ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Today is one of those days when nothing gets done. Not a thought in my head or a task in my diary is complete enough to constitute a post. I am reading two books at the same time - Gayle Forman's If I stay (see yesterdays post) and Pamela Rushby's When the Hip Chicks Go to War. They are very different so the dual read is working fine but I have finished either so can't talk about them.

I am writing like crazy and have 5,000 words of my new ms that I am really pleased with but there's still a lot to go - so that's probably not finished enough to be of interest to anyone either.

What I have been doing - and I guess this is why I haven't got much done! - is spending a lot of time looking at book trailers. Time well spent - all research for the one I am putting together. I've managed to create another frame and here it is.

But here is how the pros do it - presenting two of the best - whose books I just happen to have read recently (and Deb is my Oz Lit profile for this weekend so come back then and hear some more about the book and it's author):

Deb Abela and The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen

Neil Gaiman and The Graveyard Book


Enjoy! I did.

WALK-IN WEDNESDAY

I have just discovered Teaser Tuesday thanks to Just Listen Book Reviews - where I also discovered some great reviews and a teaser for Penni Russon's Undine that has me hooked. Tuesdays are the day for opening your current book at a random page and quoting a few teaser sentences. Whose brilliant idea was that I would like to know!

Unfortunately I discovered this on Wednesday. So tonight I am doing a variation on the theme and inventing my own Walk-in Wednesday. I love the beginning paragraph of books - where I walk-in to the story and decide whether I'm going to hang around for the whole narrative. It's also my favourite part of the writing process and often my preferred piece in anything I write. When I started to write for children I learned that the first paragraph has to grab the editor regardless of what the rest of the manuscript holds because research has shown primary readers make their decision whether to continue reading right then and there. Adults and YA will allow a bit more latitude - if they think a story is slow but a friend has recommended it they'll continue on a bit longer in case it improves.

So here if the first paragraph of the book I am currently reading and it's brilliant. From Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book:

There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone, a blade finer and sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately.

The knife had done almost everything it was brought to that house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet.

On a different day I might quote one of my first paragraphs but I'm not silly enough to follow on after that wonderful beginning.

MY WRITING SELF-IMPROVEMENT COURSE

Recently - Friday night at 1.30am to be exact - I decided it was time to kick it up a writing gear. So I looked around for a course and good advice. The courses were very expensive and my budget shook its head sadly. My friends and colleagues all said the same thing. There is no quick solution. You have to write more. You have to read more.

Here is my text book list. All these books were recent prize winners in the YA and Children's arena so I figure they all contain something I need to know:

• The Ghost's Child - Sonya Harnett. Winner of the 2008 Children's Book Council of Australia Older Readers Book of the Year


• Dragon Moon - Carole Wilkinson. Winner of the 2008 Children's Book Council of Australia Younger Readers Book of the Year


• The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman. Winner of the 2009 Newbery Medal. A friend is lending it to me tomorrow so this will be my first lesson
  
• On the Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta. Winner of the 2009 Michael L Printz Award . I'm looking forward to this as I recently read Finnikin of the Rock and loved it. I heard Melina speak at the Lady Cutler Award dinner and she signed my book for me! And the book itself was a gift from special friends.
  
• The Knife of Letting Go: Chaos Walking - Patrick Ness. Winner of the 2008 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize This is a Walker Book and I'm a Walker Books author so I think this has to be excellent!
  
• Here Lies Arthur - Philip Reeve - Winner of the 2008 Carnegie Medal
  
• Snake and Lizard - Joy Cowley - Winner of the 2008 New Zealand Post Junior fiction (It's on my desk!)
  
• Salt - Maurice Gee Winner of the 2008 New Zealand Post Young Adult Fiction (I've already read this one! Brownie points! Read my review here

More suggestions are welcome!

GREAT CHARACTER NAMES

At the moment I am reading The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen. I won't comment on the book as I'll be posting a review shortly. But I will say that Max Remy fans won't be disappointed. I love the title of the book and I love the cover. Aurelie Bonhoffen is such a great name. It follows of course that any girl with such a remarkable name would have a remarkable secret and story to tell. Then I started thinking about other great names. Fantasy is rich with them and some of my favourites come from Middle Earth like Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield. You can even find your own hobbit name here. Apparently I am Iris Hardbottle. I don't like that much at all! But other names I do like are Nobody 'Bod' Owens from The Graveyard Book, Voldemort in Harry Potter and Yertle the Turtle. Anyone have any other suggestions to add to the list of Great Character Names in Kid's Literature?