IY: What We Learn From Books (and TV, I guess)

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Ileandra Young

I’m having a wonderful Twitter conversation about Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Yes… I finally decided to talk to people properly on Twitter about those things that interest me. If you want to join me there, seek me out: @ileandraXraven.

Anyway, Buffy. Vampires. Blood. Sex. Da Shared Brain as a 14 year old loner who prefers to make stuff up on paper rather than chat to real people.

When people say ‘formative years’ I don’t think I realised how much so. Y’see, in doing a bit of soul searching DSB has going through old diaries (there’s loads of them, from about 1996 onwards!) and watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer right from Season One. She hasn’t got far – only Season Two – but already it’s plain how much the show influenced my early writing.

Oh, wait. Have to do this:

Right. Okay. I feel better now.
…

Anyway…
If I look back at To Be A Teenage Vampire all the clues were there. Ileandra was a lot like Buffy (despite being a vampire) in that she was strong, driven, loyal, dedicated and spiritually powerful. She was a teenager. She had family problems to deal with. Boyfriend woes. School. I pretty much just took Buffy, made her black, turned her into a vampire and ran wild with it.

And I’ve never seen that (clearly) until now.

I’m fascinated by this because teenagers are, by their nature, impressionable. They’re learning. They’re gathering information on the people they’re going to become and most of that information comes from the media. Yes, there will be school and family and friends, but music, films, TV and of course  BOOKS have a massive influence too.

My bookshelves

So what are we teaching them? Are we teaching women to be strong, independent, loyal and resourceful (Buffy Summers… Katniss Everdeen) or are we teaching them that the only way to be happy is with a man at your side (Bella Swan) or that we can save the poor tortured soul, just by trying something new – even if you don’t really fancy it and/or you’re slightly scared by it (Ana Steele -_-). Yes, before you say it, I realise these examples are coloured by females, but it’s just what comes to mind.

I don’t write YA but that doesn’t mean that young adults or new adults or younger still won’t end up reading what I do write. If my own life is anything to go by then 14 and 15 year olds could easily be reading Stephen King and Shaun Hutson right now. DSB certainly was (in between Mills & Boon and Sweet Valley High *shudder*).

Basically I’m saying we should pay attention to what messages we’re sending with our words as they will have a big impact on the generation of people running the nursing home you end up in. 😉

grandpa with a walking stick, clipart

Credit: pnx

I’m interested though, and this Twitter chat has opened up lots of thoughts. What did you read/watch when you were younger? How much of an influence did it have on your life then and does that feed through to now? I’d love to hear from you. Talk to me about it!

new ileandra signature,

Posted in Ileandra's Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RS: I Haz Planz 15/01

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

What a lovely week. It started shitty (I was ill on Monday, a weird 24 hour bug of sneezing-coughing-death-ness) and then two days worth of break in the middle while The Sprogs were at nursery. Got lots of things done too, plenty that I can afford to be pleased with myself. Let’s see.

Actions Last Week

~Finish Kindle Read of ‘Malcolm’ and get it sent to beta readers
Yep. Got the read down and the story sent off to three amazing betas. Two responses so far with plenty of critique/feedback for me to get my teeth stuck into. We’re on schedule where that’s concerned.

~Outline the special (compilation version only) special story for the end of the ‘Meeting Each Other’ series
Done. It’s just a little thing, shorter than all the rest. But now I know exactly where I want it to go, it will be easy to get it written and packaged ready for the compilation.

~Finish my blog tour posts for Breathless Press
Done. My first stop (if I have the date right) was 12 Jan over at Dawn’s Writing Nook, so if you haven’t been there yet, wander on over for a gander.

~Read through ‘Slippers & Chains: Second Base’ fully, the initial First Pass
Done. Ahead of schedule too. It took a look of head bashing to stop myself leaping ahead to the next stage. To actually have a break and work on other things that needed to be done too.

