November Book Club: The Scorpio Races Review

Well, November’s winding down, which means today we’re talking about our monthly book club pick, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Which is kind of fitting (though I certainly didn’t think of the connection when you guys voted for it) since the Scorpio Races in the book take place in November. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I kind of liked that.

First, a summary for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet:

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.
 
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
 
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition—the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

This guy's gorgeous isn't he? Or she.

Growing up, I didn’t own a horse. I went horseback riding a handful of times, at least three of which included a petting zoo, a pony, and a small plot of land encircled by a fence. While I like horses I’ve never been into horses. (Here’s a shocker: I never even asked my dad for a pony when I was growing up. I’m pretty sure I begged for an in-ground pool instead. Note to Dad: I’m still waiting…)

So when I heard about The Scorpio Races for the first time, my mind went something like this:

ME: A book about horses? Pass.
Me: But look! Dangerous races that kill a lot of people!
ME: Yes, but horses.
Me: And evil horses that can chomp people in half!
ME: I can hear it now, all that horse-speak.
Me: You’re overreacting. This is Maggie Stiefvater here. Would she lead you astray?
ME: …
Me: There will be killing and a little bit of romance!
ME: Fine…

I’ll be honest: This book talks a lot about horses. And not just about the legend of the water horse (or capaill uisce, if you want to really tongue tie yourself), mind you. One of the narrators, Sean Kendrick, has grown up around horses his whole life. He’s a horse trainer by trade. In his point of view, it’s all about the horses. As for Puck, who plans to race with the rest of the men come November, life revolves around readying herself. Which of course revolves around horses.

Get my point? But listen, in Stiefvater’s capable hands, the story comes together in a way that’s exciting. And all of the horse talk? It’s not overkill. That’s one of the great things about this book. It took someone like me, who had no desire to read about horses, and made me care about the horses, the training, everything involved with the horse-centric lifestyle of Thisby. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it’s unlike any other book out there.

What I also loved was how well the dual first-person narration worked. Sometimes I find that reading a book from two perspectives leaves one character flatter than the other. But I cared as much about Sean as I did Puck—and each were so well-rounded I’d believe Stiefvater if she said the story was true and Sean and Puck still lived on the island.

That’s also partly because the other characters, from Puck’s two brothers to an American stable owner who befriends Sean, are incredibly well developed. As is the setting. The fictional island of Thisby, which felt Irish to me, sprang to life. I could smell the salty sea air and the hay and manure in the stables. I saw the towering cliffs and the ocean’s waves beating against them. I tasted the sweet cakes sold in town. Here’s where I’d also believe Stiefvater if she told me Thisby actually existed. (Which is why I should never run into Maggie Stiefvater, for fear of being totally duped.)

And then there are the horses. The story is perfectly paced so we can fully grasp the beauty and horror that are the water horses. Through both Sean and Puck we experience fear, awe, and love for the deadly beasts, and never once did I think these emotions were released to us too quickly or too slowly.

I should also add that though Sean is closed-off to others and acts much older than his age, Puck is a trip. Seriously, the girl says the greatest stuff when she’s not trying to be funny at all. She has this innocence and stubbornness to her that works so well to complement Sean’s stoic nature. See:

In response to someone asking her why she joined the races, Puck tells us: 

“It’s for personal reasons,” I say stiffly, which is what my mother had always told me to say about things that had to do with fighting with your brothers, getting any sort of illness that had intestinal ramifications, starting your period, and money. 

 And when she’s facing the other men who will compete in the Scorpio Races:

I hear laughter and someone asks if I need help, not in a nice way. I snarl, “What I need is for your mother to have thought a little harder nine months before your birthday.”

It was the end of the book—the Scorpio Races and the events that directly follow—that made me not just like the book but love it. Even though both Sean and Puck are vying for the same purse, even though each has a very good reason for needing to win the race, and even though we’ve been in each of their heads, the ending doesn’t disappoint. In fact, the final paragraph tugged at my heart and made me want to curl up with this book all over again.

