Mindee Arnett
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News and Events!

Firstly, and super-duper awesomely, The Nightmare Affair has been nominated for the YALSA Teens’ Top Teen . I’m pretty sure this a big deal, and some of the other nominees are oh-my-gosh amazing. Anyway, if you’re a teen, you can vote for the book. There’s also a giveaway. More details here. Also, if you vote for me, there might be unicorns and rainbows in your future from yours truly.

TeensTopTen_nominee_WM

Secondly, I’ve got two events coming up in a few days. I’ll be doing a chat and signing with Erica O’Rourke and Stacey Kade at Read Between the Lines in Woodstock, IL on Thursday April 24 at 7:00.

After that, I’ll be spending the weekend hanging out at the Chicago Spring Fling Writers Conference. I’ve participating in a panel on Friday, as well as the Librarian Tea, and on Saturday, I’ll be signing books. Hope I get to meet some of you.

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Building Suspense, the art of emergence

So this past Saturday I had the lovely fortune to present a workshop on suspense at the Wayne College Writers Workshop. I had an absolute blast with the class. The participants were attentive and eager and all things wonderful.

Anyhow, the materials I presented seemed to go over pretty well, and I thought I’d share a little bit of it here. Cheesy at it sounds, I created an acronym out of SUSPENSE. And while I won’t go through all of them here—some of them are fairly obvious (the first S = Sympathetic Characters)—I did want to share my favorite “letter” of the acronym, the final “E.”

In the workshop, the final E = Emergent. Here’s what the slides looked like:

–Definition: arising as a natural or logical consequence.
•As much as possible, the events in the story should emerge from what happened before; they should be consequential.
•Avoid the “and then” problem (as described by the creators of South Park on mtvu.com).
–Definition of the “And Then” problem:
•If you draw a flowchart of the events in your story and find yourself using “and then” to connect them, you have a problem.
•Instead, your connectors should be “therefore” or “but.”
Untitled
Here’s an example of how this works in an actual story:
katniss
I know this is pretty simple, but it’s also super duper important. If you want to have any kind of suspense in your story, if you want a carefully plotted and tightly woven story in general, then you’ve got to employ this emergence technique. Not doing this in a story is one my all-time biggest pet peeves. I recommend to the participants that if they aren’t sure if they were employing emergence, they should map out their stories in flow chart format like that above. I’ll go ahead and recommend the same to you.
Happy Writing!
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The Nightmare Dilemma is out!

Hooray! If you’ve been waiting to hear what happens next for Dusty and her friends, you’re in good luck. The Nightmare Dilemma hits stores today.

To celebrate, I’m holding two separate giveaways for a signed hard cover of Dilemma, one on Facebook and one on Twitter. For Facebook, all you have to do is comment and share this post.

For Twitter, simple write a tweet that includes the hashtag #NightmareDilemma and include this link: mindeearnett.com/nightmare-dilemma/ If you can, please @ me too (@mindeearnett.com)

Hope you can participate, and be sure to stop by my events page for a list of my tour stops as part of the Three Nightmares You Can’t Resist tour!

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Nightmare Affair Paperback Release

That’s right! Today marks the release of paperback of The Nightmare Affair and it’s a beauty. It has two extras in it:

  • The first chapter of The Nightmare Dilemma
  • An alternate first chapter of The Nightmare Affair told in Eli’s point-of-view

Check it out if you can and spread the word.

Also, don’t forget that Avalon is out now, too. I’m still planning a blog post comparing the two, but I think it’s safe to say that if you like one of my series you might like the other.

Cheers!

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Online Author Event!

This Thursday, the lovely Jennifer Rush, author of Altered and the newly released sequel Erased, and myself will be doing a joint online event through an awesome program website called Shindig. I’ve used Shindig multiple times before, and it’s a lot like FaceTime, only it’s also a giant chat room too. You can talk to both Jennifer and I and to other guests in a face-to-face interface. Or, if the video chatting isn’t you’re thing, you can also do an IM chat–at the same time! How cool is that?

Here are the important details:

  • The event is FREE
  • It’s taking place 8:00 EST
  • All you need to participate is a computer with an internet connection (video capability preferred but not necessary)
  • The link to the event is right here. To get in, all you have to do is fill in a name and email address. No worries about the email; it won’t be shared with anyone, promise

That’s it. Super duper simple and fun. I really hope you’re able to make it. Jenn and I will sharing a little about our books and then doing a Q&A. No questions is off limits. Come prepared to ask about the writing process, publishing, which Winchester brother we prefer, you name it.

