Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

Posted by Raven M on 4:32 AM in

I just wrote this, so it's pretty rough.

But it's a random scene from Lost & Found.

I'll try to get to everyone's when I get home from work.

Enjoy.

***

"Maybe we can rob somebody," he sung, eyes closed, fingers strumming the chords of his acoustic guitar effortlessly, like he's been doing it since the beginning of time. I feel my cheeks flush, the longer I watch him.

This is a private moment, I can tell by the way his lips pull at the corner, the way his voice melts over the words that is pouring out of his mouth, the way he rocks side to side to the melody of his own music.

"Show them how we feel." He plucks a few more strings, and I think about walking away, leaving before he opens his eyes and finds me standing in his doorway.

But I couldn't move. His music paralyzed me. "If we're really nobody, then maybe we're not real." He began tapping his foot, stumping out another beat. It sounded like a drum, only it was softer, fainter, it made the next line in his song soar through my ears, and into my heart.

"Baby, won't you take my hand. I'll lead you out of this place." Low slid his hand down the guitar, making me shiver, because he touched it the way he would if he was making love to somebody. Not like I knew that from personal experience, but he was gentle in that way. The word hurt and pain weren't in his vocabulary, only he was hurting me as he played his song, as the words sunk in.

It was about me and him, leaving, escaping. He wanted me to run away wit him, he wanted me to take his hand, and go to the edges of the universe, with him. He loved me, only I didn't love him.

My eyes burned as tears began to gnaw at them.

"We can be together forever," he whispered. "We'll leave this human race." On that last note, his eyes opened, and as always, they found me, picking me out of the darkness with their intensity. His eyes were like a muddy ocean, I drowned in them, because his words left me so lost, so angry, so sad that I didn't know what to do anymore.

"Kendall," he breathed, and my bones thawed. I backed away from the doorway, away from him. "Kendall."

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Query

Query

Posted by Raven M on 10:46 AM in

So, I am a HUGE Maroon 5 fan.

And I am in love with their latest song Misery.

It's really catchy, and the video is funny. Poor Adam!

But anyways, I started thinking about querying and writing and agents and I thought "Hey let me write this song from a writer's perspective." So that is exactly what I did.

This is song is nowhere near perfect, and I haven't queried a day in my life, so basically the song is just for fun, so enjoy.

Oh and here's the original lyrics for Misery.

Verse 1

Oh yeah
Oh yeah
So scared of messing up
Making mistakes that I can't mend
And I wrote two hundred drafts
That I know I won't ever send
It's bad enough that it sucks
Worse than the WIP
I'd rather curl up
Then write this damn query
So let me be
Let me trunk this story

Chorus

I can't write this query
Isn't there anybody
Who can write it for me
Oh yeah!
Why won't the agents answer me?
There silence is slowly killing me
This book really got me mad
It really got me mad
Is it really that bad
Is it really that bad

Verse 2

Your painful rejection, and how
it makes me want to whine
The way it feels so much
like a sign
Not that I don't care about it
It's just, I really don't know
It's not what I'm querying,
It's what I didn't show
So let me be
Let me trunk this story

Chorus

I can't write this query
Isn't there anybody
Who can write it for me
Oh yeah!
Why won't the agents answer me?
There silence is slowly killing me
This book really got me mad
It really got me mad
Is it really that bad
Is it really that bad

Verse 3

You say the story is not for you
Dear agent, how you make me blue
You keep me wide awake and
Waiting for inspiration
I'm fighting a war I'm gonna lose
So far away from finishing
That I'm getting closer
to trunking

Why can't I write this damn query, yeah
Why won't you represent me, represent me, yeah
Why can't I write this damn query, yeah
Why won't you represent me, represent me, yeah

Chorus

I can't write this query
Isn't there anybody
Who can write it for me
Oh yeah!
Why won't the agents answer me?
There silence is slowly killing me
This book really got me mad
It really got me mad
Is it really that bad
Is it really that bad

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RTW: My Greatest Posts

RTW: My Greatest Posts

Posted by Raven M on 3:49 PM in

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival hosted by the lovely ladies over at YA Highway. Every Wednesday they present a question, that readers are invited to answer on their own respective blogs.

This week's topic:

Give us a link to the best blog post(s) you've ever written!

I know I am not the best blogger in the world.

I hardly post, but I do have a few good ones up that I am sorta proud of.

