The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

I’m very happy to be included in this Blog hop! It’s the first time for me to do anything like this and I’m happy to participate. I was tagged by the wonderful Author Diana Nixon (website). I tagged Leesia Champion to continue the blog and post on December 26.

1.) What is the working title of your book?

The title I’m going to use for the book I’m working on at the moment is ‘Guardian, A Fated Pairing.'

2.) Where did the idea come from for the book?

Mary Winstead as Alisa

The idea of this book came actually shortly after I began work on my family Genealogy. We discovered a small cemetery where many of my family members were buried. Within this cemetery we discovered a plaque with the name of the first name presumed buried there by the name Mr. Holiday. I fell in love with the man without a first name whose life was lived out in a place called ‘No man’s land’. Though my main focus wasn't so much about him, but about the character Emilie, peter, and Alisa I still drew on this mysterious person for inspiration hence why he is mentioned and vital throughout the book. Mr. Holiday is what started it all for this story.

Alona Tal as Emilie 

3.) What genre does your book fall under?

This book would fall in the adult paranormal romance and fantasy genres. Yes children this book is 18 and older. I don’t normally write sexual scenes, but I think everyone will get a bit of enjoyment out of them. ;)

4.) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

Alisa-Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Emilie-Alona Tal, Peter-Alex Pettyfer, and  Gates-Michael Rosenbaum. Their pictures are floating around the blog.

5.) What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

It’s a book about overcoming differences and finding love.

6.) Will your book be self-published of represented by an agency?

My book will be self-published and found on Amazon. I've done my first two books that way and I seem to be alright. why stop now? :)

7.) How long did it take you to write the first draft to your manuscript?

I wrote the very first draft in about twenty days or so for my NaNoWriMo this past November.

8.) What other books would you compare this too within the genre?

I would hope you couldn't really compare my works to others. I want them to stand only from what other people write, but I can't be the true judge of that. I'll leave that for the readers to decide.

Alex Pettyfer as Peter

9.) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

 I guess the thanks would go to my family since I was working on genealogy when I found the cemetery with Mr. Holiday's burial mound. So a big thanks to my wonderful family and all my ancestors!

10.) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Cryer Cemetery is real. Leesville is real. I tried to use pieces of myself and parts of my home to create this world for Alisa and Peter. Of course, I embellished details to keep it within the realm of fiction. And before anyone asks I did not go grave digging as fun as that sounds. :)

You can find out more about me, Brenda Franklin, and all my works on Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. have a great day.

Review of Old Magic by Marianne Curley

Old Magic by Marianne Curley:

Kate Warren is instantly enchanted by the new boy, Jarrod Thornton from the very second he steps into the classroom and it is made quickly apparent that he isn't just any normal boy. When he is bullied a storm suddenly forms outside and Kate is the only one who believes he is the one that conjured it. Even Jarrod thinks she’s mad when she begins to confront him with her magical nonsense, but is it? Jarrod can’t deny his attraction towards her, but can he really truly believe everything she is saying is true and if it is will they really be able to jump back in time to fix the curse that is tied deep into his blood?

This book is filled with lovable characters, a love story you can’t resist, knowledge about history, and a knack for making the magical seem real. Along with the world of magic she ties in one of the most common thing any child can relate in and that would be peer pressure and the need to fit into a group. It is nice when a character overcomes such pressures and I think by the end of the book any reader will want to congratulate the main characters at how far they have grown by the end of the book. It’s always a pleasure to see such a development in characters. I give her four stars out of five.

You can learn more about her on her website and buy her books here.

By Brenda Franklin author of the Pulse Trilogy, a Paranormal Romance series. Book one and two, A Steady Pulse and Barely Beating, can be found on amazon. Book three Flat Line will be coming out in the Spring of 2013.

Songs of the Wind by Diana Nixon REVIEW

Diana has done it again! She has created a wonderful mash up of mystery, romance, humor, and magic in her second installment in the Love Lines series known as Songs of the Wind. Picking up right where she left off in Love Lines with Eileen's love, Chrstian kidnapped. Eileen and Evan--along with the help from their friends--search and fight for not only to save Christian, but to figure out the answers to several questions.

