Ah, happy days, right? Now before I break out the 2-liter bottle of club soda and celebrate like its nobody's business, I apparently have to actually "READ". Yep, that's right. I need to read and drill it in my head that there's no such thing as a flawless upload whether it is short story, book, novella, novel and whatever. No, it is not an easy task to re-upload something after trying five times over at 3: 16 in the wee morning hours. Remember when you wrote your first book and how proud you were to see the light of day again? Or in my case, 'night'. Since I wrote about vampires I couldn't help the pun. My first vampire book was never intended to be for Tweens or young adults. I'm trying for a more late Twenties and early Thirties crowd and older, perhaps. I wanted to go at my first vampire book with an old-fashioned romantic approach when I first started clacking the keys late one night. I drew my inspiration from "Foolish Wives", a silent film starring the late Erich von Stroheim. At least, he became the typical "bad guy" that helped to shape a central bad guy character in my book in modern times, that is, but this distinction may not be made in the minds of many... oh, well. I don't really like to read what other authors write when it comes to vampires, why not? I simply prefer to take a different route when writing. I watch TV for inspiration, old movies (the silent films are good, too), and just get out and about and draw from many different life experiences as well.
Did I succeed? I'll let the reader decide that, but where can you purchase a copy? Smashwords and KDP in the near future.
Now for the not-so-glamorous side of uploading your many 'xxxx' number word count trillion pages labor of love-- literally! How long did it take me to write and feel confident enough that Abide with Me was ready for self-publishing? Approximately Twelve years from start to finish. No joke. Toward the end of my finish line, I jotted down my revision process, and in retrospect, wish I kept more meticulous notes about how long it took me to flesh out my protagonists, plots, and all the details I threw in along the way.
The writer in me was practically on pins and needles, and never was my first book dull to write. As time went on, I added more segments here and there, changed my mind (everybody does that), and literally started from scratch and had to think; where do my characters come from (what time era, how do they become what they are).... and then -- bam! There's a new character that just magically appears right in the middle of a scene. I left out who or how this character just stepped in the picture and why.
Oops!
Never throw a new character in a scene and expect your readers to *already* know the new character is part of the regular cast. I trundled back through the scene again, wrote in a few lines and the character now had a reason for being there.
In the beginning when I wrote Abide with Me I had my [then] only central character be a loner-- but.... Nah, something didn't click. I wasn't "happy" with them being a loner in a world full of mortals. I didn't want my protagonist(s) to be anything too terribly different than whats already been written in the past, either. BUT-- I didn't want to follow this new common vampire theme aimed at teenage girls. Abide with Me is NOT a story for young adults or teenagers, period. There's an evil man in the story that's nothing short of psycho and a vile, tyrant-like character. Some of the scenes do contain sex and other adult-themed situations that won't be for everyone.
Now for the "love scenes" as I refer to sex. Was there anything special or different about them? Probably not. The imaginary love scene I see in my mind's eye is different from what the reader will 'see' in theirs. The love scenes could probably use a few more tweaks. My eyes become so strained from staring at the computer glare that I really need to go back at it when I'm not so exhausted from fussing and fighting with numerous book cover loading errors that aren't correct (they often never are right on the first or second or even fifth try). I have very little time to convey an astounding tender or emotionally charged love scenes so the one in the book will have to suffice for the present time. I quit being a perfectionist love scene writer somewhere along the way.
Numerous revisions, editing and proof-reading are one thing. Will my first book ever see the silvery rays of moonlight at this slow-going rate? It wouldn't have if I hadn't just decided on a whim to take the plunge and get it out there. I ran my book through spell check I don't know how many times before uploading it. The scenes might not flow quite right-- and why do I "jump" around in my book and leave out some details and include ones that may or may not help show the reader what's going on? That's like asking me did Christopher Columbus really sail the ocean blue in 1492? Beats me.
