Best YA Series Endings Ever

Posted on August 28, 2016 by conjurors

Maybe it’s because we, as readers, become increasingly passionate about our favorite series that we have higher and higher expectations for each book. When you think about it logically, authors like Suzanne Collins and J.K. Rowling must feel like Atlas, with the weight of all of their successful books on their shoulders, trying to keep their series from tumbling off their backs.

All too often, the end of a great series leaves readers feeling underwhelmed at best, and annoyed at worst (ahem, Twilight series). Many readers were infuriated when Veronica Roth killed of the heroine of the Divergent series, for example. But when a series is ended well, there are few things in the world more satisfying for a devoted reader. Below are my top three favorite YA fantasy series endings, and the lessons I took away from them. Beware of spoilers!

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling – Solve a puzzle an entire series in the making.
It may be so obvious as to be a cliché, but Harry Potter has to take top billing for best YA fantasy series endings ever. There were clues planted from book 1 that were finally revealed, and they didn’t disappoint. My favorite moment in the entire series was when Harry finally saw Snape’s memories and understood his true motivation. And the final book was littered with details like this – the invisibility cloak, Dumbledore’s past, even the much-awaited kiss between Hermione and Ron. The final battle was brutal but satisfying, and the epilogue gave readers a sense of closure. Readers may have their issues with the series conclusion, but for the most part they were minor. The brilliance of the series ending was a testament to the brilliance of the entire series.

The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfield – Evolve your character in a meaningful way within each book and throughout the series.
Tally Youngblood, the protagonist in The Uglies Series, is a compelling example of how a character must continue to evolve in every single book of a series. Westerfield does a masterful job of evolving Tally’s thinking, maturity, and understanding of the world around her. She increasingly sees that things aren’t black and white, and as she understands nuance, she grows up. The Tally at the beginning and end of each book is different, and so are the Tally at the beginning and end of the series. The only way that Westerfield could have achieved this is if he planned the stages that Tally would go through from the beginning. It’s this level of planning that’s required to create a masterpiece.

The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry – Pivot perspectives to keep the series fresh.
Lowry takes a different approach than Rowling or Westerfield to keep readers hooked. Each one of the books of The Giver Quartet are unique, but interconnected. It’s fascinating to watch old characters interact with new, creating a webbed world that feels real because of its complexity. By the end of The Giver Quartet I felt so immersed in the world that I could have added my own chapter to it. When others want to continue living in a world you’ve created, you know you have a great story.

What’s your YA fantasy series ending ever?

Free YA Fantasy Ebook: The Society of Imaginary Friends (The Conjurors Series)

Posted on March 14, 2014 by conjurors

If you’re a lover of teen/young adult fantasy, check out the first book in The Conjurors Series for free on Amazon March 14-16. The Society of Imaginary Friends is available on Amazon if you’re interested in checking it out.

I welcome all feedback and reviews, so if you decide to read it let me know what you think!

Click here to check out an excerpt from the novel. Below is the blurb:

Belief is a powerful magic.

Valerie Diaz has a power that she can’t contain, and it’s killing her.

Bounced between foster homes and the streets, she only has time to concentrate on staying alive. But a visit from the imaginary friend of her childhood opens a world of possibilities, including a new life half a universe away on a planet that is bursting with magic.

The Society of Imaginary Friends follows Valerie on a journey that straddles two worlds. In order to survive, she must travel many light years away to a realm where anything is possible.

On the Globe, imaginary friends come to life, the last of the unicorns rules the realm, and magic seeps from the pores of all the Conjurors who live there. But choosing to embrace her potential will set Valerie on a treacherous course – one filled with true love, adventure and perilous danger.

You can also check out the second book in The Conjurors Series, Knights of Light, for $3.99 on Amazon.

Announcing My New YA Fantasy Novel: Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series)

Posted on March 12, 2014 by conjurors

I’m not going to try to play it cool – I’m excited to announce that the second book in my young adult fantasy series, The Conjurors, is published. Knights of Light is now available on Amazon.

