Friday, March 29, 2013

Authonomy Reviews on Ignited

Getting some awesome reviews on Ignited! Loving it! Loving that my readers are loving it!

YAPR/ YARG review
This is bloomin good! It's polished writing with well written characters. Now, this review is going to sound a little wishy washy because after reading four chapters I have hardly any notes! I love the line in chapter 2 - "He was the type of guy that could take a small hit to his ego. It wasn't going to go anywhere". Kris' voice is strong and consistent throughout the work and your dialogue runs smooth and works well.
Sorry for the really rubbish review but I couldn't find anything to pick up on!
Love it and I would certainly buy it if it were available.
High stars from me
Nik

YARG Review
I have one word, or sound... aw... where is the rest of the story, please tell me you've finished writing this and you are intending to upload more. I read all twenty chapters in one sitting, its very compelling reading and hooks you right in.
I loved Nathan's character and the relationship you build up between Kris and him, so well done.
The greek mythology element is believable and well constructed, and the tension you create between each chapter just makes you want to read on.
You cleverly leave the last line of each chapter as a cliff hanger, which is skilfully done.
As always with any review I start taking notes, but I'm sorry I gave up with this one, as I liked the story too much to put on an editors hat. So I have a few notes for the first chapter, and there probably could be some more polishing with subsequent chapters, but the story is great, and hey that's what sells. I think the YA audience would eat this up, its got all the essential elelments needed in this genre.
Please, please let me know if you upload anymore. Or if you publish it, I'd definitely buy a copy.
Congrats on writing such a fab story and best of luck with it.
Jxx

Come read it!
http://authonomy.com/books/51067/ignited/

Thursday, March 21, 2013

IGNITED ON AUTHONOMY

Ignited is doing well on the authonomy website... we're cruising to the top on our way to the Editor's Desk. Come check it out, let me know what you think, rate and back the book. I appreciate your support. (Must be a member of Authonomy to rate and back a book, but all they need is an email and a PenName and you're in, and able to read books for free! How awesome is that, huh?)

Read Ignited here: http://authonomy.com/books/51067/ignited/

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

7 Deadly Sins

The 7 Deadly Sins of Self-Editing

March 12, 2013 | Guest Column | Comments: 0

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We’re most likely to sin when we’re at our most vulnerable—and for creative writers, there may be no more vulnerable time than the delicate (and often excruciating) process of editing our own work. Sidestep these too-common traps, and keep your story’s soul pure.

by Janice Gable Bashman & Kathryn Craft

1. Greed

Many authors damn their efforts from the start with a premature focus on snagging a lucrative book deal. They submit to agents or self-publish before their work is truly ready. But building a career requires that you lay a strong foundation of only your best work—and nobody’s first draft is the best it can be. Careful editing is the mortar that holds the story bricks together.

Penance: Resist the temptation to convince yourself your first draft is “good enough.” If you find yourself rushing your editing process just to leap ahead to pursuing publication, look for deeper motivation to sustain you. Remember that the revision process doesn’t have to be any less enjoyable than the writing itself: You’ll be setting out to find the magic in each word, sentence, paragraph. You’ll be tapping your creative soul for ways to add tension to every page, to find clever solutions to tough story problems. Greed looks toward the uncertain rewards of tomorrow. The joys of writing are available to you today.

2. Lust

Just as dangerous as the temptation to call your first draft “finished” can be the tendency to jump into a revision right away. Words and ideas flood your mind; emotions pump through your heart. But that mad creative rush can become excessive, harming your ability to clearly assess your writing.

Penance: Step away from your current project as long as you can bear it—then wait an additional week. You’ll need that emotional distance before you revisit your work.

3. Gluttony

A great novel is like a gourmet meal. It must be prepared carefully, and to specification, with complementary flavors and courses.
Getting carried away and stuffing in all the good ideas and beautiful word pairings you’ve got in your pantry can lead to overindulgence.

Penance: Put your manuscript on a diet. Pare down or eliminate scenes that don’t further the story. Examine plot points, characters, description, dialogue and exposition, until you have precisely what you need to tell your story, and not a character or subplot more. Then apply this same philosophy to your work at the sentence level, killing your darlings and eliminating excessive adjectives and adverbs, along with verbose descriptions. Bring out the flavor of both your story and your style, but stop short of overseasoning.

4. Pride

Even in the current age of publishing, where aspiring authors can and must act as their own publicists and webmasters and take on myriad other roles, editing is one thing you can’t complete alone. As a form of communication, writing needs an audience. Thinking you don’t need feedback from others isn’t just pride—it’s pride that can squelch your potential.

Penance: Seek the help of beta readers, critique groups and editors. In return for the valuable feedback you receive, share your growing skills by critiquing the works of other participants in return. Then take your humble approach a step further and volunteer at writing conferences, libraries or literacy programs. Start a neighborhood book club, a regional networking group or a listserv for writers. Read widely and blog about it. The more you support the literary community, the more likely it will support you.

5. Sloth

The lazy scribe is one who’s failed to develop and utilize all her natural talents. To draft a story—and then stop there—is to ignore the very nature of literature, which constructs meaning through the deft layering of craft elements. If you find yourself bucking that notion, you may be guilty of sloth.

Penance: Just like with physical exercise, whipping your talent into shape takes time and dedication. You don’t jog once a year and end up with a perfect body. So it goes with your manuscript. To build the endurance skills you’ll need for marathon writing and revision, you must continuously train: Do writing prompts. Do writing exercises. Keep your writing muscles toned through daily practice, and when you review your previous work, your mistakes and weak sections will become more apparent, you’ll be more capable of dealing with them, and you’ll be far less likely to walk away.

6. Envy

Creative people are notoriously insecure. You may covet one published author’s self-confident voice, or another’s way with words. Maybe it’s his humor, or her emotional honesty. If you fear your work pales in comparison, remember that those authors didn’t strike it big by mimicking others or wallowing in jealousy.

Penance: With a friend or writing group, analyze your draft for what is uniquely you. Is it your voice? Your descriptions? Your quirky observations about the world around you? Edit your manuscript again, with an eye for drawing that element out on every page. Editors and agents don’t want another x, y or z. They want what you have that nobody else does. So don’t hold yourself to an impossible standard by trying to be one of your peers.

7. Wrath

The editing process can inspire uncontrolled feelings of rage in a writer. It’s difficult to discover or to hear from a trusted reader that you might not yet have fully developed your work—but it’s also an important step in growing your organic talent.

Penance: Wrath will only get in the way. Ignore feedback at your own peril: What angers us most holds a nugget of truth. Find it. Listen for the gifts within the criticism offered, and use them to help inspire new ideas. Your manuscript can only improve as a result.

Ignited Is On The Rise!

After a week on Authonomy.com, the first 13 chapters of Ignited has risen in the ranks from #5825 to #5566! Whoop-whoop! Go check it out! Leave a comment, rank it... help get Ignited to the Editor's Desk!
http://authonomy.com/books/51067/ignited/