The Writing Tag

It's been FAR too long since I last did a proper tag (I mean, suuuuure I did the snippet tag back on Christmas, but that was MONTHS ago), so I've stolen this one from Mirriam and Arielle, and let's see how it goes.


1. WHAT GENRES, STYLES, AND TOPICS DO YOU WRITE ABOUT?

Genres?

Anything high concept, but mostly fantasy. So far, all of my published works have been fantasy, from Fairy Tale mashups, to imaginative allegories, to epic portal fantasy. I do have a Superhero Dystopia in my drafts (need to finish that), and I've been plotting a Sci-Fi retelling of Peter Pan in my sister's Mikada series. 

Styles? 

Typically, Multiple Deep Third, past tense. I like to crack down deep into a person's head, but I don't like to stay in ONE head. I've done first person, when it makes sense for the book.

Topics?

Let's see ... the big ones:

Trusting in God and His Plan.

Accepting the talents that God gave you.

Commitment.

TRUE love. (As opposed to "True" love.)

Interpersonal relationships

Sibling relationships.

TWINS.

2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING?

I've been 'writing' ever since I figured out that was what you were SUPPOSED to do with your pencils (rather than using them as puppets and acting out the stories with them). I wasn't serious until I was ten or so, though, and decided to write a 'better' Narnia movie.


3. WHY DO YOU WRITE?

Because it's the most socially acceptable thing to do with the stories in my head. It's frowned upon to kidnap people and make them act out my stories on pain of death.


4. WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO WRITE?

I do about 90% after midnight because I have a BAD habit of procrastination. BAD.


5. PARTS OF WRITING YOU LOVE VS PARTS YOU HATE?

Love: Brainstorming, plotting, acting scenes out in advance, rewriting, editing. 

Hate: FIRST DRAFTS. I mean, they can be fun ... but on the whole? Torture. I mean, having to to actually turn the movie in my head into words? NOT FUN. *Not to mention the fact that I'm a perfectionist, and even though I KNOW I'm going to rewrite the book, I still have to get everything perfect. Yeah.


6. HOW DO YOU OVERCOME WRITERS BLOCK?

It depends on how pressed I am to finish the book. If my schedule is lax, then I usually take Writer's Block as my cue to step away from the story for a bit. If it's NaNo ... well, then I'll sit myself down and force myself through the scene. It may not be pretty, but the important part is to get something written.


7. ARE YOU WORKING ON SOMETHING AT THE MOMENT?

I am writing book 3.5 of my Bookania Quests for Camp NaNo. I hit 11,000 of my goal of 15,000 last night. It's been taking a slightly different direction than I'd intended, and I'm now expecting closer to 20,000 from the story, to take into consideration this new plot.

SNIPPET!!

“Just what do you think that you’re doing, Pearis?”

Pearis turned to see Robin standing behind her. She arched an eyebrow, snapping the fan shut as she examined her cousin’s wife. “Just what do you think that you’re wearing?”

Honestly, Robin had always been utterly unfashionable when it came to her apparel, but she usually bothered to look nice at balls. At least she wasn’t wearing the leather that she usually did, but a princess shouldn’t wear pants to a ball. Princesses shouldn’t wear pants, period, but that had been a lost battle with Robin.

“My mother’s no longer in charge of my wardrobe,” said Robin, folding her arms over her chest. “Don’t worry, I’ll have a dress at the wedding, as it’s a formal event.”

“And this isn’t?”

Robin gave her head a toss. “That’s why I’m wearing this new outfit that my brother brought me when he arrived this week,” she answered. “Besides, I don’t intend to dance, nor am I here to ensnare the attention of a prince – as you seem determined to do.”

Pearis narrowed her eyes. “Just what does Eric see in you?”

She tried very hard to not notice the exquisite embroidery on Robin’s sleeves and pant legs. The outfit did look very good on her, could even be considered stylish if one squinted hard. If they didn’t notice that she was wearing pants. Bodice and pants were both rich pink, just a few shades softer than her wedding dress had been, with delicate white stitching. The pants were flared at the knee, cut open to reveal pleated white fabric on the sides of her legs. The sword on her belt only served to tie the outfit together.

But, no, Pearis was determined to not notice this. To not notice the confidence, the air that seemed to judge everyone else for their skirts.

“Something, clearly,” Robin returned. “Given that he married me, that’s good enough for me. Now, just what are you doing with that fan?”

“It’s a warm evening,” Pearis pointed out, opening the fan again and giving it a few flutters. She wasn’t about to stand there and explain herself to Robin.

“Don’t fool with me,” said Robin, shaking her head. “I may not be a master of the art myself, but I know that a fan is for flirting." 

I'm also working on writing Love and Memory and Worth of a King. T


8. WRITING GOALS THIS YEAR?

I actually wrote these down the other week. Hopefully, I'll get most of these done.

Introducing GiraffeCrafts!

Hello!

I promised you a new site for Indie e-Con - and here it is.

