Still reading Requiem by Lauren Oliver and listening to The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. But I finished Our Song yesterday and I'm starting Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan today!
What I'm Writing
Thanks to tweets from Elodie Nowodazkij and Katy Upperman, I'm joining in on the Ready. Set. Write. (created by Alison Miller) fun this summer. I was going to spend the first week researching and plotting, BUT I got notes back from a CP on my MS ONE MORE SUMMER. So I took some time to go through those, rewrite a chapter, and brush up my query. But hey, writing is writing! Last night I sent out 10 new queries. Fingers crossed. And now to wait. So, while I do that, I'll get back on track with researching.
What Inspires Me Right Now
My crazy energetic son. If only I could bottle that energy. I'd accomplish so much more.
What Else I've Been Up To ABC Family's Greek (on Netflix). My good friend Ginger at GReads got me hooked and I just can't stop watching!
I'm usually reading more than one book at a time. Right now is no exception...I've got three books going. E book: Requiem by Lauren Oliver. Physical book: Our Song by Jordanna Fraiberg. Audio book: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.
What I'm Writing
Thanks to tweets from Elodie Nowodazkij and Katy Upperman, I'm joining in on the Ready. Set. Write. (created by Alison Miller) fun this summer. My goal is to plan, plot and research during the month of June. Then to start writing in July and August. I'm not much of an outline, I tend to outline every few chapters. I always have an idea where I want the story to begin and end but the middle is a complete mystery. I like to let my characters take me on a ride through their lives.
What Inspires Me Right Now
Incredible books like Golden, Second Chance Summer and Amy and Rogers Epic Detour.
What Else I've Been Up To
I decided to take time off from writing to get back to another love: reading. My current MS is with one of my CPs after a round of revision. While waiting on her notes I've been reading as many books (so far I've read 8 since Memorial Day weekend) as I can while also doing a beta read for a friend.
Jamie Manning, author of Blood Born and Blood Awakening, is revealing the cover for the third and final installment of The Blood Prophecy series and I'm so excited to be part of it! I've been a fan since I got my hands on the first book. The covers for this series have been gorgeous and Blood Revelation doesn't disappoint! I just adore these books. See for yourself!
Awesome, right?! I've always loved the blue tint of the covers. They give off a mysterious and creepy vibe (which still being beautiful), putting you in the right mood for the book. And while Chance got his....er...chance to shine on the Blood Awakening cover, Erik gets his turn in the spotlight this go round. I'm curious to see what everyone thinks.
Waking up in a coffin hungry for blood is only the beginning for sixteen-year-old Ava Blue. When Chance Caldon, the hottie who dug her up, tells her she's half vampire, Ava's world really turns upside down. Half vamp? Ava can't believe it...she doesn't even know what that means! Not until Aldric, a thousand-year-old vampire, shows up and tells her it's true--and that he's the one who turned her. Then Ava truly begins to believe what she is. Now she has to deal with a sudden and powerful bloodlust, the desire to see Aldric dead, and her growing crush for Chance. Ava knows she's a monster now, she can feel it; and her life is over. But redemption isn't lost. Aldric is giving her a chance to regain her humanity. The price? Kill 100 vampires, or remain a bloodsucker forever. So Ava sets out to get her life back. But killing vampires begins a battle that could destroy everything she is working toward. In the end, Ava's decision will forever change her life and the lives of those she loves.
Ava’s life went from bad to worse the night Chance became a vampire. He won’t have anything to do with her. Ava understands why—because he blames her—but it doesn't mean she likes it. And it doesn't help that she’s starting to feel something for Erik, the boy who once wanted her dead. Especially when Chance decides that he does still love her, and wants her to be with him for eternity. Now she has a choice: Humanity…or forever as a vampire with Chance. But Ava wants nothing more than to be human again. At least, she thought that was all she wanted. Thankfully her best friend Kayla has a plan to distract Ava from her boy troubles, and they go in search of Kayla’s missing dad. A great idea, but one that brings Sebastian back into Ava’s life. Along with another, more sinister former member of his coven. Sebastian and Zyris face off against Ava and her friends, resulting in Ava making yet another choice that changes the course of everyone’s lives, and leaves her wondering if being human again is really worth losing everything.
Make sure you follow Jamie on twitter and his web site for future updates on the final book in the Blood Prophecy series.
Congrats to Jasmine Rose!!!!!!!!!!!!! Random.org picked #1 (it actually picked it twice in row...I was shocked). I'll be emailing you shortly!
My friends Katelyn and Alexa are hosting a Book Blogger Love-A-Thon this weekend. Twenty-four hours dedicated to giving love to your favorite book blogs. I participated last year and had a blast and met some really awesome book bloggers. I wasn't able to participate this year but decided I wanted to do something to contribute. So...(with Katelyn's permission) I'm doing a giveaway for one of the participants!!
I've found myself with two copies of The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (not the first time this has happened either...I have an addiction and forget what books I own sometimes) and have been trying to figure out what to do with the extra copy. And what better way to share the love than a Love-A-Thon.
So if you're participating in the Love-A-Thon (yes, I will check with Katelyn or your blog), live in the US and would like to win this book, all you have to do is comment bellow and leave your blog link and email address I can contact you at. No liking or following or tweeting involved. And since the Love-A-Thon ends at midnight eastern, I'll let the contest run through noon tomorrow (eastern time). Anything time stamped after won't be counted and I'll pick a winner with random.org. If I don't hear back from the winner in forty eight hours, I'll pick another one. I'll do my best to get the book out this week, but I have class for work in another town (an hour away), so it might not be until the week after. But it will get mailed! Promise!
Lead in: Devyn and Tyler were summer neighbors until three years ago when Devyn moved away. She's hated Tyler since they were kids when he was always picking on her. Now she's walking with her friends, Hannah and Stephanie, to Tyler's house after a game of Truth or Dare to avoid talking about what brought her back for the summer.
I glance at my
phone.—the clock reads 10:00. Shit. Too late to knock. I walk to the back of
the house, hoping a few light taps on the window will be enough to get his
attention.
I’m right. Tyler’s
blinds open and he stands there, shirtless. He doesn't open the window so I
motion for him to come outside. I’m standing in the doorway when he opens it.
Of course he could have put a shirt on before coming out here. But that would
have been too easy.
“What’s up?” he asks, stretching one arm up
along the door-frame and leaning into it. Something black catches my eye. It
looks like vines creeping along his rib cage and the top of his shoulders.
Tyler clears his
throat and I peel my stare away from his chest. Shaking my head I answer, “Just
this.”
Without thinking I
step forward and rise onto my tip-toes. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull
him down to my level. Before my brain talks me out of it I press my lips to
his.
Butterflies.
He doesn’t resist.
It’s as if he expected it. Or wanted it, which is more disturbing. He wraps his
arm around my waist and pulls me to him. It’s awkward at first with our height
difference, but when his lips begin to move against mine, warm and gentle, I
can’t help but respond. My mind is screaming at me to stop, but my body takes
over. I trail my fingers up his neck and into his hair, pulling him even closer.
Before I know it his tongue is running along my lips, setting my nerves on
fire. My body heats up and I melt into him. His arms wrap tighter around me and
in seconds my feet are off the ground and around his waist.
Hannah coughs
behind us and my body immediately shuts down. I wiggle against him until his grip
on my legs loosens and I slide down his body. I turn around to see Stephanie
staring at me, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.
I can't
tell you how excited I am to host Kate and help her spread the word about her
FANTASTIC book, FLAWED. There are not enough words to describe my love for this
book. Yes, it's dark. Yes, it's a touch taboo. And yes, it's incredible. It'll make you feel ALL THE
FEELINGS. And that's exactly what Kate is here to talk about today. Writing
about taboo/tough topics and making it likable.
And before the post, I'd like to thank Kate for
taking the time to write this post and Heather Ricco for allowing me to be part
of the blog tour. Now...KATE!
So
glad to be here, Mandie! Thank you for having me on your blog today, and for
giving me the opportunity to answer one of the questions I hear most: How do
you write about tough, often taboo topics, and make them compelling enough to
draw readers? The answer is deceptively simple: Focus on the characters in
these tough, taboo situations. Let what motivates them drive the story, and
make sure your readers see that motivation.
There’s
nothing I like better than deeply-flawed characters and complex villains. I
want to get under these characters’ skins, find out what makes them tick,
explore what it means when I find that I identify with something inside of them.
If I understand what makes them tick—what they believe in, what motivates them,
what drives every action they take—I understand them, and maybe even a little more about myself in the process. There’s
no greater equalizer than understanding. Even when what the person’s choices
are wrong.
So
why did I say letting your characters’ motivation drive the story is
deceptively simple? Because to be able to write a character with more layers
than an onion, you—as the writer—have to be able to put yourself inside that
character completely. Feel what they’re feeling, think what they’re
thinking—even the really ugly stuff. If you can’t put yourself in that place,
chances are your character won’t be there, either. And if the character isn’t
there, the reader won’t see what you want them to see.
There’s
one scene from FLAWED that I think sums up James’s motivation for everything.
He’s about to make a horrible mistake, and having to put myself in his mind for
this was ugly, but his reasoning and his desperation to be enough for Sarah is
clearer because I did.
EXCERPT James’s fury shifts to despair and he drops
to his knees. “God, Sarah, do you hate me so much you had to fuck him in our
room?”In the faint moonlight, I can see the
misshapen lines of his face. The fight. “I don’t hate you. And I’d never
purposely hurt you. I love you.”He shakes his head, his big shoulders
trembling. “No, I love you. You’ve never loved me, even though
it’s supposed to be me and you, forever.” He reaches for my waist and buries
his sticky face in my stomach. “Why can’t I be enough? I want to be enough so
fucking bad.”“You are enough!” “I’ll never be enough and you know it.”This is horrible. More horrible than I imagined.
I close my eyes and stroke his crusty hair, very quietly singing our lullaby. His shoulders stop trembling halfway through
the verse and by the end I think he’s humming along with me. I hope so. I scoot
farther down on my bed so I can reach him better and because his lumpy face
pressed into the bruises on my lower stomach hurts. “I’m sorry about Leslie,” he mumbles into my
shirt, which is bunching up around his face as I wriggle lower. “She doesn’t
mean anything to me. Promise.”I couldn’t care less about Leslie and I am
about to tell him so, but then he turns his head, moving my thin t-shirt out of
the way with his big hands, and I realize how bad an idea it was to scoot
lower. He nuzzles into my bare chest instead of coming higher into my arms,
breathing me in and pressing his lips to my skin. I gasp and shove at his
shoulders. “Damn
it!” he roars. My hands fly to my ears because he’s right there in my face,
tiny drops of spit flying. “Don’t you understand? Do you understand anything?”
Was it tough to write?
Yeah. Is it tough to read, even now? For sure. But does my heart break for him because
of his honesty and desperate need to be this person for the girl he thinks he
loves? Absolutely. I’m a firm believer that anything can be compelling if—and
only if—the person who picks up the book can feel for the characters, even the
villains. This speaks to a much larger topic of tolerance and compassion for
individuals we don’t understand, but that’s a topic for another day!
And now for the prizes! Kate is giving a $15 gift
card to either Amazon or B&N—your choice. All you have to do is leave a comment about taboo and tough
subjects you’d like to see more of in YA fiction, along with your email
address and which gift card you’d prefer. Today’s giveaway is open to
International readers.
Kate is also running an Ultimate
FLAWED Fan Pack contest via the Rafflecopter listing
below. Enter daily for a chance to win some really cool stuff!
So...it's been a while. Like..a really long while. I've had a few posts here and there over the past year but nothing about writing or what I've been up to or anything like that. And I don't like that. I'm going to try my best to blog more often. At least once a week. Today (tonight?) I want to talk about names.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title."
To authors, names, or book titles, are a big deal. They have to be JUST right. But, what makes them right? It would be so easy if there was a rhyme or reason to things like this, but there isn't. It's all about imagination and luck. Coming up with the perfect name and then hoping that no one else is using right then or that it's not over used.
With Dream Maker (my YA spec fic) I went through a slew of names for my MCs (not to mention two previous titles...Dream Weaver and one of which I can't even remember right now...though I had it the other day). My female MC went from Madison to Meagan to Frankie to finally Avery. The male MC was originally named Lee but quickly became Mason and has been ever since. There is no changing his name, it suits him.
I have a few other book ideas jotted down and non have proper titles. The working titles are things like "High School Novel" (because it's an idea I got when I was in HS), "Another World" (about other planets), "Fairies Do Exist", and "How to Stop an Exploding Girl" (that's my two CPs favorite title). I suck at book titles.
Until it came time for my current WIP--"One More Summer". Last year No Doubt released a new album (FINALLY!!!!!!!!) called Settle Down. On it is a track titled One More Summer (gorgeous song...check the bottom of the post to hear it). I listened to it and this tiny idea I had in my head burst into something so much bigger. I had a clear view of a female MC and a love interest right away. All they needed were names. It didn't take long before I came up with Tyler (for the boy). It was a bit longer trying to find the right girls name. In the end I picked Devyn (can you tell I like boy names for girls?). And I'm not sure I'd be willing to change them (okay...push and book deal come to shove I may...but you get the idea).
So how do you brain storm for character names? Are they first and personalities later? Or are book titles easier (if so, we need to talk)?
One More Summer - No Doubt
And the acoustic version because I can't help it. It's un-freaking-believable!!!
