Thanks for your comments on my previous post Beta Readers. Gave me something to think about. +Damien Boath also suggested I divide my 200,000+ word manuscript into several books. It stuck with me. It’s an excellent idea! I’ve been trying to figure out how and if this will work with my series. I’d love for…
I attended the Self-Publishing Book Expo over the weekend. I enjoy these type of events. Keeps me up-to-date on trends. The Expo also had a few exhibitors, most for businesses I’d never heard of! My publisher and I have been looking for more beta readers for Chains of the Sciell Book 2 of The Merging…
Sometimes a book needs a makeover. It’s easy to change a cover and add some bonus content for ebooks. With Amazon, the update goes live in a couple a hours. This month, I’m releasing the novella Shadows under the Light (working title) Part 2 of Visible Through Darkness. The cover for the first book needs a fresh…
Just because someone says you should be on that social network, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. I’m talking about you Facebook. Social media is not a one-size fits all approach. That bugs me, sometime. You can’t say, do this on Twitter and it will guarantee you 100 retweets. I’ve been rethinking my social media…
I’ve never been much of a list person, but world building is turning me into one. My journals have no sense of organization. Going through them is a pain. Recently, I’ve had to list all the major threats facing my characters in book 2. More than half way through the book and I can’t keep…
In my current WIP, Chains of the Sciell, most of my cast has had their minds altered. They spend the first part of the story reclaiming those memories. I wanted to portray this realistically, though I didn’t do any research. I use what I’ve seen in movies. My beta-reader says they believe how the characters…
If you’re a fantasy writer, you should subscribe to Mythic Scribes. They have some amazing articles. Are Magic Systems a Distraction? “Some of the greatest fantasy novels don’t have defined magic systems. Neither Harry Potter nor The Lord of the Rings have anything resembling a “system,” yet these stories are classics of the genre. In fact,…
Designing this land was fairly straightforward. Last week, I showed you how my landmasses start. Using the Eraser Tool, I drag it around the edges in a zigzag to create a more realistic coastline. Continents don’t have such straight lines. As usual, the mountains caused me some trouble. Because of this map making experience, I’ve…
Creating this land was…something special. I experimented with some fun effects. I had to play around with Photoshop because I couldn’t find the map making tutorial I needed. Last week, I introduced you to Sorin. Now, it looks like this: I like the map, but there’s something off about it. Don’t know what’s bothering me,…
I treat map making the same way I treat writing– if my instincts tell me it doesn’t work, then I gotta change something. This blog series will help me finish my book images on time. I’ll be sharing my map making experience every Wednesday until the images are done. In the last post, Map Making: The…
