P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 309

Fantasy Authors Unplugged – Jim Melvin

This is continuing feature on Archer’s Aim – Fantasy Authors Unplugged. I hope to frequently share an interview with a fantasy author. If you have authors to suggest and/or questions you’d like to see answered then leave a comment or send me an email. If you are a fantasy author and would like an interview please let me know and we’ll plan one that fits your schedule. Today, I welcome Jim Melvin to Archer’s Aim.

Please share a short summary of you book.

I am the author of the six-book epic fantasy titled　The Death Wizard Chronicles. All six books (Forged in Death, Chained by Fear, Shadowed by Demons, Torn by War, Blinded by Power　and　Healed by Hope) are now available on all online venues around the world, as well as a number of brick-and-mortar bookstores, including Barnes and Noble. There are also three short stories available online that serve as teasers. They are titled Torg’s First Death, The Black Fortress and Rise of the Sun God.

The concept of karma and the art of meditation play key roles in the symbolic aspects of my work. While deep in meditation, Buddhist monks have had recorded heart rates of fewer than 10 beats per minute. My main character takes this to the extreme. In an original twist never before seen in this genre, the Death Wizard is able to enter the realm of death during a “temporary suicide.” Through intense concentrative meditation, Torg stops his heartbeat briefly and feeds on death energy, which provides him with an array of magical powers.

For those of you who are just interested in a fun and entertaining read, don’t let any of this dismay you. Though my series has a lot going on between the lines,　it　is fast-paced and action-packed, nonetheless. I describe　The DW Chronicles　as a cross between J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King – Tolkien because it contains many aspects of epic fantasy, King because it’s pretty darn scary and rough.　The Death Wizard Chronicles　is a classic tale of good versus evil, with lots of action, monsters, and magic. It also contains a compelling love story.

Only a Death-Knower can die. And live again.

Only a Death-Knower can return from death. And remember.

Only a Death-Knower can tell the world what he’s seen.

For a thousand years, none have rivaled the power of Torg, the Death-Knower wizard, as he ruled his people and kept peace on Triken.

Now a new threat has suddenly arisen. The evil sorcerer Invictus is greater even than Torg, and his greed and ambition threaten to engulf the land in eternal darkness. When Invictus imprisons Torg in a horrifying pit bored into the solid rock of a frozen mountain, the fate of Triken hangs in the balance.

Torg becomes freedom’s final hope, but first he must die to earn the victory.

Are the main characters inspired by anyone?

My main characters are inspired by my world view. There aren’t any specific individuals in real life who represent any of my characters, but rather

they are symbolic conglomerations of behavioral characteristics. Each character is larger than life, and more figurative than literal.

How did you begin writing & how long have you been writing?

I wrote my first novel when　I was 21 years old and Jimmy Carter was president.　Sarah’s Curse　was　an artsy murder mystery bursting with passion and intensity. I shopped it around to various publishers and got no bites, but I wasn’t particularly concerned at the time. It’s　usually the second or　third novel　that hits it big, right? So I went about the business of writing my second book.

At this point in my life, I was in love with J.R.R. Tolkien (and still am), so I decided that my second novel would be a high fantasy. My roiling　imagination gave birth to a character named Torg, and he was　to be king of a band of　desert warriors called Tugars. I made up these names just because they sounded cool.

Needless to say, I was full of zest and excitement — but not necessarily of worldliness or maturity. Over the next several years, every time I sat down to write about Torg I’d get a few pages in and then hit a wall. Each time, my excuse was that I was just too busy.　I already was married, raising a family, and working a challenging job at a big newspaper. That’s a lot for any young person to handle, right?

