Blog Hop: My writing process - take 2

I first took part of this hop about six months ago, but with full blown, third trimester preggo-brain, I completely forgot. When I realized I'd already answered these questions, I nearly declined the opportunity. I read over the answers I gave back in April, and realized that drafting Wildwood - the final book in the Moonlit Trilogy - has changed a lot about my process. So I answered them again, if only to chart my growth, and I enjoyed reflecting on how much I learned while writing book 3.

Thank you, Brittney Joy, author of the Red Rock Ranch series and fellow equestrian, for inviting me to follow her on the hop. I adored the first book in Brittney's series, Lucy's Chance, and can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, which is coming out this fall. With a tagline like this: "Sixteen year old Lucy Rose is spending her first summer away from home and she has two things on her mind: an abandoned, violent horse and a blue eyed cowboy... only neither is hers." How could I resist? We also both have an obvious love for writing a lead female character with grit and a feisty streak. Learn more about Brittney Joy and the Red Rock Ranch series on her blog: http://brittneyjoybooks.squarespace.com/redrockranch/

Now for the blog hop writing process questions:

1. What am I currently working on?

I am currently working on "Wildwood," the third and final book in the Moonlit trilogy. At this point, two dimensions are at play, so I'm using a multi-POV approach to braid the sides together. Characters on both sides are gaining different pieces of information - and not all of them are true. The reader will see their mistakes/wrong turns long before they do. Using the multi-POV approach has been the most challenging thing I've done with my writing so far/ It's so important to have a reason for why the next POV is chosen, and to layer the plot lines in a way that is seamless and natural. I'm really excited for readers to experience how this tale concludes. The paths and endings of several aspects/subplots took me completely by surprise

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?

The Moonlit trilogy is a very different read in general. The first book (Moonlit) is not a straight-shot plot, but more like a puzzle. Once you reach the final chapters, I think you experience Tanzy's moment of shock with her when she realizes how far she was lead from where she believed she was going. The second book is more like a bullet- it's direct, fast-paced, and action-oriented. The third book goes back to the elements of mystery I used in the first book, but the characters are kept more in the dark than the reader.

Also, two major thematic differences are the use of love/romance as a sub-plot and not the main point of the story. Horses are used as a setting; the main character, Tanzy Hightower, was raised on a farm, and has working knowledge of the equine industry. In books 2 (Windswept) and 3 (Wildwood), the wild/feral aspect of horses is explored, as Tanzy's blood has been replaced with that of an ancient wild stallion. Her environment and the use of horses in it reflects what's happening inside of her.

3. Why do I write what I do?

Sometimes this world seems too sharp at its edges, too mean or cruel, and in the depths on my being I know beyond all reasons there has to be something more. I explore the thoughts of what that more could be through my stories. My mind is quick to leave this reality and scurry down a path of what-ifs. I use horses as a vehicle to take these journeys because they've always possessed a kind of magic for me. They are excellent teachers, and they ground me and make me feel like I'm flying at the same time.

4. How does my writing process work?

My writing process evolved a lot for book 3. I used to tear apart each sentence as I was drafting, and that slowed me way down. I'd get so involved in how to say it I'd forget to just say it and move on. Also, since I used five POVs in book three, I had to use what I call a "short-projection," where I outlined the main purpose of the next 3-4 chapters before writing them. This was my first attempt at any kind of an outline, as I've been a total panster before this manuscript. I wrote the entire first draft before incorporating any edits, and kept a separate word document where I made notes to myself regarding any edits to what I'd already written, large or small. Once I began the second draft, I tackled that list first, and then reviewed the story as a whole, editing as I went. I just sent the second draft to beta readers to make sure the story is solid before I spend a lot of time/energy polishing the actual writing.

Another key part of my writing process is not writing. If I'm not feeling inspired, I don't force it for the most part. Every now and then I can tell it's just me not focusing or seeing a scene clearly, and then I make myself slog through it. But getting outside, especially to the barn, is a critical part of my creative process for bigger-scale plotting. My imagination works much better in the open air.

Time to Tag!

