Sunday's Dwarfed Snippet

Both Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday provide writers with different interests and talents to shared writing snippets and advice. The rules for both groups are simple. Post a snippet from, in my case, work-in-progress. After posting, I get to read the snippets the other participants have posted. It's a sweet deal! 

Last week I had several first time visitors, or at least first  time commentators so I'm doing a short set up.

DWARFED is a YA manuscript featuring 16 year old Grace, who temporarily finds herself living on a working hog farm in Michigan, Luke Searc, who works for the farm, and Spēs, a newborn piglet who needs a little extra care. Grace has a big heart and a stubborn nature. She also has a genetic condition called achondroplasia dwarfisam.

A collection of snippets from DWARFED can be found here. And now, this week's snippet.

          “Grace.” Luke hesitates. He looks like he wants to say something but is having a difficult time finding the right words.

            My teeth sink into my lip and silently willing him to not mention our near kiss. My brain has turned to mush, important components have shorted out, until I get it sorted out there’s no way I can talk about what nearly happened.

I hug the little pig more closely my breastbone. She sighs and rests her chin on shoulder. I should be grateful, she saved me from making a huge mistake. Still, a part of my head, a part that must have sustained the most damage, feels disappointed.

I forgot to mention it, but I want to give a big shout out to one of my favorite youth organizations, 4-H. If you weren’t a part of the 4-H scene while you were a kid, you have no idea what you missed out on. If you have kids, you should get them involved, you’ll be glad you did!

 

Source: flohe-images.de via cookkooc_de on Pinterest

Aftermath-weWriWa Sunday Snippet

I'm joining an enormous group of extremely talented writers for Sunday Snippet and Weekend Writing Warriors. The rules for both groups are simple. Post a snippet from, in my case, work-in-progress. After posting, I get to read the snippets the other participants have posted.

Last week, the snippet I posted ended in the middle of a paragraph. This week I'm starting in the middle of the same paragraph.

Last week I had several first time visitors, or at least first  time commentators so I'm doing a short set up.

DWARFED is a YA manuscript featuring 16 year old Grace, who temporarily finds herself living on a working hog farm in Michigan, Luke Searc, who works for the farm, and Spēs, a newborn piglet who needs a little extra care. Grace has a big heart and a stubborn nature. She also has a genetic condition called achondroplasia dwarfisam.

A collection of snippets from DWARFED can be found here. And now, this week's snippet.

His strong, calloused fingers wrap around my palm and wrist. He digs his heels into the ground and pulls me to my feet. “I guess she was worried about you.”

“It seems so,” I mutter.

I keep my head bent to hide my bright red cheeks as I take my new pig from him, and cuddle her against my chest. The solid feel of her weight against my heart doesn’t stop way stomach jumps around as I peer up at Luke through my eyelashes.

Had I really almost kissed him?

Source: Uploaded by user via Antonio on Pinterest

Some Romance, Alot of Creative Editing, and a Cute Piglet Rolled into a Single Sunday Snippet

I can't thank everyone enough for your wonderful advice last week regarding my snippet. You're a wonderful group of people, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

For anyone who might  be stopping by for the first time. I post snippets from my YA work-in-progress titled Dwarfed which features the antics of Grace, Luke and a precocious piglet. It's set on a working hog farm. Be sure to check out the talented writers who have posted writing samples this week. Links to their sits can be found at the Weekend Writing Warrior website or the Facebook group.

This week's snippet picks up where last week's drops off. I confess, I had to use some creative editing and comma placement in order to stick to the #WeWriWa sentence restrictions. Still, I think it works. You wouldn't have like the natural stopping point ;D

             I can't breathe, it feels like my entire body has been squished flat and now matter how much I try, my lungs refuse to inflate. Luke uses the same elbow that sent me sprawling to lever his upper body away from mine, I sense him looking down at me.

             “Are you okay,” he asks, his voice shaking a little,“Grace?”

  Fingertips brush my cheek, prompting me to open my watering eyes, my response dies in my throat as my heart slams against my ribs in an unfamiliar but glorious rhythm. Unbidden, my gaze slides down his face, pausing at his mouth, and I wonder if his lips can really be as soft as they look.

Straw pokes at the back of my neck as Luke's slide under the back of my skull, my eyes close and I shift closer to Luke, lifting my face to his.

            Something wet latches onto my chin, sucking with enough force, I clap one hand across the front of my face. pressing my fingertips and palm against my cheeks, hoping to prevent the skin from getting Hoovered off, while using my free hand to blindly shove at the strangely shaped object.

            Luke’s laughter fills the small room as he presses his fingers against the corner of the piglet's jaw, disengaging it from my chin before scooping her up and cradling her against his chest with one hand, and reaching for me with the other. 

 

  

Source: destructoid.com via Fran on Pinterest

Six Sentence Sunday 1/27/13

Oh my gosh. I can't believe this is the last Six Sentence post *sniff*. I've met some amazing people, gained a great deal of insight into my writing and the industry, and discovered some fabulous books.  I can't thank the moderators for all the hard work they've put into this blog hop. You've been amazing.

Okay, now onto my snippet. Like usual it comes from the same YA manuscript, DWARFED, which I usually post from. It picks up where last week's dropped off. If you're new to my snippets and want to learn some more, I've compiled my snippets right here. For those of you who asked, the pigs pictured in last week's post were (are?) Fengjing pigs, who hail from the same region as Shar-pei dogs.

“You keep spreading the straw,” he says. “I’m going to go get some heat lamps.”

My thoughts wander as I continue shaking out one section after another until the floor disappears under a generous layer of straw. I would never admit it to anyone else, but I couldn’t help wondering what I’d just gotten myself into. Didn’t I already have enough things to worry about, wasn’t I already feeling emotionally drained, so what made me think that I was in anyway shape or form, capable of taking on the responsibility of a small pig. For all intents and purposes, I'm going to be a parent.

Source: Uploaded by user via Cindy on Pinterest

I  do plan to continue to posting snippets. As of right now my plan is to post as part of the Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop, and there's whispers of another 6Sunday here. It will be interesting to see what the future holds. 

Twitter Pitching Madness

Yesterday I participated in the Twitter pitching event #PitMad. Basically you post a short pitch of your story and agents and editors are able to read it. It didn't take me very long to figure out that as hard as writing a regular pitch is, whittling one down to less than a 140 characters was even harder, particularly since I was trying to accomplish the task at the last minute.

I got a tiny nibble from an agent who, sadly, doesn't handle YA, but it was encouraging, as was the nice feedback some of the other writers on my Twitter feed posted.

When the dust settled, I'd posted 3 micro-pitches. My personal favorite was the 3rd one, which I think I posted about 10 minutes before the event ended.

Here's what I managed to come up with.

Dwarf teen, Grace, is more than a mark on a measuring stick. Convincing others, including the local farm boy, proves difficult #PitMad YA   (I already have a few ideas about how I'm going to clean this up and make it a bit more concise.)

Dwarf performer, Grace, finds convincing people, she's a person and not a doll an overwhelming challenge. #PitMad Contemp YA

Being a 4’ teen dwarf is tough. Teaching magic to a pig, tougher yet. Hiding her feelings for the local farm boy ... impossible. #PitMad YA

Top Ten Settings I'd Like To See More Of in Books

The topic that the Broke and the Bookish came up with for this week's blog hop was hard. Looking through my own bookcase it was obvious how many great and varied settings authors have used. While I have found most of these settings in books I've read, I would like to see them show up more often.

1. Farms- I don't think authors understand just what they're missing out on. There's a million different types  of farms they could use, and so many different, entertaining people they could base characters on. Farming has been greatly underused in literature.
I think this would be a fantastic setting for both historical,
contemporary, and sci-fi novels.


2.Hockey games-I love hockey and feel more authors should right about it. The best thing about hockey showing up in more books will be the diverse cultures it would allow the author to use.

3. Chincoteque/Assateque Islands-Yep, O' Henry's fabulous Misty trilogy was set on these islands, as was a very badly researched episode of Bones, but I'd still like to see both islands in more books.

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                               

4. Michigan's Upper Peninsula-I think I've read one, maybe two books that have even acknowledged the U.P., AND THAT'S JUST WRONG! The U.P. is a beautiful place full of wildlife, copper, mining, pasties, farming, water, and a million other things. Truthfully, I'd like to see Michigan in general appear in more books.

Source: Uploaded by user via Alison on Pinterest

5.County fairs-How come no one writes about a county fair? It's the perfect setting for YA books!

Source: deliciousindustries.blogspot.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

 6.The 1600's-I've been able to find very few books set in this time period, which doesn't make any sense to me. So much happened than, it should be a gold mine of possibilities.

7.  Mummy Crypt's-Mummies are slowly starting to show up in some books, and as far as I'm concerned this is a very good thing. I just want more mummy book, like, right now.

Source: imgur.com via Hudson on Pinterest

8. Pig farms-Okay, I'm a little biased. My WIP happens to be set on a pig farm, but that doesn't mean I don't want more books to come out with the same setting.As an added bonus, hands down hog farmers happen to be the nicest group of people I've ever met.

Source: crushculdesac.tumblr.com via Lacey on Pinterest

9.Traveling Circuses-Sarah Gruen effectivly showed what a great setting this can be. I'm hoping more authors follow suit

10.  The World Fair-I don't think I've read a single book set at the World Fair.            

What about you? Do you have any settings you wish would show up more in the books you snuggle up with?