Greetings

My photo
Delaware, United States
Deborah Hawkins, penned Debra Renée Byrd, began writing after a blank book project in elementary school and never stopped, fashioning stories based on her favorite TV shows and movies before creating more original works. She studied at the University of the Arts and Florida State University before settling down and graduating from Temple University. She now resides in her hometown of Dover, DE, where she spends most of her time at work or at church. She loves fantasies, superheroes, is a trekkie and a brown coat. She loves television and lives for Final Fantasy video games, having collected most of them. She has read a myriad of authors, and her favorite authors change whenever she finds a new book that changes her life... "When you can't run, you crawl. When you can't crawl...well, you know the rest." -Tracey, Firefly, "The Message"

Search This Blog

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Wednesday Words: Graceling

Happy Hump Day!

How is everyone doing with the A to Z Challenge! My colors are doing better than I thought they would. :-D

Most Wednesdays, I stop by to share with you a piece of what I'm reading using Random.org. At the moment, I'm in the process of beginning to query again, and one of the agencies tells you to prepare a proposal just in case. In that proposal, you need to list your competition. I've never even THOUGHT of competition! So I Googled YA Fantasy novels and stumbled upon a few that I would most likely be up against.

So I put a couple on hold at my library and am now currently reading Kristin Cashore's Graceling. (Hey, and today's letter happens to be G for A to Z!)



People in this story have what they call a grace, which is a power of some sort. Some fight really well, some read minds, etc. Katsa, the main character, can kill. Yikes. These gracelings are marked by having two different colored eyes (something I actually use in my story, but not in the same way, but it's still so weird!). Katsa has started a protective council, and they've found themselves in a bit of a mystery. I can't wait to see whodunnit. ;)

Now, for the sharing. Random.org has helped me look through the 472 pages and has given me page..............391.

There are 20 lines on this page, so Random has chosen line.......................11.

She didn't want everyone talking about it and pointing it out and treating her this way. She loosened the neck of her coat and tucked the ring inside.

Ahhh, what are they talking about?! I have a ways to go, so I can't wait to see what's going on.

Reading anything interesting?

10 comments:

Diana Wilder said...

I stumbled upon reference to a book called MERCENARY that is based on the life of a man who left the US in disgrace after an accident in which some people were killed (late 1800s to early 1900s) and went to Uruguay, where he was instrumental in turning it into a country. Not my usual type of read, but it comes highly recommended... Your story sounds fascinating.

Good luck with querying! There's a group on the Amazon discussion boards, a very welcoming one, that helps with writing pitches. You encounter some tough love, for certain, but it is fairly kind and there is lots of really good feedback. They actually helped me with a 500 word synopsis (a synopsis, I firmly believe, was one of the Labors of Hercules. They never told about it because they did not want to horrify folks.) I have the group's address...

Dani said...

Graceling is a really well written story and I love how they use their Graces.

Anonymous said...

hahahaha! And you did it in 500 words?! That IS a labor.

Diana Wilder said...

Definitely. and it was a *requirement* for submission (to the Historical Novel Society New Fiction contest...)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Can she kill with her mind?

Scribbles From Jenn said...

I'm in the query process, too. Although I've never had anyone ask me to list my competition, I think it is a good exercise. Graceling is a good one to check out as competition.

Scribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge

Anonymous said...

No, she's just very skilled in killing.

Unknown said...

I haven't had a chance to get to my tbr list, but I'm hoping to soon. Not sure what I'm going to read next. Graceling sounds like a great story. Good luck with your querying. I hope it goes well.

Kern Windwraith said...

Haven't heard of this book before--it sounds interesting. I can't say I'm doing much reading right at the moment, but I'll dive back in at the end of April. Best of luck with your querying!

Heather R. Holden said...

I haven't read Graceling myself, but I've seen plenty of people praise it. The two different colored eyes sound like a really cool trait to feature in a story!