Category: author tips

What Makes a Good Spin-Off?

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Spin-off: by definition, it is “a byproduct or incidental result of a larger project” or “a product marketed by its association with a popular television program, movie, personality, etc”. It’s not quite a sequel, but more of an extension of a smaller component of a larger creation. For example, there’s the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, and its spin-off, Young Sheldon. The Big Bang Theory is the primary show, while Young Sheldon focuses on one character from Big Bang, Sheldon Cooper.

What makes a good spin-off? When it comes to books, I believe it helps to chose one of the most interesting characters or settings from the original book or series. Perhaps, a character the audience didn’t learn very much about in the original story. My Valentine series has led to two spin-offs: Valentine Apart and Lucia and the Saints (and I’m working out the details for a third series, Valentine R). The Apart series focuses on characters other than Valentine; characters the audience didn’t know much about, because the bulk of the series focuses mainly on Valentine herself. I chose the characters that seemed the most interesting, such as Lola Vencent and the Avery siblings. Her Name is Lola Vencent dives into Lola’s background, and her life before she worked for John Rafferty, while Allan and Mac depicts the events that took place before Allan and Mac met Valentine. While each character (or set of characters) received one stand-alone book, Jo Fuentes, another featured character from Valentine , will be the only character to have TWO books: Jo Fuentes The Black Queen and the upcoming Jo Fuentes Project Sleep. 

New cover of Valentine

Spin-off’s need to be interesting. If a boring character, or one is just isn’t memorable is chosen, and all the details about them are boring, the audience will most likely lose interest. Readers like interesting backstories.

A good spin-off, should have a little foreshadowing. There need to be clues and events that connect the spin-off to the larger story. Lucia and the Saints is FILLED WITH FORESHADOWING. This series follows John Rafferty as he rises to become the “villain” readers know him to be in Valentine. It also follows the life of another important character, Lucia Milazzo, who ultimately helps Rafferty gain his power and position in the Syndicate.

Allan and Mac
Her Name is Lola Vencent
Young Kelly McCormick

There are other characters in Valentine that I could have chosen to use in Valentine Apart. Veronica, Val’s cousin, may have been a good candidate. However, since she and Val practically grew up together, and you learn more about both of them throughout the series, I felt it would have been a bit redundant. There’s also Melinda, the orphan Val rescues during her road trip to L.A. Melinda provides a brief recount of her life, prior to meeting Val, but since she’s only fourteen, I didn’t think there would be enough to tell about her, to fill a stand-alone book. But, Allan, Mac, Lola and Jo are all hitmen, with tragic backgrounds that make their stories interesting enough to appear in a stand-alone book.

Several characters make appearances in Lucia and the Saints, aside from Rafferty and Lucia. Vincent and Victor Entienne, Jacob Price, and Allan and Mac Avery, all had to start somewhere, and their entrance into the Syndicate is revealed in this series.

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep is coming soon. The rest is available on Woolaston Entertainment’s site

Woolaston Entertainment & The Public Library

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If you’re an avid reader, writer or publisher, chances are, you have or are currently using the resources at your local public library. However, if you’ve never visited your local library…ain’t no time like the present! Come on! Get in there! Free books and internet access? Are you kidding me ? I’m pro-library, and not because I have worked at two of them. Public libraries are a must. For writers and publishers, they are a great way to introduce your books to new readers. I’m not just a patron of the library, I’m in the library. Literally.

There is at least one Woolaston Entertainment book available in the following public library systems:

Queens Public Library in New York

Norfolk Public Library in Virginia

Newport News Public Library in Virginia

Hampton Public Library in Virginia

Patagonia Public Library in Arizona

As I continue to publish, I hope to extend my reach to other library systems (although Arizona is a pretty good stretch from New York and Virginia!). If you’re a published author (self-published or otherwise) I highly recommend working with your local public library and adding your work to their collection. It’s a great way to introduce yourself to the public and gain some new readers.

Woolaston Entertainment

Research and Planning in Writing

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I once read a short story, which took place in the 1960’s. There was a scene in which a character pulled out a cell phone and made a call…which is odd, considering the first mobile phone didn’t come out until 1973. This character was not a time traveler, which simply means, the writer didn’t do enough research before writing their story. 

How much research and planning do you do, before writing your story or book? Some work requires only a little research. Others, require extensive research.

