Cia

“Stay with your pater,” I said quietly to the foals. “And no wandering off on your own again!” Colette looked chagrined, but Marces just looked stubborn. Londe herded them both back, and I took the lead. Balasamar had almost reached the top of the hill. Not that he was going to get away. Not this time. Reaching down into my boot, I pulled out the knife I kept there. It was perfectly balanced; I’d made it myself. I took aim, holding it in the tips of my fingers, then flicked them deftly

Well, we made it halfway through 2020. Kicking and screaming, fighting the world, or maybe just resigned to the reality that is facing us. Honestly, I really liked the title of this story, which is what initially caught my eye. "How true!" I thought. "But can it be that lighthearted of a tale?" Then I wanted to know more. How about you? So while you're facing whatever your reality is, how about escaping into this story instead.... I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside by @Ivor Slipper Length: 54,627 Description: England in the mid 1960s. Chris Atkins suffering an unhappy home life, decides that as soon as he is 15 and entitled to leave school, he will also leave home. A Reader said: I can heartily recommend Ivor's story for its' character interaction and development and a storyline that deals with whatever good can come from being broken. ~ Bard Simpson Don't forget to come back to comment on the discussion day on Monday, July 27th.

Writing Tips From Fellow Writers Passive Voice: Avoid word choices using 'to be' and the conjugations 'is, am, were, was, are, has been, have been, will be, being' as much as possible to keep action immediate and reduce the passive voice when writing. It lacks precision and clarity. Use search to find those keywords that indicate passive voice and consider each to see if your sentence needs a re-write. Plot Arc: The 'hook' is what intrigues readers in your story. The climax is the point the book wouldn't exist without; the whole reason for your character and plot to exist. Hooks should be point A, climax point Z, of course. Between you have all the other letters of the alphabet. This is the journey your reader makes from the hook to the climax. Make sure that each point builds on the last and that they all further the story to that climax! Self-Marketing for Authors: Authors just write a story and sit back and wait for reader's acclaim. A book on the shelf, an online story on a site full of online stories will not stand out unless you make it. A good story will keep readers coming back for more, but to get them, you need to network. The best way to do that is to get involved in author discussions, use status updates, signatures, reviews, etc. A blog is also a great way to feature your writing! Speech Tags: Speech tags are to be avoided; they're like evil little speedbumps for readers. Use them occasionally but try to stick to said or asked. Instead, use actions or thoughts from characters to show the reader what is going on in the scene instead. Create the emotion or action through a visual cue, like slamming a door after shouted dialogue, or wiping away tears after a cry of loss. Don't Edit Alone: GET HELP! We can't stress this point enough. Get a beta reader and/or editor or two, or three even! Fresh eyes on your work catch things you invariably miss. If you want to have a great story, you have to do the work to make it the best it can be! Editing For Content: Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, and how when reading for content. Does the story answer all the questions you think it should? Highlight all the lines/places in the story that best answer those questions so you know if the story follows the logical order. Sometimes something the author just knows doesn't quite make it into the story, making vital plot points confusing to readers. Editing Tip: Make editing, for yourself or others, a priority and always try to learn the rules as best you can. Try researching grammar rules at least thirty minutes a month. Editing Tip: Listen to music or chew gum. Something that will keep you from being bored, but won't really distract you. Let's face it, writing something new can be fun; checking for errors is not, but it is a necessary evil. If editing your own work, make a list of what to watch for when you write/edit next of common mistakes you keep making. Four Editing Tips: 1. Try printing out your story/chapter and editing by hand. 2. Read backwards, covering the extra text with a paper if necessary to not get caught up in the flow of the story. 3. Point to the words one at a time if you find you tend to skip words that are missing or extra words added, especially. 4. Try to get at least one night of sleep between writing and editing. Writing Names in Fantasy Fiction: In fantasy, if you want to have an Arabian tone to the story, you should use names similar to original names, but make sure you change some of the letters around. Keep that consistent and change names of people and locations the same way. If you give your new words meaning, eg: Bairela means 'star jewel' and ela means jewel, don't use that same syllable in a name that shouldn't evoke the jewel meaning as well. Writing Names in Contemporary Fiction: Names create perceptions in reader's minds. Harsh consonant sounds tend to give the perception of short-tempered harsh people, or places. Soft sounding names tend to imply more beautiful people or locations. If you've set your story on Earth, make sure the names chosen are correct for the region. For example, the Inuptian (an Iniut dialect) word for river is kuuk where the Hawaiian word for river is wai. 1st Person Point of View: With this the author uses I, me, my, and mine as the pronouns. The helpful aspect of this is that we get to see the immediate thoughts and emotions of the character. What writers have to remember is that you can ONLY use the point of view of your character. 2nd Person Point of View: With this the author uses you, or your as the pronouns. This isn't telling the story to the reader so much as almost making the reader the character in the story. 3rd Person Point of View: In 3rd use he or she, her or him, hers or his as the pronouns. Includes: 3rd person omniscient—shows the thoughts of every character or 3rd person limited—shows the thoughts of one character. Some authors do third person limited, but vary the character POV they choose to showcase in sections. Not as common in published literature, it's more common in online fiction. Narrative Voice: Narrative voice is the person or point of view used when writing, eg: a character, you as the author, or a variety of characters. The story could change depending on what viewpoint character in the story is chosen. This includes: Third Person Subjective, Third Person Dramatic/Objective, Third Person Omniscient, Stream of Consciousness, or Universal Omniscient narrative styles. Sentence Tips: 1) Don’t start sentences with the same word repetitively. 2) Vary the length of sentences (and paragraphs) to break up the text in a natural ‘flow’ pattern to mimic speech. 2) Eliminate unnecessary words such as: that, just, really, pretty, very, some, a little, probably, a bit. Show, Don’t Tell: This means to let your characters live their story. Tell: Mike and Gary drove Mike’s car to the store for ice. Show: “Hey, let’s go grab some more ice at the store, Gary.” Mike unlocked his car. Beating Writer’s Block: 1) Write every day to form the habit. 2) End your writing when you still know what comes next in the scene so you have a starting place next time. 3) Try a prompt or quick writing challenge if you’re blocked on existing work. Write Badly: Seriously. A first draft is supposed to be the ‘rough draft’, and striving for perfection before you write ‘The End’ will only slow you down. Once you know the entire shape of the storyline, you can go through and refine it through the editing process—but first you must finish it!