If you want to take Knights of Light for a test drive, check out the free excerpt here. Below is the blurb:

Leading means taking mortal risks. Hiding is not an option.

With a tumultuous year behind her, Valerie is ready to start a life that doesn’t include running from enemies and risking her life. Too bad someone wants her dead.

No matter how much she resists, Valerie is thrust into a position where it is up to her to lead the Conjurors against the power-hungry Fractus or suffer the consequences of two worlds ruled by those who wield magic as a weapon. But the clashes don’t stop on the battlefield. As Valerie finds herself torn between her new love and her best friend, it will be up to her to figure out who she can’t live without.

In the fast-paced second novel of The Conjurors Series, Valerie searches for the father she thought was long dead and begins to come to grips with the immensity of her new power.

The battle has begun.

How to Write a Great Battle Scene

Posted on September 3, 2013 by conjurors

One of the scenes in my novels that I find most intimidating to write is battles. How much action is too much? Or am I making it too simple? The Conjurors is a young adult fantasy series, and I enjoyed a succint, informative article on StormTheCastle.com about writing fantasy battles that got my brain working. These techniques gave me a starting point, and when I sat down and wrote the big battle in my story, I found a few other helpful techniques that I wanted to share.

Keep track of your heroine.
With all of the blood and manoevers and treachery, it’s easy to get lost when writing a battle. I found that using my heroine as an anchor helped to focus me. This is still her story, so I reminded myself to include her emotional responses to what she was witnessing, as well as the action itself.

Write a battle your audience will care about.
The battle scene in a book for adult men should look different than a battle in a YA fantasy aimed at a female readership. Talk to your fans and friends to see how much detail they want you to go into on the battlefield. Personally, I tend to skim the battle scenes in books that describe tactics and detailed combat. On the other hand, when I read Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, the battles kept me riveted, because it was as much about what was happening inside Katniss’ head as it was about the fighting itself.

Check out historical battle tactics.
This can get overwhelming and confusing, so I’d like to add the caveat that it’s only worth real effort if you’re writing a massive battle scene. If you’ll be battling for a few chapters, you might want to check out some information on battle strategy to make your story richer. It also helps provide a framework for your battle so that you don’t get lost in all the blood.

Choose a fighting style and read up on it.
You can even take a class. If your fighters are all using hand-to-hand combat, it helps to know a few moves that you didn’t see in an action movie. You can talk to a friend in martial arts or even read up on the basics. No matter what style you have in mind, from 21st century warfare to clashing swords, a little knowledge goes a long way toward making your story believable.

Do you have any other tips on how to write a battle scene well? I’m editing mine now and would love some tips!

On Writing 100,000 Words in 100 Days – Sorta

Posted on August 19, 2013 by conjurors

A little over a week ago I became the proud author of the complete first draft of the second book in my young adult fantasy series, The Conjurors. I’d made a pact with myself to write 100,000 words in 100 days, and I can’t say that I wrote 1,000 words every single day – but I came close. Life got in the way sometimes, like when my husband, toddler and myself all came down with a violent stomach virus. Or, to be fair, also when I became obsessed with Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices Trilogy and decided that my need to marathon the series overrode my need to finish my own story.

But at least having this goal encouraged me to complete the first draft of my novel in close to 100 days. It’s an exercise that I plan to repeat in the future. I know some writers ebb and flow in the amount of content they create as their muse inspires them. Sometimes I wish that I were that kind of writer, but in reality I think I’m the kind of person who does best when I force myself to be creative.

So given that this plan was a success, I think it’s time for a new goal as I begin the editing process – which I happen to love and am excited to begin. I owe my beta readers a draft of the story in September, so until then I plan to edit a chapter a day, minimum. This may be ambitious, but it’s a place to start.

Do any of you have advice on setting editing goals? If so I’d love to hear your thoughts and advice!

Read It and Weep (Literally)

Posted on May 7, 2013 by conjurors

This week I killed off my first character, ever. It was difficult – even though I wasn’t super attached to him, I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. After all, he was a good guy and under different circumstances maybe he could have lasted for another chapter or two. But after reminding myself that he was, in fact, a figment of my imagination, I was able to focus on the most important part. How to make his death compelling.

What is it that makes death truly gripping in great young adult fantasy writing? I remember crying when Sirius Black and Dumbledore died while reading J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series. And little Prim got a sniffle or two when I read Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games trilogy. But I wasn’t sad so much because the characters were gone, but rather because of the emotional toll it took on Harry and Katniss. It was their response that sparked the reaction in me.

Gandalf‘s death in J. R. R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings, however, didn’t move me in the same way. He was my favorite character in the series, but when he died I felt more like shrugging than crying. Maybe it was his age. Maybe it was because he died a victor and had led a full life. Of course, then he returns as Gandalf the White, and as happy as I was to see him, I was glad I hadn’t wasted any time grieving for him. So it’s safe to say that you won’t find any of my characters coming back from the grave.

As a reader, I like when an author isn’t afraid to kill off main characters. It makes me feel like no one is safe, which heightens the tension during the action scenes. Now I just have to work on writing the emotion of these moments well.

Do you have any suggestions about things to consider for writing about death in young adult fantasy?

100,000 Words in 100 Days

Posted on April 19, 2013 by conjurors

Lately I’ve been fighting with myself. There are so many excuses not to write every day – I have a toddler with a virus every other week, a demanding day job, and family and friends that I want to spend time with. At the end of the day I’m so tired that I feel like eking out an ounce of creativity would be like squeezing water from a rock.

But on the other hand, I’m a happier person when I write. Suddenly on my commute to work instead of being annoyed with the traffic, I’m imagining scenes that I’m working on. I feel more attuned to what’s going on around me, because I never know where inspiration might strike. And when I wake up in the middle of the night, instead of stressing about a deadline the next day, it’s because I just solved an important plot puzzle that had been nagging me.

I’ve always been a person who likes to have a solid goal, so I’ve made the decision that I will write every day, no excuses, for 100 days. With some luck, I hope to have a very rough first draft of the second book in my series completed at the end of that time. Hopefully at the end I’ll have something solid that I can edit, and my sanity will still be intact. Wish me luck.

Five Terrifying Young Adult Fantasy Villains

Posted on April 13, 2013 by conjurors

Over the past few weeks I’ve been creating the backstory for the villain of my series, The Conjurors. I want him to be believable, compelling, and frightening. For inspiration, I looked to the masters of young adult fantasy and considered which villains I found most captivating. Below are my top five.

Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling may not be the first author to use Hitler as a model for her super villain, but she is the most creative, in my opinion. Voldemort’s obsession with the purity of the wizard race, combined with his sociopathic childhood, make him both creepy and intensely threatening. Throughout the series no one was safe – not even civilians or children. When he whipped out his wand, my palms would sweat for whoever was at the other end of it. And let’s not forget his snake, Nagini. I think I’d rather submit to “Avada Kedavra” than be eaten by that enormous monster.

Metatron, His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

A power-mad angel with almost unlimited powers, Metatron feels undefeatable in the His Dark Materials series. He uses the language of religion to create a dictatorship from heaven, where he can control human’s lives like puppets. Perhaps most chilling of all, he is even more powerful than The Authority, who is god in the series. Throughout the books, I found myself wondering how he could ever be taken down – but it was by his own weakness in the end, not someone more powerful than himself. My one gripe was that the hero and heroine of the story, both children, weren’t the ones to lead him to his doom.

Galbatorix, The Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini

Using the souls of dead dragons to power his magic? Yikes! I have to give Paolini credit for finding one of the most original and sinister ways for a villain to derive his power. Galbatorix is absent for much of the series, but he is always talked about. This makes him more intimidating than if we were encountering him around every corner. And when Eragon does finally encounter the villain of the series, he doesn’t disappoint – he can possess people and, like Metatron, has to defeat himself because he is too powerful to be destroyed by anyone else.

Society, The Giver Quartet, Lois Lowry

The Giver was one of the most fascinating books that I read when I was younger, and Lowry has recently finished the series in 2012 with the final book, Son. In this series, it isn’t one villain who acts as the antagonist of the series, but rather society as a whole. The mob mentality of killing off those who are weak, and a conscious decision to shut off emotions, leads to very cold and clinical assessments of who should live and die. It’s a world where babies who cry too much are killed, having a disability can lead to execution, and it is up to children to be the moral compass for a society that has no idea that it is out of control. In this way the villain of the series is like the hydra – one head is cut off only to be replaced by two more.

Neferet, House of Night, P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

The House of Night series achieved something difficult when they created Neferet, a beautiful, powerful and charismatic vampyre who wants to instigate a war with humans. Part of Neferet’s appeal comes from the fact that she is so likeable at times – for a good part of the series you hope she can be turned around. She also has a great backstory that really makes you feel for her. I thoroughly enjoy a villain who I can sympathize with and isn’t pure evil. When the hero or heroine has to defeat someone they care about on some level, the stakes seem higher.

Did I miss your favorite YA fantasy villain?

Falling in Love on the Page

Posted on April 4, 2013 by conjurors

I’m writing the second book in my series, The Conjurors, and my main character is falling in love. Writing this in a way that feels real and conveys the power and passion of love when you’re 16 has been exceptionally hard for me to do well. If I keep it too minimal, readers won’t have an emotional investment in the relationship. But take it over the top, and it starts to feel like a cheesy romance novel.

Not to be controversial, but my one gripe with J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter (of which I’m a HUGE fan) was that I never felt invested in Harry and Ginny. Hermione and Ron, I was totally rooting for. But somehow I always felt like Harry deserved a more compelling love story.

At the other extreme, Stephanie Meyer‘s Twilight series hit a nerve with YA girls for the romance, but for the rest of us who were looking for more substance to the world and the action surrounding that story, the series was disappointing.

So how do writers find the right balance? I think that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins did a great job of weaving a dynamic love triangle with a gripping story. It gave the series an emotional center that made the stakes higher and the consequences more poignant.

What YA books do you think have done an exceptional job with romance?

A Look Back at Children’s Fantasy Classics

Posted on March 24, 2013 by conjurors

Writing for a younger audience as an adult is a tricky business. Granted, I still feel like an 11-year-old kid on the inside, but actual 11 year olds tell me that I am, in fact, a grown woman who should probably not hog the swings at the park. And in my writing, as much as I try to channel my inner child, I know that sometimes I may be missing some of the intense wonder and possibility that most people only feel until a certain age.

When that happens I think back to the fantasy and sci-fi books that drew me in as a child, the ones I read over and over. One series that I loved was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. I read them again and again through the years, and every time I would get something new. As an eight year old, I struggled to wrap my brain around the concept but was fascinated by the raw emotions of Meg and her family. At 12 I only cared about the romance between Meg and Calvin. And in high school I was finally able to marvel at the complexity of the world and the characters.

I also loved The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts, where the main character moves things with her mind. She was an outsider (like me) who found friends and mastered her powers to do cool things. I remember logging serious time staring at objects and trying to move them with the power of my thoughts, or trying to have conversations with my friends telepathically.

The series on my shelf that had the most worn spines was The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. The main character was a boy, Taran, but I could completely relate to him. And the world that Alexander created was so rich that you could practically smell the pig pen that Taran had to keep clean. To this day just seeing the covers reminds me of rainy days huddled by a window with a book and nights with a flashlight under the blanket.

I could go on and on. But these blasts from my past always help me realize that a great fantasy or sci-fi is less about a cool concept or a fascinating world, and more about a character who feels real to a kid. The character can be as smart or powerful as an adult, but they must approach the world with curiosity and hope, and believe that they still have the power to make a difference, even if it is in a small way. And when they do, every kid who reads that story feels for a minute like they might be special too.

What are the books that you read as a child that still inspire you now?

Kristen Pham

YA Science Fiction & Fantasy Author

Tag Archives: young adult fantasy