What's Hot and What's Not

                    

I read a book a while ago by Donald Mass called "Writing The Breakout Novel". It was a great book with fantastic information, but he said something in it that surprised and really stuck with me. He said, (not verbatim) that it isn't marketing that makes a book a bestseller, it's word of mouth. I've often pondered this statement and, in a way, I can see how he's right. It appears certain books have won the lottery of popularity and become what seems like an overnight sensation. Are they good books? Absolutely. The best books I've ever read? No. For every hot, best seller, I can think of 4 others that are just as good but never got the notoriety they deserved. So what makes these books such a success?

Take the Twilight phenomenon. The book was published by a small publishing company and it was Stephanie Meyer's first book she'd ever written. She had a literary agent who sold her book to Little Brown.

Compare that book to the Shack. This book was also swept up in the fantastic read spot light. Millions of copies sold and this book was originally self-published.

Compare that to the newest and hottest read, everyone I know is toting a copy (my two kids each have their own so they wouldn't have to share), The Hunger Games. This book was published by a larger company, Scholastic Press.

Each of these books are vastly different than the other, from genre to publishing company. In fact, the only thing similar about them is the that they're over-whelmingly popular.

So what does this tell me? Two things: First, write a great book. Second, getting your novel swept up in the gotta-read-it frenzy is part luck, and just like Donald Mass says, word of mouth. So I guess there's hope for us all :)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what it takes to write a national bestseller.

Have a great Saturday!

Melynda Price

New Beginning for a New Year

Well, Christmas has finally come and gone. The presents were opened, the feasts enjoyed. And now a the world prepares to usher out one year and welcome in a brand spankin' new one.

With this comes the idea of new beginnings. Folks resolve to make changes and start new projects to celebrate the start of a new year. Typically I don't make New Year's Resolutions at all, but this year I've been forced to consider a drastic new path for my YA writing career.

You see, Sapphire Blue Publishing, the publisher of my YA Hell House series, decided rather suddenly to close its doors December 1st. The news came as a shock to all of the authors, especially those of us who'd been with the company since it began in 2008 (like me). The company wasn't in any kind of peril, but there were just things outside of the scope of control of the authors that led to the closure.

I, myself, was devastated. I felt like the proverbial rug had been yanked out from under me. However, the publisher was speedy in returning the writes to us authors for our works, and even threw in the rights to the wonderful cover art as a way to sort of take the sting out of what was happening.

Which left me with a predicament. Do I begin the entire query process again, or should I take the leap into the world of self-publishing? I mean, I had completely edited stories and cover art at my fingertips, so why not?

That being said, I took the plunge and decided I was going to take control of the situation, and put my beloved stories back out there myself. After a crash course in formatting and cover art editing, the first book in the Hell House series, Holiday Hell House, is back up on Amazon and All Romance eBooks. It's definitely more work, and in no way means I'm through with querying publishers, but I am proud to have taken charge of my path and excited to see what new things lie ahead in this new year. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next two books back up and available soon, and move on with writing even more stories starring this great cast of characters.

Until then, you can purchase Holiday Hell House with a sneak new preview of Fairy Fury at Amazon and All Romance eBooks published by...ME!

And it's only 99 cents!



Have a fabulous New Year!

Writing YA Today

"What is a chode?" I asked this question of my sixteen year old daughter, when I heard her and her friend laughing at the new nickname they'd given one of their male friends. When she told me, I was honestly surprised; mostly because she actually knew what a chode was, and then I felt another grey hair spring forth. Am I really that old?

Writing a YA series has been a great learning and growing experience, but it had also been very challenging to walk the line between what's appealing and relating to today's teens, while keeping them engaged without crossing over into adult. I've read many YA paranormal romance and some authors are much better at this than others. The way I see it, in this day and age, the YA audience could probably teach me a thing or two, so I'm not as worried about writing conservatively as I am about writing a great story, with real dialogue and real life issues.

My goal has always been that the YA audience will identify with my characters. They're not perfect--some of them curse, use alcohol and drugs, have premarital sex, and generally make many of the same mistakes our teens today make. But one message comes through strong in my paranormal romance Until Darkness Comes, and that's the power of love and forgiveness.

Hope you all have a great Saturday. I'd love to hear what you think about writing YA today :)

Melynda Price

One Horrific Summer...

So, I've always been a big fan of books. I can't even remember NOT knowing how to read. I wore out my library card, and always had more books than would fit on the shelf in my room.

But 25 years ago, there were only so many young adult books available. Judy Blume, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High - these are what I read the most of because that's what girls my age were supposed to be reading. And there's nothing wrong with those books, it's just that, well, I craved...MORE.

Every summer I would spend a few weeks at my aunt and uncle's house. They were book lovers as well, and truthfully, passed that passion on to me through many a trip to the library or out of the way bookstore. They had loads of books at their house, so one summer, I decided I was going to read some grown-up books.

What did I pick to start with? Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Probably not the best choice for a 12 year old, but I was determined and could not be swayed.

The book scared the crap out of me.

I was mesmerized, and read it all in one day. I read until my eyeballs felt like they would pop out of my head and every noise that house made was a vampire about to get me. I was frightened and exhilarated, and...couldn't wait to read the next one.

Thus began my love affair with horror and the paranormal. I became obsessed, and that summer I also read Cujo, Carrie, Christine, and Firestarter. The world of horror and the paranormal opened up and swallowed me whole. Something about finding fear in the everyday or that there's more to this life than we know totally appealed to 12 year old me and made my imagination take flight.

That's when I really started writing my own stories, filling notebook after notebook, all the while devouring books like a person starved. I specifically became obsessed with vampires, and to this day have one bookcase in my house devoted entirely to vampire fiction.

I owe that "horrific" summer the credit for steering me onto this path of a writer, showing me so much more than I could ever have imagined. Books are and always will be what sustains me. And I pray they continue to inspire and entertain generations to come.

Who knows? Maybe even one of my stories will spark a light in another 12 year old...

All I can do is hope!

Happy Reading!

I'm Not a Goody-Two-Shoes

Really. Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm about as far from that as they come. But I am a mom, and I was a teenage girl...several years ago. Again, I'm not raising my kids in a puritan-type household. We're pretty open and honest about most things. Keeping something secret or taboo, in my opinion, just makes a kid want it more. So, we don't do that.

So I have no intention of sheltering them from things in books, and we're already pretty open as far as movies go. (I have a no rated R rule with regard to the kids...it's more like a guideline since I know it's been broken...by my husband.) And I like books that portray teen life with a degree of realism (no matter how unreal they might be). That means dating, and sexuality, and cheating, and driving too fast, and drinking, and drugs, and all sorts of things. And I'm totally okay with all of that...as long as it serves a purpose.

I read a young adult novel by a friend recently (great book overall, I hope it gets picked up) that had the main character and the love interest having sex. In general, sex in YA doesn't bother me, but in this instance (much like the problem I had with Shiver, the sex didn't seem important to the characters or the plot. In both instances, I missed it initially when reading and had to go back to make sure they'd actually had sex. Glossing over the details is okay, but making it so unimportant that it can be easily missed or misinterpreted? In those cases, why is it there? People can fall in love without having sex, so it isn't by definition needed for the romantic plot/sub-plot. So why is it there if it doesn't have some effect on another point in the plot or on the characters involved? (Okay, the Gossip Girl ad may be a bad example. I'm not sure since I don't watch the show, but I thought it was hilarious that they're using quotes like that in their ads.)

An even worse offender for me is adding drugs and alcohol...just because. Yes, teens drink. Yes, some do drugs. No, I don't think having drinking and drugs in books will encourage teens who wouldn't otherwise imbibe to give it a try. However, if it does nothing for the characters and nothing for the plot...why add it? I'm reading an ARC of an upcoming dystopian. Not a bad book so far, but it's very hit-or-miss on this. There are (for lack of a better term) rave scenes. The scenes serve the purpose of connecting the main character with others she wouldn't meet or be able to talk to in her day-to-day life. Drinking and drugs make sense at a rave. No problem there. But later, there's a public fair (again, lack of a better word), and the adult beverages are flowing like water. *blink* Why? Everything that happened in that scene could have happened with the teens sober.

I see the same thing on TV for teens.

Vampire Diaries. Those people simply cannot have a get-together without drinking--and usually someone getting wasted to the point of stupidity. I'm okay with it most of the time--teen parties, blah blah blah. But all the time? That bumps it from realistic straight to you've-got-to-be-kidding-me. I'm sorry, but someone's parents in that town are not going to let their kids celebrate with drunken debauchery.

Look, I don't want every book and TV show out there to be squeaky clean. I just have this thing about balance. Most teens are not drunk all the time. Most teens (at least the ones I know) don't hop in bed with their boyfriend (or worse, their maybe-he-might-be-my-boyfriend-if-he-was-human-or-not-lying-to-me-all-the-time) as soon as the opportunity arises. Yes, some do. But unless that's part of their anti-hero persona, I really want it to be important to the plot. I want it to be necessary and (forgive me for this) mean something.