Years turned into decades.　As I said, I wrote my first novel at 21. It wasn’t until　age 45 that　I wrote my second one.　And my how things had changed over the course of that time. George Bush now was president, for one thing. I was remarried　and　had five daughters, the youngest three of whom were adopted from Cambodia. But most importantly, at least as far as my writing career was concerned,　I　finally had developed the worldliness and maturity to bring Torg and the Tugars to life at the level of quality they deserved.　After almost 25 years of starts and stops,　The Death Wizard Chronicles　was born for real. I　wrote the first page of Book 1 in　September 2004. Almost 700,000 words later, I wrote the last word of Book 6 in late 2007.

What’s the least engaging part of writing a novel for you?

I’m no genius, so I have to do a lot of up-front research before I am prepared to do the real writing. The preparation is tedious to me.

What’s the most engaging part of writing a novel for you?

Once all the up-front work is done and all I have to do is write, then that is the time when I really enjoy the craft. I can spin out the words joyously.

What marketing skill did you most need to hone?

I still haven’t honed my marketing skills. I’ve tried everything. I’ve spent, literally, thousands of hours. I’m still trying to find the magical formula that some — to be honest, with works inferior to mine — have somehow discovered.

What’s next on your project list?

I am writing a book about a war between dragons. It will be allegorical, and resemble our own world’s deforestation and destruction of the environment. I’m about 50K in, thus far.

If you work with an editor, please share your experience with that process.

My experience with my publisher’s (Bell Bridge Books) fantasy editor was enlightening — in some ways good, in some bad. The bad ways: She made me work my ass off. The good ways: The final product was vastly improved.

I also am an experienced editor. I have taken poor works and improved them, and taken strong works and improved them too. I find this to be a much easier task than actual writing.

Bio & Links

I was an award-winning journalist at the St. Petersburg Times for twenty-five years and currently work at Clemson University. I am married with five daughters. I have written eight novels, including　The Death Wizard Chronicles, a six-book epic fantasy. My works contain adult content.

My website: www.jim-melvin.com

My facebook page:　https://www.facebook.com/TheDeathWizardChronicles

Amazon:　http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=forged+in+death

If you’re a fantasy author and would like to be interviewed for “Fantasy Authors Unplugged” just contact me via email or one of my social media channels and we’ll set one up. By all means, take a look at Jim books – I know I am. Thanks to Jim for the interview today. Best wishes on the latest project!

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Editing, Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Jim Melvin, Rave Review Book Club, Self-publishing, Social Media, Writing Tagged: Amazon, blogging, creativity, Editing, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Rave Reviews Book Club, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Death Wizard Chronicles, Twitter, writing

Deep POV Pt. 10: Near & Far

Most everyone remembers the Sesame Street character Grover showing the difference between near and far. He used to pull all kinds of stunts to get the point across. He would lunge close to the camera and then go to great extremes to go the distance to show far. In the same way your writing should be “near and far”?

Near

Deep POV is an outstanding technique to bring your readers near your character. This mode of writing can be very gripping and keep your readers turning pages. You can enhance deep POV with regular use of emotional cues salted into the internalization. Showing emotions can add that extra punch to your writing and you need that power to keep readers interested. Actors work hard for deep characterization and so should writers.

Far

But there are times to be distant with your writing – even in short stories. Distance means you are relying on description. To do this you must be willing to use your writing to pan out like a camera and show wider angles to what’s going on in your story. But when should you use this technique? Here are a few instances:

1. Start a story or chapter with a wide angle and then pan into a deeper focus that drops readers into your character’s POV. This is frequently used and you may not realize it though your were caught up in the book and turned the pages.

2. Fight scenes are another great place to widen the angle of your prose. The more people in the fight, the more you can back out and use description. This is requires a different kind of distance which I’m working on now with my own book. The fight should flow but not be caught up in cloying details. If there are details, they should be distinctive for later use. Instead focus on consistent action that isn’t too abrupt but also isn’t overdone. The results should allow you to drop back into deep POV with all the emotions for riveting effect.

Work “near and far” to your advantage so your story won’t flag. Do it well and your readers may shower you with enthusiastic reviews that help sell books.

