My Publishing Journey by Tara Fox Hall (@TerrorFoxHall)

It's always an especial pleasure and privilege to welcome Tara Fox Hall to my blog and today she's stopped by to tell us about her personal road to publication.  I can't wait to hear it, so over to Tara...

I’ve been a published writer of fiction for the last five years, and have written non-fiction for the last fifteen. As the other authors writing to this topic have already said, getting published wasn’t easy.

Like my dear friend Jenny Twist, I began with articles in a local print publication; my articles were on nature and animals, and published in a little magazine called Catnip Blossoms! which sold—you get one guess—catnip via mail. From the beginning, I was very good at putting a message of hope and inspiration into a page or less, and I wrote many articles over the next ten years.

And that’s how it likely would have stayed forever, until my mom suddenly got sick and was given six months to live in 2006. The book I’d always said I would write for her but hadn’t gotten past the first ten pages was suddenly my number one priority.

I hated novel writing at first. Not only was I unable to think of a good plot or exciting characters, I had never been great with grammar or all the rules of contractions, punctuation, etc. I hated simply sitting STILL for hours on end. Out of desperation, I wrote about what I knew, which was vampires, romance, and horror mixed with farm life, pets, faith, and self-reliance in the face of fictional supernatural situations that my everyday normal life hadn’t equipped me to handle. When I gave my mom the first draft of the beginning two chapters, she hated it because it “wasn’t exciting enough.”  So I revised it, adding some gunplay/explosions, general mayhem, deceit and a lot of suspense and hot sex. The latter, which I had always found difficult to write, was suddenly easy, as I had just gone off The Pill after close to two decades and my hormones were raging out of control along with my moods. I poured all that energy and emotion into my novel, which quickly went from a few measly pages to 200K, and then beyond, as Mom demanded sequel after sequel (Her cancer was a VERY welcome misdiagnosis).

I hadn’t planned on publishing my new “epic”, but with both my mother and husband pushing me, I sent the final draft to an “official editor”—read paid editor—and she proceeded to trash it and gave me a long list of recommended fixes (remember above where I said I had plot problems and grammar was not my friend?). I revised further, and then began to send out queries to multiple agents at this editor’s advice. This phase lasted for years, as I revised and submitted, and received thousands of rejection letters (okay, just about over a hundred really, but it felt like thousands). I further revised my queries, my synopses, my first novels (by then I had three: Lash, Promise, and Immortal Confessions), and with the help of a small non-profit, Wolf Pirate Publishing/Wolf Pirate Project, went thought a very-intensive 6 month writing workshop with the book Promise, hacking it to ribbons which I eventually wove back together into two complete and polished books, Promise Me and Broken Promise. 

While that experience gave me the skills to successfully handle the editing stages of writing, I was no closer to getting my books published; more queries netted only more rejections. I even tried hiring a submission service, which just netted me a few nibbles but no bites and yet more rejection letters. BUT…this service suggested something I hadn’t thought of before: taking an excerpt from the book and making it a novella, then submitting THAT. They also suggested trying to publish other short works, to give my queries for my longer works more credibility. Suddenly, all my experience with my non-fictional short stories was useful, and might make the difference; the rub was I needed new works to submit, not previously pubbed articles. Energized, I cranked out a plethora of short horror stories— that genre had the biggest market in print, and online flash fiction was all the rage—and I had a lot of nightmares to provide material. I published a few short stories every month in the spring and summer of 2011, then finally was able to place Surrender To Me, an excerpt from my novel Immortal Confessions, with Mélange Books. Mélange also contracted for Promise Me and its first few sequels.

Happy ending? Kind of. I am still with Mélange Books these 4 years later, and the Promise Me Series is on its 11^th book, with #12 coming out in a few months (Immortal Confessions is book #5 of that series). Lash evolved into its own series. My fantasy paranormal historical series detailing my weresnake antihero-protagonist adventures is on its fourth book and its second publisher, Double Dragon (the first small press, Bradley, went out of business). My horror stories have found a home at Hazardous Press in their various multi-author anthologies and my own single authored The Tightening Spiral. A new paranormal series will also debut at Mélange in 2016; the first book is called A Good Year. But my joy now is tempered by burnout. 

Jan Ruth mentioned the two kinds of writers in her blog a few weeks back. In 2011-2012, I was firmly in the know about everything current, and I devoted all my spare time to learning my craft, and putting out as many works as fast as possible (Writer type B). Now I’m in the other camp (Writer Type A), which is where I initially started out on this journey. 

Can I self-publish? Yes, and I have. Those nature stories that started my career are now their own anthology called Deep Breaths: Tales of Hope and Inspiration. I loved putting that book together with a lot of help (thank you again, Su Halfwerk and Jenny Twist J). But do I see myself doing that for all my future works? Probably not, as I just do not have enough spare time anymore. My publishing rate has also slowed tremendously, both from increased workload from my day job, and sheer lack of desire to write stories just to get my name out there. As any writer will tell you, promotion is a huge part of writing, and it takes its toll until finally you crack under the strain. As of this writing, I am officially burnt out. I also have not written anything new just to write since 2014. Am I stopping writing? No, I just need a short break, to ignite my fire again. 

And I thank you for listening to me, as reliving my hard-won publication here has created a much-needed hot spark to get me writing again.

Tara Fox Hall is an OSHA-certified safety and health inspector at a metal fabrication shop in upstate New York. She received her bachelor's degree in mathematics with a double minor in chemistry and biology from Binghamton University.

Her writing credits include nonfiction, erotica, horror, suspense, action-adventure, children’s stories, and contemporary and historical paranormal romance. She is the author of the paranormal fantasy Lash series and the paranormal romantic drama Promise Me series. 

Tara divides her free time unequally between writing novels and short stories, chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice. All of her published children’s stories to date are free reads on www.childrens-stories.net.

Contact Tara here:

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Wednesday's Writer - Su Halfwerk

It always gives me great pleasure to welcome a writer I know and respect and whom I also consider a good friend along to my blog and Su Halfwerk fits this criteria perfectly.  Apart from that she has a new release (Avenger) which I'm dying to talk to her about.  But first, for those who might not know her as well as I do, I have to put her through the mill with a few searching questions.

Su, what inspired you to write your first novel and did you always know what your genre would be?

Circumstances inspired my first novel. One of my hobbies is painting, especially with oil paint. That involved chemicals like the paint itself, turpentine, thinners, among other goodies. But when I had my son, I also became a super hygiene-freak. I wouldn't touch anything that might pollute his milk, or bottles, or juice. Keep in mind please that I'm the type of person who goes crazy if they aren't creating something. While reading an especially badly written horror book, I thought I could do better than that, couldn't I? And so I tried my hand at it and discovered a new passion that pushed painting to the backseat.

I knew horror as a writing genre would always be there since I read, breathe, and survive on horror movies and books. My surprise was when I discovered a softer side to my writing in penning romances, albeit containing entities from the darker side as well.

But paranormal romance is so popular at the moment - it's great that you could adapt and give readers what they want.  So would you say that horror and paranormal romance reflect what you like to read yourself?  Do you have specific views on what should and shouldn't be included in romance novels?

My reading pile spans over several genres; thriller and suspense, historical romance, contemporary romance, and of course, paranormal romance and horror. To tell you the truth, as long as the story is well written and is intriguing, I will read and enjoy the book.

The romance genre has many subgenres, and even those are reproducing. The only limitation I see is having to adhere to what's expected. For example, a detailed love-making scene will be unexpected—perhaps even unwelcome—in inspirational or sweet romance. We don't want to disappoint readers, they choose their books/genres with specific expectations in mind.

This is so true.  Genre-boundaries lend themselves to flexibility, but that can also cause problems for the author.  I always like to ask if any part of yourself has ever crept into the heroines of any of your stories?

I'm not sure. These ladies take over when I write them, so if any piece of me is in there then it's by accident, especially when I'm writing horror. I would be a sadist to subject myself to the things I put my characters through.

Lol - yes, I suppose that's true.  What about your heroes?  What is the most desirable characteristic you've bestowed on the hero of your latest novel?

Luke, from Avenger, can't tell a lie. He isn't beset by sickness, it's just his nature. It's also the reason for his downfall and his death. Of course, that means he plays around with the meaning of words to compensate.

How fascinating.  I love an honest man, but sometimes a little white lie is a must. 

Do you think you'll always write in the same genre and style or do you have desires to experiment and if so, in what way?

I learn new facts, myths, and techniques with each book I read or write, so staying in the same style is out of the question. My goal is to continue growing and learning, and if in the process I come across genres or styles more suitable, I will most probably adopt and adapt to them.

Well, you've really whetted my appetite now and I want to find out more about Luke and Avenger, so let's check out the blurb and then read an excerpt of Avenger, which is book 2 of the Unsettled Trilogy.

Blurb

Luke has two purposes, hunting spirits and avenging his own death.

Pru has one goal, to return to her body, especially now that Luke is interested in her. Her memories of his shady past haunt her and keep her on guard around him.

Ignoring his teen infatuation with Pru, Luke looks for ways to exorcise her, while she must face the fact that she might never be united with herself again.

Amidst rogue spirits, ferocious drug smugglers, and unbendable celestial rules, Pru and Luke’s love demands a sacrifice that can snuff out their rekindled romance before it has even begun. 

When Luke has to decide between his conflicting desires, which path will he choose?  And will the sacrifice be worth it?

Excerpt from Avenger

  “Hey, you,” some moron screamed at the top of his lungs. Would these people ever consider adding a name when they call each other? Sheesh! Pru straightened up and resumed walking while massaging her middle.

    “You, girl in violet shirt! Wait up,” the man shouted again. Yeah, adding an adjective might attract some girl’s attention. What a lousy pick up line.

    She stopped in half stride. Hold on a second, she thought, I’m wearing a violet shirt.

    “Yes, I’m talking to you. Turn around,” he said, more calmly now that he had her attention.

    The resonance of his voice kindled a flicker of recognition in her. His voice, full of authority, demanded immediate yielding. Pru half turned, hope surging through her like an electric shock. She pointed at herself and asked in a shaky voice, “You’re talking to me?”

    The man’s upper half was in shadows, but he seemed to still at hearing her voice. Anyone would if they could see through someone else.

    “Pru?” He uttered her name in a husky and deep whisper. It did nasty things to her pulse.

    He stepped out of the shadows. Long, muscular legs clad in black pants were revealed, the swagger slow and surefooted. The shadow receded and the man’s torso emerged. Black t-shirt stretched over a broad chest, outlining every bit of its firm muscularity. Raising her gaze, Pru encountered a firm mouth set in a smirk and deep cryptic, dark eyes that made her their sole focus. All that rugged handsomeness was topped by army style trimmed black hair.

    “Luke?” Pru blinked, not believing her eyes. Occasionally, memories of her teen crush pushed through her mind for no reason and she used to push them back. She couldn’t do that now, those memories were in the front seat because he was standing right in front of her.

    He just had to develop a voice that dripped awesomeness.

    Pru shook her head. What’s wrong with me?

    Luke gawked at her, his hands tucked casually into pants pockets. Pru had the impression he wasn’t as nonchalant as his appearance implied for meeting the girl who—according to him at the time—qualified to enter a mind-fuck contest.

    “What are you up to?” He barked at her.

    Definitely tense. She chose to ignore his rudeness. “You can see me?” She rushed toward him then halted as memories of previous attempts to touch others surfaced in her head. They were nasty experiences that left her reeling with emotions alien to her.

    “Are you looking for a place to stay?”

    She tucked a runaway strand of hair behind her ear and frowned. “What do you mean?”

    Slowly, he said, “Are you up for a stay?” His voice had an edge to it, one she didn’t trust.

    Eyes narrowed, she said, “I’m not homeless. Your hostility doesn’t make sense.”

    He lowered his head and shook it. Perhaps if she explained her situation, he might know what she should do. “I guess I should be grateful for meeting someone. It’s been very lonely. No one to speak to—”

    “And no one to possess.” A vein throbbed in his jaw.

    She took a step back. “Possess?”

    “Since I’m the only living person who can see you, I suggest you drop the innocent act.”

    People gawked at him and changed paths as they neared him. It didn’t seem to bother him that others thought he was talking to himself.

    Pru laughed, pointing a finger at herself. “You think I’m dead?”

    “I know you’re dead,” he said through gritted teeth and pulled his hand from his pocket. “Time to send you home.”

    Home was too far away, way beyond her lifeline’s limit. An ache pulsed in Pru’s chest and birthed a fury that paralyzed her with its intensity. Instead of facing her, Luke swiveled about, his gaze following a woman pushing a baby stroller. Pru ceased to exist for him and that infuriated her even more. She stomped a foot. “You don’t even know where I live.”

    He kept looking at the other woman.

    “I’m talking to you, Luke. Look at me.”

    He tilted his head as though tuned to something else. Finally, he said, “Yeah, I see that.” His eyes flicked back to Pru. “I’ll have to give this one a rain check then.” Smirking, Luke lifted his hand and saluted her. “Catch you later, sunshine.” With that, he followed the other woman.

    “Don’t call me that,” Pru shouted and dashed after him. After few strides, her breath caught and her steps faltered. Like a lasso, the invisible lifeline tightened around her mid-section, constricted her chest, and snatched her back.

    She had overstepped her boundaries.

Oooh!  Sounds great, doesn't it?

