Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (126,180 words)
My revisions: In progress (26% complete)
Professional editing: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started
It’s still planned for release in the summer of this year.
The free Kindle promotion of THE ALIGNMENT ends today, so if you haven’t grabbed a copy already there’s still time.
THE ALIGNMENT has made it to #15 in the Top 100 Free of the Kindle eBooks > Romance > Fantasy category and #635 Free in Kindle Store. What a thrill!
I plan to do another paperback giveaway on Goodreads soon. Sign up with your email address in the sidebar if you want notification when the Goodreads giveaway begins.
And to all the awesome people who purchased THE ALIGNMENT on Amazon this week, happy reading! I hope you enjoy it!
A cataclysmic love story. Mountains, magic, and an assembly line of stealthy killers. A millennium-old spell that thrusts two people into the heart of danger.
THE ALIGNMENT is now available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format.
It’s the first book in a new series about two rival families and the people caught between them.
He’s killed three men in the few days she’s known him. Yes, it’s self-defense. But when he tried to kill her, it wasn’t. Her peaceful mountain refuge has been invaded, her inexplicable nausea linked to his physical presence. She’s captive in his house for her “protection,” with a churning stomach, his bad attitude, and no safe way home.
All that changed the night the stars aligned.
Now he’s talking about ancient bloodlines and celestial alignments…and other things she only believes because of what she’s seen him do. He’s heading out for revenge against the family who wronged him, and he needs her help. All she has to do is ingest one homemade dissolving tablet to allow him into her mind—to train her to be just like him.
The answer would be a definite no if she had anything of her world left. If she hadn’t fallen in love with him.
THE ALIGNMENT is a new series that blends modern fantasy, action, and romance.
THE ALIGNMENT, Book One in my series, will release this month. Cover art and formatting are complete. A paperback proof is expected to arrive on Friday. If it passes final inspection, I configure the Kindle version and push the PUBLISH button.
This has been a four-year journey that included countless revisions and a trek through the purgatory of querying the traditional machine. But all that time, and the rejections, have strengthened my writing and my final product. I truly believe this book is better as a result of me going indie and keeping control over my work. I hope readers will agree.
I’ve updated my Fiction page with details about THE ALIGNMENT and the other books in the series. As soon as I push that PUBLISH button, I go straight to work on Book Two.
Look for an announcement about THE ALIGNMENT soon!
A fascinating list of the 36 types of stories according to French Writer Georges Polti, posted on Futility Closet:
In 1916, after extensive study, French writer Georges Polti announced that all the stories in classical and modern literature could be reduced to 36 essential situations:
1. Supplication. The Persecutor accuses the Suppliant of wrongdoing, and the Power makes a judgment against the Suppliant.
2. Deliverance. The Unfortunate has caused a conflict, and the Threatener is to carry out justice, but the Rescuer saves the Unfortunate.
3. Crime pursued by vengeance. The Criminal commits a crime that will not see justice, so the Avenger seeks justice by punishing the Criminal.
4. Vengeance taken for kin upon kin. Two entities, the Guilty and the Avenging Kinsmen, are put into conflict over wrongdoing to the Victim, who is allied to both.
Understanding brain science can make you a better writer.
I found this article about scientists studying the effect of fiction on the brain. Here’s a clip of something intriguing—and proof of that “avoid cliches” writing advice.
The way the brain handles metaphors has also received extensive study; some scientists have contended that figures of speech like “a rough day” are so familiar that they are treated simply as words and no more. Last month, however, a team of researchers from Emory University reported in Brain & Language that when subjects in their laboratory read a metaphor involving texture, the sensory cortex, responsible for perceiving texture through touch, became active. Metaphors like “The singer had a velvet voice” and “He had leathery hands” roused the sensory cortex, while phrases matched for meaning, like “The singer had a pleasing voice” and “He had strong hands,” did not.
I have one word and one phrase I’ve been caught overusing. Once I finish searching for those and cutting or rewriting, I’ll have myself a FINAL DRAFT.
Then I just have a few files of notes to go through, to make sure I’ve done everything I meant to do before this thing can be sent off for formatting and cover art.
Here’s a great New York Times article I found through The Passive Voice. It was published in 2001 but it has some of the most straightforward writing advice I’ve found. Here’s the best part:
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. It’s my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. (Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)
As for the 99.9% who won’t see my level of success, I would point out that 99.9% of those who submit material to the traditional machine will never see a similar level of success. It isn’t like our option is to self-publish OR see how well our novel does fronted out on an endcap in a bookstore. Our options are to self-publish OR spend a few years landing an agent, another year selling the book to a publisher, a year waiting for that book to come out, and then three months spine-out on dwindling bookshelves before you are out of print and nobody cares about you anymore. If you’re lucky. Most likely, you’ll never even get an agent. Because you aren’t Snooki.
–Hugh Howey
And one more, but I can’t remember where I found it:
“Listen, Hank,” he asked, “what makes a man a writer?” “Well,” I said, “It’s simple, it’s either you get it down on paper or you jump off a bridge.”
As Craig Nova calls it, this is my “slag heap” generated during the past 3.83 years. I keep mine divided and tucked safely into two dresser drawers. An innocent stack on a desk like Nova’s pictured in the article is easy prey for either my cats or my two-year-old.
In the article linked above, Craig Nova discusses the act of rewriting to better understand your story. He also mentions every novel has a stopping point.
I would like to add one warning here. Or make that two. You do come to the point of diminishing returns, and at that point it is time to stop. You have what you are going to have, and that’s that. After a certain point, the novel will get worse the more you write.
–Craig Nova
I think I’ve reached that point.
I’m finishing my read-aloud (if you haven’t done this, you should, but it requires a very patient and tolerant partner). We’re a few chapters from the end. Once all those edits get applied, I’ll shoot it off to one more reader (if she’s still willing!). Her feedback will create a few more edits, hopefully minor, and then I have a final version. I’ll probably read it one more time to satisfy my writer’s OCD.
Then, hands off.
TOO BAD IT WILL NEVER TURN OFF IN MY HEAD. I looked for a raisin face meme to express this feeling, and there is none.
There’s a through-provoking essay and discussion going on about how we write women in fiction and how we view women in our real world over on aidanmoher.com. The comments are all worth reading. My own is on page 3. If you get that far, the rest of this post will be a rerun.
I consider myself a feminist. But I struggle. The feminist I am lives in a world where our definitions of heroism, strength, and courage are often defined by a male-oriented world.
I often struggle with this masculine filter that obscures our view of our world. To write strong heroines, we often give them guns. We put them in armies. We make them fight. We give them a “male” role. We make them single and childless and tattooed and badass.
In real life, we often gain respect by joining the boys. We shove our way into their No-Girls-Allowed fort and we demand equality. And in doing so, we’re declaring our roles to be worthless. Our playhouse to be inferior.
I want the boys longing to get into our playhouse. And not for the stereotypical reason, for the lazy writing reason–to get into our pants. I want them hungry to join us. To be like us. I want motherhood and teaching and nursing to be as valued as being a soldier.
Can you think of any highly-respected traditional female role that men fight their way for the privilege of taking on? I’ve tried, and I can’t think of any and I know I must be overlooking something. Because if nothing exists, that just isn’t right.
Our definition of heroism lives in a man’s world. How do we overcome that without undermining the value of our own roles?
I don’t think we will ever know the answer to this until men and women are truly equal, and women are respected as women–not as women who have become more like men. But if, or when, that happens, this question will be irrelevant.
Have you seen Joss Whedon’s Equality Now speech? It’s good.
I’ve been lured to the dark side. It took three years but it has a very solid hold. Don’t try to talk me out of it.
I could list the reasons, but I’m sure you’ve heard them all from other independent writers. If not, feel free to google “pros of self-publishing” or “pros of being an independent writer.”
My first novel, book one of a series, will be out this year. I’ve put up a blurb (click on Fiction above). It’s been a work in progress since September of ’09 and is currently being edited and revised for the 2,152nd (and hopefully the last) time. Photos have been shot and will be sent to the cover artist soon. I’ll post updates as it progresses.
I’ll be giving out heaps of free copies when it’s published so stay tuned!
Kay Camden 