Things start to get complicated. Don't worry though! Diana has you covered as she has written you just enough to keep you in toe with her characters, but not enough to give away every secret. You will learn more about character backstory's, the bonds of love and friendship, who wants to kill Eileen, and much more.

As I was reading I realized I wasn't simply reading a good book, I WAS Eileen, Evan, and Christian at one point thanks to Diana having pulled off their POVs better than I could have imagined. This isn't a one person show, this is the telling of several people creating for a fun filled read, so don't be too upset when you're Eileen one moment and Evan the next. Hearing it from both sides add to the meat of this story and helps you to gain a better feel of everyone. Even the villains! Everyone is well rounded and her use of dialogue is as though you're friends are in the room having the conversations, other than the magical speak its real!

The world of Dever and magic had suddenly become my reality yet again--after having fallen in love with the first book--and if it weren't for my schedule and need for sleep I don't know how else I would have torn myself away from her book. If you haven't read her series I suggest you give it a shot! Pick up Love Lines and take a bite; you won't be able to get enough. The only sad thing is that I have to wait for the next one especially after teasing me in the end with one of her amazing twists! Oh, how I yearn to read what's next in the series and to follow her wonderfully complicated and extraordinary growing cast of characters.

I must also take a moment to thank Diana Nixon for allowing me an advance copy. It was mouth watering my good and I only wish I had the next book to satisfy my craving. I look forward to reading the next installment in the Love Lines series and without a doubt I would recommend this to anyone. You can't go wrong with a great read like this!

Follow the author through her:

• Official page, 
• Facebook page, or
• Twitter page

Her books are available here through this link.

Book Previews!!

  

Love Lines

The traces of supernatural powers have always been crossing the world of human beings. Many people know about the existence of healers, mind readers, oneiromancers and wizards. But for centuries their lives have been kept secret and no one has ever heard about one special place, where those gifted people studied.

Neither has Eileen Clark, whose life has never been different from the one other teenagers have.

But one day everything changes. Eileen finds out that she belongs to the mysterious world of unnatural and the destiny leads her to Dever - a closed university for the people like her.

Nothing will ever be the same again.

New life, new friends, new enemies.

But the true love will never let her down. It will help to go through everything.

Songs of the Wind

Losing Christian hasn’t been easy for Eileen. But she’s not going to give up. Now she has to find a way to bring him back from the magical dream, where he was taken by Eric Lanster. Together with her friend Evan, Eileen goes to France – Meridin’s motherland, where she hopes to find out the mysteries of the dream’s magic. In a small town named Fontainbleau they meet a wizard, who turns out to know a lot of their secrets.

Determined to help Eileen, Evan agrees to complete some special dream piercing training. But he can’t even imagine what he has put himself into. The magic of dreams keeps a lot of secrets. The spells are dangerous and their consequences no one is able to predict.
 

Friends can become enemies.

The ones they used to call their family can become traitors.

But the ones they love will always be there to help.

By Brenda Franklin paranormal romance author of the Pulse Trilogy. Book 1: A Steady Pulse and Book 2: Barely Beating are located on both Smashwords and Amazon. Thank you for reading. :)

To Become a Better Writer (MY POV)

I have never been more determined to make a name for myself then now. Up until October 9th of 2011 I had been working at an Ice Cream Parlor for three some odd years. After several months of no longer working there, my husband, Shawn took up a stalking position to help support us. I couldn’t have asked for a better guy.

I guess up until mid-year, around June or July, I loved writing but I guess I really didn’t know what it takes to make a good writer. I spent so much time working on just one story that I forgot about all the other things like: book covers, blurbs, getting my name out there, starting a social media connection with people, and many more things. I was just set on writing that one good story which would “make” my career.

In the end I struggled to figure out why people didn’t want to read my work when it came out, or why people weren’t really even viewing it, but it was my fault. Just posting your book up and expecting it to be a big success isn’t going to work. Writing the book is only part of the battle, becoming a good sale person and pitching it is also a big part of it. If you can’t convince people that they want to read your book, than no one will.

The first thing I needed to do was take a step back and view what I was doing was wrong and see how I could correct it. Mind you this is after having written something.

1: I needed to get specific. Break down: What would I love to write about? What kind of genres does it fit in? Poetry or Prose? Fiction or nonfiction?

