I’m absolutely delighted to invite you to the official launch party for The Agency: A Spy in the House!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
7.30 pm
61 Yonge St
Portsmouth Village
Kingston, Ontario
.
hosted by
Novel Idea Bookstore
and me!
Please RSVP if you can. For a map to the venue, click here.
The ARCs for Spy, I mean. Look!
If I had a few more, I’d cancel the contest and use them to wallpaper my study. As it is, I guess I’ll have to think up a new giveaway!
I’m planning the launch party right now and will have more details for you next week. And I’m writing book 3, The Traitor and the Tunnel – to which I must now return.
My Italian publisher, Mondadori, just sent me the cover for their edition of Spy, which will be published in March. Its title is La Detective. Note how artificially calm I sound, in these few sentences.
La Detective, published by Mondadori
Here’s the full dust jacket:
And now, the truth: I screamed like a girly-girl when I saw this. I can’t get over it. I love the use of period photographs, the wrought-iron ornamentation around the title, the flash of pink. If I were in the mood to cavil, I’d point out that Mary never, ever uses a gun – but what the hell. It’s not as though a handkerchief or a pen would be a good substitute.
God, it’s exquisite.
Sigh.
It’s 6 weeks before the official North American release of A Spy in the House and I feel giddy, celebratory, and rather nervous. What to do then, but give away swag? Please join me in celebrating my North American debut – enter the contest, and encourage your friends to do the same!
The first-prize winner will receive a Candlewick Press ARC of A Spy in the House (featuring the cover at left) and one of these custom-made, not-for-sale-anywhere Agency t-shirts.
Don't worry; it doesn't say "Trainee Spy" on the back.
Second- and third-prize winners will each get a copy of the UK edition of Spy
It looks like this.
To enter, email me the answer to this question: What’s your favourite first line? Give me the sentence, author’s name, and the book title.
But that’s not all. You may enter a second time by announcing this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook account and emailing me a link to your announcement. Please use some form of the following wording: Win an ARC of Y S Lee’s A SPY IN THE HOUSE, the first novel in the Agency series! Enter at http://yslee.com/2010/01/the-first-lines-contest/.
I’ll announce the randomly selected winners on Thursday 18 February. Good luck, everyone. I can’t wait to read your entries.
Occasionally, I worry that all I do in this blog is squee about the Agency’s cover art. If you share that concern, you will be sadly disappointed because this week, I’m at it again.
Candlewick Press has just sent me the cover for A Spy in the House, which will be published on March 9, 2010 as a hardcover. Remember the images from that photo shoot I posted a few weeks ago? Well, here’s the final product from the hands of the amazing Caroline Lawrence. And I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I hope you do, too.
A Spy in the House - US cover
This was the #1 question that came tumbling out of the students at my first school visit. At four different sessions, in different-sized groups, students ranging from grades 9 to 12 all wanted to know the secret. And, sadly, there’s no magic for that. I don’t even think the question “how do you get published” is answerable, because routes to publication are so varied; no single path will do. I can, however, tell you how my first novel was published.
I finished my novel (and that’s a whole different series of questions which I’ve answered in parts, week by week, and will continue to do so and collect as FAQs). Once I had a complete, polished manuscript, I wrote a query letter for literary agents. I won’t get into query letters here because lit agent Nathan Bransford has already done a splendid job explaining them. Kristin Nelson, another impossibly chipper agent, posts further examples at Pub Rants. So I shined up my query and my husband, Nick, emailed it to six literary agents. Why not send it myself? Partly because I am thin-skinned and an obsessive email-checker at the most relaxed of times, and partly because Nick is lovely, amazingly supportive of my writing, and utterly fearless with stuff like this.
