From the Backlist: Writing Resolutions for the New Year

"Now What?" by Yaoyao Ma Van As

 

Welcome to the last post of 2025 where we highlight an insightful look at ways writers, and readers, can make a great start to 2026. 

Writing Resolutions for the New Year by T Frohock

Enjoy this addition of From the Backlist, and have a safe and wonderful celebration!

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Writing Resolutions for the New Year

by T. Frohock

 

Or the new month, or the new day, I'm pretty flexible about resolutions as a whole, because we all tend to slip off the wagon from time to time. However, there is nothing like having an outline of sorts for the year ahead ... or the month, or the day ...

You get the idea. Anyway, here are some of my plans for writing in 2016:

A Business Plan. My business plan will consist of more than eating collards on New Year's Day and hoping that means I will make a lot of money in the coming year. I will actually sit down and make dollar signs followed by actual figures as to how much I can afford to spend on promotional activities. I will analyze my writing, the markets I want to reach, and my readership. I will have a clear idea of the types of books I intend to write along with realistic timetables as to how long it will take me to produce each work.

Read More Books. I will read more books both in my genre and outside my genre. I want to read fiction and non-fiction, because reading broadens my skillset by constantly exposing me to new ideas. While I definitely read for enjoyment, I also read in order to study other authors' works for story structure and techniques that might improve my own writing.

Pace Myself Better. This is actually part of my business plan, too, but I wanted to list it separately, because self care is important. I pushed myself a little too hard in 2015. Keep in mind that I work a full-time job in addition to writing. Realistically, it takes me about five months to complete a 30,000 word novella. What I didn't account for in 2015 was a month of edits on a previous novella along with a month of promo on the opposite side. In 2016, I will be accounting for those extra two months. I also know that I can produce about 30,000 words of good fiction in a five month period (in addition to blog posts and other stories), so that I can better assess how long it will take me to write a novel. Add in reading, those little ups and downs of life, and family, and seven months for a finished novella is actually more realistic.

Take More Risks. Continue reading...

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T. Frohock has turned a love of history and dark fantasy into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. A real-life cyborg, T. has a cochlear implant, meaning she can turn you on or off with the flick of a switch. Make of that what you will. She currently lives in North Carolina, where she has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying.

Check out her latest releases HERE!

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Thanks for dropping by! Can't wait to see you all back in 2026!

 

 

 

From the Backlist: Tis the Witching Hour

Warm Bodies - Love with an Emo Zombie  - Salon

Welcome to the Back-list! Today we are featuring Amanda Arista's 2013 post, focusing on the one thing that can send shivers straight up the spine. 

Fear is such a powerful sensation, don't you think? ... so tell us, do you have this one?

Read Amanda's full post HERE! 

Tis the witching hour: The one irrational fear of Amanda Arista

by Amanda Arista

 

As you know, we are a blog dedicated to the sexy things that go bump in the night. So it really shouldn't surprise you that most of us aren't really afraid of the dark. We have demons, vampires, werewolves, and fey running through our heads most of the time. And those are the good guys. Each year, I take months to plan what scary little devil I'm going to be for Halloween.

With this new series that I am still working on, I've discovered that it takes a lot to scare me. If you've read the blog before, I grew up on a steady diet of serial killers and exorcism movies growing up. I'll take a good haunting any day. Doesn't phase me much.

Even it comes to the real world, I'm pretty much the same. No fear of flying. Heights don't bother me. I'm the girl who picks up the bugs in the office and takes them outside. I used to be squeamish around needles, but working in a hospital for eight years got me over that. I love deep water, have no problem with pitch black rooms, and don't mind being in a big crowd.

However, Hollywood has finally revealed to me what I am afraid of:

LARGE HORDES OF FAST-MOVING ZOMBIES

At least I can say it outloud now. 

 

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About Amanda Arista:

Amanda is the author of the Diaries of an Urban Panther series and The Merci Lanard Files. She is represented by Kimberly Brower of Brower Literary Management.

