#Excerpt from SCHOOL OF DEATHS by Christopher Mannino @Ctmannino #AmReading #YA #Fantasy

“Suzie, my gawd, you look like death.”

Crystal hadn’t changed. The smiling redhead with large blue glasses and the ever-present smell of cherry bubblegum was her best friend. She was grateful Crystal had spent the summer away. “Did you have a nice summer? How was Colorado?”

“My summer was great. Colorado’s cold. Geesh, what happened to you, Suzie?”

“I’ve been sick,” said Suzie. Not a complete lie, obviously something was wrong with her, but she didn’t know what.

“Sick?” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “You look like you’re dying.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Crystaaal. Suzieee,” shouted a voice from across the parking lot.

“Oh gawd, it’s Monica,” said Crystal. “Let’s go inside quick.”

Suzie and her friend started to walk away, but the tall, lanky girl with small eyes caught up to them. Monica. She wasn’t too bad, if you ignored her whiny voice and her inane stories.

“Hiii guys,” said Monica. “I missed youuu this summer. Did you lose weight? The funniest thing happened the other day…”

Suzie realized the worst of the day was over. She got teasing looks from the kids and concerned frowns from the teachers, but like Monica, most people were too wrapped up in their own little world to pay any attention to her. Even Crystal eventually stopped asking questions.

“Tell me again, do you like the way you look?”

“I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

Suzie snapped to attention. The day had blurred by, and she was sitting in Dr. Fox’s office, wearing a hospital gown.

“Suzie, I asked if you like the way you look?”

Suzie was cold and annoyed. The office smelled of bleach, and the fluorescent light overhead hummed like a dying fly. Dr. Fox glanced up from her notes and smiled a dry, lifeless smile she probably practiced in front of a mirror.

“No, Doctor.” She repeated the same answers she had given last time, and the time before. “I despise the way I look. I’m a damned skeleton. You can see every bone. I love to eat, I don’t purge, I hardly exercise, and I actually feel fine.”

“Yes, that’s the strangest part,” interrupted Dr. Fox. “Every test seems to indicate that you’re at the peak of health. No lanugo, no joint issues, no skin problems, and your stomach and the rest of you are actually functioning fine. I’ve almost completely ruled out anorexia, but your weight is still drastically low. It’s like your calories are vanishing into some other dimension.” She laughed. “My husband wishes that would happen with me.”

“May I get dressed now?”

Thirteen-year-old Suzie Sarnio always believed the Grim Reaper was a fairy tale image of a skeleton with a scythe. Now, forced to enter the College of Deaths, she finds herself training to bring souls from the Living World to the Hereafter. The task is demanding enough, but as the only female in the all-male College, she quickly becomes a target. Attacked by both classmates and strangers, Suzie is alone in a world where even her teachers want her to fail.

Caught in the middle of a plot to overthrow the World of Deaths, Suzie must uncover the reason she’s been brought there: the first female Death in a million years.

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Genre - YA Fantasy

Rating – PG

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Writing that Relies on Perception & More with PM Pillon @PMPillon #AmWriting #SciFi #Fantasy

Our writing relies on our perceptions, leading us down a bright or dark path if that’s how we see the world but and are infinite in variety. For instance in Dostoyevsky’s case appreciating and writing about appalling privation because he himself experienced it as a starving writer and Solzhenitsyn also as a state prisoner. Who can fail to be moved by the young man’s utter destitution in Crime And Punishment, or the Gulag convict fussing over his boots without which he would be a dead man walking?

However, there are also cases of a writer’s life being a stark contrast from her or his writing, such as Guy de Maupassant who wrote beautifully and auspiciously even as he lived a life of depression and ultimately wrote as his epitaph: “I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing.” 

We are a sum of our parts and at the same time we are a continuum, experiencing myriad states of life most often without even realizing it, with all aspects such as memories morphing into differing levels of appreciation. We forget most events and remember only a fraction, and we sometimes wish the two would transpose and we could forget that pedestrian remark dad made and instead remember something he said about mom when she was ill. If every single memory is still somewhere in our brain, until and unless a method for total recall is discovered we are forced to play with the cards we’re dealt; trudging through life with limited recollections that we can mine for our writing. A week ago I had a dream that I recognized as being a basis for a entire book as my previous books have been, but within seconds I forgot it and it’s clearly gone for good.

