Writing Update: The Alpha Draft of Repressed is finished!

Greetings all,

As the title indicates, I met my goal and finished this draft of Repressed. I’m happy with how it turned out. Before I go over some administrative notes, I want to make sure I thank my Alpha Readers.

First is Ben. He’s always first. He’s my best friend, and reads every first draft I throw his way, even while working a full-time job and helping my sister raise two wonderful, but active, children. Well…the Senior is all grown up, but I digress. Ben pointed out a few of the logistical conundrums this story had, and offered some advice I’ll account for when the book is completely finished.

Next is Grace, who I met at a convention. She liked Caught and wanted more. She was kind enough to not only send some general comments, but she also sent a document that highlighted some of the more egregious typos. She could have just sent an email, but she took time out of her life to give something I wrote a degree of detail I felt was above and beyond. I can’t thank her enough.

Whenever I write something, I try to stretch my abilities.  I knew that since this book featured Kaitlyn, who’s 16 at the time of this story, the novella would fall into the YA category, which I’m honestly not a huge fan of. But art and entertainment can do so many wonderful things. I’ve always believed that not liking a person or thing has more to do with understanding it than it being bad. So trying to write this story was a way of approach the genre. However, I’m not going to pretend I know everything about everything. I reached out to the Slush Brain, and Chess DeSalls answered the call. She was my “YA” expert, and I was very happy with her feedback. She’s a successful YA author, and I’ve even reviewed one of her books.

Peggy has not only read every book I’ve published, she’s also helped me sell more books than anyone else. She read my call for alpha readers, and decided to get some advanced reading done. Peggy, Grace, and Ben were particularly helpful because they’ve all read Caught, which I’m honored to say spent a few days on the Top 100 for its category (psychics) for a few days this weekend, and I was very concerned about keeping these elements together.

The reality is anyone can write up a book and get it published. I don’t want to just throw crap on the digital wall. I want stories that inspire and entertain. I want to write stories people enjoy. These alpha and beta (two drafts away) readers are critical to making that happen. They provide honest, direct feedback that lets me make the stories better.  I can’t do this without them.  Thank you!

So what’s next? Well, I’m going to take the rest of this weekend to watch football and read Oathbringer (probably not the whole book, but a LOT).

Monday, I’ll begin the First Draft of The Worth of Words, my contribution to The Power of Words anthology (Happy to report I’ve received yet another submission by the way). I’ll update you all via Twitter and Facebook on my progress there. Sara and I have began talking about how long she’ll need for developmental edits. If I finish the First Draft of The Worth of Words, I’ll start world building and outlining Betrayed (Oneiros Book 2).

That’s what I’ll be up to through December. Again, I want you all to know what a blessing it is to have anyone even remotely interested in my ramblings. It’s amazing! I’ll keep working hard to believe blogs you enjoy and books you can’t put down. As always…

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Book Review: Lantern by Chess Desalls

Spoiler Free Summary: Lantern by Chess Desalls is a short story of a teenage girl, Tori, who’s visiting her grandmother’s estate. She encounters a magical lantern with more inside than a decent bulb. The mystery of the lantern forces her to choose whether to believe in magic or not. It also tests her close relationship with her parents. NOTE: I bought the Kindle edition, but because my reading list got enormous at light speed, I chose to grab up the Audible edition since I had a road trip ahead of me.

Character:  Tori is a believable teenager. She has enduring qualities of adventurism and a strong affection for her baby brother. I’ve mentioned my personal bias against teen novels, but Tori made this book easier to go through as her choices and actions were a little less wayward than is common in the genre. I’m not saying that is completely absent in this book, but I will say I had far less trouble believing this story and connecting with Tori than I usually do with book of this sort. I also like that the parents weren’t complete morons (which is another common trait in teen novels).  Listen, I get that in teen stories, you have to account for the question, “Why don’t parents get involved,” but I appreciate an author who doesn’t negate a parent’s role or mitigate that issue by making the parents completely oblivious. Yes, Tori had to get out to adventure, but there were explanations and consequences for Tori’s actions that, to me, give this story a more realistic feel. That made the story resonate. Plus, her relationship with her parents was a plot line, and her choices that stressed that relationship weighed on her mind. I appreciate that about this story.

All images of Chess Desalls and her work were taken from her Facebook page or WordPress website for review purposes under fair use.

Exposition: I’ll talk a bit more in regard to dialogue (as usual), but this was an absolute strength for Desalls, who I’ll confess is a friend and fellow member of the Slush Brain. (Being open about my friendships is something I find important. This allows readers of this review to add whatever amount of salt they want to the review.) One of the reasons this book was able to be so condensed is because Desalls doesn’t beat us to death with exposition or back story. The narrative in this story is tight, allowing the reader to flip through the pages without a steep learning curve. She used the questions the reader had to build tension as the story unfolded.

World building:  I have to tell myself this was the first book in a planned series. There were magic system and world building questions that I wanted the answers to that I didn’t get. Some readers love this. I’m frustrated by this as much as I am by cliffhangers (both techniques do have their place in storytelling, but they always annoy me). The open questions don’t slow down the plot or negate the reader’s ability to enjoy the story. Yes, they exist, but they exist more to show the scope of the story than they are holes to be filled in.

Dialogue:  Desalls used dialogue to get around a lot of the exposition issues. I noticed it, but the dialogue was still effective. Desalls countered the potential info dump issue with nice descriptive beats and character building quirks, which broke up the dialogue and gave it a more natural feel.

Description: This was a strength of the story for me. The character (which is number one on my book) was the strongest area for Desalls, but I like a fast-moving story with well placed adjectives and descriptive beats. I was able to see what I needed to see and allowed to use my imagination to fill in the rest. The hard-core scifi guys probably will want more intricate detail, but that’s just not my flavor ice cream.

Overall: This was a charming story that opened the door to an interesting world. Any teen story that has the usual themes but also allows for realistic reactions and consequences sets itself above the rest. Lantern does that for me. It’s a nice quick read I think adventurous young teens would enjoy.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

April Elite 8!

This month has been quantifiably competitive! We’re kicking off the Elite 8, and each person in this bracket has a dedicated following! The Sweet 16 had 771 votes (just short of a record), which puts us at 3,046 votes so far.

Let’s go over some numbers:

The Closest Contest:

Michael J. Sullivan just won’t go down. His cover for Age of Myth is the only book to have to rematches. It seems like every match he’s in is a close one. This match with The First City by Joe Hart was no different.  Sullivan edged out Hart by 1 vote (51 percent of the 97 votes the match received). The Day the Sky Fell by Adam Dreece also narrowly beat Brimstone by Cherie Priest. (I mean the last vote tipped the tie at 11:54 p.m.).

The Largest Victor:
Neo Edmund’s readers helped the cover for Fate of the Big Bad Wolf earn a decisive 28-vote victory (66 percent of 86 votes) over J.N. Chaney’s Hope Everlasting.

Least Voted On Contest:

We didn’t have quite the same max participation as we did in the last round, but everyone still got plenty of votes.  Chaney and Edmund’s match was the low-vote earner this round.

 

Most Voted On Contest:
The most voted on contest was Gods and Monsters by Janie Marie vs The Bone Tree by T.A. Miles. They both received more than 50 votes, but Marie took the round with 72 out of a total of 123 votes.

Most Votes:
Gods and Monsters has surged to the front of this bracket. Marie’s received the most votes of the round as well as the most votes so far (164). It’s going to take at least 75 votes to beat her.

The Elite Eight lasts until May 10, which is another three days to show your support for the cover you like best!

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

April’s Sweet 16!

I’m always amazed at the support these authors generate. This month is no different.  I’m getting used to each month’s first round outdoing the month before it, but I’m more impressed this month.  In about half the time, your readers helped shatter the record for first round votes. You generated 2,250 votes, which is 502 more than ever before.  What makes me happiest is that every match had more than 110 votes. So all your readers came out to show support, and they were kind enough to show that support to all of you.  Please thank them for me.

This month didn’t have a lot of close calls, but the votes were coming in so fast and furious (really hate that term these days) that I had to wait for the next round to start before I could finalize this post. One match had a lead change just while I was typing this post out. (Well fought Michael J. Sullivan and Frank Dorrain!)

