A Dream Within A Dream: In A Handful of Dust Blog Tour

1. What inspired you to write the Not a Drop to Drink series? 

I watched a documentary called Blue Gold, which is about a projected shortage of potable water on our planet due to overpopulation. It was a horrible thought --- we all need water to survive, and it's something we can't make. I went to bed very grateful for the small pond in my backyard, and that night I dreamt I was teaching a young girl how to operate a rifle so that she could help me protect the pond. I woke up and thought, "Hey... I wrote a book in my head just now." DUST is the organic growth past that, the question of what is going on in the world outside of Ohio and an attempt to tell the story from a survivor who isn’t a badass. 

2. Did you have to do any research for the series? 

Yes, a ton. For DUST it was polio, desalinization, architecture, mountain lions, elevations in the US… I could go on and on. 

3. Do you ever base characters on yourself or people you know? 

Never. That way lies madness. 

4. What made you want to become an author? 

I’ve always wanted to be an author. Like most writers I started as a reader. Often if I didn’t like the ending of a book I’d just make up my own. I grew past that into writing my own stories. 

5. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? 

Do your research. It’s not just writing. You have to know how the industry works, what the market is like, how to correctly use social media. We’re not just writers anymore –we’re marketers and public figures. At times it’s frustrating, but that’s the case. 

6. What's up next for you? 

I have a Gothic historical thriller coming from Katherine Tegen 9/22/15, set in an insane asylum around 1890, titled A MADNESS SO DISCREET. 

Source: http://adreamwithindream.blogspot.com/2014...

How To Survive The Apocalpyse While Also Road Tripping

When I sat down to write a companion novel to Not A Drop To Drink, I was a little flummoxed. I’d always intended it to stand alone, and I’d said what I had to say within the confines of that first book. Inspiration can be tricky, but a seed was planted when I considered the fact that DRINK takes place in a tiny space, only a few square miles. What does the rest of the country look like? And what would it take to drag Lynn away from from her beloved pond?

I knew only one thing was more important to her than the pond – Lucy. But… a post-apocalyptic road trip with a little kid? No way. I try not to make my characters do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do myself, so I ix nayed that thought – and another grew in its place. What if Lucy isn’t a little kid anymore, what would she be like as a teen? And what would Lynn be like as an adult?

Answer: A smartass and a badass.

What a fun pair to hit the road with.

Without too many spoilers, I’ll tell you that they set out from Ohio because the pond is no longer safe, and Lucy’s safety is threatened. With home behind them and the horizon very far away, their feet get tired, their skin gets burned, and their personalities find ways to meld and jar – just like any road trip with family.
Except, most of us don’t have to pack weaponry alongside our sunscreen.
 

5 Things to Pack for the Post-Apocalyptic Road Trip

 
1) Good shoes. Got a blister? awww…. Except, yeah, that could actually become a huge problem when it gets infected, you get gangrene, and your foot falls off.

2) Ye Old Witching Stick. You’ll need this. Find one that looks like the flux capacitor and you’re good.

3) A map. Yes, like a paper one. There’s not an app for that anymore. But you should definitely use THIS MAP.

4) Honey. Wait, what? Yes, it has healing properties that will come in handy when you get, you know… shot.

5) Extra clothes. Because you’re going to smell. Really bad. And you might use that extra t-shirt for sopping up blood. Ahem.

 

Source: https://www.epicreads.com/blog/how-to-surv...

SLJ: Q & A with Librarian and YA Author Mindy McGinnis

Although Not a Drop to Drink (HarperCollins 2013) is Mindy McGinnis’s first novel, calling her a rookie or a novice would be misleading. She’s been writing since her college days at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, and has since had her short stories published in multiple anthologies. She also publishes a blog and contributes to multiple writers groups and websites. When she’s not writing, McGinnis is surrounded by books as an assistant librarian.

The saying is to write what you know, and McGinnis knows young adults after working in public schools for more than a decade. She also knows about living in a rural environment, and while the location in the novel isn’t specifically named, it might not be such a far stretch from the area in Ohio where she grew up.

There are a few important differences, however, between the novel and McGinnis’s experience. Perhaps most importantly, while the main character—16-year-old Lynn—is a good shot and unafraid to kill, the author has never shot anyone herself. Moreover, while the future depicted in Not a Drop to Drinki s harsh, McGinnis’s future is a bright one.

