The Elements of Elemental Dragons

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about the elemental powers in the Elemental Dragons series.

Each character has one or two of these elements, though being born with two is rare. For their training, they are separated into groups with others of their element. For those with two, they pick one as their primary element and mostly train with that one. There are eight elements:

Water

Water Elementals can use their power to manipulate water, create it, and swim underwater using air bubbles. They are also unaffected by rain as they can stay dry, and in their advanced training they'll be able to detect when it will rain and how to manipulate clouds.

Strengths: Earth, Fire.

Weaknesses: Electricity, Light

Markings: Tiny swirls surrounded by dots in random patterns.

Colour: Royal blue.

Fire

Fire Elementals can use their power to create fire, manipulate it and walk through it unscathed. Their lungs are different from other Elementals, as they can breathe in smoke and ash with no problems. When the weather is hot they don't feel it and also lack the capacity to sweat.

Strengths: Wind, Ice

Weaknesses: Water, Earth

Markings: Fireballs surrounded by dots in a tight circle pattern.

Colour: Orange.

Earth

Earth Elementals can create rocks and ivy, manipulate plants and breathe life into dead plants. They are natural climbers, and thrive better on a purely vegetarian diet, though not all Earth Elementals are vegetarian. Forests are their favourite places, as they love to hear the wind whip through the leaves.

Strengths: Fire, Light

Weaknesses: Water, Wind

Markings: Ivy-like tendrils surrounded by dots that resemble leaves.

Colour: Emerald green.

Wind

Wind Elementals use their power to create wind and manipulate it. They are unaffected by powerful gusts and in their advanced training they can learn to float a few inches off the ground. The most powerful move they can learn creates tornadoes, but due to how dangerous this is very few are granted permission to learn it.

Strengths: Earth, Electricity

Weaknesses: Fire, Dark

Markings: Cloud-like wisps surrounded by dots in a swirl pattern.

Colour: Grey.

Electricity

Electric Elementals can create and manipulate electricity. They can survive longer without food as long as they have a source of electricity close by, which they can use for energy. Electronics running out of charge is never a problem for them, as they can quickly charge it with their power. They are also natural lightning rods, so other Elementals give them a wide berth during thunderstorms.

Strengths: Water, Dark

Weaknesses: Wind, Ice

Markings: Lightning bolts surrounded by dots in a tight lightning bolt formation.

Colour: Pale yellow.

Ice

Ice Elementals create and manipulate ice and sometimes snow. Cold temperatures are not a problem for them, and their feet never sink in the snow. Advanced Ice Elementals will be able to detect when it will snow, and how to manipulate clouds.

Strengths: Light, Electricity

Weaknesses: Fire, Dark

Markings: Complex snowflakes surrounded by dots in a random pattern.

Colour: Electric blue.

Light

Light Elementals can create and manipulate light. They are natural light sources, in some instances they have been known to glow in the dark. Bright lights don't bother them, and they are the only Elemental that doesn't get sunburnt.

Strengths: Water, Dark

Weaknesses: Earth, Ice

Markings: Tight vertical lines that spread out further from the source surrounded by dots in a random pattern.

Colour: Pale pink.

Dark

Dark Elementals can create and manipulate darkness and shadows. They can dissolve into shadows and travel through them. When advanced enough, they can even bring non-Dark Elementals with them. Their eyes are naturally adjusted to dark places and they don't need as much sleep as other Elementals.

Strengths: Wind, Ice

Weaknesses: Electricity, Light

Markings: Small splotches surrounded by dots in a circle pattern.

Colour: Dark purple.

Only dragons get the colourful markings, which can decorate their scales in a variety of places. The most common places to get markings is on the feet, chest or back. Those with two elements do not get overlapping markings, instead one element will appear on one part of the body while the other appears elsewhere. The only exception for this is the face, which can have different markings on each side.

That's it for this week! If you would like to preorder Blood and Water please visit my 'Books' page for the Amazon links.

See you next week!

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Blood and Water Preorder Live

Hi all!

You may have already seen my posts yesterday, but if you haven't - Blood and Water is available for preorder!

I can reveal that the publication date will be October 15th 2019 for both ebook and paperback.

