Characters

Welcome back!

I thought it would be a good time to go over characters. How hard could it be to create one?

It's only a fictional person after all.
Well, it is more in depth than think...

It is not as simple as giving your character a name and face. You can't have flat characters if you want your readers to care for them. You must give your character a back-story, emotions, personality. What do they desire? What is their goal? What is their breaking point? Etc, etc. These are important elements of character creation. If you can give your characters depth, your readers will have an emotion connection with them.

Keeping a writing journal can help. In my journal, I have a page for each character in my Witch In The Woods series. It helps me keep them separate and also to remember certain facts or aspects about them. It can be a forum, questionnaire, or even a resume if you prefer.
Below are the main questions I ask my characters.

• Name:
• Date of Birth:        Age:
• Appearance:
• Occupation:
• Life story:

These, I feel, are the important questions. Their future can change on a whim, but the past can never change. (Unless they are time travelers, I suppose)

Recently I read a fantasy in which the characters are at war with a Dark Wizard. One character told a story about a wizard whose parents died when the wizard and his brother were very young. All they had were each other. As they grew older, the younger brother succumb to the Dark Wizard, despite his efforts to save him...

A couple pages later, the wizard's story was continued. The wizard had left his brother and had not heard from him in many years. One day, the wizard was contacted by his brother, who told him that their mother had fallen gravely ill...

What? They just said she died when they were young! Did she magically come back to life? These were my personal thoughts... I have to shake my head and laugh.

The point to this little story is plane:

Though it was only a small part of the book, it did concern the plot. I am sure that many who read the book will not notice, but there are those who love to pick a book apart. Other than that, the book was very well written.

You don't want to fumble the ball with something as silly as this, so that is why I feel a journal is an important addition to your writing arsenal. All it does is help.

Happy writing everyone!


Feel free to check out Witch In The Woods in paperback on creatspace and Amazon!

Or get a sample chapter of my series on Smashwords!

Have a nook? My books are on the Barnes and Noble website too!

For the nook!

If you like my blog, please add me to your circles! I'll add you back.

Please like my author page on Facebook! Send me the link to your's and I'll return the favor.
Follow me on Twitter and friend me on goodreads.

Thanks for reading!

Being a Writer

Welcome back,

As writers, we know what our job entails. We know to write a book, we first need to get an idea. It could be anything. The idea for a book could come from a quote, music, art, or even a person you saw at the local super market. It doesn't matter where came from, as long as you got the idea. Now all that is left is to put pen to paper. More accurately, fingers to keyboard.

The process of writing a book is different for everyone. What works for one does not always work for another.

Being in the writing business, you have probably been told that writing a book is easy. They expect you to crank them out! People are expecting quantity from you, but what you really need to focus on is quality.

We all know that the more books you have, the more people will take you seriously as an author. Don't let that bother you, take your time with it.

Here is some great advice from an author everyone knows, and will hopefully show what being a writer is like.

I love this quote, because it's true for everyone, and not just writers.

Many people think that writers have it easy. All you have to do is sit and write, right?
They don't know what it is like, all they have to do is read the book. You have to research things, know what genre your are writing, is it historical or futuristic? You need to create characters that you pray others will find believable, likable, or hate with a passion. Creating a back story for these characters is essential. Not to mention creating a plot and setting for these characters to live in. You need to delve deep and unlock secrets of this new place in your mind.

When you have this sorted out, the writing may begin! There is also the occasional writers block, where you will stare at the screen for hours, hoping that something will spark and you can start writing again. Other times, you will be in the writing zone, your fingers typing away full bore!

After you write the book, you have to revise and edit, revise and edit again. If you can, find a willing participant to go over it for you and see if you've missed anything (The odds are, you have). After your work is published, then comes the criticism. It will either lift your spirit or crush your soul. But all is useful in the end.

I know I have written about this before, but I can't stress enough how important it is to promote your book! Which is a full time job on its own. (Hopefully you have been promoting your book before it was published, so people will actually be looking for it.) You need to join all the social media sites, send out daily messages, (several tweets a day for twitter), and build a following. Keep this up, even while writing your next book.

Being an author actually takes work. But the experts say that if you enjoy your job, you never really work a day in your life. Some may think that writers have it easy, but they are just as busy and hard working as everyone else. To be frank, writers never have a day off. Sure, they may take a break from writing, but they are always collecting information, creating knew ideas, and going over their current project, and studying peoples reactions.

Writing is a great and rewarding career, if you don't mind putting in the work!

Carpel tunnel, pains of being a writer! 

Feel free to check out my books in paperback on creatspace and Amazon!

Or get sample chapter of my series on Smashwords!

Have a nook? My books are on the Barnes and Noble website too!

For the nook!

If you like my blog, please add me to your circles! I'll add you back.

Please like my author page on Facebook! Send me the link to your's and I'll return the favor!
Follow me on Twitter and friend me on goodreads.

Thanks for reading!

Guess what?

Hello family, friends, followers, and readers!
(Did I forget anyone?)

I am thrilled to tell you all that...

