Tag Archives: young adult

Cover art: judging a book by its cover.

A few weeks back Bitingduck Press engaged an artist, Jeff Delierre (http://jeffdelierre.carbonmade.com/) , to prepare the cover artwork for Kill Shot, my upcoming YA novel (Spring 2015). I happened to be working on another round of edits as this is occurring. … Continue reading

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The “My Writing Process” blog tour.

I’m hunkered on my spot on the couch, my creative place. It’s a brown leather loveseat, I’m on the left cushion, on the right is a stack of books I’m reading, including a book my main character finds in my … Continue reading

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On the writing of a fantasy versus realistic historical fiction

Duck Boy is an urban fantasy. The writing of that book was difficult because one had to figure out a logic to the world that the main character inhabits and make sure it all worked, and all made sense. In … Continue reading

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The Art of Cover Art

When a book moves through the process, the publisher usually begins to work up some cover art with the help of an artist. The cover is a big deal, a bigger deal than ever before, I think. There’s so much … Continue reading

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Don’t fear the black crayon

One of my beta-readers offered an interesting criticism: My character’s stifled emotion in certain situations, like when he’s angry. His natural responses were muted. I had clipped the ugly moments of the new story. I’m afraid to use the black … Continue reading

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The editing process begins for “Coup de Grace.”

The editing process begins for my next YA novel. Bitingduck Press Editor-in-chief, Jay Nadeau, just sent me her comments after a first read through of my next book, scheduled to be released in Spring 2015. The story is tentatively titled … Continue reading

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Committing to paper: draft 2

After 6 months of steady writing and editing, I finished. I wrote the original draft, then edited the entire thing again. That was the original plan, and I did it. It’s time to commit to paper. Large principle of editing: … Continue reading

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Toe crossing, and the current YA market

(Sorry about the picture. It was the only one I could think of to go with this post.) Jay, editor-in-chief of Bitingduck Press, asked me the other day, what makes your story unique? It was time to create another blurb … Continue reading

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Marketing a book: in with the old & in with the new

As you probably know, marketing of a book is a very big deal. In some ways, like the  music industry, the marketing can be a bigger deal than the work itself. It’s also the most difficult for most authors. I … Continue reading

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Editing the book: getting it “righter”

Let me spend a few words on describing what happened once Bitingduck accepted my manuscript. Editor-in-chief, Jay Nadeau, once the contract was signed, asked me to work on some initial revisions. Now, instead of just one set of eyes on … Continue reading

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