Gabriella Slade's Blog: The JOY of Writing, page 12

Fifteen Days and Counting!

Starting on April 17, 2015, My dear sister Margaret and I grabbed an armful of books, notes, papers and journals and headed onto the cool deck.    Spreading out all of our work, we wrote a single sentence–The forest was dark and murky; it was surrounded by nothing but trees…

That was over 10 months ago.  It was a start for a novel which would change the lives of Margaret and I.  We both started by just experimenting with writing a book about someone who could control time.  We wanted to see what it would be like to write a story together–combining our minds to imagine the unthinkable.  Little did we know at the time, that we would end up with a 30000 novel with a plan to publish it.  But that’s what happened.  We finished the book in late July, not knowing where to go next.  We were quite aware that the book would need some MAJOR edits, so I set to work typing it up on the computer.  It wasn’t until September–almost 6 months after writing the first line in our book, that we made the decision to publish.  We set the day for launch to be February 17,  2016, and began to hurry in finishing the editing.  We came up with a cover and handed off samples to people in order to get some other thoughts on it. Now, it was just yesterday–February 1st that I gasped “Sixteen More Days!!!!”  I am truly happy to be finished with The Twilight Terror–though it was a treasure to write.  I have even already gathered some excitement for it’s launch.  Just on January 27th that I got an email that read:

Hi I just saw your video on your blog! It looks so great! I have to read it ahhhhh! I have to get the twilight terror!!!!!!  I found a preview of it I forgot where but I read a preview and I LOVED IT!!! I can’t wait to read the twilight terror I just can’t wait! Ahhhh!! 

It makes me smile to see such happiness.  I also read on September 26, from my editor, who had just finished a sample of the book:

 Your writing skill is much better than most young authors, and believe me-that’s a high complement from me! Your flow and organization are the best part, and some people find those things to be the hardest part sometimes, so excellent start! You used a lot of descriptive words which I also LOVE! The plot seems great so far and the story drew me in, though…hmm….I love your use of similes and the frequency you use them at all!

So…Fifteen Days!  Fifteen days left!  We are to finally launch what people have been waiting for.  To get you an idea on what’s going to be going on during these two weeks, I will read you some of my book Launch plan:

Guest Posts–Christinslade.com, Lovejoycraft.com, jeremiahslade.com, benjaminelysha.wordpress.com,
Goodreads–Gain 20 reviews by July 31, 2016

Unfortunately, I can’t give away any more–lest I spoil my secret plans.  But that’s all part of the excitement of a book Launch! So stay tuned–and keep your eyes out for more fun during our book Launch of The Twilight Terror!

My Goals And How Readers can Help Me Achieve Them

As many of you probably know, The Twilight Terror is coming closer to being released.  My sister and I are very happy to see the excitement building about it’s release.  I recently sent out an email recent to many of my colleagues and friends that read:

Hi.This is Gabriella Slade.

 Have you heard the news?  February 17, 2016 is the day that Gabriella and Margaret’s Novel, The Twilight Terror is launched. All of you have either read my book, are simply close friends and supporters, and/or work with me.  To get to the point, I would love your support in our launch.  This novel took my sister and I over 10 months to write, revise, edit and format so that we could publish for fans of fantasy all around.  If you want to know how to support me, here is how:

1. Buy my books.  Jethomia is still out there. Read it, and please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
2 Subscribe to gabriellaslade.com.  Yes.  Go to my site, click a blog post and scroll down to the end of the post.  In the left sidebar, is the signup form to recive news in your email.  All I need is your first name and email. That’s it.
3. Follow me on Goodreads.  If you are on Goodreads, Please Follow me!
4.  Please spread the book with friends, or on social networks.
5 Email me if you want to do an interview with me on your blog or if you want me to do a guest post.  I currently have open slots.
Thanks!
So I want you–my readers to know that YOU can help too! By doing any of the above, you are supporting My launch.  Today, I want to share with you, some of my many goals. I think it’s kind of hard to achieve goals if your readers aren’t aware that you’re trying to do something.  So here are the goals:

Gain 100 Subscribers
Write 2-3 posts a week
Send $100 To Mr. Elvis’ Orphanage
Sell at least 100 books and gain loyal readers
write a free ebook for subscribers
Learn how to build a platform without social media

Now that you know what I want to do this year, let me tell you how you can help me achieve these goals:

Subscribe (I can’t clarify this enough.  Bottom of the left sidebar is the form to subscribe to my blog.)
Buy My books (Each one counts.  As I said before, I want to sell 100 books and gain loyal readers.  1 buyer does help! Also the money will help me give the $100 for the orphanage)
Read My Blog and Tell Others about it (I Would love if you would read what I write for you!)
Share my Book and Blog (When you tell others, they can also learn and read my books!)
Follow Me on Goodreads. (I’d Like to get from 2 followers to maybe 25-50)
Blog about my books/interview me (I am open)

Thanks for taking the time.  All the help you give me to having a successful launch!

