What’s in a Name?

What’s in a Name? A lot.

I wrote Mind, Body, and Spirit as a stand alone. That gave me so much freedom. The world creating, details about culture – I could just throw things in to land where they may. Writing follow up stories in the same word? Now I have to think about it. I even have to draw a map (I admit it; I have already drawn a map).

When I started writing Control, I made a table to lay out how each magic user actually used magic. Mages manipulate molecules, primarily through academics. Warlocks have links to the soul, it’s almost parasitic. Druids tie in to ley lines and rely on the balance of nature. Yes, I have more details than this, but they’re not relative to this post. The point here is that planning is now required. Structure. I don’t respond well to limits.

One of my biggest obstacles now are character names. I can’t just flippantly choose something that sounds cool. I can no longer just throw in a random apostrophe or replace vowels with the letter ‘y’ simply because it looks neat. No thinly veiled references to Arthurian legend (which are fine when the story itself has something to do with said legend). I have to consider the rules for naming, masculine and feminine, in the elvin cultures. Actual thought is required. Damn it.

I have already (and thoughtlessly) named Evanesse and Malccino. That sets the precedent of names ending in ‘o’ being masculine. It’s not a far reach from our own western culture naming habits. My sun elf bad guy, Thassian, is from a different culture and will have slightly different norms. In Control, my main male is sun elf – his name has to follow similar structure. I had named him Torvyn, but it was just because it looked neat. I haven’t ruled it out, but it has to fit the rule book for the culture.

In Surrender, my elf rogue was named Cagasi. Not only was this hard on the eyes (an ‘a’ followed by ‘g’ followed by ‘a’), it ends in a long ‘i’ sound. Is that within the parameters for elvin male names? That problem is that I don’t know the answer to that question – and it’s something I should know. It’s something most fantasy writers have plotted long before they start their writing. I am an romance writer who threw on some magic sauce, so this is a learning experience.

I am looking forward to this becoming so second nature, the world so fully fleshed out, that I can screw with it. Once the world norms are set in stone, I can joke with my readers. I might throw out elvin equivalents to Apple or Ochocinco and my readers will realize they’re anomalies.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Laura Kaye's Hearts in Darkness is one of my favorite books, with Caden one of my favorite heroes. I have since read her other works. I just finished In Service of the King. Though I'm not into vampires, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys erotic paranormal romance. It threw me, though, because in her created vampire lore, when vampires mate they get a mark, a tattoo, as a visible sign of the spiritual connection.

I did the same thing in my novella, Mind, Body, and Spirit.

As soon as I read that, I put down my Kindle and checked the publication date. Her book came out a month after mine which means there was no way I could have copied that detail.

I had another moment of panic a month or so ago when I read Zoe Archer's Rebel. In the big, meaningful sex scene where they both realize they are meant to be together (one exists in every romance), it is from behind with some hair pulling involved. Slightly animalistic (which makes sense since Lesperance is a shifter). My final big "You are mine" scene had a very similar choreography.  This bothered me a little, but not too much since, in sex, there are three basic positions and the chances of having the same sequence of events are high.


But mating tattoos? What are the chances? I really thought my story device was original. I happen to really like ink and carried that through into my story. Kaye must like it too (Caden). I just have to tell myself that great minds think alike, right?  The only thing that irks is that she did it better than me. :)

Thank You for Your Reviews!

Mind, Body, and Spirit was released on 1/8/2012. I did not do any big release day, I just let my blogging go on as usual and inserted links to purchase the ebook at every possible location. I bet I have over 20 links within my blog since then. I should count them. Here are two more: Amazon US or Amazon UK. In case there is any question, yes, I really want you to buy my book. You can do it -- it's only $0.99.

Right now my book jumps wildly around on the bestseller list of Amazon's Kindle Shop. Sometimes it's 60,000th, and sometimes it's 270,000th. Doesn't seem to have rhyme or reason. There are, however, reviews (not all written by me or my friends).

Kathleen wrote, Mind, Body, and Spirit is "full of fantasy-adventure action and steamy (but sweet) romance. The author takes you away to another world with great detail and character development... perfect for a long, hot soak in a bathtub." She gave it 5 stars.

