Zed Amadeo's Blog

I am so thrilled to announce that Resurrection, the first book in my dark fantasy series Kindred, is now available for pre-order before it’s released on November 26 (aka Black Friday)!

Book Summary

When a night out leads to

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The post “Resurrection” Available for Pre-order! appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

I’m always curious about the influences behind creative works. If you are an artist, writer, musician, film director, or other kind of creative – what would you say have been the most influential songs, albums and/or artists on your latest

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The post The Music of Kindred appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

I have wanted to be a writer for about as long as I can remember. For so long, the thought of getting a publishing contract remained a far off dream, an asymptote that I could approach but not quite touch.

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The post To Infinity, and Beyond! appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

It feels like it has been forever since I last published a post on this blog. I started this blog back in 2015, and man has a lot changed in my life since then.

As you may have already guessed, Zed Amadeo is a pen name. Specifically, a male author persona that I created as a teenager. Inspired by the pen names of authors who have come before me, I created a new persona for writing self. For most of my life, I’ve enjoyed creating alter egos. Whether it was the ruler of Atlantis in the elaborate alternate life I created as a child or my superhero secret identity inspired by playing SuperBetter, I’ve found it interesting to reimagine my life as someone else.

I created the name Zed Amadeo when I was in high school. I had visited Australia and was intrigued by the fact that the letter “z” is called “zed” and thought that it could make an interesting name. Amadeo is a name that my mother really liked. Put those together and you have Z to A – the whole alphabet backwards, which sounded like an awesome idea to me at the time. My pen name was not, as some of my friends assumed, inspired by the artist Zedd, whose music I discovered years later. Thus, the pen name Zed Amadeo was created, although I can no longer remember exactly why I chose a male persona instead of a female one.

[image error]Zed, my ideal writing self, in Second Life

Under the name Zed Amadeo, I could be courageous, taking risks with my writing that I wouldn’t have the confidence to do otherwise. Zed would be an absolute badass writer who wrote whatever he wanted, commanding respect with his immense talent. He could handle criticism and rejection like a champ and wasn’t afraid to be different. Zed was, in many ways, my ideal author self. I created what I imagined he would look like in The Sims and in Second Life. I even wrote a fake interview with him and a bio for him, blending some aspects of my life with an invented narrative:

The writer’s currently peaceful life is a far cry from the way his life once was. Born to a middle-class African-American family, Zed said that he somehow knew that he was different from his peers at a very early age. While other kids were out socializing and playing during lunch, Zed prefer to sit alone with a novel or notebook to keep him company. Instead of engaging in afterschool activities, Zed would spend most of his free time scribbling down stories in his notebook.

Zed often found himself in it in direct competition with his older brother, a 6’5” muscular giant who excelled at almost every sport he tried. His brother lived a life that was almost a mirror opposite of Zed’s, with little worry about academics and breezing through the social scene. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Zed found people constantly comparing him to his brother, including his parents, who tried to unsuccessfully get Zed into sports. Similar scenes of sibling rivalry can be found throughout Zed’s works such as in his novel Kindred, because “it was such an important part of [his] upbringing,” and had a large impact on shaping him into the person he has become today.

When I discovered that I could independently publish my work instead of having to go through years of rejections from major publishing houses, my creative life changed forever. I decided that the indie path was what I wanted to pursue, so I set up this blog and began editing the first book in my Kindred series. I finally had the courage to share some of my writing with the world, something that I had always been hesitant and insecure about in the past. But I wasn’t quite ready to share it under my name. I was a fairly inexperienced writer – what if it flopped? What if people thought it was horrible? I wasn’t sure that I would be able to handle those kinds of reactions right off the bat. All writers needed a tough skin but I wasn’t sure that mine was thick enough yet. But you know who would be able to handle all of the challenges that an indie author has to face? Zed Amadeo, my trusty writing persona that I had put away for years. So I dusted him back off and set about on my writing journey, publishing Resurrection on Amazon in 2015.

So much has changed since I hit “Publish.”

I graduated college. Moved out on my own. Got my first full-time job and transferred to another one after a year. Received some wonderful feedback from reviewers who enjoyed the book. Received the nastiest comment that I have ever gotten on my writing. Published another novella in the Kindred series. Started a few other writing projects, which largely remained incomplete. Went through an existential crisis. Suffered from some of the worst depression that I have ever experienced. Became so creatively blocked that even thinking about writing, which is my greatest passion in life, gave me anxiety. For most of 2017, I seriously wondered whether I would ever be able to write creatively again.

I have had to do a lot of soul searching and meaning finding to get back to my ideal headspace where I could be creative again. While I’m still very much on this journey, visual journaling and reading tons of mind-opening nonfiction books and taking the time to consider what I really want to achieve have helped me put life into focus.

Zed Amadeo was a writing persona that I created for myself. I had intended for him to be an alter ego of sorts, but as I moved forward, I realized that I was beginning to hide behind the identity that I had created, and that’s not the life that I want for myself as a writer, nor is that a way to build a community or interact with readers and other writers.

Who am I really?

I’m a 20-something female independent fiction author who has been passionate about writing from a young age and will never stop fighting to make her writing dreams into reality. I think I’ll keep Zed Amadeo around as a stage name (I still find it kind of catchy!), but I no longer need an alternate persona for my writing self. A new year, a new Zed. Here I am:

[image error]

I wish you all a wonderful and successful 2018.

The post A New Year, A New Zed appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

So as you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus for the past few weeks while I worked on a few projects:

Recipe, the third book in my Kindred series
A new paranormal novel
My new website, Spectacular Fiction!

I’m happy to say that that skeleton of that final project is more or less finished.

Spectacular Fiction! is my new site dedicated to speculative fiction in all of its forms and will provide resources to help indie fantasy, science-fiction, and horror authors improve their writing and share their stories with the world. A lot of my old posts on writing resources and self-publishing have migrated over to this new site. SpecFic has a growing Resource Library of free resources online, a Shop where you can pick up premium writing resources, and reviews of stellar SpecFic works. Though SpecFic is a work in progress and will continue to be expanded with more content, it’s already available to check out now. Plus if you sign up for the Spectacular Fiction! newsletter, you’ll get The Ultimate Worldbuilder’s Guide for free. 

Hope to see you there!

Zed

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Ah, the TBR list. Because no matter how many books I read and move into the “read” pile, there’s always ten more that suddenly appear to take their place. All book covers from Goodreads.

1. Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I’m not entirely sure how I found out about this book and know very little about its contents, but I get the feeling that it’s a book I need to read.

2. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

A 1000 page book about witches? YES!!!!

3. Wax by Gina Damico

This book won’t be released until August but the premise has already gotten me excited for the day I’ll be able to check it out!

4. Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

I saw this title on a TBR list this year. A book about The Great Library of Alexandria? I’m already excited!

5. A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly

I have yet to read a book about magic and Prohibition.

6. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

I haven’t yet read any other works by this author, but this book sounds kind of like City of Saints and Madmen by Vandermeer which has been on my TBR for too long.

 

What books have you recently added to your TBR?

The post Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

We all have things we wish we did last year but never got around to. Here are my top ten bookish regrets from 2015.

1. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

One day I will finally read one of his books! Although I’m not sure whether I want to start with Seveneves, or Reamde, or Snow Crash…

 

2. Illumine by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The premise for this book really caught my eye. I even requested it from the library, but waited too long to go pick it up.

 

3. The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman

Another entry to my FAVORITE graphic novel series!

4. Welcome to Nightvale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

I started listening to this podcast while working at the library and thought it was delightfully strange. Hope the book is just as enjoyable!

 

5. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

I can forgive myself for this one since I only discovered Gone Girl fairly late last year.

 

6. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I had actually borrowed this book from my library on my Kindle, but I never got around to reading it before the loan expired.

 

7. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

I’ve heard wonderful things about this book. Plus that is one eye-grabbing title.

 

8. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

I haven’t read a really good graphic novel in some time.

 

9. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

When I first heard of this book I actually thought that it was by Gillian Flynn!

 
10. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

I included this book on my list of 2015 releases I was most looking forward to, but then forgot about it until a reading group I’m a member of chose it as one of the monthly reads.

 

What 2015 releases did you want to read but never got around to?

The post Top Ten Tuesday: 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

If you write fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror and are searching for ways to improve your craft, take a look at these resources aimed specifically at writers of these genres.

 
1. Build an awesome setting with The Ultimate Cheat Sheet on Creating Your Fantasy World

 

If you’re writing a speculative fiction story, creating a compelling setting can often be equally as important to the characters that populate your world. Whether you’ve already got the bare bones of your fictional setting laid out or need help fleshing out an idea into an intriguing locale, you can use these resources to guide you through every step of creating your fantasy world.

Read more

 

2. Create your own language with these 5 resources

 

Want to create your own language for your setting, but unsure of how to begin? Check out these resources for constructing a language, from alphabet to slang words and beyond.

Read more

 

3. Check out this guide on writing speculative fiction

Image from Amazon.com

Writing speculative fiction (which broadly encompasses the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres, among others) comes with its own unique set of challenges not present in writing other genres. Now Write!: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror is a guide to writing fantasy, science-fiction and horror filled with short essays and exercises by speculative fiction writers for speculative fiction writers.

Read more

 

Bonus resources from around the web:

Springhole.net : lots of articles on worldbuilding and creating fictional cultures.
How to Scare a Skeptic by Drew Chial : a post on creating believable scares in your horror fiction.
So You Want to Write a Dark Fantasy? : common tropes and pitfalls in the genre.

 

What resources have you helped you improve your speculative fiction?

The post Write Killer Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Horror With These 3 Posts appeared first on Zed Amadeo.

New Year’s Day has come and gone, along with the creation of resolutions for 2016. This year, ALL of my resolutions were book or writing related. Here are a few! 

1. Expand my reading horizons

I’ve previously shied away from reading thrillers, but ended up thoroughly enjoying two of the thrillers I read last year. Who knows what else I might be missing out on, especially in the realm of Thrillers, Romance, and YA?

 

2. Read at least 100 books!

I set this as my challenge on Goodreads. If you’re on Goodreads, let’s add each other and accomplish our reading goals in 2016!

 

3. Pick up writing in other genres

As a teenager I used to hop around from one genre to the next (with varying degrees of success). Lately I’ve been focusing more on my niche (roughly dark fantasy/horror-type fiction), but I kind of miss the days when I did more exploring. Last year I wrote a short sci-fi story for a Science Fiction course I took and really enjoyed it. 

 

4. Be more selective about books on writing

I realized after reading a post on perfectionism that reading books on writing can sometimes be a way for me to procrastinate from actually writing. In 2016 I’m hoping to be more selective and focus on books that will help me with an actual writing problem I’m facing instead of picking up every book on writing that I come across.

 

5. Start (and finish!) a complete book series 

It’s been awhile since I actually completed a series, and I hope to be able to do so this year. Recommendations welcome!

 

6. Start using NetGalley

I signed up for NetGalley fairly recently, but haven’t actually requested an ARC. 

 

7. Read a Neal Stephenson book!

I kept saying I would read something of his last year but never actually did. 

 

8. Visit my library more often

Since my local library allows you to borrow books on your Kindle, I haven’t physically visited the library in some time. I should make a trip up there to see what’s new on the shelves.

 

9. Find new homes for my books

Since I moved I no longer have space for my massive book collection I’ve amassed since high school. Although I’ve tried trimming down my collection via yard sales and giving books away, I’m hoping to do even more of that this year. Maybe I could even donate some to the library!

 

10. Visit a used bookstore

Haven’t gone shopping at one in a long time. There’s a good number of them not far from where I live. Could be a good way to spend a Saturday.

 

 

What are your bookish resolutions for 2016?

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