Planning for the Apocalypse

With the vast amounts of apocalyptic and post apocalyptic movies, shows, and books the genre has really beefed up in the last five or so years. One of the fun things about movies that feature the apocalypse, whether it be brought on by zombies, a plague, or a huge natural disaster, is watching the characters survive.

Something I find funny is that no one is ever prepared. In the zombie movies, no one seems to know the "rules" about zombie. They waste tons of time and tons of people figuring out that you have to shoot them in the head, but is it really believable that not one of the people in the group has seen a zombie movie? Most movies seem to pretend that they don't even exist. But people talk about it all the time. My husband and I both talk about our plan for the apocalypse and how we're going to survive. And we have plenty of conversations with friends and relatives about the same. It's a silly, fun thing that we do and who knows, maybe some time we'll need it. Especially with the supposed 2012 end of the world hype.

But everyone in the movies, whether it be for zombies or natural disasters, never seem to know what they're doing. And sure, it's possible that the story of characters with a plan is less interesting than the story of characters without, but this lack of characters with a plan makes for excellent conversations after the movie. So, I decided that I'd share our apocalypse plan, which varies depending on the the type of apocalypse.

-Decide what sort of apocalypse. Depending of the type of apocalypse we are experiencing, I will have to choose the next steps differently. Also, if Husband is at work or away from me, wait for him to return and fortify the apartment. If I'm at work or out, find a way home that will not include me dying.
-Find a safe place to hold up until the worst is over. If it's a plague, stay home and stay away from large groups of people. If it's zombies, find a Sam's Club, Costco, or any other warehouse-style store. If it's a natural disaster, find a tornado bunker or other sturdy building (unless the disaster is a series of insane earthquakes).
-Get supplies. The best part about finding a warehouse-style store to take refuge in, you will likely find everything you need. In some states, you can even buy your weapons there.
-Fortifying the safe house and barricade all doors and windows.
-Wait it out, or keep the perimeter safe.
-If we run out of supplies or the safe house is no longer safe, then we move to a new one.
-Repeat steps 2-6 until society either rebuilds its self or we build/join our own.


Also, for fun, here are five of my favourites from the Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalypic genre.

1. Falling Skies (TV show on SyFy, which I enjoy a zillion times more than The Walking Dead. And coming from a rabid zombie lover, that should say something.)
2. The Stand by Stephen King (The book, but the mini-series is okay too)
3. Dance of the Dead (Comedy/Horror movie about teens and zombies and prom. It's epically hilarious, but also rated R for those who worry about that sort of thing.)
4. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (YA and a fantastic book)
5. 2012 (This one's PG-13 for those who need to know, and has John Cusack... which, of course, is also important to know. lol)

[READER RESPONSE] Planning for the apocalypse is fun. Do you have a plan? What is your apocalypse plan? And if you think it's too stupid to have a plan for a likely never to happen apocalypse, that's okay. Instead, you can tell us your top 5 movies, tv shows, or books that have to do with the apocalypse or post-apocalypse.

New covers!

So, I've been a busy beaver over the weekend and into part of this week. The first draft of Land of No Mortals is nearing the halfway mark for completion, and I've been doing a bunch of other publishing related things that have kept me quite productive. An artist by the name of Karri Klawiter has designed two covers for me over this weekend and start of the week and I thought I'd share them with you.

As we know, Picture Evil has gone through a couple of cover changes before. Nothing seemed to really work for that poor, disturbing story, but I think Karri really captured the heart of it with the cover she did for me. She did an amazing job!

The next one is for a new short story that was recently published in Dark Ascension: A Demon Anthology. Doppelganger really deserved its own spotlight outside of the anthology and Karri did an excellent job of designing the perfect cover for it. This short story should be available in a couple of days.

Pretty neat, huh?

Researching the Post-Apocalyptic World

How is it possible to research and write about a world where there is no electricity, every day pleasantries such as new cloths, easy transportation, and easy meals are no longer an option? One of the most fascinating and fun things about writing a world with so much technology but no way to use it, is trying to figure out alternatives that are not too far outside the realm of possibility. Sure, the world of Land of No Angels has earthly magic, but that doesn't mean people can just magically fix things like lack of electricity or lack of food.

When I wrote Land of No Angels (and am currently writing its sequel), I had to do a lot of research about what the world would be like if there was an apocalypse and a lot of people were gone. I remember finding this fantastic page that gave a general timeline of how long electricity could stay on without human interaction depending on how their electricity was gotten. It also had a timeline of how plant life would overgrow and what the buildings would do. It was really interesting stuff.

Some excellent questions crop up when writing about a post-apocalyptic world. My favourite one was: How would an average girl survive on her own? And that's half of what sparked the book(s) idea. Other things I grew very interested in were small things like: What sort of foods would be eaten? Sure, for a while canned goods would work out, but what about when those were gone? Would people have to revert back to the ways of hunting and gathering? In the Land of No Angels universe, many of the typical animals like deer, horses, dogs, cats, bears, birds, etc. have disappeared. How long will it take before this fact royally screws up the ecosystem?

I had to do some interesting research for the second book. How to make a cake-like food for a celebration without things like chicken eggs, milk, baking powder, flour, an oven etc. Even though it's never explained how it was done in the book, it was important for me to understand whether or not it could even be done and if so, how would one go about producing such a thing. I'm sure they made such things when ovens were not invented, even if they were different than they are now.

