Heather Sutherlin's Blog, page 14

Author Inspired: S.R. Johannes

Happy Monday, readers! This morning we have a fabulous treat for all of you joining us for the Uncontrollable Blog Tour. S.R. Johannes is sharing  some fabulous insight and advice for the writers among us. So, without further ado, here’s the good stuff:

Writing is hard. (duh right?!)

I never thought that until I started. All you need is love to GET started. But, if you want to stand out you need more, you need to study the craft and be a sponge for learning. Jump in. There are so many online workshops, conferences, and books. Join critique groups, get critiques, and soak up whatever feedback you can’t. Do it all. You can only get better. You can never learn too much.

That is one thing about me. When I jump in I immerse myself and like a sponge soak up what I can.

I have not always been writing fiction, but I have always written. I’ve been a copywriter for over 15 years writing marketing copy for various products. I didn’t start writing fiction until my daughter was born and I actually had time off to play around. Studying my craft, getting critiques, and joining SCBWI were the best things for me and helped moved me forward as a writer.

If I could go back, I think I would have gotten an MFA instead of a MBA. Since I can’t, I have to find other ways to learn and grow.

The biggest thing I have learned during my last 8 years of frustrations, queries, rejections, agent representation, acquisitions, revisions – is that – if you get rejected or don’t sell your book, it DOES NOT mean your book is not good enough. Publishers and agents look for what is “marketable” and what they think will “sell”. It doesn’t mean your work is not great or sellable. I never realized this until this last year and I wish I knew it sooner because it would have saved me a lot of tears.

I hung my talent on every rejection and every no. I took feedback to heart and kept telling myself I wasn’t good enough. I beat myself up every time a no came across my desk. It wasn’t until I let all that go and had faith that my book was where it needed to be – that I realized I was good enough and was actually better than I thought.

I fretted over pieces and parts of Untraceable for so long only to find out those pieces are what readers love about Untraceable.  Who knew? So try to have confidence in your work to keep going or else it can paralyze you. Take criticisms as opportunities to get better not as roadblocks to your success.

Find out what you love and what you are good at and go for it. Get to be the best at it. Do one genre awesome. I am good at thrillers. I could probably write other stuff but it is not my strength so why force it? I love thrillers and they work well for me.

But most importantly, don’t give up! Keep plugging along and eventually you will find your way.

Now, it may not be the way you had planned or envisioned, but you will find your own way when you are supposed to.

Happy writing!

 

Uncontrollable is coming soon! If you haven’t read Untraceable, grab your FREE copy today & catch up on all the excitement. Now we want to hear from all of you: What issues keep you paralyzed, unable to finish or publish your work? What inspires you to push ahead and keep trying? Please leave us a comment.

The Uncontrollabe Blog Tour Is Coming!

Stops here on Sept. 10th

On Wednesday, I was thrilled to share with you one of my favorite indie books this year, Untraceable. Well, you are in for a treat, because the sequel is coming soon and you get a front row seat for all the action. This week marked the beginning of the Uncontrollable blog tour, celebrating the sequel to Untraceable. You can follow all the fun from the author’s site. We’ll get an up close sneak peek into the author’s brain on Monday as she shares her advice for young writers. Then, you can follow the tour on its journey to the Uncontrollable release date on September 24th. Along the way there will be free book giveaways and many other prizes, so join the fun and come back here on Monday to hear from the author herself. You won’t want to miss it!

You Gotta Read: Untraceable

Untraceable by S.R. Johannes is an action-packed suspense for young adults that follows the story of Grace, a teenage girl who is determined to find her missing father. In the forest one day while she is tracking, she runs into trouble and is rescued by a hot guy who turns out to be Mo, a boy who is living in the woods after his own father disappeared. Together they search for clues and sort out a puzzle that turns out to be much bigger than Grace ever imagined. It will be up to her to save the day, but can she count on Mo to help or will this mysterious boy turn out to be more trouble?

 

My Thoughts

Mrs. Johannes really draws you in with the suspense and invests well in building these characters so that you just can’t walk away without knowing what happens to Grace and Mo. I couldn’t put it down after the third chapter and the ending will leave you breathless.

My daughter is twelve and she loved Untraceable. When she started the book, she seemed hesitant as it’s not really a genre she prefers (we’re more of a fantasy household if you haven’t noticed!) But, the next day she came running in to tell me that she loved it. “I thought it was going to be a modern day Nancy Drew, but it was so much better!” Like me, she found herself unable to put the book down and in the end she didn’t want the story to stop. Her review? “It’s a suspenseful story based on a shocking reality.” I couldn’t agree more and you’ll love every minute of it.