Is your prose near or far? What tips do you have for varying POV distance in your writing? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Deep POV, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Deep POV, Editing, Facebook, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing

Formatting Pt. 5: Show – Don’t Hide – Your Flaws

This is on going series covering e-book formatting. The other post in the series are: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4.

There are many pitfalls that can be hiding within a manuscript the you may not know are there. However, these formatting mistakes can be troublesome when submitting your manuscript to Kindle or Smashwords. Even worse, if you are making your own file rather than letting these services compile your manuscript you may find these when viewing you finished product. Worse yet, if you don’t check the whole manuscript you may have your readers find these flaws.

Here’s where formatting correctly from the beginning comes in handy. As discussed previously, you should use styles in Word and consult the Smashwords Style Guide for best practices. Some of the issues that may be hiding in your manuscript are:

1. Empty spaces that may not appear in Word but will in an e-book.

2. Paragraph returns used instead of correct page breaks which will also throw of the appearance of your manuscript.

3. Manual indentations affect the spacing on your writing when compiling to e-book. Use automatic indentation instead of empty spaces.

4. The same is true of tabs created for indentation instead of setting up the paragraph format of your file correctly.

You can easily view these flaws in Word by using the Show/Hide command. It will display all the hidden formatting that needs to be corrected. The Show/Hide button is located on the Home tab in Word 2010 on ribbon menu between the Sort button and the Styles options.

Once you see these you can do searches for the tabs to replace them with proper indentation. Likewise, you can correct for incorrect page/chapter/scene breaks by designing these into your styles. For now, use the Show/Hide to help eliminate the flaws in your work. Next week, I’ll discuss more about removing format problems with searches and the week after I’ll write about designing styles with correct breaks.

Have you looked for format flaws in your manuscript? What tips and tricks have you learned to better manage your manuscript? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Starting An Author Platform Pt. 3: Email & Branding

When preparing to build your author platform there is one small detail to consider before starting things: you email address. However, this detail is a very important concern for branding yourself and your content with the public. Aside from your domain, your professional email address will act as a cornerstone for what you build. Today, I’ll discuss why this email address is so important as well as considerations for hosting and your budget.

Why It’s Important

Your author email address is important for several reasons. First of all, it identifies you clearly when sending out messages in a way the supplements your domain name. Simply put, you communicate your brand with your email address. Without a clearly identifiable email address recipients for your messages might delete your messages without reading them because they don’t easily recognize the sender. One of the tasks that you’ll need to work on for your platform is building an email list so an confusing address negates your efforts. It’s all about the branding.

Next you’ll use this address to create many, if not all, of your social media accounts. This matters for the sake of branding and consistency of effort.

Email Hosting Considerations

Once you have your domain registered you will need to have email hosted somewhere. This can be a simple choice or one that’s more complex. If your domain/website are hosted with a service that has email hosting built-in to your cost then the process is rather simple. This route is more costly but offers the most freedom to you.

However, if cost is an issue (at least at the beginning stages) then you may choose a free service to host your site and domain (like me). Email hosting is not usually included in a free situation (again, a domain name is not free though you may get it for free the first year when paying a hosting service). But all is not lost. I host my email through GoogleApps for a minimal monthly cost. It allows me flexibility to move the hosting whenever I choose to do so.

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Cost Choice

In the end, cost governs your choice of email hosting (and website hosting). If you go whole-hog and pay a larger yearly sum for all your hosting together then you have greater freedom with email. This means you can have more addresses and more storage. Storage isn’t a major issue to me. More email addresses are not immediately necessary but can be beneficial. For instance, you may want separate addresses for sending your newsletter, social media registration, fan contact, etc. The choice is up to you but shop around and know what you are getting. For me, I chose to start low-cost and grow as necessary.

When To Upgrade

But this begs a new question: when should you upgrade. Short answer: when you need to. It’s determined by your growth and income. Once your income is higher you may choose to host everything with one service. It gives you the ability to design your site with greater freedom and email is part of the whole in this case. Personally, I’m staying on the low-cost side until it’s time to grow. I suggest you make a plan that is flexible – growth is triggered by marketing needs such as branding, email automation, more addresses, a launch page or sub-domains for your books/series.

