Amanda Hocking's Blog, page 7
August 1, 2010
frequently asked questions (kinda)
Okay, so people don't frequently ask me any questions, except for release dates. But I have heard some questions about Wisdom, and I'm going to answer a few of them.
When is the book coming out?
August 22nd, so only three more weeks!
What can we expect in Wisdom
More action, but I don't just mean fighting. Alice is on the move more. A lot of the story took place in the house previously, but I think hardly anything happens there this time.
More answers. Hopefully, a lot of the questions you've had over the last few books will be explained. Stuff that's been hinted at in the earlier books comes to fruition.
More bodies. People die in this book, and some of them are characters you know.
And of course, more Jack and Peter. ;)
Will this be the last book in the series?
When I conceptualized the story, I imagined it as five books, and I still think there's room for a fifth book. However, I haven't written it yet, and I plan on taking a break from this series for awhile to work on some other books. But I am planning to release a novella around Christmas called Letters to Elise.
Who does Alice end up with?
Well, for that one, you'll have to read the book to find out.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them, and I'll answer them the best I can.
When is the book coming out?
August 22nd, so only three more weeks!
What can we expect in Wisdom
More action, but I don't just mean fighting. Alice is on the move more. A lot of the story took place in the house previously, but I think hardly anything happens there this time.
More answers. Hopefully, a lot of the questions you've had over the last few books will be explained. Stuff that's been hinted at in the earlier books comes to fruition.
More bodies. People die in this book, and some of them are characters you know.
And of course, more Jack and Peter. ;)
Will this be the last book in the series?
When I conceptualized the story, I imagined it as five books, and I still think there's room for a fifth book. However, I haven't written it yet, and I plan on taking a break from this series for awhile to work on some other books. But I am planning to release a novella around Christmas called Letters to Elise.
Who does Alice end up with?
Well, for that one, you'll have to read the book to find out.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them, and I'll answer them the best I can.
July 30, 2010
Criris Averted
So, I wrote Wisdom. And what you may or may not know is that I was not pleased with the ending. Not pleased at all. It didn't feel... right. I still can't say what exactly was wrong with it except it seemed too... sterile. I don't know if that's the right word, but that's the one I'm using.
The good news is: Inspiration hit, and I rewrote the ending tonight! The last 6,500 words were cut, trimmed, or rerranged, and the word count went up to almost 10k. But you know what? That's okay. Because the ending is perfect.
Really. Well, I think it's perfect.
I feel so relieved. I really hated the old ending and couldn't figure out how to fix it.
Anyway, I fixed it. I'm excited. I can't wait for you all to read it.
(Which will be on August 22nd, when the highly anticipated fourth novel in the My Blood Approves series is released. Meanwhile, feel free to catch up on the rest of the My Blood Approves on Amazon.com now, as well as the first book in the new Trylle Trilogy.)
But right now, I'm off to watch Top Chef and do laundry. Yes, that is how glamorous my life is. ;)
The good news is: Inspiration hit, and I rewrote the ending tonight! The last 6,500 words were cut, trimmed, or rerranged, and the word count went up to almost 10k. But you know what? That's okay. Because the ending is perfect.
Really. Well, I think it's perfect.
I feel so relieved. I really hated the old ending and couldn't figure out how to fix it.
Anyway, I fixed it. I'm excited. I can't wait for you all to read it.
(Which will be on August 22nd, when the highly anticipated fourth novel in the My Blood Approves series is released. Meanwhile, feel free to catch up on the rest of the My Blood Approves on Amazon.com now, as well as the first book in the new Trylle Trilogy.)
But right now, I'm off to watch Top Chef and do laundry. Yes, that is how glamorous my life is. ;)
July 23, 2010
some inspiration behind my upcoming novel "Wisdom"
It's a month until the release of Wisdom. I've been working on it, getting it ready for the big day, and I thought I would give you a little insight into what's going on.
Here's the thing: I don't like "happily ever after." It's not that I don't like happy endings. I do. Everything should have a happy ending. But I don't like these blanket ones. (Side note: Just because I like happy ending doesn't mean I wrote one - but I might have.)
Take the end of Cinderella. She gets married after meeting the guy once, and even though he's supposedly so infatuated with her, he can't even remember what she looks like well enough to find her without relying on a shoe size? They have a shotgun wedding, ride off in the carriage, the music soars, Disney says "Happily Ever After," but I'm sitting there going, "And then what?"
How did the marriage work? Did they have anything in common? What kind of things do they do? Does Cinderella make a good queen? What does she do with her family? Did she take the mice with her when she moved out?
At some point, a story has to end, yes. But I don't want it to end with a "everything will be great every day on now that they have this one thing." I want a glimpse of what happily ever after will look like. Or maybe it's not a happily ever after even.
Maybe the Prince beats Cinderella. Who knows? We know literally nothing about him, except he is unable to recognize faces. Maybe he's autistic. I think I heard once they have a problem with facial recognition. And they can still have a happy life if he's autistic, but it's a different one than the one Disney always painted. A more interesting one, too.
So, anyway, I wrote the first three books in the My Blood Approves series, and I left a few questions open. There's some stuff I knew I wanted to answer in Wisdom.
But I got thinking about it - happily ever after is a really long time when you live forever. What would that even mean for vampires?
What would you really do with forever?
All the titles of the books are taken from the e e cummings poem "Since Feeling Is First," but Wisdom is an especially apt title. Alice has made a lot of choices in the books, some good, some bad. But it's time for her to reap what she's sown, to grow up and understand who she is and what she has yet to become.
Here's the thing: I don't like "happily ever after." It's not that I don't like happy endings. I do. Everything should have a happy ending. But I don't like these blanket ones. (Side note: Just because I like happy ending doesn't mean I wrote one - but I might have.)
Take the end of Cinderella. She gets married after meeting the guy once, and even though he's supposedly so infatuated with her, he can't even remember what she looks like well enough to find her without relying on a shoe size? They have a shotgun wedding, ride off in the carriage, the music soars, Disney says "Happily Ever After," but I'm sitting there going, "And then what?"
How did the marriage work? Did they have anything in common? What kind of things do they do? Does Cinderella make a good queen? What does she do with her family? Did she take the mice with her when she moved out?
At some point, a story has to end, yes. But I don't want it to end with a "everything will be great every day on now that they have this one thing." I want a glimpse of what happily ever after will look like. Or maybe it's not a happily ever after even.
Maybe the Prince beats Cinderella. Who knows? We know literally nothing about him, except he is unable to recognize faces. Maybe he's autistic. I think I heard once they have a problem with facial recognition. And they can still have a happy life if he's autistic, but it's a different one than the one Disney always painted. A more interesting one, too.
So, anyway, I wrote the first three books in the My Blood Approves series, and I left a few questions open. There's some stuff I knew I wanted to answer in Wisdom.
But I got thinking about it - happily ever after is a really long time when you live forever. What would that even mean for vampires?
What would you really do with forever?
All the titles of the books are taken from the e e cummings poem "Since Feeling Is First," but Wisdom is an especially apt title. Alice has made a lot of choices in the books, some good, some bad. But it's time for her to reap what she's sown, to grow up and understand who she is and what she has yet to become.
July 21, 2010
you may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I have a widget for the Wisdom countdown on my blog. Apparently, it's only 32 days away. Egads!
I'm working on some fun things for the release of that, and I will be asking for beta readers/editors soon. I'm not asking yet, so don't offer yet, cause Wisdom isn't quite ready for betas yet.
Last night, I had a super bizarre, sometime frightening dream. I had to hide under a bed to avoid getting shot at one point. What I remember clearly: The song "Purple Rain" played in the background the entire time, but like over the loudspeaker at a mall - very background noise. And Joseph Gorden-Levitt was there, helping me, I think.
So I blame the entire dream on Inception.
As a writer and a frequent-owner of very, very bizarre dreams, I often wonder if given the option to live entirely in a fantasy (i.e. a made up world in my mind or dreams or what have you), would I choose it?
That's not say that I don't love my friends or family or many parts of my real life. Most of them in fact. But if I could live in a place where I always control everything, where I can do anything, look fancy, frolic with unicorns and Heath Ledger, would I take it? Even if I knew it wasn't real?
That's a pretty fundamental question, though. Is real pain better than false happiness? Not that my life is pain pain, but it's not perfect. Maybe that's a better way of phrasing it - are real flaws better than false perfection?
Obviously, the correct answer is to choose reality vs. delusion. That's the right thing. The moral thing. But the right thing is for me to exercise 30 minutes day and save at least 10% of my check, but I don't do those either.
I can't honestly say that I would pick the right thing in that situation. I'd like to spoiler alert at least three movies with Leonard DiCaprio - no, wait, I'll make that four - to help support my hypothesis, but I can't. I mean, I can. But I don't want to "Rosebud is the sled" them all for you.
The point is - I'm an honest person. And I like anybody that tells the truth. I have more respect for people who come out and say they're an asshole than people who pretend to be nice.
But I think if given the chance, I might choose to dream over real life. Even a bad dream. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person. I'd like to think it makes me a dreamer, but it probably just means I'm lazy.
Probably, I'll never be given the chance to find out.
I'm working on some fun things for the release of that, and I will be asking for beta readers/editors soon. I'm not asking yet, so don't offer yet, cause Wisdom isn't quite ready for betas yet.
Last night, I had a super bizarre, sometime frightening dream. I had to hide under a bed to avoid getting shot at one point. What I remember clearly: The song "Purple Rain" played in the background the entire time, but like over the loudspeaker at a mall - very background noise. And Joseph Gorden-Levitt was there, helping me, I think.
So I blame the entire dream on Inception.
As a writer and a frequent-owner of very, very bizarre dreams, I often wonder if given the option to live entirely in a fantasy (i.e. a made up world in my mind or dreams or what have you), would I choose it?
That's not say that I don't love my friends or family or many parts of my real life. Most of them in fact. But if I could live in a place where I always control everything, where I can do anything, look fancy, frolic with unicorns and Heath Ledger, would I take it? Even if I knew it wasn't real?
That's a pretty fundamental question, though. Is real pain better than false happiness? Not that my life is pain pain, but it's not perfect. Maybe that's a better way of phrasing it - are real flaws better than false perfection?
Obviously, the correct answer is to choose reality vs. delusion. That's the right thing. The moral thing. But the right thing is for me to exercise 30 minutes day and save at least 10% of my check, but I don't do those either.
I can't honestly say that I would pick the right thing in that situation. I'd like to spoiler alert at least three movies with Leonard DiCaprio - no, wait, I'll make that four - to help support my hypothesis, but I can't. I mean, I can. But I don't want to "Rosebud is the sled" them all for you.
The point is - I'm an honest person. And I like anybody that tells the truth. I have more respect for people who come out and say they're an asshole than people who pretend to be nice.
But I think if given the chance, I might choose to dream over real life. Even a bad dream. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person. I'd like to think it makes me a dreamer, but it probably just means I'm lazy.
Probably, I'll never be given the chance to find out.
July 11, 2010
Switched is out TODAY!
Amazon, in its infinite wisdom and tricky trickiness, has
Switched
for sale today. It's currently only available for the Kindle, but the paperbacks should be up soon.
And the good news is I was able to keep paperback prices much lower than I was for the My Blood Approves series by switching publishing companies. Paperback copies of Switched will only be $7.99, and the Kindle version is only $2.99!!!!!
So buy your copy of Switched today! :)
And the good news is I was able to keep paperback prices much lower than I was for the My Blood Approves series by switching publishing companies. Paperback copies of Switched will only be $7.99, and the Kindle version is only $2.99!!!!!
So buy your copy of Switched today! :)
July 7, 2010
New Book Out Monday!!!!
The first book in my new paranormal romance trilogy comes out Monday. Switched is set to come out on July 12th. This also happens to be my birthday, so every time someone buys one of my books, it's like a birthday present :)
I've also set up a fancy new site for Switched , and you can check it out here: Switched info. It has the first two chapters and a soundtrack for the book, with more fun stuff to come.
Starting on July 12th, I'll be having a contest to win copies of Switched , and I'll have the details posted then.
The description for Switched is:
When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth.
With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.
I hope you check it out!
I've also set up a fancy new site for Switched , and you can check it out here: Switched info. It has the first two chapters and a soundtrack for the book, with more fun stuff to come.
Starting on July 12th, I'll be having a contest to win copies of Switched , and I'll have the details posted then.
The description for Switched is:
When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth.
With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.
I hope you check it out!
June 21, 2010
My Blood Approves book trailer
So I'll be honest and say that I wasn't a firm believer in book trailers. Especially after I saw the one for Richelle Mead's Spirit Bound . I wasn't sure if I ever wanted one for myself.
Then Ronnell D. Porteroffered to do a book trailer for me, and after seeing the amazing job he did for his own book
The Undying I had to check it out.
What he came up with for My Blood Approves is just fantastic. It's turned me around completely, and now I'm a big fan of the book trailer.
So, check it out: My Blood Approves trailer
Then Ronnell D. Porteroffered to do a book trailer for me, and after seeing the amazing job he did for his own book
The Undying I had to check it out.
What he came up with for My Blood Approves is just fantastic. It's turned me around completely, and now I'm a big fan of the book trailer.
So, check it out: My Blood Approves trailer
