What Are Your Favorite Books Made Of?

When I write, I start with a story that I just need to tell, but I always try to fill it with things that I think collectively entertain. I like there to be some suspense or mystery...sometimes action. I insert real-life issues (politics, genocide, racism, hate) into whatever world I'm building, hoping to spark something within the reader. I almost always include a budding romance, but most of the time I keep it PG. 

              For me, I'm drawn to a book based on the plot, but completely saturated by the relationships between the characters. In real life, first/new-love is so powerful; I find myself writing it into most stories. The best books are the ones that can affect me viscerally and cerebrally. I do my best to try and deliver that to you, the readers.

              The next book I want to publish, Uncut (current title), started out as a story about hate. People can feel some pretty powerful emotions toward the unknown. Uncut focuses on hate concerning sexual orientation and racism. But, it’s largely about how the two main characters deal with that hate and build something beautiful despite of it.

              I’m getting closer to my sales goal from Incineration and Burning Ascension to move forward with Uncut. It’s the most romantic and visceral book I’ve written. They say that there’s a fine line between love and hate. I think it’s more like those emotions elicit such a powerful response within us that it’s sometimes more fluid and less rigid of a line. It’s why we do and say mean things to our loved ones on occasion—our hold on our emotions loosens and some nonsense slips out.

              Uncut felt like it had to have a stronger romantic presence to compete with the hate—to show that despite living the worst-case-scenario, something beautiful and strong could develop like a plant bursting through the scorched earth after a fire.

              So, no matter what recipe you need to love a book, just know that your writers are trying to find it for you. Know that when you really hate a book, that author was still trying their best to reach you.  When an author hits a home-run for you, that’s exactly what they were trying to do.  

              Happy reading :)

I Need to Read Good Books to be a Good Writer

Have you ever been in the mood for a really good book and been unable to find anything that piques your interest? The more I read and write, the harder it is for me to find a book that I LOVE.   

I enjoy reading most fictional genres. Sometimes, I’m in the mood for a suspenseful thriller, or maybe a smart, literary novel. However, it seems whenever I’m really in the mood for a particular genre, NOTHING is out there. NOTHING. Now, I know that’s dumb. I know there are millions and billions of options out there—I’m just looking for something very specific.

For instance, say I’m in the mood for a thriller, but it has to have just enough romance to add a little angst. I find that a lot of them have either no romance at all, or way too much that it’s cheesy. You know the kind I’m talking about: smart woman, burly man. Woman isn’t sure she can trust man; man is standoffish and mean toward the woman. They go on some obscure adventure where it never quite makes sense why they’re doing whatever it is that they’re doing, and then they fall in love and spend way too much time “getting to know” one another.

If I can’t find something to fill whatever genre I want to read at that moment, my writing suffers. I need that have-to-read-at-all-times-of-the-day book every so often to catalyze something in my head. Most of the time, the genres are completely different. I could be writing a young adult novel and be in the mood for a sci-fi dystopian.

Anybody else feel my pain?

And don’t get me started on a series. I love/hate them. I love them when they’re complete and four or less books. I loathe them when there are thirty books with the same character. I want to read one, but it’s in the middle so I can’t. I just can’t. I have to start at the beginning, so I won’t because I know by the time I get to number thirty, I won’t be interested in the characters anymore.

An author that I LOVE has the start of three new series out but none of them are complete. The horror! She publishes something new at least every few months, and yet these series have been floating around for more than a year!! I can’t take it.

And…Harry Potter. I haven’t read it. I desperately want to. I own all the books. My ten-year-old son read them a year or two ago. But, I’ve heard how great they are, and I know how obsessed I get when a series is that good. I shut down to the outside world and live inside that series for as long as it takes me to read it. I give up sleep. I begrudgingly function during the day so my children don’t die of starvation. If it was just one or two books I could justify giving myself to the story. But it’s more, so I can’t.

I buy mostly ebooks, but my nightstand is still a collection of books that are the first and second books of a series. Waiting on that third one…

Sigh…

I try to take that into consideration when I write. The freedom I have as a self-published author is pretty nice. I can publish my whole series at once. I can control how many books in a series I put together. However, I have to market myself…completely. It’s not something I like to do. I feel uncomfortable, like I’m asking for money, when really I just want people to find that “it” book they’re looking for in something I wrote. I want to give people several hours of an enjoyable story that forces them to relax or set aside the things that they really should be doing…like sleep. It’s overrated.

And marketing takes away from writing. Last week I spent most of my time in the “office” figuring out how to market my books better and connect my Facebook page, Goodreads page, Amazon Author page, and Blogger…Let’s just say I’m glad some of the people around me have given great advice that set me in the right direction (Thanks Alicia and Tom!).

Thankfully, I’m in the mood for a dystopian series, and I found a short and complete series last night. Phew!

All is right in the universe.