Susan Meraki's Blog
August 22, 2014
Polarity's Genre
Those that have read the book have placed it on shelves that sometimes surprise me. Finding the proper genre for Polarity has been a challenge since the beginning. I get messages from prospective readers asking about it. I would rather that expectations be managed - thus, this blog entry.
If you liked the movies The Sixth Sense or Inception then you will see some of those elements.
It's a bit thriller. It's a bit suspense. It's a bit urban fantasy. It's a bit metaphysical, but isn't new age. It's a bit science fiction (but some readers carry a knee-jerk reaction that this is tantamount to space operas... it's not); the science fiction element appears to be used by readers to point to the ability of Polarity itself. It's a bit supernatural/paranormal, but it depends on who you ask. The first installment has some elements of romance (but most of that increases as the series progresses). It's new-adult simply because of the age group of the characters. It has deep philosophical elements that some would call religious, but it depends on how you read it.
It may help to tell you what it's not: horror, dystopian, "hero girl only held back by authority" + "love triangle", vampires/zombies/fantasy creature. I have nothing against these, but you won't find these in the story. There is violence, but it's not the key ingredient to the tension.
Every character in the story is entirely human. Characters will grow and change immensely, but naturally across the series.
Most of what I read these days is non-fiction, so you should expect to see blurred lines between fiction and non-fiction. With that, you can give the series the generic genre "speculative fiction".
Susan
If you liked the movies The Sixth Sense or Inception then you will see some of those elements.
It's a bit thriller. It's a bit suspense. It's a bit urban fantasy. It's a bit metaphysical, but isn't new age. It's a bit science fiction (but some readers carry a knee-jerk reaction that this is tantamount to space operas... it's not); the science fiction element appears to be used by readers to point to the ability of Polarity itself. It's a bit supernatural/paranormal, but it depends on who you ask. The first installment has some elements of romance (but most of that increases as the series progresses). It's new-adult simply because of the age group of the characters. It has deep philosophical elements that some would call religious, but it depends on how you read it.
It may help to tell you what it's not: horror, dystopian, "hero girl only held back by authority" + "love triangle", vampires/zombies/fantasy creature. I have nothing against these, but you won't find these in the story. There is violence, but it's not the key ingredient to the tension.
Every character in the story is entirely human. Characters will grow and change immensely, but naturally across the series.
Most of what I read these days is non-fiction, so you should expect to see blurred lines between fiction and non-fiction. With that, you can give the series the generic genre "speculative fiction".
Susan
August 21, 2014
Polarity #1 - Free through Sunday
As a way to usher in Polarity Reversed (Polarity #2), the Kindle version of Polarity #1 is free through this Sunday. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HSCNQTK/Polarity
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HSCNQTK/Polarity
July 11, 2014
July 1, 2014
Polarity #2 Release Date
August 15th! I'm very excited! A small giveaway will be scheduled soon. Stay tuned.
May 30, 2014
Polarity #2 Update
POLARITY REVERSED is going very well so far. I've incorporated edits from the first round of revisions from my editors. The good news is that the first round of edits weren't substantial - in that I mean that there wasn't much re-structuring or major plot change requests. If you ever choose to go into writing the honeymoon can end quite quickly when it comes to revisions. When the first draft goes off to the editors, it invokes a disconcerting feeling that they may hate the story, the characters, etc. It can send you back to square one.
The first draft has also been through a half dozen beta readers and they've all said that this installment reads very quickly, although it's only six pages shorter than the first. There are a few new characters that are very colorful and have distinctive roles. The ending will provide a roller-coaster ride of unexpected plot twists; I'm really happy with how the ending turned out.
This installment throws Susie in the fast lane of the world of Polarity. Expect her to grow in multiple dimensions. You will get to know the same characters you met much better than in the first - including Dan, Father Crane, and Harold. There is a new character that's pretty sinister and I'm anxious to hear what readers think.
We are anticipating a publish date no later than the middle of October, but it's very realistic that this could be out much sooner - especially since there isn't any major restructuring required from the first draft.
Back to work!
The first draft has also been through a half dozen beta readers and they've all said that this installment reads very quickly, although it's only six pages shorter than the first. There are a few new characters that are very colorful and have distinctive roles. The ending will provide a roller-coaster ride of unexpected plot twists; I'm really happy with how the ending turned out.
This installment throws Susie in the fast lane of the world of Polarity. Expect her to grow in multiple dimensions. You will get to know the same characters you met much better than in the first - including Dan, Father Crane, and Harold. There is a new character that's pretty sinister and I'm anxious to hear what readers think.
We are anticipating a publish date no later than the middle of October, but it's very realistic that this could be out much sooner - especially since there isn't any major restructuring required from the first draft.
Back to work!
May 8, 2014
POLARITY #2 - POLARITY REVERSED
This will be coming out in the next few months! Please visit us on our homepage:
www.polaritybook.com
Or on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/polaritybook...
www.polaritybook.com
Or on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/polaritybook...
April 4, 2014
2nd Edition Available for Kindle
The 2nd edition is available for Kindle now. It corrects typos and other minor issues that weren't caught in the first edition.
The 2nd edition of the print version should be ready within the coming weeks.
The 2nd edition of the print version should be ready within the coming weeks.
April 2, 2014
Q & A from Facebook Fan Page
The Q & A is available on the Facebook Fan Page. This is found at:
https://www.facebook.com/polaritybook...
https://www.facebook.com/polaritybook...
March 19, 2014
Facebook Q & A through March 28th
A question & answer session has been opened on POLARITY's Facebook page. We will be collecting questions from readers through March 28th. You can certainly send the questions through the Facebook page, but also feel free to message me through Goodreads! I will do my best to answer whatever I can.
https://www.facebook.com/polaritybook...
https://www.facebook.com/polaritybook...
March 4, 2014
Why Goodreads is a Social Medium that Won't Go Away
I normally blog
here
for my semi-weekly blogs - on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, I felt it apropos to shift the topic a little and focus on Goodreads for today's entry.
Social media has been around as long as the Internet has been a part of our lives - beginning with "apps" such as BBS and simple email. As time marched on, new offerings were made including the innovative AOL chat and MySpace; two offerings that are barely relevant anymore. Then came YouTube, Facebook, and so on. Will these survive? Will Goodreads survive? Does anyone remember Netscape? It was THE way to get to Internet leading up to the dot com boom.
Goodreads was recently bought out by Amazon.com so chances are that some form of it will survive as long as Amazon.com will. The reasons for its survival (and thrive) is that it reaches out to a community of people who have existed for as long as there was a written language. I'm talking about readers.
More specifically, Goodreads allows readers to have a great deal of latitude of what they want from the experience. The shelves are a great example of this. You want to make up your own genre? Do it. Don't let a bookstore tell you what genre it is. Don't let anyone tell you what it is.
The community is growing and, as such, experiences growing pains - it's hard to pick the right community forum to belong, for example. From the outside, it may appear that Goodreads could go the way of MySpace and become irrelevant; its irrelevance was driven by the lack of rules that it imparted on its users. Conversely, Facebook made an easy-to-use interface... it's easy-to-use because it has lots of rules and constraints. With Goodreads' flexibility will it, too, go the way of MySpace? At this rate, no. Goodreads has a ton of capabilities and I would have the safe guess that not all readers use even half of them.
My experience with Goodreads has been a few years old. Admittedly, I only went to Goodreads as a visitor so I could see what was going on in the world of literature WITHOUT being told what I should read by publishers or retailers. Here readers have control. I didn't create a profile because I wanted to avoid the "yet another username and password" to remember. Every website you go to requires this - ugh. Furthermore my day job and day-to-day life responsibilities leave me with little spare time to read. How many of you have a stack of 12 books on your nightstand (or ebook)?
Goodreads will survive and thrive because it puts a great deal of power into the hands of the readers - not authors and not even publishers. Every forum I go to calls out authors specifically: Do not spam. Do not advertise. Use discussion X to show your stuff. In a world in which publishers do next to nothing in terms of advertising, almost all of it is left to the authors (with very few exceptions).
There is a fixed number of messages I can send to readers every day that aren't "friends" - I only write non-friends to give them a heads-up about a giveaway shipment. I love this feature because it really shows that this is a guarded community. We are here to find good books. We are here to read good books. Yes, every writer has the next mega-seller but let the readers decide.
Goodreads will thrive because of the power it gives readers in a form that's easy to use. It allows readers to be readers without be heckled by authors trying to push books down their throats. It's not perfect and there's no telling what Amazon.com will ultimately do to Goodreads, but I'm glad it's here. At the very least, it will serve as the gold standard for the reading community.
Social media has been around as long as the Internet has been a part of our lives - beginning with "apps" such as BBS and simple email. As time marched on, new offerings were made including the innovative AOL chat and MySpace; two offerings that are barely relevant anymore. Then came YouTube, Facebook, and so on. Will these survive? Will Goodreads survive? Does anyone remember Netscape? It was THE way to get to Internet leading up to the dot com boom.
Goodreads was recently bought out by Amazon.com so chances are that some form of it will survive as long as Amazon.com will. The reasons for its survival (and thrive) is that it reaches out to a community of people who have existed for as long as there was a written language. I'm talking about readers.
More specifically, Goodreads allows readers to have a great deal of latitude of what they want from the experience. The shelves are a great example of this. You want to make up your own genre? Do it. Don't let a bookstore tell you what genre it is. Don't let anyone tell you what it is.
The community is growing and, as such, experiences growing pains - it's hard to pick the right community forum to belong, for example. From the outside, it may appear that Goodreads could go the way of MySpace and become irrelevant; its irrelevance was driven by the lack of rules that it imparted on its users. Conversely, Facebook made an easy-to-use interface... it's easy-to-use because it has lots of rules and constraints. With Goodreads' flexibility will it, too, go the way of MySpace? At this rate, no. Goodreads has a ton of capabilities and I would have the safe guess that not all readers use even half of them.
My experience with Goodreads has been a few years old. Admittedly, I only went to Goodreads as a visitor so I could see what was going on in the world of literature WITHOUT being told what I should read by publishers or retailers. Here readers have control. I didn't create a profile because I wanted to avoid the "yet another username and password" to remember. Every website you go to requires this - ugh. Furthermore my day job and day-to-day life responsibilities leave me with little spare time to read. How many of you have a stack of 12 books on your nightstand (or ebook)?
Goodreads will survive and thrive because it puts a great deal of power into the hands of the readers - not authors and not even publishers. Every forum I go to calls out authors specifically: Do not spam. Do not advertise. Use discussion X to show your stuff. In a world in which publishers do next to nothing in terms of advertising, almost all of it is left to the authors (with very few exceptions).
There is a fixed number of messages I can send to readers every day that aren't "friends" - I only write non-friends to give them a heads-up about a giveaway shipment. I love this feature because it really shows that this is a guarded community. We are here to find good books. We are here to read good books. Yes, every writer has the next mega-seller but let the readers decide.
Goodreads will thrive because of the power it gives readers in a form that's easy to use. It allows readers to be readers without be heckled by authors trying to push books down their throats. It's not perfect and there's no telling what Amazon.com will ultimately do to Goodreads, but I'm glad it's here. At the very least, it will serve as the gold standard for the reading community.