What are YOUR Goals? Share the in the comments below.

In HIS Joy,

Gabriella Slade

(Want to recive more blog posts like this?  Subscribe by entering your first name and email in the form on the bottom of the left sidebar.)

10 Writing Books All Young Writers Should Read

Here are TEN Writing Books I think any writer should read.  I have links included in this post in order for you to access them on Amazon.  Please  note that some of the books listed here are for younger writers, but the information inside the books are still crucial to learning knew tips and tricks as a Writer.

On Writing, By Stephen King–Written by Award winning Horror Writer Stephen King, On Writing  Is an excellent source (Or Memoir, as it is called) For any Writer.
Spilling Ink, By Anne Mazer & Ellen Potter–Exploring Creating Characters that draw in readers, Visualizing settings that you can see with your mind and plots that are unique, Spilling Ink is an amazing read for young writers.
Writing Magic By Gale Carlson Levine–By The Author of Ella Enchanted, Writing Magic not only teaches the art of writing, but deeper, into the style–the magic of writing.
Writing The Fiction Series, By Karen Wiesner–I discovered this book at the library and just bought it–an amazing resource about writing a series–which is a topic hard to find in a book.
So You Want to Be a Writer?, By Vicki Hambleton & Cathleen Greenwood–Oh Yeah! This simple, but down-to-the-point book talks about famous writers such as Amanda Hocking and how they ‘made it big.’ A must read.
Storyworld First, By Jim Williamson, This book goes down in depth on how to create your own storyworld.  It goes into categories such as history, geography, and even creating animal races!
Write Your Novel In a Month, By Jeff Gerke–This is a good resource on getting your NANOWRIMO goal down.  It talks about setting a 50000 word novel goal and making it.  I myself, at 13 years even wrote a 54000 word novel.
The Complete Handbook Of Novel Writing, By Editors of Writer’s Digest–I am still reading this 520 page book.  This includes articles and interviews with authors such as Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, James Patterson and More!
How To Write a Fantasy Story By Tish Farrell–This small book provides AMAZING information on creating s fantasy book.  Other genres explored in the series are: Mystery, Adventure, Science Fiction, and Realistic Fiction.  Awesome Resources.
 You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One!) By Jeff Goins–Last, but certainly NOT Least, is an inspirational book written by Jeff Goins, who discusses his own writing life and how it changed him.  Totally Recommend!

So there you have it! My 10 favorite writing books.  Hope this will get you started!

What do YOU want to see in a YA Dragon Series?

OK, by a raise of hands, who here likes Dragon novels?

We all gotta admit–dragon books are pretty cool.  The idea of a flying, fire breathing creature is all in all…cool!  Now my 2016 goal is too create the most wanted dragon series ever.  But in order to do that, I need to know what you want.  I need to know that it is the reader is looking for in a dragon series.  Be honest.   Now I may not be able to squeeze in all the ideas, but I sure will try.  There are probably dozens of dragon novels.  But that doesn’t make them all good.  Let me share a few favorites:

Eragon
Dragonsdale
Red Dragon Codex
The Dragon’s Eye

We get the idea.  Now every dragon is different.  Some are evil. Some are wild.  Some can talk.  Others can hold riders.  They all had unique attributes.  Now, like I said before, I want to know what YOU–the reader, want to see.   Comment your thoughts below.

In HIS Joy,

Gabriella Slade

(Did you like this post?  Do you want to see more like it?  Then Please subscribe using the form in the left sidebar.)

2016…And Beyond!!!!!!!!!

Hello Fellow Readers!

I have not been here for a few month for quite a few reasons.  Christmas is a very busy time.  Not much time can be spent on the computer.   And also, November was NaNoWriMo. I wrote my newest novel and now I am editing and revising that.  So, I finally decided to give you a heads up of what’s in for the new year.

In February, The Twilight Terror is going to be published. This coming day excites me, and I can’t wait to share all that me and Margaret spent about 9 months writing.  Then I hope to announce my new novel in….Maybe March.  I also want to start sharing artwork, short stories and essays based off of my worlds.  Now I am not sure yet what else to do here this year other than what I have already shared on the What To Expect Page.  But If you–readers–have Ideas on what YOU want to see on Gabriella Slade, don’t be afraid to comment your thoughts below.

How You can Support Gabriella and her writing?

Subscribe–I have a webform in the left sidebar. If you want to get my newest post in your email, just enter your first name and your email and hit subscribe.  That’s it!
Share my blog–Tell your friends whom you might think would like reading my blog.  Word of Mouth is always a good way to tell people about others.
Buy my book–Right now, if you buy Jethomia on Amazon, profits from it are currently supporting the costs it will take to publish my new novel by June.  Plus, I think if you like Fantasy, this story might interest you.
Follow me on Goodreads–I am on Goodreads, so you can find me there and follow me to get my blo posts and see what I read and recommend.

So, that’s about it.  Please comment your thoughts below.  What would YOU like to see in gabriellaslade.com?

In HIS Joy,

Gabriella Slade

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all!
Have fun. Don't eat too much. Remember who is King! God Bless You!
In HIS Joy,
Gabriella Slade. :)

The Land of Arjedia

Arjedia…The land of Dragons.  I’ve wanted to introduce this land for SO long! It is my favorite of the Fantasy lands I have created, and I probably will spend more of my time writing about it.  Arjedia will be the land for the dragon book I’m writing. As you might have heard, I can’t give much away about the book, because anything can change, and I don’t want to get your hopes up yet!   But…Arjedia is something I can tell you about. .  Arjedia is something special to me.  Sure I worked on (and fell in love with!) Kalon and Empronia, but Arjedia is something I poured my heart into, and now I think it might be the last of my lands. (For Now)  Arjedia is now going to be poured out on my blog with descriptions, paintings, stories and hopefully (one day!) videos.

Now, Arjedia has Three Races:

Humans–The most common of the races.  Humans take up about sixty percent of the land of Arjedia.  They are well educated, but also unkind in some areas when it comes to the other races.
Elves–My favorite.  Elves are rare and also smart and most intelligent.  They live in the Ondeum Forest, in the south.  They spend time studying and reading.
Dwarves–Hated by all.  Dwarves have ruled Arjedia for many years.  But they are evil and cruel and esire–domination.  Both humans and elves desire to see them vanquished.   They are, in other words, dumb, evil and stupid.

All these people live in Arjedia.  In is a big land, and this should give you an idea of how they live: 40% Humans, 20% Elves and 40% dwarves.

Here is the map.  More is coming soon.

Book News–Jethomia

Readers, this is an update concerning my Jethomia trilogy.

Sweet!  What’s Up?

I wrote Jethomia in November, 2014 on National Novel Writing Month. When I wrote that, my plan was to write the sequel the following year. But Plans change.  I have gotten SO caught up in my recent work. In the past year. For example– I have begun a novel series with my sister, Margaret Slade. She and I created Kalon, our own world for Amentia, our character who has the power to control time.  And I also discovered Eragon, which helped me to discover my passion for writing about dragons.  They are an awesome mythical creature, and I longed to learn more about them.  And all during this, November lurked by, reminding me to return to Empronia and Ginger.  I was becoming depressed, thinking about the story and how I had to write it.  It is now two days since writing this, and just on October 28–3 days before November 1st, I announced that I would not write Jethomia #2 this year.

But Why? I want to finish Gingers Story!

Now first of all, be assured that this is not the end of Ginger and Troy. I couldn’t do that! I have realized, that if I told myself that I had to  write the book in 30 days, the story would turn out dull and half-hearten. I could do that to myself, and certainly not to my readers!  I will wait, until the spark is lighten in me, and encourages me to move foreword once more!

 What are you writing now?

A Dragon book. I can’t give too much away yet, because anything could change. But it is what I am writing, and that is for sure. News about this new book will come out as soon as possible.  You can learn even sooner if you visit me at NaNoWriMo where I will post new updates, which will make there way here.

Can you tell me when you will return to Empronia?

No. I can’t because I don’t know. I have learned that you should’t promise your readers things, because you never know what might change. Remember that writers.

That’s about it. Do you have any ideas for the dragon book? Comment your thoughts below.

In HIS joy,

Gabriella

Writing Guide: Designing A Fantasy World

Fantasy worlds are really cool. We really enjoy reading about Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Narnia from The Chronicles of Narnia, and Alagesia in The Inheritance Cycle. But How do you create these worlds which are so enticing for you readers? This is the topic I am going too cover today.   

