Greetings all,
Jill Sanders, author of the Pride series posted an interview with me on her website on June 6th. My apologies for not posting this sooner, but I just saw it myself as I’ve been very ill and haven’t been online in several days. Please take a look…
This week’s guest blog is brought to us by the delightful, funny, and hard-working Ionia Martin of Readful Things. She also is the mastermind behind The Community Storyboard where writers and readers from all walks of life can gather for some fun. Did I mention she’s hard-working? If you haven’t had the joy of checking out both of Ionia’s blogs then I suggest you take the time to do so.
Now, I asked Ionia to make a list of Do’s and Donts’ for the Indie Authors. I thank her for taking up the challenge and having fun with it. Enjoy.
So you have decided to be an indie author, huh?
I can always count on Charles Yallowitz, the owner of this here excellent blog for two things. Number 1: He writes great books.
Number 2: He is always entertaining and ensures that his posts far outweigh any other responsibilities…
View original post 1,070 more words
GIVEAWAY
Fellow witch book fans, book two of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy, SHADOW OF NIGHT is now out in paperback (Book One: A Discovery of Witches)!!
Penguin has a free copy plus a set of cool alchemical symbol buttons for my readers.
WINNER: Jill Bartholomew!!! Congrats and enjoy, Jill. Thanks for entering.
I’d also like to invite you to join Harkness and her editor Carole DeSanti, the author of The Unruly Passions of Eugénie R, for a virtual book event on BookTalk Nation on June 4th at 2pm EST. Fans can join by phone and buy personalized copies of the book by ordering online here.
GOODREADS SUMMARY
Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library,she sparked a struggle in…
View original post 260 more words
GIVEAWAY
Fellow witch book fans, book two of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy, SHADOW OF NIGHT is now out in paperback (Book One: A Discovery of Witches)!!
Penguin has a free copy plus a set of cool alchemical symbol buttons for my readers.
WINNER: Jill Bartholomew!!! Congrats and enjoy, Jill. Thanks for entering.
I’d also like to invite you to join Harkness and her editor Carole DeSanti, the author of The Unruly Passions of Eugénie R, for a virtual book event on BookTalk Nation on June 4th at 2pm EST. Fans can join by phone and buy personalized copies of the book by ordering online here.
GOODREADS SUMMARY
Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library,she sparked a struggle in…
View original post 260 more words
What wonderful story telling. Take a peek at this. (Especially fun for goddess worshipers like me!) 😉
DAILY PROMPT – 5/31/2013 – All of a sudden two moons appear in the earths atmosphere…
BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS.
“Hello, New York, this is Jessica Lester and Brad Turnberry, coming to you from the WZCB newsroom with a breaking story that has the world at a standstill. At 1 a.m. EST, two moons have been sighted in our skies. This phenomenon has scientists stymied, they have no explanation for the second moon. Astrologers are scrambling for their telescopes to get a better picture of the new moon and it’s surface. It has been reported that the Pope is scouring the bible for any passages that scholars missed over the centuries, foretelling of the arrival of another moon and it’s meaning. How are the people in government handling this strange and mystifying sighting, Brad?”
“Well, Jessica, many people think it’s the beginning of the end of the world. Others feel that…
View original post 520 more words
Really good tips for writing a series.
Writing a series is not as simple as just writing several books in a row. Nor is it as easy as taking one long story and breaking it into several parts. There are a lot of nuances to writing a series that many writers just do not think about until they’re smack in the middle of it, and by that time its either too late OR you’ve just created a mountain of work for yourself that you might have avoided.
Maybe, just maybe, I can help you avoid some of that work.
View original post 1,008 more words
Check this out.
As I write this I am surrounded by the ghost of Sherlock Holmes.
I am wearing a t-shirt for the BBC show Sherlock. You can also find the Blu Rays for the seasons behind me, alongside the box set containing all of the films starring Basil Rathbone and the series with Jeremy Brett (my favorite television Holmes).
Over to my side is my Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat that I bought at 221B Baker Street in London many years ago. I remember that moment vividly.
Why?
Well, honestly, I have a big head. I can’t really buy hats since it is rare I find one that fits my large skull. After spending an afternoon walking through the properly messy rooms of the museum, I assumed I would be going home with just a copy of an illustration from the original books (now on the wall in my kitchen), but to my utter…
View original post 1,666 more words
This one’s on my To Read list!!
Now and then, you get a review that you know will stick with you as an author. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad, but they will be part of your makeup as an artist from that moment on, adding to your personal resume, changing you.
Today, I was honored to have The Jane Austen Centre in Bath review my latest novel A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM. Here is a quote from their review:
If asked to sum up this book in one word, I would have to choose “unpredictable”. Going into it, all I knew was that it was not a biography, and its purpose was to satisfy the author by giving Jane the happy future he would have chosen for her. Safe to say, even for the advanced Austen scholar, it will be impossible to predict where the tale will twist and turn. For those of you…
View original post 157 more words
Greetings friends!
