Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey is a Gothic YA novel published in 2011. Glass Heart follows in the series. ♥♥♥ What I find particularly well done in Cold Kiss is the backstory. The story follows the tragic misadventures of Wren, a teenaged girl who brought back her dead boyfriend Danny from the grave. Using the backstory as an important element in a novel is always … Continue reading Backstory as Character: COLD KISS
It’s summer road trip season, and in our family, that means I’m on the lookout for great books for reading out loud. That’s our favorite way to while away the hours speeding down the highways and back roads. Not all books are great for reading aloud. To me, the key is that the plot has to be relatively straightforward (in case someone zones out for … Continue reading Summer Road Trip Read Alouds
I’ve always been intrigued by a book’s title. I mean, how awesome is AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie. For most of my life, that’s how I chose books. Or so I thought. One day I stopped drooling over the shelves and shelves of books at my local bookstore and paid attention to my surroundings. I was smack dab in the middle of … Continue reading The Confusing World of Genres
Ahhhh, the dog days of summer. Heat like syrup. Thunder rolls. Falling into the soft, ink-scented comforts of a good story, told well. If you’re anything like me though, summer rolls through your life with the speed of a locomotive, and your only chance to slow it down is to throw a beach towel across the tracks and derail that sucker. Still. Every year, I … Continue reading How We Read & What’s On My Nightstand
Fans of Pat Zietlow Miller’s picture book, Sophie’s Squash, will be thrilled to hear that the sequel, Sophie’s Squash Go to School, releases on June 28th. Today, Pat, my friend and former neighbor, joins us to talk about her work. Pat, welcome to The Winged Pen! Sophie’s Squash is a humorous but poignant story of friendship and devotion. Tell us about Sophie’s Squash Go to … Continue reading Sophie’s Squash Go to School! (An Interview with Pat Zietlow Miller)
I love character motivation! When done right, it gives stories depth and texture and makes the characters seem like real people. I also hate character motivation! Sometimes I just want to get my characters from point A to point B in my story without having to worry about why. But if you want to write books with characters that people hate to part with, then … Continue reading Untangling Your Characters
Today I am THRILLED, THRILLED, THRILLED, to tell you about summer school! WHAAAT? Summer school? Yep. Summer school for KidLit writers. I’m proud to say that I’m a third year, so I know my way around. I can tell you what to do if you forget your homework and, even better, how to win prizes. Yep, I won a nice prize pack last summer, a half-dozen lovely books. … Continue reading Summer School is Cool!
Today we’re excited to host a guest post by Angela Ackerman! There’s nothing better than becoming lost within the story world within minutes of starting a book. And as writers, this is what we’re striving to do: pull the reader in, pull them down deep into the words, make them feel like they are experiencing the story right alongside the hero or heroine. A big … Continue reading The Setting Thesaurus Books Are Here: Help Becca And Angela Celebrate!
Rebecca: The Emotion Thesaurus has had its own special place on my writing desk for so long, I had to look on Goodreads to see when I’d first read it. January 1, 2014. I’ve been using it for a while. When I first started using the book, it opened my eyes to conveying emotions through actions. Well, okay, I used the easy ones all the time. … Continue reading Write Believable Heroes, Villains, and Emotions with The Positive/Negative Trait Thesauri and The Emotion Thesaurus
Graffiti or street art is often a misunderstood medium of self-expression and public dialogue. This is true maybe because traditional art is often portrayed as a mysterious world that few people have access to or can afford. With street art, the gallery is in the street and it is wildly accessible. It is a medley of cultures and a medley of rough, passionate expressions. Because … Continue reading 5 YA Novels Exploring Graffiti Art
Maggie Stiefvater. Photo by R.J. Allen. I am an unabashed fangirl of great writing, and have the photos to prove it here. So when I heard that Maggie Stiefvater would be nearby on her book signing tour for The Raven King, the fourth and last book in The Raven Cycle, the date immediately went on my calendar. Luckily, someone cheered on Twitter about getting off … Continue reading Fangirl Report: Catching Maggie Stiefvater on The Raven King Book Tour
Today, Winged Pen is thrilled to spend time with the (fabulous) debut author of the YA book, THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED. Kerry Kletter is in the house! I’m especially excited to get to know Kerry better, as we not only have the same agent, but also share a country and a coastline! Yay! Thanks for being here, Kerry. Kerry: Thanks for having me on Winged Pen! Gabby: Okay, … Continue reading Interview with Author — Kerry Kletter
