How it started...

A few people have asked me how I came up with the idea for Transformation and the The Gemini Chronicles series and I have never really seriously thought about putting the process down on paper until last night. So, I'm going to dedicate this blog post to explaining how this story came to be.

About seven years ago in 2005, I started my job as an high school English teacher at a local high school in my area. I was extremely excited to teach. It didn't matter what I was going to teach, as long as I was able to do something that would allow me to give back to my community. Even though I know it sounds like an after school special, it's totally true. I was very grateful that I was able to go to school and earn my degree at the University level because I would be the first in my family to do so. And thanks to all kinds of scholarships and grants, I was able to graduate debt free. Not many of my friends could say the same.

At this time, I had two things I wanted to do with my life: 1) Have a career in teaching and love it; 2) Become a writer with moderate success with my stories. I had already achieved the first, but had no idea how to do the second. So, I enrolled in graduate classes as soon as I could, in hopes of learning everything I could to get to my second goal.

So, going back to my first year of teaching in 2005, I had to go through what all first year teachers have to go through. I had to earn my spot in the workplace. And for anyone who has been a teacher, I was given some pretty tough customers to deal with. While everyone else on campus was moving to eight different periods a day, I only had three; two two-hour blocks, and one one-hour block with a group of freshman that had been promoted by committee from their junior highs the year before. Not a single kid in my classes all day that year had ever passed the state standardized test. Not EVER. So here they were, in my classes, hating me because I represented English to them, and hating the fact that they had to sit in my class for not just one hour, but two. To say that that year was tough is an understatement. Talk about a trial by fire. Anyway, I couldn't get them to read anything. At all. But I pushed them. We read short stories, Harry Potter, Romeo and Juliet, and other things. Some they hated, some they liked, and the whole time I wished I could find something they would WANT to read.

I had Madi and Tristan's characters rolling around in my head for a while, but I never wrote them down. That is, I never thought about it until I started to write my thesis project in late 2006, early 2007. I had decided to go the Rhetoric and Composition route for a Master's degree with a focus in professional writing, which was the closest thing I could find to my second goal. And I learned a lot from those classes. A lot of the way my writing sounds in Transformation is a direct reflection of my classes at the university. Anyway, I chose to write a creative non-fiction thesis on an event that happened locally. The thesis read like a novel, but required a lot of research and transcribing, and interviews and more transcribing so, to get my mind off it, I started to write out Madi, Tannen, and Tristan's story for the first time. So my process was, write a chapter for my thesis, then write one for Madi and the boys. This process stayed the same until I was finally finished with my thesis and defended it to my committee and graduated. Then, I went back and finished off the first book to The Gemini Chronicles.

These are the things I considered as I wrote book one. I wanted to make it interesting for anyone at any age, but I wanted it to be particularly interesting for readers like my tough customers in my first year of teaching. I wanted them to feel accomplished when they were done with it so I didn't want to make it so long that they were frustrated with it, but I didn't want to make it so short that it was novella length. I wanted to roll in adventure, mystery, mythology, and romance so there was a little something for everyone, and I wanted the story to be told mostly through character interaction, which means, not a lot of description and a whole lot of dialogue.

I found that a lot of kids get stuck in the descriptions of things when they're written in long paragraphs, but for some reason, if a character described the exact same thing, it was easier for them to picture it. And I wanted it to be easy for them.  Book one is exactly what I wanted it to be as it has all of these elements all wrapped up in one.

Anyway, I learned a lot from writing book one and as I write book two, I'm taking everything I picked up into consideration. I'm about half way done with book two now and it has a little more description in it but still has a lot of character interaction and plenty of dialogue to move the plot along. There's a lot more going on in book two, a lot more explanation of the mythology, more of the mystery revealed, lots more romance, and I hope that when it's released, you'll want to read it. With book one out, my second goal is met and I'm feeling more and more self-actualized.

So that's how it came to be, my little book. The inspiration of it and the process of writing it down. I'm going to finish this series and see how it goes. I'm proud of my work and I hope others grow to like it. I know not everyone is going to like it, but if even one person finds something they like about it or is inspired by it, then I think I've done my part. Happy reading all!

Follow me on Facebook!

Hello all! I created a page on facebook where you can get the latest information on The Gemini Chronicles, the latest book, and the most up to date information. You can find it at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Gemini-Chronicles-Transformation-by-Christina-Garza/165417556862176

Please "like" the page and share the link with your friends. :) Happy Reading!

Wanna know a little secret about The Gemini Chronicles: Transformation?

Hello everyone! It has been a whirlwind few days since my novel first made it's debut on the online stores on July 10th. I'm so excited by the number of "likes" it's getting on facebook, the number of people who are interesting in reading it already on goodreads.com, and the reviews I am getting on different sites online. I keep thinking, Wow! This is amazing.

