Caragh O'Brien Interview Part 2

First off, I've decided to bite the bullet and query my first agent tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me! Secondly, Caragh has agreed to answer a few questions for aspiring writers, or anyone else who is curious about the process of trying to get an agent. I would like to give a big thanks to Caragh for taking the time to answer some of these questions. I've been researching the process for a while, and she was happy to shed some light on some of the grayer areas. Hopefully this will help out anyone else who is trying to secure an agent. Best of luck to everyone who is! Caragh has also posted this exchange on her blog at http://www.caraghobrien.com/book/birthmarked/agent-query-questions.

When an author has no publishing experience, what are some good ways to beef up the author bio portion of the query letter? How important is that part of the query letter?Be honest.  If you have no previous publishing experience, you’re an unknown with a clean slate.  Briefly state your education and your two jobs because they demonstrate your passion for ya lit, and that counts.  Your book info is what will intrigue the agent or not.

After you've queried an agent, will they provide feedback if they request all/part of your manuscript?If they’re interested, they keep asking for more.  Once they’re not, they politely pass and wish you well with your writing and with finding representation elsewhere.  In rare cases, if they’re on the fence but super interested, they might ask you about what you might revise, with no promises to represent you.
 
Can you query an agent a second time?Why would you want to?

I've read on a lot of sites that I should expect a lot of rejection. How often do agents actually request partial/full manuscripts?They request them whenever they encounter an irresistible idea.  New agents seeking clients are particularly receptive.

How many agents did you query before you found your current agent?I queried 40+, in waves.  Details of my search are on my blog.
 
Do you have any tips for making the query letter stand out?Your letter will probably be in the strongest twenty percent simply by being clear and coherent.  After that, your ideas are what matter. 

I can see you’ve looked into this process a lot already, which is great!  Being informed is so helpful.  I can’t recommend AgentQuery.com highly enough for tips and searching info.  I’m sure you’ll look into which agents are most likely to be interested in your work, and you’ll follow their submission guidelines on their sites to make it easy for them to consider your query.  If you send out half a dozen queries and no one asks for more, that could be a sign to revise your query before you try the next batch.  Keep trying.  If your novel reaches the right agent at the right time, you’ll be on your way.  If you don’t find representation for this book and the writing makes you happy, keep on writing.

Thanks again, Caragh!

Caragh O'Brien Interview Part 1

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for tuning in. We have a very special guest with us today. Caragh O'Brien, author of YA books Birthmarked, Prized, and Promised (Fall 2012) has agreed to answer some questions for us. Caragh is from Connecticut, and is an amazing writer. Both of her published books have made it onto YALSA's Top Young Adult Fiction lists, and her books are great for fans of the hunger games. For anyone interested in learning more about her, I encourage you to visit her website at http://www.caraghobrien.com/. You can also find her books on Amazon.
First off, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I know how crazy busy you are working on Promised. I don't know how you found time, but thank you! And congratulations once again on having both of your books be on YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults list. As a fellow Connecticut author, I was so excited for you when I saw your name in the School Library Journal. I was going back to look at your blog tour you did at the end of last year, and I have to say, I'm going to try my hardest to ask original questions that others haven't yet but forgive me if I fail miserably.

How long did it take you to dream up the two dystopian societies you've already created?
Thank you so much, Candyce, for having me by.  It’s great to connect up with another local writer and I can tell from your questions that we’re equally interested in the writing process. 
I thought up the two societies in the Birthmaked series one at a time, as needed, so to speak.  I had a clear idea of the Enclave/Wharfton split society in a couple of months as I wrote the first draft, and the process for the matriarchy in Prized took more like half a year.  The interesting developments came with revising, especially with Prized, when I needed to refine the rules that governed how men and women could interact with each other, and how the characters would break those rules.

Now that you’re working on Promised, is there anything you would go back and change about Birthmarked or Prized?
Most of the changes I was able to make, actually, because we had some overlapping of drafts before the first two books were finalized.  I have run into a funny snag, though.  Some of the minor characters end up becoming more visible in Promised, and I wasn’t particularly careful about choosing their names early on.  I have both a Mryna and a Maya, a Will and a Bill, Chardos and a Chiaro, which is more confusing than I’d like.  It’s not too bad as quirks go, though.

You wrote Tortured as a bridge between Birthmarked and Prized. Will we see a similar bridge between Prized and Promised?
Yes.  I’ve sent a draft of Story 2.5 to my editor for her suggestions.  It’s also from Leon’s point of view, and gives a peek at what happens between novels.  It is fun to be working with my favorite characters again.  We hope to have it out before Promised is released.

How long before your books are released does all of the editing/revising have to be done by?
I sent my revisions to the first pass pages of Promised (my very last changes to the book) to my editor, Nancy Mercado, in mid-April, about five and a half months before the book will be released on October 2, 2012.  Theoretically, it’s done.  Knowing Nan, I won’t be surprised if she still asks me about tweaking one more word.  For a frame of reference, I first sent an early draft of the novel to Nan on March 14, 2011, so it’s accurate to say I spent more than a year on revisions going back and forth with her.  A copyeditor and a proofreader have worked on the novel, too.  I’m not sure the measurement of the time captures the depth of revision involved, but for me, at least, the revising is really how the novel is created and that’s where I find the most satisfying work.

