As the title says, this is a short story set in the Blood Bound universe. It takes place a few months after the events of chapter one (Charlie’s turning), but it is still early on in the whole “vampire hotel” thing the Richards family have got going on.
Warning for language and sexual references. Also for work posted without a beta (but with spellcheck).
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
We’re about a third of the way through the second round of beta-ing for Blood Bound, so while JK is doing her thing, I am doing mine. And right now that means (besides working on The Superhero Diaries) I am trying to write a query letter.
A query letter sells your article, novel, short story, or other work to an agent or editor. You send a query letter to get a request to write a piece or to save you (and the editor or agent) the expense and hassle of dealing with a manuscript that isn’t wanted. Query letters are sales tools. If you’re trying for an assignment, then the letter tells how and why you will do an excellent job for the editor. If you’re trying to place a completed manuscript with a publisher or agent, then the letter describes the book and your worth as an author.
They say that the hard part comes first but to me it’s the opposite. Writing the novel was the easy part. :/ Before I can even get the whole thing down perfect, or even submit it to Absolute Write for critique, I have to actually complete it. Unlike with writing BB it’s less… instinctive? Intuitive? Easy? Whatever the case is, I have a much shorter space to write it, I have to sum it up but still make it catchy, and I have to make the agent want to actually read it.
I’m almost there with a first draft thankfully. Just got to fill in a blank space I have, round it off and a few little bits. Then I can have it hacked to pieces by the people of Absolute Write.
And once that is all done, and I am happy with the final product… then I can actually start contacting agents about my novel.
Complete at 80 000 words, BLOOD BOUND is a young adult urban fantasy novel about a girl, a boy, and a hotel for vampires.
Hee hee. I am still giggling over that.
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
I was recounting a small tale from the Blood Bound universe to JK, my friend and beta, and well… she whipped up this little drawing.
Backstory: This scene features Athanasios1, the king of vampires in the United States2 in his newly modified Vegas mansion… which has tinted windows3 and is partially solar-powered.
And so he says to the sun, shaking his fist, “WHO’S THE BITCH NOW?!”
So yes, that’s a little bit of Blood Bound humour for you. And as a little update: JK is on the last four chapters of BB in has finished the first round of editing. We’re getting closer and closer to getting ready to start querying literary agents. Cross fingers everyone.
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
As some of you may or may not have noticed, the projects page of Working Title has received a serious overhaul. Now it is not simply a page for Blood Bound and a few other short pieces: instead it is about Blood Bound, The Superhero Diaries and a third, secret project, Mirror, Mirror.
So check out the projects page, read up on The Superhero Diaries and Mirror, Mirror and, of course, check out the opening scene from The Superhero Diaries!
And for those of you wondering about Blood Bound… my beta is currently on the last few chapters in the first round of editing and should be complete in the next few days.
So what does this mean for BB? Well, the first round is smoothing out sentences, cutting out bloat, keeping things in line with previous statements, and Ameripicking (one thing I love about TSD is that the narrator is a kiwi, so I get to keep my natural “writing accent” you might say :P), amongst other things. As for the second round we get to go in more heavily… JK probably can explain better than me - she’s beta’d published stuff before. And since she’s been ill these last few days, please go ahead and give her some comment love. She deserves it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the little snippets here and there. I promise to have the spellchecked-draft of Mirror, Mirror’s prologue up soon. It’s almost done.
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 
I know I did, and even with all the chaos that usually surrounds Christmas for our families, I managed to get a whole lot of writing done.
How much writing did I get done? Well, I just typed two very important words, two words that (I believe) every writer wants to pen.
The end.
Sadly, this does not mean that I have actually finished the first draft of Blood Bound. I have one teensy bit in the middle to add a bit onto. Other than that, the first draft is complete.
So where does that leave me? Well, after I finish off that pesky ninth chapter I have at least two scenes to add in. I also have plans to rewrite the opening of the story, to remove the old my family has a secret line with something that sets it up much better and is just much more grabbing.
I discovered vampires were real when my brother came home from college as one of the undead.
Much more grabbing and interesting, don’t you think?
Anyway, as well as rewriting the opening and adding in those aforementioned scenes, I am going to be editing and polishing Blood Bound. And after that? I will be querying literary agents while working on The Superhero Diaries.
I’ll let you know when that happens, so you can cross your fingers and hope that one takes me on as a client and can sell Blood Bound so you guys can all see it on the shelf somewhere.
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
Of the first draft, at least.
