There is a fine line between telling and showing. Much of the gift in telling a story has been lost in our society because too many people want to show it all and forget to leave some of the plot in the telling. It takes a well-crafted combination of the two to develop a truly good plot. Which was why I ended up at this website–fan of the authors.

I’m BLUSHING!

ally

How did I find the book? Your agent’s blog. I’m a loyal reader. And recs from both Carly and Diana Peterfreund.–I think you blog toured with her a long time ago. Anyway, I bought, I loved…the rest is history!

Just wanted to mention that I picked up THE LIGHTNING THIEF at the bookstore because it’s been chosen by the State of Florida as required reading for 5th graders. My daughter, unfortunately, is in the 4th grade and has her own really extensive list. But I bought TLT anyway because it looked so interesting. With your rec, I’ll make sure I read it.

But not before I read CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY! It’s very high on the TBR! Congrats on making the NYT!

Yes, exactly! Everything the fugitive does is prompted by trying to find that man. It drives him and, by extension, the story.

Not every book or story NEEDS a MacGuffin, by the way, but they do come in handy sometimes. The search for–and fight over–things things is a great source of conflict and great stories don’t happen without great conflict in my opinion.

Other great MacGuffin examples that I can think of off the top of my head:

The Ruby Slippers — Wizard of Oz
The little autistic boy– MERCURY RISING
The Sorcerer’s Stone — Harry Potter 1
The Maltese Falcon–THE MALTESE FALCON
The letters of transit–CASABLANCA
The NOC list–MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
The Aztec gold medallion–PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
The little Amish boy–WITNESS
Zeus’s lightning rod–THE LIGHTNING THIEF
The big green jewel–ROMANCING THE STONE

Actually, Carly, I guess I’m talking about cases that are even more abstract than that–cases where there isn’t even dialogue–just pages of the character (or really the author) talking about stuff–backstory, feelings, etc.

I equate that to sitting on an airplane next to someone who absolutely loves to talk about him/herself, so you have to spend hours staring at nothing, listening to someone drone on and on about their botched root canal.

Now, it would be different if she/he described the dentists’ office, wouldn’t it? Maybe the first sign of trouble was when the doctor’s assistant was wearing an I’m with Stupid T-shirt.

Maybe the poster on the ceiling (you know the one that you stare at when you’re leaned back in the chair) had splatters of a highly-mysterious substance on it?

Maybe the dentist’s mother showed up halfway through the procedure and demanded he agree to go out with the daughter of her bridge partner.

See the difference between the woman on the airplane TALKING ABOUT her root canal and the woman TAKING YOU TO the root canal? One is all talking, one sets a scene–with a location and characters and dialogue and action.

I wish I could give examples of books that have done this poorly (but I’m trying really, really hard not to be any tackier than I have to be). Instead, I’ll tell you a book that does it really, really well…

Even if you don’t write YA or Middle Grade fiction, I highly recommend the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books by Rick Riordan. The first is THE LIGHTNING THIEF. I’ve now read all three that are currently available (I think there are going to be five total) but every single page is a part of a scene with characters, dialogue, and most of all…CONFLICT. No rambling plane rides for Percey which is why it’s so much fun to go on trips with him.

-Ally

3. What drew you to writing YA books instead of adult fiction?

I actually started writing adult fiction (like CHEATING AT SOLITAIRE that Carly was nice enough to mention). My agent was the one who suggested I try my hand at YA since she was getting a lot of editors calling and asking for YA projects. Turns out it really clicked for me. I’m forever grateful she encouraged me to try something new.

4. How do you find inspiration for your characters? Do you meld different characteristics of several people to create one specific character or not?

Sometimes I draw inspiration for character traits from real people, but for the most part I’m finding that the characters are stemming from the story and the story is stemming from the characters. For my spy girls, I knew the main girl would be the “invisible” girl–that’s why having a boy see her was going to be so monumental. From there, I set out to give her friends that would compliment and challenge her.

5. How did you choose your protagonist and the types of conflicts s/he has to go through?

Again, I guess, the conflicts and characters just go hand in hand for me. I’m a big believer that if you have a different character you have a different story. Like can you imagine Wizard of Oz if Dorothy were street-smart? Or Lord of the Rings if Aragon and not Frodo had been responsible for taking the Ring to Mount Doom.

So for me it’s about finding a character, asking the question “what’s the worse that could happen?” And then getting out of the way while that character deals with those challenges.

-Ally