I'm tagging the lovely, one-of-a-kind, force of nature Sarah Ashley Jones, who I had the pleasure of meeting at Indie Girl Con this past February, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing again at UTopYA. She just revealed the cover of her newest book: Rebel Souls. She's crazy busy, so I'm not sure when her post will go up, but her blog is worth checking out regularly, so check back if it's not up yet!

Click here to go directly to Sarah's blog.

Work in Progress (WIP) Blog Hop - giving you a tiny sneak peek into Wildwood, book 3 in the Moonlit Trilogy

First, thank you to Colleen Story for inviting me to join the Work in Progress blog hop, which gives me the chance to offer Moonlit fans a tiny peek into the third book of the series. I can't wait for my tribe to experience the conclusion of Tanzy's journey. I'm honored Colleen chose me, as I'm a huge fan of hers, and I'm appreciative of her commitment to exploring how to maintain mental, emotional, and physical wellness while working in the creative field. Check out a glimpse of Colleen's WIP on her blog HERE. She also provides a fantastic analysis of the mental/emotional process of drafting, which I found myself nodding along with as I read it.

Here are the rules of the hop: Provide a link back to the person who nominated you (done!) Write a little bit about your WIP and give the first few sentences of the first three chapters. Then nominate a few more writers to do the same.

Here we go!

WIP Title: My wonderful publisher has already christened book 3 in the Moonlit trilogy "Wildwood." We added a sneak peek of book 3 into the back of Windswept (book 2) so we came up with the official title early on this one. But before my publisher named book 3, the working title was "Ascent."

A little bit about the story: My current WIP is the third and final book in the Moonlit trilogy. I can't tell you too much about it without giving away spoilers for book 2, but I'll tell you what I can!

In the final book of the trilogy, both sides of the veil are at play, and several characters step into the spotlight for a turn front and center, continuously blurring the line between good and evil. Asher and Vanessa's motives and histories are explored in depth. They truly took me by surprise, and I'm curious to see how readers react to their part of the story. This book goes back to the mystery feel of Moonlit, except I keep the characters more in the dark than the reader, who will realize when a character is acting on a false lead long before the character does. The pieces of the puzzle and prophecy are woven together primarily by four characters: Tanzy, Vanessa, Jayce, and Hope, with one of the last chapters coming from a very special voice. And I promise nearly every thread I've pulled along the way will be tied in and resolved by the last page.

Here are the opening lines of the first three chapters. These are from the second draft, and are totally devoid of an editor's polishing, so bear with me :)

Chapter 1 (Tanzy's POV): If I lose ground to Asher, I will not regain it. This basic fact screams through every muscle like a commander to an army. Prepare to hurt. Fight through the pain. Asher will kill me the moment he detects a chance.

Chapter 2 (Jayce's POV): Clouds pass overhead, murky grays laced with slivers of pink. They remind me of a charcoal sketch. My left hand tingles and a memory of smudging pencil lead from line to shadow flitters across my mind.

Chapter 3 (Vanessa's POV): "You must have missed something!" I slap the closest canvas from its easel. The sound of it clattering to the floor does nothing to release the pressure brewing in my chest, nor does the reaction of my Mouse, a blind Unseen creature, who jumps back as if I struck her instead of the painting.

My turn to tag! I nominate:
Charity Bradford
Paul Anthony Shortt
Kerri Cuevas
Elisabeth Wheatley
Lori Ann Robinson

I opted not to give my nominations a deadline for their posts, as we are all furiously working on new pieces, so make sure to check back if they don't currently have up their WIP posts.

What are the most memorable opening lines you've ever read?  I don't know if a book has ever hooked me as fast as Gillian Flynn's "Dark Places: A Novel." Check out the opening lines, told from main character Libby Day:

I have a meanness inside of me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slip out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it. It's the Day blood. Something's wrong with it. I was never a good little girl, and I got worse after the murders.

How could you read those sentences and then STOP? I couldn't. I think I read the whole book in two days.

The "My Writing Process" Blog Hop

I am thrilled to take part in the Writing Process blog hop. Thank you so much Devika Fernando for inviting me. You can check out her answers to these questions on her blog here. I've tagged three new authors at the end of this post to keep the hop hopping.

1. What am I working on?

     I am currently drafting the last book in the Moonlit trilogy, and am coming very close to the end! Since book #2 hasn't released yet, I can’t give away details about book #3 without spoiling earlier twists and turns. I can tell you every question and mystery posed in the first two books will be answered.

