M&M & Blended SecretsI thought it would be fun to share some fun, unexpected, and little-known tidbits with my readers. Enjoy! 1: Restraint was almost a novella, with no other books to be written. This was true all the way up to publishing the first shitty edition. It wasn't until I missed my characters that I began Unleashed. 2: Unleashed was meant to be the conclusion, with no other books to be written, but I saw a way to stay connected with my characters by writing from all the characters' POVs. 3: Dalton was originally a very different character. I wrote him as the villain of the tale. But he evolved into someone I was intrigued with. Dalton will receive another book to show how his life progressed since he took control of his own destiny. 4: Even upon starting Queen, I had NO idea where I wanted to go with Regina. NOTHING. The blinking cursor curse. So I skipped forward and began writing Cortez's book instead, not realizing his book would be 7 books later! 5: I was on vacation in NM, trying to publish D&D, having written nearly 40,000 words for Cort on a cross-country drive. I was sitting at a National Rifle Competition, and I pulled out my plot notebook and got to plotting. In the course of an hour, Cortez was forgotten and Queen was born. A book I thought to be small, a book I had no idea how to write, turned into 1,200 pages and three books with an omnibus edition, with one of the most-loved & respected characters of the entire series. 6: Good Girl was an accident. I hit a brick wall while writing Queened, so I took a step back. I woke one morning with Willow in my head, and I began writing her. 7: Again, Good Girl was meant to be a novella- a distraction. It ended up being one of the longest books I've ever written, spawning an entire series of twisted individuals. 8: Blended is my reality series, with M&M as my fantasy. Everything in Blended is plausible, whereas not with M&M. Not realizing it, I created Blended to balance my emotions as M&M was bleeding me dry. 9: Blended was originally the Playroom series, and it was going to revolve around Augustus Kline's Spook House Playroom. Now, the Playroom is just that, a place to go in a conservative small town to feel FREE of judgment. The series is now solely based on the blended family and their lives. 10: Whereas Blended is finite, M&M will be infinite. I will continue to write it as long as I have inspiring characters, even if readers lose interest. As writing is about the author, never the reader. 11: Blended's 'half' books were an accident. While writing Widow, I realized I wanted to show the behind the scenes Vegas wedding. In doing so, the intersecting characters were born. 12: I shelved Good Girl. Shelved it. I sent it to a few beta readers, who basically said GG felt incomplete. So I shelved it and continued on with the Queen Omnibus, and had absolutely NO plans on ever publishing it. Another instance of not knowing what or whom to write next had me opening the file after Queen. 13: I rewrote GG from scratch, sent it to the betas, and they enjoyed it this time. So I published it even though I didn't feel it was finished. Something just didn't feel right. Still stuck with M&M, I began writing Widow, which was shelved because Good Girl didn't feel right to me. 14: I decided on KING. It wasn't until I finished the first draft that I decided I didn't like how I'd written it. No one knows this, but I completely deleted 57,000 words, created a blank document, and started again... & that is how the GAME was born. 15: The Game didn't exist prior to KING. & on my M&M rewrite, I marveled over how I see grains of it in the text, as if my subconscious was writing it for me. 16: During KING, I fell in love with Generation Next, finally knew who they were and how to write them in the future. During KING, I created GN doing their naughty antics in the background so I'd have a backstory for them when I finally aged them enough to write their complex stories. 17: Restraint: Ava was an afterthought, not in the original draft, but written before first publication. Without doing so, Generation Next wouldn't exist. 18: Currently, Pretty Boy - Whit - Daniel Whittenhower II - Sunshine- is the only character we will see from conception through death (not that I plan on killing him) Pretty Boy is peppered throughout the series, from a small boy, a growing teen, to a grown man. I have no idea why his cameos please me. In Silenced, not only do we read his conception, we will understand how he became to be. 19: Silenced was meant to be a novella, but will now span the entire series. While everyone wants their hands on Master, Silenced will hold more secrets, more surprises, more game plays than any other book. Silenced almost wasn't created, because at the end of Jaded, I MEANT what I wrote. But I bawled for days, and then wrote a way to change the events. I literally mean I SOBBED, as his fate was set in stone before I even began writing Dexter, where we met the 'Daniels'. It took me 4 books, but dammit, I found a way to change that 'sad' fate. 20: Silenced's narrator now makes his 'appearance' in Restraint, because he needed to be there. He is one of the most intriguing characters I've written, even if he's hiding in the shadows... watching. 