YA Author Stacey Kade

Okay, will someone let me know if this actually works or not? I might have to load this to YouTube first, maybe. Not sure.

And please, be kind, I have no idea what I’m doing! LOL

Stacey’s First Attempt at Vlogging

I’ve been getting some emails lately asking for writing advice, so I thought I’d post my reponse(s) here in case others are interested.

These are just some general thoughts about writing, of course. If you want to talk more specifically about developing characters, creating conflict, or even publishing type stuff (finding an agent, etc.), let me know. We can do that, too.

1) If writing is really important to you, don’t quit. You’ll have a million and one people telling you how hard it is to write a book, and they’re right…but don’t let that stop you. All of us–every single published author out there–had people telling us it couldn’t be done. It can be. You have to be persistent and BELIEVE.

2) Don’t worry about it if you don’t know what happens next in the story, just keep going. I spent years starting stories and never finishing them because I thought if I didn’t know what happened next then it was doomed and I’d better start another one. Finishing the story, even if you think it’s not very good, is super important. Writing, especially in the beginning, teaches you through the experience of writing. In other words, you may hate the middle or the end of this book you just finished, but you’ll learn from it so the next one will be better.

3) Read. A lot. Look at your favorite book and figure out what makes it your favorite. Is it the realistic characters? The funny dialogue? The mystery? Whatever you enjoy about that book is most likely an element you’ll want to incorporate in your own writing. And you should always write what you want to read. Write something that would entice you to pick it up off the shelf, even if it’s not something that’s popular right now (e.g. vampires).

4) Have fun! Don’t worry about pleasing anyone else, especially not at first. Tell yourself the story.

5) Always keep learning. There are lots of good books and articles out there about writing. The Writer and Writer’s Digest are two magazines that most libraries carry, and they have great articles, especially if you’re just starting out. Other books I’ve found helpful are: On Writing by Stephen King, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, and Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon.

My mentor, Linnea Sinclair, also found these very cool story cards. We’ve used them in workshops, but I also think they’re incredibly handy for sorting out a story idea and seeing how the pieces fit together.

Okay…back to revising! Oh! That would be another good topic for discussion someday.

Here’s the latest tour info:
- June 18: 6pm, Davis Kidd, Memphis (Daniel Waters, Elizabeth Rudnick, and Brendan Halpin)

- June 18: 7pm, Keplers, Menlo Park, CA (Kristen Tracy, Stacey Kade, and Brent Crawford)

- June 19: 7pm, Books & Books, Coral Gabels, FL (Daniel Waters, Elizabeth Rudnick, Emily Franklin, and Brendan Halpin)

- June 19: 1pm, “Meet & Greet” at Copperfields, Petaluma, CA (Kristen Tracy, Stacey Kade, and Brent Crawford)

-June 20: stock signings tk

- June 21: 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA (Daniel Waters, Elizabeth Rudnick, Emily Franklin, and Brendan Halpin)

- June 21: 6:30pm, Pudd’nHead Books, St. Louis, MO (Kristen Tracy, Stacey Kade, and Brent Crawford)

- June 22: 7pm, Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL (all authors)

- June 23: 2pm, Watermark Books & Café, Wichita, KS (all authors)

- June 24: 6pm, Books of Wonder, New York, NY (all authors)

- June 25: 6pm, ALA Convention, Disney Book Group booth #2654 Washington, DC (all authors)

-June 26: 3:30pm, Politics & Prose, Washington, DC (all authors)

I am holding a finished copy of The Ghost and the Goth right now! Well, not this exact second, but only because I’m typing.

I can’t believe it! I just don’t even know what to say. It doesn’t feel real to open this book up and see the words describing people and ideas that once only existed in my head.

I am SO EXCITED! Can you tell?

Okay, I have many, many things to update you on, but because I have revisions due to the sequel to G&G in just under a month (YIKES), I’m going to stick to the basics.

First, the release date for The Ghost and the Goth has changed…It’s moved up a week to June 29! That means, *deep breath*, my book will be out in just SIX short weeks.

Second, I’m going on book tour! Actually, a whole bunch of Hyperion authors are. I’m part of the unREQUIRED READING Tour with Kristen Tracy, Brent Crawford, Elizabeth Rudnick, Daniel Waters, Brendan Halpin, and Emily Franklin. The tour has its own page up on Facebook and rumor has it, we’re going to be given a couple of those Flip video cameras to record our experiences on the road. This should be very interesting!

