Showing posts with label Good News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good News. Show all posts

Thursday, 9 December 2021

AN EDDYING FLIGHT

Hello, Dear Readers - if there are still any of you out there.

It's been a long time since I updated this blog last, and there's a reason for that. My life has been through some big changes. Rather than being a full-time YA novelist, I'm currently an OOC DTP funded PhD student at the Open University, working full time on my doctorate (which is in Creative Writing) and also my first book for adults.

For me, I think the time has come to admit that this blog is now defunct. It's been a wonderful journey over the past decade, and we've been through a lot together, but in the last couple of years the hiatuses just became longer and longer because it was harder and harder to find things to share with you which fit the audience of this blog. I've finally decided, feeling guilt or anxiety about that is a waste of energy. This blog will always be here (as long as Blogger provides hosting) and nothing can erase its history. However, that doesn't mean we're not allowed to move on from it to new things.

So I introduce my new blog: An Eddying Flight. This is an academic writing blog, where I'm charting my 'eddying flight' into academic circles, and am already talking about many of the same topics that I did here. In fact, I've just finished revising and reposting the famous Plot Diamond workshops. There will be more along those lines to follow. So if you're interested in learning more about what I'm doing now, my adult book, my Creative Writing research, and what it's like to do a PhD, please join me. 

Farewell, Dear Readers. Hello again, Dear Readers.


Monday, 28 December 2020

GET THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE FREE!

Hello, Dear Readers - happy Monday! I hope that those of you who celebrate it were able to have a relaxing or fun Christmas despite it being The Hell Year, and that everyone is doing OK out there.

Just a quick update today, but I hope a good one. As a fun way of celebrating our getting to the end of The Hell Year - and 2021 hopefully being marginally better, please Lord Cthulhu, please - I decided to offer up a treat: the ebook edition of The Book of Snow & Silence will be free to download from today for the next four days. That an international offer: it's good wherever you live. 

 

So if you're in the mood for snow bears, ice palaces, ballgowns, and princesses and mermaids who fall madly in love, and you've been wanting to grab the book but haven't yet? Now is the time.

Here's the book's official playlist:

And to the Pinterest board. 

 Happy upcoming New (Slightly Less Awful) Year!

Friday, 16 October 2020

PREPTOBER, PODCASTS AND PROUDNESS (oh my!)

Hello, lovely Readers! A quick October check-in for you today - or Preptober, actually. 


Yes, you read that right. Following the successful completion of CampNaNo this year, I've decided to defy the NaNoCurse - and perhaps common sense - by giving NaNoWriMo a shot again this year. This will be the third time that I've attempted NaNo proper and both previous times I ended up both hurting myself and getting ill in the first few days of November. But a) third time lucky, maybe? and b) what is life without the spice of risk? And since I've basically had to put the draft of the Most Special Secret Project Ever on hold for the last few months while I was teaching, working on my dissertation, and finishing up other projects, this seems like a really good cue to dive back into it.

I've signed up as a NaNo rebel this year, since I've already got a detailed outline and have drafted out a chunk of chapters/scenes of the MSSPE. For me, Preptober is more about diving back into research (of which there is... a lot. A lot. A. LOT), re-reading the scenes I've already got, and re-familiarising myself with the characters and tone of this story. Which I love so much, you guys. My gizzards are knotted with hope that this one finds a home when it's done.

Now, for Dear Readers who are into podcasts, there's a really fascinating interview here between me and the absolutely lovely Amanda Whittington as part of the RLF Writers Aloud series. We talk in depth about my books, about Feminism and diversity, and about publishing, in addition to a bunch of other random topics. I had so much fun recording this with Amanda, and really enjoyed listening to it again when it went live, so check it out.

Finally, you might have noticed that above I mentioned working on my dissertation - and some of you may already know that I was scheduled to complete my Master's Degree in creative writing this year. This is a huge deal for me because... well, because I'm not from a family where people were expected to go to uni, or get degrees, especially advanced degrees. There's a post about my opinions and experiences with education here for context. Very luckily, considering that this is the Year of Our Lord Cthulhu of Unending Horrors, I had opted to take the course by distance learning, which meant that it wasn't substantially affected by the pandemic as all the work was set and handed in online anyway. 

I handed in my dissertation - which is the final, and most substantial piece of work the course requires - in August, and the (provisional - they're still waiting for review) marks came yesterday. When the email arrived in my inbox I almost couldn't make myself open it because I was so sick with nerves about  the outcome, with all my fears about education not being for 'people like me' flooding back in. But when I did open it, I discovered that I had passed with Distinction. I earned straight As for all my work throughout the degree. I somehow got an 84 on my final essay, which is nearly unbelievable considering that it's only the second degree level essay I have ever written in my life (MA essays are a very far cry from the stuff I scribbled out at GCSE).

I'm equal parts dazed and delighted, and my big ambition now is to keep going and pursue a PhD, if I can win a studentship. Then the next step would be to teach Creative Writing at university level: a previously utterly unattainable dream which now has at least the potential to one day become reality. 

Generally I have a difficult time feeling proud of things I've done myself - this was always seen as arrogance and big-headedness in my family, and the response to good news was generally a request to not go on about it too much. But dammit, I am proud of this. In another month or so, I will officially have a degree and be at least partially qualified for something, even if I probably won't get a graduation ceremony (thanks, Corona). So have a nice dance anthem and let's raise our glasses (there's Ribena in mine) and do a little proudness hip-shimmy in honour of bravery and second chances.