21: When I wrote the 'Daniels' in Dexter, they were NOT affiliated with Queen. 22: I deleted the entirety of Cortez's book before I began writing The Hunter. The Hunter was written in less than a week, & on the rewrite, I don't plan on changing much of anything besides evolving and editing scenes. 23: Events in Integrated almost went differently, but I had to make a change to make everyone happy. 24: Good Girl: Auggie was meant to be the hero and Kieren the villain. I didn't like the dynamic, the way Willow would have been suffocated, so I changed this on the rewrite. This is why the Good Girl of today has Kieren the hero, Auggie both hero/villain, and Devon the misunderstood hero turned villain. 25: I got my notebook out when rewriting Good Girl. I sat and wrote plot outlines for every book in the series before I even changed a single word of Good Girl. Originally, I was only going to edit the book. One of my betas told me, "After reading Integrated, Good Girl doesn't even sound like your author voice." I was insulted at first. An hour later, I trusted my beta, and got that damn notebook out and got to work. 26: In one of my books, there is a behind the scenes airplane ride. I almost blew up the Jet, killing the characters. The only thing that held me back was there was a 3rd person on the Jet that I was yet to develop, and I would regret not doing so. I then planned on making those 2 characters in the background, but changed my mind for the next 2 book in the series: 1 in the background. 1 right in your face in the foreground. (Good Lord, that character is taunting me as I write this. Pleased. So damned arrogant and... ecstatic) 27: Seth was supposed to be my gay kid. He was until halfway through Widow, when I decided on making him more like his father. Seth being like his father will create an angsty read in Worthy. Worthy's other half ended up being gay instead, and the thought of writing his half of the book makes me feel giddy. 28: Ginny Jamison was meant to be the ultimate villainess, with Sam the saint. The same beta who said GG wasn't up to my new standards, said I had no true relationships between women- best friends who put their friends first. Ginny Jamison & Opal Fischer were born to fill this need, both the best friends. Ginny for Clover and as the female figure in the Masons lives, and Opal for Isis and Robin. 29: Consummate best friends make the best lovers/partners. That is how Wanton was created. 30: Realizing everyone needed a friend, I made sure Colin was there for Malcolm since he lost Sam. 31: Augustus Kline has no real best friend, because his personality gets in the way. While writing WWW, I decided Auggie needed friends who wouldn't put up with his BS. Look forward to the newlyweds to 'manage' the Beast. 32: John Mason was meant to be a total asshole. I left him an asshole but made him the anti-hero. Love or hate him, everyone respected the man who made Malcolm & Auggie into 'real' men. 33: After rewriting Good Girl, I had to delete 70,000+ words of Widow, as it no longer fit. 34: Currently there are 3 pregnant women in the Blended universe, and only 1 is confirmed. By the epilogue of Warped, not only will you know who is pregnant, you will meet every child born from all the adult-aged characters throughout the rest of their lives, as well as who their spouses will be. 35: Blended's bad girls: Lisa, Tina, Nina (HA! All end in A) aren't so bad. They made horrific mistakes, and I cannot wait to write their 'half' books. I promise by the time I'm done, they will find a place in your hearts. 36: Two major/minor (depending on how you look at it) characters WILL die during Hero, creating an opening for me to write three additional books. I'll cry. I will be distraught. A death is always an opening, should never be taken lightly, and should never be purely for shock-value. The angst that will ensue will be scrumptiously painful. 37: I cannot get through Restraint & Unleashed without crying, no matter how many times I've read them. It's worse if I read Integrated first. But I never, EVER have felt a lick of indecision or remorse for how I wrote the events of Integrated. 