Day 3, Blog Tour Redux

The awesome John at Dreaming in Books hosted my third stop. It was the first of the scenes I wrote outside of SPLIT's narrative to try to mine the characters I was working with.  I love reading John's reviews.  Check out his blog.
Christian in New York

In Split, Christian, Jace’s older brother, disappeared one night when Jace was ten years old. After taking years of his father’s brutal abuse, Christian ran, relying on the hope that their dad had not, and therefore would not, hit Jace. But he was wrong. For five long years, Jace never heard a word for Christian until the night Jace finally hit his father back. When Jace shows up on Christian’s doorstep, Christian has a lot to answer for.

As a writer, it is easy to get sucked so deeply inside your protagonist’s head, that you don’t think about what is going through your secondary characters’ heads. And when that happens you end up as the puppet master and your critique groups keep saying, “I’m confused about Christian.” And then you go home and grumble to yourself that they are right. But you don’t know how to fix it.

One day, you go to your meeting in the Loft Mentor Series and Jim Moore, a poet and teacher, assigns you and your colleague a writing exercise: every day for a week, sit down in the same place, at the same time and write for 15 minutes. Write about this: 1) Take two characters who have a charged relationship and write a quiet scene between them 2) have a reoccurring object.

You decide to write from Christian’s point of view. It seems like a good fit – you hate taking precious minutes away, writing scenes that have no chance of making ink in your book, but you think 15 minutes for 7 days isn’t that bad. You only manage to get in five days. When you’re done, you have five exercises that were never meant to go into your novel. But you also have Christian’s voice. You also have the better part of a scene that ends up in the novel, after all. And you have 5 details that end up making it in the final cut of your book. 

Here’s what those 75 minutes produced:

1. Jace’s nickname –Toad.
2. Why they like having breakfast for dinner. 
3. Jace thinking, “He never stuck a candle in a cupcake on my birthday”
4. The Halloween that Jace and Christian went trick-or-treating that Christian tells Mirriam about.
5. Mornings where Christian would run and Jace would ride his bike.

And most, importantly, you understand why… why Christian didn’t write letters or contact Jace. This is the first in a series of three mini-scenes written from Christian’s point of view:

(Author -Mystique-buster: This is all I get in 15 minutes and first drafts are pretty bad.)








Eleven


Standing at the library table, I unfold your birthday card and put it down. It sits there, open, white, waiting for ink. I scrounge a gel ink pen from my backpack and lay it beside the card. 
You’ll be eleven.

What can I say? Is there anything I could write that would justify my five-month absence?

Outside the beveled glass window, I can see autumn. Every day the sun sets a little earlier, and so the trees begin to hibernate. The leaves lose their shiny green façade, showing their waning colors: reds from fire maples, yellows from ginkos and elms. The leaves flare as they go. Here, in New York, they spill out from the sidewalks onto the streets, caught in the gutters, ending up a mushy pile.

I snap the top off my pen, work it onto the back of the pen, leaving its silver tip available.

It’s your first birthday without me.

At home, mom has baked you a cake. What is it this year? Fourth birthday was a stegosaurus-shaped chocolate cake that stood up, triangular chocolate cookies for the spines sticking up down his back. She even found a candle for you that would roar when it was lit. “Once you know that frosting is glue, you can make anything” she would tell me. But last year’s was her piece d’resistance; an entire scene made from cake: a castle with chocolate leaves and a molten moat. A knight, his sword and shield gleaming with silver balls, stood facing a dragon. What have you chosen this year?

I can’t imagine.

I try to make myself sit down at the table. I pull out the chair and tell my thighs to contract. I push myself into the seat and force my hand to pick up the pen. What is your cake this year, Jace? What are your latest, greatest imaginings? Have you kissed a girl yet, or do you still turn away when dad kisses mom’s cheek before he heads out the door? Paper can’t answer my question, and a pen won’t build a bridge.

I close the card and put it in my backpack. I’ll come up with something, later , I tell myself, but I know that I’ll forget, lose the card, not have the stamp – invent some excuse because getting a birthday card after five months without a phone call, an email, even a postcard is worse than nothing. It’s hope for more, when there will be less and less. Next year, I won’t even buy a card, won’t even light a candle or look online for presents I won’t buy.

Autumn trees should just die, not hold out hope for spring.

Day 2 of blog tour redux

On the second day of the blog tour, my bloggers gave to me:  a review by the kind Corrine!

