tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30666217242491941312024-03-19T04:19:47.318-07:00The Secret Life of WritersThe Secret Life of Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15424814452211945661noreply@blogger.comBlogger205125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-88066958178922846722014-12-11T08:34:00.000-08:002014-12-11T08:35:03.009-08:00Contracts and Deadlines and Expectations, Oh My!Hi Secret Lifers!<br />
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So, in case you haven't heard, I've had a pretty big couple of weeks, between <a href="http://secretlifeofwriters.blogspot.com/2014/12/introducing-newest-little-secret-lifer.html">welcoming my first baby </a> and <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/64996-rights-report-week-of-december-8-2014.html">selling my second book to Simon and Schuster</a>! And while honestly I'm still in new, totally-enamored Mommy mode and all I want to do is stare at my (currently sleeping and totally cute) daughter, today's post is obviously going to be about that latter bit of big news.<br />
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Because that's definitely weighing heavy and shifting to the front of my mind in the few spare moments in-between feedings and diaper changes and getting spit up on--because as awesome and exciting as it is to know that FALLS THE SHADOW will have a real, live companion novel on the shelves in a little over a year, it's also a bit daunting when I think about how said novel isn't actually written yet.<br />
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Some of you probably already know this, but a behind-the-scenes tidbit in case you don't: in the case of option novels and second book deals in general, things are often sold on proposal. In my specific case, that means that all that was written of this new book at the time S&S offered on it was around thirty pages and a very basic synopsis. So it's a very different experience, of course, from FALLS, which was already more or less a book (albeit one still in need of editing) when I signed the contract for it.<br />
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When I was writing FALLS, I was still agentless, and like every other book I'd written before then, I had no idea if it was going to go anywhere. And to all of you still in that spot-- I haven't forgotten how daunting *that* can be, facing a blank page and filling it with words that people may never see (*cue sad trombone*). What I'm discovering now, though, is a new kind of daunting-ness. The pressure of expectation, of knowing I *can't* quit--or even take a break, really--because I have a deadline and a contract to fulfill. This book has to be written, and it has to be written like, nowish.<br />
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While I was waiting for this second book deal to happen, I told myself that I would never complain about deadlines ever again, because deadlines mean you have contracts, which is a very, very awesome thing that I am very, very grateful for. So let me be clear: this is not me complaining. It's more me saying: this is the reality of life after that debut book, and this is how I cope.<br />
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And how is that, then? <br />
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Well, I'm still learning (still very much a baby published author here!), but a couple things that help:<br />
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<b>1. Staying away from reviews. </b>I should point out that I don't (or didn't) entirely do this at first. When FALLS first started getting reviews, of course I read them. It's hard not to. And, at least in my case, it caused more anxiety to not know what people where saying as opposed to just checking and reading all of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Plus, you can learn a lot from reviews--and I want to learn. I want readers to like this second book more than they liked the first, so of course I'm interested in what readers liked and didn't like about FALLS. But there's a difference in interest and obsession. It can be a hard line to draw, too; I draw it by literally blocking both Goodreads and my book's Amazon page on my laptop via a parental control add-on I installed on my laptop.<br />
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Trust me, it's better this way.<br />
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Besides, I've noticed that after the first few dozen reviews, few of them are saying anything you haven't heard before, anyway.<br />
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<b>2. Paying no attention to sales numbers. </b>Two dangerous things I have now: an Amazon sales rank, and an author portal on the Simon and Schuster website that allows me to check the number of books sold in a given time period. I let myself check these things once a week, and that's it. Just enough to satiate my curiosity. And then I remind myself that, regardless of how FALLS is doing, the best way to sell books is to publish more books. It's basic marketing strategy. So the best thing I can do for those numbers, be they good or bad or ugly, is to go back to writing this new book and making it as kickass as possible.<br />
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<b>3. Paying no attention to the looming deadline. </b>Are you noticing a pattern of avoidance here? Basically I work in a cave now and the only thing I let myself worry about is getting as many words down as possible on any given day. Of course I know my deadline, and I plan to do everything possible to hit it. But personally? I can't think about it. I don't count the days I have left until it, or sit and figure up how many words I have to write each day to hit it. I know a lot of people operate like that, and that's cool. But for me, that just leads to me being overwhelmed and disappointed with myself when I don't hit a day's wordcount, and that in turn makes me much less productive during my next writing session. Now I just make sure I write everyday, and try not to be too concerned with the numbers. Oddly enough, in this way I think I'm less disciplined now than I was before I was published. But so far I'm proving just as productive, and feeling a lot less stressed.<br />
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<b>4. When all else fails, taking stare-at-the-baby breaks. </b>I can't help it. She's cute. And at the end of the day, even if the book I'm creating ends up sucking, at least the baby I created doesn't. Win! ;)<br />
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What sort of expectations do you have for your works-in-progress, and how do you deal with them and still manage to be productive? Let us know in the comments!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiljVWn4ysSUvqwwKS5ws9S9cr_hJxM0cjrokpD156dj78Dt-L99e6w_NMl6ThKd0VEaEbA6qSM-a_AdCJfPB1uYyqHwlDMBRPszgNLFVqFh5DFRAfb__DG_4qds9M32UoAXZLzEuyX4/s1600/EY1A0425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiljVWn4ysSUvqwwKS5ws9S9cr_hJxM0cjrokpD156dj78Dt-L99e6w_NMl6ThKd0VEaEbA6qSM-a_AdCJfPB1uYyqHwlDMBRPszgNLFVqFh5DFRAfb__DG_4qds9M32UoAXZLzEuyX4/s1600/EY1A0425.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Stefanie Gaither </span>writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary, and her debut, FALLS THE SHADOW, is available now from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers. </div>
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You can find her on Twitter @: <a href="https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither" target="_blank"><span style="text-align: left;">https://twitter.com/s</span>tefaniegaither</a></div>
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Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:stefanie.gaither@gmail.com" target="_blank">stefanie.gaither@gmail.com</a></div>
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And also visit her website @: <a href="http://www.stefaniegaither.com/">www.stefaniegaither.com</a><br />
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Stefanie Gaitherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395840199437943202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-42959570813579074572014-12-08T07:59:00.000-08:002014-12-08T07:59:02.210-08:00Rainbow Revising <div style="text-align: left;">
November is dead and NaNoWriMo is over, and now you're probably left with a lumpy, shapeless manuscript that you're not sure what to do with. I hear you. I've been there, and I'm still there now.</div>
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The answer is color-coding. (I personally think the answer to everything is color-coding, but whatever.)<br />
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I've recently started doing something I call Rainbow Revising, in which I read through the manuscript and tag or highlight portions that relate to a certain aspect, and then go back and change them in the order of the rainbow. (I also like to be passive-aggressive and tell my manuscript to "TASTE THE RAINBOW" when I'm doing it. It's good to get the feels out.) The whole system is effective, and has cut my revision time in half since I started using it. Here are the colors you're looking for:<br />
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<i><span style="color: #cc0000;">Red</span>: Main Character</i><br />
<i><span style="color: #b45f06;">Orange</span>: Secondary Characters</i><br />
<i><span style="color: #f1c232;">Yellow</span>: Plot</i><br />
<i><span style="color: #38761d;">Green</span>: Setting</i><br />
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Blue</span>: Tension</i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #20124d;">Indigo</span></span>: Word Choice</i><br />
<i><span style="color: #741b47;">Violet</span>: Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation</i><br />
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<b>1. ROYG-ify your manuscript. </b>Read through as many times as it takes to highlight or tab the <b>first four colors only</b>. Those are the big points you're trying to hit and that need to be taken care of before you start worrying about the cool colors on the spectrum. So when you're looking for main character, highlight the thoughts, beliefs, and actions that influence your manuscript's direction. The same goes for the secondary characters, the ones that are essential to the story. Then thread through and find important plot points, and when your setting is described.<br />
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<b>2. Red alert! </b>Out of all these colors, red is the most important and the one that needs to be sorted out first. Your character should be directly influencing all other elements of your manuscript, so you need to be clear about how she thinks, what she believes, and how those two things influence her decisions. Go back through your red tabs/highlights and ask yourself if every action and choice make sense based on what your character wants and who she is. You'll find as you do this, how your secondary characters see her (orange), plot points (yellow) and how she uses and sees her natural surroundings (green) will also change. This is awesome; less work for clearing up one color! Once you think you've got red covered, take a few more passes through orange, yellow, and green to make sure they still line up.<br />
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<b>3. BIV it up</b>. Now it's time for the silky blues and deep purples of the visible light spectrum. Here's where you do your nitty gritty micro-writing. Take a look at each chapter, and then each scene, and check for tension (hint: there should be some in each one). One question you can ask yourself during each scene is: What's at play here, and how can I make sure the stakes are apparent to the reader? After that, go back and polish those pronouns and punctuation and make this thing sparkly.<br />
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I'm not saying this is the end-all, be- all to manuscript revision. In fact, you may need to make your book taste the rainbow in another pass after this one. But it's a concrete system that give you something to start with, which I think is important when you first get going.<br />
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<i>How 'bout you, Secret Lifers? Do you color code when you revise? Or what are some of your favorite revision techniques? Share the wealth in the comments!</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVEbTKLnxUyr2dGfs_HpnCu4wD0FYl5ALlMJKfGN9xZVVPJ27nKOdIkN4hU3ZHmYN7yN8o8alAGwUjmlE-4oDvcFwvzzEML2ZImGHXSPBPmzGAuW9wezecs_9ByQoWyUfnkQPZ2HW9mQ/s1600/miniiiiii.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVEbTKLnxUyr2dGfs_HpnCu4wD0FYl5ALlMJKfGN9xZVVPJ27nKOdIkN4hU3ZHmYN7yN8o8alAGwUjmlE-4oDvcFwvzzEML2ZImGHXSPBPmzGAuW9wezecs_9ByQoWyUfnkQPZ2HW9mQ/s1600/miniiiiii.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" /></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: medium; line-height: 25px;">Andrea Hannah</span><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> writes about delusional girls, disappearances, and darkness with a touch of magic. When she's not writing, Andrea runs, teaches, consumes epic amounts of caffeine, and tries to figure out how to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (unsuccessful to date). She's represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman-Schneider/ICM, and her debut novel, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, is out now. You can add it on Goodreads </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584569-of-scars-and-stardust" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">!</span><br style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;" /><br style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="http://twitter.com/andeehannah" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/andeehannah</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Drop her an email @: <a href="mailto:andeehannah@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">andreahannahbooks@gmail.com</a><br />And visit her website @: <a href="http://www.andreahannah.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.andreahannah.com/</a></span></div>
Andrea Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894675758048634275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-49069086954866970132014-12-04T18:09:00.000-08:002014-12-04T18:10:01.472-08:00Let's Talk New AdultHey guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Over here, we are super stoked about Stef's beautiful daughter and Andee finishing her Master's~ *diploma and baby confetti everywhere* so go on and congratulate them!<br />
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Today I want to get into NA, aka the New Adult category. My latest manuscript is a NA fantasy and I sort of went on a Twitter Thing a while back about some of this, but I wanted to collect things ~*coherently*~ in a post. So gather 'round the internets, kiddos, bust out the snacks, and let's talk NA.<br />
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First, a quick primer if you're unfamiliar:<br />
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<b>Wait wait, so what is NA? </b><br />
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Okay, so this is a legit question and it's one that we're still answering as writers, truthfully.<br />
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New Adult is an age category (similar to MG, YA, adult, etc) with protagonists in their "new adult" years, aka the free space after high school where you start work in the professional world, go to college, enroll in the military, or any myriad of life options. Part of the beauty of the category (and also this point in life) is its infinite possibility.<br />
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What makes a manuscript NA vs. adult is actually similar to what makes something YA vs. adult: it's the perceptions of the characters and the lens through which the story is told. You can easily (and it's def been done) tell a story about characters in college meant to be read by adult audience, just like how stories about teenagers are not necessarily YA.<br />
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<b>Okay, cool. But why are people saying NA is a trend?</b><br />
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This comes back to our age-old adage here on the ranch: publishing changes slowly/is just slow, period. It's hard to tell what's an emerging, permanent thing and what's the latest life-fast-die-hard trend in the market.<br />
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I, personally, would like NA to be a permanent thing. I think that it's been around long enough to justify this (keeping in mind that I've just been a literary agent intern and editorial intern and Not a 100% Vetted Industry Professional), and I think it's a category that people are approaching cautiously but optimistically. You look around, you see NAs getting snapped up in PM, you see literary agents listing NA as a category they rep. Indie authors are doing fantastically with NA.<br />
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Still, there's a chance it could be a trend, a bubble that will burst, and that we're just riding it out and reaping the benefits of the NA market until it gets over-saturated/the same thing that happened with Paranormal happens.<br />
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Okay, primer over. Let's get down the to heavy lifting.<br />
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<b>What is NA, really? </b><br />
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Again, no one is really satisfied on this yet. Search for new adult stories on Amazon, and you'll find that the bulk of them are about kids in college, tend to be contemporary romance, and almost always feature sex.<br />
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Which, in itself, is fine! I like those kinds of stories, and I think they are necessary and great. I am glad we have them in NA and I don't want them to go away.<br />
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What I don't want is for them to be the entirety of the category.<br />
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Imagine if YA were only dystopians. I know I wouldn't read it as much. (And I have nothing against the dystopian genre or its writers-- I just got Way Freaked Out that one time in junior high when we read THE GIVER and my paranoid self has been ruined ever since. Same thing with mysteries. I do read an occasional one and really dig it, but only reading those? Nope nope nope.)<br />
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It's the diversity of genres that makes me love YA. Fantasy is my heart and soul, but I've loved getting to explore contemporary, paranormal, and tons of other stories in there. I like reading about Hazel and Augustus navigating the real world with a very real disease, and then seeing June and Day face off in one of the most epic games of cat and mouse I've ever read.<br />
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I think NA can have the same breadth, but I also think it's up to us as writers to make that happen.<br />
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<b>Is sex a requirement of NA? </b><br />
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This comes back to how we define NA, what it is now and where it could be going. Right now, it does feel like a requirement to have sex in a NA book, especially graphic sex.<br />
