Alison Kent's Blah Blog

After all the excitement of having finally, finally received The Call (on the casino floor in Reno at RWA National, no less) I was left with the realization that I’d sold on two chapters and a synopsis for a Young Adult novel, a genre in which I never— let me repeat that —never expected to find myself writing. But my darling friend Alesia Holliday kept encouraging me, “You should write a YA.” My agent was a little more, erm, direct. “There’s an editor looking for Latina YA. Work something up.”

‘Scuse me? I mean, I’ll tell y’all what I told them. I wasn’t YA when I WAS YA, if you get what I’m saying. Because of circumstance and just my general nature, I was more or less an adult by the time I was twelve. The “normal” experiences of a teenager weren’t necessarily mine. Okay… well then. There was my hook for a YA. I wouldn’t try to write about what I thought a teenager should be— I would write about a teenager who was a little out of step with her peers. Who interacted better with adults than people her age and who was considered an equal by most adults because of her gift of music. In other words, I wrote from experience.

And there was my first lesson in writing YA— as with every other genre—write what you know or what you have a passion for. I got to indulge both with ADIÓS. God knows, I know from Cuban-American girls growing up in Miami and my other lifelong passion besides reading and writing is music. My second lesson in writing YA came from another dear friend, Marianne Mancusi, who, when I was whining along the lines of, “Oh man, how do I write for teenagers?” basically said, “You write the same way you would for adults, just from the mindset of a teenager. Do what it takes to get back into it, but whatever you do, don’t write down to them, because they’ll spot that BS from a mile away.”

Another lesson taken very much to heart. So, because I was coming at this from a women’s fic/romance background, I spun in some drama, a little romance, a little intrigue and jealousy, all tailored to the setting of an “American Idol” type television show with a Latin twist. And whaddaya know? It worked. I got my first inkling that I’d succeeded when I began receiving emails from women who said, “I bought this book for my daughter, but wanted to skim it first before I gave it to her—once I started, I couldn’t put it down!”

Then, the Cherries (AKA the Jennifer Crusie Fans) who count among their numbers some of the most voracious readers on the planet, started writing. “I picked it up to support a fellow Cherry, but I really didn’t think I’d be able to relate to a Cuban-American teenager from Miami who’s a musician. Boy, was I wrong!”

That’s been the recurring theme with ADIÓS—it’s defied expectations at every turn. I call it the Little Book That Could, because it continues to do things and take me places I would have never expected, most recently of course, the double Rita finals. I know Alison already blogged about it and used my own words with which to explain the situation in which I found myself so I won’t rehash the whole thing here. However, what finaling in Contemporary Single Title does for me, especially, is restore my faith that a good book is a good book is a good book. It can transcend category definitions (within reason, of course— I’m not seeing ADIÓS having done real well in Short Historical, for example ) and simply be deemed worthy of recognition, which is all I really wanted in the first place. Admittedly, I write towards the higher end of the YA spectrum, with respect to the age of my characters, but I like to think ADIÓS resonated with so many people because we can all relate, just a little bit, to the seventeen year old we once were and that people find it unique and interesting because it gives them a peek into a vibrant culture and city with which they might not be familiar.

Of course, among all my happiness and pride in the double final, I’m also kind of sad. You see, because YA didn’t make it as a category this year, there are so many good books that aren’t receiving their own slice of the spotlight. Mari Mancusi’s delicious BOYS THAT BITE and STAKE THAT!; Serena Robar’s BRACED 2 BITE; Simone Elkeles’ HOW TO RUIN A SUMMER VACATION; Bev Katz Rosenbaum’s I WAS A TEENAGE POPSICLE; Jennifer Echols’ MAJOR CRUSH and so many others. So, so many wonderful books and I want to honor them, because above all, I respect this genre I unexpectedly found myself writing in. So regardless of whether or not I win, the fact I was nominated means I get to carry at least a piece of that YA banner, which I will proudly do on Rita night.

As far as what I’m wearing for the big event? I’m plotting as we speak. Stay tuned…

–
Barbara Ferrer http://barbaraferrer.com
ADIÓS TO MY OLD LIFE July, 2006 Bronze medal: 2006 Florida Book Awards
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ACCENT August, 2007
as Caridad Ferrer http://www.caridadferrer.com/
Pocket/MTV Books