Trying Something New

At anytime a story idea will come to me. I could be on the bus reading a book or at a church service. My genre is usually romance, but one day another kind of story idea came to me and I had it in my heart to write it out. It would be written in the first person point of view. It is a young adult fiction.

The youngest characters are teenage girls between the age of 16 and 18 and it has been a  very long time since I know what that was like, yet I wrote as the Lord leads me.  WHen I finished, I sent it to an editor and she told me I need to get to know my characters. Write everything down about them. I never do outlines and I felt stumped. What do I do? More importantly what I have gotten myself into? At that point I felt I wanted to give up yet a part of me said, "No."

I asked in a group if they can tell me what their teenage daughters are like. It's called research, but a few of the writers had other ideas: Volunteer in a youth group, get to know them. Right now I am having problems believing it could be possible because we are transportation dependant. We don't have our own transportation to get to church. If there is no one who could take us to church during the holiday season, then how will I be able to volunteer? There must be some other way to delve into a teenage's life. At this point, I am very dependant on God to help me through it.

If you are a parent of a teenage girl, would you be willing to tell me about your teenager?

About My Upcoming Book

When people hear the word "Paranormal". they think ghosts,vampires, shift changers, ghouls,and you name it. But what about witches? Witches are people who practice witchcraft--they have powers that do not come from God. I have a friend who told me he saw nothing paranormal about my story at all. So I did some research. I would advise anyone who has doubts to visit this website: Paranormal Haze .
 Just like vampires, and werewolves, witches are evil too. Of course Wiccans will tell you that they  do good, but all witchcraft is an abomination to God.  There is a lot of evil in my story. But evil is overcome.

My story is Christian. It involves a married Christian couple who becomes victims of a seduction scheme by a brother and sister who are Wiccans,but as I said evil is overcome. God offers forgiveness to the victims and redemption. My heroine gets  a new lease on life and later is able to resist succombing to witchcraft.
It wouldn't be called Jesus Paid It All for nothing, if God didn't forgive them. Jesus died on the cross for all sin except the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Redeeming Marge?

I never thought I would see the day that my redemption plan would fail. What am I talking about? A Second Chance at Love was my second chance at redeeming myself after my former publisher allowed all the mistakes and typos we both made in my book. I rewrote it and thought it was pretty good.

However, my hopes of redeeming myself were dashed: no one wanted to buy my book.

 

I have a friend one Facebook who wanted to help. Although I think my book is fine as it is, there were people who didn't. I let her look at the first three chapters and this is what I am told basically:
 

"You have two many point of views."

Okay so I have to stick with one for each section or chapter.

"Romance readers don't like the Ominscient point of views."

That means I can't let me readers know what certain characters are thinking or feeling at my given time.

Why do they have to be picky? By changing how the POV is written, I have  actually changed the whole dynamic of  my story?  It is no longer  how I have  written it but what others want.

Currently my book is selling for 11.99 but I am thinking of setting at 13.99. Why? Because I am rewriting it to please my picky readers. That book has taken me years to perfect and yet no one is satisfied with the finished product.

Thoughts on Publishing

I am sitting at my desk, working on my masterpiece. My first book is so full of problems that no one wants to buy it! Granted though, that I did pay someone to edit it. I was suppose to be my pride and joy and now its a pain in he you know where. So what to do? Should I leave it on the proverbial shelves and hope that no one noticed, or  take it off? I prefer to take it off that way someone else can't point out every little thing that is wrong.

Before I started writing, I wanted to  have my books published  but not self published. It is like this: It is nice to be a bridesmaid, but wouldn't it be nice to be a bride? Have you ever dreamed or imagine the kind of man you want to marry? Then someone who would just rather not marry would say, "There is nothing wrong with being single: you can do what you want without having being told what to do." That is fine for a spinster, but not for someone with dreams! I am not putting self publishing down, but I had too many headaches and I much rather have someone else take care of all the formatting. etc.  It is nice to have your own freedom to what you want, but it is also nice to have someone special in your life--even if you have to be submissive.

