Jennifer A. Nielsen's Blog, page 30
June 12, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED arc Winners
Congratulations to the following winners of an ARC of my next release, A NIGHT DIVIDED:
Megan Fuller (@maggalini)
Luke (commenting on June 8)
Anna O’Connor
Bernadette (commenting on June 4)
Chloe W
Sophia Gutbrod
Mohammed A.
To all winners, I have sent you either an email or contacted you via Twitter. Please reply! I’ll assume you want the book signed to you unless you let me know otherwise.
If you didn’t win, no worries – the book will be out on August 25th. You can pre-order now from your favorite bookstore, online, or ask your local library to bring in copies.
If you were hoping for a signed book, I’ll be holding a launch party for the book at The King’s English in Salt Lake City at 7 pm on Sept 9th. If you pre-order from them, I’ll sign the book for you that night. You can also find me at Houston’s Tweens Read Festival on Oct 3, and other events that I’ll be announcing soon.
June 6, 2015
Editing THE SCOURGE, pt 3
Before I get into the edit, have you entered yet for an ARC of A NIGHT DIVIDED? The contest ends on Friday. Read more here!
So it’s taken me a week, but here’s what I’ve done on THE SCOURGE.
* Added in all of the descriptions of people and places.
*Tons of world building: setting, time period, history of the Scourge, and why a particular group of people are so hated. There’s still more to do on this.
* Went through the manuscript looking for plot holes or mistakes. Found only about half of what I’ll eventually notice before I’m finished. Which is only half of what my editor will find. (Seriously, every writer needs an editor. EVERY WRITER.)
* Moved some characters around in the scenes and totally changed one character so they aren’t a complete jerk for the entire plot. Only for most of it.
* Realized one of my characters chuckles almost compulsively. Started fixing that, though I suspect now he’s shifted to laughing too much. There’s a lot of humor in this book, but this character was going way overboard.
* Did a full read through just fixing anything along the way that I didn’t like. Average number of changes per page: tons. Number of changes still waiting for me to find: tons and tons more.
The word count one week ago: 66,724
Word count tonight: 72,362
With most of the big picture issues handled, now it’s time for fine-tuning the manuscript. This means I’ll start watching for details on characterization, word choices, and world-building. This is the stage where I want to make this story feel real. I’ll do this with at through least two complete read throughs, one focused on character and the other focused on story (though I’ll be watching for everything in the read throughs). I have a busy week ahead, so this might take me all week. I’ll report back soon!
May 31, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED ARC Giveaway
Here it is! The long promised giveaway of an ARC of A NIGHT DIVIDED!!! Seriously, I cannot wait for you all to read this book. Instructions to enter the contest are below.
But first, here’s a little about the time in which this book takes place…
Following the end of World War 2, the world wanted a way to prevent Germany from ever starting a war again. So the country was divided into four parts, with each part given to a different victor in the war: the United States, Britain, France, and Russia.
The U.S., Britain, and Russia all united together, making their 3/4 of the country West Germany and their 3/4 of the capitol city, West Berlin. But shortly after the war, Russia became Communist and maintained its own control over their 1/4, which became East Germany with a capitol city of East Berlin.
East Germans soon began emptying out of their country, so quickly that Russia became worried about losing their best and brightest, or frankly, losing all their population.
One Saturday night, the people in East Berlin went to bed as on any other ordinary night. But when they woke up the next morning, August 13, 1961, something was very different.
They went down to the street to see their own soldiers standing in front of a barbed wire fence, with guns aimed at their own people. In effect, a prison had been built around the people as they slept. It was very clear who they intended to shoot if anyone tried to leave.
Over time, the fence would grow to become the Berlin Wall. It divided a country, a people. And in the case of Gerta Lowe, it divided her family.
A NIGHT DIVIDED is the story of a girl whose family is divided on the night that the Berlin Wall goes up. Her father and brother, Dominic, are in the west. If they try to return home, they will be arrested. Her mother, and brother, Fritz, are with Gerta in the east. If they try to leave, they will be shot. This is the story of what Gerta will attempt as she tries to reunite her family. It is dangerous, based in a actual history, and there is no guarantee that everyone involved in this attempt will survive.
The book will be released on August 25th. You can pre-order it now from your favorite bookstore, order it online, or ask your local library to get in a copy.
OR….you can try to win an advanced copy right now. Here’s how to do it!
1. Post about this book on your favorite social media. Either tag me in (@nielsenwriter on Twitter and Instagram, or my name on Facebook) or let me know in comments that you posted. One entry for each place you post, but no more than three points per day.
2. Leave me a comment below answering this question: What time period in history would you want to read more about? Two entries each.
3. Leave me a comment below answering this question: If you were going to try to escape the Berlin Wall, what do you think would be the best plan? Two entries each.
This is an international giveaway.
The contest ends at midnight EST on June 12, 2015. Until then, good luck to everyone!
May 30, 2015
Editing THE SCOURGE, pt 2
The first edit for THE SCOURGE was a read through of the total manuscript, filling in obvious holes like missing character names or big contradictions. It took me two days, and while some areas were better than I had remembered, some needed major surgery.
