Penelope Fletcher's Blog, page 8

I'm Back ... with Random News

After a bout of sickness (that knocked me flat) the last couple of weeks (even had to take time off the day job) I am slowly coming back ... kicking. A positive of my downtime is that I went back into the Kindle Board Writers Cafe. I downloaded a forum app to my iPhone as I was bored in bed, re-discovered it on there, and I'm enjoying it. 

I also visited a writers group a couple of weekends ago to talk about being an Indie Author called Writebulb, which was wonderful. They are a dedicated group of writers who support each other in their individual writing aspirations. I was thrilled to go, and impressed with how they each organised their own writing goals.
My Demon Day ARC's are due to go out on the 31st of March, and I am crapping myself. My copy-editor is good to go on the edit so I should have the final version back by the end of April. Then (hopefully) I will have my ARC feedback, and I can get the final version completed in May for the eBook release in June.
Um, I added a ShortStack welcome page to my Facebook Fan Page, a tool that removes the need to learn FBML or as an alternate to hiring somebody. The bad: I had to upgrade from a free account to paid almost immediately since I already had over 100 fans. The good: application is dead easy to use. I now have my newsletter, book sample, trailer, twitter feed and a cool voting tool via my page which gets over 1,000 impressions each time I post, so it was worth it for me. So ... I do recommend this to other Indie's. It's completely free (no subscribe obligations) if you have under 100 fans and you want to try it. Check out what mine looks like, the tab is called 'Hai!'; Demon Girl Fan Page. There are snazzy templates available to make your welcome page look unique, but I am a simple kinda gal, lol. This tool does make the fan pages more ... promotable ... dynamic, as you can use the share functions and make changes instantly.
Okay, let's move on to giveaways. All of them were definite successes! My Facebook giveaway had 70something entries and the winner seemed quite thrilled. Awesomeness. 
My fReado giveaway closed with a wining bid. I am enjoying BookBuzzr as a whole (the Author end of fReado). See how I crap I am at promotion, I was a featured Author at one point on the site in March, did I mention that before now? Anyway, it's easy and fun. In one month my cover was seen 3322 times, and my book "memorizations" total to 942. This means 942 people have successfully matched my cover with its hidden counterpart in the games. The idea is when they are browsing books they will recognize my book cover and feel more inclined to investigate. See? Hm.... I'm going to keep my account since I can see value here. I just need to learn how to effectively use the tool my way. I may try it with #SampleSunday (I plan to try it this weekend, I hear good things), and will see if the widget stats go up (you can see the widget in the top right hand corner of this blog). Twitter is an area I am openly dubious of as a means of book promotion, so we shall see.
The Big One was my WattPad dialog contest, and there were around 70 (valid) entries. It took me almost a week to decide my top ten favorite lines - they were all so damn good. I asked for lines and I got paragraphs from these adorable people *mouth falls open*. And nearly 1,000 watched the video of me rambling on about it, so, I'm very happy :D (if you haven't seen it already it's on the Contest Page in the closed section). 
After much deliberation I whittled the list down to twenty then ten and from the ten four winners were randomly selected using Random.org to win a hardback copy of The Demon Girl. The winners lines are emboldened. I'll definitely be doing something similar again if Demon Day is successful and WattPad let me. I might even do a prize pack or something to see if it generates even more interest. Possibly a collaboration with other Indie's? Anyhoo....
Entry 14 by @mickymouse"Know that even as you walk away from me, I will always be yours whether I am wanted or not."
Entry 18 by @lyssaspells"Je suis à toi pour toujours."
Entry 20 by @Ninjalover22"What you do, what you say, what you think, what you are is beautiful."
Entry 27 by @Zynthetikk"You're my darkest secret, but darkness does not always mean evil and light does not always mean good."
Entry 29 by @xx_Queen_xx"You are my Rae of hope, my reason to live, my reason for everything."
Entry 39 by @ellywelly007"Forever you will stay in my heart ... forever"
Entry 50 by @Josie3"I'll die for you but better than that I'll live for you."
Entry 53 by @Avancidy"Your everything that I want and everything I plan to have."
Entry 60 by @HardCandi"Because that is what you are; you are life to me."
Entry 65 by @SincerelyTuesday"And for every step you take I will be here waiting, waiting for you to realize what I feel for you cannot by masked by the damnation of my soul."
Well, that is it from me for now. I'll try out #SampleSunday and see how that goes. I also have a place booked on ParaYourNormal blog talk radio show on the 20th April at 3.30pm PST, so more on that soon.

