The Whole Way Through

An unofficial, belated Workshop Wednesday post, since I've been too deep in trying to finish White Wolf to be a proper blogger. 

Back during my show days, my trainer, who was wonderful, had two last-minute things she would say before every dressage test. "You really gotta get in there." And "Ride the whole test."

One of the more popular, and hilarious misconceptions I've encountered about riding has been that new riders think that once you ask a horse to do something, it keeps doing it until you tell it to stop. Kick once for trot, and the horse keeps trotting until you whoa. They quickly learn that this is not the case at all. Horses don't have buttons to push; they're highly sensitive, and intelligent, and to ride a horse is to be in constant, subtle and kind communication with them. 

A dressage test is a collection of cavalry movements performed in a particular pattern, and to ride the whole test means that you don't just execute one movement, and rush to the next, with sloppy in-between moments. It means you approach each transition with the same care and attention to detail. No slacking off, no sitting like a sack of potatoes. Constant communication and correction. 

I love my riding/writing metaphors, and I've always been struck by the ways "ride the whole test" applies to writing a novel. Some scenes are more exciting than others, more enjoyable for the author to write, but in order to pull off a book that is enjoyable throughout for the reader, the writer must approach each chapter, each page, each scene, each line with the same care and thoughtfulness. You aren't writing a few scenes linked together with filler; you're writing the whole book, moment to moment. Make each sentence count. 

White Wolf - Official Summary

I shared this in the Sons of Rome readers group a few weeks ago, and now, with just a month left to go, here's the official back cover blurb for White Wolf, Sons of Rome Book One. 

NYPD homicide detective Trina Baskin is having nightmares. Vivid ones. Full of blood, and snow, dead wolves…and a young man with pale hair who howls like an animal. She chalks them up to stress and an overactive imagination, too many Old Country stories from her Russian father who, when he’s had too much vodka, starts to rave about dark forces and things that look like men…but aren’t.

But then a case hits her desk that can’t be explained. A young man found outside a club with a nasty bite mark on his neck – and not a drop of blood left in his body. With no leads, no theories that bear exploring, too little sleep, and a partner who seems to be willfully throwing his career down the toilet, the last thing Trina needs is a full-on out of body experience…in which her family’s past is revealed to her, and everything starts making a whole lot of terrifying sense.

In 1942, Trina’s great-grandfather, Nikita, is a captain of the Cheka, the Soviet political police – or so it seems. He and his men are sent to Siberia to retrieve a “volunteer,” the boy who’s going to win the war against the Nazis – and potentially unleash hell on earth.

The world’s immortal population has been living quietly, secretly, hiding from the wars of men, hoping the past can stay buried. But what happens on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1942 will change everything.

In 2017, Trina is about to come face-to-face with her own past in a way she never thought possible. It turns out monsters are real – and they might be the only hope for survival.

FAQs

I love to hear from readers, and invite everyone to email me (authorlaurengilley@gmail.com) or message me on Facebook (facebook.com/Lauren Gilley - Author). But I thought it might be helpful to consolidate some of my frequently asked questions so everyone can benefit from the answers. These are the things I get asked most often, and my answers:

When is the next Dartmoor book coming out?

Sometime next year, most likely. I don't keep to hard deadlines - because I don't have to, yay! and also because farm life and my poor immune system sometime throw a wrench in the works. The next Dartmoor book will be Fox's, titled Prodigal Son, and so far I have about 8k words of it written. White Wolf has been the sort of complex, research-intensive book that requires all of my attention, so we won't see Fox until the spring. 

When does White Wolf release?

I'm shooting for a Halloween release. It's not up for preorder, so be sure to follow my pages, or follow me on Amazon, so you can be notified when it goes live. 

Can I have an ARC?

I'm sorry, but I've elected not to give out digital advance review copies. I've had some bad luck in doing so in the past - The Skeleton King was released on all the pirate sites several weeks ahead of its release. Which. Yikes. Fool me once, and all that. Also, I've realized ARCs are counterproductive for me. The moment a book is polished and ready for release, I like to turn it over to my readers. ARCs would slow that process, and also play favorites and risk spoilers. I am always happy to donate copies to a giveaway, and host release week giveaways on my own, so be sure to email me if you'd like to host a giveaway. 

Will your books be available for audio?

This is the answer that has made some readers, to my puzzlement, spitting mad. And the answer is no, not anytime soon. Why? While I appreciate the fact that some readers benefit greatly from audio books, and want to be as inclusive as possible when it comes to making my work available to all audiences, at the moment, as an indie author, the audio process is both extremely time consuming and extremely expensive, and it doesn't make sense for me as a businesswoman. I'm an artist who loves to share her art, yes, but I'm also a single gal doing it on her own who is a small business owner, and I have to do what makes sense for my business so that I can continue to write books for everyone. 

Can I buy signed books?

Yes, you can! Email me at authorlaurengilly@gmail.com with your order, and I can invoice you via Paypal. Prices are same as on Amazon, plus shipping. I will ship internationally, but be warned that the shipping will be anywhere between $15 to $60, depending on destination. I ship domestically via media mail to keep costs down, so it can take up to a week to reach you. Priority mail available upon request. I usually have Dartmoor books in stock, but may have to order other books, so please allow an extra week for delivery. 

Be sure to follow me on social media to stay up to date:

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Workshop Wenesday: Inspiration and Originality

Workshop Wednesday: Inspiration and Originality 

When writers put pen to paper, it's their hope to pen a story that is vivid, authentic, and - maybe most of all - original. But anyone writing novels today will tell you that pretty much every story has already been told...and been told many, many times. It's a common sticking point: hasn't someone already written a book about this? Aren't I retreading old territory? And, in my personal case, does anyone really want to read another book about outlaw bikers? 

Is there such a thing as a truly new story? Probably not. But you know what hasn't been told? Your story. The trick to writing unique fiction is to find a way to make all the inspiration you love into something that belongs to you and you alone. 

Figure Out What You Love

Looking at what's popular and emulating it, I'm sure, gets some people some buzz in the short run. Realistically speaking, there's something to be said for making a quick buck - I mean, I think there is. I always do things the hard way, so I dunno. In any event, I think those books aren't the kind that have any kind of lasting fanbase; they don't pay off in the long run because you can tell the author wasn't inspired and passionate. To write the best book you can, you have to write about the stories that keep you up at night. Take your obsessions, your fangirl screaming, and write that. Figure out the difference between the kind of books that mildly interest you and the ones that set you on fire. 

Now Figure Out Why You Love It

Inspiration can come from anything. It can find you anywhere - though it usually doesn't germinate into anything useful until you're driving or taking a shower, Murphy's Law. By all means, when inspiration strikes, take it and run with it. But in the interest of originality, it can be helpful to think about why certain things inspire you. Understanding the heart of inspiration can help you carry forward beloved themes and ideas while steering clear of outright copying. 

Here's an example: I love Jane Eyre. Love it. I love Jane and I love Rochester, and they were a major inspiration for Price of Angels. But I didn't want to write a book in which Holly was a governess for Michael's ward, a book in which a wealthy Michael had a first wife locked up in the attic. Instead, I wanted to dig deep into the characters and figure out what I loved about them that I felt I could carry forward. What resulted was a story about an abused woman trying to make it on her own, graced with a spine of steel not immediately visible, and a man who feels deeply, but who comes across as cold and strange. 

When you really love a character, it's probably for reasons deeper than hair color, or height, or profession. Is it because he or she is kind? A deep-thinker? A good parent? Someone resilient doing the best they can with the hand they're dealt? When you break down your love into its basic building blocks, you can pull out those blocks and use them to craft characters, and stories, that are all your own and which really don't resemble the original inspiration at all. 

Why Sons of Rome Makes My Creative Heart Happy

Fulk vibe 

There's a quote that I love about owning everything that's happened to you. You own the things you've accomplished, too. As a writer, you own all the stories that you've written, and when you start writing something new, it isn't a case of leaving those stories behind, but, rather, of cramming them all into your toolbox (or, in Mercy's case, tackle box) and toting them along with you. 

I was having a conversation with my alpha reader about White Wolf a few weeks ago that consisted largely of hand-waving and incoherent straw-grasping from me as I tried, unsuccessfully, to explain to her why this project was so exciting and important for me. After an embarrassing amount of time, I finally realized what I'd been trying to convey. "This series," I told her, "is the reason I've written all the books I have before this. Everything I've ever written has been practice for this." 