If you haven't read them, then I guess now's your chance. :D

RECIPE FOR A YA PARANORMAL ROMANCE

This post is one of the recent ones I've done. It was supposed to be really goofy and sarcastic, and basically it's a light rant about the paranormal romance scene in YA. I'm not attacking any books in particular, just the overall genre, and the trends I've been noticing.

ONCE UPON A TIME

Mostly all of my great post, come from Road Trip Wednesday. Really, they come up with the best topics. But anyways, this post is about why and when I started writing.

BEING BEAUTIFUL

This post was inspired by Kristin Otts who started a meme where people post a picture of themselves, and talk about beauty means to them, and I really liked that idea, as well as my post, because it came straight from the heart, and I didn't know I felt that way about beauty, and about myself, so take what you may from it.

BULLYING

Ah...this was a very emotional post, namely because I am a victim of being verbally bullied and it just made me feel sick to know that people still belittle others to the point where they commit suicide. I cried while writing that post, so it's not really great, but it meant something to me, and I hope that it meant something to the people that read it.

YOU AND ME CAN WRITE A BAD ROMANCE

I seriously had a girl-crush on Lady Gaga, but that is not what this post is about. It's about romance in YA, and how I think it needs a HUGE makeover, because some of the relationships in these YA books are not love...they're lust and infatuation which are completely different from love and romance. But I totally, got the idea from Choco, which goes to show that none of the blogs I write, are my ideas. *ahem*

GIRLS CAN KICK BUTT TOO

This title is pretty self-explanatory.

So there you have it.

You get funny (hopefully... I try to be funny, but it never works out for me) and serious all rolled into one blog.

Do you have any particular post that you are proud of?

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

Posted by Raven M on 4:34 PM in

I am rewriting.

Or at least I am trying to.

Here is a snip of what I have gotten done so far.

It's pretty self-explanatory, I hope.

***

"Hey babe," Cord whispered in my ear. Water seeped through my shirt, as he pulled me into him.

"You're getting me wet," I murmured, which made him laugh. His chest felt like an engine against my back. Of course he would find that funny. He always heard double meanings in words, especially when he was drunk.

"I could do more than that," he said, spinning me around, so that I was nose to nose with him. Brown hair dripped into his sparkling eyes, and a smirk pulled up the corners of his lips. He pressed them against mine, forcing them apart, slipping his tongue inside, making my head feel like it was on a carousel.

I pressed my hands against his chest, and pushed him away, not really wanting to make-out because every time we did, he always wanted to take it to the next level, and we weren't going there tonight. We weren't going there ever.

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday

Posted by Raven M on 7:44 PM in

This blog feels so empty.

Wasn't going to blog, but I feel guilty so here goes a tease from the fantasy novel that has been plaguing my mind.

It's an experiment so YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

***

The village was lit up like the night sky, lights twinkling, putting the stars to shame. An assembly of colors danced across Sera's vision, as she sipped her cup of tea. It's sweet taste wasn't enough to calm the butterflies that gnawed at her insides.

Sirens wailed in the distance, signaling not only the end of the war, but the approach of the entire army. She could see the soldiers marching towards the gates of the kingdom, their torches raised high in victory.

Though it was hard to tell how many there were, she wouldn't have been surprised if all of the men who went out to war had come back, alive.

"They're in good hands," she thought, sure that the mug would shatter into a million pieces underneath her fingertips. Her grip had tightened, and all the hope she had felt for the soldiers, had been abandoned, because if her brother wasn't amongst them, then there was no reason to be happy.

Sera still couldn't get over the fact that the king picked a seventeen year old to command an entire army, but he had, which brought both grief and pride to Sera's family. Grief because they didn't know if Nevir was going to return home or if he was going to be seriously injured. Pride because it wasn't a secret that he was the finest fighter in the kingdom. Not only could he wield a sword, but he had the ability to predict his opponent's next move, even before they got a chance to strike.

Sera was certain that no man could bring down her brother. Even the king - who atoned for his short stature with thick bands of muscle that wrapped around his arms, and legs - was no match for him.

Taking another sip of her tea, she tried her best to keep thinking he is alive, he is alive, he is alive, not wanting to accept the possibility that he might be dead.

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Saturday Snippet

Saturday Snippet

Posted by Raven M on 11:37 AM in

Because it's Saturday and because I feel like sharing, here is the beginning of something I just started. I find it funny how I get ideas right around the time I have to start editing.

***

Music blasting, bodies moving, hands feeling. Long, bony fingers exploring every inch of my body. Lips nibbling my ear, sending chills down my spine.

"Jason," I slurred, grabbing a hold of his shirt. He takes it the wrong way, and pushes me deeper into the couch. I hate his lips. I hate how they feel on my skin. So sloppy, so wet.

They crash against mine.

I close my eyes.

No fireworks there. No fireworks ever.

He lets me come up for air. It's now or never.

"Jason."

"Wha..."

I wrinkle my nose. His breath reeks. It smells worse than my dog's poop, and believe me when I say that I would rather press my face into a pile of Spot's shit, then be here, kissing the biggest ass of all time.

I still can't believe I went out with him.

"Get the fuck off of me." My words are like puzzle pieces scattered across the floor, even so, Jason gets the big picture.

He pulls away, "Come on, babe."

"I'm not your babe, Jay. Now get the fuck away from me."

"You never used to be like this."

People were always saying that to me. My mom, my dad, my best friends, and sometimes, when I wasn't drunk enough, high enough I would look in the mirror and say it to myself. So it wasn't like I didn't know I was different.

I just didn't want to accept it.

A huge smile lights up Jason's face, making his eyes even more electrifying then they already are. "Your point is?"

"My point is that you used to be fun, Sky. Skinny dipping in neighbors' pools, making-out in the backseat of my car, staying out all night drinking and partying, doing whatever, now you're..."

"Different? Yeah, I know."

"I just want to know why, babe. I mean, you used to like making out with me," he said, poking my nose.

"Don't touch me." I smack his hand away, and he starts to laugh. It's a wonder that one of his many girlfriends never told him that he was in need of a tic-tac, or better yet, a toothbrush.

I reach for my purse, hoping that I have some mints on hand, but I come up empty. Leaning over, I scan the floor, hoping my knock-off Coach purse was beside my feet, but nothing is there.

Oh, shit. My fucking purse is gone. My fucking keys were in that purse, which means I can't go home unless I find it. Even so, someone would have to drive me, and I doubt anyone would be able to considering the fact that everyone here is drunk out of their minds.

Fuck.

"You okay?" Jason asked, and I glare at him, because if he hadn't came to bother me, I would remember where my purse was at.

"No, I'm not."

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The Recipe for Lost & Found

The Recipe for Lost & Found

Posted by Raven M on 7:51 AM in

Yesterday I did the recipe for a YA Paranormal Romance, and it looks like I got a few takers. Hopefully (if you write one) your PR will turn out to be a hit, and agents will eat it up and someday your little book will be on the NYT list. Okay, I stop.

But on a serious note, I have been thinking about my own WIP a lot. I was reading it yesterday, and I just started fangirling over it, because even though there are A LOT of plot holes and scenes that really don't make sense, there are scenes that are beautiful and wonderful and...yeah.

There were just some paragraphs I couldn't believe I wrote, and well this novel wouldn't been written if I didn't extract inspiration from all over.

So, without farther ado, here is the

RECIPE FOR LOST & FOUND

1 book by Sarah Dessen (preferably Dreamland)
1 outrageously good movie (yes, I'm talking about The Clockwork Orange)
A gaggle of bands + singers from across the pond
Three (technically two) love interest
A main character who is not your average Bella Swan
A small paranormal element

1. Dreamland was an amazing book. I read it a long time ago, but even now it still sticks with me. When I came up with the idea for Lost & Found, I used the relationship between Caitlin and Rogerson to mold Kipling and Kendall's relationship. Rogerson deals drugs, and abuses Caitlin just like Kip does, but I feel that the abuse in L&F is way more intense than it was in Dreamland. While reading that book, I kept thinking that this can't be all an abused girlfriend goes through, and I wanted to explore this 'abuse' a little bit more in my novel, and that is exactly what I did.

It was hard writing those angry, tense scenes between Kip and Ken because they aren't even in a romantic relationship, though Ken really wants to be in one despite the fact that he abuses her. I know I talk a lot about how I think there should be more strong female leads in YA, and I know that you might be thinking "WTF, why does she love a boy who abuses her?" Well, even though Ken is a lot stronger than her aunt who had raised her, I wanted Ken to be clueless when it came to dealing with boys, because she has no males in her life, and the relationship she has seen first-hand is the one between her aunt and her verbally-abusive boyfriend, Ray. Throughout the story, Ken changes, and with change comes her strength, the realization that she shouldn't take mess from any man.

