Hi all!

Please help me welcome Auhor M. Lathan to my blog today!

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

M. Lathan lives in San Antonio with her husband and mini-schnauzer. She enjoys writing and has a B.S. in Psych and a Masters in Counseling. Her passion is a blend of her two interests – creating new worlds and stocking them with crazy people. She enjoys reading anything with interesting characters and writing in front of a window while asking rhetorical questions … like her idol Carrie Bradshaw.

HIDDEN

M. Lathan

BLURB:

Sixteen-year-old Leah Grant has given up on being normal. She’d settle for stopping the voices in her head, intrusive visions of the future, and better odds of making it to her seventeenth birthday.

That’s the thing about pretending to be human in a world where magic used to exist – at any moment, her cover could be blown and she’ll be burned to death like the rest of the witches.

Everything changes when she loses control of her powers and flees the orphanage she grew up in. She desperately wants to be invisible but finds her face plastered on every news channel as humans panic over the possible resurgence of her kind. And now the hunters won’t give up until they find her.

Making friends for the first time in her life and falling in love with one of them drives her to discover why she is unlike any being she’s ever met – human or otherwise. The dangerous powers inside of her that would repel Nathan, her new, handsome reason for living, are priceless to some. The locked up forever kind of priceless. And to others, they are too dangerous to allow her to live.

Let’s hope she can stay hidden.

Excerpt

A far second to oranges, the song I sang in the shower every night had a way of soothing me. More than anything, it made me tired enough to fall asleep. With Whitney gone, I didn’t have to whisper it.

The stars are out,

It’s time for bed.

Now close your eyes,

And rest your head.

May angels shield you with their wings,

As you dream your little angel dreams.

I didn’t recall composing that song, but apparently, I used to think I was good and perfect like the angels. I knew better now.

I stepped out of the shower and tugged a brush through my unruly brown tangles. I stared into the mirror over the sink as I started the song again. My skin screamed winter. I should be a warmer tan; I looked less creepy in the summer. Maybe that was why the girls had been digging into me so hard. I looked rather witchy. The unease that made them mock me was probably their souls warning them, urging them to notice I was different and dangerous.

At my worst, it feels like the fire that could easily shoot from my palm is raging inside of me. My heart picks up, more than when I’m scared. It pounds, I can’t hear. My blood dances, taunting me, begging me to hurt whoever’s hurt me. And I know that I can. I feel that I can.

But I don’t. I breathe and pray and let the magic cool.

Guest blog:

Writing tips:

I’ve read my share of writing how-to books, and I have learned some helpful things. I use the two most helpful tips in my daily writing and wanted to share with all of you.

First, start with an outline. Plan our opening, your point of no return complication, at least two roadblocks, the climax, the gasp moment, and the redemption. I’ve written a few stories where I didn’t have these planned out. Maybe I started with an opening and just kept writing. I’m not that kind of writer. If I start rambling in chapter one, I will still be rambling in chapter twenty-five.

Also, the outline makes manuscript evaluation easier. You can ask yourself, “Where did the story go to hell?” Was it good until the roadblocks? Then change them? Did it never take off? Then it was the opening. Be flexible and open to change, but starting with a plan has proved to work better for me than starting without one.

Second, use your resources. Read books in your genre.

I have learned how to use certain words, punctuations, sentence structures, dialog tags, and more by reading. In some of my early stories, I didn’t know how to write dialog tags. And I’ve gotten a few freebies on Amazon with authors who either don’t know how or have chosen to be creative with it. From reading, I noticed the pattern: “blah blah blah,” this person said. With more reading, I started to see how strange words in dialog tags distract from the scene such as “blah blah blah,” this person extrapolated.

Reading can also help with voice and rhythm. Read something you admire, or secretly wish you wrote, and study it. Are they using commas strategically to get you to, pause where they want you to? Did they take out the punctuation in the sentence to make it feel like a rant and like the person is really upset and their thoughts are running a mile a minute and they might just … scream.

I learned these things from reading and I still learn new things every day. In writing your novel, don’t forget to read, for pleasure and for research. It has helped me to move from my rough outline to a finished product.

I hope it works for you.

Links

Website: mlathan.com

Twitter: @hiddenseries

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hiddenseries/

Buy links: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=B00A6301BO

RAFFLECOPTER CODE

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TWITTER HASHTAG #GF_Hidden

Please thank M. Lathan for joining us today. Check out the links and buy a book!

Keep Writing!