M. McKinley said, "This book brought me into a world of elves and magic that felt real - a huge feat in a short story. I couldn't put it down, and felt a connection with every character - even the bad guys! It was sexy, funny, and full of action." He/She gave it 5 stars.

Happily-Ever-After wrote, " The sexual tension is thick, the sensual content is hot hot hot... I found this story entertaining and heartwarming, and not just a little arousing. It gave me everything a romance novel promises plus the sense of magic." He/She also gave it 5 stars.

Erin, a fellow blogger, wrote that she "was able to lose [herself] in the story, loved the chemistry between Eva and Mal. [She] also loved how the alpha male fell hard when he realized what they had together and how Eva was unwilling to commit -- a little role reversal. Very romantic and very sensual." She gave it 4 stars. I was relieved by this, especially since her blogpost about the lack of quality control in self-published ebooks. I passed muster.

So far the reviews have been very complimentary. I have not jumped full force into marketing because I just don't have the time right now. I plan to attack it with a little more hutzpah when I make my next Silk and Stone novella available. As it is, right now I am very grateful to my readers for their support and their kind words.

Indie Author Tag-Party Blog Fest

Francine at Romancing the Blog is hosting this Tag-Party blogfest. I'm excited to participate.

My novella, Mind, Body, and Spirit is available in ebook from Amazon.com. Simply click the link below (or any of the other links on my blog page). For UK readers (or US readers who want to help in the UK sphere, go to THIS link).

This is my first self published work. Ava Donja is a pen name, but she is fast becoming my alter ego. There's a certain freedom in anonymity. Yes, I still have to pay attention to my name branding, but I don't have to worry about what would happen if my Mom read my blog. Or my Mom's choir group. Or *shudder* my boss. So, I am free to be somewhat less than lady-like and it's wonderful.

Maybe that makes the real me a coward. Nah... just sensible. Or both.

My writing as Ava Donja started off as fan fiction just for fun, but quickly became something else. Yes, there are still some  hints of the original Warcraft inspiration, but they're so removed at this point that it's not worth commenting upon. I still plan to do my fan fiction for fun (and not for profit) on this blog, but my published works are fantasy romance.

When I'm not Ava Donja, I work with troubled teens. Writing in this genre is a real stress release for me and a necessary escape. When I feel the need to have a drink, I whip out my notebook and start writing. This has led to a lot of good writing time. I'm currently working on the 2nd installment of Silk and Stone novellas

I appreciate you visiting my blog. Look through past posts to get to know me better. Become a follower or not. Definitely visit my book on Amazon and vote on the tags. Right now I'm something like 147,000 on a list. I've got a long way to go. Thanks for supporting me!

Classy Schmassy

In my rl I strive for my writing to be classy. Yes, it's sexually explicit but always in context with the story and never for gratuitous reasons.

Not so much with this. It's quite freeing, really. This alter ego sets my very repressed rl personality a little more free to go crazy. Add in the fantasy world and everything becomes possible (in my fantasy world, elves can hold their breath for a really long time).

Yes, the sex still works into the story, but there is a little more than you would expect, but not quite erotic romance. The character's sexual encounters all lend toward character building and story. But I'm throwing in side characters with sexy side stories just to throw the readers a bone (pun intended).

For example, my current project is about a Mage and Warlock. He has the ability to summon a demonic minion. She has the ability to cast a glamour to reproduce herself. Both the minions and the clones are under the control, or linked, to the main characters. While the main characters are becoming aroused by verbal sparing and displays of magic, the minion and the clones channel their master's arousal in a much more basic way. It's sexy, but doesn't draw away from the development of my Mage and Warlock. I don't even think it's a cheap trick, because it helps them both realize things about themselves that will lead to their eventual happy ending.

So, I've released the need to be classy, but I have not released my ethics in regard to storytelling. I look forward to opinions on this. In Mind, Body, and Spirit did the sun elf orgy  enhance the story? Or just add titillation? I hope for both, but I'm not objective.

