Rinelle Grey's Blog, page 17

Fantasy Friday – Swords and Sorcery

Sorry blog posts have been sketchy lately. I plan to have this edit of Reckless Rebellion finished by the end of the weekend, one way or another, and sent off to the editor. Then hopefully I’ll be able to devote a bit more time to some interesting and useful posts!

For today though, I’m posting an excerpt from one of my favourite stories. I posted the opening of this one a few weeks ago, and this continues soon after that scene. It’s a slightly longer scene, as I didn’t want to break it up in the middle of the action.

Writing swordfighting scenes is  a bit of a challenge, and I’d love to hear if this one works for you. This scene hasn’t been edited, so there are typos!

For a moment the man in front of Elizabeth grinned, revealing a gap where one of his teeth was missing.  His confidence buoyed by his companion’s assurance that she could not use her magic on him, he apparently saw little left to fear in the slight, willowy woman, who casually flicked her hair out of her face, her plain linen trousers, and loosely laced light weave shirt revealing no sign of armour, only the hint of a climbing rose tattooed on her chest.

That was his first mistake.

If he’d paused to take in the quiet, self-assured smile or the practiced way she held her sword he might have been more careful.  As it was he charged straight into the fight giving a yell to his friends that could be heard stumbling noisily through the woods in the distance, alerting them to their quarry’s presence.

There was a clash as Elizabeth’s sword met his, blocking his opening blow.  She heard an echoing clash from Digger beside her and was remotely aware of the other bandits crashing through the underbrush towards them.

They had only a few minutes to take these three out before the next wave descended upon them.  As the volley of swings came quickly she realised he was good.  Not better than her she judged dispassionately, but good enough that he might just hold her off for a few moments until his friends arrived.  And there was one other variable, the mage, standing watching the fight calculatingly.

She needed to make this quick.

The harsh sound of metal meeting metal hung in the air.  Elizabeth parried the bandit’s blows automatically, holding him off without effort, waiting for the mage to make his move.

It didn’t take long.  Thinking her distracted, he sent a firm push of air at her, hoping to throw her off balance.

Dispersing the controlled particles before they reached her was a simple matter, not even causing her to waver in her defence.

He started at her, unsure what had happened and why his magic had not worked.  Undaunted, he tried again, this time with more determination and less subtlety, to set her clothes on fire.

Fire was one of her specialties, the first one she had learnt to control, and it took even less effort to calm the particles as he tried to agitate them to flames.  He gave up after only a few minutes this time and she sensed his magic weakening.

As she raised her sword to block yet another blow, she sent a magical clout of air, similar, but more focused than his had been, towards the mage.

He fell instantly as though hit.

The swordsman was so focused on the battle that he did not even noticed the mage fall.  She switched her attention to him, and with a patience born of long practise, she waited for the moment when he let his guard down.

She lunged, but her sword glanced off his armour.  Caught off balance she left herself open for the swing that should have connected with her waist.

That is, if something hadn’t stopped the blow in mid air.

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes widening in sudden fear as he put two and two together.

That pause was his second mistake.  Elizabeth grinned wickedly at him and took full advantage of his distraction.  She thrust up with all her strength.

Her sword rang as it hit his, but it didn’t stop, smashing through his sword as though it was a stick.  The momentum carried it up, slicing straight through his armour.

He fell, still looking as though he couldn’t believe what had happened.

Elizabeth glanced over at Digger, not sparing a second thought for the underhanded trick that had won her the fight.

Back in the days when she had first had a sword thrust upon her, He had drilled it into her that adhering strictly to honourable fighting was only required during practice or in a duel of honour.  If she was fighting for real, for her life, then fighting fair was idiotic.

Digger was gaining ground over his opponent, but Elizabeth knew that the second bandit who joined the first would slow him down.

She parried a swing from the two who had come in her direction, concerned more for her friend that for herself.  She felt a vague uneasiness settle over her.

The urge to stop and fight had been a moment’s impulse, spurred on by the adrenalin flooding through her veins.  There had been nothing to be gained by this fight.  Digger’s suggestion of losing the bandits in the trees had been far more sensible.

Yet he had followed her without a pause, as he always had.