I think that’s what Stiefvater is great at: Setting a mood, letting us as readers wallow in it, and holding that feeling until the end.

What did you think? Leave a comment below or link to your blog post below.

Giving Thanks to You

I’m having one of those crises where I have too much to be thankful for and too little room to write it. Scratch that. I have all the room in the world, as long as I’m fine with boring you guys into a fine stupor. (Think internet tryptophan.)

So I’ll stick with these and let you go on to more important things, like prepping the turkey, slicing vegetables, making pumpkin pie, and seeing how many marshmallows you can squeeze inside your mouth before A) it’s time to sprinkle a handful over the sweet potatoes or B) you choke. 

I’m thankful I can write. And I’m thankful that I can do it in a way people can understand what I’m trying to say (unlike someone I know who shall remain nameless coughThe Mancoughcough).

I’m thankful that anyone can be a writer as long as they pick up a pen and paper or open a new Word document. That no one dictates whether you’re a writer other than yourself.

I’m thankful for you, dear friends, who turn this blog into one big YA slumber party (minus the fun parts, like dipping the first sleeper’s hand in warm water). Every comment you leave brightens my day, and one day I’d like to arrange a giant sleepover just so I can bask in your awesomeness without a screen dividing us. (That was not meant to be creepy. Pinky swear.)

I’m thankful for all of the amazing writers I’ve gotten to know within the YA and MG community, some as acquaintances and some as very good friends, most of which—and this still makes me laugh—I’ve never met in person. It’s one thing to go through the book publishing process alone, and it’s a far different thing to do it with friends at your side who say things like, “Deciding whether to kill the best friend or make out with the love interest right now.”

I’m thankful for the YA writing community, which is incredibly welcoming and supportive. With the way readers, authors, agents, and editors came out to support Read for Relief, I can almost guarantee everyone who involved in the teen lit arena has an Uncle Ben who tells them things like, “With great power comes great responsibility.” And then every single one of them has looked at their Uncle Ben and said, “Dude, you’re so right.”

I’m so glad we can be pseudo teens together.  Have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving. Here’s to hoping you can squeeze some writing time between your seventh helping and dessert.

We Have a Winner!

Well, it’s that kind of Monday again, guys. The one where you don’t even pretend to read this post, instead scrolling, scrolling, scrolling down until you see the words the winner is…

So I’ll spare your hand the carpal tunnel.

The winner of Scrivener is Pam Harris. Congrats, Pam!

Everyone else, crowd around Pam to either A) try to smile but fail miserably when all you can think of is how YOU SHOULD HAVE WON, B) laugh at all her jokes with the hope that she’ll find you irresistible enough to pass her winnings on to you, or C) tell her, in your best Regina voice, that winning is so last year.

Your reaction choices from left to right: A, B, B, C.

C’mon, in celebration of your jealousy over Pam’s win, gimme your best Mean Girls quote. 

Scrivener 101

Remember that time when I decided to give away a copy of Scrivener? And then you were like, Dude, I need that. And so I kinda hoped that YOU would win?

Good times.

Anyway, you still have until Sunday night at midnight to enter the contest. (Enter here.) But let’s pause for a second for anyone out there who’s thinking, What the heck’s a Scrivener and do I need a doctor’s prescription for it?

First off, Scrivener is a writing program, which will not help your athlete’s foot. Sorry to be Debbie Downer. HOWEVER. If you’re a writer, it’s like a miracle in a box. (Or it would be if it came in a box. And I guess if it cured athlete’s foot.)

In case you can’t decide whether to enter the giveaway or spend those two minutes on Tumblr, here are six ways it will make your writing life easier—and one major way it won’t.

(Side note: I don’t work for Scrivener and I didn’t get it for free—neither my copy nor yours. I just really like the program.)

1. Scrivener does not write the book for you. I thought we should get this out of the way first thing, seeing as “miracle program” and “super useful” can be misconstrued as “plots, outlines, writes, and edits your story.” Easy mistake. So I’ll say it again, this time in caps so you can pretend I’m shouting at you: SCRIVENER WILL NOT WRITE YOUR BOOK FOR YOU.

2. All your work is in one place. I wrote my current WIP in Microsoft Word, which is a perfectly fine writing program. But when I switched to Scrivener and started my first round of edits, it was as if I was seeing Paris for the first time after living in the boonies for my entire life—like, seriously they have restaurants other than TGI Friday’s here? Anyone who’s used Word, Text Edit, or some other writing program knows that you’ll need to have a separate document or folder for research, images, links to websites, and so on. Outlining is done in another document or maybe on corkboard or whiteboard. Maybe it’s done on Post-It notes that you’ll later lose. My point is, everything related to your book is scattered.

What I love most about Scrivener is that all of that information—your outline, corkboard, photos, character sketches, links to websites, research, and more—is contained within your manuscript folder. No joke. With one click you can move from the sentence you were writing to an image you want to reference (which you can also view in a pop-out window as you’re writing).

Clicking the back button will take you to the last page you were on, whether that’s your story, research, or something else. Each segment of your manuscript features a menu on the righthand side, which allows you to leave yourself notes, take a “photo” of a section before you change it (you know, just in case), and reference documents, images, or web pages so you don’t have to search later.

3. Break up the manuscript into more manageable segments. Have you ever wanted to jump back or ahead to a certain scene while writing or editing in Word? You end up scrolling forever, trying to remember which chapter the scene appeared in and then trying to find the chapter. With Scrivener, you can break up your story into smaller sections for easing jumping around.

I separate mine into three acts, then further divide the story into sections made up of a chapter each. Some people like to break the story up further, separating it by scene. It doesn’t really matter how you break it up, just that you no longer need to deal with one big chunk of text. (Don’t worry, when you compile the manuscript it all appears as one long story.)

The other great thing about this is that you can use the corkboard function to describe what happens in each act, chapter, scene, and so on. That way, when you want to review the chapter where the villain poisons the hero’s father, you can browse a corkboard of notecards and easily jump to the chapter you’re looking for.

This also makes chapter reorganization simpler. Let’s say you decide chapter twelve works better as chapter two. Instead of copying and pasting the whole chunk of text, you can move the folder or file containing chapter twelve to the spot right after chapter one. You can do the same for scenes if you break up your manuscript even further.

When it comes to editing, the ability to split the screen either horizontally or vertically makes it easy to view two sections of text without jumping back and forth through a document.

4. Outline more easily. Scrivener caters to outliners of all sorts. First, there’s the corkboard, which lets you outline on notecards that you can move around as you would paper cards. For each card, you can note details like the characters involved, the date the scene takes place, the act number, labels like whether it’s a chapter or scene, and draft number.

There’s also outline mode, which takes on the form of a traditional outline and can include the act number, characters involved, the date the scene takes place on, word count, and other stats.

5. Keep track of every detail. The program will track stats for a given project, including word count and pages, based on a paperback book. If you plug in your word count goal, it’ll tell you how much progress you made at the end of a writing session. Set a target deadline and it’ll tell you how many words you need to meet each time you write in order to hit your word count and deadline goals.

6. Block out the rest of the world. (That means, you, Twitter.) With full-screen mode you can block out the rest of your screen—I’m talking the whole thing—so you only see your manuscript. It’s like Scrivener is slapping you upside the head and telling you to get to work.

I could go on, guys, but I fear I’m going to start sounding like the Scrivener Owner’s Manual so I’ll stop at six. There are a few more things you should know, which don’t require much explanation:

• There’s a script-writing function.
• You can import documents into Scrivener so you don’t have to start a new project from scratch.
• There’s a name generator.
• Click onto revision mode and automatically write in colored text based on the draft number (first draft, second draft, and so on).
• Scrivener automatically backs up your data when you close the program.

SO.

After all that, enter the giveaway if Scrivener sounds like something you’d use.

Anyone else use it? Leave a comment with your favorite features for inquiring minds. 

All images are from Scrivener.

Book Club Pick & Giveaway Winners (Plus, Another Giveaway!)

I know what you guys are waiting for. And because I’m feeling very unlike myself—you know, kind—I’ve decided to jump right in and give you the information you want.

Someone get a drumroll going.

First, you all voted, and the November Fall Book Club book is…

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater! We’ll discuss it on Monday, November 28.

And now for the info you really want to know. The winners of last week’s giveaway are:

The winner of How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr is Ebyss!

*Confetti*

The winner of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater (just in time for the book club!) is Kathy Ann Coleman!

*Confetti*

The winner of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is Laurie Dennison!

*Confetti*

The winner of a $15 Amazon.com gift card is Jo Ramsey!

*Confetti*

The winner of a print from A Vintage Poster is Laura Pauling!

*Confetti*

The winner of a T-shirt from Out of Print Clothing is Katy Upperman!

*Confetti*

WHEW, that’s a lot of winners. But it’s not all of them, because everyone who entered last week’s giveaway is automatically entered to win today’s. And those of you who didn’t enter? Do it today!

So, here’s what you can win: A COPY OF SCRIVENER.

Guys, this program changed my life. I’ll talk more about it this week, but know this: If you’ve never used Srivener, YOU WANT TO WIN THIS. If you think Word is meeting your needs, YOU WANT TO WIN THIS. If you think Scrivener is a power tool, YOU WANT TO WIN THIS.

So, go ahead and enter. The contest closes this Sunday at 12 a.m. I’ll announce the winner a week from today.

To enter this new giveaway, I’ll make it real simple (for me, really, since you guys killed with the “what if” game and I’m completely at a loss for the query—but no fear, I’ll do it). Just leave a comment saying you want to win. Or leave a comment saying anything: how much you hate Mondays, what you’re working on—whatever. 

It's Voting Time: Pick the Next Book Club Read

Get ready to have an opinion. Today we’re voting for the November book club book. The contenders:

What would you like to read for November's book club?

• The Scorpio Races
• How to Save a Life
• The Name of the Star
• All These Things I've Done
• Shatter Me
• Leisel and Po
• Ashfall
• Scored
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Poll Widget.org

View Results

Vote for the one you’d most like to read. (It’s your civic duty.) I’ll reveal the winner on Monday.

Happy writing, everyone!

(And don’t forget: My giant giveaway ends first thing Monday morning, so get your entries in today or this weekend. And stay tuned for the grand prize, which I’ll reveal on Monday, too. In fact, think of Monday as your birthday what with all the fun news I’ll have for you.)

Vote for the November Book Club Pick

Dude.

Holy cow. If this week were a heavy piece of construction machinery I’d be flattened like a cartoon character. It just sort of plowed me over and has kept going even though I’ve been wearing unfashionable reflective clothing. And, seriously, who wants to die in garish clothes in the middle of a construction site?

Anyhow, I wanted to stop in and discuss two issues. FIRST! We need to pick a book club book for November. Here are some suggestions, but I’d like to hear some of your picks, too.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Scored by Lauren McLaughlin

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

We’ll vote on Friday.

(Insert seamless segue.)

Remember that contest I’m holding? In case you forgot, a brief reminder: You can win books, a literary-inspired T-shirt, an Amazon.com gift card, and a super cool poster. For directions on how to enter, click on over here. That’s where you’ll fill out the form, too.

You have until next Monday, November 14 to enter. After that, I’m going to give a prize to your online friends. Sorry ’bout that.

So, it’s like this:

1. Enter the giveaway here.
2. Recommend some books for our November book club selection.
3. Come back tomorrow to vote on the books you guys have suggested.

Also, avoid construction sites this week. I just have a bad feeling…

Giveaway (Or, Hey Look, Free Stuff!)

So a month ago I mentioned doing a big giveaway to celebrate all of my old friends and welcome new followers. Read for Relief sidetracked me for a bit, but I figured you guys would forgive me for that. Besides, the best things in life come when you wait. (Though might just be something my mother told me when I was an impatient child. It’s one of those things that’s a fact when you’re young enough to get kiddie prices at the movies but seems suspect when you’re old enough to pay ten bucks to catch a film.)

Right, so the giveaway. The cool part is that there’s more than one winner. The admittedly uncool part is that not everyone can win. I suggest you collect some four-leaf clovers and whatnot to up your chances. (Or you can mail me a box of books, which would really up your odds of winning.)

(You know I was kidding about that, right? I’m no cheater.)

The giveaway works in two parts. PART ONE: You can win one of the prizes below. There will be one winner per prize, but by filling out the form you’re automatically entered for all of the prizes. You can enter one time, and the giveaway closes next Monday.

PART TWO: I’ll reveal the grand prize a week from today. You can enter to win this prize even if you entered to win the others. You can enter one time. The giveaway closes the following Monday.

Okay, so you probably want to know what you can win. (Imagine a Price is Right girl here, waving her hands around your computer screen and smiling like she’s auditioning for a toothpaste commercial.) The prizes are…

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Preordered and available November 15.

$15 Amazon.com gift card

A print of your choice from A Vintage Poster

11” x 14” print. Choose from among available designs.

A T-shirt of your choice from Out of Print

Next question: What do you have to do to enter? Well, remember when you guys built on a story by asking “what if” questions? And then I took those questions and turned them into a query? I kinda thought that was fun. So here’s the deal:

1. The first commenter will answer the “what if” question at the bottom of this post.
2. Each subsequent person will build on the idea, writing their own “what if” statement based on the person before them.
3. I will take the idea you’ve created and turn it into a query to be posted at a later date.

It might go like this:

ME: What if there was no sun?
YOU: And what if that made the earth freezing?
SOMEONE ELSE: But what if the people were cold blooded?

And so on. You get the idea.

Leaving a “what if” question in the comments will serve as your entry. Just note that you left a comment when you fill out the form. (I’ll be checking, so no cheating!)

You also must follow this blog. The purty little Google Friend Connect thingamabobber is toward the top of the left sidebar.

To get extra points:

Follow me on Twitter (+1)
Tweet about the contest (+1)
Blog about the contest (+2)
Add a link to Words on Paper from your blog (+2)

That’s all folks. Now for the question:

What if the world lost electricity and couldn’t get it back?

RTW: The Writing Coach

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival, where YA Highway’s contributors and readers 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 take on the topic.

This week’s prompt was: What kind of writing coach do you need? What kind are you?

So back in August Sarah Enni blogged about different types of writing mentors and coaches for YA Highway. To sum up her post: Writing coaches and mentors have personalities that range from Mr. Rogers to Tim Gunn to Jillian Michaels to the crazy Tiger Mom who scares her slaves children into submission.

There are two things you could take away from this post: Writing coaches can be sweet as syrup or mean as, well, a Tiger Mom. Also, coaches are pretty specific when it comes to their fashion choices—some like shoes with laces to tie, some prefer sports bras over shirts, and others gag in the presence of ugly fabric.

The Barney Stinson writing coach

Were I to pull a Frankenstein and create my own writing coach, he’d be part Mr. Rogers, part Tim Gunn. And I don’t mean he’d wear $2,000 suits with sneakers. I mean he’d be the right mix of positivity and criticism.

That’s because when I’m in the middle of a first draft, words like “this isn’t working” or “this sucks” or “have you ever considered a career at Walmart?” tend to dissuade me from finishing. I kind of need a cheerleader at that stage who will tell me I’m amazing and wonderful and possibly the most talented writer in the world. (Yes, I realize all of that will be disproven while I read the draft for the first time.)

After that, though, I need some tough love—just not the kind that also serves as a sucker punch to the gut.

That’s sort of how I see critiquing. Everyone likes praise, and it’s important to include what you liked about a story. A spoonful of sugar helps the honest critique go down. Besides, there’s usually some stuff that I really do love about a book. Why not mention it? And if there are parts that need some MAJOR WORK? That needs to be noted, too. Because no one gets better by hearing how fabulous they are all the time. Except maybe Tim Gunn.

How about you? What kind of coach do you need and which role do you fill?