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Hi everyone! I am so excited for today’s post because it’s a very special day for my dear friend, and fellow pub-crawler, Stacey Lee. The cover for her sophomore novel, OUTRUN THE MOON, is live on Entertainment Weekly.

I adore this cover! If you haven’t seen it yet, you can (and should) check it out by clicking here.

But make sure to read the rest of this post, because Stacey has answered a few questions about titles, and plotting, and port-o-potties. She’s also giving away an advanced release copy of OUTRUN THE MOON (and trust me when I say you want to read this fabulous book).

And now to the interview with Stacey Lee!

Stephanie: Before we get to the questions on craft, I am dying to ask, how did you feel when you saw the amazing cover for OUTRUN THE MOON?

Stacey: I was in line to buy a taco, and my phone was loading extra-slowly. Seeing the cover was a like a book cover strip tease, one pixel at a time. I honestly didn’t think I would love the first cover as it took several comps to arrive at the final of UNDER A PAINTED SKY. But I think cover artist Theresa Evangelista (who did the cover for UAPS as well as many other books like Jacqueline Woodson’s BROWN GIRL DREAMING, Renée Ahdieh’s WRATH OF THE DAWN and David Arnold’s MOSQUITOLAND) really captured the drama of the setting in one take, and I loved her choices of color, too.

Stephanie: Yes! She totally captured the drama of the setting. Thinking about it now, it’s hard for me to imagine that OUTRUN THE MOON was not your original title. Could you share how you came up with a new title?

Stacey: We wanted something poetic and memorable, something out of the ordinary. I spent a week reading poetry for that perfect turn of phrase. I even stayed extra-long in a port-a-potty which had the poems of Jack London written on the inside. I was desperate. It was in the course of filling my head with poetry that the title came to me.

Stephanie: Wow—spending extra time in a port-a-potty—that is dedication. But it paid off. Whenever I tell people about OUTRUN THE MOON, almost everyone responds by saying, “I Love that title!” Is there any specific meaning behind it?

Stacey: The main character’s mother is a fortuneteller. She tells her daughter she can’t outrun the moon, or escape her fate, though she can change her perspective on it.

Stephanie: That totally sounds like something a mother would say. You wrote your first draft of this book on deadline in three months, which just amazes me! Are there any tips you can give writers who might be working with a tight deadline?

Stacey: As a pantster and a stewster (someone who likes to stew with their ideas before putting them on the page), I can honestly say that writing a first draft in three months was hard. It helps to have a good plan, in particular, plotting out your turning points, pinch points and end point. Where do you want your character to be at the end of the story? Then you have something to write towards, even if those things change (as they will!).

Stephanie: When I first read OUTRUN THE MOON I remember highlighting so many lines that I absolutely loved. (This book seriously has a lot of amazing lines!) Would you mind sharing one of your favorites with readers?

Stacey: The universe never jokes. It is always profoundly, unflinchingly serious.

Thanks so much for sharing all of that, Stacey. I am so excited for this book to be out in the world next May. But one of our lucky readers can get a copy early. To win all you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter below. Please note: Stacey has not received her ARCs yet, but as soon as she does, she will be sending one out to our lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Entertainment Weekly has gathered some wacky and wild tweets from writers on the maddening things people say to them about writing. Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, kicked off the trend when her hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter caused a hilarious uproar on literary Twitterverse, July 28, 2015, with other writers following up with their own funny and awful things they've been told.

A few highlights from the Entertainment Weekly article:

S.E. Hinton@se4realhinton: I thought you were dead. #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

Harlen Coben@HarlenCoben:
Eye surgeon: I'm thinking of writing a novel!
Me: Cool, I'm thinking of doing eye surgery!
#TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

I've been having fun adding my own #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter tweets:

"You still haven't written that novel about the mating habits of orangutans I told you to write?"  #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

"You really write poetry? Really? No kidding! Does it rhyme?" #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

"Hey, wasn't your short story about the hermaphrodite nun who longed to sing in The Sound of Music really about you?" #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

"It would be really far out to write a novel about Pluto with you."  #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

"Why don't you get a real job?"  #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

Feel free to share your own humorous #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter both on Twitter and in my comments section below.


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"Entertainment Weekly" has published a piece on the upcoming "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" without once mentioning the terms 'animation,' 'motion capture,' or 'performance capture.'

LeVar Burton takes Reading Rainbow into the 21st Century (by launching RRKidz. Just like its previous iteration, RRKidz is all about reading, but the twist is that it’s an app for iPad and Android featuring a curated collection of... Read the rest of this post

Gap becomes the first retailer to offer promotions via a partnership with Entertainment Weekly and GetGlue, a social media site for TV viewers. Viewers who check in to Entertainment Weekly-recommended shows will unlock “Fall TV Fan”... Read the rest of this post

The latest season of Lost premiered on February 2nd, aka Groundhog Day. It was a joke, a cheeky clue for the audience. Because they introduced a major plot device in the premiere. It’s come to be known as the “flash-sideways” narrative and it’s essentially a big “what-if.” What if the characters had a chance to do it all over again? What if the circumstances were different – no island, no smoke monster, no Geronimo Jackson spinning on the turntable? What would have happened to these poorly reared, trigger-happy pawns of science and faith? The answer seems to be that their pesky destinies would have eventually tracked them down anyway. In a week, the series will come to a close, and hopefully we’ll have a better idea about what exactly is at play.  But if Lost peddles anything, it peddles ambiguity. And the faithful aren’t shy about hitting the bulletin boards to shout their opinions and theories. The internet might bust a spring or two in the hours after the finale.

