New Webinar on Character (for Kids & Adult Books)!!!

Yes, the tabloid rumors are true. I’m doing another webinar.

Writer’s Digest Presents…

“FULL CAST: How to Enrich and Expand Every Character in Your Novel from the Leading Man to the Background Extras.” 

1 p.m., EST
Thursday, May 16, 2013

(If that time doesn’t work for you, don’t sweat it. The whole thing will be available to watch and rewatch for a year or so.)

Every novel is driven by character. We fall in love with heroines, cheer for heroes, and loathe our villains. Characters draw us in, and through them we experience our favorite stories. Without a compelling cast, even the most engrossing tale can fall flat. What makes some protagonists iconic, while others go up in smoke? How can we create rich motivations without burdensome back-story, or nuanced supporting characters without stealing focus from our protagonists? How can we populate our novels with an unforgettable ensemble our readers will love? The answer involves giving your characters a great blend of relationships, history and motivations.

And, also, learning a ton of cool stuff by signing up for this webinar.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• How to create an unforgettable ensemble of empathetic, unforgettable characters

• How to develop compelling motivations to drive your story

• How to craft rich histories to inform your characters’ journeys

• How to intensify relationships, creating intimate, intense connections within your tale

• How to lend nuance and depth by creating “mini-arcs”

• How to employ impressionistic details to bring background characters to life.

And there’s MORE. What? Yes. There is.

Everyone who attends is invited to submit a query letter for their novel. Every query is guaranteed a written critique by yours truly.

So, an amazing class, Q&A, and personalized query critique, all from the comfort of your living room / boudouir / computer dungeon? Yep. I can promise you this will be the greatest thing you’ve ever done that involved the word “webinar.”

So sign up!

Interview with Michelle Schusterman

I got to chat with fabulous Greenhouse client Michelle Schusterman, author of I HEART BAND (and, I hear, a steel-drum maestro). Check out our back and forth on Sarah’s Blog.

 

 

CHERRY MONEY BABY a Junior Library Guild Selection

Man I love days like today.

I just received a super exciting email from Candlewick. CHERRY MONEY BABY is a Junior Library Guild Selection! For those of you who don’t know the JLG, check them out. Over 3,000 manuscripts are submitted by publishers each year, and only an nth make the cut. I am so honored to have CHERRY selected.

CHERRY MONEY BABY Cover Reveal!!!

In case ya ain’t seen it…

 

Things we can learn from the CHERRY MONEY BABY cover.

1. There is a girl with sunglasses on the cover.

2. There are trailers involved.

3. There is perhaps a girl named Cherry in it? And maybe something to do with money? And a baby. Definitely.

4. Awesome. Cars.

5. It was written by me. Or someone with my name.

6. Actually, hell, let’s just read the synopsis okay?:

Hollywood glitz collides with workingclass aspirations in this satirical tale of an impulsive starlet and a sharp-witted small-town teen.

Cherry Kerrigan loves her simple life, her family’s tiny trailer, even working at Burrito Barn. Forget college — she’s marrying her sweetheart from next door. But here comes Ardelia Deen, a glamorous starlet who sweeps Cherry into a world of fast cars and penthouse parties. Now Cherry’s small-town life just seems so . . . small. When Ardelia drops a bomb of an offer — one involving a baby — Cherry knows her life will change forever, no matter what she decides. John M. Cusick focuses his signature wit on Hollywood royalty and the wide-eyed dreams of Small Town, U.S.A. in a novel about discovering who you are . . . and changing your mind.

Coming September 10th! Pre-Order Now!

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Greenlight Bookstore

 

“This is, I believe, it: not the crude anguish of physical death but the incomparable pangs of the mysterious mental maneuver needed to pass from one state of being to another. Easy, you know, does it, son.”

-Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things

(Spent the predawn hours rereading my favorite author. Feeling good.)

Kiss Me, I’m A Geek

They say the only true love is Geek Love.

Well, they don’t, but they might after this party.

So you know how I co-manage that totally rad magazine, Armchair/Shotgun? Well A/S is jazzed to co-chair this scintillating Lit Crawl event. You should join us, as well as the discriminating bon vivants on the list below, at PowerHouse Arena on April 1st.

The $15 admission includes one drink and a $5 credit at the powerHouse Arena. Proceeds benefit Lit Crawl NYC. Featuring a lineup of bookish guests, including Emma Straub (Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures) and Teddy Wayne (The Love Song of Jonny Valentine), and an Event Committee of editors, publishers, and publicists from the lit world.

Purchase tickets here.

Or, if you’re into the whole social media thing, see the Facebook event.

Geek Love Event Committee:

Co-Hosted by Emma Straub & Teddy Wayne*

Co-Chairs:
Paul W. Morris, PEN American Center
Suzanne Russo, Lit Crawl NYC

Justin Alvarez, The Paris Review
Elissa Bassist, The Rumpus
Amanda Bullock, Housing Works Bookstore
John M. Cusick, Armchair/Shotgun
A. N. Devers, Writers’ Houses
Fernanda Diaz, OR Books
Mark Doten, Soho Press
Rachel Fershleiser, Tumblr
Katie Freeman, Riverhead Books
David Goodwillie, American Subversive
Brigid Hughes, A Public Space
Maris Kreizman, Slaughterhouse 90210
Michele Legro, Lapham’s Quarterly
Andrew Lloyd-Jones, Liars’ League
Halimah Marcus, Electric Literature
Lincoln Michel, Gigantic
Richard Nash, Small Demons
Steph Opitz, Council of Literary Magazines & Presses
Stephen Pierson, Canteen Magazine
Sarah Reidy, The Other Press
Tom Roberge, New Directions
Rachel Rosenfelt, The New Inquiry
Benjamin Samuel, Electric Literature
Evan Simko-Benarski, Armchair/Shotgun
Rob Spillman, Tin House
Hannah Tinti, One Story
Karolina Waclawiak, The Believer
Joel Whitney, Guernica
Greg Young, The Bowery Boys

* You may enjoy Master Wayne’s author drink review with A/S, here.

 

YARN Goes to Japan with “Abandon Changes”

So this is cool.

As you may know, the awesome website YARN (YA Review Network) occasionally publishes short stories of mine. Last month they did my timey-wimey anti-love story, 700 Years in Heaven.

In addition to short-fiction and interviews, YARN also creates lesson plans around their publications. This month, their Japan-themed curriculum features Abandon Changes: A Girl Parts Story, originally-posted in 2011.

It’s super neat, as a writer, to see your stuff used to teach. I’m flattered to be included. The lesson plan looks super cool (I wish we had stuff like this when I was in high school). Check it out.

Thanks YARN!