Sunday, August 24, 2014

It's Official - The Universe Hates me...


Scarlet died.

Well, maybe she's not dead, but my beloved laptop is non-functional. I left for work on Friday and she was working perfectly normal. I returned nine hours later and she was comatose. By that, I mean the power lights come on but the display is completely black. Unlike last time, no one spilled anything or caused any damage that I am aware of. I spent most of my day yesterday trying every trick I know, plus a bunch I found online, but I have not been able to resuscitate her.

This is very, very bad.

I'm thinking there may be an issue with either the motherboard or the graphics card, but until I can come up with the money to try to get her repaired (and right now I can barely afford to buy groceries and I haven't sold a book all month, so it might be a little while) I can't finish editing the second Crow book.

On the plus side, I do have most of my work backed up - I did learn my lesson from last time! But I don't have the finished first draft of the new book file to work from, only the hard copy I luckily printed out the day before this catastrophe happened. It means, if I can't get the laptop fixed right away, that I will have to re-create the file from scratch which is going to take much much longer than the month I had planned to finish it. I will not be able to publish the book by the end of September as I had wanted. Publishing Crow 2 is indefinitely post-poned :(

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the second book, I apologize profusely! There was no warning signs of Scarlet's impending demise and I couldn't foresee this happening. Trust me, I'm more traumatized by this than you are.

For right now, I've set up one of our old (and I mean old) desktop computers to work from for the time being (the one we've been allowing the kids to watch Netflix on because that is almost all it's good for lol). I have already downloaded Scrivener to the new, errr I mean old, machine and will continue to write, even if it's not on what I wanted to work on.

This all just came up so suddenly, so I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Every time I seem to be getting somewhere with my writing, life and the universe keeps throwing obstacles in my way. It's frustrating and depressing to say the least. But, I'm determined not to let it derail me for long - not like last year where I was in a depressed funk for the next six months. Nope, one way or another I'm going to keep working, I'm just not sure on what yet. When I figure it out, I'll let you know...

Miserably,

Friday, August 22, 2014

Summer of Success Series - Interview with Nicole J. Fearahn


This is the last of my Summer of Success Interviews. Today we're talking to the awesome and talented, Nicole J. Fearahn aka _Ahna_ of Wattpad! I wanted the series to not just show success in terms of having one's work published, but also in finding your audience. Nicole's book, The Fates, has been a runaway hit on Wattpad (I've been reading it myself - it's pretty fricken' wonderful and an entertaining read!)

So, without further ado, here's Nicole!

About Nicole and Her Writing:

How did you get into writing?

I've been writing since before I even could :) That is to say, I had stories spinning in my head since the tender age of four, when I lacked motor skills to scrawl legible letters. And so my mom, the angel that she is, would let me dictate silly tales to her and she would sit down and transcribe them. Those were the early beginnings of my passion for writing, and ever since, it's only grown :)

What genres do you write in?

I mostly enjoy writing fantasy and sci-fi novels. And I often wish "epic" were an actually accepted genre label, because I feel that that would be the common thread in most of what I write - I love stories that take place on a grand scale, spanning broad swaths of space and time and exploring otherworldly themes in exciting and meaningful ways.

How many books have you written?

I finished writing my first full novel, The Will, in 2012 - but in terms of length and plot, the book is actually better seen as divisible into a trilogy. The Will is the only work that I've completed, so I guess the answer to this question is 3 books :)

What life experiences do you feel most influenced your writing?

This is a loaded question, so I suppose I'll answer it specifically with regard to my current project, The Fates. The life experience that most significantly impacted this story is the summer that I spent in Greece, researching and writing for a travel guide. It was an incredibly eye-opening and all-around transformative time in my life. I was 21 years old, which I feel was the perfect age to explore such a beautiful country so rich in millennia's worth of fascinating history and culture. It left a lasting mark on my heart, mind, and soul - as cheesy as that sounds. Of course, since The Fates deals with three deities from Greek mythology - a body of legends that I'd always loved, since childhood - it's easy to see the threads of inspiration drawing from that summer experience to my current story :)

Who or what inspires you?

I have many sources of inspiration, some of which are easier to identify and explain than others. Perhaps my biggest and most constant source of inspiration is my mother, who has nourished and nurtured all my dreams with such incredible devotion all throughout my life. I owe more to her than I could ever even wrap my mind around, and her unending love and faith in me are more inspiring than anything.

Tell me a bit about your book/books:

Here's the blurb for The Fates:
"They walk among us.
All three, living normal mortal lives. Cloe is graduating college; Lacey is getting married; Atria is bar-hopping and breaking hearts. Today, they are human. But they are also the three Fates—the all-powerful directors of human destiny. And they don't even know it.


Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos did not always take mortal form. They dwelt in the Cave, working the Loom, till something happened on Olympus that changed everything one day. Since then, they've roamed the earth and led thousands of lives throughout its history. The Fates may not remember who they are, for now... but their legacy is not to be forgotten. And their story is just begging to be told."

The theme for this summer is success in writing. How do you feel you have gained your success?

I guess 'success' can be defined in many ways, but for me in particular with regard to my writing endeavors over the past few months, I have most definitely found my biggest and most meaningful 'success' in the Wattpad community. I started posting The Fates to the site in March, and after slow beginnings, I eventually formed a great group of online friends who have been faithfully and sincerely supporting each other's stories. This aided in building a bit of a readership, which grew at a much faster rate once The Fates became a 'featured story' on Wattpad: a select group of books that have met Wattpad's content team's quality standards, meriting promotion by the site itself on a special 'featured list' and other avenues on the platform. More so than the sheer numbers of readers who have been flocking to the story recently, the level of engagement from readers is what has meant the most to me. While some are 'silent readers' and I may never even know that they're out there enjoying the story, others are active in voting for chapters to show enjoyment and support, and also leaving comments to share their thoughts and feelings about it. One of the most rewarding things for me is seeing some of my readers engage with the characters in The Fates as if they are real people. Since each character is like my own little baby, it is just amazing to see those beloved fictional creations treated like real human beings, with hearts and souls and lives of their own. Having readers like that on this journey with me is something that I count as a big blessing and success in my writing experience recently :)

Are there any future goals for your book that you have yet to reach?

There are most definitely future goals that I hope to reach with The Fates. Firstly, I hope to get it published - ideally by a publishing house rather than self-publishing, since I don't think I would be very good at marketing my own book. And if and when the series hits it big in book form, my long-term hope and vision is that it could be turned into a TV show as well :)
(My personal opinion, The Fates would make an excellent T.V. show!)

Do you think you’ve found your audience? Or are your still on the hunt?

Given the scope of the goals that I've set for myself with The Fates, I would ultimately like my audience to be a worldwide community of millions of faithful and engaged fans... However, whether or not that ever ends up happening, I am so happy and grateful to have found a faithful and engaged audience of dear readers right there on Wattpad. They are certainly exactly the right quality that I was looking for, if not the quantity that I envision with my large-scale dreams ;)

What do you feel makes your story unique?

I feel that what most sets my story apart as unique is the structural approach that I am taking toward it: I am building the entire story arc around the TV-series model, in terms of the scope and span of the whole series, as well as the episodic intervals in which the plot unfolds from scene to scene. It's really meant to be enjoyed as a TV series in book form - which is especially appropriate for Wattpad, with its platform that facilitates updating in serialized installments. Hopefully, this will also be enjoyable as a printed book - I have had many readers volunteer that they would gladly buy it - and easily adaptable to the screen, if and when that television dream ever gets realized :) Aside from the structure, I do feel that the premise is unique as well. While there are many existing stories that explore figures from Greek myths, my approach with The Fates is to home in on three goddesses in particular and to explore their experiences along three threads: as 'normal' human girls in the modern day, as the directors of destiny in a mythical cave, and as deities in mortal form traveling across 4000 years of world history. While this is certainly not the first series to jump around in time and space, I do hope and trust that my own original approach to this epic-scale journey, as just described, is a unique and exciting one :)


Her Writing Process:


On the topic of writer’s block – how do you handle it?

