Author: Jeanette

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Fever: Part One

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Part One: In The Herbal Shop

Anna slammed the stone pestle into the mortar, her eyes blinded by tears. The afternoon sun beamed through the open servery hatch and lay in patches of light across the counter and work benches. Outside, the woman standing at the shop counter shifted the weight of the listless toddler in her arms and sighed. Behind her ramshackle shops and adobe houses squatted in a jumbled heap on the ridge across the empty street.

Dipping her head, Anna swiped the unshed tears from her eyes and continued to ground the dried bitterroot into a fine powder. Why was she the one to be sent away and not Nerra? Her pretty older sister was far more interested in boys and pretty furbelows than she was in the family’s herbal business. However nimble Nerra’s fingers were with the needle and the loom, it was Anna who, even at sixteen, could recognise the different plants almost as well as Ma and knew how to prepare and mix them.  She should be the one to stay.

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October Happenings

BirdandSunx400A quick catch-up with recent events:

  • I’ve written a few short stories set in the world of Nardva, one of which I’m hoping will appear in the Tied in Pink Anthology. The profits of this romance anthology will go to Breast Cancer research. I’ll keep you posted on details. If you want to help towards this project you can purchase some beautiful T-Shirts and other merchandise here.
  • Flight (a short story I wrote) placed second in the Intermediate category of FaithWriters. You can read it here.
  • I have a fabulous time attending a Writers Conference in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria (Australia) last weekend, attending workshops and catching up with old and new friends.
  • I’m signing up for NaNoWriMo again this November – to work on Jared’s Choice.
  • I’ve now started a related Instagram site
  • And finally, I’m publishing on Jeanette O’Hagan Writes (and a new Tumblr site By the Light of Two Moons) some Tamrin Tales – stories that fill in some background of the characters of my books in the Akrad’s Legacy series. The installment of the first story Fever is due tonight.
  • Clues for a Scavenger Hunt will be scattered through out the stories. Details, including prizes, will be announced by Monday 10th November.

Jeanette O’Hagan

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With Adele Jones (author of YA thriller Integrate) and Jo Wanmer (author of Though the Bud Be Bruised), Bachus Marsh 2014

With Nola (from the Write Flourish editing services) and Pamela, with Adele in background

With Nola Passmore (from the Write Flourish editing services) and Pamela (with Adele in background) Bacchus Marsh, 2014

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Namu of the Waterfall

Namu of the Waterfall is an old Tamrin love song. It is first mentioned in Akrad’s Children though Rasel refers to the underlying legend in both Rasel’s Song and Mannok’s Betrayal.

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Namu dances to the song

of the rainbow spray

silver voice mingling with

double moonlit ray.

Drifting through fine mist

bright child of sylvan folk

in water-gated cave she plays.

 

An echo haunting the waters’ spray

Her voice mingles in double moons’ bright ray.

Mingling in double moons’ bright ray.

 

 

Stark shouts disturb

the shining dark

booted feet, flailing arms,

brutal blows are struck

lucid water churnes

as lost prince is stripped by thieves

and left to die in heartless lark.

 

At last the villains are gone

Namu weeps to see the bloodied dawn

Swimming out to pool’s edge

she looks upon Solik’s prone form

crystal waters sullied

from his seeping wounds,

her heart is torn.

Read more….

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Following where Imagination Leads

It’s been about a month and a half since I posted. This isn’t because I haven’t been busy.

NaNoWriMo July Camp2014-Winner-Vertical-Banner

In the month of July I signed up for the NaNoWriMo July Camp – with the goal of writing 30,000 words in the month on Mannok’s Betrayal (the third book in the Akrad’s Legacy Trilogy) – it was touch and go but I made it 🙂

All together, I was as able to piece together a connected narrative for the first 40,000 words of MB. I have other major scenes written but have a couple of points which I need to write the transitions. Slowly it is coming together.

20,000 words for Master of Arts (Writing)

I also submitted the first 20,000 words of MB for my current Master of Arts (Writing) unit.

Following the Imagination Trail

At the beginning of Augustn YA Sci-Fi author Lynne Stringer asked me how I started writing my first book (Adelphi). Lynne is author of the Verindon Trilogy (The Heir, The Crown, The Reign).

Here is my reply:

Thanks Lynne, for having me on your blog. I’ve enjoyed reading the other blogs in this series. It is fascinating learning about the different journeys of other writers.

My passion is writing faith-inspired fantasy, poetry and memoir/biography. I am a few thousand words away from completing the first draft of my fourth full manuscript in the fantasy series Akrad’s Children. I also love to blog on life and faith, books and films, and the writing journey.

You asked me how I came to write my first book.

It started with a dream I had in my early twenties and when I say dream, I mean that literally. I dreamt about a young girl standing by a fountain and holding up a lamp in the night. She was calling for a wild creature to come to her and was surprised by what happened next. It was such a vivid dream that I kept the story going even after I had woken up and over the next several months I followed the trail of imagination. The story became part of the world I had begun creating at the age of ten. I began to write the story down – in notepads, on spare pieces of paper, in gaps of time until one day I had a first draft. I even devised a sequel.

Some years later, I revised it and a friend typed it out for me.  …

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Fictional worlds, Series and more

The last couple of months I’ve been flat out with 2 units of study in the Masters of Arts (Writing). This has left little time for writing. However, I will be using Mannok’s Betrayal for my major project in my current unit The Creative Artefact.

In the meantime, I’ve written a couple of guest posts.

Multiplying the Magic

(on writing and reading series)

A good series is a delight to the reader, author and publisher. How many of us remember those series we loved and avidly followed as children – Anne of Green Gables, Biggles, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five or the Faraway Tree, Narnia, Sherlock Holmes – the list goes on. And as we got older maybe we moved on to Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Isaac Asimov, Janette Oke, Karen Kingsley or perhaps Stephen Lawhead. Well, you fill in the blanks with your favourite series author.
Series come in different guises depending on authorial choice, genre and reader expectations.
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Creating Worlds

(on building fictional worlds)

One Hundred Acre Woods, Never Land, Avonlea, Narnia, Hogwarts, Middlearth … these are all places that have delighted countless children – and let’s admit it – adults, filling them with wonder and whimsy.
For me one of the joys of reading is being transported to another place and time.  It might be across the universe in a FTL spaceship or a Blue Police box. It might be back in time to encounter ancient or not so ancient societies and cultures (Victorian, Medieval, Roman, Chinese or Incan) or perhaps to a strange technological or dystopic future. Or it might be the streets of New York or Sydney, the vast Australian Outback or the green hills of England. Books have whisked me away to all these places – and more, many more.
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Jeanette O’Hagan

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Blogging about Fantasy

At the end of April I was thrilled to  guest blog on Dyane Forde’s Writing Blog Dropped Pebbles.  I wrote a two part series on Fantasy:

Fantasy and Faith: Part One

“Some day yfantasy1ou will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” C. S. Lewis

Not everyone loves fantasy, not everyone gets it. ‘I prefer reality,’ they say as they look at you slightly askance. The implication, whether stated aloud or not, is that fantasy is escapist entertainment for the childish and less enlightened among us. Even so, I don’t mind admitting that I have not lost my love for fantasy since the day I was introduced to C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series at age 7. In fact, I spend a large part of my days reading fantasy or writing it. So what can we say to the naysayers? Despite the critics, Spec-Fic including fantasy continues to dominate the bestsellers and movie blockbusters. In fact, many people read or watch  fantasy without realising it – Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol or Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, for instance, or Disney’s Fantasia. Moreover, fantasy comes in a wide variety of guises – so chances are there is something for everyone.  Read More.

 

 

 

Fantasy and Faith: Part Two

BirdMany skeptics relegated fantasy to the dusty attics of their childhood. In their minds, it is at best escapist entertainment empty of real meaning or at worst mind numbing wish fulfillment that leaves one out of touch with reality. And to be honest, fantasy does explore and extend our most fantastical dreams and plumbs our worst nightmares. But is it escapist? And is that a bad thing? Read More .

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My Writing Process – Blog Tour #mywritingprocess

I was asked to join in with this blog tour on My Writing Process by Melissa Gijsbers Khalinsky. You can read her post here.

And here are my answers to the questions given.

1) What am I working on?

