R.A. Black's Blog, page 3

7x7x7 Challenge Again

Nominated by the lovely @madeleine_deste (give her a follow or check out her blog: https://madeleinedeste.wordpress.com/) this time. I’ve already done this for my current WIP, so here are seven lines from page seven of Happily Ever After. The Usurper stands, King Reynald’s crown perched on his head at a disrespectfully jaunty angle. My hatred seethes like […]

We’ve just Met, and this is Crazy, but here’s Trauma, so Read my Story?

Someone once told me I was very good at torturing my characters. I take this as a compliment. (My characters are currently hiding behind the couch, quivering and wondering what fresh hell I have planned for them.) It’s important to worry about characters. If things come too easily for them, then we stop caring as […]

Pantsed Myself Right into a Corner

At the beginning of the year, I set myself a word count of 150,000 new words to be written over the year. Editing didn’t count; they had to be part of a first draft. I did it the year before – not easily, perhaps – so I thought I’d do it again this year. I’ve […]

Wordle of my Current WIP

I haven’t posted in a while, apologies for that. I’ve been busy sending out queries for Happily Ever After. In  the mean time, (because I love these things), have a wordle of my current work in progress. It’s still a first draft, so you’ll have to forgive the large just in there. I’ll cull those […]

Extract from my Current Project

Please note this is part of a first draft. Any and all words are subject to change! We approached from the back. The road leading to the house was already lined with coaches. I pulled my self up onto the wall and peered over. Ornamental gardens sprawled in front of me. There was a lake, […]

Five Reasons Why I think Contests are a Good Idea

I’ve entered a few contests this year, starting with #Nestpitch in the spring and finishing with #pitchslam this week. Some I was selected for, some not. Some I got requests, others I did not. Many contests run on a roughly similar format. A pre-selection period, where you hone the required materials, pitch, query, first 250 […]

#Pitch Slam

If anyone is passing and fancies it, I’d love to get some feedback on my pitch and 250 words before the contest deadline tomorrow at 11.59 EST (4.59 BST) Pitch: The usurper’s surrender was supposed to mean “happily ever after.” But the battle’s not over. Lavie must choose between a new life, a new king, or […]

7X7X7X7 Challenge

I’ve been challenged to do this by a few people on Twitter. It’s a simple exercise – starting from the seventh line, post seven consecutive lines from page seven of your current work in progress. So, here is a section from what is currently titled Lock Stock and Two Smoking Goblins: Great. I rolled over […]

Pitchwars Mentee Bio

A little bit about me: I live in the beautiful city of Bath, in the UK. Being British means I was able to queue about the time I learned to walk and was fluent in sarcasm by the time I went to school. Yes, I do drink tea, especially while writing, but it’s usual green […]

July 2015 Query Blog-Hop

When I had just finished Happily Ever After, I did one of these and got some great feedback. I’ve done two more drafts and worked on the query, so I’m hoping to get that final polish in time for #Pitchwars. If you’d like to join in, see this post on the lovely Michelle Hauck’s blog: http://michelle4laughs.blogspot.co.uk... […]