Author Interview with Stephen Sweeney

Another of my interviews with an Indie Author that inspires me. I am a big believer it's important to diversify your reading. We all have our favourite genre, but reading something out of your norm allows you to appreciate books in a new way, and can be a refreshing change.

One such read of mine was a space opera titled Honour of the Knights. Two chapters in I was slowly being pulled out of my comfort zone and into a brave new world. Well, Stephen's ears must have been burning since he tweeted me to congratulate me on my book when I was reading his (with my jaw on the floor). A space opera is not something I would usually read, but this one has most definitely opened me up to them.

I'm thrilled to share with you my interview with Stephen Sweeney author of the Battle for the Solar System series;

Apple Pages or Microsoft Word?
I actually use Open Office, a free office suite that is able to import and export Word documents, as well as create PDFs and all kinds of other nifty bits and pieces. It's fully featured, so suits my needs perfectly.

What was the last film you saw that was unexpectedly brilliant? 
Unexpectedly... hmmmm, well, I'll forego saying Avatar and Inception (which were both excellent), and go with Paul, the new Simon Pegg and Nick Frost film. I guess I'd forgotten just how funny the two could be on screen together. It was very funny and I highly recommend it. It will definitely be making it into my DVD / Bluray collection.

How are you finding being an Indie Author? Would you choose the traditionally published route in future?
Right now, I'm very much enjoying being an indie author. It's wonderful to know that all the energy and effort that goes into creating a full length novel won't go to waste. There is also the benefit of retaining creative control over the work, which, for a series such as Battle for the Solar System, is very important to me right now. As a story I've wanted to write for years, I'm not sure I'd have it any other way. Since the story means a great deal to me, I'd not want to change the ending, remove a character, or event, or write it differently. Having said that, I would still very much love to be a traditionally published author, as that route offers opportunities that aren't easily accessible to indie authors - increased availability in foreign markets, translation rights, and better marketing. One can also draw upon the expertise of some very talented folk working in the industry. Once I'm done with BFTSS, I intend to resume the pursuit of commercial publishing with some new stories. It's nice to know that I can still get the work out there independently, though. The eBook revolution has been quite a boon for independent writers. I think it's a shame that a book someone has spent months, maybe even years, writing is shut away in a drawer, hidden away from the world. There are probably lots of wonderful stories out there that no-one ever got to read.

What's your creative poison when writing?
I don't tend to have one. When writing, I try to ensure that I set aside a period of time during the day in which to do it. Say, between 8pm and 9pm; maybe longer, if I'm truly gripped by the desire to continue on with that I've got. I usually have some background noise, such as the TV or the radio on, but once I'm in the zone I largely ignore them. Sometimes I'll pop on some random tunes to listen to, but that can lead to a bit of procrastination, as I start skipping across tracks that I'm not in the mood for. Immersion in my own world is what really works for me - there's nothing better than working on something you truly love.

Do you ever have moments of panic when you dislike your work, or are you your own biggest fan?
I definitely have the moments of panic. When I'm writing or proofing a story, I am thinking about it 24/7. There are times when I have gotten up in the middle of the night to write notes about what to add, rewrite or remove. I even make notes on my phone when I'm out. I think it's important to be critical of your own work, so you can see how and where you need to improve. It's great to look back on what you wrote before, compared to what you're doing now and seeing a clear improvement.

Can you describe your writing style for us (as a haiku if you're feeling adventurous)?
A haiku? Oh my! I didn't even know what one of those was until I looked it up! I think I may have to stick with the dull approach of describing my process in non-rhyming fashion! I tend to rough-out the story at first, aiming to hit all the major plot points and seeing what wants to creep out in between. I make a ton of notes along the way, both as separate per-chapter notes, as well as littering the manuscript itself with "TODO"s. I then rewrite, exploring the sequences and relationships that has evolved from the rough draft and give them more body. As an example, in "The Third Side" Simon Dodds meets Natalia Grace as he is attempting to flee the city of New Malaga. The two stop for the night to rest and end up getting to know each other. This was completely unplanned, and was fun to find out more about Natalia's history. I also spontaneously created a dream sequence in which Dodds reminisces about the post-Operation Menelaus victory celebration back at Spirit. So, in short, I mix free writing with tight plotting, to allow the story to occur naturally, but also ensure it maintains a steady course.

What was your inspiration for the Battle for the Solar System series?
I was always a fan of space opera, growing up on a diet of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica (the 70s version), Star Trek, and other sci-fi shows. One of my favourite of all time was Babylon 5. I loved the atmosphere of the creeping doom that it created through the Shadows. I wanted to create a similar kind of story, one where the reader would reach the end of the book and eagerly look forward to the next. I intentionally decided on a trilogy, so as to avoid dragging the story out for too long and introducing unnecessary plot points and excessive padding. Three books serves this story perfectly, acting as the beginning, middle and end to the saga. You know where you are with a trilogy.

