So this is the final edit, I know that for sure. I have my proof and I'm trying to push myself to get it done. I plan to have this book ready for release in October (I'll make the date official soon!) I have done more editing on the cover than I ever imagined, but I want to make it work so bad! It was made for me a couple years ago and I can't get over how awesome it is (and everyone I've showed it to is like "Woah, what's that?")
Besides editing (since I'm so sick of reading my own book that its becoming increasingly harder to do so) I've been working on a fun short story that is sort of a prequel to Zone-E. I think I may do a few of these, all of which I will be sharing on this blog. (That's where you say, "Hooray!" Haha, or not...)
That brings me to a final question I have to ask myself, Why are you writing this instead of editing? Because my brain hurts. That's why.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
AHHHHHHHHHH!
The title of course refers to my reaction of seeing the box that held my first copy of Zone-E in it. Keep in mind that this is a proof copy, it's not for sale just yet. (I want to make everything is all perfect inside :D) Still, its an exciting occasion. It's been a little over 2 years since I first started writing Zone-E and to finally have it done and printed in book form is enough to make me scream with joy, bounce up and down, and do happy dances on-and-off for the rest of the day!
I was almost nervous opening that box. Many questions went through my head. "Will it look good?" "How thick will it actually be?" were just a couple... To answer those questions, "Yes!" and "Pretty darn thick! 496 pages is a lot!"
Buahaha! I am so happy. Now its time to look everything over, make sure it all is good, and then Zone-E can be available for others to enjoy!
I was almost nervous opening that box. Many questions went through my head. "Will it look good?" "How thick will it actually be?" were just a couple... To answer those questions, "Yes!" and "Pretty darn thick! 496 pages is a lot!"
Buahaha! I am so happy. Now its time to look everything over, make sure it all is good, and then Zone-E can be available for others to enjoy!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Editing? Check!
I guess having to account to my main character in doodle form really worked... I am officially done with my editing! About time, says you. I agree! says me. The only hurdle left is to submit everything to CreateSpace so I can get my Proof copy sent! What's a proof copy, you ask? Its the copy of the book they send me so I can make sure everything looks good before I approve it for sale. Unlike with Happenstance, I will not take weeks to approve it. I think my editing was pretty thorough this time around so I'll only be looking to make sure all the formatting stuff is good (Do I like the font size? are my margins big enough? Did I bold that chapter name?) Yeah, fun stuff, I know.
Oh, and by the way.... WHOOPEEEEEEEEE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY DONE! Yes, imagine me screaming that cause I am!
Oh, and by the way.... WHOOPEEEEEEEEE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY DONE! Yes, imagine me screaming that cause I am!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
A Pep Talk From Lyza
I really need to nip this procrastination thing in the bud, thus why this is going to be a very short post. (Tonight is stay up and edit until you can't keep your eyes open anymore night). In my inspiration to get this darn book in print, I drew a cartoon of Lyza that will greet me each time I try to leave the room (it's taped to the door) and each time I turn on my computer (its the picture on my desktop).
It's my lame attempt to make it look like she's pointing at me, but it does the job. I also wrote this poem from her perspective:
It's my lame attempt to make it look like she's pointing at me, but it does the job. I also wrote this poem from her perspective:
Hey you
playing that stupid computer game
Hey you
watching that TV thing
Hey you
wandering around outside
Hey you
from me you cannot hide
Hey you
get your lazy butt doing some editing
Hey you
I'm sick of you being the only one who knows of me
THE END
Saturday, September 8, 2012
I love my characters
I don't know if they're incredibly or amazing or ground-breaking or anything, but I love my characters because they're like friends that I get to spend time with each time I write about them. I try to put as much into their back stories and who they are as I do the plot itself - even if the back stories are something only my eyes will ever see. I have as much fun creating villains as heroes, and I'm constantly wondering what happened before my story began. It becomes quite overwhelming sometimes actually... I want to write it all but I can't do it all at once (and I only have so much attention span....)!
I fall asleep thinking about my characters and their many adventures, constantly wondering how I could craft them into an interesting storyline to be written at a later date. I wish I could draw them, but that usually escapes me (unless it's in the form of cartoons of course... I have examples of that in previous posts). I can't help but talk about my characters and when things remind me of them I laugh, wishing the whole world was in on what I consider an inside joke between my characters and myself. (Every time I see the first star, for example, I think of my dearest Lawrence Habberdash. If only he were real, we would have so much fun watching for it!)
I think its always a character that sparks a new idea for me too. It was a picture of Lawrence that inspired Happenstance, the idea of a character like Luka Nills (I will later explain) who brought out Zone-E, and of course I have many other references from my head that I don't even want to mention right now for fear that I'll get so excited about them that I'll want to start writing their stories now (Let's finish Zone-E and the sequel to Happenstance first, shall we?)
Okay, so now I'll tell you about Luka, just a little bit. She's the youngest person to have ever become a head guide in the N.A.T. (She's 23), and she's very fun. She's happy, optimistic, and a darn good leader too! I think the first time I ever thought about her it was a scene where she comes in from the snow, all bundled up in snow-clothes to the point that you can't tell if she's a boy or girl. She surprises whoever she's meeting by turning out to be a girl in fact - its not a job that many girls get into. This later translated into a scene in the book, I couldn't resist. (I feel no shame in giving this away, its no secret). I don't know why I love her so much, or why I was so attached to her in the first place, it just happened. I have to say she "guided" me to a pretty great story though.. teehee.
And then I love Lyza too. She's my spunky, annoying, lovable little protagonist. I couldn't have done this story without her (it is told from her P.O.V. after all). She filters in my sense of humor quite a bit and gives the story a fun voice. Of course, she can also get a bit serious (I do consider this a sort of coming of age story of her after all, among its other ideas...) Although, I have to give credit for Lyza's purple hair to my little sister. It was her love for hair color that inspired that one :P ....I don't think I could ever go purple
Okay, so now that I've got myself talking about Zone-E characters, I can't help but mention Ollie. Believe it or not, he started out as a girl, but I scratched that pretty quick. He had to be perceived as an heir to his father, a threat, a chance to be just like him - but then its obvious he's not. Oliver channels my shy side, but shows strength and growth too.
So I guess that must make you wonder, Hey you! Who's Oliver's father and why is he so important? Well, Ollie's father is the villain of course! Lord Avarice is mean, corrupt, and had a love for collecting treasures. He's actually one of those characters that I want to write a spin off about (What made him so mean? Trust me, I've got ideas)
You know, all this talk of my characters makes me want to write about them.... (Haha, ulterior motive achieved) I'm off to edit more of Zone-E so I can share all of my fictional friends!
I fall asleep thinking about my characters and their many adventures, constantly wondering how I could craft them into an interesting storyline to be written at a later date. I wish I could draw them, but that usually escapes me (unless it's in the form of cartoons of course... I have examples of that in previous posts). I can't help but talk about my characters and when things remind me of them I laugh, wishing the whole world was in on what I consider an inside joke between my characters and myself. (Every time I see the first star, for example, I think of my dearest Lawrence Habberdash. If only he were real, we would have so much fun watching for it!)
I think its always a character that sparks a new idea for me too. It was a picture of Lawrence that inspired Happenstance, the idea of a character like Luka Nills (I will later explain) who brought out Zone-E, and of course I have many other references from my head that I don't even want to mention right now for fear that I'll get so excited about them that I'll want to start writing their stories now (Let's finish Zone-E and the sequel to Happenstance first, shall we?)
Okay, so now I'll tell you about Luka, just a little bit. She's the youngest person to have ever become a head guide in the N.A.T. (She's 23), and she's very fun. She's happy, optimistic, and a darn good leader too! I think the first time I ever thought about her it was a scene where she comes in from the snow, all bundled up in snow-clothes to the point that you can't tell if she's a boy or girl. She surprises whoever she's meeting by turning out to be a girl in fact - its not a job that many girls get into. This later translated into a scene in the book, I couldn't resist. (I feel no shame in giving this away, its no secret). I don't know why I love her so much, or why I was so attached to her in the first place, it just happened. I have to say she "guided" me to a pretty great story though.. teehee.
And then I love Lyza too. She's my spunky, annoying, lovable little protagonist. I couldn't have done this story without her (it is told from her P.O.V. after all). She filters in my sense of humor quite a bit and gives the story a fun voice. Of course, she can also get a bit serious (I do consider this a sort of coming of age story of her after all, among its other ideas...) Although, I have to give credit for Lyza's purple hair to my little sister. It was her love for hair color that inspired that one :P ....I don't think I could ever go purple
Okay, so now that I've got myself talking about Zone-E characters, I can't help but mention Ollie. Believe it or not, he started out as a girl, but I scratched that pretty quick. He had to be perceived as an heir to his father, a threat, a chance to be just like him - but then its obvious he's not. Oliver channels my shy side, but shows strength and growth too.
So I guess that must make you wonder, Hey you! Who's Oliver's father and why is he so important? Well, Ollie's father is the villain of course! Lord Avarice is mean, corrupt, and had a love for collecting treasures. He's actually one of those characters that I want to write a spin off about (What made him so mean? Trust me, I've got ideas)
You know, all this talk of my characters makes me want to write about them.... (Haha, ulterior motive achieved) I'm off to edit more of Zone-E so I can share all of my fictional friends!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
The World of Zone-E
My new book, Zone-E centers around a world that is Earth, but not Earth. After other planets with other intelligent beings were discovered and given names such as Zone-A, Zone-B, etc, Earth was renamed Zone-E.
This all came about after a global change that isn't talked about much in the book itself. It is almost like a second Dark Ages. Anything before the year 3000 isn't talked about much, there isn't any real record of it. And though the book also doesn't delve into this fact, the schools don't teach it.
Actually there are a lot of background things that I've gotten into that don't ever get mentioned in the book. Let's just say I plan for some spin offs in the not so near future... But I do want to explain a little more about this world that is Zone-E.
I see it as a rebuild of whatever disaster that happened before 3000. The Avarices are already in power when this new year comes around. It is the father of Lord Avarice (the villain in Zone-E) who is really in charge at this point. But what point are we at? The world is in chaos. Much of it is iced over except for the southern hemisphere which is seeing lots of rain and definitely isn't as warm as it used to be. The United States are not only cut off from the rest of the world itself (thus why we don't hear anything about Europe, Asia, etc) but is completely broken - as Lyza Carroe puts it, "Say goodbye to democracy, folks." The new USA is simply called the States and has actually changed its region a bit. Sure, the leader of what the USA was is in charge, but as Lyza briefs us, there has been a hostile takeover of the livable areas, which so happen to be more of South America than anything (though I imagine states like Texas, New Mexico, and so on are still a part of the mix for sure). The northern parts of the USA and probably bits of Canada (Note- as the book stands, Canada has kind of disappeared. I plan to give explanations of this in later books) are now the N.A.T. or Northern Arctic Territories. These are iced over completely and home to only a few small villages where the main enterprise is being a Guide, someone who goes out into the uninhabited NAT to retrieve leftover supplies that may be around.
The only part of the States that people live in is called Aquaria. This was a ploy by Avarice to keep people in Zone-E and possibly attract tourists from other planets. He located this completely frivolous and out-of-the way project at the bottom of the ocean off the what-was-once-California coast. The plan was to have a bunch of Domes be a part of Aquaria, but the project ran out of money after the first Dome was completed. Now what Aquaria is is a strange mix of upper and lower class (with an extreme difference between them as there is no middle class) How could this be? Well, those with money were able to strive in the Dome while those who went there seeking fortune (kind of like immigrants who came to America seeking better opportunity) found a hard life.
And that's the basics. I'll later delve into some other info about the world, but I thought it would be cool to brief you on what its all like. I've spent so much time on a world that doesn't fully make it into the story's plot that I realize it would be fun to share it. (Yes I was inspired by J.K. Rowling extra info she puts out on Pottermore... :P)
This all came about after a global change that isn't talked about much in the book itself. It is almost like a second Dark Ages. Anything before the year 3000 isn't talked about much, there isn't any real record of it. And though the book also doesn't delve into this fact, the schools don't teach it.
Actually there are a lot of background things that I've gotten into that don't ever get mentioned in the book. Let's just say I plan for some spin offs in the not so near future... But I do want to explain a little more about this world that is Zone-E.
I see it as a rebuild of whatever disaster that happened before 3000. The Avarices are already in power when this new year comes around. It is the father of Lord Avarice (the villain in Zone-E) who is really in charge at this point. But what point are we at? The world is in chaos. Much of it is iced over except for the southern hemisphere which is seeing lots of rain and definitely isn't as warm as it used to be. The United States are not only cut off from the rest of the world itself (thus why we don't hear anything about Europe, Asia, etc) but is completely broken - as Lyza Carroe puts it, "Say goodbye to democracy, folks." The new USA is simply called the States and has actually changed its region a bit. Sure, the leader of what the USA was is in charge, but as Lyza briefs us, there has been a hostile takeover of the livable areas, which so happen to be more of South America than anything (though I imagine states like Texas, New Mexico, and so on are still a part of the mix for sure). The northern parts of the USA and probably bits of Canada (Note- as the book stands, Canada has kind of disappeared. I plan to give explanations of this in later books) are now the N.A.T. or Northern Arctic Territories. These are iced over completely and home to only a few small villages where the main enterprise is being a Guide, someone who goes out into the uninhabited NAT to retrieve leftover supplies that may be around.