SLJ talked to McGinnis about the inspiration that led to the book, how her career as a librarian has helped her writing, and what she’s working on next. 

How long have you been writing? When did you become a librarian? 

I've been writing since college, when I decided that it was time to stop saying I "wanted" to be a writer and actually become one. It's not that easy, though. There was a solid decade of rejection before landing my agent with the query for Not a Drop to Drink. I've been working in the public schools for 12 years now, but I don't actually have my MLS—I'm an aide. It's still a goal, but right now I'm focused on my writing.

 What books do you like to read? Did those books influence your novels? If so, how? 

I'll read anything and everything. At the moment, I'm reading Victorian novels. I'm not sure that I have any influences as far as writing goes, but I definitely will read certain authors and think that I'd love to be as good as they are someday. 

What were the inspirations behind Not a Drop to Drink? 

I watched a documentary called Blue Gold, which is about a projected shortage of potable water on our planet due to overpopulation. It was a horrible thought—we all need water to survive, and it's something we can't make. I went to bed very grateful for the small pond in my backyard, and that night I dreamt I was teaching a young girl how to operate a rifle so that she could help me protect the pond. I woke up and thought, "Hey... I wrote a book in my head just now." 

Why do you think that young adult novels about dystopian futures, like the “Hunger Games” (Scholastic) series and Veronica Roth’s Divergent (HarperCollins, 2011), are so popular? 

I think that dystopians and post-apocs in general say a lot about humanity. In a world like the one in Drink, there are no social norms to adhere to. Everyone is free to behave exactly as they please. It says a lot about who you are at your core in a situation like that, and I think everyone is curious how they themselves would behave in these worlds. 

Was working as a YA librarian helpful as you wrote your book? 

It's helpful in that I can see what genres they are enjoying and which ones they are sick of, but in the end, if there is a story percolating in my brain that's the one I need to write, trend or not. 

Have any of the students in your school read the book? What was their reaction to it? 

Yes! A lot of my kids have read Drink. In fact, we're running our circulation numbers for the end of the year, and I found out yesterday Drink was the top circulated fiction title in grades seven through 12. So I feel pretty good about that. The reaction I get the most is shock that there are some bad words. They must think I don't know those. 

Do you have a routine that you stick with when you sit down to write? What's your process like? 

I write at night, usually after 10 p.m., and I write in bed. I tend to set a goal of about 1,000 words per night, or 5,000 for the week. I do zero plotting. I simply sit and write the book linearly, night after night, until I reach the end. It makes for a sloppy first draft, but I find it to be the most organic way of writing. 

What writers do you admire and/or strive to emulate? 

A lot of the writers that I really enjoy are the ones that practice economy of words. They leave much to the reader to fill in, which is the best way to engage them. I also love writers who take fairly ludicrous plots and/or situations and make you buy into them completely. Anything by Margo Lanagan falls under this category. If you try to explain Tender Morsels (Ember, 2008), you'll look like an insane person, but if you simply hand the book to a reader, they're sucked in. 

What do you think the future holds for the generation that reads your work? Do you really see things as heading to that dark of a place? 

It's really hard to say. I certainly don't want to be the Orwell of water, but we are taxing our planet in ways that it can't recover from easily. There's always hope as long as there's respect for the situation, but once that's gone... 

How much of yourself (or the people you love) goes into the characters you create?  

Hardly any. I think it's fairly dangerous to base characters on people you know in real life. 

Are there plans for a third book in the series? What's next for you?  

As of right now, no. In a Handful of Dust will be out in September. It's a companion novel that takes place 10 years after the events of Drink. I think there's probably room to write a third if I feel so inclined, but at the moment, I'm disengaged from that. I'm currently working on a gothic historical set in an insane asylum. So I've definitely switched gears.

Source: https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=q-a-with-...

Castle Maguire Book Blog: Interview with Mindy McGinnis

I am thrilled to be presenting an interview with YA author Mindy McGinnis on my blog. As readers will know, her debut novel, Not a Drop to Drink, was one of my favorite new books of 2013. I reviewed it previously here.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mindy at the Northern Ohio SCBWI conference last year which is when I first became aware of her work, and was pleased to find out she's continuing the Not a Drop Series with a forthcoming companion novel later this year (more below).

Here's what Mindy had to say when I asked her some questions about her work ...

