Lyndsey Hall's Blog, page 16

Interview: YA Fantasy Author Jennifer Kropf

I recently had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Jennifer Kropf, author of the gorgeously festive fantasy novel A Soul as Cold as Frost, about her upcoming projects and where she finds inspiration for her stories.

Here’s what she had to say…

Hi Jen! It’s lovely to finally get to chat with you. Tell us a little bit about yourself. First of all, where are you from?

I’m from Canada, where it snows too much and often smells of pines. I have a husband and three kids, and we live in a little town on the cusp of Stratford, Ontario that has all the small-town-charm you can imagine. I like to write late at night, and I’m one of those weirdos who would rather brew a hot beverage and snuggle up with a book on a weekend instead of going out to do things.

That sounds like the dream! I’m definitely one of those weirdos too. When did you start writing and what inspired you? 

Growing up, my dad used to read The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis to me and my siblings before bed. We became obsessed with the world of Narnia, and Aslan. When I started having kids, I imagined having those same experiences with my kids at Christmas time, so I started writing A Soul as Cold as Frost with the hopes that every year at Christmas we can spend the month of December snuggling by the fireplace reading exciting Christmas stories, and bonding over them as a family. 

What a lovely idea, that sounds like the perfect family tradition. Aside from The Chronicles of Narnia, what are your favourite books?

My favourite books to read have always been fantasy books, especially with exceptionally built worlds. 

Those are my favourites too. Speaking of which, tell us a little about your debut novel.

I published my first book last year called A Soul as Cold as Frost, which centres around a girl whose eyes are opened to another realm at Christmas time, and throughout the series, will face all sorts of mythical villains pulled out of old Christmas legends.

It sounds like such a magical read, where do you find inspiration for your characters? 

Obviously I love Christmas, so a lot of my characters are drawn from Christmas stories or legends. I have a few different versions of Santa Claus (multiple characters who impersonate different versions of Santa) in my books, along with The Snow Queen, The Gingerbread Man, and the Nutcracker. 

I love characters inspired by myths and legends! What are you working on right now?

Right now I’m working on Book #2 of The Winter Souls Series (A Soul as Cold as Frost #2) which I’m calling A Heart as Red as Paint. AHARAP centres around my main character, Helen, who gets a visit from a ghostly being (inspired by the ghost of Christmas past/present/future in the story A Christmas Carol) who gives Helen three warnings in the form of a riddle. She has to solve the riddle before her time runs out, or she’ll face the dreadful future she was warned about.

I’m so excited to read it next Christmas! What one piece of advice would you give aspiring authors? 

Market your books way ahead of time. With the pandemic, most of my marketing plan was squashed when our province started going into lockdown and all my kids ended up being home for most of the year, but your best way to get people excited about your book is to start telling people about it way in advance.

Thank you so much for chatting with me Jennifer, it’s been lovely getting to know you and your books better. Where can we find out more? 

Go to Jennifer’s website to learn more

Join Jennifer’s newsletter to hear about her upcoming releases

Find Jen on Instagram

Or on Facebook

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Jennifer Kropf better, I highly recommend A Soul as Cold as Frost, it’s going to become a modern Christmas classic and would make the perfect family read over the winter months. And keep an eye out for book two, A Heart as Red as Paint.

Jen is also contributing a story to Enchanted Waters, Merrily Merrily, which tells the origin tale of snow pirate, Zane, with cameos by other ASACAF characters you’ll recognise! You can preorder Enchanted Waters for just $2.99 and get more than ten fantasy short stories from bestselling, award-winning and up-and-coming authors, with all profits going to Oceana to help save the world’s oceans.

Lyndsey

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Five fantasy anthologies to get lost in

I’m a big fan of fantasy books, and the only thing I love more than a fantasy story is several fantasy stories in one boxset! I’ve collated a few of my favourite boxsets and anthologies below, from short stories to full length novels, and clean YA tales to steamy-as-you-like fantasy romance.

Fantasy collections to fall in love with

Realms of Fae and Shadow

Enchanted forests. Deadly bargains. Welcome to the magic of Faerie.

Sadly, this short story collection is no longer available to buy, but you can find the authors on Instagram and head to their websites to get your hands on these stories.

