The Devil's Triangle Cover Reveal!!

                                           

It's Here!!!  The cover reveal for my new book. Let me know what you think?

The Devil's Triangle

by Toni De Palma

When 17 year old Cooper dies in an attempt to burn down his school, he finds himself in the afterlife. Lucy, the Devil's sister who has crossed party lines, decides to give Cooper another shot at heaven. The deal? Cooper returns to Earth and has to find a girl named Grace. The rest is up to him.

While Cooper figures out his mission, he's thrown into the life he's always wanted. Great parents, a spot on the Varsity football team and a real future are all within reach. But what he really wants is Grace, a feisty girl with an abusive boyfriend who can pound Cooper into pulp if he doesn't watch out.

While Lucy plays demonic-puppeteer, clues to an unknown past between Cooper and Grace start to unravel. Cooper discovers that what's keeping him and Grace apart is far more sinister than anything this bad boy could have ever imagined.

ISBN for Devil's

978-1-939173-03-4 Devil’s Triangle print

978-1-939173-04-1 Devil’s triangle Ebook Find Toni and The Devil's Triangle here: Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13610688-devil-s-triangle Website:http://tonidepalma.com/published-works.html Twitter:https://twitter.com/ToniDePalma1 Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/#!/toni.depalma

Ship Breaker is a Heart Breaker

     In America's Gulf Coast region, grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts by crews of young people. Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota - and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or by chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life...

    I have to admit that what attracted me to Ship Breaker were the two shiny awards on its cover. Ship Breaker was a National Book Award finalist as well as the Michael L. Printz award for 2011. The last time I read a fantasy novel that was equally lauded, it was Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion, a book that I recommend to everyone who has not read it. Perhaps it was for this reason, the inevitable comparison to Farmer's masterpiece, that I went into Ship Breaker expecting so much more.

    Mind you, Ship Breaker is a well written book. The plot works well and the writing is often poetic, with wonderful imagery and world-building. But, it's the main character, Nailer, who leaves me flat. Yes, he is the victim of an abusive father and he does the right thing in circumstances where doing the right thing is not easy. However, he felt like a character I've met before and he didn't feel special or stand out in anyway.

    Oh, how I hate being critical. I know how hard it is to write and this book is really good on so many levels. Perhaps I am jaded. Perhaps I have read too many books in this genre. Or perhaps, a long time ago, I fell hard for House of the Scorpion, and no other book in this genre could ever live up to what I felt for that book. Such is the life of a reader I guess...

What A Zombie Taught Me About Writing

I like to watch movies. My son, a filmmaker, and I sit on the couch and we like to discuss the shape of the film as it would be written on the page in the form of a script. It helps I think to visualize how I am laying out my own current WIP. We talk about plot and subplot and about a character's emotional arc. But yesterday, while watching a movie called 28 Days Later, which is a pretty good zombie movie I must say, I noticed something about the main character's emotional arc or rather lack thereof.

28 Days Later is about a zombie invasion that centers around London. The opening scene shows a group of survivors hold up in a country house. The first characters we meet are a couple. As the wife cooks one of the last can of beans left in the pantry, she is overcome by emotion. Her husband lovingly kisses her to console her. A few minutes later the house is overrun by zombies and given a chance to save his wife, the husband wusses out and runs for his own life. "Quick, stop the movie!" I yelled to my son, for this was the optimal moment I thought to discuss a character's emotional arc. "You see how the writer set it up in the audience's mind that this was an upstanding guy, but now he's gone and done the unimaginable and abandoned his wife?" I said. "Now for the rest of the movie he's going to have to face his demons and his own cowardice. At some point he's going to have to redeem himself in order to conclude his own emotional journey." I must say I was rather proud that I could identify from a writer's point of view what the screenwriter was doing. But then I was surprised by what happened next. The main character was not the main character. When his wife is found alive (it appears she possesses a special immunity), she gets her own revenge by kissing him, therefore passing on the virus and turning him into a virus. Dang, I thought. I was wrong. But also intrigued. I loved how the writer took me on a completely different path than I expected.

So what's the point I'm trying to make here? Well, I have a few. For one thing, I think movies are a great way to learn about story. Of course the rules of the screen don't always apply to the rules of writing a novel (for instance scripts are often about action and not much description), but sometimes the chances a screenwriter takes to shuffle a story around could inspire you to write in a different way than you ever conceived before.

Also, as I go along in this process, I see that the most exciting work is the work that breaks the steadfast rules I've worked so hard and long to learn. Not to say that it's not important to learn these rules, but great stuff is about thinking outside the box.

So tell me, have you watched any movies lately that have inspired your writing?

Writing Habits

I once heard about a girl who slathered her naked body in vaseline and then wrapped herself up in cellophane wrap before she got in front of her computer to write. While I don't have quite such exotic writing habits as this, I have found a few things that work for me:

I'm a morning person. I always have been. Even during my teen years, sleeping late never went beyond ten. Being a morning person, I have most of my energy both physical and mental in the morning and so this is the time I find best for writing.

I like doing it in the kitchen best. When my husband and I bought our new house 7 years ago, I was so excited about the prospect of having an office. I decorated the space, filling it with books, pictures, bits of sea glass and other stuff to make it feel homey. Well, after six months of trying, I realized I hated that space and moved myself back to the kitchen.

I need quiet. I've heard of writers who work to rock music, symphonies, alternative etc... Not me. The only sound I want to hear is the tapping keyboard.

I need snacks. A cup of tea in the winter, some crackers, hummus is nice too for a jolt of protein. I try not to overdo the snacks though.

A special writing wardrobe. There's nothing better than my polka dot robe to make me feel all snug and ready to write. My robe is looking a bit ratty these days but it feels like an old friend that's come along for the ride.

So what works for you when you write? Do you have any usual writing habits? I mean aside from smothering yourself in Vaseline?

Writing "habit".....   Get it? :)