Witch in the Woods is now in print!
It's nice to see that all the blood, sweat, and and tears paid off! That was a little cliche, but still....

Thanks to createspace.com, I was able to format my book through their magnificent site, and behold! My paperback book was born!

I'm gonna cry!

What motivated me to day this? Well, I have to say it was my last trip to Barnes and Noble. Not the website, but the store. So many books in print...

My book will probably never be on their shelves, but hey, I'm just happy it's in print now!
Another motivator was that I had been having trouble reading some eBooks I've downloaded from amazon, which really made me want to react like this....

Surprising coming from an indie author, right? But the problems I had with the Amazon app appears to have been fixed. YAY! It definitely does not surprise me that it would have some bugs, so I should stop pretending it's the end of the world when something happens...

Here are the links to my paperback!

creatspace and Amazon

Also, the summer eBook sale on Smashwords is almost over! If you want to get Witch In The Woods and Clearly's Corruption for 50% off, use the code SSW50 at the check out! The sale ends July 31!

50% Off on Smashwords!

Have a nook? My books are on the Barnes and Noble website too!

For the nook!

If you like my blog, please add me to your circles! I'll add you back.

Please like my author page on Facebook. Send me the link to your's and I'll return the favor!
Follow me on Twitter and friend me on goodreads.

Thanks for reading! Have a great Sunday!

Inspiration & Fear

Hello once again my lovely readers!

Recently I've been thinking about where I got the inspiration to write my novel Witch In The Woods.
Really, it is the question 'what inspired me to write the short story for school?' It's funny really, for the name of my book was inspired by one of my sister Haley's creative writing titles. Fatal Fall Forest. She came up with it on a whim! I thought it was so cool, I wanted to come up with an awesome sounding title also. I still think it's cool!

I came up with the name Witch In The Woods long before I came up with the plot.

The the plot came while I was writing my story, because I could not wait any longer to get a story out for school. However, I went into the story fearing everything.
What if nobody likes it? What if I'm accused of being a copy-cat? After all, my story had similarities to my sister's. A witch (In her case witches) in a heavily treed setting... But unlike my sister's, mine would be more serious than humorous... Which was strange, because humor was my forte....

Despite all the doubts I had, I couldn't let them stop me. Besides, I didn't want to get an F in my creative writing class.

As I mentioned above, I started writing my story without a plot. As I was writing my short story, I was inspired the Brother's Grimm and the Salem Witch Trials. I also made sure to add a certain name that I new my mom/teacher lady would love in case the story turned out to be no good. Beth's Hollow.

It took me a few days to write the short story of Witch In The Woods, and whenever I got an idea for the story, I would obsess over it until I found something to record my ideas on. Usually a stray piece of paper or my composition notebook.

The hardest part was handing in my story. I didn't want bad criticism on this piece, for I bled part of my heart and soul into it. I was glad to hear that my teacher loved the name Beth's Hollow. *fist pump* My plan worked! Now came the part I was dreading. What did she think of the over all story?

I believe my jaw literally dropped to the floor when I learned she liked it; no, she went wild over it! Witch In The Woods to this day is her favorite story I have ever written. (It's mine, too.)

When I started writing the actual novel, I had many fears again, though this time they were altered. What if it's not as good as the short story? What if this is a mistake? What if it loses that special something that made it good in the first place?

The ending results: More praise and love than my short story received. I was giddy and pleased.

When I wrote the sequel, I loved the story. My only fear was that everyone may not like it. The results were better than the first book.

So now it's time for you to get inspired, and shove fear to the side!

Thank you for reading my post!

Please check out my series, Witch In The Woods on:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
And Smashwords! (Use the code SSW50 at the check out to get it 50% off! Sale ends July 31!)

Don't forget to follow me! I follow back!
Please like my Facebook page, friend me on Goodreads, and follow me on Twitter!

Book Review: Exiled (The Protector, #1)

Welcome back!

Sorry there was no book review last week. I was caught up in reading Exiled by M.R. Merrick.

Another free book I got off on Amazon, the cover, (once again) grabbed me. The fire, the water, the half burnt tree... By the cover, I knew from the get-go it was a fantasy, and hopefully one with action!

I started reading it a while after I got it, having completely forgot what the book was about. I was also to lazy to look it up and read the synopsis, so I went into it blind, which I don't normally do.

When I began reading this book, I knew one thing that I wanted for sure. Action! It did not disappoint.

This book is about Chase Williams, a young demon hunter who was exiled from the Circle with him mom, on his 15th birthday, because he had no elemental power. Those jerks.

Chase has spent the last two years without the Circle's protection, fighting off half demons who've come kill him personally, and helping his mom pay the rent for their shabby apartment. One night, after meeting a frightened and innocent demon, Chase learns that the Circle no longer stays true to their oath to protect the innocent. They have a new, more sinister agenda.

To be honest, this book surprised me. I was not expecting it to be this good! I was on the fence on how many stars to give it. In the end, I decided to give it four stars instead of the full five, because Chase seems to have a problem doing what he's told.
"Don't make a deal with this guy." He does anyway.
"Consult me before you do this." Nope again.
"Don't be rude to him." What? Chase didn't hear ya.

Other than that little issue, the book was great! I recommend it to anyone looking for an action packed, fire filled YA fantasy, with silver daggers, magic, and blood! Oh yes, I said blood! (It's a vampires' dream!)

Happy reading everyone!

Please check out my series Witch In The Woods on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords!
With the code SSW50 you can get my books 50% on Smaswords! The sale lasts all of July!

Don't forget to follow me, I follow back!
Please like my Facebook page!
Follow me on Twitter and friend me on Goodreads!

I Follow, You Follow, I'll Un-follow

Hello!

Last week I talked about building a fan base and gaining followers. This week I thought I would tell you all about my experience with a certain type of follower on Twitter. I am sure this probably happens on other sites as well, but I have only come across this 'egotistic' occurrence on Twitter.

Egotistic?

As I said in my last post: Everyone wants to gain. 
But beware, for there are some people out there who will follow you, and shortly after you follow them back, well... You're history, babe.

These people strike me as, (Excuse me while I try to censor myself) self-interested, greedy, little hobgoblins, who want to gain your support while refusing to assist you in return. (Readers, I beg you! Don't be like this.)

This is my own personal experience with the whole "I follow, you follow, I'll un-follow" situation, on Twitter. I'll give this person an alias, because that's how I roll. I shall call him Bob.

Bob had a professional looking picture, and looked like a happy business man, who was following a pretty substantial amount of people, and had a pretty ridiculous number of followers himself. Wow, he's popular! I digress; he followed me one day, so I followed him back, thinking, "Yay! Another follower!"

This is how they lure you in! The next day, I noticed that I had one less follower than the day prior, so I looked into it. Bob was gone. I heard of people doing this to boost themselves on Twitter and other sites, so I decided that if that's the way he plays, then I am not supporting him. *click* Un-follow!

The next day, Bob was back... I thought, maybe he un-followed me by accident... Seeing how he was my follower again. Great, now I feel bad. So, I decided to re-follow Bob. He stayed a follower for nearly a week before he was gone again. Wow, I had to be something special! Anyway, my jaw dropped. Looking at his page, I realized that he was following thousands less than the first time I looked, yet he still had 100k + followers. Why, that little!... That!!! I'm at a loss for words. You know what they say, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice... Well, know I'm a pro at this game.

That is just one of the stories I have, but I trust that you get the gist. But I offer you all the link to a site that will tell you who is following you, who un-followed you, etc. It is pretty cool, and useful.
Justunfollow.com

Do you have any stories like this? If so, please post them in the comments!
Happy tweeting everyone!

Don't forget to follow me, I follow back!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Like me on Facebook!
And friend me on Goodreads!
Have a Pinterest? I'm on there too!

Check out my Young Adult series Witch in the Woods on
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
And for all of July, my series is 50% off on Smashwords! Just use the code SSW50 when you check out!

Building a Fan Base

Welcome back,

Today I am going over how to build your fan base, and when is a good time to start? I am by no means a master on this subject, and still an avid learner myself, but I am going to share with you what has been working well for me so far.

If you are still writing or just about to start writing your first book, you are in luck! This is the prime time to start! It is never too early to start building your followers. However, if you are like me, then you have already written your book, and didn't think/know you should have been building a fan base before you published... That's okay, many of us do that. Lucky for us 'secretive' people, it is never too late to start either!

Where exactly do you get these followers?

First off, you need to get a Twitter, a Google+ (if you have a gmail, you have a google+ account), and make an author page on Facebook. These are popular social media sites, and you want to get noticed. It is important to remember that you can't just make these accounts and expect others to instantly follow you, unless you're Johnny Depp or someone similar, which is pretty slim. This is a two way thing. If you want people to follow you, you have to follow them. Everyone wants to gain.

Don't follow just anyone. If you are writing Middle Grade books, you don't necessarily want to be following a criminal law lawyer, unless he/she is a big fan of MG reads, or you find them interesting. Follow bloggers, readers/fans of your specified genre, or anyone who interests you.

It's also important to follow others in similar categories as yourself. There is no hope in beating them, nor should even you try. Join your competition! Follow other authors who write the same genres or for the same age range you do. Try to become friend these people, retweet them and promote their stuff. They will be happy to return the favor, assuming they are not snobbish, 'Why should I help out the newbie?' kind of person. I haven't met many, but they are out there. They don't realize this thing is a give and take. But I digress...

If you're not on any sites, then hurry! Get on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Pintrest! The more sites you are on, the more YOU will get noticed. Tweet and post stuff about your book, and be proud that you authored it! Check out other peoples works, and ask if they will check out your's.

Remember that these are social media sites, so you shouldn't be all work and no play! Jack Torrance syndrome is never good...

Any questions? Please post them in the comments! I will try to answer them all!
Know anyone who's trying to become an author? Please share this blog with them!
Don't forget to add me to your circles! I'll add you back!
Thank you for reading!

Check out my Young Adult, Dark Fantasy series Witch in the Woods on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords!
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook! I follow back!
Become a fan and friend me on Goodreads!