My favourite so far is Heir of Bitter Thorn by Kay L. Moody, and I cannot wait to dive into her series, The Fae of Bitter Thorn. Because, did I mention, every one of these shorts leads into a full length fantasy series?? So good.

Once Upon a Broken Crown

Your favourite fairytales, reimagined.

If you like your fairytales with a pinch of spice, this is the anthology for you! Over twenty fantasy romance writers have joined together to recreate your favourite fairy tales with added steam and sass.

Find the authors on Instagram to find out more about the stories, and add it to your Goodreads shelf too.

Coming March 2022, you can preorder this collection on Amazon now for just 99c/77p!

Enchanted Kingdoms

Old tales: New twist.

This USA Today bestselling collection of twenty-two full length fairy tale retellings is FREE on Kindle Unlimited! Does it get better than that?

Many of the books included are the first in a series, so there’s plenty more where that came from. Discover your new favourite author between the pages of this boxset and you won’t be running out of reading material for a long time…

Add it to your Goodreads shelf or grab the ebook on Amazon.

Girls of Might and Magic

Find your might. Discover your magic. 

This anthology is a collection of diverse YA fantasy tales, showcasing diverse characters and stories from #ownvoices authors. With twenty short stories by some of my favourite authors, there’s bound to be something for every fantasy lover.

Alice Ivinya’s story features a girl with a stutter and chronic muscle weakness, set in an Asian-inspired fantasy world! (Alice Ivinya features in no less than three of the anthologies I’ve sharing today because I adore her incredible words.)

Coming 22 June, you can preorder the ebook on Amazon now.

Enchanted Waters

Find out what really lies beneath the waves…

I couldn’t share the anthologies I’m most excited about without mentioning Enchanted Waters! My story, Daughter of the Selkie King will be featured in this collection of ten water-magic fantasy stories this summer.

With tales featuring every fantasy water creature you can imagine (and some you almost definitely can’t), from mermaids and kelpies, to sirens and selkies, you’re bound to find at least one story to fall deep in love with. Discover your new favourite author in our captivating collection of short fantasy stories.

You can preorder Enchanted Waters on Amazon now, and read it from 16 July! And add it to your Goodreads To-be-read shelf here.

Join the Enchanted Waters street team!

Hopefully I’ve helped you to build your TBR with a couple of those anthologies, but if you’d like to get your hands on a free ARC of Enchanted Waters in exchange for an honest review, keep reading…

Still with me? Great!

Click here to fill out the Google form and sign up to be on our street team.

When you become a member, you’ll get access to our private Facebook group and your free gift of two stories by authors from the anthology!

Once we reach our goal of 100 street team members, you’ll be entered into a giveaway to win ten ebooks and short stories from the authors. And if we hit 250 members, another huge giveaway will be announced, so invite your friends and let’s get to our goal!

Sign up to the street team!

Lyndsey

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Ways you can support your fave indie authors

If you’re here then you probably love reading, and I’m willing to bet you’re a fan of indie books. And wouldn’t you love it if your fave authors could write and publish more books for you to devour and adore?

Then you’re in luck, because I’m going to tell you some simple and easy ways that you can support independent authors, most of which won’t cost you a penny (although we do love it when you buy our books! And we enjoy paying for things with money that we’ve earned from our passion – it feels amazing!).

Ten ways to support an indie authorBuy a book for yourself or a friendIf you already own the ebook, why not buy the paperback or hardback as a gift for your bookish friend? Audio books are also becoming more popular with indies, and once you own the ebook the audio is usually only a few quid with Amazon! Write a reviewReviews are the single most effective way of supporting your favourite authors – indie or otherwise. Amazon starts to promote books in their own newsletters once they have over 50 reviews, and that really helps authors to be discovered by new readers. Even a one line review and a star rating is enough to make a difference, so next time you finish a book just head over to your favourite place to find new book recs and leave a short review.Share on social mediaPost a photo of your copy on Bookstagram, share the author’s cover reveal post on Facebook, tweet the link to your review, make a YouTube or TikTok video of your top five indie books. Basically, wherever you spend time online, tell your friends and followers about your latest reads.Suggest a book to your book clubHaven’t joined a book club yet? Why not start one and schedule the first three books to get you started, and then take suggestions from a different member each month. You could even have themes, like ‘indie book month’ and ‘debut author month’.Create fan artIf you love to draw or paint, why not recreate some of the characters and scenes from your favourite books and share your creations online? Write fanficGet on fanfiction.net or WattPad and write the happy ending (or steamy scenario) your fave characters deserve!Donate your copy to a charity or local free libraryWrite on a post it note why you loved it and pop it in one of those free library boxes you find in some towns, or drop it into a charity bin so someone else can discover their new favourite author – and you can help to raise some much needed charity funds at the same time. Preorder new releasesPreorders help authors to hit the bestsellers list on release day, which helps them to reach new readers and be promoted by Amazon. They also tell us what our readers want – 500 preorders on your new urban fantasy release? Make it a trilogy! Plot a spin-off series! Write novellas from the POV of side characters!Buy merch (and tell people what it’s from)If you love a mug or tote bag with a catchy slogan, check out your fave author’s website and see if they sell merchandise with quotes from their books. You could get all your Christmas shopping done in one place! Engage with them onlineFollow their social media accounts, like, comment and share their posts, join in with their giveaways and games, tell them you love their books! We love hearing from our readers and we really appreciate every message, every comment and share, and every post shouting about our books. Keep them coming!

So that’s ten pretty simple ways you can make your favourite authors happy and give them a reason to celebrate! And keep writing books you’ll love.

Tell me in the comments, who’s your favourite indie author? And what’s your favourite book by an indie author?

Lyndsey
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Writing rituals to get you in the mood

Writer friends – do you have a writing routine?

I struggle with routines as my life is a touch chaotic at this moment in time. Working full time, raising a very willful and somewhat maniacal toddler, forging a self-published author career and surviving through a global pandemic do not make for an easy environment to form new routines.

So instead of creating a strict, or even flexible, writing routine, I’ve taken to creating writing rituals instead. Ways to trick my brain into switching from mum, or wife, or employee mode, into writer mode.

My writing rituals

Here’s a little list of steps I take to prepare for a writing session.

Make a cup of tea (or coffee, or another beverage of your choice).Fill a small bowl with snacks (nuts, pretzels, chocolate, whatever you fancy) and either eat throughout my session or check emails and do prep until the bowl is empty, and then the writing MUST start.Light a scented candle (the scent doesn’t matter, but if you have one that reminds you of your current WIP, then all the better).Play music that creates a mood without being distracting (for me it’s folklore and evermore by Taylor Swift, every time)Mute my phone (set your In Case of Emergency contacts and make sure they can still reach you when in mute mode)Choose a word count or time goal and try to focus until I’ve reached itAllow breaks, allow my mind to wander, allow a drink and snack refill if requiredBe kind to myself if writing isn’t going well today, and be proud of myself if I hit my goal

That’s it. I don’t have a set time that I write, some days I’m a morning person, others (most others) I’m decidedly not. Some days I want to hit 1k words, other days 500 will absolutely do. Some days I can’t face writing at all, so I watch TV with my husband or read a short story and don’t beat myself up for needing a break after a long, stressful day.

What little writing rituals do you observe? Do you have a strict writing routine or more of a set of rituals to get you in the writing mood, like me?

Are you taking part in Camp Nano this April? I’m trying, as I always find NaNoWriMo gives me a motivation boost and I come out with more words than I usually would, but I’m being kind to myself and not making myself write every single day.

Good luck with your current WIP! Tell me about it in the comments.

Lyndsey

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Why changing your mind doesn’t make you a hypocrite

You’ve probably seen the “I was today years old when I learned” meme floating around the internet. It’s usually followed by some little-known or obscure fact of life, such as the best-before dates on beauty products (the little icon of a tub with a number on it represents how many months shelf-life the product has – I know, right! Mind = blown).

But when it comes to our opinions and beliefs – often founded on our parents’ and teachers’ own opinions and beliefs, as well as sometimes out-dated societal norms – it’s incredibly rare to hear an adult admit “I learned something new today and it changed my mind”.

It’s cool to be clever (and kind)

Is there an age at which the vast majority of our opinions have already been formed and we just stop taking in new information that could shape them? When does it stop being cool and start being embarrassing to completely change our viewpoint based on newly-learned info?

Stay open-minded and curious

Society loves putting us in boxes, forcing us into a grouping of people with similar thoughts and beliefs. Facebook is one of the worst places for it. If you’ve seen The Social Dilemma on Netflix you’ll know what I mean.

The social network listens to what we like, it absorbs the posts we comment on and share, the people we friend and follow, and the pages and groups we join. And then it creates an echo chamber especially for us, a hall of mirrors reflecting back what we already believe – distorting it slightly until we don’t know what’s fact and what’s fiction. But it’s too late, because we’re surrounded now, and nowhere is a challenging voice or a neutral commentator to be found.

Let’s normalise changing our minds when presented with new information.

A change could do some good

In the last twelve months, we’ve been through a lot. From George Floyd’s murder and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, to the Coronavirus pandemic and the rising abuse of the AAPI community, and the murder of Sarah Everard and the resulting #reclaimthenight protests. We’re tired of the systemic racism and misogyny that we’ve witnessed and experienced our entire lives. And it’s time to make a change.

Let’s face facts

It’s natural to feel defensive and push back when we hear something we don’t like or that shocks us, like the fact that 71% of women have been sexually harrassed, or that black women are 4 times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth, or that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45. But instead of digging our heels in and insisting it’s all fake news, let’s dig deeper. Let’s find out the facts, read up on the story behind the statistic and educate ourselves before forming an opinion.

Changing your mind doesn’t make you a hypocrite. It actually makes you a pretty awesome human. So don’t worry about being called ‘inconsistent’ or ‘gullible’ or ‘lacking conviction’. As they say, ‘the people who mind don’t matter, and the people who matter won’t mind’.

What’s the last thing you changed your mind on? I think mine was Caroline Flack after watching the documentary on her life and death. It’s a moving watch if you’re interested. I also highly recommend watching Roman Kemp’s docu on male suicide, it really opened my eyes to the mental health crisis among men and young boys in the UK. Heartbreaking but really important viewing.

Lyndsey

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Indie books on my reading list for 2021

Who doesn’t love a good TBR list? Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the books I plan to read over the rest of the year. If you’re a fellow fantasy fan, you’re in for a treat…

Feathers of Snow & Feathers of Blood by Alice IvinyaKingdom of Birds and Beasts series

How flipping gorgeous are those covers? I love covers with women in beautiful dresses – especially if they’re holding a weapon!

This series is an adaptation of the Goose Girl fairytale, and Ivinya puts such a unique twist on every fairytale she chooses to adapt, plus her characters are diverse and inclusive, bringing old traditional tales right up to date.

Find the Kingdom of Birds and Beasts series on Amazon

Blood and Promise & Chaos and Destiny by Miranda LynFae Rising series

The third and final installment of this stunning fae series is coming out very soon, so you and I will be able to binge read to our hearts’ content!

Miranda recently made the incredibly brave and admirable decision to change the title of book one, having built up a lot of exposure with the title Blood and Honor, after a fan contacted her to inform her of the terrible connotations behind that name. Something Miranda had been completely unaware of, and that she absolutely did not want her book to be associated with or to take lightly and potentially cause harm and offense.

I think Blood and Promise has an even better ring to it, and I can’t wait to jump into this series as soon as book three, Fate and Flame, is released!

Find the Fae Rising series on Amazon

Crystal, Rebel & Legacy by Darby CupidStarlatten series

Another set of eye-wateringly beautiful covers – I guess I’m a sucker for a good cover, but honestly who wouldn’t want these on their shelf? The Starlatten series is a contemporary sci-fi trilogy, and the final book just came out this week so it’s prime binge-reading material!

If you read and loved The Mirror Souls by Julia Scott, I can see this being your next must-read.

Find the Starlatten series on Amazon

Awakening Shadows and Whispering Shadows by Sydney HawthornThe Navarre Chronicles

Now, Whispering Shadows doesn’t actually come out until June, but Sydney just revealed the cover and I couldn’t not include it here beside it’s equally gorgeous sister.

The Navarre Chronicles is a high fantasy series with royalty, magic, a warrior princess and a demon king – basically everything I love!

Find Awakening Shadows on Amazon

Hopefully you’ve seen something on this list that takes your fancy, I love supporting fellow indie authors and would love to know if you buy any of these or add them to your TBR!

What’s a book your really looking forward to reading this year?

Lyndsey

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Why it’s OK to be bad at something new

I hate the term “overnight success”, don’t you? It’s never accurate, in fact statistically speaking, it takes around ten years for most of those people we deem “successful” to reach the point in their careers of being touted as an overnight success in the media.

That’s crazy, right? To have worked your arse off for a decade, grown your skills, built your brand and earned your success – only for it to be immediately reduced and belittled by the press who call it “overnight”, as though you hadn’t been killing it for years before you became a household name.

It not only completely disparages all the hard work of the successful individual, it also gives a completely false impression of achieving goals and getting recognition to those of us still reaching for that unreachable star. The concept of an overnight success can cause us to give up before we make it, because we start to believe that if it was meant for us – or worse, if we were “good enough” – then surely we would have made it by now?

But that just isn’t the case. If you want something, and you’re willing to work HARD for it, then there’s every chance you can achieve it. I’m obviously speaking from a place of privilege (as a white woman from a nuclear family with a parent who went to university before me), and I know that my experience isn’t everyone’s, but I want to believe that anyone can be who they want to be and do what they want to do. I want to live in a world where that is true, and I will fight alongside anyone who is working towards their big goal, whatever that may be.

How to be OK with sucking at something newRemember, there’s no such thing as an “overnight success”. Keep trying, keep aiming for your goal and don’t give up.Read more biographies and autobiographies about people you admire – you’ll soon realise they faced many of the same struggles as you on their journey towards success.Find your tribe – look for the people and groups online who are also working towards your same goal, open up to them and they’ll reassure you that the process is the same for every newbie (and hopefully they’ll encourage you to keep trying!).Get OK with being vulnerable. Share your attempts, admit when you fail – somebody somewhere is so inspired by you and your progress. Do it for the old you, the one who dared to dream and didn’t quite believe they could do it. You’re doing it!Remind yourself that you might fail one hundred times, but it only takes one time for you to succeed. Every single person who ever succeeded started as a beginner, overcame challenges, learned from failures, and eventually achieved their goal. One day, that person will be you.Try, fail, try again, fail better

I have failed many, many times in my life. I’ve never hit 50k words during NaNoWriMo, I entered Pitch Wars with my first manuscript and didn’t get in, I queried around 40 agents and got some pleasant responses but not even a single full request. I kept writing, kept rewriting, kept sharing my journey here on my blog and on Instagram with the incredible writing and reading community over there, and just over a year ago I made the bold decision to self publish. And I haven’t looked back.

I certainly haven’t achieved my version of overnight success yet, but that’s all part of the thrill. Where do you go once you’re considered “successful”? I guess it becomes a game of maintaining it and living to everyone else’s expectations of you, and that’s just not as much fun to me.

Keep trying, dear reader. Never stop trying.

Lyndsey

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Book trailers: love or loathe?

If there’s one thing that divides the bookish community more than any other, it’s book trailers.

OK, and love triangles, but book trailers are pretty controversial.

Personally, I love them. Nothing gets me more excited for a new book than a trailer with epic music, flashes of the characters in exciting scenarios, and gripping titles that give me just enough of the plot to really grab my attention.

One of my closest friends is brilliantly talented at creating and editing videos (she edits all my [frankly terrible] video snippets for my day job) and she made these absolutely gorgeous trailers for my debut novel, The Fair Queen, and my short story anthology, Enchanted Waters.

Sound on for an epic cinematic experience!

The Fair Queen book trailerEnchanted Waters book trailer

I honestly fangirl over my own stories watching these.

The first book trailer I think I ever saw was for Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, which is still one of my favourite series. It was captivating and lured me in, and sadly I thought it meant there was a movie in the works because I had never come across the concept of a book trailer before. Now I’m addicted to watching them – although they still make me wish every book would be turned into a film.

Have you read Nevernight by Jay Kristoff? It’s a really dark and bloody adult fantasy series inspired by Roman culture, with some of the most incredible world-building I’ve ever experienced. There are three suns so it is almost literally “nevernight”. Genius.

Anyway, I digress.

So, an actress named Piera Forde decided to film a series of shorts adapted from Nevernight and share them on her YouTube channel, and it is one of my favourite things. To have an actor love your book so much that they decide to fund their own serial adaptation of the story? Absolute author bucket list item right there.

(Piera actually has a short film of The Assassin’s Blade by S. J. Maas on her channel too – definitely worth a watch to see her play Celaena!)

If anyone feels like doing the same thing for The Fair Queen, let me know! I’m all for it.

Lyndsey

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What lies beneath the waves

I’m so excited to share the cover of Enchanted Waters, a collection of YA fantasy short stories coming this Summer!

If you love The Little Mermaid and Pirates of the Caribbean (but probably not Waterworld – remember that? Sorry Costner, it was rubbish), you’ll definitely find a story that’s perfect for you in this anthology.

My story Daughter of the Selkie King is a prequel tie in to The Fair Queen, following Delta, a girl living in the Ondine Kingdom and wrestling with some pretty relatable issues. Not least of which is the fact she lives surrounded by water and can’t actually swim.

She feels like she doesn’t quite fit in anywhere, her mother is keeping secrets that could change everything she’s ever known, and now a strange boy has appeared out of nowhere and he seems to know more about Delta than she knows herself.

With water-magic wielding Fair, selkie royalty and a whole lot of teenage angst, DotSK is a quick but intense read that will throw you into the deep end of the Fair Realm.

Available to preorder now for just $2.99 on Amazon Kindle, Enchanted Waters will be released on 16 July 2021 in both ebook and paperback, and will be fully illustrated by an incredibly talented illustrator!

Not only that, but all profits from sales of Enchanted Waters will go to support Oceana, an incredible charity working to clean the world’s oceans and protect marine life. So you’ll not only get a collection of fantastic stories by bestselling and up-and-coming indie authors, you’ll also be helping to save the world. What’s not to love!

What’s your favourite water-fantasy story? My mum wanted to name me Madison, after the mermaid in Splash, so that movie has a special place in my heart.

Happy reading lovely folk!

Lyndsey

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99p ebook sale ending soon!

It’s that time folks, The Fair Queen is 99p/c on Amazon Kindle until midnight!

If you’ve been thinking about buying it this is your moment.

Where are my Brooklyn 99 fans at?

Today is also the last day to vote in the Indie Fantasy Book of the Year Awards 2020, so if you haven’t already nipped over and given TFQ a quick vote then I’d absolutely love it if you did!

What’s going on?

All this month, I’ve been hosting a daily challenge over on Instagram that I creatively named #alphabetIGchallenge. Can you guess what the daily prompts are?

Today’s letter is W, so I’ll be over there chatting about word counts later and looking for some accountability to get the rewrite of book two, The Solitary King, finished by the end of April.

You can see all my previous posts too, here’s a little run down of what we’ve been talking about in Feb:

Awards

Burnout

Cast

Dystopian

Enchanted Waters

First drafts

Genres

Hope

Indie authors

Judgement

Kissing

Love triangles

Music

Naming characters

Onomatopoeia

Pastiche

Querying

Reviews

Self publishing

Traditional publishing

Unedited snippets

Vampires

Books for fantasy lovers

The other thing I’ve been shouting about online this week is the release of Enchanted Kingdoms, an incredible collection of more than 20 novel-length fairytale-inspired stories by a group of bestselling and award winning indie authors. It’s been at the top of the charts all week and even got a shout out from the fabulous Jennifer L. Armentrout!

It’s still 99c on Amazon Kindle, but only if you move quickly, because the price is going back up to $9.99 very soon!

March is National Reading Month in the US and the 4th is World Book Day, so next month will be full of reading and writing and adding to my already vertiginous TBR. I’m most looking forward to reading The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Mask Falling and A Court of Silver Flames. What are you hoping to read next?

Lyndsey

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