Giveaways
Erin L. Schneider
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE

Writer's Digest: 3 Ways to Know When to End Your Chapters

Writer's Digest just posted an interesting article this morning, regarding chapters and how to end them to keep your reader begging for more. This has always been an interesting topic for me, considering some of the best novels I've ever read, always had the most amazing chapter endings - pushing me to turn page after page, well into the late hours of the night. In many cases, these said books were ones I finished in just one day.
But how did they accomplish this?
Like many, I'm not a writer that follows the golden rule of partaking in outlines. Sure I have lots of rough notes jotted down here and there - but nothing formal and definitely nothing I force myself to follow to the "T". Which is why I particularly gravitate towards point #3 - a technique I'm constantly trying to master as I work on my own manuscript. What will make the reader keep on reading? What will give them just enough information to want to turn the page?
It's questions like these we need to keep asking ourselves, as we hone the craft of writing and polish up what are sure to be titles on the next NY Times best sellers list. Which leaves me asking more questions: So how do you end your chapters? What tips do you follow?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Scholastic Book Talk: May 2011 Best Sellers

 

Young Adult

1. Stolen Children by Peg Kehret ($3 in Arrow)
2. Cut by Patricia McCormick ($4 in TAB)
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ($7 in TAB andBookBeat: Teens Online)
4. What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell ($5 in TAB)
5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins ($7 in TAB and BookBeat: Teens Online)

 

 

Friday Fives: Useful Advice

The awesome folks over at Paper Hangover post a great blog every Friday, called Friday Fives. The idea? They pick a topic of conversation every Friday and you (or me, in this case) come up with five responses to that topic and blog about it!

This weeks Friday Fives: What are FIVE pieces of useful advice you've received as an aspiring writer? (in quotes, blog posts, websites, etc.).

With that being said, here are mine:

1. Your first manuscript will not be your last. And it may also not be what grabs the attention of an agent or gets you published. Those highly connected, the extremely talented, and a few that are lucky, are usually the ones that sit down and write their very first manuscript, make some edits, send it out to the black hole for writers (AKA the slush pile), and snag an agent on their very first try! But for the real truth, ask any published author how many manuscripts they hid under their beds before they found the "one", and I'm sure the answer will surprise you. I myself? Yeah, I'm on series #3. Three completed MS's and two that are at least half-way finished. And believe me, I've made leaps and bounds from my very first attempt at writing, to where I am now.

USA Today's Top 150 Bestselling Books as of 05.01.2011

Thursday, May 5, 2011: According to USA TODAY, the following list contains the top 25 best selling books (out of 150) - based on sales through Sunday, 05/01/2011.  For the complete list of 150 books for the week or just to check out more information - plus reviews, book news and a searchable archive of USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list - visit their website.
Note of the week:  For the first time in what seems like years, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, has dropped out of the top 25 - gasp! Okay, so maybe it's not been years - but it has been since last August...and well, I guess it didn't stray too far, dropping only to slot #29. 
However, YA titles have been pretty dormant from the top 25 for quite some time - and this week, they hold only 12% of the first 25 titles. 
It is nice to see Candace Bushnell's, Summer in the City - sequel to The Carrie Diaries (and prequel to the Sex and the City series), make it's debut appearance on the list in the #25 position. This is sitting on my nightstand to be read - check back soon for my review!

Legend:

Position This Week, Last Week, Title, Author (Publisher), Price

1 1 Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (Algonquin), $7.99

2 2 Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson), $16.99

3 5 Something Borrowed, Emily Giffin (St. Martin's Press), $7.99

4 4 Bossypants, Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur), $26.99

5 8 The Help, Kathryn Stockett (Berkley), $16.00

My Review: The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

The Dark and Hollow Places (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, #3)The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face before Annah left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the Horde as they swarmed the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day, and she's been waiting for Elias to come home ever since. Somehow, without him, her life doesn't feel much different than the dead that roam the wasted city around her.

Until she meets Catcher, and everything feels alive again.

But Catcher has his own secrets. Dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah has longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah: can she continue to live in a world covered in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

My Review:

Out of the three titles in the Forrest of Hands and Teeth trilogy and of the three main heroines - The Dark and Hollow Places and Annah, were by far my absolute favorite. Don't get me wrong, I loved the first two books - but found Mary a little too reserved and Gabry a bit too reliant on those around her. Annah's character on the other hand, was everything a strong, female heroine should be, despite the scares her body carries - independent, courageous, brave, loyal - and overall, she was seriously, one pretty bad-ass chick!

YA Bookshelf: What's New?

What's new to the bookshelves in Young Adult? I'll be posting new releases in the YA genre - as well as a glimpse of what's to come!

NEW TO THE BOOKSHELF:

SUMMER AND THE CITY: A Carrie Diaries Novel by Candace Bushnell

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Release Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN13: 9780061728938
Page Count: 416 

"Summer and the City" is the highly anticipated second book in the Carrie Diaries series, a teen prequel to "Sex and the City" which follows a young Carrie Bradshaw.

Summer is a magical time in New York City and Carrie is in love with all of it—the crazy characters in her neighborhood, the vintage-clothing boutiques, the wild parties, and the glamorous man who has swept her off her feet. Best of all, she's finally in a real writing class, taking her first steps toward fulfilling her dream.

This sequel to The Carrie Diaries brings surprising revelations as Carrie learns to navigate her way around the Big Apple, going from being a country "sparrow"—as Samantha Jones dubs her— to the person she always wanted to be. But as it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile her past with her future, Carrie realizes that making it in New York is much more complicated than she ever imagined.

With her signature wit and sparkling humor, Candace Bushnell reveals the irresistible story of how Carrie met Samantha and Miranda, and what turned a small-town girl into one of New York City's most unforgettable icons, Carrie Bradshaw.

See the TeenReads review for more details. I just ordered this one and will be reading this next - check back again, for my review.