Cover Reveal for The School That Ate Children!
I started writing The School That Ate Children in November 2014 and I have to say, I absolutely love this book. I love its spontaneity. I love the fact that it's about two sisters. I love that it's an adventure. The School That Ate Children was the book I didn't expect to write. It was the book that made me realize I love magic and can't write a book that doesn't have magic in it (thus changing my tag line to "My work is inspired by themes and events in Haudenosaunee history. Most of it has magic in it"). And it's the book that made me realize that without a doubt, I wanted to be an indie publisher.
I started writing The School That Ate Children in November 2014 and I have to say, I absolutely love this book. I love its spontaneity. I love the fact that it's about two sisters. I love that it's an adventure. The School That Ate Children was the book I didn't expect to write. It was the book that made me realize I love magic and can't write a book that doesn't have magic in it (thus changing my tag line to "My work is inspired by themes and events in Haudenosaunee history. Most of it has magic in it"). And it's the book that made me realize that without a doubt, I wanted to be an indie publisher.
This book had two very different starting points. My first attempt at it was much more serious. I had started to write it for a contest that was looking for "real" stories - which meant historical fiction or stories that were mildly autobiographical and specifically, stories that did not have anthropomorphic animals or were retellings of legends or myths. And so I drew on some very real and unpleasant personal experiences to get at a "real" story. As a result, a very different draft of this book exists in my computer. But that story - I did not love. It felt forced - like I was writing what someone else wanted written. The whole process of writing it made me ask all kinds of questions about what a "real" story was. I managed to get a first draft down and left it alone for a few weeks but when it was time to go back to it - I rewrote the entire thing entirely new. And this story, the one I fell in love with, broke all of the contest rules. And because I loved it so much, I decided not to change it, that I probably shouldn't change it and that's when I realized I wanted to be an indie publisher. So I could write and share the stories I loved the most which in the end felt more honest and real and authentic than any other approach could be.
For the second version of the story, I simply opened a Word file (this was before I started using Scrivener), wrote The School That Ate Children, at the top of it and off I went. It was not meant to be the actual title of the book. Just a placeholder until I could find something better. But despite having many different titles in mind, none of them seemed to fit and so I wound up sticking with this as well. In a way, the whole book has been one wonderful, happy accident. And I have to say - I really love this cover, which was designed by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design. Amazing work.
The School That Ate Children is a middle grade urban fantasy. Despite the rewrite, it still touches on some rather serious issues. Issues of grief, of loneliness, of bullying. Of losing more when you've already lost a lot. But at its heart, it's a story about siblings and love and the surprising characters in life that help you keep families together.
The School That Ate Children comes out on June 21st, 2016. It is available for pre-order on my website. It will also be going up on Amazon, Kobo and iBooks for pre-order in the next few days. Happy writing!
S.
#HoldTheDoor - Studies in Storytelling
I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan. A good friend of mine gave me the first two books to read just before he died, so in many ways, they were special to me even before I read them. I remember him telling me about the Seven Kingdoms over bubble tea, how his favourite character was Tyrion and that the person he hoped would rule Westeros was a girl who was living across the sea. Still, it was several months after he died before I finally got around to reading them. I don't know why it took me so long to start them. I think I was scared that once I finished them, my last connection with my friend would disappear.
Instead I found a world of story. A world of history and magic and politics and warfare and shocking loss. This series more than any other was what made me love fantasy. After reading it, I read more and more. Robin Hobb. Jacqueline Carey. Robert Jordan. Guy Gavriel Kay. Many others I can't name but can tell you where I found them—on a blog called Pat's Fantasy Hotlist that I obsessively followed for book recommendations. I even won a free book in one of his giveaways one time. I think it was called The Blood Knight. Anyways, I finished reading the series (A Storm of Swords was out by then) and quickly searched to find out when the next one came out. In the process of researching the book, I stumbled across the Song of Ice and Fire Forum. This place was a goldmine of discussion, theories, book recommendations, reading groups and so much more. I spent countless hours reading the forum threads, thinking and theorizing about the series and its wonderful characters.
