Full Moon + Valentine's Day = Our Kind Of Holiday

Here at Friday the Thirteeners we like to roll a little off-kilter. When we saw that the full moon was landing smack on top of everyone's favorite romantic holiday, we thought we'd take advantage of it with a little foray into the imaginative dating lives of the fake people we've created. Or if our book was going to date another book, who would they pick?

Mindy McGinnis:

It was suggested to me once at a book signing that Lynn from NOT A DROP TO DRINK would be an ideal girlfriend for Daryl from The Walking Dead. I think that could work - but first they'd sidestep around each other with weapons drawn for about two years before either of them admitted to liking the other.

Erin Bowman:

TAKEN would date THE MAZE RUNNER! They'd be besties!

Alexandra Duncan:

I think SALVAGE would probably get along really well with SHIP BREAKER, by Paolo Bacigalupi. They have a few key things in common - worlds ravaged by global warming and people living off the scraps or our former prosperity - but they also have enough that's different that they would have something to talk about. SALVAGE is a little more emotional than SHIP BREAKER, but I think they would balance each other out nicely.

April Genevieve Tucholke:

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA just had its heart broken by a Stephen King short story collection and is now going to hook up with Richie Cusick's THE LIFEGUARD, just for the summer.

Megan Shepherd:

THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER is going on a date with THIS DARK ENDEAVOR by Kenneth Oppel. Dr. Moreau's daughter and a young Dr. Frankenstein? Yes, please!

What do you think of our choices?

Mindy McGinnis Gets Polar Vortexed

Mindy was trapped in her home for six days recently, and decided to do a little Truthing via her Ask box on Tumblr.

In Defense of InstaLove

by Mindy McGinnis

I know, you're probably looking at the title and thinking that there's no way Mindy is the author of this blog post. Mindy, who is so clearly acerbic and a downright instigator when it comes to the demise of the HEA. But, I think this makes me the perfect person to write in defense of insta-love in YA, because you can rest assured that I'm not being reactionary in regards to my own book. (You'll notice that Lynn and Eli don't ever say, "I love you." Why? Because- ick).

So, with that pre-disposition of ick in mind, I can still honestly defend the presence of insta-love in YA. Because even though I'm an old, bitter, cautious woman now, I haven't always been. Yes, Mindy used to fall in love, often and easily, just like the vast majority of teens everywhere... which is who YA is being written for in the first place.

Yes, teens fall in love quickly. And there's plenty of evidence to show that they really can't help it. This article from National Geographic regarding the maturation of the teen brain goes into detail regarding their risk-taking, but the last section focuses on how their changing brains function socially:

The teen brain is similarly attuned to oxytocin, another neural hormone, which (among other things) makes social connections in particular more rewarding. The neural networks and dynamics associated with general reward and social interactions overlap heavily. Engage one, and you often engage the other. Engage them during adolescence, and you light a fire.

Yep, it's true. Love is just better when you're young. Their brains are chemically predisposed to fall in love, and anyone who spends more than the average amount of time around teens can attest to this. They enter into emotionally-drenched connections with someone they truly believe is their soul mate in December, then discover in February that it's actually the girl from English class they're into. And the truth is - they probably are. I don't think it diminishes the weight or value of their love to fall into it so easily and so quickly when they are biologically predisposed to behave in this manner.

What I don't like to see in any genre is insta-love that happens as an excuse for lazy writing, with zero spark between the characters and a simple forced-upon-the-reader: These two are in love now. Fact. Most of the time when I see people complaining about insta-love it's because the writer didn't sell the relationship, not because the relationship shouldn't exist in the first place.

My other beef has nothing to do with insta-love, it's insta-stability. I firmly believe teens do fall in insta-love, but they also fall out just as quickly. It's when I see teens portrayed as meeting their one-and-only and being-blind-to-all-others-for-an-extended-period-of-time-with-no-question-of-the-happiness-that-will-extend-into-eternity that I start to get a bit pissy.

Sorry, I don't buy that.

In fact, I don't care how old the characters are.

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Mindy McGinnis is a YA author and librarian. Her debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, is a post-apocalyptic survival tale set in a world where freshwater is almost non-existent, available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins September 24, 2013. She blogs at Writer, Writer Pants on Fire and contributes to the group blogs Book Pregnant, Friday the Thirteeners, From the Write Angle, The Class of 2k13, The Lucky 13s & The League of Extraordinary Writers. You can also find her on Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook.

Mindy McGinnis Tells the Truth About Parenting Your Book Baby

Sure, they're pretty. But if you're not careful, that book baby can turn into a spoiled mess.

Mindy McGinnis Tells the Truth About Survival

Before we get on to the awesome video, we need to announce the winner of our INSOMNIA Dare Giveaway! Gillian Berry! You Win! Jenn will be in contact with you soon and congrats.

Recently someone asked our group of authors how much we were like our main characters. That's kind of a tricky one to answer for me, but I did my best for you in a rambunctious vlog.

I'm also blogging on the Lucky 13s today about self-sufficiency, and how it does not relate to writing... at all. We need our critique parters. Cherish them, love them. Feed them organic food.

Mindy McGinnis Takes The Truth

by Mindy McGinnis

Blog follower Becky Sullivan provided us with the truth I'm going to take today - What's the worst or weirdest excuse you use to get out of writing when you have writer's block?

First, I'm going to clarify and say that I don't get writer's block. You can throw stuff at me if you want, but that's just the way it is. If my brain were a heating pad, it would always be set at H and my scalp would have third-degree burns. Luckily for my follicles, this is not the case.

But I'm going to modify the question a bit and then give you a real answer that also deals with bodily functions.

Q: What's the weirdest excuse you use to get out of writing?

A: I have to pee.

No really. I do. I probably have to pee as you're reading this. I know I had to while writing it. Peeing is one of those things that I'm able put off for quite some time without any lasting detrimental effect to my renal system. I know at least one person (ahem, RC Lewis) is going to reply to this and tell me that I AM doing damage to myself, that I simply just don't know it yet. Anyone who hangs out in the AgentQuery Connect chat room will tell you that I don't really pee that often. It appears that my bladder is roughly the size of the Hindenberg.

Also there are rich people in it.

And in using that rather crude metaphor, I have probably sealed my fate and my bladder will in fact, explode at some moment in the future. Rather unexpectedly, I'm sure.

Below you'll find screencapped proof of my refusal to pee when necessary, as well as proof that I'm often guilty of over-share.

You're probably thinking to yourself - Um... Mindy, you're kind of proving yourself wrong here. The whole point of this post is that you're supposed to share what your weirdest excuse is for not writing, but you're telling us you're perfectly capable of holding it?

Yep. Exactly my point.

If I'm getting ready to lay down (yes, long story) and write, very often I'll settle in, put my fingers to the keyboard... and run to the bathroom to relieve the tiniest of tickles. Why?

Because I'm terrified.

I'm afraid that for whatever reason, this time when I put my fingers to the keys nothing is going to come out. I'm afraid that someone flipped the cosmic heating pad switch in my brain and my little red light has been extinguished.

So far, it hasn't been true. I take the pee, my renal system looks around at the circulatory system and says, "What the hell? I hadn't even gotten started!" and I return to the keys. With an empty bladder the heat waves start rolling out of the brain without any excuses.

Maybe someday I'll learn to skip that first part, stop making the excuses and simply write.

But then my renal health might plummet.
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Mindy's debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, is a post-apocalyptic survival tale set in a world where water is rare, available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins September 9, 2013. She blogs at Writer, Writer Pants on Fire. You can also find her on Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook.