SACHA BLACK

YA

Young Adult Writing Tips With Oathbreaker Author @ShelleyWilson72

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Today I am super excited to have Shelley Wilson with me on the blog. Shelley is a fellow Young Adult and non-fiction writer. She’s also a long time Bloggers Bash attendee.

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.

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2016 Books of The Year

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2015 saw me read a disgraceful three books. There was no way in literary heaven I was going to read just three books in 2016.

So this year I decided to set myself a challenge. The Goodreads challenge. I have a small child more commonly known as the Terror Tot, so I knew reading time would be limited. I figured reading one book a month would be better than just three over the year. So that’s what I set my challenge as.

12 books, 12 months.

But I’m pleased to say I smashed that goal into teeny tiny words like smithereens. I read 32 books.

So here’s my summary of the best books of 2016, including recommendations, my challenge for 2017 and the number of books are set myself to read next year. [Read more…] about 2016 Books of The Year

New Website Launch – Sacha Black Books – Coming Soon #MondayBlogs

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img_0441I’m doing something exciting… At least I think it’s exciting. So much so I’m liable to wee my pants.

I’m launching a new website. A new blog. See, I made a bit of a school boy error when I started this blog, I focused solely on non-fiction, and I swore, a lot.

Now, that’s great, if you read non-fiction or are a writer, or have dark sense of humour like me. But not so good for  if you’re trying to attract fiction readers of a very specific genre.

DEEP SIGH. 

So here is me, warming you up to the fact that come January I’ll also be blogging somewhere else… That doesn’t mean this blog will go. Oh no. This blog-badger is here to stay. I’m just going to make my life supremely difficult and have two sites!  [Read more…] about New Website Launch – Sacha Black Books – Coming Soon #MondayBlogs

Please Your Readers – 3 Trope Tactics

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tropesI’m a genre whore. 70% of what I read is Young Adult fantasy or dystopian fiction. I’d make it 100% but I actually want to read my friends books and occasionally I like dipping my toes in other stuff like (thrillers, crime, literary fiction) and then there’s non-fiction business, marketing and mindset books and of course, my other love, conspiracies.

But the point is, I’m a big slutty slut slut when it comes to YA fantasy/dystopian. I gobble it up like a starving orphan. Why?

Because I love that shit. I love it so much I’d motorboat them books all night long and carry a caffeine drip to work because I stayed up so late reading (happens a LOT).

But, having read a lot of books in the same genre I can confidently say, they are ALL the same story. No really, they are. But its the familiarity that drags me back.

And it’s the familiarity that drags other readers back too. We actually want to be told the same story, over and over and over. It’s just that we want to be told it in a different way, so it doesn’t feel like the same story.

That’s where tropes come in. Tropes give your readers the familiarity they crave, which is why they are so important to you if you’re a genre writer. [Read more…] about Please Your Readers – 3 Trope Tactics

Want The Perfect Hero? Don't Make These 2 Mistakes

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Perfect heroEverybody wants to create the perfect hero. I know I do. But creating the perfect hero means more than just perfection. It means imperfection.

I like examples, I like learning from examples and I just happen to have read another book (Independent Study (The Testing Trilogy Book 2)), so I am going to use the hero from that to explain how not to create the perfect hero. [Read more…] about Want The Perfect Hero? Don't Make These 2 Mistakes

4 Tactics to Create Your Novel's Perfect Last Line

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4 Tactics to Your Perfect Last line #YA Some time ago, I wrote a post examining how YA fantasy/dystopian novels opened, you can find it here. Well, the other day, I watched the final instalment of the Mockingjay from the Hunger Games trilogy. Despite its brutality, there was one particular line right at the end of the film that piqued my interest. So I decided to flip that post on its head and look at YA endings.

Katniss climbed into bed with Peeta, gave him a hug and he leant in to say:

“You love me, real or not real?” and Katniss said, “Real.”

Time to admit a dirty secret I have been harbouring for a while now – yes, I’m ashamed! I haven’t read the Hunger Games. I know. I know. I’m a YA Fantasy/Dystopian writer, how could I NOT have read the Hunger Games…? It just sort of happened. Lets not talk about it. I’ll fix it…Soon.

Anyway, there we were in the cinema and I leant over to to Mrs. Black and did the unthinkable, whispered in the middle of the film. I said… That right there, that’s the last line of the book. She raised an eyebrow and asked me how I knew. I didn’t have the answer, so I shrugged, “I just did.”

But it got me thinking, how did I know? And what was it about that line that made it so obviously a last line?
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