Ally Aldridge's Blog, page 38
June 5, 2019
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 24
Editing is coming to an end, just in time for PitMad. I have been working hard on my pitch which I will share with you in a later post.
I am now getting the final chapters of Jewel of the Sea finished and saving them in draft to be published on Wattpad. I didn’t want to overwhelm readers by doing it all in one go.
Does your personal life affect your novel writing – any tips for dealing with that? Anyone doing PitMad this month?
Click here to read chapter 24
If you enjoyed this chapter, you may like:
Book Review: Who runs the world by Virginia Bergolt
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Book Review: Red Queen
Red Queen
This is the first book in the series that I have read and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The funny thing is I first heard about this book at YALC 2017 when they were promoting it with #RedQueenForADay but it had taken me almost two years to pick it up to read.
Please excuse the silly picture, I was not feeling very photogenic after the long train ride to London.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Alison Aldridge (@redfae) on Jul 30, 2017 at 6:25am PDT
What is the book about?
The book is set in a world with two species of humans. There are those with red blood who are treated as a low class species and those with silver blood who are treated as nobles and have super power type abilities.
View this post on Instagram
June 4, 2019
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 23
Last week, I was a little distracted and didn’t get as much editing done. I was feeling anxious about my flexible working request to reduce my hours. Today, I had the meeting with HR and it couldn’t have gone better. I was almost dancing out of the office.
I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders and can now relax and focus on my novel. As a result, it is only Tuesday but already I feel this week is being so productive. This is the second chapter I’ve edited and I’ve already made a start of the next chapter. Plus, I have been working on my Pitch for PitMad (Pitch Wars).
I probably won’t take part in PitMad on 6 June as I don’t think my novel will be edited in time, however, it doesn’t hurt to get my pitch ready. You can join the PitMad Challenge Facebook group and get help from Kathy Ver Eecke on your pitch.
Does your personal life affect your novel writing – any tips for dealing with that? Anyone doing PitMad this month?
Click here to read chapter 23
If you enjoyed this chapter, you may like:
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June 3, 2019
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 22
I tried to edit this chapter yesterday but something strange was up with Google Drive and it left me feeling a little paranoid about whether it would save my progress.
It kept saying there was an error when it opened my documents or tried to create a new one.
Everything seems back to normal today and I got it finished. Have you ever worried about technology losing your work?
Click here to read chapter 22
If you enjoyed this chapter, you may like:
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 19 & 20
Seven tips for querying agents
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May 29, 2019
The Story Snippets Challenge
I love the photo prompt challenges on Instagram, especially those that inspire and encourage me to share my writing.
The #StorySnippetsChallenge was hosted by the following authors on Instagram: @amandalyncreek , @bridieblake , @jjotisauthor , @sireyourstory and @son_dae_writes .
View this post on Instagram
May 28, 2019
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 21
I rushed editing this chapter so I have made a note on my spreadsheet to come back and look at it again before I finish.
I’m right in the middle of the novel and I feel like I have come so far but still have a long way to go. It’s like the midweek hump. I just have to get through it to see the end.
The second half of the novel is very distinctive as it has a very different feel to it. Mariah thinks she has got what she wants but is suffering memory loss. She knows something isn’t quite right but doesn’t know why.
Is you midpoint distinctive?
Click here to read chapter 21
If you enjoyed this chapter, you may like:
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 19 & 20
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May 27, 2019
Tips on naming your character
[image error]Today, I am going to share with you some of the methods I use for choosing my characters names. Please cherry pick the ones that work for you.
Naming you character
Choosing a name for your character can be difficult. My preferred methods is to choose names that are an Aptronym.
Try to think about who they are and where they are from in your decision making:
Finding a name
Period in time: If your story is set in the past, you should research typical names for the time otherwise it won’t be believable.
Geographic: Find names that tell your reader where they are from. For example, if they have moved to America from Africa use a typical African name.
Personality: Check the meanings of names to see if it reflects their personality. For example, are they bitter or a happy person.
Characteristics: Check the meaning of names to see if they describe the way their look. For example, do they have dark hair or blue eyes and they a runner with strong legs.
Abilities: Check the meaning of names for their abilities i.e. are they clever, a singer or do they have super powers connected to water.
Position: Check the meaning of names based on their relationship in the story for example are they the friend, lover, teacher, mother or leader (boss/manager).
