MOVING

I determined that I needed a pen name. I have chosen my pen name and as such decided to move things around to match my new pen name. So, this blog has been moved and can now be found at:

 http://arielavalon.blogspot.com/

What's in a name?

Recently I have been reading a lot of blogs by other authors and looking at various advice they have to offer. It has me thinking about one of the most important decisions I think someone needs to make as they work on their novel or getting published. 

Should you use a pen name, or stick with your real name?

It probably seems like a no brainer, but really, I think it's a very important decision. A pen name can offer you a sense of privacy that you may not otherwise have.

So what are some good reasons for using a pen name?

1. Privacy. Its a given really. If your name ends up well known then you might want that. It could be annoying to be stopped in the supermarket because someone spotted your name on your credit card when you are in a rush. Or there is also the small town syndrome, if everyone near you knows you then you might want to be someone else publicly. 
2. Placing. If you have a last name that falls really late in the alphabet, you might want a pen name that will bring you further up. Being in the right spot on the shelves can really help. Some people might want to be at the beginning of the alphabet, I would personally think the middle would be better. When I go to bookstores the L-Ts are almost always right near eye level.
3. If your name is absurd or difficult. If you have a last name that is hilarious or incredibly hard to spell or pronounce it could be helpful.
4. If your last name is very common or someone else is already published with your name. 
5. Different genres. Some people like to have one name for one genre and other for a different genre. I personally don't need this as I don't foresee myself writing anything aside from YA fiction. 

Really, the hardest thing about coming up with a pen name is asking yourself what your pen name should be. You don't want something silly, but you need something that you can use, answer to, and sign autographs for. 

So, how do you know if you should use a pen name? The quickest way to see, would be to search your name. Go to Goodreads and do a search for your name and see if there are any authors who come up. Then Google your name. Be sure you put your name in quotation marks. Also, look up your name in an Amazon search and see what comes up. Try a few spelling variations if you have a common name. If you discover you need to use a pen name, then be sure that you do searches on the name you choose later so that you can be certain you chose one that wont confuse you with someone else.

I have found that I will need to use a pen name. There is already a "Jodi Davis" published on Goodreads. Googling my name brings me to my two Google+ profiles but also leads me to a whole bunch of other Jodi Davis's. There is a company and a motivational speaker. I also learned that @Jodidavis is taken on twitter, so that would ruin one of my public avenues. For privacy, I had already decided not to publish under my maiden name. I think that I will create a whole new name for my pen name. There are so many Jodi's in the publishing world these days that I want to be different and stand out. 

What are your thoughts on pen names?

Series Spotlight Saturday: The Demon series by Erin Lynn

 
Title: Demon Envy & Speed Demon
Author: Erin Lynn
Goodreads: Demon Envy & Speed Demon
Buy on Amazon: Demon Envy & Speed Demon
Summary: (From first book) Being a teenager can be hell-especially when you're friends with someone who was born there. 

Kenzie Sutcliffe woke up to another normal morning-until a demon popped up in her shower. While trying to get rid of a monster zit, she dropped her acne lotion in the tub. And when fifty bucks' worth of it swirled down the drain, it freed a demon from his prison portal. A mysteriously geeky-looking demon.

So now Kenzie is saddled with a creature who looks and acts like every other guy she knows-that is, annoying. At least Levi has a job-if you can call it that. He has to stir up envy and jealousy in humans, or he starves. All he's tempting Kenzie to do is to crawl back into her bedroom and hide there forever. Because no one is going to be coveting her life after this.

I recently took the time to read these books and I have to say, they were precious. The story is pretty creative, what with Kenzie opening up portals to a demon prison in her home. She is the only one who can open or close these portals. Levi is just great. I love watching the two of them fight their attraction to each other. The second book especially jumps into a bit more romance and watching Levi is just perfect.

I was incredibly disappointed to see that there was not additional books in the series. The end of Speed Demon leaves you knowing that the series is not completed, but it has been quite a few years now since anything was released. A journey to Erin Lynn's website produced this:

When is the next teen DEMON book out?
Unfortunately, this too is a publisher decision, and as of right now, there will be no third book. Can you see me pouting? I really want to finish the series and am toying with the idea of publishing them myself on Kindle. If you would be interested in a Kindle edition, let me know!

