Judith Graves's Blog, page 11

Second Skin Blog Tour Kickoff!

Join in on the celebration of the official launch of the second book in the SKINNED series, SECOND SKIN.

During the month of March I'll be doing interviews and guest posts on some fabulous blogs, as well as featuring some of my author friends right here on my site. It will be a month of giveaways, SWAG, and great conversations. In honour of Second Skin's major theme, FACING YOUR DARKEST FEAR, we'll look at what scares us – from horror films, fiction, phobias, folklore and the beasties that haunt our dreams. For the full roster of posts, click on the blog tour image.

To kick things off, Got Teen Fiction? is hosting an interview with me at their very cool, very new blog created by four young adult authors, Shari Maurer, being one of them. Shari is also a fellow classmate from the Class of 2k10, a debut author collective.

I was fortunate to meet Shari at Book Expo America in NYC for the Class of 2k10 NYC Book Tour. She's a real firecracker with a great heart.

Which brings me to ask, Shari, can you tell us about your novel, Change of Heart?

Change of Heart is about a sixteen year old elite soccer player who gets a virus and needs a heart transplant. In the process she learns about live, love and loss.

Change of Heart was inspired by the real life challenges of a young girl requiring a heart transplant. Did you ever send her a copy of your book?

I don't even know who she is. I probably could find her, as I'm guessing that her doctor at Columbia is the one I spoke to and who connected me to a lot of her patients, but maybe it's best that I don't know her identity. I'm hopeful she's alive and thriving.

And since Valentine's Day is on my mind (it's February 11th as I'm dreaming up your interview questions), what's your favourite love story of all time?

One of my favorite movies is "Love, Actually" which is a whole bunch of different love stories set in London, which is one of my favorite places to visit.

The main theme of my sequel novel, Second Skin, is fear. Come on, fess up…what scares you? Do any of your characters share this fear?

I think my biggest fear is losing someone close to me. Emmi's parents and friends are certainly faced with that, as is Emmi at times.

Scary movie or romantic comedy?

Romantic comedy. There aren't enough good ones these days.

Any new projects you'd like to plug?

I've been working on a group blog called "Got Teen Fiction?" We're having a lot of fun there meeting writers and readers. Each week we talk about writing and then give a writing prompt. People send us their stories and we pick our favorites to publish on the blog. We also have author interviews and lots of giveaways. Come over and say hello: http://gotteenfiction.blogspot.com/

Thanks for dropping by and participating in the Second Skin Blog Tour, Shari. CONTEST: Comment on this post by SUNDAY, MARCH 4th and share your greatest fear to be entered in a draw for a copy of Shari's book, CHANGE OF HEART!

Young Authors Conference 2012

There are several days I look forward to each year: Halloween, Christmas, my husband's birthday, the last of school before summer vacation, and then there's one Saturday  in February that leaves me breathless. That day was yesterday – where I presented at the amazing Young Authors Conference in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

This is my third year at YAC and already I'm looking forward to (hopefully) being invited back for as many years as I'm able to provide insight into the world of writing.

Let me give you a bit of background. The conferences is facilitated by the Elk Island Public and Catholic Schools and consists of over 370 grade 4-9 students who have been invited, show expressed interest in writing, or have requested to attend. The one-day, workshop-filled event is so popular students are put on alternate/waiting lists. One organizer informed me that if they call an alternate to say they've got a spot, "…kids will start screaming into the phone. It's like winning the lottery."

Remember – we're talking about three, 1.5 hr long workshops on the craft of writing, or illustration – with time built in for writing/drawing activities. These students arrive expecting to work and work they do.

Their talent ALWAYS amazes me, as well as their ability to absorb information and apply it directly, just a few moments later. This year I presented three screenwriting workshops and the kids kept up with me every step of the way. The teachers who sat in on my sessions were also as keen and ready to take some of my plot / story structure ideas into their own Language Arts classes. Whoot! That's the goal…to get the students writing and the teachers thinking outside the box – willing to add new tools to their bag of tricks.

