How to write a novel in 30 days, part two.

This is coming a little later than I intended, and for that I apologize. I had some family issues to work through. I'm sure if you follow me on facebook, you already know all about it. And I do encourage anyone who wants to, to go ahead and follow me! Don't be shy. I may not friend you if we don't have mutual friends, but if you follow me, you can interact and comment. My facebook is public.

Now, on to the good stuff!

In part two of my video, linked below, I talk about how to outline, how to break writers' block and time management. I will get more into each of these things here.

Video in question:

I try to keep these videos short-ish. No one wants to hear me ramble on forever! So, let's address the topics in the video in a little more detail.

1. How to outline: As mentioned, I think keeping it to one to two sentences (no more than four) per chapter works just fine. And yes, I do mean outline chapter by chapter until you reach 'the end'. I will provide an example as I think this is the most effective way of getting my point across. 

Chapter One: Ron meets with Sue. They talk about their mutual pasts.

Chapter Two: Ron has a run in with his ex girlfriend.

Chapter Three: Ron asks Sue out on a date. Sue turns him down. 

Really, keep it that simple. It's just a skeleton. You need it to be loose like this so you have room to deviate. This process of writing a book really quickly is to promote pure creativity. And to shut down your inner editor so you can make real progress, really quickly!  If anyone has any questions about the outlining process? Just ask me! Either on FB, on the video in the comments section, or on here! 

2. Time management: This is really important. You're going to want to use what writing time you have. Every second of it! Make sure you have a quiet place to write. Barring that, get some noise canceling headphones. I know they're expensive, but check out app's like Wish. You can get some kick ass headphones for a few bucks! 

Set up ahead of time: What do I mean? Most writers I know have little rituals that help them get comfortable to write. I encourage these up until the point that it actually interferes with their ability to get to work. Out of coffee...can't write. Wrong time of day, can't write. Don't have my comfy blanket. Can't write. STOP MAKING EXCUSES. You know that's what you're doing. I've done it, too! It's bullshit, so cut it out. Treat writing like a job. YOUR DREAM JOB. 

Divide your time if you must: Don't have three hours to dedicate to writing? Work long days? That's fine. Split that shit up. Write for an hour in the morning, a couple in the evening. Write on your lunch break. Yes, it's hard. Yes, some days you won't want to. But DO IT. You will thank me later. 

Make notes: Are you writing an epic fantasy? Good! Awesome! Write some fucking notes! You don't have time for tons and tons of world building because you're going to do this as you draft. So, when ideas pop up at work, at the store, on a date...etc, take a little notepad with you and write down -everything-. 

Last:  NO EXCUSES. Write the book. Finish it. Gain confidence in your ability and talent. It's your heart and soul, I know it is. Treat it as such. Make some sacrifices. You can do it. I believe in you! If you ever need a pep talk? Hit me up!

3. OH NO WRITERS' BLOCK HEEEELP MEEEE! First? Take a breath. It's probably NOT writers' block. Unpopular opinion? I don't believe it actually exists. I believe it's OTHER things. Depression. Lack of time management. Physical exhaustion. Mental exhaustion. Getting stuck. Writing a character you can't identify with. Etc. So, let's figure out some things we can do to to break the block.

Blank page freak you out? Yeah, me too. Fill that shit up. With anything. Blah blah blah I don't know what to write blah blah, is better than nothing. Start in the middle of a scene if the start isn't coming to you. Skip ahead a chapter if you have to. Just. Start.

Help, I'm stuck!  Been there! I can't with transitions sometimes. I want to condense action and move the character forward without a lot of exposition. But sometimes? A transition isn't coming to me. What do I do? Skip that shit! Make a note in the manuscript and on a separate document. Scrolling through an entire manuscript looking for your notes and things you skipped will get old real fast. Save yourself the headache! Skip whatever is halting the drafting process. You'll get there and you will fix it. Just do it later!

SELF CARE: This one is vital. Eat meals. Good ones if you can. Drink water. Take vitamins. Get some sunshine. Take a walk. Call a friend. Writing is so solitary. You are going to need breaks. Make them as healthy for you as possible! Take a bubble bath. Listen to music. Go for a drive. Whatever helps you relax. 

I hate my main character!  Don't worry. This happens to the best of us. Sometimes, a POV isn't meshing. We can't identify and it makes writing like pulling teeth. BE HONEST with yourself. Can you keep it up? If you're not interested, then how will the reader be interested? You may need to scrap that POV or tweak that character until they have something you can relate to. 

MY PLOT IS SWISS CHEESE. MANY HOLES! Yup. I've been there too. And just like getting stuck in a scene? Skip places you can't connect. I can almost guarantee you the missing pieces will just fall into place. If you can't bear to do that, realize that nothing is precious. Not the plot. Not the characters. Not the setting. Cut what you have to so you can move on. Change what you must. Don't you marry yourself to a plot and stubbornly hold onto it until it completely kills your ability to write. Stop that. 

I can't write today because I'm (fill in a negative emotion here) I understand, darlings, I really do. I've suffered from clinical depression for nearly my entire life. Sometimes? I don't want to get out of bed. But sometimes? Pushing through it will help. But sometimes? It won't. Take a day off. Practice self care. Talk to a friend. If this goes on and on? Get some help. I mean that. I had to. Sometimes we all need a hand up. If it's just the blah's? Well, sometimes I don't want to work! I want to play video games and eat pizza all day. But, writing is my job. Social media is my job. Graphic art is my job. I work seven days a week. Even when I'd rather not. Treat writing like a job. And it WILL be your job. 

Some exercises to help writers' block fuck right off:

Sometimes, we don't know why the words aren't coming. In those cases? Here's some fun shit to do that helps.

1. Write an interview with your main character. Interview them! Ask them stuff!

2. Have a word war with a friend. If you have a friend whose a writer, challenge them to a word war! Time it for fifteen minutes and whoever writes the most words wins!

3. Take a scene you've already written and write it from a different character's POV. 

4. Write a scene in the antagonist's POV.

5. Role play. Be your character and go about your day. Sounds ridiculous but it's legit how Meriweather and I write our novels. 

6. If it's your current WIP that's blocking you, write a setting. A new one. Describe every detail. Save it. It may come in handy!

If you have any suggestions, questions, tips, comments, etc, please leave them for me!

That's all for today, folks. I will post another video about this process in the next few days. Next time? I will talk more in depth on how to structure your chapters and how to make your inner editor stfu. <3 

How to Write a Novel in 30 Days! Part One!

This blog post is going to follow along with my youtube series under the same name. In the first part, I talked about the process a little, but really, it was more of an intro to the system I used to teach.

I will be a little more long winded here and go into a little more detail.  This will serve as a companion to the web series.

So, what I talked about in the first episode was how to come up with ideas. I glossed over it a bit, so I will go into more detail on this here.

The question I get asked a LOT by other writers/aspiring writers, is how I get my ideas. Now, the dynamic for ideas for Belshalara is way different than the way I come up with ideas on my own. Collaboration is just not the same as doing it solo. I will do a blog post about -that-, but it doesn't really apply here.

If you're having trouble getting ideas, here are some tips to try:

Headlines in the news:

Sounds silly, but go through the papers online. Look at the headlines and let yourself ask questions without actually reading the news story. This can work for any genre.

Music:

Go for a long drive. Take a bath. Go on a walk. Anything. And bring music with you. I find that music inspires me. Sometimes it's just a feeling. Sometimes it's a whole scene. I find I think cinematically.

Art:

Looking at pictures also helps me. Pinterest, as mentioned in the video, is a great way to find inspirational pictures. Make a board for your book/idea and search up images. Start broad if you don't have an idea yet, but you have a mood, theme or genre you want to write in.

Ask what if questions:

What if zombies could think but couldn't communicate? What if aliens were kidnapping children, not to experiment on them, but to save them from the end of Earth? You can go on and on, and this too works for any genre.

Think of what's lacking in the genre you love:

This is kind of what started the Belshalara series. I was complaining to Merris that there were TOO MANY medieval inspired fantasy fiction books. I was tired of dragons and castles and knights. Not there is anything wrong with those things, I just wanted something else. And boom, Belsahlara was born after Merris suggested we write a fantasy with a Victorian Gothic Romance feel to it.

Make a character:

Seems back asswards, but I swear, it's not! Make a character. Pick her traits, how she looks, what she wears. Everything about him or her. Think outside of the box with race and gender. Make someone you want to get to know better. Sometimes. when a character is 'real' to you, they tell the story themselves.


Just some tips I've used. I hope they help you! On today's video, I will be talking about how to organize that idea, break down word count day by day and prepare to start drafting.

Have any questions? Thoughts? Want me to talk about something in particular? Post questions here or on my youtube channel! I look forward to hearing from you all.

--Lillian


Link to our youtube channel: Asterios Family Youtube Channel
Link to our facebook page: Lillian and Meriweather's FB fan page
Link to our Belshalara page: Books of Belshalara FB page

Magda the Mad, Chapter Two, Magda

Here is the first POV chapter I've written for the novel, Magda the Mad, a companion piece to the Books of Belshalara.  This tells the tale of Madgalline, a young noble girl who is plagued with seizures and terrifying visions.  Her parents and doctors decide to have her committed to the new asylum that is being built in the Artisian Quarter.  In order to escape her fate, she makes a deal with a devil.  

Magda

Magdaline drowned in the Gray River. The brackish, cold water filled her nose and mouth. Then her lungs, but it didn't hurt. The river bore her body, free from the bond of flesh, to the distant shore between breath and the infinite mystery of the beyond. Magda tumbled and fell because it wasn't really water. And she wasn't really dead.

It was a familiar place the river brought her to. She could feel the satin brush of raven's wings on her face as she woke in a room with ceilings so high they were swallowed in darkness. It was here and here only that her visions were born. In a world choked by gray, they played out in lurid, brilliant colors. She walked the halls of death and wore mortality as her mourning veil.

Death was another room. A gray place with endless stairs that never lead anywhere. Death was a nothing place. It was here, that angels and demons passed through the thin membrane that separated the dead and the living to whisper lies into the ears of mortals. It was here that things took the shapes of men though they had never been men before. Hungry things made of shadow that fed on fear while all around her crashed the sound of water.

Here, time was fluid and pooled together. Everything that would be and had been bled into one, dizzying blur. Death was the place of the old gods. The strange spirits that could not be appeased with sacrifice or worship. Animal totems. Goddesses of hearth and harvest. Forgotten, ancient things that no longer touched the world with their gifts.

In the great gray forever, luminous eyes watched her. Like the cold unblinking stars, or the circular patterns on moth wings. She wondered what would happen if they looked away. If something else caught their gaze. She was certain all that was would never be again. They could turn their all seeing eyes and everything would be nothing as it been before.

Magda never learned why she was brought here. She was shown things, both beautiful and terrible by gods and monsters and mortal spirits alike. Things that had been and things that were to be. She would wake and rant and weep, but it only alarmed her parents and eventually she kept her feverish visions to herself.

She stood on an empty shore where the wind whistled and moaned. Colorless water lapped at the pale gray sand and the tide rose and fell so quickly that she couldn't look at it without feeling dizzy and ill. Magdaline turned away from the water and before her stood a small man.

Or rather, a thing shaped like a man. It was a creature so black that it absorbed the light around it. It had no eyes or mouth, yet it whispered to her.

“Magdaline. Magda the Mad,” he said in a sing-song voice. “Do you know who we are?”

