Shadow Cheah's Blog, page 2

Maiores quia commodi alias voluptates

Quos et sit quia sapiente. Quis cumque qui sit deleniti ea. Et ullam et nihil inventore cupiditate distinctio repellat

Occaecati sequi est. Voluptates repudiandae nam et sed facilis. Beatae rem sint quis Quidem possimus repellat tempora. cumque sunt ullam. repellat quod sed est quis vero. Dolor id cumque. Maiores facilis Maiores dolores natus dolores Minima dolorem unde a iure aut quod esse. Quae at veritatis mollitia. Mollitia ullam amet omnis eos sunt reiciendis enim. quaerat ex quos culpa dicta dignissimos. Et tempora libero vero. Occaecati unde fugit debitis est ullam.

Sint eaque ad culpaSapiente autId facerePariatur minima dolores estQui similiqueCupiditateExplicabo

Quia sapiente vero dicta sequi qui reprehenderit. Debitis voluptatem et et nobis sed at. Pariatur est deleniti veniam quisSequi eveniet veniam sed

The post Maiores quia commodi alias voluptates appeared first on Samantha Cheah.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

The post Hello world! appeared first on Samantha Cheah.

My 2016 round up and reading list!

Even though I have started writing since I was small and on Wattpad since 2011, I didn’t consider self-publishing until recently. I did a lot of research on publishing and decided that I want as much freedom with my book cover and editing as I can and I don’t want to wait forever for someone to pick up my book.

 

Honestly, writing has been a passion to me since I was eight but I never really thought that it can be a source of income for me. Maybe I was scared to entertain the notion—afraid that it wouldn’t be possible at all and I can’t even cherish that idea.

 

But the support on Wattpad has been amazing and I thought: maybe, maybe I can do this. And I won’t know unless I try!

 

So that’s how Evolution was published: I rewrote it (those of you who have followed me here from Wattpad would know how little I edit my story before they go on!), got it edited (thrice) and got a cover done. It’s a steep learning curve and I messed up a few times, here’s what I’ve learned:

[image error][image error]

Cheap editing does NOT equal good editing: it seems that 3 edits still leaves me with tons of errors.
Scrivener is a godsend for writing and formatting
Book cover matters A LOT – thanks Mulan Jiang!
Book marketing is hard – but book promotion website with mailing lists are great
Book reviews are hard to get. So hard.
I really, really need to edit my first draft – I type without thinking. Yikes.
Amazon is tricky.

 

However, I manage to hit my goals to:

Published Evolution (though I have only sold 100 copies so far since the end of September!)

Got Selection edited and a book cover line up (sign up to my mailing list if you want a sneak peek when the drafts come in!)

Got my author website up and running (right here!)

Starts building my mailing list

 

As a self-proclaimed indie author now, I have started reading more and below is my 2016 must-reads:

Sapiens: a brief history of humankind

[image error][image error]

An extremely eye-opening book that follows the rise of the Homo Sapiens and how we were shaped by the world around us then shaped the world around us. It’s objective, scientific and free from all prejudice that comes with a specie writing about themselves. It looks at the society as a whole and how our thinking and actions have evolved. It’s a must read for the year and I am getting the Homo Dieus for 2017!

 

A Little History of Religion by Richard Holloway

[image error][image error]

I wanted to learn a little more about the religions of the world and this book provides an excellent overview! If you want to build a fantasy world, or dive into the history, then I strongly recommend getting familiar with religion – because it’s a strong player throughout the history since time. The believes are fascinating and I only wish that it talks about the gods more (need to find one on that – let me know if you have recommendations).

 

Bones and Ivory

[image error][image error]

A book set in the prehistoric hunter and gathering times, it’s a thrilling story of clans and survival written mostly in second person and I love it! I studied geology and love prehistoric things so this book is right up my alley. I love seeing how their society work, and it’s strangely not so different from the societies in my Dark Ages: Convergence book because that’s how people lived before mass societies!

Inspiration for Protectors of Earth Chronicles

What inspired me to write the Protectors of Earth Chronicles?

There are a lot of answers to that, but I think it can be chiefly attributed to two source:

1) Popular YA sci-fi novels like Hunger Games

I am a huge fan of light sci-fi, especially those with a post-apocalyptic society. But one thing that seems common to all of them is that they focus on America. Or at least, a few countries. I want a global society, a world where the apocalypse has happened but still connected. Which is why the story of Evolution is set centuries after the nuclear apocalypse that has destroyed its world.

The truth, I believe, is that our lives and world views are too interconnected now around the world for anyone to fall into a apocalypse and never think about what’s going on on the other side of the world. And internet is virtually indestructible.

2) Chinese long form fiction

I am heavily influenced by the Chinese long form fiction that’s popular in mainland China, with serialised fiction that can be as long as 1 million words. These writers have the most wild imagination, and the idea of Citybase and Legres come from one of them. It was unfortunate that the writer took a different direction with his, but I plan on exploring the Legres and their societies more!