Hello, Tuesday.
It's gloomy and chilly here. I have links to share:
A MURDER OF MAGPIES is now on GoodReads. It's very surreal to see it up there and see people who are strangers to me marking it as a book they'd like to read. It's terrifying and joyful.
Also, I did an interview with Mindy McGiness on Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire for her Submission Hell (It's True)--yes, SHIT--series. This was a lot of fun and I am grateful to Mindy for giving me the opportunity.
Lastly, I have learned I have something called Meniere's disease. It is some wicked rotational vertigo coupled with pain, pressure, and tinnitus in the ear and usually results in hearing loss. There is no cure. It is progressive and can be debilitating at times. But it is treatable. Not much is understood about it, it seems. I am lucky that I have an incredible support system in my husband Tim, my family, and friends. If you are interested in learning more about it, go here.
Talk to you soon!
S
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
A Rose By Any Other Name is Just a Title Change
So I loved the title for TINDERBOX. It was the title I'd given the project way back in November 2008. Over the years, one thing I've learned is that titles are placeholders. You might get to keep your title. You might not. Sometimes the publisher wants to incorporate the author in title changes, sometimes you just kind of have to grin and bear and mentally, "Oh, my God, that's hideous." (At that point, if you're agented and you really, really loathe that title, that would be a good time to send an email to your agent.)
The title of your novel is expected to convey a million different things in a handful of words, sometimes one word. Genre, tone, story...it all needs to be there. I've been lucky enough to watch every single one of my critique partners go through title changes. Not one of them got to keep the original title on all their published works. It's part of the business, nothing more. Although, I must say there was one offered up by the publishing house that had us rolling with laughter. Not naming names, it was the equivalent of Debbie Does Dallas with with a paranormal twist.
I'm going to give you the inside look into how my title was changed. I was blessed with a savvy publisher, a love of birds inherited from my grandmother, and an agent who likes to put in her two cents. So when Georgia McBride over at Month9Books told me TINDERBOX was changing its name, I had a brief panic attack ("How can I rename something when it's already 4 years old?!") and then gave a list of themes and ideas and traditional Gothic novel titles to use as inspiration. And I got some really nice titles to choose from. But nothing quite clicked.
(I am exceedingly lucky that I got to have input in this process because it's not always the case.)
In the novel, the heroine Vayda is nicknamed Magpie by her father. She has long, black hair and pale skin, and she collects strange things. Actual magpies are known to collect whatever strikes their fancy. Magpies were so intertwined with that book that I celebrated its sale by getting two magpies tattooed on my shoulder. So it seemed appropriate to honor my magpie, and magpies are birds with a lot of different terms used to name their flock.
Possible contenders: A TIDING OF MAGPIES, A CHARM OF MAGPIES.
No, no. Not quite right.
Miriam has a pretty keen insight into what works and what doesn't, and in all the title bouncing, she pointed out one of my picks.
A MURDER OF MAGPIES
And that's what we chose. It's dark, mysterious, and hell, I just like the alliteration. I hope you do, too.
The title of your novel is expected to convey a million different things in a handful of words, sometimes one word. Genre, tone, story...it all needs to be there. I've been lucky enough to watch every single one of my critique partners go through title changes. Not one of them got to keep the original title on all their published works. It's part of the business, nothing more. Although, I must say there was one offered up by the publishing house that had us rolling with laughter. Not naming names, it was the equivalent of Debbie Does Dallas with with a paranormal twist.
I'm going to give you the inside look into how my title was changed. I was blessed with a savvy publisher, a love of birds inherited from my grandmother, and an agent who likes to put in her two cents. So when Georgia McBride over at Month9Books told me TINDERBOX was changing its name, I had a brief panic attack ("How can I rename something when it's already 4 years old?!") and then gave a list of themes and ideas and traditional Gothic novel titles to use as inspiration. And I got some really nice titles to choose from. But nothing quite clicked.
(I am exceedingly lucky that I got to have input in this process because it's not always the case.)
In the novel, the heroine Vayda is nicknamed Magpie by her father. She has long, black hair and pale skin, and she collects strange things. Actual magpies are known to collect whatever strikes their fancy. Magpies were so intertwined with that book that I celebrated its sale by getting two magpies tattooed on my shoulder. So it seemed appropriate to honor my magpie, and magpies are birds with a lot of different terms used to name their flock.
Possible contenders: A TIDING OF MAGPIES, A CHARM OF MAGPIES.
No, no. Not quite right.
Miriam has a pretty keen insight into what works and what doesn't, and in all the title bouncing, she pointed out one of my picks.
A MURDER OF MAGPIES
And that's what we chose. It's dark, mysterious, and hell, I just like the alliteration. I hope you do, too.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Writing Gothic Horror: It's Dreadful
So there's horror and then there's Gothic horror. A lot of people, when they think of modern horror, they think of slasher films, stories based on urban legends, zombie infestations. Scares where the thing that's after you is very tangible and very deadly. You are afraid. Period. My friend and agent sister, author Hillary Monahan, wrote a timely post on what reactions you try to elicit as a horror writer. So without reiterating everything she wrote, I'll link to it. (And, yes, the crabwalk scene she mentions did scare the hell out of me and still makes me cringe.)
Gothic horror is a different beast. It relies on a slower build. The monster isn't tearing after you while you run down the hall. It's not even in the closet. It's somewhere, out there, where you can't exactly see it, but you know it's watching. It's lingering in the fog, maybe running its hand along the windowsill outside your bedroom. But you don't know for sure. You think it's coming closer, but...
When writing Gothic horror, the monster will never reveal its face right away even if your characters sense something is amiss. The key reaction you seek to convey is dread. Dread is fear mixed with the anticipation that something horrible will happen, and it is usually worse than seeing the bad thing itself.
Well, sure, there are plenty of modern horror works that do the same thing. You know that feeling you get when watching the evil video in "The Ring," how that string of images brings about your unease? It's a throwback to Gothicism. Now here's the Gothic part of Gothic horror. Without truly being formulaic, there are certain genre expectations:
*Atmosphere. That certain Je ne sais quoi that carries a dark tone of mystery, dread, and heightened senses all throughout the story.
*The supernatural or the assumption thereof. Everything from family curses to doppelgangers to ghosts to visions come out to play here.
*Characters who are "grotesque." That cute guy who you really admire for taking such good care of his dying mother, well, he's also a graverobber who might spend a little too much time with the bodies. Just sayin'. A grotesque character is someone who elicits equal parts empathy and revulsion.
*Location, location, location. Your setting is a decaying, bleak place. Very Important Thing I'm Going to Say: Your Setting is a Character, and It is Out to Get You. Your MC's entire world lives and breathes darkness and treachery. If your story takes place in the American South, congratulations, you've got a Southern Gothic (read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," people. Holy cats...)
There are other hallmarks like the archetypes of the damsel in distress, the deceitful clergyman. But one more Very Important Thing: Frequently, more so than in modern horror, your Gothics have a romance as well, and the consequences will be tragic. Poe had his Lost Lenore. Maxim de Winter lost Rebecca before marrying the Second Mrs. de Winter. Love does not end in a happily ever after in a Gothic. It becomes damaged by the horror it had to face.
Summary: horror elicits fear, but Gothic horror elicits dread and unease. Someone falls in love in a crumbling house where there may or may not be ghosts or other supernatural baddies, and for fun, you can throw in a few diabolical monks. More books need diabolical monks, don't you think?
Gothic horror is a different beast. It relies on a slower build. The monster isn't tearing after you while you run down the hall. It's not even in the closet. It's somewhere, out there, where you can't exactly see it, but you know it's watching. It's lingering in the fog, maybe running its hand along the windowsill outside your bedroom. But you don't know for sure. You think it's coming closer, but...
When writing Gothic horror, the monster will never reveal its face right away even if your characters sense something is amiss. The key reaction you seek to convey is dread. Dread is fear mixed with the anticipation that something horrible will happen, and it is usually worse than seeing the bad thing itself.
Well, sure, there are plenty of modern horror works that do the same thing. You know that feeling you get when watching the evil video in "The Ring," how that string of images brings about your unease? It's a throwback to Gothicism. Now here's the Gothic part of Gothic horror. Without truly being formulaic, there are certain genre expectations:
*Atmosphere. That certain Je ne sais quoi that carries a dark tone of mystery, dread, and heightened senses all throughout the story.