So I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Ready? :)

When I first wrote the manuscript, I had started each chapter with a line from one of my favorite songs that would essentially sum up that chapter. You may not know this about me, but I'm in love with Pandora radio and my little brother's itunes account and have taking inspiration from music the whole time I was writing the chapters. So, if you interested, you can have a soundtrack to listen to as you read the chapters to the first book of The Gemini Chronicles, Transformation. Some of the songs set the tone to the chapter, some contradict it, and well, you can decide how each of the song relates. Here's the list of songs:

Prologue: No song here, readers. The dream sets the tone for the action of the entire novel. :)

Chapter One: 
Lonely Day by System of a Down
"Such a lonely day and it's mine.”

Chapter Two:
Goodby Apathy by OneRepublic
“I can't sleep now, no, not like I used to…”

Chapter Three:
Light with a Shapened Edge by the Used“Light with a sharpened edge,
Cut through the black empty space we call sky,
beginning the cycle that stays…”

Chapter Four:
Am I Missing by Dashboard Confessional
“Sharp disaster in a fresh new coma,
was it worth it when it was over….”

Chapter Five:
Getting Away with Murder by Papa Roach
“It isn't possible
to never tell the truth…”

Chapter Six:
Good Riddance by Green  Day“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road;
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go…”


Chapter Seven:
Reinventing Your Exit by Underoath
“We all want to be somebody;
right now we're just looking for the exit…”

Chapter Eight:
9 Crimes by Damian Rice
Leave me out with the waste,
This is not what I do,
It's the wrong kind of place,
To be thinking of you.”


Chapter Nine:
Mr. Brightside by The Killers
“It started out with a kiss,
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss.” 

Chapter Ten:
Swing Life Away by Rise Against
“If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand.

Chapter Eleven:
Downtown by Copeland
“Cuz you showed up,
With your hair down,
I might not sleep tonight.”

Chapter Twelve:
Little Death by +44
“Please sleep, my darling, sleep,
Your death by information,
Won’t disturb the peace on distant stars.”

Chapter Thirteen:
I changed my Name by Sugarcult
“And you know I played it all in here,
Where everyone hides their darkest shades of fears…
You know cause everyone says that I’m not the same.”

Chapter Fourteen:
When your heart stops beating by +44
“I’ll be there when your heart stops beating,
I’ll be there when your last breath’s taken away,
In the dark when there’s no one listen,
In the times when we both get carried away.”

Chapter Fifteen:
Let Go by Boys like Girls
“So let go, jump in,
Oh well, whatcha waiting for,
It’s alright,
‘Cause there’s beauty in the breakdown.”


Chapter Sixteen:
Madi don't leave by PlayRadioPlay!
“It takes a lot to phase me,
I’m pretty stable, I’m pretty sane.
But I’m looking at my future,
And God do I have to lose her?”

I hope you like this list of songs as much as I do. Enjoy!

What a surprise... I am humbled.

Last night when I got home from hanging out with my family, my Dad found that my novel had been put into distribution by my publisher. I was really surprised because I did not expect for it to happen at the beginning of July, but rather, at the end of the month.

In perfect form, I freaked out. I was surprised, and of course, all of the possible scenarios of what could happen ran through my mind. What if people are disappointed in it? What if they expected something else? What if they expected something MORE? and of course, what if they like it?

All I can really say is that I'm proud of it. I know it has some problems but as someone already pointed out on the B&N review, it really doesn't detract from the overall idea of the piece and I have one five star review already on goodreads.com that is super positive. I thank God for these little comments. They set my heart at ease a little.

But what really got me today was the overall support of my friends and family. I was a little weary of posting it on facebook because I'm a worrier. I worry about everything. However, within minutes of the post, there was an overwhelming response that made my heart happy.

I am humbled by the kindness and constructive criticism I have already received by people far and wide. I just feel so blessed and honored. I want to thank you guys for being so supportive. This is my dream guys, and I hope to only get better and better at it.

Almost... R.L Stine

I have been stressing out over the formatting process of this novel all day. I've been going through it and it looks amazing. I mean, really looks great...but...

It shrunk. By almost 60 pages. The formatting has crunched my 200 paged novel into a mere 139 on my Nook. However, I downloaded it onto my Kindle on my phone and it's more like 2,296 tiny pages. I started to panic, of course, because all the novels I've ever read on my Nook have been looong. I've actually thought about NOT releasing it. Then I remembered who I'm writing for.

When I was a kid, you couldn't get me to read a damn thing. I hated it. It was a process I did not enjoy. I felt it was time consuming, boring, and I hated that the subject matter they were making me read because I thought it was boring.

