Tag: dragons

books

Let There Be Books!

nesskingsley

Wohoo! We’ve made it! The sequel to Our Intrepid Heroine has come. Join me as we cut the metaphorical ribbon and present … dunn dunnnnnn … The Curse of Cackling Meadows!

OIH2kindlefrontcoverAll she really wanted was to return home. A curse, a carrot and a unicorn later and our Intrepid Heroine is on her way to finding out just why Cackling Meadows has been beset by so strange a curse.

Accompanied by a unicorn with sensitive nostrils and a Songster whose name isn’t Hector, she will discover that princes, curses and even dragons aren’t always quite what they seem.

goodreads // amazon

The majority of this tale was written on the Norfolk Broads, aboard a boat. Whilst beautiful scenery and windmills passed by, I was sitting at a table inside the main cabin, earphones plugged in and fingers tapping away. It is quite true to say that this book was fueled by tea and black coffee.

And now, months later, here it is – fully butchered, hopefully polished and possibly coherent.ianblinkedI’ve got a sheet of paper with some of the original ideas scribbled all over it. There were lyrics for somewhat-rhyming-songs and snatches of dialogue. dontspreaditIt’s fascinating to see how things turn out. Half the time I come to write with no idea what is really going to happen. Oh, I’ve got a few basic elements there, but never the full picture. Twists arrive that surprise me. Things that I wanted to include don’t always fit. A character marches onto the pages and demands attention.

Writing is a great, big adventure and I’m very fortunate that I can share mine with you.

wivesquoteAND THAT’S NOT ALL! As part of my ‘yay, the sequel is published’ celebrations, Our Accidental Adventure (a completely different book with completely different characters in a completely different setting) is exactly zero dollars/pounds/euros this weekend.

Saith whaaattt? Let me receive this present of such greatness!

ness rambles, ness talks about life, ness writes about writing

Possibly Edible Creations, Deadlines and other such draconic nonsense

nesskingsley

After a string of late nights and many hours spent staring at words until the words themselves lose their meaning (‘curse? cu-rse? c-ur-se? That’s not a word. Wait. Is it?’) I felt rather drained this morning.

The sun was bright and shining, and the sudden urge to sit in a coffee shop, drink coffee and read a nice comforting book seized me.

But then I realised that coffee shops contain coffee, chairs, toilets, food and people. I decided that the garden was a better – and quieter – option.

IMG_0804// pictured: a cup of tea, a pink Bible, Marcia Schuyler, by Grace Livingston Hill – ‘Tales of a Child Bride’ as it ought to be subtitled – and an edible creation entitled: Let Me Just Bung This In With That and I Might Have Overdone The Cinnamon’ //

It was quite a pleasant brunch. But then dark clouds appeared and I beat a graceful retreat. It started raining soon after, which prompted a hasty trip outside to retrieve the washing.

The Curse of Cackling Meadows is officially released tomorrow. I’ve decided that deadlines are actually quite useful things. As are dictionaries, without which I wouldn’t have learnt that ‘draconian’ doesn’t describe something as dragon-like. The correct word for that sort of thing is ‘draconic’.

Draconian means unusually cruel or severe, and derives from the Athenian statesman Draco and his severe set of rules. It is also the name of a Swedish Doom/Gothic Metal band.

You learn something new every day, and I managed to avoid describing a cloud as ‘draconian’, which would have odd. I mean, ‘a draconic cloud’ still sounds quite odd, but in context it’s perfectly fine.

Or so I like to tell myself.

ness writes about writing, Quotables

The 777 Challenge (or Wheelbarrows and Heroines)

nesskingsley

I have been very kindly unofficially tagged for the 777 Challenge by proverbs31teen. Thank you, and I accept!

The 777 challenge requires you go to Page 7 of your work-in-progress, scroll down to Line 7 and share the next 7 lines in a blog post. Once you have done this, you can tag 7 other bloggers to do the same with their work-in-progress.

I have three WIP currently, however, I pick Our Intrepid Heroine: The Mystery of Blackthorne Forest to be subjected to the 777 treatment. (Our Intrepid Heroine: The Mystery of Blackthorne Forest is a working title, by the way. It could easily also be Our Intrepid Heroine: I Blame the Carrot or Our Intrepid Heroine: Wheelbarrows are Hazardous to Big Toes).

— — —

[Note: I did not include the wheelbarrows in the list of probable reasons for her fearfulness. When one makes a list, one usually rounds it into three rather than an even four, but if a true list was made, then I would include the wheelbarrows. If there had been fifteen, or even twenty, then they would serve only as a comical prop in the scene. However, there was twenty-nine of them. Twenty is comical. Twenty-nine is sinister.]

She decided to call out to the listeners and pray that they were friendly souls. Preferably with ready food and warm beds to spare. And a pillow for her weary head. She’d like that.

— — —

As I was unofficially tagged, than I unofficially tag whoever wishes to unofficially do this tag. Unofficially. (I may be using that word too much).

“You keep using that word … “

At present, I am working [suspiciously guilty coughing fit] on the final book of TDWH trilogy, and am attempting to knuckle down and edit the first two properly.

Dragons, kidnapping and adventure, how I love you. But bad spelling and typos, whilst often amusing, are not so dearly loved …