*The supernatural or the assumption thereof. Everything from family curses to doppelgangers to ghosts to visions come out to play here.
*Characters who are "grotesque." That cute guy who you really admire for taking such good care of his dying mother, well, he's also a graverobber who might spend a little too much time with the bodies. Just sayin'. A grotesque character is someone who elicits equal parts empathy and revulsion.
*Location, location, location. Your setting is a decaying, bleak place. Very Important Thing I'm Going to Say: Your Setting is a Character, and It is Out to Get You. Your MC's entire world lives and breathes darkness and treachery. If your story takes place in the American South, congratulations, you've got a Southern Gothic (read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," people. Holy cats...)
There are other hallmarks like the archetypes of the damsel in distress, the deceitful clergyman. But one more Very Important Thing: Frequently, more so than in modern horror, your Gothics have a romance as well, and the consequences will be tragic. Poe had his Lost Lenore. Maxim de Winter lost Rebecca before marrying the Second Mrs. de Winter. Love does not end in a happily ever after in a Gothic. It becomes damaged by the horror it had to face.
Summary: horror elicits fear, but Gothic horror elicits dread and unease. Someone falls in love in a crumbling house where there may or may not be ghosts or other supernatural baddies, and for fun, you can throw in a few diabolical monks. More books need diabolical monks, don't you think?
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Since TINDERBOX sold...
I've been busy.
Not just with writing stuff. I spend quite a bit of time at some stables close to my home. The horses at this stable are used in therapeutic riding and are amazing, and I work with them and the disabled riders, most of whom are teens and tweens. I love it. It is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
As for the writing world, I finished up revisions on my adult novel SEVEN DEVILS IN A PIE and sent it off to Miriam to get her input, and I am working on a pretty extensive rewrite of a YA horror novel I wrote in 2011 called HAZARD HOUSE. I should be done with that inside a month (I can be ambitious, right?), and then that will go off to Miriam as well. I have banded with a kick-ass group of 2014 debut YA/MG authors called OneFour KidLit, and I am thrilled to have such a support network of author writers!
Sometime this year, I need to begin work on the sequel to TINDERBOX. I have a story idea for both the sequel and book three in the series, but it really depends on what edits I will need to do with my editor Courtney and Month9Books. Husband says he knows I'm living in the TINDERBOX world because I'm listening to a lot of Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. I've always said Jonah, one of the characters in TINDERBOX, is the human embodiment of a Modest Mouse song--basically, he cusses a lot, is arrogant, and walks around with a swagger, but he grows on you until you decide you actually like listening to him. My kids know I'm in writing mode because, well, Mama's a little scatterbrained these days and mainlining coffee.
I now have a Facebook author page, and I'm making some updates to my website, but the biggest change reflects the description of TINDERBOX on my projects page:
16-year-old Vayda Silver has secrets: who her family really is, why she prays every night no one will find them, and what her frightening empathic abilities do to those she loves. Keeping her secrets is almost impossible when her twin brother Jonah flaunts his powers where anyone can see. Vayda only trusts Ward, the misfit son of a has-been rockstar, who swears he doesn't scare off easily, but maybe that's because he doesn't know what Vayda is doing to him. Over the course of a cold, dark winter, Vayda must face her family's past while hoping that Ward, the one person who makes her feel safe, won't destroy her future.
This is an exciting time for me, and I know I'm fortunate. God knows how thrilled I am. I hope you are, too.
~S
Not just with writing stuff. I spend quite a bit of time at some stables close to my home. The horses at this stable are used in therapeutic riding and are amazing, and I work with them and the disabled riders, most of whom are teens and tweens. I love it. It is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
As for the writing world, I finished up revisions on my adult novel SEVEN DEVILS IN A PIE and sent it off to Miriam to get her input, and I am working on a pretty extensive rewrite of a YA horror novel I wrote in 2011 called HAZARD HOUSE. I should be done with that inside a month (I can be ambitious, right?), and then that will go off to Miriam as well. I have banded with a kick-ass group of 2014 debut YA/MG authors called OneFour KidLit, and I am thrilled to have such a support network of author writers!
Sometime this year, I need to begin work on the sequel to TINDERBOX. I have a story idea for both the sequel and book three in the series, but it really depends on what edits I will need to do with my editor Courtney and Month9Books. Husband says he knows I'm living in the TINDERBOX world because I'm listening to a lot of Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. I've always said Jonah, one of the characters in TINDERBOX, is the human embodiment of a Modest Mouse song--basically, he cusses a lot, is arrogant, and walks around with a swagger, but he grows on you until you decide you actually like listening to him. My kids know I'm in writing mode because, well, Mama's a little scatterbrained these days and mainlining coffee.
I now have a Facebook author page, and I'm making some updates to my website, but the biggest change reflects the description of TINDERBOX on my projects page:
16-year-old Vayda Silver has secrets: who her family really is, why she prays every night no one will find them, and what her frightening empathic abilities do to those she loves. Keeping her secrets is almost impossible when her twin brother Jonah flaunts his powers where anyone can see. Vayda only trusts Ward, the misfit son of a has-been rockstar, who swears he doesn't scare off easily, but maybe that's because he doesn't know what Vayda is doing to him. Over the course of a cold, dark winter, Vayda must face her family's past while hoping that Ward, the one person who makes her feel safe, won't destroy her future.
This is an exciting time for me, and I know I'm fortunate. God knows how thrilled I am. I hope you are, too.
~S
Friday, December 21, 2012
The Little Book That Could
I have a happy to share.
Not too long ago, I did a blog post for the Next Big Thing about a project of mine named TINDERBOX. In November 2008, I began writing TINDERBOX in 2008. Though I had been writing young adult paranormal since I was in high school, I had been on hiatus to raise my two older children who were very little at the time. You can see the story of how TINDERBOX came about in the Next Big Thing blog post.
I secured my dream agent, Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, in July 2010. Miriam truly is a good person and a hell of a good agent. She is what keeps me sane during submissions, lets me vent when I need to, and doesn't seem to mind when I send her hair-brained pitches for new projects. I told her about TINDERBOX, and we put it on submission in April 2011.
By November 2012, the book was still out with editors--some from our initial submission list. I had been on sub with this book since a month before I was due with my son, who was by then eighteen months old. Personally, we had a run of bad luck that culminated when my pug Josephine suddenly passed away after a short battle with a brain tumor. Words fail to describe how much losing her hurt. She was my buddy, my shadow. My family decided to adopt a pug/Chihuahua mix (Isabella the Rescue Chug) on the day before Thanksgiving. I was in the middle of nowhere at a shelter that looked like a meth lab, and my cell phone reception cut out. But I heard the noise that signaled I had a voice mail. It was Miriam.
TINDERBOX had an offer. Advance, print and e-book releases. Details were being worked out. And Miriam then promptly had to leave the office for the long holiday weekend.
It was a LONG weekend. I had been so emotionally spent after losing Josie, adopting Isabella, that when I told my crit partner and close friend Cole Gibsen, I kept going, "Huh. So...yeah." Very excited but just not sinking in. I had been on submission with several projects for a total of twenty-six months. Over two years of just waiting and waiting, and I was stunned.
But I am super excited to show you this screen capture from Publishers' Weekly Children's Bookshelf!
That small print says:
Georgia McBride of Month9Books has acquired, and Courtney Koschel will edit, Tinderbox, a Gothic tale by debut author Sarah Bromley, about 16-year-old Vayda Silver's attempts to bury her family's scandalous past, and the boy who just might destroy her future. Publication is scheduled for fall 2012; Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
I love the enthusiasm at Month9Books. They have a solid plan, and I've been acquainted with Georgia for quite some time, long enough to know that woman is a powerhouse. I cannot wait for you guys to meet Vayda, her brother Jonah, and Ward, a decent kid from a really shitty situation. It isn't a Gothic in the crumbling castles and hidden passages Dark Shadows sense of the word, but it does have my own take on Gothic literature--family curses, duplicitous people, a bit of a Byronic hero, a cold and dark setting against a paranoid atmosphere, and more than a healthy dose of the supernatural.
Guys, I just. Can't. Wait.
Not too long ago, I did a blog post for the Next Big Thing about a project of mine named TINDERBOX. In November 2008, I began writing TINDERBOX in 2008. Though I had been writing young adult paranormal since I was in high school, I had been on hiatus to raise my two older children who were very little at the time. You can see the story of how TINDERBOX came about in the Next Big Thing blog post.
I secured my dream agent, Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, in July 2010. Miriam truly is a good person and a hell of a good agent. She is what keeps me sane during submissions, lets me vent when I need to, and doesn't seem to mind when I send her hair-brained pitches for new projects. I told her about TINDERBOX, and we put it on submission in April 2011.
By November 2012, the book was still out with editors--some from our initial submission list. I had been on sub with this book since a month before I was due with my son, who was by then eighteen months old. Personally, we had a run of bad luck that culminated when my pug Josephine suddenly passed away after a short battle with a brain tumor. Words fail to describe how much losing her hurt. She was my buddy, my shadow. My family decided to adopt a pug/Chihuahua mix (Isabella the Rescue Chug) on the day before Thanksgiving. I was in the middle of nowhere at a shelter that looked like a meth lab, and my cell phone reception cut out. But I heard the noise that signaled I had a voice mail. It was Miriam.
TINDERBOX had an offer. Advance, print and e-book releases. Details were being worked out. And Miriam then promptly had to leave the office for the long holiday weekend.
It was a LONG weekend. I had been so emotionally spent after losing Josie, adopting Isabella, that when I told my crit partner and close friend Cole Gibsen, I kept going, "Huh. So...yeah." Very excited but just not sinking in. I had been on submission with several projects for a total of twenty-six months. Over two years of just waiting and waiting, and I was stunned.
But I am super excited to show you this screen capture from Publishers' Weekly Children's Bookshelf!
Georgia McBride of Month9Books has acquired, and Courtney Koschel will edit, Tinderbox, a Gothic tale by debut author Sarah Bromley, about 16-year-old Vayda Silver's attempts to bury her family's scandalous past, and the boy who just might destroy her future. Publication is scheduled for fall 2012; Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
I love the enthusiasm at Month9Books. They have a solid plan, and I've been acquainted with Georgia for quite some time, long enough to know that woman is a powerhouse. I cannot wait for you guys to meet Vayda, her brother Jonah, and Ward, a decent kid from a really shitty situation. It isn't a Gothic in the crumbling castles and hidden passages Dark Shadows sense of the word, but it does have my own take on Gothic literature--family curses, duplicitous people, a bit of a Byronic hero, a cold and dark setting against a paranoid atmosphere, and more than a healthy dose of the supernatural.
Guys, I just. Can't. Wait.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Next Big Thing
So there's a blog chain going wherein writers get to discuss their works-in-progress called The Next Big Thing, and I was invited to contribute by Blake Heiztman. Each link in this blog chain gives the writer a chance to answer ten questions about what they are working on. I will be followed by Dana Waganer and Ansha Kotyk.
About the ladies who are following me:
Dana Waganer is sharpening her writing chops writing articles on the joys of STDS (now that is prevention material for her kids when they get a little older right there) by day. By night, she is deep in the dark realms of her current work in progress, a supernatural thriller with elements of horror. She also blogs about how to be a thrifty mom at Diary of a Frugal Mom.
Ansha Kotyk is a contributor at the Pots n' Pens blog where food meets fiction. She also writers middle grade magical adventures. Her MG novel Gangsterland is out now.
And now...here are my ten questions and answers for my Next Big Thing.
What is the working title of your book?
TINDERBOX has been its name from the second day after I began writing it. I think it's evocative of the potential the characters have to be very destructive.
Where did the idea for the book come from?
About five and a half years ago, I was pregnant with my middle child and was working on a cross-stitch when I let my mind wander. I've been writing since I was a teenager, so it wasn't unusual for me to think up little scenarios and characters. I saw a father and his teenage children escaping from a fire. I wanted to know more about it and wrote it down in a notebook of other sketches. I went back to it about eighteen months later and began writing TINDERBOX.
What genre does your book fall under?
It is a YA Gothic paranormal romance.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
It's hard to say. I wrote this book a while ago, and many of my initial choices have "aged out" of potential for playing the main characters. So with more current young actors in mind, I would pick Ariel Winter as my female MC Vayda. She's soft and pretty without being seductive, and that is very much in line with what I imagined for Vayda. Landon Libouron has the right coloring and hard stare of her love interest Ward. For Vayda's father Emory, I have always pictured Robert Downey Jr. as him. He's got a certain blend of arrogance and humbleness that seem contradictory and yet work so well for Em. Jonah is Vayda's twin brother with a dark streak, and I think if David Henri grew his hair out he could do Jonah justice.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
This was a one-sentence synopsis that got me into a semi-final in a logline contest. High school senior and reluctant empath, Vayda Silver, can sense a looming catastrophe and has three in the making: the destructive blasts of electricity coming from her hands, the unwitting display of her abilities in front of her first real boyfriend, and a long-held grudge against her family that threatens to destroy her life and everyone she loves.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My book is represented by my agent, Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. She is an incredible asset in an industry where change is happening at lightning speed. I was a slushpile find. She picked me as a client for a different book. More about that below.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I wrote the first draft of TINDERBOX between November 2008-March 2009. It was a solid first draft, but I was just learning about critiquing others' work. I began working in a crit group with Shawntelle Madison and Cole Gibsen, and they taught me a lot. When I queried TINDERBOX, I had a lot of requests that just petered out. After a disastrous revise and resubmit that damn near ruined the book, I shelved it. After Miriam signed me, I took out the manuscript again and pitched it to her, warning her that it needed work. She was game. So I rewrote it, and she loved it. With another pass of revisions, we knew we had something.
What other books in your genre would you compare your story to?
If I recall, Miriam pitched it as something fans of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl would enjoy. It is Gothic with a southern sensibility because the Silver family are fugitives from the south living in northernmost Wisconsin during a brutally cold winter. With Gothic lit, there's a lot of family curses, sins-of-the-father-passed-down-to-the-heirs types of scenarios, and that definitely comes into play in TINDERBOX.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I have always loved Gothic lit and YA. Even as a teenager, all I ever wrote was young adult with supernatural characters. I also write horror, so I naturally veer toward the dark parts of stories through the characters and atmosphere. I wrote it virtually unaware that YA paranormal was about to explode because I'd been on hiatus for a while after having two children. When I came back, this was the story waiting for me.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
I didn't want to write an insta-love YA paranormal romance. Ward and Vayda are complicated and take a while to figure out what the hell they want from each other. They hurt each other. They come from situations where they are guarded and still trying to sort out themselves, let alone whether they should be together. It is a dark, brooding story about secrets that lead to more secrets that lead to destruction. And I will have more news about this book soon. :)
About the ladies who are following me:
Dana Waganer is sharpening her writing chops writing articles on the joys of STDS (now that is prevention material for her kids when they get a little older right there) by day. By night, she is deep in the dark realms of her current work in progress, a supernatural thriller with elements of horror. She also blogs about how to be a thrifty mom at Diary of a Frugal Mom.
Ansha Kotyk is a contributor at the Pots n' Pens blog where food meets fiction. She also writers middle grade magical adventures. Her MG novel Gangsterland is out now.
And now...here are my ten questions and answers for my Next Big Thing.
What is the working title of your book?
TINDERBOX has been its name from the second day after I began writing it. I think it's evocative of the potential the characters have to be very destructive.
Where did the idea for the book come from?
About five and a half years ago, I was pregnant with my middle child and was working on a cross-stitch when I let my mind wander. I've been writing since I was a teenager, so it wasn't unusual for me to think up little scenarios and characters. I saw a father and his teenage children escaping from a fire. I wanted to know more about it and wrote it down in a notebook of other sketches. I went back to it about eighteen months later and began writing TINDERBOX.
What genre does your book fall under?
