R.J. Blain's Blog, page 78

Indiegogo Campaign for the Witch & Wolf Series

Murder, magic, and mayhem: The world of the Inquisition is our own, touched by the secrets of the paranormal and the supernatural. Underneath the thin veneer of modern comfort and security is a violent society of men, women, witches, and werewolves, as well as those who go bump in the night.

Some are the hunters.

Some are the hunted.

All of them have been touched by the Inquisition.

The past few weeks have been pretty tough on me. In order to help recover from the sewage flood, I had to pillage most of my funds (earned through my developmental editing) for my novel writing, which has set me back quite a bit. There were a lot of unwanted expenses (like needing a new electric box because apparently our old one isn’t to code, an unpleasantry discovered by the sewage flood) I have paid for… out of the money I worked hard to get for my novels.

Since I stubbornly refuse to give up my writing career, I’m asking for help to get all of the funds needed to produce the next three novels in my Witch & Wolf series. My goal is to have all three of these novels produced within a year, with the first of the three published and released by November 2014. 

About the Books:

Winter Wolf

Estimated Release Date: November 1, 2014.
Current Status: Drafting in progress. Outlining completed.

A few months prior to the events of Inquisitor, Nicolina Desmond bears witness to a horrific murder. However, the truth of the young man’s death is far worse than she ever believed possible.

A plague is killing off the werewolves, and if Nicolina can’t find a cure, her family will number among the dead…

Blood Diamond
Estimated Release Date: March 2015.
Current Status: Outlining completed.

The world is full of corpses, and Jackson knows them by name. When a group strives to destroy the Inquisition, his sight may be all standing between the supernaturals and extinction.

However, when he learns the truth behind the deaths of his wife and unborn daughter, Jackson may prove to be the greatest threat of all to the survival of mankind…

Silver Bullet
Estimated Release Date: August 2015.
Current Status: Outlining completed.

In the aftermath of Blood Diamond, Victoria Hanover once again finds herself in the middle of a mess. Used in the ritual to forge a blood diamond, she is severed from her witch and her wolf. Aging years in a day as her human shell reverts to its true age, she is running out of time.

With her witch powers on the loose, and her wolf spirit on the hunt, it falls to a powerless Victoria to fight the manifestations of herself.

Unfortunately, killing a werewolf isn’t easy, and it’s even harder to destroy a spirit. In order to protect humanity, she must forge the silver bullets meant to end her life once and for all. Diving into her past is only the start of her journey, and success will be the end of it.

About the perks! (Yay! Perks, perks, perks!)

Perks make the crowdfunding world go round. I don’t know about you, but the bright, shiny things that can be acquired draw my attention to a campaign almost as much as the ultimate goal. It’s in the extras a lot of the time.

Because of my situation, I don’t have a lot of extra money to create really cool extras, but I do have a few things I can do… and I’m quite excited about it!

Note: All books are ebooks (epub, mobi, or pdf) unless specified as paperbacks.

Signed book plates:

Due to shipping limitations and costs, I won’t be doing signed paperbacks in bulk (There are 10 sets available total). However, I will be doing signed art book plates. These are signed stickers you put in your copy of your books, or on your laptop — anywhere you want! Each bookplate will have a different design for each novel, including Inquisitor!

Kill a Character:

So, you want to live forever in a novel, do you? Now is your chance… sort of. I will kill a character of your creation and naming, in one of the upcoming Witch & Wolf novels. Pick your perk wisely… and be prepared to be murdered in a gruesomely creative fashion.

I will send each contributor of this perk level a template for information relating to the character being killed.

Note: Due to legalities, it will be necessary for each contributor of the kill-a-character perks to sign a very easy-to-decipher document stating I can use the character and name without risk of legal persecution.

This is to protect both of us.

Noooo, I want to survive!

Dying in fun, humorous, or gruesome fashions isn’t for everyone. Here’s your chance to have a character named by you for inclusion in one of the upcoming Witch & Wolf novels. You’ll get to survive the events of the novel… and the character named by you will get at least one speaking line.

Once again, due to legalities, you’ll have to sign a little piece of paper to cover both of our asses from legal nastiness.

Note: If you want to name your character after a real person, that person will need to give their permission.

Due to how the novels are written, there is limited space for character creation.

Create a Deity.. and a single worshiper of said divine being.

The Witch & Wolf world is full of magic, mayhem, and wonder… and belief is a powerful thing.

This perk level will allow you to create the basics for a deity, which I will then pervert and use to fit the Witch & Wolf world.

Note: Legalities again, so you’ll have to sign a little piece of paper permitting me to take this idea and mangle it to fit the Witch & Wolf world.

Art Prints

Some of us love art a lot, and my cover artist makes fantastic art. I will have perks dedicated to the cover art from the Witch & Wolf series, for those who want something a little more physical.

Advanced Copies

Can’t wait for the official release date? This perk will let you get an ecopy of the book at the same time the advanced reviewers do… without being required to provide a review.

How you can help

There are lots of ways you can help without spending a single cent. First, share this with your friends and family. Know someone who loves thriller or urban fantasy novels? Tell them about the books!

Sharing is a great way to help make people aware of the project.

Click +1/like/etc, if you think it’s worth while.

Do you use pinterest, facebook, or twitter? Use Indiegogo’s sharing tools to spread the world.

Have an idea for a perk you’d like to see? Please let me know!

Thanks so much for your help. It’s really appreciated.

Random Rambles: Fighting and Writing through Depression

Depression is not a laughing matter.

It’s an illness, and one that too many scorn others for enduring. It’s not just feeling sad. Feeling sad is perfectly natural, as is grieving, having down periods, or just not having a good day.

Depression is when those feelings intensify, don’t go away, and suck all of the joy out of life. It can last hours.

More often than not, it lasts days, months, and sometimes even years.

This post is for those who suffer from depression, no matter how mild or severe. This post is for those who don’t, too.

Mostly, however, this post is for me, so I can get it out and speak, because the silence hurts as much as the depression does.

