Wicked Lovely

As I mentioned in my last post I've been doing a fair bit of reading recently.

I just have to tell you about this author I've discovered. Melissa Marr.

She's a little ... alternative, I guess that's the right word ... and it comes through in her writing. Her characters are fresh and interesting with their body piercings and tattoos. She paints the teenage angst and the awkwardness of new love so well.

She weaves the modern world with the dark and dangerous world of the fey so convincingly you might believe for a time that it could be true after all - that they're really there, we mortals just don't see them.

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

Faerie intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr's stunning 21st century faery tale.

It's a gritty, sexy, edge of your seat, page turning read.

Do hunt out a copy and so you don't panic when you've read that last page, the series continues with Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity and Radiant Shadows (all very cool titles).

There's a detailed and very good review of Wicked Lovely at Teenbookreview.

You can find out more about Melissa Marr and her books by visiting her fan site.

If you are into ebooks you can buy Melissa's books here.

Reading, Writing and Editing

I've been picking away at my editing. It's coming along slowly. Slowly, because I've found myself so engrossed in the books I've been reading that for the last few days I've done little except read and do necessary house work.

The two books that have held me spellbound are two of Juliet Mariller's tomes, Wolfskin and Foxmask. History mixed with myth and seasoned with magical imagery. Great stories if you like a little history with your fantasy or vice versa.

I also read The Princess Plot. A modern day, YA adventure of political intrigue, deception and friendship.

And Paladin, a YA fantasy/SF novel about two friends who find themselves caught up in another world's war with a very significant part to play.

My daughter was watching the twilight movies today, while I sat reading the end of Foxmask. As cheesy as you might think these movies are there's something about them and the relationships between the characters that always inspires me to write.

By the time I'd finished reading the last page I was desperate to get to work on Tremorgan's Quest.

It has been quite a while since I'd touched the second book in Tremorgan's journey and I'm excited to be getting back into it.

Tremorgan is a character that feels things deeply. She internalizes a lot and as a result her joy, distress and guilt often find expression in her dreams.

This would be fine if things were going well - but as I'm a very cruel writer this isn't often the case - and more often than not Tremorgan is haunted by disturbing dreams and nightmares.

Dreams are strange, fickle, illusive things. They're fun to write because almost anything can happen. The rules of reality don't apply in a dream scape.

At the moment I'm working on the beginning of the book and picking away at a series of dreams to torment my MC. I do love her, really I do...

So, no matter what I put Tremorgan through I've promised her (and myself) that she'll get her happy ending.

Slash and Burn

My beta reader swung by a couple of days ago and read over the new scenes I have written for Tremorgan's Gift. She gave them the big thumbs up. The tantrum scene is great! But the kiss still needs a little work - I love/hate writing those moments! Sigh. Never the less, I'm excited about the extra pizazz these three scenes will add.

I'm making steady progress with my editing. I've done about 10% thus far, that is averaging a couple of chapters a day.

It would probably be quicker if I didn't insist on editing on paper first, but I feel safer hacking and slashing and moving stuff around on paper. It's easier to see the glaring awkward sentences, the ugly phrases and detect the clunky tone. I can play with the words to my heart's content and if I change my mind nothing is lost.

Also, I find I can distance myself from the fact that this is my book, my baby, when it's in hard copy in a way that I struggle to do on screen. On paper I'm a lot more brutal and a lot less precious about my work; a frequent and necessary evil.

I'm working my way though chapter 11 today. Tremorgan has just had her brother snatched from her and only narrowly escaped with her life...

Poor girl! The things I've put her through, it's cruel really.

Sometimes Writing is like Digging for Gold with your Bare Hands!

The muse is back and has kicked into high gear.

I had the weirdest dreams last night and in the lazy hours of this morning (translation: I was being super lazy in bed when I should have been up and acting like a responsible parent) my muse was hard at work filling my head with wonderful scenes for book two.

He also got me inspired to write new ones for book one - as if the book is not long enough already!

So once I'd got up and made myself presentable to the world at large I made some notes in my trusty notebook and sat down to write.

I tried to write the strongest scene, a romantic one between Tremorgan and .... (I can't tell you his name that would be giving away too much!) Tried was the operative word here!

I don't know if it was because I haven't written for so long, or because I'm tired, or the fact that the kids, in true holiday fashion, were arguing and grumping around me (or all of the above) but each word was like digging for gold with my bare hands!

Honestly, it look me about twenty minutes to get down the first few sentences - and they aren't even all that good. Here they are:

Turning my back on them, I clambered over Mace's slumbering form. His marble skin was icy under its dusting of snow.

He opened an eye as I leapt off his knee. “Everything all right, little princess?”

See? Not at all earth shattering.

As the afternoon progressed the words came more easily, which was a relief!