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I've heard NA described as "finding your place in the world" versus YA's "finding yourself." I don't think that's wrong, but I also don't think that's totally accurate. As an NA (does 25 still count? I'm still inexplicably in college?) or a former NA, I don't consider myself totally figured out. I view NA as more "finding yourself around other people" or as learning to be interdependent in contrast with learning to be independent as a YA.<br />
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Sex is an important part of interdependence. Is it always necessary in an NA? I don't think so. I think it's something that should be addressed, like if a character is choosing to wait, or knows they're asexual, but if we're talking about how NA protags fit into their worlds, then I definitely want to know how they fit into another, most significant other's world, too.<br />
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And like in YA, I want to see a variety of sexual experience and levels of explicitness. Right now, the scope is pretty narrow: most NA veers toward graphic of-course-they-have-sex romance. Again, not a problem on its own, but real new adults-- aka the people whose lives we NA writers should be imitating through our art-- have a wide scope of interactions. Sometimes you have a terrible break-up in high school, a fun fling at a house party, and then you're alone again for months.<br />
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To sum it up, I really want to see NA exhibit a greater breadth. I know some writers are looking in that direction (and I have my eye on you, 2015 and 2016 releases), but what do you guys think?<br />
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<b>What do you want to see in your NA?</b>Alex Yuschikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15930809566394865354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-60202795934339952652014-12-01T09:23:00.000-08:002014-12-01T10:12:51.476-08:00Introducing the Newest Little Secret Lifer!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In place of this regularly scheduled Secret Life of Writers post, we present:</div>
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BABY PHOTO SPAM!</div>
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Hello Evelyn (Evie) Grace Gaither, and welcome to the world!</div>
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:D</div>
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Look for another post on Thursday, and then Stef will be back next week with some more big news (not baby-related this time, but still exciting nonetheless!)</div>
<br />Stefanie Gaitherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395840199437943202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-56841677177762063662014-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:002014-11-24T05:00:02.370-08:00The Secrets to Co-Writing a BookI feel a tiny bit deceitful writing this post. First, the title implies that I've co-written many books before, and second, that I have some kind of formula for being successful at it. Neither of those things are true.<br />
<br />
I am, however, currently co-writing a book. And I have, however, learned a lot about what works and what doesn't through our many stops and starts along this path to our almost-finished first draft. I figure, why not share those now before you get started with your partner instead of starting and stopping a million times like we did? So, I bestow you with my sorta-kinda wisdom of co-authorship:<br />
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<i>Pick the Right Partner. </i>I know, I know. This seems like a no-brainer. But you'd be surprised how many partnerships fail when they stretch from "just friends" into "business partners" territory. And that's really what co-authoring a book, is: a business plan. It's our intent to write a marketable book, present it to our agents, and sell it. This is a business transaction, and then it's a friendship. That means you need to pick someone that has a writing style that gels with yours, who works in the same manner you do, has similar goals for the story and the finished product as you do. And, most importantly, will be honest with you and you're comfortable showing your very crappy rough draft work to. But underneath all that, there's the friendship element that matters too: Do you genuinely enjoy this person? Do you like talking to them, outside of book-related things? Do you feel like this person is caring and understanding of your life situations, if by chance you won't be able to make a writing deadline you set? Both of these elements matter. Choose wisely.<br />
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<i>Sign a Co-Authorship Agreement. </i>My partner and I are still working out the details of this, but basically: put something in writing. It doesn't matter so much during the drafting phase, but as you get into the publishing phase, you'll need to set some terms. What if you sell the book and then one of you wants to back out? What if only one of you can't make the publisher's deadline, so the other picks up all the slack and then you both get the same cut of the money? These are all possibilities. Life happens. It's important to protect yourself, your friendship, and your work.<br />
<br />
<i>Create a System That Works For Both of You. </i>One of the reason why our first plan to co-write crashed and burned was because we didn't really have a system, or at least not one that made sense. We shared a Google doc with our story, and then we'd text and email each other our thoughts as we went. This did not work, for obvious reasons. Texts get deleted, emails get lost in the void, and stuff did not turn out the way either of us thought. If you're going to have two people with two totally different brains writing a story, you have to get organized. We still have our massive Google doc where we keep adding on chapters, but we also have a folder with separate docs for each chapter. After one of us writes, we'll also create a new doc for the chapter we've finished and jot down our general thoughts, where we think the story is going, and notes about what we'll need to fix in revisions. We also go back and comment on each other's notes before we write the next chapter to clear up any confusion. So far, this has worked well. It's allowed us to still dialogue about our story, but all of our notes are in the same place and will be easy to sort through in the revision stage.<br />
<br />
<i>Find a Pace and Keep Going. </i>Momentum is crucial here. I'd say it's even more important with a co-authored project than one you write on your own because you're building off someone else's ideas. When I sit down to write after my partner's finished a chapter, it takes me longer to get back into the project because I have to re-read her chapter, notes, thoughts, and try to put myself into her head before I keep going. Imagine trying to do that when it's been a week since you've worked on this story. You lose passion for the story quickly. For us, it's been important to set a deadline that works for both of us. We started with a 24 hour chapter turn-around, but bumped it up to 48 hours. I have small kids at home, and sometimes it's just damn impossible to get a chapter done within 24 hours. It works better for each of us to have 48 hours to finish a chapter and get it up on the doc, and it's still at a pretty fast clip so that we don't lose our momentum.<br />
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With these systems in order, it has been such a blast writing this book with my partner. When you're organized about the nitty gritty stuff, you can allow the magic to happen. Her brain works so differently than mine and it's been fun to watch the direction she'll take the story in before I pull it back in my direction. And bonus: it's created natural tension in the plot, which is awesome.<br />
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<i>Have you co-written a book before? Am I missing anything? What system did you put into place to help get you through?</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" /></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: medium; line-height: 25px;">Andrea Hannah</span><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> writes about delusional girls, disappearances, and darkness with a touch of magic. When she's not writing, Andrea runs, teaches, consumes epic amounts of caffeine, and tries to figure out how to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (unsuccessful to date). She's represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman-Schneider/ICM, and her debut novel, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, is coming from Flux in Fall 2014. You can add it on Goodreads </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584569-of-scars-and-stardust" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">!</span><br style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;" /><br style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="http://twitter.com/andeehannah" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/andeehannah</a></span></div>
<div style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Drop her an email @: <a href="mailto:andeehannah@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">andreahannahbooks@gmail.com</a><br />And visit her website @: <a href="http://www.andreahannah.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.andreahannah.com/</a></span></div>
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Andrea Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894675758048634275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-4788143481102757432014-11-20T17:15:00.000-08:002014-11-20T17:15:11.082-08:005 #Subtips from Debut Author and Editor Kate BrauningHey Secret Lifers-- Alex here. My CP Kate Brauning just released her debut, HOW WE FALL, a week ago, and she's here sharing some of her secrets with us about writing and revising today. Her book's fantastic, she's one of the coolest people I know, and she has an amazingly content Siberian husky named Charles (who I got to pet when I visited!! ahh! such fluff).<br />
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Take it away, Kate!<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With my debut novel How We Fall just having been
released, I’ve been asked to share some of the things I’ve learned in the past
few years as an editor and author.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b>Keep writing.</b>
When you’re querying, when you’re on submission, keep writing. Having another
project to put your energy into is a great way to help balance the nerves,
waiting, and stress that goes along with publishing. Plus, if you decide to
shelve that manuscript, you’ll be well on your way to having a new one
completed, and if you do land an agent/book deal, having another project nearly
ready is great.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><!--[endif]--><b>Trust your
ability to rewrite.</b> Holding too tightly to sentences and paragraphs and
ideas in my manuscripts held me back more than almost anything else. Someone
once told me that if I can write one good line, I can scrap it and write
another, and if I can have one good idea, I can come up with a second. Doing
what’s best for the story and the prose and not keeping myself locked in to
something just because I’m proud of it is essential to being a good writer.
That’s been a huge factor in reducing the stress of revisions. If you’ve done
it once, you can do it again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN">Don’t expect your first draft to be magical</span></b><span lang="EN">. </span>Don’t get discouraged when you’re
drafting if you’re not seeing magic happen. That magical touch and those
insightful moments you see in great <span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">books aren’t magic at all. They’re the
result of blood and sweat. First drafts are limp and flat and awkward—that’s
normal. The depth and layers come as you revise. And revise. And revise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #999999;">4)</span><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #999999;"> </span><span style="color: #666666;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #999999;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Focus
on your own writing.</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">When I was
querying, it was sometimes a struggle to not be jealous when someone else
signed with an agent. When I was on submission, it was hard to not be jealous
when someone else landed a book deal. Even though I was happy for my friends,
it often made me wonder if it meant I wasn’t as good because it hadn’t happened
for me yet. And now that I have a book out, there are other authors’ awards,
bestseller lists, and publicity and buzz I could be worrying about. But no one
else’s success diminishes mine. One of the most wonderful things I’ve been
realizing as I find critique partners and connect and blog with other authors,
particularly in YA, is that we’re much more colleagues than competitors.
Readers can pick up my book, and they can pick up someone else’s, too. Another
author’s success doesn’t limit or detract from mine. What does limit my success
is me looking at someone else’s plate, and wishing I had what they had, and
letting my own work suffer.</span></span><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">5)<span style="font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN">Think of writing and the publishing journey as
pursuing any other career.</span></b></span><span lang="EN"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"> Study, learn from experts, network, study more, practice, take
constructive feedback, and work, work, work. Writers sometimes have the
expectation that it should take mayb</span>e a year to write and revise a MS and a
year to get the querying process figured out, query, and hear back. Either way,
2-3 years is about the time we expect to have an agent and be on submission if
we’re any good. I don’t think that mindset is accurate or always healthy.
Writing is a competitive, demanding, detail-oriented, incredibly complex
career. No other career like that gets off the ground in 2-3 years. It takes
more than that to become a teacher, lawyer, engineer, graphic designer, or
doctor, and even then, most of them have to work their way up. You haven’t
failed and you aren’t a bad writer just because your journey takes longer than
someone else’s. Treat it like a long-haul career both in your expectations and
your work habits, because you are the biggest factor in your career.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Ever since Jackie moved to her uncle’s sleepy farming town, she’s been flirting way too much–and with her own cousin, Marcus.</div>
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Her friendship with him
has turned into something she can’t control, and he’s the reason Jackie
lost track of her best friend, Ellie, who left for…no one knows where.
Now Ellie has been missing for months, and the police, fearing the
worst, are searching for her body. Swamped with guilt and the knowledge
that acting on her love for Marcus would tear their families apart,
Jackie pushes her cousin away. The plan is to fall out of love, and,
just as she hoped he would, Marcus falls for the new girl in town. But
something isn’t right about this stranger, and Jackie’s suspicions about
the new girl’s secrets only drive the wedge deeper between Jackie and
Marcus–and deepens Jackie’s despair.</div>
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Then Marcus is forced to
pay the price for someone else’s lies as the mystery around Ellie’s
disappearance starts to become horribly clear. Jackie has to face
terrible choices. Can she leave her first love behind, and can she go on
living with the fact that she failed her best friend?</div>
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<span lang="EN"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Fall-Kate-Brauning/dp/1440581797/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416531622&sr=8-1&keywords=how+we+fall">Amazon</a> | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-we-fall-kate-brauning/1119045650?ean=9781440581793">B&N</a> | <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/How-We-Fall-Kate-Brauning/9781440581793?utm_medium=api&utm_campaign=Bookfindercom&a_aid=Bookfinder&utm_term=1440581797&utm_source=book_link&utm_content=How-We-Fall&selectCurrency=USD">Book Depository</a> | <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781440581793-0">Powell's</a> </span></div>
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Kate Brauning grew up in rural Missouri and fell in love with young adult books in college. She now works in publishing and purses her lifelong dream of telling stories she'd want to read. This is her first novel. Visit her online at <a href="http://www.katebrauning.com/">www.katebrauning.com</a> or on Twitter at @<a href="http://twitter.com/KateBrauning">KateBrauning</a>. </div>
Alex Yuschikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15930809566394865354noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-63034334277540027222014-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:002014-11-17T00:00:19.609-08:00How to Perfect Humor in Your WritingWhen I was sitting in workshops at SCBWI, someone asked a question about how to write good humor. This wasn't a humor workshop, but the subject happened to come up. The leader of this workshop was saying that really good humor has to be <i>super </i>on point and it has to work, which can be hard to do.<br />
<br />
I agree with this. I think it's very easy to tell if someone's trying to force humor in writing. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. In case you don't, I've broken down humor into three different categories with examples that I personally believe have worked--and hopefully will help you in your writing!<br />
<b></b><br />
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<b><b>Voice</b></b></h3>
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There are many, many novels out there (not just YA) that have an excellent voice that invokes LOL moments. This voice is typically witty, uses unique references, and is super original. This can usually be carried out through sarcasm, bringing light to a difficult subject, through comparisons, etc. WITHOUT demeaning or hatefully offending anyone. The voice of your main character is consistent and clear throughout the book and delivers a humorous voice at exactly the right moments.<br />
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<b>Some examples:</b><br />
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"Oh, no. He's not going to cry, is he? Because even though it's sweet when guys cry, I am so not prepared for this. Girl scouts didn't teach me what to do with emotionally unstable drunk boys."</div>
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<i>- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6936382-anna-and-the-french-kiss">Anna and the French Kiss</a></i><br />
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<br />
“When uncle Eddie does his impression of 'Like a Virgin' it's like Madonna is coming out of his body!"<br />
Christ what an image.</div>
<div>
- <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/402013.Angus_Thongs_and_Full_Frontal_Snogging?from_search=true">Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging</a></i><br />
