NaNoWriMo 2018

HAPPY NaNoWriMo 2018.

It’s day 1, and I’m done with today’s count. I didn’t do what I said I would do in October, but this month I get serious. Follow along with my word counts to stay on track with your own WriMo goals. We can encourage one another.

The minimum to reach 50k by the end of the month and “win” NaNoWriMo is 1,667 words a day. My personal goal, as usual, is 2,000 a day. These extra words add up to a lot of cushion for days you just can’t make it happen, and with the Thanksgiving holiday, those kind of days are likely.

Best of luck to all WriMoers! And remember, there’s no limit to how rough a rough draft can be. This month is for telling yourself the story. Next month is for making it presentable. So, just get SOMETHING on the page. Every day. Here we go!

Today: 2,112 words
Total: 11,543

Vicki Baty Reviews Humans In My House

Humans In My House (series book 1) Chapter 4 illustration, art by Victoria Lyons, 2015

Vicki Baty, Co-Owner of Bookends, a wonderful new and used book store in North Myrtle Beach and book blogger at Beach Walk Book Talks, reviews Humans In My House (series book 1). Review republished with permission. Full article of her other Independence Day reads and recommendations at the link.

 

“Humans In My House by Amanda Marsico – There are terrific self-published books for children as well as adults and this one by Amanda Marsico is very enjoyable.  A cat having been dumped by a human, is living his life in an abandoned house.  He has a lovely time living a life of freedom until he meets some special children who teach him what friends, loyalty, love, and home are all about.  The sequel – Humans In My House and the stars above it continues the adventure.  These are perfect middle school reads.”

 

**Personal note: I make a point not to alter my reviewers’ words or thoughts about my books. However, I don’t want readers to be misinformed. Although the review calls these “middle school reads,” I want you to know that the Humans In My House series is marketed for 8-12 years as this is the industry-standard range used for “middle grade fiction.” 12 years is pushing the age where these books may no longer challenge even if they still amuse. My typical customers range from 7-10 years. Humans book 1 is the easiest of the series, followed by book 3, and book 2 in ascending levels of difficulty.

 

 

~Cover Reveal~ Ontogenesis: Acephalous Book 2

Available on Amazon July 6, 2018.

In book 2 of the Acephalous series, Breena must contend with the results of her previous actions. As book 1 follows her to rock bottom, book 2 sees Bree wake up to reality and make a plan to clean up her messes. It is a long road to Gehenna, and to reconciliation, but she has learned to forge ahead with others’ interests at heart rather than escaping as in the past. While certain conflicts are put to rest, others still seethe beneath the surface. Her new approach to balancing chaos with peace throws tradition to the wind as she takes her role as Queen of Gehenna.

The Acephalous series is a mature young adult (15+) metaphysical drama with an urban fantasy mood. Readers of Cassandra Clare, P.C. and Kristin Cast, and Lauren Kate will enjoy the series.

Look for book 3, the final installment, Winter 2019.

caitsbooks Reviews Acephalous by Amanda Marsico

3/5 stars

The following review was written by Caitlin at caitsbooks.tumblr.com and originally published here. Republished with permission.

If you wish to skip to certain parts of the review covering specific topics, look for the bold words! Also, there are NO SPOILERS AHEAD!

*Disclaimer: I received a free ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.*

To see my review on Goodreads, click here!

Overall: 3/5 Stars
Characters: 2/5
Setting: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Plot and Themes: 4/5
Awesomeness Factor: 3/5

If you don’t feel like reading this long review, here is my review in a nutshell:
While the pacing wasn’t great, and some of the characters were unlikable, Acephalous was still an interesting book with fascinating magic and lore.

The plot of Acephalous follows Breena, as she goes to London for the summer. There she meets Atlas, who introduces her to a world of illusions. But there is more to this world than she knows, and she must learn how to manipulate the illusions herself if she wants to avoid becoming a pawn in an impending apocalypse. While reading, I couldn’t help but compare this book to a mix of The Phantom of the Opera and Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones.

The pacing of this book varied. In the beginning, everything felt rushed. There was a lot going on, as well as a lot being introduced, making it hard to keep up with what was happening. However, after the first half of the book, the pacing smooths out as the lore has been established and the plot starts to truly unfold. The quick pace made it a fast read, with constant action and plotting. I think the sequel will really reap the benefits of this pace more than this first book did because there will be less exposition and worldbuilding thrown in.  I did enjoy learning about the magic and the illusions in Acephalous. The supernatural aspect was fascinating to read about and I look forward to uncovering more in the next book. Also, there was a lot of funny and entertaining dialogue that I really enjoyed and can’t wait to read more of. 

