Fantasy Chat: Magna's Plea and W4WS

 

Today's the official release date of Magna's Plea, my YA Epic Fantasy prequel short story from The Fate Challenges series.

A princess will rise and challenge Fate.

While her father, brothers, and people fight against the Kingdom of Apentha, tenacious eighteen-year-old Princess Magna can only watch the destruction of Amora, her besieged city and kingdom. Her mother, Queen Vyvian, has refused to allow her heir to join the fray.

But Magna won't take no for an answer. She seeks out an end of the war from Prince Cyrun of Apentha, their prisoner. If she can't persuade him toward peace, then Amora may fall.

This short story prequel includes a sneak peek of Reborn, Book One of The Fate Challenges, forthcoming May 2014.

YA Epic Fantasy
The Fate Challenges #0.5
A 5500-word Short Story

To download for free: Amazon / Smashwords / iTunes / Nook / Kobo / Goodreads / Wattpad

An excerpt from Magna's Plea

Amora

12-13 Days of Luquiry

Year 1717 AUC

Tendrils of smoke swirled heavenward. The smoldering stench reached Princess Magna at the top of the palace’s northern tower. She wrinkled her nose at the unpleasant odor, yet it still smelled better than the filth plaguing the besieged seven-hilled city.

She’d vowed to protect Amora. Her heart shattered a little more each day at the devastation afflicting her kingdom.

The once grassy and flower-filled plain sprouted dust plumes from the trampling feet. As the sun neared the western horizon, a bloody hue washed over the battlefield. Tiny, metallic dins and men’s shouts rang out. Magical bursts flashed in the sky like Thean’s lightning, beautiful and deadly. A wooden catapult hurled a human-sized stone slab into the city’s wall. Magna jerked away from the opened window she stood before, as if the object had struck her instead. Rock crumbled from the impact, but the barrier held.

When the reddish orb sank lower, the fighting ceased. War’s chaos parted into two orderly sides, and soldiers crossed the field to gather their dead.

She brushed a shaky hand over her cheeks. Tears dampened her face, and she struggled to turn away from the battle before her. Almost two months had passed since the Apenthans had begun their attack Amora. How much longer could the Amorans—she—stay safe behind their impenetrable wall?

A special thanks to all who've signed up to help spread the word about Magna's Plea this week.

And join me tomorrow (October 22) on Untethered Realms as I talk about what's in store for the Kingdom of Amora.

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It's time for another Writers4Writers this week, and we have Alex J. Cavanaugh and Isis Rushdan as the featured authors. Be sure to send out tweets to help these fabulous people out!

Wednesday's Writing Update: A Short Story and Untethered Realms

 

Happy Wednesday!

The past couple weeks have been a bit rough. I was in this funk, and all I really wanted to do was read. I wrote a little bit, but I kept getting further behind in my monthly goals. I seem to be coming out of it, and I'm ready to get back to work.

On Monday, I finished writing "Blind Scribe," a short story from the forthcoming Men of Foxwick. I'm letting it sit for a few days, so I can edit it on Saturday and then send it to my first CP. The story wasn't easy to write because the main character is blind. I had to completely rely on the other senses, so I plan to develop that more in my edit.

I'm still trying to edit a few pages a day in Starred and The Phoenix Prophetess. I'm now writing The Loveless Princess. I also have started working on my A to Z Challenge blog posts. Yes, I'm that organized.

Also, you may have noticed the new badge on my blog: Untethered Realms. We're a group of seven specfic authors, and we're slowly getting things together. If you click on the badge, then it'll take you to our FB page. We also have a Twitter account: @UnRealms, so please consider following us.

So what are you working on?

Wednesday's Writing Update: July Stats, August Goals, and more!

Happy Wednesday!

Is it just me or does it seem like August has come way too early this year?

Since July ended on Sunday, I have July's stats.

Submissions: 1

Rejections: 0

Acceptances: 0

Stories Short Listed: 2

Total Word Count: 10,951

Total Pages Edited: 269

The pages edited number was a bit lower than it should've been, but I wrote more words last month and read more too.

For August, my main focus is on Virtuoso rewrites. My goal is to rewrite/edit a chapter every two days. I still haven't finished my dragon short story, so I'll work on it when I have time. I do have a few flash pieces to write, but this month shouldn't be too bad. Of course, I have editing too. I'm trying to write in the mornings and edit in the afternoons. It's working out so far.

On Raven and the Writing Desk, our theme this month is deserted islands. I continued Mer's journey in my flash piece "Washed Upon the Shore" in today's short story "Cursed Isle." You can read it here.

Today I have announced my "Favorite Summer Reads" blogfest on my Surrounded byBooks Reviews blog in honor of its one year blogoversary month. Stop by, read the details, and consider signing up. It should be fun and a great way to learn about new books.