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE BOOK BIRTHDAY!

Hello, Dear Readers! Happy THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE Release Day!


Wooohoooo!

From today, if you order the ebook of The Book of Snow & Silence it will arrive instantly on your Kindle, laptop, tablet or other device, AND you can order the absolutely GORGEOUS paperback version of the book too. Look at this, guys, just look:




I've had some really amazing covers - as well as some duds, I'll be honest - over the years, but I think this one is my favourite since the original cover of my very first book, The Swan Kingdom, back in 2007. It's just so damn pretty. These sorts of deep, jewel-toned bluey-greens are actually my favourite colours in the world, and I could honestly sit and stare at them, and all the lovely details in this artwork, for hours at a time. So pretty, my precccciousssss... *Strokes cover gently*

If feeling this way about cover art is wrong, baby, I don't wanna be right.

Ahem. Where were we? Oh, right. To celebrate the release of my TENTH NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (omg omg, breathe, Zolah) I've got some lovely treats in store for readers.

First, to encourage everyone who possibly can to review the book - because reviews are life, Dear Readers - I'll be doing a special giveaway when The Book of Snow & Silence reaches ten reviews on Amazon. The reviews don't have to be long, or extensive, and they should be completely honest, don't worry! Once we get to ten, I'll pick one lucky winner from the entrants to recieve:

  • One proof paperback copy of The Book of Snow & Silence, signed and personalised
  • One paperback copy of my last book The Hand, the Eye & the Heart, signed and personalised
  • Two signed and personalised bookplates
  • The Book of Snow & Silence full-colour postcard
  • The Hand, the Eye & the Heart full-colour postcard
  • Other assorted swag

If you would like to be entered into this giveaway, you don't have to do anything fancy - literally just tell me in the comments below. THAT'S IT. Just leave me a comment. When we reach ten reviews, I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner. Of course, sharing this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or other social media will speed things up - because hopefully that will encourage people to read and review the book - as would posting a review of your own on Amazon, but all you *have* to do is leave a comment below this post. 

Secondly... I made another book for you?


I made this one all myself! Do you like the cover? It's pretty good, right? I honestly impressed myself with this - I wasn't sure I could figure out how to get it all done, but I really wanted to offer readers something special for release day. This is ebook only - it's novella length - BUT it will be FREE for you to download for the next five days. Unfortunately Amazon won't let me make it permanently free. After that it will only be 99p, though.

SEA FOAM has an exclusive prequel story for The Book of Snow & Silence. It also has poetry, deleted scenes, and fragments from my writer's notebooks, some of it related to published works, some from things that never saw the light of day at all. There's an epilogue to Shadows on the Moon, scenes that I wished I had included in The Name of the Blade Trilogy, and the start of a Twilight spoof that I was never able to take further. Hopefully you'll enjoy it and find it interesting, so if you want it FREE, then get over there and download it ASAP.

To sum up: if you want to enter the giveaway, comment below (and cross your fingers that we get to ten reviews fast). If you want a free novella-length book which includes a Snow & Silence prequel short story, get over to Amazon now.

Have a lovely Book Birthday, muffins!

Tuesday, 16 June 2020

THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE COVER REVEAL! (And pre-orders!)

Hello, Dear Readers! Happy Tuesday, and I hope you're all having a pretty good week so far. Thank you so, so much for your RTs and shares for the announcement of THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE last week. This book is really special to me. I love it. It's probably my favourite thing that I've written since Shadows on the Moon. Your support means more to me than you can possibly know, especially after I've been on such a long break from the blog and the book community. *Smooshes all*

Your general loveliness about The Book of Snow & Silence makes me all the more gleeful that I get to bring you this utter lusciousness today without having had to make you wait for aaaaaaages as in times past. The cover is coming right up below - BUT! Before we get there - yes, you, I know you were about to begin scrolling, just wait for a second, OK? - I also have MORE VERY GOOD EXCELLENT NICE NEWS.

As of today, pre-orders of the ebook of The Book of Snow & Silence are LIVE. Yep, you can order the ebook right here, right now!

This is great in more ways than one. The official release date for both the ebook and the paperback is the 30th of June, two weeks away - but if you pre-order the ebook before that release date, you'll get it for £1.99. I don't know about you, but I think that's a saving well worth getting your paws on.

If you don't want to pre-order for whatever reason - for instance if you don't like ebooks and are planning to wait for the paperback - don't worry! I promise there will be goodies for you as well. But I'll wait for release day to get to those 😘

I also wanted to give a head's up to blogger/reviewer friends: if you're interested in reviewing this, email me at z d marriott (at) g mail dot com and we can arrange to send you a PDF proof. A book like this lives or dies based on reviews - mainly Amazon reviews - so it would honestly mean so much to me if people would be willing to leave *honest* reviews, even just a few words, on the book's Amazon page.

And now, without further burbling on my part... the cover art reveal!




DRUMROLL PLEASE!





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Look at the beauteousness!  

 


 
The icy blue-green northern lights colours! The ominous stormy clouds billowing up behind that tempting crown - which happens to appear to be constructed of snowflakes and ice!


