S.C. Parris's Blog: News and Information, page 17

My Husky!

Xavier

Need to get his dog food later. Overjoyed right now.

Keep your bite

S.C. Parris

Filed under: General Life Tagged: husky, life, personal, siberian husky, xavier

Incoming Husky and Ending Semester

So I’m getting a Husky (tomorrow) (and yes it looks like the picture below, except a puppy) (YAY)and finishing up school hence the lack of proper blog posts.

Husky

Not much to write here, but I’ve been super busy outlining

The Two Swords: 3rd Delacroix Novel

and

Judgment

Have you been writing and/or reading? If so, what? I do need some new books to read.

Let me know in a comment.

Keep your bite,

-S.C. Parris

Filed under: General Life, Judgment, The Delacroix Series, Writing Process Tagged: author, books, dogs, husky, novels, siberian husky, the delacroix series, the two swords, writer

The Immortal's Guide is here!

Is here! Available now here and here. Available as a Paperback on Amazon.com now! Enjoy and

Keep your bite.

-S.C. Parris

New Review on The Dark World!

Vera rated it 5 stars

This was the first book of the series that I read. I found the characters, locations and the story line to be extremely fabulous. I’m a great fan of mystery novels and can usually figure things out for myself, however, the ending was a complete surprise. I must say that even though this is my kind of book, the author went above and beyond my expectations.

Wahhh I had no idea she’d posted this November 23rd! I only just saw it this morning when I went to update my books on Goodreads Widget. Well, then! She was one of the Giveaway Winners, and I’m so overjoyed that she enjoyed it. Can’t wait to see her surprise at the ending for The Immortal’s Guide.

Keep your bite!

-S.C. Parris

Filed under: General Life, Inspiration, The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel, The Delacroix Series, Writing Process Tagged: author, book, fantasy, giveaway, goodreads, my books, novel, review, reviews, the dark world, writing

Goodreads Giveaway Completed!

The Immortal’s Guide Goodreads Giveaway has been completed and the winner, Cathrine Ninteman has been sent her copy. Here’s to hoping she enjoys it.

Now, The Immortal’s Guide is out on Amazon.com, and Kindle so take your pick!

Will update this post with a quick excerpt if you haven’t read one already later on (I’m in my college library right now), and there’s that!

Will be working on Judgment as soon as my brain calms down from writing-overload!

Keep your bite!

-S.C. Parris

Filed under: General Life, Inspiration, The Delacroix Series, The Immortal's Guide: A Delacroix Novel, Writing Process Tagged: author, book, books, characters, fantasy, goodreads, my book, my books, novel, novels, the immortal's guide, update, writer, writing

The Immortal’s Guide is here!

Is here! Available now here and here. Available as a Paperback on Amazon.com in a few days! Enjoy and

Keep your bite.

-S.C. Parris

Filed under: Inspiration, The Delacroix Series, The Immortal's Guide: A Delacroix Novel, Writing Process Tagged: author, book, books, creative writing, fantasy, inspiration, my book, my books, novel, novels, the immortal's guide, update, writer, writers, writing

Quick Update!

BIG NEWS! A scene from my upcoming novel, The Rather Depressing Tales of Patricia L. Bordeaux has been chosen to be published in an anthology of vampire short stories coming out February 2013 by Before Sunrise Press!

Filed under: General Life, Inspiration, Patricia L. Bordeaux, Short Stories, Writing Process Tagged: big news, patricia l. bordeaux, personal, published, publishing, writer, writing

Playlists

I’ve seen the number of writers who admit to having a writing playlist or a special playlist to help with their scenes, characters, writing out emotions, or even dialogue. And as of late, to me anyway, it’s become this…thing. As though creating a playlist just to write or having one is absolutely beneficial to writing. And I know for some people it is, but when I get asked if I use a playlist to write and my response is in the negative, I get questions, like, “Why? Do you just write with no music?” As though music is some grand thing I find disgusting to my tastes. But it’s not like that at all, for me.

I just simply don’t designate a set of songs when writing any work, The Dark World or no. I do, on occasion, listen to music while writing, but quite often my songs are on shuffle and the songs never (rarely) match up with the emotional intensity of the scene or what have you, and I find I write pretty damn good scenes for the context of the story (whatever it is) without that music to “put me in the mood” as it seems to do for so many people.

I guess I used to be like that. Needing something external to evoke a reaction out of me, more often in the emotional range, but with writing, as I began to do it seriously (and more frequently), I realized writing was not some sacred act that required I wait, sometimes for months at a time, before the “muse” visited me in my sleep or at the most inopportune time to write. I found I could sit here and dish out whole chapters, letting this “muse” work through my words, even if I didn’t feel it at first. That’s when I knew writing was a job, just like anything else, it had to be worked for, especially if one planned to make a career out of it.

Time must be made  to write, and sometimes, yes, laziness does have to take a back seat. If your characters are not moving in a direction you want them to go, find a new direction. It is truly just that simple. Playlists, by all means, can help this, I’m not saying they can’t, but to have to have one in order to write is when I start ringing my absurdity bell.

If you truly wanted to write, be a writer, whatever you want to call it, you’d be doing it. And you’d eventually force yourself to do away with the “muse” or the “need” to have a playlist and you’d just – do.

That said, I’m just about wrapping up The Immortal’s Guide, and even with nature’s set backs, I’ve stuck to my outline (that’s another post in itself), and have fully accomplished every thing I set out to do with this novel (and most of that was writing two whole chapters a day/night, what have you).

So, no I don’t need a playlist to write, I find I can carry a scene if the characters are actually speaking to each other, and wholly invested in what they are undergoing at the moment. For me, it’s all about actuality. “Why is this person upset?” And just how long will they stay that way if this other person says something to further upset them?

I try not to force anything in my writing. That is quite obvious, I believe, when things are forced, if they don’t tie in with the nature of the story.

That said, playlists aren’t for me – I prefer to play things by ear, as I’ve had to with Hurricane Sandy. (Why are they calling it a SuperStorm?)

The Immortal’s Guide releases November 30th, of this year. And there’s a giveaway for one free pre-release copy.

Keep your bite.

-S.C. Parris

Filed under: General Life, Inspiration, The Delacroix Series, The Immortal's Guide: A Delacroix Novel, Writing Process Tagged: book, books, characters, creation, creative writing, fantasy, inspiration, life, my books, novel, novels, personal, playlists, the immortal's guide, writer, writing, writing process

Future Books

Writing is back in full swing! In order (unless otherwise stated), these are the books I'm working on at any given time to publish within the next three or so years:


The Immortal's Guide - Delacroix Series

(The swirling cold air surrounded him as he flew forever upward, the Enchanter breaking cold air alongside him, her expression most focused as she blasted spell after spell at the dark figure that loomed ever above them and, Nathanial knew without a glance backward, behind them as well.

He grasped tight Xavier’s hand, sure to pull the Vampire adamantly along as the wind grew louder, stronger in its pull, until it was all he could hear, Aurora’s incantations lost to the howling fury that was Eleanor’s power. And just when he saw the dark figure’s translucent body ripple with a particularly shattering blast of green light cast from Aurora’s slender hand, he knew a single burst of red light to fill his vision completely.

“Xavier!” Eleanor Black’s echo screamed madly amidst the rush of wind, the hail of red light.)



Judgment - Paranormal Romance

(His mahogany door swung open, causing him to jump up, his finger sliding off the intercom button. The force of the door seemed to reverberate around the smug office, the leather chair where he sat behind his black desk, staring upon the intruder in awe.

A tight red dress clung to every curve along the slender body and as she sauntered forward, a most forlorn Abby behind her mumbling rapid apologies into the air, she reached into a black shoulder bag and dug from it what looked to be two rather old papers.

Slamming the dog-eared, slightly yellowed sheets down on his desk with a well manicured hand, she looked up into his black eyes and in them he saw fear, tremendous fear, but also what looked like the faintest glimmer of hope. And as they stared at each other, he realized her pink lips had been moving: “Take these. Take them and run. They are coming."

And before he could call her back, or say a word at all, she had turned on a red heel, and had stepped briskly from the room, her long raven hair flying out behind her before she disappeared behind the dark door that had closed with a slam just as fierce as the one she had caused when entering.)


The Tales of Sinner Sharpe: Dark Waters (Title pending) - Adventure/Action/Fiction

(“We’re gonna need more men, Sin,” the man aptly called Dagger said to me in his deep voice.

As he stared at me, his dark eyes alive with the stirrings of excitement, I felt it myself: There was only one thing to do when we received a job, and that meant taking on a lot of new names...killing the old ones...or at least, the ones that didn’t get along too well with my idea of when to work and when to play, and when those two things were in fact one in the same.

I tapped a finger against the wood of the table we sat around and tried to disguise my own excitement underneath a smooth surface of clear-headedness. Dagger would have it no other way.

I saw a few of those Fireguard boys walking around before we came here,” I said, thinking back to the sight of the young men walking around with their helmets falling over their eyes. I grimaced as I rethought their importance.

Dagger seemed to be thinking the same thing for he quickly said, “The Fireguard grows privileged babies, not mercenaries...assassins. We need men...men like....” And his eyes roved behind me as the door to the small dirty inn opened.

As I turned in my seat to watch the newcomers allow the warm night air of Battle Bay Port to enter the dry air of the place, I saw that several dirt-strewn, sea-worn men were entering through the battered door. Along their chests remained the emblem for their group, or sect, or whatever one called it nowadays, a simple one if I ever saw it: the shadow of a dagger stitched to their black shirts.

As the men entered completely and the door closed behind them, I turned back to Dagger, desiring to see his thoughts on these men. He wasn’t looking at me, he still looked over my head, staring, well, daggers, upon the men as they took their seats around a particularly large table in the center of the room.

"Dag,” I grunted, fighting the urge to punch his arm. Damn man wouldn’t tear his eyes off a new prospect – if he thought they were good enough for Assassins of Sin – unless I cut his eyes out. He was like that. If he thought they’d make good men to work with, he’d do all he could – work his magic – so that they were onboard. But just the same, if it turned out those men were ne’er do wells, well...he took just as much pleasure in running his infamous daggers across their throats. I couldn’t say I didn’t approve of his methods – he’d learned them from me in the first place.)



The Rather Depressing Tales of Patricia L. Bordeaux - Paranormal/Horror/Fantasy/Fiction

(My name is Patricia Lauren Bordeaux, and I, like my creator before me, am a very lonely vampire.

Born to Margaret Emilie Clarke in 1686, my family found themselves the center of scandal. For you see, my sister, Sarah Clarke, landed in the Virginas with the rest of the deserters around the time of my twenty-eighth birthday. With my father’s death some years before, my dear mother and I had no one else to rely on. Shunned from society with my sister’s betrayal to her country, we were forced to send pieces of our furniture to a dear friend’s house in the efforts to evade the tax collectors, persistent though they were.

Our state of anxiety further continued throughout the years with no hope of relief in sight and when we’d received news of the Americans and their Declaration of Independence, my mother had long since passed from malaria at the tender age of seventy-six. But where are my manners?

I suppose I should start at the beginning, and though one would debate just what the beginning consists of, I must say that it starts on the rather cold night of January 4th 1714. My mother remained at home with her dear Lady Langdon, gossiping about the world and pining for her youth, while I, a quite adventurous sort in those days, made it my fortune to venture to those rather indecent places one would only whisper about behind drawn curtains and closed doors with blushing cheeks and lowered eyes.

My particular goal in sight this night was to scour a new gentlemen’s club, and although I was no gentleman by any moderation of the word, I often thought it fun to try my hand at getting in.)



The Two Swords - Delacroix Series

(No excerpt yet available.)

The Goblet (of Existence) - Delacroix Series

(No excerpt yet available.)

Dracula; The Life - Delacroix Series

(No excerpt yet available.)

Excited? I am!

Keep your bite!

-S.C. Parris

Future Books

Writing is back in full swing! In order (unless otherwise stated), these are the books I’m working on at any given time to publish within the next three or so years:

The Immortal’s Guide – Delacroix Series

(The swirling cold air surrounded him as he flew forever upward, the Enchanter breaking cold air alongside him, her expression most focused as she blasted spell after spell at the dark figure that loomed ever above them and, Nathanial knew without a glance backward, behind them as well.

He grasped tight Xavier’s hand, sure to pull the Vampire adamantly along as the wind grew louder, stronger in its pull, until it was all he could hear, Aurora’s incantations lost to the howling fury that was Eleanor’s power. And just when he saw the dark figure’s translucent body ripple with a particularly shattering blast of green light cast from Aurora’s slender hand, he knew a single burst of red light to fill his vision completely.

“Xavier!”  Eleanor Black’s echo screamed madly amidst the rush of wind, the hail of red light.)

Judgment – Paranormal Romance

(His mahogany door swung open, causing him to jump up, his finger sliding off the intercom button. The force of the door seemed to reverberate around the smug office, the leather chair where he sat behind his black desk, staring upon the intruder in awe.

A tight red dress clung to every curve along the slender body and as she sauntered forward, a most forlorn Abby behind her mumbling rapid apologies into the air, she reached into a black shoulder bag and dug from it what looked to be two rather old papers.

