Blog Tour - Supernatural Freak by Louisa Klein + Writing Tips

Supernatural Freak by Louisa Klein

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Release Date: January 30th 2013

Summary:

When paranormal expert Robyn Wise is offered an outrageous sum of money to cure a boy who is turning into a dead tree, she's very sceptical. A politician ready to pay that much to make his son stop growing branches instead of hair? Come on! She's more likely to be abducted by aliens. This is a trap. Or much worse. And, of course, it's much worse.

The child is turning into a dark portal, created by a powerful entity determined to absorb Fairyland's power. This means that not only queen Titania and her court are in danger, but the very balance of the magic fluxes.

Robyn'd rather stick a pencil in her own eye but, to learn how to destroy the portal, she has to sneak into the Wizardry Council, a place full of wizards who are hiding something—though it’s certainly not their dislike of her.

There, she discovers a terrible secret that could help to overthrow Fairyland's enemies for good, but puts her in the midst of an ancient and deadly war, and not as a bystander, but as the main target.

About the Author:

Louisa Klein lives in the UK but was born in Germany and brought up in Southern Europe by a German dad and an Italian and French mum, which made her a little confused at first. She has a degree in Medieval Studies and a postgraduate one in Marketing. She’s been working in publishing on and off since she was 17 and currently is a freelancer and an Urban Fantasy writer. At night she puts on a mask and fights British crime. She gets very little sleep.

Author Links:

WRITING TIPS:

I am a relatively new writer, having only two books under my belt, I’m still learning and need writing tips myself sometimes! Still, there are a couple of things that I’ve learned while writing Supernatural Freak and Supernatural Fog and I’m very happy to share them with you. These are more than tips to me, though, they’re more like mental pillars on which I’ve built my writing.

1) Choose to be a writer only if there’s nothing else in the world that can make you happier. 

The life of a professional writer is rigidly structured and demands a level of dedication no more or less than a ballerina’s. Ask a professional dancer what her life is about and she’ll respond “dance, dance and more dance”.  A writer’s life is the same. It requires so many sacrifices that it really must be the thing that you want the most, the thing that makes you happy more than anything else. Especially at the beginning of our carrier, our mantra is eat, sleep, write, repeat. Every day. For years. 

Forget about having a social life. Forget about dating. If you have a day job, then you’ll have to use your free time to write only. Which means you’ll have to stay indoor during the weekend, when everyone else is out having fun or relaxing. You’ll have to stay up at night to pursue your writing. It’s tough. If you write full time you’ll have deadlines to hit, rounds and rounds of editing, a blog to keep updated. Plus, if you’re an indie writer, like me, you’ll have to carefully save your money to be able to invest into your covers, your promotion, your amazing editor. Again, it’s tough. If you’d rather be with your friends, have sex with your partner, plan a family, then you’re not meant to be a writer. 

There are of course exceptions, but they are exceptions. There are ballerinas who have children and then go back dancing professionally, but they’re one in a million. Everyone else has to choose: it’s either this or that. To me, it’s writing is totally worth every sacrifice I make for it. Every time I get a 5 star review, every time I receive an email telling me that my books helped someone to get through a bad period of their life, I feel exhilarated, happy and fulfilled. What about you?  Are you a writer or just an amateur?  

2) ALWAYS listen to CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. 

Of course I like compliments, every writer does. Bad reviews are painful, negative feedback from editors and agents feels like having your soul ripped apart, I know. Still, as difficult as it is, LISTEN to the above feedback. READ the negative reviews containing useful, constructive criticism and LEARN. Learn to be a better writer. Learn how to fix a bad scene, or a boring one. Find a consistent, effective voice for your stories. On the other hand IGNORE HATERS AND TROLLS because, you know, they’re just losers craving attention and definitely NOT worth your attention. You have much better things to do, like writing your next novel, which, if you listen to constructive criticism, will be far better than the previous one. 

3) NEVER write for an audience, ALWAYS write for yourself. 

And write about  what you know and what’s important to you. If you write with market in mind, if you write for money, for success, if you write to be liked and popular, then you’re very likely to fail. First, trends come and go in a nowadays fiction and some even stay on for a few months only. So, chasing trends can be extremely counterproductive.  Plus, you’re supposed to be a writer and not a prostitute, so don’t sell yourself for money! On the other hand, If you write about what’s important to you, the odds are other people will care about it too. I wrote two books featuring a kick-ass heroine with a wicked sense of humour and a lot of personal issues because I wanted to show that women are people with flaws and issues and insecurities and not a bunch of living stereotypes. Guess what? It turned out that a LOT of women and even MEN agreed with me and liked Robyn, my MC, A LOT. So, write about what’s important to you!