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Don’t Give Up

Traci Kenworth

Don’t give up, not even when pigs fly. This writing life we do takes guts, determination, and faith in yourself even when there is no hope in sight. It’s hard to hold on when the rejections keep coming in, the phone call doesn’t happen, your book doesn’t rest in your hands either in paperback or on a kindle/nook etc. When we start off in this business, stars in our eyes, we often don’t see the big picture. The years of hard work, of starving for some sign that we’re headed in the right direction. It can get gloomy, depressing.

That’s when you have to dig your heels in. Or realize that your dream of being a published writer just isn’t something you want to pursue any longer. Chances are though, if you’ve stuck with it through the hard, lean times, you’ll see it through to the glory. Now that doesn’t mean you may one day see your name in lights. For some writers, just having their work out there for others to read is the real, “I’ve made it.”

There comes a point in your writing when you have to decide what you’re really in this for? Fame? Fortune? Bringing the reader to your pages? Personally, I’d rather do the latter. Fame and fortune (heck success on the level of J.K. Rowling or Stephen King) would be nice and I’ll take them if they come but more often than not, we have to figure if we want our stories told, read, loved or just piled in the closet somewhere. I think that’s why there are so many indie writers. Self-publishing is a way to realize the dream within the dream.

Not that I’m saying to count traditional out. It just seems harder and harder to break into that market these days. Right now, I’m looking into e-zines for my short stories. A way, a reward, to keep my eye on what I really want: to tell stories, to touch readers with those stories, and at the end of the day to walk away satisfied. So part of the struggle is done for me. I no longer measure myself by how far I’ve come, by being part of the big leagues. No, what matters is the story, and getting better with each one. Satisfying the reader is the ticket to this game.  It’s the way, the journey to being a successful writer.

So, how about you? Do you consider where you are at this point, if you’re where you want to be? Is this really more of a hobby for you so the questions don’t apply? Are you sticking to your guns and absolutely will not give up till you go the traditional publishing route? Are you happy being self-published? I think the answers are important to keep us on the right path, or maybe to change that path a bit.

Don’t ever give up, no matter what comes your way. Sometimes it’s just the dream that has to change a little. Compromise.  (Speaking from a the stand point of someone who writes fiction:) We’re all in the business of stories, aren’t we? Can’t we be happy with whatever success we find? Because I’m pretty sure once we accept one piece of the publishing standard, another will follow, and then another until it propels us to where we want to be. I may not be where I want to be, but I’m doing exactly what I should be doing at this point: improving.

Traitor’s Gate

Traci Kenworth

We were loaded into the gate like a bunch of cattle. Jayse and I huddled together. My fingernails pinned his arms as we waited for water to flood the place. He flinched but otherwise didn’t pull away. “Cailen,” he said.

I raised my gaze to his, mine full of tears.

“I don’t regret this. Here with you now,” he said.

“But—because of me—you will die. A traitor.”

“In whose eyes? The King is a fool to listen to his daughter. She is the traitor.” He gently traced my lips. “I would die a thousand deaths to be with you.”

I shook my head. “Don’t say that. I’ve got to save you somehow.”

“You already have.”

The water began to rise.

People began to shriek.

I wound my arms around Jayse’s neck. “Our deaths will have meaning.”

At the last second of our lives, she appeared. Haughty and triumphant. And I cursed her though my words opened only to water. I clung to Jayse, even in death.

“Princess Ardelaine, the King will see you now.”

The princess’ hand froze on her hairbrush, unaccustomed to being summoned by her father. Usually, she had to approach his people for audience. She tried to keep her smile as she turned to the man and nodded. Setting the brush down, she followed him through darkened hallways, her stomach beginning to knit with nausea. Had he somehow discovered her trespass? She shook her head. No. She’d been most careful.

When she entered the throne room, she found herself alone with her father. She couldn’t remember that ever happening before. She greeted him with kisses to each cheek. “Father, dearest. How is your health?”

“Not well but then you knew this, Ardelaine. It is why you sacrificed one witch, and one who meant everything to you, isn’t it?”