Available at Amazon, Smashwords and All Major E-Book Vendors!

Are you using an email address that clearly brands you and your content? Have you made a plan for growth? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Choices, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, email hosting, Facebook, hosting, Indie Publishing, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing

Scrivener Tips Pt. 7: Keyboard Shortcuts

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

There are many fantastic tools in Scrivener of which a writer can make easy use. But I often find that hate to pause too much while writing to click and change something. Or if I’m making changes there are just too many time-consuming clicks to reach a command on a menu. For this reason, I tend to use keyboard shortcuts in varying tandems with mouse clicks. Here are some favorite keyboard shortcuts for some of the Scrivener commands that I use:

The following are normally reached by clicking Format and going to the Font fly-out menu:

1. Strikethrough – Ctrl/Shift/-

2. Underline – Ctrl/U

3. Italic – Ctrl/I

4. Bold – Ctrl/B

5. Bigger/smaller font – Ctrl/> or < (these do require using the Shift key to use the upper case otherwise you’ll get something else opening such as Project Stats).

The following are commands that also appear on the Format menu that I use. The additional ones listed you may use for non-fiction but I largely don’t for fiction:

1. Ruler – Ctrl/Shift/R

2. Add comment – Shift/F4

You can change views quickly by clicking on the View menu or using the shortcuts listed there

1. Document – Ctrl/1

2. Corkboard – Ctrl/2

3. Outline – Ctrl/3

4. Full screen – F11

I know many people use their mouse often but for those who like to use these types of shortcuts they can be very helpful. I make use of them often to keep my typing flow going and also because I’m on a laptop regularly without a mouse attached and stopping too much to use the mouse-pad can be a hassle unless necessary. It takes some memory but with practice I’ve gotten faster at using them without thinking too much.

These may be a bit of minute details however I find them easier to use than clicking so much. As an example, if I’m striking through a goal on a list I would highlight it and use the keyboard shortcut rather than waving the cursor around and clicking through menus. I hope these are useful to you, especially those who are new to Scrivener and may be looking for these shortcuts similar to those in Word.

Available at Amazon, Smashwords and All Major E-Book Vendors!

What keyboard shortcuts do you like using? What shortcut from Word or another editor have you been unable to find/use with Scrivener? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Project Management Pt 4: The Jigsaw Puzzle

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This is an ongoing series about managing writing-related projects. In this edition I want to get deeper into analyzing time. The original post is here, part 2 is here and part 3 is here.

The following is an excerpt from the original post on comparing time needed and time available. I want to take this information and then share from the other posts to gain more perspective with these elements of project management.

Compare time needed to time available: You know how much time you have per week and how much time a project and tasks need but how do they mesh together? Perhaps you have a novel to revise and estimate 50 hours of work. If your deadline is a month away then based on your weekly available time you know how much time is available to assign per week to the revision using a little math. Now you have a reasonable expectation for daily and weekly goals. But hold on there! You also have other tasks or projects during the week to address. In this case you should scale back expectations on the revision and assign how much time you need for these other jobs. Here’s where knowing your priorities comes into play. If you know your long-term, main priority is finishing the novel then it gets both weekly and daily priority, meaning it gets the lion-share of time applied to it. However, say you need to complete blog posts during the week. Since these are shorter and need regular attention your might assign time each day to blog. Or you might develop all of a week’s worth of posts in one day and then schedule them to be published. It’s up to you to divvy up the time that meets your needs according to priorities and available time. Regardless, you must make reasonable time for each item that needs your attention during the month/week/day in order to know what to expect.