Reposted here by permission of Corrine at Lost for Words, where she is currently hosting another blog tour for Julia Karr's new release, Truth.

I love this review!  The word that jumps out at me most today is the word "intense" because, as I learned last week, that is the word used most often by my students to describe me.  While I honestly believe that there is a pretty significant difference between authors and their characters, I guess some defining traits will always come through.

Well, of course, I don't *mind* the final line of the review either.

Split - Swati Avasthi - Blog Tour Review

4:50 PM | Posted by Corrine

Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $3.84, and a secret.

He tries to move on, going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can’t make him forget what he left behind—his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend, who is keeping his secret.

At least so far.

Worst of all, Jace realizes that if he really wants to move forward, he may first have to do what scares him most: He may have to go back. First-time novelist Swati Avasthi has created a riveting and remarkably nuanced portrait of what happens after. After you’ve said enough, after you’ve run, after you’ve made the split—how do you begin to live again? Readers won’t be able to put this intense page-turner down.

(Synopsis taken from goodreads.)

Title: Split

Author: Swati Avasthi

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publication Date: March 9, 2010

Source: ARC given to me by Kari. Thanks Kari! This review is part of theTeen Book Scene blog tour.

My rating: 5/5

Split follows the story of two brothers after they have broken away from their abusive home. Christian escaped several years earlier, and now Jace is landing on his doorstep, having just left as well. Jace has finally had enough, and is hoping that he will be welcomed in by his brother, knowing that they both have survived a tumultuous and horrific upbringing. 

Jace is a character that I immediately felt sympathy for. He is a three dimensional character, well rounded, yet broken. He gets good grades, is an excellent soccer player, but he's had a hard life, and is hoping to break the cycle of abuse. He's had his fair share of regrets, but is hoping to learn how to live without fear, pain, or knowing that he could be more like his father than he would like. 
Christian was an intense character as well. It is so hard to define him as he left relatively early on in Jace's life. He is, again, another broken character, picking up the pieces trying to learn how to live a "normal" life, when everything is so far from normal. He does gather favour in my book, when he takes Jace in and tries to establish a home life for Jace. 
Avasthi writes a mesmerizing tale of destructive tendencies, and how one person's actions can and will reverberate through those around them. Splittakes a raw, no holds barred approach to domestic violence, and allows us a glimpse into a world that unfortunately is all too real. The view she gives to us, of Jace, Christian, and their parents, is a haunting and gripping one. We see that things are not necessarily black or white, and it truly is an eye opening experience to realize that for those stuck in the cycle, the unknown could be worse than the reality. 
All in all, a disturbing, but eloquent look at the severity, and secrecy of domestic violence in a person's home. You truly do not know the circumstances of those around you, and to escape from that cycle, and to have to learn to adapt and break the cycle is truly amazing. Statistics dictate that most cannot break the cycle, but it is heartening to realize that above all, people have choices. You define who and what you are, or will become. No one else can take that from you. With that said, everyone should read Split.

Blog Tour Kick Off Redux

SPLIT -- in paperback, with a brand new, beautiful cover. (Thank you, Knopf marketers!)  I'll confess:  I LOVE IT!

And to celebrate its release and to honor the upcoming National Teen Dating Violence Month, I'm going to re-post the 2010 October Blog Tour for SPLIT in paperback ... uh... electronic... uh... a different (?) format.  Which is to say, it will all be here on my website, instead of elsewhere in the world.

Note: I'm skipping the first post because it was all about October and the attached fundraiser / auction.

Hope you enjoy.

A Place Called Character

by Swati Avasthi

See, there are these things called issues and there are these things called novels and, according to

plenty of people, the two should never go together. Otherwise you are treading into after-school-

special zone. No one wants preaching disguised as fiction.

That was drilled into me. If not through conversations and lessons, then through my own

experiences while I winced, embarrassed for writers who would blatantly hammer in the moral

of the story. And the morals were always so self-evident: If Ugh hit wife, then Ugh baaad. No

hit wife, Ugh.

And yet, both as a writer and as a reader, I found myself drawn to issue narratives, pulled to the

serious and heavy one-word title books: Speak, Godless, Twisted. They would jump out at me

and I’d devour them. Plenty, plenty, plenty of writers have written great issue novels. Look at

Chris Crutcher or Jay Asher or Laurie Halse Anderson.