     I am so excited to dive into this moment, which I've anticipated writing since 2009. The setting, motives, and survivors have changed in my mind many times in the last five years, but now that it’s within my line of sight, the big moment where all sides descend on the door of the veil is crystal clear. I’m also doing a couple of “rough sketches” for new projects once Moonlit wraps up.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

     Book #1 in the Moonlit trilogy was described in one review as a “magnificent explosion shot backwards,” which is a beautiful way to describe the elements of mystery that lace up the story’s corset. These books are written in first person present, so you discover questions and answers with main character Tanzy Hightower.

     Horses are used in a bass-drum way throughout the series. They mark an important part of the heart of the story, but you don’t often hear them over the sounds coming from the other “instruments.” The equine industry serves as a setting in book #1. In the sequel, Tanzy travels to the Outer Banks, and seeks refuge in a safe house located in the four-wheel drive district, where the residents coexist with wild horses. In book #3, the main characters are split in two very different locations, one of which is Cumberland Island, where development is extremely limited, and the resident wild horses tolerate the presence of people.

3. Why do I write what I do?

     Growing up, I never felt fully attached to the world around me. I knew there had to be something more – be it somewhere more beautiful during times when life seemed gray, or somewhere that I would be understood, and I would matter, when I felt like a weirdo or out of place. Horses were a piece of tangible magic for me, a door way between this world and somewhere Unseen. I will always see fairy dust when dawn sets dew soaked leaves aglow, and feel the most capable when I’m on a farm.

4. How does my writing process work?

     In fits and starts! I have a three year old daughter, two large indoor dogs, another job, and baby #2 on the way, so my time is limited. I used to write well into the night, once my daughter went to sleep. But presently I’m either too tired or nauseas to concentrate. I’m hoping that’ll ease up in the next couple weeks.

     I don’t outline very well, so I use one of my best friends as a “sounding board.” Her mind works in a straight line, where mine is more like a squirrel in a crystal shop. I talk my way through my ideas about the plot, and she’ll stop me mid-sentence if I’ve contradicted myself or if I’m making a big tangle. I’m also learning how to let go of a new sentence in a first draft and just let it be weak until I come back through to edit, or else I’ll spend 45 minutes tweaking every word in a new paragraph.

     As for new projects, typically they arise from either an image in my head, an interaction I witness in real life that I spin further out, or a “what if” question that keeps popping up. Then I break out note cards and jot thoughts down as they come. 

Now for the next round of authors on the Writing Process Blog Hop:

1. Charity Bradford, author of "The Magic Wakes" and "Stellar Cloud."

2. Kerri Cuevas, author of the "Deadly Kisses" series.

3. Bailey Ardisone, author of "Sweet Oblivion," "Sweet Escape," and "Sweet Requiem."

Their posts will be up on/around April 15th.

Tell me about your writing process! Especially die-hard outliners or fellow pansters who figured out how to successfully incorporate outlining... I'd love to learn!

It's been a *head-desk* kind of winter

I am about 40K words into the first draft of Moonlit book #3. I'm not quite as far as I hoped I'd be. After steeping myself in the editing side of the process for months, is very hard to see the forest for the trees again. I over-analyze and tear apart every sentence instead of letting really terrible sentences/paragraphs/dialogue stand where they are as a plot place holder, to be polished during the second look.

I began drafting book #3 in November, and as of two weeks ago (when i was still busy inspecting every inch of bark on said proverbial trees) I was sitting, stalling at about 23K words, and I've probably cut at least as many words already. Now, as a disclaimer, I'm not a die-hard word-count girl. I don't set daily goals. Between my other job, two large indoor dogs, and my nearly 3 year old daughter, the only goal I have is to have a mostly-clean kitchen before I go to bed. Still, I knew I had a problem.

I recently read Stephen King's "On Writing," where he notes he typically does two drafts and a "polish" before submitting his work. And he's a Panster, to boot. I was both mesmerized and mildly devastated by this. I *know* authors all have different processes. But I barely know where I'm going until the third draft. Then it hit me: I am trying to figure out everything all at once in every sentence.

