Get ready to add two amazing YA novels to your reading list because Mindy McGinnis and Joy McCullough are releasing their new books this week! Since they were both regular guests on Adventures in YA Publishing (and Joy was part of Transmedia Mutt’s kick-off celebration chats last month) where they shared fantastic advice, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of their past interviews.
But first, thank you to everyone who entered our kick-off celebration giveaway! We had more than 1,500 people enter resulting in more than 30,000 entries – whoo hoo! The winners have been selected, and the emails to coordinate prizes will be going out soon, so check your inboxes.
And now here’s a little teaser of the author wisdom from Mindy and Joy:
Read their full interviews packed with advice and inspiration at:
Joy McCullough, author of BLOOD WATER PAINT, on the bizarre alchemy of book deals
Unlocking the Secrets of a Productive Writing Life with YA Authors Joy McCullough and Isabel Sterling
Mindy McGinnis and Lynn from NOT A DROP TO DRINK
WOW Wednesday: Hanging Out with the Right POV by Mindy McGinnis
Mindy McGinnis, author of IN A HANDFUL OF DUST, discusses revisiting a world after a decade
Mindy McGinnis, author of A MADNESS SO DISCREET, on the importance of researching the query process
Mindy McGinnis, author of THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES, on gaining experience to properly execute a story
Mindy McGinnis, author of GIVEN TO THE SEA, on being inspired by a book about a disease
Mindy McGinnis, author of THIS DARKNESS MINE, on rejection existing at every level
Enter the Body
In the room beneath a stage's trapdoor, all of Shakespeare’s tragically dead teenage girls—Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and others—compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives in their own terms. Enter the Body gives voice to a cast of the young women who die in Shakespeare's most iconic plays. Focusing on the stories of Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia, bestselling author of Blood Water Paint Joy McCullough brilliantly weaves retellings of Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and King Lear into a larger story about how young women can support each other in the aftermath of trauma.
More info →
A Long Stretch of Bad Days
From award-winning author Mindy McGinnis comes a thrilling and gripping YA mystery about a small town's past and the secrets unearthed by way of two teen girls--and a podcast. Perfect for fans of Sadie, The Cheerleaders, and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. A lifetime of hard work has put Lydia Chass on track to attend a prestigious journalism program and leave Henley behind--until a school error leaves her a credit short of graduating. Bristal Jamison has a bad reputation and a foul mouth, but she also needs one more credit to graduate. An unexpected partnership forms as the two remake Lydia's town history podcast to investigate the Long Stretch of Bad Days--a week when Henley was hit by a tornado, a flash food, as well as its first, only, and unsolved murder. As their investigation unearths buried secrets, some don't want them to see the light. When the threats escalate, the girls have to uncover the truth before the dark history of Henley catches up with them.
More info →
Words on the video for screen readers:
Two previous AYAP guests are releasing new books this week, so let’s throwback to some of their previous advice.
Mindy McGinnis, what advice would you most like to pass along to other writers?
“Be able to take, and process, criticism.
If you can’t do that you will never improve.”
Joy McCullough, have you had an AHA moment along the way?
“Fairly early on in fiction writing, I remember seeing a tweet from Shannon Hale, who said something along the lines of: The first drafting is just shoveling sand into a pile, and then you have the sand to make it into the castle later.
And so what works best for me is really rough first drafting, letting myself just dump it out, knowing it’ll suck, expecting it to suck because then I have something to work with.
Knowing that it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be something you can work with, continues to be important.”