Guest Post from M.B. Feeney, Author of HONOUR

On November 1st, M.B. Feeney released Honour, a collection of military-themed short stories. Ms. Feeney kindly agreed to write a guest post for me as part of her new release blog tour. Check out what she has to say about deciding between writing a novel and a short story, the challenges each format presents, and how the subject matter contributes to the choice of format.

Firstly, please let me thank you for hosting me as part of the tour. Honour is quite a personal book, and I am nervous and excited for people to read it.
The whole short stories thing came about via my experience with fan fiction. I struggled with writing multi-chaptered stories and maintaining the flow, continuity, and basically maintaining interest. I discovered a one-shot contest. For those who are unsure, a one-shot is an entire story told in a single chapter. After that, I found my niche. I fell in love with the simplicity of a beginning, a middle, and an end all tied up nicely all in one chapter, however long or short.
When I ventured back into the world of original stuff, I slowly began to work on multi-chaptered stories again. After having concentrated on such short stories for a long time, I found it quite hard to expand, which is why I went down the route of novella writing. The chapters were short enough for me to remain confident in the story and how well it flowed throughout the book.
I realise that with Honour, I’m kind of back tracking a little, but I feel the mixture of one-shots and short multi-chaptered stories. The end product isn’t very long, but I wanted to showcase the stories for what they are, not how long they are.
The subject matter was the main draw of writing each of the Honour stories. When I started writing each of them, I wasn’t consciously thinking or monitoring the length. I just wanted to convey the emotion a military family goes through in each of the situations I’d created for my characters.
Coming from a military background, I was able to tap into the emotions felt within my family, but some of the situations weren’t something I’d experienced personally, so that was tough and I wouldn’t have wanted to base a full-length novel on something too emotive without having experienced it.
Having said that, I’m not a big believer in only “writing what you know” so my next project is an attempt at a full-length novel and involves meeting a celebrity idol. Oh wait… I met one of mine, just not in a bar, drunk.

Available on e-reader today!
Summary:
The world is filled with people destined to help and to serve. Doctors, nurses, police, and firefighters—each and every day, these special people work to help others in times of need. Often, this means putting their own lives at risk in order to do their jobs. They give of themselves to benefit society, and they do it without any expectation of thanks.And then there is the military…
These are the men and women who don’t head home to their families and safe homes to relax at the end of a shift. They are on the front lines, far from home and often fighting someone else’s battles because it is the right thing to do. Military families struggle to cope with the constant worry and the long periods of separation, staying strong to support those who serve in everything they do, and often are left to pick up the pieces when the highest price is paid.
Servicemen and women are heroes in the purest sense of the word. Even when the world’s gone mad and their hearts are breaking, one thing remains unchanged.
They have honour.
Excerpt:
All his life, his mother had been there for him, gently pushing him to do his very best and allowing him the opportunity to make his own decisions, even when they led him on a path she wouldn’t have chosen for him. When he’d told his parents at age sixteen that he wanted to enlist in the Army, they supported him. The one thing they asked of him was that he finished his education up to A-Levels before he enlisted. They did try to talk him into going to college for a couple of years also, but he insisted that he would get better qualifications and experience once he was a soldier. As agreed, on the day that he received his exam results, his dad drove him to the Army Careers Office to begin his journey. 
“I’m so proud of you, son,” his mother whispered into his ear while clutching him in a tight embrace. “Never, ever forget that.”
“Thanks, Mum. I know you are. I love you.”
(Taken from the story Letters to No One)


Author Bio:
M. B. Feeney is an army brat who finally settled down in Birmingham, UK, with her other half, two kids and a dog.  Currently at university studying for her BA (Hons) in primary teaching, she procrastinates on her assignments by listening to music of all genres and trying to get ‘just one more paragraph’ written on whichever WIP is open. She is also a serious doodler and chocoholic.  Writing has been her one true love ever since she could spell, and publishing is the final culmination of her hard work and ambition.
Her publishing career began with two novellas, and she currently has a novel under way whilst Honour, a compilation of her own military-based shorts, is due for release 1st November 2013. Always having something on the go can often lead to block which eventually gets dissolved by good music and an even better book.
Author Links:
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