Please email me at joellewrites2 [at] joelleanthony dot com for a larger version if necessary. Thanks!

Joëlle currently lives on a tiny island in British Columbia with her musician husband, Victor Anthony. As for the future, their only plan is to avoid real jobs, write and play guitar in front of the wood stove, and live happily ever after. Look for her debut novel, Restoring Harmony, in Summer 2010 from Putnam.

Joëlle started out life in Portland, Oregon as a talker, then a reader, eventually a writer, and by her teen years, the sirens of the stage were calling her name. With a BA in theatre, and absolutely no other marketable skills (not even waitressing), she got some headshots made, and called herself an actress. Believe it or not, some people fell for it, and if you look really closely, and don’t blink, you can see her in movies like What The Bleep Do We Know? and The Temp. The desire to write remained strong though and in between acting gigs, she began to scribble down her first novel for teens (which permanently resides in a drawer). Writing seemed to be her real calling and after many years of practice, and lots and lots of reading, she signed on with agent Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency. In the fall of 2008, he sold her first novel, a young adult book called Restoring Harmony, to Stacey Barney at Putnam (Summer 2010). She currently lives on a tiny island in British Columbia with her musician husband, Victor Anthony, and two cats, Miss Sophie & Grinder. As for the future, their only plan is to avoid real jobs, write and play guitar in front of the wood stove, and live happily ever after.

I just read the fourth book in less than two months about a girl reluctantly becoming a model. I guess this is the new hot topic. Maybe it’s America’s Next Top Model inspired (or whatever that show is called). Who knows? What we do know is that probably all of these books were purchased 1-2 years ago, so if you’re writing about a reluctant model who hits it big, you’ve probably missed your chance. Models are the new vampires!

The first three all had a twist. If you’ve read AIRHEAD, then you know what that twist is and if you haven’t, I won’t spoil it. In MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES the twist is unique and I love the way the author handles body image and weight. In PLUS, the twist is it’s about being a plus-size model (which is still probably skinnier than most people we know).

There isn’t really a twist in this last book, BRALESS IN WONDERLAND.  I read about it somewhere, so I got it. I liked it. It’s a nice solid sort of read. I don’t think there are many surprises, but it’s satisfying. It’s the sort of book that if you asked me if you should read it, I would say, “Sure. It’s a good read.” but I’m not going on record here in my usual fashion of “OMG! YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!” Still…I liked it. Also, it’s set up perfectly for a sequel and if I come across one someday, I’ll read it. The author comes from this world and you get the feeling that it’s very authentic (not always true with the others – they’re a bit more glamourized). I see the author has another book out, which I will check into. Maybe it’s the sequel…nope.

UPDATE – It has now been a couple of days since I finished this and I want to say that I like it more and more. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, which tells you something right there. I subscribe to Seventeen magazine (I know…I know…) and it’s really interesting to check out the models after all I learned about them in this book! Maybe I am changing my mind to “Put this on your list!” after all.

I also just read STOP IN THE NAME OF PANTS by Louise Rennison, which I really loved, as usual. When I read it though, I have to wonder how I even have a clue what she’s saying. I guess it’s because I’ve been with Georgia Nicholson from the beginning. I’m not sure anyone could pick up this book (#9) and have any idea what she and her friends are saying in their slangy faux-English-French-German. Very funny stuff.

I also read another book and its sequel (I got the ARC for the sequel, so I checked out the first one from the library). I have mixed feelings about these books, so I won’t name them here, but if you are dying to know, email me. I really liked parts of them, and the second one is better than the first, but they are chock full of cliches and I have some plausibility issues as well. It’s odd because as I read them, I really enjoyed them, but afterward I felt a little like, “Really? That could never happen.”

  If you read this blog at all, you know that one of my favourite people in the world is Eileen Cook. Writer, hilarious person, and great friend. She holds my hand through all this publishing craziness and I talk her off ledges when it gets to her. She is a true friend and I am so pleased to have her here to discuss what it’s like to change from writing adult fiction to writing for teens. So, please welcome Eileen Cook! And don’t forget to check out her fabulous new YA, What Would Emma Do?

Without further ado…

When Joelle asked me to comment on the difference between writing adult books versus those for YA, at first I was stumped.  Despite what some people might think, it isn’t any easier to write for teens as compared to adults. It is still pretty much a process of coming up with word by word until you reach 300 or so pages, and hopefully a well thought out story. Most plots of an adult novel could be reset and morphed into a YA story.  YA books cover all genres and themes.  There are however some things that make writing for a YA audience especially enjoyable. 

