9.00-9.30am ~ Wake up. (Yes, really. I am not a morning person. I’ve been known to cry when forced to get up, but admittedly that was to go to school.) Remove cats: one from my feet and the other from my head. Force myself out of bed and get ready. Feed cats, feed self. This, endless cups of tea, and making dinner later on, are usually the only consistent parts of my day.
10.00am-1.00pm ~ Work.
There’s no average day when it comes to work, it all depends on where I am in a book’s schedule and the variation is part of the appeal. The past few weeks and those ahead have been dedicated to promoting my next book, Unrest. This has meant shooting promo videos, writing newsletters and updating my website, as well as guest posts, numerous Q&As and even compiling an Unrest play list. When you’re used to writing about other people, especially ones you made up, writing about yourself can feel a little weird.
I try to tackle at least part of my email in the morning. Anything from my publishers or agent is a priority (although I am terrible for checking email throughout the day on my phone. This must stop). I clear stuff that’s urgent and congratulate myself, then hear the postman knock. I sign for one envelope containing train tickets and an itinerary for next week’s tour. I think of the early mornings and shudder. The second envelope is full of reader mail. I think of my cleared emails and try to sigh and feel all busy and overwhelmed but secretly I’m pleased. I love hearing from readers.
1.00pm-1.30pm ~ Lunch. Check Facebook, Twitter, and comments on my website guestbook. You didn’t actually believe that this is for the first time today, though, did you? I’ve already checked them at least twice while I was supposed to be working.
1.30pm-5.00pm ~ More work.
Being self-employed occasionally involves tedious things like sorting out paperwork for my accountant. I try to keep on top of it by shoving all my receipts and income advice into an envelope as I receive them. Hating numbers as I do it’s the worst part of my job, even though someone else does it for me. If there’s one thing that can ruffle me it’s an email from my accountant prodding me for stuff I should have sent weeks ago – even gathering the material is enough to give me a headache.
If I’m writing – which I will be in a couple of weeks when I start my new book – then I tend to write for long periods at a time. I don’t write every day, and nor do I think I should. It might work best for some people but not for me. I enjoy the space that editing and promoting brings and I find it important. It’s like closure on the last book, and it’s also thinking time in which my new ideas and characters can brew until they’re ready to make an appearance on the page.
I write in the same way as I read, which is not particularly fast. Up until now I’ve generally aimed for a thousand words per day, minimum. However, I cut over 20,000 from my last manuscript, and so for the next book I want to focus on getting a scene written rather than a specific word count as it’s easy to get hung up on and not all of those words are actually moving the story forward. If my deadline is creeping closer then I’ll write as much as possible, so I’m often still tapping away at midnight (hence the late morning starts).
Once I’ve got a decent amount of writing done, and after repeated removal of cats from my keyboard and manuscript, I’ll return to answering emails, this time from readers. Usually, I’ll end up carrying on with this later into the evening. At 5.00pm I’m thinking about putting dinner on when my phone bleeps a reminder that I need to put out a ‘Teaser Tuesday’: a weekly short excerpt from my book to give readers a taste of what Unrest is about. I’m still skimming pages fifteen minutes later when my hungry boyfriend arrives home from work to find me apparently reading, amidst protestations that, actually, yes, I have been working . . .
Unrest is one of those books that I instantly knew I would love. The plot follows seventeen year old Elliott, who is recovering from a near death experience after being a victim of hit and run. Despite physically recovering from the accident, he has found himself experiencing some strange goings on. The flat where Elliott lives with his father is haunted by a lady who killed herself. Suddenly, and terrifyingly, she begins to appear to Elliott in the night trying to tell him something. What makes this even scarier is that Elliott is leaving his body when this happens.
Elliott gets a job at Past Lives, a haunted street museum where he is determined to find whether he can really see ghosts. It is here that he meets Ophelia and the two begin to get close. However, his out of body experiences seem to get worse and there seems to be a connection with Ophelia too.
I really liked Elliott and Ophelia, they were both troubled characters but still came across as likeable and approachable. Harrison’s descriptions of the out of body experiences were horrifying and so well told that they seemed real.
Unrest is an amazing, spine chilling read that feels eerily real. There are a lot of twists to the plot and a huge surprise at the end of the book that I really hadn’t been expecting.
This is, without a doubt, one of the best books that I have read this year. I can’t wait to read more from Michelle Harrison.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy to review.
I am a big fan of Julie Kagawa and loved The Iron Fey series. This week saw the release of the first book in her new Blood of Eden series, called The Immortal Rules.
Bookbabbler Jonathan has reviewed Road to London for us…
Road to London is set in late Elizabethan England and is about a young boy called Thomas Munmore. Thomas’ father wants him to become a scholar so he sent him to school where he spends all day learning boring things like Latin. Thomas, however wants be like the famous actor and play writer, William Shakespeare.
When Thomas is invited by Master Kemp to come to London and join the Chamberlin’s Men (Shakespeare’s troupe) he runs away. The journey is not easy but soon he meets Alice, a pretty young girl who is badly mistreated by the people at the inn she works for. They get to London and with Alice’s help Thomas finds the Chamberlin’s men and asks to join them. He soon meets Mr Shakespeare himself. All seems to be going well when Alice tells him that she has apparently discovered a plot by the Spanish to kill the Queen! Suddenly things start getting a lot more complicated.
My favourite character is Mother Trowte because she is funny and although she always seems a little stupid,she knows what to do in a crisis and her plans always have a habit of working out. I liked this book because it was amusing and had just the right amount of action and suspense.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction.
Thanks Jonathan and thanks to Andersen Press for sending us a copy to review.
As part of the Goddess Interrupted blog tour, we have an interview with Aimee Carter:
Tell us a little about yourself
I’m Aimée Carter, and I wrote The Goddess Test series. I’m from Michigan, part French, and an Aquarius.
Tell us about Goddess Interrupted
Goddess Interrupted is the second book in the Goddess Test series, continuing Kate Winters’ story. It picks up right after her
summer away ends, and she has to deal with a struggling relationship, a Titan, and a vengeful goddess who refuses to go down easy.
Which characters have you enjoyed writing about the most?
Henry and Ava are two of my favourites, though James likes to get a little squirrely every now and then as well. They all add a certain dynamic to their scenes that I thoroughly enjoy writing about.
Have there been any twists in the story that have taken you by surprise?
A few, but I can’t talk about them specifically without spoiling anything!
Can you give us any hints as to where the story will take us in book three?
To be obnoxiously literal about it, the characters spend nearly the entire book in two places we haven’t seen yet, as of the end of the second book. But both of these places will be seen in The Goddess Legacy (#2.5).
Bookbabbler Pamela has reviewed Goddess Interrupted for us…
Goddess Interrupted begins six months after the conclusion of The Goddess Test. After leaving Henry for the summer, Kate spent her free months with James touring Greece, soaking up the sun and culture. But she is eager to return to Eden…and to Henry. Unfortunately the fevered reunion she fantasised about wasn’t to be. Instead of the husband she left behind, she is confronted with the cold and distant man who had all but given up on life. But Kate doesn’t give up easily. And Henry will realise her feelings for him. Even if a titan stands in the way of their happiness.
As a big fan of The Goddess Test, I had high hopes for this book. And thankfully it lived up to every one of them. Kate’s voice is realistic and easy to identify with. The reader feels like they make the journey with her. They worry with her over Henry’s feelings and his chilly nature. When Kate comes to the realisation that she didn’t know as much about the other gods and their natures as she initially thought, the reader feels just as shocked and naïve.
Goddess Interrupted had me glued to the page. I couldn’t put it down as I fretted over what would happen next as Kate leads us through the story. As well as an emotional journey, we are also taken on an actual one. With vivid descriptions that places the reader right in the thick of it, we cower at the gates of Cronus’ prison, melt at the feet of Adonis…and wilt at the sight of Henry.
I enjoyed the whole cast of characters, from Eva’s flirtatious nature and Diana’s motherly affection. And even though I felt totally threatened by her, I even liked Persephone…but none are more enjoyable than Henry. With that being said, I cannot wait to be reintroduced to them all for book three.
