Editor's note: Audrey is a 13-year-old student from California who is currently working on her own novel between school, sports and choir. She's also a Contributing Editor to Write4Kids, focusing on middle grade and YA literature. If you have writing-related questions for Audrey, or want to suggest a topic for a future column, please contact Laura at Laura@write4kids.com.

Visit Audrey's new blog, Audrey Reads and Reviews, for more of her insights into YA lit.

For this blog post, I’ve interviewed Alma Alexander. Ms. Alexander has published the YA fantasy series Worldweavers from HarperTeen. Her side project is a very interesting one—she wrote a novel as a 14 year old, and she has been editing it and revising it on a website: http://heritageofclan.wordpress.com/. Visit her online at: http://www.almaalexander.com/.

Audrey: I really like the social structure of the story (with the clans and guilds etc). But, more than that, I like the world you’ve created. Do you have any advice for creating a world so thoroughly? When I read your work, I feel like there’s a bigger world out there than just the parts that you’ve written about. Any advice?

Alma: Actually there is a whole file that I created about that world (and yes, I still have that too) which delves into ALL SORTS of detail about it – most of which never ever makes it into the book/story itself. It’s what I call the Iceberg Theory of Writing – what the reader sees is only the top 5% of what there is to know, the stuff that’s above the waterline and looks pretty and spectacular. But it RESTS on all that invisible 95% that is under water, never seen. That is what provides the stability and familiarity for that 5% which appears to be floating effortlessly in mid-air.

In our own everyday mundane world that 95% can be as visible as the rest – simply because we LIVE in this world 24/7, live it breathe it hold it touch it smell it every day, and it’s deeply and utterly familiar and transparent to us. We take a huge amount of stuff for granted, simply because we KNOW that it is there. Creating a fantasy world from scratch means that you lack this built-in scaffolding, and you have to build your own. The advice you are asking for boils down to one simple thing – ALWAYS know more about your world than you let on, and then the reader will instinctively pick up on the fact that there is more to know, and therefore the world has a depth and a reality which is then comparable to our own “real” world.

Audrey: You have a lot of characters. They all seem to have totally different personalities. How do you do this? I love ensemble casts (I usually write them, but mine are mainly all teenagers), and you seem to be writing about all different social castes and ages. How do/did you figure everything out about the characters? How do/did you keep everything straight about them? When I try to do a lot of characters, I mix them up.

Alma: Hi, my name is Alma and I HEAR VOICES…

Well, that’s a simplistic way of putting it, but that’s what it boils down to, for me. I don’t so much create characters as allow them in, simply let them wander by and tell me a story, and I simply take dictation. The fact that they all have different voices stands to reason – they are all different people. I contain many many people, I contain worlds. But it isn’t something I do on a conscious level. I simply listen.

Part of the ability to write across the boundaries of class and race and age comes from the fact that I am a voracious reader. I devour books – and every book I read teaches me something which gets filed away for future reference for if and when a character who might be so VERY different from myself might need such knowledge or identity markers. If I am writing about somebody from a culture with which I am less than adequately familiar, I will immerse myself in reading about that culture until I “internalize” some of its basic ideas and beliefs – and with those, comes the voice.

A character’s voice is rooted in that character’s context and culture. These are creatures who all exist in a complex mix of relationships to the people and places in their lives, to their set of beliefs, to their faith, to their worldview, to their morality, to their physical and metaphysical address in the world in which they live. All of these things inform the way they respond to that world.

In the Clans book, for instance, I am setting up a conflict between two people who love and respect each other – who are foster-brothers – who have both grown up aristocrats in a world where aristocrats have a certain social position – but their minds and the thoughts and feelings therein are very different, and when their positions in their world are rocked by new revelations they respond in ways that will set them up as enemies in what amounts to a civil war. It is important to realize that even people who on the face of it look almost identical to one another might react very differently to the same stimulus – and once you keep this in mind, the different inner voices of these people will make themselves known to you if you listen closely. Read more

In the latest chapter of big publishers' efforts to capitalize on e-book profits, HarperCollins started a new policy this week of limiting libraries' ability to loan out their e-books to 26 loans per title. At that point, libraries will have to re-license the Harper e-books for the next 26 loans. Librarians are outraged, saying the new policy will strain budgets and stifle the promotion of literacy. Two librarians have organized a Boycott HarperCollins website. Read all about the controversy here.

