A thousand thanks

I passed a personal milestone on Twitter this week: one thousand followers. It took me a little under five months to achieve. I don’t know if that’s fast or slow, but I’m happy with my pace. Of course, I couldn’t have done it alone – literally – so thank you all for following me. I have spent many interesting moments with you that I should have spent doing other things. I’ve learned new things about tweeting, too, since I wrote about it last. 

© Photographer Jinyoung Lee | Agency: Dreamstime.com

I have found Tweetdeck and I like it. I can follow all my lists at the same time and I can schedule my tweets too. I was reluctant to try scheduled tweets at first, fearing that they would seem impersonal. But, as I wrote the last time, not many people react to tweets as it is. So I gave it a try. I schedule five or six tweets for each night, mostly links to blogs or articles I’ve found interesting. I select them every day especially, which gives me an illusion of at least some level of topicality. So far, there hasn't been any increase in traffic to my sites that I know of, but I like to do it anyway.

I’ve also learned to react to conversation openings by others. Not very often yet, but the couple of times I’ve joined in a conversation started by someone else has been enjoyable. I intend to cultivate that skill further. And I've learned to write tweets shorter than the allowed 140 characters. I still tend to find it a waste of a tweet if I don't make it as long as possible, but I try to get over it.

I’m still not very good at getting people to react to my tweets. That’s something I definitely have to work on. And I haven’t found the balance between making sure my message is seen and being a spammer. I’m perhaps too cautious. One little tweet gets lost in the multitude so fast that without repetition it’s basically useless. But so far I haven’t been able to bring myself to change my habits.

I think I even have a piece of advice to offer:

Constantly cultivate the list of accounts you follow. You’re only allowed to follow two thousand people until you have that many followers. Don’t let the gap between how many you follow and how many follow you to become too large. I’ve noticed that I don’t follow people who have reached their limit but who have hundreds of followers less than what they follow. Most of the time, the only reward I get from following someone is them following me back. An account like that won’t offer it so I'll give it a pass. Personally, I try to keep the difference in a hundred, and about fifty of those are accounts that will never follow me back, institutions or celebrated authors. I prune those that haven’t responded to my following them once a week; in the fast-paced world of Twitter, I think that's sufficient time for people to react . Then I select a new patch to follow – at least for a week.

That’s it for now. My next goal is to reach two thousand followers. To make things interesting, I hope to achieve that in half the time it took me to reach the first thousand. I’ll let you know how that goes.

It's here!

Warrior's Heart is finally published. It would have come out a bit sooner, but I suddenly decided on Monday that the book needed an additional scene towards the end. So I wrote about 1.500 words, which I then needed to send to my editor to be checked. Good thing too, because they came out with quite a lot of changes. A huge thanks for Lee Burton for editing  it so fast.

Here's the cover again and the blurb. You can find a longer excerpt here. I hope you enjoy the book. Your opinions are most welcome.

Warrior's Heart. A Two-Natured London Novel.

"Who the bloody hell are you, and why are you here?"

When an apparent human-on-human shooting turns out to have non-human origins, vampire DI Philippa Audley is ordered to investigate. It would be easier, however, if she hadn't been ordered to work with Jasper Grayson, one of the legendary vampire warriors of the Crimson Circle. An old-fashioned relic of a bygone era with very peculiar notions of what a woman can and can’t do is not an ideal partner for Philppa who has made a life’s career of being the first vampire woman in everything. It doesn’t help either that her late father, a Circle warrior himself, was Jasper's last partner.

Jasper Grayson isn’t very accustomed to vampire women, let alone a woman as unique as Philippa who is used to giving orders and being obeyed. His Hunger compells him to protect her, but how is he to protect someone who refuses to listen to very reasonable commands to stay safe? And how is he to gain her trust when he is keeping a secret from her?

 

Black magic is afoot and a deadly enemy to vampires forces the pair to find a way to work together. But will they be able to put aside the demons of the past for a shared future?

New book - new cover(s)

It's finally here, the cover for the Warrior's Heart. It took longer than I expected to design it, mainly because it involved photo manipulation techniques I didn't know how to use and had to learn as I went. I'm very happy with the result and hope you like it too.
 

Since this is a second book on a series, I wanted it to look similar to the cover for the Wolf's Call, hence the moonlight background and the muscular man. I also wanted it to be slightly different than covers in this genre usually are. Therefore, I was very happy when I found the picture of the early morning moon. It's rusty and striking. I talked about fonts in my previous post, namely the difficulty of finding suitable ones. I chose one called Gothic Ultra for the title. I like the shape of the letter W especially, and the slightly ragged edges of the letters. The texts are mostly in white or in different shades of it, because dark colours didn't stand out at all and light colours made the cover look like a poster for the Miami Vice - not an effect I was going for. 

The design is simple, because the picture is so striking. I had some difficulty deciding on whether or not to use the definite article on the title and left it out in the end, after recommendations from the Writer's Discussion Group on Google+. Thank you for your advice. I added a tag-line too, and I like how it adds texture to the picture.

I made some changes to the cover of the Wolf's Call too. It has new fonts and it, too, got a tag-line. I'll be uploading the new cover as soon as I have time. I have the edits of the Warrior's Heart to go through so that I can have the book for you as soon as possible. Stay tuned.

Figuring out fonts

For the past couple of days, I’ve been studying fonts. I want to find the exactly right one for the cover of my upcoming book, the Warrior’s Heart. Anyone who has ever tried to do the same knows it’s not easy. The sheer amount of fonts is overwhelming and just because you like a font doesn’t mean it’s suitable for your purpose. There was a timely reminder of the latter on my twitter feed only this week:

I looked at fonts on only one website, Fonts2U, and there only on one category, gothic fonts. The fonts on that site are mostly free to download, but they are not all free to use. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a handy search function that would have limited the search to those I could use so I ended up going through approximately 500 fonts of about 2500 there were in that category. It took me quite a while. I really like fonts and I don't find the task of finding the right one a burden. But, after a while, they all began to look the same.

Today, I went through what I had downloaded. I had found quite a few nice fonts and I tested them all. They weren’t all suitable for this book, but I can use them in others. And there were more than one that was almost perfect so the task of finding the right one isn’t over yet.

So what is the right font then? Frankly, it’s impossible to tell, but you can narrow down the possibilities.

• The right font has the right atmosphere for the genre of your book. It can be romantic, funny, futuristic or gothic, for example. For the most part, these are pretty straightforward to figure out. If you’re not exactly sure, study the covers of the professionally designed books of the same genre.
• The right font is legible. As I went through the font samples, I skipped all those that I couldn't read with one glance. Remember, too, that just because a font is readable on large sizes, it doesn’t necessarily remain so when the cover is shrunk to a thumbnail, so test it out.
• The right font isn’t overused. This is perhaps the most difficult thing for an amateur to know about until someone points it out. I wouldn't worry about this one overly much, but I would avoid the obvious ones. I downloaded the Hobbit font used in - or similar to that in - the Lord of the Rings movies, but it's too recognisable to use in anything but funny private projects.
• The right font is the one you’re allowed to use. Remember to check the licenses.

I have found these points helpful when narrowing down the possibilities. I hope they will help you too. And if you need more, here's a couple of useful links:

• Fonts for interior book design. Useful for cover design too.
• Tips for kerning. For those who are really serious about their fonts.

Recharging my batteries

I finally got my next book, the Warrior's Heart, to a point where I felt comfortable enough with it to send it to my editor, Lee Burton. For the first time, I had a deadline with him; he had other clients lined up so I was determined to keep it too. But it turned out that the book had a mind of its own and I shot past my deadline by over ten days. And that was even though I worked long days with my manuscript.

Deadlines aren't all bad. Some say they keep the world turning. I wouldn't have pushed that hard with the book if I hadn't had one. But now that the book is out of my hands, I find myself very exhausted. I most definitely don't have anything creative in me. So it's time to recharge the batteries for a few days. I'll head to the countryside and do some crosscountry skiing.

Oh, who am I kidding. I'll be sitting by a fireplace, catching up with my reading. I'll be back next week.

#SampleSunday

Here's another unedited sample from my upcoming book, Warrior's Heart; the first one you can read here. It's the second book in the Two-Natured London series. This one features two vampires, Jasper who is a Crimson Circle warrior, and Philippa who is a DI in the Metropolitan Police Service. Here is their first encounter. It isn't very auspicious.

Jas noticed an unmarked police car to pull over outside a three story residential building on the other side of the street to the club. He thought that they were here for the melee, but although two of the three persons exiting the car – human males – paused to take a look, the third, a vampire woman, headed straight into the building without so much as a glance. Of course, being a vampire, she didn’t actually have to use her eyes to check out the situation, just as he didn’t have to be close to her to know what she was; that was what the scanning was for.

The sight of her – small, fit and pretty – distracted Jas briefly from what he was doing and the human man he was trying to calm down got a chance at lunging at him. Almost distractedly, Jas blocked the attack and subdued the bloke with more compulsion than was absolutely necessary while straining his hearing to find out what was happening in the building.

What he heard froze his blood. An enraged man, shifter by the sounds of his still-human roaring, was trashing a flat there, scaring the shit out of some woman in there with him. And into that the vampire woman was heading. Alone.

Before he realised what he was doing, Jas had dashed across the street and to the building. “Are you seriously letting her do all the work,” he growled at the older of the men standing by the door.

The man lit a cigarette as if nothing was a miss. “Relax. She can handle it,” he said, but Jas didn’t listen. He got in and rushed up the stairs two at the time. He could already hear the woman knock firmly on the door, and since the noise inside the flat silenced, she had been heard.

“Metropolitan Police. Open the door, please.” And the shifter did.

Before Jas’s horrified eyes, the door opened, revealing a tiger-shifter so enraged he was a hair’s breadth from shifting. The three-dimensional, living, holographic manifestation of the shifter’s tiger, visible only to two-natureds, was stretching so far out of his chest it easily reached the woman. It attacked her instantly.

She didn’t even flinch. Shifters’ auras couldn’t hurt anybody – insubstantial as they were they simply went through any concrete obstacles on their path – but it took some nerve not to flee when a tiger attacked you. Standing her ground, she reached out her hand towards the shifter’s chest and yanked, and the man dropped on the floor unconscious, his aura disappearing.

Since Jas had felt what she did, he wasn’t as surprised as the twenty-something woman who crawled out from under a coffee table where she had taken cover. “What did you do to him?”

“I blocked his access to Might,” the vampire detective answered.

Jas knew it was the simplest explanation, but actually she had sucked all Might from around the shifter, creating a temporary void, thus cutting his access to the energy vital to the two-natured; an extremely difficult stunt to pull alone, as Might abhorred vacuum and constantly rushed in to fill it. Shifters couldn’t shift without Might, but the bloke had probably good enough reserves to shift even without a direct access. However, on the edge as he had been, the sudden loss of contact had caused him to pass out.

“He’ll wake up soon enough so I suggest you vacate the premises before he does.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t harm me,” the woman said contrary to the evidence. The flat was trashed and there were pieces of broken furniture everywhere. She wasn’t injured, so the shifter had taken out his rage on inanimate objects, but that didn’t mean she was safe. Jas had to shake his head. Humans.

“You cheat on your shifter mate and expect him to just take it,” he growled, startling both women. He was sure the vampire had known he was there, had in fact felt her scan him when he approached, but the other had had no idea, all her attention on her downed mate.

“I did not cheat on him,” she claimed defiantly, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “And anyway, how would you know about it?”

The vampire woman snorted before Jas had a chance to answer. “You positively reek of the other guy.”

“But I showered,” the human woman began and then covered her mouth hastily with her hand.

“You’re married to a shifter and don’t know that their sense of smell is far superior to yours? Or understand that shifters mate for life once their beast makes a choice and his has chosen you. And this is how you repay him? By cheating?”

Jas had once thought a human would make a good partner to him, but he had learned otherwise the hard way. With shifters, the difficulties were even more obvious and the consequences more dire. Their tightest bond was created by Might pulling the two people together, but since humans couldn’t sense Might, they didn’t react to it. As a consequence, the human partner wasn’t similarly physically incapable of cheating on their mate as the shifter was. As evidenced, the shifter would react really badly when their human mate was unfaithful.

“I don’t see how this would be any of your business,” the woman started angrily, but the vampire woman interrupted her.

“If I have to come back here tonight, it will most definitely be my business, and I will arrest both of you.”

“What would you arrest me for?”

“Stupidity.”

The answer made Jas laugh aloud, but the vampire just shot him a disgusted glance, before turning back to the shifter’s mate. “You can’t stay here. There’s no saying he won’t attack you again once he wakes up. I’ll wait here until you’ve packed your bag. Hurry up.” It was said with such authority that the woman complied, no charm needed. Jas was about to compliment her on it when she turned to him.

“Who the bloody hell are you and why are you here?”

But Jas was too busy admiring her to answer, now that he had a good look at her. She wasn’t quite as small as he had originally thought, perhaps five foot four, but she was delicately built, which made her appear smaller and more fragile than she undoubtedly was. She was wearing a suit that didn’t show much of her body, but he could imagine shapely legs and round buttocks inside her trousers, and the cut of her jacket revealed the curve of her small, round breasts and narrow waist. Her face didn’t follow the delicate theme though. It was well-defined and stubborn with fine cheekbones, pert nose and straight dark brows. Her mouth was set in a determined line and her eyes were large and green. And very angry. To cap it all, her blond hair was cropped near to her scull in a pixie style and while he favoured long hair on women, he thought it suited her perfectly. Very feminine instead of manly she probably wanted it to be.

“Well, answer me or do I have to arrest you too.”

Philippa couldn’t understand where the large vampire male had come from, but judging by his outfit, he had either been at the club or about to go there. That didn’t explain why he was standing on the landing behind her, looming over her like a bodyguard.

