CLAN - Book Release Party Pt. 4

More photos from the CLAN book release party! These photos were taken by my talented childhood friend Morgan Lee Alain before the party began. She did an amazing job capturing the mood and style of the book.

If you like the photos, be sure to check out her stunning photography site! On the front page you'll see the logo I designed for her, too! Morgan also has an Instagram page full of beautiful images.

Hope you enjoy!

--Realm

Author Reading - Gillian Flynn

Last week I went to Gillian Flynn's talk. She is the author of GONE GIRL, DARK PLACES, and SHARP OBJECTS. She specializes in dark psychological thrillers. Gillian was very sweet, humble, down to Earth, and funny. She read us the "cool girl" passage from Gone Girl which was brilliant. 

Gillian's writing process:


-She only loosely outlines and lets the story discover itself as she writes. 

-When writing Gone Girl, she didn't expect the "twist" in the middle. 

-She likes to keep her novels character driven rather than plot driven. The characters create the plot for her. 

-Her office is her basement. She makes notes on sticky pads and puts them on walls to remind her which parts of the story to solve. 

-Whenever she's stuck, she does a writing exercise that is outside of her novel. For instance, a character's memory or writing from a different perspective. Her rule is that these exercises don't go into the final novel (to take the pressure off)--but one of them did make it into Gone Girl since she liked it so much. The infamous "cool girl" passage is from the exercise. 

-Gone Girl was her most difficult project and she spent two years working on it.

-She details her characters outside of the novel as much as possible, such as what they eat for breakfast and if they remember birthdays and what's on their playlist. 

-She enjoys the revision process best, identifying the weak areas and making the story better. 

-She got to write the script for the Gone Girl movie. 


I hope you enjoyed learning some of her writing techniques! I'm looking forward to seeing what the movie is going to be like. 


--Realm

News Week - 04/15/14

I hope you are all enjoying spring! I am in the midst of a global revision for my next book which I hope to announce sometime this summer. Meanwhile, I am preparing CLAN for the second edition. I should be able to get the second edition out later this year. If you'd like a first edition, get it this year! 

How marked up CLAN currently is:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review after reading CLAN. There is no better way to support an author! 

Here are a couple new reviews:

Review by Lady Jai:

"In a world where everyone is supposed to be identical in every way, Lovejoy finds a way to create differences amongst the Clan, differences that cause the same social issues we experience in our own world – bullying, stereotyping, prejudice, segregation."--Lady Jai

Review by Michael SciFan:

"This was a really fascinating novel that explores what makes a person unique and how much of a person is from DNA and how much is from elsewhere."--Michael SciFan

--Realm

Author Spotlight: Kristi Helvig

Hello everyone! Please go congratulate Kristi Helvig on the release of her debut sci-fi novel BURN OUT! She is my agent sister and her book sounds totally kickass not to mention the cover design is hot. She was also a part of my debut novel CLAN's book tour.

Here is the description of BURN OUT from Kristi's website:

The last girl on Earth…just got company.

Most people want to save the world; seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds just wants to get the hell off of it. One of the last survivors in Earth’s final years, a teenage girl yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns “red giant,” but discovers her fellow survivors are even deadlier than the hostile environment.

Doesn't it sound amazing? Hope you guys check out her book! 


--Realm