1. What does your writing
process look like?
My process is to break it down into phases or sections.
The First Draft:
I write and write and write. I push
through from scene to scene even if some of it is painful and I know that the
writing is poor. Many of these sections
never make it through the first revision, but I need to get them down. Sometimes it is to figure out how to get from
point A to point B and other times it is to understand the character (backstory). I also, during this phase, outline and
plot. I do this mostly when jogging in
my yard or driving (I write it down later, of course).
The Second Draft:
While writing the first draft, I often come up with things that need to be
changed. I keep a document listing these
items. In this phase, I go through the
draft again making the noted changes and polishing up whatever I come
across. If there are still sections that
are rough, I just modify the best I can (not spending too much time on them)
and move forward.
Revisions:
I won’t list this section by first revision, second revision, etc because I
revise until I am happy with all of it.
I revise a lot. I keep going
until I can read through it without any major stalls. All those areas which were rough before, I
work on over and over until I am happy with them every time that I read the
story. Somewhere in this part, I hand it
out to beta readers. I continue to
revise. I’m including my line edits in
this section too. At the end of this phase,
I go through a list that I have of mistakes that are common for me and make
sure that those mistakes are not in the novel.
Then, I’m done. Yeah! At this point, I start marketing. Boo!
2.
Do you ever experience writer's
block?
Yes. At each phase in my process, I drag
my feet. I love each phase once I am
knee-deep in it, but starting it…well, that I always dread. When in the first phase, this procrastination
could be considered writer’s block. I’ve
discovered that for me, the only way to get through this is to write. A lot of the times, when I am having a hard
time getting the words down, it is because the words aren’t right. The section isn’t right. Most of these parts end up either summarized
or omitted.
3. What book do you wish you
could have written?
Oh, to have written The Song of Fire and Ice series (Game of Thrones). Those books are so well written and
intricately woven, that I am always amazed.
George R. R. Martin has told an exceptional story with this series.
4. What were you like as a
child? Your favorite toy?
I was the youngest of seven so I always wanted to do what my older siblings
were able to do. So, I guess you could
say that I was driven. I was also
introverted. I am almost five years
younger than my closest sibling. At our
ages now, that is not a big difference, but growing up it was. I remember often playing by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love my brothers and
sisters and they were and are good siblings but the age difference was a lot
when I was four or five and they were nine and up.
I don’t recall a favorite toy. I loved
playing with small animal statues and I had two favorite stuffed animals (a dog
and a bear) and a blankie. I also liked
playing with “paper animals”. We’d color
in our coloring books and then cut the animals out and play with them. We were not rich and this was a cheap toy
(repurposed coloring books – not sure if my parents or brothers and sisters
came up with this but it was a brilliant
idea).
5. Do you dream? Do you have
any recurring dreams/nightmares?
I dream often. I don’t sleep well. I usually sleep in bursts of three to four
hour segments. If I could work at home,
I’d probably get up after three or four hours and write until I was tired
again, but my day job won’t allow that.
I used to have several recurring dreams.
I believe that they were my subconscious warning me that I was letting
my dream of being a writer slip away. In
one of the dreams, I was a child living at my parents' house. In the dream, I had a horse that lived in the
basement (this was not possible). I
would go downstairs, fear coursing through me because I had not been down to
see the horse in years. I feared it was
dead. I’d enter the room where the horse
was and he’d still be alive. I’d take
him out and ride him until dark. We’d
have a glorious time, but I always feared taking him home. I promised to see him every day but I almost
knew that I wouldn’t and that the next time, he might be dead when I went to
get him. Since I started writing, I have
not had this dream.
The Rise of the River Man
Conguise Chronicles
Book 1
L. S. O’Dea
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: LSODea
Date of Publication: 10/30/2015
ISBN: 978-1-942706-04-5
ASIN: B014I7M82I
Number of pages: 108 pages
Word Count: approx. 27,700
Cover Artist: Vincent OCampo
Book Description:
Obedient monsters are hard to create.
Mutter was sure that his pending execution at the Guards’ Shelter was the worst thing that could happen to him, but that was before he met Professor Conguise.
Now, he is living in a laboratory and the Almightys are giving him shots. He fears that they are attempting to mutate him into some kind of monster like those in the other cages. The creatures in the other cages are unnatural. Things that he can’t believe exist. Things that shouldn’t exist and if he doesn’t escape, soon he will become one of them.
Available at Amazon
Excerpt:
MUTTER WAS IN
TROUBLE. No one wanted a Guard like
him. He was too big and too strong and
too ugly. He stretched out on the
concrete floor and winced. He definitely
had some broken ribs, but he’d fought and won with broken bones in the past. He started coughing. It was this sickness that had cost him the
match. He sat up; the coughing subsided. He’d pleaded with Vickers, his Almighty
master, not to make him fight but the money had already switched hands. He leaned his head against the bars of the
cage. He’d lost the fight and now he’d
lose his life. Vickers did not give
second chances.
The door opened
and a male Almighty around thirty years old with blond hair entered the room
followed by Satcha, the House Servant who ran this establishment. The Guards’ Shelter didn’t allow visiting at
this hour but Almightys did whatever they wanted. He didn’t even bother to stand up. No one wanted him. It was a bit embarrassing, but he’d tried to
find a new home his first few days here.
He’d even trimmed his beard, but it had done no good. Every time that he’d run to the front of the
cage and had smiled at the Almightys, he’d smelled the fear on them as they’d
passed. Most tried not to look at him,
but he was big and scarred and hard to ignore.
They stopped in
front of his cage.
“Ableson, this
is the one I told you about,” said Satcha.
“Looks like he was a fighter, so he should be used to obeying. He does have a bad cough, but I thought he
might work for you.”
The Almighty
remained quiet, his blue eyes sizing Mutter up.
“Come here,”
said Satcha.
Mutter wanted to
stay where he was to annoy the Servant but Guards like him didn’t get many
chances for a home. He slowly stood,
letting the Almighty get used to his size and appearance.
“How old are
you?” asked Ableson.
“Not sure. Been around for a while but not too
old.” That was the safe answer. He had counted nineteen winters but that
might be too old or too young. He never
could tell what an Almighty wanted.
“By his teeth
and body we estimate around twenty-five to thirty years,” said Satcha.
Ableson twirled
his finger. Mutter understood that signal. Before the fights started, when the betting
happened, he was often sized up by the gamblers. He turned in a circle, slowly, giving the
Almighty time to study him.
“I’m strong and
healthy.” That was a lie but he would be
healthy again. He just needed a little
time and food.
“Does have that
cough, that I mentioned.” Satcha sent
him a glare.
“Just a
little. From this damp, rotten
place.” He hated Servants. They didn’t know when to keep their big
mouths shut.
“I need an
obedient Guard.” The Almighty’s eyes
roamed up and down his frame.
“Won’t find one
more obedient than me.”
“Let’s see if
that’s true.” Ableson walked down the
aisle. “Is there another Guard who he’s
close to?”
“Him?” Satcha laughed, following the Almighty. “He’s so big and ugly even the other Guards
stay away from him.”
Ableson stopped
in the hallway. “Take this one out.”
The Servant
opened the cage and slipped a rope over a young Guard’s neck. Mutter’s chest pinched. Typical.
The Almighty’s always chose the young ones. His only chance was gone. They would walk out and soon he’d be
executed. He started to sit back down,
when the three of them stopped in front of his cage.
“Put her in with
him,” said Ableson.
“Ah, we keep the
younger ones separate from the older ones, especially the older males,” said
Satcha.
The Almighty
didn’t say a word, but his look was enough.
The Servant muttered an apology and opened the door shoving the young
Guard into Mutter’s cage.
He glanced at
the little Guard who stood as far away from him as possible. She couldn’t have been older than nine. She had russet hair and large, frightened,
brown eyes.
“Hit her,” said
Ableson, his tone conversational.
“Wait,” said
Satcha. “That one’s young and
attractive. I can find a home for
her. Let me get—”
“I’ll pay for
both.” The Almighty’s eyes never left
Mutter.
Mutter kept his
face a mask but his stomach clenched. He
didn’t want to do this. He’d fought
females before but they were all older, experienced fighters. This wouldn’t even be a fight.
“I need an
obedient Guard,” reminded Ableson.
The girl
trembled in the corner, tears streaming down her soft, round cheeks. “Please, don’t hurt me.”
Pleading didn’t
do any good. It didn’t change anyone’s
mind. He knew the game and it would be
her or him. He stared into the girl’s
scared brown eyes. “Bruised, broken or
dead?”
“Just hit
her. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
Mutter stepped
forward. The girl curled in a ball on
the floor, pleading and crying. He
grabbed her by the shirt. She weighed
next to nothing, all skin and bones. He
punched her in the gut, making the blow look harder than it was, but the girl
was so small she gasped and coughed. He
hesitated, waiting for the Almighty to stop this, but no words came. He hit her again. She yelped in pain. He shifted his stance, stalling again and
praying for the words that would allow him to quit, but the only sounds were
the yells of the other Guards in the nearby cages. Most screamed for him to stop but some
cheered him on. If the Almighty wouldn’t
end this, he would. His next punch
caught her upside the head, knocking her out.
He let her slide to the floor.
He walked toward
the Almighty.
“I didn’t say
stop.” Ableson’s blue eyes challenged
him.
He stared at the
girl on the floor. Only in the roughest
fights, those to the end, did they hit opponents when they were down.
“Forget it. He won’t work.” Ableson turned and headed for the door.
His only chance
was leaving. He’d be dead tomorrow if
that Almighty walked out the door. The
girl’s tiny frame was about the size of his arm. She was still breathing. “Wait.”
Ableson walked
back to the cage, a smug smile on his face.
“Obey or I leave. This is your
one warning.”
He nodded. His heart thudded as each footstep moved him
closer to the little female. The other
Guards had fallen silent. He grasped her
by the back of the shirt. Her head
lolled to the side, her eyes closed. His
supper churned in his stomach. He stared
at the tears on her cheeks as he punched her over and over, trying to hit
non-vital parts but it was difficult.
She was tiny and his fits were big.
“Enough,” called
the Almighty.
He lowered her
to the floor. Her breath was ragged as
blood trickled from her lips. His eyes
burned, but no wetness came. He hadn’t
cried since he’d lost his mother. It
didn’t do any good. He wiped the girl’s
blood on his shirt as he faced the Almighty.
Ableson smiled
at him and handed an envelope to the Servant.
“I’ll take him.”
Satcha looked in
the envelope. “Ah, the price for the girl…”
Ableson frowned
at the Servant but dug in his pocket and handed Satcha a few more bills. The Servant stuck them in his pocket and
opened the cage door, putting a rope around Mutter’s neck. He fisted his hands, fighting the urge to
kill both of them, but he’d never make it out of the shelter if he did
that.
“Come.” Ableson yanked on the rope.
“What about
her?” asked Satcha.
“Do what you
want with her.”
“But…you already
paid….”
“If she lives,
sell her again, or kill her. I don’t
care.” Ableson walked toward the door.
Mutter refused
to look back at the girl, the sacrifice for his freedom.
About the Author:
L. S. O’Dea sees things a bit differently than most people. This is probably a bi-product of being the youngest of seven children in a time when TV was only worth watching in the evenings or Saturday mornings and there were no computers. Back then, kids had to amuse themselves and being five years younger than her closest sibling she was often the unwilling entertainment.
Since she was so much younger than her siblings, it was only reasonable that they knew how to do many things that she could not, such as read and write. One day, before she started kindergarten, she really wanted to learn how to spell her name. Her mother was busy cooking or cleaning (she had seven children to care for), so her brothers were instructed to help their baby sister.
After she learned how to spell her first and middle name (Linda Sue), she raced into the kitchen to share this new knowledge with her mother. She was so proud, standing tall and reciting the letters of her name. L-E-M-O-N H-E-A-D.
Her mother was not happy with her brothers and stopped what she was doing to teach Linda the correct way to spell her name. L. S. still receives a box of Lemonhead candy every year for Christmas.
4 comments:
It sounds as scary and creepy as the book cover art..LOVE IT! Reminds me of my favorite song..I Feel Like A Monster!
Hi Trish,
Thanks. It took awhile but I found a great illustrator on Fiverr. He is drawing my characters and did this book cover for me. The book is dark and creepy so if you like that you should like the book. If you read it, let me know what you think.
I don't think I know that song. Who is it by? I'll have to check it out.
thanks for reading and commenting.
Thanks for hosting my release day blitz.
Thanks for hosting this stop on the release day blitz. It was fun.
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