One Hot Mess

So the DARK HUNT tour is nearly over. Sob! I've got one more official guest blog to do (for the wonderful Quinn Smythwood; check out his free Halloween read - it's awesome!) and there may be some extra posts here and there throughout November, but that will be it. Luckily, as dwgjust reminded me on Twitter, DARK HUNT itself will be available for many years to come!

You can still go and comment on any of the blogs throughout the tour and be in with a chance of winning (among other things) T-shirts and ebooks. Behold!

As the title may imply, this week's Writerly Wednesday is all about DARK HUNT. We'll get to the meat of the post shortly, but first, remember the fabulous prizes I've been talking about? The t-shirts, ebooks, postcards, tarot readings, and other exciting things you can win by following the blog tour and commenting on my posts? Well, we've added another one to the mix.

Want to read DARK HUNT but haven't read SILVER KISS yet? Don't worry! Everyone who comments on one of the blog tour posts will receive a Smashwords voucher to download SILVER KISS for free.

For FREE.

So you can read the book that's been called "compelling" and "gritty," and see what lead Ayla and Shannon to Paris for DARK HUNT. Now, speaking of Paris...

"France has a long, dark history with wolves, you know? People do not forget." - Clemence, DARK HUNT.
Once I decided I was going to set book two of the Urban Wolf series in Paris, I knew I wanted to have Ayla and Shannon explore a little of French history. Specifically its werewolf history. In the Middle Ages, when paranoia about witchcraft ran rampant over Europe, France experienced more than its fare share of werewolf hysteria. In 1603 Jean Grenier terrorised St Sever, Gascony, killing many young children. Villagers blamed wolves. Marguerite Poirier, a thirteen-year-old who survived Grenier's savage attack described a wolf-like beast as her assailant. Grenier himself, when caught, boasted of taking a wolf's shape to hunt and eat young children.

How could I not weave that kind of history into my book?

"Stupid thing was, back then wolves were still in hiding," I complained, staring at Grenier's beastly face. "Grenier was probably just a random madman, but because of people like him, we get lumbered with the child-eating reputation." - Ayla, DARK HUNT.
After he was caught and arrested, Grenier confessed to every killing and claimed to be a werewolf. In Ayla's world, that's a very real possibility. In the Urban Wolf universe, werewolves have only been living out in the open since World War I, so every tale of witchcraft, vampirism, and werewolfism...could well be true.

In 1572, Gilles Garnier stole children from the French town of Dole to feed his new wife. Authorities issued an edict encouraging people to find and kill the werewolf. When he was caught, Gilles claimed he used a magic ointment to take on wolf-shape. He was found guilty of witchcraft and lycanthropy and burned at the stake.

Going further back, there are numerous French folk tales and legends revolving around werewolves, from the Werewolf of Auvergne to the Wolves of Paris. In the Urban Wolf world, these might not be legends. They might be true. And if werewolves are real, who knows what else is lurking in the dark? You'll have to read DARK HUNT to find out ^_^

"Some lupine historians thought that once there'd been all kinds of supernatural creatures in the world, not just wolves. Fairies, vampires, other species of shifters...and all wiped out in the Middle Ages." - Ayla, DARK HUNT


(Artwork very kindly provided by dwg. And if you like this, you'll love the DARK HUNT postcards we have!)

It was a good week for:

Cryptozoology! A paleontologist in Massachusetts thinks he's found the lair of the kraken. Interesting side note - Lovecraft's Arkham is in Massachusetts, and the kraken is estimated to be at least 100 feet long. Is it too great a leap to assume this kraken is Cthulhu and this paleontologist is somehow involved in a cult dedicated to rising Cthulhu from R'lyeh?

Probably!

Also, Siberian officials confirm the existence of the Yeti. They've found his supposed bed and stuff he uses to mark his territory. See, this is why we've had no luck finding them in the Himalayas. They all moved to Siberia. If they do actually create a centre dedicated to Yeti science, I am so signing up.

