Tag: Writing

WIP Blog Hop

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Basically, this blog hop involves answering seven questions about my current work in progress, tagging five new participants, and linking back to the person who nominated me.  I was nominated by the lovely Tricia Drammeh, and you can find her post here. 🙂

Vegin Artwork by Hazel Butler

Vegin
Artwork by Hazel Butler

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
Vegin is the Crown Prince of Lokana and very much a figment of my imagination.

 2. When and where is the story set?
The story is set in the kingdom of Lokana in the present day, but present-day Lokana looks very much like the Middle Ages.  Eventually there is a small detour to Arkona, a mythical world based on our own that looks very much like present-day eastern Iowa.

 3. What should we know about him/her?
Vegin is an idealist.  He wants to improve living conditions (among other things) in his kingdom, but feels powerless to change anything.  He’s headstrong and naïve, charismatic and caring.  He tries to do the best he can with what’s at hand.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
 In Book One…

Writer’s hardship, a guest post by Alisa Sibrova

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Today I’m happy to have Alisa Sibrova here with a post on the hardships faced by writers.  She was kind enough to host me at her blog on Sunday, and I’m happy to return the favor.  So, without further ado, here’s Alisa!

I am a very bad writer.  An honest confession, and I know that. The moment I sit down and pick up the pen (yes, most of my writing I put down in ink on paper) nothing seems right enough to create stories worth reading. Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing”. That’s what I believe moves most of us: endless memory, historical footprints, eternity pressed into the hardcover book. Partly, it is my motive as well, of course, we are social beings and we do things in order to receive feedback and society’s approval. But, that is far from being the main trigger, at least for me.

Imperfection moves me. Understanding that there is always some room for development, realizing that you can always strive for better, creative, smoother writing. But it is also utterly agonizing: no one becomes a great writer in one day, it is a long way filled with troubles and missteps. I have my own writing troubles…

Ideas sometimes whisper

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I tried to come up with a quick short story to post today for the first Writing 101 challenge.  I’m really excited to be participating in another Blogging University event, especially one that’s geared toward writing!  Normally all I have to do is just look out the window for just a whisper of an idea, and then I’m off, my hand (and pen) gliding swiftly over the page, seemingly of their own volition.

But not today.

For whatever reason, I’m unable to concentrate today.  The only thing to be heard at the moment is the song “Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group, which is currently blaring from the office radio.  Soon enough, it will be something else, something which is sure to be be equally distracting.  I mean, it’s a good song, but when I’m trying to focus on characters and setting and plot, it’s too…

I’m a guest!

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Today I’m happy to say that I’m guest posting at my new friend Alisa’s blog! We met during the Blogging 201 challenge WordPress ran in April and became blogging buddies. I love making new friends! 🙂

We thought it would be fun to do a couple of posts about inspiration, and mine is up on her blog today. Alisa blogs about all sorts of fun and crafty things, and I’m excited to be there.

To check out my post and learn what’s inspiring me at the moment, just click here. And stay tuned – coming soon, Alisa will be taking over here for a day!

(c) 2014. All rights reserved.

My writing process

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Last week, my friend and fellow author Tricia Drammeh tagged me in the My Writing Process blog hop, so that’s what I’ll be talking about today.  I’ll try not to bore you all to tears, but no promises.

I kid.  I won’t bore you.  I hope. 😀

What are you currently working on?

Lipei Artwork by Hazel Butler

Lipei
Artwork by Hazel Butler

I’m currently in the midst of rewriting The Lokana Chronicles.  I think this is Official Rewrite No. 3, but since I’ve been working on this series for the better part of a decade, it’s hard to tell – I’ve decided that keeping track of all the revisions this thing has undergone is impossible, and I gave up trying a long time ago.  Once I finish revising the first book, I’ll be heading back to the query trenches with it, and this time, I hope I’ll have better luck.  I feel like the story is much stronger now than it was the first time I queried, and I hope to find someone who agrees with me.

I also have a short story in the works called The Colony, which is about…

Inquisitor is out!

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That’s right, today is release day for Inquisitor, the latest offering from RJ Blain.  Read on to find out more about this exciting new fantasy novel!

