It's Not That I Don't Like HEAs...

...but they are a bit obvious.
We all grew up with fairy tales where the Good eventually gains the upper hand over the Bad.

The prince rescues his princess (tick); the big bad wolf is killed (tick); the witch dies (tick).
You know them all.

I cannot remember at what point I got drawn to the non-HEA endings. I think it might have been one or two of Stephen King's books.

I remember the thrill of reading my first non-HEA ending. When the good guy turned bad and eventually died.

I fondly remember the many open endings that don't tell you how things will pan out - other than "there isn't much hope, Dude..." How irresistible!

I love good open endings. They fire up my imagination and make the book go further, far beyond the last page.
That's how stories develop inside my head. My heart welcomes a happy ending - my brain yawns at the thought.
Somebody has to catch the curveballs life keeps throwing!
While it is possible for some characters to have their HEA, others can not. Call it cosmic balance, statistic distribution, the Universe's yearning to increase its entropy... Who knows? It is what it is. I love tension, drama, and the way my characters fight for their sanity and strife for happiness. Hope against hope.

Some characters go through the mill. Fear, doubt, burning, unrequited love, pain. So. Much. Pain!

My characters walk a fine line. They are curious and courageous; sometimes they are smart - sometimes they are outright bonkers. They change. Their experiences change them. They evolve and struggle to adapt.

Some get a HEA - some don't. For some, a HEA comes from a completely unexpected direction. Sometimes they win - sometimes they lose. And sometimes it is just a Happy-For-Now - a brief respite.
Some might have been kicked to the ground, but while they are down, opportunities present. Nothing is over before it is over.
And even after 'The End' life might still throw yet another curveball.

ANK on 'Deus Ex Machina' or why an omnipotent being makes a boring character.

Sure, an omnipotent superhero is cool.
Right?
Wrong!
While the fairy tale of the elusive knight in shining armor is still going strong with some, many have ditched the sod, stopped kissing frogs, and started taking matters into their own hands.
Because it is better fun, more exciting, and more satisfying to solve problems, rather than to sit tight and pretty, waiting around to be rescued.
Having said that: A bit of 'superheroism' is sexy, exciting, and allows for unusual solutions.
Fiction conflicts and problems are major drivers of a story. They create suspense, tension, and that heart-pounding urgency to turn the pages. Solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems are the spice of every good story. When the protagonist is with the back up against the wall, facing a fire-front racing towards him/her! How will they get away when there is no way out!
Divine intervention... The Deus Ex Machina... The proverbial hand that picks the protagonist up and carries them away.
What an epic letdown!
Angry disappointment prompts the reader to close the book.
Did you ever feel like this?
For authors: Letting your readers down is never a good thing. We know that. We struggle to avoid this at all costs.
It's undoubtedly one of the hardest tasks in writing to create a seemingly unsolvable conundrum and provide a solution without waving the proverbial magic wand too frantically.
I embrace superheroes, aliens, and magic. But I avoid the Deus Ex Machina like the devil the holy water.
Superheroes make good characters, but they need to keep their vulnerability, weakness, and believability.
Kryptonite anyone?

THE ODYSSEY

The #kindlescout campaign for THE ODYSSEY has launched!

For a chance to get a free copy, please nominate this book for publication.

The Odyssey is the second book in the Sphere-World Series.

Book 1 - The Sphere - is available to download from Amazon worldwide.
Stay tuned for upcoming free promotional days!

Happy reading!
Thank you all for reading, voting, and sympathizing with Bella, Dylan, Nick, and the crew of The Odyssey! They are a great bunch of people.

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/MTSLC3EVZMIU

ANK on What genre...?

A headscratcher for me! Well and truly is...
A crucial one as well. Because peddling my books to the wrong people will never earn me satisfied and returning readers.
So I need to get this right.
Easier said than done.
I can, of course, describe what my books are all about on (social) media outlets, but I cannot position them adequately on Amazon (where I list it) because my genre (or even subgenre) isn't acknowledged.
Keywords it is then.
But honestly... who types sophisticated keywords into Amazon search engines? I don't (but perhaps I will start after writing this post - you never know!)

I started to write The Sphere - part of the Sphere-World Series, during #Nanowrimo2016. By now it has developed into a full-blown series.
Honestly, I had no idea it would.

