What's Fresh with Paula Chase Hyman's Del Rio Bay Series!

It's junior year at Del Rio Bay High, and from near and far, the guys are taking center stage...

Now that Mina's boyfriend Brian is off to Duke University, life in Del Rio Bay is lonely. And Brian's busy schedule as a Duke baller isn't helping. As the season heats up and the phone calls get fewer, Mina's insecurity increases—and so does Brian's impatience with it. But he's not the only guy in the clique dealing with craziness.
Michael's passion for fashion has led to a chance to attend a special creative arts program in D.C. He knows he should jump on it, but leaving home is harder than he thought. He turns to his dancer friend Rob for support, but Rob's presence around the clique triggers star athlete JZ's feelings of homophobia. As JZ's discomfort simmers, his feelings get the best of him when he finds himself seriously attracted to Jacinta—and discovers she's on a different page.

With relationships in the balance and friendships at risk, Flipping the Script (Del Rio Bay Novels) challenges the guys to step up when the stakes are high.

Hello, Paula, it is a pleasure to have you back with us on YA Fresh for an interview about the entire Del Rio Bay series! Please tell us about your series and the latest novel in the set.

Paula: I think this is the first time I've had to summarize the entire series. Wow, big reality check that it's over. The Del Rio Bay series is about six friends and the trials their friendship endures as they mature from freshman to juniors. It's sort of like giving a middle school reader a chance to look in a crystal ball and see what high school could (probably will) do to their friendships. You go in thinking friendships, tastes, values are the same but they morph in high school big time.

The last book, Flipping The Script (Dafina, April '09) is the final Act and centers primarily on the male characters as one comes to grips with how his sexuality will impact the circle.

What was the most difficult part of writing this series?

Paula: Maybe it's easy to say this now, because it's over, but writing the series was easy. Maybe too easy because now that I've moved on I'm realizing how hard writing is. That's weird isn't it? I've written five books and now it's hard! But I got to dwell in the heads of these characters so long, thinking like them was second nature. Honestly, the hardest part was moving on and quieting their voices. I wanted to write a sixth book, but my publisher passed. But man, try telling the characters that the curtain has fallen. That was hard.

Could you tell us what type of promotion you or your publisher have done for your series?

Paula: You know how writers are always warning newbies that promo will not fall primarily in their laps? Well, I'm a prime example of that happening. Although my publisher paid for me to attend BEA, one year, and they secured several major reviews (Booklist, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus) I'd say 95% of the promo was initiated and implemented by me. My largest promo tool is my website and that's where I sunk a good portion of my marketing dollars. However, I also networked heavily in the kiddie lit community among gatekeepers to build good word-of-mouth for the series. I did a lot of library visits for the first three books and a few literary festivals. But now, my promo is primarily online - blog tours, guest blogging and ads on teen friendly sites like teensreadtoo and blackteensread2.

Please list one similarity and one difference between yourself and your main character.

Paula: Mina and I grew up in the exact same environment. The Woods, where she lives and DRB High, are both based on my own neighborhood and high school. But where we're different is Mina's strength. The things she endures, I think she handles way better than I would have at her age. I wanted her to be vulnerable, like many teens are when they're learning about the world around them, but I also wanted her to have this quirky sense of resiliency that I never truly possessed as a teen.

Thank you again for sharing, Paula! I wish you the best on your next writing project! Could you please tell us one of your favorite lines from one or each of the books?

Paula: So Not The Drama - Popularity is a drug. You get a taste of it and suddenly the looks you get from people, the way you get treated, the things you get away with…you need it. You honest to God, need it. (I love this line because it sets the tone for this book but not the entire series, like some people assume)

Don't Get It Twisted - Having him all up on her was like being snuggled inside a freshly washed sweatshirt. (Is it just me? I love the smell and feel of a newly washed hoodie!)

That's What's Up - Yes, I’m growing it out. Changing my style to go along with my new status as Cinny without Raheem, she thought silently in the quiet darkness. (The character is talking about changing her hair to reinforce that she's moving on as she contemplates breaking up with her BF. I love the simplicity of the thought that you can do one as easily as the other)

Who You Wit'?- And Jacinta still remembered her father watching Taquon walk down the street in a bikini top and bootie shorts, stretch marked stomach on
display, shaking his head wondering aloud where her parents had been while she’d been out having sex with a boyfriend who was fifteen but still only in seventh grade. (I love this line because even as adults we sometimes flash back to something our parents said to us and the flash is so strong it's like reliving it...even when what was said seems so throwaway at the time)

Paula Chase Hyman's Del Rio Bay series helped launch Kensington Books YA line in March 2007. Dedicated to working with teens, she co-founded the Committed Black Women in 1993, a high school mentoring group and coached a competitive squad for five years.

