November 30, 2011

Want to Win a Fiction Critique from Me?

I’m stealing this from Holly Black because her description is so perfect:

“ There’s a big crazy auction going on to benefit Terri Windling. She’s the creator of groundbreaking fantasy and mythic art and literature over the past several decades, ranging from the influential urban fantasy series Bordertown to the online Journal of Mythic Arts. With co-editor Ellen Datlow, she changed the face of contemporary short fiction with The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and other award-winning anthologies. (And that’s a painting of her with her dog Tilly, above, done by one of her friends, David Wyatt.) Right now, she could use a little help. Here’s a FAQ page with more about Terri and details about the auction itself, which is running until December 15th.”

I am offering a personal critique. You can BID HERE.

I will personally read and critique a one-page treatment (summary) of your novel or short story & up to the first 15 double-spaced pages of that novel or story. I will return your treatment and pages with comments within 8 weeks. Date of submission must be mutually agreed upon and be submitted to me between December 15, 2011 & December 15, 2012.

There are tons of amazing items up for auction like:

Want a character named after you in Holly Black’s new novel?

Want to name a character in a Cory Doctorow novel?

Want to have dinner with Tamora Pierce?

Want Charles deLint to write you a haiku and put it in a locket?

Want Cassandra Clare to write you a story?

November 17, 2011

Writing Inspiration: What’s Really in My Head & Where It Comes From

I’ve been thinking a lot about what inspires me to write.

There are the usual suspects:

 
• - Feeling different and crazy and lost in high school.
• - The worlds I wished I could live in & the things I wished I could do in them.
• - People I’ve loved & people I’ve hated (hint: they usually get killed in my books & stories).
• - My personal demons (you know, those voices in our heads we can never quite escape).
• - Music I’m listening to; lately, it’s lots of Soundgarden, Bruno Mars, Velvet Revolver, The Smiths, The Killers, The White Stripes, old U2, Adele & Kings of Leon.

Inspiration comes from a million different places, but when I started UNBREAKABLE & the short stories I wrote for two upcoming anthologies, I noticed that my writing inspiration was coming from another place.

Images.  Pictures I couldn’t get out of my head & I pieced together to create places, characters & narratives that seemed to come out of nowhere.  I’m not sure why it surprised me.  I used to be a mixed media artist & my paintings incorporated found images that never quite fit together until you created the story of the painting in your mind.  I never titled the paintings for exactly that reason.  I didn’t want to influence the viewer’s story.

This one is hanging in the hallway in my house…

So I started collecting images,  Pinterest account, a great way to save images by project or category.  I tend to update it all the time if you want to see what’s going on in my head (or find a great pie recipe).

Here are some of the images that inspired UNBREAKABLE, my solo novel that releases in fall 2013 & short stories that will be published in two upcoming anthologies (Melissa Marr’s SHARDS & ASHES and one that is unannounced).