Unleashed-- Release Party!

Today is the day! I'm so happy to announce the release of BOOK 2 in the Secrets of the Makai series: UNLEASHED

Tristan can't wait to get to Darnell—a place where people have similar powers to his own and won't know about the horrific events that led to being exiled from his previous home. Unfortunately, they do know, and so does Lazaro, a ruthless man determined to regain possession of the powerful emerald Tristan stole.


And Lazaro isn't the only one on a quest for Tristan's blood.

A secret society of overzealous dragon slayers believes Tristan is a worthy target to hunt. When he is captured and put on trial for being an abomination to mankind, his continued denial of dragon ancestry won't keep him safe for long. The Slayers have been hunting for generations, and in a private museum of artifacts and past conquests, Tristan discovers a handful of gems akin to the emerald and a new mission—if he can survive long enough to escape captivity.

But then...no amount of protection or denial can save him from himself.







To help celebrate, Book 1, Descendant, is on sale for 99 cents.

Also, there's a contest going on at Goodreads (for Book 2: Unleashed) running until June 10th. As a special bonus for our OA Readers, if you enter and WIN, contact me to let me know you saw it here, and I'll throw in a copy of Descendant to go along with it! :-)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Unleashed

by Toni Kerr

Giveaway ends June 10, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Good Luck everyone and have a FANTASTIC day!

Links:
DESCENDANT (book 1) for $0.99 at Amazon
UNLEASHED (book 2) at Amazon (new release)
GoodReads Contest
My Facebook Fan Page

Starting a Novel- Again

Hello everyone! Happy April Fool's Day. :-)

I hope you are all doing well in your writing endeavors. I'm currently between projects...waiting for my editor's expertise on Book 2 of my Makai series, and challenging my creative side in brainstorming/ outlining Book 3 possibilities—which is taking more research than I thought it would!

I originally wrote all three books in this series before I started querying Book 1, just to make sure Book 1 contained all the necessary clues and information for the overall story before setting it all into stone (so-to speak), and that the overall game plan held together in writing—not just in theory. Long story short, as Book 1 became more focused and fine-tuned, I had to drop many ideas and plans that weren't immediately pertinent to Book 1, and therefore, 89.7% of the original Book 3 is no longer relevant. :-) Even so, I don't think it was wasted time. I'll just call it practice writing—100k words that the world will never see.

So now, I find myself in somewhat new territory—starting with a blank page! I actually have deadlines this time, so there will be no waiting around for inspirations or moods to strike, no taking the time to see where random ideas lead, and no savoring the candy bar scenes that will eventually be cut to keep the story on track. Because as much as I hate to admit it, this writing craft is now a business.

Time to sharpen the outlining tools, and here's my plan:

1. Basic Idea/Elevator Pitch
2. Beginning/Middle/End (one paragraph each (one for each storyline)
3. Divide Beginning/Middle/End into 10-15 Chapter Sections (One-sentence description per chapter—per storyline if necessary)
4. Expand each sentence into a paragraph. (keeping track of multiple storylines)
5. Expand each paragraph into a page—with notes/pictures for relevant research.
6. Revise Elevator Pitch with the clearer picture...and start writing the dang thing

Until now, I've been importing my working files into Scrivener from Word. So with this book, I'm interested in seeing how well Scrivener keeps things organized from start to finish. I'll let you know how it goes! I'm also going to challenge myself with the brainstorming tip: When answering the question "What would happen if...?", never pick one of the first five answers. (Eek!)


Do you have outlining tips to share? 

Cover Reveal ~ DESCENDANT

I'm proud to announce the upcoming birth of my debut novel, 

DESCENDANT 

book 1 in a Makai series

available December 16th, 2013

For 15 years, Tristan has done everything he can to bury the maddening thoughts of others—blaring music, isolation, the occasional painkiller. In the end, it was a small thing that pushed him over the edge—his mother hocked his iPod for a carton of cigarettes.

His suicide attempt would have succeeded if not for an old woman who claims dragon ancestry makes him the rightful guardian of a powerful emerald containing the soul of a Valkyrie. With the emerald stolen and the woman murdered, Tristan must survive on his own in a world he never knew existed to get the emerald back.

Shadowed by a secret society and guided by an avatar falcon, Tristan's escape from the murderer lands him on an uncharted island in the Pacific. When the murderer kidnaps the island's caretaker, a feisty young Druid priestess, Tristan discovers he'll risk anything to save her, unleashing powers he can't control.

Find me at Goodreads!

SQUEE!