{"id":1979,"date":"2015-06-19T16:50:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T23:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2015-07-29T13:34:11","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T20:34:11","slug":"pasadena-loves-ya-second-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2015\/pasadena-loves-ya-second-chances\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasadena Loves YA: Second Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Hadley, teen\u00a0blogger<\/p>\n

\"second<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond Chances\u201d featured\u00a0Brandy Colbert<\/em><\/strong>, author of Pointe,<\/em> Morgan Matson,<\/em><\/strong> author of Since You<\/em>\u2019ve Been Gone,<\/em> Sarah Tomp,<\/em><\/strong> author of My Best Everything,<\/em> and the panel moderator, Lauren Miller,<\/em><\/strong> author of Free to Fall<\/em> among other well-known novels. The questions varied from asking about life before writing to what lies in the future for the authors.<\/p>\n

It kicked off with the question, \u201cWhat would you do if you had the second chance to write your book?<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colbert<\/em><\/strong> stated that she would not change anything at the moment, while Tomp <\/em><\/strong>wished to rewrite her ending. Matson<\/em><\/strong> talked about how her editors ended up removing a scene from the actual story, but added it as a bonus chapter. She said that she wished she had fought harder to get that into the actual novel. Miller<\/em> <\/strong>admitted that the third chapter in Free to Fall<\/em> dragged on with too much detail, which she stated was not necessary for proper understanding of the book. She jokingly told the audience that they were free to skip that part of the book when they came to it.<\/p>\n

Next, they shared their own personal writing process.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colbert<\/em><\/strong> is one to write the characters first and then the plot as it comes to her. For Tomp<\/em>,<\/strong> inspiration tends to strike at random moments, whether it be at four in the morning or when she is walking her dog. She will write through a scene, take notes on what needs to be changed throughout the day, and rewrite it later. Matson<\/em><\/strong> claimed to never have an outline written for herself, saying how she was always in the same place as her characters in how she never knew what was coming next for them. Miller<\/em><\/strong> sets a schedule for herself to try to write five to seven in the morning before work. She also carries around a notebook so she can write down any ideas that come to her throughout the day before she forgets them.<\/p>\n

Next, Miller<\/em><\/strong> asked about their current and past day jobs,<\/strong> saying, \u201cI think sometimes there\u2019s an illusion that if you have a published book or multiple published books, that it means that you\u2019re paying all your bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller<\/em> <\/strong>works as a lawyer at a film company, working with contracts for movies and TV. That was her full-time job before she realized that that life was not what she really wanted, and writing was the direction she wished to go in.<\/p>\n

Matson<\/em><\/strong> said while she does not have a day job, she misses the structure of it. She started in teen publishing as an editor, and now writes full-time.<\/p>\n

Tomp<\/em><\/strong> spends a lot of time in schools, as she was once a teacher, and she still teaches creative writing from time to time. She currently helps school nurses, traveling from health office to health office, from preschool to high school. \u201cEverything happens in the nurse\u2019s office,\u201d she jokes as to why she loves it, sharing a laugh with the audience.<\/p>\n

\""Second<\/a>
“Second Chances” panel from left to right: Morgan Matson, Sarah Tomp, Brandy Colbert, and Lauren Miller (moderator). Photo by Katie Ferguson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When did they know they were going to actually write a book for publishing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was walking my dog. It was like my magic elixir. Weird little phrases were always coming in my head when I was walking the dog,\u201d Tomp<\/em><\/strong> said. She was always reading picture books to her kids, and she started off writing one herself that was published about ten years ago. Then, she said to herself, \u201cI want to see if I can really do something with this.\u201d After that, she went and got her master\u2019s in writing at Vermont College because she needed a jumpstart to write a full-length novel.<\/p>\n

For Colbert,<\/em><\/strong> she wrote her first unofficial book at the age of seven, and had wanted to be an author ever since, but it was at the age of twenty-six when she said to herself, \u201cI need to do this.\u201d Her first novel started off with adult characters, but when she realized that that was not working, she made the switch to YA. Her first novel, after many drafts and rewrites, was finally published at the age of thirty-four.<\/p>\n

Matson<\/em><\/strong> started off at the beginning, saying, \u201cMy mother made the mistake of telling me early: \u2018You\u2019re a writer.\u2019 I was like, \u2018No, I\u2019m not. You don\u2019t know me.\u2019 So I hung on to that for way too long, and when I finally realized I wanted to write, I was like, \u2018Oh, my mother was right. That\u2019s so frustrating.\u2019\u201d She then proceeded to work at a bookstore in the children\u2019s department, and when she started to read the YA novels, her love for YA literature sparked. She went to college to get a master\u2019s degree in writing for children, went on to work in publishing, and finally proceeded to start seriously focusing on writing her own book. She says she was around twenty-one when she decided that she wanted to be an author for a living.<\/p>\n

