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Published: Saturday, 07 March 2020 05:52
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Written by Michelle
The San Francisco Writers Conference was fantastic. I met with a lot of great writers and just people in general. I learned a lot about the industry and got excellent advice. The biggest hurdle I faced was to nail my manuscript down to a single sentence. Early Sunday morning, while walking to the conference, I totally nailed it and was beaming for most of the day.
“As one who carts dead knights off the battlefield, Ari must overcome her past and the desire to remain anonymous to prevent Maribelle from seizing the throne and continuing forty more years of war and destitution.”
Now, I just have to rewrite a pitch that works with that. After the conference, I have a better aim at what the agents are looking for in a pitch rather than what I had before: the beginning of my synopsis.
But first, I am reading. I asked an agent about books that are creating a stir in the fantasy industry, and receiving a reading list. Now, instead of stumbling through the library bookshelves haphazardly, hoping to find a book similar to what I’ve written, I have references that I’m devouring with great enjoyment. N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season beautifully scientific intertwined with what is utterly human and well done. I’m trying my best not splurge on the rest of the series, but will check my library once I'm done with the others. I’m finding V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic is a really nicely paced adventure book. Both books have magic being more like conscious entities rather than tools. They’re similar to what I’ve done with the meige, only it’s more in the vein of Shyamalan’s The Happening.
You’ll be hearing more updates from me this year. I’m moving forward.
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Published: Saturday, 18 January 2020 08:39
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Written by Michelle
A year ago, I took a class on pitching manuscripts to agents. I learned a great deal about the process of finding an agent and am quite grateful I took the class. I also learned that I had written several books...
I spent a few months tightening a manuscript that I considered the beginning of the bunch. When I tried to write up a pitch for it, I realized that the premise of that book was not as inherently interesting like Ari, my Raven girl who cleans up dead bodies from battlefields. With a goal of landing an agent and then a publisher, I need to lead with my most interesting and pitchable story. If I am liked and well received, pitching other books will come more easily. So I shelved that other manuscript as a possible prequel and have been focusing again on Ari, my Raven, ever since.
Read more ...
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Published: Sunday, 02 December 2018 08:57
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Written by Michelle
I’ve been writing addictively for about six months now.
I’m working on a full novel (series?). It’s long, over 500 pages long and can cleanly be divided into at least three books. It is by far the most beautiful material I’ve ever written, better than the Raven material on this website, and much better than the writing in Kingdom and Curses. I can’t wait to share it. It’s romantic and horrifically violent in a negative way.... I don’t glorify the violence. It’s full of women who are clever and brave and work hard and actually do things; they make decisions that matter rather than just fall in love. I’ve grown tired of the damsel in distress. Even the typical warrior woman annoys me these days, so I’ve opted for some ladies who go against the usual “your life ends after marriage and kids” storyline… It’s freakin’ awesome.
The new story is all written down now. Each chapter exists in various draft stages; the writing in some chapters is cleaner and more polished than others. I’m abandoning my self-publishing efforts for now. I am attempting to entice an agent and publish through more traditional venues.
I won’t be publishing any more of the Raven stories nor editing any videos for a while. By all means, the actions of Ari the Raven affect my new material. Her adventures continue on in this new book, heavily influencing the plot, but, in my limited time, I need to focus my attentions elsewhere, like on editing over 500 pages…
Perhaps I’ll show you a preview this year as a Christmas Special. :)
Until next time, I leave you with something I wrote down this summer.
My muse, she does not sleep. She whispers to me in the darkness, burrows sweet tunnels in my mind that lace and weave together the most intimate of stories. But please, my sweet muse, release me but a night so that I may sleep!
MAP of the Warrior Kingdom
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Published: Saturday, 09 June 2018 06:28
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Written by Michelle
Welcome residents of Santa Cruz County. In an effort to be rid of another box in my house, I've added a free book to all the Little Free Libraries I could find in Santa Cruz county. I'm absolutely honored by your visit to my website. My little book, Kingdoms and Curses, started out on the East Side, then expanded on the West Side, and finally got finished up in the SLV mountains. It truly is a local book...
For my old fans, the Raven's adventures do not end perched on top a mountain... Ready for our Raven's next adventure? I am almost ready...
WHAT'S OLD?
I hit a lovely detour last Autumn. Taking a big break from our Raven, my husband and I (and our wee children) bought and moved into a house last September. After moving a billion boxes, celebrating, losing my office, starting kindergarten, self-pruning fifty rose bushes, and chopping off 6-8 foot watershoots off an ancient apple tree, I rested. Then, I began writing again.
WHAT's NEW?
More adventures? YES. And not just our soloing Raven.
The Raven exists as only a small fragment of a larger novel I'm working on. These legs or story bits will come together into a full on octopus of a book that is obviously linked together.
Our next adventure comes from a cute, loving backstory to some of the main characters you have yet to meet...