I hefted Tinn onto Londe’s back, biting back the groan that wanted to erupt as the skin in my hands split further. He wasn’t the most steady, but he still helped balance Wenn in front of him. “You don’t have to hold on long, just until we can get you to a safer place,” I told him. He nodded, his expression grim but determined. I checked the cloths I’d wrapped around each one roughly, tying off the knot with the help of my teeth as my fingers trembled with pain. They weren’t bleeding through

Right? The helm did disappear, and so did his 'vision' or whatever it was. So what happened to him? Of course, now he has NO time to figure that out with the foals missing yet again. *sighs* Poor Chasen! 😈 You're right, thank you!!

Did you read Caz Pedroso's story, Here Kitty, Kitty? What did you think of it? Make sure you share your thoughts below in the comments, but first! Enjoy this interview with questions Caz graciously answered for me so you get the skinny on her! Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point? Not much point making my bed. When my daughter and husband are home, my bed is my office. If you were an animal, what would you be? A house cat, my food would be delivered to me, I’d get to curl up in the sun, and I could demand all the attention I wanted. If you had 30 minutes of free time, what would you do? Um…Read!!! What’s one location you’d love to go to research for a story? I’m torn between Egypt in the real world, or Discworld in the book world. If you had to only work on one project for the next year... what would it be? My medieval fantasy series that I am still trying to find time to devote to. I think the first book stands at roughly 20,000 words at the moment and has done for most of this current year so far. Was it harder to stay inspired writing 1k each week for this story versus longer chapters? Yes…In between chapters I would work on other projects and sometimes I wouldn’t want to put them down to write the weeks chapter on the current flash. Which do you prefer, vampires or shifters? Hmmm, depends are they single and straight? Joking aside I like both the same and try to include them both whenever I can in my writing. Was it hard to write a gender-neutral character like Angel? Yes. I had to do a fir bit of research and read others who have written similar characters. It is why they had only a small part this time, so I could ease into it slowly. Do you have a favorite part of Here, Kitty Kitty? As gruesome as it was, the part I liked was when Tristan stood up to his father and killed him. I like to think his father had a split moment to regret his actions and wish he’d runaway instead, before he died. Would you like to share anything about your current or upcoming work with readers? I’m afraid my readers are as much in the dark as me. I’m waiting to see what characters speak to me to see what unfinished story gets finished and posted next.

My hooves came down, and I landed on my hands and knees on the ground next to Wenn and Tinn. I collapsed onto my face and chest, rolling to cradle my hands. Both palms were burned, the flesh turned white and black in places, blisters open and weeping, raw flesh exposed underneath. I rolled and heaved, my stomach emptying. “Chasen!” Londe knelt next to me. “Are you all right?” I shook my head. “Hurts,” I said through clenched teeth. That was… I couldn’t explain how bad it was. Not

The poor locus was writhing on the ground, silent now, but in obvious pain. His claws had raked deep furrows all around him. “Just get it!” Londe urged. I skirted the pit, catching a glimpse of the warlock’s bloody body contorted as it was caught on the spikes, and grimaced. My hands shook as I reached for the helm where it lay abandoned in the dirt. The last thing I wanted to do was touch it which I didn’t understand. If it was my soul, shouldn’t I want to snatch it up and clutch

Woot! Wednesday! Excerpt day. I can't wait to share this exciting moment with you, because I think you want to read this story. You need to read this story. Did you catch Monday's blog featuring Chasing the Shadows by KC? Well if that didn't intrigue you, hopefully this will! Want to read more? Click here.

June, June, oh miracle of months! It's June! Halfway through the year and the start of my summer break! I want to celebrate with one of my favorite genres, paranormal! So I picked a vampire story. Oooh! What could be better?! Length: 39,181 Description: Shade’s job is simple, catch the outlawed vampire, Garrett McQuinn. Can he still turn the sexy vamp over to the court, even when he starts to doubt that the man committed the crimes he's been charged with? Can Shade ever trust an outlaw with his life...or his heart? A Reader Said: Just stumbled across your story yesterday, so I´ve been reading it for the last couple of days. I´m always a bit apprehensive about reading original fantasy type stories, because it´s my favorite genre and I hate to see it not done well. I´m really glad I did try the story out though! Just finished it now and it was smokin´! I especially liked the characters´ little back stories (Garret, Maggie..) and enjoyed it all round. All I can say is good luck to them all, with their committee... ~sunsbane If you want to spread the word about KC' story, download the graphic below and add it to your signature! Make sure you come back on Wednesday to see the excerpt I chose to share!

“Ha, ha, ha,” cackled Balasamar. “Perfect!” Londe was magnificent, was perfect, his white coat shining in the sun, his horn sparkling as he threatened the enemies who dared try to harm me, his mate. And it was exactly what they wanted. What they needed. “Londe, no!” I shouted, even calling through our bond to get his attention, but his anger was so strong he didn’t hear me, couldn’t, over the pure rage. I had missed how much the attack on me had hurt him, had damaged our bond, when I h

The last time I’d seen that hand, iron links had held me down, my body forced to the ground and my head bowed. My horn had been severed and so much had been lost to me. Now it made sense. This human was wanted through many realms. He’d stolen many treasures, ransoming them back to their owners—if he didn’t keep them outright to sell to higher bidders. Or gain power from them himself. Because that was his goal. Power. In all its forms. The ultimate goal: To be the most powerful singular