Activities For The Week

Now and only now am I allowed to start Deep Edits on ‘Second Base.’ I want to take this steadily and keep an even pace so I don’t burn out. This is what things are going to look like:

  1. Complete Deep Edits on 12k words of ‘Second Base’ (which takes me up to the scene with Karen and Pete chatting in the garden).
  2. Perform Beta Edits on ‘Malcolm’ using comments from (very, very kind!) beta readers
  3. Write the special (compilation version only) special story for the end of the ‘Meeting Each Other’ series

Thoughts…

goal shooting goals from open clip artHmm. Like I said, not leaping ahead is going to be the hardest part. I found that last week, given that I was done with my First Pass so soon, Da Shared Brain was able to spend a lot of time on Caladria work. I also found that all three of us are significantly less stressed and easy going.

Forcing myself to keep to the schedule outlined by DSB means that I have forced breaks. This is something that didn’t happen last year and is, in part, what lead to me falling to bits on odd occasions. It will be interesting to see how this method pans out over the coming months.

I was also given notice of a competition that I’m considering entering. There is a snippet in the raw draft of ‘Second Base’ that I know won’t make the cut. I could clean up that snippet and easily enter it as a stand alone short story. First prize is £1,000. Not bad, eh? 😉

What are you going to be doing this week? Have you gotten over the back-to-work-blues, yet?

Raven's Signature In Black

Posted in Goals Posts *haha!*, Raven's Posts, Slippers & Chains | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

RS: COVER REVEAL! – Slippers & Chains: Sugar Dust

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

Today is the daaaaaaaaay!

Didn’t hear from any of you saying you’d managed to snoop out the new cover. *shakes head* Aaah well. Much easier to wait until I give it to you, right? 😉

Well, since ‘Slippers & Chains: Sugar Dust’ is out next week I think it’s about time you all got to see the stunning cover designed for me by Taria Reed.

*drum roll*

Sugar Dust Cover art

Wheeeee!

There…. Now if that isn’t enough to set your heart pumping I don’t know what is. I adore this cover and I can’t wait to see it on sale! ^_^

Blog Tour

big red bus OpenClipArt

Hop on the Sugar Dust Tour Bus!

Gotta update this list with more of the links. I have them all now and I also need to correct Coffee Time Romance. I’ll be there on 19 Jan (not 12 Jan as previously stated). If you want to be part of the fun (and be in with the chance to win a free copy of Sugar Dust!) be sure to visit the stops on the tour.

Dawn’s Reading Nook – (1) 13 Jan
Coffee Time Romance (2) – 19 Jan
Katie Babbles (3) – 21 Jan
Savy Authors Appears (4) 22 Jan
Romance Reviews Today (5) – 22 Jan
Love Romance Passion (6) – 22 Jan
Urban Fantasy Investigations (7) 23 Jan
Romancing The Book (8) – 23 Jan
Romance Junkies (9) – 23 Jan
Erzabet’s Enchantments (10) 26 Jan

Next week I’ll treat you all with an excerpt, one you’ve not yet had a chance to read. ^_^  Hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am!

Oh and I’m looking for a way to celebrate this release as it (really) is a big deal. So what do you think I should do? Wine? A movie with the Funk Master? What? Gimmie your ideas, peeps!

Raven's Signature In Black

Posted in Raven's Posts, Slippers & Chains | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

IY: Mah Plans 12/01

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Ileandra Young

goal shooting goals from open clip artEvening folks! Hope you had a good weekend. ^_^ I know it hasn’t been all that long, but it feels like I’ve been lax on goal setting. Which obviously I haven’t. New year and all that, round ups and long term sketching, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway! Raven already talked briefly about the changes you’ll see in these posts going forward and Da Shared Brain already gave you an overview of how we’re hoping this year is going to go. All that remains now is for me to officially post my bits and then get the hell on with doing it.

Overall Plans for 2015

  • Edit ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ to completion
  • Publish/submit ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ (this hinges on the final response from Angry Robot following my news this morning ^_^)
  • Draft ‘On A Knife Point’ (min 100k words)
  • Issue all remaining parts from the ‘Chapters of D’nai T’keyah’ novellette for newsletter subscribers (monthly)
  • Write at least eight ‘chunks’ (about 32k words) of the new newsletter subscriber story featuring the drama-triangle between Michael Garran, Diavian Hatara, Macasha Luke and Ileandra Young (yes, yes, I know! Another character with my name! Trust me, before the story publishes I’ll deal with that issue and rename her. *smh*)
  • Edit ‘On A Knife Point’ to completion

Targets For January 2015

checking off feedbackHuh. Well in light of that I guess I’d better take a look at my the year planner DSB wrote up. *scans* Huh. Raven has control for this month and half of the next, meaning there are no difficult jobs for me while she’s editing. Eeeeeexcellent!

