Blog Tour - Queen Of The Loch

Today’s post comes from my friend Elizabeth Delana Rosa. Her newest novel will be released soon, and I’m helping with her blog tour. Her guest post is about book covers and I hope you’ll enjoy it. If you like what you see, support Elizabeth by buying Queen Of The Loch at your favorite book vendor and leaving her a review.

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About the Book:

COMING JUNE 13, 2014

Title:  Queen of the Loch

Series:  Children of the Loch Saga

Author:   Elizabeth Delana Rosa

Published:  Expected publishing June 13th, 2014

Word Count:  Approximately 42,000

Genre:  YA Paranormal

Synopsis:

Nineteen year old, Jaelyn Adena McDonnell, known as J.J. to all, just found out she is not who she thought she was. On her twentieth birthday, a handsome man shows up on her porch with a marriage edict and news that the grandfather she has never met, has died. Her world is about to change forever. J.J. must make the perilous journey to the Loch and take her place on its throne. With no idea, what is expected of her and dark forces closing in at every turn, will J.J. be able to accept her destiny or will she be stopped her before she can? Come join this first person account of a young woman’s journey to finding herself and those she meets along the way. Previously released as a free novella named Child of the Loch, this is a completely new novel based on the same premise with new characters, renamed characters and completely revamped story-line. The novella has stayed in the top 20 of Christian Fantasy and Science fiction Free Kindle since its publishing date in November of 2013. The expected publishing date is June 13, 2014. While it maintains a great level of clean reading and it references a faith, it is in no way preachy.

Cover Art from Start to Finish…

When doing a cover, you first must identify the character. My character of choice was Jaelyn, I spent time searching through a variety of pictures from www.canstockphoto.com and found the perfect one, but she needed work.

I trolled the internet’s vast collection flames, scars and plugged them into Photoshop. It’s important that all the elements come together.

[caption id="attachment_3187" align="alignleft" width="209"] ©2010-2014 stuff-stock flame[/caption]

Finally, I touched up the Color and added the lighting and Font. I won’t go into all I did but I will share the evolution of the cover with you.

 These covers are for the Novella. I released it twice but re-covered it 3 times.

Bio:

Elizabeth Delana Rosa has always been a writer. When she first learned to write in Kindergarten, she wrote about pigs who “groo” wings and became “butterfys.” Elizabeth knew way back then that she would have a love affair with writing. It overtook her life and has been a constant companion. Now over 20 years later, that love flows over into writing blogs, reviews, poetry and fantasy novels. Lastly Elizabeth is a big nerd. She loves Fantasy, YA, Paranormal Romance, and Sci-Fi books. Her dream is to promote Authors and help them reach the highest level of Success, while writing her own YA and NA Fantasy Novels. She often says,

 I hope that my stories connect with people of all ages, genders and races. All it takes is a good story to unite people who wouldn't normally be on the same side.

Follow Elizabeth on Social Media:

MSH Blog Tour Week 15: Finished

"What did you learn from this blog tour? Did you learn any useful new skills? Hone existing skillls?Did you gain any followers for your blog? Have you sold any books while on the tour? What other ways has this blog tour benefited you and would you do it again?" Those are the questions posed to me on the final week of the MSH blog tour.

For the most part, I enjoyed this blog tour. It was organized differently from what I'm use to but it was interesting. I think we hit some rough patches but it seemed most of the authors had fun.

I can't say that I really learned anything from it, aside from all the different perspectives different authors bring to the same questions. It was fun to read all of the different points of view.

I didn't sell any books during the tour because mine has been released yet. I didn't buy any, either.

With a few modifications (which I don't want to talk about on such a public forum) I'd contribute to the MSH blog tour again.

MSH Blog Tour Week 13: Scenes

"What is the hardest scene for you to write?  Is it a battle scene?  A transition? Bridge? A luuuuuurrrve scene?  What have you done to overcome these hard spots and improve your writing?" That is the writing prompt for this week's MSH blog tour post.

I find action sequences to be the hardest to write, especially fight scenes. To be clear, action scenes and fight scenes are a little different in my mind. While each one has elements of the other, fight scenes are fights between two or more people while action scenes often involve running, moving, and usually non-living things. The car-flipping chase in Bad Boys 2 is an action scene (and probably my favorite car chase scene of all time) while Hulk versus Thor in The Avengers is a fight scene.

