Beth Revis's Blog, page 43

Thank You to the Cheerleaders!

I woke up this morning with trepidation in my heart. See, I had retired last night around 2am. And Steph...had not.



In the end, neither of us made out (crazy, ridiculous) goals. But! We did both make a noble effort and really got a ton of work done. For me, I've planted myself firmly in the murky middle...but quite a few scenes from last night were actually stuff I really really liked, so...I'm happy! And Steph wrote a ton in one night alone which is gobsmackingly amazing.



And the best part? You guys.




Dude, I cannot tell you how boring it is to stare at the screen and know that I need to work and want to bash my head onto my keyboard.



But last night? You guys were totally just cheering me on, and it was AMAZING and filled me with JOY and fueled my fingers towards SPURIOUS WRITING.



So, I texted Steph and said...what do you think about giving something to our cheerleaders?



And she said: YES.



And so:



Today, while we meet up at the coffee shop, we're going to give one person who commented or tweeted us or otherwise encouraged and/or harassed us LAST NIGHT during the writing session of DOOM will get a signed copy of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and a signed copy of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS (paperback editions) and I'm throwing in some new swag that I just got for AtU in the bucket, too (a poster, pin and brand-spanking-new rubber band bracelet that you can't see in the pic).















We'll announce the winner later today, after I force Steph to purchase all my coffee for me BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA![image error]

Live Blogging: Extreme Deadline Edition

I made a bet.



A crazy, crazy bet.



I bet another writer friend that I could finish 15,000 words and a short story in one week. That was last Thursday. I took the weekend to write the short story. Monday I wrote 5k words, and Tuesday I wrote 1,600 words. That leaves me with today, Wednesday, and I've got...8,400 more words to write.



Eight thousand four hundred more words to write.



Today.



Will I make that goal? I have no idea.



But I decided last night to try a live-blog. For you new kids, a live-blog is where I update a post (this post) regularly throughout the day with the status of what I'm doing. Typically, this helps me keep track of how much time I end up wasting (for example, online) and is also often hilarious as people watch me flounder around under the microscope.



SO: Come back throughout the day to see how far I get!



8:15am: Wake up. Stay in bed for another 15 minutes to avoid work.



8:30-9:15: Breakfast--leftover pasta from last night, a diet Sprite, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother.



9:16: Start working on this live-blog



9:16: Realize that working on this live-blog = working on the novel =  I have to do some actual work.



9:26: Oh, look! The shiny internet has neato things!



9:30: Best. Kid. Halloween costume. EVER.



9:48: Crap. I should, actually...you know...work.




Current word count: 0.




10:18: Coffee made: an espresso shot with hot chocolate and three melty peppermint candies. Sweatshirt: on. This one. Thank goodness it's a cold, rainy day.



Current word count: 0.  I know! I know! Quit pressuring me!!!



10:51: Finished up the chapter I was working on last night. The problem--and this is the reason why I've been stalling, and why I'm using this live-blog to kick my butt in gear--is that I know what needs to happen in, oh, fifty or so pages. I've got that, all the way to the end, nearly figured out. But to get to those fifty or so pages away...that's where I'm struggling. And I'm not the kind of writer that can just skip ahead fifty pages and write the scenes I know. I need to write the next fifty-ish pages to get there before I can really get swinging in this story...



Current word count: 571. 



10:54: Oh, look, the internet's out! Which means I can't update...but I guess this means I can't goof off online, either....



11:17: I was right. No internet is preventing me from wasting time. I have noticed that after I hit a stopping point--the end of a scene, the end of dialog, heck, even the end of a paragraph--my default reaction is to click onto the still-open internet window. But my connection is completely dead, and so instead of spending five or ten minutes goofing off, I go right back to Scrivener.



Current word count: 1387




11:23: Of course, even without internet, I'm still opening up this window every five seconds. (Exaggeration.)



11:28: Five minutes. I went five minutes between checking online and writing and checking back online. Ugh. That's pathetic.