First Time:  As a teen you get the opportunity to experience a range of things for the first time. From great experiences (falling in love) to terrible experiences (the first time you’re dumped) you never forget the first time.  Even when in the case of being dumped you really wish you could forget. The first time you experience something it is as the whole world slows down and you have a chance to notice every detail. 

Everything Matters More: Perhaps it is because there are so many first experiences, or perhaps because as a YA you haven’t worked up a crusty layer between yourself and your emotions yet, but teens don’t just feel things, they FEEL things. For example, say a teen is taking a math test and suddenly realizes they studied the wrong chapter. They know that failing that particular math test means they might fail math all together, which means their whole GP is screwed up, which means that they never get into a good college, if they don’t get into a good college then they’ll never get a good job and if they don’t get a good job then they’ll never be able to support themselves and if they can’t support themselves then they’ll end up as some kind of weird homeless person who wanders around wearing dead people’s shoes and talking to building… AAAAH!  This intensity is a heck of a lot of fun to write.

Injustice: When you’re a teen everyone keeps telling you how these are the best days of your life.  That’s because most likely they don’t remember it very well.  Being a YA is filled with injustice. Once you’re an adult you can make your own decisions, good or bad. As a YA, the adults in your life can totally mess with you. You can live your whole life in one town and in the beginning of your senior year your parents can decide to pick up and move to some middle of nowhere hell hole town and you have to go with them. Injustice is a great way to increase tension, and writers love tension.

I’m not sure writing for teens is different than writing for adults, but I have to admit I’m having a ton of fun doing it.

 Thanks, Eileen! And good luck with your fabulous book!

What with my Red Hair article, and the new piece I wrote for SCBWI about character cliches, I’m afraid I’m going to get a reputation as a Cliche Queen…or maybe the Cliche Police is more like it.

One thing that surprised me when the Red Hair article came out (or is linked to on another writer’s blog) is that a lot of people have emailed me and made comments that imply that if I start reading a book with too many of the cliches from my list on it, that I automatically stop reading. This isn’t true at all. In fact, I recently read one full of them, and I still enjoyed it. And I’m reading one now that already has five things from the list in the first ten pages or so, but you couldn’t pay me to stop reading it. It’s hilarious, and well-written, and I’m totally enjoying it. It’s also the author’s first YA, which is something else I’ve noticed, the heaviest use of items from the list usually show up in debut novels.

Like I have tried to tell the writers who get defensive about my list (and I’ve gotten some pretty strong emails/comments asking me, “who the heck do I think I am and what do I know?”), these are observations, not rules. They’re like laws in Tennessee…guidelines.

Someday I might write a book (under a pen name, of course) that includes all twenty-five cliches along with some really mean cheerleaders. That would be fun!

Here are a couple more I think you could definitely add:

• Authors who work in vocabulary by including moments where their characters use big words and then identify them as “SAT words.”
• Having your characters like the music from your high school era (I think this is usually the author being either too lazy to find out what kids like today OR they don’t want to date their books with “this year’s” music – totally understandable)

Have you noticed any new ones?

When my friend Eileen Cook finished the manuscript for this book she sent me a copy of it to read. That’s why, even though I just finished reading the actual book, I felt proud to be able to give it a plug for the last month or so. Now that I’ve read it in its finished form, I’m really happy to tell y’all that you MUST buy and read this fantastic YA from Eileen and Simon Pulse. And if your wallet is still bleeding from Christmas, know that this is a paperback for an extremely reasonable price! If you still can’t afford it, then request that your library buy it. You won’t be sorry. It’s such an entertaining read!

I have noticed over the years, being friends with Eileen and all (and if you’ve read her hilarious blog, you will be able to back me up on this), that Eileen doesn’t really see the world the same way the rest of us see it. And I mean this in a good way. She finds the funniest things in the ordinary and this is true of her book too.

As if the release of her first YA isn’t exciting enough, watch this space because Eileen is putting the final touches on her Guest Blog for this website as we speak! Very soon, probably next week, she will be dropping by to discuss what it’s like to change from a writer of adult chick lit to writing YA. You won’t want to miss this! I bet she’ll even answer questions if you leave them in the comments section.

Congratulations Eileen!

I am a fan of the BBC4’s children’s radio show Go4It, which you can listen to here. While this week’s episode is political (and I don’t do much of that here…except for yesterday when I couldn’t help myself!), I’ve listened to other episodes and find it a really cool show all the time. This week’s program is mostly kids weighing in (Brits, Americans, and Africans) on Obama, but other episodes have covered art, music, hot topics, whatever is of interest to the world and to kids. Since many of y’all are writers for kids, I thought you might like to take a listen.