2. The Clockwork Orange is one of those movies that really made my eyes sore, in a good and bad way. Not only was it very explicit and crazy and weird, but it made the creative juices in my head flow. Um, Lost & Found is a book about teenagers who are neglected by the adults in their lives, they are teens who feel like they should be able to take what they want, when they want it. Basically, if they could do so, they would run the world. That is how Kip feels, and because of that mentality, The Clockwork Orange is his favorite movie. (Okay, I know that's not essentially what that movie is about, but if you dig deep into it, you'll find some sense of morality.)

3. Music is essential to any novel I write. It's essential to this novel because Low (one of the said three love interests) is a singer and songwriter. I love American bands and singers, but musical acts like Coldplay, The Script, Richard Ashcroft, Adele, Keane, and a whole lot more make something in my heart fly. Their voices, the lyrics, especially the lyrics, are beautiful and they just fit.





4. Ah, how I LOVE love interest. They make the world go round. There are three in mine, but tis is a lie, because Kip isn't a LI, technically, even though Ken has this weird crush on him. Though, I'll admit Kip can be a real charmer when he wants to. Um, but the other two candidates for Ken's heart is Low, who is sweet and caring and everything she doesn't like a.k.a Lowell Fitzgerald a.k.a Kip's little brother, and Ellis Vega, the sexy *fans self* hot painter who thinks that Ken is {SPOILERS}. More on that later. But the three male leads in this story are pretty sexy, and I had nothing to do with that. They just knocked on my door one day with their smoldering eyes and said "Put us in your novel" and I was all like "Why should I do that?" and they were all like "Because we want you to write us" and they said that in such a smexxy way that I couldn't resist.

5. Kendall isn't like any character I have ever read about before. She just showed up one day, and I've been with her ever since. Lost & Found is really her story, and she is the one telling it. I am just her devote vessel in which she uses to get the words out. I love how she starts off being "lost" not in the sense that she physically can't find her way but emotionally she doesn't know who she is or what she wants. Towards the middle of the book, she catches a glimpse of the person she has to be in order to survive, and to save a girl who isn't meant to be "lost" It is when she realizes that she can be strong, that she is essentially found, hence the title of the book.

If you read this entire post, then here are some virtual cookies.

Now you know what my novel is about.

There's a lot more to it, but here's where I got the inspiration, and now that I'm rewriting it, I hope the next draft will be better than the last.

Now it's your turn: What's the recipe for your novel?

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Recipe for a YA Paranormal Romance

Recipe for a YA Paranormal Romance

Posted by Raven M on 2:44 PM in

RECIPE FOR A YA PARANORMAL ROMANCE

1 main character (preferably female)
2 love interests of the paranormal persuasion
1 (0r more) quirky best friend(s)
A whole bunch of cliches
A zillion soppy-love scenes with a side of sexual tension
1 cliffhanger ending

1. Once you have your main character (assuming that she's a girl) make sure that she is every bit of a cliche. Make her weak, vulnerable, clingy, nice, sweet, happy, make her self-conscience, make her so naive that it hurts.

2. After you complete the first step, insert two love interest (assuming that they are of the paranormal persuasion) make sure that one really really wants your main character, but he stays away from her because he thinks he is a.) too dangerous and because he is b.) trying to save her precious precious life. As for the other love interest, make sure he has an ulterior motive, and make sure that he and the first love interest hate each other because this will make your book even more alluring and perfect and A-MAZING.

3. Please DO NOT forget the quirky best friend. Even though your perfect book may revolve around the main character and her two beaus, you don't want everyone else to know that. So add in as many unique, crazy, quirky friends you want, because it isn't a perfect book if you don't have any random characters in it, right?

4. Cliches are perfect for YA novels because everyone LOVES them. They are all the rage in the YA world. Trust me.

5. Sexual tension is an important ingredient. It's vital to a story where two guys are fighting over one ordinary, plain-jane. But you know what else is vital? Infatuation. Yeah, don't even worry about making the love mean something. When I mentioned cliches, one of the most important cliches that you will ever use is the 'love at first sight' one. Yeah, a lot of writers use that so go ahead and throw that in there.

6. CONGRATULATIONS. You are THIS close to finishing your YA novel. You have gotten past the climax, but you haven't figured out who your MC is going to choose. That's okay, because that's what cliffhangers are for. With a cliffhanger at the end of your book, you have the right to write another book so your readers will be on the edge of their seats WAITING for more.

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