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Showing posts from December, 2012

Hand of the Tarot Review

SM will be awarding a Tarot Doll of their choice to a randomly drawn commenter (US/Canada Only) during the tour. More information: http://www.smblooding.com/ht1-order-tarot-doll-autographed-book/ The Hands of Tarot Series: The Hands of Tarot SM Blooding Format: E-book & Paperback Genre: YA Steampunk (Mature) Length: 316 pages in paperback Blurb: She killed his father. She imprisoned and beat him. And now she thinks he’s her trophy. Synn El’Asim will do almost anything to prove her wrong. But he’s only proving her right. Queen Nix awakened his Mark of power and inducted him into the House of Wands. She knew what she was doing. The son of the two most powerful Families standing against her is the ultimate prize. What she didn’t take into consideration was that maybe he was too strong for her. Maybe. The Families aren’t. They’ve been weakened, and it’ll take a lot more than one young man with a powerful Mark to take on the Hands of Tarot. Excerpt: Queen Nix turned to me and smiled.

Show, Don't Tell!

Another common error young writers make is telling a story, rather than showing a story. This is probably because many of the short stories they have been exposed to are fairy tales, which have a distant point of view and summary-like narration. They start with phrases like "There once was..." and use direct characterization, like "She was the kindest girl in all the land." When we write, we need to show our stories, using vivid verbs, specific details, and deep point of view. Here's an example of a passage that is told. The action is summarized and the reader feels as if the action is happening far away: It was June of 1943. Eric's older brother had gone away to become a fighter pilot. Eric wanted to be a pilot too, so he got in the family's crop dusting plane and started it up. He flew it out of the barn and crashed it into the old oak tree in the yard. He hit his head. The doctor had to come. His brother came back, injured from the war. The two healed