Helping Someone Out

Today is the book bomb for Ben Wolverton. Here's the information from their Facebook page:

Ben Wolverton, age 16, was in a tragic long-boarding accident on Wednesday the 4th, 2013. He suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drums, road rash, pneumonia, and is currently in a coma. His family has no insurance.

Ben is the son of author David Farland, whose books have won multiple awards, and who is widely known as a mentor to many prominent authors, such as Brandon Sanderson, Stephenie Meyer, and Brandon Mull. Costs forBen's treatment are expected to rise above $1,000,0000. To help raise money for Ben, we are having a book bomb (focused on Nightingale and Million Dollar Outlines) on behalf of Ben

You can learn more about Ben's condition, or simply donate to the Wolverton family here.

WHAT IS A BOOK BOMB?

A Book Bomb is an event where participants purchase a book on a specific day (in this case, Wednesday, April 10th) to support the author, or, in this case, a young person in serious need: Ben Wolverton.


WHAT BOOK SHOULD I PURCHASE?

David Farland’s young adult fantasy thriller NIGHTINGALE has won SEVEN awards, including the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival--beating out ALL books in ALL categories. It is available as a hardcover ($24.99), ebook ($7.99), audio book ($24.99), and enhanced novel for the iPad ($9.99). 

You can purchase it on Amazon.

Barnes and Noble.

on the Nightingale website.

or, you can get the enhanced version complete with illustrations, interviews, animations, and its own soundtrack through iTunes.


WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Some people sing at night to drive back the darkness. Others sing to summon it. . . .

Bron Jones was abandoned at birth. Thrown into foster care, he was rejected by one family after another, until he met Olivia, a gifted and devoted high-school teacher who recognized him for what he really was--what her people call a "nightingale."

But Bron isn't ready to learn the truth. There are secrets that have been hidden from mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, secrets that should remain hidden. Some things are too dangerous to know. Bron's secret may be the most dangerous of all.


IS IT GOOD?

Authors such as James Dashner (The Maze Runner), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn), and Paul Genesse (Iron Dragon series) all PRAISED it. Nightingale has 4 and a half stars on Amazon. Read what other people are saying here. Or, purchase the novel and find out for yourself.


WHAT IF I ALREADY OWN NIGHTINGALE? OR I'M NOT INTERESTED IN IT?

If you are a writer, you may want to consider purchasing David Farland’s MILLION DOLLAR OUTLINES. It has been a bestseller on Amazon for over a month and is only $6.99.

As a bestselling author David Farland has taught dozens of writers who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner) and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight).

In Million Dollar Outlines, Dave teaches how to analyze an audience and outline a novel so that it can appeal to a wide readership, giving it the potential to become a bestseller. The secrets found in his unconventional approach will help you understand why so many of his authors go on to prominence.

Get it on Amazon.

Or on Barnes and Noble.

Read one of the 26 reviews here.


CAN I JUST DONATE MONEY?

You can donate money to Ben here:

(Or you could purchase a book as a gift for someone else.)


I WANT TO HELP BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY!

The best way you can help is by spreading the word of Ben’s donation page, and/or this book bomb. Share it on facebook, twitter, pinterest, your blog—anywhere you can. Invite others to the event.


TELL ME MORE ABOUT BEN. WILL HE BE OKAY?

David Farland has been keeping everyone posted on facebook. Subscribe or friend him to get up-to-date information. At the moment, Ben is stable and appears to be improving.

Also, a website has been made where you can go to find out more information and get updates.

Thank you!
Ben and his family greatly appreciate your support, and so do all who love and care about them.

Influence from The Bard

I took several Shakespeare classes in college, and I am one of those extremely nerdy people who love Shakespeare. I mean, I don’t curl up with his collected works on a rainy day, but I do skim through his plays often enough. Especially when I’m working on a new manuscript.

The manuscript I’m working on now has influences from Cleopatra, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, and Romeo and Juliet. Which seems insane, I know.

I’m not mashing all the plots together or all of the love stories together. I swear, there is no suicide, asps, poisons, cross-dressing, nuns, star-crossed lovers, creepy old men, or jail scenes.