Third, here are the tour dates so far:
TOUR:
- June 18: Davis Kidd, Memphis (Waters, Rudnick, Franklin, and Halpin)
- June 18: Keplers, Menlo Park, CA (Tracy, Kade, and Crawford)
- June 19: Books & Books, Coral Gabels, FL (Waters, Rudnick, Franklin, and Halpin)
- June 21: Pudd’nHead Books (Tracy, Kade, and Crawford)
- June 21: Little Shop of Stories, Atlanta GA (Waters, Rudnick, Franklin, and Halpin)
- June 22: Anderson’s, Naperville, IL (all authors)
- June 23: Watermark Books, Wichita KS (all authors)
- June 24: Books of Wonder, New York, NY (all authors)
- June 25: Reception at American Libraries Association Convention, Washington, DC (all authors)
- June 26: Politics & Prose, Washington DC (all authors)

I think there are more dates to be added soon, and times as well!

I need to get back to revisions now, but I hope to see you all out on the road in just a few weeks!

As kids, my siblings and I were always told, “Be good and mind your manners.” As the children of a minister, we were often the focus of more attention that most kids. I don’t mean in a child-star sort of way, but in a “people will pass judgment on your father based on your bad behavior, so you darn well better behave and be polite” kind of a way. (Once I wore a skirt to church that was too short for one parishoner’s taste, and he did not hesitate to inform me of this to my face, and then report it back to my father as well. I was fourteen.)

There’s nothing wrong with good manners and being polite, but it has occasionally left me with trouble when it comes to deciding between being polite and responding on instinct. Because of those early years of training, I tend to worry more about hurting someone else’s feelings–even if they’re being rude or creepy to me–than following my gut.

And I don’t think it’s just me. I’ve witnessed many girls and women ignore insults or threats or bad situations because they don’t want to be confrontational or “cause a problem.”

It’s taken me years to get to the point where I can recognize it when I’m ignoring good sense for the sake of being polite. I’m still not great at it, and I truly hope that all of you out there are much better about it than I am/have been.

And yep, I’m telling you about this for a reason…

When I’m working on a first draft–or playing with new ideas–you’ll frequently find me in the cafe area of my local Barnes and Noble store. It’s easier for me to concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing, rather than getting caught up in all the tasks piling up at home. And they serve hot chocolate!

When I’m thinking (read: staring off into space), I also catch myself doing a lot of people watching. Two weekends ago, this kind of strange looking guy caught my attention. Initially, I think it was because he met my gaze and held eye contact for just a fraction of a second too long. I realize that seems weird to notice it, but I bet it’s happened to you. It gives you that oogey (to use a friend’s word) creeped out feeling. Because this was not “I’m staring at you because you’re attractive” or “I’m staring at you because you just ordered your third hot chocolate in an hour.”

It’s “off” in some undefinable way that whispers in your brain.

In any case, I kept an eye on him because I just was getting a bad feeling. Two college-age girls came in and took a table near me. And he noticed them. I noticed him notice them, and that bad feeling increased.

He walked back and forth by them several times–getting books and returning them–before finally stopping to talk to them.

At this point, I was getting concerned. I pulled my headphones out and listened in.

He complimented one of them on her shoes. (They were cute. Red with a tiny kitten heel.) He asked where she got them, how much they cost, and what size they were.

Okay, in theory, this could be fairly normal conversation, but he’s just too darn interested. Do you know that feeling I’m talking about? It’s just not right.

So, when she takes her shoe off to check the size, he’s kneeling down next to her…far more interested in her foot than her shoe. Not touching or anything, but STARING.

Oh, man, major weirdness ahead. The girls are starting to recognize this for themselves and give him the “go away” signal. Then I hear him talking about wanting to MEASURE HER FOOT.

Girl, face bright red: No, I don’t think so.
Creepy guy: Oh. Maybe later then.
Girl: I’m pretty sure they’re a size ten.
Creepy guy: long blah speech about how that might not be the case…in short creepy reason for wanting to MEASURE HER FOOT!

At this point, I’m getting ready to walk over there and/or find a manager. It’s still not easy for me to be confrontational–at all–but I’m much more able to do that on someone else’s behalf than my own. And these girls were around my sister’s age. I was NOT going to let him mess with them.

But he gives up and walks away.

An hour or so later, though, he’s back.

Creepy guy: I still want to measure your foot. You can come with me over to the corner where no one will see.
Girl, hesitantly: No, I don’t think so.

But creepy guy persists.

At this point, I’m up and out of my chair moving toward them, but the girl, God bless her, face bright red, looks up and says loudly, “I said, NO.”

This firmness makes him back off and he not only leaves them alone, he leaves the store entirely.

I was so proud and impressed! I complimented the girl for saying no and not backing down. And she said, “I didn’t want to be rude to him but…”

I reassured her that she wasn’t rude. That there’s a line between between protecting yourself and being rude, and she was well on the correct side of it.

Creepy people often count on others being nice or being too afraid to make a fuss. I always think of that scene in Silence of the Lambs where the serial killer pretends to have a broken arm and asks for help from the girl who is alone. She does it because she doesn’t want to be rude or cruel. If you haven’t seen Silence of the Lambs, well, let’s just say that doesn’t particularly end up being a great choice for her.

Chances are, the guy in the bookstore was just an every day person with some problems, but you don’t know.

Be kind. Be polite. But protect yourself. Listen to those instincts. If you’re getting a bad feeling, trust that. There’s a reason for it. Your brain is processing things faster than you have time to consciously realize. Don’t worry about causing a fuss or a problem or a scene. Do what you need to do to feel safe again.

I’m back from vacation! It was lovely to get away for a few days–actually, almost a whole week.

We were outside of Orlando, in Kissimmee. It was warm (relatively speaking) and sunny, and I loved it. Despite my ultra-pale complexion, I think I was born to be a warm-climate girl. I just feel better when the sun is shining and I’m not wearing 27 layers of clothes. Better still if I’m on a beach with a book! (Hmmm. I wonder if this comes from living in the Carolinas back when I was very, very young. Since then we’ve lived in the midwest, but I’ve never forgotten the smell of the ocean and how much I love it.)

No beach or ocean this time, but our rented house did have a heated pool, which was awesome. It was only in the mid-seventies last week, even in Florida, so swimming would not have been possible otherwise.

We did the Disney theme park thing on Monday (Animal Kingdom), Tuesday (Hollywood Studios/Downtown Disney), and Wednesday (Epcot). My favorite, I think, was the Animal Kingdom Safari ride. A rhino came right up to the side of the bus/tram thing. Very cool and a teensy bit scary. I also loved, as always, seeing the gorillas and the tigers. At Downtown Disney, we got to see Ben Folds perform at the House of Blues, and it was a great show! He was an incredible performer and really interacted with the crowd. Loved it! The opening act, Zack Williams, was fantastic as well.

Now…did I take lots pictures of that stuff, like a normal person might? Uh, no. Instead, I focused on one of my ultimate “that would be so cool” scenarios, which happened to be just up the street from our rental house.

And what might that be?

AN ABANDONED AMUSEMENT PARK!!!

How freaking cool is that? I don’t know why this idea fascinates me, but it does. I was talking to a friend and we think it might be because of the inherent stark contrast involved. A place formerly full of people and happiness, now completely empty, desolate and sad.

In any case, what happened was this:

We were approaching our rental house and a couple turns before ours, we noticed what we thought was the entrance to an abandoned subdivision.

But as we kept going, we saw these strange buildings up against the fence. House-like structures but not. And oddly enough, there were these little tiny buildings–like huge palaces but on a really small scale.

At first we thought it was an abandoned mini-golf place, which would have been cool, but not AS cool as an abandoned amusement park.

But then we met with some friends for dinner, who told us it was, in fact, an abandoned amusement park with a Chinese-culture theme. (The picture below is of the dragon symbol near the main gates.)

SCORE!

So, on Thursday, when my husband was preparing to go watch the NCAA games with a friend, we had this conversation:

Him: “Okay, I’m leaving to watch the games.”

Me: “Have fun! I’m going to read some, maybe take a walk…” (insert super casual pause, and then continue almost under breath) “…around the abandoned amusement park.”

Him: *stops dead with keys in hand, starts to say something, and then just shakes his head with a sigh* “Just be careful.”

That is how you know he’s used to being married to a writer.

I wouldn’t have said anything to him at all, but you know, in case I fell and broke my leg, got bitten by a snake, or was kidnapped by strange beings using the abandoned park as a portal to their world, I wanted him to know where I’d gone at least.

Here are (more) results of my afternoon adventure…

This is where the sign for the entrance used to be and is now home to graffiti. It was right near the dragon symbol up above:

This is one of my favorite shots…a close up of one of the mini buildings:

A weird rock formation that you can just barely make out beyond the bars of the fence:

Eerie abandoned buildings (which I love!):

And one of the back gates with yet MORE abandoned buildings:

Also, let me take this opportunity to point out that all my pictures were obtained legally from OUTSIDE the park gates. No trespassing occurred! A) Because this place has LOTS of security. B) I am way too chicken to go inside alone. C) It could have been legitimately dangerous on the inside because even though the park is technically gone, the structures are still there, which means people. Possibly scary people.

And here, if you’re really curious, is more info about the park, which was called Splendid China, and some videos of skateboarders who are braver than I am and actually went in. (Note: I do not endorse trespassing of any kind. Mainly because you never know when some whackjob with a gun is going to take his sign more seriously than you did. Also? Getting arrested sucks. Not that I know from experience, but it LOOKS like it sucks. And so does falling through rotten floor boards that *look* solid enough to walk on. Ouch.)

