Sarah Alderson's Blog: Writing and all the bits in between - Posts Tagged "ya"

I'm thrilled to be part of this year's World Book Day...

The NEW World Book Day YA app is out NOW for FREE on iOS and Android.

They've teamed up with Movellas to create a fab FREE app, with new stories from top YA authors including Patrick Ness, Josephine Angelini, Will Hill and ME!

There are 5 stories on it (including mine: Turning Amber) and more to come on World Book Day (7th March 2013). Find out more AND find a local bookshop where you can use your £1 book token (UK only).

Plus each author has started a Story Chain for YOU to add to as well.

Here's the link to the World Book Day site:
http://www.worldbookday.com/community...

and here's the link to the APP:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/world...

Turning Amber is a prequel to Hunting Lila (set 5 years before). Grab your copy of Turning Amber and find out just how she met Ryder, why she fell for him, what the hell Demos was doing in a thrift store in Ventura and why it's not a good idea to steal from a gang of Hell's Angels.

People keep on asking when a third Lila book is coming. Well, sorry, no news on that now...but to keep you happy in the meantime here's some news on some juicy short stories that are coming out soon, including a very steamy scene between Alex & Lila (an outtake from Losing Lila).

Put the dates in your diaries!


1st July an ebook short story all about Alex and Lila is out. Set 8 weeks after losing Lila, it takes place in Nantucket and introduces readers to characters from my new book, The Sound, which is out Aug 1st.

Then on October 1st Simon & Schuster are releasing an ebook compilation of short stories from Hunting Lila characters including Demos, Jack and Suki.

But the big news is the steamy Alex and Lila scene which has a release date of jan 2014...which should give you enough time to prepare and install air conditioning.Sarah AldersonThe SoundHunting LilaLosing Lila

The super hot x-rated scene that's finally been released as part of the ebook bind up of Hunting and Losing Lila is now available for free to fans!

All you have to do is post the Amazon link to the book on your FB or Twitter along with a sentence explaining why you like the book.

Don't forget to tag me in the post and send me your email address!

Check out my FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/sarahjalderson

The last month has been rather overwhelming. For the first couple of years of being a writer I was head down, concentrating on bashing out books and I became a big hermit.

The last year things went from busy to insanely, brain-meltingly busy to the point where I now regularly have freak outs and have to lie down, eat chocolate and try to breathe.

This is what I'm working on:

Editing a book that's coming out in June
Organising PR for two books coming out in May (The Sound in the US and Out of Control in the UK)
Writing two new books for Simon & Schuster
Coming up with two new pitches for books for Pan Macmillan
The Hunting Lila Screenplay
Three TV pitches for my film agent
A feature film (untitled)
A sample script for agents in the US

this is what happens when you decide, following Neil Gaiman's advice, to set your mountain as high as Everest, and when you want it all and you want it NOW.

But while this month has been crazy, topsy turvy, hectic and stressful it's also been very exciting because I got to make a trailer for The Sound and that involved auditioning male models with THEIR TOPS OFF. I actually got the giggles when the director requested the removal of T-shirts and had to look away. But that didn't last long because the twelve-pack on display demanded scrutiny, close scrutiny.

Later, after we had cast the delectable and oh-so-beautiful-it-was-hard-to-believe-he-was-real JP, and we had him on set (with his TOP OFF) we made him do fifty press ups before coating him in oil and handing him a wrench. Good to go!

Most the all female crew spent their time trying to pick their jaws up off the floor. Time well spent.

Thus it was proved that my imagination can actually be bested by real life.

For pictures (yes, including ones of JP with his top off) visit my FB page www.facebook.com/sarahjalderson

The trailer will be ready in the next three weeks... so get your fans out and be ready for an awesome competition to celebrate.

And don't forget you can download a sample of Out of Control, my new book (out in May) from here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I am beyond excited to be able to finally show the trailer for The Sound. It's had over 7,000 views across various platforms in just 5 days....possibly to do with the delicious oiled-six pack on display and the serious hotness that is Jesse.

Still can't believe we managed to cast such perfect people to play Jesse, Ren and Sophie. And they all look gorgeous on camera, don't you think?

If you have 90 seconds to spare they won't be wasted! In fact make sure you have your hand hovering over the pause button for. That. Scene. ahum.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE TRAILER

And I'm also running a competition so get in there quick. You can win a signed copy of The Sound, the leather bracelet that Alex gave Lila in Hunting Lila and Amazon / Book Depository vouchers.

GIVEAWAY LINK

The Sound is out today in the US.

link: Here's a little video of me talking about my inspiration for the book (I nannied in Nantucket when I was 17) and reading from a section.

I'm also running a giveaway. over on my Facebook page

Do help me spread the word by telling all your friends and if you did love the book then please also add your review to GR or Amazon. We authors really do need those reviews! :)

I’m at a kids birthday party when a woman I barely know grabs me by the arm and declares: ‘I have an idea that you should write about.’

I glance over her shoulder for the exits, my smile fixing into place, wondering if I should tell her it’s not ideas I’m lacking just hours in the day. ’Human trafficking,’ she announces, ‘you need to write about it.’

I tell her with an apologetic shrug that I write young adult fiction; ‘lots of car chases, hot boys and kissing. That sort of thing.’ Even as I say it, I can feel myself shrinking in her estimation, and, it must be admitted, my own. She’s talking about human trafficking and how it affects over thirty million people worldwide and I’m talking about girls with mind powers and shape-shifting demons.

I left the party with a niggling feeling, which was compounded when I got home by the sight of a post-it stuck over my desk with ‘make your words count’ scrawled on it.

With my first four books, all published by Simon & Schuster, I had established a name as a writer of fast-paced thrillers. When asked about my inspiration I frequently cited Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sarah Conor from Terminator (Yes, I am that highbrow).

While I’d always prided myself on the fact my female protagonists were kickass and intelligent, now I was confronted by the fact I could be writing something with real power, something that could have impact, something that could potentially help change lives.

‘No,’ my agent sagely advised. ‘A book about human trafficking is very hard to sell.’

She was right of course and there was also the fact that I had no real authority or knowledge of the subject. True, I had no knowledge about telekinesis or secret military units either and this had never stopped me writing about them (Wikipedia, Google and my imagination are my best friends) but human trafficking was something else entirely.

So I sat down to write my next novel - inspired by a combination of Ryan Gosling in Drive, the police station scene in Terminator and a trip to New York - and had an epiphany. I could write about human trafficking after all. I would slide it sneakily into the book. It would still be a young adult thriller, with all the chases, action and kissing required, but at the heart of it would be a human trafficking conspiracy. Immediately I started researching and chatting with friends who worked for the UN, discovering that more people today are enslaved that at any other point in history and that human trafficking has fast become the third largest criminal industry in the world.

Instead of writing about a victim, something I didn’t feel confident enough to do, my protagonist became the teenage daughter of a man who runs a government task force tackling gang-related trafficking and I set her in the midst of a conspiracy involving her father and the New York gangs he’s up against.

The book was eagerly received by my publisher in the UK and snapped up by Simon & Schuster in New York too, making me realise that just because I write young adult fiction doesn’t mean I have to write about sparkly vampires and love triangles. But neither do I have to sacrifice thrills and action in order to make a serious point.

As an author I’ve learned that empowering teenagers isn’t just about giving them strong role models, it’s also about using the medium of storytelling to open their eyes to issues that we all need to take a stand on.

Out of Control by Sarah Alderson (published by Simon & Schuster) is OUT NOW.


http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://www.antislavery.org/english/
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/

This feature originally appeared in The Big Issue (may '14)