Guest Post: Leigh Ann Kopans.

Today's post is from Leigh Ann Kopans.

 

Raised on comic books and classic novels, Leigh Ann developed an early love of science fiction and literature.  As an adult, she rediscovered her love for not only reading, but also writing the types of fiction that enchanted her as a teen.  Solving for Ex was born of her love for Jane Austen’s classics, and how they taught her that love stories could be funny and wickedly smart.


Hi Lettie! Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog to celebrate the release of Solving for Ex! I’m so excited to talk about one of my favorite topics – literary reduxes.

I’ve always been a bit obsessed with reduxes – close retellings of classic stories. I think it’s because, in some way, I’ve always known that the greatest stories are, at their core, applicable to humanity no matter what the time period, setting, or genders of their characters. I’ve always also believed that writers get their inspiration from all sorts of places – no story is truly, one hundred percent original. As I learnt with Solving for Ex, which is a fairly close retelling of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, writing a story with just one source of inspiration is actually a little more difficult than writing a novel pieced together completely from scratch. Without going into too much detail, making sure you stay true to the story, in this case two hundred years old, while maintaining a plot arc and character arc that will engage contemporary readers. As you might imagine, I have a pretty high standard for reduxes, and I want to share my favorites with you. I basically swoon any time I think of any of these.

Clueless.

A redux of Jane Austen’s Emma, Clueless does an arguably better job of handling some of the story elements and drawing supporting characters than Austen did – meanwhile, Cher is in some ways more endearing and a deeper character than the original Emma.

Eyre House by Caitlin Greer.

Jane Eyre was the first book I ever loved, so I’ve always scoffed when I hear that someone’s written a retelling. As if (as Cher would say.) So when my friend Cait approached me saying she was thinking of retelling Jane Eyre on a Southern haunted plantation-turned-inn, and by the way, she was probably going to swap the genders of the two main characters, I have to admit I was a  bit skeptical. But Lord in Heaven (as her characters would say,) did she ever do an amazing job. It captures every nuance of the original you would ever want to see, spins the characters into something you wouldn’t have imagined, and adds a truckload of steam. Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Eyre-House-Caitlin-Greer-ebook/dp/B00DTMISIM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Ten Things I Hate About You

This is a really cool redux, because not only does it recast The Taming of the Shrew pretty darn faithfully, it also incorporates a pretty large number of elements from the original play – for example, the characters attend Padua High. Not only that, they are super-smart teens who incorporate actual lines from the original play into their dialogue, and it doesn’t feel awful or contrived at all. This is one of my fave movies of ever.

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund.

Honestly, I always thought that Austen’s Persuasion was one of her blandest titles (I’m sure that was on purpose, Jane, no hard feelings,) but Diana Peterfreund managed to give it a really cool twist as a dystopian futuristic class-conflict based love story. Two thumbs up.

 

Thanks again for having me over, Lettie! You’re such an amazing support and I can’t wait to work with you again!!!

I love the majority of these reduxes! I've never read Eyre House though!
What are your favourite reduxes?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Embrace Blog Tour: Guest Post!

EMBRACE…endless possibilities.  A new adult imprint from Entangled, launching November 11^th!  It is launching with four exciting titles—Ruined, Hushed, Trouble Comes Knocking, and Definitely, Maybe In Love.You can follow them and get more information about future titles @EPEmbrace or their facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmbraceImprint

Today I have Jus Accardio explaining what she finds to be the hardest part of writing Paranormal books!

It's no secret that I love paranormal books. Love reading them, love writing them. Hell, I kind of wanna live in one (preferably one with a hottie like Jax to keep me warm ;) ). But sometimes it's a little frustrating.
We've heard the saying. It's all been done before. (Bah. And now I have that song stuck on my head…) If I had to pick a hardest part of writing paranormal—of writing anything, really—it would be making each story different enough to stand out. Putting a unique spin on an old idea so that it's not stale and overdone. Look at it this way. Mashed potatoes are awesome, but you wouldn't want them every night of the week for a year, right?
So the old ideas need to be switched up. Tweaked and twisted so that they're new again. It could be as simple as giving your main character, for argument's sake we'll say a vampire detective, an odd quirk. Maybe he can't stand the sight of blood. That's certainly going to put a wrench in things since, yanno, he's a vampire. Or maybe your main character, a ghost, is afraid of the dark. Regardless of the tropes your story might have, there's always a way to change it up.

Each character has their own identity, therefore, provides endless ways to change the story. With their own set of quirks, the possibilities for creating something different are infinite. You're limited by only your own imagination. While the basic idea behind most books might not be new, there is always a way to make it fresh. What's the most unique spin you've seen put on an old idea?

