Not so much people, not so much.

I’ve written more than one book, but Victor was my second fiction book. That seemed to make a difference.

Victor was SO much harder to write than Keepers. I’ve heard that ‘second-book-syndrome’ is a real thing. I mean, I’m not a debut author anymore, but likewise, I’m not a seasoned pro yet either. In true YA fashion, imma go right ahead and think of myself as a sophomore!

It meant that starting this book, I knew how the process of writing and editing would work, I knew the graft would be hard grueling and yet, I had the delightful bonus pressure of ensuring Victor was as good as (although preferably better) than Keepers.

But of course, I’m only a sophomore, so the ‘process’ I’d so arrogantly predicted I’d use, didn’t go anything like to plan. My beautiful, glorious ‘plan’ got hoovered into a freaking hurricane of doubt, pressure, and paralysis.

I wrote Keepers in a chronological order. I’d assumed Victor would go the same way. Victor wasn’t playing ball. Knowing the character, I should have expected trouble. He’s a right bastard that one.

Anyway.

Book two means more. MORE everything.

I needed to make sure the characters were consistent, I picked up all the storylines, the world building details weren’t cocked up by a slip of my perpetually senile memory. And all while, I was trying to develop and grow my writing craft.

I’ll be honest, Mt Everest felt like a walk in the park compared to this book, and I should know, I’ve trekked to base camp. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t sure I could reach my goal. I haven’t talked about this anywhere really, but it’s launch day, so I clearly defeated the beast, which is why I feel comfortable sharing this with you.

I stalled partway through writing Victor.

And we’re not talking a minor stumble and oops-a-daisy. We’re talking titana-berg levels of sinking fuck up.

In five years, I haven’t gone more than a couple of (a few at most) days without penning words. But smack in the middle of writing Victor I knew something was wrong with the story, and I car crashed HARD. For THREE excruciatingly long weeks. I thought I’d never write again. No words were coming to me. My mind was a literal black hole and Victor had bumbled his difficult ass right into it. I convinced myself I was a one-hit wonder.

But then my amazing beta reader made a comment about one particular location in the book, and BOOM. I immediately knew what was wrong and how to fix it. I tore up the opening chapters and rewrote them, from scratch. After that, it was a sprint to the finish.

Why am I sharing this?

Because I think it’s important to be real. To share not just the highs but the blisteringly painful obstacles we face on our roads. Life IS a journey and no journey is a straight road. Too often I forget that the beauty is in the journey itself. Once you reach your goal it’s all over.

I’m also sharing this because if anything, I’m even MORE proud of publishing Victor than Keepers. Yes, it was harder, but that’s made the completion all the sweeter.

Last, I’m sharing this because if it inspires just one person to keep going when their goal gets tough, then it was worth writing. Remember, only the persistent win. Just keep typing.

The post Victor Launch Day – Plus a dose of Second Book Syndrome appeared first on Sacha Black.

I launched Keepers, the first in my Young Adult fantasy series in November 2017.

I am in the final straight with Victor. I have about 10,000 words or so left to write and a full (short) edit. Then, I hope, it will be ready to go to the editor. Even if I have to get the hot glue gun out and superglue my ass to my office chair, this sequel is being finished THIS month.

My hope is to publish Victor sometime between late April and mid-May.

Without further ado, here is the brand spanking, shit hot shiny, new cover:

But what I love most, is when you’re able to see TWO books together in your series. Now THAT is quite a feeling… and I’ve just commissioned the prequel cover too… *squeal*

Read Keepers, the first book in my Young Adult fantasy series now. Or to hear more about the release of the sequels as well as get regular CogMail updates you can do so here.

You can get more awesome writing tips in my book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and just tap the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Cover Reveal: Victor #2 in the Eden East YA fantasy novels #amreading appeared first on Sacha Black.

Anyhoozle, of my 52 books, I wanted a quarter to be indie published, and a quarter to be non-fiction, because 1. supporting other authors, and 2. I’m a knowledge whore.

I’ve been surprised and delighted by looking back at my reading list, some of the stats have shocked me.

So, the stats, out of my 52 books (because I know what the final couple are):

• 26 (50%) were non-fiction
• 26 (50%) were fiction
• 27 (53%) were from self-published authors (of which a couple were author friends with publishing deals)
• 25 (48%) were traditionally published books
• 20 of the 26 fiction books were Young Adult (no surprises there!) Although the biggest shocker for me this year was that only 9 were fantasy, 11 were contemporary YA. I had a feeling I’d been leaning towards contemporary, but I was surprised to realise I’d read MORE contemporary than fantasy.

I’ve had a couple of characters that would fit a contemporary story flitting around my head, so I might start listening – obviously I’ve been bending towards it for a reason.

You can see the rest of the books I’ve read here.

So to my top 10 books of this year, and my top 10 books (plus predictions for next year).

BEST OF 2017

Fiction Books of 2017 (in no particular order)

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Oath Breaker by Shelley Wilson

Orbiting Jupiter by G. D. Schmidt

A Semi Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

The Watch and Wand by Allie Potts

Keepers by me (because obviously I’m going to include my own books! :p)

Non-Fiction Books of 2017

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Nobody Wants To Read Your Shit Anyway by Stephen Pressfield

13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft A Superbad Villain by me (because obvs)

And What of 2018? Predictions and Books to Watch Out For

Okay so I’ve got a couple of predictions for 2018

1. There’s been a TON of superhero books published by the big YA authors – Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer to name but a few. With Infinity Wars coming next year, I’ve no doubt that were going to see an explosion of superhero books.
2. In addition, I think there might be more pirate novels too
3. Alongside that, more graphic novels
4. Last, I think audio books will continue to rise in popularity
5. Oh, and one more, I think that there will be an increase in co-authored books

10 (that turned into 14) Young Adult Books To Watch Out for in 2018

The sequel to Keepers, by ME!

