Daniel R. Marvello's Blog, page 4

The Druids of Mundia

I’m writing the final chapters of Vaetra Unleashed, book three of The Vaetra Chronicles. As I approach the conclusion of this three-and-a-half year writing challenge, I’m both disappointed to put my story world to rest (for a while, anyway) and excited about the idea of beginning a new project.

“Suburban druid in the snow“
Photo by Ann Fisher
License CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Vaetra Unleashed is, without question, the most detailed and complex of the trilogy. (I hope that turns out to be a good thing.) On...

Kir-magic–The Power behind L. Blankenship’s Disciple Series

I love learning about how other fantasy authors conceive and implement magic systems. Even though many of our systems have similar elements, I’m continually amazed by the variety that’s out there and the uniqueness of each approach. No two authors seem to have exactly the same take on magical spells or devices, or on the underlying force that drives them all.

When L. Blankenship announced her blog tour for her latest release, Disciple, Part IV, I jumped at the chance to host a stop on her tour...

The Historic Quarters of Prague by Tracy Falbe

I’m happy to be hosting fantasy author Tracy Falbe today for a stop on her Werewolves in the Renaissance Blog Tour. Tracy is touring her new release Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale, and she has graciously offered to share the setting for her new historical romantic fantasy, which is based on sixteenth-century Prague.

You can see a cover and book description for Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale at the end of this post along with links to buy. As a special gift to my readers...

The Winding Road of Story Development

I reached a major milestone on Vaetra Unleashed this week: I surpassed 50,000 words on the first draft. I’m still less than half done (about 40%), but I’m on a writing roll and the story is developing nicely.

The 50,000 word point is important to me because I’ve laid the groundwork for everything that will happen in the rest of the story. Which isn’t to say that everything has gone according to plan!

No story plan survives first contact with the characters

That’s a paraphrase of the old saying,...

How I Came Up with Titles for My Trilogy

When I started writing my fantasy trilogy, one of the first issues I had to wrangle with was what to title my books. I’ll admit I fretted about it for a while, because to me, the title is a big deal. The title is arguably one of the most critical pieces of book metadata. When readers tell others about my books, the title is probably how it will be remembered. That makes the title an important marketing tool.

At first, I wasn’t sure what to call the series, so I just started writing it using a...

About a Warrior–Guest Post by Juli D. Revezzo

I’d like to welcome Juli D. Revezzo back to The Vaetra Files today. Juli is a paranormal romance author I’ve had the pleasure of knowing since September, 2012. She is an enthusiastic participant in the Magic Appreciation Tour and has been kindly supportive of her fellow authors.

Juli is doing a blog tour to get the word out about her new release, Passion’s Sacred Dance. I enjoyed the last post Juli did for me, so I invited her to stop by again. For this stop on her tour, Juli is treating us to...

Automatically Publish Your Blog Posts to Facebook in 7 Easy Steps

Trying to keep up with all of the social networking platforms can be a challenge. One of the things I’ve done to ease the burden is to wire up my blog to some of my social networking accounts. Soon after I publish a new post on my blog, a link to the post automatically shows up in my Facebook and Goodreads timelines.

A friend recently asked about how to set up a blog feed for Facebook, so I offered to share the way I did it. That’s how this blog post came about.

In summary, the technique I used...

The Lure of Magic–Guest Post by Juli D. Revezzo

It has been almost exactly a year since Juli D. Revezzo joined the Magic Appreciation Tour with her book The Artist’s Inheritance. Since then I’ve traded comments with her on social media and watched her publish several more books, including House of Cards, Caitlin’s Book of Shadows, and now Passion’s Sacred Dance.

Juli is here today to share her thoughts on the magic of fantasy, which as any regular reader of this blog knows, is one of my favorite topics. You’ll also get a chance to read an...

The Lure of Magic–Guest Post by Juli D. Revezzo

It has been almost exactly a year since Juli D. Revezzo joined the Magic Appreciation Tour with her book The Artist’s Inheritance. Since then I’ve traded comments with her on social media and watched her publish several more books, including House of Cards, Caitlin’s Book of Shadows, and now Passion’s Sacred Dance.

Juli is here today to share her thoughts on the magic of fantasy, which as any regular reader of this blog knows, is one of my favorite topics. You’ll also get a chance to read an e...

Character Interview with L. Blankenship’s Sir Anders Bockmann

This week, I’m happy to present a character interview from L. Blankenship as part of her “Saints at War” blog tour. I met Louise in late 2011 through one of Rachel Harrie’s platform building campaigns, and was happy to have her join the Magic Appreciation Tour in late 2012. Louise has been busy publishing books in her Disciple series in all that time, being far more prolific than I am!

Please welcome L. Blankenship and her character interview with Sir Anders Bockmann from her Disciple series.

S...