Your Canadian neighbours are wishing you well on this monumental and historic day!

This is a really fun book. For the most part, it’s fairly light, but it’s got some deeper stuff too. I think it’s probably categorized under chick-lit YA (as a point of reference). I liked the characters, especially the main one, but also the minor characters were well drawn and funny. I thought the premise was original and interesting too. This book could easily have a sequel too, although I don’t know if one is planned or not. I would definitely read one if there ever is one.

While I totally recommend this book, I do feel I have to say that it lost me a few times due to muddy transitions. If you’re looking for something fun, this is a good book to pick up!

Granted, I know (and love) this book SHUG by Jenny Han already, but I was at a bookstore the other day and what struck me about this book was how it jumped off the shelf because of the cover. And get this, I was just looking at the spine. This is a fantastic cover if you want to get noticed, and I think it strikes up memories so well. Doesn’t it make you think of childhood? Of summer? Of friends? The beach? All the things that the book is about (well, it might not be about the beach, I can’t remember), but it is about the other things. What covers do you love?

Well, I’m clearly not the only person who loved this book since it won awards! If you like historical fiction, especially stuff about the pioneers, then this is the book for you. Of course, it came out a while ago, so you might’ve read it already. In that case, read it again. I imagine it’s just as good the second time around.

I have been a big fan of Linda Crew’s for a long, long time. She writes great stuff…literary YA, but totally accessible, which is not an easy thing to do. I loved the voice of this character…really great. And the actual bits of history that she includes in the afterword are fascinating too. I believe that this book is being reissued with a new cover, so if your library doesn’t have it and you can’t find it, you should drop by Linda’s website and see if you can order it somehow. Enjoy!

P.S. I just went to Amazon and when I put in the search, it brought up the new book cover (above) but has it listed under some other title and author (weird). But it does look like it will be available eventually with the new cover.

If you write for kids or teens, I’m sure you have experienced the knucklehead (sometimes with good intentions) who asks you if you’re “working your way up to writing for adults” or gives you the look that says, “Oh…isn’t that sweet.” Well, next time that happens, run on over to The Longstockings and read the post for January 12th, Kidlit Rules. It’ll warm the cockles of your heart (whatever those are).

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I’ve been reading Nevil Shute again…my comfort food equivalent in books. I’ve noticed a lot of things, but one that struck me in particular is how good he is at ending chapters. The last sentence or couple of sentences of each chapter seem to do one of three things.

A hook – Something so exciting that it makes you turn the page, even if it’s midnight and you really should’ve gone to bed an hour before.

The truth – A statement so true, so profound, you almost gasp for breath in astonishment while you contemplate it.

Emotional - A sentence or two that effectively rips your heart right out of your chest cavity. Five chapters (or even five days) later, you’re still thinking about it even though it was a minute part of the story. He’s particularly good at this and does it at least once in each book.

I have definitely worked towards “the hook” endings, and on occasion, I’ve gone for “Emotional”, but I don’t think I’ve ever succeeded to the level in which he does it. I’m not sure I’ve ever managed “the truth” ending at all. But when I revise RESTORING HARMONY, you can be sure I’m going to pay attention to these things even more. Not to copy him, but just to see what I have and see what I can make better.

I’ve heard it said that because all endings are truly beginnings of something new, the ending of your book should read not like the end, but the beginning of a new story in your character’s life. I really like this idea. You can apply this to chapters as well. Life is circular…so are stories.

Kelly Easton has written several books, but my library only has one of them, so I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of her new book, TO BE MONA. I didn’t start reading until almost 10:30pm last night or I would’ve read this straight through. As it is, I read half and then woke up so excited to get back to it that I didn’t get out of bed this morning until I’d finished it. What a fantastic book.

The book is told from several points of view, but it doesn’t alternate on a schedule or anything. The story dictates who tells their bit next and it works really well and has a very sastisfying rhythm. It’s a funny and interesting book, but also can make you squirm with discomfort or embarrassment. It also struck me that if you were an acting student, you could take pieces of the book and perform them as monologues.

It’s a great read for adults, but I think this book will speak to teens. Either ones who suffer from some of the issues in this story, or just kids who have compassion for others. Easton tackles a lot of big topics in this book, but it never feels overwhelming or heavy handed.

P.S. If you saw the bit about your chance to win this book on my homepage and are wondering where it went, no one entered in the first couple of days so I decided to give it to my friend, and local librarian, Susan because I know she’ll love it. Maybe it will end up in circulation up here too.

