Heather James's Blog, page 44
May 25, 2014
Flash Fiction Prequel 4: Avery
Fire filled my palms, blazing with a ferocity a drakon would envy. A careful flick of my wrists sent the flames careening towards a slate circle fixed to a distant tree. It hit directly. Well, it was slightly off to the right, if you were being picky – which I definitely wasn’t. It might not have been Roxy’s standard, but I believed that toasting a target was all the precision I needed: burnt was burnt; dead was dead. I rolled a small flare between my fingers before popping it in my mouth, inhaling deeply and exhaling a cloud of scalding smoke.
May 18, 2014
Flash Fiction Prequel 3: Imogen
So many sparkles! This store was an Arcan paradise from the doorway to the cashier’s desk. I could feel the grin stretching across my face as I pushed open the heavy white door and entered a haven of tranquility. Well, okay, maybe tranquility was stretching it – particularly when there were quite so many Arcans filling the store with chatter and bargaining. But when my eyes zoned in on a floor-length sequined gown that inane sound faded into the background. As on so many trips before, the world became just me and the dress. I had to have it.
May 11, 2014
Flash Fiction Prequel 2: Tristan
Goodbyes had never been my thing: they were too messy; complicated by too many emotions. No, it was much better to leave like this. For everyone. And it wasn’t like I would be gone forever. I would return, eventually. And when I did, I would be far more successful than anyone in this tiny town could ever have imagined for me. I would no longer be Tristan Terra, the illegitimate cast off of some unknown, deadbeat Protector. When I returned, I would be President Terra, the ruler responsible for bringing respect to our Realm for the first time in centuries.
May 4, 2014
Flash Fiction Prequel 1: Brae
I’ve never felt more alive than with the wind racing through my hair, swirling around my body in an icy torrent of power. Sailing was an excellent way to connect with the element; even if the air was tainted by sea salt. We were almost home. And home meant the Arcan Realm: the land of the Air god, my family and my very best friend, Jasmine. I sighed as her name ran through my mind for the hundredth time that day. I had so much to tell her about my trip… and what I might have learnt about her heritage.
April 27, 2014
I am currently in the middle of a reorganisation of my writing inspiration boards on Pinterest, which has led me to think about how I use the site and the way I organise my notes and ideas more generally. There are a few different formats I use:
PinterestI use Pinterest for ideas on character appearance; locations; book cover ideas and (this is what it's the most useful for) outfits. Usually, if I go into detail on a particular dress or outfit, I've pinned a picture of something similar to it. I have boards on Arcan (including some great photos of silver hair), Helian and Brizan style on Pinterest. There are also a few images of Sephan style in my board for Water. Sometimes, however, I use Pinterest more to capture a particular mood or setting and there are lots of pictures of roaring flames on my board for Fire and the sea on my board for Water. Of course, Air has it's own board too, with some inspirational pictures of the sky and snow as well as this and this, which I won't explain just yet, but will become clear when you read Air later this year...
One Note/ScrivenerI use One Note and (for my new novel, Amber & Ice) Scrivener for more general plot notes: chapters to rewrite, ideas to work in, chunks of text that I've taken out for the time being, but might want to re-read at a later point. Both programs make notes easy to organise and find at a moment's notice. I also use these to keep track of name ideas, which is something I love researching and listing. For Elements of Power, I have a table full of different name ideas for different Realms. Most of them have been taken from baby name forums for unusual names. For Amber & Ice, I have a long list of classical Greek names which I check whenever I want to introduce a new character.
NotebooksNot all of my note keeping involves technology and I have countless different notebooks filled with ideas formed when I am away from my computer. This is also where I have drawn my maps of the Elements of Power world, which have been invaluable when writing the series (and for planning a few novellas too).
PinterestI use Pinterest for ideas on character appearance; locations; book cover ideas and (this is what it's the most useful for) outfits. Usually, if I go into detail on a particular dress or outfit, I've pinned a picture of something similar to it. I have boards on Arcan (including some great photos of silver hair), Helian and Brizan style on Pinterest. There are also a few images of Sephan style in my board for Water. Sometimes, however, I use Pinterest more to capture a particular mood or setting and there are lots of pictures of roaring flames on my board for Fire and the sea on my board for Water. Of course, Air has it's own board too, with some inspirational pictures of the sky and snow as well as this and this, which I won't explain just yet, but will become clear when you read Air later this year...
