Hi, everyone!
Welcome to another edition of Spotlight Saturday at Darlene's Book Nook, where we feature authors and their books!
We will be joined today by Alina Adams.
About Alina:
Alina Adams is the New York Times’ best selling author of soap opera tie-ins, figure skating mysteries, and romances, including Annie’s Wild Ride and When a Man Loves a Woman. Her latest project is Counterpoint: An Interactive Family Saga. In addition to turning her own backlist into enhanced e-books, she has produced enhanced e-books for others, including Dan Elish, whose middle-grade fantasy novel, The Worldwide Dessert Contest, now includes its own original musical score.
CONNECT ONLINE WITH ALINA:
Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, Alina!
Alina has written a guest post, so I will now turn the floor over to her!
The Neverending Stories
If I were Margaret Mitchell, the first thing I’d have done after the runaway success of “Gone With the Wind” (okay, the second; the first would have been to hire a cleaning lady, the indulgence I currently dream of), the second thing I would have done is write a sequel.
And not just for the money (though, you know, good cleaning ladies don’t come cheap). In fact, it wouldn’t have been for the money, at all. It would have been because, as a reader and as a writer, once I fall in love with a set of characters, I want to know what happens to them next.
I suppose it’s my background of watching – and working in – soap operas. There’s always a what happens next in soap operas (well, at least until an actor decides to leave the show, or that they can’t stand their leading man another minute – but, even then, a new face on an old character can sometimes still keep the story going. But, I digress).
Why can’t books be the same way?
I want to know what happened to Scarlett and Rhett after the door slam heard ‘round Atlanta. I want to know the fate of Anna Karenina’s children, and whether the second Mrs. De Winter ever wised up and left her wife-killer husband, and especially how Wesley and the Princess Bride managed to keep their mutual promise never to die first (I have very eclectic tastes in literature).
When it came to my own books, I operated on the principle that somewhere there were other readers like me, who also enjoyed finding out how various characters were faring. So, in my Figure Skating Mystery series, which includes “Murder on Ice,” “On Thin Ice,” “Axel of Evil,” “Death Drop” and “Skate Crime,” although each Whodunnit is tied up at the end of the novel, the characters continue on, playing big parts in one book, supporting roles in another, but always there to check in and remind that they’re still around.
However, if there is one other thing I learned from working in soap operas, it’s that while the writer may have one vision of what’s best (or worst) for his or her characters, the fans may have a completely different opinion.
In the past, their only outlet was fan fiction (which they then rewrote and published as a best-selling book of erotica. But I digress, yet gain). But, not anymore. Technology has finally gotten us all to a place where readers can actually dictate story to the writer.
Let me explain.
In 2009, while working for Procter & Gamble Productions (producers of the soap operas “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light”), I developed an on-line serial for them, www.AnotherWorldToday.com, which featured two episodes a week, at the end of which, readers were asked to vote on what they wanted to happen next.
And they did.
And I wrote what they wanted. (Well, what some of them wanted, anyway. No matter how seemingly obvious the question, we never had a landslide poll, and some results were so close that I have to assume, no matter what I did, half the readers would be upset.)
Three years later, I have taken the “Another World Today” model and applied it to my own original work. “Counterpoint: An Interactive Family Saga” tells the tale of one very wealthy clan’s very dark secrets, and the brother and sister who get tangled up in them while falling in love with the very last two people they should be.
“Volume One” sets up the story. But, the rest is up to you. At the end of this enhanced e-book there is a link taking you either to a message board or a Facebook page, where you can tell me where you want the story to go.
And I will write it.
As long as there’s interest, I plan to keep this series up indefinitely.
Because, as you may have heard, I really like to know what happens next…
Thanks so much for joining us today, Alina!
Three lucky winners will win Kindle Gifts of Counterpoint: An Interactive Family Saga - Volume 1.
From Alina Adams, "New York Times" best-selling author of "Oakdale Confidential," "Jonathan's Story," "When a Man Loves a Woman," "Annie's Wild Ride" and the Figure Skating Mystery series, comes "Counterpoint: An Interactive Family Saga," where readers are invited to help write the story!
When Victoria Morgan agreed to come work for the mysterious Cooper family, she never expected their long-hidden secrets to bleed over into her own - or to fall in love with Douglas Cooper's playboy son, Robin.
A development Robin's wife, Nicole, has no intention of accepting gracefully - even if it means destroying the only person who ever gave a damn about her... and everyone he cares about, as well.
2010 SCRIBE Award Winner Adams (for "The Man From Oakdale") begins her tale of passion, intrigue, and deceit with Volume #1 of "Counterpoint," then turns it over to her readers to guide where they want to see the tale go next.
A new volume of "Counterpoint" will be released monthly, written by Adams... and you.
Buy Link: Amazon Kindle
To enter the giveaway, you must complete the Rafflecopter entry form below.
This giveaway is open worldwide until 12:01 AM EST on June 9, 2012.
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How I missed this tour is beyond me but I will try catching up. Looks like interesting reading.
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