Maurissa Guibord's Blog, page 10

Cover me! Please!

Just got a peek look at the third proposed cover for Warped! I think this is finally the one that everyone agrees best suits the story but what a process it has been! This is the third cover and each suggested design has had it's own appeal and drawbacks. In a way I'm glad that I don't have to be the one to choose!

I am so proud and grateful that Delacorte believes in my book and has talented folks who can make it shine like this :-)

I wish I could plaster it up and announce to the world. Here ...

Tennerviews presents Chelsea Campbell or, MY INTERVIEW WITH A SUPERVILLAIN

 
My Interview with a Supervillain 

The Rise of Renegade X is a super YA debut novel by Chelsea Campbell that combines snarky wit, action, romance and an inventive twist on the coming-of-age tale. But instead of interviewing its author I thought it would be loads more fun to interview the main character: a 15 year old prospective villain named Damien Locke. Tracking down this dude was not easy, I tell you.

I mean, look at where he hangs out!  






Luckily, Damien was kind enough to meet me at The...

A Poem for a Bullied Kid

   





So this is National Poetry Month. I might have been able to happily ignore the fact and spare everyone. Except for what happened to Phoebe Prince.
The story of the bullying she endured and her resulting suicide are hard to hear. Hard to feel.
No, she's certainly not the first child whose life has been ended so cruelly. Would to God she could be the last. Anyway, this was inspired by Phoebe- but it's for all the kids...and for me too.  


Why weren’t you stronger?   Able to handle the...

Bullying at it's Worst

 This story has been making me sick with sadness and tears all morning. A beautiful intelligent girl, Phoebe Prince is gone
and it was so damn preventable.
Someone more coherent than I am speaks about it here and has an idea for action:  megankelleyhall.blogspot.com/2010/03/remembering-phoebe-prince.html


These are the kids many of us are writing for.
What can we do?
ETA: the terrific Carrie Jones is going to blog this week about the topic   carriejones  
I want to help.

Finally finished fiction

I've had the beginning of this story for ages and now, in the spirit of something new that I'm trying, called Finishing Things, here it is.
If you have time to take a peek and feel like reading, thank you! 
Comments, criticisms and general pooh-pooing are very welcome indeed!


 



HANDSOME DEVIL
By Maurissa Guibord


Harry Milhouse picked up the razor. He stared at himself in the bleak light of the bathroom mirror and took a deep breath. In the end, it just wasn’t worth it. Days, probably...

Monsters, Villains and the Sexy Factor

I'm working on a short story right now. It's about a guy who is either a monster or a villain.
I can't quite decide.
But he's sexy- so therefore I believe he's a monster. 
Monsters are tortured souls who have grievous fates thrust upon them, transforming them.
That's sympathy arousing. Sexy.
Villains are more self-absorbed, run-of-the-mill evil-doers. Not so sexy.

And just look how sexy you can get if you're a monster: 

                 From this to....


This:



From this:


To this:

 

But there's a monster ...

My Visit with the Dalai Llama

 
Sometimes when I am feeling a little blue, or pea green or livid orange or some other dysphoric color I go
over to this little farm down the road from my house.There's a woman named Jill who lives there and she has rescued a number of animals. So yes, she is an angel type person here on earth.

I love going to the little rescue farm. It's peaceful and it smells good- especially when the sun is shining like yesterday. It smells like hay and warm wool and horse poop. The good poop smell- when...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 
 
 "Real vision is the ability to see the invisible."
                                          
                  -Jonathan Swift


Here's an eensy weensy teeny tiny four-leaf clover for you:      .   

Now don't drop it!

Have a day filled with friendship and good luck!   

Mystery Muse #1

 
I'm currently working on a YA mystery. While this isn't the first mystery I've written, it's the first one that I've actually, um...plotted.
I'm finding that this plotting is a very good thing. Having a plot beforehand increases my chances of:

a) having a crime take place before the reader snoozes off
b) not finding out that my "impossible crime" was, actually in fact, impossible and having to start over again
c) not winding up with piles of rotten, red herrings stinking up the place

So for inspi...

Cheap Thrills

I was dashing through our public library to return the DVD of Phantom of the Opera that my daughter has watched for
umpteen times. She has theater in her blood, that one. 
Only I can't dash through our library. They have shelves right in front of the entry with recent
acquisitions of new fiction on display, covers out, looking like candy wrappers. But I had to pick up the kids from school- no time to browse. I turned away and headed out into the foyer- only to catch a glimpse of the rotating rac...