Guest post at SFWA.org
I did a guest post at the SFWA site on the difference between YA and middle grade, covering not only the clear delineations of anticipated audience, but also the vagaries of character age and actual audience. Head on over.
Stacy
Toph: “Supercrip” stereotype or well-rounded disabled character?
I just today read this post on disabled people (or, if you prefer, people who happen to be disabled)—particularly regarding creation of characters—over at the Rejectionist, so being a little late and interested in continuing the discussion focusing on a specific character, I am turning my potential comment into a blog post instead. Rachel notes … Read more
Save Shannon Hale’s life
Via Rick Walton: If you are the highest bidder, Shannon Hale will rave about you on her blog, describing in great detail how you saved her life several times. All money goes to buy books for kids who need them. To bid and to have Shannon put in writing that she is forever in your … Read more
Scary middle grade books
I have a friend whose 11-year-old daughter likes scary books. She asks: Hoping maybe you can help. My daughter who will be 11 in a few months enjoys reading scary books, for example All The Lovely Bad Ones. Do you have any good ones in mind that I could send her way? I have a … Read more
“Clean” reads for multicultural YA girls
ETA 11/6/12: As with all my book lists, I’m putting this on Pinterest so I can more easily keep this list up-to-date. For a more recent version—including the books mentioned below and books published since 2010—see my Clean Reads for Teens board. I have a friend who is the leader of a church … Read more
Updated multicultural SFF booklist
ETA 5/22/12: I’m keeping this book list up to date on Pinterest nowadays, linking each book to its Goodreads entry. It’s much easier to just pin a book than to keep this list up to date. For the running lists (broken down by age group and genre) and more, go here (sorry, the link was … Read more
From the archives: Word counts
This was posted on the old Tu Publishing blog back before I moved to New York and joined Lee & Low. You may have seen it there, or you might not have. It wasn’t ported over to the new website with some of the other content (the blog has been folded into the main Lee … Read more
What I’m seeing in the submissions pile
Last week, as I was going through a pile of submissions, I was thinking about the kinds of submissions I’ve been seeing. Many of them work really well, and it’s made it hard to choose, in some ways. I’m working with a few authors on manuscripts in various stages—though as you know we don’t have … Read more
Trusting your editorial gut
I missed most of last night’s #yalitchat on Twitter, but I caught just a few pithy remarks from editors and writers that I wanted to share with you all. It pins down what I’ve been trying to articulate to myself as an editor, and I think it will help writers to understand where editors are … Read more
What kind of fantasy is Tu looking for? And what kind of synopsis?
Another writer question, the answer for which I think will help more than just one writer. If any of you have questions about what we’re looking for or anything to do with the submission process, please let me know, and I’ll be glad to answer here on the blog (anonymizing your question so it can … Read more