Heather Davis's Blog, page 2
October 3, 2017
YASH 2017 Fall Edition! #YASH
Hello and welcome! The Fall 217 YA Scavenger Hunt is live.
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I’m Heather Davis, your hostess for this leg of the Team Green hunt.
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About me:
In high school I was in a national TV commercial.
I was also voted most likely to laugh at her own jokes.
My favorite food is avocado on anything.
My favorite place to travel is Italy, but I dream of going to Iceland someday.
I’ve been writing Paranormal YA novels since 2005!
It’s been a while since I’ve done YASH but I’m excited to be participating as I’m launching a brand new Paranormal series this week with the debut of A CURSE SO DARK.
It’s the story of Lily Turner, who discovers when her deputy-sheriff father goes missing that her family’s been hiding a dark curse. As she and a handsome stranger––who’s concealing his own secret––search for Lily’s father, the full moon approaches, threatening to reveal everything to the tiny town of Pioneer Falls. It’s a fun, fast and romantic read and has a super-low debut price, so I hope you’ll check it out.
Also, when you get to Julie Reece’s blog on this team’s hunt, you can read a sneak preview of the opening scene of A CURSE SO DARK.
Ok, enough about me. If you’re just starting your hunt — here’s a few details you might want to know:
The hunt is live from Oct. 3rd to Oct. 8th — and there are seven grand prizes offered (one for each team). It’s easy to play. Each team post has a secret number, which you’ll add up to come up with the number to submit as your answer at the YASH website.
And now, for the hosting…
Please meet my featured Taylor Fenner
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Taylor Fenner grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. An admitted workaholic, when not working on a novel Taylor spends most of her time blogging about books on her blog, taking photos for her bookstagram account, binge watching the latest season of her favorite shows, and listening to music that’s sure to ruin her hearing eventually. Taylor is the author of 6 YA novels.
Taylor’s featuring her next book, CurseBreaker. Look at this gorgeous cover!
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A Scorned Queen, A Cursed Prince, A Girl begging for love and adventure…
History Channel’s Vikings meets Norse Folklore and Mythology in this High Fantasy retelling of the Norwegian Fairytale, East O’ The Sun and West O’ The Moon.
Eighteen-year-old Helga “Hel” Daalgaard has accepted that the only love and adventure in her future live within the pages of the books her father brings for her from his travels. She’s content helping around the home she shares with her parents and eight siblings; it may be a dull life but it’s all she’s ever known… until a polar bear arrives at their tiny cottage and offers up a strange proposal.
After spurning his young stepmother’s advances, Prince Dyre is cursed to spend his days in the body of a polar bear. To break the curse he must find a woman to fall in love with him and stay with him for a year – but the woman of his choosing can never learn that he is truly a man or Dyre will be forced into a future even worse than spending his days as a polar bear. He thinks Hel could be the one to break the curse, but if Hel ever finds out what brought them together he may lose her forever.
Nobody ever crossed Viveka, Queen of Aldavellir, and lived to tell about it. Dyre is the only man alive that has turned her down but she’ll have him whether he likes it or not. She’ll make it impossible for the girl he’s chosen to last long enough to break the curse. After all, queens don’t have to play fair.
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Sounds pretty interesting, right? preorder CurseBreaker here:
And now… here’s Taylor’s bonus material–– a playlist I’m surprised doesn’t have
33
songs on it. That plot could inspire a ton of music….
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CurseBreaker Playlist
Music is always a big part of my writing process. Sometimes a random line in a song can break my out of my writer’s block or drive me onward when I’m not sure where to go next with a story. For CurseBreaker I used a mash-up of songs by strong, confident female singers, songs that reminded me of the era and genre I was writing, and I also threw in a few songs that are just great to write to. Check them out…
If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray –
This is the theme song for my favorite show, Vikings, which was a huge influence for me while writing CurseBreaker since it is set in Viking-era Scandinavia. This song helped me get into the overall mood of the story.
Crystallize by Lindsey Stirling –
This song is one of my favorites to write to. Since there aren’t any lyrics I can just get lost in the melody while I write.
I Am The Fire by Halestorm –
Lzzy Hale of Halestorm is possibly my favorite female singer of all time. Not only is she a great singer, but she is a great role model for women. I wanted to make my MC, Hel, a strong female for her era and this song reminds me of loving yourself and embracing who you are.
Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling (featuring Lzzy Hale)
This song reminds me of someone who’s trapped and just wants to be set free which was a great mindset to get into while writing in the perspective of Dyre, my male lead in CurseBreaker.
I Hate Myself for Losing You by Kelly Clarkson
This song is an old favorite of mine and perfectly fits a scene toward the middle of CurseBreaker. The opening lines were especially inspiring:
“I woke up today
Woke up wide awake
In an empty bed
Staring at an empty room
I have myself to blame
For the state I’m in today”
Absolution by The Pretty Reckless
Taylor Momsen is another female singer that I love and admire and this song is well… it’s about asking for forgiveness and wanting to be saved, both of which play a part in this book.
Someday by We Are Harlot
This song is about searching for that one person that will make you complete. It’s about knowing that person is out there and waiting for you even though you haven’t met them yet. It represents Hel’s hopefulness and longing for something more.
You by The Pretty Reckless
This is a song about wanting someone you can’t have. (Or at least someone you think you can’t have?) This is another song that I listened to while writing in Dyre’s perspective.
When I’m Gone by 3 Doors Down
“So hold me when I’m here, right me when I’m wrong
Hold me when I’m scared and love me when I’m gone
Everything I am and everything in me
Wants to be the one you wanted me to be”
If Dyre was going to write a rock love song for the woman he loves, this would be the song.
Castle by Halsey
This is the one song I thought fit in so well with the fantasy genre I was writing and I loved this song from the very first time I heard it. This song inspired one very big scene toward the end of CurseBreaker (which I can’t tell you about 
September 27, 2017
Get Ready for The YA Scavenger Hunt #YASH Oct. 3rd
[image error]If your bookshelf is looking a little empty or the TBR pile next to your bed is dwindling, the Fall YA Scavenger Hunt is a great way to find new authors and books to read this season. I’ll be participating to launch A CURSE SO DARK, the first in my new YA Paranormal series.
I’m excited to jump in with these other YA authors to share info on upcoming releases, present special bonus materials and offer great team prizes! The YASH only happens twice a year––fall and spring. It runs Tuesday, Oct. 3 to Sunday, Oct. 8th.
How does it work?
The YASH includes one hundred forty authors split into seven teams of twenty. Each team is assigned a color. You hop through a team’s blogs, collecting the numerical clues and then submit your total to enter to win.
All the details are over at the YASH website. There you’ll find a list of all the authors participating as well as an answer sheet you can print off to gather the info you’re hunting for and to keep track of any bonus contests you may have entered. And, if you want you can start your hunt here on my blog on 10/3.
Here are the beautiful books featured this season in YASH. I’m especially partial to Team Green!
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I can’t wait for YASH to kickoff on October 3rd and start digging into some of these great fall reads. Meet me back here to start your hunt!
~ Heather
September 18, 2017
Cover Reveal: A Curse So Dark
I’m super excited to share the cover for the first book in my new Young Adult Paranormal series!
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A CURSE SO DARK will publish as an eBook original on October 5th and is a super low price for the release. It’s available for pre-order now at Amazon with more retailers to come…
Thanks!
Heather
September 14, 2017
A New Paranormal Series Announcement
A year ago, I dreamed up an idea for a new Young Adult Paranormal series, and I finally have news to share about it!
Pioneer Falls is a small logging town in the Pacific Northwest–– the kind of picturesque place where everyone pitches in to help their neighbors and also knows everyone else’s business. But there are some secrets people keep in town. Dangerous ones…
Aspiring journalist Lily Turner works to unravel some of the mysterious happenings in the area while keeping her own family’s dark curse hidden. But, as rival packs circle and hunters gather, the town may never be safe again.
A CURSE SO DARK will publish on October 5th.
Book Two will publish this November.
Book Three will follow this December.
That’s right — I am putting out three Pioneer Falls books in a row. And, you can read them all this year!
It’s been a lot of work to independently publish this series, but I am so happy to return to my first love––werewolves. And, as readers of the Never Cry Werewolf series know, I have a soft spot for dark, cursed heroes and adventure-seeking, smart heroines. (Just wait until you meet Lily’s crush, Morgan McAllister!)
I’ll be doing a cover reveal for A CURSE SO DARK next week. I can’t wait to show you the gorgeous artwork!
Thank you for reading and spreading the word on this new series.
Heather
P.S. These are publishing as eBook originals for now, but print may follow down the road.
May 16, 2017
Where do Story Ideas Come From?
“Where do you get your ideas?” That’s a question readers and aspiring writers ask authors all the time. Well, it’s not a magical process for me. I’m a collector.
All of my stories began as an image, a memory, or a what-if? thought. Sometimes, these bits of ideas takes forever to make sense. I’ve carried some for years and then one day — wham! — something else in my life collides with it, creating the perfect environment for the story to take shape. Sometimes, I’ve had the idea but not the knowledge of how to execute it. In those cases, it’s taken time for my skills to catch up with the story the idea warrants.
For Never Cry Werewolf it was a single image from a moving car.
I’d written a few young adult manuscripts that were getting attention from contests and agents, but I had yet to break through to traditional publication. Then, one day as I drove home from my day job, I passed through the dark, forested state park and started thinking about how it was the perfect location for a werewolf. And what if he was the hero and the heroine didn’t know his secret identity? I heard the sassy voice of Shelby, my protagonist, and her quirky, fumbling take on love and life and I was convinced to try writing the story. That vision of the park at night blossomed into my first published book.
The Clearing was inspired visually, too. What was behind the mist?
When I started writing novels, my desk was in a cramped single-wide trailer in the country. (We were so broke there were holes in the ceiling and the floors and resident mice — yikes!) Anyway, every morning from that vantage, I could see a big red barn on my neighbor’s forty acres. Sometimes, the fog would unroll completely over that building, hiding it under a thick misty blanket. It was almost as if the barn ceased to exist in our dimension. I began to wonder what if it was another world — a capsule in time? What if there was a teen boy, trapped in 1944 who lived in that time bubble? I held onto that idea for a couple of years, until I heard the voice of Amy, the heroine who needed to meet Henry, to experience the healing only he could help her find. I was in a place where I needed healing too, and I was finally ready to write The Clearing.
Other novels have been inspired by my family.
Wherever You Go came to me by way of my grandmother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s and the selfless devotion of my grandfather who cared for her. I believed she was still there, somewhere inside, even as her touch with this world was fading away. I took that memory and paired it with some ideas I’d been thinking of about depression, the afterlife, and something I’d read about a caregiver support group for teens who were caring for the adults in their family. A character began to take shape — Holly, an over-burdened teen with a mother who works two jobs and needs help caring for a grandfather with Alzheimer’s. It was a way to write through the pain of losing my grandmother, and to say something about how everyone needs to be seen and understood. Certainly, Rob, the ghost in that story is aching to be heard, just like Grandpa Aldo and Holly.
Now, I’m working on a new werewolf series inspired by a family tradition.
When I was small, my father bought three jade necklaces and gave one to each of his daughters as we turned sixteen. (My dad is super awesome and so thoughtful.) For a while, I’ve wanted to do something with that cool idea of a gift you got at sixteen. Last summer, as I thought about what to write next, I realized I could incorporate this necklace idea — a pendant as protection — into a paranormal romance set in a country town much like the one I used to live in when I wrote Never Cry Werewolf. Also, in all honesty, I’m excited to write another werewolf hero. (Werewolves are the best!) I’m having fun writing it now, and I’ll let you know details on publication in a few months.
So, to sum it all up for you — ideas are everywhere!
It’s a matter of recognizing something cool and keeping it until I match it with other things to create something unique. Sometimes I’m not ready for the idea. I don’t know yet what to do with it, or what it could be. But like a crow, I keep collecting those shiny bits of treasure and saving them in my nest. Or journal… You know what I mean.
Heather
P.S. Crows are amazing collectors. Check out this picture of one crow’s treasures.
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October 23, 2016
YA Thriller released!
Hello, readers!
I’m so happy to tell you that my new project has launched!
It’s called ALIAS RAVEN, and you’ll find it published under my new YA thriller pen name, A.M. Null.
There aren’t any werewolves in this book — it’s about teens trained at a creepy secret government facility and a mission gone wrong. The heroine is kick-ass and has a sense of loyalty that is almost her undoing. I think you’ll like it!
You can read an excerpt of Chapter One at this link.
Thanks so much for reading and hope you are having a fantastic fall!
Love and Light,
Heather
August 5, 2016
Announcement and Cover Reveal
Hello readers!
I’ve been working on a top secret project for the last year and finally can let you know some news. . .
In October, I’ll publish my Young Adult thriller ALIAS RAVEN using the pen name A.M. Null, with Paper Lantern Lit’s The Studio imprint. It’s a fast-paced story, with lots of action and twists, set against the world of a government shadow op and the teens they’ve trained for missions more dangerous than they realize.
It’s a bit different than my other novels (hence the pen name) but I think you’ll find the familiar deep emotion and a bit of humor that always infuses my work. Also, I should mention, there’s also a love story woven within this series that will make you swoon!
If you’d like to read more… and see the cover go to the awesome book blog Fitk-Shun for the exclusive cover reveal.
January 17, 2016
New project update
It’s been a long year, and I’m so glad to say goodbye to 2015 and move on! I hope you had a great year and read sooooo many books and enjoyed time with your friends like I did.
I’m happy to say that I’ve been working on a new project that I hope I can announce in the next few months, something very different for me, but still very satisfying for YA readers. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but over the last few years, the YA shelf has become pretty full, lots of genres and tones to choose from. My new project is something I’ve been working on for two years and it’s in a “white space” of YA — or maybe “gray” since by now it’s starting to pick up.
As always, my writing goes right to the heart of my characters’ deepest emotions and motivations — so though this new project will be faster paced, I’m aiming for it to have the depth that you’ve enjoyed in The Clearing and Wherever You Go. It’s not paranormal, so there are no werewolves involved.
One of the themes of this new project is survival, and the things we do and become to survive our greatest challenges. Sometimes, the challenge is as urgent as staying alive, other times it’s more subtle — like how we are fighting for our art or our belief in our selves. In this world, things chip away at us and we have to be stronger than ever to keep moving forward as our true selves.
Anyway, thank you for reading. I’ll post more news soon when I have it. Wishing you a wonderful year ahead.
Love and Light,
Heather
January 11, 2015
Happy 2015
Dear Readers:
It’s always a strange feeling for me to hang up that fresh calendar. There are always things I regret not getting done in the year before. Still, I look at the blank days and see possibilities. There are so many things to do. So many note cards to hang on my plotting board. So many pages of my black and white composition book to fill with scribbles and ideas that will eventually become a book. So many chapters to write and revisions to power through.
Without my publishing a new story, 2014 was a “building” year for me. I moved, established possibly the best writing office I’ve ever had and got organized. I produced the beginnings of several projects I hope to share with you in 2015. I set myself up for what I hope is the most productive and prolific writing periods in my life. It’s going to be a good year.
As always, I’m grateful for teens who read my books and for the discipline I’ve developed to keep writing stories, no matter the circumstances or challenges. I’m humbled by the notes from readers who enjoy my work, and am still astonished to get to share my art with the world. Writing is what creates meaning for me and I’m so very lucky to have learned that relatively early-on in my life. I hope your year is filled with meaning and stories, and all things good.
Love and Light,
Heather
November 24, 2013
Twists and Turns
It’s a Sunday morning, and I’m at my most favorite place in the world — my writing desk. It’s true that I love the beaches of Hawaii and the terraces of Rome, but I feel the most like myself when I’m working on a story.
I haven’t posted in a while, so to catch you up, I’ll let you know that I spent most of this year working on publishing the third part of my Never Cry Werewolf series and then polishing a middle grade fantasy project, which is probably what writers call “the book of my heart”. I’m taking a break from that beloved middle grade story now to work on a YA idea that’s been knocking around in my imagination for a few years.
Making this shift in projects feels like the difference between the careful creating you do when something is really revered and the reckless creating you do when you’re caught up in the passion of something.
The fervor to create feels good. And on a new project, I’m on a ride in the dark with twists and turns I can’t see coming. I think that’s the best way to figure a story out sometimes — writing into the void, surprising yourself as you will the reader, trusting your imagination to draw the map.
When I begin a novel, I know the ending of the story already (at least I think I do) but the fun of getting there, the mystery of how it all ends well at the place I’ve pinpointed, is something that keeps me writing. And hopefully, my readers reading.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, my friends! I am thankful for you.
Heather
