Paranormal Everything! discussion

This is for goodreads authors to come and introduce there new books, or about themselves. There are so many great authors on this site it would be great to hear from them!

This could be fun for up and coming writiers or new authors that we haven't had a chance to read yet.

Hi All, thanks so much to Tiawni for inviting me to your awesome group! I really hope you all enjoy Angel Evolution, which you are reading this month, but if you don't, that's ok too ;P

No thanks is needed. I thought you could let's up know what got you into writing and write the book that is on our reading list.

Of course!! In the back of my mind, I always had this crazy notion that someday I would write books for a living, but I always found some excuse not to write.  I moved to Sydney two and a half years ago for work and met my wife, who helped convince me to start writing in late 2010.  Now she can’t get me to stop!

So I’m pretty much obsessed with writing now and want nothing more than to become a full time writer.  I published my first three books in October 2011 as a trilogy (The Evolution Trilogy: Angel Evolution, Demon Evolution, and Archangel Evolution).  I’ve also written four children’s books in a series which are in the final review stages at a large children’s book publisher here in Australia (fingers crossed, they are interested!).  I also wrote a YA suspense, comedy, paranormal (throw in whichever other genres you’d like) book that I haven’t decided what to do with yet.  And I just finished my 9th book a couple of weeks ago, a YA dystopian novel that I’m really excited about.  It’s current being read by my beta readers for feedback.  So that’s 9 books in about 18 months–yeah, I think obsessed is the right word!

Once I started writing, I think I knew pretty much right away that it was what I wanted to do with my life.  It’s just who I am!  When I’m in the throes of a writing session (I mean like living, breathing, feeling the characters, the plot, the drama), it’s the most amazing feeling in the world!

I was inspired to write Angel Evolution by my wife, Adele.  Before I met her, I never believed I would have an idea good enough to write about.  She convinced me to pursue my first idea and just go with it and see where it would take me.  The Evolution Trilogy was born!  When I first started writing Angel Evolution, I had no clue that it might turn into a one thousand page trilogy.  The more I wrote, the more the story took on a life of its own and some of the characters changed in ways I never expected.

Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy The Evolution Trilogy!!

David thanks again for joining and telling us about yourself. I love your books and I think your a great writer. I wish you the best of luck with you children books, I'm sure the publishers will love them.

When we finish your Trilogy and start our discussion, if you would like I can send you a Private Message on here so you can take a peek, I'm certain it will all be great reviews.

Thanks again,

Alex

David I would have to agree with Alex. It's great that you was willing to share with us. I enjoy writing and but I don't think I could get my bok out there. How long did it take you to get your book published?

Alexandra (alex) wrote: "David thanks again for joining and telling us about yourself. I love your books and I think your a great writer. I wish you the best of luck with you children books, I'm sure the publishers will lo..."

You're very welcome and thank you!!! That would be great, I'd love to have a look at what everyone thinks and would be happy to answer questions about anything :)

Tiawni wrote: "David I would have to agree with Alex. It's great that you was willing to share with us. I enjoy writing and but I don't think I could get my bok out there. How long did it take you to get your boo..."

No worries Tawni, that's awesome that you love writing!! Because I decided to publish three books at the same time it was quite time consuming. It took me about 6 weeks per book to write them, another month to edit each, 6 weeks for the cover art and jacket design (for my artist and designer) and probably another couple weeks to format them for Kindle and print. It took me 13 months from start to finish although I also wrote 2 other books along the way too, so that probably added about 3 months. It was so worth it though and I've learned so much which I'll be able use for the rest of my life :) If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them

Thank you. Alex is going to tell you different about me writing. She like what I have wrote. I just don't know what style you would say my writing is or if I am even on the right track. So I am not sure where to go with it all.

Ah cool Tiawni, everyone writes a little differently so you just have to write what makes you happy :)

Thanks to Tiawni for the invitation to join. I'm the author of Leopard Moon and Jackal Moon, a paranormal YA series about shapeshifters. I also have another YA fantasy series that is currently being shopped by my agent. :)

I am glad that you joined us. I look forward to hear about more of your books and how you got started. So hopefully I will get the guts to get someone to look at one of my books.

Hi Jeanette :)

Hi everyone.

As to Tiawni's question on how I got started: I have always written stories. I think I was in third grade when I wrote a mini-book about my cat's early life. But I really set about writing--and FINISHING--a book in 2010 when I wrote the three books in the Moon series. I got an agent with Leopard Moon, but then the bottom sort of dropped out of paranormal romance publishing (most books take about 2 years to get to the shelves so they figured the trend was over) and couldn't sell it. So my agent told me to epub it while she works on selling my new series. Feel free to ask me any questions--I just got back from Romantic Times Booklovers Convention and met a huge number of wonderful authors while I was there. I also had quick pitch meetings with 5 editors of various small press houses, so I'm happy to answer whatever questions you have about the industry too.

That is so cool. I have a book I started and being trying to figure out if I was on the right track. I just wondering if there are steps that should be taken or things I should do first?

Hi Tiawni,

Finish the book. That's the first thing I would suggest. Get a first draft done--it doesn't matter if it is perfect, or even good, it just needs to get finished. Then find a critique partner--someone who will review your work and be honest with you about what works and what doesn't. Then revise, revise, and revise some more. But the first thing I recommend is get the book done. :)

Jeanette I wrote 25 chapters and thought I finished it. but that seemed short to me. I wrote it in microsoft word. What would be a good average chapters for a book.

Is it YA or Adult? How many words is it? Typically YA are between 60,000 and 90,000 words and Adult are 80,000 and up

It is 56,866 words to me it's more of a short story then anything. BUt thank you David I didn't know that about the words.

No worries Tiawni, glad to help. My first novel was 72,000 words (YA Paranormal), but the second and third books were slightly shorter, around 67,000 words, so your book is definitely on the cusp of being a novel! It is an awesome accomplishment you should be so proud of. Well done :)

Thank you. I have three chapters posted in the creative writing section. ALex is looking it over for me. If you want to see what you think of the first three chapters up yourself. Thanks again.

Tiawni wrote: "Thank you. I have three chapters posted in the creative writing section. ALex is looking it over for me. If you want to see what you think of the first three chapters up yourself. Thanks again."

Hi Tiawni, thank you so much for sharing your writing with us! I only had time to read the first chapter so far, but it's a good start!! I added my comments to your Chapter 1 post, hope it helps!

David is correct about word count. Leopard Moon was about 78K. I usually get my first draft to 60-65K. That leaves me about 10K to play with and fill out chapters, add scenes, all that kind of stuff. Novellas usually wind up around the 50K mark. So if you have a good story, but can't really see how to make it longer, maybe shoot for novella length.

Thank you to both. It helps and I have some ideas how to make it longer. I will work on some of the cahnages as well.