patricia lynne

by

IAM Guest Post…Why I Like Being an Indie

Guest Feature

Guest Feature

Today’s guest post on about why she loves being an indie writer is by lovely author Patricia Lynne, whose novel Being Human was reviewed and featured on the blog in 2012. Today you can also find out about her latest work: Snapshot

———————————-

Patricia Lynne never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never gave it any thought during high school and college, but some stories are meant to be told and now she can’t stop. Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow. You can find her at my website, on wasting time on Twitter and lurking on Facebook.

Why I like being an Indie…

When I first started looking into publishing and I found out I’d have little say in my cover, book title, and synopsis I was very worried. What if the publisher did an awful job in my opinion? There is nothing more horrifying than the idea of hating my own book because I don’t like the cover or I think the title is awful. I was also concerned about changes to the story. Publishers mold stories to fit the market and I didn’t want to lose my story just because of what was hot at the moment.

Enter Indie and self publishing. I would be in control of everything. My cover, title, and synopsis. I discovered writing the synopsis was a giant pain, but every word I picked out. Essentially, I am the boss.

Lately, I’ve been wondering about traditional publishing again. A few writing friends are considering submitting their stories to small publishers in hopes of benefiting from the editing and possible marketing a publisher might have. The possible help marketing is very tempting. I haven’t been able to market like I want to because 1) I have no idea what I’m doing and 2) I’ve been jobless so I haven’t had much money to spare for marketing. A publisher might be able to help with that.

But then I wouldn’t be the boss.

Honestly, that is the main reason I plan on sticking with being an Indie. As tough as it is to be the boss of everything, I do love having that control over my story. It ensures I tell the story I want and the story isn’t at the mercy of trends. There is nothing wrong with trends, but I don’t want to sacrifice the story I want to tell just to sell more copies. The world is full of readers, more born every day, I’m bound to find plenty who like my story the way I wrote it. From time to time, I may consider the idea of a publisher, but that’s just being sensible. As things change it is wise to reassess. Maybe one day a publisher will be an option for me, but I am doubtful. I love saying I’m an Indie too much.

————————————–

SNAPSHOTS

 My name is Cyclop Blaine and I am a real person.
“You are mine.”
I am a real person: heedless of a childhood spent under the supervision of an old man I only know as Master.
 “You belong to me.”
I am a real person: regardless of my teenage years bound by violence as the adoptive son of the Victory Street Gang’s leader.
 “You will obey me.”
I am a real person: despite the visions I see in others’ eyes. Snapshots of their futures.
“You will cower before me.”
I am a real person: my life will be my own. I belong to no one.
“You. Are. MINE.”

—————————-

Want to know more? Check out the links!

by

Guest Post…Everyone Wants to Be a Writer

After taking over our blog this week, lovely author Patricia Lynne leaves us with her final thoughts on ‘being a writer.’

Thanks for spending the week with us – we’ve had lots of fun and loved reading Being Human 🙂

——————————–

Everyone wants to be a writer

It’s something I’ve heard a lot. Everyone says they want to be a writer. Everyone! Of course, not everyone actually does it, but 99% of people have probably expressed it at one point in their lives. Want to know a secret?

I didn’t.

I never had any intention of becoming a writer. When I was in third grade, I had tried to write a story, but a passing classmate read what I had written and laughed. I scrapped the story and never tried again. What got me writing was a dream. In it, a girl was being kept from by her vampire love by the cast of True Blood. I woke up and thought it’d be fun to write, minus the True Blood cast. Even then I wasn’t calling myself a writer or had any plans to publish the story. It was just for fun

When I finished the story, I got another. And another! So I kept writing them. It was fun, but I still didn’t consider myself a writer. It wasn’t until I started looking into publishing while writing Being Human that I thought about it. Even then I was hesitant. My college papers in English weren’t As. One I got a D on one and struggled to bring it up to a B (if I knew what I did now, I wouldn’t have gotten any Ds.) But I was confident in Being Human. It was interesting and different and I was so tired of all vampires being the same: whiny wussies. Maybe I could do this. If I could find people to help me edit it, then maybe it would be worth publishing.

