A Sinister Homo Sapien Who Masticates Every Day

There's a line in MINDER in which a couple of ignorant guys sexually harass my MC, and she threatens to mess with their brains and make them fall in love with each other. It's been nibbling away at my conscience for a while. My MC isn't homophobic, although the guys bothering her are. So it's an effective deterrent in the situation, particularly since the harassment is heterosexual.

But would it be OK to treat other characteristics like that? Wouldn't it be horribly inappropriate to threaten to change the race of white rednecks, assuming such a thing was possible? It's like validating their belief that OTHER = BAD.

Sexual orientation's a divisive topic in American culture, and it needs especially careful handling in the YA genre. Some books and series make it a major component of the story, such as THE GEOGRAPHY CLUB and the MARKED series. In MARKED, some of the MC's best friends are a gay, teenage, vampire couple.

Try to find THAT box on the census form.

So I'm torn. The scene works, but I'm concerned with the greater message it sends. As it stands now, I may alienate liberal readers (e.g., MARKED fans). If I swing too far the other way, I may alienate more conservative readers (e.g., TWILIGHT fans). And I want both groups to give me money to enjoy my books.

I have another character who happens to be gay, but I haven't developed this aspect of her identity, since it's irrelevant to the plot of the first books. I'm worried that, when I finally address it, it'll seem like tokenism, like Apache Chief, whose superpower was "being Native American," apparently.


So, now I heave a trepidacious sigh and throw the question open to comments. How should sexual orientation be handled in YA fiction? I'm a little afraid to see what people will write--a few years ago, I sold purple-ribbon lapel pins in support of legalizing gay marriage, and I received several emails telling me I was going to burn in Hell.

Oh, and as for the title of today's post:
Sinister=left-handed (in Latin)
Homo sapien=human
Masticates=chews. Why? What did YOU think it meant?

A Novel Approach to Dating

Yesterday, Nathan Bransford blogged about "gap" books, the books that everyone seems to have read but you.

I had two reactions to this topic.

First, I don't have gap books; I have gap movies. I can read on the playground or while the kids give themselves haircuts with nail scissors. But babysitters, tickets, and popcorn cost beaucoup bux. If I intend to read something, I do--except when I'm writing a first draft, when I hold off reading other people's fiction so it won't mess with my voice. That being said, my desktop "intend to read" pile is more than two feet high. But the ones that everyone's talking about I pull out first--I hate being left out of the conversation.

Second, every third comment (and there were over 250 of them) seemed to rag on TWILIGHT. Someone compared to fan fiction. Others made a point of saying that they'd intentionally avoided reading the series--as though, if they hadn't been on their guard, BREAKING DAWN might've flown off the shelf at Borders and latched, parasitically, onto their brains.

What's up with all the hate for popular fiction? Are people trying to prove that they're too "upscale" or "literate" to enjoy these things?

The same thing happened when the movie TITANIC came out.
At first, everyone lost their minds because it was SO GOOD.

Next, we read about ALL THE RECORDS it broke, and we collectively pictured James Cameron (or J.K. Rowling, or Stephenie Meyer) rolling around giggling on a big pile of money, a la Scrooge McDuck.


Then, everyone seemed to mock it and pull it apart. Is it envy? Are people trying to distance themselves from their initial reaction of exuberant emotion? It's almost like people BREAK UP with the story.

"Yeah, TWILIGHT and I went out for a while, but it wasn't right for me. I need to be with a more intellectual story."

But even though we're not dating HARRY POTTER anymore, most of us can still be friends.

HTML Makes my Brain Hurt

Grrr...

I'm getting wicked tired of making sure my blank targets don't give a 404. I'd rather be writing, or even revising, but I've only managed to do two pages in the past four days.

I think I need a staff.

But I have no money to pay anyone.

I think I need an intern.

Ah, interns. People who are paid in experience, because they don't know any better. Hence their need for an internship.

The problem is that I basically want someone to do all the work around here that I hate to do. Like fix my fence--the thing's beginning to lean into something that Watson and Crick would have entered in the science fair.

And I can't ask someone being paid in experience to experience that. Don't even get me started on laundry and cooking. Nope, experiencing the dirty socks of a family of five really should be compensated financially. *sigh*

Speaking of learning experiences:

Chicago

Hey, I'm going to be in Chicago for a wedding Memorial Day weekend. Anyone have places to recommend? Music, food, sights, quirky bookstores, etc.--it's all good. My first visit, 14 years ago, was equally brief and involved watching Ross from "Friends" wish my brother's graduating class well.

He actually talks like that in real life.

I'm still hoping that more folks will MAKE ME GIVE YOU A T-SHIRT. The contest is open through the rest of the week. We'll have at least one more contest this month, so check back every once in a while.

Finally, I try to be pretty open and on-manipulative in my marketing. But this new ad campaign takes it to a whole new level:

WARNING - male readers may wish to pass this one by.

Reality Check

Sixteen-year-old Maddie Dunn needs to learn
how to use her special abilities
before somebody else gets hurt. But the
Ganzfield training facility isn't exactly a nurturing place.

Every social interaction carries the threat of mind-control.

A stray thought can burn a building to the ground.

And people's nightmares don't always stay in their own heads.

But it's still better than New Jersey,
especially once she meets the man of her dreams…

This is what it says on the back of my book. I particularly like the creepy white font at the top. But what about you? If you saw this in a bookstore, would you want to read more? Does anything here make you go--ick, never mind?

Oh, and don't forget to make me give you a t-shirt between now and Friday.

T-Shirts, Free Shirts

The t-shirts are here! They look pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Want one?

The contest is simple--comment below with the LOCATION where you, if you win, will have someone take a picture of you wearing the shirt.

In front of the Hollywood sign? At the top of the Eiffel Tower? Riding an elephant? In a cornfield next to the world's largest ball of twine? Under water next to a dolphin?

Please post by Friday, 9 April. I'll post the winner(s)* on Monday the 12th, and they can email me a mailing address.

I have to credit Matt Harding for the inspiration, though.


* Official-looking fine-print: Actual t-shirt does not glow. By entering below, you pledge to make a good-faith effort to email me the suggested picture by June 1st, 2010. You'll do your best to make sure that the picture is in-focus and shows both the white front logo on the shirt and the location. You also give me the rights to put it up here on the blog and use it in other promo capacity (you'll be credited on the Ganzfield website, under any name you want).

Devoured by Wolverines

Late post today--I just finished an all day training session for my day job. Work on the book launch continues apace, and I hope to have news on the marketing plan soon.

On the training side, I've been mulling over teaching a course on character development, based on the motivational stuff from these training sessions. Is there any interest out there for a two-day course that teaches aspiring writers how to create believable characters and vibrant interactions? I'm considering putting group activities on the first day, then have critique sessions on the second day, so people can learn to apply the material to their own work. Is there something else that you'd like to see in a writing workshop?

BTW, there's no pressure if you express interest; I'm not going to show up at your house with my flip chart or anything. But please post a comment if you'd be interested in a course like that.

Also include the major city (anywhere in the world--I love to travel) where you'd like it to be held. I live in New Hampshire, so I'd probably have the first session in the Boston area. But I can dream of Venice, right?

Oh, and if you give me feedback here in the comments section, I'll give you a 25% discount on the registration fee, if and when I ever get my act together and set this up. No foolin'.

How can you resist?