Her hands shook. “Whoever has spread these lies shall die.”

“Oh, but they are already dead.”

She stared at him then two figures that appeared beside him, bloated and drenched.

“No, it cannot be.”

“Did you think the lands of Farael would fall to you so easily? That there would be no payment for what you planned? My only regret is that I did not learn of your treachery sooner and could’ve prevented their deaths. As it is, your hour is fast approaching.”

“Father, what are you doing?” she demanded as his guards took her into custody.

“Every kingdom has to make its sacrifices to keep their King young, strong, reliable. By striking down my advisors with your hatred and schemes, you have sentenced yourself to be a part of my resuscitation.”

“But I’m your flesh and blood.”

“And the results of your death will be most useful in regaining my health.”

“How will you explain this to your people?”

He laughed. “It might come as a shock, daughter, to learn that you’re not very well liked in the kingdom. Why would my people trade the lives they have led under my rule for your slavery?” He motioned to the guards. “Take her away.”

  Rebekah

Vanessa

Barb

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Cover of The Fallen (Nine Lives of Chloe King)

Book Review 2: 2012

The Nine Lives of Chloe King: The Fallen by Liz Braswell

Traci Kenworth

YA Horror                                                                  Simon Pulse

“Dying can really change a girl’s life.”

Warning: plot spoilers.

I thought I would break down the three novels of this collection, one by one. So, here goes. I watched the series on ABC TV and LOVED it. There are many differences between the show though and the book. From character descriptions to events to motives on the parts of characters. That being said: this book was a page-turner for me. I’m eagerly awaiting this afternoon to dig into the next book, The Stolen.

The book hooks you from the first line: He never tired or lost her trail.

From the moment, Chloe King takes a 24 hours before her birthday, pre-party, her life is literally changed forever. She and her friends, Paul and Amy, go to Coit Tower where she falls out of the window, 200-feet and dies. Everything goes black and she sees a hazy light. Something is there with her though, growling, and forcing her back the way she came. She wakes up much to the confusion of her friends and in a resulting run to the hospital, her injuries become nonexistent. While in the hospital she hears about some girl found dead in an alley.

As the days pass, Chloe begins to do things she didn’t before: talk to boys she didn’t have the nerve to, including a totally hot Russian named Alyec who’s part of the popular kids squad, and a two-years-older than her, Brian, not to mention a Greek college student by the name of Xavier who she gets hot and heavy with and ends up finding out later, is injured by her catlike nails and may die.

She desperately looks through obituaries for word on him, but Brian mentions not all deaths are recorded there. Meanwhile, Paul and Amy find themselves making-out and their being a couple, totally alienates Chloe. She has no one to talk about the changes going on with her: not the sudden acrobats she can perform, the incredible sense of smell, her catlike tendencies. Nor can she tell anyone about Xavier. She is horrified at the thought that he may be dead because of her. Brian and her end up going to the zoo where he tells her that he wants to major in zoology. He acts strange and distant with her.

Another cat person shows up on a nearby roof and Chloe and he end up playing a cat-and-mouse game of chase where he trains her. She doesn’t know who he is as he wears a mask over his face. Later, she thinks it may be Brian because of the kitty-kat hat he wears. Alyec gets closer to her and school. She receives a note from a friend who tells who to be wary of the company she keeps. Be prepared and ready to run. The Order of the Tenth Blade knows who she is. She doesn’t go to police despite threat for fear they will think she killed Xavier.

She begins to feel overwhelming loneliness. She meets with Brian and tells her of her fall from the tower. He is shocked but tell her not to tell anyone else. He says his dad is in the security business. They don’t get along with each other. Days go by with Chloe trying to find out who she is and struggling with the consequences. Brian catches her with Alyec and wants to know what she’s doing with him, kissing. She reminds him he told her he couldn’t get into a relationship with him. He walks away, glassy-eyed. Alyec comes over. He doesn’t seem concerned by Brian. When asked, he says. “You haven’t done anything with him yet.” “How would he know that?” she asks. “He’s still alive.”

