Kalayna Price

(X-posted from the Tri Mu Blog ) Voice is one of those frustrating parts of writing that you either have, or have yet to develop. There is no magic formula to finding your voice. You just have to write, and write, and write, until your voice transforms into something that is yours . What is voice? Well, it is not only what you say, but also how you say it. Voice is your word order. It is your punctuation. Your paragraphing. It is what determines how the reader "hears" your words in their head. When I was a teenager, I wrote mostly high fantasy. (I didn't finish said high fantasy novels, but that's a different story.) These grand adventure stories where all told from the third person point of view and often contained several view point characters. (Third person POV uses the pronouns 'He/She/It', for those readers who might be unfamiliar.) During my many years of crafting these tales, I never truly developed my voice. Oh, I'm sure I started, and every wr...

Reviews have been trickling in here and there since Once Bitten was released, but I wanted to point out a couple that brightened my day recently. Kristy Bock with Parapormalromance.org said: "For every bit of danger there is a balance of humor. Kita is a character that will go on living in the memory of the readers. She's not your every day house cat! This was just a perfect adventure to escape the confines of reality for a little while." ( Read More ) Mandi with Smexy Books Said: "One of the best aspects of this book is that Kalayna Price leaves you asking (maybe begging a bit) for more." ( Read More ) J. Kay with J. Kay's Book Blog said: "This dark fantasy is tinged with humor that will curl your toes in delight. ONCE BITTEN is book one of the Haven series. Although it has a solid ending, readers will be left begging for more." ( Read More ) Thanks everyone! Glad you enjoyed it. ^_^ (If you've reviewed Once Bitten, I'd love a link to ...

I'm going on a research field trip this weekend. A research trip some might consider rather bizarre. As I've probably mentioned in earlier posts, the second book in my Haven series will delve deeper into my vampire society. Consequently, this means more scenes set in vamp businesses such as the club Death's Angel (which was briefly visited in Once Bitten.) I have a good picture in my head of what Death's Angel looks like and what type of clientele are likely to frequent the club, but immersion in unique scenes and settings is always useful. When a friend mentioned planning to attend a fetish dance/rave occurring in a neighboring city, I quickly volunteered to go with. So, a handful of us will be making a night of it. I've dug out my big black boots and my corset top, I created a dreadfall headpiece, and I borrowed makeup in colors I haven't worn in years--I think I'm ready. I've been to parties in the past, but I get the feeling this will be like nothin...

(x-posted on the Tri Mu Blog ) This is not the post I had planned for yesterday. In fact, the last twenty-four hours have been completely unplanned and a little on the insane side. After a couple months of all things in my personal sphere of the publishing world being rather silent, a symphony orchestra playing Beethoven's 5th symphony showed up yesterday afternoon. Is this good news? Oh yes. But it is still rather startling. Out of nowhere there are things to consider. There is a scramble to accomplish a lot all at once (because, of course, everything needs to be done now .) There are people to contact, decisions to make, and my heart seems to be one beat behind and struggling to catch up. By the middle of next week, I'm sure this will all be over. Even right now, there are waves in which I am bustling followed by what feels like a drawn out period in which I'm waiting. That's just the way it goes with publishing (in my experience.) This is the hurry up and wait of...

If you follow my twitter, you've probably noticed that things have been crazy in my parts recently. I traveled for the last part of last week/ first part of this week, which did a number on my wordcount. (Writing while traveling is rather hit or miss.) But, HB2 is moving right along. I've passed the first turning point now, and I'm currently completely immersed in a subplot (there will be some cutting back of what is on the page with this one.) Things are quickly spiraling from bad to worse for Kita and gang, and unfortunately for Kita, things will only be getting more complicated for her. She has a lot of hard decisions to make in this book, decisions that will really force her to stretch herself and mature. She hasn't completely rebelled and walked off the page yet, so I'm counting that as good. ^_~ Current wordcount: 34002 / 90000 words. 38% done!

(X-Posted from the Tri Mu Blog .) Last week I leaned on the group hard. As a whole, I believe in writing a first draft in a void. I like getting the story all on paper fast, and then going back and seeing what I have later (and fixing the massive issues that are likely to be there.) But, recently I’ve been stuck in a never ending scene. When I started writing the scene, I loved it. Then somewhere I lost hold of the scene and it spiraled out of control. I knew where it had to go, but the characters weren’t doing what I wanted—or anything productive, for that matter—and I was getting bogged down. My instinct in such a situation is to briefly summarize what needs to happen in the scene and move on. Doing so surely would have been better for my wordcount, but this particular scene was the first major turning point, and while the core of my story is planned out, many points hinged on how I handled this scene. So, I did something I’ve never done before—I sent 1k of the raw first draft to my...