She heard him swear, his voice strained with pain, distracting her enough that one of the bandits made it past her guard.

She pulled her sword up enough to deflect, but not enough to prevent the blow connecting with her left arm.  Red stained her shirt and she swore.  She was so tired of buying new shirts.

Disregarding the sting she continued to hold off the bandits with practiced ease, trying to see how Digger was faring.

The feeling of uneasiness grew.

She could see that he was flagging, red staining his sword arm, and thought he fought on, she could not make out the seriousness of the wound.

Unlike her, he had no magic to back him up, only his unwavering trust in her.

Her mind made up, Elizabeth blocked another blow and called out, “Retreat!”

But she had left it moments too late.  Even as she called out, Digger fell.

Elizabeth’s heart skipped a beat, unable to see how serious it was.  The two bandits gave a cry of triumph and descended on her.

The situation desperate, she pulled out all the stops, and used her magic indiscriminately.  Instead of trying to score hits, she simply sent a jolt of magic along her sword.  Even if they blocked her blow successfully, the magic simply travelled along their sword, down their arm, and caused their heart so seize.

Seconds later, two lay in a heap at her feet, and the other two were fleeing for their lives through the trees.

Not even sparing a second glance at them, she ran to where Digger had fallen.  His skin was deathly pale, his lips a frightening shade of blue, and the blood spreading across his chest was a death knell.

His eyes flicked open for a second, and tried to focus on hers.  “Liz…” her name was a whisper, and she could hear the gurgle in his throat.

“Shh, just lie still, I’ll fix you up in no time,” she insisted, hoping against hope that her magic would not fail her now.

She laid both hands on his chest and closed her eyes, letting her senses flow through his body with the flow of blood.  It took only seconds to find the wound, where it had punctured a lung.  This was going to be painful.

Mending the tear was simple enough, just needing a small amount of energy to bond the cells back together.  Removing the blood from his lung was much harder.

She had done something similar once before, helping an old man with fluid on his lungs.  There she had had time and energy to separate the particles into harmless ones that he coughed out.

This was more urgent.  There was only one option, and hoping the stress wouldn’t overload Digger’s already strained body, she forced the blood up his throat and out.

Coughs racked his body, but when he finally calmed a pink colour again tinged his skin and the horrible shade of blue had left his lips.  He gasped for air for several minutes, his hand clenched around her wrist.  He struggled to rise, and she helped him into a sitting position.  “Give yourself a few minutes.”

For a moment she thought he was going to protest, but then coughing wracked his body again and he nodded obediently.

Elizabeth used her last remaining magic to search his body, just in case she had missed anything.  She tallied up several cuts, scratches and bruises, but nothing more serious.  He was breathing easily now, and with her help, got carefully to his feet.

“Thanks Liz,” he said quietly, not releasing the grip he had on her arm.

She shrugged disparagingly.  “It was the least I could do after dragging you into this.  Next time I suggest fighting when we could run, hit me a couple of times,”  she said dryly.

Indie Life – Getting Paid

Today I’m participating in Indie Life, a feature run by Indelibles. Basically, everyone posts about something related to indie publishing, and visits everyone else. To see who else is involved, check out the linky list.

Well, it’s official. I’m an author.

I received my first royalty cheque from Amazon today. Feels quite weird.

Of course, I’ll still probably  have to wait another few months for the cheque to clear (since I’m in Australia), though you never know.

When I published my first book nearly six months ago now, I didn’t know whether it would sell or not. And although it hasn’t sold untold copies yet, having an actual paycheque makes it seem more real.

And it makes me feel a little more confident about investing more money into editing and advertising and whatever else comes up. So far, I’m still in the negative, but once I have a few more books out, who knows, I might even make a profit!

Sorry I missed Monday’s post. I just didn’t even think of it. If you’re on my Facebook page, you’ll probably know that I spent the day at the beach with my daughter. Had a beautiful day, but I was SO sleepy when I arrived home that I totally forgot about the post.

I’m also frantically trying to finish up all the edits I want to do on Reckless Rebellion before it heads off to the editor at the end of the week. Still so much to do, and so little time!

Fantasy Friday – Handfasted

I thought I’d post something different today, for Fantasy Friday. I don’t want to post too many excerpts from Twin Curse, or there won’t be anything new to read when it’s published!