The subtle glacier cracks on the title font!

WE LOVES IT MY PRECIOUS. I'm always so happy when details that are important in the story are so strong on the cover art, and this is not only perfect for this book, but a damn knock-out in it's own right. Thank you so much Lauren, Cover Designer Extraordinaire! Me and my characters salute you!

OK, to sum up - pre-orders are now live (eeeeeiii!) and reviewers and bloggers can email z d marriott (at) g mail dot com to ask for a (non-pretty, but final text) proof if they're interested. Reviews are life, muffins!

Let me know what you think of this cover art in the comments 🙂

Friday, 12 June 2020

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hello, hello, hello and happy Friday, Dear Readers! Forgive me friends, for I have sinned: I know it's been a year since my last post - but please don't hate me!

A lot has happened in that year, some of which I don't really want to go into, including serious illness in my family. I also finished my time as an RLF Fellow at York St. John University - a posting I loved so much and will always look back on as one of the happiest times in my life - and I'm now in the final term of my Master's Degree in Creative Writing, working on my dissertation. So, you know. It's been busy. I'm sure you've been busy and had amazing ups and down since I last posted too - sound off in the comments if you like. I promise to reply to each and every one, as always.

But in addition to all that, I also did something you might be a bit more interested in.

I wrote a new book.

And it's going to be out... er - well - at the end of the month? EEEEEEEIIII!

Ahem. Sorry to spring it on you like this - but I hope you don't mind too much? It basically just means you don't have to wait for ages while I accidentally tease you, right?

Today I'm going to share some of the details of my ACTUAL FACTS TENTH NOVEL (omg) and I hope that next week I'll be able to do the cover reveal, and tell you the official release date, as well as a few other juicy details.

So first up - what's the title?

DRUMROLL PLEASE!


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THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE


Ta-dah! So what's it about? Here's the back cover blurb:

Girls of Paper & Fire meets A Game of Thrones in THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE, a darkly romantic queer fantasy inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

Fierce Princess Theoai is devastated when betrayal by her own sister destroys her chance to inherit their mother’s crown. Exiled across the sea to wed a prince she has never met, she soon finds that taking possession of her new crown will be more perilous than she could ever have imagined. The snowy realm of Silinga is rotten to the core, and Theoai’s handsome Prince is spoiled and reckless, with eyes only for the beautiful mute who washed up on the shore the day after Theoai’s arrival: Shell. 
But though she enchants the entire palace with her unearthly dancing, Shell is more than just a romantic rival, and against her will Theoai is drawn to her. As they both navigate the glittering, treacherous court, their relationship changes from hostility to friendship – and then to a love that will shake the very foundations of the cold kingdom that seeks to tear them apart.
THE BOOK OF SNOW & SILENCE is a sweeping, Feminist novel of enchantment, ambition and, above all, love.
Here is the link to add it on Goodreads if you want.

And the link to the book's Pinterest board and the playlist on Spotify, although I probably spent a good 50% of my time listening to the Blue Planet soundtrack as well; it's so perfect.

Some aesthetics!







And finally under, the cut below - a new and completely exclusive snippet from the first chapter of the book! 🠋🠋🠋🠋🠋

What do you think of this, my lovelies? Let me know your thoughts below - and I'll be back next week with even more bookalicious juiciness for you. Take care of yourselves until then.

Wednesday, 1 May 2019

YALC 2019 ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello and happy Thursday, Dear Readers. I hope life is showing you all the joy and success that you deserve.

I've been struggling to come to terms with the Twitter-storm triggered by The Hand, the Eye & the Heart's release, and my mental health has continued to be not-so-great. Which - because nature just loves to keep on giving! - has a knock on effect on some of my chronic health conditions, becoming a bit of a vicious circle. In addition to this, my mum has recently been seriously ill again, something which we thought would no longer be an issue after she had her operation at the beginning of the year. So I'm... stressed, in a word.

But I want to say how much I appreciate every single message, comment, DM and email of love and support that I've received from readers and fellow writers. I've read all of them, some multiple times, even when I haven't managed to reply. Your kindness has meant the world to me.

And now there's a lovely chance to say thank you to some of you in person, which I can FINALLY talk about! YALC is coming up and I will be there, Dear Readers, on Friday the 27th! I'll be doing the panel 10 Things I Love About YA Retellings, and the other panelists are *amazing*.

If I ever win the lotto, I swear I will replace this author photo, which is approx 300 yrs old
Look at that. Renee Ahdieh! Kiran Millwood-Hargrave! And Sharon Dogar! I'm so excited and honoured to have been invited as part of this line-up. Slightly concerned I may swoon/fangirl all over all of them, but still excited and honoured. I'll try my very best to be cool ha ha ha ha ha. Ahem.

Please do come along and say hello if you can, my lovelies. Even though the panel itself will be an amazing experience, 90% of my reasons for attending YALC at any time, and especially this year, are to have a rare chance to connect with you in real life. You could not be more important to me, so if you can make it? Rest assured that your presence will absolutely make my day.

Sending love and gratitude to you all. xx

Thursday, 11 April 2019

BOOK BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY: WINNERS!

Hello and happy Thursday, Dear Readers! It's time to announce the winners of last week's The Hand, the Eye & the Heart Book Birthday Giveaway!

