Author Archives: Kendra Wray

Book Review: The Stolen Kingdom: An Aladdin Retelling -Bethany Atazadeh

I’m still not one for fairy tale retellings mostly because I find they’re overdone and redundant. We know the end because they’re familiar tales, so it is rare that I find an author who is able to take a classic and turn it into an exciting read. Bethany Atazadeh’s The Stolen Kingdom does this well.Continue reading “Book Review: The Stolen Kingdom: An Aladdin Retelling -Bethany Atazadeh”

Naming Characters: Nice to meet you!

One thing I find myself doing is keeping track of names I like. There are just some names that I hear, hold on to and wait for the right character to come along and claim it! Some of my favourite names have found their characters as they are a part of manuscripts in progress. OneContinue reading “Naming Characters: Nice to meet you!”

Naming Characters: What’s in a name?

As I mentioned in the previous post, the name of a character is a big part of creating a character. I like to choose names that suit a particular aspect of the character. In Hidden, all dragon and names given to the Arelian race were colours that matched their skin tones. This was actually statedContinue reading “Naming Characters: What’s in a name?”

Naming Characters: Who are you?

Naming a character might be a bit like naming a child. Except in this case, I already know the character intimately because as the author, they are someone I’ve spent a great deal of time creating and thinking about. I know their personality, their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses and how they’re goingContinue reading “Naming Characters: Who are you?”

The Writing Process: Outlining

Now that all our disjointed ideas are starting to take shape, it’s time to take one more step before typing that first riveting sentence of our first draft! Again for anyone writer who might say, I don’t plot! I fully hear you. I tried plotting when I wrote my first few manuscript attempts and spentContinue reading “The Writing Process: Outlining”

The Writing Process: Structure

In my previous blog, I talked about what brainstorming looks like for me so today’s focus is going to look at what I do with all those notes and scrambled ideas. Once I’ve spent a sufficient amount of time working with an idea, looking at possibilities, filling in gaps, asking questions, etc… I take theContinue reading “The Writing Process: Structure”

The Writing Process: Brainstorming

One question I am often asked about when people find out I’m a writer is: How do you come up with all those ideas? It’s a fair question and this week’s blogs are dedicated to looking at bit at The Writing Process. I’d like to clarify at the start that these are only strategies thatContinue reading “The Writing Process: Brainstorming”