The only part of the States that people live in is called Aquaria. This was a ploy by Avarice to keep people in Zone-E and possibly attract tourists from other planets. He located this completely frivolous and out-of-the way project at the bottom of the ocean off the what-was-once-California coast. The plan was to have a bunch of Domes be a part of Aquaria, but the project ran out of money after the first Dome was completed. Now what Aquaria is is a strange mix of upper and lower class (with an extreme difference between them as there is no middle class) How could this be? Well, those with money were able to strive in the Dome while those who went there seeking fortune (kind of like immigrants who came to America seeking better opportunity) found a hard life.
And that's the basics. I'll later delve into some other info about the world, but I thought it would be cool to brief you on what its all like. I've spent so much time on a world that doesn't fully make it into the story's plot that I realize it would be fun to share it. (Yes I was inspired by J.K. Rowling extra info she puts out on Pottermore... :P)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The woes of editing...
Editing isn't fun, and it doesn't help when you're a big procrastinator (like me). More often than not I find myself doing something and stopping to think, Why am I not editing right now? Still, to give myself a little credit, I have read through my new book, Zone-E about 3 times already (and I still haven't caught everything! Can you believe that?) I may just have to accept the few grammatical errors and get on with it. It's not like I can't go back and work on it again later, right? Maybe, I say. Maybe not, says the perfectionist in me. Sigh... Anyway, a few good things come from getting distracted. Like this!
Haha... silly Lyza. Of course, it would make a lot more sense if you had read the book. Right now it's just a fun inside joke... for myself... That's it! I'm going back to editing! (Enjoy my cartoon :P)
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Where to find Happenstance
Directly from CreateSpace: www.createspace.com/3504293
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Happenstance-Samantha-Taylor/dp/1456520393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346568481&sr=8-1&keywords=happenstance+samantha+taylor
Happenstance is available for Kindle at this time, but it is not yet available to Nook. Sorry Nook users :(
I finally have some form of site!
Well I finally did it. It's not technically a website, but it works for now! This will be the place to go for all information on my books. Wanna find out about book signings? Want to know when my next book is coming out? You're in the right place!
To start I want to talk about my book that's already out there, Happenstance. This book came out of nowhere and very often I think of it like a lovechild - unexpected, but still something I adore very much. It tells the story of Lawrence Habberdash. He lives in Spokepsie. It was once a small town but grew into a metropolis when the Oot Fruit industry became popular. The Oot Fruits were discovered by Lawrence's great-great-great grandfather and had stayed in the family business until Lawrence's father accidentally signed it away to a business group called the Big Wigs, headed by one Percival C. Undermire.
Lawrence started out as a simple doodle. I kept it around because I thought it was cute. In November of 2010, I found out about the fascinating program called National Novel Writing Month. (www.nanowrimo.org) I was currently working on Zone-E (We'll talk about this later) but wanted to start my 50,000 word goal with something fresh. That was when I looked over at that doodle and thought, "I'll write it about Lawrence!" One month later I had a novel. I published it with an amazing self-publishing company called CreateSpace (www.createspace.com) and have enjoyed selling some copies and sharing my words with family and friends. It's not that I don't care about making money selling books, but the most important thing to me is that the words get read, even if just by a few people. I have to say, just holding that book in my hands felt pretty awesome too.
Another awesome thing, was realizing that Happenstance had potential for a sequel. Once I get Zone-E in print, that will be my next job! (Once I start working on marketing my books better of course ;D) I already have the first few chapters done and some new characters mapped out. I'm quite excited.
Now I'm going to take the chance to explain my next book, a huge change from Happenstance. If Happenstance is my love-child, then Zone-E is the baby that I always planned on and wanted (Not that I didn't want Happenstance). The idea for Zone-E came years before Happenstance. It was just an idea - a group of characters looking for a treasure in an icy tundra in a dystopian world. I never had enough of a plot to really write it though, so I left it on the back-burner. Then, about a year before Happenstance, I was on a site, doing a writing contest just for fun. The prompt was to write a short story where characters used their own kind of slang, set anywhere we wanted. I found that old idea, and suddenly my main character, Lyza, came to life. When I finished writing the short story, I realized it had such potential. The story became the Prologue and the first chapter. They both have changed a bit by now but the idea remains.
I had come to a stand still by the time Happenstance came around. I was halfway through and had no idea where it was going. A year later, it still wasn't coming about. Another NaNoWriMo had come and gone (This time without a book coming from it) and I was feeling rather sad. Then in the Spring I moved down with my grandparents to get some new scenery and experiences in. Slowly, some words came. Then I took an amazing class, and extension class at a local community college. It was taught by Bobbie Christensen. It was all about a book she had written called Writing, Publishing and Marketing Your 1st Book (or 7th) - If you're a writer, I highly suggest reading it! www.booksamerica.com. It gave me a whole new perspective. I did as she suggested, mapping out the book scene by scene. Once I knew the end, things were suddenly easier. Before I knew it, Zone-E was done. It was a huge relief. Sure, I haven't followed the editing portion of her method exactly (since I'm still editing it and all) but its still so much farther than it would have been! I am proud to say that I'll be published for the second time this Fall. Also, I am planning on entering this one in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest that happens in January. Its a great way to get publicity and I look forward to having Zone-E ready for it! Now that that's all said and done, I sign off on my first post here!
More links before you go:
Follow Happenstance on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HappenstanceBook
Follow Zone-E on Facebook: www.facebook.com/enterzonee
Oh, and here's a look at the cover that I will be using for Zone-E, designed by my amazing friend, Erica Robinson!
To start I want to talk about my book that's already out there, Happenstance. This book came out of nowhere and very often I think of it like a lovechild - unexpected, but still something I adore very much. It tells the story of Lawrence Habberdash. He lives in Spokepsie. It was once a small town but grew into a metropolis when the Oot Fruit industry became popular. The Oot Fruits were discovered by Lawrence's great-great-great grandfather and had stayed in the family business until Lawrence's father accidentally signed it away to a business group called the Big Wigs, headed by one Percival C. Undermire.
Lawrence started out as a simple doodle. I kept it around because I thought it was cute. In November of 2010, I found out about the fascinating program called National Novel Writing Month. (www.nanowrimo.org) I was currently working on Zone-E (We'll talk about this later) but wanted to start my 50,000 word goal with something fresh. That was when I looked over at that doodle and thought, "I'll write it about Lawrence!" One month later I had a novel. I published it with an amazing self-publishing company called CreateSpace (www.createspace.com) and have enjoyed selling some copies and sharing my words with family and friends. It's not that I don't care about making money selling books, but the most important thing to me is that the words get read, even if just by a few people. I have to say, just holding that book in my hands felt pretty awesome too.
Another awesome thing, was realizing that Happenstance had potential for a sequel. Once I get Zone-E in print, that will be my next job! (Once I start working on marketing my books better of course ;D) I already have the first few chapters done and some new characters mapped out. I'm quite excited.
Now I'm going to take the chance to explain my next book, a huge change from Happenstance. If Happenstance is my love-child, then Zone-E is the baby that I always planned on and wanted (Not that I didn't want Happenstance). The idea for Zone-E came years before Happenstance. It was just an idea - a group of characters looking for a treasure in an icy tundra in a dystopian world. I never had enough of a plot to really write it though, so I left it on the back-burner. Then, about a year before Happenstance, I was on a site, doing a writing contest just for fun. The prompt was to write a short story where characters used their own kind of slang, set anywhere we wanted. I found that old idea, and suddenly my main character, Lyza, came to life. When I finished writing the short story, I realized it had such potential. The story became the Prologue and the first chapter. They both have changed a bit by now but the idea remains.
I had come to a stand still by the time Happenstance came around. I was halfway through and had no idea where it was going. A year later, it still wasn't coming about. Another NaNoWriMo had come and gone (This time without a book coming from it) and I was feeling rather sad. Then in the Spring I moved down with my grandparents to get some new scenery and experiences in. Slowly, some words came. Then I took an amazing class, and extension class at a local community college. It was taught by Bobbie Christensen. It was all about a book she had written called Writing, Publishing and Marketing Your 1st Book (or 7th) - If you're a writer, I highly suggest reading it! www.booksamerica.com. It gave me a whole new perspective. I did as she suggested, mapping out the book scene by scene. Once I knew the end, things were suddenly easier. Before I knew it, Zone-E was done. It was a huge relief. Sure, I haven't followed the editing portion of her method exactly (since I'm still editing it and all) but its still so much farther than it would have been! I am proud to say that I'll be published for the second time this Fall. Also, I am planning on entering this one in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest that happens in January. Its a great way to get publicity and I look forward to having Zone-E ready for it! Now that that's all said and done, I sign off on my first post here!
More links before you go:
Follow Happenstance on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HappenstanceBook
Follow Zone-E on Facebook: www.facebook.com/enterzonee
Oh, and here's a look at the cover that I will be using for Zone-E, designed by my amazing friend, Erica Robinson!
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