Bad week for:

Women. Topeka, Kansas decriminalised misdemeanor domestic violence this week, due to budget cuts apparently. Nice to know you can put a value on human life... And then there's Personhood USA's attempts to get the Personhood Amendment passed in Mississippi, which would effectively ban abortion and most forms of birth control, and make women who miscarry liable to criminal investigation. Wow. I don't even know what to say. This is just all so disturbing.

ETA - Topeka DA says he will prosecute domestic violence cases after all.

Next week:

So let's end on a light note, shall we? As you may have detected if you saw my earlier blog post, Monday 17th October is the release date for DARK HUNT! OMG! We're planning a whole ton of fun stuff for the next few weeks, so stay tuned! But in the mean time, here's the cover and blurb to get you all excited.


Ayla Hammond is taking on Paris. 

Hoping for a romantic getaway in the City of Lights with her girlfriend, Shannon, she finds a city under the dark thrall of Le Monstre. 

Getting caught up in mystery and murder was the last thing Ayla and Shannon expected in the City of Love, but as the body count grows and tension rises between Parisian werewolves and humans they find themselves stalked by an unknown terror. 

What is Le Monstre and why does it make Ayla's wolf want to turn tail and run? Can it be stopped before they become its next victims?

So I'm revisiting the whole decision to self-publish at the moment, for a number of reasons previously discussed. Since June, my indie sales have plummeted and this month I've sold two books so far. That's pretty dismal. Reading about the Kindle Boards, it seems like a lot of people are seeing the same slump, but I don't really find that reassuring so much as depressing.

I already pulled NIGHT AND CHAOS and found a new home for it (I haven't signed the contracts yet, so I won't say much else because... well, there's not much else to say). WILD is probably next. I was determined to stick with self-publishing for the Vargulf Trilogy because WILD has been a tough book to categorise and that's made it a tough sell. It's not quite YA, it's not quite adult, it's not quite a romance but it's not a straight UF. I'd hoped it would find a niche through self-publishing, but I think I lack the marketing muscle to find readers who will love it.

It's currently on submission at two places, and a third has invited me to submit it to one of their lines when they open it for submissions in October. The third place is actually my first choice, so now I'm eagerly counting down to October 1st so I can be all, "hey, remember me?"

I'm glad I tried indie publishing this year but I don't plan to publish any more novels that way for the foreseeable future. Shorter pieces, yes - people are still buying UNGRATEFUL DEAD even though they could have it for free, so that's gratifying. But for me, for now, the future is not indie. I haven't achieved what I wanted to with it, and although I could stick with it and see if the theory of "ebooks are forever so readers will find you" holds true, that's not going to help my career right now.

Instead I want to focus on building on the works I already have out there. I've been pretty unfocused this year writing-wise, because I've spent a lot of time worrying about marketing, promotion, sales figures, and other stuff. Once Night Breed is finished, I'm going back to Shoregrave. I want to finish Halflife by the end of the year and make a start on the next Ethan project, Undertow. I also have plans for a trilogy set in Shoregrave featuring all-new characters.

I'm contracted for two more Urban Wolf books and I'd hope to sign on for more if possible. I want Shoregrave and Urban Wolf to be the focus for the immediate future and since both series already have publishers I'm very happy with, I see no reason not to continue working with them and really building a name for myself. I think I tried to spread myself too thinly this year and I don't need to. 2011 was the year of trying new things. I'd like 2012 to just be the year of Nome.

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning it, just leave a comment here.

I am now officially on holiday! Yay! I'll hopefully spend the first half of the week finishing off some editing assignments, then the second half writing. As usual, I have so many things I want to work on. There are actually several projects I want to wrap up before the end of the year - namely, the rewrite of NIGHT AND CHAOS, finishing Halflife, and at least starting the next Ethan project. I'm sure at least one of those things will not happen, but we'll see. In the mean time, there's Urban Wolf stuff to be done!

Give me absolute freedom in which to do whatever I want, and I will usually panic and just watch hours of Come Dine With Me. Kyle and I are almost terminally incapable of making choices between us; ask one what the other wants for dinner and they'll reply "you decide," at which point the asker will panic and just watch hours of Come Dine With Me order in pizza to avoid the responsibility of making a decision.

I'd like to say I'm less flakey when it comes to writing, and that I just sit my arse down every night and work on a project until it's done, dammit, but the truth is unless I have a deadline, I'm lot more ... relaxed in my approach. I don't really buy into the muse myth, but if there is a muse for Nome, she's fickle and unreliable. So since I finished the edits for DEMONISED, instead of cracking on with Blood and Bones, Wild, and Halflife like I told myself I would, I've just been messing around with stuff. There's the tessa_morelock novella, the anthologies I'm editing, and some half-baked ideas about kelpies. It's not that I'm lazy about my writing, but I am easily distracted by Shiny Things.

This needs to stop! No more Shiny Things! So I've made a list of things to do in March and April. Keeping in mind that I'll be starting Urban Wolf 3 in May, this seems like plenty to be getting on with in the mean time:

1. Finish the Tessa novella. 1k a day should wrap it up by the end of the week, I think.
2. Finish editing Wild. Ideally I'd like this done by the end of March so I can publish it in April.
3. Make significant progress on Blood and Bones and Halflife. I'm not really giving myself a specific goal to aim for, because if I don't achieve it, I'll just feel bad about myself, and nobody wants that. But it would be nice to be close to finishing first drafts on both by the end of April.

I've also got guest blogs and horoscopes to write, and I need to send DEMONISED off to some reviewers, but those should be quick n'dirty tasks, so I'm not counting them in the list. So! It's March 8th! I have fifty three days to accomplish three things. That seems pretty damn achievable.

So it turns out there's a novel being released this year called Blood Hunt that features lesbian werewolves and vampires, and it's not by me. I know, right? What are the odds? (It sounds good though; I'm probably going to pick up the first in the series on pay day but that's by the by).

The point is, given the eerie similarities between my book and this one, we've decided a title change is in order. So BLOOD HUNT, the second book in the Urban Wolf series, is now going to be DARK HUNT. Yay! I have to say, I like it a lot. My editor suggested it along with a bunch of others, and it just jumped out at me. It still fits the mood and themes of the book perfectly.

So I guess I've just given away that there's some vampiric action in DARK HUNT. I don't want to say too much more about the plot because we've yet to put together an official blurb, but yes, there is a vampire and no, it doesn't sparkle, isn't sexy, and isn't looking for a soulmate to alleviate centuries of angsty loneliness. And that's all I'm saying about that.

So, to summarise! DARK HUNT, Urban Wolf book 2, coming 2011. Huzzahs!

Guess what I did this afternoon?

No! I signed a contract with QueeredFiction for two more Urban Wolf books! 

Huzzahs! That means there's going to be five Urban Wolf books in total! I am so happy and excited, I might have to use more exclamation marks!

I really am delighted. I've been so awed and humbled by the responses to SILVER KISS, and I hope everyone enjoys BLOOD HUNT and the next three books in this series just as much. I've got loads of big ideas for Ayla and Shannon (and Glory), and I can't wait to write them all ^_^

So, I figure if I write at least 1k a day throughout July and August, I'll nail BLOOD HUNT. The first draft anyway. Ideally I will write more than that, especially at the weekends, but since 1k today has made my entire arm a raging mass of agony, I don't want to push it. Even with my wrist brace, various potions and unguents, and the physio exercises, I'm still struggling. But 1k is a nice, easy target, one I have surpassed this afternoon by writing 1,500 words anyway. Huzzahs!

 

8522 / 70000 words. 12% done!

The more I write, the more certain I am I made the right choice to start over and go in a different direction. The mystery is set-up, the main players are almost all in place, and Ayla is delightfully annoyed that her first night in Paris was spent babysitting a pregnant werewolf. But I've said too much...