Here's a tidbit of a teaser for my upcoming release, The Makers (H.A.L.F. #2). I'll let the meme speak for itself and (hopefully) pique your curiosity about what it means.
Do you love Giveaways, Swag & Bonus Content?
I have such a fun package of goodies for people who Preorder The Makers!
The first 25 who Preorder will receive the audiobook version of The Deep Beneath, my award-winning first book in the H.A.L.F. series
Everyone who preorders the eBook is automatically entered into a giveaway to win an AUTOGRAPHED Hardcover copy of The Makers + Exclusive swag. (NOTE: This part of the giveaway open ONLY TO U.S. mailing address.
**For every 100 copies Preordered by release date (May 10), I'll add another signed hardcover + swag to the prize package :-D
An exclusive and exciting bonus book that is only available to people who preorder
A second exclusive book that includes lost chapters with the author's commentary
But you have to play to win! In order to claim your exclusive preorder package, follow these instructions:
Forward your receipt or Email the Screenshot or otherwise send proof of your purchase to this email: TheMakersBook@gmail.com
BOOSH! That's it. You will receive an email with links to download your digital content.
NOTE: If you were one of the first 25 to order, you'll receive a gifted copy of The Deep Beneath directly from Audible to the email address you mailed the receipt from
NOTE: When the Preorder period is over, the giveaway ends and winner(s) of the signed hardcover will be notified by email & asked to provide their U.S. mailing address
You can learn more about the book including the description & early reader reviews by visiting this page.
We met Jack Wilson in The Deep Beneath (Book 1 of the H.A.L.F. Series). He's a dirty blond, tousled hair guy that prefers flip-flops and T-shirts over dress shoes and button downs. In The Deep Beneath, readers met Jack through the eyes of Erika Holt, his on-again, off-again, on-again (sort of) girlfriend.
Some readers fell in love with Jack and rooted for "Team Jericka." Other readers didn't see the Jack attraction. One of the biggest fans of the book told me she hoped Jack would be killed off to make way for another character that's her fave!
I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't yet read The Deep Beneath, but suffice it to say that things didn't turn out they way Jack and Erika planned. Hell, things didn't turn out the way I'd planned either! The story took a turn at the end that I hadn't anticipated and it has made writing Book 2, The Makers, a lot more interesting!
Lo and behold, Jack has become a point of view character. And I'm determined to make Jack naysayers into Jack Wilson converts.
SECRET TIDBIT ABOUT JACK: Despite looking like he's just rolled out of bed, he actually uses product in his hair to get it to have that messed up look. He uses a sea salt spray and works it into his hair with his fingers to give his hair the beach look without going to the beach.
Not even Erika knows that one!
WHAT'S JACK UP TO IN THE MAKERS?
Without giving too much away, circumstances will bring Jack together with Anna Sturgis. Yep, you heard that name correctly. Anna Sturgis, as in the niece of Commander Lillian Sturgis. I'll give you more insight into Anna in another post, but for now just know that Commander Sturgis isn't the only brainy, beautiful Sturgis woman on our planet. Jack's a loyal guy and wants nothing more than to have Erika back in his arms. But will his heart remain true to Erika? Or will he find himself falling for the enemy?
LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT JACK: Jack and his mom, Kathleen Wilson, share their home with a somewhat psycho cat named Tater.
JACK'S THOUGHTS ON CHIVALRY:
"I know it's old fashioned, but I hold doors open for women. My mom said, 'Girls want a knight, Jack, whether they admit it or not.' And she's my mom and a smart lady so I figured she'd never steer me wrong. But then I met Erika. Maybe I fell for the girl who's the exception to the rule."
In my recent interview of Jack, I asked him, "What do you loathe about yourself?" Here's his answer:
"I wouldn't say I loathe anything. I don't think like that. I don't get flipped out enough about things to hate on it. So no, I don't hate myself. That's not to say I wouldn't change a few things if I could. Like being taller.
And I guess sometimes - like lately - I wish I was more … Well when that guy had Erika and was hurting her? I had a shot, but I froze. I should have been the one that pulled the trigger."
This memory haunts Jack. I wonder how it will affect him? And will he do things differently if he ever faces a similar situation? What do you bet he'll have a chance soon to find out?! ;-) The Makers launches May 10, 2016 on Amazon.
Preorder by May 9 and receive Exclusive bonus material only available to readers that preorder.
FIRST 25 Preorders receive Audiobook of H.A.L.F. #1, The Deep Beneath!!!
Exclusive Behind the Scenes Material including Natalie's drawings of characters and handwritten character details
Lost Chapters, including an adorable character that was cut from the final, only available to those who Preorder by May 9.
CLICK HERE for more details and to Preorder The Makers (H.A.L.F. #2).
Emily's Heart, Book 3 of the Akasha Chronicles, arrives February 1, 2014!!!
I began writing Emily's Heart during NaNoWriMo in November, 2012. I planned to have it done and in the hands of readers in September, but this doozy of a book took a lot longer to complete than I'd planned.
BUT, I'm happy with the final result and I think readers will be too. It's longer than the previous books, has more characters AND ties up all loose ends. And if you've read book 2, Emily's Trial, then you know I had a LOT of loose ends to tie up ;-)
Please check out the trailer I made. It will give you a sneak peek at what's to come in Emily's Heart. And if you haven't yet read the first two books, what are you waiting for? I've got purchase links for Amazon below OR you can click the tabs above to go to the "Buy" pages with links for all retail outlets worldwide.
What do you think of the trailer? I love comments so please drop me a comment below and let me know what you think :-)
Cover Art for Emily's Heart
Art Copyright 2013 Claudia McKinny
I've been writing like a banshee, trying to finish up Emily's Heart, the third and final installment of the Akasha Chronicles. Emily has had to fight her way through more than a few battles in the last two books, but she hasn't seen anything yet! Emily and crew are surrounded by danger at every turn in Book 3.
And I've faced my battles too while writing this danged book! Sometimes I've felt as besieged as Emily is ;-/
But the good news is that I've fought my way out of blind alleys and dark corners, and the end is near. Phew! *wipes brow*
This week I've been working on the book description. If you're a self-publishing writer, you can probably relate to how ridiculously difficult it is to write the description for your own book. I've tried to write this about a half dozen times, but each time either ended up with two sentences or three pages!
Here is my latest attempt. It's a bit different. Maybe that's good. Maybe it's not.
I appreciate honest feedback from any and all about your thoughts on this book description for Emily's Heart. Is it too long? Too short? Does it pull you in? Does it make you want to read the book? Or does it bore you? Confuse you? Your comments are most welcome.
Emily's Heart:
Seventeen-year-old Emily Adams unwittingly unleashed the shadow god's dark energy power into the world and started an Apocalypse. But Emily is also the only one that can end the dark god's reign. Though the powerful faerie magic of the golden torc is still coiled around her arm, self-doubt threatens to undo her. Emily wants nothing more than to feel the soft kiss of her one true love, but he won't even speak to her. Her first crush is still quite dead and her best friend remains a prisoner in the dark god's house of nightmares. A growing legion of black-eyed shadow people, devoid of conscience, roam the streets. Emily needs help now more than ever, but redemption seems far off indeed as she faces the darkness alone.
Emily will need an army of her own if she is to save the world from an eternity of darkness. But will a small band of Lucent geeks and freaks be enough to send the dark god packing?
Amidst chaos and ruin, will love blossom in Emily's Heart?
Please welcome author Deb Vanasse to this week's Writer Wednesday. Deb is the author of several books but this week I'm featuring her second Young Adult book, Out of the Wilderness. This week Deb shares with us a glimpse into her writing world and her inspiration for Out of the Wilderness. Deb's book sounds like a great read and I can't wait to dig in. How about you?
Where Book Ideas Come From?
Deb Vanasse
July 17, 2013
Where do you get your ideas? Along with questions about how books get their covers, this is a question I’m frequently asked as a writer.
The question annoys some writers, probably because it’s asked so often, at some level suggesting that there’s some magical garden of ideas that grow like Jack’s beanstalk in our fertile backyards, and if only we’d reveal the secret of where that garden can be found, writing books would be easy.Theodore Geisel(aka Dr. Seuss) got so tired of questions about where he got his ideas that he printed a card to hand out, with an explanation of exactly how he got his ideas: by venturing out at midnight, under the full moon on the summer solstice, into the desert, where he met with a wise old Native American who gave him his ideas. (Where the wise Native American got the ideas, Geisel couldn’t say.)
A book idea is a big thing to pin down. To truly know what your book is about, at its deepest level, you have to write it, and because of the way the subconscious works, it ends up with interwoven ideas that come from a number of places—life, suggestion, dreams, landscape—that may or may not be identifiable. I don’t mind talking about ideas once the book is finished, as long as my readers understand that as the author, I may never be 100 percent sure of where my ideas came from.
Out of the Wilderness, my second young adult novel, began back in 1992, though I didn’t know at the time that a book idea was in the works. I was living inFairbanks,Alaska, teaching high school. The school year had just started up when the newspaper reported that the body of 25-year-oldChristopher McCandless, who called himself Alexander Supertramp, had been discovered in an abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail, less than100 milesfrom where I was living. When found, McCandless had been dead for three weeks. His body weighed67 pounds.
Strong-willed and idealistic, Chris McCandless had, upon graduation from college, given away the $24,000 that was intended for law school and begun traveling the country under his Supertramp alias. He went west fromVirginiatoSouth Dakota,Arizona,California, and intoBaja,Mexico, before heading north toAlaska. Grossly underprepared for the wilderness, he hiked into an area north ofDenaliNational Parkand Preserve, where he survived for 112 days until he died.
It should be noted that stories like those of McCandless tend to raise the ire of Alaskans. You don’t go into the Bush unprepared. Period. If you don’t respect this country and its hazards, you shouldn’t be here.
Still, I found the story fascinating. So did Jon Krakauer, who wrote about McCandless forOutside Magazinein 1993. Expanding on the article, Krakauer released a nonfiction book,Into the Wild, in 1996; Sean Penn directeda film version of the storyin 2007.
Into the Wild
Film Written and Directed by Sean Penn
When I first came toAlaska, I lived in some pretty remote places, accessible only by bush plane, motorboat, and snowmachine. Then I had children and, partly for their benefit, I’d moved from the Bush toFairbanks. As they grew, I sometimes thought of how nice it might be to return to a simpler lifestyle in a more remote place, where we wouldn’t have to concern ourselves with TV or after-school activities or getting along with the neighbors or buying the latest trend in shoes.
Then I thought of what that would be like if I were the kid, not the mom. If I were a fifteen-year-old boy who wanted his life to be normal for once. If the boy’s older brother were a guy like McCandless, idealistic and stubborn and reckless. If their father’s guilt kept him from thinking straight about the whole situation.
There you have it—the ideas that developed into a story, the seeds planted long before the harvest, the inspiration in part, as for many writers, by the work of another author. There’s a lot more to it, of course. Pieces of my own life found their way into the story—the missing mother, my affinity for place, the tension between responsibility for others and my own desires, guilt, not knowing my brother as well as I wanted to, and likely a bunch of stuff I’ve yet to identify.
Deb Vanasse (@debvanasse) is the author of several books for children and adults, including the Junior Literary Guild selection A Distant Enemy and Battle Books Totem Tale and Lucy’s Dance. Her twelfth book, Black Wolf of the Glacier, is a 2013 release by the University of Alaska Press. Her current projects (for grown-ups) include Cold Spell, a novel about a woman who’s obsessed with a glacier, and a narrative nonfiction book called Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Last Great Race for Gold. You’ll find her at www.debvanasse.com, https://www.facebook.com/debra.vanasse, and www.selfmadewriter.blogspot.com, where a version of this post ran eariler.
What the heck is a Wattpad?! Is it social media? Is it a place to share your writing? Is it a place to read new and often truly unique stories and poems that you won't find anywhere else?
Yes, yes and yes.
With almost 2 million registered users worldwide, and over 7 million unique visitors each month, this app is a robust and busy place.
You may have noticed my Wattpad buttons on the right side of my blog. If you haven't, scroll down now and check it out. You can see my current stats and if you click through, you can start enjoying Wattpad.
But wait! Don't go yet. I want to share with you a few things I've learned about Wattpad, and some of my thoughts about it.
First, Wattpad is social. And like with all things social, it's about give and get. You can't just go upload your brilliantly written short story on Wattpad, do nothing else, and expect to have hundreds of thousands of reads and votes. To get started, peruse the stories already there in your favorite genre. If you like something that you read, fan the author, leave them a comment, vote for them and otherwise be a good apple. Plan to spend some time with this. Get to know some people and their work. Don't expect everyone to automatically "fan you" back. Some will. Some won't. That's okay. Fan people whose work you genuinely enjoyed; start conversation with people that you truly would like to get to know better. Dance your happy butterfly dance and be the little social bee, but in a sincere way. You'll build up a base of friends and fans.
"Hey, check out the amazing story that Natalie Wright just posted!"
Second, teens are the prime users of Wattpad - for now. That doesn't mean that there are no adult readers hanging out there - there are. But Wattpad has thus far attracted a young crowd of readers and writers. If you write stories for teens, Wattpad can be a great place to attract readers - get to know them - and get direct feedback from your target audience. It's also fun to see what they are writing and to cheer them on. I've read some truly unique stories written by promising young writers. They need polish and experience. But they're writing imaginative stuff, fueled by their real-life experience and unfettered by constraints of "the rules".
So far, all of the comments that I've received have been constructive critiques or positive comments. No nastiness or ugliness.
I want you to look at my Wattpad button on the right side again. How many views for Emily's House? When I wrote this post, it was close to 300,000. That's a lot, isn't it?! How'd I get so many views? Because Emily's House is currently a "Featured Selection" on Wattpad. How did it get featured status? It wasn't anything I did. Wattpad contacted me, based on a recommendation by a reader. When Emily's House went to featured status, it had a little over 3,000 reads. It went from 3,000 to close to 300,000 in less than three weeks. That's a lot of exposure to potential readers. Some read a bit and move on. But others get engaged by the story and add it to their libraries, fan me, vote, etc. If you're a writer, especially if you write for teens and young adults, I recommend that you check Wattpad out. Post an excerpt of a story, or some of your poetry or short stories. Hang out and engage. Who knows, you just may find some devoted and loyal fans. If you enjoy reading, then what are you waiting for?! Click my button, hop on over to Wattpad, and start enjoying Emily's House :-) Do you Wattpad? If you do, share your thoughts on it with me here. Do you like it? Have any problems or beefs with it?
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