L.G. Estrella's Blog, page 25

Using Writing Prompts To Improve

A writing prompt is a sentence or short paragraph that serves as the launching point for a piece of writing. For example, you might be asked to write a story using one of the following writing prompts:

It was a dark and scary night…Man versus bear. Who wins?An adventurer must outwit a dragon to escape with both his life and some treasure.A conversation at a cafe between a mother and daughter.

Essentially, a writing prompt for a story is supposed to serve as the inspiration for that story.

I...

Bigger Fish (Flash Fiction Fridays #17)

“Why are we here, father?” Blue Scales asked.

The older merman chuckled. “For a lesson, son. Tell me. Do you know where we are?”

Blue Scales nodded and glanced downward. Below them was darkness, a deep, impenetrable darkness. “The Maw.”

“That’s right. Below us slumbers the Maw, one of the oldest and greatest of krakens. He was old when his kin tried to drown the world, and he is one of the few who can remember the days when dragons threatened to devour the world. He slumbers now, waking only rar...

Progress Report 15-04-2022

It’s about time for another progress report. At the moment, I am roughly 73,000 words into the second draft of Attempted Rescuing. It’s quite clear that this will be significantly longer than the other two books in Attempted Vampirism Series. 

I did end up making a change in one section that is going to require some tinkering. Essentially, the group ends up splitting in two for reasons that will become apparent in the story. I originally had the groups split in a certain way. During the second d...

Rest In Peace, Steve the Axolotl

Today, Steve the Axolotl passed away. Steve was my sister’s axolotl, and she spent eleven years as a beloved friend and class pet.

I don’t know if there is a heaven for pets, but if there is, I have no doubt that Steve will make herself right at home there.

Rest In Peace, Steve.

You were one of the great ones.

Reptilian Solidarity (Flash Fiction Fridays #16)

Spot was awakened from a pleasant dream involving pineapples and cows by the anxious bleating of Little Spot. He went from drowsy to fully alert in an instant, ready to slaughter whoever dared to threaten his small friend. A moment later, he relaxed. His foe was not something that could truly challenge him. It was a small snake.

He eased Little Spot back with one wing and lowered his head to examine the snake more closely. He wasn’t worried about being bitten. He was a dragon. There was no way a...

Coming Soon: Attempted Babysitting

I am pleased to announce that pre-orders are now open for my newest book, Attempted Babysitting, which will be releasing simultaneously on both Amazon and Audible.

Here is the blurb:

Cuddles might just be the most curmudgeonly guinea pig in the entire multiverse, so how is he going to handle being asked to babysit a young dragon and a young goddess? Simple. He’ll find someone else to handle the problem for him, and who better than a vampire in search of coin?

After missions involving accursed, l...

The First Book

Every now and then, I’ll be asked what I think is the hardest part of selling original fiction. There’s no right or wrong answer for that question since every writer’s journey is different. That said, I do think one of the toughest things to do is to get a reader to buy that very first book of yours.

Think about it.

Generally speaking, readers have a limited amount of money they can spend on leisure or entertainment. Any money they spend on one of your books is money they can’t spend on somethin...

Cosmic Delivery Boy Audiobook

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ll be working with Podium Audio once again to bring an audiobook version of Cosmic Delivery Boy to Audible. Production is only just getting under way, so I can’t tell you a release date yet, and we’ve yet to settle on a narrator. However, I thought it would be good to give all of you a heads up since I know there are lots of people who look forward to the audiobook versions.

Developing Complex Plots Through Proximal And Distal Causes

Developing a complex plot can be challenging. However, understanding proximal and distal causes can make that daunting task more approachable.

To understand what proximal and distal causes are, we must acknowledge the fundamental question that drives any plot:

Why?

Why do people do what they do? Why do certain events occur? Why does the plot proceed in the direction it does?

A proximal cause can be thought of as a trigger. It is an event that serves as the closest and most immediate cause of a p...

Special Delivery (Flash Fiction Fridays #15)

Simon stepped through the portal and immediately braced himself for trouble. Instead, he found himself standing next to a well-kept field. A broad-shouldered man caught sight of him and walked over.

“Hello there.” The man tilted his head to one side and gestured vaguely at where the portal had been. “Magic?”

“Uh… sort of, yeah.” Simon looked around. He was supposed to be delivering something to a dragon, and from his admittedly limited experience, dragons were typically surrounded by fire, ash, ...