Nicole MacDonald's Blog, page 4

Who makes the better villain? A woman or a man?

A friend and I had this conversation the other day and she suggested I post it on my blog for your thoughts *grin*Personally speaking, I think women make better villains. More conniving and better at getting in the hero’s head. Perhaps also it’s due to the view that women are more emotive, and thus expected to be empathetic—so that the view of them as the vicious monster who deliberately feeds on their victims torments, feels that much more sinuously evil.



Share your thoughts! I’d love to hear them 
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

Pin of the week!

So want this ; )
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

It’s not just as simple as writing a story…

With stories such as the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, or Amanda Hocking, or John Locke, many people seem convinced that writing is the new way to strike it rich. Just write a book (good or bad – doesn’t really matter), get an awesome cover and then ‘POOF’ you’ll be a best seller overnight. I’ve had a few emails of late from aspiring writers who seem convinced that a. I must be making HEAPS of dosh, and b.I must have a secret recipe and would I mind ever so much sharing it??Okay. Here it is ladies and gentleman, the guaranteed method of success *drumroll*
Yeah, sorry to burst anyone’s bubble – but there isn’t one. No, I’m not making HEAPS of dosh, but yes I am finally seeing monthly cheques from Amazon. Which has only taken four years of hard work and over 80,000 free downloads of my first novel. I would love, so very much, to be able to write fulltime, but at the current rate of sales I can honestly say it’s not likely for a very long time (and at least another 4 books). Even then, I can’t guarantee it. Sales are not a stable income. I wish that writing a good book was a shoo-in to success but I have read so many a-m-a-z-i-n-g indie books that are lost amongst the 1.6million plus ebooks available on Amazon.I very much understand the frustration of trying to get your book out there, trying to get it read. All I can say, is don’t stop trying. Do try thinking outside the box and make sure you keep writing!! Remember, some of the current ‘big sellers’ have actually been around for years and only now are getting noticed. Charlene Harris who writes the Sookie Stackhouse novels (that the T.V series True Blood is inspired from) has been a writer for 25 years. No overnight success there, but that’s the brilliance of books and ebooks; they don’t just vanish and you never know WHO might find them! Always support other indies and don’t give in to jealousy, it gets you nowhere—try to remember, there’s no such thing as competition when it comes to books. Just because someone reads the newest biggest bestseller of the moment doesn’t mean they won’t decide to read your book next.Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

Pin of the Week

Virginia Hankins - professional female knight, stunt rider, woman warrior, stunt horse trainer, and woman jouster. All I can say is - SUPREMELY COOL!!
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

Writing Young Adult – a first for me

Currently I’m working on three projects; the follow up ‘bridge’ book to the BirthRight Trilogy, a steampunk dystopian novel, and a young adult novel. As usually happens my focus varies from week to week and this week I’m really into the YA book. The protagonist is 15 and it’s an interesting experience, recalling and working through that age again. This isn’t like the current YA books, with love interests, love triangles, or massive adversities. It is fantasy, but I wanted a book that I could have related to as a 15 year old. Which makes it a bit different. I wasn’t like the ‘typical’ teenager portrayed in the media, and I’d suspect a lot of you are the same. I had a few friends, but not lots and only a couple of really close friends. I wasn’t interested in partying, and my parents wouldn’t let me anyway. I wasn’t interested in drinking (allergic to alcohol, when it’s a choice between breathing, or drinking a nasty tasting poison, breathing wins every time!!), and boys, well I just hadn’t reached that stage at 15. I knew of them, wasn’t particularly impressed with them ;pI loved animals, was fascinated in the occult (I think many teens do! *grin*) and was a right goof when it came to fashion or being cool. It put me firmly in the middle of the characters at school. Not cool enough, or rich enough, to be at the top, not dumb enough to be at the bottom, not smart enough to be a nerd and not quite alternative enough to be one of the hippy kids. I remember it meaning college (high school) was mainly awkward and frequently uncomfortable, but not to the extent that I hated it. I loved the library, liked the climbing ropes in the gym (where I could pretend I was a gymnast ;p) and loved my graphics class, even if the teacher gave me consistently low marks (yet when the tests where independently marked I did really well – go figure *grin*). Nothing particularly startling or out there.But the daydreams!Always, I was in another world and wishing to be me, just with a little something different. I didn’t need others to know what, I just needed that different thing for me. Who were you at high school? What bits do you remember most vividly?Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

Pin of the week!

