Book 3 Sneak Peek!

Yes, the rumors are true: I've finished the first draft of Death, Book 3 in the Deck of Lies series. I still have some serious editing to do, but a few very brief passages are suitable for public viewing and I'm going to share one of them!

(image from the official trailer, yet to be released)

Excerpt from Chapter ?

    I was striding across the grass with a smile frozen onto my lips. I was wearing a bit less eye makeup, and my mascara had been re-applied with a shaking hand, but no one looked at me oddly as I moved toward the milling party guests -- so I guess I did a good enough job of repairing my appearance.

    Things were in full swing, now. All of the Japanese lanterns were lit, their colorful shades creating a haze of light that made it difficult to see the stars above. Voices were louder now that the beautifully-garbed people had been here long enough to enjoy more than one of the complimentary drinks that were being doled out by the truckload. There were a dozen or so servers milling among the glittering guests with bubbling glasses of champagne, and the bartenders were in a frenzy of activity to lubricate the crowd gathered near the dance floor.

    Carsyn was laughing with a group of her friends from Sloane Academy, the school we both attended. I stepped past a portrait of myself to reach the raised dance floor, built just that day to accommodate the guests. Everywhere I looked, I saw pink. Special rose-colored lights were aimed at the ice sculptures that dotted the buffet tales, which were all decorated with clear pink decorations that looked like diamonds. Each one of the round tables held a display of pink tea roses and more of those silly diamonds. I’d wanted red, but Violet thought the color was too violent.

    What a joke.

    I went straight to the nearest server, the smile firmly in place, nodding to the few people who greeted me as I passed. The party was supposed to be in my honor, to re-introduce me to the von Shelton’s friends. I was meeting all the “important people” in and around our community of Silverwood, California. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I only nodded a thanks to the server when I plucked a frothy glass from his tray.

    I’d barely brought it to my lips when I heard the voice at my right side. “Are you old enough to be drinking, young lady?”

    I sputtered and nearly spit the first sip back into my glass, but I tossed the contents down my throat instead. It was a little too much; I nearly choked when the bubbles began to tickle my nose and mouth. I smeared my lipstick when I rubbed the back of my hand across my mouth, but I didn’t care. “Owen.”

    “Sorry. Didn’t mean to surprise you.” He had an odd sort of expression on his face, as if he wanted to smile but wasn’t quite sure if he should.

    “No, it’s okay,” I answered, and I was still trying to keep that idiotic smile plastered to my face. “I’m glad you came.”

....

If you've read Justice or The Tower, you'll recognize all these names. The excerpt above is taken from a scene between Owen and Rain. Will there be a confrontation? What's the deal with this party? You'll find out in Death, which is the longest book in the series to date. And I promise, Tower fans, the scene you've been waiting for takes place very, very early in the book so the wait is almost over!

My Other Job is Fashion Writer

If you've read any books in the Deck of Lies series, you've probably noticed that I'm into fashion. I label-drop constantly, and I've tried to create a distinct style for Rain and many of her supporting characters (I've even blogged about those styles). But I don't get to write about fashion in my books as much as I'd like, so I've started writing for VAR magazine to get my fashion fix. 

I write about vintage fashions and current vintage trends in Issue 1 of VAR, which was just released this month. VAR is packed with fashion-centric photos and articles. It's based in New York, and even though I'm not I'll be contributing articles on a freelance basis to the magazine from time to time (when I'm not writing about murder plots and family intrigue). You have to buy the issue to see it all, but various snippets and articles will be available on the VAR site soon. Issue 1 features Alysha Nett, Bai Ling, Bernadette Macias, Dave Navarro, Davey Havok, Jenny Mollen, Miles Devin, Olga Maliouk and me! ...Plus many other very talented writers, photographers and personalities, of course.

Writing 101: Pricing Your Books

You were careful to choose great words for your book. You sweated it out through the editing process. You went through the formatting line by line to make certain every page is perfect. If you don't price your books the right way, you're going to watch that hard work go to waste. If you want readers, you've got to take a hard look at your book pricing.

How Much is Your Writing Worth?

A lot of factors are at play when writers are pricing their books. For any given book, whether it's a short story of a full-length novel, every page represents hours of work in formatting, writing, editing and reading. If authors charged by the hour, every book would cost hundred of dollars.

But that's not really feasible for the readers, is it? As a writer, you're expected to love your book. You've poured soul into it; sweat, blood, tears, heartache. And, if you're like many writers, you probably want to do nothing but write full-time. It's easy to get lost in the math. Charge five bucks, sell a million copies -- just imagine those numbers for a little while. Your book is a huge piece of your life, your heart and your skill. And you've got to forget all that. The price of your book isn't a reflection of your skill or how much you put into your work. It's a reflection of the market. 

Writing 101: Be Very Wary of Using Very

 How many times does the word very appear in your book? You really ought to find out, because really, the word is very, very unnecessary. In fact, some writers have made it a point never to use the word at all.

Very in Literature

"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." This was Mark Twain's opinion of very...and most anyone will agree that Twain was, and remains, a very successful writer. Very hasn't got much of a place in literature because it is a very empty word. 

Most of the time, the word very has very little meaning when it's used in writing. It's a word that exists almost solely for emphasis alone, except for when it's used in a very specific circumstance. Very can also denote something precise or exact (those were her very words), but most of the time it's used as a word of emphasis rather than as a synonym for exactness. 

And if the best you can come up with to emphasize a point is using the word very a bunch, you've got deeper problems than this one word.

Very Good Writing

Sometimes, a writer has to infuse a description or dialogue with a little drama -- and that's where very comes in very handy. But it's a plain word, it's an over-used word, and you can do better. Very isn't the only word in the English language that's used to emphasize a point. Replace occurrences of very in your book with much prettier words like profoundly, extremely, greatly and a bunch of other adverbs that sound way better. Replacing ho-hum, ugly words like very with something better -- or getting rid of them entirely -- will make your writing flow better and read more smoothly and professionally to your readers...and isn't that a very good reason for avoiding it?