One Note/ScrivenerI use One Note and (for my new novel, Amber & Ice) Scrivener for more general plot notes: chapters to rewrite, ideas to work in, chunks of text that I've taken out for the time being, but might want to re-read at a later point. Both programs make notes easy to organise and find at a moment's notice. I also use these to keep track of name ideas, which is something I love researching and listing. For Elements of Power, I have a table full of different name ideas for different Realms. Most of them have been taken from baby name forums for unusual names. For Amber & Ice, I have a long list of classical Greek names which I check whenever I want to introduce a new character.
NotebooksNot all of my note keeping involves technology and I have countless different notebooks filled with ideas formed when I am away from my computer. This is also where I have drawn my maps of the Elements of Power world, which have been invaluable when writing the series (and for planning a few novellas too).
March 9, 2014
500 Word Stories
Thanks to my awesome day job as a school librarian, I was lucky enough to get to spend today judging entries for Radio 2's 500 Word Story competition.
I really enjoyed getting involved with this competition this year; there were so many original, well written entries and I was excited by the quality of the work. Writing a complete story in just 500 words is difficult to do, but is also a lot of fun. I think that after reading through my entries, my top tips for anyone taking part in this sort of competition in the future would be: 1) Focus on originality - I read quite a few entries with similar plot lines2) Make sure your work has a complete plot structure.3) Just because you've only got 500 words, don't forget to put some effort into characterisation.
If all of the entries were as good as the ones I was sent, I'm excited to see the finalists for this comp - they are going to be brilliant!
As someone who likes to enter my writing into competition myself, I feel like I've learnt a lot from getting the opportunity to do some judging. Hopefully this will help me to improve my writing in the future.
Reading back through Air (my first job of the day) I definitely came up with some ideas which would make some good 500 word stories (and much longer ones if I could find the time).
I have now finished editing my first print copy of Air and have lots of adaptations to start adding in on my laptop. I'm extremely excited as Air is getting very close to a point where I can share it with some beta readers for feedback; and I can't wait to find out what they think!
However, following the beautiful weather we've had in the South East today, I think my chances of getting some snow for the front cover photography are growing increasingly slim...
I really enjoyed getting involved with this competition this year; there were so many original, well written entries and I was excited by the quality of the work. Writing a complete story in just 500 words is difficult to do, but is also a lot of fun. I think that after reading through my entries, my top tips for anyone taking part in this sort of competition in the future would be: 1) Focus on originality - I read quite a few entries with similar plot lines2) Make sure your work has a complete plot structure.3) Just because you've only got 500 words, don't forget to put some effort into characterisation.
If all of the entries were as good as the ones I was sent, I'm excited to see the finalists for this comp - they are going to be brilliant!
As someone who likes to enter my writing into competition myself, I feel like I've learnt a lot from getting the opportunity to do some judging. Hopefully this will help me to improve my writing in the future.
Reading back through Air (my first job of the day) I definitely came up with some ideas which would make some good 500 word stories (and much longer ones if I could find the time).
I have now finished editing my first print copy of Air and have lots of adaptations to start adding in on my laptop. I'm extremely excited as Air is getting very close to a point where I can share it with some beta readers for feedback; and I can't wait to find out what they think!
However, following the beautiful weather we've had in the South East today, I think my chances of getting some snow for the front cover photography are growing increasingly slim...
March 3, 2014
Read an Ebook Week
It's Read an Ebook week over on Smashwords, which means that until the 8th March, you can download both Fire and Water for free!
You can get hold of Fire from here and Water from here and the code you need to enter at the checkout to get them completely free of charge is RW100.
Once you've downloaded the Elements of Power, you can check out the other novels enrolled in the scheme here
I've gone on a downloading spree and have picked up Falling by Amber Jaeger, The Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen and The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton. And I'm still busy looking for more.
On the subject of ebooks, the current novel I have open on my Kindle is Fire Study by Maria V Snyder. It's the final novel in the Snyder's Study Series and features one of my favourite ever heroes: Valek. If you haven't checked this series out yet, I really recommend it.
Happy ebook reading! Let me know in the comments if you come across any bargains you want to recommend.
You can get hold of Fire from here and Water from here and the code you need to enter at the checkout to get them completely free of charge is RW100.
Once you've downloaded the Elements of Power, you can check out the other novels enrolled in the scheme here
I've gone on a downloading spree and have picked up Falling by Amber Jaeger, The Fallen Star by Jessica Sorensen and The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton. And I'm still busy looking for more.
On the subject of ebooks, the current novel I have open on my Kindle is Fire Study by Maria V Snyder. It's the final novel in the Snyder's Study Series and features one of my favourite ever heroes: Valek. If you haven't checked this series out yet, I really recommend it.
Happy ebook reading! Let me know in the comments if you come across any bargains you want to recommend.
February 20, 2014
Half Term!
