What's Up Wednesday No. 2: The Case of the Childhood Photos

Look at this. I had my doubts, but here I am writing my second What’s Up Wednesday post. I’m feeling very accomplished and like the sort of girl who follows through on things. Please go with me on this.

So, here’s what I’ve been up to…

What I’m Reading: I’m dying to start Kasie West’s The Distance Between Us. I loved Pivot Point (you can read my review here), and though this is a straight contemporary I have faith I’m going to completely love it. I’ve ordered The Westing Game, which, might I remind you, the YA Book Club is reading this July. So, you know, feel free pick up the book at your local bookstore or library and join in.

What I’m Writing: I’m still plugging away at that YA sci-fi novel I’ve been talking about for the past few weeks. And now a PSA: If you need a little push with writing, follow the #ReadySetWrite hashtag. Most nights you can find me and other writers pounding out words. It’s a great accountability tool. Why, just the other day Ready, Set, Write! co-coordinator Katy Upperman threatened to scoop my eyeballs out with a spork if I didn’t write.* That’s what I call service.

As promise, I’ve also come prepared with another snippet from my story. Have I mentioned before that this is a very, very rough draft? Please do not judge. Or, if you do, remember that making fun of rough drafts kills puppies.

Cold finds its way under the covers and I shiver. Our building controls the temperature in all units, but my father has hacked our system to keep our apartment cooler. Better to fall asleep to, he says. I flip to my side and tug the comforter to my chin. The thin fingers of the oak on my balcony scratch against the glass. When I was younger, my father and I would climb onto the first thick branch, swinging our legs in the space between us and the earth. It’s been a year since we sat up there, mostly because his work got complicated and I got boobs, but looking at the branch trying to claw its way into my room, I can smell the dirt and fallen leaves. The crisp taste of wood smoke–scented cold air. 

“Syna, honey,” he’d said, peeling a leaf along the veins, “there are three truths in life. Nothing good happens before 10 a.m. and I love you more than the sun and the moon and the stars and those guava chews we get with takeout.” 

“And the third?” 

“Boys are snakes. Avoid them at all costs.”

What Else I’ve Been Up To: My parents are preparing to sell their house so I currently have in my possession boxes of photos from my teen years. I haven’t even attempted to sort through them yet, but when I do, dear friends, get ready for me to reveal teen Tracey in all her flat-chested glory. Maybe I’ll even find some from the middle school years when I had braces and those giant glasses everyone thought was cool. The horror.

What’s Inspiring Me: I’ve finally found some photos of my characters, which I love to look at while writing. I don’t stick too closely to the real humans in the pictures, but they’re helpful to look at (or, in the case of Linden’s character, gaze longingly at) when I’m feeling a bit stuck.

How about a quick introduction?

SYNA: MAIN CHARACTER, WHO, UNLIKE THIS GIRL, DOES NOT HAVE UNNATURALLY TURQUOISE EYES

LINDEN: LOVE INTEREST WHO, LIKE THIS MODEL HERE, IS, WELL, PLEASING TO THE EYES

MAGS: THE BEST FRIEND

DAN: THE GUARDIAN

Finally, I wanted to send out a giant CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Caroline Richmond who has just sold her book to Scholastic! Might as well memorize her name because when her book comes out you’re going to want to read it. Two words: Nazis. Superpowers. Yep.

What have you been up to?

* Based on a true story.

What's Up Wednesday No. 1: the Builder of the Universe Edition

I’ve decided to do this really cool summer writing intensive created by Katy Upperman, Jaime Morrow, Alison Miller,  Elodie Nowodazkij (Ha! I dare you to pronounce that!), and Erin Funk, who on their free time from plotting to take over the world have mastermined a great writing accountability program. If you want to join in, check out the full details here.

And because I’m doing Ready, Set, Write I’m also taking part in What’s Up Wednesday (or, as my teen boy self likes to call it, Wut Up Wenz?*). Even if you’re not doing Ready, Set, Write, it’s a fun way to catch up with what bloggers in the writing community are doing, so feel free to join in on your own blog.

