Aminah Iman's Blog - Posts Tagged "reading"
Embodying the Queen
While doing research for my book, "The Changing", I ran into a few brick walls. For one, this particular queen did not have a lot of information available online or in books for that matter, about her, for two she was a very mysterious person. Now I absolutely Love research, the digging in deep of learning something new and exciting, the hours of reading and cross referencing, everything. Research is my best friend, but when you don't have a lot to go on it can be frustrating, especially for someone like me, but I persevered.
The wonderful part of Historical-fiction is the fictional part, the part you get to embellish on, and believe me when I tell you it was my saving grace! I loved all of the information I found out about this character, but the part I seriously sunk my teeth into was where I got to create for her. How she grew up, the conversations she had, the people she met, etc.. I enjoyed having her meet Lillith and the bond they formed. How Lillith molded her throughout her mortal life and was her one constant.
If you enjoyed Lillith:My Genesis and The Queen you'll enjoy this as well seeing as it runs in the same vein. Every one of Lilliths "ladies in arms" will get their own novella so don't worry, this one just spoke to me as the story that needed to be told at this time. Its scheduled to be released in June and I can't wait for you to read it!
Until next time Loves, I wish you all Happy Reading!
The wonderful part of Historical-fiction is the fictional part, the part you get to embellish on, and believe me when I tell you it was my saving grace! I loved all of the information I found out about this character, but the part I seriously sunk my teeth into was where I got to create for her. How she grew up, the conversations she had, the people she met, etc.. I enjoyed having her meet Lillith and the bond they formed. How Lillith molded her throughout her mortal life and was her one constant.
If you enjoyed Lillith:My Genesis and The Queen you'll enjoy this as well seeing as it runs in the same vein. Every one of Lilliths "ladies in arms" will get their own novella so don't worry, this one just spoke to me as the story that needed to be told at this time. Its scheduled to be released in June and I can't wait for you to read it!
Until next time Loves, I wish you all Happy Reading!
My obsession with research
When I start a new project, one of the first things I do is research. It doesn't matter if it is a historical fiction book or a book on the supernatural, I look up any and everything I can on the subject. The funny thing is, I enjoy the research as much as I do the actually writing. To learn about the subject that I'm about to spend months of my life with is important to me. To learn of different cultures or myths and legends is wonderful, to read the different ways a single subject can be written about is amazing.
When I was researching Lillith I found everything from religious references to witches and cults. I found so much information it took months to cultivate through it all, to decide on what to use. I knew what angle I wanted to go in, I knew that I was going to go with Lillith being the first wife of Adam and that after she was banished from the Garden of Eden she was changed. Once I was clear on the path I wanted her to take I did more research. It wasn't enough to learn about Lillith, I then had to research vampires. I had to research how they came about, the etymology, the myths and legends. I didn't want to learn only about the "new age" vampire, I wanted to know about the first. I wanted to learn why some say silver will kill them, why others think garlic won't work. It all had to fit into my story, my path for Lillith.
I do the same for each and every book I write, I usually take the road less traveled, the myth that is used the least because I like the challenge of creating their world myself. I like finding an old piece of writing that's been discarded or forgotten about and breathing new life into it, creating the fiction from the facts.
I hope this gives you a little insight on why I love research so much, why I think it is imperative that in writing a book you must do whatever is necessary to create the best story you possibly can. Have a great week and as always, I wish you Happy Reading!
When I was researching Lillith I found everything from religious references to witches and cults. I found so much information it took months to cultivate through it all, to decide on what to use. I knew what angle I wanted to go in, I knew that I was going to go with Lillith being the first wife of Adam and that after she was banished from the Garden of Eden she was changed. Once I was clear on the path I wanted her to take I did more research. It wasn't enough to learn about Lillith, I then had to research vampires. I had to research how they came about, the etymology, the myths and legends. I didn't want to learn only about the "new age" vampire, I wanted to know about the first. I wanted to learn why some say silver will kill them, why others think garlic won't work. It all had to fit into my story, my path for Lillith.
I do the same for each and every book I write, I usually take the road less traveled, the myth that is used the least because I like the challenge of creating their world myself. I like finding an old piece of writing that's been discarded or forgotten about and breathing new life into it, creating the fiction from the facts.
I hope this gives you a little insight on why I love research so much, why I think it is imperative that in writing a book you must do whatever is necessary to create the best story you possibly can. Have a great week and as always, I wish you Happy Reading!
The end of an era...
I am about to release my last Vamperial book on 12/31/2016. This is bittersweet for me because Lillith: My Genesis was the first book I ever written and published. I was so terrified and nervous. Would it be good enough, would people like it, could I actually publish it, and how was I going to promote it?
At the time, I had just learned that I would not be able to return to work, I had a surgery that left me pretty messed up and going back into the workforce was not an option. I loved my career, I was great at what I did, and darn it I had just paid off all my student loans. What was I to do for income? How could I maintain the life style in which my family and I had become accustomed to? I worried long and hard over this and then I prayed. I had a talent, a God given talent, that being unable to go back to work was of no consequence... Writing. So I wrote.
As many of my fellow authors can attest, my book did not take off right away. It took what felt like forever. I did research on marketing & promotion. I asked a billion questions, I cried A Lot, but eventually I got my first review and... it was not good. My heart broke a little, but I refused to give up. I wrote another book & another, & so forth & so on. A hand full of years later I received an invitation to be apart of a gala where I received an award for Lillith. Heart repaired!
Some years after that I put together a small group of young brilliant authors together & we formed Red Ink Publications and I haven't looked back. One of my brilliant young authors had an amazing idea to give all of Lillih's queens their own novella. From there I wrote Revelation & the end of this year Apocalypse comes out. It is an end of an era. It is the end of what started it all for me, so it is bittersweet.
I can look back now and say not being able to go back in my chosen field was one of the best things that could have happened to me. It gave me Lillith & the courage to follow my true dream. When a window closes, a door truly opens.
At the time, I had just learned that I would not be able to return to work, I had a surgery that left me pretty messed up and going back into the workforce was not an option. I loved my career, I was great at what I did, and darn it I had just paid off all my student loans. What was I to do for income? How could I maintain the life style in which my family and I had become accustomed to? I worried long and hard over this and then I prayed. I had a talent, a God given talent, that being unable to go back to work was of no consequence... Writing. So I wrote.
As many of my fellow authors can attest, my book did not take off right away. It took what felt like forever. I did research on marketing & promotion. I asked a billion questions, I cried A Lot, but eventually I got my first review and... it was not good. My heart broke a little, but I refused to give up. I wrote another book & another, & so forth & so on. A hand full of years later I received an invitation to be apart of a gala where I received an award for Lillith. Heart repaired!
Some years after that I put together a small group of young brilliant authors together & we formed Red Ink Publications and I haven't looked back. One of my brilliant young authors had an amazing idea to give all of Lillih's queens their own novella. From there I wrote Revelation & the end of this year Apocalypse comes out. It is an end of an era. It is the end of what started it all for me, so it is bittersweet.
I can look back now and say not being able to go back in my chosen field was one of the best things that could have happened to me. It gave me Lillith & the courage to follow my true dream. When a window closes, a door truly opens.
Writing together works... Or something like that.
Hello Loves, welcome to this week’s Inside the Nations blog. As most of you know we at RedInk Pub are all coming together to write a book, Order From Chaos. This wonderful compilation has several heroes and villains from the RedInk universe and we are so excited to share it with you. Believe it or not, that isn’t what this blog is about. It’s about working with other authors on the same project. There are a lot of pros and cons to doing a project with other great writers that you love and respect and I will try to hit the ones nearest and dearest to me.
Let’s list the pros first shall we. One of my favorite things about working with my fellow ‘Queens of Horror’ is coming up with the concept of the book. When Omega first came to me with the idea I thought she was insane. We all have different writing styles, our characters are so different, etc. But after I stopped shooting it down long enough for her to actually tell me about it, I realized she was right. The concept was amazing! Once we ran it past the other girls, everyone agreed. We talked about it, tweaked it, and came up with something truly epic.
The other awesome thing about writing a compilation book is having other writers on the ready to bounce things off of. If you are in a rut and don’t know quite where to go, the others can pitch in and help out. This particular project has a lot of character change where I may have to write for Jaqueline’s character or Neffi may have to write for Omega’s, but we are always ready to lend a hand or a voice.
My most favorite part of working on this project with my girls is reading what they write immediately after it is written. You can’t get much better than that. To read some of your favorite authors work while they are writing it is an amazing thing!
Now, the cons… Not that there are many, but there are a few. One of my least fav things is waiting for another person to finish their respective chapter. I may have an idea for Micha or Sari, but Liam’s chapter isn’t finished yet and I can’t move on until it is. This doesn’t happen much in our case, but when it does you can literally see the flames coming out of my ears.
On the flip side of that, say you are chugging along with your chapter and another author calls and asks if you’re done yet. ‘Have I sent it to you…’ is the response I want to say, but you can’t because they are simply asking if it’s their turn yet. Patience is definitely a virtue.
Another con is agreeing on how a chapter should go. Everyone has their own ideas and styles of writing so you may not see eye to eye. I may want a battle scene in chapter five, but Neffi thinks it’s a bad idea… Who’s right?
The point is, if you decide to write a book with other authors there will be ups and downs, but if you want it to work you will take the good with the bad. It boils down to compromising and doing what is best for the book. I hope this helped and as always, I wish you Happy Reading!
Let’s list the pros first shall we. One of my favorite things about working with my fellow ‘Queens of Horror’ is coming up with the concept of the book. When Omega first came to me with the idea I thought she was insane. We all have different writing styles, our characters are so different, etc. But after I stopped shooting it down long enough for her to actually tell me about it, I realized she was right. The concept was amazing! Once we ran it past the other girls, everyone agreed. We talked about it, tweaked it, and came up with something truly epic.
The other awesome thing about writing a compilation book is having other writers on the ready to bounce things off of. If you are in a rut and don’t know quite where to go, the others can pitch in and help out. This particular project has a lot of character change where I may have to write for Jaqueline’s character or Neffi may have to write for Omega’s, but we are always ready to lend a hand or a voice.
My most favorite part of working on this project with my girls is reading what they write immediately after it is written. You can’t get much better than that. To read some of your favorite authors work while they are writing it is an amazing thing!
Now, the cons… Not that there are many, but there are a few. One of my least fav things is waiting for another person to finish their respective chapter. I may have an idea for Micha or Sari, but Liam’s chapter isn’t finished yet and I can’t move on until it is. This doesn’t happen much in our case, but when it does you can literally see the flames coming out of my ears.
On the flip side of that, say you are chugging along with your chapter and another author calls and asks if you’re done yet. ‘Have I sent it to you…’ is the response I want to say, but you can’t because they are simply asking if it’s their turn yet. Patience is definitely a virtue.
Another con is agreeing on how a chapter should go. Everyone has their own ideas and styles of writing so you may not see eye to eye. I may want a battle scene in chapter five, but Neffi thinks it’s a bad idea… Who’s right?
The point is, if you decide to write a book with other authors there will be ups and downs, but if you want it to work you will take the good with the bad. It boils down to compromising and doing what is best for the book. I hope this helped and as always, I wish you Happy Reading!
