Kate Bloomfield's Blog, page 5
February 14, 2013
Falling Ashes is here!
Hooray!Happy Valentines Day!
I have a present for you:
Falling Ashes (Book 3: The Fire Mage Trilogy)has been released 24 hours early. (I just couldn't wait!)
Get it here for $3.99
OR
Get the box set for $7.99
I have a present for you:
Falling Ashes (Book 3: The Fire Mage Trilogy)has been released 24 hours early. (I just couldn't wait!)
Get it here for $3.99
OR
Get the box set for $7.99
February 10, 2013
Countdown
4 days to go untilFalling Ashes(Book 3: The Fire Mage Trilogy)
February 4, 2013
BOOK BOX SET
FIRE MAGE TRILOGYDIGITAL DOWLOAD BOX SET
AVAILABLE FROM: 15TH FEBRUARY 2013
INCLUDES TWO FREE SHORT STORY PREQUELSJACK'S + RAEVEN'S INDIVIDUAL STORIES.
AVAILABLE FROM: 15TH FEBRUARY 2013
INCLUDES TWO FREE SHORT STORY PREQUELSJACK'S + RAEVEN'S INDIVIDUAL STORIES.
I FINISHED! OMG!
*SCREAMS*
I FINISHED IT. FINALLY. OH SWEET JESUS. I FINISHED THE 3RD BOOK IN THE TRILOGY.
106,000 WORDS.
500 PAGES.
I AM DEAD.I THOUGHT I WASN'T GOING TO MAKE IT*SOBS*
THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT.
I FINISHED IT. FINALLY. OH SWEET JESUS. I FINISHED THE 3RD BOOK IN THE TRILOGY.
106,000 WORDS.
500 PAGES.
I AM DEAD.I THOUGHT I WASN'T GOING TO MAKE IT*SOBS*
THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT.
February 1, 2013
Falling Ashes Update - 2nd Feb 2013
Current Length so far: 94,345 words
Amount of Pages so far: 440
Number of Chapters so far:32
Days until release date: 13 (15th February 2013)
Estimated Finish date: 3 days from now (5th fEB)*
Amount of Pages so far: 440
Number of Chapters so far:32
Days until release date: 13 (15th February 2013)
Estimated Finish date: 3 days from now (5th fEB)*
January 21, 2013
Falling Ashes (book #3) progress update - 22nd Jan
Okay, so I've reached my minimum word count of 80,000. However, the story still isn't finished. It's turning out longer than I anticipated. At the moment it stands at 84,000 words, and there is still more to go. (390 pages)At the moment, I'm still hoping to have the novel released by the 15th of February, but I'm getting a little shaky about it. I really want this book to be an amazing read, so I don't want to rush it for the sake of meeting a deadline. I know you will all understand if it is a little bit late.
January 10, 2013
Switched (Trylle) by Amanda Hocking REVIEW
Switched by Amanda Hocking Review: 1 starBAD BAD BAD I hate writing negative reviews, especially on books that are so popular, as I know I'll get a lot of hate for saying these things.
I decided to read Amanda Hocking as I've heard her story of 'rags to riches', which really inspires me.
I bought the kindle edition of this book, after seeing the paperback in stores. I thought I'd save money buying the digital edition, rather than the $9.99 paperback. Well, I was wrong, wasn't I? The kindle edition is more than the paperback. This is something that doesn't make sense to me. In my opinion, eBooks should cost FAR LESS that their paperback counterparts, as it costs nothing to distribute them. At least with the paperback I would have a pretty book cover to add to my collection, and honestly, the cover is the only reason I picked up this book in the first place.
That being said, I asked for a refund of this eBook after reading 50% of it, because I felt it was not worth the money, and I didn't want to continue reading. I wouldn't pay more than $2.99 for this book, and even that is a stretch. I've read self-published eBooks for 0.99 that are far better than this contrived piece of bollocks. Okay rant over. Now on to the actually story.
I thought the premise for this novel actually sounded interesting; babies being switched at birth with mythical creatures called trolls (trylle). It had the promise of a potentially good story. Too bad it isn't very good.
Synopsis [contains spoilers]
Our heroine Wendy is a rude, tantrum-throwing brat, who has had a hard life. Her mother tried to kill her when she was 6 years old, she's never fit in anywhere, never had friends, and doesn't like anybody. Her mother believes that Wendy is not her daughter, that she is some kind of evil demon.
Next, a guy named Finn is brought into the equation, and Wendy goes from hating his guts, to being incredibly attracted to him within a few pages. He is nothing but rude, and their relationship is superficial.
Finn is a hunter, and tells Wendy that she is a troll, and she believes him readily. Finn that takes Wendy away to her "true home" where she meets her birth mother, who is also extremely superficial. Wendy discovers that the Trylle swap babies with rich families, so their children can bring money to their community.
Honestly, this is where I stopped reading.
Now, as this is the only Amanda Hocking novel that I have read, I cannot say that this example of her work is typical among all of her novels.
I found 'switched' to be shallow, too fast paced, boring, predictable, expensive, and a waste of money.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure many people love this book. I am a big fan of YA fantasy, but this book just didn't do it for me. It might do it for you.
The writing style was immature, and sentences were choppy. There are so many books these days where "Girl finds out she is special and is taken away by handsome man". I'm getting a little sick of it.
There's a lot more I want to say about this book, but quite frankly, I think I've wasted enough time on it.
January 9, 2013
Falling Ashes (Book #3) Update 10th January
Current Length so far: 75,009 words
Amount of Pages so far: 349
Number of Chapters so far: 26
Days until release date: 36 (15th February 2013)
Total Word Count GOAL: 80,000*
Remaining Words to write: 4,991*
Daily word count goal: Write 500 words per day*
Estimated Finish date: 10 days from now (20th January)*
Time to Edit/refine: 21st Jan to 14th Feb*
Amount of Pages so far: 349
Number of Chapters so far: 26
Days until release date: 36 (15th February 2013)
Total Word Count GOAL: 80,000*
Remaining Words to write: 4,991*
Daily word count goal: Write 500 words per day*
Estimated Finish date: 10 days from now (20th January)*
Time to Edit/refine: 21st Jan to 14th Feb*
January 4, 2013
FROST ARCH in GERMAN
Frost Arch (Buch 1: Die Feuermagier Trilogie)(GERMAN EDITION) By Kate Bloomfield &Jan Schnegotzki
COMING SOON
COMING SOON
January 2, 2013
How to write a novel (in 2 months)
Okay, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert. I published my first novel 'Frost Arch' in February 2012. It took me 2 years (on and off) to finish the book, and another 2 years to publish it through amazon. Looking back, if I'd spent a couple of hours each day focusing on this book, I could have finished it within 7-8 months. It took 2 years because I kept getting distracted, didn't plan properly, got stuck, and gave up multiple times. Looking back, there is A LOT I would change about this book. (Whoops! Too late now!) However, here are a few techniques I implemented when writing my next novels.
My novel 'Passing as Elias' was published in March 2012. That's right. One month after I published Frost Arch. I'll use this novel as an example in the following steps.Click here to read the synopsis of the novel: LINK
How long did it take me to write Passing as Elias? 2 months. Word count: 50,000
I was able to complete a full length novel in 2 months without rushing. How? Planning.
Day 1-2: ConceptionAn idea is born. I knew I wanted to write about a lesbian in 18th century England. After I thought up my initial idea I began to write down plot-points, and major happenings in the story. For example, my plot points looked like this:Woman dresses as manfalls in love with another womantrue identity is revealed That's it. 3 plot points. You have a beginning that starts the story, the "problem/complication" in the middle, and an ending.
Day 3-4: Design
Start planning the series of events that will take place in your novel. You're going to need characters and sub-plots to make your story interesting.
Who is the character in question? Where does he/she work? What does he/she look like? Who is his/her love interest? What problems can arise from the decisions they make?
After asking myself these questions I realised that I needed a reason for my character to crossdress. So, after careful deliberation my story outline looked something like this:
Woman (Elizabeth) works as an apprentice at an apothecaryThe death of her employer/professor sets the story in motion. The Professor has left Elizabeth the Apothecary in his will Business turns sour with a female apothecary so Elizabeth dresses as a man to help business.
Day 5-6: Research
Now, I don't know much about 18th century England, apart from what I've seen in movies, so some research was in order. I learned quickly that women in the 1700's were not allowed to own property, so I had to alter my story to fit.
Elizabeth cannot inherit Apothecary, so she dresses as a man to obtain it.There. That's nice and neat, isn't it?
Apart from that, I looked into laws and customs of 18th century England, researching women's roles and traditions. I then started to shape my plot around that.
I learned that my character would be considered "strange" if she was not married by the time she reached her twenties. This was useful for a lot of dialogue between mother and daughter. I also found that couples would never be left alone, and always have a chaperone.
Day 7 onwards: Composition
Okay, now you've got your story outline in bullet-point format. You've researched the customs of the people/era you're writing about. (Not so important if you've made up your setting entirely). Now you need to break up these bullet-points into finer points. Let's say you had 10 bullet points. Break them up into 20, giving each one more detail and depth. Once you have done this you should be able to clearly see how your chapters will pan out. Think of the bullet points as chapters.
Once you've done this, you're pretty much ready to begin writing, and after only a week! You've got a fully planned story to go ahead and write!
