STILL PHOTO
By Kim Harnes
Evernight Teen
Evernight Editor’s Pick!
"This story is absolutely brilliant. It is the best thing I've read as a fiction editor." — JC Chute
Please enter the giveaway with the RaffleCopter at the bottom.
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Guest Post:
As an author, what scares me the most?
This question has changed many times over the course of writing this book.
Let me rephrase that. I mean many, many, many times.
First, I was afraid of just not being able to express my ideas in words that were understandable. I knew what I had in my head. I knew how it looked. I knew how my characters felt and what they needed to say. I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to write it all down.
Then I was afraid I wasn’t ever going to have time to finish. I work full time, I have a husband and children, and I have a house full of pets. I’d have time to work on it for a few hours, and then I’d have to put it down, just to have to wait three days to pick it back up again. By then I’d have to reread what I’d written to get back into the groove of the story, and sometimes I didn’t even get far enough into the reading part to even set my fingertips to the keyboard before I was interrupted by the real world. Just writing the story took over a year.
Next, though I was jubilant over finally typing the words “The End,” I feared the editing process. But I whipped out my red pen and went to work. I cut and tweaked and added and changed. I removed scenes that didn’t move the story along, and moved things around to make them plausible.
And then, even though my new fear was that it wasn’t ready, I set out to find an agent.
Oh, yeah. That’s scary, too.
With querying comes rejection. And sometimes that’s tough to deal with.
Several other fears followed: fear of never getting requests, fear of negative responses when I did receive requests, fear of never finding an agent, fear of never finding a publisher.
And now that all those fears have subsided, my newest fear is, once again, rejection. My family loves my book. Thankfully, my editor loved my book. But will anyone else? Those are my words, my ideas. My heart bled onto those pages, and now they’re out there for the world to see.
But when I look back at all the things that scared me, I think of this:
I did finish my book. It has been edited. I have an agent (the amazing Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary). I have a publisher (the also amazing Evernight Teen).
Did every agent I queried ask to see my book? Nope.
Did every agent who did ask to see it ask to represent me? Nope.
Did every publisher make an offer? Nope.
Is everyone going to love my book? Though I desperately want that to happen, I’m going to guess that answer is also going to be nope.
So, the old adage is true: You can’t please everyone.
So don’t let it stop you.
If you want to write, write. Do it because it makes you happy. Do it because you can’t imagine doing anything else. Do it because you have a story to tell.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
Regret is much worse than fear. :0)
As an author, what scares me the most?
This question has changed many times over the course of writing this book.
Let me rephrase that. I mean many, many, many times.
First, I was afraid of just not being able to express my ideas in words that were understandable. I knew what I had in my head. I knew how it looked. I knew how my characters felt and what they needed to say. I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to write it all down.
Then I was afraid I wasn’t ever going to have time to finish. I work full time, I have a husband and children, and I have a house full of pets. I’d have time to work on it for a few hours, and then I’d have to put it down, just to have to wait three days to pick it back up again. By then I’d have to reread what I’d written to get back into the groove of the story, and sometimes I didn’t even get far enough into the reading part to even set my fingertips to the keyboard before I was interrupted by the real world. Just writing the story took over a year.
Next, though I was jubilant over finally typing the words “The End,” I feared the editing process. But I whipped out my red pen and went to work. I cut and tweaked and added and changed. I removed scenes that didn’t move the story along, and moved things around to make them plausible.
And then, even though my new fear was that it wasn’t ready, I set out to find an agent.
Oh, yeah. That’s scary, too.
With querying comes rejection. And sometimes that’s tough to deal with.
Several other fears followed: fear of never getting requests, fear of negative responses when I did receive requests, fear of never finding an agent, fear of never finding a publisher.
And now that all those fears have subsided, my newest fear is, once again, rejection. My family loves my book. Thankfully, my editor loved my book. But will anyone else? Those are my words, my ideas. My heart bled onto those pages, and now they’re out there for the world to see.
But when I look back at all the things that scared me, I think of this:
I did finish my book. It has been edited. I have an agent (the amazing Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary). I have a publisher (the also amazing Evernight Teen).
Did every agent I queried ask to see my book? Nope.
Did every agent who did ask to see it ask to represent me? Nope.
Did every publisher make an offer? Nope.
Is everyone going to love my book? Though I desperately want that to happen, I’m going to guess that answer is also going to be nope.