The word count increased by a little over 3000 words, putting it right now at 66,724.
I had intended to spend this weekend on another draft to fix those most problematic scenes, but then yesterday (while weeding the garden – ugh), I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, and the topic spurred my thinking about the ultimate secret of my story, and how with a slight adjustment, I could really heighten the story’s climax. I can’t tell you much more about it because hey – ULTIMATE SECRET OF THE STORY – but trust me, it’s good! I researched out possibilities last night and today I’m going to make that change. It will require some adjustments earlier in the story and the addition of a new scene about midway through the book, but it’s going to be a lot cooler, so the extra effort is worthwhile.
This is part of the reason I love editing, because that first draft built a structure to work within and now it’s time to explore possibilities for that story I wasn’t thinking about earlier. There should always be a plan for the edit, and that plan should always be open to change.
Once the unplanned rewrite is finished, I’m headed in for major surgery, which should take me a good part of next week.
p.s. The playlist song for this revision is definitely “Breaking the Habit” by Linkin Park. The lyrics fit this book so well.
I will be posting before the next edit is complete. Look for a contest starting either Sunday or Monday to try winning an ARC for A NIGHT DIVIDED in anticipation of its publication on August 25. I really think you all will love this book!
May 27, 2015
Editing THE SCOURGE, pt 1
Over the years, I’ve had some requests from young writers to explain my editing process. Granted, not a ton of requests because most people compare the editing process to sadistic dentists like this, but it’s actually my favorite part, and in my opinion, the most important stage of writing.
Creating from the blank page is hard. It’s building something from nothing. It’s the continual realization that most of the words you’re setting down are garbage, and all you want to do is labor over those few sentences until they’re perfect. But you can’t. Because if you do, you’ll never get to the next chapter, or the next page, or even the next paragraph.
I also need to say that the first 15,000 words of this story fought me like a cursed beast from the depths of Hades (a nod to Nicolas Calva there). I have at least a dozen failed starts for this story that kept leading me to dead ends. I wrote both my agent and editor to say I might not be able to write this. I quit sleeping. I ate a lot of ice cream. Then I took a deep breath and decided I needed to think about this story in an entirely different way. Only then did I start to put the right story down on the page.
The first 25,000 words took me a total of three miserable months. Start. Fail. Start. Fail. Eat Ice Cream until the new approach hit me. The last 38,000 took me a week and a half. Now I’m thrilled to be editing.
Because editing creates art. Each rewrite takes me closer to the vision in my head and further away from that cacophony of semi-literate slush known as the first draft. I’m going to take you through the process, as I go through it.
So this is our starting place. The manuscript known as The Scourge is right now sitting at 63,642 words. Many writers have to cut their word counts in editing. I expand, mostly because my first draft skips important details like descriptions, interior dialogue, and a lot of the humor that will come later. I have many character and place names, but not all of them, so I’ve merely marked them with a line and an asterisk, like this _*. Lame. Who wants to be named _*?
Here’s my plan for the rest of the week of rewrites:
Fill in those blanks.
Do a general read through to find the most glaring errors, particularly major plot holes like, “Hey, didn’t I kill her off a few chapters ago? Why is she back?”
Keep my playlist on “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by the Proclaimers. It has a big place in this story.
Trust me, that’ll take the rest of the week, and that’s if I work hard. Because my first drafts are just that bad.
For those who are curious, this is the plot for THE SCOURGE (a description that will also evolve as I edit): When Ani Mells is diagnosed with a highly contagious and deadly disease, she is sent away to a Colony where she slowly begins to learn that surviving the Scourge is only the beginning of her problems. Coming in fall 2016.
May 25, 2015
Who Needs a Library Anyway?
A couple of years ago, I was invited to speak at an Illinois school, and was excited to attend…until I entered their library.
The walls were bare. The shelves were mostly empty, and what titles existed were relics with dust on them. I tried not to show my frustration to the librarian who had so kindly greeted us. But it confused me. How could she be so welcoming in such an unwelcoming space?
I did the presentation for an awesome group of students, though they clearly had no familiarity with my book, or for that matter, no familiarity with most of the titles I had discussed. Of course they didn’t, I thought to myself. This library was depressing and offered almost no reason for students to enter.
Then I learned how wrong I had been.
The librarian wasn’t a librarian. In fact, there was no librarian at this school.
Bureaucrats had closed the library a few years earlier, claiming funds and resources could be used better elsewhere, such as in student testing. Besides, they argued, if students really wanted books, they had a city library.
The result? Book clubs disappeared, author visits, once a regularity, went extinct. Most importantly, literacy test scores plummeted, as did student writing, both fiction and non-fiction. And the funding that went into student testing did nothing to improve grades.
Finally, the parents had enough. They were bypassing the bureaucrats and using their own resources to bring the library back. The woman I had mistaken for the librarian was one of several parent volunteers who had seen the massive mistake of removing the library and were trying to fix it for her school.
