Series Based off of Mythology

Hi all,

If you've read some of my old blog posts then you'll know that a lot of my writing is based off of various mythology and mythological creatures. I was always interested in mythology when I was little and that has carried over into my adult life and my writing. I've already written one series based off of Egyptian mythology but I thought I'd talk a bit more about other mythologies that I would like to write about as well.

Egyptian.

Curse of Anubis includes Egyptian gods. The ones that show up the most are: Bastet, Sekhmet, Set, Anubis and Mafdet. I've always wanted to write about Egyptian mythology as I've always loved reading the stories growing up. I would love to go to Egypt one day to see the pyramids and I'm always on the lookout for Egyptian exhibits in museums.

Greek.

Greek mythology was my favourite when I was younger. I had numerous books about the stories of the gods and demi-gods. I've got a series planned, Damaged Goods, which will centre around the Greeks. Pyrrah, the daughter of Hades, struggles to find her way in the world when her father turns his back on her. Desperate for power, she vows revenge on the gods and recruits their descendants to help her. There's also the book that I want to write for Patreon about Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox which is based off the story of the uncatchable fox and the dog that never loses its prey.

Norse.

The part that interests me the most about Norse mythology are the Valkyries. I want to write a series about a school where girls are trained to be Valkyries and paired with their flying horse partners. It would be like Elemental Dragons, but instead of dragons there would be flying horses instead!

Celtic.

I've only recently started looking into more and more Celtic mythology and I find it really interesting. I would like to write about it in some way but I'm currently brain storming ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with something good at some point!

Persian.

This one is the one I know the least about as I've only just started researching it. But so far I've seen a few mythological creatures that have caught my eye that I think would be interesting to write about. Once I've done some more research I'll have a think about what stands out to me most.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

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Underwater Stories

Hi all,

Before I start writing Original Elementals #4: Devouring next month I want to get some short stories written. I've found some anthologies with themes that I find really interesting and they all involve underwater beings. I thought I'd write a post explaining what creatures I'm planning on writing about in these stories.

Nessie.

One of the anthologies has a strange theme of Loch Ness Monster vs Ghosts of Atlantis. I think this theme is unique and a good one to stretch my imagination. As the title of the anthology suggests, Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, will be involved. But I'm also going to include Morag, the monster of Loch Morar. I think these two go well together as they inhabit separate Lochs and I think it will be interesting to tie them in together. As for the ghosts of Atlantis, I've got a few ideas bouncing around in my head but nothing solid for now.

Mermaids.

A different anthology has the theme of mermaids. I'm thinking this story will be a horror one, featuring a mermaid preying on fishermen who have taken something from her. I don't know whether the thing that they have taken will be a mythological creature or a tiger shark, I haven't decided yet. But this mermaid won't be nice to people she comes across, she will use anything at her disposal to make them suffer.

Kelpies.

I like the idea of kelpies in their horse form. I would like to include them in a short story, but I'm not sure if this will tie in with Nessie or the mermaid. The kelpies will probably appear in a herd and I like to imagine them being aggressive. They will not hesitate to attack whatever is threatening them.

Leviathan.

A monster hiding in the deep that suddenly comes to the surface is one of my favourite tropes. The monster that I'm thinking about will erupt from the deep and will control the weather. Freak storms, maelstroms, tsunamis - all controlled by this monster.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

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August Fantasy Giveaway

Celestial Plague Chapter Headers

Hi all!

With Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana going up for pre-order soon I thought I’d show you what the chapter headers will look like! Each of the main characters - Shannon, Ashleigh, Raya and Jenna have one. Every time there is a POV switch, their chapter header will show up. I wanted to make it easier for people to read without trying to figure out who the POV of each chapter is.

I originally had designs for each character planned out but that changed when it came to hiring an artist. All of the chapter headers are now animal related instead of Ashleigh having the sun. I think this makes the chapter headers looks better and also sticks to a theme.

Make sure you check out the artist, Bruja verde, their art is beautiful and they deserve some love!

First up - we have Shannon. As a winged character, I knew that having a bird as her header would make the most sense. Hers was the first one I came up with as I knew birds would be involved in her header in some form. Once I decided on the animal theme, it was only natural that she would be a bird.

Ashleigh’s design is the one I flip-flopped the most on. I wanted to go with a chameleon at first but I was worried that it wouldn’t make sense as her power has a slim connection to the animal. I thought a sun would be a good idea instead as it would signify her rise through the series. Ultimately I went with the animal theme so the chameleon came back.

Like Shannon, Raya’s header was quite simple to choose from. Her power is shapeshifting into a panther, so it only makes sense that her chapter header would be a panther too. I’ve name this panther Damisa after her feline counterpart in the books.

Jenna’s header is my favourite out of all the designs. As her power is breathing underwater with her gills it’s only natural that her header would be a fish. Bruja verde really went above and beyond with this one, I think the fish itself is gorgeous.

There is one final chapter header… But you’ll have to read the books to see it! To post it here would be a spoiler for book two onwards. It’s another gorgeous design that follows the animal theme. I’ll give you a hint… Metamorphosis plays a big part in the Celestial Plague universe. The virus has a life-cycle that ends in a complete change for the host.

Once again, make sure you check out Bruja verde! Curse of Anubis is another series that has multiple POVs so I will go back to them to get the chapter headers for those books too.

That’s it for this week, which chapter header is your favourite? Let me know in the comments! See you next week.

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Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy

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Multiple Points of View in my Books

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about POV (point of view) in my books. Although most of my books are focused on one character with an occasional change of view, I have written a few books where there are multiple main characters who each have chapters dedicated to their point of view. These can be different scenes or areas that other main characters aren't involved in or different views of the same scene.

Celestial Plague.

In this series, there are four main characters. Shannon Pennylove, Jenna Carlton, Ashleigh Warren and Raya Oovo. Each of them have multiple chapters in every book. They are cycled through every so often so one character doesn't get two chapters in a row. They each have different personalities and opinions of the world they live in. For example; Jenna is more cynical and pessimistic while Ashleigh is a lot more meek and less likely to dive into conflict.

In the books, their chapters will be differentiated by a different chapter header for each character. A bird for Shannon, a fish for Jenna, a panther for Raya and a sun for Ashleigh. The chapter headers are supposed to represent their powers as well, which will make it easier for readers to identify. I did consider just having their names under each chapter but I wanted an illustration as well. My newsletter subscribers voted on this as well and decided that they also wanted illustrations.

Curse of Anubis.

There are two main characters in this series: Tahira Kahana and Bastet. As she is a goddess, Bastet is mostly in her cat form throughout the books and engages with the other gods in their animal forms as well. Although other gods appear throughout the books, Bastet is the only one who has chapters dedicated to her. I've written a lot of cat characters in the past so I wasn't too worried about writing a book with half of it in a feline POV!

Like Celestial Plague, this series will also have illustrated chapter headers. Bastet's, of course, will be a cat while Tahira will have a leopard. Again, I didn't just want the names under each chapter, I wanted something visual to distinguish a change of POV.

Why chapter headers?

There were a few things that I considered before choosing chapter headers as the way to distinguish POV. The others were:

Character name below each chapter - This was my first option but I decided I wanted something that looked better.

Different symbols in each chapter with a key explaining which character was which - I thought that this option might get confusing, especially in the ebook version. Most of the time Amazon will immediately jump to chapter one while skipping the contents. I didn't want people flicking back and forth and getting confused while reading.

Naming each chapter after the character - So, instead of chapters 1,2,3 it would go: Ashleigh 1, Shannon 1, Ashleigh 2 etc. I also thought that this would get confusing and would also be a pain to format.

In the end, I decided that illustrations would look best. I read a lot of Warriors books that have chapter illustrations and loved them. So, I thought they would be a good idea for my books.

