Wednesday, November 26, 2014

New Story: "Stocking Stuffers"

Now available for sale on Amazon is my Christmas story, "Stocking Stuffers."

Story Description:

A Holiday tale of transgender transformation. 

Just in time for Christmas, a man gets the gift of gams after admiring the legs of a trio of women dressed as Santa’s elves. Will he be able to return the gift of these long, elegant legs, or will he be stuck with these "Stocking Stuffers" for good? 

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 38,100 words)

If you follow my Twitter feed or my blog, than you already know what I'm going to say next: this story will be available for FREE from this Friday, 11/28/14 through Tuesday 12/2/14. I'm calling this a Black Friday sale, but it's really just a way to say "Thank You" to everyone that likes my stories, or has thought of buying one but didn't want to pay the price. Now's your chance! Get the story this weekend before it reverts to the full, normal price of $5.95.

As a side note to future readers that have already read the whole story, yes, the outfit on the cover doesn't appear in the story. Personally, I like the outfit in the story better, but I'm limited by what photos I can find for use at sites like Shutterstock. I was considering using this image instead, but it's still not a good match for the lingerie in the story, and it doesn't really show enough of the titular "Stocking Stuffers." The extra leg seen in the photo I ended up using is, I think, much more appropriate to the title while still having obvious Christmas ... let's call it "spirit." ;-)

The story itself does not include any sex and is overall pretty PG-13. OK, maybe R for nudity, but still pretty tame. At the end, things gets a little sentimental. If that's not your thing ... well, it's still free. Why not check it out anyway? You may find something to like about it. Perhaps the slow transformation, or the elf costume.

Still to come, an Amazon Kindle Countdown deal as we draw closer to Christmas. Again, this is because I want to make the story available for as little as possible for as long as possible as a way to say "Thank You" to everyone for their support. If anyone wants to thank me for doing this, please leave a review for the story on Amazon.

I hope you enjoy it! 

Monday, November 24, 2014

Christmas Is Coming Early

Within the next day or so, I'll be publishing my next story, a Christmas story, for FREE.

The plan is to submit it tomorrow morning so that it will be published by the time I get home from work. Once it's up, I can put on the promotion to make it FREE (yes, FREE) from Black Friday through this coming Sunday (11/28/14 - 11/30/14). So, be warned. It will be up for $5.95 as soon as tomorrow night, in case you really, really can't wait. Those that are patient enough to wait for Friday can get it for FREE. I think I may have mentioned that once or twice already.

I'd prefer to wait until Thursday to post, then add the promo Thursday night for the next morning to minimize the chance that someone buys it at full cost by mistake. With the holiday, though, that doesn't seem like the wisest course of action. It also give me less time to post notices on TG Comics and Fictionmania to let people know it's up for FREE for the weekend.

After that, I intend to put up a holiday countdown promotion so that the story will scale up in price as the holiday approaches. That's not exactly ideal, but as long as I've committed to distributing through Amazon, these are the tools I have to work with.

One last thing. I do not approve of retailers cutting into the Thanksgiving holiday by starting their Black Friday sales on Thursday. So, no free story until Friday. Them's the breaks, folks.



Friday, October 3, 2014

The Plan

Here's the breakdown of my current plans:

  1. Edit and post the next installment of my "Turned Into a Love Doll" (TIALD) series. It's written. I just have to get around to putting it up for sale on Amazon. 
  2. Finish writing the Epilogue for the last story in the TIALD series.
  3. Find a good cover image for use with that last story.
  4. Edit and post the last installment of TIALD. 
  5. Edit and post my Christmas story, which is already almost ready to go. 
  6. Set up a Black Friday sale so that my Christmas story is available for free Thanksgiving weekend. 
  7. Set up a Christmas Countdown sale so that the story is available for as little as possible for as long as possible as a thank you to those who like my stories. 
  8. Finish the sequels to "Under Her Skin." 
  9. Write a screenplay based on an idea for a full length, mainstream-ish movie I've had for a long time now. I've even written the first few pages of it already. Yes, it includes TG transformations as a major plot point. It's kind of a mix of Gothika and Don't Say A Word.
  10. Write a more literary novel that I've been fleshing out in outline form. It would involve a more real life transition, but in a unique way.
  11. Become rich from my movie and book and retire to the islands. (Ha ha.)
Time will reveal how far I actually get. 

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Trope Fatigue

I am really, really sick of the word "trope." It is so very overused.

For those that don't know or care, "trope" has come into common use among those that discuss fiction. What is a trope? Under it's current use, it's any idea that has been used more than once in a TV, movie, or other popular entertainment. The girl next door? Trope. The happy hooker? Trope. The bad guy that pretends to be a good guy to get the girl? Trope. Car chase? Trope. The slow clap? Trope.

This is my problem with the way the word is being used. It's meaning is so broad that it holds very little meaning. It has a somewhat negative connotation, as if the author that uses it is being lazy or unoriginal. This, by the way, is bullshit. Just because a "trope" is used - or even overused - doesn't make it bad. "The guy gets the girl in the end" is a trope, but there are many, many examples of it being used in entertaining and original ways. I would much rather have someone say that a story is weak because it's predictable and boring than because it uses a common trope. The first gives me something to work on. The second is too generic to be meaningful.

When will people critiquing fiction realize that it isn't about the elements an author uses? It's the skill that's used to combine them.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

New Story: "The Birthday Girl"

Time for the last of my longer stories for the summer. "The Birthday Girl" is now up for sale on Amazon. I was originally going to call this story "Bitch and Moan," (BaM) but it didn't really seem to be a good fit for the story as a whole, so I changed it.

This story is the second time this year that I've had something almost done (or so I thought), only to end up with WAY more pages added at the end to tie things up. For those that read my blog regularly, or my Twitter feed (@TGAuthor), you may have seen me do some complaining / procrastinating on this one. Trust me, that's par for the course. I normally just keep it private. In this case, because I'd promised a longer story in July, I felt the need to be a little more open about my process.

I have to say that I'm really, really happy with the cover for this one. Being the worrywart that I am, I felt it might be a little too reminiscent of the cover for "The Cardinal Sins," but I think it's different enough to stand on its own. Plus, it uses elements of the story, which I always love. (The red satin sheets. The black lace lingerie.) I didn't notice until the last minute that the stockings are fishnets. I also wish the model had a better hip to waist ratio. All in all, minor gripes. I guess my inner perfectionist will just have to put on her straitjacket for a while until she calms down.

The story itself is pretty NC-17. To use Femur's proposed rating system:
Genre: Slice-of-Life / Magic
Transformation: Magic Transformation, Full XX Change, M2F Transformation, F2M Transformation
Transformation Details: Forced, Ravished, Transformation As Punishment, Tricked
Sexual Preferences: Pre-Hetero, Post-Unsure

In fact, this is the story I was describing in the thread. You'll notice I left out the "Bad Boy to Good Girl" from the transformation description. That's because the primary character is more of a "Bad Boy to Bad Girl" in this story. I mean, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but you can't help feeling (IMHO) like he's always going to be a difficult person to like, no matter what his gender is.

Story Description:

A man's long-suffering girlfriend throws a very special party for herself to celebrate her twenty-fifth birthday. Her plans include decorations, dressing up, alcohol, black lace lingerie, red satin sheets, candlelight, lovemaking, a very special meal, cake and a big helping of revenge! By the time this party's over, it will be a night "The Birthday Girl" will never be able to forget.

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 33,800 words)

This story came in at 53 pages in my standard format. I priced it at $4.95 because I wanted it to come in under five bucks. Next up, the final two chapters of the Turned Into A Love Doll series. The next chapter is done. The last chapter just needs an epilogue to tie up the loose ends and give the story some closure. Fingers crossed for that to go quick!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Finished!

I finished the story I've been working on last night. I ended up rewriting that last few pages to remove a pronoun shift that I'd previously included. It felt both constipated and premature, so I took it out. I like the ending I managed to reach.

Now I just have to reread it to edit out any typos, grammatical errors and generally spruce it up. It should be out by Monday at the latest on Amazon.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Schrodinger's Cat

Last post for bit, I promise. Just let me get this thought out and I'll go right back to work.

I both love and hate finishing a story. On the one hand, it's done. Yay! On the other hand, the story is then fixed. Boo! Scenes you've imagined that have no place in the final draft have to go in the dustbin. Things that contradict the continuity must likewise be discarded. It doesn't matter how much you like a particular scene, character, turn of phrase or outcome. If it doesn't serve the story, it's got to go. Unless you want the story to suffer, which is - let's face facts - just plain sadistic. Or is that masochistic? After all, bad editing decisions tend to hurt the author more than anyone else.

I hate having two good endings. I've made my decision about which one I've chosen, but for now, as long as the ending remains unwritten, both of them still exist as possibilities. Like Schrodinger's Cat, they are, for the moment, still both alive.

But one of these cats must die. Observation requires an outcome.

The Voice I Write In

While third person omniscient is a common voice to write in, I try to remember the lesson of Faulkner. In "As I Lay Dying," each chapter is narrated by a different character. Each voice is distinct. Each chapter reflects the nature of the character's unique perspective on events as they unfold.