So today I’m posting the beginning of another fantasy story I have. (Yes, I have quite a few of these.) Perhaps this will be the one I work on after Twin Curse?

Jack rolled over in bed, trying to snuggle deeper in the covers, but something was wrong.  Her left hand was snagged on something, and its refusal to follow the rest of her body pulled her from slumber.  She rubbed her eyes with her right hand, and then rubbed them again in disbelief.  Sprawled next to her in the bed was a half naked man, sound asleep and snoring, his tousled black hair falling into his eyes.  Even worse than though than the stranger’s compromising position in her bed, was the fact that his left hand was tied to hers with a scarlet ribbon.

She stared at the telltale ribbon in horror.  How had this happened?  She could swear she had never seen this man before.  What on earth was she doing handfasted to him?

Then, a lone memory surfaced.

Jack slowly worked her way around the tables set up outside the inn, clearing away the plates and mugs, not looking much beyond the next table.  It had been an exhausting evening, not unexpected for spring festival.  She had lost track of the number of patrons she had served and cleared up after, but it was over now.  All had moved on to the handfasting ceremony in the square.  She could hear the cheers faintly as the next couple, who had probably known each other no longer than that day, were declared husband and wife for a year and a day, and she wrinkled her forehead in disgust.

The innkeeper had told her to leave the cleaning till later, to come and join in the festivities, but Jack had no liking for that type of ceremony.  She saw no joy in marrying someone she barely knew, and could not celebrate other’s doing the same.  It could only end in heartache.  Marriage was a serious business, and one must be sure that their partner could stay the distance before making such a commitment.

“Not at the festivities?” a cynical voice interrupted her thoughts.  “Surely a beauty like you could find a worthy husband?  Or do you have some physical disability that makes you undesirable?”  The black locks of hair fell in his eyes, even then, and his eyes were hard and bitter.

She snatched the barely touched plate up from in front of him, not even bothering to ask if he had finished.  The fact that it was cold in her hand was indication enough that he had no interest in eating.  “I might say the same of you,” she snapped.  “So I suggest you mind your tongue.”

That bought a laugh from him, tinged with bitterness.  “I’m as good as promised to someone else already.  The choice is no longer mine.”

“You don’t sound very happy about it,” she said.

“Is it that obvious?”

She wasn’t quite sure what to say about that.  She began clearing away the table next to him.  But for some reason she couldn’t just let the conversation go.   “Well, if you’re not happy about it, why don’t you just find someone else?  I’m sure there are plenty of girls hanging around the outskirts of the festivities still hoping to snag themselves a husband?” she pointed out.

“Are you offering?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

And that was the last thing she remembered.  Try as she might, Jack couldn’t bring up a single sentence she had uttered in response, or even the dirty look sure was sure she must have given him.  Nothing.

Surely she couldn’t have?  She stared down at their hands in horror, the thought too much to voice, even in her mind.  Frantically, she began pulling at the bow on her wrist, wanting to remove the evidence before he woke.  It must be a mistake, something was wrong, but if she could just get rid of that scarlet ribbon, its knots mocking her, then it would all be OK again.

But in her haste, she tugged on the loop instead of the string, and instead of undoing, the ribbon tied itself even tighter.  And her struggles did not go unnoticed by the man, he stirred, muttering under his breath, “Just a few more moments…”

Jack froze, willing him to go back to sleep.

What A Day!

No real post today, since I spent all day getting an EIN to stop Amazon withholding 30% of my royalties, and sending the required forms to Amazon.

As an author, if you haven’t already done this, you should! Following these instructions on Catherine Caffeinated, the process of getting an EIN is quick and painless! The most difficult part for me was finding the right time to make the call, and psyching myself up for it! (I hate phoning people, and this was my first international call ever!)

However, EIN in hand, I went to save my W-8BEN form to I could print it from my daughter’s printer, only to find Internet Explorer has an issue which means it won’t save pdf files! (Yes, I know, other browsers. I have my own reasons for choosing Internet Explorer, and I don’t want to get into the browser debate, thanks.)

