It’s Almost Spring!
Or, The Weather This Weekend Was So Nice I Went To The Zoo
<3 Anna
Author: Anna Abner
The Music I Write By
Or, A Short Playlist For The Dark Caster Series
My all time favorite song “A Drop in the Ocean” by Ron Pope:
“Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan
“Skinny Love” by Bon Iver
A piano cover of “A Thousand Years” (originally by Christina Perri) by Nef Pagtakhan
The one song I think encompasses Holden Clark is “The Right Way” by Ron Pope, but I couldn’t share it. If you’ve never heard it, check it out. Every time he sings “I just want to live” it gives me goosebumps.
<3 Anna
Community Bookstop 5 Star Review of Spell of Summoning
Or, My First Book Blogger Review
Click here for the original post.
Title: Spell of Summoning
Author: Anna Abner
Publisher: Mild Red Books
Pages: 275
Format: ebook
Source: Author Request Review
Description:
Holden Clark walks into Rebecca Powell’s life, a tall, blue-eyed stranger who stirs long forgotten desires. But nothing, including this man, is what it seems. A dark necromancer is targeting Becca for a full-blown demonic possession. She is thrust into a world she never knew existed—a world where dark casters create chaos and necromancers talk to the dead.
Holden has no faith in his power. A necromancer, he communicates with the dead, but he has never embraced his gifts. Now, he has no choice but to stop the dark caster attacking Rebecca, but accepting this mission means he’ll be delving into dangerous magics he’s never used before.
Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything …
My Thoughts:
This book starts out dragging you into a world with magic and demons and spells attached to Rebecca Powell and it’s up to Holden to save her. While Rebecca is very resistant to this idea, all she knows about magic is about how it’s make believe and doesn’t exist when Holden shows up she assumes he’s some crazy stalker but there are things happening to her that she can’t explain or even fathom.
I loved this book so much it was a great paranormal adventure with many twists and turns letting you wonder who is putting a spell on Becca. I also loved the romance and watching Holden connect with Becca and the way he was able to set his Grams free. Awesome job Ms. Abner did telling this story!
<3 Anna
Tuesday Tease #6
Or, A Short Excerpt from my Upcoming Paranormal Romance Spell of Binding!
David’s kiss wasn’t anything like the fumbling, dry-mouthed kisses Cody Reynolds had plastered against her mouth in that closet ten years ago. Oh, no. David kissed like a guy who knew how to take his time.
Spell of Binding, ms pg. 108
Tuesday Tease #5
Or, A Short Excerpt from my Upcoming Paranormal Romance Spell of Binding!
The man on his knees said one word, “Constringo.”
Fricking necromancers and their hard-ons for Latin. Regardless of the word’s definition, his spell hit Dani hard, burning from her fingertips to her elbows. A dark spider web tattoo crawled up both forearms.
“No.”
He’d bound her magic.
Spell of Binding, ms pg 17
<3 Anna
Spell of Summoning 50% Off at Smashwords
Or, In Honor Of The 1 Month Anniversary Of My Book Launch I’m Discounting Spell of Summoning
Click here and save 50% at Smashwords.
Coupon code: TG29L
Be sure to turn your adult filter off first. 😉
<3 Anna
Scene Cards
Or, How to Fine Tune Scenes During the Revision Stage
There are dozens of types of scene cards and twice as many ways to use them to improve your writing, either in pre-writing or in the editing stage. I took ideas from different sources and designed a scene card that suits my style perfectly. If you’re having trouble visualizing how each individual part of your story works together as a whole, try this.
Each scene gets its own card. Each POV (point of view) character gets his or her own color. Blue for my hero and pink for my heroine (to make it simple). Purple or green for my villain or any secondary character with their own POV. Then, because my novel, Spell of Summoning, is a paranormal romance I also wanted to track how often magic was used or how often a character communicated with a spirit. So I taped a yellow card behind any scene that had magic in it.
Now comes the time consuming part of this exercise. Starting from the beginning of your manuscript, read each scene and note the following details:
- The chapter number / the scene number;
- The date the scene takes place in the story;
- The POV character;
- A quick summarizing title for the scene;
- The POV character’s goal in the scene;
- The POV character’s motivation for that goal in this scene;
- The conflict that keeps the POV character from reaching their scene goal;
- The main characters’ clothing or hair style in this scene;
- The setting.
Here is an example from Spell of Summoning:
I included notes on costume because I never want to forget my hero wore a charcoal gray suit and black tie in the morning and then pulled off a black suit and red tie at the end of the day. Keeping the information on my scene card makes it easier for me to track costumes through multiple scenes in multiple locations.
The GMC (Goal-Motivation-Conflict) on each card is simplified. In my more elaborate pre-writing notes I have written both external and internal GMC for each character in each scene, but the size of the card does not allow me to express all this. Instead, I jot down easy to remember notes that trigger in my head the more complex workings of my characters. However, even having to fill out a simplified GMC chart for each POV character was extremely rewarding.
For example, I got to one scene around the middle of the book that had no conflict at all. I had written a cute little scene where Rebecca is flinging witty dialogue at her receptionist as she marches through her office. When I tried to write her GMC I had quick answers for her goal and her motivation, but I couldn’t think of a single hint of conflict. To give the scene more punch I re-wrote it, took Rebecca’s employee out of the office, and added an awkward phone call, instead. After the re-write, Rebecca doesn’t get what she wants and a new layer is added to her overall arc.
