The end of Book Three is so near my pulse quickens at the thought of it!
This past weekend in NYC was utter shite...as weather goes. If it had been cold enough, the Northeasterner (type of a storm) we got for 2 days in a row, would've been snow and we'd have been burried. Instead it was rain and wind that I refer to as "umbrella killing" wind. In a one square block walk with the dog I came across over 10 dead umbrella's lying on the sidewalk/road in pieces. Why my dog feels these are items to pee on, I have no idea. Is it not bad enough they died and their owners tossed them on the road...but to then be peed on? My dog is just mean.
My thought over the weekend was if I had an umbrella made by the people who made Mary Poppins' umbrella I'd have been fine...but no, my umbrella flipped inside out and right side in over and over and over. My down jacked was soaked and my shoes? Ugh, we won't talk about it.
ANYHOO...my point, and I have one, is that it was PERFECT weather for writing. When I got home from the gym and grocery store I cooked up some lunch, made some hot tea and away I went. I finished Chapter 23 on Saturday and then yesterday wrote Chapter 24. All that is left is Chapter 25 and the Epilogue and it's done. Mind you, Chapter 24 is shorter than the usual chapters by 2 pages...but that's okay. It fits its purpose and is tight.
So...we have only one more short chapter and the epi...and its a wrap. VERY excited to see how this goes today...for I hope to finish today.
To tantalize you with things...here's a section from Chapter 24...it explains the title of the book...Enjoy! -Tamsin :)
---------------------------------------
I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. I heard Alastair get out of the back seat and into the passenger side front. He sat there for another minute. I could feel his eyes on me and was about to ask him to just spit it out when he did.
“How are you holding up?”
“Look at me, how do I look like I’m holding up?” I said sarcastically.
“You look pretty good to me,” he said. “Better than I’d be.”
I let out a light laugh and then said, “Stained glass.”
“What?”
I opened my eyes and stared out the window and said, “Stained glass. It’s beautiful to look at but in reality it’s pieces of broken glass that have been tinted and stuck together with other broken pieces of glass. They make a pretty picture but in reality, they’re broken pieces and they’re fragile.” I turned to look at him. “That’s how I feel. Like I’m just barely being held together by some sort of glue…all my broken pieces attached and at any moment if I don’t concentrate on holding it together that they’ll all come crashing down and that pretty picture will just be broken pieces of glass laying on the floor with no use at all.”
He said nothing but took my hand. I looked back out the window into the dark forest and we waited in silence.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Issues...
Issue #1. It has dawned on me...I have ONE MONTH to really finish Book Three. YIKES! You are now asking me why. Well, because my editor has Book One in her hot little hands and is destroying it as we speak (destroying it in a good way...let's make that clear). Once I get it back from her I will be putting my whole soul into THAT book. Getting it ready to try and get an agent and from there, published. There is a lot of work ahead of me on that; rewrites and so on. That means that I need to finish Book Three before I get Book One back. Why? Two reasons; A. I'll leave Book Three hanging for way too long if I don't finish it before I start work on tidying Book One. B. Cause I'll loose the rhythm I'm on with it and the book's flow could suffer.
Issue #2. Seeing as that the format for Book Two is at about the right length, I need to copy that concept for Book Three...which means...not only do I need to finish because of Issue #1 but because lenght wise I MUST start closing it up. I say that loosly cause in Tamsin Silver fashion, it WILL be a cliff hanger. I know, you hate me, it's okay. :)
Issue #3. Due to ending Book Three earlier than planned...it means ONE thing...There will be 5 books in this first series at minimal...maybe six. Say it with me...Oh my god! Crap! Damn! **Le sigh**. So be it. I'm sure I'll think of something...everything happens for a reason. It's just...I know how the book before the "last" one ends...and there is no way I can jumpt to that from where I am now. Hence...extra book. This probably is a good thing though.
Issue #4. Now that we have a whole new book to come up with an idea for...well, we need to come up with that idea. Shite. And that's all I have to say about that.
The good that comes out of this? I get a tighter Book Three and will get to leave my readers with a shocking, and dare I hint, "explosive" ending to the 3rd book... making them CRAVE the next one.
I'm actually excited to write these last two or three chapters of Book Three to tie it all up. I know exactly all that needs to happen so it's just a situation of where I need to plop it all on paper!
Those are my thoughts of the day...I leave you with a few lines from Book Three...Enjoy...
------------------------------------
“Good to see you too Atlanta,” he said. “The wet look is good for you.”
I jumped off the railing, my drenched clothes splattering water all over. “You’re funny.” I turned to Alastair, “Why’s he here?”
“He’s discovered a problem.”
“Other than himself?”
“Atlanta…”
I sighed. “I know I know…I just sorta thought, you know, he was dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint."
“This is serious Atlanta,” Alastair said.
“How serious? Like Luke's need for power converters serious or Death Star serious?"
Issue #2. Seeing as that the format for Book Two is at about the right length, I need to copy that concept for Book Three...which means...not only do I need to finish because of Issue #1 but because lenght wise I MUST start closing it up. I say that loosly cause in Tamsin Silver fashion, it WILL be a cliff hanger. I know, you hate me, it's okay. :)
Issue #3. Due to ending Book Three earlier than planned...it means ONE thing...There will be 5 books in this first series at minimal...maybe six. Say it with me...Oh my god! Crap! Damn! **Le sigh**. So be it. I'm sure I'll think of something...everything happens for a reason. It's just...I know how the book before the "last" one ends...and there is no way I can jumpt to that from where I am now. Hence...extra book. This probably is a good thing though.
Issue #4. Now that we have a whole new book to come up with an idea for...well, we need to come up with that idea. Shite. And that's all I have to say about that.
The good that comes out of this? I get a tighter Book Three and will get to leave my readers with a shocking, and dare I hint, "explosive" ending to the 3rd book... making them CRAVE the next one.
I'm actually excited to write these last two or three chapters of Book Three to tie it all up. I know exactly all that needs to happen so it's just a situation of where I need to plop it all on paper!
Those are my thoughts of the day...I leave you with a few lines from Book Three...Enjoy...
------------------------------------
“Good to see you too Atlanta,” he said. “The wet look is good for you.”
I jumped off the railing, my drenched clothes splattering water all over. “You’re funny.” I turned to Alastair, “Why’s he here?”
“He’s discovered a problem.”
“Other than himself?”
“Atlanta…”
I sighed. “I know I know…I just sorta thought, you know, he was dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint."
“This is serious Atlanta,” Alastair said.
“How serious? Like Luke's need for power converters serious or Death Star serious?"
Monday, March 8, 2010
Living Dead Girl - Book One - Prologue
I thought maybe...just maybe...a great way to get those who come across my blog interested in me and my series would be to give you a taste of it. Below is the Prologue for Book One of the Living Dead Girl Series. I'd like to thank my Editor, Juilet Grames, for helping me see how this new Prologue rocks out so much better than the one I wrote years ago!
Enjoy! -Tamsin :)
----------------------------
Tamsin Silver
Living Dead Girl – Book One; The Betrayal
© 2009 Tamsin Silver
PROLOGUE
Standing there I could feel the fire burn.
I could smell the flesh of those who had died.
I could see the pain on what was left of their faces.
I looked around and all I could see were flames and death. The air was full of smoke and ash and the screams of those who watched in horror as more died. A part of me wanted to run screaming and yet a part of me was fascinated by the destruction that man can create. I moved closer to the flames, to quiet them, to try to control them. But I couldn’t. It was like I wasn’t really there; like I was a hologram. I looked down at my hands and I could see right through them. I then looked at my body and all I could see was a hollow shell of myself.
As I looked around I was confused. Had I caused this pain? Were these people dead because of me? I looked down on the ground to see a man’s torso crawling across the ground towards me, hate in his eyes. “How could you?” His scorched throat spit at me. “How could you be so selfish?”
Suddenly his burnt hand, more bones than charred flesh, reached out and took a hold of my ankle and pulled. I was strong but for some reason this half man was stronger. He pulled me down, my hands smashing onto the ground that felt soft and wet. I looked at my hands and they were no longer transparent where the blood and ash from the ground had caked onto them. I tried to wipe my hands on my body but the blood wouldn’t come off.
That was when I noticed I’d fallen down near the edge of something. I tried to pull out of his boney grasp but his grip on me was too tight. He began to drag me closer to the edge. I looked at him again and this time he smiled at me and when he did, his face filled in with flesh and his eyes were no longer hate filled. He actually looked at me like he loved me.
“This is for your own good Atty. I’m so sorry. I know it’s not what you wanted…but you have to face the pain…”
“The what?” I asked.
He didn’t seem to hear me and then, I looked down and saw a large dark hole in the ground like a grave and I began to scream.
“Atty! Wake up! Wake up!” A voice yelled, their hands shaking my shoulders.
Suddenly I was no longer looking at a dark hole in the ground, but the face of one of my two best friends.
"Alex?” I heard my weak voice whimper out as I realized I was sitting up in bed.
“There’s my girl,” he said, and pulled me into his arms as I started to cry. “Which one was it this time?” he murmured into my ear softly.
“It wasn’t specific. Just fire, and death and it was awful. I can still smell it,” I said as I buried my face into Alex’s chest.
“Naw, it’s probably just that awful cologne that jackass at the mall sprayed me with this evening.”
I laughed. Alex could always make me laugh, even after one of my episodes. I then really saw him as he sat straddling my legs; something he did to make sure I didn’t thrash or sleep walk during my dreams. He was just wearing his boxers; green with tiny black paw prints on them.
“Nice boxers.”
“Ya like? Kevin got them for me.”
“Who’s Kevin?”
“Exactly. Now, lay back down.”
I guessed that Kevin was one in a long list of pointless boyfriends Alex had had in his life and didn’t ask further. Instead, I did as he asked and laid back down asking, “What time is it?”
“Well…” Alex said as he removed himself from sitting on my legs and plopped next to me, “About three in the morning.”
“Sorry I woke you,” I said, dramatically covering my face with my covers. I always apologized though I wondered often why. It wasn’t like I’d never do it again.
“It’s okay sweetie. I don’t actually have any appointments tomorrow so, I’m all yours. You wanna talk about it?”
I shook my head and though it was under the blankets he could see enough to know my answer.
“You want me to just stay in here with you?”
I nodded my head.
“Okay, but its cold, let me under those covers!”
I laughed as Alex slipped under the covers with me and pulled me close to him.
“It’ll be okay. Just go back to sleep Atty. I’m right here,” he said kissing my head.
Atty is short for Atlanta. Not that my full name is so long it needs a nickname but alas, my friends chose it for me and it stuck.
Not all of my dreams are as disturbing as this one had been but many are. I’ve been having dreams of this nature for what feels like my whole life. Other than my immediate family only two people knew about them and Alex is one of them. Jensine is the other. She has been living in London for the past year so hence why Alex was the only roommate I could have at the moment. Funny, most people don’t want a roommate that wakes them with screaming in the middle of the night. But both he and Jensine said they didn’t mind, though I could tell it freaked Jensine out. Most of the time they’d make me write the dream out so that I could remember it later. I have notebooks upon notebooks with the ramblings of my dreams. They’re not for the light hearted by any shake of the imagination though many are repeat offenders.
I’m what most would call a psychic, though I don’t believe that’s what I am. I actually have no idea what I am but I hate the word psychic. All I do is have dreams that come true so maybe a better term is prophetic? Sometimes I even get flashes while awake, but it’s rare. Usually those only occur when something major happens, changing the course of my life as I know it.
Sometimes I have one when it’s just a big event, though it doesn’t affect me directly. An example of that might be that at the age of seven I began spouting nonsensical things one May morning about someone named Helen and how upset she was. My adoptive parents, who home schooled me for the first few years, thought I was just talking about some kid I met on the playground. Yet, on the news only moments later, they announced that Mount St. Helen erupted. If my parents put two and two together at the time I don’t know. But it was when I started to understand.
From that point on I always trusted my gut, my intuition. The times I’ve not listened have cost me…like on my sixteenth birthday…but now that I was 24 I was used to these, to an extent.
“Did you recognize anyone in the dream? Is anyone we know in danger?” Alex whispered to me.
“No. I didn’t recognize anyone. Besides, they were a bit burnt to really tell.”
