Unintended Series [Chains of Fate]

When I originally wrote Chains of Fate, I intended it to be a one off attempt at me writing something a little romantic. The premise is a little romantic: a cursed king is given a second chance when his first love is reborn in the body of another woman. Maybe not 100% Harlequin material, but close enough for government work. However, after getting some feedback on it from various sources, it became clear that the story didn't quite end where I wanted it to. I won't tell you how the story ended in case you haven't read it yet. Suffice to say, several people said it was ripe for a sequel. Definitely not what I intended or expected. However, what do you do when your biggest fan clamors for more? In this case, it was my mother, who fangirls Vad'Alvarn, asking for a rewrite of how the story ended.

In response, I wrote Blades of Fate which hasn't come out yet. Unfortunately, after taking some time to look at it, that wasn't where the story ended either. So now I'm left with two books and no ending. Well, well, what do I do now? Why, you write a third one of course. So this week, in fact, today, I started writing the third installment in the Chains of Fate series which I have tentatively titled Cities in Time. If you've read the first book, you are aware of the living city of Backaran, which figures prominently in the narrative. It returns in Blades of Fate, but you're still wondering what exactly is going on with the fact that the city is alive and has a personality. I finally answer that question in Cities in Time. You also find out there are others, but I won't tell you too much about them. Must leave a few things for you to marvel over when the book comes out.

All things considered, I intend to wrap up all the loose ends with this book because truthfully writing book four doesn't appeal to me and I've got other series waiting for me to finish them as well. Here's to getting this book written and ready to go.

Great News! Blades of Fate is Ready.

After some work, I've finished the draft of Blades of Fate. It is now ready to be sent out to my Alpha readers. If you want to be one of those, feel free to leave a message on this blog post and I'll connect with you to send you an electronic copy of the book for your reading pleasure. They say a writer learns something new with each successive draft, so what did I learn while doing this?

It's Okay Not to Change Things
I've always sort of drafted with the idea that something was going to have to be changed in each successive draft of the book, like a major plot point. Cutting a character. Something. With this draft, I specifically told myself that unless something major needed to be changed for specific reasons, I was not changing anything. As one of my friends likes to say, I tend to rewrite books from the ground up. I told myself I was not going to do that this time around. Does that mean I think I turned out a perfect book the first time? No. However, is it a good enough book that major rewriting wasn't necessary? Yes. Therefore, I'm going to send it on as is to those who will read it and decide whether or not they love it before I make it available for actual purchase.

Part of this is trusting in my own creative process. My drafts are usually pretty good in that they don't have major holes in them. A tweak here or there is enough to make them readable. In this case, I changed the setting of one scene and added a snippet of another in order to make things a little more exciting. However, those changes were late stage changes that didn't affect the overall trajectory of the novel. They just added spice.

That's the good news for this week. Look for another "Hacking My Brain" next week when I talk about Treats versus Rewards.

Switching Gears

I had been working on the second in the She Becomes Death trilogy. However, with my new (much slower) schedule, I'm realizing in order to get Blades of Fate out by this summer, I'm going to have to switch gears and work on it. Otherwise, I'm never going to finish it in time. Therefore, I've switched over to working on Blades of Fate which is currently in need of revisions and additions so that I can make sure it's ready to be seen by the viewing public in August at the latest. I'm thinking of putting out ARC copies of it as is so that others can start formulating reviews. Which means asking my email list if they would be interested in reading a digital copy of the new book in enough time to put up reviews when I finally have it out.

Does this mean I've completely stalled on Wielding His Scythe, She Becomes Death book 2? No. It just means it isn't on the front burner right now. I'm still making a little bit of headway here and there with it. I've almost got the first fifth of it finished. I'm just probably not going to get it out before say December at my current pace. Knowing that, I have plenty of time to plug the first book and get people ready for the second.

In other news, I've almost got a venue for the wedding. It requires pre-marital counseling, which my mother is excited about. I think she's more excited about it than I am and I'm the one getting married. Aren't I supposed to be the one who is super excited about this whole process? Oh well, even if I'm not gung-ho about the whole thing, I am certainly looking forward to having the beautiful day followed by years of wedded happiness. That's the part I'm really looking toward, the bit after the wedding.

All things considered, things are going well. I just have a few more things I have to take care of and then I'll be ready to get down to some serious party planning.

What's Really Going On

Since Gnome Con, I haven't gotten a lot of writing done. Why? Because I'm working a new job within the job I've been working for several years. I now get up at 5:30 in the morning in order to be to work by 6:30 so I can work until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. It doesn't give me a lot of time left where my brain is not mush and I have to get up the next day and do it all over again. As a consequence, my writing is suffering. In a way, I expected this and perhaps it is for the better because it means I only write when I'm mentally together enough to do so. However, that means there is no way I'm going to be putting out more than maybe three books this year, if I'm lucky, and one of them is already out.

The first draft of Blades of Fate is written, but in need of edits and probably some additions. It is, however, already done. I can, with some effort, get it done by June which was my original plan. Unfortunately, the other three She Becomes Death books: Wielding his Scythe, Winning his Kingdom, and Matchmaker, Matchmaker are going to be delayed with this current writing schedule. Will they still get done? Of course. It will just take me longer than initially planned. As the saying goes, it will happen, I'm not dead yet.

Currently, I am working on Wielding His Scythe at an Arctic slow pace. The good news is: I'm still working on it.

In other news, I've started planning a wedding that isn't for another year and a half. I might be rushing things just a bit trying to get it all done before I have to worry about it too much, but then again, maybe not. Still many questions to answer, but I've answered a couple.

New Year! Forward ho!

It's the fifth, we are firmly in the year of 2016. Huzzah! Well done all. Now to see what happened last year worthy of note versus what we have possibly planned for this year already. Truthfully, I can't say that I put out my first publication last year. If you've been around a while, you might remember a little project called Objects that I put out in September of 2014. That little book of short stories holds the honor of being my first real publication. However, that doesn't mean last year wasn't a year for milestones. I put out my first novel last year in June, Chains of Fate. So far all the feedback I have received has been good. There are a few nitpicky details I will be fixing before the anniversary of the book and the publication of book 2. I followed that up with a second book in December, Dark King Rising, for a total of two books out in the year 2015. I'm trying something a little different with Dark King Rising as I started out offering it on multiple platforms while I went with Kindle Direct Publishing Select on Chains of Fate. As much as I enjoyed running the free promotions on KDP Select, I didn't really see myself getting a lot out of it. These days, free books just don't move like they used to. Glut in the market, I more than suppose. In short, last year was a good year for my writing career. I started it off running. I know, I know, the big question is: Did anything sell? Well, technically, no. I'm not doing well in the sales department. I am not, however, worrying about it. The books are good. Word of mouth is moving slowly. It will take some time for it to gain the appropriate momentum.

What's on the board for this year, 2016? Well, first I have a third book coming out which will be the first in a trilogy, Wearing His Ring. The trilogy title is: She Becomes Death. The other two books are slated to come out this year as well, as soon as I can get them out of my hot little hands and into the hands of readers. The sooner, the better. Not rushing though. I must say that, I am not rushing. I'm giving myself 2-3 months at a stretch to work on the manuscripts because I think that's the best thing to do. Enjoying the process.

I get to make my first public appearance as an author with a table at Gnome Con 2016 down here in Savannah, GA. For those who don't know, Gnome Con is a small convention, still growing, that is put on over a weekend. This year, it's the beginning of March. I'm looking forward to that and trying to have my third book ready to go by then. Selling actual physical copies will be quite interesting, I'm certain. Who knows, if I do well, I might get asked to be a guest at some point in the future. That would be ace.

So here's the rundown:
Wearing his Ring: February 26, 2016
Wielding his Scythe: March 2016
Winning his Kingdom: April 2016
Blades of Fate (The second Chains of Fate book): June 2016
That gets me to the middle of the year with an entire trilogy completed. I think that's thinking far enough in the future for right now. I'm sure more new things will happen that I feel the need to post about. Until then, ta-ta.

Looking for the Magic

Ever get to that point in a story and go: But where's the magic? In a fantasy, this should come early. In others, it may come late. Yet that question should always be there. If you can immediately tell where the magic is, good. Keep going. If you've got to do so digging, or some adding, then you had better get to it.

Please understand I don't mean magic just in the terms of magic systems or flying horses or sentient cutlery. I mean, the draw, what gets your reader in the door, plops them down in the chair, and makes the hours whisk by. Every story has it in there somewhere. By all rights, it ought to be waving its hat at hello on page one, but sometimes you need a little more set up to get it off the ground. Whatever you do, you should never have a story with NO magic. Godawful waste of time that.

If you're a writer, heaven hopes you are also a reader which should be where you get your first taste of this amazing craft. As a younger, I enjoyed Anne McCaffrey's Pern and the worlds of David Eddings. Later, I would cut my teeth in horror with Clive Barker and Stephen King, who remains perhaps my undisputed favorite author of all time. In some of these cases, the magic was magic and the possibility that anything might happen. If you don't know, Pern starts out as Science Fiction and breeding dragons in laboratories. (I am and perhaps will always be a lover of dragons. I liken it to the childish love of horses, magnificent, majestic animals.)

