Camp NaNoWriMo?

This year, I'm going to be a part of the Camp NaNoWriMo in both June and August.  For the past two years, I've tried NaNoWriMo, but I get too busy and lazy that I just can't do it.  And it doesn't help that this year, I'll have two AP classes plus marching band plus all of my Honors classes.  So, unless I can slack of in Honors Spanish 3 (Spanish, for the past two years, has been my slack-off period), I may be able to do it.

Anyways, after that lovely rant...

Last year, I wrote a novel in three weeks time.  For those of you from inkpop, you may know my project, Rush (or Deception).  Well, this year, I plan to write another novel (or maybe to).  I plan on completing Sever, and if I can get to it, either edit Rush or work on my idea I'm currently calling RUT.

Oh! And I have the pitches for Sever.  Look:

Sora has spent the last six years toughening up after the disappearance of her older brothers. No matter what, she wants them back. When she hears word of her elder brother, now the Lord of the land of Cura, all of her training and courage is put to the test. She must travel across two unfamiliar lands in order to find her brother—all the while remaining undetected.

With the help of Eli, everything seems a little more possible. His past is filled with knowledge of the lands, and how to get around without being caught. A promise made in magic binds Eli in Sora’s debt until she finds her brother, assuring his help until the end.

But a revolution is starting in the land of Cura. The only chance Sora has at keeping her brother alive is if she can convince him to step down from power. It’s only a slight bump in the path to what she’s always wanted: her family whole again.

Even then, speaking to him doesn’t mean everything is closer to normal.

(I do not own the image used in the cover.)

So, now that I can update that one page...

For those of you who're going to participate in Camp NaNo, let me know! Maybe we can be cabin mates, or just message each other.

You can find me here.

Have a fun summer guys!  I've only got three more days left.  Oh, and those of you who're American: Happy Memorial Day and I hope you guys enjoy your three day weekend!

Ta-ta!

Writing Hell 1.1

First day of the first week of Writing Hell.

How many of you have met your 2.5-5k goal yet? I for sure haven't! I've been at school, reading and doing school like things. And tonight, I can't write much, because I have a wonderful Christmas Parade to march in. Oh the joys of being in my high school's marching band.

So, Writing Hell participants, here's how posts will go (I meant to do this yesterday, but Yu Yu Hakusho distracted me):

Make a post for your first day of Writing Hell. It will contain your starting word count (example: Starting word count: 100) and beneath that, your ending word count (at the end of the day, or the next day, fill it in; follow previous example) and then you could post an excerpt. I will most likely be doing this tomorrow, and will be catching up on my 5k goal over the weekend.

For now, I will post the summary, as I don't have a whole lot of time to get stuff done.


Starting word count: 15535
Ending word count: 15535

And the summary:

Having to actually save something is the last thing on Milo’s mind. Being a demigod is a close second. Yet now she’s forced to take on these two foreign paths in hopes of keeping some sort of world order. But Milo couldn’t care less about things that don’t involve her.

Levin refuses to let her go down the wrong path. As her Guardian, he guides her as best he can. He’s able to solve many of her mistakes, until she upsets Them—the ones who granted mortals the chances for immortality in the first places. Milo should listen to them no matter what, unless she wants to lose the powers that come with being a demigod.

When it comes to change, Milo’s chances of staying a demigod smolder to dust.

I hope to near completion for Smolder by the end of these ten days.

So, how's your Writing Hell going? If you're participating, feel free to leave a comment with your day's excerpt. I'd love to check it out!

Pitch me!

So I've decided to start editing people's pitches. This could be for a query letter (though I may or may not be the best at that) or for a simple pitch you want to use on a website. Whatever the cause, I will gladly edit it.

And I may as well list a few things that turn me off from novels, be it in the pitch or first chapter.

#1 Mary Sue lived a normal life...
This is one of the classic first lines in a pitch that turn me off. If the life wasn't normal before, sure, say that in the pitch. But the reader should automatically assume that the character's life was, before the novel, normal. Which is why I, as a amateur author, avoid this. To me, it is like saying 'The sky was blue before the storm'. A 'no-duh' saying.

#2 Mary Sue's parents recently died...
This seems to another classic line found within a pitch. There always seems to be something wrong with the parents, which also bothers me. And then, within the story, there's the way the author goes about killing off the parents: car accident, usually during the winter. There is only one book that I've read where the parents died in a different type of accident not in the winter: The Wicked series by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie. The main character's parents die in a kayaking accident. This makes the whole 'parents dying' thing unique.

#3 The hook
This bit just talks about the hook of a story. Mostly the first sentence. Many times, the story starts off with either a bit of dialogue or description. To be truthful, description tends to bore me, though dialogue can be interesting. With dialogue, though, it is best to avoid using just the main character's name. That bothers me. And with the descriptions, they tend to be lengthy and not really important.
What I like in a first sentence is a sort of fact that goes with the main character, something that means a lot to the character or the story, or both!

Those are the three things, off the top of my head, that bother me in a pitch and hook. One thing that's nice to see in the first sentence of the pitch is the main character's first name. (Hint hint: some agents prefer to see a main character's name at the very start of the hook in the query letter.)

And now I wrap things up, because I've run out of things to talk about.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan