Books That Got Inside of You

When I heard William Fitzsimmons’ music, I thought, “This man must have taken a trip around my soul for inspiration.”

I had the same thought when I heard Mumford & Sons, Thriving Ivory, The Weepies, Brett Dennen, and to be honest, Taylor Swift. It happens all the time with music, and it’s the weirdest feeling. You’re so happy to hear your feelings and thoughts validated, but at the same time it’s like you’ve been gutted, like the artists have taken your insides and put them on display.

It happens even more with YA books than it does with music.

I read If I Stay this weekend, and as I made my way through it I thought, “Ok, I like this and want to finish it, but I don’t really get the hype.”

I also read The Hunger Games this weekend. When my squeamish stomach couldn’t handle it anymore, I put it down and picked up If I Stay instead

I read two pages and then had to put the book down, because it had gutted me.

Suddenly, all of the uncomfortable feelings I pushed away surfaced, and I cried and avoided the book because I hate those feelings so much.

I went back to The Hunger Games. MINOR SPOILER ALERT! When Katniss got hurt, physically or emotionally, I felt it. When Katniss yells Peeta’s name for the first time during the Games, I heard it. When Katniss worried about Peeta, I worried with her. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt that close to characters before. I honestly feel like I know them, and I care about them like I do. I finished the book Friday morning, but the characters haven’t left me. For the record, I haven’t read Catching Fire or Mockingjay yet, so no spoilers in the comments please.

I finished If I Stay and cried at least two more times in the process.

Those are powerful books.

They got inside of me. If I Stay was almost too real for me to handle. The Hunger Games gave me characters that I cared deeply about, like they were my friends.

Those are brilliant books.

What books have gotten inside of you?

Road Trip Wednesday #46: (Fictional) Friends Forever

On the Playlist: Empire State of Mind - Glee Cast (!!!)

"Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic:
If you went to high school with your characters, would you be friends?" (Taken from the Road Trip Wednesday page)

This is my first time participating in Road Trip Wednesday because I love this topic so much. The fact is, I love all of my characters dearly, but there are only three that I might have been friends with.

Building Forts is an interesting one, because I think I would’ve been part of Chase's group of friends, but I would've been the odd one out. Terri would be why I was in the group at all; we'd be friends. I would've really liked Chase and wished to be his friend, but pre-accident he would've intimidated me, even though Chase is not very intimidating. I was just a bit of a mess around cute guys in high school. And, Chase is a dancer! That would've put me over the edge. If it weren't for Callie, I may have befriended him post-accident. But, Callie and I would never have been friends, and she's my favourite of all my characters. I would've seen her as a slut, and that would've been that. I was so close minded in high school, even if I'd never admit it. Darren and I wouldn't have said two words to each other.

As for my new WIP (the last piece I teased from), Alexis and I would've been friends who hate each other as much as they love each other. I would've admired Nathan from afar, but he, like Chase, would've intimidated me (though Nate actually is a little intimidating). Tilly (MC) and I just wouldn't have been friends at all. Like with Darren, we could've gone through all of high school without talking to each other.

I find this so interesting because if I'd somehow gotten to know Callie and Tilly as people in high school, we would've been friends. Like, if we'd met in university without knowing anything about the other's reputation, we'd get along just fine. However, reputation means so much in high school, and that would've stopped us from being friends.

Speaking Loudly

I’ve wanted to speak loudly, but I haven’t known what to say. I still don’t, to be honest. This is what I do know:

• I love Jesus
• I hate book banning
• There are people who need to read SPEAK that haven’t read it yet

And those three points are what this post comes down to. I went on Twitter this morning to find the #speakloudly campaign. The cliffnotes version of the story is that Dr. Wesley Scroggins wrote an opinion piece saying that SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson should be banned from schools because, you know, the rape scenes are soft-core porn.

Say it with me: What?!

I’m a Christian and my faith is my life. Really, my faith is why I have life. I can’t stand it when people use Christianity as a reason to ban books because, well, it’s wrong.

Seriously, have you read the Bible? It’s messy. But, it has to show the sin to show the consequences of it. Honestly, I think that’s what most YA books do. SPEAK does not advocate rape; it shows what devastating consequences it has on the victim, and encourages the victim to speak out about it.

Problems won’t go away if we stop writing about them.

But they might if we start.

What if no one wrote about rape? What if no one talked about rape? It would still happen, and I’m willing to bet it would happen more than it does now.

So, let’s write about it, and all the other messy things in the world. Let’s talk about them. Let’s speak loudly. Maybe then, we can change things.

