Anna DeStefano again--so many of you emailed about my Inception post last month.

Secret Legacy's out on Monday!

To celebrate, my publisher's offering Dark Legacy, Book 1 in my psychic fantasy series based on the same lucid dream theory as the movie Inception, as a FREE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, May 2nd - May 9th, on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.


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It's Anna DeStefano again. Let's talk psychic fantasy and paranormal thrillers in movies and fantasy novels!

I get a lot of emails asking to know more about how my Legacy Series is similar to the Oscar award winning movie Inception. My first thought when this happens is that Dark Legacy sold and was published long before  the movie--so why isn't ( Read more... )

 
I’ve had my head down, writing a series since the day before my birthday in 2006, when I sold the first three DEAD IS books on proposal. During that time, my agent also sold two stand-alone contemporary yas, one finished and one on proposal. After the first DEAD IS book was released, the publisher signed up for two more books in the series.

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Since I live in Mexico, I don't get to chat with other authors too much about how they do things. Sure, I email and IM some, but that's not quite the same as attending a meeting and talking. There's some of that at the conferences I attend, but you know how those are as well. So quite often, I'm just laboring along on my books like a hermit crab ( Read more... )

Before I get to this week's Topic, I wanted to announce that next Monday will probably have no Topic of the Week, since the world goes into near stasis between Christmas and New Year's.

Speaking of which, this week's Topic is...holidays!  And if any of my SFNovelist friends are watching, your sense of deja vu is correct: this is a condensed rewrite ( Read more... )

It's interesting to see what has become cliché in writing. Things that were once fresh but now have been done to death.

( Her dress pooled around her feet... )

One thing I don't think we've shared are action scenes. Those that get your heart racing and blood pumping and you find yourself holding your breath ( Read more... )

Because I don't drive around too often it takes me a while to get through an audio book, so I'm still listening to one by James Lee Burke. The way he sets a scene is so well done. Between his character and setting descriptions--and how he executes them so flawlessly--he has me shaking my head and just thinking how amazing he is. And aspiring to be ( Read more... )

James Lee Burke is a god of writing. He has the most amazing ability to describe anything and anyone without coming across as that's what he's trying to do. I would love to have that gift! It made me think about how we FFF writers describe our characters and how much fun it would be to share that ( Read more... )

I thought it would be cool to share some of our first lines. More than one if you want. I'm posting several of mine, and it made me think that I really need to work on better hooks in some cases.

What are some of your first lines in your manuscripts or published novels?