I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan. A good friend of mine gave me the first two books to read just before he died, so in many ways, they were special to me even before I read them. I remember him telling me about the Seven Kingdoms over bubble tea, how his favourite character was Tyrion and that the person he hoped would rule Westeros was a girl who was living across the sea. Still, it was several months after he died before I finally got around to reading them. I don't know why it took me so long to start them. I think I was scared that once I finished them, my last connection with my friend would disappear.
Instead I found a world of story. A world of history and magic and politics and warfare and shocking loss. This series more than any other was what made me love fantasy. After reading it, I read more and more. Robin Hobb. Jacqueline Carey. Robert Jordan. Guy Gavriel Kay. Many others I can't name but can tell you where I found them—on a blog called Pat's Fantasy Hotlist that I obsessively followed for book recommendations. I even won a free book in one of his giveaways one time. I think it was called The Blood Knight. Anyways, I finished reading the series (A Storm of Swords was out by then) and quickly searched to find out when the next one came out. In the process of researching the book, I stumbled across the Song of Ice and Fire Forum. This place was a goldmine of discussion, theories, book recommendations, reading groups and so much more. I spent countless hours reading the forum threads, thinking and theorizing about the series and its wonderful characters.
When I found out HBO was moving ahead with bring the books to screen, I was very excited. I'd seen how they'd done True Blood and as a reader of the Sookie Stackhouse series, I knew they would do an amazing job. There just seems to be a lot of creative flexibility with that network. Their shows are interesting, dynamic and beautiful in a way that television doesn’t always seem to be.
I haven’t been a fan as long as some people, but I’ve definitely spent a lot of time over the last ten years on the forum threads, obsessing over the untold stories of the series. Things like R+L=J, what Ned found at the Tower of Joy, Dany's visions, Loras's fate, Ashara Dayne’s relationship with Ned Stark. Whether or not Sansa will really marry Harry the Heir. If Aegon is the real thing. Whether Jaime will go to Cersei’s aid. Mysteries both big and small.
But when one of those mysteries was finally revealed this past Sunday—the mystery of why Hodor only says “Hodor”—I was completely shocked. I’ve never in my life had such an intense reaction to a scene of television. And it had everything to do with the way the story was told. It wasn't because I'd read the books and liked Hodor more and longer than other people. It wasn’t because I’d been engaged in the mystery through the books. It was because his story was told with such intention and skill. I admit, I’m still amazed by the tragic beauty of it all. Everything. The shots. The music. The flashing back and forth between the two time frames. It was masterful.
I want to be able to tell a story that well. With words. With music. With intention and care. I want to be a better writer than I am. A better artist. I want to study. And read. And practice. I want to recapture from my own writing, what I felt watching Hodor hold the door. Because what I felt in that moment was enormous compassion and love.
I read a lot of articles and reactions to the scene. This Vanity Fair article mentions how the show runners brought in a special director for the episode—one who they knew had experience with time travel scenes and making them effective. That fascinated me (but made total sense). It also made me realize I want to do some studying. I want to practice some things. Experiment. So I decided to spend some time over the next few months studying the elements of storytelling that made Hodor’s scene—and other scenes so impactful.
In a way it’s the perfect time for an experiment. I had writing plans for this year (write two books, a few short stories, a poem, a novella) and for the most part, I’ve accomplished the rough draft of all of those projects. Production wise—I have some time on my hands. With that in mind, I’ve decided to spend some time over the next few months studying the elements of the storytelling that made that scene so impactful.
I’m starting with the book Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee. And I’ll definitely be sharing what I learn as I go along.
And finally—because I can’t resist sharing my happy news—I gave birth to my baby this week! A little girl. And she’s glorious and precious and perfect and mysterious. Ah. It’s hard to express just how grateful and thankful I am for her and my little family. Nya:weh universe for this very special time!
Okay. Til next time, happy writing everyone!
S.
Writing to Heal
Lately, I've been feeling all kinds of stress. The stress of building a home, of growing a life, of working away at my doctorate. It's a stress that comes from deep within me. It's a stress that seems exasperated by the movements of the planets. And I realize a lot of people might think that is silly but I think it's real. That we are the land. The water. The universe. That what happens to them is also happening to us. And likely vice versa. So there are things that are important for that reason as well. That sense of connection that we have to the world. The invisible (and sometimes not so invisible) ways we are connected.
