Coming out in the Fall featuring a story by yours truly. Is ths a beautiful cover or WHAT??
Friday, June 24, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
CRACK THE CODE WINNER!
A loud click sounds within the door. Heart drumming, you pull on the handle and the monstrous round door swings open.*08 46 10 *
Congrats goes to *Jenni Merritt * who successfully CRACKED the CODE at The Bookshelf Muse, winning my 3 chapter critique of your YA novel, plus an ARC of IF I TELL. Please contact me as soon as possible so I can get your prize to you! Thanks everyone for playing along & helping to celebrate a great writing community. :)
Monday, June 13, 2011
How to Write What You Don't Know- Chandler Craig
Chandler Craig is an up and coming YA writer who is repped by Daniel Lazar at Writer's House, which pretty much guarantees she's a fabulous writer. She is also currently ghost writing novels which means she's being published but it's all secret agent like, because if she told us her pen name she might have to kill us or something. So we won't even ask. For life preservation and such.
Chandler also has a great blog, Fumbling with Fiction that you can find here.
So, not only is Chandler a brilliant writer with a truly cool author name, but she's also a law student, which pretty much guarantees that her brain is full of smart. And to top it off, she's gorgeous. However, despite the unfair distribution of beauty, brains and writing finesse I decided we should not hate her because she's also a really, really nice person!
And now... a GUEST POST from CHANDLER CRAIG!
Writing What You Don't Know
So, I thought since I was coming on Janet’s blog, it would only be fitting to write a little something about, well, writing sisters. See, I know from the dedication to Janet’s book that she is lucky enough to have a sister! So, having a sister + writing about sisters, it makes a certain amount of sense, yes?
I, however, have not been so lucky. While writing my book, I knew my main character, Scout, needed someone who would be honest with her and who would see her as she truly was—you know, the type of person who can tell which eye looks better once you put on your makeup. Well, who better to fill that role than a sister, right?
One problem.
I’m an only child. That’s right. Not only do I not have a sister, I have nary a sibling in sight. Sort of a typical writers’ conundrum, isn’t it? Follow the age old adage to write what you know or venture out beyond experience? I guess, I decided to do a little of both. And since I know many other writers struggle with what to do when writing on a topic with which they have no personal experience, I thought I’d give my top three tips for making your writing feel “real.”
1. Don’t be afraid to ask. Although I don’t have a sister, that doesn’t mean I don’t know any sisters. In fact, I know quite a few. One of my best friends has three sisters who have all lived together at one point or another and whose house I spend a good deal of time at and, as it turns out, the sister relationship in my book began to grow out of my friend’s relationship with one of her sisters. So then what do you do when you have no personal experience with a subject? Find someone who does! Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking. It’s not always cool to go up to someone and ask if you can interrogate them for some random novel you’re writing. We’ve all been met with the awkward pause when we say we write novels. So know that you don’t have to lead with that. People love to talk about themselves, so let them. The note jotting can come later.
2. Find specific kernels of truth. You know what they say—a good lie lies in the details. Fine, so “lying” isn’t the nicest way to put it. Let’s call it “convincing.” You have to convince your audience you know what you’re talking about. After all, your characters are living in this world. They certainly know enough to be specific! Use the correct lingo and write with honesty. Use the specific kernels you are able to include as fence posts on which to hang the rest of your narrative. From there, you can spin a narrative about a setting, relationship, or event as you see it unfold, but be sure to write with confidence and not revert to generalities.
3. Google like your life depends on it. This isn’t college. Nobody is going to be upset if citing the website you’re checking out would have been a cardinal academic sin if included in a dissertation. But, if, say, your character is a big Dungeons and Dragons player and you don’t know the difference between an Animal Domain and an Astral Plane, reading through comments in a D&D forum might be just the ticket. The trick to internet research, though, is doing a lot of it. So much that you feel as if you DO know what you’re talking about. Read, read, read…internalize. And in this case, personal accounts such as blogs and message boards may serve better than articles since you are, in fact, trying to recreate a personal account.
Thanks to Chandler for great words of wisdom!! And now I love her just a little more because she is an only child and since I have one, I'm kind of partial to them!
Chandler also has a great blog, Fumbling with Fiction that you can find here.
And now... a GUEST POST from CHANDLER CRAIG!
Writing What You Don't Know
So, I thought since I was coming on Janet’s blog, it would only be fitting to write a little something about, well, writing sisters. See, I know from the dedication to Janet’s book that she is lucky enough to have a sister! So, having a sister + writing about sisters, it makes a certain amount of sense, yes?
I, however, have not been so lucky. While writing my book, I knew my main character, Scout, needed someone who would be honest with her and who would see her as she truly was—you know, the type of person who can tell which eye looks better once you put on your makeup. Well, who better to fill that role than a sister, right?
One problem.
I’m an only child. That’s right. Not only do I not have a sister, I have nary a sibling in sight. Sort of a typical writers’ conundrum, isn’t it? Follow the age old adage to write what you know or venture out beyond experience? I guess, I decided to do a little of both. And since I know many other writers struggle with what to do when writing on a topic with which they have no personal experience, I thought I’d give my top three tips for making your writing feel “real.”
