So, this past weekend, I was writing, determined to get my Beauty and the Beast short story done and published before the month was out, and on Sunday, I thought it was completely done at 25 pages and around 15k words. Then I sent it to my beta reader.
"Are you trying to do a novel in a short story?" was the kindest thing she said (which I actually appreciate instead of someone squealing and stating it's the best thing ever!!) She went on to explain that I pretty much had done next to nothing in the story and there was quite a bit that needed to be done in it. Also, the ending didn't make any sense.
I admit I was a bit aghast at that, but I realized she was right. I had been trying to write a novel in a short story, and there were so many holes, the story was practically the crib notes version of what it could be. There was so much more that needed to be done in this story to get a good tale out of this. So, I'll be taking that "crib notes" and expanding on everything that is there, and turning it into a novel.
Of course, this means that my plan for publishing a fairy tale short this month, then next month, and finally the anthology in March has been completely derailed. See, Beauty and the Beast is one of those that is included in the anthology, and also, if this story needs something of a novel rewrite, then I'm gonna have to rethink the other story I have planned plus the anthology only special story.
What does that mean for my writing? Well one of my goals for 2017 is tho have a novel written, edited, have a cover on it, and published on Amazon by no later than November. I will be shelving Beauty and the Beast for the immediate future to focus on one of the novels that I actually have a great deal of it written out by hand. When I get stuck on that story, finish that story, or need something to do when I don't feel like writing pages upon pages, I'll pull Beauty and the Beast out and poke at it to see where it wants to go and how it wants to get there.
I'm not throwing the story or the idea away, but it definitely needs a lot more meat on those bones before it can be ready for anyone aside from my beta readers to read. Mainly because I hate promising my readers a steak and lobster dinner only to hand them a McDonald's Happy Meal.
Friday, January 20, 2017
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
New Project?
For a long time, I have enjoyed playing a tabletop RPG called Shadowrun created by Catalyst Game Lab. It a cyberpunk meets Dungeons & Dragons, meaning if you want you can play an elf that has so much cybernetics they're practically a robot or a human that can fling fireballs and call up spirits to do their bidding. It's fun, exciting, and I have had a character die twice (Had to permanently spend an edge point both times to keep that from happening but totally worth it!) I confess that I've only played the game when my husband was running it, but I've always had fun strapping on my Colt Manhunters, cybering up my elf, and taking to the mean shadows of the Sixth World on Mr. Johnson's NuYen.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that there were novels based in this world of science and sorcery, some stand alone and some in trilogies. My husband has quite a few of them to go along with his two shelves of Shadowrun gaming books. Here, I could return to the cold streets of Seattle whenever I wanted or follow someone into any other dangerous pit of scum and villainy.
Back when I started playing, it seemed like a lot of the campaign books seemed to focus on the West Coast, the West, or the South but not too many in the North. And me being the imaginative person in love with the setting had two little words whispered in my ear.
What If.
Dangerous words, yes, but the basis of so many delightful story beginnings.
What if I wrote a novel in this corporate controlled landscape, creating my own team of Runners, and perhaps fleshing out a little used area to enjoy on my own terms?
So, this past week, I started seeing about making this a reality. I sat down with paper and pen and started fleshing out what had been a small story. Another author, R. L. King, was polite enough to give me the basics of what Catalyst Game Labs wanted in one of their novels when I asked, and I was even offered the professional e-mail address to the gentleman in charge of novels for the company. Yesterday, while doing my best to ignore the increasing cloud cover, I sat down at my computer with all of my notes, and I wrote this gentleman an inquiry to see if he would be interested in my novel idea. When putting my story together, I raided my husband's source books on Shadowrun because I found out that a couple of them had information on the area I was looking at. One book only had half a page while the other had an entire chapter dedicated to Boston in the Shadowrun world. I hoped that the plot I outlined in my inquiry would be just as attractive to him as it was when I started writing it.
