Rinelle Grey's Blog, page 14

Lots of news today. Firstly, I’ve did a great interview with Rosie Amber yesterday, and today she’s posted her review of Reckless Rebellion. Pop on over and say Hi, and join in the discussion!

AND

Check out the Space Opera Promo over at Jonathan Gillespie’s blog, and get your entries in to win a Kindle!

I thought I’d try something different today. In my novel, Reckless Rescue, Marlee has to cook everything from scratch. While I was writing the book, my editor noted that I had the children toasting marshmallows over the fire, and stated that they wouldn’t have marshmallows. I did end up taking that portion out (but more because I realised there wouldn’t be that many children in the scene), but the reality is, marshmallows are very easy to make.

So today I thought I’d share the recipe I use to make marshmallows. These don’t taste quite like the store bought ones, but they are super delicious, and lots of fun to make.

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

2 tablespoons of gelatine

1 cup of boiling water

Method:

Dissolve gelatine in boiling water, then pour over the sugar. Beat until stiff. Add flavouring if desired.

Pour into a wet mould. When set, cut into squares, and roll in icing sugar or toasted cocoanut.

Now at first glance, some of these ingredients look hard to procure, but in reality, most of them should be possible. Sugar can be obtained with little technology from sugar beets (It would have been too cold for sugar cane), and gelatine is made by boiling cartilage and bones of animals.

I wanted the settlement on Zerris to give both the idea that survival was hard, but also to show how well the villagers had managed with how little they had. And to point out that no matter how hard life can be for some people, they can still take the time to make marshmallows.

Do you have anything unusual you cook from scratch? Any great recipes to share?

I’ve seen quite a few of these “preparing” for NaNoWriMo posts around lately. I’m loving reading everyone else’s suggestions, so I thought I’d write some of my own.

Not all of these suggestions will be useful for everyone (for example, some are aimed at people with kids), but hopefully most people will be able to find something useful in here.

1. Snacks – Writing (for me) requires snacks. Preferably sweet ones. So I’m planning on cooking some up the week before NaNo, to have some on hand. No doubt I’ll go out and buy some too, mid way through the month, when I get desperate, but if I have some planned beforehand, it will help. I’m going to try for marshmallows, and maybe some brownies?

Oh all right, if you must, you can plan some healthy snacks too. I like chewing on green beans and grapes. Things that you can eat with one hand while you type with the other!

2. Plan your opening scene – I’m more of a pantser than a plotter, but I don’t like going into NaNo with NO idea what I’m writing, or were I’m going to be starting. So I like to brainstorm out some general plot ideas, and at least the first scene.

If you’re more of a plotter, then definitely, go all out plotting!

3. Make a cover – I love making covers for my books, and having the cover ready and done helps inspire me when I’m struggling. Print it out and hang it up on your wall if necessary! Even if it ends up changing as the story changes, having something to start with can inspire you.

4. Make some friends – Check out your regional forums and the different groups, add some buddies, convince your friends to do NaNo too. Post about it on your blog, your twitter, your facebook, and get as many people cheering for you as possible. The more people you’ve told about your goal, the less likely you’ll be to pull out when the going gets tough.

5. Find some distractions for your kids – Buy them a new computer game or TV series. Or even a book. Better yet, convince them to sign up for NaNo, so they can write along side you. (My 9yo is doing that for the first time this year, super excited!)

6. Find some distractions for your husband/partner/significant other – Most if the ideas above will probably work!

7. Get mobile – Sometimes, you won’t be at home when inspiration hits. If you can, prepare some way to be able to write on the move. A laptop is great, but if you don’t have one (I don’t), you can make do with an ipad, a smart phone, or even a pen and paper if you’re desperate!

9. Stock up on sleep – I don’t know about you, but for me, I’m at my most productive when I’m up before everyone else in the house. On a good day, I can tap out 2500 words before anyone else is awake. But over time, this takes it’s toll. I plan to make sure I get plenty of rest in the days leading up to NaNo, so that I can start fresh and ready to go!

10. Remember, all words are good words – Lock your inner editor in a box, and don’t let them out. Start practicing now. (It might take you a while to find the best way to keep them restrained.) I like to remind mine that she’s free to throw all my words out at the end of the month if she still wants to, but for now, she needs to shut up.

I could go on, but I’m going to leave it there. (For now, maybe I’ll post some more next week.) I’ll be posting about NaNoWriMo each Saturday for October and November, so if you’re doing NaNo too, add me to your buddy list, and check back each week!

Do you have any good tips to prepare for NaNo? Are you excited yet? Any plans on what you’ll be writing?

Today’s SFR Brigade Presents excerpt is from Reckless Rebellion, second in the barren planet romance series. This is from the first chapter, as Marlee and Tyris arrive back on Tyris’s home world. Such a good moment, when it seems like all their problems have been solved.

I wonder how long that will last?

Standing next  to Marlee, a warm glow of accomplishment filled Tyris as he watched Urslat come closer and closer. Eventually, the planet  filled the entire viewscreen. The sun glinted off one side of the planet, barely  matching the bright, welcoming lights that lit up every  corner of the continent below them, outlining its shape clearly. Slowly, the Hylista  orbited the planet, until Tyris’s own continent appeared on the horizon, bathed  in sunlight, with the space dock tethered above it.

“You made it. You’re home,”  Marlee murmured.

Tyris nodded,  choked up. Home. Not long ago, he’d believed  he’d never see it again. Yet, here he was.

Marlee put a hand  on his shoulder, and he put his hand on top of hers and looked down at her with a  smile.

The beep of the  computer behind him broke their moment. “You’d better sit down and belt up,”  Tyris told her. “We’re landing on the space dock, so it shouldn’t be rough, but  it always pays to be careful.”

She took the seat  next to him and fastened her seatbelt, as Tyris checked the flight path that had  been sent to his console. All looked good, so he confirmed the path and followed the directions, landing smoothly at Hanger Three near the terminal.

He took his hands off the instruments, put them in his lap, and just sat for a  moment, trying to take in the fact that he’d finally arrived.

SFR Brigade Presents is a collection of snippets from a group of Sci-Fi Romance authors. Check them out to discover other cool snippets.

Today I’m participating in Indie Life, a feature run by Indelibles. Basically, everyone posts about something related to indie publishing, and visits everyone else. To see who else is involved, check out the linky list.

Since releasing my new book, Reckless Rebellion, last month, I’ve had a really good lesson in the power of writing series. I had my best month ever, despite having almost no movement on my first novel in the first few weeks of the month.

Reckless Rebellion came out on the 18th, and almost all my sales for the month came after that, so in reality, my best month ever was concentrated in a week and a half’s worth of sales!

I’m only a week into October, and I’ve already surpassed my best month with only one novel. I can’t wait to see what the tally is by the end of the month.

I had a few strategies for my launch, though nothing expensive or hugely time consuming.

1. I made Reckless Rescue, the first novel, free for the first three days of Reckless Rebellion’s launch, and it was it I promoted, not the second book. I made sure I had the blurb of the second book (not an excerpt) in the back of the first. Note that my first book is a complete story, but does leave an overarching plot point hanging at the end. I suspect that a lot of my sales were follow through from the first book.

2. I made sure I had a mailing list (at Mailchimp) before my last free promo. I only had about 25 signups, but a large percentage of them opened the message and clicked on the link, so I suspect some sales came from there.

3. I sent out ARC copies of Reckless Rebellion a few weeks before the release, so I had a couple of reviews ready to go on the day the book went live.

4. And the most important thing is, put out the best book you can. This would have failed if Reckless Rebellion hadn’t been interesting enough for people to want to know what happens next.

After this success, I’m doubly sure I need to get working on the next book in the series. My plan is to do that for NaNoWriMo this year. I’ll be updating on my NaNo progress each Saturday in November.

Have you written a series? Do you prefer to read/write series or standalone? And of course, are you doing NaNo this year?

This makes it real! Finished the cover for Reckless Recon last night. What do you think? No blurb yet (because the book isn’t written!), but this is my very summary summary of the plot.

A carefree surfer leaves everything he’s known for a chance at a new life, following his brother and sister-in-law to a barren planet, one destroyed long ago by a meteor. But what he will find there will surprise him.

He might even find the new life he was looking for…

If you want to be notified when it’s released, sign up for my mailing list below. (No spam, I promise, only new release notifications.)

We all know that feeling. You’re part way through your draft, or even maybe into your edit, when you realise something horrible, awful, terrible. You have no explanation for why the evil baddy is determined to exterminate your character from the face of the earth or die trying. Of course your whole plot hinges on the fact that he wants to, so you can’t change that, but you need a reason, and a good one.

If you can’t come up with something, no matter how hard you try, where do you go next? These are my four suggestions for ways to climb back up out of that plot hole.

1. Talk to a friend – Either a writing friend, or a reader. My first stop is usually my sister, who’s a big reader, followed by a few online writer friends. Sometimes, they give me a great suggestion, other times, just talking about the problem helps me come up with my own solution.

2. Stream of Consciousness – This is something I rarely do, but when stuck in a plot hole, sometimes you have to give anything a try! I write down my problem, and ‘talk’ out problems as I write, something like this:

What if my main character picked on his sister when they were kids? No, that won’t make my character likeable! How about if the baddy thinks the character picked on him, when in reality, the character meant something completely different? That might work. But how can he make that sort of mistake?

And so on. You get the picture. This one has helped me out of a couple of more complex plot holes.

3. Research – if your plot hole concerns a technical, science, or medical issue, do some research. You might just find that there’s a solution out there already. I did this when I realised that Marlee’s canning seals would never have lasted 20 years, and found out there is already a product that does!

4. Take a break – If all else fails, take a break from the problem, go for a walk, listen to some music, or catch up on some of that housework that’s been being put off for months. (No, I don’t do that here, I’m just… guessing…  yes…) You might find that the solution comes to you when you least expect it. Usually when you don’t have a spare hand, or a piece of paper, to write it down! Be prepared!

Have you ever tripped into what seems like an inescapable plot hole? What do you do to climb your way out again?

Sorry, missed yesterday’s SFR Brigade Presents post, because I was at my sister’s working on the cover for Reckless Recon. We’re making progress, but it’s not quite ready to show off yet. Hopefully in the next week or two!

Today though, I’m thinking about NaNoWriMo. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a competition where thousands of novel writers get together online, and challenge each other to write a 50,000 word novel entirely in the month of November. The only criteria to win is to finish 50,000 words! They don’t have to be good words, they just have to be written down.

I’ve been doing it since 2006, and I can owe most of my novels (finished or otherwise), to NaNo starts. Without it, I wouldn’t have any idea that I could actually write 1667 words a day, or more! I would never have realised I could actually finish a novel.

This year I’m going to be writing the rough draft of Reckless Recon, the next book in my barren planet romance series, all about Kerit, and what happens to him on the planet of Semala. I have so many ideas for this novel, and I can’t wait to get stuck into it. (OK, so I have actually started a little, which fits into the NaNo Rebels category, which is only a little breaking the rules. Sshhhh.)

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Have you ever dreamed of starting a novel, but haven’t found the time? Come join us in this crazy month! Feel free to add me as a buddy, and we can cheer each other on!

One of the most important things, when writing in third person point of view, is to make sure the reader knows who’s head their in, preferably within the first sentence. It’s no use opening a chapter with a big description of the surrounding scene, if the reader is too busy wondering which character you’re talking about to notice your elaborate descriptions.

One way to make sure the reader knows who’s point of view they’re seeing the novel from is to mention their name early on in the chapter/scene. Like this:

Marlee hovered in the doorway to the village hall, scanning the room. There wasn’t a single person here that she wanted to talk to, but she had already tried staying home and avoiding everyone.

Once you’re in the scene though, and everyone knows who’s head they’re in, you still can’t forget point of view. You have to remain careful to not mention anything your character doesn’t know. Even if you’ve just come from the other character’s world, you need to write as though you dodn’t know what just happened.

An example is this scene from Reckless Rescue. The hero, Tyris, is unconscious, and my POV character, Marlee, has no idea who his is, or where he’s from.

What she felt wasn’t real attraction, it couldn’t be. The excitement bubbling along her veins was because of what he represented. A world she had never seen. A world without the hardships and restrictions they faced here. A world where she could make her own choices.

She examined his face one last time, as if she could see an imprint of that world in its shape. If… no when… he woke up, perhaps he would talk to her about it.

Point of view is more than that though. It gives us a chance to really get into a character’s head, hear their thoughts, and get a real feel for who they are. Don’t forget to write the scene in your POV character’s voice as well. If you’re referring to another character, make sure you use the name that character would use. Don’t call your POV character’s mother “Yasmyn”, say, “her mother”. If the character doesn’t know another character’s name, then use a descriptive tag until they do (and perhaps a little while after).

When I write from Marlee’s POV, I’m careful not to refer to technology she doesn’t know exists, even in well known sayings. She tends to be a little more excitable and dramatic than Tyris.

Marlee felt like she’d been head-butted in the stomach by a goat. She had that same feeling of all the air rushing out of her lungs, followed by the knowledge that in a few minutes, she’d be on her behind in the dirt. She jerked back, out of his arms. “How can you agree with them?” Her eyes filled with tears.

If I’m in Tyris’s head, he’s more focused on technical things, and he tends to be slower and more measured. He sees the world differently to Marlee, and focusing on this helps highlight the differences between the two main characters. In this scene, right after he regains consciousness, he has no idea where he is, who Marlee is, or what she is doing.

The rhythmic clack-clack, clack-clack pulled Tyris from sleep.

He lay in a hard, scratchy bed, the light dim. He couldn’t see much, but his eyes were drawn to the only movement—a shape in the corner of the room. A girl sat at some sort of wheel, her hands moving surely, engrossed in her work. He watched her for a moment, his mind blank except for the sight in front of him.

Her dark hair hung past her shoulders and her young face, lit only by the light of a single lamp, was absorbed on the wheel in front of her. There was something appealing about the way she was completely focused on her work, not even aware that he was awake. She didn’t pause to check her phone, didn’t glance up at a television.

Like character voice, point of view gives us a chance to really establish who our characters are, and draw us into their world, seeing it through their eyes. Don’t waste it by having them all sound the same.

What point of view do you prefer to write or read? Do you have any tips to share on writing different points of view?

Today I’m over at Coffee Time Romance, talking about what sci-fi has to offer romance. Come on over and check it out, and check out the posts by many other sci-fi romance writers as well!