The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily. X. R. Pan

The Exact Opposite of Okay – Laura Steven

Cruel Prince – Holly Black

Time Bomb –Joelle Charbonneau

Everless – Sara Holland

Zenith – Sasha Alsber & Lindsay Cummings

Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi

Onyx and Ivory Mindee Arnett

Glitter – Aprillynne Pike

War Storm – Victoria Aveyard

A Court of Frost and Starlight – Sarah J. Maas

Obsidio – Aimee Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff

Legendary – Stephanie Garber

That’s it folks, my year in books, my predictions for 2018 and a few books to Keep an eye out for.

If you haven’t bagged your copy of Keepers yet, don’t forget it’s out in all good bookstores now, you can grab your copy here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post 10 Best Books of 2017 and 10 YA Books to Look Out For in 2018 appeared first on Sacha Black.

November 17th heralds my first fiction release and I couldn’t be more excited.

As part of the launch, I decided to run a giveaway competition to win… 

1 of 2 signed paperbacks or

1 of 5 eBook copies

If you’d like to enter, all you have to do is sign up here. That’s it. Simple.

Competition closes 10th November at 12 pm. Winners will be notified at 7:30 pm BST on the 10th. Books will be shipped no later than 3 weeks after the 17th November (author copies take a while to arrive).

Here’s the book blurb:

Eden’s life is balanced…

…until her soul is bound to her enemy.

When her parents are murdered, the realm of Trutinor is threatened. Then a mysterious human arrives and changes everything.

As Eden’s world spirals out of control, she doesn’t need a charismatic Siren from her past returning to complicate life.

Now, saving Trutinor is the last thing on Eden’s mind.

Three boys.

Two murdered parents.

One deadly choice.

You can also add Keepers to your Goodreads list, here. 

The post #Win Signed Paperbacks – YA Fantasy appeared first on Sacha Black.

Keepers, the first book in my  YA fantasy series, is coming to a rainforest-like

The count down to November 17th has begun and I couldn’t be more excited.

Because I’m jumping up and down with excitement, I decided to run a giveaway competition to win… 

1 of 2 signed paperbacks or

1 of 5 eBook copies

If you’d like to enter, all you have to do is sign up here. That’s it. Simple.

Competition closes 10th November at 12 pm. Winners will be notified at 7:30 pm BST on the 10th. Books will be shipped no later than 3 weeks after the 17th November (author copies take a while to arrive).

Here’s the book blurb:

Eden’s life is balanced…

…until her soul is bound to her enemy.

When her parents are murdered, the realm of Trutinor is threatened. Then a mysterious human arrives and changes everything.

As Eden’s world spirals out of control, she doesn’t need a charismatic Siren from her past returning to complicate life.

Now, saving Trutinor is the last thing on Eden’s mind.

Three boys.

Two murdered parents.

One deadly choice.

You can also add Keepers to your Goodreads list, here. 

SaveSave

SaveSave

The post #Win 1 of 2 Paperback copies of Keepers #giveaway appeared first on Sacha Black.

But today, all that changes because I am tentatively announcing a launch window of November 16-18th 2017. *Gulp, chews nail, sweats a lil’ bit*

There’s a significant amount of work to be done, not least of which is continuing to dictate the sequel book so its launch isn’t too far behind Keepers.

I have never been more excited to show you a cover. I feel like I’m Rafiki about to present Simba…

Ladies and gentleman I present to you the Keepers book cover.

***

Book Blurb:

Eden’s life was balanced…

…until her soul was bound to her enemy.

When a mistake kills her parents and threatens to erase her world forever, a mysterious human arrives and changes everything.

But as Eden’s life spirals dangerously close to destruction, a charismatic Siren from her past suddenly returns. Now, saving Trutinor is the last thing on Eden’s mind.

Three boys. 

Two murdered parents. 

One deadly choice. 

What would you do?

***

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments.

If you’d like to hear more about the release, you can join my fiction mailing list. PLEASE NOTE – THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS MY CURRENT MONTHLY MAILING LIST.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

SaveSave

The post *COVER REVEAL* Keepers #1 in The Eden East Novels #MondayBlogs appeared first on Sacha Black.

I’m always sniffing around Shelley’s blog to see what Young Adult book she’s reviewed this week because I love her recommendations. But today, there’s something FAR more exciting.

Today she’s spilling the beans on her own new YA werewolf release Oathbeaker (out today) as well as giving us hot tips on writing Young Adult fiction. Which you can get here:

Amazon UK 

Amazon US

Without further ado, Shelley… Welcome.

You’ve written a LOT of books now, how has your process changed in that time?

Ha ha, I always said you’d never shut me up once I got going!

When I began piecing together my first book, which was non-fiction, I didn’t realise there was a ‘process,’ I just muddled along and hoped for the best. I probably stumbled about in the dark for my first couple of books before discovering a writing rhythm. I’m more disciplined now, and I’ve become a neurotic planner against the pantser writer I used to be.

What are the three best tricks tips or tools you’ve picked up in your writing career?

Many years ago I used to write my stories longhand into a notebook. Eventually, I realised this was one of the main reasons I never got past chapter four. I now write all my character bios, scene notes, and dialogue ideas into my notepad but type the manuscript directly onto the computer.

Post-it notes are a godsend! I’ve tried to use Scrivener, but it blows my mind, so I’ve returned to my trusty paper and pen. Having my book outlined as bullet points on bright little squares stuck to the office wall keeps me on track when I’m writing.

