Underdog Characters in YA Fiction

Do you love underdog characters? If you've read my books, you'll know that I sure do! Underdog characters are those who have a disadvantage of some sort in their family, friend group, or greater society, and these characters often star in fantasy books, as well as other genres. In fact, many of my own characters have this trait, and they must discover their own inner power and nature, fighting back against the systems that kept them underdogs in the first place. 

Alyssa from the Supernaturals Underground book series is one such character. Infected by vampirism when she was two, Alyssa was forced to grow up a supernatural creature in a world where simply being anything other than human (or possessing magic) can get you shunned, imprisoned, or worse. She's spent her life hiding her nature and pretending to be what's called a Normal, or someone with no supernatural nature. Sensitivity to sunlight and the inability to eat regular food make her condition worse, and she also deals with killer instincts, requiring her to take dangerous sword-fighting lessons to vent her aggression. 

Of course, there would be no story if Alyssa weren't forced to confront her inner hatred for her own nature, as well as society's view of paranormal creatures. When the city's authorities kidnap her father (who was infected by vampirism at the same time and also hides his nature), she must escape to Supernaturals Underground, a subterranean city. There, she learns the city's mayor is rounding up Supernaturals. Though the mayor is pretending to cater to those who hate paranormal creatures, he's got some secrets up his sleeve (just as people like him always do.) He's not rounding up paranormal creatures for the reason the city thinks, and in fact, he's not even human. It turns out that the world is literally on the line. 

If you want to check out the Supernaturals Underround universe, it starts with the first book or the first box set. And feel free to let me know if you like underdog stories! What's your favorite one? 

The 10,000 Sales Challenge and Kindle Fire Giveaway Progress!

Release Date for 1500 (#3 Timeless Trilogy)

I am pleased to announce that I am now making good progress on 1500, the third and final book of the Timeless Trilogy.  I expect it to be ready for release around December 15, 2015, about a month earlier than expected.

I started writing this book a couple of months ago, somewhere at the start of August.  As of last weekend, I had only written about 15,000 words on it out of about 60,000, so I was making slow progress on most days, if any at all, and was finding it hard to find any motivation to write.  After all, I worked all day long and came home tired.  I was struggling to get even 500 words done per day.  Last week, I wasn't sure if I would ever finish this book at all.  Every time I sat down to write, something would come up that would interrupt me--usually one of my cats. 

Then I picked up a Kindle copy of Chris Fox's 5,000 Words Per Hour.  It recommended that I try writing as fast as I can in short bursts, distraction-free, a few times per day.  The book (which is a short, easy read) outlined exactly how to set up a distraction-free space and how to plan out what you're going to write before you do it.  I decided to give these writing bursts a shot.

I started on Monday with one distraction-free, 5 minute burst.  I shut my cats out of the room.  I sat down with my Netbook (which I've disabled the Internet on), put on a pair of headphones, listened to some classical music and started a timer.  I wrote as fast as I could for that five minutes, and wound up with 400 more words than I had before.

The next day, I decided to try three six-minute bursts of writing: one when I got up, one on my lunch break at work, and one before bed.  The result: about 1100 words written for the day.  I felt like I hadn't even done any work, the bursts went by so quickly.

On the next day, I upped it to three seven-minute bursts.  1300 words written.  Again, I felt as if I hadn't done much work, yet I still had a good chunk of a chapter done.

The next day, I managed 1700 words and the next, 2,000 words.  

Yesterday, I was up to three nine-minute bursts, all of which were quick and didn't interrupt my day.  I managed 2,200 words, and today, on three ten-minute bursts, I'll probably reach about 2,500 words written for the day.  All in all, I've added about 10,000 more words to 1500 in only five days-- far more than I've done in an entire month.  And I'll be drawing closer to the end faster and faster each day.

If I continue to write using this technique, I can expect to release 1500 to my early reviewers probably in mid-November, and release 1500 for sale in early to mid December.  That's a whole month earlier than I originally thought!

And this is great news for my future novels as well.  I have two more trilogies in the planning stages for 2016, a survival fantasy and a science fiction.  I'm working up to eventually doing three 20 minute bursts of writing per day, every day.  That could mean 4,500 to 5,000 words written each day.  Once I reach this speed, I'll be able to complete a first draft of a novel in about two weeks.  With the editing added (and of course there will be lots of that) I may be able to release a novel in only one to two months after I begin work on it.

Kindle Fire Winner Drawn!

First, my apologies for being a bit late on this.  Due to some bad storms, I lost power Sunday into Monday and had to wait to complete this drawing. 

We had 31 entries.  Each entrant in the Kindle Fire contest was given a number.  I used a random number generator to select the winner and I have notified the winner via e-mail. 

And the winner is...Sherry!

Please check your inbox and let me know where to ship it.  Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest. 

Unleashed (#3 Deathwind Trilogy) Now Released!

The Third and Final Book of the Deathwind Trilogy
Allie used to be terrified of the Deathwind--a mysterious force that cursed her to turn into a tornado with every storm. But now she's its master, charged with turning others into Outbreakers like her before the Deathwind unleashes and kills thousands. Even with the help of her boyfriend, Dorian, it's almost impossible to keep up with its demands. In order to gain full control of the Deathwind and find a cure for her affliction, she must make a permanent bond with either Dorian or her best friend, Tommy--and the choice won't be as easy as she thinks.

Allie will also meet a new foe, one that will stop at nothing to gain the power that she now holds. To save herself, Allie must go to war with the worst of her kind and face the evil in herself--a growing urge to give in to the darker, destructive side of her nature.

The clock is ticking. Salvation--or death--is only days away.

Unleashed is now available in many eBook retailers.  However, Barnes and Noble and iTunes are dragging their feet with getting it up and live, so only the Amazon sites and Kobo have it available at this time.  For those of you who don't want to wait to get the Nook/iPad version, click on the Smashwords link to download Unleashed (be sure to choose the .epub format.)

Find on:

Amazon US           Amazon UK              Amazon CA             Amazon AU

Smashwords (All eBook formats)          Kobo

I Am 50% Closer to Having A Tarantula On My Face

This week, we have crossed the 1,000 sales mark for the Deathwind Trilogy!

Granted, many of those sales were from the Magic Touch bundle in which Twisted was a part, which is no longer for sale as of this month.  I counted every 12 sales of the bundle as 1 sale for Twisted.  In other words, I've enjoyed (or maybe dreaded) the fast progress in the past few months.  Without the Magic Touch bundle, I would still be sitting at about 200 total sales or so.

Things may be slower from now on and there is no telling how long it will take until we reach 2,000 sales, in which I will "celebrate" by putting a huge, hairy spider on my face for a full minute.  However, Twisted will be going on sale for 99 cents during the first week of August to observe the release of the third Deathwind Trilogy book, Unleashed.  It's possible that at that point, sales will pick up and we will make fast progress again, at least for a short time. 

I have been spending much of my spare time setting up ads for Twisted and getting the third Deathwind Trilogy book done.  There are some nights I have spent literally hours submitting Twisted to marketing sites and blogs. 

Just so everyone knows, the giveaway to win a Kindle Fire is still going until the last day of this month!  If you haven't entered yet, visit http://hollyhookauthor.blogspot.com/p/the-very-scary-10000-sales-challenge.html  for rules and the entry form. 

Unleashed (#3 Deathwind Trilogy) Coming Soon!

Unleashed is set to release on 8/1/2015!  This will be at the same time that I do a massive sale and blog tour on Twisted, the first book of the series.

I would have done a cover vote for this book, but it would have been no contest.  I was very lucky to find the perfect stock art in this case.  Feel free to respond to this email and let me know what you think!  Personally, this is my favorite cover in the entire trilogy.

Working on this book has been quite a rush.  Expect four twister scenes in this one and one heck of an ending.  This book is also turning out to be very emotionally complex and intense, with a lot going in between all the characters.  Things are only going to get more dangerous for Allie, Dorian and Tommy.  Also, get ready for one very despicable villain.