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If you would like to preorder the ebook version I have linked the UK and US Amazon sites below, but it is available worldwide if you don't live in either of these places:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VY4QZQS/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=Elemental+dragons+blood+and+water&qid=1564849975&s=gateway&sr=8-4

US - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VY4QZQS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=elemental+dragons+blood+and+water&qid=1564849744&s=gateway&sr=8-1

In the meantime if you want a taste of my writing and the Elemental Dragons universe, sign up to my mailing list to receive a free ebook. It contains four stories from the series that tie into the books, three of which have never been published anywhere else!

https://www.subscribepage.com/jessicaturnbull

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Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, I couldn't have done this without you!

See you next week!

Why I Didn't Use a Pen Name

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about why I didn't use a pen name instead of my real name for my books. For those who don't know, a pen name is a pseudonym for an author to write under instead of using their real name. There's a variety of reasons why authors choose pen names, but that's not what this blog post is about.

As I've written about in the past, I do suffer from depression and anxiety and have done so for many years. Although I'm much better now, I spent years in the dark with regards to my mental health as not many people listened. I only got diagnosed three years ago, after going to three separate doctors at three separate surgeries.

I was so tempted to use a pen name because I thought that the people who I went to school with wouldn't be able to find me. I wanted to hide from them, in case they decided to go after me again and everyone sided with them. Many of my 'friends' ignored how I was feeling, and thought I was just making it up for attention. I was worried that they would find my books and slam me online if I used my real name. I thought they would just tell people that I'm lying and they would be instantly believed.

I didn't want my career dragged through the mud.

I didn't want those people dragging me back to my darkest days.

However, once I started taking medication my mindset changed. I didn't want to hide from those people anymore.

I wanted them to find me.

I wanted them to see that despite everything I've still kept going and I haven't succumbed to their idea of me - a quiet girl doing absolutely nothing with her life.

I want them to see that despite mentally being destroyed for years, I'm still pursuing my dreams. I don't care if they find me now. I don't care if they find my books and hate them.

I beat them.

I beat their preconceived idea of me.

Now that my anxiety has lessened, I now realise that it was silly to think that everyone would side with them. Many people I've met on Twitter have been extremely supportive of me, and I doubt one nasty person slamming me online would sway them so easily.

Many authors use pen names for a variety of reasons, but I realised that a pen name won't protect me from these people. It was the wrong reason to use a pen name, to hide from people I hadn't seen for years.

So, I am using my real name.

If people want to use a pen name to hide their identity - so be it. I'm just glad that they're getting their work out there. It's just that using one wasn't for me.

Some of these people have found my Facebook or Twitter pages I'm sure, but I'm not bothered. It means they can see what I've become now - a strong woman rather than the timid little girl they still envision me as.

That's it for this week, hope you enjoyed the post! A little update on Blood and Water - it will be available for preorder over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out!

Elemental Dragons Artist Showcase

Hi all!

This week I thought I'd do something a little different. There have been so many people involved in bringing Elemental Dragons to life, and I want to dedicate a blog post to them. This week I'm going to showcase the artists that have been involved in Elemental Dragons. From posters, illustrations to book covers.

First off, I'm going to start with Deranged Doctor Design.

They designed the ebook and print covers for Blood and Water, which look gorgeous. They also designed the banners for my website, Facebook page and Twitter page. They are always so helpful and seem to know exactly what I want! That's why I have booked all the covers for Elemental Dragons with them. If you want to check them out, I have linked their website below:

http://www.derangeddoctordesign.com

Blood and Water Ebook cover

Blood and Water Ebook cover

The rest of the artists I discovered when I signed up to Fiverr. Their art is gorgeous and affordable, so if budget is a problem I would recommend going there for book covers, illustrations or promotional work.

The first Fiverr artist I want to showcase is stevcelazarevsk. They created the picture of Aqueous which I will be using for promotion. They're really talented, and I would highly recommend checking them out below:

https://www.fiverr.com/stevcelazarevsk

Aqueous, which I will use when promoting Blood and Water

Aqueous, which I will use when promoting Blood and Water

Another Fiverr artist that I commissioned is Autumn9th, who created the illustrations inside the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection. (Which you get for free when you sign up to my mailing list!) They knew exactly what I wanted and always delivered on time. You can check them out here:

https://www.fiverr.com/autumn9th?source=Order+page+seller+link

One of the four illustrations in the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection

One of the four illustrations in the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection

The last artist is shashika2, who made the cover for the Short Story Collection. I wasn't totally sure what I wanted and gave them the option of doing whatever they thought was best. I was very surprised at the end result as I loved it and it was better than I'd imagined. You can see their work below:

https://www.fiverr.com/shashika2?source=Order+page+seller+link

The cover for the Short Story Collection

The cover for the Short Story Collection

That's it for this week! One day I'll do a showcase for everyone else who has helped with Elemental Dragons, which includes: my editor, blurb writer and poster designer.

