How I Started Elemental Dragons

Hi all,

Last week I ran a poll on Twitter to see what you wanted to read next, and most people voted for a blog post on how I started Elemental Dragons. I hope you enjoy.

Although I've been writing since I was very young, as soon as my exams hit I didn't have the time to do much because of revising and homework. Unfortunately my writing went on the back burner until I had more time.

After finishing my AS Levels at seventeen, I decided to start writing again. The most I'd ever written for one project was 25,000 words, so I wasn't expecting to write a novel. I thought I would just write until I got bored of the story as I normally did. I had loads of unfinished stories on my laptop that I just couldn't bring myself to work on.

I'd written many short stories, but a novel seemed like too big a project for me.

Once I started writing however, I didn't stop.

I had a vague idea of the story, but I had no idea where it would end up. I was just making it up as I went along. Once I hit 15,000 words I realised I'd have to change my strategy.

So, I spent hours searching for the perfect character names and settings. Once I hit 45,000 words I started researching traditional publishing. I had a gut feeling that I was going to finish this story and I wanted to get it out there. I read so many blog posts on word counts, query letters, formatting and literary agents to make sure the book was publishable. I would write for an hour, and then research for an hour. I was so scared of doing something wrong that would make it so I could never be published. My anxiety was through the roof.

Three months later, I had written 89,000 words and finished the book. I never thought that I could do it.

It was untitled at the time, as I couldn't think of a fitting name for it. I left it for a month before I started editing it.

I spent ages reading editing tips and tricks to make sure I did it right. I managed to cut it down to 81,000 words.

But then exams came round again, and I couldn't focus on it anymore. A few months later I finished my exams and turned my attention back on my book once more.

I was still intent on getting it traditionally published, as I had very little knowledge on self publishing.

For two years I did nothing but edit the book again and again as I was scared of sending it out. I didn't want to get rejected.

When I hit twenty one, I decided to send it out to agents and publishing houses. I sent out eighty queries, and each one rejected me. It was a tough process, but I'm glad I went through it. There was always a niggle at the back of my mind that I should self publish, and I eventually followed that gut feeling.

I don't know where that gut feeling will take me, but I hope it was the right decision.

I want to get my story out there, and keeping all control over my work is what I want to do. I don't want to be given a cover I hate, or edits that don't fit with the characters.

I want to do this on my own, I did everything else on my own, and I want to make it my achievement. I don't want other people taking credit for all the hard work I put into Blood and Water.

That's the story of Elemental Dragons, see you next week!

Why Animal Characters Need Different Personalities

Hi all,

As promised, this week's blog post is going to talk about animal characters. I will be using excerpts of Blood and Water in this post, but it will be spoiler free and not mention the main story.

Like people, no two animals are alike. So, they need to have differing personalities and traits that make them stand out. I've read a lot of books with animal characters that fail to do this, so all the characters are just different versions of the same character. It's disappointing.

Animals are different too.

For example, my cats are very different to each other. 

Rocky is lazy, and loves nothing more than to snuggle up on the sofa. However, when he goes outside he gets very protective of me and will follow me around the street to make sure I'm okay.

Mishka on the other hand, is nuts. She doesn't think before she acts, which often means that she ends up banging into something or timing a jump incorrectly. She hates to be picked up and cuddled, but will happily play for hours before falling asleep.

Two different cats, two different personalities. You can easily show the difference between animals in writing, such as this piece from Blood and Water:

Normie, the cat, is brash and confident until threatened. Aqueous tried to warn him of the situation by pulling his tail, being the voice of reason to his friend. Unfortunately Normie was too confident and got scared by Sadie. This showcases both ways of thinking and how they interact with each other.

Another way to showcase their personalities is through how other characters talk about them and their actions. For example:

This shows that Cerberus is a playful character, as Rocky doesn't say this with any malice. Instead he shakes his head, as if he's used to her doing stuff like this all the time.

Making animal characters alike is boring, they need their separate personalities. You want the audience to connect with them like any other character. People don't want to read about three animals that are the same personality as each other. It's boring. Treat animal characters like human ones, make them likeable and unique to other characters in the book.

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

See you next week!

The Many Titles of Elemental Dragons

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about something I struggle with when it comes to writing: book titles.

I'm not very good at coming up with names for books. Most of the time the title I end up using is the third or fourth one I've come up with. When I started writing Blood and Water, it was nameless until the second edit.

First, let me start with the series name. Elemental Dragons is actually the fourth one I came up with. I had my reasons for switching the title around so much but I'm so glad I did.

Elementals.

I liked this one until I looked it up on Amazon and found it was already taken. I didn't want my work to be confused for someone else's so it was back to the drawing board.

Modern Elementals.

This one didn't stick for very long. I thought it would be too confusing as readers might think that this is a sequel series and try looking for the first.

Dragonian Elementals.

This one stuck for about a year. I wanted to let the reader know that there were dragons in my story, and I thought this was the best way. When I entered it into a competition, the judges loved my writing but said the name was too clunky. One suggested 'Dragons and Elementals', so I was inspired by this to call it Elemental Dragons instead.

Now, the books themselves. Although Blood and Water has had the most name changes, the others have been through quite a few as well.

Marine.

This was the original title for Blood and Water. It's named after a character in the books, but I thought it would be a bit confusing to name the entire book after someone who only appears a handful of times. I also wasn't sure how to name the others so they tied in with the title.

The Black Dragon.

This one is named after Aqueous, but it didn't quite fit so it only lasted a day or two. As with Marine, I couldn't come up with anything good to name the other books that matched it.

Avian.

This one stuck the longest, about eighteen months. It's named after one of the four species of dragon. The other three books would have been named Serpentine, Reptilian and Primordial after the other species.

Let Sleeping Dragons Lie.

I never liked this name. It didn't really fit, I just came up with so the book wouldn't be nameless. It has no ties to the story itself and is too long when combined with the series name. The second would have been called The Sleeping Dragon Awakens and the third would have been The Sleeping Dragon's War. The fourth wasn't named in this way. After a lot of thinking, I came up with Blood and Water for the first, as it tied in with Hazel's element and the fights in the book.

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed it. Next week I'm going to talk about animal characters and how to write them.

See you next week!

Blood and Water Cover Design

Hi all,

In case you missed my posts this week, the cover for Blood and Water is now ready and looks gorgeous!

It was designed by the lovely people at Deranged Doctor Design.

I thought I would share with you the reasoning behind the design:

- The red and blue colour scheme is for the theme of blood and water.

- Hazel, the protagonist, is on the cover.

- She is wearing modern clothes because the book is set in the modern day.

- The background of a field is a location in the book, where Hazel attends dragon training.

- As a water elemental, Hazel wields water on the cover.

- She's practicing a move that creates a shield of their element around the user.

- I prefer light colours for text as I think that makes the title pop more.

- The font is the first one I was shown and I loved it.

- I asked for my name to be at the top so it doesn't take away from the cover design.

- There aren't any dragons on the cover because I thought it would clog the background too much.

The other covers for the series will have similar elements of the above, though they will have different colour schemes and new locations. Each cover will feature Hazel as she is the main character in all of them. There won't be more than one character on the Elemental Dragons covers.

If you want to see what Deranged Doctor Design has to offer, you can visit their website here: derangeddoctordesign.com. I highly recommend them, they're very friendly and professional. I went for the Ebook Social package if anyone wants to know what package I went with.

Blood and Water will be out October 2019!

See you next week!

Writing Characters with Anxiety

Hi all,

This week I'm taking a break from blogging about Elemental Dragons to talk about writing characters with anxiety. As I suffer from anxiety and depression myself, I want to see these characters portrayed correctly so people who may be suffering can recognise the signs.

When I wrote Blood and Water I was seventeen and I had no diagnosis. So I thought it was normal to worry about everything and second guess your decisions so I wrote Hazel the same way. It was only when I entered an early version of Blood and Water in a contest two years later did I realise that this behaviour wasn't normal. The judges loved how I portrayed Hazel's anxiety, and how real it felt. It all clicked on my mind that I had unknowingly given my main character anxiety. 

So, I want to share with you all how to portray anxiety as realistically as possible.

Have them second guess every decision they make.

Anxiety will make your character worry about every decision they make. They are terrified of making the wrong one, even if they eventually make the right decision. If you are writing in first person, you can have them talk to themselves about the decisions they make. You can also use this as a way of the character trying to motivate themselves to make a certain decision.

There's a difference between being shy and being anxious.

Just because your character is shy and quiet it doesn't make them anxious. Although people who suffer from anxiety in some cases can be naturally quiet and shy, like me, it doesn't mean that it's a sure sign. Characters can be quiet and shy around others but loud and excitable around their friendship group or family. Quiet doesn't equal anxiety.

Trust.

