New Website and Blog

I've now officially moved my blog over to my new website: www.christinafarley.com.

I'm so excited to share my new site with you, which was designed by Denise from Biondo Studios.

These past years on blogger have been wonderful and I've gotten a chance to meet so many writers here. So it's bittersweet, but I'm excited to finally have my website and blog all in one place.

I hope you'll stop by and say hi. 

Writing Romance in Young Adult

It's Valentine's Day and what better day to chat about writing romance in young adult books. One of the big areas that editors were asking for in the last three conferences I have been to is more romance in YA.

I think it's important for us writers to remember that there should only be romance in the story if it's needed. It has to have an integral part of the plot and character development.

The romance should have a plot arc of it's own. This can be tricky to not fall into the cliche relationship.

Books that I love and give a shout out to the romance are:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Jane by April Lindner
An Infidel in Paradise by S.J. Laidlaw
Reboot by Amy Tintera
Sanctum by Sarah Fine

Here's a vlog I made for you on tips for writing romance in YA:

SCBWI NY and the MiGs

One of the best parts of going to conferences is meeting up with writing friends. Two years ago, my online crit group, The MiG Writers committed to each other that we'd all go to the SCBWI conference together. And we did!

Above you'll see a picture of all the MiG Writers in one place at one time! It was the first moment we got to meet together. We had so much fun talking about writing, life, publishing, well just about everything.

Susan Laidlaw gave me an autographed copy of her book, AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE. It was such a great moment seeing this book come into a reality.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi signed I'M BORED, the book she illustrated for us.

 

 

Carmella Van Vleet and me being silly.

Kate Fall and me hanging out in the lobby.

Andrea Mack and me seeing each other again (She visited Florida a while back so this was my second time seeing her).

We even made a video of our time. Check it out!

SCBWI NY Conference Recap

The SCBWI NY conference was incredible. There just is no other word for it. The staff was helpful and I was impressed at how smoothly everything ran. They provided delicious breakfast breads and coffee (!!!!) each morning and the cocktail party was stunning and so yummy. I ate way too much of that sweet potato dish.

Here's a picture of me with Kit Grindstaff and Ruth Setton at the social.

I took tedious notes throughout the conference and if you followed the Twitter hashtag #NY13SCBWI you'll find my brief comments along with many others.

Here's a picture of my MiG crit partners: Andrea Mack, Susan Laidlaw, Kate Fall and Carmella Van Vleet. So fun hanging out with them!

I found the conference inspiring, and within it, many gems of wisdom that I can use in my own writing.

Some brief thoughts of the weekend:

Meg Rosoff talked about not getting discouraged when others ask: "When are you going to write a real book? Like for adults?" She also encourages writers to: "Be flexible"

 

 

For my breakout session, I went to Molly O'Neil's talk- she's encourages writers to write with authenticity and heart.

 

Here's the line of books that Molly has edited.

Next I went Francoise Bui's session because of her focus on characterization. Her three points were to build great characters you need voice, characterization and texture with in the story.

 

Shaun Tan, an illustrator, spoke about the importance to not fear failure. This helps us to be free to create and experiment. Knowing you can throw out your work allows you to be uninhibited to create. I just loved that.

Margaret Peterson Haddix reminded us that we must write a book for the kid that doesn't like to read. If we can do that, then the kids who do like to read will love it, too.

Julie Andews spoke with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. I was amazed by Andrew's presence, which seemed to fill the entire room. The two of them talked about brainstorming and then plotting since they need to work with each other to get the job done. Interestingly, they use a web cam for most of their writing sessions.

Since they write multiple books in a series, they realized they needed to keep the books balanced between the inevitable and the element of surprise, which can be tricky.

Finally, Mo Williams raced to the podium and then around the room. He was great and I laughed so hard. Williams urged us to go deeper, write what we don't know and understand so that we can explore new emotions within ourselves. He also said to not be afraid to ask the tough questions.

Here's a link of great advice on Mo Williams's 9 Steps of Writing.

Oh, and I loved this line Williams said, "Writing is like a sale at the Gap. Take off 20%!"

Such a great experience. I would highly recommend this conference!

