Rebecca needs a powerful necromancer to banish the demon tormenting her.
Holden could save her.
But only if he learns to control the dark power inside him.
<3 Anna
It’s always an exhilarating feeling to write “the end” on a story I’ve worked really hard on. And then begin a whole new story, full of exciting possibilities.
I’m a third of the way through a new trilogy. I can’t wait until it’s done and I can share it with all of you!
<3 Anna
I spot the nursing station and decide to hold a little sanity test. “Excuse me,” I say to the nearest female, a young woman with way too much foundation on her face. “Do you see the man standing behind me?” I glance back to double-check he’s still there. He is.
“Who?”
I look again. “Is there a person right there?” I point. “See him?”
She leans way over the counter. “Where?”
It’s official. I’m hallucinating. “Never mind.”
The Night Trevor’s Soul Came Loose ms pg 8
<3 Anna
Author Bio: Katherine Ganzel is a married mother of two, who found herself with too much time on her hands when her children reached their late teens. Looking for something to do, she began writing a love story based on an idea she’d had since she was a teenager. 20 months later, she is completing the sequel to that story. Her books, Stolen Hearts and Love You Forever, have been posted on Wattpad.com, a free reading and writing website, under the user name KatherineArlene. The chapters of both books have been read over 1,000,000 times combined. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, two daughters, three cats and two dogs.
Anna Abner: Welcome, Katherine. Let’s start with what made you post your novels to Wattpad rather than an online retailer like Amazon?
Katherine Ganzel: I had never written anything before, so the idea of pursuing self-publishing never occurred to me. After working almost nonstop for 6 months, I felt I’d produced a fairly well written love story. I thought there might be a few people who would enjoy reading it as much as I did, but at the same time it was a somewhat dark story that dealt with mature subjects and I wasn’t exactly comfortable having people I knew read it. My whole goal with going on Wattpad was to share it with anyone who might be interested while remaining completely anonymous.
AA: That makes perfect sense! Then, what is the best part of sharing your writing on Wattpad?
KG: The most unique part of being an author on Wattpad is the interaction you’re able to have with the readers. At the end of each chapter readers can make comments on what they’ve read which you can reply to, as well as giving it a vote. They can also ‘follow’ you, which is similar to following on Twitter. That allows you to send group messages to them and they also receive notifications as soon as you upload a chapter or start a new story. Each user, whether they’re a reader or author, has a profile where you can leave personal messages as well. I think it’s also unique because authors can be more proactive in reaching out to readers. You can see when someone adds your book to their library or votes on a chapter which gives you the opportunity to thank them.
AA: Would you recommend Wattpad to new writers?
KG: I would definitely recommend WP for new authors! The best part for me was getting so much feedback from regular readers. First of all, just hearing they loved my story was a huge deal for me. At the same time they let me know what parts they were responding well to, and they also pointed out problems, some of which were easily fixed with editing and some were huge plot holes I had no idea existed. Since my story had a lot of mysterious elements, I was able to weave in those loose ends as I wrote the sequel. I’m extremely grateful I posted my work on Wattpad first because the story that I ended up writing was a lot different from what I intended to write. If I hadn’t had that feedback from my readers it wouldn’t have turned out nearly as well as it did. Wattpad is also a great place to meet other authors. It’s an incredibly supportive community and I’ve made some really good friends there.
AA: You’ve mentioned how much you love music. Do you write to any specific artists or genres?
KG: I wish I could write to music but I’m one of those people who has to have silence when I’m working because I’m easily distracted. When I’m not writing, I listen to music all the time and I enjoy almost all genres but electronic dance music is what’s usually playing on my iPod. Music is an incredible inspiration to me and I can point to certain scenes that were inspired or shaped by a song I heard. One of the cool things about Wattpad is the ability to add YouTube videos to your chapters. Since both my characters play the piano a lot in Stolen Hearts, I included a lot of piano music videos. I wrote a list of all the songs I used in the story and posted it as the last chapter so readers could make their own Stolen Hearts playlist.
AA: Speaking of Stolen Hearts, which is great by the way, do you feel like your writing is more character or plot driven?
KG: Definitely more character driven. I started Stolen Hearts with a basic idea, a young man, Robert, wakes up and finds he’s been kidnapped and being held a prisoner with a girl, Georgie, whom he assumes is one of the kidnappers. The story that came after that, Robert coming to terms with his captivity, realizing Georgie wasn’t exactly who she seemed and then falling in love with her, just flowed out of me and was driven by the choices the characters made. I had to be a lot more structured when I wrote Love You Forever because I needed a resolution to the story that included the answers to all the mysteries. I also used flashbacks to tell what happened after Robert was released while in the current storyline he struggles with severe depression and P.T.S.D. after what he’s been through. That required me to be a lot more careful with my plotting, but even then the characters sometimes surprised me with the choices they made.
AA: When you started Stolen Hearts did you know it would be part of a series or did it just end up that way?
KG: When I began posting the chapters on Wattpad I didn’t have an end to Robert and Georgie’s story because I’d run out of ideas. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time because I wasn’t sure anyone was going to read it. After a few months, I’d built up a fan base of regular readers and realized I better start thinking about the ending. It was clear that Stolen Hearts should end with Robert being taken out the prison, not knowing what was going to happen to Georgie, since the story was going to change dramatically after that. What I’d already written after Robert was released, pointed me in the direction I should take Love You Forever to it’s final conclusion.
AA: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?
KG: I knit quite a bit and make my own yarn on a spinning wheel. I also enjoy doing bead work and making my own jewelry. Oh, and I love to read.
AA: What advice would you give to struggling writers just starting out?