Disappointing on all fronts. I couldn't help myself. I contacted her, hoping to hear something about it and when it might be possible to see anything. I got this mail back in response:
Thank you, Jodi! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed them. :-) I am working on carving out some time in my schedule to finish the series so when it happens, it will be up on my website.
Best,
Erin


So hopefully the next books will be begun being written soon. I urge everyone to contact her and ask for them as well. I'm certain she would love to know they are desired.

In the meantime, even if the series is not completed, I highly recommend reading these two books. They are quick and easy reads and are just such fun.

Review: Breathless by Cole Gibsen

Title: Breathless
Author: Cole Gibsen
View: Goodreads
Buy: Amazon
Dates read: June 11, 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆


Edith Smalls is a broken little girl. She wants nothing more than to blend into the background and stay invisible and under the radar. She skirts along, staying just out of trouble so that her strict Military stepfather doesnt send her away to military school. In attempts to please him, she goes on a date with kids that she would never typically hang out with. The date ends in a horrible boating accident and Edith getting terrorized by a savage girl in the water. It's easier to feign amnesia than to admit she was attacked by a mermaid. After meeting Bastin, a strange boy with silver hair and black eyes, she has to fight not to lose her heart to an impossible love.

As I read through this story, I really wanted to like it. It did hold my attention and I did blow through it like I would a really good book. At the end, the whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth. Edith and Morgan were very good characters, actually, I think most of the characters were good.

Sir was a horrible man. I dont care what his reasons for being the way he was were, he is a monster. I found myself gritting my teeth and becoming overly enraged every single scene he had in the book. I kept wondering why Edith or her mother didnt stand up to him. He needed knocked down a peg. At the end, even after his issues are made known, the mother still stays with him. Its just unhealthy. I know it was made to look like he would be getting help, but after 13 years of being that monster its just not right.

Edith and Bastin's love affiar was unbelivable. Did they fall for each other over a greater period of time, or was it really only about the 2-3 weeks that I thought the book took place over? Were they star crossed lovers? Seriously, I dont see how it worked. Bastin went from being someone who didnt know real emotions to suddenly being in a deep painful love? I just couldnt buy it.

Reading the summary of the book, I was expecting more action. A LOT more action. I was horribly disappointed in all of it. The climax was poorly planned and when it happened it was emotionless. It wasnt built up very well, its like this was meant to be entirely a love story and the action was thrown in during an editing request. It was disjointed and just didnt mesh with the rest of the novel.

The ending was bad as well. I believe this is meant to be a stand alone novel and yet the ending was left fairly open-ended. It had a bit of a cliffhanger in general. What is the purpose of that? Not to mention that the cliffhanger left it open for a book that would be horrid to begin with.

It had a few cute scenes with good dialog, but it lacked too much else to be worth more than 3 stars.          

Review: Of Poseidon (Of Poseidon #1) by Anna Banks

Title: Of Poseidon (Of Poseidon #1)
Author: Anna Banks
View: Goodreads
Buy: Amazon
Dates read: June 10, 2012
Rating: ★★★★★


Galen, a Syrena prince, is on land searching for what might be the key to the survival of his species. He believes he finds what he seeks in the violet eyed Emma. After witnessing her talk to a shark, he knows she must of Of Poseidon, possessing the abilities of the long dead general. Now he must help her discover who she is, try to help her shift into her form and prepare her to mate with his brother Grom, all while trying not to fall in love with her himself.

This book was wonderful. It jumps right into the story, and while a lot of it shouldve been predictable to me, I was pretty blindsided at the ending.

I loved all of the characters. Seriously, every one of them were pretty perfect to me. The banter was funny, the random thoughts they had were entertaining, I laughed through so much of it.

The writing flowed well in my opinion. I had a nagging feeling that Emma accepted what she was a bit easily, but at the same time, I feel like she sort of knew. Besides, with the length of the novel she wouldnt have had time to angst about it and I think it wouldve made me like her far less if she did.

I had been needing a really good mermaid story for a while and this one just took the cake and made me so happy to read.           

Review: Legacy Lost (Of Poseidon #0.5) by Anna Banks

Title: Legacy Lost (Of Poseidon #0.5)
Author: Anna Banks
View: Goodreads
Buy: Amazon (Or read for free: Here)
Dates read: June 11, 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆




This prequel covers the story of Grom and Nalia, third generation, first borns of their respected kingdoms. They are to be mated to keep the gifts of the generals available to their race. They start out disliking each other, but it quickly changes to love.