What I do have are four girls who are best friends. One who wants to be in charge and control everything ALL THE TIME.  One who is defined by her family name and people telling her what to do. One who believes in all that is just and right, is innocent, and will do anything for the people she loves. And one who is mischievous, fun, and gets into her share of trouble (somehow enticing the other girls to follow.)

There’s also blackmail, secrets, and quite a bit of falling for the wrong guy (who is oh, so right!)

Oh, and there’s kissing. Lots and lots of it.

What’s influenced your wip?

Happy Post-Super-Bowl-Sunday and Chillin' at Cassie Mae's

On the news this morning they said, "Happy post-Super Bowl Sunday!" and I was like... Is that really a thing? My husband says I don't appreciate the holiday-esque nature of the Super Bowl. Probably because I'm completely hopeless at sports (playing and watching). Anyone who has seen me play knows... it's no bueno.

Also... Check out Cassie Mae's blog for my guest post on unique roads to publication and how we all want to give up sometimes.

So, So Close

I seriously don’t know what my problem is, but this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME I write a book. I get to the very end, and I can’t focus.

I find a million things that HAVE to be done.

 Right this very second.

Like scraping off the dried-on Honey Nut Cheerio that’s been stuck to the tile under my couch for about three months. Or organizing all of my Kindle books into collections. Or cleaning out our Harry Potter closet full of a mish mash of camping gear, swimming equipment, toys that are in long-term “time out,” diapers of all sizes (seriously, I’ve been hoarding diapers for years, apparently) and more give-away bags that I care to admit I own.

And those are just the non-essential tasks of yesterday and today.

So tonight, I sat down and said to myself: You WILL finish this book. Tonight. NO American Idol. NO surfing Amazon for another new book to read. NO calling Mom, Dad, either sisters, bestie from high school, friend down the street that I’ve already talked to like ten times today, husband who is just in the other room (also working.)

I guess I am just not firm enough with myself, because somehow, instead of writing, I am listening to Curious George on PBSkids.org (I unwisely let my 3yo take a five hour nap this afternoon, so we’ll probably be up all night long watching this stuff) and updating my blog. Oh, and checking Twitter and FB.

By the way, the rest of the book I’m whining about is written. And I’ve gone through it twice already to do my edits. And I still haven’t written the last couple of scenes. I have them outlined. I have them imagined. I’ve known exactly how this book will end since I first started writing it. And yet… *crickets chirping* (that’s the sound in my brain when I sit down to write)

Where are you at in your manuscript? Do you stall on endings or breeze through them?

Novellas

I've been loving them for the most part. I wrote my Christmas novella for All I Want, and I've never written story that short before. I actually had to outline (what? outline? I may be converted, btw), remove the side plots I was dying to put in, and make sure everything pointed in the direction I wanted the story to go. In fact, I think I'm going to do a lot of this in my next wip and see if I can lessen how many drafts I  have to write to get a clean manuscript.

ANYWAY... here are a few novellas I've read this month that I thought did a great job of telling an entire story with shorter word count.

Heather Moore's Third Time's The Charm. She sent it to me to review and I picked it up one evening about an hour before bed. I loved that it only took me an hour to finish, because I am one of those people who get into a story and will stay up until 3am to finish it. (And then I'm a total bear in the morning and no one is happy.)

This was just a fun, feel-good story. I really wasn't left wanting more, which can sometimes happen in a novella. I just read Moore for the first time in the Winter Anthology she did with a bunch of other (awesome) authors, and I really like her writing style.


From the back cover:
Welcome to the Aliso Creek Novella Series

Liz, Gemma, Arie, Jess, and Drew have been best friends since creating the “Five” at Aliso Creek High School. But that was over ten years ago, and each is still trying to find that perfect someone . . . if perfect is even possible.