Is there a story behind the final design of your book covers?
Not being much of an artist, I figured that an astral scene involving a planet would be my best best. I decided that the planet featured should be one of importance to the plot. For the cover of Honour of the Knights, I settled on Arlos, where the White Knights have their first face to face confrontation with one of the Pandoran soldiers (actually, this happens on the space station around the planet). That sequence showed just how dangerous the soldiers are and also presented the reader with a few twists. It's one of my favourite parts of the book. For book 2, The Third Side, I chose Mythos, the planet where the bulk of the novel takes place. To emphasise that this was a planet in danger, I dotted a few large explosions around it, to draw the reader's attention and give them a good indication of what might be happening. I produce all the covers myself, everything from the starfields and nebulas in the background, to the planet and placement of the titles. It takes several weeks' work, off and on, before they're finished and that usually involves me scrapping the design and starting over a few times.

Book one, Honour of the Knights, has a leisurely beginning which gradually accelerates to a masterful ending full of pace and urgency. Was this plotted intentionally, or did the storyline simply carry you there?
A bit of both, really. The overall story arc of the Battle for the Solar System is fully planned. The major plot points are there, but I intentionally leave out the in-between details, to allow for some free writing. It permits me to explore the world and characters a little more, and learn a lot more about them. When I came to writing Knights, I thought it was important to establish parts of the world and characters, instead of plunging straight into events and introducing a multitude of characters that might leave the reader baffled. Having said that, I was conscious of the need to create intrigue and insert something of significance into the initial chapters: Patrick Dean's mysterious death, Simon Dodds' reason for suspension, the hijacking and disappearance of CSN Dragon, the ATAF project (which Dodds questioned the need for), Chaz Koonan's issues with Elliott Parks... In the end, I'm glad the story started this way and ended on such an action packed note. It showed a gradual shift in the world in which the character lived, creating a grand element of danger and leaving them with promises of much more to come. By comparison, The Third Side's opening chapters are a roller coaster, leaving little room to breath from chapter 2 onwards. That's not to say it's all action; there is plenty of character, but it is definitely a lot more frantic than Knights. I imagine there may even be a few readers left gaping at the plot twist towards the end. And as for the ending itself... well, I can say with certainty that people will be highly anticipating the final part of the trilogy.

Can you give us an idea of how you crafted your main characters?
I decided that I wanted my characters to come from a number of walks of life, both for variety and to make them feel more real. To make them feel even more human, I purpose gave them each a flaw (some more pronounced than others). Simon Dodds, for example, joined the navy in search of fame and adventure. At the beginning of Knights, however, we've seen that his cock-sure attitude has led him to being suspended from service on a manslaughter charge when his attempt at saving the day backfired. Estelle de Winter is a highly ambitious woman, who enlisted with goals of becoming one of the CSN's greatest officers. She did so to both financially aid her family (they barely scrape by a living) and also prove her own worth to herself and others. After ten years, it hasn't worked out that way, which often leads to her becoming very frustrated, frustrations she sometimes takes out on those around her. Kelly Taylor's character is inspired by those people in the world who want for nothing, but decide that it is their duty to give something back. Sounds cheesey, but I was always impressed by Prince William and Harry's decisions to join the army, and go on frontline duty to the Middle East. I guess Kelly, being the heiress to a vast galactic commodities trading enterprise and with few wants in her life, is somewhat like them. She does have two sisters, however, who are her complete opposite. Chaz Koonan is one of the most popular characters with readers, mostly because he's a large question mark. While Dodds, Estelle, Enrique and Kelly have known each other for years, Chaz is the new boy, one who doesn't say a lot and seems to know a lot more than he is willing to let on. He shows his true colours during the Arlos sequence, but is still largely reluctant to explain how he knows so much. There is a good reason for this, as will be revealed in The Third Side.