Now, when I wrote 'Passing as Elias' I cheated a little bit, and I do not advise doing this unless you've REALLY got the whole thing planned.
Get ready for it ... I wrote the middle of the book first. Yup, that's right. I took the most interesting/fun bullet points and I wrote those chapters first. It was probably a silly thing to do, but it was super fun. I got to write all of the saucy, sexy, action packed fun bits first, without taking the long and tedious road to get there. Now, this was LARGELY part of the reason why I finished the book so fast: because I was enjoying it. I'd write pages upon pages every day, because I got to write all the good bits first. (I also wrote a majority of this book during work hours at my office job. I'd sneakily type a few paragraphs into an email and send it to myself) Shhhh.
So what happens when you've written all the best bits? Well, it's time to stitch them together, I guess. This is the hard part (if you do what I did) but I did find it got the work done quicker.
Those inbetween bits are called 'Filler'. Scenes/Conversations/Events that move the story along at an even pace without having one thing happen after another. If you don't have the filler then the book won't flow nicely, it'll be short, and be an absolute mess.
Filler is a good time for you to explore your characters and give them depth during their 'down time'. What does your character do on a Sunday afternoon? Do they have hobbies? Use this time to improve upon your characters relationships.
Some of my filler included the following:
A funeral (to enhance the characters important relationship with the deceased). A wedding (to enhance her sense of entrapment)Time at a bar (to study the way males behave)Okay, so now you've written the exciting bits AND the parts in between. Now what? Is your novel finished? No way.
After the 2 months: Editing/Proofreading/Formatting
Okay, you've finished your masterpiece, but now you need to fix it. No doubt your book is riddled with mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, and flaws is continuity. (Unless you're some kind of god.) This is the time to check your work and add/edit/delete things you aren't happy with. An initial edit is always recommended before sending your work to a professional to clean it up.
But of course, a professional is highly recommended. They can be a little pricey, however, ranging from 0.004c per word, to as much as 0.02c per word. (That's $1000 for a 50,000 word novel. Most self published writers don't have that kind of money lying around. Right?)
Get some BETA readers
Feedback is always important before you start distributing/selling your book on the internet. Get some friends to read over your work and provide honest feedback. Hopefully they'll be honest and tell you what they liked, and didn't like about the book. Now, I know your friends aren't as much of a genius as you, but trust them. They are the general public. What might be clear and concise to you, may actually be confusing to one of a lesser mind. ;)
See that you change some things based on their opinions. Hard, I know. After all, what do they know?
Traditional or Digital: The Final Leap
Now is the time to decide which path you wish to distribute your masterpiece. Will you send hundreds of letters to agents/publishing houses, or take the self publishing path like so many others before you? I chose to self publish through Amazon, with good results. I am now working as a full-time writer. (Although I'm still poor.)
The Amazon KDP Select program is really simple to use. All you really need to do is format your document to their specifications, and upload it to the site. They do the rest. You'll have your book for sale within 24 hours. Crazy, right?
It's really a matter of preference, and luck if you choose the traditional method of publishing.
Ebooks are becoming increasingly popular. They're cheap, instant, easy to download, and there are MILLIONS of them. But this is also why it is so hard to get noticed. There are hundreds of thousands of authors out there, fighting for attention. It is your job to market your book as hard as you can, get an amazing book cover. (See my blog 'How to design a best-selling book cover' here: LINK) and stir up as much interest as you can. Get twitter, Facebook, a blog, Tumblr, and any other social media you can think of.
PLUG AWAY.
My novel 'Passing as Elias' was published in March 2012. That's right. One month after I published Frost Arch. I'll use this novel as an example in the following steps.Click here to read the synopsis of the novel: LINK
How long did it take me to write Passing as Elias? 2 months. Word count: 50,000
I was able to complete a full length novel in 2 months without rushing. How? Planning.
Day 1-2: ConceptionAn idea is born. I knew I wanted to write about a lesbian in 18th century England. After I thought up my initial idea I began to write down plot-points, and major happenings in the story. For example, my plot points looked like this:Woman dresses as manfalls in love with another womantrue identity is revealed That's it. 3 plot points. You have a beginning that starts the story, the "problem/complication" in the middle, and an ending.
Day 3-4: Design
Start planning the series of events that will take place in your novel. You're going to need characters and sub-plots to make your story interesting.
Who is the character in question? Where does he/she work? What does he/she look like? Who is his/her love interest? What problems can arise from the decisions they make?
After asking myself these questions I realised that I needed a reason for my character to crossdress. So, after careful deliberation my story outline looked something like this:
Woman (Elizabeth) works as an apprentice at an apothecaryThe death of her employer/professor sets the story in motion. The Professor has left Elizabeth the Apothecary in his will Business turns sour with a female apothecary so Elizabeth dresses as a man to help business.
