Top Ten Tips for Young Writers, SR Johannes

SR Johannes, writer extraordinaire, author of the award-winning series, The Nature of Grace, is an expert on the YA genre. I've met many young folks who want to write, who have the need, the innate desire to write, that makes this post so vital. 

And by golly, these tips cross into every writer's realm, from younglings to, ahem, mature.

Top 10 Writing Tips for Young Writers

Starting out can be tough. It’s hard to know where to turn when you are just stepping into the industry. It can be overwhelming at times. There are a few thinsg you can do to get started on the right track:

1. Do your research. Find out what resources can help you find your way and read them. Harold Underdown’s guide to publishing is a great book.
2. Understand what you love to write and start there. Don’t follow the market, follow your heart. 
3. Make sure you set up a space to write
4. Get in a routine. Try to start with a schedule. It might only be 15 min but if you do it everyday, you start a habit.
5. Network. Meet other writers you can write with, critique, or go to with questions. SCBWI is the best resource.
6. Understand the business side. It is important to be aware that publishing is a business. (yes I know it sucks, but it’s true). Know this and it makes rejection and the tough times less personal.
7. Seek to improve your craft – no matter where you are in the field. This may mean reading books in your genre, taking classes, doing workshops, or joining a critique group.
8. Learn to take constructive criticism. This biz if full of it and you won’t get anywhere if you are not open to it.
9. Focus on the journey – your journey and that of your book. If publishing is your only goal, it might get discouraging if it takes longer than you expect so set some milestones to help you celebrate along the way.
10. Always be professional. It will take you a long way and this industry is small.

No matter what, love this process. Love your writing. Seek to improve and believe in yourself. Be prepared for ups and downs along the way. It is a tough business but it is a rewarding one. 

And if you are a true writer, it won’t matter, because you will always write – no matter what? And that love will take you far. 

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See all SR Johannes books here. 

Holy Talking Cats! It's Unstoppable.

Hooray! Unstoppable is out today!

Unstoppable is the third book in "The Nature of Grace" series by SR Johannes. The series has won and been nominated for several awards including: winner of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Awards (Young Adult), a Silver medalist (2nd place) in the IPPY awards (YA Fiction). She was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year (Young Adult category), a Finalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Young Adult of 2012, and a YA Finalist in the US Book News Best Book of 2012. 

Kirkus reviewed Untraceable as "A thrilling story is a dramatic entanglement of mystery, deception and teen romance.  The action flows like a brisk mountain stream interspersed with rapids, holding suspense to last page."

If you like a page turner, you will love this series!

Unstoppable - Book 3 Summary

After everything that has happened, Grace moves to the Everglades to live with her grandmother, Birdee, and hang out with old man Rex, Birdee's "friend with benefits". Grace quickly befriends Dylan, Rex's nephew, and Dylan's girlfriend, Sadie, who is a die-hard teen activist. Sadie spends her time leading protests against the roadside zoos that run rampant in Florida with a total disregard for animals or the flimsy law.

One day while out in the marshes of the Everglades, Grace and her friends rescue an abused—and endangered—Florida panther. She and Birdee spend time rehabilitating the animal. But when the panther runs off, Grace follows it to Uncle Bob's, a large roadside zoo they all have been protesting. One that is illegally filled with a variety of endangered and exotic animals. Before she can rescue the panther, she and her friends are kidnapped by the ruthless owner and dragged deep into the Everglades for a hunting challenge. 

Only this time, Grace is the prey. 

During a sick game of cat and mouse, Grace and her friends are offered one chance at survival, but only if they reach civilization before being caught. With a small head start and very little supplies, only time and skill stand between the hunter and the hunted. But out in the Everglades, there may be more dangers than Grace realizes.

Against all odds, Grace must make it out alive and win, or everything she holds dear could be lost.

On Sale Now! 

Unstoppable is on sale in ebook. The paperback releases later this month. 

(Note: if you have another ereader device - see these instructions for getting a Kindle ebook converted to your ereader. It's easier than you think.)

If you haven't read Untraceable or Uncontrollable, you can get them in paperback and ebook at all major booksellers including Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, and B&N.

IWSG - The Accidental YA Author

IWSG—Insecure Writers Support Group, coming together on the first Wednesday of every month for a virtual pat on the back. 

I like the YA genre. My bookshelf proves that. But I am not a YA author. Writing for a younger audience is different from adult.

Or is it?

I've said before that genre designations are confusing. Take mine, the speculative fiction/urban fantasy/contemporary fantasy genre. Yeah, that one. The Magic Withheld trilogy is set in modern times, in the real world, in urban and rural settings about characters doing impossible things.

It is an adult novel. Little cursing, no explicit sex. But I wrote it for an adult audience.

So why are fifteen-year-old boys falling all over themselves to read it?

I marketed it to adult men and women. I didn’t try to use YA lingo or follow the normal well-traveled path of popular youth-oriented novels when I wrote it.

So why are kids in Middle School reading it and writing book reports?

Holy Jehoshaphat.

I had a young man come up to me and blurt out how much he loved it. How he'd read it so many times that he knew every line. I sure my expression was the epitome of surprise/shock listed in The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi:

the mouth falling open, a hand flying to the chest, fingers touching parted lips, an incredulous stare or dazed look. 

Not that there is anything untoward about my storyline. I felt RL Stine was iffy when my daughter was in school and I don't think my books cross that line especially in Wilder Mage.

But that’s the first book. Things kinda heat up in the next one in the series, Mage Revealed, to be released October 24^th.

Uh, eek.

So how do I face parents or the winking school kid when it comes out?

* * * *

Insecure Writers Support Group: The Final Frontier.

These are the continuing voyages of the Ninja Captain, AJC. His mission, to explore all new writing venues, to seek out new authors and new blogs. 

To boldly go where no blogateer has gone before.

Reflections, A to Z, 2014

I had it easy. My simple, fun theme of Guess the Movie was

a breeze because I loved every post.

Since I scheduled way in advance, there was no need to scramble for the next day’s post. I was able to visit nearly 300 blogs. 

There were many comments during the first week of the Challenge. Few at the end. I noticed my participation dropped off as well. I still visited many sites but if the blog was too wordy, if I had trouble finding the comment icon, or the color scheme made my eyes bleed, I moved on.

If the blogger was a day late, I was okay with that. Several days without a post though meant that I took the exit ramp and went to the next entry.

Sometimes I simply didn't know what to say.

My greatest delight was in meeting Sophie Duncan. She made my day.

A big round of cheers for all the participants, the new friends and old. 

And High-Fives to the hosts. 

Writers Unite!

Pass it on.