Now, I'm no Faulkner. I do, however, try to inform my third person omniscient narrative with a little first person point of view. The voice I use from story to story is a mix of my voice as the narrator and the voice of the character.

All of which is to say that the main character of my next story is not a very nice person and it would serve him right if someone washed his mouth out with soap.

OK, yes, still procrastinating.

Circling the Goal

I recently bemoaned over at Twitter that I didn't have an ending yet for a story I'm working on. I've been working on it this week while I'm vacation. Now the problem I have is that I have two possible endings. One is dramatic/hopeful. The other is tragic/literary/a real downer. The artist in me wants to have the main character learn nothing and become a victim of his own misogynist prejudice. In the happier ending, I still leave him at the bottom of a hole created by his misogyny, but he has a ladder to get out of it.

Decisions, decisions.

I'm also still torn on what image to use for the cover. I try to use something that's evocative of a scene in the story. For "Head Games," I used a picture of a head / face that I hope looks at least a little like it could be one of the women in the story, decapitated and plugged into an alien computer system. "The High Price of Inflation" and "Airhead" are both meant to show the main character in his female form as depicted in one of the story's more erotic moments, as a way to better reflect the nature of the content. The somewhat generic cover for "The Party Favor" is more innocent with its balloons and bare legs, precisely because the content is less erotic. Whatever the story, I try to pick something sexy, or at least fun and feminine to look at.

I suppose I have found a cover image or two that could work. Now I just have to make a decision. (Decisions, decisions.) All of which is to say this post is me procrastinating.

Time to dive in and do some work.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

New Story: "Airhead"

I know, I know ... nothing published for so long, then so many all at once. This is what comes of procrastination. Having hoarded these stories so long, I have a lot to share. Enjoy it while it lasts. By the end of summer, I'm going to be out of things to publish.

"Airhead" is the sequel to "The High Price of Inflation." Two down, two to go!

Story Description:

Trapped in her new existence as an inflatable love doll, this former man's future seems grim at best. When change comes for her at long last, she's grateful to escape the prison her life has become. Given the smallest taste of freedom, her past as a man may not be enough to prevent her from embracing a future as not just a woman, but as the willing slave to the man that stole her life.

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 6,100 words)


"Airhead" includes some pretty graphic sex, some minor BDSM and the literal objectification of a woman. Can't get too sassy with your man when he can pull your plug and turn you into a limp piece of inert plastic at any moment! The story comes in at 11 pages in my preferred format. Amazon's estimate is 16 pages. For $2.99, the price is right. It reads best if you've read the first part of the story, but there's enough of a recap at the beginning to get the new reader up to speed. Why not check it out today?

Friday, June 20, 2014

New Story: "The Party Favor"

My latest story is up at Amazon. "The Party Favor" is a story that's been complete for a long time, sitting on my hard drive gathering dust. Or electrons. Or whatever it is files gather when they sit around too long without being accessed.

It was started in 2006, left half-finished for six years, then finished in February of 2012. I blogged about it HERE. I had to remove some content from the original version of the story to avoid referencing a well-known licensed character and two celebrities. The astute reader might catch the remnants of those edits. I also left a couple in, but I think they both fall pretty squarely under fair use. I hope. (Please don't sue me.)

If you're looking for a sex romp, this isn't it. It's more social than sexual, exploring the best and worst in male social behavior, which the main character has to endure while transformed. If you want something with more sex, why not check out "The High Price of Inflation?" Its follow-up, the second of four stories, is going to be coming out at the end of the month. I want it available to everyone before the July 4th weekend.

Story Description:

As a favor to a girl that he likes, a man agrees to what he thinks will be a temporary transformation. Surrounded by his friends, he begins realize that the transformation has altered not just how others see him, but also how he sees himself. Who he is and who he will be is something that the night's events will lead him to discover.

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 44,300 words)

This story came in at 91 pages in my typical format. I didn't want to price it at $9.10, or even $8.95, so I used the reduced page count when formatted for Amazon, which was a lean 67 pages. Those blank lines between paragraphs add up quick. Because of that, the price is $6.50.

This means I'm now out of longer stories to make available. I'm very close to finishing one longer one (tentative title of BaM) which I plan on putting out in mid-July. More news on that to come.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Writer's Funk

Feeling a little sad today. I was expecting some form of feedback on the TG Comics forum for my new story. I don't know if the readers there are just tired of self-promotion posts, or if no one cares about my story, but the lack of feedback - positive, negative or indifferent - is more than a little daunting.

