Zoë Marriott's Blog, page 64

THE WINNER OF CLOCKWORK ANGEL IS...

And the competition is CLOSED.

Thank you to everyone who entered! You all spread the word so well - you guys rock.

Now for the news you're all waiting for - the name of the winner. I used a random number generator based on the number of entries recieved and it picked (drumroll please)...

Cass (Words on Paper)

Congratulations, Cass! Email me with your address as soon as you can. The quicker I get your address, the quicker you get your prize, which includes the aforementioned copy of Clockwork...

AIMLESS BURBLING

I'm just going to admit it straight up - I have no idea what to blog about today. I am drifting about my house like the lost wraith of an abandoned milkmaid (I don't know why a milkmaid, okay? shut up), making weebling noises under my breath and sighing long, melancholy sighs.

Why?

Turns out that despite my good intentions, it's not so easy to get to work on Book Two of your two book series if you have no idea whether it will ACTUALLY BE Book Two of a two book series, or if it might turn out to...

!!FINISHED!!

And that, my pretties, is what a completely edited and revised manuscript looks like. If you're thinking 'Er...it kinda looks like Hell': Why, yes, I do believe you're right. And so did I by the time I finished it (I tried taking a picture but...I believe some people under the age of eighteen read this blog, and I wouldn't want to traumatise them. Besides, I write fantasy, not horror). Many thanks to the amazing Furtive Scribbler's Club for their revision suggestions, especially Rachel, for b...

TEASER FRIDAY

First of all - did you enter the Clockwork Angel Giveaway yet? If not: go, go my child! Click here and comment, before it's too late and the bitter ashes of regret sting your tongue forever!

All right, now what was I going to post about today? Oh, right. I've seen this feature on a few blogs where authors post teasers from the book they're working on now, on the understanding that of course these fragments might not end up in the final version and it's all just for fun, etc. etc. If I knew who...

CLOCKWORK ANGEL GIVEAWAY!

Hello, hello Dear Readers! Guess what I've got in my happy little hands right now? That's right, an advanced copy of Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel. Woohoo!

Right now I am greedily devouring the adventures of Will, Tessa and Jem (my editor has a crush on Will, but I'm Team Jem at this point. He reminds me of a blonde Kyoya Ootori from Ouran High School Host Club) but I'm well aware of the suffering of the rest of you Cassandra Clare fans out there, and I want to help!

So I'm going to give aw...

HOW I PLOT

Recently the YA Rebels (whose vlogs I highly recommend for helpful hilarity) have been vlogging about plot and structure. I've enjoyed their videos, but no one's really touched on anything LIKE the method I use (and one of my favourite rebels, Leah Clifford, even stunned me by asking 'What is structure?').

It seems I am an unusually structure-focused writer. Not that I always called it that. For a long time I just talked about the 'shape' of a story. That's still how stories feel to me; like s...

SHADOWS ON THE MOON ARCS

I had some really exciting news last week, but I kept it to myself because I wanted a little time to digest it. Back when my editor sent me a preliminary version of the Shadows on the Moon cover art (ssoooo pretty! Can't wait to share it with you guys), she also told me that they were going to be printing a small number of proof copies, otherwise known as Advanced Reader Copies, or ARCS, this September.

Now, for those of you who are scratching your heads over why this is exciting: let me 'spla...

WORDLE

Wordle: Is a pretty darn good way to waste time for a writer! Anyway, this word cloud is from the synopsis for the first FrostFire book and gives you what I think is a really fascinating insight into the characters and plot.

The second one below is from the synopsis of the second book. Again, it rather eerily conveys the shape of the story and even some character developments. This gave me a shiver when I looked at it. Seriously.



HOW DID THE PROGRAMME KNOW TO PUT LUCA THERE??? Psychic comput...

A WHOLE WORLD OF PAIN

In more ways than one.

I've just finished re-writing Chapter One (and a tiny bit of Chapter Two) from scratch. Which wasn't that painful, I must admit. I'm pretty happy with the new version. However, what IS painful is my neck. And my shoulder. And my back, generally.

This is because when I re-write I like to write on paper, but because my eyes are defective (seriously, I can't even hold a UK driving licence) I have to sort of crane over the page, leaning one elbow on the table, or wherever I'm...

PROCRASTINATOR!

This is what I am today. So ashamed! There I was, bouncing out of bed, filled with enthusiam and eagerness to start writing new chapters for FrostFire (which...might not be called that anymore, guys, but more about that another day), dashing out to take my dog for an energetic walk in the rain, making myself a huuuge mug of tea and sitting down to GET STARTED RAWR and then...

Nothing happened.

I'm so sorry, FrostFire. It's not you. It's me. This happens to writers sometimes. Maybe I'm tired or ...