FAQ

Very few of these are frequently asked. I am a rebel, you see.

1. What's your favorite poem?

"i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]" by e.e. cummings.

2. Myers-Briggs personality scale?

Proud INFJ!

3. What mental illness/psychological concept/psychological phenomena are you most interested in?

Schizophrenia, cognitive dissonance, and folie a deux, respectively.

4. How did you start writing?

I did Camp NaNoWriMo in summer of 2011, and after that, I sort of never stopped.

5. Who are your favorite bands or musicians?

I tend to listen to, like, sad indie rock with the occasional pop song, so keep that in mind, but: Taylor Swift, Mayday Parade, Go Radio, VersaEmerge, Paramore, Kelly Clarkson, The Pretty Reckless, Safetysuit, Ron Pope, Matchbox Twenty, Lana Del Rey, Mary Lambert, A Rocket to the Moon, All Time Low...

6. What are some of your favorite books?

Looking for Alaska, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, The Outsiders, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Gone, Gone, Gone, The Hunger Games, If I Stay, The Raven Boys, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, Before I Fall, Thirteen Reasons Why, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Ask The Passengers, I'll Give You the Sun...

7. Who are your critique partners?

Amy Zhang: author of YA magical realism FALLING INTO PLACE, coming September 9th, 2014 from Greenwillow/HarperCollins. CP soul mate. Genuinely lovely human being.

John Hansen: writer of YA thrillers and romance. Rival, mainly because I'm jealous of his talent. Future bestselling author.

Olivia's Opinions: writer of YA everything. Sweetest person I have met in my life. Most likely to change the world.

Ari Susu-Mago: writer of mostly speculative YA. Trusted confidant and good friend. Absolute genius who will probably save my life at some point.

8. Who designed your blog?

The aforementioned critique partner, Olivia.

9. What do you recommend I do to improve my writing?

Spend the time you're using up searching writing tips online by writing more and reading more. That's how you become a better writer: you read and you write. Everything else is secondary.

10. What are your dreams?

Fall in love, change a life, make a difference, be the change I wish to see.

11. You joke a lot about yourself being the best in every way on Twitter. Is it serious?

This is probably the only question in this FAQ I'm actually frequently asked, so here goes: no. I make jokes about how I'm Empress of the Known Universe because it makes me laugh, and, in my opinion, is funnier than self-deprecation.

12. How did you find your critique partners?

I also get asked this fairly frequently, and every time I want to reply (nicely, of course): you're asking like 99% about Amy Zhang because she's published, right? While I love Amy so freaking dearly, and while her notes are super helpful, I want to stress that all of my critique partners help my writing improve, regardless of their agented-ness or published-ness. We have an excellent group, and I value each of them so much. So if you're really asking how I got a critique partner who's published: I knew her before she got a book deal.

If, however, you are asking the question I like a lot better—how did you get any critique partners? I can't find any!—I can direct you to a few places. Twitter is an invaluable resource, and it's where I found approximately 100% of my writing friends—not to mention it's where I met my critique group. Maggie Stiefvater has a "critique partner love connection" every February where you can search the comments for a possible CP. Also, Jessica Sinsheimer of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency runs How About We CP, a Tumblr that serves the same purpose, and which you can search for writers of your genre. Finally, there are many, many organizations out there full of future authors who would probably love to exchange manuscripts with you—Romance Writers of America, Backspace Writers Conference, and the free yearly online WriteOnCon among them. Good luck!

13. How'd you get your agent?

Hey, I have a blog post all about that!

14. Can you recommend me to your agent?

Nope. Sorry! But no. If I've read and loved your manuscript, maybe. Otherwise, no. I just don't have time to vet everyone's manuscripts like I'd like to. You're free to query her, though!

15. Will you read (and love) my manuscript?

I get an increasing number of requests for this, so I'm instating a rule I've seen friends use: unless you know the answer is "yes," no.