One of the fun things I had to research in the first book was how to feed an infant without breast milk and without formula. The Ashford girls end up using cans of evaporated milk and water they had stored in their tornado bunker, which is far from good for the baby. But in my research, I discovered that 40+ years ago, it was actually used for babies. It was an interesting way to solve this problem.

Even though it's impossible to know how things would work in a post-apocalyptic world, it's so fun to make conjecture based on things we know, or can guess, or by using research from things that happened a long time ago.

Happy New Years!

Wow, it's amazing that today starts the first of a new year. This means, reflection and goal-setting time. If you are into that sort of thing. Which, I'm great at the setting part, but not so great at the following through part. All in all, 2011 had some real bad times and some really great times.

I moved twice this year, was pretty much homeless for a while, couldn't find work, etc etc. But I also wrote and published a novel. That in its self was epically amazing. I also earned my MFA in Creative Writing and wrote and published four more short stories. So, those things were great. One of the best things, though, was that my Husband and I finally made it back out to Kansas and are doing better. We have a place to live, we make enough money to survive, and I have a job that is part time but makes enough money to help support us so that I can have time to write as well. Pretty good year in the end, despite the bad.

For 2012, I imagine it's going to be great. Hopefully, anyway. My number one biggest goal for the new year is to learn to focus and maximise my productivity. I have issues with following through on things, even if they are important, unless it's for something like school or a job with foreseeable negative impacts like getting a B or losing your job. I started an exercise in productivity a week or so ago, and I will work on it some more to see if I can retrain myself to stay focused and work my ass off to do the things I want and love. Since all of those horrible, negative things that happened last year should not effect me any more, I will be able to get writing things done without feeling guilty too.

My second goal is to write three (3) novels next year. It's a huge stretch for me, but if I can get myself focused and productive, it really shouldn't be too hard. Ideally, I'd like to also publish those three. It would be great to write and publish a short story every other month too, but I don't want to push it to the point of no getting anything done.

I want to make 2012 a great year, not only for my writing and my business, but for me to have some fun too. There was so much stress last year that 2012 should be the year of awesome. I'm going to try my damnedest to make everything I want come true.

Also, there had better be snow in 2012, or so help me... *shakes fist*

I wish for the best 2012 for everyone and hope you all had a great 2011! Let me know if you have any cool 2012 goals or plans too!

N.R. Wick's Top Ten PG-13 Horror Movies

I love horror movies. Shocking, right? B-horror, teen horror, slasher movies, 80s horror. I love them all. Some of you might be wondering why I chose to list the top five best PG-13 horror movies rather than just any old horror movie. We all know the R rated ones can show the most boob and the most spilling guts, but there's something to be said about those that have been rated PG-13. Besides, I write books primarily for teens and young adults, so I wanted to make a top five that they could see without using a fake ID.

So, here we have it. N.R. Wick's top Ten PG-13 horror movies.

10. Prom Night - I know, I totally went here. While this movie is completely filled with cliches, it's a pretty good slasher film for teens. Also, there is some surprisingly fantastic cinematography in a couple scenes... if you're into that sort of thing.

9. The Haunting in Connecticut - Kyle Gallner is amazing. Also, Casey Jones Elias Koteas is in it. Half of the appeal of this movie is the two of them, but there are some other great things about it like spewing ectoplasm.

8. One Missed Call - Shannyn Sossamon has the emotional range of a rock, but this one's creepy. Who wouldn't be scared by getting a phone call from a dead friend and a message of themselves being killed?

7. White Noise - Great movie with Batman Michael Keaton obsessing over EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena). Have to admit that I love stories like this one, but I won't say much about it because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it.

6. The Ring - Let's face it, this one never gets old.

5.The Mothman Prophecies - This is another one of my favorite types of stories. Some may or may not classify this as straight out horror, but it's a great movie.

4. Lady in White - Kind of old, but I love this one.

3. Last Exorcism - Not your typical exorcism movie, and it's shot in a documentary style.

2. Insidious - This one is a pretty recent one and it was not only creepy, but it's got a few fresh tropes in. Also, the paranormal investigators are darkly hilarious.

1. 1408 - Probably one of my favorites movies in general. How can you go wrong with a Stephen King story and JOHN CUSACK? You just can't. This one reminds me a little of the Silent Hill games (NOT movie).

There we have it. Trust me, it was hard to decide on only ten since there are many other awesome PG-13 horror movies.

[Edited] I wanted to add two that are technically rated R but I'm not really sure why. They aren't any worse than the ones on my list, and they are really great movies. The first is People Under the Stairs, which is an older movie, but it's creepy and funny and disturbing. The other, is The Orphanage, which is a foreign film, and is amazing.

[READER RESPONSE: What's your favourite PG-13 (or lower rating) horror movie?]

I Refuse to "Dumb Down" My Writing

A very interesting topic on vocabulary popped up on an writer's discussion board I participate in where someone questioned why an author would choose a "fancy" word over a more commonly known word. First, I wonder what a "fancy" word is. Is it just a word out of the reader's known vocabulary? Or is it a word that is rarely used in general public during this time period? Is it a word that is way too formal for the story/narrative? And really, is it a big deal if the author uses a word you don't know? Sure, you had to pull yourself out of the story to look it up, but now you know a new word. Education is always good, even while entertaining yourself.

As a writer, I refuse to "dumb down" my words, especially when I know it's the appropriate word. It's insulting to my readers. And I'll be honest, I don't have a huge or "fancy" vocabulary, but I DO write for children, teens, and young adults. Because of this, I have to be aware of what words I choose. For example, I had several fantastic beta readers for Land of No Angels, but had one mention that I should consider changing a word because it may be too advanced for the YA audience. The word was "equidistant", which I don't think is a very "fancy" or advanced word, but I considered the comment before ultimately keeping the word.

Had the book been a Middle Grade I may have changed it, but because it's a Young Adult book and my target audience is between 15-20, I felt that if they didn't already know this word, then they should. Don't YAs learn this word in high school math? I'm pretty sure they do. If they don't, then it's a great way to introduce them to the word. Why use two or more words to describe something that one word can? I trust that my readers are smart enough to either know the word, guess what the word means, or to educate themselves and look up its meaning.

Now, if the "fancy" words are used arbitrarily for no other reason other than to abuse the thesaurus and try to make the writing sound smart, that's where I draw the line. It tends to be easier to point out these instances since the vocabulary tends to be awkward when read with the rest of the story.

In the end, as long as the vocabulary is appropriate to the style, time period, narrator, and the audience, I don't see a reason to "dumb it down".

Writing The Opposite Gender

So, today's a writing day and because the task ahead of me is so daunting, I'm here procrastinating instead of doing my work. Due to some news and business advice, I decided that instead of working on my Middle Grade novel, I was going to bang out this Young Adult novel that was next on my list. One of the biggest struggles I've come across in writing this story is that the main character is the opposite gender that I am.

I've written male leads before, and I'm by no means a girly girl, but I have to consider my audience, my limited knowledge of the male mind, and the story of this novel when I'm writing. For example, I believe more females read YA than males do, so my book having a male lead could be harmful if not done well. I noticed that of my two published short stories and my novel, the one with a male lead character and male on the cover does not sell as well as my other two. Could it be that the cover is just not as strong as the others? Perhaps, but when I consider how many YA books out there have a male lead, it makes me wonder.

This book I'm working on will have a much stronger romantic element to it than anything else I've written/published thus far, so to help attract the most people, I intend for the cover to show both an attractive male AND an attractive female. Doing so should keep it more neutral. I don't want to give anyone the impression that it's a paranormal romance, because it's a paranormal mystery of sorts, but I think highlighting the romance will help me reach my target audience, which is young adults between 13 and 19.

All that aside, the actual writing can be a challenge at times. In a good way, of course. But how much teenage boy do I want to include in the story before I start losing girl readers? I've been thinking about good YA I've read with male lead characters, and most of them were written by women. For example, Beautiful Creatures is a great book and has a male lead, and while the characters voice was there, I don't recall him feeling very manly. Teenage boys think about boobs and girls and nice legs, don't they? But I don't recall much of these things happening in the YA books with male leads written by women. I'm not saying that they have to overpower the story with the character talking about sex or boobs, but if a girl's blouse is too low or skirt too high and all the character does is mention this like an asexual third party observer, then what does that mean?

It's possible that I'm just over-generalizing teenage boys and that the majority of them don't sneak an (un)intentional glance at an attractive girl's chest when she leans over in her low cut top, or they don't notice long sexy legs in a short skirt. Maybe all of the guys in the books are too effeminate or too much of gentlemen to do such things. Or maybe the women writing the stories don't think it's important enough to mention, and maybe it isn't. I'm not sure, but I always found it strange that the point of view male characters were never as teenage boy-like as they should be. Again, it could just be me not knowing what I'm talking about.

So, how can I convey that this main character is in fact a teenage boy and not a woman trying to write a teenage boy? Voice and characterization are key, but how do I do this without making assumptions or stereotyping the character? An idea I had was in the way they notice things. Generally, I would say men are more visual and women are more intuitive. This is not to say that every single case is exactly the same or that both genders can't be both visual and intuitive. I know this happens and that's fine, but I'm speaking in general terms for the sake of this example. If both a man and a woman were to walk into a restaurant scene, how would their narratives differ? Would their narratives still differ if they were written in 3rd person rather than 1st? As a writer, I would tackle them differently, even in 3rd because the things they notice and the way they notice them would be different between them, not just because they are different people, but because they are different genders too.


[READER INTERACTION]: What are your thoughts on the subject? If you write, how do you tackle this challenge? Know any great examples of an author writing a lead/POV character of the opposite gender?

In Defense of the Thesaurus

The thesaurus is one of those things that can either be beneficial, or it can be the key to your undoing. General consensus deems that the thesaurus is a troublemaker for professional and amateur writers alike. Stephen King has even gone on record to say, "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule."* While I adore him and his writing, maybe I'm just too naive or too inexperienced to agree completely. Another source of my sudden need to defend the thesaurus was in a book I am currently reading, Robert's Rules of Writing. Even though I'm enjoying the book and there are some wonderful little snippets of advice, I can't help but slightly disagree. For example, "Thesaurus words are words you would never use on your own; the fact you had to resort to the thesaurus just to find them proves it." (Masello, 293-98) I don't disagree with this statement completely, but I do have to come to the thesaurus' aid.

