Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book

by Ally Carter

  Zoraida Córdova 2016 because they wouldn’t let me travel for writing events.

  Gordon Korman I was fortunate enough to graduate college directly into full-time writing.

  Rachel Caine 2011, because I had too many appearances and tours, and the stress was wearing me very thin. My health was being compromised by lack of sleep and stress!

  Dhonielle Clayton I used to be a middle school librarian and had to quit because of all the deadlines and travel.

  David Levithan This is a trick question, right? I mean, I’m doing my day job right now, as I edit this book. Not only do I love editing as much as I love writing, I also feel I enjoy my writing much more because I am not relying on it for my income. I also am lucky because I have a day job that understands what a writing life is like.

  I know writers who have PhDs in literature. And I know writers who never went to college. I know people who studied science or law or, like me, economics. So what I’m trying to say is this: No, you don’t have to go to college to become an author. And if you do go, it doesn’t seem to matter what you major in.

  When I was in college, I used to contemplate changing my major sometimes. After all, I knew what I wanted to do—why would I study something else? But then I realized that you don’t actually need a degree to sell a book. All you actually need is a book.

  But you can’t practice law without a law degree. You can’t become a doctor without a medical degree. You can’t teach without a teaching degree.

  So I didn’t have to have a degree to write, but I would need a degree to do the other jobs I was interested in. If I was going to spend my time and money pursuing a degree, shouldn’t it be a degree that was actually necessary? After all, even with a degree in writing, there’s no guarantee of getting a publishing deal. And in hindsight, I’m incredibly glad it worked out that way because having professors and classmates critiquing my work might have changed me and the way I write. And the way I write has worked out pretty well.

  So that was the philosophy that worked for me.

  Other writers have taken other paths, pursing degrees in creative writing or English. I know a lot of people who have even gone on to get master’s of fine arts degrees, and they swear by the experience. It makes you read broadly. Think critically. Learn to take criticism and rejection—all things that are absolutely essential in this business. Plus, if you’d like to teach writing for your day job, then that degree will be especially valuable.

  So that’s the approach that has worked for them.

  Whatever path you choose to take, there isn’t a wrong option. The only thing that matters in the end is what kind of book you write. Just do whatever you need to do to make sure that book is as good as possible.

  DEAR Z BREWER,

  What kind of educational path did you take and what path do you recommend to aspiring writers?

  I don’t believe that you need a degree in order to become a successful writer. Take me, for example. I barely graduated high school, flunked out of two colleges, and dropped out of a third, and I’m a bestseller. So long as you have your writers’ tools (which you learn in English class all through middle and high school), you don’t need someone to teach you how to write. You just write … and teach yourself.

  That being said, do get a degree—but get a degree in marketing. Two reasons: (1) You’ll need marketing skills in your career as a writer, and (2) you want to have a day job backup plan so you can support yourself while you’re fighting to make your dreams come true.

  You’re right. Writing can be a really solitary activity. And that suits some writers just fine. Other writers might need some interaction with the outside world from time to time. Some people find that they get enough of that just through the course of their daily lives. But some people like to get a little more interaction, particularly with other authors!

  The great thing about writers is that most of them are really, really nice. And there are so many conferences and festivals and social media outlets where writers gather together and hang out that most people eventually make some friends.

  If you live near other authors, it can be fun to get together and write at a café or coffee shop a few times a month. Maybe you’ll be in a position someday to attend some writers’ retreats (either ones you sign up for or ones you plan yourself).

  There are some great organizations like the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Romance Writers of America that put on amazing conferences every summer where hundreds of authors come together to learn from each other. I’ve met some wonderful friends at events like that.

  And don’t forget, most writers will always have some kind of non-writing job as well, so you may very well be around people all day long and then love coming home to a quiet house to write.

  So much like there’s no one way to write a book, there’s no one way to find your place in the writing community. Just know this: It is a community. Writing itself might be a solitary activity, but if you’re willing to put in the time and the effort to meet some other writers, it doesn’t have to be lonely.

  DEAR SHANNON HALE,

  How do you balance being a writer with living the rest of your life?

  I wrote while I was a full-time student, I wrote while I held down a full-time job, and now I write as a full-time mom to four kids. The circumstances of life are constantly changing. What works for me one year won’t work the next. But I know that I need to write. It makes me happy. It’s who I am. So I find a way by making it a priority.

  I’ve never known a writer who didn’t doubt themselves at least once a week. Heck, once a day! I know I, personally, feel like giving up all the time. And the short answer to your question, I guess, is to say that I can’t give up because this is my job and I have bills to pay and if I don’t write, I don’t eat.

  But it’s more than that, really. Sure, my editor is counting on me to deliver my book on time, and my readers are looking forward to reading the books I’ve promised them. But at the end of the day, this isn’t something you can do for other people.

  Writing isn’t something you do because it’s your job—otherwise, most of us wouldn’t have made it past all those years before it was our jobs. No. Writing is something you do because it’s who you are.

  I couldn’t stop asking “what if?” if my life depended on it. I couldn’t stop coming up with book ideas or trying to guess what’s going to happen on my favorite TV shows if I tried. This is just who I am. And so giving up really isn’t an option for me.

  I just keep writing.

  Because that’s what writers do.

  JESSE ANDREWS is an author, screenwriter, and former German youth hostel receptionist. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Schenley High School and Harvard University. He currently makes his home in Berkeley, California.

  JENNIFER LYNN BARNES is the author of more than a dozen young adult novels, including Little White Lies, The Naturals, Raised by Wolves, and The Fixer. She has advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science, and received her PhD from Yale University in 2012. She is currently a professor of writing and psychology at the University of Oklahoma, where she studies the psychology of fiction and why we like it.

  HOLLY BLACK is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Magisterium series (with Cassandra Clare), and The Darkest Part of the Forest. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award, the Mythopoeic Award, and a Newbery Honor. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret door.

  SARAH REES BRENNAN was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, and she still uses Ireland as a base for her adventures. She’s the author of the critically acclaimed Demon’s Lexicon trilogy and the Lynburn Legacy series, a romantic Gothic myst
ery about a girl who discovers her imaginary friend is a real boy. Sarah’s latest book is In Other Lands, the story of the crankiest nerd who ever fell into a magical land. She’s devoted to reading widely, making bad jokes across the world, and making friends both real and imaginary.

  Z BREWER is the New York Times bestselling author of the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, as well as the Slayer Chronicles series, Soulbound, The Cemetery Boys, The Blood Between Us, Madness, and more short stories than they can recall. When not making readers cry because they killed off a character they loved, Z is an anti bullying and mental health advocate. Plus, they have awesome hair.

  Z lives in Missouri with a husband person, two children people, and four furry overlords that some people refer to as “cats.”

  RACHEL CAINE is the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon Charts, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than fifty novels, with breakout series in multiple genres, including young adult and adult thrillers. She’s published in more than twenty-five languages around the world. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas, but writes anywhere.

  ALLY CARTER is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels, including Not If I Save You First and the Gallagher Girls, Heist Society, and Embassy Row series. Together, her books have been published in more than twenty-five countries and have sold over three million copies. She lives in Oklahoma and online at allycarter.com.

  SOMAN CHAINANI’S debut series, the School for Good & Evil, has sold more than 1.5 million copies, been translated into twenty-seven languages across six continents, and will soon be a film from Universal Pictures, with Soman co-writing the screenplay.

  A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University’s MFA Film Program, Soman began his career as a screenwriter and director, with his films playing at over 150 film festivals around the world. He has been nominated for the Waterstones Prize for Children’s Literature, been named to the Out100, and also received the $100,000 Shasha Grant and the Sun Valley Writers’ Fellowship, both for debut writers. Soman lives in New York City.

  CASSANDRA CLARE is the author of the Dark Artifices series, the Bane Chronicles series, the Magisterium series, the Infernal Devices series, and the Mortal Instruments series. She was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran, and spent much of her childhood traveling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England, and Switzerland before she was ten years old.

  Since her family moved around so much, she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York, where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids, reporting on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’s wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her young adult novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favorite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full-time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.

  DHONIELLE CLAYTON (“Dhon” like “Don” or “Dawn,” not “Danielle”) spent most of her childhood under her grandmother’s table with a stack of books. She hails from the Washington, DC, suburbs on the Maryland side. A self-proclaimed school nerd, she loved covering her books with brown paper, Lisa Frank folders, having a locker, putting headings on her homework, odd-looking pens and freshly sharpened pencils, and researching mythical creatures. She rediscovered her love of children’s fiction by rereading Harriet the Spy, which pushed her to earn an MA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University and an MFA in Writing for Children at the New School. She taught secondary school for several years—at a pre-professional ballet academy and a private K-8 school. She spent most of her twenties in and out of America—living in London, Paris, a small Japanese town, Bermuda—and wandering the planet. She’s been on five out of seven continents, and has grand plans to reach all of them. She is a former librarian and co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent—and decidedly diverse—literary confections for middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction readers. She is also one of the We Need Diverse Books team’s librarians, and the co-chair of the inaugural 2016 Walter Award for YA fiction.

