It's kind of sad today, but kind of happy. This is our last 'Faith-Fiction Friday' here at OTMA.
Why?
Well, if you don't know, I've started a new blog called Faith Filled Fiction. That site is all about Christian/faith fiction so it's only natural that Faith Fiction Friday be posted there. Don't worry, I'll put a link to it here for you.
So... what is Faith Fiction Friday? 1. I post a picture. 2. You write a 100 word (give or take) story (fiction, non-fiction or devotional) about the picture. 3. You put the story in the comments section. 4. You add your blog (if you have one) to the linky. 5. Come back and read all of the great stories! 6. I normally ask you to put the faith fiction Friday button somewhere on your blog, but this time I'm not since the link will be different next week anyway. Ready?
(WEDDING PHOTO)
Here we go... This picture was inspired by Megan's post at Just a Little Place to Write. Her Creative Writing Wednesday post was a wedding picture. I saw this and couldn't resist. Today being my anniversary and all, I couldn't help but be a bit sentimental. Not that this looks anything like my wedding. (from pinterest.com) Happy writing!
Today is the LAST DAY to enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card to celebrate the release of my second book, SAINT SLOAN. CLICK HERE TO ENTER!!!
First of all, look at that cover!!! Isn't it amazing?!? I think it's very pretty. 'The Pied Piper' is the 3rd book in the Super Spies series (haven't read them? Well, the first two are only.99 right now!!! What a deal!)
BACK COVER BLURB from THE SUPER SPIES AND THE PIED PIPER: Sarah Cole and her sister Lacey are at it once again when they learn their missing parents’ cell phone has been traced to Alden, Michigan. When the FBI declines to continue the investigation, Sarah takes matters into her own hands. She calls upon the Super Spies and they delve into the situation. Suddenly, the teens find themselves immersed in small town intrigue and mystery involving a menacing stranger, who Sarah dubs “The Stalker." But when Sarah learns he’s connected to her parents’ disappearance, she’s determined to find out what that connection is. The Super Spies embark on a journey that leads them into a web of corporate corruption at its highest level that leaves innocent victims in its wake. Can they find the proof they need to stop the greedy corporation before it’s too late? BUY LINKS: AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Super-Spies-Pied-Piper-ebook/dp/B00D25G7ZM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369830473&sr=1-1&keywords=Super+spies+and+the+pied+piper Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-super-spies-and-the-pied-piper-lisa-orchard/1115437908?ean=2940016589701 ASTRAEA PRESS: http://www.astraeapress.com/#!/~/product/category=662245&id=24157242
ABOUT LISA ORCHARD:
Lisa Orchard grew up loving books. She was hooked on mysteries by the fifth grade and even wrote a few of her own. She knew she wanted to be a writer even then. “The Super Spies and the High School Bomber” is the second book in the “Super Spies” series. Her first book was published in March of 2012 and it has received rave reviews. After graduating from Central Michigan University with a Marketing Degree she spent many years in the insurance industry, pining to express her creative side. The decision to stay home with her children gave her the opportunity to follow her dream and become a writer. She currently resides in Rockford Michigan with her husband, Steve, and two wonderful boys. Currently, she’s working on the third novel that stars the same quirky teens. When she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her family, running, hiking, and reading.
The final installment of 'How I Find Time to Write' is written by the wonderful Zanna Mackenzie! I'm so excited to have her tell you the tricks she uses to write her novels. She also has some excerpts from her new book How Do You Spell Love?
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Finding the time to escape into whatever book you’re currently writing can be a tricky business for an author. I’m fortunate in being self-employed, though contracted to work a set amount of hours per week I have plenty of flexibility re when I do work those hours. My day job is also writing related – another plus – as I’m the editor of some business publications for a chamber of commerce. I work from home too, which I love and which saves me having to spend time doing lengthy commutes each day – another positive! I’ve recently had two novels published by different publishers within the space of a month and have quickly discovered that all of the required promotional activity and social media ‘presence’ is very time consuming, far more than I had anticipated. All of which means finding the time to edit my next book (I’ve recently completed the first draft of it) and working on the scenes/plot/characters of the book I have outlined for after that is becoming more and more of a challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to have my work published and relish learning all about the promotional aspects of being an author, but as my writing time has now been squeezed considerably I’m having to be more creative about finding time to write and my solution is – write in bed!! My husband is one of those people who is always awake at about 5am and gets up to do the ‘early morning shift’ in our household - so I have a notebook by the bed and let my mind start working on scenes and dialogue as soon as I wake up and then I start writing them all up ready to be typed onto the computer in the appropriate slot in the working manuscript document whenever I get chance. I’ve found that I prefer writing in this way rather than sitting in front of the computer and writing straight onto it whilst in ‘the creative zone’. As the ‘boss’ at my day job doesn’t work on Fridays I try as much as I can to make Fridays my writing day – providing I don’t have design or proof reading deadlines for the business publications – and aim to keep promotion and social media to a minimum then as well so that I can get typing up all those scene notes. I currently have about 50 pages of notes to type up though – so this plan doesn’t always work!
Many thanks for hosting me on your blog today Kelly! My latest novel, published by Crooked Cat, is called How Do You Spell Love? Here’s the details:
Make A Wish… Kat can’t help wishing there was more to life than this. What happened to her dream job? What happened with Nathan? Summer is wondering where her life is going too… battling the developers of a controversial housing estate and working out why boyfriend Rob is increasingly distant. When the developers win the battle and move into town everyone’s life is turned upside down. Kat meets building site project manager Alex. She enjoys his company far too much, even though he’s on the town’s most hated list. Summer meets Tom who has plenty of relationship troubles of his own, so things could get really complicated. Soon everyone is keeping secrets, lives change and hearts are broken. Is everything falling apart, or does life just work in mysterious ways…
There’s a sneak peak of the book below and it can be purchased in paperback and ebook formats now on: *Crooked Cat Publishing http://www.crookedcatbooks.com/ *Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Do-You-Spell-Love/dp/1908910771/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361800360&sr=8-2 *Amazon USA http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-You-Spell-Love/dp/1908910771/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361800417&sr=1-3&keywords=zanna+mackenzie
Extract from How Do You Spell Love? Kat pushed the last of the cottage cheese and shrimp sandwiches into the cool box and slammed the van door shut. As if her life wasn’t enough of a disaster zone as it was – no money, lousy job, losing Nathan, having to move back home to live with her parents – now this had to go and happen. Plus, of course, it didn’t help that today she was feeling shattered after spending half the night chanting some ridiculous protection spell in the middle of the allotments with Summer. Cringing as a van full of builders stopped at the nearby traffic lights, Kat braced herself for the inevitable. After the standard-issue wolf whistles had drifted across from their van, next came the leered, “Wouldn’t argue with that, love!” as one of them nodded towards her sparkling clean van, parked neatly at the curb. The words “A Bit of Crumpet on the Road” emblazoned down the side in deep purple, glittery lettering. Not for the first time Kat cursed her boss Janice for calling her bakery-cum-deli that name. Kat sighed, well it certainly drew comments from the public and from their customers, not always welcome ones, but as Janice was always keen to point out, any kind of publicity and attention was, in her eyes, good publicity and attention. Pulling her navy and white striped apron more tightly around her T-shirt and shorts, Kat ignored the builders and climbed into her van to begin that morning’s deliveries. As she indicated to pull out into the busy street in Luisborough, she mulled over the bad news – that she was to add the controversial Netherton Meadows housing development to her daily sandwich round. Netherton Meadows. Yippee. If Summer found out, she’d surely be ostracised for fraternising with the environmental enemy. This was a development that pretty much everyone in Luisborough had fought against for getting on towards a year. It had been the focus of STW campaigns. It went against everything that Kat believed in environmental-wise. Everyone hated the Netherton Meadows developers. Except, it seemed, Janice, who was perfectly happy to, in her words, ‘supply yummy builders with yummy sandwiches.’ Lost in thought, Kat just managed to spot the approaching traffic lights had turned to red and hastily slammed a foot on the brake. The van lurched to a halt and several boxes of crisps and one of the cool boxes in the back tipped over. Damn. It was shaping up to be one of those days. Ten minutes later she pulled into the car park of Printing Phenomenon, hauled some baskets and a box from the van and headed for the reception area. It was getting towards late July and was another one of those blazing hot days that made every little thing feel as though it required a huge amount of effort. The kind of day the people of the UK are so unaccustomed to, where all you want to do is get a large, cool drink and collapse into a deckchair for a long snooze. Two hours later Kat had visited all her usual drops, was extremely hot and bothered, and could put off going to Netherton Meadows no longer. Driving through the assorted vans, machinery and portacabins Kat parked next to a building marked as being the Site Office and hit the button on the dashboard. Tinkling chimes filled the air as Kat climbed from the driver’s seat and made to open the back doors of the vehicle. It was embarrassing enough that the van had the company name in large lettering along its side but, just to make sure that it received maximum exposure – and achieved maximum embarrassment – Janice had had some irritating chimes fitted to the vehicle too. Kat was under strict instructions to sound the chimes when she called at all of the sites where people came out to the van; such as they were about to at Netherton Meadows. A man came down the steps of the office with a grin on his face and walked towards her. “Hi, you must be Kat.” He wedged a clipboard under his left arm and offered a hand to shake. “I’m Alex. Project manager for the site.” “Hi,” mumbled Kat, spotting a group of hard-hat-clad builders advancing towards her with hungry expressions on their faces. “Right, lads,” Alex turned towards the men. “This is Kat and she’s very kindly agreed to venture onto this site to bring you all your lunch. Don’t give her any hassle, OK?” The men laughed and then nodded. “Sure, Alex. You’re the boss.” Fifteen minutes later it seemed that all of the team at the development had made their sandwich, crisp and drink selections and sloped off to devour them in the sunshine. Only one of the builders, a portly man who must have been twenty years Kat’s senior, had pushed the boundaries a little, despite Alex’s earlier warning. As he’d selected a smoked salmon and cream cheese roll – a choice that had surprised Kat somewhat, having pegged him as a ham and cheese kind of guy – he’d asked Kat if she’d fancy joining him for a drink sometime. She’d politely declined his offer, saying that she had a boyfriend. No need to tell him that, technically, she and Nathan were no longer an item. No need to tell him why either. Just as Kat slammed the van doors shut, Alex re-appeared from his office. “Thanks, Kat. I hope none of them caused any trouble?” he asked, taking off his yellow hard hat and running a hand through cropped dark brown hair in an agitated fashion. “No, they were all fine.” Kat forced a smile, struggling to tuck an escaped tendril of curly blond hair back into her ponytail. God, it was hot today. “Thanks for being so gentlemanly about their behaviour.” He grinned back at her. “No problem. I know what they can be like and as soon as I saw you getting out of the van I thought I’d better intervene. I’ve had enough problems getting a company to even contemplate coming to this site without them scaring you off on the first day.” “Problems? Why do you think that is?” asked Kat, sensing an opportunity to make sure this man was fully aware just how much the people of Luisborough were still against the development. “Because they hate us around here,” he said, shrugging matter-of-factly. “And that doesn’t bother you?” Kat was now leaning against the van, noting that Alex seemed, somehow, a bit different to the rest of the team on the site. He had a jaded air about him despite the fact that he was clearly much younger than most of the others. Kat couldn’t help noticing that he was also extremely good looking. “Yes, it bothers me but what can you do?” He sighed. “A job’s a job in this day and age. We all have to make a living, don’t we?” Softening a little towards him, Kat nodded and rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it.” He moved to stand next to her, propping himself against the van. Kat hadn’t realised until that moment just how tall he was. “Take you, for instance. I can’t imagine it was your lifelong ambition to drive around in a van with that name on the side of it. You must get no end of grief.” “I do but I need to earn some money to get my life back on track, so here I am.” “Is this your first job?” he asked, setting his hat and clipboard on the roof of the van and looking at her intently. “Pretty much. I recently finished a degree in environmental science and geography at university.” She added, trying to sound optimistic, “I’m waiting for my dream job to come along. In the meantime I work at the deli for a pittance and spend the rest of my time volunteering in a charity shop in town.” “Dream job, eh?” He turned towards her, brown eyes looking at her in a genuinely interested way. “What would your dream job be, then?” Kat smiled. “That’s easy. I’d love to work on a project like a nature reserve. Helping to preserve the environment, look after the wildlife. The charity shop where I volunteer is the Save the World one. My boss there, Summer, is a good friend and a great campaigner against developments like this.” Aware that she was telling him things that she hadn’t really spoken to anyone about since Nathan, she quickly turned away. He was a complete stranger. A stranger who stood for everything she was against. He was the enemy, supervising the building of a development that she, and many others, had fought to try to prevent. Reaching onto the van roof to hand the hat and clipboard back to Alex, she said, “I’d better be going.” “Sure. Thanks for coming out here.” He started to walk away but then paused, turned back towards her and added, “See you tomorrow, then?” Kat nodded. As she drove off, she felt more flustered than when she’d arrived. Unfortunately she had a growing suspicion that it had nothing to do with the hot weather or having to bring food to the development against her will. Rather, she suspected, it had much more to do with meeting Alex the site manager. Not a good sign at all.