I rarely ever get writer's block, in the sense that whenever I'm doing anything in my life other than writing, I would almost always rather be writing. So any spare second that I can grab to spend on writing this story is embraced wholeheartedly, and there's rarely a moment that I don't want to write or just can't bring myself to do it. I do, however, sometimes get writer's block in the sense of staring at a blank screen and having no clue where to start - with the next chapter, with the next page, with the next sentence or even the next word. These sorts of roadblocks are always frustrating, but my best method of handling them is just to sit back, take a deep breath, and push through. With sufficient persistence and patience, for a true writer, the words will always come eventually :)

Do you keep a writing schedule? How organized is your writing? Are you a pantser or a planner (do you wing it and let the story go where it will or do you plan out your story well in advance?)

My writing is pretty rigorously organized. I almost always engage in very intensive pre-writing, which involves first scribbling general-level themes, ideas, and plot points in a notebook; developing a more structured 'skeleton' of the trajectory of the entire series; and then fleshing out the skeleton with necessary elements including rich character profiles, and increasingly detailed outlines of particular episodes, and even scenes. I do all of this before I start writing the first page of a given book. At the same time, while I carefully pre-plan, say, the next five episodes before I start writing Episode 1, I also leave a lot of room for the story to evolve in episodes beyond that. Certain plot points in the middle, and of course the very end, are somewhat firmly fixed - but aside from those, there's always room for the story and characters to take themselves in organic and unexpected directions. This also means that reactions from readers can help to shape undetermined aspects of upcoming episodes, which is probably fun and rewarding for readers and writer alike :)

How do you feel your writing method has influenced your work?

I think that my writing method has influenced my work in pervasive ways. Especially with a series like The Fates, the story would completely flop if I hadn't put in a fair amount of thought on the front end - it would fall apart without the underlying structure to tie together all the threads that have to interweave in meaningful ways over such wide expanses of space and time. I could maybe wing it for a little while, but eventually I would probably get stuck in an unanticipated rut and have to go back and revise, or else give up entirely. Or at least this is how I imagine it would be :) I'm also pretty sure that my intensive pre-writing helps to make the story feel more polished and thoughtfully crafted, rather than a random mix of incoherently assorted elements, so I hope that that enhances the reading experience.

How long did it take you to write your book?

I'm still very much in the middle of writing The Fates. I first developed the idea in the summer of 2013, and began pre-writing that fall, and then writing that winter. I've currently written the first 4 episodes - there will be 5 episodes per book, so one more to go in Book I. However, I've also been balancing a million other things in life at the same time, and there have been stretches of weeks upon weeks when I just can't get any writing done. So it's pretty tough to answer just how long it's taking me to write this. Especially since it's not finished ;)

Do you have any advice for fellow authors / people who are interested in taking this strange twisted road of writing a novel?

My biggest piece of advice is simply this: the more thought and passion you pour into your writing, the more your story becomes like a piece of your soul, and the more terrifying it will probably be to share that with the world. But I've always felt that that is where the true reward of writing and storytelling lies. In sharing yourself with the world and realizing that someone out there, maybe someone you would've never known of otherwise - and maybe more than just one someone - might turn out to love that little piece of you to pieces :)

I love that last answer! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me!


_____________________________________________

If you're interested in Nicole and The Fates, here are some places to find her:

Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/_Ahna_
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nicole.fearahn
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/NicoleFearahn/the-fates-inspiration-illustrations/


I highly suggest checking out her pinterest board for The Fates!

Once again, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my Summer of Success Series. Hopefully, I'll be able to do it again (and BIGGER) in the summer of 2015!

Friday, August 15, 2014

The Trouble with Titles


I'm sure some of you have noticed that I'm still referring to the new book as "Crow Two" or "The Second Crow Book". Even my little "Writing Progress" section on the side of this blog still has it listed as "Currently Untitled".

I've been having a hard time coming up with an adequate title. I know the third book is going to be called "Curse" - I've known it from the beginning, but the title for the second book has been eluding me for months. For awhile, I was thinking of calling it "Convey" (the reason will become obvious once you read the book) but it just didn't sit right with me - It's a weak title, and kind of awkward.

