So, I've been reading this week. Voraciously, in fact, and it feels SO NICE. It's been a really long time since I've been lost in a novel, and the experience is reminding me why it is that I like to write. Want to write. Need to write.

Yes, I hear your question. The answer is, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. Young Adult Fantasy novel, if you're unfamiliar with Clare. Angel is the first of her Infernal Devices series. She became successful with her Mortal Instruments series, which I haven't read. True to my habit, I picked up the first of the prequel series, rather than the first of the series that's completed. (Or was completed--Mortal Instruments was a trilogy, but I understand the fourth book was just published...which makes it not a trilogy any more, of course.) The reason for this is that Devices is set in 1878 London, whereas Instruments is set in 2007 New York. If you don't know why this is an important distinction for me, you don't know enough about my literary interests. (We can fix that...)

Anyway...Clockwork Angel was...amazing. Utterly fantastic. Cassandra Clare manages to write a strongly character-driven book, while simultaneously doing an excellent job of producing an engrossing plot. And, of course, absolutely gorgeously bloody fight scenes. Mmmm. The last time I felt this way about a book was The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells. Ironically, both are steam-punk/fantasy books, but I don't think the steam-punk element has anything to do with how much I like them. Or maybe it does, and I haven't figure it out yet. I'll have to think about that.

Either way, Reading Angel has taught me several things about myself, which I am shortly going to scuttle off to apply.

1-I really, really, really like character driven books. (This is not new news.)

2-I love books where two young men play off each other well. This especially works when one of the guys has a sarcastic, or ironic sense of humor, and the other finds him a little ridiculous but is completely capable of matching him wit for wit, when necessary.

3-I like books with a touch of romance. (Also not exactly new news...but the trick is that I really don't like books where the romance drives the plot. I like its use as an undercurrent stressor.)

4-Black leather, swords and blood-soaked long hair are awesome. And I need to be less careful of the blood in my writing. It's there, it belongs, I need to let the reader see it.

5-The books I'm writing are YA Fantasy. This is a revelation to me. Last year, when I pitched my book to an agent (who was very interested in the premise), she asked me what my target audience was, and I didn't know how to answer. I almost said YA Fantasy, but then I thought about the content in some of it, and wasn't sure. I'm still not 100% sure if that will push it into the adult category, but I think YA really is what I'm writing for...and that's just fine. I like YA Fantasy, a lot. I like how it tends to be less pretentious than Adult Fantasy, how it tends to be a little more fun. I like how the worlds are a little easier to enter, often times, and the battles end up being a little more personal and a little less epic. I like how it's read, and enjoyed, by people from 10-40. (Obviously, none of that's true of all YA or all Adult, but I think in general it seems to be true.)

Also, I like writing--and reading--about 16-25 year olds, especially the ones who've lived a lot of life before getting to their age. There's something intriguing about the age when one is crossing from childhood to adulthood; something magical about coming alive and becoming; something entrancing about the vitality and enthusiasm--the lack of self-preservation instinct, if you will--that runs high at that age. And something particularly tragic about a 17 year old who believes they've irreparably destroyed their life.

And so, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to write more blood. I'm going to figure out a way to infuse humor, and play Devyn and Obram off one another better. I'm going to be at peace with the romantic tension between Devyn and Tahira (like the blood, it's there and it belongs, and I need to let the readers see it). And I'm going to work on the intensity of my plot.

So...bye! Off I go!

Copyright 2011, by Tesi