Some Theo Love!

Our blog roll/blog tour is really getting underway.  The reviewer Melissa Storm reviewed Song of Secrets today and said some amazing things about it: "Claiming Your Inner Power: What if Witches and Demons Really Do Exist?"

I think everyone has a favorite character or two in an ensemble cast like the one we created for Songs.  It's both one of the gifts and dangers of writing a larger cast. The danger, of course, being that if you ONLY like one of the characters, you might find yourself skimming through the rest.  The other risk is the one I always remind my students about: whomever you start with is the person that the reader is always going to feel is the main character, no matter what.  Readers are a bit like ducks: we imprint of the first images we're given.

This reviewer really loved Theo, our shape shifter/thief who starts off the book with a bang.  Theo is an awesome character and the bulk of who she is, is completely down to my collaborator, Rachel Calish.  So yay, Rachel!

The way collaboration worked for Rachel and me was that when we started (on the web project: The Unseen World), Rachel and I divided up the characters evenly. She wrote Theo and Kitty and I wrote Gabe and Erin.

But, when it came time to make the book, we both massaged, revised, and edited the whole thing.  We wanted each character to retain their distinct, unique voice, but we wanted to be absolutely sure that the whole book worked as a singular entity, with a strong sense of unity.

And, as I said, Theo starts off your reading experience so I think if you went and compared the difference between the unchanged web version and the book's first chapter, you'd get a really fascinating glimpse into the process of making something loose and fun into a publishable book.  Our process isn't perfect, of course, but first chapters are SO VITAL I think that's probably the one that stands out the most in terms of changes.  If you're interested in the writing process it might be worth it for you to buy a copy, just to compare and contrast with the web version.  ;-)

So, it may be a little selfish of me, but I hope that I can take a little credit for adding a certain something to this wonderful character.

Quirky Characters

If you're a fan of mine, you won't be surprised that the latest reviewer on the blog tour/blog roll called out the fun characters we created for Song of Secrets.

A lot of the review also focuses on the more serious issues we touched on in the book, particularly homeless youth.  Check it out, if you're so inclined.  Remember: each one of these blogs come with an opportunity to win a free copy of the book!

https://naimeless.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/song-of-secrets-how-fiction-helps-us-cope/


Please note, that because the blog tour is called Calish Couple, the reviewers are giving all of the kudos and praise to Rachel.  This was, however, a book we wrote TOGETHER.  If you feel so-inclined, I would deeply appreciate you going to one or two of these sites and letting them know how much you love my work and ask them to please edit their reviews to reflect that fact that the book they seem to enjoy so much was actually also written by me.

Hey, hey... Our Blog Tour is Underway

Rachel Calish and I are on blog tour, promoting the first book in our Wayward Demons series, SONG OF SECRETS.  The tour is called the "Calish Couple" tour, but that's only because Rachel is also offering up copies of her newest, THE DEMON GABRIELLA (Bella Books), as well.

So far, the reviews have focused on Song of Secrets. Check out The Author's Storm review: "Rocking out to Song of Secrets" and today's review and contest at Natural Bri. When I went to Bri's page I noticed that they put up a fun "What's your paranormal name?" And I would be "Matrix Imp," which is actually pretty cool. (My given name would be Skull Clown, which, frankly, TERRIFIES me.)  My son and I scoured the list for the "Moon-Moon" bad luck option, and decided you'd need to have the initials S.U. to get the worst possible combination.  (Go check out the blog and see if you agree with me.)

I have to apologize again that I've been terribly behind on my Wattpad-ery.