Erin Thornton's Blog

I am terrible at keeping up with things. Not because I don’t want to do it but I feel that I don’t have ideas that will draw in my readers or followers. That and I have spent Oct-Jan pushing hard to get books out. I’m a writer by nature and when readers scream, cry and whine and beg and plead for another book, I want to try with all that I have to supply that for them.

I set ridiculous goals for myself and usually achieve them because I’m analytical by nature. That means I can take a problem break it down to the smallest detail needed to solve it. So I have an ideal set of words I want to get to on a novel (70K). Then I break that down by how many days I have available til my target date arrives. Now don’t think I am so detail oriented that my books stop at 70K words every time. That would make for some very abrupt endings. Some have said that is what I did with my first novel, but in reality I just said to myself “realistically what would I want to happen?” – Ha sorry not going to give away the ending for you. You will have to go and read and see what happens “REALSTICALLY”! – Now when I reach my 70K words (or any word goal) I feel like I can bring the ending in and begin to wrap up. I have a personal fear that I will start the wrap up to soon and fall short of my target and have to figure out how to add in information. Then inevitably it will feel broken and disjointed instead of flow into the story.

Now I felt it was time to post again and share with you…..something. I never know what is productive information or just my inner ramblings. *Instant thought* let’s talk about characters and development. -That literally just popped into my head and now you have more insight into my inner workings of my brain.

It was brought to my attention recently that someone found my husband in my first novel (Dangerous After Dark). Just so you know, I don’t write people into my books, if I did it would likely upset someone or be way off. The last person I want to upset is my husband even though he has never and will never read my books as he isn’t a reader. I just started doing my audiobook for this one and he has heard bits and pieces. Ok back on track, I apparently subconsciously wrote my husband as a character -shhh don’t tell anyone but it wasn’t the hero. I take a little bit here and there from my surroundings. Elements of all my female character my kids have said, “mom I can hear you saying this.” So it isn’t one person one set of attributes it is an accumulation of puzzle pieces I’ve put together to complete each different entity.

I just had an interview and was asked if Trish (from Dangerous Calculations) was someone specific or just the apparition of a strong modern woman. In fact, Trish is one of my favorite characters she is snarky and sarcastic while still being strong willed and independent. I pulled elements of her personality from attributes I saw as ones I wished I possessed. I’m an independent person and very opinionated but sometimes I was a quick on the draw as Trish when a situation calls for it. She  knew what to say in every situation whether it was polite conversation or sarcastic comebacks that were in the heat of the moment.[image error]

Writing a male character is trick as I’m am obviously very female. It is a struggle to write a variety of men and not just the attributes I find attractive. Everyone has a different preference of each and every part of a man. I prefer men’s arms an shoulders as a first point of interest. This is because even though I’m an independent woman, I want the many I’m with to make me feel protected and can hold his own in any situation. Although, a male friend of mine was reading my latest release (Disaster In Love) by request of me and he noticed something I had never been told before. I seem to have a thing for jawlines. I must pay a lot more attention to them than I thought. I will admit a defined jawline (clean shaven or slightly scruffy) is a big deal for me. I love how it builds on the shape of a man’s face.

Male personalities is easier because I know enough men who think or act differently I can draw from experience for that. This is probably why my husband made an appearance in the first book.

I also find it hard for me to write weak women. I wouldn’t say Grace (from Dangerous After Dark) was weak but she was the most meek. I’m a boisterous person and in most situations I speak up rather than sit in silence. Being meek isn’t a weakness at all, it is just a different personality than mine. That makes me struggle to write personalities that are so vastly different to my own.

Well I suppose I’ve rambled on enough about my process and hopefully enlightened you rather than bored you. I’m much better when I write fiction….real life is boring haha!

I haven’t written a post in a bit, because I was working toward finishing up my second novel. It is due to release first part of November (unless I can make it happen for end of Oct like originally planned).

Just like in our personal lives we live in different seasons. We might be in a high period in our lives or we might be in a stagnate or low period. All of these are seasons, not one is more important that another and each one is needed for personal growth.

As an author I’m in a wonderful place because granted I might not be writing everyday because I like to take a break between releases to collect myself and my thoughts, but that doesn’t mean I have to be down. I get to see covers designed and new readers take in my writing. I get the privilege to see my words from a different perspective and through someone else’s eyes.

Here is an example, not a tangent. I title my books at different times in the process. My first novel was entitled towards the end of the process and it was the most important because it then gave me a starting point for the remaining series. Then my second novel was titled before I started because it just came to me and I knew it was right. That said, the title of book two is Dangerous Calculations. I thought it played to the storyline and the roles perfectly. When I sent my book images to the designer to compile I realized that my vision means something entirely different to the designer. He missed a couple of my images when he went back a few days after our discussion of my goals and view of how I saw the cover. When he came back I received a file that was no where close to my “vision” and I was disappointed.[image error]

The resulting image as you can see resembles a math textbook rather than an exciting romantic suspense novel.

This goes to show you the power of perception. Everyone is entitled to their own ideas and thoughts when they come into contact with anything and anyone. We have to learn to not let it get to us or get us down. Granted when I saw this image I wanted to cry. I picked myself up and promptly righted the situation. I didn’t want this season to go to waste. We make these times what we can and then work with what is given to us.

Let’s continue talking about perceptions, as I said everyone is entitled to their own opinions and with writing comes lots of different opinions. I have grown a thick skin over the years and not just because my writing puts me out there on display at the mercy of my readers. I used to sing and every time I took the stage I was allowing people to judge me. Even if it was a casual event or just singing in the car. I put myself in the hands of anyone listening to me. I learned that everyone was allowed to think what they wanted and sometimes they even voiced those concerns.  That was their choice and I could either learn from the experience or run to my room and cry every time someone gave me a not so nice evaluation. I’ve adapted those experiences to my writing life. Now I read a review and find the positive even in the more negative feedback.

This is an opportunity for me to sit back, okay maybe not sit back because I self-market, and soak up all the things people are saying about me and my novels. I’m a positive person by nature and so anything anyone chooses to say makes me giddy just because they took the time out of their lives to read something I wrote.

Now that I have two books out there for people to experience with  me (yes with me because these characters came from me and I’m sharing them) I’m seeing more feedback and people excited about what is next to come. Those who have read it have given some amazing words that are more encouraging to me than they know. Beta readers have allocated my character depth to E.L. James (50 Shades Author) and they’re so caught up in the story they are sad to see it end.

Sharing myself with others has become an uplifting source for me. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to walk through life with my readers. I’m happy that my seasons are ever changing and even in the low points I love the support they provide for me. I might not have branched far from my inner circle (I’ve made a crack in it though) I’m happy to share with anyone who is willing to take a chance. Everyone should know that their perception is important to a new indie author.

If you’d like to see the cover reveal you should like/follow my page on FB and join my newsletter to be sure to stay up-to-date on all new things. Don’t worry I’m not a spammer, because usually I don’t have time to blast readers a newsletter unless it’s important info! Cover reveal is coming soon (already released to those who signed up for the newsletter) to everyone!

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As I sit here and try to decide what to write to for you wonderful followers, I find myself lost. I haven’t been writing this week much, and I find that discouraging for myself, but ultimately I find myself discouraged for my readers. I care about them as much as I do my children and I know many of you are waiting with bated breath for my next book release. I’m going to let you in on a little secret; sometimes I truly have nothing to write. Call it what you want no mojo, not feeling it or just lost, but it is what it is.

Unfortunately, I have created the world in my books where in some cases I have the vast knowledge or places to go making the words flow like water. In other cases, I have to wait for ideas to hit or outside influence to take over for where I lack in personal understanding, therefore, stunting my train of thought. I love to write intrigue and suspense, but I’m also writing a romantic comedy. I read a lot of different genre books and therefore have found myself with ideas for stories that are all over the board.

As I’ve mentioned before I always wait until inspiration hits, I personally hate writing drivel just to be writing and finding out I have to delete. I wrote a section in my romantic comedy that was just information on a page and was only just over 500 words. After sleeping on it, I decided to rewrite the section. For fear, I was going to write something far worse I didn’t delete the original text, so I split off the section and began to write. I was in the moment, and words came out that I didn’t even know were there. So when I was finished and had deleted the previously written blather, I had almost quadrupled my word count.

I don’t have a set word count for my books, but I do know in order to be a full-length novel in my genre I have to break 70,000 words. I don’t use word counts daily except to be sure I know approximately when I will be able to release. So if I am able to write 1200 words as a minimum per day my release date can still occur close to intended. Well, I haven’t written my quota every day this week. That means I need a great writing day or I’ll have to push the release back further. I’m forcing myself to stay on task with my Romantic Suspense/Thriller second book release because I feel my readers are waiting on that one more than the Romantic Comedy that none of them have much knowledge of. That said, I’m hoping for a dual release within days of each other.

I’m not a marketing professional, and I’m also, not going to say I ever KNOW what I’m doing. I am a firm believer of trial and error or even do what I’m told. I follow lots of amazing people who have already invented the wheel. I’d much rather not do extra work to get my product out there.

One thing that I’ve done that has been a dream since I started this process was to create my book trailer. Unfortunately, my budget is that of a lowly writer, and that means I have to go the free route for now. That doesn’t make my trailer any less amazing. I think you will agree! Check it out here https://animoto.com/play/9jjfofa4Awj44fXYKyBalg and let me know what you think.

I know all previous posts have been about my vision and this one is more about my lack thereof, but I believe it is important to see all sides of the process. I believe that I can’t have writer’s block if I’m able to write anything and so I decided to write this for you guys. If you haven’t checked out my book yet, readers have said they found themselves holding their breath in anticipation. DO you love a good suspense thriller with just enough romance to take the edge off? Dangerous After Dark is the book for you! It is $2.99 on Kindle, or you can read it today on Kindle Unlimited check it out here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071JSLQN3

I’m not a political writer so please don’t worry, but I watched a video the other day about people’s thought process. It detailed that people should be taught how to figure things out rather than what they should know. If a child is told to spell a word are they wrong because it is misspelled or do we take into account how they go their answer? Example that was given was the word CAT. First child spells it correctly, second child spells it K-A-T and third child spells the word Q-W-X. Obviously the latter two are not the ‘correct’ spellings, but the way we have raised our thinkers is that the second and third children are equally as wrong. When it could be argued that the second child at least spelled it phonetically and is therefore on the right track. I’m not planning on arguing the spelling of students into adults because honestly spell check catches my errors more times than I would like to admit, but I’m going to claim that is because my fingers are faster than my brain.

I’ve been told many times from friends and acquaintances that they would love to write a book, but just don’t know where to start or they would be to much of a perfectionist and it would never be finished. Those people ultimately fear rejection for being wrong. The wrong choice of topic or genre. Wrong because they didn’t use the best or most eloquent words. Are they wrong because they have a story they want to express in their own way? People should feel confident to share what they choose without fear of consequences of any kind.

There was another story recently in book world news, that an author’s book was removed from Amazon’s eBook list because of content. Now I’m not going to get into the entire story or what that content was, but I wanted to share the underlying issue. No, not everyone is going to like everything I like. They aren’t going to want to read every book I love. Does that mean the authors should never have written them? Maybe a disclaimer could have been put on the book vs. forcing the authors voice into silence. If no one downloaded the book after that then it is of no ones concern.

Allowing people to voice their thoughts without telling them this is how you should think is important to me. I came from a family where we talked about what we thought. I try and raise my kids the same way. If they have a belief or a stance on something I ask them why rather than telling them they are wrong. I’m not saying everyone is right or wrong, but I believe people should have a chance to figure out how they arrived at that thought versus me telling them they shouldn’t have gotten there in the first place.

OK I’ll get off my soapbox today, but just remember would you like me to tell you how you should or shouldn’t think just because I believe my way is more correct than yours?[image error]

When you learn how to write in school for any project they say, “DO NOT PLAGIARIZE” What they don’t tell you is when you are in your everyday life you draw from your surroundings. So, that means when a writer tells you that you shouldn’t make them mad or they will kill you off in a story, know that they actually will. No, what that actually means is that as a writer, a passing conversation or even a television show could be a newly inspired book.

I have pulled inspiration recently from an unexpected source, the television show, Breaking Bad. I know what you are thinking, how could my genre of books even remotely be inspired by a TV show about making drugs. Well my second in my Dangerous series has an element of “crime family” and my heroine, Trish, is a financial advisor. For those of you who have watched Breaking Bad, know that Walter’s wife, Skyler is an accountant. In the episode I was watching she was asked to save her previous employer from tax fraud. Ironically, this is the direction I was being led to take Trish down a similar path. I just didn’t know how to go about it. I found myself actually taking notes while watching one of my husband’s favorite TV shows that I watch just to be a good wife.

Thanks to my dad and my daughter for being up-to-date on current Netflix movies. I actually was able to use a recent movie, To The Bone, as research on eating disorders. *Spoiler Alert* One of my characters has suffered from an eating disorder. This is something I don’t know that much about besides what I learned in High School health class. I’m a writer who wants to keep my writing fiction, but believable. So I do whatever research necessary to bring it as close to par as I can for my readers.

So the next time you see something that you think, hey that would make a great story. Don’t wait for someone else to write it. Go out on a limb and write it yourself. Because writing is a choice and anyone can choose to write. Do it for fun and do it for you if nothing else. Don’t let the inspiration go to waste. Everyone has a muse in some way. Let him/her do their job and inspire you!

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I’ve heard authors all my life say write what you know, but I’m a fiction writer. I don’t want to bore my readers with life lessons learned and I don’t have any life wisdoms to give anyone besides not letting your kids wipe poop on the walls while they are still in a crib (yep, I’ve had some great kid stories over the years, but you DO NOT want to learn about most of them). If that is something of interest to you, then follow my personal Twitter page @thorntoncrazy8s and I can regale you with all my family nonsense.

So to give you an idea of methodical writing from my perspective you have to climb into my head. Let me paint you a picture, there is a library of blank books in my  mind. Wall to wall spines with no titles. You could browse them one by one to no avail because their stories haven’t been told yet. Now with no warning a person climbs out from between the spines of two books. You have no idea who they are, but then they start screaming facts and information at you, but wait then amongst the chaos another climbs out and starts screaming over the first. I have to find a way to calm them, but it gets very crazy when four or five people are screaming at once. I have to silence them, but they are having none of it. So the only way to begin to tame them is to pick one and focus. Deep focus to drown out the remaining voices still screaming. One by one, as their stories are told the voices quiet. Allowing them to calmly and peacefully converse with one another on a basic level.

So the object is to tell their stories before the noise gets overwhelming. So it is imperative for me to tell their stories quickly before someone else has a chance to chime in. Now this gets tricky when not just characters from the same book are yelling. My mind is never off so that means if I get a book idea and I write it down before I begin to write, sometimes the characters get antsy and want me to start their stories before I’m ready. So like right now, I’m fighting two sets of voices in my head to tell two stories at once.

So when I say I have voices in my head, I hope you now have a basic understanding and a very vivid picture as to what I mean. If you suffer from the same disorder as I do, let me encourage you to just write them down. Even if you do it a little at a time, but this will help I promise.

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