1. Don’t be afraid to ask. Although I don’t have a sister, that doesn’t mean I don’t know any sisters. In fact, I know quite a few. One of my best friends has three sisters who have all lived together at one point or another and whose house I spend a good deal of time at and, as it turns out, the sister relationship in my book began to grow out of my friend’s relationship with one of her sisters. So then what do you do when you have no personal experience with a subject? Find someone who does! Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking. It’s not always cool to go up to someone and ask if you can interrogate them for some random novel you’re writing. We’ve all been met with the awkward pause when we say we write novels. So know that you don’t have to lead with that. People love to talk about themselves, so let them. The note jotting can come later.
2. Find specific kernels of truth. You know what they say—a good lie lies in the details. Fine, so “lying” isn’t the nicest way to put it. Let’s call it “convincing.” You have to convince your audience you know what you’re talking about. After all, your characters are living in this world. They certainly know enough to be specific! Use the correct lingo and write with honesty. Use the specific kernels you are able to include as fence posts on which to hang the rest of your narrative. From there, you can spin a narrative about a setting, relationship, or event as you see it unfold, but be sure to write with confidence and not revert to generalities.
3. Google like your life depends on it. This isn’t college. Nobody is going to be upset if citing the website you’re checking out would have been a cardinal academic sin if included in a dissertation. But, if, say, your character is a big Dungeons and Dragons player and you don’t know the difference between an Animal Domain and an Astral Plane, reading through comments in a D&D forum might be just the ticket. The trick to internet research, though, is doing a lot of it. So much that you feel as if you DO know what you’re talking about. Read, read, read…internalize. And in this case, personal accounts such as blogs and message boards may serve better than articles since you are, in fact, trying to recreate a personal account.
Thanks to Chandler for great words of wisdom!! And now I love her just a little more because she is an only child and since I have one, I'm kind of partial to them!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Book Launch/Signing- I'M NOT HER!
Well, I've been rather quiet on the blog front. Mostly because it's been a busy week. My mommy flew in this week to come to the I'M NOT HER book party. Of course that meant I had to clean and get ready for her visit. All good. Actually I like when people visit me, the house gets a good cleaning!
So Friday night was the big night at Calgary Chapters on MacLeod Trail. I was so darn happy with my friends who not only turned up to support me, but were so genuinely happy for me too. Yay friends!
They'd recently renovated the Teen Section and we set up our tables and snacks and chairs in the area and the ambiance was perfect for a night of friends celebrating my book!
It was so great to see different friends from different parts of my life all together and all of them so darn happy for me. And me all happy! All in all, quite a happy fest!
As I promised/bribed everyone, there were cupcakes!!
But mostly it was me signing books and my friends mingling and making me feel special and fabulous.
I had a great time and thanks to all who came out to support me on my special night!
I even got not one but two beautiful and unexpected vases of FLOWERS!
A couple of readers who didn't even KNOW me bought books (lol!!)
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
FREE BOOKS BEACH CONTEST
Teen READS. COM AMAZING GIVEAWAY!
Holy frickin frackin batman chasing bootie butts. Which means absolutely nothing but sums up my thoughts when I saw the friggin' cool giveaway of friggin' amazing books and I'M NOT HER is included. THUNK (me fainting to the ground in a heap of disbelief)
There's a free look at the first chapter of I'M NOT HER on the site too. Wowza coolza binga banga boom!
(I think I may have lost my mind a little)
Look at all the books you can WIN!!! Plus other beach goodies complete with beach bag!!!!!
DIVERGENT
BEAUTY QUEENS
CLARITY
BEASTLY
IRON QUEEN
*I'M NOT HER* (SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
LOST VOICES
A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
NIGHT SPELL
PROM AND PREJUDICE
RUBY RED
SHIVER
STAR CROSSED
SUPERNATURALLY
10 THINGS WE DID AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE
YOU CAN ENTER HERE!
FRIGGIN' AMAZING BOOK CONTEST
Holy frickin frackin batman chasing bootie butts. Which means absolutely nothing but sums up my thoughts when I saw the friggin' cool giveaway of friggin' amazing books and I'M NOT HER is included. THUNK (me fainting to the ground in a heap of disbelief)
There's a free look at the first chapter of I'M NOT HER on the site too. Wowza coolza binga banga boom!
(I think I may have lost my mind a little)
Look at all the books you can WIN!!! Plus other beach goodies complete with beach bag!!!!!
DIVERGENT
BEAUTY QUEENS
CLARITY
BEASTLY
IRON QUEEN
*I'M NOT HER* (SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
LOST VOICES
A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
NIGHT SPELL
PROM AND PREJUDICE
RUBY RED
SHIVER
STAR CROSSED
SUPERNATURALLY
10 THINGS WE DID AND PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE
YOU CAN ENTER HERE!
FRIGGIN' AMAZING BOOK CONTEST
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