The Curse Of An Alpha *MATURE*

Questions, updates, and self-publishing

Hello, pumpkins *waves* I hope you are all doing well. Before anything else, I just want to say a big thank you for your continued support. I know I haven't been the most active on here and my only excuse for it is mental health, though I have still been reading comments in the background and I appreciate all of you! It does mean a lot and it has been one of the things that got me through some of my darker moments. So, thank you :)

I wrote this book a long time ago when I was deep in my depression and su*cidal thoughts. a lot of what I felt and went through is reflected in this entire book. I think a lot of Alice's anger is a reflection of my own and reading through the book is not an easy experience for me. I see myself in her trauma and hatred and that is not an easy thing to admit because I know she was not a very likable character for most of the book, even if she was honest. 

 I have been wanting to have this book self-published for a very long time but it does need a lot of edits before that can happen. I was young when I wrote it, it was my first 'real' novel and this is a rough draft in the most epic sense. There are things I'm not happy with which I need to fix before getting a professional editor involved, for example, Alice attempting su*cide, her being super unlikeable whilst still representing her trauma and struggles, or Will dying, but I have been struggling with the idea of changing elements of the story which, admittedly, has halted my editing process to the point of nonexistence. I have started, however, and I'm determined to get past my anxiety.

So, I would really appreciate your honest feedback and thoughts on my ideas/plans.

Question 1) Would you guys be ok with me changing the name of this book? I'll be honest, I'm not that much of a fan of the title. There will be three books in this 'trilogy' which I have called 'Cursed' (sharing a larger plot but having individual storylines also,) and I want to get the covers designed as it will likely be the cheapest thing to do in this entire process lol. I'm assuming most people have not looked into this but these can cost upwards of £200 per cover so it adds up, depending on what you're looking for and where. Naturally, before I invest I do want to be happy with the title. I'd like to change it to 'The Curse of A Wolf' but I am open to suggestions. I think it sticks to the general theme of what the book is about (at least in Alice's eyes) but sounds a bit more...professional? I don't know if that is the right word.

Question 2) With how much of me changing elements of the story would you guys be okay with? The main plot points and acts will be the same, but there are elements and scenes that I want to get rid of, as well as doing a lot of character rework. For example, I want to introduce Alice's demonic powers closer to the beginning of the book so I can play around with it more, or I want to include more interaction between the other supernaturals. And of course, I do plan on cutting down the book. I think I have a tendency to ramble haha. I would love to hear your thoughts! And just a warning that this does not mean I will 100% stick to these things, but I will take them into consideration.

Question 3) I was in such a toxic relationship when I wrote this and I think I reflected this in some instances between Alice and Colden. By the end their relationship is sweet but the beginning leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What issues between Alice and Colden need to be worked on or more developed? Sometimes I still struggle to see this.

Question 4) Last question for now but I would love for you to share your ideas! What would you have loved to see more or less of? Maybe I mentioned something but didn't go into detail? Essentially, if you could read this book for the first time again, what would you have wanted to see?

Once again, thank you so much for all your continued support and I'm looking forward to reading your suggestions! I will do my best to reply to everyone but it might take a few hours as it's 00:12 am here and I'll be sleeping lol.

Love you guys, Nik.