Sometimes, I am still wary of saying I’m a writer. I have one book published and a short. But I never intended it to happen! Do I really deserve to say I’m a writer when all this was a giant accident inspired by a dream? I don’t know, but now that I’ve started, it’s really hard to stop writing.

 ——————————-
by

Indie Author Spotlight…Patricia Lynne

Indie Authors Spotlight is a weekly meme that will be held on every SATURDAY in the month. It is hosted by Beckie @Bittersweet Enchantment & CYP @A Bookalicious Story.
————————————
This week’s spotlighted author is Patricia Lynne…

Author – Patricia Lynne

About the Author: Patricia Lynne never set out to become a writer, and in fact, was more of an art and band nerd in high school and college. But some stories are meant to be told and now she can’t stop. Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow.
You can find out even more in our interview with Patricia from earlier this week! CLICK HERE!
———————————-

Hmmmm…yummy yummy for this cover model 😉

Synopsis

For Tommy, there is only one thing he needs to do: survive.

Only surviving isn’t that easy. The hunt for blood can be tricky when humans know to fear the night. Desire sits on the edge of his mind, urging him to become the monster humans think he is. Vampire Forces, a special branch of police, is determined to turn every vampire to ash. Tommy included.

The only human Tommy can trust is his twin brother. A bond connects them, and with Danny’s help, Tommy starts to understand the human world he struggles to survive in. He’ll learn what friendships means and feel the sting of betrayal, find that sometimes the worst monsters are very human, and come to understand that family means more than blood.

Tommy just wants to survive and he knows what he needs to do. But with the number of humans that mean more to him than a meal growing, he’ll learn there’s more to life than simple survival. He’ll discover being human doesn’t mean being a human.

——————————-

Want to know more? Check out the links!

My website   Goodreads   Twitter   Facebook

Amazon   Smashwords   Barnes and Noble


by

Interview with…Patricia Lynne

This week we’re welcoming author Patricia Lynne to the blog for a short series of features. Today we’ll be finding out more about her with an interview, on Saturday her book Being Human will be under the spotlight and finally on Sunday, she’ll be sharing some of her thoughts and experiences of writing in a guest post. Phew! With all that to get through, let’s get started with the interview! 

Author – Patricia Lynne

Hi Patricia, welcome to Aside from Writing, we hope you’ll enjoy your time on the blog. Let’s get started with your interview!
If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would you choose?

Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Heather Brewer, Mike Rowe, my mom (because otherwise she’d be miffed I didn’t invite her!)

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

Hmmm, I’d say it’s a toss up between super speed because I hate car rides and being able to fly because Rogue of the X-men was my favorite and she could fly.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Mackinaw Island Fudge. It’s vanilla ice cream and fudge and oh so good and is a Michigan specialty.

Wow – that sounds amazingly good – how far is Michigan from Manchester?! 🙂 OK – still thinking of food – what is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

I never wake up in time to eat breakfast, because let’s face it, mornings are evil, so let’s count lunch as my breakfast so grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Lastly…a drink to go with your meal…Coke or Pepsi?

Neither. Mountain Dew. I love my elixir of life.

OK – now back to books! Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.

Because if you don’t I’ll send Tommy after you and he has no qualms about getting flesh stuck in his fangs. 😉 Oh, sorry, did you want a serious answer? Being Human is a new take on a myth that’s been done a million times over, but with no sparkling.

You know – that might not be a bad thing for me – on the basis that the cover image is a very gorgeous guy, who is saying ‘please bump me to the top of the tbr pile’ with his sexy stare – I think it is enough to keep refusing. And let’s face it – we like vamps because of the danger 😉 

What are you working on at the moment? Any new books in the works? 

I have a few books that are in various stages of editing and I’m hoping to have at least one ready to get published soon. The one I’m most hopeful to have finished soon(ish) is called Snapshots and it’s about a boy who can see the future in others eyes so he keeps one eye covered earning him the nickname Cyclop.

What’s been your best experience from being published? 

