Brenda Tetreault's Blog - Posts Tagged "nightshade"
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
So...this is the first ever of what will probably be a very sporadic blog.
First off...I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Secondly...I wanted to let you know that ALL THREE Nightshade Novels are ON SALE! That's right! Tempted, Salvaged, and Beloved are on sale for just 99 pennies through New Year's Eve! And I know there's a lot of you out there with Amazon gift cards just burning a hole in your pocket. Why not make that card go as far as it can by picking up the first three Nightshade Novels for the price of one?
Thirdly...I know there are some of you out there that keep up with me who are anxious to hear anything concerning the new Nightshade Novel. Well, you're in luck, because as of right now, the fourth book in the Nightshade Series will be called REDEEMED and will feature Ariel and Ben and I will begin serious writing on their story after the new year. But as many of you know....the best laid plans of even the most organized author can often go awry, and that goes for story lines as well, and I can't guarantee that Ariel and Ben will cooperate, but I'll do my best to keep both them and myself focused and on task.
So....Until my next who knows when post, take care, be happy, and remember to laugh!
First off...I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Secondly...I wanted to let you know that ALL THREE Nightshade Novels are ON SALE! That's right! Tempted, Salvaged, and Beloved are on sale for just 99 pennies through New Year's Eve! And I know there's a lot of you out there with Amazon gift cards just burning a hole in your pocket. Why not make that card go as far as it can by picking up the first three Nightshade Novels for the price of one?
Thirdly...I know there are some of you out there that keep up with me who are anxious to hear anything concerning the new Nightshade Novel. Well, you're in luck, because as of right now, the fourth book in the Nightshade Series will be called REDEEMED and will feature Ariel and Ben and I will begin serious writing on their story after the new year. But as many of you know....the best laid plans of even the most organized author can often go awry, and that goes for story lines as well, and I can't guarantee that Ariel and Ben will cooperate, but I'll do my best to keep both them and myself focused and on task.
So....Until my next who knows when post, take care, be happy, and remember to laugh!
Changing Things Up. Or...The Best Laid Plans of Authors
So I know I just said on Christmas that I was getting ready to start Ben and Ariel's story. And I was; I have the story ready to go and I'm just waiting for the holidays to be over once and for all so I can write without pressure or distraction.
However...
It seems a certain Pixie princess that we met in Beloved has decided that she's not happy with that plan, and had made it her mission in life to harass me until I cave in and write HER story.
So that's what I've done. I am now committed to writing BONDED- Gianna and Gideon's story.
DON'T PANIC!
I know there are some out there who are anxious for Ariel and Ben's story. I promise that I'll pop in and give you a peek into how things are going with them as we go along!
However...
It seems a certain Pixie princess that we met in Beloved has decided that she's not happy with that plan, and had made it her mission in life to harass me until I cave in and write HER story.
So that's what I've done. I am now committed to writing BONDED- Gianna and Gideon's story.
DON'T PANIC!
I know there are some out there who are anxious for Ariel and Ben's story. I promise that I'll pop in and give you a peek into how things are going with them as we go along!
Alphas Gone Wild
Most authors, whether they admit it out loud or not, listen to little voices in their heads as they write their stories.
Some of us,like myself, embrace those little voices and soon come to realize that these voices are actually those of our characters. And when those voices are rolling along, and everything is clicking, an author feels like a maestro, directing the story along its merry way.
But it's all an illusion.
You see, my darlings, as authors, we have no control whatsoever over the little voices or what story they wish to tell. It doesn't matter how silly, overused, or trite we may think something they come up with is, if that's what they want, that's what they get. It's no use in trying to talk them out of it or change the story to something you are more comfortable with; the moment you try is when the characters start acting like spoiled children.
Take for example my character, Gideon. He's immortal, he's a strong alpha male, and he's a solitary man doing all he can to make this often cold and cruel world a little better whenever he can. And he's come up against a force of Nature unlike any he's ever faced in his very long life- a pretty, Pixie princess whose appetite for carnal sin is just as powerful as his.
Unfortunately, Gideon doesn't want to play house with Gianna; he'd rather leave her all alone to fend for herself, stashed away in a farmhouse far off the beaten path. No matter how much I cajole him, he just isn't having any of it. He enjoys his quiet, neat, and tidy life, and sees no reason to upset the balance with Gianna's often chaotic influence.
Even though hes already bonded to her.