Worrying about Brian, she gets attacked by someone using sharp, metal objects with a hook like the throwing stars in the ninja movies. She gets badly injured in her fight with him but sees what he looks like. For the first time, she wishes she didn’t have super-powers, realizing they come with a price. She fears for her safety and her mom’s but still doesn’t call police because of Xavier. She meets with Brian again where he tells her, “Alyec’s not…safe.” She demands to know how she knows Alyec’s name. She tells him someone attacked her last night. His face goes white. She tells him if it weren’t for the moves he taught her she’d be dead. He shakes his head. She think he could’ve been so good for her but he turned out to be some possessive, crazy freak.

Nine robed figures discuss Chloe and the company she keeps. The Russian is next in line for something, they say. They have protected the human population from the felines for ages and won’t be stopped by one infatuated adolescent, they say. The guy in question’s father tells him, it’s for the best, that he doesn’t want to end up like Xavier.

She is burning up with a fever and stays home where she sleeps it off. Paul and Amy come over and they reconcile and decide to go to their bridge. While there the Rogue, her attacker from previous night, steps out. The resulting battle will destroy her trust, shock her to her core, and end up revealing the true identity of the other cat person.

I really liked the book. The ending even though I guessed about the last 1/3 of the book was exhilarating. Chloe got to bring herself full-circle: from a scared, school girl to a confidante, cat-person. She also learned hard-lessons on friendship, love, and how to defend herself. It is both poignant and sad. If you watched the TV show, you’ll see the events and motives behind certain characters are very different. I’m not sure which I like better as they are so far removed from the other. I guess I like both equally. Sad to see the series end though.

Image by Bright Meadow via Flickr

Do You Have to Force Your Writing?

Traci Kenworth

Do you wait for inspiration to strike? Or do you get to work despite the lack of it, determined to put something down on the paper even if it turns up to be only crud? When I was a newer writer I admit to the former. I would wait and wait for days, weeks, even months to be inspired by something I’d read, watched, or heard about. Sometimes even a song. Those days led to bursts of writing, but they were just that: sketches of what might be, a painting half-finished. Because you truly can’t finish something unless you keep at it.

As I grew in my craft, I heard over and over the advice to plant your butt in the chair and write. It was the only way to go. And you know what? They were right. The more you sit there, trying to create something from scratch, forcing yourself to put one word down at a time, works. I’m not saying that these sentences will shine. Heck, they may not even be needed, or make it into the final draft. But they mean, you’ve accomplished something today and that’s a plus.

When I begin writing for the day, I often go back and read out loud the chapter I’m working on. I listen for mistakes, something that throws me off, an area where I could’ve expanded or let go. These actions get me ready to work. Because as I’m reviewing yesterday or this morning’s work, I get back into the mood I had when writing/creating it. It becomes a stepping stone from one place to another.

I know it’s not easy. If everyone could do it, they would. But the gift is down there, inside of you, why not bring it forth and polish it? A bit of no getting up from the chair until you move forward never hurt anybody. The seed you planted when you began the story, the what if needs to be watered, nurtured for further growth. If you wait for the sun to shine, you’re not giving it your all. You have to get in there and build a greenhouse. Take it from the first step, to the next, and the next after that until you have a tomato. Tomato equals the results of all your hard work.

So after I read through aloud, I look at what I’ve outlined to happen in this scene. Who the main character in this one is? What are the points I want to get across? What is the inciting incident? And something I’ve recently learned about and which we work towards in a story during the first 25-50 pages, the catalyst (or the turning point in the story, at which the character has to make a major decision and there is no turning back from that action/s.). All this should help get the story to proceed for me. After all, I know where I’m headed and what has to fall into place in order to get there.

Each scene works together to build toward that climax, that end of all ends. And you can get there with a little solid faith in yourself. You’re a writer. What writers do is write. If you’re still waiting for inspiration to strike, it’s going to hold you back from your dreams. You need to sit down, take your craft firmly in hand, and push through the mental block until the words flow and the magic happens. There’s no getting away from being firm on this point with yourself. You’ll see if you follow this advice, your writing will grow in leaps and bounds.

