This is a general update blog post, so it’s going to be a bit random and short. Yay? My friend Katherine came for a visit! We had many adventures, including but not limited to: Catching a train only because the staff held their car door open for us, performing period dances on the lawn at Chatsworth (Pemberley), exploring a plague village, and a bit of waltzing in the Assembly Rooms! (Katherine is my dance buddy and we took full advantage of this.) I have been editing like a mad person. This will probably result in some revision-themed posts soon. I...
I recently finished my first draft of Illuminate, which was very exciting! Don’t get me wrong—there is still a ton that needs to happen before it goes to agents in the spring. But there’s a thing that happens when you finish your draft: You have to start thinking about the next story. The way I write is by focusing my creative energies on one story at a time (“time” can be exclusive, or “per day” if I am drafting and revising two different projects). This means I don’t usually have a pocketful of future-stories I’m eagerly waiting to work on. As a result, whenever I...
Some of you may be aware that Letter to an Unknown Soldier made it on Buzzfeed. I thought I might take a stab at my own sort of Buzzfeed-style feature. You can read it below the cut. (more…)
I worked with Letter to an Unknown Soldier to create a digital memorial for WWI by asking people to write letters to the unknown soldier in Paddington Station. We had an astounding result–over 21,000 letters. And several of those were by my classmates, friends and family! Similar to the daily featured letters on the website, I’ve gathered these letters together so that you can read them side by side. One of the fabulous things about this project is how the letters talk to each other—how they enter a dialogue together. I hope that by reading the very different entries below, you’ll be encourage to think...
I have been working since the end of June with Letter to an Unknown Soldier, a project which created a digital memorial for WWI by asking people to write letters to the unknown soldier in Paddington Station. We had an astounding result–over 21,000 letters. They came from the UK, from New Zealand, from Egypt, from Iceland. They were written by prisoners, school children, mothers, and politicians (including a prime minister). At times they were sweet, at times funny, at times heartbreaking. It’s been an amazing project. This is my last week working for it. We closed our submissions on Tuesday, and...
I have friends who absolutely love writing their story’s climax. It’s their favorite part of the writing process. I am not one of those people. The thought of writing a climax makes me want to do my laundry. I would rather clean the hair out of my drain than start drafting my climax. I cannot tell you how spotless my house gets when I reach the latter third of my novel. The first draft of my climaxes (and everyone’s, I’d hazard) are terrifyingly awful. But this time around, I wanted to put in work beforehand to help save on rewrites after....
Revision can be a taxing process. Trust me: When am I not revising something? (Spoiler: The answer is I am in a perpetual state of revision.) This month, I set out to finish revising the last 12 chapters of WIP Blessings that have been hanging over my head since January. And I did it! And it wasn’t terrible! So how did I make editing over 30k in three weeks fun? 1. Print the sucker out At some point in your revision process, you’re gonna need to print that baby out. (If you’re like me, you’ll probably print it several...
There is a lot of angst (and helpful tips) on the internet for writing your query’s actual summary/hook, but what I’ve always found absolutely terrifying is that fine balance between “Dear Agent, I did my research” and “Dear Agent, I know where you sleep.” Hopefully it’s a given that if you’re querying, you need to research the agents you’ll be submitting to—including perusing their Twitter feed, blogs, and interviews. Susan Dennard has a lovely post about this over at Publishing Crawl. So take a look at that. If you didn’t click the link, the short version is: Research like the...
Working through the middle part of my WIP has been like slogging through a constant state of writer’s block. I’m still on my tight deadlines, though, and don’t have time to cast my hand over my brow and bemoan my muse (which is honestly the funnest part of catching a cause of The Block). As a result, I’ve been resorting to some strategies to keep my story moving forward, despite my muse’s best efforts to pull it to a grinding halt. When the inspiration stalls and enthusiasm lags, I find it helpful to… Dance It Out You think I am...
When you dive into worldbuilding, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirl of landscape and custom and fashion. But don’t forget to build details like your, country’s flag’s colors or design! Designing a flag can help you discover something new about your country’s history and myths. Just have a look at some of our real-life flags and all the history, stereotypes, and attitudes associated with them. (The Union Jack and the imperialism ingrained in its very design. The American flag, the very image of which seems to conjure eagles and liberty (or rednecks). Canada’s red leaf and maple syrup....