Finally, the best tip I’ve ever learned and the one thing that keeps me producing books at a reasonable rate is to churn out that first draft and not edit it. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) taught me that. I will re-read the last sentence before picking up the story again, but I refuse to read over the manuscript until it’s out of my head and on paper. I will also leave it a week or two before looking at it. Yes, I’ll cringe and cry over it when I finally dig it back out, but I can start re-writing with fresh eyes. I use this process with everything I write.

That’s a cracking blurb, something writers usually find hard. How’d you get so good (don’t say time) and what tips have you got for other writers doing theirs?

Aw, thank you for that, Sacha. I enjoy writing the book blurbs. I like to think of them as a piece of flash fiction. You get to tell an enticing tale in a short space of time, but instead of rounding off with a suitable ending you leave the reader wanting more. I normally have the blurb sorted before I start writing the book so I can use it as a guideline. It might need a little tweak or two, but most of the time I can work with it.

When I start working on a new project I do two things, I’ll create a mock up front cover, so I’ve got something visual to keep me motivated, and I’ll write the blurb. The best advice I can offer is to read a ton of book blurbs in your local bookshop and see which ones you feel drawn to and why. I like short, choppy blurbs that tease rather than a long overly-descriptive passage.

Best tip for a YA writer?

Don’t overanalyse the genre. I write YA fantasy which is a massive market and if I stopped to study the incredible authors in this genre for too long I’d chuck my work in the bin and give up! I read tons of YA, but I no longer do it as a ‘student’ of writing. I enjoy the story for what it is and marvel at the imagination of an author, but then I’ll create my own worlds, characters, and enjoy immersing myself in the story I generate. When I used to read YA with an analytical eye, I couldn’t lose myself in the fantasy, and so it became a chore rather than reading for pleasure. I do make a note of an outstanding piece of prose or dialogue I come across, but I’ve stopped getting hung up on the learning and merely trust my own voice.

It’s getting harder to keep up with trends and find our audiences. How do you reach your YA audience?

I’ve never bothered keeping up with trends. I’ll read a new release if I like the sound of the blurb, but quite often I’ll get to a book a year or two later than everyone else – it’s my ‘you can’t tell me what to do’ personality coming out ha ha. In that respect, our audience can also be found years after we’ve published. With YA especially, there is always a new generation coming along, and so a spot of targeted marketing might do the trick.

As I also write non-fiction for the mind, body, spirit genre, I knew I couldn’t bunch all my books together on social media and be effective with my marketing. I, therefore, started two business Facebook pages. The first is for my personal development blog where I also promote my non-fiction work, and the second is a dedicated site to my YA books.

I love this page and try to interact with my followers as often as time allows. Interestingly, the stats for my page followers show the age range to be between the 18-25 and 25-33 brackets and yet my books are aimed at 13+. Finding my target audience is an ongoing slog. I joined Instagram but as soon as I joined the kids went over to Snapchat, if I start ‘snapping’ then they’ll find something else – It’s exhausting! I’ve noticed that the majority of my sales have been from women (my age) who read my non-fiction but are intrigued by the covers of my fiction, buy it, read it, love it, and then pass it on to their kids. I guess I find my YA audience eventually then!

What’s your fave and least fave things about writing?

I love getting the germ of an idea and working with it until it becomes a full story with plot twist ideas, characters, and settings. The planning stage is one of my favourites because I’m living with the anticipation of what could be and that’s exciting.

I don’t have a least favourite part about writing unless you count too many ideas and not enough hours in the day! I love the entire process of creating, writing, and editing and relish the opportunity to create something from nothing.

Most random place you’ve written or gotten the urge to write

OMG I’m so boring!! The most random place I’ve ever written is sitting on the left side of the sofa instead of the right – see, I told you I was boring ha ha. I like it to be quiet when I’m writing so that romantic illusion of a coffee shop wouldn’t work for me, plus I’m too much of a people watcher to get any writing done.

As a fellow mega YA buff answer the following with YA books for answers:

A) Best YA series for a non-YA reader

Ooh, tough one! I’m going to stick with fantasy as I don’t do contemporary fiction, and I would probably suggest Fire and Flood (book 1) by Victoria Scott. Even though it’s got a great fantasy element the story is predominantly about family, loyalty, and friendship. The main character loves her mobile phone, adores fashion and sparkly nail polish, but then the book takes on a hunger games vibe. For a non-YA reader, it would ease them in gently to the whole alternative realm/weaponry/mythical creature storyline.

B) Can’t die without reading

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I’m obsessed with Cassandra’s books and devour them as soon as she releases a new one. Clockwork Angel was the start of her prequel series, The Dark Artifices, which incorporated her Shadowhunter characters with the historical elements of London in the late 1800s.

C) Best for a winter night

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine. I think there’s something mystical and wintry about old libraries and so this would be a perfect choice.

D) Beach read

Nothing at all to do with sun, sand, and mocktails but I loved reading Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed trilogy when on holiday about five years ago. It’s about an ancient curse cast on two teens, Helen and Lucas, to loathe and love each other in equal measure. It’s all about the Gods and mythology – perfect for the beach.

E) Best series

Easy! My favourite series is Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments. Once I read City of Bones in 2007 I was hooked. Sometimes, you’ll get one or two books in a series that aren’t as good as the others but not with this – I loved all six books and went on to devour her Dark Artifices series.

 F) Best romance line

Oh blimey! I don’t ‘do’ romance, so I tend to like the more quirky romantic scenes, as in the ones that aren’t at all romantic but could lead to something in the future. It’s the anticipation of romance that I prefer. A bit like this from Jana Oliver’s Forbidden (The Demon Trappers series).

‘Why are you doing this? Spending time with me, I mean. You could have just followed me and I would never have known you were there.’