She recently co-founded The Brown Bookshelf with five author friends. The site is dedicated to honoring vanguard authors and showcasing the myriad of talented African American children’s lit authors and illustrators flying under-the-radar of librarians, parents and teachers. Visit her at www.paulachasehyman.com and www.thebrownbookshelf.com.

What's Fresh with Paula Chase Hyman's Don't Get It Twisted

Desperate times called for sneaky measures.

Mina Mooney's parents are killing her social life. It's time to fight back.

Mina's fantasy has finally come true. Craig Simpson-the hottest guy at Del Rio Bay High-has just invited her to the biggest bash of the year. There's just one hitch: her parents aren't down with letting Mina date a boy they know nothing about. Now she has thirteen days to give her parents a crash course in Craig, or else figure out how to get her fine self to the soiree-without alerting mom and pops. Whatever she decides, she's going to need reinforcements.

Unfortunately, her peeps are caught up in their own twists and turns. Jacinta's boyfriend has been getting on her nerves about spending so much time in `burbville, while rich and sheltered Kelly just might kick it with Angel, a cute, slick-talking hustler from the projects. And ever since JZ made varsity basketball, his mind has been glued to the game instead of schoolwork, which means his dad might make him drop all sports. As for Mina, if she doesn't succeed in enlisting the help of her friends-and fast-her social life just might hit skid row.

A fast-paced novel about loyalty, love, and friendship, Don't Get It Twisted shows what it takes to have a blast while breaking all the rules.

Hello Paula, thanks for joining us again to chat about the second book in your Del Rio Bay Clique series! Please tell us about your latest novel.

Paula: Don’t Get It Twisted (Dafina for Young Readers, December 2007) is the second in my Del Rio Bay Clique series. It gives readers a peek into the clique's foray into dating. And I dip my toe into the issue of student athletics and cheating. We find the MC, Mina, scheming to go on a date with her crush, Craig, to a coveted party thrown by the school's football team. She draws her friends into the plans only to have a monkey wrench thrown into her romantic endeavors by a newcomer. That same newcomer has her friend JZ, sweating over his spot on the Varsity basketball team. In the end, both JZ and Mina find themselves on the 'by any means necessary' road to trouble.

Could you share a bit about the main character of your book and what makes her unique?

Paula: Although there are six friends whose stories are told within my books, Mina Mooney is definitely the main character. Mina’s a cock-eyed optimist, a true teen idealist who often finds herself in situations where realism is hit home over and over. Yet, every book she emerges unscathed, still optimistic. It’s what I love about her. It’s not that she’s remaining “innocent” and oblivious. Quite the opposite. The lessons she learns help her grow, yet she truly believes that there’s no reason a bad situation can’t be turned around in her favor.

How did the idea for this novel come about?

Paula: The characters were still speaking to me once I finished So Not The Drama in 2003, so I kept on writing. Don’t Get It Twisted was the result. However, once the book was acquired by Kensington Books/Dafina for Young Readers I did heavy re-writes because the characters had changed from the original story. Still, the essence of the story is the same.

What do you hope readers will gain from reading this novel?

Paula: I write books for readers to escape into. I want readers to get lost in Del Rio Bay and feel as if they’ve been walking beside my characters. The situations my characters face are real, yet turned up a notch for the fun of drama. So I never set out with the thought of having the reader gain anything other than satisfaction that they’ve read a good story.

Great, Paula! Thanks for sharing. Best of luck with Don't Get It Twisted. Would you like to close with a novel you highly recommend and why?

Paula: Recently, I read Thirteen Reasons Why, By Jay Asher. I recommend it because it’s the sort of book that will evoke emotion and discussion. For me, it evoked frustration with the MC. But I’ve been a part of several online threads about it and the discussions have been so enlightening. It’s so powerful when a book can springboard discussion – especially about a topic as sensitive as teen suicide.

Author, Paula Chase has written for Girls Life, Sweet 16 and Baltimore Magazine, among others. In addition to her background in corporate communications and public relations, she founded the Committed Black Women, a youth mentoring program for 14-17 year old girls. Her Del Rio Bay Clique series helped launch Kensington Books YA line and joins a burgeoning number of YA books targeted to multi-culti suburbanite teens. Chase calls her brand of teen literature, Hip Lit, a nod to the diversity spawned by the MTV-watching, 106 & Park-ing, pop culture hungry hip hop generation. The author lives in Maryland with her husband and two daughters. Learn more about the series and author at www.paulachasehyman.com.

