My sample for Peacemaker is now complete and I’ve sent it to my agent. From there it will go to my publisher and (hopefully) I might hear something back before Christmas. I’m excited by what I’ve written, and feel the world and characters firmly in place. There is not a lot more I can do for the moment, other than hope.

So, the Writing the Novel series will take a slight detour, while I talk about the process of beginning my new YA novel, Grave Light (was called Ruzalia) . Although it is the second in the series (bk 1 Burn Bright), the characters have shifted location, so I’ve been spending the morning hunting out visual stimulation, in between writing scenes. Like many people, I have a fascination with abandoned buildings. Not their creepiness, but more the sense of the past that inhabits them. What went on between their walls? What jealousies, passions and betrayals? I get the same quizzical thrill from buying second hand books – though to a lesser extent.

I’ve chosen a couple of buildings on which to model the new setting (the home of Ruzalia the pirate). I thought you might like to see them. These were taken from the weburbanist.com

Using images as stimulation works well for me and I did this extensively with the Sentients of Orion series.

Having two chosen exteriors, I’ll probably end up with a mashup of them.

What do you use to get you going on a novel?

Thanks to everyone who tweeted and FB’d my new YA cover, especially Kate Elliot,  Gregory Frost and Diana Pharaoh Francis from SF Novelists. I’m really excited about this book coming out and March can’t come quickly enough.

And just in case you’ve forgotten, Conquest is on this weekend in Brisbane with a great line up of guests.

As you know my teen novel (released March 2011) has its own website, but I couldn’t resist cross-posting this gorgeous cover.

Book cover copyright © Random House Australia. Cover design by Astred Hicks. Cover image by Jarosław Kubicki.

Awards

davitt-award  aurealis-award   logo-curtin-university

Peacemaker - Aurealis Award
Best Science Fiction Novel 2014

Curtin University Distinguished Alumni Award 2014

Transformation Space - Aurealis Award
 Best Science Fiction Novel 2010

Sharp Shooter - Davitt Award
Best Crime Novel 2009 (Sisters in Crime Australia) 

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