Day One of My New York City Trip!

Last weekend I went to New York City for the SCBWI conference. It was an amazing weekend. I'm just now able to start wrapping my head around everything that happened. As promised, I'm going to give you a recap of my weekend, but it's going to have to be in a number of blog posts because so much happened! 

I stayed at the Grand Hyatt with one my MiG partners, Debbie Ridpath Ohi. In fact, all the MiGs came for the conference and wow, we had a blast. You can check out this post for all the MiG pictures. Rooming with Debbie was perfect. She's the best roommate! Look for the next picture book she's illustrating, NAKED, coming out soon.

Friday morning, I took off to visit my publisher, Amazon Children's. I decided to walk because I wanted to experience the city. Man it was cold!

Once there, I met my editor, Miriam Frank. It was wild to actually meet her in person. She took me on a tour of the office area that ACP is renting out until they move into their permanent offices. She dug through their boxes and handed me some of Skyscape's upcoming books, ME AND MY INVISIBLE GUY and THE WAITING TREE. So excited to read those.

First she introduced me to Vera Soki, one of the designers, and Alan Tsai, the production manager. He also handed me a stack of picture books for my boys and classroom, which the kids LOVED.

I also meet Katrina Damkoehler, the art director, who is responsible for making all those beautiful covers ACP has.

Miriam and I went out for coffee and I talked her ear off. Strangely she didn't seem to mind. But after our conversation, I realized how much we clicked and saw eye to eye on books and stories. She gave me book recommendations and had some insightful ideas for my possible sequel. I kept pinching myself because it was all too good to be reality.

When we went back to APC, Miriam introduced me to Marilyn Brigham, another editor, as well as Tim Ditlow, the head of Skyscape, which is the imprint GILDED will be a part of. The only person I didn't get to meet that I was hoping for was Margery Cuyler. I adore her books and was secretly hoping to snag an autograph. Margery was the one who first emailed me that they were taking GILDED to acquisitions.

As much as I didn't want my time to end at ACP, I was super excited to meet my agent, Jeff Ourvan and Jennifer Lyons who runs the agency. Jeff picked me up at ACP, and it was as if I already knew him even though it it was our first time meeting. We met Jennifer at her house. I loved how there were books everywhere. Figures she's the head of a literary agency!

Unfortunately, I totally forgot to get pictures with them! We were so busy talking and planning and then off to an amazing lunch, that the thought didn't even cross my mind. Next time though!

Jennifer gave me a copy of their latest award winning book, THE REVOLUTION OF EVELYN SERRANO by Sonia Manzano. It won the Pura Belpre Honor Book.

After meeting Miriam, Jeff and Jennifer, I decided I am the luckiest girl on the planet to have a team of people who are excited about making GILDED become a reality. I think I literally floated for the rest of the day. No, I think I'm still floating.

News and Upcoming Conference

My big news is I'm super excited to be a part of the new Skyscape imprint at Amazon Children's Publishing. For more details, you can check here where it was announced on Publisher's Weekly.

Tomorrow, I'll be flying out to New York City. It's going to be a whirlwind trip and I can only imagine how cold it will be. But I can't wait!

Friday my plans include meeting my editor, Miriam Frank, and all the amazing people at Skyscape. I'll be having lunch with my agent, whom I'm so excited to finally meet him in person. That night I'll be meeting a bunch of the OneFour members, a group of debut authors for 2014 that I recently joined.

Saturday and Sunday will be packed with the SCBWI conference as well as meeting the Lucky13s for lunch and Blueboarders for drinks.

But what I'm really excited about is hanging out with the MiGs all weekend. We promised each other two years ago to do this conference. At that time, I didn't have an agent or a book deal, but I knew I was committed to our group and to making this dream of mine to get published a reality. And now it is. Kind of wild and exciting all mixed together.

I'm sure after the weekend is finished I'll crash. I'm planning on taking plenty of pictures which I'll post next week. If I don't freeze to death in the meantime!

Winner of Prophecy!

PROPHECY by Ellen Oh has hit the shelves and it's time now to announce the winner of the hardcover I'm giving away!

The winner is Ruth Schiffermann!

Ruth, please email your address to farley dot christinaL at gmail dot com

Congratulations to My Crit Partners!

This has been a BIG week in my world because amazing things are happening to my very dear writing friends. I am so excited to announce:

Beth Revis' released SHADES OF EARTH this week. Her final book in an incredible trilogy.

And due to her amazing pre-order sales, as promised, Penguin sent SHADES OF EARTH into space! Check out the Entertainment Weekly video clip here.

Beth's got more incredibleness up her sleeve. But that's all still super secret stuff right now.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi announced the next book she will be illustrating with Michael Black called NAKED. Oh what a title! I can't wait to see how this book comes out. Here's the Entertainment Weekly announcement. Many of you are familiar with I'M BORED, her last project that she worked with him on and received that won the Notable Children's Book Award for 2012 .

Carmella Van Vleet also announced her first middle grade book sale of ELIZA BING IS NOT A BIG FAT QUITTER to Holiday House. This is such a great book and the main character takes a taekwondo class. As soon as the pre-order link is up on Amazon, you'll be the first to know.

Finally, Susan Laidlaw's YA, INFIDEL IN PARADISE, will be launched into the world in less than a month! I can hardly believe it. If you haven't preordered it, do so here.

So as you can see, lots of amazingness all around. I'm thrilled to be working with such an amazing and talented group of writers.

Creating Unique Details in Your Setting

There is nothing that kills a story quicker than when it's set in the same old setting. Like the school cafeteria or the locker scene. Don't get me wrong, you can use those settings, but my challenge to myself if I'm going to use those settings is to find something unique.

For instance, I have the cafeteria scene, but I pull out the unique details of Korea using thumbprint scanners to deduct from student's accounts. Or I have the locker scene, but then something (Sorry! No spoilers today!) very unusual happens.

When I was at the Hohenzollern Castle in Germany, I was overwhelmed by all the details that the builders put into the design of the buildings. I couldn't resist chatting about how important using unique details creates a unique story.

You can check it out here:



What are ways that you incorporate details in your settings?

PROPHECY Hits the Shelves

It's finally here! PROPHECY by Ellen Oh. I am beyond excited for this book and I have so much love for it and Ellen herself.

I read an early draft of this book way back when Ellen and I manuscript swapped. She read GILDED and I read PROPHECY so it's kind of an amazing thing to see our books debuting in 2013.

What I love about PROPHECY:

1.  The setting- Hello, ancient Korea. It doesn't get much better than that. So automatically, it hits my winner category.

2. The premise- Fighter girl who saves her people. My type of book.

3. The Korean mythology- After writing  GILDED, I find it intriguing to see how other authors pull the ancient myths into their own stories and Ellen does such a great job with this.

4. The cover- Tell me that's not gorgeous.

5. The fight scenes- If you're looking for a good action-packed quest with thrilling fight scenes, you really need to read this book.

To stalk Ellen, you can find her on website, Twitter or Tumblr.

Don't forget to add PROPHECY to your Goodreads list! And get your own copy here to add to your bookshelf collection.

Or make a comment below and WIN a copy for yourself. Tweet this post for an extra entry.

Bring the YA2U Book Tour to Orlando!

Have you ever wished that a big YA book tour would make a stop in your hometown?  

Well, I have and here's the chance to make my wish to come true! YA2U is a program that features five award-winning and best-selling authors who are holding a contest to see what city they should visit in an exclusive tour stop!

 

The authors are collecting votes from January 1 to February 15, and any city in the continental US or any Canadian city that has an international airport can win an exclusive visit from all five authors, including an author panel and book signing! Entering is super easy--and if you help spread the word about the contest, you can also enter win a signed copy of all of their books (TEN signed books in total!)--and the book contest is open internationally!

The authors in the program are:

• Marie Lu, the New York Times best-selling author of Legend and the upcoming Prodigy
• Marissa Meyer, the New York Times best-selling author of Cinder and the upcoming Scarlet
• Beth Revis, the New York Times best-selling author of Across the Universe, A Million Suns, and the upcoming Shades of Earth
• Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch and the highly-anticipated upcoming The Archived
• Megan Shepherd, author of the debut novel The Madman's Daughter

And they want to have an event in your home town! To participate, just got to the YA2U website and let them know what city you want them to come to. And while you're there, help spread the word about the contest and you can be entered to win all of their books--TEN signed books in total! 

Here's why the YA2U Team should come to MY hometown! 

1. Orlando is has everything: Disney, Universal, Sea World.
2. Orlando is centrally located. It's like smack middle of the state. People can come from everywhere.
3. Often, Florida often gets overlooked on book tours.
4. Great weather year round.
5. Beaches- Your choice, gulf or Atlantic- on either side. 
6. The shopping- Malls and outlets. It's a shopper's paradise.
7. We've got a great Barnes & Noble by University of Central Florida.

 

Why should the YA2U Team come to your hometown? Why not join in the fun today and share with others about this program and your hometown. The more votes your town gets, the closer you are to having your very own personal tour stop! Vote for YOUR town here!

And if you help spread the word, you can also participate in the book giveaway. Tell them that you learned about YA2U from me and we both get extra entries in the contest! 

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A Lucky 2013!

It's here! 2013. The year my YA, GILDED, will launch into the world. I'm beyond excited. I don't even know how to tell you other than pages and pages of exclamation marks which would be annoying and you'd never want to visit my blog or read my book again. So I won't succumb you to that.

Instead, I'm excited to tell you that the The Lucky 13ers are celebrating 2013 by having an awesome contest to kick off the new year. And I'm participating. One lucky winner will win a giant swag pack from 20 debut authors! Check it out here.

Or you can head over to the MiGs where we're talking about our writing goals. I've a long list that I'm hoping to acheive. Wish me luck.

And if you get a chance, you can vote for GILDED on any of these Listopias over on Goodreads.

So what are you most excited about for 2013? It's going to be a lucky year and I'm wishing you all the luck that this upcoming years has to hold.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

First of all, thank you to everyone who supported the Publishing Hearts for Connecticut. They were able to raise $5,500 for those families and victims of the Sandy Hook incident. It really showed that there is hope and goodness in the hearts of people.

Check out my blog post over at the MiG's on what to ask if you get that agent call.

I will be taking a short break from blogging to enjoy the holidays (and get some writing projects finished too!).

And then it's 2013!!!! I'm super excited about this year because this is my pub year!

This time of year can be extremely busy and hectic but I'm hoping you'll find peace and joy through it all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Publishing Hearts Connecticut

This past week has been a tough time for our nation with those who we lost in Connecticut. As an elementary teacher myself, the incidents that occured really hit home for me.

I am so thankful for the Publishing Hearts Connecticut that has formed this week. This is a fundraiser in the publishing industry to benefit families and victims of the Connecticut Sandy Hook Shooting. All donations will be made directly to the Newtown Connecticut Youth and Family Services. 

 

I am honored to be able to donate a query and a 25-page manuscript critique for this event. Follow this link to make a bid.

I strongly urge you to support this need either through promoting the event on Facebook or Twitter, or bid on one of the many items being offered.

The Challenges of the Publishing Journey

Today I'm vlogging over at The Lucky 13s. This week we are discussing what the hardest part of the publishing journey has been for us so far. When I sat down to talk about it, I realized there is no "easy" involved. Just lots of hard. But one part isn't necessarily harder than the next. Each step of the journey has it's own challenges.

I hope you'll stop by and say hi.

Winner of Sanctum

I am happy to announce the winner of Sanctum by Sarah Fine is Medeia Sharif! Congrats! Email me your address at farley dot christinal at gmail.

Author Skype Visits

Not long ago, I had my first Author Skype Visit. It was so much fun and I would definitely do it again. My previous school that I taught at, Seoul Foreign School in Seoul, Korea, has a program where they take a week off from studies and explore other cultures or areas of expertise.

One of the programs is a writing course where students learn about how to write as well as tour and write around Seoul. My presentation kicked off their week and I hope inspired them in their writing.

