Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

J.A. Campbell - Guest Blog - The Journey

Today I'd delighted to welcome back J.A. Campbell (aka Julie) whose fab YA book

Senior Year Bites 

came out last week. Julie's guest blog is about the journey of writing a book.

Thanks for being here, Julie, and take it away!


***

The Journey – Part 2 (Part 1 is here)

Suzanne thank you so much for having me here.

It begins, sometimes with an idea, sometimes with a word or a phrase, or a flash of a beautiful smile. It sets out with a letter on a page. Just one, single, solitary letter. Then another letter, and another until there is a word. Then many words, then paragraphs that lead to pages and chapters then finally to a completed story.

But that’s just the beginning of the Journey.

As part of my blog tour to celebrate the release of my first Young Adult novel, Senior Year Bites, I’m going to do a series on my perceptions of the adventure of writing a novel. Obviously there are many different ways to get inspiration and write a novel. It has happened to me in many different ways. This is just one way. Here’s part two. If you’d like to read other blog posts in this series, links are on my blog tour page here.

As in part 1, our would-be novelist’s name is Kira. Kira’s idea has turned into about ten thousand words. She’s super excited about her idea but now she needs to do a little background work. Some people outline, let’s just say that Kira (and myself) consider the word outline to be a dirty word. Instead she builds character sheets and background notes on the world (she’s a fantasy author so she needs to set the rules down). The character sheets have the character’s physical description and any important notes. For example, Alexander’s character sheet in Senior Year Bites has notes on his parentage. It’s important to keep small details straight, and unless you have an uber memory, writing down the little things makes it easier when you get further into the series. World notes include rules on magic, politics, land layout, anything that might be important. Then Kira writes down notes on what happens in each chapter she’s written so far to use as a reference. To some this would be an outline, but since outline is a dirty word, she calls it a chapter reference. She also creates a synopsis about what she thinks will happen in the novel. Synopsis is also a dirty word to many, but she finds it to be a useful reference tool.

Then she goes back to the fun part, writing the novel. She’s still in the early stages when the idea is fresh and new and exciting.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the beginning stages of writing. What do you do that is helpful for you?

***
Thanks so much for stopping by, Julie!

Bio: Julie writes fantasy novels. When she’s not out riding her horse, she can usually be found sitting in front of her computer with a cat on her lap and her dog at her side.

Senior Year Bites

Fight supernatural crime, it’s what superheros do. Only I’m a vampire, not a superhero. That hasn’t deterred my best friend Steph though, so while I’m trying to survive my last year of high school as a blood-sucking non-hero, she’s dragging me and our other friend around looking for crime. Only there isn’t any, at least not until the murders start.

Buy from
Amazon UK
Amazon.US

Decadent:

Friends as Characters: or why I was forced to make Pierce Brosnan a vampire

Friends as Characters: what a nail-biting and horrifying fantastic idea this can be.

First where do characters come from? It’s one of those questions that writers are often asked. My own characters arrive from various places: some stroll onto the page fully-formed complete with name*, description and dialogue; others start out as bit parts or walk-ons and then suddenly demand a life of their own and a much bigger slice of the wordage; and a few take a bit of investigating before they start to form in my head.

Genny Taylor – the main character in my books – was one who took a bit of hair pulling and banging of head on desk investigating. Although I knew a lot about her before I started to write, it took me a while before I found both her and her voice. In fact it took a whole short story**; one that takes place ten years before the events in The Sweet Scent of Blood at a very traumatic time for Genny. Seeing how she reacted from another character’s point of view really helped nail Genny as a person for me.

But there are other ways to find characters for your books! [cue dramatic organ music]




One thing I’d never thought I’d do was base characters on anyone I know [winces at possible litigation and rotten tomatoes], or anyone famous, except then my arm was twisted after a chat I changed my mind. The conversation went something like this . . .

Fiona: [best writing buddy] You know I really don’t like vampires, I just can’t see what the attraction is [shudders]
Suzanne: [wondering where this conversation is going and how anyone cannot love vampires] Uh-huh.
Fiona: Although there are exceptions I s’pose, I mean Pierce Brosnan*** would make a great vamp, don’t you think?
Suzanne: [cool, hot-looking in that sophisticated older guy way and with that Bond charisma thing going on] Sure.
Fiona: Good! I’m glad that’s settled, you can make him a vampire in your book and then I can be his girlfriend.
Suzanne: [reels in shock] but you just said you don’t like vampires.
Fiona: I do if they’re Pierce Brosnan and I get to be his girlfriend.
Suzanne: You really want to be a character in my book who dates a vampire?
Fiona: [Looks determined] Of course, but only if it’s PB.
Suzanne: Oh! [Sees the end of a beautiful friendship happening.] What if you don’t like you in the book?
Fiona: He’s PB! What’s not to like. [hands over a brochure] Now here’s the dress I have to wear, it’s a Chanel.



Oh and these are the shoes [flips page briskly] they’re Christian Louboutin.


Rubies added via fictional license

And PB should have that casual look going on; you know where he’s on the beach in that film – The Thomas Crown Affair – dark tousled hair, linen shirt, jeans … [stares dreamily into distance]
Suzanne: [starts mulling over the possibilities, rubs hands] Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Some time later . . .

Spouse reading book: [wry tone] I see Fiona got herself in the book then.

Writing group: [collectively hold hands up and gasp in horror] Fiona does what!!??!!

Fiona: Brilliant - all my chums at work are waiting for your book now - they have heard that I'm in it and get practically strangled by a ruby necklace. Makes you realize who your friends are *G*

And here’s where Genny first meets Fiona in The Sweet Scent of Blood . . .

‘Not at all, Ms Taylor. I can assure you that all of our customers are very satisfied.’

I swivelled towards the woman’s voice and saw luminous grey eyes, short white-blonde hair and salon-perfect makeup.

‘I am Fiona, the proprietor of Tir na n’Og.’ Her dress was spectacular, form-fitting black silk with what looked like very expensive ruby and diamond catches holding it together. There were more rubies sewn onto her elbow-length evening gloves.

...I followed Fiona up the stairs, or rather, followed her shoes: red suede courts with four-inch heels, studded with more rubies. The ruby extravaganza made my spine crawl. Fiona had hit my radar as human, so why was she blinged up like a witch or a goblin queen?

---

More recent conversation . . .

Fiona: [discussing The Cold Kiss of Death] umm . . . Fiona doesn’t get much of a mention does she? [steely look] I hope you’re going to give her more page time in book 3?
Suzanne: [looks shifty] umm . . . I’m not sure what’s happening with Fiona in book 3—
Fiona: [points an accusing finger] you’re not going to kill her off are you? You can’t! I won’t let you!
Suzanne: [mentally resurrects Fiona] ooh, alright then . . . maybe I’ll kill PB instead [evil grin].
Fiona: [narrows eyes] you are *not* killing PB either! End of! Oh, and I've found a picture of Fiona's ruby ring, there's such a romantic story about it [sighs]





The Worlds largest and most exquisitely faceted ruby, A 23.1 carat gem, is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Gem and Mineral collection in Washington, D.C.


The dazzling diamond and ruby ring was a gift from Peter Buck, founder of the Subway Sandwich chain in honor of his late wife.

---


FYI: Part of this blog post was posted over at Karen Mahoney’s LJ where she was kind enough to have me as her guest on the 4th Sept 2008. Karen is brilliant new writer [of Urban Fantasy :- )] and her story Falling to Ash is published in The Eternal Kiss anthology – you can read the first six pages through Amazon’s ‘look inside’ feature here.

*Trivia! Walk on characters’ names are something I have an issue with; in the first draft of my book, I ended up with three characters all called Peter, and because they were such different people in my mind, I never noticed until after I’d written them in. Trouble is I still think of all three of them as Peter! So now a lot of my secondary characters start out as XXX until I can think of suitable [and different] names for them. *g*

**Currently undergoing a re-vamp :- )

***Profuse apologies to PB – it wasn’t my idea, but you really do make a fantastic vamp!

Fleshing out the Bones ...

The Topic of the Month over at Fangs, Fur and Fey is . . .

How do you find the beginning of your novels? How do you know where to start them?

I've posted my own thoughts on the subject, plus there's some great posts by many other Fang, Fur and Fey authors on how they start their novels, so head on over there and see :-)

Win a copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood!!

I'm guest blogging over at Karen Mahoney's today about 'Friends as Characters - Will they still love you when the book comes out!'

And there's another chance to win a copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood to celebrate this my book's release day . *runs off to do the excited happy dance again*

The draw is open until the 7th Sept, but why wait until then, go now and read how my best writing buddy made me put her offered to be a character in my book *g*

Guest blogging over at How to Get Your Novel Published

I'm guest blogging over at How To Get Your Novel Published about the power of critiquing today. And in celebration of the release of The Sweet Scent of Blood tomorrow [4th Sept] in the UK *sqeeeeeee* one lucky commentator can win a signed copy of my book.

There's some great content over there about the road to publication thanks to David Bridger so click on over and have a look ;)

Chapter One - The Sweet Scent of Blood - read now

Chapter one is now posted on my website, feel free to drop by and read, and I hope you enjoy ;)

The Sweet Scent of Blood is released on the 4th September in the UK - less than a week away - Whoo Hoo!! *mega happy dancing here* It is my first book and I'm both thrilled and excited that my story has made it into print. I had a lot of fun creating my characters and my world, and I really hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it as much as I did when I was writing it.

Read chapter one here

Two book deal - German Rights

Oh wow!!!! I am utterly delighted to post the following . . .


PRESS RELEASE – GERMAN RIGHTS IN URBAN FANTASY DEBUT SOLD


Krystyna Kujawinska, Foreign Rights Director at Orion, has sold German rights in two urban fantasies by debut novelist Suzanne McLeod to Nicole Geismann of Goldmann.

World rights in the series, which opens with THE SWEET SCENT OF BLOOD (to be published in the UK in September 2008), were acquired by Jo Fletcher at Gollancz from John Jarrold in 2007.

‘I couldn’t be happier for Suzanne, or for Gollancz and Goldmann,' said John Jarrold. 'And many congratulations to Krystyna.’


. . . and my own thanks to John, Jo and Krystyna and to Nicole at Goldmann. Yay! She loved my book!

Topic of the Week over on Fangs, Fur & Fey - Readers' Questions

x/posted from Fangs, Fur & Fey

Q. For those of you, especially debut authors, who sold series where the first book was complete but future books were not: How much freedom did you have with the writing of the second book?

Q. On pitching series, do you pitch the series in the initial query? Or is that something you extrapolate once you've been invited to send some material along?

I have a three book deal with Gollancz and my debut book is book one in a reasonably open series – Spellcrackers.com. That’s what I pitched to my agent, and once I’d finished book one – my agent took me on as a client before I’d completed the manuscript ;) - that’s what he pitched to publishers. Along with the completed manuscript, I sent one page detailing my ideas for books two and three (both very short three line paragraphs), a few one liners about possible further books, and also some other ideas I had, to expand the series/stories in my world.

In answer to the question about book two, so far, I’m being left to write it as per that short paragraph. As to whether this is normal or not, I don’t know, as I am a debut author. I think this is one of those answers that could vary between different editors and authors and publishing houses.