<br />
<br />
"The police officer interviewing me seems completely baffled by the fact I just admitted to setting my school on fire. He said they were lucky enough to stop the blaze from spreading past the auditorium, and also that I should stay away from the firefighters because they don't take kindly to casual arsonists. Which I'm not. It's only arson if it's on purpose: I Googled it."</div>
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- <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13411546-prep-school-confidential?from_search=true">Prep School Confidential </a></i></div>
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Also, anything <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11654.Meg_Cabot">Meg Cabot</a>.<br />
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<b><b>Character</b></b></h3>
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I bet if I asked you to name a character from any YA book who brought comic relief to a book, you could do it. These characters are usually funny because they bring LOL moments through voice and dialogue--which I'll get too in a minute. These characters don't HAVE to be thrown in for comedic relief. They can just have a genuinely funny personality. But the timing and placement of these characters are vital toward gaining that LOL reaction from your reader.<br />
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<b>Some examples:</b><br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6567017-will-grayson-will-grayson?from_search=true">Tiny Cooper</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5287473-hex-hall">Sophie Mercer</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767052-the-hunger-games?from_search=true">Haymitch Abernathy</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10429045-shatter-me">Kenji Kishimoto</a></li>
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<b>Dialogue </b></h3>
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Timing and delivery are very important for humor in dialogue. The delivery of the lines also cannot be overplayed. Personally, I think this works best if you really establish your characters beforehand so your reader gets an idea of who they are. I know everyone suddenly has a beef with the fast dialogue in Gilmore Girls, but as a long time fan I think the witty banter works well for the characters.<br />
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<b>Here's more examples:</b><br />
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“Hey, it’s-!”<br />
“Who? Oh. Oh.”<br />
“Shut up.”<br />
“I haven’t said anything yet!”<br />
“Don’t.”<br />
“How can I shut up if I haven’t said anything?”<br />
“I know you. You’ve got a monologue coming up.” <br />
<i>- <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1627267.Audrey_Wait_">Audrey, Wait!</a></i></div>
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“Weren't you wearing a purity ring when we got here? Aren't you supposed to be saving yourself?" Shanti asked. <br />
"Yeah," Mary Lou answered. "And then I thought, for what? You save leftovers. My sex is not a leftover, and it is not a Christmas present.” <br />
- <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9464733-beauty-queens">Beauty Queens</a></i><br />
<br />
"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!"<br />
"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?" said George indigently. <br />
- <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2.Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix?from_search=true">Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix</a></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<br />
I'm not a humor expert, and I know there are a lot more components that go into successfully delivering good humor. But I appreciate it when I read it, and I do love reading good humor through certain characters, dialogue, and voice.<br />
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I know there are TONS more books and characters I'm missing that are definitely LOL-worthy. I want to know your favorites! Who's your favorite funny character? What book has made you LOL? Leave yours in the comments!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXBlECwNzq6w0ibK_-odg9bn3SOGvgPbwJVIOcua2C1YDeubKzX8Zh83EChf_Qx2O5GZ0RV4AQbjUCj3AklqT-1lioQzUKeXPmw3VPWG_5QdKEd08oRbGUEPrlcCezJwhmBgIhHMhvX78/s1600/9983c467cc7d62b7fdfa0d52f0e50504.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXBlECwNzq6w0ibK_-odg9bn3SOGvgPbwJVIOcua2C1YDeubKzX8Zh83EChf_Qx2O5GZ0RV4AQbjUCj3AklqT-1lioQzUKeXPmw3VPWG_5QdKEd08oRbGUEPrlcCezJwhmBgIhHMhvX78/s1600/9983c467cc7d62b7fdfa0d52f0e50504.jpeg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
Farrah Penn enjoys staying up way too late and making up for it in large quantities of coffee. On top of her love for reading books with memorable characters, she also enjoys internet memes, yoga, and her adorably bratty dog. When she’s not rushing to complete marketing projects at work, she’s writing and daydreaming about traveling the world. Farrah writes YA and is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary.<br />
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You can also find her on Twitter @: www.twitter.com/farrahpenn<br />
Drop her an email @: farrahnicolepenn@gmail.com<br />
And visit her blog at: www.farrahpenn.comFarrah Pennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06330518169753703940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-40449285890483363282014-11-10T11:30:00.000-08:002014-11-10T11:30:11.999-08:00#YAlaunch and the Secrets of Writing RetreatsHi from Omaha!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omaha, Omaha! </td></tr>
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My good friend Kate Brauning whose debut HOW WE FALL releases tomorrow, is holding a massive release party with Nikki Urang of THE HIT LIST called YA Launch. Nine other authors and I are working on our projects (you guys, I love mine) on the retreat part and are gearing up to launch these two fantastic books. </div>
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I love writing retreats. One of the best things about these is getting to meet people who are as passionate about their work as you are. Still, it can be a little intimidating, especially if you're a) traveling to a new state b) an introvert who only knows like three of these ten people c) going on your first retreat, or d) all of the above.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical day on the ranch</td></tr>
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The thing to remember is that everyone probably feels the same way. So, having survived most of my first retreat, I'm dropping by with a couple tips before Kate and I roadtrip back to Iowa for the livestream tonight.</div>
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<b>1. Bring business cards</b></div>
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If you don't have business cards for your writing, consider making them. One of the good places that we talked about was <a href="http://us.moo.com/products/business-cards.html?gclid=CjwKEAiA4YGjBRDOxa3XvfTnvSASJACC3bLB5NrvnUa6cz2GF9UfNT400fkPIgG-vK69xRMzr4y-qBoCDLPw_wcB">Moo</a>, and there are many others. Even though a lot of us have our laptops here, it's still nice to be able to hand someone a card and be like "hey, think about me if you need a crit partner, okay?" </div>
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They'll also come in handy if you go to conferences later, where everyone and their mom will be asking for your card.</div>
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<b>2. Bring your A-game. </b></div>
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Come prepared to work hard and play hard. We've been working on WIPs, revising, coordinating launches, and comparing publishing stories. On the flip side, we have re-christened Omaha as "Omaha, City of Dreams" and had an excellent time playing with fridge poetry.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"ask for fire/this was her mad war"</td></tr>
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<b>3. Be willing to explore. </b></div>
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You're in a new place with cool people-- it's time to make things happen! Go out on a limb. Last night we all shared snippets from our WIPs (with the caveat that these suckers are all highly unedited, etc) and that was awesome. It's really neat getting to see what's in the pipeline for other writers, even if it means putting yourself a little out of your comfort zone. </div>
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Even better, we got to brainstorm together and talk about how to handle first pages, helping balance out conflicts and tensions, and a whole lot of other things, like whether or not we prefer writing via laptops or by hand. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">look for adventure! you too could find a grain elevator!<br /></td></tr>
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I've got to split and get ready for the launch, but if you have some free time this evening, then def stop by the twitter party tonight! We'll be livestreaming, interviewing each other, giving away one hundred books, celebrating our friends' debuts, and being goofy on the internet. You can find us <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/yalaunch">here </a>on twitter or <a href="http://www.publishing-hub.com/2014/11/youre-invited-to-yalaunch-10-authors100.html">check out this page</a> for the list of events. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br />When <span style="font-size: medium;">Alex Yuschik </span>isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.</span><div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/alexyuschik" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">https://twitter.com/alexyuschik</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:alex.yuschik@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alex.yuschik@gmail.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">And also visit her website @: <a href="http://alexyuschik.wordpress.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alexyuschik.wordpress.com</a></span></div>
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Alex Yuschikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15930809566394865354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-82339973067999981252014-10-30T06:28:00.000-07:002014-10-30T06:28:11.966-07:00After the Book Launch: Now What?Hi, lovelies,<br />
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It's so great to be back to The Secret Life after our blog hiatus and my own self-imposed shut down. I can't wait to catch up with you guys!<br />
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While The Secret Life was re-launching, I was off launching my first book baby, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, into the world. It officially came out on October 8th, although not everything went as planned, and <a href="http://penandmuse.com/5-things-ive-learned-deal-debut-andrea-hannah/" target="_blank">some people got their books early</a>.<br />
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Now launch month is winding down, and I've been feeling a whole mix of anxiety and, well, flat-out fear that I hadn't expected. And since this blog is all about authenticity, I want to share with you what it's <i>really </i>like post-debut. For me, anyway.<br />
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In the past few weeks, I've felt pretty good. I think that's because launch kept me busy with a party, two panels with some other super awesome YA authors, a writing workshop, and signings. But that, too, is dwindling down and I'm finding myself standing here with…nothing.<br />
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I don't mean nothing, like, I have no other projects going on. I do. I have plenty of things in various stages of planning/drafting/revision to work on. What I don't have is <i>this</i> book to work on. I thought I'd be happy about that, relieved even. And sometimes I am, when I remind myself that this is a huge accomplishment, that I'm so lucky the<a href="http://distraction99.com/2014/10/07/the-book-of-your-heart-series-andrea-hannah/" target="_blank"> book of my heart got published</a>. But mostly, I feel a little empty.<br />
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I've been thinking/praying/dreaming about this book for three years. And up until this past summer, I had been researching/planning/drafting/revising/editing/somehow working on this book for almost as long. While I'm happy and proud, I'm also grieving a little because this book is no longer mine. It's yours.<br />
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Which is every aspiring author wants all along, right? To be read. To have a book belong to someone other than me. I just didn't expect how mixed up I'd feel about that.<br />
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What has been helping, and what always helps, is the Next Thing. For creative people, there is always a Next Thing because making stuff is in our DNA. We can't <i>not</i> make stuff. So I'm working on the Next Thing(s) and truly lettings SCARS do its own thing in the world. No checking ratings or reviews or sales. No googling it (or me). I've done the best I can with it, and now I have to trust that it will get into the hands of the people who need to read it, for whatever reason.<br />
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The more I think of it like that, the less consuming the emptiness feels. My job is to write the book. That's it. I've done my job with SCARS, and I'm doing it again (and again, and again) with the next books. Your job is to read them, and I'm forever grateful for that opportunity. Thank you for making this transition from writer to author, empty to full again, that much easier.<br />
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xo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" /></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: medium; line-height: 25px;">Andrea Hannah</span><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> writes about delusional girls, disappearances, and darkness with a touch of magic. When she's not writing, Andrea runs, teaches, consumes epic amounts of caffeine, and tries to figure out how to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (unsuccessful to date). She's represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman-Schneider/ICM, and her debut novel, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, is out now. You can add it on Goodreads </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584569-of-scars-and-stardust" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">!</span><br style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;" /><br style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;" /><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="http://twitter.com/andeehannah" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/andeehannah</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Drop her an email @: <a href="mailto:andeehannah@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">andreahannahbooks@gmail.com</a><br />And visit her website @: <a href="http://www.andreahannah.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.andreahannah.com/</a></span></div>
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Andrea Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894675758048634275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-62879708235146656502014-10-27T11:39:00.000-07:002014-10-27T11:39:41.563-07:00Can we talk about stuff and things?Hello!!! It's been so long! And I'm so happy we're back! If I could, I'd hug you all!<br />
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So, unlike the other ladies who've all been out and about and making awesomeness happen, I have been doing, um let's see, NOTHING! I mean, I've been writing and stuff, but mostly I've just been watching A LOT of TV. But that doesn't mean I haven't been honing my story-telling abilities.<br />
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Someone once said that I seem to have really studied my craft. But I never finished college, not even close. How did I respond to this awesome individual? I said, "Actually, I've just always watched a lot of movies and TV and stuff." Just like we're supposed to read a butt load if we want to be good writers, I think there's something to be said about studying all forms of story-telling, as well. So, please allow me to fangirl over, I mean, analyze my favorite thing at the moment.<br />
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<b>THE WALKING DEAD</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBlTB-KFniBHUoBhuXTZxnWhqVkmYkD9pKQwmfy18mx7_x4rh8ZMK-JuqSlCSh-CEW2Kyhuk5CCaKc9yUYuB9HdpHThKfeJU7f8YCyahyphenhyphenPXYRmewYhgFjvWM0wt2ga9hn4oiUyO4YZ/s1600/used+to+have+friends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBlTB-KFniBHUoBhuXTZxnWhqVkmYkD9pKQwmfy18mx7_x4rh8ZMK-JuqSlCSh-CEW2Kyhuk5CCaKc9yUYuB9HdpHThKfeJU7f8YCyahyphenhyphenPXYRmewYhgFjvWM0wt2ga9hn4oiUyO4YZ/s1600/used+to+have+friends.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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It's no secret that I'm a character person. You could set an entire story inside an infinite, white void and if the characters had multiple layers, great dialogue, and maybe a romance thing happening, I'd be all over it. And that's the thing about TWD. Sure, there are zombies and they sometimes make stuff and things happen, but mostly, this is a character driven show. Everyone has goals. Everyone has a personality, opinions, and fears. And they're not afraid to introduce new characters. It's fun to watch those new characters go from distrusted and untested to beloved or hated.<br />
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TWD also has a reputation of having those jaw-dropping scenes. Those reveals that make your eyes pop out of your head and your hands go to your mouth in surprise. They don't pull any punches and because of that, when the good things happen like reunions or escapes, the watchers are tearing up and punching the air in triumph.<br />
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So what can we as writers learn from TWD? Make complex characters! Know who they are, what they want, and how far they're willing to go to get it. Know their history, their opinions, and their morals. Also, don't pull any punches! They say to think of the worst thing that can happen to your characters and do that. That's what this show totally does. Yes, I know these are things we always hear as writers but it doesn't hurt to be reminded every once in a while.<br />
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And don't feel guilty about a good ol' TV marathon. Just put on your writer hat and call it research!<br />
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I wish I had more to talk about, but I wasn't kidding when I said I haven't been up to much at all.<br />
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Please share your TV obsessions in the comments. I'm willing to bet we'll have some in common!<br />
