Amanda HockingAmanda's Blog
Why Alice doesn’t find out they’re vampires until halfway through the book and other news
Apparently, folks are having issues with comments again, which makes me angry faced, but I’m not sure how to fix it. If you’re familiar with blogspot and understand the problem, please let me know.
Also, I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words after my last blog. I really appreciated it. It was like a giant eHug! 🙂
Twimom followed up my fun interview with a wonderful review on her blog, so check it out: here.
I’ve read lots of reviews of my books (and thanks everybody for putting in their input!!!!), and one of the most common complaints I hear about My Blood Approves is that Alice doesn’t find out they’re vampires until halfway through the book.
Now, I’m defending or disagreeing with these comments. This is a fact, and some people feel like it takes too long, so it does take too long. I value their feedback, and I plan on applying that to other books.
But what I am going to do is take a moment to explain why I have her wait so long, and even though it might be to the story’s detriment, here it is:
I wanted her to establish a relationship with Jack. Since I wanted to create an obvious difference between her feelings for Jack and Peter, I had to give her time to nurture an attachment with Jack before she met Peter. Because if I’m honest, if Alice had met Peter first, who knows how she would feel about Jack?
I strive for realism in the book, which sounds silly when I’m writing about vampires, but I want them portrayed as realistically as possible. That also means I want the humans to react the way humans react, and if I met a guy and he told me he was a vampire right after I met him, I would never speak to him again. And if he acted strangely, my first thought wouldn’t be vampire either. I’d have to have evidence before I believed it.
Maybe it slows down the beginning more than I’d meant for it too. Maybe I could’ve put it in a few chapters sooner at least. I don’t know. I don’t feel comfortable making such a dramatic change on the book now that its been published and reviewed, but I am keeping this in mind with future books.
In other news, Fangtastic Books will be having a guest blog with yours truly, and while I can’t remember exactly what I said, I do know that it’s very, very exciting. It should be up sometime in the evening of Thursday, June 10 (also know as – today.)
On top of fantastic guest blogs by authors such as myself, she has giveaways, reviews, and TONS of other stuff. So if you enjoy vampires, you should really check out the site: Fangtastic Books.
The Indie Spotlight is a site devoted to shining a spotlight on up and coming indie authors, and they’ve been gracious enough to do a feature with me on Sunday, June 13th. They have daily features on authors in a wide variety of genres, so you should definitely check that out: here.
Meanwhile, over at Book Rat’s blog, she’s still has Jane in June running, and if you haven’t checked it out, you’re a crazy person. It’s chocked full of so much stuff, I’m pretty sure she’s given up sleep to run it. She has about ten billion giveaways, from Bridget Jone’s Diary to Android Karenina.
She also has a piece by me coming up sometime this month, and I’m embarrassed by the horribleness of it. So much of the guest posts have been utterly amazing, and I wrote a silly Dear Jane letter. So, you should definitely check out her site. But maybe skip over my part.
And one final note: Joran van der Sloot is the biggest douche that ever lived.
EDIT: The guestblog I did for Fangtastic Books is already up! Yay! But it’s just as I predicted – very exciting. I might even divulge what Team I’m on. And even better – she’s giving away a FREEE copy of My Blood Approves – either PDF or paperback!!!
What some of you may know is that its my goal in life to procure a sponsorship and/or lifetime supply of Red Bull. My plan to do this is become a world famous, best-selling author and name drop Red Bull every chance I get.
Sure, writing good books that everyone wants to read is awesome, but getting free energy drinks until I die? That’s the real measure of success.
Unfortunately, I fail.
I’ve once again done an interview and forgotten to mention Red Bull. How can I be so careless? It’s as if I don’t want to succeed. Maybe I’m like Jesse James, and I want to self-sabotage. Except instead of cheating on America’s sweetheart, Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock with a bunch of skanky hermaphroditic racists, I forget to talk about Red Bull. So it’s very, very similar.
Anyway, the good people (or rather, person) at Twimom 227 blog have interviewed me and reviewed my book. The interview is posted today, and I thank her greatly for giving me the opportunity to ramble about my inspirations, upcoming books, and Prince. So that’s very kind of her.
When she’s not busy letting me plug my wares, she reviews other books, mostly paranormal romance and urban fantasy. If that sorta thing is your bag, you should go over there and check out her recommendations.
Her review of My Blood Approves goes up tomorrow, and I don’t know what she thinks yet. (Fingers crossed that she doesn’t hate it!)
On a related note, all of you that have been reviewing my books, thank you very much. I truly appreciate your feedback, and while the response has been overwhelmingly positive, I also value the negative comments.
Onto a bit of sad news that I want to talk about. If you’ve read my books, you’re familiar with the character Mae. Mae, while fictional, is heavily inspired by Nanny, my gramma. In fact, the name “Mae” is taken from Nanny’s middle name.
Like Mae, Nanny was from Reading, England, although Nanny is younger than Mae. Nanny helped raise me. She babysat me all the time until I was five, and my parents had a tumultuous marriage, so my mother and I would often end up staying there. On my own, I’ve lived with her numerous times through out, and to this day, I only live a block away from her.
She’s one of the funniest, most caring, charming people you’d ever meet. Everyone, and I mean everyone, remembers her. She always thinks it because of her British accent, but it’s more than that. She has always had a vibrance and warmth that radiates off of her.
Nanny is without a doubt one of the most influential people in my life. It is because of her that I learned to love Jim Henson, and I can’t count the number of times she watched Labyrinth or Dark Crystal or even those Star Wars Ewok spinoffs with me. Actually, the first time I watched Stars Wars was with her when I was about seven.
More importantly, we read together. We played together. When I was young, maybe 2 or 3, she made a tape recording of me telling a story about the Big Bad Wolf. She was one of the first people to see that I had storytelling in me.
Its from her I learned love and imagination. We’ve never been a people big on motivation or success, but the doors to her home were always open to anyone that’s needed, and lots of people have take her up on that over the years. She loves unconditionally and without reproach. There is nothing I can say or do that would ever make her stop loving me, and it’s that kind of foundation that has enabled to be who I am today.
In February, Nanny was diagnosed with dementia. And I guess I didn’t except things to go downhill so fast…
There’s not really a lot I want to say about that. She’s just one of the most amazing people I’ve ever know. She’s like Michael Caine & Betty White times a million.
And I just wanted to share that with you. The essence of Mae is Nanny, and most of the neat parts of me come from her too.
This picture was taken in England, I think sometime in the mid 1950’s. My gramma is the second one from the left.
and I think to myself…
I’ve added soundtrack links for my books under the My Books tab. Instead of just a list, it actually has the songs so you can hear them. I enjoy music, and I enjoy sharing. So there.
To check it out, click here: My Blood Approves soundtrack, Fate soundtrack, and Flutter soundtrack.
Also, the contest is still going on at Rex Robot Reviews. I know I said was going to have a contest when I sold a thousand books, but because she has one going on, I don’t want to conflict with that.
I’ll figure something out later to celebrate when I sell 1,000 of My Blood Approves.
And if you haven’t read Rex Robot Reviews wonderful review of My Blood Approves, read here.
Here’s a quick excerpt of my favorite part: “So we’ve got a cute, fresh take on the vampire bloodlines aspect of the story. If you like vampires and young adult novels- check this book out! Amanda is definitely an author to watch out for.”
Victorine Lieske, author of Not What She Seems, did a really interesting post where she talks to indie authors about the successes they’re having. I gave some input, as well did a lot of great authors, so you should check it out.
I’m currently reading Portal by Imogen Rose, and it’s fantastic. I’ll be doing an interview and review on her book later this month, and she has a sequel coming out sometime around the end of June, I believe.
And on one final nice note, check out my domination of the Hot Releases category on Kindle:
an interview and a contest!!
What fun! Rex Robot Reviews did an interview with me and is also having a giveaway for the first book in the series, My Blood Approves. You have the option of either PDF or paperback, which makes it an added bonus for ereader aficionados.
To check it out, click: here. Rex Robot Reviews is a great blog that has lots of reviews on paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and lots of great author interviews, including one with Robin Becker, author of Brains: A Zombie Memoir.
So even if you don’t read my interview or enter the contest, you should still check out her site. (But my interview doesn’t answer the age-old question, what do I do when I’m not writing?)
In other fun news related to me, one time I was quoted in SPiN magazine.
(Yes, I did say that. Yes, I did own Hanson. Yes, this is my biggest claim to fame. Yes, it is from 6 years ago.)
Jim Henson predicted the end of the world
Or more accurately, Brian Henson did. But more on that in a second…
I read an article today about the BP oil spill, and some analysts think the oil spill won’t end until Christmas. Meaning 4 million barrels oil would be dumped in the Gulf. And (I’m quoting) “That much oil would wipe out all life in the Gulf and completely change the ecosystem.” (read the full story here)
Let me repeat that: That much oil would wipe out all life in the Gulf.
In less than a year, those greedy bastards and their lack of foresight will probably lead to the destruction of an entire ecosystem. Fish, crabs, eels, dolphins, sea turtles, and all the plant life. Here’s a list of how and what animals are effected by this: here.
This doesn’t even mention the economic damage it will do to tourism and the jobs of people who thrived on fishing and dependency on the Gulf life.
One more time: That much oil would wipe out all life in the Gulf.
Let’s put aside how devastating it is to have a complete and total holocaust of an entire ecosystem. Let’s think about what that will mean big picture. To destroy all that life and dump all that oil in the ocean. What that will mean for life everywhere, in the ocean, on land. How that much pollutants will devastate the entire frickin planet.
This makes me so angry that I’m shaking. Literally shaking.
On a more positive note, here’s a link to 5 things WE can do to help fix this (via Mark Hoppus). Number 2 is volunteering in the Gulf and Florida, but that might not be an option for everybody, and there are things on the list that everyone could and should do.
I am adding one more to call action that isn’t on there: Boycott BP. I know they’re just one of many greedy oil companies, but it feels a little better knowing that you’re not buying gas from the company that killing all life in the Gulf.
I started this out saying that Brian Henson predicted the end of the world. I’m sure he’s not the first person to posit how greed, ignorance,and pollution would lead to the earth’s demise, but since this whole spill happened, I can’t help but think of the final episode of Dinosaurs.
If you’re not familiar, Dinosaurs was a brilliant sitcom from the early 90’s using animontrics and puppets. It was Jim Henson’s brain child that he was working on when he died, and it’s one of the best parts of his legacy.
I posted an abridged version of the episode (cut down to just under 5 minutes), and it explains all the major plot points. Unfortunately (and somewhat strangely) it doesn’t have the final haunting minutes of the episode, so I’m posting that video too. (To read the full episode synopsis, click here)
The last 3.5 minutes of Dinosaurs: (Warning: It always makes me cry, but maybe that’s important.)
The recap of the Dinosaurs episode “Changing Nature”:
If you don’t watch, here’s a quote from the end of the episode that sums it up:
Earl: Well, you see little guy, what happened was…Daddy got put in charge of the world, and he didn’t take real good care of it. And now it looks like there’s not going to be much of a world left for you and your brother and your sister to live in.
Baby: Are we gonna move?
Earl: Well, no. There’s no place to move to, this is the only world we got.