If we’re writing about a man whose girl friend has left him or vice versa, it helps to have some memories under our belt about amorous relationships. Writing blind about events with which we have no experience can still work if we have learned about them from observation or stories we heard from others, but it’s more problematic because more care must be taken to attain plausibility.

And ultimately our writing style will likely be the decider, such as the case of William Faulkner who gave up trying to mimic or emulate others and just wrote in his own consciousness stream and prose based on his experiences that eventually earned him universal praise and a Nobel Prize for Literature.

His celestial companion was waiting for him

Precariously climbing a sea-side cliff near Big Sur, ten-year-old Joey Blake was as yet unaware that near his grasp was an object, so odd, mysterious and alien to earth that it would change his life forever and the lives of countless others in the next few astonishing days. Reaching up as far as he could for a handhold it was just there; it had subconsciously lured him, occupied his mind, and made him find it. It was like he was meant to see and discover this object of unimaginable power … the power to change reality.

Time travel and more

This young adult series of sci-fi fantasy novels begins with The Reality Master and continues through four other exciting and amazing stories about time travel and mysterious alien devices. Joey and the reader will face dangerous shadowy criminal organizations, agents of the NSA, bizarre travelers from other times and even renegade California bikers and scar-faced walking dead.

- Vol 1 The Reality Master
- Vol 2 Threat To The World
- Vol 3 Travel Beyond
- Vol 4 Missions Through Time
- Vol 5 The Return Home

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Genre – Science fiction, Fantasy, Young adult

Rating – G

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@Vanna_Smythe on Believable Fictional Characters #AmWriting #YA #WriteTip

How to Make Your Characters Believable

I believe the number one thing that will make fictional characters believable and enable them to come alive on the page is the ability to picture them as real, living human beings. This means you should be able to imagine what they look like and how they dress, but that’s not nearly enough. To truly see them and know them, you should also be able to imagine their facial expressions, for example, how their lips curl into a smile, how they frown and whether dimples form in their cheeks when they laugh. Yet that’s still only the tip of the iceberg, since it only covers their external side.

Internally, I think the most important thing when it comes to writing believable characters is their nature, namely are they loving, aggressive, driven or passive. This ties directly into their goal in the story, as the ways they choose to achieve their goal will inevitably make their traits come to the surface. This is why it is important to know all their traits, even the ones they choose to keep secret.

Ideally, you should know at least some of these traits before beginning to write. Though if you’re more of a seat of the pants writer, you probably prefer to let the characters reveal themselves during the course of the story without you forcing any characteristic on them. But when you do the final revision, you should take care to bring all of their various traits into a logical whole.

One neat trick I recently discovered for matching up mannerisms with emotions or situations is observing actors in movies. Since you know what emotion they are going through (which may not always be the case when simply people watching) it is easier to come up with ideas of how to describe a character that is nervous, in love, sad, angry or happy.

The advice “Show Don’t Tell” applies to characters as well, and to make them as life-like as you can, it is always better to show their emotions, thoughts or actions, rather than just explaining how they feel.

For my latest book, The Grower’s Gift, I had a good grasp of the main male character Ty before I started writing, but my main heroine Maya developed more gradually during the course of the story. Although, by the time I finished the book, I got to know both of them as well as I know some of my oldest friends.

The future is bleak in the year 2102. The planet is in chaos and the weather patterns have completely shifted, turning most of the world into an uninhabited wasteland.

The rich and powerful of North America have pulled back into the six remaining megacities, erasing all trace of a central government and leaving millions displaced by the environmental crisis to fend for themselves in the dying world.

Sixteen-year-old Maya has a gift, a power she thinks can heal the earth and make it habitable again. A gift that she must learn to harness. The school for the gifted in Neo York is the only place where she can learn to control her power and reach her potential.

Yet the school is not what it seems. Ran by the ruthless head of the city of Neo York, the school’s only objective is to extract the powers of the gifted and then discard them. Only Ty, heir to the city, can keep Maya from being destroyed there. But Ty has a secret, and his loyalty to his family has never wavered.