Honour of the Knights went through an evolution of being stocked at a number of Waterstones stores to being discontinued by yourself. As an Indie getting your book into a big brand chain store is a lot of work. Can you tell us a bit more about your decision withdraw the printed edition?
Waterstone's were excellent for agreeing to stock the book in their stores. I first approached the Brighton branch, who agreed to buy in a few copies and display them facing out (on the promise that I sign every copy the brought in). After the first few stockings sold through, I approached other branches with varying degrees of success. I ended up being stocked by around 16 branches of Waterstone's in the country, and I made an effort to visit those branches and sign as many copies of possible. Sales were very slow, though. At £9.95, the book was twice that of others in the genre, and it can be hard to convince readers to take chances on unknown authors. Over two years (2009 - 2010), the novel ended up selling around 120 copies. Not bad for a self-published novel I'm told, but not as many as I would've liked. In October 2010, I began selling the novel on Amazon Kindle. In five months, it has sold over 3,000 copies and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times across other stores. Knights has been in the UK iBookstore's top 10 free sci-fi and fantasy books for several months now. Seeing as the paperback sales had almost dried up and since there were still errors in the text to correct, I chose to withdraw the paperback from sale. I didn't see many more people buying them, and the eBooks were proving a great deal more popular.

Would you be so kind as to give us a little summary of what is going to happen further on in the story arc?
The second book will focus on a 48-hour period in which the Pandoran army commence their military advance beyond the Mitikas Empire, invading a number of independent nations. The White Knights will find themselves stranded on one of the planets currently under siege, separated from one another and with no idea of when rescue will arrive, if at all. But whilst there, the team will learn some terrible things - what really happened to Mitikas, who the Pandorans really are, what the true purpose of the ATAFs is, and what part they will play. I don't want to give too much away, suffice to say that things are going to go very, very wrong for the Helios Confederation and her allies. Book 3 will be dark and with a feeling of hopelessness for all involved. Those who loved Knights will love The Third Side even more, and I hope to deliver on the promise of creating a very memorable space opera trilogy

Thank you for letting me bend your ear Stephen, and good luck!


Honour of the Knights is available to buy from Kindle (UK/US), and, is currently available free from iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Diesel stores. You can read my review on Goodreads and you can visit Stephen's Blog to learn more about the book and his writing, or visit the website.

.99

I have changed The Demon Girl eBook to $0.99/£0.70 across all eStores.

Why the change? Well;Other indie eBooks are priced so cheaply to compete with traditionally published books it makes mine look expensive in comparisonI'm an Unknown Indie (yes there are Indie's and there are Unknown Indies)It's not realistic or sensible for me to compete with these cheaper Indie reads as I emerge (think butterfly from chrysalis not monster from bayou, lol). It would be less than smart to raise a price barrier between me and my younger readers
I've noticed a lot of Indie's doing number crunching and tracking their financial journey, which I think is a good idea. So I'm going to share some of my sales figures. Now, mine are not earth shattering, but I'm happy with them. The extra cash has been fun to play around with (I work a grueling nine to five for my wage packet to live on, so yeah, play Fletcher play), but on my blog browsing travels I've seen Indie's lament single digit sales for their first months. Why? There is nothing to be upset about! You sold A book didn't you? It's one more than you've ever sold before, and if you have written a good book more will come (and I send all upcoming Indie's good wishes and positive thought vibes).

Anyhow, from Oct to Feb I offered TDG for free, but as we know with the Kindle store you have to set your list price to at least 99 cents, so I did get some sales. Here is a breakdown of Kindle sales Oct2010 to Feb2011 for US and UK;
Month Net Units Royalty OCT 7 $2.45 NOV 123 $43.05 DEC 7 $7.35 138 $247.20 JAN 10 $10.50 265 $508.82 FEB 331 $469.33 TOTAL $1,288.70
Month Net Units Royalty OCT 11 £2.42 NOV 3177 £698.94 DEC 10 £0.00 JAN 11763 £3.96 FEB 7346 £0.00 TOTAL £705.32
The high unit numbers with no/low earned royalty is where my books sale price was free in case you were wondering. As you can see my US stats are low, but are growing steadily, so I am hoping there are more readers to come from over the pond.
The grand total is £1,510.00 (which roughly equates to $2,415 depending on the exchange rate). So in five months I've still made less then my monthly nine to five salary. Being a full time Indie Author is definitely an uphill climb that will take me a couple of years! If in two years I reach 25 and I am a full time writer I will ... I will ... oh I don't know, I will do something fun and imaginative and mildly uncomfortable at the time.
Now the book is paid across all platforms it will be interesting to see how things progress.

Lunar Light Release

So, happy warrior dance. Lunar Light has been released. This is the Dark Fantasy/Paranormal Romance novella about the Wendigo. The feel of the book is quite ... cold (my romance tends to be stand-off-ish because that's how I like it), and is my first foray into the world of the 'sex scene'. Realistic? You tell me.