KC: I loved your debut novel, Not a Drop to Drink, which deals with a dystopian future world with precious little water. Your heroine, Lynn, guards her pond with her life. It’s a unique take on a dystopian future. What gave you the idea for the book? 

MM: I watched a documentary called Blue Gold, which is about a projected shortage of potable water on our planet due to overpopulation. It was a horrible thought - we all need water to survive, and it's something we can't make. I went to bed very grateful for the small pond in my backyard, and that night I dreamt I was teaching a young girl how to operate a rifle so that she could help me protect the pond. I woke up and thought, "Hey... I wrote a book in my head just now."

KC: As a character, Lynn is like a number of recent YA protagonists who have had to sacrifice emotion for survival. She has been largely starved of love and finds it difficult to trust anyone else, but eventually is forced to confront these emotions. What were the main challenges for you in writing a character like this? 

MM: She's very cut off, by necessity. Feelings for other human beings is what will make her hesitate to pull the trigger, and she needs to do exactly that in order to survive. Mother has raised her without empathy, but as it's a natural human state it's something that grows in her once she branches out socially. I think the biggest challenge was writing someone who can coolly snipe a perfect stranger and still make her likable. Showing that she truly believed she had to do this in order to survive was the key.

KC: Some would argue that the YA dystopian market is getting overcrowded. How did you overcome this perception in your path to publication? Or was it not a problem in practice?

MM: I agree that dystops are everywhere and people are more than likely sick of them. Luckily, DRINK evades the genre label because it's not a dystopian in the true sense of the word. There is no overarching evil government or rebellion or uprising... this is simply a survival story. That came through to the editors when this was on submission. At first I was worried that the backlash would be there, but I've had lovely reviews and readers are enjoying it, calling it a fresh take on a tired genre. That makes me feel pretty good.

KC: At least one of your reviewers has compared your story to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, but set in a dystopian future. How do you feel about that comparison? 

MM: Awesome! I love Laura Ingalls Wilder, and survival stories in general. I think it's a good comparison, as a lot of DRINK deals with the everyday challenges that face Lynn. Chores. Work. Water. Wood. Survival. It's not all gunfights and heartbreak and drama. Somebody has to cook supper.

KC: I was thrilled to hear we can expect a new book from you this year that may be part of the Not a Drop to Drink world, although not necessarily a sequel to it. Is there anything else you can tell us about the new book?

MM: I'm excited that people are excited! :) I can't say much yet, but the book is titled IN A HANDFUL OF DUST and will be available September 23, 2014. It's not a sequel, but rather a companion novel.... and that's really about all I can say right now!

KC:  Who are your favorite YA authors today? What are you reading now? 

MM: My favorite YA authors would be Margo Lanagan, Rick Yancey and Patrick Ness. I tend to the darker stuff. Also within my 2013 debut year my favorite titles were by Stephanie Kuehn and Kate Karyus Quinn. Like I said, the dark!

Source: http://kcmaguire.com/1/post/2014/01/author...

Route 19 Writers: Five Favorite Things

rt19 logo_1.jpg

Welcome to January’s version of - First Friday - Five Favorite Things - Debut Novel Day. In this monthly series, we ask five simple questions about a debut novel that will hopefully entice anyone reading this post to pick up the novel and read it themselves, and/or give them at a glance some insight into the author's writing style and voice as well as how some of the characters might think or act. We do this by presenting, first, answers to our Five Favorite Things, followed by the author's answers in a follow-up post.

This month we're pleased to highlight debut YA novelist, Mindy McGinnis and her novel, Not a Drop to Drink.  I couldn’t put this one down, and when I was called away, the story stayed with me until I was able to once again stick my nose back in the book. We hope you enjoy our answers and encourage you to buy the book.

1) What is your favorite line or paragraph from the novel as it relates to the main character's development and/or growth?

Dave – In order to be able to better grasp of the feelings and emotions of Lynn, the main character, who lives in a time when water is scarce and humans must take extreme measures to protect what is theirs, I chose to highlight two particular sections of the novel, one in the beginning and one in the end.

Lynn pulled her own rifle into her lap, the cold metal bringing more comfort to her than Mother’s touch ever could. Her finger curled around the trigger, hugging it tight in the life-taking embrace that she’d learned so long ago. She slipped onto her belly beside Mother, watching the sunlight bounce off the twin barrels of their rifles. Waiting was always the worst part, the crack of the rifle a relief.