So where's the magic in your story? it can sometimes be boiled down to a question; the central question that keeps your reader reading. In Blades of Fate I posit what would happen if you had waited forever for someone only to find out when they returned they were nothing like you remembered. This is a slightly different question from Chains of Fate the first book in the set which asks, what would you do in order to bring back the one you loved? Or the question behind Dark King Rising, When your imagination creates the greatest evil what will you do?

Each of these asks a question and the text offers an answer by the time you get to the climax. Therein lies the magic of the text, the draw, the beauty. All that makes it amazing.


Happy Holidays to All. I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. The paperback of Dark King Rising is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Kindle/Epub edition comes out this coming Friday, so make sure you get yours!

In Defense of Conversation

There is some old wisdom out there that goes essentially like this: "Keep your ideas to yourself." I think that's a bunch of hooey. Maybe my experience is different from everyone else's, but I generally find out the most interesting things about a story when I'm trying to explain it to someone else. I write my synopses as though I am explaining to my best friend what exactly about this story is cool. It helps me to frame what the reader would find interesting. I know, I know, that's not actually talking to someone about it. I'll get to that. First, I have to flesh it out in a way that explaining it isn't hard. It makes me wonder when I'm figuring out how to illuminate an idea so that others can have the same Aha! moment that I'm having.

So where does the conversation come in?

The conversation comes in when I actually sit down across from a friend of mine and start talking to her about what makes me giddy happy about this story. What makes the horses in my head gallop toward the conclusion. Usually at this point, there are questions. This is my favorite part. She asks me all kinds of things and when I have a total 'I have no idea' moment, I know there is something there I need to address. Whether it ends up in the story or not, I should have answers to most of the questions other people ask. In fact, lots of it won't end up in the story, it'll just be background and brain fodder for me while I'm writing away. Best part, I'm telling you. I know why that character has that name, but I don't have to explain it to everyone. It makes for good conversation at conferences and helps me to be on point when a reader asks the not quite all important question but the one burning a hole in the back of their brain.

Do you have these kinds of conversation with just anybody? I do with people I trust not to crush my dreams like candy under a hammer. You know those people. Don't discuss things which make your heart beat with those people. They'll just make you feel bad. Otherwise, have story conversations with anyone you can have a conversation with. They might not all have great insights, but they will always make you have to think and that's the point. No matter what, thinking is the point. Figure out how to answer their questions. Come up with new nuances of story while you chatter. Enjoy talking! Writing can be such a lonely profession. Being able to talk about our imaginary worlds will ofttimes bring smiles to our faces.

Like right now, I'm working on Blades of Fate, the sequel to Chains of Fate which I put out in June. I sat across from a close friend and discussed the inner workings of the living cities, which you see much more of in the second book. In that conversation, I named all of the cities, got down to their basic personalities, and considered what their history/backstory. All because a friend asked a question and I had to really think about it. Score! Conversation. It serves a purpose.

The Obligatory So Now What Post

December has started. NaNoWriMo has ended. Say goodbye to another year. Not to writing because I do that all year long, but to the breakneck, frenetic pace that is the headlong rush for the finish line I only do during the month of November. All things aside, I got a lot done for the fact that I only wrote 23 days out of the 30 day month. In that time, I managed to pen 70K+ which is nothing to sneeze at. Perhaps not enough to put me up there with those greats who can finish 100K in 30 days, but enough to get me a decent way into writing an entire first draft. Blades of Fate stands to be perhaps my most ambitious novel yet considering it is a piece set in a world I thought I was fully shut of several years ago and thus had to essentially relearn in order to tell this new story. Let me just say, it was not like fitting into a pair of comfy old slippers. It was more like wrangling on a pair of ill-fitting, poorly cared for thigh high leathers. Once you get them on, you're doing pretty good. Getting them on is however a beast.

A little bit of housekeeping. I'm taking down the free story I wrote over the month of October: October Sky. Don't fret. It still exists to be read, but those who didn't read it in its initial run on the blog are going to have to start paying for it. I'm putting it up on Amazon and Smashwords as an ebook with a price varying from Free to 2.99. In short, I haven't quite decided on my price point yet, so it's still up in the air. If you did get a chance to read it and thought it noteworthy, why don't you head on over to Amazon, Goodreads, or Smashwords and leave behind a little review? All the love is much appreciated.