Considered briefly swapping the printer over, remembered it was out of ink anyway, then had the brilliant idea to buy a new printer! (The old one was on it’s last legs, so it seemed a waste to buy ink for it when a new printer isn’t much more.)

Bought new printer, then took over an hour to set it up. (Why are these things never simple?), printed out my forms, took them all the way to the post office, and realised I’d left my wallet at home! It was around 4pm by now, and I wasn’t sure I could be bothered going all the way home, then back, that day.

Luckily, I found the $2.60 I needed in the glove box, so the letter got sent, and I didn’t have to deliberate over whether to spend the extra $40 to pay for express post. (OK, only kidding on that bit, didn’t even consider that much for express!)

So it’s done! Hopefully soon I won’t be giving Amazon that extra 30% for much longer! If you’ve been putting this one off too, I suggest you read the article. It’s so simple, you’ll be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner!

Growing your writing skills

Like many other writers, I’ve always wanted to write. I started many novels as a child and teenager, but it wasn’t until November 2006 that I began the first one I finished. I wrote, and wrote, for three months, until I hit the end. Then I moved onto the next book.

I’ve started quite a few books since then, and even finished a few, and my writing has improved quite a bit. Some of this has been from reading craft books and articles online, some has been simply from practice. A lot has been through editing my novels to completion, working with editors, and publishing and receiving reader reviews.

Overall, the time between completing my first novel and publishing my first ebook was six and a half years.

That’s a pretty long time! I’m not saying everyone will or should take that long. Some will take a longer time, some will be ready much sooner! And some might well publish their first book or two before  or after they reach the point I’m at now. (Whatever that point is!)

What I’m wondering is, with a concerted effort, can you speed up that process? With more time, could you read more how to books, maybe even get some mentoring or something, and reach a higher level of writing sooner? I’m sure that’s what every writer would like, to know the secret to improving their writing skills quickly.

For me, I don’t think so. I find that I can read and take in one or two pieces of information at a time, then I need to use those pieces of information several times, in real world situations, before I can call it part of my toolkit. Then back to the book/article to find the next piece, and apply it. Sometimes, I need to go through this cycle a couple of times with one piece of information. (Like removing ‘was’ from sentences, this takes a few passes of my manuscript to even make a dent in the numbers and situations in which they can be replaced with different phrasing.)

Ultimately, I think it takes time to improve our writing. And it takes a combination of reading techniques, trying them out, seeing if they work for us, then reading some more. Sometimes, it takes having someone else’s eyes or comments on our work (like a beta reader or editor), to help us grow to that next stage.

And of course, even once we reach a new stage of ability, there will always be more to go! There’s always new ways to improve our writing or stories, or even just to streamline our process so that we can achieve more in a shorter amount of time.

What about you? How do you find your process of improvement (in any skill, not just writing!) goes? How long has it taken you to get to the stage of writing skill you’re at now?

Fantasy Friday – A Twin Alone

Oops. I missed yesterday’s Fantasy Friday post. Did anyone notice?

Sorry, it was a busy day. As today has been. So I’m not going to chatter, just post today’s Twin Curse excerpt, and then get back to dewassing Reckless Rebellion.

This excerpt follows on from, but not immediately, the one I posted three weeks ago.

“Mianna? What’s wrong?” Terion asked, confused.

“It’s all our fault. If it weren’t for… us, she’d still be here,” she choked out.

He said nothing to that, and she looked up to see a stricken expression on his face. “Oh Mia,” he said hopelessly.

There seemed no way out. In fact, all that Mianna really wanted to do, was follow her twin to her death. How could she ever live without her?

She had never expected to have to. They were supposed to live long happy lives, then die together, surrounded by their children and grandchildren. Neither of them was supposed to ever have to live with being the only one. In fact, a twin was not supposed to survive the death of her other half. The emotional connection between them should cause her to want to simply give up upon the death of her twin.

Yet, though she felt devastated, she did not feel like giving up.

She took a moment to reach out to Brianna, to really search for her. As children, she had always been able to find her twin when they were playing hide and seek, and she had always known when Bri was in any kind of trouble. Now she realised that she felt no sense of trouble surrounding her twin. And it wasn’t due to her death. If Brianna were dead, she would know about it, she was sure.