I’m back again. I’d like to present to you an author interview with indie author James Funfer. If you didn’t see my blog review of his book, Crystal Promise: The Shattered Crystal, please feel free to check it out here: https://wandasparyla.com/2013/04/02/book-review-crystal-promise-the-shattered-crystal/
*Tell us a little about Crystal Promise: The Shattered Crystal (genre; description, etc.):
(I stole most of this from my synopsis…but it does a good job of describing the book, I think!)
Crystal Promise is a coming-of-age, urban fantasy novel about young love and tough choices, set against the backdrop of a late-industrial era nation called Novem.
Most of Novem’s technology runs on crystals mined from the ground, but many consider them to be more than just a power source. The Church of Novem worships a ‘Great Crystal’, which is thought to be a liaison between the gods and humanity. Those who can alter crystals at will, known as crystal-speakers, are an important part of that link between the earth and the divine.
For finishing school students Jacoby, Timori, Racquela and Crystara, concerns about crystals and the church are overshadowed by school, dances, sports and summer vacations. But when the Great Crystal selects its arranged marriages that year, a chain of events is set into motion that threatens to upset the entire nation. Betrothal promises are made with rings of crystal, but if they shatter, hearts are not the only things that will break…
*Why did you choose this particular cover art? (Feel free to plug your cover artist!)
David Baumgart and I had been looking for a project to do together for a while. Originally we wanted to make a webcomic, but he’s pretty busy making awesome video games (http://www.gaslampgames.com/). However, when the opportunity came up for me to choose my own artist for the cover, he was the first person to come to mind.
I had this picture in my head of the main characters looking down from a bridge, with the city in the background. David started working on it, until his amazingly savvy partner and graphic designer Megan Seely of Chestnut St. Pixel Foundry (http://cspixelfoundry.com/) told him that writers have no idea what they want, or what looks good. She was right, of course (at least in my case)…she designed the subsequent cover, David drew it, and the result has a lot more pop than anything I had in mind.
*Tell us something about yourself both on a personal level and as an author.
I created my own tabletop role-playing game when I was a teenager. Designing it nearly cost me a passing grade in physics class, but I learned a great deal about storytelling from the campaigns I ran, which benefited me when I began writing longer works of fiction.
*Do you outline or write a synopsis before you begin the actual story, or do you just start writing?
I tend to just start writing. I have a general idea of where I want the story to go and I write down a lot of notes, but it’s all mutable once I get into the narrative. I don’t like to strictly plan out every plot point, because characters tend to surprise me when they react organically. I feel that when I allow the story to change as I go along, the reader is more likely to be surprised, as well.
*Please tell us about any current projects you are working on.
Currently I’m working on the sequel to Crystal Promise, which continues right where the first novel ends. I’m also writing a character-driven science fiction series about how we define the human experience and the nature of spirituality.
*If Jacoby was a real man today, who would be his favorite author? (Besides you, of course.)
Jacoby grew up on tales of heroism and romantic ideals. A lot of Noven stories feature talented crystal-speakers, which appeals to him greatly. However, central to Crystal Promise are the themes of political pressure and cultural identity. I think he would identify greatly with the works of Guy Gavriel Kay.
*In retrospect, what advice would Crystara give to people her age regarding friendship?
Friendship isn’t about earning approval. It’s about enjoying someone else’s company, and forgiving each other for choices and mistakes made. It’s important to find happiness within yourself rather than trying to find someone to make you happy.
*What advice do you have for writers out there who are struggling with getting those first lines down on paper, or are filled with self doubt about the potential quality of their work?
Self-doubt is a crippling thing. Nobody can pick up a paintbrush and paint a realistic self-portrait without practice. Like any skill, the more you do it the better you get. Most artists are their own worst critic. It’s easy to see all of the flaws in your work, but we are often blind to our own talents and the things that make our writing so good. Trust in honest criticism of discerning friends, and accept praise when it is given.
It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you write consistently. You can’t always wait for inspiration to strike; set aside time to write, set manageable goals, and write. Even if you think it’s garbage, the more you write the better your work will get.
*Give us links to learn more about you and your books (i.e. Amazon links, personal pages &/or websites, etc.).
Here’s my author website: http://jamesfunfer.com
I’m also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JamesFunferAuthor
…and Twitter: @JamesFunfer
And my books are available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Promise-The-Shattered-Book/dp/0615665195/
…and Kobo:
Exploring the World of Writing
Fantasy Author
Finding Hope Through Hardship
“All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
whispering life from the future
WANDA PARYLA 
You must be logged in to post a comment.