Writing in a New Genre - Post-Apocalyptic

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about a new genre I recently discovered - Post-Apocalyptic. A lot of books have fallen under this umbrella but have been marketed as Sci-Fi or Dystopian. The Celestial Plague series that I'm writing is an example of one who will be genre hopping.

First of all, what is Post-Apocalyptic?

It's a genre detailing the aftermath of an apocalypse. I do love writing about world ending viruses and incidents, so I'm very much in love with the genre.

Celestial Plague.

When I started writing the trilogy I had in mind that it would be a YA Sci-Fi. Now that I've discovered more genres and written more books, I've realised that this doesn't quite fit anymore. Instead it will be a YA Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy. I think this label will fit the books much better and also help when I release them. Making a story about four girls with powers live through an apocalypse never quite sat right being in the Sci-Fi genre.

Curse of Anubis.

Again, this was going to a be a YA Sci-Fi Horror, but I think it would better fit as a YA Post-Apocalyptic Horror. The main character, Tahira, has to learn to survive in a world where a zombie virus has broken out. I think this suits Post-Apocalyptic better.

There will be no significant changes to either of the series as I edit them. My writing style will not change, and the characters will be the same. I am only using this as an opportunity to expand my writing into even more genres, and get my books out there more. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with new book ideas in a variety of worlds and experiences!

So with a new one under my belt, what genres am I planning on writing? Currently, my books will be one, or a mixture of:

Fantasy

Sci-Fi

Dystopian

Horror

Young Adult

New Adult

Post-Apocalyptic

A lot of heavy genres it seems…

That's it for this week! I've started Camp NaNoWriMo this week, I'm hoping to get 50K words written for Curse of Anubis #3: Middle before the end of the month.

See you next week!

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Dragon Eggs For Easter!

How I Chose the Colour Schemes for my Books

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about something a bit different, colour schemes. Each of my books have a set colour scheme and I usually have the colour scheme in mind before I've finished the book in some cases! I thought I would explain how I narrow down the colour choices for the covers.

Elemental Dragons.

Each book in this series has a different colour scheme:

Blood and Water - blue and red

Venom and Earth - green and purple

Glass and Ice - white and pale blue

Cinder and Fire - orange and grey

I chose the colours based off the book's titles. When people think of water they usually think of the colour blue, and blood is red. The only one I struggled with was Venom and Earth. I knew half would be green, but I did struggle for a while on the other colour. In the end I went with purple, as in a lot of cartoons and films I used to watch the poisonous bottles would be purple or filled with a purple liquid. So I went with purple.

Mute.

Because Mute is a horror book, the colours will be dark. There will be definitely be an element of dark green on the cover. This is because whenever I think of a 'mute symbol' I usually picture it in green.

Years.

This book will have an orange colour scheme due to the abundance of solar flares in the book. I haven't thought about the cover much apart from the colour scheme, but I still have time to mull it over!

Celestial Plague.

I wrote these books years ago, so I have a good idea of what the covers will look like. Instead of a full colour on the cover, I'm going to have it in the background instead:

Nirvana - mint green

Heaven - multicoloured

Purgatory - purple

When I wrote the books, the only colour scheme I was sure of was Heaven's. One of the main characters has the power to change the colour of hair and fabric, but can't control it. That's why this book will have a multicoloured element to it.

Curse of Anubis.

These books will have colour schemes based off sand and the sun. The books contain Egyptian gods and feature heavily in a realm that is a desert, so I thought the colour schemes were fitting.

Halfway - orange

Limbo - red

Middle - yellow

Dual - gold

Like Years, I haven't thought much about the covers apart from the colour schemes. Middle and Dual haven't been written yet, but I already know what colour schemes they'll have!

That's all of the books that I have planned for now, but I'm already deciding what project to move onto once Curse of Anubis is finished. It will be a mix of Original Elementals and standalones that I've been wanting to write for a while. Their colour schemes will come to me before the books are written, I'm sure!

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

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Spreading Magic in March…

March Madness Fantasy Book Fair

Why Authors Need Boxsets

Hi all!