My initial reactions to the announcement, in no particular order, were:

• I understand Harper's desire to make money (it is a business, after all), and their rationale that hard copy library books wear out and need to be replaced — whereas e-books don't — could, I suppose, be argued. So why not a compromise? Why not let libraries license the e-book for 7 or 10 years, and then renew? When the license expires, librarians gauge how popular the e-book has been, and renew if there's still a demand for the title. Just like hardcover books.
• If I were a Harper author, I'd be incensed that my publisher was making it more difficult for libraries to carry a version of my book. (And if I were a Macmillan or Simon & Schuster author, I'd be really peeved, because according to the Publishers Weekly article, they don't license e-books to libraries at all.)
• Libraries are already forced to loan each e-book to only one patron at a time, just like hard copy books, and those e-books automatically expire after one set period. I learned this the hard way when I went to renew an e-book I was halfway through reading, and it had disappeared from my e-reader. I never got around to finishing the book.
• Isn't the goal of every publisher to build an audience for each book? Doesn't limiting access to certain editions of books limit the audience for all the books by that author? In other words, if I can easily check out the e-book version of Book One in a series and I like it, I'm more likely to check out (or buy!!) the hard copy version of Book 2 when it comes out.
• On a closely-related point, isn't the goal of every publisher to spread literacy and promote the written word? Shouldn't libraries be free to offer access to the written word to all their patrons, even those who are housebound and need to borrow books online? How about college students, who prefer to carry their research books on an e-reader instead of in a 50-pound backpack? Or the mother with three young children who just can't make it to the library on a snowy day, but wants new books to read to her kids?
• And finally, remember that libraries aren't asking for the e-books for free. They're paying for the license. And I'm willing to bet that they don't license an e-book unless they also have the hard copy of the same title on the shelves. So the author still gets royalties, and the publisher still makes money.

Publishing is changing, and the old way of doing business needs to change as well. As big publishers become less relevant in today's market, and authors are finding it easier to self-publish, I think it's unwise for publishers to limit the public's access to their authors' books. But that's my opinion. I'd like to know what you think.

Among the many reasons would-be authors give for packing it in and giving up their dream is "I'm too old".  Nice try, but it doesn't wash.  William Steig (Shrek, Pete's a Pizza and many, many other wonderful books) didn't launch a children's book career until he was 61.  Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't publish her "Little House on the Prairie" series until she was in her 50's.

Courtesy of the Huffington Post, here's a look at some more authors who got a late start – but finished big.

And then, allow us to destroy some of your other possible excuses for calling it a day.  Here's

Five Reasons Why You Can’t Be A Writer (And Why None Of Them Are True)

Keep writing, people!

Picture book author Lynne Marie has started My Word Playground, which she describes as a "children's writing & illustrating inspiration/promotion blog".  Each post features a writing prompt or tip from children's book authors, illustrators, or other book-related creative people. In addition to the prompt, the post highlights and promotes the creator's latest work.

She's looking for guest posts. The prompt/tip could be themed with your book topic. Or, instead of a prompt or tip you could share the story behind the story. You could touch upon plot, dialogue, scene, point of view, pacing, punctuation, characterization, genre, school visits, book trailers, promotion, jacket flaps, pitches, queries, theme – anything about which you feel you have something to offer.

In addition to the prompt or tip, Lynne needs a short accompanying blurb about you or your book, illustration or creative endeavor, as well as a .jpg of the cover/art to upload, an author photo .jpg and/or any website or blog links that you may have. You can email everything to: LynnePisano@aol.com
 
So visit My Word Playground to get inspired, then add your own contribution to the mix!

Writers always complain that they need an agent to get a publisher to read their work, but agents won't look at them until they've got a book or two to their credit. Instead of wasting time griping about the unfairness of the industry, first-timer Colleen Houck took matters into her own hands. After getting a pile of rejections for her queries about her young adult fantasy series, Tiger's Curse, Colleen realized she needed to offer an agent more than a manuscript–she needed a platform. So she self-published the first book through Amazon, then turned it into a Kindle e-book. Her creative pricing helped the word spread and the book appeared on several must-read lists. One thing led rather quickly to another, and she was contacted by an agent.

"…He said he’d found me on Amazon and was impressed with my reviews. Two days later I had representation at one of the top if not the best agency in the country—Trident Media Group. My new agent, Alex Glass, went to work immediately. 

"Within a few weeks, I had a book deal. The self-published versions of my book were taken offline to prepare for the very aggressive marketing of my new publisher, Sterling, and in less than six months the new version of my debut novel, Tiger’s Curse, was headed to bookstores all over the country."

Sound too good to be true? It's not, and here's why. Before she wrote word one of her books, Colleen read and studied lots of other successful books in the same genre, and knew that, as a newbie, she'd have to write a book that was so good people couldn't help but talk about it. Her insistence at writing a quality book, plus her grassroots marketing strategies, led to her success.

There's nothing Colleen did that you can't do as well. Read her story here and get inspired

Whenever a group of children's book authors gather together, the conversation inevitably turns to the current state of publishing. More to the point: What exactly is a children's book these days? And — perhaps the most important question of all — Do I have to join the e-book craze?

No, you don't have to jump into the deep end of the cyber pool, but it wouldn't hurt to get your feet wet. And don't despair; you'll have lots of company in the shallow side. Authors of all levels (along with agents, publishers and bookstores alike) are trying to get a clear picture of the growing and evolving electronic publishing industry. Some embrace it and manage to weave every new development into their publishing platforms; others are content to let their publishers issue electronic versions of their current print books. But everyone can agree on one thing: e-books are here to stay.

The way I see it, authors have two choices: wring their hands and wax nostalgic about the good old days when there was one sanctioned way to get published, and an author's job was to write, period; or open their minds to e-publishing and use it to their advantage. We're on the brink of a revolution here, one that will change who's in control, how much power the gatekeepers have, and how level this new playing field really is.

