Daniel R. Marvello's Blog, page 5

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....

The Women of the Vaetra Chronicles

One of my goals with the Vaetra Chronicles is to portray the primary female characters as strong, intelligent, and capable people. You won’t find any “shrinking violets” among my main characters, but you also won’t find giant Amazon women dressed in “bikini armor.” My own experience has shown me that the real world includes plenty of strong women, so there’s no need to invent cartoon characters.

Hopefully, readers will agree that I’ve reached my goal with the women who get the most “air time”...

Experiments in E-book Design

My wife received a Kindle 2 as a gift a couple of years ago. She gave it a try for a while, but eventually went back to reading print books. When she let me borrow the device, I was instantly hooked on the experience. I still read print books occasionally, but e-books have become my preferred format.

When the time came to publish my first fiction novel a couple of years ago, my e-reading experience helped me make the decision to format my own e-books rather than outsource the task. I saw so m...

“Vaetra Untrained” Is Now Available!

Vaetra Untrained is here at last! If you have been looking forward to book two of The Vaetra Chronicles, your wait is over.

Here’s the synopsis:

In volume two of the Vaetra Chronicles, former innkeeper Jaylan Forester follows lovely sorceress Sulana Delano to the Archives College of Sorcery where he learns to use the magical power of vaetra. While Jaylan adjusts to life at the largest sorcerer sanctuary in the empire, Sulana investigates the clues left behind by their mutual enemy Paeter Thoron...

“Vaetra Untrained” Is Now Available!

Vaetra Untrained is here at last! If you have been looking forward to book two of The Vaetra Chronicles, your wait is over.

Here’s the synopsis:

In volume two of the Vaetra Chronicles, former innkeeper Jaylan Forester follows lovely sorceress Sulana Delano to the Archives College of Sorcery where he learns to use the magical power of vaetra. While Jaylan adjusts to life at the largest sorcerer sanctuary in the empire, Sulana investigates the clues left behind by their mutual enemy Paeter Tho...

Revision is my best writing teacher (Beta Lessons 6)

Power Of Light by Nat Sakunworarat
Revision is a path of illumination
for the story as well as for the writer within.

Before I started writing fiction, I picked up a few books on the subject to learn what was involved. The books were inspirational, but I quickly understood that the only way I was truly going to learn to write fiction was to start writing.

Once I did start writing, specific questions and problems came up. My writing library expanded as I went in search of answers and solut...

Staurolite Release Tour Interview with Marsha A. Moore

I'm honored to be taking part in the Staurolite Release Tour with magical fantasy author Marsha A. Moore. Staurolite is the fourth volume of Marsha’s Enchanted Bookstore Legends series, and it looks to be an exciting read.

Marsha has been a member of the Magic Appreciation Tour for over a year now, and I sincerely appreciate how energetic and generous she has been with the other authors on the tour. I’m grateful to have this chance to return the favor.

For this stop on Marsha’s tour, she agre...

Cover Reveal for Vaetra Untrained

Earlier this week, my graphic designer gave me the news that the cover proof for my next release, Vaetra Untrained, is ready for final review. I’m not much for happy dances, but this moment was an exception. Having a cover brings me one step closer to making my goal of releasing the second book of The Vaetra Chronicles by June 1.

I got deeply involved in the cover design for both of my books. I had a clear concept in mind for Vaetra Unveiled, so that one came together quickly. But for Vaetra...

A.E. Marling on Writing Action Scenes

I’m pleased to present fellow Magic Appreciation Tour author A.E. Marling for a stop on his “Gravity’s Revenge: Kickstarter Tour with a Vengeance” blog tour.

A.E. Marling is the author of two titles in the captivating Enchantress Hiresha series (Brood of Bones and Fox’s Bride) as well as a Young Adult title, The Gown of Shadow and Flame. The subject of his tour, Gravity’s Revenge, is the latest addition to the Enchantress Hiresha series. You can learn more about the Kickstarter campaign and e...

Scrivener: My New Writing Tool

Since about 2006 I’ve been putting all of my writing projects into a software program called IdeaWeaver. I used IdeaWeaver as a note repository, personal knowledge base, and first drafting tool. It helped my wife and me write many articles and several non-fiction books. I loved working in IdeaWeaver rather than a word processor like Microsoft Word because it let me write content in chunks and organize them with topics, categories, and an outline. It totally got out of my way when it came to w...