I ran a poll on Twitter and the result was writing a blog post about boxsets. If you don’t know what a boxset is, it’s a collection of books in a series that you can buy as one product. In this post, I will cover the following points:

Design

Pricing

Readers

With design you need to think about the following points:

Spine Direction

Thumb Notch or no Thumb Notch

Boxset Cover

Although spine direction and thumb notch comes down to personal preference, the cover is the one you need to think about the most. You can get a whole new cover designed for it, or you can use your book covers. Depending on your covers, you could have multiple books on one cover. However, if your books feature the same model on each cover I would advise on picking one. With my boxset, I have chosen the cover for Blood and Water with my cover designer's advice, as they said having the same girl on the cover three or four times wouldn't look as good. Listen to the advice of you cover designer, they have more experience in that field than most authors.

Here is an example of a boxset of Warriors by Erin Hunter. The spines are facing the right and it does not contain a thumb notch:

Boxset of ‘The Prophecies Begin’ by Erin Hunter

With pricing, you need to make sure that it's reasonable, but also priced high enough for you to make a profit on advertising. I've found that a lot of authors on Amazon either set it at 99p for sales or slightly cheaper than buying each book separately. For example, each individual book may be priced at £2.99 and there's five in a series, but the boxset is priced at £7.99. Have a look through boxsets of authors in your genre to see what they're pricing their boxsets at.

Although most readers are happy to purchase a book and wait for the next one, there are a lot of people who will only buy a series when all the books are out. A boxset is perfect for them, as they can download all of the books in the series at once and read them at their own pace.

Now, onto the pros and cons.

Pros.

More readers.

As I stated above, some readers wait for all the books in a series to be published before picking up the series. A boxset is the perfect way for them to buy all your books at once.

Cheaper than buying all the books.

Having the boxset cheaper than all of the individual books combined will tempt some readers into checking out your books. It's a low risk, high reward scenario.

More reviews.

The readers who only buy boxsets gives you a new stream for reviews. The more reviews you have, the more Amazon will push your book in front of new eyes!

Cons.

Boxset design.

It's another thing to spend money on, and you need to make some design decisions so it matches other books in your genre. Although you can make it yourself, if you're not familiar with graphic design it might not turn out the way you like.

Amazon doesn't allow indie paperback boxsets.

Self published authors can only publish boxsets of their ebooks. If a reader wants the paperbacks, they'll have to buy each one separately. Or, you could combine all the books into one file. This would be one huge book, which would have high shipping and printing costs. Plus if it goes over a certain page count, Amazon won't print it.

Less profit.

Because boxsets are cheaper, you'll get less profit than if you were to sell each book individually.

Amazon doesn’t like the word ‘boxset’.

I’ve heard a lot of authors talk about how Amazon only likes the word boxset for paperback books. With ebooks, they prefer you to use ‘collection’ or ‘omnibus’. Some Amazon ads have been rejected for using the word boxset, so be careful when naming and advertising.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I'm going to talk about how to market with anxiety. See you next Sunday!

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Reading Treasures

My 2021 Writing Goals

Hi all,

As promised, here are my writing and publishing goals for 2020! After how well I reached my goals last year, I thought I would push myself a bit more this year to increase my writing output.

Write three books.

I want to finish all the books in the Curse of Anubis series this year, starting with Limbo in a few weeks time. Once I've finished them I just need to decide what to write next!

Plan nine more Elemental Dragons books/novellas.

That's right, you heard me, nine. I want to continue the Elemental Dragons universe once Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire is out. But I also want to publish my backlog of books, so I will just be focusing on planning for this year! The series will be called 'Original Elementals' and will follow each of the Original Elementals, from Marine to Stellar. I have already asked my newsletter subscribers to help with designing the dragon characters!

Publish two books.

This year I'm hoping to get Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire published in April and Mute published in October. I don't want to increase my publishing output too much as I don't want my mental health to suffer. Like last time, both will be entered in Cover Wars!

Create and publish Elemental Dragons boxset.

With the final book in the series coming out, I can release a boxset! For those who prefer to download the series in one go, or others who have been waiting for all the books to come out before reading,

Get two covers designed.

As before, I'm going with Deranged Doctor Design for my next two covers. Mute and Years will have covers by the end of the year, and I even have a cover image picked out for Mute:

Edit three books.

