The Book That Changed My Life

 I was in the middle of writing my very first fan fiction based on the television show Prison Break when an online friend suggested I check out this vampire romance series called Twilight. I was hesitant because I'm a steamy romance reader and Twilight is a YA romance. Would I really like a book series that had zero spice?

As it turned out, I did. I fell in love with Bella and Edward. So much so, that when I finished writing my Prison Break fan fiction, I decided to dive into Twilight fan fiction.

My first foray into writing Bella and Edward was to give them a proper wedding night. I was perfectly fine with the slow burn, but I needed more from the wedding night than what the author gave us. I mean, she made us wait for 3+ books and THAT was all we got?

I needed more, so I decided to write it.

My first Twilight fan fiction was titled Perspective. It was written in Edward's point of view starting three weeks before the wedding night. Stephanie Meyer mentioned how Bella and Edward had been practicing for their wedding night. She didn't give us details, but I decided to fill in the gaps.

With each chapter, we get to watch Bella and Edward test the waters and prepare for their wedding night. And then, of course, the story wraps up with the big finale...the wedding night. And unlike what we got (or didn't get) in Breaking Dawn, I didn't leave it at a fade to black. I gave Bella and Edward a proper wedding night.

That fan fiction led me to writing more in the Twilight universe and it was that second story that caught the attention of some ladies who were starting their own publishing house. The owner of the publishing house reached out to me, explaining how she'd read and loved my story. She wanted to know if I had anything I was interested in publishing.

As it turned out, I had a story I'd written and was in the process of editing with the intention of trying to get it published. I emailed her the story and within two weeks she contacted me again. This time, it was to offer me a publishing contract.

 Fourteen years later, I am not 100% self published and have 16 novels, 1 novella, and 3 short stories. Writing that first fan fiction changed the course of my life, but I may never have published my first book without having read Twilight and diving into the world of Twilight fan fiction. It truly changed the course of my life and gave me an outlet to tell all the stories floating around in my head.

To find out more about my books, check out my website at www.sherrihayesauthor.com.

Changing Directions - My Publishing Journey Part 4

 Haven't read parts 1, 2 and 3? Click HERE to start reading from the beginning.

 

After finishing my first Twilight fan fiction, Perspective, I embarked decided to deviate from the wold Stephenie Meyer created and write a story with Bella and Edward both being human. 

I'd begun reading stories with BDSM elements and I was intrigued by the level of trust and communication such a lifestyle required. Also around that time there was a huge story in the news about a young woman who'd been held captive for twenty years before she was rescued. My first thought was that when she decided to enter into a relationship that it would take a great amount of trust and communication after what she'd been through.

 

The wheels in my head began turning and before long I had the idea for a new story I titled Finding Bella.

 

Around the same time I was writing Finding Bella, E.L. James, better known at the time as snowqueens icedragon, was writing her fan fiction, Master of the Universe. As both of the stories began to gain some traction in the fan fiction world, they inevitably got compared to one another.

 

Eventually, the comparisons began to create a problem. Some readers felt Finding Bella should go in a different direction and they were very vocal about it. As time wore on, I began to lose my motivation to finish the story and realized that if I wanted to see if finished, I was going to have to pull it.

 

As luck would have it, there was a small publishing house that was setting to launch their first stories at the end of 2010. They were looking for new authors and had stumbled onto Finding Bella. They wanted to know if I had anything I was interested in publishing. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with Finding Bella. And it wasn't finished at that point regardless. 

 

However, I had written another story that had nothing to do with Twilight or even fan fiction. It was a story I'd been playing around with in my head since I was fourteen and that I'd finally written down. I sent them the manuscript and within two weeks I had a contract on my desk for my very first published novel.

All It Takes Is A Little Perspective - My Publishing Journey Part 3

 Haven't read parts 1 and 2? Click HERE to start reading from the beginning.

 

Right around the time I finished my first fan fiction story, Moving Forward, I was introduced to the Twilight series. As many others, I fell in love with Bella and Edward's story. 

 

I've always had a soft spot for vampires in fiction and I'm a die hard romantic, so their story was a perfect fit for me. My one big complaint,  however, was the wedding night. Fans had waited and waited and waited for Edward and Bella's first time together only to be left with a fade to black that was incredibly underwhelming. 

 

So, like before, I decided to create a fix of my own and began writing my second fan fiction. The story is told entirely in Edward's point of view and covers the weeks up to the wedding where Edward and Bella are 'practicing' and ends with the wedding night itself...and this time it doesn't fade to black!

 

Perspective let me flex my creative muscles even more than my first foray into fan fiction because of the complexity of Edward's character. It was one of the things that drew me to him in the Twilight Saga and I wanted to do him and Bella justice.  