11:32: When I get 2000 words, I can break for lunch. That's the deal. Also, then I'll connect to the internet with my phone so I can actually post these updates...yeah, that's why...



11:48: Oh, coffee, I can feel you kicking in. *jittery legs while typing too fast and misspelling every other word*



12:05:  I hit a bit of a roll there, rounding out a final chapter. Heh. Maybe a lack of internet + an increase in coffee = words. I'm pretty sure that's a solid foundation in a scientific theory. That discovery's as important as E = mc2, no?



Current word count: 2801




12:06: I earned lunch! Yay!



12:11: But before that...I sent a DM to the author I made the bet with. All it said was "Be afraid. Be very afraid." hehehehe...



1:25: That was...a rather long lunch. But the rain is holding, and my internet isn't, so that bodes well.



1:28: WHAT IS THIS FRESH HELL? I return from my leisurely lunch to discover that... STEPHANIE PERKINS HAS, INDEED, BROUGHT IT. Oh, it is ON NOW, PERKINS. You realize, of course, that this means WAR. 




(I get irrationally pumped up about competition. Have I mentioned this? It's true.)



(Crap. The dog is being cute and demands scratches.)



1:34: I am bringing it.




1:52: I am so NOT bringing it. (a) Had to call my father. Then (b) Dog decided to play. Then (c) Kiersten White decided to TURN ON ME. Proof 1. Proof 2. WHY KIERSTEN WHY?!



1:55: That does it: going offline so I can TYPE LIKE THE WIND.



2:14: The siren song of the internet (and the Twitter War perpetuated by Kiersten) draws me back online. *shaking my fist at Al Gore* Why did you invent the internet?!



Current Word Count: 3047/8400  (which, for the weekly goal = 9647/15000)

Stephanie's Word Count: 212/15000




2:36: There was something I cut in A MILLION SUNS that I think I might be able to bring into Book 3. Off to search for it.



2:43: Found it. Also found this. *sigh* Internet, y u so addictive? *pets the shiny*



2:59: New coffee acquired. *cracks knuckles*




3:20: It's quiet around here. TOO QUIET. *stares at Steph's live-blog* *frets*



Current Word Count: 3626/8400 

Stephanie's Word Count: probably a gazillion

On Communication

I should just admit it:



I'm behind.



On Twitter replies, Tumblr ask box replies, Facebook replies, and--worst of all--emails.



I am terribly, terribly, terribly behind.



But.



I am trying to write Book 3. I mean, I've been trying to write it for some time, but I'm in the long sprint to the finish line right now (read: crazy focused and dedicated to finishing like whoa), and it's too easy to let (literally) hours go by when I venture online.



I know many of you are writers, and you understand. <3 And many of you are readers, and I'm sure you'd rather me write a book than an email. That, at least, is what my publisher must surely be thinking, lol!



So please forgive me, but for the next little bit, I'm going to be a tad incommunicado. I'll pop online between breaks and answer what I can, but it'll probably be a tad sporadic. And by "tad," I mean: very. If it's something urgent, please mark it as such in an email. I may miss Facebook or Twitter posts, but I will eventually get to every single thing in the inbox.



<3



*opens up Scrivener*   *hunches back over the manuscript*   *stares blankly at the screen*

On Big Heads

Whenever I start to get a big head, I think of one of my favorite poems by Robbie Burns (I've pasted it below) entitled "To a Louse." A louse being, of course, a singular of lice.



Burns can be a bit of a pain to read at times, but the story of the poem is, basically, that there's this high and mighty woman sitting in church, rather proud of herself, and the narrator of the poem sees a giant louse creeping up her bonnet. Which, basically sums up as: the bigger the head, the more room for the louse.





On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church




Ha! whare ye gaun' ye crowlin ferlie?

Your impudence protects you sairly;

I canna say but ye strunt rarely

Owre gauze and lace,

Tho faith! I fear ye dine but sparely

On sic a place.



Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,

Detested, shunn'd by saunt an sinner,

How daur ye set your fit upon her--

Sae fine a lady!

Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner

On some poor body.



Swith! in some beggar's hauffet squattle;

There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle;

Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle;

In shoals and nations;

Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle

Your thick plantations.



Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight,

Below the fatt'rils, snug an tight,

Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right,

Till ye've got on it--

The vera tapmost, tow'rin height

O' Miss's bonnet.



My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,

As plump an grey as onie grozet:

O for some rank, mercurial rozet,

Or fell, red smeddum,

I'd gie you sic a hearty dose o't,

Wad dress your droddum!



I wad na been surpris'd to spy

You on an auld wife's flainen toy

Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,

On's wyliecoat;

But Miss's fine Lunardi! fye!

How daur ye do't?



O Jeany, dinna toss your head,

An set your beauties a' abread!

Ye little ken what cursed speed

The blastie's makin!

Thae winks an finger-ends, I dread,

Are notice takin!



O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae monie a blunder free us

An foolish notion:

What airs in dress an gait wad lea'es us,

An ev'n devotion!






[image error]

Bookanista Guest Post: Janice Hardy, author of DARKFALL

Today I'm pleased to welcome Janice Hardy, author of THE SHIFTER, BLUE FIRE, and DARKFALL, a trilogy that is superb. I started with THE SHIFTER when it first released, and was hooked. Now I'm just waiting to get my hands on a copy of the last book, DARKFALL! This trilogy takes place in a world where some characters have the ability to shift pain or sickness away from a person. Of course, keep in mind that the title of the trilogy as a whole is THE HEALING WARS...in a world where healing can be done with a simple touch, healing itself becomes a commodity. 




Whatever your expecting about the books: don't. Janice has twists and turns aplenty throughout, and the ending's impossible to guess. 




Without further ado, here's Janice, author of THE HEALING WARS trilogy!




Yes, I'm Evil. At Least to My Characters




There are some writers who cringe at the thought of putting
their characters into danger. Caring authors who encourage and look after their
fictional charges as they send them on their literary ways.




I'm not one of those authors.




I love to torture
my characters. I cackle with glee when I think up something horrible to do to
them. Maybe it's my dark side coming out, I don't know.






Take the characters in my teen fantasy series, The Healing Wars. The heroine, Nya, never
gets a break from me. First, I kill most of her family (this is before the
story opens, so don't worry). Then, I give her an evil "is it a blessing or a
curse?" magical ability (she can heal, but only if she shifts pain from one
person to another). To add insult to this injury, I give her a little sister
who can heal without the nasty drawback and all its nastier side-effects
(because ya know, being jealous of your little sister really bites)




You'd think that would be enough to make my dark side happy,
but no. It wanted more. It whispered into my mind…let's take away that little
sister, and make poor Nya have to reveal the one secret she's been hiding her
whole life in order to save her. And while we're at it, let's toss in some
agonizing decisions, some physical pain and suffering, and a mistake that will
haunt her rest of her life. (and all that's just in the first book, The Shifter)




I'm smiling as I write this. Really. I told you I was evil.




This attitude did trip me up a bit when I got to the third
and final book of the series, Darkfall.
Okay sure, I got to be the most nasty and horrible I've ever been to Nya
because it's the last book, but I also tend to like happy endings ("happy"
being relative of course). I do have
a light side to balance my dark. Could I do all those terrible things to Nya
and just…leave her like that?




Yes and no.






My light side wanted some
reward for all Nya's hard work and pain, but my dark side couldn't give her a
totally happy ending (that's just not right). So I compromised. I may have torn
her world apart, killed off some of her friends and destroyed her home, but I
also gave her a few things to ease some of that suffering in the end. I got to
be evil, and she got a "happy" ending. Kinda.




Though I bet overall, Nya is happier that I'm finally done
with her.




At least for now. But you never know when the urge to be
evil will strike again.




If you're a writer,
do you like to be naughty or nice to your characters? For readers, do you
prefer a character who gets trouble heaped on them or one who has an easier
life?




Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of
healing. For her fantasy trilogy THE HEALING WARS, she tapped into her own dark
side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions
often made the worst choices. Her books include THE SHIFTER, BLUE FIRE, and
DARKFALL from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins.  You can visit her online at www.janicehardy.com or chat with her
about writing on her blog, The Other Side of the Story. blog.janicehardy.com.




