Authorpreneur Dashboard – Auden Denise Johnson
The Unburned Island
Science Fiction & Fantasy
The entire island was on fire yet only one building was destroyed. Everyone disappeared. A schoolhouse survived unscathed. People believe it's now haunted. The school and the island remained abandoned for years. One day, Kiran, En and a team of magical investigators travel to the island to banish whatever haunts the schoolhouse. It takes them no time to realize the building isn't the problem. The island is.
Book Bubbles from The Unburned Island
The Bookworm
I usually build a character in my head before I search photos. En was the opposite. I was searching for inspiration, saw a photo and was like "I can see En doing this." I built him around that photo.
Opening
When I got to the end of the first draft, I had to go back and change a lot of the opening. That tends to happen a lot. The story ends differently than the way you expected. I also left out a lot of setting detail. I had to add that on the second read.
The Sciell's Legacy: Book 4 of The Merging World Series
Science Fiction & Fantasy
The final chapter in the dark family saga.
Rough-Cut Book Bubbles from The Sciell's Legacy: Book 4 of The Merging World Series
The Beginning
This started out as a short story. Just for fun, I turned Darkness and Silence into monsters. I was fine with it being a short story but the book had over plans. It wanted to be longer. I soon realized it wanted to be apart of The Merging Worlds series. I resisted because I knew this world was going to be hard to build. The story pestered me until I gave in. It took awhile for me to make all the pieces fit. Now, it's all working out.
Welcome To My World
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Everything begins at the end. Lil “Furor” Aona never knew the world before the demons took over. Her race, the Bête Noir, fight them. The demons have always been their enemy. The world, however, isn't so simple. To the humans, the Diras are benevolent rulers. Humans see the Bête Noire as the abominations. Lil and her family know better. They've fought enough demons. The Diras want to destroy all humans. What's their final plan? Will Lil ever find out?
Book Bubbles from Welcome To My World
Shyne
I named him Shyne just to try it out. I think I got the name from a TV show. That Shyne was a female. My character came that name. Funny enough. He's the exact opposite of his name. Lil is viscous yet sweet. Shyne is just vicious. His kind of a beast on the outside, yet he raised Lil.
Talking Mind to Mind
For some reason , I love the concept of people being able to talk mind to mind. Most of my stories have characters who are able to talk directly to each other's minds. How they communicate is different. In this story, Lil is connected with her guardian, the paladin. They can speak to each other no matter where the other is in the world.
The Story That Went There
I usually have some carnage in my stories. Welcome to My World was something special. This story has a lot of carnage. I don't know why I wrote the book like that. I think I did it just because.
Chains of the Sciell Book 2 Merging Worlds Series
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Darkness changed the world. Josephine and Divine feel both connected and afraid of it. Darkness took something from them. They want it back. A mysterious Plague swept through Middle Jael. Walls of Darkness now surround cities around the world. Supplies are low. Prices are high. Still, humans survive. Josephine and Divine know they're different. They can do things, see things. They can’t remember their past. Soon they're kidnapped and trapped inside Midnight Prysn- a twisted mansion created to keep them weak. They realized they are bonded together by invisible strings. Midnight Prysn holds the answers to their missing years, to their abilities. The more they learn, the more they don’t want to know. Something terrible happened to them there. As Midnight Prysn's new residents regain their memories, they realize these connections can be chains. If you enjoy dark characters with powers and mystery in a dystopian world, you’ll love Chains of the Sciell.
Book Bubbles from Chains of the Sciell Book 2 Merging Worlds Series
A Character's Mind
I don't know how I came up with this but my characters can travel through each other's mind. When they dive, they see their mind as a maze with many doors. The condition of the mind reflects the conditioning of the maze. If you're mind if filled with nothing but hateful thoughts, the maze will be ugly.
The World
For Book 1, all the characters came from the same place and they didn't work. I didn't have to do a lot when it came to creating a world and job systems. In Book 2, the characters come from across the land, they've held a variety of jobs and many of them traveled overseas. I needed to create a world map and country profiles. I also needed to give the characters careers because a person's career tends to impact how they see the world. I chose careers I had some familiarity with- researcher, historian and architect.