Alas, one thing was missing, though, from this particular park. No abandoned, hulking, rusting rides to creak eerily in the wind. Maybe next time!

Yea! I have permission to share the cover for The Ghost and the Goth! I really love it! Alona and Will look just like they are supposed to. They even got her gym uniform exactly right!

Book Two–still operating under the title of Princess Poltergeist–is now officially turned in. Yea!!! I’m very proud of myself because this is the first book where I was under contract with a REAL deadline. I’m really happy with how it has turned out so far–my editor is awesome and will surely have suggestions to make it even better.

While I’m waiting for edits, I’m attempting to “relax.” I don’t relax well, honestly. And things are about to get rather busy, promotion-wise for G&G, so it would be good if I could take advantage of this momentary lull. But…not so much.

So I’m playing around with a few new ideas–unrelated to the Alona and Will trilogy–and letting notions for the third book in that series simmer also.

It’s always strange to be at the beginning of something again. I know, logically-speaking, that at the beginning of G&G, I started as I usually do–a curiosity about the story that won’t let go and the urge to see if I can do it, if I can tell this particular story.

In remembering it now, though, it seems it always felt like, “Yeah, this is going to work!” In truth, I suspect I was having fun trying it and felt a connection to the story, which made me want to see it through to the end.

So that’s what I’m trying to make myself keep in mind. I’m playing, writing pages to see if they will go anywhere or not and trying not to worry about whether they do or don’t. If I’m having fun, odds are, it’ll be worth it one way or another.

One of my previous day-job managers, who is writer as well, said that the uncertainty, the unsureness of whether you can write a particular project, is good. It’s an incentive. I didn’t understand that at the time. Now, I get it. I’m always looking for ways to challenge myself, improve my writing or explore different facets within it.

*****
Other stuff:

–Just picked up Hex Hall by fellow D-H author (and Tenner, I think) Rachel Hawkins. It is just awesome! Shaping up to be one of my favorite books so far this year.

–LOVE, LOVE, LOVED Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers. Kept me riveted.

–Only two more Fringe DVDs and then I’ll have to move on to a new show on Netflix because Season 2 isn’t out yet. Any suggestions?

–We saw Up in the Air (the George Clooney movie) and Percy Jackson this weekend. Up in the Air was kind of depressing, as I’d expected, but Anna Kendrick deserves all those nominations she’s been getting. (Also, I totally called the “twist” that everyone was talking about, much to my husband’s annoyance.)

Percy Jackson was…eh. I felt like they’d meant it to be like Harry Potter 1, but cast the actors like they were from Harry Potter 5, does that make sense? The actors seemed too old for some of the stuff that was going on. I don’t know why they didn’t cast younger, other than the heart-throb factor. Other than that it reminded me a lot of Clash of the Titans (the original), which only reinforced the idea that the new version of Clash of the Titans (now with MORE Sam Worthington goodness) is going to be fabulous!

Whew! Okay, the good news is my brilliant critique partner came back with very positive things to say about Princess Poltergeist and only a few relatively minor fixes were required. Yea! So, I finished those this weekend and rewrote the ending slightly, per her recommendation, and though I wasn’t sure at first, I now LOVE the new ending.

That is what’s wonderful about having a critique partner who really gets you and how you write. She could see more clearly the note on which this story needed to end and helped me see it, too. Which is interesting because the way we write, in some ways, couldn’t be more different. I have to have the whole thing written and nearly done before I can share it for feedback. She’ll shoot me one or two chapters at a time to get my thoughts. Our individual ways work for each of us, and I think it helps actually that our processes are so different.

So, now at the end of this book I feel, as I always do, that I’m kind of coming out of hibernation. It’s a nice but unsettling feeling. It’s good to have the time to go out for a spontaneous meal with two of my closest friends and their adorable kids, for example. So much fun!

But that huge chunk of space in my brain that was once occupied with Princess Poltergeist (and likely will be again, during edits) is for the moment unoccupied. Eeek.

I don’t like that. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m writing. While I’m driving, when I’m waking up, when I’m folding laundry, when I’m falling asleep. And right now, I have that frantic feeling of trying to seize upon something to fill those moments.

But I don’t yet want to start on the third book in the G&G trilogy until the major edits are done on PP because that could affect events in book three.

So, I’m playing with a couple of new ideas. Playing being the operative word. I don’t know if either (or both) will pan out, become something I want to work with. But I guess this is the only way to find out.

*****
Books bought recently:
–Gone by Lisa McMann
–Heist Society by Ally Carter
–Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
–Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
–Monster by Walter Dean Myers
–The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer