Janette Rallison's Blog, page 11

The best sort of losers

Another Whitney Awards has come and gone and I know you’re all wondering if I managed to retain my title of: Author with the Most Books Nominated Who Has Never Actually Won a Whitney.

Yes, yes I have.

On the plus side, I’ve got some awesome Loser Cheesecake photos to share.  I love that Julie Wright is wiping her tears with Dan Wells’s tie.

Here are Heather Moore, Dan Wells, and I. All of us were nominated for three Whitneys this year and none of us won. But on the plus side: three desserts. So yeah…there’s always that.

Fitting or not, I feel that my most lasting legacy to the writing world will be the annual Loser Cheesecake photos.

This tradition was born the second year of the Whitney Awards when Julie Wright and I began a photo shoot depicting the effects of losing a Whitney. Mostly, the effects involve eating large amounts of chocolate.

We quickly dragged James Dashner and Jessica Day George into the photo shoot.

I admit that this picture makes me laugh every time I see it.

This year, Tamara Heiner came up to me after the awards and told me she thought I was very gracious and handled losing well. I should have told her that practice makes perfect but I’m not nearly as witty as my characters. Maybe I’ll use that line in a book someday, though.

On the bright side, I did win the James Dashner Shrine that they give away at conference. This consists of a paper James Dashner mask, a framed picture of him and Jeff Savage, and plastic cup and notebook with his movie title misspelled. I proudly posted the picture on Facebook and had about twenty people congratulated me as though it was an actual accomplishment. In actuality, James pulled my name out of a bowl. Still, I’ll take my congratulations where I can.

 

 

Book signing in Provo May 13

I’m heading up to Utah for the LDStorymakers conference soon, and part of the fun is a massive author book signing on Saturday, May 13th at 5:00

If you’re in the area, please come by. Really, please. I’ve got to make room in my (Used to be storage) room for a treadmill so I’m selling books for super cheap. For example, paperback My Fair Godmothers are 2.99. Revenge of the Cheerleaders hardback, also 2.99. (I could be talked into trading one for a large bag of peanut M&Ms. Just saying.) And books make great gifts.

It will be at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, UT

220 W Center St 200, Provo

Why people wonder about authors

As I’ve been getting the book The Girl Who Heard Demons ready for paperback format, I read over a few of the comments the editor made and the comments I made back to her. During a scene where the main character has been kidnapped and duct tape placed over her mouth, I had her say several lines of dialogue to the villain.

The editor asked how she was talking and how she managed to break the seal of the duct tape. This was my reply to her:

Despite what all of the TV shows portray, duct tape’s seal breaks as soon as you open your mouth. I know this because I duct taped my own mouth to research the scene and see how hard it would be to talk with duct tape. Yes, this is the sort of thing that makes people wonder about writers. I also duct taped my daughter’s hands to see if Levi could get the tape off of Adelle’s hands without scissors. Turns out if you pull up the end of the tape, it’s really easy to unwind it. I’m sure CPS would understand . . . (Hey, one of my mystery writer friends had her husband drive her around in the trunk of her car so she could give accurate details for her book.) If you think it’s a weird visual to have a piece of tape half sticking to her lips, I can take out that piece of tape altogether. It just seemed like a kidnapper would tape someone’s mouth, and unless you’ve done it before, you might not realize it doesn’t work.

Yep, writers are an interesting bunch. Perhaps odd, yes, but interesting.

So anyway, The Girl Who Heard Demons will be available in paperback within a few days.

The unintended consequences of studying WWII

I have a WWII romance in the writing queue. After finishing Slayers 4, an Echo Ridge romance novella, and an upcoming project that I haven’t seen the contract for so I won’t announce yet, I will finish it. And because I know it’s there I’ve been watching WWII documentaries and reading books set in WWII for about a year. Here are some things that will happen to you if you study the subject as well.