So, what I’ve been up to this week…

What I’m Reading: I’m currently in the middle of Mila 2.0. I got the e-book on sale for $2.99 earlier this week (as of today, it’s still on sale) since I’d been planning to read it for a while. So far it’s a fun adventure and I’m loving how Mila struggles with understanding and accepting that she’s an android.

What I’m Writing: Remember that new WIP I mentioned way back when (two weeks ago) that I had to completely rework because I’d decided to transport the story to the future? Well, I spent early last week doing some massive world-building (la la la, just creating an entire world) and since writing—from pretty much the moment I got off work until the wee hours of the morning. You’d think I’d be 20 chapters in what with all the time I put in. But you would be wrong because you would be forgetting to major details:

1. It takes me 30 times as long to write my first chapter as it does the next 10 combined.
2. I cannot continue until Chapter One is done.

I did get through two chapters last night, which is saying something. Not about me, no. It’s saying something about Ready, Set, Write, which is this: Having marathon writing sessions with friends on Twitter makes it so much easier to write instead of read, watch TV, do my nails, or get sucked into the black hole that is Pinterest for 12 hours.

I think I’ll post an excerpt each week during these Wut Up Wenz posts because it’ll force me to write like mad during the other six days at the very least in order to have something to show for it. Here we go.

“Well this is boring.” I turn to find my arch nemesis leaning over the edge of his desk. I firmly believe everyone should have at least one arch nemesis in their life to keep things exciting. I was lucky enough to meet mine in seventh grade, four days after I told Linden Pearce I couldn’t go to the dance with him because my father wouldn’t let me date. He didn’t take that so well. 

Today, his dark hair is purposefully tousled, his mouth set in the smirk that comes free with any Linden Pearce interaction. It’s a useful tool on unsuspecting girls, but I’m familiar with Linden’s personality, so it has the opposite effect as is intended. “Go away.” 

“You can be so cranky.” 

“One of our classmates has interrupted lunch to try to kill our teacher. Of course I’m cranky. I’m starving,” I growl. 

As always, this is from a very rough draft. Sandpaper rough, and not that fine crap either. I’m talking extra coarse or maybe diamond-studded.

What Else I’ve Been Up To: Honestly, this week? Not much. Listen, when I’m in a groove I like to keep that groove going, so most of my time that’s not spent at the day job has consisted of me, hunched over my keyboard, researching the world for my book until the pads of my fingers tingle. I do, however, plan to take a break soon to see Man of Steel because it finally looks like Superman has a personality. Hooray.

What’s Inspiring Me? I’m a big Black Veil Brides fan, and not just because lead singer Andy Biersack is unnaturally hot. Anyhow, their song “Lost It All” is sort of like the anthem of my WIP. It’s as if this song—achingly sad but also tough—is the lyrical embodiment of my main character’s personality.

Black Veil Brides: Lost It All (W/Lyrics) HD from Lewis Garcia on Vimeo.

What are you up to?

*I am almost certain this has made me either 10 years older or 40 percent dorkier. Probably both.

A Snippet From My Story

I’ve been playing around with a new story, one that has the potential to be the best thing I’ve ever written. It also has the potential to absolutely suck, so there’s that. Anyhow, when Katy Upperman tagged me in a WIP post, I knew I had to join in.

The rules were simple: Search for the words “moment,” “forever,” or “time” in your work-in-progress, pick your favorite excerpt, post on your blog, and tag others.

A couple disclaimers first:

• This draft is so rough it could sand a diamond.
• I wrote the story as a sci-fi mystery taking place in modern times. I’ve since decided to time travel my book to the future, but I haven’t gone back an updated it yet. Hence the contemporary-feeling snippet below.
• I’m not in a serious mood right now, so you’re getting a fun scene.

And on to the excerpt, which I’m starting in the middle of a scene because I think you’ll get what’s going on and if you don’t ... oh well.