If you’ve read the other posts you begin to see that available time and time needed combined with setting prioritized goals begins to be a puzzle of sorts. But to be organized you must sort the pieces and put them together. To do that you need perspective. I’m sure most people have put together a jigsaw puzzle and used a method similar to this:

Sort out all the edge pieces.
Sort the remaining pieces by color or identifiable objects from the image.
Frame the puzzle by putting all the edge pieces together.
Consult the box-top image for clues to where the remaining pieces go.

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Managing your writing projects is a similar function. By sorting your various pieces effectively with your survey you gain clarity. With clarity your survey provides perspective to make decisions about scheduling. As long as you pursue this with flexibility, that is, understanding what’s affecting your time, goals, priorities and schedule you can pivot your schedule to suit your demanding life and changing needs. For instance, you may find that you may need to suspend some long-term goals in order to complete a string of shorter ones. In doing so, you can clear a path to the long-term goals.

Now is the time to inspect your pieces and how they fit together. Ask yourself how will this information improve your effectiveness? Your answers should address short-term needs but keep you moving toward long-term goals.

What do you see from your survey? Can you see a way to move along daily to meet your goals? How will this make you more effective? I’d love to hear from you so won’t you leave a question, idea or strategy in the comment section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

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Project Management Pt 3: Balancing Projects and Tasks

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This is an ongoing series about managing writing-related projects. In this edition I want to get deeper into analyzing time. The original post is here and part 2 is here.

Here’s what I wrote from the previous post on this subject regarding

Analyze your projects and tasks: This seems straightforward but take time to really think this through. Perhaps you have a novel with a deadline, a short story or two that should be completed soon, blogs to post, social media to manage and any number of other writing-related jobs to address in a week. Assign priority to the items on your list at a monthly, weekly and daily level. Assign goals to your projects and be specific about what you expect – without specificity you only have good intentions. How many hours will your project take to complete? On what are you basing your criteria for priorities? Time? Immediate income? Long-term income? How much time do you need to spend on writing-related tasks? Once you understand this proceed to the next tip.

As I wrote in the previous post about analyzing time, you next need to be able to schedule your time. But to schedule you need to understand what to schedule and when. As mentioned above, you need to consider priorities and goals. Let’s examine these in some detail in order to fit the pieces together.

I also previously noted that we writers are a busy lot these days, often changing hats several times during a day – and not only in regard to writing. Gaining a firm notion of what needs to be done next along with the details is important. However, due to time constraints, we tend to rush from activity to activity without any clear vision of where we’re headed. It’s time to take a deep breath, step back some and take it all in – not to stress out but to observe, organize and take action. This doesn’t mean throwing your muse to the curb but merely gaining clarity so you can tap into that muse. The clutter often prevents creative traction.

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Let’s take a moment and clarify goals and priorities. Goals are what you strive to accomplish. These may be long-term or short-term in nature as well as ongoing, such as social media. You may have a long-term goal of building your writer platform and publishing a novel but have short-term goals for funding your writing. I would see the writer platform as an ongoing goal where you need to blog, update social media and grow your online tribe each day while aiming for longer-term goals for an upgraded website using various means. A novel or series of them would be a long-term goal. Funding your writing in some way would be a shorter-term goal that needs attention to a series of projects you hope will pay-off enough to fund some longer-term goals. This is where priorities come into play. You must decide what is most important to your time in such a way as to balance long-term and short-term goals. You may need to complete some short projects to clear a path for novel-writing. Regardless of what your goals are if you don’t set priorities for scheduling you are apt to become entangled with lots of good intentions and little accomplished through inefficiency.

List all your goals and regular writing duties. You may forget a few but you can add them later.
Decide what’s most important based on your criteria – what’s long-term and what’s short-term.
Now compare these prioritized goals with your available time.
Attach the time-value, that is how long it takes to complete an activity, to each goal.

Now you begin to see the whole picture of all that you are trying to accomplish. Your set of goals are much more than a murky set of notions. You begin to see what it will take to reach your goals. This leads us to the next blog about perspective in project management.

