Author Interview: Part 2–The “Cynsation” of Cynthia Leitich Smith

Yesterday, New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith shared her writing expertise and inspirations with Teen Voices. But what would Teen Reading Week be without reading recommendations from her? In our interview, Smith highlights the latest and greatest teen "must reads!"

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Teen Voices (TV): Who are some of your all-time, favorite teen girl characters? What makes these characters so great?

Cynthia Leitich Smith (CS): Kit Tyler from Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond. She's out of place in Puritan New England, loyal to her friends, loves reading, and is accused of witchcraft. She's also smart, romantic, resourceful, and ends up with the irresistible Nat. I used to re-read this classic once a year.

Vivian Gandillon from Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate. This fierce, sensual wolf girl is one of the reasons I started writing YA. She truly deserves to rule her pack.

Mary Quinn from Y.S. Lee's The Agency trilogy. The Victorian age isn't stopping this young miss from becoming a spy, and Lee's writing really makes time and place come alive.

TV: Have you discovered any new books or authors that Teen Voices readers shouldn't miss?

CS: Where to begin? I'll have to settle for highlighting. Don't miss titles include Marianna Baer's Frost House (which was recently purchased by President Obama for his daughter), Ellen Jensen Abbott's Watersmeet and its companion The Centaur's Daughter as well as Lena Coakley's Witchlanders.

TV: You have an extremely successful blog, "Cynsations." What made you want to start blogging about books and writing? What are your ultimate goals as a blogger?

At first, it simply seemed like a way to offer time-sensitive material—like award announcements or news of book-related events.

But my inner Lois Lane quickly took over, and I've enjoyed offering upbeat, hopefully inspiring and useful information about writing, books, publishing, and the writing life for some years now.

My goals are to reach out to readers, lift up writers, and help facilitate the larger conversation of the craft, books, and business.

TV: What advice do you have for teens who want to become writers?

CS: Read. Write. Rewrite. Focus on the craft of writing. For new voices, it's not about finishing that first book and getting it published. It's about preparing yourself to write the best first book you can and then another one and another, enjoying the process along the way. Find a critique group or partner for feedback.

Dare. Dream. Play.

TV: What projects are you working on now that we can look forward to reading in the next year or two?

At the moment, I'm celebrating the release of Tantalize: Kieren's Story, which is a graphic novel adaptation of Tantalize from Wolf man Kieren Morales' point of view. A graphic novel adaptation of Eternal also is in process, both illustrated by Ming Doyle.

The next book in the Tantalize series will be Diabolical (Jan. 2012), which I've already discussed.

I'm working on Smolder now. It features a new protagonist and promotes two existing secondary characters to leading lady/gentleman status. The novel is largely a response to fan requests, and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Beyond that, readers may be interested in downloading my short story "Cat Calls," which is set in the Tantalize universe and available for free from most major online bookstores. A free download of another short, "Haunted Love," will be available in December.

Finally, I'm absolutely thrilled about a short, "Mooning Over Broken Stars," that will appear in the anthology Girl Meets Boy, edited by Kelly Milner Halls (Chronicle, Jan. 2011). It's a companion story to one by noted Abenaki author Joseph Bruchac and represents the latest in my realistic Native American fiction.

I'm so thrilled to have a companion story to one by Joe. He's been a long-time inspiration. The first time we were at a conference together, I was too star struck to even say hello!

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Smith's award-winning books for younger children include Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, and Rain Is Not My Indian Name (all HarperCollins) and Holler Loudly (Dutton).

Smith's website was named one of the top 10 Writer Sites on the Internet by Writer's Digest and an ALA Great Website for Kids. Her Cynsations blog was listed as among the top two read by the children's/YA publishing community in the SCBWI "To Market" column.