Egads! I’m in a race against time to finish my current manuscript, so I’ve been lax about blogging. Only so many words I can crank out in one day, unfortunately. Good news is, for those of you who’ve volunteered to beta read for me, I’ll be emailing you in a couple of weeks with a first draft of the historical paranormal romance. I’m rather pleased with it so far. Okay, okay—I absolutely freakin’ love it, but verdict’s out whether you will . . . *cue dramatic music*
Once I’m finished, I’ll be heading straight into writing BINDING THE SHADOWS—Arcadia 3. I’m super, SUPER excited about writing this one, as it’s all plotted and will be a major game changer for Cady. Immediately upon finishing that, I’ll be writing the Arcadia short, which is tentatively scheduled to drop this winter. So I’ve got my hands full for the next few months.
On top of all that, I’m also getting ready to launch a new website design and creating artwork for a new set of Arcadia trading cards.
Next month I’ll start gearing up for a SUMMONING THE NIGHT blog tour. If you’re a book blogger and would like to be added as a tour stop (interviews/guest blogs/giveaways/eARC review) please use the contact form on my site or shoot me an email: jenn at jennbennett dot net. I’ve already booked quite a few dates in late April, but have some slots open in early May. I’ve already got a handful of guest blogs and interview questions piling up in my inbox.
Whew! Just thinking about all of this is making me exhausted. So I’ll leave you with a 34 second commercial starring three men who can join my male harem any flippin’ day: Adrien Brody, Gael García Bernal, and André 3000. Because, as I keep telling you, MUSTACHES ARE COOL. Point proven:
Think, think, think. Write, write, write. Revise, revise, revise. Bite nails. Drink coffee. Pick up eReader to clear mind. Not in the mood for this book. Try another. Better. Space out halfway through first chapter. Listen to Django Reinhardt. Roast some hazelnuts. Daydream. Plot. Scheme. Run through character dialogue in my head. Laugh at my own jokes. Write, write, write.
This week I’ve been working on page proofs (a.k.a. “first pass pages”) for SUMMONING THE NIGHT. And by “working on,” I mean rereading the book for the thousandth time. *bangs head on desk* Thus far I’ve only been dealing with the manuscript digitally for writing/editing/copy edits, so this is the first time I’m reading it on paper in its final layout format. I’m checking to make sure all the copy edits were executed correctly, that everything reads right, no consistency issues, etc. Problem is, I’ve seen it too many times to catch errors. And if I slip up and start laughing at something I made Lon say to Cady, for example, then I really miss things. It’s times like these that I really wish I had an assistant.
Beta Readers (UPDATE 17-DEC-11: I’m now overflowing with lovely beta readers! Thanks for everyone’s interest, but this is now closed.)
I’ve also been plugging away on my current project, and am now 1/3 finished with the first draft. I’m thoroughly enjoying writing it, because it’s fresh and a little bit different. In fact, it’s so different from anything else I’ve written (paranormal romance, historical, third person, alternating POVs) that I’d really like to find a couple of new beta readers to provide feedback. If you or anyone you know is crazy about historical romance AND paranormal/urban fantasy, doesn’t mind reading from PDFs, and is willing to provide written critical feedback, let me know. Ideally, I’ll like someone with reviewing and/or beta reading experience (being critical about someone’s work is difficult if you aren’t used to it). It’s an unpaid job, but you get to read a cool new book before anyone else does. Comment or shoot me an email if you’re interested (I won’t need you until Jan/Feb). Just for the record, this book is chock full of romance, sex, violence, bootleggers, spirit mediums, voodoo, hexes, and ghosts.
Kindling Makes B&N List
Lastly, and bear with me if you’ve seen me tweeting about this, KINDLING THE MOON was chosen by Paul Goat Allen as one of Barnes & Noble SF/F blog’s Best Paranormal Fantasy Releases of 2011. What?? Woo hoo! I can’t tell you what an honor it is to see my book up there with so many other established writers I admire (Kim Harrison, Jaye Wells, Nicole Peeler) and the new generation of urban fantasy writers (Kevin Hearne and Sandy Williams). And I’m right below Charlaine Harris: how cool is that?
(A huge thank you to Synde Korman for getting behind Kindling and spreading the word!)
I know, I know: I half-promised a post about all the great books I’ve been reading lately. And I’ll blog about them . . . umm, soon; however, right now I’m knee-deep in a new project. See that little graph on the right side of my blog? The one that says CURRENT PROJECT? That’s me.
The photo to the left shows what plotting looks like this time around. (Every book is different.) Each blue square is a scene. I’m sure many of these will change, as this is merely a quick road map. Once I discover new sights, I’ll probably plot a new course.
(1) Research for my current writing project (I am excited beyond measure to be working on this):
I have a major girl-crush on Louise Brooks.
(2) The song that gave me chills at a concert that I attended with the hubs on Friday (the band is Opeth—Swedish metal—and the lead singer, Mikael Akerfeldt, may or may not have been a teeny bit of an inspiration for Lon at one point or another . . . along with a couple of other people):
(3) What I read this weekend (and probably my favorite read of 2011 thus far; however, I would hesitate to recommend this to readers who might find it hard to be patient with a great deal of description and very little action):
This week I delivered my edited manuscript for SUMMONING THE NIGHT. The original first draft of the manuscript was submitted to my publisher exactly a year ago. Mind you, it didn’t take my editor an entire year to read the draft and write up a standard editorial letter (which varies from editor to editor, but generally suggests big-picture changes to the plot/tone/characters). But I was not her only author—she had a billion other releases to contend with during that time. And as I’ve previously said on this blog, publishing is a slow and deliberate business.
It also won’t be the last time that I make changes to the the text. Copy edits are next. Those are provided by another editor entirely, a copy editor, who understands the publisher’s house style and focuses on grammar, sentence structure, word choice, fact-checking, and story continuity. After I review suggested copy edits and either accept them or make further changes, the revised text goes to another person—or team of persons—who execute the corrections and set the text as it will appear in print. Then it comes back to me again for page proofs: the last round of checks before printing. It’s pretty much at this point that I will never, EVER want to read the book again. I will hate it. I will want to throw it in the trash. I will question all of my previous plot choices and wonder if I was drunk when I wrote the book. A couple months after that, I’ll receive a box of the finished books from my publisher, and I’ll hug them like small puppies and do a happy dance. Such is the writer’s mind.
I made some sweeping changes to the last third of the SUMMONING in regards to plot and characters. Most of this was well above and beyond what my editor suggested. I’m a different writer than I was a year ago when I first wrote it. I tried my best to use what I’ve learned to improve the pacing and tone of the story. I spent several weeks agonizing over motivations and subplots, working long days, losing sleep, eating poorly, and basically declining into an hyper-emotional wreck. Huzzah! I’m fairly pleased with the story as it stands now. Come next month, though . . . who knows. I’m one of those twitchy creative types who’s never completely happy with something I’ve made, and will fidget, poke, and retool until someone makes me stop.
Some of you shared my grief on twitter regarding the elimination of Jupe-content in SUMMONING. To clarify, my editor didn’t ask me to put Jupe in a closet, she merely suggested that I cut some of his subplot. Which I did, begrudgingly (my editor was right). Regardless, Jupe still plays an important role in the main plot, and he’s got quite a bit more screen time than he did in KINDLING. And though I cut some classic Jupe dialogue, I’ll hang on to it. Maybe one day I’ll get to write my dream books: a YA series from Jupe’s POV, circa age 16-17.
ATTACK THE BLOCK: rent it, now!
Speaking of all things Jupe, I watched ATTACK THE BLOCK this past week (from the producers of Shaun of the Dead). What a surprise! I really loved this film—Alien attack on a South London apartment complex, in which inner-city kids defend their turf against creatures. One of the kids, a character named Biggz, could almost be a British Jupe—tall, skinny, biracial, chatty. If only his hair were a teeny bit longer! Still, this guy (Simon Howard is the actor) gets my vote to play a movie version of Jupe. Check out the trailer that features a profile of his character and let me know if you agree:
