NaNoWriMo 2015
November is just around the corner and that can only mean one thing – that crazy literary marathon known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where the sane lose their minds and attempt to pen a novel in 30 days. As always, we at Virtual Writers like to crack the whip…ahem encourage writers, by offering a veritable calendar of delights – word scrimmages, write-ins, as well as inspirational workshops, talks and articles from successful authors. Join our Second Life® group Milk Wood Wrimos for event reminders and follow us on Twitter for daily tips – you’ll find lots of great links under the hashtag #virtualwrimos. Virtual Workshops We are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting a selection of free online workshops from successful authors. Click on the link below to participate at the specific time. These workshops are held in Second Life®. For details on how you can participate check out the following article. Thursday 5th November, 2015 12 noon Pacific Time/3pm Eastern Time/8pm GMT Boost your Writing Using Second Life® with Lizzie Gudkov NaNoWriMo is a demanding challenge and getting stuck is not an option! We’ll address a few simple ways you can turn a virtual world into your NaNoWriMo backup plan. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Friday 6th November, 2015 2pm Pacific Time/5pm Eastern Time/10pm GMT Writing like we speak – or – Authenticity in dialogue – or – Say what? with Diana Hunter Ever start reading and someone in the story says something that’s just…wrong? Maybe the language is stilted or the phrasing isn’t right. But something pulls at your ear and poof! You’re out of the story. Or you’re reading a book and, what may be arguably worse, every character in the story sounds like every other character in the story? There are pages of dialogue and you can’t tell who’s speaking because they all sound the same! Writing perfect dialogue isn’t mysterious or difficult. Diana Hunter (Diana Allandale) will present some tips and techniques to writing conversation in this NaNoWriMo workshop. There will be some time within the workshop to write, so come prepared to work! http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Sunday 8th November, 2015 1pm Pacific Time/4pm Eastern Time/9pm GMT Inspiration Stalking with Gwen Enchanted Your creativity is not a finite resource. Gwen will teach you how to tap it when it seems tapped out. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Monday 16th November, 2015 2pm Pacific Time/5pm Eastern Time/10pm GMT How Do We Turn History into a Novel? with Arlene Radasky Join us as we discuss ways to use our imagination and turn research gathered by anthropologists and archaeologists into an engaging story, one that others will want to read. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 Friday 20th November, 2015 12:30pm Pacific Time/3:30pm Eastern Time/8:30pm GMT Word Roulette with Emerian Rich Learn how to play Emz’s fun game to help generate ideas for stories, keep your mind active, and open up the idea stream inside you in a relaxing, non-stressful way. Bring your idea book and imagination. http://ow.ly/eVHO3 NaNoWriMo in Second Life® If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit our sim in Second Life® then make some time this November. You’ll find an incredibly diverse and active community of writers and the level of support is second to none. Our Second Life® NaNoWriMo word meter will be up and working on the 1st at our virtual writers’ camp. You will need to...
read moreStephen Dearsley’s Summer of Love by Colin Bell
It’s 1967 and the start of the Summer of love. Life will never be the same again for the young as they celebrate liberation and nonconformity, but also protest against prejudice, repression and war. In Brighton, Stephen Dearsley is tempted and intimidated by the way his generation is casting off traditional ways of dress along with the old ways of thinking. His hippy housemate Dys provides an open door into his own possible summer of love, but will autumn still find him in tweeds, or will he be in colourful loons and tie-dye? His ambition to become a biographer is fulfilled when he’s commissioned to research the life story of Austin Randolph, and the revelations of hypocrisy, class prejudice and homophobia lead him to make his decision. Summarize your story in one sentence: Stephen Dearsley, in 1967, is the original young fogey who wants to be a biographer but the Summer Of Love puts some tempting obstacles in his path. What are the main themes? The book is about 1967, an extraordinary moment in cultural history but it is also about how we have to balance our knowledge of history with the necesssity to live in our own times. It is also about how, hopefully, a little person like Stephen can be more powerful than the charismatic super hero, his biographical subject, the dastardly Austin Randolph. Stephen Dearsley has to find himself and come to terms with his develooping sense of self while the world is changing around him. Oh yes, I suppose the book is also about love. Who or what inspired your story? I read that the brilliant biographer Michael Holroyd, a hero of mine, studied in a public library and not university. I thought this held interesting seeds for a book about the relationship between a would-be biographer and the man he would have to write about. Also, I was inspired by the wonderful use of bathos in the last paragraph in Graham Greene’s novel Our Man In Havana. My novel’s ending was always going to be a reflection on that – but enough said! I was also determined to draw on my obession for a certain song by The Rolling Stones which I’m not going to reveal for fear of doing a spoiler! Finally, yes music again, I guess the book wouldn’t have happened without The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper and All You Need Is Love. What do you like best about your main characters? I am very fond of poor Stephen – maybe I’m a softy for the underdog but I love Stephen’s earnest attempts to fit in and find himself and even to challenge the things that he’d always thought were important to him. Many of the other characters too, I think, are redeemed even if they are damaged by their search for love. Emilia Jefferies and Philip Irving have a tremendous capacity for love and a hidden strength that impresses me even if it does llittle to make them happy. Dys is a wonderful free-spirit – a light to lighten other people’s lives, perhaps, but also a genuine social radical. How are they flawed? Stephen Dearsley clings onto his love of the past, finding his version of historical facts comforting when he feels insecure. He is a young man hiding from himself and...
