Book Review: Primordial Earth -Baileigh Higgins

Think Jurassic Park but you’ve been transported back in time and you’re stuck.

This was my first time reading a book from this author. I was pleasantly surprised. The story had good suspense and I was constantly wondering what would happen next. I had to put the book down for things like work, but even then my thoughts were gravitating towards, ‘I need to know…’

The main character, Rogue, was part of an event in history that split the modern world with the prehistoric world and she ended up as part of dino history. The city Rogue lives in is led by a corrupt leader and it is believed that the citizens are safe as long as they live behind the walls surrounding the city. But things aren’t so simple for our main character who finds herself exiled and fighting for survival.

It was a fast-paced entertaining read. The book finishes well with a hint of more to come. The overall writing is fairly solid. And I look forward to the second book though by the looks of it, the author has a habit of writing series that go one for quite a while, so I might wait before purchasing more in the series.

Pick up your copy today on Amazon!

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New Content

Hi Everyone, so the podcasting will take a bit more time to set up, but there’s a new addition coming to the website today and I hope you take a few minutes to step on over and check it out!

Here’s a link to the page!

New Content

I’d love to know what you think!

Thanks for reading and to ensure you don’t miss further great content, take a moment to like, share and subscribe.

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Book Review: Phoenix Born (Jacob Graves Book 1) -Sean Stone

Free for 4-5 days!

-Sean Stone

This is an interesting new series with a hero that kind of isn’t a hero. Jacob Graves owns a night club, is secretly in love with the woman who manages his night club and has some magic that gives him an edge. But he likes to stay below the radar of the magical and Dorian Grey, the real uh person in charge of his city.

Oh, and did I mention that he gets his real source of income as an assassin? But he’s the good kind who only kills bad guys. Unfortunately for Jacob, he’s met his match in his next mark. Jacob Graves kills the guy, but he has this irritating habit of coming back to life. Say what now? You’ll have to read the book to find out more. (And I did mention it’s for free on Amazon for a few days only, so get it while it’s hot!)

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The novel is well put together and the promise of the love interest gives a bit of mystery. The book has a good pace that keeps you reading and invested in the story.

Thanks for reading and to ensure you don’t miss further great content, take a moment to like, share and subscribe.

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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.

I picked it up as an author free giveaway and was pleasantly surprised. Not only was the story unique, but it was completely re-imagined. It is like the author was inspired by the childhood classic and made it her own.

Our main character, Arie, is not only being forced into a marriage against her will but has forbidden magic (because she’s a descendant from the Jinni through her mother’s side). So what does she do? She runs and finds herself with a crew of thieves (though none of them is named Aladdin). The tale ensues and while she helps them on a few endeavors, her identity is revealed and to save her father, she must betray the band of criminals and return home.

As always, I won’t give away any spoilers.

The story was delightful and filled with enough conflict and story twists that I had a hard time putting it down. It was a quick read and I may go on to read more in the series. I will say I was disappointed with the ending though as it felt ‘unfinished’. Granted, there are three more books, so I’m sure the author was leaving room for more story telling. Unfortunately, I found the ending didn’t make logical sense. It felt like the author was intentionally leaving the story unfinished because there is more in the series then an actual satisfying ending. So while the story was well told, entertaining and kept me hooked, the ending fell flat.

(Image retrieved from Amazon)

Renovations Coming

Hi Everyone! Thanks for being a part of the blog and for taking the time to read and like different blogs. I have been actively posting 3 blogs per week for the past few months and it’s been great! I’ve experimented with a number of different topics and areas of interest, and your engagement in the process has been helpful.

So I’ve decided to make some changes to what, how and how often I’ll be posting.

Book Reviews! These seem to be quite popular, so they will definitely continue. Though I will be more intentional about the posting of the reviews.

Podcasting/Vlogs: This is something I’ve been looking into and plan to add. Primarily, it’ll be the same kind of content as in my blogs but with a bit of a different edge to it since it adds voice and in some cases video.

Regularity of Posting: I haven’t completely decided on this, but I’m looking into 1 to 2 posts per week. The podcasting/vlogs will take time so this will influence (at least initially) the weekly posts.

There are a few other ideas filtering through my thoughts, but nothing is concrete yet since they’ll emerge with the renovating process. So stay engaged and let me know your thoughts!

Also, don’t forget to subscribe, like or share your comments.

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. One series that I’m working on is set in an elven world separated into realms. There are two POV (Point Of View) characters named Zoe and Phoenix. I won’t give away any spoilers but Zoe’s name, which means life, was chosen specifically for her and is tied to her magical ability. Phoenix’s name was a name that just suited the character. It has nothing to do with the mythical bird.

Two fun names in the first book are Dasha and Coco. Both these names are inspired by friends. Dasha is the name of a friend’s daughter who helped inspire the character. The name, however, also means ‘possesses goodness’ which is an attribute of this minor character. Coco is the name of a friend. (Coco is actually her nickname that everyone, including her family, uses.)

And Zoe’s dragons: Chim, Pat and Tupac. The names match the abilities of the dragons. Chim comes from Chimalli which means ‘shield’. The creature is fiercely protective of Zoe and creates shields or cloaks to keep her safe when enemies are near. Patli means ‘medicine’ and supports the shortened form Pat. This dragon is known as a healer. She keeps Zoe and those around her healthy and whole. The third dragon’s name is Tupac which means ‘warrior’ and this dragon is as his name implies. He also has the ability to help Zoe fight and inspire her with battle strategies.

I hope you’re getting excited about this series. The first book is being editing, and will come out later this year! (Hopefully this spring.)

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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 stated in the book when Tully figured this out and confirmed it with Ciaran. The skin of Ciaran and his dragon, Shadow, was so dark, their meaning of their names reflected this. Ciaran means ‘little dark one’. Tully meant ‘peaceful’, which was a big part of her character arc. At the beginning of the story, she had a lot of anxiety, but through the story, she does become quite peaceful.

Here are some of the other main characters and their names:

  • Bain: lives near a river
  • Declan: goodness
  • Donella Eir: Donella = dark haired elfin girl; Eir = goddess of healing
  • Cedric: Chief
  • Owen: Young warrior
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Breaking Enchantments was the first book I published, and I wrote it when I first returned from living in South Korea for seven years. It actually one second place in a publishing contest with Word Alive Press in 2014 before publishing it. The story itself was written as a way to help me process the good, the bad and ugly of life in Korea.

Erin, the main character, has a Korean mother and Canadian father. Her name was inspired by a Korean name ‘Ee-Rang‘ which was the family name ‘Ee‘ and the Korean word ‘Rang‘ meaning ‘and’. ‘Ee’ was Erin’s mother’s family name ‘Rang‘ Stevens. Meaning ‘mother and father’. Perhaps a bit strange, but the name suited Erin as she was battling with her Korean and Canadian identities.

Erin’s aunt’s name was Soo-Hye, which meant ‘pure wisdom’. This fully suited the character as she was a voice of reason in the novel. And Erin’s cousin, MiYoung, meant ‘Beautiful Spirit’. She helped Erin accept her identity and heal from her negative experiences.

While Breaking Enchantments is available on a variety of platforms as an ebook, it is also being offered as a free book to those who subscribe to my website (which also functions as my newsletter). So if you’d like a free read, you know what to do.

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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 going to grow. So when it comes time to name this inspired character, the name has to suit them. At least in my opinion.

One of the first steps I take when naming a character is compiling a list of names from various name generators and naming books. I look at meanings from a certain culture or language group so the names are consistent. I do this for most of my characters. Once the list is compiled, I try to choose the name(s) that best suits the kind of story I’m writing along with the world the characters find themselves a part of.

Sometimes characters don’t have a name when I first start writing, or their name gets changed. In this case, there are usually a few options and until the character is more ‘solid’ their name adjusts. But it’s a fun process and when the name settles on the character, it feels right. It’s a moment that becomes, ‘nice to meet you, __________.”

Over the next few days, I’m going to talk about some of the characters in my novels and how their names came about.

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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 spent so much time re-writing them that I gave up. Not to mention what a time waste it felt like. But I found a balance: A little organizing of my thoughts ensures less re-writes and a much more solid first draft. A little less structured plotting and organizing gives breathing room for the unexpected to take place in my story.

So here goes!

Now that I’ve spent a few days or a week jotting down ideas and trying to work them into my first draft of the novel, I turn to a spread sheet. On the spread sheet I take the structure I talked about in the last blog and create an outline. Believe me when I say the spread sheet has the bare minimum of notes.

Here are my columns left to right:

  • Scene / chapter
  • POV (Point Of View character)
  • Theme: briefly state how the scene/chapter supports the theme
  • Scene/chapter plot points/beats
  • Summary: end of scene
  • Characters in scene: list of names (useful when I need this in a future scene and I can’t remember the name of a minor character or the spelling I used for a name)
  • Goal of scene: what the POV character wants and needs
  • Conflict: internal and external conflict the POV character faces

All of this is very briefly stated and I might only plan a few scenes / chapters at a time so I can update for the unexpected turns my plot takes that weren’t in the original plan. Note, filling in each column for each scene / chapter only takes about 10-15 minutes. It’s something I do after I’ve finished the day’s writing, so when I sit down to write again, I just need to glance at the notes and I’m ready to go, create and discover what new and unexpected turns the story will take me on!

The outcome is I have a lot less messy first drafts that I trash because I’m so confused by the plot and seriously doubt it’s fixable. A second outcome is that I get a lot more writing done with less time or effort. I hope to publish my third book soon! Third, my manuscripts are much more solid and need less re-writes (even my editor had noticed a profound improvement!)

I’d love to hear your approach to writing, so take some time to share your process. Happy Writing!

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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 the next step. You might ask, ‘how do you know’? That’s an excellent question and I don’t have an answer for you other than, ‘I just know it’. It’s an instinctual feeling, but I can offer some indicators. First, the ideas excite me and feel plentiful. Second, I can visualize the story. Third, I start to feel connected to the characters and the story. But mostly, it just boils down to, ‘I know it’s ready’.

Now is the tricky part as my outlining is a mixture of steps taken from a variety of sources, re-worked and called my own, but where I can I will give credit to the source.

So I do a few things but not necessarily in this word. Rather, I have a word document that I begin filling up.

First though, I want to know the following:

I find that there’s no set organization that works. Each manuscript takes a different approach. Sometimes I have to figure out the mirror moment before I know the character arc, theme and narrative question. Sometimes I need to know the theme and then narrative arc before I know the rest. Mostly I just go as I feel the character(s), story inspiring. If I see a clear picture of the mirror moment, then I go with it. If, from brainstorming, I see the conflict and struggles of the characters very clearly, then I know the narrative question and theme. However, I do strongly encourage you to take time to think about these aspects of your character, plot and world development before structuring the story or starting your writing. (Trust me, it saves time later.)

Once I’ve figured out the above, I take that and my brainstorm and then fill in the journey. I do this for all my POVs and then put them together into one final structure. Now, there are many excellent methods out there for creating a story structure. I’ve found James Scott Bell’s super structure method works best for me.

I won’t go into detail about the super structure method as there are a number of story structure methods out there, so I encourage you to find what works for you. However, a story needs a good structure, so even if you’re a panster, or discovery writer (and there are famous authors who write like this), do this step loosely. Note, with all my talk on structure and organization, it might surprise you that my structures aren’t as detailed as you’re probably thinking. There might only be one or two lines that will help me remember the details as I sit down to write, which leaves lots of room to discover the story as it unfolds. So why do I take the time to do all this ‘loose plotting’? Because I value efficiency and nothing stifles my writing then endless re-writes.

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