Along with her BA in English & Psychology and her MA in Education, Amanda is a graduate of the SMU The Writer’s Path and taught other aspiring authors for six years in the program. She has delivered lectures at several writer conferences and loves discussing craft, character, and structure. 

 

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Thanks for dropping by! We hope you have a spine tingling Witching Hour. 

 

 

Back from the dead with some big questions

 Hello Dear Readers!

Amanda here and back from the dregs that was 2024. Last year kicked my butt, but this year is starting off a little better? I made sure to open the front and back doors of my house at midnight on New years to let the old energies out and the new energies in, and I think it worked. 

As part of a life-refresh, I started asking myself why I do I write. Why do I stay up late and dream up characters and world? Why do I write paranormal? Why not romance or high fantasy? Why Shifters? Why not Elves or Angels?

And just to add to my imposter syndrome, why do I write about a creature that has been written about a million times before?  Especially when you’re working with the supernatural. Both my book series deal with primarily with shapeshifters (and maybe a few fairies and demons stuck in there too). 

When I started writing, I wanted to call them Shifters partially because there was something sexier about calling them shifters, and partly because saying were-panther tends to get a snicker in response. It’s all the same trope of magic. So in my mythos, the shifters are humans who harness magic to shift into an animal. Their animal is mostly determined by who bit them OR, fun turn of events, sometime called a soulshift when the animal matches their spirit and not their bloodline. The moon pulls at them and heirloom silver is their weakness.

But it all sounds pretty familiar, right? It’s hard to get something original about a creature that appears in every single culture across the world. So something about them must be appealing to our deeper self, right? Why do we find shapeshifters so damn alluring?

There's only one reason, right? We like the danger. Even with a human consciousness, those are still some damn big claws. That edge keeps us on our toes, ready to fight or flee. We like that it’s a wild animal trying to get out. We like that they can smell our fear. We like that they have basal core temperatures of 100 degrees (at least mine do) because it means for a lot of no-shirt time. It is a simple and universal attraction.

 But if you want to go deeper, I guess we could also look at this through a Jungian lens about  seeking to understand the animal side of ourselves. Our myths about were-creatures stemmed from a fear that our animal selves will take over and expose who we really are.  In Diaries and Truth, the animal only exposes who they really was, even if they wasn’t ready to be that yet.

So, if our animal selves expose who we really are and our attraction to them is based on our fear of knowing the truth about ourselves and others, what would your animal be? I know you’ve thought about it. Would you be the proud lioness who guards her pride fiercely? Would you be a black lab who is loyal until the moment of death? Are you a Panther?

Amanda Arista

Author of Diaries of an Urban Panther series and The Merci Lanard Files

www.amandaarista.com

@pantherista

From the Backlist - Juliet Marillier

 

Fantasy author Juliet Marillier

It's time again to flip through the Supernatural Underground back list and today we are landing on an interview with Juliet Marillier. Conducted in 2012 by our own, wonderful writer Helen Lowe, the words, tips and insights remain timeless (especially after chatting about curses this month!)

Introducing Juliet Marillier:

Juliet Marillier’s historical fantasy novels for adults and young adults, including the popular Sevenwaters series, have been translated into many languages and have won a number of awards including the Aurealis, the American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Sir Julius Vogel Award and the Prix Imaginales. Her lifelong love of folklore, fairy tales and mythology is a major influence on her writing. Juliet is currently working on the Shadowfell series, a story of tyranny and rebellion set in a magical version of ancient Scotland. When not busy writing, she tends to a small pack of waifs and strays.

In addition to this interview, you may find out more on Juliet’s website http://www.julietmarillier.com; she also blogs on http://www.writerunboxed.com.

Interview: Juliet Marillier and Shadowfell

US Cover

Helen: Juliet, Shadowfell is your third specifically YA novel, following on from Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret, and all three have strong romantic elements. Do you feel this is an increasingly important part of writing YA stories, or part of a continuing tradition?

Juliet: YA stories feature a young adult protagonist or protagonists and usually focus on that character’s journey toward maturity ( the tradition of the Bildungsroman.) Learning about love / relationships is an important part of that stage in our lives, so it’s not surprising so many writers are building strong romantic elements into their YA stories. I don’t remember quite such an emphasis on romance in the books my children read as young adults, so I do think the approach has changed. Within my genre of fantasy, there’s been an upsurge of paranormal romance, partly generated by the Twilight books, but also reflecting the popularity of this sub-genre with adult readers. There are far more female fantasy writers (and female fantasy readers) than there were, say, twenty years ago, and perhaps female writers are more confident about including a good love story in a fantasy novel.

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To read the full interview, including some great comments, click here.

To find out more about Juliet Marillier, click here.

Note: Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly here on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

Styling Characters - More Than Meets the Eye

 

Costume and style can situate the reader in time, place and era.
 Mulan (Yifei Liu). Photo: Jasin Boland. © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. 

 

Character Clothing as Depiction

Costume and style reveal much about a character and for many authors, utilizing this technique comes naturally. But in writing workshops and critiques, costume design is often overlooked. I thought it would be fun to explore the ins and outs of this topic today. There is definitely more here than meets the eye.

Think about it. If a picture equals a thousand words, then how much are those images created in the reader's head? It's the perfect opportunity to portray the character's personality, background, and place in the world. Also consider what they keep close to hand, a bag of bones, weapons, books, quills, and potions. All can say more about who they are, without having to tell a thing. 

When a character walks onto a scene wearing armour and backing firearms, we know
they are ready to fight. A Mandalorian and droid 

Rank and Power

In my Amassia Series, for example, savants who raise their phantoms wear robes, the colours of which portray their advancement and skill level. Marcus explains it like this:

        "Each banner represents a savant's robe color: brown like the earth for the potentials who come in hopes of raising their phantoms. Then comes blue for young students who stay on .... Green, like me, for those graduating to the next level. Yellow for the successful initiates who've made the journey to Aku. Orange for the upper echelons of mastery. And red for the High Saant who leads us all.... actually, not all. The black-robed Bone Throwers are a clan unto themselves..." - Marcus Adicio Heir to the throne of Baiseen.

With this hierarchy in place, whenever we meet a new character we know by just looking at them if they are savant or non-savant. If the former, we also know their level of training without adding another word to the scene. It frees up space to notice other significant aspects without getting into a long and heavy backstory about how they grew up and where they fit in.

Note how style here confers rank and level of confidence.
 Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury in episode 102 of Queen Charlotte:  Netflix

Personality and Mood

Depicting style also gives the writer an opportunity to utilize what the character is wearing from the start, and contrast it when necessary. So when heavy boots come off, fancy dress is replaced by pants and a button shirt tied in a knot at the waist, or a formal suit is exchanged for PJs, it is telling. Of I should say, showing...

You can also use clothing to portray a deeper backstory and set your character apart. In Curse of Shadows, for example, Ash, who is non-savant, is set apart when she busts out her favourite lavender and black-lace dress. Earlier Marcus recounts having it made for her because her guardian is too auster to consider it. Marcus hides the truth by saying it was left behind by a delegate's daughter and he hopes it will fit.

It's a little Easter egg that pops up later, something the reader knows but Ash does not. Not just a warm moment, but an insight into Marcus's heart as well.

Characters may dress differently for the same event, telling volumes about their intentions.

Foto: Divulgação/Netflix 

Contrast for the Win

Another example is how Netflix' Lucifer situates all the ensemble cast in the same workspace, an LA precinct, but each of them wears very different costumes. From human souls to angels to demons and the Devil himself, their get-up offers a view into the characters' goals, desires and means to achieve them. 

So writers, be sure you are giving your characters the style that most brings the story to life, and readers, I would love to hear your favorite costumes, from books or films. Costume design is, after all, one of the Academy Awards, an essential part of storytelling.

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Posts in the 'More Than Meets the Eye' Series

Book Titles

The End

Backstory

Environment

Styling Characters

Desire

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Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third out in 2024

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site 

2023: Year of Re-Imagining

 Hello Faithful Readers, 

Yes, I was hiding under a rock. Yes, I was completely just trying to survive in my little bubble of the world I created that somehow I managed to pop. Yes, it sucked. 

I'm not saying I was at rock bottom, but there were some toe-touch moments where it definitely felt one step away from doom.

After those toe-touch moments, I always found a lesson, a little nugget of gold, to carry with me. And each time, I'd say to myself, "That was an Ordeal, and the lesson is a Reward." It all harkens back to the Heroic Journey of our Main Characters. For me, that process of going from zero to hero always helps me figure out where I am going, where I have been, and how much I still have to learn. 

For reference, here is a pretty and fairly accurate representation of the process I'm talking about. The real one is Christopher Vogler's interpretation of the Joseph Campbell Monomyth that delineates the 12 phases of a hero's journey.

I talked about this in 2014, My Year of Living Heroically, and yet, here I am, circling back around to it. Cycling back around to it, because growth is never ending. Learning is never-ending. Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks- they just have to have the right motivation. 

But this time around, I'm wiser, I've written more, lived more, read more, watched more. I'm not that same naive writer from back then. I'd like to say that I'm a little more enlightened, but really, I think my imagination has just gotten bigger. 

So for 2023, I present to you The Year of Reimagining. Reimagining story structure. Reimagining the Hero's Quest. Reimagining your life as a cycle to help you get through your rough spots. 

And of course there will be lots of movies, books, TV, and cute boys to help me with my new vision of an old story. 

Thank you and may your imagination be your guide. 

(If you've forgotten who I am, Here's ALL the contact info)

Insta: @pantherista https://www.instagram.com/pantherista/

Twitter: @pantherista  https://twitter.com/Pantherista

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pantherista

Website links: www.amandaarista.com

Diaries of an Urban Panther: https://books2read.com/u/mZrjp2

Claws and Effect: https://books2read.com/u/mdDlPZ

Nine Lives of an Urban Panther: https://books2read.com/u/bzdjrD

Truth about Night: https://books2read.com/u/3RJKPv

Truth about Blood: https://books2read.com/u/3JZjGP

Truth about Shadows: https://books2read.com/u/bp8p8X

Vampires gone Wild (short story in anthology): https://books2read.com/u/bPQGAr

Writing What You Don't Know

Salila has a huge growth arc in books #2 & #3 of the Amassia Series

Updated from an earlier work on the Voyager Blog 2011

The adage write what you know works fine for how-to manuals, cookbooks, auto repair guides or medical text. With these genres, writers need a certain level of expertise, and the goal is to share it. You can also write what you know in Fiction, even Fantasy where the sunset, the stars, the feel of the wind in your hair as you gallop down the road can come from personal experience.

Wonderful Paranormal YA 

But, what about the monsters, the genies, the aliens, the polymorphs? No one on Earth can know, for example, what a phantom (from Crown of Bones) is like, or a Mar who dwells under the sea.  That is, until the author creates such things from their blank page. Sometimes that process can be a challenge so wanted to revisit these four quick tips I find helpful for writing what you don’t know.

Tip #1: Research. If you have a world that focuses on UFOs and the history of our relationship to extraterrestrials, you don’t have to work at SETI to write it convincingly (just ask Vanessa Barneveld with her new release Under the Milky Way). You do have to know what the current climate is on the subject and the historical references to things like alien abductions. In other words, do your research. Second-hand knowledge is invaluable here.

Tip #2: Savvy proofreaders. Research can take the place of direct experience, especially in world-building and other historical facts, but there are exceptions. Horses are one. If you don’t know horses, you can learn about them, but if they are going to do more than graze in the paddock, you’ll need a proofreader with horse sense to check your work. Readers who are also riders will spot ineptitude a mile away. Jolt! If it’s going to be a feature in your novel, get an expert to proof and/or offer technical advice. 

Practising Iaido for fight scenes

Tip #3: Hands-on. If you’re going to give some art, animal, dance, ritual, music or machine a big role in your script, immerse in it, hands-on! As a bonus, your life will become richer for the experience. In my first three series, I researched quantum computing, aquatic humans, physics theory, geo-engineering, bio-engineering, shadow projection and were-animal/shapeshifting mythologies. 

I also joined a local dojo and learned to wield a sword. Already on board were things like felines, horses, witchcraft, magic, astrology, SCUBA, gender studies and astral travel. I wove together the elements that were second nature to me with the ones I studied and learned. Anything else, like falconry, firearms and river rafting, was proofread by experts in the field.

Belair LOVES Ochee tea
based on Chi!

Tip #4: Start with a grain of truth. No matter how wild and farfetched a fantasy story becomes, a grain of truth is what you build on. It's what will give your prose more weight! In my most recent series, Amassia, a main character takes my love of the sea and turns it into an environment where those with very similar DNA to ours can exist, almost indefinitely. 

I also examine the notions of the unconscious and expand them into larger-than-life subpersonalities and talk and talk and interact with us. In earlier novels, I look at possible results of geoengineering that might do more harm than good. It’s all about the speculation but begin it with something real.

How do you express what you don't know in convincing ways? I'd love to hear more!

xxKim (aka A K Wilder)

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Kim Falconer, writing YA Fantasy as A K Wilder, is the author of Crown of Bones, book #1 in the Amassia Series. The sequel, Curse of Shadows, is due for release in June 2022.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

You can Throw the Bones, read your monthly horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site or just drop a comment to chat. See you there!

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SISYPHEAN (mostly titled this because I love the word)

2021: Forced Introspection

So, if y'all have been following along, it's been a year of figuring things out. You'd think in my 40th year of life with 7 books under my belt, I'd had found a rhythm of how to do this whole book thing. 

Write

Edit

Publish

Promo

Repeat. 

It's a cycle that used to work well, but with the changing market and new online retailers and, frankly a younger generation to engage with (because I've been writing over 10 years), there is always writing, always editing, always promotion to be done. It's like trying to wrangle four spinning plates. 

And for a long time, I did it that way. The same slog over and over and over. Book tours. Blog posts. post cards and author events. 

 Thanks to the 2021: Year of introspection and reading and watching and generally avoiding the writing game all together, I did finally realize that when playing with time loops, change and growth is inevitable. 

From this week's episode of Loki  to the infamous time loop of Dr Strange, time loops in entertainment have become the ultimate obstacle for any potential hero,  used as both a prison cell and a classroom. 

You either learn, or you perish. 

For example,  Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. Her protagonist Ursula dies a billion ways over and over and over again, but every time she dies, she gets the chance to learn about herself and her troubles. In Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl, the characters aren't in a time loop, but they have to keep going through the same actions to learn more about themselves in order to move on. 

In Russian Doll on Netflix, the main character Nadia has to repeat her birthday over and over again. No matter how she tries to change the events, she still ends up dying again. 

But in my FAVORITE example of time loops, Groundhogs Day,  the main character Phil has to relive the day over and over until he actually becomes a better person. 

So like these other protagonists, I've grown in my game. Last month I told you what I had learned about the writing loop, and what needed to change. This month, I can tell you what has changed in my promo loop. 

1. You got to do it all the time. People are finding new-to-them authors ALL THE TIME. I've come to accept that its okay to be proud of my books. Even the ones with flip phones in them. It is okay to pimp yourself everyone once in a while. 