Yeah. That's right. Gianna and Gideon are bonded mates. Gianna doesn't quite know yet, though she feels there's something different about him, and he's just being too stubborn and pig headed to listen to Gianna, his heart, OR me. Looks like Gianna is going to have to take matters into her own hands in order to bring Gideon not only to his knees, but to make sure everything works out for the best.
*Sigh* I hope Gideon comes to his senses soon...
I'd really hate to have to feed his sorry ass to a Strigoi...
Some of us,like myself, embrace those little voices and soon come to realize that these voices are actually those of our characters. And when those voices are rolling along, and everything is clicking, an author feels like a maestro, directing the story along its merry way.
But it's all an illusion.
You see, my darlings, as authors, we have no control whatsoever over the little voices or what story they wish to tell. It doesn't matter how silly, overused, or trite we may think something they come up with is, if that's what they want, that's what they get. It's no use in trying to talk them out of it or change the story to something you are more comfortable with; the moment you try is when the characters start acting like spoiled children.
Take for example my character, Gideon. He's immortal, he's a strong alpha male, and he's a solitary man doing all he can to make this often cold and cruel world a little better whenever he can. And he's come up against a force of Nature unlike any he's ever faced in his very long life- a pretty, Pixie princess whose appetite for carnal sin is just as powerful as his.
Unfortunately, Gideon doesn't want to play house with Gianna; he'd rather leave her all alone to fend for herself, stashed away in a farmhouse far off the beaten path. No matter how much I cajole him, he just isn't having any of it. He enjoys his quiet, neat, and tidy life, and sees no reason to upset the balance with Gianna's often chaotic influence.
Even though hes already bonded to her.
Yeah. That's right. Gianna and Gideon are bonded mates. Gianna doesn't quite know yet, though she feels there's something different about him, and he's just being too stubborn and pig headed to listen to Gianna, his heart, OR me. Looks like Gianna is going to have to take matters into her own hands in order to bring Gideon not only to his knees, but to make sure everything works out for the best.
*Sigh* I hope Gideon comes to his senses soon...
I'd really hate to have to feed his sorry ass to a Strigoi...
Still getting use to this...
Back in December, I entered an Author Appreciation contest on Facebook, put on by Jennifer's Book Obsession. Well, I won! And I won the prize I really wanted to win!
The Curse of The Spam Folder went into effect almost immediately, and e-mails were misdirected and I feared that this prize that I had won wouldn't come to fruition.
You see, I had won a book trailer, made just for one of my books from Books Need TLC. It's the one thing I've always wanted to do with my books, promotion wise, but having no clue how to do it, or the money to hire someone, this seemed like my best chance to get at least ONE book done.
Thankfully, the curse was defeated, and I was soon in contact with Lori from Books Need TLC. She asked me for the title of the book I wanted the trailer to be about, who my physical inspirations were for each character, and my playlist.
Now, unlike a lot of authors, I don't have a playlist of specific songs that I listened to as I wrote Tempted. No, being the odd duck that I can sometimes be, I had a play CATALOG. You see, I don't just listen to certain songs over and over on repeat. No. I decide which artists I'm in the mood for, and listen to literally EVERYTHING they've ever produced. For Tempted, I listened to Adelle, Pink, David Bowie, Imagine Dragons, Bruno Mars, Florence +The Machine, One Direction, One Republic,and Train.
I told this to Lori and she later messaged me that she loved my taste in music and that she was finding that it really fit the story. This was when I realized that Lori had actually bought a copy of my book and was reading it. Now the fact that she would do this had never occurred to me; I thought I would be answering a lot of questions and looking at a lot of pictures and snippets as she went through the process of making the trailer. But now that I think about it, I guess I should have realized.
Live and learn, right?
A few days ago, Lori messaged me, saying that she was having a hard time deciding between two songs by Florence +The Machine as the soundtrack to the video- Heavy On You and Never Let Me GO-, and asked me what my opinion was. After listening to both songs, I told her that Never Let Me Go was the song I would pick. It seems great minds think alike, because that's the direction she'd been leaning in.
Fast forward to yesterday. I come home from work to find that Lori had e-mailed me again. This time with the link to the completed trailer.
I can't tell you how emotional I felt watching it the first hundred times.There's something so overwhelming about seeing characters that have really only lived inside my head come to life on my computer screen. And I've just come to realize that I now live in a literary world in which Roman and Sabrina are alive, and not just on the pages of a book or in the minds of the readers.
I present to you Exhibit A....A video of Roman and Sabrina, come to living, breathing, loving life....
https://www.goodreads.com/videos/7849...
This is going to take a few days to get use to...
The Curse of The Spam Folder went into effect almost immediately, and e-mails were misdirected and I feared that this prize that I had won wouldn't come to fruition.
You see, I had won a book trailer, made just for one of my books from Books Need TLC. It's the one thing I've always wanted to do with my books, promotion wise, but having no clue how to do it, or the money to hire someone, this seemed like my best chance to get at least ONE book done.
Thankfully, the curse was defeated, and I was soon in contact with Lori from Books Need TLC. She asked me for the title of the book I wanted the trailer to be about, who my physical inspirations were for each character, and my playlist.
Now, unlike a lot of authors, I don't have a playlist of specific songs that I listened to as I wrote Tempted. No, being the odd duck that I can sometimes be, I had a play CATALOG. You see, I don't just listen to certain songs over and over on repeat. No. I decide which artists I'm in the mood for, and listen to literally EVERYTHING they've ever produced. For Tempted, I listened to Adelle, Pink, David Bowie, Imagine Dragons, Bruno Mars, Florence +The Machine, One Direction, One Republic,and Train.
I told this to Lori and she later messaged me that she loved my taste in music and that she was finding that it really fit the story. This was when I realized that Lori had actually bought a copy of my book and was reading it. Now the fact that she would do this had never occurred to me; I thought I would be answering a lot of questions and looking at a lot of pictures and snippets as she went through the process of making the trailer. But now that I think about it, I guess I should have realized.
Live and learn, right?
A few days ago, Lori messaged me, saying that she was having a hard time deciding between two songs by Florence +The Machine as the soundtrack to the video- Heavy On You and Never Let Me GO-, and asked me what my opinion was. After listening to both songs, I told her that Never Let Me Go was the song I would pick. It seems great minds think alike, because that's the direction she'd been leaning in.
Fast forward to yesterday. I come home from work to find that Lori had e-mailed me again. This time with the link to the completed trailer.
I can't tell you how emotional I felt watching it the first hundred times.There's something so overwhelming about seeing characters that have really only lived inside my head come to life on my computer screen. And I've just come to realize that I now live in a literary world in which Roman and Sabrina are alive, and not just on the pages of a book or in the minds of the readers.
I present to you Exhibit A....A video of Roman and Sabrina, come to living, breathing, loving life....
https://www.goodreads.com/videos/7849...
This is going to take a few days to get use to...
When little voices run wild
The mental life of an author is often compared to a mild case of schizophrenia- in that we often have multiple personalities running around inside our heads, making us a little crazy.
On the plus side, those little voices, while not entirely real, have some really great stories to tell. And lucky us, as authors, we're the ones that get to write those stories down and tell them to the world. So it can be a bit disconcerting for the people that live and work around an author in everyday life to see the author suddenly start pacing back and forth, a frown of concentration on their face as they go into some kind of trance like state.
For me, that's usually when the little voices (or LV's for short) have taken over the asylum of my brain and are running amok. And it's usually when they have some twist or cliff hanger to spring on not only myself but an unsuspecting reading world.
That's what happened today, in the middle of a rather short and slow shift at my day job. Thankfully, when the LV's told me this little cliffie, it was so good, and I was so excited, that I didn't have to suddenly scramble for paper and pen and furiously scribble it down in that God awful hieroglyphic writing we authors call penmanship. But I DID walk away from my station and start pacing a little. When a co-worker asked if I was all right, all I could do was smile and say, 'Oh yes. This is going to be brilliant!'
So warning to you all...Bonded is gonna have the mother of cliffies at the end....
Hey! Don't blame me! Blame the LV's!!!!!
On the plus side, those little voices, while not entirely real, have some really great stories to tell. And lucky us, as authors, we're the ones that get to write those stories down and tell them to the world. So it can be a bit disconcerting for the people that live and work around an author in everyday life to see the author suddenly start pacing back and forth, a frown of concentration on their face as they go into some kind of trance like state.
For me, that's usually when the little voices (or LV's for short) have taken over the asylum of my brain and are running amok. And it's usually when they have some twist or cliff hanger to spring on not only myself but an unsuspecting reading world.
That's what happened today, in the middle of a rather short and slow shift at my day job. Thankfully, when the LV's told me this little cliffie, it was so good, and I was so excited, that I didn't have to suddenly scramble for paper and pen and furiously scribble it down in that God awful hieroglyphic writing we authors call penmanship. But I DID walk away from my station and start pacing a little. When a co-worker asked if I was all right, all I could do was smile and say, 'Oh yes. This is going to be brilliant!'
So warning to you all...Bonded is gonna have the mother of cliffies at the end....
Hey! Don't blame me! Blame the LV's!!!!!
Oops
So sorry for the span of time between posts. I've been rather busy writing the new Nightshade book and with a few things in my personal life. (More on that in the next post, I promise!)
As I said, I've been writing the new Nightshade novel, and If you take a quick look, you'll find the place holder picture for the cover image, as well as the synopsis for FATED (Nightshade #4). Go ahead...take a look...I'll wait...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Now...If you've been reading the series, then you remember Gideon and Gianna. Get ready....this is their story!
Fated is currently with the beta readers, and later this week, I hope to get up with the cover artist to get the cover art finalized. I'll be doing a cover reveal on June 14th, when I open Fated up to PRE-ORDER on Amazon. Release date is July 14th- Just a mere six weeks away!
Keep an eye out on my author page at Facebook- there will be new teasers for Fated posted now and then between now and release day. Here's the link if you need it:
https://www.facebook.com/BrendaTetrea...
Well, that's about it from this little corner of the world. Hope all is well in Reader Land, and please remember: I love hearing from you! Please feel free to comment here or message me on Facebook!
As I said, I've been writing the new Nightshade novel, and If you take a quick look, you'll find the place holder picture for the cover image, as well as the synopsis for FATED (Nightshade #4). Go ahead...take a look...I'll wait...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Now...If you've been reading the series, then you remember Gideon and Gianna. Get ready....this is their story!
Fated is currently with the beta readers, and later this week, I hope to get up with the cover artist to get the cover art finalized. I'll be doing a cover reveal on June 14th, when I open Fated up to PRE-ORDER on Amazon. Release date is July 14th- Just a mere six weeks away!
Keep an eye out on my author page at Facebook- there will be new teasers for Fated posted now and then between now and release day. Here's the link if you need it:
https://www.facebook.com/BrendaTetrea...
Well, that's about it from this little corner of the world. Hope all is well in Reader Land, and please remember: I love hearing from you! Please feel free to comment here or message me on Facebook!
Isn't it pretty????
Hello, my darlings!
I just wanted to stop by and show you the official cover for Fated (Nightshade #4)!
Isn't it beautiful???
Keep an eye out; the link for pre-ordering Fated will go live very soon!
Love you all!
I just wanted to stop by and show you the official cover for Fated (Nightshade #4)!
Isn't it beautiful???
Keep an eye out; the link for pre-ordering Fated will go live very soon!
Love you all!
WOO HOO!!!
The pre-order link for Fated (Nightshade #4) is LIVE!!!
Just click on the link below my darlings, and get your copy of Fated for $1.99 when it comes out on July 14! That's a savings of 50%!
Pre-Order Link:
http://amzn.to/1HLKXkz
Until next time!
Just click on the link below my darlings, and get your copy of Fated for $1.99 when it comes out on July 14! That's a savings of 50%!
Pre-Order Link:
http://amzn.to/1HLKXkz
Until next time!
Tempted Audiobook Coming SOON!
Yes, my dearest readers, you read that headline correctly!
There is an audiobook of Tempted in production as I write this! The narrator is a lovely lady named Sonja Field, and she has done a SUPERB job of bring Roman, Sabrina, Caine, and Gaela to life! Her vocal stylings reminds me greatly of Tavia Gilbert, the narrator of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series and I can't wait for you all to hear her tell the story of Tempted!
At the moment, everything from Prologue to Epilogue has been recorded, edited, and uploaded. There are still the opening and closing credits to finish and the 5 minute preview before it's ready for sale, but it won't be too long!
Even better, Sonja is interested in doing the next book, Salvaged!
I'll keep you updated as things develop!
There is an audiobook of Tempted in production as I write this! The narrator is a lovely lady named Sonja Field, and she has done a SUPERB job of bring Roman, Sabrina, Caine, and Gaela to life! Her vocal stylings reminds me greatly of Tavia Gilbert, the narrator of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series and I can't wait for you all to hear her tell the story of Tempted!
At the moment, everything from Prologue to Epilogue has been recorded, edited, and uploaded. There are still the opening and closing credits to finish and the 5 minute preview before it's ready for sale, but it won't be too long!
Even better, Sonja is interested in doing the next book, Salvaged!
I'll keep you updated as things develop!