And isn’t that something we all want to happen? To finally write that book that’s inside us? To hold it in our hands? To go on to the next? And the next? Our journey is never easy but it’s definitely worth it. The joy that bubbles up inside you when your characters’ spring to life, how it makes you cry alongside them, quake in fear, keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last page, will help strengthen you for what lies ahead. Since I let go of the waiting, I’ve written eight books (nine counting the one I’m working on at the moment). Each a step across the pond. When I reach that final step to publishing I’ll know, it wasn’t inspiration that brought me to it, but good old-fashioned hard work.

First Book Review for the Year 2012

Traci Kenworth

Featuring: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

YA Supernatural Horror. Tor Teen.

“Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills people story.”

I actually read a hundred-and-fourteen pages of this last year, but carried it over into this one. Let me start of by saying about the caption above: this book is anything but average. I truly would have finished this book in one day if I hadn’t been so busy with holidays and the rush of the New Year. I came at this book as a reader, a writer, and someone who wanted to learn as much as they could about it by studying it. That means picking it apart to help with my own writing, gleaning any secrets that I could, to make my own work better. I was both challenged and excited by what I learned.

Theseus Cassio Lowood, a ghost-hunter, is truly a character that goes through a major story arc of being so alone in his world to opening up to let others in by the end. In fact, most of the major characters go through their own growth. From Carmel, the prom queen, forced to tackle a part of life she didn’t know about to Thomas, the geek who’s forced to become a hero, to Anna, whose story we learn and come to fear.

Studying the inciting incidents in the story gave me a stronghold I hope for my own. From the beginning when stakes rise as Carmel and Thomas start to get closer to the truth about who Cas really is and what he does for a living. And we have Anna and Cas confronting each other, neither sure what to do about the other, both feeling an “attraction” toward the other. Cas has a hard time admitting he needs friends/allies. He wants to continue his old life of move, hunt, kill. Little does he know what life has in store.

Cas got into the ghost-hunting business when he was old enough, taking his father’s athame (knife) said to link him to it by a blood tie. His ancestors forged the knife, bled upon it, to put the spirits down. He belongs to the knife, and it to him. He doesn’t know what becomes of the spirits when he kills them and his father taught him never to ask. When he learns Anna’s story of how she was murdered, Cas can’t kill her. Instead, he frees her.

When his athame is stolen it weakens Cas and he must go through more changes to be reunited with it. Anna warns there is a darkness attached to the knife. More bodies start to appear with Anna freed and Cas must decide whether he believes Anna is guilty of their murder or not. And how he plans to deal with the growing horror. The resulting battle is fierce, tender, and explosive.

My thoughts on the book? I loved to see the knock-down, drag-out justice of Cas. I worry about events that are clues to a sequel book or books. This is a story that grabs you and makes you care about Cas and his friends. So worrying about them in the future is good. I was truly thrown by the twists and turns of the story and discovered the truth along with Cas. I knew something was up, of course, but couldn’t put my finger on what. And that’s the mark of an excellent book. I think Kendare Blake did an excellent job bringing the characters to life and the end was a smash. Not what you’d expect, but what you’d hope for with the people involved.

Overall, I give it a 4 ½ *, the ½ because I wanted a “happier” ending. Still, it’s a keeper and I’ll never forget the journey of this book. Stephen King says you have to learn to be swept away by a good book before you can write one, here’s hoping I learned the lessons from this one that I can use to improve my own.

So have you read Anna? What do you think, feel, like, hate etc. about it?

Next up: The Nine Lives of Chloe King  by Liz Braswel writing as Celia Thomson. Another YA Horror.

Learning as You Go

Traci Kenworth

So are you one of those authors that wade deeply into research before they write a single word? Or do you do enough research to get you by and then continue to do so as you go? I’m one of the latter. I can hear the gasps out there. Lol. I believe firmly in research but sometimes you got to get the words down and then go back for further investigation. This isn’t to suggest that you shirk your responsibility to study things. Face it, readers are much more savvy these days. They know things you might not think.

Translations. That a certain restaurant/place was written wrong. Or an entire tribe/nation’s background is different from what the book proposes. I’m probably from the fool me generation in, as in I trust the author not to make these mistakes, but it happens. I’m not here to say it’s okay to dupe your reader, in fact, most of the time they find out the truth in some way and then it could be hard to sustain a story’s believability from the same author again. No, I’m about to tell how I do my own research into things.

First, of course, comes setting. Unless your creating your own world (and even then you need to know the rules of it), you must know your background. I personally, like to make up towns/cities/places etc. I enjoy the challenge. Of course, I usually base it to some degree on somewhere I’ve been or would like to go. I build the houses, neighborhoods, people, pets, and so on as needed in my mind. Sometimes from putting photos together to get the type of building I want. Other times from a description someone gives me as they talk about the state in question. Ideas abound about us, but we have to ground them in fact.

So after I choose my residence, I study my characters. What sort would live there? What classes? What nationality? I love to reflect on how America’s a melting pot, thus I try and include all races, poor and rich, young and old. I even research what kind of pets they would have. It’s important to get the right fit for your character. I.E. A little old lady wouldn’t normally go for an active, horse-of-a-dog. Spend some time getting the feel of your families. Their needs, their wants, their handicaps. It will make for a solider base to them.

Again, however, you can delve into who they are as you go along. For instance, right now, one of my characters belongs to a cult, though she’s not aware of such due to their brainwashing methods. Now, when I began writing, I knew my character but I didn’t know about groups like these. Sure, I’ve heard, read, and watched TV about them, but I needed to go deeper into this to pull the character off. She’s complicated and the more I write her, the more research I do into who she is, what she wants, and the triggers that manipulate her. It’s a scary world to look into, but it has to be done if she’s to remain true to what she represents.

My point is, you don’t always know every little detail, every little twist that you’re going to take along the way in a story. Therefore it’s okay to start writing the first draft and then go back and explore what you need. If I spent six months pouring through books before I wrote the title of my manuscript, it would be in trouble. You need to stretch your wings, and as you’re doing so, read into the area in question, highlight ideas you’d like to go through further. Just have everything gelled together before you send the book off. Check. Check. Check your facts. Even writing in the same region as I do, there is often something I need to look up. I don’t hesitate to do so, it could save me pie in the face in the end.

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Keeping Up with Your Career

Traci Kenworth

Are you keeping up with your career? Do you research new findings? Study where you’ve been and where you’re going? I think it’s important to do so. Not only do you stay fresh, but it brings more to the bargaining table. Never stop learning is a promise of mine to myself. Each day, I’m amazed by something just found out, confirmed, or added depth to. Take writing, for instance. We need to keep browsing over those English manuals, learning our craft from the masters, and reading to discover who we are in relation to other authors.

Right now I’m learning how to be a Breakout Novelist from Donald Maas. I’m re-reading an English textbook, working on punctuation, revising etc. from several different craft books. Each time I go over them, I learn something, or see something different. I have two shelves of craft books and add to them here and there. Do I need them all? Probably not, but I tend to hang onto them for the day insight will come. The next time I flip through the pages could be the time a gem falls out that will help me with my writing.

And isn’t that what it’s all about? Helping yourself advance? Helping your employer, agent, editor, see that your capable of growing in the marketplace. It’s imperative that we not become stagnant. It cuts off the flow of ideas if we do. No matter where you are along your journey, I encourage you to take the chance to grasp something you never have before. Go back to school, pick up that book, talk to someone and learn what their life is like, it might make for an interesting character in your book. So take care to always keep learning, no matter how unimportant it might seem, it enriches your thinking, opens new doors.

What are some of your ways to learn new things? Do you find it helps? Do you agree we should never stop growing in terms of our lives?

Traci Kenworth

According to Wiki Answer the inciting incident is, “The conflict that begins the action of the story and causes the protagonist to react.”

I.E. Cas moves in order to confront/exorcise ghosts, he’s killed seventeen in the past but Anna Dressed in Blood is something he’s never seen before, even more, he might not be able to take her down.

I.E. Bella meets Edward and is drawn into his vampire world. (Twilight)

I.E. Clary discovers a whole new world she didn’t know existed and it comes with someone who may be dangerous to her heart. (City of Ashes)

I.E. Katniss wants to save her sister from The Hunger Games and so volunteers to go into a fighting match where death is on the line.

Each scene needs to begin with an inciting incident, not just the first chapter. I’m finding that if, before I begin a chap, I write down the incident that I need to get in, I can start to work around it, so that I stage a beginning, a middle, and an end. It wasn’t until recently that I paid attention to this necessity and now that I’m doing so, I can see a real difference in the story coming together more fluidly.

How to come up with the inciting incident? What needs to be done to force the protagonist out of their comfort zone?

I.E. Cas gets thrown into the house where Anna lives, after suffering head trauma. He is forced to confront the ghost on her terms, not his own, and what he sees terrifies him.

I.E. Bella discovers the boy she likes is a vampire and must come to terms with how she feels about that.

I.E. Clary has her mother ripped from her life and struggles to find a way to save her.

I.E. Katniss must decide whether Peeta is out to kill her or safe her.

Just taking a closer look at what we mean for our characters to face as we go through each chapter will make our stories stronger, truer to our vision. At the moment, I’m using post-it-notes to arrange my scenes and their inciting incidents. They work well for me as I’m able to move them around and see how the story arc works through them. What are some tips you use to find your incident? How do you keep all of yours arranged to see the whole? Have you noted a difference in your own writing by following this formula? Any advice?

Our book should have more than one beginning, middle, and end. Rather it should have a series of them that builds on each other to a thrilling conclusion. Try this formula and see how it makes your writing shine. Good luck with all your goals this 2012.

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My Writing Journal

Traci Kenworth

With the New Year at hand, I’ve decided to embark on some things I’ve thought about doing in the past, but didn’t get around to it. Yesterday, I pulled out my first book for reading in 2012 (although I read a hundred-and-fourteen last month), Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. I plan on studying the book to learn what I can from it and its author. I will do reviews on each book I read this year, something I’ve only done for a few in the past.

I hope this will encourage me to read more. Often I get in the pit of finishing a book and not wanting to pick up another to find it of a lesser journey than the one before but by keeping tabs on my reading, I hope to discourage that pattern. And keeping the journal will help me to remember the books I’ve read. Often they muddle together, unless a really great one which often gets a further journey opened when the movie/s come out.

I’m REALLY like Anna so far. It reminds me of my favorite TV show Supernatural with the Winchester brothers. Except there’s only one (Cas) and a handful of misfits for this line of work who often get in his way, and their all teenagers. There are other differences, of course, I don’t mean to imply the books a straight route to the Supernatural phenomenon. It’s just his occupation reminds me of the show. You should pick up this book if you haven’t yet, it’s a shining star. I’ll review it further when I finish reading it. And I’m so looking forward to Kendare Blake’s next one.

I think this writing journal will be good for me to keep track of my progress, to see where I’ve been, what I’ve learned, and what’s still out there to pick up on. I plan to do a journal each year just to see how many pages I can fill and how many books I can clear off of my TBR piles. I’ll also visit the library regularly to keep up on new releases I can’t find in the stores in my area. It’s going to be a fantastic year for books, I just know it.

So, do you keep a journal of what you read for the year, or do you have one of those much-sought-after memories that can recall everything about a book you’ve read? I envy you if the latter. My memory has always been shallow. Lol. I know I’ve read a book and liked it but can’t recall the characters names or what exactly they went through. Yeah, a journal will help me to cement things more and grow as a writer and a reader.

image by tonijauhari on photobucket

To all of you, I wish health, prosperity, the book, the agent, fabulous editors, and the courage to do your best, again and again. This is a tough career (writing) but it can be done, it can be fun, beneficial, a learning experience, and all other good things wrapped into a big red bow. Sure, there are those moments when you think you can’t do this anymore, but when you do all the magic flows back. I write because I love it. I pursue publishing because I’ve always loved to tell stories and I want to get my books in the hands of readers. This year, may all our goals be reached and doubled in growth as writers. God bless all of you!!