So, the old adage is true: You can’t please everyone.
So don’t let it stop you.
If you want to write, write. Do it because it makes you happy. Do it because you can’t imagine doing anything else. Do it because you have a story to tell.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
Regret is much worse than fear. :0)
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BLURB:
Jess Waterford’s mother is evil. Since she took off seven years ago—just days after Jess’s ninth birthday—without so much as a wave goodbye, Jess has always wondered what happened to her. And despite the end of her mother’s mental and physical abuse, the memories and the scars still remain. Jess conceals the hurt within by practicing her photography, and by spending as much time as her dad will allow with her baseball star boyfriend, Brody Campbell.
Determined to make use of her new camera, Jess dives into photographing everything in sight. But periodically the resulting prints are flawed, ever so slightly: a smudge on a tree trunk; a blemish in the bus window. These imperfections are not as random as they may seem, however, and Brody and Jess soon discover together that each of these pictures combine to form another image—the grisly image of a murder scene, with Jess’s mother as the victim.
As the new photograph takes shape, Jess’s desire to complete it consumes her, and Brody’s health begins to deteriorate. Torn between her quest to reveal her mother’s killer and her continued worry over Brody’s failing health, Jess finally finds the last piece to the puzzle, and the answer sends her world spiraling into depths from which she may never recover.
Upper YA Contemporary Suspense Romance
62,760 words
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Buy Links:
Evernight Teen: http://www.evernightteen.com/still-photo-by-kim-harnes/
AllRomance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-stillphoto-1464817-344.html
BookStrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/still-photo
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Excerpt:
14+ for violence, sexuality, and adult situations
Brody’s temple began to pound with each beat of his heart and he tried to push the pain away with his fingertips. Try as he might, the throbbing continued to grow and he unwillingly exhaled an agonized moan.
“Are you okay, Brody?” Miss Wolfe, who probably didn’t want to witness a second apocalyptic episode in as many days, approached his desk.
Her voice was barely audible to Brody. The pain had grown rapidly and it was now so intense it pulsed bright screams across his forehead and down his neck. “Oh, God,” he mumbled and pressed his face against the desk. “Oh, God, what is happening to me?” He stood, but his head protested and his vision blurred. “Make it stop. Please make it stop.” He pleaded to anyone who would listen to put him out of his misery. His head shrieked again. Or did that noise come from him? “Please,” he begged. “Can’t somebody please make it stop?” Brody stammered and stumbled aimlessly, positive his head would soon explode and end his suffering. His leg banged into someone’s desk. He didn’t feel it, but it was hard enough to move it several meters across the floor. He vaguely heard someone protest as he stepped on her foot.
“Jessica.” Someone whispered her name. He didn’t know who’d done it or where they were but it sounded as if it were inside his own throbbing head. “Jessica.” Was he calling for her? Was someone going to get her? Would she be coming to help him? And could she make him better?
Just when he thought the pain couldn’t get any worse, another squeal of hurt detonated within his left eyebrow and buckled his knees. “Can’t someone please make it stop?” He implored one last time to anyone who may still be within earshot. He crawled across the linoleum, oblivious to anything but the searing sting like a white-hot sword twisting in his temple.
Exhausted and spent, he curled into the fetal position on the floor and waited for death to come and mercifully take him away, because he was sure that was the only thing that would release him from this torture.
His skull opened and whiteness entered.
The warm, bright light comforted him and he reached for it.
“Jessica,” his head whispered again.
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About the Author:
Kim Harnes learned to read at the age of two and never looked back. Growing up as an avid lover of horror novels, campfire stories, and the obsession with ghost towns and cemeteries, it only made sense that her own writing would incorporate the paranormal, the bizarre, and the unexplained. She is an award-winning songwriter, an Active member of the SCBWI, and lives with her family and numerous pets in Sparks, Nevada.
Website: http://www.kimharnes.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimharnesauthor
Twitter: @kimharnes
a Rafflecopter giveaway
What made you pice YA as a genre to write in? Thanks for the contest.---Rachel (chat)
ReplyDeletenice post, thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteCrystal thanks so much for hosting! The post looks good and the book sounds great!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting me on your blog!!
ReplyDelete@Rachel, I love the YA genre. It's young enough you can have fun, lighthearted characters, yet old enough you can mix in the gritty, hard truth.
Thanks again!!