I guess I had this idea in the back of my head that I could make some real money on a monthly basis, pay off some debts and within a few years (3 - 5) quit my day job to be a full time writer of TG fiction. After how eager the editors at Reluctant Press were about my writing, then how far out of his way Femur at TG Comics was willing to go to illustrate and post my stories ... well, I just expected my debut on Amazon to go a little better than it has. It's my own fault for letting my hopes get so high, but it still hurts.

For those who have bought my stories there, THANK YOU! Even if you went, looked, and decided not to buy, I thank you for taking the time to visit.

As for me, I'm going to follow-up on my plans to publish more things this summer. After that, I may sulk off for a while to write and consider my options. Quitting my day job to write full time clearly isn't going to happen in the near term like I thought it was going to. To wax melodramatic ...

My dreams have curdled
into stillborn lies
broken and malformed
while my rent heart cries.

So now what? I can't keep doing customer service. It's killing my soul by inches, a death of a thousand paper cuts. School again? Retraining of some sort? Another job with my limited job skills and experience? I just don't know what's going to happen next or why I would want to look forward to it.

Monday, June 2, 2014

New Story: "The High Price of Inflation"

I have a new story up at Amazon, "The High Price of Inflation." This story is considerably shorter than most of my published stories. At only twelve pages in my standard format, it gets right to the point ... which is all about the sex. I think it's far more explicit than anything I've put out before, with an ending that is dark. I wouldn't quite call it horror, but I found it unsettling to write. As the story description makes clear, this story is about a man transformed into a love doll. Speaking of which ...

Story Description:

A young man turns 25. For his birthday, his friends give him a blow up love doll as a gag gift. In the privacy of his apartment, the man finds out that it works really well … but not in the way he was expecting. It isn't long before he finds himself transformed from a "he" into a "she," trapped as a living sex toy, with an owner that's eager to teach her exactly what that means. 

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 5,600 words)


Due to the shorter length, this story is very affordable. It is also the first in a four part series. There will be follow-up stories coming out once a month over the summer. (Or at least that's the planned schedule.) Check it out now! (Please.)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Neeeeeeeew STORY!

I have a new short story that should be going up on Amazon at some point today. I posted it last night with the expectation that it would be up this morning so I could announce it formally.

It's not up yet.

The issue now becomes that I have a social engagement that involves some travel time, a reception afterwards, some more travel time coming back to my home, followed by even more travel time to take someone home that's here for the weekend. All in all, I'm going to be doing a lot of "hurry up and wait" today with a lot of time behind the wheel of my car. It might not be until this evening that I can update you all with the formal launch announcement.

So, if you just can't wait, try searching on Amazon for "Sara James, Turned Into an Object, M2F, TG" and see what comes up. Or you can try going to my author page on Amazon. It might (might) update with the new offering when it's available.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

"What Have You Done For Me Lately?"

... and by "You," I mean me. What have *I* as an author done for *You* the reader lately?

First, there's "Head Games." This is the first of many (I hope) titles that I will be making available through Amazon. For now, it's electronic only because it's easier to format and setup. My hope over time is to offer a mix of short stories, novelettes and novels in both print and electronic eBook formats.

As my second step towards that goal, I'm going to be putting out a short story. I have four done with a fifth very close to completion. Three of the four completed stories and the one that is close to being done are part of a four story series. They are about ten pages long in my preferred format for writing, so all of them would be available on Amazon for $2.99. For now, the tentative plan is to put one of these out a month over the summer. I'm looking for cover art with the hope of putting the story up the weekend of June 1st.

Third, I have one more novelette length story completed with a second a handful of pages from completion. Like the short stories, my hope is to put them out about once a month over the next couple of months. That means that for the next couple of months, there would be a short story and a longer story coming out from me every month, with more short stories through the end of summer.

I do have a third story that's longer completed, but this one is a Christmas story. I had hoped to get this one illustrated and put up for free at TG Comics for the holiday, but that fell through because of several issues that are going to be next to impossible for me to work around. Femur was very gracious and supportive - as always - but can't publish it there due to some of the content. (There's children in the story, and even though their role is non-sexual, there's a strict "no minors" rule for content on TG Comics. Why? The credit card providers require it.)

Last of all, my goal for the summer is to turn my outlines for the sequels to "Under Her Skin" into stories. That would put something like a two year gap between the original story and its sequels, with time to illustrate and format for publication. That seems like long enough. (I know, I know ... maybe a little too long.) After that, I have a script I'm aching to write. Along the way, I expect I'll keep writing stories to keep myself interested like I did with "Head Games," the Christmas story and the four short stories.