‘I feel alive when I’m with you.’

She barely subdued the snort. ‘You’re an angel. You hang with God and all those other Divine guys. I’m just…me.’

Awesome thank you Shelley, that’s enough about YA in general, let’s hear about your new book…

How did it feel leaving behind your Guardians series and starting something new?

I was quite excited about starting a new project and had already begun making notes before the last book in the Guardians trilogy was finished. I knew how I wanted Amber’s story to end and it was quite emotional, so it was a nice break to jot down new character quirks and start scene setting for Oath Breaker. The transition from faeries to werewolves was fairly smooth!

Fave quote or line from your book?

I’m not sure this is my absolute favourite line, but I’m going to count it anyway. It’s certainly the most important from a writing perspective as it was the first thing that popped into my head fully formed. After I had jotted this scene in my notebook, the entire story and characters began to build in my head.

“Like something out of a macabre horror show the blood covered everything, coating the threadbare rug in front of the fireplace with its crimson wash. The splintered remains of the coffee table littered the overturned chair, and the smell of death clung to the walls.”

It moved around in the story for a while but finally ended up as part of the opening scene.

What called you to werewolves? Tell me a little about their society in your book.

As you know, I’m a huge fan of YA fantasy and supernatural books. I’ve read so many containing werewolves and vampires but never felt drawn to write about them. My Guardian series contains witches, faeries, demons, and dragons so I always thought I’d stick to these themes going forward. It was my daughter who prompted the inclusion of werewolves. I was helping her with her creative writing homework where she had to look at turning a well-known fairy tale into something else. (Ella is a fan of The Kardashians, and Zoella which means fairy tales are ‘not her thing’) I suggested that she turn Little Red Riding Hood into a werewolf hunter. She rolled her eyes in that typical fourteen-year-old way and dismissed my input, so I pounced on the idea instead. I’ve dedicated the book to Ella as she did help me brainstorm it!

The werewolves in Oath Breaker are a family of sorts, and this is how I wanted their society to be portrayed. Mia comes from a fractured home with a violent upbringing and so trust, loyalty, and friendship is alien to her. I wanted the wolves to have that unity and bond that family can provide.

Excerpt of ur book? 

(The opening scene from Oath Breaker)

The blue flashing lights pulsed through the fractured front window, illuminating the blood splatter on the walls. The click-click of the forensic team’s camera ate into the sterile silence as the officers combed through the living room.

Like something out of a macabre horror show the blood covered everything, coating the threadbare rug in front of the fireplace with its crimson wash. The splintered remains of the coffee table littered the overturned chair, and the smell of death clung to the walls.

I lifted my eyes to look at the police officer who knelt in front of me, his face a mask of professionalism even though he must be wishing he was anywhere but here.

‘Did you see who killed your dad?’ I slowly shook my head as the officer tried to determine what had happened.

‘Someone tried to kill you, miss. I want to help. Did you see who broke in and attacked you?’

I couldn’t answer. The words were stuck in my throat. How could I tell him that my dad was the one who tried to kill me and that a wolf had jumped through the window and ripped out his throat? Who would believe me?

The paramedic dropped a medical kit at my feet and began wiping the blood from my face, the sudden cold of the antiseptic wipe causing an involuntary shudder to run through my bones. The police officer and paramedic exchanged a look. The same kind of look that my teacher and headmaster used to give each other when I tried to cover up the bruises down my arms.

I slumped a little further into the kitchen chair, letting my long dark hair fall around my face.

‘Anything you can give us by way of a description will help.’ The police officer clicked the end of his pen and poised it over the clean sheet of notepaper.

‘Big,’ I managed to say. My lips cracked as I spoke, and I could feel a trickle of blood slide down the side of my mouth. The paramedic wiped it up before moving to the gash on my forehead.

‘It…he was big. Dark hair. Brown eyes.’

The officer noted it down and let out a deep sigh. Not the best description for them to go on, but it was all I could give him. If I’d told him the attacker was hairy, with sharp claws and fangs, the paramedic would have had me committed. I didn’t need to escape from one prison to then find myself in another.

Available to buy from:

Amazon UK 

Amazon US

Publisher – http://www.BHCPress.com

Website – http://www.shelleywilsonauthor.co.uk

Oathbreaker Book Blurb

Will she follow the pack…

Or will she destroy them?

A dead mother.

A violent father.

A missing brother.

When Mia’s father is murdered, it’s her estranged uncle that comes to the rescue, but what he offers her in return for his help could be worse than the life she is leaving behind.

Taken to Hood Academy, a unique school deep in the forest, she discovers friendships, love, and the courage to stand on her own.

As she trains hard, Mia takes the oath that seals her future as a werewolf hunter, but not everyone wants Mia to succeed.

Screams in the night. Secret rooms. Hidden letters. Mia becomes an important piece in a game she doesn’t want to play.

Will the truth set her free, or will it destroy her?

***

More About Shelley Wilson
Shelley Wilson was born in Leeds but moved to the West Midlands when she was a youngster. She is a single mum to three teenagers, a fat goldfish and a crazy black cat called Luna. Her favourite things (apart from her children) are vampires, mythology, history, and pizza. Shelley is an avid reader and book blogger with a passion for Netflix marathon-binge watching sessions.

She divides her time between blogging and writing motivational non-fiction books for adults, and the fantasy worlds of her YA fiction.

Her non-fiction books combine lifestyle, motivation and self-help with a healthy dose of humour, and her YA novels combine myth, legend and fairy tales with a side order of demonic chaos.  You can check out all Shelley’s books here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00G5KPMJI

Shelley can be found lurking on Twitter and Facebook all the time (she wishes to add procrastination to her favourite things list!)

Contact Info

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads 

The post Young Adult Writing Tips With Oathbreaker Author @ShelleyWilson72 appeared first on Sacha Black.

I’ve been Indulging in a binge festival of guilty pleasure reading.

When I finished my novel and handed it over to beta readers. I knew there was still a lot a fucking legion of stuff I needed to work on. Including the need to develop some skills that much to my annoyance STILL weren’t honed properly. Like my powers of description. Give me non-fiction or blog posts and I can whip out my bad word baps, and filth-filled metaphors with the best of them. But put a fuckitbucket in a YA book and you’re going to regret it. So I started bingeing on popular YA books hoping I’d absorb some of their skills.

Right now, I’m reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Her description is borderline excessive (in my humblest crumbliest opinion), but I quickly dropped into the rhythm of her sentences and now I kinda think it’s beautiful. So I thought I’d spend this post deconstructing her sentences to see what I could learn about description.

Here’s 7 tactics for creating the perfect story descriptions.

All quotes  are from Delirium by Lauren Oliver, chapters and page numbers noted after quotes.

ONE – Buildings

“…like all the government offices, are lumped together along the wharves: a string of bright white buildings, glistening like teeth over the slurping mouth of the ocean.” Ch3P1.2

Direct comparison is like the oldest of old school writing tactics. It’s like the bearded wizard. It’s Dumbledore in a sentence. Want to describe something without stating the obvious, then compare it to something else.

TWO – First Moment Seeing The Love Interest

“As soon as I look up, his eyes click onto my face. The breath whooshes out of my body and everything freezes for a second as thought I’m looking at him through my camera lens, zoomed in all the way, the world pausing for that tiny span of time between the opening and closing of the shutter.” Ch4. P.34

But frankly I think the camera lens is a fucking genius metaphor. It drills straight into our subconscious. Lena is in the middle of chaos, and yet has a moment of pause where she focuses on this boy. The metaphor description of that pause is not only describing the moment but it’s also an instruction to the reader… YOU THERE, READERLY PERSON…FOCUS ON THIS BOY CHARACTER, HE’S IMPORTANT, #thatisall. She tells us to ‘zoom in’ her words, G.E.N.I.U.S.

Excuse me while I have a moment myself and bow at Oliver’s feet worshipping her in an outrageous display of teenage fangirlage.

THREE – Physical

“‘I’ve never heard that name before.’ I hesitate. Shaking hands makes me feel awkward, like I’m playing dress-up in an adult’s too-big clothing. Besides, I’ve never actually touched skin-to-skin with a stranger. But he’s just standing there with his hand out, so after a second I reach out and shake. The moment we touch, a tiny electrical shock buzzes through me, and I pull away quickly.” Ch.5 P.55

Here for me, it’s less about the electric shock – everyone gets those, it’s like your standard fish and chip Friday for a Brit. Standard description for touching someone you fancy. No, for me, it’s about the description of her emotive state – awkward. I love that comparison of a kid in parents clothes. The vulnerability of it, the desire to be more grown up than you are. Those feelings are what lead her to shaking and electric shocks – so she sets up the physical with a clever little metaphor.

FOUR – Scenery

“As we come up to the top of the hill – all three of us panting a little from the climb – the bay unfolds to our right like a gigantic map, a sparkling, shimmering world of blues and greens. Hana gasps a little. It really is a beautiful view unobstructed and perfect. The sky is full of pouty white clouds that make me think of feather pillows, and seagulls turn lazy arcs over the water, patters of birds forming and dissolving in the sky.” Ch5. P.61

In this little paragraph she nails a scenic description, capturing sight, sound and in a sense touch too. Adding more than one sense into description, is like pouring reader-fuel onto your descriptions. It explodes them into a firework of readerly delights and means you show instead of tell and everyone knows that’s the holy grail of writing.

Oliver gives a direct comparison of the bay to a map and then draws in colours to enhance the image in our minds.

She captures sound description by using words like ‘gasp’ and ‘patters’, words that make sounds!

FIVE – Graduation – Or events 

“I watch the girls circulating in their orange gowns like flames. Everything seems to zoom back, recede away at once. All the voices intermingle and become indistinguishable from one another – like the constant white noise of the ocean running underneath the rhythm of the Portland streets, so constant you hardly notice it. Everything looks stark and vivid and frozen, as though drawn precisely and outlined in ink – parent’s smiles frozen, camera flashes blinding, mouths open and white teeth glistening, dark glossy hair and deep-blue sky and unrelenting light, everyone drowning in light – everything so clear an perfect I’m sure it must already be a memory, or a dream.” Ch.7 P.87

This paragraph in itself felt a smidge much for me, but it was basically the only description of the graduation so in that sense for such a momentous occasion it didn’t go overboard at all.

This description mimics the technique she used in number two. She uses the overarching concept of a camera snapshot (something that takes a moment in life and stores it) to pause the scene and give the protagonist, Lena, a chance to reflect and soak up the event.

She also uses a formula for her descriptions, (see the blue sentence in the quote above) triple adjectives followed by a metaphor or simile, I’m not suggesting we all do this. In fact, it bucks the trend for a lot of YA authors who err on the side of clean fiction. Whereas this is more like an ice cream Sunday on steroids, just saying!

SIX – Describing Other Characters

“All of a sudden it hits me: she reminds me of the animals we saw once on a class trip to the slaughterhouse. All the cows were lined up, packed in their stalls, staring at us mutely as we walked by, with that same look in their eyes, fear and resignation and something else. Desperation. I’m really scared, then, truly terrified for her.” Ch.8 P.97

Oliver uses a memory comparison here to describe another character. Neat. But what I like most about this is why she does it. It’s not because she’s describing the physical appearance of the character to a cow. No. She’s describing the emotional state, and that’s sooooooo much more powerful. Especially given the comparison – fear, resignation and desperation, a dangerous cocktail.

The point isn’t really about using memories as comparative descriptors – although that is a handy little trick for your writer bag. It’s that describing the emotional state of another character, and the subsequent impact has more of an impact than describing their clothes. (although you do need to do that at some point too!)

SEVEN – Atmosphere

“But were not safe yet – far from it. The darkness is mobile, twisting, alive with paths of light. Flashlights cut through the woods to our right and left, and in their glare I see fleeing figures, lit up like ghosts, frozen for a moment in the beams. The screams continue, some only  few feet away, some sodistana and forlorn you could mistake them for something else, for owls, maybe, boosting peacefully in their trees.” Ch.14 P.197

I love this because it uses the comparison (ghosts this time) to create the atmosphere. Up to this point you know they’re running through woods. But the image of fleeing, screaming ghostlike teens gives the atmosphere  a sharper sense of fear. The technique she’s using is to draw on a concept we (society) already think of as scary, ghosts, and then attach it to a scary scene.

Amazon Blurb for Delirium

“They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now.

There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it.

But now love has been declared a dangerous disease.

Everyone who turns eighteen must be immunised with a procedure called the Cure. Lena Haloway is looking forward to being able to live the safe, predictable life the government claims the cure will bring. But meeting Alex, an enigmatic boy from the Wilds, might just make her question everything she’s been raised to believe.”

Like this post? Sign up to get more just like it as well as the latest industry publishing news. Sign up here

The post 7 Description Tactics – The Art of Writing – Deconstructing Lauren Oliver appeared first on Sacha Black.

That’s why I’ve obsessively read books since I sung my first ABC and it’s why I write just as obsessively now.

One of my biggest obsessions, is the concept of dystopian worlds. I heart everything about them. I want the t-shirt, the fan girl moves, the merch and ALL the books. ALL OF THEM.

But right now, as a writer, I’m more interested in how to get them right. What do you need building bricks do you need to include and what key factors do you need to make a dystopian world realistic.

I’ve just finished reading Jane Dougherty’s Abomination. It was both a fantastic read and an exceptional example of an apocalyptic and dystopian setting.

Here are 5 steps to perfect the dystopian world.

‘Dystopia’ is: “characterized by human misery, as squalor,oppression, disease, and overcrowding.” Dictionary.com. 

Dystopian novels usually examine a social or political concept through an oppressive or broken society or power. The juicy bits in these books tend to come from the exploration of the reasoning behind why it’s broken. But my most fave bit about dystopia is that its usually a reflection of our own fucked up society.

It’s an exploration of what could be, of what’s to come if we don’t shape up and what really, already is. It explores the darkness inside us all that if we’re not careful, will seep out, infect our shambles of a society and lead us on the path to dystopian hell.

Some of the first and most uber famous work in the dystopian field include 1984 by George Orwell and A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, both books I’ve put on my 30 by 30 list (30 things I want to achieve/do or in this instance read by the time I’m 30, in March 2017)

In the last five years there’s been an explosion of dystopian fiction in the YA genre, and anyone who’s hung around here for even one post, will know I am a super geek for anything YA. Famous examples include: Divergent, Hunger Games, Uglies and Matched.

If you’ve got any dystopian book recommendations for me (but particularly in the YA genre) tap me up and leave me a scribble in the comments below.

Step One – Something Broken

Writing dystopian fiction is fun because you can behave like a teenage boy; break shit and blow stuff up.

And that’s just the setting. Dystopian fiction dissects humanity. I get literary ecstasy when I rub my writerly hands together and drill down into the what and why we do stuff. Why is our society so corrupt? Why do we lie? And are lies ever justified if it’s for the greater good?

These moral and philosophical questions are exactly what should be explored in a dystopian world. It’s an opportunity to explore what really fucks you off about life. I have two dystopian books on the back burner waiting to be finished: Adultland, and The Firmament, the latter of which I posted an excerpt of in last week’s Writespiration.

The point I am trying to make is, BREAK SOMETHING. Something political, or societal. But it has to be something fundamental to how our society works.

In Delirium, they determine love to be a disease and find a cure for it. In Divergent, they portion society up by personality traits. In Hunger Games they send a child off each year as a sacrifice to keep the peace.

In Abomination, Dougherty’s something broken is the world itself. The apocalypse has come, and the world is breaking apart as hell itself descends on earth.

“As long as the satellites continued sending pictures, the monitors showed catastrophe on a global scale. Coastlines were submerged, islands disappeared, mountain chains exploded, fault lines opened and swallowed cities in a cascade of flames, plumes of smoke miles high, and the black dust and ash of the end of the world.” Ch 1 Abomination, by Jane Dougherty

Step Two – A Villain’s Reasoning 

Now, it’s all fun and games breaking shit for literary giggles. But readers won’t be laughing if there isn’t a fully thought out justification for society’s fuckedupness (that’s 100% a word).

I’m not about spoilers, so I can’t tell you about the main villain in Dougherty’s book, but Ace, the second villain, is really just a scared little boy, using bigger boys to beat on others in order to do what he wants and retain control.

Divergent is another good example of this. The ‘real’ world is broken by war, their justification for locking people in Chicago and sectioning them off into factions is to wait for evolution to bring about ‘whole’ humans again in order to broker peace. That sounds like a reasonable justification to me. But the key here is you do need a believable justification.

If you want more tips on Villains, subscribe to get the latest news on my book release, 13 Steps to Evil – The Ultimate Writer’s Guide To Creating Superbad Villains.

Step Three – Physical Dystopia

Now as much as you shaft your characters intangible psychological stuff in your dystopian setting, you also need to tinker with the physical. By that I mean your setting.

Usually a dystopian setting is based on a world that is dying, been through some kind of world ending war, or ravaged by viruses. Whatever the cause it needs to be messy.

Some things to consider include:

• Buildings, where do people sleep/eat/live
• Weather
• Clothing
• Technology
• Food and the ease of access to it

I am super visual and draw a lot of inspiration from seeing things. One of the things I wanted to achieve before I was 30 was entering a derelict building. So far I’ve got photos of a derelict barn and a burnt out canal boat. I’ve also managed to talk my way into being allowed into a derelict school so I’ll be taking photos of that soon too. Below are some images I’ve taken for dystopian inspiration:

Dougherty is the master of creating a broken world. I lost count of how many sentences I highlighted. But here are some examples of her gorgeous descriptions:

“…the track behind him erupted into a tangled web of razor wire and jagged pieces of beaten metal. The creatures raced into the trap, hoisted into the air by barbs that tore deep into their flesh.” Ch6, Abomination, by Jane Dougherty

“The smell he gave off was a heady mixture of unwashed human and decomposing canine.” Ch 7, Abomination by Jane Dougherty

“Everywhere piles of debris and smashed lights and windows bore witness to the fighting for control of the place. Shops had been pillaged, some burnt out, all had been defiled in some way. The wall were plastered with tags, scowls and daubs, spattered with paint, excrement and blood. Even in the cold, even with half the glass in the doors and windows put out, the stench remains. It was the smell of decay, of putrefaction, of a whole civilisation rotting away.” Ch 13, Abomination by Jane Dougherty

Step Three – The Struggle

If you break something, then something needs to be a struggle. It doesn’t matter what that struggle is, but you need to make some part of living hard for your characters.

Usual suspects, include food and shelter. But as in Delirium, it’s being able to love freely.

Step Four – The Extreme

Once you decide what your something broken is, and what your something struggle is (I feel like I’m wedding planning now, I just need something blue) you need to take shit to the next level.

I’ve talked about pushing readers to the extreme in recent post on giving readers book hangovers.

Struggles and extremes come hand in hand like cupcakes and my stomach. If you want to make your characters struggle the easiest way to do it, is to take whatever is broken and push it to the next level.

For example, in the Hunger Games, not only do they struggle for food, they then have to sacrifice CHILDREN to prevent war.

In Divergent, not only do they get ‘tested’ for personality traits, they then have to live, breathe and be all consumed by those traits.

In Dougherty’s book, everything is pushed to the extreme. The world really is ending. Food is limited and if they don’t starve to death first, they will freeze because of the weather extremes.

Step Five – The Warning Message

And here we come to an end. Through all the catastrophes, character starving and blowing of shit up, is the thought you want to leave your readers with.

What is your theme? What is the message about society that you are really leaving readers with?

In Uglies, by Scott Westerfield – in which at 16 you undergo plastic surgery to make you pretty – pretty being societies pre-determined definition of pretty- his message is clear. Don’t be a sheep. Stay unique, and don’t become a drone. Wanting to be the same as everyone else, is more than just visibly damaging, it’s mentally damaging. It’s okay to be different.

I asked Dougherty, three questions on dystopian settings, here’s our Q&A:

Q1. Jane, where did you draw inspiration from?

A.1 For the wormhole aspect the idea came from looking through a kid’s science magazine and thinking what a really cool idea wormhole theory is. Using them as shortcuts through time and space, I mean, since they really do exist, and have been created artificially. I love space, string theory, parallel worlds and all that but I don’t have a very scientific mind and it’s so rare I actually cotton onto a theory. Probably because the article was written for eleven year olds…

The shopping mall idea comes from a visceral horror of shopping and a morbid fear of being trapped in a mall. Photos of abandoned commercial and industrial sites have also worked their way into my imagination.

Q2. What did you find most important to consider when thinking about getting a realistic apocalyptic setting 

A.2 There are dozens of apocalyptic stories around, many of them, like mine set in the ruins of cities and inhabited by blood-crazed savages/aliens/zombies/normal terrified people who don’t know where else to go. It’s all very plausible (if you believe in zombies) but for how long would it be possible to scratch an existence in the ruins? There’s a limit to how many cans of beans and packets of cornflakes you could scavenge before the perishables just…perished or got eaten. No electricity, no water, no agriculture, nothing produced at all. I reckoned five years would be just about all we’d get, to paraphrase Bowie. I’ve read plenty of stories where food supplies, new clothes, shoes, munitions for guns, fresh fruit and vegetables, household implements etc all appear out of nowhere, when nobody is actually producing anything. When that happens, my belief in the story crumbles completely. If somebody makes a sandwich in a post apocalyptic world, I want to know where the f**k the sliced bread and the lettuce came from. How to manage on nothing seems to me what’s most important. If you can’t find a solution to that one, then everybody has to be dead.

Q3. What would your three top tips be for anyone wanting to create an apocalyptic or dystopian setting?

A.3 Decide on your social structure. Is society going to be organized to continue producing what we are used to having, or is it going to collapse completely and morph into something else? Who will run it, to what end, and is there an alternative?

There has to be a conflict; somebody has to be in disagreement with the new society. Perhaps there’s a threat, aliens, human gangs/armies etc. Whatever, even if it’s a utopia, it needs an opposition not only to make it credible, but to create perspective and depth and, let’s face it, a good story.