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Born and raised in northern Louisiana,<span style="font-size: medium;"> Leah Rae Miller </span>still lives there on a windy hill with her husband and kids. She loves comic books, lava lamps, fuzzy socks, and Cherry Coke. She spends most of her days reading things she likes and writing things she hopes other people will like. Her YA novel, THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD, released Summer 2013 from Entangled Teen. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14744489-the-summer-i-became-a-nerd" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">You can add it on Goodreads here!</a></div>
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You can also find her on Twitter @: <a href="https://twitter.com/LeahR_Miller" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/LeahR_Miller</a></div>
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Drop her an email @: <a href="mailto:leahraemiller@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">leahraewrites@gmail.com</a></div>
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And visit her blog at: <a href="http://leahraemiller.blogspot.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://leahraemillerblog.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Summer-I-Became-Nerd/dp/1620612380" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36Gm83fOK2khwrTPW7QCez39kmKIsMeeQZgusReZiR6Eyin97kCvPZwIgvqXvyog_38hdb1ywQnvCTtylqWSIGYsWIvU8thb6iD5Ir7Yfiy7HG4oeRcHC-II6TCiqZAAwpZPzv_97OxI/s200/TSIBAN-500px-RGB.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 520px; overflow: hidden;" title="Click here to pre-order The Summer I Became a Nerd on Amazon!" width="133" /></a></div>
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Leah Rae Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15016306009472838900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-55670080714181351272014-10-24T11:35:00.000-07:002014-10-24T11:35:04.454-07:00Setting is a Ghost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">So I've been trying to think up things that fall under the categories of "secrets," "Halloween-y," and "cool, hopefully useful writing knowledge" but most of what I've got is: well, I traveled a bit this summer. </span></div>
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You got me-- it's not really a secret and not useful writing advice. It's not even Halloween-themed.</div>
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But I can talk about setting. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIlgsTPbNYCslTcmqPYVgx5fBMJ9fQkJiFcICKCsUVejw8LBMAahAAzrqPT3bs3D3500_Yu6SCxyS63Qa7w9Dquf8aBIh49jHMdU4bsngMQGpMrgPqLY2q2_b0jb5otvDB55Mj1RVS6DY/s1600/balcony+with+sun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIlgsTPbNYCslTcmqPYVgx5fBMJ9fQkJiFcICKCsUVejw8LBMAahAAzrqPT3bs3D3500_Yu6SCxyS63Qa7w9Dquf8aBIh49jHMdU4bsngMQGpMrgPqLY2q2_b0jb5otvDB55Mj1RVS6DY/s1600/balcony+with+sun.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BALCONIES maaaan I love balconies</td></tr>
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Over the summer, I went to New Orleans and it was kickass. I had a scene in my last manuscript set there, and I really wanted to capture as many details of the city as I could. I'd never been that far south before, and while I'd done a ridiculous amount of research on the city and the culture before visiting, it was still really interesting seeing what stood out about a place versus what I was writing about it. </div>
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<b>Setting, in many ways, is like a ghost. </b>It follows you through the pages of a book. <b>It never contacts you explicitly or anything, but you see traces of its presence</b> as the characters go about their business-- balconies housing dangling plants, strings of lights, and deck chairs, and the rank oyster smell loitering outside some of the bars and restaurants. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBgXmOB-P1XUs3UxNpM2-qnYiny8tBes-M6fU1HUNgDSe-6WlVZqyR1GwJAoXJY_7uUzEYqhGUuA6rXmuzsszqZu2dxbK4Wq8ott0IksycWyNnYsBwmufyovhiiKLgRPRXbu6jyY2SgrE/s1600/canal+street+night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBgXmOB-P1XUs3UxNpM2-qnYiny8tBes-M6fU1HUNgDSe-6WlVZqyR1GwJAoXJY_7uUzEYqhGUuA6rXmuzsszqZu2dxbK4Wq8ott0IksycWyNnYsBwmufyovhiiKLgRPRXbu6jyY2SgrE/s1600/canal+street+night.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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As a reader, I love seeing the ways that a book's setting influences the plot. As a writer, I subscribe to the idea that the <b>setting has to be integral enough to the book that the story can't be set any other place and still be the same thing</b>. </div>
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I visited the French Quarter during nights when it wasn't even Mardi Gras (aka the middle of May) and the streets still get closed to through traffic during the late evenings because the foot traffic is just that intense. It's crazy! And it's those weirdo, super-specific details that draw people in and make your setting a compelling one. </div>
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<b>Characters that are from certain regions of the country (or from different countries!) may also behave differently,</b> or even if they don't adhere to their native region/homeland's mores, they'll still see a certain set of behaviors as normal/acceptable and others as rude. </div>
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And it all comes from setting. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihMxL1Tv9SI7qx-5421i39o_UxtujlR849J8YI_b_zQzXPup0tSb86DrEMoKrLtDb9EJt_Eo6f7-b0E4qXBp-9AefdqnvXpj_Ot-2B9NOPrwH7klCwHZbXV2SZbRZjpxapQo0QYczOLkc/s1600/cafe+beignet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihMxL1Tv9SI7qx-5421i39o_UxtujlR849J8YI_b_zQzXPup0tSb86DrEMoKrLtDb9EJt_Eo6f7-b0E4qXBp-9AefdqnvXpj_Ot-2B9NOPrwH7klCwHZbXV2SZbRZjpxapQo0QYczOLkc/s1600/cafe+beignet.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fun fact: tiny birds will perch on your table here and try to eat your grits (not cool, bro)</td></tr>
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<b>The setting can also collude with you in making characters' lives harder. </b>Protag need to go somewhere immediately? Have the cab get snarled up in traffic around a tourist trap or monument. Two characters gearing up for a fight? Find either the worst or most interesting place for them to do it-- what cool environment can they use in battle? </div>
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In last ms, I had one character chase after another. Simple enough, yeah? Then I set that scene on Bourbon Street at night, and suddenly, tons of conflict: one character is breaking curfew, he can't see where he's going because there's too many people, his own personal phobias start kicking in, he gets cheap drinks spilled on him-- it kickstarts a whole mess of details and tensions. </div>
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And you don't have to campy with it-- while I believe that <b>details do help ground us in a setting, most of what a setting is is the feeling it invokes in us</b>. A ghost's goal is to make you feel something. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Tsx0tmOH4z6o_ywRrWRr-ONdjnFyeCQhNjkct4CH98aD-jHrLtpDL864qWLJwP-NJ0C_MJN5O1vh3mPru2DkR5u9VEyItwdbwyHWGqH9LecNl5BJP0MLT4MuakWkV8mmfTNIcEXGEqo/s1600/bourbon+street+dudes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Tsx0tmOH4z6o_ywRrWRr-ONdjnFyeCQhNjkct4CH98aD-jHrLtpDL864qWLJwP-NJ0C_MJN5O1vh3mPru2DkR5u9VEyItwdbwyHWGqH9LecNl5BJP0MLT4MuakWkV8mmfTNIcEXGEqo/s1600/bourbon+street+dudes.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">another fun fact: over half the pictures I took are balconies </td></tr>
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The specifics matter less. It's less important that there are foreboding knocks on the bedroom wall and more that the person sleeping there feels threatened (though obvs to do this, you'll want to include some specifics to show it). Ultimately, it's up to you to <b>choose the details that stand out to you as touchstones of a location--</b> short, sweet punches that capture the essence of wherever your story is set. </div>
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Especially in contemp, I think it's important to let the setting shine. Places, like ghosts, have their own histories.<b> Nowhere stays the same forever. </b></div>
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Same deal for fantasy--<b>setting can add a unique spin and flavor to old tropes. </b>What about your particular fishing village makes it an interesting/terrible place for the protag to grow up in? I adore Jodi Meadows' INCARNATE books for a ton of reasons, but one is that her world and setting are so interesting and constantly affect the characters. </div>
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My current WIP is an urban fantasy and I'm researching geology, mine disasters, and all sorts of esoteric facts and beliefs about rocks for its monsters and magic system. I want the history of coal mining and those specific details associated with it to haunt my readers-- not beat them over the head with HEY COAL HELLO but to give that story a specific flavor.</div>
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And yeah, I had an awesome time in New Orleans and I promise I was not thinking about setting 100% of the time, though I did occasionally split off to wander Bourbon Street or prowl the WWII Museum. Moment of drooling for the memory of the beignets we consumed.</div>
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~*they were so good*~</div>
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And I got to meet Leah!! (You guys, she is every bit as amaze in real life as she is online.)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmgyS6Z93ceLGHJ_Ww975NY2xhJ4N2-9aSf5KHI8yn2EQJQL2mo-CL9K9WqOSjZR2rpJw70XQKrlMpR3b8DCYZYbTTmgZLZD9lkUolcedu0ht9EfYX3g-mPlW9sAPzm-WRo3OLcctYWos/s1600/alex+++leah!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmgyS6Z93ceLGHJ_Ww975NY2xhJ4N2-9aSf5KHI8yn2EQJQL2mo-CL9K9WqOSjZR2rpJw70XQKrlMpR3b8DCYZYbTTmgZLZD9lkUolcedu0ht9EfYX3g-mPlW9sAPzm-WRo3OLcctYWos/s1600/alex+++leah!.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leah's phone is also nine zillion times cooler than mine</td></tr>
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So what do you guys think? What are some of the best examples of setting that you've come across in books? I also really adore ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD and (duh of course) THE SCORPIO RACES and THE RAVEN BOYS for this as well. Share your favorites and we'll tweet recs through <span style="background-color: white;">the day! :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqWx2efIn2CBTKchTZBgKFFugp1ggiJ9LwQKtkppMVmQzm3lHjggvxDdiDNy6jpeFJAg5Fup_MKxIdbDUsWnD4qc6pUDa31Bnc6yY0N66m-9RIFLQJZyGAQ1TeNpVjjWQevPpKNcvhTY/s1600/alexpro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #f18f2f; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Alex Yuschik </span>writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.</span><div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/alexyuschik" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">https://twitter.com/alexyuschik</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:alex.yuschik@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alex.yuschik@gmail.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">And also visit her website @: <a href="http://alexyuschik.wordpress.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alexyuschik.wordpress.com </a></span></div>
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Alex Yuschikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15930809566394865354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-52118465544841381622014-10-21T10:18:00.000-07:002014-10-21T10:19:59.800-07:0014 Things I Learned at My First SCBWI Conference <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF65YMQi7CvH4sp-aLBQqwoTM9LDiszmDHLAHusWobGDKsP9s5E4L4UxTuKXZ9WrfArcObgz0thuNo7lEOteljmM5BJ_mPM5JmyoWATmJXLu7-6un41FOPlLEwL2QAPoCkeGfpaq-JlIg/s1600/photo+2(11).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF65YMQi7CvH4sp-aLBQqwoTM9LDiszmDHLAHusWobGDKsP9s5E4L4UxTuKXZ9WrfArcObgz0thuNo7lEOteljmM5BJ_mPM5JmyoWATmJXLu7-6un41FOPlLEwL2QAPoCkeGfpaq-JlIg/s1600/photo+2(11).JPG" height="401" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">View from <a href="http://twitter.com/ekatwrites">Kathy</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/corrieshatto">Corrie's</a> hotel room at SCBWI</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">About two months ago, I attended SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) in LA. Although I knew of people and authors I'd conversed with on the internet who were going, I was essentially going by myself. I didn't have any expectations other than wanting to learn as much as possible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm not new at doing things on my own, but I was nervous as I tried to figure out parking and where exactly this thing was being held at (the hotel was ginormous). But once I was into the swing of things, it turned out to be a lot of fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you're considering attending a SCBWI event in the future and want to know what to expect, here's a quick list of everything I learned!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dani (met her at the newbie orientation), <br />
Jenny, and me at the Italy dinner.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. If you're new, <b>go to the newbie orientation</b>. Everyone there is also new and probably has no idea what's going on or what to expect, so you're not alone. I also ended up meeting a friend after the orientation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. <b>Look at the workshop schedule beforehand</b> so you have an idea of where you'll want to go. Chances are you'll want to be in two places at once because everything will sound so good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3.<b> Bring a pen and notebook</b>. Lots of good information being shared.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4. <b>Talk to people</b>! Introduce yourself, especially if you've heard of their book/enjoyed the workshop they presented/have seen people on social media and want to say hi in person. Chances are you'll become good friends! :)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Chbosky and Jay Asher workshop</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5. <b>Don't be rude</b>. I thought this was common sense, but there were some grown adults who raised their hands only to be rude instead of seeking clarification from workshop presenters. And if you're walking out (in a non-emergency/non-bathroom break way) don't be dramatic about it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6. People you meet will ask if you're a writer/illustrator, what genre, what you're working on, etc. It's best to <b>have at least a two sentence pitch memorized in your head</b>. Or, what I really preferred from pre-pub'd or pub'd authors, was a small hand out that had the book's info on it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7. <b>Layer up</b>. SCBWI took place a few flights of stairs under the hotel, and it was cold. Bring a sweater. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset evening post-conference </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8. I live about 30 minutes away from the hotel, so I didn't think twice about staying there. But man, SCBWI days are LONG. 6 AM (from when I woke up to get ready) to around 11-midnight (depending on if I went out with friends). <b>If I could go back and split a hotel with friends, I totally would</b>. I was a zombie on the drive home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9. <b>If you're trying to save money, bring your lunch</b> and snacks. There is a mall outside of the hotel as well as places to eat in the hotel, but it can add up after a few days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10. <b>Take advantage</b> and go to as many workshops, keynotes, and presentations as you can. You paid a lot of money to be here, and I promise you'll gain something from each one. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love these ladies dearly! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11. The free <b>coffee </b>doesn't last any longer than the morning, so caffeine up while you can. (You'll want to)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">12. <b>Keep your handouts</b>. I loved those who provided them in workshops. I didn't retain every single thing because my brain was completely overwhelmed, but it gave me something to look over afterwards. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">13. Speaking over being <b>overwhelmed</b>, chances are you will be. From listening to dozens of presenters, mingling with friends, and stuffing your brain with all this good information--I could barely string a coherent sentence together at the end of the day. But it was all well worth it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">14. To end this on a positive note, <a href="https://twitter.com/ekatwrites">Kathy Kottaras</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/_JennyMoyer">Jenny Moyer</a> both sold their YA debuts shortly after this conference! Dreams do come true :) </span><br />
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Farrah Penn enjoys staying up way too late and making up for it in large quantities of coffee. On top of her love for reading books with memorable characters, she also enjoys internet memes, yoga, and her adorably bratty dog. When she’s not rushing to complete marketing projects at work, she’s writing and daydreaming about traveling the world. Farrah writes YA and is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary.<br />
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You can also find her on Twitter @: www.twitter.com/farrahpenn<br />
Drop her an email @: farrahnicolepenn@gmail.com<br />
And visit her blog at: www.farrahpenn.comFarrah Pennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06330518169753703940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-73174277472328530972014-10-16T15:39:00.003-07:002014-10-16T15:39:28.849-07:00That One Time Stefanie Made a Fool of Herself in Front of a Bunch of People but Still Lived to Tell the Tale and It Was All Okay in the EndHi Secret Lifers! *waves furiously* It's been waaaay too long! How are you? You look great. I love what you've done with your hair.<br />
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Right, so, in case you missed it--I'm a published author now!<br />
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Shiny!</div>
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Pretty wild stuff. I'm still waiting for someone to jump out and yell "just kidding!" and then for all of my books and all traces of their existence to poof because seriously is this real life? And I was going to ramble on about that feeling for this first post back, but then something else happened this week that I wanted to talk about instead. And what was that, you ask? Well, it was the absolute most terrifying part (for me) about this whole published-author thing: my first public presentation (dun dun dun).<br />
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Hey look! It's me!</div>
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As part of teen read week, I partnered with my local library and ran a creative writing workshop and presentation about publishing for area teens a few days ago. And it was awesome! And, as I said before, it was terrifying!<br />