I have a confession: I use the thesaurus. Often. All the time, really. My desktop dictionary/thesaurus is open almost the entire time I write or am on my computer at all. Why? Because I don't have a vast vocabulary, nor do I remember the exact meaning of every word I (or anyone else) have ever used. This doesn't mean I lack skill, or that I'm an amateur, or worse: just and idiot. It means that I have a zillion other things going on in my head at one time and I can't always remember things, even when I really do use them on a daily basis.

Let's do a quick scenario. I'm looking for a different word for a colour. It's red, but not the typical cadmium red, or tomato red. Crimson's not quite right either. Also, who wants to use those couple of words over and over again in their writing? Not me. I'm thinking of a dark reddish colour with maybe a hint of purple, but I can't think of the word. I know there's a word for it, but for some reason I can't remember what it's called. It's a word I use plenty in my vocabulary, and, hell, I can even tell you exactly how to mix the paint that will make that exact colour. But for some reason, the word escapes me. Should I put "He wrapped a dark, reddish-purple colored shawl over her shoulders and sat down next to her." and use so many words? Or should I take the two seconds out of my "organic flow" of writing to type in 'red', click enter in my dictionary/thesaurus program, and find BURGUNDY sitting in there among the other different types of red? Heh, which do you think I picked?

This happens to me plenty of times with other things too. Completely common words that I can't think of during my focused writing time. Sometimes I'll just go back and edit, but my brain doesn't work that way. If I'm writing about an imp and it's fleeing from someone, shouldn't I use a better word than 'run'? Maybe that word doesn't reflect how he's actually moving. So let's work through some words I could use: dart, bolt. Okay, sure, those are pretty good. It implies quick movement, which works for an imp. Scamper or scurry would be better, though. Sometimes I can't remember the meanings of words, so I will check the thesaurus and the dictionary to be sure the words mean exactly what I'm visualizing in my head. I don't want to use the word 'run' when I meant the word 'scamper'. Run is NOT the right word. Scamper is. No matter what any other author tries to say. Should I leave it as run because I had to use the thesaurus to remind me of the word scamper?

There are so many different and commonly used words for many things that sometimes, to make the writing clearer and less wordy, it would be better to use one of those words. Maybe I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, or maybe I'm just not as awesome as those who hate on the thesaurus. And I can understand. Some people... even extremely famous authors *cough* abuse the thesaurus with inane synonyms that people haven't used since who knows when. Funny, though, that this same author uses a few other words so many times in the same page that it becomes ridiculous. At any rate, when used well and not mistreated, the thesaurus can be a useful tool. And I'll continue to use it without shame.

[READER RESPONSE] How do you feel about the thesaurus? Do you ever use it? Why or why not?


_{*Quote found on http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Stephen_King}

Dragon Dictate and No Hands Writing

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time working with a dictation software called Dragon Dictate (Formerly known as MacSpeech), and thought I would share my experience and how using such software will optimize my writing experience. First, I'll preface this by saying that Dragon Dictate is the mac version of Dragon Naturally Speaking, only it's more expensive and doesn't work as well. From what I've read, anyway. However, I've found Dictate to be an amazing and fun way to dictate my handwritten work to the computer, and I'm even trying to dictate directly, skipping the handwriting process.

Beginning with the training. When you first get the program, you will have to train it to recognize your voice. The training doesn't take long, though, and you're on your way. You can dictate to a lot of different programs, but I chose to just dictate in the Dragon window, then copy/paste it into my normal program (Scrivener), because it's less buggy in the dragon window. Sometimes in Scrivener it was adding random letters for no reason I could understand or find.

I began officially dictating with chapter two of my next novel project, which is the sequel to Land of No Angels. So, there are a lot of little word quirks, such demon names. Often times if the name sounds like something else, I will have to retrain it almost every time. For example, the demon name Halpas is impossible for the software to understand no matter how many times I retrain or correct it. Often times it won't even show up in the list of words to choose from when trying to correct it. Luckily, the name hasn't come up much, yet, but when it does, I'm going to lose my mind.

There was another name, one that is a normal name and was actually already in the program's vocabulary, that I had trouble with: Nadia. No matter how many times I tried to get it right, the program always changed it to Nokia. In the end, I deleted Nokia from the vocabulary and I haven't had another problem since. This can't be done with Halpas, though, because the words that pop up for that name are words like "help us" or "helpless". Basically, words I will need at some point. Even if I emphasized the 'ah' (as in autumn) and 'a' (as in at), the program changes it to 'hall pass', which, I suppose, is closer than the others, but still not right.

Strangely enough, it immediately had no issues with the name Errol the first time I spoke the name. Though, at times it will now change it to Carol. For the most part, though, it recognizes my words just fine. I enunciate pretty well to begin with, and it does worse when I'm slurring some, but it's not so bad. I correct as I go and am still doing pretty well with productivity. Reading from my two handwritten chapters took a lot less time than typing them. Usually it would take me an entire week to write them out, but this took three days.

Today I decided to try dictating straight from my brain, to my mouth, to the computer for chapter four. This was amazingly difficult to begin with because I like to write things down. Seeing the words makes them more understandable for me. At first, straight dictating felt awkward and I struggled a little, but after a while, I was much better at it. In the end, it was just as fast to dictate than it was to write by hand, and much faster than typing myself. Normally I only write for 30 minutes in an hour because I get distracted and I suffer pain in my hands and wrists. But with dictating, my hands hurt less and I was more focused and interested in what I was doing. Somehow it made me focus more. I'm not sure how, but it did. Perhaps I was more focused because it took a lot more brain power to translate the narrative into speech rather than the silent translation of narrative to my fingers.

