Monthly Archives: June 2011

Jun 25 2011

The Formatting Fiasco: Formatting Novels for Different Platforms

 

 

The Formatting Fiasco

 

I believe it was Thomas Edison who said “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”  Over the years, people have inserted whatever difficult task they were after in the place of “genius.”  For me, it’s writing that is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.  Actually, I think it’s more like 109% perspiration.  And never has any writer worked harder than the independent author who self-publishes.

 

For those of us who do it all ourselves, we often spend as much time, and oftentimes more time, in post-writing with the formatting, editing, proofreading, creation of cover art, etc. than we do the actual writing of the novel.  For us, the creativity does not stop after the writing is done.  We still have to proofread it, edit it, rewrite parts of it, create the cover art, and the horrid, horrid job of formatting the thing for various platforms.

 

Herein lies The Great Formatting Fiasco.  Unfortunately for us, formatting is mostly trial and error.  After a while we get better at it, learning to always insert a page break in between chapters, the title page, the copyright notice page, and all the other important pages.  We learn which margins, font type, and font size work best for which size book.  Of course, there is always room for error, and formatting for a printed format is completely different from formatting for the Kindle format.  I’ve learned that eBook formats and Kindle formats are interchangeable, meaning that I no longer have three separate formatting files. 

 

One of the main problems, especially when it comes to the printed copies, is that you never really know what it is going to look like until you have forked over the money and purchased your own copy.  Then comes reformatting the files, uploading them again, and ordering yet another galley copy.  And heaven forbid you should find spelling and grammatical errors in them.  Just changing one word has the potential to throw off the printed format so much that all pages after the correction have to be reformatted.  It’s enough to make an author want to run screaming from their desk.

 

Checking out the formatting for Kindle editions is not as bad as having to order a half-dozen printed copies.  I don’t even own a Kindle, but I downloaded the free app from Amazon.com and always request a free sample of the book as soon as it becomes available.  For the most part, I can change the formatting and have the corrections uploaded before anyone has the chance to purchase one of the ‘mistakes.’  Still, since I only get a small sample, I can only hope that the rest of the novel looks as good as the first few pages.

 

Out of all the work that goes into producing a novel for the different platforms, I would have to say that formatting gives me the most problems, but it is also the easiest to fix, for me at least.  But I guess when you have reformatted more than 7 projects for 3 different platforms for 2 different websites, you have to get pretty good at it really quick.  If I had the luxury of taking my time, I wouldn’t get nearly as much done.  After all, novels sitting around on my computer drive aren’t going to sale if they are not formatted and ready to go.

Jun 25 2011

Sneak Peek: “Into the Darkness” from the Book IMMORTAL SINS

a sneak peek of the short story

“Into the Darkness”

from the book Immortal Sins

the 2nd novel in the BEFORE THE SUN RISES series

Chapter 1

 

After her escape, he had beaten her twin sister until she lost consciousness.  He hadn’t meant to kill the girl, but so enraged was he after her sister’s escape that he had done just that, however accidental it may have been on his part.  Finally realizing that she would be back with reinforcements, he had quickly packed up and left.  The twins were, after all, cops.  He had gotten as far away as he could as fast as possible, leaving the broken body of the twin still shackled to the basement floor.

That had been five years ago.  He had wanted Altania Lewis like no other woman before her.  He had dreamed about her every night since, his evenings spent systematically plotting out her capture and eventual conquering.  But no matter how much he daydreamed and planned, he never could entertain the notion of killing the woman.  And that was what pissed him off more than anything.

Ashton Jones was a serial killer.  He had started his craft when he was only ten years old.  At the age of twenty-six, his craft had been honed down to a fine art.  He had gotten so good at it, in fact, that he had been recruited by the High Council about two years ago.  He had spent the first year following their rules, jumping through hoops, proving to all of the Elders that he would not go rogue if he was embraced.  Twelve months after his initial recruitment, one of the little fledgling vampires had been allowed to embrace him.  The High Council made sure he would not be too powerful once turned by allowing a novice to do the embracing, but he was still strong enough to continue to be an assassin for the Elders.  Now he had an endless supply of victims that he not only got to kill, but these victims would stay alive for as long as he wanted, allowing him to spend days or even weeks trying out new inventions and increasingly grotesque methods of torture.

