Tag Archive: razorblades


New WIPs and Writing Update

Filed under: A-Z Challenge, My Writing, NaNoWriMo 2010, Other Writings, Silk Over Razor Blades — Leave a comment
February 25, 2012

I haven’t actually talked about my writing for ages! Or it feels that way. Humph; as interesting as my life may (not) be, this blog is about me as a writer. Besides, I can’t give you too much of an insight into my life- otherwise the enigma is lost! :p

Well with February nearly over I must say I haven’t written as much as I’d hoped I would by this stage. Granted the blog has been chugging along smoothly, but there are several projects that I didn’t quite manage to get myself sorted out for.

Sirens Call Publications
There were two anthologies that I was hoping to get something written for. I did actually start something for both, but for some reason I couldn’t get passed hated what I’d written. It just felt really bad; clichéd and overdone, so I put both shorts to one side. Maybe they’re something I’ll go back to another time.

Crowded Quarantine
There was a werewolf anthology here that I nearly hit the roof about. I was so thrilled that when I put the other two pieces aside, I started on this straight away, using the back story to one of my RPG characters on The Ice Wolf Tavern, to get started. Problem was, I enjoyed writing it far too much. In fact I’m still writing it. I’ve sailed well passed the 10k guidelines and its turning into much more of a novella than a short, though it is still about the how the chap came to be a werewolf. Its still a very rough draft, so I won’t put an excerpt up here yet, but I will say that its going very well. I should be able to finish by mid-March if I continue at my current rate.

Alt Fiction
You may recall last year how much fun I had at this event, and that I vowed I would do it again when the time came. Well so long as my luck holds out and the twins don’t plan an early appearance, I’ll not only be reading to this event (for the whole weekend this time!!!) but I’ll be reading some of my work during the Open Mic section. Can’t wait for that! Still trying to decide what piece would best fit the scene and what I want to showcase. As soon as I know that I’ll be able to start practising my reading of it. I’ve only got 5 minutes after all (or is it three?).

A-Z Flash Fiction Challenge
Still going strong you’ll be pleased to hear. I’ve just tackled ‘S’ which means I’m very near the end now. When I’ve made it all through the alphabet I’ll start looking into getting those up here. One is here already – you can find it here – but I think it will be quite a treat to see the rest of these go up; since I’m quite chuffed with my range. I think you’ll be surprised too; some of it is quite unlike anything else I’ve showcased here before. ^_^

SORB and CoTAK
I can’t give you an update on my writing without talking about these, can I? Okay, well SORB is still on hold for the moment; its been my baby for so long that I know that I need even more distance from it before I can give it the edit it deserves. So that is actually rather far down on my list for the time being.
CoTAK’s contract has been sent off, as I mentioned at the beginning of the year and I’m just waiting to hear back from Popcorn Press about the next steps. I remain thoroughly excited, but, as I say, these things take time. We’ll see how we go on that score. ^_^

So even though the blog, for a short while, has been rather a lot of reviews and ‘Real Life Chatter’ don’t think for a moment that I’ve forgotten what its all about. I’m still going and still as stubborn as ever. To cap it, I’m heading back to the Phoenix Writers today as well. I haven’t managed to get back there this year yet, so I’m incredibly excited about it. It will be wonderful to see everyone again. XD

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Six Sentence Sunday 27/11

Filed under: My Writing, Sample Sunday — 12 Comments
November 27, 2011

Another Six Sentence Sunday! I love this. :D

Behold! Another six sentences from Silk Over Razor Blades, the piece currently on the look out for willing beta readers. This time following a slightly later part of the story and another character. Bwa ha ha ha ha haa ah a hahaa!

Every fibre of his body sang with an ecstasy so powerful that his throat temporarily closed off. His heart rate rocketed. Purple stars danced across his sight and in his jeans a hot, sticky dampness began to spread.

Slipping down to his knees, Jason tried to ride the wave; struggled to regain control of his mind and wrest it back from the intruding stranger who was shouting, sobbing, now screaming as, miles away, they rode the intense upsurge of a devastating orgasm.

When the sensation dissipated, Jason found himself lying flat on the floor, his arms flung out wide, blood roaring in his ears. Clear sight returned by degrees; brightly coloured stars winking out to leave behind the muggy grey of the winter sky.

Wow, this really does reveal something to me about my writing style. Some of my sentences are uber long! May need to fiddle with that. o.O
Six Sentence Sunday

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Six Sentence Sunday 20/11

Filed under: My Writing, Sample Sunday — 6 Comments
November 20, 2011

I’m getting quite into this Six Sentence Sunday thing, and I like the idea that I can share with you so simple a piece of my work with little or no effort.

So… this is six sentences from Silk Over Razor Blades, the piece currently on the look out for willing beta readers. Remember; let me know!

“I’m not pregnant, Ramona!”

“How do you know?”

Ileandra thought back to that morning’s search. “I just do; trust me.” She slammed the testing kit back into the cabinet and flushed the toilet; watching food and coffee swirl down and away, with a tired sigh.

At least one persistent fact from the websites was true; vampires could not eat human food.

Six Sentence Sunday

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Getting Feedback

Filed under: My Writing, Silk Over Razor Blades — Leave a comment
November 8, 2011

It seems simple, but so many writers forget it. In fact, I was guilty of it until maybe a couple of years ago.

Getting feedback for your work is one of the most vaulable processes for making your work (novel/short story/article/flash fiction) ready for submission/publication. Without it you are, in no way, giving yourself the best chance to showcase the true potential of your writing.

When To Be A Teenage Vampire was ‘ready’ the first thing I did was start writing to publishers. I actually completely skipped the agent stage and when on to search for a publishing house who would take me on. Never mind that I was 15/16 years old and in no way ready for what that actually meant. And something that makes me cringe now was that I’d never given the piece to someone else to read. Oh I might have given it to a couple of friends from school – they wanted to read it because they were in it! – but the most I got was the correction of a couple of typos and a ‘hey, this is great! I love it! When is it going to be published?’

-_-

All very nice and encouraging, but not helpful. …sorry girls, but it wasn’t. :p

ClingThese days I’m far more aware of the need for other people to read the piece, whatever it is, and let me know what they think. To critique it. To pull it to pieces by giving me opinions on word choice, structure, strength of plot, characterisation…. Small traps that writers fall into which will bore the reader within a page of opening your tome. Things that I can’t possibly see myself because I’m too close to the writing. I can’t really let go of it.

And that’s at the core of it really. I love Silk Over Razor Blades. As you can probably tell, I’ve been working on it for so long, and there’s so much of myself in it, that I just can’t bare the thought of handing it to someone to read and being told ‘this isn’t so great,’ ‘this piece of plotting is a bit weak,’ ‘your opening couple of chapters are a little slow,’ ‘are you sure you’ve used the most powerful words here for the effect you’re trying to create’ (incidentally, these are all questions I’ve asked myself in reading the novel in recent months, not questions from other people). Its bad enough that even though I love SORB, I hate it passionately (its a complex rainbow of emotions), but to potentially get that from other people as well? Yikes!

But it needs to be done.

I’ve seen and read enough horror stories from publishers and agents through Twitter and blog entries about writing that has obvious potential, but it hasn’t been properly harnessed because the author rushed getting their work out. In fact, part of the big stigma related to self publishing and ebooks these days is that such things have made it so easy for any old ‘writer’ to publish their ‘masterpiece,’ that the quality of such novels is lacking. Its not always that case, I hasten to add, but it can be. Because these people are in such a rush to see their words in print.

I know the feeling. Reeeeeeeeeeeeally; I know the feeling.

But its not the way to go. I’ve joined a writing group where in the few months I’ve been with them, I’ve been able to scrap 37k words from SORB because they:

  1. Didn’t progress my plot
  2. Actually slowed the damn plot down
  3. Formed pointless digressions which will actually stand well enough on their own to make short stories or flash
  4. Took my characters to places which didn’t make sense for them as people
  5. Were just empty and pointless, offering flowery embellishment that took some of the power and strength out of what I was trying to say

I’m not so great at recognising that in listening to other people’s words yet, which is why I’m not as vocal as I want to be at these writer’s meetings, but in terms of applying my learning to my own work… its paying dividends.

SORB now, compared to this time last year (during my last freak out) is so much more ready to be seen that I should, really, be calling for beta readers.

In fact, why the hell not?!

If I don’t make myself do it… I’m going to keep hiding from it and shying away from it until it never happens. And I refuse to send this piece to any more agents/publishers before more eyes have seen the whole story.

Call outOkay! I guess that means that I’m asking for beta readers. Is that the right phrase? People to read my 107k vampire fiction to give me their thoughts on ‘how ready I am’ to submit? Well, its the phrase I’m going to use.

Spread the word dear readers; Ileandra Young is finally ready to let go of her baby and send it out into the world, to see if its big enough to cope. ^_^

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Step Three: Acknowledgement

Filed under: My Writing, Silk Over Razor Blades — 3 Comments
August 4, 2011

I got my postcard back from the agents. ^_^ I must admit, I shouldn’t be too surprised that it did, since I made it as easy as I possibly could. I addressed it, stamped it and what not, but it was such a pleasant surprise to come through the door into the kitchen and find it among the post. I saw the massive Maltesers and thought ‘ooooh, that’s me!’

It was when I flipped it over that I had the best surprise. Rather than just whipping it back into the post, the agency editor has actually written a little something on it. She expressed thanks for the submission and that they would be in context again in six weeks, and then a little joke about the quote I included about chocolate.

It may be a small thing, but I really feel encouraged by that. It serves not only to remind them that I’m just a person at the other end of the book, but it reminds me that they are too! What woman after all, anywhere in the world, doesn’t have a special relationship with chocolate? I used this particular card on a whim, but I like that I was able to find a quote that matched it.

I bought a whole load more cards as well for the same sort of thing and I’m encouraged enough by this response that I’ll keep doing it. The other cards are supposed to be a reflection of my personality and sense of humour which, coupled with the quote I choose, will give an insight to me that I’m not able to include in my cover letter or literary CV. The new ones are a couple of prints either claimed or accredited to Banksy and some other just funny ones that made me giggle the second I saw them on the rack. That’s how I picked them, by the way; pictures that I knew I liked already (Banksy) or things that leapt out at me when I saw them. I figure those are the best way to show what I like and what I appreciate. Though one of them is a tad childish, hehee. I might send that one to a friend instead.

I need to get myself a folder now and some fat, white labels. Over the weekend I’m going to label the folder ‘REJECTIONS’ in big, black letters and put a smiley face next to it. Not necessarily to celebrate the rejection of my work (!) but to acknowledge that each rejection is another step closer to the agent who deserves to represent me. And I really do feel that is the right way to put it. I’m starting to build enough confidence in my work that I can submit it in the first place; therefore I feel that when (not ‘if,’ ladies and gentlemen) I get taken on, it will be an agent who has seen something and wants to run with it because the writing deserves it (and because they can sell it, obviously). There is risk involved with new authors, everyone knows that, but the people who take that plunge do get to reep the benefits.

Anyway that’s my first acknowledgement and I plan to send another pack out soon. Once I get two or three out I’ll be in a position of wanting to start something new as it will be the waiting game. I’ve never really been good at that.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment
%d bloggers like this: