Nicole MacDonald's Blog, page 8

The delivery that made me *squee*!

I had to do a brief blog post about this. I ordered a bunch of books from Book Depository, including one I've lusted after for years. What book is that?Dinotopia.Not quite what you expected *grin*, huh? I read Dinotopia nearly 20 years ago (and yes, I feel old now ;p) and fell utterly in love with it. I desperately wanted a copy but in NZ they were $40-$60 new and I could never find a copy in the stores when I finally had the cash saved up for it. That beautiful, glorious book is actually responsible for the Griffons in my book! It's so funny where inspiration comes from and I thought I might enlighten you guys on where some of my other ideas came from.Sasha and Nesha.These were the names of two wolves a character on a cartoon show used to have. I watched the show as a littlie. It stuck absolutely in my mind and I ALWAYS wanted two 'wolves' when I grew up (I ended up with two fur critters, Sable and the late Otis *grin*). This character (a man) also had a really neat weapon! Throwing stars that returned to his sleeve. So that cartoon gave me the name Nesha, inspired the name Loushka, and I borrowed his sleeve idea (couldn't resist, I always wanted it *hee*).The dragons and their ability to 'leap'.Nnelg is a throwback from my, My Little Pony days (anyone remember little Spike? I always liked him) and the teleporting idea was from the Unicorn ponies and the way they 'winked' in and out. I was so utterly obsessed with that show as a kid. I used to insist on my dad watching the episodes with me *hee*. I don't really like the new version they have out now… I'll have to hunt down an original version on DVD at some point. I really wish I'd kept some of the ponies I had. Especially my super pretty flutter pony. Ahh nostalgia.The idea of the big dragons and the lack of fire, well that just seemed sensible to me. If you can explain such thoughts as sensible ;p Also, Sito is directly inspired by my beautiful staffy Otis (reverse the name and what-do-you get…) and his personality, which was very larger than life (and cuddly!).So why Griffons?Eagles and lions are some of my favorite creatures. I am a Leo and that's always made the lion special to me. Eagles were the first animal I got really good at drawing and I think it must have been due to the documentaries my family was watching at the time. Every week on Sunday arvo/night there was a National Geographic documentary on the T.V and that cemented both mine and my brother's love of animals. From a young age my dream jobs varied from vet, to zoologist, to biologist, to paleontologist. Animals, extinct and current, are something that always fascinates me. Dinotopia presented dinosaurs in such an unusual and friendly light that it had me obsessing over the concepts for months. So when I was originally daydreaming while watching a storm gather over the Wellington harbor and the five Griffons landed around the four heroines in my daydream, it was totally natural. I could see them in their absolute glory. Hard, muscular wings with thick, wild manes and strong beaks and talons. The idea of communicating with them is very 'Dinotopian' too. They were such a clear, invigorating concept that it really is those five gorgeous characters that inspired me to actually put fingers to keys and begin typing what would eventually be, The Arrival.
Anyway, enough blabbing. I better get back into drafting.
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available at at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)

Random post - evil LOL cats *hee*

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And a quick note to let you all know that The Arrival will be coming off the free list in the next few weeks (already done at Smashwords but I have no idea how long that'll take to filter down to Amazon). So if you've been meaning to recommend it to anyone or download it, now would be the time : )



Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available at at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)

The shift in perspective

       So many views       Which one to chooseDiversity is blissButWhat happens, when suddenly you clickJust this viewAnd this is whyThe only wayUntil you dieIs that bad?I can't decideI know the way, remember them allThe massive heights and painful fallsIt is still meNo matter the formBut that part is goneIt's time to mournAnd once that's doneThe sun will riseThe phoenix renewsWith every lifeThe clarity is painfulBut I knowThe freedom is vast
Be careful what you wish for

Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available free at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)

I am still here! I'm just frantically drafting

Okay so I'm not doing so hot on that list I posted the other week… Sword fighting has fallen to the wayside as I need all the time I can get as I try to get the first draft done this month. So you won't be hearing from me much - though that said, I do love to hear from you guys so feel free to send notes/messages as usual, I just might not be as quick to respond. I have finished the draft for the new version of the first two chapters in The Arrival and hopefully I'll start hearing back from the beta-readers as to their thoughts, so that's one thing off the list! Now if the weather will just cooperate a little I might get out for my early runs (120km winds Monday morning and torrential rain and big gusts today = no runs. Even Sable wasn't interested ;p) and then at least I'll be a little on track ;pTake care all!Nic The Arrival, available free at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)

Introducing Sabyn

Many thanks to Wicked Wahine for reminding me I'd forgot poor Sab! I had better remedy that *grin*
Sabyn is twenty seven years old and a member of the Griffon Guard. He rides a beautiful female griffon named Tomiar, with dark brown fur and lovely green undertones (inspired by the tui bird we have here in NZ). Sabyn is the oldest of his siblings and has two, currently boy crazy, sisters (twins). Alek is his cousin and they grew up together so in many ways are like brothers. There has always been a bit of rivalry between the two of them but they always, always have each others back. Alek quickly grew taller than Sabyn which irked him greatly as a teenager, until he linked with Tomiar and then those extra two inches Alek had on him didn't matter any more. Sabyn's household is quite female dominated, with his grandmother, mother and sisters. His father died a few years back so Sabyn is now the breadwinner for the family, though his sisters are looking forward to working as soon as they finish their schooling.
Due to being Alek's cousin (Alek's mother's side) Sabyn has certain responsibilities to Elion and it makes him a very eligible bachelor. He is far from unfortunate looking; with light blond hair long enough to just brush his shoulders which he wears tied back, icy blue eyes and a muscular physique due to the nature of his role. Women often vie for his attention and he has had several romances of a serious nature but none of the women were 'the one'. Having grown up in such a female environment he has some particular ideas as to the perfect match for him. Of course, life tends to throw you something quite unexpected as soon as you decide something like that! (Trust me, I know!!). Sabyn is pretty easy going most the time, tending to deal with things as they come and he prefers not to over plan or think things. Nothing much shocks him now after twelve years serving with the Griffon Guard.
Ideas for Sabyn - I'm a little stuck, so feel free to help me out. An obvious choice was Alex Skarsgard from True Blood.








Or, the guy from Lost, Josh Holloway 




















Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available free at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)

Setting the bar high - my dream worthy goals!

I'm sure many of you are familiar with setting your personal bar high. Then once you achieve it, raising it again. It's how I personally achieve things. It starts little, like - 'I want to sell 100 books a month' and then tends to leap waaayy higher once I achieve that first goal that already seemed pretty darn exciting (now it's, 'I want to sell 100 books a day ' *grin*).For me, constantly focusing on what seems to be an excessively high goal keeps my momentum up. I'm sure for others it might be frustrating or depressing, but personally speaking it keeps me chomping at the bit. To do better and achieve more.
I don't do this in all aspects of my life, that'd be fairly exhausting, but for certain areas it keeps me excelling (this is excelling against myself). Writing, reading, exercising, learning and trying new things, are all areas that I keep this standard in.It's what gets my lazy bum out of bed at 4.30am for a run with my furry critter and keeps me in relatively good shape. Or what inspires me to read a non-fiction book (latest was on Catherine the Great - a fascinating figure in history) instead of just reading for escapism. It's also what helps to keep me shrugging off bad reviews and annoying things like internet piracy.Because my very first goal in writing was to write for me, and me alone. If I love it, then I'm happy. I don't need others to love it to make my life complete but in the same token, it's damn nice to have people as in love with the story as I am!
I guess the sales goal seems a bit hypocritical with my previous statement but the number of books sold is really the only tracking device I have. Worrying too much about things like rankings, which while important, aren't the end of the world. You do need to remember that there are new books added to Amazon every single minute and that a fair whack of the books are non-fiction. It's the same with free books and their rankings. Because of the constantly changing list of free-books even Amazon doesn't give a total number of free books at any given time. And with paid books the best Amazon can do is say it's currently 1,000,000+. So number of books sold/downloaded is an easy way for me personally to set the bar.
What are my new goals?To get Awakening up to 100 books bought a day (this is just on Amazon.com - I'm not that devoted at watching the rankings everywhere *lol*)To have the first draft of Feel the Burn written by the end of May (ARRRGGH! SCARY!)To convince Peter Jackson to turn the trilogy into a trilogy of movies (too high? Nahh don't be silly ;p)To get my blog to an easy-to-read format using the fabulous Laura Barnes suggestions.To read a variety of fiction books to see different styles of writing.To get my butt to the 'try-out' day of archery next Sunday (it has been on the list for a while ;p) so I can finally see what it's like for descriptive purposes.To get to sword-fighting practice every week in a month (at the moment it's every other week *grin*)To get a bit more of the sequel to a Wet & Wild night written.To get to full push-ups in my work-outs instead of just the girly ones (this has been a long term goal… I go all wobbly after 10 normal ones *hee*)To work on getting the first two books into paperback (though this does involve prying a smitten Trish away from her new grandbaby… maybe I'll give this one a couple of months ;p Congrats to Trish and family!)And to stop procrastinating and get back to writing…Whoops! I'll chat to you all later; the muses are demanding my attention.
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available free at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)

Gahhgh! Flabelagook! Pfftttttttt…

I hate drafting.*sigh* Actually I do love it too… I'm sitting here with my best scrunched upface, lips twisted as I scowl at the computer screen while I attempt to hackout the first draft of Feel the Burn.Does writing anovel ever get easier?NO!The only thingthat improves is that you know you CAN do it, because you've (in my case) doneit twice before.But right at themoment I don't care (and that is wailed in a long, drawn out breath andfinished with a damn good pout and crossed arms). I want thisgod-awful-freaking-horrible first draft DONE AND DUSTED!Seriously, evenyou die hard fans of the BirthRight Trilogy wouldn't want to read the currentmess of a manuscript. It's just SO wrong!And therein liesthe major issue I have with first drafts.They are awful.You are not tofix them until they are done.This means youhave to keep re-reading their awfulness while a big knot of frustrationdevelops between your shoulder blades and you have the irrational desire tohurl your computer out the window and run screaming manically from the room.*sigh*Such is the joyof writing ;pOf course, oncethis part is done and I get to fully re-write it, I'll love it! For about aweek. Then this will be a 'rinse & repeat' process until the final gleamingproduct. Ahh, such fun - why did I start with this crackbrained hobby ofwriting?? Oh right.Because I loveit. *hee*Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available for free right here on this blog!Awakeningon Amazon or UKAmazon or in Epub format right here on my blog (the bright yellow buttonson left!)

A fascinating deception - ways to NOT improve your sales

I was potteringaround some indie ebooks on Amazon the other day and came across a forum titledalong the lines of 'Success, reached the top 100, many thanks to readers'. No,I'm not giving you the author's name ;p
Anyhoo, when Ispotted that I clicked on it and studied the author's name but it didn't ringany bells. I do tend to glance over the top 100 in kindle at least every othermonth so I was surprised and curious as the name was so unfamiliar to me, so Iwent and looked up this author's books. She has four novels up and in the blurbfor each novel refers to herself as a 'top selling Amazon author'. Curiouslyenough, none of her books when I looked at them were even in the top 300,000 onthe kindle rankings. Am I right then, do you think, in deducing this is a ployto convince future readers of her worth?
I mean, I supposeshe very possibly could have been in the top 100 at some point, but I would besurprised if her books had sunk that quickly (they've been up less than a year).From what I see, most that reach the top 100 in Amazon can at least keep below100,000 on the rankings. Which is really pretty damn good when you considerthat Amazon now has over (yes, OVER) 1 million ebooks on it.Wow. That's a lotof ebooks to look at!
Anyway, back tothe topic at hand. I feel for any brand spanking new authors out there becauseit isn't easy to get noticed, yet just to frustrate there are enough 'success'stories of newbies who really have struck it lucky. Whether by writingspecifically to appeal to a current market taste or having the right personread it at the right time, these 'instant success' stories can be very hard onthe new indie author. But I would suggest that declaring yourself a 'top seller'if you aren't, is a risky business ploy.Remember thosesuper scary sleuths on the Amazon kindle forums I've mentioned before? This isthe sort of thing they love. And itdoes result in the said author being crucified.If you want totout your book to others and in the heat of the moment call it a best seller inthe sense of 'it will be', hey that's your agenda and without it being writtendown there's no one to really prove you said it. But writing it on your bookdescriptions on the public sites where you sell them is risky when you havenothing to back it up. Also, it does come across as dishonest. I'll happilypurchase a book regardless of its ranking as long as it looks like a good read,but if it appears to be deliberately trying to fool a future reader intopurchasing it, that author will be added to my personal black list.
What are yourthoughts on this? Have you seen any practices like this? And no title or authornames please ; )And don't forget to vote your favorite cuss (the vote panel top right)
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available for free right here on this blog!Awakeningon Amazon or UKAmazon or in Epub format right here on my blog (the bright yellow buttonson left!)

Characters of the BirthRight Trilogy - Rumal

I have toconfess, I have a soft spot for Rumal. Okay, so I have soft spots for many ofthe characters I create *grin* but Rumal is the guy that when he holds you eyefor a little too long you promptly turn into a silly giggling schoolgirl. He'snaturally very charming and not in a sleazy way. As the oldest of his siblingsand being the heir to the Br'Laan estate on Delanta, he has been very fortunatein life. This is helpful, because a genetic trait he received from hisGrandfather does make some on Gar'nyse consider him as a serious threat. Rumalis what is considered to be a 'male' syren.On Gar'nyse allsyrens are female and when they come to breeding age they set out to find somehapless male humanoid creature to mate with. During mating, at the peak oftheir energy rise, they release their scream which usually kills the male. Onthe odd occasion that it doesn't, the syren energy becomes merged with themale's own life energy, forever altering his genetic makeup. That gene can bepassed on to any male offspring he might have.Rumal'sGrandfather survived an encounter with a syren and Rumal inherited the gene.Consequently he has the dark gold eyes of a syren and the ability to controlothers with both his eyes and voice. Not surprisingly 'male' syrens areregarded by others with great suspicion and there have been instances over thecenturies of male syrens using their abilities in far less than reputable ways.These abilitiesthat Rumal has make him a vital part of the Griffon Guard and he has saved alltheir hides on more than one occasion. Rumal originally linked with a femalegriffon named Ofelaan and they were together for many years before Elenasummoned them to become part of the Griffon Guard. Not long after that Ofelaanwas tragically murdered by Jenviet and her brother Diantew. To have a linksevered in such a manner is utterly devastating and Rumal was absent for manymonths after her death. Then, unexpectedly, he heard the call of a griffon.With Gredel and Phroma, Rumal set out for a tiny island in the Delos Seato find the griffon whose call was so loud. When they arrived they found afemale griffon distraught, hunting for her young pup who'd disappeared aftertelling another griffon pup that he was 'off to find his friend'.It was an anxiousride back to the mainland and when they arrived in Port there was a messagefrom Elena waiting for them. The young pup had arrived at the castle a dayafter they'd left it. That young pup is now a big adolescent griffon with aslowly filling out mane and beautiful gold under color to his light tan fur.His name is Kerak.
Ideas for playingRumal? At the moment I have Tyrese Gibson in mind - what do you think, anysuggestions?  And don't forgetto vote on the Cuss poll (top right!) the winner gets their pick from myslideshow.Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available for free right here on this blog!Awakeningon Amazon or UKAmazon or in Epub format right here on my blog (the bright yellow buttonson left!)

A decent cuss

 Okay, I need help here. I'm pretty bad at cussing. That's not to say I do it a lot (I don't), it's just that when I do it's not particularly original and I tend to simply repeat it with gradually increasing vehemence/shock/horror etc. You get the idea *grin*. I thought I might ask you guys (cause you're such a dodgy bunch ;p) and see if anyone has any particularly different and/or amusing cussing lines. In fact, I'm thinking this'll make a fun competition!The prize?Your choice of e-book from my slide show above. I'll gift the winner that book in whatever e-format you require.What you need for a chance to win!An original, ideally amusing, cuss that you don't mind being potentially poached. If you have one you love that's all yours that you DON'T want to see elsewhere then don't enter it in this. The ideal cuss would be relatively succinct and as nonsensical as you like. Here are a couple of ideas to get you going.'Holy suspender belt batman!''Son of a biscuit!''Pickle farts!'But honestly, the more ridiculous and easy to say, the better. Even if it's getting a 'normal' cuss line very, very wrong (as sometimes happens when you think you overhear something *grin*).So each cuss is a chance to win and if you tweet/facebook/blog about this silly little comp, include me in it so I can see and I'll give you another chance to win. Make sure to peruse the books above and see which you'd like!Oh, and do you have an ebook you'd like added to my slideshow? Get in touch, either via the comments or my contact form JTake care all!Nic The Arrival, available for free right here on this blog!Awakening on Amazon or UK Amazon or in Epub format right here on my blog (the bright yellow buttons on left!)