“Nothing to do with a plane right?”
Jensine was returning from London the next day, on a plane.
I actually thought there might have been a plane, but I wasn’t 100% clear on it so I answered saying, “No. She’ll be fine Alex. I told you, just jet lag for our girl as per usual.”
He let out a sigh. “That’s good to hear. So, do you wanna tell me the dream?”
I drew in a long breath of air and let it out. I knew I should. I just didn’t want to. So I found a way out of it. “I think I just shouldn’t be watching Terminator before going to bed.”
“Metal skeleton’s dragging you to your death?”
“Close.”
Alex knew I was making excuses but he let me off the hook anyways. “I’ll make note, no more Terminator before bed.”
I snuggled into him. I knew Jensine was safe. It wasn’t her that was in danger in the dream, it was me.
A dream like this could only mean one thing; my life was about to change dramatically. And from how this dream was, I wasn’t so sure it was for the better.
Enjoy! -Tamsin :)
----------------------------
Tamsin Silver
Living Dead Girl – Book One; The Betrayal
© 2009 Tamsin Silver
PROLOGUE
Standing there I could feel the fire burn.
I could smell the flesh of those who had died.
I could see the pain on what was left of their faces.
I looked around and all I could see were flames and death. The air was full of smoke and ash and the screams of those who watched in horror as more died. A part of me wanted to run screaming and yet a part of me was fascinated by the destruction that man can create. I moved closer to the flames, to quiet them, to try to control them. But I couldn’t. It was like I wasn’t really there; like I was a hologram. I looked down at my hands and I could see right through them. I then looked at my body and all I could see was a hollow shell of myself.
As I looked around I was confused. Had I caused this pain? Were these people dead because of me? I looked down on the ground to see a man’s torso crawling across the ground towards me, hate in his eyes. “How could you?” His scorched throat spit at me. “How could you be so selfish?”
Suddenly his burnt hand, more bones than charred flesh, reached out and took a hold of my ankle and pulled. I was strong but for some reason this half man was stronger. He pulled me down, my hands smashing onto the ground that felt soft and wet. I looked at my hands and they were no longer transparent where the blood and ash from the ground had caked onto them. I tried to wipe my hands on my body but the blood wouldn’t come off.
That was when I noticed I’d fallen down near the edge of something. I tried to pull out of his boney grasp but his grip on me was too tight. He began to drag me closer to the edge. I looked at him again and this time he smiled at me and when he did, his face filled in with flesh and his eyes were no longer hate filled. He actually looked at me like he loved me.
“This is for your own good Atty. I’m so sorry. I know it’s not what you wanted…but you have to face the pain…”
“The what?” I asked.
He didn’t seem to hear me and then, I looked down and saw a large dark hole in the ground like a grave and I began to scream.
“Atty! Wake up! Wake up!” A voice yelled, their hands shaking my shoulders.
Suddenly I was no longer looking at a dark hole in the ground, but the face of one of my two best friends.
"Alex?” I heard my weak voice whimper out as I realized I was sitting up in bed.
“There’s my girl,” he said, and pulled me into his arms as I started to cry. “Which one was it this time?” he murmured into my ear softly.
“It wasn’t specific. Just fire, and death and it was awful. I can still smell it,” I said as I buried my face into Alex’s chest.
“Naw, it’s probably just that awful cologne that jackass at the mall sprayed me with this evening.”
I laughed. Alex could always make me laugh, even after one of my episodes. I then really saw him as he sat straddling my legs; something he did to make sure I didn’t thrash or sleep walk during my dreams. He was just wearing his boxers; green with tiny black paw prints on them.
“Nice boxers.”
“Ya like? Kevin got them for me.”
“Who’s Kevin?”
“Exactly. Now, lay back down.”
I guessed that Kevin was one in a long list of pointless boyfriends Alex had had in his life and didn’t ask further. Instead, I did as he asked and laid back down asking, “What time is it?”
“Well…” Alex said as he removed himself from sitting on my legs and plopped next to me, “About three in the morning.”
“Sorry I woke you,” I said, dramatically covering my face with my covers. I always apologized though I wondered often why. It wasn’t like I’d never do it again.