I have traveled all over the country, and by now, stepped into a great many libraries, staffed with amazing librarians, librarian assistants, and parent volunteers.
Here’s what I’ve learned: a well run school library is the heart of the school, and the center of education. It’s a gathering place for researchers, readers, and sometimes, for students who don’t fit as easily into other areas of the school. Even for students who never step a foot into the library, there is value in walking past it each day, in knowing they are part of a school that values books. A great school library will bind students together in academic clubs, serve as a showcase place for school projects, develop tomorrow’s writers, unleash imaginations, open researchers to possibilities beyond Wikipedia, and focus a school on literacy.
So why am I writing this now?
Because in Park City, Utah, not far from my home, the decision has been made to get rid of their books and give the library’s space to a vocational education program (let me pause here while you gasp. I know, I did too). Books will still be available, but only in ebook form, located…well, somewhere in the school.
A group of incoming sophomores have proposed using the space concurrently, but still to no avail. They acknowledge the value of vocational training, but wonder why it must come at the expense of a school’s library. They are circulating a petition here, which I’d love for you to sign, even if you are outside the school boundaries. Even Neil Gaiman got in on it!
To bureaucrats who are looking for more room or more budget, ask your teachers where they can find it.
I bet I know what they’ll say.
Enough already with the testing.
May 13, 2015
MARK OF THE THIEF 2
February 2016.
(Warning: Spoilers from Book 1 are below)
Nic and his sister are trapped in Radulf’s home, without magic.
His friends have betrayed his trust.
And the empire has learned what he can do.
The Praetors are coming…
If you have not yet seen the trailer for Book 1, you can check it out here:
April 29, 2015
Fun Fan Stuff
Just a few fun things that fans have shared with me lately….
From Pelerel_APPLE on Twitter. Such amazing art!
And, from a library in Wisconsin. Keep looking at it until you get the joke.
And finally, some really nice news. First is that the most wonderful R.L. Stein (Goosebumps) picked THE FALSE PRINCE as one of his favorite books, describing it here as “A wonderful old-fashioned adventure fantasy with a snarky, smart-aleck protagonist – a totally appealing boy named Sage, who doesn’t follow any rules – filled with the kinds of twists I love.”
Second is that in recent weeks, THE FALSE PRINCE was chosen by young readers as their favorite book in its category in Oklahoma (Sequoyah Book Award), Nebraska (Golden Sower Award), South Dakota (Young Adult Reading Program Award), and Louisiana (Young Readers’ Choice Award). My thanks to readers in all of those states (and in other states where THE FALSE PRINCE was nominated for book awards), for your votes!
April 21, 2015
Birth of Rome and Other News
First of all, happy birthday to Rome, founded on this date in 753 BC (quick math: 2768 years ago). Yeah, maybe the Greeks were there first, but Rome spread that civilization throughout much of the world. Without the foundation of that empire, I’d never have been able to write a book set in Ancient Rome. Granted, I’d have just set it somewhere else, but still….happy birthday!
In other news, if you’re on Twitter, check out this link here (@Kingofcarthya) for a Twitter-based fan site of The Ascendance Trilogy. I know they’d appreciate your follow, and it’s one of the few places of which I’m aware that fans of this series can gather.
In other other news, I’ll be doing a giveaway very soon for ARCs of A NIGHT DIVIDED, which is set in 1965 East Berlin, telling the story of a girl whose family is divided on the night the Berlin Wall goes up, and what she is going to attempt in order to reunite them.
Scholastic Clubs and Fairs was kind enough to send a camera crew to film a segment about A NIGHT DIVIDED, to be shown in schools this fall. So if your school hosts Scholastic Book Fairs, you might be seeing me on your school’s big screen soon! With a little luck (and great skill from the crew’s editors), I won’t completely humiliate my kids.
A NIGHT DIVIDED will be released on August 25.
And finally, in other other other news, I’ve recently completed copyedits for MARK OF THE THIEF 2, which will be released next February. While I’m waiting for proofreading pages to come back, I’m getting started on a new project for fall of 2016. I can’t say much about it yet, but I can give you the key to the colors on the outline below: Red is for a girl named Ani, Blue is for a boy named Weevil, Green is for the conspiracy they uncover, and Yellow is for an enemy they make along the way.
April 5, 2015
Albuquerque & St. Louis Signings!
If you’re an Albuquerque peep (no Easter pun intended), join me on Tuesday, April 7th at Bookworks Bookstore (4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM) at 4:30 pm for a chat and book signings.
St. Louis peeps (Easter pun intended this time), join me on Thursday, April 9th at the Spencer Road Branch of the St. Charles Library (427 Spencer Road, St Peters, MO) at 7:00 pm.
These will be my last public events for many moons. If I didn’t come to a city near you 
but you want a signed copy of MARK OF THE THIEF or any of my other books, consider contacting Bookworks here (put the name to be personalized in the Order Comments section during checkout) or email Main Street Books in St. Charles here. (You must order BEFORE my event with them on the 7th or the 9th. I won’t be around to personalize after those dates.)