A couple awesome things I noticed while straight dictating:
-Dialogue was a lot easier to dictate than narrative and went a lot faster.
-My dialogue felt more real because I was actually having the conversations out loud.

[READER RESPONSE] If you've ever used dictation software, how did/do you like it? Did you find it more or less useful? If you haven't ever used dictation software, would you like to? What problems could come with using such a software?

Themes: Siblings and Family

One of my most favourite themes has to do with family, and particularly siblings. It pops up in my writing a lot and I enjoy writing about brothers and sisters looking out for one another. I'm the eldest of four, and my sister is 7 years younger while my twin brothers are about 8 years younger. It's a pretty big responsibility to be the head sibling. This was especially the case for my family, but despite everything, having siblings is great.

Land of No Angels has a strong theme around family because the main character, Rebecca, only has her sister left. She's the eldest of the Ashford sisters and looks after Errol, who can be a trouble maker at times. In the setting of the book, there is constant danger because of the demons and the idea developed from some of my own fears.

When I was younger, and even now on rare occasions, I would have nightmares about my own siblings and about how I couldn't save them from some horrible monster. Whether it be the evil leprechaun from that terrible (but hilarious) horror movie trying to boil them alive, or a car with no driver trying to run them down in the street, the dreams were a compilation of Eldest Sibling Fears. The fear that you won't be strong enough to look out for them, or the fear that you will be helpless to stop horrible things from happening to them. It doesn't even have to be supernatural like in my books. It can be real things like "Are they making the right decisions?"

These may be more the sort of things parents should worry about for their children rather than the head sibling. However, I love my sister and brothers very much and when I hear about my sister's friends getting into deadly car accidents or my brothers' friends doing stupid things and getting into trouble, I can't help but worry about them. I know that my siblings are smarter than that, but it's still something on my mind. It must be the nature of being the big sister.

[READER RESPONSE:] Are you the "Head Sibling"? Or are you the middle or youngest child? What's it like for you? How do you feel about the theme of family in books?

Two Weeks of Awesome!

So, in case you haven't heard: Land of No Angels is on Sale for a super awesome BIRTHDAY price! Why? Well, because August is the month for birthdays in my family. Mine is on the 19th, my husband on the 27th, and my dad and HIS dad are also in August. So, to honour so many birthdays, I thought it'd be fun to have a sale. It's only going to last through the 14th, so don't miss the chance. Also, if you wish to get your copy through Smashwords, please use coupon code CT22E for the discount.

Also, I'm finally able to show off the book trailer for Land of No Angels. It was super fun to create, and if you missed the blog post where I talked about my process for creating the trailer, you can check it out here!

The cool thing about the two weeks of awesome is that at the end of it, my young adult short story will be available for your reading pleasure. So, yeaaaay!

[READER RESPONSE] This reader response is going to be a bit different. If you were stuck in the demon apocalypse, would you hide, fight, or die? If you would fight, what would be your weapon of choice? Also, name one person you would fight to the death to protect from demons and why?

Special Guest Author: Jerry Hanel

Today we have an excellent guest, Jerry Hanel, author of Death Has a Name, for the release of the second book in his Brodie Wade series, Thaloc Has a Body, and it's very exciting! I'm going to hand this post over to Jerry so he can talk about his awesome new book.

My name is Jerry Hanel, and the book I've written is a paranormal mystery/thriller called Thaloc Has a Body. It is the second book in the Brodie Wade series.

What is a "Thaloc"?
Thaloc was an Egyptian creature that was believed to take the form of anyone. I've embellished the legend of Thaloc slightly, adding a few points from "experts" in order to explain how the villain is connected to the murders, but I tried to stay as true to the original legend as I could.

As far as how Thaloc relates to the paranormal world, thus how he would relate to Brodie's ability, Thaloc was a spirit being, very similar to the western concept of the Grim Reaper. Using that template, you can see that it's not a far cry from the first book, with with an Egyptian twist, and a plot twist that I think will leave the reader stunned and amazed. Time will tell, I suppose.

So, how do you pronounce 'Thaloc'?
I'm not sure, to be honest. I've actually had several differing opinions given to me on that. Some say Thay-lock, others say Thahl-lock. I even had one person quote it gangsta-style; The-lock. For me, I refer to it as Thahl-lock. I guess that's part of the mystery, but also part of the history of this creature. He is an unknown. A black hole. Since he can become so many different things, having a single pronounciation of his name seems almost too rigid. Pronounce it however it is comfortable to you in hour head. I guess that's the best way of all.

How did you come up with the idea for the book?
In the first book, Death Has a Name, Brodie had to confront the Angel of Death and his apprentice. While, I have a personal belief about humans and alternate realms, and such, I always want my characters to battle other humans, not necessarily non-human entities. It just makes for a much more dramatic story, in my mind. In Death Has a Name, I pushed even my own boundaries on that personal rule. Brodie still had to battle the apprentice, but there were a few plot twists that I really struggled with, internally.

For Thaloc Has a Body, I wanted Brodie to have to confront actual flesh-and-blood people, without any gray areas and I thought that a shape-shifter would be the perfect medium to make those encounters much more interesting, while remaining true to the themes started in Death Has a Name.

What do you think readers will enjoy most about your book?
Two words; Jamie Stanford. She is the love interest that was briefly introduced in the first novel. Brodie was so freaked out (as he normally is) by the case at hand, he missed the signs of her trying to flirt with him. In this book, she takes matters into her own hands and invites herself on a date. Through that character, we get to see so much more about Brodie and get past his angst-riddled brain into his heart. He really is a caring man, and Jamie brings out so many facets in Brodie that we've never seen before.

Who is your favourite character?
Picking a favorite is hard. All of my characters are reflections of some aspect of me. Even the villains are the darker side of my past, expounded a thousand times, of course. I mean, I wouldn't want to actually kill someone, much less do it in the way that they do. But I can see how someone could be drawn down those dark paths and deluded into doing the things they do. And even those dark characters have a soul somewhere deep in there that I guess my soul can identify with.

If I absolutely had to choose a character, and my life depended on it, I would say Brodie. He's the unsure, scared little boy inside me that has never really grown up. There are so many qualities to Brodie that make him socially awkward that I can relate. But when you get past those awkward moments, he's probably the nicest, most caring man on the planet.

Do you listen to music while you write, and if so what music for this book or in general?
When I write, I generally have my headphones on, listening to whatever music will set the mood for the scene I'm working on. My favorite bands are "The Letter Black", "Red" and "Thousand Foot Krutch." They all seem to have themes dealing with dark, painful issues, but they all have this brilliant, bright, shining thread of hope, grace and redemption that inspire me, despite their dark themes. I guess I can relate to the music, reflect on my past choices, and apply those to the scene I want to create to come up with the story in my head.

Tell us where to find you online and buy your book.
This series is all over the internet right now; Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc. But I really think Amazon has it down to a science. They give my readers the best price and they are really good to me as an author in the process, so it's a win-win situation.

You can reach me directly on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/JerryHanel

Or on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Jerry-Hanel-Author

I also have a blog:
http://www.jerryhanel.com

Thank you for taking the time today to interview me. I've really enjoyed it.

-Jerry

Thanks a lot Jerry for being a guest here at nrwick.com and good luck with Thaloc Has a Body!

Readers, if you are interested in reading Death Has a Name or Thaloc Has a Body, I've provided links below.

Cover Reveal: The Undertaking

Coming this August! I'm officially announcing my next short story from Dark Ascension: A Demon Anthology. It will be available in ebook formats on August 15th. Check out the awesome cover below.

Joanna was a star gymnast at Pencourt High, had a great social life, and perfect grades until a mysterious pregnancy prompted her parents to remove her from school and away from her friends. Now she’s close to giving birth and strange things are happening to her. Disturbing thoughts plague Joanna’s mind while she fights the burning desire to harm people. Worst of all, a sinister man is stalking her. Does he know what happened to her the night of a party that resulted in her pregnancy? Or will Joanna kill someone before her baby’s born?

The Undertaking is a young adult short story at approximately 5,000 words or 21 pages long.

Also, for anyone who is interested: I designed the cover myself using stock images from IQuitCountingStock and tkrain-stock of deviantART.com
Links to their stock galleries:
http://IQuitCountingStock.deviantart.com
http://tkrain-stock.deviantart.com/

Creating a Book Trailer

The last couple days, I've been creating a book trailer. I know I'm behind on my writing and I'm sure it's just my way to procrastinate, but I think after the nightmarish week I had that I just needed a break and I needed to do something a little different. I read an entire book in one day (which isn't shocking for me, just not something I've done in a while) and I started a book trailer. It's been a blast working on it, and I thought it could be fun to write a blog post about how I tackled the book trailer while I wait for artists to get back to me.

The first thing I did was browse deviantART(dA) for images that I thought would be useful. Links to the images I liked or chose when onto a page in my Land of No Angels Scrivener file, then I took the images to use as place holders. I used about 5 images and have one or two additional ones that I kept as back-ups in case the artists didn't want me using the images. When I decided for sure which ones would be needed in the trailer, I contacted the artists on dA asking permission to use them in my book trailer that will be posted to youtube. (Also, give yourself enough time. Sometimes it can take a week for people to get back to you. Keep that in mind.)

Let's sidetrack for a second to talk about dA and about images and permission and all that good stuff. Before I became an author, I was an artist (click on the art link in the menu bar to see some of what I did) and you know one of the biggest pet peeves of artists is? People jacking their artwork without asking. It's kind of the same for writers, right? Well, some people seem to think that if it's on the internet and/or you can find it by searching google, then it's free use. This is not the case. There are copyright laws in place that do not allow people to randomly take and use images off the internet. And let's face it, it's just plain rude. Plenty of people try to justify it and act like it's no big deal, but it is. Always find the artist and ask for permission, even when it's photography. Always.

As for why I went with dA instead of a stock photography place, there are two reasons. The first is that there is a higher likelihood of being able to use the images for free as long as I credit the artists and link to their work, and second I needed images of demons and apocalyptic settings. It's not exactly easy to find those is stock photography and nothing beats the artsy feel of beautifully crafted artwork and photo manipulations. Yes, I have to wait to upload the finished project until the artists agree to let me use their images, and yes, may have to change some of the images if I'm rejected, but for the most part dA artists are pretty cool and don't usually have a problem as long as you give credit and links.

Anyway, back to the trailer. After I found the images, I wanted to find the perfect background music. It took a bit of time, but I found something I thought fit. Two pieces of royalty free music that I found on Flash Kit. They fit together perfectly and I went through using Audacity (or Cacophony) and spliced them together, did a little looping, and had what I wanted. Husband loved it. It was kind of dark metal, rock, grungy sort of tune, but my best friend (who's also one of my crit partners) didn't like it. She sent me over to Incompetech and we found something that possibly fit better. It's about 38 seconds long and I think it works.

With those parts finished, I needed to script my trailer. This was the hardest part for me. I struggled and struggled and went crazy over how to entice people, get the story across, be interesting without rehashing my book blurb, and have something that worked. I was able to get the first couple of lines out okay. It took a while, but the second half just would not work. There was so much to say about Rebecca and Errol and the adventure and the horror and everything. In the end, I decided that less is more in this case. Cool imagery, good music, and intriguing text that doesn't give too much away are perfect. But, the script took hours to decide on and I hadn't even finished it while I was working on the actual trailer.

Which brings me to how I made the trailer. For this, I used Flash. When there are so many easy programs to use and even ones online that allow you to quickly and easily set up a movie, why did I choose flash? Well, several reasons. I'm familiar with flash. I know how to use it the way I want. Before I was an author, part of my artsy job(s) was to use flash. Worked on a film using Flash, created educational graphics with Flash. All of that fun stuff. So, it was a comfort thing. Some people may use animoto or windows movie maker, but I'm on a mac and I have/know Flash. So, it was the most convenient and easiest option for me.

After spending half of yesterday working on the trailer, it's mostly finished. I'm working out some kinks and I'm adding/syncing the music properly. The only thing left is for the artists to give me permission to use their work and it will be ready to upload. I can't wait to share it with everyone, though.

[READER RESPONSE] Have you ever created a book trailer for your favourite book? Or maybe your own book? Some people like to make music videos too, have you ever done that before? If so, tell us about it!

Writing Challenges

This month, and probably next month, I'm involved with a few writing challenges. Not only am I participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, I'm also participating in A Round of Words in 80 Days.

My goal for Camp is to write 50,000 words in 31 days, while my ROW80 goal is to write a minimum of 1,613 words a day but to aim for 2,000 words a day until I finish this book, then use the rest of the time to type it up and edit like crazy (I'm sure I'll be adding a huge amount of words during the type up since I edit so heavily). These are both pretty doable goals and it will be fantastic because I will have finished writing the sequel to Land of No Angels.

Why do I participate in these challenges? Well, a lot of it has to do with accountability. If I'm a part of something where others are in the same boat as I am, then there's a sense of camaraderie and I have more reason to keep pushing myself to get things done. Also, challenges are fun. You get to see what everyone else is doing, how their doing, and it's just fun to tell people about how you're doing some amazing thing.

Something I've been considering as a way to "up the stakes", as they say, is to maybe become sponsored. NaNoWriMo has this thing where you can become sponsored and have people donate money to the Office of Letters and Lights (the gang who run NaNoWriMo) so they can keep their awesome programs running. The only reason I haven't yet is because I'd like to prove I can win one first. Also, I don't think anyone would donate. Not anyone I know of. How sad is that? It's not their fault, it's mine. So, for now I'm just sticking to the regular "let's write 50,000 words in a month" thing.

READER RESPONSE: Do you participate in any challenges, whether it be writing or art or even sports? Why do you do it and what do you get out of it?

The Great INDIE Summer Read Giveaway - International!

So, between June 15th and July 31st, Coffee Mugged is hosting giveaway of epic proportions. There are 100 books to giveaway and they are all by indie authors, including my own Land of No Angels. Yes, you read that right: 100 BOOKS. Awesome right? Most of them are ebooks, but I recall seeing a few print copies in there too. There's nothing cooler than winning free books, right? RIGHT!

Click here is you want a quick peek at the list of books.

The grand prize winner will get 10 books, and many people will win at least one book as long as there are books available. How cool is that? Very! Best of all, the giveaway is open internationally. Also, there are tons of ways to add extra entries, so be sure to keep up with the daily giveaway posts. If you are as excited as I am, then you should hurry and go sign up! Click on the logo at the top of this post or the logo on the sidebar to the right of this post and enter!

Ebook for Land of No Angels is now available!

I'm thrilled to announce that Land of No Angels is finally available in ebook format through Amazon and through Smashwords. Sadly, Barnes and Noble is having an issue with something on their end that is making the B&N version unavailable right now, but hopefully it will be fixed soon. Luckily, if you own a nook, you can still order the epub version on Smashwords until B&N get their butts in gear.

+Download Land of No Angels for Kindle on Amazon.com
+Download Land of No Angels from Barnes & Noble
+Download Land of No Angels from Smashwords (file types include epub, mobi, pdf, html, rtf, and others.)

The print version of Land of No Angels should be available next week through Amazon, and likely Barnes & Noble, as long as it's not still messed up. Also, there is still a giveaway going on at GoodReads for copies of Land of No Angels. It's ending on the 13th and I'm giving away three copies! Be sure to sign up if you want to enter to win a copy! There's a link on the side bar to the right.

Outlining

I wanted to write a post on outlining today because I've spent the last week or so working on the outline for the sequel to Land of No Angels. And since tomorrow is the start of my 75,000 words in 45 days marathon, I suppose it would be good to talk about outlining.