It is a YA Gothic paranormal romance.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
It's hard to say. I wrote this book a while ago, and many of my initial choices have "aged out" of potential for playing the main characters. So with more current young actors in mind, I would pick Ariel Winter as my female MC Vayda. She's soft and pretty without being seductive, and that is very much in line with what I imagined for Vayda. Landon Libouron has the right coloring and hard stare of her love interest Ward. For Vayda's father Emory, I have always pictured Robert Downey Jr. as him. He's got a certain blend of arrogance and humbleness that seem contradictory and yet work so well for Em. Jonah is Vayda's twin brother with a dark streak, and I think if David Henri grew his hair out he could do Jonah justice.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
This was a one-sentence synopsis that got me into a semi-final in a logline contest. High school senior and reluctant empath, Vayda Silver, can sense a looming catastrophe and has three in the making: the destructive blasts of electricity coming from her hands, the unwitting display of her abilities in front of her first real boyfriend, and a long-held grudge against her family that threatens to destroy her life and everyone she loves.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My book is represented by my agent, Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. She is an incredible asset in an industry where change is happening at lightning speed. I was a slushpile find. She picked me as a client for a different book. More about that below.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I wrote the first draft of TINDERBOX between November 2008-March 2009. It was a solid first draft, but I was just learning about critiquing others' work. I began working in a crit group with Shawntelle Madison and Cole Gibsen, and they taught me a lot. When I queried TINDERBOX, I had a lot of requests that just petered out. After a disastrous revise and resubmit that damn near ruined the book, I shelved it. After Miriam signed me, I took out the manuscript again and pitched it to her, warning her that it needed work. She was game. So I rewrote it, and she loved it. With another pass of revisions, we knew we had something.
What other books in your genre would you compare your story to?
If I recall, Miriam pitched it as something fans of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl would enjoy. It is Gothic with a southern sensibility because the Silver family are fugitives from the south living in northernmost Wisconsin during a brutally cold winter. With Gothic lit, there's a lot of family curses, sins-of-the-father-passed-down-to-the-heirs types of scenarios, and that definitely comes into play in TINDERBOX.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I have always loved Gothic lit and YA. Even as a teenager, all I ever wrote was young adult with supernatural characters. I also write horror, so I naturally veer toward the dark parts of stories through the characters and atmosphere. I wrote it virtually unaware that YA paranormal was about to explode because I'd been on hiatus for a while after having two children. When I came back, this was the story waiting for me.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
I didn't want to write an insta-love YA paranormal romance. Ward and Vayda are complicated and take a while to figure out what the hell they want from each other. They hurt each other. They come from situations where they are guarded and still trying to sort out themselves, let alone whether they should be together. It is a dark, brooding story about secrets that lead to more secrets that lead to destruction. And I will have more news about this book soon. :)
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The World Keeps On Spinning
It's been a long time since I've blogged. Summer vacation had been afoot, which meant trips up north to visit my husband's family and friends I've had for twenty-five years, and this was followed by finishing up the first draft of SEVEN DEVILS IN A PIE. But in the meantime, my vestibular (inner ear) system decided it was going to play some games with me.
See, people rely on their vestibular system for important things like one's equilibrium. Without it, well...you know that carnival ride called the Spider? It's big and black with eight arms and a little bucket on the end of each arm. The arms rotate around a base and go up and down while the buckets spin around. When your vestibular system goes apeshit, you pretty much feel like you're on that ride all the time. Initially, you go, "Huh, I'm a little dizzy. That's weird." But when it happens for hours on end, you want to get off the ride and find a bucket to hurl into.
This is called vertigo. It messes with your perception. Sometimes it makes you feel like you're spinning or the room is spinning. I get a kind of vertigo that stems from rare migraines called vestibular migraines. For years, I would get hints of vertigo. I'd stand on a ladder and have to suddenly brace myself because I felt like I was falling. When I was pregnant with my older son, that sensation got worse. I couldn't get on the step ladder to get glasses down from kitchen cabinets or water a hanging plant. But it went away post-pregnancy. During my younger son's pregnancy, the vertigo came back and would particularly affect me on stairways. But it didn't go away after he was born, and six weeks later I wound up with the double ear infection from hell. It was so bad I couldn't walk across the room while carrying the baby since I was so dizzy.