Will his growing love for Maya be strong enough to save them both?

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Genre - YA Dystopian

Rating – PG-13

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Website www.vannasmythe.com

#Excerpt from Heavyweight - 6 Rules for #Dating by @MBMulhall #LGBT #YA

SO I’VE got six rules for dating. They go like this:

 1) Never date the same person for more than one month.

2) Never date the same person twice.

3) Always behave like a gentleman, but try to remain distant and aloof.

4) Never give more than a kiss. Preferably short pecks. Definitely no tongue.

5) For the love of God, no touching breasts!

6) Always end it with an “It’s not you, it’s me” speech, highlighting her greatness while making yourself out to be the dog.

I’ve got my reasons, and these keep me sane. Keeps most of the girls from getting too attached and keeps my balls intact after I let them go.

A brunette ball of energy bounds my way, all smiles and twinkling eyes. My name is on her glossy coral lips, and her curves are probably the focus of every hot-blooded male standing on the green. 

Holding back a sigh, I open my arms to receive her, but as she’s rocketing my way, something—or actually someone—catches my attention.

Who.

Is.

That?

Shoulder-length black hair with… are those blue stripes artfully running through it? Skin like porcelain. The sun reflects off a silver lip ring. It seems to be winking at me. Slight build, yet the skintight tee shows that he must work out.

Shit. My jaw is hanging and there is drool on my chin. My teeth snap closed, and I try to focus on the girl hugging me. Maggie’s soft body is rubbing up against mine as she greets me, but I cannot seem to avert my gaze from the new boy. Who is that Adonis?

Dream Boy turns his head and our eyes meet.

Hole-lee shit.

I swear my knees go weak. What the hell? Since when do I have lame Harlequin Romance-type reactions like that? What’s next, gushing with the girls over how hot this guy is? Somehow, I don’t think my girlfriend will appreciate that. Somehow, I don’t think anyone in this town would be down with that. Anger overtakes my lust as I picture everything I’ve worked for going down the drain thanks to this guy. I need to snap out of it.

Secrets. Their weight can be crushing, but their release can change everything—and not necessarily for the better. Ian is no stranger to secrets. Being a gay teen in a backwater southern town, Ian must keep his orientation under wraps, especially since he spends a lot of time with his hands all over members of the same sex, pinning their sweaty, hard bodies to the wrestling mat.

When he’s trying not to stare at teammates in the locker room, he’s busy hiding another secret—that he starves himself so he doesn’t get bumped to the next weight class.

Enter Julian Yang, an Adonis with mesmerizing looks and punk rocker style. Befriending the flirtatious artist not only raises suspicion among his classmates, but leaves Ian terrified he’ll give in to the desires he’s fought to ignore.

As secrets come to light, Ian’s world crumbles. Disowned, defriended, and deserted by nearly everyone, Ian’s one-way ticket out of town is revoked, leaving him trapped in a world he hates—and one that hates him back.

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Genre - LGBT, YA

Rating – PG-13

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Website http://keystrokesandwordcounts.wordpress.com/

@EileenMakysm Talks Rejection & Giving Up #AmWriting #Authors #Paranormal

For me, the worst part of being a writer is the rejection.  I tend to be an introvert (like many writers!) so it can be hard for me to put my work and myself out there in the first place.  When my efforts are met with a brief form letter or email, or, even worse, utter silence, it often makes me want to just go to bed and hide under the covers (not the most helpful of reactions).

I knew what I was signing up for when I decided to become a writer, of course; the image of an author papering their walls with rejection slips is practically a cliché, and everyone has heard the stories about famous books that were initially rejected by publisher after publisher.  But like so many things, there’s a vast difference between being aware of something and actually experiencing it.

My first rejection technically came the summer after my freshman year of college, when I sent some (truly horrible) poems to literary magazines on a whim.  All rejected.  It didn’t really bug me much, since I didn’t have much invested in those poems – which was probably a factor in how truly, truly horrible they were!  My first story rejection was a different matter, though.  It was a weird little piece about a family trying to divest a man’s estate at his funeral, while he was alive and protesting from his casket.  I did what many first time writers do: I sent it to theNew Yorker. It was, of course, summarily rejected.  I was crushed.  Clearly my work sucked.  Clearly I wasn’t cut out to be a writer.  Clearly I should just give up.