Yesterday, I was perusing one of my notebooks to find where I'd jotted those pesky notes for last year's expenses. I came across pages of ideas for Moonlit book #2, and from the date at the top, I knew I'd made these notes well after I'd finished the first draft. Some of the ideas were good, some were mediocre, some made me cringe. None of them made it into the draft I submitted to my acquisitions editor at WiDo. Not one.

I realized two things: first, that it's a-okay to come up with some really terrible ideas right now. And second, I've become more proficient at spotting and beheading a bad sub-plot before it grows legs and runs away with my main arch. As I imagine happens with killing anything, i have to grieve a little when I realize I've spent my precious window laying down 2000 words to nowhere. Select. Delete. Eat a cookie. Start again.

My hope is by the time Moonlit #3 is ready for beta readers, it will be in a tighter, tolerable place so they can dig into the sentences and conversations and help me chase those down instead of being bogged down by a loose, wandering plot.

Confession: this actually wasn't what I meant to write about at all, but it's apparently what was on my mind. I'll follow up with more on Moonlit #3 soon. :) So what are you working on? How's it going? What do you find trips up your process?

I'm scared. I'll admit it. (and this is kind of a ramble so maybe you should be scared too...)

The sequel to Moonlit - currently dubbed Windswept - is in my publisher's hands for the final stages in the pre-release process: type setting, layout, cover design, etc. This means I'm free to begin work on Book #3. I'm about 20K words in, and this is where I admit I'm a little scared. There's this big BIG moment in book #3 that I can see so clearly... "crystal" as Jayce would say. But first I have to get there. Me and Tanzy and Lucas and Hope and Vanessa and Asher and Jayce and a whole cast of fellow candidates who you haven't even met yet all have to get there. It's like herding cats.

I learned a ton during the drafting and revision processes for the sequel. Most importantly, I learned when to look at a section of my writing and realize: there's a big problem here. This is not right. And I realized, for the way I work at least, a real fix comes in stages. It's like archeology, an analogy Stephen King uses in describing how he unearths his plots. In my case, it's how I fix pacing/tone issues in a chapter. One gentle fix reveals more bone, more of the picture - and more of the holes in the picture. Then again, maybe it's better to say it's like surgery. There is an awful lot of bleeding and cursing, and I envision an archeologist to be the subtle, whispery type.

Anyways, what scares me is how much of this first draft of book #3 is not going to make it into book #3. Of course right now it feels like all of it will - the major plot points, anyway, but I know that's not true. In book #2, the early drafts had a ferry boat, a tidal wave, a funeral, a truck plummeting to the bottom of the ocean with two major characters inside, a trip back to Kentucky, this scene where new character Jayce lines up little figurines on all the window sills that I freaking LOVED, and lots of explosions. None of those plot points made it into the final draft. I lied - there are still some explosions, but they're in different places.

Some scenes/sections I cut early on, and some I clung to like a mother to her baby. Until I sent the I-think-I'm-Really-Finished draft to my beta readers and they didn't coo where I was sure I'd have them near tears, holding their breath. In fact, they reacted to a few of my favorite moments like one might react to, say, a poopy diaper. And they were right.

Have you ever had a whole "darling" of a chapter (referencing the "kill your darlings" rule here)? How about a couple chapters... how about a 40K word section of "darling"? Welcome to the 8th draft of Windswept.

So now I'm beginning the very first draft of Book #3, and it is by far the most complex of the three books. And I want it to deliver. I want it to tie up every thread I've woven into this web. And I'd really really like to get it right on the first couple shots. HA. Never going to happen.

I'm a subscriber to Anne Lamott's idea of a "stinky" first draft. (She uses a different word beginning with S, something that can be found in the aforementioned diaper, and never smells like roses...) A first draft helps me see how I think this is all going to play out. It makes me see if the I can get to the last page with the ideas from the first page still intact. I'm not big on big outlines. I have a few key moments I want to incorporate if the characters arrive in the situation where the moment would apply, but otherwise I like to turn them loose and see what happens. Downsides: this means I stare at my computer screen a lot, knuckles buried in my cheeks, and force my brain to stop editing the line above so I can see what's coming next in the plot. It also means I spend more time on my drafts (at least I think it does,) and it definitely means I cut. A lot.

So here we are. And I'm scared. I don't want to stare and sweat and bleed all over this new draft just to cut 99% of my work like it never happened. It can be paralyzing, sometimes. But it's part of the process. I will no doubt do this every time. Every book. The funny part is that I still love those times where I glare at my screen all morning with no progress. In fact, I find I'm most intolerable to the outside world following a particularly lackluster drafting session because I can't wait to do it again.

I'm terrified, and I'm excited (and I'm writing this blog post because I'm totally stalling because another character wants a POV in book three and I told her we'd talk about it in a little bit...)

So, now that I'm sure you're sure I'm crazy, tell me what - if anything - scares you about the writing process?

What it sounds like in my head during "official" edits

Quick update: we just finished content, or "overview" edits of the Moonlit sequel, which is currently called "Windswept." That means the plot for the sequel is pretty much set in stone (sqquueee!!!) and that we're moving on to inline edits, where my editor comes after my sentence structure and word choices like they owe her something. And, in fact, they do. She makes sure every word, every sentence, deserves a place on the page once they're finally printed.

In my head, the whole content editing process sounds something like this:

1. Right after I've submitted the manuscript to my editor: I can't wait to see what she says! I can't wait to get started and tear it apart and make it better better better!! (then, this tiny voice says: what if she LOVES it and there's nothing to do? Bwahahahahaha. Hilarious.)

2. Once I've received the edits, I typically glare at the screen - not at my editor's notes, but my own words. How could I have thought this was any good? Why in the WORLD did my publisher accept this novel? There is EVERYTHING to do. Then I dig in and rearrange, shore up holes, apply pressure to the bleeders. Things get better, but aren't sewn up just yet, the fact of which really ticks me off.

3. I submit the first round, and then I avoid my laptop at all costs for fear I'll delete the whole manuscript on a whim and attempt to pick up a new hobby. True story: A week ago I got a puppy because I couldn't handle the down time of two weeks (fyi - that's like super insano lightspeed in the publishing world) between round one and round two. I am an idiot, a busy idiot who is now training a very energetic 4 month old dog.

4. I received the second round of content/overview edits. While the second round is usually lighter, I have found that with Moonlit and Windswept, they make me dig deeper. The first round merely made incisions in the body. The second round probes for the source of the bleed. And boy howdy does it bleed. Everywhere. You'd think by the second round of edits the major cuts were over. Nope.

5. And then, the best feeling on earth: Here it is! This is the giant traffic jam/plot hole to nowhere/personality disorder my manuscript is suffering from. And this is my favorite part, because now that I've identified the offender, I can seek and destroy it faster than that very energetic puppy can rip up a pair of undies. In Windswept, Tanzy opens the sequel with an axe to grind and a very large chip on her shoulder. That big heart of hers was nowhere in sight. The original opening not only made Tanzy practically unlikeable, but also foiled her emotional development in the rest of the story. Tanzy's journey in Windswept has a lot in store for her, and if she's already burned up inside by page 10, we have no where to go. Once I realized I'd plugged the wound in Tanzy's bleeding heart with my own southern-born, grudge-holding, short-fused temper, it was an easy (and lengthy) fix. The story is so much better now that I've taken myself out of the equation

When my editor - who I adore, okay worship... possibly stalk... anyways, when she suggested I soften Tanzy I thought: had she forgotten how Moonlit ended? Wouldn't she be royally brassed off if someone had pulled the pin on the grenade of her life and walked away? In truth, I have no idea how my awesome editor would handle the situation in reality, but I'd also forgotten how Tanzy would handle it, and put too much of myself in the opening chapters. There's a reason I'm not a heroine in a book somewhere.

We still have work to do. In truth, I was a little intimidated by the sequel as a whole. I have fans - actual, legitimate, they-don't-know-me-outside-of-this-book fans. What if Windswept doesn't deliver? What if I'm not good, I was just... lucky? The story line is so different, the pace so blinding... Then I think back to the state Moonlit was in pre-edits, the holes, the weak places, the choppy sections, and I realize we're right on track with Windswept. We still have work to do, and I'm sure I'll stumble around a few times and eat my way out of a writer's block or two. But I'm finally learning all of those steps and feelings and frustrations and breakthroughs are just par for the course.

