It is time for another weekly check-in! I hope you had a great and productive week. Mine was very buzy and I apologise for my lack of posts and this short check-in. I’ll be back full-time next week, I promise!

ROW80 Check-In

My goal for this round is to write or edit every day. This week again I managed

5 days out of 7.

Word Count of the Week

This week I revised my Work In Progress and added 1000 words to this draft.

TV Show of the Week

Dracula (NBC)

This TV show is coming this fall and I’m so excited for it! You can watch the trailer here.

Good News of the Week

Lily In The Shadows is now in the hands of its first beta readers and I’m waiting on their feedback…

Next week

Next week on my blog I shall finally accept the Versatile Blogger Award and return to a regular blogging schedule!

How was your week? Make sure to share your writing progress and what inspired you this week in the comment section below!

this week I’m waiting on The Rose Throne byMette Ivie Harrison (published yesterday in the US by EgmontUSA, no UK release date yet).

It is a YA Epic Fantasy loosely based on the Tudors era. I have never read anything by this author but this cover and this blurb appeal to me. I’d love to find out if it’s as good as it sounds…

From Goodreads:

Richly-imagined fantasy romance from the author of Princess and the Hound, a tale of two princesses–one with magic, one with none–who dare seek love in a world where real choice can never be theirs. For fans of Megan Whalen Turner, Catherine Fisher, and Cassandra Clare.

Ailsbet loves nothing more than music; tall and red-haired, she’s impatient with the artifice and ceremony of her father’s court. Marissa adores the world of her island home and feels she has much to offer when she finally inherits the throne from her wise, good-tempered father. The trouble is that neither princess has the power–or the magic–to rule alone, and if the kingdoms can be united, which princess will end up ruling the joint land? For both, the only goal would seem to be a strategic marriage to a man who can bring his own brand of power to the throne. But will either girl be able to marry for love? And can either of these two princesses, rivals though they have never met, afford to let the other live?

Which book are you waiting for this week? Feel free to leave me a comment below!

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by book blogger Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. You can see what other bloggers are waiting for here.

This post is one day late and I apologise for this. You’ll see below I had a very busy week. I hope your week was as productive and good as mine!

ROW80 Check-In

My goal this round is to write every day. This week I managed to write

5/7 days

Word Count of the Week

This week I wrote 9000 words and finished my Work In Progress. It needs some fine-tuning now, but I’m quite pleased I managed to write a whole book in 5 months.

Movie of the Week

Iron Man 3

I finally managed to see Iron Man 3 and I really enjoyed it! Some impressive action scenes, great humor, well-developed characters… all in all a very entertaining film.

Good News of the Week

I received the Versatile Blogger Award no less than 5 times this week (!). I’ll write a post about it this week. Thanks to all the bloggers who thought of me for this award!

I hope you all had a wonderful week too! Feel free to leave me a comment below and to visit the other ROWers here.

Today I’d like to discuss a writing device that is both well-known and troublesome to use: foreshadowing.

What is foreshadowing?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is “a warning or indication of a future event”. In literature, it is a way to “prepare readers for what will happen later in the story” (K.M. Weiland) by planting a clue (an image, an idea, a character, an event) that will only turn out to be important or make sense later in the narrative.

Why should a writer use foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing gives depth to a story and helps make it plausible. When every part of your narrative falls into place at the end (as they should), the reader should have a “ha!” moment when he thinks: “I should have seen this coming!” And because he didn’t, he will marvel at your writing, and possibly re-read the book to find all the clues he missed the first time.

How to use foreshadowing?

This is the hard part. If your clues are too blatant, the reader will quickly put two and two together and all suspense will be ruined. If the clues are too subtle, the reader won’t even remember them when he reaches the end. So the key here is to find the right balance. As for anything else when it comes to writing a good story, critique partners and beta readers will help you in finding this balance. They’ll be able to tell you: “this was too obvious”, or “what do you mean, you left clues?!”

Any great examples of foreshadowing?

In literature, my favourite example of well-done foreshadowing is The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. But because only a few of you have read it, I’ll take my examples from Buffy instead. Joss Whedon is a MASTER at foreshadowing, and here is the proof…

Willow’s story arc: In season 3, Willow meets her vampire doppelgänger and says “I’m so evil and skanky. And I think I’m kinda gay.” In season 4 she will become openly gay and in season 6 she will turn evil and try to destroy the world.

Dawn’s arrival: from the beginning of season 4, there are clues in the dialogues to Dawn’s arrival in season 5.

Buffy’s death at the end of season 5 is predicted by Faith at the end of season 3 (two years in advance!) when she says: “Oh yeah. Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from seven three oh.” When she says this, Buffy will die in 730 days.

Do you use foreshadowing in your stories? How difficult are you finding it? Feel free to leave me a comment below!