I wallowed for a day or so, but eventually got over it.  I kept writing, and kept submitting, because my desire to be a published author was greater than my discouragement at being rejected.  But it was a near thing, and that struggle replays itself every time I receive that dreaded form letter, even now.  It’s gotten a little easier to take, but I’ve also developed a number of coping mechanisms.  They keep me from spending more than, say, a couple hours in bed with the covers pulled over my head.

The first thing I do is remember that every writer gets rejected, even ones who are famous or have been at this for a long time.  That’s because there are many reasons that a story might be rejected, and quality is only one of them!  Let’s say the story has a talking rabbit.  Maybe the editor really despises talking rabbits.  Maybe the talking rabbit angle just isn’t suited for that particular publication.  Or maybe they ran a talking rabbit story just last month!

Whatever the reason the talking bunny story was turned down, it had to do with the story, not the author.  A rejection only tells the writer that the piece isn’t suitable.  It doesn’t tell them that they are a bad writer or that they’ll never succeed as an author.  And it definitely doesn’t say anything about the writer as a person.

Once these reminders have kept me from being totally crushed, I do a couple things to keep moving forward.  First, I reward myself for having put myself out there!  There’s a lovely clay pot on my desk that was an anniversary gift from my husband.  Every time I get a rejection, I put money into the jar.  The more I submit my work, the more rejections I get, and the more money goes into the jar.  I’ve been rejected a lot, so I’ve amassed a lot of money that way.  The computer I’m typing on right now was funded by that cash!

The second thing I do is immediately send the story out again.  I usually have a pretty good idea of what magazines are out there that might be a good match for the piece, so I pick one and submit!  It keeps me from second-guessing the story and getting caught up in endless tinkering.  Every writer is familiar with chasing the horizon of perfection.  At some point you’ve just got to say enough is enough.  I had already made sure the piece was the best it could be before I sent it out to begin with: enough is still enough.

This is how I’ve managed to beat back the Rejection Blues!  It’s not easy, at all, but it definitely can be done.  Above all, what’s important for all writers is that we be kind to ourselves, and keep writing!

Tara Martin – exceptionally accomplished neurobiology major with a troubled past. Steven Trent – confident political science major with an irresistible attraction to Tara. Paul Stratton – history major who is able to hear spirits. Together, they make up the Society for Paranormal Researchers at their prestigious New England University. When they’re not in class or writing papers, the three friends are chasing their passion….ghosts.

When the group learns of a local retired couple trying to sell a house they claim is haunted, they decide to investigate. As the clues unfold, a familiar spirit interrupts their investigation and Tara finds her life in danger. Can her friends save her before it’s too late?

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Genre – YA paranormal, NA paranormal

Rating – PG-13

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Website http://eileenmaksym.wordpress.com/

Leveling Up by J R Tague @JR_Tague #YA #AmReading #BookClub

“Are you friends with Adam?” asked a soft voice behind me. I shifted in my seat to see big brown eyes peeking over the seat back. All thoughts of the night before were instantly gone.

“Um, uh. Kind of. I mean, not really. Or um, not yet, I guess,” I said, sounding like a complete idiot. Her little white fingers pressed into the vinyl of the cushion and she popped her head up higher. Sitting straighter, I could see that she was kneeling on the bench behind me in order to see over it.

“How can you not know if you’re friends with someone?” She sounded like my sister for a second. I tried to banish the thought.

“It’s not that we’re not friends,” I started to explain, making even more of an ass out of myself. “We just started talking and stuff, so, I guess we’re just not really there yet, ya know?” That was, of course, the dumbest explanation ever. I didn’t even know what I was saying, so why would I ask her if she did? But it was the best I could do under the circumstances. The circumstances being, in the presence of a cute girl.

“Oh.” She paused. Then, “Usually he gets on at the stop after mine, but I didn’t see him this morning.”

“Me either.”

She looked worried. “I hope he’s OK.”

