Return Of The Wolf (Eye Of The Storm #4) - The Waning Moon and Introspection

57% into writing Return of The Wolf and I have to say that it's probably the hardest book I've ever written, and I'm not overly sure why. It could be because there's just been such a lot going on in my personal life that, three quarters of the way through the year, I feel kinda scattered. It could be because this book touches on some dark subject matter - all my books do, I guess - but with this one, the darkness needs to be spelled out a little more, so that readers can understand how and why the characters evolve the way that they do. I'm being very picky about how things are portrayed - everything needs to make sense and have a reason, but still be readable, without giving too much away straight away. The pattern has been, that I write a couple of chapters and then decide I don't like something and have to go back through the whole manuscript to change things, and this has happened a few times with this story.

Return Of The Wolf begins straight after the events of Heart Of The Wolf. The moon is now waning, and just as - metaphysically - that represent a phase of inner-reflection and settling, so shall it be with this book. The big climax happened at the end of Heart Of The Wolf  (and I mean that in every sense), and now everyone needs to process that, and deal with the consequences of their actions - new realisations also come to light now that everything is a little calmer.

This book contains just a little bit less action than the other three, and the focus is mostly on some deep healing for our favourite characters, before things take off again in book five (there will be six books altogether).

So, that's where I'm at. I think part of the reason this book is harder to write, is because part of me wants to put some huge plot twist in this one like my others (I might still do that), but this book isn't actually about twists and turns - it's about what happens after, and how you handle a straight long road after life has taken you on a bender, so to speak.

I'm intrigued to see how the next 43% pans out. I'm interested in seeing how readers will take to this one. Time will tell. But remember, there are still two more books to go ;)

Dianna xx

Heard bad things about indie books? Sometimes they're true, but so are the good things!

I think I must be one of very few authors who don't have friends or even many family members who are bookworms. My sister and my mother are the exception, and I love them for reading my work, because my books are definitely NOT their usual genre ;) In fact, I may be wrong, but I think I am the only independent author that they've read at all. And they are not into eBooks, only paperbacks.

So... it's been mentioned to me over the past year, by various people who don't read indie authors, about typos in self-published books. In an attempt to reply, I've just added this to an info section on my own site: my own general rule of thumb about what to expect if you're reading an indie book - different people may have different experiences. What I've written below is my own...

Typos in independently published books.
You're going to get them. When I read a commercially published, full-length book, I expect to find one or two typos in it - I almost always do. When I read an independently published book that HAS been proofed and edited, including those published by small (independent) presses, I expect to find, on average, one typo per 20,000 words - again, I almost always do. For a full-length novel, that's between 3 and 6 typos depending on the size of the novel. That's my personal general rule of thumb, based on my experience of writing, publishing and reading. Of course, the ideal is to aim for no typos at all, and we should always strive for the ideal.

I thought I'd share it here in case anyone else is in the same position as me, where absolutely no one else I know reads indie books, lol. This is now what I tell them when they talk to me about typos! I also add that if I love an indie book, it'll be because it's more imaginative, raw, creative and impassioned than most commercially published books, and that is also the god-damn truth.  Commercial publishers will simply not allow some of the things you might find in an indie book, and I'm not just talking about sex, but "holy cow plot twists", bold characterisations and more.

The reason I continue to read J R Ward and Larissa Ione is because somehow, (in my opinion) they have managed to keep that "edge" to their writing despite being commercially published. But indie authors I can think of, off the top of my head, who have written awesome, edgy books are C J Roberts (her Dark Duet series), Kitty Thomas (both those authors are 18+), our very own Elizabeth Morgan (do I need to mention Scottish werewolves again???) and Emma Mills has a great YA series, Witchblood, which is full of plot. I recently also read M Leighton's Down To You (New Adult Cont. Romance), and there was a scene in the middle of it...

SPOILER

...where one of the love interests enters the lead female's room in the middle of the night and she still wants to make love to him (and they do) without her actually knowing which guy he is because it's so dark.

Would that have been 'okayed' by a publishing house if the manuscript had been sent in? Who knows, but I LOVED that scene, and also the ending...

another spoiler

...where you think you're reading a contemporary romance, then all of a sudden - BAM - plot twist and you feel like you've entered an action / suspense novel instead.

That's what I'm talking about!

I miss that kind of edginess in commercially published books.

So next time someone asks you / complains to you about an indie author, do think on the above points. They're certainly the main reasons why I have yet to send a manuscript off to a commercial publisher / agent ;)