Do you have a set of goals that are clearly defined? Do you have your goals organized by priority? I’d love to hear from you so won’t you leave a question, idea or strategy in the comment section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

Thanks for visiting!

PHS

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Filed under: Blogging, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: creativity, Facebook, Goals, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Social Media, The Black Bag, Tips, Twitter, writing

Project Management Pt. 10: Eat, Sleep, Write

You’ve taken time to analyze your time and your project. You’ve identified your needs and how to schedule writing. You’ve put all the pieces together and you’re doing it – writing. But there’s one important aspect that’s missing. An author managing writing projects needs to manage life to remain focused and effective.

Writers tend to become engrossed in their work. We push ourselves to be productive. However, if we aren’t careful we can fall into a cycle of diminishing returns. Overwork can leave a writer struggling to keep the content flowing.

Proper rest is incredibly important. Sleep is a key component to everything a writer needs to complete projects. It keeps us energetic throughout busy days. But more than that, it fuels creativity. A sleep deprived mind is sluggish and lack motivation.

How do I know all this? From personal experience. I have sleep apnea. When I was diagnosed with a sleep study the difference of a even a few hours of solid sleep was – literally – an eye-opener. I didn’t realized how much energy, creativity and – most importantly – life I was missing. With my CPAP, I have become increasingly more active with my writing over the last few years. It’s probably a major reason why my writing languished for the better part of a decade. Now I understand how Rip Van Winkle felt.

Lack of sleep affected everything I did. When I have a bad night’s sleep it really brings my productivity to a halt. I don’t even eat properly because I begin to eat just to stay awake and it’s not good food in that case.

So take my advice, drop what you’re doing and get some well-earned sleep. With regular sleep y0u can become far more productive. And while your at it, get some exercise and take some well-earned breaks to do some interesting activities. It all works to keep your life balanced so you can manage your writing project well.

What hinders your productivity? How can you be healthier as a writer? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Clip art licensed through Microsoft Office. Tiger photo courtesy Morguefile.com free photo section. Book cover licensed on commission from Christopher Rawlins.

 

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Blog Tour: Choices by J. L. McFadden

Today, Archer’s Aim hosts a blog tour for Choices by J. L. McFadden via 4WillsPublishing. Take it away, J. L.

Adela

Height: 5’9

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Brown

Born: 1194 AD

Turned: 1215 AD

Job Description: Head of a coven in Lithuania

Gifts: Has ancestral abilities –strength and gifts vampires gains at a certain age.

Family: Deceased – accept her grandniece of many generations that she turned to save from a terminal illness.

Adela struggles with being attracted to her grandniece’s Guardian.

Gala Height: 5’6

Hair Color: Dirty Blonde

Eye Color: Ice Blue

Born: 1972 Turned: 1989

Job Description:  Adela’s right hand and C.O.O of the research company that is owned by the coven.

Gifts: Has a Guardian

Family: Deceased

Though her Guardian bond is so strong with John that she saved him from a car crash before his Guardian powers took hold, she finds herself wanting to push him away; she has never been able to handle any sort of relationship with anyone.

John

Height: 6’2

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Blue

Age: 23

Job Description: Guardian

Gifts: Guardians gain their supernatural powers from their bond with a vampire; their spirit is so connected to the vampire that if the vampire parishes the Guardian will soon follow.

Family: Deceased

He is torn between Adela and Gala: he feels is bond with Gala, but her constant rejections and fits is making it even harder to deal with his attraction to Adela. He wonders if his attraction is to Adela or is it due to the one ability she has gained through her ancestral powers – to be irresistible to anyone.

Priest

Eye color: Green Hair color: Dirty Blonde

Age: 32

Height: 5’11

Job description: Vampire Hunter from the Order of Hunters

Notes about: Priest was born in the order and quickly became one of the only hunters that were allowed to hunt alone.  After a near miss with death and the slaughter of the order he belonged to, he teamed up with Adela to try and track down the vampire that destroyed everything he had known and loved.  He is a man of few words and is known to vanish and reappear at unexpected times; his movements are so stealth that he is often compared to a ghost and at times a vampire.

