Guest Post & Giveaway - Assassins: Nemesis by Erica Cameron

Assassins: Nemesis

By Erica Cameron  

How the beginning leads to the end 

I completed my first original novel in 2008. It was a contemporary fantasy that played with a twist on the concept of guardian angels, but it was a mess. Over the period of a year or more, I edited and polished and adjusted and fixed. Although I queried versions of this book a few times, and several times it garnered interest from agents, I eventually had to acknowledge truth—I had written myself into a corner with the series’ plot, and the problems were big enough that I didn’t know how to fix them. 

It was unfixable, but it didn’t matter. The book was a lesson. More than one, really. It taught me I was capable of finishing a novel. It proved to me that people wouldn’t hate what I wrote. It demonstrated how many problems would arise in a plot if I didn’t at least have an idea of where I was going. I learned as much as I could, and I kept writing. 

My next attempt was a dark contemporary, but again, I ran into more problems than I knew how to handle. Unsure of how to fix it, I moved on quicker this time, because that was something else my first novel taught me—don’t linger too long without a plan of attack. I promised myself I’d come back later if I knew how to fix the concept, and I still might one day. 

Sing Sweet Nightingale, which became my debut novel, was the third book I wrote. Finally, with this story, I felt as though things were beginning to come together. I better understood how to weave all the elements of the book together. The story thrilled me the same way my first original concept had, and when the time came to fix things, I knew how to break the story down, rearrange the pieces, and construct something better. My editors and I made it as shiny as possible, and it released in 2014.

With Sing, everything was new, fresh, and full of excitement. It was the beginning of a series that my publisher wanted to release pretty quickly. Life and industry complications changed the plans, and now only two of the four planned novels in the Dream War Saga are out in the world. Despite the delay, I wanted author to become my full-time career, so I kept writing. 

In September of 2016, I released my fifth novel. Nemesis makes six, but it’s also a first for me—the first time I have ever said goodbye to a series and a cast of characters. 

Writing is a continuous learning process, one that rarely travels a straight or simple line. Looking back at the past several years, it’s easy now to see how the beginning of this path has led to the end, but along the way it sometimes felt like I wasn’t ever going to get here. I am here, though, and I’m still learning. My first attempt may have proven that I could finish a novel, but Nemesis taught me how to close out a series arc. All I can hope now is that readers will find the conclusion of the arc as satisfying as I have.

~Erica Cameron 

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About Assassins: Nemesis 

Being orphaned and almost kidnapped in the space of a week sent Blake Marks into hiding. For months, Blake tries to help the Calvers—a family of vigilante bodyguards—investigate the people behind the hit on Blake’s father, Isaac, but then the safe house is compromised. Just as hired thugs storm the house to grab Blake, Daelan Calver dives into the fight, getting them both out alive. 

Hiding isn’t an option anymore, but hit squads, under-the-table deals, and international espionage? Blake has no idea how to handle any of it, not even with Daelan’s family there to play teachers. The one thing Blake knows for sure is that there are only two options: keep up with the Calvers or get out of their way. 

But even with the Calvers’ help and the glimmer of a possible future with Daelan giving Blake hope, chances of survival keep shrinking. The man who ordered the hit on Isaac may be dead, but his partner is viciously cold-blooded, and her plans could change the course of history. Blake wants to finish what Isaac started, but it’s looking like someone is going to die before this is over. And that someone might be Blake. 

Purchase at Riptide and Amazon 

Author Interview & Giveaway - Assassins: Discord by Erica Cameron

Assassins: Discord

by Erica Cameron

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Talking with Erica Cameron!!

Walk us through your writing process.

I have never written two books the same way. Recently I did start to think that I was beginning to develop an actual method of sorts, but that flew out the window with my most recent ideas. I haven’t really started writing them yet, but I already have the three stories mapped out in a way that I’ve never done before. Definitely not at this stage.  

More often (not always, but more often) I start with a line or a moment between two or more characters, or a question I want to answer. Then, I write without planning much of anything, researching bits and pieces as I develop the story. That can save time sometimes, but other times my research suddenly points out something that changes the story and I realize I’ve got to delete a lot of words. It depends. Once I’m in the story, I can either finish it without much planning or outlining, or I have to go back to the beginning and figure out how all of the pieces I’ve laid out connect to everything I need to happen before the end. Then I hand my messy first draft to a critique partner or whichever of my editors the project is due to and beg them to help me fix it. Editing comes next. LOTS of editing.  

What is your ideal writing space? 

Ideally? A shaded café patio that offered a great view on a cool but sunny day. More realistically, any café. If I were less lazy, slept on a normal person’s schedule, and if Starbucks had more comfortable/ergonomic seats, I’d probably write at my local Starbucks every day. The baristas there are absolutely lovely, and the reminder that there’s a world outside my computer is nice. There’s also the not at all negligible importance of perceived peer pressure, the need to look like I’m doing something and not just messing around on social media. Since I’m usually either asleep or at work during the day, I tend to write at home instead. I have a great office setup in a corner of my room, but I also spend a lot of time in my living room where I can put something on TV in the background and feel slightly less confined.   

What keeps you motivated? Do you get writer’s block? 