“I’m sure he is,” I insisted, not sure of any such thing. “You know Adam—I mean, he’s really healthy and everything. Probably just, uh, probably one of his friends picked him up or something.” I had made that up, but as soon as it was out, I worried I might be right. Our whole potential friendship could be on the line if he stopped riding the bus.

“Maybe,” she said, still sounding unsure.

“Um, I’m Max by the way,” I croaked out, my voice cracking in just the right spot to make it humiliating.

The girl stifled a giggle, covering her mouth with one small hand. “I’m Lily.” The bus lurched into its spot in front of the school.

“I’ll, uh, see you later.”

Lily gathered her things and stepped into the aisle, glancing over one more time before she made her way off of the bus. I stared after her for a minute before grabbing my pack and following the line of kids that had formed in front of me.

Max McKay gets a second chance at life when, after a bizarre accident on his sixteenth birthday, he is reanimated as a new breed of thinking, feeling zombie. To secure a spot for his eternal soul, Max must use his video game prowess as well as the guidance of Steve the Death God to make friends and grow up. As if all that weren’t hard enough, Max discovers that he’s not the only zombie in town. As he enlists the help of his new friends, Adam and Penny, to solve the mystery of their un-dead classmate, Max discovers that he must level up his life experience in order to survive the trials and terrors of the upcoming zombie apocalypse. And, even worse, high school.

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Genre – YA

Rating – PG

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Website http://jrtague.wordpress.com/

Rising Tide: Dark Innocence by Claudette Melanson @Bella623 #Excerpt #YA #PNR

My name wasn’t Mink, it was Maura.  The embarrassing nickname was given to me by my mother because of the particular brown of my hair.  Mom had told me I was born with a large shock of it on my head and it reminded her right away of a mink cap.  Attractive….  But my real name had been a constant source of bother to me, so much that I would cringe almost anytime I heard someone speak it aloud.  I had looked its meaning up one time, hoping for something generic, like “flower” or “happiness,” only to be stuck with “Sea of Bitterness,” glaring back at me from the web page.  When I’d growled this discovery at my mother, her apologetic tone made me see that the dark meaning wasn’t an accident.

“It was a hard time for me, Mink,” she said casting her cat-green eyes down, “but really, don’t you think it’s a pretty name?”

I hadn’t known what to say in response.  In time, I resigned myself to accepting that I was just a part of the disappointment that seemed to overwhelm her life.  I knew that I was a constant reminder of my father, whom she’d lost before I was born.  He had been the most magical thing she’d ever experienced, she’d told me once.  I guess you could say I was the consolation prize she got stuck with.  I tried hard to make up for his absence, but finally realized that none of my efforts could ever completely repair the fissure in her heart.  The realization wasn’t enough to make me stop trying, though.

CHOSEN AS ONE OF 400 FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF THE AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD FOR 2014!!!

ARE YOU A FAN OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE?

Rising Tide will sink it’s teeth into you, keeping you awake into the wee hours of the night

Maura’s life just can’t get any worse…or can it?

Isolated and sheltered by her lonely mother, Maura’s never been the best at making friends. Unusually pale with a disease-like aversion to the sun, she seems to drive her classmates away, but why?

Even her own father deserted her, and her mother, before Maura was born. Bizarre physical changes her mother seems hell bent on ignoring, drive Maura to fear for her own life. And her luck just seems to get worse.

Life is about to become even more bewildering when her mother’s abrupt…and unexplained…decision to move a country away sets off a chain of events that will change Maura forever. A cruel prank turned deadly, the discovery of love and friendship….and its loss, as well as a web of her own mother’s lies, become obstacles in Maura’s desperate search for a truth she was never prepared to uncover.

Featured on one of the most popular health blogs on the internet as a giveaway!