She said, "But I really liked your other books!" 

And I said, "That's not what I mean." What I mean is that if it weren't for the things I've learned while writing my other books, I wouldn't have a prayer of tackling something as massive and creatively-terrifying as the Sons of Rome series. 

Writing and publishing books has been an amazing learning experience for me. Each book teaches me something entirely new about character development, about plot, pacing, tension. They've all taught me something new about myself as a writer. Each one has been a creative experiment in which I challenged myself to dig deeper, stretch farther outside my comfort zone, and write more beautifully than before. 

If the number of messages and emails I've received in the past few weeks are anything to go by, I think there's a certain sense that Dartmoor is something I've set aside in order to pick something else up. Which isn't true. It's the toolbox analogy. All the things I've learned while writing Dartmoor are carrying through to this new book. Characters who are flawed, but lovable, who screw up, and then do better, who love hard, and who are confused about their feelings...those things are all still there, and they're there because of Dartmoor. 

Writing White Wolf has felt like those fevered days of writing Fearless, neck-deep in world-building, continually surprised by the characters, and the envelopes they're willing to push. Asking myself "do I dare?" and cackling with glee when I realize how twisted it all is. That was always my secret delight with Fearless: it was always a little bit of a Gothic horror story masquerading as something more down-to-earth. 

I'm not naïve enough to think that all my regular readers will like it. Some will probably dislike it. But I think some of you will love it. I love it, and it's a book, and a series, that I'm writing for the people who will love it. That's the secret, you know: write books that some people will love, and never listen to the detractors. 

Here's why I love it, and why I hope some of you will love it too:

- History. I've always enjoyed studying history. The past is what shaped our present, and to understand what happened then helps us to be better informed about what happens now. Also, I just love the exploration there. With characters born as far back as 1267 (Fulk), and even farther back (our sons of Rome), the scope of history in this series is vast. When characters live forever, the possibilities are endless. And since I love writing characters with shared histories, the vastness serves as an amazing catalyst for relationship-building. 

- The Aesthetic. I love the dark vampire aesthetic. The red velvets and dripping candles, yes, but mostly the push/pull of dark and light within each character. Craving versus resistance; civilized versus animalistic; aloof versus impassioned; beautiful versus hideous. When done well, vampires have always served as a visceral, erotic metaphor for an individual's duality, the conflicting nature of humankind. For me, the challenge was to fit that aesthetic into a story in which potentially awesome characters are deeply grounded in reality. To create very real problems for a group of characters who, despite supernatural abilities, are still very much struggling with the identity and morality issues of humans. These are not fairytale vampires and wolves, but People With Problems who also happen to be immortal and strong. 

- A Good Fit. Since my writing style leans more toward the literary side of things, I've found that horror/paranormal fiction is a really good fit. 

- The Characters. This series gives me a chance to explore a whole new crop of characters. Characters who are burdened by time and their own pasts. Clever villains you can't help but love. Truly badass women who don't have to play by anyone else's rules. Even some real life figures from history. These are the kinds of characters who I like to fangirl about in my Real Dorky Life. 

In short, this series is an overlong love letter to all the dark fiction I've ever loved. It'll tick off the Morality Police, and poke at some people's comfort zones, and it isn't apologetic about doing so. 

Writing has gone well; it's felt like an adventure I've had the privilege of witnessing and then taking down on paper, and that's usually a very good sign. This first book has unfolded in a completely unexpected way, and that's been its own kind of joy. Opening the door on a new world is always thrilling and a little scary, but it's what makes writing its own reward.

When I say the old rote "I can't wait to share," know that I really, really mean it. Shooting for a late October release, so stay tuned. 

Workshop Wednesday: Reading For Writers Part I

Reading For Writers Part I:

I talk often about the importance of reading for writers. It is important; it’s the most-common advice big-name published writers gives when asked for pointers, and I agree with them.

But maybe you’re wondering why it’s so important.

The short answer is that a well-read writer is going to be more articulate, better-seasoned, and more distinctive. Well-read writers have got the mechanics of the written word down pat, and are able to delve deeper into their characters. Their author voices are more well-developed and they’ve established a certain style all their own. A well-read author writes stories that feel and sound like them, rather than rough-sketch parodies of whatever’s popular on the marketplace.