This conversation's just beginning, and it won't end for a long time. But to get things started, author Laura Ruby elegantly sums up the newest e-publishing trends, statistics, pros, cons and fears of the apocalypse in her post "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel…?" on the e is for book blog. Read her post, follow the terrific links, and then think about where you fit into the revolution.

Oh, and the writing part? Authors still have to learn their craft, polish their prose, and revise like crazy, just like in the old days. Some things, thankfully, never change.

My eight-year-old daughter is a scientist. This isn’t a career choice. This is just a fact of her being.

When she was 18 months old, she accidentally pulled on her sensitive big brother’s hair.

He cried!

Another child might have felt guilty or might have been upset. Not my daughter. She had only one possible reaction:

I wonder what will happen when I do that again!

And again and again.

Fast forward seven years, and she’s a regular exhibitor at our county science fair. If I want her to practice her penmanship, we do science. If she learns new words, it’s through science.

In the midst of this we had an accidental book club. We’re homeschoolers, and we do a lot of driving. Those two combined mean that we love audiobooks. I balk at the high price tag, so we get most of our audiobooks from the library. This means that more often than not, we listen to whatever happens to be on the shelves.

Unintentionally, two of the books we listened to were about girls who love science.

The first was The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. This lovely book by Jacqueline Kelly covers nearly a year in the life of a girl living in rural Texas at the turn of the 20^th century. She forms an unexpected alliance with her grandfather, an amateur naturalist, and becomes entranced with science the way that some girls now become entranced with teen idols.

This positive portrayal of a girl scientist in a place where she is so completely out of place is riveting. Not only did it inspire more interest in evolution and botany in my already science-loving kids, but it presented the role model of a girl who is a scientist against all odds.

The second book, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, is also historical, set in Los Alamos as scientists work desperately to create the “gadget” that will end the war. Dewey is a born scientist also, in this case, an inventor. She loves to create her own gadgets, and largely ignores the taunting of the other kids. When she is unexpectedly required to spend a few weeks living with another family, she forms an alliance with another misfit girl, who is finding her calling as an artist.

Sea and Tate are very different books. In Tate, the negative pressure on the main character comes largely from adults. In Sea, however, adults are largely charmed by Dewey’s inventiveness, but the kids are just short of brutal to her.

In both books, however, today’s girl scientists can see girls sticking to science because it is what calls to them. Interestingly, both books almost ignore the girls’ schooling, which seems tangential to their real lives. Read more

Just in time to start off 2011 on a positive note, author Rob Sanders (a CBI Fightin' Bookworm and former attendee of Children's Authors' Bootcamp) has launched a new blog called Picture This! A Daily Guide to Picture Book Writing. Rob's first picture book, Cowboy Christmas, will be published by Golden Books/Random House in Fall 2012 (go Rob!), and his blog aims to share his journey of learning and growing in his craft with other picture book writers. Each week he'll focus on a different writing tip, principle or discipline, and occasionally include input from published authors and creative writing challenges. This week's theme: Dream It! Plan It! Live It!

Check it out, and pick up some inspiration for your own work.

Almost two months after banned books week, I was sorting out links and bits of articles I'd collected and came across two I have to share. This is not going to be a post on censorship, or how one parent doesn't have the right to dictate to all parents what literature should be available to their children, or on the right for a parent or child to decide whether or not they want to read a particular book (though I believe all those things). These two tidbits are about the people the books touch, for better or worse.

The first is an article about how Penguin Young Readers Group took out a full page ad in the New York Times defending Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a young adult novel about a rape victim that had been called "soft pornography" in an op-ed piece in the Missouri News-Leader. What most touched me was a comment by a reader at the end of the article:

The irony that this man chose to try and censor a book in which the main character responds to her rape and the way her high school peers treat her afterwards by not speaking was evidently lost on him. He tried to silence the silent and, I hope, much to his surprise, the roar was heard around the world. Silence is the enemy of the abused. Silence is what allows abusers and abusive situations to flourish. I know this to be absolutely true because, as a child, I was abused by my father. I tried to tell and was either told that I was a liar, that I was making things up or in one memorable case, that I must have deserved what I got. So I gave up trying. That was before I found books like SPEAK and CHINESE HANDCUFFS and authors like Laurie Halse Anderson, Chris Crutcher and every other writer who has had their works threatened or banned. Silence is not the answer and that is the message I want my granddaughter and every abused and traumatized person to know.

Silence isn't the answer, unless you have no idea what you're talking about. In Banned Books Week: 10 Banned Books You Might Not Expect, the Texas Board of Education banned the beloved classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. in January of this year because it (mistakenly) thought the book was written by the same Bill Martin who penned the nonchildren's book Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation.

Enough said.

Many aspiring authors want to write for ages 8-12 but have trouble pinning down exactly what those readers want from their books. From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors is a group blog from 30 middle grade authors that offers regularly updated book lists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a children's book from writing to publishing to promoting. Their list of October New Releases is a great place to start your education on all things middle grade.