Guest Post: The Last Academy by: Anne Applegate

Hey, guys! I'm sooo sorry I've been MIA since my birthday (April 18th)! ): BUT. I'm. Back. Now. *evil laugh* Thanks for stickin' with me! ;)

Before we get to the guest post, here is a little about the book:

 

 

Book Description (Amazon):

Release date: April 30, 2013

What is this prep school preparing them for?

Camden Fisher arrives at boarding school haunted by a falling-out with her best friend back home. But the manicured grounds of Lethe Academy are like nothing Cam has ever known. There are gorgeous, preppy boys wielding tennis rackets, and circles of girls with secrets to spare. Only . . . something is not quite right. One of Cam's new friends mysteriously disappears, but the teachers don't seem too concerned. Cam wakes up to strangers in her room, who then melt into the night. She is suddenly plagued by odd memories, and senses there might be something dark and terrible brewing. But what? The answer will leave Cam--and readers--stunned and breathless, in this thrilling debut novel.

 

 

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GUEST POST:

 

Advice for Aspiring Writers

They say you should write what you know.  My advice is to write about what you know and don’t want to talk about. 

It’s the thing you almost tell your best friend, but bite the tip of your tongue so it doesn’t get out.  Or what you whisper in the dark of night, only to wake up the next morning, cringing at the memory.   

You don’t have to tell the world the actual, true, word-for-word story about the time your first boyfriend caught you sniffing the contents of his gym bag.  But in the story you do tell, you should find a way to make this confession.  Maybe your story is a space opera, and by 2095 gym socks have been outmoded, and there are no odors in space.  But one of your characters should burn with a weird impulsive, the euphoria of forbidden success, and the horror of being caught.  All of which you’ve got scorched in your memory somewhere. 

When I am the reader, I drag through a book, grunting and stumbling over the details of the plot.  It’s work, work, work.  Then, Zing!  If it’s a good read, there is always that piece that jumps off the page, alive and throbbing.  It’s the moment when characters make a choice I didn’t see coming, but it’s perfectly them somehow.  It makes me laugh, or cry, or throw the book across the room.  As readers, we recognize how exquisite those moments are, and wonder at the sacrifice it must have taken to get them on paper.   I think you should try it.

Take it slow.  Start with a secret that makes your armpits as sticky as a gummy bear left in the morning sun.  Hide it in the story you want to tell.  Let us see how twisted you are, and how brave you are willing to be.  This is what readers like me love.  And that’s because we are turning the pages, hoping to find out if your secrets are the same as ours.

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Loved the guest post! And it seems realistic, no? ;) My review will be up soon! Tomorrow you can watch for a review of Chantress by: Amy Butler Greenfield.

Purchase The Last Academy on Amazon here.