By R.F. Kuang Harper Voyager, ISBN: 0062662562 Paperback, 549 pages. © 2018 Rather than be married off by her opium-dealing stepmother, war orphan Fang Runin (Rin) studies for—and passes—the Keju, an empire-wide exam known to identify the most promising youths, and secure her place at the prestigious Sinegard Academy, a military school filled with the…
Author: DremaDeoraich
Boost the Power: Shifting Perspective in a Story
Now that the Pitch Wars submission window has closed and the pressure is eased a bit, I’ve turned my attention to other projects. One of those, a short story entitled “29 Langwood Street,” has been lying around waiting to find a home. I admit I don’t like to write something and “trunk it” (put it…
How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky
By Lydia Netzer St. Martin’s Griffin; ISBN: 978-1250047465 Paperback, 368 pages. ©2015 Irene, a pragmatic astronomer who believes only in science, makes tiny black holes in a device of her own design. George, a dreamer and an astronomer, hallucinates goddesses and gods who reveal to him a marvel in the universe, one that will make…
Pitch Wars – 7 Days
If you read my post from last week, you’ll know (or at least suspect) that I’m a Pitch Wars hopeful this year. Since the submission window opens in SEVEN DAYS, I’m not doing anything else but shining up my work-in-progress. That means I don’t have a long, witty or educational post for you today. I…
Writing Skill: Social Media for the Win
I think I said in one of my blog posts earlier this year that I hoped to self-publish my work-in-progress by the end of 2018. Of course as we all know, plans are made to be changed, and mine was no different. Once I discovered Pitch Wars and the PW community, I decided I’d enter…
Planetside
By Michael Mammay Harper Voyager; ISBN: 978-0062694669 Paperback, 384 pages. ©2018 When the son of a powerful politician goes missing on the front lines at Cappa Three, General Serata calls Colonel Carl Butler to investigate. Butler protests; he’s semi-retired, done years in cryo already, and besides, he’s got ugly history with that planet. But Serata…
Break It Up: One Secret That Will Improve Focus
Most of the writers I know aren’t only writers. They work day jobs, raise families, do volunteer work, have a life that requires tending. You know how those everyday pressures are sometimes enough in and of themselves to make you want to scream. Add deadlines (self-imposed or otherwise), long hours in front of the computer…
How to Empower Authentic Emotional Scenes
I’ve always poo-pooed the saying “Write what you know.” Bull, I’ve said. I’m pretty sure Mary Shelley never built a Creature from human cadavers in her basement, yet Frankenstein has become a classic. Great writers always write things they don’t know. If they can do it, so can the rest of us. It only recently…
How to Drag Me Off the Couch
Who wants to read a flat novel that leaves you on your sofa throughout the entire book? Nobody, that’s who. A really excellent story snatches you off your couch, plunges you into the story, and drags you—flapping in the breeze—along for the ride. You feel the tension along with the protagonist. You experience the disappointments…
Provenance
By Ann Leckie Orbit, ISBN: 978-0316388672 Hardback, 448 pages. ©2017 Ingray wants nothing more than to impress her adopted mama, the powerful politician Netano. Her brother wants the same thing, but Ingray knows he is already way ahead of her in the race. One of them will be named heir, and Ingray has a unique…