I have found that as I have written more, I haven't been using so many drafts to edit. Now that my editing speed has picked up, I want to edit more books in preparation for publication. Years will be one of them, but I haven't decided on the other two yet.

Hire a sensitivity reader.

I want to hire a sensitivity reader for the Celestial Plague series. I'm researching quite a few now, and hope to have the books in the hands of one by the end of the year.

Write more short stories.

I'm hoping to write more short stories this year, with the goal of submitting to magazines or anthologies. I want to add more publications to my bookshelf!

Write Curse of Anubis short stories/novella.

In preparation for Curse of Anubis being eventually published, I want to create a reader magnet for it. So far I haven't decided whether this will be short separate stories like the Elemental Dragons Short Story collection, or a novella focused on one character like Celestial Plague: Seashine.

Read 30 books.

Double my goal of last year, which I blew out the water. Of course the first book I read this year was a Warriors one, which I thought was amazing!

Participate in both Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.

I've found that I write a lot better with a deadline, so I will be joining Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo again this year.

That's it for this week! Next week I'm going to post an excerpt from chapter one of Cinder and Fire... See you then!

PS; looking for new books to add to your reading list this year? Check out these book bundles, filled with dragons, unicorns and creatures alike!

New Year, New Monsters!

Reading Treasures

2020 Year in Review

Hi all!

Next week I'm going to write about my 2021 writing goals, so this week I thought I would look back on my writing goals of 2020!

Write two books

I've managed to write four books this year:

Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory

Years

Mute

Curse of Anubis #1: Halfway

Publish two books

Elemental Dragons #2: Venom and Earth and Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice were both published this year, thanks to everyone who has read them!

Get three covers designed

Elemental Dragons is now complete with covers, and I managed to get one for Celestial Plague: Seashine. Seashine's cover will be revealed at some point next year.

Edit two books

Although I wanted to edit Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana, instead I edited Mute. But I still manged to meet my goal, despite swapping the books around!

Write four short stories

I've written multiple short stories this year, though I didn't manage to get any published. I've posted a lot of them in my monthly newsletter for my subscribers to read. I also hope to combine some into an anthology of sorts once I have enough of the same genre.

Read 15 books

Due to lockdown I managed to blow this goal out of the water. I have read 100 books this year! Most of them were ones that I had wanted to read for a while, like Wings of Fire and Five Nights at Freddy's. However I also discovered new authors this year whose work I love.

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo

I participated in both this year, with writing Years, Mute and Curse of Anubis #1: Halfway.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I will discuss my goals for 2021. See you next week!

PS; looking for new books to add to your list in the New Year? Check out these book bundles:

Fantasy Reads for Cold Winter Nights

New Year, New Monsters!

Halfway Quotes - NaNoWriMo 2020

Hi all!

If you weren’t aware, I participated in NaNoWriMo again this year (National Novel Writing Month) and started writing the first book in the Curse of Anubis series: Halfway. From day three I started posting quotes from the book on my Twitter account, which I have collected here for you all to read! Some are in Tahira’s point of view, while others are in Bastet’s. If you want me to do this when I participate in Camp NaNoWriMo too, let me know!

Days 3-10

Days 11-20

Days 21-30

That’s it for this week! Let me know if you want me to post daily quotes whenever I do NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo. Next week I’m going to talk about the Elemental Dragons calendar that I’m doing on my Facebook page. See you next week!

PS, looking for new books to read while warming up? Check out this bundle!

Fantasy Reads for Cold Winter Nights

The Book Series That Made me Want to be an Author

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about the book series that made me want to write, and to have a career as an author. For those of you who know me, I'm sure you already know what I'm about to say.

Yes, it was Warriors (or Warriors Cats) by Erin Hunter.

As a cat lover, the premise of feline characters drew me in, but the storylines kept me interested. I loved the idea of cats having their own society out in the forest, with their hierarchy and ways of living. They also have a lot of drama, which makes for great reading. I've cried at so many character deaths and laughed at so many of their blunders across the years. I even contributed my own Warriors fanfiction on their forums, which ended up being pretty popular on their site for a while.

Yes, the stories were bad.

But people loved them, and it made me want to write more.