When I started writing it, I took my least developed plot and decided to see if I could actually write 50k words in a month. I never thought I had it in me. But I did! Now - a year later and The Sphere is published in ebook format on #Amazon worldwide.
The second book in the series is called The Odyssey, and I am planning on getting it onto the #KindleScout programme soonish.
I did the same thing with The Sphere, and I enjoyed the process.

Before and during the Kindle Scout campaign, when I read lots of 'how to' and 'what to' and 'what-not-to' articles, I became aware of the importance of stamping a genre onto my book. (There is some great advice out there! Make use of it.)

Gulp... Science Fiction...obviously! Or so I thought. But the novel contains a lot of romantic elements as well, and a bit of dystopian fiction. It also hints at elements of fantasy to come as the Sphere-world series develops.
And yes - there will be a whole lot of fantasy, and science, and sci-fi.
The Sphere is a novel of mixed genres. <ANK on The Sphere>
But most importantly, it is the story of the main characters; the tale of the challenges they have to face, the obstacles they have to overcome, their struggles, their hopes, and dreams, and failures. It is about how they cope with changes, and how they fight to make their dreams come true - no matter the genre!

Download The Sphere for free from #Amazon

24 hours left! Grab your copy of THE SPHERE 🌏 FREE DOWNLOADhttps://t.co/sbDfN5csV7
#Amazon #Kindle
Please retweet.
Thank you! 🐬

— Anathea N. Krrill (@AnatheaKrrill) November 17, 2017

The Cover for The Sphere

People asked me:

Where did I get the cover for The Sphere from? And what does it mean?

Honestly? It started as a bit of a joke.

Remember the first images the Hubble Space Telescope sent back to NASA.?The HST was sent to space way back in April 1990. Wooo! That's a good while ago.

Naturally - as soon as images came back, scammers weren't far. See - 'Fake News' is not an invention of this millennium.

And there was this iconic image of Earth cradled in clouds (Google it!). Nobody knows exactly, where it originated from or when. And although the Hubble Space Telescope has given us incredible images and insights into outer space <HST images>, this particular one wasn't taken by Hubble!

To cut a long story short:

The iconic image of “Earth in a Cradle of Clouds” was allegedly taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It made a huge impact on the internet but later turned out to be ‘fake news’.

I chose this image, altered it a bit myself. I like this image. I think it is striking, but at the same time, it creates a false impression – just like The Sphere creates an environment based solely on the imagination of whoever uses her.

Nothing is real!

 I chose the cover as an allegory for all that The Sphere stands for: unknown origin, a creator of unreality, yet beautiful; it is an inspiration and an enigma alike. Something that could be real, but isn’t. 

Since The Sphere is an artificial environment and creates virtual realities based on the user's imagination, I thought it a fitting tongue-in-cheek jest, to take a beautiful - if faked - image of Earth (the ultimate goal for Bella,  and Nick), add some digital embellishments to it, and use it as the cover for my book.

That's really it as a formula:

A bit of fun + awesome image (it does look dramatic - no doubt about it!) = stunning cover for a hopefully interesting book.

The Sphere is available to download for free for #kindleunlimited subscribers worldwide!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

The Sphere published on Amazon

Pfff... I did it!
After a final (very tedious) edit, I now published The Sphere on Amazon US and Amazon UK

There many firsts in this process:

My first book
My first Kindle Scout campaign
My first attempt at self-publishing
My first go at Twitter (believe it or not!)
My first blog
My first grey hair (not really... but it certainly feels like that)
My first revisit of nailbiting after quitting decades ago

I learned a lot along the way, and not everything was easy and straightforward.
Self-doubt: it's all just a big pile of sh**t, suffering imposter syndrome (I am not really an author... am I...?), who will want to read it anyway? The works!
I am sure everybody who has ever attempted to write a book, or even a blog-post or anything will know the intrinsic fear of the P-word (as in Publishing). It means getting your work out into the open, into the public domain, where everybody is allowed to scrutinise and give their opinion. Worse even: by publishing your work, you actively invite criticism. Not something most people are comfortable with. Certainly not me. Because I surely could have done much, much better... no?

And then I start reading book 2 or continue writing on book 3 or even start jotting down ideas for book number 4, and I know, it's not all bad!
I am improving. My style gets better, I am more confident in the way I allow my characters to speak their mind (I stopped trying to sugarcoat their foul language or anglicise their direct approach). I let them do their own thing - I just make sure they do it in the right order and in a manner, that makes sense to the readers.
And realising that, I am actually looking forward to getting The Odyssey (book 2 of the Sphere-World series) onto #KindleScout ASAP.