About Inquisitor:

Inquisitor - RJ BlainWhen Allison is asked to play Cinderella-turned-Fiancee at a Halloween ball, the last thing she expected was to be accused of murder on the same night. She has to find the killer and quick, or she’ll be put to death for the crimes she didn’t commit. To make matters worse, the victims are all werewolves.

On the short list of potential victims, Allison has to act fast, or the killer will have one more body to add to his little black book of corpses.

There’s only one problem: One of the deaths has struck too close to home, and Allison’s desire for self-preservation may very well transform into a quest for vengeance…

Urban fantasy v. epic fantasy

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Today I’m happy to have fantasy author RJ Blain here with a guest post on why she strayed from epic fantasy into the realm of urban fantasy for her newest novel, Inquisitor, and the differences between the two genres.  Inquisitor goes on sale Friday – be sure to stop back for an excerpt from the book, details about the author, and more.

Urban Fantasy vs Epic Fantasy

Profile Sketch - RJ BlainMy first two novels, Storm Without End and The Eye of God, fall under epic and traditional subgenres of fantasy, making them rather different than Inquisitor, my debut urban fantasy. This is something I get comments about fairly frequently, because most fantasy writers pick one or the other, rather than both.

I’ve even had people suggest the only reason I wrote urban fantasy was because it’s a popular genre. Sure, it’s popular—but so is Game of Thrones. That’s epic fantasy, with boobs and blood, but definitely epic fantasy.

For the record, I’m not much of a fan of Game of Thrones. So yes, I am an oddity.

So why write both? The answer is pretty simple: I like both. It’s natural for me to pursue my interests. That’s why I write; I find it engaging, interesting, fun—and best of all, other people seem to like my books.

I write epic fantasy because I have a story to tell. I write traditional fantasy because I have a story to tell. I write urban fantasy because I have a story to tell.

While my reason for writing these three subgenres is the same, how I write them is totally different.

No campfire? The horror!

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mark-in-gear-editedToday, I’m happy to have Mark R. Hunter here to talk a little about his newest book, The No-Campfire Girls.  A fellow member of the Ink Slingers League, he’s a pretty funny guy with a pretty insightful take on that most dreaded of questions posed to writers: “Where do you get your inspiration?”

 Take it away, Mark!

Sometimes I’ll finish a manuscript, look back over the story, and think: “Where the heck did this come from?”

On the other hand, sometimes it’s pretty clear where I got my story idea.

Storm Chaser? “Hey, I think I’ll write a story about a storm chaser.” Of course, after the initial idea things went wildly out of control, starting with the fact that my storm chaser became, technically, a disaster photographer. But Disaster Photographer didn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Coming Attractions? My unpublished novel about effort to save a drive-in movie theater was birthed while I was sitting in a drive-in movie theater. Usually in those places it’s not birth that’s going on, but conception.

Okay, maybe I do know where most of my ideas come from. The newest book, The No-Campfire Girls, can be traced easily to its source, which was an attempt by the Girl Scouts to shut down my wife’s beloved childhood camp.

I don’t use the word beloved lightly.

And she’s not the only one: A grass roots campaign sprung up, probably from the roots, of people across the area who wanted to save their camp. My wife and I came back from a visit determined to find a way to help them.

The problem:

Blogging U. rocks my face off

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Over the last twelve days, I’ve been participating in WordPress’s Blogging 201 course (no, I did not grab the badge – I don’t know why).  It’s been an absolute blast, and it’s also what prompted the recent design changes you may (or, if you’re like me and real observant, you may not) have noticed.  Today is Day Twelve, and today’s assignment is to create a poll or survey to gather more in-depth feedback about what readers like and dislike about my blog.

I’ve been toying with the idea of adding a poll recently, anyway, so the timing of this seems like a great big hint to go ahead and do it.   If you’re a regular reader here…

A wobbly review

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I’m a bit late with this review.  But, you see, I was waiting for my kids to finish reading the book so they could help with my review, and they’re slow.  Or busy.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell at our house, as 90% of the time, we’re all running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

Meanwhile, I read this in three days.

According to the author’s website, Snort and Wobbles started as a joke.  I remember fondly its debut on authonomy and am quite pleased to see it finally in print.  But what’s it about?  Here, take a peek at the blurb:

Dragons are not real.  Everyone tells you that.  So what do you do when you are eight years old and meet a dragon living at the bottom of your garden?  You have the adventure of your life!

When Wobbles and her family move into their new home…