Now here he was, in one of the many, many buildings owned by the High Council, waiting on his new partner.  Except what was standing in the middle of the room was not a partner, but the object of his obsession.

“I don’t give a shit if he is under the protection of the Council, Stealth.  I am going to kill that son-of-a-bitch!”  Altania Lewis was being held by both arms by the vampire Stealth.  She was thrashing against him so hard that his sharp nails were gouging out deep gashes in her skin.  The five foot six dark blonde woman paid little attention to the piercing pain.   Her sapphire blue eyes were glowing with rage.  Incoherent curses were thrown in between death threats and tales of castration with a rusty razor blade.

Ash had not moved from his position inside the doorway.  He had been asked to come down to meet his new partner.  The last person he had ever expected to see when he entered the room was the woman whom he had vowed to destroy… mind, body, and soul.

“She is under the protection of the Council, Ash.  If you harm her in any way, you will be put to death.”  Requiem spoke quietly to the vampire who stood stone still inside the door.  “She is now your partner, an appointed Vampire Assassin just as you are.  As such, she is entitled to the same privileges and protections as all our assassins.  You will protect her with your life.” 

Stealth was telling the wriggling woman in his arms the same speech that Requiem had just given him.  He wasn’t so sure that she was listening, though.  The woman was still screaming obscenities at him in addition to her vivid recounts of what she had planned for his testicles and penis.

Ash merely nodded his understanding to the vampire that stood between him and the screaming woman, still too shocked to think about much of anything.  His mind just kept going over and over the fact that he had dreamed of nothing but this woman and what he intended to do to her once he found her.  Now the council was practically handing her over on a silver platter.  Except that the meal in question had a huge ‘do not touch’ sign on it now.

Stealth had finally let Altania go, her initial anger having burnt out.  Her rage gave way to tears, her emotions so overlapping each other that she now stood in a far corner, crying quietly and rambling on about how she had discovered her twin sister, Altolya, beaten to a bloody pulp and chained like an animal to the cold stone floor of Ash’s basement.  Stealth was attempting to console her as best he could, but she was so deep into her anguish that she didn’t appear to hear him.  Instead, the vampire kept trying to turn her around and face him, thinking to use his vampire glamour to quiet her down.  Altania, however, kept her back to the vampire, her hands over her face and her entire body crammed into a corner of the office.

Ash still wasn’t sure what to make of the whole thing.  He finally had this woman who had haunted his dreams for years, yet now she was protected by vampire law.  To do anything other than protect her would mean his immediate death.  His immediate slow, and painful, death. 

The situation was not any easier for the woman who was still crying in the corner.  For five years she had criss-crossed the entire country, going from one crime scene to another in search of clues that would ultimately lead her to the monster who had so brutally killed her twin sister.  Her obsession with finding and bringing Ashton to justice had caused her to lose her job with the Shadow Cove PD.  She had been so preoccupied with Ashton’s little escapades that she had nearly gotten herself and her fellow officers killed during her last assignment.  Concerned with her declining mentality, her former captain had her reassigned to the Vampire Council’s assassin division.  He had hoped that the change of scenery would help her to heal after the death of her sister.  Instead, she discovered herself in the same room as her sister’s killer.  Which begged the question of whether or not her captain knew the Council was going to partner her with Ash or if this was solely the perverted plans of the High Council Elders?

“How could they do this to me, Stealth?” Altania asked with a calmness that worried the nearly three hundred year old vampire.  She still had her back turned to him, so he wasn’t sure if she really was calm or if she were slipping into some sort of manic state.

“To help you heal, Altania,” Stealth said just as quietly.  “Ash is a valued member of the Assassins now.  He went through the same training as you.  He has been taught the value of life.  His only victims are assassinations that have been sanctioned by the Vampire Council.  He is forbidden to harm any other being or face the same tortures and demise as his former victims.  He knows the rules, Altania, and he follows them to the letter.  He has changed.”

The woman turned around swiftly and glared up at Stealth.  “He has not changed, Stealth.  You of all people should know that it takes more than a few years of study with the Council Elders to change a heart blackened by decades of immorality.  That person there will never fully understand the value of a life, not even his own.  He would just as easily give up his own if it meant getting what he wanted.  And what he wants is me.  Now thanks to your Council, you just delivered me to my sworn enemy.”

She was angry, but that anger was giving way to a deadly calm as she pushed past Stealth.  She walked up to the eldest vampire on the Council, a man whose name that no one knew save for the other members of the Council.  “What happens when this bastard tries to kill me in my sleep?  Do I at least have permission to defend myself?  Or would you all rather I just roll over and let him kill me?”  She glared up at the vampire, looking at his eyebrows instead of directly into his eyes.

The vampire looked back and forth between the frail looking woman directly in front of him and the much taller, much stronger fledgling vampire who had finally moved into the room to stand a few feet away, watching quietly.  “The two of you listen, and listen well.  You are partners now, and as such you will defend each other with your very lives.  If either one of you should come up dead, be it by your partner’s hand or another’s, the remaining member of your team will be tortured to death, along with any and all remaining members of his or her family.”  The old vampire’s gaze shifted from Ash and back to Altania as he spoke.  “A better question, Miss Lewis, would be exactly how much of your family are you willing to sacrifice to avenge the death of one?”

Altania glared up at the Elder.  “You think that threatening him with death will keep him from killing me the first chance he gets?  He would happily put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger himself if it meant he got to point the gun at me first.  Has the centuries of immortality replaced your brain with cobwebs?”

The High Council Elder stared at the young woman for a few minutes before he moved to where Ash stood, walking around the still form as he spoke.  “Do you notice anything different about your, ‘sworn enemy,’ as you call him?”

She watched the vampire circle around Ashton, looking at him closely for the first time.  It was only then that she noticed the man’s normal dark brown eyes were now flecked through with gold, the iris ringed with a yellow-gold hue.  Her mouth dropped open.  “You turned him,” she mumbled in quiet surprise.

Altania stood in stunned silence for a moment before the vampire’s threat and all it implied finally settled into her brain.  The Council was not just going to force them to work together without killing each other.  They were going to make certain that they protected each other with their final breath.  And while her family was being used against her to make sure she didn’t chop Ashton’s head off in his sleep, the High Council was using his new-found immortality to keep him in line as well.  He would be given access to an endless supply of victims that he could keep alive and torture for as long as he wanted.  And if he were to harm her, the Council would hand him over to an assassin who had been applying his tricks of the trade to vampires for centuries untold.

Seeing that neither were going to argue with him, the Elder moved back to his desk.  “You two have your orders.  You will go now.  I expect updates every two weeks.”  He sat down in his leather chair, going back to his mountain of paperwork, effectively dismissing them all without so much as looking up.

Requiem and Stealth ushered Ash and Altania out of the room.  Neither vampire spoke as they turned and moved down the hall, away from the front entrance of the building.

And just like that, two sworn enemies discovered themselves shoved together in an impossible situation, forced to protect each other with their very lives.

 

copyright 2011 Nicola C. Matthews

All Rights Reserved

 

 

Jun 24 2011

25 Years of Blood, Sweat, and Rock ‘n’ Roll

 

Unfortunately, I missed seeing Bret Michaels this past Memorial Day weekend.  It’s also looking like I will be missing Poison and Motley Crue when they come down the weekend after the 4th of July.  Between time restraints, no money, and the fact that my husband would probably get arrested for punching some random dude that looked at me wrong, the Fates have decided that I shall miss out on all the great shows this year.

I suppose it’s not a complete loss.  While I had hoped to shove Bret’s own personal autographed copy of my latest novel The Red Fang right up under his nose since it is, after all, dedicated to him, I guess I will have to settle for mailing him his copy instead.  I’m just thankful that I finally finished writing the novel.

Thinking of Bret and his awesome gigs brings me back to last year’s show.  The Hardrock was Bret’s first concert after his harrowing health scares.  The place was sold out, fans were going crazy (myself included), women were crying and clawing at the stage, the room was electric with emotions and spirits were running high.  It was epic.  As the show progressed, I looked around to see women my age with their 8-year-old daughters beside them, both mom and daughter screaming and dancing and enjoying the pure energy that pulsed throughout the stadium.  I glanced over to my right to see a woman who had to be in her 60s with her fist thrust in the air, keeping beat with the music while she kept a death grip on the railing in front of the stage so she didn’t lose her place.

It was then that I had a sudden vision of my future.  I could see myself and Bret, 30 years from now.  Bret would be up on that stage in a wheelchair if need be, the air more electric than ever with emotions from thousands upon thousands of his loyal fans.  I saw myself there, my walker raised in the air screaming, “You rock, Bret!” as he thanked his audience for allowing him to continue to perform and God for granting him the strength and health to do what he loved.

It’s been 25 wild, wonderful years of ups and downs with some of the best music ever heard by mankind.  I hope that Poison and Bret see 25 more years of electrifying shows and screaming fans. I hope that I’m right there with them, screaming and dancing along with all the other rabid Poison and Bret Michaels fans, eager to announce to the heavens that I am a Bret Michaels fan.

And Bret?  You still rock!

XOXO

Nicola

Jun 20 2011

“The Red Fang” FOR SALE NOW

 

It’s here!  The first book in the BEFORE THE SUN RISES series, The Red Fang, is now available!  You can pick up this 370 page gothic action/adventure tale with an erotic twist as an eBook, paperback, and for Kindle!  Visit Nicola’s LuLu Author Storefront or her Amazon Author Page to purchase your copy today!

Jun 17 2011

The Red Fang: Excerpt from Chapter 11

a sneak peek at

The Red Fang

the first novel in the

BEFORE THE SUN RISES

series

by Nicola C. Matthews

 

Stealth? Ethereal’s mind prodded.

Yes, dearest? He responded after a few moments.

How are you holding up? 

The half-fey knew that her manipulation of the elements made her mind a churning mess with little coherent thought.  The sheer power coursing through her body and mind made it nearly impossible for Stealth to keep the connection open. 

The first time he had tried to open up the link between them while she was manipulating the elements, back when they had been in the parking garage all those months ago, had nearly knocked him unconscious, the force of all that power almost too much for him to handle.  It had taken him nearly a month of practice to be able to keep the link open for any length of time, and even longer to be able to control the connection enough so that he did not end up a blubbering mass of incoherence sprawled on the ground.

I’m okay he said to her.  But it was a lie.  He had begun to get a nosebleed several minutes ago, but there was so much blood already spattered on his face and body that Ethereal was not likely to notice. 

What Stealth didn’t know was that his nosebleed was not a consequence of their shared link, but a symptom of it.  Unknown to him, the red-headed elemental manipulator hiding outside the building was drenched in her own blood, the force of using so much power slowly destroying her brain. 

She somehow managed to block this information from the vampire.  The mission was the most important thing right now.  If he knew that using her powers for such a long stretch of time would cause her harm, neither he nor Requiem would have allowed her to participate, even if it meant tossing her into one of the cells in the basement of The Compound.

There’s too many of them her voice whispered inside of his head.  The vampire had not even made it past the first set of rooms.  The soldiers seemed to be coming from everywhere, pouring from both sides of the building and out of the rooms that surrounded them.

Take a right and head down Hallway C, then turn left down Hallway B until it merges with Hallway D, then left again.  This will take you back into the main corridor, going around one of the labs and interrogation rooms.  The main hallway is going to be heavily guarded, as will Sergeant Hall’s office.  Circumvent the lab and interrogation room and come up behind them; maybe you’ll get lucky.

Stealth nodded his head in agreement, suddenly making a hard right as he came to the first set of intersecting hallways.  The doors on either side of him suddenly burst open, a small army of lycanthrope hybrids rushing out into the hallways.  As soon as the first one set eyes on the vampire, he lifted his head and howled.

The warning was taken up by the small group, the sound almost deafening in such a confined area.

I don’t think this is going to work, he thought, the idea directed at the half-fey currently sharing his mind.

Ethereal was silent, giving Stealth a moment of panic as he frantically called for her through their shared mental link.

The labs must be where they do all the experimentation.

Stealth sliced into the soft underbelly of one of the beasts as it lunged for him.

I hate to point out the obvious, my dearest, but so it would seem, what with all the hybrids crawling all over me his mind whispered back.

Another one of the strange creatures, this one a combination of man and cougar, crouched down and then pounced.  Stealth bent down and arched his sword upwards as the beast came down towards him, sending his blade clean through the hybrid’s midsection.  Blood and bits of intestines rained down around the vampire, sending up a stench of the scientifically altered blood into the air.

Stealth wiped absently at the gore that had spattered his face and arms, his eyes taking in the mess.  The smell was enough to cause him to nearly wretch where he stood.

The scent of the blood had the other hybrids in a frenzy, the group rushing towards Stealth with rolling eyes and lolling tongues.  He pulled his sword up in a protective stance, but the animal-man combinations did not seem interested in the immortal anymore. 

They all descended upon the body of their fallen comrade, their claws slicing into the body while their teeth crunched bones so they could get at the marrow hidden inside.  The aroma of blood grew stronger in the stale air, causing the hybrids to begin fighting with each other in an attempt to get more of the freshly slaughtered meat. 

Their growls and snaps turned into swats with their razor-like claws.  As more and more of the animals became victims of the stronger ones in the group, the pile of body parts grew, the perfume of so much blood attracting more and more of the misshapen hybrids.

Stealth stood with his sword drawn, watching in fascination as the animals began to attack and devour each other.  He didn’t understand it.  The hybrids that had invaded his home and the ones they had fought in the underground parking garage had not seemed bothered by the scent of blood in the least.  Now they were all fighting each other like rabid dogs.

Stealth, go back! The small voice in his head brought him out of his wonderment.  Go back, past the main corridor until you come to Hallway A.  Take a right, and that will take you straight to the sergeant’s office.

Stealth took a few steps backwards, easing away from the squirming horde of beasts that gorged themselves on the bodies of their fellow agents.  Once he felt safe to turn his back to the feasting animals, he picked up his speed, dashing back down Hallway C and taking a hard right down Hallway A.

He made short work of the few SHiELD agents that he encountered, his body absorbing dozens of bullets as the soldiers continued to spray gunfire throughout the building.  He moved past the second exam room, stopping when he saw a sign that read INFIRMARY.

Why are you stopping?  Ethereal’s frightened but slightly annoyed voice whispered inside of his head.

Why would this place need an infirmary? He wondered more to himself than in answer to Ethereal’s question.  The head of this operation obviously doesn’t care if these men live or die.  They are all expendable.

So what? Ethereal practically screamed inside of his head.

So why have a place to patch them back up?  Why not just let them die of their injuries?

Stealth put his hand out and turned the doorknob, Ethereal’s voice inside of his head begging him not to go into the room.  The vampire opened the door and moved inside, his eyes taking in a sight that his centuries of immortality had not prepared him for.

The room was lined with beds, more than half of them taken up by men who were hooked up to all kinds of IVs, their bodies in varying stages of healing.  Some of the men had lost limbs, the stumps wrapped tightly in bandages.  Several of them were writhing in pain, others seemed completely comatose.   

Stealth moved to the nearest bed, reaching out to turn the IV bags around one by one so he could read them.

 

Vampire A – blood

Vampire Q – plasma

Vampire R – hemoglobin

Drug – FK506

Drug – tetracycline

Drug – propafenone

 

What is all that? Ethereal’s voice asked inside his head.

Stealth shook his head.  Whole blood, plasma, red blood cells, a broad-spectrum antibiotic.  I’m not really sure what the others are.  The vampire looked around.  This whole place looks like a bad sci-fi movie.