Jeffe Kennedy's Blog, page 163
July 12, 2016
Cover Reveal! New Book!! New Series!!!
I’m thrilled to FINALLY share the cover for LONEN’S WAR, the first book in my brand spanking new Fantasy Romance series, the Sorcerous Moons!! It comes out next Tuesday, July 19, 2016.
An Unquiet Heart
Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…
A Fight Without Hope
When the cornered Destrye decided to strike back, Lonen never thought he’d live through the battle, let alone demand justice as a conqueror. And yet he must keep up his guard against the sorceress who speaks for the city. Oria’s people are devious, her claims of ignorance absurd. The frank honesty her eyes promise could be just one more layer of deception.
A Savage Bargain
Fighting for time and trust, Oria and Lonen have one final sacrifice to choose… before an even greater threat consumes them all.
July 10, 2016
My Favorite Minor Character
In case you missed my very fun interview with Ilana Teitelbaum at the Huffington Post, here’s the cover reveal for the next book in The Uncharted Realms, THE EDGE OF THE BLADE! I have such mad love for this cover. Of all my heroines so far, Jepp is the one whose cover comes closest to showing her as she looks in my head. She’s also terribly badass, prowling along with her knives.
Love love love.
It’s timely, too, because this week’s topic at the SFF Seven is “My Favorite Minor Character.” Tune in to find out who mine is!
July 6, 2016
July 3, 2016
On Being Afraid to Speak Up
Yesterday, on July 2, 2016, Elie Wiesel died. He was a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and a celebrated writer who brought to life the realities of the Holocaust. I’m over at the SFF Seven, talking about Wiesel and whether writers should discuss politics.
June 26, 2016
Five Traits of an Ideal Developmental Editor
A good developmental editor is key for taking a book from good to great. Or from meh to great. Or even great wad of suckage to great.
I firmly believe every novelist needs a good developmental editor. And I’m over at the SFF7, giving what I think are the five traits of an ideal developmental editor.
June 21, 2016
The Pitfalls of Contests for Unpublished Manuscripts
I used this cartoon in an online class I’m teaching on using the sexual journey as a tool for character transformation. It cracks me up every time, so I thought I’d share here.
The other day I finished judging some entries for an unpublished manuscript contest hosted by a writer’s organization I’m part of. I judge a number of contests each year, both for published books and these unpublished manuscripts. In fact, this year I’m coordinating one for my local RWA chapter, The Rebecca, so disclaimer there.
I passionately believe in hosting these contests, not only because they make excellent fundraisers for programming we couldn’t otherwise afford. They give an opportunity to aspiring writers to both gain feedback on their manuscripts and potentially get them in front of agents and editors who might otherwise be difficult to access. When I was shopping my first novel, I entered a lot of these contests, and it was great to have those venues.
That said… this recent experience gave me pause.
For this contest, authors submitted the first twenty pages of a manuscript. For The Rebecca, it’s the first 5,000 words, which works out to slightly less. At any rate, of the five entries I evaluated, two showed great promise, with beguiling premises and worlds, but both crammed WAY too much into those first twenty pages. To the point that I became overwhelmed.
Contest veterans will know this, but part of what’s happening here is that the writers know they’ll be evaluated according to a score sheet. Most contests ask if the internal and external conflict is apparent – for both the hero and heroine in romance – and if character motivations are clear. These are good things to evaluate and yet – very few books lay out ALL of the conflict and character motivations in the first twenty pages. Particularly if there are two or more point-of-view (POV) characters. In fact, they really shouldn’t do that because it mucks up the pacing of the novel.
Which is exactly what happened with these entries. They became to my eye – which is admittedly one reader’s opinion – almost kaleidoscopic in the rapidity of the scene shifts and changes of POV. I understood why the authors felt they needed to do this, but I ended up scoring down for categories like pacing and clarity of various characters.
What’s most concerning is – they didn’t read like the actual openings of novels. Since a huge piece of the contest involves sending the finalists to the final judges, agents and editors, to rank and hopefully want to see more of, possibly to acquire, I worry about this tendency. As a contest coordinator, I’m wondering what we can do about it.
The upshot is, for all of you trying out your manuscripts this way – please keep this in mind. The opening of your novel should read at the pace of an actual novel, not a construct created to satisfy all the points ticked off by a contest judge.
Anyone have thoughts on this, particularly how to address it?
June 19, 2016
Jump the Shark or Cut to the Chase – It’s All Cool Beans to Me
I got to go on a tour yesterday of Georgia O’Keeffe’s winter home and studio in Abiquiu. That’s been on my list for a while now and – wow! – it was totally worth it. I love studying how other artists live and it turns out that she and I share many aesthetics. No surprise as I love her work. Also no surprise that she’s more visually oriented than I am. My sister-in-law who’s a painter asked me if I got any “vibes” from the place. Yes. Yes, I did. Her powerful personality haunts that space and they’ve kept it exactly as the day she left. Remarkable experience.
This week on the SFF7 wonder blog, we’re discussing catering to younger generation – what words and ideas have we given up because younger readers won’t know them. This is my topic, so I’ll kick it off with a few stories for why this has been on my mind.
June 12, 2016
Clean Fire – Flash Fiction for James A. Moore
We’re playing a game this week at the SFF Seven, writing flash fiction inspired by a book cover belonging to the writer who posts on the day after us.
This means I drew Jim.
Hee hee hee.
I love this cover! Oddly enough, it perfectly fits the world of the series I’m currently writing, Sorcerous Moons.
June 7, 2016
Overcoming Two Towers Syndrome
It’s been a great week for my duology with Grace Draven, FOR CROWN AND KINGDOM! I’m frankly astonished at the response and grateful to all of you enthusiastic readers. If you’d still like to pick up a copy, here are some linkys:
Amazon
Apple/iTunes
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
Now that the promo pony parade is wearing down for both this release and for THE PAGES OF THE MIND, which also released last week to the best rankings that series has seen so far (yay – thank you!!), I’m turning my attention back to book two in this new series I’m writing, The Sorcerous Moons. Book one, LONEN’S WAR, is done and I have an actual blurb now!
An Unquiet Heart
Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…
A Fight Without Hope
When the cornered Destrye decided to strike back, Lonen never thought he’d live through the battle, let alone demand justice as a conqueror. And yet he must keep up his guard against the sorceress who speaks for the city. Oria’s people are devious, her claims of ignorance absurd. The frank honesty her eyes promise could be just one more layer of deception.
A Savage Bargain
Fighting for time and trust, Oria and Lonen have one final sacrifice to choose… before an even greater threat consumes them all.
Book two is called ORIA’S GAMBIT and it’s slow going so far. I’m working hard to keep from hitting Two Towers Syndrome, which is a common pitfall of second books in trilogies – and I’m over at Here Be Magic talking about what happens in that syndrome and how to overcome it.
June 5, 2016
Pros and Cons of Genre Boundaries
I’m over at the SFF7 this morning, mulling this week’s topic: How does working within or outside the genre spectrum benefit or limit?
