Writers, keep in mind that one person’s boring is another person’s perfectly written

FAQ Masterpost:

WRITING TIPS:

CHARACTER TIPS:

EDITING TIPS:

NETWORKING:

WRITING INSPIRATION:

WRITING FUNNIES:

FIRST SENTENCE FRIDAY (FSF):

CLOVER RAINE AND THE BLACK DRAGON:

MORE CONTENT:

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💜 Kira

While I have been gone a while, this is all good content to help with writing adventures!

Requesting Beta Readers

I’m looking for beta readers to read the first 4 chapters of my Adult Epic Fantasy novel, The Blue Flame. I will provide a link to a google document containing the chapters. At the end of each chapter will be a link to a form where you can answer around 6 questions and provide additional feedback.

Word Count: 11,900

Shoot me a message if you’re interested!

The Blurb

Fear the light, not the dark.

A shadow lurker has placed a target on Erador. He refuses to visit the Shadow Realm after the deadly encounter. In the midst of trying to overcome his trauma, a witch comes to Lucrethia.

Yulei promises to cure the dying Master. Erador knows it’s too good to be true. It doesn’t help that the entire continent wants the Master dead. Erador is convinced Yulei will kill him.

Atrocities have arisen since her arrival. Crops are diseased, people are revolting, and the Raven has been freed from his cage. The worst of it—the Master’s favored are being murdered, and Erador is on the list.

Lucrethians believe Yulei will save the Master. Erador can’t get rid of her, not unless he can prove she’s a hoax. The blue flame in her brooch is the only link. To find answers, Erador is forced to venture into enemy territory and walk the unsafe places in the Shadow Realm.

Will Erador overcome his fears of the lurkers, and expose Yulei to save his dying father? Or will he let the light win?

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Adult language, drugs, graphic violence, murder, trauma, and attempted suicide.

I’m still looking for Betas!

Anyone down to beta over quarantine?? @celstefani is the best and we are not worthy.

Here are the latest aesthetics I made for my epic fantasy series, Wardens of the Crystallis.

I was never really into making aesthetics until I started participating in a tag on Twitter. I'm pretty proud of these!

Each one is a different theme.

The Future

Erador has two choices; reach toward the light or be pulled into darkness.

One path will lead to their world’s destruction.

Will Erador find paradise with his father or turn agaisnt him?

.......

This is a peek into the future of my epic fantasy series. Characters have to decide who they want to work with in order to save their world. Some don't get along, but they have to set their differences aside for the greater good. There is conflicting information, so it's hard for some to choose which is the right path. When they pick a side, relationships are torn apart and they have to work against each other. No matter how much they might not want to.

The Past

Erador always wanders back to Sunflower Alley, where he was almost killed as a child. The recent murders force him back to the Shadow Realm where his killer lurks. He must expose a witch he thinks is behind them and face the lurker that wants him dead.

.......

Erador's trauma plays a large role in the first book. I was surprised to see it develop into something more complex than I thought it would be. It ties into other character’s stories and the main plot down the line! I'm Soo SO excited and can't wait to explore it in future books.

Tropes

I have yet to see a love triangle done well, but I do enjoy the one in my series.

Artakin, a prince with a haunting past

vs.

Baust, a servant shadowed in mystery.

Who will Valinia choose?

One, both, or none.

I don't even know yet. 😂

.........

The reason I picked the love-triangle as my favorite trope in my books is because of how much work I put into it. It affects the plot and also is affected by the plot. Each character in the love triangle is an MC and serves a role in the main plot.

Love Interest

Artakin wants nothing more then to be with Valinia, at least he thinks so. He has to adjust to his new reflection and leave his past behind to become the person she has known to love.

.....

Artakin is quit a complex character and I've only added to him as the years have gone by. It's so interesting to see what I originally thought he would be, to what he has become today. I can't wait for people to see how his story develops!

WE 👏 STAN 👏 ERADOR 👏

Also I'm still rooting for Baust.

When you're writing and you suddenly realize you don't know what happens next

When you’re writing and you suddenly realise you DO know what happens next

When you’re writing and you realise you have to write what happens next

Reblogging again because always relevant.

Yup.

I’m pretty much always the last one. Always.

Well this blew up in my absence. Love the additions

You take time for you. You're easily one of my Tumblr highlights so I'm glad you're working on being "better" in the long run so you can go further and do more!

I've pinned down the story I want to tell. Now I've just got to find time and energy to get it on paper/Google docs. But I've also been playing Magic the Gathering, and D&D, and taking inspiration and I might even write a campaign to practice and have fun with.

You're so sweet, thank you ahhh

That's awesome on your story! All those are such good platforms for inspiration, especially for fantasy works. It's good to have low pressure just for fun creative outlets.

Oop

The different types of reading:

Reading like a reader: You’re letting the story take you a sweep you away without worrying much about anything. You might have opinions–likes and dislikes. But for the most part, you’re just seeing where the story takes you.

Reading like a writer: You’re gutting each sentence, picking it apart and studying it. You look at what the writer does wrong and what they’ve done right and use both to help you improve. You’re actively trying to find flaws and strengths to avoid or borrow in your own writing.

When to read like a reader:

When to read like a writer:

A lot of writers find it nearly impossible to read like a reader anymore, which isn’t a bad thing. You can still 100% relax into a story and enjoy it once you’ve built up that reading like a writer muscle. It does take more work than just reading, so if you’re just starting out you may find it hard at first. 

If you do read like a writer, you can of course still review a novel. However, you can’t expect all your critiques to fit into a review. Reading like a writer is very tailored frame of opinion in most cases, as it partly relates to your own writing style. A review is not the place to compare your writings. It’s a place for other readers to find out if they should give this book a chance. Complimenting/complaining about sentence structure is nitpicky and going to go over most readers heads–just say it wasn’t/was well written. 

Like most things, reading like a writer vs reader is a wide spectrum. Plenty of readers that are not in fact writers read like a writer–especially voracious readers because they have a whole career of reading behind them. They’ve learned how to weed out bad books.

Throughout the course of a book you can do both in varying degrees, but at times it can be good to consciously flex those muscles. Strain and relax them. Become a better writer without even writing ❤