Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Love What You Write!


When I sold Heart of the Wolf, I had no idea it would make Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year, 1 of 5 mass marketed books that made it.

I didn't know that I would now have 8 contracted books in the series, that I would be featured in a Portland, Oregon newspaper where I went to college, or in the alumni magazines for Monmouth University in NJ, and West Texas A & M, Portland Community College in Oregon, or have an interview in a French online magazine.

The Portland Community College article was just released/click download on the picture to the write and I'm featured on Page 5!!

http://www.pcc.edu/about/magazine/documents/communities-10-summer.pdf

I didn't know that I would be invited to contribute to Make Love Like a Romance Author, a nonfiction book from the maker of the Chicken Soup series, which includes several NY Times Best Selling authors. I didn't know that the first 3 books in the series would sell out and are already in their 2nd printing!

What I did know was that I loved writing Heart of the Wolf, and it came from the heart.

But then my editor asked what else I had written. I'd started series works before, and hadn't sold them. So I had stopped writing series--no sense in writing 3 books and not selling any of them. And though Heart of the Wolf had had a lot of favorable interest, it hadn't sold yet, so I started Destiny of the Wolf, same world, different characters. Except for Leidolf. He was the mystery wolf in Heart of the Wolf and he became the one character I included in each of the first 4 books.

But my editor hadn't bought Destiny of the Wolf by the time I needed to get started on another story, just in case. Same old dilemma. I didn't want to write a sequel to a book my editor might not buy. So I wrote To Tempt the Wolf. Again, new set of characters. And the 4th book, Legend of the White Wolf sold on proposal. Then I was able to revisit characters from earlier books. Book 5 is Leidolf's story, Seduced by the Wolf.

And Book 6, Wolf Fever, is Carol's story, from Destiny of the Wolf.

Heart of the Highland Wolf, Book 7, is also a new cast of characters, but the romance author, Julia Wildthorn, mentioned in many of the books, is in this one.

And Book 8, Dreaming of the Wolf, the current book I'm working on, is Jake's story, from Destiny of the Wolf.

So writing from the heart has resulted in 8 well-loved books, but that's not all. When promotion time comes for the new releases, we must love the book all over again. We write about it--what makes it different from the others in the series. What makes it different from other books in the genre. What inspired me to write it???

And all have inspiration in one form of another. In To Tempt the Wolf, I absolutely love the scenario where a man or woman is "shipwrecked" and doesn't remember who he or she is. I've read various romance versions and so came up with my own.

When I was trying to come up with a new angle for book #7, a coworker said I didn't have any "poor" werewolves. :)

At the time, I'd been dying to write about a Highland werewolf clan because a lot of my mother's ancestors were from the Highlands. So I incorporated some of my true story in with the fictional, made a "poor" Highland hero, and had a blast with Heart of the Highland Wolf, due out Jun 2011. :)

Will there be more wolves on the horizon? You bet! :) I'm currently working on Dreaming of the Wolf, Book 8, and have proposed two more.

So remember, when you "pick up that pen" to write, it might just be your mainstay and you'll need to love it to write more, to promote, to share your love of the world and your characters with readers and fans all over the world.

When you write that first book, it's only the beginning! :)

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male."
www.terryspear.com

12 comments:

JACLYN DI BONA said...

Hi Terry,
Needless to say, I'm a fan. I was hook on your first book, Heart Of The Wolf. I remember you were nervous about stories about werewolves. Would anyone be interested?
Ha!
I now have Heart Of The Wolf, Destiny Of The Wolf, To Tempt The Wolf, and The Legend Of The White Wolf, and the one coming out in August. I believe it's Seduced by the Wolf. B&N has my order on hand.

Your stories are unique. Your first scenes always grab the reader. Your characters grow with the story. The conflict is not easy to solved. Each character has their own voice. Pacing, dialogue and narrative are excelent. And all five senses are used,which I notice some authors forget the sense of smell. And my all time favorite, POV. That one still drives me crazy.
I tend to head hop and was told, "I'm not a famous author so watch my POV." LOL.

As I reread this, I have to laugh as I sound just like I do when I critiqe and judge contests.

Keep writing about those beautiful wolves and I'll keep buying.

Looking forward to your next.

Jaclyn

Terry Spear said...

Thanks so much, Jaclyn! I'm thrilled you love them! I love to write them because you and others love to read them. That's what makes it so much fun!!! And coming up with new stories is a blast! I just pitched two new ones and hope they'll be a go! :) Thanks again!!!

Suzanne Johnson said...

You're so right, Terry! If a writer really loves what she's writing, I think it comes through to the readers. I have your series in my TBR pile. I think I need to move them up. Love a sexy wolf :-)

Mona Risk said...

Terry I am reading and enjoying Heart of the Wolf. WOW I didn't realize you had so many gorgeous wolves out there.

As Terri said it so well, write what you love. If you don't, it shows in the writing.

Paisley Kirkpatrick said...

So happy to see your success in writing what you love. I am doing the same thing, but since my genre of writing what is considered western, I know it is not a popular genre right now. I am not detered as I live where I write about and stories seem to just flow out of my imagination. Maybe someday....

Terry Spear said...

Woohoo, Suzanne! Thanks so much!!! I'm thrilled you have them to read and hope you love them! Let me know! I always love to hear if anyone wants to see someone else's story. Sexy wolves are definitely great to have around!!!

And thanks so much, Mona!!! Yeah, Heart of the Wolf was only the beginning. It seems to me like I have tons of books out already just because I'm now working on the 8th one, but only 4 of the werewolf series are out right now!!!

Hi, Paisley, and that's the other thing that is so important, is writing something of what you know--I love western tales, but you have to really know them and I enjoy reading stories like that they it seems the author lives that kind of life. It's like one I enjoyed reading where it was about scuba diving. I could tell she knew what she was talking about and it made it more interesting to think I could be learning about something I don't know that much about! Keep on trucking, Paisley, and never give up!

Natasha Moore said...

Great post, Terry. You never know what's going to sell. You never know what's going to take off. How awful to write something you didn't like just for the market and end up having to write more. It would surely show. Looking forward to reading the next Wolf book.

Terry Spear said...

Thanks, Natasha! I so agree. And thanks so much for loving the series! :)

Angela said...

Terry, I believe you are so correct. Sometimes people change what they right in order to be signed, and unfortunate thing.

Terry Spear said...

Angela, I've known writers who decided to write paranormal, because it was the rage. It wasn't something they were interested in, but wanted to jump on the bandwagon. You could tell from their writing they weren't "into" the genre. It's like adding suspense, when you don't like suspense, etc. It seems forced, or added on. :)

Josie said...

Write from the heart, Terry, is such good advice. Sometimes we worry about market trends and what's selling. But if we write for those markets and not ourselves, our book and characters will never come together.

Terry Spear said...

I so agree, Joanne! :) We have to write what we love! :)