I'm back!! Got sidetracked with freelance work, kids, fevers, sickness, writing the 1000th revision of my novel, and life in general... But part of that time was spent reading a young adult novel I had seen EVERYWHERE and finally picked up -- John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Yes, I see now why it's, like, ranked #1 in the Kindle Store on Amazon. It's frickin amazing!! I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail here about why I liked it -- unique and compelling characters, excellent and often hilarious dialogue, tight storyline, full of emotion....
My point is that while reading this novel, I started having all these insights about what my own (attempted) young adult novel was lacking. I found places that needed ... well, just MORE. I hadn't gone deep enough, I realized. I'd just touched the surface of conflicts. Reading John Green showed me what it means to peel back the layers of an idea, one at a time, and keep going and going until you reach the core. And then go further -- tell why that idea is important, relate it to the rest of your story. Later, refer back to that idea. It's called following a thread, I guess. But I'd never seen it done quite so well (at least, as far as I can remember) as in John Green's work. I hope the lesson sticks with me! Anyway, I bough the hardcopy of The Fault in Our Stars so I can re-read it when needed.
That's another thing -- very few books I've read I actually want to read again. Bridget Jones's Diary, yes. Rebecca, yes. Agatha Christie books, yes. But not much else. What books have inspired you to become a better writer? Which authors have taught you valuable writing lessons? And which books do you pick up again and again, learning something new each time you read them?