About Darkfall






War has come.



Nya's the one who brought it. And the people love her for it.



With Baseer in shambles and Geveg now an impenetrable military stronghold, Nya
and the Underground have fled to a safer location—without Tali. Nya is
guilt-ridden over leaving her sister behind and vows to find her, but with the
rebellion in full swing and refugees flooding the Three Territories, she fears
she never will.



The Duke, desperate to reclaim the throne as his own, has rallied his powerful
army. And they are on the move, destroying anyone who gets in the way.



To save her sister, her family, and her people, Nya needs to stay ahead of the
Duke's army and find a way to build one of her own. Past hurts must be healed,
past wrongs must be righted, and Nya must decide: Is she merely a pawn in the
rebellion, a symbol of hope—or is she ready to be a hero?










To Find out What the Other Bookanistas are Reading, Click the Links below!





Elana Johnson offers a preview of upcoming awesome!
LiLa Roecker dances for Audition
Christine Fonseca  is wowed by Witch Eyes
Beth Revis  features a guest post by Darkfall author Janice Hardy
Carolina Valdez Miller steps up to Audition – with giveaway
Shana Silver contemplates The Future of Us
Carrie Harris is dazzled by Don't Stop Now
Corrine Jackson celebrates the success of Epic Fail
Shelli Johannes-Wells is psyched for some swell book launches!


And finally: if you live in the California, Washington, Oregon, New York or New England areas, check out the group tour Stages on Pages that features several of my fellow Bookanistas and Elevensies!


 

On Being Afraid

[image error]


Confession time: I'm scared to write.



I was scared for most of the time while I wrote ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Here's why: I had this big idea, and I was scared that I wouldn't do it justice. I was scared that I wasn't a good enough writer to write this novel--that this idea was better than I was.



I wrote it anyway.



And I was scared to query it. At the time, there was VERY little YA sci fi on the market. When I went to my local indie to look for comp titles, I came back with ENDER'S GAME and THE HOST. That was it. And some of my fears were valid: I still have the rejections I got from agents who said specifically that a space sci fi would never sell for the YA market. Those early rejections made me fear that my little novel, the one I'd slaved away on, would never sell.



I queried anyway.



Now I find myself facing the barrel of the gun on Book 3. It's crazy to me that I am working on the third book of the trilogy before most people have even seen the second. And...I am petrified. What if you hate it? What if you hate the second one and hate the third one even more? What if I take the story in a different direction from what you want? What if everyone hates it? What if it flops, and my publisher, who I love, doesn't love me back? What if I never sell another book again? What if I have to admit defeat and go back to the day job and reconcile myself to the fact that being a writer isn't for me? Even though I realllllly want it to be?



I'm writing it anyway.



And I know it's bad. I'm still working on the first draft, and it's kicking my butt. I have an idea of what I'd like to see happen, but it's the same thing with AtU: it's this big idea that I want to be able to write and do it justice, but I'm worried I can't. That I'm not good enough to tell this story.



I'm still writing it anyway.



I know fully that I might have to trash this entire draft. With A MILLION SUNS, I rewrote the novel from start to finish four times. I reckon only about 10-20% of the original novel is in the final version. And so, even as I work on Book 3, I know in the back of my head that I'm just taking baby steps up the foothills, not making the big climb to the summit.



When I sit down in front of my laptop, open Scrivener, and stare at the blank document, my stomach twists. It's this sick-anxious feeling. My hands shake a little. I think about throwing up. I jump up and pace the room.



All because I'm scared.



For all the reasons I listed here and more, I'm scared.



But I'm going to write it anyway.











And for the record? There's a little voice inside my head that is whispering: It wouldn't be worth it if you weren't scared. And every time I hear it, I smile. I sit back down. And I write some more.


[image error]

Password Reveal--and prizes for EVERYONE!