Let’s go over some numbers:

The Closest Contest:

The above shoutout should have been the hint. Michael J. Sullivan had a late (like 11:30 p.m. late) surge and took the match by three votes (just 51% of the total votes).  That makes Age of Myth vs To Brave the End the closest contest no matter how you slice it. Sullivan just won’t go away. He consistently finds a way to win (except for that pesky final match).

The Largest Victor:
World, meet Neo Edmund and his outstanding cover Fate of the Big Bad Wolf. He beat Malevolent Mind by Misty Harvey by 64 total votes, which is 74 percent of the matches’ 132 total votes (No, it’s not the most voted on contest. Like I said, you all had a TON of support!)

Most Voted On Contest:
For my money, the most voted on match was the most fun match to watch. It had a lot of lead changes and was always close.  Waters of Salt and Sin by Alisha Klapheke managed to beat Restitution by Kristen Martin by just 8 votes (one of the three closest matches). This match dominated in terms of total votes with 188. I saw both authors tweeting and sharing away.  It was great to see their participation and touching to see how many readers showed up to vote for them.

Least Voted On Contest:
For the first time since I started this, I really think we had max participation in that every match had a significant number of votes.  Yes, the above match had some 20 votes more than the others, but everyone got some love.  However, someone usually gets the fewest.  This round, the match between by Darkborn by Carrie Summers  vs The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski received the fewest votes (120).  Summers took the match pretty handedly though (by 46 votes).

Most Votes:
Usually, the winner of the most voted on contest also earns this distinction.  Not so this month. Joe Hart’s The First City received 100 votes. There were a lot of books that received more than 90 votes, so it’s just a testimony to how much love voters showed all of the contests.

So now it’s on to the Sweet 16!  This round will last until May 7. That’s 3 days to pick which 8 will move on.

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The April Book Cover of the Month Bracket Begins!

Happy first everyone! It’s time to kick off a new bracket.  If you’re curios or new, check out the Book Covers for December, January, February, and March.

April’s bracket has 30 new covers.  Age of Myth is fighting more than I’ve ever seen a cover fight. Michael J. Sullivan finished with the top most votes in the semifinals, which earned him yet another shot in this month’s bracket. Frank Dorrian’s To Brave the End was last month’s runner up, so he gets another crack at the bracket as well.

As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.

If you are the author, I feel the need to let’s remember some basic guidelines.  1) Please feel free to message or contact me at any time. 2) Please feel free to like, share, text, ask for support, and call everyone you know. I absolutely want max participation. However, if you’re going to offer giveaways or prizes, please offer them for voting, not just voting for you.

Also, while your summoning your army of voting soldiers, please make sure you ask them to vote in every match. Part of the idea of this is to get exposure to as many artists and authors as possible. By all means, if you can get 1,000 people to vote for your book, do it. Just please also send some eyeballs to the other matches.

A final note to authors and artists: I currently have links to the books’ Amazon pages. If you’d prefer I switch that link to sign up for your newsletter or like your social media page or whatever, just send me the link and let me know. I want this to help you. I want this to be as helpful as possible, so whatever you need me to do to facilitate that, just let me know.

Since we’ve been going, I’ve been evaluating how the participation has been. A few authors mentioned that it can be pretty exhausting having a 22-day-long tournament.  So I’m going to try a few new things.  This month, I’m simply trying to reduce the amount of time in the tournament.  This torment will run from today to the 14th.  I’ll do something different next mont.  I’d like your thoughts and feedback as to which way is best.  My goal is to have a fun, honest, meaningful competition that helps everyone. Your feedback will make that possible.

Round 1 will go from today to May 4.

The Sweet 16 will run from then to the 7th.

The Elite 8 will take it from there until the 10th.

The Final 4 runs from the 18th to the 12.

The Finals will go from the 20th to the 14.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Fun and Games are coming!

$100.00 Amazon Gift Card Newsletter Sign-Up Giveaway

Enter for a chance to win and then join us 16 December 2016 for additional prizes. The winner is announced 18 December 2016.

Join the HMS Slush Brain Blog Hop this holiday!

• Angela B. Chrysler
• C.L. Schneider
• Matthew W. Harrill
• Adam Dreece
• Chess DeSalls
• Kylie Jude
• T.H. Morris
• MLS Weech
• J.K. Norry