I’m working on a few of projects at the moment. My main passion is for my YA/NA fantasy fiction Akrad series. I’ve written three of the books (Book 1, 2 & 4) and am correctly close to finishing Book 3 Mannok’s Betrayal. Pulling all the threads together has been a challenge but one I enjoy. I have started sending out Book 1 Akrad’s Children to publishers and will be soon sending Book 2 Rasel’s Song to my faithful beta-readers.

I am also doing a Masters of Arts (Writing) – two units this term – which involve major writing tasks. Fortunately, I can use what I’m doing with Mannok’s Betrayal as part of my assessment for one of the units.

I participated in Month of Poetry (MoP) in January (the challenge of writing one poem a day) and have continued writing poems as the whim takes me. And I blog both for my own blogs and for a couple of group blogs.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My Akrad series is secondary world fantasy aimed at Young Adult to New Adult (ages 15-24) audiences. The books are set in an imaginary world of Nardva with complex societies, history, geography, literature, mythologies – but they are not high or epic fantasy (i.e. hero saves the universe from total destruction plot). Nevertheless, they are still full of suspense, danger, adventure, intrigue, romance and mystery. The stories are from the point of view of the younger characters (teens to early twenties) but they continue to interact with other generations. Each book can be read on its own but is also part of an overarching plot. There is also a slow reveal of magical elements with ongoing mystery throughout the series.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I love fantasy and I love writing. Fantasy was my favourite genre as a child (and still is). At about 9 I began daydreaming my own fantasy world with lots of characters and stories. This became the world of Nardva. The Five Lands (where the Akrad Series is set) is a part of this world. Writing my own books fires my imagination and keeps me entertained.

4) How does your writing process work?

Well, it starts with day dreaming. Sometimes I compose the whole story  in my head before beginning to write (often a few times with changes and usually with far more than I can use in the book). However, these days I do start the writing process earlier. I usually have a basic structure – the beginning, the climax and turning points and a good idea of the end as well as the main characters in mind before I start writing. Then I fill in the gaps – and I am often surprised at what comes out in the process. It’s definitely a lot of fun.

Here are two of my friends who will be posting the “My Writing Process” blog tour posts on Monday March 17th. Please check out their blogs next week.  

Lynne Stringer –  Lynne has been passionate about writing all her life. She was the editor of a small newspaper (later magazine) for seven years, and currently works as a professional editor and proof reader. Lynne wrote her YA sci-fi romance novel, The Heir, in 2010. The Heir is the first book in the Verindon trilogy. This book was followed by The Crown. The final book, The Reign, will be released in May 2014. You can find Lynne online at  www.lynnestringer.com

Alison Stegert – Ali Stegert is a daytime school counsellor, night time word wrangler. Her first novel, Summer of the Silk Dragon, is making the rounds of publishers, looking for the right home. Ali blogs about books and writing on Spilling Ink, her personal blog, and about cyber-parenting on e-Quipped. (www.e-quipped.com.au) The link to Ali’s personal blog is www.ali-stegert.com

Enjoy!

Jeanette O’Hagan

You can read a hyptertext teaser for Akrad’s Children – called My Sister – here.

Or join me on Facebook here.

 

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Happy New Year 2014

The year in review – I completed two first drafts and started edits on Akrad’s Children & Rasel’s Song, completed 3 units of my writing studies, blogged & wrote poetry.

As part of NaNoWriMo I wrote 50,555 words in the month of November on the third book in the trilogy, Mannok’s Betrayal. It’s been a bit slower in December – now at 63,657, working to make the plot flow.

Launched a website 🙂 and –

Watched some great movies like Hunger Games Catching Fire and Day of the Doctor – and read some great books.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year for 2014

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Writing YA & NA

When I started writing my first novel,  I wrote from the point of view of the two teen protagonists because that was the story. The characters and world expanded and took a life of its own. I knew I was writing fantasy but that was about it. Then life intervened (study, new career, children) and my first novel languished in storage.

Last year I began studying the art and craft of writing again. I dusted off my old manuscript and my notes for sequels and prequels. My passion reignited. Once again I am writing late into the night, in stolen moments, whenever I can.

One thing I’ve learnt is that the age of your hero and/or heroine determines your audience. Without knowing it I had been writing Young Adult (YA) fiction.

My books are about young people dealing with life, solving problems, growing and maturing. The stories are fast paced with action, dialogue and emotional engagement. Like a lot of YA, they crossover between genres – fantasy with elements of mystery, suspense and romance.