When writing them, you have to ask yourself what the purpose of the scene is. This will determine the majority of the action, as well as whose POV it should be. Not every action or fight scene has to be from the hero's point of view, you may want to do it from the villain's. But whomever you chose, make sure you don't head hop during the scene. This may be the most difficult thing to do in action/battle scenes with multiple participants. In Adventure Hunters I had to tackle this when Regina gets kidnapped. It was easy as a screenplay but once I turned it into a novel I had to make sure I didn't hop from person to person. I wrote the scene by splitting the focus between Artorius, Regina, and Lisa but by not repeating everything that had already happened. I also mentioned, after I switched to a different person, that they were aware of what the others in the scene were doing. For example, after leaving Lisa's head and moving into Artorius's, who was engaged in a dual, I mentioned that he knew of Lisa's fight that was happening as well. I broke each new head hop into a different section and tried to keep a sense of continuity by having each character comment, however briefly, on the previous action.

I often have a specific image I want to work into an action scene and work around it. If you want a rooftop chase sequence, you have to figure out how all the players get to the roof, why are they there, hazards of running up there, and a million other questions.

I find writing action sequences like car chases and such easier to write then fight scenes. The pitfall of fights is to write every swing, punch, and kick. You get too bogged down in details. I think the key is to highlight specific, special moves while glossing over the regular punches. If it is a martial arts fight, like in The Matrix, the kicks and punches come fast. You don't need to write where every hit lands, but what about special moves like the throat jab Neo gives Agent Smith. Detail works good for action sequences, but specific, highlighted action written powerfully work best in fights.

I often sit and visualize the action, trying to see it as a movie. Then I'll write a little bit, stop and visualize, then repeat until the scene is done. It is good to review your scene after you write it, especially with action scenes they tend to read much faster and seem shorter than when you're writing them. If you want a long sequence, like the highway chase from The Matrix Reloaded or rescuing the airplane from Superman Returns, you may find yourself needing to add elements.

That's all I have for this week. As always, thanks for reading.

MSH Blog Tour Week 10: Block

Here's what's on tap for week 10 of the blog tour:  Writing style:  do you use sprints? Exercises? Prompts?  Just knucke down? Describe your usual routine and what you do to get out of a funk and beat writer's block.

This week is a host and post and my guest is Aya Walksfar. She is the author of Dead Men and Cats and the soon-to-be-released Good Intentions. She can be reached at   http://www.facebook.com/AyaWalksfarAuthor  or her blog at http://www.ayawalksfar.com  

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FACING DOWN WRITER’S BLOCK

“Wake up!” Jaimie Wolfwalker shook my shoulder as her breath tickled my ear with her whisper. “Wake up! There’s work to do. If we don’t find Auntie...I’m afraid of what might happen.” 

I swat at her with one hand and roll over, crack open an eye. “Cripes! Jaimie, do you know it’s 3 A.M.? I just got to bed at 2! Come on, give me a break. I sat in front of that computer for two solid hours and got six words typed!” 

“Please, get up. I already turned the computer back on. All you have to do is sit down and write.”  Jaimie’s fingertips bit into my shoulder as she shook me more vigorously than before. 

I swung my legs out of bed and stumbled through the dark house. Ghostly blue light seeped from my office. My office chair scooted a little when I flopped down on it. Rubbing burning eyes with the back of one hand, I jiggled the mouse and woke up the computer. Jaimie had thoughtfully pulled up a blank page in the novel Street Harvest. 

Muzzy minded, I scrolled back a chapter and began reading. The words ran in circles on the computer page. “I’ve got to have some tea before I can even read this.” 

Jaimie followed me into the kitchen, probably afraid I would sneak off to the living room and plop out on the couch. I made a cup of Awake Tea and hoped it would live up to its name. Cup in hand I returned to the computer.  

A half hour later I stared at the determinedly blank computer page. With a sigh, I shoved the chair away from the desk. “I can’t do it, Jaimie. Come on. I am exhausted and Street Harvest isn’t even due to come out until 2014! Cut me some slack.” 

“The book may not be due by your publisher, but what about me? What about Auntie? Do you think we can wait?”

“I’ll work on it tomorrow, well, I guess I mean later today. Okay?” 

“No. You’re just procrastinating. Just do it.” 

I rubbed my neck as I stared at her face pinched with worry. “Just do it, huh?”

“Yes, just start putting words on paper. Or in this case, computer screen. It’ll make sense after a while.” 

I stared into her dark eyes. “You that worried about Auntie?” 

She nodded. “Her and the kids.” 

“I’ll do my best. Can’t guarantee anything, you know?” 

“Yes, I understand.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and pulled up the wood, straight-back chair. 

Desk chair wheeled back up to my keyboard, I began to type.   

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I'd like to thank Aya Walksfar to coming to my humble blog and be sure to visit her blog and Facebook page. As always, thanks for reading.

MSH Blog Tour Week 9: Plotter

"Plotter or pantser?  Discuss which you do, if it's a 50/50 or 70/30 or whatever your style is." That is the theme for this week on the MSH blog tour. I wrote about this before in a post on March 15, 2012. Since my process hasn't changed much since then, I'll repost what I wrote in a slightly modified version.

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 Most of what I learned about writing comes from Syd Field's book Screenplay and Stephen King's On Writing. I won't do a review of these books so just bear in mind that many of my habits came from these two works.

I start with an outline, a road map of my story. It isn't long, usually not more than four pages. I begin with a log line, a short descriptive overview of the story, the kind of thing you would find in TV Guide or such; usually only one or two sentences long. After that I figure out five things: opening, ending, Plot Point 1, Midpoint, and Plot Point 2 (PP1, MP, and PP2, for short). These are the main parts of my story, the road signs that tell it what direction to take.

The opening and ending are fairly straightforward: what is the hero doing at the beginning of the story before they get into their situation; do they win in the end or lose? These are usually pretty easy to figure out.

PP1, MP, and PP2 aren't quite so easy. In a two hour movie these usually happen about thirty minutes, sixty minutes, and ninety minutes, respectively, into the movie. These are the points where the hero (or heroes) have to make their decisions or something drastic happens to them at this point. Often in action movies PP1 is when the hero learns what the villain has done or trying to do and PP2 is when the hero is captured or when the villain has almost started his final plan. Once I figure out these two points, I have signs to direct my story towards. As I think and write my outline these may change over time but the function of them don't. They are there to anchor my story. In Adventure Hunters, the opening is the three adventurers in the ruin, the ending is telling their last story, PP1 is deciding to search for the Lambda Driver and PP2 is when the golems are activated.

After figuring out those four points, I write an outline, having split my story into four acts. The traditional story structure is three acts, but with the MP coming in the middle of Act 2 and splitting it in half, it's easier for me to think of them as four separate acts. Act 1 ends with PP1, Act 2 ends with PP2 and Act 3 ends when the story ends. I then write fourteen "scenes" for each act, rough outlines of all the major scenes in my story. These descriptions are brief and don't include every detail, they are just general outlines to give me a rough idea of what my story will be like. This is, without a doubt, the hardest part for me, especially Act 2. Syd Field calls writing the outline (or treatment) a "kick in the pants" exercise. Now I have to take my half-baked idea and turn it into a narrative. 

I don't have every detail worked out, only the major parts. There are many things I'll leave blank and figure out as I am writing the story. Some take me by surprise. An example of this is in Adventure Hunters when the three heroes go to meet the gargoyles. My outline had it written as a very straightforward "gather their collective breath and get information" series of scenes. But as I was writing their journey through the forest I needed more tension. I needed a character to be scared of the gargoyles who lived in the forest. Neither Regina or Artorius fit the bill, it wasn't in their character. That left Lisa. So as I wrote the scenes, I made her first be angry and racist towards the gargoyles. But that didn't work, so I changed it into a fear bordering on a phobia. But why was she scared? I eventually wrote a scene explaining why, tying it in with a traumatic experience with her parents from her childhood. This was something I never planned on when I created Lisa and wasn't in my original outline, it grew as I was writing and was a pleasant surprise.

Syd Field says to write a four page outline, Stephen King makes it up as he goes along, and Jeffery Deaver writes 100-200 page outlines for his stories, knowing every twist and turn along the way. I'm aiming for somewhere in the middle. Without an outline I write about thirty pages and get lost and frustrated, I've done it before. But a 100 or 200 pages outline? I might as well just write the novel. Deaver is a thriller writer and a master of plot twists, he needs to know every twist and turn in advance to make sure everything fits together. There are merits to all three approaches, I think. 

After I'm happy with my outline and hopefully find it without too many plot holes, I'll start writing. I refer to my outline and use it as a map but it isn't gospel, I'll change it if I think something else works better. Along with my outline I have a word count I try to shoot for. Again, this number isn't ironclad but if I get close to it I'm happy. I think it helps me out, knowing that I'm inching closer to a goal and giving me a feeling of accomplishment. However, I won't write just to fill up a word count, if my story ends and I have nothing else to say, it ends. I don't want to stuff it with useless filler.

So there you are, a glimpse into my writing process. If any other readers out there would be willing to share their process I'd love to read them, just write in the comments box. As always, thanks for reading.

Book Review: Rys Rising

A while back, I teased about the fantasy novel Rys Rising, by Tracy Falbe. Now it is time to post my review as part of Falbe's blog tour.

Here is the official synopsis from Goodreads: "An outlaw rises to become a dreaded warlord, the terror of kings. He takes the name Amar and seeks to join the Kez, the fiercest mercenary society in the tribal kingdoms of Gyhwen. His fearless ambition is inspired by Onja, a mysterious rys female whose magic has shaped Amar into a loyal friend. He zealously pursues her every command and hopes to join her in her mythic homeland of Jingten. But he knows little about the challenges confronting Onja. She and all rys are the reviled creations of the tabre of Nufal, and Onja longs to expel her hated masters. To liberate the rys, she knows that she will need more than Amar's help. Onja sees her best hope for an ally in Dacian, a prodigy among rys, but he is loyal to the ruling tabre order and dreams of winning equality for the rys nonviolently. He holds tenaciously to his ideals even as the tabre brutally subjugate him. Will he endure more dark abuses for the sake of peace or reach out to Onja? And what fate is Amar blindly embracing as he kills for her? Like a tree crashing in a storm, all civilizations will crack when hit by the force of the rys rising."

I was given an ebook copy in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour. I'll start with what I didn't like. This book is Book One of the Rys Rising trilogy (Savage Storm and New Religion are Books Two and Three, respectively) and this book feels like it. It reminds me very much of The Fellowship Of The Ring, in which it isn't a three-act story with plot lines that will continue. Like Fellowship, this book is ALL Act One, setting up the stage for what will come later. In that sense, the book seems long and slow to build but looking back on it, almost everything seems needed. Onja finding Amar, him joining the Kez, Dacian's training and growing rebellion, all of it is needed. I wish the book had been more structured to be a three-act story so I would have had a sense of completion but still wanting more. This is Book One and it feels like Book One.

The second issue I had with it was the constant head hopping. Whenever more than one main character is in the scene, we jump back and forth from one POV to the other. We hear Onja's thoughts and Amar's thoughts when they are in the forest. As Dacian undergoes training with his teacher Halor, we bounce from head to head. Falbe takes a third-person omniscient narrative voice in this book. Because the cast is so numerous and the storyline so complex, maybe this was needed. If each scene needed to be retold twice from each POV, it would have been a massive tome. But I feel a third-person limited POV could have worked. I eventually got use to the head hopping but it was jarring, especially in the beginning and almost, not quite but almost, feels like a cop-out from Falbe, who obviously knows this fantasy world so well.

Those points being said, the positives outweigh the negatives. Falbe has created a rich, layered Tolkien-like world without the complicated sentence structures. The humans, the tabre, the rys, all the different magic using sects, have their own history, culture, and worldview. Each one is distinct and well-thought out. Places and people have unique names and I'm almost surprised an invented language was not thrown in.

The characters are well-rounded; from Amar becoming a feared mercenary to Onja going from timid rys to a powerful creature whose intentions are slowly revealed. There is an air headed princess who I was happy to see was not air headed because she was stupid but because of her societal upbringing. Once she escapes, she proves herself capable. Many of the tropes of fantasy characters are present but didn't feel like stereotypes. Each person had their reasons for being in their circumstances.

The descriptions are vivid, especially of the armor and costumes and each different set of characters had their own style.  The cities were thought out well and given a brief history without feeling like an information dump.

All in all, I recommend this book. It may take a bit of effort to push through it, but the world and characters are rich and complex, with intertwining destinies that will be interesting to see how they are played out.

Below is more information about the book, as well as purchase links and information to a promotional giveaway.

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A remarkable trip into a stunning  new world with Rys Rising, an epic fantasy series brought to you by Tracy Falbe

Rys Rising: Book I by Tracy Falbe

Blurb

Onja can control what others see. The day will come when everyone sees things her way.

She and all rys are the reviled creations of the tabre of Nufal. Onja longs to expel her hated masters and sees her best hope for an ally in Dacian. He’s a prodigy among rys but is loyal to the ruling tabre order and dreams of winning equality for the rys nonviolently. He holds tenaciously to his ideals even as the tabre brutally subjugate him. Will he endure more dark abuses for the sake of peace or reach out to Onja?

This unique epic of complex heroes and villains engulfs readers from many angles. Packed with primitive energy, the intertwining stories of this fantasy world will indulge your cravings for intrigue, bravery, desire, and freedom.

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Links

Rys Rising: Book I is available worldwide at these retailers:

Brave Luck Books

Amazon Kindle

RY’S RISING BOOK 1-FREE ON AMAZON RIGHT NOW

Amazon Paperback

Barnes & Noble

I-Tunes

Kobo

Sony

Smashwords

Experience Her LadyShips Quest Here

Find Tracy on Twitter

Connect with Tracy on Facebook

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About Tracy Falbe

I was born in Michigan in 1972 and grew up in Mount Pleasant. It's called the "Mountain Town" but there is no mountain and it's debatable about whether it's pleasant. They say it's a party town and based on extensive research as a young adult I can concur.

Because I always had the childhood fantasy of running away and joining the circus, I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1995 and lived there until 1997. Those who only stay a week are wimps, but I will say that it's the second year in Vegas that wears you down. Then I realized the pioneers were trying to get to California, so I moved to Chico, in Northern California and lived there until 2009.

In 2000, I earned a journalism degree from California State University, Chico with the conscious ambition of becoming a fiction writer. With the rapid demise of the newspaper industry and journalism in general, novelist is not such a daft pursuit after all. It's not like I'm actually going to get a job that values my education. Luckily I'm cursed with the impulse to write in a popular yet competitive genre.