Author Bio and links Author bio Zanna Mackenzie lives in the East Midlands in the UK with her husband, 4 dogs, a vegetable patch that’s home to far too many weeds and an ever expanding library of books waiting to be read. Being a freelance writer and editor of business publications is her ‘day job’ but, at every opportunity, she can be found scribbling down notes on scenes for whatever novel she’s working on. She loves it when the characters in her novels take on minds of their own and start deviating from the original plot! Formerly a travel agent and therapist (she has qualifications in clinical aromatherapy, crystal healing, naturopathic nutrition and herbalism) she loves walking the dogs and gardening – that’s when she’s not writing or reading! Zanna has written two novels, The Love Programme and How Do You Spell Love?
Find out more about Zanna at: www.zannamackenzie.blogspot.co.uk www.zannamackenzie.co.uk Twitter: @ZannaMacKenzie Facebook: www.facebook.com/zanna. mackenzie Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10703273-zanna-mackenzie
I'm so sorry this post is late tonight. I had some internet trouble. I hope you read today's post by J. Andersen, though, because as a wife and mommy to young kids, I can so relate :)
How I find time to write by J. Andersen (author of AT WHAT COST) : I don’t. Not enough anyway. And with three kids—one of whom is 16 months old, a house project and various other activities, I’m lucky if I can find an hour or two a day. I’ll admit, I complain about it every once in a while. Okay, maybe I complain a little more than that, but it is what it is. I’m not going to give up time with my family or volunteering at the library or participating in church events. It just won’t happen, so I must take what I can get. This means I write when the baby is napping. Usually that affords me two hours or so, but with the banging and clatter of hammers on our house just above where the Bug is sleeping, usually it’s thirty minutes at most.
But the house is almost done, and we’ll get back in a routine again. The Bug will sleep a bit more, and I’ll have structure. So, two to three hours is what I’ll have to write the next great novel. I hear stories of my fellow authors cranking out multiple books a year, and I don’t know how they do it. Must be they have more time than I have. Either that or they stay up all hours of the night working. I like my sleep too much. That and my brain doesn’t really function well at night. If I’m honest, my brain doesn’t really function well in the morning either. It’s a good thing the Bug sleeps in the afternoon because anything creatively minded must take place in my head between the hours of 10 am and 2:30. At least I can say I’m aware of my limitations. So this lack of time and knowing my own creative thinking limitations has made me a planner. If I plan and know exactly what I’m doing, when I sit down, I can crank out a good edit or chapter. I may only get a half a chapter done in a sitting, maybe a full one, but each novel is written page by page. And eventually in a year or so, I have a fully edited novel. Yes, I’m slower than most. I’m more the tortoise than the hare, but remember who won the race? ~*~*~ Love it, J.! ~Kelly
Connect with J. Andersen with the links below :) www.Jandersenbooks.com www.Therabidwriter.blogspot.com www.readbetweenthelinesbookclub.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/jandersenbooks www.twitter.com/jvdlandersen http://www.goodreads.com/jvdlandersen
C-- Creative Are you a creative type of person? I only have one thing 'creatively' I can do-- write. Other than that... I'm not crafty at all. It's one of the things my aid and I laugh about at school. The most crafty thing I can do is paint (and by paint I mean putting two colors on paper and letting the kids mix them). Craftiness isn't my forte. But being creative doesn't just mean writing or craftiness, it means different ways you deal with your life. It takes a certain amount of craftiness and creativity to deal with children. Have you ever had to think of a story quickly to heal a boo boo? Or come up with a game spur of the moment to play with your bored (and rowdy) kids? Or made up a song? Or danced around like a loon? Or answered those 'kid/life' questions that you don't even really know the answer to yourself? All of those (and much more) take creativity. How are you creative? How do you use your creativity in your everyday life? Some other C words I want to talk about are: Cross--Because without Jesus dying on it, I'd be in a world of trouble. Community-- Because I love the writing/mommy communities I've found on-line. I've met awesome people that I've never actually seen face to face. Comments-- Because we've already established that I love them ;) Much Love, Kelly Linked with: www.a-to-zchallenge.com and On Your Heart Tuesday
Ok, yes, that is the actual title to this post... the ACTUAL topic I feel I must discuss... in length... (some people discuss important things in their blog... I discuss Dino Dan... )
Let me explain...
I've always had a love/hate relationship with the Nick Jr. show 'Dino Dan'. I mean, I get it. It's a good show. It teaches about dinosaurs (my 4 year old can spout off some dino names that make you go 'huh'), but my issue with Ole Dan is, "Shouldn't his mother be a bit concerned about him?" I mean, really, the kid walks around all day, seeing dinosaurs???? Really????? And No one seems the least bit concerned about that??? I guess I'm stiffling my kids' creative sides, but if one of them truly thought they saw dinosaurs, I think I'd be worried...
Which leads me to the 'Blood Sucking Vampire' part... I am a fan... ok a HUGE gynormous fan of the SYFY channel show Being Human which is a "Knock off" of the original BBC show. I don't care personally that it's a knock of.. I LOVE IT! If you need a reason to watch the show (besides it's awesomeness), please see exhibits A) Sam Witwer (Doomsday on the seventh season of Smallville... ) And B) The guy that played Jacob on Lost. Can a more awesome show be made???? I think not ;)
Ole Dino Dan was a guest star last week. I won't even pretend to know the kid's real name. I don't want to know. To me, he will forever and always be... Dino Dan. (Kinda like Zach Morris will always be 'Zach Morris')
So, tonight 'Dan' got hit by a car and was turned into a vampire (gasp!) by Aidan's (the vampire played by Sam Witwer... look him up! You'll thank me!) kinda girlfriend (who he 'accidently' killed... long story).
ANYWAY, I have to say, Dino Dan made a good Vampire. He ended up killing the bullies who had torchured him for about a year... then he gave his vampy step mom a hard time (I don't like her, so it was ok)... and then... Oh poor Dan...
*spoiler alert*
Dan... died (and yes, I actually cried... TEARS flowed down my face. I kid you not!). Aidan killed him in a deer hunting trip so he couldn't hurt anyone else... (tears). You should just watch it.