OUTLIERS & BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell – I recently listened to OUTLIERS and even though it blew me away, I never really blogged about it. To be honest, I’m just not sure what to say. In this book, he takes apart our idea of success and reconstructs it. I found it pretty exciting and I’m now examining my own successes to see where they’ve come from. It is an AMAZING book. I highly recommend it. And if you like audio, choose that. The author reads it himself and it’s really good.

BLINK is pretty cool in its own way. It really teaches you a lot about snap judgments and preconceived ideas. It’s fascinating. While I found OUTLIERS exciting and inspiring, this one left me a little colder because there was a lot of reality to it that is sort of dark or depressing. It explores things like violence and police brutality in detail and quite frankly, I like my rose tinted glasses and don’t want to know about an innocent guy shot on his stoop in The Bronx. Or war games. That’s just me though…maybe it’s why I write/read so much YA. I like happy. Still, it was a very interesting book. And not all YA is happy, I’m just being silly here.

Fiction-

TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOL ROOM & RUINED CITY by Nevil Shute

I won’t actually write a review or anything about these, but I’ll say that they are some of my favourite books by one of my favourite authors and if you just need to read a really good story, here are two books to choose from that will suck you right in. Enjoy!

I just made my first sale of the year – an article to SCBWI. It’s called Avoiding the Character Cliché and the article is about falling into that trap and how to get out of it. Here’s a sneak preview (the first sentence):

The very best way to avoid character clichés is to simply not have the nemesis in your young adult book be a beautiful, fashionably dressed cheerleader.

Okay, can I just say this is the most hilarious book I’ve ever read? No, not because it cracked me up on every line (although it is pretty funny in places)…I mean the premise. ONLY Meg Cabot could get a publisher to say, “Wow, what a great idea for a series!” and then let her do it. I won’t be a spoiler here and tell you what the “hook” is for this book, but I will say that if anyone besides Meg Cabot tried to pitch this book to an agent or an editor, they would be the office joke, for sure. It would be the query that the agent posted on their blog as so hilarious that they just had to share.

And yet…Meg Cabot makes it work (if you’re willing to take a pretty big leap with her). She took this crazy premise and laid the groundwork for it so that by the time you got to the explanation of what was what, you were already so invested in the character and the story that you just can’t help but say, “Okay…crazy as that seems, I’ll buy it.”

I seriously would’ve loved to be the fly on the wall when she pitched this (or whatever she does…maybe she’s so high up the food chain she just turns in manuscripts and they write her a check) because I’m willing to be the first reaction was, “Haha. Okay, so what is your next book REALLY going to be about?”

And the thing I find so funny is I CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL!!! Out May 5th. I loved this crazy book. Seriously. You must read it. And if you have and your comments would be spoilers, just email me instead. I have to know if everyone else loved this as much as I did!

I am what I refer to as Distantly Danish. That means my great grandparents and great, great grandparents on my mother’s side all came from Denmark, and that I have cousins there who I’ve visited and who have visited me, but Denmark would never give me citizenship or anything like that.

Danes are a tall lot, and I am tall myself, almost 5′10″, but somehow I guess I never realized that the rest of the world is not necessarily as tall as my family. Oh, sure, I’ve noticed that I am tall for a woman, but if you’d asked me, based on my family, including my husband, what the average height for an American man is, until a few minutes ago, I would’ve said, “Oh, maybe 6′2″?” And I would’ve been sooooo wrong! The average height is 5′9″!!

So that got me thinking about the characters in my books. I have been known to have a character think something along the lines of, He wasn’t tall or short…maybe around six foot. Apparently six feet is tall! In my defense, a six foot tall man is not even tall enough to date if he doesn’t want you to wear heels (not that I’m dating, of course, since I have a husband), but the reality is that my characters are not reflecting…well, reality!

The main character in Restoring Harmony is about 5′5″ in my mind, but I consciously made her what I thought of as short! In fact, the average height for a Canadian woman is 161 cm or 5′3″! Molly is taller than average and I didn’t even know it.

In most of my other books, the girls are around my height and I never really thought twice about it. I think I might have to look more carefully at height if I choose to include actual numbers in my books so that I don’t get a reputation as “that author who writes about freakishly tall girls”.

What about yourself have you discovered is not the norm, but you thought it was, and included it in your writing?

On a lot of blogs you are finding new year resolutions, goals, and lists of things people plan to accomplish this year. When it comes to something I have total control over (or as much control as a person can actually have), then I feel comfortable making it a resolution.

For example, this year I intend to learn to knit socks and to try circular needles. It doesn’t matter if my agent is crazy-busy, or I have to travel unexpectedly, or there is a credit crunch or publishing is slow. I can sign up for a class and learn to knit socks. So this seems like a reasonable goal. Last year I wanted to learn the basics and I have, so it’s time to up the ante with my knitting. Yay!

