'The Dead Oaks: Midnight Monsters' Cover Reveal & Release Date

It's coming!  

The Dead Oaks - Book Two: Midnight Monsters will be released on Amazon on June 19th!

The Wattpad release date will be July 7th and it will be released in weekly chapter installments.

"The Dead Oaks Paranormal Society finds themselves on their first official case. A haunted house seems like a promising place to capture conclusive evidence that the paranormal is real; but like all plans, nothing goes the way that they intend.

Unwanted tagalongs, misunderstandings, and a malicious not-so-ghostly entity all collide to put the strength of Jasper and Wesley's bond to the test. This monster hunting sleepover could end their team, and possibly their lives, faster than they'd come together."

I'm thrilled to share the second novella in this YA M/M Paranormal series with you!  Obviously, I recommend reading it at midnight.  ;)

Join The Newsletter!

Hi, friends!

Just wanted to let you know that this weekend is your last chance to join my new newsletter before the April edition goes out!  If you haven't heard about it yet, while I continue to post normal blog things here I plan to move my monthly updates to the newsletter format.  There will also be opportunities in the future for sneak peeks and giveaways.

If you'd like to join, please stop by the home page of my website www.dezschwartz.com and enter your email into the form on the right hand side.  I hope you all will join and look forward to sharing more with you soon!

Author Q&A: Querying, Word Counts, and Series

It seems about every six months or so ends up being a good time to do another Author Q&A.  I've had enough questions roll in recently that now it's time for another one!  I plan to round these all up into a F.A.Q. section soon.

So, without further ado, here's what you guys have been wanting to know!

Q1.  What tips or advice do you have for querying books?

There are a lot of great resources already out there on this topic that will guide you through a professional structure for actually writing a query.  So, my advice is to do a little research first.  Write a "generic" one and then put the rest of your time into really exploring different publishers or agents that you'd like to contact.  Don't just send them out to everyone you find.  Truly make sure you feel that your book and their company or agency would be a good fit.  DON'T send them the "generic" query.  Make it personal from there.  Tailor your query to that publisher/agent in a relevant and meaningful way.  Almost always, they will have guidelines on their website that they want you to follow.  After you've done that, be sure to include why you want to work with them specifically and how your book will either fit or even improve their catalog of titles.

Q2.  I read both ROAM and HUNTER when they were originally posted on Wattpad.  With the re-release of ROAM coming, I have to wonder, do you have a time-frame for a release on the third book?

First of all, I want to say a huge THANK YOU with many hearts and hugs to you (and anyone else) who has stuck with me over the past few years.  It's extremely exciting to have you all along for this journey with me!  Now, onto the answer... It's probably not one that you will want to hear.  Most of you may have noticed that with the announcement of ROAM being picked up by NineStar Press for an official re-release later this year (October 1st), I pulled both titles from the market.  For now, ROAM is contracted as a stand-alone novel but I do hope that they will end up picking up the entire series.  If such occurs, it is reasonable to expect HUNTER will have a re-release date another year out from ROAM's and, in turn, the third book would be at least another year out from that.  However, if I end up self-publishing the rest of the series then there is a chance you might get it sooner but, even then, you're still looking at sometime around Autumn 2019-Winter 2020.  I hope that isn't too discouraging!  I'm just trying to be realistic.  But there is a silver lining.  While waiting for that final book to reach fruition, I do plan to publish another ROAM series prequel (The draft is 75% complete as I type this.) and several short stories that include the same characters.  So you will still have fresh ROAM universe material to read while you wait.

Q3.  I really enjoy your M/M books but do you have any plans to write F/F?

The short answer is: YES!  But when?  I can't give an exact date.  I do have two F/F stories on my TBW (To Be Written) list that I am excited to tackle in the future.  One is YA and the other is Gaslamp Fantasy.  And while we're on the topic, I suppose I'll go ahead and divulge that I also have another Gaslamp Fantasy novel about an asexual main character in the works as well.

Q4.  The word count per chapter for my story is 1500-3000, with some shorter ones sprinkled around.  For Wattpad & Tapas, is this scroll hell, especially on the phone?  This contest I entered has a 500 word min. per chapter, so would 500-1000 be more ideal for every story?

