Tuesday, September 20, 2011

INTERVAMPTION NEWS!

For a very limited time (and I don't really know exactly how little--a week maybe?) e-copies of INTERVAMPTION ARE .99 CENTS!

.99 CENTS!

I can hardly buy a bag of peanut m&ms for under a dollar anymore, and that's gone in, like, sixty seconds. At least by buying this book, you'll get to enjoy your purchase longer. Hey, in hard economic times like these, you really gotta look at what you're getting for the cost, right?

.99 cents.

That's it. That's so cheap I might download a copy of my own. I'd offer to give one away in some sort of contest or sweepstakes, but they're like, less than a buck. You can't buy a gallon of gas on that. Or a loaf of bread. Or a gallon of milk.

But you could buy a book that I'm absolutely in love with. One I poured my heart and soul into. Maybe if you give it a shot, you'll love it too. What've you got to lose? Some spare change you could find in your couch? (Oh, I'm just loving this.)

.99 cents. Crazy.

I'd be absolutely thrilled if you went and bought yourself a copy. :grin:

Friday, September 16, 2011

How I'm handling edits on Vamped Up, Book 2 in the Vampires of Crimson Bay Series

I got the first round of edits back on Vamped Up yesterday. Actually, I got the commented manuscript back two days ago and the revision letter yesterday.

Before I'd ever reached this stage...before I'd snagged the best agent on the planet and the most dedicated editor...I wondered how authors viewed their edits. What's the revision letter all about? What's the process like? How long do you have until you have to send them back? Then what?

I can't speak for everyone because, let's face it, every writer is going to have a different experience with their editor or book and a different process for dealing with the mountain of revisions they inevitably receive.

But this is how I handle (HANDLED, AM HANDLING) it (WITH MY FREAK-OUT THOUGHTS IN PARENTHESES):

When I saw my editor's email in my inbox, glaring in bold--Book 2 edits--with that little paperclip symbol, I freaked. I got butterflies. I took a really deep breath, and I opened the mail.

The email letter itself was very nice, yet very professional. She loved the book (THANK GOD!) but thinks there's some issues in my first 100 pages that need to be worked over. (I ALWAYS STRUGGLE WITH THE BEGINNING, SO THAT WAS REALLY NO SURPRISE.) There were overall suggestions I absolutely agreed with. (DUH! HOW COULD I NOT SEE THAT SOLUTION BEFORE?!?) And suggestions that made my nose twitch. (HMM...NOT WHAT I INITIALLY HAD IN MIND...COULD THAT WORK?...COULD I MOVE THAT SCENE AND CONNECT THOSE TWO AND REWRITE THAT ONE AND MAKE IT SMOOTH AND FLUSH LIKE THAT'S THE WAY I ORIGINALLY INTENDED? WOULD IT HAVE THE SAME EFFECT? YES, WITH SOME WORK, IT COULD. AND IF SHE'S SAYING IT'LL MAKE MORE SENSE THIS WAY, I'LL GET IT DONE.) There was also the panic inducing mention of the due date: October 10th. (SURE, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LONG TIME AWAY, BUT DID I MENTION I'M REMODELING MY KITCHEN? DID I MENTION THAT FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS--THREE WEEKS IN WHICH I COULD USE SOME PEACE AND QUIET--I'M GOING TO HAVE A TEAM OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS STOMPING ABOUT, SMASHING INTO MY CABINETS WITH SLEDGEHAMMERS?) No problem. I'll get it done (BEFORE THE DUE DATE, BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS SHOULD). And the book will be better for it.

Now when I dove into the book, I was looking for her comments in the margins. (THERE'S SO MANY OF THOSE DAMN RED THINGS! I'M TALKING MAYBE 2 BUBBLES PER PAGE.) I wanted to see where she tripped up in my writing, where the comments slowed down (meaning she was absorbed in the story) and where they picked up (places that still needed work). I noted those in my trusty composition notebook. I fixed some easy-do's. I highlighted new changes I wanted to make, leaving little notes for myself in the margins. I got reacquainted with the novel and my characters. (WELL HELLO, RUAN, IT'S BEEN TOO LONG.)

That's it.

The first run through is over. Took two days.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I opened the revision letter. It was four pages worth of suggestions, divied up by character. (ie: Ruan--fix XYZ on page 123. Dylan--go into more detail on her xyz from chap 8-12. Savage--what's with his blablitty-blah issues in the beginning? Move that to chap x and flop that end part to the middle. Mesh it flawlessly.) (I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE STRUCTURE OF THIS REVISION LETTER! SEE, I'M A HARD CORE PLOTTER. I CAN WEAVE A PLOT LIKE NO ONE'S BUSINESS. I CAN CREATE A STORY OUT OF A SIMPLE IDEA AND THROW MORE COMPLEX ISSUES AT THE CHARACTERS THAN THEY KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE CHARACTERS, I TEND TO SPIN THEM ROUND AND ROUND ON MY PLOT STRING, AND FORGET TO TIE SOME OF THEIR ENDS TOGETHER. WHAT I MEAN IS, MY EDITOR POINTED OUT PLACES TO MAKE MY CHARACTERS STRONGER. WAYS TO BRING ABOUT MORE OF AN AH-HA MOMENT. WAYS TO TORTURE THEM WITH THEIR PAST. IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED. NO, SHE DIDN'T DO THAT FOR INTERVAMPTION'S REVISION LETTER. MAYBE SHE'S REALIZING MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES AND WORKING WITH THEM. I DUNNO. ALL I KNOW IS, THIS IS GOING TO WORK AND MAKE VAMPED UP SHINE!) Seeing all the work that needed to go into Vamped Up and feeling a little overwhelmed, I re-formatted the letter. I double spaced it. (YES, IT WAS FOUR PAGES SINGLE SPACED!) I gave each character his/her own page. I took out the "I thinks" and the "You shoulds" and gave each instruction a 1,2,3 assignment. Now, I've got this really tight word doc straight from my editor about what I have to get done. It's gone from "wouldn't this be great here" to "get this shit done in order and make it snappy!" Just the way I like it. It's now eight pages long. (HOLY F#@%& EIGHT PAGES...EIGHT PAGES...HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO GET THIS DONE. I SUCK. I TOTALLY SUCK. SHITDAMNSHIT! PRESSUREPRESSUREPRESSURE! HEADEXPLOSION!)

Then I closed all documents and put it aside for the day.

I let my mind stew. (OR YOU KNOW, LET MY BRAIN DOWNSHIFT FROM PANIC TO IDLE.)

I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets and stayed up late watching the season premieres of Vampire Diaries (WHY OH WHY, DON'T ELENA AND DAMON HOOK UP ALREADY?!?) and America's Next Top Model All Stars.

Today, tomorrow, the next day and the next, I'm going to be editing. Non stop. I'll go down the list, tweak what needs tweaking, iron what needs smoothing. Then I'll read through it again from the beginning to make sure it's tight. Then I'll download it to my kindle and read through it again, taking notes, to make sure it reads right. (THAT'S FOUR READS OF MY 400 PAGE BOOK IN THREE WEEKS, IF YOU DIDN'T CATCH IT.)

Then, and only then, will I send it back to my editor...on October 9th...a day early.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Getting Older

Husband was going to call up some friends to play basketball at our house this evening. We have a small court that acts as our driveway, certainly enough room for two on two. He called a few friends and his younger brother to play. When he hung up the phone, he looked at me with a puzzled frown on his face and said, "Damn, we're getting old."

My reaction was something like "Well, gee. Thanks."

He scratched his head, perplexed, like he didn't hear a word I said. "I called up Joe, asked him to play this evening and he said, 'Sure...no, wait. I'll have to check with the wife when she gets home from work and make sure she's all right with handling both kids on her own tonight'."

I nodded, not sure how this makes me old.

Husband continued. "Then I called up Sam and asked him to play. He said, 'Great, what time?' I told him around six and he said, 'Well, I got someone coming to fix our water heater. It broke last night. Let me see if I can reschedule it'."

I blinked slowly. "So because your friends have to check with their wives and fix their water heaters, that means that I'm old?"

"I call Joe and he has to check with his wife before he can come out and play. I call Sam and he's got to fix something with his house." He laughed, a playful gleam in his eye. "Wanna know what Cam, my little brother said, when I asked him to come over?"

I waited.

"He said, 'I'm in. What time?'"

So there you have it. The passage of time does funny things. You get older and wiser, but with that comes all kinds of baggage. (Some of that baggage is priceless and cheek-pinching cute, though, isn't it?) Although I don't know anyone in their thirties who would go back to being eighteen, it definitely has its perks. Zip zero responsibilities.

And this is what we have to look forward to from here:



*Wait until the middle of this video for a great laugh. Just when you think he's being a gentleman, complimenting her hair, he says the unexpected. I suppose there are some things time never changes...

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Suspending Disbelief


In paranormal and urban fantasy, there is something called Suspension of Disbelief. It's the idea that when I bend back the cover of one of those novels, I'm expected to be whisked away to another world. I'm prepared to believe that vampires exist (they may or may not sparkle), that werewolves shift beneath every full moon (then walk among us during the day), and that love can exist between paranormal creatures from different species. Demon and vampire? No problem! Angel and Fae? Sure!

But there are certain things you have to keep real...

Like location, for example. If I'm expecting the reader to think the story takes place in San Francisco on the Embarcadero, I better have my facts straight. I better know which piers exist and which are skipped. I better know the Embarcadero curves westward as the numbers increase. I better know where the bars and restaurants are, and where there are more tourists than locals. Throw a vampire in there and I can believe it. Take me to a pier that doesn't exist, while you insist that it does and you may have lost me.

I can suspend disbelief of the world you've created, but cannot ignore the rules of my own.

This includes the concept of time. Am I the only one who had a problem with the length of Bella's pregnancy in Twilight? Were you able to hop on board the "we just consummated our marriage and I feel my belly expanding" train? I wasn't. I could believe Edward sparkled in daylight. Could see the Volturi on their thrones in some foreign land. But I could not get past the pregnancy issue. (And really, it was all because Meyer had to show Jacob imprinting on Bella's young. The baby had to be born quickly. But does that make it the right tool to use? I don't think so. I put the book down at that point. Sad...)

I can believe in lust at first sight. I can believe characters may be attracted to paranormal creatures of a different species, but...


You have to keep the logic behind their relationship real. Does the heroine feel threatened by the hero at their first meeting? (ie: is she being kidnapped, held at knife point, strangled by a stranger in her bed, shoved into a trunk, buried alive, held at gun point during a hostage situation?) If so, how can the author expect the reader to believe that instead of fear and anxiety in the given situation, the heroine would be lusting after her captor? The wicked, yet warm gleam in his eyes, the hard ridges of his abs, the way he softly grated the rope around the curve of her neck...nope! Sorry. Doesn't cut it. I can believe there are vampire-therian-shifter wars. In fact, I can easily believe there are prisoners of those wars who eventually become love interests to their "enemies"...but the key word is EVENTUALLY. That change of heart must be gradual to be believable.

(I'm reading Showalter's Heart of the Dragon and let's face it, she's one of the hottest paranormal writers in the market right now.) When the hero first meets the heroine, she has accidentally stepped into an enchanted mist and rocketed into Atlantis...where the hero must kill her for entering. Does the heroine fall all over herself gazing into his eyes? No, she shoots him. Over and over again. Knees him in the crotch. Screams for help. Does she also notice how strong he is? Yes. But it's done in such a way that you know she's putting up a fight. You know she wants to escape his hold, not nuzzle into it. Only after a long while does she notice the other, more gentler, things about him.)

In other words, take your reader to another world. Ask them to believe the unbelievable. But don't ask them to forget the laws natural to them.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Scavenger Hunt Winner!

Nikki from Close Encounters of the Night Kind has won a Kindle copy of Intervamption!

My clue was "Where is my favorite pizza place?"

And you know what? I went this weekend!



Smugs Pizza Joint! There it is! For $4, you get a slice of pizza, a soda and a bag of chips!


It's deee-licious. And no, I didn't go to Smugs to be able to post these pics for the Scavenger Hunt. I haven't been to the Arcata Square in six years (far too long) and just happen to plan a trip for the same weekend as the Hunt. Coincidence? I think not.

You know what? I think Nikki and I are both winners. :wink:

Friday, September 2, 2011

Intervamption GIVEAWAYS

At the moment, there are only two ways you can get your hands on a free copy of Intervamption.

1-Follow and comment on my interview post over at My Bookish Ways. The wonderful blog mistress, Kristin (I just adore her name--heh), is giving away a print copy of the book. The giveaway ends in 10 days.

2-Follow the scavenger hunt clues from Darker Temptations that should've led you here. We're kicking off the blog right and giving away A TON of awesome books. (The rules and timeline for the hunt should be up at Darker Temptations sometime today, though I think the deadline is Sunday. Keep checking back!) For the chance to win a kindle version of Intervamption, you should be looking for the answer to my clue: the name of my favorite pizza place. Find the right answer somewhere on my blog and take it back to Darker Temptations. Follow the rules for your chance to win! Good luck!

So there you have it! If you win the print copy of Intervamption and would like a bookmark (or 2!) to go along with it, email me and I'll get you one. If you win the kindle copy of Intervamption, go to kindlegraph.com and request an autograph. I'd love to digitally sign your book!