2014 Story Advent Calendar Blog Hop

If you join the blog hop and add a story to the advent calendar, please feel free to use this picture on your post, if you need a picture.

So, here in the UK, it's a tradition to get your children an advent calender so that each day, from the first of December through Christmas, they can open the prize for that day. Most of the advent calendars are chocolate ones, with a differently-shaped chocolate for each day, but some advent calendars are more adventurous.

Last year, Melusine Muse Press published an anthology of short holiday stories a little bit before Christmas, called Jingle Bells: Tales of Holiday Spirit from Around the World." There will be no holiday anthology this year. However, instead of chocolate advent calendars, which only help our children's teeth to rot, we are going to provide kids with a story advent calendar this year.

A bunch of authors are getting together to write stories, a short story for each day of the advent calendar. This means that for your children's advent calendar surprise, they can have something truly wonderful - a completely new story, read to them by you.

Authors can write more than one story. We need 25 stories. When we reach 25 stories, we will be done.

If you are writing a story for the Story Advent Calendar, you will need to post the story to your blog and then link the blog post (the specific post - NOT just the blog itself) to the link-up. You should also copy and paste the "linky" script into your blog at the end of your post so that people can follow on and find the other stories in the calendar.

If you do not have a blog, you may e-mail the story to me, along with your name and the title of the story and I will post it into either this blog or one of my other blogs and link it up for you. (I can be e-mailed at Rebecca (at) Fyfe (dot) net.)

Limit your story's word count to between 300 and 1,000 words.

We will be writing fairy tales. If you want to write holiday-themed fairy tales or non-holiday-themed fairy tales, the choice is yours.

Add the link to your post.

Aim your stories at kids aged 6 to 13.

Have fun with it!

"Little Dead Riding Hood" by Amie and Bethanie Borst

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for having us here. *Waves!* We're still on cloud nine after all the excitement of our release of LITTLE DEAD RIDING HOOD yesterday.

You know things are going to suck when you’re the new kid. But when you’re the new kid and a vampire… well, it bites! Unlike most kids, Scarlet Small’s problems go far beyond just trying to fit in. She would settle for a normal life, but being twelve years old for an entire century is a real pain in the neck. Plus, her appetite for security guards, house pets and bloody toms (tomato juice) is out of control. So in order to keep their vampire-secret, her parents, Mort and Drac, resort to moving for the hundredth time, despite Scarlet being dead-set against it. Things couldn’t be worse at her new school, either. Not only does she have a strange skeleton-girl as a classmate, but a smelly werewolf is intent on revealing her secret. When she meets Granny—who fills her with cookies, goodies, and treats, and seems to understand her more than anyone—she’s sure things will be different. But with a fork-stabbing incident, a cherry pie massacre, and a town full of crazy people, Scarlet’s O-positive she’ll never live to see another undead day. Not even her Vampire Rule Book can save her from the mess she’s in. Why can’t she ever just follow the rules?

Add Little Dead Riding Hood to your Goodreads to-read list here.  Purchase LDRH at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite Indie bookstore!

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Today we'd like to tell you a bit about our plotting process. It's really not unlike the process most authors use. At least I don't think so. The only exception is that there are two of us tackling the project, not just one.

Plotting for us entails the use of:

• Markers
• Posterboard
• Scissors
• Post-it notes in multiple colors

Then we complete the following steps:

1. The first thing we do is we create an arc on our posterboard, kind of like an upside "U", to symbolically represent the story arc. We then label the top of the posterboard with the working title of the book.
2. Next, we create a key with our post-it notes across the bottom of the posterboard. The categories are typically, MC (main character), World Building, Plot, Theme, and Inciting Incident, to name a few.
3. We cut our post it notes in half, and while maintaining our color scheme to match our key, begin to fill out the strips of post-it notes. So, for example, if I'm using pink notes to represent the MC, I will write all my notes about the MC on pink strips of post-it notes. We will include anything and everything about our MC, from her favorite color, to her favorite food, to her worst moment, her fears, and her motivations. This helps us as we plot even more of the story because we can refer back to those notes.
4. After we've filled out as much information as we can, we put our notes on our posterboard/storyboard.
5. We continue to do this for every category until our posterboard somewhat resembles the vomit of a my little pony. Hey, no one ever said plotting was pretty!

Once plotting is complete, the real work begins. Writing!

About us:

Amie Borst is a PAL member of SCBWI. She believes in Unicorns, uses glitter whenever the opportunity arises, accessories in pink and eats too much chocolate. 

Bethanie Borst is a spunky 14 year old who loves archery, long bike rides and studying edible plant-life. She was only 9 when she came up with the idea for Cinderskella!

Little Dead Riding Hood is their second book in the Scarily Ever Laughter series. Their first book, Cinderskella, released in October 2013.

You can find them on facebook. Amie can be found on twitter, pinterest, and her blog.  

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We're having two great giveaways as part of our blog tour! The first is for a copy of LITTLE DEAD RIDING HOOD! So be sure to enter the giveaway by following the steps on the rafflecopter form below. 