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When one of the librarians reached out to me a month or so ago about doing this, my introverted, extreme social anxiety knee-jerk reaction was basically this:<br />
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But then I remembered how, earlier this year, I made a promise to myself that I would do a better job of getting out of my comfort zone and actually interacting with people. And, to cut myself some slack for once, I will say that I've done a pretty good job of sticking to that goal. This year I've gone on a writing retreat (with people I'd never met before!), I've stopped shying away from random conversations in coffeeshops, I met my agent in person, and I've finally learned how to answer the question "what do you do for a living" by telling people I write and then going on to explain my career and aspirations in an intelligent way instead of melting into a pile of mumbles and awkwardly shuffling away. It's been a year of big steps, for sure. And so after contemplating it for a bit, I wrote back to the librarian and told her <i>yes! I'd love to!</i><br />
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The love part was a total lie but that's okay. I'm a writer. I sort of make stuff up for a living.<br />
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So the day of the presentation arrives. My husband and I are on the way to the library, and to give you an idea of how crazy my social anxiety can be, I actually said to my husband: <i>what I wouldn't give to go into labor right now so I would have a valid excuse to not have to go to this thing</i>.<br />
<br />
Yes, that's right: I'm less freaked out by birthing another human being than I am by the thought of giving a presentation to a few teenagers.<br />
<br />
I am a ridiculous person and I know it.<br />
<br />
Anyway, my daughter remains snug in my stomach as I type this, so you can probably guess that I did, in fact, have to go through with what I'd committed to do. And, *spoiler alert*, I survived it. Not the way I'd planned on, though; see, I had this really detailed outline all typed up, and I was going to follow it to make my presentation easier. To make it fantastically detailed and informing and...yeah, somehow I still had really high expectations for this thing, even though I was almost certain I was going to bomb.<br />
<br />
And I sort of did bomb. I guess because the best laid schemes of mice and men are often going awry and all that. I ended up abandoning my outline within five minutes of starting, because I am <i>so</i> not a public speaker, and I could tell my audience was very painfully aware of that, and they were checking out. So I ended up improvising. No more plans, no more expectations about how it would go--I just turned the session into an impromptu Q and A and then we all just sat around and talked. About writing, about publishing, about anything they wanted to know.<br />
<br />
And they asked awesome questions, and answering those questions would lead to more questions, and at some point I even stopped watching the clock and silently begging the minutes of my hour-long session slot to go by faster. I actually relaxed and had <i>fun</i>. The teens did too, I think; even after we broke the formal session and everyone was mingling and eating desserts the library provided, they were still coming up to me and asking questions. It was actually really cool. And in the end, I think I would have been much more disappointed in myself if I hadn't shown up at all, than I was about getting off to a rocky start.<br />
<br />
So I guess the secret I want to share with this post is this: you don't have to be an awesome public speaker, or even an extrovert, to get out there and personally connect with readers. And it's okay to still be scared of things, even once you reach that "officially published author" stage. Even if you totally bomb, it's still going to be okay in the end. Promise. :)<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGWQl4hZtxDMQ8ilvVB9hjDY0DAXnqvYTMzzg9tVUeyJQMBgS-87iBh4XikHuiYViEq9EOiVQBrJAbap0ZpOlgDfQaINPU3bjzcRuS8cvTS2-mOq3K9FWJHaKv8JlrG3xLaVKipIE9ynn/s1600/miniiiiii.png" /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiljVWn4ysSUvqwwKS5ws9S9cr_hJxM0cjrokpD156dj78Dt-L99e6w_NMl6ThKd0VEaEbA6qSM-a_AdCJfPB1uYyqHwlDMBRPszgNLFVqFh5DFRAfb__DG_4qds9M32UoAXZLzEuyX4/s1600/EY1A0425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiljVWn4ysSUvqwwKS5ws9S9cr_hJxM0cjrokpD156dj78Dt-L99e6w_NMl6ThKd0VEaEbA6qSM-a_AdCJfPB1uYyqHwlDMBRPszgNLFVqFh5DFRAfb__DG_4qds9M32UoAXZLzEuyX4/s1600/EY1A0425.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Stefanie Gaither </span>writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut YA sci-fi novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is available NOW from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers!</div>
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You can find her on Twitter @: <a href="https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither" target="_blank"><span style="text-align: left;">https://twitter.com/s</span>tefaniegaither</a></div>
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Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:stefanie.gaither@gmail.com" target="_blank">stefanie.gaither@gmail.com</a></div>
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And also visit her website @: <a href="http://www.stefaniegaither.com/">www.stefaniegaither.com</a><br />
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Stefanie Gaitherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395840199437943202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-52027609986867412922014-10-09T13:50:00.000-07:002014-10-09T13:50:36.328-07:00OF SCARS AND STARDUST is out!<div>
(Psst, our Instagram event is still going on <a href="http://secretlifeofwriters.blogspot.com/2014/10/secret-life-resurrection-and-contest-d.html">here</a>!)</div>
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Congratulations to Andee on becoming an ~*officially published author*~ as of yesterday! Kirkus calls OF SCARS AND STARDUST "an intriguing puzzle of a book" and it is for reals all kind of amaze, you guys. Curious? Read on!<div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Of-Scars-Stardust-Andrea-Hannah/dp/0738740829/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412886813&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=of+scars+and+starfdust">amazon </a>| <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/of-scars-and-stardust-andrea-hannah/1118199824?ean=9780738740829">b&n </a>| <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Scars-Stardust-Andrea-Hannah/9780738740829">book depository</a> | <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780738740829">indiebound</a> | <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584569-of-scars-and-stardust">goodreads</a></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">After her little sister mysteriously vanishes, seventeen-year-old Claire Graham has a choice to make: stay snug in her little corner of Manhattan with her dropout boyfriend, or go back to Ohio to face the hometown tragedy she's been dying to leave behind. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">But the memories of that night still haunt her in the city, and as hard as she tries to forget what her psychiatrist calls her "delusions," Claire can't seem to escape the wolf's eyes or the blood-speckled snow. Delusion or reality, Claire knows she has to hold true to the most important promise she's ever made: to keep Ella safe. She must return to her sleepy hometown in order to find Ella and keep her hallucinations at bay before they strike again. But time is quickly running out, and as Ella's trail grows fainter, the wolves are becoming startlingly real.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Now Claire must deal with her attraction to Grant, the soft-spoken boy from her past that may hold the secret to solving her sister's disappearance, while following the clues that Ella left for only her to find. Through a series of cryptic diary entries, Claire must unlock the keys to Ella's past—and her own—in order to stop another tragedy in the making, while realizing that not all things that are lost are meant to be found.</span></i></div>
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<div>
Remember back when SCARS first debuted on our blog in <a href="http://secretlifeofwriters.blogspot.com/2012/12/an-awkward-hug-from-andrea-hannah-world.html">Andrea's query letter</a>? Or when <a href="http://secretlifeofwriters.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-secrets-of-sale.html">we all freaked the crap out</a> when it sold? It's so amazing to be a part of this group and not only get to watch our friends be kickass with their careers, but also to share all this good stuff with you guys, too.</div>
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Congrats, Andee! <3 *drowns everything in pug-shaped balloons with occasional narwhals*</div>
The Secret Life of Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15424814452211945661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-28189430614408019332014-10-06T14:08:00.000-07:002014-10-06T14:08:57.928-07:00Secret Life: Resurrection and Contest! :DHey Secret Lifers! How have you guys been? It's been a long summer and we're super pleased to be coming back to you in the fall!<br />
<br />
Some quick stuff before we get into the meat of this: <b>we're now going to be posting on Mondays and Thursdays</b>! You'll get all our secret writer happenings, what we're reading, tips and tricks from the publishing world, or just cool literary stuff we think you'll enjoy coming at you twice weekly. We've also got<b> a super cool Instagram contest</b> waiting for you at the end of this post! :D<br />
<br />
So what've we been up to this summer (and kind of early fall)? Kick back, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si81bIoZRJQ">put on some music</a>, and let us bring you up to speed on our shenanigans and oh man, SO MANY BOOKS:<br />
<br />
<b>Farrah</b> has been enjoying her summer while working on a contemporary YA.
She was able to attend her first SCBWI in LA and is excited to share
more fun writing secrets with you. Her favorite reads this summer were<i>
Silver Linings Playbook</i>, <i>13 Reasons Why</i>, and <i>Isla and the Happily Ever
After</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Stefanie</b>'s spent most of the hiatus trying to make herself believe that
she actually had a real live book hitting shelves this year (FALLS THE
SHADOW is available now!), but she still doesn't quite believe it. She's
also been hard at work preparing new manuscripts for submission, and--
oh yeah! Also with growing a tiny human life :) Baby Gaither will be
making her debut in early December, and both Stef and her husband are
thrilled (and terrified) to welcome their new baby overlord.<br />
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<b>Leah </b>went to the Romantic Times conference this summer in New Orleans, where she met up with fellow Secret Lifer Alex! She also <a href="http://secretlifeofwriters.blogspot.com/2014/03/happy-news.html">signed with awesome agent Jenny Bent</a> earlier this year. Leah's next book is ROMANCING THE NERD, the companion novel to THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD, coming at you soon from Entangled Teen!<br />
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<b>Andrea</b>'s debut OF SCARS AND STARDUST hits shelves soon (this week!) and we're super pumped to get to celebrate her release week with her. She's hard at work on her next manuscript (ladypower! magical realism! how awesome does this sound??), and if you're in Michigan you be might able to <a href="http://www.andreahannah.com/p/news.html">catch her at a signing</a>.<br />
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<b>Alex</b> spent her summer studying to pass her PhD preliminary exams, which sounds lame but worked out pretty okay because now she's an official PhD candidate at her grad school! She's in queryland, working as a freelance editor, wrote a manuscript about magical girls in milky pen, and is currently writing the book of her heart (which is surprisingly even more terrifying than 60k in gel pen).<br />
<br />
Heather's debut THE GATEWAY THROUGH WHICH THEY CAME released earlier this August! Sadly, Heather won't be returning to the Secret Life this fall, but we're wishing her all the best as GATEWAY and its sequel take off!<br />
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<br />
<b>Secret Life Instagram Contest! </b><br />
<br />
To celebrate our comeback and how much we appreciate you guys for sticking with us, we're having an instagram contest. :D The Secret Life has always been about sharing our writing journeys with you guys and we're thrilled to have the chance to keep doing that. It's also been a blast getting to connect with each other and cheer as our friends' books are published.<br />
<br />
So, for this contest,<b> take a picture of any Secret Lifer's (past or present) book in the wild! Bonus points if it's more than one of our books chilling together!</b> (Because book friends are best friends.) Follow and tag our instagram account @<a href="http://instagram.com/secretlifeofwriters">secretlifeofwriters </a>in your photo and use #secretlifeofwriters to show off your pics!<br />
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Prizes will include a copy of each of our fall 2014 releases (GATEWAY, FALLS THE SHADOW, and OF SCARS AND STARDUST) or a full manuscript critique from Alex-- winner's choice!<br />
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<b>The contest ends Oct. 23,</b> so get out there!<br />
<br />
And thanks again for sticking with us. We're excited to be back and we can't wait to share more of our secrets with you. <3The Secret Life of Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15424814452211945661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-73309971649913430572014-06-09T04:00:00.000-07:002014-06-09T04:00:00.825-07:00<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q6d-QmYUOhM/U4ykF0hI_aI/AAAAAAAACA0/
KCbhQkWgi-M/s1600/Cover+Reveal+Banner.jpg"><img border="0"
height="106" src="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/
gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-q6d-
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t=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
It’s cover reveal day for Vicki Leigh’s CATCH ME WHEN I FALL! Lots of awesome
stuff going on, including a giveaway! But first, here's a special message from Vicki: <br /
>
<br />
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<div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/
embed/vc59e3yLhOs" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
And here's what CATCH ME WHEN I FALL is all about:<br />
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m_RFr0HUZMM/U4ykHTWFU6I/
AAAAAAAACBA/Gsay9hW8mA4/s1600/WHEN+I+FALL_Front+Cover.png"
style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0"
height="400" src="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/
gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-
m_RFr0HUZMM%2FU4ykHTWFU6I%2FAAAAAAAACBA%2FGsay9hW8mA4%2F
s1600%2FWHEN%2BI%2BFALL_Front%2BCover.png&container=blogger&
gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" width="322" /></a><i>Recruited at his death
to be a Protector of the Night, seventeen-year-old Daniel Graham has spent two-hundred
years fighting Nightmares and guarding humans from the clawed, red-eyed creatures that
feed off people’s fears. Each night, he risks his eternal life, having given up his chance
at an afterlife when he chose to become a Protector. That doesn’t stop a burnt-out Daniel
from risking daring maneuvers during each battle. He’s become one of the best, but he
wants nothing more than to stop.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Then he’s given an assignment to watch over sixteen-year-old Kayla Bartlett, a
clinically depressed patient in a psychiatric ward. Nightmares love a human with a
tortured past. Yet, when they take a deep interest in her, appearing in unprecedented
numbers, the job becomes more dangerous than any Daniel’s ever experienced. He fights
ruthlessly to keep the Nightmares from overwhelming his team and Kayla. Soon, Daniel
finds himself watching over Kayla during the day, drawn to why she’s different, and what
it is about her that attracts the Nightmares. And him.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A vicious attack on Kayla forces Daniel to break the first Law and reveal his identity.
Driven by his growing feelings for her, he whisks her away to Rome where others like
him can keep her safe. Under their roof, the Protectors discover what Kayla is and why
someone who can manipulate Nightmares has her in his sights. But before they can make
a move, the Protectors are betrayed and Kayla is kidnapped. Daniel will stop at nothing to
save her. Even if it means giving up his immortality.</i><br />
<br />
CATCH ME WHEN I FALL will be available on October 23, 2014 in both paperback
and e-book formats from <a href="http://www.curiosityquills.com/">Curiosity Quills
Press</a>. For more information, visit the book’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/
book/show/20826785-catch-me-when-i-fall?ac=1">Goodreads page</a>.<br />
<br />
Now, there can’t be a cover reveal without a giveaway, right? Lots of authors stopped by
and donated some fantastic books to help Vicki celebrate. You don’t want to miss out on
these! Here’s what you can win:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>An e-copy of CATCH ME WHEN I FALL by Vicki Leigh</li>
<li>A submission package critique (query+synopsis+first chap) from Vicki Leigh</li>
<li>An e-copy of HEIRS OF WAR by Mara Valderran</li>
<li>Two query+first chapter critiques from YA author Emily Stanford</li>
<li>A full manuscript critique from YA author Emily Stanford</li>
<li>An e-copy of WITHOUT BLOODSHED by Matthew Graybosch</li>
<li>A paperback of DESTRUCTION by Sharon Bayliss</li>
<li>An e-copy of KIYA: HOPE OF THE PHARAOH by Katie Teller</li>
<li>One query+first chapter critique from YA author Katie Teller</li>
<li>An e-copy of DARKNESS WATCHING by Emma Adams</li>
<li>A copy of DESCENDANT by Nichole Giles</li>
<li>An e-copy package of EVER and EVADE by Jessa Russo</li>
<li>A signed copy of DIVIDE by Jessa Russo</li>
<li>A copy of UNHINGED by A.G. Howard</li>
</ul>
<br />
Enter the giveaway below for your chance to win! All prizes will be accompanied by a
Dreamcatcher swag package from Vicki Leigh.<br />
<br />
Thanks for stopping by!<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-htcf0FSreN8/U46ilC4jTWI/AAAAAAAACXM/
_eGycOYTc2A/s1600/Vicki+Leigh_Author+Portrait+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1"
style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0"
src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-htcf0FSreN8/U46ilC4jTWI/AAAAAAAACXM/
_eGycOYTc2A/s1600/Vicki+Leigh_Author+Portrait+copy.jpg" height="320"
width="212" /></a></div>
<b><u>About Vicki:</u></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Adopted at three-days-old by a construction worker and a stay-at-home mom, Vicki
Leigh grew up in a small suburb of Akron, Ohio where she learned to read by the age of
four and considered being sent to her room for punishment as an opportunity to dive into
another book. By the sixth grade, Vicki penned her first, full-length screenplay. If she
couldn’t be a writer, Vicki would be a Hunter (think Dean and Sam Winchester) or a Jedi.