So does anyone have any new news?

My Short Story Featured at Elements of Mystery

The wonderful Terri Talley Venters invited me to write a guest short story for her blog, Elements of Mystery. Using the periodic table, Terri posts a short story a month on her blog and her first Elements of Mystery novel Carbon Copy will be published by Wild Child Publishing.

I was thrilled to take of the challenge in writing my own element of mystery, so I give you "Copper Blade" A Liam O'Hare Mystery. It is the third Liam O'Hare mystery I've written--yes, I will get back to writing the novel sometime too--and I had a lot of fun with it. So, if you'd like to read it, click here and be sure to check out Terri's other fun short stories.

Wednesday's Writing Update: A Death, a belated birthday, and more!

On Saturday, best-selling author Lilian Jackson Braun of the “Cat Who” series died at the age of 97. You can read her obituary here. I didn’t hear about her death until late Monday, and it really has saddened me. I believe I read my first “Cat Who” book she wrote in fourth grade. Throughout the years, my mom and I loved her books. There are few things better than cats in mystery novels, so she will be missed.

I realized this week that I missed my two-year blogger anniversary. I started this blog on May 29, 2009. Happy Belated Birthday, blog!

If you follow things over at my review blog Surrounded by Books Reviews, I have an announcement there. You might be interested in checking it out.

My short story “A Killer Rose Garden” is featured on Raven and the Writing Desk today.

My mind has been stuck in edits. Unfortunately, none of them are edits on Virtuoso. That’s what I get for being a freelance editor. *laughs* I hope to get back to my novel work after June 15^th. *crosses fingers*

And, if you haven’t heard – where have you been if you haven’t? – Elana Johnson’s Possession made its debut yesterday! I even found it at B&N when I stopped by there, although I’m waiting for my copy to come from Amazon.com.

So what’s been going on with everyone else this week?

Q is for Query and Wednesday's Writing Update

*Hello, A-Zers, Crusaders, and Fellow Blog Followers!*

Query letters are the bane of most authors’ existence if they want to find an agent. They rank up there with the dreaded synopsis, and there are times when I’d rather face a tornado in the dark while walking on an open, steep staircase than write a query letter. Okay, maybe not really. *shudders*

There are a gazillion websites out there that will tell you how to write a query letter. Personally, I’d recommend downloading Elana Johnson’s From the Query to the Call. (http://www.elanajohnson.com/#!query-to-the-call) If nothing else, it’ll help you start thinking about queries, why you need them, how to write them, etc. It’s free, and Elana says it best.

The most important thing about the query letter is to tell a prospective agent what the book is about in a way that makes the agent go “wow.” It needs to make them want to read more. I haven’t taken the query plunge yet, but I will show you my query for Virtuoso. Lynnette Labelle critiqued it for me, but I'm always open for more ways to make it better. Let me know what you think. Does it make you want to read more? Or is it back to the drawing board for me?

[Virtuoso query – the basic part]

Russian-born, teenage violinist Nadia Godunov struggles to reclaim her life after a tragic accident crushes her dream.

Nadia awakens in the hospital from a three-day coma with a broken left hand and is devastated to learn she may never play the violin again – and worse yet, her boyfriend, Marcus, died in the accident. She must battle to overcome her grief and guilt, but her fear of change is overwhelming. She has to find a way to move on without him or her music.

When the broken bones in her hand heal, her fingers refuse to find the correct notes, shattering her dreams of going pro. Nadia fights to overcome this challenge and keep her virtuoso status. In doing so, she discovers another ability – telekinesis. Her newfound gift may help her play, but the headaches it produces make her question her second chance. And just as normalcy returns, an undead Marcus waltzes into her life and wants her back. Now a vampire, he offers her a lifetime of forever, and Nadia must decide between her love for him and her love for music.

Do you have a hard time with query letters? What do you think is the hardest part about writing?

Now on to Wednesday's Writing Update.

My story "Druid Song" is up on Raven and the Writing Desk.

I've been working on rewrites for Virtuoso – I'm about to start chapter eleven – and writing "Mage Game." I hope to finish "Mage Game" today, so I can get back to my PWP edits/critique. Yes, I've been very bad about it this month.

I'm beginning to get nervous that Virtuoso won't be long enough. The first draft was 68,000 words. I'm ten chapters in, and it is only 12,500 words. The complete manuscript will only be twenty-eight chapters. For YA, it can fall between 40,000-60,000, but I hope to at least have 50,000 words when all is said in done, although I was shooting for 60,000. We'll have to wait and see.

Well, I suppose I better get back to writing. Have a good week!

Wednesday's Writing Update

Another week has gone by, and it's time for the last Wednesday's Writing Update of 2010.

Don't forget to check out Flash Fiction Fridays. Last Friday's fiction pairs up with this week's fiction. You can read "Geese, Swans, and Milking Maids" here. Speaking of flash fiction, I wrote my first flash fiction piece for January on Monday.

Yesterday, I blogged about my blogging resolutions for 2011. Tomorrow, I will blog about my writing resolutions for 2011.

Although last week I didn't write much, I did finish reading two more books and reviewed them. You can read the reviews for qi by Elizabeth A. Svigar and The Fall Guy by Simon Wood here.

Yesterday, I finished writing my pirate fantasy story "Silver Hand Sam." I will do some edits today, and then I'll read through it one last time before submitting it tomorrow to Wicked East Press's Cutlass & Musket anthology.

I still have one submission out in submission world, which is "Defying Gravity." It's been short-listed for Pill Hill Press's Fire & Ice anthology for about ten months now. I should know something soon.

I've started working on Virtuoso again. I'm going through it and making a list of characters in order of appearance as well as creating some brief character sketches for main characters. Since I'm doing a complete rewrite, some characters who were only mentioned once or twice might end up with a bigger role, so I have to be ready. I plan to do some research today and tomorrow for it. Then, I'll have world building, plot outline, and a synopsis to write. I hope to get a lot of these things done before Monday, so I can begin rewriting it then. We'll see how it goes. I want to do this draft right, so I can send it to my CPs, print it out and do an in-depth edit, and then edit some more when I get things back from my CPs before sending it to agents. And, yes, I'll be working on query letters throughout the process. Virtuoso does have a partial request from an agent I met at the James River Writers Conference, so she'll get first pick. Then, we'll go from there.

I'll mention more about writing in 2011 tomorrow.

Until then.

A new short story

 I'm working on a new short story, and I'm so excited about it. It's been a few weeks since I've really set down to write something new. It feels like I mainly am just doing edits nowadays, so I feel really good to be writing again.

The story is titled "The Reluctant Bride," and I plan to use it as my June story on Raven and the Writing Desk. If you haven't checked out this blog, please do. Lisa Rusczyk, Aubrie Dionne, and I created it, and we have free short stories as well as other writing related posts. Anyway, June's theme is weddings/honeymoons, so I had to come up with a new story for it. The only old story I had that would have worked is "Soul Survivor," but it is still in submissions with Abandoned Towers. Thus, my new idea for a story blossomed overnight.

"The Reluctant Bride" is a futuristic short story that takes place in 2210. Years after World War III and thirty years after a plague destroyed billions of people, the citizens of Earth are trying to recover. In order to replenish the planet, several colonies have implimented the Marriage Program. Every May, twenty-five year olds come to Ellis Island to fill out massive paperwork and have complete physicals. Those that pass the examinations will return on a date in June for their wedding to their perfect mate.

Aytia is a counselor in Ellis Island for the Marriage Program, and her time is rapidly approaching. She knows that the program has a high success rate, but she's scared it won't work out. How can she marry someone she doesn't know? What if she doesn't like him? She knows the horror stories. Will this reluctant bride go through with her wedding or face the consequences of re-education?

I've never written a story like this before, but I wanted to do something different. That's the great thing about being an author on Raven and the Writing Desk. I use the blog to experiment with stories I might never would have tried before. True, my first two stories in April were old stories I had written, but May's story was different from anything I had ever written, too. If you haven't read it, you should. *grins* This story will be completely different, as well, but I'm enjoying it. It's fun to further branch out from my background of mystery/horror/fantasy.

Well, I'm off to write some more.

Review: Night Dance by Aubrie Dionne

Title: Night Dance
Author: Aubrie Dionne
Publisher: Mystic Moon Press
E-book: 12 pages
Link to buy: www.mysticmoonpress.com/bookstore/index.php

Woken up by enchanting music, Shasta is carried away to a magical glade of the night dance. When the violinist Jal catches her eye, she is completely enthralled not only by his handsomeness but his vibrant music. Jal has noticed the lovely yet timid Shasta, and, through his assistance and a shaman's interpretations, Shasta has the ability to learn her true path in life, if she'll only choose to take it.

Night Dance by Aubrie Dionne is a fantasy, dreamlike tale woven brilliantly with imagery and pure music. Dionne's story sings to our very souls and desires to not only know who we are but also to find an escape from the humdrum ruts we tend to fall into. If only we would listen to our dreams more, we could experience our own truths and enjoy our own "night dance". The only thing I wished more from this story was for it to continue well after Shasta's magical dream ended.


Please visit Aubrie's blog at authoraubrie.blogspot.com/ and her website at www.authoraubrie.com/ for more of her books.