She shook her head. It was strange. Every movement felt as though she were moving underwater, every limb and muscle weighted down by a force unseen. “I don't know you, spirit,” she said.

“No? Oh, we suppose we're early then. Or too late.”

She turned to look back to the water. Often spirits spoke in nonsense or riddles. She'd learned long ago not to pay them much mind. When Magda turned towards the wildly churning and endless sea, the shadowy man was before her again as though she'd never turned at all.

The thing lunged at her, sinking ethereal fingers into her flesh. His touch was so cold it burned and she tried to scream. Salt water filled her mouth and nose and stung her eyes. The current was so strong. She couldn't fight it. The undertow tore her away from the shadowy spirit and drew her down into a primordial darkness that cradled her. Magda did not drown. She was an infant again, swimming safe inside her mother. The water was thick, viscous and so very warm. The waves rocked her to sleep and when the light broke through the cracks of her eyelids, she was born again.

When Magda woke, a wooden depressor was between her clenched teeth. She'd cracked it, nearly biting through it. She could taste the copper tang of blood as life tingled back into her limbs and skin. It hurt.

Groaning, she tried to spit the splintered wood from her mouth, but she couldn't. A man in silver wire framed spectacles pressed it ever harder between her lips. His face had skin as thin as crepe paper with bulging blue veins at the temples where his cottony white hair thinned. Her doctor. It took her several moments to recognize him. Doctor Tobias Copperworth. A grim little man, she'd never liked him much, but then, Magda never liked her doctors at all.

Her arms curled to her chest and her legs splayed, wildly akimbo. Something hot and wet leaked out of her and she could smell it, the acrid scent of her urine. Finally, her muscles went lax and she was able to breath again. Swallow. Think. The fit had passed.

Magda's sparse body was soaked with sweat and piss. Vomit stained her lovely, mint green frock. A new dress from her mother. It was fuzzy and hard to remember what had happened right before her fit and the frightening, wheeling gray visions. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall.

She made sure to lay still, trying to keep her panicked breathing steady. She met the doctor's gaze and unclenched her teeth. Finally, after a few more moments where he bruised her face from the force of him pressing the wooden rod between her teeth, he relented. Magda choked for breath and spat blood and splinters from her mouth. Her teeth hurt.

Her mother stood over her on the other side of the bed, her angular face pinched with disappointment. She pressed a cool dry hand to Magda's forehead. “Seems the fit has passed, Doctor Copperworth. It's the third one this month.”

The doctor hmm'd and pressed his spectacles up his hooked nose. “My recommendation remains the same, Lady Summerdale.”

Magda looked between her mother and the doctor. She didn't know what his recommendation was, but it was likely unpleasant. The treatments for her fits were always painful and frightening. She 

could feel her pulse start to race. Her mother nodded at the doctor, her brow pinched.

“Of course,” she said. “When do we begin the treatment?”

The doctor smiled. Magda thought it was the same kind of smile a wolf had right before it devoured the sheep. “You'll be pleased to know our new facility opens in two months. Yes, I realize that's quite some time to wait, but I'll be leaving you with a tincture and we can begin some of the treatments in my office in the Artisan Quarter.”

Facility? Magda shook her head and opened her mouth to protest, but one withering look from her mother silenced her. She snapped her mouth shut with a clack of her teeth. The doctor looked down at her like she was an insect trapped in a jar. He took the depressor and tapped on her chin. 

Dutifully, Magda opened her mouth.

He took a brown glass bottle from the breast pocket on his heavily starched, stiff white coat and uncorked it. With a dropper, he drew some of the tincture and placed it on her tongue. The medicine tasted very bitter and made her tongue go numb. She was used to taking unpleasant tasting things and of all the treatments they gave her, medicine was usually the most mild and least painful.

“That's fine,” Lady Summerdale said, moving away from the bed, her posture rigid. “I do hate to have her committed. It's such an embarrassment. And a disappointment. We'll owe the Rosewoods more than an apology, I'll wager.” Her mother's tone dripped with venom and spite.

The Rosewoods. Magda frowned, swallowing down the bitter medicine. Her tongue felt dry and shriveled. She wanted a glass of water, but decided against asking. Wilford Rosewood was the son of Marquis Rosewood of the Merchant Quarter. Her betrothed.

Doctor Copperworth nodded and hmm'd. “Indeed. But such afflictions are not uncommon among nobility.”

“It's going to be a scandal. I'm sure the Bugle will run their typical garbage. They were not kind in the marriage announcement. If you recall,” her mother snapped.

Copperworth didn't say anything, but she could feel the burn of his gaze as he appraised her. Magda closed her eyes. She didn't want to look at either of their faces. Part of her was strangely relieved and overjoyed. She wouldn't have to marry Wilford. He was three years younger than her, only fourteen, 

not even a man. He was a pudgy boy with splotchy red cheeks and thin, watery looking brown hair. 

He was also a dullard and a bore. Tea with him that afternoon...oh no. Tea. She'd had the fit during their tea.

Sudden embarrassment heated her cheeks and her pulse went back to fluttering wildly. Memory flooded back in a wave of humiliation.

“What are you babbling about, Magdalline?”

That's what he'd asked her. She could remember bits and pieces. She told him about the One with Many Voices. It was a demon from Venorith's infernal realm. She told Wilford because she saw him, standing right behind her tubby intended, licking his thin lips, drool sliding off sharp teeth that were as clear and shining as a pane of glass. His skin was black and his eyes were red, and he faded in and out of existence like smoke. Sometimes he looked beautiful, like a painting splashed with water, all running colors. His features were sharp and elvish. But other times, she could see through this glamour. When the illusion flickered, she saw the beast underneath.

“Tell the piglet we're right behind him!” the spirit tittered. “Oh yes, tell him! We do so love to see him squirm and squeal!”

Magda had let her fork drop from her tingling fingers. Her ears began to ring so loudly she couldn't hear what Wilford was saying. Her vision tunneled and sparked. She knew it was coming. She could always feel the fits right before they happened. She might have said something else, but her voice was drowned by the whining drone, the boom of thunder as the seizures stole her away.

She didn't want to remember. Magda saw things before she slipped away. More than that, she felt afraid. Like something chased and hunted her and that she should run. But there wasn't anywhere to hide from spirits, she knew that.

“She terrorized poor Wilford Rosewood. He never wants to see her again. Not that I blame him,” Lady Summerdale said.

Magda flinched, squeezing her eyes shut. She wished they would leave so she could bathe and change her bedding. She wanted to take off her curled, white powdered wig, it was hot and itchy. She wanted out of her dress and corset. Most of all, she wanted to sleep for a hundred years. After her fits she was always so tired, every muscle in her body sore. She'd hurt herself this time too. Her tongue, sore and swollen, kept filling her mouth with blood. I must have bitten it, Magda thought, just letting it pass between her lips to stain her pillow. Drool and blood slicked her cheek, but she didn't care. If she had to swallow anymore blood, she feared she would vomit again.

Her mother made a 'tch' noise and she could hear her pointed shoes click out of the room. The doctor didn't speak to her, he merely fussed with his bag. His papery, dry fingers were at her throat again, feeling for her pulse. It took every ounce of her willpower not to turn her head and bite his finger off. Instead, she sagged into her bed and felt it rock under her while her heart stuttered along. 

She always felt so strange after her fits. This had been a bad one, she could tell. One of her back molars was loose.

Magda was only seventeen, but many of her teeth were chipped or missing. Her mother and father told her that she couldn't have false ones until she learned to control herself. No amount of begging and pleading convinced them that she couldn't help or prevent these fits. They were wholly beyond her control.

A sharp sting at her arm jolted her into opening her eyes. The doctor was injecting her with something. It was thick, like oil and burned in her veins. It hurt, but she didn't dare even whimper. No matter what she did, everyone assumed it was because she was having a fit.

The end of her huge, four poster bed creaked as though weight were settling on it. Magda raised up off the pillow a little to look over the pile of brocade blankets that covered her. There, sitting on the elaborately carved, gilded foot board was Many Voices. He sat on his haunches, boney knees drawn up to his chin. His thin, spindly arms wound around his legs. He smiled at her.

Magda shrank back and squeezed her eyes shut again. She took deep, steady breaths. Easy, she told herself. Relax. Sometimes, if she watched her breathing and rested, she could fend off an attack.

She didn't feel dizzy and her head wasn't swimming. She merely felt sore and tired from the previous episode. The doctor didn't see Many Voices, she was certain of that. He snapped his leather bag shut and left her alone without even a parting word.

The medicine made her feel as though she were floating. She could feel its effects crawling over her skin. It itched, whatever he gave her. Her arms felt as though tiny insects were tickling her with their legs. It wasn't pleasant.

“You don't look so well, Mags,” Many Voices chimed, laughter behind his musical voice.

Slowly, she sat up, propped by her pillows. Magda opened her eyes and there, sitting cross-legged in front of her was Many Voices. He didn't look quite so beastly or terrifying now. His skin was a dusky gray and his eyes were the color of a smoldering furnace. He had sharp features and a broad smile. His teeth were blunt and very white. His hair was undulating smoke and vapor.

“I don't feel so well,” she said, her voice soft and far away sounding. Magda didn't think it was a good idea to talk to the demon, but ignoring him hadn't made him go away. Her eyes cut to the door of her room. He followed her gaze.

“Do you want to know what they're talking about? Your sly and wicked parents?” He cocked a brow at her, his grin ever present.

She shook her head.

“We'll tell you anyway! We can hear them. Making plans. Plotting.”

Magda frowned. “Plotting?”

“Your servitude. Your ruin! We don't think that's very nice, Maggy.” His burning eyes narrowed and his smile was all ill intent and hunger, desire so dark and naked that it turned her stomach.

Swallowing convulsively as her mouth sweat, Magda closed her eyes again. “Go away,” she whispered. “They already think I'm crazy.”

But no matter how many times she told herself he wasn't real or that wishing would make him go away, Many Voices prattled on. “Let them think what they'll think. We're here to help you, Maggy.”

She could feel him drawing closer. She tugged the blankets to her chin and wanted very much to pull them over her head like a child having a night terror. He sat on her chest. Many Voices didn't weight much, she barely felt the pressure of him. But the air was charged, snapping and crackling.

Magda opened her eyes and found his face very close as he leaned over her. “Such sinister plans your nasty parents have.”

“Go. Away,” she insisted more firmly.

He rolled his burning eyes. “Fine, fine! But don't say we didn't warn you, Maggy!”

With a rush of hot wind and a popping sound, he was gone.

Magda sat very still trying to keep her breathing even. Every muscle hurt and she couldn't close her jaw all the way. Sliding out of bed she tried not to think about anything at all. The medicine the doctor had given her helped. She stripped out of her soiled dress and then tugged at her underthings and corset. It was hard to change without someone there to loosen the strings. She could have called on her maid, but she wanted to be left alone. Even the maids treated her as though she were about to fly into wild hysterics at any moment. They regarded her with open, naked suspicion. They wouldn't meet her eye or talk to her. The ache and stab of loneliness was enough to drive her mad if she wasn't already there.

She washed up in the basin. The water was tepid and cold, but it felt good on her sore skin and tensed muscles. Thinking about the demon, she wondered if it were real. She realized she'd never had a vision separate from a fit before. The visions and hallucinations were usually in the throes of the fit itself. Sometimes, she heard a strange ringing in her ears, the sound of distant war horns. A rumbling. Sometimes there were angel's halos around the lights and searing pain in her head, but she'd never seen anything without a fit.

Magda tugged on a thin night gown and tied up her dark curls in a ribbon and then stripped the soiled sheets from her bed. She sat on her bare mattress and chewed on her bottom lip. So, if she hadn't had a fit, did that mean Many Voices was real? She'd seen the demon many times in her visions. She had seen his face floating in the Gray River. She'd heard his maddening whispers and felt the icy touch of his thin fingers.

Her gaze cut to the closed door of her bedroom. It was likely locked. Her mother wore the key on a silver chain around her slender neck. If she wanted to see if Many Voices was real or not, she would have to go eavesdrop on her parents.

Sliding off the bed on trembling legs, Magda went to her vanity. She rummaged through the cosmetics and blew off the thin veneer of white powder that coated the top. She pushed aside rouge and kohl and loose ribbons. Finally, she found the little porcelain bowl that had hair pins for her wigs. She plucked a long one with a pearl end and crept to the door.

She'd done this before, when she'd been younger. At seven, she'd first begun to have her fits. Terrifying and violent, her seizures frightened her parents. They'd stripped her room bare of her furniture and padded the walls and floors. They slid plates of food under the door. Doctors came to see her, often twice a day bringing tinctures of morphine and laudanum and other elixers that made her vomit and caused her head to feel wobbly.

Late at night after the manor went dark and quiet, she would pick the lock. It had taken many tries, but finally she'd figured it out.

Squinting one eye, Magda knelt in front of the door, her tongue poking out the corner of her lips. She slid the needle into the lock and wiggled it until it caught on the lock's teeth mechanism. Once it was good and stuck, she attempted to turn it. It whined in protest, but after a few more tries and a few more jiggles, she heard the mechanism turn over with a satisfying series of clicks.

Putting the hair pin in her hair, she carefully opened the door. It needed grease on the hinges badly and screetched and the floorboards under her feet groaned. She was certain she'd be heard, but no, no one came to usher her back into her little, gilded cage.

On bare feet, she padded down the darkened hallways, silent on the plush carpets. She avoided looking at the rugs. They were imported from Pith and in elaborate, lattice work patterns. Sometimes patterns made her dizzy, which brought on fits. Holding her breath, she crept down the spiral staircase and only stopped near the first floor when she heard her mother's voice coming from the drawing room.

“We have to think of something. They already see us as...freaks. Monsters.” Her mother sounded so disgusted, her voice full of tears and sniffling. Magda scowled.

“I say we take her physician's advise. Once the facility is up and running, commit her.”

Magda's heart lurched in her chest. Her mouth went dry. She couldn't even summon tears. She wasn't sad. Cold, stark terror made her tremble. She curled her small, delicate hands around the banister and continued to listen.

“Come now, Arthur,” her mother scolded her father. “That should be the absolute last resort. Word will get out, you know. That our daughter is mad and in an institution.”

She could hear the deep rumble of her father's voice as he hmm'd in agreement. “Perhaps. We could merely say that she passed on.”

Magda drew her knees to her chest. Maybe it would lessen the deep ache in her chest. How could they? She loved them, didn't they know that? Didn't they know she was sorry she caused so much trouble? Pressing her forehead to her knees, she just let their words wash over her.

Many Voices perched on the banister. He hadn't been there a moment before. Magda startled, scuttling backwards. She knew she couldn't hide from him. Spirits didn't see with eyes. They saw with some other sense.

He gestured a stick-thin arm towards the place her parents had occupied. He clucked his tongue. His movements seemed oddly jerky, as though he constantly blinked in and out of existence. A laugh left him, though his lips didn't move. It wasn't a nice laugh and it crawled over her skin and sunk icy teeth into her stomach.

“Didn't we tell you? Stubborn girl,” he hissed.

Magda wished she could sink into the floor. She just shook her head, unable to speak.

“We can help you. We've said so before. We've said so in your dreams, while you were sleeping. We slipped in your bed and whispered in your ear.” The demon tittered. She couldn't tell if it was a laugh or a high-pitched growl. His voice sounded different from before. More childlike.

She turned back to eavesdropping, blinking at the mist of tears that obscured her vision.

Her mother's voice chirped, cool and clipped. “If we marry her...”

“Wilford Rosewood is out. Anyone her age really. Unless you plan to court a commoner. Perhaps a banker?” Her father snorted. “I'd rather tell the world she's dead.”

Many Voices dripped off the banister like he was made of thick liquid. Oil. He settled beside her and now the only thing other wordly about him was the smoldering fire of his gaze. He had a messy shock of black hair and a boyish face. He looked young and oddly similar to Magda. He could have been her twin brother. His eyes were the same flat gray as hers. His skin pale.

“We don't like the way your father laughs. We don't like the things he says.” His voice pitched wildly between low growls and light chitters, the trill a cat made when hunting birds.

“I know, darling. There was a man who showed interest in Magdalline last year. Remember? The older fellow. He's from a minor noble house. The Shadowglades.”

She remembered Dolph Shadowglade. He was old enough to be her grandfather. Magda squeezed her eyes shut. It was a terrible sentence either way. She would spend the rest of her life in an asylum or married to an old, lecherous man.

“Adolphus Shadowglade? Truly, Jules? He's so old and everyone knows he's in debt.” Her father didn't sound as though he were protesting all that much. His tone was light.

“Think of it, darling. It can be a mutual act of charity.”

He tutted. “I shall have to go speak to him then. I suppose you're right. It's far preferable than the papers getting wind of Magdalline being in an asylum.”

Her mother mmhm'd. “After today, there will be a big enough black mark on our house. We shouldn't exacerbate it further.”

Numb, Magda's hands slipped off the banister as tears scalded her cheeks. It was done. Decided, her fate sealed.