Her favorite place on earth is Hogwarts (she refuses to believe it doesn’t exist), and her
favorite dreams include solving cases alongside Sherlock Holmes. <br />
<br />
Vicki is an editor for Curiosity Quills Press, a co-founder of The Writer Diaries, and is
represented by Sarah Negovetich of Corvisiero Literary Agency.<br />
<br />
You can find Vicki at her <a href="http://www.vleighwrites.com/">website</
a> and <a href="http://www.vleighwrites.blogspot.com/">blog</a> and
on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/vleighwrites">Twitter</a>, <a href="http:/
/www.facebook.com/vickileighwrites">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://
www.pinterest.com/vleighwrites">Pinterest</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/
+vickileighwrites">Google+</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/
vickileighwrites">YouTube</a>, and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/
vleighwrites">Goodreads</a>.</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0de5901/" id="rc-
0de5901" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js"></script>Heather Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01944902414132999983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-72626922819668322922014-05-05T12:37:00.000-07:002014-05-05T12:37:03.305-07:00So You Want to Write an Ensemble CastHappy Cinco de Mayo, Secret Lifers! (: In the spirit of parties and the number five, I've got five tips for writing a great ensemble cast for you.<br />
<br />
I have this thing about ensemble casts. A lot of my projects feature teams, secret organizations, or groups of people working together for a common goal, and one of my biggest issues as a writer has been "how on earth do I get a number of people to work together without a) overwhelming the reader and b) actually helping people keep all these characters straight?"<br />
<br />
Okay, let's do this.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Each character has a certain base set of skills.</b><br />
If you, like me, enjoy RPGs and D&D, this will probably come naturally to you. Think of each of your characters as fitting into a certain class.<br />
<br />
Using classes as an underlying way to sort characters is useful-- you can balance out skills more easily. There's the people who can take a lot of physical damage and then the more vulnerable, magical characters. The magician's spells hurt more than physical attacks (often) but magicians cannot take a lot of physical damage. Perhaps it's most easy to see this working in a fantasy setting, but it can be applied to any group of characters.<br />
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As an example, there's this one military drama I love that takes place on a submarine. Maybe the people in the command room have some hand-to-hand combat training, but the sub's chief engineer is unlikely to be able to hold her own in a fight, even if she's the smartest person on the boat. Likewise, the ace mecha pilot might be able to accomplish his missions on the ground in record time, but he lacks the strategic foresight to always avoid falling into trouble.<br />
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One of the keys to getting the group to work logically together is having them cover each other's weak spots-- figure out ways for them to all balance each other out, with each person being useful. The flirty sniper isn't good at all with hand-to-hand combat, the brilliant strategist captain is actually terrible at fighting of any kind, and the mysterious lieutenant just lives through anything.<br />
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<b>2. Ensemble casts are a system of interchangeable parts</b><b>.</b><br />
Sometimes it's not necessarily that someone has a certain skill-- a lot of people in the story could have that same skill-- it depends on how good the characters are. Lots of people can drive a car, but maybe there's only one person good enough in your heist story to be the getaway driver.<br />
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Likewise, in the submarine drama, it's not hard to find someone can set the submarine's course-- the lieutenant commander can do it, the XO can do it, the captain can do it. But, if the submarine has to evade missiles and be pushed to its operating capability, then the captain (who's designed the sub from scratch and knows it better than anyone) has to be one giving orders.<br />
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This also helps you avoid falling into the chosen one trope, if you're not going for that. If a lot of people can fight an enemy but your protag is just trained to be the best at it, or if there are a lot of tacticians but your main character is the most resourceful, then we're more inclined to cheer for them on their merits than on their mysterious powers.<br />
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<b>3. Your main conflict is a ripple across character arcs.</b><br />
Here is a kind of ugly picture that I derped up in mspaint to illustrate this point.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjyOCTWaFs_flrCXgwU7ke8I_usotfVe75SrjsFNebsbSTmyfF5XQSU8VoGlQx11R8UFTj6rRWOalHfKfVKS63FAIcLXgsZDs3YHn7VImjhiATU8r6cwO-117RTN1rKe8jYXfMSlR8-g/s1600/plot+ripple+s&a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjyOCTWaFs_flrCXgwU7ke8I_usotfVe75SrjsFNebsbSTmyfF5XQSU8VoGlQx11R8UFTj6rRWOalHfKfVKS63FAIcLXgsZDs3YHn7VImjhiATU8r6cwO-117RTN1rKe8jYXfMSlR8-g/s1600/plot+ripple+s&a.png" height="287" width="320" /></a></div>
Okay, so the letters that are closest to the center of the ripple? Those people should be my main characters (this project had a lot of people running around it). I have my protag (D), the love interest/mentor (S), and the antagonist (J), right at the center. The conflict between them defines the book. The people at the center of the circle are the people whose lives change drastically based on this conflict (D becomes a coward, then re-learns how to be brave, always-honest S finds a reason to lie, D's best friend J finds a reason to hate him). Characters on the next ring out are ones that are more indirectly affected, and so on.<br />
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The closer you are to the center conflict, the more I need to see you change/evolve as a character across the story. The people on the outer ring may change a little, but for the most part, they're pretty constant-- they're the most minor of the characters. But on the four inner rings, each character changes in some way (the closer to the center, the larger the change) based on the main conflict.<br />
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<b>4. Help your reader remember all these great people. </b><br />
One of my favorite tricks for helping keep characters straight is associating different letters with them. If all your characters start with the letter J, it will be much harder for a reader to keep them all straight, especially the minor ones.<br />
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Granted, if you have a truly huge cast of characters (think <i>Game of Thrones</i> size), then sure, you're going to run through the alphabet very fast. In cases like this, it's probably better to look at family or clan names, and trying to make those unique, then assigning unique letters within them. (Where I'd normally think, "oh that's that T-named character from before!" then I can think "oh that's T-whatever of House S--")<br />
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Unique names are cool, but keep in mind what will stand out and what will make your characters blend in. A lot of unusual names together makes more common names stick out (in a sea of Haven's, Pierce's, and Asa's, a Thomas stands out). Likewise, in an expensive preparatory school setting in the US, it's more likely that characters with names like Rohit and Yosuke will stand out and be more memorable than Ashley and Jax. However, if your story is set in Seoul, then a character named Rosalie sticks out more than In Hwa Lee.<br />
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<b>5. Quirks win the day. </b><br />
What defines a character? Sometimes it's just as simple as being the guy who takes himself too seriously and acts snooty, or the specific way that a character opens a door and inexplicably stubs her ballet flat on things. If you can give us something specific, some human detail to associate with a character, something that they do different than anyone else, then we'll remember them more easily.<br />
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Good luck!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqWx2efIn2CBTKchTZBgKFFugp1ggiJ9LwQKtkppMVmQzm3lHjggvxDdiDNy6jpeFJAg5Fup_MKxIdbDUsWnD4qc6pUDa31Bnc6yY0N66m-9RIFLQJZyGAQ1TeNpVjjWQevPpKNcvhTY/s1600/alexpro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #f18f2f; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqWx2efIn2CBTKchTZBgKFFugp1ggiJ9LwQKtkppMVmQzm3lHjggvxDdiDNy6jpeFJAg5Fup_MKxIdbDUsWnD4qc6pUDa31Bnc6yY0N66m-9RIFLQJZyGAQ1TeNpVjjWQevPpKNcvhTY/s1600/alexpro.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 520px; overflow: hidden;" /></span></a><span style="background-color: white;">When <span style="font-size: medium;">Alex Yuschik </span>isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.</span><div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/alexyuschik" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">https://twitter.com/alexyuschik</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:alex.yuschik@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alex.yuschik@gmail.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">And also visit her website @: <a href="http://alexyuschik.wordpress.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alexyuschik.wordpress.com </a></span></div>
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Alex Yuschikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15930809566394865354noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-54711383671175557612014-05-02T07:00:00.000-07:002014-05-02T07:00:07.747-07:00That Time I Met a Fellow Secret Lifer and CP: Farrah PennIf you follow me on Instagram, then you probably saw the photos I shared from my trip to Los Angeles last weekend. This trip came about because of the awesome lineup the Pasadena Library put together for their first ever <a href="http://pasadenateenbookfestival.com/">Teen Book Festival</a>.<br />
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I knew I couldn't miss out on this wonderful opportunity, and immediately talked my critique partner <a href="https://twitter.com/farrahwrites">Farrah Penn</a> into attending the event with me. This was a big deal for us because we've been friends via Twitter as long as we've been critique partners. Of course, we text often and SnapChat almost as frequently, but we've never actually met in person.<br />
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So when April 26th finally came around, I packed up and hit the road around 2AM to make it in time for the event. I was super excited to meet Farrah IRL, and I couldn't wait to surprise her with an ARC of GATEWAY; a book she helped get published by reading it who-knows-how-many-times. Here we are shortly after I arrived in L.A.:<br />
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Yay!! How fun is that? I totally kept it a secret, which we all know is hard for me when I can't share things on Twitter. I got the ARCs that week and was dying to share them with the world. Keeping the secret was totally worth it, though. (Side note: If you don't already know, Farrah is also a fellow Secret Life of Writers blogger, as well as a fabulous writer of YA contemporary who's represented by the awesome Suzie Townsend from <a href="http://newleafliterary.com/">New Leaf Literary</a>.)<br />
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Seriously. Farrah's support has been absolutely wonderful. I don't know what Gateway would be without her, and I don't even want to think about it. That's how much of an impact she's had on my writing, which I'm sure goes for all of us with critique partners. Not to mention that she's just an overall sweetheart. I greatly enjoyed our chats and wished I could have stayed a little longer.<br />
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In true critique partner fashion, Farrah couldn't let me leave without signing her copy, which I happily obliged:<br />
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P.S. Signing your own book for the first time is a pretty surreal experience. I sat there and thought about what to write for a good five minutes.<br />
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With all that being said, I keep hearing rumors that Farrah's gonna visit the weekend of my book launch. Let it be known, I'm holding her to it. haha Cheers!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKM3IprXXjE-cjBwJIdTKa2uUViTxOpIvZ06ReNDpoEqCHt9H532Blk0ePhVFkgsHPpS7Abbh96mhyphenhypheni3FngpjqrZzmZKgeBPUhl8Cfb3A2FejLyhfnmEyBtowNOoASht_DcKRqlSTNHPC/s1600/miniiiiii.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKM3IprXXjE-cjBwJIdTKa2uUViTxOpIvZ06ReNDpoEqCHt9H532Blk0ePhVFkgsHPpS7Abbh96mhyphenhypheni3FngpjqrZzmZKgeBPUhl8Cfb3A2FejLyhfnmEyBtowNOoASht_DcKRqlSTNHPC/s1600/miniiiiii.png" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitsBckMXQ30h0y0NF0waN_7t8JrYcQctwgubxoLxetiTq_kKcR18M4mkV9RZX5u6dViWB-c5vyXyWaqm9scPZJrAV_zVIMnRDNYdIqtI9yv9tNeRVPgONuzYok0p-qTzP8p7Pwbh_IlLzW/s1600/heather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitsBckMXQ30h0y0NF0waN_7t8JrYcQctwgubxoLxetiTq_kKcR18M4mkV9RZX5u6dViWB-c5vyXyWaqm9scPZJrAV_zVIMnRDNYdIqtI9yv9tNeRVPgONuzYok0p-qTzP8p7Pwbh_IlLzW/s1600/heather.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Heather Marie </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">is a YA writer who loves all things creepy. She enjoys writing horror/supernatural stories that make you question that feeling of someone watching over your shoulder. Heather spends most of her days reading and writing and plotting her next idea. When she's not in her writing cave, she enjoys watching creepy TV shows with her husband and picking apart plot holes in movies.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Her YA debut,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19089172-the-gateway-through-which-they-came" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">THE GATEWAY THROUGH WHICH THEY CAME</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">, releases August 25th, 2014 from Curiosity Quills.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">You can find her on Twitter @:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/xheatherxmariex" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/HeatherMarieYA" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">http://twitter.com/HeatherMarieYA</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">And visit her website @:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://HeatherMarieYA.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">http://HeatherMarieYA.com</a></span>Heather Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01944902414132999983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-63743283169427198062014-04-30T05:41:00.000-07:002014-04-30T05:41:43.961-07:00Guest Post: ADVICE ON BLURBS: HOW NOT TO DO IT <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Today, we have a special guest! Here's Nicole Wolverton with how NOT to request blurbs! Take it away, Nicole!</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can we get a round of applause for Nicole?!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So last weekend I was at the </span><a href="http://www.rosemont.edu/about-us/newsevents/book-festival/index.aspx"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Rosemont College Book Festival</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> to sign copies of my psychological thriller, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Trajectory-Dreams-Nicole-Wolverton/dp/1938463447/"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">THE TRAJECTORY OF DREAMS</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">. Another writer approached me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“How did you get Emily St. John Mandel
to blurb your book?” he asked. “Do you know her?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I shook my head. “I have no idea why she
agreed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Probably not the answer he wanted to
hear, but it’s the truth. And it’s true of all three wonderful writers who
blurbed my novel. One of them had been a guest judge for </span><a href="http://www.writeonwendy.com/5minutefiction/"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Five
Minute Fiction</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> when I was organizing
it, but none of them knew me or owed me a solid. So how did it happen? And what
is the process for securing blurbs anyway?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In some cases, the marketing and
promotions team at your publishing house may want to target certain writers,
perhaps writers also published with your imprint or writers who are well-known
in your genre. Often, though, you—the writer—will be responsible for soliciting
your own blurbs, whether you’re being published with one of the big houses (HarperCollins,
for instance) or your book is coming out with a small press (like Bitingduck
Press, who published my novel). That’s clearly true if you’re opting to
self-publish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Yeah, think about that: you have to
email writers you admire, most of whom you don’t know or have no connection to,
in order ask them for a huge favor. That’s not mortifying or fraught with
opportunities to embarrass yourself <i>at
all</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So, today, I give you the top four ways </span><u><span style="font-size: large;">NOT</span></u><span style="font-size: small;">
to solicit blurbs:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Be a jerk</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">. Assertiveness is key when dealing with strangers
from whom you want something, so definitely skip the polite request to consider
your manuscript for a blurb. Simply assume each writer on your wish list has
the time and inclination to read your novel, no matter how long or out of their
genre it is—either attach it right to the email and give them a two-day
deadline to have your blurb in hand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Be creepy</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">. In your email, be a total fangirl. Not normal