read moreA Story Waiting to Happen: StoryBrooke Gardens
Literary inspiration from Lizzie Gudkov and the virtual world This month we’ll visit the wonderful StoryBrooke Gardens, a small plot created by Lauren Bentham above Baja Norte’s beach. I must admit I’m not sure I’m the right person to write this month’s column. I have never written children’s stories and I know them only as a reader. Yet, being absolutely mesmerized by this gem, I couldn’t resist. The fact that Lauren has done an impressive job will definitely make my task easier. Upon arrival, the visitor is greeted by two friendly bunnies. Now, which way should we go? The warm welcome makes it difficult to decide. Ok, southbound. A child jumps merrily, followed by his dog. Is he going on a trip? He looks happy, but he’s carrying a bindle. Is he running away from home? Or is he simply embarking on an adventure? Within spitting distance, a fairy talks to a giant bee. Her small little feet splash playfully in the water of an old fountain. Nearby, a magical bicycle waits. It’s propelled by colorful balloons and if a dreamer sits on it, it will take him on a magical journey. A track of colorful stars leads the way into a big tree trunk. It’s hard to resist, so here we go. On the other end of the trunk, we turn left and almost trip on a gardener tortoise who insists that we must read the Book of the Butterfly. “The best is yet to come.” A few flowers grow from one of the pages. It must be magical too. The tortoise then urges us to talk to the magician. The initial plan was to find ideas for a story with lots of fairies and bunnies and… Oh, well, let’s go talk to the magician. Tea is brewing and, at the tempting offer of a cup, we spot a caldron filled to the brim with incantation books and a skull on a stack of novellas guarded by a doll plagued with a mysterious pestilence. Umm… Caution is of the essence. In the meantime, the magician foretells a rather eerie and enigmatic future at the sound of a haunted music box and the cawing of crows in the distance. He sends us off to search something. He means characters and stories, most likely. In doubt, we hurry away. Back on the main track, let’s follow the flying ladder. White balloons are always a good omen. Right around the corner, a white fox and a family of mice seem to be extremely busy – happy mouse, mommy mouse, two mice in love, a few sleepy ones and Excalibur. Excalibur likes to fly, something his family and friends find totally preposterous. A mouse was not made to go around flying, especially not holding on to such a fragile leaf. After witnessing an endless family argument that follows with Excalibur throwing a tantrum and defiantly flying away, we move on. Oh, gosh, Humpty, what happened to you? He doesn’t reply. He wiggles his legs back and forth, sitting straight on his chair to avoid spilling over. We tiptoe away. We don’t want to distract him and be the cause of a disaster. Back at the original landing point, let’s now turn left, following a path of stars once more. A bunny boy and...