See you next week!

Mailing List Live

Hi all!

If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you may have seen me posting about my mailing list.

A mailing list is a list of email addresses that readers let authors have in exchange for a newsletter, free book etc. In this case, I will use my mailing list to send out a monthly newsletter which will contain the following:

- Pre-order dates.

- Release dates.

- Cover reveals.

- Book recommendation of the month (both traditionally published and self published books).

- Blog posts from the past month.

- Writing excerpts.

- Facts from the Elemental Dragons universe.

- Monthly news.

- Giveaways and contests.

- Announcements.

In return for signing up, you will receive a free ebook! The ebook contains four stories from the Elemental Dragons universe.

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They are:

- Circles: Russet dreams of being free but is trapped in reality.

- Hesitation: Hercules finds an opportunity to escape the humans who have tortured it for decades, but the world outside has changed.

- Passion: Ophelia desperately tries to find inspiration amongst the grime of the city.

- Purpose: Moon takes in four younglings for his own amusement, but he finds himself getting attached to them.

If you would like to sign up, please click the link below and keep an eye on your emails for your free ebook:

https://www.subscribepage.com/jessicaturnbull

See you next week!

Pros and Cons of Facebook Pages

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of Facebook pages. A Facebook page is a business page you can create on Facebook that fans can follow to see your posts. Many authors have Facebook pages for themselves, their books or both.

I currently just have a Facebook page for myself, which you can follow here:

https://m.facebook.com/jessicaturnbullauthor/?ref=bbookmarks

Pros

It's another platform to communicate with readers.

Millions of people use Facebook daily, which is a big potential audience for you. By tapping into this audience, people may discover you that wouldn't have done so otherwise.

You can create Facebook ads.

Having a business page means that you can create ads on Facebook to advertise your page, website or books. You can pick what audience you want to target and what budget you're comfortable with. This means more people can discover your book.

You don't have to post as often.

On many social media pages you have to make sure you post daily to keep your audience interested. However, on Facebook most only make one or two posts a week and will manage to keep interest. I only post on mine once a week, twice if I have any announcements. This makes managing the page much easier.

Image and video posts do better.

I have found that posts with an image attached get more engagement than just a regular status update. This can allow you to be creative with your posts and take pictures of your writing routine, excerpts or stationery.

You can choose to make a separate page for book series.

This is good if people are a huge fan of one particular series of yours. You can then manage this page and connect with fans before an unofficial fan page pops up.

Cons

It's harder for people to find you.

Unlike Twitter where you can connect with others via hashtags and games, Facebook isn't really like that. Many people won't stumble on your page without advertising.

Too many pages.

If you have, or are planning to write, several different series then the amount of Facebook pages can get out of control. At first I created an Elemental Dragons page, but I deleted that when I realised that I would have to do that for every book series and run them all. I've currently got three other series planned as well, which means that plus my author Facebook page I would have to run five pages. I decided that it wasn't worth the hassle and have decided to stick to just my author page, which saves a lot of time.

Ads might not do as well as you'd hoped.

You have to do a lot of testing to find the perfect ad that draws people in, which can cost a lot of money you don't have. When you post that perfect ad, you may be disappointed that it didn't do as well as you'd hoped.

People are more likely to miss your posts.

With the way Facebook is set up, you can easily miss posts from pages you are following. Although people can pin your page so that your posts are the first they see, most people won't do that as they want to see other posts first.

Unofficial fan pages.

Although a fan creating a page for your book can be flattering, you have no say in what they post. If they post things that you don't agree with, people might think that it's your view and they won't be interested in your books anymore.

I hope you enjoyed this week's post, see you next week!

Why Authors Need to Promote Their Books

Hi all,

As promised, this week I'm going to talk about book promotion. Specifically why authors, both traditionally and self published, need to promote their work.