And happy writing…

I have been so busy researching and writing Lily In The Shadows I haven’t read a book in ages! This week I decided it was time to read for fun again, and I picked up Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells, An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (published on 19th March 2013 by Tor). I figured short stories would help me ease back into my reading habits…

From Goodreads:

“Gaslamp Fantasy,” or historical fantasy set in a magical version of the nineteenth century, has long been popular with readers and writers alike. A number of wonderful fantasy novels, including Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and The Prestige by Christopher Priest, owe their inspiration to works by nineteenth-century writers ranging from Jane Austen, the Brontës, and George Meredith to Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and William Morris. And, of course, the entire steampunk genre and subculture owes more than a little to literature inspired by this period.

Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells is an anthology for everyone who loves these works of neo-Victorian fiction, and wishes to explore the wide variety of ways that modern fantasists are using nineteenth-century settings, characters, and themes. These approaches stretch from steampunk fiction to the Austen-and-Trollope inspired works that some critics call Fantasy of Manners, all of which fit under the larger umbrella of Gaslamp Fantasy. The result is eighteen stories by experts from the fantasy, horror, mainstream, and young adult fields, including both bestselling writers and exciting new talents such as Elizabeth Bear, James Blaylock, Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner, Tanith Lee, Gregory Maguire, Delia Sherman, and Catherynne M. Valente, who present a bewitching vision of a nineteenth century invested (or cursed!) with magic.

The Line-up:
“The Fairy Enterprise” by Jeffrey Ford
“From the Catalogue of the Pavilion of the Uncanny and Marvelous, Scheduled for Premiere at the Great Exhibition (Before the Fire)” by Genevieve Valentine
“The Memory Book” by Maureen McHugh
“Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells” by Delia Sherman
“La Reine D’Enfer” by Kathe Koja
“Briar Rose” by Elizabeth Wein
“The Governess” by Elizabeth Bear
“Smithfield” by James P. Blaylock
“The Unwanted Women of Surrey” by Kaaron Warren
“Charged” by Leanna Renee Hieber
“Mr. Splitfoot” by Dale Bailey
“Phosphorus” by Veronica Schanoes
“We Without Us Were Shadows” by Catherynne M. Valente
“The Vital Importance of the Superficial” by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer
“The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown” by Jane Yolen
“A Few Twigs He Left Behind” by Gregory Maguire
“Their Monstrous Minds” by Tanith Lee
“Estella Saves the Village” by Theodora Goss

What are you reading this week? Feel free to leave me a comment below!

It is already time for the fifth check-in of this round! I hope you had a good and productive week…

ROW80 Check-In

My goal for this round is to write every day. This week, I managed to write

4/7 days

Word Count of the Week

I’m currently trying to keep the Camp NaNoWriMo momentum and this week I added 7000 words to my Work In Progress. I’m very pleased with this, especially since I edit as I go. This word count means I’m *nearly* done with this novel…

TV Show of the Week

This week’s episode of Doctor Who was set in Victorian England! It started off as a Gaslamp Fantasy, which I was thrilled about, but ended up being a sci-fi episode. I had a great time watching it nonetheless!

Links of the Week

This week I wrote a guest post on Aimee L. Salter’s blog about Writing Rules.

On my blog, I discussed How To Make The Most of a Novel Writing Month When You Don’t Have Time For It.

There And Draft Again now has over 100 followers and this week, Mara posted about Creating Fantasy Creatures and Rachel shared her Top Ten Fantasy Movies.

Meanwhile, The Write Stuff for Boston Auction is still in full swing and I suggest you check what’s being auctioned every day. Whether you’re a reader or a writer, there’s something for you there!

Finally, in case you missed it and if you need to smile… here is a Channing Friday post. I promise you it’s awesome.

Next Week

Next week I shall finish Lily In The Shadows. There’s no going back, now.

How was your week? Make sure to share your writing progress and what inspired you this week in the comment section below!

Two days ago Camp NaNoWriMo ended and I didn’t “win” it.

The idea behind such a writing challenge (whether it is the original NaNoWriMo in November, JuNoWriMo in June or Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July) is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. All you have to do as a writer is sit down and write 1667 words a day for 30 days and you end up with a complete first draft on the last day of the challenge, which makes you a challenge “winner”.

That’s in theory, at least.

As you may know from following this blog or my Twitter feed, I am not a full-time writer. I have a Crazy Day Job which keeps me busy for at least 60 hours a week. I have to sleep, eat and show my face outside every day. I can’t just hide in my writing cave for a month, even if I really want to. So a challenge like Camp NaNoWriMo doesn’t sound like something I should have even tried to do, since it was clear from the start winning was going to be hard, if not impossible.

But I still made the most of Camp NaNoWriMo in April. Here are my tips to make the most of a Novel Writing Month challenge when you don’t have time for a Novel Writing Month challenge…

1) Be prepared.

