Amber Lynn Natusch's Blog, page 16

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAGED!

Six months ago today I launched a little novel called Caged into the publishing world.  I never expected much. I knew my friends would buy it because they love me, and had all read and loved the book LONG before I ever got the notion to make it public in the first place. I never knew anyone else would buy it.

Now, here I am, six months later, with a bestselling series and a new side-career. I have AMAZING fans who support me entirely, and I’ve made some terrific new friends along the way (Aiden, Dannika, Rebecca, Matt, Jena, Ginny, and Shannon). More opportunities avail themselves to me on a daily basis, and I have a terrific mentor and many colleagues who help keep me on the right path while navigating this uncharted territory. I’m a very lucky girl

What’s strange in all of this is that ignorance has been my secret weapon. Knowing nothing (or precious little), about the publishing industry has kept me from limiting myself or my goals/dreams. I’ve learned much after the fact that had I known before, I wouldn’t have published. Fear is a tricky bastard. It limits your thoughts, your beliefs, and your aspirations. When you think you can’t, you won’t. I had no idea that most published authors will sell very few books in their lifetimes. I’m proud to be one of the few that has broken that mold and I feel very blessed and thankful to all who have helped make that a reality for me.

I feel like this journey is still in its infancy, and I have much to learn and tons to share. I currently have THREE series in the works simultaneously, and am loving every minute of it. Soon we’ll be able to celebrate all of their birthdays too

I can’t wait!

Filed under: Writing process

SCARRED official release date…

With much thought and planning, I’ve decided upon a release date for the fourth novel in the Caged series.  Scarred will be available on Amazon and B&N on September 24, 2012.

I know it seems like a long time, but I have many projects in the works (both personal and professional), and I need to allocate enough time to deliver the best quality product I can.  I owe you guys that much

Filed under: Writing process

SCARRED Teaser #1…

As always, if you haven’t read the other books first, you probably shouldn’t be reading this.  Go directly to Amazon and pick them up, finish reading them, then come back and take a look at this.

For the rest of you…enjoy!

 

He froze for a moment, a montage of emotions playing across his face.  Unable to watch them any longer, I turned away. The bed shifted slightly as he lowered himself onto it, and I reflexively curled up, pulling my extremities into me under the cover of the blanket. I wasn’t ready to be touched.

I felt horrible about lying to him, by omission or otherwise.

I felt like a traitor

 

 

Filed under: Writing process

Caged: Movie or TV Series?

Some of you may have recently seen my Facebook post regarding an email I received from an agent who specializes in movie and TV representation.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing, and it’s by NO means a sure fire thing, but it still felt pretty cool to be contacted.  While waiting to hear back from her regarding her interest or lack thereof in CAGED, I started thinking (and most of you know what happens when I get to doing that)…

Do I really want to sell the rights to my novels?

To be perfectly honest, the thought of selling my babies off gives me anxiety.  What would they do to them?  Would they put them on a shelf, never to see the light of day?  Would they butcher the story until it’s no longer recognizable to those that love it?  Would they change the characters personalities/appearance to suit THEIR vision? Cue the tightening in my chest.

Once I calmed down a bit, I started to evaluate the situation more rationally.  An author friend of mine, when posed with the question of whether or not she’d sell the rights to hers, said emphatically that she would because you only live once.  I admire her spunk and grounding on the issue.  I seem to lack both.  To override my shortcomings, I thought I’d write down the pros and cons regarding the matter.  Here they are:

PROS:

Money:  Let’s be honest, everybody has a bottom line, and I’m sure that if I was offered the right amount of green, saying “no” to an offer would be nearly impossible.
Exposure:  If done well, on screen presence could do amazing things for the novels and my writing career.
Marketing:  Trying to get media coverage as an Indie author can be nearly impossible.  I think that Good Morning America wouldn’t mind giving me a few minutes if I spawned a new movie or TV show.
Cool factor:  Come on…really?  I shouldn’t have to explain this one