This is one of those fabulously decadent looking recipes that I'll probably never get around to baking... but you never know! Click on the pic for the recipe, and have a great weekend everyone : )
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

The difficulty with ebooks… Do any other indies find themselves doing this?

I wrote my books for me, first. The fact that others enjoy them is a wonderful bonus and provides the inspiration to continue writing. So it’s not surprising, that I like to read my books.But…I can’t help wanting to change things!! Every. Single. Time. Nothing story-wise, but actual language/writing wise, there’s always a sentence to tweak, a word to delete, or a better way of phrasing something. I blame the ease of the ebook for this! When it was print and print only, you couldn’t continually update for little things. If your book was lucky enough to get a re-print, then and only then would you make changes. Now however you can do it literally overnight. It’s so hard but I know that at some point, unless it’s a genuine typo, I have to stop myself. I have to accept that book one will never be quite as good as book two, which in turn will never be quite as good as book three. Writers SHOULD improve with each subsequent book. Otherwise I’ll spend weeks re-working an already written, already reviewed, already loved book! And the really silly thing is that most readers wouldn’t even notice the difference! I certainly didn’t prior to learning all these new (and really f#&$%@# annoying at times) techniques. Now of course I can’t read any book without mentally ‘fixing’ things – things that don’t really need to be fixed *grin*.
Does anyone else get stuck in this loop?
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

For all writers out there - you want to watch this

Anne Rice on writing. Nuff said :)


Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

New thing! The Pin of the week!

Rather self explanatory, each week I'll post a pin I think's super awesome. An easy, fun, and brainless blog post - great for the Sat/Sun blog scroll through :)


And if  you click on the picture, it'll take you through to the very awesome blogspot that the pic is from!


Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble

The wonders of Pinterest (which I still refer to as Pin-interest)

Okay, so I know it’s been around for a while, but sometimes I take a while to catch on. Other times I simply refuse to acknowledge something because it’s too popular for my liking…. *hee* totally dorky I know!! Anyhoo I finally got on to pin-interest (yeah, I’m gonna keep calling it that, it makes sense in my head) and O-M-G
I NEVER want to leave it!
Just 5 mins more always ends up as 15mins more and Glenn’s even taken to closing the computer on me when I just can’t help myself. Pin-interest is my virtual sugar rush and I just love it! I’m one of those people who adores stacks of old magazines and can happily spend a rainy Sunday afternoon tucked up in the conservatory pulling out any pictures that take my fancy. Pin-interest is like that but on a whole other scale. Honestly, it’s the only reason I’d consider buying a tablet because it’d look cooler on one and be even funner (yeah, I just typed funner… forgive me ;p). Unlike my literal collage making, there is no glue or paper scraps involved with the online version and there are soooo many more pictures! I started with only two or three ‘boards’ (virtual collages) and now, well now I have rather a few more *cheesy grin*. I create boards for all manner of subjects, including my current WIP’s – it’s such a fantastic way of getting inspiration (if you can then pry yourself off the site and go write… working on that one).

Have you discovered it yet (*gulp* do you want to? I’m warning you, once you start pinning there’s no way back…) and if so what’s your favorite topic to look at? Does it make you hungry too? I’m very much in love with all the DIY and organizational ideas on it (and the nature pics, the funny pics, the pretty pics – okay you get the idea). If you love to pin share you pinner address/link and I’ll swing by to have a peek at your boards (and there’s another excuse to stay on it longer *mwahahaha*).Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available FREE at at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Kobo : Smashwords Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Barnes & Noble : Smashwords : iTunes US : iTunes UKFeel the Burn available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords : Kobo : iTunes US : iTunes UK : Barnes & Noble