It's a labor of love, but I ache to share it with all of you! Now all I have to do is find a cover image from Shutterstock to use with those darn short stories and the longer one for next month ...

Sunday, May 18, 2014

HEAD GAMES: My first eBook for sale at Amazon.


I have my first eBook up for sale at Amazon. The name of the book is "Head Games." I just put this up yesterday afternoon and it already has some sales before I've even had a chance to promote it at TG Comics, here or on my Twitter account, which really shocked me. I'm very excited to begin self-publishing and hope to have some more of my finished stories up for sale soon.

Story Description:

Five friends abducted by aliens try to escape captivity with the assistance of two less than helpful strangers. With their heads separated from their bodies and attached to strange machinery, an unexpected malfunction starts a chain of events that leads to their escape. But at what price? Not all of them will live, while some that do will find their lives transformed forever.

(Trangender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 42,300 words)


As is normal with Amazon, the first 10% of the book is up for preview so you can read some of the story for free. Go check it out!

New Book For Sale: Info Soon!

I'm out of time this morning to do a full post. This post is a placeholder for the formal announcement. In the meantime, if you're curious, please visit my post at TG Comics for more information.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Graphic Designs

In case you haven't figured this out yet, I'm an author. Words are my medium of choice. Which is what makes the fact that I have seven completed but unpublished works a little frustrating. I'm working towards publishing two of the longer works on Amazon. The problem of the moment is cover art.

I've been playing around on Shutterstock trying to find photos I can use for the story I want to publish, HG. At the same time, I finished up a Christmas story that I'd like to give away at TG Comics, but to do that, I have to find art. I also have another longer story, BaM, that's close to completion that will also need cover art. I was so desperate that I opened DAZ 3D for the first time in months to toy with the option of creating my own art work. Then I remembered: my content library is really, really shallow. Making my own images isn't really option without investing a lot of time and some money that I don't really have. Far easier if I could find photos I can use at Shutterstock.

Just ... really frustrated at the moment.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

"Busted!"

Oh, Femur. I know that great minds think alike and all, but I'm sad to lose the title for one of my favorite story concepts.

Femur's "Busted" (no exclamation point) is a great Premium offering from TG Comics. Femur did the story and Gluebubble did the art. It has a great future-retro feel that makes for a fun read. While I wouldn't call the ending a "twist," it certainly was unexpected. All in all a great read and well worth the money to purchase access, in my opinion.

But ... that was MY title!!!  ;-)  I have had a story idea that's partially written for a number of years with this title. How long? I did a Fictionmania search before opening the file on my hard drive, amazed that no one had written a story with that title yet. Now there are two. The oldest of them is from 2003. That should give you an idea of how long some of my ideas take to bring to fruition.

If you think I'm going to just delete the story, don't despair. While I may have to rename this story, I like it too much to just throw it out. It will see the light of day eventually.

But do you see now why I'm so tight lipped about my story names?!? It's way too easy to lose a good idea to another author. It's not like you can own a name either. Sometimes the best way to keep something from being used by other people is to keep it secret. And the best way to keep a secret? Simple: DON'T TELL ANYONE.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Story Recommendation: "Just Pretending" by Varian Milagro

I don't normally recommend other author's stories. In fact, this may be a first. However, I'm recommending "Just Pretending"  by Varian Milagro over at Fictionmania. You can my review of the story at the site, but it has spoilers. I suggest you just take my word and go check it out.

As a time saver, here's the story's blurb from FM:

"A poorly worded wish on a birthday candle bought at Spells R Us turns Keith into Kaylee. Now, except Keith and his best friend Seth, everyone remembers him as always being Kaylee. Keith has no clue how to be a girl and the store has vanished. Can Keith fake it long enough until he finds the store again?"

Sometimes a blurb makes a story seem more interesting than it actually is. In this case, it doesn't really do the story justice. The friendship is deep and believable. While the physical transformation is near instantaneous, the more gradual transformation of young man into young woman is far more subtle. I would go so far as to state that it is one of the best mental transformation stories I've read in a long time. Maybe ever.

Yes, it really is that good.

What are you still doing here? Stop reading my dumb blog and go check out the story!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

TG Forums Shut Down January 2014

Good for you, Femur! (Yes, I know it's supposed to be a lowercase "f.") You rock! I doubt shutting the forum down will teach the offending parties any manners, but it still made me sit up and cheer. You seldom use your power, but when you do, it is always on the side of basic manners and decency. That's a rare thing in these days of "shoot from the lip" (lip, not hip) blogging where snark is confused for quality.

Job well done!