CONS:

Epic fail:  We’ve all seen movies that were made from books we loved and were left thinking, “What was that?”  I would never want that to happen to Ruby and company.
No dice:  Just because someone has the rights to your material doesn’t mean they’ll ever do anything with it.  I don’t love feeling like Ruby would waste away on a shelf, waiting to hopefully be found and developed into something.
Casting:  This is a dead horse I’m willing to beat.  If you screw up casting, you lose your audience.  It’s fact.  If the character shown isn’t the character written…well, let the hate-mail fly.
No control:  Hello, my name is Amber, and I’m a control freak. It’s a flaw, but it’s mine and I own it. Not having ANY say in what was done with the material that I spent years on would be close to asking me to saw my own leg off.  Not quite as bad, but almost.  I’m not a big enough deal to throw around any clout, so the reality for me is that I’m on the wrong end of the negotiation when it comes to what I could control. It’s not a position I’m tremendously fond of, and, frankly, it’s why I own my own business.

Now, after all that processing, I’m still no closer to an answer.  I feel like the whole situation would depend on who I was dealing with.  If I trusted the people around me, I would likely go for it.  If not…you’ll have to just settle for seeing Ruby in the cinema of your mind.  There are worse fates than that for sure.

Filed under: Writing process

Is Caged a Young Adult (YA) Novel?

This question seems to be searched on my site as well as google a fair amount.  For some reason, people seem to be associating my novels with the young adult book population. The short answer to the title of this blog is no, it is NOT a YA novel.

The long answer is a little more complicated than that.

I’ve read a fair amount of YA fiction over the last couple of years, and though the characters are young, the content is not. This isn’t for me to comment on as to whether I think that’s good or bad, but what it does make me consider is whether or not Caged could be appropriate for some younger readers.  I think the answer to that is yes.

I can think of several YA novels that contain language, graphic violence and sexual content/situations that far surpass what is in my own work.  Personally, I have friends who have let their 13-18 year old children read Caged, and have no issues with it at all.  I’m sure other parents would. In response to this confusion, I have elected to post content advisories at the bottom of my novels on Amazon to list what obectionable material is contained inside.  This is something that I’ve chosen to do not only because I am a parent, but also because I feel that books should have some way of denoting what to expect with their content.  Tv shows have warnings…movies too.  Why not books?

Sexual content is always a bit tricky because not all sex scenes are created equal.  I’m not a romance writer, though romantic themes carry out through the series.  That being said, there are sexual encounters in some of the novels.  Where some choose to go into graphic detail, oulining everything that occurs between the characters, I do not.  My grandmother told me once that if I was doing something that I was too embarrassed to admit to my parents, I shouldn’t be doing it.  This was sage advice, and I apply it in my life still, even at thirty-four.  I could NOT show my parents something that contained certain terms, or painted certain pictures.  I think I would die.  What I’ve done to compensate for this is to make those scenes about the characters themselves and the relationship between them rather than keep the primary focus on the act itself.  You still get the gist in a relatively steamy way, without it being too in your face and graphic.  I think grandma would approve if she were still around to have seen it.  I also think she’d be all about Cooper

My stand on violence/gore is this: sometimes it enhances a scene, and sometimes it’s gratuitous.  Having read the Hunger Games, I don’t feel that anything I write is more graphic than the goriest scenes in that novel, though my tone tends to be far darker and creepier in combination with the violence.  That tone is more so what makes it adult than anything, in my eyes. I also don’t feel that anything I have down in print holds a candle to the violence that is found in R rated or even PG 13 movies, or the content on TV shows viewed after 9 p.m..

Now my favorite issue: language.  The bottom line is that sometimes…you just gotta swear.

I hope for anyone who has searched for this explanation that it has been helpful to you.  If you’re still uncertain about content, my suggestion would be to read it yourself before deciding.  And if you find Caged objectionable, you may want to investigate some of the marketed YA material your children are reading.  You may be shocked by what you find. 

Filed under: Characters, Novels, Writing process Tagged: CAGED, Caged Series, YA, young adult

Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Brain Power…

Here’s the deal.  I work full time at my practice.  I have a two-year-old son and a husband.  I have a house that we gutted to the studs, and have slowly rebuilt (by ourselves) for the past five years.  And I have friends that I like to see occasionally. In short, I’ve got a lot going on as most of you do as well, and it’s a constant struggle to figure out where the author part of my life fits in.  This problem was recently magnified by an increase of voices in my head.

Nobody panic.  Not THOSE kinds of voices, but currently, characters seem to run the show.  I have new ones cropping up everywhere, trying to make themselves known, and old ones throwing game changers my way on a regular basis.  Between interrupted existing story lines and new ones, I just don’t know where to start.  When I try to get it all down, it tends to come out garbled, frantic, and unintelligible.  So not helpful.

The solution to this problem?  Minions.  Lots and lots of minions.  But where does one find a minion?  I looked on Monster.com…no minions there.  I consulted Martha Stewart’s website because she’s the Queen of minions.  Nothing.  She doesn’t even tell you how to MAKE a minion, and that woman can make anything!  I think I might be out of luck.

That leaves me with me and my brain, which feels as though it’s closer and closer to hitting max capacity on a daily basis.  You can’t put ten pounds of sugar in a five pound bag (or ten novels into one novel brain as the case may be).  So how do you expand your mind (legally)?  I haven’t a clue, but I’m trying something new and praying it works out for me.

I have two journals, one for each series. I do my best to take them everywhere with me (which I’ve already failed miserably at doing).  I also have an amazing friend, Shannon, who tolerates my frantic IM messages that I throw at her all day, and then organizes them into a file for me.  I know what you’re thinking.  Shannon is a minion.  No, Shannon is my friend, who happens to enjoy my craziness more than she probably should.  Whenever I need her to put notes in a file for me, I refer to her as ‘Pepe’.  It’s a long story, but when she sees that, she knows I mean business!

I was recently asked why I was making fans wait so long between books (the next one comes out in September), especially if it’s already written.  I can assure you, it is NOT to make you all insane.  The reality is that I can’t edit when my brain is in writing mode, and I can’t write when I’m in editing mode.  Sometimes my brain just doesn’t comply with what I need it to do.  I’m doing my best to rein in characters, edit Scarred, write Fractured, and iron out Unborn’s direction.  That’s a lot to do in four months in and of itself.  Throw in work, family and what little social life I have, and it all starts to go to hell.

Here’s my takeaway message.  My little brain can only handle so much.  Know that I’m trying my hardest, doing my best, and ALWAYS thinking about my stories.  I want to share them with you as much as you want to read them.  It’s a beautiful relationship

Filed under: Writing process

FRAMED IS HERE!!!!!!!!

I’m not sure I put enough exclamation points after that title. 

FRAMED is available for purchase on both Amazon and B&N.  Be sure to get your copy.  And if you still know people who haven’t started the series…talk some sense into them, and get them started with CAGED.

Thanks, as always, for your support

Filed under: Writing process

The Top 10 Reasons Why Real Men Love Caged…

I’ve been hearing from a lot of female readers that they would really love for their husbands/boyfriends to read the Caged series, but are meeting resistance at every turn.  This blog was designed to help outline the various reasons for why these men should venture out and take a chance on Ruby.  And they’re VERY compelling.

1) Caged adds 25% or more manly to your manliness…if you know what I mean

2) It makes you instantly more attractive to ALL women.  It’s science, no need to question it.

3) Men that read the Caged series have been shown to make extra income while doing absolutely nothing, and who doesn’t want that?  It is a down economy…

4) Nothing says self-confidence like reading about men far hotter than you.  Chicks dig that.