Keep it realistic. Whatever commodities your characters use, you need to be able to account for how they came by them or made them. If the refrigerator still works, you need to explain how, likewise where does the fuel come from for the cars, the electricity for the lights, running water, the sewage system. And don’t go to the other extreme with a highly urbanized population of Homer Simpsons suddenly intuitively rediscovering the lost arts of long bow making, home steel production and arrowhead manufacture, spinning, weaving and sewing with fish gut. Don’t kid yourselves, it wouldn’t happen.

NEWS ALERT – CALLING ALL READERS OF BOOKS!

There’s a new campaign out – if you’re a reader and you don’t leave reviews, then you should. Reviews are the bread and butter of a writers career. Terry Tyler has started a new twitter hashtag, #AugustReviews with the goal of encouraging readers to leave just one review in the month of August. PLEASE join in, and check out her campaign here.

I wanted to leave you with my favourite quote from Dougherty’s book:

“To go where? You don’t understand because you’ve only just arrived, but the rest of us have lived  through five years of watching the earth pulling the plug on itself and humanity squabbling over the leavings like dogs over a bone. There is nowhere to go, nowhere that isn’t exactly like this.” Abomination, Ch 35, Jane Dougherty

You can buy Abomination from Amazon UK or Finch Books.

As a point of review, while Dougherty’s book is awesome of the highest proportions, and I really did love it (go read it now), if you are faint of heart or on the sensitive side, read it with caution. Dougherty is not afraid of…well, anything.

If you liked this post, why not sign up for free writing tips, publishing news and writing competitions every month, straight to your mailbox.

The post Perfect Your Dystopian World in 5 Easy Steps appeared first on Sacha Black.

But despite all that, when you see the results or hear of a reader sobbing at 3am because you killed bunnikins the third and all his fluffy bunnywabbit babies, it makes it all worth while.

We’ve all been there: unable to see the page for the hysterical tears, or laughing so hard you drop the book and lose your page. Or the ultimate – been given a book hangover by the latest series you binge read.

As authors, that’s exactly what we want to do our readers: hook em’, shake em, change em’, and set them free again.

The key to a hangover, is being able to change a reader, but in order to achieve that change, we need to drag them into the heart of our story. Which means, we need to know what the heart of our story is in the first place.

STEP ONE – Figure Out Your Own Why

Figure out why you’re really writing this story. And I don’t mean the pissy little answers non-writers assume like: ‘Oh there’s a book in you’ or “it’s just for fun’ or ‘you’re trying to be a writer.’ Sorry but while those things might be true, they’re mostly bullshit.

I’ve talked about finding your why, and your own personal philosophy before. The same principle can be applied here. Knowing why you write before you start writing is important because it’s your driving mechanism. It’s what keeps you going when fear, resistance and self-doubt are paralysing you.

Maybe you write to deal with your own personal baggage. Or perhaps to create the life you always wish you’d had, perhaps it’s rectifying a wrong you did or had done to you in the past.

Me? I’m a truth seeker.

I write because I want to explore truth. In every way: personal, global and human. I want to understand what our truth is. Are humans innately good? Or are we really a poison virus raping and pillaging the Earth? Frankly I’m fucking terrified it’s the latter. But there’s the crux of it, that fear is what drives me to delve deep inside people, rummage around the rawness of jealousy, love and pain and discover the most brutal truth there is.

So have a think, and let me know why you really write in the comments.

STEP TWO – Why are you writing THIS story?

It’s one thing to know why you write at all, but each story is an entity, a ‘being’ in itself. Each story has its’ own why and that’s the core of your story. It’s like your books own personal philosophy.

It’s more than just a theme, although theme is a major part of finding the heart of your story. Last week, in Lies – 5 Tips to Master The Perfect Character Arc, I talked about the Hunger Games, and the fact that Katniss believes that in order to survive she has to kill all the other tributes. This is the perfect example, because really the core of the book is about sacrifice.

And that’s Katniss’ truth – there is another way, but it will cost her, her life. No one said the truth was going to be what you wanted to here.

The reason we’re so sucked in to the Hunger Games, is because that truth, that core theme, is clear from the start. It might be subtly woven through the whole book, in order to make it a great read, but we know it’s there as readers. We feel it, because Suzanne Collins ensures that golden ‘sacrifice’ thread is stitched from the very first chapter (when Katniss makes her first sacrifice to be a tribute in place of her sister) right through to the end where she makes her final sacrifice, to die herself rather than kill Peta.

Connect those dots and readers will eat out of the palm of your hand.

STEP THREE – Take It To The Extreme

The thing is. Once you find your books core, it’s tender blood-filled heart, you need to rip it the fuck out and put it on display for your readers.

Seriously.

Bollocks to sensitivities and manners. People read books to be affected. To be made to feel something.

That’s how you do it. You take your core theme, your books why, and then push it (through your characters) to its absolute extreme.

Human experience, and our reaction to it is how you make people feel. Think about it.

If your character loved someone and the worst thing that happened to them in the whole book was their lover going away for two months.

Really?

Who gives a shitsickle. I could poop more interesting storylines.

But what if there was a misunderstanding, a row, their worst one yet and the last thing she said to her lover was she hated him, and then he went away. What if she regretted it the minute he left and travelled after him going through extreme conditions to find him only to discover he’d been killed. Well now, that’s more interesting. Sure, there are ways of pushing that storyline a LOT further, I’m just making the point.

If we go back to Katniss, we know that she IS pushed to the extreme. Both mentally and physically, having to fight and kill and cling to life with her fingertips.

These experiences are what lead her to her ultimate truth – she would rather sacrifice herself than that of a loved one.

And that is how you get to the heart of your book. If you can do that, you’re guaranteed to give your readers a book hangover.

Want more FREE writing tips straight to your mailbox every month? Subscribe here.

The post How To Give Your Readers A Book Hangover in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on Sacha Black.