 

From there I continued writing Twilight fan fiction, including one called Finding Bella...

Click Here to read part 4 of Sherri's publishing journey.

My Review Of Midnight Sun By Stephenie Meyer

 

This has been one of my most anticipated reads for a while. I read the draft years ago that the author posted online after it was leaked and couldn't wait to read more.

 

Midnight Sun didn't disappoint. I loved every minute of reading Edward's POV. It gave a lot of insight into some things that were hinted at but not fully explored in Twilight.

 

I teared up twice while reading, but the biggest surprise for me was a conversation between Edward and Rose. The author did such a great job in expressing Edward's pain, both the current pain and what he perceived was to come.

 

The most surprising part of the story, though, was not Bella or Edward. It was Jasper. While reading Twilight, and even the rest of the series, I was rather indifferent toward Jasper. Even with what we learned about him in Eclipse, I wasn't overly moved one way or the other. In Midnight Sun, my entire perspective changed. 

 

If you were team Edward, then this is a must read book.

 

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What I'm Currently Reading #FridayReads

Next on my TBR list is a book I've been wanting to read for the last ten years. I was bummed when Stephenie Meyer decided not to publish Midnight Sun all those years ago after someone leaked her draft to the public, but as an author I understood. The betrayal she must have felt had to be tremendous. 

 

My joy over this book finally being published is not only because I can't wait to read Twilight from Edward's point of view, but also because Twilight is what ultimately led me to publishing my first novel. After reading the Twilight series, I, like other fans, wanted more, so I began writing Twilight fan fiction. And it was that Twilight fan fiction that got me noticed by a small publisher. Without that, who knows if I'd have ever become a published author.

 

Have you read Midnight Sun and if not, do you plan to read it?

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My Story - What Inspired Me To Write

It's hard to believe that ten years has passed since I first sat down and began my first story. I was thirty years old at the time and if you'd told me back then that ten years later I would have published eleven novels and three short stories, I wouldn't have believed you.

Believe it or not, English was my least favorite subject in high school. I dreaded it - mainly because I couldn't spell.

I'm not exaggerating. I was really bad at spelling. So much so that my second grade teacher called my parents in for a conference to tell them that I would most likely fail the second grade because of it.

Yeah, not exactly what a kid or their parents want to hear.

And since spelling was part of English in school, it made that subject rather difficult for me. I struggled with it all through school and even into college. It made writing papers difficult because no matter how good the content was, I always got dinged due to spelling or grammar. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I'd now be writing for a living.

So what changed? What make me give writing a shot?

Two words...Prison Break.

No. Not A prison break. I'm talking about the television show Prison Break.

If you've never seen it, the show followed a man, Michael, who's brother had been wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to prison. He'd tried all legal methods of freeing his bother but nothing worked, so he decided to take a rather drastic step. He got himself thrown in prison with him so he could break his brother out.

You might be wondering how this could possible tie to me writing romance. Well, I'm getting there.

The prison where he and his brother were had a prison doctor named Sara. During his stay, Michael ended up falling in love with the prison doctor, Sara. It was anything but a conventional romance, but that was one of the things I loved about it.

Unfortunately, this couple's love story got cut short when there was a writer's strike in Hollywood. Not only was production delayed, but by the time the strike ended there was something new they had to deal with. The actress who played Sara was pregnant.

This was an action packed show. Not to mention the fact that the two characters, Micheal and Sara, had never had sex (hard to do that when people are constantly trying to kill you). The writer's solution to this was to kill Sara off.

Yeah. That didn't go over well with the fans, me included. Petitions and emails were sent letting those in charge know exactly how we all felt.

But in the meantime, Michael and Sara fan fiction began popping up on fan sites, giving these two their HEA. I read a few and decided to try my hand at it. The very first story I ever wrote, Moving Forward, is still live on fanfiction.net and can be read HERE.


By the time I finished writing Moving Forward, I had readers asking me what I was going to write next. From there I went on to write Perspective (Twilight fanfiction) and Goodbye (Twilight fanfiction). I also began writing a Twilight fanfiction called Finding Bella, which I ended up pulling before it was completed and published it as a four book serial series titled Finding Anna (Slave, Need, Truth, and Trust).

I've always been fascinated by relationships and human interaction. It doesn't matter if it's between a romantic couple, a family unit, or a group of friends. I love diving into what makes people tick.

That's why I love romance so much. The people. For me, it isn't about the sex or the sexy guys. It's about the forming of new bonds and people mingling their lives.

So what inspires you? Did you have a favorite subject in school? One you dreaded like I did English?