16-year-old Imogen is a confident high school black belt who freezes up at an
armed robbery. When the image you have of yourself is shattered, how do you make
it whole again?
We welcome author Sarah Skilton to YA Fresh today, to talk about her debut release, BRUISED. Sarah and I met a couple years ago at the Romantic Times Conference's Teen Day, and it's a pleasure to introduce her and her novel to our readers.
Hello, Sarah. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made
your first sale?
Sarah: I studied TV/Film/Radio in college, and my
background in screenwriting was helpful in writing Young Adult novels, as they
share a similar sense of pacing, plus an emphasis on dialogue and character
voice. I started BRUISED in 2009, and spent about a year and a half writing and
revising it. It went on submission in the second part of 2010, sold in January
of 2011 to Abrams/Amulet Books, and came out March 2013! Whee!
Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's
writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical
writing day schedule.
Sarah: I've got a 14-month-old son and a day job, so
writing days are actually writing nights. When I'm not staggeringly
tired, I write between 8 and 10pm and I tend to track my progress by pages, not
word count. I also have a habit of waking in the middle of the night and
speaking into my iPhone's recorder for turns of phrase or ideas that I don't
want to forget. (When I listen to my notes later, I'm always disturbed by how my
voice sounds.) Glamorous, eh?
Please tell us about your novel, BRUISED, and what we can expect from your
characters.
Sarah: 16-year-old Imogen Malley has spent most of her life in the
shadow of her popular older brother, but there is one area in which she excels:
martial arts. As the youngest black belt at her dojang, Imogen loves
assistant-teaching more than anything in the world, and she plans to open her
own martial arts studio one day. Per the Tae Kwon Do student creed, she's come
to think of herself as a potential hero, a defender of the weak, and a champion
of justice. Her confidence disappears when she freezes up at an armed robbery
that leaves another person dead. Guilt-stricken and numb, Imogen is left to
wonder if martial arts failed her, or she failed it. Estranged from her family
and friends, who don't understand why she's still beating herself up for failing
to act, she struggles to get by on her own, and decides to prove herself by
teaching another student how to fight – no holds barred, no protective gear, no
rules.
With
this book, I wanted to explore the question: when you're not who you thought you
were, then who are you?
Nice! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us
about it.
Sarah: Yes! My next Young Adult book is called HIGH AND DRY (Amulet Books, 2014). It's a mystery about a high school soccer player, a boy this time, who finds himself in a metaphorical quicksand of never-ending trouble. He's framed for a stranger's near-fatal overdose at a party, blackmailed into finding a missing flashdrive that everyone at school seems anxious to suppress, and pressured to throw a big soccer match, all while trying to win back the girl of his dreams and escape a past that may be responsible for all his current problems.
Sounds terrific. Would you like to close with a writing
tip?
Sarah: In screenwriting classes, we memorized the phrase, "Enter the
scene late; get out early," meaning, write only the most important moments. But
for books, I think it's a good idea to have downtime between scenes of
excitement so your reader can catch his or her breath!
Great advice, and thank you for visiting with us!
Now, our giveaway. To be entered to win a signed, hardcover copy of BRUISED, simply tell us a sport or after-school activity that you participated in while in high school (past or present).
Check back on Monday, April 1st to learn the winner's name.