I wanted to bad to post this on fb, but then I thought better of it. This was meant to be a long, drawn out, and pointless blog post bc frankly if any of my RL friends saw this, they would probably think I was nuts ;) (not that you all won't, but you will be kinder about it... I think ;) ). I wanted this blog to be kinda goofy and a relaxed place to chill and laugh. I hope my Being Human/Dino Dan obsession has provided that service to you all tonight :)
SO in conclusion: 1. I WILL discuss Being Human every Monday. You have been warned. Watch it and join me... please :) (Syfy channel 8 pm central time)
Hello friends :) Friday, March 9th is the 1 year anniversary of the "re-issue" of Oh That Mom Again... This blog was originally started in 2007 (and that seems so long ago!) as a place for me to write about my girls... and whatever else I had on my mind. It didn't last long. I wrote a post on the July 2010 due date board and someone said that I should write a blog-- and I remembered.. OH, I had a blog!! So I copy and pasted my thread post and... well... here we are a year later! This blog means a lot to me. I've loved doing the cleaning challenges, writing the "What is Love?" Bible Study, leading the 'Bible in 90 days' challenge, and all of the other things that go into running a blog. This blog has lead to another blog.. a daily devotional one at http://www.encourage365.com/. Writing two blogs can be a challenge, I'm not going to lie. Sometimes, my brain feels fried. I couldn't do any of it on my own, and I would be wrong to say that God didn't have anything to do with it. HE DOES! :) A LARGE PART! To celebrate my 1 year re-issue anniversary blogging I've decided to do my first giveaway (YAY!). If you didn't know, a story I wrote was published in the spring/inaugural issue of Woman to Woman Magazine.
So... here is the giveaway... To Celebrate my one year anniversary... One winner will receive a free copy of the Spring 2012 issue of Woman to Woman Magazine!!!! (I'm so excited about this!) Here are the rules: *You DON'T HAVE to be a blog follower (but it is appreciated) *You DON'T HAVE to 'like' the facebook page (but is is nice if you do) *You DO have to leave a comment in the comment section of this post. BUT I don't just want any comment. In order to be eligible to win, you need to finish this sentence... Sometimes I get aggravated. When that happens I...
You don't have to write a big, long reply-- but I'm a writer-- and I'd love to hear what you creative people can come up with. YOUR ANSWER WILL NOT DETERMINE THE WINNER OF THE GIVEAWAY. IT IS JUST FOR FUN. THE WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN AT RANDOM USING THE PEOPLE WHO LEFT A COMMENT. Did you get all of that? To sum up: *Giveaway (YAY!) *To qualify, leave a comment below answering the prompt: Sometimes I get aggravated. When that happens I... *Your answer will not be judged. Simply leaving the comment qualifies you to win. *One (1) winner will be chosen at random to receive a free copy of the Spring 2012 issue of Woman to Woman Magazine *CONTEST ENDS on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14th @ 11:59 Central Time *Winner will be chosen and announced on Thursday, March 15th. I'm looking forward to reading your answers to the prompt (make them as silly or as serious as you wish). A HUGE thank you for participating in this... and for reading this blog this year. It means a lot to me! Much Love (and happy writing!) ~Kelly Linked with: Faith Filled Friday
Today, we have the first of a series on how some of your favorite authors got book contracts. Our first wonderful lady is Liz Botts, author of IN THE SPOTLIGHT, CURTAIN CALL, BELIEVE, and THE HIDDEN DOOR.
As a child I played with Barbies to an absurd degree. My friends and I spent hours creating elaborate stories with these dolls. I attribute this to my love of storytelling. We had a game called “Grandma Insane,” which revolved around a family whose matriarch was a crazy woman with a propensity for disappearing. In eighth grade I wrote down the story of Grandma Insane as a musical during our free writing period. It was truly horrific.
However, my teacher was impressed with the effort, so started my writing journey. In high school I spent much of math class scribbling in my journal, inventing characters, and writing snippets of stories. (Maybe that’s why my math grades were never that good.) A stint on the school newspaper proved that journalistic writing was not for me, and I enrolled in a creative writing class. Here I had the best writing teacher ever. After taking that class, my writing improved significantly.
During college my writing consisted entirely of papers for classes. Characters still filled my head, especially during summer breaks, but I did nothing with them.
After college I got married and started working with high school students. I had always been a reader, but for the first time I started reading young adult books. I started writing again. Little things. Nothing major.
Then I discovered NaNoWriMo. Writing a novel in a month? Cool. My first attempt was ugly. A few years later I made another attempt. A decent one. A year later I made another attempt. In the meantime my husband and I had two boys. I kept insisting that I wanted to be a real published writer. And doing nothing about this dream.
When I got pregnant with our third child I decided that before the baby came I was going to at least submit a story to a publisher or agent. I chose one of my old NaNoWriMo stories, edited it, and submitted it. I got rejected several times, but I listened to what the rejection letters said and made changes to the manuscript. Finally, I resubmitted it, and within 24 hours I had a contract. Persistence is key to getting published, but also a humble heart and the willingness to check your ego at the door. LIZ'S AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Liz-Botts/e/B005860EHU/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1361361501&sr=1-2-ent
Thanks for being here and taking the time to tell us how you got published, Liz :) Look for other author stories daily from now until Feb. 28th! ~Kelly
I'm so excited to have Jennifer Comeaux here today and learn about the second in her Edge novels, Edge of the Past (Astraea Press, Nov. 2012) Edge of the Past is the sequel to Life on the Edge-- I'll give you the book covers to see if you can figure out what these books are about...
BUY LINKS FOR EDGE OF THE PAST: AMAZON BARNES AND NOBLE SMASHWORDS
Hmmm... do you sense the theme?
(And aren't these AWESOME book covers! Seriously, gorgeous!)
Life on the Edge and Edge of the Past are New Adult novels, a very big upcoming genre in literature between young adult (12ish-18ish) and adult (over college age... ish).
And do you have to like skating to like these books? Well, did you have to know how to do surgery to watch ER or drink blood to watch the Vampire Diaries (ewwww)?
So, what is Edge of the Past about...
Emily’s skating career and personal life have never been more golden. She and her partner Chris have won every competition they’ve entered this season, and she’s found the man of her dreams in her coach Sergei. But when one of the biggest competitions of the year takes Emily and Sergei to Russia, Sergei’s past explodes into the present and makes Emily doubt everything in their future.
And what's reading the second book before you read the first one? It's like watching The Bourne Legacy without seeing the Bourne Identity or Return of the Jedi before they ever went away... FREE BOOK ALERT!!!! Jennifer wants to help you with that. She has agreed to give away 1 ebook copy of LIFE ON THE EDGE (Edge, #1) to a reader of this blog (You my friends... you! And is there anything better than free??????) All you have to do to win is leave a blog comment telling me which book cover you like the best: Life on the the Edge or Edge of the Past.
Personally, I'm all about the second one because purple is my favorite color... I need to make this blog purple (but I digress)
THE WINNER WILL BE RANDOMLY CHOSEN FROM THE BLOG COMMENT PARTICIPANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. CONTEST ENDS AT 7 AM MONDAY, FEB. 18th.
GOOD LUCK!!! This is definitely a book you want to win!
Wanna know what book 1 is about????
Nineteen-year-old Emily is new to pairs skating, but she and her partner Chris have a big dream–to be the first American team to win Olympic gold. Their young coach Sergei, who left Russia after a mysterious end to his skating career, believes they can break through and make history. Emily and Chris are on track to be top contenders at the 2002 Winter Games. But when forbidden feelings spark between Emily and Sergei, broken trust and an unexpected enemy threaten to derail Emily’s dreams of gold.
And here is an excerpt from EDGE OF THE PAST...
Excerpt Sergei pressed me up into the star lift, and I noticed some of the other skaters idling and watching us. We sped past them, and Sergei set me down, preparing for the closing seconds of the program. In time with the final piano notes, I edged away from Sergei, and he rushed toward me, trapping me in his arms for the ending pose. I gasped at the passion with which he grabbed me. His eyes held my gaze then slowly drifted down to my mouth, and my body hummed from the fiery energy between us. I leaned into his chest and squeezed my fingers harder around his biceps. A few of my training mates erupted with applause and whistles, and Sergei jerked backward. He didn’t say anything as he took off to cool down, leaving me alone in the middle of the ice with more than my muscles burning.
About the Author Jennifer Comeaux earned a Master of Accounting from Tulane University and is a Certified Public Accountant in south Louisiana. While working in the corporate world, she sought a creative outlet and decided to put on paper a story that had played in her head for years. That story became Life on the Edge, her first published novel. When not working or writing, she is an avid follower of the sport of figure skating, travelling to competitions around the country. Those experiences allow her to see a different side of the sport and serve as an inspiration for her writing. Jennifer is blessed with a wonderful family and friends who have encouraged her to pursue her dream of being a published author. Author social media links: Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
I know... I know... I sound like a woman waiting for a baby to be born. I've had 3 of those countdown tickers before and while this isn't as exciting as that... it is definitely a close second :)
So, where does the book stand? Well, a few weeks ago I sent my content edits back to my editor and now it's at the proofreader. I'll get those back and will start working on those edits.
While I'm waiting I have one book out on submission and I just started the first 3,000 words of book number 3!! I'm excited and actually pretty nervous about it. It's one of those things where I wrote it and thought it was awesome... then went back and reread it and went.. 'Oh My'.
But I have to remember it's the first draft. First drafts are always 'rough'. But I'm lazy and would love to help myself out on edits by making this book as clean as possible... but it's cutting into the creative part of my brain so I'm going to have to tell my inner editor to take a hike and enjoy writing. I always get this way when I start a book. You work hard, get a book complete... and then, well... you go back square one lol.
I can't wait to see the cover art for 'Crossing the Deep'. I think that's when it will really hit me that... wow.. I'm a published author. (how cool is that!?!?!)
There has been some confusion as to what type of book Crossing the Deep is... People assume that since I'm a pre-k teacher that it's a children's book, but it's not. I'm not a good illustrator (my stick people need work), and sometimes that helps in Children's lit. Actually, Crossing the Deep is a Young Adult/Inspirational/Christian novel. Young Adult novels are like Twilight, Vampire Diaries, The Hunger Games... only mine is 'clean' Astraea Press only publishes clean novels) and doesn't have vampires. It is 65,000 words long which means it's about 245 pages of standard printer paper (give or take a few pages).
While I'm writing and editing and outlining and watching my ticker count down to zero, I'm also reading an awesome book called Rafael by K. Victoria Chase...
... Oh. My. WORD! I'll have a review up for it this week, but I have to tell you. It's amazing :) I had an audible, "Don't do it woman!" moment and that's always a good thing. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or you can buy it straight from the publisher (who happens to be my publisher) Astraea Press (http://www.astraeapress.com)
So, that's whats going on with me in the book world. One book is getting ready to make it's way in the world: One is trying to find a home: and one is trying to get out of my head. :)
Justine Dell has just released her latest book and is here to chat about writing from the gender opposite to what you were born. A topic I’m always excited to read about. Thanks, JD!
* * *
There are lots of girls out there writing from a guy’s perspective. And there are lots of guys writing from a girl’s perspective. So there are plenty of examples of where it works.
On the flip side, I'm sure there are some examples of where it doesn't/wouldn't work.
YA, MG, Picture Books, General Fiction, Sci-Fi, Thriller, etc, etc, can all be written from either a man or a woman--no matter who the MC is.
Romance is the only genre where this question is...well, questioned. Let's face it—men don't really know what women want. HOWEVER, there have been some very successful MALE romance writers (most of which wrote under a female pen name because of gender bias). Leigh Greenwood, Gill Sanderson, Sylvain Reynard…are just a few.
There is a lot of room for people to argue this point one way or another. I, however, don't base anything on gender. This world is diverse, WE are diverse. So instead of wondering if a boy/girl could write a good perspective from the opposite sex, ask yourself:
CAN YOU WRITE ANY PERSPECTIVE WELL?
If you're a girl, can you write a girl? At any age? If you're a guy, can you write a convincing guy? At any age? So the same is asked if you are writing from a different perspective.
Can you be convincing in any perspective? You're a writer, you're creative, you develop people from scratch. It's not a gender issue—it’s a creative issue.
CAN YOU BE CREATIVE?
You've written characters who are professional race car drivers, chefs, killers, tech freaks, etc. I'm pretty sure you aren't any of those people. Well, I hope you aren't a killer.
Back on point... if you did write characters that are nothing like you how did you write those convincingly? You researched, right? So now the question is:
CAN YOU BE AUTHENTIC?
Your gender doesn't matter. Your mind does.
And in the end, if you are still second guessing yourself, do MORE research. Or have someone who knows about it read it. Let me know if you are able to catch Jeff Gordon on the racetrack or Charles Mason during visiting hours. But seriously, if you are worried about writing from a different gender POV, have that gender read it to see what think. Or research it. And read it. Lots of reading helps.
Do you peeps have any good examples of male writing female and vice versa? Do you have any specific examples (of your own struggles/successes) you'd like to share?
~JD
BLURB:
At the age of thirty, with two failed marriages and a tanking writing career, Samantha Moore deals with the world with the only tool she had left: anger. And she’s tired of it. When her grandmother's near-death sends her rushing back home to Vermont, she hopes for the chance to overcome the rage ruling her life.
Once she’s home, Lance Cummings becomes a constant source of indigestion. Lance is a single father who learned first-hand the devastating effects of a damaging relationship. He sees through Samantha’s nasty temper—straight to her cry for help. He wants to help her, but he also wants to know why Samantha ran from him—and their future—twelve years before.
Taking care of her Grams, dealing with an alcoholic brother, and getting Lance to remove his annoyingly attractive nose from her business is draining on Samantha. And she’s only got three weeks to finish her stagnated novel or her publisher will drop her. No pressure. To top it off, pretending to hate the man she actually loves makes each day in Vermont harder than the last. Especially when Lance turns up the heat.