What's Fresh with Paula Chase's So Not The Drama

Hoping Del Rio Bay High will live up to her greatest expectations, Mina has big plans for infiltrating the school's social glitterati. After all, she's been mad popular for as long as she can remember--and she isn't about to go from Middle School Royalty to High School Ambiguity. But Del Rio Bay is a big school, so it'll take some plotting to avoid getting lost in the crowd. Good thing she isn't afraid of a little hard work--and that her playground peeps, Lizzie, Michael, and JZ, have got her back.

But it isn't long before Mina's big plans for securing her social status take a back seat to some drama that was so not expected. Lizzie's scored an invite from the beautiful people that Mina can only dream about, and not only is Michael tripping about being back in school, but now he's beefing with JZ. Worst of all, Mina's sociology class experiment to rid the world--or at least Del Rio Bay High--of prejudice is about to backfire. Because it might just mean she'll have to rid herself of her very best friend...

Hi Paula, thanks so much for agreeing to chat! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale, So Not The Drama to Kensington?

Paula: I’ve always been a writer. Even though I grew up quite addicted to both the television and radio, writing and reading were hobbies of mine. I even majored in Journalism for a whole semester before switching to public relations. I felt then, and now, that writing could be a big part of my profession without actually being a full-time writer. I was right. Many of my PR jobs called for lots of writing, speeches, articles, marketing material etc…

The very first article I was ever paid for was my local community paper, The Severna Park Voice. From there, it went quickly as I began writing for Sweet 16 and Girls Life. So Not The Drama is my first manuscript and the first novel I’ve ever sold.

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.

Paula: I’ve noticed that I don’t have a routine…at least not one that’s consistent. When I was writing full-time, which I only did for a year, I wrote eight to ten hours a day. Then, for about two years I wrote only late night. The biggest problem with night-writing – fatigue. By the time the entire house is quiet I’m dead tired. So this time around, I get up early (and early just means before the kids) and write for as long as the house is quiet. Most times that’s an hour to 90 minutes. I love getting the writing done early. #1 It eliminates any writer’s guilt later on in the day and #2 Often it jump starts my brain and I’ll continue to come up with story bits throughout the day, which I capture in a variety of notebooks. I’m swimming in notebooks!

Please tell us about your novel So Not The Drama and what we can expect from your characters.

Paula: So Not The Drama is the first in my Del Rio Bay Clique series being released by Kensington. The book hit shelves March 7th. It’s about the transition from middle school to high school and how it impacts our friendships as each person begins to start down a new avenue. Also, at the heart of it, it’s about the awakening of the main character, a friendship loving but popularity obsessed freshman.

I see my job, as the author, to put my characters into typical teen situations and see how they get themselves out of it. What the reader will find is, sometimes they grow from those experiences and other times they don’t. I think that’s realistic. Some people take longer to change than others.

Great, Paula! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Paula: Kensington acquired a total of five books in the series. Drama’s on shelves, Don’t Get It Twisted comes out in December and I’m writing the third book, That’s What’s Up! now.

I have another standalone book, for older teens, that I’ve neglected for about a year. I really want to give it my attention but honestly I don’t know that I’ll have time until I’ve finished at least the fourth book in the Del Rio Bay Clique series.

Thanks so much for sharing, Paula, I wish you the best with your series. Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Paula: Writing is neither the easiest or hardest profession. But it’s one of the few where without the passion for it, you’ll lose your taste for it very quickly. I’m never quite sure where the words come from, but I suspect my passion for it, my characters and this genre are part of the formula.

Author, Paula Chase has written for Girls Life, Sweet 16 and Baltimore Magazine, among others. In addition to her background in corporate communications and public relations, she founded the Committed Black Women, a youth mentoring program for 14-17 year old girls. Her Del Rio Bay Clique series helped launch Kensington Books YA line and joins a burgeoning number of YA books targeted to multi-culti suburbanite teens. Chase calls her brand of teen literature, Hip Lit, a nod to the diversity spawned by the MTV-watching, 106 & Park-ing, pop culture hungry hip hop generation. The author lives in Maryland with her husband and two daughters. Learn more about the series and author at www.paulachasehyman.com.