“It’s okay sweetie. I don’t actually have any appointments tomorrow so, I’m all yours. You wanna talk about it?”
I shook my head and though it was under the blankets he could see enough to know my answer.
“You want me to just stay in here with you?”
I nodded my head.
“Okay, but its cold, let me under those covers!”
I laughed as Alex slipped under the covers with me and pulled me close to him.
“It’ll be okay. Just go back to sleep Atty. I’m right here,” he said kissing my head.
Atty is short for Atlanta. Not that my full name is so long it needs a nickname but alas, my friends chose it for me and it stuck.
Not all of my dreams are as disturbing as this one had been but many are. I’ve been having dreams of this nature for what feels like my whole life. Other than my immediate family only two people knew about them and Alex is one of them. Jensine is the other. She has been living in London for the past year so hence why Alex was the only roommate I could have at the moment. Funny, most people don’t want a roommate that wakes them with screaming in the middle of the night. But both he and Jensine said they didn’t mind, though I could tell it freaked Jensine out. Most of the time they’d make me write the dream out so that I could remember it later. I have notebooks upon notebooks with the ramblings of my dreams. They’re not for the light hearted by any shake of the imagination though many are repeat offenders.
I’m what most would call a psychic, though I don’t believe that’s what I am. I actually have no idea what I am but I hate the word psychic. All I do is have dreams that come true so maybe a better term is prophetic? Sometimes I even get flashes while awake, but it’s rare. Usually those only occur when something major happens, changing the course of my life as I know it.
Sometimes I have one when it’s just a big event, though it doesn’t affect me directly. An example of that might be that at the age of seven I began spouting nonsensical things one May morning about someone named Helen and how upset she was. My adoptive parents, who home schooled me for the first few years, thought I was just talking about some kid I met on the playground. Yet, on the news only moments later, they announced that Mount St. Helen erupted. If my parents put two and two together at the time I don’t know. But it was when I started to understand.
From that point on I always trusted my gut, my intuition. The times I’ve not listened have cost me…like on my sixteenth birthday…but now that I was 24 I was used to these, to an extent.
“Did you recognize anyone in the dream? Is anyone we know in danger?” Alex whispered to me.
“No. I didn’t recognize anyone. Besides, they were a bit burnt to really tell.”
“Nothing to do with a plane right?”
Jensine was returning from London the next day, on a plane.
I actually thought there might have been a plane, but I wasn’t 100% clear on it so I answered saying, “No. She’ll be fine Alex. I told you, just jet lag for our girl as per usual.”
He let out a sigh. “That’s good to hear. So, do you wanna tell me the dream?”
I drew in a long breath of air and let it out. I knew I should. I just didn’t want to. So I found a way out of it. “I think I just shouldn’t be watching Terminator before going to bed.”
“Metal skeleton’s dragging you to your death?”
“Close.”
Alex knew I was making excuses but he let me off the hook anyways. “I’ll make note, no more Terminator before bed.”
I snuggled into him. I knew Jensine was safe. It wasn’t her that was in danger in the dream, it was me.
A dream like this could only mean one thing; my life was about to change dramatically. And from how this dream was, I wasn’t so sure it was for the better.
Episode One...Get to know your Blogger!
WELCOME TO MY BLOG! Today's entry is to tell you about...well...me! ;)
As you have already probably read, I am a Fantasy/Science Fiction writer and I've created this blog for my current and future fans (ya like how I'm optimistic like that?) and plan to use this blog to talk about my writing process; sucesses and failures.
Let us go back a "few" years...(okay, its a lot of years but humor me will you?) When I was a little girl my father would read to me before bed. He tended to read things a hair above my age level yet not above my imagination level. He loved the Madeline books when I was very young and then we moved on to E.B. White books (ie: "Charlotte's Web") and then C.S. Lewis (ie: "The Narnia Chronicles"). I must've made that poor man read "Voyages of the Dawn Treador" to me three times! (Needless to say I'm super excited for the next Narnia movie to come out as it is THIS book that's next on the list!) He read to me "A Wrinkle In Time" and "Alpha Centauri"... and before I knew it, I was falling for Fantasy and Science Fiction.
