Reblogged from A Woman’s Wisdom. Geoff West a man of many hats, writer, editor, journalist and photographer.
Funny Cat and Dog PlayFights on YouTube
This morning I’ve been editing my manuscript and I came across an advice note to add more detail to a little comical fight scene between a cat and a dog in my story. I don’t own any pets so I thought I would watch a few videos on YouTube for inspiration. Glad I did, it was very cute and entertaining. Boy, those cats can stand up for themselves! Enjoy.
Either watch on the full screen icon option below or head over to Youtube.
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I’m too sexy for this book! YALC panel event
I’m too sexy for this book! Am I talking about myself again? Eh, I think I better confess it was a YALC panel event, and it was rip roaringly entertaining. So of course, I want to share it with you. The chair James Dawson started off the proceedings by donning a fetching crown, announcing his role as Queen of Teen! Well, he deserves the title as he now has his first YA book out, Hollow Pike, watch out, witches never sleep! A very fetching Queen he was too. I was sitting next to my teenage daughter, well she’s eighteen, and still a teenager, just, and I heard her giggling just as much as me throughout the proceedings. This panel event was an absolute MUST.
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James Dawson introduced us to the panel of fellow authors, Cat Clarke, Non Pratt and Beth Reekles who were more than happy to join in with a frank and illuminating discussion about sex and sexuality in YA. There was no skirting around the issue, sex reared its head and was allowed out to play.
Should writing sexy scenes be an issue in YA?
Why not write sexy scenes? Cat didn’t feel that writing sexy scenes should be an issue. Non said that she was a “horny and curious” fourteen year old. She wanted to read ‘horny and curious’ books. Beth was fifteen when she started writing Kissing Booth.The Kissing Booth was winner of the Most Popular Teen Fiction Watty Award, and was also shortlisted for the Young Adult Romance Novel of the Year in the 2014 RNAs. Non Pratt’s Trouble touches on a subject that all parent’s dread, teenage pregnancy. The overriding opinion of all the panellists: kids are exploring anyway so why not write what’s happening, rather than pretend that it isn’t happening. Well, this takes me back to my teenage self, I remember reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I don’t suppose I told my mother I was reading it but there you are. We’ve all been there, done it. Nothing has changed.
What’s the process of writing a love scene? How do you get in the mood?
Beth
I don’t go out and buy a flower. Maybe she should! This Passion flower is getting me in the mood! She watches romantic movies, and reads chick lit, and tries to write with her younger teenage self in mind. What would she have wanted to read at that age?
Non
Likes sex to be graphic, realistic. In order to get in the mood, “she hammers it out!” Her words! She writes her favourite scenes first, drinking, fighting, and sex scenes! Hey, Non, don’t hold back!
Cat
She has a sexy time playlist, via twitter which includes Prince but stays clear of Rod Stewart. She likes to write revenge sex, check out her book, Undone, in Goodreads it is described as ‘A searing story of love, revenge and betrayal.’ Don’t get on the wrong side of Cat, she scratches!
Gatekeepers reaction to sex in YA books.
Non
Fear creates taboos. Parents and children don’t like to think about each other having sex. This sounds fair comment to me! Non didn’t have to alter her sex scenes but she did have a problem with the bureaucracy that tends to accompany school visits. She found that form filling, and opposition on the grounds of parents not liking it or on religious grounds were evident in school visits. All of these can of course be a problem for writer’s of YA ‘sexy’ books.
Cat
Parents don’t like to see sex in YA books. They like to see good, worthy content. It’s crazy. Cat hasn’t had too much trouble with gatekeepers (agents, editors). She has never had to change her books, even though there is an oral sex scene in her book. Cats just get away with so much don’t they?
Beth
Is aware that some of her readership tends to be younger, say eleven years old, so she writes her books with that in mind. When Beth goes on Goodreads she find that parents sometimes have problems with content. Hey, stay away from Goodreads, they’re bound to tell you off!
The chair, James Dawson has so many enlightening things to say. He announces that kids are at the mercy of google and it is better to read a novel than to be subjected to much harder hitting sexual images on google. I absolutely agree.
With that in mind should there be age ratings on books? All the panellists said…………………………. you guessed it NO.
Has Fifty Shades of Grey paved the way?
Both Beth and Non were published after 50 Shades came out so did this make it easier for them?
Beth
Beth felt that Fifty Shades has lifted the taboo to a certain degree.
Non
Fifty Shades was titilatting, and there were fourteen and fifteen year olds reading Fifty shades.
James Dawson steered the panellists onto the subject of Taboos.
Non
Non’s taboos: Religion, alternative hole use! Her words! Prefers good vanilla variety sex, and recommended Helen Walsh’s The Lemon Grove. This sounds a great read. Thanks for the tip Non.
Beth
Religion. Depression. Wary of graphic sex due to the age of her readership.
Cat
Torture. Yes, I agree with her on that one.
What about New Adult?
Non
Don’t believe in New Adult, think it is a marketing tool.
Beth
It’s a way of labelling books for gatekeepers.
Cat
Excited when she heard of the term New Adult, she thought it was about kids going to University. She would like to see books about that time in a young adult’s life. I agree.
In Cat’s opinion violence is more disturbing than sex. Sex is private. Violence is more visable, nobody complains about children killing each other in the Hunger Games. A very valid point.
Influences:
The panellists were influenced by the following authors:
Laurie Halse Andersen’s Speak. Liz Bankes’s Undeniable
Sarah Dessen, John Green, Stephanie Perkins, Courtney Summers
My final thoughts on I’m too sexy for this book!.
This was the most entertaining and funny of all of the talks, and makes me wonder whether I should write sexy YA? Could be fun!
Well, that’s about it folks for sex in YA. I hope I haven’t misquoted anyone. If I have made any mistakes, or omitted anything many apologies.
Disclaimer: I couldn’t hear a damn thing so don’t blame me if I got it all wrong!
Authors websites:
http://authorbethreekles.tumblr.com
http://www.wattpad.com/user/Reekles
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Panel Events YALC How To Get Published
I thought I would share with you some snippets of wisdom from the YALC Panel events on Sunday 13th July. I’ve been a bit slow about getting to this, but I have an excuse. My mother in law is visiting so I have been busy entertaining her, taking her out and about. So apologies for my tardiness. The UK’s first ever YA Lit Con, curated by Malorie Blackman, exclusively at London Film and Comic Con, was held at Earl’s Court from 12-13 July 2014. First of all before I launch into telling you about the panel events I just want to say how much I enjoyed attending the YALC event. It was g-r-e-a-t!!!
My bookish daughter, and I went along together and had some lovely mother, daughter bonding time. This was great as she will be leaving the nest in September to go to University so these little moments are very precious to me. We were fortunate to be able to join in the activities on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Though we didn’t manage to go to the pre-view evening, which was a bit of a shame, as we missed out on getting an ARC of Landline. Quelle dommage! Anyway I have remedied this by buying one on-line for my daughter and I am sure she will be happy to lend her copy to me. She better or there will be high drama!
What was the event like?
Well we arrived a bit later than I would have liked but luckily I had a ticket that allowed us entry without joining the long queue. Sorry long queuers, I really felt for you. I am so glad I spent the extra money for the jump the queue tickets or else we would have been waiting a very, very, long time. The queues were ridiculously long. On arrival we were stamped, this kind of reminded me of my time as a University student. In those days a compulsory stamping was required to get into the Student Union for a night out. So that was a nice flashback in time. Unfortunately we took a while to get through the crowds to the very back of the far left hand corner of the event where the YALC was being held. It was a nice corner with soft beanie bags and bookish stands but boy did it take us some time to find it. Obviously they like to hide us bookish types away in a corner.
Consequently I missed the first workshop, Planning and writing a kiss-ass YA novel. So I was a tad disappointed. Though it turned out that all the workshops were organised on a put your name down and if you’re lucky you’ll be one of the thirty who gets to join in. I was not very lucky, in fact I only managed to attend one workshop all weekend. Still that one was super awesome. Meet the agent: speed pitching for authors, with Amanda Preston & Louise Lamont (LBA Books.) Believe me I need all the help I can get with a five-minute pitch. Speed is not my forte! Hey I do Tai Chi, 5 minutes, that’s how long I take to get out of bed in the morning!
All the panel events were so entertaining, that I soon forgot my initial disappointment at not being able to attend the first workshop. On the Saturday, we began by finding a seat at the Dystopia panel event chaired by James Smythe, “It’s the end of the world as we know it: the ongoing appeal of dystopia,” with Malorie Blackman, Sarah Crossan and Patrick Ness. Malorie Blackman got right into the spirit of the event by dressing up!
Also we enjoyed Regenerating the Doctor: reimagining famous characters, with Charlie Higson, Andrew Lane, Patrick Ness and Marcus Sedgwick, chaired by Steve Cole, and Bring me my dragons: writing fantasy today, with Frances Hardinge, Amy McCulloch, Jonathan Stroud and Ruth Warburton, chaired by Marc Aplin.
Oh and last but not least, Heroes of Horror! With Charlie Higson, Will Hill, Derek Landy and Darren Shan, chaired by Rosie Fletcher. These guys just love killing off characters, oh and they have no intention of ever-growing up!
It was a Saturday full of books, and fun so it couldn’t have been more perfect. Oh, and the cosplayers were amazing there were Doctor Whos, Sherlocks, Witches, Manga/Anime characters, Game of Thrones, ……………. and some scary guy on stilts, very frightening.
On the Sunday, the first panel was at 11.30: How to get published with Phil Earle and Sally Green, chaired by Ben Horsten of Penguin Books. Ben Horsten began the panel talk by introducing us to Sally Green, debut author of Half Bad,and Phil Earle, author of Being Billy, Saving Daisy, Heroic, and The Bubble Wrap Boy. Phil Earle took five years to get into writing. He changed his career and became a children’s bookseller. During his time as a bookseller he developed an interest in literature, and in particular, young adult fiction. In the panel event Phil Earle emphasised the importance of finding the right home for your writing. Trust your gut instinct. If you find the right home they will believe in you and do all they can to help you succeed. Sally Green agreed that it was important to have a good working relationship with publishers.
Are editors “Angels and devils?” Or are they a mix of both? Sally recommended learning how to edit your own book. Having feedback buddies, analysing other people’s work, and developing a willingness to change, learn, and improve. I totally agree, I am a member of a writing group here in Cambridge and have found this really helpful. Sally’s advice is to keep on going, even the most famous authors can take a long time to get there. She mentioned that Iain Banks wrote three books before the Wasp Factory was successful and he didn’t give up.
Phil Earle emphasised the buzz, and encouragement that editors can build. Phil jokingly said that when you approach an agent, or an editor make sure that you stay sober! No Stalking! “Don’t chase the market.”
Ben Horsten of Penguin Books is on the look out for writing that inspires his attention and has different kinds of polish. It has to have an amazing voice. A nugget, a ‘Je n’ai sais quoi.’ It is a tough market for debut writers, but don’t despair publishers are on the look out for the next generation of writers.
Phil Earle discussed debut writers. He said that debut writers have a unique quality, they are bright and shiny. Bloggers like debut writers. I have to agree with Phil Earle on this one. There is nothing like encouraging a new writer to find their voice and succeed in a difficult market. Again, writing communities are great, as are blog sites, and wattpad. But above all else be suggested be passionate!
Phil Earle has used editing agencies – Cornerstones – and found this useful. Sally was a bit wary of parting with money and suggested swapping manuscripts with other authors. Given her background – I believe she was an accountant before the creative bug hit her, this sounds likely advice from Sally! I’m also a bit loathe to part with money too, I’m sort of with you on this one Sally, but we’ll see I may have to succumb, and pay. At the moment I’m using trusted people to read and give feedback on my manuscript. Hopefully that will be enough.
Sally emphasised the importance of working on your manuscript, and not getting too side tracked by social media! Good advice! Wish I had thought of that!
Ben Horsten suggested checking out profiles of a few authors and how they connect with their fans on social media. This sounds like great advice……
Other snippets of writer advice from the panel: Develop a good profile on twitter. Find an agent, using the twitter hastag, #askanagent. Make sure your first three chapters are the best they can be and also that you have a two-line pitch that delivers, and your synopsis just cries out to be read.
My advice: When attending these events remember to bring food and a lot of water. A nice sandwich would be awesome. It was very hot and sweaty inside the venue. So wear minimal clothing, but don’t get arrested. In fact I felt quite sorry for some people who were dressed in elaborate costumes, how could they possibly survive? So come prepared. Let’s hope that YALC is an annual event, I want to go again! Oh and next time I want to dress up! I wore my glasses this time, next time who knows what I will look like!
Authors websites and information:
http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/yalc/yalc-schedule
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Orkney Idyll – Scotland is cold but is so Beautiful!
Found this great video of Orkney via Moz @Mozford on twitter. So beautiful, tranquil, must visit, an idyll. No wonder the Italians were inspired to build the Italian Chapel in Orkney. It may be cold in Scotland but it sure is beautiful! Philip Paris’s book The Italian Chapel, my review, http://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2014/07/04/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-the-italian-chapel-by-philip-paris/
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My Kyrosmagica Review of Half Bad by Sally Green
Goodreads Synopsis:
Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy’s struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.
You can’t read, can’t write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.
You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.
You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.
You’ve been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.
All you’ve got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.
My Review:
I am a big fan of fantasy and love witches, and magic, so Half Bad by Sally Green just said read me. I found the opening chapters of Half Bad really gripping, and Sally Green did a great job of drawing me into the story.
The main protagonist Nathan is the son of the Blackest of black witches. Nathan is unwanted, a baby that is hidden away in a drawer. His birth is not a cause for celebration, a card at his birth, says “Kill it.” His early life is horrendous, he is kept in a cage and subjected to a rigorous routine of exercise and torture which would make most mere mortals buckle, but Nathan has the blood of his father, Marcus in his veins, and his father has just a bit of a reputation. Nathan is an outsider, who is not accepted into white witch culture and is not a fully fledged black witch either. Sally Green does a great job of exploring alienation and prejudice in witch culture and serving it up as a thoughtful reflection for modern-day issues. Also Sally Green’s questioning whether White witches are just as bad as Black witches is an interesting, and thoughtful theme in the book. Will the most evil Black witch of all time have a soft side?
The story takes us on Nathan’s journey to find his father and find his place in this society. So in a sense it is about growing up, and the choices we make, some decisions can and do have disastrous consequences. Along the way he is constantly questioning, and debating issues of morality, and struggling with his conscience. If he sides with his father, and becomes a fully fledged Black witch will he sell his soul to the devil?
Unfortunately I felt that the promise of the opening chapters did not quite deliver what I was expecting in the latter part of the book. I did feel for Nathan, but his journey to find his father just didn’t quite capture my attention in the way I would have hoped. I found it difficult to connect with some of the supporting characters, apart from Gabriel, Mercury, and Nathan’s brother Arran, and I ended up feeling a tad disappointed when I finally met super black witch, Nathan’s dad, he just didn’t quite match up to my expectations. The build up was so good, “I know it was him. Only he can make time stop, ” but the dialogue in the final chapter just didn’t quite hit the spot for me. He just didn’t come across in the way I expected. I couldn’t quite picture him.
Though, in Half Bad’s favour I found Sally Green’s use of second person narration developing into Nathan’s first person, point of view an interesting and different way to approach the novel, and I really liked this. I really enjoyed the detail about the witch’s eyes. “Oh well, like nothing else, really. The nearest I can say is that they are thin slices of silver and they move around, twistin’ and turnin’, like bits in one o’them snow-shaker toys. That’s what it’s like.” I also think Sally Green did a grand job of creating a sense of Nathan’s separateness and uncertainty, and his shocking ill-treatment when he picks a white witch for a girlfriend. Again elements of prejudice keep creeping their way into this novel, and are handled really well. Also Nathan’s branding at the hands of the council, his tattooed fingers, is an excellent, and imaginative idea. I won’t say any more on that one, as I don’t want to spoil the book for you! So for a thoughtful read about witches that is a bit different from what you have read before this has to score points most definitely.
Would I recommend Half Bad? It was pretty good, but there is so much more to come. I sense that the second and third books in this trilogy will be so much better, after all this is Sally Green’s debut, and writers tend to progress and improve with future books, so yes I would say read Half Bad, and follow the progress of this author. Also I believe the Half Bad is going to be a film, so that can’t be Half Bad at all! Sally Green really has done remarkably well. She was at YALC at Earl’s court in London this weekend and I was amused by her background, she only started writing four years ago, previously she was an accountant who didn’t consider herself particularly creative, well she certainly discovered her creativity, and good luck to her.
Recommended for readers of Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Witches. Magic.
My rating:
This was a difficult one for me to rate. I was quite torn, it felt that it wasn’t quite a four star for me, and yet it was above a three star, so I settled for giving it 3.75 stars!
DISCLAIMER: “As of 13th September 2017 we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
My opinions are my own and any reviews on this site have not been swayed or altered in any way by monetary compensation, or by the offer of a free book in exchange for a review.
Links:
Kindle UK: http://amzn.to/2fM2Jfg
Paperback UK: http://amzn.to/2wgQdKI
For more details of Sally Green and Half Bad: www.halfbadworld.com
Have you read Half Bad? Do leave a comment below I’d love to hear from you.
Bye for now,
Marje @ Kyrosmagica x
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Our Purpose Together
Reblogged from the Pioneer Journal. Grasp that inspiration by the hand and share your knowledge with others!
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Our Purpose Together
Reblogged from the Pioneer Journal. Grasp that inspiration by the hand and share your knowledge with others!
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My First Award: The One Lovely Blog Award
I had a nice surprise when I returned from the UK’s first ever YA Lit Con, curated by Malorie Blackman, held at the London Film and Comic Con, 12-13 July 2014, in Earl’s Court in London. I have been nominated for my first blogging award, the One Lovely Blog Award by Marie Abanga, http://www.marieabanga.com. Thanks Marie for thinking of me, and nominating me for this award, such a delight for a new girl on the block to blogging. 🙂
The rules for this award are the following:
1. Thank the person nominating you and link back to them in your post
2. Share seven things about yourself
3. Nominate fifteen or so bloggers you admire
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know
Well here are my seven things about myself that I am prepared to tell you. I tend to be quite secretive but I will tell you this much:
1. I’m a Scorpio. I have a sting in my tail. My sting doesn’t manifest itself much but when it does you may say ouch! Only kidding, I’m a gentle Scorpio, with a passionate nature!
2. In the Chinese zodiac I am a rabbit. I hop about everywhere, graze, and like the good life. Sounds like me!
3. I am a female Peter Pan, I have no intention of ever really growing up. That’s why I am attracted to writing children’s, middle grade, and YA novels.
4. I went to a private school in Edinburgh. It wasn’t quite Hogwarts, but it was quite posh. I don’t own a broomstick but black cats seem to like me.
5. I love the underwater world, I snorkelled and swam with a Barracuda when I was fourteen, luckily it didn’t attack. I have eaten Barracuda but that is another story!
6. I admire daredevils: skiers, rock climbers, extreme sports enthusiasts but am a complete coward myself. When I write I can be whoever I want to be, it is such a fun ride, the ultimate buzz, the hero possibilities are endless.
7. My best accomplishment to date are my wonderful children, you make me so very proud. 🙂
I struggled to pick just fifteen blogs to nominate. I had so many awesome blogs in mind but have managed to narrow it down. They all are so deserving of the One Lovely Blog title and I hope they would like to accept the award.
I would be my great pleasure to nominate the following super, lovely blogs for this award:
The Paper Butterfly, a delicate dancer with health issues who has had to hand in her ballet slippers but has now turned her creative spirit to writing. http://www.thepaperbutterfly.wordpress.com
D.Dominik Wicklesromance, for your romantic take on spicing up our love lives with a touch of oriental wisdom. http://www.ddominikwicklesromance.wordpress.com
Marcia Meara for Bookin’ it , author interviews, and book reviews.http://marciameara.wordpress.com
Eclectic Alli for her bit of this, and that, and her meandering dreamy thoughts. http://eclecticali.wordpress.com/
Paul Militaru for his wonderful photography, http://photopaulm.com
Ekaterina Botziaou, for her entertaining blog on everything Greek http://ekaterinabotziou.com/
Bonnie for her cheery lovely blog which truly deserves the title bonnie. http://thebonnyblog.com/
Traditionally Modern Food for all those wonderful Indian recipes that I drool over. http://traditionallymodernfood.wordpress.com/
Word Musing, a beautiful blog all about words, poetry and short stories. http://wordmusing.wordpress.com
Victoria Davenport of Coffee, Write, Repeat. A budding YA writer, with a fantastic blog, whose tag line writing life one word at a time is memorable and to the point. http://coffeewriterepeat.wordpress.com/
Globe Drifting, this wonderful world of ours encapsulated in a blog! You must visit. http://globedrifting.wordpress.com/
Therapy Bread, not just a blog about bread these edible creations feed the spirit, body, her friends and family too!http://therapybread.com
Wise Monkeys Abroad, a wonderful world playground to explore http://wisemonkeysabroad.com/
Irenedesign 2011 for her wonderful gemstone jewellery. I had to add this one as I’m as a bit of a jewellery addict!http://irenedesign2011.com/
and last but not least, Lucy Powrie’s Queen of Contemporary YA Book blog that I have just discovered. Excellente!http://queenofcontemporary.wordpress.com/
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Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony
Reblogged from D.Dominik Wicklesromance. Chinese Tea customs and ceremonies. Very interesting.
The purity of tea represents pure love;
the stability of tea stands for faithful love;
the fertility of tea represents many children.
The first written record of a tea ceremony was during the
Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A. D.).
At a traditional Chinese wedding the tea ceremony is a significant event, formally introducing the bride and groom and showing respect to their families.
After exchanging vows, the couple will serve tea to the groom’s family (the bride would have served tea privately to her own family earlier) or, as a more modern approach, tea will be served to both the bride and groom’s families together.
This act shows respect and gratitude to the parents for all their years of love and care. Sometimes the bride and groom will kneel while presenting the tea or sometimes they will bow. The parents will be seated and the order in which the tea is served…
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M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 