And yes, history-- I did have to do a lot of research on that topic for certain scenes throughout my book. My protagonists may seem extremely outdated for the 21st century and they are. Half the fun of writing is using one's imagination and getting as creative and detail-oriented as possible. I made the common writing "rookie" errors and described the height of some of my characters, too. *Shrugs shoulders*
My characters are not perfect and weren't meant to be constrained to an Elements of Style Strunk and White "This is how you're going to write really damn good books!" saga. I have a copy of that very book and used it for the appropriate college course more than two years ago and seldom took the actual time to read straight through it. I've heard it said so many times, "avoid this and that... and oh, wait... shoot Rosemary, did YOU just 'invent' a word that doesn't exist and use it?" Oh, the humanity! :)
Abide with Me, is my first ever book that took me many long hours and years to write. A very special "thank you" to my patient family, friends and acquaintances along the way that offered their helpful suggestions, critiques and most of all... love.
Did I succeed? I'll let the reader decide that, but where can you purchase a copy? Smashwords and KDP in the near future.
Now for the not-so-glamorous side of uploading your many 'xxxx' number word count trillion pages labor of love-- literally! How long did it take me to write and feel confident enough that Abide with Me was ready for self-publishing? Approximately Twelve years from start to finish. No joke. Toward the end of my finish line, I jotted down my revision process, and in retrospect, wish I kept more meticulous notes about how long it took me to flesh out my protagonists, plots, and all the details I threw in along the way.
The writer in me was practically on pins and needles, and never was my first book dull to write. As time went on, I added more segments here and there, changed my mind (everybody does that), and literally started from scratch and had to think; where do my characters come from (what time era, how do they become what they are).... and then -- bam! There's a new character that just magically appears right in the middle of a scene. I left out who or how this character just stepped in the picture and why.
Oops!
Never throw a new character in a scene and expect your readers to *already* know the new character is part of the regular cast. I trundled back through the scene again, wrote in a few lines and the character now had a reason for being there.
In the beginning when I wrote Abide with Me I had my [then] only central character be a loner-- but.... Nah, something didn't click. I wasn't "happy" with them being a loner in a world full of mortals. I didn't want my protagonist(s) to be anything too terribly different than whats already been written in the past, either. BUT-- I didn't want to follow this new common vampire theme aimed at teenage girls. Abide with Me is NOT a story for young adults or teenagers, period. There's an evil man in the story that's nothing short of psycho and a vile, tyrant-like character. Some of the scenes do contain sex and other adult-themed situations that won't be for everyone.
Now for the "love scenes" as I refer to sex. Was there anything special or different about them? Probably not. The imaginary love scene I see in my mind's eye is different from what the reader will 'see' in theirs. The love scenes could probably use a few more tweaks. My eyes become so strained from staring at the computer glare that I really need to go back at it when I'm not so exhausted from fussing and fighting with numerous book cover loading errors that aren't correct (they often never are right on the first or second or even fifth try). I have very little time to convey an astounding tender or emotionally charged love scenes so the one in the book will have to suffice for the present time. I quit being a perfectionist love scene writer somewhere along the way.
Numerous revisions, editing and proof-reading are one thing. Will my first book ever see the silvery rays of moonlight at this slow-going rate? It wouldn't have if I hadn't just decided on a whim to take the plunge and get it out there. I ran my book through spell check I don't know how many times before uploading it. The scenes might not flow quite right-- and why do I "jump" around in my book and leave out some details and include ones that may or may not help show the reader what's going on? That's like asking me did Christopher Columbus really sail the ocean blue in 1492? Beats me.
And yes, history-- I did have to do a lot of research on that topic for certain scenes throughout my book. My protagonists may seem extremely outdated for the 21st century and they are. Half the fun of writing is using one's imagination and getting as creative and detail-oriented as possible. I made the common writing "rookie" errors and described the height of some of my characters, too. *Shrugs shoulders*
My characters are not perfect and weren't meant to be constrained to an Elements of Style Strunk and White "This is how you're going to write really damn good books!" saga. I have a copy of that very book and used it for the appropriate college course more than two years ago and seldom took the actual time to read straight through it. I've heard it said so many times, "avoid this and that... and oh, wait... shoot Rosemary, did YOU just 'invent' a word that doesn't exist and use it?" Oh, the humanity! :)
Abide with Me, is my first ever book that took me many long hours and years to write. A very special "thank you" to my patient family, friends and acquaintances along the way that offered their helpful suggestions, critiques and most of all... love.