I can say with a certain amount of confidence that most people will not be discussing Groundhog Day. The wink-wink-nudge-nudge premier date will be just another piece of Lost trivia, no more significant than the Hurley Bird. The date was a reference to the movie, of course, and on the surface it doesn’t seem to be much more than that. We’ve all seen the movie. A cynical weatherman played by Bill Murray lives the same day over again and again, until he finally gets it right and becomes a man who can love and play the piano.

I remember when Groundhog Day came out. It was a hit, though it barely beat forgettable fare like Dave and Cool Runnings at the box office. Critics thought it was enjoyable and clever, though they hardly thought it was earth-shattering. A better than average comedy – not much more. Over 15 years later, Groundhog Day has become not just a favorite of the revisionist cineast, but a genuine classic. The Writer’s Guild considers it the 27th greatest screenplay ever written. The New York Times even put it in a list of the Ten Best American Movies. Of the 1990s? No. Of all time! Say what you will about the existential implications of the film, about searching for meaning in our post-9/11 world. It makes for a good term paper, but I don’t think that’s the reason the film has gained such a following of late. The reason is TBS.

If you turned to the cable station TBS in the late 90’s and early 00’s, it’s likely you would have seen Groundhog Day on more than a few occasions. TBS syndicated it and played the grooves off the thing. Over time, the film worked its way into the DNA of many a channel surfer. The more familiar you became with it, the more you enjoyed it, because it was offering you the experience of its main character. You were living the film over again and again. You began to anticipate plot points (Ned Ryerson punch in 3, 2…), and the exact words and inflections of the dialogue (“Too early for flapjacks?” ”

With more and more magazine, publishing and TV execs exploring the potential of creating interactive, social apps for the iPad, we thought we'd point to a few of those getting an early start for our latest Ypulse Toolbox. Feel free to add more in... Read the rest of this post

Back in March, Stephen King discussed the art of the blurb in Entertainment Weekly.

He says, “Early on, nobody blurbed any of mine. Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining were published before the art of blurbing had been perfected. In the old days, children, the back cover of novels was usually reserved for a black-and-white photograph of the author (often holding a cigarette and trying to look cosmopolitan). Nowadays, the back cover tends to be Blurb City. And really, maybe that's not so bad. Young writers and filmmakers need a hand up, because it's a hard world out there. That alone doesn't justify a blurb, but in most cases, good work does. It isn't just about the artist, either. A blurb is sometimes a better way to point people toward the good stuff than a 2500-word review. It's certainly more direct.”

Read more here.

Home. Very very tired. The dog is glad to see me, but the house is otherwise empty, making me half-wish I'd taken the thousand dollars and no change fee to take tomorrow's plane instead, and spent more time with family over there (Maddy comes home in a few days).

Thanks to all of you who wrote in about last night's post...

This is just a quick one to say that you can see Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 most important books since 1983 at http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076_20207387_20207349,00.html
and my list of ten of my favourite monsters since 1983 at http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076_20207387_20207511,00.html. But you have to buy the magazine to see the photo they used of me in the end.

...

This is the third year of the Philippine Graphic/Fiction awards, sponsored by me and Fully Booked, and run by Fully Booked... and in addition to prose and comics, we've added a new category: short films.

Details at http://fullybookedonline.com/event_details.asp?eventid=20

Entertainment Weekly's 100 Best Books of the Last 25 Years...

I zipped home for lunch this afternoon, and found the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly in my mailbox (a happy surprise--it usually comes on Saturday) featuring The New Classics--The 1000 Best Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books & More of the Last 25 Years. I almost didn't make it back to the office I was having so much fun reading it. And look at Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter smack in the middle of the cover! I immediately turned to their book list.

Now, as EW would say:

SPOILER ALERT!!

If you want to read these yourself leave my blog right now (or at least shut your eyes and scroll way down).

Here are five books of note that made the list:

#2: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because J.K. Rowling "went epic and evil."
#21: On Writing because Stephen King offers "some of the soundest advice to writers set to paper."
#40: His Dark Materials trilogy because Phillip Pulman offers "a grand, intellectually daring adventure through the cosmos."
#65: The Giver, by Lois Lowry because they agree with the Newbery committee (and it's a fantastic book).
#84: Holes, by Louis Sachar, because they continue to agree with the Newbery committee (and it's also a fantastic book).

Mixed in with the many fiction and nonfiction titles were several graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman's Maus, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

Fact that surprised me: The Da Vinci Code was on the New York Times Hardcover Best-Seller List longer than HP and the Goblet of Fire (166 weeks vs. 148 weeks--3 years-ish for each!)

My Saturday afternoon is officially taken--I have a date with this double issue.

Oh My--Self-Published Picture Book Down with the P-O-T...

Take a look at this disturbingly hilarious (hilariously disturbing?) post on Galley Cat about a self-published picture book called It's Just a Plant (which I'm not linking to. OK yes I am--because you can click through and read this fine piece of literature ***), "an illustrated children's book about marijuana" that is "a book for parents who want to educate their children about the complexities of pot in a thoughtful, fact-oriented manner."

The commentary about the book from the former publisher of High Time magazine is, well, commentary from the former publisher of High Times. Dude.

*** in English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish or Thai. I kid you not. And don't miss the reviews (one of which calls the author "the Dr. Seuss of pot") from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Bill O'Reilly, and David Crosby.