When the twelve-year-old Heroine of the Fairwoods dies, her morose twin sister reluctantly joins her trusty gryphon sidekick on a quest to save the enchanted land in her stead.
The Amber Ring (my cynical fairytale novella) is now free to download on Amazon’s Kindle! At least in the U.S. – other territories are hopefully soon to follow.
So go snag yourself a copy! You won’t regret it. Unless you hate it. In which case…you’ll probably regret it.
Bene scribete.
Speaking of giveaways, if you haven’t had the chance to read Shauna Scheets‘s The Tower of Boran yet, you can enter the drawing below to win a free signed copy!
Want it now? You can pick up the paperback at most online retailers, or purchase the eBook in all major formats at Smashwords.
Bene Scribete.
Want a free signed copy of my whimsically dark fairytale novella? Then just enter the drawing below (all you need is a Goodreads account). You could be one of three to win!
Don’t want to wait until next month (or aren’t in an eligible territory)? You can get the eBook for free at most major retailers (iBooks | Sony | Kobo | Nook).
Or download the PDF right here!
Bene scribete.
At the age of ten, Sofia Corona saved the Fairwoods from the malevolent grasp of the Cedar Witch and her goblin army.
Two years later, she drowned unceremoniously in the lake behind her Oregon home.
In the months following the Heroine’s death, when the Fairwoods face a resurgence of goblin attacks, they are forced to turn to Sofia’s cynical twin sister, Maya, for help. Although she wants nothing more to do with her sister’s fanciful adventures, Maya comes to realize that this one last favor could give her the closure she needs to put Sofia’s memory to rest and move on with her life.
With her twin’s magic ring and faithful gryphon companion, Maya embarks on a reluctant journey of whimsical antics and unwitting self-discovery in this stark but humorous fairy tale.
My novella, The Amber Ring, came out last week. If you’re interested, you can get it in good ol’ print direct, or on Amazon (US | UK).
Of course, it’s also available in digital form. Amazon wants a dollar for the Kindle version, but you can download the book for free here – PDF | ePUB
Seriously, free. So snag yourself a copy; what have you got to lose? (>^-‘)>
For those who prefer Nook or iBooks, I understand it is soon to be released on those platforms as well. In any case, if you give it a try, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Bene scribete.
My good friend Matt Price alerted me to this interesting item the other day:
It’s a screen-capture video Brandon Sanderson (or Branderson, as I like to call him) posted of himself writing his next book in real-time. You may know Branderson as the famed author of the Mistborn series and finisher of The Wheel of Time. Although I have yet to read one of his books, I’ve been greatly impressed by the vast amount of well-received work he’s able to put out.
That’s why this video surprises me. Seeing him in the writing process, it would appear that he is nearly as obsessive, indecisive, and back-and-forth as I am. This is honestly painful for me to watch, because it’s too much like seeing myself write (complete with cursor-twitching, shunting stuff below, and pre-chapter notes). I actually had to stop myself from grabbing at the keyboard and mouse to try and make edits to what he was doing. With his level of output, I expected him to be a draft-blaster who’d zip through and edit later, but now I’m even more amazed with his productivity. I suppose he did do 400 words in twenty minutes, though, which if a consistent pace would be nothing to scoff at.
Anyway, if you want to see how one prolific author goes about whipping up a draft (or how I do, for that matter), give it a watch.
As a side note, I am pleased to see that he still double-spaces sentences. Even if he forgot how to spell ‘oar’.
Bene scribete.
While putting the finishing touches on The Amber Ring these last couple weeks, I figured I’d also better throw together a full synopsis for it.
Synopses are kind of a drag.
Not because they’re hard to write – I’ve had more than my fair share of practice summarizing. It’s because they’re not always easy to keep exciting. Maintaining something of the flavor and tone of your work while drying it up to its basic elements can be a frustrating task. I’m certain there are numerous others who can give better advice on the subject than I can, but since I’m here, and so, ostensibly, are you, I’ll go over some of the things I like to keep in mind.
There’s no real easy, short-cut way to approach the whole process, but here are a few points to ponder:
Synopsis Considerations
Ultimately, a synopsis just serves as a quick overview of a story’s plot to ensure that it’s coherent, original, and interesting. It doesn’t have to be as brilliantly executed as the manuscript, but anything you can do within its limits to show off the promise of your work will surely be a point in your favor.
Bene scribete.
A while back, I talked a bit about what you might consider when naming characters, and today I thought I would follow up by expounding specifically on the topic of pulling words out of your—well, making them up.
Uh…
When concocting names for characters, places, or objects, we tend to favor certain sounds. Where we gravitate is mostly informed by the language(s) we speak, and what we’ve come to associate with pre-established words and names. Certain phonemes build specific impressions in our minds, and we rely on this context to put together fitting verbal symbols for whatever we’re assigning them to. Whether or not this is typically done on a conscious level, identifying and mapping out your preferences (both general and circumstantial) can be a useful endeavor.
For instance, my general letter palette would look like this:
+ |
\ |
– |
| A C D E I K L M N R S T | J O Q V X Y Z | B F G H P U W |
The first column represents what I feel are the most benign letters, and I use them fairly indiscriminately. The second contains letters that I like at certain times, but aren’t as ubiquitously usable. The third holds the letters that I tend to avoid. When my intent is to give a name a rough or unpleasant edge, however, these preferences easily operate in reverse. The initial and terminal letters of the word will be particularly prone to these guidelines.
Now, this chart is pretty simplistic, containing only letters from the English Roman alphabet and not taking digraphs into account, but you get the idea. I’m calling it a letter palette (as opposed to a simply phonetic one) because visual aesthetics are also a consideration – sounds can often be written a number of ways, and their appeal can be tweaked as such.
Making a general purpose palette for yourself can be an enlightening exercise, but they become particularly handy when tailored for specific sets. If, for your story, you need to create a distinct culture with its associated terminology and members’ names, planning out a letter palette for it can help you quicken the process while maintaining a consistent feel.
So, do you find yourself with particular letter preferences? Could you define your own general palette?
Bene scribete.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
I hate you, the slog.
You are not very nice
and now I’ve said it twenty-twice.
Bene scribete.
The first draft of The Amber Ring is completed, and at 98 pages, I find myself with an intended short story that became a novelette that’s now closer to a novella.
Oops?
As I work on putting together a presentable second draft for test reading, I thought I would share a short little scene to give a brief glimpse at its protagonist, twelve-year-old Maya Corona.
As Maya half-attentively filled out the answers to her math test, she found her eyes drifting toward the clock above Ms. Patch’s desk, subconsciously counting down the minutes, as she often did, until the tedium of the school day was over.
Her wandering eyes also noticed Braden Thomas, who sat at the desk to her right, surreptitiously sneaking a glance at her paper in regular intervals. She contemplated calling him out, or even writing down the wrong answers on purpose, but then decided to just let him cheat. If he could get through school without bothering to learn anything for himself, he would be one less person to pose any real competition for an eventual job, which people were always saying was hard to get these days.
As she shifted to give him a better view of her exam, she felt something grind against her leg. It was Sofia’s ring; she had left it in her pocket.
Her mind went unwillingly to the previous night. It had been strange to see Cam again. To think of him without Sofia. His charismatic pluck replaced with that crestfallen timidity. Maya wanted to leave the Fairwoods behind her, and had expected them not to not think twice about returning the favor. Her involvement had been limited to the occasional tag-along with her sister, and she had never done anything of importance there. She had been clear on where she stood, though, hadn’t she? Would they leave her alone, now?
“Two minutes,” Ms. Patch droned.
At the edge of her vision Maya saw Braden gripping his pencil tightly, throwing nervous glances her way. Quickly, to his obvious relief, she scribbled down the remaining answers to the test.
Bene scribete.
At the age of ten, Sofia Corona saved the Fairwoods from the malevolent grasp of the Cedar Witch and her goblin army.
Two years later, she drowned unceremoniously in the lake behind her Oregon home.
In the months following the Heroine’s death, when the Fairwoods face a resurgence of goblin attacks, they are forced to turn to Sofia’s cynical twin sister, Maya, for help. But despite an earnest plea from her sister’s faithful gryphon companion, Maya wants nothing more to do with the enchanted land. The request continues to plague her mind, however, and she can’t help but wonder if doing this one last favor will give her the closure she needs to accept her sister’s death and move on with her life.
Such is the premise to my side-project novelette, The Amber Ring, a sort of semi-satirical dark fairytale. I’m just about done with the first draft, and was curious if the concept would appeal to anyone reading this. So – interest piqued? Let me know!
Bene scribete.
Writin' Fish 