If by block you mean a lack of ideas, then no. If by block you mean I know what needs to happen and who needs to do what and can even point to where and how all of that has to occur but I still can’t manage to put decent words on a page, then yes. There’s an inescapable amount of emotional energy and brainwork that goes into writing a book. If something else in your body or in your life diverts that elsewhere, writing becomes nearly impossible. It becomes a slog. You feel blocked. Maybe it can feel like you don’t have ideas, but I think that most of the time it’s that something else is throwing your mental balance off. Whether that’s money trouble, health problems, family drama, work stress, or something else entirely, even a small shift can make a big difference in how well your brain functions. Or at least it does for me.  

What was the research process like for Discord? 

If there is such a thing as an FBI/NSA/Homeland watchlist based on search history, I am probably on it. Weapons, computer hacking, homemade explosives, breaking into cars, security systems, non-extradition countries, and almost anything else you can think of. I had wanted to also take lessons at a gun range, but unfortunately neither time nor money allowed for that to happen.  

There’s a Microsoft Office program called OneNote that I use to organize all of my research, especially after I learned the hard way not to trust that you’ll always be able to find an article online again when you need it. I’m finishing up with the last bit of edits on the second book, NEMESIS, and so for the entire series, when I export the OneNote to a PDF backup, I ended up with over 400 pages of notes. Maps, locations, images of clothes and characters and weapons—I have all of that. Plus, I have a Google Map with dozens of pins on locations I need to remember, and I have a Google calendar specifically for the book to help me timeline the whole series of events and figure out who’s doing what when. 

This book got complicated on me, but always in the best ways.  

If you listen to music while writing, share your playlist. 

What I listen to changes a lot depending on where I am, what is happening around me, and what my headspace is like. I listen to the Spa channel on SiriusXM often since it’s quiet, continuous, and there are zero commercials. If you visit my Spotify profile, you’ll see a lot of my public playlists including my Music to Write to playlist. It’s a lot of movie scores and classical music. I don’t usually listen to music with lyrics because I end up paying too much attention to the lyrics and losing focus on the writing. Oddly enough, that doesn’t apply to movies. I can put a movie on in the background—as long as it’s not a favorite that I can’t help actually watching.   

What would the soundtrack to your book sound like? 

Below are some of the songs on the full playlist. Listen to the whole list on Spotify here. 

Persona – Blue Man Group
Angels Fall – Breaking Benjamin
I Will Not Bow – Breaking Benjamin
Lights Out – Breaking Benjamin
Gone Too Long – Churchill
Howl – Florence + The Machine
Skeletons – Heartist
2 Heads – Coleman Hell
Hush – HELLYEAH
Work – Jimmy Eat World
Love the Way You Hate Me – Like a Storm
Guilty All The Same – Linkin Park
Leave Out All The Rest – Linkin Park
Runaway – Linkin Park
Waiting for the End – Linkin Park
I Disappear – Metallica
Close to Your Heart – Morning Parade
Us & Ourselves – Morning Parade
Knights of Cydonia – Muse
Allies – Mutemath
Clipping – Mutemath
Noticed – Mutemath
Consider This – Anna Nalick
Wires – The Neighborhood
Tonight You're Perfect – New Politics
All the Love in the World – Nine Inch Nails
Getting Smaller – Nine Inch Nails
The Hand That Feeds – Nine Inch Nails
This is the Time (Ballast) – Nothing More
Would You Still Be There – Of Mice & Men
The Tempest – Pendulum
Shadow of Doubt – Bonnie Raitt
I Don't Want to be Here – Rise Against
Fairly Local – Twenty One Pilots
One Way Or Another – Until the Ribbon Breaks 

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About Assassins: Discord: 

Kindra’s moral compass has never pointed north, but that’s what happens when you’re raised as an assassin and a thief. At sixteen, she’s fantastic with a blade, an expert at slipping through the world unnoticed, and trapped in a life she didn’t chose. But nothing in her training prepares her for what happens when her father misses a target. 

In the week-long aftermath, Kindra breaks ranks for the first time in her life. She steals documents, starts questioning who their client is and why the target needs to die, botches a second hit on her father’s target, and is nearly killed. And that’s before she’s kidnapped by a green-eyed stranger connected to a part of her childhood she’d almost forgotten. 

Kindra has to decide who to trust and which side of the battle to fight for. She has to do it fast and she has to be right, because the wrong choice will kill her just when she’s finally found something worth living for. 

Purchase at Riptide: http://riptidepublishing.com/authors/erica-cameron

Purchase at Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2bZuShM 

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About Erica Cameron: 

After a lifelong obsession with books, Erica Cameron spent her college years getting credit for reading and learning how to make stories of her own. Erica graduated with a double major in psychology and creative writing from Florida State University and began pursuing a career as an author. 

Erica is many things but most notably the following: writer, reader, editor, dance fan, choreographer, singer, lover of musical theater, movie obsessed, sucker for romance, ex-Florida resident, and quasi-recluse. She loves the beach but hates the heat, has equal passion for the art of Salvador Dali and Venetian Carnival masks, has a penchant for unique jewelry and sun/moon décor pieces, and a desire to travel the entire world on a cruise ship. Or a private yacht. You know, whatever works. 

Connect with Erica:

• Website  http://byericacameron.com
• Twitter  http://twitter.com/byericacameron
• Tumblr  http://byericacameron.tumblr.com
• Facebook  http://facebook.com/byericacameron
• Instagram http://instagram.com/byericacameron
• Email erica@byericacameron.com

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Giveaway: 

To celebrate the release of Assassins: Discord, one lucky winner will receive $30 in Riptide Publishing credit!

Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest.

Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 10, 2016.

Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.

Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!