I can't say enough about this conference. From the parent volunteers, who help with everything from putting on a wonderful lunch for the authors and ensure we have water bottles, dry-erase pens, man the book sale room, and help you find the restrooms in a timely manner – to the teaching staff who oversee your session and offer any techy support and / or laugh at your 80s film references when the kids in the room just look blank.

I wish this type of experience for every author/illustrator, student, parent, and teacher. The love of words, imagination, creativity and the celebration of literacy was almost written in the air.

Living in a vast province such as Alberta, travel is always a consideration – especially in February. Road conditions, snow, and wouldn't you know it, we had a major dump of the white stuff THE NIGHT BEFORE the conference. Unfortunately my writing partner, Dawn Ius was snowed in and unable to attend. Next year, Dawn! However, I had a blast chatting with the other authors/illustrators who presented. The rockstar-esque, Sigmund Brouwer, the dry wit of Mary Woodbrury, the endearing Marty Chan and so many talents – all under one roof. A real feat considering just how far these artists travel to attend. Part of the magic of YAC is sitting with members of your "ilk" and sharing industry news, catching up on new works, and sharing stories about our crazy lives as purveyors of the arts.

I hope to see them again next year, along with the starry-eyed, brilliant students who make this day a true joy. Soul food, people. That's what YAC is. Pure soul food. Thanks to the organizers, Bonnie Hunka, Jill Usher and Tracy Spilde. YOU GUYS ROCK!

Young Adult Paranormal Activity Blog Hop

Oh, my friends, have I got a treat for you! Want to have over three hundred chances to win free young adult paranormal fiction titles? I'm talking books featuring vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, and more beasties that are just DYING to meet your acquaintance. This weekend (February 24-28), I'll be participating this FANGtastic blog hop co-hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and vvb32reads:

 

Each of the registered blogs taking part in this hop will offer one or more YA paranormal titles for giveaway. Click on the blog tour image to check them out for chances to WIN!

I'll be offering up three individual titles to giveaway, a Kindle edition of Under My Skin, a signed copy of Second Skin, and a signed (by me) copy of SPIRITED: 13 Haunting Tales, in which my steampunk ghosthunter story, Strangeways Versus The Wraith appears.

The giveaways start on February 23rd and end on February 29th at 12:01 AM. Each person can enter only three times per blog giveaway, and here's how to enter for mine. YOU HAVE SIX CHOICES OF HOW TO ENTER – BUT YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE THREE OF THE FOLLOWING TO ACTUALLY ENTER:

- 1 entry if you post the Under My Skin trailer on your blog / website / Facebook page or Twitter profile and provide the link to said post in the comments section of this post

- 1 entry if you post the Second Skin trailer on your blog / website / Facebook page or Twitter profile and provide the link to said post in the comments section of this post

- 1 entry if you post the SPIRITED trailer on your blog / website / Facebook page or Twitter profile and provide the link to said post in the comments section of this post.

Optionally, you can also enter by:

- 1 entry for giving my author page a "Like" on Facebook

- 1 entry for subscribing to my newsletter

- 1 entry for following me on Twitter: @judithgraves

Thanks again to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and vvb32reads for hosting the hop!

Second Skin Blog Tour

It's blog tour time again! Join in on the celebration of the official launch of the second book in the SKINNED series, SECOND SKIN.

During the month of March I'll be doing interviews and guest posts on some fabulous blogs, as well as featuring some of my author friends right here on my site. It will be a month of giveaways, SWAG, and great conversations. In honour of Second Skin's major theme, FACING YOUR DARKEST FEAR, we'll look at what scares us – from horror films, fiction, phobias, folklore and the beasties that haunt our dreams.

Thankfully, we're only going to talk about shear terror – Eryn and her monster-hunting crew are the ones who get thrown to the wolves.