I’m not looking for attention, so don’t feel like you have to reply. Listening is enough. Speaking is what I need to do, to maybe help climb out of the hole I’m in. This may be uncomfortable for some of you, but I’m going to be me: Honest.

It’s okay if you walk away, I don’t mind. But if you stay, thanks for listening.

I suffer from mild depression. I’ve been to counselling in the past. I’ve been told I should buck up, to stop acting like a child, and to feel happy. After all, I’m in total control of my emotions, aren’t I? I should have the ability to just shut off all of these negative emotions and be the happy, motivated, joyful person I am supposed to be.

The syndrome is often called bi-polar, or manic depressive syndrome. It means that instead of having a stable set of emotions with normalized up and down phases, I take these things to extremes.

One minute, I’m a joyful, happy, motivated, kind, and gentle person.

That can change in seconds, leading to all of the darkness and unpleasant thoughts people don’t expect from me. It means I sit in a corner, cry, and be completely incapable of doing anything. I can become extremely violent as well, although I’ve learned to control those tendencies.

It’s been years since I’ve punched a wall.

But mostly, I suffer from depression. That’s when even breathing can be too much work.

When this happens, I’m smothered by feelings of helplessness. No matter what I do, it just isn’t good enough. The hole is deep, endless, and unconquerable. Worse still, there is the incessant thought that I deserve to be there. During those times, I feel I live because living is a punishment, and no punishment is strong enough for someone as worthless as I am.

That’s just scratching at the surface.

Between the basement flooding, an incorrect payment to a government agency, a broken pool, inefficient air conditioning, a car that needed major repairs, and a lot of other things, I’ve been fighting with depression again.

Often, people admire me because of my work ethic. And right now, when I’m just starting to crawl my way out of the abyss, all I can feel is guilt.

I hadn’t written a thing for over two weeks. I got back in the saddle, briefly, last night. Today, I got back in the saddle again, and I rode for a little longer. Words were written. Editorial for clients was done. I edited some of Winter Wolf.

I considered — and am still considering — a kickstarter for the Witch & Wolf series. If I can convince myself that it is worth the effort, and that I might have enough fans to make it worth while.

Life has started coming back together, instead of being on hold, frozen in a stream of financial woes, sewage floods, insurance hassles, and things blowing up in my face.

Writing through depression isn’t easy. It’s painful. Every word is a little like nails down a chalkboard, if you’re weak against that sort of thing. I am. It’s hard. It’s hard to describe, too, especially to someone who has never experienced actual depression.

It isn’t something I can just lift my chin, stand back up, and walk away from. ‘Normal’ people tell me that’s exactly what should happen. That’s the keyword… what should happen.

The above paragraph, I initially wrote in the second person. Then I stopped, considered, and changed it to first. It’s something I need to face. I’m not normal, and likely never will be. I suffer from depression, and depression is an illness.

Depression is an illness because what should happen doesn’t.

I can’t speak for everyone — or anyone other than myself — but it’s pretty horrible when I hear someone tell me how I should feel, and I try… and fail.

Then I try and fail again, over and over, until something so easy and simple, like being happy, becomes some lofty goal, like climbing to Everest’s death zone and living to tell the tale.

And when those brief moments of actual happiness come around, it’s a shock, and it’s scary, because after so long fighting the depression, it’s hard to know what I’m supposed to do when I’m happy.

Usually, I express my happiness, I get excited…

… and then I get told I’m an annoyance and nuisance for being excited, happy, and outgoing.

Being happy is a crime, and when depression strikes, it’s a sin; it’s a black mark against me, because I can’t be happy like everyone else, in a way that is deemed socially acceptable.

In response, I wear masks. I throw myself at my work. Because being praised for my work ethic is something I can cling to.

It’s something I’m good at.

So, what does the fighting and writing have to do with depression, as the subject implies?

I fight my depression through writing. Yes, sometimes I use it as pure escapism. I throw myself at these characters and write their lives so I can escape my own.

I forget I’m depressed for a little while.

That focus so many of you admire, that work ethic I’m often complimented on, is a coping mechanism for my life.

Instead of medications, I write.

Instead of counselling, I write.

Instead of wallowing, I write.

But what happens when I can’t write?

The past two weeks have been hard. I’ve cried, at least a little, most days. I look at my basement, put on a mask, and try to pretend everything will be okay.

I look at amazon at bar stools and other things I can’t afford, thinking how nice it would be if I could have those things for a basement that hasn’t been refinished yet.

It’s still bare concrete, with some evidence of 1970s linoleum on the floor. There is still a Hep A filter running its little heart out downstairs because the only thing between the basement and the sewage lines are a few rags.

I don’t know how the budget will be. So many things I owned were destroyed from sewage contamination.

The contractors haven’t gotten back to me with an estimate to see how the budget will be. There’s so many unknown things, and the unknown is very scary.

I have managed to keep enough money for my editors and things squirreled away for the immediate future, but the rest is up in the air. Unknown.

I’m supposed to go on vacation sometime in the very near future. Another unknown. I can’t afford to go, and I can’t afford to not go. I can’t get back the money I invested in this trip well over half a year ago, when our finances were looking really good.

They aren’t looking really good anymore. We’ll be pinching pennies on the trip, but we’ll go.

For eight days, I’ll try to pretend I’m happy. Who knows? Maybe I’ll somehow break free of the depression smothering me long enough to actually be happy.

I’m planning to write in soothing places, near pools, at cafes, in quiet corners, anywhere I can… because I’ll be free.

For a little while.

Fight on, me. Fight on.

And if you also suffer from depression, all I can say is this:

Fight on.

I understand.

Random Rambles: Broken Pool, Basement Flooding, Plot Twists, Oh my…

I think the subject of this post pretty much covers my day. The pool is still broken. We redid the wiring, but power surges knocked the breaker, so something is still wrong with the pool somewhere. We had the pool running for a grand three minutes, and the breaker blew when I shut it off to do maintenance.