But I was still afraid to write them, especially afraid because I came to Split with a history of

working with survivors of domestic violence. (I coordinated a domestic violence legal clinic for

three years and spoke to thousands of survivors.) I came to Split after giving lectures about the

cycle of abuse; I came to Split with statistics that clattered around in my head, and stories that I

couldn’t shake loose from my brain. So, I was worried that if I wrote about domestic violence, I

would pull out the soapbox that kills a good story.

But, to get onto a soapbox, you must have answers. And I only had questions: what would it

be like to grow up watching your dad hit your mom? What if you loved your dad anyway and

looked up to him the way that every kid does?

I had left the clinic almost ten years before I sat down with a cup of coffee and my computer and

a 16-year-old boy in my head. The deeper I dug the more muddled I became, uncovering more

questions. But somehow, I didn’t feel like I was the one asking the questions anymore. My

narrator, Jace, was. And the nature of the questions were slightly altered and the stakes much

higher. Instead of “What would happen if you loved your dad anyway?” my questions became

more specific and were asked in Jace’s voice: “Why, in the name of all that is holy, do I still

admire my creep-of-a-father? WTF is wrong with me?”

I had no more worries about my soapbox. All I worried about was whether I could get my story

right and what would happen to Jace. The challenge became not to flinch when the story got

hard, how to be honest now matter what. The story stole the soapbox’s spot.

Much later, after the ARC came out but before the novel was printed and we were deep into

copyedits, a friend read the book and commented that she was upset with something I’d written

– something minor, but valid – about culture. And I suddenly was so tempted to use Jace as a

mouthpiece. I struggled for two days, trying to find a way to make the idea work. My friend

was astonished and wondered why I could “make Jace” argue with Mirriam about issues, but

couldn’t find a way to “make him say this.” I told her I could never “make Jace say” anything.

About a year after I wrote Split, a colleague of mine was working on an issue novel. In her fear

that she would preach, her novel ended up saying nothing and she asked, “how do you write an

issue novel without preaching?”

So, I could tell her: See, there are things called issues and these things called novels. And they

should go together right through the juncture of a place called character.

This was originally posted at:  Karen's For What It's Worth blog.  Which is a spectacular blog, run by a spectacular lady.  After drumming up comments and donations for the October fundraiser for SPLIT, she did another great push for Doctors without Borders.  Subscribe and find her on twitter @teamsheltie.  

An Avenue for Relief

Since news of the Japanese earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, I've been fairly paralyzed, listening to death tolls and watching stunning footage.

Author Maureen Johnson had a very different and admirable response.  She put together a drive through Shelterbox to help.  As she describes it, Shelterbox is an organization that goes into areas of the world affected by disaster with large green boxes that contain shelters and the materials needed for people to restart their lives on some level. The boxes always include a top-quality tent, and they usually include stoves, blankets, water purification systems, and tools. This is true, life-saving stuff, hand-delivered by volunteers trained in survival techniques.

If you have been like me -- stuck and stunned -- or if you are looking for an avenue for relief, hop over to her blog and donate.  She is offering some great prizes, including six signed first editions of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and many more.  Prizes are still pouring in and I just donated a hardback, signed copy of Split, too.

Thanks, Maureen, for moving me from horrified to mobilized.

CYBILS? CYBILS? CYBILS!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I tweeted that I've never been a big fan of Valentine's day, in spite of the fact that I've had someone to celebrate it with for more than 20 years.  But this year, I'm definitely feeling the Valentine's Day Love.

In other words...

Holy mother!

SPLIT won a CYBILS award!


I suddenly feel completely inadequate to express how thrilled and grateful am I.  Which is, of course, ironic.  Sweetly ironic.  (Everything is sweet today!)

Here's my best and completely unedited shot at it while I explore the contours of the word grateful:

1) I've been on award committees before and I know it is a lot of work.  Really, wonderfully, fabulously fun work, but work all the same.  Work that is usually done by busy people who carve out the time from their lives because of their dedication to the written word. And of course, in the case of the CYBILS, two rounds of judges.  To have gained the attention of these judges is particularly pleasing.  Thank you, Judges!!