Then the other night as I'm putting my son to bed, the word "Shift" popped into my head. I think it will work and it also suits the storyline. I still haven't made up my mind though.

I sort of had a theme for the titles in this series - the words all having a double meaning (example: "a crow" and also "to crow" as in the jubilant noise that Peter Pan makes or "a magical curse" as opposed to "to curse" in the form of saying a swear word, which Denora excels at.) I don't have to stick with the theme - it was a bit of felicity on my part, but I'd like to keep it if I can.

So, I'm looking for opinions:

Convey

Shift

Or should I keep trying to find something better?

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Never want to say Goodbye...


I just finished writing the last lines of Crow Two.

You'd think I'd be ecstatic right now - jumping and dancing and in general being a giddy pile of goo, but I'm not. Writing the last scene was bittersweet and left me feeling rather melancholy - not because the ending was sad, but more because I enjoyed writing it so much that I didn't want it to end. I wanted there to be more (and there is more, just not for the second book). It ended where it needed to end, and I know this, but I'm already feeling its loss. I want to keep writing.

Maybe this is a profound issue with me. When I neared the ending of the first book I procrastinated writing the last chapter for over a week. I dreaded it. Last night, as I got about halfway through the final scene, I found myself avoiding it and I realized, after being on such a writing frenzy for the past week or so, that I didn't want to stop writing it - but I had to.

I enjoyed Silas and Denora's new adventure so much, and I honestly hope that you will too. Denora makes some decisions in this book that may make some of you a little annoyed with her, but trust me when I say, I think the ending is wholly satisfying even though it leaves some things open for the next book. Now that it's finished I'm about to start putting my brain back in editing mode. I know there is a lot to do in that respect. I tore through this first draft with such fury that there are places all over the manuscript where I left notes like "Add description later" and "Input XYZ here", not wanting to slow my momentum. I just wanted to get the story out and not be slowed down by having to think about everything.

The first draft ended up clocking out at about 57,000 words. It's just shy of my target of 60,000, but I know that the second draft will be considerably longer, since I still have so much to add. My revisions always end up longer *shrug* Regardless, it's already longer than the first one was - so that's something.

For those of you wondering when you can finally get your hands on the next book, I'm anticipating having it published by mid to late September. I'm not setting an exact date (yet) as I want to see how the editing goes first. I want to have this one as cleanly edited as possible before I release it on all of you.

On that note, my next task is to do another read-through of the first book to rectify any outstanding editing mistakes. When I have the new version uploaded, I will start setting up some fun new Crow things for all of you. I'll also be hosting some giveaways, probably in September, so keep an eye on that.

Well, now that my writing is finished, I'm looking around my apartment and flinching at the chaos around me, so I'm off to do some chores and some deep thinking... and probably drink a cold celebratory beer once it's not stupid early in the morning. :)

Thanks for reading.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Ce-le-brate good times Whoop Whoop!


I'm feeling pretty amazing right now.

My 4 year Anniversary was this past Friday, and not only did I get to soothe my jealousy over Denora's fancy dinner date scene by going out to my favorite restaurant - I actually ate the same meal that Denora orders on her date (Chicken Milanese - it's so frickin' delicious! I should have taken a picture of it, but I was too busy gobbling it down.)  Yes, I'm talking about the date NOT with Silas. No spoilers, but she actually goes on two dates in the book with a certain new somebody you'll get to know soon muhahahaha!

And speaking of the second Crow book - I have some equally amazing news. Our anniversary gift to ourselves was a weekend without our darling kiddos. Huge shout out to my parents for taking the munchkins for the weekend. It gave me and my husband some quality time together, which we don't get often, and more importantly for you, it gave me a nice big chunk of uninterrupted writing time. This weekend was highly productive for me, and I wrote more yesterday than I have in a long, long time. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I wrote that much in one day! What this boils down to is that I'm now only two chapters away from finishing the first draft. Yep, you read that correctly. Two chapters left to write - I'll probably be done in the next few days, provided my children co-operate now that they're back home lol.

My intention, once the first draft is finished, is to do another close read / edit on the first Crow book, since I've become aware of a smattering of grammatical issues that slipped past me before I published. When that's finished, I'll dive into editing Book Two with the hopes of getting it out to you all by the end of September. I've got some other fun Crow stuff planned, now that Book Two is almost ready, but more on that another day (do I smell a giveaway in the near future? Hmmmmm)

I've also got another fun little surprise that I'm planning in October, but for now I'll just tease you with it. I'll just say that it's not Crow related and is geared towards celebrating my favorite holiday (Halloween!).

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my rambling today.

Now I'm off to work on those last two chapters. Wish me luck!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Summer of Success Series - Interview with Tracy Joyce

I meant to post this yesterday, but it was my anniversary and my husband kept looking at me like he was going to flay me alive every time I got near my computer (apparently, our anniversary is a "no working" day - little does he know, I snuck in some handwritten pages on The Piper's Song yesterday morning muahahaha!)

So, without further ado (because I've been promising you this interview for a couple weeks now), here's the talented and awesome Tracy M. Joyce!

About Tracy

Tracy Joyce is an up and coming fantasy author based out of Australia. Her book, Altaica, has recently been published by Odyssey Books.

Where are you from?

I grew up on a farm in rural Victoria, Australia but now live in Melbourne.

Please tell me a bit about yourself:

I am the youngest of three children. I grew up in a rambling farmhouse where my grandparents lived as well as my parents and siblings. Both my grandparents were avid readers and encouraged this in me. Story telling seemed to follow naturally. I owned and rode horses for 25 years, and now that I don’t have them anymore I miss them every day. I also love archery.

About Her Writing:

How did you get into writing?

I’ve always enjoyed writing stories and creating fictional worlds. I can remember at about the age of 12 being asked what I wanted to be and I answered, “A writer.” The reply to this was, “You can be a journalist.” When it was explained to me what a journalist did, I replied, “No, I want to write books.” I was also then told that I would need a “real job”.


I studied English Literature at University and worked in a variety of administrative jobs, but the desire to write never left me. I had the idea for Altaica (actually the idea for book three came first) and it wouldn’t leave me. I felt compelled to write it down and plan it. A couple of years after that I was lucky enough to stop full time work and I picked up the pen and started writing again. It was the best thing I ever did.

How many books have you written?

Altaica is my first novel, but there will be about five books in the series. (Two duologies and a stand-alone book in between.)


What life experiences do you feel most influenced your writing?
 
A rural upbringing often gives you a different outlook on life which I think comes through in my writing. Growing up on a farm we worked hard, but had the kind of adventures you can only have if you grow up in the country. I suspect many of them make it into my writing. Certainly the horses I’ve owned over the years have made an appearance in my books, as does my love of history and archery!


When I think back to my childhood and having my mother read to me, when I was very young, and having two grandparents who loved books, that was probably the beginning of an obsession with reading which then became an obsession with writing. I was quite sick as a child, books and then writing opened up whole new worlds of escape for me.

Who or what inspires you?

I’m inspired by the people who remain strong in the face of adversity, people who don’t take “No” for an answer and who make their own opportunities in life. When I look at my writing I see many very strong female characters and I guess they’re based on my mother and grandmothers.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KSNC3FO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00KSNC3FO&linkCode=as2&tag=everkild-20&linkId=HNBCNSPBUPFZRWSS
Tell me a bit about your book/books:

Altaica is an epic fantasy tale with themes of racism, superstition, identity and belonging and personal redemption. Isaura, the main character of Altaica, is an independent young woman, born to refugees within a community that fears her kind - for they are rumoured to be magic users. Isaura has few friends, but is fiercely loyal to those she does have. She is often uncertain and has a lot to learn about herself and others. She has to make some horrendous moral choices, yet she still keeps trying to help her friends. One of my reviewers pointed out to me that she is a young woman who doesn’t need a man in her life to make her “complete”. I hadn’t thought about this, but it’s totally accurate. I like strong female protagonists – there will be no swooning in my books!


The theme for this summer is success in writing. How do you feel you have gained your success?