How I did it:
1. First I set up a Skype account for me as an author. This was separate from my personal account.
2. I emailed the school my account details as well as an agenda of our visit and handouts for the students to use throughout their week of writing.
3. About 30 minutes before the visit, I set up my area where my computer was. I even had 'props' to show the students an insider's view on how I write and what I do.
4. Once we were connected, I introduced myself and gave them a background of my writing experiences and what my upcoming book was about.
5. Their teacher had the student's prepare questions to ask me. This was really fun because it gave me a chance to go into more details on how I work as a writer.
6. At the end of our time, I promised them bookmarks once they were designed. If I were to already have my book out, I would've emailed the class bookmarks and personalized autographed bookplates for each student.

Things to keep aware of:

1. Skype might blink out and you get disconnected. Don't panic. Just decide ahead of time who is going to call who to get reconnected.
2. I had some time lags on my end. Stay calm and and ask the student's to repeat their question.
3. In my situation, I couldn't see the whole class at one time, only when the students came up to the camera in groups. I felt like I was talking to the wall so I had to 'imagine' a whole class in front of me.
4. Remember to smile and speak clearly.

Great links on Skype you should check out:

• http://authorskypetour.livejournal.com/
• http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/printissuecurrentissue/886352-427/an_author_in_every_classroom.html.csp
• http://kmessner.livejournal.com/106020.html

Have you ever participated in a skype visit as an author or audience? What was your experience like?

Using a Plot Grid

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned pulling out my plot grid when I was revising a manuscript and promised to talk more about that later. Now that NaNo is finished and many of you have a very rough draft in place, it's key to pull out or create a plot grid.

Why have a plot grid?

1. Plotting- Gives you a bird's eye view of the structure of your plot.

I'm a sucker for a good plot. Especially one that's unpredictable. Of course, creating an unpredictable plot is another whole blog post for another day.

2. Character Appearances- Allows you to see how often and which one of your characters appear throughout the book.

3. Setting- Where is your story taking place? Are you switching up your setting? To me nothing is more boring than bouncing your characters between the school cafeteria and home. Please don't do that. At least for my sake.

So, you're probably wondering what a plot grid looks like and how to put it together. Click here for the word document that I use. If you have a mystery plot, check this plot grid out.

You can also watch my vlog on how to make a bigger version of this. Personally, I need both.



So what do you find is helpful to making sure your plot flows, doesn't lag, and isn't filled with holes?

Review and Giveaway of SANCTUM

I have been excited to review for you SANCTUM by Sarah Fine. Honestly, I wasn't sure how Fine would deal with the issue of suicide, which is ultimately what this book was about. But she creates characters and a world that are both intriguing and so real that I was sucked in from the get-go.

The Blurb from Amazon:

"My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple."  A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance – hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures.

But Lela isn’t just anyone – she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.

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What I love about this book: There really is so much to love about Fine's writing. She brings a unique twist on Heaven and Hell, which allows readers to look at the tough issue of suicide and rape in a different light. Her characters are real people. Nadia ,who is bogged down in the pressures of our society to be perfect. Lela, the "bad girl" who struggles to get her life on track despite no support from home. And yet despite these girls differences, how much they need each other to survive.

What makes this book unique: The concept of this book blew me away. Fine created a whole new world to set her story in, including characters such as Mazikins (demons). This allowed her to deal with issues teens face today by taking readers away from their own world and reliving those same conflicts in a fantasy setting.

Why you should read it: The romance, oh the romance. Malachi is hot, hot, hot. Do I need to say more?

My favorite line: "Either you're a Mazikin, and I will destroy you, or you are ready to go before the Judge and get out of this city."

Stalk Sarah Fine on her website or Twitter.

I'm also giving away my ARC to one person who comments below. Giveaway open to North American residents. Ends Dec. 9th.

GILDED is on Goodreads!

GILDED is now on Goodreads. My emotions are all jumbled up right now. Excitement. Scared. Freaking out (this is REALLY happening!). And so so happy. My dream is coming true.

I'd love you forever if you'd add GILDED to your Goodreads "read list". Click here to find it.

Many of you have been reading my blog since I started this journey as a writer. Thank you for cheering me on and being totally amazing