My wandering has circled back and I'm currently residing in Battle Creek, Michigan, and for now my existence within the post-apocalyptic Rust Belt is suitably fascinating.

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$25 ETSY GIFTCARD GIVEWAY

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MSH Blog Tour: Week 7 - Interview

Here is what we were told to do for week 7 of the MSH blog tour: "Character Interview.  Interview your main character - or characters.  BE creative people you are writers after all." I'll give it my best shot. This interview is with Artorius, one of the main characters of Adventure Hunters. The episode below is mentioned in the novel and I thought I would expand upon it.

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The following is a transcript of a prisoner interview. Officers: Commander Kee and Ensign Booker. Prisoner: Artorius.

PLACE: Jail Wing, Constable Station 3
Kee: What's your name, son?
Artorius: Artorius.
(Prisoner has Sigil Of Disgrace branded on left cheek. Letters HY) Kee: I don't recognize that Sigil. What was your kingdom?
Artorius: Hyion, sir.
Kee: Hyion? King Valdore's kingdom, right?
Artorius: Yes.

Kee: What did you do?

Artorius: I was accused of attempting a coup. I tried to stop it, not start it.

Kee: Hmm. You know why you're here?

Artorius: Wearing Paladin armor is illegal for Sigil Bearers.

Kee: How long have you been in Vaneer?

Artorius: Six months, sir.

Kee: And you hadn't been caught until now? You don't exactly blend into a crowd.

Artorius:: Your patrols are a little weak. Ensign Booker here often overlooks the meat district. Two patrols cover the northeast corners but you need more men between the Temple of Runa and the outskirts. A variation in timing between sweeps, as well as in officer rotations might improve your vigilance rate. Sir.

Booker: I swear…I've never seen this man before. I don know how he-

(To Ensign Booker) Kee: Shut it. (To Prisoner) You know our routines pretty good. Personnel, too, it seems.

Artorius: Habit.

Kee: Come on out. Got some more questions for you. Get those cuffs off him. (Prisoner demonstrates that restraints have already been removed, most likely picked by prisoner himself) Ain't you a corker.

(Interrogation moved)

PLACE: Reception area of Constable Station 3 

Kee: With skills like that, you could be quite the mercenary.

Artorius: That doesn't appeal to me

Kee: why not?

Artorius: It's not how things are done.

Kee: Really? Many of your… in your situation have stepped outside the law. Mercenaries, assassins…

Artorius:: I…I won't go that route.

Kee: Is it that simple?

Artorius: I admit, since my… I use to think in black and white. But to survive… The world is many shades of gray.

Kee: Many shades of gray… I like that. Your armor isn't all sparkly. You were involved that house fire last night, weren't you?

Artorius:: Yes, sir.

Kee: You raced in, got those two children out, while the fire department just stood back and said nothing could be done. (sighs). You put me in quite a pickle, son. A pickle. And I don't like pickles, either these or the vegetables. I been at this job a long time. I know a man when looking him in the eyes. and yours are trustworthy. you may be a Sigil Bearer but I don't think it was warranted. Maybe you'll tell me in time. (Ensign Booker attempts to talk) Shut it, Booker. (To prisoner) Now here is the deal. You don't bother us, we don't bother you. You did a great service saving those little ones last night. The parents are grateful and so am I. Stay low and stay clean. Got it?

Artorius: Yes sir. Thank you.

Kee: Now get out of here.

(Prisoner is released)

End of interview.

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I hope you enjoyed this little exercise. If you want to know more about Artorius, be sure to check out Adventure Hunters when it is released by Mountain Springs House. As always, thanks for reading.

MSH Blog Tour Week 6 - Blogs

These weeks's theme was about blogs. I'm happy to be hosting Pamela Foreman.

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As a writer, I think it's important to have multiple avenues to share your work with others. One way to do that is through a blog.

My blog, http://www.pamelaforeman.com, began in December of 2012 and I use it as a tool for readers to know what my books are and where to purchase them. I also use it for updates regarding myself and my updates on my books. I also use it to share reviews, cover reveals and more about other authors. I feel as a self-published author there is the need for supporting other self-published authors as well.

I love posting and sharing my blog and I plan on continuing to expand it to include even more content in the future!

Author Bio:Pamela Foreman is a wife of seventeen years to her high school sweetheart and the mother of four children. Having grown up in Texas, Pamela currently lives in central Virginia. Pamela received her master’s degree in accounting from Liberty University and is an avid reader. She enjoys sewing, crocheting, knitting and scrapbooking when she is not involved with her children’s activities and spending time with her husband.

Pamela is the author of the Nebraska Holds series, a series surrounding the lives of David Anderson and Annette Miller, middle-aged adults who have both gone through the sudden deaths of their spouses and each have children to continue to raise. The series currently has three books, You're Right, My Love (December 2011), Not Again, My Love (January 2013) and the third book is Secrets Abound, My Love, will be  published in July 2013.

Author Links: 

Website: http://www.pamelaforeman.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamelaforemanauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pamela_foreman
About Me: http://about.me/pamelaforeman
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pef1996/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/111814691744564977712/posts

Pamela Foreman

You're Right, My Love

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Thanks to Pamela for the post. Check back next week for MSH Blog Tour's newest theme, As always, thanks for reading.

MSH Blog Tour: Week 5 - 10

This week's blog tour theme is: "What are your Top 10 favorite and most hated books?" This was a tough one to do, especially the hated books. There have been very few books I have hated, mostly there ones I didn't like or didn't finish for one reason or another. This list mostly reflects books that have stuck in my mind. I have read so many over the years I am sure I am forgetting some. We are also supposed to comment on at least two fro each category. And here we go...

Like

The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver

Star Trek: Titan: Orion's Hounds by Christopher L. Bennett - Excellent science fiction world building and a moral dilemma about outsiders coming into a society and telling them what to do.

Firestarter by Stephen King - Not the best Stephen King book and not my favorite by him, but it holds a special place for me because it was the first King book I read and started my fandom with this author.

Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter

The Shining by Stephen King

The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Shadow Family (original Japanese title RPG) by Miyuki Miyabe

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

On Unfaithful Wings by Bruce Blake

Don't Like 

Skinned by Robin Wasserman - Never before have I hated a main character as much as I did Lia Kahn. Protagonists are supposed to be relatable and someone to cheer for, even if they are flawed or an anti-hero. Not this one.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

From A Buick 8 by Stephen King

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy The second book by Clancy I tried to read. After 100 pages a man found a bomb and Jack Ryan went to Germany. That was it. I don't read Clancy any more.

Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audery Niffenegger

Star Trek: Strangers From The Sky by Margaret Wander Bonanno


The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

MSH Blog Tour: Week 4 - Peeves

This week's MSH blog tour theme is pet peeves. This was to be a host and post, but Mai Jagyar's came in a little late. I'm still posting it and I hope everyone enjoys. Read on!

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This is Mai:

Mai Jagyar

Fairly new at the whole blog….thing.  Not very good at expressing what I want with my future in writing, but I will definitely give it a try. Here I go!

I plan to be a writer, of coarse, but I thought I would try and start off with a Blog. A good friend of mine asked me to join her on this  journey of being a Blogger. To test my willingness to write for ‘the viewers,’ so to say. My stories will be unique and might even test some of you because I am sporadic to the highest degree. I tend to not keep at just one story so I have many that I am working on. To be honest about 13 to be exact, though I do have more than that, which do not count as being  stories more like ideas for ones. Iwill try and not start up another one because  in the end it will be thrown on the pile and I will ‘occasionally’ get to it if I am in the mood to write on that particular one.

I am very Random with my writing. The funny thing about the genre that I stick to is just that, what genre? I do them all. I don’t just stick with one. I have many interests so my writing does the same. From Supernatural to Mythical, Erotic to New Love, even Fantasy and Sci-Fi is mixed in with it all. With this I hope to gain the support to just keep to one. I have one finished story, I am not a complete failure. I just need to stay focused on one at a time. :3

Alright enough about that…

A little background about me, I know, that up there could be background enough but I have to at least tell you what I enjoy doing other than the obvious.

Mai Jagyar is my name. Yes, it is an odd name, but there is nothing I can do about it, its for life. I just graduated Jefferson College with an  Associate of Arts which consists of  just  general studies. I hope to go on to a higher end school and all nonetheless that deals with having money. Money I do not have. I feel no need to be in debt at the moment with school loans either. First, I need to get into the groove of writing my own stuff  for a bit before I get into what the teachers ‘expect’ me to do again. Next is is to work and  relax for a bit. Building up some revenue to further my education later or maybe to travel to a few different places. I have to take my time nothing good ever comes at rushing things.

I am young, however I do know that sometimes one needs to take a break to get their priorities straight and  see where they stand. So far I am still…clueless as ever…  to what I want to do with my life but at least I am thinking about it. My passion is writing and missions, still I need a backup. Unfortunately I come up with a blank. Hope my first choice does not run for the hills.

I’m a member of the MHS writing group, here’s the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mountainsprings/.

The blog tour page can be found at:

http://www.mountainspringpublishing.com/introducing-the-msh-blog-tour/

Pet Peeves:

I do not have many pet peeves but for the ones I do they get me a yammering. Not only with my own work but if I happen to be looking over another writers work too. For example: I sometimes do this still. When someone uses the wrong tense, past or present I re-read the paragraph (sometimes the page) and rewrite it into the correct tense. A good friend and neighbor of mine pointed out that a while back when I was still in high school and I contentiously look out for it today. I even notice it in published books that I stumble upon and shake my head. 