Now, I sit and wait for a response back. I hope that Catalyst Game Labs will find my story intriguing and will take a chance on a relative nobody to let me write my little novel, indulging in my self delight in doing two firsts for me: Writing a novel based on a game, and writing a novel from a first person point of view. Both will let me stretch my wings a bit more as a writer, and I'll be able to share this incredibly fascinating world with people who might decide to take a chance because they enjoyed the other stories I wrote. I'll keep everyone updated as I get any information, but until then...
See ya in the Shadows, Chummer....
Imagine my surprise when I found out that there were novels based in this world of science and sorcery, some stand alone and some in trilogies. My husband has quite a few of them to go along with his two shelves of Shadowrun gaming books. Here, I could return to the cold streets of Seattle whenever I wanted or follow someone into any other dangerous pit of scum and villainy.
Back when I started playing, it seemed like a lot of the campaign books seemed to focus on the West Coast, the West, or the South but not too many in the North. And me being the imaginative person in love with the setting had two little words whispered in my ear.
What If.
Dangerous words, yes, but the basis of so many delightful story beginnings.
What if I wrote a novel in this corporate controlled landscape, creating my own team of Runners, and perhaps fleshing out a little used area to enjoy on my own terms?
So, this past week, I started seeing about making this a reality. I sat down with paper and pen and started fleshing out what had been a small story. Another author, R. L. King, was polite enough to give me the basics of what Catalyst Game Labs wanted in one of their novels when I asked, and I was even offered the professional e-mail address to the gentleman in charge of novels for the company. Yesterday, while doing my best to ignore the increasing cloud cover, I sat down at my computer with all of my notes, and I wrote this gentleman an inquiry to see if he would be interested in my novel idea. When putting my story together, I raided my husband's source books on Shadowrun because I found out that a couple of them had information on the area I was looking at. One book only had half a page while the other had an entire chapter dedicated to Boston in the Shadowrun world. I hoped that the plot I outlined in my inquiry would be just as attractive to him as it was when I started writing it.
Now, I sit and wait for a response back. I hope that Catalyst Game Labs will find my story intriguing and will take a chance on a relative nobody to let me write my little novel, indulging in my self delight in doing two firsts for me: Writing a novel based on a game, and writing a novel from a first person point of view. Both will let me stretch my wings a bit more as a writer, and I'll be able to share this incredibly fascinating world with people who might decide to take a chance because they enjoyed the other stories I wrote. I'll keep everyone updated as I get any information, but until then...
See ya in the Shadows, Chummer....
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you had a fun and safe transition from 2016 into 2017, and this is a year fresh with possibilities. One of the first things I started doing this morning was playing around with designing a business card after having a long talk with a random person about the stories both of us were writing. It started because she needed a pen at a restaurant, I gave her one of the cheap and disposable pens I carry for just such an incident, and we started talking. When I mentioned my stories, she instantly scrambled for a piece of paper to write them down.
After I left, I had to wonder what would have happened if I hadn't had a bit of paper or a pen to give her. Would she have remembered the stories later? Or would she have completely forgotten about them? That was when I decided I needed business cards pointing people towards my stories where I could just give it to them without having to search for paper or a pen to write info down on.
So, I went out to one of those business card sites that a friend recommended, and I've been playing with designs and ideas. I think I have one, but I need to get a second opinion from my husband because sometimes the only taste I have is in my mouth *laughs*. I also confess that I'm thinking of starting up a mailing list to announce when new stories are coming out, but as I only have two stories solo published, it seems rather silly to have such a thing just yet. I'll probably wait until I have a few more out there before I start that since all of the announcements of a new book end up on my Facebook page.
So, once more, I hope everyone has a happy new year and a wonderful 2017! Seize the year and make it your own, full of achievements and excitement of the good kind!
I hope you had a fun and safe transition from 2016 into 2017, and this is a year fresh with possibilities. One of the first things I started doing this morning was playing around with designing a business card after having a long talk with a random person about the stories both of us were writing. It started because she needed a pen at a restaurant, I gave her one of the cheap and disposable pens I carry for just such an incident, and we started talking. When I mentioned my stories, she instantly scrambled for a piece of paper to write them down.
After I left, I had to wonder what would have happened if I hadn't had a bit of paper or a pen to give her. Would she have remembered the stories later? Or would she have completely forgotten about them? That was when I decided I needed business cards pointing people towards my stories where I could just give it to them without having to search for paper or a pen to write info down on.
So, I went out to one of those business card sites that a friend recommended, and I've been playing with designs and ideas. I think I have one, but I need to get a second opinion from my husband because sometimes the only taste I have is in my mouth *laughs*. I also confess that I'm thinking of starting up a mailing list to announce when new stories are coming out, but as I only have two stories solo published, it seems rather silly to have such a thing just yet. I'll probably wait until I have a few more out there before I start that since all of the announcements of a new book end up on my Facebook page.
So, once more, I hope everyone has a happy new year and a wonderful 2017! Seize the year and make it your own, full of achievements and excitement of the good kind!
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Selkie Wife and Swan Maiden and future plans.
My apologies for being so quiet, but there was a family birthday party and much holiday madness. However, I did managed to get out a free story for everyone to enjoy as they wanted.
It started with this Tumblr post talking about the animal wife fairy tale. Everyone knows the one, mostly because of the selkie wife. Man sees beautiful animal suddenly become beautiful woman by shedding her animal skin. He grabs the skin and demands that she's his wife now, and she is until she manages to get her skin back and escape.
Which is perfectly fine in a fairy tale. In real life, though, swans aren't the shy, graceful beings that are timid and more likely to run than set out for a direct confrontation. Which is what that Tumblr post brought up, pointing out what would truly happen just based off of a real swan's attitude.
So, since I love playing and twisting fairy tales anyway, I had to take the idea and run with it, resulting in this little story. It's a freebie posted out at Archive of Our Own so everyone can enjoy it, and I also linked my Amazon page there for any who might be curious about more stories like it.
Now onto future plans!
I have started two more fairy tales, one longer one (Beauty and the Beast) and a shorter one (Bluebeard's Wife), and I'll see what I can do about keeping everyone informed on how they're going. I have finished a short story (Wild Swans), but it needs a longer story to be partnered with before I publish it. It also needs editing, but it's about the size of "Diplomatic Incident", and I can't justify a 99 cent price tag on that.
So keep an eye out and who knows. Might be another book out before the end of January.
It started with this Tumblr post talking about the animal wife fairy tale. Everyone knows the one, mostly because of the selkie wife. Man sees beautiful animal suddenly become beautiful woman by shedding her animal skin. He grabs the skin and demands that she's his wife now, and she is until she manages to get her skin back and escape.
Which is perfectly fine in a fairy tale. In real life, though, swans aren't the shy, graceful beings that are timid and more likely to run than set out for a direct confrontation. Which is what that Tumblr post brought up, pointing out what would truly happen just based off of a real swan's attitude.
So, since I love playing and twisting fairy tales anyway, I had to take the idea and run with it, resulting in this little story. It's a freebie posted out at Archive of Our Own so everyone can enjoy it, and I also linked my Amazon page there for any who might be curious about more stories like it.
Now onto future plans!
I have started two more fairy tales, one longer one (Beauty and the Beast) and a shorter one (Bluebeard's Wife), and I'll see what I can do about keeping everyone informed on how they're going. I have finished a short story (Wild Swans), but it needs a longer story to be partnered with before I publish it. It also needs editing, but it's about the size of "Diplomatic Incident", and I can't justify a 99 cent price tag on that.
So keep an eye out and who knows. Might be another book out before the end of January.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Special Edition Trilogy
My co-author and good friend, Valerie Bruce, and I have been very busy working on getting the next three Death and the Priest stories out, and we are happy to say that we managed to before falling into food comas due to over eating on Thanksgiving.
So here is the Special Edition Trilogy that includes the stories Bittersweet Murder, The Case of the Sorrowful Satyr, and The Colorado Caper.
The first story falls about a year after the events of The Case of the Deceased Daimyo and has Leia St. Croix, Kanada Osamu, and Saionji Kusonoki where they are finishing a world tour in Bali at the request of Roi Charmand. Only soon after they step off the boat, they're dragged into a murder where the victim lost his head. Literally. Soon, they're in a race against a serial killer who may be targeting them next.
The second, The Case of the Sorrowful Satyr, takes our trio to Greece where a satyr is asking for them to prove either his guilt or innocence. With no memory of the night before and waking up to the slaughtered body of his lover next to him, it would seem to be a clear case of his guilt, but he's unsure. Will the trio be able to help the satyr or will justice give way to vengeance?
And the third has the trio going to a politican's holiday party in Denver, Colorado when both murder and a snowstorm lock them in the Brown Hotel. With the only clue to the murders being fang marks in the victim's necks, can they solve The Colorado Caper?
This trilogy is a holiday special and once the New Year arrives, this will be taken down and the stories themselves put up for sale separately. So for those who enjoy a bit of murder and romance, I hope you enjoy these stories as well.
So here is the Special Edition Trilogy that includes the stories Bittersweet Murder, The Case of the Sorrowful Satyr, and The Colorado Caper.
The first story falls about a year after the events of The Case of the Deceased Daimyo and has Leia St. Croix, Kanada Osamu, and Saionji Kusonoki where they are finishing a world tour in Bali at the request of Roi Charmand. Only soon after they step off the boat, they're dragged into a murder where the victim lost his head. Literally. Soon, they're in a race against a serial killer who may be targeting them next.
The second, The Case of the Sorrowful Satyr, takes our trio to Greece where a satyr is asking for them to prove either his guilt or innocence. With no memory of the night before and waking up to the slaughtered body of his lover next to him, it would seem to be a clear case of his guilt, but he's unsure. Will the trio be able to help the satyr or will justice give way to vengeance?
And the third has the trio going to a politican's holiday party in Denver, Colorado when both murder and a snowstorm lock them in the Brown Hotel. With the only clue to the murders being fang marks in the victim's necks, can they solve The Colorado Caper?
This trilogy is a holiday special and once the New Year arrives, this will be taken down and the stories themselves put up for sale separately. So for those who enjoy a bit of murder and romance, I hope you enjoy these stories as well.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Crimson or Gold
It didn't take as long as I thought it would to edit my latest short story. Of course, I hurried through getting it up and made a mistake in the title which I corrected as soon as it was live. It will take a bit for it to be corrected on the actual page, but for now "Crimson or Gold" is live and ready for reading.
Been rather busy
Been a few weeks since my last post, but in my defense, I've been a bit busy. The Little Princess was out of school for a week so I was pretty exhausted in the evenings, wanting nothing more than to just kick back and play World of Warcraft. However, I have managed to complete another short story, one that I started long before "A Night Off". It's another Cinderella sort of story but slightly darker and with an unusual twist.
If everything goes right with editing, it should go up on Amazon by this weekend.
The cover came about with the help of a friend who snapped the picture as I was holding the props. *laughs* Then the details actually came about in a sort of serendipitous event because I was just playing with sliders on my photoshop program until BAM!! There was the perfect cover with a darker background and the props just exploding out of the darkness. I just love it when a cover comes together so perfectly when I wasn't expecting it.
So next on the list is probably back to my Sassy Princesses as I have one more story almost finished and two more on the docket to actually write up. Of course, I have some Urban Werewolves short stories that are begging to be written which I figure I'll just release as a collection of stories since I din't have that many at this time. I also have several novellas and novels I'm working on, and I just found a story that I had forgotten about, so I'm going to be very busy.
Who knows, I may have something soon after the new year if I can get everything working right.
If everything goes right with editing, it should go up on Amazon by this weekend.
The cover came about with the help of a friend who snapped the picture as I was holding the props. *laughs* Then the details actually came about in a sort of serendipitous event because I was just playing with sliders on my photoshop program until BAM!! There was the perfect cover with a darker background and the props just exploding out of the darkness. I just love it when a cover comes together so perfectly when I wasn't expecting it.
So next on the list is probably back to my Sassy Princesses as I have one more story almost finished and two more on the docket to actually write up. Of course, I have some Urban Werewolves short stories that are begging to be written which I figure I'll just release as a collection of stories since I din't have that many at this time. I also have several novellas and novels I'm working on, and I just found a story that I had forgotten about, so I'm going to be very busy.
Who knows, I may have something soon after the new year if I can get everything working right.
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