Since we ran this thing through Rafflecopter, I used their random winner function to pick out the lucky entries that will each receive a signed copy of the book, as well as a post card and a signed bookplate. The winners are on display on the competition widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Is that you? CONGRATULATIONS! Email me here and let me know how you'd like me to personalise your book and bookplate AND where to send your prize!

Out of these random winners I used random number generator to select the Grand Prize winner, who will also receive this gorgeous, custom-made, hand-carved jade phoenix pendant.



I'm very happy to announce that the Grand Prize Winner is: Barker and Jones Staff!

Get in touch as soon as you can, guys - I can see that some of you live in far-off climes and your prize is going to have a real journey to reach you, so the quicker I know your details the better.

Apologies for the short post here, everyone. Release week was pretty hectic - including that wonderful panel with so many amazing authors at Waterstone's Piccadilly - and I've been constantly unwell the whole time, so I'm quite frankly knackered at this point and just want to curl up quietly under a blanket and read and sip cautiously on ginger and lemon tea. Luckily it's Easter half term so I have a couple of weeks off to recover as well as a pile of new books to read. I intend to be a good adult and listen to my body for once.

Here's a picture of me signing books at the MARVELOUS Gay's the Word bookshop on Tuesday to make up for it:


And there's a bunch more exciting news which I should hopefully be able to share with you soon-ish, so keep your eyes peeled. Read you later, my lovelies!

Thursday, 4 April 2019

A VERY HAPPY (BOOK) BIRTHDAY TO ME!

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY DEAR READERS! *Sets off party poppers* *Blows a kazoo* *Flings confetti*


After nearly FOUR YEARS of planning, researching, writing, revising, after nearly two years of working with my publisher and with various wonderful sensitivity readers, and after 10 days of blogtour magic, THE HAND, THE EYE & THE HEART's release day is finally here! The book should now be available to buy from the real life or virtual shelves of your preferred bookshop or vendor and can also be requested from your library. PLEASE DO WHICHEVER ONE OF THESE THINGS YOU CAN AFFORD OR FIND TIME FOR, DEAR READERS. Above all, please do not illegally download this, even though it might be easy and tempting to do so. Support your local starving writers if you want them to keep on writing! And also support their pets, who need to eat too!

Ahem.

Long-time Dear Readers know that this book has had what is commonly referred to as 'a journey' to get published. More information in the personal costs of writing this book can be found here, but today - as I'm looking at the amazing, heartfelt and joyous responses to my weirdo, chunky, queer af little book baby, it all becomes completely worth it. Look at this from Tuesday night:


Number one! *Flings some more confetti* Of course, it's not there anymore, so if anyone felt like nipping across and buying a copy for themselves or as a wonderful gift for a family member or a friend...

Ahem.

Massive thank yous to Arts Council England, the Royal Literary Fund and my agent for believing and investing in this story, to Walker Books for bringing it to the world, and to Fox Benwell, Jay Hulme and Dr Susan Ang Wan-Ling for helping to make it as good as my measley artistic powers would allow. My THE HAND, THE EYE & THE HEART themed Q&A for World Book Day, which has many thoughtful questions about this book, identity, representation and diversity (and my rambling answers) is now up.

Other news! The Queens of Fantasy panel and signing at Piccadilly Waterstones on the 8th of April is SOLD OUT. Don't say I didn't warn you tickets were going fast! I really, *really* hope to see a lot of you guys there - it will be a combined birthday AND book launch treat! - but if you couldn't make it, don't worry, just remember that there's also Cymera in Edinburgh on the 8th of June. Hopefully I'll soon be able to talk about some other upcoming, exciting events...

Now, just in case you missed any, here's a round up of blog tour stops which have taken place since my last update:

Andrew at PewterWolf's fantastic book-themed playlist (you know I am all about that book-playlist life). I love, love, LOVE the fact that Imogen Heap is on here. I'm such a massive fan, and this track in particular is *perfect* for one of my favourite parts of the book which is incredibly dark and intense.

Cora at Tea Party Princess dates The Hand, the Eye & The Heart in exactly the loving yet respectful way that any book mum would hope for. 

Maddie Browse did a gorgeous calligraphy spread of one of my personal favourite quotes from the story (so glad other people found it meaningful too).

Jemima Osborne did a freaky fabulous make-up look inspired by the book and which must have taken a *lot* of work. Respect.

Rosie Freckles finished the tour of in fine style for a book filled with poetry by composing a stunning poem of her own in tribute to many of the important themes and moments in the story.

Here's the whole book tour line-up if you want to go back to the beginning or ensure you haven't missed any. RT and share these fine people's work, muffins - book bloggers, especially our very own #UKYA book blogers, don't get nearly enough love.


And to ensure that they get a bit MORE love, and also to spread that love to as many of you as possible, I'm going to hold a massive giveaway, because that's how we roll!

I have five signed copies of this gorgeous book to give away to a Dear Reader. Each one will be personalised for you, and will arrive complete with signed bookplates for you to put in any other books by me that you currently own or may own in the future, book-themed postcards, and other swag. ONE special prize will also include this:


This is a hand-carved jade pendant which I've commissioned from a Chinese artist, and it shows twin phoenixes - symbols of female strength and power, which are key themes in THE HAND, THE EYE & THE HEART.

The giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY and will run for one week (which is the max time &#5@ing Rafflecopter will allow, sorry!) from today. In order to enter you just need to RT this post on Twitter or share it on Facebook or any other social media site, or RT or share any of the entries on the blog tour (but please don't put a link in the comments on other people's blogs, it's kind of rude).

You can get more entries by sharing and RTing more posts! Just paste the links of your RTs or shares into the giveaway below. Simplez!

Much love, and thank you again for all of your support for this book, my precious muffins!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Friday, 22 March 2019

THE BLOG TOUR BEGINS (and Other News)

Hello, and happy Saturday, Dear Readers! It is now less than TWO WEEKS until The Hand, the Eye and the Heart is officially released and will hopefully be winging its way to a bookshelf or an ereader near you. Not at all coincidentally, I have lots of cool and fun stuff to share with you today, so let's get right into it. First up - The Hand, the Eye and the Heart's Blog Tour begins next week!


Just look at this! Look at it! Music, fashion, read-a-longs, calligraphy, make-up looks? What a feast of madness and brilliance! I'll be RTing and sharing all of these as they go live, and then collecting each week's posts in a masterpost at the end of the both weeks so you don't miss anything.

I urge you to share and RT these as you read and enjoy them, not only to spread the word about the book, and the tour itself - but also to thank each of these dedicated book bloggers for supporting our fandom and giving UKYA a boost in general. I'm honestly humbled by this, guys. I don't often use the term 'awesomesauce' anymore, but this? This is awesomesauce.

Next up! For those of you like me who have poor eyesight or vision impairment, injuries or disabilities that make it hard to read chunky books, or limited space to store physical copies, here's some good news: the Kindle and Kobo versions of the book are now life for pre-orders. Hurrah! And at a discount from the physical copy's price, which is always nice.  

Further to this, shortly after the Kindle version went live, both it and the physical book shot back up into the Amazon bestselling ranks again:


Not gonna lie, I DID do a little squeal (while on the train - I ducked down and pretended it wasn't me while people gave each other suspicious looks) when I saw this. As the release date gets closer and closer, pre-orders make a huge difference to whether the book will succeed in both the short and long-term, so thank you to everyone who's managed to scrape up the cash to do this. I know, I really do, that it's not always easy. I hope *so much* that you'll love the story, and Zhi, and Yulong, and Yang Jie, and Wu Jiang, and all the rest, and think it's worth it.

Now before I start blubbing on my keyboard, I'd better remind you about the event coming up to celebrate the book's release in London, in April: Queens of Fantasy with amazing authors Samantha Shannon, Tasha Suri and Zen Cho. I've motored my way through a stack of all of these guys books in the past month and St. Paul on a pogo stick! THEY ARE SO AMAZING. I might not let anyone else even get the chance to ask them any questions because there's so much I want to know. Will we meet Mehr again in the sequal, Tasha?? Samantha, what was the deal with the Unceasing Emperor's ex-girlfriend?? Zen, did you get the term magicienne from the term 'graduette' which used to be applied to female university graduates??

Ahem.

I've been told that the tickets are really going fast - I'm not just saying that - so if you're hoping to come you should probably look into booking your place sooner rather than later.

And now, in celebration of all this gloriousness, it's snippet time. Yes, really! New and exclusive and just for you, I've picked out one of my favourite bits from later in the book (with no spoilers) and it's under the cut. I hope you all enjoy it, my lovelies!

Let me know what you think in the comments. Read you later!

Monday, 4 March 2019

EXCITING EVENTS 2019!

Hello, hello, hello, Dear Readers! Happy Tuesday to all, and I hope your week is off to a great start.

Over the weekend news has broken - at last - that I am to be part of the line-up at the Cymera Festival in Edinburgh this summer; so now I can finally talk about it!

This is super exciting for many reasons. Cymera is Scotland's very first literary festival for science fiction, fantasy and horror. It's partially organised by the wonderful Laura Lam, who is a long-time Twitter-friend of mine and frankly a marvellous writer and all-around jolly good sort. The list of attendees and panels is fantastic, and includes the aforementioned Laura Lam, as well as Elizabeth May, Richard Morgan, Lauren James, Tom Pollock, V.E. Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Tasha Shuri, Charles Stross, Aliette de Bodard, Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, Zoraida Cordova, Helen Grant and - I am not kidding - literally dozens more.

Finally, I will be doing my panel - which is scheduled for Saturday 3:34-4:45 and is on the theme of Eastern Inspired Fantasy - with New York Times Bestselling Natasha Ngan, author of my FAVOURITE fantasy of last year, Girls of Paper and Fire (read my review).



I cannot WAIT for Cymera. Edinburg is such a beautiful city, the festival is going to be full of people I both like and admire, and I get to meet Natasha Ngan and talk about books and writing with her! I'm pretty sure it's going to be in my top three favourite things I do this year. I hope plenty of northern Dear Readers will be able able to make it - but if you want to get tickets, better act now, they're selling up fast.

Don't think you'll be able to make it up to Edinburgh in June and now feel kind of bummed about it?

FEAR NOT THERE'S MORE!

On April the 8th I am going to be in London doing another bloody fantastic event at Waterstone's Picadilly with - *deep breaths* - one of my favourite people, Internationally Bestselling Samantha Shannon AND Zen Cho (author of The True Queen and Sorcerer to the Crown) AND Tasha Shuri (author of Empire of Sand).

