We're a group of YA authors published by small presses, and we're getting the word out about our books, talking about writing, the world of kid lit, and anything else that pops into our pretty heads.
Are you ready? Have you put up your tree? Hung stockings from the fireplace?
My tree is up, waiting for decorations. The rest I hope to do tonight.
Monday's post by Christine was about books making great gifts. She's right. You can put them in stockings, wrap them with sparkly paper, and even mail them easily.
My Christmas story is TUMBLEWEED CHRISTMAS, a picture book for early readers.
Did you know that Chandler, Arizona actually uses tumbleweeds for their tree in town?
Watch the tree being built. Neat.
History of the tree.
This unique Chandler tradition began in 1957, when Chandler resident Earl Barnum raised the idea of a tumbleweed tree after he saw a similar one in Indiana built out of cone-shaped chicken wire with pine boughs stuck in the holes. Many members of the community helped create the first tree in Chandler using tumbleweeds that they gathered from around town. Little did these folks know that they were the first to do such a thing and that it would continue as an annual Christmas tradition from then on. In fact, Chandler is the only city in the southwestern United States that has such a tree.
The cat in the corner isn't interested in the books.
Writers talk a lot about beginnings. The beginning of a story. The beginning of a scene. Yes, the beginning is very important. A good beginning draws the reader in, makes the reader want to know more about the characters and their problems. The reader wants to feel like they’re right there with the character(s) feeling their emotions and trying to figure out what to do about their troubles.
Then comes the ending, of a story, a scene, or a chapter. The ending is what I love, especially a cliffhanger ending. According to Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, a cliffhanger is: “… a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction. A cliffhanger is hoped to ensure the audience will return to see how the characters resolve the dilemma. The two main ways for cliffhangers to keep readers coming back is to either involve characters in a suspenseful, possibly life-threatening situation, or to feature a sudden shocking revelation.”
I love to read a book with cliffhanger endings for the chapters. When I’m dying to see what happens next, I’ll read one more chapter, even though it’s way past midnight and I can barely keep my eyes open. This is the way I hope readers will feel about my stories. They just want to read one more chapter, then the next, and the next. Here are some of my favorite cliffhanger chapter endings from my novels.
From SECRETS I HAVE KEPT, ya mystery:
“In here,” Casey whispered, and nudged Jen into the coat closet. He squeezed in beside her. The dog scampered between her legs.
Casey hauled the closet door shut at the exact instant she heard the outer door open.
From JUST BREEZE, tween contemporary:
I crossed my heart. I’d never squeal on my sister. The car would speak for itself, however. Noah was good, but it would take a lot of hammering to hide those dents.
From CAVES, CANNONS, AND CRINOLINES, ya historical
The iron gate at the end of the sidewalk squeaked as Nat pushed through it. My greeting never passed my lips, for he laid his head on my lap. He said only one word: “Lizzie.”
Do you have favorite cliffhangers? If so, tell us about them.
Happy Reading. And remember, keep the reader guessing what happens next.
Today, my post is short. I’m in the middle of edits for my forthcoming MG/Tween novel A PIRATE, A BLOCKADE RUNNER, AND A CAT. I used to hate history. Who cared who discovered what and where and when? So all through school, I cruised, learning what was necessary, forgetting most of it afterwards. Then, as an adult, I started researching my family. And history suddenly came alive. These were not just names who lived in different time periods. They were real live people who breathed, loved, and worked hard, like we do today. When I could place my ancestors in different time periods, that part of history came alive for me. They sailed across the sea to establish new homes and families. They fought for their rights and to make America the grand country it is today. History soon became my passion.
My YA historical novel CAVES, CANNONS, AND CRINOLINES is set during the Civil War, one of my favorite time periods. Another of my forthcoming stories for Tweens, SCATTERED TO THE WINDS, is set in the 1920s and deals with the Orphan Trains.
My mother and aunt - Orphan Train Riders
The story due out in January 2013, about the pirates and blockade runners, is set during the present, but the ghosts lived in the past. Yes, the pirates, the blockade runner, and the cat are all ghosts. It was a fun story to write. The editing is not so much fun. But necessary.
I discovered I got carried away with ellipses and dashes. What was I thinking? Now, I’m deleting most of them. Using the tracking on my computer is driving me crazy, but I’m learning. Delete. Accept. Reject. Oh, boy. What happened to the old-fashioned way of editing?
So, from Erik, Star, and Storm, the characters in my story, along with the ghosts, James (blockade runner), Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard (pirates), and Dixie the ghost cat goodbye for now. See you soon.
Thanks to Chris and Lea at MuseItUp Publishing for giving my characters a chance to share their story with you.
In the last few years authors have had to take up more and more of the marketing duties which were once handled by publishers. One of the ways to do this are by the use of Book Trailers.
Book Trailers are meant to be no longer than a couple of minutes and pack enough punch to get you guys interested enough to bite and take a closer look at the book. (A lot like the hook I talked about a month or more ago.)
I've procrastinated making mine but am slowly catching up. (Trolling for appropriate pictures make my eyes hurt! Looking for fodder is harder than making the darn thing!) For this latest video I started using a piece of software called Anime Studio. I think it really pumped up the quality of what I can make by a lot!
Watch the video and then I'll go through the steps I took to get it to the finished product. (Hopefully it won't be too lame and you won't cry to get your 1 minute and 13 seconds back.) :P
It's always best if you have some kind of plan before you ever start. Basically what you hope to say/show and the order.
There are several picture sites where for a fee you can download royalty free pictures (a few even have video clips) to use in the book trailer. There is one I know of that allows you to use them for free, but you have to make sure to give the photographer credit. Always need to make sure you're not infringing on someone's copyright. This includes the music and photos.
Another option too is Deviant Art. If you find something nice there, you can email the artist and see if they'd allow you to use it in the video, giving them credit at the end. Some will and some won't.
For all these though, be prepared for your eyes to want to fall out of your head after hours and hours of scrolling through stuff! But if you end up with the perfect picture/drawing, it is well worth it. (Just give yourself time to recuperate! lol.)
Of course using photos you took does make things even better! Those are yours to use as you see fit. :P You never know what you may have hiding in an album somewhere. And with camera phone, nowadays, taking pictures is even easier. Just make sure the photo quality is high enough for what you have in mind.
I use two pieces of free software to put the video together. 1) Movie Maker, which comes standard with all computers using windows. 2) Audacity, which is a free down loadable audio recording and editing software (you will need a microphone or headset to use this to best effect).
The great thing about Audacity is that once you find your background music, you can open it up in the software then record your voice to add to the track. Even better, (make sure to save as the project) it keeps the soundtrack and the voice track separate so you can add silences in your voice parts to manipulate when they occur. This becomes very important when you're putting all pieces together in Movie Maker.
Like I said before, this year I also bought Anime Studio. The great thing about this piece of software is that you can add 'bones' to pictures to make them move. Even the Text can be manipulated. So you can make the book trailer less static. And it's even kind of fun! (You will export your project as an .avi to add to Movie Maker)
So, you have pictures, video bits, the music. Now all you need to do is put them together. Movie Maker will help you do that. Movie Maker allows you to import all the bits and then you can arrange them in any order you like, adding transition effects, scrolling text, and end titles.
The beauty here is that as you add each thing, you can preview it, and also see what time it falls on the video. This allows you to go back to Audacity and tweak your spoken parts so the timing is perfect.
Hopefully at the end you will have something to be proud of that you can share. And while it may have taken a lot of time to create, it won't be going anywhere and you can use it for years to come at your website, promo CDs, and whatever else you can think of. Make sure to upload it to Youtube. You can get code there to embed it at your webpage, or blog. Even better join Blazing Trailers where you can join a ton of authors and display your trailer with theirs.
I'm in the middle of my Virtual Book Tour for my latest young adult historical novel and having a blast. Who would have thought it? If anyone had told me I'd be a writer one day, I'd have thought they were crazy. When I was younger, I didn't even like to read. Even though my eighth-grade teacher sent my poem "Stars" to a high anthology and it was published in Young America Sings, I hated to write.
In spite of my rocky relationship with books, I graduated from high school and even gasp attended the university. Guess what I became? Yes, of all things, a teacher. Kids grow up and change. Even I did. An even greater miracle occurred. Reading great stories to my students and to my sons made me realize what I'd been missing. Reading was fun.
Now I read everything I can get my hands on. I also write. And I love every minute I'm lost in another world, time, and place. For the first time in ... um ... many years, I'm revealing the poem that started my writing career, although I had no idea it would when I wrote it, way back in junior high.
STARS
By Beverly Jean Stowe
Zundelowitz Jr. High
I often lie awake at night,
Watching stars that are so bright.
They sparkle and twinkle in the cool night air,
And look like ladies with lovely golden hair.
You see the little dipper and the big dipper too,
Away up in the deep dark blue.
But then come the morning rays of light
And all the stars are gone until tonight.
I'm enjoying reading and writing, and have been fortunate in having five books for children and teens published, with more under contract. I love this group and hearing about everyone else's work. And readers, leave your comments. Tell us about your reading or writing, hopes or dreams.