Relatives: If your characters are part of a family then it is more realistic that the parents chose similar style of names. For example, a hippy parent might call their children “Rainbow” and “Sage” and it would be odd if one child was called “Elizabeth” which has a very different feel to it. When naming siblings try to stick to names that sound like they would have been chosen by the same person.
Visit baby naming websites with tools to enable you to search for names, meanings and themes. You can also use a search engine to see if anyone else has made a suitable list for example “Rock Star names”.
Here are some good sites:
She Knows:
Behind the name:
Baby Names:
If you are using software specially for writers, see if it has a name generator as part of the application.
If you like something physical to use, there are tons of baby naming books that you can buy and some that are for certain themes i.e. Celtic names.
Record your name research
Keep a list of your favourites and important information about them. This will help you in future. For example, if you are writing a story about Witches and researched 18th Century names then this list will come in handy for introducing future characters and save you precious time.
I like using Wunderlist for this.
Pronounceable
Make sure the name you have chosen is easy for the reader to pronounce (even in their head). It is incredibly off putting if you’ve made up a name that slows down the pace of your story because your reader has to think about what it says.
Sometimes, Fantasy writers will create strange names to illustrate that their character is from another species. This is fine but don’t make it illegible.
Things to avoid
If you are writing fiction make sure that your character is not named after someone.
Named after someone: Be careful if your characters name is the same as a living person and make sure it is clear that your fictional character isn’t based on them. You can write a disclaimer to cover this and there are some great examples on The Book Designer.
Multiple nicknames: If you use a nickname for your character, stick to one. If your character goes by many names it can get very confusing and frustrating for your reader to keep up.
Temporary names
If you still don’t know what to call your character, choose something that is easy to replace i.e. something unique. Then when you have made your mind up, use Find and Replace in your word processing software to change the name.
Learn from my mistake: I once had this problem and called my character “Sam”. When I finished my 65,000 word manuscript and wanted to change the name it was horribly difficult. You wouldn’t believe the number of words that have ‘sam’ appears within it. This made it a very tedious task. If I had picked something unique like Bartholomew then the correction could have been made in a few clicks.
Please note, this is a rewrite of my blog post originally posted here.
If you enjoyed this, you may like:
Seven tips for querying agents
How much development do you give you Secondary characters?
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May 26, 2019
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 19 & 20
Earlier this week I published the new improved chapter 19 and 20 but I didn’t have time to write about it on my blog.
Chapter 19 is told from Gwyn’s perspective in third person which is different from the rest of the novel. I wondered whether to cut this chapter out completely but I decided to keep it as the foreshadowing is important for the readers tension.
How do you feel about changing the point of view within a novel?
Click here to read chapter 19
Chapter 20 took a little longer to edit as the original chapter was a whopping 5k words. Often my chapters are quite short and I have to merge them together to make a better length. This is because I’m naturally a fan of short chapters, so I have no idea how this happened. And, I need to add in more content between the scenes so this word count is going to get bigger. I decided to cut it into two chapters but it may even become three chapters.
Do you prefer long or short chapters?
Click here to read chapter 20.
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May 21, 2019
Jewel of the Sea – Chapter 18
Yay! I hit my goal of editing three chapters a week.
I really enjoyed working on this chapter as well. I forgot how intense the emotions are and her powers coming to life and the promise of a beatiful romance.
But… is this the midpoint? The false win? You’ll have to read it and see.
If you would like to see the new chapter on Wattpad, click here.
If you like this post, you may enjoy:
A Group For Writers with a Side Hustle
My best kept writing secret of last year (Happily Ever Author)
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Spotlight on Summer Literary Dates calendar
Summer is definitely the season for book and literary festivals. These are taking place up and down the country.
This year, I am fortunate enough to have tickets to Felixstowe Book Festival (June) and YALC (July). You can look forward to seeing my blog posts shortly following my return.
Are you going to any book festivals?
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I’m going to take this opportunity to remind you about the calendar I have been updating with literary dates and made accessible to all.
Please feel free to let me know of any competitions or events you feel I should add to the calendar.
Google calendar
I created a public Google calendar so you can see everything I have added. If you want to copy an event then you too will need a google calendar (it is free with a free Google email account).
If you like this, you may enjoy:
Spotlight on Spring Literary Dates calendar
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