Wicked Love Book Update

Hey, Everyone.

Wicked Love is now over two thirds of the way completed.  I am currently writing the final twelve chapters.

My editor is in the midst of editing the portion of the book which has been completed.  When I hear back from her, I can get a sense of what needs to be corrected or changed.  I would love to finish the last few chapters within the next month so that I can have it edited and released by  November.  However, I would rather produce an amazing book than rush an underdeveloped story.

I have decided that the end of this book will have a wedding ceremony for Willow and Nalin.  This ceremony will give way to the cliffhanger that will lead people towards the next book.  Traveling to other realms will also be key, both within this book and the next one.  I want for readers to experience other creatures that are alluded to in prior writings.  Stay tuned.

Status Update on Wicked Love

Hey, everyone!

I just wanted to update everyone on Wicked Love since I do read the reader reviews on B&N, and there have been a lot of you who can't wait for the next Weeping Willow installment.  I am happy with all the positive reactions to the short stories and the novel.

Wicked Love is coming along. I have already written about 35,000 words in the past month and a half which was half of my projected word count for this project. I will definitely have to increase that word count. I am fast approaching the halfway point of the book. My editor has read the first third and enjoyed it.

Contrary to what people think, Wicked Love will not be the end of the series. There will be at least another book or two left in this series. I have to make sure Willow and Nalin travel to all the realms at least once.

You won't have to wait so long for the next one. I plan to start writing it as soon as Wicked Love is done.  I just got the idea for the plot of the next book, so I would love to continue writing about these two characters and hope you guys continue reading.

Thanks!

Ginger Program

Hi, everyone.

I wanted to share with you a new find on the internet.  I have an amazing friend who helps me edit my work, but there are always things which escape the human eyes.  I noticed some small errors in the Wicked Magic manuscript so I was looking for a grammar program online.  I found Ginger.  Ginger is free if you download the basic edition.  So, what is Ginger?

Ginger is a typing program which focuses on grammar errors and highlights them, offering a suggested change.  The program is super simple.  You just open it and start typing.  Or copy and paste.  You can write a little or a lot.  It can also be downloaded as a phone app, making it easier to make grammatically correct online posts.  I would recommend it for those writing blog posts down to writing essays for school.  Of course, nothing is fool proof, and some of the suggestions given to me were things I did not agree with, but it was worth it for what it did catch.  I love that it highlights things which I can look up grammar rules for late.

I used Ginger to look over the Wicked Magic manuscript and found a few minor flaws.  What I love is that it gave me options for phases which sounded correct but could be better said.  The updated manuscript has been uploaded to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.  Other bookstores will get the uploaded manuscript in the next few weeks.  Barnes and Noble told me that if you archive the book, and then when you un-archive it, wait for it to download.  It should download the new version.  If it doesn't redownload with the green bar, do it again.  For Amazon, the same thing should do the trick.  For Smashwords, it is a simple download of the newest book version.

Download Ginger

Wicked Magic Free?

Hey, everybody!

I wanted to know if anyone is interested in reading a free copy of my book in exchange for a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.  You can basically copy and paste the same review to all three sites, but the requirement is that the review has to be on all three.  If you can paste it on Smashwords, that would be appreciated.

Book three of my Weeping Willow Series, Wicked Love, is due to be released in October, and I wanted to drum up more reviews for Book Two entitled Wicked Magic.  Book One is a compilation of two short stories which are available online for free all year long.  Those stories will have to be read before the book.

This YA series is about warrior Elves and does have battle scenes, but ultimately, it is a love story between warring races.

I will provide the codes for a free download Smashwords, but if you don't have an account, tell me when you contact me and we will figure something out.  If anyone is interested, please get back to me at smadera23@yahoo.com by August 5th, 2014.

Please enter your email in the white box on the right side of the screen, because a similar opportunity (concerning Wicked Love or the Restraint Trilogy) may be available in the future to only those receiving my newsletter.

Thank you,
Sandra Madera


BOOKS INVOLVED:

Weeping Willow Stories (which have to be read before Wicked Magic)
Weeping Willow (Part One)
Weeping Willow (Part Two)

Wicked Magic: A Weeping Willow Novel

Join Mailing List

Hey, everyone.

Just wanted to remind all my readers of my monthly newsletter.  If you would like to join my mailing list to keep up-to-date on upcoming works or receive exclusive perks, enter your email in the white box (on the right panel), in the appropriate box on my website, or send your email address with a short letter, stating that you want to be included, to smadera23@yahoo.com.  Besides receiving a FREE PDF copy of Scattered, those added to the list will be given exclusive freebies!

Thanks!

Editor's Comments

Hey, everyone!

I just got some comments from my editor.

She is of course surprised by Willow's darker turn. I think most of the audience will be. She has become a different character somewhat. At the end of the last book, she was in Hades and in the clutches of the Dark King. This book takes place right where that one leaves off. So Willow's circumstances only get worse from there.

Nalin will take more of a starring role in this novel. I know that there were only a few chapters dedicated to him in the last book, but in this book we will see Nalin at the forefront.  Other realms will also be brought up which will add to possible avenues in the future.

It is dark and many will be surprised by Willow's decent. My editor is quite attached to Willow's characters, but in the Realm of Disorder anything can happen. Anyone can be killed off and anarchy can rule for a time before peace returns. I am not killing off Willow or Nalin, but the danger of losing other characters is possible. I hope this book will be more exciting that the first.

Thank you for following. Keep you posted!

Making Believable Characters: Heroes and Villains

Hello, everyone!

I was looking for inspirational quotes, and I came across this quote from Stephen King. The quote was a snippet about the writing process, concerning the building of characters, which is something that challenges authors today. The challenge lies in how to build a character to the point that the lines between reality and fiction blur, making them so real that they are almost palpable.

“I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose” – Stephen King.

So it made me think about heroes and villains in general. When I used to watch Disney movies, villains didn't have much of a back story. They were bad.  The main characters were the heroes who were inherently and annoyingly good. It didn't matter why. Good always battled evil and came out winning. There is something in our nature that harps back to this ancient battle of good versus evil.