Hannah MacKay

Eye color: Red Hair color: Green

Turned:  Hannah was turned in the late 1800’s in her early 20’s

Height: 5’8

Job description: Vampire/being lippy

Notes about:  She is a ball of fire and attitude that does not play well with others. Adela is the only person in the world that she will listen to – and is completely loyal to – she is quick to brush off anyone else.  She is known for being one of fiercest fighters of vampires that has a short fuse.

No one has any photos or any other source of image of Vitally.

Vitally

Eye color: Blue Hair color: Black

Turned: With his tightlipped secrecy not even Adela – the closest person to him – knows.

Height: 6’2

Job description: Ambassador/Historian/Spy

Notes about: Before he found Adela and helped her through her turning, there was no record of him. It is evident that he is much older than Adela by the things he knows, but he is a man of secrecy; he dabbles in the forbidden history of the vampires and is Adela’s spy. His official position is the Ambassador of Adela’s coven, but his unusual gift of slipping by people helps him gather the information. He has taught Adela many of the dead languages of vampires and people, but there is something he is looking for that he even conceals from her.

 

Author Bio:  J.L McFadden was born in  Pennsylvania and spent his life bouncing around the States until beginning to travel the world. Starting out he was a well-known musician in upstate New York that had a heavy playing schedule. Later he went back to his home state to work in the Lumber mills of the mountains. In California working in sales, management and even directed a small moving company until deciding to see the world. His travels around the world have allotted him to not only join an International Aikikai Aikido Federation, but have trained with Sanseis from Belgium, Ukraine, Russia and other European countries. He accounts his journeys and meeting of new people to his broad character types in his books.

 

 

Book Blurb:  While still doubled over, picking up a book, Adela stated with a sultry voice, “One of these days, I am going to make you deliver on all of those promised ideas, running through your head when you watch me.” She had a playful sound to her voice with her smile, telling that fulfilling his dreams was not out of the question.

 

Site: http://jlmcfadden.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officaljlmcfadden

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamieLeeMcfadde

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20842432-choices

Purchase: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Choices-The-Guardian-Volume-2/dp/1492747246/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1423908742&sr=8-1

BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/choices-j-l-mcfadden/1121101320?ean=9781492747246

Rafflecopter Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4af5be7f12/

Goodreads Event Page: https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/956279-choices-blog-tour

This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why It’s Good To Guest Blog

I was recently asked to be provide a guest blog which will appear toward the end of the month. It’s a very nice opportunity and I’m honored to be asked (I’ll post more information on my News page in a week or so). The request got me thinking about why it’s good to be a guest blogger.

First it’s good experience as a blogger. Your challenged to come up with original content that is interesting and new for the subject of the post (mine happens to be Scrivener). But more than coming up with a new post, the experience is useful for the future when you go on blog tours. As an author, it’s very important to understand how other bloggers work and the kind of content they expect for their site. Likewise, if you plan to write professionally for blogs or magazines the experience is very important for your writing resume. Also, as an author, you can expect to do any number of interviews for other blogs and again, working with other bloggers now gives you experience working with many different people.

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Next, guest blogging is important to authors for the exposure. On first blush it seems obvious that appearing on another site is great for branding your content. But there’s more to it than that. You are exposed to regular readers of another blog who may not know you. However, these additional readers may well influence hundreds or thousands more readers who may begin visiting your site, reading your content, following you on social media and even reading your books. Now try guest blogging on several sites and you get the picture.

For those authors who may wonder why they should blog these are very good reasons to start. Sure there is a time commitment to blogging but there are benefits even if you only post a few times a month. Blogging is writing and all your writing activities are beneficial to you as an author.

If you blog, have you been fortunate enough to have been another blogger’s guest? If you don’t blog, why not give it a try and see how you like it? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Guest Blog, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Facebook, Goodreads, guest blog, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing