Book One of my Prey to the Gods Series - COMING SOON early 2013!

Playing God is not yet available for purchase.

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My Novel Pitch:  Jonestown princess defies the Exorcist.

One Sentence Novel Synopsis:  How will seduced Anna escape her religious cult and confront its all-powerful tyrant while trying to rescue her betrothed from his clutches?

My Novel Trailer: What would you risk to escape the only world you had ever known…the sanity of a mentor or the virtue of a friend?  Knowing you need to get out is not enough.  You must escape the clutches of an all-powerful tyrant empowered by the Word of God.  Risking the love of your betrothed.  Losing the prestige of an heiress.  Psychological threats tempt your resignation.  The stakes are higher than you calculated. It’s your life in exchange for the truth.

How I Wrote Playing God…

June 25, 2011 - The Storyboard -  Have you ever wondered how an author plots a story?  Here’s an example of my current storyboard for Playing God.  It looks like a menagerie of colors, but each post-it note refers to a character, a scene, an emotion, or location.  Each rectangle of the grid stands for a scene or potential chapter.

Here’s my map for the story, so far.   

These post-it’s are my “key” to the storyboard.

June 30, 2011 - This week included the Plot Sketch (barebones story/character arcs), Character Setting Sketches, and General Setting Sketches.

Setting Inspirational Photo

July 2, 2011 - The Summary Outline is finished!  This is a 20,000 word summary of the story from start to finish.  This “outline” includes a few paragraphs describing what happens in each scene, bits of dialogue, random description, and plot points.  This is a work in progress.  I update it as the story morphs into a living creature (well, almost).

July 9, 2011 - Majority of research for the novel is complete.  Since I am “writing what I know,” I have actually been researching this book for the past 20+ years.  Of course, there are other issues that I still needed to research.  I cannot be an expert in every field.

Researching the Romani

July 16, 2011 - I completed the last two days of my research.  These days were critical to reshaping my novel, especially after I uncovered one piece of information.  I felt like a nosy journalist scouring the internet for the real identity of an author who wrote a controversial book under a pseudonym.  I found out his “real name.”  Then, I had to locate his contact information.  I found him through his employer, and I sent him an email.  He actually called me back!  It pays to take a chance.

Here’s a disgusting (but fascinating video) that I found while researching.  Watch at your own peril!

July 24, 2011 - Finished my Formatted Outline.  I collated all the research, outlining, summary, plot sketches, setting information, and character histories into a capsule for each scene.  This ensures that I have all the information to write each scene – from the clothes each character wears to the research for a medical procedure.  All the scene capsules together erect the backbone of my novel.   Now, I need to “make the story purty.”

For those of you who like creepy books, here’s the latest resource for my story that arrived in the mail yesterday.  Don’t make any conclusions, yet!

August 1, 2011 – I completed my entire first draft of the novel.  I read through my formatted outline, filled in plot holes, updated scenes, and added missing details to the story.

August 14, 2011 - I read the entire story through for consistency and revised all 50 chapters as best I could.  Now, the story simmers for the next two months in a drawer till I’m ready to redraft.  On to the next project…Twice Tempted.

January 13, 2012 – I am doing revisions of the first draft of Playing God.  These should be done by next week.  Then, I’ll begin writing the second (final) draft of this novel.