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Monsters, Myths, and Mayhem

Posted on October 8, 2014October 7, 2014 by Loni Townsend

It’s time for an update post! Woohoo!

On Monday, C. Lee McKenzie wrote blog post about log lines. I’d already planned this post with the log lines I have, but now I think I need to revise. What do you think?

Monsters

By saving his wife, he condemned his world.

Isto, Thanmir War‘s sequel, has been simmering for a while. The major rewrite I did in Thanmir War made it difficult to work out all of the finer details in the subsequent books. This has killed my writing productivity. I’ve scrapped well over 20K, and I’ve had to re-brainstorm all of the events. It’s currently sitting at 124K, and I wouldn’t even vaguely call it half done. Don’t worry, I’m a very verbose first draft writer when it comes to what I affectionately call the big books. Thanmir War was 203K before I cut it down to 171K.

Isto is my current writing passion and where I spend most of my writing time.

Myths

A lamp changes the lives of everyone it encounters.

The Seven’s first anthology is in the works! The contract is signed, my piece has been edited to approval, and everything is coming together.

The anthology is named The Ancient and revolves around the myth of Aladdin’s Lamp. We don’t have a cover yet, but I’m assured it’s coming.

Mayhem

A super-charged elemental must find a cure before her guardian turns into a zombie.

This World Bites has undergone its last major revision. I think. I fixed the awkwardly moving body parts (his eyes flicked to my throat), added and removed an intro, cut informational tidbits that created more questions than answered, and completely changed a secondary character’s backstory (though that doesn’t come up in this story). Now I need help with the blurb.

Cera has just landed on a new world and Michael, her guardian, has been bitten by a zombie and will soon join the undead ranks.

Everyone tells her there’s no cure, but Cera isn’t one to be deterred. She’s willing to face off with zombie hordes, demon slavers, and black market informants if it means she’ll find a cure for Michael. But it turns out, she’s not the only one hunting for something. Something is hunting her.

Do you have any feedback on the blurb? Suggestions?

Oh, and I’m going to take a shot at planning my own tour. Right now I’m thinking December (depends on how long it’ll take the editor). I’ve got Crystal’s blog post and Southpaw’s blog post handy as a reference. Do you think I should go for three weeks? Or is that too long? Is December a bad month for a tour because of the holidays?

24 thoughts on “Monsters, Myths, and Mayhem”

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh says:
    October 8, 2014 at 6:15 AM

    I like the blurb. Short and to the point. The logline for the second one is excellent!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:36 AM

      Woot! Thanks. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Christine Rains says:
    October 8, 2014 at 6:34 AM

    Fantastic loglines! The blurb is excellent too. I always have trouble writing them myself.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:39 AM

      Thanks! Blurbs seem to be the thing many struggle with the most.

      Reply
  3. Melissa Maygrove says:
    October 8, 2014 at 7:09 AM

    My favorite log line is the first one. 🙂

    Re: the blurb, my only crit is that the first line is long. See of you can break it up. And consider swapping ‘But it turns out’ for ‘Problem is’… or even just ‘But she’s not the only one…’

    Get writing, girl. I can’t wait! 😀

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:50 AM

      Thanks for the tips! I’ll probably change it to the last one. And I’ll work on breaking up that first line to give it more of a punch.

      *phew* on the first log line. I wasn’t sure about that, since it doesn’t start with “A guy who…”

      Reply
  4. Liz Blocker (@lizblocker) says:
    October 8, 2014 at 7:21 AM

    I’m with Melissa – the first log line is fantastic. It’s my favorite, too.

    You have so much good stuff going on!!! Congratulations! So glad to hear that This World Bites is coming together 🙂 I would try injecting some of the humor that’s so central to the story into the blurb. Some of Cera’s trademark flippancy would work well. You know, like “Cera’s been on a new world for all of five minutes when Michael, her guardian, gets himself bitten by a zombie.”

    You can write it MUCH better, but you get the idea!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:52 AM

      Writing Cera’s POV in third person makes the humor hard for me, but I will definitely give it a try. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Cherie Reich says:
    October 8, 2014 at 8:50 AM

    All three books sound great! Love those taglines! Good luck with everything!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:53 AM

      Thanks!

      Reply
  6. Sherry Ellis says:
    October 8, 2014 at 9:07 AM

    I like your blurb for mayhem! It definitely makes me want to know what’s doing the hunting.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:55 AM

      Woot woot!

      Reply
  7. Crystal Collier says:
    October 8, 2014 at 10:26 AM

    Love the blurb!

    So December… I noticed a trend last winter. About half the bloggers took December off. There were definitely some promotions, but I think a great time for a book tour would be in the off months, but when everyone is actively blogging. (January-Feb) Or you can always hit the hot season: March-May, Oct-Nov.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:56 AM

      Thanks for the info! I’ll bump it out to January-February then.

      Reply
  8. Pat Hatt says:
    October 8, 2014 at 10:40 AM

    I think early december is fine, but the closer one gets to christmas the less people seem to be around in blogland. Fine blurb indeed

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      October 8, 2014 at 11:58 AM

      Thank you!

      Yeah, if I go too early, I wind up with Thanksgiving rush in the states, and if it’s too late, then it’s Christmas. That gives a very narrow time frame. I think I’ll wait until next year!

      Reply
  9. Arlee Bird says:
    October 8, 2014 at 1:40 PM

    The lines and the blurb sound pretty good to me–they’re intriguing. The story of This World Bites kind of reminds me of a zombie twist on the great film noir of 1950 D.O.A..

    You’ve got some cool things happening.

    Lee
    A Faraway View

    Reply
  10. Mary Pax says:
    October 8, 2014 at 2:59 PM

    Intriguing books. I’ll be glad to help you out with a tour when you decide… My last post will be December 17th and I only post on Wednesdays.

    Reply
  11. Jeri says:
    October 8, 2014 at 4:12 PM

    Love the log-lines and the blurb is pretty tight as well. I agree with the other couple of bits of advice, but would also look into not repeating the word something twice in a row at the very end. Good luck with your tour.

    Reply
  12. Stephanie Faris says:
    October 8, 2014 at 5:42 PM

    I’m still trying to get my head around what loglines are, but if it’s the blurb below the title, I think yours are spectacular.

    Reply
  13. L.G. Smith says:
    October 8, 2014 at 6:32 PM

    Ugh. I’ve been dealing with log lines, query letters, and synopses for months now. So. Hard. But you’ve done well here. And I feel you on those revisions. I just finished revising book one, and now it’s on to revising book two to make the two novels consistent. Should be interesting.

    And best of luck with all of these!

    Reply
  14. Beth says:
    October 9, 2014 at 9:50 AM

    these blurbs are wonderful. The first is my fav but I adore the voice in all three. And I agree, Dec is going to be like crickets chirping. I’d wait for like mid-jan!

    Reply
  15. Carol Kilgore says:
    October 9, 2014 at 5:07 PM

    I like the one about the lamp. Log lines are hard. Good job!

    Reply
  16. Elsie Amata says:
    October 10, 2014 at 7:19 AM

    I love all of your log lines. I’ve got to start thinking of one of my own pretty soon. You make it look too easy!

    Elsie

    Reply

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Welcome to my blog. I post here on Wednesdays most of the time, but you can find me on social media any day of the week. My topics include my stories and writing, life at the Town's End, creating and tinkering with graphics, things I learn and think might be helpful to others, and the occasional amateur photo. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you around.

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