Vanessa Barneveld's Blog, page 17

Writing Process Blog Tour

Forget the “what happens on tour stays on tour” rule. On this tour, dauntless writers lift the veil on their writing process in a game of blog tag. YA/NA author and fellow 2014 Golden Heart finalist Amy DeLuca, dared Jessica Ruddick, AE Jones, and me to get on board.

Oops -- sorry, Sean Bean. I'm breaking that rule now...

What am I currently working on?

I recently sold my debut novel, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE, to Bloomsbury, and I’m looking forward to my editor’s revision letter. :) In the meantime, I’m working on a new YA contemporary that combines two of my favourite subjects – horses and music. I’ve just cryogenically frozen two YA partials, one of which is a follow-up to AFTERLIFE. The other is a SF thriller.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Today’s YAs are broad in scope, so it’s hard for me to answer this. You’ll find historicals, paranormals, contemporaries, medievals, westerns, time-travels, steampunks, dystopians and everything in between. The range is as diverse as the teen audience, and that’s what I find so exciting about it. I’d class my books as paranormal-light – magical reality with a good dose of humour. I tend to write heroines and heroes who might be considered a little nerdy, a little shy, a lot single-minded. But as their stories progress, they grow more comfortable in their skins. Their perceived weaknesses are actually the things that make them strong.

Why do I write what I write?

It’s a compulsion! I just love writing from the point of view of young people trying to make sense of the world in which they live. When I first started writing, I was in my early teens and heavily under the influence of Christopher Pike and Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High series. I wanted to write the kind of stories I liked to read and could relate to. Years after I graduated from high school, I penned a “grown-up” women’s fiction book. I'll be honest -- I worked hard on it, but that manuscript sucked like nothing else. Yet, it was invaluable for two reasons. One, it was the first book I ever completed. As every writer knows, finishing your first book is a major milestone and confidence booster. And two, a flashback scene made me realise my heart was in writing YA.

How does my individual writing process work?

It really changes from book to book. I started off as a panster (that is, writing by the seat of my pants without a flight plan). Then I found, in order to avoid obstacles like saggy middles, it’s actually quite helpful to write an outline first. The fourth book I wrote, GIVING UP THE GHOSTS (aka GHOST-RIDDEN), a 2010 GH finalist, was plotted out in its entirety first. I scribbled a short summary for each of the twenty-odd chapters and then took off from there. For THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE, I had a vague idea, wrote the first couple of chapters and then plotted the rest of the book. Whatever works, I say! I’m not wedded to any one method.

When it comes down to the actual writing, I’m easily distracted by TV, music, and this cat gif Tumblr page. So I have to rely on a program called Freedom that prevents me from accessing emails and the Net on my laptop. I’ve talked about it so often people are beginning to think I’m on the payroll!

And there you have it – everything you wanted to know about my writing process. Thanks again to Amy DeLuca for nominating me.

I now pass the baton to another lovely 2014 Golden Heart finalist, Åsa Maria Bradley, who's making waves in paranormal romance fiction. Along with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti, she'll be presenting an unmissable workshop at RWA's San Antonio conference this July: Untie Your Tongue: How to Lead Successful Workshops and Author Events with Confidence. Catch Åsa's writing process blog post next Monday, June 16.

 

Åsa Maria Bradley

Asa Maria Bradley writes paranormal romance featuring Vikings and Valkyries who fight to save humanity from Ragnarök—the gods' and goddesses’ final battle and the end of the world. She grew up in Sweden, surrounded by archeology and history steeped in Norse mythology. Her essays and articles have appeared in a variety of magazines and the anthology FEMALE NOMAD AND FRIENDS: TALES OF BREAKING FREE AND BREAKING BREAD AROUND THE WORLD (Three River Press, Random House). She lives in Washington State with her British husband and a used dog of indeterminate breed. Visit her at www.AsaMariaBradley.com.

