What part of the writing process do you like the best?
It probably sounds completely cliché, but I love the writing part! I despise editing, and the marketing part gives me anxiety, but the act of creating makes it all worthwhile. The planning, outlining, and actual writing part of the journey is an absolute joy, and everything else is a price I'm willing to pay to share my stories with readers.
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Where do you usually get stuck when you write?
I usually get stuck on transitional moments. Transitioning between one scene and the next, or even from one chapter and the next. I've gotten better at this by not stopping writing for the day at the end of a chapter. If I finish my daily words, and need to go and do some other job around the house, and I happen to be at the end of a chapter, I'll take another 5-10 minutes and just keep writing. It means I can come back, and I'm not faced with a "blank page" for a new chapter. I have a paragraph or two to just bounce off, and continue from. Despite this, transitional scenes in the middle of chapters can still stump me for several days at a time. Describe Your Novel In Emoji's
Act One Fairy / Tree / Moon / Vampire / Car / School / Writing Act Two Teacher / Dagger / shopping / Fight / Shush / Argument / Secrets Act Three Night / Sleep / Run / Smug / Forest / Flirt / Fight / Worse Fight / Blood / Injured / Magic / Special / Driving Away When Do You Buy Your Covers?
There are two stages to my covers. Before I start writing I will put together a placeholder cover for myself in paintshop. I use this cover in blog posts, social media, and for any nanowrimo projects during the first draft process. Once the first draft is finished that's when I start looking for a cover designer whose style fits my book, and who is within my price range. Very little, plot wise, changes after my first draft is complete, so I'm comfortable at that point, committing to a final cover design. What's your favourite scene in your book?
My favourite scene is near the beginning of Chapter 11. It's a small scene between Lizzy and Booker, but it really shows how close they are, and how well they know one another. Introduce the world your story is set in...
Changeling, and the Fey Touched Trilogy, is predominantly set in our world, but in a shadowy, secret, and hidden side of our world. The vampires have their own society, but the line between the vampires and humans is a blurred line as they live amongst us in clans, spread out through cities and more rural villages. There are three levels of governance in Vampire society, and then vampires simply trying to live their daily lives within clans. Each clan has an elected clan leader. Within each country, one clan leader is elected to sit on that continents Vampire Council. The council that will be seen in the books is the European Vampire Council Between the council and the clan leader sits the third level of government; The Kavian Hunters. They are the fighters and protectors of the vampires, and act as a kind of military service. While they work directly for the Councils, they can be lent out to clans under external threat. The other aspect of Fey Touched is the fey realm of Arbaon. Arbaon is a magically constructed realm, formed through the magic of the first fey queen when they were being hunted to near extinction by rabid kavians. Arbaon is ruled by six powerful fey. They bribe, manipulate, lie, blackmail, and assassinate their way to claiming seats within the High Court, and between them rule all corners of Arbaon. The Fey Queen will only step in and cast a deciding vote when the High Court is in a tie. The Fey Queen is always female and is always a descendant of the fey who created the realm of Arbaon. Introduce A Side Character
I had a couple of side characters to choose from. Booker is Lizzy's best friend, Cara and Andric will be love interests, but Mia Harris is just so much fun to write, that it simply had to be her. Mia Harris is one of the first people that Lizzy and Booker meet at Speculo School and she doesn't make a good first impression. She makes no secret of her interest in Andric, and when Lizzy and Booker are brought to the school by the object of her affections, they become instant targets for her ire. As the series progress, I hope that Mia will become the kind of character that everyone loves to hate. Despite her jealousy, possessiveness, gossiping and backstabbing, there's a hidden layer to Mia that won't come into play until book three. Introduce Your Protagonist
My protagonist for Changeling is Lila Isabelle Hail, but no one is allowed to call her Lila except her mum and her best friend, Booker. She goes by Lizzy. Lizzy was raised by her mum in the fey realm of Arbaon. At the start of Changeling, Lizzy is only a few weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday. Not the most ideal time for her mum to go missing. Unlike other female fey, Lizzy does not have wings. Because of this, she has grown up ostracised and teased. Without her mum, the only person Lizzy can reply on is Booker, and together they plan to track down 'Whatever Happened to Madeline Hail'... which is, not so coincidentally, the name of the novelette prequel that will be available exclusively to my newsletter subscribers. Genre
What genre do you write in? I write Fantasy of all kinds. My favourite is epic fantasy, but my current project is contemporary fantasy, and I've dabbles in low fantasy, portal fantasy, etc. As long as there's fantastical elements, I'm happy to play in the sandbox. On that note, I also enjoy writing Sci-fi. Although I'm not as widely read in the genre, so I don't anticipate writing any sci-fi books intended for publication in the near future. Do You Read While You Write?
Do you read in your genre while you write your books? The short answer is; No. I don't usually read while I write. I tend to alternate between the two sides of the coin. I find if I read while I write then I doubt my own abilities too much. There are rare exceptions like, when a book comes out that I can't wait to read, I'll set my writing aside specifically to dig into the beauty. Inspiration
What inspired your current Work In Progress... My Nano project was inspired when I read the 2007 Vampire Academy series of books by Richelle Mead. I loved them, but wanted to put my own spin on a vampire school. The story has evolved since its initial conception, and now focuses on the Fey and Vampire relations within the world. Although there is still a vampire school in this first book. A remnant of the initial inspiration. Name Your Project
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Arista Holmes
I'm a writer in her thirties, who is based in the South East of England. Archives
March 2024
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