Posted on by doreenmcmillan

Going back to the paranormal…

I’ve already made enough progress with my next book that I know it will have more than just a paranormal theme. 

The first book I wrote under my legal name was a contemporary young adult with a little bit of paranormal. I had mentioned in my previous posts that the first three novels I’d written were my learning curve, and that’s the reason I don’t promote those. 

I hadn’t quite figured out what I wanted to write at that time, so I just wrote a story that happened to be about an eighteen-year-old college student who encounters a touch with the supernatural. My first book led to two more books that became part of a trilogy. 

I can say for sure, now, that my next work-in-progress will not just have a paranormal theme, it will be an urban fantasy or paranormal like Hocking Hills. And it will definitely be geared more towards the New Adult, rather than the Young Adult audience. My intention is to possibly make this into a series, but I won’t know if that’s where the story is going to go until I write the ending.

I’m still in the early phase of writing this new story, but I have a strong enough start.

This is one I’m really looking forward to writing.

Posted on by doreenmcmillan

On to the next…

Today is the day I move on to the next novel. I’m thinking of writing an urban fantasy series. The first three books I wrote (not under my current pen name) were kind of a paranormal “attempted” series but…that didn’t go so well. I hadn’t honed my craft at that point.

I already know this one will be written in first-person. I seem to like to do paranormal that way. So far, Hocking Hills is the only novel I’ve written under my pen name in first-person–and that story is paranormal. Twisted and Grudge were written in third-person.

That’s what I like about self-publishing. If I want to write something on a whim, I can just do it. It puts the “fun” in writing for me. So, in the meantime, I’ll be busy writing.

Posted on by doreenmcmillan

Get ready for Laurel and Jace…

Sometimes it’s hot, and sometimes it’s cold.

See how Laurel and Jace figure out the attraction they have for each other while Laurel finds herself knee-deep in quicksand.

ARC copies are available starting April 3rd on Netgalley until May 3rd.

Kindle release is April 7th, 2023.

How far would you be willing to go to get an A on a test?

That question plagues seventeen-year-old Laurel Anderson when she is confronted about the possibility of not graduating from high school towards the end of her senior year.

A plan was made with friends at a sleepover. But everything goes horribly wrong, and they all vow to keep what happened that night a secret.

Then Laurel meets Jace Messina whose hot and cold attraction toward her becomes intriguing when she takes a chance on an offer from him that she can’t refuse.

But as soon as she starts to have a glimmer of hope, everything falls apart. Bad decisions are not forgotten–especially by someone who has their eye on her for vengeance.

Posted on by doreenmcmillan

Why I like to write Young Adult Fiction

As I start my summer break working on my next novel, I thought about the reason I like writing this genre so much. Even though I am far from being considered a young adult, and yet I still write stories about that age group, I enjoy the endless possibilities of creating characters that reflect this age. I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that I read many, many books written for teens when I was a teen.

Will I ever write a book for the adult market? No, not that I can see anytime in the near future. Would I ever write a book for readers as young as the age of twelve? That seems more likely. But for now, my next novel (Grudge) will be aimed at older teens. I’m anticipating I’ll have that ready to publish no later than March of 2023. I also have another one (The Whispering) that will have a paranormal theme. That one is a TBA publish date. The book I have planned for younger readers will be geared towards suspense and horror. But that won’t be written until later.

My goal is to publish a novel every other year. So I can definitely say at this point I’m committed to writing novels as a career.

Posted on by doreenmcmillan

Cover Reveal for Kindle Vella

I figured I’d post the cover and synopsis I have for my new serialized story Twisted. So here it is!

Seventeen-year-old Briella begins her senior year at a new school in a new town where she meets Caitlyn Cartwright who went from friend to frenemy within the few months she’d gotten to know her. Their friendship is tested when Briella becomes secretly infatuated with Caitlyn’s ex-boyfriend, and a  malicious lie comes between them.

But when Caitlyn makes an attempt to mend things, Briella finds herself caught up in a web of lies where one of them becomes a target and the other becomes a victim.

New serialized story coming soon on Kindle Vella
Posted on by doreenmcmillan

Kindle Vella

The word about Kindle Vella has spread rapidly online ever since I received notice about it back in April. I’ve read all of the guidelines for Kindle Vella and many online posts from other authors who’ve been writing about this new incentive for writers from Amazon.

After much consideration, I’ve decided the timing of this will be perfect for my new novel, Twisted.

I’ve always been intrigued by serialized fiction and I had my first experience with serializing when I put my novel, Hocking Hills, on Wattpad. I thought this platform was great, but I fell by the wayside with this because it required a lot of social media interaction. I found that I just did not have the time that was needed for the purpose of getting my work noticed on this platform, so instead I removed all of my chapters–except the first three–and enrolled Hocking Hills back onto Kindle Unlimited.

I only have two more chapters to complete for Twisted. I already uploaded my first ten chapters live on Kindle Vella and prescheduled four more to be released weekly on a Thursday starting July 15th until it launches this summer. I’ll have a total of twenty chapters by the time it is completed. I figured it would be best to wait before I commit to putting the entire novel up.

Based on my research, Kindle Vella is supposed to perhaps launch sometime in July. I’m hoping Amazon’s new serial fiction platform will be a good marketing strategy for me. It could also be useful for any future novels I write by getting feedback from the reader. But I’ll have to wait and see how it goes.