A simple “no, thank you” would have sufficed.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. That’s the focus of the links this week, including changes to a common metaphor writers use to describe the writing process, depictions of 21st century teens in young adult books, storytelling methods of innovative authors, and the reading habits of book lovers in a world of digital technology.

Also, eight reasons why some authors are assholes.

• One author on moving away from the metaphor of birthing books to something more akin to a long-term relationship: “My book, then, the unpublished (and perhaps unpublishable?) manuscript must be a lover who has moved from the bedroom to the couch.”
• If you’re writing for teens, then consider more significant changes than adding cell phones and the Internet to your book to make it contemporary. Stellar advice from agent Sarah LaPolla about the cultural, political, and societal changes that inform a generation, such as: “The teens reading YA only know about 9/11 from history class. They have no concept of what life was like in the 20th century. The way Americans live and think changed after 9/11. Imagine what your perspective might be like if you didn’t remember September 10th.”
• Similar to rethinking the lives of young adults, these 10 innovative writers are rethinking and reshaping regional depictions, storytelling, and more.
• While the Technology Of Books Has Changed, Bookstores Are Hanging In There.
• Some authors are hangry; some authors are assholes. These and more reasons why reader-author interactions occasionally go wrong.