Tag Archives: Writing

Mermaid’s Curse

Posted on by
Reply

Over on G+ a lot of authors started doing #SaturdayScenes. That’s where we showcase one scene from one story we are either working on, or have published. I’ve showcased mainly stories from my published books so far. Footprints, Forgotten Ones, Prophecy by Barlight and Small Bites. Yesterday I posted the first snippet from the novel I’ve been working on, and talking about, since October. “Mermaid’s Curse“.

Google Plus is a great community. Lots of authors around. A lot of readers looking for their authors. But… not everyone is on G+. In fact I’ve met people who were violently opposed to going to G+. Somehow I just realized this morning that I should have been sharing these here, on my blog, as well, to compensate for that.

So I’m going to post the excerpt from Mermaid’s Curse here, as well as links to all of the other snippets. If you’d like to read any of them then you’ll have to head over to G+. (sorry).

Now… on with the scenes!

Prophecy by Barlight
Touch Me Not (A complete short story from Small Bites)
Footprints
Battle on the Walls (from Forgotten Ones)

****************

Mermaid’s Curse

“Little Mother!”

The sudden, unmistakably masculine, voice pulled Marizza out of her studies. Surely she was mistaken. No one could have been on the little island that the mother, Salvia, had taken her to. The nearest island was a day’s journey, and very few were willing to brave the empty seas with the threat of the kraken so close at hand.

“Little Mother? Are you here?”

Strong, deep, and resonating. The voice seemed to draw her, and she thrust the forgotten book aside running to the door. Pressing her ear to the rough wood, she listened.

Salvia warned her to avoid others. Her abilities were still raw, wild, and untamed. With her magic tied to her emotions, she had already destroyed several small items with a miss placed spell during a fit of rage. Marizza figured out it wasn’t her abilities the Little Mother was trying to temper; it was her own emotional outburst. It would have been easier to temper the magic.

She pressed an ear to the door. She hadn’t heard another person in months, and the solitude was wearing on her. Use to busy streets, and a bakery bustling with towns folk, the utter silence of the forgotten island pressed in on her like a thick fog, smothering her. That voice, with its deep timber and melodic chime, rang through her, dispersing the fog for a bright moment.

“Little Mother! I’ve brought the things you asked for!”

Closer. She could hear the slap of bare feet as the man-made his way up the dirt path. A sailor? Many of them were known to walk unshod. It helped them feel the movement of the sea, they said.

There was more to his voice though. Now that he was closer she could hear a magical aura slipping in through the chiming cadence. Whoever he was, he resonated with a latent power. Another witch? Someone she could be around safely?

The cabin began to feel claustrophobic around her as she heard his footsteps nearing the door. Her fingers wrapped around the cold iron door latch, her curiosity gnawing at her. She could hear his footfalls quicken, feel his vibrant aura of strength just beyond the door.

She yanked the offending wood open—

And came face to face with the most beautiful man she had ever witnessed. His eyes were a startling shade of ice blue, his skin a milky white, almost translucent in the morning sunlight. His black hair hung in wet braids down to his bare shoulders.

Flushing bright red, Marizza lowered her gaze only to be greeted by the stark evidence of his complete nudity. A naked, wet god had emerged from the waters only to torment her.

Posted on by
Reply

forgottensmlfootprintsminiwpid-smring.png

Everything is on sale! Short stories are 99 cents, and Novellas are $2.99. If you’d like to get one, now is you’re chance!

pssmcamera2Twilight TalesFlight of the Griffins

Make Something

Posted on by
Reply

Not very long ago, Neil Gaiman gave a beautiful speech which boiled down to one thing: Make Good Art.

Well, Adam Savage just gave another wonderful, and really short speech at Maker Fair on the ten commandments of making, and they are great commandments. Not only for making physical items, as they do a Maker Fair, but for making anything that takes imagination and creativity. Art, books, paintings, music… anything.

I’ll give you the list, along with my thoughts on each, but you should also go listen to his speech and what he has to say.

Here is the short version of the commandments according to Adam, with my commentary.

1. Make something

Anything. But I will add something to what Adam said, and that is ‘don’t stick to one kind of making.’ If you’re a writer then dabble in photography. If you are a painter try your hand at sculpting. Mix it up, learn something new, because when you go back to your usual making then you will have a fresh perspective to work with.

2. Make something useful

I love his description of making a pull knob and using it every day, watching the patina and wear from your own hands making it something more. He’s right. Making something you can use will encourage you to make more.

