Monday 13 June 2011

Back To The Future ... Sort Of

I hope you enjoyed my interview with Amanda posted on May 19th. Check it out if you never got a chance to read it!

In a past writing life (circa 1996-98), I had written a plump, juicy paranormal romance about a Shapeshifter and New York City police detective before Stephenie Meyers ever had a Twilight in her eye. This story caught the interest of a literary agent, but that’s another story, and another blog post. My first attempt at writing for young adults was in 2000. Yeah, I know, that’s a hop, skip and jump into the present time, isn’t it?  The title has since morphed from THE TIMELINERS: THE ARCH OF ATLANTIS to THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS AND THE ARCH OF ATLANTIS. I’ve made many changes to this manuscript. Good changes, I believe. The one thing I’ve never changed was my character’s point of view. I wanted to give ALL the kids in my story their own voice. So with each chapter starts a new point of view. The adults are mainly there to help move the story along, while the kids are the stars and the problem solvers, as it should be in any young adult story.
During the past eleven years, I’ve also noticed how many changes have taken place in our ‘culture’. Stuff like cell phones. Stuff like texting. Stuff like Skype. And don’t get me started on iPods, the huge assortment of mp3 players, laptops, notebooks, ereaders and electronic tablets like iPads. The most difficult thing I found was taking an out-of-date manuscript and updating it. Making sure I had all the gadgets tweens and teens were using, needed or wanted. It was a challenge, yet fun at the same time because I got to learn all about what the ‘NOW’ generation is tuned into. The thing is, electronic gadgets – much like us – keep evolving and changing.

And that’s the plus side about writing a time travel book/series – my characters can’t access or use their electronic stuff. No cell phones. No texting. No Social Network. Egad! How will they cope? I guess you’ll have to stay tuned and see.

In my next blog, I’ll pass the baton over to Jordan Jensen.  

No comments:

Post a Comment