In fact, Liz Carlson will settle for a normal man. A normal man with a job, that is. Married twice, then divorced twice, Liz’s rose-colored glasses fell off and shattered on the ground a long time ago. Her main focus now is raising her six-year-old daughter and surviving long days at work on her feet as a hairdresser. When Sloane Branden answers her call for help, quite literally, Liz doesn’t even give him a second glance. She’s sworn off dating for as many years as it takes, and it seems that Sloane has done the same after his own tumultuous marriage. But when Liz realizes that Sloane defies every stereotypical deadbeat she’s dated, she might just find room in her heart and discover the third time’s the charm.(less)

Denise Hunter's Truth or Dare. 
Okay, I came into this one a bit biased. I love Denise Hunter. She lured me in with Surrender Bay and then hooked me with The Convenient Groom. After reading Third Times the Charm, I decided to search out other novellas and found Hunter's. Since I love everything she's written, I went ahead and bought it, and spent the next night reading it. Again, it took me about an hour, which is PERFECT since that's usually about how long I read before bed.


From back cover:

A foolish stunt in high school left Brianna VanAllen questioning her self worth for the past five years. She didn't expect to dig up those painful memories when she returned home for her high school reunion. But, paired with Jake Volez on a project at her parents' ranch, Brianna must face the issue of forgiveness. Will she have the courage to put her heart at risk again?

What are you thoughts on novellas? Any good ones to recommend?

Tips for Cutting Word Count

Since I talked about word count on Monday, I want to share some of my tips for cutting down my words.

1) Highlight useless words like "just" and "that." Delete most instances.

2) Look for redundancies

                  A)  redundant phrases--she bit her lip, she flipped her hair, his eyebrows raised, he rolled his eyes)

                  B) redundant descriptions--are we getting a play-by-play of every outfit the mc wears, of the love interest's crooked smile, her frizzy brown hair mentioned every other chapter. The reader will remember that the mc has frizzy hair without being constantly reminded

                

                 C) Redundant emotions-- "Jenny covered her face and slid down the door after realizing that everyone had seen her skirt tucked into her underwear. She was so embarrassed " Take away any telling things like: she was so embarrassed. We were just shown it, we don't need to be told it, too.

                D) Redundant scenes-- If you've already established something, you don't have to keep reestablishing it. If Jenny sees Mac hauling hay and is impressed by his shoulders, we don't need to have another scene later where she's watching him swim and impressed by his shoulders again. Yes, Mac may have great shoulders, but we only need to see them one.

3) Figure out the point of every chapter. A chapter should take the reader somewhere--introduce a new question and help us to get to know a character or place better. If there is extraneous dialogue or description that doesn't have a purpose or lead somewhere (setting the mood or tone, setting up the dynamic between characters, setting up conflict... these are all places that the writing needs to lead--if this isn't where it's going, take it out.)

4) Find all instances of back-story and highlight it. Is it needed? Is it needed there? And is so much of it needed? Can you take three paragraphs of back story and condense it into one sentence? Can you sprinkle a few hints here and there in the dialogue?

5) Ask the question: Does this scene drive my story forward? If there are any places where the pacing slows (long explanations, long descriptions, long prosy thoughts) and try to cut them down.

6) Play with words. "Jenny heard Mac grunt when he picked up the hay bale." Instead say: "Mac grunted when he picked up the hay bale." You don't need to say "Jenny heard" We know she heard it since we are in her head. This seems nitpicky--but trust me--they add up.

Its all about tighter writing and tighter storytelling. It takes a lot of work, but it's worth it.

What other suggestions do you have for cutting down word count?

Wordy, wordy, wordison

I am not one of those people who ever worry about reaching word count.

Opposite, actually.

I have to worry about going too long.

Meg's Melody--originally 120K words. I had read somewhere that a romance should be between 90 and 120K words (I don't know where I read it, don't ask me) so of course I took that to be the gospel truth. I edited it down to 75K. It is so much tighter than it was--and I had to take out a whole plotline and character to get it down (which I still miss. Someday, he'll get his own book...)

Six Days of Christmas--We wanted each story to be around 20K words. Mine is almost 30K. And I had to cut out everything from Jimmy's point of view, because it would have been novel length otherwise.

And on my current WIP, I am trying to cut it down to 75-80K. It will happen, and my story will be better for it--but it's painful going through and picking out THE MOST IMPORTANT parts of the story--the parts that drive the plot and character arc forward--and let go of the rest.

Do you go over or under in word count when your write? (Or are you spot on every time? Please tell us your secrets, if you are!)