But what do you make when you’re a writer, or a painter that you can use all the time? This goes back to the first point and dabbling in new things. Print your poem and add it to a frame, decorate and put it on the wall. Or get a short story illustrated and hand it out. Or take your book covers and make them into posters that you see all the time. I love seeing, and touching and giving away my paperbacks. It’s wonderful.

3. Start right now

Get out your pen, and paper, and start NOW! Make a plan of attack. This is so important. So many people get bogged down in learning how to do the thing, and never get to doing the thing. Most people learn much more from DOING then they do from reading about or being told. Go. Do it!

4. Find a project

Ever notice that when you’re completing one project you often get ideas for another? While writing “Mermaid’s Curse” I came up with six or seven new ideas. Some were good, some not as good, but they all went into my story file for later.

My first novel was bad. It was so bad I am now glad it died in a computer crash. But while writing it I got a lot of new ideas. Some of which I’ve since published.

Finding that first project, even if it’s a TERRIBLE project, is important, because it will lead you to other projects.

5. Ask for help, advice, and feedback

No man is an island. We were all novices at one point or another. And looking up tutorials online only goes so far. Don’t be afraid to ask for some help. Someone might say no, but someone else is going to say yes.

6. Share

Join a writers group, get beta readers, or find a critique group. Give things away, and make efforts to just share.

But also share what you know. Share you’re expertise. Help someone get that cover right. Offer your opinion (when they want it.) Share yourself, as well as your projects.

7.Recognize that discouragement and failure is part of the project

This May I had one book sale. My computer broke for a month, and now the mother board blew out. I’ve had so much discouragement, and had every excuse to just not write for a while. But I’m writing anyway, because failure is an option. Writing sucky things, or awful dialog is absolutely allowed. That’s what editing is for. But keep moving forward regardless.

8. Measure carefully

For writing there isn’t a lot of measuring. There is a word count, and keeping track of my word count has encouraged me to keep writing. And the word count also makes the difference between short story, novella, and novel.

But there is another way of looking at this “rule”. Measuring is about having the right fit. Does your work fit? Do you have the right tools? Do you have the right genre and feeling? Does it work?

This is all about the details, and making sure your details are all in the right order so that when you are done everything works out.

9. Make things for other people

If the only audience you have for your book or photo, or drawing is you, then does it matter? Well, yes, to you. But when you start putting your work out there, either by publishing or giving it away, and you start seeing what people really think of your work (good or bad) that gives you more opportunity for growth.

So now, go make something!

10. Use more cooling fluid

Cooling fluid doesn’t have to literally be cooling fluid. It can be a drink, or a walk through a park, or a nice long shower. Cooling fluid, in this case, is time to relax and sit back. Time to just have fun and enjoy life. Yes, enjoy making and creating, but take a moment to smell the roses too. Some time to live. And then use that cooling off period as more inspiration to write/paint/draw/and make.

Writing Process Blog Tour

Posted on by
Reply

Simon Canton asked me to be part of the Writing Process Blog Tour. I said yes, how could I not?

 

What am I working on?

I’ve been working on “Mermaid’s Curse” since October. It’s my third novel length book, but the fist one I’ll be publishing. An epic fantasy, with some romantic overtones, it’s set in the same world as “Osiren’s Tears”, but is a stand alone novel tracking the making and breaking of a curse on Okira, a half mermaid witch.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My stories, though set in fantasy and paranormal worlds, are more about the characters and their struggles then about the magic and mayhem (though it does play a big part). You couldn’t really take the magic or sci-fi elements out, as they are integral parts of the story, but more importantly: how do the characters react to demons chasing them, cyborgs crushing them, or a curse denying them love? It’s the human struggle I find interesting and compelling.

Though magic is really fun.

Why do I write what I do?

I’m fascinated by people. What makes them tick? What drives them? Why do they do such terrible or wonderful things? How will they react when I throw something new at them?

Every time my characters surprise me it thrills me just a little more.

How does my writing process work?

I do something in between pantsing and plotting. I start with a very general idea, like “Sleeping dragon awakens after 1000 years to find a city built on his back.” Then I find the first scene. Add a few people, and a little bit of mayhem. Once I have those basics down I can start writing a general outline. One or two sentences for a each chapter.

The outline is never the end. I’m constantly tweeking and discovering new things. New people, and problems. Sometimes I will decide the ending is general, like “The hero saves the day by killing the bad guy”, but I always end up tweeking and refining it as I get to the end. The HOW is more important then the what by then. And sometime the how can get… complicated.

Nominations

For this weeks Blog Tour I nominate a great writer, a podcaster, and a friend. The fantastic Buddy Gott and his fantabulouse beard!

Buddy Gott is a writer of humorous fiction. His first novel, I WAS A TEENAGE AMISH VAMPIRE, will be released in early Summer, 2014. Buddy is also the host or co-host of a ridiculously large number of shows on the internet. To find out more about him, his writing, and his shows, please visit his site at www.buddygott.com. 

Progress?

Posted on by
Reply

Some days it feels like you’re not making any progress, when in fact you are.

Take today. I wrote a messily little 130 words so far. I’m probably going to write a little bit more, but it won’t be a lot since it’s already past midnight. However, I did go through my entire manuscript and clean up a lot of the grammar errors. Changed the then’s to than’s. Got rid of double spacing. Made all the “…” uniform. Took out all the double words.

It wasn’t a major edit, just a superficial one, but one much needed. From here on out I will be going through each chapter and doing a major cleaning up of word usage. Not a true edit, since I still need someone else to correct the spelling and grammar errors, but just making the words read smoother. This basic once over to clean up all the really easy to spot things will make that go through a little easier.

Progress is more in how you see things then how you measure them. I usually measure progress by word count, but some days I do an awful lot of editing, formatting, and cover design. This leaves no time for actual words on page. I know I should set at least one hour aside every day to just write, but sometimes your brain is so overloaded with everything else that you just can’t write. That’s when you have to measure progress in another way.

I’m going to be adding other accomplishments to my word count sheet. Maybe it will just be a note that says “marketing” or “art” for the day. Maybe it will be something more specific. But it feels a lot better to look at the spreadsheet and see “I didn’t waste my time playing video games that day, I actually did something productive before I played them.” (Because a girl has to have her video games, right?)

How do you measure your progress? What do you do on days that you feel like you’ve done nothing, even though you know you did a lot?

Around The Web

Posted on by
Reply

This month has been eventful. Lots of people up in arms over the Comcast/TWB merger, and the threat to net neutrality. Lots of interesting developments in science and technology. And an ancient book that was 100 years ahead of its time.

CGP Grey and a simple, easy to understand explanation of Net Neutrality and what it means for you, the user.

Because it’s all over my twitter feed: Watch two authors write a book LIVE in 30 days (and change how the world thinks about storytelling!) #fictionunboxed

5 hilariously bad first drafts of classic books.

Cosmos is free to stream online!

An album of scientific discoveries for the month of April.

A 271 year old guide to color.

The worlds luckiest… or unluckiest man in the world.

I’d like to teach the world to sing….

Posted on by
Reply

I had this conversation with someone today on reddit, and I’d just like to share it. After writing it I felt so proud to be part of the indie community. And if you are an artist, writer, story teller, or just someone chasing your dreams… you should feel proud of the community of creators we are building too.

It isn’t a contest. We aren’t at each others throats vying for the top. We are friends, and coworkers, helping one another because we are also helping ourselves.

************ the conversation ***********

In response to my assertion that “the arts are skyrocketing” and a person should follow their dream, another redditor replied:

I agree that we have a lot more avenues to express our creativity.  And, it is easy to reach a lot of people. I also believe that supporting local economies is good. But I wonder about ‘skyrocketing’. Is this a growing viable industry, is that what you mean by ‘skyrocketing’? Do most people make good money or even a living?  Or are most folks ‘starving artists’ that would be considered as hobbyists to the business world?

My reply:

I am mainly familiar with the self publishing book world since that is where I am working.

Ten to fifteen years ago, before Amazon opened up publishing to individual authors, the best a writer could do was sign with a publishing house. Most houses would pay 10-15% royalties on a book. They would miss payments, miss count, hide numbers, and basically the publishers made bank while the author made crap. A large portion of authors, way back then, had to have a second job because what they were making through the publishing company couldn’t really pay the bills. They were limited to one book a year. Often signed to contracts with “no compete” clauses so they couldn’t sell anywhere else. And a big part was that there were only so many publishers with so many open book slots each year, and more authors to fill those slots then slots available.

Then Amazon came around. They give their authors direct access to publishing, pay them 70% royalties, and let you do everything yourself.

There are MORE writers now that actually get books out into the world then there ever were before. And they are selling! Things no publishing house would touch because they were cross genre or off brand are now selling millions of copies. Authors, for the first time ever, have a real chance to make a living doing what they love.

I know several dozen authors who make a full time living from writing. They quit their day jobs. And now they just create art. I know about hundreds of other cases and there are reports of thousands of authors who all write full time.