I got lucky: in two days I had six replies, all of which were requests for more. In five cases, “more” was a one-page synopsis and the first three chapters; the sixth agent, from William Morris, simply said, “I’d love to read it”, so I sent the full ms. A week later, this agent’s assistant emailed to say that she was halfway through, “really enjoying it”, and would I let her know if I had interest from other agencies in the meantime. (I cannot tell you how many times I stared at the words “really enjoying it” and wondered what secret code they masked.) A couple of days later, I heard from the hard-working assistant again: the agent thought the book had merit but didn’t like it enough to represent it, so she’d passed it on to a colleague, Rowan Lawton. I did a tentative happy dance.
When Rowan emailed me a couple of weeks later, she had some questions and detailed notes for me. The ms I’d submitted was for an adult historical mystery. Rowan, however, pointed out that it was really a coming-of-age story and asked if I’d consider revising it as a YA novel. I was completely surprised. But when I thought about it, I realized that she was right. Those changes would make it a better novel.
I cut 30,000 words (paring the ms from 95,000 to 65,000 words) and compressed the plot. I changed the main characters’ ages – Mary Quinn went from 21 to 17, and James Easton from 29 to 19. One thing I was careful NOT to do was simplify or lighten the novel’s themes and ideas. I hate being talked down to – always have – and would despise myself for doing so to others. Rowan and I did two edits together before we were ready to go out on submission. At this point, I officially signed with William Morris.
My job now was to buckle down, write the sequel, and try not to obsess too much; I wasn’t the one selling the book. This was, shall we say, challenging. But a few weeks later, I opened an email (I’d been on holiday with my extended family) from Rowan that said, “I have some great news for you! Do give me a call…” ARGH. It was a Friday afternoon in Vancouver and thus darkest night in London. That was one of the longest weekends of my life. Eventually, Monday came around and I heard the News: Walker Books wanted World English rights for three novels. (I have carefully resisted the use of exclamation points here, in case I never stop. But they’re there, in my head.)
And that’s how Spy came to be published.
The short, annoying answer is, “from my head”. While that’s true, I realize it’s neither helpful nor illuminating, so I’ll try to be a bit more specific.
If you and I were to go to the same film/lecture/bare-knuckle boxing match, we’d notice different details. Then we’d interpret and prioritize our experiences in different ways. So everything I’ve ever written comes from some experience of mine – something I read or saw or overheard. But it all gets processed in the back of my brain and spewed out later as something quite transformed. As the novelist Frances Trollope said, “Of course I draw from life – but I always pulp my acquaintances before serving them up. You would never recognize a pig in a sausage.”
mmm... sausages*
To get even more specific:
When I answered this question in a high-school presentation, the follow-up question was, well, how is that different from plagiarism? Great question! Plagiarism is stealing specific ideas and/or language from others, and presenting them as your own. In these examples, I’ve been inspired by specific things but used them as jumping-off points for my own ideas. I would never claim to be the originator of those first, inspirational anecdotes, facts or articles. And, obviously, I describe my own ideas in my own words.
All this brings us to a cliche that’s completely true: there are no new ideas. Other people have written about the Great Stink, women’s detective agencies (though I didn’t read Dorothy L. Sayers until after I’d written the first draft of SPY) and orphaned sailor’s daughters. So if there’s a bottom line, it’s this:
*The butcher’s diagram comes from Zazzle, where you can buy it as a postcard.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
I had an utterly excellent day at RND High School last week, talking to students about Victorian hygiene, inventions, fashion, and radical women (among other things). The students were a terrific audience – courteous, curious, energetic. Thanks for being such exemplars of audience awesomeness! If you heard me speak at Regi and would like to be entered into the draw for one of three Agency t-shirts, remember to email me and either a) ask a question or b) remind me of one you asked last Thursday. I’ll announce the winners next week.
A typically ridiculous lecturing posture. If I could help it, I would.
Living in Canada, where Spy hasn’t yet been released, I’ve never seen a copy of my book in a real live bookstore. Really, this whole “I’m a writer” business could just be an elaborate hallucination on my part. But recently, Marie-Louise Jensen, a friend and fellow YA novelist, sent me this: ocular proof that Spy is for sale in the shops. And she faced it out, too – now that’s what friends are for! (The book on top is Marie-Louise’s The Lady in the Tower, which I really enjoyed. Do check it out.)
