Heather Hamel's Blog, page 6

Rebel Yell

My very first novel idea came to me many years ago after a long, hot day at the barn. I wanted something new and exciting with the old mantra ‘write what you know’ thrown in. I had just finished reading the phenomenal book Water for Elephants and liked the idea and setting at the circus: it was very new and very exciting. What could I do?

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Experience! I’ve always had this crazy love for history and it threw in plenty of what I know: horses! I started researching and writing that night my first middle grade fiction book. It was bad…very bad. The idea behind it was the only redeeming quality.

That was nine middle grade novels ago and the story has been nagging me through every single novel. Somehow the story of the most incredible year (in my opinion) of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Experience needed to be told – 1886 – the year both Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull joined the troupe as well as their journey across the ocean for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. What a fantastic time in history – but would kids find it as fascinating as I did? Probably not.

So the idea simmered until it hit me – Rebel Yell needs to be a historical romance, not middle grade fiction! So, stripping everything away but the bare bones, I went to work and it’s nearly done!

I’ve picked out the cover (which I love and can’t wait to reveal) but it needs the back blurb – which is where you, dear reader, come in. Tell me your thoughts (positive and not so positive) as well as any questions that come up that you want answered…Here’s what I have so far:

A gunshot in Kentucky changes Bess’s life forever. A misfired gun in New Orleans allows her to take it back.

In 1886, Bess joins up with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Experience – throwing the small town girl into a world of cowboys, Indians, and wild horses. Running from her past, she has no idea what to expect when she joins the troupe. In the very first week she’s stabbed, thrown from a wild horse, and falls in love with a rugged cowboy, Eli.

Will she be able to survive the second week?

 

It’s Official

Last weekend I participated in Jacksonville’s 48-hour film project where a short movie (4-7 minutes) is conceived based on certain criteria, written, shot and edited from 7 PM Friday to 7 PM Sunday – 48 hours.

My team’s genre was mystery and our criteria included: a character had to be a plastic surgeon, a prop had to include a salt shaker, and we had to use the line “That’s just the way it goes.”

It was screened last night in Jacksonville, so now I can share on social media – check it out…especially the credits at the end!

Let me know what you think!

 

Need Help Again – Query Letter

Alright my village – I’m having problems with the clarity of my query letter….I think I’m too close to the subject – tell me what you think and what YOU need clarified. Especially for those who haven’t read the series…yet!

The Vortex is about 14-year-old Addeline who must rescue her brother, Ian, from the Florida swamp when he disappears and her sister, Fiona, after she’s kidnapped by a kelpie when their parents leave the country and the children realize they are trapped in a cryptozoological vortex with Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Buster.

Addeline must find the fabled unicorn horn to save them and reunite the family. After Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Buster are poisoned by goblins and left unconscious, Addeline secures the horn, but a changeling from the Fairy Realm threatens to destroy all the plans that she has set into motion. Now, with time running out, Addeline must rescue Ian from the Skunk Ape, and then save Fiona from becoming a mermaid.

As always thanks to my brilliant village – it takes one to sell a screenplay!

 

48 Hour Film Project

A week ago I was invited to be a writer for the 48 Hour Film Project in Jacksonville, where  teams of film makers have 48 hours to complete a short (4-7 minute film) . I looked over the website and it intrigued me so I jumped onboard!

It kicked off last night at 7 PM in Jacksonville. With the weather and my crazy schedule, I knew I couldn’t be there – so I was the virtual team member! A few minutes before 7 PM, my phone rang…it was the director. “Our genre is mystery – start brainstorming. I’ll have more information soon.”

Mystery? Mystery! All of the genres are picked from a hat – not the one I would have preferred (give me family or fantasy any day) – but mystery it is…

A few minutes later the phone rang again. “One character has to be a plastic surgeon, you have to include a salt shaker as a prop, and the mandatory line of dialogue is ‘That’s the way it goes’. Start thinking and I call you back soon to brainstorm.”

Not one to sit around and wait for the phone to ring again, I started thinking and writing. I knew it would have two characters (male and female) and the location (a condo). I began writing. After scrapping the first idea completely, the director and I spent hours on the phone last night, brainstorming, tweaking, and finalizing the 5 page script.

I didn’t make it to bed until after 11 and was back up by 4 with more ideas swimming through my head, so I added some more and sent it back. My work is done now – it’s up to the talent to make the magic happen and to editing to make sure the idea comes across.

It was my first time collaborating on a project (and hopefully not my last) – it was a whirlwind of a night and I can’t wait to see the finished project on Wednesday June 7th.

A very special thank you to Sharon Y. Cobb and Brooks Brandal – fingers crossed!

 

The Vortex Synopsis (revealed)

Thank you to everyone who helped tweak the logline over the past few weeks! Here it is:

SYNOPSIS

The Vortex is a family fantasy about three kids who visit their aunt’s ranch for summer vacation. They soon discover the ranch is an active cryptozoological vortex when mythical creatures cause chaos and the kids must battle their fears to save themselves.

Three siblings, Addeline, Fiona, and Ian face the wildest summer vacation of their lives after their parents plan a romantic getaway and drop the kids off with their eccentric aunt and uncle.

Aunt Tabitha and one-handed Uncle Buster are preoccupied with frightening sounds from the woods. Eventually they confess that the ranch is a cryptozoological vortex where things aren’t always as they seem.

After a fight with his sisters, Ian wanders into the woods until he’s hopelessly lost, bug-bitten and realizes he’s being stalked by Florida’s version of Big Foot – the Skunk Ape. To make matters worse, before the search for Ian can begin, Fiona is kidnapped by a kelpie and dragged underwater and into the realm of Mer.

Frantic, Aunt Tabitha calls on the Sprites for assistance, learning from them that they must first find the fabled unicorn horn to help rescue the kids. A goblin attack reveals the location of the unicorn horn, but leaves the aunt and uncle poisoned and unconscious. Addeline secures the horn during the attack but doesn’t know how to use it to save her siblings. Their “boring” summer vacation has become mystical, magical, and dangerous.

Will Addeline figure out the secret of the unicorn horn and rescue her family, or will she be forced to explain the sudden disappearance of everyone she loves?

*****

I’d love to hear what you think – let me know if you have any input. If you’ve forgotten the story line from Books 1, 2, 3 – here’s the trailer:

 

Help!

I need help creating, tweaking, rewriting, and rewriting again the perfect logline for The Vortex.

The screenplay is based on the first three books of the Cryptozoology Series: Within Emerald Forests, Under Sapphire Skies and Beneath Diamond Waters.

 

 

Here are the two leading loglines:

After three siblings are dropped off at their aunt and uncle’s for the summer, the oldest sister must rescue her siblings when the cryptozoological vortex opens and her brother is kidnapped by a maternal Bigfoot and a kelpie offers her sister as a sacrifice to a dangerous sea monster.
 With fears of spending a long and boring summer with their slightly eccentric aunt and uncle, Addeline, Fiona and Ian end up experiencing an extraordinary adventure in an amazing cryptozoological vortex complete with the Florida Skunk Ape, mermaids, and a hornless unicorn.

Please let me know either which you prefer or create your own – I’d love to know how you’d describe the series!

 

 

 

Spring has Sprung

Chuck Wills Widow – one of the world’s most annoying birds, seems to announce the coming of Spring here at the Triple H Ranch. From the time it starts looking for a mate until the hatchlings leave the nest, nighttime sleeping is somewhat scarce for all of us.

Time to write!

I just completed a very rough draft of the 2nd screenplay: Beyond the Vortex – based on book four of the Cryptozoology series: Across Ruby Fields. So now it’s time for edits, edits, and more edits.

The 1st screenplay: The Vortex – based on the first three books of the Cryptozoology series, his entered in contests at the moment and I will soon be searching for a manager to help give it a life of its own.

So even running on very little sleep (thanks Chuck!) and tons of caffeine, life moves on at the Triple H at an astounding pace!

Happy Spring and may you get all the sleep you can!

Screenwriting Baby Steps

Thank you to everyone who sent in suggestions for loglines – you have no idea how helpful it is – just one word can spark the imagination!

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I have found myself in a strange, new world – stranger than my imagination and with more rules than the Vortex – Hollywood!

I had a phone conference with my amazing new editor, Amanda, yesterday and have my next steps for editing, improving, and hopefully eventually selling The Vortex. She kept telling me the next step is the ‘fun’ part. I tend to look at edits more like a necessary evil instead of ‘fun’ – but I’m trying to put myself in her mindset. In her 7-page script analysis, she was very through as to what edits she saw the script needing – the phone conference solidified everything.

Create ‘rules’ for the vortex to everyone understands the stakes and why things are happening.
Edit for dialogue, action, descriptions
Check the structure and beats
Start working on the next one (seriously)

When I’m done with steps 1-3 (hopefully in the April/May timeframe) it’ll be time to submit to one of two contests that offer managers as the top prize (gasp!) as well as shop for one myself. They want to know that I’m more than a one trick pony and will want to see others…thus the need for #4.

It’s time to settle in and get cracking again! I’ll let you know when I come up for air.

 

Logline Help!

This amazing journey from novel to screenplay is filled with so many twists and turns it’s difficult to know where it stands from day to day. The editor returned the full screenplay with lots of comments and suggestions – enough to keep my busy for quite some time!

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Book 1

But you know my mind is ALWAYS one step ahead of the rest of me. The Vortex needs a logline – a one line summary to answer the question: What is it about? I’ve come up with some half decent ones and some really bad ones, then Les reminded me that most people don’t work in a bubble. Most great ideas come from brainstorming.

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Book 2

 

That’s where you, my brilliant village, come in! I need loglines or just phrases that can be turned into loglines for The Vortex. This is the best of what I’ve come up with so far:

For three kids, their summer vacation into the country leads to a Skunk Ape kidnapping, mermaid sacrifice and goblin wars when they find themselves in an active cryptozoological vortex.

Now I want to know what you can come up with!

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Book 3

 

 

The Vortex Update

Things change quickly here at the Triple H these days. It seems as soon as I get one blog out, there is more news to share. This week is no different.

Last week I sent the first 15 pages of The Vortex to an editor in LA. She responded very quickly and very positively! I’ve had a busy weekend making the suggested changes to the first 15 pages and placing them throughout the next 75 pages before the next round of  edits!

Speaking of edits – when is the next round? Now! I’m submitting it back within the next half hour for a turnaround time by Friday afternoon – more to follow!