to limit it to the minimum needed to serve the story, to describe what's happening without gratuitous details, and to see that the criminals (perpetrators) reap punishment for what they've done.

Writing question - what is magical realism?

What is magical realism?

The first two series that I have published are YA magical realism.  In the magical realism subgenre, the main story is realistic in every way except one. There is always one magical element.

In the Whisper Falls series, the magical element is the ability to travel between present-day and a different year in the past. Mark and Susanna (the main characters of Whisper Falls series) encounter a waterfall who permits them to travel between Mark's world (now) and Susanna's life (turn of the 19th century). Otherwise, their stories are realistic for the time in which they ordinarily live. (Some readers might assume that this supernatural element makes this a time-travel book. I think it is better to consider this series to be magical realism with time-travel elements.)

For the I WISH series, the magical element is the presence of Grant, a supernatural being. Like a "genie", he can fulfill wishes, only they must be humanly possible. Grant is the magical element; everything else is realistic.  Part of the conflict in the I WISH series comes from Grant's desire to use his magic, even though it's not part of the rules.

So, in both series, the point of magical realism is not the supernatural element. It is about how the characters react to, live with, or hide that extraordinary circumstance.



[I often get questions about writing.  I'll answer each of the most commonly asked questions in a separate blog post. You can navigate to them from my website, too.]

Writing question - what I know about teens

What do you know about teens? What qualifies you to write Young Adult (YA)?

I have two kids in college, so I’ve lived through the process of parenting teens. I do recognize, however, that my daughters and their friends might not be typical of American teens in every region of the US, so I’m grateful to have an editorial staff that brings different perspectives to both my books as well as the dozens of other YA books they edit. 

My junior editor is in her twenties (recent college graduate and former teen). My senior editor at Spencer Hill Press teaches social studies to eighth-graders, so he’s surrounded by teens throughout the school year. Even my younger daughter reads all of my books multiple times to ensure that I’m keeping things realistic. I also have a set of teens (mostly male, since I don't have sons) who are willing to answer my questions about dialogue and plausibility.

I’m lucky to have such a solid team of people to find and point out my mistakes.

 
[I often get questions about writing.  I'll answer each of the most commonly asked questions in a separate blog post and include them in the FAQ on my website too.]

Writing question - will you read my manuscript and tell me what you think?

Will you read my manuscript and tell me what you think?

Aspiring authors ask me this question and the simple answer is: No, I can't.

I used to give feedback, before I was published. But it isn't realistic anymore for two reasons:

1. I can't spare the minutes. I want to devote all of my free time writing my next book.
2. America has a litigious society, and there have been too many instances where generously-offered feedback turned into a legal nightmare for an author.

Don't despair, though. There are ways to get honest feedback. You can join a critique group, submit your manuscript to a writing contest, and connect with a beta-reading club. Be persistent and you'll find a way.

[I often get questions about what it's like to be an author. I'll answer each of the most commonly asked questions in a separate blog post. You can also navigate to them through the faq on my website too.]

Writing question - how do you plot a story?

How do you plot a story?

I'll do my best to explain this, with two caveats:

1. The writing process is unique to each author. So my explanation only applies to me.
2. The art of creating a story is both complex and evolutionary. I'll give you a glimpse into how I write, but my description will be far simpler than the actual process can ever be. Also, by the time you read this, my process will doubtless have evolved as I continue my never-ending quest to write better.

I loosely call my process connecting the dots.

• Before I begin to write a story, I've thought about it and gathered research on it for months. I take an idea and throw a lot of What-if's at it. 
• I have four clear "dots" in the story: the beginning, the middle, the climax, and the end.
• I get a rough idea of the type of characters it would take to bind those four plot points together.
• And then I jump in, connecting the dots, adding more dots, erasing a few, and learning more about the personalities of my characters as I go along. Eventually, the characters take over, and then it becomes my job as an author to get out of the way.

[I often get questions about what it's like to be an author. I'll answer each of the most commonly asked questions in a separate blog post. You can navigate to them faq on my website too.]

Writing question - where do you get your ideas?

Where do you get your ideas?

Ideas are everywhere. I can get them from reading in the newspaper, watching TV shows, or listening to people talk. Ideas can also come from my own experiences or those of the people around me, but I never make a precise copy. Each glimmer of an idea from real life must always be followed by multiple what-ifs.

• What if I pawn something at the flea market to help pay the bills?
• What if the booth owner throws in an old music box?
• What if the music box has a resident genie?

The first what-if makes it interesting. The next what-ifs makes it a story.

[I often get questions about what it's like to be an author. I'll answer each of the most commonly asked questions in a separate blog post. You can navigate to them in the faq on my website too.]