I’m about to jump off the counter, zip my feet into my boots, and leave Evan in my dust when two things happen. First, Evan moves his hand to my uninjured knee, batting his lashes like he’s got a speck of something caught in his eye. And second, Emily charges into the bathroom. She stops, eyes darting the very short distance between me and Evan, mouth hanging far enough open for me to see her lollipop blue tongue. 

 She’s having a hard time stringing together a sentence, so her scream sounds more like, “What? You … arch nemesis … why … oh no” instead of what she most likely meant to say: “Why do you appear to be hooking up with your sworn enemy?” 

Evan responds by grabbing my waist, tugging me closer, and kissing my cheek, which makes Emily mutter even louder. I kick him away, which is easy considering he’s doubled over with laughter. “Em, it’s not what it looks like. I came in here to take off my tights—shut up, Evan—because I ripped them when I crashed into Evan’s dad.” 

“Uh huh.” She taps the back of her head.

 “I have not been abducted by aliens.” 

“That’s exactly what someone who has been brainwashed by aliens would say.” Maybe there’s some merit to Emily’s alien brain tampering theory because my head is ready to explode. “So what? You and Evan were canoodling as you undressed? You hate this guy.” 

“You hate me?” 

“Yes, I have feelings of strong dislike toward you six out of seven days. No, we were not canoodling. Who are you, my eighty-year-old grandma?”

Now I tag you. Yes, all of you. I am greedy like that and want to read as many WIP snippets as possible. 

An Excerpt

You guys have probably guessed by now that I don’t do a lot of WIP sharing around here. Insecurities about and all. But I was tagged with this Lucky Seven … thing (what are these—memes?) and it seemed too fun to pass up.

The rules:

• Go to page 77 of your current MS.
• Go to line 7.
• Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences, and post the as they’re written. No cheating.
• Tag 7 other writers.

First off, I cheated. I know, I KNOW, but hear me out. Line seven contained a half sentence so I started with line eight. I’m pretty sure I didn’t spoil the fun or anything. Also, I’m posting more than seven lines since the scene ends a few sentences later, and I figured, why not end there?

Okay, so you’ll be getting these lines from my YA sci-fi. There’s a very good chance I’ll be cutting this scene in the future, so I’m glad that, of all the passages the 77-7 ended up on this one.

Unlike Katy Upperman, who posted an awesome kiss, my character is forced to sit next to a cute boy without kissing him. As you can probably guess, I’m not as nice to my characters (or readers, apparently) as Katy is. (And if you haven’t read her excerpt, please, go, now.)

When I came up for air, I paddled to the rock at the base of the cliff where Eli sat. A group of trees on either side shaded the flat rock from the bright sunlight. 

“Your attempt to get me into my underwear was a massive failure,” I said when I had pushed myself onto the rough ledge. Eli smiled, avoided my eyes. He watched his feet make circles in the water. 

“You figured me out.” He started to say something else but stopped. 

“Say it.” 

He took in the kind of deep breath people take before attempting to touch the bottom of the lake and then said, “Do you think I’m a murderer?” 

“I think you’re a healer. Just because you can kill doesn’t mean you have to.” The sun slipped behind a fat cloud. Without its warmth and with my wet clothes sticking to my body, I started to shiver. 

 “I do kill. Every time,” Eli said. 

“Fine, but you don’t let them stay that way. You’re only a killer if you want to be.” 

Eli put his hand on the wet rock beside mine so it pressed into my pinkie finger. I wondered if that was accidental or if his heart was flip-flopping, too. Only he wasn’t paying attention to our almost-interlacing fingers. Eli’s head was tilted back against the rock wall, eyes shut.

And, oh, I hate deciding who to tag. So, let’s see, how about Alison, Jessica, Liz, Sarah, Jaime, Kelly, Elodie, and Erin Bowman.

Let’s try to go a bit shorter in the comments. What’s the seventh line of chapter seven in your WIP?