BIO:
Justine lives in the Midwest, happily catering to her family, which consists of a horse-obsessed teenage daughter, four dogs, and a husband who is too good to be true. She's never moved from her hometown, but hopes to grow old in a much warmer climate.
During the day she works a normal job with college students who try their best to keep her young. They've done a good job thus far. At night, said teenage daughter and her horse require mounds of love and attention. The weekends belong solely to her and her writing. That's when she morphs into a sticky bug, unable to leave the confines of her computer chair.
She started writing four years ago after seeing a movie that set off a chain reaction she couldn't have stopped if she'd wanted. It's not a hobby for her; it's an obsession. One she loves and one she loves to share. Her debut book, Recaptured Dreams and her newest release, All-American Girl, are available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever book are sold.
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Don’t forget that I am giving away a copy of the ebook at each blog tour stop. I will also giveaway an AAG postcard and Vermont Maple Candy (together). Please let me know if you want to enter to win from Stina’s blog. I am also hosting my own giveaway for the tour.
Last year, I reviewed the free version of SmartEdit and loved it. The creators recently asked me if I would test the new version (which isn’t free). In exchange for an honest review, I was provided a copy of the software.
PROS
One of my favorite parts about SmartEdit is the list it generates from your manuscript. It lets you know which words and phrases you use repeatedly. This helps you identify those annoying crutch words and phrases that you might not realize you’re using. And after you’ve gone through your manuscript to correct for this, you can rerun the program to see if you’ve created a new list of crutch words. This is quicker and easier than figuring out your crutch words and using FIND and REPLACE in Word.
SmartEdit not only lists the repeated words, you can click on the word (or phrase, depending on what you’re analyzing) to see the sentences you used it in. You can then edit those sentences that you wish to change directly in SmartEdit (or go back and make the changes in your word processing software).
The program generates a list of potentially misspelled or misused words so that you can ensure you used the word correctly (e.g. breath and breathe), or didn’t accidentally misspell it.
You can quickly check to see if you overused profanity (or a specific swear word), or if you accidentally used profanity when you didn’t want it in the story.
You can analyze your sentence lengths. The results are shown in a chart. If you have an excessive number of sentences at the high end of the scale (e.g. thirty or more words), you might want to consider rewriting some of these sentences.
You can analyze dialogue tags to ensure you aren’t abusing non-said tags.
Another of my favorite features is the feedback SmartEdit provides on the beginning of your sentences. It’s a great way to see if you abuse certain words (e.g. ‘but’ and ‘and’).
SmartEdit shows you when you’ve used too many spaces between words. A life saver for your eyes.
There is a short video to show you how to use the software. I recommend watching it, but I know where are some people who are more hands on when it comes to learning a new program.
If you use foreign phrases or non-English phrases (fantasy anyone?), the program will list them so you can double check that you’ve used them correctly. In the case of non-English phrases created for fantasy, it helps to ensure you’re consistent in their use (or spelling).
CONS
Unlike other editing programs, Smartedit doesn’t tell you how to fix the issue. This enables you to have full creative control of your writing. Personally, I don’t think this is a disadvantage to the program, but it depends on what you’re looking for.
Sorry Mac users (which now includes me), the program is currently only available for PCs.
The program analyzes dialogue tags, but they are only available in past tense. I tend to writing novels in present tense, which means this feature has limited value for me. If I want to analyze them, I have to list the words under custom settings. This requires me knowing what dialogue tags I tend to use. The other issue is that you can’t save the list of words you compile under custom settings for future use.
Overall, I love SmartEdit. It’s the perfect program to help your polish your manuscript. It will definitely be part of my editing process.
Do you use any software programs designed for writers? Are there any you can’t live without? *
Details bring your setting to life. They reveal the theme and hint at things to come. The trick for creating them is easier than making Rice Crispy Squares, and when done right, equally delicious (or even better, if you happen to hate Rice Crispy Squares).
Read through your scene, open up a blank page, and close your eyes. Now visualize the scene. What do you see? Hear? Taste? Feel? Smell? Move around the setting and make note of everything. How does each detail make you, as your scene character, feel? What are you is your character thinking when she sees, hears, tastes, feels, smells these things? Keep brainstorming.
Pick the strongest descriptions and the emotions associated with them. Tweak them if necessary, to add mood and theme words, and place them in your scene. Don’t dump them in one place. Weave them in several locations.
The advantage of doing it this way is that your creative flow isn’t impeded by trying to work around the action and dialogue already in the scene. When you’re brainstorming the setting, you aren’t worried about those things. Try it. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is, especially if you struggle with setting. Do you have a trick for creating setting? Do find setting easy or challenging to write?
As some of you know, I’m addicted to craft books on writing fiction. Because I’m about to tackle the revisions on the first draft of my YA horror novel, I couldn’t resist buying Revision & Self-Editing: Techniques for transforming your first draft into a finished novel by James Scott Bell.
First off, I already own several great books on editing (see list below). Each book offers writers something the others don’t. Revision & Self-Editing is no exception. The commonality between them is the multitude of exercises and checklists to help you identify your novel’s problem areas. If you’re a left-brainer (analytical thinker) or whole-brainer (like me), you’ll thrive on this aspect of the book. For the right-brainer (the creative thinker), the book will help you make your manuscript stronger. You just need to have an open mind to being analytical.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive book on writing fiction, this book isn’t for you. James covers all the important elements of fiction (characterization, plot & structure, point of view, dialogue, description, etc), but the chapters are more like summaries. For more in-depth information, you need to check out other resources (e.g. Plot & Structure). There is, though, tons of information you might not know or have forgotten. He hits the key points of each element, and he does it well.
What I found great about the book was that it is a quick read. I had a hard time putting it down (crazy, huh?) because the chapters are short. It was easy to read “just one more chapter” and then keep on reading. This made for an even quicker read. It means you’re not wasting time reading the book when what you really want to do is edit your novel. Overall, I highly recommend the book no matter what your skill level.
Do you have a favorite book you use for editing your manuscript?
Other recommended books: Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
As part of her blog tour for her YA thriller Fireseed One, Catherine Stine is here to talk about plotting and hooks. And best yet, she used The Hunger Games (which I just finished re-reading) to emphasize her points.
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Today, I’m guest posting on plotting and hooks. As well as writing fiction, I teach creative writing, specifically teen fiction. My students tell me I’m good at explaining plot, so here goes. Plots should be constructed like an exciting symphony—compelling and nuanced—with movements in varying tempos, from presto (rapid) to vivace (lively) to adagio (slow, regal) and so on. All of this, held aloft by a tight thread of tension.
A plot put simply, is a road map for where your story will go. A gold standard plotline starts with an inciting incident that launches the story forward with great energy and angst, for instance in the Hunger Games when Katniss is paired with Peeta, a childhood acquaintance she must kill to win the tournament. This is followed by rising and falling action where the protagonist struggles in her quest, each time inching ahead, but also suffering setbacks (As when Katniss loses an ally or weapon). Put big obstacles in front of your characters that create chaos. This will force your protag to come up with better strategies, a tweaked battle plan.
Three is a charm in plot points as well as in fairy tale. Think of the three pigs’ attempts to build a wolf-proof house. Two tries is not enough, four too many, and five drags a plot down into quicksand. This plotline would look like a three-humped camel, with each hump taller than the last.
At the third down slope, the hero or heroine has an apparent defeat, a black moment, when all seems lost. But the character is determined, and though he or she is exhausted, at wit’s end, the need to overcome is more important than anything, so said person will brush herself off and make that final push, to at least some point of success. Perhaps this person doesn’t get exactly what she wants, that’s okay. She gets something. For instance, Katniss does survive, although she now fears future retribution. This is the point at which your readers can finally catch their breath and cheer. But a writer dare not linger here long! The end must quickly follow the dénouement. Also, make your characters’ conflicts intertwine with the plot. In doing so, make then face their worst fears. For instance, if character A’s worst fear is of heights, force Character A to face his worst fear when he has to rescue Character B from the peak of an icy mountain!
Now, onto hooks. Hooks are musically mood-oriented—furioso (furied), lacrimoso (sad), agitato (agitated). They are chapter-end punctuations and should make your reader have a burning need to turn that page to see what happens next. Of course, you should be building organically to that moment throughout the chapter. Don’t end every chapter in the same mood. Redundancy is an author’s enemy. End one chapter on a sad hook, another on a fearful one. Here are some of my Fireseed One hooks, to give you specifics: 1. “Tell me your name.” More than scaring me, she disgusts me. “Meg,” she spits out. “That’s whale crap,” Audun says. His Hip Pod is out, and he’s scrolling down on it. “I just looked you up. Your name’s Marisa Baron.” (Disgust and discovery hook—a big lie exposed) 2. Something else hits my chest, which jerks me back. It burns like fire. My legs buckle and I pitch over. (Danger and injury hook) 3. After almost an hour of this annoyance, the ocean floor produces pay dirt. Like discovering pearls in barnacled muscles, at least forty more code disks peek up from the sludge. Audun and I cheer. I can’t help reverting to my six year-old self. We’ve excavated exquisite pirate treasure! (joyous hook, to be followed by more trouble)
One more plotting tool: create a visual plot line with colors and shapes to signal characters and events. Let’s say, every time the villain enters a scene you draw a red angry-face, or every time lovers share a scene sketch in a pink heart. This is also a great way to literally see plot holes. Good luck with your plots and hooks!
Thanks, Stina, this was fun.
Fireseed One is available as an ebook for $2.99 from Amazon, B&N, iTunes and Sony Reader. The collectible illustrated paperback is $7.99 at Amazon and B&N.
About the Author
Catherine Stine’s Fireseed One launched in December to 5-star reviews. Her first YA, Refugees, earned a New York Public Library Best Book and a featured review and interview in Booklist. Middle grade novels include The End of the Race and A Girl’s Best Friend. She’s also a professional illustrator, teacher, and she does manuscript consultations. For this service, contact her at kitsy84557 (at) gmail (dot) com with EVAL in the headline.
About Fireseed One: What if only your very worst enemy could help you save the world? Fireseed One, a YA thriller, is set in a near-future world with soaring heat, toxic waters, tricked-out amphibious vehicles, ice-themed dance clubs and fish that grow up on vines. Varik Teitur inherits a vast sea farm after the mysterious drowning of his marine biologist father. When Marisa Baron, a beautiful and shrewd terrorist, who knows way too much about Varik's father's work, tries to steal seed disks from the world's food bank, Varik is forced to put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold and venture with her, into a hot zone teeming with treacherous nomads and a Fireseed cult who worships his dead father, in order to search for a magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. Illustrated by the author. Fans of Divergent and Feed will likely enjoy this novel; also, those who like a dash of romance with their page-turners.
Please consider LIKING the Fireseed One Facebook page on your way out, and take a look at the other fun Fireseed One tour stops here, from February 20 through March 19th!
Where you can find Catherine and Fireseed One on the web:
With the growing number of self-published writers and the dwindling marketing dollars for traditionally published books, authors have to be creative if they want to grab the attention of potential readers. This is probably how blog tours first came to be. The problem is everyone jumped on the idea. Each week at least two hit my dashboard full force.
Here are some blogging tips to get your book (or a book you love) talked about:
Targeting Blogs
The first bloggers to ask are your friends. But don’t feel bad if they say no. Not everyone wants to host a blog tour. If you approach someone who isn’t a good friend, please make sure you send them a personalized email. One author sent me a link to a form to fill-in if I wanted to participate in her tour. That’s all that was sent and it wasn’t personalized. It was instantly deleted. #blogtourfail.
Face it, most of us recognize each other’s names and avatars from the blogs we most commonly visit. Reach out and go beyond this group. Only then will more people find out about your book and won’t suffer from blog tour fatigue (especially since not everyone is a fan of them). This is why it’s vital to start growing your network early and not just before your book launch.
Look for blogs that deal with topics approached in your book. Maybe someone has a special interest in horses and would be interested in your novel situated on a ranch. And this means the blogger’s followers might be interested in the story, too.
Be Unique
Try to come up with something that hasn’t been done before. Okay, you can stop laughing. I know this is challenging. Everyone can do the same old thing, but that won’t necessarily grab bloggers’ attention as the market becomes saturated with traditionally and self-published books. Maybe you can tie it into the theme of your book. Lisa and Laura Roecker had great success with their launch because everyone knew about the pink-hair theme they had going, which was inspired by the cover of The Liar Society. The theme even ended up on Twitter.
Timing
We can all appreciate how much work blog tours are for the author. My suggestion is to not cram your tour into one week (maybe spread out over a month) and to save some posts for a few months AFTER your book is launched.
Repetition
The books I tend to buy are the ones I hear about again and again, over the several months (but not in the same week as with the typical blog tour). This is why I loved Christina Lee’s spotlight on debut authors last week. It was a chance for those who participated to remind you about the debut books we loved this year. Books you might have forgotten about since their launch.
Does anyone else have any suggestion as to how to make a blog tour rock or to create interest in a book months after it’s been launched? What has made you want to read a book (and actually do so) after seeing it mentioned on a blog?
(note: Wow, who knew my sales and marketing background as a pharmaceutical sales rep would be so useful?)
I asked super busy author Elana Johnson if she was interested in sharing a writing tip. Obviously the answer is yes (otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned it to you). *grins*
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Okay, so I know there’s a lot of conflicting advice out there. You should outline! You’ll never be able to write a coherent book without a 30-page outline!
Or maybe you’ve read Don’t outline! It stifles the creative energy!
I’ve even read Outline a little bit, but then allow yourself to deviate from that outline. And The Three-Act Structure is the only way to produce books. And If you don’t know everything about your character, you’ll never be able to write a believable book.
I’ve been reading industry blogs for years. I think I’ve read it all. I used to work myself into a panic because I didn’t outline. I didn’t allow myself creative freedom. I didn’t use character sheets. And it paralyzed me. I couldn’t write.
Because I thought I didn’t know how.
But the truth is this: You should write in whatever way works for you. Need an outline? Write and use an outline? Need a character profile? Create one. Use it. Love it. Refer to it.
Don’t need those things? No problem. Write the way you want, the way you’ve found works best for you. If you don’t know what works best for you, you just need to keep writing. The more you write, the easier you’ll be able to see what methods work for you—and which ones don’t.
Writing takes courage. Be brave enough to learn and use the methods that work for you. Discard the rest.
So, how do you write best?
(Elana would cringe if she saw how much pre-planning I’m doing for my YA horror novel thanks to John Truby’s book, The Anatomy of Story. My CP certainly is.)
If you haven’t checked out Elana’s book, Possession, well, why haven’t you? It’s great. I’m looking forward to the sequel next year.
Goodreads: Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.
But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.
This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.
In celebration of her newly released book, Like Mandarin (my copy is in the mail somewhere over Canada!), Kirsten Hubbard asked her followers (and non followers) to post about this on our blogs:
This is someone we had a longing to be like as a teen.
For me, this describes one of my friends. Cheryl was an incredible artist. I wanted to be just like her. Not necessarily an artist. But someone who was so passionate about something, she wanted to make a career out of it. Fortunately Cheryl was smart. She knew how difficult this would be, so she planned to be an art teacher, too.
I wanted to be like her because I didn’t have that passion and dedication for anything. Heck, I didn’t even know what I wanted to do when I graduated. It took me years to realize I wanted to write novels (I was in grad school at the time). It was something I had thought of doing when I was a teen, but then gave up on the idea because I thought you had to be born with the talent to do it. Same deal with photography.
Now I know better. Now I know both come from hard work and determination. A creative gene doesn’t hurt either (thanks, Mom!).
This is the reason I encourage my kids to find something they’re passionate about, even if it’s just for now. I want them to have the opportunity to be just like my high school friend.
Were you passionate about something as a teen? Did it shape your future dreams/goals?
How many times have you read a bestselling novel and let it influence your writing, but when your critique partner or an agent sees it . . . well the results aren’t pretty?
There are rules in writing we need to follow to increase our chances of landing an agent or being published. Some rules are flexible enough to allow us to bend them for creative purposes. Other rules are rigid. Try to bend them and disaster will befall you.
The trick is knowing which rules can be successfully broken. However, bestselling authors aren’t necessarily the ones to shows which rules they are. These writers have more leeway than the rest of us.
Examples: (These are from a few of my favorite YA authors.)
Flashbacks
Because flashbacks pretty much stop the action of the story, you want to be careful with them. Keep them as short as possible, and only use them when necessary.
Sarah Dessen uses flashbacks a lot in her novels, but instead of the main character flashing back to a time before the start of the book, she flashes back to an event that took place between the last scene and the current one.
I tried that and was told if the event in the flashback was that important, then I needed to write it as a scene. Great advice. Sarah’s allowed to do it her way. We aren’t.
Dialogue
One of the most common pieces of advice says don’t start chapter one with dialogue since the reader hasn’t had a chance yet to visualize the scene because of the lack of context.
Same advice should apply to individual chapters, unless it’s starts off where the last one ended. I’m a fan of Alyson Noel’s Immortal Series, but she has, on occasion, left the reader in suspense because she starts the chapter off with dialogue, but doesn’t tell the reader which character said it. Sometimes it’s take you the whole page to figure out who said it. This is false suspense, and it's annoying. The reader needed to know who said it so she can visualize the scene. Of course, this hasn't stopped Alyson from selling books. And it hasn't stopped me from buying them.
Gerunds
We know we’re not supposed to overuse –ing verbs and the passive “as” such as in this sentence:
I take long, slow breaths, reminding myself there’re thousands of psychos on the streets. (From my novel, Still.)
They’re fine, as long as you don’t abuse them.
Alyson Noel has made it part of her style to use tons of sentences such as:
Leaving me to stand there, jaw dropped to my knees, as both doors spring open and sweep him inside before I can blink. (Dark Flame)
She can get away with that. We can’t.
Echoes
A few weeks ago, I blogged about repetitive words, phrases, or concepts that often appear in our manuscripts until a crit partner points them out. Some readers might not notice them. Others might be ready to hurl your book (which happens to be on their computer) across the room if they read the phrase one more time.
I read a book by a bestselling author (who shall remain nameless) in which not only was the phrase abused an estimated 150 times (sometimes twice on the same page), but it was the clichéd eye rolling. Seriously, I’m surprised the main character’s eyes didn’t get stuck due to all the eye rolling that happened.
Adverbs Galore
Too many adverbs and adjectives are the kiss of death, especially when overused in dialogue tags. Of course, if you’re J.K. Rowling, this rule doesn’t apply to you. But for the rest of us, don’t do it!
So what do you think? Should we take risks like these bestselling authors, or should we play it safe? And without giving away names, do you have any examples of rules you’ve seen broken by a bestselling author, which would be a big no-no if we tried it?
Edited: I should add that Lisa McMann (Wake trilogy) broke many rules in her debut novel, and it seriously rocked. So, there's something to think about.
This week, I’m continuing with the topic of composition. For the first four points, visit Part 1.
Frame Your Subject
I’m referring to the use of body parts, doorways, trees, windows, landscape, anything that brings attention to the subject.
The frame can either be in focus or blurred. It can take up most of the picture, or it can exist in the periphery. The goal is to emphasis your friend, not the framing device, so make sure it doesn’t overwhelm her. Be creative, and always be on the lookout for new possibilities.
Repetition
Repetition is another way to emphasize your subject. In the this picture, the three teens are considered the repetition. But in this case, the break in repetition with the girl in the middle also draws our attention her—as does her eye contact with the camera. Did you notice the other technique used? Think about last week’s lesson.
The picture of the shells is another form of repetition. It adds texture to the picture.
Lead the Eye
Stand at the end of your street and look down it. Or even try this experiment by standing on train tracks, just make sure no trains are coming.
What do you notice? The street (or tracks) looks narrower in the distance compared to where you’re standing. This effect is known as converging lines, and is especially noticeable in photographs.
In photos, converging lines act like an arrow, leading the eye to the subject. Another great way to add emphasis to your pictures.