For the last few days I have been doing a lot of reflecting and soul searching. I need to do this every so often to find myself a calm and centred place to operate within. Lately, it's been harder than usual to find that space.
What seems to help, what seems to always help - is writing.
Lately, I've been feeling all kinds of stress. The stress of building a home, of growing a life, of working away at my doctorate. It's a stress that comes from deep within me. It's a stress that seems exasperated by the movements of the planets. And I realize a lot of people might think that is silly but I think it's real. That we are the land. The water. The universe. That what happens to them is also happening to us. And likely vice versa. So there are things that are important for that reason as well. That sense of connection that we have to the world. The invisible (and sometimes not so invisible) ways we are connected.
For the last few days I have been doing a lot of reflecting and soul searching. I need to do this every so often to find myself a calm and centred place to operate within. Lately, it's been harder than usual to find that space.
What seems to help, what seems to always help - is writing. Writing makes a huge difference to my overall health and well-being. Creating something everyday, even if it's not something I share or plan to publish, is important. It helps me organize my thoughts and ideas. It helps me focus my feelings and search them out fully, even when I'd rather ignore them. This has been an important lesson for me to remember this week. A reminder that even though I often wish writing were my full time job, I'm not doing it to make a living. I'm doing it as part of the way I live and thrive and move about the world.
Remembering this can be hard to do when you know that to be successful as an indie author you have to do certain things. Write a lot. Publish often. Market. Advertise. Get yourself out there. It can be a lot of pressure. But the most important thing is to feel the joy of creating. At least it is for me.
A lot of why I write is to heal and find peace so that I can share that peace with the people closest to me and hopefully spread it into the world, one drop at a time. If I'm acting frustrated or burned out or stressed out, those interactions aren't going to be what I want them to be. The people who I chose to navigate this world with won't be able to benefit from the very best parts of my spirit.
This week I was reminded to do everything i can to protect those relationships. To let writing be the joy it needs to be for me. To let creating and sharing ideas and thinking about things happen. To share. To forgive. To not judge. To be present in the moment. To let go of my insecurities. It's a wonderful feeling. Like I'm starting something new. Cleansing a slate. Replenishing my creative energy.
This week's Creative Penn podcast was super inspiring for me. It was very much about making art over a lifetime, about replenishing creativity and believing in yourself. I hope you have a chance to listen to it! It was exactly the message that I needed to hear and I definitely plan to read Lisa's book (and share it with a few other artists I know)!
Til next time, happy writing everyone :).
S.
Giving the Gift of Story
A short little post, as this week has been all about getting ready to celebrate my daughter's 2nd birthday. If there's one thing I've experienced being a parent, it's that it's hard to find a good birthday gift for your child. Something that means a lot to you, something that shows them you love them more than anything and something they will have forever.
I wrote this story for her birthday last year but didn't have a chance to finalize it and at the time, I didn't have all the other skills or know-how to finish it. Fortunately, I've learned a lot over the last year and was able to format the print book, design the cover, and insert the illustrations all by myself, which was awesome!
A short little post, as this week has been all about getting ready to celebrate my daughter's 2nd birthday. If there's one thing I've experienced being a parent, it's that it's hard to find a good birthday gift for your child. Something that means a lot to you, something that shows them you love them more than anything and something they will have forever.
I wrote this story for her birthday last year but didn't have a chance to finalize it and at the time, I didn't have all the other skills or know-how to finish it. Fortunately, I've learned a lot over the last year and was able to format the print book, design the cover, and insert the illustrations all by myself, which was awesome!
Illustration by Kehte Deer
It's a tiny book but it has a special place in my heart and so I'm super happy to share it with you (it's free to download on my book page). It also has a nice little message about Treaty relationships, which we felt was important to teach our daughter about from an early age.
Illustration by Kehte Deer
I put the book in the bookstore yesterday (which is when her birthday was) and the print version came today, so we'll give it to her at her party this Saturday. It's very exciting! I'm super happy with how the print version turned out and I absolutely love that the tools are now available to make projects like this.
Finally, a I'd like to say a very special thank you to my husband who did three of the six illustrations for the book. If you have a chance to check it out, I hope you enjoy it.
