Writing YA Christian lit or Not.

I did not grow up in a Christian home. My parents weren't druggies or alcoholics or abusive. We were just a typical lower middle class family struggling to make it work. My mother stayed at home with us until I was in first or second grade. She then took a job with a maid service. For the first time my sisters and I were given an allowance. As the youngest, I was paid the least for my labor which included dusting and vacuuming. It was $5. And it was enough. A new bookstore had opened in the recently developed strip mall across the street that ran behind our home. The bookstore was the only thing that made the destruction of the farmland acceptable in my mind. I was maybe 8 or 9 at the beginning. Each Friday I would take my $5 and walk to the bookstore. Back then $5 was just enough to buy two paperbacks. This was when I fell in love with Lois Duncan and Christopher Pike. No, there were no Sweet Valley High books for me. My friends were all reading them, but not me, never a one. I was a Nancy Drew girl, a mystery and thriller girl. When I was 10 I discovered what I consider to be the original Twilight series, The Vampire Diaries, LJ Smith. And by the way, the WB series does the book series a great injustice. I read all of Duncan and Smith and Pike and usually read book more than once. When I became a Christian at the age of 15 I was reading Dean Koontz and my Bible and occasionally Stephen King. Seem like a conflict of interest? Indeed. But what else was I supposed to read? Christian fiction at the time left much to be desired. It was poorly written and cheesy to say the least. Recently when I started writing my own YA novel I struggled with this. I wanted to write something Christian parents would approve of and Christian and non-Christian terms would enjoy. Oh but we have Twilight, you say. Um no. While Edward insisting on waiting until marriage to have sex is great and my favorite thing about the entire series, it doesn't override the fact that Bella's entire existence, she thought, hinged on Edward. That's stupid. And unhealthy. While most of my characters are not Christians, they struggle with their morals and with the morals of their Christian friends. But that isn't the focus of the story. It is a thriller after all. And honestly I didn't write it with any moral in mind. My goal was to write a romantic thriller for teens that didn't involve vampires or zombies or werewolves or this ridiculous notion that a girl's life should revolve around a boy. Injecting my Christian faith into the story was tricky. I didn't want to lay it on too thick but I didn't want to ignore it. I'm the end I think a happy balance was found but you would have to be the judge of that. Look for my ebooks Filter at amazon.com or smashwords.com.

Tips for Teenage Writers

In my basement and on the archaic hard drive of a dusty old computer are hundreds of stories and poems I wrote between the ages of 8 and 19. There's also a binder, about 1 1/2 inches thick, that is filled with MacGyver teleplays, but we're not going to discuss that. Though I may not be Stephenie Meyer, I do have some wisdom to offer.

1. Read. 

      Reading a variety of genres and different forms of media (newspapers, blogs, poetry) helps develop your personal voice, your style. Everything you read becomes part of you as a writer. Read as much as you can. Be voracious. 

2. Write.

     And be willing to write crap that you would never, ever let anyone read. The fire hazard in my basement exists because I loved to create characters and stories, not because I wanted to get rich and famous. A true writer writes because her brain goes crazy if she doesn't.

3. Develop Thick Skin

     It's hard I know but you have to let other people (in the beginning only choose people you really trust to give you an honest, constructive opinion...) read your work. It's part of the growing pains. Sometimes the truth hurts but you'll never grow as a writer if you don't allow the negative comments in. Ignore those people who are malicious just because they think it makes them sound intelligent and really appreciate the critics who offer harsh advice because they want to help you get better. 

4. Read Your Own Work.

    This was hard for me in the beginning because in my mind the story was excellent. That was only because I could see it fully fleshed out in my imagination. Read it like you paid twenty bucks for it at Barnes & Noble. Most of the time I hated my stuff after I read it. 

6. Rewrite.

    True writers aren't writers. They're rewriters. I actually started Filter in December 2009. By April 2010 I hated it. It wasn't going the way I wanted it to go. I scrapped it and restarted, yes from the beginning. And it was worth. My characters were much happier. 

7. Revise after you've Rewritten

   I've checked for grammatical and name errors until my vision was literally crossing. Enlist the help of a friend to help you comb through. If people are spending time and money to read your work, you'd better give them the best. 

8. Take risks

    With your writing and your sharing. Open yourself up to people who may not be just like you. They might offer some excellent advice you never would have considered. Allow the unintended to happen in your book. That's something called "originality" and a LOT of books are lacking in it. Let your characters do what they would do on their own and without your control. You might not be ready for them to take the dangerous leap but they are. Trust them. 

9. Be proud of your rejections.

  Even Stephenie Meyer and Stephen King were in the slush piles at one point. I use to tape my rejection letters to the wall. Being rejected means you're at least working toward something. It means you aren't giving up. Keep going.

10. E-publish

   Publish your book online for free at http://www.smashwords.com or amazon.com. Just make sure you have an honest to goodness real copyright. There is no better way to safeguard your work. It's only $35 at http://www.copyright.gov List your work for free. Let the people get to know you before you dare ask for their money. Mine is available for free at http://www.smashwords.com

11. Support other novice novelists

    Don't think of other writers as competition. There are so many readers and it takes us so long to write one good book. Support and encourage and help other authors with their marketing.

12. If you need some encouragement or an honest opinion message me. 

The Mist~Stephen King

This is one of the MOST idiotic movies.
It's completely unoriginal. Usual Stephen King Formula.
Oh and let's not forget the liberal crap tucked so neatly into it.
The Vietnam vet is a quivering mass and not to mention a complete imbecile.
The hero, who is an artist, is all brave and has to tell the soldiers to get off their butts and help.
What?
Whatever Stephen King once had (and I think he had it most in Bag of Bones) it's gone.
This movie is just ridiculous. The characters are caricatures and the dialogue is stupid.
These people have to be the stupidest people in the world all stuck in this store together.
Waste of my time. It's actually still on right now and I don't even care.
.......
I have now finished watching this piece of trash, throwback movie.
Wanna know the moral of the story?
The military causes trouble and then, when things are all jacked up beyond recognition, they finally come in to clean up their mess.
You think I'm overstating things, dig around in some interviews King has done and you'll see I'm not.
The ridiculous part (and yes, I am breaking my own rule here), they discover there's a gun in the grocery store. And their trying to figure out if anyone knows how to properly use it.
....Um, morons, there are three uniformed soldiers in there with you. They might have some idea.
Of course two soldiers hang themselves and the third is sacrificed to the Mist.
....Yes, I know. I'm always finding some political slant to things, but wake up....they do it intentionally. Have you ever seen the kids' movie, Igor? Oh it's hilarious, we own. But it's a total platform movie, which is what I call these movies with agendas. Like Happy Feet and Avatar.
You may hate politics and you just want to watch a movie, but movies shape people's perceptions and beliefs. If not shape, then reinforce. And this movie ticks me off. I'm surprised they didn't make the soldiers alcoholics as well.