Ruth Ellen Parlour's Blog, page 13

Earth Angel Deleted Scene 09

We join Viper in Chapter 13 – Training – where she is contemplating the task ahead.  I decided to cut this as I felt it was unnecessary filler. No spoilers. Enjoy!

*Warning. Scenes were deleted before the final edits and may contain errors and inconsistencies.*

Commander Viper sat in the office the prison staff had allocated her. The room was small and no decoration dared show itself on the sandy walls. One window sat behind her, the rusty black bars ran vertically over an icy windowpane. It was the middle of the night and the distant moon shone a silver glow into her room. A single candle sat on Viper’s desk. The flame danced, though there was no wind. The wick had burned half way and a pool of hot wax formed in its dish.

Viper was still in her uniform, the clothes she lived in. She perched on the end of a cushioned wooden chair and leaned over the desk. There was little to do other than plan the lessons that she and other Wolfpack Captains would be leading early next morning. The prison staff offered her sleeping quarters but she refused.

Then pen sat uncomfortably in her hand as her controlled handwriting ran across the parchment of her report book. The ink pooled at the beginning and ran thin at the end. The flame reflected slightly in her dry eyes as they focused on the paper before her.

She wrote out a timetable of how the day’s events would be arranged, and included an extra meal for the prisoners. She planned to give them basic long sword training, nothing more, and she would stick to this training plan until the situation changed.

Leaning back Viper browsed over her notes. She would not tell the prisoners she was training them against the Krieger, not wanting their minds to be infected with doubt. She wanted them to remain cold and brutal criminals. She would only give them a sliver of the truth to whet their appetite, and no more. She did not doubt her skill, or the prospect of victory. The only thing that went against them was time.

Earth Angel is available from Amazon for £1

Not a Student Anymore

Last week I had my end of year exhibition for my Master’s degree; the week before I had my final hand in. I must admit it feels like I’ve had a weight of responsibility lifted from my shoulders although it has been replaced by another.

Now I have no one to answer to, no deadlines, no tutors. Just me. Do I go find a job? Do I set up my own business? Do I write full time? I’ve been in education all my life. I’m now 23. Sure, I’ve had a few part time jobs over the years but nothing permanent, just a little something for some pocket money.

I loved being a student. I loved having the freedom to learn and work on projects I was interested in alongside like-minded people. With the university I’ve been to London twice, to Berlin and Paris and gained some awesome memories I will never forget, and some friends for life. It gave me the free time I needed to work on personal projects such as my writing.

The celebratory feast Mam and I had after my final presentation.

I am glad to put it behind me. I want to start earning and leave home so I can live with my boyfriend in our own home. I don’t have much life experience and this is a whole new responsibility. I’ve got no one but myself pushing me to do it. It’s a very strange feeling indeed and will take time to adjust. It could be so easy to get into a rut and fall into bad habits so I need to be motivated to move.

I’m making long term, short term, weekly and daily goals to set myself to keep me motivated. I have my boyfriend for accountability, as he has me for his goals. Together we are trying to achieve our dreams and carve out a future for ourselves together.

This is a pic of my long term goal board hanging in my room. It’s a very enthusiastic goal so we’ll see how that goes!

How do you keep motivated to achieve your goals? Do you set goals?

My Review – Cornerstone by Misty Provencher

I won a free copy of Cornerstone and I knew a lot of my writing friends thought very highly of it. Cornerstone is a young adult urban fantasy / paranormal romance.

CORNERSTONE is the story of Nalena Maxwell, a girl who’s been dubbed The Waste at her new school, due to her mom’s obsessive paper hoarding. Nalena receives a sign that invites her into an ancient community. Everything changes- what she knew of her family and her life and her future. While seventeen years worth of family skeletons come crashing into Nalena’s life, it is the boy – the one with eyes as clean as Jesus that steps up to help Nalena figure out what he already knows about her.

I was hooked by Provencher’s engaging writing style and intrigued with Nalena’s unusual life with her hoarding Mom. I felt I could relate personally with Nalena which made her character believable. Tantalizing twists throughout kept me reading, I wanted to know what was going to happen and why.