(This next section came from later on in the novel and shows a contrast in Lynn’s thinking… The fact that she would even remotely consider assisting a stranger.)

Self-reliance had been Mother’s mantra. Nothing was more important than themselves and their belongings. Allowing Lucy into their home had gone against everything she’d learned, but leaving the little girl to die beside the stream went against something that was simply known and had never been taught. She’d shared the thought with Stebbs after they worked on Lucy’s feet. He told her it was her conscience, guiding her to the right decision.

Marcy – Lynn has been taught by her Mother that survival is the most important part of their life. Survival skills have been a part of Lynn’s life for as long as she can remember. If someone comes on her and Mother’s property to take their water, they would shoot to kill. Now Lynn is rethinking how she reacts to trespassers. In this paragraph, Lynn reflects on a boy that she killed because he walked on her property and compares this to another man who came on the property, but she decides to spare his life. This demonstrates how her character is growing and evolving.

She could see what Mother had meant about the dead boy whose boots she’d taken. Even starving, Eli had a sparkle of youth about him, though he lacked the paunchy cheeks of the boy she’d shot. Lynn balanced the two faces in her mind, trying to tack down what exactly made them so different. In the end, she decided Eli was just easier to look at. For the first time since her death, Lynn dreamt of a face other than Mothers.

2) What is your favorite chapter ending or cliffhanger?

Dave - For me, this was easy. Lynn had resisted for so long getting close to someone. She’d resisted dropping her guard for fear someone would take over what was rightly hers. And now, when she finally allows that to happen, one of her worst fears results.

Her heart was beating so hard, she almost didn’t hear the footsteps on the roof. Lynn instinctively dropped down, hand clutched protectively around the thermometer. For a moment there was nothing, only the sound of her own blood pumping through her veins. Then she heard it again.

Someone was on her roof.

Marcy – You know I usually go for the chapter ending that is the cliffhanger – like Dave’s above, but this time, I’m picking a chapter ending that captures the innocence of a child. Young Lucy, a child Lynn has taken in, talks Lynn out of shooting a man because he has come on to the property. Lynn has a conversation with the man and ends up helping him. This last line fosters hope.

Lucy tilted her head against the window to watch the stranger go, her breath making a fog against the cold glass, until they could see him no more.

“Good luck, mister,” she said, her words filled with the hope of a child.”

3) Who is your favorite secondary character and why?

Dave – Stebbs is my favorite secondary character. He possesses the knowledge of what life was like before hard times hit. Because of that, I believe he’s able to convey to Lynn a sense of humanity that was needed, is needed, to survive.

Stebbs gave Lynn a hard look. “I know you’re just saying what you think your mother would’ve wanted. Seems to me you’re starting to grow a heart on your own, but every now and then you think of her and it kills it dead like the frost to a seedling. You weren’t taught any different, but it used to be that people helped each other.”

“Used to be a lot of things different.”

“But people are still the same,” Stebbs said, and edge on his voice that usually wasn’t there. “And all everyone is trying to do is survive.”

Marcy –  Stebbs is my favorite character. His quiet, gentle soul helps guide Lynn with choices. Besides helping her survive, he teaches her a great deal about life and people.

Dave and I think so much alike. I had also picked the paragraph above, but will choose two different ones instead.

“So I guess I’ll go ahead and tell you – don’t be making the same mistakes she did. Or hell, the ones I did either. Don’t be afraid to care for that little one, and don’t be too proud to let that boy know what you feel. Otherwise you might end up with neither of ‘em.”

“I’m asking you to be more than she was. Be strong, and be good. Be loved, and be thankful for it. No regrets.”

4) What is your favorite line or paragraph of description?

Dave – I chose this particular section from early on in the novel. I think it gives such insight into how Lynn thought, how she was taught to think by her mother, how she felt she needed to think in order to survive.

Twilight had fallen by the time Lynn had made a binding for her ankle out of Mother’s shirt. She felt like a vulture as she stripped Mother’s body of anything useful - knife, matches, even the hair tie she been using. Nothing should be wasted. Scavenging from bodies was nothing new to Lynn, but taking Mother’s shirt from her as a cold sleet began brought her to her knees. She cried in long, gasping breaths that ripped through her body. Her knees slipped in the blood-soaked mud, and she fell face forward into the muck, where she saw her rifle.