She sat up, and wiped away her tears. “She isn’t dead.”

“Mianna?” Terion had a worried expression on his face.

“I’m not mad,” she assured him. “But she’s my twin, if she were dead, I would know it, and she’s not.”

“But… she wouldn’t stand a chance against the trolls?”

“She didn’t go that way,” Mianna said with certainty. “She’s at the ferry pier.”

Terion jumped up. “We’ll go find her,” he said immediately.

But Mianna put out a hand. “We can’t Ter,” she said sadly.

“Why not?”

She hesitated over how to put it into words. “It’s not right for either of us Terion. I can’t ask Brianna to marry you, but neither can I give you up. And anyway, Bri is the happiest I have felt her in a long time. She needs this. Needs to get away, to see the rest of the world. We always planned to, with Kylis. It’s fitting that she is going to now.”

Terion thought about that for a moment, before nodding, if not agreement, acceptance. “So what do we do now then?”

Mianna took a deep breath. “We mourn. Then we get married, and live our life.”

Terion looked a little surprised at that. “But what about Brianna. Will she come back?”

“I don’t know,” Mianna said sadly. “I hope so.”

I plan to have the first draft of Twin Curse finished this month, and ready to publish December or January. If you want to be notified when it’s released, sign up for my mailing list (no spam, I promise, only release notifications) below.

Reckless Rescue is Interviewed by Liza O!

One of the most fun interviews I’ve… er, my book, has done. Drop over to Liza’s site, and see what Reckless Rescue has to say for itself!

The Evolution of Self-Publishing

I stared writing with my first NaNoWriMo in 2006. Back then, traditional publishing still held sway. I had a friend who had self-published her books, so there were a few pioneers out there, but the only option was print on demand, there were no ebooks.

None of the experiences of self-publishing, and the difficulty of marketing I heard convinced me it was a good option. I didn’t want to do marketing, the thought of a book signing or giving a talk didn’t appeal at all!

So I put my head down, and just kept writing, assuming that the best option was still to find a traditional deal.

Then last year, I read a free ebook, Maid for the Billionaire, by Ruth Cardello. (Seems like it’s no longer free though?) And I was shocked to discover that the author was self-published. Even more than that, she was making a decent amount of money from it!

The more I looked around, the more self-published success stories I found. Something had changed. I think it was the rising popularity of ebooks, and the low prices authors could set. People were willing to take a chance on a 99c ebook, or better yet, a free one. And many of them were liking what they saw.

At the same time, I was hearing over and over how publishers were expecting authors to have a blog, a facebook page, gain fans, and basically do the marketing themselves.

And it made me wonder what a traditional publishing contract could offer me? If they didn’t do any marketing, then what did they have to offer? So I started polishing my story, and self-published.

I’ve kept a close eye on the trends in self-publishing, and though there have been ups and downs, the overwhelming trend is up. Self-publishing authors are making a living in droves, or at the very least, a nice supplementary income. Many are being offered contracts from publishing houses for their novels, and many are turning them down!

One thing I have found really interesting, is the trend of hybrid authors, who self-publish their own ebooks, and have their print books sold and distributed by a publishing house.

There are so many more options out there now, it’s a wonderful time to be an author!

What has been your view of the growth of self-publishing? What point convinced you that it was a viable option, or that reading self-published books was worthwhile?

I published a book, now what?

So you’ve written a book, slaved over editing until it was perfect, wrangled your formatting until it looks perfect on any device, and finally, uploaded it to your vendors of choice. Now you get to sit back and watch the downloads roll in, right?

You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you? Oh, I’m sure there are people this works for. But if you’re in the 98% of the author population for whom it doesn’t, what do you do next? Writing a good book is only half the battle, once you have that done, you have to let people know it exists.

Most writers, when they hear the word ‘marketing’ groan, and say “I want to write books, not be a salesman”. They’ve seen the sellers on twitter or Facebook who do nothing but tweet and post ‘buy my book’, and very sensibly, since they don’t like that, they don’t want to do it!

But marketing your book doesn’t have to be a hard sell, and it doesn’t have to be unpleasant. You just need to talk about your book. See, that’s not so hard. The big question is – where?