As for Miller,<\/em><\/strong> it took some time for her to realize that writing was the life for her. \u201cI went to law school after college because I didn\u2019t know how to make a career out of the only thing I was really good at: writing.\u201d She ended up in the entertainment division of a film firm, two weeks after having been married. She started to think about all that had changed in her life, coming to the conclusion that, \u201cThis was not the life I was supposed to have.\u201d To work out that issue, she wrote a TV pilot, having been working in an entertainment division and all. When that did not wind up turned into a full show, she worked around her pilot and it ended up becoming one of her novels.<\/p>\n

A question from the audience: How did they feel about the side characters in their novels?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re my favorite thing to write,\u201d said Matson.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cAt any moment, if the focus switched to one of those people, I could tell their story. I could tell you way more about my secondary characters than ever made it onto the page. They\u2019re just as equal as my protagonists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love each and every one of them,\u201d said Tomp.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cI really think of them as all main characters. My friends are so important to me that I can\u2019t imagine writing a book without friends in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbert<\/em> <\/strong>told how she had the problem coming up with the little things about her characters\u00a0 during rewrites, which were wanted by her editor, but looking back on that now, she appreciates how she was pushed into writing those edits. \u201cLittle tiny details will tell so much about secondary characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second question from the audience: How was writing a second novel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miller<\/em><\/strong> spoke from experience, having published many novels over the course of her being an author. She speaks in particular of her two-book deal with the series Parallel<\/em> and all the deadlines that came with it. \u201cOnce you\u2019re in the habit of writing, and you\u2019ve seen the start to finish of it all, you realize that it\u2019s possible and it doesn\u2019t feel like this insurmountable thing\u2026 You of course want to improve on what you\u2019ve done before, but you\u2019re at the same time getting used to this new world and character that you\u2019ve created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s Matson.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cIt was so bad, so bad. The second book I ever wrote is in a drawer somewhere. No one will ever see it; it\u2019s terrible.\u201d She, like Miller,<\/em><\/strong> was in the middle of a two-book deal, and found herself telling her editor not to publish the book, even though it was already finished. All she salvaged from the scrapped novel was the last line, which she turned into the last line for Since You<\/em>\u2019ve Been Gone. <\/em>\u2018<\/em>\u201cI found the second book was very difficult. I\u2019m sorry, you guys are writing your second books right now, I\u2019m not being helpful,\u201d she finished off saying apologetically to the other authors on the panel.<\/p>\n

Tomp<\/em> <\/strong>responded to that with a laugh, saying, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m in that difficult stage.\u201d She had been almost finished with her second novel for almost six months, repeatedly thinking she was almost done before realizing there was still something yet to be said. She finished by saying she had no idea how she was going to complete the book.<\/p>\n

The final question: How much knowledge was put into their novels?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tomp<\/em><\/strong> jumped right off the bat to her own defense, saying, \u201cI, for the record, have never made moonshine. I did<\/em> taste it in high school. There\u2019s not much to do in my small town.\u201d She took to the internet for some her research, and hit various breweries and distilleries in San Diego, where she went on some personal tours. She spoke of meeting lots of people who were proud of their craft. \u201cIt really is a very artistic kind of thing. It\u2019s actually been quite stunning and amazing to realize that there\u2019s this whole world. It\u2019s serious business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Colbert<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s<\/em><\/strong> novel revolves around ballet and people who practice it, she grew up doing tap. \u201cBallet is very difficult, and I\u2019m not good at it.\u201d She researched for her novel by watching dance films and going online to the dictionary featured on the American Ballet Theatre website.<\/p>\n

Miller<\/em><\/strong> spoke of the novel she is currently working on, in which the main character has a panic disorder. She started off by reading blogs of people who suffer from the disorder, which she clarified while still helpful was not doing it for her. \u201cOnce I let go of the research aspect and just recognized that while I may not suffer clinically from what she has, there\u2019s a way into your character that\u2019s accessible inside of you. Even when you\u2019re writing from somebody that has a situation that\u2019s not like yours, you tap into something that you experience, and so it\u2019s not like playing pretend, it\u2019s like accessing a part of yourself that you\u2019ve maybe never paid attention to before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matson<\/em><\/strong> stated that she is a method writer. She cannot write something without experiencing it beforehand. Her first novel was about a cross-country road trip, and so she flew down to California, renting the same exact car the characters drove in and driving across the country. \u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t write a road trip story without having done it. I tend to emerge myself in these kind of things in order to write it. I also agree that you need to at some point let go of the research and start the story, because it\u2019s not nonfiction in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Hadley, teen\u00a0blogger \u201cSecond Chances\u201d featured\u00a0Brandy Colbert, author of Pointe, Morgan Matson, author of Since You\u2019ve Been Gone, Sarah Tomp, author of My Best Everything, and the panel moderator, Lauren Miller, author of Free to Fall among other well-known novels. The questions varied from asking about life before writing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,28],"tags":[51,50],"class_list":["post-1979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs-and-events","category-writing","tag-authors","tag-book-festival"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-vV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1838,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2015\/pasadena-loves-ya-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1979,"position":0},"title":"Pasadena Loves YA: THANK YOU","author":"Jane Gov","date":"June 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Uniting fans and authors... 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