Maurissa Guibord's Blog, page 4

Revel, Revisions and Inspiradipity

So January was a big month in my writing life.
I haven't been blogging in a while, mostly because I've been working on a book called REVEL. In January I:

1. Had a deadline to hand in the revision of Revel
2. Had my first ever writer's retreat with a wonderful group of women in an an icy, windswept enclave by a lake
3. Attended the New York City conference of Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators. Specifically, a superb presentation called Twenty-One Revision Techniques by Cheryl Klein, Executive Editor Arthur A. Levine Books/ Scholastic

Does it ever seem to you that you meet someone, see a painting, hear a song and that voice, that idea, image or tune is exactly what you needed for your life or your work to get better? It helps you or pushes you forward in some way that it's not possible for it to be mere coincidence.  There must a word for that- it's more than inspiration or serendipity it's....

Inspiradipity!!
yes I believe I just made a noun

So in a very lucky situation of Inspiradipity these three events all took place in January and I find that not only do I know what my story is about (that seems like it should be painfully obvious, me being the author, but sadly this is not always the case) but I know what to do to make it better, make it work!!!

Cheryl Klein had many,many fantastic suggestions/tools for the revision process. Probably a lot more than 21. And to paraphrase her:
"If you find yourself using all of these? You're actually procrastinating".
But here are three things that really Inspiradipped me  (It's a verb too!) during Ms. Klein's presentation. Things I needed to hear:

1. Get to the end of the story first.
I don't know how many times I need to learn this lesson. I spend way too much time on beginnings, fretting over the perfect opening, the first three chapters and revising before I get to the end of the draft!! You don't know what the story is until you get to the end. And even working from an outline, I found things changed as I went. So, get to the end. Know what the heart of your story is, that is the end. Then you know how to begin.

2. Look at or list the first ten things each significant character says or does. Objectively.
This includes actions, dialogue and internal narration, These first impressions are how the reader decides if your MC is likable for instance. Kind of important. Looking at those first actions, thoughts and words I discovered my MC sounded sort of Whiny. And nobody likes a whiner.

3. This third thing is simply fun. Make a Word Cloud of your novel to see what words you're using most frequently. This is the cloud for an early draft: right away I can see the word "Like" is way too prevalent. I seem to like, like like.  

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The only other thing I reflect on right now is that I need to put myself in the way of Inspiradipity-  by getting out in the world, connecting with other people, contacting old friends. Talking.
Um, maybe even blogging once in a while :-)
Hope you all get inspiradipped today! 

Happy Memorial Day!

Just returned from our town's Memorial Day parade. It's a small but stalwart affair and I like having the opportunity to clap and cheer for the veterans, the emergency volunteers, the high school band and the Gym Dandies (that's the unicycle/juggling youth team in Scarborough who are amazing). I was proud to see my son walking in the parade this year with his Boy Scout troop too. And he got to carry one of the big troop flags- which is an honor (and heavy- as such an honor must be I suppose). 

So now this is officially summer right? It does feel like it today- sunny and thick. 

A couple of fun bits of bookish news for WARPED. 

soniag  , as part of her countdown to the release of her debut novel THE REVENANT is giving away a signed copy of WARPED as well as a copy of HAVEN by Kristi Cook 
The theme of the contest is "Hapless Hearts"- and Sonia explains what she means by that in her post. She is an unabashed romantic that girl!
Here's the link:
soniag.livejournal.com/347706.html

Also I found out that WARPED is nominated for the Summer Genre Book Battle, along with a whole bunch of other great books- so stop by and vote for your favorites!   mostimportantletter.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/book-genre-battle/

New York City Trip

Although I'm not going to BEA I do have some exciting news- On Saturday May 28th I'm going to be at Books of Wonder in NYC for a multi author event. This makes me more thrilled than I can tell you.  For one thing, I get to meet other fantasy authors and be a tongue-tied fan girl (Gail Carson Levine is going to be there- can you say eep?!!!) 
And it's not a lot of pressure- I mean I only have to talk for a few minutes and then can totally dissolve into the background or handout Twizzlers or something.

And here's the line up:   FANTASTIC FICTION!  DANIEL KIRK - Elf Realm: The Road’s End   BIANCA TURETSKY - The Time-Traveling Fashionista GAIL CARSON LEVINE - A Tale of Two Castles MAURISSA GUIBORD - Warped SARAH REES BRENNAN -  The Demon’s Covenant   It's going to be great!

So if you are anywhere near Books of Wonder on Saturday- stop in between 12 and 2 and say hi!
www.booksofwonder.com/

  

A magical weekend

 
I attended a very magical conference this weekend! The New England Chapter Conference for Romance Writers of America was magical for several reasons:

#1 Magical friends
I got to meet the elegantly bloodthirsty  soniag   and the convivially psychopathic  kimharrington  . We had a great time- chatting about the ups and downs of being debut authors and sharing info from the conference. Ooh and I also met Marissa Doyle- a writer that I've felt like I've known for a long time online (on the blueboards)- but finally got to meet.

#2 Magical place
It took place in beautiful  Salem, Massachusetts, a city with a sad history. Many innocent people were killed during the witch trials (mostly by hanging), a fact that is remembered and recounted in museums as well as memorials.

But make no mistake: Hollywood witchcraft and the lighter side of everything macabre are also celebrated. This became clear when I encountered a man dressed in a butcher's coat, splattered with blood and brandishing a cleaver as he strolled down the cobble-stoned street.
"Don't worry," he told me with a friendly grin. "I'm not gonna scare you."
Maybe I should have told him it was a little late.
But I didn't want to upset him.

#3 Magical inspiration
This was my first RWA conference and I must say I was rather disappointed- I thought there would be more sex. Or at least talk of it.But no, there were discussions of character development and world-building and revisions.  Marketing your work, finding the right agent. All that boring writer stuff.Well, shucks.I kid- the conference was great- inspiring and informative. And the bits of salty talk from the attendees about their works-in-progress (I refuse to use the acronym in this context) were plenty enough embarrassing for me. #4 Magically Silly Pictures!!!



Here Sonia , Kim and I consult our book of spells, and my raven familiar. 






We are mad I tell you, mad! And drunk with power!


Maybe a little too drunk?

LUMINOUS book trailer

 
There's a writer I know named  dawn_metcalf  

Dawn's one of those fearsome people who are just so damn intense and intelligent and eloquent that my brain muscles are sore after conversing with her for a while. But in a good way!  My little gray cells are probably about 3% stronger, just by association.

Oh and she's a second degree black belt. Which means that she can kick my butt too. It's a very impressive combination in a critique partner- which is how I know Dawn.



But I digress. Dawn Metcalf has written a book called LUMINOUS and it is beautifully strong and strange and unlike anything I've read before. It's about a girl named Consuela who discovers that she can slip out of her skin- getting down to her pearly skeleton and enter an alternate dimension called the Flow- where she is called to save people from death before their time.
It's part murder mystery, part mind blowing speculative fiction, and entirely lovely in its prose.

And now LUMINOUS has a book trailer. Which is of course, unlike any book trailer I've seen before!

I would expect nothing less :-)

The book comes out on June 30th and I would highly recommend it.

Here's the link if you would like to check out the trailer: http://youtu.be/zXdSrToaSbw 

 

WARPED Interview and Giveaway

Not much news to report. I thought of a line of dialogue for  Revel today. Why is it that I always think of snippets of dialogue for scenes that are six chapters away???
It must be the same synaptic mismatch that only allows me to think of a comeback 1 hour after I could use it.

He stared at the blood on his hand. "There's a fine line between a god and a monster. What separates them, do you think?"

"Maybe just the people who love them."

 
At The Hiding Spot I have an interview with Sara where we talked about the inspiration for WARPED and also the classic authors that I love to read again and again. My hiding spots!
 thehidingspot.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-maurissa-guibord-author-of.html

AND there's also a drawing to win a signed copy of WARPED (US only) : thehidingspot.blogspot.com/2011/04/win-copy-of-warped-by-maurissa-guibord.html

Von, Two, Three Authors. Three!

 

This Saturday, the 26th I'm going to be at Bullmoose Music & Books in Scarborough Maine www.bullmoose.com/
with the effulgent*  ellenbooraem  , author of



 SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS

and the audacious*  carriejones , author of        ENTICE

We'll be at the store from 2-4 PM for readings, signings and general mayhem. I am so looking forward to it!
The day before we are also supposed to tape a 5 minute local TV interview together ! ACK! 

Anyway if you will be anywhere near Scarborough, ME this Saturday- please stop in- I'm bringing chocolate! 

*Both are lovely women and awesome writers but I thought I would give them some other adjectives because they probably hear those all the time :-)

Adventurous boys

 
My son is off with his Boy Scout troop this morning to build a monkey bridge. If you don't know what this is, well you can join the club I just started. But my son had no time to explain and told me of the project with such an air of  je ne sais "everyone-should-know-what-a-monkey-bridge-is" that I skulked off to Google it instead of looking like a fool.

A monkey bridge is made with rope mostly, which is knotted in ways to form a hefty bit to step on and two linked handrails. It's anchored on either end by tripod-arranged logs. 
Here's a picture of a monkey bridge:

 
It looks very wobbly and Indiana Jones doesn't it? There's a lot of special knot-tying involved- which he adores. He is going to love it. Luckily I believe they are making the bridge over a small stream- not a chasm with man-eating crocodiles at the bottom!
But such thrills are what my twelve year old dreams of.  So scouting has been a wonderful thing for him so far. Camping, hiking, skiing, orienteering (I think that's what its called- figuring out how to use a compass and find your way by the stars etc.) So many great and adventurous things!

He's also been reading tons of Mythology lately- devoured the D'aulaires Greek Myths and now has moved onto their lovely renderings of the Norse myths.
He regaled me with the story about Valhalla in these (paraphrased) words:
"It's like heaven and it's where the warriors go. And the sky is this dome made of shields.  And all the warriors get together on a big field and fight and they hack off each other's limbs until the whole place is just covered with arms and legs and stuff. Then, they pick up their arms and heads and put them back on. And then they go out to eat."
Well there you have it. Heaven for my twelve year old boy is hacking your foes to pieces, then helping each other get put back together and going out to eat.

Ah if only things could really work that way...

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!


 

Starred review for Warped from SLJ

 
Just got a copy from my editor of the upcoming review of Warped in next month's School Library Journal. They loved it and gave it a star!

(But not this big)

Here's the last line:

This absorbing and mesmerizing read has it all–fantasy, romance, witchcraft, life-threatening situations, detective work, chase scenes, and a smattering of violence. Imaginative and compelling, it’s impossible to put down.–Genevieve Gallagher, Charlottesville High School, VA 
Needless to say, but I will of course:  Woot!! Team Unicorn!
I am absolutely thrilled!!!

   

Words to Prove I'm Human

WordS TO prOve I'm human. A Poem.

"Copy the letters in the box below"

The computer says.

"So we know you're human."

Fizemslep.
 
It takes some time

To prove I am

In this way.

Squinting at the curvy text,

Smudged and double-struck

As a type-set seizure

I mistake an "m" for two "r" s coupling and must begin again

A machine has chosen this cipher

And from no human tongue.

FisulAnt. CereThona. BAnkebeer.

Perhaps they are speaking to someone else.

I peck at keys until finally

agoUtflin is accepted.

I have spoken the language,

and learned to be human.

But I still don't know what it means.