new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: guest post, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 415
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: guest post in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Today I'm participating in the Horse Charmer Virtual Tour. First, here's the cover and blurb for this YA fantasy:
A gifted princess. A special horse. A quest for the truth.
At sixteen years old, Cassia would rather spend her days in the royal stables than in the royal court. But as the eldest child of King Robet and Queen Sarahann she obediently performs her duties as the Princess of Karah.
Her safe world changes forever when her father is murdered in the neighboring kingdom of Vespera. Cassia grapples with his loss as her mother prepares her for her new role as queen. Her first task - she must travel to Vespera to marry a prince she barely knows to fulfill the treaty her father signed just before his death.
Nothing is as simple as it seems with political intrigues and unusual powers shadowing Cassia on her search to find out who killed her father and why.
I have the author, Angelia Almos, with me talking about her first experience riding a horse. Take it away, Angelia!
It’s funny that Kelly asked me to talk about my first experience riding a horse. I have always remembered going on this pony ride when I was little that wasn’t like the traditional pony rides. Usually, a pony ride is run one of two ways. 1) the pony is hooked up to this merry-go-round like contraption where they walk in a circle like a carousel. Or 2) you are hand-walked on a course or a little trail which has been set up by the pony ride people. Every time I come across any pony rides, it is one of these two.
Yet, I have this memory of this “track” where the ponies were turned loose and would go one of three speeds. The slow inside walk track. The fast middle trot track. And the super fast canter track. This has been something I have remembered and think of and wonder, was it a dream? No one I have ever mentioned it to has been to one like this.
Imagine my surprise and delight when earlier this spring I headed to Los Angeles for a girls only trip with my daughters. On one of the days we decided to explore Griffith Park and drive around. At one of the entrances is a pony ride place. We pull in and I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was the very track I have “remembered” forever. The ponies turned loose in a groups with their riders tied to the saddles as they walked on the inside track, trotted on the middle track, and (though different from my memory) bigger ponies trot even faster on the outside track.
My youngest had to take a ride and though wanted to do a fast pony decided to do a walker since the trotting line was looooooong. While there I texted my dad to ask if this was the place I had always remembered. He didn’t remember it specifically since I always went on any pony ride we came across. But he did say they did take me to Griffith Park when I was little (before I was 5 and started riding lessons) and if that place was there then that I would have demanded to go on a pony ride. I wish I took a picture so I could show it here. But here is the website if you are curious - http://www.griffithparkponyride.com/
So, I am pretty sure I reconnected with my first remembered horseback ride.
For the rest of you, have you ever ridden a horse? (Confession: I think horses are beautiful, but I'm too chicken to ride one.)
By: Carter Higgins,
on 5/13/2013
Blog:
Design of the Picture Book
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
color,
color palette,
composition,
concept,
design,
guest post,
shape,
texture,
trailers,
book trailer,
greg pizzoli,
illustration,
picture book,
screenprinting,
the watermelon seed,
Add a tag
by Greg Pizzoli
{published 2013, by Disney Hyperion}
I’ve been looking forward to this book for a long time, mostly because that cover is SPECTAZZLING. But also cause I follow Greg Pizzoli on Twitter, where he is clever and quippy and shares things like THE ENDPAPERS. And then this is what the publisher teased us with, so I was pretty much in love with this book right away:
With perfect comic pacing, Greg Pizzoli introduces us to one funny crocodile who has one big fear: swallowing a watermelon seed. What will he do when his greatest fear is realized? Will vines sprout out his ears? Will his skin turn pink? This crocodile has a wild imagination that kids will love.
Yeah. SO INTO THAT. The Watermelon Seed hits stores TOMORROW, May 14th, so you might want to go ahead and get in line. After you meet Greg, of course.
So I’ve also been looking forward to this post for almost as long. I’m thrilled to have Greg Pizzoli in for a visit. Welcome, Greg!
I call him “Kroc”. Sometimes my editor calls him “K-Roc” or “The Krocster”. Boy, does he hate that.
My background is in printmaking, and I built a silkscreen shop in my studio, which is how I generate a lot of my work. I think my preference towards limited and deliberate colors comes from the printmaking. It could be laziness, but I’m going to say printmaking.
Even the first sketches of this book were in just a few colors. It just made sense to make the whole book feel like a watermelon. Plus, he’s a crocodile, so the green is already there.
Everyone at Disney*Hyperion was very supportive of my trying out different inks and paper choices to get the feel just right. We did CMYK v. Spot color tests and there was just no comparison. I think it would be tough to get that pink, and that green with CMYK. At least for me. We tried a few different paper stocks, too. I’m super picky.
Basically you make a drawing in black and use that to make a stencil on a screen. Doesn’t matter how you make that drawing – by hand on tracing paper, with construction paper, in Photoshop – whatever you can use to get a drawing in black. Your screen, which is a frame of aluminum with a fine mesh stretched across it, is covered in photographic emulsion, and you expose the screen to light. Wherever the light hits the emulsion, it hardens and becomes water resistant.
BUT if you put your black drawing between the screen and the light source, the emulsion that is blocked by your drawing (which remember, is black, thus very light blocking-y), that emulsion stays soft. And you can wash it out with water. So everything that wasn’t blocked by your drawing is water resistant, and your drawing washes out of the screen, making a water resistant stencil in the shape of your drawing. You make one of those for each layer, or usually, color. WATERMELON was offset printed obviously, but I did a lot of screenprinting textures, etc to make it feel very printy. The spot colors definitely help there, too.
I’ve been teaching screenprinting for about 4 years at The University of the Arts in Philly. It’s where I met Brian Biggs. He took a continuing ed class I was teaching in 2009. He introduced me to my agent. I dedicated a book to him, but it hasn’t come out yet. I still owe him big time. I still teach! I love it.
Humor usually keeps me interested in whatever I’m doing.
I like to work with texture for sure, too. And shapes. Shapes, yeah, shapes are good. I know this is great interview material here. Breaking news, Greg Pizzoli “like shapes”. Today on Buzzfeed, 23 shapes Greg Pizzoli likes most.
Anyway . . . I was really into shapes and texture with THE WATERMELON SEED, and the next book I’m doing with Hyperion (NUMBER ONE SAM, Summer 2014) comes from a similar place. We’re doing spot colors for that one, too. But four this time, which opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of overlapping layers and colors.
Like most people, I like lots of stuff. I never get tired of looking at Eduardo Munoz Bachs posters. He obviously had a lot of fun making his work. A lot of people you’d suspect probably, Sendak, Ed Emberly, Tove Jansson, Charles Schultz, etc.
I’m really lucky to have so many talented buddies in the Philly area, too. I host occasional drink ‘n’ draws at my studio and Zach Ohora, Matt Phelan, Bob Shea, Tim Gough, Amy Ignatow, Brian Biggs, Lee Harper, Gene Baretta, Eric Wight, and several others have come by. It’s a good time. Sometimes we do this thing where we each draw for five minutes and then pass the paper to the right and draw on top of that drawing for five minutes, until we get all the way around the circle or run out of beer. You can imagine just how bad these things look. Joe Strummer, Iggy Pop, David Bowie. They’re my heroes.
No way! I love coffee. I think I quit for a while last year and it just floated around my online profile for a bit. I did stop drinking as much. I am down to like 2-3 cups a day which feels great for me. I was drinking like 8-10. Oh yeah. I’m nicer now.
Greg Pizzoli, people. Is he awesome or what?
So yeah. That’s pretty much my favorite thing on the internet right now. Did you catch the part where the period at the end of the sentence becomes a spotlight for good old K-Roc?! I love that detail.
The Watermelon Seed! Greg Pizzoli! Thanks for hanging out here! We love your book. And you are top notch, too.
Tagged:
book trailer,
color palette,
greg pizzoli,
illustration,
picture book,
screenprinting,
shape,
texture,
the watermelon seed 
Jennifer Shirk hijacked the virtual offices to share her favorite romantic books with you! How does her list stack up against yours?
HI, all! Jennifer here.
Valentine’s Day is past, but if you’re a romance reader love is ALWAYS in the air. (Or at least we want it to be, which is why we read these books in the first place!)
I have a sweet romantic novella out now called A Little Bit Cupid, which I think is VERY romantic since it centers around the premise of love at first sight.
But everybody has different feelings on what is classified as "romantic", so I thought it would be fun to show you my Favorite Romantic Books–especially for those who haven’t read my books or don’t know me.
Maybe we even share some of the same personal favs! Check them out below!
Jennifer’s Top Ten Most Romantic Books
10) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (a classic and one of those romances that obviously goes way beyond just mere good-looks attraction)
9) Forgive my Fins by Tera Lynn Childs (a funny YA, but one where even though these two come from different worlds, they are meant to be together. Very sweet.)
8) Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins (the hero Malone was not your "all talk and no action" kind of guy. In fact, he was the opposite–but actions speak WAY louder than words)
7) Blue-eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas (boy, oh boy, this hero was HOT and noble and knew exactly how to romance the poor "broken" heroine)
6) Jewel of the Sun by Nora Roberts (love a big old Irish hero with heart of gold)
5) The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen (melancholy story but emotional and romantic YA)
4) Perfect by Judith McNaught (gorgeous hero kidnaps heroine to prove his innocence and they end up falling in love–perrrrrrrfect!)
3) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (do I really need an explanation on this one?)
2) Honey Moon by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (two tortured characters but together they’re able to heal one another. LOVE this book!)
1) Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas (Sam was so sure of himself and so sure he wouldn’t fall in love with the heroine. They even would make sure to tell each other daily "I don’t love you." Ha! Love it when the hero gets bamboozled. )
Well, that’s my list and I’m sticking to it. I hope you all get to check out these books as well as my book A Little Bit Cupid.
Thanks so much for having me today!
What’s your favorite romance book? Have you read any of the books on my list?
Thanks, Jennifer, for sharing your Top Ten Romantic Reads with us!
About Jennifer Shirk: Jennifer Shirk has a bachelor degree in pharmacy–which has in NO WAY at all helped her with her writing career. But she likes to point it out, since it shows romantic-at-hearts come in all shapes, sizes, and mind-numbing educations.
She writes sweet (and sometimes even funny) romances for Samhain Publishing, Avalon Books/Montlake Romance and now Entangled Publishing. She won third place in the RWA 2006 NYC’s Kathryn Hayes Love and Laughter Contest with her first book, The Role of a Lifetime.
Lately she’s been on a serious exercise kick. But don’t hold that against her.
Feel free to follow her on Twitter or become a friend on Facebook.
Connect with Jennifer here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferShirk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorjennifershirk
Website: http://www.jennifershirk.com/
Blog: http://www.jennifershirk.blogspot.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3112488.Jennifer_Shirk
About A LITTLE BIT CUPID: Finding love should be easy, but wedding photographer Pheobe Ward knows better. When Cupid shows up on a crazy mission to help her —and save the world in the process—Phoebe realizes love might be even more complicated than she thought. Even with Cupid showing her Mr. Right , she can’t stop thinking about his best friend, Mr. Wrong.
Cal Crawford has never had time for love, but now he’s falling for Phoebe. Which means it’s got to be just plain wrong to set her up with his best friend, right? But even though seeing Phoebe with someone else will break his heart, he can’t walk away from her.
Phoebe can’t afford to choose the wrong guy with the fate of the world at stake. But maybe Cupid has it wrong. Maybe she has to rely just a little bit on Cupid, and a whole lot more on her heart.
Buy links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/A-Little-Bit-Cupid-ebook/dp/B00B1228ZQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359644248&sr=8-1&keywords=a+little+bit+cupid
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-little-bit-cupid-jennifer-shirk/1114144344?ean=2940015995244&itm=1&usri=a+little+bit+cupid
Books on Board: http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?BODY=viewbook&BOOK=1455229&TITLE=A+Little+Bit+Cupid&AUTHOR=Jennifer+Shirk
iTunes Bookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-little-bit-cupid/id593745761?mt=11
A LITTLE BIT CUPID on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17244482-a-little-bit-cupid
.jpeg?picon=2982)
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/2/2013
Blog:
Caroline by line
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
poetry basics,
guest post,
victorian poets,
poetry as inspiration,
memorizing poetry,
narrative poetry,
giveaway,
national poetry month,
poetry,
using poetry to find your story,
reading poetry for pleasure,
Add a tag
I've been preparing behind the scenes since January, working with eighteen different teachers, readers, librarians, authors, and poets to bring you their thoughts on poetry. For the rest of the month* this space will be devoted to their words. I'm excited to share these wonderful posts with you and to join in the discussion !
4/3 -- Jennifer Gennari :: Opening the Heart of Characters Through Poetry
4/4 -- Paul Hankins :: Coming Back to Poetry and Leaving the Textbook Behind
4/5 -- Lee Wardlaw :: 8 Things I Learned From My Cats About Writing Haiku
4/6 -- Caroline Starr Rose :: Words Inspiring Words -- a Poem for Sharon Creech's LOVE THAT DOG
4/8 -- Lisa Taylor :: Three Poems and Why I Know Them
4/9 -- Gabrielle Prendergast :: Using Acrostic Poetry Both In and Out of the Language Arts Classroom
4/10 -- Paul Janeczko :: Poetry is to Share
4/11 -- Rosanne Parry :: The Reluctant Poet
4/12 -- Anne Greenwood Brown :: Victorian Poets and Paranormal Romance
4/15 -- Jessica Bell :: The Vignette
4/16 -- Augusta Scattergood :: Learning by Heart
4/17 -- Robert L. Forbes :: Looking Out the Window
4/18 -- Laurel Garver :: Stories that Sing -- Poems with a Plot
4/19 -- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater :: Poem Spools -- Stitch by Stitch
4/22 -- Jayne Jaudon Ferrer :: C'mon, Give It Another Chance
4/23 -- Margaret Simon :: The ABC's of Poetry
4/24 -- Kathryn Fitzmaurice :: On Destiny and Emily Dickinson
4/25 -- Kathryn Burak :: First Poems and My Mother -- The Sleever and Muse
4/26 -- Theresa Milstein :: Becoming
4/30 -- Giveaway winner announced
*4/29 We will return to our Lucy Maud Montgomery Read Along discussion briefly before the final poetry post on 4/30.