Sharing is caring: what tips do you have for an author in the editing stage? Tell us about what you're up to, too!

Author Interview with Paul Anthony Shortt

I am so excited to welcome fellow WiDo author, Paul Anthony Shortt, who just released "Silent Oath," book two in the Locked Within Series. I've admired Paul from across the pond, and have thoroughly enjoyed watching his writing career take off. Today, we're talking all about his series, including the new release and a recently released short story for the series.
 

Thank you so much for visiting with me today. To start, tell me about your main character. What/who inspired him? How did his identity evolve as you learned more about him? Nathan Shepherd is a reborn, someone who can remember past lives and draw strength and knowledge from them. He’s based off the first real hero I came up with when I first decided I wanted to be a writer. I was about 13 years old when I came up with him. I suppose what really inspired him was seeing so many horror movies where the experienced, knowledgeable monster-hunter dies, and the rookie hero has to stop the villain in the end. Initially he was nothing more than a mess of ideas, all the elements I thought a hero needed. Over time, he’s become his own person, with his own wants and desires. There’s still a lot of me in him, but he’s much more rash than I am, prone to leaping before he looks, and he’s quite secretive even around people he trusts. In the end, Nathan is someone who tries to take everyone else’s burdens onto his own shoulders, even when it damages him. That’s a trait he and I share, though I’ve learned that you have to work out a balance when helping others, or else you burn yourself out.

 

 

 

Of course, it takes two to tango. Tell me the same about your villain. Some people will expect me to talk about Dorian here, but I’m not. Silent Oath introduces Nathan’s true nemesis, a renegade reborn who goes by the name Athamar. Reborn typically choose a “soul name”, a name they can go by from lifetime to lifetime so they can be easily identified when reuniting with past associates. Athamar casts aside the name he was born with in this life, and has a major grudge against Nathan. If he was inspired by anything, picture a combination of The Joker and the evil Angelus from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He’s savage and remorseless, and also a little bit insane. Part of the puzzle Nathan must solve is to figure out exactly who Athamar is, and why he hates Nathan and his lost love Elena so much that he has hunted them throughout their previous lifetimes.

 

 

You and I are kindred spirits there, Paul. The Buffy series essentially shaped my adolescence, and made me lean away from the damsel-in-distress type entertainment and more towards the can-do-chick. You recently release a short story for the Locked Within series, which features a leading lady. What made you decide to showcase this aspect of the story in its own feature? Do you plan on releasing more short stories in the future? Cynthia’s one of my favourite characters in the series. She’s strong-willed, intelligent, and won’t let Nathan get away with any self-sacrificing nonsense when she’s around. He needs her. Their friendship is a major part of the series, and I think we could do with seeing more platonic relationships between men and women in fiction. Unfortunately for Cynthia, she spent much of Locked Within in a hospital bed after Eli savagely beat her. I wanted to give her some additional exposure, but also give readers a glimpse into how she coped with her ordeal. By the time Silent Oath begins, Cynthia is a practiced marksman and even coming into her own reborn abilities. I wanted to take some time to show how she regained her strength. I have another short story in mind, yes. This one will be set around Christmas time, between Silent Oath and the final book.

You've had a busy year - and I understand it's about to get even busier. How do you balance writing and family? Yeah, it’s been busy, all right. Our twin girls arrived just in time for Christmas, and we’re expecting another addition to the family in January. It’s all down to communication, to be honest. My wife has been my strongest supporter in my writing career. Since the day we met, she knew this was what I wanted to do with my life, so she understands if I need to spend an extra hour or two at the computer. I’m lucky enough to work in admin for my day-job, so I can spend my lunch hour writing solidly, and I get some extra writing time during the girls’ nap time at the weekend. If I’m on a deadline, I’ll also use a netbook in the evenings after the girls are in bed, so I can still relax on the couch with my wife while I work. I probably have more demands on my time than most people I know. I believe all things come down to priorities. You have to decide what are the most important things to you and budget your time for them, just like you might budget your finances. My top two things are my children and my writing. Once I set down time for those, everything else can fall into place.

 

 

 

Which character do you find easiest/most natural to write? Do you see any bits of yourself or your life in your writing? Probably Nathan. He’s been in my head, in one form or another, for 20 years at this stage. I try not to write literal people and events from my life in my books. I’d be too afraid someone might recognize themselves and take offence. However, experiences which have deep emotional effects on me do inspire my work. I draw on emotions for appropriate scenes and try to evoke those same feelings in the reader. One of the pivotal moments in Locked Within, for example, is Nathan and Laura’s breakup. That whole scene brings to mind several events in my life where I’ve been betrayed or cast aside by others. So when writing it, I dredged up all those feelings and let them fuel the words on the page.

 

 

 

What makes your series stand out? Well, at face value, it bucks the trend by being an urban fantasy with a male protagonist instead of female, but that’s hardly anything special. I think the first thing that makes Nathan’s story different from other urban fantasy series’ is that reincarnation is a fairly regular fact of life. In most fantasy novels, reincarnation is the special purview of the Chosen One, a sign of their heroic destiny. When I set out to write this series, I knew I wanted reincarnation to be a common occurrence. Secondly, despite his eidetic memory and being able to temporarily boost his strength by using his past-life memories, Nathan Shepherd is just a regular man. Yes, he has lifetimes of knowledge and experience, but he’s mortal. He has no super powers, no magic tricks. He can’t throw a fireball or regenerate injuries. He has to succeed by outwitting his opponents, or just by being too stubborn to stay down when he gets hit.

 

 

 

I understand you have already drafted the third and final book in the series. Did you always know how it would end? Most definitely. I tend to come up with the end of stories before any other part, and while some of the precise details have changed over time, I always knew that the series was going to come down to one final confrontation between Nathan and Athamar. I promise, it’ll be epic.

 

That sounds like quite a finale. I know it's hard to say goodbye to characters you've grown so close with and then introduce yourself to a whole new hero/villain. What's next for you? I’d like to say I’m going to go have a glass of wine and take the rest of the year off. But truthfully, I’d get bored within a week. I can’t stand not writing at least a little every day. Once I get confirmation, one way or another, on the third book in this trilogy, I’ll be getting ready to work on that, and looking ahead to next year’s release. In addition to that, I’m working on a new YA steampunk series which I’ll be self-publishing next year. More about that on my blog in a few weeks, actually. But I’ll still be traditionally publishing as well. I’ve always said my goal is to eventually be releasing up to 4 books a year, and the best way to do that is by using every opportunity available to me. I have some ideas for new series’. The only tricky part is choosing which to concentrate on! So stay tuned, because I have plenty more stories to tell!

Now then, let's check out the sultry, lovely cover of Paul's newest release:

Cover Copy

Hope has returned to New York City. Nathan Shepherd leads a small band of dedicated fighters against the Council of Chains and the city's supernatural masters. But it's not enough. Because from the shadows of Nathan's former lives comes an old enemy, one who knows terrible secrets that Nathan has not yet remembered, secrets that could undo everything he has fought for.

Nathan's only chance to uncover the memories of his previous existence, and to conquer these new forces of evil, lies in Elena DeSantis. A woman he has fought beside in past lifetimes. A woman he has loved.

Together, Nathan and Elena are the only future the city has.

 
About Paul Anthony Shortt: 





A child at heart who turned to writing and roleplaying games when there simply weren't enough action figures to play out the stories he wanted, Paul Anthony Shortt has been writing all his life. Growing up surrounded by music, film and theatre gave him a deep love of all forms of storytelling, each teaching him something new he could use. When not playing with the people in his head, he enjoys cooking and regular meet-ups with his gaming group.

Paul lives in Ireland with his wife Jen and their dogs, Pepper and Jasper. Their first child, Conor William Henry Shortt, was born on July 11th, 2011. He passed away three days later, but brought love and joy into their lives and those of their friends. The following year, Jen gave birth to twins, Amy and Erica, and is now expecting their fourth child.

Paul's first novel, Locked Within, was released on November 6th, 2012, by WiDo Publishing. Silent Oath is the second book in this urban fantasy trilogy.

Links:

Website: http://paulanthonyshortt.blogspot.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Oath-Locked-Within-Trilogy/dp/1937178366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378908160&sr=8-1&keywords=silent+oath

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pashortt 

Twitter: @PAShortt