And then there was R.L. Stine. The first book I ever bought, and only because one of my aunts took me and my cousin Claudia, who was an avid reader, to Waldens in the mall and said, "You may pick a book. Any one you'd like." I would have rather gone anywhere else than that bookstore. So, I reluctantly went to the young adult section at the back of the store and started looking at the back covers of these books and decided on one. It was called 99 Fear Street: The First Horror. And believe it or not, it changed the way I viewed reading. I was hooked, but I was totally screwed. It was a series. And so for the next few weeks, my mom spent calling bookstores in the area, which at the time, weren't very many, looking for the other two novels. She found them, I read them, and then I read more and more and more. I read ALL of the R.L. Stine books I could get my hands on. Then Christopher Pike and then, finally, I ventured out into the other novels on the Young Adult bookshelf.

I can truthfully say that if it hadn't been for R.L. Stine, I would have hated reading for a long time. They were short, to the point, stayed on plot, and didn't have a lot of fluff. These are all the things I love about a fast, easy to read novel. They averaged about 130-160 pages and were awesome food for my brain in Jr. High.

I'm writing for the kids that hate to read but WANT to love something. I'm writing for kids like me. And, really, that's the kind of writer I want to be. I want to be the kind of writer that writes books a Jr. High/ High School kid will like to read and can't wait to tell their friends about. Anyone can read it if they like, but I want to turn kids on to reading, too. I think that's what my little novel will do. At least I hope it will. :) 

It's done.

Well, I finally did it. My first novel is in the process of being formatted and it should be on sale at 36 major online bookstores in the next two months. I can honestly say that the process itself has been a bittersweet learning experience. Here's why.

First, I am super proud of my manuscript. Typed, it averages about 55,220 words and runs about 194 pages double-spaced which usually doubles in book page form. I know people who can't write a single paragraph without having a meltdown so the fact that I was able to accomplish should a task is almost miraculous (even to me). And I'm super proud that it's my story. I imagined it, I outlined it, I created it, wrote it, typed it, and finally, I'm going to see it in print and share it with the world. It makes me happy to think that I finally accomplished one of my greatest dreams at the age of 27.

Second, it is flawed. I understand that as a writer, a piece of writing is never really done. We can review and edit and revise the same piece of writing multiple times and still have a flawed work with typos here and there. I can honestly say that me and my editor went through this work at least 20-30 times in the last few months and felt that it was the cleanest copy we could produce. For the last few days, I have been going through the piece again because I will be writing book two in a few days and have found that even though we revised and edited the piece several times over, there are still minor mistakes that me and my editor overlooked. And as much as I am a perfectionist, I know that I'm just going to have to let it go and learn from it. The typos do not detract from the story in anyway but as an English teacher, I see them and I instantly want to take out my red pen and make the page bleed with correction marks. I am my own worst critic. I only hope that my audience will be more forgiving than I am to myself.

All in all, I have learned that I must be more careful with my errors and that no matter how hard I try and be perfect at my craft, there is always room for improvement. I will try harder on my next project to make it a much cleaner piece. I will try and make it a piece that my audience will enjoy and that they will want to keep reading regardless of its imperfections. I figure that 10 found mistakes out of 55,000 plus words is o.k. Not great, but not bad. I will push myself to be better for those who are interested in what will happen to Tristan, Madi, Tannen, and Sam.

Please don't lose faith in me, my friends and readers. I am working to better myself so that I can turn out the best story possible. Until next time. Happy reading. :)

CG 

The Final Revisions... yes, with an "s"

Hello all...

I think I am finishing up the final revisions of my first novel and will be ready soon to send it to the publisher. This, of course, is nerve racking, as who knows what this process may bring. And I know, for sure, that there will still be many more revisions to do before it becomes the final product. All I know is that I and the peeps I got to read my book have all helped me in the editing process, because, believe it or not, there are no editors in the Valley who are unwilling to try their hand at a fiction piece. Or at least, I should say, were unwilling to edit my piece. So again, I was on my own. Lucky for me, I'm surrounded by a lot of really positive people who supported me. Jessica Vela, a co-worker and friend of mine was particularly helpful and my mom as well.

Despite their help, I  know that no writing project is actually done, even when you finish it. There's always something you can fix, or improve on, or a typo you didn't catch. The best we can hope for, the best I can hope for, is that I put out my best work possible. And really, that's all anyone can ask for.

I can honestly say that I've put out the best work I can possibly put out in my own unique writing style. I'm in love with my project, and I can't wait to start the second book, which, with any luck, will be out half a year from the first. I've already started to outline it and put it together. I'm proud of it and hope that others will like it as much as I do.

I'm not doing this to get rich or be famous as there are no guarantees that anyone will even buy my book or even like it. I'm doing this to fulfill a dream of finally being self-actualized. They say that less than one percent of the world is self-actualized and I really want to be a part of this class of people. I feel like there's no way for my life to feel complete if I don't do this. I'll always feel like something is missing or that I didn't do something I wanted to do when I had the chance. I have the chance now and I'm going to take it. I only hope that those that join me on my journey will be as into it as I am.