Thank you to those who have been helping me with the back cover for my latest book. I think I have it, although it still needs some fine tuning. This is what I am going to use as my summary on Amazon, Smashwords, etc. Plus, it will be on the back of the print copies.
At sixteen, Bay-Lee is not your typical girl. The last thing she wants is to be popular, but it isn't easy to fly below the radar when you are the tallest girl in your grade. She works hard to keep a steady C point average, never raises her hand in class, and avoids extra-curricular activity of any kind. The other students would be stunned to learn she's living under an alias as she and her uncle move from town to town, barely keeping a step ahead of the monsters trying to kill her because she's Van Helsing's daughter.
Life is weird. Then it gets worse. A reaper uses her closet to cross over with a dire warning before she's whisked away to a new school. This is the school she was meant to attend, a school that trains hunters to fight the monsters. This is what she's been waiting for her whole life, only it's not even close to what she imagined. The other students hate her, something evil is killing hunters, and her mentor refuses to give her the slightest help. Determined to make her father proud, she focuses on her training. Nothing is going to distract her. Not border montsters or wraiths or a boy with jungle green eyes.
For Bay-Lee love is not an option. But try telling that to her heart.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Problems with the Back Cover
I know I am not alone when I say writing the summary of a book for the back cover is just about the hardest thing you can do. I've heard experienced editors complain about it. Now as many of you know, I am preparing Bait: An Order of the Spirit Realm Novel for publication on June 1rst. It is going through a final edit as we speak, so I am working on the back cover. The problem is this story is so full and complicated, I have no idea what to say about it. I want to draw the reader in without spoiling any of the plot twists.
Here is one example: This is one thing I could start with.
When a reaper steps out of Bay-Lee's closet to issue a warning--It kills on your birthday--she realizes her life is about to change and not for the better.
Another example: Or I could start with this.
At Sixteen, Bay-Lee doesn't raise her hand in class, and she purposely puts down the wrong answers on tests, just enough to keep to a steady C average. Most kids don't notice her. They would be surprised to learn she's living under an alias, relocating at her uncle's whim, and hiding from monsters because she's Van Helsing's daughter. For years she's dreamed of joining him at his school for hunters. The only thing on her mind is revenge. Then she meets Nick Gallos, an angry boy with a dark past and a bleak future. Falling in love is not an option, but try telling that to her heart.
Another example: Or we can start out this way.
If you don't believe monsters in the closet are real, ask Bay-Lee about her late night visitor.
What do YOU think?
How should I start?
What grabs your attention, and what leaves you cold?
Here is one example: This is one thing I could start with.
When a reaper steps out of Bay-Lee's closet to issue a warning--It kills on your birthday--she realizes her life is about to change and not for the better.
Another example: Or I could start with this.
At Sixteen, Bay-Lee doesn't raise her hand in class, and she purposely puts down the wrong answers on tests, just enough to keep to a steady C average. Most kids don't notice her. They would be surprised to learn she's living under an alias, relocating at her uncle's whim, and hiding from monsters because she's Van Helsing's daughter. For years she's dreamed of joining him at his school for hunters. The only thing on her mind is revenge. Then she meets Nick Gallos, an angry boy with a dark past and a bleak future. Falling in love is not an option, but try telling that to her heart.
Another example: Or we can start out this way.
If you don't believe monsters in the closet are real, ask Bay-Lee about her late night visitor.
What do YOU think?
How should I start?
What grabs your attention, and what leaves you cold?
Friday, March 22, 2013
YA Indie Carnival: Goodreads
This week at the Carnival we will be discussing Goodreads, what we like and don't like about it. If you have been reading this blog from its conception, then you know I love Goodreads. It is my favorite site (outside of this blog) of course. :)
What do I love about Goodreads?
1. Author Pages: People can peruse your author's page to find out more about you and your books. They can even sign up to be a Fan of your work. Or they can add you as a Friend. You can connect your blog to your author's page so people can read your posts without tracking your blog down. That's pretty cool.
2. Giveaways: This is an awesome place to give away a book or two. At the moment Goodreads will not do giveaways for ebooks, but I have given up some print copies. I think the cost of postage is worth it.
3. Recommendations: You can recommend books to your friends and to people you don't know (just not your book), but maybe someone else will recommend your book. I've had this happen a few times, someone loves my book so much that they go out of their way to tell others about it. Now that's an awesome feeling.
4. Groups: Join groups and get to know people. I can't even tell you how many times people I've met in a group have turned around and bought my books because they knew me and were curious about them.
Basically I love this site. Check out the other Carnies and see what they have to say about Goodreads.
What do I love about Goodreads?
1. Author Pages: People can peruse your author's page to find out more about you and your books. They can even sign up to be a Fan of your work. Or they can add you as a Friend. You can connect your blog to your author's page so people can read your posts without tracking your blog down. That's pretty cool.
2. Giveaways: This is an awesome place to give away a book or two. At the moment Goodreads will not do giveaways for ebooks, but I have given up some print copies. I think the cost of postage is worth it.
3. Recommendations: You can recommend books to your friends and to people you don't know (just not your book), but maybe someone else will recommend your book. I've had this happen a few times, someone loves my book so much that they go out of their way to tell others about it. Now that's an awesome feeling.
4. Groups: Join groups and get to know people. I can't even tell you how many times people I've met in a group have turned around and bought my books because they knew me and were curious about them.
Basically I love this site. Check out the other Carnies and see what they have to say about Goodreads.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The Horror Known as Revision
Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic here. There are worse things in life than revising a manuscript. It's just, I can't think of any right now. My deadline (release date for Bait) is drawing closer, and I am still rewriting. Every day I think of something else I need to change. A friend of mine commented that she is one of those who notices the tiny mistakes writers make, the little things they forget in their books. I will use Bait for an example. The main guy in my book has coffee in one of the early chapters and adds three sugars to it. This wasn't something I gave much thought to because it was used to break up dialogue and to give him something to do with his hands. Then several chapters later a friend he hasn't seen in a while comes into town for a talk. He offers Nick a cup of coffee and innocently says, "You still take it with cream and no sugar, right?" Ooops.
Most readers have no idea how many thousands of minute details go into a book. I was thinking about it the other day, all the little decisions a writer has to make for each character, setting, conversation, etc. If you think too hard on it, your head might explode. I tried to make a list of details from this first book so I can remember them all for later books in the series. Yeah, right. The task was overwhelming, and I didn't get very far before I quit.
At least I have awesome beta readers who point out things that I miss.
The revision process:
(Keep in mind this is how I handle it, and other writers may have a different way of doing it.)
1. TAKE A BREAK: This is crucial. When you finish writing, take a break before you tackle rewrites. Get away from it and take a deep breath, maybe work on something else.
2. READ YOUR BOOK: Read it as if you bought it and didn't write it. This is a difficult thing to do, and that is why you need to take the break. If you're lucky, you'll forget some of it and be able to better pretend it isn't your book. I like to print it off using both sides of the paper. I put it in a pretty binder and read it without a pen in my hand. It isn't easy to keep from crossing things out or writing in the margins. You need to read it as if you didn't write it so you can get the feel of the reader's experience. What are they going to think about your plot? Your characters? Is it a satisfying read?
3. GET OUT THE RED PEN: You don't have to use red, but I like to because it takes me back to when I was in school and the English teacher went to town on my assignments. Cross out stuff you don't need, make corrections, and fill up those margins with suggestions. Some people like to do this on the computer, but I love a fresh copy and a pen.
4. ADDING/DELETING/CHANGING SCENES: The next thing I like to do is get on my computer and go through each scene. Is it working? Is it doing what I intended? Are there holes in the story? I always add at least a couple of missing scenes at this point and delete at least one. Sometimes I break a scene into more than one, each changing POV or location.
5. DIALOGUE: Now I go through the entire book, reading the dialogue aloud. Do the characters all sound the same? This is something I enjoy doing because I notice things about the way the characters talk that I didn't put in on purpose. When I first start a book, I don't go into it thinking this character is going to use this word all the time. My characters become real people, and some of them favor certain words. It's awesome when your characters evolve. For instance, in Bait there is a girl named Keisha and she constantly says, "Sorry," but she says it ironically. She doesn't mean it, and this fact adds to her competitive, outgoing personality.
6. BACK TO CHANGING SCENES: After I get the dialogue worked out and I'm feeling pretty good about the book, I start seeing problems with some of my scenes. This is usually when I start doing rewrites on the story again.
7. LISTEN TO THE BOOK: I used to read into a tape recorder, but I hate the sound of my duplicated voice. So when I discovered Y-Writer, I was excited. You can copy and paste scenes into this program and it will read it to you. It started off sounding mechanical, but they've fixed that. There are a few glitches still. The guy says some words wrong so you need to take that into consideration, but this program has helped me find errors like extra words that should be deleted.
8. READ IT BACKWARDS: When I get to the final stages of editing, I like to go backwards. I've heard of other writers doing this in a variety of ways from taking it a sentence at a time moving backwards to a chapter at a time. I like to do a paragraph at a time. I read the paragraph and pick over my word choices, work on grammar and punctuation. If you go backwards, you're less likely to miss stuff. When you read it from the beginning, you know the story and your eyes will fool you. The eyes move over words that shouldn't be there as if they aren't. Since you know your story so well, your mind is telling you what you think you said instad of what you actually did say.
Hope this glimpse into my revision process helps you to write better. Share your tips below. Happy writing!
Most readers have no idea how many thousands of minute details go into a book. I was thinking about it the other day, all the little decisions a writer has to make for each character, setting, conversation, etc. If you think too hard on it, your head might explode. I tried to make a list of details from this first book so I can remember them all for later books in the series. Yeah, right. The task was overwhelming, and I didn't get very far before I quit.
At least I have awesome beta readers who point out things that I miss.
The revision process:
(Keep in mind this is how I handle it, and other writers may have a different way of doing it.)
1. TAKE A BREAK: This is crucial. When you finish writing, take a break before you tackle rewrites. Get away from it and take a deep breath, maybe work on something else.
2. READ YOUR BOOK: Read it as if you bought it and didn't write it. This is a difficult thing to do, and that is why you need to take the break. If you're lucky, you'll forget some of it and be able to better pretend it isn't your book. I like to print it off using both sides of the paper. I put it in a pretty binder and read it without a pen in my hand. It isn't easy to keep from crossing things out or writing in the margins. You need to read it as if you didn't write it so you can get the feel of the reader's experience. What are they going to think about your plot? Your characters? Is it a satisfying read?
3. GET OUT THE RED PEN: You don't have to use red, but I like to because it takes me back to when I was in school and the English teacher went to town on my assignments. Cross out stuff you don't need, make corrections, and fill up those margins with suggestions. Some people like to do this on the computer, but I love a fresh copy and a pen.
4. ADDING/DELETING/CHANGING SCENES: The next thing I like to do is get on my computer and go through each scene. Is it working? Is it doing what I intended? Are there holes in the story? I always add at least a couple of missing scenes at this point and delete at least one. Sometimes I break a scene into more than one, each changing POV or location.
5. DIALOGUE: Now I go through the entire book, reading the dialogue aloud. Do the characters all sound the same? This is something I enjoy doing because I notice things about the way the characters talk that I didn't put in on purpose. When I first start a book, I don't go into it thinking this character is going to use this word all the time. My characters become real people, and some of them favor certain words. It's awesome when your characters evolve. For instance, in Bait there is a girl named Keisha and she constantly says, "Sorry," but she says it ironically. She doesn't mean it, and this fact adds to her competitive, outgoing personality.