The event - which is 'in conversation' style, meaning it will be super relaxed and chatty - will be chaired by Katherine Webber, fellow Walker author and writer of Only Love Can Break Your Heart. The panel is titled Queens of Fantasy (why thank you, Waterstones Picadilly) and runs from 7pm, with signing and general squeeing and hugs to follow.



I mean, I just... how amazing is this??? It's even on the day after my birthday! Like a very slightly belated birthday present!

Tickets are on sale now and since anything with Samantha in it pretty much sells out in about ten seconds, if you want to be there you should jump in quick.

I'm hoping that a nice chunk of Dear Readers will be able to make it to at least one (or maybe both? Both would be great!) of these. You guys know I live in a very out of the way locale and don't get the chance to do events as often as many writers - plus it's been a couple of years since my last release - and I'd love to catch up with some of you and celebrate the publication of The Hand, The Eye and the Heart.

Please come out to see me if you can! I promise that whether you chose Edinburgh or London, you'll have a lot of fun.

Thursday, 28 February 2019

THANK YOU!

Hi Guys - happy Thursday. Very quick update for me today as I'm literally on the train home from my Fellowship in York, but I wanted to commemorate this:


And this:



And this whole thing in general!

Pretty exciting, huh? Especially a month before release! And all the result of amazing support from Dear Readers. Pre-ordering a book is the number one best thing anyone can do to support an author they love or a book they're excited for, and I'm so grateful for everyone who has. If you can't pre-order, though, don't despair. A purchase in the first week of release - the week of the 4th of April in this case - is the next best thing, but you can also help by requesting the book at your local library, or leaving a review for it on Amazon or Goodreads. Just talking about it on Twitter or with your friends can make a difference, and I'm humbled and delighted by the number of people who want to do that.

This is a special book to me, and I really hope that it will be special to you, too, once you get the chance to read it.

Barely a month to go now, everyone! Whoop, whoop!

Wednesday, 20 February 2019

READER QUESTIONS: What is Plot?

Hello and happy Wednesday, Dear Readers! I hope your week is going well so far - or at the very least, that it can't get worse from here (ah, pessimist humour, you are so grim).

Today I'm bringing you a post sparked by the loveliest message from reader Hana, who emailed me via my website (and also a little bit inspired by a conversation about plotting on Twitter that got my brain working). But before we get to that, it's time to announce the winner of last week's giveaway! This is actually happening a bit sooner than I expected, because I set the giveaway for two weeks to give people plenty of time to enter. Apparently Rafflecopter had other ideas. And when I checked the entries today I found that the giveaway was closed, but they didn't email me to let me know so... I dunno. I'm as confused as you, Dear Readers, but let's not dwell on the past.

Onward to the winner, who is...

*Drumroll Please*



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RACHEL J ROWLANDS!

Congratulations, Rachel! I'll be emailing you a little later today to ask for your shipping address so that I can get this prize package out in the post to you. I hope you enjoy all the books, and that you remember that ancient and wise proverb: If you love a book and leave a review, the writer will have good luck and so will you. 

I mean, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but I'm preeeeetty sure Plato said that, so you really ought to pay attention. To Plato. Ahem.

Now for today's Reader Question! The lovely Hana asks:
I just wondered: how you plan out... a story - how does an author like you, of whom I look up to, draft things out? I have book ideas and I like writing in my spare time, and I'd love to understand your technique! I myself am stuck with thinking mostly of the cool, climactic scenes in my stories, but struggle to piece it all together and make it clever without getting too overwhelmed. If you could get back to me - any quick tips would do - I would be super grateful.
Lovely Hana, I have GOT THIS. Listen, some authors just *get* plot, you know? They don't ever have to define it, or plan it, or stress about it, because it is IN THEIR BONES. They're natural storytellers, and it flows for them totally organically. These are the writers who weave the most awesome tapestry of plot threads together and for whom plot twists and narrative balance are like breathing.

I kind of hate those authors?

Most of the writers I know struggle with plot - and me most of all. What you say here about having ideas for cool and climactic scenes but no real idea how to turn that into a story? This makes me feel so seen. Honestly, this is what most writers spend most of their time discussing, worrying over and asking each other for advice about. And that's good news for you! Because it means we have come up with practical answers to these questions which are actually useful!

So here's my run-down of resources that should hopefully help you to understand and construct plots. First up, this three part series that I created a while ago that guides you through the whole process from 'Oooh, I have a cool idea!' to 'Oooh, I have a fully coherent story!'

TURNING IDEAS INTO PLOTS: Part One, Part Two and Part Three

You can click on the diagrams to make them large enough to read all the small writing, btw. Now, this is a method which has reliably worked for me, and I know that it's good for others too because writer-friends of mine have actually used this to teach creative writing courses. BUT! Every writer's mind works differently, and you might be looking for something that goes into a bit more detail about the ways that plot, character, theme etc. interact.

And so next, here's Rachael Stephen's video about her favourite plotting method, the Plot Embryo.



I've used this for my last two books - after coming up with a basic story plan using my own Plot Diamond - as a sort of narrative MOT, to make sure that all the elements of the story are actually working together as they should be.