2. You have to change. You've got to learn new ways of doing things, even though they might seem scary. Get on Instagram, do an interview (me with Romancing the Story), try just a twitter chat with the lovely ladies over at #momswritersclub. 

So this month, I did a little promo with the KISS App. You can find me reading the first few pages of THE TRUTH ABOUT NIGHT on my Facebook page!

Talk about something slightly scary!

3. Always help friends promote. Good will is good will. So check out the fun stuff the Kim Falconer has going on this month with her book!

Turns out, those time loops are not as scary as you might think. Not evolving is scary. Getting stuck is scarier. 

And, honestly, there is a YouTube video for EVERYTHING. 

Until next time, gentle readers. 

Amanda Arista

Author and Human

www.amandaarista.com

@pantherista

Know Thyself and thy brain wiring

Year of the New: Post-its here I come!

So in February, my new endeavor was to take a class. And I did. Write Better Faster  with instructor R. L. Syme, was a whirlwind of personality tests and writing strategies that completely solidified why I do what I do and why some things work for my brain and some things don't. 

The website says that "You will leave the class with an individualized set of strategies and tactics that will help you do your best work, be your most productive, and accomplish your writing goals." and they ain't lying. I had been exposed to multiple rounds of the Meyers-Briggs personality assessments before, but never through the lens of my career as a writer. 

In case you were wondering what the brain of this writer looks:
Meyers Briggs- ENFP- Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeler, Perceiver
DISC- I/C&S- Influencer with moderate Compliance and Service
Strengthfinders- Strategic, Ideation, Connectedness, Relator, and Responsibility

The instructor helped us understand our personalities and strengths and what we can do to enhance those strengths and where we might go off the rails. For example, my strengths all have to do with big thoughts and feelings and I don't have a single detail-oriented bone in my body, which is why I can hammer out a fast draft and have to revise a million times to only keep finding mistakes. I like the emotions of the moment with the characters, but I really could care less what they are wearing so I have the tendency to write lots of dialogue and thinky-thoughts with no descriptions of place and setting. 

Knowing really is half the battle and the instructor also did one-on-one strategy sessions with us to see what one thing I could do better in the coming months as well as some great things to do when I'm ready to edit again. Anyone want to beta read for me?

Big thing- Don't change everything at once!

So the one strategy I am going to be working for March is to create a place in my house to have a focus board/plotting board, sort of like a vision board for a book. Since I can't  plot out an entire book, because that just sucks out the fun part of exploring the story and then I'll never actually write the book because, BORING. A focus board will help me not get so distracted by away from the point of the story as well as keep me focused on theme and subplots without killing the action and feelings by having them all prescribed. Also, hopefully, to have a more complete story at the end of the first draft. You can read more about one here. 

Turns out I am in a pre-writing stage for the next book, so its a perfect time to try something new. Post-its and poster board, HERE I COME!

As always, keep a look out for the hashtag #2018yearofthenew to see how I'm doing with my endeavors. And guys, you've got to keep me honest!

Carry on, dear readers. 

Amanda Arista
@Pantherista
Author and ENFP
www.amandaarista.com

The End of Chaos - When Can We Do It Again?

It's very strange to be a debut author after more than a decade of striving to get through that gateway. But it's especially strange if your debut is birthed as three books released in eighteen months. *gulp* I feel that I can now tell this tale, at long last, and maybe, through my own weakness, fellow writers out there can figure out how you'd do it better, or you amazing readers can see how the cheese is made. For now, I'm just glad I survived.

The truth is, there are enough ups and downs in merely creating/editing/proofing a first book to make the most sturdy soul blanch. Because as the edits begin you become acutely aware, as you comb your way through rewrites and plot spaghetti, that this is only going to be the beginning of a very foggy journey. There is a long way still to go. But in spite of your doubt, you trudge your way through the edit phase of Book One even as you begin the daunting task of attempting to create a sequel—though you've become fairly sure through the multiple rounds of edits on Book One that you're actually a talentless hack, a charlatan, who couldn't write copy for the back of a cereal box.