I’m not particularly interested in the teenage romance aspect, although I would have loved it when I was a teen, now I don’t find it interesting. The novel was heavily focused on the romantic life of Nalena and I find it dissatisfying for the romantic interest to be perfect, but I understanding that this is appealing to teenaged readers.

I don’t fully understand the finer details of the plot concerning the ancient community and the antagonists, but that might just have been something I missed, or may yet be revealed in the rest of the trilogy. Personally I prefer more conflict and action throughout books whereas Cornerstone felt a little more slower paced and the climax seemed short lived.

As an independent author, Provencher has brought a very high standard of writing and editing to her novel. Cornerstone is certainly on par with traditionally published books. I know a lot of people who love Cornerstone and it is a books that teenage readers would also love. I think Provencher is a noteworthy writer and should be celebrated as an ambassador for independent authors. I look forward to seeing where her writing career takes her.

Cornerstone (The Cornerstone Series)" target="_blank">Cornerstone Kindle UK

Cornerstone (The Cornerstone Series)" target="_blank">Cornerstone Kindle US

Cornerstone: 1" target="_blank">Cornerstone Paperback UK

Cornerstone" target="_blank">Cornerstone Paperback US

Earth Angel Deleted Scene 07

We join Zenovia in Morrae’s temple. I deleted this scene just because it served nothing for the plot although it was nice No spoilers. Enjoy!

*Warning. Scenes were deleted before the final edits and may contain errors and inconsistencies.*

The mountaintop was a round plateau. One large oval shape boulder stood raised, facing the approaching moon. Morrae stood on the boulder, head held high towards the moon. The wolves arranged themselves in a semi-circle below their mother in size and rank order. They sat in silence except the runt who was sat scratching himself. I sat with Chetto, Faith and Orlando at the edge of the circle on a small log, wrapped in my fur. Black sat beside us, returning to his statue pose that gives me chills. We were privileged to be so close to the ancient ritual. A cold breeze stung my face, but no snow fell. The clear, purple night sky was speckled with millions of shimmering white stars. I pulled my fur tightly around myself.

As the moon approached it lit the plateau with a silver glow. I stared at the moon’s surface and saw the craters that formed a wolf’s face, which beamed down upon the mountain and awaited its gift.

It says in The Days of Light that the Darkness was banished from Eardesha by the Gods to live on our second moon, that’s why we can’t see it. So we only have one moon.

Morrae gazed up at the moon with golden eyes and let out a long beautiful note that flowed across the mountain and caressed everyone’s ears with a peaceful plea. Then, the older wolves sang their note. One by one, each wolf from great to small sang until the littlest voices and pitches harmonized together. The beautiful song held me and comforted me. I felt the power of the ancient ritual flow into my body, vibrating my soul, empowering me. An awe struck smile remained on my face as the wolves sang. It was not haunting; it was a unity between the wolves and their home. It was a force that bound them to each other, to their God and the mountain. I swayed, enjoying the moment. I looked down the slope and saw a gathering of torchlight from a distance. The Cashan had gathered outside their caves to watch. I heard distant howls from across the mountain range; every voice had its own note, which added to the symphony. I wanted to release my own tone, I wanted to be a part of the magic but I kept my voice quiet and sang with my mind. The moon was at its highest point, the wolf face smiling upon its worshipers. I let the energy flow into my body and felt its warmth. My hand went to the tiger’s eye necklace sitting softly on my chest. I felt the stones warm to the notes.

The chorus of the wolves is a ritual that boosted energy and promoted peace and respect. The energy warmed my soul, I felt empowered as if anything was achievable

Earth Angel is available from Amazon for £1

My Review – How I sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! By John Locke

As an independent author, I invested in Locke’s book to learn his secrets so I could apply them myself, hopefully improving my sales.

Locke’s book is not very long and it’s easy to read, his casual writing style is enjoyable and easy to understand. Locke portrays himself as One Of Us, because he too was a struggling author for such a long time, that he’s a business man and came up with this solution to sell millions of ebooks.

