BRT: A Look Back at The Swan Prince and The Stone Kingdom

The Swan Prince review (click me!)

The Stone Kingdom review (click me!)

These wonderful novellas were reviewed by me in 2013. I wanted to bring these to the attention of readers since Danielle Shipley (over at Ever On Word) is gearing up for the release of The Surrogate Sea, the sixth book of The Wilderhark Tales. 

Since I'm about to do reviews for them all, I figured I'd include Sula's, Villem's, Rosalba's, and Edgwyn's introductory works!
The Swan Prince and The Stone Kingdom are available on Amazon, Createspace, and Barnes and Noble! [I only linked to The Swan Prince.]

I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't looked at these books yet to at least give them a look. "I don't want to read a fairytale," one might say. Well, these aren't fairytales. These are Wilderharks. (: 

If you're in the mood for amazing writing, prose, characters, plot, pace, and every other element involved in writing, this is a good place to start. I've said it before - the characters leap off of the pages, they grab you and pull you in, and they do not let go.

This next month is going to pretty much be Wilderhark Month here on Flame Writer! I'm starting it with this glance back at these two novellas, and the next few weeks up until March 28th, when I'm on the Blog Tour for The Surrogate Sea, each Thursday (and that Saturday) is going to feature a post about The Wilderhark Tales.

Check in next Thursday for my review of The Seventh Spell! I'm reading it right now, and OH MY GOD IT'S SO AMAZING!! 

Have a good Thursday, everyone! Let me know your thoughts in the comments - drop in on Danielle's blog if you have the chance too! 

Please excuse any typos. It was 12 AM when I typed this after cramming homework. If I spy any errors in the morning I shall correct them. 
Also, any comments on the new font are welcome. Too big? Just right? 

Thanks, everyone! See you next time!

Writing World Wednesday: When Characters Rebel

Something people tend to say about writers: "Well, you're a habitual liar then, right?" This stereotype in writing actually confuses me. From outside of a writer's perspective, though, it makes sense. 

What people don't understand is that writing isn't something very conscious of us. It's like going into tunnel vision and watching something unfold, and all you can do is write as fast as you can to keep up with how the events progress. We're just passengers along for the ride.

Sometimes, when we try to guess what happens next, we're wrong.

Just the other day I was writing a scene I had been preparing for some time. In particular, my dear MC Ashley Vaandere winds up in the catacombs under Paris, France for a few minutes.

Naturally, as Ashley is a curious person, I figured she would venture through the catacombs for a time before hurrying to get out. She's seen carnage and she's seen death, so a few piles of bones wouldn't scare her, right?

Ashley didn't agree with me. Only about three hundred words into her travels underground, she panicked. She didn't want to explore - I had overlooked at just how many bad things she had seen within the past couple of months. She'd seen so much of it that she never wanted to come face-to-face with it again.

With that, what had been imagined as a three-or-four thousand word journey became that of only 900 words - long enough for her to find someone who ended up in the tomb with her, talk to them, and then get herself out. After editing, it may only be around 500 words. 

The point of this post is how interesting it is that, as writers, we can be certain something will transpire a certain way. This person will do this, and that person will do that. Yet when it comes to writing it, the characters rebel, and a scene we've built for maybe over a year can turn on its head and we're just trying to catch up with what our characters are doing.

Characters are more sentient than people give credit for. Just because we write out what they say doesn't mean we're making it up. These people have feelings and emotions that we wouldn't react to like they would. We don't make it up. We feel everything with them. This is why I disagree when people say writing is "lonely."

It's anything but lonely.

So what do you all think? Have any of you had a scenario where a character declared, "Nope," in regards to something you'd anticipated? Let me know in the comments!

Have a happy Wednesday, everyone. Trying a new font as I'm afraid that the font I've normally been using might be too small, and straining to the eyes of casual readers. (:

Random Monday: Better Late Than Never

New Posts Coming This Week!

I've got myself a couple motivators and I should begin preparing posts regularly again. See you soon!

Ready, Set, Surrogate Sea! [[[COVER REVEAL - Danielle E. Shipley's New Wilderhark Tales Release!!]]]

The Sea’s storm brought them together, and the Sea’s rules will keep them apart, unless the mute but melodious Muirigan can find another to take her place, freeing her to pursue the human man she loves. But when her plan collides with the schemes of the sly South Wind, a princess’s agenda to look for love in all the most fantastic places, and a prince whose head and heart have been long years at war, the result is a tragedy of errors from which the world might never recover.

The Surrogate Sea (Book Six of The Wilderhark Tales)

~ * ~ * ~

AGHHH! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL AND I WANT IT NOW. 

DON'T YOU??? Of course you do! :D

So, to that end, I have the information you'll need. Such as its release date!

I am going to be a part of the blog tour for its release, so be ready to check back here for some interesting tidbits for the characters in this sure-to-be-wonderful book.

I am also going to review all of the Wilderhark Tales in bulk throughout February/March in celebration! Six books - how could I not? I'll probably even include a joint-re-review of The Swan Prince and The Stone Kingdom.

ANYWAY! Here it is: the info you really want.

RELEASE DATE: 

MARCH 24, 2015 (TUESDAY)

Goodreads link here! Add it to your to-read list!

Who's this? The author, silly! 

Danielle E. Shipley's first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself. ...Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof.

When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: Packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words; lots of them. She's also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble. 

When she's not living the highs and lows of writing, publishing, and all that authorial jazz, she's probably blogging about it at EverOnWord.wordpress.com.

I AM SO EXCITED. BEYOND EXCITED. GET PUMPED! WILDERHARKS ARE COMING. God, this cover is so beautiful! Just what to expect from Yana Naumova!

An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; a princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – all within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.

You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea. Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.

Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark's.