With my anxiety, I find it hard to trust others. I'm extremely conscious of the fact that they could break that trust any second, as many people have in the past. Especially when it comes to working in groups. I constantly worry that people won't do their part and mess everything up. Not everyone with anxiety struggles with trust though.

Appetite.

Some people with anxiety find it hard to eat at certain times due to feeling too anxious. Despite being twenty two, I still can't eat before ten o'clock in the morning because I get so nauseous. Unfortunately years of schoolwork and exam stress have left me with a weak stomach in the mornings. When writing anxious characters with appetite problems, don't make it cliche. Some anxious people struggle to eat around a certain meal time, such as breakfast. Don't have them never eat due to being anxious because some people overeat to combat their anxiety.

Treatment by other characters.

Not everyone is understanding about anxiety. It's only when I entered the workplace did I start to get treated like anyone else despite my mental health. Although some characters can be sympathetic to anxious characters and offer help wherever they can, be mindful that some won't. The following is a list of reasons why other characters may not help characters with anxiety:

- Feeling like they're just seeking attention.

- Finding them weak.

- Trying to 'help' by being tough on them.

- Bullying them for being different. 

- Not knowing enough about mental health.

Try to create a diverse group of characters. Some who will help, and some who won't. 

Self conscious.

So many people with anxiety struggle with being self conscious. You feel like people are watching you no matter what you do, and it can be choking. Be mindful that in some situations your anxious character might struggle due to feeling self conscious about how they look or how they're doing something.

Panic attacks.

Not everyone with anxiety suffers from panic attacks. If you are unsure how to write a panic attack, don't. They can be really hard to get right as not all panic attacks are the same. Not everyone rocks back and forth in a panicked state. Some other types of panic attacks are:

- Hyperventilating.

- Cursing.

- Self harm.

- Angry outburst.

- Violence.

- Running away.

Use either one or a mix of panic attack types to make them realistic.

Example of Hazel's anxiety in Blood and Water

This list is by no means the complete spectrum of anxiety, I just picked a few that I think are most important when writing anxiety. I hope this helps anyone who is considering writing a character with mental health issues.

Let me know if you enjoyed, and if you want me to do a 'part two' of sorts about characters with depression.

See you next week!

How I Named the Dragons in Elemental Dragons

Hi all!

This week I thought I'd tell you how I came up with the names of the dragon characters in Elemental Dragons. As with human characters, I find it hard to come up with names. I've spent ages trawling through sites to find the best names sometimes! So, I'm going to tell you the meaning behind each name.

Aqueous.

Aqueous is the dragon of the protagonist, Hazel. I wanted to name him after her element, water, but struggled to find a name that stuck. He's gone from Ocean to Tsunami and even Stormclaw. I eventually decided on Aqueous as it's quite unusual but still fits with the water element.

Drea.

Drea is Marco's dragon, one of Hazel's friends. I came up with her name because I liked the name Rhea but it didn't quite fit her. So I swapped the first two letters and she ended up as Drea.

Asteroid.

Asteroid is Wes' dragon, an ally of Ray's but also a friend to Hazel. She is a brown dragon with orange feet so I originally came up with the name Comet as it looks like her feet are on fire. I changed it to Asteroid as I thought it was a better fit.

Cerberus.

Cerberus is Rocky's dragon, Hazel's brother. As a dragon with the element electricity I found it quite difficult to name her. I originally wanted to name her something to do with lightning. I love Greek mythology and I like the idea of Cerberus being a huge pushover when guarding the gates of Hell so I named her after the three-headed dog as she has the most playful personality.

Damayanti.

Damayanti is Braith's dragon, one of Hazel's friends. Her name is my favourite out of all of them. I was looking for names that meant 'beautiful' and came across the story of Damayanti online. She's a character in a love story in the book of Naishadha Charita. The name fitted her perfectly.

Winter.

Winter is Ray's dragon, the antagonist and leader of the Cindaraans. Her blue and white scales reminded me of winter colours, so I named her after the season.

Eruption.

Eruption is Mr Reedman's dragon, a secondary antagonist. Mr Reedman has an explosive temper so I thought his dragon's name should reflect that.

Exquisite.

Exquisite is Sadie's dragon, a bully. As a premier, Sadie believes that she is entitled to whatever she wants. As she's quite stuck up I thought she would give her dragon a pretentious name to show off. Her mother's dragon is called Divine, so she is also following in her mother's footsteps with unusual names.

Fortune.

Fortune is Mason's dragon, Marco's twin brother and Sadie's boyfriend. In the first book Mason is like Sadie, stuck up and a bit of a bully. But over the series he mellows out a bit. To reflect his younger personality I believed that he would give his dragon a pretentious name that he would regret when he was older.