KG: Write what you love and don’t let anything take that enjoyment from you. So few authors find success and for the millions who don’t, it can be terribly demoralizing. Even on Wattpad there are extremely successful authors, ones with huge fan bases and who rack up millions of reads on their stories. I realized early on I would go crazy if I spent my time worrying if I would ever be that successful. I also believe that if you love what you’re writing, someone else will too. I guess you can say I’m an optimist.
AA: Are there pieces of your writing that will never see the light of day?
KG: I guess I’m lucky that I’m so new at writing there isn’t too much terrible stuff lying around but I wrote a retelling of a fairy tale before Stolen Hearts that was pretty darn awful. No one will ever be allowed to see that.
AA: Fair enough! What can you tell us about future projects (which I’m sure are not terrible at all)?
KG: My next story has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while as I’ve been finishing Love You Forever. It will be a love story that takes place in the late 1950’s and center around a girl and two boys, but it won’t be a love triangle. Since it’s not planned out completely, it’s hard for me to talk about it in depth but it will be dark and mysterious, just the sort of thing readers of Stolen Hearts will love, and I’ll be posting it on Wattpad. I’m also mulling over the possibility of self-publishing Stolen Hearts and Love You Forever, but they need a lot of work before I take that next step.
Contact Katherine:
Wattpad profile
Facebook page
Twitter @misskitty64
<3 Anna
Monday Katherine Ganzel will be stopping by to answer a few questions about her two novels, Stolen Hearts and Love You Forever, as well as her Wattpad experience.
See you then!
<3 Anna
You can read the original review here. Or check out the copy below:
Welcome back to the world of necromancers, witches, spells and a dark caster out to destroy the world complete with a cute love story tied up as a bow on top of the package. The story continues from the first book with Holden and Rebecca where witch Daniela disappears shortly after helping them. It turns out Daniela was abducted by evil casters Carver and Jeff who need her magic for their own selfish needs. The story starts with Daniela and heart throb hero David in captivity at the hands of Carver and Jeff.
David and Daniela do have some kind of romantic history together but it wasn’t a good one so you can imagine how awkward it is to realize you are captured with a person you did have such a history with. Out of desperation, David and Daniela do escape with the price that Daniela’s powers are bounded and hindered. This puts David in the position to tap into his hidden necromancer abilities which he didn’t know he had. In this journey to fight Carver and Jeff’s evil clutches all the while saving Cole who is Daniela’s friend from going insane from a spell, freeing Daniela’s powers, honing David’s necromancer skills, setting a troubled teenage girl straight and protecting David’s four year old son. With all that being said, you would think they have a lot on their plate.
Despite all that, there is a lot of romantic development between the couple that I really enjoyed. At first they are awkward and tense around each other but you see the growing chemistry show itself more and more. If you thought Holden and Rebecca are steamy, David and Daniela take it up another notch more. Yum! What I really appreciate about the couple is that while it is normal to have emotional or romantic baggage and they both had their fair share of baggage, they worked with each other on it. One of the aspects that I really liked about this story was the whole second chance at love facet. I can say I fell in love with David and Daniela, they are such likeable characters! David and Daniela both possess that selflessness and are always ready to help a friend in need. They are also described as one sexy couple that for some reason they remind me of Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum by the way they are physically described. I love the balance of this book where one facet wasn’t skimped whether it was the building love story, the overall story arc of the series, the little cameos of Holden and Rebecca from the first book and the really cool paranormal aspects. There was not a part where I felt like the story dragged but kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
I highly recommend the series to a friend and I look forward to more books in the series.
Xtina
<3 Anna
My inaugural newsletter is posting Friday, Sep. 13. Sign up on this form to be involved from the ground floor.
I’m so excited to be able to share new projects, updates, and all the fun things going on at AnnaAbner.com with you.
<3 Anna
I’m in a Twilight mood today. Bonus–a Lifehouse song. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8_OBaNlcpw
<3 Anna
Katherine is a rising star on Wattpad, a popular new story sharing site. Look for the exclusive Q&A about her Wattpad experience on Monday, Sep. 16.
Until then, read her bio below and visit her online at www.facebook.com/AuthorKatherineGanzel and @misskitty64.
Author Bio:
Katherine Ganzel is a married mother of two who found herself with too much time on her hands when her children reached their late teens. Looking for something to do, she began writing a love story based on an idea she’d had since she was a teenager. Twenty months later, she is completing the sequel to that story. Her books, Stolen Hearts and Love You Forever, have been posted on Wattpad.com, a free reading and writing website, under the user name KatherineArlene. The chapters of both books have been read over 1,000,000 times combined. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, two daughters, three cats and two dogs.
<3 Anna
You can read the original review here.
Bitten by Paranormal’s Review:
We briefly meet Dani when she helps our main characters in book one, Spell of Summoning. A preschool teacher and powerful witch, Dani has a fear that if she physically touches someone, she may accidentally hurt them with her powers. David on the other hand, is a perfectly normal human – with no special powers or abilities that he is aware of. So why did these crazy people kidnap him and Dani – and why do they think he’s a necromancer?
A lot of the history between Dani and David comes out in the beginning while they are locked in the basement – but the first part of the story moved a little slow for my taste. Once they escaped from the basement things got a lot better story-wise. David was forced to confront the fact that he may be more than he thinks he is – and he will have to deal with it and learn how to use it in order to save his son and Dani.
David was a great character. I love when people don’t blindly accept it when they discover the paranormal in books. David fought it tooth and nail and it made it that much easier to just fall into the story. His fear for the safely of his son drags him kicking and screaming into the paranormal world. Dani’s fear seems a bit irrational at first, and I totally related to David’s feelings towards her. As we learn more about her though, things are explained and her past has it’s own share of hardships.
Dani and David try to find a way to rediscover themselves and find romance in the middle of everything. They seem to be perfectly matched, but their pasts and their present are working both for them and against them.