General thoughts on that? I give up. I’m going to start seeing what is involved in filling the pool in. If I can get a permit, then gradually fill it in gravel and soil bag by gravel and soil bag, I’m set. I’d probably break the concrete up with a jack hammer, then fill it in with a mixture of gravel, rock, and sand, then do the last 3 feet with dirt.

If I can get the permit, and the town allows people to fill in pools like that. Otherwise? I’m gonna drain the sucker, slice the vinyl, and leave it empty. With a little luck, it’ll ‘pop’ when we empty it. Then we’ll take our new little saw and cut the damned thing into itty bitty pieces. >.<

Or something.

It costs as much to remove a pool as it does to install one, apparently.

Then my basement flooded. I have about a cm of standing water on my ceramic tiles. At least I have a 6 inch ceramic line along the floor, so the good news? Not nearly as much wall damage as I COULD have. The bad news? There’s some water damage.

We have no idea what caused it. I’m going to acquire a shop vac tomorrow and clean it up, then I’m going to run various sources of water in the house until the source of the misery is identified. Then I can get it fixed.

Expecting a week to get the basement cleaned up and furniture moved around to allow for such an experiment.

The spot that flooded had all of the stuff we owned in storage, so there is a lot of ruined misc items. Joyous day!

This is where I’m supposed to cry “Plot twist!” and move on with my life… I think.

I want to go get a few lottery tickets. With this much bad karma headed my way, maybe I could have the luck to win a million bucks.

Then I’d take it, hire a renovation company, put the cats in boarding for 2 weeks, and come back to a repaired house…

Today, life really sucks. I really don’t want to go back into the basement, but I should… at least to start cleaning what I can clean without getting near the flood zone.

Author Services Review: Amazon Countdown Deals (Inquisitor)

I’ve written about Amazon Countdown Deals before. In December of 2013, I ran a promotion right before Christmas. It worked extremely well. I have since learned that countdown deals, outside of the Christmas shopping period, are a double edged sword.

One edge of the blade is rammed somewhere very, very unpleasant. I’ll leave exactly where up to your imagination. I won’t lie, I got sales when I did the countdown deals promotion for Inquisitor. But, there seems to be an interesting phenomena with sales pricing that the countdown deals promotion illuminates very well.

Some disclaimers: I am not a bestselling author. I’m a small fry. I’m someone who is trying to become a career author. I’m not there yet. So, I have no complaints with being honest about the money I make–or the money I don’t make.

Maybe one day in the future, once I actually make an actual living from my writing, I’ll be less opened mouthed, but I suspect that’ll only be because I’m too busy trying to write books. Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll still write these posts. I just might be making minimum wage or more by then.

So, as I’m someone totally not experienced with being a career author, I make mistakes. Lots of them. This blog is a veritable graveyard of my bad decisions. It’s also a trophy case of when I get things right for all of the wrong reasons.

So, the set up: I started this countdown deal while amazon was actively promoting my novel in advertising mailers. This means I gave the book the optimal chance of doing well. I used the countdown deal hoping that the lower price would create a lot more sales, thus a lot more royalties for me.

I was wrong.

This is a chart showing the sales of all of my novels from the past 30 days. On May 16, you can see the release day spike. Only 14 of those sales belonged to Inquisitor, as I was running a countdown deal promotion on my other two novels. (They sold 14 and 10 copies respectively, resulting in 38 total sales.)

On May 28, Amazon started featuring my novel in a newsletter due to the surge of people adding Inquisitor to their wishlists. This was a direct result of the massive release-day promotion I did for the novel.

That was my best day of sales, with 83 sales and four borrows across all of my projects. From there, sales dipped. My second best day was the first day of my countdown deal, with just over 60 sales. While the sale figures stayed around 30 per day throughout the promotion, this didn’t equate to a lot in the way of royalties.

To give a basic idea of how this works, I need 23 sales to equate 10 regular-priced sales, roughly. During the $1.99 promotion, I needed a lot more sales.

The general trend seems to be if people want the book, they’ll buy the book. You lose some when priced at $5.99, but not that many. You’ll get a few extras from the price drop, but there seems to be a mentality that cheaper books are not as good, and so they don’t sell.

I tend to agree with this. On average, the books I buy? Cost $5.99 to $16.99 for kindle. Mostly closer to the $16.99 than the $5.99 bracket.

I picked $5.99 because I am aware my books could be better, and I feel this is a good value for the book.

Side Lesson learned: When it comes to promotion, go big or go home. Amazon promoting for you is really awesome. It looks like the email promotions Amazon was doing has ended though, so I’m on my way back to the black hole of obscurity.

Now, onto the promotion itself. If you can’t read the numbers, I will recap after the image.

For the week prior to the promotion, I made $601.20 in royalties. Through the entire week of the promotion, I made $399.27. I made one sale less during the promotion than the week prior. So, I sold fewer books for a notable cut in royalties.

I’ve had very similar experiences with non-Christmas countdown deals promotions.

Random Commentary: Princess thanks you for her four new balls, she is currently running around the house like a maniac. Your love for the kitties also bought them a new bottle of essence of cat nip. The other cats are writhing on the floor in feline bliss, their regular toys all sprayed.

No pictures, sorry. Their dignity is at stake, and they’d kill me if I ruined all of the dignity.

Back to the subject at hand: Countdown deals.

I decided, after seeing the general performance of these deals, that I would be going non-exclusive, hoping that Inquisitor’s little bit of popularity on Amazon will translate to increased sales on Google Play, Kobo, and Barnes & Nobles. No, I won’t be using Smashwords. I’ll probably use Draft2Digital.

We’ll see… but for now? I’m not sure exclusive with Amazon is the best bet. But we’ll find out in August, when I get a chance to see what the difference in sales as an exclusive author is versus non-exclusive.

Somewhere in this post, there is a point. I think the migraine killed it.

P.S.: The promotion for Inquisitor cost me somewhere around $538.