You can get it from Smashwords and in the Kindle store now, but we have to wait about a week for iBooks, and up to six weeks for it to filter through to the rest of the eStores. (Nook, Kobo, Diesel, etc). It's priced at 99 cents/70 pence as I wanted a price barrier this time round. 
Like I've said before it's a straightforward dark romance (not suitable for younger readers) with a simple plot and storyline. It's actually longer than I first reported (42,000 words), but still about two to three hours reading time. A quick read for an empty afternoon (for those of us who have empty afternoons, lol). You may note I also updated the cover to tie in with the overarching Beautiful Damned cover. I think it's a little prettier, but does not detract from the off-kilter and slightly disturbing overall feel (I stand by my observation that some monsters cannot be made to be anything other than monstrous).
The next novella will be Silver Lance which I'll start uploading to WattPad now Lunar Light is up there. WattPad is where I gather feedback on my book drafts. It's a great place to talk to readers, and since the demographic is mostly my target audience (13-30 fantasy/sci-fi lovers) I can tell is something is working or not. You can tightly control your reads so your stuff is not just open to everybody, and the community is very upbeat and positive if you're willing to put in the time. I am surprised other Indie's are not all over the site like a rash!
I have also started a new WIP called Aurora Spectre Chronicle, but more on that another time.

Outstanding Fan Illustrations

A lovely young woman named Dionne emailed me via my website a while ago to offer congratulations on my book, and that she would like to do some illustrations on it. I replied (as I do) with my thanks and a bit of my normal ramblings. 
Then she actually started emailing me pictures. Gobsmacked. She is a third year Illustration student, and a tattoo artist, and her stuff so far is amazing.
Dionne has set herself a goal of drawing one abstract illustration per chapter for The Demon Girl. The first is drawing of chapter one (which she is revising), but I love how intense it is. The forest is vibrant but dark too. The little green fairy wings are styled on the flowers in the forest, and I love how it's kind of psychedelic ... almost like how the fairies see the world in my book. Here is an extract of Rae describing the forest in demon territory;
"The air was heavy with a piquant scent that fizzed on my tongue. The silhouette of trees taller than any I'd seen rose high in the sky, and a few stars winked out of sight. I'm not a botanist, so all I can say is that there were plants. A big orgy of red, blues and purples scattered everywhere. The breeze was crisp and made everything sway in orderly chaos. The buzzing of insect and restless whining of beast punctured the dawn in harmonic beat."

In the second drawing we can see WIP depictions for chapter two. Just look at those fangs! We also have a female on the ground in the forest ... Tomas meeting Rae anyone?
"He flashed me a smile, and his chalky lips framed pearly fangs flanked by two smaller canines. They had run right out as he'd touched me. For a moment I was overcome. I stared at them, the spiky tips resting on his lower lip, a startling shade of ruby red. Everyone knew vampire fangs ran out when they were mad or bloodlusty. Which was he?"
I know you're thinking, "How can ruby red be chalky"? Well it can, since I was thinking of that satiny, filmy, texture the surface chalk has over the color of ruby red ... and Dionne has captured that.
As she progresses we'll get to see more of the characters (the demons) and I can't wait to see what she produces. If you want more commentary from Dionne on her interpretation of my world you can check out her Blog or her for her other work her Website.
A side note my reviews in Amazon US are kicking ass right now, and I will be blogging about the release of my novella Lunar Light soon.

Slum Speak Mistaken for Gibberish?

I was tweaking a line in my second draft of  A Demon Day when I had a moment of clarity on something that has been bugging me. How many people are mistaking my slum speak in The Demon Girl for total gibberish? I think people might actually believe I don't know some characters sentences are difficult to understand (not quite sure why I have only just had this epiphany) If people scan over the key bit of prose which explains slum speak they will have zero idea what is going on ... which is interesting. I've read a few writers blog posts (none come to mind right now) about using local dialects in novels and how readers take to it like marmite. But mine was made up so that makes it even harder.

My main character Rae uses slum speak lightly (words like hai, say-say, etc) , but as she did not grow up in the slums she speaks in the manner of those I call 'upper dwells' (upper class humans). But secondary characters Roland and Alex were raised in the poverty of the slums (a melting pot of cultures, race and dialects) and a number of other minor-blink-and-they-are-gone characters use it heavily too depending on where they come from. But ... last night I had a moment where a bomb went off mentally, and I can see how some might interpret it as bad grammar/spelling/gibberish, which is why I think my reviews are so extreme! Either glowing 5 star recommendations or 1 star heart attacks. I have a theory (*grin* yes one of my theories) that people who digest the concept of slum speak are able to follow the story. Those who don't just think I'm barmy and illiterate. Combine a lack of understanding about sum speak with my use of S-o-C and my intense one day timeline ... things get tricky (ah, why am I just seeing this now!).
Using an example passage from the book. Our lovely Roland talks to Rae; 
     "You on edge, and earlier you went pale like you seen you a ghost. You got so shook up you forgot yourself and walked right into Devlin. Rae, you always so careful and cautious about touching, and you got so distracted you forgot?" He shook his head. "I don't think so, something big happened."     I swallowed before I answered, "I saw–" Was I really going to tell him?     "I'll tell you something else," Ro began, speaking slowly and looking down at his hands looped in his jean pockets. "Maybe on my way to class, I hear a Lord and Lady Cleric talking about a problem with a demon Outside this morning. Maybe I hear them talking about a Disciple who broke Doctrine and went beyond the Wall. They say a Disciple disobeyed and even struck out, gave the Lady Cleric a black eye." He looked up at me and lowered his voice an octave. "You need to be careful now, you feel me? Think about the questions you ask in class and the way you react to some words. Like … fairy, eh?"
Translated into plain old english;
     "You seem edgy, and earlier you paled like you'd seen a ghost. You were so stunned you forgot your issues with physical contact and walked right into Devlin. Rae, you're always so careful about touching people, and you became so distracted that you forgot to avoid touching?" He shook his head. "I don't think so. I know something important happened this morning."     I swallowed before I answered, "I saw–" Was I really going to tell him?     "I'll tell you something else," Ro began, speaking slowly and looking down at his hands looped in his jean pockets. "Let's say on my way to class I heard a Lord and Lady Cleric talking about a problem with a demon Outside this morning. What if I heard them talking about a Disciple who broke Doctrine and went beyond the Wall. They said a Disciple disobeyed and even lashed out giving the Lady Cleric a black eye." He looked up at me and lowered his voice an octave. "You need to be careful, do you understand? Think about the questions you ask in class and the way you react to some words. Like … fairy, hm?"
See what I mean? Writing that second passage was difficult because Roland is such a set character in my mind. The way he speaks, moves, reacts ... anyway I'm off track. The whole book is from Rae's P.o.V so only when she comes into contact with slum dwells do we see dialog like this ... but it's infrequent enough to be perceived as wrong if you don't know why they're speaking this way. Hm. Maybe I pushed the creative boat too far? It's times like these it would be so easy to fall in line and do what everyone else is doing. Being different is difficult. Aw, nah. *shrug* We're in for a wild ride. Look!  Rapids ahead. On a positive note I'm doing well on the paid sellers rank. On a negative note I just know more bad reviews are on the way. They are like little pieces of glass on a white sandy beach.

Because I Like Stream-of-Consciousness

This post has been inspired by Amy Tucker whose blog (Taste Like Crazy) may be even more demented than mine. I say may! Bugsy Queen of Demented-ness.

So, Stream-of-Consciousness*. I mentioned this months ago in my guest blog post for WattPad on Urban Fantasy Protagonists, that The Demon Girl is written in this way. I had to tame it down (a lot) since it was a YA read, and I didn't want to baffle the young people too much. But I still get readers feeling confused when they leave their review, unable to put their finger on why it was different. Most seem pleasantly windswept and okay about it, but some get all snarly and use it as a negative. One blog review even mentioned a suspicion that I wrote the book in an opium induced haze. I took that as the highest of compliments since most of the greats were out of their ever-loving-minds and on one form of narcotic or other. I made it to That Place naturally. *haughty face*

Anyway, why, oh why, is there not more of this? S-o-C is awesome to write and read. Simply awesome. The last book I stumbled on was I, Witch by Erin Munday, who I wish I could find elsewhere online because I think she would be fascinating to virtually meet. I highly praise and recommend the book.

Yes, S-o-C can come across peculiar and odd because you're plunging people into someone's raw, twisted, convoluted psyche with no filters to remove the fractured and fleeting jumps we experience in everyday thought patterns, which bring us to a conclusion (most writers just write the concluding thought). But that's what makes it so extraordinary. Get on your hands and knees, get dirty, and get in there. Suck your readers in, bash 'em about, and make them use their own imaginations. Write the journey to the conclusion and leave them hanging. If they're truly reading your words they will get there. Get those synapses firing. Don't spoon feed detail and hand hold through every plot twist ... unless you're the reincarnation of Tolkien or Jordan, of course.

Fantasy, especially YA fantasy, has become formulaic. Oh yes, people moan and blame it on love triangles, clumsy-but-lovable Mary Sue's, and really, how many times can you read about a vampire sucking someone off before it just gets old? But maybe the reason why we're all so bored is because the writers have lost their voice. Their individuality. We're all too busy trying to emulate the next 'hottest' monster. Find your voice and stick to it, scream it, and don't back down. When I read your funky, bubbly blog why do I then have to suffer through 200 pages of you trying to be S. Meyer or L. Kate? Where is ... You? Think about it. 

* Stream-of-Consciousness fast leaps in syntax that follows actual human thought.

The Demon Girl Giveaways, a Couple of Interviews and a Writer Workshop

(Warning! I am about to use a lot of exclamation marks!) I have been a busy, busy, bee. I blogged at the beginning of the year I would hold a few giveaways of the print edition didn't I? *big grin* And so here they are;
GIVEAWAYS WattPad (x4 Hardback Copies available to Win)Navigate to the contest page to watch a video of me rambling on and with details of how to enter. I've also posted the video here because it's funny ... my boyfriend does say I'm fidgety ... and my mum always says I don't look people in the eye when I'm talking ... who knew they'd be right! (That thumbnail is sooo grumpy, lol).

Facebook (x1 Hardback Copy available to Win)Navigate to the Fan Page and write "Hai" on the relevant post to enter.
The Doctrine Newsletter (x1 Hardback Copy and x1 Amazon Kindle eReader available to Win)Simply sign up to the newsletter using the nifty box above or clicking on the linked sub title. (Note if you're already subscribed you're already entered).
Book Buzzr (x3 Hardback Copies available to Win)Go to fReado and sign up (unless you already are), to play their slightly addictive games and win points then bid on my book.
I'm also going to attempt to do some more giveaways on book blogs over the next couple of months, but that depends on who's interested.
INTERVIEWSTo learn a little more about me I've got two interviews that were posted today. One over at David Wiseman's Kindle Authors blog and one over at the WattPad blog.
WRITER WORKSHOPLastly, I'm super excited that I'm in the final stages of confirming going to have a chat with those at  Writebulb , a community of writers dedicated to developing their writing skills on the 12th of March. You can read a great review of my book by here by the lovely Brigid.
BUY THE DEMON GIRLYou can buy the paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble . Or the hardback from Lulu .
Now that was a lot of information to digest, but I get so busy during the week and I don't have time to post often, so my apologies for that.
Lastly, a huge thanks to all my readers who have left reviews for me!

Author Interview with Keary Taylor

I have another great interview with a fellow Indie Author to share with you. I reviewed this book on Goodreads a while ago, and mentioned that the concept really blew me away. So here is my interview with Keary Taylor author of Branded and Forsaken, books one and two of the Fallen Angels series;


What was the last song you rocked out to?
Not My Time by 3 Doors down.  Watch the music video, it will give you goosebumps.


They say 'write what you know'. Are any of the traits from your characters based on the people around you, or yourself?
There are little bits of myself in every character.  I love Dr. Pepper, like Jessica.  I love to eat way too much, like Alex.  A lot of the things Alex says my husband would say.  Jessica's father is based a lot on my own dad.  And I tend to be a name stealer.  At least part of every characters name comes from someone I know.


Could you sum up your writing style in a word then explain to us why you chose it?
I had to think about this for a while but came up with this: Selfish.  I write for me.  Some people don't like the direction I take things but I write where I know the story is supposed to go.


How are you finding being an Indie Author? Is it mainly a positive experience or do you find yourself head-butting the wall on occasion?
BOTH, lol.  It was a really difficult journey getting to where I am now.  I went the route of trying to get an agent first and while a lot of different ones liked it, they just didn't love it enough.  So I self-published.  It has been an AMAZING journey and I have met so many wonderful people and received so much support!


From what I've seen you have a flair for cover design, and the covers for Branded and Forsaken certainly snag the attention. Can you tell us why you chose these covers?
I do love graphic design, though have never had any real schooling in it.  When I decided to self-publish I always had an image in my head that the cover should show Jessica's scars, they're such an important part of the story.  My friend Jenni Merritt, also a writer, did the photo shoot and the scars.  When it came time for Forsaken, I wanted to stick with the back theme and found this amazing image for Cole.  It just felt right and I just had to use it!


Coal is such a sexy character. And naughty. You gave us this smoldering stud, but sneakily managed to make us dislike the overall feel of him. What was your frame of mind when you created him?
The character of Cole was actually developed before Alex even was.  He stemmed from the character of the Phantom in the Phantom of the Opera (where I got the idea for Branded).  He was just this very dark character that had so much history and passion to him.  Yet he did terrible things without a second thought.  I wanted to create a character that you were drawn to but that you knew was bad in all the right ways.


