Bethany Crandell On Moving A Teenage Crush Into Publishing for Adults

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is a long-time friend of mine, Bethany Crandell, author of the young adult novel, SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS, lives in San Diego with her husband, teenage daughters, and two destructive puppies. THE JAKE RYAN COMPLEX is her first adult novel, though still carries the heart and humor of teenage exuberance. For more information, visit Bethany online at www.bethanycrandell.com, Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter @bethanycrandell.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

Pfft… No sleuthing required! Jake Ryan, from Sixteen Candles, is the reason this story came to be. I’m not sure if it was his sexy lip bite, the way he wore plaid, or the fact that he was secretly pining after the plain girl with smallish t*ts when he had the beauty queen on his arm, but something about that character stole my heart at a very early age. And since writing this book, I’ve come to find I’m not alone in that sentiment.

It seems that a lot of us Gen Xers still hang onto those toe-tingling feelings that we got as kids when we first met our fictional dream man. And if it wasn’t Jake than it was someone else: Duckie (Some Kind of Wonderful), Ren McCormack (Footloose), Sodapop Curtis (The Outsiders)… No matter who your guy was, he left a mark on your heart. And it’s those same feelings of nostalgia and excitement you still get (even when you’re forty-five and married for twenty years) when you see a picture of your guy that made me want to write this book. 

I mean…just look at him! 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I’d been writing young adult books for a decade and toying with the idea of a Sixteen Candles-inspired book for just as long. I knew I wanted to pay tribute to the original storyline—simple girl seeks boy of her dreams, tied-up in family/wedding drama—while still tapping into that glorious 80s nostalgia, but wasn’t sure how to pull that off in a young adult world since many of those readers might not know who Jake Ryan is. (My heart weeps for them!)  Then it dawned on me: write the book for people who know who he is. DUH! So that’s what I did. I took a leap and decided to write a book for the countless women born somewhere between 1965-1985 who fell in love with this character and would appreciate reading about another woman who did too. Once I allowed myself that freedom, the rest of the story just seemed to fall into place. It’s funny how our muses respond when we let them tell a story the way they want!

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

My overarching plots are generally cemented into place, but the nuances of the characters and the sub-plots are what constantly catch me by surprise. For the most part, I’m okay with that—it keeps me guessing and surprised while I’m writing—but there are days when it’s really frustrating.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

My brain is literally a dumping ground for ideas (about 2% of them good), and is the most active while I’m under the hairdryer. Because I spend a lot of time blowing my hair (I’ve got a LOT of hair. Mindy can vouch for this. She’s seen the beast in person) my muse has learned to take advantage of the idle time by playing and sorting things out. Quite often it’s related to whatever book I’m working on (I call them “blow dryer epiphanies”) but a lot of my story ideas also germinate under the heat of my beloved Revlon 1875 ionic volumizing hair dryer.  (Available at Amazon for only $20.39. And yes, that’s a blatant plug to buy from my publisher. Ahem)

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

Because I’m under contract, my editor’s enthusiasm for a project pretty much dictates what the next story will be, but I will only pitch her ideas that I’m really excited about. I’m not sure I could write something that didn’t get my engine revving.

I have 5 cats and one Dalmatian puppy (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I’ve got two dogs and while they’re cute (when they’re not destroying the backyard) they are not good writing companions. One is very needy and cries a lot and the other is an obsessive kisser. If you so much as acknowledge his presence, you will get kissed. Apparently, my old age has turned me into a heartless curmudgeon because dog kisses on every part of my body sort of creep me out.

Author Loriel Ryon On Finding Inspiration In An Image

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Loriel Ryon, author of Into the Tall, Tall Grass. She spent her childhood with her nose in a book, reading in restaurants, on the school bus, and during every family vacation. Her upbringing in a mixed-heritage military family inspires much of her writing about that wonderfully complicated time between childhood and adulthood. Also a nurse, she lives in the magical New Mexico desert with her husband and two daughters.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

So far when I write something new, I start with an image in my mind. I don’t always know who it’s about or what is going to happen, but I have a picture of a scene. The idea for INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS originates from one of my earliest childhood memories. When I was four years old, my dad was gone, serving overseas and my mom took me and my siblings to visit her family in Texas for the summer. She’d hired a man to cut the grass while we were gone. All looked well when we drove home at the end of summer, the front lawn freshly mowed, the house in order. But when we went inside and opened the blinds to the sliding glass door I remember seeing grass had grown as tall as our house. My grandfather forbid us from going outside until he cut all down because he was afraid of snakes. And even now, when I ask my mother if this memory was accurate or if I embellished it due to being a kid, she tells me, “Oh no. The grass was as tall as the house.” 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