I've managed to go a whole month without tinkering with m...

I've managed to go a whole month without tinkering with my website design. This could be a new record! Must admit it's partly because I've been busy making a website for somebody else, my film & TV editor friend Alison Myers.

Here's a screenshot:

I'd love you to visit and check out her showreel and movie trailers -- alisonmyersau.com.

Another cyberplace to visit is a blog belonging to my fellow 2014 GH YA finalist Amy DeLuca. Amy has written THREE books this year. Three! Find out how she did it on her Writing Process Blog Tour post. She kindly tagged me to join the tour, so watch out for my post in the near future.

 

 

 

Cover Reveal! @Jen_McConnel's HER SECRET INHERITANCE

Jen McConnel is a fellow Bloomsbury Spark author and I'm very pleased to help show off the cover of her next release, HER SECRET INHERITANCE (below). Isn't it gorgeous? The book follows on from THE SECRET OF ISOBEL KEY, a magical mystery that leaps between 17th- and 21st-century Scotland.

What would you risk for a second chance?







Five years after the trip to Scotland that changed her life, Lou is back in the misty, magical country. But this time, she’s not on vacation.









When Brian, her old Highland fling, turns up at the scene of some depressing family business, tension mounts between the former lovers. But dealing with Brian is only part of the problem; something wicked is stirring in Scotland. Lou must use all her strength to handle the increasingly desperate situation, but will she be strong enough to battle both a vengeful ghost and her heart?
Lou may have thought that she was finished with the witch Isobel Key, but some secrets can't stay buried forever. Coming June 12, 2014, HER SECRET INHERITANCE is a story of risk, second chances, and magic.









Visit Bloomsbury Spark for more information.







Want to find out where it all began? Check out THE SECRET OF ISOBEL KEY now!



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About Jen McConnel





Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. A graduate of Western Michigan University, she also holds a MS in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches college writing composition and yoga. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time. Her debut NA novel, THE SECRET OF ISOBEL KEY, is out now from Bloomsbury Spark, and the sequel is coming in June. She also writes YA and nonfiction. Visit http://www.jenmcconnel.com to learn more.











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To celebrate the cover reveal, Jen's got three fabulous giveaway prize packs up for grabs. US only, please. Each prize pack includes an eARC of HER SECRET INHERITANCE, and you might also win the "Naughty Celt" candle, graciously donated by BookScents Candles. Check out the other awesome book-inspired candles from BookScents:

Etsy Store: www.bookscentscandles.com

Twitter: twitter.com/NalanaLillie

Blog: wherethestoryistold.wordpress.com/







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Website tinkeritis

I've officially changed my website design for the umpteenth time. Take a good look around before I change it again!

No, really, I'm happy with the way it looks now. Completely. So I'm going to leave well enough alone for the time being. And if Website tinkeritis gives me an itch, I can always play around with my lovely friend Pintip's website instead -- I just built it for her. Check it out here.

Strike an author pose

Last week I had to submit an author photo to Romance Writers of America -- a photo which will be published on their website, in their magazine, and beamed onto giant screens during the annual awards night in July. Yay. Knowing all this, I wondered if it would be best to finally hire a professional photographer, or recycle my 2009 photo in which my hair is short and I'm about four kilos lighter. In the end, my husband took the camera by the lens and snapped some photos.

When I was little, my dad was a mad shutterbug who took squillions of photos of me and my sisters during even the most mundane situations. Back then it was annoying to have every moment captured on film. I do appreciate those pics now; they give me a good laugh.

But despite (or maybe because of) my early years as a 'model', I still find it hard to channel my inner Cindy C. In most photos, I appear to be grimacing like I'd just stubbed my big toe. My husband managed to coax a semi-smile out of me for the author new pic (posted on my About page), but I really wish I'd seen this guide first. I reckon I could have easily pulled off #3 with the cats perched on each shoulder.

What are your tips for taking a great photo?