Character Development: Art Imitating Life Imitating Art

With the title of this post, I’ve probably made a few people twitch. How is character development related to the concept of art imitating life when life is imitating art?

People do that. Society creates art that imitates life to make it real, and in reaction to someone’s art, those people in turn imitate the art created by someone else. Sometimes the art is a song, a lyric relevant to life, something that promotes change. Sometimes the art is a painting that captures a feeling, but also promotes change. Sometimes it is a book, which in turn promotes change.

And when change is promoted, life begins to imitate the art that the change originated from.

Writers will often talk about their characters like they are living, breathing people who make decisions of their own.

Sometimes I talk about the decision-making process of my characters.

Time to offend at least a few of you: Your characters are figments of your imagination. They are art imitating life. Get over it (and yourself) and accept that your characters are creations of your imagination. Go ahead and call your imagination your muse if that makes you feel better, but the only one really responsible for your characters, and their actions, is you.

You are using art to imitate life, and in the process, as a result of cultural influences, you are life imitating art, be it in the form of music, movies, television, or literature.

Because your characters are not actually voices in your head, but the product of your imagination, you can control what they do, how they do it, when they do it, and justify every last choice they make. By saying that ‘your characters do what they want,’ you are also saying that you have no control over your writing, your art, your creativity, or your story.

You do. That’s just the sad truth. You don’t have a magical man in your head doing the work for you. You are.

And maybe that’s why your character isn’t doing what you need because you’re letting them ‘do what they want,’ which is just a pretty way of saying you’re not thinking through what your characters are doing.

When I say a character is not doing what I anticipated, that is because I, as an author, failed at my characterization, and I need to fix it. My character wouldn’t do what I originally thought they would. So I made the mistake and I realized it as I was trying to make my character do something someone of that trope type and circumstance wouldn’t do.

My characters don’t actually talk to me. I just use logic and their emotions to determine what they’d do. I hope that isn’t too disappointing. Take comfort in the fact there is a chance I may have looked at someone just like you and realized where my logic was wrong because people who are not me may not act like I think they should.

Yeah, that’s quite a bit to wrap your head around. Nutshell: Study people and remind yourself, each and every time your character makes a decision, that they are not you.

When I wrote Inquisitor, I was very deliberate in how I created all of my characters. These were distinctive people with their own personalities. I built every single one of those characters from an accepted trope type. Then I layered on a backstory that makes them unique to them, and adjusted their personalities on the way. I looked at their tropes, their modified personalities, their likes, dislikes, and fears, and I then I made them play by those rules.

But those rules changed each and every time they faced the consequences of their actions. That’s character development. That’s what you’re attempting to accomplish when you write a book with strong, solid characters. And not necessarily strong characters in the sense of overcoming every obstacle, being perfect, or so on. They’re strong because they act like people. They are art imitating life.

But they are also life imitating art–and that’s because of you, the writer.

You are the linchpin of your characterization.

When trying to learn how to draw real people, artists go out and watch people. Then they draw them. Writers are no different. Really, they aren’t. The best writers I’ve ever met share one thing in common: They are intrigued by real people.

They learn about people. They may not be good with people, but they know a lot about what makes a person tick. They study behavior. They study others. They sit, in their quiet corner, and watch. We call them introverts often enough. We question why an extrovert isn’t joining in the party, when they are watching, the gears in their brains turning, wondering why a person made the choice that they did.

They’re looking for the agenda of each and every person, calculating, and preparing to turn it into art. Their art. Their novels.

When I wrote Inquisitor, I cared about why my characters made the choices they did. I cared about what lengths a character would go for someone else. I cared about the methods they used to accomplish their goals. Each and every character, no matter how long they were on the scene, had a purpose. A goal. Something driving them. Some did the driving. Others were just in the way, consequential to what the others were doing.

If anything, Inquisitor is the story about how far a woman would go to fight for what she believes in, and in turn, how far others would go for that same woman. Some want her for their own devices. Some just want her. Some just want to protect her.

Some want to remove her from the picture. Some want to be in the pictures she has on her mantle.

But the story involves how many people react to the existence of one woman, and how they react to her. And what they’ll do for their own goals that involve her.

I didn’t write her to make her strong. I just made her human–or not, as the case often is.

I wanted to create a person with circumstance, so I did. I wanted to create a story about people.

People wrapped in a thriller blanket. And guns. And booms. And death. And some more death. With a side dish of death.

I made people from both ends of the spectrum. Some were hunters. Some were protectors. Some wanted to watch the fallout. Some wanted to be victims. Because in life, there are people who want to be victims… so they are.

I wanted my art to imitate life. Sometimes in the best ways, sometimes in the worst ways.

I find it is easy to write characters when I remember that I am trying to create a person. And when creating a person, the easiest way to approach it is to look at myself and what I am capable of. And that’s a scary thing, when I think about the types of characters I’ve written.

I can practically hear people pointing, gasping, and whispering, “Mary Sue!”

No.

Some writers go so far out of the way in their effort to completely remove themselves from their characters that they inevitably leave a blueprint of themselves in the pages. I don’t believe it is possible to completely cut yourself out of a novel, or out of a character. All of my characters, somehow, share a trait or two with me, however accidental this sharing of traits is.

Because they are art imitating life–mine. But they aren’t me, nor are they the purposeful insertion of me in my writing. They’re just the product of my life, my experiences, my observations, and my creativity.

Therefor, it is inevitable that there is something of me in there.

Here is where I tell you that you shouldn’t put yourself in your book as a character. Why? Realistically, we don’t really make all that good of a read. We’re too real.

Now I’ve gone and opened a can of worms, huh? Yeah. We authors are too real. Our characters are art. They exist because we created them. We can get away with stuff with our characters that real people may not ever be able to cope with. We can put them through the wringer, inflict mental, emotional, and physical damage to them a normal person would crumple under, and readers will bask in the glow of them overcoming challenges–while showing real emotions. While showing that real bit of life in their choices, actions, and ultimate development.