Welcome to June! It's a nice, long.......... month. Yay? Well, no matter what your circumstances, there's a great way to keep yourself occupied! Read Caz Pedroso's novel Here Kitty, Kitty. A paranormal tale that started off of one of my games (you're welcome, lol) she took is so far beyond that prompt and made an awesome tale for readers to enjoy. So... enjoy! Here Kitty, Kitty by @Caz Pedroso Length: 56,464 Description: This started as a story for the Grid Game and has gotten bigger. Simon is a newly turned vampire, he's made his home in a lovely cave on a mountain. Unfortunately, someone else has decided they like the cave too. My prompt was - A newly-made vampire (verb) deep forest on a mountain no one dares enter (conjunction/pairing word) the cat won't move. A Reader Said: This was the latest Wednesday Brief from Caz and it was fantastic it didn't let up in action and suspense from chapter one. ~chris191070 Don't forget to come back to comment on the discussion day on Monday, June 29th.

My back ached, and my fingers cramped, but I kept cutting. Would these Beings fly? Walk? Slither? Lope? Londe was with the foals; night had fallen, and they were sleeping. I couldn’t manage. I sharpened stakes over and over. Some were hidden among the forest, just in case our followers were trying to come from an unexpected path. I’d placed some higher up, tied together on branches in a spray of spikes, and hanging with braided cording. One jerk and they’d swing with deadly accuracy through

Don't even get me started!! 🤓

Okay, so I usually do an intro, but seriously? Do you care about what I have to say? No.... really? I'm hurt! 😢 Bah! Fine, I'll just post this awesome interview where Rob gives some AMAZING news that has me rubbing my hands and will make all of you clamor with your comments about the story and his news below. What, you want to know what it is? Really? Should I share? Shhhhould I? 😛 If you were an animal, what would you be? That’s a tough one, but I think the easy answer would be bear, because I can gorge myself on sweets and then go hibernate all winter 😋 What’s one location you’d love to go to research for a story? There are so many places I’d love to go, but if I’m travelling for research purposes, I think at the top of my list would be a tour of castles in Bavaria, Germany. There’s something epic and romantic about them and I’ve been fascinated with them since playing the Gabriel Knight adventure games by Sierra back in the day. I think they’d play in well with a vampire story I have bubbling in the back of my head. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? To be honest, the current pandemic has derailed a lot of my activities. Before all this happened, I loved going to the movies with my husband, going out to dinner, and hanging out with my friends. These days, I’m spending my free time planning and outlining my next visual novel. If you had to only work on one project for the next year... what would it be? I’ve just started working on a new visual novel which explores some paranormal themes. I’m really excited about the story as well as the preliminary artwork. I hope people will be as excited as I am when I’m finally able to share some progress. High school. Hormones. Howling. Why werewolves as a paranormal theme? I wanted to explore a dominant/submissive theme (though not BDSM), and werewolves let you take that to the extreme. There’s something thrilling about losing control to a physical change, but the werewolf theme also allows you explore alpha/beta pairings, as well as biting and scent play. Do you like writing paranormal, science fiction, or contemporary stories the most? I think I like writing science fiction the most because I’m able to create worlds that are familiar but have new or unexpected twists, or I can just go crazy and create something totally new and different. Timber Pack Chronicles has a great flow between the chapters. Did you write this story completely before you posted it, or was it shared as a serial work? I’d say it was about 75% finished before I started posting the chapters. I staggered the chapter posts with about a week between if I remember right, and that gave me time to finish the ending and also incorporate some feedback I received. If you could pick one character to meet in person, Parker or Colton, which would you pick? I’d have to pick Colton for sure. I mean, who doesn’t want a big strong overly-confident man to take charge and show them who’s boss? 😋 Colton and Jed both have stories in Timber Pack Chronicles series. Do you think you’ll go back and write more for the pack? I have outlined a couple of plots for future stories in the Timber Pack universe, but honestly, they’ll likely end up as short stories or novella-length stories as opposed to full-length novels. I hope to have something finished later this year, maybe for Halloween or Christmas! Can you share anything else about your current or future projects with your GA fans? Currently, I’m re-editing a previously published novella for re-publishing, and also re-working an erotic short I wrote. My first visual novel Human Cargo is wrapping up, with only a few final pieces of artwork in the queue. Planning and writing has also begun on my next visual novel, and I’ll be spending the next few months working on that. As I said, the preliminary artwork is fantastic, and I hope people will be as excited as I am when I’m finally able to share some progress.

