Andrea R. Cooper's Blog, page 56

Book Review: Fated Souls by Becky Flade

About the book:  Aidan Gael is cursed, but strives to keep it hidden from others. He spends his days as a horse rancher and keeps to himself. Even though tormented by his curse, he is reserved and thoughtful.

Maggie O’Connell has turned from an investigative journalist to the tabloid scene because of false accusations. She has heard sightings of a werewolf in Minnesota. With the support of her editor, she travels to the small town and camps out in the woods hoping to glimpse this wolf. When the zipper on her sleeping bag gets stuck and gains a bear’s attention, the famed wolf comes to her rescue.

Later Maggie sees in Aidan’s eyes the same eyes as the wolf. Undaunted by his recluse behavior she pursues him to find out the truth. Will her investigation bring her closer to Aidan and the wolf? Or will his curse doom them both?

Together they will navigate the violence of both nature and man in the pursuit of their destiny.

My thoughts: This is a sweet but spicy paranormal romance. I admired Maggie’s gumption. She is paired nicely with Aidan as her outgoing nature complements his reserved. When the two come together in the book, it’s tantalizing and makes the reader desire more.

Miss Flade does an excellent job of painting the characters and the world around them. The backstory on Aidan’s curse is intriguing. And one can’t help but cheer Maggie on every time she appears on the page.

The only downside I could find is that Maggie and Aidan’s relationship seems rushed to me. I would have liked a little more foreplay-but that is my opinion. Usually when I read a romance where the main characters get hot and heavy, I begin to lose interest. However, Miss Flade pulls out some surprises that made me want to know what happens next and keep reading.

I enjoyed this story and look forward to Becky Flade’s future novels.

Release date: 15 April 2013

                       

More on Fated Souls found at http://www.crimsonromance.com/upcoming-releases-romance-ebook/fated-souls/ and it’s available for purchase at www.CrimsonRomance.com, www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, and www.iTunes.com

My journey from writer to author

Since I was fourteen, I thought of myself as a writer. I reserved the title author for someone who was/is published. So I’ll begin at the beginning on how my winding road from writer to author.

In elementary, the teacher assigned us to write about an object and give it a personality and story. While my classmates looked around with blank faces, my words manifested on my paper as if they had already been there. I decided to write about a piece of chalk. How crowded it was in the box with the other chalk. The day it got chosen from the box. I was so excited when I got my paper back with an A and “excellent story” scribbled across the top.

I was always making up stories. I remember setting the plot and characters with my neighbors. We played my stories. One I remember quiet fondly was space vampires. I did not want the kids biting each other or me, so the ‘space vampires’ used two fingers to ‘bite’ their victims. Everyone went along with me so maybe they thought it was cool.

Then we moved. During fifth grade. And I went through the ugly duckling stage which part of me thinks I never came out of. There was no one to play with that summer. I walked my dog up and down the streets for kids to play with, but found none.

Later I found two friends on my street and the characters and plots came back with Barbie dolls. And yes, I was one of those weird girls who played with them until I was like sixteen. But it wasn’t the dolls, it was the characters, their stories, their lives that I craved. 

During my teens, I developed a fondness for poems. I wrote them all the time. And lyrics to songs. Nothing ever came from them except getting accepted into HBU’s creative writing degree program. I was nineteen and had an English teacher that was amazing. I found out he also taught creative writing and the next quarter was going to be poetry. I showed him a few of my poems. He said they were good and asked who wrote them. I did! He told me I should sign up for his creative writing class. At this time I was a music major, but disillusioned with the amount of time and lack of talent I had. As soon as I was able to choose my courses, I signed up for a regular English class and his creative writing class. My music counselor said I could not do that. I told her to call him, and he told her I could. Looking back, I wish I would have signed up the next course for his short story writing class.

Not to name names, but in my twenties I showed someone one of my poems. They took it to work with them and said they read it out loud. They told me everyone laughed at it. If I had listened and believed that they were correct and my writing was stupid and funny, then I would never be a published author. Around this time I discovered Historical Romance books and began losing myself in them. Divorced, it was when I was living back with my parents that I started to write stories. I was reading a Christian book about a Viking that with no logic I saw, just got saved. I threw the book down in disgust. I can write better than that. And so I started to write my first novel.

During this time, I was dating my now husband. He loved fantasy and all kinds of other books. Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to read books with ‘magic’ in them. I couldn’t even watch Disney movies. Yet these were the stories I desired. If I had known that CS Lewis and Tolkien are accepted in Christian circles, I would have read them over and over again. My husband recommended Terry Goodkind. I read the first book-it looked intimidating. It was the longest book I had ever read. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get through it. But I did. And I loved it. I then devoured all the books in the series. Then went on to read other fantasy and paranormal romance books. Anything. I was addicted to reading and had to be reading something. During this time I wrote my second, third, and fourth novels. 

Then I saw the movie Underworld. The idea of a vampire biting an Elf took shape. What kind of abilities would this dark gift give my hero? What if there was a cure? Would he sacrifice everything even love for it? Thus The Garnet Dagger was created. This was before the Twilight craze. Then I wrote the second book in this trilogy. I was shocked that it took me less than four months to write the second book. Then I wrote the third and final book.

I sent off queries to several publishers, but never got a positive response. I didn’t send out regularly. Maybe one or two a year. I wrote more stories. I even tried to write a purely historical romance, but magic/fantasy crept in with two characters coming forward and telling me and the reader that they were Druids.

Then I decided to rewrite my query. Maybe it was too intellectual? So I rewrote it with the opening of a question. Everyone knows what happens when a vampire bites a human. But what if the victim is an Elvin?

I sent it to one major publisher, but they said vampire stories were saturated right now. Drat. It wasn’t when I first wrote the story in 2003. But I didn’t give up. Months later I saw an ad for romance stories and sent in my query again. This time they asked for my manuscript.

After jumping up and down, I sent it. Then I was accepted by Crimson Romance and my debut paranormal romance, The Garnet Dagger will be out March 25, 2013.

 What I’ve learned through all of this is to follow your dream. Don’t believe in failure or negative talk from others. It may not happen overnight, but keep at it. Good luck.

My journey from writer to author

Since I was fourteen, I thought of myself as a writer. I reserved the title author for someone who was/is published. So I’ll begin at the beginning on how my winding road from writer to author.

In elementary, the teacher assigned us to write about an object and give it a personality and story. While my classmates looked around with blank faces, my words manifested on my paper as if they had already been there. I decided to write about a piece of chalk. How crowded it was in the box with the other chalk. The day it got chosen from the box. I was so excited when I got my paper back with an A and “excellent story” scribbled across the top.

I was always making up stories. I remember setting the plot and characters with my neighbors. We played my stories. One I remember quiet fondly was space vampires. I did not want the kids biting each other or me, so the ‘space vampires’ used two fingers to ‘bite’ their victims. Everyone went along with me so maybe they thought it was cool.

Then we moved. During fifth grade. And I went through the ugly duckling stage which part of me thinks I never came out of. There was no one to play with that summer. I walked my dog up and down the streets for kids to play with, but found none.

Later I found two friends on my street and the characters and plots came back with Barbie dolls. And yes, I was one of those weird girls who played with them until I was like sixteen. But it wasn’t the dolls, it was the characters, their stories, their lives that I craved.

During my teens, I developed a fondness for poems. I wrote them all the time. And lyrics to songs. Nothing ever came from them except getting accepted into HBU’s creative writing degree program. I was nineteen and had an English teacher that was amazing. I found out he also taught creative writing and the next quarter was going to be poetry. I showed him a few of my poems. He said they were good and asked who wrote them. I did! He told me I should sign up for his creative writing class. At this time I was a music major, but disillusioned with the amount of time and lack of talent I had. As soon as I was able to choose my courses, I signed up for a regular English class and his creative writing class. My music counselor said I could not do that. I told her to call him, and he told her I could. Looking back, I wish I would have signed up the next course for his short story writing class.

Not to name names, but in my twenties I showed someone one of my poems. They took it to work with them and said they read it out loud. They told me everyone laughed at it. If I had listened and believed that they were correct and my writing was stupid and funny, then I would never be a published author. Around this time I discovered Historical Romance books and began losing myself in them. Divorced, it was when I was living back with my parents that I started to write stories. I was reading a Christian book about a Viking that with no logic I saw, just got saved. I threw the book down in disgust. I can write better than that. And so I started to write my first novel.

During this time, I was dating my now husband. He loved fantasy and all kinds of other books. Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to read books with ‘magic’ in them. I couldn’t even watch Disney movies. Yet these were the stories I desired. If I had known that CS Lewis and Tolkien are accepted in Christian circles, I would have read them over and over again. My husband recommended Terry Goodkind. I read the first book-it looked intimidating. It was the longest book I had ever read. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get through it. But I did. And I loved it. I then devoured all the books in the series. Then went on to read other fantasy and paranormal romance books. Anything. I was addicted to reading and had to be reading something. During this time I wrote my second, third, and fourth novels.

Then I saw the movie Underworld. The idea of a vampire biting an Elf took shape. What kind of abilities would this dark gift give my hero? What if there was a cure? Would he sacrifice everything even love for it? Thus The Garnet Dagger was created. This was before the Twilight craze. Then I wrote the second book in this trilogy. I was shocked that it took me less than four months to write the second book. Then I wrote the third and final book.

I sent off queries to several publishers, but never got a positive response. I didn’t send out regularly. Maybe one or two a year. I wrote more stories. I even tried to write a purely historical romance, but magic/fantasy crept in with two characters coming forward and telling me and the reader that they were Druids.

Then I decided to rewrite my query. Maybe it was too intellectual? So I rewrote it with the opening of a question. Everyone knows what happens when a vampire bites a human. But what if the victim is an Elvin?

I sent it to one major publisher, but they said vampire stories were saturated right now. Drat. It wasn’t when I first wrote the story in 2003. But I didn’t give up. Months later I saw an ad for romance stories and sent in my query again. This time they asked for my manuscript.

After jumping up and down, I sent it. Then I was accepted by Crimson Romance and my debut paranormal romance, The Garnet Dagger will be out March 25, 2013.

What I’ve learned through all of this is to follow your dream. Don’t believe in failure or negative talk from others. It may not happen overnight, but keep at it. Good luck.

When to seek an editor for your writing?

When to seek an editor for your writing? This is my personal opinion. But would say whenever I am at a point revising, where I feel like I’m going in circles. In other words when I feel like I’m making changes but have no idea if they are actually making my writing better.

I will even put the story aside for weeks, then look at it again. It helps, but it’s not the same as an unbiased reader. Certainly family or friends can recommend improvements or even their insight, but they are not editors.

However, I believe it’s counterproductive to hire an editor too soon. I look whenever I can no longer make improvements. Then I search online for three to four freelance editors. The best way for me to decide is find ones that offer X amount of pages of a free edit. When I did this with three services I got a range from my story was nearly perfect, to it needs some work, to it needs a major overhaul.

Guess which one I picked? Well, after getting over the criticism, I followed the advice of the harshest one. It was not easy. I pouted, grumbled, and eventually saw that they were right. It might not always be the toughest editor that fits what you want. It’s not about being mean. It’s about making the story better.

Writers’ critiques are also a good time investment. These can be found online, writing courses, or your local library. Many are free. They only request you to review other writers honestly without being demeaning. And it’s always polite to offer positive information along with the constructive criticism.

Remember that. If an editor, family member, or even a friend says hurtful things about your writing, it doesn’t mean that they are correct. Take whatever is said and really think about it. Ask yourself ‘Would this information help my story/writing?’ ‘Is there a hidden agenda from this person (i.e. are they secretly jealous?)’ ‘Does it make sense with everything that I know and/or have read?’

For example, it’s not wise to answer all of the readers’ questions upfront, but to open with the action and weave in answers throughout the story. If there’s lots of back story, it drags. Think of authors whom you love to read. How do they handle this?

Finally keep in mind that editors are human. They are excellent at what they do. Look for ones who help your writing and your story improve. When working with a publisher’s editor, take time to think about their suggestions. Don’t get upset. Do the easy changes first. Save the ones that made you cringe for a few days later when the open sore is not bleeding as much. Try and see the difficult changes from the point of the editor-and even more so-the point of the reader.

And Good Luck.

Andrea R. Cooper

Writing Tips

Here are some writing tips that have helped me. Perhaps they will encourage you. Take what you want and throw out the rest.

For revising:

· Some say to read your story out loud, and while I agree with them, sometimes my mind will read a word I think is there, but is not. These can be words that are spelled similar to the word wanted, but have an entirely different meaning. I found that after I read the story out loud, then I use a software program to read my story to me. The computer/software will not change any of the words so it’s easier to spot an incorrect word that I might have missed before.

· Read the story again. But this time, read the last sentence on the last page. Then read the one above it, and the one above that, and so on. This way it allows each sentence to be the focus rather than the paragraph or the story itself. Often when I read my writing, I get caught up in the story and unable to focus on revising. Then I must start over. This practice of reading each sentence out of sequence can also help when editing/reading another writer’s work that the attention is on editing.

· After the above, I will print out the entire story, but space the lines either single or 1.5 (this is to avoid printing on so much paper). If you have the ability to print on both sides of the paper, even better. Then I read the story again. Something about it being on paper when re-reading works even better than the computer screen-at least for me anyway.

For character development:

· Take a fun quiz (or several) as your character. I recommend personality tests and ‘what zodiac sign should you be?’ Even if you don’t believe in astrology, it’s a fun way to learn a list of potential character traits. It can just give you some ideas, but doesn’t need to be taken too seriously or etched in stone. Often the descriptions are fairly vague so they could apply to numerous people. However, it might open up a character’s quirk that you might not have been aware of before. For example, let’s say the test comes back as Aquarius. You read the description and it mentions free thinker, aloof, and masculine & feminine tendencies. So you can use this to let’s say make your heroine a lover of knife throwing. Maybe weave that into your story. Perhaps she thinks outside of the box and you weren’t sure why, now you have a reason. Finally, maybe the hero sees her as indifferent, but then can learn that it’s only because she’s used to ridicule from family and friends because of her beliefs, or etc.

· Do an interview with your character. Close your eyes and imaging you are a reporter. Your character is sitting across from you (or wherever feels appropriate). See them clearly. What are they wearing? How are they sitting? Do they look happy, amused, angry? Ask them whatever questions come to mind and wait for them to answer. There are lists of character interview questions online. Some of my favorites that have helped me are: What motivates you? Why are you doing this (or not doing this)? What do you fear? What do you love? What is a secret only you know? What was your favorite thing as a child? What’s your favorite food? What irritates you?

· When re-reading your story, find something that a character does-or better says. For example maybe your heroine always talks in complete sentences. However your hero talks in fragments. Of course this wouldn’t be 100% of the time for either, but if you find you’ve switched these idiosyncrasies, then change as many as necessary. Don’t get too repetitive. Let’s say your heroine almost always says ‘only’. Ok, so when revising you leave most of these intact when it fits the sentence. Then you notice your hero says ‘only’ way too often. Hmmm. Maybe he could drop the only or he says merely or some other word. Or rework the sentence so he doesn’t need a different word. These are subtle things and be careful not to overdue them too much. Change it up some. You don’t want an editor coming back to you saying your character always jerks on their coat for example.