Royal Transforms
I'm a huge anime fan so it's not surprising that it sneaks into my stories. Josephine Royal has a second form. Her power surrounds her body. It's like a fire that burns everything it touches. She can turn this fire into a massive wave large enough to destroy an entire town.
Royal
Josephine Royal finds herself alone on the road in this post-apocalyptic world. Traveling at night is pretty dangerous but Royal's different. She's afraid of the dark for different reasons. In this scene, men come out and attack her. She's terrified of the non-human stalker living in the Darkness.
An Epic Tree House
Josephine Royal loves history. She totally had a nerd moment when she found her house. When I first created this house, it looked ordinary. Actually, Royal didn't live in a house, but I wanted something different. I pictured her living in this epic tree house. I searched Pinterest for images of tree houses and used them as inspiration for Royal's house. She loves that place so much.
First Friend
Up until this point, you only saw the grumpy side of Divine. Then, he meets Shade. Divine likes being around her. He doesn't understand. She makes him feel like a child. It bugs him that he doesn't understand. Shade becomes his first friend.
Older Vayle
Younger Vayle was a bit stiff. He didn't care about anything except Shade. As he grew older, his mouth got dirtier. He doesn't swear. He doesn't use vulgar words- not always. It was fun writing in his older voice- trying to come up creative ways to be obscene. Some of his lines make me so happy. For some reason, I also saw him as being terrible with cold weather. Winters in this land are brutal. Vayle becomes extra grumpy during winter.
Shade
It was good getting inside Shade's head again. You met her in Book 1. She's grown up a lot in Book 2. She's still a little silly. That will never change. I added this chapter late in the game. The opening came even later. One of my beta readers wanted more descriptions of the world.
Special Guests
Chains of the Sciell, although it's Book 2, has a different cast than Book 1. I really had no intention of including the characters from the first book in Chains of the Sciell. While writing this book, it occurred to me it would be cool to have a character, Shade, do a cameo appearance. As soon as I wrote Shade into this book, a separate story line unfolded. I was so excited to have the cast from Book 1 interact with the new characters in Book 2. This also meant, Chains of the Sciell, like, doubled in length. The "older" characters helped the family theme.
Traveling the Mind
Characters can travel through their own minds. Their connections allow them to read each other's minds. Don't know where this concept came from. I think it just came to me as I was writing the story. Traveling their own minds is a form of meditation. They picture their minds as a physical place, a house for instance. They put a version of their bodies in this house and explore it. Each door leads to a memory. Some doors open as they pass, others need to be opened. Other doors need a shoulder or a good kick to open.
Family Bonds
An outsider might think these four don't like each other. They insult one another without thought. They steal each other's things. That's how they are. The aren't the type to hug, hold hands and spew mushing words. I write these type of characters most. They may insult each other but they're loyal. These characters never turn on family. In the series, family has a broad definition. It doesn't always mean someone they share blood with. Family is someone they're so close to they feel like siblings.
Divine
Divine Mathews knows how to control his emotions. He's the type of person who could rationalize his way out of feeling angry, lonely, worried. But, in this passage, he's not controlling anything. He's not trying to. On the outside, Divine is a model of self-control. He doesn't get angry often but when he does, it's a mess. Ironic naming a person like this Divine. He became Divine before I fleshed out his character. His mom named him. This doesn't come up in the story. She died giving birth to him. His mom thought she she was barren until she got pregnant. Divine was her miracle.
Divine's Voice
I love playing with words. It's fun finding creative ways to show anger or annoyance. Writing this story was a whole different animal. The characters have careers and it shows in how they look at things. Divine builds house, or he used to. When he sees a stretch of land, he's evaluating it. He describes houses as though he's trying to sell them. I had to create stylistic periods so Divine sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
Putting the Pieces Together
This chapter wasn't in the first or the second draft. As I was writing the book, I decided to change the first chapter which meant I had to had this one. The first chapter ended with Josephine Royal being stranded well away from home. I had to get her home, somehow. That's how my writing goes. I don't outline, so I'm discovering the story and the world along with my characters. As I go along, certain things, big or small, will occur to me and I have to include them in the story to make the world come alive.
The Carnage
Both Books 1 and 2 started with carnage. I didn't do it on purpose. Gore can be effective if it's not overdone.
