fiction

The Alliance: Bloodlines for 99 Cents?

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Have you purchased your copy of The Alliance: Bloodlines yet? Amazon will have the ebook format on sale for 99 cents from May 14th at 8 AM PST until May 21st at 8 AM PST. Don’t miss this great deal! Still not convinced? Read the five star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads! Some examples below.

“The story is suspenseful and moves well. “

“This book is in a similar genre as Laurel K. Hamilton and Kim Harrison, written in a present day setting and with strong female characters.“

Why I Write: The Tale of a Young Geek’s Inspiration

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My mother was the one who always encouraged me to read a lot as a kid, but there were select books and shows that fueled my desire to tell stories. I’ve always been a daydreamer. My mind creates stories whether I like it or not, and there were several influences from my childhood.

As a kid I enjoyed comic books filled with heroics, but I also loved horror, sci-fi and fantasy. The books that most influenced me were R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series and pretty much anything written by Stephen King. I have an entire bookshelf filled with King’s books, and people always ask what my favorite King novel is. As much as I love his popular classics, my favorite would have to be the Dark Tower series as a whole.

I loved dark twisted stories that would make your heart pound with every page turn, but television also greatly inspired my creativity.

There was a show on Nickelodeon when I was young called Are You Afraid of the Dark where a group of kids would sneak out and tell spooky campfire stories. I was always fascinated by the idea of telling haunting tales by a campfire, but sadly this is still something that I’ve never done.

I can’t remember how old I was when I saw the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie on TV, but I thought it was the coolest idea I’d ever seen. The movie was not nearly the same caliber as the TV show that later followed, so why was the movie so important to me? Almost every book I read had a male protagonist, and if my memory serves me correct, this was a point where I said, “Wow this girl is a hero!” I don’t think I even stopped to question why all my books had male protagonist. I’d seen some females in comics, but this was different somehow. It was empowering to see Buffy kick ass as she went from cheerleader to vampire slayer.  I later rejoiced when the TV series was announced for the WB, and I have faithfully followed Joss Whedon ever since.

I read every book I could get my hands on and always daydreamed about my own stories. I tried to write a few novels in high school, but never stuck with the writing. What inspired me to try again? That would be Joss Whedon. My love of Buffy and all things Whedon inspired me to try again, and I finished the draft of The Alliance: Bloodlines.

I’ve since lost my love of horror, and i’m not even sure why. Maybe it’s because everything seems less scary now? Or the new generation of horror movies seem stale? My current inspiration comes from writers/creators: Whedon, Felicia Day, Brian K Vaughan, and Jane Espenson. When Joss Whedon first announced that he would be writing The Astonishing X-men, I decided that I would also try my hand at writing comics. I adapted Bloodlines into a limited series comic book which I pitched to publishers. I didn’t give up even when that project failed, but instead I kept practicing and have worked on scripts for several other projects.

So I guess if I could say anything to potential writers or even current authors, I would say take risks, be bold, write lovable characters, create breath taking worlds and send positive messages through stories.

The stories we write now could hugely impact the next generation of writers.

Honorable mentions from my childhood must include: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, TMNT, Alice in Wonderland, Superman movies and Batman movies, X-men comics, and more.

Taking a New Approach to Self Publishing

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In my previous post I discussed the mistakes I’ve made in my adventures of self-publishing. Today I just want to talk about ways that I am trying to learn from my mistakes, and attempt a different approach to making a new WIP more successful than The Alliance: Bloodlines. Now Bloodlines has received some amazing five star reviews, but that means nothing to readers if the cover, description, or editing isn’t strong enough.

 So what happens now? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Now that I know I can’t skimp on a cover design or editing, I must find a way to provide those things. Unfortunately I don’t have the money for pay for the hefty costs of professional editing or design. Editing costs can really break the bank depending on the length of the book or different types of editing. I’ve seen recommended professional editors quote as much as $2,000-3,000 for editing one book.

So in order to offer these necessities for my new novel, I will be turning to Kickstarter to try crowd funding enough money to pay for some of the harsh expenses.  Now crowd funding is not easy feat, but with the right planning it can be successful.  You still need to build your audience first (another mistake I mentioned in my previous post) because you shouldn’t assume that enough people will magically stumble upon and back your project. A lot of your backers will come from friends, family, and word of mouth.

I’ll be doing a lot of research and planning before I release my project in May. I would recommend checking out some of the successful Kickstarter projects to get some great examples. I’ll probably do a more detailed blog about Kickstarter once I’ve had more experience with creating a project on the site.

I’ve read a lot of opinions about using Kickstarter for a novel, and I noticed several people have their doubts. If you build enough interest and plan to use the self-publishing route anyway, why not give your book as a backer reward? If the project is successful then you have just put your novel in the hands of many, and that can equal book reviews for you! My goal is simply to get my book into the hands of as many people as possible, and Kickstarter feels like a great outlet for that.

Regardless of what path you take, you should never give up on your passion. If your novel isn’t successful that isn’t your warning sign to quit, but instead evaluate the whole package and determine how to improve.

I’m posting the announcement that I made on my Facebook page for anyone who don’t follow or might have missed it. This gives a very brief explanation of my project. I’ll be providing more details and art as time passes, but for now I just want you all to know why this project is important to me. Please read on if you haven’t caught up with my Facebook page!

 

“I’ve decided on my Kickstarter project! After much consideration, I chose my latest WIP that is currently titled Sacrifice. This title may not stick, but right now that’s what i’m calling it. The story centers on a gay protagonist who also happens to be a meta-human. I’ve gotten great feedback from beta readers, and I really feel like this is a story that needs to be told. There needs to be more quality LGBT friendly novels. I’m sick of seeing a small selection, and most of them don’t even look professionally done. I will work my ass off to make Sacrifice a well written story that positively represents the LGBT community and can be enjoyed by anyone.

I’m planning to launch this at the first part of May and more details will come soon. I have a strong well-thought out game plan, but I also need to build an army to make this successful. I have a great group of friends that have offered their time to help me create art, beta read, edit and much more. I am very grateful to have such awesome people supporting me. I’ll need more help spreading the word, and if you have a blog or know someone with a blog/site that might be interested in an author interview/Q&A or whatever, i’ll be looking for every opportunity possible. Stay tuned, and stay awesome.”

Tips for Writing Sequels

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I am currently re-writing Drakon, the sequel to The Alliance: Bloodlines, and thought I’d give some tips for new writers.

When I first started writing Bloodlines, I knew that I wanted the story to at least become a trilogy. At that time I was young and excited, but never really thought about what it would require to write a compelling sequel.  So what do you need to consider when writing your series?

You must always remember to be consistent and keep continuity throughout your whole series. If you make a set of rules in your first novel, those rules need to stay consistent in the sequels. Why? Your readers will remember the rules. If you set a rule of magic or law in book one, but then that rule is not kept in book two, your readers will remember and question you. They will lose belief in your story—in the world that you took so long to create. Make sure to always fact check the events and rules in the previous books to keep the continuity accurate.

The same is true of the actions of your protagonist. Events that happen in book one should have consequences, and in turn those consequences should carry over to the sequels. Example: In Bloodlines there is a character death at the end of the book, but I knew that death couldn’t be forgotten in book two. The death had an impact on the characters so that needed to be expressed in the sequel.

Now while you keep the storyline consistent in each installment of the series, also remember to mix up the plot and formula. If you write each book in the series with the same plot formula, you run the risk of boring your audience with a predictable story. The protagonist should grow with each story, and the challenge should become greater with each book.

For Drakon I know that my characters and story must have continuity, but I will add a fresh element to keep my readers intrigued. I’ve sent them to a new place and put them in a situation of greater peril, but they still have their same voice. The events and their actions in Bloodlines will carry over and effect how they handle the greater challenges that they face in Drakon.

Remember if a character suddenly has a different voice in the sequels, you better have a good explanation for it. Show how the character developed, but never just change the characters personality for no specific reason.

I’ve found it very helpful to make a Word document that lists certain notes that I may need while writing the sequels. While writing scenes that I know will have an impact on possible sequels, I will make a note of it and move on. This keeps me from having to scroll through a complete manuscript a million times trying to remember a specific detail later on.

That’s all for now, but I hope these tips become of some use to someone that is currently or planning to write a sequel. As always keep writing and never give up.