2: Once I figured out my style of writing at that moment it was time to dust off my social skills and connect to people. I created an Author bio in third person, a small set of information such as: likes, dislikes, favorite books, movies, ect… A couple of pictures of myself after having decided I would use my real name on my stories (Some people use pen names as they are testing out the water.). I created a Twitter account, A Facebook personal page and Author’s page, and a Blogger account which I have linked to my Gmail. You want to spread the word of your story as far as you can reach and these are just some of the places to do it. Mind you that honestly is good no matter what you are doing and you shouldn’t feel these pages with false information to discredit you in any way.

3: Now as I begun to establish my connections I needed to check my work. Go back to my manuscript and edit it. I also needed to provide a good cover. For those in which neither is an easy task you will be surprise what joining an author’s group on facebook can do. You will run across people that will volunteer to help edit, people who create covers, and those that will review your book. All of them are great. They are your friends. So I had to get over the fact that I would be spending money at some point, but use what you have first. If you have an editor in the family, don’t be afraid to slid your manuscript their way and promise a little mention or something. If you have a Photoshop pro in the house ask them if they could help, but if you don’t you may need to hire someone and its okay. A good cover will help to increase sales.

4: As I waited to hear back from people about creating a cover (and keeping up with my social media) I needed to take the next biggest step. I had to decide where my manuscript would go. At first I figured just Smashwords, which is a free online eBook website, but after thinking about it I realized that I wasn’t limited to just one site. Every free eBook site you go to has a different style guide and thus more work, but in the end it’s worth it. So I placed my manuscript not only on smashwords, but Amazon as well. Amazon is viewed and recognized by a much larger crowd and thus is makes sense to get publish with them. You can also put it up on Lulu.com, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads. The good thing about Smashwords is that once your story is up it isn’t just up on the smashwords page, but they spread it so several other sites which is explained on their website.

5: After I figured out where my manuscript was going I began to sale it. I created a short blurb (a short summary which would be vital to help me sale it), little sales pitches, blogged excerpts for people to get a taste of what was to come, set up a date for when people could buy it, and spread the word as far as I could go. (You can never go far enough so no matter what keep trying to sale it, even after you’ve published.)

6: Once I had the manuscript edited, a nice cover, a blurb, a good working title (which you should have come up with early on), and what appeared to be several people backing me up I submitted it and announced to the public is was online and ready for purchasing.

7: Continue to write! This is the most important step that I have come to realize.

You shouldn’t expect to make it big off of one story and this was my biggest mistake. I thought, I could do it, but I couldn’t it. Yes, I was heartbroken when I realized my sales weren’t going up and yes I questioned if it was possible, but after stepping back and walking through the steps above I launched my book again on Amazon this time with a new cover and a new thirst for success! I received the gratification I had been looking for and received a few sales. It was these sales that gave me the little spark I needed to continue on.

I had accomplished becoming a self-published author, receiving a good review, plenty of compliments, and many new friends and supporters. In this moment you must take in all the good and try not to get a big head. Take your new found drive and put it into the next thing you are writing. That’s the secret. Keep writing.

1: Make a writing schedule and stick to it.

2: Create not only long stories but short ones.

3: Promote all your works as often as you can without spamming.

4: Last, but not least, it is okay if it’s free.

Making a story free isn’t a bad thing. You’re not losing money if you do it right. If you wrote a Trilogy and you give the first one away, depending if they loved it or not, you just created a potential buyer for the next two books! That’s one more person you didn’t have before who could tell a friend and give you more buyer. Making a short story free allows people to get a taste for what you write and a chance to review your other works.

In the end it all comes down to you, the writer. It is rare to strike it rich early on and many people won’t make enough of a profit in this field to no longer need a part time or full time job, but what you can take away from this is the fulfillment and enjoyment of bringing others into your world or to bring a smile to a child’s face.

And to those that do strike it rich, do not forget what it took to get you there nor the people that assisted you along the way.

My name is Brenda Franklin and I am a Writer by day and Vampire by night. J You can reach me on Twitter, Facebook, my Author page, or continue through my Blog. If you would love to read any of my works (including the FREE ones) you can find them on Smashwords. I also have Book One of The Pulse Trilogy, A Steady Pulse on Amazon.

Please feel free to leave a message and tell me what you think. :)