The story took so many twists and turns from my original concept of a young girl standing in front of some tall grass. I’d decided it would be most interesting if this grass grew somewhere unexpected and so I put it in the desert, where I live now. There is something that is just so magical about the desert. I also knew my MC was going to go on a journey. I wanted her to explore the grass, but I needed a reason why, and so came the other characters. A sick grandmother, a sister who has a magical trait our MC doesn’t, an ex-best friend, a boy with a first crush, and a naughty dog. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

This occurs pretty much every time I try to outline before I have a zero draft done. So in recent works, I’ve tried to use my zero draft as my outlining draft, letting the different parts of the story form. And then I go back and break it all apart and try to nail down an outline to focus on during the revision process. When I was writing, the plot was all over the place as I struggled to figure out what my story was going to be about. Eventually, another strong voice emerged and that was the sick grandmother. She had a story to tell about the pecan orchard and their family and it wove with Yolanda’s story of trying to get her to the tree. The revelations in the grandmother’s story helped me find the plot in Yolanda’s story of healing and revealed the truth about herself and her family history along the way.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I always have a ton of ideas. Sometimes too many. Especially when I’ve finally decided what to write next and want to focus on one project. The new idea comes flitting in, trying to distract me from the task in front of me. Sometimes I have to address it right away and tackle that new idea. Most of the time, I write it down and let it sit in the back of my mind to come back to later. If there is enough there, the idea won’t go away. But many times the ideas aren’t enough on their own and often need to be combined with other ideas to flesh them out a bit. 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating? 

I will usually start with whatever is calling me. I try to draft cycle, meaning I finish one draft of a project and either let it sit or send it off to readers and start working on another draft of another project. It gives me something to work on while I’m waiting and I always have something in the works. And it helps me not dive back into a draft I’ve just finished, giving me room to be able to come back to it with fresh eyes. 

I have 5 cats (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I have two young children (3 & 6) who are quite distracting, haha. I wrote the first draft of INTO THE TALL, TALL GRASS on the floor of my older daughter’s room when she was three and refusing to stay in her bed at bedtime. I did edits and revisions while my younger daughter napped, but she recently gave that up, so I’ve had to get quite creative in figuring out when I’m going to actually write and get work done.

Landing Between Pantser and Plotter: Katya de Becerra

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Katya DeBeccera, author of genre-bending YA fiction, What The Woods Keep and Oasis. She was born in Russia, studied in California and now lives in Melbourne. She earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Melbourne and now works as a social scientist. She’s also a co-founder and co-host of #SpecLitChat and a writing mentor with the 1st5pages Workshop.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

It’s so difficult to identify the exact moment when the idea for Oasis took root and grew big enough to matter, but I know for sure it was my interest in archaeology that I first developed as a child that played a big role in defining this book’s premise. I kind of always wanted to write an “archaeology book” and, while I definitely came across a few fiction books with an archaeology focus, I never found one that was also YA (though I’m sure those exist!). Serendipitously, I travelled to Dubai around the time I was first playing with ideas for Oasis and that very much influenced the setting of the book, while its characters all hail from Melbourne and are children of immigrants, reflecting the diversity of my adopted home town. 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Once I had my premise (“group of friends stranded in the desert are saved by a mysterious oasis”), I worked on developing my characters and their group dynamics. The plot is driven by the narrating character’s motivation to save herself and her friends from their ordeal, but whoever (or whatever) it is that lured them out into the desert has its own agenda… It’s that tug-of-war between their fight for survival and the antagonist’s real plan for them that propels the plot forward.      

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Yes! That was the case with both my books to date. My writing process is eclectic and I don’t really believe that writers are either spontaneous “pantsers” or careful “plotters” – I’m definitely a hybrid of some sort between the two. I tend to start a book with a solid premise in mind and that doesn’t change as I write. But in terms of the book’s ending or how to get there? I like my characters to surprise me!

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

To be honest, I have too many story ideas! I try to keep track of all the premises and situations my restless mind is constantly conjuring up out of thin air, and sometimes it’s exhausting. Especially now, with two books behind me, it’s becoming more difficult to choose the next project to focus on as so many things excite me. 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

Well, when I have too many ideas to choose from (which is all the time as per my answer above), sometimes I seek outside feedback. I show my husband a list of premises and see if his eyes light up at anything in particular. I run ideas by my agent and editor. But, in the end, I try to listen to what my inner voice is telling me. Usually, I’m already leaning toward a specific idea more than all the rest but I just need a bit of time and silence to understand that.

I have 5 cats and 2 Dalmatian puppies (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

Wow! I haven’t had a pet since I was a teenager… I envy authors who post pics of themselves writing while snuggling with a fur baby cat or a dog (or a hamster, etc.). But I’m also one of those writers who need complete silence and zero distractions when working, so it’s likely I might have to lock myself away from my future cat in my office while trying to write. Though probably the cat’s sad meows for attention will melt my heart soon enough.