 Buy links:

 Devine Destinies

Amazon

Author bio:

Su Halfwerk

Su Halfwerk writes paranormal romance and horror stories. From a tender age, the written word left a strong impression on her and later on, terrifying, blood-chilling books became the object of her interest. Somehow, in her mind, the blossoming of romance in the midst of that mix was only natural.

Her style in horror combines shuddery terror with an element of surprise--some would even call it an enigmatic twist. However, in the world of paranormal romance, she transforms the desire to scare into a quest to seduce and tantalize.

Besides writing, Su designs book covers and trailers for herself and other authors (including me).  Isn't she amazing?

Click on any of the following links to find her:

Website: 

Facebook: 

Twitter:

Graphic Design website: 

Three Writers, One Genre - Horror! (Part 2)

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

During our scary night in, I probed my three talented guests (Jenny Twist, Su Halfwerk and Tara Fox Hall) about the writers who had inspired their own imaginations. As you can guess, Stephen King's name (actually, I'm beginning to wonder if, as far as the horror genre is concerned, that shouldn't be King Stephen) cropped up more than twice. Jenny considers his book On Writing to be the Bible of any aspiring horror writer, though she also acknowledges one of my favourite writers, Ray Bradbury for her inspiration along with James Herbert, Stephen Laws and John Wyndham (you know, The Triffids guy).

Tara

Tara generously credits King with her childhood nightmares as well as her inspiration (well she did start reading him at the tender age of eight when she first read Pet Sematary. I doubt her parents were aware of that though, so let's keep it quiet). What she particularly likes about the master of horror is not the gore but the psychological insights and suspense he creates in stories like The Body and Stand by Me. This fascination with the human psyche is clearly evident in her own writing.

Su

Su admires King's smooth writing style and facility with words but for her darker thrills, she turns to Brian Lumley "because of his Necroscope series and his creative take on vampires. He made them do delicious things." Oh Su, what would your Mum say?!

Of course being an avid reader of these three luminaries here present, I know which stories of theirs I like best, but I was particularly interested to hear which of their stories they rated as their own favourites, and after a couple of glasses of wine (well it was a very hard task requiring a lot of internal - and also a fair bit of external - debate), I persuaded them to tell me.

Su chose The Substitute one of the three stories in the really excellent anthology: Hellbound. She didn't need to elaborate on her reasons - You'll see yourself from the excerpt below. A word of warning: don't read it just before bedtime!

Tara told us: "I favor my Latham’s Landing stories above my other works, probably because the story All That Remains was my very first short horror work years ago." Aww! Pull on the heartstrings, why don't you, Tara? We'll judge for ourselves when we read the excerpt I wrenched from her at great personal cost very soon (hint: she's right of course - when isn't she?).

Jenny

Jenny (I'm told her family and best friends do agree she changes her mind often) says "My favourite changes, of course, depending on what I've most recently been working on. But I am rather proud of the first story in Bedtime Shadows, The Man with no Face. I think it complies with all my criteria – short, starting off as a little intriguing but not too alarming, then slowly gathering pace to reach a crescendo with the ending which (I hope) comes as a shocking surprise. I tried to do the literary equivalent of the end of the film, Carrie, when the hand comes shooting up out of the grave." Well I, for one, wouldn't disagree with that at all. When I first read it, I honestly thought a ghostly hand had come out of my past to plunder my own infant memories! Shiver! Jenny Twist's stories often have that effect on me, which must be why I can relate to them so well (unless she's some sort of...hmm...well, let's not go there).

I'm going to post all three wonderful excerpts during the next week, but am starting with Su's today, so, once again, are you sitting quite comfortably? Then we'll let Su begin:


Stan’s mind churned, working rapidly to come up with a proper response, but the bloody thing froze, unable to produce a single plausible excuse. This wasn't helping his business; it would ruin him. Half of his clientèle came to him through word of mouth.
Then it happened. That damned switch turned inside of him and his lips moved against his will. A raspy ancient voice croaked out of his throat, “Ha! Jas, the macho man. Jas, the bad boy in leather. Jas, the wife beater! Wife killer!”
Jason’s face paled; his lips trembled. Stan couldn't blame him.
“I didn't mean to push you down the stairs,” Jason babbled. “You just fell.”
The thing on the floor snapped her head to the right and then left, making popping sounds in the process. “I always fall. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Clumsy meeee.”
Jason hiccuped a cry and went on his knees in front of the desk. “Please say that you forgive me. I want to hear it one more time. I've cheated on you, beaten you up, and you took it all. Now I see that my ways were wrong, that my unjust actions have damned me for eternity.”
Stan’s mouth moved in an age-old cackle. “You think I minded that you stuck your ding-a-ling in any hole you found? It was a blessing, it meant I was spared the degradation of screwing you. Even the beating was fine. But the killing? No!”
Jason flinched.
“Remember when I tried to walk out and you cut off my pinky? What a klutz I've been, chopping off my own finger while cutting onion. That’s what I had to say to that chauvinist arrogant doctor.”
“A-a-all I want is your forgiveness.” Sniff. “If I could take it all back, I would.”
“You can. First, dig out my body from our basement and clear my name in front of our kids. I didn't run off with the gardener. Second, take out your .22 and shoot yourself in the groin. Finally, lay down on the ground and enjoy the pain until you die.” She snapped her head around again. “I might forgive you then, but I’ll also be waiting for you.” She flashed those teeth again, her smile no different from her grimace.
Jason fell on the ground, face down, weeping and slapping his hand on the wooden floor.
Stan watched his client and his dead wife in horror. A maggot travelled through one of Patricia’s cheeks to an eye, and she chose that perfect moment to wink at Stan. He almost threw up.

See what I mean about it being a must read?

Three Writers, One Genre - Horror! (Part One)



Like everyone else, I've been getting myself in the mood for Halloween this month by reading horror stories from three of my favourite modern writers in the genre: Jenny Twist, Su Halfwerk and Tara Fox-Hall  As always when I read, I want to ask the writers questions and so I thought, why not?  To help celebrate Halloween, therefore, I invited these three extremely talented writers round for a scary night in and I thought I would share some the highlights with you over my next few blog posts.

 

I feel I should almost say, four writers, because all three of them mentioned one specific writer whose work they enjoy or feel inspired by and he seemed to be very much present in spirit.  Of course I'm referring to the great Stephen King.  (I did try phoning him, but he was busy, busy, busy - the time of year, I expect). Unlike their hero, however, my three writers prefer the short story genre, seeing it as an art-form in itself. 

"There is something exquisite about the perfectly constructed horror story," says Jenny.  "They can deliver a timely surprise or twist realistically without dragging it over hundreds of pages," Su explains.  "The longer the story, the easier to figure out its ending and/or the faster a reader is fed up with it."  Showing her practical side, Tara adds: "Short stories are quick to write. I can finish one, if properly inspired, in a day or so. These are also usually relatively easy to place with a publisher, compared with a novel, because so many places publish short horror fiction."




Tara Fox Hall

But what made them choose to write horror in the first place?  Tara explained that she suffers from nightmares (well, maybe that's all those horror stories you read, Tara?) and the process of writing scenes from these is cathartic.  Our irrepressible joker then adds: " I also enjoy scaring people, and since locking peers in the basement is no longer effective—and has only an immediate reach—I had to graduate to more sophisticated ways, like fiction."  Su, who will be my guest on this blog on Halloween Day to talk about her thrilling (and believe me it is!) collection entitled Hellbound, plans to make us all wait until then to divulge her reasons while Jenny simply fell in love with the genre after devouring the stories of M. R. James and the entire Pan Book of Horror series at a young age.

When I asked them about scary moments in their own lives, Jenny recounted a toe-curling experience of living in an isolated Oxfordshire farmhouse that should have auditioned for the 'Amytiville Horror' movie.  "Horrible things happened to us in that house," she told us, "and we used to fantasise about previous tenants committing murders to explain the awful atmosphere of the place.



Jenny Twist

 One night there was a dreadful storm. The wind shrieked around the house like a woman screaming. The doors and windows rattled as if something was trying to get in. And the big picture window in the kitchen bowed in and out, distorting the reflection of the room. We were afraid it would break (and let in the nightmare creatures outside?) so we hoisted the kitchen table in front of it, hoping it would hold it in place. Then we sat in the living room, clutching each other in terror as things stalked the night outside."

Of course it was only a storm. Wasn’t it? Wasn’t it?  The jury's still out on that one, Jenny…

Su Halfwerk

Su on the other hand told us the story of losing her five year old in a busy shopping mall for a full ten minutes.  Now that's a real life horror story every parent in the world knows and tries to avoid.  Just remembering back to losing track of my two year old in IKEA many years ago has made my hair stand on end.  Seeing this, Tara takes pity on me and decides I've had enough scary stories for one evening.

She's probably right.  I do hope you'll join me on Sunday for the next instalment, which will include the scariest excerpts from their own scary stories as chosen by them.  If you like horror, you won't want to miss it.  Take my spooky word for it!