Trailer Park Tuesday (12): FALLING KINGDOMS

Blood, Sweat and Books hosts the Trailer Tuesday meme and you can check out their awesomeness as well. Since I live in Middle Tennessee, I decided to country-fy my meme and go the trailer park route. *snortle* In my home away from home, I will spotlight some of the awesome book trailers out there in the world.

Okay. I've heard/seen a little bit of buzz about FALLING KINGDOMS by Morgan Rhodes, but not much. This book sounds so amazing I can't wait to read it! It taunts me from my stack-o-books. My reading roots are in high fantasy so I literally squeed when I saw this trailer. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And the cover!!!! How sweet is that cover?

Have you read FALLING KINGDOMS? Please share your thoughts. All I know is this is a must read for me.

Author: Morgan Rhodes

Publication Date: 12/11/12

Goodreads Connection

In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power--brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:

Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.

Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished--and finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past--and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

A work in progress: Fiáin

So I am breaking the rules for NaNoWriMo. I know! Egads woman! Well, too bad. Sometimes you just have to do it. Instead of writing 50,000 words I have opted to edit 50,000 words. This is a HUGE task for me so is certainly a good challenge for the month. Basically I am focusing on trimming my manuscript that I have been working on.

When I originally finished it I submitted it to a group for some developmental evaluation. Being that I do not have a crit group, this was my only other option...paying someone. Now I may not have had to do this, but really, yes I did. See I am not an experienced writer like many folks out there. I have found this side of myself late in life and am just starting out. Many writers I have come in contact with have been writing since they could hold a crayon. Me? Not so much. I started out with the same crayon, but I was known to draw what was in my head, not write it.

When I was small my mother once asked me how I drew what I did. In my best 5 year old wisdom I told her, "You just put a picture in your head and then you put it on paper." My mother, who was not born with any artistic ability thought this fairly profound for a wee child. =^) But that was me. I sketched all the time. When most kids played outside or were part of a cheer squad or something else altogether, I was often lost in my head with my sketch pad. I guess in my own way I told stories with my drawings. Once while talking to a friend on the phone I sketched a girls face with an absolutely bored expression. The "friend" was one of those that only required a well placed 'hmm' or 'uh-huh' to keep talking so the drawing was a rather accurate portrayal of how I felt at the moment. Just don't ever tell my friend that. *giggle*

My family, or rather my father's side of the family, is riddled with artists going back several generations. My grandmother was a phenomenal scenic artist that once had the opportunity to paint for Disney, but eventually turned it down. It was probably her biggest regret. So it is no real surprise that I have the artist bug too. Only my drawing had an abrupt end in high school. Without going into the whole story I will just say if I knew then what I know now I would have told a certain high school art 'teacher' to shove it where the sun don't shine.

But since then I have found pen and paper, or more accurately, laptop and MS Word. *grin* My manuscript, currently titled Fiáin, is word heavy. Like, really word heavy. I need to basically cut the puppy in half to get to a publishable size. Poor DH says, "Why don't you just make it two books?" Well, because not all my words are good ones, dear. I have been cutting scenes that do not need to be there and other bits that really don't go anywhere. My new mantra is 'condense and refine.'

Anyone who is familiar with Inkpop knows they have oodles of writers posting their work for critique and such. I have joined the masses. If interested you can find the first few chapters of Fiáin here. Feel free to take a look and I would love to hear what you think. Keep in mind this is a HUGE work in progress and part of my NaNoWriMo self challenge. If you like it please tell me what you liked (so far). If you didn't like it please tell me what didn't work for you. The mechanics are still shaky for me and I am aware I will need some line editing eventually. =^)