For those who lament when my next book is coming out cease your wailing. I intend to once again start writing short fiction on the blog as well as prepping several of my previous works for publication through Amazon and Smashwords. That should sate the appetite while I come up with new and increasing flights of fancy to send us all on. I'm thinking I might start with something Science Fiction-y. You'll just have to hang out and see.

In the meantime, Dark King Rising is still available for preorder with its debut on the 18th of December. Amazon | Smashwords . The preorder price is 2.99 but it will be going up as well once the first week of the print is out, so get it while there's a good deal.

[NaNoWriMo 2015] Affirmation

As I am alive, I am free. As I am free, I am powerful. As I am powerful, I am alive.
Leviana

I typed those words last night as I was getting Leviana through a tough time. She's been abandoned by those closest to her, the empire she helped to create has turned against her, and she is in a strange place without even a horse to escape on. In short, life sucks for her right now. However, when I thought to write her in despair or panic, those words came to me as something she would say to herself. (I may need to add it somewhere earlier in the book so that it can be a personal mantra, but it's good.) Thinking about the things I say to myself when I'm panicking, I could stand to learn a thing or two from this character. She is a warrior-queen. She is mistress of her domain. Even without a crown, she is regal and commanding. Not because she is beautiful, but because she is. Definitely worth thinking about.

In contrast, we have Warden who is something of a coward. He refuses to face anything head on. Probably because he's done so well at avoiding things up to this point. That won't last forever because there's a confrontation in his future that he has no choice but to deal with. But that's for later, so I won't spoil it for you here. Blades of Fate is coming along quite well. I foresee maybe putting it out next year during the summer. Maybe even on the anniversary of Chains of Fate in June. If people can wait that long. This is partly being written for my mother, who fell in love with Vad'Alvarn in the first book and wanted to see him returned as soon as possible.

Guess I should be glad someone has taken such an interest in my writing that they are clamoring for a sequel.

[NaNoWriMo 2015] The Keyboard Debacle

So what have I learned this month already? I have learned that you can legitimately wear out a keyboard so that the sensors underneath the keys stop working. Apparently I have pressed the O key on my keyboard so many times the sensor no longer works. I have to mash it about ten thousand times to get one O. Then it sticks so that it's making multiple whenever I press it so that either way I have to spend time working on it in order to get any work done. This has made me more than a little frustrated. [I am currently typing, quickly, on a Logitech K120 USB keyboard.] However, I have also realized that when it comes down to cranking out the words, I will go through dealing with a crappy keyboard rather than not write. Spending an inordinate amount of time fixing things that shouldn't be broken is not a constructive way to spend your time. In fact, it's kinda stupid. I should have bought a new keyboard a week ago when I started having the problem instead of continuing on as if it would get better.

Note to self: Broken computer components do not get better by mashing them repeatedly. They get worse.

I'm a couple of days behind on MY wordcount because I haven't written seriously since Thursday of last week. This is not to be confused with being behind on NaNo's wordcount where I've been ahead since day one. Day 17 is 26,333. I've been at 46,000+ since last Thursday. I really should have finished before I went on my mini-vacation, but I just didn't push through what with the busted keyboard and all that.

What have I learned: Writing is sometimes a matter of will. Sometimes all that is required in order to do what you want is the will to continue. In this case, I didn't have the force of will necessary to continue; therefore, I did not finish ahead of time. I still have time to beat my personal best of 21 days (set in 2007).

[NaNoWriMo 2015] Blades of Fate

It's halfway through November aka NaNoWriMo. This year, because my mother essentially demanded it, I'm working on the sequel to Chains of Fate. Not precisely what I was thinking I would be working on this November but so far it has been a good write. It's Day 16 and I have 47k out of what I'm guessing is about 75k. That's pretty good considering I haven't written every day. So quick rundown.

Blades of Fate, working title, picks up three hundred years after the events of Chains. Leviana has been on the throne and expanding the empire for the last three hundred years including bringing Sartol into the empire. During the celebration of Leviana's Voice, an assassin named Warden attacks her in an attempt to take her life. She survives only to be presumed dead and have the empire turn against her. With this and the return of her ancient lover in the form of the man who wants her dead, she must get to the bottom of who wishes to kill her so she can reclaim both her kingdom and her lost love.

In the current draft, I have certain things happening that I'm already thinking may not happen the same way in the next draft, but I'm trying to get it all down on paper before I start trying to make any major changes to the manuscript. First write, then edit. It always works better that way.