Needless to say, doubt and the fear of impending failure become your familiar bedfellows as you complete those edits, then tie up the over-sized manuscript for your "bridge book", all the while being terrified everything you've been working on is a flim-flamming cliche. Your dreams at night now consist of rooms full of people laughing and pointing at you in mockery. And in the waking hours (or the witching ones) you wander in a brain fog between your coffee pot and your writing desk, making interesting mosaics on your flooring from dribbled vices like wine or Milk Duds.

But still, at long last, you turn in the jumble of words called Book Two just as Book One releases out into the world.

Shockingly(!) not too many people trash your attempt at a debut. It's actually received with interest—if not fanfare—and you feel better. You think, Huh, maybe I can do this author thing. It hasn't killed me yet!

And then the edits for Book Two begin. Your editor also reminds you of that whole "Book Three" thing you should already be half way through. *blink, blink* Book Two begins to feel contrived and underdeveloped as you attempt to untangle it, and your panic bunnies start jumping through your subconscious again, this time with great clanging symbols of ineptitude.

But, yet again, you turn in the edits and somehow manage to patch together something resembling a trilogy finale. And just as Book Two flies out to readers, you feel yourself come back to reality with a weighty thud. Because in the midst of the fog, you've forgotten your children's names, lost the dog somewhere, and you're pretty sure you accidentally went to church in your pajamas several weeks in a row. Everyone who knew you BC (Before Contract) wonder if you're even still alive, but you are on a first name basis with every Starbucks barista in town. Still, you somehow have this wide-eyed amazement at finishing (of a sort) this vast task that felt insurmountable only a year prior.

You've turned in the over-written Book Three, and you are PUMPED to have this thing nearly in the bag!

*PHEW*

So, you work like a BOSS on those Book Three edits. You make those intelligible scenes and massive plot holes your b*tch. And then you smile in satisfaction as it all wraps up and is handed back in. You've finished edits for Book Three in record time, gotten your editor's high-fives for climbing Trilogy Mountain, set up all the marketing madness you can manage for the final release, and suddenly you sit back and look at your cat named Noodle and . . . and . . .

And a dark thought creeps in. What. Comes. Next? 

For eighteen straight months you've had your bones, brains, and soul pouring into this beast of a task, this epic arc of a story, and now, well, you need to figure out what's your insides gonna do now? Because who would you be if you weren't hunched over your keyboard with bagel and smear crusted in your hair?! You'd have to, like, be normal again. Uhk!

This, my friends, is what my debut journey felt like. True confessions: I was scared of my inability to do this task as my agent and I jumped into the unknown, and now I am feeling the heavy lack of it. Because there is an alluring adrenaline to impossible deadlines, and I am definitely an adrenaline junky. I'm a go-go-go creator when pushed. I'm also apparently a massive masochist because I cannot WAIT to do this all over again. And again.

And again.

So stay tuned for the next leg in this insane journey, hopefully it'll include another sarcastic main character and shadows lurking around every corner. ;)

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Rachel A. Marks is an award-winning author and professional artist, a SoCal girl, cancer survivor, a surfer and dirt-bike rider, chocolate lover and keeper of faerie secrets. She was voted: Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, but hopes she'll never have to test the theory. Her debut series The Dark Cycle, described as Dickens' Oliver Twist meets TV's Supernatural, begins with the Amazon Bestseller, DARKNESS BRUTAL.

Buy: The Dark Cycle
Her Website: Shadow of the Wood

The End of an Era

In coming to the end of writing my debut series, I assumed I'd feel so many amazing things. I'd be relieved, and thrilled, and I would at last feel like a real author. Because I'd done it. I'd actually done it; the thing I had no knowledge of how to do at the beginning of this, I'd kicked its butt, made all my deadlines, edited until I drew blood, and played out my vision in a majorly epic way. I'd completed the journey.