When I started reading for myself it was Nancy Drew all the way! Match that with how my dad loved to sit with me and watch the PBS TV shows "Mystery" and "Masterpiece Theater" and you find where my I love for mystery novels comes from. So it doesn't surprise me that what I write is a mix of the two; stories that hold a mystery to untangle so that the main characters, that are set in a realistic fantasy world, can...well...save the world! :)
One of my readers once asked me, "Do you hate this character? Why do you put him through all this?" I am of the same belief as one of my favorite authors, Cassandra Clare. If I don't torture my characters and my readers in the process, I'm just not doing my job. Look, here's how I see it...a flawed person is an interesting person...both in real life and in stories. A "perfect" person who has experienced nothing difficult in their life or has no quirks that make them who they are...personally bore me. Real people, who've gone through hell and have flaws are interesting and people can relate to them. I feel the this way on both my heros and my villians. Speaking of villians...I am of the same believe as another idol of mine, Joss Whedon. Villians don't see themselves as villians. They feel very justified in what they do. They may be crazy but to them, they are perfectly sane and our hero's are in need of mental help. :) Justification for action is the driving force on that choice...hell, for many if not all of my choices.
So, as many usually ask, I will list some of my current top favorite writers...the people who inspire me to be better. They would be:
Cassandra Clare
J.K. Rowling
Cate Tiernan
Joss Whedon
P.C. & Kristen Cast
John Flanagan
L.J. Smith
Christopher Pike
...and the list could go on and on...but we'll stop there for now...adding more later. :)
So, now that my background is layed out for you I feel I can move forward with what I feel promises to be a fun blog about my experiences as a writer...living in NYC!
As you have already probably read, I am a Fantasy/Science Fiction writer and I've created this blog for my current and future fans (ya like how I'm optimistic like that?) and plan to use this blog to talk about my writing process; sucesses and failures.
Let us go back a "few" years...(okay, its a lot of years but humor me will you?) When I was a little girl my father would read to me before bed. He tended to read things a hair above my age level yet not above my imagination level. He loved the Madeline books when I was very young and then we moved on to E.B. White books (ie: "Charlotte's Web") and then C.S. Lewis (ie: "The Narnia Chronicles"). I must've made that poor man read "Voyages of the Dawn Treador" to me three times! (Needless to say I'm super excited for the next Narnia movie to come out as it is THIS book that's next on the list!) He read to me "A Wrinkle In Time" and "Alpha Centauri"... and before I knew it, I was falling for Fantasy and Science Fiction.
When I started reading for myself it was Nancy Drew all the way! Match that with how my dad loved to sit with me and watch the PBS TV shows "Mystery" and "Masterpiece Theater" and you find where my I love for mystery novels comes from. So it doesn't surprise me that what I write is a mix of the two; stories that hold a mystery to untangle so that the main characters, that are set in a realistic fantasy world, can...well...save the world! :)
One of my readers once asked me, "Do you hate this character? Why do you put him through all this?" I am of the same belief as one of my favorite authors, Cassandra Clare. If I don't torture my characters and my readers in the process, I'm just not doing my job. Look, here's how I see it...a flawed person is an interesting person...both in real life and in stories. A "perfect" person who has experienced nothing difficult in their life or has no quirks that make them who they are...personally bore me. Real people, who've gone through hell and have flaws are interesting and people can relate to them. I feel the this way on both my heros and my villians. Speaking of villians...I am of the same believe as another idol of mine, Joss Whedon. Villians don't see themselves as villians. They feel very justified in what they do. They may be crazy but to them, they are perfectly sane and our hero's are in need of mental help. :) Justification for action is the driving force on that choice...hell, for many if not all of my choices.
So, as many usually ask, I will list some of my current top favorite writers...the people who inspire me to be better. They would be:
Cassandra Clare
J.K. Rowling
Cate Tiernan
Joss Whedon
P.C. & Kristen Cast
John Flanagan
L.J. Smith
Christopher Pike
...and the list could go on and on...but we'll stop there for now...adding more later. :)
So, now that my background is layed out for you I feel I can move forward with what I feel promises to be a fun blog about my experiences as a writer...living in NYC!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