Will I write more books with multiple POVs in the future? Possibly. I don't want to rule it out. For now the books that I'm planning on writing are all one POV, with the occasional chapter seen through the eyes of a different character. Because these books only have one POV I won't be doing illustrated chapter headers for them.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!

PS; last chance to get these books before the promo ends!

Science Fiction Giveaway

The Future of Street Rats

Hi all,

This week I’m going to talk about Street Rats! The book has been on hiatus since October 2021 and I thought I’d make a blog post explaining why.

If you aren’t aware, last August I asked my followers to vote on what standalone book they wanted me to write next. The winner was Street Rats. You can see a basic plot summary and genre here:

I started writing that book soon after. At first writing went well and I was really enjoying the story. I also enjoyed the fact that this book is set in a parallel world with different ideas of technology to ours. Instead of police they instead capture animals and experiment on them. These animals are often given robotic parts and have chips in their brains from which they receive orders. Of course, there’s a cat in in it who helps the main character, Hailey.

However, my mental health started to decline and I started losing passion for the project. I wanted to get it done in time for NaNoWriMo November 2021, where I was planning to start writing the first draft of Original Elementals #1: Frostbite. More and more days were passing by where I would get short bursts of writing done but then write nothing for days. The book was slowly coming together but I found I wasn’t happy with it at all.

November comes around and I’m just over 72K into the first draft. I decided to put it on hold to write Frostbite like I’d originally planned. I managed to finish the first draft of that book in early December.

However, Street Rats is still on hold.

I’m not happy with how the story turned out, but I still want to write the ending. I know it’s going to need some heavy editing which I’m not looking forward to. However, I still love the premise and I am willing to go back and finish it. My mental health has also improved a lot and I am more willing to finish the story than I was before. I think the fact that I was feeling low rubbed off on the story and I started getting frustrated with it.

Will Street Rats be finished?

The first draft - yes. After that I’m going to leave it for a while before attempting to go back to it to edit.

When will it be finished?

I’m not sure, whenever I feel ready. It could be after I’ve finished Camp NaNoWriMo this month, or it could be later on in the year.

Will it be published?

I want it to be. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to change the story enough to where I’m happy with it. I still want to see the story out there.

That’s it for this week! Next week keep an eye out for Years, which will be available on Amazon on Tuesday! See you next week.

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Why I'm Writing a Standalone After Every Three Original Elementals Books

Hi all,

If you’re subscribed to my newsletter you might already know the answer to this. But to those who are not, I wanted to let you know what’s going on and why I’m not writing all ten books in the Original Elementals series at once.

First, I’m worried about burnout. Ten books is a lot and it takes a lot of planning just to make sure that all of the books gel together and that there are no inconsistencies between books. The biggest one I’m struggling with right now is what the dragons look like, I find that I keep changing it every few chapters!

I also don’t want to be stuck in the same universe for a long period of time. While I love the Elemental Dragons universe, I have so many other book ideas that I want to get done as well.

So, to try and combat all of the above, I will write three books in the Original Elementals series and then a standalone that I’ve had planned for a while. The only exception to this will be Celestial Plague #4: Hell. I had originally planned for this to be a trilogy, but a final book would tie up some loose ends with one of the characters and would also offer more insight into what happens after the events of Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory. I won’t go into too much detail due to spoilers but I think you’ll enjoy this book as it shows more abut how society rebuilds after the virus.

So, my plan is:

Write Frostbite, Maelstrom and Shadowhunter. Then Hell, from Celestial Plague.

Write Devouring, Tempest and Sunrise. Then The Core, which was the second highest voted from my poll in August about what standalone I should write.

Write Stormburst, Turf, Arcturus and ???. Then an unnamed YA Paranormal Horror.

This will enable to me to get all the books written with a break in between to work on something else. I won’t be writing all of these books in 2022, however, I’m hoping to get the first drafts done for all of the Original Elementals books in 2024.