If you want, please RSVP below.

See you there!

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Avalon Release Day

I can hardly believe it, but Avalon is out today! There’s so much I want to say, but mostly I’m too dazed. There are all kinds of ways to win a copy of the book and swag. Here are a couple, just to get you started, if you’re interested:

http://booksbonesbuffy.com/2014/01/21/release-day-giveaway-excerpt-avalon-by-mindee-arnett/

http://lorimlee.blogspot.com/2014/01/giveaway-avalon-by-mindee-arnett.html

http://scribblerskye.blogspot.com/2014/01/book-launch-avalon-mindee-arnett.html

There are some more that I’m missing, but I’ll update as I can. In the meantime, I’m going to spend the day relaxing and hanging out online. And in the very near future, I’m going to write a post comparing and contrasting Avalon and The Nightmare Affair. Basically, if you like one, you’ll probably like the other, despite their differences. Also, The Nightmare Dilemma is out in few short weeks!

 

 

 

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Upcoming Events

Anybody want to come hang out with me? Pick my brains about writing or publishing? Well, I’m happy to say there are going to be lots of chances over the next couple of weeks. I’m going to update my Events page with all the information below, but in the meantime, here’s a summary of what’s coming.

Jan 22, 7:00: Twitter Party

I have never done a Twitter party before, but I’m excited about it. Full details here. Come and chat me with please. I promise to be a fountain of information and maybe fun. Maybe.

Feb 6, 8:00: Shindig Event – New Leaf Literary & Media Author Talk

If you don’t know what Shindig is, just trust me when I say it’s awesome and it’s easy. All you need is a computer with an internet connection and preferring some kind of camera/speaker. Signing up is easy and free. My fellow author Jennifer Rush and I will be online and ready to chat. You’ll get to see our faces and hear us talk in real life. Hope you can make. Details here.

Mar 11 – Mar 17: The Three Nightmares You Can’t Resist Tour

That’s right, I’m going on a group tour with Kristen Simmons and Jenna Black! How cool is that? Very cool. We’ve got stops in Dayton, Ohio, Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The official announcement is here. I’ll post additional details, such as times and anything extra as I get them.

April 5: Wayne College Writers Workshop at Akron, Ohio

I just got invited to this event, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m doing a workshop on writing suspense (fancy title to come). And I’m also the guest speaker, apparently. Totally weird and surprising, but cool. Find details here.

April 25 – 26: 2014 Spring Fling Writers Conference, Chicago

I’ll be doing a part of the AMA (Ask Me Anything) YA Panel with my fellow authors Erica Rourke and Lori M. Lee. My super-fab agent, Suzie Townsend, will be moderating. In addition, I’ll be doing some signings. Details here.

And there you have it. I really hope to see and talk to some of you soon. Seriously, give the Shindig event a try. It’s a create way to get to chat with both authors and fellow readers!

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News, News, and News

Okay, quick and dirty news post for you because my edit letter for the Avalon sequel has arrived and I need to get busy. So without further ado, here are the thing you might want to know now:

Avalon Blog Tour is Under Way

That’s right. My blog tour, hosted by the incredible Jaime Arnold over at Rockstar Book Tours started today. You can find the list of stops on the tour and enter to win 1 of 2 signed hard copies of Avalon (opened internationally) here.

avalon

 

The Nightmare Dilemma Sweepstakes

The first two chapters of The Nightmare Dilemma are up over at tor.com and you can enter a sweepstakes to win an arc. Check it all out here. Also, I’d love to know what you think about the opening chapters. I can’t wait for this book.

The Three Nightmares You Can’t Resist Tour

That’s right. I’m heading on tour to promote The Nightmare Dilemma.  Woohoo! And this time I get to go with some awesome fellow Tor authors. I’m not saying anything else yet. But the full details will be out tomorrow. I’ll share them as soon as the link goes live.

Cheers!

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Avalon Twitter Party, Gift Card Giveaway

The lovely Nova over at Out of Time is hosting a twitter party to celebrate Avalon. I’ll be answering questions and there’ll be giveaways. To get you excited about it I’m giving away a $15 gift card to an eBook retailer of your choice Hope you can make it. Details below.

For those who need them, BOOK DETAILS!:

Title: AvalonAuthor: Mindee Arnett

Pub Date: January 21st, 2014

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Page Count: 432

A ragtag group of teenage mercenaries who crew the spaceship Avalon
stumble upon a conspiracy that could threaten the entire galaxy in this
fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi adventure from author Mindee Arnett.

Of
the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie
thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free.
The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime
bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and
ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing:
metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster
than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage
mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech,
and they’re damn good at it. Jeth doesn’t care about the politics or the
law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his
parents’ ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself
and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds
himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the
government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself
how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s wanted for so long.

Avalon
is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi
readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for
fans of Joss Whedon’s cult hit show Firefly.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bk3y15m_2F0/USa4EKL4FhI/AAAAAAAAArM/w27XyIWLrHM/s1600/goodreads-badge-add-plus.png

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo

So now that you know what the book is about, here are the details to the twitter party. Hope you can make it!

Here are the rules/tips/details for the party! Some are more important than others.

1. WHO: This party will be hosted by me (@NovaBlogder). So you might just want to be following us. Hehe, just a tip. (If you want to unfollow at the end of the party, knock yourself out. I’m not offended in the least.)

2. WHERE: Twitter.

If you don’t have a twitter account, it is very easy to make one, trust me! And there are a lot of benefits! You can make a lot of friends and meet a lot of fellow bloggers/authors and book lovers.
3. WHEN: January 22nd, at 7-8 PM ET. 6-7 PM CST, 5-6 PM MST, 4-5 PM PST. This will be a party for one hour.

4. WHAT: A twitter party is an hour-long chat with Mindee Arnett. She’ll answer your questions, talk about Avalon and you can talk to other people who have read/have not read Avalon! It’s all to spread the love of books and this one in particular.

5. PRIZES: We’ve got prizes for both INT and US readers! Prizes will be going each 15 minutes. Check for my tweets because I will be hosting the giveaway. Two giveaways will be RT ones and the other two will be questions/challenges! The winners will be selected randomly.

6. HOW: I recommend using a hashtag following site. I use www.tweetchat.com because www.twubs.com has somehow been glitching on me. (Maybe for you, it might be the opposite.)

Just enter the hashtag #Avalon and then log into your twitter account to tweet. Also, if you want a reply, make sure you use the hashtag (using a site will auto put the hashtag for you). There is no guarantee I/Mindee will check our Mentions.

As a pre-party giveaway to get you PUMPED about the party, Mindee has also donated a $15 AMAZON or B&N GC!!!

Giveaway 

 

 

 

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New Years Resolution and Writerly Advice

It’s New Years and I’m glad. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more glad to see a year come to an end. 2013 was both fair and foul, full of the highest or highs and the lowest of lows. I’m not sorry to see it go. Then again, part of my excitement for 2014 has no doubt something to do with Avalon coming out in three weeks with The Nightmare Dilemma following shortly after. Two books in one year–within 6 weeks of each other if you want to get specific–is pretty gosh darn amazing. It’s also humbling.

Which leads me to the point of this post. It just so happens that I only have two New Years Resolution. These resolutions are also the same two pieces of advice I would offer to all the other writers out there, both those debuting in the next year and those still in the querying trenches. And here they are:

1. Stay humble

2. Write deeply

The humble bit might surprise you, but after going through my debut year I can say with full authority that staying humble is the only way to stay sane through the up and down that is publishing. In this business it’s easy to get discouraged. Writer depression is a very real, very serious thing. Humility is the best remedy. I’m grateful I get to do this. Grateful for every reader, every review, for an awesome agent and editors. My goal has been and will continue to be to treat every good thing as the best thing. Don’t read reviews (for the record, I never read them and I have no regrets). Love your readers. Every email from every reader, every tweet, every interaction is a miracle.Treasure them all. Stay humble and be content with every little thing.

The write deeply advice and goal is just what it sounds like. It’s the inverse of Stephen King’s “Don’t come to the page lightly” advice, which I’ve written about at length in other posts. For me, this means that every time I come to the page I want to come to it fully, lying aside all distractions, all fears, all doubts and hopes. Letting the writing be the center and focus when you’re doing it. Let it be king. Then when the time to write is over, set it aside and be humble, focused on the little things.

Anyway, there you have it. Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this debut year, everyone who’s taken the time to drop a kind word or offer encouragement. You are the best.

Happy New Years!

 

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