THEN - as soon as you finish that, be sure to stop by my blog for a second contest! I'm having a SCAVENGER HUNT that you won't want to miss with lots of extra great prizes! All you have to do is make sure you enter the contest below first, then hop over to my blog and fill out the rafflecopter form there! Super easy!

See you soon! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*****

Note: It's been great having Amie share a bit about her and Bethany's writing process for "Little Dead Riding Hood."  I will be reviewing the book as soon as I find a bit of that ever-elusive spare time, and, once I've posted my review over on Amazon and Goodreads, I will tack it on to this post as well, so check back in a couple of weeks!

Nominated for the Liebster Award

 
I am going to have to give a shout out and a heartfelt Thank You to Dani Duck for nominating me for the Leibster Blog Award. The Leibster award is giving to wonderful blogs with under 200 followers. The word "Liebster" Means sweetheart in German. It's a very sweet award.

Please visit Dani's's blog here: http://daniduckart.blogspot.ca

In accepting this award I am contractually obligated to answer 10 questions of Dani's choosing and then command 5-10 other people to answer my similarly worded questions.

 Here are Dani's questions to me along with my answers:

1. What is your favorite thing about writing or illustrating for children?

First off, I wish I was skilled enough to illustrate children's books! I'm thankful that I can write for children though. I love the way every subject can be magical for children, and the fact that their imaginations are boundless, so a story written for a child can go just about anywhere.

2. Who or what inspired you to become a writer or illustrator?

First, it would be my paternal grandmother. She taught me to read when I was only three. I was picked on a lot by my siblings, and she wanted me to have something of my own. She taught me not just how to read at a very young age, but she instilled a love in me for the written word.

Next, it would be my maternal grandfather. He lived with us when I was young and so was a big part of my life. I used to write stories all of the time, and he not only enthused about my writing, but he suggested that I could someday grow up to be a writer. That created the urge in me to write even more, and it was the first time I thought about actually becoming a writer.

3. What is one thing that most people don't know about you?

This is a difficult question for me as I am pretty much an open book. I am willing to talk about any part of my life.

I suppose, although some already know this about me, a lot of people may not know that I was once in a relationship with someone who was verbally and emotionally abusive as well as borderline physically abusive. Escaping that relationship was the best thing that could have happened in my life.  


4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

This one is easy! I see myself with many published books, doing book signings and book readings.

5. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

No idea! But I've always been pretty skilled at saying the phrase quickly!
6. What do you do when you aren't writing/illustrating?

I spend way too much time on Facebook. I network with other writers and agents. I run the Chapter Book Challenge and think up other things to take up my time. I assemble anthologies and create calls for new anthologies.

7. Color or Black & White?

If it is a movie, then color. If it is a photograph, then black and white.

8. How long?

I'm not sure what this question is asking. How long do I spend writing each day? - many hours. How long do I spend on the bus each day during the school runs? - 4 hours. How long have I wanted to be a writer? - since I was a child. How long have I been working towards making writing my career? - 5 years.

9. How annoying is it that I tagged you on my blog for this?

Not annoying at all! I am weird in that I like answering these kinds of things.

10. Do you have any big events that you are going to or hosting soon?

The anthology "Jingle Bells: Tales of Holiday Spirit From Around the World" will be coming out soon. The anthology "SuperHERo Tales" will also be available before Christmas. Another anthology, written and illustrated completely by children will be completed sometime in December, so look for that on Amazon soon too!

Great blogs I am nominating:
Melissa Writes

Ashley Howland

Jo Michaels

Now I am going to do something a little different and ask different questions of the next two bloggers, my daughters Gabriella (age 11) and Isabella (age 8).

Gabriella's Art

Isabella's Imagination
 
Please answer these questions however you see fit. Since I'm lazy I'm copying and pasting the instructions: "If you choose to accept here are the directions: Link back to the blogger that tagged you. Nominate 5-10 others and answer the questions of the one who tagged you (mine are below). Then ask 10 questions for the bloggers you nominate as well as letting your nominees know of their award. Oh, yeah—and have fun! ☺"

Questions for the 1st three blogs:

1. Why were you drawn to writing?

2. How many years have you been making or trying to make writing your career?

3. Are you published? Where?

4. What is your favorite part about writing stories?

5. What is your favorite genre?

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

7. How active is your muse?

8. If you could have a conversation with your muse, what would you say?

9. What are the latest projects you are working on?

10. What plans or dreams do you have for your writing in the next year?

Questions for Gabby and Bella:

1. What do you like the most about writing stories?

2. What makes you want to write a story?

3. Where do your story ideas come from?

4. How old were you when you wrote your first story?

5. What is your favorite creature or type of person to write about?

6. What's the name of the most recent book you have read or are reading?

7. Does your school give you any lessons on how to write good stories? If so, how helpful have they been?

8. What is the name of the story you are currently working on?

9. Are you published anywhere, and of so, where? Name the book titles.

10. Is any of your writing going to be published in the future? If so, give the titles of the publications.