When I wrote the first book in the Valentine series, I used a road map. Yes, an actual road map. In the story, Val Entienne drives from Chicago to L.A. to find her father, and I wanted her to use route 66. I also wanted to make sure I had her drive through states route 66 passed through. To some readers, this probably wouldn’t matter. To an anal-retentive like me, it matters, and I’ll give you an example of why.

I’m a New Yorker, and if you’ve been watching films or television shows for the past thirty years or more, you’ve noticed how many films and shows are recorded in New York. Take Law and Order, for example. I can watch an episode, and recognize a landmark or a street, because the show takes place in New York. While watching a scene in John Wick: Chapter Two, I thought, “I know The Continnental isn’t real, but I can tell from surrounding landmarks where its supposed to be located”.  Little details like that can make a huge difference. So, if I’m reading a story, and a character says they’ll meet another character in Chelsea, on 125th Street in New York, I know that’s a mistake. 125th Street is in Harlem, not Chelsea.

I can’t afford a slip-up such as having a character appear to be too young during a particular arc of the storyline.

I’m working on a series thats a prequel to Valentine, and one key detail I needed to focus on, are the characters’ ages. I ended up making a chart of how old certain characters were in the Valentine series, so I could calculate how old they should be in the prequel, Lucia and the Saints, should I need to use them. 

ages

Val Entienne is 19 when the Valentine series begins, but she’s only 3 during Lucia, so there’s a good chance she won’t be mentioned in the prequel. Again, this may not matter to some readers, but for those who are paying attention, I can’t afford a slip-up such as having a character appear to be too young during a particular arc of the storyline.

Careful planning went into Our Lady of Righteous Rage’s Righteous, too. In this book, the band goes on their first national tour, via an R.V.. I calculated the amount of hours it would take to drive from city to city, to make the story more accurate. For instance, it takes at least two hours to drive from New York to Philadelphia. Anything less than that, would be incorrect. 

I also keep a list of fake birthdays for my characters, so I can have them age appropriately, as the story progresses. If a character starts out as a fourteen year old, and the story takes place across six years, by the end they should be twenty. If they’re only seventeen by the end of story, there’s a problem. This became very important in the Our Lady series, which begins in the 1990’s and goes from there. 

If you decide to use certain landmarks in your story, such as stores or restaurants, and you’re focusing on a particular time frame, you may want to make sure those landmarks still exist, or existed during the time in which your story takes place. I wanted to use the famous CBGB in Our Lady, but the time within the story I wanted to use it, wouldn’t have worked, since CBGB closed in 2006. 

Just a little food for thought. 

Woolaston Entertainment

Slowly Page-Breaking My Way Through My Ebooks…

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For anyone out there who has ever published an ebook, you know how important it is to make sure the manuscript you upload is formatted correctly. This can be–well, annoying. What looks good in whatever program you’re using to type your manuscript, may not transfer correctly, when you upload it to whichever service you decide to use to publish. For me, it’s Amazon’s KDP. At first, KDP and I didn’t get along–at all. Oil and water, I tell ya! But now we’re friends, because I finally figured out where to place my page breaks. 

For the past two weeks, I have been working my way through my ebooks (and my mother’s ebooks), correcting the page breaks. I’m happy to say, I’m nearly finished. Of the 27 books published under Woolaston Entertainment, I have corrected 22 (I never published an ebook for the original Our Lady of Righteous Rage, and I’m not planning to anytime soon). I now have 4 books left, and I should have them completed by middle of next week, by June 19 (June 20, the latest). What can I say: every day is a learning experience. At first, I looked at the horribly formatted versions of the ebooks as a failure, but now I see them differently. To quote Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, “To do something that you feel in your heart that’s great, you need to make a lot of mistakes. Anything that’s successful is a series of mistakes”. Truer words were never spoken. 

Learning to make friends with Page Breaks

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I must confess: as a writer, I have never used Page Breaks before. I’m used to simply typing my manuscript, starting new chapters on the next blank page, and then fighting with Create Space/KDP as I upload the manuscript, over and over again, due to formatting issues. However, I recently used Page Breaks to fix the manuscript for my latest book, Rock N Role Model.  And, I have to admit, they saved the day…and my sanity. 

Typing my manuscript in a “continuous” style is a bit uncomfortable for me. I’m not used to it, and it’s going to be a big change. But, I’m adaptable. This is a change I’m willing to make, for the sake of my writing. 

So, it looks like KDP and I are friends again. 

