12 Giveaways: The Firethorn Crown

Today’s featured giveaway is The Firethorn Crown (Firethorn Chronicles #1), by Lea Doué. Learn more about her book and the giveaway below, and don’t forget to check out all 24 giveaways running from now until Christmas!

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Summary:

Princess Lily, the eldest of twelve sisters and heir to a mighty kingdom, desperately seeks a break from her mother’s matchmaking. Tradition forbids marriage with the man Lily loves, so she would rather rule alone than marry someone who’s only after the crown.

Fleeing an overzealous suitor, Lily stumbles into a secret underground kingdom where she and her sisters encounter a mysterious sorcerer-prince and become entangled in a curse that threatens the safety of her family and her people. Lily can free them, but the price for freedom may be more than she’s willing to pay.

About the Author:

A native of south Georgia, Lea currently lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her husband, their two boys, a rescue greyhound, and a cat. But, sadly, no dragons. Homeschooling and writing take up most of her time, but she also enjoys directing a small puppet team at her church. The Firethorn Crown, a re-imagining of Grimm’s “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” is the first novel in the Firethorn Chronicles, a series inspired by fairy tales and other stories.

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What can I say—I love fairy tales! Enter to win a paperback or Kindle copy (winner’s choice) of The Firethorn Crown!

A Rafflecopter Giveaway.

 

The winner will be contacted on December 26. In the meantime, you can learn more about me or the Firethorn Chronicles here:

 

Website

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

 

Merry Christmas and good luck!

12 Giveaways: Mages of Vane

Today we feature Jennifer Kibble, author of the Phoenix Element series! Read more about her giveaway below, and don’t forget that there are 24 giveaways going on from now until Christmas! Click here to see them all!

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December 14th will kick off the Twelve Giveaways of Christmas. For twelve days, you have a chance to win books from twenty-four different scribes in genres across the spectrum!

During the Twelve Giveaways of Christmas, you will have a chance to win the second book in the Phoenix Element series, Mages of Vane. This giveaway will take place over at Amazon, so be sure to bookmark this page in preparation of the giveaway. Best of luck!

If you are a member of Kindle Unlimited, Mages of Vane is free to read on your kindle. Want a physical copy? Use coupon code 68K4VN9J to get $4.00 off from Createspace!

Mages of Vane is the second book from the Phoenix Element series. Anya has now made her home at the Vane Magic School on the planet of Zerron. She is honing her abilities, and learning about auras. Behind the scenes, the Order of Blood is working to take down Vane. The mages must hold the magic school or the threat to the known galaxy will be that much greater.

Blog: https://phoenixelement.wordpress.com/

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Element-Mages-Jennifer-Kibble-ebook/dp/B014E2Y44W/

On Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/5669886

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thephoenixelement/

One Week!

Here we go, everyone! It’s one week to the release date! By this time next Tuesday, Demon’s Heart will be out in the world!

If you’re in the Seattle area and want to come celebrate the release with me, I’ll be at the Woodinville Barnes and Noble next Friday, December 12, from 4:00pm to 8:00pm. Besides a stack of super awesome books to sign, I will also have chocolate and bookmarks. You know you can’t resist chocolate and bookmarks.

If you’re not in the Seattle area, don’t forget that you can preorder through Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

And remember, the blog tour is starting soon! Keep watching for reviews, interviews, guest posts, and other fun bloggy excitement!

(Also, I apologize for the lack of a writing prompt yesterday. Life happened. I promise I’ll get one up next week.)

Are your characters motivated?

In my first college creative writing class, nearly every piece I turned in came back with the word unbelievable scribbled somewhere in the margins. It got to be so that that was the first thing I would look for when I got my papers back. It was incredibly frustrating. After all, I’m a fantasy writer. Doesn’t fantasy require some suspension of belief?

Well, yes. To a point. But here’s the thing that I didn’t entirely grasp at that point: unbelievable does not equal unrealistic. Fantasy is unrealistic by very nature. However, when you’re reading along in Harry Potter, does it ever occur to you to think it unbelievable that Hermione would conjure a swarm of golden birds to sic on Ron? No! Why? Because believability is based in world rules and character motivations, not similarity to reality.

Okay, that’s all well and good, but I was still pretty put out at my professor’s constant harping on the unbelievability of my characters. After all, I knew they had motivation to act the way they did. I knew exactly what was going on in their minds.

But he didn’t.

And there’s the problem I missed for a very long time. There are certain gaps that readers have to fill: the face of your dashing hero, the sleazy squeak of your villain’s voice, etc. But motivation should never be one of those gaps. No, you don’t have to be entirely truthful about it right away—misleading readers is part of the fun. But what your character does should always be accompanied by a why that is crystal clear to the reader.

This is definitely a point where critique groups come in handy. When your characters have been living inside your head for so long, it may seem painfully obvious to you why your characters are acting in a certain way, but your readers may be reading something completely different. You don’t want your readers to think your character is a murderous maniac when he’s really supposed to be failing miserably at being mean. (Yes, this was a recent point of confusion with one of my characters.)

Happy writing!