Giveaway:
Today, I'm happy to welcome my publishing house sister, Stephanie Wardrop. She's the author of Snark and Circumstance, which released February 5, 2013 through Swoon Romance. Stephanie and I found ourselves in the same position of having to take a novel and break it up into a series of novellas. Stephanie's here today to tell you about her experience.
Hi, everybody! I’m Stephanie Wardrop, author of Snark and Circumstance 
, checking in with my Swoon Romance serial sister Kelly Hashway about the subject of serialized e-novellas.
Like Kelly, I never set out to write an e-novella series. I did not, in fact, know such a thing existed. Because I am a 
. I mean, I wasn’t even thinking about e-books at the time. When I was writing Snark and Circumstance, I was thinking about NOVELS. I was thinking Snark would come out looking something like this 
, something you would open up and then close and it would sit all nice and neat on a shelf somewhere, waiting patiently for you to open it again.
So when an editor at 
called to say she was interested in the book but wanted to publish it as a series of e-books, I was like this 
But then I thought about Jane Austen, whose Pride and Prejudice inspired Snark, and whose books, like most nineteenth-century novels, came out as TRIPLE DECKERS : one novel was divided into three books coming out months apart and each ending on a cliffhanger so that every reader would be counting down the days until they could buy the next installment. And I thought 
BRILLIANT! I’LL DO IT!
Now all I had to do was figure out how to cut the thing into four pieces, all equally engaging and action-packed and hilarious.
Right.
There are some definite advantages to serializing. For one, you get not ONE cover reveal, but FOUR! I wish I could show you my second cover, because it is, as my publisher says, SASSY, but publishers guard unreleased covers the way Coca Cola guards its formula, the way 
Colonel Sanders guards his eleven secret herbs and spices, so I can’t.
On the other hand, four covers means four titles. It took me three years to come up with the title of Snark and Circumstance, so to hear I had about forty-eight hours to come up with three more set me into a state of paralytic frenzy. (Trust me – this term sounds oxymoronic and impossible, but I bet any writer who’s faced a deadline knows what I mean). I could fill the New York Public Library with all of my rejected titles, but I eventually came up with three more that didn’t totally suck!
But for me, the biggest challenge has been that four separate texts means four not-so-separate but individually complete narrative arcs. Because each story has to simultaneously – and paradoxically, perhaps –
*further the plot and characterization from the previous installment
*be able to stand on its own as a separate self-contained text
*not bore anyone so much that they don’t want to read the next one!
How do you manage all of those things at once? How do you catch new readers up to speed about who the characters are and what they want and how they feel about each other (and where they live and what they look like and how old they are) without boring the readers who were with you in the first installment(s)? How do you balance exposition (the background for the current installment) without falling into an information dump?
It ain’t easy. But no writer worth reading shrinks from challenges, right?
Most of us remember this from ninth grade, the dreaded PLOT DIAGRAM:
If you recall, this is the arc of the whole novel, so in a regular novel, all the really exciting climactic stuff would be happening in the middle (well, in actuality, it’s much more likely to happen three quarters of the way through, if not even further in. Think about it. You’re not going to read another hundred pages AFTER the epic battle, after Harry Potter finally defeats the forces of darkness or Romeo and Juliet are both found dead. That would be like sitting in the movie theater so you could watch the kids in their uniforms sweep up your popcorn tubs and throw your discarded drink cups into garbage bags. Pointless.). At any rate, following this standard narrative arc in a series would mean that the middle two books would be nonstop action and the last one would be horrendously dull. But again, that’s not quite true despite what this little graph above says. In actuality the middle books of a series, if they followed this proscribed arc of a novel, would be kind of tedious. The main character would get themselves into all sorts of trouble, dig themselves in deeper and deeper, and there would be no relief for them at all until they got to Book Four. Which wouldn’t work. Even if you HATED the main character, you wouldn’t enjoy the experience, essentially, of seeing them flogged for two whole books – and you wouldn’t pay to see that happen (or to read it happening).
So the trick, for me, is to work with LITTLE VICTORIES in Books Two or Three.
I’m learning that I have to get my main character into all sorts of smallish troubles -- misunderstandings, arguments, humiliations that don’t feel smallish at all to her – and get her out of them in each installment. (And in Books Two and Three my main character, Georgia, gets into some trouble involving charming drunks, sightings in the family planning section of CVS, and scarlet letters.) But she cannot resolve the BIG TROUBLE that has gotten her into all of the smallish troubles in the first place until the end, Book Four. Such big troubles for main characters are often defined by fancy ninth-grade literary terms like HUBRIS, meaning excessive pride. Or they may suffer an inability to a have sense of humor about oneself or a major lack of confidence that prevents them from emerging as the superhero they need to be until the last volume of the series.
So in Book Two I might resolve one or two smallish troubles. I may end it with two sisters no longer fighting like dogs or
.. But the sisters won’t come to appreciate each other for who they truly are yet. Not until Book Four:
Halfway through the serialization process for Snark, this is what I have learned so far, through the process of writing and revising.
But I have also learned, as you can see in this post, that there is nothing
NOTHING
that cannot be best illustrated on the web by pictures of kittens.
Our guest blogger today is author Pat Mora, whose book “Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!”, from Lee & Low Books, is part of First Book’s Stories For All Project.
“Once upon a time . . .” A magic phrase that can change our breathing. As far as we know, humans are the world’s story-telling creatures. Let’s think about the unique period in the lives of children when they begin to savor that phrase, when in fresh ways little ones are experiencing their surroundings and deciding where they fit. For many youngsters, media is their main source of information and entertainment. Children lucky enough to become readers discover that they can read those once-upon-a-time words to themselves—and others. They discover the pleasure and power of words. Since words and books are powerful, how can we doubt that the images of children, families, and cultures in their books have a subtle and significant impact on young readers and their families? Who merits having their stories shared and who doesn’t? How does it feel not to see people like you between the covers of beautiful books? Are all our books created and valued equally?
0 Comments on The Stories for All Project: Latina Author Pat Mora on the Connection Children Make with Books that Include their Culture and Language as of 5/1/2013 11:53:00 AM
I'm honored to have one of my favorite people joining us on the blog today--K.M. Weiland. I think of her as The Queen Of The Outline! She offers her thoughts on all things writing on her blog Word Play and has just released her newest book, Dreamlander. BTW, she's also running the BIGGEST & COOLEST contest I've ever seen, so make sure to check it out.
~ ~ ~ ~
An author can have no greater teacher than his own stories. Every book I write teaches me new lessons about both my craft and my life. Just when I think I’ve got it all figured out, I start a new story, and—bam!—I realize I still have so much to learn. My journey with my just-released (yay!) fantasy novel Dreamlander was a twelve-year adventure that taught me more than any book I’ve previously written. Joy, sorrow, excitement, frustration, despair, and confidence—it was all there. Now that I stand at the end of that journey, I can look back and identify some of the most important writing lessons I learned. Here are ten:
1. Prepare. Most of us are going to be eager to skip the prep work and get right down to the fun of writing that first draft. But Dreamlander’s sprawling epic of story (which spans two worlds) drove home to me the importance of planning early on. Every writer’s prep work will look a little different; for me, it looks like a detailed outline, which allows me to chart my course safely through the sometimes choppy storytelling waters.
2. Listen. None of us are experts—even when it comes to our own stories. We lose our objectivity somewhere around the first completed page. Sharing our early drafts with knowledgeable and honest beta readers is vital. But, even more than that, we have to be willing to listen to those readers’ advice. Take a little while to let the sting of criticism wear off, then analyze their comments for the truth they will inevitably offer.
3. Persevere. Stories aren’t written in a day, and they’re not edited in a month. You may not need twelve years to bring your story to fruition, like I did, but it’s my opinion that any book is going to need at least a year or two to brew. To truly perfect a story, we have to grow and gain distance from it. During that time, we’re going to be discouraged. We’re going to believe the book will never shed its gray feathers and transform into a swan. But we just have to keep at it. Perseverance conquers the unconquerable.
4. Research. Writers may dwell in the realm of make-believe. But that doesn’t negate our responsibility to the facts. This goes both for research into topical matters (firearms, linguistics, cultures, etc.) and for research into our chosen genres. Don’t just read your genre—study it. Find its clichés, find its opportunities for originality, and use your knowledge to transform your story.
5. Find the magic. Magic is our stock in trade. But sometimes, as we’re slogging through our fifth revision, it can be difficult to remember why we fell in love with this story in the first place. If you find yourself dreading your story, take a break for a while. Take a bit of time to play with it in your head, just for fun, like you did in the days when you first conceived it.
6. Find the conflict. We all know it: no conflict, no story. Dig deep and find the conflict that powers your story. What do your characters want most? What’s keeping them from achieving it? That, right there, is going to be the heart of your conflict. Hit it for all your worth and don’t spare your characters.
7. Find the theme. Once you’ve found your conflict, you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of the arc your protagonist will take over the course of your story. Once you’ve found the arc, you’ll be able to identify the demons your character will have to overcome. And once you’ve identified those demons, you will have found your theme.
8. Be patient. Sometimes getting to know characters takes time. Sometimes getting all the plot points right takes tries and retries. Realize that and stave off discouragement. View every word written, every word deleted, and every word revised as one tiny step that’s carrying you closer to your end goal of perfection. You don’t have to get everything right the first time. You just have to get it right the last time.
9. Be humble. Writing is tough on egos. We usually react in one of two ways. We either cave beneath criticism and fall into crippling depression. Or we figure we know it all and brush off all other opinions. Both are wrongheaded approaches. Always stay open to learning about your own shortcomings. Don’t box yourself into the prison of thinking you have it all figured out.
10. Be fearless. By the same token as the above, don’t let your own imperfections get you down. The only writers who succeed are those who dare much. Throw everything you’ve got onto the page. Acknowledge your fears about your level of talent and people’s perception of your work—and then face them fearlessly.
In the spirit of
#9, I’ll tell you right off that these lessons are all WIPs in my own life. I suspect I’ll still be learning some of them after writing my fiftieth book. But, thanks to Dreamlander, and all the books that have gone before, I’ve learned a little more about myself and the writing life—and I’m ready to apply all those lessons to the next adventure!
K.M. Weiland is the author of the epic fantasy
Dreamlander, the historical western
A Man Called Outlaw and the medieval epic
Behold the Dawn. She enjoys mentoring other authors through her
writing tips, her book
Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success, and her instructional CD
Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration. Also, if you are looking for a FEEL GOOD Pay-it-forward type event that is easy to do, please check out our OPERATION: HELP THE ELF! Help us spread some Christmas Cheer among writers!
I've got TWO
exciting somethings for you all today. First off, I just recently discovered an awesome resource: the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), an organization dedicated to promoting, supporting, advocating for and advancing the interests of independent, self-publishing authors. Their blog is just stuffed with helpful information for anyone interested in indie publishing and I'm contributing today with a post on
Conveying Emotion Effectively via The Emotion Thesaurus. I'd love for you to stop by and see what nuggets you can glean at their blog.
Secondly, and even MORE amazing: we're Stop #5 on Laura Pauling's blog tour for her new release! She's here today to tell you a little bit about her book and how she was able to use her fear while writing it. Oh, and she's got some tasty tidbits up for grabs so don't forget to sign up to win one of her awesome prize packages!
When Bianca and Melvin brave the jungle to rescue their grandfather, they stumble upon the ancient Maya city of Etza, where the people haven’t aged in 2,000 years. They must learn to work together as they face loincloth-wearing skeletons from the underworld, a backstabbing princess, and an ancient prophecy that says in three days the city will be destroyed.No problem. They’ll find Zeb and zip right out of there. The fact that a crazy king wants to serve Bianca up to the gods as an appetizer is just a minor technicality. But this ancient evil dude has finally met his match.
Using my fears in my writing
We are often told to write what we know. One problem. I’ve never lived with the Ancient Maya and I’ve never visited the temples. I’d love to! Believe me. But I had to rely on research and others’ first hand experiences.
But I did use fear in this story.
When Bianca, the main character, faces the stone of sacrifice and the king who wants to offer her up to the gods, I channeled my fear of squirrels and hornets. Sounds silly but it worked.
Yes, I’m the girl who screams and jerks and runs away at the sight of the brown insects with hanging legs and a buzz that strikes terror in my heart.
Last year, my family was gone. I was home alone and it happened to be the first really warm spring day. So, of course, as usual, a hornet buzzed up in the sky light in my bedroom.
I was by myself. And I had to take care of it because no way would I be able to sleep at night.
I’d like to say that I was brave and killed it with the end of a broomstick like my husband does, but no, I came out with the big guns. Raid. I know. Bad. Chemicals. Emergencies only!
I hovered by the entrance to my room, Raid in hand. The buzzing was constant. I had to do this. But seriously. My legs were shaking. And I realized that shaking legs in extreme fear is not a cliché. It’s very real. I could barely breathe. Sweat broke out all over my body.
I sprayed and down it fell. Except there was more angry buzzing! Meaning there was one half alive on the floor and another one in the window. Two! I started crying because it wasn’t over.
I sprayed the second and smashed them both. Then I crashed, my body weak from the adrenaline rush.
So when I had to write about Bianca facing death, I used my experiences. Okay, I agree. Facing death by having your heart ripped out is not the same as killing two hornets. But it felt like it to me!
Thanks Angela and Becca for having me today!How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings released in November.