As of this writing, I have written 77 000 words of Blood Bound, and am on the final chapter on the first draft. From the way everything looks, my target of 80 000 words looks to be about right. Right now I am dealing with the aftermath and wrapping up loose ends but at the same time making sure there is enough open for a (planned out) sequel.
After that, it’s onto editing. I have two planned scene additions, and a rewrite to the earliest part of chapter one. Then it’s onto betas’ opinions to see what can be improved.
And then I guess it’s query time! I’ll let you know when that actually is (so you can wish me luck) but I promise you I will be keeping busy while Blood Bound is making rounds to agents.
My next project is… well, click on the image to find out. 
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
Ah, the good old “where do you get your inspiration from?” question. I’m sure just about every writer has had that question asked of them at least once: I know I have.
As I wrote then, I get my inspiration from “everywhere and nowhere” or to take a more down to earth approach, I get it from everywhere around me. I get it from my daily life. Everything I see and hear gets absorbed from the sign I see on the street to a song on my iPod to a movie on TV. Everything gets tossed into the melting pot of my brain, and so another flavour is added to the imagination broth.
And sometimes, stuff comes bubbling to the surface.
Let’s start with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (the film, not the book, as I saw the movie first). The most obvious way it has influenced my writing is that Daniel is a perfumer from the Georgian Era. I am grateful for this because it just adds a little bit of difference to him. The most common era to pick seems to be Victorian and I’m glad to be a little different in that respect.
Moving on to music I would like to thank Mr David Bowie for his inspiration. Not only is he mentioned as a music interest Delia and Daniel have in common (for reference, Daniel’s favourite songs include “Heroes”, “Ashes to Ashes” and “Changes”, they both like “As The World Falls Down”, Delia loves “Underground” and “Rebel Rebel” and Athanasios - the oft-mentioned, but yet to be seen vampire king - is more than happy to air guitar to “Suffragette City”) but he actually inspired a character - a vampire named Jared. He was originally supposed to be dressed more like the Goblin King his name closely resembles, but instead he came as a classic vampire (but with real fangs). He’s more of a Thin White Duke inspiration, looks-wise.
“When were you going to introduce me to this tasty little morsel?” asked a stranger, sidling up to Charlie.
He was like a mirror-image of Charlie, in the sense of left being right and everything else being opposite. Where Charlie wore black, this man wore white, and where Charlie’s hair was brown, deep and rich, his hair was gold, pale and sleek against his equally pale skin. He was very good-looking, although the slight delicacy of his features made me think of him as pretty rather than handsome. Like Charlie, his fangs were exposed, but I didn’t need to see those to know he was a vampire. He had to have been the friend from Salt Lake City Charlie had invited to the party.
Although his role in the actual text of Blood Bound is small, if I do get to write the sequels his role is expanded in book two (he’s actually the one who kicks off the mystery plot) as well as his importance in the backstory revealed.
And I suppose you could say musicals are another strong influence featured in my writing, Blood Bound especially. It’s obvious in the text that Delia loves to sing, and if she had her way she’d be singing on Broadway. She names her cat Mr. Mistoffelees, considers herself to be a bit like Belle from Beauty and the Beast (”a beauty but a funny girl”) and sings songs from shows to keep herself calm even as the situation turns terrifying.
Sometimes it’s not even influences, but I see my characters, my stories in other things. The main one that pops in my head is the colour schemes from Pushing Daisies (RIP). Like Ned, Daniel wears somber colours and is a little awkward in his own skin, meanwhile Chuck and Delia are bright, bubbly and colourful and bring that into their paramours’ lives.
While this entry barely touches the surface of what’s in my imagination pot, when people ask me where does my inspiration come from I can say, “Everywhere.”
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
I am very near the end of the first draft, and I have to say that it is a very strange feeling indeed. I normally have the attention span of a gnat, so this is definitely the the longest project I have ever committed to. And you know what? It feels great.
I reached the 70000 word mark the other day (writing by hand on paper because my laptops power adapter thing went “kaboom”) and I am two and a bit chapters from the end.
My goal is to have finished the first draft by the time I am 22, so that means the first of December. If I do finish then it will be around 80000 words, 18 chapters and five months of work. It was not constant, thanks to this pesky thing called life, but it happened.
It’s a strange but great feeling, standing here. The end is so close I can almost see it. Just over the top of this last hill.
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
As I have mentioned before, I like making playlists for characters, stories and relationships that I write. It helps get me in the mood and things like that.
Today (instead of cramming for a Latin test) I started compiling a playlist for Dee throughout Blood Bound. One song per chapter. I call it Ordinary Girl.
Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.