The second is repeating works; like, than, said, had, and many more. You will see many words on the editing side about that. Again, I do the same and every time I reread my work I have to make sure I am not repeating those words again and again.

Lastly is dialog. Dialog has to flow with what is going around the characters in the story. Not what you as the writer would think was cool or such, pull your life out of the equation and stand in their shoes. Don't think like yourself, think like the character you made and run with it. What experiences did you have them go through. How they would react is what creates the dialog. Yes, the writer created the character but when they are made they need to stick with the act. Don't change how they speak or react. It gets confusing and frustrating.

That is all that really pushes my buttons. It is not many but it is something so if you want me to look at any of your work beware of the consequences. You might just get a page from me on what needs a fixing. I do the same to myself, but worse. For your worse critic is yourself.

Till we meet again,

Mai Jagyar

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I'd like to thank Mai for stopping at my blog and giving her views about writing pet peeves. As always, thanks for reading.

MSH Blog Tour: Week 3 - Routine

This week's theme: Describe your writing routine.  Are you more creative in the morning, evening?  Do you write when you can?  On your commute?  Do you have your own workspace or share an area?

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I use to have a writing routine, but since I started my new job, it has gotten all turned around. It has been worse lately, since I am trying to get a freelance writing career going and more.

After my full-time teaching job ended in July of 2012, it was a few months before I found another one. During that time, I developed a routine. The morning was set aside for housework, whatever emails I needed to answer, Facebook, and so on. Then it was lunch. Around one or two in the afternoon I would go up the roof of our condo building, which has tables and chairs and a nice view of town. If it was too windy or hot, I'd go out onto the balcony. I would then write for at least an hour, sometimes more. I usually did novel writing and blogging during this time. After doing this for a couple of months I got use to writing in the afternoon. As long as my chores were done, I had the afternoons free to work. 

In October, I got a part-time teaching job, this time at a private company teaching English to students, both kids and adults. At first it was great, because the classes were in the late afternoon, which left the mornings free. But I came to learn that my prime writing time was in mid-to late afternoon, right at the time I needed to get ready for work. Because I have to commute, sometimes I need to leave two hours before class actually starts. My writing began to suffer. Compounding the problem is that I don't teach at the same time every day; sometimes class begins at 3:30 and the next day's class may start at seven. It changes every day and every week. A few weeks ago, I have attempted to start a freelance writing career, as well as being hired by In Genre to write a monthly Star Trek column. This has led to more writing, but not on my novel.

I'm in the midst of trying to get a regular writing schedule made. I'm not a person who handles change well, I like having routines and doing things at set times. Hopefully I'll develop a plan soon.

Oh, and to answer the workspace question: I either write on the roof, the balcony, or at the living room table. The table is low and we have a sofa and chair, both are legless. Mostly I sit on the floor.

MSH Blog Tour: Week 2 - Inspiration

This week, I was supposed to host Stacey Bee on my site as part of the blog tour. I didn't get her post, so I will put up my own post for this week's topic.

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This week’s question on the Mountain Springs House blog tour is: “What inspired you to write this book?” I’ll answer this in the best way I can.

My first (and, to date, only) novel is Adventure Hunters. It is a fantasy novel that I began more than seven years ago. I was always more of a science fiction fan than a fantasy fan, but my friend Jimmy got me interested in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The movies first, books later. After watching them I had decided to try my hand at fantasy. At that time I wasn’t writing novels but screenplays, with an eye to entering them in screenwriting contests. I didn’t want to write anything like LOTR, so I spent some time trying to go the opposite route, more low fantasy and technology, than high fantasy.

I started AH, would work on it for several months, stop for months at a time, pick it up again, and repeat the cycle. As I worked on it my life went on, I moved to Japan, and eventually gave up on being a film director, but I still liked writing. I finished AH and wrote several other screenplays. After writing so many screenplays, I wrote some short stories, using prose as a nice break from the script format.

In 2011 I read an online article about self-publishing. I thought it was something I could do. I decided to turn my most complete script, which happened to be Adventure Hunters, into a novel. I reworked it, got a cover designed, and self-published it in 2012. A year later, I decided to submit to a publisher, who eventually accepted it.

That single article on CNet is what has inspired me to write AH as a novel and move into the publishing world. If not for the independent/self-publishing revolution going on now, Adventure Hunters may have never seen the light of day.

The characters and places in Adventure Hunters were inspired by trying to avoid what was in Harry Potter and LOTR. My characters are fairly simple folks just trying to get by in the world. Building their world was one of the most difficult things to do, but expanding on it is something I’m looking forward to doing in future installments.

