Why Hyblood Was Written - Part 2: The Portrayal of Vampires/Werewolves

I know it has been a very long time since Part 1 of 'Why Hyblood Was Written' was posted. Things have been very busy on my end - though I know that is a poor excuse and I am sorry to keep you waiting! - with writing, managing all the accounts of The Wolva Trilogy and speaking with fans, etc. But, finally, here is the 2nd installment to the 2 part entry of why The Wolva Trilogy was written.

If you are unaware of part ones existance, click the link here to read up before you continue reading this entry:

http://thewolvatrilogy.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/why-hyblood-was-written-part-1-fall-of.html

Now that we are all caught up with the first reasoning behind The Wolva Trilogy, I can explain the second: the portrayal of vampire and werewolves in YA novels. Now, you may be wondering just what exactly I mean when I say this, and I will happily explain.

Both myself and the co-author of The Wolva Trilogy are avid YA readers. For those of you that don't know, YA stands for 'Young Adult', one of the most popular book genres presently. Now, being readers of the genre, we started to notice (at the point of developing the story of our Trilogy) that more and more Paranormal YA novels were portraying Vampires (and Werewolves, though far less popular than the pale, fanged, blood-drinking immortals) in a way that we were not too pleased with. A vast majority of YA novels are placed in the present day, inside of school - typical teen settings. Now, while the setting is fine, as it is the YA Genre and the reader must have ways to relate to the plot, the specific ways the Vampires were/are portrayed is very unlike the Immortals that we had grown up reading. (see: Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, etc.) Every author has the right to create any story they want, any way they want, with whatever wording and style that suits them. But when more and more writers start to follow the exact same setting, the exact same mentality for their immortals as well, the readers of the Genre begin to expect this. The readers begin to think that this is the way, the only way, these creatures are and will ever be.

Those of you that have read the classic Paranormal novels will know just what I mean, and many people that read present Paranormal YA have never read or are even aware of Anne Rice's vampires - the classic way vampires were seen, how people used to remember them. You may be asking yourself, "Just what is the difference between present YA immortals and past ones?", here are a few examples:
Classic Vampires that are punished in some form from being in contact with the Sun versus Present YA Vampires who most often feel no pain of any kind from the Sun.

Classic Werewolves who, at the time of the full moon, have no control what-so-ever over changing into their Lycan forms versus Present YA Werewolves who often are never forced to change forms, or do not even change into Lycans at all, but just pure wolves.

The differences can go on to explore the time and settings of present day (schools, etc) versus the classic settings of New Orleans, France (both classic settings for Vampires) or Romania (a much loved classic scene for Werewolves) with the time periods being in the 1800s to very early 1900s.

Our hearts bled for the Vampires of past books, Lestat, the renown Dracula, who are not only forgotten about but are sometimes now seen as incorrect due to these new YA Immortals. This is where our second goal for The Wolva Trilogy was drawn from. We wanted to take readers back to the past for a while, to remind them that Vampire and Werewolves are not always 100 year old Highschool students. That not all Immortals are kind, human-hearted undead creatures, but are in fact blood-drinking, superhuman-strength bearing, immortal creatures of the night.

But, do not think we look down upon other paranormal YA's for their choice of setting or characteristics. As was stated before, every story has the right to be told the way the writer wants, and some readers like that. At the same time, some readers don't, and that's what makes books such a wonderful experience both for readers and writers: choice. That is why myself and the co-author of The Wolva Trilogy decided to write this series. We wanted to not only try to show people what Vampire and Werewolves used to be seen as (while still maintaining the feel of a YA genre), but to also give others the choice between what they want in a YA series/book.

If you have any questions or comments upon the reasoning behind the series or of the first book, feel free to comment and we'll check them out!

Until next time.

The Music Behind the Writing

I always find it amusing, both as a reader and a writer, to find out the songs that people listen to while they write a book. As our list of followers and readers grow by the day, I felt that perhaps some of our fans would like to know just what songs inspired the words behind The Wolva Trilogy. The following three links will each go to 1 of 3 palylists. Each book in the Trilogy having it's own list of music behind it.

Book 1 - 'Hyblood's Playist:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Hyblood+First+Book+Of+The+Wolva+Trilogy/69182539

Book 2 - 'Hyblood: Ada's Prophecy's Playlist:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Hyblood+Ada+s+Prophecy/69182545

Book 3 - 'Hyblood: Eternal War's Playlist:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Hyblood+Eternal+War/69182552

I do hope you enjoy, and perhaps become enlightened by this. And since the second and third books are yet to be released, perhaps these songs will also be a nice teaser for those wondering just what will happen next!

The Number 1,500

Two months and two weeks ago, 'Hyblood: First Book of The Wolva Trilogy' was published and released online. In just two-and-a-half short months, I am proud of the progress the first book in the Trilogy has already made.

Thanks to amazing fans and dedicated readers, I am very happy to announce that we have reached not only 1,500 followers on Twitter, but 1,500 ebook downloads on Amazon.com.

That is simply amazing.

To all you wonderful people who have read 'Hyblood', who have plans to read 'Hyblood' and to those who are currently in the middle of doing so - I just want to say thank you.

You have made the start of this Trilogy's journey through publication amazing, memorable and - without a doubt - you have all left me speechless at one point or another. We could not have made it this far, in such a short amount of time, without all of your support and faith.

I look forward to the coming weeks, months and years as I meet and speak to more of our fans - both present and future - and I know things will become even more amazing during April when 'Hyblood' goes live on several other ebook sites (Kobo, Nook, Apple, and more).

Thank you.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Why 'Hyblood' Was Written - Part 1: The Fall of YA

In the next few entries of this blog, I would like to discuss with our fans and future readers of The Wolva Trilogy just why this series is being written. In this first part, I will be explaining the most important reason behind this series: The Fall of YA novels.

You may be wonder just what I mean by 'The Fall of YA', as I'm sure you can see just how popular this Genre is nowadays. But that would be taking my statement literally in the terms of falling in sales, when what I really mean is falling in quality.

When the idea behind The Wolva Trilogy was first created, one of our main goals was to show people who read YA that not all relationships in YA books have o be unhealthy. I'm sure many of you are aware of these books - without me pointing fingers, as that is not my reasoning behind this post - that portray young women who are, sadly, weak-minded and very easy to be controlled by the often times dominating and/or rude men they fall in love with.

This is such a bad image to give to young readers, and it's time it is stopped. Young readers need to know that real relationships are about equal ground between both sexes in the relationship. A true, loving relationship does not exist when one sex has more power over the other. It's a horrible image to place into the minds of Young Adults- especially young women - and that is where we, the authors of The Wolva Trilogy, step in.

We want people to see what a healthy relationship involves, what it actually could be like between two people who not only are mutual in feelings, but actually respect each others opinions, emotions and beliefs. It's not about control. It's not about one being so love-sick over the other that they cannot breathe without their permission. It's about so much more than that.

In this day and age, so many people jump into relationships based on false beliefs and assumptions that they have learned from books, movies, etc. But what's worse, is that this tide of story-telling does not seem to hit shallow waters for a very long time. Book publishers are trying their hearts out to keep books on shelves  that people want to read. But what people want to read isn't always what the need to read. Sometimes, change is for the better, and sometimes, we don't know just how badly we need change until it happens.

Now, we aren't saying that when you love someone you won't feel saddness when the're apart from you. We aren't saying that your heart won't break if they leave you. Those feelings are normal and healthy. What we are saying, is that in these stories, the characters never evolve and learn how to grow from the pain and the change. They continue on, moping, damaging themselves, making the same bad choice again and again and again in an endless circle until their someone comes back to save them from the hell that they had banished them to. Life is about growth. It's about learning to move on, learning from past pain and mistakes. Learning about yourself.

This is what we want to implement into The Wolva Trilogy. This is one of our two main goals for this series, and we hope that you will join us in this journey to the path of a better YA genre. Like it used to be.

I thank you for reading this, and I hope you check back in in the near future for Part 2 of why Hyblood was written.

Some Q&A

feelingthebr33ze (on Tumblr) asked:

"What is something right now that someone else could do for you that would make you extremely happy?"

Answer:
This is a very good question and fits very well with what I’m trying to accomplish for my book series.

Something that someone could do for me that would make me happy is something quite simple: to spread the word of ‘Hyblood: First Book of the Wolva Trilogy’ to anyone they know, and to those whom they think would enjoy reading this book.

It’s my goal to spread the word of Hyblood so that one day it’s well known and read by many people aroud the world. If just one person mentions it to someone else, a chain reaction starts and soon the name will spread like wildfire.

This is something that would make me extremely happy :)


kindlekwickstart (on Tumblr) asked:

"So what sort of things can we expect from this blog?"

Answer:
This blog will be used for several things in the future involving ‘The Wolva Trilogy’ such as:

-News about contests to win signed copies of the first book, and how the contest will be done.

-Updates on the series and when the next book is due to be released.

-Updates of where the books can be bought/read. (Nook, Apple, etc)

-Questions and Answers that any readers have about the series and hints of what is to come next.

That is just a vague list of what future posts in TWT’s blog will feature, so I do hope our followers stick around to see more, and spread the word to let others in on what is bound to be a new craze.

(More Q&A will be added at later dates!)

The Creation

A Brief Look Back:

A few years ago, two people with common interests met each other online. they quickly became friends, due to many common interest, and went on to become the best of friends they could have ever hoped to find - the only problem being they were from two different parts of the United States. April, being from Maryland, and Stephanie, being from Florida. But, that did not hinder their friendship at all. They emailed, messages and text each other at all hours, sending the longest messages their families had seen in such short spans that a joke arose that they should just ‘write a book already’.

And of course, they loved that idea.

The ideas began to work in their minds, and it didn’t take long for them to agree upon the subject of their future novel together - Vampires and Werewolves. The immortals on everyone’s mind.

At the time, the were not very many Vampire and Werewolf novels around like there is currently (what with Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Trueblood, etc.) so they thought it would be a great idea to bring these immortals back into the light again after being inspired by Anne Rice’s vampire novels, Bram Stokers ‘Dracula’ and the movie ‘The Lost Boys’. The final idea - characters, plot, names and details - were all sorted with in a weeks time. It’s needless to say just how enthusiastic they were about this idea.

Thus the writing began. You may be wondering just exactly how people co-write a book, and even more so, how they co-write a book when they live in two different states. They messages each other. A lot. Even more than before. They both agreed and accepted the chapters they would take, they would proof-read each others writings and give advice/critique. And so this process went on for 7 months until Hyblood, the first in the Wolva Trilogy, was completed.

Thrilled. Excited. Proud.

All these things and more were felt on that day, but little did they know they were far from being finished. Editing of the novel still had to be finalized before they could allow anyone to read it, the cover still had to be drawn and made into a cover, and there was that little nagging detail of just how one goes about getting a book written by two unknown authors published.

But that did not get them down. The editing was finished, the cover was done,business cards were printed and ready to be handed anywhere and everywhere, and they happened upon a self-publishing website.

To hold a real copy of ones own book, something you created and know better than anyone ever could, is a feeling you could not explain. Some words may touch upon it (pride, surreal, shock, glee) but none will ever fully describe it.

About The Novel:

Unlike many of the Vampire/Werewolf novels that are roaming the shelves of bookstores today, The Wolva Trilogy is not set in a modern day school, nor is it even set in modern day times - it is set in France in the 1800s.

The setting and time was chosen for some very simple reasons - vampires and werewolves read best in older times, and France is one of the classic ‘birth places’ of all vampires (that and New Orleans).

Hyblood, the first book, introduces you to the characters you will follow throughout the series, reeling you in to be attached to them as they go through the trials and tribulations of this story. The Hero will falter, the Villain will entice you to come closer, and the plot will keep you reading as you dare to ask yourself, “What’s going to happen to them now?”.

You may now be wondering, just what on earth a ‘Hyblood’ and a ‘Wolva’ are, for you know you’ve never seen these terms before. But to answer that question, would be to give away parts of the story that are best found out in the pages of the novel.

The goal behind ‘The Wolva Trilogy’ was to bring back Vampires and Werewolves in an appropriate light. To see them for what they are; immortal monsters, to see them for how they are to each other; eternal enemies, and to see just what could happen between them if the chance ever arose; a forbidden love.

But do not be worried if you aren’t one who wants gushy immortals, Hyblood is full of murder, betrayal, lies and a sadistic Vampire leader who is sure to capture your attention.

The dream for Hyblood now is for people to read and enjoy it around the world. To get to that point will be a long road, but it’s a journey worth taking. The characters of The Wolva Trilogy deserve to be read, loved and remembered.

The Summary for ‘Hyblood’:

“In 1803 France, a young Frenchman named Gaspard, and his friend move out from the Paris orphanage they have lived in for over a decade. They find jobs at an old mansion and perhaps a friendship in the owners daughter, Jocelyn. 

While working there, they learn of the disappearance of previous stable hands, and believe some coincidence must have occurred - until something happens to change both of their lives forever.

Now Gaspard finds himself in the midst of creatures he has only heard about in fairy tales. He secretly travels to the vampire castle after sunset to be trained by his own kind to survive. Though, he is unaware that the brutal vampire leader, Lucas, has great plans for him and that his change was for an essential reason that he will soon discover.

With the help of his mentor, Gabriel, he is taught the vampire ways and to keep himself hidden from the human world. But his growing friendship with Jocelyn threatens to reveal the truth of what really lies beneath his flesh.

Between his ever reoccurring dreams of his past and his constant feuds with Lucas, he is caught in a reality he wants nothing to do with. Will he be able to keep himself in control with the creature he has become?

A Vampire. A luster of blood.”

Where You Can Find ‘Hyblood’:

At this point, you may be wondering (and I do hope so) just where you can find this book. Just where can you buy ‘Hyblood: First Book of the Wolva Trilogy’? Just follow the links below for your particular poison of choice:

Our Webstore:

Createspace.com/3772265

If you have a KindleFire:

amazon.com/Hyblood-The-Wolva-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B006X817AU/

If you prefer Hardback:

Lulu.com/TheWolvaTrilogy