Girl on the Brink
by Christina Hoag
Genre: YA Romance/Thriller
Release date: August 30th 2016
Fire and Ice YA/Melange Books
Summary:
Sometimes the one you love isn’t the one you’re meant to be with.
The summer before senior year, Chloe starts an internship as a reporter at a local newspaper. While on assignment, she meets Kieran, a quirky aspiring actor. Chloe becomes smitten with Kieran’s charisma and his ability to soothe her soul, torn over her parents’ impending divorce. But as their bond deepens, Kieran becomes smothering and flies into terrifying rages. He confides in Chloe that he suffered a traumatic childhood, and Chloe is moved to help him. If only he could be healed, she thinks, their relationship would be perfect. But her efforts backfire, and Kieran turns violent. Chloe breaks up with him, but Kieran pursues her relentlessly to make up. Chloe must make the heartrending choice between saving herself or saving Kieran, until Kieran’s mission of remorse turns into a quest for revenge.
Genre: YA Romance/Thriller
Release date: August 30th 2016
Fire and Ice YA/Melange Books
Summary:
Sometimes the one you love isn’t the one you’re meant to be with.
The summer before senior year, Chloe starts an internship as a reporter at a local newspaper. While on assignment, she meets Kieran, a quirky aspiring actor. Chloe becomes smitten with Kieran’s charisma and his ability to soothe her soul, torn over her parents’ impending divorce. But as their bond deepens, Kieran becomes smothering and flies into terrifying rages. He confides in Chloe that he suffered a traumatic childhood, and Chloe is moved to help him. If only he could be healed, she thinks, their relationship would be perfect. But her efforts backfire, and Kieran turns violent. Chloe breaks up with him, but Kieran pursues her relentlessly to make up. Chloe must make the heartrending choice between saving herself or saving Kieran, until Kieran’s mission of remorse turns into a quest for revenge.
Buy
Links:
Writing Tips
By Christina Hoag
Here are several writing tips I’ve discovered through many
years of writing. You may find them helpful. They’re in no particular order.
1. I
don’t write myself out every day. I leave something – the very next scene,
usually - so when I come back the next day I know what to do. I just pick up
and keep going. If you write yourself out, then you end up wasting a lot of
time wondering what comes next and trying to get back into the rhythm of the
story.
2. If
someone says something in your piece doesn’t work, it’s only one person’s
opinion. But if two people make the same observation, you need to pay attention
to what they’re saying. More often than not, it’s something that needs fixing.
3. Develop a thick skin. It takes courage to write and show
your work to the world for judgment, but remember that not everyone is going to
like your work, and that’s okay. You have to learn to let criticism roll off
you. The nastiest rejection I ever got was from the editor of a literary
journal who scornfully said of my experimental fiction submission, “Why would
anyone even read this?” I kept submitting it and got the piece and another like
it published in other journals.
4. If there’s someone in your life who does not support you
creatively, either get rid of them out or distance yourself from them as much
as possible. Be ruthless because your art is worth it. I’ve broken up with
boyfriends because they were not supportive or had no interest in my writing.
In my mind, you can’t be with a writer if you’re not interested in what they
write because their writing is part of their self-expression.
5.
Don’t give up! It can be hard to keep going amid the onslaught of rejection
–agents, editors, reviewers. If you get a particularly bad rejection or
setback, allow yourself to wallow in self-pity for a set period of time, say
three days. When that’s over, get back to your PC.
6.
When critiquing other people’s work, remember to be constructive and how it
feels to be on the receiving end. Always state some positive points first then
say ‘I thought you could improve this by…”
7.
Have a general sense of where your story is going and how it will end. I’ve tried
“pantsing,” ie. writing by the seat of my pants, and ended up lost in the plot
labyrinth and wasting a lot of time. So now I have a loose outline and I
periodically map out the next couple scenes as I go, that keeps me on track and
thinking ahead. It makes the process much smoother.
8.
Read a wide range of genres and authors. Read poetry to develop lyricism and an
ear for language. Read plays to develop dialogue. Read mysteries/thriller
classics to improve plot development. Read literary works to enhance character
development.
9. When confronting the dreaded writer’s block, do something
else for a while, don’t fret and don’t force. I’ve found that getting up and
going to the kitchen clears my head enough for the next step to pop in it. You
can also use the time to do something else writing-related: work on your
website, submissions, an essay, or on another section of your book. The secret
is changing your focus so you can clear your blocked channel.
10.
This may be the most important tip of all: Believe in yourself. Believe that
you have something worthwhile to say. Believe in your talent. Believe that you
will succeed and that the rocky road is part of any artist’s journey.
About the Author
Christina Hoag is the author of Girl on the Brink, a romantic thriller for young adults (Fire and Ice YA/Melange Books, August 2016) and Skin of Tattoos, a literary thriller set in L.A.’s gang underworld (Martin Brown Publishing, September 2016). She is a former reporter for the Associated Press and Miami Herald and worked as a correspondent in Latin America writing for major media outlets including Time, Business Week, Financial Times, the Houston Chronicle and The New York Times. She is the co-author of Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence, a groundbreaking book on gang intervention (Turner Publishing, 2014). She resides in Los Angeles. For more information, see www.christinahoag.com.
Advance
Praise:
“An
engrossing tale of a dangerous teen romance.” -- Kirkus Reviews
“Girl
on the Brink is a must have for every high school and public library.”
– Isabelle Kane, Wisconsin high school librarian
ABOUT
TEEN DATING VIOLENCE
Abusive
relationships are widespread, cutting across socioeconomic, racial and ethnic,
religious and gender preference lines. One in three high school girls experience dating violence, while more than half of college-aged women
reported experiencing controlling behavior in a relationship. Eighty-nine
percent of female college students said they were unable to recognize the signs
of an abusive relationship, and a third of teens involved in intimate partner
violence ever told anyone about it.
About the AuthorChristina Hoag is the author of Girl on the Brink, a romantic thriller for young adults (Fire and Ice YA/Melange Books, August 2016) and Skin of Tattoos, a literary thriller set in L.A.’s gang underworld (Martin Brown Publishing, September 2016). She is a former reporter for the Associated Press and Miami Herald and worked as a correspondent in Latin America writing for major media outlets including Time, Business Week, Financial Times, the Houston Chronicle and The New York Times. She is the co-author of Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence, a groundbreaking book on gang intervention (Turner Publishing, 2014). She resides in Los Angeles. For more information, see www.christinahoag.com.
Author
Links:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting me on your blog today! Much appreciated!
ReplyDelete