I don't know about you, but I chose my high school drinking times very carefully. And I made choices about if or when to sleep with a boy over the course of a long time. I didn't kiss him once and then strip, and neither did anyone else I knew (okay, except the school slut, but..hello...school slut). I remember losing my virginity. I remember my bad, drunken decisions. (And no, the two don't fall into the same category for me.) Is it too much to ask that fictional characters do the same?

What's So Great About Paranormal?

This is my first blog for Fabulously Young ePubs. My name is Melynda Price, and I am a lover of paranormal romance. It’s all I read; it’s all I write. Why paranormal? Because the possibilities are endless. It’s an amazing experience to dive into a world where the unseen is seen. The unreal suddenly becomes reality, and the rules and laws that bind us to this world no longer hold true.

The challenge in writing paranormal is finding the balance between “Wow” and “Oh, come on!” A good paranormal book will open the readers’ minds to a whole new world, and when it’s finished, they’ll sit back and think “What if…”

In a time when paranormal is so hot, it’s a challenge to write a story that sets your work, as an author, apart from the others. You’ve got your core group of YA paranormal bad-boys: The Vampires, Werewolves, Fey, and Fallen Angels. Putting a twist on these characters that hasn’t already been done can be quite a task. But again, that’s the beauty of paranormal—if you can dream it, they can do it.  

Unbelievably believable—that is what I strive for in my writing, and that is what I think Until Darkness Comes has to offer its readers. It’s a culmination of fiction with inflections of Biblical history  that weaves a tale of deception, temptation and romance.

I’m currently editing Shades of Darkness, the second book in my four-part Redemption series. Until Darkness Comes is currently under contract with Noble Romance.

A little about myself, I live in Northern Minnesota with my husband of seventeen years and two children, ages 16 and 10. With fall suddenly upon us, and winter quickly bearing down, I find myself looking forward to many snow-filled days where I can escape into a world where the impossible suddenly becomes possible and an amazing adventure is only a few keystrokes away.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a fabulous Saturday!

Melynda Price 

I'm Just Along For The Ride

Happy Fourth Wednesday, Peeps!

Fall is here, and that change in season always leads me down a pensive path. I find myself lurking inside my head a lot, sorting things out. Mental fall cleanup, so to speak. And while considering blog topics, I realized something very specific.

Though I tend to be mostly a plotter when it comes to writing, for my YA series, the characters are totally in the driver's seat this time. It was a bit unnerving at first to have these fictional people vie for my attention, demanding their stories be told. I mean, I'M the author, I'M supposed to be in charge.

But as I've come to realize, that's just a bunch of hooey.

Somehow, these characters have come alive to me like no other ones I've written. I'm not sure if it's because I get to tap into all that teenage angst of my childhood, or if I'm just having fun creating them and their world. But as I write my Hell House stories, I find that I honestly don't always know where the story is going to take me.

As a plotter, this really freaked me out.

A bit of a control junkie, I even tried to force the flow of the words, to carve out a storyline that I thought would work. But each time, Sora Starwind or one of the other Hell House residents would pipe up and take me on a detour, which led to another detour, so on and so forth, until the words on the page resembled nothing at all what I originally had in my head.

After a few deep breaths and much internal dialog, I came to the conclusion that I was, in fact, not going crazy, but that I had stumbled into the world of the pantser, and that even though it was scary and unexpected, there was something freeing in giving up control to the characters and the story.

So I sat back, flexed my fingers, and braced myself for the ride. I still like to plot, mind you, but with Hell House, I've decided that I'm just going to let these guys take me where they want to. The life of a teenager is one big roller-coaster of emotion, new experiences, and tough choices. They never know what might happen next, so why should I? It only seems fair that I go on the same journey with them.

I'm just along for the ride. And hopefully, you will be too.

Taking Chances: Love Triangles

Apologies for the tardiness of my post. I thought I had it up already :(

You know, when I started writing, I always thought love triangles were kind of silly. Sure a girl (or guy) might be lucky enough that two people are really into them at the same time, but in my experience when that happened there was usually an easy decision involved. It was pretty rare for two people to have an equal shot. And even though love triangles are common in both romance and YA, I don't always like to write them for one simple reason.

They're hard to get right.

For starters, you have to devote time and energy to both relationships. If you make it too easy for the reader to guess the "winner", you it means you aren't really best utilizing the trope. If you don't really have a "Team Stefan" versus "Team Damon" thing going on, why bother with it because odds are it won't really add anything to the story or the reader's experience. So, sometimes the romance is pretty straightforward for me. One couple. Period.

That doesn't mean I won't make things hard for them. And it doesn't mean I won't tear them apart for a while before they realize they should have been together all along, but in those instances, the reader will be the one yelling at the book, "No! He's no good for you!" They'll be in on things and understand that the couple who started together should be together.

But right now... I haz a love triangle.

I think I've given both characters enough time to make readers root for both of them, but I'm nervous about the whole thing. You see... it isn't a standard love triangle and it sure as hell doesn't get resolved the way most of them do. I've made jokes about it recently to my magical unicorns (aka--betas-of-awesome), but even they seem a little leery of this one.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it's the right story for this character--it's what she needs, on a lot of levels--so I doubt I'll change it.

Someone once told me that I'm not afraid to

take risks in my writing. Great compliment, but so very, very untrue. It terrifies me every stinking time. It's like being afraid of heights and trying to conquer the fear by zip-lining and bungee-jumping and sky-diving. Even if you love the adrenaline rush, there's that moment when you're standing on the edge, staring at the jump, and you don't feel even a twinge of excitement. Because in that instant (however brief), you're scared to death. That's how I feel whenever I do something in my work that pushes boundaries or isn't "mainstream" enough.

Problem is, when you're standing there, you only have two options: jump or go home. So far, I've always managed to jump.

I just always pray I don't die on my way down.

So, dear readers, tell me the truth. How do you feel about authors who take risks (small or big, differentiate if you like)?

Welcome to Hell House...

I didn't set out to write young adult. It happened purely by accident. After I'd published my first novel, a contemporary romance, the publisher sent out a submission call for "holidays gone wrong" short stories. I'm always up to a challenge, so I decided to wrack my brain and see what I could come up with. Almost immediately, my head was filled with every holiday fiasco I could fathom, and each scenario centered around a teenager. Characters filled my head with chatter, and Holiday Hell House was born.

There’s no place like Hell House for the holidays…
At least that’s what Danielle Stewart hopes for as the director of Hellsner Halfway House for Troubled Paranormal Teens. But all her plans come to an abrupt halt with the help of bickering teens, unannounced zombies, and a portal to hell, among other things. When the arguing leads to things quite literally going up in smoke, will Danielle find that her true calling lies elsewhere, or will the help of an unexpected angel show her the family she has longed for is right before her eyes?

That one small story opened up a new world for me. These characters screamed for my attention, demanding their stories be told. I'm typically more of a plotter when I write, but this time, I just seemed to be able to take a back seat while the characters drove their own stories.

Teenage fairy, Sora Starwind, was the first to demand her fair share of my time. Always honest, sometimes rude, Sora was banished from her people and wasn't too happy about it at all.


Sora Starwind just wants to have a normal life. Well, as normal as a banished teenage fairy living in a halfway house for paranormals can have. Squashing her magic mishaps is just part of the equation. Catching the eye of a certain hottie named Liam Crawford would be a plus, if she could only figure out how to not act like a complete dork around him. Then a surprise visit from her estranged mother brings an ultimatum that threatens to turn Sora’s world upside down. Unexpectedly faced with her past, Sora has to find the inner strength to deal with her banishment, but there’s more to her story than even she knows…

Sora came to life so brightly in my head, and her story kept surprising me at each and every turn. But then, Mr. Liam Crawford laid a secret of his own on her, and made her life even more complicated than it already was.


Teenage fairy, Sora Starwind, is finally making her way in the mortal world. The guy of her dreams, Liam Crawford, has asked her to his school’s Spring dance, and she finally feels, well, normal. Trouble is, Liam has a secret of his own that brings with it a whole new set of complications. Not only does Sora have to worry about Liam’s friends liking her, she also has to guard his secret, and deal with the school harlot that wants Liam for her own. Add a pair of obsessed paranormals that intend to unleash more chaos than just ruining her evening and Sora finds her newfound control stretched to the brink. Can she find more answers than questions this time, so that this first dance won’t also be her last?

I'm truly enjoying the ride this series is taking me on. There are so many stories to be told, I hope I can keep up with them! Zombies, fairies, shifters, ogres, imps - Hell House has them all! And I'm so excited to be able to share them with you!

--Christle Gray was born and raised in Ohio, but lives in Kentucky with her husband and one frisky black cat. She's a Gemini, which means she's of two minds about everything, and has more projects in progress than she can ever hope to complete in one lifetime. Her interests vary as widely as her opinions, and she's in no short supply of either. Just go ahead and ask. One of the many voices yammering on in her head is bound to answer.

Visit me on the web! www.christlegray.com