Amazon, smashwords, kobo, and all the other platforms have opened up a world to people who were once hampered by what the publishing industry dictated.

And others are succeeding because we, self published authors, are succeeding. We hire freelance editors, illustrators, voice actors, formatters, personal assistants, and more. Just because we love to write, and people love to read.

Now a lot of authors are starting to hire graphic novelists, animators, and film makers….

Yes. from where I sit, the art community is sky rocketing. We are sharing the wealth. We are encouraging indie development, and teaching each other how to succeed. There are free podcasts, tutorials, and ebooks out there for anyone who wants to put in the hard work to become a self published artist, writer, musician, filmmaker or whatever. And we as an indie community understand that the more our fellow creators succeed, the more we succeed.

It’s kind of a beautiful thing, and I am so happy to be part of it.

A little update

Posted on by
4

I’m at 80% into my first novel to be published. After lots of polish and editing, of course. Longer story means lots more work to make it publishable.

I started this back in November, and while six months doesn’t seem like a horribly long time in the grand scheme of things, it’s been a long road for me. Just sitting down and plowing through a thousand words on a project I was some days thoroughly sick of looking at. Knowing what happens but telling myself “now show the reader”. FINISHING! I’m not quite finished yet, but I can see the end of the tunnel and the light is very bright.

I’ve learned a lot doing this. I’ve started to write faster and just let go and let the story happen. Some days its easier then others. Sometimes it means just throwing out everything I have for a specific chapter and redoing it. But the end result is worth it.

When I took a break from “Mermaids Curse” I worked on writing the beats for the next Eternal Tapestry book, or the beats for my Silo novella. It means that when I finish “Mermaids Curse” I can go onto the next project, and possibly write it even faster.

The thing about MC… I didn’t have beats written for it when I started. Just a very general outline. So much has changed from the first sketchy outline because I didn’t really know what was going on in certain parts. I wrote a lot of it by pantsing. Figuring out that this prisoner needed rescuing. Realizing how the original curse got cast, and then changed. Knowing that a sylph would be be causing mischief and cause some of the characters to run for their life. All of it discovered while I wrote.

I am hoping that by finishing proper beats and knowing exactly where I am going with the next book, and how A leads to B, and C leads to D, that I will actually be able to finish a book, a WHOLE book, in two months. That’s my goal, at least. Two months to write. One month to edit, design, format, and make a cover, and then finally… PUBLISH! Every three months.

I’ve decided that I need ten full length books out, plus my three series (Eversword, Eternal Tapestry, and Illgotten Gains) in order to feel like I’ve given a writing career a real stab. Till then I just need to keep plugging away. And hopefully faster each time I pick up the keyboard.

Computers make our lives easy, right?

Posted on by
Reply

Computers have given us the ability to automate so many things. They allow us to type, edit, and retype at the touch of a few buttons. We can edit entire novels in days instead of painstakingly copying them letter by letter for months or years at a time.

So when your computer decides it doesn’t want to work anymore…. ARG!

My computer has been having issues for a while. The USB plug has been acting up, deciding not to work now and then for no reason that I can tell. Usually I can trouble shoot through it, repair, clean the dust out, and get the thing limping along again for a while.

What’s worse is I am not sure what is failing. Is it a software or a hardware issue? Do i have a virus that is eating away at some components? Do I just need to reformat and boot again? Or do I need to start replacing parts. USB’s are attached to the mother board so that would be a lot of parts.

I’ve known for a while that my computer needed to be upgraded, at least, and that it probably needed a good cleaning. I even bought a new terabyte hard drive so I could save all my data. I just hadn’t gotten around to installing it. So… I have a blank terabyte drive, and a half full 300 gig drive, neither of which I can easily access at the moment. I mean they turn on, but my mouse is USB, so moving files around without a mouse is difficult at best since I don’t know all the short cuts.

On the plus side, I have a drop pox with all my writing on it. I can access that through my lap top (and old lap top that has a little touch screen mouse, and shouldn’t be used for games, so it’s less distracting when I write.) but all my family photos, video, and art work is still trapped on the old drive till I get it out.

At least I know that the hard drive isn’t corrupted. The data is still there, just hard to get to.

Lessons… Back up your files, and not just one a computer. Burn them on a disk, drop them in your email, use DROPBOX! Seriously, Dropbox is invaluable. In fact, if you don’t yet have a Dropbox, go here and set one up. they give you free space. It’s not a lot, but it is enough to save the most important data in case something happens.

As for me… I’m off to work on my novel some more with the little lap top. So glad I have that otherwise I’d be scrambling to get the PC fixed right now.