There are many different ways to outline something. Some people choose not to outline at all (generally called "flying by the seat of your pants" or "pantsing", while others use a very meticulous outlining method called the Snowflake Method or the equally tedious Phase Outlining Method. I'm not going to tell anyone which option is right or wrong, because it would be pointless, but I will tell you that I personally outline everything I do whether it be a short story, a school essay, or a full length novel. That's just how I roll. It works for me because I don't like feeling around in the dark. Too much time will be wasted having me sit there staring at my screen if I don't have some sort of clue.

Even though I am a plotter/outliner, it doesn't mean I go crazy. I don't used any of the methods I mention above because I find them tedious and insane. There's something fun about discovering certain things along the way while still maintaining a sense of structure. Basically, I'll plot out the whole book with a series of plot points, scene points, and other important notes. Once I begin writing the story, I will read through some of the outline in order to know what's going on. Then I will write the scenes and chapter. Sometimes I look back at the outline, others I don't.

When I wrote the outline for Land of No Angels, I'd done a lot of note taking on the post-apocalyptic world. I wrote up a five page outline on it too, but in the end I barely looked at. If I were to compare the original outline to an outline of the actual book and the differences would be immense. In fact, I took a look at the old outline a couple days ago (days before the ebook release date) and realised how many things I forgot to add because they didn't flow with the natural current of the story. Additionally, in the original outline there was a lot less conflict. Everything seemed to be solved with ease and nothing was hard to overcome. But as I wrote the actual story, conflict naturally appeared. A lot of conflict.

So, outlining is always where I start and it's a great thing, but never feel tied down to it. It's kind of the best of both worlds and I intend to keep using this method until it grows into the perfect method.

[Reader Response] Do you outline? Why or why not? What's your pre-writing process?

I have proof!

A proof copy, that is! Muwahahaha! Yes, I received the first proof copy for Land of No Angels and it looks amazing! The artwork is beautiful, the colour perfect, and the interior is so great. I'm quite pleased with the font I chose and the way the inside looks. Now, Husband and I have to go through it with a fine comb to make sure that everything was copied correctly and to double check any spelling or grammar mistakes. It's all very exciting! So, I've posted a couple of pictures for you to see!

Also, before I finish this entry, I'm holding a contest over at GoodReads! I'm giving away THREE (3) copies of the physical book. So, sign up for the contest on the GoodReads website. There's a link to it in the sidebar of this webpage, so go on and enter already! Look for more giveaways coming up in a couple weeks here on this site, and on twitter! I'll be giving away another copy or two of the print book and several copies of the ebook.

Accountability

Today I want to talk about accountability, mainly because I have to have accountability to get things done. I'm a serious procrastinator when it comes to difficult tasks or tasks I don't really enjoy, so it's important for me to hold myself accountable. The difficult thing with this, though, is finding the most effective way to do so.

For example, when I'm doing work for homework, it's easier to get things done because I know my grade depends on it. I also know that I will see results pretty soon after, so it helps me understand that if I choose not to do whatever it is, then I will hurt myself in the long run.

It's also easier when I have a project that is important to someone else. For example, when I was working on edits for my book that needed to get out to a beta reader by a certain time, I knew that I couldn't screw around. If I took too long, then she'd lose her window of opportunity to read it without having to pile it on top of other projects. Since I didn't want to burden her with excess work, I was able to use accountability to get it done on time.

What about a project that has only myself to worry about, though? I still struggle with this. I have a writing timeline that I need to follow if I want to get my stories and books out when I say they should be out. What happens if I don't stick to the timeline? Nothing. Not really, anyway. Nothing really happens because I don't get a bad grade because of it or fail to keep a promise to a friend. There is no visible waste of money, either. But what do I get if I stay on track? Nothing. Again, nothing really... at least not in the short run.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things I get screwed on if I don't, but because they are not immediate, it's much easier to blow them off. For example, the short story I'm still working on, which was supposed to be finished almost a month ago, is just sitting here unfinished. It's not making any money, it's not helping me promote, it's not getting out there to the world. Why? Because I'm procrastinating or doing other things. Not working on it is only hurting myself.

So, how can we come up with ways to hold ourselves accountable when there are not any tangible or immediate consequences? Haha, well, I'm still working on this, but some things that help me are telling people what I'm working on and when they can expect to see it. By giving them a date, I've made it so they will expect something then. On my website, for example, I have release dates for some of my books. They are tentative, really, but having them up there and public helps me a little. If I tell someone that they will see my book in December and they look forward to it, then I'd be stupid to blow it off.

Another thing that works for me is to have writing buddies. Whether I'm word sprinting, at a write in, or #wordmongering on Twitter it's better to have other people around who are in the same boat. If I join in, then they ask "Did you do any writing?" I don't have to feel like an idiot by saying "Dur, nope. No writing." Instead, I force myself to work and get things done.

With all of that said, and of course it is much easier said than done, I'm still working on this whole accountability thing. If I want my dreams to come true, so to speak, I have to work for it. I've got to actually DO things. I can't expect it to happen while I sit around and do nothing, right? Hopefully I can find a good balance and keep myself from backing off when I should be pushing forward.

[READER RESPONSE] How do you create accountability? What things have you done that made you successfully work and finish things when you didn't feel like it. Any words of wisdom or awesome tips?