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Today on my blog I have The Luthier's Apprentice blog tour. On my stop there is a spotlight, guest post, and giveaway.
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Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), one of the greatest violinists
who ever lived and rumored to have made a pact with the devil, has somehow
transferred unique powers to another…
When violinists around the world mysteriously vanish,
16-year-old Emma Braun takes notice. But when her beloved violin teacher
disappears… Emma takes charge. With Sherlock Holmes fanatic, not to mention
gorgeous Corey Fletcher, Emma discovers a parallel world ruled by an
ex-violinist turned evil sorceress who wants to rule the music world on her own
terms.
But why are only men violinists captured and not women? What
is the connection between Emma’s family, the sorceress, and the infamous
Niccolò Paganini?
Emma
must unravel the mystery in order to save her teacher from the fatal destiny
that awaits him. And undo the curse that torments her family—before evil wins
and she becomes the next luthier’s apprentice…
Book Links:
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Award-winning
author Mayra Calvani has penned over ten books for children and adults in
genres ranging from picture books to nonfiction to paranormal fantasy novels.
She’s had over 300 articles, short stories, interviews and reviews published in
magazines such as The Writer, Writer’s Journal and Bloomsbury Review, among
others. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, she now resides in Brussels,
Belgium.
Guest Post:
“To Plot or Not to Plot,”
by Mayra Calvani
First let me just say that there are no rules, and
whatever may work for one writer may not work for another. You have to do what
works for you. If plotting in detail works for you, do it. If you’re able to write
like the wind without knowing what’s going to happen on the next page, go for
it. There are countless of great books that have been written both ways.
Nowadays, I like to begin ‘discovering’ the story using Alan
Watt’s “Unlock the Story Within” techniques.
Once I have a more solid idea of the characters and where I want to go with
them, my plotting gets tighter and more detailed, but never at the expense of
staying flexible and open to change. In fact, what I love most about the
writing process are those surprises that I never saw coming.
For plotting, I love Alexandra Sokoloff’s method and Carol Hughes’ Deep Story method.
The plot keeps
evolving as I write. I organically adjust and change things as needed. Einstein once said that it’s impossible to solve a
problem at the same level of consciousness that created the problem. Something
has to shift. What this means is that I don’t know the whole story when I start
writing it. I know part of the story, but I don’t know the complete story—that will only happen after I’ve gotten to know my
characters deeply through the process of writing itself (Alan Watt talks about
this in his fabulous book, The 90-Day
Novel).
I used to be a
from-the-seat-of-my-pants writer, but I often got stuck in the middle and the
overall result was an unbalanced story. Nowadays, I like to plot ahead, and the
outcome is a much tighter, better structured book.
In the
case of The Luthier’s Apprentice, however, I completed the first draft in four weeks during
Nanowrimo 2007. At that time, it was an experiment. I hadn’t participated in
Nanowrimo before. It was an exciting, exhilarating experience, but I knew the
manuscript needed a lot of editing and polishing, so I put it aside for a long
time. Then I worked on it on and off as I worked on other projects. That’s why
it took so long to publish it.
I didn’t plot in
advance. I didn’t know what would happen on the next page. I discovered the
story and characters as I wrote. Or rather, I let the characters take charge
and guide me. Looking back, this was incredibly daring. I don’t work this way
now. But, as I said, it was an experiment to shut down my inner critic and it
was an exciting challenge.
Stalker Links:
Thank you for stopping by my blog today. I would also like to say Thank You to Mayra for your guest post and say Thank You to Jaidis for letting me participate in this blog tour. Don't forget to enter the giveaway below.
~Sabrina
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