Month: June 2014

Book Brief: Doorways to Arkomo

Doorways to ArkomoDoorways to Arkomo – Book 1 of the Spirit Oak’s Gift
by Jacqueline Dooley
Genre: Fantasy
Word count: 67,000

Within Arkomo’s Four Kingdoms, one hundred princes are raised in total seclusion, preparing for the Departure—a sacred ceremony that will finally allow them to live freely among their people.

But Sorel, Arkomo’s only princess, fears the Departure isn’t what it seems.

One night Sorel opens a magical Doorway into a strange world—the place she calls Hospital. There she meets 11-year-old Grace Woodward who is desperately ill. Hopeless and about to give up, everything changes for Grace when she meets Sorel and learns about Arkomo—a world that once only existed in her imagination.

Grace and Sorel embark on a journey to save the Princes before the winter solstice—the night of the Departure. With Grace growing sicker each day, and Sorel dangerously close to being discovered, they’ll both need a miracle to survive

This book is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble. Continue reading “Book Brief: Doorways to Arkomo”

Remember to Vote for the Flash Fiction Winner!

Vote2The main character in this week’s story has lost his memory. Don’t forget, it’s time once again to make your choice for the flash fiction challenge.

Remember, the winning entries will all be included in the next edition of the IU Flash Fiction Anthology.

Check out this week’s entries here. Make your decision, then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

Voting polls close Thursday at 5 PM Pacific time.

Choose your favorite story in this week's competition.

  • Ed Drury (33%, 18 Votes)
  • Kenyon Ledford (30%, 16 Votes)
  • Lois Nelsen Lewandowski (9%, 5 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (9%, 5 Votes)
  • AV Carden (7%, 4 Votes)
  • Tom Kepler (6%, 3 Votes)
  • MathoSka (4%, 2 Votes)
  • Morgan Winters (2%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 54

Loading ... Loading ...

NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll. ONE VOTE PER PERSON, please. Duplicate votes will be deleted. The results displayed above are unofficial until verified by administration.

Killing Your Darlings: The Death of a Central Character

Author Mark HamnerGuest post
by Mark Hamner

William Faulkner famously said, “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.”  He was, of course, talking about having the guts to eliminate superfluous prose, chapters, etc. from your work.  However, as I was completing my third book, Cinder’s Reach, I had the task of killing one of my darlings in a very different way.  As a caution, I should note that everything from this point on should be considered a spoiler for those who are considering reading The Echo Chronicles.

My Echo Chronicles series revolves around four central characters: Trin, the protagonist, Cipher, his best friend, Creed, the hothead, and Dalton, the nice guy.  As I progressed through the books in the series, it became clear, both in my own mind and from my conversations with others, that one of my characters had become the clear favorite.  To my surprise, that character wasn’t Trin; it was Cipher.  Something about the fact that she never stopped trying to help others despite the fact that she was, herself, fairly messed up, really drew people to her. Trin was leaning on her more and more, and she was constantly putting her own life on the line for him and the rest of her friends.  The world inhabited by my characters is extremely volatile and dangerous.  Early on the thought struck me that it wouldn’t be entirely realistic for my characters to continue getting into dire situation after dire situation only to come out relatively unscathed. Continue reading “Killing Your Darlings: The Death of a Central Character”

Words, Perfect Words

BooksI love words. I wouldn’t be a writer if I didn’t.

One of my other vocations beside being a writer is being a hypnotherapist. I don’t practice it much; writing is my first love and takes up 99% of my time. As a writer, I have always been enthralled at the power of words to describe, to evoke, to inspire, to create. As a hypnotherapist, I found the power of words took on an entirely new dimension and that is the ability to induce an alternate consciousness. It still amazes me that I can lead a person into an altered state from where they might examine their psychological issues, fears, even past lives, simply with words. What amazes me even more is that I, too, can be coaxed into an alternate state, even when I understand the process inside and out, even when I’m fully aware of what is happening, simply by the use of the right words. Continue reading “Words, Perfect Words”