Long Overdue Update

Updated the site at last, hope you guys like the new design!

I'll update this post more at a later date, perhaps.

Ta Ta for now.

-S.C. Parris

btw, The Immortal's Guide is for sale on Amazon and Kindle at last! Get it now!

A Day of Regaining Courage

I've been ridiculously depressed since the summer, and my upward stride into all things "good" for me, took a dive, but I'm still here. And it's taken some time to shake it off and pick myself up and stop relying wholly on others to do it all for me; that's one of my issues, I have a tendency to play  the victim when it comes to affairs in my life - or with my life in general.

But I've felt better about myself recently.

With a loving boyfriend, college on my schedule, and a novel to write to keep me busy and focused, I've a full plate. And that's not counting my weekend job which I've been getting more hours for.

Today I mastered myself. I forced myself out of bed so I could get to class (you don't know how hard that's been for me lately) early. You know what it is? I find myself laying there although I'm awake and all I do is think. Think about the day and what could happen. When it makes no sense. I could be up in that time, getting ready for my day, ready to head to my classes. So why do I linger in bed?

I guess it's a comfort thing.

But it's an empty one.

No comfort comes (as I know) from making myself late for my affairs. Instead of wanting to face the day, I'd try to stall it for as long as possible.

And that just made "time" my enemy. I'd have no "time" for anything.

When I get up for the day, however, I'm present, able, focused, doing something other than endless thinking, and guess what? Time becomes an ally, or non-existent. I move on my time and just find myself where I need to be when I need to be there.

It is all in perspective.

So that's why with my 21st birthday party coming up that I have to plan, I find myself retreating into this hole of "oh boy big commitment I'm scared. What if it doesn't happen?" But I'm making myself push past it because with one post on my Facebook about it, the response to the mere idea of it was overwhelming. People want this. I want this. My family supports it. It makes no sense to hide and run and wish I didn't have to face it.

But yet that feeling is there.

End of the day I know what I'm capable of and what I can accomplish, it's all a matter of pushing that voice that says "no," to the back of my mind so that I can listen to the real Me, that's saying "go for it. You've already done so much."

Wordpress Blog, Website, & Updates

So I've been keeping my Wordpress Blog all nice and pretty for those of that you that haven't realized the switch. I'm not too sure what I'll do with this blog, but I'll most likely keep it. Higher visibility on Google Searches, am I right?

To make a long story short, life has been lovely. Exposure of my novel, The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel has been climbing, the reviews (not on Amazon.com) have been more than welcoming and lovely, and life is beyond wonderful.

College starts again in a week, I've got my car, my license, and I'm ready for it all.

If you want to read some excerpts from my latest work, check my Wordpress Blog and my Website if you will.

I'm always up for a chat. :)

Also, I've a Tumblr I'm keeping most up to date (I'm on that more than anything). I'll probably keep this blog as a more personal one, dictating my college life, my job things, and fun events, and I'll keep the writing-related psots on my Wordpress.

Sounds good to me.

Nice to see you guys again. :)

Breaking News: New Review for The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel on Amazon.com

“The Dark World is a very intriguing novel, this coming from someone who has strayed away from all the vampire and werewolf hype that seems to be permeating the media as of lately. This is a book that brings back the mystery and viciousness of the night creatures we are familiar with. Even more impressive than that however is the depth of detail that the reader gets from each character. Every character is fleshed out with care and an element of imperfection that makes you constantly change allegiance to whom you root for and who you disdain. A deeply engrossing read not just for fans of Vampire novels but for readers of all standings and taste, The Dark World is a grounded and tantalizing tale of secrets, violence, and emotion that only gets better with every page. S.C. Paris is definitely a author worth putting on your radar.” —

-Review of The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel on Amazon.com

Inspiration in the Darkest of Times?

As I prepare myself to view (for the possibly hundredth time), the wonderful world of Harry Potter, I am jolted, once more, by a desire to write.

It is no secret that the Harry Potter books were what inspired me to finally write (and finish) my own stories (up until then I’d only written and completed poems, nothing more), and when I closed The Deathly Hallows, I was struck with an intense…I wouldn’t call it a desire, more like a severe…impulse, to merely write my own story. Now, I had already known what I would write about (Vampires) and I explain all of this and more in my About the Author Page, but just the fact that this…simple story could inspire me (and so many others, I’m sure), is something that has not left me. Not even to this day.

Whenever I am lacking the inspiration necessary to continue my own story (and it just so happens I find myself in a lethargic rut regarding my current work-in-progress, The Immortal’s Guide), I reach for any one of the Harry Potter Books perpetually ready at my side. I read. I read. And I read. More often than not, they give me greater insight into the colorful world I see in my head about my own story and just how exactly I can give it the right touch to make it appear on paper.

Doing this (not every time I find myself tapping my forehead against the wall, mind you), has helped put me on the right track enough to quickly put whatever book I use for inspiration down and to continue writing my own story.

Excerpt from The Dark World.

This brings me to any piece of fiction with colorful characters and wonderful worlds. Lord of the Rings, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and many more all give me that sharp desire to continue to flesh out my own characters, their own stories. I am motivated by the magic in others’ creations. And isn’t that the way it should be?

Since publishing my first book The Dark World, I’ve gotten kind words and emails from friends (and people I don’t know) asking me, not only how I went about publishing my book, but by how I inspired them to continue writing their own stories, or giving them that push to finally start their own at last.

It only shows me that creation constantly breeds inspiration and it makes me feel a bit better about being stuck in my current creative rut. Because I know, like the many that came before it, that it won’t last, inspiration will come, and the words will flow.

For now, I lift my late afternoon cup of tea into the air, nod my head in acknowledgement of all the writers out there, stuck in their own writing, their own heavily-burdened thoughts, and I wish them the best. For we are not alone.

And as one brilliant Wizard said,

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.“

Inspiration is always there, is it not? We need not go high and low over the valleys of some lost terrain to find it, we need only recognize that it is always there, in many forms, in many ways, to remind us that what is deep within our hearts can always come forth if we will just let it.

-S.C./Sheron Parris

The Process, Thoughts, and Mind of S.C. Parris

Pen names, writing tools, different genre ideas, how these are to be implemented, it's all a matter of choice, isn't it? As I'm knee deep in the middle of Chapter Fifteen of The Immortal's Guide, re-visiting previously written sentences, dialogue, structure, and character thoughts, ideals, and needs, I'm hard pressed to think about all I have done thus far, all I have accomplished, and the long road ahead that will require much more stamina and dedication than the last book required.

First page of The Dark World novel.

S.C. Parris came to me by simply initializing, quite literally, the initials of my first name and the then middle name of mine (I've since then come to realize I have no middle name; thank you birth certificate; no thank you, mother for misleading me for all these years), and my mother's maiden name and voilà! The pen name for my Fantasy series was born.
Since then, I've worked on other novels, other short stories, and other books, but I've decided to go with Sheron Parris for them. Why? Well I feel S.C. Parris is a part of me that loves the macabre, shuns the mundane, relishes in the struggle, delights in death, mourns in life, and above all FEELS. I think you'll be hard pressed to find any work of mine that does not deal with life or death situations, drastic change, the parting of ways, or the intense joining of two or more souls. S.C. Parris, I like to think, is my writing mind - the place I go to when I sit down to literally pen, or type my latest fantastic thoughts, or my Vampire's troubles.
Sheron Parris however is quite mundane, but with just a touch of fantastic ideals. Her characters shall be realistic with a bit of grandiose ideas thrown in for good measure, but I deem their adventures to be fairly simple - well as simple as adventures can get. They will be the characters and worlds of the modern day and age, but if there are secrets and just the sliver of the different and drastic, then there they are - for one cannot admit real life is any bit less than the fantasy worlds they create can they?

So there you have it. The reason behind S.C. Parris. So when you see another book I have out there, perhaps Judgment shall be next or another version of X, don't be surprised when it's under Sheron Parris; you'd already know what to expect from it. :)

And one last thing before I go, a lovely friend of mine by the name of Leah has recently started talking to me about a book she's writing. We've been sharing ideas and such as well. :) Here's her blog:

A Literary Inferno

A Literary Inferno

Don't be a stranger, now. She'll be writing about her process, her thoughts on writing and such as well before she self-publishes. Help her out some?

Ah yes, and I plan to do a few videos regarding my books, and a few regarding acting and my music when I have any more down time. (Or I just stop being plain lazy.) :)

Keep it tuned, lovely writers. :) And never stop writing!

-S.C./Sheron Parris

Excerpts from The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel

He looked up just in time to see two large figures flying overhead, their blue and black cloaks flapping wildly in the wind.

They landed with no sound at all upon the pavement of Xavier’s manor.

“This is not normally our job—”

“Never been asked to do it before—”

“But General Vonderheide requests your presence at his manor—”

“Instantly, it would seem—”

“Rather important—”

“Very grave—”

Xavier stared at the Erasers in front of him. He had no trouble identifying who they were for it was stitched clearly against their cloaks. The Erasers flew across seemingly every inch of their cloaks, done with white thread most brilliantly.

“Victor requests my presence?” Xavier clarified, for it was hard to understand them before; they jumped upon each other’s sentences, finishing the previous one for the other.

“Most grave,” the taller of the two repeated. His face lined with a dark expression, telling Xavier that these two were not joking in the least despite the manner in which they spoke.

“Of what priority would you say this is?” Xavier asked them.

