Welcome to part 2 of the Know the Novel link-up. If you’re looking for an update on how Thunder is going, you’re in the right place! Thanks, as always, to Christine Smith for putting this link-up together!
Simultaneously faster and slower than expected. I’ve been Continue reading “2024 Know the Novel: Part 2 – Within the WIP”
Twenty Hills Publishing is a fairly new publishing house that caught my attention earlier this year as a Christian publishing house that tries to emphasize Christian values and light-centered stories without requiring those stories to be 100% squeaky clean in every context. When I entered a giveaway over the summer, one of the entries was to sign up to one of their street teams, so I ended up receiving an ARC of Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies to review and was glad to have the opportunity to read something from Twenty Hills Publishing.
What is Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies about?
The country of Umbra is caught in a war between its magical history filled with spellcasters and the new modern revolution. At the core of this civil war is the missing princess, who is prophesied to end the war and put the spellcasters back in a position of power.
To figure out where the heir is, the spellcasters throw a ball and invite all twenty-year-old women to see if one of them is the princess.
Though she’s forced to attend, Hazel Cartwright has no magical powers, so she can’t possibly be the missing heir . . .
Right?
Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies is a short story full of political intrigue, a missing princess, magic versus modernity, banter, and spies.
This story starts off with a very Anastasia-esque premise, albeit Continue reading “Book Review: Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies by Hannah Carter”
Beauty standards have been a topic on my “to blog about” list for a long time now, and honestly a topic that has intimidated me, lol. But I reached a point in my worldbuilding book where I had to push past that fear and write about them anyway, so here is some of my advice for developing your fictional culture’s beauty standards (and a sort-of sneak peek at my book)!
(As a side note, I find it amusing that this ended up coming out so soon after the release of the new Uglies adaptation. That was not intentional, but it does seem oddly fitting.)
Before getting into your culture’s specific Continue reading “Developing Beauty Standards for Fictional Cultures”
As we hit the season of big writing challenges and you may be trying to decide what to write next or endeavoring not to be distracted by plot bunnies, it seemed like a good time to refresh an old (messy) post about my process for capturing, organizing, and prioritizing story ideas.
Inspiration can strike anywhere, so I have notebooks and Continue reading “Story Idea Organization”
Hello and welcome to the third annual Know the Novel focused on Lightning and Thunder! Y’all asked for a re-introduction post, so here we are, and today’s post will be a little different from the previous two because I’m primarily working this year on finishing Thunder while the past two years have been spent working on Lightning. I’m going to do my best in this post to focus on Thunder without giving away spoilers in the process. Thanks, as always, to Christine Smith for hosting the Know the Novel link-up!
While I was Continue reading “2024 Know the Novel: Part 1 – Introduction”