I also discovered that unlike my novels, much YA has a compressed timeline, sticks to a familiar setting and has minimal subplots. Books like Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Twilight are set over the course of a year or less and the characters are still teens by the end of the series. My characters start out as teens but are in their early twenties for much of their story arcs.

That’s why I was delighted to stumble upon a new category aimed at readers in their late teens, early twenties – New Adult (NA) Fiction.

So my books straddle the YA/NA divide. I think they will appeal to older teens and twenty-somethings – and older readers who love YA fiction – who want fast paced character driven fiction on a wider stage.

Of course, you will be the ultimate judge.

Jeanette O’Hagan

4 November 2013

 

So what do you think?

Do you only read books with a protagonist your own age or a couple of years older than you?

Do you think YA should always be restricted to a short time period, simple plots and short word counts?

What is Young Adult?

Young Adult category encompasses literature written for teens (often stated as 12-18), generally with teen protagonists and dealing with teen issues and themes (coming of age, identity, relationships etc) and/or read by teens. It became popularised as a category from about 1948 onwards and is often defined in a variety of ways.

Some characteristics of Young Adult:

  • The protagonists or main characters are teens – generally 16 or older (as young readers often like to read about characters 2-4 years older than they are). At the start, Eragon (Eragon) is 15, Katniss (Hunger Games) 16 and Bella (Twilight Saga) is 17. Harry Potter is 12 but J K Rowling’s series begins with middle grade books (8-12) and ends with older YA.
  • Generally face paced with conflict, action and dialogue. YA often employs first person perspective or at least deep third person. It may use present tense (e.g. Hunger Games) rather than the more usual past tense.
  • It is often set in school or teen hang-outs, each books covers a shortish time period (usually not more than a year), is less descriptive, relatively short (50 to 70 thousand words), a limited number of characters and less likely to have subplots. This contrasts with a previous classics – such as Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Dickens’ Great Expectations or LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy.
  • It deals with teen concerns and themes like growing up, identity, becoming your own person, friendships, bullying, firsts (first date, first kiss, first job etc) and difficulties teens face (including abuse, discrimination, drugs, alcohol, sex).
  • The teen characters solve their own problems. Adults may be absent or may be present as helpers but take a secondary role.
  • It can include many different genres (adventure, fantasy, sci-fi, detective, historical, contemporary) and often crossover genre lines. It can be innovative and edgy.
  • As much as half of the readers of YA are older than 18. In short, adults enjoy YA too.

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What is  New Adult?

The term New Adult was coined in 2008 but has really only taken off in the last year or so (from 2012) onwards. It is aimed at college-age young adults who are in the transition between adolescence and the roles and responsibilities of older adults.

Some characteristics of New Adult:

  • Protagonists generally are 18-25
  • NA keeps the pacey emotional tone of YA but focuses on issues and life events relevant to college-aged readers. What makes it different from YA and from more general adult fiction is the focus on coming of age themes – first serious relationship, living away from home, first “real” job, maybe getting married and having kids.
  • It is likely to include a heavier emphasis on romance and may include erotica, strong violence and darker themes than YA though this need not be so.
  • While much of New Adult is contemporary romance, it can and does include other genres like fantasy and sci-fi.

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Like to do more reading? Check out:

Heather Dunlevy-Scheerer, H., (Sep 11, 2009) What Are the Defining Characteristics of Young Adult Literature? In Yahoo Voices, http://voices.yahoo.com/what-defining-characteristics-young-adult-4226787.html?cat=38  [Rather wordy but a reasonably good coverage of Young Adult literature]

O’Hagan, J., (Friday, 18 October 2013) So What is New Adult Fiction and Why Should We Care? In Australasian Christian Writers, http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/so-what-is-new-adult-fiction-and-why.html  [Gives my recent overview of New Adult fiction]

Strickland, A., (October 16, 2013) A brief history of young adult literature in CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/15/living/young-adult-fiction-evolution/  [A potted history of the development of Young Adult Literature]

Wendig, C., (? October 2013) 25 Things You Should Know About Young Adult Fiction in Terrible Minds,  http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/06/04/25-things-you-should-know-about-young-adult-fiction/  [Funny overview of YA fiction, use of colourful language]