Scott Tracey's Blog, page 19

Monday Randomosity

This week on the Rebels, we talked about story structure.  Basically, the kinds of things you do to frame your story and give you some sort of…well, structure to build up from.  I love this topic, and all the stuff that goes into thinking about where to set your book, when to set your book, how long a time frame the book will occur over, and other choices by the author.

So there's a bunch of rambling in my video, because I spent most of the weekend locked in a room, Misery-style, working...

Tuesday Truths

My truth this week is that I'm a bargainer.  It's probably because my mother raised me to clip coupons, buy on sale, buy in bulk, and all those other thrifty things that Moms do.

I convinced myself that I could justify buying a laptop, because if I did, I would "totally write a book."  So I bought the laptop.  And low and behold, I wrote a book.  And then another.  And then another.  (Not all on that laptop, but still, it started me on that path).

This is how bargaining is a good thing.  If I d...

Monday Randomosity

This is the movie I wished had come out this weekend.   Is there a future for zombie movies that are parodies of chick flicks?  I mean, there was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and no one ever saw THAT one coming.

In other news, I'm still super swamped with project stuff, and I ended up taking a nice little Twitter vacay to help on that front.  Now all I need is a real vacay complete with a neverending supply of margaritas, Lady Gaga dance parties, and storms rolling in off the ocean.  Come t...

The Bookanistas: Cover Lovin' (had me a blast!)

===========================

This week on the Bookanistas, we've got:

Elana Johnson Recommends THE DUFF

Shelli Johannes-Wells Recommends PERSONAL DEMONS

Beth Revis Recommends THE ETERNAL ONES

Myra McEntire Shares the Top 10 Reasons She Loves The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassie Clare

Shannon Messenger Recommends CANDOR

Carolina Valdez Miller Recommends THE BODY FINDER

Lisa and Laura Roecker – Interview with Mandy Hubbard author of YOU WISH

===========================

If you follow Kim...

Townscaping Part 3: The High School

—————————————————————————————————————————–

About nine months ago, I wrote a post about creating your own fake town.  To this day, it's one of the most actively read posts on my blog – people are still finding me via that post.   And it's still the reason why people FIND my blog.  So I figured I would do a series of posts, elaborating on some of those ideas.—————————————————————————————————————————–

One of the most important aspects to a lot of YA novels is the high school.  It's a major...

Tuesday Truths: Overpromotion

Disclaimer:  This blog post is written to make a point.  Resemblance to any writer, living or dead, is not intentional.  Things are elaborated and boiled down to make a point. Resemblance to any events that have taken place, or actions committed, is accidental.  This blog post is not calling you out, you are not being targeted, and I don't secretly hate you.  Promise.

As writers, we get told that if we have a book coming out, we're responsible for as much promotion as we can wrap our little...

Work That Pitch

The pitch is the first thing I think of when I'm working on a new project, and it's the first thing most people will remember later on.  When friends ask me what my new WIP is about, I give them the logline comparison.  "Well, it's X meets Y."  And six months later, when I'm referring to the WIP I'm working on, they always ask "Oh, is that the one that's like X?"  They remember.

A pitch that compares your work to other, existing works gives people a frame of reference.  Sometimes, books are...

Tuesday Truths

1.  Word wars are hard!  So the indomitable Leah Clifford are spending the week locked in furious, no-holds-barred combat.  The winner?  Whoever writes the most before Friday at midnight.  At stake?  Pride.

And right now she's BEATING me.  I cannot tell you how annoying that is.  I may or may not have already trashed my apartment, rock star style, as a result.

2.  Cooking is hard work.  So I shared one of my fave recipes with my good friend Lisa the other night, since I was already planning on ...

Drawing Happy Little Hellhounds

This week on the Rebels, we talked covers.  And since I didn't have enough to talk about, I thought "why don't I embarass myself while I'm at it."  So I draw.  For you.

Tuesday Truths

1.  I love True Blood.  I think most people I know love True Blood.  And while I really loved this week's little encounter with Lafayette and Jesus, I have to say I would kill for a couple of spinoffs.  The first – Talbot skips on over to Mississippi and shacks up with Queen Sophie-Anne to become the new Sex in the City.  They can drink A-pos-mopolitans (see what I did there?), bitch about men and fashion, and Jason Stackhouse can linger around in the background for no real reason other than ...