That’s it for this week! I hope this clears up some confusion as to why I might be hopping from project to project. Next week I’m going to talk about the future of Street Rats, which has been on hiatus since October 2021. See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books to read? Check out the ones in these bundles:

The Fantastic Kindle Universe

Taking to the Sky This Easter

How to Find Anthologies to Submit to

Hi all!

This week's blog post will hopefully help other writers to find homes for some of their stories! I specifically chose anthologies as they are the ones I submit to most; and I think it can be harder to find ones willing to publish new authors.

Facebook.

There are loads of Facebook groups out there dedicated to submitting to anthologies. They are filled with authors looking for, and posting about, anthologies that are looking for submissions. This is also a great way of seeing which anthologies are worth submitting to, and which ones don't hold up their end of the bargain. Other authors won't recommend anthologies that are looking to scam them. One group that I'm a part of is Anthologies Seeking Submissions. They're great because they don't allow posts from 'pay-to-play' anthologies, where authors have to pay a fee to submit their stories without guarantee that they'll be published.

Christopher Fielden.

Although there are plenty of websites out there dedicated to showcasing places for authors to submit their stories, Christopher Fielden's website is the best. Not only does he regularly update his website with writing opportunities but he also hosts writing challenges. Once he has enough stories, they're all gathered together and made into an anthology! I've been published in several of his anthologies and attended one of the book launches. Proceeds from each book sale is donated to various charities, so you add the book to your publishing portfolio and help charity at the same time. He also hosts his own writing competition, which you should also check out!

The Submission Grinder.

This one I discovered thanks to a post by Christopher Fielden. It's an easy to navigate website where you can filter by genre, word count and type of submission. I have used this website and managed to get three stories accepted because of it! If I had never heard about this website I never would have found those anthologies, and the others that I also plan to submit to. In my opinion this is the best way to find new anthologies with various themes and word counts. By searching through their filters you may even find homes for stories that you wrote a while ago but never got published. That was the case for me with a few of the stories I have submitted.

Word of Mouth.

See what other authors are published in. Are there more anthologies from the same publisher accepting submissions? Will they publish more in the future? It's also a lot better knowing that other authors have submitted to these anthologies and are happy with the results. If you don't want to ask the author directly, check out their websites or Amazon author page. Usually all of the books, and anthologies, that they've been published in will be listed there.

That's it for this week! I hope this has helped someone who is looking to add more publications to their portfolio. See you next week!

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Young Adult Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Big Cat Species in my Writing

Hi all,

Last week I talked about cat breeds in my writing. This week I thought I'd talk about the big cats in my books, even in future ones!

Years.

Mother Earth takes the form of a lioness made of solar flares in this book. I went with a lion as they spend most of their time in the sun. As for why she's made of solar flares, you'll be able to find out in April when the book comes out!

Celestial Plague.

Raya, one of the main characters, is a panther shapeshifter. There will be a blog post on her at some point, so make sure you keep an eye out! I chose a panther over other big cats as I thought it was time that the species got some love.

Curse of Anubis.

The two main big cats in this book are Sekhmet and Mafdet. Sekhmet is a goddess that is commonly depicted with a lion head, so she appears in this book as a maned lioness. Mafdet is often described in mythology as wearing cheetah skin, so she appears in this book as a cheetah. This book was a lot of fun to write as I had two big cats to contend with. Trying to make them both stand out in their feline forms was tough! I also incorporated some mannerisms from real lions and cheetahs to make them more accurate to their big cat forms.

Street Rats.

A mechanical panther does appear in this book, but it's only a brief appearance to attack the main character and her group.

Now onto my future projects and what big cats will be in them!

Unnamed GameLit Fantasy.

The main character will be partnered with a snow leopard. This is my favourite animal and I always wanted to incorporate one into my books somehow. So, Bagira the snow leopard will be a part of the main character's team! There is also a mysterious tiger that patrols one of the jungles in the area, protecting the animals inside. I've never written about a tiger before, so this one should be really fun to write!