Well, any success I’ve had so far has been the result of hard work, perseverance, and a great cover! However you can have the best cover in the world and if your contents are appalling then you are still not going to get anywhere – so hard work (being prepared to revise – sometimes a lot!) and then never giving up would be the main reasons for any success I’ve had. Also I think that writers must be prepared, to connect with their readers (which I love doing). You can’t write your book, sit back and wait for success to come to you as if the world owes you something – it doesn’t. Writers must never forget their fans, for without them there is no success.


Are there any future goals for your book that you have yet to reach?
 
Of course - I’m just at the beginning of my writing journey. Altaica is new and I would like it to continue to do well and be loved by many, many more readers.


Do you think you’ve found your audience? Or are your still on the hunt?

I think I’ve found an audience from teens through to adults and now the work is to build on that audience and make Altaica more well-known.


I originally met you on Wattpad. How do you think Wattpad is influencing your success?

The Wattpad community ROCKS! I had Altaica written and was looking at self-publishing it. My niece told me about Wattpad and I thought I’d try it and see what people thought of my writing. The feedback I received was, and still is, great! It renewed my faith in my work. (At this stage I was at the end of a long query process and only had one query still out with a publisher, Odyssey Books, who shortly thereafter offered me a contract.)


I am extraordinarily grateful to the fans on Wattpad who read, give me feedback and ask me questions. Writing is often a very solitary activity and Wattpad has been a way to connect with other writers and build an audience. Also, when my editor was pulling apart my writing and I was thinking to myself “How on earth did I make it through Primary School!” – it was the Wattpad feedback that made me remember that my book was good.

I will always participate in Wattpad. I love connecting with, helping and encouraging other writers.

What do you feel makes your story unique?

I think the characters are the foundation of what makes it unique. There are plenty of strong female characters within the story, who don’t conform and who make a place for themselves within their world. There are complex relationships within the novel, conflicting emotions and motives and characters, who you love, may act in a way that you don’t agree with. I like the notion of “moral greyness” – that “good” people can do “bad” things and vice versa. Altaica’s leading lady is faced with some horrendous choices which I feel many writers would not contemplate putting in their work. Readers see the world building of Altaica as unique, which is wonderful as it is merely a combination of my love of folk lore, myth and history. It seems that this combination resonates with many people from different cultures and on many different levels.



Her Writing Process:

On the topic of writer’s block - how do you handle it?

I get times where I'm not sure what direction to take something or I'm not sure something is working properly. I find the only way to get over this is to keep writing, even if you think it isn't working. I did about three versions of the opening scene of book two. I didn't like any of them, but I didn't delete any of them. I printed them out and picked the bits I liked out of each - sometimes only a paragraph or a sentence and combined them in a new version which I was happy with.

So I guess what I'm saying is keep writing because out of the dross comes a kernel of something you will be happy with and from that you will create exactly what you want.

Do you keep a writing schedule? How organized is your writing? Are you a pantser or a planner (do you wing it and let the story go where it will or do you plan out your story well in advance?)

I set myself daily word limits. I don’t always reach them, but sometimes I exceed them. When I don’t reach them I “beat” myself up about it and try and make up for it the next day. It’s a motivational tool. Three days a week I write all day and the other days I work on marketing and editing.

Am I “pantser” or a “planner”? Both - I know my story’s beginning and end. I know the low points / major conflicts I want to reach within the story, but in between these I “wing” it. However, if in “winging” it I discover something better than my current plan, then I adjust my planning as I go along. It’s a very fluid process for me.

How long did it take you to write your book?

I started writing Altaica when I was still working and I really made slow progress for a couple of years – I just didn’t have the energy at the end of the day to be creative and I faffed about too much. Once I knuckled down and established a work routine I wrote two thirds of it in 6 months. After that you can add in several months of revision and then another few months of some more revision.

Do you have any advice for fellow authors / people who are interested in taking this strange twisted road of writing a novel?

Advice? Yep – don’t give up! Perseverance, planning and research.

You must do some form of planning with your writing, however minimal, otherwise you run the risk of writing 300,000 words of rambling (beautiful if you’re lucky) prose that even your granny won’t want to read. (At least know your beginning and ending so you’ve got a goal to aim for in your writing and your character’s development.)

Perseverance: You must strive to write the best work that you can, even if it means scrapping stuff and rewriting! Perseverance applies when you are also looking to be published! Querying is a long process, so do not give up after one rejection and do not take those rejections personally.

Research: Research your target market and audience. Know what is expected in YA or epic fantasy. You don’t have to provide all those elements, for instance you might be writing a cross-over novel as I did, but you’ve got to put in something that will appeal to those markets. Publishers and agents will be looking for books they know they can sell to the market. If they think they can’t sell it because you haven’t considered it in your writing and put in something to appeal to your target market, then you won’t get picked up by either an agent or a publisher.

Research also applies to your world building. The world has to be believable whether it is a world like Altaica or whether it is set in a small town in the USA. People need to relate to it and to feel that they can see it. Great, believable settings with great characterisations are the foundations of your storytelling.

Another part of your research is your beta-readers. Have good beta readers from a variety of ages and backgrounds and reading tastes. Pick them for their honesty. Then when you get their feedback, don’t take it on face value. You need to take them out to lunch / morning tea and interview them thoroughly to see if they did indeed like it, hate it or understand it all. You’ll be surprised how many may miss some the nuances / clues in your writing. Based on their feedback you might need to revise again.

Get organized and be professional. Treat your writing as a business.

In terms of writing software, I strongly recommend Scrivener and Scapple (for planning and mind mapping.)

Work hard!

That is some pretty awesome advice, and very very true. (I'm also a HUGE lover of Scrivener, which now that I'm using it, I can't fathom how I managed to write my books before I had it! lol)
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If you'd like to know more about Tracy, or her wonderful book, Altaica, here are some places to visit:

Social Media:

Twitter: @TracyMJoyce


For more about Altaica, check out the page on the publisher's site: Odyssey Books

Book Promotional Video


If you like what you see, and you should because Altaica is pretty friggin' amazing, you can pick up a copy at the following locations:

Paperback

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Foyles


Also will be from Book Depository, but as yet they haven't displayed it.

Ebook

Amazon an

 Kobo
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Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Tracy and if you like epic fantasy, I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of Altaica!


In a few weeks I'll be posting one last interview with the author of the sensational Wattpad hit, The Fates! Stay tuned.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Fresh Start


If you've been wondering where I've been lately - I swear I have a perfectly good explanation!

July ended up being a very odd month for me. I was on vacation for two weeks and it was lovely and wonderful to go out and do things with my kids and spend time with my husband. Unfortunately, after being on a roll and getting halfway through the second Crow book, having my momentum broken and being unable to sit down and write for that extended period of time made it incredibly difficult to get back into the swing of things. Add to that, directly after my vacation, I was hit with a string of personal issues that made it even more difficult to get my head where it needed to be to continue writing.

But it's now August 1st and I'm determined to start fresh and get back to work. I left off with Denora going on a date in a five star fancy-shmancy restaurant (and, no, she isn't on a date with Silas - cue shocked gasps!) Personally, I'm a bit jealous. It's been ages since I set foot in a fancy-shmancy restaurant - but my four year wedding anniversary is a week from today, so my jealousy should resolve itself soon hahaha!

In my last post, I announced the next Summer of Success Interview with Tracy Joyce would be posted. It has been postponed a week, but it will be posted soon. Tracy actually was one of the first people to buy Crow and she left an absolutely wonderful review for it on Goodreads. I'm still kind of blushing after reading it this morning:
"I love urban fantasy and this is up there with some of my favourites. Kildare writes extremely well and weaves a wonderful fantasy into our modern day world. The characters are complicated and believable. The pacing of the story is excellent and the mystery quickly draws you in..."

There's more, but that bit right there was so encouraging and I think a bit of encouragement is really what I need right now to dig my way out of this rut I've been in lately. I desperately want to write - I need to write, and I need to get the second book finished, because I know there are people out there who loved the first one and are waiting for me to get off my ass and finish the next one.

So that is what I'm going to do.

Everyn - signing off (to go write!)

Until next time,