Where to Get It

Just click on your preferred format below

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Paperback

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords Ebook

Want More?

Grab a copy today. Right now you can get Untraceable for FREE on Amazon Kindle! Come back Friday for some exciting news about the sequel, Uncontrollable.

 

More “Ask the Author” Questions

Yesterday I shared a few questions from third graders in Nashville, Tennessee. Here are the rest of their fabulous questions and my responses.

7. Do you keep a notebook or something else to record ideas for your books?  How do you come up with new ideas?

I do keep a notebook. Actually, I keep a LOT of notebooks and pens everywhere. I also carry an ipad with me, but when I have really good ideas, I take out a notebook and start writing. Sometimes I end up writing in really funny places like in the middle of the grocery store or at the pool while I’m dripping wet. I just don’t want to forget my ideas, so I hurry to jot them down.

All of my big ideas have come from dreams. I have very vivid dreams that I call “movie dreams.” It is like I’m watching a movie. I can see all the characters and hear them talk and usually I can even feel the main character’s emotions. I watch them go through something amazing like falling in love or running from some bad guy or searching for a treasure. Then, when I wake up, I can’t stop thinking about it and wondering what happened next, so I write it down. I almost never dream about real life, so all of my stories are fantasy in some way. I once dreamed about Africa, but then the characters were attacked by alien cat monsters, so… I guess my dreams are never normal.

 8.     Was it fun making your book?

YES! The most fun I have ever had, I think. I don’t write like most writers. I write to find out what happens next, so I don’t have the whole book planned out like you are taught in school to write. (Sorry, Mrs. Hayes) So, writing for me is like reading a really good book. It is the book I most want to read and I can’t wait to find out what happens. Will they be saved? Will they get what they wanted? I don’t know, so I keep writing. And the best part is something most people don’t know about writers: The characters will surprise you! Sometimes you are thinking they will do one thing and then while you are writing all of a sudden they are doing something else and you sit back, staring at the screen and say, “Huh. Why did you do that? That messes up everything!” And it’s kind of amazing. Like they are alive and you have to try to keep up with them. So, you start writing again and try to get them out of whatever they just got themselves into. It’s my favorite part of writing.

 9.   How did you come up with your title?

As I was writing, I was spending a lot of time thinking about my book. One day I was reading the Bible, which I try to do every morning, and I got to a place where Jesus is talking about being the light in the world that is full of darkness. I sat and thought about that for a while and realized how much my character is like that. So, then I started looking for other places where the Bible talks about light and darkness. Pretty soon I had a long list. I ended up using a lot of those ideas in making my books for this series. All of the books originally had titles that were from the Bible and all of them have the same theme. Light changes the darkness, pushes it back so that we can see things, but the darkness is constantly threatening to put out the lights.

 10.   Does your story relate to your life?

Well, it is a fantasy, so… not entirely. However, since I am a Christian, I am trying to do what Jesus said about being a light in a dark world. So, in that sense I am a little like Merrilyn, the main character. Mostly I just wish I could run around in fantasy lands saving people from danger and healing them magically like she does in the book. Wouldn’t that be cool?

 11.  Did you download your own book?

Haha. After my book was converted from Word into the ebook file, I was able to load it onto my ipad and read it as a kindle book. That way I could check to see if it looked okay and make any changes before customers bought the book. So, I didn’t have to pay for it. But, my husband and our daughter downloaded it on their phones, so we have a copy everywhere we go. My book just went to paperback and people can order it on Amazon, so I am going to order a big box of them and take them to a few schools here in Little Rock that can’t afford to buy books. Then, whatever is left will probably ride around in the car with me so that I can hand them out to people I meet who might help me sell them, like bookstore owners, librarians, or book reviewers.

One more thing: When I was little I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t understand how many people it takes to make a book arrive in a book store or library for me to read. Even though I self-published, it still took a lot of people to make it happen. I had my cover designer/photographer/artist, my editor who helped me make the book even better, a formatter who turned it into the different formats for Kindle or Nook and cleaned up messy spaces. Then, when it is all finished, most people also hire someone to help them market the book. Selling a book is very different from writing one, so sometimes we need help. But the best help of all is the reader. A reader who loves a book will tell all their friends about the book. When you love a book and you tell a friend, “That book was awesome! You should go read it!” you are sharing that love with the author. Even though you never meet the author, maybe you don’t even remember their name, you are giving them a precious gift. Because each book that sells is money that helps that author write for another year. Each book that sells says to the author, “someone loves your books, so keep writing!” If you love an author, if you love their books, then tell a friend. I always give books as Christmas or birthday presents because then I am sharing what I love with someone else and in the meantime I get to encourage an author somewhere to keep writing.

And for those of you in this class that wish you could write amazing books. Keep trying. Writing is fun, but it is work, too. Just like you have to practice to become a better soccer player or a better singer or a better artist, you have to practice if you want to be a better writer. Even now I am working hard to become better. I write every single day. I edit every single day. I read books about how to write, I talk with other writers and with editors and with teachers who teach people to be writers or editors. I am all grown up, but I am just now really learning how to be a true writer. I wish I had started when I was young. So, if you want to be a writer, if you have wonderful ideas for stories, grab a notebook and carry a pencil with you and WRITE!

Happy reading and writing!

Love, Heather

 If you have a question for me, please leave it in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer you.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Ask the Author

Recently I had the immense pleasure of answering a few questions about what it is like to be an author. Mrs. Hayes third grade class from Nashville, TN created a fantastic list of questions for me and I was very impressed with how much they understood about the writing and publishing process. They had eleven questions and I gave them twelve answers. Today I’ll share with you the first half of our conversation and tomorrow I’ll reveal the exciting conclusion, giving you a chance to ask a few questions, too.

1.    How did you get the idea for your book?

I had a beautiful dream that was a little bit scary at the end. You see, I was this girl, dressed all in white, standing with a bunch of people near a waterfall. People were splashing and playing in the water and I laughed because they were grown-ups but acting like kids. I looked up to say something about it to my friend, who was the prince, but I saw a man in a black cape coming down the hill to attack him. So, I ran to stop him from hurting my friend the prince. I jumped in front of him and then… I woke up.

2.    When did you start working on this book?

Well, I woke up from this dream and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to know how I became friends with a prince. I wanted to know who the girl in white was since she didn’t seem very much like me and I thought it was weird that she thought she could fight a big bad guy like the one in the black cape. So, I got up out of bed and found a notebook and started writing notes. I thought about it all day long and most of the day the next day. Then, I put it away. About a year later, my brother, who is a writer, said to me, “You should write a book. Let’s both write books in November for National Novel Writing Month.” So I did. I wrote the whole book just to see what happened next.

3.    Was your book rejected before it was published?  If so, how many times?

Oh Yes! Many times! I tried for a whole year to get it published and I received 14 rejection letters. Many agents wouldn’t even respond to my letters. They didn’t think my book would make any money, so they didn’t waste their time writing to tell me so. It was very depressing. I actually gave up trying to get published. BUT, I did not give up writing. Once I realized I could write a book, I wanted to keep writing books. It felt good. So, I wrote another and another and another.

4.    How did you find a publisher?

Actually, I never did find a publisher. I gave up, remember? But a funny thing happened. My brother had written a lot of really good books and he had been trying for many years to get published and then one day he decided to publish his own books. Now that many of us have computers, we can publish books for ourselves. So, my brother figured out how and he made so much money that was able to quit his job! Then, he taught me how to do it, too. Now I am writing every day and this year I plan to publish three books all on my own. That is called self-publishing, but most of us call ourselves Indie Authors because we are independent, we don’t rely on publishers.

5.    Did you type your book on the computer?  If so, what program did you use? 

What a clever question! I started out writing in a notebook. Nearly all of my stories start in a notebook. Then, I took the pages I had written and typed them into the computer using Microsoft Word so that I wouldn’t lose them. Also, it is easier to add more or to edit if you are using a computer. Then, when I started really writing on my book during National Novel Writing Month, I used Google Docs because I could easily share my work with friends or family and I could save it at home, go on a trip somewhere and open the internet and be able to see my document no matter where I was or what computer I was using. Isn’t that cool? Now I use Word, but I save everything I do in google drive so that I can still reach it from any computer.

6.    Why did you choose that candle for the cover?  Was there an illustrator?

I chose the candle as a symbol. The girl in my story is very special and she is asked to do something really unique. She is supposed to tell the people she meets about the god of light who wants to help them. While she’s trying to do that, the god of darkness is trying to stop her. So, she is like a little candle in a very dark place. If you blow out that one little candle, then the whole place will be dark.

My sister is an amazing photographer. I asked her to create the cover for me so that I could tell people that my family is awesome (because they are) and because I trusted her to make the cover the way I wanted. She did a great job and she is going to create all the covers in this series.

I met a girl who is a very talented artist and I asked her to read my next series which is about a few kids who wander through a portal into another world and follow a wizard to fight a mean woman who has kidnapped his queen. She read the book and loved it, so she agreed to paint a cover for my book. I think she did a fabulous job and I wish you could see it. I have the paintings hanging in my office and soon my sister will take special photos of them and turn them into a book cover on the computer. Isn’t that amazing?

Do you have any questions for me? Ask away and I’ll do my best to answer it for you.

Friday Friends: Christine Locke

Christine Locke, author of Open Door, is our guest today. She shares her tips for making your stories unique and exciting.

All my kids are writers—well, all the ones over the age of 10.  There’s something about being young and exerting your personal power through words that resonates with a bright, creative soul.  Our oldest crafted realistic fiction peopled with her friends & acquaintances; her sister wrote poetry.  Our older boy wrote a fantasy fiction series set in “Dragon World.”  My younger two girls write realistic tales about young people, one in the vein of Christian fiction and the other creating screenplays for videos she acts out using her dolls and stop-motion techniques.  I can’t wait to see what my youngest two will write!

Heather has asked me to describe my own process for young writers seeking inspiration.   I’d love to help, so here are three goals I strive to meet to make a story original and entertaining.

 

 1. Make it different.

There are so many stories out that that you already know and love; how do you make your story different?  You’ve probably heard that all good stories start with the question, What if?  That’s important to ask; just don’t stop with the first twist.  Take your favorite story and give it the “What if?” treatment.  We have a name for this now: fan fiction.  It’s a great thing that sometimes leads to new writing careers.   But I encourage you to take the story born from your first What if? and ask again, What if?  Do this enough times and your favorite story and its characters drop away while an original one with new people moves in.  This story is all yours: your plot, your characters, your setting.

For Open Door, I did this with the twin ideas of power and evil (and, ok, at first my process involved a certain popular vampire storyline…).  How does power become evil?  Is power evil in itself?  Even more interesting, how does something evil get powerful?  I went on to ask, What if evil did not wear a human face?  Voldemort, Darth Vader, and Angelis: these are fantastic fictional examples of evil, but all have a familiar, distorted, almost-human form.  What if evil were just as real, but more a potential than a personification?  What if the physical form that evil wore was NOT human-like in any way?

2. Make it Personal

Only you can decide how to make your tales personal.  For Open Door, I cast a young girl as my heroine.  I’m in the middle of raising 5 of them.  I remember feeling alone, confused and isolated when I was my character’s age.  I also set my story in the 1980’s (my own adolescent years) partly to help myself remember those feelings.

Then, I decided to use a real city as my setting.  I love writing about my native Arkansas, but for Open Door, I wanted a unique location.  It had to be isolated, recently a wilderness, full of natural beauty, and a place respecting individuality and creativity.  It delighted me to “find” Eureka Springs, AR a few years ago.  Since then, I’ve visited as often as I can (you will have seen it if you watch the show “Ghost Hunters”).

The small city of Eureka Springs looks, feels, and smells like a place where magic lives.  I read somewhere that Eureka Springs is the only city in the United States where no two roads meet at right angles.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s believable.  When we stood in the parking lot of the hotel and looked at the church next door, we were actually looking at the church’s roof.  That’s how steep the hills are there, and it seems every structure is on the side of another hill.  To get to the church next to our hotel, we walked down steep flights of stairs built into the hill on which both the hotel and the church stand.  It’s beautiful, unique, interesting, and mysterious—and it’s great exercise!

 3. Make it perfect.

When I say to make your story perfect, I mean come as close as you can to a grammatically and visually perfect manuscript.  You want your creation to be a pleasure to read: the reader won’t notice how different & personal your story is if there are too many typos!

 

I hope you have the chance to read Open Door, and I hope you love it.  I want to wish you the very best of future success with your own tales.  Above all, I urge you to keep those pens moving across paper, those cursors blipping across screens, and those stories flowing from your own heart out into the waiting world.  Good luck and happy writing!

You Gotta Read: Open Door

Open Door by Christine Locke is a paranormal suspense set in the beautifully historic town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  It follows the story of 16 year old Carin White as she moves to town with her “aunt” to work in the big house aunt Helen has inherited.  But strange things start happening and Carin quickly realizes that things are not what they seem at Mallace Mansion. When she finds a family album in the attic, her mother reveals the mysterious truth: she isn’t Carin White. She’s Carin Mallace.

My Thoughts

I loved this book because it grabbed your attention right from the first page and drew you into the mystery of the house. I could easily envision the setting of the Mallace estate in lovely Eureka Springs. That city has always captured my imagination. It isn’t difficult to become absorbed in this incredible story where the house is as much a character as the people.  You’ll keep reading just to know what happens to Carin as her life becomes increasingly more complicated by the mystery surrounding her. There were surprises from the first chapter until the last page. This book is not meant for very young readers as it deals with some intense drama, but teens and adults alike should enjoy it.

Where to Get It

It’s only 99 cents on Amazon Kindle!

Want More?

Come back on Friday to see what Mrs. Locke has to say about writing. She’s got some fabulous advice for you and explains how she developed her story and The Legacy Series. Until then, you can read what her main character, Carin Mallace, has to say about living at Mallace Mansion by visiting The Legacy of Carin Mallace and reading her diary entries. Don’t forget to grab your copy of the book, too!

 

Behind the scenes

It has been an exciting week with the release of my new book, A Light In The Darkness. As a bonus for all of my fabulous readers, I thought I would show you where you can find a little more about the series and what’s next for Merrilyn and her friends.

You can see some of the visual inspiration for the books over at Pinterest. My Light Series board is full of photos and art depicting scenes from A Light In The Darkness as well as a few sneak peeks at what’s coming next in that series.  If you have a Pinterest account, you can follow my board to get updates on new images and links for The Light Series. Or, you can explore my other boards to see what else I’m cooking up. I’ll give you a hint, you haven’t seen this before!

Want to know more about the publishing side of things and stay updated on all the news for HeatherSutherlin.com? Check out my Facebook page where I chat about writing, publishing, and a whole lot more. Just click “like this page” to get updates in your FB feed. You’ll notice I’m very chatty, so feel free to stop by and leave a comment or ask a question.

Have you read the book yet? You don’t have to own a Kindle to read A Light In The Darkness.  You can download the FREE app for your smart phone, ipad, or even your computer. Own a Nook or Kobo? Light is coming soon just for you! Keep an eye on this site or over at Facebook for when it will be available, but I expect it to be released on Nook by the end of this week. For all of you die-hard print lovers, A Light In The Darkness will be available this fall on Amazon.com and I will be doing a book signing or two as well! In the meantime, enjoy all the behind-the-scenes fun.

Story Starter Tuesday

Today my first book went live to Amazon.com! You can grab a copy on Kindle or read it on your computer, iphone, ipad, etc. with the Kindle app. After you get your copy, let me know how you like it by leaving a review. Then, come back here and have fun imagining you’re the author of a brand new book with today’s Story Starter. Maybe someday soon I’ll be downloading your first book and sharing it on my website with the world!

 

It sold out in just minutes. I was going to be rich! I glanced at the cover and smiled. Who knew a simple story could change my life? It was about a kid who went on a long journey and discovered…

Having trouble with this one? Ask yourself a few questions:

1. What is your book about? (this is the obvious question, right?)

2. What does the cover look like?

3. Where are you standing at the beginning of the story?

4. What would you do if you became a best-selling author?

5. What book would you write next?

I would love to hear your ideas. Come back and tell us all about it when you finish your story.

Cover Reveal of Light In The Darkness

I am so excited to share with you the cover for my new book, A Light In The Darkness, which comes out this month. My fabulous sister, Shannon Iverson, designed the cover for me and I am thrilled that she could be part of this project. Want to know a little more about the book? Scroll down to read the back cover summary and keep an eye out for more exciting news about A Light In The Darkness coming soon!

 

Merrilyn’s life is quiet and predictable. An apprentice to the royal healer, she spends her days helping in the village or up to mischief with her best friend who happens to be the handsome younger son of the king. But when a mysterious archer shows up in the forest and shoots their escort, Merrilyn’s life is forever changed. Caught in a battle between two forgotten gods, she must embrace her destiny and fight the very powers of darkness before it’s too late.

A Light In The Darkness

Available in August