I also highly recommend John Yorke's book Into The Woods, which is another very different but compelling and useful examination of how plots work and why. The first time that I read it, it honestly blew my mind a little bit, and I think a lot of writers have that reaction, so brace yourself!

If you're looking for something slightly less novel-crafty and more thinky, here's a post I did a little while ago (which includes another video from Rachael Stephen) about the importance of figuring out your thesis, or the 'truth' of your story, and how you can use essay planning methods to ensure you demonstrate this throughout the developing narrative. The triangle structure is maybe more useful for short fiction, but the idea that you should work out your story's thesis first and use that as a 'North Star' to guide you in working out what your novel/essay/short story is truly about, and therefore what stuff should be in it, is universally useful in my opinion. I did another essay about this on the Royal Literary Fund Website, which you can check out if you'd like some more depth.

And finally, there's a wealth of other writing advice here on my All About Writing page, which covers everything from rooting cliches out of your work to how to create a character, so check that out too, Hana. I hope this is useful and gets your story-writing muscles quivering with anticipation to get to work!


Sunday, 10 February 2019

UPDATES & A GIVEAWAY

Hello, hello, hello, Dear Readers! Happy Monday to all, and apologies for the long wait since the last time I blogged. This Christmas and New Year period has *kicked my ass*. Repeatedly, in fact, and for a list of reasons as long as my arm.

There are some massive changes coming in my life. Some of them are positive and exciting. Some of them are stressful and not-so-nice. I can't talk about most of them yet, mainly because final decisions (either mine or other people's) haven't been made. I'm aware this is infuriatingly cryptic by the way - but I'm afraid it's the best I can do just now - and I will give details about stuff that I think Dear Readers will be interested in as soon as I can.

There are some updates I can make, though, and I will do so below.

The main reason for the lack of blogging: my mother. She's been very ill over the last few months. At one point she was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night in an ambulance, then transferred to a hospital sixty miles away for emergency surgery - only to have that surgery cancelled at the last minute. She came home on a promise that the surgery would be rescheduled within three weeks, but that didn't happen. As a result she's been suffering a lot of pain and hasn't been able to move about much. Her operation is now on again, and by the time you're reading this I hope she will be comfortably settled into her bed and waiting to go down to the theatre. So please send kind, hopeful and healing thoughts in our direction today, if you can spare them.

Now onto something happier. Not only have I finally upated the blog with a page dedicated to my newest book (check it out for a Q&A about the book and some interesting links) but early copies of The Hand, the Eye & The Heart are here! And they are beeeeeeooootiful:

 




The colours! The internal illustrations! THE TURQUOISE FOIL! *Swoons*

I was lucky enough (well, begged loudly enough) to get two despite the limited numbers. One has winged its way off to a lucky competition winner, as promised. The other stays with me for always (my preeccccciousssss). If you're a blogger, vlogger or other bookish person and you would like one of these early copies to review, you'll need to get in touch with Walker Books as soon as possible - @WalkerBookYA on Twitter is a good bet. If and when any further copies fall into my possession, I will of course do a giveaway.

However, just because The Hand, the Eye & the Heart is as rare as hen's teeth just now that doesn't mean there can be NO giveaways. In fact I happen to have a small pile of absolutely lovely books from Walker right here:

 

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, the follow-up to mega-hit THUG, which needs no introduction.

The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James. I'm so excited about this one! Lauren's last book The Lonelist Girl in the Universe was *staggeringly* good, and so unique. No one else is writing this kind of imaginative, grounded, hard-science fiction in UKYA right now. You want this.

Nothing but the Truth by Dick Lehr, a book about racial intolerance in the US written by a former Boston Globe reporter who used his experiences to inform his fiction.

These are some of the most sought after books coming out this spring, and personally I prefer this spiffy yellow ARC cover to the official one, for Angie Thomas's book. I'm going to make these available to one lucky winner, ALONG WITH:
  • Gorgeous THTE&TH postcards (see below!)
  • The first chapter of THTE&TH, printed out and signed by yours truly, to keep you going until its release on the 4th of April.
  • A signed and personalised bookplate to stick in THTE&TH (or any of my other books, I guess) when you get your hands on it

All you have to do is comment here on the blog, then share the giveaway somewhere on Twitter, or follow me on Twitter, sometime in the next two weeks. You can get extra chances to win by sharing more than once - and the giveaway is open to readers in Britain and the EU, because that's the postage I can afford just now (sorry international peeps!).

Here's the Rafflecopter. Good luck, muffins!a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

EARLY COPY GIVEAWAY WINNER

Hello, Dear Readers! Happy Tuesday and happy Christmas! I'm saying that now because I probably won't blog again before it's all over - the dark chocolate brownies, spiced apple cake, roast potatoes and pork shoulder with crackling aren't going to cook themselves, and I'm having my whole family over not once but twice this year so... yeah. Eeep.

Don't worry - of course I'm not going to sign off without announcing the winner of my giveaway of my very first early copy of THE HAND, THE EYE AND THE HEART (which I don't have yet, but which will hopefully land in my hot little hands in the New Year). I'll do that below, but first I wanted to share this:



And seven is my lucky number, too! I'm very proud to see my quirky, chunky book in such lovely company. Thank you everyone who has pre-ordered the book, talked about the book, RTed or shared my posts about the book. It honestly does make such a difference, and that's why I like to notice things like this, celebrate them, and show you what your support can do.

And now for the winner! Drumroll please!


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JACKIE ORTON!


Congratulations, Jackie, I'll email you today and get your postal details so I can send your copy of the book to you as soon as I get it. I hope you enjoy it!

Commiserations to everyone else who hoped to win this and didn't, this time. Please don't be too upset. There will be more giveaways and competitions in the run up to the book's release. And remember that it's not very long until April, now. Which gives me a bit of a flutter of butterflies, honestly! Have a marvellous holiday season and New Year, muffins!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, 4 December 2018

THE HAND, THE EYE & THE HEART COVER REVEAL AND GIVEAWAY!

Hello, and welcome to a very special post this Monday evening, Dear Readers. It's time to reveal the gorgeous cover art for a book that (as I've mentioned a few times) is really special to me: The Hand, the Eye & the Heart.

And I know you're all busily scrolling past this right now, but I'm going to ramble a bit first anyway because a) it seems less basic than just slapping the cover up here with barely any introduction and letting the art do all the talking and b) it's my blog and I'll ramble if I want to.

This cover illustration (including hand lettering!) was created by a legendary artist, Kate Forrester. You can visit her website and see her brilliant work for yourself (and I highly recommend it, because it's a feast for the eyes) but suffice it to say that she's created covers for some publishing greats. I personally think she's outdone herself this time.

This is the inspiration board I'd put together for any potential artist or designer for the book to look at. That's how I've worked with Delightful Designer over my past four books. I share it here because I think it's interesting - there are so many points of convergence that it is spooky, including the fact that I'd actually pinned a cover created by Kate Forrester long before I ever knew she would be involved - not because, on this occasion, it had anything to do with the cover art. It didn't.

Delightful Designer is currently on maternity leave and the designer Walker had working on The Hand, the Eye & the Heart (hi, Genius Designer! We haven't spoken, but you're awesome!) came up with the concept and decided on an artist without any input from me whatsoever. And all I can say is: good call. Honestly, I don't think it could have worked out any better.

So now, without any further ado... THE COVERRRRR!!



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I mentioned in the teaser post that every detail in the cover is not only informed by the aesthetics of  the cultures on which the book itself draws, but also by specific details of the story and characters. All the animals (mythical and real) are significant in the story. The flowers you see - peonies and magnolias - are each mentioned in the story. Above all, the style and composition and colours all remind me very much of a glorious kesi tapestry, and since this kind of weaving is an artform which is very important to the main character of the book, that means a lot to me.

I think it's honestly stunning. And so right for this book. I'm also told there's a chance that the finished version maaaay have foil, so my fingers are crossed for that...

Other details about this book which I can now share! It's 448 pages long - the longest book I've ever written. It starts with an epigraph from The Art of War by Sun Tzu. It will also contain a trigger warning (which I'm very grateful to my publisher for letting me include) and a list of resources which I hope might be useful for trans and non-binary folk.

And just to make this as special as possible, now it's GIVEAWAY time. There won't be any ARCs for this book, but I've been promised that there will be early copies and that these should materialise sometime around the new year. So if you'd like to get your hands on one of these early copies, of which there will be limited numbers, as soon as I do? Then RT or share this post and enter the giveaway below for a chance to win The Hand, the Eye and the Heart in all it's (hopefully) foiled glory.

This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY and you can increase your odds of being the winner depending on how often you share and RT this post over the next two weeks. Have at it and have fun, muffins!

Tuesday, 27 November 2018

COVER COMING SOON!!

Hello, hello, hello Dear Readers! Happy Tuesday to all - I hope everyone's having a good week so far. My week is definitely looking up, since I've had some fantastic news today.

I'm basically just posting to tease you this week, but I hope you'll forgive my need to share my excitement - because I've had confirmation that the cover art for The Hand, the Eye & the Heart is FINALISED and that I will be able to share it NEXT WEEK!

I love this cover so much, you guys. I've loved it since I saw the very first, very rough design idea, even though it was in bizarrely in black and white. Walker has really outdone themselves this time. They commissioned the absolutely legendary artist Kate Forrester to illustrate and hand-letter the cover, and every detail in her artwork is so respectful to the cultures the book draws on, and so beautifully and directly specific to this story. My first impression was that it looked like some kind of wonderful ancient tapestry - and since the art of weaving is very important in The Hand, the Eye & the Heart, that makes my little heart sing.

And soon I will get to share it with all of you!

*High pitched incoherent squealing*

Ahem.

OK, so here are the details. If anyone reading this has been lucky enough to be invited to Walker's YA Wonderland:



And you can make it, then on Monday of next week you will not only be meeting a bunch of cool authors and eating a bunch of delicious nibbles - you'll also be getting the very first, exclusive look at this cover art.

But don't worry if you're not going to be there. No, seriously - calm down, folks - would your faithful Zolah toy with her Dear Readers like that? Not only will all the bloggers present be tweeting what they see under #WalkersYAWonderland or #WalkerYA2019, but I'll also set up a blog-post all ready to go on Monday too. As soon as the presentation is over I will press 'Publish' and share the full cover on the internet in all its hi-res full-wrap glory.

Stand by on Monday evening to be BLOWN AWAY. I can't wait!
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