38: Integrated was not an ending; it was a beginning. Relationships will change, will evolve, will become what they should have always been. (Make sure you read between the lines I just wrote) 39: Leviticus Wilson will get a book, even though I didn't plan on writing him one. Faithless, being as long as it was, was NOT the end of the story. 40: Zane's book will be titled Empathy. 41: Ava's book will be titled Monster. 42: If Azrael receives a book, hers will be titled Demon. 43: Same with Marcus Zane. Unicorn, because I have a odd sense of humor (You'll see. LMFAO). & No, MZ is not gay. 44: The Jessups, introduced in The Hunter & Integrated, all will become significant in the lives of many characters. 45: Stanton & Caleb's baby siblings- Josey, Quint, Tia, and Liam - are introduced in Hero, and three already have mates in the current cast of characters. 46: Torian & Zane: one will get a predictable mate, while the other will want but not receive, and get someone no one would have guessed, not realizing it was more predictable than the first. 47: The BDSM aspects in my books are not about KINK. It is a representation of leaders, followers, and those in between, and how our core personality affects our lives. Power exchanges. Give and take. Freedom. 48: The rewrite of Faithless will be darker, more brutal, more descriptive. I'm so going 'there'. 49: I have many regrets, but my hands are tied in making those changes during the rewrite. But I will change what I can for the integrity, flow, and overall entertainment of both of my series. Yes, Blended will be rewritten/edited after the release of Empowered. 50: The dark and shadowy hand of Death will decimate Hero, drawing lines between many characters, even breaking up a marriage, the powerful will lose their shit, drawing the underdogs to the top, causing a phoenix to rise from the ashes to give them hope, and creating more books to be written... I apologize for the wait, as creative genius takes time, planning, and an inspired muse. If I could, I would dump the contents of my mind into my laptop and allow it to sort out the details... A girl doesn't have that many hours in a day to perform such a feat. It's a REAL book!The Evolution of RestraintIt's been a long road, with a lot of trial and error, and I'm finally happy with the finished product. Would I have changed things along the way? Absolutely! As I rewrote Restraint, there were many things I would have done differently, changes I wished to make, but I held back. There were quite a few things I did change, which will affect the series as a whole, & others I chose to keep the same for integrity's sake. Restraint went from a 40,000 word novella to a 150,000+ novel. Katya Waters is a book publisher; she is bound to be wordy. Can't wait for our quiet/romantic Dexter Hayes! Restraint was my trial and error book, and each book forward will teach me more. So, as I worked through the writing, proofreading, editing, rewriting, more editing, formatting for both print and ebook, covers, print cover wraps, promoting & advertising, I've learned a lifetime of knowledge that no one can ever take away. Love or Hate Restraint, I'm more mature emotionally, chronologically, and within my craft, and that is priceless. Where am I now? Awaiting Restraint's 2nd print proof since there were a few formatting issues I couldn't live with. While impossible to be perfect in all aspects across the board- undoubtedly if you looked for errors, you'll spot them, as it is with all things -I am proud that I was able to wear so many hats and take complete ownership of Restraint, from the content, the cover, and all aspects of publishing. If you love it, I accept your pat on the back. If you hate it, I'll take the criticism in stride and learn from it if it's constructive. I will be uploading the ebook edition shortly, and hopefully giving the A-Okay to the print proof after I receive it. After which I will begin on Unleashed again. Yes, Restraint took a lot longer than I anticipated. But this is FINAL. I've now read Restraint 100+ times and I doubt I can do it ever again. I'm at a precipice with Unleashed, as I'm sick of this portion of the storyline, and cannot wait to get to Dexter & Dalton. No, I am not rushing. I refuse. This is my life's work, and it is a representation of me, and to put forth anything less would be to do a disservice to myself and my work. I won't apologize for taking too long. I'll try not to feel badly as I miss sales, as my monthly income has shrunk to nearly nothing. Slowly but surely, I will be republishing my books, and I will be proud of what I put forth. But it takes time to be so thorough as I wear every hat in the publishing world, so I hope you don't forget about the Zeitlers, don't forget about the Prynnes and Masons, as I strive for betterment. Print ProofRestraint's Blog Tour****ATTENTION BLOGGERS**** |
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