Here are some of my suggestions, in no particular order:

GoodReads – GoodReads is a platform for readers to rate and share books, what better place for you to get your book in front of readers. But beware, you want to entice them, not scare them off. Click on the link to read my advice on Being an author on GoodReads.

Blogging – A blog these days is not only a place to list your book, but also a way to draw in readers. Blog about what you feel you can consistently write about, but some topic suggestions are writing, topics related to your genre, or post excerpts or news about your book. Click on the links to see examples of how I use each of these topics.

Blogging though, does more than just draw in readers, it helps you create a community, and that can be invaluable. Read my thoughts on blogging here.

Social Media – I can hear you groaning from here. But the truth is, social media is big these days. Everyone is using it, so it makes sense to use it to get your books in front of readers. You don’t have to make every second post one pushing people to read your book, just mention it in your bio, and chat to people and get to know them. Post interesting things relating to your genre.

I use my accounts for different purposes. My Twitter account I use to connect to other writers, and keep up with writing/self-publishing news, my Facebook Page is more geared to fans, my Pinterest account is a bit of a mix of both, and Google+ is mostly for SEO. And, of course, when I have something special happening, like a new release or a free promotion, I mention it on all of them. Don’t forget to use your author name, a good profile picture, and brand you social media in a similar way so readers come to recognise you.

Make it Free – Some people are dead against this option, but it’s worth at least considering. My free promotions for Reckless Rescue have pulled in some decent downloads, new readers for my series, not a bad post sales bump (though it’s far less than it used to be, for a beginning author, it’s not to be sneezed at), and some reviews. You can read the results of my promotions here and here. Free Promotions involve being part of the Amazon Select program, and I’ve written about the pro’s and cons of this program here (don’t forget to read the comments, there’s some good stuff in there too).

Read some books – There are some great books on marketing for authors out there, and many are worth a read. My two favourites at the moment are “The Naked Truth about Self-Publishing” and “Let’s Get Visible“.

Join some Forums – Forums are both a great way to network with other authors and learn what has worked for them, and a good way to get your books out there. Most will allow you to at least link to your website in your signature (but do check!), and some have a specific sub-forum for promoting your novels. My favourite is kboards (especially the Writer’s Cafe), but BookGoodies new forum looks like it has some potential. GoodReads also has my groups dedicated to authors, and Facebook has many author groups.

Band together with other authors in the same genre – Search for existing groups, or create your own. I’m a member of the Sci-Fi Romance Brigade, and we help promote each other’s books, discuss the genre, and have cool blog tours!

Book Bloggers – There is a whole group of people out there who’s blogs focus on sharing reviews of books with their readers, and as a bonus, many will also post their reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Just make sure you check that your book is a genre they accept, and that you follow their review policies (most will have these listed prominently on their blog.) Keep a record of who you submit to, so you don’t send the same request to a book blogger more than once! You can read some of my book blogger reviews in the review links on the right.

Get some reviews – Whether you read them or not, reviews make your book look more popular. But one of the biggest problems new authors face, is getting those first few reviews. In my experience, the best way to find them is to give our copies of your book, both to Book Bloggers (as mentioned above), and to readers on GoodReads. Look for R2R (Read to Review) sections of groups, especially those in your genre, and offer some copies in return for a review. I’ve also heard that giveaways on LibraryThing have some success as well.

Do some Interviews – Many sites offer the opportunity for authors to do a free interview, or you can swap with friends in a similar genre. These can be really fun to do. Add in a giveaway to draw more readers. Mine are listed in the right sidebar.

Paid Promotions – No post on how to gain visibility for your book would be complete without a post on paid advertising. There are SO many places to do this, that it can be a bit confusing. I haven’t done much paid promotion yet, other than using a free coupon on some Facebook Ads, so I can’t really comment on what works and what doesn’t, but make sure you do some research before you spend your hard earned cash. BookBub is supposed to be well worth the cost, though some people also say it’s effectiveness is declining. I also have my own issues with it, as it’s next to impossible to compete with, and hard to get accepted to. BookBlast is similar to BookBub, but cheaper, so might be worth a try. The reports on GoodReads ads are mixed. Check them out, see what other authors are saying about them, and weight up whether it’s worth it for you or not.

