Mariella Hunt's Blog, page 8

Pre-Order THE UNDERGLOW by Teshelle Combs

Hello everyone! A good friend and fellow Vella author is putting her amazing Vella out in novel format! I’ve read it and been fascinated by the prose; you will really become lost in this story. Here is the information to pre-order!
– Mariella

Pre-order for $1

The Underglow

US: https://www.facebook.com/groups/362760452582331

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BCMCT3BH

Aurelie Kendrick hasn’t spoken a word since she was a young girl. Lucky for her, vampires, known in her world simply as “pyres” like Alexander don’t speak either. But in a dark world where pyres are enslaved, forced to drink the blood of their masters, can the speechless find a voice?

From the episode entitled, “A Cross Pyre And An Impatient Young Woman.”

I confessed to myself that I had paid very little attention to the countless governesses who attempted to explain the general rules of romantic engagement for Femmes of my stature and upbringing. But despite my lack of knowledge of general rules, I had a general sense that I was breaking them, whatever they were. Generally speaking, of course.

Closer should have made me nervous. I was not nervous, however, and so closer I went until there was no separation between his hips and mine. This was a relief to me—one difficult to explain. For I did not think there could ever be such closeness between another living thing and myself. Truly, I did not think, though they claimed to desire it, that any other living thing wanted to be so close to me.

“You withhold”, Alexander meant to me, pulling my bottom lip between his before pressing his mouth fully to mine. I felt only the slightest prick of his fangs, for he had not lengthened them. With my head nearly swimming, I wondered if he would sink those fangs into me as he once did. But no. Instead, he intended. “I will be patient”.

I detested patience. It was a monster that society told its victims was required, but really, it only convinced us all to work longer hours while they fattened us up for the slaughter. What is the point of patience? Who does it serve but the impatient ones?

I wrapped my arms around his waist and held firmly, but he released my grip rather easily.

“Patience”. With a last touch of his thumb to my lip and a final probe of his considerate eyes, he stepped away. “I will find who hurt you”.

The Underglow
An Elegant And Haunting Tale Of Romance, Intrigue, And Adventure
From the Mind Of Teshelle Combs

On Plot Holes

Plot holes are a constant threat in every manuscript.

When writing a serial, I have found that, at least for me, it’s easier to forget what’s been written before.

When I add a significant object or event, I try to work out a good place where it can be resolved before I forget it.

It’s like a loom, and a thread has been left out until the opportune moment to work it into the tapestry.

Last night I worked one of those pesky but important threads back into THE SEA ROSE and it feels great.

Firstly, I’m glad that I remembered it! Secondly it was a fantastic spot to have the characters bring it up again.

Has a plot hole ever sabotaged your writing on a large scale?

THE AUTUMN PRINCE: A Vella Serial

I discovered this year that shifting focus clarifies a story.

I’ve been toying for a while with the idea of putting THE AUTUMN PRINCE on Vella; I even dreamed of it once (too much?) but didn’t trust in my ability to do so without crossing from editing to rewriting.

THE AUTUMN PRINCE can be read here!

I must learn control, because all of the rewrites won’t make perfection. It doesn’t exist.

And when I rediscovered the characters in TAP, sharing time with them, I began to understand the characters in GROUNDWATER—because I had someone to compare them with.

Peter is not Caspar; Theo is not Winston. They’re different, and seeing them side-by-side helps me notice their strengths & weaknesses.

–

Autumn is approaching, and with it a season of productivity.

I suddenly have the motivation to work on multiple stories and edit them (without rewriting).

It’s not new; I tend to focus more when leaves begin to fall. I can hear nature preparing to yawn.

When are you most creative?

A June Update

Kindle Vella has taken over my life.

More specifically, this story has taken over my life. I’ve never been very good at writing endings to novels. I’ve always wanted to tell a story in serial form like Dickens; I never imagined how addicting it can be.

34 chapters have passed since I announced that The Sea Rose was going on Vella. I have gotten 9 reviews that are absolutely heartwarming. My characters, after being given the chance to come alive, are showing aspects of themselves I was clueless about when brainstorming…and I’ve got so much to thank them for!

I’ve also read so many good stories on Vella! It is a place of awesome creativity and authors who are friendly & supportive to one another. Some Vella authors publish their stories in eBook format. Others love the serial format and continue adding for readers to keep coming back. There is no wrong way to do it.

In my opinion, the point is to have your story told.

