THE WRITER'S PROCESS Blog Hop!!!

Hi there! Happy Sunday! My lovely agency sister, Sarah Glen Marsh, wrote about her writing process and tagged me in the blog hop to share mine. :)

1. What are you working on? 

I'm currently revising a MG novel about a twelve-year-old mummy (the daughter of a pharaoh) roaming New York City with her servant-turned best friend. I'm also doing a last read-through of my YA light sci-fi romance before sending it off to my agent. The YA manuscript includes parallel universes and immortal humans acting as the consciences of moral humans. Oh, and there's lots of kissing. :) And then there's what's going on in my head...The plotting of a dark YA contemporary romance that sheds light on a fairly private American sub-culture.

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

When I'm building characters, I tend to flip gender and societal stereotypes on their heads. For instance, in my YA horror, DEADLY SPLENDOR, the female protagonist is the predator/monster, not the guy. Oh! And one more, I almost forgot. My stories are deeply connected to nature. In DEADLY SPLENDOR, the plants play a big role in healing, punishing, and surviving. In my YA sci-fi, SHATTERED CHOICES, the immortal's technology, clothing, and buildings are all nature based.    

3. Why do you write what you write?

Because it's what's in me. My very first book was nowhere near the genre I write now. And while I loved the process of creating, I realized the story wasn't truly what was in me. I believe in mystical things, have a deep regard for nature, and love genuine people, flaws and all. So that's what I write about.

4. How does your writing process work?

This may sound weird, but I don't feel I have a writing process. Because although I've written four complete manuscripts, with each one I had a slightly different process. With my first one I pants'd it in nine months, edited it, and queried it way too early. With my second I pants'd it in two months, revised it, had it critiqued, queried it too soon, had it critiqued some more, rewrote it, queried it some more...You get the picture. With my third manuscript I plotted the whole thing beforehand. With my fourth I did a mishmash of plot and pants. I think it really depends on the story.

But I do have writing guidelines. Here's the guidelines I've set for myself.

1) Write the rough draft. NO EDITING!
2) Read through the completed rough draft and edit as I go.
3) Read through edited rough draft, add world-building and character layers, if need be.
4) Send manuscript to a CP or two.
5) Using CP's notes, read through manuscript, revising as I go.
6) Load manuscript onto Kindle and read it as I would any other book, with laptop nearby for changes.
7) Send manuscript to another CP or two.
8) By this time it's tiny things the CP's point out, usually personal preference stuff. I fix a couple things based on their suggestions that I agree with.
9) Send manuscript to my agent. :)

Please know, this is SOOO not the end of the process. Christa is a hands-on type of agent so once she reads my stuff, she sends great feedback and ideas to make my story sparkle.

So that about wraps it up. Interested to know what others would say about their writing process? I've tagged these writers:

Jennifer L. Alvarez is the author of the Guardian Herd Series. Book one, STARFIRE, will be out 9/23/14 from HarperCollins Kids. You can find her on Twitter here. Not only is Jennifer a great writer, she's also a wonderfully supportive friend. You can find her latest blog posts here.

Amber A. Barden is the author of FOR HER PROTECTION, coming soon from Ellora's Cave. You can find her on Twitter here. Amber is a writer friend I've known since...I'm not sure how long. But it's been awhile. We traded queries way back when. And believe me, her stories pack a sexy punch. You can find her latest blog post here.

Rayna Stiner is my best friend and has been my critique partner from the moment I finished my first manuscript. She's incredibly supportive and genuine. Her lovely prose and fantastical plots make her a gifted writer. You can find her on Twitter here. And her latest blog post you'll find here.

COVER REVEAL!!!

Happy Thursday, all! 

A little while back I met Michelle during a query critique event. We chatted about out story premises, and as she explained her manuscript, I knew I had to help share the news about this book. Michelle wrote CHANGING FATE in honor of a young women she'd met struggling with cystic fibrosis. Absolutely beautiful. So I am very pleased to host Michelle's cover reveal today!   

Release Date: May, 8 2014

Book Description

All Kate wants is to live. Battling cystic fibrosis is hard enough, dying from it is even harder. When her mom moves them closer to the hospital in the middle of her senior year, Kate’s determined to isolate herself—saving everyone the trouble of befriending a dying girl. It’s a difficult task when cheerful optimist Giana insists on being Kate’s friend.

Kate’s resolve falters even more when curly-haired Kyler captivates her with his sweet melodies. As her emotional walls collapse, Kate realizes the people she’s been pushing away may be the ones giving her a reason to live. But it might be too late.