This may seem mean but I highly enjoy hearing my story has made someone cry. Writers all strive to create stories that resonate with readers and make them feel, so hearing my book made someone happy or sad enough to cry is very rewarding. I did a good job.

What was your favorite book to read when you were a child?

I loved all the Clifford the Big Red Dog books. I had them all and I’m pretty sure my mom still has them stashed somewhere.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?

At one point I wanted to be a ballerina, but mostly I wanted to be an artist like my grandpa. I even when to college at Grand Valley State for a year in art.

How do you feel when you get a bad review? And how do you deal with it? 

I’ve only had one really bad review so far and I whined to my husband and a few friends privately, and then I got away from my laptop and got slightly (no, really) drunk. Then I didn’t really care about the review. Plus, the people I was with reminded me that every movie, book, TV show get bad reviews.

Take us through a typical day in your life…

Well, I lay in bed thinking about how I need to get up for way longer than I should. Then I finally force myself to jump up and go through the usual things (brush teeth, deodorant, get dressed) I check twitter and my email, comment on blogs or reply to emails. For some reason, I can never motivate myself to write until after I eat lunch. I can spend all afternoon writer/editing while checking twitter too much while having Mythbusters, Criminal Minds or Dirty Jobs playing in the background. I can’t write to music, but the TV is fine. I don’t have a real job (I have a small online handmade jewelry store and deliver a paper on the weekend) so I never have to worry about squeezing writing in between work. I make dinner when my husband gets home. If it’s nice out, we go for a walk and I try not to bore him with writing talk and he tries not to bore me with computer related jabber. Shower and then it’s back to writing, but usually I’m a bit worn out on writing and waste time on twitter talking about how I need to be writing. Around midnight, I trudge to bed and glower at my husband for being able to fall asleep in two seconds while it takes me a half hour.

———————————

Patricia will be going under our author spotlight on Saturday – so come back and find out more about her and Being Human then!

And don’t forget the giveaway to win your own copy of Being Human – just comment in any of the features from Patricia posted this week and you’ll be entered to win an e-copy supplied via Smashwords!

by

Just Finished…Being Human

So…a YA book about vampires – sounds familiar? Well, you’d be wrong! 🙂

Being Human takes the interesting perspective of Tommy, the recently turned vampire. The novel is written from his first-person POV, with only five chapters (incredibly long and semi-interior monologue in style); the chapters cover five distinct stages of his vampire life and experience.

In the world of Patricia Lynne’s vampires, when a human is turned they remember nothing of their former human life – nothing really of their human selves or values – which is why they often return and kill their own families it seems. When Tommy does exactly this, it is only some inante recognition of the special bond he shares with his twin brother Danny that stops him from killing him as he does their parents.

In the early stages of the book, I struggled to like Tommy – he’s heartless, unhuman and is quite blunt. Oh yes – I forgot, that’s because he’s supposed to be that way! He is a vampire after all. Once I got into this, he actually was quite cute and funny – certainly when he was trying to get his head around the intricacies of human/teenage life as his twin experiences it. As you see the new relationship develop with Tommy and Danny, you really see what the novel is about: the examination of what it is to ‘be human’. Tommy asks and examines the questions throughout the book, that we often overlook in everyday life, but that are absolutely necessary in making us what and who we are. I’ve seen this done quite similarly in sci-fi, with books like Human Is?, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and more recently Cinder – it was well done in Being Human.

The examination of various types of love – twins, family, children, romantic – is also very nicely done: the relationships feel authentic and give a greater depth than some other vampire books I’ve read. The main focus of Being Human isn’t a romance, but a family bond which trumps survival, human nature and vampire instinct.

Overall Thoughts: A well-considered vampire book, with interesting elements and world-building for a ‘post-knowledge setting’ where humans are aware of the existence of vampires. The examination of humanity as Tommy actually goes through the process is interesting and well-thought out: many novels I’ve read with human-esque vamps begin way after they’ve already embraced their human side. Enough action and blood for a vampire book, but not actually the main draw in this case. Good stuff!

*   *   *

Author Patricia Lynne will be featuring with us in a spotlight and interview later this week and you also have the chance of winning your own copy of Being Human here!