I sound naïve. I’m not. Change is slow. But, change will stop if we stop. We can’t silence the voices that are speaking loudly. We need to join them.

Building Forts Playlist

On the Playlist: I Need You - Relient K

I love reading about others' writing playlists, so I thought I'd share mine for Building Forts. I've divided it into songs for the three principal characters (Callie, Chase, and Darren), and for the two principal relationships (Callie/Chase and Callie/Darren). Of course, some songs fit better than others, but they're all songs I've heard in Building Forts at one time or another. I've bolded the ones that are almost perfect for the story.

Callie:
Scars - Allison Iraheta
Dance in the Dark - Lady GaGa
I Can't Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt
Dear... - Maria Mena

Chase:
Angels on the Moon - Thriving Ivory

Darren:
Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

Callie/Chase:
Fix You - Coldplay
All I Need - Matt Kearny
For Blue Skies - Strays Don't Sleep
So Pure - Alanis Morissette
18th Floor Balcony - Blue October
A Beautiful Mess - Jason Mraz
Hazy - William Fitzsimmons & Rosi Golan
Wonderwall - Vitamin String Quartet
Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
Listen to Your Heart - DHT
Hey Lady - Thriving Ivory
I'm On Your Side - Maria Mena
Beside You - Marianas Trench

Callie/Darren:
Cold As You - Taylor Swift
Two Steps Away - Patti LaBelle
Corner of Your Heart - Ingrid Michaelson
Chivas - Kelly Clarkson

I would love to read your playlists! Leave it in the comments, link to it, whatever, I'd just love to know what it is.

What are Your Characters Geeky About?

On the Playlist: Cosmic Love - Florence + The Machine

I’m a university student and my classes for the fall semester began on Wednesday. My first class was Canadian Poetry, and before my professor told our class about her relationship with Canadian poetry, she said, “I’ll try not to cry.”

And that’s when I knew I’d love that class.

“Whatever you were geeky about in high school,” she told us, “That’s what I was like with Canadian poetry.”

Before I know anything else about a character, I know what they’re geeky about. It always reveals so much about them to me. For example, Callie in Building Forts is geeky about math, which fits with how she treated her life like a formula pre-Chase.

I love to see YA characters that are hormone crazy, but I love to see them being just as crazy about chemistry or photography or basketball or anything. I just think it reveals so much about them.

So, I’m curious: what are your characters geeky about? What does it say about them? Tell me in the comments, write a blog post, whatever you want, I’d just love to hear from you.

Teaser Tuesday

All right guys, this is really rough. As in, I just wrote it rough, but it's a scene I want to tease. It's from a new WIP. Hope you like it!

---
The water knows that it’s July, but not that it’s summer. The waves crash against my stomach and send it shivering. The moment a wave hits Alex, she runs towards the shore, into the sun.

I could follow her into warmth and safety and comfort and everything I’ve ever wanted. Or, I could yell, “You’re pathetic. Come on, if you come back in we’ll dive in together. We won’t be so cold once we’ve gone under.”

Alex slowly makes her way towards me, where the water hits her knees as it hits my thighs. “On three?” I ask.

“On three.” Her voice agrees, but her body protests with shakes that scare the waves. Still, she plugs her nose and counts, “One, two—”

I don’t hear three because I’m already under. I can’t see or smell or hear but I can taste saltwater and feel seaweed against my leg. I come up for air to hear, “Sex.”

I spit out the saltwater. “Excuse me?” I ask.

Alex is dry from the knees up and is looking everywhere but at me. “That cloud,” she tells the sky. “Looks like when Nathan and I had sex.”

Oh. Ok. Well then.

I don’t know what to do or say. I don’t know who to be. I’m the slut. The slut who’s a virgin. But Alex isn’t a virgin—and if I judge by that cloud, she’s a freak—and she’s not a slut.

So, this is how our lives look now: I’m the A student who wants to go to college, who’s nice to everyone, who has never gone beyond second base. My dad left and my mom pretends like I don’t exist. One douche who I rejected called me a slut, which to everyone else (friends, family, and pastor included) means that I am a slut.

Alex is the B student who thinks she’s better than college, who thinks she’s better than everyone, who’s apparently hit a kinky home run. Her parents love her, and my mom loves her more than she loves me. She had a perfect boyfriend who she had sex with, and even though she broke up with him for some stupid reason he’s still her friend and trying to help her achieve her dreams and all that crap.

I hate the one person who gives a crap about me.