A cool, slender arm circled her shoulders. “Come now...we can fix this for you, Magda. We can. We'll guide you. Give you advice!” Many Voices whispered in her ear. She could feel his breath. He smelled like ozone.

Shuddering she shrugged violently out of the demon's hold. “Go. Away,” she gritted. Silently, she called upon the goddess Herith for protection. Nothing happened.

Many Voices wearing his new face which was so similar to hers scowled. “Oh yes, just roll over for the old man. He'll fuck you, you know,” he said, crass.

She reached up to plug her ears, but the demon snagged her by the wrists so she would have to listen. He was air and darkness, but deceptively so. His grip on her was cold iron. No amount of thrashing freed her.

Finally, she sagged, giving up, her shoulders hunched. She looked at the demon even though she knew she shouldn't. “What...do I do?”

Many Voices grinned broadly. “Kill them.”

She blanched and fought all over again. She writhed. A fuzzy feeling clouded her head and pain lanced through her skull. She was going to have an episode. She could feel it coming on like drowning very slowly on dry land.

“No?” the demon asked casually. “Too much?” He laughed and let her go so that she tumbled backwards from the force of her struggling.

“Fine, fine,” he conceded. “Something a little more gentle. We know just the thing. You must fetch a book, Maggy. We'll tell you where it is.”

Panting, trying to get ahold of herself, she rasped, “A book?”

“Yes. A book. That's what we said. An unholy tome written on the tanned hide of a human. Bound in blood and darkness. In it is written an oath.” He was very matter of fact, very dry. The laughter was gone, replaced by a strange, hollow reverence.

She swallowed dryly, her throat clacking. “An oath...to who?” she asked, but she already knew.

Many Voices bowed his head, clasping his thin hands together. “To Venorith. Our creator. Only he will take pity on you now. He has heard your cries. Seen your plight. He has been moved by it, Magda.”

She felt as though she stood on a very high place, her feet hanging off the edge as she teetered. Below her was the world, so far away. Unreal. It didn't look like it would hurt if she fell. She stood on the precipice of change. All she had to do was jump.

“Where is it? Where's the book?” The words felt thick. Hard to say. She could see her father coming up the stairs, his gaze fixed on her. He looked so angry. So disgusted by the mere sight of her sitting on the floor.

Many Voices only smiled and held a finger to his lips. He faded, he sunk into the floor and his absence was like taking a breath after suffocating. As her father rounded on her, the clock on the wall, beautiful and gilded with filigree and cherubs, suddenly stopped. The pendulum ceased to swing and she could hear the clockworks click-clack to a halt.  

Why is everyone shouting? Dialog tags and why said is okay.

Woah!  Calm down, guy!

Today, I'd like to talk about dialog tags because I was inspired from seeing some really horrible advice on a FB indie author page.

Dialog is fun to write, at least, I think so, but something keeps coming up and that's dialog tags.  Why do people hate the word 'said' so much?  It perplexes me.  Said is one of those tags that just disappears.  The reader doesn't notice it.  The same can be said of asked.  In a lot of indie published works, I see very few said's.  I see a lot of 'exclaimed', 'quipped', 'shouted', 'stated' etc.  Stop that. Sometimes, people just SAY things.  

When a manuscript is littered with quipped's and exclaimed's, it seems like everyone is either being smarmy and terrible or they're shouting.  It seems melodramatic.  It seems like too much.  And if you throw in a few adverbs, the whole thing turns purple.  

"Hello," he quipped wryly.

"Hi there," she exclaimed charmingly.

"What are you doing?" he wondered dryly.

"Nothing much," she stated blandly.

Waaaaah.  No.  It reads awkwardly.  Adverbs are another bone of contention and probably something I'll write a separate post about.  Their abuse is especially egregious when used in conjunction with 'fancied up' dialog tags.  It's lazy writing.  It's telling.  Not showing.  Which, as we all know, is the cardinal sin of writing.  

Try instead:

"Hello," he said, his smile crooked.

"Hi there," she said, bounding up to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing much," she said as she lifted her shoulders in a lazy shrug.

Clearly, not the -best- writing, but you can SEE so much more when you remove the adverbs and the quipped's and exclaimed's.  It presents you with an opportunity to show character action, which naturally, reveals character.  We can picture the scene much better.  Adverbs boil down that lovely description until we can't really see what's going on anymore.  The author is just telling us, but how can we see it and how does it reveal character if we're not left to puzzle it out for ourselves?

I'm not saying that you can -never- use tags like exclaimed, but they should be used sparingly and only when something is -actually- exclaimed or shouted.  Stop being afraid of the word 'said'.  Most of the time?  It really is good enough on its own.  Otherwise, I just picture a scene where the characters are flipping out and yelling at each other. 

How to Make a Book Cover for Amazon's Kindle Part Five

We're ready to add our title.  I've picked a font and installed it as I showed you in the first post. Here's the font, though I'm not sure if it's okay for commercial use.  As this is just a non for profit tutorial, it should be all right to use here.

http://www.fontsplace.com/nicolas-cochin-ef-free-font-download.html  This is a great, classic font.

This font runs a little small.  Usually I do my cover titles in size 300, but for this font, I went up to 400.  In the picture below, I've circled the font tool.  Just click on that, find your font that you downloaded and choose your size.  Then just type!  You can use the move tool to adjust the positioning.

As you can see, the text is on it's own layer!  Which is great because now we're going to do some text effects.

My feeling on text effects:  Keep it subtle and simple.  That's it.  Only rules I follow.

All right.  What I wanted to do was add a bevel to the font to make it pop and look less flat.  To do this I went to Filters > Decor > Add Bevel and set the number to 15 in the dialog box that pops up.  

The next thing I did was add a black outline to the text.  To do this, I installed an extension in GIMP called Script Fu.  You have to have this.  It makes life so much easier.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJWkx3pcw0A  This link will show you were to get this plug in and exactly how to install it.  It's what I used.  It's great.

After that, I decided that our lady didn't stand out enough.  I went to her layer and right clicked it and merged it down so that the hair brush we used and the lady are now on the same layer.  Then, I went to Script Fu > outer glow and I chose a red color.  Hmm...for me?  The outline was too harsh, so I went to Filters > Blur > Guassian Blur and set the blur radius to 200.  Then at the top of the layer dialog box is the layer's opacity. I took it down to 65.  After ALL that?  This is what I have.

A lot to take in, but if you have a question, post it here. 

One of the things I liked about the sample cover was the crest with the series name. I'm going to do something similar.  

I went to deviant art again and searched for scroll brushes.  I've had this particular brush for a long time, but hopefully you can find something similar in your search. I made a new layer and sized the brush appropriately.

Under that layer and under the layer the lady is on, I took a large, soft round brush and painted white under it.  I set the layer opacity to 35 and used the smudge tool to soften the edges.  This made the scroll stand out without too much highlight.  On top of the scroll brush layer, I used a font called Great Vibes.  After all that, I put in a tagline.  

And that's it!  This is the final result:

I think it turned out really nice and close to our inspiration cover.  I hope this helps anyone trying to make their own covers.  It may be clunky at first, but keep practicing.  I'm going to do a follow up post where I talk about color theory and composition for your images.  But for now, this tutorial is at an end.  

If there's any questions anyone has, please post them!  I'm happy to answer them to the best of my ability.  

Good luck and happy cover making!  Also, if you use this tutorial to make your own cover, I'd really love to see it!  Leave me a link! 

Cheers-

Lillian

How to Make a Book Cover for Amazon's Kindle Part Four

Welcome back!  I'm really getting into the nitty gritty today. I'm going to show you how to install brushes and compose the images for your cover.

Let's get started.


Yesterday, we cut out our lady from the background.  You need to export the file and use the file extension PNG so that the background is transparent.  If you export it as a JPEG, the background will be white and that's no good!

Now go to your folder that you've exported your image to and click and drag your cut out lady over the black rose.  This creates a new layer over the black rose which is just what we want!

Position her like I've shown in the picture.  You'll notice there is a a harsh line cutting off the image.  We don't want that.  To fix it, we'll use the smudge tool again and soften it and make tendrils coming off the bottom of the dress.

Smudge tool!~

Use the smudge tool on the bottom part of the dress.

Use the smudge tool until the bottom of the dress looks like this.

Next, I need some smoke brushes.  I'm going to use red smoke like in the sample cover we're emulating.  I went to deviant art and found some great brushes which I downloaded.  The zip file is just the same as installing a font.  Extract to...Users--> Name ---> GIMP ---->brushes.  Then extract the files here.  You will need to close out GIMP and reopen it to get the brushes to load properly. 

Here is a link to the brushes I used:  http://www.deviantart.com/art/GIMP-Revnart-Smoke-Brushes-265220602

Now that I have my smoke brushes, I'm going to add them to the image.  I want to work on a new layer, so I hit Layer--> New and place the brushes accordingly.  Play around the with size, angle and placement until it 'feels' right.  These settings are on the tool's dialog box.  Hard to miss, but if you have trouble, message me.  

I also used a brush that is strands of hair. I found her hair blocky and unnatural looking.  I created a layer UNDER the lady layer and above the rose.  This is where I put the hair brushes.  You'll see what I mean on the picture.  Now, you can move a layer by clicking and dragging. 

Here's the link to the hair brushes.  You install them like you would fonts and other brushes.  Easy! http://www.deviantart.com/art/Hair-Brushes-Set-4-27031820

I also found the lady too bright and went to Colors and then Hue Saturation.  I took down the saturation by -22.  Much improved!  Now, I want her lips bright, more red.  So I made a new layer ABOVE our lady.  At the top of the layer dialog box you can see layer mode.  Usually, it's set to normal.  For this, I set it to 'Overlay'.  Then I chose a very dark red and painted over her lips with a soft, round brush.  This is what I came up with.

I'm pretty happy with this image here.  Now to pick the PERFECT font.  I want something similar to the example photo.  Let's see what I can find.  I'm going to post this, but I'm following it up directly with the end of the tutorial.  Stay tuned for part five, the last part, in about an hour.

Thanks so much and I hope these tutorials help.  As always, if you have a question, just ask!

How to Make a Book Cover for Amazon's Kindle Part Three

Welcome to part three of my tutorial on how to make a good, simple book cover for Amazon's Kindle.

Previously, we'v talked about images and fonts, the legality behind choosing images and what software we're going to use to create our cover.

In the first post, I talked about the size you need to make your cover.  Please refer back to that on how to open those dialog boxes.  The size we're using is 1563 x 2500 pixels.  This is taken directly from Amazon's guidelines, so you can't go wrong with this size!  Sometime in the future, I will do a separate tutorial on formatting your cover for Createspace and how to make a FULL wrap.  I'll get into how to write a great summary for the back of the cover, but for now, we're sticking to basics.

We're going to emulate a cover for this tutorial.  I did a quick google search and picked a cover that popped out, caught my eye.

What I look for in a great cover:  Eye catching and it conveys what the book is about/gives a good feel for the theme.  A popular genre these days in the indie world is paranormal romance.  Vampires, werewolves and other things having sexy times.  In a market that is flooded, you really need to stand out.  I liked this cover and I'm going to explain why it works. And what I think could be improved.

First, the color.  There are two main colors here, black and red.  It pops.  The use of red is great here. The font is easy to read, but distinctive.  The rose in the background lends romance without being heavy handed.  It's intriguing, lovely and doesn't rely heavily on gimmick.  The seal at the top that denotes it's a series is something I'm particularly fond of.  

You can ABSOLUTELY do a quality, beautiful cover like this for yourself.  As stated above, I'm going to use this cover as a guide and emulate it.  You don't want to do this for your cover, but this is used to teach you the software.  I can't do a tutorial for every genre of book, though I'm going to, at the end of this tutorial, provide a list of amazing covers for most genres, all from indie authors.  If you can master these techniques (and I think anyone can), then you won't need to pay upwards of 300.00 for a cover designer.  However, if you don't feel comfortable in your ability, by all means, hire someone!  I personally charge 35-50 for covers.  Why so cheap?  Because I want to help.  I just require a little money for my time and for the stock images I may have to purchase.  

Moving on!

I like to start from the very back and move to the front when designing. So, we're going to start at the back of this image.  There is a rose, a black one.  We can do that!  Let's find some free stock for this.  

NOW for the purposes of this tut, I'm not going to worry about whether or not these images are available for commercial purposes, because I'm not making money from this.  With that in mind, I'm going to head over to deviant art and conduct a search.

Okay, so we're looking for a rose.  We want stock images, so that's what perimeters we're going to search in!  

A quick search gave me just what I wanted!  Hurray!  Notice the link to her free stock policy. Go ahead and read that.  We're in luck!  This lady lets us use stock for WHATEVER we want. Commercial stuff too. SO you can use these images for book covers. Book mark this and save it. She has some great stuff.  

http://darkrose42-stock.deviantart.com/

So, download the image.  There should be a button to do so on the upper left hand side. 

When choosing a destination for the file, I recommend moving it to pictures.  Or create a new folder and name it something like "Photomanip material"  "Book Cover Pictures" etc.  You get it.  Now, once downloaded, go into the folder you sent the picture and move it to your GIMP canvas. On Windows 8 you can do it with your mouse, just click and drag.  I'm not sure how other programs work so please google if you have a question on that.  

Tada!  Now we have the rose on our background.  But...it's not big enough.  I'm going to now show you how to make the rose bigger and make it black.  We're going to fiddle with it until we get the look we want.  

In your tool dialog box, there is a tool called 'scale image'.  Click on that.  It's the one highlighted in blue in the picture.  Now, you will click on the edge of the rose and drag and drag until you have enlarged the rose.  Be sure to click and drag on all sides so it doesn't warp the image.  You want to get something like this: 

There.  The rose takes up the entire area of the book cover, just like in the example cover.  Let's go ahead and make it black.  Do do that, go to the top of your GIMP and you'll see "Colors". Click on that and it brings down a dialog box.  Click on 'desaturate'.  It has now made your rose black and white.  But it looks gray!  So to make it look black, we're going to go back to 'colors' and pick curves. 

So manipulate the curves by dragging points on the curved line until you get something like this.  Just play with it until you're comfortable.  I find the curves tool to be the most intuitive way to change the contrast on a picture. 

That's it!  The background is done.  Let's move up.  Let's work on another layer.  We need to find a pretty lady model to use.  It'd be nice if she's in a red dress too.  But if she's not, I have a way to change that!  Moving on.  I'm going to use the deviant art search again the same way I did for the rose.  Just search woman in dress.  Let's see what we find.

I found this lovely girl.  

This will work!  Now, this lady lets you use her stock if you credit her.  For a small fee, she'll let you use it for commercial purposes.  Sounds good to me!  

Here's this lady's stock:  http://cathleentarawhiti.deviantart.com/

And here's a direct link to this image: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Woman-in-a-red-dress-5-354980004

Now.  Download this image and open it in GIMP.  Go to the folder you sent the image to, right click it and choose 'open with' and pick GIMP.  

With our image now in GIMP, we're going to create a new layer.  You can do this one of two ways.  Both are just as good!  At the top, click on "Layers" then click on new.  Make sure your layer is set to transparent.  The layer will appear in the dialog box over the image.  That's precisely where you want it.  The other way to open a new layer is to click the layer button which I've circled, in the layer dialog box that's on your right.  

Now, we want to cut out out picture from the black background. To do that, go to the tool dialog box and choose the free select tool.  I've circled it in red.  A dialog box will populate.  Make sure you check the box that says feather edges and stick to a radius of 10.  Now, you're ready to start cutting out your image. 

I used 'colors' and contrast to brighten the image to make it easier to cut it out.  To use free select, you click to make anchor points.  It's like connect the dots!  Just click around the image, getting the line around it as I've demonstrated here.  You will go around the entire lady until you reach your first anchor point.  Connect them with a click.  It will then become a blinking line.  Go to the top of GIMP and choose Edit.  Then choose "Cut"  Then click on your new layer, the one that doesn't have an image and go back to edit.  Then click on "paste".  It will make a floating layer.  I will show you.

You will right click the floating layer and click 'anchor layer'.

Go down to the first layer and delete it.  You will end up with something like this: 

Great!  Let's soften the edges and clean it up.  I'll do this and then tell you what I did to improve the look of this image. 

Here's what I did.  I used the erasure and chose a soft, round brush.  You can find your brushes under your layer dialog box.  I made her less blocky looking around her hair.  Then i went in with the smudge tool and softened the lines of her hair.  The smudge tool looks like this: 

Then I brought up the Curves tool again.  Color--> Curves and I played around with the image until I made her vampire pale and her hair coal black.  I'm happy with how she turned out, but I want her hair to look more natural.

This is a good stopping place for this part of the tut.  Tomorrow, I'm going to show you how to download brushes and install them.  We'll play with this image some more and make it really stunning.  I will show you how to do this.  

If you have any questions:  rachel.zellers@gmail.com or leave a comment and I'll do my best to explain anything I may have left out.  

Cheers-- Lillian