In general, posting chapters on a platform like Wattpad is definitely a different beast than self-publishing an ebook.  With an ebook, I think anywhere from 2500-4000 words is acceptable for a chapter but, in my experience, Wattpad readers insist that they prefer shorter chapters so that they can get their fix in smaller doses.  So, for Wattpad, yes.  I would say 1000 per chapter is probably the sweet spot and, if more are needed to flesh out the scene, then I'd try staying under at least 2000.  That is my opinion anyway.  Other authors might have a different point of view.

Q5.  How many books do you plan to write for the Dead Oaks series?

As of now, it's looking like it will be a five book series.  But I am open to writing more if I feel inclined to after that fifth book is released.

That's it for this round of questions!  I'll do more Q&A's in the future and I'm also planning on doing a few "writer tips" style blog posts.  So, if you have more questions to send my way then please feel free to contact me any time on social media or through email at dezschwartzauthor[at]gmail[dot]com.  I always love to hear from you guys!

Character Highlight: Jasper Jelinek

(Fan Cast Inspiration)

Jasper Jelinek, aka "J.J.", is a supernaturally obsessed teen swathed in melancholy and misanthropy.  He only recently has begun to come out of his shell after meeting Wesley Shain.  He's one of the founders of the Dead Oaks Paranormal Society, which doesn't do much to help him dispel his unwanted local nickname "Casper".

His OOTD

What's On His Playlist

(Links to YouTube)

Contagious - Night Riots

Black Water - Of Monsters And Men

B a noBody - SOAK

The Woodpile - Frightened Rabbit

Each Coming Night - Iron & Wine

Favorite Book

Favorite Movie

You can get to know Jasper better in: 

The Dead Oakes: Ghost Stories - Available on Kindle and Wattpad

UPDATES: March 2018

I'm a few days later on my monthly update than usual due to being extremely busy and also not feeling 100% the past week.  Today has been great for catching up on things and so now I'll get you caught up!

WRITING

Life has kept me pretty tied up with tedious tasks so this morning was the first time in nearly two weeks that I'd had a chance to write.  Thankfully, though, my muse returned and I'm back to working on The Dead Oaks: Book Two.  I know I'm making you wait a long time for this one and I apologize but it's still in the works, so don't worry.  One major difference between this follow-up to the original that I can let you in on early is that the characters are becoming more of an ensemble cast, which is quite fun.  You can sample a small preview on Instagram.

I also finally made a decision about Grady's Case Files (A prequel to ROAM).  As much as I would love to turn it into a webcomic, I have to be realistic.  I don't have the time or resources to tackle a massive project like that in the way that I would want to.  So, I'm going to write it as a series of short stories for Wattpad.  I'm very excited to get started on it. (Hence Grady making an appearance on my new blog banner!)

ART

I feel like my art is always in flux.  haha  And in all honesty, I will probably stop posting about it here unless it ties into one of my books.  If you'd like to keep up with it, I post pretty regularly on my Art Account.  Mostly now, it's just a way for me to relax at the end of the day.  I do still sell my work on Etsy or Redbubble, though, if you see something you like.

PERSONAL

I did get a chance to catch up on the newest season of Voltron: Legendary Defender!  This weekend is for working on personal projects and, very importantly, relaxing.  Going to bake cupcakes and do some journaling with my daughter.  I hope you all have a great weekend!

Grady's Case Files: A Work In Progress

I haven't "talked shop" on here in a while but that's something that I plan to rectify.  Starting with the indomitable Dr. Grady Hunter!

If you've been around for the past couple of years then you probably already know Grady.  He's one of my lead protagonists in the ROAM series and a reader favorite in terms of characters.  If you're new then you'll get to know him soon; especially when ROAM gets re-released through NineStar Press this July!  But this post is about the possibility of you getting to know him a lot better, much sooner!  At least...that's the tentative idea.

As stated in the post title, this is definitely a work in progress but also a long time coming.  Allow me to give you a little background.  I first wrote ROAM in the Autumn of 2015.  Grady was a full-fledged BAMF with quite a thorough, and vastly mysterious, backstory.  After finishing the first book and beginning work on the sequel, HUNTER (Currently unavailable due to ROAM finding a publisher.  HUNTER will have its own re-release down the road.), I quickly realized that there were so many possibilities for a prequel.  I had already tackled a prequel novel with The Revelation of Dacey Sinnett and I just knew that eventually I'd want to give life to all of the adventures that had already crept up in my mind in forming Grady's early years.  His pre-ROAM life; specifically in the early '90s.

