Francesca Zappia's Blog, page 2

Write Or Die: The Program Every Writer Should Try At Least Once

I feel like every writer who has ever complained about their daily word count while drafting a novel has searched for that one Holy Grail of writing tools, that elusive software that will magically make all your drafting woes float away on the breeze.

Search no more. I have found that piece of software, and it is called Write Or Die.

You may have heard of Write or Die, you may not. Basically, Write Or Die is a program that gives you a basic text window to draft in while letting you set either a...

Two Weeks 'Til One - Part 10

It's the last installment! As promised, here's Part 10 of the 10-part ONE comic series.

When I started drawing these, Merrin and Elias just kind of appeared on the page. I didn't have to do much thinking to come up with them. (Also, I had already drawn Leigh Ann some fan art. Heh.) Some of the other characters, like Leni and Daniel (and this is where it would be helpful if you read the other parts of the comic :D) took me a little longer. Leni, in fact, was based partially off of Jessica Rabbi...

Two Weeks 'Til One - Part 9

Near the end of 2012, Leigh Ann Kopans, my CP extraordinaire, asked me if I would draw some promotional pictures for her debut YA novel, ONE. Of course I said yes, because I love ONE and want it to get as much exposure as humanly possible.
"Promotional pictures" ended up being comics. Because, come on, it's a story about superheroes--what better format is there? Over the past two weeks, Leigh Ann and other bloggers around the web have been posting each installment of these comics one day at a...

Kill Your Darlings, Even If They're Not Really That Darling To You Anymore And You're Just Scared To Change Them Because They've Always Been The Way They Are Now

So you have a book you've been working on for a really long time, and every time you revise it, there's one section you only tweak because you think, "Oh, no, this part is totally fine. It works. It's golden." But then you get one piece of feedback that says your character is really inactive. Or the plot is too confusing. Or you're a fucking idiot. And then you realize, even though--or maybe because--that part has stayed the same for so long, IT HAS TO DIE.
That's where I'm at right now, frien...

Interview!

If you're interested, I was interviewed by Amy Trueblood for a Writer Odyssey Wednesday post today. You can check it out here!

Hope everyone's having an awesome May!

Defining the Strong Female Character

Oh, Chessie. Why are you writing a post on strong female characters when there are already a bajillion and one posts floating around the writersphere about the topic? Sometimes it feels like I see a new post on strong female characters every week or so, but I never feel like they reach a place that I agree with. They always talk about Bella Swan or Katniss Everdeen, those being the two big YA heroines, and they always say different things: Bella's weak because of EVERYTHING SHE EVER DOES or s...

Announcement giveaway!

Hello, readers! In case you weren't around on Tuesday, I have some very new, very exciting news: my book, ASK AGAIN LATER, sold to HarperCollins! I'm super excited to get to work with them and my amazing editor Virginia Duncan, but even more than that, I'm excited that you all will get to read this book come 2014.

BUT, until then, we must wait. So, to celebrate the fact that I finally got to announce after three months (THREE. I don't know how my brain didn't explode) of keeping the news secre...

In Which Long-Held News Is Released Upon The World

Hey you guys.

I have some news.

I've had to wait a while to share this news with you.

But today is the day.

(You have no idea how long I've waited to use this gif.)
MY BOOK SOLD!

ASK AGAIN LATER (which, back when I was querying, appeared in numerous contests as ALEXITHYMIA, if you remember it), is going to be a REALLY REAL BOOK, from the really real Greenwillow/HarperCollins in Fall 2014!

I cannot explain in words how much I love this book, and how excited I am that it has found a home and is going...

The Best Part...of Julie Kagawa's THE IMMORTAL RULES

Welcome to The Best Part, a weekly blog series where I talk about my favorite parts from books I've read. The books can be new or old, good or terrible--the point is that I find something to like in all the books I read, and now I want to share that with you! So stick around for a few minutes, see if this week's book is something you'd like, or tell me your favorite part about it.

Hello, readers! This week's the Best Part post features Julie Kagawa's THE IMMORTAL RULES.


Hands down my...

The Manuscript You Never Expected To Love

I was going to do another The Best Part post today, but I realized on Monday that I couldn't bring myself to talk about that book in any capacity. I didn't hate it, and I didn't love it. It was such a cookie-cutter YA book that I had nothing to say about it. It simply exists. I'm getting some more books from the library this weekend that I think will make some pretty kickass TBP posts. So I'm going to skip this week's The Best Part post in lieu of a different topic.

Writers. Do you ever have a...