Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “Young Adult”

Amsterdam view: Amsterdam on fire again?

Posted on October 7, 2010

    Last Friday the Amsterdam sky lit up with protest fires, built on the bridges by outraged squatters, thrill-seeking tourists and hormone-driven adolescents. Last night the skies lit up again. But this time it wasn’t the anti-riot squad that did the scattering, this time it was the sun. For me it felt like the Sun Spirit was telling me he was keeping his fingers crossed. It felt like he was sending me all the good luck in the world. I need those good luck wishes! I need them in relation to that wonderful skin-crawling adventure fantasy I wrote and that is on its way to the US: THE SUN SPIRIT! It is the first volume of the Warriors of the Sun tetralogy and…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, Books, The Views, YA books

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Amsterdam view: Flow Works

Posted on September 22, 2010

Every writer longs for it: that time that words seemingly effortless find their way from your head to your manuscript and your fingers become instruments creating works of art. It’s the time that sentences build themselves, that the plot moves forward at just the right pace: slow where it needs to ease the reader into your story, fast where it needs the reader to hold his breath and run along with the protagonist through hot and dry deserts and under ominously thundering skies. Yes, every writer longs for the FLOW. I long for that flow, too. Sometimes it’s music that gets me right there. A great song or an album on repeat – Levon Helm’s ‘Ophelia’, Eddie Vedder’s ‘Guaranteed’ or an album like Anouar…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views

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Amsterdam View: atmospherical enlightenment

Posted on September 8, 2010

At first sight it may seem like a bit of a stretch: a Straight Edge writer writing a Young Adult novel about pot smoking and weed growing. As it turns out, juxtaposing straight edge with weed presented me with some very interesting plot twists. Straight Edge or not, if you are writing for YA you need to be true, you need to tell the tale from the heart, throw in your own experiences and make it as real as possible. If you don’t, they will prick right through it and trash you and your precious novel before you know it. So, where to go if you need to find your way in the land of the dazed, if you need to raise the veil…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, Books, The Views, YA books

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Californian view: Dr. Frank goes YA

Posted on September 2, 2010

While on my way to California I had to prepare for a masterclass – Finding and Revising Your Protagonist’s Voice in YA Literature – I was to attend at a writers’ conference in Los Angeles. One of the assignments was reading King Dork, the very very witty debut of Frank Portman, a.k.a. Dr. Frank of the Mr. T Experience. So I packed my bags, loaded King Dork on my e-book reader and started the long journey west. The book turned out everything you need to brighten up the seemingly endless and boring flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco. Moreover, it turned out to be an excellent book to be reviewed for Booktunes, Erik de Loor’s new website that brings together books and music. I…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, Views Abroad, YA books

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Amsterdam view: PLeaSe!

Posted on August 26, 2010

What to do when it is raining the proverbial cats and dogs? In my writer’s residence that isn’t a very hard question. Rain is an almost daily constant in our ecosystem. It keeps our land flat and wet, just the way we like it. So, we continue life as if this dreariness and gloom doesn’t exist. We dress up in various forms of water-repellants and water-resistants, and we go about our business as usual. We take out our finest umbrella’s and meet with our friends on the bridge for a chat, just like we would do on a sunny day, wearing our favorite miniskirts and halter-tops. Or we get out our cane and take our daily stroll, this time protecting our suit with a…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views, YA books

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Amsterdam view: sunset transformation of a church

Posted on August 23, 2010

My little writer’s boat did a good job during the 2010 Sail celebration. Small but sturdy it took me to every nook and cranny of the Amsterdam water systems. Together we cruised the canals from Herengracht to Reguliersgracht, from Keizersgracht to Lauriergracht and on to Prinsengracht. We crossed the Amstel river. We even sailed the Amsterdam-Rijn canal and the IJ to dock at the Verbindingsdam between Java Island and the main land. At the Lloyd I enjoyed a gig of my favorite funkadelic hiphop band PLeaSe. You will most definitely hear more of them as they are without doubt The Next Best Band and they will feature in my new YA novel! After an outstanding, energetic and energizing PLeaSe performance – they twice played my…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views

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Californian View: something old, something new…

Posted on August 18, 2010

For some people it is comforting to be surrounded by what they know, to do the things they’ve always done and live a life without surprises. Leave everything as it is and don’t ask questions. For them change is a scary process, a frightening journey into the dark unknown. If changes occur they – often subconsciously – try to block it. They cling to the familiar and won’t let go. It’s easy to laugh at them, but I realize that – deep down in my heart – I’m one of them. Even though I like a road less traveled, I have difficulties going off the beaten track. In hiking and biking I usually keep to the trails and in daily life I shop at…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, The Views, Views Abroad, YA books

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