I'm sure you'll be both relieved and sad once the trilogy is complete. Do you have a good idea yet of what your next project is going to be?
Yes.  I have a chunk of it started, and I’m working on it now.

There are a lot of aspiring young adult writers out there (not unlike myself). I've been scouring the internet to try to find the answer to this question, but if it's out there Google isn't finding it for me, so who better to ask than someone who's already been through the process! As the author, do you have any say in your books' covers? Can you choose the designer, give basic ideas, have veto power?
It’s a bit different for each house, I believe.  Writers do not, typically, have much say in what happens to their covers, as usually those decisions are left to the publisher’s editorial, art and marketing teams.  Roaring Brook has been unfailingly courteous with me, including sending me key drafts of my covers and inviting my input.  For the third novel, we discussed concepts for the cover art, and those exchanges informed how I combined and reimagined significant objects in the novel.  When I saw a version of artist Tim Green’s design, I was able to adjust the book to match the bracelet image he created.  That was very cool for me.

Thanks again, Candyce, for inviting me for an interview.  I wish you all the best with your own writing!  Here’s hoping you’ll soon be seeing the cover of your own novel.

Thanks, Caragh!

The Selection & Other News

Before we get to the review, I have some good news. Caragh O'Brien, author of YA books Birthmarked and Prized has agreed to do an interview for us! Both of her books have made it onto YALSA's Top Young Adult Fiction lists, so make sure you don't miss it. In other news, Insurgent, the long-anticipated sequel to Divergent had its release date bumped up to next Tuesday. For those who have never heard of it, the series is great for fans of The Hunger Games. I'll try to have a review up for Insurgent by early next week. As far as Desiderium, I was planning on sending out query letters this week, but I need to make a few more revisions.

Onto the review. I just finished reading The Selection by Kiera Cass. I was up until 3:33 a.m. last night reading it. That's partially because of the book itself, and partly due to my motivation to read another title it was a miracle for me to get ahold of. (Okay, not really a miracle, but I'm guessing you already assumed as much.) The verdict: this book is certified awesome, but only for certain crowds. The book was pitched as being The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor, which I have to admit had me a little bit intrigued. For those who hate the Bachelor, fear not. In my opinion the author did a pretty good job of subtly poking fun at the reality TV show, but I have to say that there was really no Hunger Games aspect to it at all.

What Goodreads has to say about it:

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

What I have to say about it:

All in all, I would say that this book is enjoyable. The writing was excellent and the story was really well-paced. The plot was noteworthy and piqued my interesting throughout the enterity of the book, but I would only recommend it to people who enjoy romance novels. Although I do have to say that as far as love triangles go, Cass does an excellent job. Most YA books feature love triangles in which the audience will clearly favor one character over the other, but I found myself torn between the two options.

Also of note, the characters in the book were never actually dressed like they are in the cover, but that aside, the author does a great job of addressing class issues within our society, even if it is under the disguise of a caste system. Even though the book is technically taking place in the future, I would recommend it to people who enjoy historical fiction. For some reason the book just gave off that kind of vibe.

Thanks for reading and make sure to tune in next time!

The False Prince and Other Exciting News

I had planned for my next blog to be all about Delirium, which is the other YA book that resembles Desiderium, but I just finished reading The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen, and had to blog about it. But first, some exciting news! Leah Cypess, author of YA books Mistwood, and Nightspell has agreed to do an interview for us. She is an amazing writer, and managed to publish her first book without the help of an agent. For those of you who don't know much about the industry, that is an amazing feat. We should hopefully have the interview up sometime this week, and I'm working on trying to convince a couple of other YA authors to join us.

On to The False Prince. I've decided to start measuring the awesomeness of a book by how late it can get me to stay up at night. This one somehow managed to get me to stay up until 3:30 a.m. when I had to be up at 8:30, so this book is certified awesome! It just came out a few weeks ago, and I needed something to keep me occupied until Thumped comes out on Tuesday, so I grabbed it off the shelf. To be honest, the description didn't really grab me, but I'd heard lots of really good things about it, and it got really good reviews, so I picked it up.

This is what GoodReads had to say about it:

The False Prince is the thrilling first book in a trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Connor, a nobleman of the court devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Connor's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point-he must be chosen to play the prince or he must certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Connor's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

This is what I have to say about it:
The brevity of this book's chapters does an excellent job of keeping the reader going. You think, there's only five pages in the next chapter, I'll just get to the end of it, and then boom! You're 20 pages away from the end and you might as well just finish it.

The plot in the first half of the book was a little slow-going, but the second half was a whole different story. A lot of times book jackets like to claim that it will keep you on the edge of your seat, but this one actually lived up to its promise-or at least the second half did. I have to say that the whole time I keep having these nagging suspicions that I knew this book's secret, but I kept thinking there's no way it was possible. Turns out I was right. In a sense, the secret was really predictable because I had seen it coming, but at the same time, the author did such a good job of making you doubt the feasibility of it, that when it was revealed it was still a little bit of a shock.

That being said, I would definitely recommend this book. Now I just have to try to convince my library to buy it, and convince many people at Barnes & Noble to buy it. Check back later in the week for more reviews and author interviews.

As always, thanks again for following me!

Matched: A Similar Tale

I have just finished drafting my first query letter, and will hopefully be sending it off sometime this week. Submitting query letters to agents is supposedly a long process that comes along with lots of rejection. I can only hope that at least one kindred spirit falls in love with my story. I'll make sure to keep you guys updated on how it goes.

This post is going to be all about the YA book Matched by Ally Condie. When I was writing my query letter, I was trying to think of which YA books Desiderium could be best compared to. After thinking about it long and hard, I would classify it as being somewhere between Matched by Ally Condie and Delirium by Lauren Oliver. (And no, it's not because the word delirium is so close to Desiderium if that's what you were thinking. Although I was working on Desiderium when Delirium came out and I was a little worried about the titles being so similar.) The funny thing is, I also asked one of my beta readers which books she would compare mine to, and she came up with the two exact same books. It's sort of eerie, but hopefully it means that we've done a good job of drawing comparisons to other YA books.

A Little About Matched:
All of her life, officials of the Society have told Cassie what to read, what to watch, and what to believe. They decide who she will love, how many children she will have, what her career will be, and when she will die. Living in the Society that monitors her every moment, Cassie has always trusted their decisions.

At her matching ceremony, Cassie is assured when the face of Xander, her childhood friend, appears on her viewscreen. Of course, he is the perfect choice to be her husband. But later, when she checks the disk with Xander’s data on it, she first sees the face of Ky Markham, flashing for less than an instant before Xander’s face appears. Society says it’s just a glitch—but was it? Cassie suddenly feels frightened and insecure.

As she finds herself falling in love with Ky, she begins to doubt the infallibility of the Society. Now she is faced with impossible choices. Should she “go gentle” and follow the Society’s plans for her? Or should she follow her heart?

The Connection:
Let me start off by saying that this book is excellent, and is one of my favorite YA books. One of the things I love most about this book is that it does a really good job of shocking the reader by showing just how much of Cassia's everyday life is controlled. The society in Desiderium isn't quite so controlled, but there is definitely a controlling aspect in there.

Rhiley and Cassia face so many of the same issues. Like Cassia, Rhiley is also torn between her best friend since childhood, and the boy she just met. Not to mention, that almost everyone in their lives has a secret. Both are very closely monitored, and both are capable of more than they might think. I don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but Desiderium is the first book in a planned trilogy. I have a fairly detailed outline of the second installation, but have yet to think of a spectacular name for it. Which reminds me, if anyone has any thoughts on the title Desiderium, I would love to hear them! I'm definitely open to suggestions.

Check back in a day or two for a post dedicated to Delirium. As always, thanks for reading!

Desiderium

For starters, welcome to my blog!

I'm a Children's/Young Adult Librarian at the Hartford Public Library and work as a Chlidren's/Young Adult bookseller on the side. Whlie I do love children's books, my passion is YA books. I read them, I talk them, I write them, I live them. There's nothing like a good YA book to keep you up in bed until 5 o'clock in the morning when you have to be at work at 9. If only my husband who has the unfortunate task of dragging me out of bed in the morning could say the same!

I've recently finished the fourth draft of my YA novel Desiderium and am starting to consider sending it off to agents (if I'm ever able to work up the courage). I thought introducing my idea through a blog would be the best place to start. Not to mention, that with having a life that revolves around YA books, I have so much to say about them. But more on that later.

My first blog is going to be all about Desiderium. For the last year and a half most of my free time has been going toward writing, editing, re-editing, and further re-editing this book. I keep going through the manuscript over and over again, and I still somehow haven't gotten tired of it yet. I secretly hope that's because the book is that good. More likely though, I've just fallen in love with the world I've created. I can only hope that there is some agent out there who feels the same. In the meantime though, I'll settle for being able to convince my readers that my story is worth sharing. So here goes.

In The States, desire is illegal.

Rhiley Winters lives in a world where one person has the power to change anything by simply desiring it with every fiber of their being. The only thing is, no one knows who that person is. Society will stop at nothing to be protected from the Desiderium, who they fear more than anything. After all, the Desiderium they've already killed were responsible for making it impossible for people to have more than two children, defend themselves with armies, or eat anything without automatically gaining weight.

Like everyone else, Rhiley refuses to let herself feel desire until she meets Isaak and time literally stands still around them. Rhiley is desperate to figure out his secret, but can she bear to tell him hers? Especially with the government monitoring their every desire. Can she survive in a world in which husbands and wives, fathers and sons, and brothers and sisters turn on each other at the slightest suspicion? As she struggles to survive and keep her secrets from the government, she begins to realize that things aren't always what they seem.

Cross your fingers for me!