WRITE MORE BOOKS! – Of course, the number one way to get noticed, is simply to write more books. Each additional book you put out is a new chance for a reader to find you. Don’t get so caught up in promoting your book that you forget that a writer’s main occupation is to write!

Phew. That post was harder to write than I thought! Hope the links are useful. Do you have any good ways of getting word out about your book that aren’t mentioned here? Readers, where did you find your latest book?

Fantasy Friday – Books in Books

Sorry I’ve been a bit absent on Twitter and Facebook lately, this virus has really knocked me. Progress on writing Twin Curse and editing Reckless Rebellion have been pretty slow as well, but I think I’ve turned the corner now! I’m still on track to finish my 30k goal for Camp NaNo, and have Reckless Rebellion out in September.

Today, I thought I’d talk about a different topic, books in books. I was thinking about it, and realised that in nearly every book I write, books are important to my characters. So today I’m going to share a passage about Brianna, the heroine of Twin Curse’s relationship with books.

It took Brianna a few moments to realise they had stopped walking. She looked up, and realised they were standing in front of a small shop, squeezed between two taller buildings. A wooden sign, hanging from two chains, displayed a stack of books. “Where are we?” Brianna was interested in spite of herself.

Lyall smiled, and in answer, pushed open the door. A bell tinkled somewhere within, and he guided Brianna inside.

Once her eyes became accustomed to the dim light after the bright sunshine outside, Brianna gasped. Shelves lined every wall, from floor to ceiling, and every spare inch was covered in books. They were jammed into the shelves every which way, leaving not a spare inch of room. Brianna had never seen so many books in one place.

She glanced over at Lyall, who was watching her with a smile on his face. “What is this place?” she asked.

“A bookstore,” he answered simply.

“You mean, all these books are for sale?” Brianna asked in wonder.

She had owned two books in her life. A book of stories, with real colour ink illustrations, and a book depicting the different plants and animals that grew in the area. She had thought herself rich in a town where most homes had no books. This display left her wordless.

A small bent man shuffled in from a room at the back of the store. He pushed his glasses further up on his nose, and stared at both of them.

“Hello Petar,” Lyall said.

“Lyall,” the man beamed in recognition. “It has been a long time friend.”

“It certainly has.” Lyall released her elbow to shake the man’s hand.

“I have put aside a few books I think you might be interested in,” the man offered.

“Not today,” Lyall answered, just a little too quickly. “Today, I was wondering if I could borrow your balcony?”

“My balcony?” he asked in surprise. He shoved his glasses up on his nose again, then seemed to notice Brianna for the first time. “Oh, my balcony. Of course.”

He led them through another room, full of even more books, and up a narrow, twisting stair. Obviously he lived up here, for some vestiges of comfort could be seen in an old armchair and a small table, but again, the most notable feature of the room were the shelves lined with more books than Brianna had ever imagined.

Lyall walked across the room to a pair of narrow doors and opened them ushering Brianna through. The small balcony was only just wide enough for the tiny table and two chairs. But the view was amazing. Through a small gap between two buildings, Brianna could see all the way to the harbour, and the open water of the ocean.

She sat in the seat Lyall pulled out for her, and smiled.

“Better than sitting in the inn for the next few hours?” Lyall asked.

“Much better,” Brianna agreed. “So how did you discover this place?” she asked curiously.

Lyall shrugged. “I’ve done a bit of exploring around the place. Some stores are worth coming back to more than once.”

“So I gather.” Brianna remembered something. “What sort of books does he have for you?”

“Oh, I’m interested in all kinds of old books, history, geography, that sort of thing,” Lyall said airily. “Petar keeps a few of the rarer books aside for me.”

“Rare books?” Brianna laughed. “Up until today, I thought all books were rare!”

Lyall smiled. “Not all, although I guess most are. To see a collection like Petar has is rare indeed.”

“I’m sure it is! I thought I was lucky having two books growing up, and I shared those with my sister.”

She hadn’t meant to mention Mianna, but it was done now. And the mere thought of her was enough to bring up a torrent of loneliness. She turned away, not wanting Lyall to see the tears that sprang to her eyes.

What do you think of books that mention books? Do you ever write about your characters relationship with books?