The shorter of the two, with a small face and short red hair, pulled out a small piece of paper from his cloak. He cleared his throat, reading it with the air of someone addressing Dracula himself, “Is it not something I can discuss in front of the Erasers, Xavier, but you must go to my home the moment the Erasers have read you this note. Lillith will be there, filling you in on what has happened. I, after acquiring the Erasers to locate you, am heading to Damion’s manor. I fear the human woman is in grave danger. And yes, she’s been found Xavier. All will be explained by Lillith, I’m sure.

“ -General Victor Vonderheide,

“Secondary Lord of the Vampire Order.”

-The Erasers: Chapter Sixteen; The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel

Available here.

Read on to view another excerpt after the jump.

Summer Reading Lists

I'm overjoyed because a lovely follower of mine on Tumblr, Ssuperhero, sent me a notice on Tumblr telling me that she was interested in reading my book and would add it to her Summer Reading List - but what was more, she reblogged a post I wrote to thank her and told her followers to add it to their Summer Reading Lists.

I've been networking like crazy since it happened, talking more about it and also working on the sequel, still. That is a different story, however.

Besides all of this, I've been thinking of making character pages, just pages here and there about my various characters - for there are many, and it would be added to my Tumblr or what have you. I would go on in detail on their lives, but not so much where anything I actually put in the book is repeated news. Hmm, I'll keep that in the back of my mind.

Just life is very good right now, can't wait to start school next semester and I can't wait to head to Florida again in July. :) Eeeeee.

But yes, I must keep writing The Immortal's Guide now. Tootles my lovely writers!

-S.C. Parris

Reviews and Writing

So I've gotten two different reviews on both amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Quite excited to see them. :)

Today was a mostly lazy day, all did was watch Damages (fantastic show, btw) on Netflix and watch psychological horror movies. I feel so listless and lazy today. It's probably because I didn't go to m local park and work out. Bleh. -_- Staying healthy. Lol.

In other news, I've kept writing Judgment today -you can find out what it's about by clicking the link above- and I'm super excited for it to progress, once I push myself out of this lazy stupor and continue writing it of course. :)

The Immortal's Guide in other words is progressing nicely, now that I actually have people who want to read more of Xavier's and Christian's respective adventures. I reached chapter 15 the other day and hit a still point once more. Again, bleh.

But I can't complain, today is a wonderfully lazy day and more work will be done tomorrow - have acting tomorrow. Super excited for it, my last monologue was intense, I actually did cry (it was my character), and my professor put me through the ringer, but I'm immensely more confident in myself.

Can't wait to do more. I'm partnering up with a girl in my acting class and for our end of the semester monologues, we're doing a scene from Chicago. Should be an amazing time.

Other than that, I work all weekend unfortunately so you may not hear from me until next week, or some other big news turns up about my writing/projects.

I hope everything is well with all of you! :)
Stay creative and keep writing!

-Sheron Parris

I Need To Thank All of You Who Have Followed Me Thus Far

Seriously.
You guys are amazing!

I look forward to hearing of your accomplishments and the not so accomplishments and everything in between!

Another costumer! :D

First Signed Copy And Sequel Work

Since everywhere I turn now, someone is mentioning how much they love (or are just now sinking their teeth into) my book and with this, I realize I actually do have to keep working on my sequel.

Between college, work, homework, and down time (what IS that?), I've found I've very little time for actual writing. But, not to worry, as of late I've felt my creative juices flowing and have been working through Chapter 13 of The Immortal's Guide.

(I believe I finally understand a way to connect the first part of the book to the beginning of the middle - both fully written.) So I'm rather excited.

But as I'm working all weekend this weekend, I shall have to section in bits of my writing before and after work.

All the same I plan to be done with the sequel by the summer (writing gods willing!)

The Dark World, however, is available for purchase now. :)

Ah, and I signed my first copy of The Dark World the other day. :') It was mortifying yet exhilarating.

Tumblr anyone?

My Tumblr Page

It's rather fun. :) If you do, let's be friends. :)

http://sheronparris.tumblr.com

And this one is for my series:

http://thedelacroixseries.tumblr.com

<3

Facebook News

Praise for my book from fans. :)

And this was told to me earlier. :) Still shocked at the response, but taking it with open arms.

Chris Brown, Work, and Voicing Your Opinion

I'm at work now but I felt the need to update my blog. Now, I love the award shows as much as the next person, but the big stink being made about Chris Brown winning a Grammy is atrocious.

On Tumblr it seems all my followers have turned into overnight feminists, and memes about Chris Brown's "reign of abuse" over Rihanna won't cease my dashboard. Now, these are all blogs I started to follow for specific reasons: they were acting-oriented, fellow writers spoke of their process (or lack thereof), or I just generally liked the look and feel of the blog in question.

Now it seems the "cool thing" to do is hate on Chris Brown, call him rude names or just downright spit on his existence.

