Z is for Zombies!

Zombies are the only monster that actually gives me the heebie-jeebies. When I was about five or six, my parents went to the drive-in to see a late night zombie flick, assuming I'd stay fast asleep on the back seat. I woke towards the end, just in time to see a mob of zombies rip through the wall of a house and attack the only survivors inside. I was not able to watch another zombie movie after that until peer-pressured to see Shaun of the Dead - I still shivered.

But I got tougher and after freaking out when Hubby bought home The Walking Dead TV series, I actually sat and watched it with him... if by 'watched' I can count running in and out of the room several times screaming. It's now one of my favourite shows (although I still can't look most of the time) and I am addicted to the graphic novel of the same name. I even have a PINTEREST board of ZOMBIES.

It might seem silly that I wrote a kids horror zombie story, MY ZOMBIE DOG, when I can't bare to even watch a zombie flick. But that's one of the ways this story came about. I had a fear sheet where I wrote everything that scares me. Plus I had that zombie dog that one time...

What freaks you out? (My list is very long).

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Y is for YA Fiction

Cartoon by Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com

I'm pretty excited about taking on Year of the YA Novel, so today I'm sharing some links for information on writing for teens.

Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies - this is a cheat sheet with lots of tips on writing for teens.

Radio National - The Book Show - How to Write YA Fiction - download the audio file to hear a talkback show on writing YA fiction.

10 Top Issues to Address in YA Fiction - this came from discussions with teens at my last high school. They were very honest about issues that were important to them, these can be the basis for your conflict and your theme. Some of their responses might surprise you.

My top tip for writing YA fiction? A non-judgemental voice. Yes teen pregnancy is a good edgy topic for a novel. No, we do not want to encourage a bunch of teens to rush out and get pregnant. BUT. If you are writing from the teen perspective, you have to be honest about their feelings, you have to be truthful about describing the rush of endorphins experienced with a first kiss, and the desire to take things further. You can't just skip straight to the consequences, otherwise you'll be like the coach in Mean Girls, "Don't have sex because you'll get pregnant and die." 

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X is for Crossing off the list.

Ok, so I'm taking some liberties with X. But I do need to cross some things off my to do list - without doing them! Gasp, shock, horror. My list is too long and it's preventing me from moving onto new projects.

Sunday I begin a the Year of the YA Novel course through my writers centre (QWC), and I need to choose a project to work on. I'm not stuck for ideas, I've just too many. Who'd have thought decision making was so hard? Here's what I've got:

1. Historical paranormal. Starts current time, bunch of private school students travel to Gallipoli on a school excursion to commemorate Australia's role in the landing. They are dressed in various period uniforms for a performance. Through misadventure they manage to stumble into a portal and travel back to 1915. This would explore how a handful of spoilt teens would cope thrown into a war zone. They will be separated and journey to reunite. During this adventure they will each discover something about themselves, that they are smarter than they think, braver than they believe and stronger than they seem (Winnie the Pooh).
2. Devil's kiss - 15yr old Samantha is sick of being the looser at school with no friends, but all that changes when Dee, the new foreign exchange student arrives. Dee is gorgeous, smart, athletic and funny and despite being incredibly popular, she wants to be besties with Samantha. Samantha's never been happier and the girls are inseparable. But Dee likes to play games, and one game is a little like truth and dare, only the stakes keep getting higher. Before she knows it, Samantha has willingly signed over her soul to Dee. But hey, it's just a joke right? Wrong. Turns out Dee is a daughter of the Devil. Now Samantha is destined to do something truly horrible, unless she can buy back her soul. The price? Ten other souls.
3. If the Shoe Fits - 15 yr old Raine is considered a freak. That's ok, she's worked hard for that image. She dresses like a goth and practices witchcraft. Better for kids to think she's a freak than to know the real reason she doesn't fit in, her dad took off and her mum drinks way too much. Raine's never wanted to blend in with the normals, until the new boy arrives at school. He's troubled, hot and actually likes Raine the way she is! Unfortunately, miss perfect Sarah Sinclair is also interested in the new boy. Raine hates Sarah, she's so popular and prim and has the perfect parents. Truth is, Raine is jealous. So jealous, she wishes she could walk in Sarah's shoes for a change, and that's what happens. After a botched spell, Raine finds she's living in Sarah's body and Sarah is in hers. What Raine will discover is Sarah's life is not as perfect as it seems.
4. 15 yr old Justin is bored with his life. His only girlfriend has lost interest and dumped him, his grades are down and his parents are on his back. Everyone accuses him of being an unmotivated sloth. Life is about to get a whole lot more exciting for Justin when he meets the sexy and mysterious Samantha Jones. Samantha is a rogue agent with the secret service. This spy thriller involves espionages, shoot outs and flesh-eating robotics.

So there you go. Eventually I'll work on each of these, but I need to make a decision for now! Any take your fancy, or which would you cross off the list?

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W is for World Building Workshop

Build an amazing world for your story

Today I'm sharing a creative writing workshop I run for kids. It's on World Building and this is an important part of science fiction and fantasy stories. You can follow along and write up your own responses, or you can use the worksheet we use in class. It can be downloaded and printed from here:

World Building PDF

I've broken this workshop into two parts, the lists and the drawing. You can do either first, I love the lists, my kids will probably want to draw theirs first. 

 Step 1: The Written World Description

• Binaries and Parallels - What's the same as our world and what's different?

• Temperature - Is it below freezing or really humid? The temperature of your world will affect the type of vegetation you have, and even the action that can take place (imagine The Wizard of Oz without a tornado). Is your weather seasonal or is it always like this?

• Landscape - When your character stands still, what can they see and how far can they see? Can they see Mountains, ranges, hills or a horizon?

• Ground cover - Dirt, rocks, pebbles, sand, grass or snow? How does it feel to walk under your character's feet? What sound is made when they walk on it?

• Vegetation - Tree varieties, weeds, shrubs, edible fruits, mushrooms and flowers. This can create scents and colour to your story. Plants are used for more than shelter and food. Sometimes they can be medicines and sometimes they are just for enjoyment. Do your characters like to pick flowers? Or maybe there's a plant like tobbacco that they smoke? And maybe it's not good for them and they find out they could die from it. Maybe some yummy looking berries are poisonous.

Now beyond the ground.

• Laws of Physics - Will your land obey them? Is there gravity? How might this affect your characters?

• Sun/Moon/Stars - What is the natural light like or what alternatives are there for light? Does sun or moon or stars play a role in your character's religion?

• Civilisation - Is your world built up or entirely natural? Are there pathways, roads, houses, airports, industry?

Step 2 - Drawing

• Draw rough maps of the entire area and show how your different locations meet up.
• Draw up an outline of each town, where are the homes, the shops, the tavern, etc.
• Then go wild and paint or sketch lots of views of your world, be as artistic as you want!

Want to visuaslise your world but don't have crayon skills?

• Make a virtual world in a game like Sims3 or Second Life or perhaps you can suggest one?
• Search online, steal National Geographic magazines and travel brochures. Cut out all the elements that match your world and glue them onto a large sheet of cardboard. Layout the pictures to align with your map, showing where the rainforest is compared to the Castle and what you pass when you travel from one to the other. You can keep this by your desk while you write.

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V is for Verbs

One of my flaws in first drafts is passive writing. Weak verbs slow down the pace. Want a better way to say 'walking', 'looked' or 'sadly'? Check out this list of active verbs. It's a treasure!

ACTIVE VERB LIST

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U is for UDEAD KEV

UNDEAD KEV is a WIP I'm working on, and the sequel to MY ZOMBIE DOG (MG Horror/Humour). I've been amazed and touched by the popularity of MY ZOMBIE DOG. One of the common responses I've received is that readers want more Kev. Kev is Zane's (main character) friend, he's a bit foul-mouthed, unkempt and has lousy ideas, but he is loyal. Well, so far.

In UNDEAD KEV, Zane has to try and 'raise' his best mate from a zombie-induced slumber. It seems to work, but Kev doesn't come back quite right. He's also massively pissed at his best mate for letting him down in the first place. Now Zane has to prove to Kev he can be there when needed. Lucky for him, the opportunity arrises when Kev gets kidnapped by a secret government laboratory... using invisible stealth-monkeys. Can Zane save his best mate and his friendship?

Book Dreaming reviewed MY ZOMBIE DOG, see it here.

U is also for Undecided.

This week I start a course with QWC, Year of the YA Novel. All I need to do is pick which project I want to work on for this. I couldn't decide. So, I tried free-writing a little on each project. I managed to come up with two more projects to choose from. It might be time to pull one from a hat. 

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T is for THESAURUS FOR WRITERS

Do you have overused words? I do. Looked is one of mine, when I could use stared, glanced, glared, gaped, gazed (wow, lots of g words). Sometimes the quickest way to find a fresh replacement is to use a thesaurus. No need for big heavy books on your shelf, there are these great online ones. 

VISUWORDS - This is a more graphic way of viewing words, you're provided with the synonyms, opposites, verb groups etc in a brainstorming style map.

THESAURUS.COM - exactly what you'd expect from a thesaurus.

Remember a few rules for thesaurus surfing:

• Only use the words that stay true to the voice of your narrator or character. Don't use big long fancy words for the voice of a young child.
• Check your spelling - a lot of the online sites are US spelling, so double check you have a UK site if you need that (or your computer might pick it up).
• Don't overuse the variety in words. Sometimes a character can just walk, in one stroll they shouldn't wander, trudge, storm, stomp, tread and race. The reader will get exhausted!

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