 Photo Credit Liz Ligon Ally Carter burst onto the YA scene in 2006 with her first Gallagher Girls novel I’d Tell You I Love You but Then I’d Have to Kill You. Since they she has launched two more popular series: Heist Society and Embassy Row.
Released in April, Not if I Save You First, a standalone book that takes place in the wilds of Alaska, features characters with the same determination and resourcefulness her readers have come to love. When did you first realize you were a storyteller? Honestly, that's something I still question every day. I first realized I WANTED to be a storyteller when I was in middle school and read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I was growing up in Oklahoma and reading this amazing book written by a teenage girl from Oklahoma made me obsessed with doing it too! What do you love about the writing process? I like to say that writing a book is like going on a really long international flight. When you start, you're super excited and can't wait to get going. Then you'll start to get tired or bored or your back will start hurting. About hour 10, you'll start to think this is the worst idea ever. But you're stuck. You can't get off the plane. Then, eventually, you'll look out the window and see the Great Wall of China or Eiffel Tower or whatever made you get on the plane to begin with and it will all be fun again. What is the hardest part of being a writer? Probably the writing? But there are other challenges that come and go. It's a tough business with no real support system. If I'm on deadline and my computer is acting weird I have to waste two days dealing with it instead of calling the IT department. I don't have health insurance through my job. I literally don't know where my next check is coming from. Now, I thankfully know some are coming! But when? I couldn't begin to guess. But all if it is worth it when you hear from someone whose life has been made better by something you've written. Where do you find your inspiration? Everywhere! For my newest book, Not if I Save You First, I was on an Alaskan cruise when I looked out over about a million acres of wilderness one night and saw one lone light burning in the distance. "If something happens here, you can't call 911" I thought to myself and that's how the idea of a story about a Secret Service agent's daughter who has to save the president's son when he's kidnapped in Alaska came to be! What are you working on right now? Right now, I'm finishing up my first nonfiction project! Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book is my effort at answering some of the questions that writers hear all the time from teens who want to write themselves. It was so much fun to work on! I was able to draw on some of my favorite authors to tell us a little about their writing processes, and we cover everything from idea to publication. I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out! If you can’t get enough of Ally Carter’s tales of “teen spies, thieves, and diplomats” as she puts it, be sure to visit her website.
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 In Nyxia, the first book a YA trilogy that reads like Ender’s Game” meets “The Hunger Games”, Scott Reintgan weaves together an engaging tale for sci-fi readers of all ages. A self-described “back-row dreamer” Scott is a former English teacher dedicated to engaging readers through exciting characters and storylines. Nyxia Unleashed, book two of the Nyxia Triad, releases July 17th.
When did you first realize you were a storyteller? Storytelling clicked for me through video games. As I walked through quests in World of Warcraft and other games, I realized I loved all the narrative piece that tied everything together. That love grew with my love for reading, which eventually grew into my love for writing. I still use the fact that video games paved the path for my career against my mother. What do you love about the writing process? I love the act of creation. There is just nothing quite like that first spark of an idea, that first time we meet the bad guy, that first time we realize how it all will end. I'm actually a big fan of revision, too, which ends up being more like a puzzle that you have to slowly fit together. But that first run through of creating the story and the characters and the setting? It's the best. What is the hardest part of being a writer? The hardest part about being a writer is learning balance. Wiley Cash had a great Twitter thread about this recently, but the image of writers sitting a desk every day for 10 hours, humming along in story world, is just a little inaccurate. Writing involves so much more. Learning how to balance publicity and marketing and still being able to spend time with the characters we love? That's one of the hardest lessons I've had to figure out. Where do you find your inspiration? Inspiration is everywhere. I actually just gave a talk to local students where I discussed collaborating with the world around you. Opening up your eyes. Taking a step back. Listening closely. These are hallmarks of a great author in my opinion. Those threads of reality that we can pluck in our day to day end up being the core pieces of great stories. Just remember to write down those ideas as they come. Far too many authors have had wonderful ideas slip through their fingers for lack of a pen. What are you working on right now? Right now I'm working on the second novel in a middle grade series (the first one--When in Fancy--will release from Random House in 2020). I've finished the entire Nyxia series. Nyxia Unleashed comes out on July 17th, but book three will release in April 2019. I'm excited for people to read the conclusion. And as always, I'm working on like three other books simultaneously because I can't stop dabbling in all these lovely little ideas that come across the brain. To find out more about the North Carolinian wordsmith and us his new adventures, check out his website. If you’ve been to your local booksellers lately, it is clear the Young Adult offerings have grown from occupying a couple of shelves into a legitimate section with assorted subgenres springing up. Like any genre, there are great, OK, and fairly poor examples of writing in this category, but to dismiss it wholesale, as some are wont to do, is unfortunate.
Now, I’m not saying this because I am secret fan of boy wizards or vampires who sparkle. I came to this particular party rather late and primarily because I was curious as to why my students were so fascinated with certain authors. I started with Suzanne Collins and her Hunger Games trilogy and devored them as fast as I could get copies from the school library. I found her sense of voice to be fascinating, as I did the theme of sacrifice that runs throughout the series. Recently I consumed the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. I loved how she wove notions of identity, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and healing into a dystopian Midwestern landscape. Don’t get me wrong, as I am well aware these books are not perfect from a literary standpoint. While many teens not have a problem with sentence fragments and the obsessive usage of present-tense verbs, the English teacher in me has to take a deep breath and put such concerns aside in order to find the often-compelling story within. A friend of mine recently said that he didn’t care how a book was categorized, because a good story was a good story. I totally agree with him. I may have two Eric Metaxes books, one from my friend Joseph Bentz and the latest John Grisham novel on my Kindle all ready for me to read but it was nice, just for a while, to imagine what it would be like to be a member of the Dauntless faction in a rebellion-ravaged Chicago. If you ask me, that’s a good story for young and old alike. |
AuthorI've been writing stories and taking photos since I was old enough to hold a pencil and stand behind a tripod. Archives
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