About Jus 
JUS ACCARDO spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her path lay with fiction, not food, and passed on the spot to pursue writing. Jus is the bestselling author the popular Denazen series from Entangled publishing and is currently working on the first book in a new adult series due out summer 2013. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald. 
About Ruined

 Hell is looking for a way to break loose…  
Jax lost the genetic lottery. Descended from Cain, the world's first murderer, he's plagued by a curse that demands violence in exchange for his happiness. He left everything behind, including the girl he loved, but thriving on the pain of others is lonely… And it's killing him.

After a series of heartbreaking losses, Samantha put rubber to pavement and headed for college as fast as her clunker could carry her. But she can't outrun her problems. When an attack at school drives her back home, she's thrown into the path of a past—and a guy—she's been trying to forget.

Sam strains Jax's control over his darkness, but running isn't an option this time. Someone—or, something—followed her home from school: a ruthless monster with a twisted plan centuries in the making. Forced together to survive, and fighting an attraction that could destroy them both, Jax and Sam must stop a killer bent on revenge.

Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Sizzling Summer Giveaway

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing the Sizzling Summer Giveaway event featuring 50 authors!  This giveaway event will take place July 22nd to July 27th.  The giveaway is 2 Kindle Fire HD's with e-book prize packs!

Welcome to my post for the Sizzling Summer Giveaway! To celebrate I have Tia Silverthorne Bach and a giveaway today!

There isn’t another way; not now. The others are coming. I can’t let them have you…
Seventeen-year-old Reagan has a problem: She can’t remember what happened the night her brother was taken. Now, the dreams haunting her from the incident are becoming more intense by the day. All the while, the lines between what’s real and what’s a product of her paranormal-obsessed mind are becoming blurred.
Is she losing her mind or has she just stepped into a world she thought only existed in books?
Caught in a web of worried parents, competing boys, Wiccan relatives, protective amulets, and psychiatrist babble, Reagan must determine the truth before it’s too late.

Tia Silverthorne Bach on casting!
When I write a book, I imagine certain actors as my main characters. Not only does it help with descriptions and mannerisms, but it also leaves me prepared in case someone ever wants to make my book into a movie. A girl can dream!
In Chasing Memories, Reagan is devastated when she wakes up and is told her brother is gone. Weeks before, she had visions of prom dancing in her head. Now, her dreams are filled with screams and piercing gold eyes.
Since Reagan is a red-headed teenager with a good amount of spunk, I always imagined Emma Stone (especially in her Easy A role) playing the character. Reagan is at times fragile and at other times pure strength and Emma Stone has an amazing range. Rafe is the new guy who comes to town and immediately piques Reagan’s interests, even though she finds him unsettling. In my mind, he was played by Avan Jogia (soon to be in Twisted on ABC Family). He’s sexy, yet mysterious—just like Rafe.
In every book I write and every book I plan to write, there’s always a role for Hugh Jackman. He is equal parts Wolverine and romantic hero with some Les Miserables thrown in. In Chasing Memories, he would play Reagan’s Papa. It’s a small, but pivotal, role.

Reader's Perspective
As a reader, I can get quite upset when I hear about casting—especially with books I love. Let’s just say Robert Pattinson was originally a tough sale for Edward (although he won me over in the end).
But, at the end of the day, it’s all about breathing life into the characters we care about.
Giveaway!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway












Good Luck!
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Behind the Cover~ Stripped by Brooklyn Skye.

College freshman Quinn Montgomery will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister made—killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modelling at a local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack, just enough to let Torrin, the university’s top varsity oarsman, see that the real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think. But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is connected to Quinn’s family in more ways than she could ever imagine.

I love Stripped, I reviewed it back in May! So today I'm excited to have Brooklyn Skye for a Behind the Cover post!

***STRIPPED Cover Photo Shoot: Behind the Scenes***
Hi! Thanks for having me! Sometimes people don’t realize what goes in to making a book cover, so I wanted to share with you a look into making mine. This is my cover designer:

 
Her name is Lisa of Lisa Poff Photography and this picture doesn’t do her any justice (she’s beautiful!). Anyway, when I originally sat down with her to brainstorm what type of cover I was looking for, I mentioned the owl necklace needed to be featured and possibly the hands. She didn’t say much—to which point I was thinking (crap!) maybe she didn’t quite grasp the concept I was going for. Turns out I worried for nothing because a few days later she sent me these proofs:

 

 

Amazing, right? Once we decided on the proof, she got to work making it absolutely fabulous. Below is the editing timeline of the proof we choose, from raw picture to edited to cover:

I can’t tell you what an amazing experience it has been working with Lisa. And I hope you guys love the cover as much as I do!

Wow! I love this process and Stripped has the most beautiful cover!

 

What do you like best about the cover? I love the owl necklace detail.
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx