Write Stuff: August 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

After Reading: SHADOW OF NIGHT by Deborah Harkness

IT BEGAN WITH A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.

Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library,she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.

Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers... (Goodreads)

Okay, I seriously just love this series. One of my grad students turned me on to it and I ripped through these books in several late-night stints. If you happen to like Outlander (gah--the miniseries! Eep! That's a post in and of itself!), you'll definitely love this book. There's time travel, interesting creatures, and Matthew and Diana are fascinating and enchanting. I particularly enjoyed the historical features of this book, though I wasn't sure if I would--one of the reasons why the first book in the series drew me in was the reality it was grounded in, despite all the creatures. But Harkness makes it work and I found myself seriously enjoying all the cameos, the settings, and watching as the two main characters grew together. Other than that, really, I can only say that I am impatiently waiting on the library for the last book in the series!

Have you had a chance to check out the All Souls Trilogy?

Seeking a little help on a query letter! #amwriting

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

I'm sitting here, watching my fish chase each other around the tank (while she was visiting my mother pointed out to me that one of my fish is a real B----...I'm afraid she was correct!), and trying to put together a blurb for my WIP. I recently managed to get through the first serious overhaul of it and it's usually my habit to take a breather and work on something else. But while the story's still fresh, taking a crack at the blurb portion of my query is often really helpful. Though, honestly, I suck at writing these things, so if you have any comments at all, I'm definitely soliciting some help :)

This is for an NA paranormal, currently titled Coincidences:

Some might call a coincidence a fluke, luck, or happenstance; Ami calls it her job.

There are some coincidences that are too important to be left to chance and Ami and her partner, Luke, make sure everything goes according to plan. Ami loves getting two strangers to meet out of the blue, ensuring something isn’t lost, or the hundreds of other little events they facilitate. So when they’re tasked to stop a massive bio-terrorist attack in San Francisco, Ami’s more than a little worried. Then there’s Luke, her best friend since forever who is unexpectedly dating Ami’s roommate and stirring up feelings Ami never knew she had—mostly jealousy. With the clock ticking down to the Fourth of July celebration and planned attack, Ami and Luke have to piece together how to stop the release of the pathogen, escape the unwanted attention of lurking FBI agents, and face their feelings for one another. With millions of lives hanging in the balance, they’re going to need more than a coincidence to pull it all off.

Ummm, yeah, not sure that's working at all. Thoughts? Why is it so dang hard to get 75k into a couple of paragraphs??

Okay, and just for fun, here's Watson the fish moving rocks! LOL! (She's not the B--- either, just to be clear :)

********Edited to Add**********
THANK YOU everyone for the wonderful comments!! I've been messing around with things this evening and so far this is what I have:

Some might call a coincidence a fluke, luck, or happenstance; Ami calls it her job.

Certain coincidences are too important to be left to chance and that’s why Ami has to make sure everything goes according to plan. If not, she’s learned first hand how trivial seeming events have big ramifications if she is unable to complete her work. She and her partner, Luke, mostly get two people to meet out of the blue, or other little events that are easy to facilitate. But their next job takes things to a whole new level. When they’re tasked to stop a massive bio-terrorism attack in San Francisco, Ami’s extremely nervous. Adding to her concerns, Luke is unexpectedly dating Ami’s roommate and stirring up feelings Ami never knew she had.

With the clock ticking down to the Fourth of July celebration and planned attack, Ami and Luke have to piece together how to stop the release of the pathogen, escape the unwanted attention of lurking FBI agents, and face their feelings for one another. With millions of lives hanging in the balance, they’re going to need more than a coincidence to pull it all off.

Guest Post by T.C. Mckee, author of THE BONE TREATY

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

It's my pleasure to have a guest here today talking about visiting places she's written about! What a fun topic :) Be sure to say hello in the comments!

Through the Eyes of a Character

I had the opportunity while writing The Bone Treaty, book one in The Seal of Solomon Series, to travel to the locations I’d based my story on. Each year my husband and I try to take a few trips, some short, some longer than others. Anyway, we were making plans to go on a short trip when my husband suggested Charleston, South Carolina. I was ecstatic. I mean, after all, my book starts out at a little coffee shop on East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. I should totally have coffee there, right?

East Bay Meeting House

They were out of coffee. Swear.

The Street my MC, Addie grew up on.

We took a long walk along the Battery, gazed at gorgeous Antebellum homes, and I tried to map the scenes out in my head so that I could later make sure they were true to life on paper.

And then we took things further…Like to Bermuda.

We had no choice. The island had been written into the story. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, right? It’s research. Can’t be helped.

Ah—the rough life of a writer.

By the end of our trips, lots of Beta’s, an awesome editor, and a lot of rewrites, The Bone Treaty finally debuted on August 11th, 2014.

I just wish we could have visited some of the other locations in the story for a true feel. Maybe later.

So what about you? Have you ever gotten to visit some of the places you’ve written about? Do you plan to? Do tell.

Thank you Meradeth for allowing me the opportunity to be a guest on your blog!!! You are awesome TO THA BONE!

You can find The Bone Treaty on Amazon.

I’d love to have you visit me on:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/TC-Mckee/229753570369464?ref=hl

http://tcmckeewriter.blogspot.com

https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

https://twitter.com/TCMckee

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a free copy.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with Author Kai Strand

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

Hi! It's been ages since we did an interview around here, hasn't it? So today I thought I'd join Kai Strand and we do a little interview swapping. I'm on her blog, should you want to swing by and say hello! Take it away:

(Q) I think it’s pretty safe to say that most writers love reading. What are some of the books that influenced you the most? Anything you’d like to recommend?

Between the fourth and fifth Harry Potter books I grew desperate for more Hogwarts and decided I should just create a world of my own while I waited. That’s how Beware of theWhite and the underground city of Concord were born, and when I started writing regularly.

I love Maggie Stiefvater’s lyrical writing in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. It was a definite influence in the style and voice of my Weaver Tales.

The deep emotions experienced in ya books & series like Matched by Ally Condie, Divergent by Veronica Roth, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, influenced my Worth the Effort series.

(Q) What is your favorite part of the writing process? What about it makes you love it?

I really love the first draft. Getting to know the characters, discovering their journey, mucking up their lives and then giving them the tools to fix their problems, is all so much fun. The rise and fall of emotions, the joy and surprise of revelation is like the first read of a really good book. My next favorite is the editing process AFTER receiving some really insightful input from a critter or editor. That helps me to rediscover all of the above.

(Q) What’s your biggest pet-peeve when it comes to the writing world? Does anything get under your skin and itch?

I don’t if it makes my skin itch or not, but I’m not a fan of an omniscient narrator. I find it distracting to jump from one person’s head to the next and not very realistic/believable. I’d much rather discover what is going on through a character’s observations or via dialogue. I don’t mind multiple point of view books where we jump p.o.v. with a new chapter.

(Q) If you could meet any writer, living or dead, and pick their brain over coffee/tea/hot-chocolate, who would it be? What would be your first question?

I would ask JK Rowling about characterization. She says more about a person—their looks, personality, quirks—in the introductory sentence than many authors do in an entire book.

Thanks for hosting me, Meradeth!

When her children were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died. The end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers and short stories for the younger ones, Kai entertains children of all ages, and their adults. Learn more about Kai and her books on her website, www.kaistrand.com.

Kai Strand can be found online:

Website: www.kaistrand.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaiStrandAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaiStrand

Instagram: http://instagram.com/kstrand82

A Guest Post Sure to Make You Hungry: Blueberry Scones by Juliana Neumann

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

It's been a wonderful treat to get to host my friend Juliana here a few times in the past. She's a cookbook author with some of the most amazing recipes! (And a childhood friend whom I spent a whole lot of time singing Beatles tunes with while camping as kids!) If you'd like to check out her Citrus Sorbet or Zucchini Corn Pizza, they are highly recommended! Be prepared to have your mouth water :)

While we haven't had much of a summer this year due to all the rain we've been getting, it has been a very good year for berries. I've been making jams like a crazy woman, starting with gooseberries, moving on to red currants and blackberries and throwing in a few jars of apricot.

Our blueberries have been amazing. We have 8 bushes and they have been giving us bowl after bowl of sweet berries. We've been eating them like candy and so there is rarely enough at any given time to actually make blueberry jam. When we aren't popping them into our mouths, they end up in/on pancakes and french toast, in salads or in scones.

This recipe is a summer version of one I like to make during winter, and I can see these also being very good with raspberries or other berries. There may even be a version with pears and cinnamon coming this fall! These scones aren't very sweet, so feel free to add more sugar to your liking or drizzle with a lemon glaze. The fact that they aren't too sweet make them perfect for breakfast.