She crawled toward it, wiping it as clean as she could on her shirt…

Marcy – This paragraph gives the reader a deep look inside the main character’s head in the beginning of the story. And for me this line really shows the stark contrast of Lynn’s mindset in the beginning of the novel and then how her character grows and develops as we get deeper into the novel. And now as I’m reading through the post, I see Dave picked this same paragraph for his answer above.

Lynn pulled her own rifle into her lap, the cold metal bringing more comfort to her than Mother’s touch ever could. Her finger curled around the trigger, hugging it tight in the life-taking embrace that she’d learned so long ago. She slipped onto her belly beside Mother, watching the sunlight bounce off the twin barrels of their rifles. Waiting was always the worst part, the crack of the rifle a relief.

5) What is your favorite line of dialogue?

Dave –  I picked this line because it comes at a time when Lynn, who is just learning how to trust people, tries to teach a basic lesson of how to survive living in the country to someone she has just met.

“It’s not like the city out here,” Lynn said. “You’re better off to distrust everyone at first and make them earn it.”

“Then it’s exactly like the city.”

Marcy –  I thought this line was so sweet. Eli is so patient with Lynn. She hasn’t been around people and doesn’t really quite understand how human nature works. Eli asks permission for a kiss. Lynn leans forward and pecks him on the cheek, which was her Mother’s ultimate show of affection. Here is Eli’s response.

“I’m not going to kiss you like your mother. C’mere.”



Source: http://rt19writers.blogspot.com/2014/01/fi...

I Write For Apples: Query, Sign, Submit

QUERY

What resources and websites did you use when querying?

I used AgentQuery and QueryTracker extensively during the process for researching agents and their guidelines. AgentQuery and it’s forum site AgentQuery Connect are both free. Query Tracker has a free version, but the paid is very cheap for what it offers.

How did you keep track of your queries?

I used QueryTracker for this. Before I discovered it I simply had an email folder that I would put sent queries in, along with the rejections when they inevitably came. It was a perfectly fine way of doing it, but once the rejections started piling up I’d have to scroll through pages to see who I had already queried, who I was waiting for responses from, etc. QueryTracker offers a much cleaner and more efficient way of doing this.

Had you queried other books before the one that got you your agent?

Yes! I’d been querying various books on and off for almost ten years before I landed Adriann Ranta for my agent. I think officially I’d queried four books previous to NOT A DROP TO DRINK. The one I had officially shelved before moving on to DRINK had been form rejected over 130 times.

SIGN

Did you sign as a client of a career agent or on a book-by-book basis?

Career! I personally prefer this because I want to know that my agent is pulling for me, not just for my book. She’s invested in my career, and our success is tied together now, not just for a determined amount of time. It’s like the difference between dating and being married.

How editorial is your agent? Is it what you expected?

Adriann definitely wants to make sure that we are sending out the best possible version of my book before putting it in front of an editor. We actually went through a couple of revisions on DRINK, even during the submission process, based on the consistent feedback we were getting from editors who had passed.

At what point do you share new story ideas with your agent?

I ran a few ideas past Adriann during our initial phone call when she offered representation. I felt it was important to show that I had other ideas to prove that I wasn’t a one-trick pony, but also I needed to know on her end that she was interested in what I had to produce beyond the one novel she’d fallen for.

SUBMIT

What is a typical first round like once a writer goes on submission?

Your agent sends you a list of the editors and houses that your manuscript is with and then… you both wait. It’s not that much different from querying, just with higher stakes.

Do you see the feedback from editors?

From my conversations with other authors I know that some agents do and some agents don’t share the reactions with the authors. Adriann has always forwarded the editor’s responses to me directly, so that I know exactly what is going on – good or bad. I appreciate that level of candidness. Yes, authors are sensitive people and it can hurt to see the things that killed the manuscript for a particular editor, but then the next one will say how those things were what they loved about it, while different aspects threw them off. So, it’s good to know that subjectivity is playing a major part even that high on the ladder.

How much contact do you have with your agent when you are out on submission?

Quite a bit. Adriann is very good about sending passes or indications of interest along to me right away. This is one of the things I love about working with an agent in a boutique agency. When I email Adriann, I hear back that day. Usually within the hour.

Source: http://www.writeforapples.com/2014/01/quer...