Before you dive in the writing challenge, know what you are going to write. Have a rough outline for your plot, some ideas for your characters and your themes. This will help you not getting “stuck”.

2) Set yourself a goal.

1667 words every day is too much for me, I know that. I write slowly (700 words in 60 minutes at best) and I never have more than two hours a day to write. So during Camp NaNoWriMo, I decided to write 500 words a day.

3) Play with the rules.

Writing a first draft implies “not looking back”, even “word vomiting”. Write now, edit later. I can’t do that. Because I have so little time to write, I need to know what I’m writing isn’t going to end up deleted when I read it again at the end of the month. So I edit as I go.

4) Take part in writing sprints on Twitter.

A Novel Writing Month is about community. As writers, we can feel pretty lonely sometimes. A writing challenge is a great way to find other writers online, people who are also trying to write a novel in a month. Motivation and perseverance stems from talking to them, and sharing our experience.

5) Whatever your wordcount in the end, it is a success, because YOU WROTE WORDS. I wrote 23,000 words in April. That’s a third of a novel, guys. And I’m happy with that.

Have you ever taken part in a Novel Writing Month? How did it go for you? What advice would you give to new participants? Feel free to leave me a comment below!

today I’m guest posting on Aimee L. Salter’s blog about Writing Rules.

Read the post here and feel free to leave a comment!…

Have a good writing week!

It is time for the fourth check-in of this round! I hope you had a good and productive week…

ROW80 Check-In

My goal for this round is to write every day. This week, I managed to write

3/7 days

Word Count of the Week

I added 4000 words to my Work In Progress. I won’t win Camp NaNoWriMo this year, but at least I added some words to my Work In Progress.

TV Show of the Week

The Vampire Diaries – The Originals (CW)

So what did you think of this first episode in the spin-off series?

Good news of the Week

The lovely Sarah Cradit awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award, the Very Inspiring Blogger Award and the Sunshine Award in this post. I have already received these awards, but I’m happy and humbled Sarah thought of me as deserving of them again. Go and visit her blog!

Links of the Week

This week on my blog I discussed how to build a bridge between Genre fiction and Literary fiction.

On the There And Draft Again group blog, Rachel wrote about the editing process and Kathi talked Myths and Legends in Fantasy.

Finally, make sure to check out The Write Stuff for Boston Auction and to bid for items such as signed books, advance reader copies (ARCs), artwork, critiquing services, book-related swag, author visits, book bundles, or the chance to name a character in an upcoming book. All proceeds will benefit the victims and families of the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15, 2013.

Next Week

Next week I’ll be writing a guest post for the wonderful Aimee L. Salter  so make sure to check out her blog on Monday!

How was your week? Make sure to share your writing progress and what inspired you this week in the comment section below!

]]> http://emcastellan.com/2013/04/28/my-week-in-review-row80-check-in-4-2/feed/ 8 emcastellan ROW80 Logo Camp NaNoWriMo 2013 The Vampire Diaries - The Originals http://emcastellan.com/2013/04/24/building-a-bridge-between-literary-and-genre-fiction/ http://emcastellan.com/2013/04/24/building-a-bridge-between-literary-and-genre-fiction/#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:39:39 +0000 EM Castellan http://emcastellan.com/?p=20625 ]]> Hello gentle reader,

Last week at the London Book Fair, I attended a seminar on Genre Snobbery, which inspired me for this post (please note this is not a recap of said seminar).

Traditionally, literary fiction and genre fiction have been akin to two different planets. On the one hand, literary fiction is seen as character-driven, “serious” fiction with universal/thought-provoking themes and global recognition. On the other hand, genre fiction is supposed to be plot-driven, focused on narrow niches of readership and often snubbed by well-meaning critics.

Yet.

Is it impossible for a book to be BOTH literary and genre fiction? To bridge that gap between both readerships, both genres, both worlds?

Yes, and here are a couple of examples (genre classification is mine):

Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Literary Fantasy Retelling)

The Radleys by Mat Haig (Literary Vampire Book)

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Literary Historical Fantasy)

How do these books bridge the gap?

- The cover: only one detail (a drop of blood, a green girl) indicates the book could belong to the fantasy genre. At a first, quick glance, a reader could think this is a literary book. The cover thus appeals to both readerships.

- The content: these books have vampires, witches and ladies in petticoats, yet both their characters and plot lines could belong in a literay book.

- The author: often, a book that bridges the gap between literary and genre fiction has been written by a writer who has published works in both genres.

- The classification: these books are hard to put in a box. Often, the marketing team in charge of promoting them has struggled to pinpoint which genre they belong to, which readership they would appeal to and which cover to give them.

So what do you think? Have you ever read a “genre book” that you felt was literary? What do you think about genres and classifications in general? Feel free to leave me a comment below and to join the discussion!