Pugalicious Press did a fantastic job, and I’m extremely happy with the results. This book would make a fantastic gift for boys or girls who enjoy adventure stories with lots of excitement! You can purchase it on
Amazon or
Barnes and Noble. You can
read the first chapter here. Thankfully, my journey is just beginning and I’m excited to see where it leads. Click here for the list of
blog tour stops! Enter to win these prize packages!
Prize Package One (signed paperbacks)
Prize Package Two (signed paperbacks)
Prize Package Three
Refresh the page if you can't see the Rafflecopter form! a Rafflecopter giveaway
By:
KidLitReviews,
on 12/9/2012
Blog:
Kid Lit Reviews
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Children's Books,
Guest Post,
Angela Shelton,
children's book reviews,
fantsy. middle grade books,
forbidden,
frogs,
goldfish,
grounded,
guest blog,
guest post children's author,
hats,
magic,
magic hats,
middle grade author,
middle grade book reviews,
middle grade books,
musical instruments,
odd characters in children's books,
outer space,
plants,
reviews,
silliness,
space ships,
Tilda Pinkerton Crash-Landing on Ooleeoo,
trees,
Add a tag
Kid Lit Reviews welcomes Angela Shelton, author of The Adventures of Tilda Pinkerton Book 1: Crash-landing on Ooleeoo. Kid Lit Reviews generally does not delve into articles for authors unless there is something of interest to the young reader. Today will be an exception. Ms. Shelton is writing on the importance of the teacher-writer [...]
We are super excited to be a part of the Fang Girl blog blitz today. Thanks to
Xpresso Reads for hosting this great tour.
Fang Girl has been on my TBR pile for a little while now. I love vampires and can't wait to read it. Today for our stop we have a guest post by author Helen Keeble. Be sure to read all the way to the end of the post where you'll have a chance to win several prizes, including a signed copy of Fang Girl.
Fang Girl by Helen KeebleSeptember 11th 2012 / HarperTeen
Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:
1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A pyschotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.
And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.
Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....
Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.
Fandom, Family, and FANG GIRL
Guest Post by Helen Keeble
FANG GIRL is about two things: fandom and family.
…Okay, so it's also about a lot of other things, like undead goldfish, vampiric retail empires, and hot boys in tight leather trousers, but mostly it's about fandom and family. Let me explain.
I started writing FANG GIRL because I was immensely irritated (I suspect irritation is the major cause of novels, actually). It was at the height of Twilight fever, and it seemed like every day there was a new article in the newspapers or blogosphere about it. You couldn't click a link or turn on the radio without finding someone either dismissing all YA paranormal romance fans as utterly stupid for liking "that trash", or alternatively getting into a moral panic that these girls were being fundamentally damaged by reading it.
As I rather enjoy a good paranormal romance myself, this was irritating. Really irritating. So irritating I had to spend a year writing a novel to fully express my irritation.
See, personally I think that teenagers are a lot smarter and more discriminating than adults assume. I certainly read an awful lot of fantasy schlock as a teen, and enjoyed it immensely without ever thinking I was actually going to fall through a portal and meet the perfect knight-protector, so I don't believe that all teenage girls are having their relationship expectations warped for life by Robert Patterson's hair. And in my experience, teen paranormal fans can be hugely clever and creative -- they dissect their favorite books like ruthless surgeons, they write their own fanfic versions, they make amazing music videos with footage from movies or tv shows… it's a far cry from the stereotype of a wide-eyed, ditzy girl uncritically consuming anything packaged with a black-and-red cover.
So I decided to write a paranormal romance about a girl who's a vampire fangirl, and who is also practical, snarky, and intelligent -- so when she wakes up one night and discovers she's now a vampire herself, she's got the knowledge and wits to deal with it.
But of course, vampires are rather ridiculous creatures -- seriously, you're angsty because you're eternally young and beautiful? Seriously? I mean, the first thing I'd do is camp out in New York Public Library and read every book ever -- so I also wanted to poke fun at some paranormal romance cliches. The much older vampire hero who inexplicably falls in love with the heroine, eternal angst-filled passion, the inevitable brooding rival, the terribly glamorous vampire lifestyle… in my book, the vampires are quite aware of all these tropes, and are willing to use them to try to influence my heroine Jane. But the vampires are -- like all those columnists and bloggers -- assuming that teenage vampire fangirls actually believe all this stuff… which turns out to be a big mistake.
The other trend I'd noticed in paranormal romances is that usually the heroine's family are barely present (especially not both parents). She might have endless conversations with vampires and werewolves and bears, oh my, but parents seem to stay mostly off-page. Now, I'm not saying that I never fought with my parents when I was a teen, but mostly we got along, and my family were definitely a big influence in my life. And I think that's true for a lot of teens. So I wanted my protagonist's family to be a major part of the story. And really, if you're a girl who wakes up unexpectedly dead one night, what are you going to do? Run off alone and try to survive on the contents of your pockets (most people don't get buried with credit cards, you know), or go back home where there's bed, broadband, and people who love you even if you do now seem to have fangs? No contest!
So that's FANG GIRL: one part fandom, one part family, blended together with creamy comedy goodness and baked in the oven of righteous irritation. Can I tempt you to a bite?
---
Giveaway Rules:- Open Internationally. The publisher will send the prize directly to the winner.
- We are not responsible for items lost in the mail.
- One set of entries per household, please.
- If you are under 13, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter, as you will be sharing personal info such as an email address.
- Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter widget a day or two after the contest ends.
- Winner will have 48 hours to respond to to the email, otherwise we will pick a new winner.
- If you have any questions, feel free to email us. You can review our full contest policy here.
- PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY PERSONAL INFO IN THE COMMENTS. Sorry for the caps but we always get people leaving their email in the comments. Rafflecopter will collect all that without having personal info in the comments for all the world (and spambots) to find.
a Rafflecopter giveawayThanks for stopping by and good luck!
Dear Friends:
I'm planning ahead for April, National Poetry Month, and am hoping for a variety of guest posts from all sorts of people: teachers, authors, librarians, poets, readers -- in other words, you!
Interested in writing a guest post?
There are all sorts of directions you can take: share a memory, a lesson, a favorite poem, a collection of verse novels you love, ways you wish you’d been taught about poetry -- really, there is no wrong way to go about this. I’m hoping the collection of posts produced for April will be informative, celebratory, resourceful, and an opportunity for conversations to naturally develop.
Here are some guidelines:
- I have no minimum length requirement, though I ask you keep things under 500 words. Readers sometimes lose interest after that point (confession: I don’t always hold to this myself!).
- If you are able, it would be great if you could include pictures that might enhance your post. All that I ask is you have permission to use the image (think collective commons jpegs or pictures you take -- and have permission to use! -- on your own).
- Please include links back to your blog, Twitter acct., FB page, -- anything that might put readers in touch with you and/or might promote your sites and work.
- Send your post to me by March 15, so I might put it on the schedule.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. If you know of somebody who might be interested in writing a guest post, feel free to pass this information on!
Capturing the Castle (How “Once Upon a Castle” was born)
On a bitterly cold, November afternoon, I found myself stranded near Bamburgh Castle on the wild Northumberland coast whilst the local, old fashioned garage, with tall petrol pumps, repaired my broken-down car.
The delicate, somewhat bright, late autumn sunlight created an eerie, pastel coloured scene, albeit tempered by a biting breeze, yet quite magical, certainly ancient, and almost ethereal.
Vikings have landed here,’ I told myself scanning the unique white beaches below the hazy castle ramparts. It was one of those strange experiences that triggered the imagination and I could see a Scandinavian longship coming ashore, disgorging horned-helmeted warriors seizing the beach before storming inland to ravage the sparse Saxon populace. I could feel that there was a tale to be told.
With the genesis of a story in my mind, I conducted research into Northumbrian castles and was intrigued to discover there was another ruined castle along the coast. This gave me a plot basis involving two castles, one of which was real and the other a phantom! Ideas built as I thought this was an area to where children were evacuated during World War II.
Things shaped towards an exciting novel for young adolescents involving twelve-year-old twins, Tom and Mary (to appeal to both sexes) who dread being sent from southern England to Aunt Victoria’s Northumberland farm. Yet she proves to be young, and fun, until lessons are arranged with a terrible private tutor, Miss Urquart. Their London Uncle Toby had said: “There will be castles to explore with ghosts and things.”
Teenage rebelliousness ensues as the twins escape and riotous, scary adventures involving castles, Vikings and even the Royal Navy begin.
“Once Upon a Castle” is republished by USA publisher GMTA Publishing under their imprint, Mythos Press.
“Once Upon a Castle” Blurb
Uncle Toby had said that there would be castles to explore, with ghosts and things. This helps to cheer up the glum twelve-year old Lovell twins, Tom and Mary, leaving their schools and loving parents to be evacuated to wild Northumbria during World War II. Then the adventure begins.
They live with their Aunt Victoria and Uncle Leslie, meet the loveable ‘Mrs M’, a strange dog called ‘Scamp’ and, worst, the terrible private tutor, Miss Urquart, from whom they run away to find a mysterious castle seen through an old telescope.
Now they are drawn into bizarre supernatural events of a time-warp between the war itself and ancient warfare. They encounter dark forces, as the story twists and turns, and are even rescued by the Royal Navy. Yet, this is only the beginning of more unexpected tragedies before the twins begin to escape from it all.
About the Author
Alan S. Blood worked in the British Civil Service, Advertising and journalism (edited three publications) before qualifying as a Teacher from the University of Reading, England. He enjoyed a long, distinguished career in the Teaching Profession, in both Primary and Secondary levels of education, in several parts of the UK - which eventually led to Senior Management. His main subject area was English and, at one time, he was Head of English and Drama. Throughout, he gained considerable knowledge of literature that children and adolescents enjoy.
Alan now devotes his time to writing novels, plays, screenplays and poetry. He won top award in the ‘Hastings International Poetry Festival’ (2003) with his controversial ‘litter’ poem ‘CONTRITE CAN CANNOT’. The paranormal genre features in much of his prose work.
‘ONCE UPON A CASTLE’ is a ghost story written for young people (but also enjoyed by adults) set in World War 11. It concerns both a real and a phantom castle based upon Alan’s experience of strange castles on the wild Northumbrian coast of England on cold, dark wintry afternoon.
Alan Blood has widely travelled the world and undertook research in Chile where some of his supernatural crime thriller ‘CRY OF THE MACHI A Suffolk Murder Mystery’ is set. He was previously a Cotswold Morris Dancer and the novel is a conflict between the forces of good and evil linking a Chilean ‘Machi’ and ‘organised crime’ to murders in a Suffolk Morris Men side.
Alan enjoys wildlife photography in the Welsh countryside, painting and scraperboard engraving. He lives in a Victorian (1873) house below the Cambrian Mountains of Mid-Wales.
Connect With Alan
Buy the Book:
Amazon: http://goo.gl/lmxAF
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/Ct08l
Kobo: http://goo.gl/8zc3n
I’m happy to have Mike Mullin here today, talking about writing with courage. I love his post, and I’m honored by what he wrote. I believe Mike Mullin already has lots of writerly courage, and it’s something I like and respect. I think it can help make deeper stories. Take it away, Mike!
Writing with Courage
When Cheryl invited me to be a guest poster on her blog, I knew immediately what I wanted to write about: courage. You see, I’ve been admiring Cheryl’s writing from afar for almost two years—since I first read Scars. And while there may be a few better prose stylists or a few better plotters working in young adult literature, there is no-one writing with more raw power—with more courage—than Cheryl.
Re-reading the paragraph above, I realize that “admire” is the wrong word for how I feel about Cheryl’s writing. Insanely envious is more like it. Seriously, when we finally meet, I’m going to steal a strand of hair from her to use in a voodoo ritual—your juju will be mine, Rainfield!
Courage, particularly in writing, is rare, precious, and essential. I certainly don’t have it in the generous measure Cheryl does. For over a year, I’ve been trying to write a blog post—yes, a mere blog post—about my own childhood brush with sexual abuse, and I’ve found I can’t. My experience was, thankfully, far less traumatic than Cheryl’s, but I still believe there are lessons we could take from what happened to me, if I ever found the courage to share it.
I was a voracious reader, but in fifth grade I had read absolutely nothing about pedophilia. While the subject is fairly well-covered in today’s young adult literature, it was then and is today—to the best of my knowledge—nearly nonexistent in middle-grade novels. Yet children are more likely to be abused as middle graders than as teenagers. I believe if I had read more about it—if our middle-grade literature had been darker—I might have been better prepared for what happened to me.
That’s not to say that I’m completely devoid of writerly courage. Achieving any measure of success as an author requires it. But I tend to mask the parts of my novels that cut closest to the bone in fictionalized flesh.
For example, I’m occasionally asked what my favorite part of ASHFALL is. (ASHFALL, my debut novel, is about a teen struggling to survive and find his family after the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging the world into a cataclysmic natural disaster.) I always answer that the scene in chapters 37 and 38 is my favorite. It was never part of any outline; I wrote it spontaneously while I was visiting my Uncle Chuck, who was dying of stage 4 colon cancer. The most difficult part of that visit wasn’t watching my Uncle Chuck die—we’d known he was going to die for some time—it was seeing his wife and children showering love upon him, even while they were trying, and failing, to hide their own grief.
In chapters 37 and 38 my protagonists, Alex and Darla, meet a woman who’s just lost her husband. She’s pulling three young children behind her on a toboggan, and one of them, Katie, is desperately ill. Alex wants to stop and try to help. Darla, who is far more practical than Alex, argues that they should go on—that they can’t help everyone who’s suffering. Alex wins the ensuing argument. They stop and try to help, but Katie dies anyway. I think the power of that scene flows from the fact that I chose to pour what I was feeling into it—despite the pain that writing it caused me. That, perhaps, is also a form of courage.
I believe writerly courage can be developed like any other aspect of writing. One of the reasons ASHFALL broke through and got published, while my earlier manuscripts did not, is that ASHFALL—despite its post-apocalyptic setting—is at its heart a personal story, a coming-of-age story based in my own teenage years. I credit one book in particular for helping me write closer to my own bones, Ralph Keyes’s Courage to Write. His numerous examples—particularly his stories of other writers’ struggles to find courage—inspired me to dig a little deeper and put a little more of myself on the page. If you’re an aspiring author, I highly recommend it. Perhaps I’ll re-read it soon, searching for inspiration to finally begin that blog post.
I knew I had something good in Chapters 37 and 38 of ASHFALL when my wife read them. We were on our way to an education conference in Pittsburg, and she was reading the manuscript out loud while I drove. (That’s a fabulous revision technique, by the way. By listening to your prose, you pick up errors that your eye will skip over while reading.) I heard a catch in her voice and glanced at the passenger seat. Tears were streaming down her face, shining in the mid-morning sun. I thought, yes! I’m a great writer and a terrible husband!
What about you? What inspires you to write courageously? Let me know in the comments, please.
Thank you so much for that thoughtful post, Mike! I think you have a lot of writerly courage–you wrote about grief and pain that you’ve seen and experienced. You dug deep.
People, you can find out more about Mike and his books here:
About Mike Mullin
Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really glad this writing thing seems to be working out.
Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. Ashen Winter is his second novel. His debut, Ashfall, was named one of the top five young adult novels of 2011 by National Public Radio, a Best Teen Book of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews, and a New Voices selection by the American Booksellers Association.
About ASHEN WINTER
It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this trilogy. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.
Read an Excerpt
The first two chapters are available on my website: www.ashenwinter.com. You may reprint the first two chapters in whole or in part on your website so long as you do not charge anyone anything to access them.
Find Mike On:
Website
Blog
Google+
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Pinterest
Purchase Links:
Autographed Copies
Indiebound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
The Book Depository
Today I am wrapping up my series on Indie vs. Traditional Publishing with a post from a very special guest, Sourcebooks editor Aubrey Poole. But if you have any additional questions leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer or find out.
Thanks for inviting me to be a part of this ever-changing and increasingly important discussion. The rise of the eBook has meant a lot of changes for the publishing industry, and I’m proud to be a part of an organization that has embraced those changes. Sourcebooks is a privately owned independent company that’s gained a reputation for being agile, forward-thinking and willing to experiment. So, we may not quite fall under the category of “traditional” publisher, but we definitely acquire, package, produce, market and sell books, and I’m very happy to talk a little more about what value a Publisher brings to its authors.
I can through a lot of terms at you about each piece of the publishing process, like so:
But I’m going to break it down to one core idea: Discoverability.
What does discoverability mean? How readers find your book. If they don’t know about it, they can’t buy it (or check it out), and they can’t read it. So, the billion dollar question is: how will readers find your book?
With the close of Borders and the increasing popularity of eReaders, brick-and-mortar stores are gradually decreasing in number, limiting the opportunity for chance discovery. It’s becoming less common for readers to be browsing a shelf to find their next must-read and more important for publishers (or self-published authors) to find ways to bring attention to their books.
So, essentially, a Publisher’s job is to connect authors to readers.
This is done in a variety of ways from creating eye-catching book covers (that look good as thumbnails), to writing intriguing jacket copy, to placing ads in magazines, to sending ARCs (advance readers copies) to bloggers, reviewers, booksellers and librarians, to booking spots on TV or NPR, to purchasing advantageous placement in Barnes and Noble (those front-of-store table displays aren’t free!) to making sure the metadata (title, author, pages count, age level, etc.) is sent to Amazon correctly, and more.
With all of the noise out there (347,178 new books published in 2011 in the U.S. alone), it’s a Publisher’s job to make your book be heard.
What about Amanda Hocking and E.L. James, you ask? Didn’t they become successful, bestselling authors without a “traditional” publisher? Yes! They are part of the lucky few whose self-published eBooks got that magical word-of-mouth momentum combined with low price points that shot them to the top of the bestseller lists. But for every success story, there are thousands of self-published authors you’ve never heard of and likely never will. And, you may have noticed, both Hocking and James turned to “traditional” publishers to take their eBook phenomena and publish them in print to reach an even wider audience.
So, what does this all mean for you, the writer? Self-publishing is a fantastic new and growing option that will become an important part of the publishing sphere and allow for more and easier access to information than ever before. And for some authors, it will be the right fit. I think it will be especially important for authors of controversial, innovative or niche subjects and genres fast converting to eBooks (like romance!). But in my opinion, a Publisher is still a writer’s best bet when it comes to finding an audience for you book.
Bio:
Aubrey Poole got her start as an editor correcting her friends’ grammar in high school, an effort which naturally guaranteed instant popularity. After a brief internship in the marketing department at Penguin UK, she started her first real job as a news assistant at The Real Estate Journal in Los Angeles. But when she was offered a position as a reporter, Aubrey thought it would be less scary to move cross-country to New York City and try to break into the book publishing industry.
Aubrey is now an associate editor at Sourcebooks, acquiring children’s books from picture books through young adult. Her first YA novel, Send by Patty Blount, was a Junior Library Guild pick, and she hopes to continue shamelessly courting librarians with her forthcoming middle grade novel The Ninja Librarians.
I'd like to welcome Regan Walker to the blog today with her novel, Racing With the Wind. Enjoy!
Weaving History Into Romance Writing
The novels I love to read are historical romances, the deep ones, the keepers. And, for me, they must include real history and real historic figures, not merely some vague background of an historical time (like a contemporary dropped into the Scottish
Highlands—I’ve read those). The same is true for the books I write. I love the research, diving into the past to learn its secrets. All my stories weave history into the romance.
I do a lot of research before and during the writing of a novel. One of my novels still in progress is a medieval set in 1067, THE RED WOLF’S PRIZE. The prologue is a wolf attack in the woods of Normandy in 1063. It’s only 3 pages long, but I spent 3 days researching that scene. I had to understand the battles the Duke of Normandy (later William I) was fighting then, the weather that winter (because I wanted snow on the ground), what kind of wolves were present in the forests, and whether a lone wolf would attack a man and under what circumstances. And that was after I’d done the basic research on knights, their horses, the Duke of Normandy, etc. The prologue is an exciting, short scene, but behind it is a solid wall of research. To the educated historical romance reader, it is more real, more authentic, because of that research. I’m writing for them.
For RACING WITH THE WIND, I spent hundreds of hours researching Regency England
and France, especially Paris after Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena. Even though
Napoleon is not a character in my book, there are many, many references to him and what he did while the Emperor; they all had to be correct. I wanted to give the reader a sense of what it was like to be in Paris in the early 19th century so they could see it though the heroine’s eyes. There are scenes in buildings, including Notre Dame and the restaurant La Tour d’Argent. They had to be described accurately, and I had to be certain they were open in 1816. Originally, I intended to have a certain scene in the Sainte-Chapelle church in Paris, as it’s one of my favorites, but my research disclosed it was closed in 1816 for renovation. So I switched the scene to Notre Dame. For one dining scene, I communicated with La Tour d’Argent to ascertain if they were serving their current specialty, duck, in 1816. They weren’t, so I had to change the menu. But in the end, my novel is better for it.
Buy Links: All Romance | Amazon | Apple iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
The intrepid daughter of an earl leaves Regency London for the Parisian court of Louis XVIII, where she finds adventure, mystery, and above all, love.
THE NIGHTHAWK Hugh Redgrave, marquess of Ormond, was warned. Prinny had dubbed Lady Mary Campbell “the Swan,” but no ordinary man could clip her wings. She was a bluestocking hellion, an illadvised match by every account. Luckily, he sought no bride. His work lay on the continent, where he’d become legend by stealing war secrets from Boney. And yet, his memories of Lady Mary riding her stallion were a thorn in his mind. He was the son of a duke and in the service of the Prince Regent…and he would not be whole until he had won her hand.
THE SWAN It was unheard of for a Regency debutante to postpone her first season, yet Lady Mary had done just that. Far more interested in politics than a husband, she had no time for foolishness or frippery. Already she had assisted her statesman uncle in Paris, and she swore to return to the court of Louis XVIII no matter the danger. Like her black stallion, Midnight, she would always run free. Only the truest heart would race beside her.
Author Regan Walker's Bio: As a child, Regan loved to write stories, particularly about adventure-loving girls. But by the time she got to college, more serious pursuits were encouraged. One of her professors thought her suited to the profession of law. Regan says, “I became a lawyer because I thought it would be better to be a hammer than a nail.” Years of serving clients in private practice and several stints in high levels of government gave her a love of international travel and a feel for the demands of the "Crown" on its subjects. Hence, her first romance novels involve a demanding Prince Regent who thinks of his subjects as his private talent pool. Regan says her stories will always involve adventure as well as love.
Regan lives in San Diego with her Golden Retriever, Link, who she says inspires her every day to relax and smell the roses.
Excerpt:
Chapter 1
London, 1816
Standing at the edge of the ballroom, Lady Mary Campbell smiled to herself, thinking it was a bit like standing on the edge of a cliff. Stepping forward would bring a drop into the unknown. It was a step she had no desire to take.
But, then, she had no choice. She’d postponed her dreaded debut as long as possible, and at nineteen she was well past the age most ingénues greeted their first season. Dressed in ivory satin she was, but she could hardly wait for the day she could wear red. And though she would have preferred her long hair down and flowing free, tonight it was drawn up into a pile of curls.
Gazing into the immense room with its crystal chandeliers, hundreds of candles, and men and women in elegant finery, Mary let out a deep sigh. It was all very glorious, of course, but it wasn’t the Tuileries Palace where she had waltzed last December. It wasn’t the world she loved, the world in which she thrived, the world of books and ideas. It wasn’t the countryside, where she could ride her horse and forget everything. It wasn’t even her uncle’s world of statesmen.
Those men, she was certain, would not give a thought to the gowns or balls for young women entering London society, and she wished she could follow their example. No, Mary was not at all at home in this place where young men mingled with their future wives—wives they would dominate and keep from truly seeing or enjoying the world.
That was one reason she was not anxious to wed, and she had several. But at the request of her mother, the dowager countess of Argyll, she had come to this ball and would dance with the young men. And when her sweet mother insisted her only daughter go to court and curtsey
before George, Prince of Wales, the Prince Regent, Mary had bowed to the gracious request and sweetly obeyed.
Her best friend, Elizabeth St. Clair, bubbled on at her side about the grand decorations and the pretty gowns, but Mary’s mind was on the Times article she’d read at breakfast describing Napoleon’s exile on the island of St. Helena. There was a small note at the bottom of the article saying recent information suggested Napoleon’s defeat in Russia was, in part, due to the legendary Nighthawk. She longed to meet the mysterious man, that stealer of secrets, if indeed he existed. But if he did, she was certain he would not be wasting his time at some tedious London ball. The world did not revolve around a dance, not even the waltz.
Elizabeth tugged on her glove. “I say, Mary, do you agree?”
Mary realized she had missed what her friend was saying and tried to recall the original question. She wanted to show support for Elizabeth, whose blue eyes were wide with wonder at the beautiful gowns and the handsome young men; her older sisters had already taken their place in London society, and Mary knew Lizzy was anxious to join them.
“Well, it is rather as I expected, Lizzy. It’s like being offered up to the highest bidder, is it not? ’Tis strange so many go so willingly to the auction block.”
Elizabeth’s side-glance stopped Mary’s reflection. “Oh, do try and enjoy yourself, Mary. It’s not so bad. Besides, you’re gathering many admiring looks!”
“I think you are imagining that. Recall the conversation of the Baroness Johnson in the retiring room we overheard. She could barely wait to tell her friends that the Campbell hoyden who reads philosophy and rides horses like a man is here.”
“Actually, you were most gracious to her, Mary; more the lady than she. I rather think she’s just a jealous old biddy. Besides, I wasn’t talking about the women. It is the men who cannot take their eyes off you.”
Mary’s cheeks warmed. Her friend was exaggerating again out of kindness and loyalty. Her mother, too, remarked in a caring way about her appearance, and her uncle complimented her gowns, but Mary knew their words were merely encouragement to wear
disdained. Her heart seized with a pang of regret as she wondered if her father would
thought her pretty. He had not lived to see her blossom into womanhood.
“Lizzy, I am not seeing what you are, but since you asked, I will do my best to be happy.
After all, you are here, and I do love to dance.”
As if summoned, two young men approached and asked for the first quadrille. Mary
resolved to be nice.
So it begins, she thought to herself.
One young man offered an arm. Green eyes met blue. His kind face was framed by light
brown hair, and he smiled, leading her smoothly out into the room. They were soon
across the polished wood floor. To her surprise, Mary’s spirits lifted.
As the dance took a turn, Mary’s gaze drifted over her partner’s shoulder, drawn
two men standing in front of a pillar. She did not recognize them, but the dark stare
man pierced her gown, corset and chemise and touched her very skin. Feeling exposed
she never had, she shivered, and she was glad when her partner whirled her away.
And yet, she continued to surreptitiously watch the man, drawn to his overwhelming
presence. He wore black, his white shirt and cravat the only contrast to the dark
fell in waves to his nape. He exuded a kind of power unlike any other male in the
was nothing the dandy about him.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Check out the next three stops on the tour:
When thriller author Donna Galanti contacted me about guest posting here at The Bookshelf Muse on building suspense, I was all over it! As a writer on the dark side of Middle Grade and Young Adult, suspense is as alluring to me as the scent of bacon in the pan. And suspense isn't only about Thrillers and Who-dun-its...every book and genre has it's own brand of suspense, meaning catching and keeping the reader's attention requires some serious skill. Donna has 8 great tips for building suspense...I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do!
Writing Suspense: Meet Them in the Middle and They Will Come
I’ve learned so much about suspense since writing my first book. One thing I’ve learned in fiction, and movies, is that surprise can be over-rated.
Surprise is the two-seconds of “Boo!”
Suspense is the ten-minutes of “Oh, No! Will she die or not?” We’ve all heard
go for suspense when you can–and for a reason.
It keeps the reader turning pages. This means the reader needs to know a few things (without giving it all away) so they can predict things, and feel smart. Readers love feeling smart. Don’t we all?
I’ve discovered that if we meet the reader in the middle and let them feel smart, that they will stick with you. But how can we, as writers, meet the reader in the middle to create suspense?
Tease them with only a few descriptive details
In
Harry Potter we all know what Hogwart’s Castle looks like, don’t we? But if you go through the book there are very few descriptions about it. It’s introduced only as a vast castle with lots of turrets and towers. When Harry enters it we’re teased with brief images of flaming torches and a magnificent staircase. That’s it. The reader must fill in the rest with imagination.
By giving the reader flashes of the setting here and there we involve the reader, take them along for the ride, and…build suspense.
Introduce questions early on
Not just one, but many. Drop them here and there. Don’t make it tidy. Make it mayhem with meaning. But make sure those drops do have meaning.
If a knife appears hanging on the wall in the beginning, the reader will question why its there and believe that the knife has importance down the road. (So make sure you show its reason…later.)
Make the reader ask: What happens next? In
Watchers by
Dean Koontz we witness a depressed man who goes off to a canyon to commit suicide. Will he go through with it? Then he meets a highly intelligent dog and fears for his life from an unknown stalker. Through the dog he meets a timid woman he is intrigued by.
Now we have more questions. Who is this dog? Who is this stalker? How are they connected? Who is this woman? Why is she so shy?
Provide readers with knowledge
New novelists can often be afraid of revealing their best stuff early on. I used to feel the same way. There are tons of pages to fill, after all. That fear can make a writer hoard their best stuff for a surprise–later. But the reader can get bored with waiting, and surprises are overestimated.
Hitchcock, the master of film suspense, used this to build his tension in his movies. He gave the audience information the characters knew and didn’t know, such as the bomb located under their desk.
Tick tock.Will the character die? Yikes! Maybe, if we’re given all the information we need to suspect death is looming. What makes this suspenseful? Because we spend ten minutes hoping beyond hope the character we love doesn’t die! In the movies or on the page.
Look at the big picture
Movies can provide great visuals for how writers can create suspense. Multiple setups can lead to one big suspense payoff. It’s the knowing what’s about to happen, and then it happens.
In
The Godfather, Michael Corleone plans to kill the two mob leaders he meets for dinner. We see the murder planning. The discussion of where to meet. The finding of the gun in the bathroom as a weapon. The wondering of whether Michael will or won’t do it. The knowing that his life will be forever changed if he does.
Creating suspense with a big picture buildup can also create surprise. Here is where surprise can work if everything that led up to the surprise is exposed in a new way.
The big moment at the end in
The Sixth Sense isn't just a surprise–it re-arranges everything we know about the events we've seen beforehand in a new way. Did you guess it coming or were you totally surprised?
Set the mood
Provide a suspense setting that creates feelings of heightened anxiety. Give the reader the portent of doom. The setting of a scene can make a large impact on its mood. Use sensory details to build on those feelings–a sudden wind, a stormy sky, a rising stench, a jarring noise.
Use world building to create suspense.Here’s an example of how I aimed for this in my suspense novel,
A Human Element:The sky darkened suddenly. She looked up. Black clouds, thick and angry rolled overhead. Her heart raced faster. The bad feeling screamed again inside her.
"Let's go inside for now." Laura tugged on her mother's sleeve. They would be safer in the house. She just knew it.
"But we can't let our chores go." Fanny's fingers flew across the peas. Slit. Pop. Slit. Pop. Wind whipped around the corner of the house. It knocked over Laura's basket.
Do you think something bad is coming?
Go slow
You’re saying whaaat? Yes. Slow down real time to show the full 360 degrees of the scene. In real life action happens fast. But it’s our job as writers to not show real life. That would be boring and over with in a flash. Show all the angles of the scene to build suspense. Use all the senses. Add complications.
I just read
Robert Goolrick’s,
A Reliable Wife. In it he moves achingly slow to build suspense. In the beginning scene a man waits at a train station. Nothing is happening. But so much is happening. And so much is to come.
His first paragraph tells us:
It was bitter cold, the air electric with all that had not happened yet. The world stood stock still, four o’clock dead on. Nothing moved anywhere, not a body, not a bird; for a split second there was only silence, there was only stillness. Figures stood frozen in the frozen land, men, women, and children.
Oooh, right? Look at his words. Bitter. Electric. Dead. Still. Frozen. Besides going slow he’s also setting the mood with his word choices. These are not soft words. We have a sense of doom. For eleven pages at the train station Goolrick goes slow to build suspense and tension all by focusing on one man’s thoughts and the people who flow around him.Think that’s going slow? The master of suspense,
Dean Koontz, builds suspense over
seventeen pages in
Whispers with an attempted rape scene.
And don’t forget to create characters to care about
This doesn't mean they shouldn’t be flawless. Giving them flaws makes them more appealingly human, but you won’t create suspense if nobody gives a hoot about your characters.
Suspense is emotional. It’s about revealing some, but not all.
And if the reader cares they’ll go out on that limb and meet you in the middle. Build it halfway to create suspense, and they will come.
Donna Galanti is the author of the paranormal suspense novel,
A Human Element, called “a riveting debut that had me reading till the wee hours of the night” by international bestselling author
M.J. Rose.She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. Donna lives with her family in an old farmhouse in PA with lots of nooks, fireplaces, and stinkbugs but sadly no ghosts. Visit her at her
website, and on
Twitter!About
A Human Element:
One by one, Laura Armstrong's friends and adoptive family members are being murdered, and despite her special healing powers, there is nothing she can do to stop it. The killer haunts her dreams and leaves cryptic notes advising her to use her powers to save herself...because she's next.
Read a sampleAdd this book to my GoodreadsYour turn, Musers! What techniques do you use to build suspense? Is there an author you love because of their skill at drawing the reader in and keeping them guessing? Let me know in the comments!
ALSO, I hope you'll sneak over to the ever-awesome Shannon O'Donnell's
Book Dreaming where I'm chatting about
Staying Motivated. I promise you will LOVE some of the links I'm sharing at her blog!
Hi Everyone! I am super-pleased to welcome author
Peter Salomon to the blog. Peter's new YA book,
HENRY FRANKS just released through
Flux and I can't wait to snag a copy. The blurb is at the end--read it and you'll see why! However, just to tease you a little, here's a snippet:
Four thousand, three hundred and seventeen stitches, his father had told him once.
All the King's horses and all the King's men had put Henry Franks back together again.
Now here's Peter & his thoughts on After The First Draft.
~ ~ * ~ ~
Congratulations, you've finished the first draft of your novel! I'm serious, this is something that calls for a minor celebration. There are untold numbers of people who have thought "I should write a book" and never started, or started and never finished. You've finished! This is great.
Now the hard part starts.Yes, I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news but, all things considered, writing that first draft will probably turn out to have been easier, simpler and FAR quicker than revising/editing the thing.
But, and this is important: just as there were times while you were writing that first draft where you might have wanted to give up, thinking 'this'll never be over' or 'this is taking forever' there will be those same moments as you edit...and, guess what? Just as you did finish that first draft, you will finish the second draft as well.
Of course, there will most likely be a lot more rounds of revision before your novel is ready to query agents about. And, even then, after signing with an agent? More edits. After the novel sells? Yes, that's right: more edits.
So, there are two ways to look at that finished document, after typing "The End" for the first time on that first draft: 1) It's perfect as is, I hate editing, let's query now and 2) EVERYTHING else...because #1 is a TERRIBLE idea.
There are a number of wonderful books out there to help you edit (my personal favorite is 'Self-Editing For Fiction Writers' by Renni Brown and Dave King so the actual nuts-and-bolts of editing and revising can be found elsewhere.
Instead I'd like to talk about 'Attitude.' Yes,
attitude.
I know editing is hard, revising seems insurmountable, the book's done, it's hard to work up the same passion once 'The End' has been typed, that passion that drove you to the page, kept you thinking of the characters even when you weren't writing, had you having conversations between your characters in your head as you drove or showered or slept. That's the power of writing, it's so much a part of why we do what we do and it's wonderful.
That passion kept you writing even when you wanted to give up, even when the end of that first draft seemed so very far away.
And now you're done, you celebrated finishing the first draft. You told everyone you'd finished your novel. You posted it on Facebook. You Tweeted it.
Now the celebration is over and you have two things left to do. They are NOT query and sell the novel. I know, that's the goal and it's within reach now that you've finished that first draft. But not quite yet. Not now.
1) Let it sit. Untouched. Unread. A lot of people will tell you to let it sit for a certain number of weeks. Even a month. More. Let it sit. Ignore it. This is great advice. Has no relation to the reality of the pull that manuscript will have on you, calling to you: "Read Me!" So, my advice isn't so much a time frame as it is another 'attitude.' Let it sit just a little longer than is comfortable. As in, if a week after you finished you feel up to that read-through, that first round of edits, then give it just another day or two and get to it. Just let it sit long enough so that the passion starts coming back for those characters, that plot.
2) Revise and revise again, so many times that you honestly can't answer people when they ask 'which draft are you on?' And it's not a matter of 'each draft' being a complete revision or edit. Sometimes you go though the manuscript looking to fix one particular thing every time it pops up (see The Emotion Thesaurus for an example: you might be simply fixing how many times your main character shrugs on one read-through).
And 3) most importantly of all: love that revision process. Know that anyone who takes the time to give you constructive criticism has only one goal in mind: helping YOU make YOUR manuscript better. They are trying to help, always. And helping is good. Revising is good. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many times you want to give up, throw in the towel, raise the white flag. One day, you'll look back after finishing a final read-through and remember that first draft and you'll realize how much work it really did need, how much work you did, how much better the final version is.
And it will all be worth it the first time you post to Facebook that you sold your book. And Tweet the cover art. And open the box with the ARCs from your publisher. Hold the finished book in your hands.
That is the goal. Loving revision will help you get there. Because you will have to revise and edit no matter what attitude you go into the process with, so you might as well learn to love it. It will make it easier, it will make your agent and editor love working with you (always a good thing). And it will teach you so very much, so that when you sit down to start writing your next book you won't make the same errors (oh, there will always be new errors to make but still) the next time will be just that little bit easier. And you'll love the process just that little bit more.
And that calls for another celebration!
~ ~ * ~ ~
One year ago, a terrible accident robbed Henry Franks of his mother and his memories. The past sixteen years have vanished. All he has now are scars and a distant father—the only one who can tell Henry who he is.
If he can trust his father.
Could his nightmares—a sweet little girl calling him Daddy, murderous urges, dead bodies—help him remember?
While a serial killer stalks their small Georgia town, Henry unearths the bitter truth behind his mother’s death—and the terrifying secrets of his own dark past.
Sometimes, the only thing worse than forgetting is remembering.
(I promised you a killer blurb, didn't I?) Like Peter, I think attitude is what gives writers the fortitude to see a book through from first draft tot he shelf. Adopting a learner's spirit will help you embrace the revision process. It becomes a wonderful thing to see a book evolve from humble beginnings to a final. polished and world-ready tale.
A big thank you to Peter for hanging out with us, and showing what sustained him through the process. If you would like to find out more about
HENRY FRANKS, you can visit Peter's
website and
read the first scene of the book and if you like,
add the book to your Goodreads list. Find out more about Peter at his
blog, follow him on
Twitter &
Facebook!Musers, your turn! Did you find you needed to shift your attitude to push through the revision process? What helped you persevere?
Here is an extensive, interesting and humorous interview with author Doug Lucas.
1. What inspired you to write your first book?
Retirement… retirement and boredom if the truth be known. There were other factors, but those two are the prime suspects motivating me to write. After all…how hard can it be to sit down and just write a story with enough skill to make folks think you've become a literary giant?
Years ago I watched my wife start a book, join a writer's group, and read everything she could get her hands on about the correct way to write a novel. She had a super story to tell, worked her heart out learning the craft, and managed to finish half the book before putting it aside, disgusted with life in general and writing in particular. This was to become another factor in my decision to write and have a book published. When I say it's a factor, I mean the turmoil she went through before she became apathetic towards the notion of finishing her book.
I would watch her write something she dearly loved and share it with her writer's group or friends. They in turn would say this is great…but if you just wrote it this way the story would be so much stronger. She in turn would take their suggestions to heart and make the suggested changes. Once again they would read what she had liked and changed because of their suggestions to improve or strengthen it and make even more "if you just tweak it this way"helpful hints. I watched one evening as she shut her "faithful Tandy" down, boxed her paper copies of the storyand floppy disks up and walk away from the whole idea.
Anyone who has ever started a book can understand those actions and they don't require explanation. What does require explanation is it was the very first time I'd ever seen her fail to finish anything she’d started. When I retired I wondered if I could finish a book, without being forced to kill my computer…because other than my wife, no one would see it until I was done.
So you might say it was more a stubborn determination to see if I could finish a book, than a desire to write or publish a novel. That would change after I received three rejection letters from literary agents.
2. What specific writing style or genre do you enjoy writing in?
I'm not sure what a specific style really means. If you're referring to consciously emulating a particular author…there is only one I try to stay true to…me. Each book I wrote is my story, therefore it should be told my way. I don't think like Stephen King or Tom Clancy, why should I attempt to write the way they do? I also don't have the education of most of the famous authors whose books I've read; therefore what I know about grammar is what you'll read. I do try to avoid grammar mistakes, but I pretty much write the way I talk. If you find a book I wrote boring, then most likely we won't be spending an afternoon in the local bar chatting…unless of course you're buying.
As for genre, well that's a grave of a different depth.
Once I managed to get the first book published, I decided to see if I couldn't write several more in slightly different genres. I know that an author who wants to be famous is supposed to only write in one genre to develop a following. I don't expect to be famous, find telling the same story monotonous and I've got to admit I like the challenge of seeing if I can get a few readers to try each different book.
At this point in our little blog together I'll admit I didn't know there was a genre labeled pedagogy, never had any intentions of trying my hand at non-fiction and of course didn't even want to compete with a book titled "All About Dinosaurs."
Having admitted to those facts, then the confusion surrounding the release of my last book, “Flats Teachers' Test," becomes a funny story pointing out that when things go wrong…they really go wrong.
My publisher released the book with a three day give away on Amazon, which is free advertising as far as I'm concerned. I checked it the morning it was released and was pleased to find it was listed as number one in its genre. Later that afternoon I again checked on the book's progress, this time paying closer attention to little things…like genre and category. Yes…I had to look up the meaning of pedagogy…I'll also bet a few of you will be doing the same thing right about now.
I'd been a little shocked to discover I'd been beaten out of the number one slot by a dinosaur. But must admit I was pleased I'd managed to stay ahead of "Enticing and Exciting the Non-Reader." (Just barely…but I did stay in the number two slot!). What scares me is if my fictional characters are listed as non-fiction…does that mean they'll be using an absentee ballot in the next election? Now that would be an honor for not only for my fictional characters, but me as well.
3. How do you come up with the titles for your books?
I don't and at this point I'd love to say something sounding like a sagely witticism from Mark Twain. But the truth is I start a book and the title just seems to happen. I've been told I should invest far more time seeking the Holy Grail of book titles than I do. I also know a snappy title aimed right at the selected reading audience…Something like All about Dinosaurs; is an important part of catching the reader's attention. Unfortunately…I just go with what seems to fit.
Forgotten received its title because the folks who died and suffered in Beirut are forgotten by all but those who loved them.
Man in the Mountain was chosen as a title because one of the characters lived in a mountain. From the start of the first paragraph, it had its title.
My book Conversations with a Dead Man because the main character was dead…and still talking.
Buzz Words just seemed to fit a homicide investigation, although one reader pointed out the buzz word perps was spelled preps. So maybe I should have given that one just a little more thought.
The Flats Teachers' Test came from a quip a gym teacher made to me and when I sat down to write the book I had a title before I ever started…that time. He said the real test of a true teacher is can they make an entire school year without killing an administrator or hurting a student.
I'm working on a SciFi right now have completed ten chapters. Before I've completed the last chapter I hope to have a title….other than "what I'm writing now." The two books I have awaiting the editors chain saw have titles…for now.
4. How many of your novels have certain messages that you'd like readers to grasp?
Probably only the Flats Teachers' Test has a message I'd like to have a reader understand. I tried to use fiction to show just how much trouble this nation's school systems are really in. We've got some good schools and a few truly great teachers, both of which are in danger of becoming extinct.
5. How much of your books are based on reality or things you've been through I your own life?
If I were to write an autobiography on all of the extraordinarily exciting events of my life worth telling…….it would be shorter than a church bulletin and just about as well read.
Besides…now that I'm old, it's clear to me that no other young man could ever be as fantastic as I remember myself being. Therefore I shouldn't depress the younger generation by telling them just how much better I was than they are or ever could be.
As you can see from that statement, I write fiction. I firmly believe people read fiction to escape the pressures of everyday life. Maybe they want to experience something uncommon or for a few hours just live in a bizarre world of fiction. It isn't unusual or unexpected for a writer's life to sneak into the tales they tell. But I'd point out that I wrote Conversations with a Dead Man and to the best of my knowledge I'm not dead yet.
6. What books have you read that have influenced you in some way?
Other than the Bible, the two most critical literary works would be "The care and feeding of the M-60 machine gun" and of course "the many orders and regulations published by the Pennsylvania State Police on evidence handling and processing.
The Bible will send you to God, a malfunctioning M-60 will send you to hell and break the chain of custody on a piece of evidence and you'll wish you were in hell.
7. What writer would you consider to be your mentor?
Me…I've said it before and like all old men will repeat myself. I want to tell the stories in my books my own way.
The very first Author, whose books caught my attention, was Thomas B. Costain. The man has no idea how many tours he did in Vietnam or the loss I felt when his books The Silver Chalice and The Black Rose met with an untimely demise in 1983. But there is no way I'd ever attempt to copy his style of writing. He was my safety valve and secret pathway to a safer and much more exciting world.
8. Are there any new authors you have read that you like?
In no particular order: Julie Powell (author of Gone and not the author of Julie and Julia), Marissa Carmel, Lee Ann Graff-Vinson (Love and Liberty--I read it by mistake) Dawn Colcasure. Brian Anderson, Mike Evers, and Chris McKenna. Of course I never read children's books or chick books. A manly man such as myself has only heard that some of these authors can write. I'll add that I've never read anything written by Sheila Deeth and you can't prove I have.
All of these folks can spin a yarn in their own way and are well worth finding. Some have books with Gypsy Shadow publishing and the rest can be found on the Great Minds Publishing web page.
9. What's your current project and when might it be available?
I'm trying my hand at a Sci-Fi that at present I'm just calling Evolved Man. I thought it might be fun to show a society in the distant future which punishes a non-conformist by sending them into the past (via time travel of course). I have no idea when it will be done because I'm only on chapter ten, I have several poker games (BYOB of course) that need my attention and it's coming up on my favorite time of year to ride motorcycles (fall foliage). As you can see I have a few different priorities than other authors. Writing for me is a hobby…I refuse to work myself to death over a hobby.
10. Can you give us an excerpt or tell us a little about your current work?
Sure, Here is the first few paragraphs from chapter one:
My name is Daniuca West 320…the date chosen for my birth was day two twenty-one in the agreed cycle of thirty fifteen. I was part of the last generation conceived and born in the west wing of the old creation hall. My tissue mass was designated as female, and I was the very last of the six hundred tissue masses for that cycle allowed to evolve into a human.
My early years of education and conditioning were normal. I met the female donor of my DNA at age cycle twelve and the male donor at age cycle fifteen…I found them both to be uninteresting. I spent the required twenty life cycles in basic courses for enrichment required by the Committee for Human Growth and Instruction.
The Educational Guidance Committeerecommended I study Forgotten Pre-Human Skills. I was allowed to spend the next eighty cycles of my life learning how dangerous life for the human race was before order and structure was established.
I was thrilled by the recommendation to study Forgotten Pre-Human Skills. It would mean society had decided I would be working as a Harmony Protector or Regulation Enforcement Officer. I would be helping society move forward without the hindrances of the past.
Of all the things which have changed during my lifetime, I find my computer Companion to be the single most disturbing. The implanted synchrony is always with you…never dormant and leaves you with no option but to think whatever message is being transmitted. I know our society is far better off because of their existence, a fact my Companion constantly reminds me of.
But there are times when I would just like to feel or discover new things on my own. I also suspect this is the very reason I've been summoned to the Hall for Social Justice and Harmony again.
I am far enough into the start of this story to have already had the lady sent back to 1775. I think it will be rather unique to contrast the far future to the distant past.
11. Is there anything you would consider challenging about your writing?
Yes…making sure it doesn't interfere with the things in life that are truly important. Things like afternoon naps, late night poker games (that now means anything after nine PM) and of course long motorcycle rides.
12. Do you have any advice or anything you'd like to say to your readers?
To anyone who may be thinking about writing a book. First and foremost write it to make you happy, not some friend who only wants to make it a little better. Finish what you start; at the very least you'll be an author with one book to their credit. If you find a publisher who wants to publish tour work, then you're a published author. If the book is published and one person (family doesn't count here) buys it, you are a successful author with a following.
To my readers…keep buying my books…She Who Should Not Be Named saw another yorkie puppy in need of a home. This means I'll may need two leashes and two pooper scoopers.
About the Author: My name is Doug Lucas, well in reality it's Raymond D. Lucas. Like most people I sometimes forget I have a first name. Mine was borrowed from my father---I tend to confuse myself when I tell others my first name is Raymond.
My Dad had dreams of sending one of his sons to West Point; I had dreams of escaping any form of academic endeavor. Neither one of us was a total success in making those dreams come true. He did manage to force my nonacademic, rebellious mind and body through high school. I managed to join the Marine Corps right after high school before he could inflict the pain of higher learning on my soul.
I began a twenty-five year odyssey that in the beginning worked very well towards the completion of my life ambition of not being forced to endure any more formal education. The Marine Corp started my "reeducation" by training me to become a machine gunner---this worked well for me because no college was required for this position. After my first tour in the exotic Far East the Marines waited for me to reenlist and then changed my status to Combat Photographer, a reward for some misdeed that to this day I am still unaware of committing.
I once again found myself in academic situations, but with a twist that added zest to my desire to learn. Fail a military school and for the most part your career is over at all levels. You might say that I became a very enthusiastic student, with a new found motivation to excel at academics.
As a reward for completing the "schools" I was selected for, I was returned to the Far East to apply my new found knowledge of Combat Photography in a practical environment. I learned very quickly that in a combat situation, taking a shot with a camera was far less rewarding than taking one with a machine gun.
In the time that I served in the Marines I manage to become a Drill Instructor at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina and serve a tour as a recruiter at RSS Long Island, New York. I have no idea what crimes I committed that forced the Marines inflict those punishments on me.
During this period of travel and education I did managed to entice a lovely young woman to share her life with me, on the condition that she controlled the purse strings. This condition has worked very well for us over the last forty some odd years, at least it has managed to ensure my bills were paid on time. She presented me with two sons and a daughter.
Both of my sons had the same attitudes toward higher education that I had. I would often tell them that they may roll across the stage in a wheel chair on graduation day, but they would graduate from high school.
I take all of the credit for raising our daughter, who now has her Master's Degree in Literature. Having read some of what I've produced, she has requested that if I ever publish a book, I not mention her name.
After retiring from the Marines I went to work for the Pennsylvania State police as a Forensic Photographer. I liked that job a lot because it was for the most part very quiet and peaceful---you might say dead end.
After working at that for a few years I became interested in Forensic Video analysis. I think my main reason for interest in that field was as a way of proving to my father that you can make a living watching television.
I am now totally retired from all forms of work, with the exception of those small requirements my wife now inflicts on me. Tasks that are preformed for little or no pay I might add.
My lovely and gentle wife added to this blend of joy and frustration by acquiring an attack dog for home security. Very few people have the slightest conception of the sense of failure a former Marine achieves as he walks behind a six pound miniature Yorkshire terrier, appropriately named Trouble.
With the profits from my book sales, I hope to be able to afford a "pooper scooper."
CONVERSATIONS WITH A DEAD MAN
A stroll through an old cemetery will reveal very little about the people buried there. Their headstones will whisper of father, wife or lost child----but they don't sing of the lives those men and women led. Even our national heroes are lucky to have one or two of their life's accomplishments inscribed on their markers for future generations to marvel at.
Cemeteries are filled with forgotten people. They were people who had lives rich with or empty of the joys that just being alive creates for us.
Once we are dead and gone, our lives quickly fade into small morsels of oral history and are slowly forgotten by family and friends as time and generations pass.
What would these forgotten souls tell us if they could talk?
THE MAN IN THE MOUNTAIN
For most of us, we have mental pictures of just what and how our favorite authors live. Their lives must be far richer and more interesting than ours, because they have the ability to engage our minds and thrill our souls with their visions of what life was, is or could be.
These word smiths can hold our imaginations in a vise grip with the grace and skill they weave action, love, adventure, and science fiction genres into a whole cloth we can clad ourselves in for an hour or a life time.
This magic cloth allows us to escape our own truth and absorb realities that thrill, intrigue or titillate us. At times authors can: relieve boredom, fear or want, and offer the grace of comfort to our mundane day to day existence. Most at one time or another has sought the company of our favorite author's work to do some or all of those things.
Poets entice us to spend an hour On Walden's Pond, historians teach us the lessons of The Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire, theologians interpret The Last Days of Christ for us, and humorist show us The Redneck Dictionary is really us as others see us.
We think we know these word smiths, those tellers of tales who will join, entertain and instruct us with the turn of a page or the touch of a screen. To one degree or another, we are what we read and what we read depends on the author who engages our mind.
But what would happen if a group of people found themselves in a real life web of entanglement and relied to one degree or another on their favorite author?
FORGOTTEN
Historical fiction has a foundation of truth but that truth is often shrouded in fiction. Some claim that only time and distance can separate the two.
We have all lived through events that have shocked or changed our nation.
The assassination of Martin Luther King, or John and Robert Kennedy, men traveling into space, and landing on the moon, and of course the bombing of the World Trade Center; these are just a few examples that have occurred in my life time. These are the pivotal events that surround us I and others think we know all of the important facts.
But do we remember? Ask yourself or a friend what date any of these events happened on, see if you or they can give the exact date or even some of the facts surrounding any of these or other major past events of your lifetime.
Americans are noted for their short memories, we invented the term "Attention Deficit Disorder" to describe it. We immerse ourselves in an event for a short time span, then quickly lay the event aside and move to the next. If those events didn't or don't affect us directly----they are quickly forgotten.
BUZZWORDS
Most of us think we understand how police investigations work. We've seen them depicted on television so often we believe it's really only one or two hardnosed, lone wolf detectives who will shoot, punch or intimidate criminals as they investigate crimes and apply justice in their own way. The image fiction has imprinted on minds is one of fast paced, rough and tumble fearless officers who are always at odds with their bosses, politicians and the law. They also manage to solve every crime in the amount of time allotted for the shows time slot, normally in forty-five minutes or less after you remove the commercials.
Real life police work is not for the faint of heart, and it is work; mind numbing work that at times makes you feel more like a researcher with a weapon than a law enforcement specialist.
Those lone wolf fictional police officers would mostly be unsuccessful in real life for one single reason, lack of teamwork.
Law enforcement requires a dedicated team of people who possess many different specialized skill sets, all working towards a single goal, and the processing of evidence to aide an officer in making a solid arrest.
There are specialized segments of police work that are accomplished by shadow people. These are the ones who're given the artifacts of a crime and asked to find information to confirm facts or assist the efforts of investigators as they search for answers to who, what where when and most importantly why.
THE FLATS TEACHERS’ TEST
A great teacher is a rock jutting from and sometimes engulfed by an ocean filled with the rip tides of passion, ineptitude, arrogance and ignorance. They are protruding spikes of granite which cannot be eroded easily. These are the teachers who make every effort against tremendous odds to polish young minds into the building blocks of society.
Great teachers are awe inspiring in their efforts to create excellence and their influence is powerful, extending beyond even their own lifetimes.
A fortunate few of us have had exceptional teachers who gifted our lives with knowledge as they challenged us and created a need to meet the potential of what we might achieve. These individuals changed the way we thought, possibly sent us down a career path or simply gave us a passion for learning. A passion which will move forward with us for all of our lives.
All of us have encountered educators.
More than a few of these educators started out to become teachers, only to be crushed at some point in their career. Those individuals have lost the desire to teach. Once this desire was destroyed, they ceased to care about anything but themselves and their retirement.
A number of these educators can and should be faulted for their effort to instruct their students. There are more than a few teachers who've simply been beaten into submission by the very system they drove themselves to become part of.
Most of those teachers who've been destroyed by our education system, toiled under the constraints of weak administrators. Administrators who care more about the system and the political realities of their own success, than education. For this type of administrator the people on the front lines of education and the children they strive to entice, excite or simply drag kicking and screaming into an academic environment are of little or no consequence.
This type of administrator creates educators out of gifted teachers. In the process, they destroy the gifts and fervor for knowledge that could have been passed to future generations.
I invite you to wander through the very foundations of our education system and spend a few hours with a few truly great teachers. When you finish I'd ask you to answer one very simple question, "Would I be a great teacher or end up an educator?"
BUY LINKS FOR DOUG LUCAS’ NOVELS:
DOUG LUCAS’ AUTHOR LINKS:
I am so pleased to welcome
Shannon Messenger to the blog today! Shannon is a wonderfully supportive writer who is doing big things in the kid lit world.
Not only is book 1 of her MG series,
Keeper of the Lost Cities
(Simon & Schuster)
releasing Oct 2nd, but she also has a YA coming out in the Spring of 2013,
Let The Sky Fall. AHHH! I am so thrilled to see her reach her dreams!
Shannon's got some great advice here about
Voice in Kidlit, so please read on.
~ ~ * ~ ~
Yay--I'm so excited to be here! I've been a huge fan of this blog for years, so it's such an honor to contribute. Here's hoping I can live up to the amazingness of the other posts you guys are used to reading.
I thought I'd talk today about
writing kid voice, since that seems to be the subject that comes up most often when people find out I write middle grade. In fact, usually the first question people ask is something along the lines of:
do you have to simplify things when you write middle grade?And my answer is always an emphatic: NO!
Kids deserve way more credit than some people give them. They are very smart and pick up on much more than we may think they do. So I have never once had to change a word because it was "too advanced" or dumb something down so a kid reader would understand it.
That being said, there is still a definite "kid voice" that needs to be used when writing middle grade. But it's not about simplification. It's about making your writing appealing and relatable to kids. A big part of that will come from the voices of the kid characters themselves. But still, it does trickle into the prose in ways you might not always think of.
For example, look at the following sentences: Mr. Lipkin always wore the same coffee colored business suit to class, whether it was warm and sunny or pouring down rain.
Mr. Lipkin always wore a chocolate brown suit to class, whether it was warm and sunny or pouring down rain.
Which feels more authentically "kid" to you--comparing something to the color of coffee or the color of chocolate? That's not to say that kids don't understand what color coffee is. Shoot, these days lots of kids even drink it. HOWEVER, I still think it's much more believable that a kid would compare the color brown to chocolate long before their mind would come up with coffee. Coffee feels like a more adult comparison. Which is the same reason I removed "business" from the second sentence. Adults think of "business suits." To kids it's just a suit.
They're very subtle differences. But throughout a draft they can really add up and give the story a more authentically kid voice. And obviously the voice of the character also needs to be considered. If your main character is a big coffee drinker, the coffee comparison would probably be the more appropriate. For things like that you will need to use your own judgement. But as a general rule it's best to try and weed out anything that reads more "adult-centered" from your middle grade manuscripts, because they will make the story feel less relatable to your readers. Not that they won't
understand it. It just won't feel like it's speaking to
them.And it's important to keep in mind that this kind of thing can rarely be perfected in the drafting stage. Of course the more you write for kids the more you will start to internalize that voice. But as an adult your brain is going to naturally gravitate toward these kinds of phrasings and comparisons. So it's something you'll really want to train yourself to watch for as you revise.
I'm a big believer in questioning every word. It's tedious and obnoxious and kind of makes you want to fling your laptop off a bridge. But it's also the only way to really watch for tiny voice issues like this, so it's really worth the extra effort. And just when you think you've found them all, your editor will flag a few more and you'll feel like, ARGH HOW DID I MISS THAT????
Oh the joys of being a writer. :) All right, I think I have rambled on long enough. Hope you guys found that helpful. I now happily turn this blog back to it's rightful owners. Huge thanks to everyone who stopped by to hang out. *curtsies* *flees*
SHANNON MESSENGER graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she learned that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She also regularly eats cupcakes for breakfast, sleeps with a bright blue stuffed elephant named Ella, and occasionally gets caught talking to imaginary people. So it was only natural for her to write stories for children. Keeper of the Lost Cities is her first middle grade novel. Let the Sky Fall, a young adult novel, will follow in Spring 2013. She lives in Southern California with her husband and an embarrassing number of cats. Follow Shannon: Blog |
Twitter |
Tumblr |
Facebook |
GoodReads |
Pinterest Wow! I was nodding all the way through--as kidlit writers, it is so important to know our audience and write authentically so it feels like they've stepped right into the mind of the child protagonist. Thank you so much Shannon for hanging out here and giving such food for thought on Voice
as this is one of the biggest struggles we face writing for this age group!
S
hannon is taking over the internet as she introduces her fabulous books to the world, so check in at
Mundie Moms for the complete tour schedule, which is
packed with giveaways. Oh, did I say giveaways? Yes I did! Fill out the below for a chance to win your very own copy of Keeper!
Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit in. She's not comfortable with her family and keeping a secret—she's a telepath. But then she meets Fitz, who tells her the reason she has never felt at home is that, well, she isn't. But Sophie still has secrets, and they're buried deep in her memory for good reason: the answers are in high-demand. The truth could mean life or death, and time is running out. a Rafflecopter giveaway
By: Mark Miller,
on 10/14/2012
Blog:
From the land of Empyrean
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
guest post,
death,
thanatology,
sunbury press,
contest,
pinterest,
free book,
giveaway,
blog tour,
Florida,
Add a tag
Today, I am hosting a fellow Floridian author, Keith Rommel. He's originally from New York, but he moved to sunny climes and is hard at work on his series Thanatology. With the release of the second book in the series, Keith is having a contest on Pinterest. Read below to find out how you could win!
What happens after we die? Are we given choices based on how we lived our lives? It’s an age-old question pondered by just about everyone.
Author Keith Rommel dared to explore the answer by creating his newest novel
The Lurking Man, a story of dark suspense that unmercifully reveals the life of a self-deluded, neglectful mother who caused irreparable damage to her family and ultimately struggles with death as much as life. It’s the second novel in his suspenseful and thrilling
Thanatology series that began with the eerie, spine-tingling
The Cursed Man.
“Imagine Death knowing your deepest, darkest secrets and all of your private pain,” said Rommel about The Lurking Man. “Now imagine it wants to use what it knows against you so that you bend to its will.”
In
The Lurking Man, main character Cailean stands beneath a spotlight in a blinding snowstorm. She has no idea where she is or how she got there, but she senses something moving around her in the darkness outside the light.
When the ominous presence calling himself Sariel makes himself known, he declares that he is Death Incarnate and that Cailean has died. He has taken her to the Aperture, a place between the living and the dead, where he will force her to face the sins of her past in exchange for twenty-four hours of life to try and right her wrongs. But what she must do in return for this precious time is unthinkable.
Rommel’s series is titled due to
Thanatology being a study that explores death and dying. Rommel has taken this science to a fictionalized, gothic-style horror level that may leave you breathless and unable to stop your mind from contemplating how you live your own life.
The books are grouped in the series due to the nature of the theme, but each book may be read independently. “Those who read in order will be able to catch glimpses from previous book(s), but it is not dependent upon each individual story,” Rommel said.
The Cursed Man and
The Lurking Man are released by Sunbury Press. Book three in the
Thanatology series is on schedule for a summer 2013 release.
The Cursed Man is currently being considered as a feature film.
Get involved in Keith Rommel’s book tour by taking part in his Pinterest contest! If you don’t have Pinterest go to
www.pinterest.com to sign-up!
For those of you already pinning, make a board titled something like
“Book Contest~The Grim Reaper” or you can make your own title. It doesn’t have to be morbid, just make it fun! Especially with Halloween month upon us, there are all kinds of things out there that will make it fun.
You MUST at least pin the photos with link to
The Cursed Man and
The Lurking Man, Keith Rommel’s two books in his
Thanatology series, and pin the link to his blog tour dates.
You can find the books with links to re-blog on the example board at:
http://pinterest.com/erinalmehairi/book-contest-the-grim-reaper/ You can find the blog tour schedule to pin at
http://keithrommel.weebly.com You have until 11:59 p.m. EST the final day of the tour to create your post. Be creative, the best board wins an ARC paperback copy of
The Cursed Man, an e-book of
The Lurking Man and some cool bookmarks! This is for USA and CANADA only.
You must leave a comment back here, or under the post at Keith’s blog, that you did the contest with the link and with your email so we can get in touch with you! And if you had a great time and read the book be sure to click "like" on book seller sites and let us know what you think.
Some ideas to get you started:
*Think outside the box!
*Think about all the psychological horror movies relating to cheating Death.
*Think about fun creatives like food or clothing for a book party (for a book launch or book club).
*Think about colors, art, music, visuals that relate to stories of the Grim Reaper.
*It doesn’t have to be morbid, make it fun especially with Halloween parties coming up!
Keith Rommel’s books are about how Death comes in different bodily forms and shapes—sometimes in the shadows…hiding in the darkness, hiding in our minds, making us think back on our lives, yet sometimes in the daylight, haunting and maddening our mental state.
About the Author: Keith Rommel is a native of Long Island, New York and currently lives with his family in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Rommel is a retail manager and has enjoyed collecting comic books since he was a child (a hobby inspired by a teacher in grade school to help overcome a reading comprehension disability).
Rommel is the author of two books in his
Thanatology series entitled
The Cursed Man and
The Lurking Man.
The Cursed Man is currently being considered as a feature film. He enjoys offering his experiences to other authors, writing several articles about writing and publishing, and is currently fast at work on the third novel in the
Thanatology series which is scheduled for a summer 2013 release.
He also has several other novels in the works. Besides writing, he also enjoys watching the New York Giants, scary stories, and spending time with family.
You can get The Cursed Man on Kindle here:
You can get The Lurking Man on Kindle here:
Both books are also available in paperback.
You can find Keith here:
I am super excited to welcome Nina Amir, Inspiration to Creation Coach, who inspires people to combine their purpose and passion so they Achieve More Inspired Results. She motivates both writers and non-writers to create publishable and published products, careers as authors and to achieve their goals and fulfill their purpose.
Do you ever wonder if all that great content you write about each week can and should be converted into a book? If so, this is a very good resource to check out--Nina knows her stuff!
How a Blog Allows You to Promote as You Write
By Nina Amir
Writers write. That’s what we do. That’s what we are good at. And that’s why we balk at promoting ourselves and our books.
We don’t do promotion. It’s not our job. It’s not what we are good at.
Here’s the rub. If we don’t promote ourselves and our books we:
- Don’t get book publishing contracts.
- Don’t sell many self-published or traditionally published books.
- Don’t get many freelance writing jobs.
- Don’t make as much money.
That leaves you and me with a few options. If we are stubborn, we can maintain our position: I don’t do promotion. I’m a writer. Period.
Fine. Then ask yourself: Do I want to become a successful writer? If so, define what success means to you. If success means selling more than the average 250-500 books per year or earning more than a four-figure income per year from writing, you must change your attitude and embrace promotion.
Don’t fret! You can do so simply by writing. You can promote yourself and your forthcoming or published book with a blog.
What to Blog About
Yes, a blog involves a different type of writing in addition to your other writing, but it’s writing! You simply need to commit to writing a short blog post—250-500 words—a few times—2-5—a week. That’s not so bad.
And there are so many things you can write about. I came up with 20 things aspiring and published authors could blog about. Book marketing expert John Kremer came up with 101. Look at the topics you feel passionate about or your forthcoming and published books and come up with a list of possible topics. Make a content plan for each month, if that is easier for you.
Or pick a theme and stick to it. In the process, you’ll become an authority. You can even do this on many topics. This will help you land more book contracts and writing assignments—and added bonus of blogging.
The Blog as an Author Website and Branding Tool
Still having trouble wrapping your busy writing fingers around this concept? Consider this: Do you write morning pages? Keep a journal? Spend time emailing friends? Blogs began as online journals. Take on blogging as an author website where you can brand yourself by revealing the many aspects of who you are as a writer. Connect with potential readers, let them know more about your through your posts, and show off your awesome writing talent for potential book, newspaper and magazine publishers. (And, of course, feature your published works.)
Simply start your daily writing period with 30-45 minutes of blog writing. Compose a short post about whatever is on your mind that day. You can even add in your own photos and videos easily created on your iPhone or other android phone. Have fun with your blog. Make it a creative statement.
The Blog as a Writing Machine
If this still seems like a superfluous activity, then get down and dirty with your tactics. Use your blog as a way to write a book. Indeed, blogging a book is the quickest and easiest way to write your book and promote it at the same time. You’ll hardly know you are promoting your work at all!
When you blog a book, you publish your writing regularly and consistently on the internet as you create your first draft. This allows you to garner a loyal following of readers—fans—for your book as you write it. These fans then purchase the finished product. They also help promote your blog and the book when it is published. Plus, if your blog becomes popular, you might land a publishing deal in the process.
Here are the basic steps for blogging a book:
- Pick a topic. Choose a topic you are passionate about and can blog about for a long time
- Determine if your book is viable. Your book idea should have a large enough market and be unique among existing blogs and books.
- Map out your book’s content. Brainstorm all the content that could be in included in your book and organize it a table of contents.
- Come up with a content plan. Determine what content that will appear in the published book but not on the blog.
- Break the contents down into posts-sized pieces (250-500 words). Each post should have a title.
- Write and publish posts on a schedule. Write and publish 2-7 times per week for the first 6-12 months; then you can reduce the number of times you post.
- Create a manuscript. Write your posts in a word processing program, and then copy and paste them into your blog.
Go ahead. Write. And blog. In the process, promote yourself and your work by doing what you do best.
By:
KidLitReviews,
on 10/29/2012
Blog:
Kid Lit Reviews
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Favorites,
Guest Post,
Middle Grade,
"Millie Millicent Marie,
brother trouble,
bullying,
Douglas "Doogle" Harris,
drama,
gossip,
Grand Daisy Press,
Karen Pokras Toz,
middle grade books,
middle school,
my name,
Romeo & Juliet,
Add a tag
………………. Today we have a Special Guest Douglas Harris from the new book Millicent Marie is NOT My Name. Douglas is “Millie” Millicent Marie’s ten-year-old younger brother. Douglas is at Kid Lit Reviews to explain his part in the Notorious Springside Elementary School’s Internet Deblogcle, written by “new girl” Amanda. He assures us that he [...]
By:
KidLitReviews,
on 10/30/2012
Blog:
Kid Lit Reviews
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Middle Grade,
5stars,
Favorites,
Library Donated Books,
Guest Post,
relationships,
friendships,
middle grade books,
forgiveness,
blogging,
gossip,
Romeo & Juliet,
Karen Pokras Toz,
Grand Daisy Press,
Deana Riddle,
bullys,
Internet,
advice,
blogs,
book blog tours,
redemption,
school plays,
soccer,
advice columnist,
diary entries,
harris family,
Add a tag
GUEST POST by DOUGLAS “DOOGLE” HARRIS 5 Stars Millicent Marie is NOT My Name Karen Pokras Toz Grand Daisy Press No. Pages: 150 Ages: 8 to 12 .................. .................. ................. Back Cover: Twelve-year-old Millicent Marie does not like her name. After all, she was named for a woman who died more than fifty years ago [...]
What’s the Real Selling Point of Your Book? The Cover!
We are a completely visual society. From computers to phones to iPods to all the vibrant colors coming at us from almost every direction, we usually make our decisions based on how the ‘scene’ effects us. Colors, pictures - these are used in many different ways: From scaring us on the news with graphic images to making us fall in love with a product because a cute, white, fuzzy puppy was on the commercial, and we can’t forget about it. This is how heavily we rely on images to find out what we really love or hate.
When it comes to the literary world, cover art is one of - if not THE most important - part of selling your book. Millions will buy a book written by Stephen King, JK Rowling, Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, J.D. Robb - and it’s because they already know the ‘name.’ They are already a fan because these writers have been doing this a good, long time and have built a fan base that is completely loyal. In fact, they don’t much care what’s on the cover of the latest Stephen King book; just as long as his name appears on the cover that’s good enough to make the sale.
But for smaller, unknown, or debut authors, cover art is sometimes more important than plot. Now, don’t get me wrong, the story has to be great in order to get the wonderful reviews you need to build a reading list of loyal fans, but the very first thing a reader will judge about your book is the cover. It has to be outstanding. It has to grab the attention of the reader and make them want to research the title further. They need to be lured into the story, and once the book is purchased, THEN it’s up to you to thrill them and excite them with your characters, storylines, etcetera.
Finding a cover artist who can take a book and literally create the image that YOU know you want because, as the author, you’ve been thinking and dreaming about it for years, is difficult. A lot of cover artists don’t even read the manuscript, which I find hard to understand seeing as that they have to have some background about the book and what you’re trying to say in order to even begin to work up a design. But, what can I say? There are some designers out there who work as if they’re on an ‘assembly line’ and just cannot put in the time it takes to understand or even like your story.
I say all this because I was one of the lucky ones. When The Angel Chronicles found a home with Tribute Books, I was introduced to their cover designer - a woman by the name of Emma Michaels. (http://emmamichaels.blogspot.com)
Emma is not just an artist who draws what the author wants. She is one of those rare people who read the book cover to cover, comes up with ideas about various scenes, and discusses options and paths to take in order to create the perfect cover. She takes suggestions, ideas and really works with the author to make the book a unique masterpiece that fans really take a shine to.
Emily and Matthew have been in my mind since I was thirteen years old. Seeing as that I was born when Jesus was just a boy, that’s a long time to have these imaginary people in your brain. Emma Michaels had the amazing skill and unwavering talent to take my ideas and my story and draw the characters as if she was looking at them face to face in my own head.
So, remember, whether you go the self-publishing route, sign on with an independent, a small press - whatever it may be - make sure to remember that the cover of your book is the very first thing readers will see. And if the cover doesn’t ‘speak’ to them, the book is automatically dead in the water - even if the next Gone with the Wind or Harry Potter awaits the reader inside.
Until Next Time, Everybody,
Amy
Here's the synopsis for Gilded Wings:
When Matt and Emily are sent on their second mission they have no idea how truly dark human nature can become...
Emily never wanted to face humans again. With the heartache that went on down below, she’s still trying to figure out how to save souls that don’t deserve saving. The only one she wants to see again is Jason - the young man she fell in love with who became the soulmate she simply can’t forget...
Matt was trained to protect and defend the souls down below. Longing to feel the heartfelt emotions that come from being human, Matt wants nothing more than to have just one life - one chance - to live and love the girl of his dreams...
The powerful team find themselves in a brand new century, living in the Gilded Age of New York City. Emily takes over the body of Anya, a young Russian girl who arrives on Ellis Island after a hideous tragedy. There she meets up with a strangely familiar young man by the name of Drew Parrish, who helps Anya survive in an unknown world of luxury, snobbery and…obsession.
What Anya’s inner angel doesn’t know is that the soul she loves is also back. This time around Jason goes by the name of Max Carrow. Once a quiet and kind boy, he’s now part of the ‘Four Hundred Club,’ and wants nothing more than to be among the most admired as he climbs the shaky ladder of society’s elite.
As two worlds merge, Emily and Matt struggle under the weight of their “Gilded Wings.” Not only will they have to figure out who they should fight to save, but they must also face a romantic choice that could destroy them both.
And here's an excerpt for you:
Emily rocked quietly, staring at Gabriel sitting stoic on his tall stool. His elbow rested on his knee, his fist supported the weight of his chin, and the old spectacles set crookedly on his angular nose. Gabriel was an avid reader, always studying. He worked hard to understand the paths that were being chosen by the humans below.
Emily tried not to laugh as she studied the face that was pulled into a deep frown. His eyebrows looked stuck together, glowering as he concentrated on the real life story of
yet another partnership that had been below and brought back their report on what they had seen.
“Something wrong?” Jerking his head up, Gabriel’s book went flying off his lap, and his glasses hit the floor.
Out of the corner of her eye, Emily noticed that the long, dark hair of the sleeping Russian girl, Anya, had transformed back into her own trademark auburn curls. She smiled at Gabriel’s annoyed expression. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You’re getting quieter as you get older,” he grunted.
“Well, you always said we should be seen and not heard,” Emily grinned.
Gabriel’s eyebrow climbed up his forehead. “Exactly when have you ever listened to anything I say?”
“I’m like a sponge. I remember everything.”
Gabriel snorted his agreement and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Why back so soon?”
“I’m confused.”
“Already?”
a Rafflecopter giveaway
By:
KidLitReviews,
on 12/2/2012
Blog:
Kid Lit Reviews
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
4stars,
Debut Author,
Guest Post,
Library Donated Books,
Middle Grade,
adventure,
demons,
fantasy,
goblins,
Jack Templar,
Jeff Gunhus,
middle grade book,
monsters,
new writer,
ogres,
Seven Guns Press,
trolls,
vampires,
Add a tag
4 Star The Templar Chronicles, Book 1: Jack Templar Monster Hunter Jeff Gunhus 184 Pages Ages 8 to 12 …………………….. Back Cover: If you have this book in your hands, I assume you are already a monster hunter or in training to become one. I hope my story helps you in the many fights ahead. However, [...]
View Next 25 Posts
.jpeg?picon=3655)
.jpg?picon=980)
And hope helps so much.
I'm thrilled that May B is on the 2013-2014 DCF Award list for Vermont (https://sites.google.com/a/cesuvt.org/dcf-award/). I look forward to sharing this book with many of my students.
Thank you, Donna! I'm thrilled, too!
Looking forward to this month of poetry goodness! So many great topics. Thanks again for letting me participate.
I am so excited for all of the great Poetry Month resources that you and others are providing. I still have a haiku book that my reading group made in 4th grade and have loved poetry since then. I love teaching poetry because at first so many kids think that they hate it. I read May B. in preparation for the SharpSchu book club on Twitter- such a beautiful book!
Happy to have you, Laurel. And I'm excited to share your post with readers here.
Agreed. I spent a good half hour working through all the wonderful links Jama shared at her blog (see above, if anyone missed it).
I loved teaching poetry, too. One of the first things I had my students do was interview family members about their experiences with poetry. Almost always the they were negative -- or turned negative once those family members outgrew "children's poems." I made sure to show my kids poetry can be about anything and can be for everyone.
Thank you for your kind words about May B. I'm very much looking forward to the SharpSchu book club.
This sounds like a fun month! :) I'm a voracious reader of poetry, though I usually choose to express myself through prose now... But I feel that reading poetry is often more important to developing your ability to write well than reading other prose can be.
Have you read all LMM's poetry? I've been thinking of this one this week: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-watchman/
"Reading poetry is often more important to developing your ability to write well than reading prose can be."
I love this. Poetry brings so much with it that can benefit our prose -- reading it is an exercise that can strengthen our writing ...and our thoughts and lives.
Truly, I've read little of LMM's poetry. Must remedy that! Off to read your link.
I'm late in the game exploring poetry through reading it and trying my hand at it, but I'm having great fun (especially with haiku). Looking forward to all that you will have here that I can glean from :-)
My students are enjoying writing a poem each day. Check out their acrostics and blues poems at http://kidblog.org/sliceoflifechallenge/. Feel free to leave a comment.
My students' faces actually lit up when I told them it was National Poetry Month. I loved that! We're going to be celebrating by reading novels in verse - May B. will be one of them!
Glad to hear you're having fun. That's what it should be about. I'm excited for you to read the fabulous posts that will run here this month.
Will do!
Double hooray!
Fun idea! I'm looking forward to following along.
Poetry scares me so I am posting on this this month as well at PragmaticMom.com. I am also composing a Spine Poem -- first poem since grade school -- at 100 Scope Notes.
Writing scares me, so we have something in common!
Great stuff -- will need to use this. I use Kenneth Koch's If Wishes Were Dreams to teach kids poetry but am always looking for more resources. Last year I heard David Elliott at a workshop at the NHSLMA Conference and it was amazing (he teaches at New England College) It's hard when any form of writing becomes part of a rigid curriculum that works against a child's intuitiveness...and I can rant about that for a long spell. And great to see you here Caroline!!
Happy to hear it, Rebecca.
Fun to see you here, too! I loved using Paul Janeczko's poetry books when teaching poetry -- his "workbooks" or "manuals' -- not sure what to call them specifically. They have some poem examples and ways to encourage kids to write in the same vein.
HAILSTONES AND HALIBUT BONES was always a favorite to share, too.
Time to bring out those poetry books once more and put down the novels for a while:)
Hope you enjoy!
I love your poem "WORDS INSPIRING WORDS." A number of years ago, when the book "Love That Dog" first was published, I read it aloud with my then preschooler grandson Jack and later with my school-age granddaughter Sarah and her sister Aryn. We all were moved by the book. How could you not be? We went on to read "Hate That Cat," but "Dog" remained our favorite. Although they are now older, I'll share your poem with them online.
I love this! Thank you for sharing with your grandchildren, and welcome!
My daughter now loves novels in verse (like I do!) and May B. was the first novel in verse she read. Now whenever I bring home books from the library she looks through my stack and checks for verse novels to steal from me. :)
Thanks for tweeting about the giveaway! I am now a follower on FB and your blog, as well as Twitter. :) I do remember enjoying poetry in school, but my favorite poetry memory is from a public school I taught at years and years ago. We celebrated "poem in my pocket" day by having second graders carry around short poems in their pockets and read them when someone asked. We also memorized a short Shel Silverstein poem as a class and ran around the school, interrupting classrooms, shouting, "Poetry Break! Poetry Break!" Then we'd recite the poem and leave to much applause and fanfare. :)
Love this, Amy! Have you shared your verse novel with her yet?
I love this. Welcome!
I love this, too. And Poem In My Pocket was always one of the favorite days at my school.
This has been a great blog month, Caroline. Way to go!