6. BACK TO CHANGING SCENES: After I get the dialogue worked out and I'm feeling pretty good about the book, I start seeing problems with some of my scenes. This is usually when I start doing rewrites on the story again.
7. LISTEN TO THE BOOK: I used to read into a tape recorder, but I hate the sound of my duplicated voice. So when I discovered Y-Writer, I was excited. You can copy and paste scenes into this program and it will read it to you. It started off sounding mechanical, but they've fixed that. There are a few glitches still. The guy says some words wrong so you need to take that into consideration, but this program has helped me find errors like extra words that should be deleted.
8. READ IT BACKWARDS: When I get to the final stages of editing, I like to go backwards. I've heard of other writers doing this in a variety of ways from taking it a sentence at a time moving backwards to a chapter at a time. I like to do a paragraph at a time. I read the paragraph and pick over my word choices, work on grammar and punctuation. If you go backwards, you're less likely to miss stuff. When you read it from the beginning, you know the story and your eyes will fool you. The eyes move over words that shouldn't be there as if they aren't. Since you know your story so well, your mind is telling you what you think you said instad of what you actually did say.
Hope this glimpse into my revision process helps you to write better. Share your tips below. Happy writing!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
YA Indie Carnival Author Spotlight: Rachel Coles
Rachel Coles - Author of Pazuzu's Girl, Into the Ruins, and Beyond The Veil
Rachel Coles lives in Denver with her family in Denver, Colorado. She works in public health disaster preparedness. She enjoys researching mythology to incorporate into story-telling. Her family and friends share her enthusiasm for fantasy and science fiction, she is the proud mom of one of the youngest Trekkies in the state.
Social Media Sites:
Spotlight Author Questions:
1. What is your all-time favorite book, and why?
I'm not sure I could pick a single one. One of my favorite series is Dan Simmons' Hyperion series: Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion. I loved those books because they were complex, and when I put the last one down, it felt like my brain had changed after reading them. Mind-blowing. The series explored human evolution, not just physical, but religious and cultural, in the kind of time-span covered by Dune. It also explored artificial intelligence, in a different way than anything I'd read before. I also loved reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I always enjoy reading that because Discworld really picks you up and carries you away in the story. And that world is hilarious. Terry Pratchett takes typical tropes like vampires, dwarves, werewolves, etc, and turns everything on its head. He's a really fun read, great for escaping. But I would say that the book whose phrases stayed with me for decades was either Something Wicked This Way Comes, or The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. He was one of the most poetic writers I'd ever seen, and really impressed upon me the power of words.
2. Is there an author you could be compared to or a popular fictional character you could relate to and why?
I have been compared to Neil Gaiman once or twice, because of the mythological content of some of my stories. That absolutely makes me feel honored. He is another one of my favorite authors, and I have to admit that I've emulated him in a lot of ways. As for characters I could relate to, I guess I would have to say Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit. I come from a family of Hobbits, pretty much. We're mostly little people who love to eat and talk, and eat and talk, and eat and talk. I'm mostly not exaggerating. When I went to my aunt's retirement party, we stopped at a deli and got pounds of meat, knishes, whitefish salad, bagels etc, on the way to her place from the airplane. Two hours later, we went to her party at which we didn't stop eating, talking, and dancing for five hours. And when we got home, we cracked open the leftovers and ate again, chatting around the kitchen table. And that was just the beginning of the weekend. Elevensies/luncheon/afternoon tea/dinner/supper, they all ran together. Somehow I'm not 800 pounds. That's why I think we're secretly Hobbits. I am specifically a bit like Bilbo Baggins because I like telling stories, I am a creature of habit, and don't normally go for anything unexpected, but every once in a while, I throw my hands up, give in to my wild side, and get into trouble.