Q. How do you deal with writer's block?

This is an odd one, as I’ve found hitting a block where I can’t seem to write the next scene, or bit of dialogue usually has a particular cause (as opposed to the just not feeling like working one, cos I’m tired, or distracted by too many other things, like life, or the other job - and I can be world class at distracting myself *g*)

Frex – I was writing a scene where my MC is alone with another character, and I couldn’t think of a thing for them both to say to each other. So I took a walk, and pondered *read racked brain for solution* And I realised *I* the writer, knew exactly why both characters were alone together, regarding their motivations, and the plot development, but my UF has a strong murder mystery plot running through it ;) so of course, the character other than my MC couldn’t *talk* about their real reasons, because that would give the game away, so they had to have some plausible excuse. So in the end, I managed to find their excuse, and ... the words started to flow again ;) (sorry if that was a bit convoluted, but I don’t want to give out any hints *g*)


Q. My parents are visiting England, and asked if I wanted anything can anyone recommend some UF that hasn't been released in the US? I spent about two hours crossmatching amazon.com and amazon.co.uk but had very little success.

As a Brit, I find most of my UF reading has been from the US, as currently UF in the UK is not as big. One UF Brit author that springs to mind is Mike Carey and his Felix Castor series - Mike is probably better known for his graphic novels – but his UF are wonderful books and are set in London (as are my own ;)) His MC, Fix is an exorcist, and has to deal with zombies, ghosts, demons, and a really different style of weres.

An Invite to Fangs, Fur & Fey!

Yesterday, Melissa Marr, one of the founders of the LJ community Fangs, Fur & Fey was kind enough to invite me to join them! Now I've been lurking there, like forever, and hoping that one day...

So here's my entry x posted.

Hi Everyone

Thanks so much to Melissa for inviting me, and I’m delighted and honoured to accept. I’ve been a watcher ever since the FFF comm. started and now I get to join ~big grin~ I’ve learnt a huge amount from the fabulous authors here and everyone’s comments, lots of great info on writing, publishing and of course, so many awesome books to go on my reading wish list ;).

And now a little about me – I’m a UK author, living on the South Coast with my dh (who is Scottish and wonderful in so many ways, not least for his support!) and our two rescue dogs, a hyperactive Jack Russell/Lab cross, and a couch-potato German shepherd/lab cross! I’ve been writing for just over four years and my love is Urban Fantasy. Just before Christmas my fantastic agent, John Jarrold, sold my first three books to Gollancz. Wow! Was that the best Christmas present ever! But don’t you just hate writing about yourself? I always find is sooooo much easier to write about my world and my characters, so…

“Welcome to present day London, England, and the world of Genevieve Taylor, a sidhe fae.

A place where you can dance the night away with a celebrity vampire, ride the underground with a goblin worker, buy a love charm from the witches’ market, report a crime to a mountain troll and log on to Spellcrackers.com and hire a sidhe or a satyr to sort out that annoying pixie infestation.

But be warned!

Be polite when you meet a brownie or a cluricaun, lest your milk turn sour and your beer stop flowing. Don’t go swimming in the Thames with the kelpie. Visiting Sucker Town after sunset is just asking for trouble to bite you. And never, ever, break a bargain made with a fae, for the magic will always extract its retribution.

In the first novel (title to be confirmed), when one of the hot calendar pin-up vamps, Mr October, is accused of murdering his girlfriend, a longstanding obligation means Genny can't refuse to help prove his innocence. Initially, she agrees with the police that he is guilty. But as events unfold, Genny begins to have doubts.”

Where am I now? ... Well having written and delivered book one to my editor, I’m now waiting anxiously for her notes. I’ve been reading the recent comments on those with great interest, believe me! I already know my book is way too long at 137K words, and I’ve got to cut it down to the 100K!!! (a whole sub-plot has to go) Also, I’ve got to tone down the sex (which tells you I’m definitely writing for the adult market ~grin~) Then I’ve got nine month deadlines for book two and three! Scary – especially ‘cos I’m such a slow writer ~ sigh. But the best bit of all, is I get to go play with my characters some more, and even though I write to a plan, they still constantly surprise me.

Thanks again for inviting me, and any questions?? Just ask away ;)
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