Today’s prompt is inspired by Joanna Hathaway’s Dark of the West‘s first line. (Isn’t it great?)
“War is no good for the young, or for love…”
Take her brilliant first line, let it fuel your imagination and run with it…
Write for 10 minutes without stopping, post in the comments what you come up with! And be sure to check out Joanna’s book!
>
>
Signing off, Nova
Title: A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Blurb (from Amazon):
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom. Continue reading
Have you ever written a note from yourself to yourself?
I did.
It was back when I first started writing. I wasn’t convinced I could finish writing an entire book, much less beat the odds and get published.
So I wrote a note to myself promising my future self that I would not give up on writing until I’d received over a thousand rejections for my manuscript.
Fast forward to heavy rewrites, beta readers, countless vacations spent editing, and slashing my word count like a ruthless ninja, and my novel still isn’t where I want it to be. The second book in the trilogy is nearly written, the characters loveable and the plot thickening, and yet… the first book in the series is still not query ready.
Ever found yourself in this boat?
The pressures of new jobs, moves, injuries and more steal you away from your love of writing and you can’t quite seem to get where you need to be?
That’s where I was.
Then a major life event happened. I moved from Texas to Beijing! Continue reading
Title: Finale
Author: Stephanie Garber
Blurb (from Amazon):
A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.
It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.
With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.
Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.
Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end… Continue reading
Title: The Sky and the Deep
Author: Adrienne Young
Blurb (from Amazon):
OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.
Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient, rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago. Continue reading
Behind the scenes in my author circles there’s been an ongoing discussion:
Do I choose to have an ALIAS or not?
What are the pros and cons of a PEN NAME?
So, I asked a group of authors to give me their opinions on pen names. Here are their responses.
Tobie Easton Ya Author of the Mer Chronicles
“I like that pen names give authors more chances to write in different genres and connect with readers who have a variety of interests. It’s also always fun when you find out an author you love has another pen name for you to check out!” Continue reading
If one were to bring up Mrs. Hudson in conversation, what would you presume we were talking about?
I hope you’d think of Sherlock Holmes, since there are very view (perhaps no) interpretations of Sherlock Holmes that fail to include Mrs. Hudson. Yet most of the time she is not vital to the plot. So what role does she play as a side character?
We’re going to look at Mrs. Hudson and other “famous” minor characters to find the reasons why side & minor characters are important to your story. Continue reading
Pen Friends ~ I am so pumped to introduce you to YA Debut author, Kimberly Gabriel, author of EVERY STOLEN BREATH, (Blink/Harper Collins), friend, and fellow PitchWars Alum! Her cover reveal was on March 27th and we LOVE it. It’s breathtaking, and her writing journey is even better! Please read below!
SP: Hi Kimberly! Thanks for joining us! Congrats on the sale of your upcoming book to Blink/Harper Collins! But before we dive into all the book stuff, can you please tell us a bit of who are you and how long have you have been writing?
I’ve been writing off and on for as long as I can remember. For a short time in college, I majored in Creative Writing, but after taking my one and only Creative Writing class, I switched majors. The professor who taught the class was an arrogant guy who delivered harsh and public critiques, while I was a sensitive freshman, who hoped for glowing praise only. Thankfully, I’ve developed thicker skin since then. I ended up majoring in English Literature and English Education, went into teaching, and took a break from writing. Then about ten years ago, I got an idea for a book. I spent years writing it and making all the “first-book mistakes.” The result was a 100,000 word YA paranormal with eight characters and eight (yes, eight) POVs. When I queried it, however, it got some attention from agents—enough that I decided to write a second manuscript, which became EVERY STOLEN BREATH. My path to publication was a long and bumpy one, but the silver lining is that I had many opportunities to learn from my mistakes, and I’m really thankful for them.
SP: Your debut, Every Stolen Breath, is a YA Thriller–fast paced, intense, and even inspired by a real event!
Here is a blurb:
The Swarm is unrecognizable, untraceable, and unpredictable—random attacks on the streets of Chicago by a mob of crazed teens that leaves death in its wake. It’s been two years since the last attack, but Lia Finch has found clues that reveal the Swarm is ready to claim a new victim. Continue reading
Or: A Retrospective on My Writing Journey
Nearly a decade after starting my first “real” story (i.e. the first one I realized I wanted to finish, no matter what), I am still not finished with a complete draft. That might be depressing to some who aspire to finish their newest tale in under a year, but I knew when I started that I was undertaking a large task in attempting it: the story includes an enormous cast of characters, creating their world from the ground up, setting up a history of at least two hundred years, putting political systems in place (and the different monarchs use very different systems of ruling!!), learning about military campaigns…. The list never really ends, and the stories of minor characters have moved beyond my control, so that now when I mention it to friends in-the-know, I lovingly call it “The Epic.”
I didn’t set out to spend ten years trying to write the thing ( I probably would have balked at even starting if I’d known!) At the time, I wrote to keep myself awake through long midnight shifts at my job. The story grew out of an idea for fanfiction that quickly passed the bounds of those characters, and as I begin coming up with their names and feeling out their story, I realized that I had something unique, and for the first time started to consider myself a writer, and not just someone who liked to write. Continue reading
Ok, you just did something really hard. You might be getting back on your feet after having a baby or after stepping on a race car that your precious child left on the kitchen floor. Either way, your responsibilities and the calls for your attention just increased enormously, but for the sake of yourself and of your family, you are striving to keep doing what you love.
Session Goals, Space, and a Set Time are the elements that can help you keep writing even as your life is being turned upside down. What makes these things important is that they all clear the way for you to be able to get down to writing. If you’re looking for tips on content, check out our Character Development, Plot Development, and World Building sections on the menu above.