Thanks Pamela and thanks to Mira for sending us a copy to review.
The Fury is the first in a new series from Alexander Gordon Smith. It follows three teenagers, Brick, Cal and Daisy, who find themselves the victims of a strange phenomenon where everyone the come across – even their own family – is trying to kill them.
Brick, Cal and Daisy are an unlikely trio who are brought together under terrifying circumstances. As they meet with more people who are like them, they realise that they must find out the cause of what is happening. However, the truth turns out to be scarier than any of them could have imagined.
This is a fast paced, action packed book that will leave you on the edge of your seat. It reaches out to primal fears and leaves you both desperate and scared to know what will happen next. There are a lot of gory scenes that made me feel goose pimply and a few characters that I did find quite frightening – especially Rilke and her brother Schiller.
A fantastic novel that I highly recommend. I can’t wait to read the next installment!
Thank you to Faber for sending me a copy to review.
We are today’s hosts for The Fury blog tour. Here is our interview with Alexander Gordon Smith…
Tell us a little about yourself
Um… I don’t know where to start! Okay, I’ve been a published writer since I was six years old, although my first book – The Silly Monster Book – was published by me, with a stapler. I’ve always been fascinated by monsters, even though my gran made me watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was six and that almost put me off scary things for life. When I was eleven I tried to spend a night in a haunted house as research, and lasted seven minutes before vomiting all over myself in terror and running away. I wrote my first proper book aged twenty-five, alongside my brother who was nine. It was called The Inventors, and we actually tried to build most of the inventions in the book ourselves (I nearly exploded several times). My next series was the Furnace series (Escape From Furnace in the US), about a fourteen-year-old boy who gets sent to a prison full of nightmare creatures. Writing Furnace made me realise how much I love horror (it gives you unlimited creative freedom because anything can happen), and The Fury is my latest attempt to give people nightmares! I also own a horror film production company with my sister, called Fear Driven Films, and we’re trying to make our first horror movie this year.
Tell us about The Fury and your inspiration for the book
The Fury is a horror novel, and an action thriller, about what would happen if one day, without warning, the world turned against you, if the entire human race tried to kill you. I love zombies, and I wanted to write a zombie novel, but so many people have already done the zombie thing really, really well. I was struggling to think of a unique, original angle to approach the story from. I was going over the different things that could be responsible for a zombie outbreak – the virus, the chemical, and so on. Then it struck me: what if the catalyst was you. What if you turned people into feral, bloodthirsty, mindless freaks just by being near them? And what if, as soon as you died, or you escaped, those people went back to their lives as if nothing had happened. For me, that idea is even more horrific than a zombie apocalypse, because you’re the only person who knows something is wrong. For everybody else, life is normal; they go shopping, they watch telly, they hang out with friends. But you have to hide, have to fight to survive, because every single person you meet – friends, family, strangers – will try to murder you.
There were other inspirations too, and the main one was a game that we used to play at school. It was called Murderball, and it really lived up to its name! Our sadistic PE teacher would give you a rugby ball and a five-second head start, then he’d send the rest of the class after you. You’d literally be attacked by thirty people – thirty friends – who would pile on top of you and punch you and kick you and bite you and try to stop you breathing. Every time it happened I honestly thought I was going to die! The memory of my friends, chasing after me with demonic expressions, looking as though they wanted to rip me to pieces, was certainly a big help when I was writing the book!
What are you working on now?
Quite a few things! One of my favourite parts of the writing process is the ‘big shiny new idea’ stage, where you suddenly have this huge flash of story inside your head and you just can’t wait to get started. When that happens I tend to drop everything and begin a new project, and often I’ll get a few thousand words in and suddenly that white heat of excitement cools down. The good thing about this is that I have a dozen or so books that are waiting to be finished. The downside is that, well, I have a dozen or so unfinished books! I will sometimes drop whatever I’m doing to start a new project, which means I lose the momentum on whatever I’m working on. I need more willpower and patience with my writing (I need more willpower and patience full stop, come to think of it)!
So, right now I’m working on the sequel to The Fury, which is called The Storm. I’m about halfway through and it’s non-stop action so far, I’m having such a blast with it. When I came back from my recent tour of the States, however, I discovered that while I was away a cat had been living in my house, bullying my cats and eating their food. One morning I woke up with an entire novel inside my head about a family who are terrorised by an evil cat. So I have been writing both books side by side!
Where is your favourite place to write?
I’ll always write at home. I know quite a few writers who like to work in cafes or other public places, but if I do that then I’ll spend five minutes gazing around aimlessly for every minute I spend actually writing – I’m quite easily distracted! So I’ll sit at home and write, usually in the morning. During the winter, when it’s cold in the house, I’ll often get up early, make coffee, then head back to bed and write for a couple of hours. It’s a tough life!! Then I’ll get up, have breakfast, and work in whatever side of the house has the sun. I tend to write my books quite quickly – usually around a month from start to finish, although The Fury took about four months because it’s a bigger, more complicated story. It’s an intense process, and during that time I don’t get out much, I just lock myself in the house and write!
Of course, if I could choose any place to write, it would be in a gazebo on the beach on my private island in the Caribbean… So I’ll have to keep hoping for that multi-million pound film deal! ?
What do you like to do outside of writing?
What do you mean? There are other things to do besides write? Nobody told me this!! Actually, joking aside, if I’m not writing I’m usually either thinking about writing, or talking about writing. It’s like water, it takes up every available iota of space in my life. I think my friends and family get annoyed because I often have one foot in the real world, and one in whatever world I’m writing about, so quite a few conversations don’t really sink in and people end up having to repeat themselves several times (and even then I’ll forget what they’ve said). I love touring as well, I’m so lucky to be able to travel around the world and talk about the books. When I’m not doing that, I love to read, watch movies, and play video games, but even that really counts as research for books. My girlfriend is a writer too, so there’s no getting away from it. But that’s cool, I love that writing is my life. I wouldn’t want it any other way! ?
You can find out more about Alexander Gordon on his website: http://www.alexandergordonsmith.com/
You can follow Alexander Gordon Smith on Twitter @AGSmith_Author
The Spark, Faber’s online community for teenager’s, has launched a fantastic new competition in association with The Fury.
If you’re between the ages of 13 and 18 and fancy trying your hand at filmmaking, all you need to do is send a script and storyboard for the trailer of THE FURY, by 2 July. You don’t need filmmaking experience or equipment – if your script is selected in our top five you’ll win a Flip camera with which to bring your trailer to life!
Finally, the filmmaker behind the best of those five trailers will win a £500 Apple Store voucher and see their film used worldwide as the official trailer for the book.
Go to the competition page http://www.facebook.com/stayfurious to find out more about the book, how to enter and tips on how to write the storyboard for your book trailer. Closing date Monday 2nd July 2012.
Bookbabbler Anne has reviewed Zoe and Beans The Magic Hoop for us…
My nearly-four year old son, Joel, loved this story from the very first read through! He’s a big animal fan so a story with lots of animals in is a good start, but the story is quirky and simple, funny and imaginative. Joel is developing an interest in letters and words and so a book with lots of different text sizes, shapes and directions gives us loads to talk about.
In the story, Zoe bribes Beans the dog to jump through a hoop, not realising that it’s magic. Beans eventually jumps and a Beans-looking rabbit appears on the other side. In the hope of even more exciting animals Zoe encourages Beans to jump again. Inevitably the animals get more dangerous (try getting a crocodile to jump on demand!) and then too
big. How will Zoe get an stuck elephant out of the hoop?
The illustrations in this book are lovely; bright, colourful and very clear. They are supported by the beautifully presented text that jumps out, hides away or weaves around on the page and generally adds to the story. There are pages with lots of words and others with a single word on – it gave us a great opportunity to talk about what individual words
say (Jump! and Snap! in particular) and for Joel to guess word meanings from the way some of the words are written.
It’s a fun, charming book to read to pre-schoolers or for early readers to enjoy on their own.
Thanks Anne and thank you to Macmillan for sending us a copy to review.