fangirl-y but the stalker type. Mention that you know where the writer lives
and will be happy to stop by to read the entire manuscript aloud to them. Be
sure to include a line about something you found in their garbage during your
last pilgrimage to his or her house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Take it public</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">. You should totally pressure each writer on your list
to blurb your book by posting about it on your blog, on Facebook or Tumblr, or
by tweeting incessantly at each person on your wish list. But the very best way
to get your writers to say yes is to bug their friends and followers, asking
them to convince the folks on your list to provide a blurb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Throw a hissy
fit.</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> Are the writers on your wish
list playing coy? Don’t they know who you are? Bombard them with emails to let
them know exactly how miserable and stingy they are. Take to your social media
accounts to ream them out for not jumping at the chance to read your brilliant
manuscript. Complain to anyone who will listen about how badly you’re being
treated by the writing community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, and no matter what . . . never, ever
say thank you. For any reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, go forth and request your blurbs!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Nicole Wolverton spends an inordinate amount of time
figuring out what makes people creeped out and uncomfortable. And when she’s
not scheming or writing, she can be found running (for fun, not from things),
dragon <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>boating, or cooking. Publisher’s Weekly calls Nicole’s
psychological thriller, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Trajectory-Dreams-Nicole-Wolverton/dp/1938463447/"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">THE TRAJECTORY OF DREAMS</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">, a “skillful […] examination of a psychotic woman’s
final descent into insanity,” while The Millions describes it as “wholly
original and fearlessly dark.” She is represented by Michelle Witte of Mansion
Street Literary Management. Nicole writes young adult and adult horror and
thrillers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hang out with her on
Twitter: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/nicolewolverton"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">@nicolewolverton</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">or on
</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicole-Wolverton-author/150115921710406"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Visit
her website: </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Leah/Desktop/Writing%202014/www.nicolewolverton.com"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.nicolewolverton.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Leah Rae Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15016306009472838900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-36767865117742063662014-04-28T11:27:00.000-07:002014-04-28T11:27:08.835-07:00Love, Money, and MetaphorsSo I don't know if you guys saw the results from the epic writing survey that were posted a few weeks ago, but if not, <a href="http://secretlifeofwriters.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-slow-writers-survey-results.html">you should go here and check them out.</a> Definitely interesting stuff. One of the questions that was particularly interesting to me was this one:<br />
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What's the best part about writing for everyone, we wondered?</div>
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You probably need to click it to make it bigger and see, but the main thing that caught my attention here was the last answer--"The Money." Zero people said this is why they wrote. This wasn't especially surprising to me, because it's probably the one constant piece of "advice" that I've gotten since embarking on this "make writing a career" journey however long ago it was now. That is, "Don't do it for the money." </div>
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Because if that's what you're here for, then most likely, you're going to end up severely disappointed and frustrated.</div>
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Five years ago, when I was writing that first book, this was easy enough advice to get behind. I'd loved writing for as long as I could remember, and I loved the idea of simply writing a book-- of accomplishing that, and seeing it through to the end, regardless of what came next. It was nothing except the sheer joy of words and the amazing feeling that came when you managed to string them into a whole, coherent story. When you'd created a world and cast of characters entirely in your head, and then--with even just a little bit of success--managed to recreate those things on the page for other people to see and believe in. And that's what it's all about. It's cheesy, but even just typing those last few sentences made me feel all warm and fuzzy, because it woke up that part of me inside that said <i>oh yeah. that <b>is</b> what this writing thing is </i><i style="font-weight: bold;">supposed </i><i>to be about.</i></div>
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But--and brace yourselves, because this is the part of the post where I'm going to level with you--I have to be honest, those warm and fuzzies have gotten harder to feel, the longer I've been at this. After that first book, I wrote three more before I was offered representation. And with each book, though I didn't really notice it at the time, I think it became less about the simple joy of writing, and more of a complex combination of yes-I-love-writing-but-what-I'd-really-love-is-a-book-deal-now-please-and-thanks. It became about not failing at something I'd already dedicated so much time to. About getting to the point where the accepts started outnumbering the rejections.</div>
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This is a hard post to write. I debated about posting it, even after drafting it and thinking about it forever, because I'm not sure how this reflects on my character; I've had enough private conversations with fellow writers to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way, but in public? In public it seems that often we're only allowed to talk about how much we love writing, and how we would do it forever and ever even if we never saw anything but rejection from it.To feel differently--even on only the occasional bad day--means that GASP! we must not be real writers! Real writers do it because they love writing. Period. </div>
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But I don't know if it's that simple. Yes, real writers love writing. Obviously. Obviously, <i>some </i>part of me is madly in love with writing, too--because if it wasn't, I seriously doubt I would have spent four years writing four books only to have the publishing door slammed in my face over and over again. Yes, some part of it was sheer stubbornness; but stubbornness alone doesn't write a book. Not a publishable book, anyway. And I eventually wrote a publishable book. I hope to write many more publishable books. And yes, some part of me would always be a writer, even if I never managed to make anything resembling a career out of this.</div>
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But this is where it's gotten tricky for me, and why I think this topic has been on my heart lately: because once you're published (or soon-to-be-published), it becomes harder to think about that simple love that got you writing books in the first place. You suddenly have Expectations. You have people who have read your debut book and asked about sequels. You have an editor and possibly an agent who you have to keep on impressing. You have well-meaning friends and family who want to know when you'll be quitting your day job since you're obviously making a ton of money now (ha!). Or who want to know when you're going to stop spending so much time writing and get a real job (because they know how poor you actually still are). </div>
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And when you don't know what to tell these people, it's hard. It's disheartening. You get tired of explaining to people that publishing is slow and there's nothing you can do about it, and that yes, it's a HUGE accomplishment to have gotten a book deal in the first place, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're "in" at that point, or that it's all going to be smooth sailing from then on, or that this is even an actual, viable career now. There are still a lot more hurdles to leap. A lot more books to write. And now you're writing with all these people staring at you, wondering what's going to come next in your fledgling career--and to top it all off, a lot of what happens in said career is out of your control. That is, basically, everything except the actual writing is out of your control. Wheee.</div>
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It's sort of how romantic relationships often go, isn't it? You start out all infatuated and loving everything about your partner, but then you start noticing how annoying their laugh is and then suddenly they're all "sorry but you're not quite right for my list right now" and you're like "well, damn". And then you have to decide if what you have goes deeper than infatuation, and if it's worth it to keep fighting until you get it right. Or something like that half-assed metaphor.</div>
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On to my point, though (yes, I did have a point all along, I promise): this post isn't meant to be a complaint, or a woe-is-me-publishing-is-so-hard-and-unfair sort of rant, just for the record. I am ETERNALLY grateful to know that I will have a book on the shelves in September, even if it's the only one that ever makes it to said shelves. But in the true spirit of this blog--revealing the <i>secret </i>life after surviving the slushpile and such--I thought it was time for another painfully honest topic. So here you go. Bottom line? The warm-and-fuzzy feeling that writing gives you may not always be as warm and fuzzy as it was when you first started. Sometimes it will be downright cold and prickly and you'll probably wonder if it was ever there in the first place, or if you were just fooling yourself. I personally don't think that makes you less of a "real writer"; it just makes you human. To revisit my terrible metaphor, all good relationships--including the one I share with my writing--need work sometimes. And sometimes you want to just completely break-up and crank up some Taylor Swift and tell your polished turd of a manuscript that you are never ever ever getting back together, and that's totally okay and I'm totally not judging you for that. Also, I have no idea how Taylor Swift just became a part of this post.</div>
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Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Scott-- aka: my spirit animal.</div>
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Anyway, the trick, I guess, is to just do what you can to not lose that warm feeling completely. Maybe write some random bad poetry that you're never going to show anybody. Read a book for pure <i>enjoyment</i> and pay no attention to how it compares to yours, or how the writer crafted this or that. Remind yourself that writing is actually really, really hard, and then go eat a cupcake. Fall asleep dreaming of words and scenes you want to write, even on the bad days when you didn't actually write a single word. You're still a writer, even on those days. And it's that warm feeling that will remind you of that over and over. You just have to hang on to it, and let it convince you to write one. more. sentence. Even when you're pretty sure nobody else in the publishing world wants anything to do with those sentences. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiljVWn4ysSUvqwwKS5ws9S9cr_hJxM0cjrokpD156dj78Dt-L99e6w_NMl6ThKd0VEaEbA6qSM-a_AdCJfPB1uYyqHwlDMBRPszgNLFVqFh5DFRAfb__DG_4qds9M32UoAXZLzEuyX4/s1600/EY1A0425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiljVWn4ysSUvqwwKS5ws9S9cr_hJxM0cjrokpD156dj78Dt-L99e6w_NMl6ThKd0VEaEbA6qSM-a_AdCJfPB1uYyqHwlDMBRPszgNLFVqFh5DFRAfb__DG_4qds9M32UoAXZLzEuyX4/s1600/EY1A0425.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Stefanie Gaither </span>writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17559487-falls-the-shadow">You can add it on Goodreads here!</a></div>
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You can find her on Twitter @: <a href="https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither" target="_blank"><span style="text-align: left;">https://twitter.com/s</span>tefaniegaither</a></div>
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Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:stefanie.gaither@gmail.com" target="_blank">stefanie.gaither@gmail.com</a></div>
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And also visit her website @: <a href="http://www.stefaniegaither.com/">www.stefaniegaither.com</a><br />
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<br />Stefanie Gaitherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395840199437943202noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-75667093022074321562014-04-25T08:31:00.000-07:002014-04-25T08:32:39.296-07:00The Book AFTER the Book That Snags Your AgentHey, lovelies!<br />
<br />
Today I'm dishing out some behind-the-scenes info I wish I would have known before I signed with my agent. When I was in the query trenches, I didn't think that far ahead. I didn't even ponder the idea that <i>after</i> the contract signing and going on submission, I would eventually show my agent another book.<br />
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But eventually, there will be another book. The idea of that was…terrifying to me. Mostly because I did not enjoy the query trenches, like just about everyone, and I never ever ever ever ever want to go back there. Ever. Thoughts would flick around my mind like "What if she hates it and she drops me?", "What if she reads it and thinks I'm a hack and she made a mistake?", "What if I run out of wine while I'm waiting for her to finish reading it?" (Good news, that last problem was totally solvable.)<br />
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A year and a half later, after I clicked "send" on that email containing my wimpy excuse for a second book, I've learned a few things about this whole publishing thingy we're doing:<br />
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<b>1) It won't be perfect. </b>I can just about guarantee that no matter how many drafts you did before you sent your next manuscript to your agent, it will not be perfect. You will have to do at least another round of revisions with your agent, and they may even be major revisions. (In my case, seven. But who's counting?) And, from what I've heard, there's a high probability that you may even have to do more rounds this time than you did with the book you queried with. Why is this? *shrugs* I have no idea. My theory is that we spend <i>so much time</i> tweaking and prepping and polishing that first book, and less than we realize on the second because we don't have to query. It may be because we grow as writers, and we're trying out more complex story lines. Either way, you're going to have to revise. A lot. And that is A-OKAY. Your agent doesn't expect it to be perfect right away, either.<br />
<br />
<b>2) Dream bigger, darling. </b>I wrote a little bit about this for Camp NaNoWriMo <a href="http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/81999014960/ask-an-author-could-you-share-your-query-letter-that" target="_blank">this month</a>, but basically, make sure you're with someone you trust deeply. I hope when you queried, you looked for someone you would want to be with for the long haul. And what that means is not just someone who has the connections to sell your book, but someone you actually <i>like</i>. As a person. Bonus points if you have similar tastes. The reason for this is because you greatly heighten the chances that your agent is going to love your next book this way. If you know that you both love the same books, themes, music, whatever, then there's a huge chance you're going to produce something that she is excited about and wants to submit. Why does this matter, you ask? Because if your agent is excited about the story you're trying to tell, she will do everything in her power to help you tell it. For me, that meant endless brainstorming sessions, outlines, and her willingness to read this thing seven times.<br />
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<b>2) It's okay to be assertive. This is your career. </b>You have an agent now, and that's great! You're making a career out of this writing thing you love to do. (Note: This is not saying that if you self-pub or don't have an agent, you don't have a career. For the purposes of this post, I'm just talking the traditional publishing route.) So remember, this is your destiny, and you're co-creating it with your agent now. If she gives you revision suggestions, it is <i>okay</i> to question them, to disagree with her, and to come up with a new solution together. Honestly, I followed almost all of my agent's suggestions because I agreed with them. But the ones I didn't agree with, we talked about, and I explained why I didn't want to change them. Ultimately, we came up with an even better idea when I voiced my concerns over it. You never quite know what magic could happen when you're honest about your work.<br />
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<i>That's all, folks! I wish I would have known all this when I first sent that manuscript. What are some things you've learned along the path to publication? </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVEbTKLnxUyr2dGfs_HpnCu4wD0FYl5ALlMJKfGN9xZVVPJ27nKOdIkN4hU3ZHmYN7yN8o8alAGwUjmlE-4oDvcFwvzzEML2ZImGHXSPBPmzGAuW9wezecs_9ByQoWyUfnkQPZ2HW9mQ/s1600/miniiiiii.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVEbTKLnxUyr2dGfs_HpnCu4wD0FYl5ALlMJKfGN9xZVVPJ27nKOdIkN4hU3ZHmYN7yN8o8alAGwUjmlE-4oDvcFwvzzEML2ZImGHXSPBPmzGAuW9wezecs_9ByQoWyUfnkQPZ2HW9mQ/s1600/miniiiiii.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAfPoxx21wPicveQQks3QxhBNoYqTT1qhjJ3q8g_WWXpxj84iRDoIMlzPrgfTwMRJUa4gTcOU1Oo52go8vjMcvPaZ5ooKmHhsIWk3wyhwxNYeCkL6dwxmOvDgzE-sa7dnQScMAIjpIgw/s1600/andreapro.png" /></a><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; line-height: 25px;">Andrea Hannah</span><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> writes about delusional girls, disappearances, and darkness with a touch of magic. When she's not writing, Andrea runs, teaches, consumes epic amounts of caffeine, and tries to figure out how to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (unsuccessful to date). She's represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman-Schneider/ICM, and her debut novel, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, is coming from Flux in Fall 2014. You can add it on Goodreads </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584569-of-scars-and-stardust" style="color: #f18f2f; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">You can find her on Twitter @: <a href="http://twitter.com/andeehannah" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/andeehannah</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Drop her an email @: <a href="mailto:andeehannah@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">andreahannahbooks@gmail.com</a><br />And visit her website @: <a href="http://www.andreahannah.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.andreahannah.com/</a></span></div>
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Andrea Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04894675758048634275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-4496486187463900072014-04-23T10:13:00.000-07:002014-04-23T10:13:10.347-07:0032 Things You Can Do While You’re Playing the Waiting GameYou know what waiting game I’m talking about. The one where you’ve submitted your query or submission and are waiting for days--nay! Weeks!--or (GASP) <i>MONTHS</i>. The waiting game where you find yourself constantly refreshing your email to the point where you eventually convince yourself you have actually and literally broken the internet. <br />
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Don’t worry, friends. I feel you. That’s why I’m sharing my super important list of things you can do while you’re waiting. <br />
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32) Play on PhotoBooth. Because you haven’t done that shizz in so long. <br />
31) Learn all the dance moves to this sweet jam (the real moves begin at 2:48)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/le8vixtpX6Q" width="420"></iframe><br />
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29) Read the entire Harry Potter series.<br />
28) Go on a walk.<br />
27) Watch baby panda videos on the YouTubez.<br />
26) Become a Vine star.<br />
25) Realize you’re not funny enough to become a Vine star and eat an entire pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.<br />
24) Learn how to juggle. <br />
23) Go online shopping. <br />
22) Repaint your living room. <br />
21) Go to the dentist for your semi-annual teeth cleaning (you know you’ve been putting it off). <br />
20) Go through your childhood Disney movies and watch all of them because you can’t decide on just one. <br />
19) Have a nice Sunday brunch. <br />
18) Do learn how to do something you’ve always wanted to:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmnANbTDrSYaiR8-Smq7RrZYsjtWO9WeeASCkG3f3slWqO2_EISQGtayGC_ppfO-fuSzZoRm0XCBjDKCnWMcTB8mogDHd0gD-AKSkmEBBgjsR7fh52x7zJ816FEUMJEEVqdkShJdULew/s1600/josh.gif"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmnANbTDrSYaiR8-Smq7RrZYsjtWO9WeeASCkG3f3slWqO2_EISQGtayGC_ppfO-fuSzZoRm0XCBjDKCnWMcTB8mogDHd0gD-AKSkmEBBgjsR7fh52x7zJ816FEUMJEEVqdkShJdULew/s1600/josh.gif" /></a><br />
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17) Clean your entire house.<br />
16) Remember how much you hate cleaning.<br />
15) Drink a glass of wine and have a Johnny Depp movie marathon instead. <br />
14) Tumblr for 5475849367857079734857438562457492 hours. <br />
13) Find your 30 seconds of fame:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeR6WP3V-Uk2MLwRu5ym9syhVKW9x3QsvZ9T4KMLFar8ySSm3TJN0_8wiRF8EYvWwilpJ-XGpXNEAf49c3lC9wfvCsjbu91jgif2jhhPf9tC26vaj9Lnpe14JaZXa3ULoSJDQfVpSUm5s/s1600/fame.gif"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeR6WP3V-Uk2MLwRu5ym9syhVKW9x3QsvZ9T4KMLFar8ySSm3TJN0_8wiRF8EYvWwilpJ-XGpXNEAf49c3lC9wfvCsjbu91jgif2jhhPf9tC26vaj9Lnpe14JaZXa3ULoSJDQfVpSUm5s/s1600/fame.gif" /></a><br />
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12) Prank call some people.<br />
11) Create a super cool invention:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeozky4zMqFEXAtoJz3p2vVhFtGziAi4a_JP7SPcNqb6oY7b_GpQTnGo_BNMux4yZxe6aSF-3cT3XBH58TWedK8cQVMVqiP8695rIA3cjm88_MrUxn8EoiPH-FTso3QhJkRKidj52J5zY/s1600/invention.gif"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeozky4zMqFEXAtoJz3p2vVhFtGziAi4a_JP7SPcNqb6oY7b_GpQTnGo_BNMux4yZxe6aSF-3cT3XBH58TWedK8cQVMVqiP8695rIA3cjm88_MrUxn8EoiPH-FTso3QhJkRKidj52J5zY/s1600/invention.gif" /></a><br />
10) Play Cards Against Humanity with friends.<br />
9) Read a bunch of food blogs.<br />
8) Get inspired to cook a bomb meal.<br />
7) Realize you don’t have half the ingredients and order a pizza instead.<br />
6) Listen to music:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7Xz2scDVusxnO8KUA_hAeJnwRDH-d3cojzHqAMq7DFMPfGvkZXXGjjp3mMTzoEx58fGP3XndM6xiLfAKPQq6tTwRSqly8iqgbE07FQaeAND3r6lziMZVI6OnoYH4fNozuspfUkOdjsI/s1600/music.gif"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7Xz2scDVusxnO8KUA_hAeJnwRDH-d3cojzHqAMq7DFMPfGvkZXXGjjp3mMTzoEx58fGP3XndM6xiLfAKPQq6tTwRSqly8iqgbE07FQaeAND3r6lziMZVI6OnoYH4fNozuspfUkOdjsI/s1600/music.gif" /></a><br />
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5) Marathon all 10 seasons of Friends<br />
4) Try and paint your cat’s nails.<br />
3) Realize that was a seriously bad idea. <br />
2) Watch videos of celebrities falling on stage. <br />
1) Watch every Jennifer Lawrence interview ever in existence. <br />
<br />
Or I guess you can be a responsible writer and write another book, tackle your TBR, or critique other’s WIPs. But just in case you need other ideas . . . the list is here for you. ;)
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Hey guys! We haven't done a writing prompt/exercise in a while, so I figured it might be fun to bring that back. I'm a big fan of daily writing exercises, and one of the easiest things to help me flesh out characters, back stories, or ideas for plots is using prompts. If you haven't tried writing with prompts before, it's really fun. Currently, I'm working a lot with photo prompts, but words/phrases and songs are also great to use.</div>
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Today's prompt is the picture below or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=cE6wxDqdOV0&feature=kp">this song</a> (or both, for you overachievers out there).<b> Write up a response as long or short as you like, leave the link in the comments, and I'll choose one person to win their choice of a query critique or crit of their first five pages Tuesday night.</b> Don't worry too much about editing-- the purpose is more to write, have fun with it, and see what cool things other people can come up with given the same prompt. </div>
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My take on the picture's below. It's a scene after my WIP's protag Gemma bargains her way out of captivity and things don't go quite as she'd planned. Good luck, and have fun!</div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Clouds cut into the air and blur the horizon line, and the mid-morning humidity weighs down her clothes. Escaping should feel better than this-- less damp and cloudy, but windier, warmer, clearer. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">This is nowhere she recognizes, and Gemma's hands curl up into themselves. Of course. This is just what happens when you bargain with stars, and Bet wouldn't have done it any other way. He's one of them, after all. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">She hears the sound before the pain snakes up her arm-- the staccato slap of flesh on metal, her palm stinging from where it smacked the yellow fence overlooking the gully. Bet. She'd even nicknamed him, because Betelgeuse was a mouthful. Even now, she can recall his easy smile, dark eyes, the way he shrugged acquiescence when she'd laid out the terms for their trade. He'd seemed so good, and that should have tipped her off from the start. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Gemma leans over the railing and looks down. Brush and woodland debris, a railroad, a factory whose smokestacks reach high enough up to hold the fog in place like a low ceiling. She has eleven dollars in her pocket, a dead phone, and keys to a car and house that may be hundreds of miles away for all she knows. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">It's not uncommon for people to come back like this: in the middle of nowhere or stumbling through foreign cities like addicts strung out between fixes. That's just how stars work: they screw you over. Gemma closes her eyes and breathes in the wet air. So what if Bet wasn't any different? She got out. She may have no idea where she is, no easy way home, but she got out, and that's all that matters. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Soon, she will walk down the street to the police officer and ask him for the date, place, and time in her most affable manner. He will look at her over the rims of his dark glasses, like Bet looked at her with his black hole eyes, tell her what she asks for, then mutter<em style="border: none;"> aw hell, another bright one</em> when he thinks she's too far to hear. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">And soon she will wander through this city without a name, shrouded in fog and decaying letters, and somehow, slowly, she will find her way home again. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqWx2efIn2CBTKchTZBgKFFugp1ggiJ9LwQKtkppMVmQzm3lHjggvxDdiDNy6jpeFJAg5Fup_MKxIdbDUsWnD4qc6pUDa31Bnc6yY0N66m-9RIFLQJZyGAQ1TeNpVjjWQevPpKNcvhTY/s1600/alexpro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #f18f2f; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqWx2efIn2CBTKchTZBgKFFugp1ggiJ9LwQKtkppMVmQzm3lHjggvxDdiDNy6jpeFJAg5Fup_MKxIdbDUsWnD4qc6pUDa31Bnc6yY0N66m-9RIFLQJZyGAQ1TeNpVjjWQevPpKNcvhTY/s1600/alexpro.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 520px; overflow: hidden;" /></span></a><span style="background-color: white;">When <span style="font-size: medium;">Alex Yuschik </span>isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.</span><div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;">You can find her on Twitter @: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/alexyuschik" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">https://twitter.com/alexyuschik</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Or drop her an email at: <a href="mailto:alex.yuschik@gmail.com" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alex.yuschik@gmail.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">And also visit her website @: <a href="http://alexyuschik.wordpress.com/" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">alexyuschik.wordpress.com</a></span></div>
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Alex Yuschikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15930809566394865354noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-19860425552605220092014-04-18T07:00:00.000-07:002014-04-18T07:14:18.874-07:00How to Be a Writer and Keep Your FriendsIf you're like me, then you probably stay home most days. Like, everydayyoupossiblycan. I've always been okay with being home by myself and not talking for hours, but over the last few years, I've gotten much worse. When I was single and living in Downtown Sacramento, it was easy to get away with staying in. People never really noticed, and if they did, they never really cared. Friends would bug me every now and again to go out, and I'd make up an excuse that involved not having money and such. Which was partially true. Actually, the no-money-thing is more true today than it was then, but anyway.<br />
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But I'm not that single-hermit-girl anymore. I'm married and have a husband who reminds me that I have to be a human being sometimes. I'm a daughter and a friend and a co-worker. I'm all these things to people who expect me to BE who they want me to be. I'm supposed to go out and have a good time and laugh and whatever else normal people do. I'm supposed to listen and react and say something that matters. But these things don't come easy for me. It's hard to explain to the outside world, but I know YOU understand, my friends.<br />
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Being a writer means there's always something needing to be done. There's always another chapter, or another deadline, or another shiny book idea. You're always thinking and plotting and itching to tap your fingers against the fading keys of your keyboard. Sometimes you're stuck on Act II and your characters suddenly come to life in your head and everything <i>clicks! </i>Sometimes you want to be able to drop whatever is it your doing and run home to flesh out the words, but you can't. You can't because you're supposed to be available. You're supposed to be human.<br />
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I forget that sometimes. I forget that I'm not the only person in my quiet little world. That I'm supposed to interact and show the people I love most that they matter. And just because <i>I'm </i>okay with being locked inside all day, every day, doesn't mean that my family and friends are.<br />
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So I force myself to go out. And, yes, I mean force myself. But not in a bad way, though it sounds that way. I have to tell myself that it's okay to let things go. For another day. Maybe two. Because even when that book has come to an end, it's the people on the outside waiting to share <i>their</i> stories with <i>me</i>.<br />
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I'm writing this for myself, and for you, as a reminder. It's easy for us to lose sight of the things that are the most important. Because even though that lingering deadline is staring us down like a fire-breathing dragon, we have to be able to battle it 'til the death, while still maintaining our muggle form.<br />
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So go out today, maybe even tomorrow (hell, why not both days!), and be a human being. There are so many story ideas out there, waiting to be discovered. We just have to leave our comfy little writing caves in order to find them.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Heather Marie </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">is a YA writer who loves all things creepy. She enjoys writing horror/supernatural stories that make you question that feeling of someone watching over your shoulder. Heather spends most of her days reading and writing and plotting her next idea. When she's not in her writing cave, she enjoys watching creepy TV shows with her husband and picking apart plot holes in movies.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Her YA debut,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19089172-the-gateway-through-which-they-came" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">THE GATEWAY THROUGH WHICH THEY CAME</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">, releases August 25th, 2014 from Curiosity Quills.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">You can find her on Twitter @:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/xheatherxmariex" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/HeatherMarieYA" style="color: #f18f2f; text-decoration: none;">http://twitter.com/HeatherMarieYA</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">And visit her website @: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cardo; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f18f2f;"><a href="http://HeatherMarieYA.com/">http://HeatherMarieYA.com</a></span></span><br />
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<br />Heather Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01944902414132999983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3066621724249194131.post-74503748926985339452014-04-16T11:11:00.000-07:002014-04-16T11:11:26.034-07:00A Love Letter to ReadersI've been up to my ears in work lately. And the end is not in sight. So, the anxiety monster has been poking his little head over my shoulder quite frequently. I've been fighting the "I sucks" on a regular basis. I'm always reaching out to my awesome writer pals and they're always there to cheer me on. But you know what really lights a fire under my ass? Readers.<div>
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Readers, bloggers, reviewers, all you lovely people who take the time to read those silly words I put down. To all of you who post reviews, be they one star or a billion. To all of you bloggers who put my book in your multitude of Top Ten lists, be it a Top Ten Rereads or your Top Ten "I don't get it"s. Can I just say THANK YOU! </div>
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Sometimes I dread sitting down at my manuscript. On those days, all it takes is a kind word from a reader to get my fingers typing. And sometimes, all it takes is a one star review to get those fingers typing, too. Because I want to do better. </div>
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They say, "Write for yourself." And there's a lot of truth to that, but I also think it's a good idea to find a balance. Yes, write for yourself, because if you don't love what you're doing, it's probably not going to turn out well. But I think we should also write for our audience. Give them what they want!</div>
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Recently there was a hashtag on twitter started by <a href="https://twitter.com/ShaelynCherie" target="_blank">@ShaelynCherie</a> called #RBWL or Reader Blogger Wish List. It's similar to the #MSWL (Manuscript Wish List) editors and agents do where they tweet what kind of stories they want to see, but I think #RBWL might be more important. These are requests from the people who really, really matter: THE READERS (sorry agents and editors). </div>
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So, here's my writerly advice for the day. Whether you're published or aspiring, get to know your audience. Read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, start conversations and get their opinions. Because just like you want to write the best words you can, they want to read the best words you can write! They don't want to hate your book, they want to love it! </div>
Leah Rae Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15016306009472838900noreply@blogger.com2