I myself have designed 4 different worlds. Kalon, Eradon, Empronia and Arjedia. I have actually introduced only one of these four–Empronia. It is the land of Ginger Bristol and Troy Hampton in Jethomia. . But why did I make four? Well, Kalon and Eradon are for My Time Chronicles. Kalon is the home of Amentia, the hero of The Twilight Terror. Now I wanted to write a dragon book, separate from these worlds because I had just read about Christopher Paolini and his Eragon books and it made me realized how much I liked Dragons. They are SO cool! But neither of my stories suited for dragons. So I was forced to design Arjedia.  I will mainly speak on this land.

So how do we do it?

Well, it all starts with a map. If you look in many fantasy novels, you will see maps of the lands you read about. This is the foundation of our worlds. Once we have a visual picture of the world, we ask questions about the land, such as Where does the capital stand? or Where is the food grown? Once I know the answers to these questions, we get a better idea where  everything. Next, I like to put people in the land. I choose from 5 popular fantasy races:

Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Wizards
Hobbits

You probably recognize several of these names. This is not surprising.  They are good races to put in worlds.  After I have decided who exists, and where, I design their culture: What do dwarves like to do for work? What kind of schooling must an elf take?  The list goes on and on. Soon, when I think I know enough about the land, I will most likely write about the land. Maybe I will describe a city, plan its first novel of write a short history up for it. If I am missing a detail, I ask myself it, and add it to my notes. That’s about it

Recommended Supplies

Sketchbook for map

Atlas for ideas on culture

Notebook for note taking

So, that should get you started. I would love to hear about your fantasy lands. Simply email me a map and some of the notes you took, and perhaps even some written pieces on it. And read Christopher Paolini’s article if you need more info.

What other questions do you have concerning World building? Ask me in the Comments below and I will get back to you.

with HIS joy,

Gabriella

Writing In a Homeschooled World

 

I am homeschooled. I always have been. But I am also a writer.  It’s tricky writing when you are always so busy. You rush around doing school, going shopping, getting to dance class…

So where do I find time to write?

It’s a very unusual question. Normally when people think Where, of a place, like a couch in the living room. But we are talking about time here. If I am so busy, how in the world did I write two novels and start a website in my busy days? Well, I do a lot of different things. Remember, Writing is not your first priority, your schooling is. But even more important, is our relationship with God. We always seem to rush around all day, and still get our writing done, but when you climb into bed at night, our inners ask us: Did you read your Bible today?  We shift ourselves uncomfortably in our beds and feel ourguilt flooding in. Well?  Our selves asks us again. Finally we feel shame flood in when we think about the 1000 words we added to our novel that afternoon.

Is this you?

I think that this comes to us all, one time or another.  As much as we enjoy our writing, we should always remember that before we do our writing, we should spend time reading our Bibles and Praying.  And this is me too. When my family took a week off of school earlier, I spent almost all my time writing and reading Library books. One day my Mom approached me and asked “Did you and Margaret read your Bibles this morning?” Quickly, me and Margaret put our pencils down and hurried to grab our Bibles and read a Psalm.

So once our Priorities such as Bible and School have been completed, then is the time to write.  I am providing a list of Ideas of how and when to write in a homeschooled world:

Set a Word Goal–Decide how many words per day do you want to write? And be realistic too. Don’t think you will be able to squeeze 10000 words into your day! Set a goal such as 300-500 or maybe even 1000.  Don’t expect to write a novel in a day because it’s not going to happen
Have a Quiet Time–At 2:00, My family climbs into our beds with a book, sketchbook or journal for an hour of quiet alone time. This is good for writers who need quiet. Now I understand that not all families are not able to do this, and that is OK. But if you can, I highly recommend it. It is a good tool for getting your writing project into the day.
Finish your school, chores, and Bible without complaint–I know you are asking yourself, ‘what does that have to do with school?’ Now this actually does a lot. If you do your school, chores and other things required before writing. It saves you time. If you complain or do your work half-heartily, you have to go back and do it again, during that tie which you could be writing. My dad taught me that. He says it a lot.
Save your work–I was writing this post, when the computer died on me. Because WordPress does Auto save is the reason I didn’t lose all my work.  If you write on the computer, Save your work often!  If you don’t, you could lose what you wrote, and you lose hours of hard work. So PLEASE save your work Oftan! 
Take your Writings to activities–I write while my sister has dance class. For 45 minutes I can plan blog posts, interview characters our describe a land.  It is also good to be in social places for inspiration. So if your brother has soccer practice or your sister has cheerleading, take your writing with you and write while he/she practices.  Also, The waiting rooms at the Dentist Office, Doctor, orthodontist or eye doctor office is a good place to write.

Now this should get you started. I have listed several ways to help you write during your Homeschooled days. Apply them, and see what Happens.

How do YOU write in YOUR homeschooled world? Answer in the comments below

With HIS Joy,

Gabriella