Here's the line up of blog stops and author's I'll feature thus far:

 

3/1 – Tour kick off (my blog)

3/7 - Jennifer R. Hubbard – guest post exchange and feature on my blog

3/8 – Electrifying Reviews – guest post

3/9 – Fragments of Life – author interview / character interview

3/10 – Just Deb – guest post

3/12 – Ellz Readz - guest post

3/13 – Book Swarm - character interview and review

3/14 – Late Bloomer – guest post

3/15 – Heather McCorkle - author interview exchange and feature on my blog

3/16 – Dawn Dalton- author interview exchange and feature on my blog

3/17 – Dawn Ius – author interview

3/19 – Denise Jaden - author interview exchange and feature on my blog

3/20 – Joy Preble – author interview exchange and feature on my blog

3/22 – Janet Fox - author interview exchange and feature on my blog

3/25 – Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf - author interview

3/28 – Bewitched Bookworms – review

MANY thanks to all who are participating!

Invitation to bloggers

Looking for young adult fiction bloggers to help promote the launch of Second Skin. If you're keen, fire me an email:

Second Skin has arrived!

Second Skin is now available online via Amazon and will be hitting Chapters stores across Canada very, very soon. I'm rallying the troops and hope to set off on a blog tour filled with excerpts, reviews, SWAG and signed copy giveaways. The schedule will be posted shortly. If you're a blogger and would like to participate in the tour, email me: judithgraves at ymail dot com

In the meantime, here's the Second Skin trailer for your enjoyment. Whoot! It's a book birthday!

Storyboarding

For all you writing-craft junkies out there, I thought I'd do another post about storyboarding. My own definition has changed over the last year. Check out my original take here. Previously, I considered story boards as mere visual representations of the tale I was trying to tell. So, some photos, illos, graphics, mixed with my index cards plot notes. This method served me well, however, since expanding into screenwriting, I now have three separate uses for storyboards.

Brainstorming

I jot down as many ideas as possible, any and all plot twists, research implications and threads I can weave into my story. I let the story take me into multiple directions, get lost and discover dead ends, using the same structure of what will eventually be my whiteboard, but allowing myself to explore every angle before locking in. Through this process I'll filter out the lesser plot twists and (hopefully) leave the gold.

Plotting

When I have the major plot points narrowed down, it's time to take the story to the whiteboard. I'll divide it up into Teaser, Acts and Setup for the next book (as I usually write series fiction) and then subdivide each section with a more detailed list of scenes, each building to the next act/section. I've developed my whiteboarding structure from a blend of resources, but mainly from Blade Snyder's, Save the Cat! The Last Book On Screenwriting That You'll Ever Need. That's right, my plot structure for novels is the same as my structure for scripts.

Character Development

And now my visuals come into play. I grab a bulletin board, cover it a background appropriate to the genre and then plaster the thing with representations of my characters. Here's the board for Strangeways vs The Blood Brothers which I've just primed for action.

It will end up looking something like my board for Second Skin (below), although this time around I won't have plot notes – any text will be character traits / quirks. The board moves around the house with me, depending on where I'm writing at the moment, and I will stare at it between sentences/paragraphs/pages, keeping those traits/quirks front and center so my characters stay consistent.

During the creation of this Triple Threat of storyboarding, I might start jotting down scenes, dialogue, etc. However, I don't "begin" the story – the real hunker down and write stage – until I've completed these three steps. So…am I a plot Nazi? Maybe, but with deadlines and a day job, I find this the best way to avoid large rewrites during the editing process and pretty much nailing the plot in the first draft.

Which leaves edits for fine-tuning my use of imagery, language and emotion.

Writerly Resolutions

I have high hopes for 2012. There is much writing to be done and I want to get back into shape. Those two tasks, for me, are not simpatico. In the past I've either been an exercising fool, buff in my skinny jeans and biking to work, yaddayaddayadda – or I've been writing up a storm while my ass expands from all the butt-in-chair time reading and writing.

This simply can't continue. For my 2012 New Year's writerly resolutions, I think I've found a way to much needed balance. A writing schedule that includes that pesky little thing called – a life. I nabbed the idea from screenwriter, Scott Myers (as per his blog post on writing schedules), coming up with a structure that works with my current writing patterns, includes time for reading, and also forces me to be physical. I work in a school library three days per week, but the other four days are my "writing days" and here's the schedule I've developed for 2012. NOTE: 5am wake up time is usual for me, but might seem extreme to others.

WRITING DAY SCHEDULE

5-8am: breakfast, reading, excercise

8-NOON: update blogs, answer interview questions, write guest posts/articles, update social media (FB/Twitter, etc)

NOON-1pm: lunch – play with the pups / take them to mailbox

1-4pm: write (daily goal 3 pages can be on one or spread over multiple projects)

Evening: research, watch film/TV, outline, brainstorm…and live a little.

Seems doable, right?

But wait! That's not all I have planned. In an effort to organize the many writing projects I have on the go, again – I've built upon the advice of Scott Myers (as per his blog post on stacking projects) and developed a Progress Chart of all current and completed WIPs. This thing slices, dices and promises to eliminate hours of where-the-hell-am-I-on-this? time wastage. Projects are divided into format: series fiction / stand alone fiction / non-fiction / scripts / freelance articles / blogs (yes, they count as writing projects!). It looks something like this:

And it goes on for five pages. This chart provides me with the one thing I struggle with the most…perspective. It gives me a bird's eye view of what I've accomplished, what I have in the works, and all related word counts / deadlines. I'm hoping it will be a bit of a timesaver in 2012 – a handy reference tool when I'm confused about my status on a specific WIP, but also serve as a swift kick in the ass. Hard to argue that I've been "super-dooper productive" if items are NOT being crossed off this list or if word counts fail to increase in a timely fashion.

So there you have it. My writerly resolutions for 2012 and beyond. How are YOU planning to tackle your muse in 2012?

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Screenwriting Resources For Your Wishlist

This post was originally written as a guest spot on Liz Strange's blog, but I wanted to share it here as well.

During my glasses and braces youth, I took piano lessons for five years and at the same time taught myself to play guitar. Eventually I picked up the violin, and then the bass guitar. Though my only formal instruction was in piano, I was able to branch into other forms of musical expression because each new instrument had two common denominators:



The theory was the same.

Success came down to practice.

Each used the same notes, time measurements, song structure and the more I played – the greater my skill. Because of their shared foundation I was able to build upon what I'd learned in piano and transfer my knowledge to other instruments.

I feel the same way about the various formats I write in: lyrics, flash fiction, short fiction, novellas, novels, and scripts.

The theory is the same.

Success comes down to practice.

While I don't have any formal training in fiction, other than the single creative writing class I took in college, I've read and wrote, wrote and read, deleted and revised – learning the craft of writing by trail and error. Though I now have a handle on the basic tools I need to produce a decent story, I still have much to learn.

I like to share my discoveries with other aspiring writers and have posted a handy list of my personal "must have" tools / resources for writing fiction on my website…here. http://judithgraves.com/events/author...

After recently diving headfirst into the world of screenwriting, I've established another list of resources I studied / absorbed / highlighted and stickie-noted to death which you'll see below. What I didn't expect (but should have anticipated) is that the better I've become at writing scripts, the better I've become at writing and plotting – just about anything.

Screenwriting resources and the skills they impart translate well into the world of fiction. Nothing will teach you more about plot, character development and the need for conflict than the following resources. Even if you never intend to write a script, I encourage you to read a few of these…your fiction – and your readers – will thank you for it.

Then all you have to do is numerous hours of butt-in-chair practice. I know you can do it…now go ahead and add these babies to your Christmas wishlist:

SCREENWRITING RESOURCES TO DIE FOR
CRAFT

Save the Cat: The last book on screenwriting that you'll ever need – Blake Snyder. Ironically Save the Cat was the first book on screenwriting I'd heard other fiction writers talk about and thus the first one I purchased…but I do return to it again and again.

Save the Cat: Goes to the movies. The screenwriter's guide to every story ever told – Blake Snyder. Main plot points of films identified so you can make them happen in your own tales.

The Coffee Break Screenwriter – Pilar Alessandra. Fantastic resource for plot structure and dividing the task of writing a complete script into bite sized, manageable sections.

Your Screenplay Sucks: 100 ways to make it great – William M. Akers. I find this to be the best revision tool around. I use it for fiction manuscripts as well. It helps you identify problem areas and kick the snot out of them.

Four Screenplays. Studies in the American Screenplay: An analysis of four groundbreaking contemporary classics – Syd Field. Wonderful breakdown of Thelma & Louise, Terminator 2, The Silence of the Lambs and Dances with Wovles. In terms of understanding what makes a story work – this beast is priceless.

Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 most powerful film conventions every filmmaker must know – Jennifer Van Sijll. You'll never watch a movie the same way again…and it will help you place your fictional cast on your stage with more finesse and creativity than ever before.

SCRIPTS

A la The Shooting Script series – as with writing fiction, the best way to learn what works is to READ. Here are some of the scripts I've purchased, but I also follow the Scott Myers blog http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/ for script evaluations and industry insight.

A Knight's Tale – Brian Helgeland – great example of how to incorporate music, as well as take on a period piece with humour.

Dan in Real Life – Pierce Gardner and Peter Hedges – heartwarming example of family drama / romantic comedy.

Stranger than Fiction – Zack Helm – seriously brilliant…and offers tons of insight into the creation of the script.

Juno – Diablo Cody – groundbreaking, wicked cool and reads every bit as quirky as the film.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once more with feeling (the musical script book) – Joss Whedon – includes the sheet music for the songs Whedon composed for this episode, that's right – words AND music, the background to its creation and then…the very cool script itself.

SIDE NOTE: I also study other script formats, such as graphic novels. Here are some resources if you're interested…

Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative: Principles and practices from the legendary cartoonist – Will Eisner. Great insight in the development of comics and how to combine words with images.

Panel Discussions with industry storytellers – Durwin S. Talon. Everything you've wanted to ask about graphic novels…with real answers.

Panel One: Comic book scripts by top writers – Nat Gertler. Featuring scripts by Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith, Kurt Busiek and more!

Have Yourself A Scary Little Christmas!

We are enjoying unseasonably warm days this year, and haven't had too much of the white stuff decend upon our driveways. That's fine by me, I hate shovelling. Though I do hope it snows for Christmas Day and Christmas Day only. It sets the mood.

And the mood I foster around this time of year goes beyond good cheer…into….great trembling fear. That's right, there are scares to be found this holiday season. Thrill-seekers, I encourage you to follow my other, other blog, MOST-WANTED MONSTERS as Dawn Dalton and I celebrate all things diabolical and yet oddly festive. We took a brief hiatus in November to participate in the death-defying thing called NANO, but we've clawed our way back to the land of the living. Each week in December we'll feature the best of the worst things to fear this Christmas – starting tomorrow.

And as a stocking stuffer of sorts (while it's not the release of Second Skin that I'm all hepped up for) the ebook edition of UNDER MY SKIN is now available via Kindle and Nook. For the month of December it will be just .99 cents. Really, the world of ebooks and ebook marketing is quite terrifying for someone new at the game. My first novel – the one that took four years to write as I learned the mechanics of  fiction – can be had for the price of a bad cup of coffee. Mind boggling.

I've decided to follow young adult fiction author, Arthur Slade's lead and blog about my experience on the .99 shelves of virtual bookstores. In January, the UMS ebook will bump back up to a normal sales figure and I'll be able to evaluate the success of it's cheapo introduction – which is, at its most basic level – an attempt to garner interest in Second Skin when it launches. Watch for those posts in the new year if you're interested in the results.

NOTE: if you haven't read Slade's series The Hunchback Assignments, you're missing out on some fantastic steampunk and fantasy storytelling based on the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Now go forth and have yourselves a scary little Christmas!