BLOG TOUR! GIVEAWAY! SURRENDER by Elana Johnson

I'm so excited to be part of the official blog tour for Elana Johnson and her brand new companion novel to POSSESSION...

SURRENDER by Elana Johnson (Simon Pulse, June 5, 2012)

And as part of this blog tour, Elana has stopped by with a fantastic guest post.

And if that's not good enough, we have two giveaways going on! One offered up by Elana, and one offered up by me! So make sure to visit the end for the giveaways, but until then, here is Elana!

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The Pantser Pluses

A guest post by Elana Johnson

Okay, so I don’t outline. Well, I do, because my agent makes me, but I hate it. I’d rather write the whole book and then think about it as a whole. So that’s what I usually do for my agent. I write the book and then tell her I’ll send her a sample and an outline. By that time, I don’t have to write the outline from blank pages—I’ve got the majority of the book done.

So today, I thought I’d do a top ten list of why pantsers rule. Here we go!

10. No brain cramps. We don’t have to sit and obsess over every plot point before getting words on paper.

9. We’re environmentally conscious. No extra paper taken to draw up details we’ll just change later. Sometimes we plant trees too! Win/win.

8. We’re excellent revisers. We have to be to fix the mess that is a zero-pantsed-draft. Want to improve your revision skills? Don’t outline!

7. We always win NaNo. No plot? No problem! Just keep tying, just keep typing. This really helps get that NaNo badge by like, November 10.

6. We’re more active on twitter. I mean, we get our word counts in pretty quick, so there’s always time to play around on the Interwebs. And that’s good, right?

5. There are always pleasant surprises just around the corner. Since we don’t know what’s going to happen, we get to smile more with something amazing happens in the story.

4. We get to know our characters slowly, the way real relationships happen. Since we don’t have every detail planned, our characters and their motivations come as we write. It’s almost like making a new friend with every book!

3. There’s no time for writer’s block. We’ve got to get this draft spewed out before we forget things! Writer’s block? Pantsers push on through.

2. The freedom is exhilarating. We’re not tied to anything, and that’s the best feeling in the world.

1. Sometimes pantsers write without any pants at all. I highly recommend it. Ha!

So do you outline or are you a pantser?

This week you can win one of three $15 Barnes & Noble gift cards and become a winner winner, chicken dinner! All you have to do is fill out this rafflecopter widget with what you’ve done. NOTE: One of the options is to blog about a time you didn’t surrender. Go here for full details on this, including how to sign up for your free swag package!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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And for the second giveaway, I am offering up an ARC of SURRENDER and POSSESSION to one lucky winner!

    

It's easy to win! Two things to note...

1) This giveaway is open until 12:01 am on June 23, 2012
2) Contest is US only!

To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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About SURRENDER:

Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi. All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn. Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque….

About Elana:

Elana's work including POSSESSION, REGRET, and SURRENDER is available from Simon & Schuster wherever books are sold. She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query, which can be downloaded for free on her website. She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog. She blogs regularly at The League of Extraordinary Writers, co-organizes WriteOnCon, and is a member of SCBWI, ANWA and LDStorymakers. She wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Blog: http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/possessionthebook

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/elanaJ

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Good luck! And thanks for stopping by! And please check out my other giveaway going on now for four awesome YA books!
CLICK HERE TO ENTER!