Technically The Sea Rose ended at chapter 31 and we are now in the second book. For the moment, the title of book 2 is Groundwater. Subplots are spreading out like a plant’s roots and creating an intricate story that even I am becoming lost in. While I have no self control and will continue to update the story as the weeks pass, I hope to edit The Sea Rose into an eBook by the end of the year.

How has your summer been? Have you read The Sea Rose yet? What’s stopping you?

Guest Post: A New Way To Read by Sheila Sellinger

There’s a new and unique way for you to read eBooks.

It’s called Kindle Vella.

And it’s vastly different from the common methods you’re likely familiar with – standard eBooks and physical books – because of how it allows you to read books one chapter/episode at a time simply by searching on Amazon in Kindle Vella, then clicking on the story that interests you. Best part of all, it doesn’t require you to buy the book all at once or pay for a book that you may not like after the first chapter/episode or two, and you can read the first three chapters/episodes for free regardless of whether you continue reading the story or not. If you choose to continue the story on chapter/episode 4, Amazon will instruct you to purchase tokens in order to unlock that chapter/episode. The tokens are available in several price packets for you to choose from and are stored on Amazon for you to use so you don’t have to keep track of them yourself. It’s that easy!

So, if you like what I’ve shared so far and would like to start reading your first Kindle Vella, then you’ll want to pay close attention to what I’m about to share with you.

Hi, my name is Sheila Sellinger, and I am the author of 4 different Kindle Vella stories, though there will be more in the future. Let me introduce you to them and the inspiration behind each one.

The first one that I published is a military fiction titled Letters In The Wind. It’s the make-believe journal that belongs to a fictional American soldier stationed in Iraq during the conflict in 2003. In it, he writes about his experiences and the special op mission that he was given which means that he will be considered MIA by the military and all communications are cut off – all except for a laptop that gives him his instructions. You also get to read his inner thoughts and how he feels about this new path in his life, and how it effects his relationship with God.

Letters In The Wind started out as a dream in which I lived the first few chapters as the main character. When I woke up, I knew for a fact that I needed to write it. So, I began and soon realized that I knew virtually nothing about being a soldier. It was time to solicit help from professionals. I knew some ex-military personnel and asked for interviews as well as edits of the story to make sure the details were correct. That proved to be immensely helpful, but I still needed to do my research on Iraq – topography, culture, landscape, etc. I even got advice from several online veterans who helped me with some details that had been missed. After all of that, it was completed a couple of months ago with 42 chapters.

Then came Desperate Passions, my western adventure/romance. It has four main characters who start out with their separate lives but slowly merge together as the story progresses. In the beginning, the town sheriff, James Riley is romantically pursuing the local schoolteacher, Sarah Hanson, but with no luck, when she is kidnapped by a drifter named Dillan Davis who is accompanied by his younger sister Jenny. The chase is on as James hunts them down to rescue Sarah but finds that she may not need rescuing after all. There is also a lunatic mountain man and a band of Indians mixed in to make things more interesting.

Many of the traits that I used for James were borrowed from an old boss of mine back in 2007 when the manuscript was originally written. The other characters are figments of my imagination, and I did extensive research on the era, various locations mentioned in the story, and the Sioux Indian nation’s history during the time and how they lived. It has sat on the shelf until now when I decided it was time to share it with the world.

After Desperate Passions came The Mystic Lady which is a pirate adventure/romance starring the mysterious Captain DeLaroache – a pirate renowned for being harsh and brutal but has an unknown soft spot. The only ones who truly know the captain are the loyal pirate crew and they guard the captain’s secrets carefully. But all will be unraveled when The Mystic Lady takes possession of a storm wrecked smuggling ship and its small crew of proud Scotsmen. Ian McKenna is the captain of the captured vessel and proves to be much more than Captain DeLaroache bargained for, but not all is lost for, even though the two captains clash, they soon form a bond that will last a lifetime.

The Mystic Lady is the story that holds a special place in my heart because it was conceived in the minds of two 14-year-old girls one day while eating lunch at school. One of those girls was me, and I will never forget that conversation. We were imagining what it would be like to be pirates and how we would manage our ships. It was a wonderful discussion, but I will say no more since I don’t want to give anything else away.

My most recent addition to my Kindle Vella lineup is The Crimson Cross. This story begins with Amanda Cain fleeing an untenable situation, heading for London to start a new life. After gaining passage on a ship to England, she meets the aristocratic Lord Halsey (Adam Weston) when he boards said ship. They are on their way to England when pirates attack the ship and Adam saves the day. Years later, Amanda meets Adam again after she’s been fired from her job, and he offers her employment. However, Adam hasn’t been feeling well and his doctor tells him to take some time in the country to recover, but he soon discovers that someone is out to kill him. Events quickly unfold that make it imperative that Adam and Amanda must take to the seas once more, only for Amanda to find out through Adam’s first mate that the captain (Adam) has a dangerous secret.

I wrote The Crimson Cross back in 2008 and had a silent co-author at the time who contributed half of the dialogue and a fair amount of research on the time period, weaponry, and the historical figures mentioned of which I double checked myself before including in the manuscript. None of his contributed material was used raw but was restructured to match my voice and the story as a whole.

I hope you will give Kindle Vella a look in general and, specifically, my stories. And remember to hit the thumb at the bottom of each chapter/episode and follow each story that speaks to you because the authors get paid for everything you do on their story(ies); each chapter read, each time you unlock a chapter, every thumb that is clicked, and every follower. It matters and makes a difference. With that said – Happy reading!

Kindle Vella Author Spotlight: May Leonardo

Having joined Kindle Vella a week ago with my own novel, The Sea Rose, I quickly discovered that there are stories being published on this platform which are very impressive indeed. Vella authors share a feeling of companionship, and the platform also offers monetary gain if you advertise correctly. It’s a fun place to meet new writers and explore works which are not in bookstores yet.

I believe that the Kindle Vella authors deserve acknowledgment. Don’t think it’s the easy way to publish; from editing, to keeping schedule, to even making sure the chapter actually publishes on time, Vella is a challenge we happily accept. I hope the literary world will pay more attention to these authors.

I will be interviewing a Vella author every week to try and spread the word about this fantastic writing platform. My first interview is with May Leonardo whose story Time Travel and Cupcakes had just the right hook to get me reading; I’m sure it would hook you, too!

Follow May on social media—Instagram and Tiktok.

Tell me about yourself!

My name is May. I have a background in marketing and procrastination. I live in sunny Southern California with my two preteen boys and a very patient husband. When I’m not spending quality time with my guys, you can find me hiding with a book, camping in my vintage trailer, or sitting in my pjs writing. I am a Potter Head, Fred Head (google Fred Harvey), professional Netflixer and have this unnatural obsession with aesthetics from the past. I have recently published my first story on Kindle Vella and am loving the writer life.

Which books inspired you to become a writer?

I blame romance novels.

My love of romance novels goes back…way back…1990s back. I grew up when YA wasn’t really a thing, so I jumped into the world of romance novels at a very young age, maybe too young. Nevertheless, I was hooked. The romance, the passion, the happily ever after….I never wanted that rush of endorphins that dash through the brain once the last page is turned to ever go away. So, I became a writer.

What do you love most in a story?

There are so many things I love about a great story, but my favorite is the free travel. A story can sweep you off to far-away lands, a different time period, and other worlds. No Dramamine needed!

Tell us about your plot!

My genre is Time Travel Romance. My story is about finding love and having the courage to embrace it. As the story progresses, my main character learns about friendships, self-esteem and true love. I sprinkle humor, sass, banter and happily ever afters through out the plot. Natalia can tell you more about her adventure in her own words below:

Time travel is real…and complicated.

Armed with a broken heart, an unused bridesmaid dress, and sky-high anxiety, I find myself in 1880 California. The no WiFi, no penicillin, no tampons 1800s. The culprit? An enchanted necklace.

Thanks to a case of mistaken identity, I have a place to sleep and employment. However, oblivious of what life is like in the old west, I’m winging it. My top priorities, blend in and find a way back home. My possible undoing—Gavin McCallum.

Gavin is tall, dark, and delicious. Also on the list: charming, brilliant, successful, and sometimes full of himself. As his new bright shiny object, he is determined to woo me. I am determined to stay away. Resistance may be futile.

I try to keep my focus on my priorities…but he has abs.

Will I ever find a way home? Do I still want to go home? Like I said, time travel is complicated.

Is there a message that you want readers to walk away from your story with?

You have always been enough.

Why did you choose to publish with Kindle Vella?

Kindle Vella is new and I suffer from Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. Also, I became intrigued by how the platform works. Kindle Vella readers can provide feedback through reviews instantly, potentially becoming participants in the story’s creation. The platform also reminds me of how we watched TV in the 90s, but better, we don’t have to wait for the commercials to go to the bathroom.

Read Time Travel and Cupcakes now!

4 Obscure Classic Books You Should Read

I have always loved classic literature more than most new releases. There is a soul in good classic literature which you can feel once it draws you in. Times were different when these books were written; social norms were not what we now know.

Classics such as Pride and Prejudice have earned their fandoms (and with reason). However, I want to read more than the popular books. I am always on the lookout for a classic book that people don’t seem to talk about. Here are four I have read which have stayed with me.

1- The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas, fils(son)

I am a fan of the works of the Dumas duo who–sometimes confusingly–share a name. Dumas Senior is famous for writing for The Three Musketeers. His son also went on to become a writer; his novel The Black Tulip is one of my all-time favorites.

It features a romance that makes your heart ache for many different reasons. He creates a masterpiece of every single scene, describing gloom as well as hope with a grasp on words that I wish I could achieve.

2- The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola

I’ve read The Belly of Paris several times and reviewed it here. From the epic beginning of this novel to the obsessive way in which Zola describes food, The Belly of Paris is unforgettable.

The female characters in this novel are strong, an unusual characteristic for most novels of the time. I don’t remember any fainting spells or smelling salts from the roughened market-women!

Find out why Zola is one of the best classic writers of French literature. I hope one day to read all of his work.

Emile Zola, Portrait3- Camille by Alexandre Dumas, fils(son)

I know, I know—I’m shoving the Dumas family at you. Camille is another one of the most beautifully written books I’ve read. How far will Armand go to win the heart of Camille—and can it end well when their social classes are so different?

The pages of this novel drip with scandal as well as forbidden love. Most of all, they are heavy with humanity. We as a race have a tendency to do things out of passion that might not lead to a favorable end. The good news is that a hard lesson learned makes for a good story.

Alexandre Dumas, fils4- The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

Some characters are so despicable that this fact alone makes the novel a classic to read. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, a skilled farm laborer has a quarrel with his wife. He makes the drunken decision to sell his wife and child to a passing sailor.

Twenty years later, we will find out what became of this awful man. It is a novel of ambition, revenge, and bitterness. Will he receive justice for the horrific thing he did to his family?

I hope that by the end of my life I can compile a longer list of obscure classics to read. I want to see for myself why, even though these books aren’t mentioned on bestseller lists, their names never vanish.

Do you also read classic novels? If you have any book recommendations for me, please share in the comments. Help me to reach my goal!

Finally, congratulations–you have just read my 400th blog post. A real milestone for me! I am thankful to everyone who has followed me on this long and exciting blogging journey. Your support is appreciated.

Why Did I Publish The Sea Rose?

I might have surprised a lot of people this week by choosing to release one of my manuscripts as a serial on Kindle Vella. The Sea Rose is my baby; it is the world to which I’ve escaped for almost six years. It’s seen many characters, lost them, been rewritten, given up on, and given a second point of view.

Many things have changed since I first showed the story to my writing friends; what has remained? The characters. Rose and Peter have kept their names, Meredith has remained a complicated woman, and there are still Mermaids in 1800s England.

Why did I do it? you might be asking. Isn’t it better to find an agent so that the whole book will be finished at once? Or even to self-publish the novel and market it as one package?

I’m completely hooked! A unique and addictive tale from a promising new writer. Watch this one- it’s going to be big!

Review, Miriam Jenner

When self-publishing became an option, many writers swore that they would never take that route. I once had a friend whose parents gave her a Barnes and Noble Nook eReader for Christmas–but she sold it back to them (rather ungracious in my opinion). Many of these people have changed heart. Some self-published books do better than the traditionally published!

Why don’t I self-publish a complete story and plan book signings? The answer to this is more personal. I always loved how Charles Dickens released his novels, chapter by chapter, in the weekly paper. It was an idea I toyed with but didn’t think would be an option to me. Kindle Vella gives me a way.

Vella is a gamble; I know that many people will stop reading after their free chapters run out. However, there is a chance that I will make something if I advertise and put in all of my effort.

Not one to miss! Full of emotion and beauty! The author has a way with words, looking forward to more.

Review by Rachel Lynn

I chose Kindle Vella because I have at least ten manuscripts on my laptop wasting away. I also chose it because I want to free my novel from the cycle of perfectionism. Writing, rewriting, editing—writing, rewriting, editing—it is a neverending cycle. The well-meaning advice of friends always came to a point where, rather than moving forward, I felt the urge to rewrite it again.

Seeing the rate at which time has crawled by (I’m 28 now—what?) I decided to put my foot down. The only way to break this cycle was doing the thing I was most scared of.

It’s time to release the story I love into the world. I choose to do it in the way I’ve always wanted to, a serialized fashion. Want to learn more about The Sea Rose?

Lord Peter West could not marry Lady Bannister. Her eyes bore into him like daggers; her voice filled him with dread. Knowing this, his resolve thinned as the day neared to announce their union.

He could not have imagined as he fled the engagement party that he would find himself stranded in the district of the Half-Merpeople. No one had told him that those with ocean-blood lived such wretched lives.

Most of all, he could not have dreamed that the once-vanished Lady Rose Finch walked these streets–beautiful, strong, and very much alive.

READ EPISODE 1 NOW!

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Bluebirds & Flowers & Crows, Oh My

If you’ve tried any form of art, be it painting or writing or poetry, you know that very rarely will you love what you produce the first time. Practice is the only way to steady our hands at these things.

How lazy we are to practice! How we groan internally as we think of spending time repeating the same techniques, over and over and over and over—

‘fuzzy chick’ by me

If you soldier through it and avoid comparing yourself to posts on social media by people at more advanced levels–remember one of the rules I set for myself: You don’t need to show your work to anyone…

Practice, do it for yourself, and resist the urge to speed through in order to impress someone else—especially if you know you’re not at a level that’ll impress much. For this season of learning, it is vital that you keep sacred your practice time.

This is the unpolished diamond; it will take a long time to polish, but boy it is rough!

I feel like I am on a cloud. For the first time, I have finished a painting for which my brain seemed to get the equation right.

A little sketching here, make the bird round and not starved-looking…the flowers’ shading done like so…and most of all, no overdoing it. I don’t have talent with wet-on-wet washes to cover the page, so I will save those for another day.

Yesterday I tried to draw a bird perching on a Canterbury Bell, a beautiful flower which only grew once in my garden. I made the mistake of trying to finish it with a yellowish wash, and guess what happened? Color began to bleed out of the flowers in a way that, in my eyes, does not even look “watercolor charming.”

‘cute bird 1’ by me

I despaired upon realizing that the paint had dried. I couldn’t fix the color or stop it from bleeding out of the flower; I had no choice but to let it be.

However, as I prepared to go to bed, I decided this would not be the end of it. I liked my idea of a bird on a Canterbury Bell and was determined to paint one and get it right!

Birds are fun to draw! I like to imagine their facial expressions, their thoughts, and hope to become good enough that I can start a webcomic.

‘not doing the trick!’ by me

Here is the result of my practicing and stubbornness. First I learned to paint flowers; then I learned the basics for painting birds. Combined, they resulted in something with which I am so happy that I signed it. M. Hunt—fitting, because my grandma who painted and whom I love was named Mariam.

‘cute bird 2’ by me

What do you think?

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That Wretched ‘New-Year Smell’

At the start of February I feel so different than when the year is brand-new. Can it be that the ‘new-year smell’ is an unfortunate illusion? Could it be that we need to ground ourselves in what is real rather than distant dreams?

To me, the ‘new-year smell’ means being uprooted for a few unnerving weeks. I am floating in the air thinking madly about things I could be doing, talents I could take up, egged on by the twelve fresh months ahead of me.

The ‘new-year smell’ is a cruel trick: few resolutions are carried out. Even when they are, they take longer than we are prepared for on January 1.

‘has the mail come yet?’ by me

February 1 is a relief; the ‘new-year smell’ has gone, leaving fresh soil for me to take root in. I know what I’m capable of doing at this moment. I’ve given myself permission to let go of books that don’t engross me–life is too short to read something you don’t love. I am making friends who help me spiritually.

If you’re still battling the ‘new-year smell,’ that sense of uncertainty about what you should be doing versus what you could be doing…I recommend you do what you would have done six months ago in 2021.

Think about it–the only thing that has really changed is the number on the calendar. This does not mean there is increased pressure on you to become a star or get married (or both.)

‘what a sunny day’ by me

What have I learned one month into 2022? Nothing too impressive.

1- I discovered a desire to paint the lovely things of nature. It started with flowers; now I’m trying to get used to the movements required to draw birds. A couple of birds I drew look good. My most recent was too colorful, so I will need to practice him a bit more.

2- I am much better at sketching than painting. A pencil and some decent paper are all that I need to draw the shapes of my subjects (in this case, birds.) I’ve been sketching for much longer, though I never intended to make it a serious hobby; some things come in useful over time!

3- I underestimate myself. I wrote an essay related to something non-fiction and was nervous that it might sound childish, but it was received well. I’m fairly sure that, a month from now, I’ll be better at drawing colorful birds. It’s a matter of practice and routine.

We all underestimate ourselves. We can achieve what we want, if only we put in the time and effort. Is there something you’ve always wanted to do or be? Trust me—you can do anything if you’re willing to be humble and learn. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

What are your goals this month?

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