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Prequels, Sequels, and Companion Books

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Here are my thoughts on 3 kinds of stories. So, for those who don’t know:

Prequel: takes place before the established story

Sequel: follow-up to the established story

Companion: not necessarily a prequel or sequel, but may include characters or theme found in the established story.

I’m going to use my books as examples here (obviously).

 

There was a time when I wasn’t crazy about “prequels”. Especially if I wasn’t aware that’s what I was reading or watching. Later, I realized, prequels can come in handy. They can help establish certain character’s roles, or even answer questions presented in the established story. Even though I wrote it as a companion story, Allan and Mac can also be considered, a prequel.  It introduces characters and events that later become important in the Valentine series. For example, it answers the question of who is watching Val and her friends from over the Grand Central at the end of The Patron Saint.

 

Then, there’s the sequel. A good story deserves a good follow-up. I prefer to have the second leg of the story pick up where the first one left off. Some writers like to throw in a flash back, or a preface, to explain things to anyone who may not be familiar with the first story. I’m going to be honest here: most of the time, when I read a story that is a sequel to another story, I usually skip the preface. While the preface may give you a general idea of what took place in the previous story, it won’t cover every detail. And why read part two of something without reading part one? If you read Fortune’s Wing: Second Flight before reading the original Fortune’s Wing, it would be more difficult for you to follow the events in the story.

 

Companion stories are generally for entertainment. You should be able to enjoy them, whether you’ve read the established story or not. For example, even if you’ve never read the Valentine series, you can still enjoy Allan and Mac, without getting confused, and vice-versa.  In my opinion, a companion story should be able to stand on its own. Even if you haven’t read Our Lady of Righteous Rage, you can read its companion book, Novocaine.

 

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com

Your Fame Will Destroy You: Giveaway

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Greetings, everyone! I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Good Friday, and post a little reminder about the giveaway for “Your Fame Will Destroy You”. The contest is running through March 31. So far, there are 70 entries. The winner will receive a copy of “Your Fame” and a copy of “Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored”. Both copies will be signed by me and the main character, Amy Edwards! (yes, an autograph from a fictional rock star still counts!) So, you still have a few days left! Here’s the link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29246098-your-fame-will-destroy-you?from_search=true&search_version=service

Good luck to all who enter!

 

 

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com

My Do’s and Don’ts for Editing

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When you’re a writer, you find yourself wearing the hat of an editor, too. For me, editing is the worst stage of writing a book. It’s tedious, and boring, and seems to go on forever, depending on the length of the manuscript. While I was very proud on the day I completed a three hundred page manuscript, I was also annoyed because I knew I’d have to sit down and EDIT all three hundred pages. But, it was a learning experience. If you can afford to have someone else do the editing and proofreading for you, kudos to you. But, if you’re like me, you have to do it yourself. I’m not going to label myself an expert on editing and proofreading, but I would like to share some of the things I’ve learned.

Do all of your proofreading at one time.

I used to print a few chapters, edit them, then type a few more chapters, print them, edit them, and so on. This is a mistake. I did this for Valentine, and Fortune’s Wing, and Allan & Mac. These are much shorter books, however, using this method of proofreading and editing, left a lot of room for errors. I also did this for the original Our Lady of Righteous Rage. I must have read that book five times, and there were still a ton of errors after it was published. So, with Novocaine, I decided to try a different approach. I just spent time writing the entire manuscript, without worrying about proofreading. That took a tremendous amount of pressure off of me, because it allowed me to focus on the story. When the manuscript was complete, I printed it and proofread it, then read it a second time. When I received my author’s proof copy, there was only ONE error, which I corrected.

 

Don’t rely solely upon Spell-Check

Spell-check is helpful, but you can’t trust it to catch every mistake. Do you know how many times I’ve typed pf instead of of? More than I can count. Then, there’s dialogue. I have a tendency to use gonna instead of going to in my dialogue, and Spell-check gets me every time.

 

Don’t edit while you’re tired.

I’ve made this mistake. I feel like I’m on a roll, and I don’t want to put the manuscript down. I just want to get it done! But, I have learned to stop if I’m feeling sleepy. Sleepy editing will not benefit your writing. You need to be alert and well-rested.

 

Do read your writing more than once.

Yes, read it several times, to be sure everything is correct. Will you get sick of your own writing? Possibly. But is it worth it? I think so.

 

Do print your manuscript out and read the hard copy.

Should you read it on the computer screen or on your tablet? You could, but why would you want to? It’s stressful on the eyes. Reading a hard copy will help you catch more errors.

 

Valentine 3 Notes

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If you’ve been keeping up with the series (and I hope you have!), then you know a lot has changed since I first introduced Val Entienne and company in 2010. What began as a story about a girl going on a road trip to rescue her father has evolved into something completely different. There are shoot-outs, and hit men, and a Syndicate full of crime bosses. We’re a long way from the road trip, folks.

What’s the theme of the Valentine series? Girls with guns? Violence? If that’s how you choose to look at it, I certainly can’t stop you. But those are not the themes I intended. Valentine, is about family. Our pink-haired heroine only wants to protect the people she loves. She beginning to learn about and understand the world she was basically born into. Valentine, is about the choices we make, and the choices that are made for us. It’s about how our past can shape our present, but ultimately, we can alter the course of our future.

Queen of Hearts picks up where The Patron Saint left off (warning: there may be spoilers here!). Val returns home, and the Entienne house is whole again. But, she’s unaware of the new dangers and new people who are about to enter her life. There’s Michael Aldus: a liaison for the Syndicate. And of course, there’s the Syndicate: the network of crime bosses, hit men, and criminals who work all across the country (and the world). This is the world Val became a part of, when her father started working for John Rafferty. As Val is about to discover, it may have started even earlier than that.

Queen of Hearts answers some questions from the previous books, and presents a few new ones as well. And the ending, will be the big shocker (of course, I won’t tell you here). I’ll be hosting a major giveaway on Goodreads.com at the end of the month, so I’ll keep you posted.

 

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com

Your Best Writing Year; Goodreads.com; Valentine 3

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Hello, everyone! Happy New Year. This is the first Monday Blog for 2016. I decided to start the New Year off on a positive note, so I’m going to offer some advice to my fellow writers. Plus, I’d like to invite all of you to Goodreads.com if you haven’t already signed up, and I’d like to talk a little about Valentine 3.

 

Your Best Writing Year

Whenever New Year’s Day rolls around, people make resolutions. We set goals for ourselves: lose weight, quit smoking, etc. I’m usually not big on resolutions. I just take each day, and do the best I can with it. This year, however, I am going to set a few goals for myself. My mother is about to publish her very first book, and she has asked me for tips and advice. So, I decided to share some of my ideas with my fellow writers. I’m not an expert, but I want to share the things that I have found to be useful over the years. Hopefully, you’ll find at least one of my tips useful, and you will be able to make 2016 your best writing year.

Don’t just be a writer, be a reader. Reading is what inspired me to become a writer in the first place. I have a set of authors I like, for different reasons. For example, I always liked James Howe’s use of dialogue, and his descriptiveness. If there is a particular genre you want to write about, it helps to read other books in that genre. This can help you learn what works and why, and it may also help you find your own writing voice.

Only write when you feel like writing. I don’t tell myself “I will write at least 5 pages a day.” I may be in the mood to write on Monday, but on Tuesday I may not be feeling it. So, if I force myself to write when I’m not in the mood, my writing will most likely SUCK. I won’t be at my best. If you’re sincerely not in the mood to write, don’t. Step away from your computer or notepad, or whatever you’re using.

If you can see it, you can write it. I’m a very visual person. One of my methods, is to see the story in my mind, and then write it. Every chapter of Valentine or Fortune’s Wing is like the episode of a TV series. I watch it in my head, and simply write what I’m seeing. Try to visualize a scene before you write it. You may even want to grab a sheet of paper and draw the scene. For instance, you could draw the layout of one of your character’s bedrooms, to use as a guide when describing it in your writing.

Don’t be afraid of synonyms. There are certain words we overuse, and we really don’t have to. One way to avoid this problem, is by using a Thesaurus. It can be a writer’s best friend. There’s more than one way to say a character is “happy”. They can be “glad”, or “cheerful”, or “overjoyed”.

Try writing from a different point of view. If all of your writing is done in first person, give third person a try. If all of your writing is in third person, try writing in first person.

Write about what you know. I love football, but I don’t know enough about it to write a football story. I also love mysteries, but I’m not good at writing them. What I do know, is punk rock, so I wrote Our Lady of Righteous Rage. I know about family drama, so I was able to write new arcs of the Valentine series. Write about a subject you are familiar with. If you don’t know very much about politics, then writing a political drama may not be a good idea.   If you’re into horror, and you’ve read a lot of horror and seen a lot of horror movies, writing horror might be your thing.

I hope you found these tips useful.

 

 

Goodreads.com

 

If you haven’t already joined Goodreads.com, I urge you to join! It’s free, and you can sign in with your Facebook account. It’s a great website for sharing books you’ve read, discovering new books, and writing reviews. If you’re a writer, you can create an author page and reach a wider audience. Plus, there’s my favorite feature: giveaways. Giveaways are a wonderful way to put your book in the hands of readers, and receive reviews.

 

Valentine 3

 

Valentine 3: Queen of Hearts, the third installment in the series, is currently available on Amazon.com, and through woolastonenterainment.com. One thing that’s very special about this book, is it is the first published WE book to introduce an LGBT character. Plus, it provides some background information about the Entienne family, and Lola Vencent, which may explain why they are the way they are.

 

Until next week, everyone.

New Characters in Valentine 3

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Hello, everyone.  While I am working on 3 manuscripts at once, most of my attention has been focused on Valentine 3: Queen of Hearts.  One of the major themes of this arc of the story is family, and I will be introducing several new characters. Also, you’re going to learn more about The Syndicate: the  “secret” organization of criminals, crime bosses, hitmen, and the like.

Kelly McCormick: one of the few “female gangsters” in the world of Valentine. Kelly’s position is a cross between Rafferty’s and Lola’s. She sets up the hit for various members of the Syndicate, and she even carries out a few of tem herself.

Jo Fuentes: I won’t reveal too much about her here.  I’ll only say, she’s a co-worker of Val’s, at the auto repair shop she lands a job at. Jo is a bit of  a Goth, so she and Val hit it off right away.

Michael Aldus: Keep your eye on this guy. He’s a liaison for the Syndicate.  he’s the one everyone turns to, when they have a job that needs to be done, and they want to hire outside help.

Lorenzo: Another guy to watch out for.  He enters Val’s life very suddenly, and you won’t be able to tell if he’s friend or foe.

I’ll keep you posted….

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com