The immediate impression of him was that he was huge, but decades in service had taught her to estimate heights and she thought he was a little short of six foot tall. He seemed larger because he was all tight muscles and large bones he had put on display in a form hugging silk shirt, and he carried himself tall. On top of that, the air of authority around him one didn’t question gave him some extra height.

His face was equally strong and full of arrogance the older vampires oozed without even trying. She couldn’t say how old exactly, because his shields were up so tightly that her scan couldn’t penetrate them, but that alone belied age. Angular chin covered with stubble, prominent nose, strong dark brows over cold brown eyes and a cleanly shaven head that revealed an old scar on the right side of his head; it must have been a horrible wound. He wasn’t actually handsome, but he was so manly looking she could barely turn her eyes away. If she had to hazard a guess, she would say a face like that belonged to a Circle warrior.

Bugger.

He was saved from answering by the return of the idiotic shifter’s mate. Philippa opposed violence against women on principle and years in service had made her abhor it in practise too, but sometimes she had to wonder if a good slap around the face wouldn’t drive some sense into some people. Couldn’t they at least teach humans some basics before they let them mate shifters? Did the woman really think her mate wouldn’t find out that she was cheating on him? Never mind that his reaction had been over the top even for a mated shifter. Their flat was demolished.

“Do you have a place to go? Mother? Best friend?”

A moment alone had given the woman some time to reflect what had happened and she was more subdued. “I guess I could go to Steve.”

“Is he the other bloke?” When the woman nodded, Philippa shook her head disgusted. “How stupid are you anyway. Your mate will follow you there and then there’s no saving either of you. You’ll go to your mother.” She didn’t even have to charm her; the woman just nodded.

The shifter was lying across the threshold unconscious and Philippa leaned over to push him inside so that she could close the door. But before she managed to do it, the vampire male had handled it for him. “I had it covered, thanks,” she said annoyed. She wasn’t so small she couldn’t have moved a two hundred pound shifter.

“I was glad to help,” the bloke said, as if nothing was amiss. He stepped aside to let her and the shifter’s mate descend the stairs before him, but she sensed him scan the perimeter well before them for anything that might harm them.

“Relax, big boy,” she sneered. “It’s just my partners downstairs.”

“Who let you handle an enraged shifter on your own,” he said with a frown.

She snorted. “Like they could have done anything about him.”

“It’s the principle of it.”

“Yes it is,” she conceded. “She who can, does.” He didn’t say anything to that, but she could sense his disapproval. A big surprise. Vampire males hadn’t really reached the twenty-first century yet when it came to gender equality. All the more reason for her to work among humans, even if they annoyed her with their short lives.

Back on the street, Simon took charge of the woman and Adrian came to her. He hadn’t been happy when she ordered him to wait downstairs, but Simon had convinced him to stay. He sized up the vampire and she had to admire his nerve. Or pity his stupidity. “Who’s the civilian?”

She actually didn’t know so she turned to the vampire, only to see him staring arrogantly down at Adrian. A feat, considering they were about the same height; the vampire only seemed bigger. “He’s too young to look after you,” the vampire growled and she stifled an urge to punch him in the arm. If he was, indeed, a Circle warrior, nothing good would follow from it; they weren’t exactly known as forgiving fellows. So she rolled her eyes instead.

“And you’re too old for pissing contests.”

His mouth quirked, softening the hard face. “A man is never too old for those.”

***

If you liked the sample, the first book in the Two-Natured London series, the Wolf's Call, is available on Amazon. Check the side bar for links.

Of literal epiphanies

I had an epiphany yesterday about the book I’m currently writing, the Warrior’s Heart. There are smaller moments of enlightenment with every book, when I suddenly know how the story will enfold, but epiphanies happen more seldom.

The book is the next one in my Two-Natured London series. They’re paranormal romances featuring vampires and shape-shifters among other creatures I’ve created myself. I’ve put quite a lot of planning into my world in order to make it believable, logical and interesting, but sometimes I simply cannot design the details to my liking. Writing this book, I’ve struggled throughout with my vampires and their second nature. At times, I’ve been completely stuck, but mostly I’ve written on, doggedly, ignoring the gaping holes in the logic of my creation. 

And then, yesterday: an epiphany. Suddenly, I knew what I needed to do with absolute clarity. And it was so simple I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. Adding one detail to my description of vampires made everything else I had created fall neatly to their place. No more holes in the logic.

Of course, now I have to rewrite the entire manuscript that was almost finished. But it’s worth it. The book will be that much better for it.

I’m sure there’s a lesson in this for me too. One that immediately comes to mind is that I cannot rush the story. I need to give it time to mature. And I guess the other one would be that even small details may make a difference so I should pay better attention to them. Good lessons for all of us, I'm sure.

For a sample of my upcoming book, visit my webpage, here.