Hi there! I have good news and bad news. Everyone likes bad news first, right? I’m still struggling with the infection. I’m on my third round of antibiotics and they are kicking my butt. I’m SO tired and nausea is keeping me from wanting to eat, which really sucks when you have to eat to take the medication. The good news is I don’t have cancer. Apparently, my symptoms could be an aggressive form called inflammatory carcinoma, the name even sounds ominous, it spreads fast and isn’t easy to treat. I’m really thankful they didn’t find anything in the tests this week. I’m so ready to feel well again.
Since I’ve spent most of my time napping, I haven’t done any writing or reading which kills me but I just can’t stay awake or focus. I have been working out some details of my work in progress or WIP, VioleNt. I’m excited to get to work and write the rest of it. I’m so tempted to turn it into a romance because it’s what I love and some of the characters would make a great RH for my FMC. RH=reverse harem and FMC=female main character.
RH means that she has more than one love interest at the same time whether they get sexy together or separately. This type of romance is also known as “why choose” because she can have them both or all. I’ve read some with four or five guys and the one girl. I’m always quite impressed that the author is able to keep track of so many loves and where everyone is when they’re in bed. I have a hard time keeping up with four hands and legs when I have just one couple in a sexy scene.
I love my story as just a horror but the cousins she met are so interesting and hot, they would make great lovers for her. Such a dilemma! I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what she decides to do, if she wants them, I won’t talk her out of it. She’s a badass chick who does what she wants, when she wants, and I love that about her, I would never try to change her. If you’re not a writer, you may think I sound crazy talking about my FMC like she has her own thoughts, but it’s how I write. The characters just get going in my head and I feel like they take on a life of their own, they tell me what’s going to happen next. I’ve had them do things I never expected, in my second book, Force Majeure, they killed a character I liked and I was completely surprised.
I often read what I wrote and have no memory of writing what I find on the page. I’m not weird I swear, other authors have told me it’s the same for them. It’s almost like when you see a séance in a movie and the medium channels a ghost and says or does things that person did. Maybe authors have magical powers, come on Lottery numbers! Oh, maybe I need to write a character who wins the lottery and play their numbers. I’ll let you know if it works and I become a millionaire.
Back to the acronyms above, there’s a lot of writing terms and acronyms used between authors and people on social media when talking about books. There’s even a secret code to use words that Facebook has a problem with and they will suspend your account when you use them. We always sound like we're speaking another language. I try to remember who I’m talking to and make sure I don’t speak in code to people who wouldn’t know what the heck I’m saying, but it’s second nature at this point and sometimes I forget. If I ever don’t make sense, please let me know, ask me to explain, I’m happy to talk about anything writing related.
I think I have a few different graphics with the codes explained, I'll try to post one with this blog. It recently came to my attention, in the form of a writing competition, that I used an acronym that isn’t as common as I thought. In the story the FMC grows up in an MC=Motorcycle Club aka biker gang. I called it an MC in the story and many of the people who gave me feedback said they had no clue what that meant. I’ve read dozens of articles expressing the opinion that our readers are smart and we don’t need to hand feed them any of the details. They can infer and decipher what we’re talking about without us explaining every detail. I didn’t want to treat the readers like they couldn’t figure out what I was talking about from the other details, so I trusted they would grasp what MC meant. I specifically spoke about motorcycles, and everyone had names like Spider and Chainz. I thought it would be obvious where she grew up and why she is the way she is, but the feedback said otherwise.
Although some readers got it from the context and some did know what it meant, it made me question how I write and more importantly who my audience truly is. I definitely got better feedback from those who understood my code. When entering a competition there’s a wide variety of judges, readers, and critics, it’s good to keep in mind who will be reading your story. With my books I try to put them in front of my ideal audience, my people. But in a competition, you can’t do that, it goes in front of John Smith, his grandmother, and maybe his niece. They’ll each read it differently and have completely different opinions about the same story. My point is, remember who your audience will be, and market to the right readers. The most successful authors find their audience and zero in on them. No, I haven’t figured out how to do that yet but when I do, you’ll be the first to know.
While I’ve been sick, I haven’t been posting on my social media, this is the first thing I’ve written in weeks. Strangely, my socials have gotten new followers while I’ve been silent. It makes me wonder about those pesky algorithms. What happens when a person becomes suddenly silent? What happens when you post every day? Should you post more or less often? I haven’t posted anything since about March 3rd, except my blog posts which I had a few written ahead or partially written and just had to finish up. This one I’m typing today, with just two fingers to keep from hurting my very messed up wrist. What would happen if I suddenly posted every day? I may have to try it when I’m recovered. I love to experiment with the internet, just to see what happens. If anything comes of it, you’ll hear about it.
I hope you have a fun filled weekend. Thanks for reading, thanks for understanding my code and being a part of my people, I couldn’t do this without you. Well, I could, but I’d look ridiculous talking to myself alone in a corner. So, I guess thanks for making me look and feel sane, you’re great at it and I appreciate your efforts.