The Alliance Bloodlines

Real Talk, Growing As A Writer

/ S.E. Doster / Leave a comment

Okay, real talk here.

After reading over my first draft of the Alliance #3, I went back to book one to fact check a few things for consistency. I cringed when I read parts of Bloodlines. I won’t say it’s terrible, but it’s my first book and will never be my best. I’m still proud. And, hey, the reviews are strong so people are still enjoying the story despite the imperfections!

When I decided to get serious about writing the Alliance, I was straight out of high school with little understanding of sentence structure. Sad and surprising, I know. I had an imagination and could be descriptive, but I never really learned or retained all the rules of writing. I pretty much struggled throughout high school. I scraped by with low grades, and honestly, I copied off a friend’s paper when I got too behind. I cheated myself out of learning because I felt I couldn’t catch up. I absolutely didn’t learn well in classroom environments.

I slowly improved my writing with the help of some grammar savvy friends. Plus, I read a lot and just paid closer attention to the way other authors wrote. I did my research and got critiques were I could. I kept learning. I’m still learning. I think that’s an important thing to remember regardless of what you’re trying to achieve in life. Never stop learning.

Almost every author I’ve ever loved and followed has said that the first book you write will be crap, so I already knew I couldn’t expect Bloodlines to be perfect. Regardless, I was still shocked at weak description and poor structure.

I’ve learned so much since writing my first novel. My structure has improved and my descriptions are stronger. Drakon is much improved, and I think book three will surpass them all. Hell, the first draft of book three is stronger than the final draft of Bloodlines.

It’s amazing what you can achieve if you don’t give up.

If you read Bloodlines I hope you enjoyed and will give Drakon a chance. The Alliance sequels may surprise you. Click here to see what readers are saying about The Alliance: Bloodlines on Amazon.

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The Music That Fueled The Alliance Part 1

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Some writers prefer quiet and solitude while they write, but I enjoy music for added inspiration. I turn on a playlist at various stages of the writing process. For the brainstorming and early drafts, I do enjoy songs I’ve collected which fit the mood of my current WIP. So, as I continue to hammer out the first draft of the third Alliance novel, I thought I would share the music which played while writing the first two novels. Kicking things off with The Alliance: Bloodlines inspirational music, I’m listening to this playlist as I write this post with all the nostalgic feels.

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The Alliance: Bloodlines playlist:

“End of the World” by Cold

“My Letter” by Flaw

“Strong” by Flaw

“I Hate Everything About You” by Three Days Grace

“Never Too Late” by Three Days Grace

“Animal I Have Become” by Three Days Grace

“Hero” by Skillet

“Monster” by Skillet

“Awake and Alive” by Skillet

“Take Me” by Papa Roach

“Scars” by Papa Roach

“Black Clouds” by Papa Roach

“So Far Away” by Staind

“Fade” by Staind

“Forget to Remember” by Mudvanye

“Becoming the Bull” by Atreyu

“Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed

“Bodies” by Drowning Pool

“Somewhere I Belong” by Linkin Park

“Numb” by Linkin Park

“So Cold” by Breaking Benjamin

 

There were probably more songs than what shows on this list, but these tracks are what remains of the original Alliance playlist. The rest of the songs are for the Drakon playlist which i’ll post next week.

 

 

Drakon Cover Reveal

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A few weeks ago, I released the cover reveal for my YA novel The Alliance: Bloodlines. Now I’m excited to reveal the cover for Drakon, the sequel to Bloodlines.

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Drakon Blurb

The Alliance still defend the streets of Jefferson City, but the demon hunter team thought life would be better after the battle with Jaysk at the Four Aces—after their greatest enemy was defeated. However, Bailey deals with a loss her fellow hunters can’t understand, and now she hunts demons on her own. To make matters worse, a new Four Aces casino is being constructed, and Jaysk’s Queen is in town calling all of the shots.

The answers Bailey seeks and the power the Alliance needs to stop Jaysk’s Queen both exist in a place outside their world—the demon dimension known as Drakon. Bailey is horrified when she finally learns the details of her boyfriend’s former imprisonment and torture in Drakon. The nightmare continues when Jameson chases her through a portal leading straight into the demon dimension. Forced to deal with the haunting memories of his captivity, Jameson must help find a way to keep them from becoming prisoners or dragon food. The Alliance couple races against time to escape Drakon with a plan which they hope will defeat the Queen.

Thanks to my successful Indiegogo campaign, both novels will be released this holiday. Both covers were designed by the extremely talented Ida at Amygdala Design.

The Alliance Indiegogo Funded and Finished

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I know everyone has seen a barrage of Indiegogo campaign posts—I am sincerely sorry for the Indie overload—but I’m proud to say the campaign was fully funded. The campaign has also finished the month long crusade, so now I can make moves towards publication this fall. This also means I have more insight to share with you all via blog posts and Twitter.

First, thank you to all the awesome people who either shared or contributed to my Alliance YA series campaign. I’ll post occasional updates on the campaign page when I have dates for cover reveals and such. I will be keeping my contributors informed on the process because the series is getting a second chance thanks to all of their support. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and excited to share my journey.

Second, I have lots of steps to take before the books are published, but I am excited to get the ball rolling. The two novels are going through editing stages now. I’ll be in communications with the cover designer soon and formatting shouldn’t take too long. I created a plan of action before starting the Indiegogo, and I can share my initial plan for those interested in creating a campaign of their own. Right now my plan is scribbled in a notebook, but I’ll try to get it typed up soon.

Thank you all again, and I’ll try to have an informative post up at the beginning of the week. Stay tuned!

The Alliance YA Series Indiegogo Campaign is Live!

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My Indiegogo campaign is live. I would love to have your support in my adventures of self-publishing. The Alliance series is a YA Urban Fantasy project I’ve been working on for many years. In order for this campaign to be successful, I really need as many people to rally behind me with likes, shares, comments, and retweets. You can easily help the series thrive even if you can’t donate. I can’t stress the importance and success of “word of mouth” advertisement.

I’ll be making more campaign updates throughout the month. I only have 30 days to reach my goal. Will you help me get there? Make sure to click the link to learn more about the project and why this YA series is important to me.