Tale of the Twins: The Re-Vamp

Shush, I'm totally allowed to have a corny pun.

Anyway, yes, I am re-vamping the Tale of the Twins. For those that don't know: I started this self-publishing journey back in March 2010 with the novel The Tale of the Twins (ToT). Yes, five freaking years ago. Go check back to the first post of this blog. I'll wait. Good? Good. *winks*

Moving on, it took me two of those five years to realize the vanity press I had gone through for ToT wasn't helping as I thought they would. Why'd I waste three more years? I was depressed. I still kind of am but that's not the issue here.

I was stuck in the vanity press and didn't know how to get out. I couldn't do any deals for the pricing of the book, I didn't like the cover, and I started to hate the story so I didn't bother marketing it. I didn't even get a sale for four years. My self-published books (unedited and put out in haste) were doing better as a whole than ToT. I'm fairly sure I've had more views to Avalora than I've ever had to ToT and Avalora's only been out for 8 days.

So, I finally said enough and bought back my rights. Basically it was an invisible bit of documentation saying I "owned" the story again. I didn't get images and the inside they did give me is so horribly formatted I can't even use it anyway. I'll have to compare it to the edited version I was given. Yes, it was a major set-back.

Enough of the whining and onto the good news.

I WILL be re-publishing Tale of the Twins this year. I want to read through the entire story again and make a few changes here and there, possibly drop a few characters (not sure yet), definitely drop the general swearing going on, spread out character descriptions better, and tweak a few things. Basically I'll be bringing it more in line with my 2015 writing style.

So when will it come out? I've no idea. This year hopefully before National Novel Writing Month because I need to work on Book 3 for NaNo. It's the only way I'll ever finish the damned series and in order to even write Book 3 I have to revisit Books 1 and 2.

This raises the question of when Book 2 will come out. Well, that depends on YOU. Editing costs money and I refuse to release a full length piece of fiction without proper editing. If you're going to be paying me $3.99-$4.99 for this book I want to make sure you get your money's worth. It's only fair.

So, what have I been doing since I bought my rights back in January? Waiting for the rights to come to me. Yeah I know. But I got them back last month and started putting together a brand-spanking-new cover...as seen below:

Yes, it's similar to the old one but it's something I can be proud of. I never really understood why there was water in the background of the old one or why the heads of both figures looked so fake. Plus Lysandra has her scythe so that's a bonus. I would've given Leopold his guns but it may have looked a bit awkward considering where his hands are...*cough*

I PROMISE I will be taking the time I do have to re-read ToT so it can be updated. Don't hold your breath as it is a huge undertaking as I'm still trying to keep up with Avalora's bi-weekly updates, other novels, and character images for the Avalora crew. Plus maintenance on the website, keeping this blog fairly active and working 8.5 hours a day, not including travel, so yeah. It'll take a while. But Tale of the Twins will return.

And if we're good, maybe this time around Book 2 can be published because I'll gain enough profit from Book 1 to edit Book 2. Then maybe, just maybe, we'll see how the damn thing ends.

Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.

Is it 2013 all ready?

I'm just as shocked as everyone else that it's 2013. It seems like a few days ago it was still November and I was hacking away at NaNo.

Speaking of, I never did put up a NaNo Week 4 blog, did I? Sorry time got away from me again and I failed to catch it until recently.

Anyway, I accomplished my NaNo2012 goal of 200,000 words on the 26th of November. Chosen Ones of the Forbidden Object clocked in at about 152,000 words so I had to finish the novel I started in October to get my final goal. I was supposed to take last month off to edit all eight (yeah EIGHT. I'm shocked about it too) novels that I wrote last year but that didn't go as planned.

I did re-read every novel I wrote last year as well as the two NaNo novels from 2010 and 2011. I also spell-checked, grammar checked and made a few little adjustments to plot and consistency. It wasn't the major editing I was planning but at least I know where they all stand.

Onto new things since this is a new year and all. I'm making a list of goals this year. No, not resolutions. I forget about resolutions within a week of making them. If I call the following my goals then I'm more likely to get them done. My goals for this year:

1) Write 1 million words from Jan 1 to Nov 30: Otherwise known as Milwordy except I'm doing it in 11 months instead of a year. I'm also using a nifty online tracker called Write Track and keeping a running month tally through Notepad (because I'm special). The Notepad file will also have the stories I'm working on and goal reminders that I can't keep in the tracker. Going along with this goal is the goal of finishing about nine (9) novels this year. Why nine? Well, I figure that's how many it'll take to get to a million words.

2) Write 225,000 words for NaNo13: I have to beat the 200,000 from 2012. I made it my goal when I first started NaNo in 2010 that every year after I'd beat my goal by at least 25K. Why? Because I'm freaking nuts like that.

3) Finish Tale of the Twins: URG! Book one was finished in 2009. Book two finished in 2010. Book three? It's still stuck on chapter 6 or something. This was also my goal for last year (September more specifically) but I wasn't feeling it. I know I'll have to read right from the beginning to understand what's going on. I know the basics but there are details I'll probably have to remember at some point.

4) Promote (Blogging, twitter, etc): I need to but I'm not entirely sure where to start. Posting more is obvious but I tend to lack a memory when it comes to logging into things and posting random bits of information. Plus my life is relatively boring (besides writing) so I don't have much to talk about. Unless of course people want to hear about my random musings which may or may not include unicorns.

5) Get into shape, preferably something other than round. I don't mind being round really but I'd like to have the energy I used to when I wasn't so round. Plus I'd like to be able to fit into all my old summer clothes from the year before last.

6) Get my finances in order. This may require finding a new job. As much as I love my job it's not enough anymore and I hate having to choose between paying a bill or buying things I need.

So those are my goals for this year. I know 1 and 2 I can complete without issue so long as I don't break both arms or something crazy. The other four will be challenging for different reasons. Now I know someone out there is wondering why 'Get published' isn't on there. Technically I am published. Self-published yes, but published.

I know I'm not famous but I'm not really aiming to be. It's enough that I get the stories out of my brain. I know, I know, I'm weird for writing without thinking of publishing. Writing is my main interest. Just because it's something I do in my spare time doesn't mean that I want to be famous for it. I'll always write because it's something I do.

I'm going to stop right there simply because I'll get onto a long ramble if I keep going and this blog post will take up fifty pages. Well, not literally but it would be close enough. This is good-bye for now. I'm sure I'll be back eventually so long as time stays where I last put it. It's a tricky thing, time. It tends to wander off when you least expect it or hide when you really want it. Good night and don't let any nasty critters wander off with anything important.

Character Interview: Lysandra

As stated in a previous blog, I'm featuring another character interview on this blog. This is the second of a series of interviews I've done with more characters than most people would consider healthy. Last week Leopold paid a visit to the blog and this week, it's his twin sister Lysandra from Tale of the Twins Book 1: Gathering and Destruction.

Without any further rambling, here we go:

Basic Information:
Age: About 3,000 years Race: Vampire Occupation: Working to join humans and vampires as one cohesive unit and ferreting out the vampires who want to enslave humans.

What motivated you to join humans and vampires? It is horrendous how some of my kind treat humans as mere fodder as if they are nothing but cattle. Your kind is much more than just my kinds’ sustenance. Without humans there would be no vampires and vampires seem to forget that.

What do you mean by that last statement exactly? What I mean is that if were to merely gorge ourselves until there were no humans left, there would be nothing left for us to eat. My kind also seems to forget that without humans doing all the work, we would not have most of the things we take for granted before the war. It was humans who made the great arts, it was humans who made the technological advancements and it was humans who are willing to do the physical labor of rebuilding the world. We vampires merely watched.

Good point. Moving along, describe yourself in four words: Most people would call me intelligent, aloof yet kind-hearted and deadly.

I was thinking more of you telling me what you thought of yourself. It is the same thing. The ones I trust do not lie to me so I believe in their opinions.

Right, well, what’s it like being Leopold’s twin? Leopold is annoying, loud and obnoxious. He generally likes to play by his own rules and tends to follow the haphazard beat of his own drum. Despite it all, he is caring, a little insane and keeps life interesting. I can honestly say that I have never been bored in all my 3,000 years of life. Even when we were alive, he still had the same ability to be both annoying and lovable at the same time. It is quite the talent.

Does it bother you that he’s more magically inclined? It bothers me at times, yes. Then again, he cannot use the range of weapons I can. We each have our own talents that compliment and complete the other.

Has he ever prevented you from having a relationship with another male? Not intentionally I am certain. I have not been interested in having any kind of relationship with other males. Vampires do not have sexual desires so there is no need to seek out the opposite sex to fulfill certain needs. We are dead after all.

So why do some of the younger vampires seem so crazed? Because they were born in a different time. Some older vampires were born in times that did not focus on sex while the younger breed was bombarded with it.

That makes sense. What’s your favorite part in Tale of the Twins? Minus any spoilers mind you. I have two favorite parts for differing reasons: creating our family and the final fight.

Usually vampires don’t seek companionship, why create the family? Well, Leopold and I needed help to save the world.

Right, any final words to give to the world? Stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It can become extremely tedious cleaning up after all of you.

Thanks for the insight. You are quite welcome. Though I do not think many will heed it.

Yes, they are opposite in a lot of respects. If you want to learn more about them, you'll have to check out the book. Next week we'll see what it's like inside a flea's mind and will hopefully survive the maze.

Just a note: I'll be working on a series of more "tips and tricks" posts for both authors and non-authors. Also, I'll be doing an update of sorts of what I'm working on (novel-wise) and how far along I've gotten in my writing goals for this year.

If you have any really important questions for Leopold, Lysandra or anyone else you can think of (including me), feel free to post in the comments. I'll do my best to answer.

Until then I leave you with this quote:
"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
-Francis Bacon

Character Interview: Leopold

For those of you who don't know: I keep every idea I've ever had, every note I've ever taken (story wise) and all other paraphernalia having to do with writing in a dresser drawer and a few binders. Actually, I don't think anyone knew that.

Regardless, now that you do I'll forge ahead. Last week (Thursday) I mentioned that I write character interviews. Why did I mention this? Well, I found some. They were hand written, half in and half out of the margins of a notebook at the bottom of my notebook stash. Yes, I'm the strange woman with a notebook stash.

After reading a few, I decided to type them up because ink fades and there's some good stuff there. I spent the weekend reorganizing my dresser drawer and my binders before typing up a few of my old interviews. I realized that instead of interviewing from the third person, I pretended that I was actually speaking with the character in question.

Does that make me a little crazy? Eh, maybe. I don't really mind because at the very least, it keeps me entertained.

Anyway, enough with the rambling. As stated in the title, here's Leopold from Tale of the Twins Book 1: Gathering and Destruction

Basic information:
Age: About 3000 years Race: Vampire Occupation: Saving the world.

What motivated you to save the world? Boredom, actually, Lys wanted to and I just went along with it.

Do you often just go along with what Lysandra says? Most the time, yeah. She is the brains of the group for a reason. I’m just around to look good and provide back-up *laughs*

Okay...describe yourself in four words: Hmm, only four? Damn. Um, hm. Oh! I’m a gun-crazed, magic-wielding, ass-kicking vampire.

You cheated. No I didn’t, I just like double words. A lot. Yeah. Can I say ass-kicking during this? Not that I really care but I figured I’d make sure.

Yes you can. Now, next question: What’s it like being Lysandra’s twin? Lysandra can come off as all cold and distant but she’s really not. She cares a lot about her family, well, namely me and er, the rest of the guys but, um, I lost my train of thought. It kind of like blew off the tracks. Anyway, it’s kind of cool having her as a twin, I mean, we’re connected and all that B.S so I’m never really alone. Actually, that’s a good and bad thing depending on the situation. I kind of wish she’d of been male too because I’d love to totally freak the Hell out of people by just randomly going by my twin’s name. That’d be awesome.

You only want her to be male to screw with people’s heads? Yep. I like messing with people, it’s fun.

Is that why you act so strange? Naw, I just act weird because I am weird. It’s one of those things, you know?

Not really but regardless, what’s your favorite part in Tale of the Twins? Without spoilers mind you. Aww, no spoilers? Damn. Well, I’ll say one word then: Abby.

That’s actually really sweet. Yeah, I’m a sucker for keeping pets.

No pun intended? Pun totally intended.

I should have known. Any final words to give to the world? This is where I should be saying something poetic and thought provoking. Screw it. I’m the best character, love me and enjoy my craziness.

Thanks, I think. No problem, it was my pleasure.

For those of you who don't know who Leopold is, you just met him. Of course if you want to read the story he's in just pick up a copy of Tale of the Twins here.

Who's Lysandra? Well, his twin of course. I'll post her interview sometime next week. Until then I'm going back to writing my fingers off and wandering around in my fantasy worlds. I might tell you about the trip at some point, I'm sure it'll be fun.