All in all I've managed to finish two scenes today, 1700 words worth. It might be all dross and no gold but at least I'm writing again and the Muse is hard at work once more filling my imagination with ideas.

Writing Magic

Yesterday was my birthday. I shan't tell you how old I am, after all, a lady never reveals her age.

Hubby gave me a new book. I love books and don't think I could ever have enough of them, but I'm particularly excited about this book.

Written by Gail Carson Levine (the famous author of modern retellings of fairy tales such as Ella Enchanted, Fairest and Ever among others) Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly is, as the title suggests, about writing magical stories. Stories that have that special zing, that touch of gold, that special MAGIC!

Inspired by the creative writing courses for children that she runs, the book is more for children than adults so it's written in a fun and engaging way.

I have already dipped into it a little and really enjoyed the tit-bits I've read. If you're interested there's a really good review of the book here.

The Editing Process

I'm making good progress on my second edit of Tremorgan's Gift. I'm now working on chapters five and six.

Just for fun and because I enjoy seeing how other people have edited their work. I thought I'd share a before an after shot of some of my own editing.

The first piece is the before shot. It's from the beginning of chapter four.

It's over written and even though the character's father has just been murdered it is a bit OTT (over the top!).

Tremorgan dropped her head against the cold stone feeling dizzy. Realising she held her breath, she forced a deep gulp of air into her lungs. The effort to breathe took all her concentration.

Da is dead. They killed him. The silent scream echoed in her head, growing louder and louder. Squeezing her eyes shut, she choked on a sob. “No!” She shook her head, clawing at her hair as if to tear the hideous truth from her mind.

Her fists pounded the stone as a wave of grief rose inside her, filling her with it's fire. Agony gripped her heart, twisting it, tearing it; as if someone was brutally ripping it from her chest. A keening wail exploded past her gritted teeth in a strangled scream.

She shuddered as her keening died away. She felt nothing. The fire inside had burnt out leaving her feeling cold and void of emotion. The nothing was worse than the agony. She scrubbed her eyes, willing herself to cry, but her tears were frozen in a burg of ice that pressed against her chest and made breathing painful.

Now that is pretty horrible!!!
It is obvious I seriously let myself go when trying to capture Tremorgan's grief in this piece.
So how am I going to fix it?
Well, I moved stuff around and cut quite a lot out.
Here it is again with the chopped bits highlighted.

Tremorgan dropped her head against the cold stone feeling dizzy. Realising she held her breath, she forced a deep gulp of air into her lungs. The effort to breathe took all her concentration.

Da is dead. They killed him. The silent scream echoed in her head, growing louder and louder. Squeezing her eyes shut, she choked on a sob. “No!” She shook her head, clawing at her hair as if to tear the hideous truth from her mind.

Her fists pounded the stone as a wave of grief rose inside her, filling her with it's fire. Agony gripped her heart, twisting it, tearing it; as if someone was brutally ripping it from her chest. A keening wail exploded past her gritted teeth in a strangled scream.

She shuddered as her keening died away. She felt nothing. The fire inside had burnt out leaving her feeling cold and void of emotion. The nothing was worse than the agony. She scrubbed her eyes, willing herself to cry, but her tears were frozen in a burg of ice that pressed against her chest and made breathing painful.

Right. Now we have a clearer picture of what we need to get rid of. But it is a mess. If I was just to remove those bits half the sentences wouldn't make any sense. So I had to do a bit a re-writing. I also had to change this from third person point of view to first person.

The final shot.
So here it is again with all the bits I thought were too over the top removed. The grief is still there but it's no longer going to over whelming the reader. I hope.

I dropped my head against the cold stone and forced a deep gulp of air into my lungs.

Da was dead. Murdered. Squeezing my eyes shut, I choked on a sob. I clawed at my hair as if to tear the hideous truth from my mind. A strangled scream exploded past my gritted teeth.

I shuddered as my keening died away leaving me feeling cold and void of emotion. The emptiness was worse than the agony. I scrubbed at my eyes, willing myself to cry, but my tears were frozen in my chest.

It is shorter, tighter. It's still not perfect but it's much better than it was (in my humble opinion). So there you go, a little insight into my editing process.

Help!

I had an awesome day yesterday hang out and catching up with my writing buddy Sue (aka J T Webster). As always by the time she left I was burning to get back into editing and generally polishing Tremorgan's Gift.

Not only did Sue inspire me but she brought with her the first half of my MS which she has kindly been editing for me. Thank you so much Sue, you're a gem!

I've got a few ideas to add to the first chapter which I'm excited about. I'm going to add a bit more carnage and a few more thoughts from Tremorgan that will hopefully help set the scene a bit more.

But I need some advice....

Please note: Tremorgan's Gift is a YA fantasy novel which starts by dropping you right into the chaos of a castle under attack.

What I'm struggling with is how to tell you who "I" am before the carnage starts. Do you need to know my name for instance? Or is it enough to know I'm a princess?

Another question is: Do you need to know where I am any more specifically than that I'm in a castle? Do you need to know where the castle is? ie: what country and where in that country? or is it okay to let you discover this a little later?

And if you do need to know where "I" am how can I tell you this without destroying the pace of the action unfolding at the beginning?

What do you think????????

On the plus side, transferring the book into first person is turning out to be relatively easy since the story is so much in Tremorgan's head anyway. I've adjusted chapters 1 and 2 and they read so much more smoothly already. I'm really pleased.

Unpacking the Muse

While I haven't been doing any writing since my failed NaNoWriMo attempt at the beginning of November I have been reading. In fact I've done a lot of reading ... and quite an eclectic and varied diet of books it has been too.

I've feasted on adult fantasy, reading the first three of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (I know. I was terribly slow to discover these) and Juliet Marillier's Sevenwater's trilogy.

I'd put off reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code for years because of all the hype and finally pulled it off the shelf last week. I couldn't put it down. I have to admit I really enjoyed it, in a disturbing sort of a way.

I devoured Gail Carson Levine's Fairest and Sherryl Jordan's The Hunt for the Last Dragon. I love fairy tales and modern re-tellings. I've read a few others too but I can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

Now I'm wading my way through Michael Grant's Gone, which reminds me forceably of the TV series Heroes with which I have a complicated love-hate-love relationship.

With all this reading under my belt I'm feeling recharged and ready to get writing and editing again. I've dug out my editor's hat from the back of the cupboard. It's a bit dusty and bent and some of it's feathers are coming unstuck but despite that it still seems to be in working order.

The Muse has finally crawled out of the box he has been hiding in, looking pasty and in need of some serious vitamin D therapy.

On the plus side he seems keen to get back to work and help Mistress Editor to clean up, trim down and generally beautify Tremorgan's Gift. He flexed his creative muscles a wee bit the other night when I began converting chapters 1 and 2 into first person POV. He's a bit rusty but with a bit of exercise I think he'll be quickly back in top form.

Who is the REAL writer?

My friend and fellow Dunedin writer, Tania Roxborogh wrote a post recently which inspired me to write this when she made this comment:

"It's not easy. Actually that's a weak comment. It's damn hard being a writer. And I only continue to do it because these characters need their story told and they picked me."

There are certain stories that we writers make up where it is easy to manipulate the story. The form and the characters are malleable and happy to play any part our imagination might wish to give them.

Then there are other stories. Stories like the one I'm writing now and like the one Tania is battling with. Stories where the characters come to you and demand you tell their story.

The characters haunt you and bully you until you agree to write it. They fill your dreams and crowd out coherent thought during your waking hours. And once you have agreed? They argue with you when you get it wrong and nag you when you get tired and want to throw your computer out the window.

But eventually they become real to you, unique friends who've chosen you to enter their world. You begin to care about what happens to them, you want to see them succeed, to see justice done, to see them achieve their happy-ever-after. You find yourself laughing with them when something funny happens and shedding a tear when they grieve or fail.

Of course this sort of carry on causes the world to see as mad - and maybe they're right - but I wouldn't give up this gift for anything!

2011

Another year has rolled to a close and another opens up before us full of promise and potential.

Looking back over 2010 I think I'm fairly happy with what I achieved last year. I finished the first draft of Tremorgan's Gift the first book in my fantasy trilogy. I had hoped to have it ready for an agent or publisher by the end of the year but, as I'm discovering, these things take much longer than one tends gives them credit for.

I also started writing Tremorgan's Quest and have been picking away at what I affectionately call The Lore of El, the Agorian religious writings and histories (which some unkind folks might call myths and legends).

I won a trophy for one of my fantasy short stories, which was a total buzz.

I never completed NaNo, but that's something to have a crack at again this year, and in spite of not finishing I have an awesome idea for a Steampunk novel and the first 6000 words already written.

I've also managed to read my way through an veritable mountain of books. Looking back on my reading record for 2010 I've averaged about 7 books a month!

So, all in all I'd say that's not too bad a result.


Enough about 2010, what are my writing related hopes and dreams for 2011?

#1 Rewrite Tremorgan's Gift in First Person POV and edit to perfection

#1.1 Find an agent!

#1.2 Find a publisher!!!

#2 Write first draft of Tremorgan's Quest

#3 Chip away at Mercy Me, maybe finish it for NaNaWriMo in November

#4 Win another trophy :)

#5 Try to get a short story or two published in a magazine or e-zine

#6 Read! Read! Read! Read!


That's me.

What are your writing goals for this coming year? What do you dream of achieving?