5) It’s highly educational. Let’s face it…you might actually LEARN something from these books.

6) There are hot cars and even hotter women.  You do the math…

7) There’s bloodshed.  Nuff said.

8) Men LOVE a project and Ruby is a hot mess.

9) All men love anything with supernatural characters in it.  It’s in their DNA.

10) Real men love Caged because I say so.  My blog, my books, my rules.

If, after all these valid reasons, you STILL can’t get them to read the books, give me their email addresses.  I can be very, very persuasive

Filed under: Writing process

5 Star Framed Review by Puretextuality.com

This review was posted today on www.puretextuality.com for Framed.  It is by far the FUNNIEST review I’ve EVER read.  I nearly peed twice.  Enjoy!

Framed Review: (Jena Gregoire and Ginny Lurcock)

Note from Jena:   I have been patiently…….ok….that’s a lie.  A better way to put this would be I have been ‘quietly impatient’ for the release of Framed.  A little over a month ago, Amber Lynn Natusch sent me an infuriating tease of a piece.  The first twenty-something pages!  Can you believe that?!?!  What’s worse is the fact that it left off at a HUGE cliffhanger!  No joke – she got an e-mail from me saying “you can’t do that to me!!!!”  Well, I have sat (im)patiently waiting since then.  Dropped little hints here and there (“how are edits going?”  “do you have a solid release date yet?”) to try to get an idea of when I would see it.  Not really “bugging” her, just trying to be all stealthy and get the goods!  Well, a few weekends ago, she totally made my day!  Not only did she send me a copy, she also sent one to the super fabulous and always hilarious Ginny Lurcock.  Then I was chatting with Amber and she made a great suggestion about us doing a review together.  So that’s what we are doing here today. 

 

 

Jena:  So I just finished Framed and I have to say, it’s not only a great addition to this series, but it’s officially taken the top spot as my favorite book out of the series so far!

 

 

Ginny:  Oh my god… I’m glad you think so too!   I was dying to get my hands on the third book in the Caged series, and it did not disappoint. 

 

Can we talk about Sean first?  I really want to talk about Sean first.  I have to admit, I feel a bit bad looking back at my old reviews on how hard I was on Sean.  After long LONG long discussions with Amber, I’ve become a total Seanvert.  Which is a Sean convert… which I just made up… did you notice Amber makes me create new words?  Yeah, her books require an improvement on the English language, that’s how good they are.

 

If I hadn’t been a Seanvert before Framed… I really would have been after. HO-LY-SHIT.  It’s like someone took the best bits of Barrons, the Old Spice Guy, the Most Interesting Man in the World (from the Dos Equis ads) and the Ryan Gosling memes everyone loves (and by everyone, I mean me) threw them into a blender and out came Sean.

 

Jena:  I SOOOOOO AGREE!!!!  I will be honest.  I couldn’t STAND Sean in the first two books!  You know how your friends will HATE a guy that wronged you just on the basic principle that you are their friend and therefore he is the devil??  Well, that’s how I felt!!!  Poor Rubes and all the jerking around and the emotional terrorism and all that crap.   All it did was earn him a big black mark in my book.  Framed has turned me into a Seanvert as well.  (Great term, beeteedubbz!!!!  That’s fantastic!!!!)  Now, as is displayed in EVERY frackin’ book I read, I have always gone for the bad boy.  Cheered on the villain.  I don’t know why and I am sure there is something DEEPLY wrong with me because of it.  Jericho Barrons, Eric Northman, Damien Salvatore, Cam, Frank, and Daniel the Devil’s Protégé.    So naturally, the first time I read the Caged, I loved loved LOVED Eric.  I had my hopes so high that Sean wasn’t going to be the hero.  In Haunted, I was still a little bitter about Caged so I held out.  Luckily, she had Coop around and he made things……interesting.  In Framed, Sean 100% redeemed himself!!!!  In a huge way!!! 