If I hadn’t practiced this scene card exercise I might not have found that scene and I imagine anyone who read the original would have skimmed quickly over it to get to something more exciting.
Finally, because I’m a visual learner, I made space on my bedroom wall and taped each scene card under its chapter heading to see the whole story. Posting the scenes helped me see which characters were getting too much attention and which weren’t getting enough. Plus, I could see how often my villain popped up with his own POV and whether I was using too much or too little magic.
This is a note-taking and scene tracking system that worked for me, and I will use it again on the sequel, Spell of Binding. If I was very organized I would be able to write out scene cards before I started writing the manuscript and lay out every scene, every chapter, and every act exactly as it needs to be in the finished novel. But I’m not. Maybe that will be my next writing goal.
<3 Anna
My First Press Release! :D
Or, An Adorable Little Article About My Book
I didn’t think anything would come of sending press releases to my local and hometown newspapers, but I’m thrilled to say my story was reported in the Hesperia Star Newspaper in my hometown of Hesperia, California today.
Link to the online version here.
Here is a scan:
Here is a photo taken by a fan in Hesperia.
<3 Anna
Interview with 13th Floor Author Christine Rains
Or, Why I Can’t Wait to Read Dragonslayer!
Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. She lives in southern Indiana with her husband and son in a cozy little house stuffed full of books and games. She’s a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. She has twenty short stories and five novellas published.
Anna Abner: First, thank you so much for stopping by on your blog tour for the third novella in the 13th Floor Series, Dragonslayer. Can you start by telling us about your writing schedule?
Christine Rains: As a stay-at-home mom, I have no specific writing schedule. If my son naps, I’ll get an hour or two in the afternoon. I might get an hour at night if I’m lucky. My son also goes to preschool twice a week, and I use those few hours in the morning to write. That is the only time I can be certain I’ll get to write.
AA: Your hero and heroine in 1301 are old enough to have a few wrinkles and a little gray in their hair. What made you choose to write slightly older characters?
CR: I read a lot of paranormal romances. There are a lot of young and rash characters. Even if they’re thousands of years old, they still behave that way. I wanted a couple who were more set in their personalities. I wanted strength through wisdom, and besides, a little gray hair can be sexy.
AA: I agree! Speaking of rash, supernatural characters, do you feel like your writing is more character or plot driven?
CR: Definitely character driven. I focus much more on my characters and let them propel the story forward. One of my idols, Stephen King, has amazing characterization skills. I strive to bring the people who live in my head to life on paper as brilliantly as he does.
AA: I’d say you’re doing a great job. Up to this point you’ve written about demons, vampires, and werewolves. What characters do you have planned for upcoming stories in the series?
CR: In my newest novella, there are dragons. Modern day dragons who are still hoarding and seeking power. The next book will feature a harpy who works for Zeus, and you’ll see my twist to the Greek pantheon. The vampire will return in the fifth story narrated by a banshee named Harriet. Poor girl has a rough life!
AA: 1301 and 1302 take place in Carmine on the same night. Will all the 13th Floor stories take place around that same time?
CR: Yes. All the books will take place around the same time period in the city except for the fourth book which will mostly take place out of this realm of existence. It will still be during the same time as the other stories, though.
AA: How do you develop new characters and story ideas?
CR: A lot of my ideas come from dreams and simple wonderings about the world. I like to play with ideas and characters in my head before I put pen to paper, or rather, fingers to keyboard. I’m a pantser, so all I need is one good character and I can start writing.
AA: When you’re not writing what do you enjoy doing?
CR: I love to spend time with my son and see the world anew through his eyes. I’m an avid reader and movie addict. I also love the outdoors and would happily spend my days walking in the woods if the weather was nice.
AA: What advice would you give to struggling writers just starting out?
CR: Don’t be intimidated by everything you read. Write what you love and don’t stop writing. Not for anything. Never give up on your dreams. Perseverance will see you through.
AA: Finally, what can you tell us about 1303: Dragonslayer?
CR: Dragons have not gone extinct. They have taken on human form and blended in with our society, hiding in plain sight as famous and powerful individuals. While the dragons use their influence to gain more power, dragonslayers are forced into the shadows and deemed outlaws. In my novella, a dragonslayer named Xan misses his target and incurs the dragon’s wrath. He also picks up an unwanted passenger in the form of hard-edged reporter Lois King. She’s a skeptic and won’t believe him, but he must convince her or else they both could die.
AA: Sounds exciting! Thank you again for the interview, and good luck with all your future projects.
Contact Christine:
Website: http://christinerains.net/
Blog: http://christinerains-writer.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@CRainsWriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorchristinerains
Email: [email protected]
Tuesday Tease #4
Or, A Short Excerpt from my Paranormal Romance Spell of Binding!
(Book 2 in the Dark Caster Series is a romance between the witch Daniela Ferraro and David Wilkes, the man she can never have. However, this scene I wrote for the novel in Cole Burkov’s point of view excited me so much I wanted to share it first.)
Cole drew the knife across his forearm, avoiding the raised scars laid out like tally marks. A running count of accessed power. Necromancy had never belonged to him, just lived in his veins.
Blood bubbled up from the new wound and rolled down the length of his arm. Power sizzled into his fingertips.
Spell of Binding, ms pg. 22
<3 Anna