Jan Bowles - Erotic Romance Writer: Guest Blogger: Joey James Hook ~ Erotic Romance Au...

I did a guest blog spot on Jan Bowles' prolific blog. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Jan! :)

Jan Bowles - Erotic Romance Writer: Guest Blogger: Joey James Hook ~ Erotic Romance Au...: Today we have erotic romance writer Joey James Hook . He writes gritty m/m romance novels that are already causing quite a stir. One Two Thr...

Day 25: First Day Of Winning

I've officially won this year, and with not a bad word count, if I do say so myself! This is great, considering before this, I'd been in a complete slump writing-wise. I hadn't written anything all summer because I'd been at home with my parents and hadn't had any sort of inspiration around me-- except about eight thousand words of a WIP zombie-apocalypse story that I plan to revisit sometime soon-- and then in November something just clicked and I haven't been able to stop writing since! It's liberating, it really is.

The biggest issue I'm going to end up having is the fact that I now have so many WIPs and I also have so many finished novels that need a good, thorough second-draft editing, and with so many different ideas for new stories in my head, it's hard to commit myself to doing a hardcore edit of the things I've already written. This is something I've always had a bit of trouble with, though, so I'm not too surprised.

Anyway, that's my winner's bar for this year's NaNo! I'm very excited about it and proud.

Introspect: Bane of My Existence

I think the hardest thing about being a published author is looking back on work you've done years past-- published or not-- and realizing how much better you could have made it if you'd been patient enough to write the stories when you had the skill and experience to execute them more effectively.

Take Kaleb's story for example. When I wrote it, I thought it was the most intense story I'd ever written. I frequently called it my masterpiece and I didn't think I'd ever be able to top it. Then, about a month ago a reviewer pointed out that with that story, not only did I leave questions unanswered, I pulled back in the more poignant parts and wrote it like it was in a third person point of view instead of Kaleb's, and it took away some of the power of the emotional scenes. That's something I try not to do now, and I'm more aware of it because of that comment and just growing as an author, I just wish I'd waited and rewritten Kaleb's story until I had more faculties, more ability to put emotion into writing.

I learn a lot every time I publish something, and I think through publishing something I thought was my masterpiece, I found a story that was similarly worth telling without the sheer amount of angst. Kaleb's story is one angst after another until he settles down, but the one I'm working on now isn't that way. Kay's more or less just a normal young adult who, sure, had a different upbringing than most people, but it doesn't ever cause him angst.

I think it's a little bit funny that Kaleb and Kay have about the same amount of words to their stories, but Kaleb's is all in one novel and Kay's is spanning three now. I should have broken Kaleb's story up into more than one novel, because there was so much more about his life that I could have touched on, some less intense and some more. Live and learn, I suppose.

I feel the same with my novel, Phoenix. I could probably write that novel so much better now if I'd waited to publish it. I could have given Blake an intensity that I hadn't managed when I wrote it. I do have a sequel in mind for that world, but it's on the backburner. It's almost funny, how different the writing is going to be between the two sequels.

The Next Big Thing BlogHop

The Next Big Thing is a series of questions on our work-in-progress, at the end of these questions I shall then give you links to other participants of the Blog Hop, who are due to answer their questions by the 28th November, so don't forget to check them out!

I was tagged by Samantha Kay.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book? I have three right now. One's Drawing By Heart, then its sequel Fire and Oxygen and finally a suspense thriller called Gallagher's Torment.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? Well, Drawing By Heart and Fire and Oxygen are sequels to One Two Three, Shatter and the sequel to that in consideration right now, One Two Three, Salvation. Gallagher's Torment came out of a need to write something darker, more suspenseful and move away from the whole literary fiction/romance part of life.

3. What genre does your book fall under? Drawing By Heart is literary fiction/LGBT romance/coming of age, and Gallagher's is mystery/suspense/paranormal with a slight underlying romance.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I have the whole thing cast out in my head, haha. Some are musicians, others are actors. In Drawing By Heart, the main couple are Nick Matthews and Justin Chatwin and there are a literal ton of other cast characters but that could take up this whole thing! In Gallagher's Torment, the cast of characters are Jeremy 13th (Finnish musician), Elisha Cuthbert, Tyler Blackburn, Sierra Kusterbeck, Claire Holt, and James McAvoy.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Drawing By Heart: When he has to make a choice between the past and the present, what will Kay X do to protect the ones he loves?
Fire and Oxygen: When something drastic and terrifying happens to Kay to create conflict on his end, how will he and his boyfriend weather that storm?
Gallagher's Torment: Craig Gallagher's mother was a woman driven insane, but he's terrified going back to the house she nearly killed him in will unlock the same madness inside him.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Probably self-published. I don't have an agent.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Twelve days for Drawing By Heart. Six days to write Gallagher's Torment. I've been working on Fire and Oxygen for four days, and it's only in its infancy.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Oh, I have no idea, honestly. Maybe one of Scarlet Blackwell's novels.

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book? My muses. The characters themselves. My girlfriend.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? If you're already into Kaleb's world and Kay piqued your interest at the end, you'll want to see him grow up and become a man in his own right. If you like a hot couple, intense chemistry, and a solid love story weaved in with a coming-of-age tale of a young man who grew up in a home different than most people, you'll like Kay's trilogy. Also, if you like paranormal and ghost stories, you should check out Gallagher's Torment.

I don't actually have anyone to tag as of right now, but if you want to do it, you can! That's just how I roll.

Baby, It's Cold Outside (but the blog's not)

So, I decided that my blog looked a little bit cold and closed off with the monochromatic spectrum, so I added a little heat to it. Well, a lot of heat, I suppose. I like it quite a bit better now. It's more engaging, more welcoming. More me, I guess is what I'm going for. It needed something to hook the reader.

Now that I've got you hooked, I hope, I've been hard at work on Kay and Johnny's third novel, and I've got a lot of great ideas for it. Total word count for November is 92k today. I'm also looking into places to submit his first story to. I already sent it to Silver Publishing for consideration, but I think it was a bit preemptive considering I'm doing some editing on it now and it's a hot mess. It's getting better, but there are typos everywhere, stilted sentences, the works. It was sort of a NaNo on its own; I wrote the whole thing in a span of a few weeks, about 55k, back in June and July. I can't wait to introduce you guys to these boys. I'm very passionate about them.

I've only let one person read anything of theirs so far, and I got a great response. Maybe she's biased, but she's also objective when it comes to writing-- she's not afraid to speak her mind and tell me something's off-- so I take her at her word. I'm excited to pull you all into their world. To start you off, I'd say read One Two Three, Shatter for a nice, solid backstory on the universe. To buy, click on the cover in my sidebar! It won't bite. Maybe then you'll start to see what I'm babbling about, but Kay and Johnny are a whole different beast than Kaleb and Trent. Not better, just...different. I love them both to pieces, though.

In the next couple days, I'm gonna be talking about my WIPs due to the blog hop I'm taking part in, so you'll get an introduction there as well. For now, back to editing for me!

'Til next time. :)

Excerpt: One Two Three, Shatter

Hey guys, if you're looking for a taste of my novel, One Two Three, Shatter, or if you're wondering 'is this novel really for me? it sounds pretty dark and doesn't have much erotic content in it, I bet,' go ahead and check out this link for a very short, erotic excerpt from it and judge for yourself:

Behind Closed Doors: The Erotic Connection - One Two Three, Shatter Excerpt.

Check it, leave a comment, and if it teases and entices, buy Kaleb's story and let me know you did! The link to buy is at the bottom. He's a rollercoaster, he'll take you on an emotional ride you won't forget, and it'll be dark for a while there, but life, love and the human condition wins over in the end. You'll love him, hate him, and cry for him, but I think it's worth it to see him overcome as much as he has, but maybe that's just because I'm his creator. I have gotten some wonderful feedback from this novel, though. See for yourself if he lives up to my hype!

While you're there, you can check out stuff from other authors participating in the website. Check out their blurbs and excerpts. There are some talented authors over there as well.

Now, back to writing!

Day 15: December? Did I Say December?

So, a couple posts ago, I said I would revisit Kay's third novel in December. It seems to me he was not very happy with the decision he made at the end of the second novel (I will refrain from explaining because I don't want spoilers for someone who might read it in the future) because he's got me writing novel number three, Fire and Oxygen.

For those of you who have been keeping track (just me? okay) this is the third novel I've begun working on this November-- not counting the three ideas that I went through before the month even started-- and I'm almost finished with Gallagher's Torment. This is a good thing, because a couple days ago, I got a job working as a server thirty hours a week so once that starts up and then school on top of it, I'm not gonna have as much time to write.

This series is just going above and beyond anything I expected. Kay's just a character I've connected with in a way that-- shockingly-- supersedes the connection that I've felt with Kaleb. I keep saying it's a family thing, and it probably is. Kay was raised by him, so I'm not surprised they have the same alluring quality to them and this insistent need to have their stories written. After Kay's done, I'm gonna end up writing Kaleb's dad's story. It's alive and growing!

These Xander boys sure have taken me on a hell of a rollercoaster so far. Wonder what else they'll throw at me. Back to writing to find out!