However, if I set the goal to sell another book this year then I am setting a goal that is totally out of my control. I have written a second book. And my agent has it now. I love it. I think it’s a book that he can sell. But if he doesn’t think so, then I have to go to Plan B. Or if he loves it, but no one in publishing likes it, then, again, Plan B. Or maybe he sells it in December and I won’t get paid until 2010…you see…selling a book is really out of my control. I can set a goal to write a book, but not to sell one. That’s where I turn to dreams.

According to the OED -Dream: a cherished hope or ideal; a fantasy

Ha! I can’t really think of a better way of describing selling a book! Yes, dreams come true, but in their own time frame. So, for the things that I can make happen I will set a list of goals, for the things I hope to happen, I will set a list of dreams.

Goal: To write something brand new, probably a YA novel.

Dream: To get it published someday.

Goal: To learn as much about publicity as I can so that I will be able to promote my book to the best of my ability.

Dream: That my book sells the good old fashioned way – word of mouth.

Goal: To learn to knit socks!

Dream: That they actually fit!

Oh, my gosh! I was going to make a whole list of things and then I realized that I pretty much have everything I need/want so I guess this is it. I hope you are blessed too!

My husband has a pretty amazing pic over on his blog today.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book and so I got to read it in October 08. Wowie zowie! What a fantastic book. Smith’s writing is elegant and evocative and you feel the heat, dust, and tension of 1943 Texas like you’re standing right there.

Back during WWII, the army trained and hired women pilots to do jobs like ferry new planes across the country. It was a tough job with very little compensation, monetary or respect-wise. Not to mention dangerous. This exciting tale is told through a young woman’s view as she trains to be a pilot. There are lots of exciting twists to this story, but I don’t really want to give anything away. Just read it. You won’t be sorry!

There are so many people I want to read this I can’t decide who to lend it to first!

This is a very funny Middle Grade…8-12, Grades 3-7 (it falls on the younger side, if you ask me). This is wacky and silly and exciting and boys and girls will both like it. I’m going to give it to my niece and she’ll probably have a laugh.

I am not a fan of prologues for the most part, but after reading the prologue, my first thought was, “This is truly brilliant.” A prologue really has to jump off the page for me, even more than an opening chapter. If you’re not sure if yours does, here is one to hold up against your writing.

The only bone I have to pick with this book is that they Americanized it by changing the money into dollars and cents (rather than British pounds and pence). It kind of doesn’t make sense. I think even a kid knows enough to know that if he lives in London he’s not using dimes and nickels. And if the reader doesn’t know and has to ask, well, then his or her horizon has just been widened, hasn’t it? I can understand (but not like much) changing “jumper” to “sweater”, but changing the money just makes no sense. Very strange choice…

But otherwise a very funny book that many will enjoy. My copy is an ARC and there’s no cover available online yet, but Amazon lists the book as coming out today.

I think that, like a favourite movie, it’s hard to chose a favourite writer without considering mood, genre, style, etc., but there are two writers who really are mine. They are both British. They are both men. One is alive, one has passed on. Both have written around the same number of books (in the twenties) and the first writes for children, while the second wrote for adults. They have similarities, yes, but there is only one reason that they are my favourites. Because they can tell a story like no one else. Their names are John Rowe Townsend and Nevil Shute.

As I wrote RESTORING HARMONY, I knew that it was a departure from my usual writing, and in a way, I could see it as a story that either one of these men might write, so I kept that in mind as a way of staying on track. I did not reread their books looking for clues on how to tell it, but while I wrote I do think that in the back of my mind was the conscious thought, “how would Mr. Townsend or Mr. Shute tell this story?” and it sort of kept me going. They often write adventures, and I’d never written one before, so it was helpful to keep asking myself that.

While I wasn’t consciously thinking of these writers in terms of the story, imagine my surprise, when the other night, I picked up Nevil Shute’s book, TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOL ROOM, and in it there is a boat called the Mary Belle. In my book there is a boat called the Marybelle. I have read TRUSTEE before, but it’s been at least fifteen years. I did not choose to name my boat this on purpose and had no clue it was in this book. In fact, I read it a few times before I started wondering if that really was the name of my boat too and I had to go look it up! At first, I thought, maybe I should change it, but I had already intended to dedicate my book to both of these writers, so I decided to leave it. I think it’s kind of cool, a tip of the hat, as my husband said when I told him.

Do you tip the hat to anyone when you write? On purpose?

Let this be the year for dreams and joy and peace.

Happy 2009 Everyone!