  JAY COLES is a young adult and middle-grade writer, a composer with ASCAP, and a professional musician residing in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a graduate of Vincennes University and Ball State University, and holds degrees in English and Liberal Arts. When he’s not writing diverse books, he’s advocating for them, teaching middle school students, and composing music for various music publishers. Jay’s young adult novel Tyler Johnson Was Here is about a boy whose life is torn apart by police brutality when his twin brother goes missing, inspired by events from the author’s life and the Black Lives Matter movement.

  ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA is the award-winning author of the Vicious Deep trilogy and the Brooklyn Brujas series. Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology, Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, and Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft. She is a New Yorker at heart and is currently working on her next novel.

  MELISSA DE LA CRUZ is the #1 New York Times, #1 Publisher’s Weekly, #1 Indie Bound author of over fifty books for readers of all ages. Her books include the inspiring anthology Because I Was a Girl: True Stories for Girls of All Ages, Something in Between (about an undocumented Filipino American teenager), Disney’s Descendants series, the Alex and Eliza series, the Blue Bloods series, and the Witches of East End series, which was turned into an hour-long television show on Lifetime. Her TV movie Christmas in Angel Falls was the number two movie of all time on Hallmark’s Movies and Mysteries. She is also the co-director of YALLFEST and the co-founder of YALLWEST, two of the biggest teen book festivals in the country. She lives in West Hollywood with her family.

  ELIZABETH EULBERG was born and raised in Wisconsin before heading off to college at Syracuse University and making a career in the New York City book biz. Now a full-time writer, she is the author of the young adult novels The Lonely Hearts Club, Prom & Prejudice, Take a Bow, Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality, Better Off Friends, We Can Work It Out, Just Another Girl, and the upcoming Past Perfect Life, as well as the middle grade series the Great Shelby Holmes. She lives outside of Manhattan with her three guitars, two keyboards, and one drumstick.

  CHRISTINA DIAZ GONZALEZ is the award-winning author of several books including The Red Umbrella, A Thunderous Whisper, the Moving Target series, and Stormspeaker (part of the Spirit Animals: Fall of the Beasts series). Her books have received numerous honors, among them the American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, the Florida Book Award, the Nebraska Book Award, and Junior Library Guild selection. Christina currently lives in Miami, Florida, with her husband, sons, and a dog that can open doors. You can read more about her and her books at christinagonzalez.com.

  ALAN GRATZ is the bestselling author of a number of novels for young readers, including Samurai Shortstop, The Brooklyn Nine, Prisoner B-3087, Code of Honor, Projekt 1065, the League of Seven series, and Ban This Book. His latest novel is Refugee, the story of three different refugee families struggling for freedom and safety in three different eras and different parts of the world. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Alan is now a full-time writer living in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife and daughter. Visit him online at alangratz.com.

  SHANNON HALE is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty-five books for kids, teens, and adults, including the Newbery Honor award winner Princess Academy, graphic novel Real Friends, several books in the popular Ever After High series, and Austenland, now a major motion picture.

  With her husband, Dean Hale, she pens the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl novels for Marvel Press and the Princess in Black early chapter book series. They live in Utah, where they care for their four children, two cats, and a small plastic pig. Find Shannon at shannonhale.com or
on Twitter @shannonhale.

  KODY KEPLINGER is the author of several books for teens, including the New York Times bestseller The DUFF, which was adapted to film in 2015. She is also the author of Lying Out Loud, Run, and That’s Not What Happened, as well as the middle grade novel The Swift Boys & Me. She lives in New York City and teaches at the Gotham Writer’s Workshop.

  GORDON KORMAN is the author of more than ninety novels for kids and young adults, most recently Whatshisface, Restart, and Supergifted. His writing career began at the age of twelve, when his seventh-grade English assignment became his first published novel.

  Now, more than four decades later, he is a full-time writer and speaker, with over thirty million copies of his novels in print in thirty-two languages. Each year he travels extensively, visiting schools and libraries, bringing his trademark humor and adventure styles to readers everywhere. A native of Ontario, Canada, he lives with his family in Long Island, New York.

  DAVID LEVITHAN is the author of many bestselling and acclaimed novels, including Every Day, Two Boys Kissing, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (written with Rachel Cohn), and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (written with John Green). In 2017, he was awarded the ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for his contribution to young adult literature.

  David started in the editorial department at Scholastic as an intern when he was nineteen years old … and he’s been working there ever since.

  ALEX LONDON is the author of the middle grade series Tides of War, Dog Tags, and the Wild Ones. His young adult debut, Proxy, was an ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers and a 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. His latest young adult novel is Black Wings Beating, an epic fantasy set in a world of cutthroat falconry. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

  MARIE LU is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy and The Young Elites trilogy. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as a Flash artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing Assassin’s Creed, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles, California (see above: traffic), with one husband, one Chihuahua mix, and two Pembroke Welsh corgis.