Since then, I began getting vertigo with migraines, but recently, after one of these migraines, it didn't go away. The dizziness persisted, and I became terribly nauseous all the time. One of my children threw a Nerf ball across the room, and the movement from the corner of my eye disoriented me so that I fell off the couch even though I was sitting flat. Reading, scanning words on a page or computer screen, made me sick because of the eye movements. Same with typing and watching new letters pop up on the screen. I would try to track things with my eyes, and the problems in my inner ear made my eyes jump to the finish. That, too, was disorienting because I knew was missing things, knew there was some kind of gap, and I couldn't stop it. I had to focus so hard on keeping my balance or any other task that I began to forget things.
It was frustrating as hell.
I saw my doctor and had tests done to get the diagnosis of vestibular migraines. Then I was given a medicine called Anti-Vert (meclizine) and ordered to go to physical therapy. It's not like usual physical therapy. For vestibular therapy, you do a lot of tracking exercises with your eyes and learn how to walk while focusing on an object to stop the dizziness. As you get improve, you move to tracking with busier backgrounds or walking with head movements. When your inner ear malfunctions, it manifests through your vision. In my case, it causes double vision in my left eye since it primarily seems to be my left ear that's affected.
Leave it to me to have something weird go down. Again.
All in all, I'm managing. I did get to finish the manuscript in spite of the vertigo. That's a plus. I've had to retrain my eyes when I drive because the curves in the highway can get distorted and make me sick. It's a long, slow process, and it's teaching me a lot about ups, downs, and all arounds. It also teaches me a lot about patience, and that's something I think everyone can use a little lesson in now and again.
See, people rely on their vestibular system for important things like one's equilibrium. Without it, well...you know that carnival ride called the Spider? It's big and black with eight arms and a little bucket on the end of each arm. The arms rotate around a base and go up and down while the buckets spin around. When your vestibular system goes apeshit, you pretty much feel like you're on that ride all the time. Initially, you go, "Huh, I'm a little dizzy. That's weird." But when it happens for hours on end, you want to get off the ride and find a bucket to hurl into.
This is called vertigo. It messes with your perception. Sometimes it makes you feel like you're spinning or the room is spinning. I get a kind of vertigo that stems from rare migraines called vestibular migraines. For years, I would get hints of vertigo. I'd stand on a ladder and have to suddenly brace myself because I felt like I was falling. When I was pregnant with my older son, that sensation got worse. I couldn't get on the step ladder to get glasses down from kitchen cabinets or water a hanging plant. But it went away post-pregnancy. During my younger son's pregnancy, the vertigo came back and would particularly affect me on stairways. But it didn't go away after he was born, and six weeks later I wound up with the double ear infection from hell. It was so bad I couldn't walk across the room while carrying the baby since I was so dizzy.
Since then, I began getting vertigo with migraines, but recently, after one of these migraines, it didn't go away. The dizziness persisted, and I became terribly nauseous all the time. One of my children threw a Nerf ball across the room, and the movement from the corner of my eye disoriented me so that I fell off the couch even though I was sitting flat. Reading, scanning words on a page or computer screen, made me sick because of the eye movements. Same with typing and watching new letters pop up on the screen. I would try to track things with my eyes, and the problems in my inner ear made my eyes jump to the finish. That, too, was disorienting because I knew was missing things, knew there was some kind of gap, and I couldn't stop it. I had to focus so hard on keeping my balance or any other task that I began to forget things.
It was frustrating as hell.
I saw my doctor and had tests done to get the diagnosis of vestibular migraines. Then I was given a medicine called Anti-Vert (meclizine) and ordered to go to physical therapy. It's not like usual physical therapy. For vestibular therapy, you do a lot of tracking exercises with your eyes and learn how to walk while focusing on an object to stop the dizziness. As you get improve, you move to tracking with busier backgrounds or walking with head movements. When your inner ear malfunctions, it manifests through your vision. In my case, it causes double vision in my left eye since it primarily seems to be my left ear that's affected.
Leave it to me to have something weird go down. Again.
All in all, I'm managing. I did get to finish the manuscript in spite of the vertigo. That's a plus. I've had to retrain my eyes when I drive because the curves in the highway can get distorted and make me sick. It's a long, slow process, and it's teaching me a lot about ups, downs, and all arounds. It also teaches me a lot about patience, and that's something I think everyone can use a little lesson in now and again.
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