Just click this image

I'm still working on the main website part of GiraffeCrafts, where I'll be offering services to authors, including:

Cover Reveal Organization

Blog Tour Organization

Novel Critiquing

Basically, this means that I'll read a book for an author and help them identify what they need to do before it's publishable. Not a full-on edit, but I may point out any consistent grammar errors.

Reviewer Recruitment

I don't believe that authors should buy reviews (a post for another day), but, frankly, asking people to review your book can be intimidating. Basically, this will be me playing middle-man. I'm setting up a Netgalley of sorts dedicated to Indie Book so that readers can get good Indie fiction, and authors can get good reviews. There will be a fee to the author, but they are buying my time for FINDING reviewers, not the reviews themselves. And, frankly, it'll be a lower fee than many reviewers charge for their reviews.

And there will possibly/probably be more, but I'm still working through those details (Not sure if I want to toss editing in there. I love editing ... but I tend to take forever on it). Of course, as my audience grows (and I intend for it to grow), I'll be able to offer more features.

For some of these, I'm going to need you guys' help on it. For the Cover Reveal and Blog Tour Organization, I need bloggers, and, of course, I need reviewers for the reviewer recruitment. This week only, joining these teams can enter you for a FREE blog tour planned by moi. (See rafflecoptor giveaway at the bottom of this post!!)

I'm also looking at providing advertisement for editors, artists, cover designers, formators, and other such folk who provide services to Indie Authors. Since I know I'm not a great risk just yet, it'll only be a $3/month fee (via PayPal), but taking advantage of the price will lock you in at this price permanently, even if I do raise it in the future, and you can leave for up to three months without losing this price-lock. Advertising through me will feature you in the main site's services pages with a chance to be featured on the main home page. It will also place you on a short list of companies that I will personally recommend to authors who use my Critiquing service. Email me at kendraeardnek@gmail.com if you're interested.

Don't have a website? I'm also looking at hosting other editors/artists/cover designers/etc. directly on my site. This will NOT make you an employee of GiraffeCrafts, and you will have to manage all of your money and tax information yourself. You will merely need to pay a monthly $5 hosting fee (again, via PayPal), BUT only if you made any sales that month.

I'm also in the process of putting together a Goodreads Group for Indie authors, focusing on being a support group for each other.

But for now, the blog.

The GiraffeCrafts blog is dedicated to advice for writing, editing, publishing, and marketing - giving authors tools so that they can make their work worthy of promotion. At the moment, I'm in the process of porting over all writing advice that I have posted on this blog, including me "Tips from a Young Writer" posts and all of the Indie e-Con Articles, so, for the next few weeks, you can expect one to two of those posts to be posted each day until I run out of them.

When I have those exhausted, I have plans, but I'm also open to outside contributors.

The GiraffeCrafts blog will host future Indie e-Cons, so stay tuned for information on that. I'll be writing a post where I address all of the concerns and suggestions brought up in the survey.

If you haven't yet, do consider signing up for the GiraffeCrafts Mailing List to stay up to date on Indie e-Con news and other marketing opportunities.

I also now have a weekly radio show on Eagles Nest Broadcasting where I'll be interviewing authors on Friday nights at 8-9 CST.

I have new social media set up for GiraffeCrafts:

Facebook~Twitter~Pinterest

Now, I think that's everything, so, on to the giveaway! As stated, this is for a FREE blog tour. I will (1) set up sign-up forms and graphics if you need them (2) blast your blog tour to my bloggers (and you'll be expected to share it with all of your followers) (3) advise you on posts (4) if you wish me to, handle communication.

You would not be required to redeem this immediately, and will allowed to hang on to it until you need a Blog Tour organized. However, the book promoted MUST comply with the GiraffeCrafts content policy.

Oh, and for the record, for the "comment" option on the giveaway, the comment MUST be on the GiraffeCrafts blog. Any post you wish, but comments on this post do NOT count.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Character Encounters - April 2017

Okay, first off, yes, Saturday's post was an April fools. There ARE accurate snippets in there, though, I won't say how many or how accurate, though. I will admit to stealing a quote from C.S. Lewis, as well as from Erika Mathew's Promise's Prayer, and a random snippet from Morgan that she'd sent me for me to read and give feedback on. I'm not saying which those were, though, and I don't think either had any spoilers in them. So ... yeah. Thank-you to both of them for being awesome sports.

Anywho, on to the theme of the post.

I told you guys that I'm going to get back into the swing of Character Encounters, so into the swing I'm getting. And I have a great location this time.

Under a Bridge

"Bridge" is open to interpretation. It can be an actual bridge over river, a fallen log across the creek in your back yard, or just an overpass along the highway. And YOU don't even have to be under that bridge. Just your character. Have fun!

Spring Snippets!

Oh, but it's been forever since I last shared a good snippet post. Sure, yes, I've slipped a snippet in here and there, and I did do the snippet tag, but I haven't had a good ol' snippet post.

Also, some of these snippets are for books that I haven't revealed the titles for yet, so to keep you guys on your toes, I'm not going to tell you what books these are from. They're largely from Rizkaland, but I have a number of my other works tossed in here as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “Were you talking to Andrew again?” Rhoda continued. “Honestly, skipping class to talk to your boyfriend isn’t cool, Clara.”
  Clara shrugged. She couldn’t deny it. “He didn’t have time to talk.”
  “I should think not!” Rhoda cried. “Clara, maybe you don’t realize it, but Andrew has a lot of responsibilities to attend to – not only does he have to take care of his younger brothers, but he also manages his dad’s website and does his own school work on top of that. He can’t spend the whole day talking to you.”

  “Oh, hush,” said Kath. “They’re in love. It’s romantic.”
  “Oh yes, and the met all of two months ago,” Rhoda rolled her eyes again. “Now Clara’s a soppy fool who can’t breathe without calling him and is skipping classes. Hang on.” She paused and narrowed her eyes at Clara. “You’re not…”

She turned away. “Very well. It’s best that I show you, then. Just know that you won’t be able to get out of this. Although we could get a mental to wipe your mind, if we absolutely had to. I’d get punished for carelessness, but oh well.”

“Show me what?” William asked. “Wipe my mind?”

“It’s been done before, in rare circumstances,” Roxanne admitted. “Now don’t freak out. I’m going to take you to see my father. Best to ask his permission and all.”

And before he could say anything, she grabbed his wrist, and plunged them into the mountain. Not in the stone itself, like she usually traveled, but she created a small room, just big enough for the two of them, and moved it through. Didn’t want to overwhelm him too much.

“Rox…”

“Dad’s in his lair, I can feel him,” Roxanne continued, trying to not focus on him. “One moment and here we are. Stay here while I have a word with him.”

She had bumped them into the hallway near where her father was, so she stepped through the wall, leaving William to panic all by himself.

  Laura gave a firm nod and threw the necklace to the ground.

  A bright light lit the night and the parking lot began to quake. The pavement split and from the earth sprang an ethereal woman. Twenty feet tall, and made of pure light. Her eyes were flaming balls of fire.

  "Hello, Mother," Laura said calmly, even as she tightened her grip on her staff.

One afternoon Alia turned from washing her hands to find Tante staring at her from the couch in the corner. Her eyes were wide open. 

“Alia,” she called softly. 

She approached immediately. 

“I’m dying.” Tante's words were soft. 

“No!” Alia stopped mid-cry, her lips pinching together tightly. She was not to disturb Tante or cause her to exert herself.

  “It isn't Rizkaland, you know," sobbed Clara. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"
  "But you shall meet me, dear one," said Alphego.
  "Are -are you there too, Sir?" said Andrew.
  "I am," said Alphego. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Rizkaland, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

Robin shook even as she stared up the length of her sword, stared at the man at the other end. For the first time in ler life, she felt fear in a sword fight.

For the first time, she felt fear as she stared into those gray eyes. Eyes she knew so well.

"Eric," she whispered. "Eric, please."

He just blinked. "Who's Eric?"

And then his sword came crashing towards her.

  Reuben started walking, trusting her to follow. There was a room in her house that … while he wasn’t sure that it would prove that she remembered, he suspected that it could prove that she didn’t, if she didn’t. He hoped that she didn’t.

  It was a strange room. According to Laura, it was technically part of Rizkaland, even though it mostly functioned as though it were part of their own world. It was only visible to people who had been to Rizkaland and though he didn’t quite know how it worked, he suspected that if she had truly forgotten, she might not be able to see it.
  They reached it. He took a deep breath and turned back to face Petra. “Do you see it?”
  Her eyebrow arched. “See what?”
  He took a deep breath. “The door. The green one. The one right behind me.”
  “Reuben … there is no door behind you.”

He held her gaze steadily, trying to impart a feeling of hopefulness over the distance. Obsidia stood, lifting the heavy book from the desk, and crossed the study, taking a seat in the chair beside him. She heaved a big sigh.

“Have you found anything yet?”

Adrian sorrowfully shook his head. “I don’t think this book goes far enough back in our history to know if there’s a way around the tradition. How about you?”

“I’m too bogged down in rules and procedures. I never knew we had so many. The Court doesn’t follow the half of them. I keep hoping there’s something in here that will help, but I find nothing.”

She sounded so pitiful and forlorn. Adrian ached to take her into his arms and hold her tight, assure her that everything would be okay. But more than one thing forbade it.

  “Andrew, we … we need to talk.”
  Andrew turned to see Clara standing in the hall behind him. Her expression was tight. “Yes?”
  She took a deep breath and stepped towards him, taking his hand. “I've not told anyone else yet, but I … I think I’m pregnant.”
  He blinked, drawing back. “You…”
  She closed her eyes, leaning into him. “It’s yours, it has to be yours. I’ve not … you’re the only man I’ve ever…”
  “But I’ve … we’ve not … not since coming back.”
  “I know,” she whispered.

Also, how do you like my new cover for Sew, It's a Quest?
I'll be uploading it later next week. Thought it might need a new face now that it's a new edition.