Before we get to the guest post, here is a little about the book:
Book Description (Amazon):
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.
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. ************************************************************
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.