Thankfully, I retain the rights to all of my characters and have quite a few liberties in writing whatever new material that I'd like for them.  And I finally feel that I'm ready to really dive into this project.  The characters are already there, the stories have been percolating over the past couple of years, so I really only lack making one definitive decision.  What format should I tell it in?

I'll start by discussing the current frontrunner; although, it would also be the most time-consuming and challenging.

Webcomic.  For years, I've had people telling me that I should create a graphic novel or comic.  As a freelance illustrator with a BFA in Studio Art, this seems like a no-brainer.  My style is already cartoonish and, to be honest, I could probably use some focus in my art life.  I tend be all over the place!  Taking on a project like this would be an exciting learning experience and it would also finally tie in my illustration with my books in a cohesive and fully encapsulating way.  It's terribly tempting.  EXTREMELY tempting.  The drawback would definitely be finding the time to work on it regularly.  But here's a peek at what some of the characters might look like:

Wattpad Short Story Series.  Another option would be utilizing old reliable Wattpad.  Really no drawbacks there and a lot of you found me through that platform in the first place.  I think this would be the most obvious option.

Blog Series.  That's right!  Posting them right here on the blog in its own series.  Not really sure how practical that would be.  And if I did it, then it would probably become a mixture of short story and minor illustrations.  A lot of planning would still need to go into a structure for this venue.

So, that's where I'm at.  Grady's Case Files.  I just need to choose a medium and then I can really get to work.  If you have any preferences, let me know!  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

x, DS

***

WEEKLY LINKS & THINGS

Alternative Model, Nils, keeps being lions and other beasts it's as amazing as it sounds.

If you're not already listening to  BØRNS you should be.

Whimsy & Noir is starting to illustrate her daily outfits and I hope she continues because they're rad.

Prisma Visions Tarot is its own brand of magic and I'm obsessed.

UPDATES: February 2018

I feel as though I have some explaining to do and as this is a blog, well, I'll do it here.  I have been less compelled to engage in social media lately.  Your best bet in keeping solid tabs on me is through Instagram because I enjoy its gallery-style interface so much more.  I suppose I'm growing into one of those people that likes to have some privacy.  I watch others spilling their guts all over Twitter and, honestly, I sort of cringe.  That's great for them if they need a space to vent (as most of it usually tends to be that) but I'm just not that personality type.  I enjoy creating stories and art and I love to share those with the world but, for the most part, I have no inherent need to share much else.  I'm sure, if you've read my books, you could probably guess that I'm much like a lot of my characters and prefer to keep things mysterious and close to my heart.

This means I'm sort of shit at social media promotion.  LOL  Oh well.  I figure that if people like my work then they will stick around regardless of how often I post or not.  I would hope so, anyway.

The point is, I have been posting a lot less on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.  I haven't (and won't) disappear from them but when I do post it will mostly just be project updates.  I think any meatier stuff is best kept for this blog and the occasional over-share caption on Instagram.  :)

Now - On to the real updates!

WRITING

ICYMI - I added two new microfiction Short Stories to Wattpad last month:  "Undercurrent" & "The Undead Craftsman".

Along with that, I've been working on the second "Dead Oaks" book which I may or may not have to set aside for the moment while I ponder a plot point.  Thankfully, I have a couple of other projects I can work on while I take the time to sort that one out.

ART

As pictured above, I illustrated a lovely "Call Me By Your Name" piece (Phenomenal story, btw. ❤) and it has quickly become my Best Seller on Redbubble!  Thank you so much if you've ordered it!  I definitely appreciate it.  One of my goals for 2018 is to be more active on Redbubble and that was a great start to kick the year off.  I'm currently working on some new "dapper" designs and patterns to add there.

Also, I'm submitting work to two local art shows this Spring.  I'm currently working on prepping for that.

PERSONAL

I think my intro. pretty much covered that but there are a couple of extra bits I can throw in.  Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary!  I was showered with flowers and gifts and taken out for a nice romantic dinner; so I'm in a pretty great mood, as you can imagine. haha  What else?  Oh yes!  I've been working at the museum for three months now and I love it.  I'm also working toward a couple of other huge goals that I can't really talk about yet but they have definitely kept me busy.

I hope you have a fabulous February!

x, Dez