You may already be a fan of James Dashner, NY Times Bestselling author of The Maze Runner, and J. Scott Savage, author of the Far World series and the forthcoming GRIMVILLE CASE FILES with HarperCollins.
WELL. I’m very pleased to announce that we are all collaborating on a new weekly podcast, called Wordplay!
First episode: Right here! We talk about the different age groups in children’s books, the importance of capturing a middle grade (or YA) sensibility, and how we go about writing for younger readers.
Enjoy!
NATHAN! HE HAS A VOICE!
I caught your tweet on this yesterday and was able to listen to the beginning of the podcast before my real job reared its ugly head up and demanded my attention. After reading so many of your words it was cool to hear your voice, good luck with this, I hope you can grow a good audience!
WORD VERIFICATION: cologe. (1) The joining of two theater box-seats (2) A higher learning institution for the illiterate.
Maybe that's why I never read any MG or YA books. They never captured my sensibility!
Great Group. I'm a big Dashner and Savage fan. If I'm not mistaken, Dashner's new book is being released very soon and I'm very excited for the Grimville Case Files.
Eeee! *Squee!* I love James Dashner!!!
And you too! Of course!
Interesting way to highlight your specialty (MG/YA). Joining forces for greater impact is a marketing concept that can benefit all participants. And, it's becoming more popular.
What a great podcast! Fun and informative! Thank you all for putting things in such a succinct and insightful way 🙂 Can't wait for the next one!
Yea!! I'm so excited to give this a listen.
Sounds great! I'll definitely spread the word on this one. 🙂
This is great. Have fun with it. It's nice to see you doing these things with other authors who are closer to your genre. Hope you figure out a way to get this to the kids, too. I think they'd love it.
Awesome! I used to blog with J. Scott, and he is amazing. James is pretty dang awesome too–make sure he tells you about the James Dashner Shrine Kit they gave away at a writers conference last May . . .
I listened to it this morning, it was great!
James came to A Game of Thrones because of the TV show? That's interesting. I hope he's ready for one of the most psychopathic roller coasters rides of a story that follows none of the rules and yet thrills every reader I've ever talked to.
Ahem. Back to the podcast.
Okay. When you start breaking down the levels NB, it's getting interesting. I mean we're all somewhat familiar with these categories, but it's always great to get your well formed perspective.
I love that you guys are all proud to rock your books out loud. There's no better way to spread the word about great stories.
James makes a great point about the voice of Harry Potter at the end there, too.
Interesting stuff, thanks, Nathan!
Seriously, where do you find the time, Nathan?
I enjoyed the podcast, and will be listening to more, when you make them.
It's funny that there are some general rules for each reading level, but some books are still hard to categorize – Leviathan, for instance. I don't see that as YA.
And I hope you talk more about MG voice, if I can make a request. What makes a voice "authentic."
(BTW – about being embarrassed to read MG – I just bought Darth Paper Strikes Back and am reading it in public – and laughing out loud. Yes, I'm waaaaay past caring).
Congrats, Nathan! Good to have you among us pod people. Btw, I think our podcast with you will go live by the end of this week, or this weekend.
That is, I should have said, our Adventures In SciFi Publishing podcast, soon to feature my chat with Nathan.
Oh this is terrific! What a creative project – how fun to gather with other writers and talk on a topic. Very cool!
I haven't had a chance, but I'll definitely listen to it soon. 🙂
This is great, Nathan! You never stop finding more ways to help people. I love it and can't wait for more!
NATHAN!!!!! I didn't realise you had such a strong American accent!!! Loved the podcast. =)
I enjoyed this very much. Thanks.
Also, thanks to you, or one of your commenters? because I'm pretty sure it was over here that I found out about Cheryl B. Klein's book, Second Sight. It's an editor's talks on publishing and editing for YA (even though I don't write for children I'm thoroughly enjoying her insights.)