3. Can you give us your favorite quote from your book and explain it?
My favorite quote, spoken by Pazuzu, is "I will do whatever I have to do to protect you, even if I do it poorly in your eyes. You are young and angry and nothing is as simple as you imagine." I like it because Pazuzu's Girl is partly about what it means to be a parent. Whatever his other flaws are, he loves his daughter, and insists on being a dad, even if it means Morpho is mad at him. It reminds me of what I have heard some parents say, 'It's not my job to be your friend, it's my job to be your mom/dad.' I'm sure that I will someday have this conversation with my daughter when she is a teenager, because I had it with my parents at some point.
4. What types of things/people/music inspires you and makes you want to keep on writing?
Everything. I'm a space cadet and cannot stop daydreaming, and every experience I have somehow wends its way into a story. But specifically, I'm a child of the 80's. I mostly listen to 80's music because even though it's corny often, there was an optimism then, and now a nostalgia. It's energetic, bittersweet, and just kind of grabs my emotions. I write best when I'm caught up in some emotion or other. People who inspire me to keep writing are my family and friends. My daughter was the reason I started writing. She loves to hear bedtime stories, particularly scary stories. And when we had burned through all of the remotely age-appropriate scary stories we could find, we started making them up together. I started writing them down, and kept going. My husband who is my best friend is really supportive and beta-reads my stories. The writing group I'm part of, we critique each others material, and have peer-pressure writing nights and get each other to write (pssst, just a few words, you know you want to, all the cool kids are doing it...)
5. Describe your typical writing day or week.
My writing can be kind of scattershot. I have weeks where I'll sit up until midnight after my daughter goes to bed, and write every night. Other times, it'll be only on peer-pressure writing night, when I take my daughter with me to Panera and she plays Minecraft, while we all write, though I often have her write me a story on her iPad too.
6. Is there a typical food/drink you have to have when you write?
Well, I don't know if I have a particular food or drink, whatever I'm in the mood for at the time. Usually iced tea of some kind. I've gotten into the habit of eating a Panera sandwich and soup, and one of their brownies. I love eating their brownies when I'm writing, and am sad when they're all out by the time I get there. Their chocolate chip cookies are nice, gooey, and chewy too. But I can't eat those every time I write, or I'd need a forklift to get me to the restaurant.
7. Can you tell us what you're working on now, possibly an excerpt?
I'm working on a sequel to Pazuzu's Girl. For now the working title is Iron Butterfly. But I will probably change it, because there are really four main characters: Morpho-- the demon Pazuzu's daughter who is also part Sidhe, Ereshkigal--ruler of the Underworld, Ninhab Agresti--Morpho and JD's high school principal and future consort of Ereshkigal, and Marduk--ancient god-king of Babylon now a CEO.
From 'Iron Butterfly'
The tunnel went on in darkness for a ways. Morpho couldn't tell how long. She had the feeling of rough walls on either side and above. The ground felt like loose dirt underneath her sneakers. But light grew ahead, and slowly they emerged out of the tunnel. There was sky overhead, but it wasn't like any sky she'd ever seen. There was a moon like the moon outside in the regular world, except bigger, and brighter. It was clearer, and looked somehow like a bowl of molten silver dripping little pearls into the rest of the sky. The sky around the moon was deep emerald green shading into black velvet, which was littered with rainbow swaths of stars.
Pazuzu's Girl - Morpho Wilson thought her life was difficult enough. Her father is Pazuzu, the Mesopotamian demon of plague and the Southwest wind. As a teenager Morpho struggles against her father, while trying to adjust to high school in a new neighborhood. The family is constantly moving in an attempt to elude Pazuzu’s murderous ex-wife, a demoness known for killing children.
Then something unique happens. A socially-impaired classmate becomes so intrigued by Morpho that he pursues her, despite the mystery surrounding her family and the danger that accompanies it.
But before their romance can grow the demoness tracks Morpho down, and now only needs an ancient artifact called the Tablet of Destiny to complete the destruction of the world. The tablet confers on its owner the ability to control the fate of everything and everyone on earth.
Once the tablet is discovered in the Middle East, the oldest and most powerful gods begin a battle for its possession, with the human population caught in the middle. Morpho, her family, and her new friend must decide, do they escape from the horrifying demoness or fight for their own destiny. How far will Pazuzu go to save his daughter from a hellish fate? Will his banishment from Heaven so many millennia ago end up being a curse...or a blessing?
Then something unique happens. A socially-impaired classmate becomes so intrigued by Morpho that he pursues her, despite the mystery surrounding her family and the danger that accompanies it.
But before their romance can grow the demoness tracks Morpho down, and now only needs an ancient artifact called the Tablet of Destiny to complete the destruction of the world. The tablet confers on its owner the ability to control the fate of everything and everyone on earth.
Once the tablet is discovered in the Middle East, the oldest and most powerful gods begin a battle for its possession, with the human population caught in the middle. Morpho, her family, and her new friend must decide, do they escape from the horrifying demoness or fight for their own destiny. How far will Pazuzu go to save his daughter from a hellish fate? Will his banishment from Heaven so many millennia ago end up being a curse...or a blessing?
Into The Ruins is an urban fantasy anthology featuring life-changing or world-changing events. They feature everything from comic horror, as in Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, horror, as in Mushrooms, historical fantasy, as in Plagues, science fiction, as in Whistles, and finally a fun animal story, as in Beergarden.
In Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Detective Nate Mallon investigated vice, when he was alive. Being a police officer was his life. Even dying didn't dampen his enthusiasm for solving his last case. However, there are others who aren't ready to be dead yet, and they aren't trying to solve cases. They are at the center of them.
In Mushrooms, Kallie and Mark Sangiovi didn't live complicated lives. They enjoyed their humble home in Denver, fresh food, and most of all: each other's company. But one strange summer in 2011, everything changed. What begins with an invasion of ants, and summer colds, brings them to the brink of death, in a few days. And they aren't the only ones. During this time, Denver becomes an eerie city, populated by the sick, whose imperative is to bite the people closest to them. The city grows still as the epidemic progresses, and Kallie and Mark leave the human race behind.
In Plagues, Miryam, humble daughter of Hebrews, doesn't have many aspirations as a slave in the city of Ra'amses. It might not be much, but the stability of her husband, child, and home are enough for her to live her life as it is. Her brother, Moses, raised in the Pharaoh's palace and 'touched by God', has grander aspirations for their entire people. But there are many sides to the growing conflicts. The political situation deteriorates in Mitzrayim with the rising power of Ramses, and the advent of terrible environmental disasters. And Miryam finds that her friendship with her Egyptian neighbor, Acenath, means as much to her as her religion.
In Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Detective Nate Mallon investigated vice, when he was alive. Being a police officer was his life. Even dying didn't dampen his enthusiasm for solving his last case. However, there are others who aren't ready to be dead yet, and they aren't trying to solve cases. They are at the center of them.
In Mushrooms, Kallie and Mark Sangiovi didn't live complicated lives. They enjoyed their humble home in Denver, fresh food, and most of all: each other's company. But one strange summer in 2011, everything changed. What begins with an invasion of ants, and summer colds, brings them to the brink of death, in a few days. And they aren't the only ones. During this time, Denver becomes an eerie city, populated by the sick, whose imperative is to bite the people closest to them. The city grows still as the epidemic progresses, and Kallie and Mark leave the human race behind.
In Plagues, Miryam, humble daughter of Hebrews, doesn't have many aspirations as a slave in the city of Ra'amses. It might not be much, but the stability of her husband, child, and home are enough for her to live her life as it is. Her brother, Moses, raised in the Pharaoh's palace and 'touched by God', has grander aspirations for their entire people. But there are many sides to the growing conflicts. The political situation deteriorates in Mitzrayim with the rising power of Ramses, and the advent of terrible environmental disasters. And Miryam finds that her friendship with her Egyptian neighbor, Acenath, means as much to her as her religion.
Beyond The Veil is an anthology of ghost and spirit stories that encompass everything from vengeance, closure, or justice from beyond the grave, to portals from which sinister things can enter our world. Take a ride through these stories and explore some of the possibilities of existence beyond life.
Bees of St. John:
Shana Latray needs a vacation. Her life as a telecommunications service provider feels like a dead end. St. John of the Virgin Islands seems like paradise, but behind the frozen drinks, and the beaches, is a complicated history of invasion and ancient predators. Shana Latray realizes quickly that nothing, from the warm, friendly locals, to the ever-present bees among the profuse tropical flowers, are at all what they seem.
Kisses:
Terry Cooper always hated Valentine's Day, more so since losing her husband. In fact, she hated it so much, she inadvertently put a curse on it. Now, dreadful things are happening on this romantic holiday, as anyone who is kissed will die. And in the midst of this crisis, is a strange ancient ghost warning Terry that only she can revoke the curse. But she doesn't know how. What she does know is that if she doesn't find a way, for hundreds of people across the city, their Valentine's Day kisses will be their last.
Tribulations of a Jewish Vampire:
Becoming a vampire was not on Leah Horowitz's list of life goals. Contrary to all the romantic and dark hype about the sexy life of vampires in the movies and books, Leah's life, when she was turned after her fatal motorcycle accident was anything but glamorous. With no guidance but her still human wedding-happy cousin, her orthodox Jewish aunt, and skeptical mother, she almost dies as her culture and her needs as a vampire clash.
Full Circle:
Life for Jim Red Eagle and his family is unfair. He is an auto-mechanic in his Lakota community, who runs a simple honest business. When his son is involved in an accident that leaves him paralyzed, and he can't seem to find anyone who can help them, he starts falling apart. As he sits in the hospital chapel, wondering what to do, a mysterious Irishman shows up. As the two men get to know each other, and the man's shocking history are revealed, Jim finds that good deeds in the past can return in forms he never expected.
The Muse:
Do you ever feel like statues can hear you, see you, feel your presence? Eliza Shourd is a sometime sculptor, filling credits with an art class while she works through another degree. But after falling asleep by the Platte River in the middle of the night, and waking up to a disturbing drawing she didn't remember doing, her life, and her art takes a turn for the dark. When people in her life begin disappearing, she returns to the river to find out why.
Bees of St. John:
Shana Latray needs a vacation. Her life as a telecommunications service provider feels like a dead end. St. John of the Virgin Islands seems like paradise, but behind the frozen drinks, and the beaches, is a complicated history of invasion and ancient predators. Shana Latray realizes quickly that nothing, from the warm, friendly locals, to the ever-present bees among the profuse tropical flowers, are at all what they seem.
Kisses:
Terry Cooper always hated Valentine's Day, more so since losing her husband. In fact, she hated it so much, she inadvertently put a curse on it. Now, dreadful things are happening on this romantic holiday, as anyone who is kissed will die. And in the midst of this crisis, is a strange ancient ghost warning Terry that only she can revoke the curse. But she doesn't know how. What she does know is that if she doesn't find a way, for hundreds of people across the city, their Valentine's Day kisses will be their last.
Tribulations of a Jewish Vampire:
Becoming a vampire was not on Leah Horowitz's list of life goals. Contrary to all the romantic and dark hype about the sexy life of vampires in the movies and books, Leah's life, when she was turned after her fatal motorcycle accident was anything but glamorous. With no guidance but her still human wedding-happy cousin, her orthodox Jewish aunt, and skeptical mother, she almost dies as her culture and her needs as a vampire clash.
Full Circle:
Life for Jim Red Eagle and his family is unfair. He is an auto-mechanic in his Lakota community, who runs a simple honest business. When his son is involved in an accident that leaves him paralyzed, and he can't seem to find anyone who can help them, he starts falling apart. As he sits in the hospital chapel, wondering what to do, a mysterious Irishman shows up. As the two men get to know each other, and the man's shocking history are revealed, Jim finds that good deeds in the past can return in forms he never expected.
The Muse:
Do you ever feel like statues can hear you, see you, feel your presence? Eliza Shourd is a sometime sculptor, filling credits with an art class while she works through another degree. But after falling asleep by the Platte River in the middle of the night, and waking up to a disturbing drawing she didn't remember doing, her life, and her art takes a turn for the dark. When people in her life begin disappearing, she returns to the river to find out why.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Poll: Naming a Character
As most of you already know (if you ever read my blog), I am in the process of editing a book titled BAIT. There is one character I am having trouble naming. Although she does not make an appearance until the second book, she is mentioned quite a few times in this one. I've narowed it down to two choices.
Kylee
Avery
I can't tell you a lot about her without giving the whole plot away and a big secret, but she is going to be the daughter of Van Helsing so I wanted an unusual name. Which one do you think I should go with?
Friday, March 8, 2013
YA Indie Carnival: Author Pages
This week, the YA Author Club sponsors will share with you everything you ever wanted to know about the all important author page. We will talk about what's good to include while reminding you what you should probably keep to yourself. Take a few minutes to see what these authors have to say... what kind of tips they can provide to authors just starting out.
What author pages do I have?
1. My Blog: This is my favorite out of all of them because this is where I go to talk about writing, give advice, learn some stuff myself, and talk about books. So if you are reading this, you already know about my blog. Let's move on.
2. Facebook Fan Pages: I have two because I started out (unwisely) putting up a page for Vampires Rule fans. Later I realized I should have just created one for myself as an author, so I made one of those too. I tried to close out the Vampires Rule page and get those people to move to the author page, but they seem to like it where they are. In short, I am using both. Here they are: Author's Page and for some reason the Vampires Rule page won't come up, so I can't give you that link.
3. Goodreads: This is one of my favorite sites. I've made friends here and some fans too. My Goodreads page.
4. Amazon Author Page
There are more, but I'm not going to list them. The thing is, in this computer age you will find as a writer that you have to keep several pages going. You will be asked to write 'something' about yourself again and again. It gets tiring. If you're smart (I didn't do this for a while), you will write something you like and keep it on your computer. Just copy and paste it into whatever provided space they give you. This is the same with your book summarys. You will be asked over and over again throughout your lifetime what your book is about. Make sure you have a good answer and don't stare at them like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uh... well, it's about..."
Check out what the other Carnies have to say on the subject.
What author pages do I have?
1. My Blog: This is my favorite out of all of them because this is where I go to talk about writing, give advice, learn some stuff myself, and talk about books. So if you are reading this, you already know about my blog. Let's move on.
2. Facebook Fan Pages: I have two because I started out (unwisely) putting up a page for Vampires Rule fans. Later I realized I should have just created one for myself as an author, so I made one of those too. I tried to close out the Vampires Rule page and get those people to move to the author page, but they seem to like it where they are. In short, I am using both. Here they are: Author's Page and for some reason the Vampires Rule page won't come up, so I can't give you that link.
3. Goodreads: This is one of my favorite sites. I've made friends here and some fans too. My Goodreads page.
4. Amazon Author Page
There are more, but I'm not going to list them. The thing is, in this computer age you will find as a writer that you have to keep several pages going. You will be asked to write 'something' about yourself again and again. It gets tiring. If you're smart (I didn't do this for a while), you will write something you like and keep it on your computer. Just copy and paste it into whatever provided space they give you. This is the same with your book summarys. You will be asked over and over again throughout your lifetime what your book is about. Make sure you have a good answer and don't stare at them like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uh... well, it's about..."
Check out what the other Carnies have to say on the subject.
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