I hope your holidays were magical and full of new stories, old memories, friends and family! And I hope great things are ahead for each of you in 2019.
My year is already off and running! The deadline for TRAITOR’S GAME book 3 is this week so I’m finishing up those edits! Book 2, THE DECEIVER’S HEART, will be released on Feb 26th, so I’ll begin making plans soon for that. And I may work on some smaller writing ideas before diving into SUPER SECRET PROJECT! I’ll also be releasing my next historical this fall, WORDS ON FIRE, but more about that later!
I’ll also be on the road quite a bit this year. Through May, my travel plans already include events in California, Georgia, Japan, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Now, for what you have all been waiting for: WINNERS! Each winner has been contacted. Congratulations! If you didn’t win, more giveaways will follow soon!
Winners of THE DECEIVER’S HEART!
Winners of THE TRAITOR’S GAME!
Winners of RESISTANCE!
Winner of THE FALSE PRINCE!
Shari
13 Comments
Congratulations to all the winners, and a Happy New Year to everyone as well! I cannot wait for all of your new and upcoming projects Ms. Nielsen!
Congrats to all the winners! I can’t wait for WORDS ON FIRE!!! You should come to Kentucky!!!
Congratulations on all the winners! Congratulations too Ms. Jennifer for all of your other writing activities! ,
Hurrah for more giveaway. 🙂
I have a couple questions about writing…..
Should I start writing when I have a story/plot or should I brainstorm for one?????Also, do you have any tips for writing individual scenes???? And should I have an outline of the scene before I start or should I just go along as it progresses? Thanks so much!
Hi Ellie – Every writer has a different approach and there is no “right” way to do it – only the way that works best for you. I may even do something different in one book than I’ve done for another. But generally, when I have a plot, I spend a lot of time brainstorming possible endings. In fact, I usually force myself to get five endings before I choose the one I like best.
Then I plot backward from there. I think of it as drawing a mental picture of the home I want to build and then putting in all the architectural designs afterward. That becomes my rough outline. I will tighten it up and revise it as I go along but at least it gives me a general idea of where I”m going.
Each individual scene has to further the plot in some way and should be a smaller-scale conflict of its own. For example, in THE FALSE PRINCE, it opens with Sage stealing a roast, and that first scene is him trying to escape without being caught. But it furthers the overall plot in that it’s how be gets his first introduction to Conner. A good way to decide what scene should happen next is to ask yourself if this story was real, what actually would happen next? And if you get stuck, then ask yourself what problem you can give your main character right then.
Good luck!
Thank you so much! This is super helpful!!!
Congrats everyone! This is such a lovely gift to win and I’m so glad that you all have gotten it! Thank you Mrs. Neilson for being so kind.
Have a happy New Year and I look forward to the new books. Can’t wait to read them!
Yay! This new year is going to be exciting! I already can’t wait for your two new books! Ooh, you’re going to Japan? That’s where my brother is right now. Congrats to the winners!!
Congrats, winners! I can’t wait for the super secret project…
Do you happen to have a time frame for your tour? You are my daughter’s favorite author and would love to take her when you are in Washington or even better if you happened to hop over the border to Oregon 😉
Hi Shannon! I will be at Cavalcade of Authors in the Richland area on March 23rd. If your daughter can get over there for the event, or even for the signing time, that would be awesome. Or your daughter could also suggest to her school librarian to invite me there for a visit. Currently, that’s most of the travel I do, is going directly to schools. But whatever happens, I hope I’ll be able to meet her one day, and hopefully sooner than later!
Thank you so much. I told Emilianne about the event and she is so excited to go to the workshops.
Congratulations to the winners!!!!!