It didn't start there however, it started when I was about nine or ten, when I had just finished reading my first few Warriors books. I decided that I would re-write the entire first book with the same plot line and characters, but add in my own character as well. She was terrible, she was a prissy Mary-Sue who could shoot lightning, but it got me into writing. My grandfather used to read what I had written after every chapter and pushed me to keep going, so I did.

I had a whole host of favourite characters, but the one that stood out to me the most was Russetfur. I loved her attitude and her loyalty. Over the years she would gradually pop up in more books, but I always wanted to read more of her. So, at sixteen I went on the Warrior Cats forums and started writing 'poll stories' where your fans could decide what happens next with a character based off Russetfur. Although the cats couldn't shoot lightning bolts, they were representative of five elements: fire, water, air, earth and poison. (Now do you see where the elements for Elemental Dragons are starting to come in?)

Although I loved writing about cats, I didn't think people would take me seriously if I was solely a cat author. So, I decided that I would write about broad subjects, but every book that I write will have a cat or a feline in it. So far, the cats are:

Elemental Dragons - Normie (cat)

Celestial Plague - Raya (panther shifter)

Mute - Solaris (cat)

Years - unnamed (cat made of solar flares)

Curse of Anubis - Bastet (cat goddess)

I still read books in the Warriors series now, and have an entire bookshelf dedicated to displaying my collection. If I hadn't started reading the books, I may never have got into writing. Without them, I'm not sure where I'd be today.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I'm going to collect all my quotes from Halfway that I've been posting Twitter throughout the month to give everyone a chance to read the ones they may have missed.

See you next week!

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My Least Favourite Writing Tropes

Hi all!

This blog post is a sequel to one I wrote a month ago, about my favourite writing tropes. I thought I would also write about my least favourite writing tropes, as there are quite a few of those as well.

Love Triangles.

I hate seeing characters angst about who to choose to date. It doesn't help that they always seem to go for the one I don't really like either. Usually a love triangle just portrays the character as being this attractive person who can't keep others away, even though they think they're ugly. Watching two characters vie for the attention of one just doesn't interest me whatsoever. In most cases I hope the character will just find someone else, or one of the love interests will.

Family members being abusive, but they have a reason for doing so.

I hate this trope with a passion. Abuse is never justified. However, in some books they try to justify that abuse with reasons like: the character's mother died giving birth or they remind a family member of a lost loved one. Just no. Just because the family holds some sort of grudge against the character doesn't mean they can abuse them in order to 'make them stronger'. I also hate it when the family member is on their death bed and begs for forgiveness, and the character forgives them in a heartbeat just because they're dying.

Evil Dragons/Dragonrider Steed.

Dragons being evil just doesn't interest me anymore. It's been so overdone, they're either the monster the hero has to slay or the keeper of some great artifact. There's just so much that can be done with dragons that I get bored when they're just a steed for the hero.

Whiny MCs.

A main character is supposed to be the one the reader can relate to most, but I find it hard to connect with selfish characters. For example, one of their friends die in battle and they try to get all the attention back on them when others are trying to mourn. Another example is when they have powers to destroy the antagonist but instead sitting around sulking that it 'had to be them'.

Medieval Fantasy.

I hate reading about fantasy that is set in a medieval world where technology hasn't progressed. Along with it the female characters are usually treated like crap for being women and are nothing but love interests for the hero. This type of fantasy just does not hook me at all.

Elderly mentor.

I hate it when the MC has an elderly mentor that trains them only to die halfway through the book. The rest of the story is just following the MC on their quest to avenge their mentor they, sometimes, barely know.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I’ll be doing the cover reveal for Cinder and Fire, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!

Looking for a new series to read? Check out these books:

Begin New Journeys with Series Starters Free in KU

My Wendigo Design

Hi all,

With Halloween next week I thought I would share something about my horror book, Mute. As the title says, I'll be discussing the designs of the wendigo.

The main antagonist of the book is a wendigo, an undead creature with extreme speed and a taste for human flesh. In Mute, there is one wendigo that the characters face up against, although it doesn't look like a traditional wendigo.

Human-like.

The wendigo in Mute is shaped like a human and has human features. Although many people depict wendigo as a large deer-like creature, I prefer the human version. Mine has ghastly pale skin which is rough and rubbery. It also has longer limbs than the average human and usually walks around on all fours.