  • Outline (in full) the overall arc of the first 32k words of the drama-triangle and decide how the words will be split between the four characters (which make three groups, unless I plan to give Luke his own chapters. Hmm… maybe…)
  • Come up with a better title/phrase for drama-triangle (or better yet, title the damn thing!)
  • Check the outline for On A Knife Point and make sure I’m happy with all aspects

Activities For The Week

A light month for me. I would take it easy but that’s not really an option. DSB has lots of stuff to do for Caladria and should start writing more regularly for Creative Frontiers. Since those things were, last year, attributed to me, I promise I’m not being as lax as it looks I am.

  • Prepare and send January’s newsletter to all subscribers
  • Name the drama-triangle (ugh)
  • Outline Michael Garran’s story

Ooooooo! I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally be writing about Michael Garran. I just- he’s so- oh boy! You’ll see, promise. When I finally manage to get some words about him down on paper you’re going to love him so much. He’s such a foul mouthed, grumpy, violent, sadistic young man, but he didn’t start that way. You know what they say about character growth, progression and all that junk? Well this is it. This is exactly what happens to Michael and at last I get to write about it without missing out on something else. Boo-yaaah!

Thoughts…

I mentioned that DSB has lots of stuff she’s doing too, but she doesn’t really have a presence here other than occasionally sticking her nose in. I think (unless you guys would like to hear more from her?) that I’ll report on what she’s doing. Like last year.

girl in purple asking questions

What do you think? Leave a comment, let us know!

I think the trickiest part of this month will be not leaping ahead and starting on something I’m not supposed to be working on. Raven needs to get ‘Second Base‘ out of the way as it has far more chance of finding a home than any of the ‘Saar’s Legacy’ trilogy at this time. Of course that may change but until that point I really) need to just take it easy and not leap ahead.

I don’t want to burn out half way into January!

new ileandra signature,

Posted in Goals Posts *haha!*, Ileandra's Posts, Saar's Legacy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

IY: Squee! *dances around the room*

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Ileandra Young

I’ve sat on this for a whole five days *ugh* just so I could tell you in this blog post. Da Shared Brain told Dave, then her mum and then the Phoenix Writers so all that remains is for me to tell you.

Drum Roll Please…!

Angry Robot have asked for the full ‘Silk Over Razor Blades‘ manuscript. ^_^

say what meme

Seriously… whut?!

Now… I don’t want to get ahead of myself here – I still don’t know what the final answer is going to be. But even I, pessimistic and lacking in confidence that I am, can’t deny that this is good news. So I won’t deny it.

I’ll just enjoy it and dance around the room like a loon (sorry, no video this time).

But Wait, There’s More!

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I put the first 300 words of ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’ up for a thorough critique with James McCreet in Writing Magazine. I got an email response last year, but the latest issue of the magazine has a two page spread in it all about my book, with the critique too.

And… even better… it’s a very fucking positive critique!

*huff huff*

I don’t swear often (I usually leave that for Raven) but I didn’t want to believe it when I got the initial email. But now I have it printed, in black and white, in a magazine that all the regular readers will see.

I’ve not been so happy about magazine exposure for a looooooooooong time! ^_^

my critique in WM from James McCreet

Yep. This is it! ^_^
Sorry the pic is so dark.

I only wish it was for sale now as that would have been sure to give sales figures a little boost. *sigh* Ho hum.

I don’t care, I’m happy!

And that, I think, is where I’ll leave it. Thanks everyone. You’ll know about any answers from Angry Robot as soon as I do. Promise.

new ileandra signature,

Posted in Ileandra's Posts, Saar's Legacy, Silk Over Razor Blades | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments