Jump to content

cassandra.rose

Member
  • Posts

    6
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About cassandra.rose

Profile Information

  • Reading now?
    The Years of Rice and Salt, Night Film, A Bait of Dreams
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location:
    Texas

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://www.cassandraroseclarke.com/

cassandra.rose's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

  • First Post
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later
  • One Year In

Recent Badges

  1. Speaking as an author, I have to agree with a lot of what people are saying here in terms of what's been overdone, particularly romance. I don't think it's romance in and of itself that's the problem, necessarily, but the type of romance--lots of Twilight-style, melodramatic, love-of-my-life kind of stuff. I'd like to see a trend towards other types of relationships, too, both friendships or romance that doesn't fit the super-dramatic Twilight mode. I also think science fiction is an up and coming trend, since we've been doing fantasy for awhile and interest tends to swing back and forth between science fiction and fantasy. Personally, I hope space opera gets big: lots of exciting space battles and new planets and interstellar adventure! But I suppose the next big trend will likely be dictated by the next book that gets popular in the same way that Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games did. It'll be interesting to see what it is!
  2. I don't use a notebook-notebook, but I do write my ideas down in files on my computer. I actually love the idea of carrying a paper notebook around and jotting down ideas as I have them, but I never actually do it, lol! But I do like having a place to jot down my story ideas even if it's just on the computer. Sometimes when I'm feeling blocked, I'll even go look at those ideas and want to start working on one of them! Generally, I try to write everyday, but I also work on multiple projects at once. So while I might be drafting one novel, I'll be brainstorming another. I think when you're first starting out there's absolutely nothing wrong with brainstorming before you start writing! Even something like going for walk or daydreaming can be considered a sort of "prewriting," I think, just as long as that's not all you do. Eventually, you will have to sit down and start writing, but a lot of people like having a general idea of where they're going before they start. I don't tend to base my characters on people that I know. If I do, it's only a small part of their personality. It can be awkward when you DO base a character on someone you know and they recognize themselves... that happened to me once, and I think that's why I'm wary of doing it now. I think if you're interesting in becoming an author the best thing to do is write something! Nanowrimo is next month and it's always a wonderful way to try and write a novel for the first time, even though I realize that November isn't the best month for students. The most important thing to remember when you're starting out is to just have fun!
  3. I am an avid reader! I read across pretty much all the genres--literary fiction, science fiction, mysteries, fantasy, thrillers... it all depends on what I'm in the mood for. So I wouldn't say there's one type of books I enjoy reading the most. It's all about what I feel like reading at that particular time. And I've always been like this, too. My mom was a librarian and I used to come home with stacks of books every couple of weeks. It was awesome! I don't have a particularly young adult that I ask for input, but I am a teacher, and I work with both high school students and first year college students. I definitely think that helps me when it comes to writing teenagers. I generally stay away from reviews in general because it gives me anxiety But I do think it's wonderful that people are posting YA reviews on Youtube! That's really neat. I have gotten fan mail and it makes my day every time I get some And I do list my email address on my website so people can contact me (for any reason, not just fan mail!) I actually don't know much about the percentage of my readers. I feel like most of the people who've contacted me through email or on Twitter tend to be high school or college aged, but that's not really a scientific survey. It's an interesting questions, though.
  4. Like Laura, I wrote YA by accident! I wrote The Assassin's Curse and The Pirate's Wish as one book without really thinking of it as YA (or adult, really, it was just a book I wanted to write). But it wound up being published as YA which is fine by me! I have an adult science fiction book out right now called The Mad Scientist's Daughter, so I definitely write across the age groups! I've always wanted to write a middle grade book as well because I've always loved middle grade books (even before I knew they were called that). I like writing YA and adult, though. It mixes things up. I also haven't come across much YA prejudice. I think it depends on the book in question, honestly, rather than YA as a whole. I think YA is a "genre" in the same way that literary fiction is a "genre" in that it's defined by certain stylistic choices rather than content (for the most part). Both YA and lit fic also borrow heavily from other genres, and in YA in particular that means you get to mix and match and blend everything together, which can be very exciting. However, I've noticed that in the United States bookstores are starting to divide YA by genre, so I wonder how much longer the mix-and-matching will be viable. I also YA is faster paced and (generally) with a stronger focus on voice. There's a lot of immediacy to the writing that makes it so easy to get sucked into the plot and characters. Personally, I think about the age group of my characters more than my intended audience. I figure my readers will be all ages anyway, and I tend to keep the writing at the same level as my adult fiction, just with a fast pace and stronger voice.
  5. I work part time as a college instructor, so I have to fit my writing schedule in with teaching and preparing for my classes. On a typical non-teaching day, the first thing I do after eating and working out and all that is write 500 words on one of my ongoing projects. Then I check email, deal with Twitter and website updates, work on class prep, and work on marketing stuff If I need to. Since I usually double up on revising and drafting, I like to do revision work in the morning if I can. Then I eat lunch (I like to watch TV while I do so, as a break.) After lunch I get my 1000 words in and take care of anything else that might need tending to (usually more revisions or marketing). A big thing that I like to do is set times for how long I'm going to work on a particular thing--so I'll say I'm going to revise for an hour, work on marketing for an hour, and so on. On teaching days I focus just on writing/revising and work out around my class schedule. If you want to publish your work yourself as a Kindle ebook or whatnot, it's actually completely free . However, most indie authors I know do pay someone to edit their work or help design an attractive cover, which helps boost sales. And as kimberlyderting points out, traditional publishing is always free (except for postage, of course, but most publishers go the email route these days).
  6. Hi everyone! My name's Cassandra Rose Clarke (and I actually share a publisher with Sean ). I have a YA adventure fantasy duology out right now. The first book is called The Assassin's Curse and the sequel is The Pirate's Wish, and they follow the adventures of a pirate girl named Ananna as she attempts to help out a cursed assassin. I look forward to chatting with all of you!
×
×
  • Create New...