The Story Behind the Story: The Twin Cities Series

Drew Avera is a big Jim Butcher fan and he loves how each of his books continues on a very big arc, while each book has its own arc. That takes a lot of talent to pull off and Drew started to wonder how he could do something similar without having to publish twenty books in a series when he already have several series titles that he was working on. The idea he came up with was to not do the series alone, but rather to enlist the help of writer friends he’d made along the way.

That’s where I came in. Drew approached and several other author. We started with a core group of people who brainstormed together with over a thousand emails on how to build the world we called The Realms. I’m pretty sure had I not deleted a bulk of those emails then gmail would have crashed. What came from those initial story ideas were stories set in the same world, using some of the same characters, while writing from the point of view of each individual author’s main character(s). Does it sound confusing? Trust me when I say we had a lot of details to work out.

2014 Goal Review and 2015 Goals

I really started my ‘published’ writing career in May of 2013. The goals I set for my second year of publishing have been completed and I wanted to review them here for posterity and my own feeling of accomplishment. Then I will set some goals for this year as an annual event from January to December 2015.

In 2014, I set out to place all my currently published Amazon books on Smashwords as well, because I wanted to have them widely available to everyone. Some of the Effortless English folks do not have access to Amazon in their countries. I am pleased to say I almost accomplished this. I have all the Farloft Chronicles and The Twin Cities volumes on Smashwords. We 3 will go up in February and the Star Traveler Series will follow one by one. All of them will be on by the end of 2015. There was a good reason for delaying the posting of the Star Traveler Series. I am having new covers made for them and they are a knock out. The artist is Sherry D. Ramsey and I am delighted with her work.

I added something to my workload that I had not anticipated for 2014. I put all the books except for the final four Scifi (still processing covers) into print-on-demand at the CreateSpace site. This has been a boon in the since that it has created more sales. Seems everyone wanted The Farloft Chronicles in paper. And, I must admit, Farloft looks fabulous in print.

I planned to do an interview a month on either a blog, radio, podcast, or website, etc. I did, in fact, accomplish this goal in full and then some. I did so many interviews and guest blogs that I decided to create a site for them, Interviews & Guest Blog Posts so readers could just go on and poke around a bit. Two of my favorites were the podcast with Cherrie McKenzie of Co-Active Dreams and my tea with Charlotte Ashlock . You can read and listen to all of them on the site, if you so desire.

And in 2014 I wrote. I did not finish the seventh volume in the Star Travelers Series, but I did add many more books I had not anticipated and with the Scifi series coming out in paper with new covers, volume #7 will be widely anticipated this year.

I published two new volumes in The Farloft Chronicle, #5 Three & a Half Dragons and #6 Dragon Memories, Dreams & Reflections .

I wrote another novella in the Twin Cities Series, Shifting Agony & Ecstasy. It is the further adventures of our shape-shifting friend, Cody. I am so pleased Drew brought me into the world of The Realms. These novellas have been receiving nothing but 5 Star reviews. Everyone seems to love them.

I also collaborated with a friend from England, David Stevens, and wrote a novella with him in the Scifi genre called In2Minds. It is going to be a trilogy and an exciting one at that - an astronaut risking his life to save his home world only to find things are not as he was led to believe. By the way, I might just throw in here that David has set his own goal, which is to give away a million books. Check out his site, there are some real steals there.

And last, but not least, is my blog and the sites connected to it. I post there every Saturday a chapter of the current serialized story I am working on. The blog is my melting pot of ideas. These often develop into books, so you can see the growth of ideas if you follow me there. You can sign up for a newsletter, which I assure you I do not overuse, or you can sign up for NetWorkBlogs so you will be informed when I have posted a new article or episode to the blog.

I also helped found a new site called The Society of Enlightened Dragonologists and their blog Enlightened Dragonologist. It was a dream of Cheryl Matthynssens to have a site that portrayed dragons as more then mere killing machines. I am gratified she included me on her quest to create this site.

A couple of things were added to the mix this year in addition to putting all the books in paperback. Folks on Twitter asked to see our garden, Our Quiet Corner, and so a YouTube channel was established. I did tours throughout the summer and some DIY projects of interest.

I created a podcast station basically for my Effortless English followers, who seem to like the sound of my voice, go figure. It is Theresa's Talks.

Farloft has had so much art produced for him by BlueKite-Fall of Deviant Art that you can find a full page of him on Google by just searching his name Farloft in the Images section of Google. Check it out, many of his friends are there too.

The last event of 2014, or perhaps it is the first event of 2015, was a huge Dragon Selfie. Farloft wanted one with all his friends. It should be completed this week and I will post it on Farloft's site when it is finished for all to see. Kitsooki on Deviant Art did a fabulous job capturing the baker’s dozen of dragons who wished to be in the picture.

And though I know it is not a goal, I cannot write a yearly wrap-up without including a thank you to the wonderfully talented folks who created FanArt for Farloft, Laura Walters, Merystic and MA Gilchrist. You can see their work on Farloft's Rhetoric. Also, check out Twin-Id, the dragon MA Gilchrist drew and asked me to pen the story of him.

My Goals for 2015:

1. The last of the Star Traveler Series will get their incredible new covers and be posted on all platforms. Volume #7 will be edited, proofed and released.
2.  I will write at least one new book in the Shifting group for the Twin Cities series – perhaps two.
3. There will be the continuing story in the second book of In2Minds and perhaps the finish of the trilogy this year.
4.  I will put out a book in the Farloft Chronicles called “Farloft, the Early Years.” This will be a series of three or four novella length books wrapped up in one volume about Farloft’s earlier years traveling as a youngling through the continents of his world – adventures with gryphon, other species of dragons and humans both good and bad.
5. I will continue to write on my site TheresaSnyderAuthor.com
6.  I will continue to seek out opportunities to do interviews and guest blog posts. And I will add to that library readings and book fairs. I have two library readings already scheduled for January and a book fair in April. I have an interview with Ron Shaw on March 2^nd. He is a CBS affiliate in Georgia who interviews authors, and I am really looking forward to that conversation. Please drop in and have a listen. If you hear of any opportunities please pass them on to me. I can’t travel far because of my commitments at home, but I have become a whiz on the internet, Skype and the phone.
7. I will continue with my YouTube channel. There will be more garden tours and DIY projects.
8. There will be more personal revelations and readings on Theresa's Talks for those of you who can’t get enough of me. heeheehee
9. And, I think an annual Selfie is in order.

So it will be a full year with lots to chatting about on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. If you don’t follow me socially, please consider doing so. I love to chat and so does Farloft, my dragon friend, who hops on my twitter account the last Friday of each month. He loves running contests and giving away things.

2015 is going to be a very good year, drop by and visit, pick up something to read and maybe get in a selfie with Farloft. Anything is possible.

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Are you following me on NetWorkedBlogs? If not, think about doing it. This is a great service and not restricted just to me. You can tag all the blogs you enjoy an never miss a post. The NetWork will tell you when there is a new post to your favorite blog. And they will tell you on you time frame, once a day, once a week etc. Come join me on NetworkedBlogs and don't miss a single episode of my serialized stories. NetworkedBlogs Unsubscribe Theresa, here is today's updates from blogs you're following Theresa Snyder Fur and Frost - A Dragon Love Story - Chapter 7 “I met him when he and Austere came in,” Patel answered her younger sister when she asked if she had met the visiting Furry.“Austere is quite taken with him,” Uland informed her si... Facebook share · Tweet More from Theresa Snyder