I know this was a prequel and meant to be short before of it, but it almost seemed a little too short. Their interactions were small and shallow. I really wasnt fond of either one of them. Grom is pigheaded and shallow and Nalia is stubborn and seems like a spoiled brat. Their relationship being more than attraction was pretty unbelievable to me. Their entire love affair feels like it was dependant on "the pull", the myth that two Syrena could feel drawn to each other as a way to make more powerful offspring.

I still couldnt help but rate it high. The purpose of a prequel is to make you want to read the main story and this one did just that. It opens up questions and makes you wonder how things are going to play out. I, once again, read the prequel after the first book and it only opened up more questions than anything. So while it felt shallow and unbelivable, it served its purpose wonderfully.          

Plot Ideas

Been working on my characters and plot ideas a lot lately in between reading. Reading centers me. I had someone tell me it was foolish to do a lot of reading when you are working on a plot, but really, I think I would have a harder time with my plot if I didn't keep reading. When I read all my thoughts line up and my inspiration hits me harder. My mind will be working from the novel I was reading, already in prime imagination mode and my story will flow in my dreams. My story dreams are the only ones I can ever remember. I see that as very lucky. My eyesight is too bad to wake up in the middle of the night and have to fumble for my glasses to jot down a dream or ideas I had, not to mention how badly I think my husband would kill me when he needs to be up a few hours later. I mentioned before how I had begun working on a new story idea, I am presently up to three, four if you want to be super technical. 

My first plot was the original story I was working with. It will be a mortal boy-mortal girl-grim reaper love triangle. My biggest problem with it so far is my issues with what mythology I wanted to work with as I wrote. I am a huge fan of Norse and Greek mythology so I wanted to work with a basis on one of those and write things through. My indecision is causing my characters to suffer, namely my Reaper boy. His attitude would vary based on the mythos I chose and so not choosing is leaving him pretty vacant. The more I work with it, the more I begin to think that maybe the story just isn't meant to happen right now. I am considering working through it as a short story and seeing where it goes from there. Just, keep it simple. I really want to work with Greek mythology on it, but I feel like that would be better served as a series and I am just not ready for a series yet. I am heartbroken that I am having issues with it, because my mortal boy and girl, Sebastian and Melody, are fantastic. I adore them so much and I want to see them in a story together. I am tempted to steal them away to a different story so they can be brought out now.

My second plot that I have is a mermaid tale. I have been on a huge mermaid kick lately and am disappointed to see the lack of real YA mermaid stories. I am either blind or there just aren't a whole lot of good ones out there. I have two ways it could go, which is why I said I had four plots technically. I am actually leaning on this story quite a bit. It's been consuming me lately. Part of me wonders how well I can really write it though. You see, I have a fear of water. I've always disliked water, sorta. If you want to get right down to it, I love water. I love looking at is, I love being in it, I am drawn to the sea. I just have trouble with large bodies of water. I am great in anything smaller than say, a ten person hot tub. I am fine in those above ground outdoor pools they sell that are only five feet deep. Anything beyond that, and you have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me in it. The beach? Forget it! My husband has been barking up that tree since we met seven years ago. I am the worst Navy wife, seriously, I just can't stand the water. I never learned to swim, I actually failed swim class three times. Bet you didn't know that was possible, guess what! It is! I can't deal with jelly fish that aren't behind glass at an aquarium, I'm claustrophobic so being in the water is terrifying to me, and I can't hold my breath for very long at all. All in all, water and I are so not BFFs. I love water though. I remember when I was a child I used to dream about being a mermaid just because I knew as a mermaid being in the water would be so much easier to me, it would be natural. My lack of real knowledge about the water and diving comes from reading and nature shows so I worry that I would have issues writing about mermaids when I dislike water, such an important part of a mermaid's existence. 

My third plot is actually based on my old book. I have mentioned that I started writing a book in secret when I was ten. I've always liked what I had. I remember the basics of my plot and bits and pieces of my characters. It was originally meant to be a true faerie tale, something aimed for younger audiences, pre-teens and the like. It would be incredibly easy to expand, polish, and change it into the YA romance I want to write. I am having trouble letting go of nostalgia though. I have realized that my plot is basically a perfect blend of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series and Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series. That is not a good thing. My nostalgia wants me to hold onto my story and never let go, but my common sense says that is stupid and that I need to stop it. 

There really needs to be a way to stop your brain from thinking. I need a way to turn off my brain to everything else and force it to make up it's mind and just focus on one thing.