Jessica is quite a complex young lady. You brought across a real sense of lost innocence even though she never did anything wrong. Did her character just come to you, or was there a specific source of inspiration?
Like I said, I got the idea for Branded from watching The Phantom of the Opera and in my mind Jessica has always been Emmy Rossum.  Some of her character traits were drawn from that character but mostly her personality just stemmed from the situation she was in with the nightmares.  She's been living this nightmare her entire life and yet she's still clinging to sanity, even I was surprised at how she had managed to hang on to reality.


There were a few not so obvious twists in the book - like how one stopped being put on trial for others. Were these intentional or did they just happen when you were typing?
That was something that just happened as I went along.  I'm not a huge plotter so that situation kind of took me by surprise.  The major twist in the end though was always planned from before I even started typing the first words of Branded.


Forsaken, book two of the Fallen Angels, is out now. Did you find it difficult to live up to people's expectations on this novel?  
I wouldn't necessarily say it was living up to expectations, it was just the actual writing of it.  It was a really, really difficult one for me to write.  I started writing it when I was querying Branded to agents and as I kept getting rejection after rejection I got kind of depressed.  But after I self-published and started receiving such great response I knew I had to finish, not only for myself, but for those out there who wanted to find out what happened next.


The story is becoming even more complex ... what overarching themes can we expect?
That love and everything worth living for is a fight.  Never give up.


Alex is the sweetheart of this story. Are we going to see a darker side of him in the second book?
Alex goes through some major struggles in Forsaken and things will get even harder in Vindicated, the third book.  He's not as perfect as he seems and you'll learn a lot about his feelings toward Jessica when he found everything out in Branded.  You'll get to know him really well, since about a third of Forsaken is told from his point of view.


Thanks Keary, and good luck with Branded!


You can read my Goodreads review of Branded here and the book is available to download from the Kindle store (US/UK). You can now pick up Forsaken (US/UK) too! If you have any questions why not contact Keary on her website or her blog, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.

Random TDG Updates

I'm so happy I could just cry. Finally my stars in Amazon US have gone up. From a 1 star flogging *shudder, retch* to a comfortable 3.5 star hug *cartwheel, yippee*. No doubt now I've said this the star count will plummet. Sigh. Most authors see far greater sales/downloads in the US side of Amazon than in the UK but obviously I was going to be the contradiction to that rule. How large is the difference? UK: 23,600  US: 630 ... I kid you not.

People say they don't take star ratings into account (I don't when I buy books), but I can't help but think that is not the general public opinion. Though the price of my book fluctuates from free to $2.99 on the US side the main difference has been that UK has a 4 star rating and US had a 1 star rating. Older Kindle readers over the big pond don't seem to get my writing style and have the most to say. Great. *Thin smile* Ah, totally off topic, but I got my first pay check from Amazon yesterday and I ran up to my boyfriend and screamed "In your face!" Then ran away cackling madly and let him chase me around the living room. It was all very fun. It made the whole Indie thing seem more real and plausible – strange as it sounds (the money thing not the inappropriate reaction thing). I might actually be able to make this work as a viable career option rather than an addictive hobby.


Anyhow, in Barnes & Noble I've got over 1300 ratings with an average 4 stars *psycho grin* iBooks is groovy too with over 400 ratings in US and 170 in UK again 4 star average *really disturbing psycho grin*. Nearly all reviews 3 stars plus mention they want to or will read the second book, which bodes well indeed for A Demon Day. Did I mention I'd finished the first draft yet? Well, I have, and I think it may be the best thing damn I've ever written ;) Oh ... and editing sucks.


Reviews still elicit a strong reaction from me. I smile, I wail, I cry, I laugh, I bitch, I dance around ... all depending on what's been said. Wasn't that supposed to go away after a while? The comments about bad editing are also starting to slowly die out. I think a month or so ago I said by April I was hoping I could put that behind me.
Moving on, I passed 60,000 downloads of TDG in four months. I get a lot of readers commenting that the book was recommended to them which is astounding. I only recommend books I really like so I'm beaming about that. I still have no idea what my iBook stats are. Smashwords reporting says 0, but I feel this figure may not be entirely accurate, lol, but I'm giddy enough with what I've got. If all readers of TDG came and sat in The O2 Arena at one time you'd fill it up – three times over - which is a great way to put a number into perspective, lol. Considering I've been so busy with the day job and my promotion has been exactly jack, I dub my first ever book release a success.