Branches.

A lot of depiction of wendigo contain antlers, so I thought I would play on that a bit by having rotten branches instead. These branches stick out the back of the wendigo and can move independently, like limbs. They are used to impale prey and cling to high places.

Teeth.

The wendigo has a mouth full of sharp teeth, layered like shark teeth. They are small, sharp and yellowed. Some are even permanently stained with blood.

Eyes.

The wendigo has a pair of bloodshot eyes with pale irises. Unlike in some depictions, it's not blind. It can see as well as a human can, so it doesn't have better sight in darkness.

Fingers.

The fingers are long and bent into the shape of claws. Each finger has a wooden fingernail on the end, some of which are sharp and others are dull due to tearing.

Throat.

I like the concept of the wendigo being constantly hungry, no matter how much it eats. I thought I would change that idea up a bit by having an open wound in the wendigo's neck. This way, all the flesh it eats falls through the hole instead of getting consumed. This would explain why it is always killing and eating, as it can literally never fill its stomach.

Voice.

The wendigo has the power to mimic human voices, or in the case of the main character, take her voice completely.

Blood.

With the theme of rotten wood, I decided that the wendigo would bleed a sap-like substance. This only happens when it isn't pierced by a silver object, in which case real blood would be drawn.

I wanted the design to be creepy and nightmare-ish, as I find the concept of a human-like creature hunting scarier than a deer. I wanted to write about a wendigo since discovering them online and reading more about them.

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

Love Halloween but not a fan of horror books? Check out these fantasy reads!

It’s an ‘Always be a Unicorn Autumn’

My Favourite Writing Tropes

Hi all!

For this week's topic I ran a Twitter poll and you guys decided on my favourite writing tropes! If you liked this one let me know and I'll write another about my least favourite tropes.

Friends to Lovers.

This one is my all time favourite. I adore when characters who have known each other for years have hidden feelings but then reveal them at some point. I do prefer this to be revealed in the middle of a book or series so then we can actually read about the characters being together and how they act around each other. It's a bit annoying to see the characters get together at the end of a book or series as then we never actually see them be together. I knew when writing Elemental Dragons that Hazel and Marco would end up together, despite all the obstacles thrown in their way. They feel that they are being subtle about the way they feel, but in fact it's the complete opposite.

Comic Relief Character.

Not all the characters have to be dark and brooding. Having one around to offer jokes or quips is refreshing. Even if the characters are going on a quest or facing evil, it's nice to see one of them still remains upbeat enough to joke about their situation. I hate reading about characters that are all dark and gloomy while being unable to be sarcastic or joke around even in the light-hearted times.

Found Family.

Having a character with terrible parents or other family members can be quite commonplace in books. A lot of people find it annoying and unrealistic but I don't mind it. This is because it then gives the main character the chance to find their own family in their friends or allies. Not all family ties have to be through blood, a lot of them can just be people that you meet throughout your life. I prefer seeing a found family than a caring and supportive blood related one.

Mementos of Dead Characters.

I am a sucker for this trope. A character that the main one really cares about dies so they keep something to remember them by. This is usually a piece of jewellery or something from their childhood. I think this trope is important as in a lot of books death usually lasts one chapter and is then mostly forgotten about until the hero faces off against the antagonist. By keeping something to remember the dead character by, it shows the reader that they care about that person and that they had a close relationship.

Hero and Villain Annoying Each Other.

I don't mean this in a 'fight to the death' sort of way. Instead I just like to read about the hero and the villain bickering over little things. Or if the villain captures the hero, the two of them annoy each other. For example, the villain treating their minions horribly but the hero treats them with kindness, which annoys the villain. Or the villain tries to showcase the captured hero to their friends but the hero looks bored and claims that the villain has a poor taste in traps.

Good Main Characters Who Turn Evil.

I have a book series revolving around this trope that I hope to write in the future. There is nothing more exciting than reading a book from the protagonist's view only to realise at the end of the book that they were the antagonist all along. I think it's a satisfying twist when done right, and can also set up more books revolving around that character. It's also fresh to see something from the villain's point of view.

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

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