For those who don't know, book promotion is essentially advertising your book. There are many ways to promote your book:

- Social media.

- Facebook ads.

- Amazon ads.

- Posters.

- Social media banners.

- Book trailers.

- Interviews.

- Newsletter.

- Mailing list.

- Author website.

- Articles.

- Book Awards.

- Q&A.

- Promotion sites.

- Giveaways.

- Book signing.

- Book tour.

- Contests.

- Discounts.

- Reviews.

- Book bloggers.

Some of these are free, but most of them cost money. What's important is that you find what works for you, instead of dumping hundreds on a marketing strategy that doesn't deliver.

Now, onto why authors need to promote their books.

While traditionally published authors do get some help from their publisher, they still need to promote themselves. The publisher won't do everything, it's up to you to make posts on your social media and update your website.

Readers will find your work.

Without promoting your book, how will readers know it exists? You can't expect them to magically find you. With thousands of books being published every year, you need to make sure that they find yours.

Reviews.

The more reviews you get, the easier it is for readers to find you. A good mix of reviews will interest readers in buying your book, as people have rated it before. Plus, many promotion sites won't promote you unless you have a certain number of reviews.

You can't just rely on word of mouth.

This only goes so far, plus you need to find people to talk about your book first. Once you start getting more readers, you can rely on word of mouth a bit more.

You'll build an audience.

If you build an audience that like your work, they are more likely to buy your next book. You can't just rely on your family and friends for book sales.

You can be creative.

It's your brand, so you can market how you like. You can pick how you want to promote your book and target your audience.

You don't need to spend loads of money.

Although marketing can be expensive when you create ads, they aren't the only way to market your book. Posting on your website and social media doesn't cost a penny, and using promotional sites doesn't have to cost much. If your budget is low, choose wisely what marketing options to choose.

Self publishers need to.

If you don't promote your work when you're self published, no-one will find it. You'll miss out on so many potential readers by not marketing your book.

You don't have to do it alone.

This is especially true with social media, as your fans can post about your book and share your posts. Every like, comment, post and share helps.

Next week I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of authors having a Facebook page. Hope you enjoyed, see you next week!

Sensorially Challenged Volume Two

Hi all,

In March I wrote a blog post about Adverbially Challenged Volume Four, an anthology I had written a short story for. This week I'm going to talk about Sensorially Challenged Volume Two, another anthology I'm included in.

The anthology has been published by Christopher Fielden, who hosts writing challenges on his website. You submit your themed story to one of the challenges and it is guaranteed to make it into the book. Once a challenge has received one hundred stories, he publishes them in print and ebook. I'm so grateful to be included in two of his anthologies, it truly is a wonderful feeling to see your work published!

The cover and blurb for Sensorially Challenged Volume Two

The cover and blurb for Sensorially Challenged Volume Two

To visit his website and check out his writing challenges, books and competitions, please click the link below:

https://www.christopherfielden.com

I highly recommend buying the anthology, it's a great read. If you wish to buy a copy, please click the link below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sensorially-Challenged-2-Christopher-Fielden-ebook/dp/B07SB1FK92/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=christfielde-21&linkCode=w00&linkId=64ea5d30124998ce95f6342ac9fcc37f&creativeASIN=B07SB1FK92

One of the best parts about the anthology is that a portion of the proceeds from each book goes to charity, in this case: National Literacy Trust.

To visit their website and check out the wonderful work they do, click here:

https://literacytrust.org.uk

Unlike my last story which was about cats, this one was about a fox. Foxes are one of my favourite animals (I bet you can guess what my number one favourite animal is) and I've always wanted to write a story about one. This anthology is themed around senses, so I've tried to include as many as possible from the point of view of the fox.

Foxes are such sweet animals, and it was an easy choice to write a short piece about one. I thought about making the fox a Kitsune, but changed that idea at the last minute.

I hope you enjoyed this week's post. Next week I'm going to talk about why authors, traditionally published and self published, need to promote their books.

See you next week!

Why I Chose to Write About Dragons

Hi all!