Confidence Boost

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Happy Saturday, everyone! I wanted to share a piece of good news. I started my Books For Books Campaign at the very end of February, in order to increase sales for my website, and make donations to organizations in need. So far, it’s been one sale here, one sale there. It’s slow going, but it is only the beginning of March, so I decided to remain hopeful. But you know how it goes: you try something new, you go into it with high expectations, and when it doesn’t go as planned, you feel a little let down. Then, a customer reached out to me on Facebook’s Messenger. She asked about some of my books, and we talked about writing and publishing. I figured, maybe she’ll order a book, and I can match the order with a donation. The following morning, I checked my email, and received an unexpected surprise. 

She had placed a $100 order! She order ALL of my bundles, and two copies of The Witch of Fulton Lane. I was completely shocked. I contacted her to make sure the order was correct (and it was). I thanked her for the order, and I let her know her books would be in the mail by Monday. Even now, I’m still in shock.

100dollarorder
My first major order!

This order isn’t just a boost for Woolaston Entertainment. It helped me regain my confidence as a writer and a business woman (just in time for International Women’s Day, which is even more awesome!) Plus, I will match the order by donating books to the organizations I selected. 

To my customer: I promised not to mention you by name in my posts, but I have to thank you again for your support. I greatly appreciate it 🙂

Even when things look dark, and you feel like what you’re doing is pointless and you feel like saying, “Forget it. I’m done. I give up”, you have to keep going. Sometimes it takes a long while to get to where you want to be, but you will eventually get there.

I’m still matching purchases through my Books For Books Campaign: I will donate a book for every book that is purchased. 

Thanks for reading. 

woolastonentertainment.com

Old School Writing

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Like many of my fellow writers here, I have a day job, which ties up much of my free time. My previous day job came with some useful perks: computers with Microsoft Word, internet access, and downtime, which gave me the freedom I needed to write. This current job, doesn’t have any of those perks. So, I try to make the most of my free time when I can, when it comes to writing.

Not having computer access during those eight to nine hour work days, is kind of a drag. But, I did manage to find a silver lining. I bought a fresh notebook, and when I had a quiet moment at work, I started working on a draft of Rock N Role Model, the next companion book in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. So far, I’ve written sixteen chapters and 132 pages. Considering that I work five days a week, and my commute to and from work is a bit time consuming, this is actually pretty good for me. Any progress is good progress.

20190120_183111

 

With Woolaston Entertainment’s 25th anniversary taking place this year, I’ve been reflecting on how W.E. came to be in the first place. Handwriting books for myself, is a major part of W.E.’s creation. It’s kind of nice to go back to that old-school method of working on a rough draft for one of my next books. I intend to complete this handwritten draft, before I begin typing anything. 

I hope you all have a progressive week. 

woolastonentertainment.com 

Be Inspired!!!!

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With the coming of a new year, it’s time to set some goals, and work towards achieving them. I’m not crazy about making resolutions for New Years, but I do like to set a few goals for myself. For example:

Publish 5 new books:

If I stick to my plan, I can actually pull this one off. Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep, Rock N Role Model, The Witch of Fulton Lane: The Age of the Daughter, Rise, Resist Reform are my first four. With December 2019 marking Woolaston Entertainment’s 25th anniversary, I will definitely put a special book together. So, I at least have 5 books in the works. 

Gain New Readers:

It’s simple. I’m a writer who publishes books. I want people to read those books. I need to put some books in the hands of new readers. I’ll be focusing more on marketing this year. 

take the things you enjoy and let them inspire your writing

Use What Inspires Me and Share It:

I find inspiration through music, my guitars, TV shows and movies, and books. I’ll be sharing more of what inspires me with all of you, and I hope you’ll do the same. Plus, I intend to use more of the things that inspire me,in my writing. Right now, I’m in a musical frame of mind: I’ve been listening to songs I haven’t heard in a while, I’m currently reading Ian Winwood’s Smash! Green Day, the Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the ’90s Punk Explosion. On top of that, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong is writing new music, which is very exciting to this Green Day fan! This has inspired me to work on Rock N Role Model, the next Our Lady companion book.  The Winter Solstice and a love of Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures has given me some fresh ideas for The Age of the Daughter, so I’m ready to work on that book again. 

I believe you should take the things you enjoy and let them inspire your writing. They can be very useful, especially when you find yourself feeling stuck in your work. 

Be inspired, people!