Formatting is a Bitch

So I uploaded my manuscript to Amazon a few days back. Everything was awesome until it came to preview the document. There was general funkiness at a few places where there were short dialogue paragraphs. What did I do wrong?

I searched and read through threads in forums and found out this is common. I turned on my formating to view where paragraphs breaks happened, where indenting was autoformat and where it was tabbed. Everything good? Nope. Reading more advice I saved it as a Pdf. Big mistake. More reading, saved as Html. Indent problem was fixed, but the font was changed and really was not friendly on the eyes and there were issues with spacing between the copyright info and such.

So, more searches and more advice. I pat my head and rubbed my tummy (yes, I have that skill). I said the alphabet backwards from W to C and then lit some red candles in the western window of my home. Eventually I turned everything over to my hunk of male love because I was going crazy. 47 attempts later it is in reasonable shape. He ended up having rewrite html code, something outside of my scope of skill and interest.

I could have just left it as it was, but it takes away from the professionalism from the read. With the lack of controls in self publishing, it is uber important to me to do this right. This is the start of my name branding and I don't want it to suck because of formatting (if it sucks because it's a bad story, that's another problem). I've read ebooks that had bizarre formatting and use of italics that tore me out of the moment. I don't want that to happen to my readers.

Click on the my book cover link at the top of the page and check out my formatting to give your opinion. How important is the formatting to you?

Alcoholism, Crazy Hot Sex, and Dopamine

Hello random strangers. My name is Avadonja and I am an alcoholic. No, I'm not joking. I've been sober for five months and it was the best decision of my life. And, no surprise to anyone dealing with addiction, the hardest.

The first month was the worst. I would go to AA meetings and sit there crying. I got all sorts of phone numbers that I knew I'd never call, but it was nice to know other people felt as crappy as I did. Misery + company, you know the cliche.

One of the big problems was redefining my life. Everything I did involved a glass of wine or a gin and tonic, margarita (on the rocks, no salt), so co, or whatever. Writing was the hardest of all. Under the influence of glass after glass of wine I was crazy prolific. The buzz loosened me up, made me less inhibited (I'm super uptight, I'm sure you've heard the coal/diamonds adage). My writing was really messy with a lot of repeated words, but it flowed. Stopping drinking stopped my writing. Cold.

Now I had lost two things I loved. I had my month long pity party, got my chip, then never went back to AA. I think what had changed was that I was identifying myself as an alcoholic and not a writer.

I actually wrote Mind, Body, and Spirit as a challenge to myself. To see if I could write sober. More specifically, to see if I could write sex scenes sober (I've mentioned I'm uptight, right?). Good news = I'm still a writer. The writing flowed. I knew the characters and where I wanted the story to go and it went there. The sexual content was super hot and I wrote unabashedly. I felt awesome. Successful. I was proud of my work again.

I have since learned that part of the difficulty in giving up something like drinking is that we view the drink as an award. It comes with a chemical high from our bodies, not counting whatever the alcohol itself provides. That little burst of dopamine that comes with sipping that glass of old vine zin is our brain's version of a kudos. Same happens with infatuation - just thinking of that special someone makes you slightly buzzed. Some people are addicted to new relationships, always chasing that infatuation high. I was/am addicted to alcohol. I love that I also get that happy-buzz from writing. Addiction to writing - I think I  can handle that.

I still struggle, but it's the specific beverages I miss more than the getting my drink on. I also miss the camaraderie that comes with drinking. In regard to World of Warcraft, my dps has improved substantially but Vent is much less interesting when I'm sober. :)

Happy New Year!

Haven't been playing much. I really like the new content (and the new gear - screw transmogrification), but there has been guild drama and it really sucks the soul out of the game.

I have been writing. Mind, Body, and Spirit has a cover and has gone through edits and is about to go live. Feels good. It looks awesome on my Kindle. Control is well underway with only rl standing between me and project completion.

This year my resolution is to write a minimum of four novellas and self publish. Marketing will be my challenge, but I'm excited about it instead of being daunted by it.

What do you have planned for this year?