BryonyPearce

My first question is, as writers of YA, how do you define it? Are you thinking about the age of your intended audience, the age of your characters, or something completely different? Really I think that there is very little difference between YA and great adult books, but key things that I think define YA books include (but are not limited to): The age of the characters - YA books tend to star teenage characters The graphic nature of the content - The majority of YA books have very little in the way of sex, swearing and drugs references (of course there are exceptions, but most editors will make you justify every swear word and remove drugs and sex from a YA novel) The levels of tension and conflict - YA novels are gripping. Publishers have the impression that teenagers will not persist with a book that is boring them, so while an adult novel can (and often does) get away with pages of exposition, describing the sunlight on a grassy field etc. YA books tend to get on with the action. Not that we don't include beautiful description and literary language, but YA novelists are not self-indulgent with it. We are trained to pick out the best couple of sentences, the most effective description and lose the rest. That is one of the reasons I love to both read and write YA, in a way it is harder than writing adult literature because we have only a couple of sentences to convey what an adult novelist might use two pages for, it is more difficult (but more effective) to write concisely than floridly (as anyone writing to a tight word count will attest).

Hi there, The Weight of Souls is all about bullying (and Egyptian gods and an ancient curse). I've written a number of blog posts on the subject - http://dearteenme.com/?p=3184 and http://leocristea.wordpress.com/2013/07/01/guest-post-identity-in-sff-learning-to-find-your-puzzle-pieces/ are two examples. In the words of one reviewer (Leo Cristea): The Weight of Souls explores bullying subtly and therefore gets to the heart of the issue succinctly. Taylor’s race is refreshing in YA fantasy—especially urban fantasy (never mind the fact that there is a Chinese model on the cover and the protagonist is half-Chinese, instead of the wrong ethnicity or a total lack of model whatsoever, electing instead for graphics). I’ve read so few books with protagonists of a different ethnicity and it’s a pity! In relation to Taylor’s race, I feel that Pearce demonstrates that with bullying, it’s not always about race or weight or anything else that could mark a person as “different” (though of course, sometimes it is precisely that, but with the characters of the bullies and the surrounding story, this doesn’t feel as though it’s the case), but rather the fact that these things become ammunition for the bullying. Sometimes people are bullied simply because the bully chose them. Taylor is bullied because she is Taylor. In The Weight of Souls, this is precisely the kind of bullying that’s explored (in my opinion: I wouldn’t like to assume). The topic of bullying is difficult to explore properly, especially as in a great many YA novels, whether it is the central topic or not, there is some bullying directed towards the protagonist (usually someone with low self-esteem, or something similar—in this vein, I’d love to see a guy with low self-esteem in YA urban fantasy, as in really love) yet this is simply a passing subplot; like a shower in the middle of the day that passes with the clouds. So to see realistic and directed bullying was different and informative. My school visits also deal with bullying and how I overcame it. Another good book is called Hate List, which deals with the aftermath of a school shooting in the US.

If you are thinking of writing and publishing as an ebook I would still recommend using an editing service such as SmartQuill. There are so many self-published ebooks now that maintaining quality is more important than ever.

I have no typical writing day. I have two small children so I have to fit writing in around them. I never use a daily target / word count as that way lies insanity and depression. I do however, try and say to myself 'I want to get to the end of this scene / paragraph etc.' That said, Riley (my youngest) just started school, which gives me more solid time, which I'm trying to organise sensibly. I tend to write best when I'm in the mood though, which can be anytime from first thing to midnight. It'll be interesting to see how I develop with all these full days - maybe I'll settle into more of a routine.

Hi guys My name is Bryony Pearce. I've got two published YA novels - Angel's Fury (out two years ago with Egmont, winner of the Leeds Book Award and The Cheshire Schools Book Award) and The Weight of Souls (out in August with Strange Chemistry). Angel's Fury is pretty much only available as an ebook now, but Weight of Souls is out in all possible formats! My husband even bought me back a hardback copy from the States last week. The Weight of Souls is about a teenaged girl who suffers from a dreadful family curse - she sees dead people and has to avenge the death of any ghost that touches her. I look forward to chatting with you. Bx