One of the best things about working in a school is getting plenty lovely holidays which give me lots of time to catch up on writing.
I have been putting this half term to very good use and am now one chapter away from finishing my second draft of Ari {spoiler: this chapter contains a date and lots about Arcan and Helian clothing} Once it is written, I can then go all the way back to the start and try to see if all my latest editions make sense with the original story.
A few things I can tell you about Air so far:
1. It will be longer than Fire or Water. Not massively longer (unless my next read through leaves me with lots of holes to fill!) but it will be longer.
2. Roxy is very much back to being Roxy, but she is still showing plenty of development and is continuing to progress towards becoming a less awful person!
3. Tristan is great. Really, he is.
4. Brae has some very tough decisions to make and a lot to deal with on his return to the Arcan Realm.
5. Cinaer is even more awful than before and I have had immense fun with him in this book.
6. Jasmine probably has the most growth in this book and you're going to get her to see her becoming a lot more comfortable with who she is and what her powers mean for her and the world she lives in.
I hope this gives you a little bit of a taste of what is to come! I was hoping for a summer release for Air, but a happy yet unforeseen circumstance has meant that I haven't been able to spend as much time writing over the past few months as I would like and also means that my summer is going to be a lot busier than expected. I'm still aiming for summer at the moment though and will just have to see how it goes! I think you can definitely expect to get hold of Air within the next 6-9 months. I'm also still hoping for a bit of snow over here in the UK, as I want some on the front cover... (Plus snow days: writing days!)
In non-writing news, I have just finished Wonder by RJ Palacio. It's an utterly amazing and extremely moving novel. I really, really recommend reading it if you haven't already. I've now started An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, which I am hoping is going to be a bit happier than TFIOS and Looking for Alaska...
I have been putting this half term to very good use and am now one chapter away from finishing my second draft of Ari {spoiler: this chapter contains a date and lots about Arcan and Helian clothing} Once it is written, I can then go all the way back to the start and try to see if all my latest editions make sense with the original story.
A few things I can tell you about Air so far:
1. It will be longer than Fire or Water. Not massively longer (unless my next read through leaves me with lots of holes to fill!) but it will be longer.
2. Roxy is very much back to being Roxy, but she is still showing plenty of development and is continuing to progress towards becoming a less awful person!
3. Tristan is great. Really, he is.
4. Brae has some very tough decisions to make and a lot to deal with on his return to the Arcan Realm.
5. Cinaer is even more awful than before and I have had immense fun with him in this book.
6. Jasmine probably has the most growth in this book and you're going to get her to see her becoming a lot more comfortable with who she is and what her powers mean for her and the world she lives in.
I hope this gives you a little bit of a taste of what is to come! I was hoping for a summer release for Air, but a happy yet unforeseen circumstance has meant that I haven't been able to spend as much time writing over the past few months as I would like and also means that my summer is going to be a lot busier than expected. I'm still aiming for summer at the moment though and will just have to see how it goes! I think you can definitely expect to get hold of Air within the next 6-9 months. I'm also still hoping for a bit of snow over here in the UK, as I want some on the front cover... (Plus snow days: writing days!)
In non-writing news, I have just finished Wonder by RJ Palacio. It's an utterly amazing and extremely moving novel. I really, really recommend reading it if you haven't already. I've now started An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, which I am hoping is going to be a bit happier than TFIOS and Looking for Alaska...
January 5, 2014
Fire is one year old!
A year ago today, I clicked 'publish' on Amazon, sending Fire out into the world in the hope that other people would read and enjoy it. The response has been amazing: I have received so many wonderful reviews and lots of positive feedback. So much so that I was able to follow it up with the release of Water a few months ago and I'm currently hard at work on finishing up Air, hopefully for a release this summer. This has been an unforgettable year and I have had so much fun - and I have many, many more plans for 2014!
To say thank you for all your support, I am having another giveaway, for 10 copies of either Fire or Water (depending on whether you have yet to start the series, or are still waiting to read the second installment).
Happy New Year!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
To say thank you for all your support, I am having another giveaway, for 10 copies of either Fire or Water (depending on whether you have yet to start the series, or are still waiting to read the second installment).
Happy New Year!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
December 15, 2013
Water Christmas Giveaway
Not read Water yet? Well make sure you enter the giveaway below for your chance to win a copy of the e-book in time for the Christmas holidays.
There's a pretty short time scale for entering as I am away from Friday (Boston and NY here I come!) and I would like to get the prize sent out before I go.
Good luck and Merry Christmas!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
There's a pretty short time scale for entering as I am away from Friday (Boston and NY here I come!) and I would like to get the prize sent out before I go.
Good luck and Merry Christmas!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