Mountain Springs House Blog Tour: Week 1 - Introduction

My publisher (it feels so awesome to say that!) is having its first annual blog tour. Every week, the Mountain Springs House authors are given a topic to write about. As well as posting their own stuff, they will do guest posts on other author's blogs as well. Next week I will be posting on Pamela Foreman's blog.

Visit the Mountain Springs House blog for information about the tour, as well as the blog addresses of the different authors. Also visit and "like" the Mountain Springs House Facebook page  and share, that way you can be kept up-to-date on everything MSH is doing. 

So, here we go with my post. Here's a brief bio on me: An author and freelance writer, Cody L. Martin grew up in the beautiful mountains of Wyoming where he became an avid sci-fi fan. He wrote his first Star Trek fan fiction in high school and has since been branched out into sci-fi and action stories. Cody wrote his first novel Adventure Hunters in the same vein. He currently writes the monthly Star Trek column To Boldly Go… for In Genre. He works in Japan as a part-time English teacher in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and lives happily with his beautiful wife, Yoko. When he isn't writing he enjoys watching movies, reading and listening to Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, and other J-pop singers.

And my author photo: 

And here is the blurb for Adventure Hunters: Artorius, Regina, and Lisa, are three adventurers who explore ruins and ancient buildings looking for treasures. Most of the time, they're just trying to make ends meet. But when they explore a town rampaged by goblins, they get more than they bargained for. They uncover a cache of ancient war golems, powerful weapons of destruction once thought to be only myths. Soon, they are in a quest for the Lambda Driver, the key to the golems's activation. But they aren't the only ones, and they will have to defy their own king to find it first. If King Ryvas has his way, he will unleash the golems's destructive power on the neighbouring kingdom. The adventurers's quest will take them from mountains to poisoned valleys and enchanted forests but they must hurry. Where is the Lambda Driver? What secret do the golems hold? And why does their friend Regina seem to be in the midst of it all? 

I'm a little bit new to blog tours, so what I'm expecting to get out of this is different perspectives about writing in general from many of these talented authors. Hopefully I'll pick up tips and bits of wisdom to help me in my own writing.

As always, thanks for reading!

Rys Rising Blog Tour Teaser

 In July, I will be a stop on the blog tour for Rys Rising. For now, here is a little teaser.

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A remarkable trip into a stunning  new world with Rys Rising, an epic fantasy series brought to you by Tracy Falbe

Rys Rising: Book I by Tracy Falbe

Blurb

Onja can control what others see. The day will come when everyone sees things her way.

She and all rys are the reviled creations of the tabre of Nufal. Onja longs to expel her hated masters and sees her best hope for an ally in Dacian. He’s a prodigy among rys but is loyal to the ruling tabre order and dreams of winning equality for the rys nonviolently. He holds tenaciously to his ideals even as the tabre brutally subjugate him. Will he endure more dark abuses for the sake of peace or reach out to Onja?

This unique epic of complex heroes and villains engulfs readers from many angles. Packed with primitive energy, the intertwining stories of this fantasy world will indulge your cravings for intrigue, bravery, desire, and freedom.

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Links

Rys Rising: Book I is available worldwide at these retailers:

Brave Luck Books

Amazon Kindle

RY’S RISING BOOK 1-FREE ON AMAZON RIGHT NOW

Amazon Paperback

Barnes & Noble

I-Tunes

Kobo

Sony

Smashwords

Experience Her LadyShips Quest Here

Find Tracy on Twitter

Connect with Tracy on Facebook

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About Tracy Falbe

I was born in Michigan in 1972 and grew up in Mount Pleasant. It's called the "Mountain Town" but there is no mountain and it's debatable about whether it's pleasant. They say it's a party town and based on extensive research as a young adult I can concur.

Because I always had the childhood fantasy of running away and joining the circus, I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1995 and lived there until 1997. Those who only stay a week are wimps, but I will say that it's the second year in Vegas that wears you down. Then I realized the pioneers were trying to get to California, so I moved to Chico, in Northern California and lived there until 2009.

In 2000, I earned a journalism degree from California State University, Chico with the conscious ambition of becoming a fiction writer. With the rapid demise of the newspaper industry and journalism in general, novelist is not such a daft pursuit after all. It's not like I'm actually going to get a job that values my education. Luckily I'm cursed with the impulse to write in a popular yet competitive genre.

My wandering has circled back and I'm currently residing in Battle Creek, Michigan, and for now my existence within the post-apocalyptic Rust Belt is suitably fascinating.

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Stay tuned for the Ry’s Rising  Review Only Blog Tour coming in July!

CURRENTLY SEEKING REVIEWERS/BLOG TOUR HOSTS FOR THIS AWESOME BLOG TOUR.

PLEASE EMAIL HEATHER IF INTERESTED

@

earthsbooknook@gmail.com

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