K.M. Shea's Blog, page 57

It’s coming…

Sacrifice has a release date: Friday 2/26 for the US–or Saturday 2/27 everywhere else. That means you’ve got a wait of a little over a day! Yaaaay!

Obviously, Editor #1 finished the final read-through like a champ. I’m soooo grateful she made the time for that final read through as she found several embarrassing mistakes. Tomorrow I’ll be working on the story description, (always a challenge for me–I stammer like crazy whenever anyone asks me for a summary of a story) fix a few remaining typos, and perfect the formatting, then off to Amazon it goes!

I’ll post as soon as Amazon launches Sacrifice on Friday and links everything up. I can’t wait to hear what you all think. As a reminder, this will be the final Snow Queen book. Rakel and her crew have a really special place in my heart since I got to play with them for two books. It was so fun to see how Rakel has grown and changed when you compare the first chapter of Heart of Ice with the final chapter of Sacrifice.

Alright, I’ve got to go or spoilers are going to start tumbling out of my mouth. Stay strong, Champions! The wait is nearly over.

Cover Art Reveal: Sacrifice

Cue the music, Champions, I have the cover art for Snow Queen book 2: Sacrifice!

Sacrifice is nearly ready to go! Editor #1 is doing a final read through to make sure everything is in tip top condition. (She’s been an absolute doll about the final read through. Thanks to some unexpected timeline hiccups with editing, she got it very late, but she’s squeezing it into her schedule anyway. Thank you Jeri!) If all goes well I should be able to get Sacrifice launched before 2/29, but I’ll let you all know the moment I have it going up.  Okay, details aside, let’s talk covers!

Sacrifice marks the first time a male character graces the cover of a Timeless Fairy Tale! If you haven’t guessed yet, the hooded character is none other than Colonel Farrin Graydim of the Chosen Army. Myrrhlynn (my cover artist) spent a long time choosing the picture to use for Farrin–she specifically wanted a male holding a sword–but she’s known since I released Heart of Ice that she wanted to put Farrin on book 2’s cover. Sacrifice, just like Heart of Ice, has a cover made of multiple layers. (The model, the snow, and the background.) Thankfully, cutting Farrin out was much easier than cutting out Rakel for Heart of Ice. Rakel’s dress cuffs were fur lined, so she had to cut out the fur and then re-fluff it. She’s been working on this over several weeks, so it’s been a lot of fun to see the cover taking shape piece by piece. Thanks for all your hard work, Myrrhlynn!

Finally, I’m confirming early that I’m holding my usual read/unlock goodies special. If you look in my top post, you’ll see what shorts I’ll be releasing at what conditions. Yes, the last short is finished…I’m just having problems figuring out a not-lame title. Titles are very stressful to choose for me, hahah.

That’s all for today, Champions. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for reading!

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day, Champions!

This is a quick little post because I wanted to say thank you for all the encouragement and support you have given me. You are an incredible and loyal group of readers, and I couldn’t be an author without you!

As a token of my thanks, Rumpelstiltskin is free for today only! I hope you have a lovely day, and thank you for reading!

Reading Lists

Hello Champions, I have got news for you!

First of all, something fun. Book Nerd Paradise is running a “Favorites Giveaway”  and is giving away an Amazon gift card so readers can purchase a favorite book! I am extremely honored to say one of the favorites she mentioned happens to be Snow Queen: Heart of Ice, which is how I found out about it. (Thanks Ashley!) Click here to check out the giveaway and enter it! She has some other great books listed, so if you aren’t interested in the contest you can check out her recommendations.

Up next! I’ve been hankering to make some kind of list or reading group on Goodreads since I started connecting with you guys, because you, Champions, have the best book recommendations. I’m serious. You know my reading style better than the “You May Also Like” feature on Amazon. Because we all have such similar reading tastes, I thought it would be in our best interest to pool our resources and create lists of books we love. I polled my Facebook Champions for list ideas, and so far we have two: Clean Kindle Unlimited Reads, and Sweet and Clean Romances! Clean KU Reads went up last night, and Sweet and Clean Romances went live a few hours ago, and already I am in so much trouble because there are so many books I want to read. Anyway, if you’re a Goodreads member please join in the fun and add to the lists! If you don’t have a Goodreads account you can still peruse the list, you just won’t be able to comment or add anything. I’ll be adding links somewhere in the website so you guys can find the lists easily. (I’ll make the announcement again when I find a home for the links.) I can’t wait to see everything you guys come up with!

I have started on my next fairy tale–the lake should be a partial giveaway as to what it is.

And now for some writing news! As you might have guessed based on the photo, I have officially started writing Swan Lake–the next Timeless Fairy Tale that should pop out sometime this summer. Editor #2 is still diligently working away on SQ 2, but she’ll be getting it back to me sometime next week, so we are closing in on the release date for Snow Queen 2! (Yes, I’m still struggling to come up with a title.)

Finally, King Arthur fans, I have good news and I have bad news. Bad news first: you aren’t going to get three short King Arthur books to finish the series. The good news: You are going to get one full-length novel! Here’s what happened: I looked at the story lines I wanted to use for the last three books, and I realized if I split the story up it wouldn’t flow nicely like the previous short, episodic books. The last three story lines are too intertwined to make that work, so I decided to write a full-length King Arthurs novel instead so you would get the story in one awesome package. The added bad news is that you probably won’t see it until fall due to the writing I need to get done to stay on my editing schedule with Editors #1 and #2. Still, a full length novel about Britt and her boys! Woohoo!

That is it for today, Champions. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this update! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some amazing book recommendations to go try out…

The Life Cycle of a Book

Good news, Snow Queen 2 has finished is first round of edits with Editor #2, and it has already been sent back to her! I didn’t have to add/correct as much as usual, so I am hoping the rest of the edits won’t take long and we’ll be able to stick to a late February release. But on to today’s topic!

Occasionally when I talk to my friends about my job, I’ll bewilder them because I’ll mention releasing/editing one book, and starting another. Most people assume authors start with one book and stick with it from its conception to its launch day, but I’ve found that is an inefficient way for me to work. Today I thought I would shed some light on my work cycle so you can get a fell for my scheduling.

Before I get started writing, I’ve usually been chewing on the story idea for anywhere between a few months to a few years. Right now, in 2016, I’m already starting to think of characterization for books I won’t write until 2017. I try to play around with the stories and have fun long before I’m serious about them because it helps me work through a lot of character and plot ideas.

When I’m ready to commit myself to the story, I usually take a week to plot and plan out the book, and do any last-minute research. In example, for Heart of Ice I researched icebergs and unusual snow phenomena. For The Little Selkie I read up about marine life–particularly seals and sea lions.

The following week I begin writing. This usually takes two to three intense weeks. This is usually when I drop off the face of the planet online, and in real life. (After a full day of writing, I have the tendency to wander around, scruffy and half asleep.) I then usually need to take a few days off of the book to decompress–this is usually when I get caught up on my social media accounts and emails.

Me after writing a book. It’s not a pretty sight.

The following week I work on editing–a process that can take a week to two weeks. The story will then get passed off to Editor #1, who will go over it for one to three weeks. In the meantime I’m usually editing an old piece of work, or getting another story ready to shine. For example, when Editor #1 was going over Heart of Ice, I was polishing Endeavor for its release. I will occasionally begin writing another book, but usually it’s a King Arthur book instead of a full length novel like a Timeless Fairy Tale. (Note: At this time Myrrhlynn usually gets to see a rough draft so she can begin brainstorming cover images.)

Editor #1 will send the book back to me, and I’ll take at least a week to go over her corrections, and then post it on to Editor #2. Editor #2 usually gets the novel for a month and a half. During that time we’ll pass the manuscript back and forth. The first edit is always the most intense, and usually any following edits are fine-tuning new or problematic scenes. While Editor #2 has the book I am either getting posts and contests lined up for its release, or I’m starting another project.

When Editor #2 is finished, I send it to Editor #1 for a final read-through. Genius Editor #1 usually finishes the final read-through in about a week. It takes me a day or two to make corrections, and then I send it to my final end-all reader: My mother. My mom reads through it in a weekend and lets me know about any typos or errors, then the book is ready to go!

When the book launches I spend the first week observing its reviews and notifying readers that it is available. If I didn’t have time to prepare blog posts about it, now is when I’ll write them, and prep for the following month’s newsletter. If I have everything prepped, then this is when I’m writing my next book.

I almost always balance between two books in the weeks leading up to a new book’s release. When Heart of Ice made its debut I was going over corrections Editor #1 suggested for Snow Queen 2. Now, as Snow Queen 2 is being combed over by Editor #2, I’m plotting and planning my next fairy tale, Swan Lake.

All in all, it usually takes about three to four months for a book to go from plotting to after-launch activities. My turn-around time used to be much shorter, but Editor #1 and #2 are worth their weight in gold, and the time it takes for them to correct my books are crucial. I get around the added time by beginning the writing process much sooner, so there won’t be a big gap between book releases.

And that is the life cycle of a book! Thank you for reading, Champions, I hope you have a lovely week!

Results are in!

Every year–I say every year but this is only the second year I’ve done this, it will be an annual thing, though–I ask the Champions subscribed to my newsletter to vote for the story they would like to see me offer for free on Valentine’s day–February 14. This year’s winning book is…Rumpelstiltskin with 25 votes and 33% of the votes. So mark your calendars folks, Rumpelstiltskin will be free on Amazon on February 14, 2016! Happy Valentine’s day!

Also, the polls are closed and the results are in for the 2016 Hero poll! The favorite hero types are: Prankster Deviants (Friedrich of C&C and Asher and Aron of Life Reader) have a runaway win with 169 votes, Earnest and Sweet (Stil of Rumpelstiltskin and Azmaveth of Princess Ahira) take second place with 146 votes, and the Strong and Silent type (Arion of Red Rope and Severin of B&B) take third with 135 votes. In fourth are the sarcastic and opinionated heroes (Merlin of King Arthurs and Steffen of Puss in Boots) with 126 votes, Villains with Heart (Farrin of Snow Q.) stole fifth with 122 votes, Arrogant but loving (Aysel of the MBRC) took six with 71 votes, the Heroic type (Rune of Wild Swans, Will Scarlet of Robyn Hood) snagged seventh with 51 votes, and loyal flirts (Devin of MBRC and Lancelot of King Arthurs) come in last with 33 votes. I do suspect Devin’s place in rock bottom might be partially due to pairing him with Lancelot, but I didn’t have another example. (Sorry, Devin!)

Looking at the results, I have to say they are fairly consistent with 2015’s poll. In 2015 the strong and silents won with 121 votes, and they were followed closely by the prankster/deviants, the earnest and sweet type, and then the sarcastic and opinionated. There was a bit of an upset with the first three this year, but the vote counts are so close I think it is safe to say the top three winners for 2016 and 2015 seem to be the types you guys prefer. Which brings us to the next poll!

I asked you, Champions, what hero you most wanted to see in future stories, and used your comments from my blog and Facebook to compile the archetypes I offered. Winning by a hair is the Over-Looked Good Guy with 108 votes. The Arrogant/Caustic Genius gave him a close race with 107 votes, and the Trickster Anti-hero wasn’t far off with 98 votes. The Tragic Anti-hero came in fourth with 87 votes, the older brother/mentor type took fifth with 77 votes, and the Awkward and Nerdy guys took sixth with 65 votes. Mysterious placed seventh with 58 votes, the Childhood Friend came in eighth with 57 votes, and the Alpha male grabbed ninth with 52 votes. Last were Male-Damsel-In-Distress with 48 votes, Unapologetic Villain with 42 votes, and nice Jocks with 14 votes.

Thank you to everyone who voted! I consider your preferences as I try to mold and sculpt new characters, so you can bet that you’ll be seeing some of the poll options in future stories. That’s a lot of information for today so I’ll cut it off here, but to give you a quick work update I’m getting ready to start my next Fairy Tale, and Editor #2 is still ripping apart working on Snow Queen 2. Thank you for reading, Champions. Have a fabulous week!

The Ideal Hero Poll 2016

Greetings, Champions! It has come: the Ideal Hero Poll for 2016! Let there be much rejoicing!

I’m sure some of you are wondering what the heck I’m talking about. Here’s the situation:  I try to write a variety of male protags because every reader is going to have a different preference. No matter what hero/prince I create, some of you will love him and some of you won’t be terribly impressed, it’s a sad reality. However! Your preferences are still important to me, so I use the hero poll as a sort of thermometer to see what hero archetypes are the most popular.

I created the Ideal Hero poll–using my characters as a reference because I know you’ve met these guys, or you wouldn’t be here–that gives you the opportunity to vote for your favorite characters/archetypes. I don’t have a limit on your number of selections, but I ask that you choose no more than three. Why only three? The more you vote the more skewed the results will be. I take your response seriously, so please follow the rules and only cast your three votes one time! The poll will close 1/24/2016, and I’ll announce the winning types on 1/25.

Take note, though, because this year I’m adding a second poll: Most-Wanted Hero. In this poll you can vote for your favorite male archetype that I have not yet written as a main character! It follows the same rules as the Ideal Hero poll–three selections and you can vote only once. I checked in with my Facebook and Blog Champions for ideas, but if you have a favorite archetype that didn’t make the cut, please shout it out in the comment section! These polls are supposed to provide discussion and feedback for me, so don’t be shy. Okay, hold onto your hats because here we go!

Take Our Poll

Annnddd for the new poll! I tried to find examples, but for some of them I couldn’t swing it. Sorry!

Take Our Poll

Thank you for participating in the 2016 Ideal Hero Poll AND the 2016 Most-Wanted Hero Poll. I can’t wait to see who wins. Good luck, and choose carefully!

SOS!

It’s that time of the year! Beginning next week I’ll hold my annual “Hero Poll” in which I post archetypes of main male characters with examples pulled from my books and ask you to vote for your favorites! In example, last year one of the voting options was for the “Strong-Silent Type” and the examples were Severin from Beauty and the Beast and Arion from Red Rope of Fate.

It’s meant to be fun so we can see who is the most popular protagonist, but it’s also really useful for me because it helps me get an idea of what you guys like and what you want more of. I’m still going to hold that poll–with additions from all the new books I’ve written since then–but this year I’m going to have a second poll, and I need your help!

The second poll will be a list of hero archetypes I haven’t yet used, and you’ll get a chance to vote for the ones you want to see the most. This is where I need you to chime in! In order for me to make that second poll, I need a list of voting options. So far I’ve come up with: the childhood friend, the older-brother type, and the anti-hero. What archetypes am I missing? I posed this question to my Facebook Champions last night, and so far they’ve added the alpha male archetype, and the tortured romantic. (Tortured romantic meaning he doesn’t feel he’s worthy of love, but he is sweet and gentle.)

Give a shout in the comment section with the archetypes you want/like, and I’ll try to include it! Thanks in advance, Champions! I can’t wait to see who you vote for next week.

Snow Queen & SCIENCE!

Greetings, Champions! You’ve done it, the final Heart of Ice extra is unlocked: A Scouting Trip. Click HERE for the PDF, or check out the top post!

Today I want to discuss some of the science that went into Rakel’s Snow Queen powers. Obviously her abilities are fantasy, but I tried to use real-life science as a basis for pieces of it. My two greatest examples are displayed in the fight for Ostfold.

The first is when Rakel created an iceberg. The process she goes through of flushing out the air and compacting and squeezing the ice crystals together is the actual process glaciers go through when forming. Each new layer of snowfall compacts the old layers so they re-crystalize, then expand–which flushes out the air. (You can read more about this process at the National Snow & Ice Data Center) This process normally takes decades to centuries, but you can experience a small-scale version of an iceberg compacting anywhere that has snowfall and cold temperatures. Snow will fall and, depending on the weather, will then re-freeze, which gives you that crust of icy snow to walk on.

Here in Wisconsin we had a pretty good snowfall at the end of December/beginning of January. After about four days of cold temperatures and icy winds, the snow re-froze so both Perfect Dog and I can walk on the top of it without the use of snowshoes. (Fun extra fact: when Rakel freezes the snow beneath her so she can walk on top of it, she is merely doing what the weather would do, given enough time.)

My second example is the trap Liv and Rakel set up to capture Farrin. Believe it or not, but turning purified water almost instantly into ice is a scientific phenomena called supercooling. I exaggerated its effects for the sake of the story, but you too can turn a bottle of purified water into crinkly ice, just like Rakel. The YouTube video below does a great job explaining, but the readers digest version is that purified water lacks impurities–like minerals–that would start the chain reaction of turning water into ice.

Pretty neat, eh? If you want to see footage of supercooled water turning into ice, check out this YouTube video!

I had so much fun learning about ice and water while writing the Snow Queen books, and it was sooo much fun to know that Rakel was going to beat Farrin with SCIENCE, not just her powers. Thank you for reading, Champions, I hope you find this as fascinating as I did. Enjoy the short story!

Rewind 2015

Happy New Years, Champions! I hope you all had a fun time bringing in the New Year. I went and saw The Force Awakens…for the second time. (I can’t help it, I love that Rey is the main protagonist!) In another note of celebration, you’ve already unlocked the next Heart of Ice special–which is a short story from Captain/General Halvor’s point of view. (Click here for the PDF!) There’s only one short story left to unlock, so thank you everyone for reviewing! I appreciate it so much.

Normally I would post my last Snow Queen: Heart of Ice themed post today, but as it is now 2016, I try to spend the first few days of the new year reflecting on the fun times, and the things I’ve learned. I thought it would be fun to share some of my reflections on here!

What I learned as a Writer:

Over-working = really, really terrible! I pushed myself to the brink in 2015 and wrote eight books in twelve months. While I feel like I still produced quality stories, I was not a joy to live with during the last few months, and a lot of the fun got sucked out of it. In 2016 I’m going to dial it back on the number of books I publish–I’m aiming for six–and I’m going to focus on working ahead of my projects so I don’t get stressed out. (Side note: I’m not the only one who gets stressed out in the process. When I’m working on a tight deadline, I force stress onto Editor #1 and #2 as well, and even Myrrhlynn with cover deadlines.)
Editors are worth their weight in gold. 2015 saw a huge amount of stylistic growth for me as a writer due to the influence of my editors. They taught me me a lot of stylistic building blocks I didn’t know I was missing, so now my books read much more smoothly. I’m really happy with how much my books and stories have improved. Thank you, editors! (Although poor Editor #1 still has to hunt-down my misuses of farther vs further. Sorry Jeri!)
Readers are Awesome. This point becomes really obvious when you see my “fun memories” section below, but I felt that I needed to type it out because it’s something authors and writers so easily forget. This particular point was a huge reminder for me in December as Heart of Ice shattered all of my personal records and far exceeded my expectations, and you guys helped it do that. Thank you!

Fun Memories from 2015:

The Valentine’s Day Poetry contest: You all had me in stitches of laughter one moment, and teary eyed with the next poem!
Cinderella and the Colonel, The Little Selkie, and Puss in Books were all released in paperback format. (Puss in Boots barely squeaked in, going live on December 31, and I’m still trying to tie up some of the ends on it.)
Facebook Champions had me melting due to the cuteness of their cats when we were discussing pet cats around the release of Puss in Boots  in August.
Joining Instagram–which I have to work hard at to keep my account from becoming a portrait gallery for Perfect Dog.
Commiserating with Champions over the original The Little Mermaid. I was sooo thrilled to learn I am not alone in my…lack of affection for Hans Christian Andersen’s story. I have felt guilt about that for years, but now I feel free!
Heart of Ice which, as I mentioned above, shattered every personal record my books have ever set. I’m still in awe of that.
I know this isn’t really a writing memory or anything I’m even remotely connected to, but THE FORCE AWAKENS!! Gaaahh, I love it!

Looking Forward to 2016

What are my plans for 2016? It’s hard to say. As I mentioned before I’m hoping to produce six books this year. I do know that the release schedule is going to be mixed up due to the need to work ahead on the Timeless Fairy Tales so I have plenty of time for editing. This means there is a very good chance the King Arthurs books won’t be released until later in 2016, instead of interspersed like I normally aim for. However, I am dedicated to finish writing the King Arthurs series in 2016. You can look forward to Snow Queen 2–I just sent it off to Editor #2 yesterday. We’re aiming for a late February release, so it won’t be long!

Thank you for joining me on this incredible adventure, Champions. I couldn’t do it without you. Enjoy the extra, and welcome to 2016!