Character development is a pretty way of saying cause and consequence is left intact, and that your characters change as a direct result of their actions… and that they are purposefully making choices, decisions, and actions that impact them and others. They have motivations. They have goals… and they pursue them.

Or they don’t, and wish they had.

They’re people, but they’re people who are art, who imitate life, that in turn is the author’s attempt to turn life into art.

Are you stuck on how to build a character? Start small.

Pick a trait.

Then decide what someone with that trait would do in a situation.

Then look at your life, and if you had that trait, how would you deal with that situation?

Don’t just have your characters react, though. Reaction isn’t characterization. In Inquisitor, I made every event, every little plot device, be a result of what a character did. (Even if that wasn’t the result of what the main character did. A character was always a driving force behind the events in the story.)

The character with the best laid plan had the best chance of winning. And that character almost did win.

But that character did not comprehend, understand, or plan for how far someone would go for a friend or a loved one… and that is why they lost.

And in life, that often surprises us.

Writing good characterization is looking at all of the characters, their impact on each other, and getting a feel for just how far they would go to succeed at whatever little scheme or goal they have–even if that goal is survival.

Build your characters bit by bit… and remember that tropes are your friend. If you understand why a trope is a trope, and what makes a trope tick, all you have to do is make the person an individual in that trope type, adding the little things that make them unique.

This is probably not the road map you wanted to making realistic characters.

There isn’t one. None of us can tell you how to create your characters, because your characters are all a direct result of your imagination. And we aren’t you.

But we know people.

And we sympathize with people we can understand. And that all begins with a trope that you make unique to you.

And do try to put your characters in the lead, in the saddle, driving the story. Because characters who never do anything, and only react to what happens around them, are boring.

We tend to call these real life versions of this person a lot of mean things. We blame them, fault them for making their own bad luck, and we accuse them of being lazy. We tell them to ‘go do something about it!’

When I created Vicky, I asked myself a question about life–about people.

Then I took her, found the trope that fit, and chased after the answer. I gave her life circumstances. I gave her motivations and goals. I gave her something worth living for. I gave her someone worth living for.

For those who have read Inquisitor, you know what happens next.

And I chased after the possibilities. And with each and every character I introduced, I did the same for them, treating each and every one of them like they could become the main character of the story.

Because a story isn’t about the life of one character. It never is, unless the character has been locked in a cell without ever having met another person.

And that, in and of itself, is a story all of its own.

Random Rambles: Migraines, Failures, Gemstones, and Productivity

I guess in a way this is a writing-related post, but I’m delving into this with a migraine. If you’ve never had a migraine, don’t wish for one. Just don’t. Save yourself. Today’s is a mild one. I took medicine, which is settling the actual pain in my skull to a warning twinge, a constant reminder of the doom that awaits me when the medication wears off.

I finished the outline notes for Blood Diamond, book three of the Witch & Wolf series. That’s right. I have the completed outline notes for book three.

I’m looking at a first quarter release for the third book. I’m excited! Winter Wolf will be drafted starting tomorrow. I haven’t decided what my goal is, but I may settle for ‘one scene per work day’ while I address other important things, like client editorial.

Here’s where the failure part comes in. I need to do client editorial work today, but with this twingy, evil, energy-sucking migraine, it isn’t happening. I feel terrible. Both physically and ethically. I’m going to get at least one chapter done for someone tonight, even if I have to trudge through hell and high water to do so.

The weather isn’t helping, I’ll just say that much.

If I were super ethics girl, I would be fighting through the pain and finishing all of the editorial work. However, because I have ethics, I won’t. I can’t do my clients justice. The one project I will work on because his edits are easy. We’ve been working together for multiple novels, and he is totally used to the days where I’m on pain medication and working. I can make funny comments, and he won’t be offended. I can’t do this with new clients. He’s used to me, my sense of humor, and knows when to ask me what I really meant if I send a note that makes sense only to me.

(By the way, these are among the absolute best business relationships out there. If you ever get an editor or a client you have that rapport with, try not to let them go. They’re true gems of priceless value.)

Speaking of gems, I love gemstones. I really love them. Here is a picture of one of my gemstones.

This is a citrine, an orange quartz-type gemstone. I bought it on ebay, because I loved its shade of orange. It’s considered a ‘junk’ gemstone. Not at all precious, like a diamond or a ruby.

But I love citrines.

This is an absolutely terrible photograph, but here is a large chunk of my small stones collection.

I am making a vow to myself to add one new stone to my collection every $500 I make in royalties. (One stone costs anywhere between 5-20 bucks.)

Accepting donations to my dragon hoard. Teeheheheee. For the curious, the bottom row features many citrines. The blue stone is a topaz, as are the three stones next to it. The red stone is a blood-red garnet. The bright blues are turquoise.

In the next row, I can’t remember, I can’t remember, my tanzanites (those are the purple stones next to the moon stones on the right hand side), then there are a bunch of moonstones my mother gave me. Then I start forgetting what everything is. I have the names of most of them written on the bottom of the containers.

Yes, the big cluster of tiny white stones on the right side, middle row are diamonds.

There are two really interesting batches of stones in this box. In the top row, you can see one little white, round stone. That is a clam pearl. Clam pearls are rare. Oysters are your pretty pearl producers. Clam pearls are unwanted, they do not have luster like oyster pearls do.

I found this one in my dinner one day. Bit on it, just about gagged, and fished it out of my clam chowder. Had to look it up online because, you know, random hard, white, and round thing in my clam chowder. My homemade clam chowder.

Clam pearl. It’s a rare find. Glad I didn’t break my teeth.

Second rare set of stones in that box is a matched set of alexandrites. For their size, not cheap. When you put them in different types of light, they change colors. It’s really cool. I like them a lot. They are the ‘bleh’ colored stones on the left side above the four turquoise.