Slamming the dog-eared, slightly yellowed sheets down on his desk with a well manicured hand, she looked up into his black eyes and in them he saw fear, tremendous fear, but also what looked like the faintest glimmer of hope. And as they stared at each other, he realized her pink lips had been moving: “Take these. Take them and run. They are coming.”

And before he could call her back, or say a word at all, she had turned on a red heel, and had stepped briskly from the room, her long raven hair flying out behind her before she disappeared behind the dark door that had closed with a slam just as fierce as the one she had caused when entering.)



The Tales of Sinner Sharpe: Dark Waters (Title pending) – Adventure/Action/Fiction

(“We’re gonna need more men, Sin,” the man aptly called Dagger said to me in his deep voice.

As he stared at me, his dark eyes alive with the stirrings of excitement, I felt it myself: There was only one thing to do when we received a job, and that meant taking on a lot of new names…killing the old ones…or at least, the ones that didn’t get along too well with my idea of when to work and when to play, and when those two things were in fact one in the same.

I tapped a finger against the wood of the table we sat around and tried to disguise my own excitement underneath a smooth surface of clear-headedness. Dagger would have it no other way.

“I saw a few of those Fireguard boys walking around before we came here,” I said, thinking back to the sight of the young men walking around with their helmets falling over their eyes. I grimaced as I rethought their importance.

Dagger seemed to be thinking the same thing for he quickly said, “The Fireguard grows privileged babies, not mercenaries…assassins. We need men…men like….” And his eyes roved behind me as the door to the small dirty inn opened.

As I turned in my seat to watch the newcomers allow the warm night air of Battle Bay Port to enter the dry air of the place, I saw that several dirt-strewn, sea-worn men were entering through the battered door. Along their chests remained the emblem for their group, or sect, or whatever one called it nowadays, a simple one if I ever saw it: the shadow of a dagger stitched to their black shirts.

As the men entered completely and the door closed behind them, I turned back to Dagger, desiring to see his thoughts on these men. He wasn’t looking at me, he still looked over my head, staring, well, daggers, upon the men as they took their seats around a particularly large table in the center of the room.

“Dag,” I grunted, fighting the urge to punch his arm. Damn man wouldn’t tear his eyes off a new prospect – if he thought they were good enough for Assassins of Sin – unless I cut his eyes out. He was like that. If he thought they’d make good men to work with, he’d do all he could – work his magic – so that they were onboard. But just the same, if it turned out those men were ne’er do wells, well…he took just as much pleasure in running his infamous daggers across their throats. I couldn’t say I didn’t approve of his methods – he’d learned them from me in the first place.)

The Rather Depressing Tales of Patricia L. Bordeaux – Paranormal/Horror/Fantasy/Fiction

(My name is Patricia Lauren Bordeaux, and I, like my creator before me, am a very lonely vampire.

Born to Margaret Emilie Clarke in 1686, my family found themselves the center of scandal. For you see, my sister, Sarah Clarke, landed in the Virginas with the rest of the deserters around the time of my twenty-eighth birthday. With my father’s death some years before, my dear mother and I had no one else to rely on. Shunned from society with my sister’s betrayal to her country, we were forced to send pieces of our furniture to a dear friend’s house in the efforts to evade the tax collectors, persistent though they were.

Our state of anxiety further continued throughout the years with no hope of relief in sight and when we’d received news of the Americans and their Declaration of Independence, my mother had long since passed from malaria at the tender age of seventy-six. But where are my manners?

I suppose I should start at the beginning, and though one would debate just what the beginning consists of, I must say that it starts on the rather cold night of January 4th, 1714. My mother remained at home with her dear Lady Langdon, gossiping about the world and pining for her youth, while I, a quite adventurous sort in those days, made it my fortune to venture to those rather indecent places one would only whisper about behind drawn curtains and closed doors with blushing cheeks and lowered eyes.

My particular goal in sight this night was to scour a new gentlemen’s club, and although I was no gentleman by any moderation of the word, I often thought it fun to try my hand at getting in.)

The Two Swords – Delacroix Series

(No excerpt yet available.)

The Goblet (of Existence) – Delacroix Series

(No excerpt yet available.)

Dracula; The Life – Delacroix Series

(No excerpt yet available.)

Excited? I am!

Keep your bite!

-S.C. Parris

Filed under: Excerpts, General Life, Inspiration, Judgment, Patricia L. Bordeaux, The Delacroix Series, The Immortal's Guide: A Delacroix Novel, The Tales of Sinner Sharpe, Writing Process Tagged: author, dracula, novel, novels, patricia lauren bordeaux, the immortal's guide, the tales of sinner sharpe, the two swords, vampires