I can't wait to get LOVE HATE LOVE out to you all, I really mean that because I'm so excited about this book. I think I've FINALLY written a commercial book. In the past I've hoped for my books to do well, but deep down I knew they wouldn't give me what I wanted... TO LIVE OFF MY WRITING. Instead, they caused me financial woes, doing more damage to my bank account than righting it. But LOVE HATE LOVE... I think I have finally hit it on the nail with this one. Why is it so different? Because I have looked at a number of books that are successful out there and thought, why can't I write one too. I'm not a bad writer, just an ADHD one who does what she feels like at that moment, jeopardising my writing career over stories I like that will never make me a living. So, I thought why not write a popular genre like New Adult, because in all truth, most of my books can fall into new adult category due to my characters' ages. However, to make it fully New Adult I needed to step away from the gritty streets of South Auckland, walking away from writing street lit, and set my story in a university, where a lot of NA books are set. I originally was going to set it in America, but I thought, since I live within walking distance of the best university in New Zealand, why not write about that one. And why not set it in a Fine Arts school, after all I was an artist, plus an art history graduate and post graduate from the university the book is based on. So, I had some knowledge about the location/environment. I could also walk up to the buildings and describe them for my book.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. Now I have a NA book, set in a university, and for once it's written from ONLY one perspective. I don't tend to do that, multiple viewpoints usually my thing, Don't Peek and I Love You, Salvatore the exceptions to the rule. But those two weren't full novels, and nothing like LOVE HATE LOVE, which is a rather large book. This is why I didn't think writing this book would be an easy task to do. But it just flowed, flowed so fast that I will be publishing a book in the quickest time ever. It practically took me about two weeks to write the first draft, a draft that is over 100,000 words long. Like, WTF?!!! THAT has NEVER happened before. And why did it flow that well? Because I totally got into the story, walking through Auckland University, seeing what my characters were seeing, and writing about an area that I'm so familiar with. Also, throw in Annabelle from one of my other series, along with a guest appearance from her cop, Dante, and Kara, and I felt like I was back in the Broken Lives and Behind the Lives world without falling into their crazy way of speaking as well as their crazy lives. Though, don't get me wrong, some of the characters aren't sane in LOVE HATE LOVE, or in particular, Nico Bilan is definitely NOT sane. He has psychosis, which is something unfortunately I know a bit about. Not me, someone I know has it, someone who has been in and out of mental health institutions because of it. So, I knew how Nico would act, what he would do, the irrational things, the paranoia thrown in, knew it far too well, making this character very real to me. The topic of PSYCHOSIS was what made me write this book. But it's ended up being a lot more, with an interesting cast of characters, an interesting storyline, and two main characters who you will want to ship to death.
So, I think I have finally rounded up all the ingredients for a successful book. Have finally written something that hopefully will pull me out the the depression of not succeeding as a writer. Because I'm saying it now, I think this book will be a turning book for my career. Now, let's see if you all agree when you start reading it.
WISH ME LUCK!!!
*LOVE HATE LOVE is due out October 30.