“What will we do?” Tinn asked. “Study the map first,” I said. Londe settled beside Marces. Colete was on the other side of him. With my family close to my side, our friends shuffled near and plopped down right in front of us like furry balls. They looked like boulders, which would help if there were any spies in the distance. I pulled the map out of my pack. Unfolding it carefully, I traced a finger. “We are here.” I showed our dots. All six of them. And the two I’d led us paralle

Did you catch Monday's blog featuring this month's Classic Author? Viv wrote a story of Halloween treats and troubles for teens that just can't be beat. Have you read it? Monday's reader comment was someone who enjoyed this story as a teen, who found it as their first and one of their favorite stories on the site. What do you think? Want to read more? Click here.

May is a month of seasonal changes. Here in the northern hemisphere, the flowers and blooming and love is in the air. Time for a romance? Or maybe I can tempt you away to a darker pursuits with this Halloween short story, All I Wanted by @viv from the 2006 Fall Anthology. I know someone was certainly tempting someone in the tale.... Length: 9,732 Description: Okay so I can admit it, I’m a freak. It’s official, and I say that only because it’s true. Sitting here, waiting for the doorbell to ring again, or to hear some low knock on our heavy wooden door from some costumed children, accompanied by some less than enthusiastic adults who are constantly reminding their kids to say thank you, I had managed to separate all the candy bars in the bowl I held in my lap, by flavor. I mean what kind of head case does that? A Reader Said: This was actually my first story I ever read when I joined GA, and still remains my favorite piece on the whole site. I was 17 when I first read it, and the realism of the teenage characters rung so true to real life it totally engrossed me. Every once in a while I come back to reread this story and it never gets old. I love this short. If you want to spread the word about viv's story, download the graphic below and add it to your signature! Make sure you come back on Wednesday to see the excerpt I chose to share!

I always imagine Sheldon from Big Bang Theory when talking about 'factoids' lol. He's all about sharing those tidbits.

He's right up there with Wile E. Coyote, LOL! That was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, right up there with the Gummi Bears.

The notification is that Will Hawkins had reacted (used an emoticon) on a chapter comment you made on the first chapter of the Story Jimmy & Richie, not commented on that chapter himself. Also, for some reason, the author @CLJobe has unpublished the story, which makes all the chapters unpublished as well. This is something the author has done, not a fault of the system. That is why it is unpublished. I hope that helps!

I stopped, panting, my blade drooping in my grip as I stared at the dead Being. It wasn’t the first time I’d killed, not even close, but I had never done it in front of my family before. I didn’t want to look at them; didn’t want them to look at me. Death shouldn’t have touched my foals—they deserved to be home, safe from all the ugliness of the outside world. “Papa, I’m so sorry!” Colete rushed to me. “Are you hurt?” “No, no, I’m fine. Why are you sorry?” I was sorry. “Careful!” I qui

Oh yeah, I'm definitely sure the Being deserved it though. Being part of a plot to kidnap young, to use them, hurt them... so evil. And evil should NEVER win in the end! Yes! The warning was definitely helpful. Now he knows what the dots are--enemies. But they also need to go after whoever was behind the plot to steal the young or they'll never be safe. And now he can find them. Definitely the servant of the master, but a vicious one who hurt Colete. She deserved to die. And yes, time to go after the master. Muahahahaha! I have to get it in somehow. It's hard to move the plot along in 1k increments, but the story is definitely ramping up now.

Yet another example of the dangers of the world they live in and the crimes humans and Beings commit and the inherent magic that results. Any wonder the unicorns try to isolate themselves? So much evil in the world they keep encountering, yet then they find Beings who are helpful too.