Panel Organizer: Jackie Parker, Interactive Reader

Panelists (Round I Judges):

Cherylynne W. Bago, View from Above and Beyond
Justina Ireland, The YA 5
Kelly Jensen, Stacked
Ami Jones, Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian
Jackie Parker, Interactive Reader
Amanda Snow, A Patchwork of Books
Melissa Wiley, Here in the Bonny Glen

Round II Judges:

Karen Ballum, Sassy Monkey, BlogHer
Kathy M. Burnette, The Brain Lair
Michelle Franz, Galleysmith
Alice Pope, SCBWI
Tasha Saecker, Kids Lit

2) All seven of the books nominated for the CYBILS award in the YA category are amazing.  I remain honored to be in the company of such authors.  Contrary to how I would have expected to feel, winning is humbling.  These books are important.  They are needed.  They make a difference.  Having Split included among them -- among the hard work, the emotional insights, and the persistence of these authors -- is a privilege.






Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelley




Dirt Road Home by Watt Key





I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan




Stolen by Lucy Christopher






Scrawl by Mark Shulman






Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers





4) Bloggers, everywhere.  I've often said that the best part of being published, hands down, is that other people cared about Jace and Christian -- these two characters who occupied a huge amount of my thoughts, my time, my life.  Bloggers entered into or generated or posted conversations about Jace and Christian made me feel like they were worth caring about.

5) As I wrote in my acknowledgements, it took a village to grow Split.  And it was a large, large, large village. Maybe even a town. Did I mention it is large?  I am particularly grateful to my writer's groups, editor, agent, teachers/mentors, and most significantly to my family.  Without a doubt, Split couldn't have been written without my husband.

This is sounding remarkably like an sloppy acceptance speech so, I must get off my podium and go order myself some gold stickers.

I wonder if I'll glow in the dark, tonight.

Wow. Thanks everyone!

The blog tour and auction are over and we raised just over $4100.00 to help prevent violence.  By "we" I mean everyone who commented during the tour.  By "we" I mean all the blogger who hosted me.  By "we" I mean everyone who donated such fabulous items to the auction.  By "we" I mean everyone who bid.  And by "we" I mean the awesome women at Teen Book Scene who set up this tour for me, as they do for many authors, simply as a labor of love.  That's right, gratis.

We hit our goal of 250 comments so I will double my $1/comment donation, and donate $500 to Family Violence Prevention Fund.  Great fundraising everyone! THANK YOU!!

For highlights of the tour, stop on over to A Good Addiction where I have the closing post.

Did you miss the tour?  Not to worry.  You can catch up right here:

Friday, October 1: Random House Buzzers

Monday, October 4: Karen at For What It's Worth Reviews (Guest Post: Writing an Issues Book)
Tuesday, October 5: Corrine at Lost For Words (Review)
Wednesday, October 6: John at Dreaming in Books (Christian POV Scene)
Thursday, October 7: Jessica at A Fanatic's Book Blog (Cut Scene)
Friday, October 8: Page Turners (Guest Post: Writer's Tips)
Saturday, October 9: Jami at YA Addict (Review)

Monday, October 11: Sandy at Pirate Penguin Reads (Guest Post: Cycle of Abuse)
Tuesday, October 12: Michele Corriel (Revision: Obsess Much? Write a Novel)
Wednesday, October 13: Kelsey at The Book Scout (Cut Scene)
Thursday, October 14: Hattie at DeRaps Reads (Character Interview - Jace)
Friday, October 15: Sammee at I Want To Read That (Guest Post: Letting Your Characters Drive)
Saturday, October 16: Michelle at See Michelle Read (Review)

Monday, October 18: Sarah at Sarah's Random Musings (Guest Post: Interviewing DV Victims/Research
Tuesday, October 19: Taylor at The Library Lurker (Review)
Wednesday, October 20: Teens Read (On Inspiration)
Thursday, October 21: Lea at YA Book Queen (Photo Essay)
Friday, October 22: Linna at 21 Pages (Jace's POV Guest Post)
Saturday, October 23: Kelsey at The Book Scout (Cut Scene)

Monday, October 25: Jami at YA Addict (Cover Post & Create Your Own Cover Contest)
Tuesday, October 26: Arya at Sea of Pages (Review)
Wednesday, October 27: Weronika Janczuk (You're Not Crazy, Your Characters are Talking To You)
Thursday, October 28: Michelle at See Michelle Read (Cut Scene)
Friday, October 29: Stephanie at Steph the Bookworm (Animated Movie Short or Vlog)
Saturday, October 30: Sandy at Pirate Penguin Reads (Review)

Monday, November 1: Kari at A Good Addiction (Playlist + Ipod Giveaway)