The Marked Hosts
Science Fiction & Fantasy
She should’ve let him to die. Contessa Torain’s job was simple. Talk humans out of blowing up her world because of a few rogue Brevia. A moment of pure insanity leads her to save a child, Asamee Banks. The brat follows her home. He smells like her kind, only different. His existence creates a mystery it’s her responsibility to solve. She should’ve let his soul get eaten. The brat is an aggravation. All she wants is a quiet life. More Brevia invade the human world, feeding off the residents. Contessa, Cezon Draior- her childhood friend and husband-to-be-, Sarisha Torain- her half-sister- and four children escape to their homeland, Devortus, in another world. Devortus is empty. Contessa's family is missing. The Sencil, dragon-like guardians of the land- are dying. She only wants to find her family. The Sencil care only about getting another body.
Book Bubbles from The Marked Hosts
A New World
The story was fun and frustrating to write. I wanted to create new worlds, they type of places I never put in a story before. I drew inspiration for this world from an image of a city siting on a ocean, the city continued down under water. It was the only thing in the middle of the ocean. I pulled more images to get an idea of the what the inside of the city looked like. This story let me really play around with some fantastical worlds.
Relationship
I didn't go into this story intending Contessa and Cezon to have such a serious romantic relationship. It just happened. It was fun watching them develop. They were comfortable around each other. They accepted things from each other they wouldn't tolerate from anyone else.
Half-Dragon
This story is my first one with dragons. They're energy beings called Sencil who can take the form of dragons. Then I though, you know what would be more fun? Making someone half-dragon. And, I did.
The Ice City
I wanted this story to have a different kind of landscape. Searching through Pinterest, I found fantasy artworks of giant statues. Then I thought, what if the statues were actually cities. What if tons of giant statues stood in one area and hundreds of people lived inside them. A city within a city.
What If...?
Most of the time, I can't track where I got an idea for a story. With The Marked Hosts, I was riding the subway one day, staring at the sign "Do not lean on doors." I began to think, what would happen if someone leaned on the doors? What if, some creature stole the soul of anyone who leaned on the door. That's how this story started.
The Sciell
Science Fiction & Fantasy
“it's an original book that grabbed my attention and left me wanting to read more!!” (Romorror Fan Girl) “I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a darker plot.” (Paranormal Romance and Authors that Rock) Darkness is alive. It has power. Darkness has power. It sets its sights on destroying a small village of Del’Praeli. Can Shade and Vayle survive? Del’Praeli begin to act more violent, more like animals. Some escape to human cities to feed. Someone behind the scenes is helping Darkness take over Raesul and letting these new monsters loose on the world Somehow, Shade and Vayle aren’t affected. They soon uncover the dark lies behind their village. They unravel the twisted truths behind their pasts and powers. Maybe Raesul's destruction will show them their true selves. Darkness is changing. The world will suffer. If you enjoy dark adventures, gritty characters, the powers of darkness, you’ll love The Sciell.
Book Bubbles from The Sciell
The Darkness
In this series, Darkness is like a child that's growing up. At first, it was with the right people to guide it and use its power. Then, it became a teenager and the wrong people grabbed a hold of it and guided it to enslave the world. I like the idea of making Darkness something that can be good or evil depending on who controls it.
Welcome to Raesul
It took a lot of planning and sketching to create this village. It's in the middle of a forest, hidden in a modern world. It's an old village. I needed to develop an entire history and explain why no one's found the village. Raseul is full of non-humans but the way it's run is very close to human-like since the founders used to be human.
Relationship
Bonds is a running theme throughout the entire series. The character's relationships is key to the plot. It drives everything they do. Sometimes, they can be too close that it pulls them apart. Shade and Vayle see each other as siblings though they aren't related. Vayle takes care of her like he's her parent. He helped raise her. They have a strong bond. They don't often get to just enjoy each other's company.
The Merging Series
For this series, I put three books together that were three stand alone stores. I realized the world in each story was similar. Merging the stories meant I sometimes had to work backwards and from the middle. Divine was in the second book as a adult. Rayne came in the third book. I made them brothers and put them in book 1 as children. Before I put these three books together, Resnick was evil. As I worked on him more, I couldn't find a reason to keep him evil, which means the final book in the series needs a new bad guy.
More Than Sibling Emotions
I had fun with Shade and Vayle's interactions. No matter how hard she tried, Shade seems incapable of doing the right thing. She tries to hide her mistakes from Vayle. She can't hide anything from him. Lying to her brother gets her in even more trouble. Vayle loves Shade but he has no patience. Vayle has a tendency of insulting people when he's angry. Shade's so used to it, it doesn't hurt her feelings.
Brothers
I had fun with Vayle and Lafeyette's relationship. At first, they weren't going to get alone. Lafeyette, the oldest, was supposed to be the mean one. Vayle would grow up wanting his brother's attention then, as he got older, realized he didn't need it. As I started writing them, things changed. Their roles sort of shifted. Lafeyette wants his little brother affection so he spoils Vayle. Their "parents" are...interesting. Lafeyette raised Vayle. In turn, Vayle helped raise Shade.
Creating a Power System
This scene was one of the hardest to write. For the series, I created a new power system where people pull Energy from Darkness and use their bodies to transform it into things like shields, weapons, poisons, and fire. For Shade, since she's half-human, I developed another way she uses this power. Being half-human makes her weaker. I stopped editing this scene so I could get a better handle on the power system and how Shade uses it. On top of that, I was learning how to write fight scenes through this book. I wrote this scene over and over again.
Shade and the Moon
Shade has a collection of unusual friends- the moon, a dog and a house. As a half-breed, Shade has a unique relationship with the moon. She can use it to draw power from Darkness. The moon is the only reason this half-human can pull power from Darkness. It's like her best friend.
Bleak Tahylur
At first, Bleak only had one chapter towards the middle of the story. But, my editor said I should add another one early on in the story. Most of the novel is told from Shade and Vayle's perspective. My editor said readers would get thrown off being introduced to another POV character so late in the story. I thought about it. I realized she was right. Adding this chapter was fairly easy. I knew it was the right thing to do. I love Bleak. It was fun giving her another chapter.
Creative Insults
I wanted to find ways for characters to insult each other without cursing. I felt Vayle would be the best character to do this with. He's like a high class citizen. He speaks proper...unless he's angry. Then, he uses his firm grasp of language to thoroughly insult someone- usually Shade since she's the only one who can make him that angry. Shade's so used to it by now that it doesn't bother her.
Bonds
Family is important in this series. In The Sciell, Shade and Vayle see each other as siblings though they aren't blood related. Vayle helped raise Shade. He protected her from bullies when she was a kid. At the beginning of the book, these two spend some good quality time together for the first time in years. They're just so happy to be living in the same area again. Their relationship kept evolving as I wrote this book. Shade is Vayle's only light. I had fun with them. Shade can be kinda bratty and a pain in the ass--only around Vayle. He loves her anyway. Vayle is mature but Shade's the only one who turns him into a child.
The Village-Their Home
Home is important in The Sciell. The characters feel at home with each other. The place they grew up, Raesul, never felt like home. Most of the book takes place in Raesul. I drew out this village's layout to visualize it. This helped me understand the space between buildings, how tall these structures can be, how the characters live and how the river helps and interferes with the villagers' lives. For Savage Hall, I searched for images of cottages and modeled that house after the image I liked. Savage Hall and Vayle are the only safe places Shade has. Savage Hall is alive. It protects her.
Shade's struggle
This is the first time you see the prejudice Shade suffers for being half-human. She doesn't allow them to make her feel small. Shade is a fighter. This passage also introduces one of the story's main conflicts.
The Power
Darkness can be good or bad depending on how it's used. Lifeblood, Energy in Darkness, gives life and takes it away. This passage is the characters' power at its core. The characters need the power in order to live. The power can also destroy the world.
Her First Meal
I went into this novel wanting to write a horror story from the "monsters" point of view. It turned into a dark fantasy with likable non-humans beings as main characters. Shade, a half-humans, lived with humans for several years. Her kind are meat eaters who can't consume human food. Shade spent years eating food that made her sick. At the beginning of the story, she loses control and devours an entire person.
Sibling Bond
I had intended Shade to be the superior. She would hold some sort of high position while Vayle was her follower. As I wrote this novel, Vayle turned into the mature big brother. Shade became the bullied child he helped raise and train. Their relationship worked well this way and it created some conflict for Book 2.