You will be hungry. Seriously. I don’t think you can learn about Leningrad or rationing without getting hungry–or looking at your pantry and wondering how long you’d last if war broke our. Or stockpiling food because of the aforementioned question.
You sources won’t always be clear. I watched one documentary yesterday that said Britain had 40 million people living there during the war. One today said 50 million. Ten million is quite a difference when it comes to a place the size of Idaho. Germany and England have different dates for how long they think the Battle of Britain lasted. How can I be accurate when my sources (in this case both documentaries put out by the government during the war) contradicts itself?
You will be dumbfounded. I can’t wrap my mind around the magnitude of this war or the depths to which humanity will sink. I understand madmen exist. It’s so much harder to understand that nations will follow them. And it wasn’t just Hitler. The atrocities from Japan were just as bad. And Stalin was in some ways worst because he committed atrocities against his own people. (And Russia was helping Germany up until the day Germany betrayed Russia and attacked them. I haven’t learned much about Italy but I’m assuming it wasn’t much better. ) How could that many people be so brutal?
For every one question you find an answer for, it will raise two other questions. I finally decided on a bomber for my German character and in doing so learned that they didn’t just take off from Germany and France. They also had air bases in Norway and Belgium. Now I’ve got to figure out which base his squadron  came from on the day of the attack in Chapter one. At the rate I’m going, I will never finish researching.
You will see death. It’s odd to look at the footage of crashing planes or dead soldiers and realize this isn’t Hollywood’s fakery. It’s real death. I’ve seen the moments before someone died captured on film. Over and over again. I’ve seen countless dead bodies that used to be someone’s son, brother, father, husband. These people had plans, goals, and personalities before war came and cut them all short. And it’s horrible to see and know that it’s real. Yet at the same time, I think every person alive should learn about WW2. It’s not just history, it’s the ultimate cautionary tale.

 

2 free books, 2 for .99 until the 23

So many good books for so little!  Slayers: Playing with Fire is free! So is A Longtime (and at one point illegal) Crush. How I Met Your Brother and Masquerade are .99

Having superpowers is overrated. It requires Tori to go to way more team practices than can comfortably fit into a normal teenager’s schedule. Being a dragon slayer has other drawbacks too—like fighting dragons and keeping one step ahead of power-hungry dragon lords, all without blowing her cover.

Tori Hampton is a presidential candidate’s daughter, which means she not only has a public reputation to maintain, she also has a humorless bodyguard to ditch every time she needs to go on a mission.

And Dr. B has plenty of missions for the Slayers. When he discovers that someone is selling dragon scales on the black market, he’s convinced the seller can give him the dragons’ location. A surprise strike could turn the tide in the Slayers favor, but when they track down the seller, they find more than they’ve bargained for.Suddenly, strategies need to change, alliances shift, and Tori finds herself caught in the precarious middle.

Jesse, the captain of the other Slayers team, is everything she wants, but then there’s Dirk, the dragon lord’s son—who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. He’s determined to convince her that she should love dragons, and love him too. The fact that he and his father plan to overthrow the government? Details not worth arguing about.

Tori believes she can turn Dirk around and convince him to rejoin the Slayers, but he’s just as convinced that she should leave the Slayers and become a dragon lord. Dirk can teach Tori how to control dragons, and it’s a skill she desperately wants. It could make all of the difference in a battle. It could save her friends’ lives. When Dirk offers to let her ride a dragon, she knows that meeting him is like playing with fire.

Praise for Slayers: “More than a worthy equal of the works of Rick Riordan or Christopher Paolini.”–Booklist

Click to get Slayers: Playing with Fire for free

The best day of his life, the worst day of hers.

Back in college, Marco Dawson never thought of Belle as anything more than a friend. If she had crossed his mind on his wedding day, it was probably only to wonder why she hadn’t shown up to be a bridesmaid. After all, his new wife was her old roommate. Seven years have passed since then, and Belle just found out that Marco is divorced and vacationing with his family in an elegant Cancun resort. She’s not about to let the right man get away twice. She heads to the resort where she plans to casually bump into Marco and ignite some romantic flames.

But Belle hadn’t planned on one thing: Flynn Dawson, Marco’s handsome, charming, and determined twin brother. He thinks Marco and his ex-wife can make amends and he’s not about to let Belle stand in the way.

Part Sabrina, part While You Were Sleeping, romantic comedy readers will eat this book up!

Click here to buy How I Met Your Brother for .99

From the day Elsie’s big brother brought his friend Kye McBride over to their house, Elsie adored him. When she was eight, she secretly blew kisses to him. When she was twelve, she sat on the stairs, unnoticed, and watched him escort another girl to prom. When she was a senior in high school, she walked into math class and found out he was her new math teacher.

With that much emotion fueling her, things were bound to go wrong. And they did. After Elsie let him know how she felt and made a fool of herself, she spent the last two weeks of school avoiding him. In fact she turned avoiding-Kye-at-all-costs into her life-long philosophy.

Now three years have passed and Elsie has come home for her brother’s wedding. She’s got to face Kye—hopefully without getting crushed again.

Click here to get Longtime Crush for free!

A USA Today Bestseller

When Clarissa takes a much needed job under slightly false pretenses, she doesn’t think it will be such a big deal. She may have told her movie-star boss that she was married but that shouldn’t matter. After all, she doesn’t want anything to do with men for a long, long time.

It’s hard for a woman to keep up the masquerade when her boss is as handsome as Slade Jacobson and the job takes her to Hawaii with him. In between handling his whirlwind four-year-old daughter and dealing with a whole cast of Hollywood personalities, Clarissa has to keep a tight hold on her heart.

Masquerade is romantic comedy at its best–clean and funny with lots of heart.

Click to get Masquerade for .99

 

To kill or not to kill off a character

I admit I wasn’t planning on killing off any of the slayers in the last book of the series. I  made this decision for two reasons. One, I don’t like books or movies where characters I like die. I still haven’t forgiven George Lucas for killing off Qui-gon Jinn. We will not even discuss Han Solo. As far as I’m concerned, that death never happened. So I’m not one to just randomly kill off a character because death seems like an interesting plot twist. And number two, I want the book to end with mostly happy scenes. I have a scene where all of the slayers are together the day after the climax talking and laughing and feeling like normal teenagers again. That scene wouldn’t really work if they were simultaneously mourning the death of one of their own.

That said, one of my author friends (Randy Lindsey) reminded me that if no one dies during the journey, the journey doesn’t seem like it was that hard or that dangerous. Authors have to kill off someone to show that the struggle was hard. It’s kind of an author rule. (If you don’t like books where characters die, this is your notice that Randy’s books might not be your cup of tea. Just saying.)

Randy has a point. Even though I don’t like this point. I’m considering killing off Tori’s horse. Although people don’t really like books where animals die, and it’s not like she had that close of a relationship with her horse. True, they spent time together in the first book. But since the next books takes place during the school year and not at camp we don’t see Tori with her horse very much after book one.

Of course, this isn’t to say that I didn’t plan on killing anyone. One of the bad guys meets an unfortunate end in the last book. In the Team Jesse version of the book, *spoiler alert* I planned on killing Overdrake. Then in the Team Dirk version of the book, I had to unkill him because I didn’t think that Dirk would care about romance with Tori if he’d just seen his father killed.

So what do you guys think,? Do I need to kill off a good character to make the journey feel like the struggle was hard enough? I could kill off one of the minor slayers but then does that really count? And even though he/she was a minor character, again the slayers would seem heartless if they were laughing and joking around the day afterward.

Several cities in the nation get trashed in the last book is that enough?

2/3 of my Pullman High romances are free, the third is .99. (Was supposed to be free but I clicked the wrong button while setting it up. Sigh)

Who says cheerleaders have to be nice?

Chelsea’s school year has taken a turn for the worse. After being dumped by her boyfriend and humiliated at the pep assembly by her younger sister’s boyfriend, Rick, she’s just concentrating on avoiding any other major embarrassments.

That’s when Rick and his band debut their new album, complete with a whole set of songs bashing cheerleaders. Chelsea’s humiliation has reached a whole new level now that everyone is walking down the halls singing the words to “Dangerously Blonde.”

It’s time to make Rick pay. All he wants is to win the High School Idol audition, so he can be on his way to rock star fame and fortune. But with the help of her best friends, Aubrie and Samantha, Chelsea is going to steal his victory right out from under him.

Click to download Revenge of the Cheerleaders

 

You should never make a bet you can’t keep, especially when the bet involves romance.

Sixteen-year-old Samantha Taylor is used to having things go her way. She’s head cheerleader and has all the right friends and a steady stream of boyfriends. But when she tanks the SATs, her automatic assumptions about going to college don’t appear to be so automatic anymore. She determines that her best hope for admission into a good college is to win the election for student body president. Unfortunately, with her razor wit and acid tongue she’s bettersuited to dishing out insults than winning votes.

When she brashly bets her classmate Logan that she can go two weeks without uttering a single insult, Samantha immediately realizes that she may have bitten off more than she can chew. And when her current boyfriend dumps her, less than three weeks before the prom, it couldn’t be a worse time to be forced to keep her opinions to herself. Finding a new boyfriend will be a challenge now that Logan shadows her every move, hoping to catch her slipping back into her old ways. Samantha is determined to win the election and find a dream date for the prom, no matter what it takes. After all . . . all’s fair in love and war (and high school!).

Click to download All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School

 

Cassidy knows everything about Chad–everything, that is, except how to get him to notice her. Someday, somehow, she vows, those deep blue eyes are going to look her way. But romance is more complicated than all her teen novels have led her to believe. Guys. Is there any understanding them? Is there a psychology behind the reason they love their cars? A methodology to their fist bumps? It’s a subject she doesn’t mind researching.

Cassidy has always been happy being the studious, reliable type . . . until Elise and her good-looking eighteen-year-old brother move into the neighborhood. Elise is determined to introduce Cassidy to the partying life. But will Elise’s carpe diem ways land Cassidy in more trouble than she’s prepared for? Can a girl be smart and have fun too? Cassidy is about to find out.

Publishers Weekly has called Rallison’s YA contemporary romances “Hilarious.”

Click to download Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards

All three of my Pullman High romances are free until the 14th

Who says cheerleaders have to be nice?

Chelsea’s school year has taken a turn for the worse. After being dumped by her boyfriend and humiliated at the pep assembly by her younger sister’s boyfriend, Rick, she’s just concentrating on avoiding any other major embarrassments.

That’s when Rick and his band debut their new album, complete with a whole set of songs bashing cheerleaders. Chelsea’s humiliation has reached a whole new level now that everyone is walking down the halls singing the words to “Dangerously Blonde.”

It’s time to make Rick pay. All he wants is to win the High School Idol audition, so he can be on his way to rock star fame and fortune. But with the help of her best friends, Aubrie and Samantha, Chelsea is going to steal his victory right out from under him.

Click to download Revenge of the Cheerleaders

 

You should never make a bet you can’t keep, especially when the bet involves romance.

Sixteen-year-old Samantha Taylor is used to having things go her way. She’s head cheerleader and has all the right friends and a steady stream of boyfriends. But when she tanks the SATs, her automatic assumptions about going to college don’t appear to be so automatic anymore. She determines that her best hope for admission into a good college is to win the election for student body president. Unfortunately, with her razor wit and acid tongue she’s bettersuited to dishing out insults than winning votes.

When she brashly bets her classmate Logan that she can go two weeks without uttering a single insult, Samantha immediately realizes that she may have bitten off more than she can chew. And when her current boyfriend dumps her, less than three weeks before the prom, it couldn’t be a worse time to be forced to keep her opinions to herself. Finding a new boyfriend will be a challenge now that Logan shadows her every move, hoping to catch her slipping back into her old ways. Samantha is determined to win the election and find a dream date for the prom, no matter what it takes. After all . . . all’s fair in love and war (and high school!).

Click to download All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School

 

Cassidy knows everything about Chad–everything, that is, except how to get him to notice her. Someday, somehow, she vows, those deep blue eyes are going to look her way. But romance is more complicated than all her teen novels have led her to believe. Guys. Is there any understanding them? Is there a psychology behind the reason they love their cars? A methodology to their fist bumps? It’s a subject she doesn’t mind researching.

Cassidy has always been happy being the studious, reliable type . . . until Elise and her good-looking eighteen-year-old brother move into the neighborhood. Elise is determined to introduce Cassidy to the partying life. But will Elise’s carpe diem ways land Cassidy in more trouble than she’s prepared for? Can a girl be smart and have fun too? Cassidy is about to find out.

Publishers Weekly has called Rallison’s YA contemporary romances “Hilarious.”

Click to download Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards

multiple author give-way with free Kindle Fire

What better way to read all of these cool books than with a Kindle Fire. I have that Kindle and I love reading books on it. Or at least I did until I had to hide it because my daughter kept stealing it to play games and go online, and now I don’t remember where I hid it. But enough of my life. Your daughter won’t do all of that stuff and you’ll love your Kindle. All 45 authors are doing book give-aways as well

Here’s a link to enter

Writing Workshop April 8, Mesa

Click here to register
General Information
DATE: SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2017Time: 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Location
PATHFINDER ACADEMY2906 N. Boulder Canyon

Mesa, AZ 85207

Cost
$30 PER PERSON, INCLUDES LUNCH.
Other Information
You may attend any session you choose. You do not need to stay with any particular TRACK.

Everyone may bring their books to sell during lunch and at the close. No dedicated bookstore. You are responsible for your own sales. Faculty will have books available for purchase.

Bring a lap top for some workshop classes.








Three tracks available:

TRACK 1

Morning – Plot Challenged: 4 Ways to Plot Writing Success

Do you write character-driven, seat-of-the-pants stories? Is your hard-drive full of great ideas you couldn’t get past chapter 5? Do readers complain your work is too quiet? As a card-carrying member of plotless anonymous, I struggle with plot, too. In this workshop, I will share the plotting secrets I learned from my MFA advisors, New York Editor and favorite plotting guides. We will discuss examples and practice on your work. By Angela Morrison

Afternoon – Get them Talking: From Dialogue to Scene

The biggest mistake beginning writers make is page after page telling a story rather than showing the reader a story in scenes. Scenes? Yikes. How do I do that? Easy. Just get them talking. Scenes are merely dialogue with stage direction. Free-write a page of dialogue then edit it to perfection or bring your first chapter for intensive revision. Dialogue punctuation secrets included! By Angela Morrison

TRACK 2

Morning – Writing Mistakes Not to Make

Common mistakes many writers don’t realize they make. How to make your writing stronger. Janette will do a critique of the first few pages of writers brave enough to share. (Bring a few pages of the beginning of your WIP if you would like.) By Janette Rallison

Afternoon – Scrivener 101: Why Do So Many Authors Use Scrivener?

I would, but I am just so used to MS word. Would using Scrivener really improve my writing and publishing process? If you have ever asked yourself these questions this is the class for you. At the end of this workshop you will have a practical understanding of why Scrivener is an optimal writing and publishing solution for your writing process and business. By Dustin and Tamara Thompson.

TRACK 3

Morning – Indie Books: Formatting for e-books

How to set up an account. How to load a file etc. (Bring your laptop and a mock story.) By Tamara Passey

Afternoon – Indie Books: Creating Covers & Marketing

Marketing Starter Kit for the Indie Author and Book Covers-Self or Hire a Professional. We’ll go over cover design basics, planning a launch, obtaining reviews, online marketing and more. Learn what marketing activities can make the most impact and leave with a plan to help more readers find your book. By Tamara Passey

CLOSING SESSION – Q & A BY WORKSHOP FACULTY

Tamara Passey, Janette Rallison, Tamara and Dustin Thompson, Angela Morrison

Click Here to register