But . . .

That's not how I felt at all. As I turned in my copy edits for the final book in The Dark Cycle to my publisher, I mostly just felt . . . sad. A small hole opened up in my gut and it was more like I was now saying goodbye to a best friend than rejoicing in a job well done. A million doubts and questions clouded my head. Had I done everything to make the series stand out? Had I given my characters the finale they deserved? Will the readers be satisfied?

But most of all: what in the sam hill am I going to do without these kids in my life?

I had spent three years with a group of characters I'd grown to love and they'd become a part of my every day thought life, to the detriment of sleep and sanity many times. But now, their story is finished. And it's time to move on.

If I have learned anything through this crazy whirlwind that was producing these three books, it's that I may never feel like a real author, a character's story never really feels complete, and there's always another amazing story to be told right around the corner.

In the mean time, I'll focus on what's ahead of me and try not to feel ill equipped for the next leg of the journey. I'll take away from this adventure the realization that I've done it once and I should be able to do it again.

So, here it goes . . .

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Rachel A. Marks is an award-winning author and professional artist, a cancer survivor, a surfer and dirt-bike rider, chocolate lover and keeper of faerie secrets. She was voted: Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, but hopes she'll never have to test the theory. Her debut novel is DARKNESS BRUTAL, the 1st installment in The Dark Cycle (Skyscape). Book 2 was released February 2nd, 2016 and is titled, DARKNESS FAIR.

Her website: www.RachelAnneMarks.com

The Ghosts of Mugu Rock

Now that the second book in The Dark Cycle, DARKNESS FAIR, is out I get to talk about more of the research adventures I've had in creating the tale. I'm obviously in love with ghost stories and there are several of them related to the famous rock near the Naval Base at Point Mugu of Pacific Coast Highway where the finale for Darkness Fair takes place.

The tales begin with a story fit for faerie tales, where the legend of Princess Hueneme was born, a young Chumash girl who was the daughter of a great chief. Her beauty was well known and so, of course, many men fell in love with her. But she chose the young man who was already wanted by another woman. Needless to say, this angered the other girl and revenge was sought.

The rival went to a sorcerer to learn a spell in order to curse the couple. She became so talented at working magic that she was able to enchant the man to run away with her, and when Princess Hueneme followed, the evil girl made sure the curse would last. So, even though Hueneme took the man back with her to the village, she never regained his love. She soon became so distraught from the loss that she tossed herself off the cliffs of Mugu and turned to stone, becoming the rock we see in hundreds of car commercials today. Her horrified husband was at last free of the evil girl's spell, but once he learned of his wife's death he grew so hopeless that he followed his wife into the sea, his hair becoming the kelp that wraps around the stone made from the spirit of his wife.

Over the centuries more stories emerged, creating The Lady of Mugu Rock, who is the ghost of a poor native girl that was brutally murdered by a rich landowner. She has been seen many times wandering the area of the rock (and she is the ghost that makes an appearance in Darkness Fair). There have also been more suicides in the recent decades, as well as a plane crash which killed everyone onboard; 88 souls.

When you go to the spot today, you can only stand on either side of the rock as the initial highway from the 50's has been washed away by the tide (if you watch Mad, Mad, Mad World, you can see it whole). Now it's been fenced in and only rebels climb around to peek over the small cliffs. I won't say if I may have perhaps been naughty and pretended not to see the signs. ;)

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Rachel A. Marks is an award-winning author and professional artist, a cancer survivor, a surfer and dirt-bike rider, chocolate lover and keeper of faerie secrets. She was voted: Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse, but hopes she'll never have to test the theory. Her debut novel is DARKNESS BRUTAL, the 1st installment in The Dark Cycle (Skyscape). Book 2 was released February 2nd, 2016 and is titled, DARKNESS FAIR.

Her website: www.RachelAnneMarks.com