Unnamed Paranormal Fantasy.

There is a character in this book who can speak to animals. She befriends a lynx and it helps her aid her sister, the main character. I went with a lynx for this book as I thought they would be cool to write about and I've never given them much thought before.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!

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Unlimited Reading

Cat Breeds in my Writing

Hi all!

I ran a poll on Twitter to see what you wanted me to blog about next. The winner of the poll was something cat related! So I thought I'd discuss the different breeds of cat I use in my writing.

Elemental Dragons.

Only one cat appears in this series, Normie. He is introduced as a siamese kitten. I went with Siamese as although the real Normie wasn't completely Siamese, he had the fur colour and everything. So I decided to make him pure Siamese for the books.

Mute.

Solaris and Lunaris are the two cats to appear in these books and they are both moggies. Neither of them are any particular breed. Solaris is a ginger tabby and Lunaris is a grey tabby. Neither have any specific breed in mind when I wrote them.

Street Rats.

A part-mechanical cat, Faraday, is the main cat that appears in this book. He has a little bit of Havana in him which shows thanks to his fur colour. But the rest of him is all moggie. He's not supposed to be a specific breed either, like Solaris and Lunaris.

Curse of Anubis.

Bastet, the cat goddess, is one of the main characters in this book. She is almost always in her cat forms, ranging from a silver to black Egyptian Mau. I went with an Egyptian cat breed that I thought looked cute and had a wide range of fur colours that I could use. She could theoretically change into any type of cat she wanted, but I thought I would stick to one breed for the books.

Original Elementals.

Aspen appears in this book and she is a white and grey fluff monster! Again, I didn't write her with a specific breed in mind so she is just a moggie as well. All of the cats that I've owned are moggies so that might be swaying my opinion a little bit!

Below are some of the cats that I plan on writing in future novels, though they aren't set in stone yet:

Unnamed game-lit fantasy.

Mishka is finally turned into a book character for this one! She will portray herself in her moggie glory! The only thing we know about her is that she is a quarter Bengal, but the rest of her is unknown.

Unnamed supernatural horror.

The cat in this story is unnamed, but belongs to the main character's sister and is able to communicate with her due to her power. This cat will be a Turkish Angora, though I haven't decided what the fur colour or gender will be.

Parasitic Aliens.

This will be a trilogy. I've only planned one cat so far although there will be one for each book. One will be a Devon Rex. Again, no fur colour or gender as of yet, nor which book it will appear in,

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. Which cat is your favourite? Let me know in the comments. See you next week!

Years Cover Design

Hi all!

This cover reveal is a bit later than I normally announce it, but I hope the cover is worth the wait! Below is the cover for Years! I’ve already updated my website and banners to reflect the colour scheme of the book.

This cover, like all my other ones, has been designed by the lovely people at Deranged Doctor Design! As I have done with the previous covers, I’ll explain the design choices:

• The girl on the cover is Cheyenne, the main character of Years.

• The colour scheme for this book is red and orange.

• The background is an area of dead land. There is no vegetation as this cannot be supported until someone goes into the Gaia Machine to sacrifice their years to the Earth.

• There is a gap in the clouds to show that a solar flare is coming through.

• Although the solar flare is wrapped around Cheyenne’s body, she can’t control them.

• Anyone who touches a solar flare in the book dies instantly. The flare around Cheyenne is a cool design choice from DDD.

• The font is bold and also fits the genre of Sci-Fi perfectly.

• My name is back on top cover of the book, like with the Elemental Dragons series.

• In the book, Cheyenne has a small tattoo on her wrist, this isn’t shown anywhere on the cover has neither of her wrists are visible.

Once again I’m very happy with this cover! DDD always deliver perfect covers and I will continue to go to them for more covers in the future.

Years will be out in April 2022. Pre-order available next month.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!

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