Blueberry-Pecan Scones

280 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
55 g cold butter
300 g plain Greek yogurt
50 g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150 g fresh blueberries
50 g pecans, coarsely chopped
zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 220°C. Using a food processor, quickly pulse the flour, baking powder, baking soda and butter until the butter is pea-sized. Put the flour mixture into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and quickly stir together until just combined. Don't over mix!

Flour a work surface and scoop the dough out of the bowl onto the surface. Lightly knead the dough and form into a disk. Either cut the dough into 6-8 wedges or using a cookie cutter, cut out rounds. Place the scones on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 10-15, until light brown. Cool on a baking rack before serving.

Cover Reveal: FLESH EATING ZOMBIES AND EVIL EX-GIRLFRIENDS by R.M. Schieffelbein

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

It's cover reveal day for FLESH EATING ZOMBIES AND EVIL EX-GIRLFRIENDS!

I'm so excited to share it with all of you! It's creepy and dark and just right for the book.

So without further ado, here it is!

Erwin is in hell--- Locked in his high school with his ex-girlfriend, her new pain-in-the-ass boyfriend, and a handful of others while zombies claw at the doors trying to fight their way in.

The bright light in the dark is Sylvia, whose strength helps hold Erwin together

when everything is falling apart.

When they realize the school is no longer safe,

Erwin is determined to keep the group together and get them all to safety.

But he can’t save everyone.

Release day is September 17th.

Don't forget to add it to your Goodreads list!

International Potluck Blogfest

By: Meradeth Houston on 3:00 AM

Real quick: the wonderful ladies over on Author Tracker have an awesome review of Surrender the Sky up on their blog. Swing by and say hello? :)

Lexa Cain, Beth Fred, and Medeia Sharif are hosting the International Potluck Blogfest. Here are the rules:

-Post the lovely graphic in the corner.
-Post a cover to a book you love with a food and/or recipe from the book, a food from the MC's region, or a food you just like! If you have a book, by all means talk about it. If you talk about my book, I will kiss you.
-Link back to Lexa, Beth, and Medeia. All three of us.

-Each book on the graphic and a $10 Amazon gift card will be up for grabs, and there will be lots of ways to enter!!!!!!!!!!!
I love books from all over the place, especially when they talk about food :) Living in Montana has left me seriously in need of some good international treats (which I'm not ashamed to admit I scarfed down like crazy when I visited home). There are a lot of books that make me think of food, but one of my personal favorites is:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron.

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love. (Goodreads)

After living in Barcelona for a while, there were several foods (okay, lots) that I still find myself craving. The top one? Hot chocolate. I love, love hot chocolate, and the best I've ever had is in Spain. Especially with churros. I've been on a hunt to find a good recipe ever since I returned, but nothing has been quite right. The closest I've come is from Foodie with Family. But while the chocolate has that awesome thick consistency, it's not quite *it*. The hunt goes on!

From Foodie with Family!

What about you? Which book makes you think of food?

Good News, Giveaways, and other Good Things

By: Meradeth Houston on 9:27 AM

Ahhhh, doing some serious happy author dancing here today! Why? Oh, because I just signed my contract with Evernight Teen for An Absence of Light, that's why :) It'll be due out in November. This is a completely different novel, with a very different world, and is much creepier. How creepy? Well, this image is on my Pinterest board for the book, just to give you a little taste:

This is the very tentative blurb:

Leah’s always seen the shadow creatures. She thought she was immune to their evil—until now.

She’s walked into a massacre, stolen a BMW, and is running from the law for a crime she didn’t commit. Nineteen-year-old Leah’s life just went from mildly abnormal to totally crazy at lightning speed. But no one will believe that the shadow creatures are framing her for the murder, because she’s the only one that can see them. At least that’s what she thought.

When Leah stumbled across a group who share her ability, she discovers they have something she doesn’t: a way to fight back. When the group offers to teach her how to kill the shadow creatures, Leah jumps at the chance. But something is brewing with the creatures. They’re tracking down the hunters like there’s no tomorrow. Leah suspects that maybe there won’t be, and it’s up to her to make sure tomorrow comes. Because she’ll do anything to stop the shadows, including risking her life—and the life of the one she loves—to keep the world from being lost to darkness forever.

Not enough fun? :) Well, there's this awesome giveaway going on with TONS of prizes, including Surrender the Sky, so go check it out! There's seriously just oodles of awesome!

Soooo, yep! And today's a writing day, so I'm very much hoping to get through the last of this awesome WIP that I utterly can't wait to share with you all!

What's going on in your world? Enjoying summer?