In the meantime, happy writing everyone!
S.
P.S. You can also see the proof copy of The Skeleton Key which comes out next week!
Reflections on My Writing Journey - May 2016
Happy May everyone! I just finished writing the first draft of The Fortunes of Ithaca and I’m very excited about how it turned out. It’s the first time I’ve ever written something from multiple perspectives and 3rd person limited. Over the next month I’ll be reading more about this POV so I can enhance those narratives when I return to edit them in June. I've also decided that once a month I would do a mini-reflection on my writing goals for the year (hence the title being something of a repeat from this one a little while back). Let's dive in!
At the start of the year, I set out some production goals for myself. For 2016 I had a goal to write two novels, a novella, two shorts stories and a poem. As you might have gathered from a few of my posts, I’m about to become a mother again and I knew the majority of my attention was going to be on my new baby so I was trying to establish goals I felt were achievable.
Happy May everyone! I just finished writing the first draft of The Fortunes of Ithaca and I’m very excited about how it turned out. It’s the first time I’ve ever written something from multiple perspectives and 3rd person limited. Over the next month I’ll be reading more about this POV so I can enhance those narratives when I return to edit them in June. I've also decided that once a month I would do a mini-reflection on my writing goals for the year (hence the title being something of a repeat from this one a little while back). Let's dive in!
At the start of the year, I set out some production goals for myself. For 2016 I had a goal to write two novels, a novella, two shorts stories and a poem. As you might have gathered from a few of my posts, I’m about to become a mother again and I knew the majority of my attention was going to be on my new baby so I was trying to establish goals I felt were achievable.
Still, I’m surprised that it’s only the start of May and I’ve already finished a first draft of each of the projects I listed above. That said, I know it will likely take a while to edit all of this material and since editing takes considerably more time than writing, I’ve decided to write one more novel this year (although I'm still choosing what that project will be). I love waking up and adding words to a new story, so I think continuing to work on one will be good for both me and my family.
In the meantime, I’m focussing on editing The Wall of Bones—the third book in The Vampire Skeleton series. One thing I’ve noticed this time around is that it really does take me a few days to shift into editing mode after a long and fruitful writing stint. For the first few days of May I felt awful—like I was floundering. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to work on or what I should work on, which made me feel a bit lost. I realize now that this feeling of emptiness surfaces every time I finish writing a first draft and that it’s probably quite a normal sensation. To help manage the effects of it, I did a lot of free writing. This turned out to be both helpful and unhelpful. For example, I started one story and stopped writing it. Then I started another story and stopped writing that one, too. Just yesterday, I finally settled myself into some semblance of a routine and became more focussed on the editing work I have to do.
It helped that I found an old Evernote filled with editing tips I wanted to try. I don’t know about you, but every edit I’ve done so far has always been a little different than the one that came before it. The basic ideas are the same but the way I execute those ideas varies from project to project. I can already tell that this book will be no different.
Here’s a quick glance of what I think the process of editing the first draft/writing the second draft of The Wall of Bones will look like this time around:
Basic Steps:
- Reread the first draft. Make no major changes at this point but learn the story and take note of any issues with pacing, character arcs and plot.
- Develop basic outline and make a schedule of edits that need to be addressed related to the above.
- Establish a second schedule of edits that deals with specific issues one pass at a time: add more sensory detail, search for redundant words, add better dialogue, similarities in how chapters start, creating stronger hooks, themes and motivations.
- Edit for spelling and grammar.
- Turn book over to first reader.
What I’ve outlined isn’t significantly different from what I normally do when I’m in editing mode but I usually separate these tasks out across several drafts (draft 2, draft 3, draft 4 for example). This time, I’m hoping to simplify the process by having a very comprehensive second draft that I then turn over to my first reader. I’m calling the whole operation: Eight Drafts in One. (Joking. I’m not calling it anything, but basically, that’s what it will be). Should be exciting! My goal is to have worked through the majority of this edit by the end of May. I’ll be sure to post an update on my progress sometime in June.
What about you? How do get yourself excited about and organized for editing? Please share in the comments!
Till next time, happy writing everyone!
S