Here's the deal:



Penguin wants to thank YOU for your awesome support of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. So rather than just giving you a clue...Penguin has decided to give you the whole password!



All you have to do to discover the password is go to the official Fan Page (you'll have to like it if you don't already) and click on the PASSWORD REVEAL link in the left sidebar.



The whole password is right there for you.



AND THAT ISN'T ALL.



Penguin would really like to see the page get 5,000 likes. We're really close right now--at about 4,500. And as soon as we get 5,000 likes...Penguin's going to reveal the first chapter of A MILLION SUNS for EVERYONE to read. 




Only one person will win the prize pack I show here but everyone who enters the password will get the extra goodies on the password protected page...and if the Fan Page gets 5k likes, then everyone will get to read the first chapter, too!



AND GUYS GUYS GUYS. Remember how I kept saying that there are two lies in ACROSS THE UNIVERSE that are revealed to be lies in A MILLION SUNS? One of the lies is revealed in Chapter One. So if you want to know what that lie is--or if you want to see if you guessed that scientific "error" correctly--or if you want to know what the ship's going to be like now that Elder's in charge--all of that is in Chapter One.



Eeeeee!!!!! I can't wait for you to read it!



PS: If you are morally against Facebook or can't get on Facebook for whatever reason...the clues in the post below are enough to guess the password. I'll also give out one more clue by the end of the week.

October Giveaway: Passwords and Secrets, oh my!

Last Friday I mentioned that the password to my secret page has changed. Don't know where the secret page is? Look closely...







Found the page? Then you'll notice that it's password protected. And behind that password? Is the entry form to the October Giveaway.



Want to know what prizes lie behind that password protected page?







What is all that awesome? A signed poster of Across the Universe. A signed, advanced reader copy of A Million Suns. A limited edition Across the Universe water bottle. A package of astronaut ice cream. And a box of "Out of this World" goodies from the awesome soap store, Lush.



Entry to the contest is easy: all you have to do is fill out the form. But the form? Is behind that password protected page.



Now today I'm going to give you some clues, and if you're super clever, you might just figure out the password. But if you don't know the password, don't worry! By the end of the week all will be revealed!



Here are your clues:




The password is three words long (no spaces)
The middle word is "the"
The password is a well known, common phrase every child would know (at least in America; not sure how popular it is in other countries)
The password comes from something hugely significant in A Million Suns, particularly significant to Elder


Feel free to try your guesses now--the page is up and the form is waiting for you to fill it out and enter for the big prize above! And if you don't get it, don't worry. More clues (and perhaps even the password itself) will be revealed...SOON! 

Winner & More Prizes!

The winner of the signed advanced reader's copy of THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER is...









Kate, of the Midnight Book Girl Blog!




Congrats, Kate! Send me your address, and I'll drop MARA in the mail for you!




Speaking of contests, you might remember that I promised to give every single person who entered the Creative Contest a prize. Well, there's been some trouble getting charms shipped (so much trouble that I actually ordered some back up charms, which means everyone gets two!), but I finally got them in, and I put them together to make a special thank you for each and every person who entered...









Yay! They're currently in the mail, so you should get them either by this weekend or early next week. Please let me know if you don't get yours by the end of next week.




Annnnnnnnnnnd speaking of contests........




PENGUIN JUST SENDED ME A PRESENT. And you know what that means! When Penguin sends ME a present, I send YOU presents! Wanna know what it is? Well, HA! You have to wait! 




Want to know how you can win the mysterious mystery prize? Welllllllll....you could try to guess the password of the secret page. Don't know where the secret page is? Hint: look closely at the telescope up above. If you crack the code, you get to enter for the prize.




But just in case you can't figure out my code (it's pretty tricky, I'll be honest), don't worry: on Monday I'll announce what the prize is, and on Tuesday I'll tell you where you can find the password. 

Bookanista Interview with Rae Carson, author of THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS

THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS has been one of my most anticipated books of the year, so I'm very glad to know that Rae didn't run screaming from me when I bombarded her email with questions on how could I get signed copies of her books, would she let me interview her, how creeped out would she be if I started stalking her, and so on.



Fortunately, Rae is a charming, wonderful lady who wasn't creeped out by my fangirling! And without further ado, here's her interview!





YOU

We can read all about your life from your bio in the jacket flap of your book. So, what's a completely random fact about you that most people don't know?




I competed in beauty pageants when I was in my early twenties. I used to run away with the swimsuit competition. Now that I've learned to rock plus-sized womanhood, I doubt I'll ever have a desire to be skinny again.



As a kid, what was your favorite book? Have your tastes changed since growing up?




I loved Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins. I must have read it seven or eight times. Now that I'm wise and mature, I prefer my books to be full of magic and/or ridiculously hot men.



Did you draw anything in your book, THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS, from your real life? 




Oh, definitely. Like Elisa, I very self-conscious as a teen—in my case it was due to an egregious case of acne. I drew on that experience a lot for the first third of the book.



YOUR BOOK

It's the inevitable question: what inspired THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS? 




I was dating this guy. He considered himself an "encourager." His golden nuggets of motivation tended to be things like, "Are you sure you want to eat that?" And, "Wow, Rae, if you lost another five pounds, you'd be reeeally hot." And, "Did you get your run in today?" I was a size 6 at the time.



It took me a year to come to my senses and kick him to the curb. I spent the next day eating cookie dough ice cream and thinking about all the fabulous women I knew and the qualities I admired in each of them. It never once occurred to me to put "skinny" on that list of admirable qualities.



Then I jotted down the fictitious diary entry of an overweight and seemingly-inadequate princess named Elisa who was destined to save the world using smarts, courage, and determination—traits my real-life girlfriends have in abundance. That diary entry didn't make it into the book, but it was the seed of an idea that eventually became The Girl of Fire and Thorns.



You are getting rave reviews for the unique settings in the book—the geographies of the kingdoms, the desert, etc. Can you tell us a little about why you chose to have such a diverse setting, and how you went about creating your world?




I love deserts like whoa. Whatever I wrote was going to have a desert in it. Also, I was learning to speak Spanish at the time. So it made sense to draw inspiration from Colonial Mexico and Spanish Morocco. Once you establish a harsh, barren climate, it automatically restricts your choices about clothing, architecture, food, etc. So as long as I stayed true to the world, everything fell into place.



Can you tell us a little bit about the process--particularly the timeline--of writing THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS?




I wrote the first three chapters in a flurry of inspiration. Then I got stuck. But the first chapter was selected as "editor's choice" at an online writing workshop, and a few months later, I workshopped the first chapter at a conference--and the editor requested the full manuscript! Those two things gave me the motivation I needed to figure out the difficult middle and make a real book out of it.



If your reader could only take away one emotion, theme, or idea from THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS, what would you want it to be?




I hope teens who read Elisa's story come away with the idea that they don't have to be perfect to be extraordinary.





YOUR WRITING

What's the most surprising thing you've learned since becoming a writer?




I'm been surprised—nay, shocked!—to learn how much of writing is not-writing. There are edits, copyedits, research of agents and publishing houses, interviews, research for the story itself, page proofs… I could go on and on.



Beyond the typical--never give up, believe in yourself--what would be the single best advice you'd like to give another writer?




Learn to absorb and apply constructive criticism. I think it's the most important weapon in the writer's arsenal.



What do you think are your strongest and weakest points in writing?




I think I do all right creating complex characters dealing with realistic issues. I could give you a whole list of weaknesses. The thing that handicaps me the most is my own self-doubt.







To check out what the other Bookanistas have been reading, click below:






Elana Johnson  is obsessed with Possess
Christine Fonseca  twirls for Audition
Shannon Whitney Messenger is wowed by The White Assassin – with giveaway
Shelli Johannes-Wells applauds The Pledge
Beth Revis interviews The Girl of Fire & Thorns author Rae Carson
Carolina Valdez Miller delves into The Future of Us – with signed book giveaway
Shana Silver shouts out about Shut Out
Sarah Frances Hardy fancies You Will Be My Friend