Writing Song

Sigh...

The Magnificent Maleficent.

I had a lot of expectations going into this movie. I have said before out of all the villains in the Disney movies, Maleficent was my favorite. I had a little check list that I went into the theater carrying like a wooden block on my back. So many movies have not been what they could. 

I am so happy to say that as the movie progressed I was able to check off these marks happily. The look was amazing and the movie flows like a dream, maybe once upon a dream even...sorry. Anyway, the acting was spot on. Jolie brings this character to life. Even the supporting roles did justice to the story.

I had one minor complaint and it was pretty small in the overall picture, it is also somewhat a spoiler so I will leave it off here. 

If you like fantasy in general and/or are a fan of fairy tales that don't make you roll your eyes go check out MALEFICENT.  

Happy Father's Day!!!

Just wanted to stop in and say HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I hope you are all enjoying it with your families. Or remembering someone great.

I myself am going to go have some fun with the kiddos. I will have a blog up tomorrow and one Friday...I am so trying to stick to that, lol. 

Reborn Interview!!!

I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of this book and truly enjoyed the read. It was a fun ride in a great fantasy world. I now get a chance to ask the author a few questions about the book and her process in writing it. 


BAX - Where did the original idea for the story come from?

CR - Back in the early 2000s, I created a character for a Harry Potter online roleplaying game who had the gift of prophecy. Her birth story and how she obtained her gift is what spring-boarded the idea for Yssa. Although the characters’ stories and personalities diverged from each other, I wouldn’t have Yssa’s beginning without roleplaying.

BAX - It is no secret I am a huge Potter fan. That's really cool you could pull from that after all those years. What was it like trying to work with the visions Yssa had throughout the book?

CR -   The first draft and the revised draft didn’t have very many visions except the most important ones. During edits, I found places to add more prophecies. The hardest part about the visions was trying to show how Yssa gains control over them—more visions in the beginning and less as the story goes on—as well as deciding how to showcase the premonitions. I eventually wanted an immediacy to the visions, so that’s why I have them in present tense and italics to set them apart from the past tense story.

BAX - Well it turned out and made for a great tool in telling the story. I really enjoyed Yssa's character, what brought her to life? 

CR - The Harry Potter character I created may have brought her origin story to the forefront, but the revision draft brought Yssa to live. I had her story down, but she felt a little flat in the first draft, which I wrote in third person. When I changed her story to first person narrative, it was like she came to life, since I was more focused on her than what was happening as I was in the first draft.

BAX - Revisions have a way of doing that. I guess that is why the best authors are all great at revising. What would you say was the most challenging aspect of writing this book?

CR - The most challenging aspect of this book was the editing. Although I’d edited shorter works, a novel is so much different. I had to add things, change things, keep so much straight. It was definitely challenging.

BAX - It is truly a lot of work. What would you say was your favorite?

CR - I love world-building. Each draft, each edit, I learned more about Yssa’s world. It never ceased to surprise me.

BAX - I'm right there with you on that. I can get lost in it. How long do you plan on continuing with these characters? 

CR - Yssa’s story/timeline will continue through three more stories: a novella titled Remarked written from Liam’s point of view; book two Reforged, which is the continuation of Yssa’s story; and book three Redestined, which is the conclusion to her story.

BAX - It is good to know I won't have to say goodbye anytime soon. Before we go. There are so many dynamic themes in the book. If you could sum it up for a reader who was interested, what would you say?

CR - Hard question. *laughs* I would say it is a coming of age story questioning free will and Fate and pushing the boundaries of life and death.

BAX - Well that was a great answer. If anyone is interested to learn more of Cherie or of Reborn, I have some info below.

To save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

On the day of Yssa’s death and rebirth, the god Apenth chose her as the Phoenix Prophetess.

Sea serpents and gods endanger the young prophetess’s journey and sour the omens. Yssa is cursed instead of blessed, and her duties at the Temple of Apenth prove it. She spends her days reading dusty scrolls, which does nothing to help her forget Tym, the boy back home. But the annoying yet gorgeous ferryman’s son Liam proves to be a distraction she can’t predict, even though he rarely leaves her alone for two sand grains.

Her boring temple life screeches to a halt when visions of her parents’ murders consume her. Yssa races across an ocean to stop the future. If she can’t change Fate, she’ll refuse to be the Phoenix Prophetess any longer. Fate, however, has other plans for her and the kingdom.

Yssa must either accept her destiny or fight to change Fate.

Available in Ebook and Print!

To purchase: Amazon | Createspace | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo | Nook | OmniLit | Smashwords | Other Retailers

Cherie Reich
Speculative Fiction Writer and Library Assistant

The magic's within the pages ... become surrounded by books!

Website / Blog

Writing.

If you want to know where my head space is as I am writing at the moment on Light Bringer, here is a song that is currently on repeat.

Hope all is well your way.

IWSG

IWSG is a great place to share insecurities or insights. Come join us, you can sign up here, CLICK ME!!


I have been working on something. It is one of those projects that gets done piece by piece over a long period of time. The more I work on it though I have to delve into a world of writing I don't normally go to. Sci-Fi. I love Sci-Fi but among my general reading it is the speculative fiction genre I have read the least amount of books in.

Working on this story, I see ideas I thought were cool and new only to find they are old hat for this genre.  This led me to a question. How important in writing is complete originality? It is a hard thing to achieve and not just in writing. You can think you are the height of new fashion, but do a little research and most likely you are indeed playing off something others have done.

Don't get me wrong being original is important to me, but more so is telling a great story. To tell a story I need a world in which to put it. So I will keep this IWSG post a bit shorter than normal and ask you guys a few questions.

How important is complete originality for you as a writer/reader? If a book has great characters and a solid plot does it make up some for the 'I have been here before' setting?

Anyway I hope all of you are having a great June so far. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

Update.

Hey guys this won't be a long post. I just wanted to do a minor update as so much has changed.

I am still working on the third book in The Light Bringer Saga, but I did get my cover in recently. I will be revealing that this month and all I can say is, I love it.

I have an interview coming up with the author of REBORN, Cherie Reich. That will be June 11th.

Also IWSG is coming up and I am pretty sure of my topic. That is Wednesday.

So yeah not a long post, but I wanted to update everyone.

Anyway, hope you are all well. As always, have fun and keep writing.