The Lady & the Spy
And finally, here are the winners of my recent contest, Countdown to the Agency. The winner of the UK edition of The Agency: A Spy in the House is Haley Mathiot. Second- and third-place winners of The Agency sticker are Mariana Sanchez and Andrea Lacerte. Congratulations! Please email me with your postal addresses and I’ll get the goods out to you right away. If you didn’t win this time, fear not – there’ll be More Swag coming in the next few months, right up to the March 9 launch of the US edition of Spy.
I’ve realized that it’s ridiculous to post everything people wrote about books that haunted them. (I guess I was expecting 5 or 6 entries…) So I’ve decided to post a small selection of entries, all on books I haven’t read. One of my ulterior motives in asking the “haunted” question (Hallowe’en aside) is that I always love to hear about what others read. Hopefully, you’re the same way.
Becky chose Dream Spinner by Bonnie Dobkin, “about a man with a pet spider that can talk. Together they take people’s dreams and weave them like a thread into a huge tapestry. 3 friends come across his house, and are eager to enter their dreams… but when nightmares start to take over, will they be able to wake up again?”
Mariana chose Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, “because it really made me think about the things you do that affect people around you, even if you don’t notice.”
Haley chose Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith and reviewed it at her blog.
Andrea chose Les Enfants Indigos by Sylvie Simon, “a non-fiction book about a new type of child who is here to lead us to the next level of consciousness! The idea is that these new children need truth, and will not longer settle for the old answers of “just because” or even try to fit into institutions that are not adapting to their needs. The book gives examples of how they see the world… very old souls indeed!”
Mary chose Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. “The writing is beautiful, the plot intricate and the story manages to be tragic, poignant, inspiring and deeply satisfying all at once. The relationships between the characters are so heartfelt they will linger in my mind forever. The tragic part of the story [which I won’t give away in case you haven’t read it] is hauntingly sad.”
Emily chose The Ragwitch by Garth Nix. It’s supposed to be a young adult book, I’m ‘slightly’ older than young adult but it scared me silly! At one point, the girl is trapped inside the mind of the Rag Witch, and the thoughts of the witch are made of rags – makes me shiver just thinking about it!”
Jason chose Circus Parade by Jim Tully, “a memoir of life in the violent, criminal, yet sometimes magical circus world in early 20th century America. What haunted me was how cruel the life on the road could be, but how a rogues’ honour emerged from this cruelty for some, and manifested as evil in others.”
Robin chose We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver. “The narrator writes about her son and how she never felt bonded to him, and as a teenager he commits mass murder at his school. It was a very harrowing read!”
Jennifer chose Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes, in which “Anna keeps catching glimpses of her husband everywhere and doesn’t understand why he won’t return her calls and emails… The novel is so heartbreaking.”
Finally, when I was at Regi, students asked me a number of excellent questions about writing and publishing. I’ll try to answer these in an orderly fashion over the next month or so. Next week, the first instalment: on writing.
That’s how the German series title translates into English. And here are the German covers from publisher Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (DTV). Here’s the preliminary version I first saw a few months ago.
I thought that was it. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got something completely new:
And I like this version so much more. What do you think?
I literally did cartwheels when Deb Wayshak, my editor at Candlewick (she’s a novelist, too – prolific and critically acclaimed and thus, y’know, not intimidating AT ALL) told me they’d commissioned a photo shoot for the US edition of SPY. While I love the elegant, glowing UK cover, I was so curious to see how other people imagined Mary Quinn. The final cover is not quite ready for the world but its designer, Caroline Lawrence, took some behind-the-scenes snapshots of the cover shoot so that we could all participate, too.
Have you recovered yet? I haven’t. Remember, you have just under 3 weeks left to enter to win a copy of SPY.
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