Day 5-6: Research
Now, I don't know much about 18th century England, apart from what I've seen in movies, so some research was in order. I learned quickly that women in the 1700's were not allowed to own property, so I had to alter my story to fit.
Elizabeth cannot inherit Apothecary, so she dresses as a man to obtain it.There. That's nice and neat, isn't it?
Apart from that, I looked into laws and customs of 18th century England, researching women's roles and traditions. I then started to shape my plot around that.
I learned that my character would be considered "strange" if she was not married by the time she reached her twenties. This was useful for a lot of dialogue between mother and daughter. I also found that couples would never be left alone, and always have a chaperone.
Day 7 onwards: Composition
Okay, now you've got your story outline in bullet-point format. You've researched the customs of the people/era you're writing about. (Not so important if you've made up your setting entirely). Now you need to break up these bullet-points into finer points. Let's say you had 10 bullet points. Break them up into 20, giving each one more detail and depth. Once you have done this you should be able to clearly see how your chapters will pan out. Think of the bullet points as chapters.
Once you've done this, you're pretty much ready to begin writing, and after only a week! You've got a fully planned story to go ahead and write!
Now, when I wrote 'Passing as Elias' I cheated a little bit, and I do not advise doing this unless you've REALLY got the whole thing planned.
Get ready for it ... I wrote the middle of the book first. Yup, that's right. I took the most interesting/fun bullet points and I wrote those chapters first. It was probably a silly thing to do, but it was super fun. I got to write all of the saucy, sexy, action packed fun bits first, without taking the long and tedious road to get there. Now, this was LARGELY part of the reason why I finished the book so fast: because I was enjoying it. I'd write pages upon pages every day, because I got to write all the good bits first. (I also wrote a majority of this book during work hours at my office job. I'd sneakily type a few paragraphs into an email and send it to myself) Shhhh.
So what happens when you've written all the best bits? Well, it's time to stitch them together, I guess. This is the hard part (if you do what I did) but I did find it got the work done quicker.
Those inbetween bits are called 'Filler'. Scenes/Conversations/Events that move the story along at an even pace without having one thing happen after another. If you don't have the filler then the book won't flow nicely, it'll be short, and be an absolute mess.
Filler is a good time for you to explore your characters and give them depth during their 'down time'. What does your character do on a Sunday afternoon? Do they have hobbies? Use this time to improve upon your characters relationships.
Some of my filler included the following:
A funeral (to enhance the characters important relationship with the deceased). A wedding (to enhance her sense of entrapment)Time at a bar (to study the way males behave)Okay, so now you've written the exciting bits AND the parts in between. Now what? Is your novel finished? No way.
After the 2 months: Editing/Proofreading/Formatting
Okay, you've finished your masterpiece, but now you need to fix it. No doubt your book is riddled with mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, and flaws is continuity. (Unless you're some kind of god.) This is the time to check your work and add/edit/delete things you aren't happy with. An initial edit is always recommended before sending your work to a professional to clean it up.
But of course, a professional is highly recommended. They can be a little pricey, however, ranging from 0.004c per word, to as much as 0.02c per word. (That's $1000 for a 50,000 word novel. Most self published writers don't have that kind of money lying around. Right?)
Get some BETA readers
Feedback is always important before you start distributing/selling your book on the internet. Get some friends to read over your work and provide honest feedback. Hopefully they'll be honest and tell you what they liked, and didn't like about the book. Now, I know your friends aren't as much of a genius as you, but trust them. They are the general public. What might be clear and concise to you, may actually be confusing to one of a lesser mind. ;)
See that you change some things based on their opinions. Hard, I know. After all, what do they know?
Traditional or Digital: The Final Leap
Now is the time to decide which path you wish to distribute your masterpiece. Will you send hundreds of letters to agents/publishing houses, or take the self publishing path like so many others before you? I chose to self publish through Amazon, with good results. I am now working as a full-time writer. (Although I'm still poor.)
The Amazon KDP Select program is really simple to use. All you really need to do is format your document to their specifications, and upload it to the site. They do the rest. You'll have your book for sale within 24 hours. Crazy, right?
It's really a matter of preference, and luck if you choose the traditional method of publishing.
Ebooks are becoming increasingly popular. They're cheap, instant, easy to download, and there are MILLIONS of them. But this is also why it is so hard to get noticed. There are hundreds of thousands of authors out there, fighting for attention. It is your job to market your book as hard as you can, get an amazing book cover. (See my blog 'How to design a best-selling book cover' here: LINK) and stir up as much interest as you can. Get twitter, Facebook, a blog, Tumblr, and any other social media you can think of.
PLUG AWAY.