NOTE: Half of all proceeds will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Bio

Michelle Merrill loves kissing her hubby, snuggling her kids, eating candy, reading books, and writing first drafts. She names her computers after favorite fictional characters and fictional characters after favorite names. To learn more about her, visit www.authormichellemerrill.com.

Where to find Michelle and stay updated on book details.

Follow her on Twitter- https://twitter.com/merrillwrites

Like her on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/authormichellemerrill?ref=hl

Check out her Blog- http://perfectingthecraft.blogspot.com/

Eye Health Tips for the Writer

Give me a second while I step away from the lensometer, shrug on my white lab coat, arrange my PD stick, and make sure I have all the right pens in my pockets.

Okay.

Now that that's done, I should tell you, I'm writing this post as an optician AND a writer.

How are your eyes doing? More specifically, how's your vision? I ask because spending hours at a time, staring at an illuminated screen, searching those little commas and letters, can take its toll. And while I plan to touch on a few vision issues noticed by writers, today I want to talk to you about prism.

Depending on what you're dealing with prism can mean a few different things. For instance, Katy Perry's new album is called Prism. (It's pretty good, by the way.)

But here's the definition as it relates to your vision: When you have prism, it means your eyes are not aligned in how they see things. For instance your right eye may see an object slightly lower or higher than your left. Or maybe farther right or left. This can result in double or blurred vision.

Oftentimes you won't know for sure if this is happening. And the reason I bring this up to you all is because if you need a slight or low prism correction you won't notice the necessity in everyday life. Our brains are pretty amazing at compensating for this need. Except when you're tired and when you're reading.

Here's how it works, if one eye sees things higher than the other, the brain has to work that much harder to line up words on the page, just so you can read them. Because your brain is working overtime to place these words in a straight line, it's less capable of retaining what you just read.

When you're super tired and watching TV, your brain wants to rest for the night, so it's more likely to give you a headache till you call it quits, or you'll close one eye without realizing it, just so your brain can stop trying to match up the image on the TV screen.

Make sense? See why I bring this up to my fellow writers?

So what are the signs that you need to be checked for prism? I'm glad you asked.

~ Difficulty driving at night.
~ Issues with depth perception.
~ Notice you close one eye when you're tired.
~ Headaches while reading or studying.
~ Unable to fully comprehend as you read.
~ Must re-read a sentence over and over to retain it.
~ Using your finger or another object to keep your place while reading.
~ Tightness in your shoulders and/or neck.

If this list rings true for you, go to a trusted optometrist and ask to be tested for prism during your next refraction (when they give you a glasses prescription). The test is quick and non-evasive. If you do have prism, wearing corrective lenses will ease the strain of studying story research, editing, and even pleasure reading. It'll help you retain the information you read much easier, and lessen the headaches.

Stay tuned for my next post about eye health where I'll explain the different correction lenses for reading and computer use.

Have a question? Feel free to leave it in the comments or email me directly. :)    
  

CUTLASS Cover Reveal & GIVEAWAY!!

I have this friend who wrote a YA story about pirates and deadly stones and falling in love. And then she announced her decision to self-publish. I waited, impatiently, to see the cover. And you guys? It was worth the wait! 

Behold...

Blurb:

Notorious pirate Barren Reed has one thing on his mind: Revenge against the man who killed his father. So kidnapping his enemy's fiancé seems a perfect plan…until he actually does it. 



Larkin Lee is more than a pretty face and fiancé to a powerful man. Her fierce personality is enough to make any pirate want to push her overboard. 



But when the King of the Orient comes to Barren with a task—to find the Bloodstone, a powerful gem thought only to exist in legend, Barren sees another opportunity to destroy his enemy. Together, Barren, Larkin and a crew of pirates set off to find the stone, only to discover it caused the death of Barren’s own mother and Larkin’s, too. As his strongest allies turn into his greatest enemies, and the life of the girl he kidnapped becomes more important than he ever dreamed, Barren’s quest for revenge becomes a fight to save the Orient.

It'll release for your reading pleasure April 23, 2014. 

I mean, isn't this gorgeous?!

Add it to your list here: Goodreads 

Meet Ashley here: Website and here: Blog

Chat with Ashley here: Twitter and here: Facebook

Rafflecopter Giveaway: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NATURE

If you peruse the About Me section of my blog, you'll notice I have this thing for nature. Mostly evergreens and water. And if you read my manuscript, DEADLY SPLENDOR, you'll see just how deep my love for all things nature really goes.

One day I'll share the circumstances in which I wrote DEADLY SPLENDOR, but for now I'd like to tell you about the threads woven through the story. Threads spun from my heart.

On the five acres I lived while writing this story were great evergreens. Some were clustered throughout the property and some were along the tree line of the forest beyond the fence. But one in particular caused me to write a story in which the folkloric females of Norse mythology, the Huldra, hid. In DEADLY SPLENDOR, my characters (who descended from these folkloric women) have the ability to change their skin to the color of bark. To hide high among its branches, completely concealed. I wish I had a picture of this gorgeous tree to show you, but so far pictures haven't done it justice. It sits by itself, completely dwarfing the very large nearby evergreens. And I can't seem to get far enough away from it to fit the whole tree into my camera lens. I do have one picture, though, of the forest's tree line a few winters ago.

Also, in DEADLY SPLENDOR you'll see rare plants used for healing and for hurting. You'll see dabs of history hailing the women who practiced holistic medicine in the days of the European Inquisitions. You'll almost feel the seaweed of the Puget Sound, and practically brush your legs along flailing ferns in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.   

I guess what I'm trying to say is, even in my fiction nature has a very important place in my heart. 

What about you? What do you find yourself drawn to? Wanting to read or write about?

YA Books to Movie!

Every now and then I browse IMDB for upcoming movies. Today I found out there's a few movies being made from YA novels. (Though, as we know, just because they are planning on making them, doesn't mean they actually will.) Thought I'd share the links. I put the book cover picture over the movie link. Let me know if you have some to add.

                                                       http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1686821/

                                                      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1718855/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520490/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517273/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3076690/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1564777/?ref_=sr_3

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1661439/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1837552/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2132302/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986270/

Movies optioned by Stephenie Meyer's production company, Fickle Fish

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2013/01/23/anna-dressed-in-blood-stephenie-meyer/

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2012/04/19/stephenie-meyer-options-down-a-dark-hall/

QUERY & MS ISSUES I'VE NOTICED

Lately I've been doing a lot of manuscript and query critiquing, and I'd like to talk about a writing issue I've noticed. One that can possibly help with your query as well as your manuscript.

No base plot thread. No main point. Basically, what is the main character hoping to accomplish? Or what do they need to learn?

I'll use a few popular movies and books to explain.

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake: In the first chapter you meet Cas, a ghost hunter, and you see that his goal is to find a ghost named Anna and kill her.

How to Train Your Dragon (movie): Early on you see that Hiccup is not like the other vikings. He wants to be accepted and loved by his dad, which means he needs to learn how to deal with dragons, one way or another. 

TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer: In the first chapter Bella is new to town, and not too happy about her move. She sees Edward and is intrigued; she wants to get to know him, see him again.

FIRST GRAVE on the RIGHT by Darynda Jones: In the first chapter the main character, Charley, is approached by the ghost of a dead guy asking for her help to find out who murdered him. Also, a very old undead being contacts her and whispers a name no-one should know, other than her.

From the get go, the reader/viewer has an idea of what to root for. It's as though the writer has left bread crumbs on the plot trail, enough to keep the reader/viewer traipsing down the trail. Hopefully enough to make the reader want to run down that trail, full speed ahead because they just HAVE to know if the main character is successful. (Of course there's other factors in writing a can't-put-down story, but I'm focusing on this one.)

I see the main plot thread as the main color of a tapestry, woven through the center. You need it to keep the rest of the threads together, to make them mesh and the complimenting colors pop. The story opens, you show the inciting incident (what spurs the main character). Then at about 15% in (give or take) you have the first plot point (when the MC decides to venture out and change things up, while still sticking to the basic plot thread.)

For example, in How to Train Your Dragon a band of dragons attack the viking's village and Hiccup tries to help, to make his dad proud, but he screws up and ruins everything and in the process hurts a black dragon, Toothless. That's the inciting incident. When he meets Toothless and helps him, deciding there may be another way to save the village from dragons, that's the first plot point. All the while, he's still seeking acceptance from his dad and the villagers while trying to keep the village safe from future dragon attacks, which is the main plot thread.  

Look at your manuscript. Does your main character have a goal/motivation? What is it? Why? This question should be answered (hinted to, at least) in the first couple chapters. It's what causes the reader to continue down that path, knowing which way it's headed and promises more bread crumbs. And it shows the reader what's so special about your story. What makes it unique.

So if you're having trouble creating a query, it could be because either you're not realizing and showcasing your main plot thread, or you don't have one.

Tell me in a couple sentences, what's your main plot thread?