The Shadow
Karl Jung's concept of the Shadow is the basis of the power system. He said our Darkness isn't evil. The part of ourselves we're ashamed of, wish to hide, contains potential untapped energy. The non-humans beings in The Sciell can reach into this Darkness, the Shadow, and draw out the Energy to create things like weapons, shields, energy attacks and electricity.
Visible through Darkness
Science Fiction & Fantasy
What if you were the only one? How strong would you be? The dark world rejects Jade Greer. She's an outcast. Her only light is memories of her dead family. An unusual call leads her to Serin, a prisoner trapped in darkness for twenty years. Saving him leads Jade to a world for people with powers. A world her parents were once a part of. Jura, the once vibrant world, is dying. The magic is leaving the land. Jade and Serin have no homes to go back to, but they move forward with hope because they're no longer alone.
Book Bubbles from Visible through Darkness
A New Relationship
Jade spent her life being assaulted. She wanted a friend. On the other hand, she doesn't trust people enough to form any deep bonds. Then Serin shows up in one of the strangest ways imaginable. She tells herself not to trust him. Yet, she doesn't fight him when he kisses her. She doesn't understand it herself.
First Time
Jade doesn't like being touched. She always wanted someone who's touch didn't make her want to curl up and die. She finally found someone- yet he's not human. She won't give into him so easily. He knows her. She doesn't remember him.
She finds Light
I usually don't add romance to my stories but I was having fun with this one. For some reason, I like darkness, so I had it to this story. The darkness is alive. It's apart of a person. Jade finds her light and her purpose in this strange darkness.
Enough
Jade had enough. She's bullied, neglected, unloved. She just snapped. There's some foreshadowing here. After this moment, Jade's life changes-for the better is up for debate.
The Worst World
This world was the toughest to create. There are no laws. People do whatever they want. The city's a toilet. I had to figure out how far I wanted to "go there" without making the story too hard to read. I think I found a nice balance.
The Girl Who Doesn't Fit In
Jade's in a world where no one is like her. They treat her badly because she's different. When I first wrote the book, the opening was more narrative heavy, no dialogue. Visible Through Darkness was supposed to be a story version of my emotions. Writing always made me feel better. I decided to make it more of a story and less of a unloading of emotions. This story is wishful thinking. I had a lot of fun writing it.
Darkness Ignites the Flame
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Jade and Serin thought they found a home. Darkness found them instead. A strange red cloud covers the mountain. It poisons... everything. An old and relentless enemy finds them. Their only choice is to escape through an underground tunnel with a group of small but powerful protectors. Soon, a new, more horrifying, enemy pursues them. In order to survive, Jade and Serin must use magical abilities they didn’t know they had. This dark adventure shows them they’re far more unique than they believed... or desired. This book can be read alone or as part of a series.
Book Bubbles from Darkness Ignites the Flame
Red Cloud
I was watching a documentary about strange occurrences. They talked about this city being covered in a red fog. It wasn't harmful. It didn't last long. I can't remember the name of the place or the show I watched. It was a good story idea so I wrote it down. When I got stuck in Darkness Ignites the Flame, I threw in a red cloud. It got me unstuck.
Shadows under the Light
Science Fiction & Fantasy
They once moved forward together with hope. Now, shadows have infested their light. Food and water are scarce. Jade and Serin travel across a dying land, Jura, searching for a home where they will be accepted. They need to stay vigilant. Everything and everyone wants them dead. Jurians blame the two for the desolation of Jura. No place to rest. Jade and Serin don’t know much about their powers or their families. This journey, their wish, seems impossible. Their bond deepens as they find safety in each other. Their desperate search for water leads them deep underground. Finally, a safe community. Can they rest? The enemy follows their every movement. An ally watches from a distance. After an impossible journey, a home and rest...for now.
Book Bubbles from Shadows under the Light
Monsters
One reason I love fantasy, especially dark fantasy, is I can create all kinds of creatures. Sometimes I rely on mythology. Most of the time, I look up fantasy artwork and find cool, creepy monsters to drop in my stories. Sometimes, the creepy monsters aren't always the bad ones.
The Lost Sciell
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Almost finished Book 3 of The Merging Worlds Series.