Okay, enough about one of my obsessions. Onto the productivity and failure part of this rambles. We’ll ignore the fact I talked about failure once already, okay? That’s the migraine. I forget things when my head hurts, even though it’s something I wrote about five hundred words ago. This is why I try not to edit while migraining. Migraining is now a verb.

Failure builds character, or some crap like that. Frankly, failures suck. What does failure do? You know, beyond make you think you’re completely worthless and should be run over by a transport?

It can, if you choose, provide motivation. I hate failing. I hate being a failure. When I fail, it’s like someone lights a candle under my ass and holds my favorite treats out of reach. I can’t jump to get my treats or my ass’ll catch on fire. So no treat, and a hot butt.

Not cool. Nope, nope, nope. It’s the emotional equivalent of the nopefish. If you haven’t seen the nopefish… just don’t. Nope, nope, nope.

To be fair, I worked from 9 AM to 5 PM with very few stops. I reached a very important goal. I was productive today. I just wasn’t as productive as I wanted to be.

And tomorrow, I’ll do better. Or I’m going to start beating my head into a wall. Because I do not like failure.

If I could give anyone a single piece of advice today, it would be this: Make failure your arch nemesis. Tactical nuke its ass. And when you do fail… don’t get mad. Get event.

Every productive day is a victory you can embrace, claim, and enjoy.

The failures? The fuel for your fire. It won’t take away the pain of defeat, but it makes the next victory all the much sweeter.

People say I’m a writing machine. If I were a machine, I wouldn’t have emotions, and I wouldn’t try to do better.

I try to live doing better each day… and I fail often.

I just stand back up.

You can too.

Inquisitor is on Sale for US residents

Werewolves, witches, and murders… oh my!

Are you looking for a new book to read for the start of the summer? Have a friend who needs a hot, thrilling new urban fantasy novel? Well, if you’re in the US, you’re in luck. Inquisitor is on sale starting today, for $1.99 for the next two days. After that, the price goes a little, before going back to full price.

You so want in on this action.

What? You’re not sure? Well, go check out what the reviewers have to say. They tell some interesting stories: Someone missed appointments, days were ruined, faith in interesting werewolf stories restored…

You know you want to.

Loved the book? Got a few bucks to spare and a loved one who needs the book? Gift it!

Share this post. Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Author Services Review: The Aftermath of the Promotion

Success is a fleeting, unpredictable thing. When I planned the launch of Inquisitor, I had a few set goals for myself. I wanted to make the top 10,000 on Amazon, and I wanted to make back $250.00 in earnings within the first week.

I failed to reach both goals.

However, my expectations were flawed.

I learned a lot. I took a lot of risks. They all paid off, but in a way I never anticipated and did not know possible.

In terms of money earned, the $539 I invested in the tour was a complete and utter failure. I sold 14 copies of Inquisitor the first day, with 4 additional individuals borrowing the book on amazon. Sales went downhill from there.

I set $250 as my ‘ROI (Return of Investment) goal’ because I figured half was a good value for the insane boosts I got to my social media networking. My facebook got over 300 new likes. My twitter exploded, with approximately 500 new followers. I gained well over 200 new followers on pinterest as well. In addition to this, there were a good number of adds of my book to goodreads. All of these things have value–a lot of value for a writer.

But I was hoping for $250 in the first week of sales.

I made $73.00 in the first week of sales.

If you’re wondering why it took me so long to post this, I was wallowing in the darkest pit of despair I could find. I was expecting failure of some sort, but this was a rather spectacular failure.

I wallowed in self-pity, mostly quietly.

I did not expect what amazon would do twelve days after my book launch. I didn’t even know amazon did this… not until I asked a very successful self-published author. (She’ll make upwards of $70,000+ this year from amazon alone.)

If you browse books, and you add a title to your wishlist, amazon tracks that. It also tracks your behavior in conjunction with other readers. Let’s face it, a lot of people I know read fantasy. I promoted to many sites dedicated to paranormal and urban fantasy.

People didn’t buy the book.

People added Inquisitor to their wishlist.

On Memorial Day, my book sales exploded. I went to bed after seven straight days of 1 or 2 sales and a 65,000 or worse ranking. I woke up with 20 sales.

The day went on, and the sales kept coming.

I googled, I googled, I spent all day googling. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what sort of gremlin had decided I needed a chance at success.

It wasn’t a gremlin. It was my book and my promotion efforts bearing fruit in an unexpected way. Amazon saw I had a lot of wishlist additions. Amazon decided to send a Memorial Day promotional email to a selection of book lovers. It featured my novel.

It featured my novel in the top slot of the newsletter.

Copies sold. 75 copies, for that matter, with 4 borrowed units. On Memorial Day, Inquisitor made $250.00 in royalties. It jumped to the top 3,000 on Amazon.

Since, it has been hovering between 4,000-5,000 in the rankings. Sales are still coming, although at a slower pace.

By May 28, it had paid for all of its promotional costs. I’ve almost earned back the cost of one of my editors for the novel, too.

All because people were interested in the novel and added it to their wishlists. This is a new way you can help authors you believe in and like. You want to read a book but can’t afford it?

Add it to your wishlist. This gives the author a chance to get on one of these amazon email promotions.

Amazon was still emailing people yesterday with my novel. I received a forward of one of the emails from a fan, who was ecstatic to see it.

The price on it made me do a double take, but really? Amazon sold me a bunch of books. So, thanks Amazon!

Because Amazon featured my novel, it started selling. It’s still selling.

I have 17 reviews, with a 4.7* average rating. That’s pretty good. The paid promotion landed me at least 9 reviews that made it to Amazon. There were a lot more reviews that didn’t make it to Amazon, but that’s okay too.

People were made aware of my novel. They added it to their wishlists.

Amazon saw that as a reason to promote my novel for sale.

I’m not a bestseller. I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination. This isn’t going to make my writing career. It did give me a much needed boost.

But it took twelve hopeless days before the impact of the promotion kicked in. But when it did, did it ever!

Bestsellers are likely laughing at my 83 sales and $250 of income for a single day. Me?

I cried.

Paid promotion: It worked…

… but for none of the reasons I expected.

Another day, I will go into the specifics of each of the campaigns I participated in, including my speculations on why these campaigns actually worked… and why I suspect some did not.

Today?

I’m going to get other work done and marvel that the publishing industry is even more complex than I imagined possible.

Wishlists.

Who would have thought?!

Conceptualizing a Novel: Journaling, Plots, and Characterization

It’s well known that I love writing journals. I’m a hardcore moleskine junky, but really, I love paper and pen. I become a whole new person on a creative level when I’m given these old-fashioned tools to work with.

Today, I’m going to go over my new way of plotting, characterizing, and organizing my novels. For my birthday, I acquired a leather circa journal. I’ve been lusting for one of these for about a year. I never really could justify it before.

I’ll just say this much: I have learned the error of my ways, and this system is worth every penny. I will say this: Thin, poor-quality stock paper need not apply for use with these journals. It’ll rip and tear if you’re like me, constantly taking out and putting pages back in.

So, before I go into the method, let’s talk about the journaling system. For this method to work, a modular paper system is pretty much required. Here’s why:

When I’m writing out notes scene by scene, I go back and correct things in first scenes. I take out the page I’m currently working on, flip to other sections of the journal, make notes and reference details on those sheets, before flipping back to its appropriate spot and reinserting the sheet. You just can’t do this very well with a regular notebook.

Sorry, Moleskines. You just got outclassed.

Here is the system in action.

My friends, who love me, bought me the red leather journal–and they had it initialed! So glorious! So wonderful.

If you think the outside is pretty, just wait till you see the inside.

I replaced the original rings with green aluminum rings. Blue and Silver aluminum are also available (brand new additions!) The original rings are black plastic.

I just received the green rings in the mail today, so I took photos of the empty journal with three wafer-thin dividers added. The leather journal doesn’t come with them. These are extras I bought on my own, along with the green rings.

The leather journal I has includes some pocket space for index cards and some paper. The space is tight, but considering the nature of the system, that’s perfect for me. Most things will be punched and kept on the rings anyway.

Warning: Click at your own risk. If you read my novels, spoilers of minor nature will be found if you read the notes.

I thought it was worth the risk.

This shows an ‘open’ circa journal system. I have no covers on this, showing that the rings and paper can form a complete archival system. I don’t like throwing out notes, and this will make sure I have plenty of storage space when the notes have been used and a novel has been completed. Better yet, because it still uses the circa system, I can flip through, organize the archives, and switch things around anytime I need.

These are the large green rings I purchased. The larger rings make the pages a little harder to turn, so I decided to keep the 3/4″ rings in my leather journal. The pages flip super easy in the 3/4″ system. which is what I need for really active work.

This shows the circa journal, fully opened, in action. The pages function just like a regular journal, so those who likes ring bound or true bound will likely enjoy this. It has the feel of both types at the same time, partially due to the fact it can lay open totally flat without any issues at all. That’s one thing I really love about this system. Right now, I’ve installed dividers to create covers for the journal. As I mentioned above, covers aren’t required. Of course, covers do protect what is inside, so unless you’re archiving, I really recommend having a cover of some sort.

I have created three different journals: Two archive journals, and the master work journal.

On top is a single-page circa hole punch, which converts any paper into a circa-usable sheet. Levenger has three models, but since I really like their paperstock, I chose the single-page punch. I don’t need any more than that, since I’ll likely only punch and include character sketches for personal reference.

Intermission: So, why the circa system? Why the sudden shift over to faithfully recording information on my novels? Simple: I may often pants my novels, but realistically, I’m plotting in my head as I go.

Because I’m now working on connected books, I need to be able to confirm information easily. I used to do this in true-bound Moleskine journals. Now? I’m doing it in the circa system.

My moleskines will still be used as a major part of the drafting process. But, because I want to really limit the amount of difficult editing work, I’ve taken to doing extensive note taking and preparation before drafting.

Because I’m median in nature, the shift doesn’t bother me at all–I still do a lot of pantsing work and creative work as I’m taking the notes. The wonder of discovery is still there.

As is the organic characterization. Why?

I use the same exact thought process. I just take notes instead of storing it all in my head.

Moving on. The specifics of my note taking.

This is the outline and characterization work for the first scene of Witch & Wolf 3. (Support an author, buy Witch & Wolf 1, Inquisitor. At an Amazon near you!)

The Witch & Wolf series is an urban fantasy thriller type. It mixes mystery, murder, action & adventure, and thriller, with a backdrop of magic, werewolves, and our world… but changed.

Or is it?

Unlike many other series, the Witch & Wolf novels are connected standalone novels. Often, a new character is featured in each book. In Witch & Wolf 3, many of the characters from books 1 & 2 make an appearance. Old friends may return in later titles to become the main characters again as they get into more misadventures.

However, I want people to be able to invest in one and only one copy of a book–any one in the series–if they so choose.

Which means I have to be very careful to make sure each title can stand alone. When Victoria (from Inquisitor) returns, returning readers will know her… but new readers will not be left to drown. You’ll meet her all over again, in her new circumstances, facing new challenges. Of course, reading Inquisitor will have benefits, but you won’t need to read it.

And because of that, I have to be really careful in how I plan each and every novel, or I’ll end up relying on previous books in the series. I don’t want that.

Enter my note taking.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

On this page, I have written out various bits of information on the character, things I want to develop, his motivations, and so on. Some of this stuff will never actually be revealed to readers–not directly. It’ll be inferred, hinted at, and lived, but not directly told. It’s information for me, to get a feeling for how Jackson will behave in the novel.

A lot of my notes are speculation on his choices, his feelings, his emotions, and how he changes as a result of his experiences.

That’s characterization and development–justification of actions, and paying the consequences of those actions, followed by reacting to those consequences.

Fears, hopes, and dreams play a huge part in how I develop characters.

Yes, I may create unreliable narrators as a result. Why?

People change. People make bad choices. They make good choices.

They do things, sometimes, they shouldn’t have done–all because they wanted something bad enough.

When I take notes for a novel like this, I want to capture that.

The plot is the consequences of my character’s decisions, partnered to the consequences of other character’s decisions–and sometimes, the character making the decision is the planet Earth itself.

I can’t tell you how to plot and plan your own novel. It is a personal journey, an adventure you must embark on solo. But, I can share with you what I do and why I do it.

At the heart of every book I write are characters. They are the ones who decide the show–or, at least, how I think they would decide the show if they were real people with goals, dreams, and motivations.

They’re always bigger than life. In a way, I create characters who all have the trait to be able to change themselves. That sort of strength isn’t always present in real people. We have a tendency to get lost in our fears, and sometimes, we never act.

My characters are almost always forced to make a decision…

… if they don’t, the consequences for inaction are often far, far worse than the consequences of taking action.

Therefor, they drive the novel forward.

Second, I consider the plot and the events. I want the story to be fun. I want people on the edge of their seats. Those are the types of books I adore reading. I love feeling breathless and satisfied at the end of a novel. I love when an author completely screws with my head and turns my expectations upside down.

I love when they toy with me, take me on a roller coaster ride, inflict emotional bondage on me because of their glorious book. That’s the experience I want to create.

Because that’s the experience I really enjoy.

I love capturing the darkness of the world, and then giving all of the characters a chance to chase after a light in that darkness. I don’t like hopelessly dark stories.

So I don’t write them. Sometimes, a character has to face true evil, true darkness, and experience things that give me the shivers, but I also give them a chance to succeed.

If they use every tool available to them.

I don’t give anything away for free, either. Characters live and die by their choices–and the choices of other characters. I’ve talked about this before, in a discussion over damseling. If a character loves another character so much to risk injury or death for them, if they get in trouble… of course they’re going to come running. No matter what the cost is to them, too.

That’s what people in love often do.

If a character has deserved the love and respect to be rescued when they get into trouble, that’s fine.

That’s part of why I take such extensive notes. I’m accounting for all of these character decisions.

A book is not the story of one character. It is the story of one character, and every other character that character has ever impacted, in past, in present–and in future.

So, keeping that in mind, I want to discuss the differences between plot and characterization in this case. I’m outlining by scene. I have already written up an eight page generic plot summary of events I think the character would cause.

P.S.: In the outline by scene, I’ve already made notable modifications to this because the events I thought would work wouldn’t because the characters wouldn’t do that.

Oops!

So, how is all of this information relevant on how to use the journal? Let me show you.

Warning: Spoilers Head! (Ignore the text on the image and look at the rings to avoid spoilers.)

This is an image of me inserting pages into the circa system. Because of how the pages are punched, you can very easily remove and put sheets back in. So, keeping in line with character decisions and motivations, when I work with a scene, I am flipping through the entire book–scene by scene–and checking to see if the characters would make the decisions they do.

One of the things I notice a lot when I edit for clients is that characters often forget their motivations. Things that were important to them a few scenes ago are forgotten or ignored. They’re no longer important.

By taking out sheets and working my way through the project, I minimize the chance of this happening by carrying through important themes.

Something for you to think about when you’re plotting or pantsing.

Note: The theories here are usable with both types of writing. If you’re pantsing, you’re keeping track of this stuff in your head, and you may not even realize it! Plotters are just writing it down before they draft… but many neglect to consider these key elements of writing a strong, character-driven novel.

I just used a marketing phrase, but I’m going to hammer it home. It is not marketing vomit. It actually means something. It means that your novel  is founded on the choices, decisions, motivations, successes, and failures of your characters, not on random luck, random events, or shallow stereotypes and tropes.

But that is a bridge you need to build and cross. It’s a personal journey, in a lot of ways.

I can’t tell you how to capture characters… it is something learned through reading, studying people, and ultimately doing.

Phew. I hope that this gives a glimpse into how I write books, and maybe offer some insight on how you can improve or clarify your personal writing method.

Random Rambles: Memorial Day Giveaway

My father served in the armed forces in the Corps of Engineers. My father’s father served in the armed forces.  My mother’s father served in the armed forces. My mother’s father’s father served, as did my mother’s uncle.

My family line, since the time of the Revolutionary War–and even prior–has served in the military in some capacity. I’m an eligible for membership in DAR (the Daughters of the American Revolution) although I’m not one. I grew up traveling the eastern seaboard of the United States, seeing the landmarks where American history was made.

I have been to almost every single battlefield of the Revolutionary and Civil wars. I have seen trees bearing the scars of bullets from hundreds of years ago, and been to places where I could feel the impact of war on it. You can see it in the pockmarked rocks, you can feel it in the air, as if perhaps the ghosts of the fallen do still linger where they fell in battle. I have walked through forests, pausing to find a bullet from two hundred years ago. I still have one upstairs, irrefutable proof of what people will do for what they believe in.

Tomorrow, no matter what country you live in, no matter which country you swear allegiance, it is a time to stop and remember those who have come together. It is a time to stop and mourn.

It is also a time to celebrate. Their sacrifice was not without cause, not without reward, and never forgotten.

I will be giving away a set of my novels, in format of choice, in celebration of memorial day.

Who in your life has served? Who in your life has made that ultimate sacrifice? Who in your life is serving now, laying it all on the line for what they believe in?

This giveaway is for those who serve in the armed forces, have served, or are preparing to serve. This giveaway is for the spouses and children of those who are serving, who have served, or are preparing to serve.

To win, simply tell your story in the comments below–or write a blog post about it and link it to me on twitter, facebook, or google+. I will read all of the stories pick one to win the main prize.

Paperback copies will go to US addresses. If you do not live in the US, you will receive e-copies of the books. (Arrangements may be made for active members of the armed forces, but I don’t know the costs or details of shipping overseas!)

Thank you for your sacrifice and everything you have done for your country–no matter which country it is for, or what you believe.