Utopia.

Utopia is Violet's dragon, one of Hazel's newest friends. Violet is very shy but she has many ideas of how she wants to change the world so she named her dragon after the utopia that she wants to build in the future.

That's it for this week! Let me know if you enjoyed this one and I'll do another post on how I named the human characters. 

See you next week!

Blood and Water Chapter One Preview

Hi all!

This week I thought I'd share with you a snippet of chapter one of Blood and Water! I hope you enjoy!

Dragons may have been the first to rule the world, but humans have ruled better. 

The large, terrifying lizards plagued the Earth with their constant territorial fights. Like most things in nature, they were responsible for their own downfall. 

I carefully close the old book in my hands.. The cover is faded and worn, and the pages yellow from age, but I don’t care. It is the handbook for my next step in life. The chance to be more than just a regular girl. The chance to see my brother again. 

Ignoring the roar of the train around me, I flip to my favourite chapter, identified by a folded corner and a faded blue ribbon. This chapter is full of colourful pictures of dragons and people working together. Some of them build houses; others help with shopping. My favourite picture is of a silver dragon soaring through the skies, a middle-aged woman wearing a leather jacket confidently clutching its neck. I hope that my future dragon will be faithful to me, though I know that’s a stupid thing to worry about. As long as I treat my companion well, it will be loyal. 

Closing the old book carefully as the train shoots around a bend, I glance out of the window, watching nature zoom by. Gnarled trees and pastel flowers dot the landscape. I even catch sight of a fluffy brown rabbit rushing into the undergrowth. The outside world is hidden to us as children. We are hardly ever told what happens out there or what it's like. They don't tell us so that we won't become curious, but it has the opposite effect. At nineteen we leave our town and are released into the wide world, a thought that terrifies me. There's no way of knowing what's on the other side. At fifteen, I only have four years left until I find out. 

“Hey, look! I can see the camps on the horizon!” 

Someone at the back of the train jumps out of their seat and excitedly taps a window. “Look! One of the Years is practising dragon flying!” 

Everyone oohs and aahs at the sight of a royal-blue dragon soaring through the air, its large wings slicing through low clouds. Its companion grips tightly on the reins, almost as if they are scared but trust the dragon's judgement. The dragon is about eight foot tall, its scales covered in emerald-green squiggles, almost like patches of ivy weaving up a tree trunk.

It's probably one of the older Years. Dragons don't finish growing until Year Three.” 

I'm nervous. 

I’m going to a new area, with new people, new school lessons and I'm going to see my brother for the first time in a year. I'm moving to Aria, one of the best towns in the country. While in a Primary Town you can't visit the people in a Secondary Town, and vice versa. The adults say it’s so we don’t hurt people if we discover our element early, but I doubt that. I've missed my brother, and my friends too – Marco and Maya the most. It's been hard not having them around every day. But now that I'm moving to a Secondary Town I can see them again and hang around with them. 

Hopefully. 

That's it for this week! Next Sunday I'm going to write about what element I would like to have if I was born in the Elemental Dragons universe.

The Pros and Cons of Writing Your Own Blurb

Hi all!

As promised, this week I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of writing your own blurb. At the end I've also included the blurb for Blood and Water which I will add to my books page, along with promotional artwork I commissioned for the book.

Pros:

No-one knows your story better than you do.

No matter what, no-one can explain your story better than you. You have all the inside details and spoilers, you know what's going to happen. That's an advantage when writing blurbs.

It costs nothing.

Writing your own blurb is free because you have written it yourself. Perfect for authors on a budget.

You can choose what keywords to include.

This is a good thing as if you publish on Amazon you need certain keywords to appear in certain categories. This, in turn, will lead to more sales.

You can choose what to include.

You can leave out certain unimportant characters and plot points that are unnecessary in a blurb.

Cons:

You will forever be editing it.

As writers, we want to make sure our work is perfect. The blurb is the first thing a reader sees after the cover, and you want to make it count.

Compressing your book into a few paragraphs is daunting.

Crafting a synopsis is bad enough. A blurb is even shorter, you might struggle to fit everything in there.

You may not know how to draw readers in.

Using the correct keywords and terms to get readers in the first place is hard. Hiring someone who already knows how to navigate this will make it easier.

It's stressful.

Publishing a book on your own is hard. If you can make your life a little easier by getting someone else to do it for you, then do so. There's no shame in it whatsoever. You've already written a book which is an achievement in itself!

I have added the blurb for Blood and Water below. I hired someone to do it for me as I didn't think I could craft one that's good enough. I'm glad I didn't do it myself as I'm very happy with the final result:

Being an elemental is hard.

Just ask Hazel Adams who at fifteen finds herself being sent off for the next step in her training where she will receive her dragon egg. But, the camp harbours many dangers in disguise, she will soon find out that not all dragons are born equal.

Soon Hazel, along with her new family and friends, will have to learn to navigate the shifting political alliances and social castes that come along with being an elemental. But, among the political turmoil an even greater danger lurks. One that hasn’t been seen in centuries.

Will Hazel be able to raise her dragon and prove that it’s more than meets the eye or will she be defeated by the dark forces working against her?

Find out in Blood and Water, the first book in a new YA fantasy series that is sure to keep you glued to every page.

Check out my books page to see the promotional artwork for Blood and Water! The cover will follow over the next few months.

I am also excited to announce that I am planning on publishing Blood and Water in October 2019 (as long as everything goes to plan). See you next week!

Listening to Music While Writing

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of listening to music while writing. I've seen a lot of authors ask on Twitter about whether listening to music helps others write.

Pros:

It can help you concentrate.

Some authors need some background noise while they're writing, as it can help them concentrate. Instrumental or video game music is especially good for concentration as it isn't too overpowering.

It can help with fight scenes.

I know I'm not the only one who imagines cool fight scenes while listening to music. Certain songs could help you envision how the characters move and react.

Creating a soundtrack can engage readers.

If you create a soundtrack for your book and tell your readers, they will feel more engaged with you. You are sharing a part of your writing routine that may help them feel closer to you and your book.

It will help with editing.

Editing is boring enough already. Having some background noise will improve your concentration and you might edit for longer than usual.

Cons:

It can be distracting.

Depending on what you listen to, you can get distracted easily. 

You'll spend ages looking for the perfect songs.

Any time spent doing this means that you'll spend less time writing. Even creating a list before you start has taken precious writing time away.

You might accidentally write song lyrics down.

When editing, you might find a sentence that randomly contains a song lyric. Listening to music will make it harder for your brain to focus on your ideas.

Coming up with ideas may be harder.

It can be hard to come with new ideas with someone singing in your ear, so you might find yourself turning the music off so you can think.

Personally I need silence in order to write. I've tried listening to music in the past but I always end up writing less than I wanted.

The biggest problem that I had when listening to music while writing is that I daydream too much. Although music can help some writers, it didn't help with me. Make sure you give yourself time to discover if it's right for you. Don't give up after one song because you haven't written anything good.

That's it for this week! Next Sunday I'm going to write about the pros and cons of writing your own blurb versus getting someone else to do it for you.

Adverbially Challenged Volume Four

Hi all!

If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed me tweeting and retweeting about an anthology I contributed to: Adverbially Challenged Volume Four.

The anthology contains one hundred flash fiction stories from one hundred authors. This has been put together by Christopher Fielden, who runs many writing challenges on his website that offer authors the chance to see their work in publication. Once he has received one hundred stories in a challenge, he puts them together in an anthology. Each anthology supports a charity, in the case of this one, First Story.

If you would like to find out more about Christopher Fielden and his writing challenges, I have linked his website: 

https://www.christopherfielden.com

If you want something new to read and also want to support charity at the same time, I have linked the book below (it's available in ebook and paperback):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adverbially-Challenged-4-Christopher-Fielden/dp/1796910031/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=christfielde-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=6dd0e4f7975de853588c16156403b0d5&creativeASIN=1796910031

To find out more about First Story and the work they do, I have linked their website:

https://www.firststory.org.uk/about-us/

The cover and blurb of Adverbially Challenged Volume Four

The story that I wrote for the anthology is called Mother Cat, and it is based off of Mishka's Mum, Mallie. I always thought she looked exhausted with four rambunctious kittens so whenever my boyfriend and I visited Mishka we would try to distract the kittens for a bit so poor Mallie could get some rest.

It also didn't help that the kitten's aunt, Millie, would also bug Mallie for hours on end. Once all the kittens were adopted her owner got Mallie spayed so she wouldn't have any more litters. I just hope now she's enjoying the rest of her kitten-free days in peace.

Mallie with her kittens: Mishka, Poppy, Mabel and Chip

That's it for this week! I hope you will check out the writing challenges, anthology and First Story. It's a brilliant way to support charity and also add to your writing portfolio.