I couldn’t help feeling misled by Locke’s portrayal of his formula. At the beginning I felt his writing quite inspiring, and I couldn’t wait to find out his secrets after all his stunning credentials and sales. Then I felt very frustrated because the first 28% of the book feels like filler. Locke discusses in depth about his own writing life and experience, some background on self-publishing authors and the industry, some commonly asked concerns of writers looking to publish and advertising that didn’t work for him. Although some of it was interesting, very little was useful and I was still waiting for his secrets, to which his language had excited me for. At this point I was feeling very annoyed.

I felt misled to believe there was a remarkable secret that, when applied, would bring instant success. But I know that there’s no such thing as an overnight success, which Locke also touches on in this book despite the misleading build up. It made me feel deflated.

Part Two touches on a business plan, targeting your audience, what NOT to do, how to engage fans, and some basic steps for beginners like create a website, twitter and of course… keep writing. Nothing new, revolutionary or insightful for me I felt, but perhaps a complete beginner could benefit a lot more. I felt that his points on developing a list of guaranteed buyers could prove useful. I had to say I was feeling a little deflated thinking ‘is that it?’ and I was disappointed with the basic information.

When I began part three I was hoping to finally get down to business and learn Locke’s real secret. 51% through the book. Part three was probably the most useful for me as Locke explores blogging articles and how to engage and interact with readers to bring more traffic through your blog using twitter. His insight and methods I’m hoping to apply in the coming months. He also discussed the benefit of an email list and developing close relations with loyal fans.

By the end of the book I felt more relieved, having learned something I could actually apply.

Pros:

Useful for beginners
Some useful information on business plan, blogging articles, email lists and reaching readers
Cheap

Cons:

Misleading
Mainly filler
Nothing new or ‘secret’
He plugs his own books A LOT

The main thing is – did I feel it was worth it? Yes I do. Despite the downfalls and feeling disappointed, by the end I was glad I bought it for the useful information, although I had to wade through a lot of words to find it. It cost me only £1.88 which I believe is fair, although if it cost £3 or more I would be disappointed.

What I want you to take away from this review is that there is NO overnight success when it comes to writing. You work hard for a long time to gain success. Locke also knows this.

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!" target="_blank">How I sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! By John Locke, Amazon UK £1.88

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!" target="_blank">How I sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! By John Locke, Amazon US $2.98

If you’ve read Locke’s book I’d like to know what you thought about it, did you find it useful and have you applied his techniques?

Earth Angel Deleted Scene 06

We join Dogga, Jewelz and Emz for dinner in the mess hall in Chapter 7. In the final draft I cut this scene down to make it more… mature. Then I added an intimate dialogue which was better for the character development than this scene you’re about to read. No spoilers. Enjoy!

*Warning. Scenes were deleted before the final edits and may contain errors and inconsistencies.*

Some men were staring at Jewelz and joking to each other. Dogga turned and snarled at them but it only made them laugh some more.

‘Steaming pieces of Tarvian crap,’ he mumbled before taking another bite of bread.

‘Just ignore them,’ Emz said.

‘Yes Mother.’ She narrowed her eyes at him but he didn’t want to ignore them, he wanted to go over and stomp them in the dirt where they belong. He could still hear their unsavoury whispers and each one stoked the flames inside of him. Jewelz was indifferent. She slowly picked pieces of the bread and cheese and sipped the water.

‘Only a shame the tiger didn’t kill him or I’d be right in there,’ one of them said. Dogga jumped up off the bench, fire burning inside. But he crashed straight into a mountain that happened to walk by. That mountain’s name was Valin and he was an elephant hybrid. He towered over every man and matched shoulder breadth with the guards. His skin was thick and grey skin, his fists were like boulders and his feet like anvils, a greyed trunk slunk away from his face and two sails for ears flapped about his bulbous head. His tusks however, were filed to the butt, shortened regularly as prison regulations. In the case of Valin, the prison staff were in possession of two fine pieces of ivory.

‘Watch it!’ the mountain bellowed and pushed Dogga hard. He had to do everything to stop himself falling and managed to retain his balance.

‘Get out my way or I’ll grind you into dog food, and claim your bitch,’ said Valin. Dogga hadn’t expected what came next, nor did it surprise him. The fire blinded him and all he felt was rage. He swung a fist at Valin’s face and pain flared in his knuckles. Valin laughed and launched himself at Dogga.

‘Stop it!’ Emz’s squeak was drowned out by the inmate’s shouts as Dogga and Valin flailed their fists.

Jess, whom was sitting dormant, forgot her injuries and suddenly burst to life. She hadn’t been in the centre of a great riot in days. No way was she going to miss out on the fun. Jess leapt off the table and onto Valin’s broad back, riding him like an angry bull, tugging on his flapping ears. That began the riot. Someone else grabbed onto Dogga and the whole hall burst into fists. Emz dragged Jewelz under the table for cover. The young rabbit hybrid shrank up, shaking. Jewelz noticed Emz’s fear and touched her shoulder with a warm hand. She shouldn’t be here. Their table was being bashed about and a bench nearly crashed into them as the fight roared on around them. Prison guards whirled their truncheons, stunning convicts like swatting flies. They ripped fighting convicts apart and threw them onto the benches, but they rebounded and rejoined the fight. The prison guards were outnumbered, but the convicts were going down fast. The best tactic was to let the inmates tire themselves out, but the prison guards did not want to miss an opportunity to bash up some scum.

The mess hall door squeaked opened and Emz saw the giant feet of two guards as they joined in the peace making. The guards forced apart brawling convicts, their monstrous bodies obstructing the waves of violence. Soon enough the hall settled. Emz and Jewelz reappeared from under the table, what was left of their food had long left the table in favour of the floor. Unconscious bodies were strewn about the floor, left to recover on their own when the tidal wave of feet stopped trampling them. The hall was silent apart from the few groans from people who had sustained minor injuries, cradling their limbs like a newborn.

Dogga yelped as a guard grabbed his hair in a fist and pulled him to his knees. Dogga looked up as the guard glared down at him. He braced.

The guard thumped his truncheon down over Dogga’s shoulders with a sickening crunch and he fell to the floor and to darkness.

Earth Angel is still only £1 on Amazon.

Free Book Cover Design

On the 13th of September I finish my Master’s degree in Digital Arts and Design (yey!) What I would like to do is set up my own business doing Book Cover designs for Authors. But first I need a portfolio which is where you come in!

The first three people to contact me before Sunday 16th of Sept will get a free book cover designed by me! The only thing I ask in return is that you acknowledge me in the copyright page of your book as the cover designer, and I have permission to use the cover in my portfolio which will be displayed on this blog.

As an independent author I’ve designed my own book covers and one for a friend. Here they are!

[image error]
[image error]
[image error]

Please note I only want to design for eBook covers as I have no experience in designing for paperbacks, I’m not aware of dimensions and protocol.

If you’re interested you can email me with a request for a free design to ruthellenwrites@live.co.uk This is the information I want you to supply me with;

Book Title, series name (if applicable), subtitle (if applicable.)
The pen name you want to appear on the cover
Genre and any subgenres
Target Audience
A short synopsis of the book (250 words max) to give me a flavour of the story.
If you have any ideas for the cover I’d like them too.

What happens next?

I’ll discuss with you what we think should be on the cover and I’ll do a rough sketch if necessary and send you the pic. When we have reached an agreement I’ll begin work!

PLEASE NOTE = if I have to source any copyright protected photographs I will expect you to pay for them. If you have your own photos/source material that you own the rights to, that’s cool. I can also do my own art so photos may not be necessary.

I’ll keep you up to date with the progress so if any changes need to be made I can do this along the way, possibly experimenting with different styles and fonts.

When I’ve come up with the final design I’ll send you a high res JPG. (If you require a larger TIF file, I can do that too!

Good luck and I’ll look forward to working with you!

Please note: I retain the right to refuse work from anyone. I’m planning on beginning work on the 24th of September due to my laptop going for repairs so expect a short delay.