I personally stopped caring about the Chris Brown thing after Rihanna, herself seemed to be over it. And that was when I was in High school. Celebrities are fodder for the masses, this we are all the more aware of, I'm sure, yet hating on someone for something they did once (that is horrible, I admit), when said abuse happens to numerous woman and men all across the world every day, is incredibly short sighted.

All the feminists that are making themselves known on my dashboard all of a sudden should take a look at, and in theory attack, every single man and woman that inflicts domestic abuse on their spouse or what have you. It's arrogant and downright maddening to see everyone get all self righteous and climb atop their pedestals declaring what a monster Chris Brown is when he isn't the first to do this and definitely won't be the last.

And we all know that when Mr. Brown dies (be it tomorrow or several years from now) all those that were shooting him down will be the first ones to declare what a gifted and brilliant performer he was.

-----

All that aside, my college peers are shocked and awed (for some reason) that I wrote a book. In mostly all of my classes I am known as the "author" so naturally, everyone comes to me wanting help with their essays or whatnot.

It was cute at first but now it's downright frustrating. I wrote a book people, that doesn't mean I'll help everyone and their girlfriend write a paper on every and any subject.

Either way, life is fantastic, tomorrow I'm heading to a spa with all the females in my family to get our nails and feet done, then we're heading to the mall. :) Then on Monday it's Madame Tussand's wax museum in the city and lunch soon after.

I'm super excited.

Also, the sequel of The Dark World has been going along fantastically. The Immortal's Guide is action packed thus far and goes way deeper than the first into the World, several Dark Creatures, and their pasts. :) I'm super excited for it and I hope everyone likes it.

That said, the compliments I've gotten on the first one are all smile-worthy. I can't believe it but my peers do love it once they learn it's nothing like Twilight.

And we all know how I feel about that series. ;)

Oh, and it appears my main character is better as an antagonist. I guess it was there all along, either way I'm glad I see it now. His descent into further darkness shall be as fun to write as it will be to read.

Updated version is here and beautiful!

I'll have better pictures up tomorrow once I locate my camera but for now I'm super excited. :) Writing the sequel still. :)

P.s: Updating this on my phone, hence the super short post.

So. A Photoshoot. Writing. And Snow. (And School And Work)

I recently did a photoshoot (my friend, the talented Paul Bentsen was my photographer) and I'm glad I did it because not only did it help me get more comfortable in front of the camera (a necessity if I desire to act), but it did give me some cool pictures to possibly use for the back cover of my books.

Here's a few of the photos from the shoot, the rest are on my tumblr, which you can find here.

It's been great fun, honestly. :)

So it started snowing last night apparently. I wake up to see this outside my window:

Lovely, isn't it?

And as for writing. Well, the other day, I chalked up a whole chapter-worth of stuff, the character's came along nicely and everything went incredibly amazing...yet now I'm in a slump once more. Well I wouldn't call it a slump, persay, just...I wrote several chapters out a long time ago and now that I'm going back and writing it straight through, I'm trying to figure out exactly how to mesh the chapters I did long ago to the ones I have now.

It's a bit of a job. :)

Here's a little sneak peek of what I'm working with:

 

And with all this talk of writing, I really need to get back to it! :)

I've work tomorrow (don't know how I'm getting there in this snow), and school starts Monday. :) Eeep. Three classes. English, Math, and Acting.

:)

So One Of My Followers On Tumblr...

Wanted me to read some of their work, as I'm a writer. I go 'sure, toss it on over to my email.' After a bit of my laptop freezing up, I finally settle in to reading it. Now, I wasn't looking for amazing grammar or whatever, but I was CERTAINLY NOT expecting to be tossed off my bed by the sheer AMAZINGNESS of what I read.

Short, crisp sentences, a very believable dialogue, but most of all, a very disturbed main character, and an ending he very well deserves.

I won't post it here because I will respect his privacy, when he wants to post it up for the world to view, I'm sure he will. But nothing has MOVED me like that in a while. It seriously threw me for a serious loop. The moment I got to the big 'twist,' my eyes rapidly canvassed the screen for more.

It was that damned good.

I told him this and I told him he needs to write more - perhaps a book. Because if he does, I will be the first person lining up to buy it, I assure you.

I love the pangs of sheer inspiration other writers/artists can provide. It's exceptional to get out of one's own head for a while and  read something that moves one, be it to disgust, or sheer incredulity.

Whatever works.

-S.C. Parris.
Author of The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel

Today Is Not A Good Day

I shouldn't even be blogging, but I should keep this current, or at least try to.

(Sigh)

As far as writing goes, I've successfully written several thousand words over the past few days (that have also been terrible). I suppose this says something about my writing - I only write well when I'm upset. Lol.

Who knows.

S.C. Parris - Author of The Dark World: A Delacroix Novel (Opens in new window)