Rough-Cut Book Bubbles from The Lost Sciell
Characters and Connections
The story is more about the characters and the trouble they run into, the relationships they are building and repairing. There's an overarching plot but the story is more character drive. It's about survival. I've been having trouble writing a description for this book. The story has so many different point of view characters that it's difficult to pick just one for the description. I don't want the summary to be too long. I think, though, I have something I can work with.
Family
All my characters have interesting relationships, especially Bel and Blae. They're brothers but Bel spent most his life pretending he was an only child. Blae pretended that didn't bother him. In The Lost Sciell, they're beginning to build a relationship.
A New Chapter
Working on The Lost Sciell was mostly editing chapters. Every now and then, I'd come to a point in a story where I realized I needed another chapter to better explain something. This was one of those chapters.
History
One of my characters, Josephine, nerds out over history. I'm realizing that probably wasn't the smartest hobby to give her. She describes things by giving the history which means I need to develop a history for everything she sees. I know quite a bit US history so I use that as my inspiration for my world, Jael. It's difficult but it's nice when it all comes together.
Another Problem Chapter
I've read this chapter about 3 times. I keep missing some important detail, I find some inconsistency or didn't describe something. This setting Isla, the Stone Fortress, is probably the hardest things to describe in this book, so far. I don't know why. I think now I'm closer to what I want this chapter to be.
Problem Chapter
This chapter's been giving me some trouble. There's an argument that happens towards the end. Something's missing from it and I can't figure out what. There's also some world building, timeline, things that I need to figure out. I put a comment on this chapter so I can return to it.
A Long Chapter
It took two re-reads to fix this chapter. On the second read, I realized it was took long and had to find a way to break it up. I really need to learn how to be a faster editor. It's taking way too long to go through this novel.
Describing Settings
I was editing Chapter 8 when I realized I never described the setting. I went back to chapter 1 to fix it.
Cutting the Fat
I read this chapter first and wasn't all the impressed with it, too much info-dumping. Needed to go over it again to cut out a lot of unnecessary details. It reads better now.
Witty Banter
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Generally, writing the characters' interactions are fun. I'm a sucker for some witty banter.
Rayne
I think there's too much exposition at the beginning of the chapter. This one needs to be trimmed down a bit. What say you?
The First Fight Scene
I'm struggling over what should be the first chapter of Book 3. I like how you get a battle at the end of chapter 1. The chapter's a little long though. I'm still working out how the book's going to open.
Devdan Manor
Science Fiction & Fantasy
What haunts demons? Expelled from his birthplace for a power he couldn't control, Cyl Antun searches for a real home with his two siblings and longtime friend. Darkness falls. Vicious nocturnal demons close in on them. A mansion appears. They rush inside to escape the night terrors. Strange marking cover the walls. A black void now surrounds this house. They’re trapped. The mansion is empty. Yet, they are not alone.
Book Bubbles from Devdan Manor
Haunted House
I always wanted to write a haunted house story. This one turned into more of a dark fantasy but it was fun adding all the haunting things I love from horror books and movies
Pinterest Inspiration
I needed a creepy house for this story. I went to Pinterest and searched for houses. Found one I loved. The mansion in the book and its interior were inspired by images I found on Pinterest.
Magic and Technology
I'm always baffled by the fact that most fantasy stories don't have modern technology. It doesn't take the fun out of writing a fantasy world or a magic system. The world in Devdan Manor has cars and magic. Technology is not wide-spread. The city Mortaus, the elite, keep all the technology.
The Opening
It took me awhile to get the opening right. I saw this going another way. Then, my publisher looked it over and told me I always start my stories that way. So, I had to change it. I still have the old opening. I might share it one day.
Clipped Wings
Science Fiction & Fantasy
What is worse- prison of the body or soul? Camin Barice and Jammary Surrette are held captive by those that now rule the worlds. One is forced into a life trapped in a windowless mansion where he can never use his wings. The other can travel, but her powers and memories belong to The Custodians. Even if the walls fell, would they be free?
Book Bubbles from Clipped Wings
The Blog Series
For some reason I like opening a story with some carnage. This story started out as a blog series. I hadn't planned on publishing it. But, I liked it so I decided to add a few more pages, edit it and publish it. The cover took me ages to design. Coloring those wings was a nightmare. It was one of the first covers I created.
