Bria Quinlan is a YA Fantasy novelist — although she’s recently found she surprisingly writes YA Rom Coms as well. And why not since her life is a walking sitcom. Secretly Bria is still 14 (although her license says something different.)
Finally putting that English/Creative Writing degree to good use, she’s finished her first novel, Markbearer, and is looking forward to the exciting adventure of finding a home for it.
When not writing, Bria loves to play outside, volunteer, eat, sleep and mentor teen girls.
I’m currently on the road driving around the country. I’ve met some AMAZING people, been blessed by wonderful friends and hung with authors I can’t even believe I’m in the same room with! The trip is being blogged about at drivingdiva.wordpress.com.
You can contact her at briaquinlan@aol.com OR twitter briaquinlan
hello bria,
just dropped in to check out your blog.
hope all is well…
peace.
Thanks! Welcome to my new home
Hi, Bria!
Thanks for the nice mention about my Publishing in the 21st Century piece. It’s much appreciated.
Come visit the blog again. I have something new about once a week.
Richard Curtis
You don’t have to reply (idm if you don’t) but do you hav any tips for the fellow YA author? (im just wannabe and my stories arn’t that good bt room 4 improvment i guess)
That’s THE question, isn’t it
I think, read read read write write write is the BEST and worst advice I’ve been given.
READ: What you write. That sound obvious, but I mean so you know what’s being done, what’s being done well, what you do and how to do it better, what not to do, and not to reinvent the wheel.
READ: What you don’t write. I bow down to Mary Stewart. The woman is genius and my desire to write in tight, subtle prose (that not everyone likes or “gets” because they’re too busy reading “quickly”) comes from her. BUT I don’t write suspense or romantic suspense – but if I could just write like Ms. Stewart *sigh*
Read what you love, take notes! sticky pages, have a “great lines” note book – have a “what not to do” notebook lol
Remember when you would say (or still say *sigh*) “when I’m a mom, I’ll never….” do that with your writing too!
Find people to write with — online or in person. Classes, workshops, writing chapters, a critique partner, an online partner – anything that keeps you grounded when you’re high and uplifts you on the more than frequent lows
Read about craft — I have a lot of writer friends that are proud of never having studied craft. I disagree with this view – I’m not saying “follow the rules” – you’ll NEVER hear me say that lol — but it’s like sports: If you don’t know the rules, you don’t know how to break them *wink*
Learn the mechanics – this is SO easy and SO hard. People judge you on how you dress…. When my hair was streaked blue in college, yeah, people made a judgement call on my abilities as an intelligent woman so the streaks had to go to get a “real” job….. Grammar and formatting are to your manuscript what my hair was to my job search. Don’t give people an excuse to not take you seriously.
Rip books apart – LITERALLY – I have a few books that blow me away and I’ve bought myself an extra copy to mark up, mark pages, scribble notes in, circle page numbers etc – STUDY literature
OK, that’s the quick and dirty off the top of my head…. I’d love to hear what you’re writing and how you’re doing it! Let me know
good luck
bria
Lol haha yeh i’m too much o a goody good to break any rules. I write sort of… YA kinda stuff. I’ve written a story (and thanks to my great computer crash i hav to begin again using the part’s i’ve printed out) thats got a child-like scene (elves, magic etc) but a sort of plot suited best for 11-15 years olds.
Alot of authors do different parts at the story at different times, i do now but not for my other one. and i just got to say yes, it gets confusing but yes, it helps LOL.
I pefer my new idea… *sigh* but i hav to finish my first story 1st. Lol.
ThNKZ SO much for your tips. I’m 13 and hardly organized but i love to write, and your tips should help. LOL
HEY! Am I one of those amazing people you’ve met? ; )