 

Now, what are your opinions on Cooper???  I have always loved him as a character but not as anything more than a big brother type.  Framed completely changed how I look at Coop too!!!  Not that I am waiting for them to pick out wedding invitations or anything but Framed made me realize that he may not be totally out of the running for Man Meat of the Year.

 

 

Ginny:  (I am so glad you went too Cooper next.)  I had the opposite reaction to Coop.  From the SECOND he appeared in Caged I was all *sits up and takes notice*.  Even when he had his issues in Haunted I just wanted to give him a great big hug.  So when you get to that bit in the hallway (trust me, you’ll know it when you read it), my heart was literally pounding and I was doing a little chair dance. 

 

I’m not waiting for them to pick out China patterns either… but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the perfect wedding gift all planned out in my mind…

 

Which of course makes me feel bad for Sean.  Which makes me feel like I’m betraying Coop…  GAH!  I do not envy Ruby the choice she’s going to have to make.  You can feel it lurking there, just under the surface.  Someday soon she’s going to have to pick between the man who makes her blood burn, and the man who is her rock.

 

 

Jena:  I was afraid that The Hallway scene was going to take a massive turn for the violent.  *dear readers – we’re not telling so go read the book!*  Well, I guess it kinds sorta did in a way but I thought that there were going to be some very final consequences as a result of The Hallway.  In a way, that sorta remains to be seen. 

 

So let’s chat Character Development!  That sounds incredibly boring but I can’t think of a better way to say “let’s talk about the ways a character changes to keep them interesting.”  Anyway…

 

Everyone from the whole of the PC to Sean to Coop to Rubes to Ronnie to Peyta to Matty (What the WHAT?!??!) went through some serious changes in this book.  Who and what stood out to you??

 

Ginny:  Well obviously Ruby for starters… I mean our home girl ends up going through some seriously heavy shit in this book, probably more than in the first two if you can believe that.  Even with everything though, she manages to handle herself with a certain grace that, faced with a similar situation, I doubt I would be able to muster. 

 

Even with all that heavy shit though, I feel like Ronnie stood out even more.  I mean after the ending of Haunted you knew shit was going to get real, but I couldn’t have even begun to predict how.  There are a lot of curse words I can think to describe Ronnie’s journey in this one… but not a lot beyond those curses that doesn’t give key points away.  Take my advice though and put aside any bad thoughts you have towards Ronnie… it’ll just make you feel guilty later.

 

Amber has this real sick way of building characters up just to tear them back down… and since you were there for their accent, you join them in their fall as well.   This time she pushed Ronnie and the reader of the emotional cliff and smiled as she watched us fall.  I can actually picture that smile too… that’s what makes it worse.

 

Jena:  I totally agree with regards to Ruby and Ronnie both.  I feel that they both morphed a bit in this book.  I think that Ruby really learned a lot about herself in this book and it was growing that she really needed to do to move forward with her life and whatever path may lay ahead of her. 

 

The one character that really stood out to me in this book is Scarlet!  I think that Scarlet really stole the show.  Not because she’s a big ‘ol bad ass.  We already knew that.  I think that she really had some moments to shine in this book and show us the stuff she’s really made of.  Since ruby learned who/what she was in Caged, a part of me has really been hoping to see more face time with her and I feel that we are really moving that way.  We are getting a glimpse of what makes Scarlet tick and as scary as it may be, it’s a fantastic view! 

 

I also think that it goes without saying (after our earlier talking points) that Sean should be lumped in with this group.  As we are both Seanverts, I think you can agree on that.  There’s a reason that we ARE Seanverts and the events of Framed and the things we see in Framed are what did it. 

 

Ginny: OH MY GOD HOW COULD I FORGET SCARLET?!  I feel like such a bad Scarlet fan.  Or maybe it’s just because I have that shrine to Scarlet in my closet that I think everyone else should too… 

 

Scarlet really did steal the show this book.  I mean, she did one really shitty thing to Ruby,  REALLY SHITTY, but you can’t even hold that against her.  I mean, every time Ruby got herself into trouble Scarlet was there to bail her out.  Even when Ruby didn’t know she was in trouble.  Jena is right, this time around Scarlet’s ubernicity wasn’t exclusively in the realm of “ass kicking” or “being a catty bitch to Sophie.”  Shit needed taking care of, and she took care of it.  We even got to see her put on her gum shoes and solve a mystery. 

 

Hell, even Sean gave her props.

And yes, Sean did grow, but if I talk about him I’ll swoon over that line.  You know… the line…  Crap… I’m swooning just thinking about it.

 

*runs to get a glass of water*

 

Jena:  Don’t hurt yourself with a swoon-a-thon!!!!  Seriously.  That’s been known to KILL people! 

 

Ok, breathe….

 

Yes, Sean definitely had his moment to shine in this one.  The Line was a wonderful one.  It totally redeemed him in my eyes.  Obviously, that is not the ONLY thing in Framed that made me a Seanvert but it was a big one. 

 

So let’s talk technicalities for a minute.  One thing that I always look for when reading a book is the technical stuff.  I don’t mean picking apart the book for a missed comma or an uncrossed T.  I look for the framework of the story.  I felt that Amber Lynn Natusch did a fantastic job with Framed.  Caged and Haunted are wonderful books but this one most definitely took the cake, IMHO.  She’s got a talent for urban fantasy as a whole but she also has a good solid grasp on writing a mystery.  That was something that impressed me greatly about her writing style in the first 2 installments. 

 

Well, I feel that she took it to a whole new level with Framed.  This installment in the series is much darker feeling and……well, not that I sit around trying to predict the ending of every book I read but I wasn’t able to get a read on the big reveal in this one.  Not even a little bit.  And it’s a BIG REVEAL.  It’s more like a landslide of several big reveals and I couldn’t have been more stunned!

 

Ginny:  I do sit around trying to figure out whodunit.  It’s just this thing… it’s like a sickness…  Really though, crazy theories is what makes mysteries fun for me.  In “Framed” I had an “I don’t trust…” an “I hope it’s…” and a “oh I wonder if…”  All of which I sent to Amber.  She was nice enough to not out and out laugh at me for the one that was so off base I think I owe the character an apology card.

 

And probably a basket of fruit. 

 

None of which were the reveal I’m pretty sure you’re talking about, since I don’t think anyone could see that coming from a mile away.  It was the literary equivalent of being hit by a subway train above ground… in New Hampshire… There was no way you could have predicted it.  In fact, I’m preemptively calling anyone who says “oh I totally knew about that before it was revealed” a liar and a mystery hipster.  Don’t be that person.

 

I totally agree with Jena, structurally the Caged series is aces.  It’s not like one of those stories where you go “the idea was there but…” or “I really liked the characters but…”  I love the characters, I love the setting, the idea is unique, and she has the mad writing skills to pull it all off.

 

Jena:  Glad you feel that way!  Well, I think we are going to wrap it up there.  I don’t want to get going on a tangent and say things like “Can you believe that XXXXXXXX did XXXXXXXXX?!?!?!”  or “I and blown away by the fact that XXXXXXXXXX is XXXXXXXXXX!!!” 

 

Overall, Ginny and I both give Framed 5 toothy werewolf grins!!!   Although this could easily be read as a standalone novel, you are most definitely screwing yourself if you don’t read Caged and Haunted first.  All three are a fast-paced, quick read and you shouldn’t miss the story!!!

 

Filed under: Writing process

Framed Giveaway Winners…

Congratulations to Heather Jones and Jen Vallance!  They are the winners of the free Framed copies.

There will be chances to win a copy or two of Scarred before it hits this fall, so keep your eyes peeled.

Filed under: Writing process