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Genre – YA Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG

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Website http://claudettemelanson.wix.com/author

Peter Simmons and the Vessel of Time by Ramz Artso @RamzArtso #YA #SciFi #Adventure

Portland, Oregon 

October 22nd | Afternoon Hours

I sauntered out of the school building with my friends in tow and pulled on a thickly woven hat to cover my fluffy flaxen hair, which was bound to be frolic even in the mildest of breezes. I took a deep breath and scrutinized my immediate surroundings, noticing an armada of clouds scudding across the sky. It was a rather blustery day. The shrewd, trilling wind had all but divested the converging trees off their multicolored leaves, pasting them on the glossy asphalt and graffiti adorned walls across the road. My spirits were quickly heightened by this observation, and I suddenly felt rejuvenated after a long and taxing day at school. I didn’t know why, but the afternoon’s indolent weather appealed to me very much. I found it to be a congenial environment. For unexplainable reasons, I felt like I was caught amidst a fairytale. It was this eerie feeling which came and went on a whim. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Perhaps it was triggered by the subconscious mind brushing against a collage of subliminal memories, which stopped resurfacing partway through the process.

Anyhow, there I was, enjoying the warm and soporific touch of the autumn sun on my face, engaging in introspective thoughts of adolescent nature when Max Cornwell, a close, meddlesome friend of mine, called me from my rhapsodic dream with a sharp nudge in the ribs.

‘Hey, man! You daydreaming?’

I closed my eyes; feeling a little peeved, took a long drag of the wakening fresh air and gave him a negative response by shaking my head.

‘Feel sick or something?’ he persisted.

I wished he would stop harping on me, but it looked like Max had no intention of letting me enjoy my moment of glee, so I withdrew by tartly saying, ‘No, I’m all right.’

‘Hey, check this out,’ said George Whitmore,–who was another pal of mine–wedging himself between me and Max. He held a folded twenty dollar bill in his hand, and his ecstatic facial expression suggested that he had just chanced upon the find by sheer luck.

‘Is that yours?’ I asked, knowing very well that it wasn’t.

‘No, I found it on the floor of the auditorium. Just seconds before the last period ended.’

‘Then perhaps you should report your discovery to the lost and found. I’m sure they’ll know what to do with it there.’

‘Yeah, right. That’s exactly what I’m going to do,’ he said, snorting derisively. He then added in a somewhat defensive tone, as if trying to convince himself more than anyone else, ‘I found it, so it’s mine–right?’

I considered pointing out that his intentions were tantamount to theft, but shrugged it off instead, and followed the wrought-iron fence verging the school grounds before exiting by the small postern. I was in no mood for an argument, feeling too tired to do anything other than run a bath and soak in it. Therefore, I expunged the matter from my mind, bid goodbye to both George and Max and plunged into the small gathering of trees and brush which we, the kids, had dubbed the Mini Forest. It was seldom traveled by anyone, but we called it that because of its size, which was way too small to be an actual forest, and a trifle too large to be called otherwise.

I was whistling a merry tune, and wending my way home with a spring in my step, when my ears abruptly pulled back in fright. All of a sudden, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was being watched. But that wasn’t all. I felt like someone was trying to look inside of me. Right into me. As if they were rummaging in my soul, searching its every nook and cranny, trying to fish up my deepest fears and darkest secrets. It was equivalent to being stripped naked in front of a large audience. Steeling myself for something ugly, I felt the first stirrings of unease.

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Genre – Young Adult, Action and Adventure, Coming of Age, Sci-fi

Rating – PG-13

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Website http://ramzartso.blogspot.com/

Handling the Business of Rejection by @ShelleyDavidow #AmWriting #YA #SciFi

So, you’ve written your novel and printed it out and it’s been through twenty seven drafts, and nothing, not a single word, is out of place. It’s been honed and crafted over the past two years, and your family and friends are asking the unanswerable question: so, when’s it going to be published?

Of course you can’t answer that yet, because you haven’t even sent it out. And even as you peel off the sticky stuff to seal the big padded envelope that will carry your novel to its destination, you can feel, bubbling under the surface of desperate hope and anticipation, a black cauldron of fear beginning to simmer: the fear of rejection. What if the publisher (who may have even requested to see the manuscript after reading an initial few chapters), rejects you?

After twenty-two years in the industry, and 38 books published by both big publishers and small independent presses alike, I can say with some certainty that being a novelist means in fact, to be in the business of rejection. Mostly. And that takes guts, or hide, or tenacity. And a certain amount of skill: we have to be able to discern things like, after ten rejections, is there a problem with the book, or a problem with the publishers, (perhaps I’m sending to big houses that are only accepting unsolicited manuscripts in very specific genres and I’ve mis-sent my book), or out of all the rejections, it’s clear not a single person has actually read my manuscript, or maybe the book really does fall flat and isn’t living up to what it needs to be. Here are a few tips to help minimise the number of rejections, and dealing with them when they come.

To Minimise the Sheer Number of ‘Dear Author, Unfortunately…’ letters: 

1) Choose publishers very carefully. Look at exactly what they publish and make sure it’s as close to a perfect match as possible.

2) Make sure your query letter specifically addresses why this particular publisher may find your book a good fit, and why you want to publish with them.

3) Dream big, but don’t pass up the opportunity of working with a small or mid-sized press. They often offer unparalleled dedication and commitment to making a success out of a book.

4) Submit to several publishers at once if you can find them. (Many publishers don’t want simultaneous submissions, but if you send out a novel to one place at a time, you may be 144 years old before your work is accepted). I’ve had thousands of rejections, and 38 acceptances and I’ve never had two publishers say yes to the same book at the same time!

Dealing with Rejection: 

1) Open a folder (either on your computer or in your paper filing cabinet) under ‘R’ for ‘rejections.’ Start your collection.

2) If there is anything more than ‘Dear Author, thanks but no thanks’ in the rejection letter, get over the disappointment of not being discovered as the next JK Rowling, and then be happy that someone thinks your work is worthy of a response! Read over the reasons for the rejection. Decide whether there are some points that seem helpful and/or true, which you could use to make your work better or more appropriate. Decide whether you have written something that you believe in, or whether this is best regarded as a practise run.

3) Finally, sometimes getting published is a matter of believing in what you’ve written so much, that you’re willing to wait twelve years through one hundred and eighteen rejection slips before you find someone who believes in your work. (Been there, done that!) Sometimes the only way to deal with rejection is to send your work out to another ten places so that it’s always out there.

The difference between someone who gets published and someone who doesn’t, is sometimes simply persistence! Good luck out there.

Lucy Wright, sixteen and a paraplegic after a recent car accident that took her mother’s life, lives in Queensland on a 10,000 acre farm with her father. When Lucy investigates strange lights over the creek at the bottom of the property, she discovers a mystery that links the lights to the science of cymatics and Scotland’s ancient Rosslyn Chapel.

But beyond the chapel is an even larger mystery. One that links the music the chapel contains to Norway’s mysterious Hessdalen lights, and beyond that to Saturn and to the stars. Lucy’s discoveries catapult her into a parallel universe connected to our own by means of resonance and sound, where a newly emerging world trembles on the edge of disaster. As realities divide, her mission in this new world is revealed and she finds herself part of a love story that will span the galaxy.

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Genre - Young Adult SF

Rating - PG

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S.M. McEachern on What Inspired Her to Write "Sunset Rising" @smmceachern #YA #Dystopian #TBR

Tell us about your new book? What’s it about and why did you write it?

Worlds Collide is the second book of the Sunset Rising series.  Sunset Rising ended in a bit of a cliffhanger and Worlds Collide picks up exactly where it left off.  I’ve done a lot world-building in this second novel and introduced new characters. Some mysteries from the first book are solved in WC, but new ones are added in preparation for the third book. The first three books will establish a series that could go on for infinity (kinda like Star Trek).

When did you first know you could be a writer?

I always knew I wanted to be a writer, so it’s kind of weird that it took me so long to write my first novel. I did a lot of academic writing throughout my studies and career, so I guess that helped satiate my desire to knit words together.  However, when I had my first child, I made the decision to be a stay-at-home mom (and that was a tough thing to do!), so that writing outlet was gone. Now both my kids are in school and I have more time to myself.

What inspired you to write your first book?

My teenage daughter and I do buddies reads all the time, mostly young adult contemporary fiction.  Before we started reading together, I hadn’t really read any young adult novels. I fell in love with the genre! And I already had an idea for a novel, based on academic research I had done years ago, so everything just came together and I started writing.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

If you could hit a “reset” button on the world, what would you change about it? Would you try to rebuild what we already have or go in a completely different direction? I hope the Sunset Rising series will get readers thinking about what kind of future lays before us and what they can do now to shape it.

How much of the book is realistic?

Sunset Rising is science fiction/fantasy with roots firmly planted in reality.  I think anyone who keeps abreast of world events (politics, climate change, dwindling resources) accepts there’s a possibility of a third world war. In chapter seven, my main character flips through some old, preserved magazines and scans the news headlines leading up to the nuclear war.  Three out of four of the headlines were taken directly from the news on the day I wrote that page.  I wrote a trivia question about it on Goodreads if anyone wants to check it out: https://www.goodreads.com/trivia/show/168358-in-chapter-seven-of-sunset-rising-book

Can you tell us about your main character? 

Sunny O’Donnell is a seventeen-year-old slave born in the Pit.  At heart, she’s very stubborn and extremely resourceful.  When her life starts to fall apart, and every one she loves is threatened, she looks for a way out. The “way out” means teaming up with someone she considers the enemy, but she’s willing to make that sacrifice in order to save everyone she loves.  She just doesn’t count on her enemy being a good guy. So begins an unexpected romance that seems destined to fail.

How did you develop your plot and characters?

My plot was pretty much developed when I started writing Sunset Rising. My characters always develop as I write them, which means even though I have a plot worked-out, my characters sometimes take it in a different direction.  In writing circles, I’m what you call a pantser—I write by the seat of my pants.  I have a rough outline in my head, but no direct path from point A to point B.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? 

There are two sides to everything I write: what I meant and what the reader perceives.  These two things don’t always agree.  Beta readers are the best people to let me know when I’ve missed the mark.  Then comes the hard part of rewriting what I said in order to clarify it for the reader.

Why did you choose to write this particular book? 

Sunset Rising is a cautionary tale. I’ve woven a lot of current real world problems into my story, such as: bonded slavery, human rights, poverty, nuclear arms, and corruption in the government.  It’s my sincere hope that young adults who enjoyed reading Sunset Rising might visit my blog and see the links for UN Slavery Today and United Nations News Centre.  You can find my blog here: http://smmceachern.wordpress.com/category/my-posts/

What are some of the best tools available today for writers, especially those just starting out?

The absolute most beneficial “tool” an author can have: Readers.   Readers have, and always will, determine the worth of a book.  Charles Dickens, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain were all authors that didn’t have support when they started out, other than readers. They wrote their stories and sent them out to the masses and the masses gave them feedback.  Sounds a lot like self-publishing, doesn’t it?  Charles Dickens actually did try to go the traditional publishing route, but “A Christmas Carol” was rejected, so he self-published.

How much research goes into your stories?

As a reader, nothing takes me out of story faster than bad science.  So I’ve put a lot of research into the Sunset Rising series.  The first book of the series was inspired by my academic research on the Biodome experiment in Arizona. My background in International Development (aiding developing worlds) allowed me to create the political system between the Dome and the Pit.  And in my second book, Worlds Collide, I’ve researched nanotechnology with the help of a scientist from the National Institute for Nanaotechnology (NINT) in Canada.

February 2024: Desperate to find refuge from the nuclear storm, a group of civilians discover a secret government bio-dome. Greeted by a hail of bullets and told to turn back, the frantic refugees stand their ground and are eventually permitted entry.  But the price of admission is high.

283 years later...  Sunny O'Donnell is a seventeen-year-old slave who has never seen the sun.  She was born in the Pit, a subterranean extension of the bio-dome. Though life had never been easy, the last couple of months had become a nightmare. Her mom was killed in the annual Cull, and her dad thought it was a good time to give up on life.  Reyes Crowe, her long-time boyfriend, was pressuring her to get married, even though it would mean abandoning her father.

She didn't think things could get any worse until she was forced upstairs to the Dome to be a servant-girl at a bachelor party.  That's when she met Leisel Holt, the president's daughter, and her fiancé, Jack Kenner.

Now Sunny is wanted for treason.  If they catch her, she'll be executed.

She thought Leisel's betrayal was the end.  But it was just the beginning.

"Sunset Rising" is Book One of a series.

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Genre - YA Science Fiction, Dystopian

Rating – PG-16

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Website http://smmceachern.wordpress.com