The main character, Breena, was probably my least favorite part of the book. I just found her somewhat annoying (but hey, I’m not a big fan of Christine Daae and Clary Fray either, so this is just proving my earlier comparison). A lot of Breena’s actions frustrated me, mostly concerning her relationship with Atlas and with Jordan. Love triangles are basically impossible to do perfectly, and I wasn’t a big fan of this one. When Atlas was introduced, I was really annoyed with how Breena would switch from forgiving him for being a weird stalker then being creeped out by it. I had mixed feelings about him during the book and didn’t really start to like him as a character until about halfway through the book. Their relationship was also something I wasn’t a big fan of until much later in the book. I do really look forward to seeing Atlas in the sequel because his development throughout this first book set up for a really interesting character for later. Jordan, Breena’s other love interest/long-time friend, was a little better for me at the beginning. It was established from the start that he loved her, and although I was annoyed that he didn’t really accept her rejection, I did end up liking them together. I also liked all of the other side characters, (especially Lily and Linda! Love the LGBT representation! It was done really well!).

Pros– Funny and #relatable dialogue, interesting magic system and supernatural aspects
Cons– Awkward pacing, and a frustrating protagonist  
Overall- 3/5 stars.

Buy Now!

Humans In My House is NOW AVAILABLE on Kindle and in paperback via CreateSpace and Amazon.

Thanks so much to everyone who has watched my journey and cheered me on. You rock.

Next up, final revisions of Acephalous, which I aim to publish in early 2017.

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The Convention Circuit

Guys, I’ve been approved for a booth at my first convention of choice!

Visit my info table at AgamaCon 2017, March 3-5, in Aiken, South Carolina to view pre-release copies of my novels, Humans In My House and Acephalous, and chat with me about the writing process (yours or mine!).

I’m hoping to also get tables at Katsucon (should know by the end of August), Florence Comicon, Dragon Con 2017, IchibanCon 8, and XCON 10. I’m waiting for the latter to open applications. My lofty future goals include CatCon LA and Sac-ComiCon, but California is a long way to travel pre-publication.

Regardless, I look forward to traveling and to schmoozing with all of you. If you see me at a convention, stop by and say hi!

 

12 Years to Get to the Trash Can

I’ve gotten some amazing, useful feedback from the test readers who’ve returned their comments so far. I can’t wait to get the rest and to start rewriting Acephalous Book 1 (which very well could become a longer, single book that’s not part of a series).

Some items I plan on changing include:

-POV shift from 3rd person limited to 3rd person omniscient. Though I value the challenge the former POV presents to an author–successfully presenting all of the characters in a rich and emotionally arresting way without getting into the inner thoughts of most of them–I feel like I’m missing out on opportunities to better link my readers to the characters’ emotions, fears, and motivations, to add history and detail to a scene without narrating or telling.

-Structure/Order of Events. I’m looking to get to the action sooner than the current version does, and to reel people in with the mystery and intrigue of Breena’s situation by making the dreams she experiences carry more weight.

-Character Behaviors. The characters are still hollow at this point, as is usually the case in any initial shell of a story. They aren’t fully independent, separate, complete people in the world of dreams or reality. They each have the beginnings of uniqueness, but undermine their own existences by contradicting their thoughts with their actions, cultivating dislike through unrealistic dialogue, or failing to display their importance to the story. The goal is for each character to sound like a real person, their own person, rather than sound like different variations of me as the author.

To accomplish all of this (and, doubtless, the many more decisions I’ll make as more feedback comes in), I plan on performing a total re-write of the test-read version. I’m going to work page-by-page to recreate each with fresh words. The plot will stay essentially the same, as will the basis of the current characters, but by rewriting in one stretch of time, I will have a more homogeneous text. As it is, I can still tell which sections I wrote as a high school student and which sections come from master’s degree me. It doesn’t mesh.

I’ve worked for a long time to get the story to a coherent shell to share with others for input. It’s a tricky stage where it’s complete enough to call a story, but too rough to call publishable. This version is a husk of what it could be, and it’s always hard to let people read something that I know is not finished. I always pray those reading realize it’s still just a draft, that I wasn’t passing it around as a sneak peek of the completed story. (Read: Yes, you’ll still need to buy the real one to find out what happens even if you test-read it.) The text that will go on sale by the end of next year won’t much resemble the one they read, and I’m thankful. Even Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” For me, while I’m much more proud of the story than what I put in the toilet, and while I wouldn’t store the book alongside your manure fertilizer, it is a first draft of sorts. It took 12 years and who knows how many full overhauls to get to the state where I handed it out for critique, but, in terms of publication readiness, the 2015-2016 version of Acephalous is the first draft. It’s the first draft I’ve had printed and bound; it’s the first draft I’ve let people see; it’s the first draft to be acceptable enough to consider moving forward.

Rewriting is the stage where many aspiring writers quit. We get through the feat of finishing something as huge as a novel and realize that, even though there’s a finished story with a beginning, middle, and end, it’s not acceptable in its current state. It would be easy to stare at the piles of commentary and say, “There’s still so much left to do…” and never say anything else about the project. It can feel overwhelming to think about how many little (and major) things need to change, but authors press on because the satisfaction of creating a viable beginning, middle, and end isn’t enough once people have read it. Viable doesn’t mean finished once someone points out what’s lacking. Personally, I’m thrilled to rewrite and leave the opinions of Mr. Hemingway in the dust.

 

Pro-Tip: Naming Characters

Whether you’re the type to go for allegory, obscurity, trends, or historical accuracy, naming your characters can take daunting research. It’s a fun job, don’t get me wrong, but it helps to have thorough tools to get the job done.

Baby name websites are a good start. Just Google “baby names” and you’ll find a number of sites that’ll do the trick. They usually include origin and meaning of the name. In addition, many rank the names based on popularity. So, if you want to reflect the times, you can choose a popular name. If you want uncommon names, you know what to avoid. However, these lists, in my experience, are exclusively for given names. And that makes sense. People aren’t looking at lists of surnames for their children. They get those automatically.

Writers, though, we get saddled with having to choose it all. These decisions, if you’re one to put a lot of emphasis on names reflecting personality like me, are foundational ones to make. (It’s totally fine to arbitrarily choose a name based on aesthetic preference alone, too.)

The website Behind the Name is the most thorough list of surnames I’ve found. It includes many geographical areas making naming by ethnicity or nationality is easy. It provides the meaning of each name listed, and it is detailed about noting any variations in spelling or language where applicable.

I’ve gotten a lot of use out of Behind the Name today while working on the second installment of Acephalous. New characters, new names. Comment below if you’ve got your own favorite naming sites to add to the conversation!

Happy writing.

Amanda Marsico

Author, Editor, Red Ink Enthusiast™

Drained.

It’s the author’s task to adopt each life, event, and feeling in the story as his or her own in order to write evocative, realistic, and compelling prose.

Some days, the task is a fun escape from the rain outside, the dishes in the sink, and the reruns seen so frequently they’re quotable. Sometimes, it can feel like too much to take on–the problems of a character on top of the stresses of daily reality, no matter how mundane.

In either instance, it can be hard to focus, whether that’s because there are chores and errands on the brain or because putting yourself through a fictional trauma feels too real. But, at least in the case of the latter, that’s how you know you’re doing a good job.

Writing is emotionally exhausting, but that level of psychological and emotive design is how you bring a reader into your created world as a participant, not just an observer. It’s easy for me to say, “Power through; it’s worth the effort.” It’s not always easy for me to take my own advice, though it’s true advice. There are times when my writing ruins my mood for the rest of the day. As awful as it might sound, those are the days I know I wrote something really important, or at least true to the human experience.

On those days, I take a lot of breaks and read books I really love. Oddly, becoming a participant in other stories doesn’t feel nearly as taxing, even when they are equally as serious, emotional, or tense as what I’m writing. This is perhaps because becoming emotionally invested in a story of someone else’s creation provides the mental escape of writing one’s own fiction minus the heightened sense of scrutiny, attachment, and truth that accompanies authorship.

With this in mind, I’d like to know what YOU do when the story starts to weigh on you as if it wasn’t fiction. Join the conversation in the comments below, or visit my Facebook page.

As always, thank you for reading. Happy (or maybe not-so-happy) writing!

Amanda Marsico–Editor, Proofreader, Red Ink Enthusiast™

Acephalous, An Update

It’s cold and rainy here. It has been most of the week. But, that kind of weather is perfect for hot drinks and long projects. I’ve decided to pursue publication of my first novel. This isn’t the children’s book I mentioned a few weeks ago, but the first manuscript I ever completed–a YA novel called Acephalous. I started writing it in high school and, over the years, it has taken on many new forms, getting better every time. It’s now in its third edited draft of the completed version. I plan to send it for copyrighting at the end of this edit (unless I find something glaring along the way that I have to overhaul. A realistic possibility, as I’m never satisfied).

What I’ve learned is that it is sometimes necessary to step away from projects for a long time in order to realize their worth. I always thought the story was pretty decent. I even shared clips of it here when I was planning on publishing after the second draft. But, after spending so much time with it, I lost confidence. I thought it needed a total rewrite, that there was too much of my younger, untrained, high school writer self left in it. I got overwhelmed. An edited draft two and a fresh draft three sat on my shelf for a couple of years, third printing better than the second, but still unedited.

Now that I’ve come back to it, I realize it’s really not bad. Sure, there are parts I’ve changed, and the time away allowed me to see them, but the time also allowed me to see what was great in the novel and what was innate in my writing abilities–things from my younger, untrained self that really work and don’t need to be educated away. I’d have to say that writing is never more “you” than it is before you’ve been trained in theory, style, and genre. After that, “youness” gets hushed by correctness and propriety. So, this latest version is a balancing act between my original voice as an author, as a teen, and the technical sensibilities of an academic, an adult. What should be thrown away, and what should be added to achieve a properly formed plot? All while being my own, not what any professor encouraged (or ordered) me to be. It’s a line by line choice that I’m fully equipped to make thanks to my education. After all, you have to learn the rules in order to artfully and purposefully ignore them.