Before I begin this week's blog post I want to highlight an article by Bryan Collings, who got in touch after reading my blog post on writer's block. Feel free to check it out below, it's very in depth and includes thirty six ways to get through writer's block:

https://becomeawritertoday.com/writers-block/

This week I'm going to talk about dragons. I've loved dragons since I was little, but it never occurred to me to write about them until I was seventeen. Before then I mostly wrote about cats, especially my own, Rocky.

One day I decided to go on Amazon and have a look at books that contained dragons. I wanted something different to read and always found dragons cool.

There wasn't much.

Most of the ones that popped up were picture books, and I was very disappointed. So I went online and had a look around. I came across several posts on forums from readers frustrated that dragons weren't written about that often. If they were, they were the villain or the mentor.

Because there wasn't anything that I could find, I thought I'd write my own.

I didn't want my dragons to be the huge treasure hoarders that are usually portrayed, so I decided to spice it up a bit. I loved the dragons in How To Train Your Dragon, as they each had their own personality. I wanted my dragons to act like overgrown pets, a mix between cats and dogs. 

The dragons in Elemental Dragons are all different, but act like family pets. They play like kittens, stick their tongues out like dogs and silently judge you like a cat does. They are also able to communicate with feline and canine creatures as they share the same language, but each animal species has different mannerisms when speaking. They are only able to communicate with humans through growls and barks however, as I decided against having them speak. I thought it would be too weird.

The series also has several types of dragon, four species that show up in the universe. They are:

Primordial.

This species is extinct in the books, but they have had a large impact on the dragon raising culture and the characters do learn about them as time goes on. There are three sub-species in this category: Anthropomorphic, Draconic Hybrid and Hydra.

Avian.

The most common species of the Elemental Dragons universe. This type is also the only type where the teenagers can form a 'bond'. There are four sub-species: Amphiptere, Drake, Fairy and Western. The Western dragons are the ones that are usually bonded with, and most of the dragon characters in the books are Western.

Aqueous, a Western dragon - Artist

Aqueous, a Western dragon - Artist

Reptilian.

This species is the rarest, as they are most likely to be hunted by the other species for food and hunted by humans for their horns. There are three sub-species in this category as well: Eastern, Ouroboros and Wyvern.

Serpentine.

These dragons are parasitic in nature, and tend to live off the Primordial dragons. Most of these species are also extinct in this universe, as they largely died off when the Primordial dragons went extinct. There are four sub-species: Great Serpent, Lindworm, Sea Serpent and Wyrm.

Most of these dragons are rarely shown in books and film, so I researched many dragon types and categorised them into species. All of them will be at least mentioned across the series, with some having major roles in the plot. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into any more detail.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed learning about the dragons in Elemental Dragons and why I write about them.

See you next week!

Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

Hi all,

As promised, this week I'm going to discuss ways you can get through writer's block. Every writer gets writer's block, it's an unfortunate reality of writing. There's nothing wrong with dealing with it, it could take months to come out of. Below are a few ideas that have helped me when I've hit writer's block.

Take a break.

Sometimes writing every day can cause burn out and you can hit a block with your writing. Take a few days off to relax and come back to your project with fresh eyes.

Work on another project.

Writing, editing or planning another project can help overcome writer's block. It means you can continue writing while taking some time away from your current project.

Read.

Take some time away from your project and read books in your genre. Not only will it help you relax, but holding an author's book in your hands could inspire you to keep going.

Edit your current project.

If you hit a wall with your project, go over what you've already written and give it a quick edit. It could help you move the story forward.

Free Write.

Choose a random prompt and write about what your characters would do in that situation. For example, Character A drags Character B into going hiking, but forgets to bring a map. This way you'll still be writing about those characters in a different scenario that could get your creative juices flowing.

Change your environment.

If you usually write at home, try going to a coffee shop and write. Sometimes a change in environment can inspire you.

Plot ahead.

Jump ahead in your project and plot what happens next, then keep going until you get to the ending. Work out how you can make it from where you are now to the end point.

Listen to music.

Listening to music is quite good for inspiration, as I can usually imagine scenes based on what music I listen to. If you're stuck on a fight scene, try listening to fast paced music. Love songs for romance scenes, etc.

Play with your pets.

This works for me quite often, as Rocky and Mishka are always happy to get some attention. Taking time away and thinking of something other than writing can make you feel better about your work and return to writing.

Next week I'm going to talk about why I chose dragons over any other mythological creature for my book series. 

See you next week!