Earth Angel Deleted Scene 05

This is a continuation from last week’s deleted scene from Chapter 6 – Firestorm. In the first draft it was Oz and Gabrielle who came out of the woods but I later changed it to Chetto. No spoilers. This scene was deleted VERY early on in the drafting stage so is a wee bit pantsy Enjoy!

*Warning. Scenes were deleted before the final edits and may contain errors and inconsistencies.*

‘Don’t shoot!’ cried a rough female voice as two figures emerged from the forest, dripping wet. A crack of lightning shot in the distance, thunder roaring as an angry afterthought. The woman had her hands held high in surrender, she was wearing black clothes that did not suit her, too feminine for her heavy appearance. The other figure was a tall man, with sharp features wearing a saggy white shirt, his tanned skin showing through as it clung to his thin body. They looked exhausted as if they had been running for days with no food or water. They ran in the mud towards the guards. Pausing, panting the man spoke,

‘Something’s coming.’

‘We know,’ the older guard replied.

‘It’s massive, like a Doberman but bigger,’ informed the woman through deep breaths, pasting back her sodden hair.

‘Excuse me?’ the guard asked. They all strained their hearing to listen to what the pair had to say.

‘It’s massive! It’s like, this big!’ she held her hand out to demonstrate as wide as she could stretch them, her arms quivered with cold and fatigue.

‘You’re joking?’ the guard gave her a cold stare, ‘a five foot long dog?’

‘Yeah, but it was like, this tall!’ she stared back, equally cold, holding her hand just below her chest. The guard sighed.

‘Get into town and take cover.’

The tall man started towards the gate but the woman did not follow.

‘Come on Gab,’ he said.

‘We can help,’ she replied. Oz glared down at his sister.

‘Let them do their job,’ he argued.

‘Are we stood here panicking over a stupid animal?’ The young guard shouted over the rain, turning to his comrade, hoping there had been a mix up.

‘But it was massive! It chased us!’ Gabrielle repeated.

‘I’m not standing here in the rain!’ Oz called.

‘You’re already wet.’

‘I’m cold!’

‘Then go!’

‘Don’t you try to be the Good Samaritan! When have you ever helped anyone?’ he glared down at his sibling with sharp eyes.

‘You Tarvian turd!’ Like a cat she leapt on her brother and they collapsed into the mud with flailing limbs.

Suddenly everyone stopped dead as a deafening sound cascaded through the air and this time it was not thunder. Everyone looked up to the sky. Oz and Gabrielle lay frozen in the mud. Alfonso withdrew into himself like a frightened dog, he knew what was coming, and not even he was prepared.

Ebook Giveaway

As part of the Earth Angel blog tour, I’m giving away free ebook copies of Earth Angel to EVERY person who comments on THIS blog post before midnight on the 5th of Sept (UK time)

If you don’t know about Earth Angel, it’s a young adult, fantasy novel. Here’s the trailer to whet your appetite. If you know anyone who might be interested then feel free to share!

Earth Angel Blog Tour continues

Today I’ve hopped over to the folks at Write A Revolution for a guest post on book cover design! Here’s what’s happened in the tour so far if there’s anything you’ve missed or are interested in. I’d recommend the character interviews, tips on writing romance, and book cover design! Tomorrow and Wednesday there will be a book give away!

Sat 25th Aug. Clare Davidson – Character interview (Dogga and Oz)

Sun 26th Aug . Carrie Vaughn – Author interview

Mon 27th Aug. Sarah L Fox – Summary, excerpt and interview

Tues 28th Aug. Kat Ellis – Author interview

Wed 29th Aug. Clare Davidson – Character interview (Faith)

Thurs 30th Aug. Sally Stephenson – Author interview

Fri 31st Aug. Tamara Morning – Guest post. Tips on writing romance

Sat 1st Sept . DasteRoad – Author interview

Sun 2nd Sept. Emily Casey – Book Trailer

Mon 3rd Sept. Steve at Write A Revolution –Interview, guest post. Book cover design