"Yes," you say, "but what if the person you marry gets to be controlling or abusive? What if he puts limitations on you?"

"Well, I doubt God will have someone like that come across my path. He knows who is good for me."

 In fact, if someone does come across like that, it would be  because I didn't wait upon God. This reminds me of my first publisher. I have a friend who had some problems with them so I knew not to ask them to publish my first book. However, instead of listening to my friends' advice, I followed one person's recommendation--someone who I highly valued and trusted and had found my self with a publisher known as a scam!
No, they didn't take my money, but they bogged me down with their "Promotional services", service that really are none at all, and messed up my book, adding a price too high no one wants to buy!  Because I didn't seek God more or first, I got stuck with a no good publisher. I believe if I did, he would have led me to someone better or maybe to self publishing...
 Back to my point, I am pleased that my second book is doing better with reviews, but even with that I had problems. I even had to make some changes after it has been published.
There is digital company that I had thought of using for my upcoming book until I read the pros and cons. Sigh. Again: What do I do? I so wanted to use  Smashword but not if they are so picky with formatting and not great with keeping up with sales and holding back on royalties! My current work in progress is worth more than those headaches. I want what is only the best and it looks like SW is not it. So should I go with a brand new website called Draft2Digital or use KDP all over again? Both are not just worth it but what should I chose? All I can say is: Wait on God. Perhaps I will find out what God has to say.

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Writing a Revenge Story

One of the best ways to get even is writing a revenge story. I saw a post that read that we authors can use people we want in stories so these people should be careful. Well, there are a few who weren't careful and I embarked on a  project that is now out of my league: Writing a crime scene investigation.

In my story, I had a character kidnapped, but he abduction went wrong and someone else killed the character. I even included thoughts and POV from the killer, but to write the investigation, I am lost! I have never seem a real investigation--only what is on TV. I thought I will get my info that way, but someone dropped the bomb on me and now I am discouraged: Should I trash the story or get help? The bomb is: shows like CSI does not portray real life CSI accurately. Well, isn't fiction books the same as fictional shows?  The answer I got was no.

If anyone can help, please do. I feel that I am over my head and wanting to throw in the proverbial towel.

Struggling as a Writer

My Struggles as a Writer

          Whenever I write about me in my books, I write that I have always loved to write stories for as long as I can remember and that is true. I also believe that my “writing” genes came from my grandmother, but she didn’t make writing her full-time job! She had another job. (At least I think she did) 

          When I was younger, I can tell you I had ideas what I wanted to be: an actress, a psychologist, a cashier, but writing?  That was the furthest from my mind! I never claimed to be well versed in the vocabulary. I didn’t go to college to major in English either. I am just a woman with an imagination who can share it with others. I also didn’t want to become an author before I became a teacher. (And believe me, I have received criticism for that to—the educators telling me I should try other professions besides teaching.) But I know God has called me to teach. He has given me the desires to teach kindergarten. Don’t you know that God can use the weak things of the world to shame the strong? Do you know why? If someone is able to do things without His help, he gets no glory! But if they are dependent on him, he does! Look at Gideon! God used 300 men to fight against the vast number of the Midianites! I love what Gideon said as he went out to war: “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”

          I may not be well versed, but I am gifted. The Lord has given me a talent and I refuse to waste it because someone said to me, “You write like a child.” Those aren’t her words, but who else uses elementary words? Children sure don’t have a vast knowledge of words. I write whatever comes to my mind, but I also ask the Lord to help me write too.

          I have said this before, the reason why I rather write and sell later is because I can’t pay people to edit my work, or even proofread it. The Past hunter has been through the fire too many times! After it received a harsh and critical review, I asked some to help me with it and he did! Several people who reviewed my book, liked my book!

          It is hard to get back into writing when someone tells me, it still needs work, but I won’t rewrite it the third time!  I will just learn from my mistakes. For now I am struggling. I am wondering if I should not write anymore if people are going to tell me things I can’t change. The PAST HUNTER is written and published. I know one thing for sure and that is my next WIP will have someone else proofreading it. Who, I don’t know. God will lead me to the next person.