Character Madness and Musings

This week's blog prompt was about 'hurdles in writing'. Hurdles we faced, and how we overcame them. It sounded dangerously close to the writer's journey, if you read that last week, but there are hurdles that weren't there. Things that seemed less important, so I didn't think of them, or they weren't mentioned, and while that's true in some cases, I think this hurdle was pretty important. Here is the link to my blog prompt group if you want to join us. We're on facebook, and I pull two new prompts from a jar every Monday.  Blog Prompts  It's old fashioned, but fun, and our blogs are never neglected unless we're over the top, busy. Today's hurdle is criticism When you take classes specific to novel writing, or even creative writing courses, you have your classmates to critique your work. I remember the very first time my creative writing teacher addressed critiquing. There were people arguing like cats the following week. I w...

So What Makes Paranormal... Paranormal? In an age when writer's are asked to place their work in a specific genre, which genre do we choose? Just to name a few genres we have; paranormal, dystopian, steampunk, fantasy, science fiction, supernatural, epic fantasy, etc... There seems to be an army of option all bleeding into one another and making for a confusing decision. I'll spend the next few paragraphs giving you a better idea on what defines the paranormal genre and separates it from all the others. First the actual definition of paranormal as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. "PARANORMAL - very strange and not able to be explained by what scientists know about nature and the world." Still not super clear, right? As writers I think we have done a better job by narrowing in on a more thorough answer. Novels tagged as paranormal have been written in our modern day world with the introduction of paranormal elements such as; werewolves, va...

The Writer's Journey was the blog prompt for my group last week, and since this week's would have been a little redundant for me, I decided to take on my path as a writer. Authors and Screenwriters are as unique as snowflakes. If you asked the same question to hundreds of writer's, Every story would differ. So here is my journey in the blanket of white. I tend to be a scattered person. That's one of the reasons I plan my stories. When I get a new idea, it often comes like a download with numerous characters and lots of scattered plot and subplot information. I think my writing journey has been very much the same. Years ago, a friend asked why I didn't write. I always had a book in my hands, and would sometimes read for days with minimal interruptions. Secretly I wanted to write, but I didn't really believe I had the talent to do it. The seed had been planted, but it would be years before I broke down and took my first creative writing class. I remem...

Realm Jumper Chronicles By Raven Williams Volumes 1-3  Now available in one great set. Realm Jumper Chronicles Omnibus Edition A world where fantasy and paranormal collide and chaos reigns supreme.  Do you dare to enter?   Welcome to the Omnibus Edition of the Realm Jumper Chronicles.  In this edition, you will find the first three books in the Realm Jumper Chronicles Series. Elven-Jumper, Book 1: What happens when humans begin having memories and dreams of a life as an Elf? Do the Elves step in or do they leave the humans to their own devices and hope they remain undetected?  Elf-Witch, Book 2: When an Ancient Witch Prophecy is discovered, The Elves, Guardians, and Dragon-Shifters become involved in the human realm once more. When worlds collide, destinies become entwined. Elven-Fire, Book 3: With war looming, each of the Elder Species must make a choice. The Elves and Phoenix-Shifters have pledged their support. ...

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A Virtual FantasyCon Guest Post The Magic Within  by  Author, Rick Haynes The Magic Within  Fairy-tales ... from me? After all, I mainly write medieval fantasy. And where would I start? At the beginning, I suppose. But of course, didn’t we love to hear fairy-tales from our parents? When I was small, my dad told me a different story every night, and every single one came from his own imagination. Looking back I realise how many were inspired by fairy-tales. With the vivid imagination of a small boy, I had dreams of standing in front of the fire-breathing dragon and slaying it with one slash of my huge sword. Dad even made me a wooden one. And what about Jack and the Beanstalk? I loved it, but my mum was none too pleased when I cut down her giant sunflower. Of course fairy-tales were told many, many, years before I emerged into the world. Take the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood as an example. This tale was originally dated back to the 1...

Apologies for my neglecting this blog this week. I've been in quite the spin. The good news is that Pretentious 4, is almost ready for the editor. With the holiday season just kicking off, I'm already busy, but can't wait for FantasyCon, the Halloween parties, and the holiday party for my street team, all happening in the next few weeks. I have a lot of good things planned for this blog in the near future, including some of the old style, character to character interviews - so stay tuned. This is the final installment for where my ideas come from. You may have realized by now that they came from all over. The idea for Pretentious came when I was on a chick flick spree. Stories about entertainment, dancing, acting. No one specific story kicked it off. It was more of a 'pieces of reality that you see in the business' kind of thing, blended with fiction. You may think I'm being a touch evasive, but to divulge more here would be a big spoiler, and I can'...