The fun of Harry Potter

by

Mary E Twomey

Writing a comedy started out as a way to challenge myself. I had just finished a fantasy fiction space opera quadrilogy, Saga of the Spheres, and needed a bit of a laugh. I had never written a comedy before, but as I slipped into the genre, I found it to be incredibly relaxing. There were no megalomaniac plots to interweave. My cast of characters was cut in half. Plus, I had a wealth of humorous situations stored up from years of marriage. 

One thing that always manages to make my husband laugh is my impeccably bad aim. We spent a very long evening where he had me practice giving high-fives. After being smacked in the head, the neck, the shoulder, had his fingers bent back, and watched several total misses, he ruled the training session a flop. This scene made it into my comedy book, well after my pride (and my hubby) had healed. 

Another thing the people around me have learned is that I am, perhaps, too sensitive to animals. Aside from being a vegetarian, I burst into spontaneous tears if I drive by a particularly mangled bit of roadkill. This translated into one of the characters throwing miniature funerals for the poor animal they hit on their roadtrip across the country.

Needless to say, the jokes were piling up, and needed a place to go. Jack and Yani Love Harry Potter combined my two happy things: young adult fiction and ridiculous humor. I adore Harry Potter. I also love a great many books in the booming young adult genre. If it’s got a vampire on the cover, I’m all over it. After reading the Iliad four times through high school and college (that’s right, four), I decided to cut myself a break and just read for fun. I devoured all things wizard, witch, vampire, superhero, angel and the like. We even throw an annual Harry Potter’s Birthday Party on July 31 every year. I wear my Luna Lovegood dress robes with my crazy blonde hair, and wish everyone a magical evening. I used to bring in cupcakes to work that had golden snitches and broomsticks on them to celebrate. It’s amazing how tolerant people will be to my theatrics, so long as there is cake involved. 

Yes, I’m in my thirties. No, that does not bother me or my ridiculous friends one bit. That’s the gem I’ve found in the people I’ve been fortunate enough to surround myself with. While they may not read the YA books that I adore, they can get into just about anything. I made sure to add to the novel a group of friends to egg on the two main characters, as all good friends should.

When searching for a plot for my comedy novel, I came across some great advice by Stephen King. He said to write what you know. I know Harry. I even have dress robes that make me look like Luna Lovegood all dressed up for a party. And so the plot of Jack and Yani Love Harry Potter was born. Yani is a girl obsessed with all things young adult fiction, which I could write without any further research needed. She gets to visit all the places she’s read about in her books. As I read and write, I smile and sigh with longing that one day I might be able to go on a similar young adult adventure of my own.

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Joy Givens is my NFA!

Or New Favourite Author, for those not in the know. Let me explain...

On my review blog I rates books from a no rating up to NFA, and those I reward with a 4*, 5* or a NFA rating I want to share here. I've enjoyed them and I want you to, as well, and how better than a book spotlight on WWBB? Ugly Stick was rewarded with a NFA rating because I found the writing smooth, engaging, the premise original and I couldn't put the book down. It's that simple. Check out the review on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Reviews. 

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Joy Givens the author of the excellent YA fiction novel in question ... 

Ugly Stick

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Fifteen-year-old April Somerfield is a shy, self-loathing misfit who would blend in with the wallpaper, if only the wallpaper were a little less attractive. In a family line of gorgeous, successful women, April’s a fluke. At Prescott High School, she’s a walking punch line.

A school project sends April on the hunt for her mother’s mysteriously missing yearbooks, and upon finding them she uncovers a big secret. It turns out that being “hit with an ugly stick” is a surprisingly literal occurrence in April’s family tree—a curse has been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries. But when April sees a chance to finally ditch the family curse, she must decide if becoming beautiful on the outside is worth giving up the person she is meant to be.

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Joy Givens

Joy Givens is the author of Ugly Stick and a co-founder of Tributaries Press, a publishing company dedicated to "books that edify, educate, and encourage young readers."  

Joy’s childhood nickname was “Belle,” due to her penchant for walking around “with a dreamy far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book.”  

Joy’s favorite authors include Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, L.M. Montgomery, Mark Dunn, Markus Zusak, and J.K. Rowling (and, of course, her delightful publishing partner Samantha Bennett), and her preferred genre of writing is middle grade and YA fantasy, leaning towards the fantastical and the fabulous.

Joy and a young reader, Joshua.

Born and raised with four siblings in Columbus, Ohio (GO BUCKEYES!), Joy now resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her fantastic husband David, their remarkable son Joshua, and their impossibly lovable dog Riley. 

Joy tutors high school students and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in higher education. She is also a grammar ninja, Dickens fan-girl, a cappella enthusiast, and veritable Starbucks addict. 

Free paranormal novel by Lisa Graves.

What would you do if you thought your boyfriend were a figment of your imagination? That is Lilly’s problem. 

YA Paranormal Romance / Mystery
 by Lisa Graves

Sure he randomly seems to appear and disappear out of nowhere.  

Perhaps he is cryptic and evasive when it comes to details of his past?

But what if you can feel in your soul that you are meant to be together?  

Would that tiny detail matter?

Buy Atlantis FREE from Smashwords using this coupon: XR67Y coupon expires 31st January.

Excerpt from Atlantis:

My eyes looked at the ground. I didn’t want to, but I made myself say it. “You’re not real.”

Elliott was quiet. I looked up to see what he was doing. He continued to sit on the grass but he looked shocked. “What do you mean by that?” I noticed a cautious tone in his voice.

I dove into my brain trying to find the right words to use when breaking up with yourself. I came up empty handed. The fact that I desperately wanted to stay and live in my fantasy land didn’t make it any easier. My torrent stream of emotions was giving me away. I bit my lip, trying to keep my face from exposing all of my secrets. Strangely, he did the same.

“What do you mean, I’m not real?” Elliott asked again. He gently placed his hand on mine. The usual sensation of electricity flowing through him to me, pricked my mind and made me doubt my hallucination theory. He wasn’t helping me.

It was probably a combination of my emotions keeping me an inch from tears, and his penetrating eyes bearing down on my soul, but I had overflowed. I couldn’t stop the words from pouring out.

“YOU ARE NOT REAL!” I yelled, more at myself than at Elliott.

I stood up. His mouth gapped open at me as I paced the cove and continued.

“You are too perfect. And good looking. And sweet...”

He looked as though he was going to argue, but I went on.

“No one has seen you but me.”

He whispered something to himself and shook his head.

“You appear and disappear out of nowhere.”

I turned again at the edge of the cove, racking my brain for more proof of my theory. When I resumed my pacing, he spoke.

“I know,” he said in a soft, apologetic purr and looked straight at me.

Elliott caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected my hallucination to agree with me. “What do you mean you know?"

Find out more from Lisa Graves at: http://www.lisagravesbooks.com/

Whatever you do begin writing your novel in the CORRECT place!

This week Jamie Magee is here to talk us about where to begin writing a novel. At the beginning? You think?


Take it away, Jamie...

Whatever you do begin writing your novel in the CORRECT place!

by 

Jamie Magee

I always thought that there was only one way to write a novel – from the beginning to the end – but that was before I was writer.

When I began writing the Insight series I was chasing a daydream. The image I had of my main character, Willow Haywood, was painful and full of raw emotion.

I knew I couldn’t start at that point so I thought backwards and tried to figure out how this scene would come to life then I started the Insight series at the wrong place – the beginning.

Once Insight was complete my scene saw was nowhere to be seen. It was an awkward moment in my life. One thought would tell me that I’d wasted three months writing a story that would never be read, the next that this was simply the beginning and that I needed to write deeper and find that lost scene.

As beta readers began to read Insight I felt unfulfilled. Even though I’d told Willow Haywood’s story I felt empty – after organizing every closet and drawer in my house my restlessness became too much for me to handle, and before I had the verdict from the beta readers I began to write again.

This time I started with my lost scene. At first it felt like I was writing outside of the series but I began to let my characters guide me. It was a turning point.

I’d wrote what is chapter twelve in Embody all the way to end before I had any feedback on Insight, at that point it didn’t matter if anyone else was in love with Willow and Landen – I was!

More scenes came – but this was a good thing if I wanted to keep writing! What was different with the these scenes is that I didn’t try and figure out what happened before that point, instead I just wrote them down and made room for the next ‘big idea’ to come.

Image will be launched Nov 8th 2011

My third novel, Image, was written differently. In that novel I wrote countless scenes then placed them in order and connected them together. Somehow it created a fast paced novel, and looking back now I know I would not have managed to come up with the same effect had I written the novel from the beginning to end.

Jamie Magee has always believed that each of us have a defining gift that sets us apart from the rest, she has always envied those who have known from their first breath what their gift was. Not knowing hers, she began a career in the fast paced world of business. Raising a young family, and competing to rise higher in that field would drive some to the point of insanity, but she always found a moment of escape in a passing daydream. Her imagination would take her to places she'd never been, introduce her to people she's never known. Insight, her debuting novel, is a result of that powerful imagination. Today, she is grateful that not knowing what defined her led her on a path of discovery that would always be a part of her.

Not many Scorpio’s are known for their patience, and Willow Haywood is no different. Her only desire is to love Landen Chambers and redeem the lost souls of Esterious, but the path to that desire is long, dark and dangerous...

Before Willow’s life had a chance to balance the sudden revelations and grief she had to endure to get to Chara a disturbing discovery is made. A photo, one that shows Willow blissfully embracing the flawless image of Drake Blakeshire; giving her not only proof that she had lived before, but that she had loved him.

Running away from the memory of Drake’s hypnotizing touch, and the prophecy set before her seemed like the logical thing to do. That is, until a dark dream reignites her passion to save the hopeless dimension of Esterious. Willow struggles to find patience – to learn everything she needs to know before she faces Drake again, but her eagerness is dangerous and one step in the wrong direction takes everything and everyone away from her – the only way to survive this trial is for Willow to remember who she is and what she really wants out of this life.

*Direct purchase link for Embody*

Jamie Magee's Blog: http://ourbooksourvoice.blogspot.com/
FB page: http://www.facebook.com/Insight.Jamie.Magee
and twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/insight117

She'd love to hear from you!