Ramblings

Last year, I wrote more than 16 short stories in easy-read chapter books for my students. I have recently published the first one. Due to the children's ages, I have used fake names. A few of my students are miffed about it because they wanted their actual names included. The only reason I am not churning them out is that the art takes time.

I utilise AI for several purposes.

1. Sometimes, I put the story in and ask for ideas of what illustrations would be good with it.

2. Often, I will ask for line art, which I can use as a template. I then complete it using Adobe Photoshop or Apple Procreate. It gives me the right perspective, much like using a stencil. Getting the right size and perspective is something 

Book 1: The Lost Luna - Published

Book 2: The Lost Queen - Written and currently being published

Novella - The Moon's Exception - Currently being written

Book 3: The Love of a Beta - To be rewritten

Novella - The Dragon Princess - To be rewritten

Novella - My Omega, My Mate

Novella - A Love Eternal

Novella - Into the Light

Book 4: The Gamma and Her Two Alphas - To be rewritten

Novella - Redemption

Book 5: His Abused Mate

I have updated the story to reflect my writing style. There is much more detail and description.

Despite planning out an entire story, sometimes the storyline takes you on a slightly different journey. I find this so amusing because I am always planning (being a teacher and all). I have plans in case plans fail, and I am useless at keeping to them, so I have to re-plan on the fly. Thankfully, I keep a large supply of erasable pens and refills to fix up plans whenever this happens.

When I put a novel together, I follow a pretty standard procedure.

First, I'll come up with a concept based on a main overall idea. It is very simple and is usually no more than 100 words.

From there, I start planning out the basic chapters. It is like a very broad timeline of how the story is going to progress. The first time I do this, it is usually a page long and very simplistic. I will most likely leave it for a little while, as I am probably still writing other novels. I'll come back to this timeline a few times and add in new ideas as they come to me. Once I am happy with how the story is going to go, I move on to the next step.

The next stage is to write a summary for each chapter. This is basically a paragraph, around 100 words describing what happens in each chapter. At this stage, I will decide from whose point of view the chapter will be.

When I am ready to write it straight into Grammarly (and no, I don't always agree with the changes the programme wants). I type out a more detailed timeline before starting to write. Sometimes I will write a couple of half paragraphs before going back and adding more detail to them. I will often sit and close my eyes for a moment to visualise what is happening in each moment. I will go over it multiple times to make sure that it makes sense, flows and has the preferred mix of plot, dialogue and description. On average, I write about three chapters a week, except during non-contact time (school holidays) when I try and write a chapter or more a day.

Finally, it gets proofread by Helen before getting uploaded to GoodNovel or wherever it has been signed. Once the novel is finished in its entirety, I put it into word and make it into both Kindle and paperback versions.

In this world, there are no "werewolves". Instead, they are called shifters because they shift into an animal form. These particular shifters do not have the Lycan form that I wrote about in The Alpha's Mate. It is a totally different world. Also, in the particular town that the book is set in, the local human police are aware of shifters, and there is a relationship of a sort between the police and the local Alpha (Daemon).

Instead of a Royal Family of wolves, there is a Council of Alpha's which govern the packs and mete out justice where necessary.

I have finished rewriting Hidden Legacy Book 2: The Lost Queen and am formatting it into a Kindle-ready document for publication on Amazon.

The book was originally called The Lost Princess, but I found that The Lost Queen made much more sense. It is a full rewrite of the book, and unlike The Lost Luna, it includes some changes to the original story. This has led to a new novella in the same world, titled The Moon's Exception, which follows the life of Perry St. Claire, introduced in Book 1.

I had to put a warning label on that chapter. Going into the past and the horrific slaughtering of an entire pack required it, although it wasn't as graphic as one of the chapters in Finding His Mate

 However, there is also a warning label for badly spoken English. In order to do that dialogue, I channelled my memories of teaching in an intermediate school where I was commonly asked, "Do you got a pencil, Miss?" and I cringed the whole way through it. Grammarly had a fit, of course.

• Using the wrong tense, such as "I seen" instead of "I saw".

• Using "do" instead of "should".

• Misnomers like "Splitting image" happened because I made a typo and decided to change the dialogue and keep it.

My proofreader hasn't seen it yet, but knowing Helen, she will probably be cringing along with me.

In chapter 39 - Operation Stop Viktor: Kristof and his team are going out during the early morning to attempt to capture or kill Viktor to stop him from wreaking havoc and abducting Aláine. The main issue with this was how they would be able to see in the dark. I read about what happens to nocturnal animals in regard to their nighttime eyesight. It was an interesting read in which I found out that wolves have a tapetum lucidum, which is a biologic reflector system. There is a reflective layer of tissue in our eyes that sat behind the retina. Because of this, it allows them to see in the dark, although obviously not in colour.

In Chapter 66 - First Run: Aláine has had her first shift and has fully become a werewolf. Since she wasn't born as a werewolf (wolf-born), she would obviously need to learn how to walk on four legs and use her tail. It was very interesting to learn how dogs run and use their tail as a rudder. This way, they could run and turn without falling over. 

In this world, werewolf law states that only humans who are fated mates may be turned into werewolves and only with consent. There are three Kingdoms in the world and are ruled by those who are direct descendants of King Leto. Only these direct descendants have white fur tinged with a golden colour.

There are some pure wolf-born packs who refuse to mate with humans for they feel it will dilute the pureness of that line. If they find that their fated mate is a human, they will either reject or kill that human, and choose another mate.

Werewolves have three aspects: They appear human, but still have wolf-like powers. They are usually taller and stronger than most humans. They have a Lycan aspect and a wolf aspect. Both of these aspects are large creatures.

Finding His Luna was my first adult erotic/romantic fantasy book. I didn't want a central female character that was weak in any way. Aláine might not be the strongest character, but she can hold her own despite her vulnerabilities. For the main male character, he needed not to be a narcissistic arsehole or abusive in any way. Kristof still had to be commanding and sexy, but that could happen without the bullshit.

The nastiness of any character was left to the villain. In this case, it was Viktor. Villains are not born evil; they are created. In Viktor's case, the scene was set about three years before the story. I decided it was okay to feel for the villain, but at the end of the day, his character is still the miscreant and must be dealt with.

I left the story with a cliffhanger and a totally new unnamed character. More will be revealed in Book 2: Future Queen.