read moreReflecting Jane by Sue Tame
Reflecting Jane is a story of one woman’s struggle to hold onto the past whilst living in the present. Telling the tale of her childhood, her life and her three, very different, husbands (Vash, Kenny and David) this is a touching tale – and poignantly funny at times. Narrated by herself, Jane shows us what it is like to look into a mirror and see an unrecognisable face staring back, trying hard to remember what her life once was – and having to sit and watch an unrecognisable world go by from a window. Jane is a woman who does not suffer fools gladly, and despite the increasing loss of her memories, her acerbic take on life will make you laugh, and then make you cry for her. It is a story of a woman who reminds us all to live our lives to the full – and to make as many memories as we can, whilst we can… Summarize your story in one sentence. Jane (lively, aloof, but with a wicked sense of humour) lives in a Home for the Elderly – for whom she has little time for, and has problems relating to suffering as she does from ‘vagueness’ (Dementia) – and so she retreats into relating her life story to her ‘companion’ – her own reflection. What are the main themes? The theme of the story is one of loss – loss of liberty and privacy, and ultimately Self. Jane is affected very deeply by this, and being in the place she bewilderingly now finds herself. Particularly her inability to practice her pagan beliefs – which she is aware would be inappropriate somehow – and her mental drift between the worlds of her past and present add to her confusion and the feeling, somehow, that she is losing herself in this house of strangers. Who or what inspired your story? The inspiration for Jane came from my time working as an Elderly Care Nurse in a rather exclusive Residential Home. I went in with the usual raft of opinions, but quickly began to see the residents with different eyes and found their characters, viewpoints and life stories to be absolutely fascinating – gold dust to a writer! Jane is a mixture of two of the ladies I became especially fond of. What do you like best about your main character, Jane? I have to say, I really enjoy Jane’s wicked sense of humour, coupled with her inability to see the blindingly obvious – especially when it’s not what she wants to see! She would gaily announce black was white if it suited her, then pointedly ignore all the open mouths around her. If you can’t do that when you’re in your eighties, when can you?! How is she flawed? It’s difficult to determine Jane’s flaws (though probably the above!) because so much relates to her condition and her feelings of vulnerability at finding herself so lost. She can be insensitive, boorish even, and often has an utter disregard for the other residents in the home. And this is something that will have such sad consequences later in the tale. What’s the biggest obstacle Jane faces? The biggest obstacle Jane can ever face is the loss of her ‘Self’. She is acutely aware that something in her life is not...
read moreThere’s No Such Thing As Writer’s Block by Carmel McMurdo Audsley
There is no such thing as writer’s block – end of story. Anyone who says they have this so-called affliction is just being lazy and stalling for time. If you call yourself a writer then that is what you do – write, about anything or anyone. The key to becoming a good writer is simply to write. I have held many classes for creative writers and I always start with one simple exercise. I tell my students to choose any object in the room – a pencil, book, glasses case or whatever is within easy reach. Then I ask them to describe that item – the way it looks, feels and smells or even tastes. Take a pencil for example. It may be six inches long and painted red with a logo. It may be a lead or coloured pencil. It could be blunt or sharp. If it has been recently sharpened perhaps you can smell the wood shavings. Then you might think about who used the pencil before you picked it up and what they may have written with it. After a few minutes you have a description about a seemingly ordinary object and you have a little story. When you have a bigger project such as the beginning of a book, or the opening of a chapter, simply write. Our minds are always ticking over and quite often you know what you want to say but you just can’t find the right words to put on the paper. So start with the wrong words, any words, but just start writing. Once you get your initial thoughts on paper you can come back later and rearrange the words to mean your intention. If you think you don’t even have a thought, then you are wrong. The thought may not be related to the subject of your book, but right down your thoughts anyway. Once you start the process of writing then the right words will come to you. Like actors, a lot of motivation and ideas for writers come from observing people. To get inspiration, take yourself off to the local bus stop, train station or shopping mall and just sit still and watch the passing parade. You will get descriptions for your characters – what they look like, the colour of their hair and eyes, the clothes they are wearing, the things they do – and you can create your own characters from the people you observe. Always carry a little notebook with you and keep a pen and paper by your bedside. I often have great ideas last thing at night but would never remember them if I didn’t write them down before I go to sleep. Sometimes in the morning the idea doesn’t seem as great, but at least it’s there in case I need it. In summary, there is no reason for anyone to ever say they have writer’s block. If you are truly a writer, then you will always find something to write about. The more you write the better writer you will become. CARMEL McMURDO AUDSLEY – AUTHOR: FAERIES, FARMS AND FOLK Carmel McMurdo Audsley is an Australian Journalist, Editor and Author who lives in Brisbane with her husband Iain. Carmel has written, and had published, thousands of news stories and feature articles and has...
read moreA Story Waiting to Happen: Hestium
Literary inspiration from Lizzie Gudkov and the virtual world It seems only fitting that Hestium should be my choice for the launch of Virtual Writers’ new blog, as it is one of the richest locations for the creation of stories and characters I have ever visited. I first read about Hestium at Honour McMillan’s blog in her post Hestium, Another Tiny Gem in Second Life. Advised that it was a quarter of a sim, I dropped by to do a bit of research and see if there was enough material to use for this monthly column. I immediately realized that Hestium takes the same approach as I do with stories. Start with a question. “Who lives here? That is for you to discover. There are clues to be found”. Who can resist such a challenge? The whole place took me by surprise. Except for a small plot that is marked private, this rather small area feels like a whole sim. The space is cleverly utilised, and – as we walk around and discover hidden secrets – many ideas for stories come to mind. In preparing for this column I usually spend quite a bit of time on location. I try to understand the sim from the point of view of its creator. “Wander around and find the stories – they are yours to make and to keep”. A story is made of many different elements; however, when the characters are powerful, alive, compelling, endearing, obnoxious, or absolutely hateful, magic happens – and Hestium is very particular in the way it offers ideas for characters. We are encouraged to explore every little detail to create the “who” in our story. While enthusiastically living and breathing Hestium – imagining the life of the explorer with her travel trophies, the apothecary and the artist, even the vendor by the archway – I totally missed the opportunity to write a column about them. As so often happens in Second Life®, the sim began to change to welcome new imaginary residents. So, without further ado, join me on this journey. Let’s find those new residents who recently decided to make Hestium their home. I’m sure that, when you visit the sim yourself, you’ll find these and many more. “Welcome to Hestium. Please explore – open doors, enter the village houses, look under the beds and open chests.” No writer would be able to resist permission to go anywhere and discover clues! Writers are inquisitive by nature. And if you add the question “Who lives here?”, the scenario is set. I rarely give you a long transcript of the notecards provided by the creators of the sims we visit, however, Boudicca Amat’s words are the best presentation and I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything better! “What is Hestium? It’s a place of refuge for its inhabitants. (…) Who are these people? That is for you to discover. Their homes hold clues to who they might be – sometimes in plain view, sometimes hidden away. Why are they in Hestium? That too is for you to decide. You create their stories. (…)” On to meeting the characters! Standing before the first house I come across, waiting to see if there is anyone at home, I notice that this is, most likely, the house of someone who has traveled through the Far East. There is an elegant...
read moreLily by Kewalnam Christ
LILYRED is a metaphysical, metaphorical puzzle, a diverting reverie and a primal nightmare. Devoted to constructing a simulacrum of reality, intended on seducing and enlightening its readers. It’s an extravagantly abrasive novel full of grinding electro, pummeling minimalist hip-hop poetics, and industrial gear-grind. Intentionally off-putting, ranging in syntax and exploring ranges of literary, biblical, and political allusions that are major concerns in our current century. What are the main themes of your book? Love, Joy, pain, reality, dreams, theology, there are many themes, this book serves as a catalyst for our conscious evolution. Who or what inspired your story? I was sitting home, watching this documentary for one of my favorite albums of all time, “Watch the throne”, and the energy I felt watching it, I desperately wanted to give to another. So I started restudying various religions, and ancient texts, understanding where we are as a people, and opening myself subconsciously to the mysteries of the universe around us. It was almost as if these pages were writing themselves; as I began writing, life began imitating art, situations that I wrote in fiction would play out in real life, and I knew that this was bigger than words on a page, this was 3 dimensional art. What do you like best about your primary characters? Their mystery, and authenticity. The book is a character driven novel, and I create these broken but functional characters that mirror the minds of many of us, it’s raw, and nude. What are their worst peculiarities? What are our worst peculiarities? We all seek love and acceptance, sometimes willing to hurt whomever, or even ourselves to get it, that is the answer for the characters as well, it’s real fiction. How does your main character evolve? Don’t want to say too much without giving the ending away, but the character evolves as fast as the reader and vice versa. The main character Lily is this ethereal woman who appears at the beginning tracking in darkness and mystery behind her. Man, saying anything else will give the story away. What’s the principal message you want to send to your audience? It’s time for freedom, this book gives the codes to our freedom, the codes to our liberty. Not just physically but more importantly mentally, we have shackled ourselves to old tired ideals that have rendered us impenitent and weak. It’s time for a revolution and it starts here. What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about your book? “I would highly recommend this. The writing is rich and lyrical, the characterizations full and complete with each person known and mysterious at the same time. We follow each of them through joys, sorrows and growing moments.” Deb Carlin – read more on Amazon. Where can we purchase it? Amazon About Kewalnam Christ The world is at a weird point socially, where a lot of dominoes are being set into place, and what happens over the next couple of years may very well determine the course of the next ten. Enter Kewalnam Christ, a 23 year old black author, born in Toronto, Canada, raised in Brooklyn, New York. He’s an avant-gardist artist, with a gospel of higher consciousness. Kewalnam stands as an unprecedented voice amongst his generation, with a unique gift that separates him from most writers, his gift of synesthesia – Mr. Christ...
read moreThe Luck of the Weissensteiners by Christoph Fischer
“In the sleepy town of Bratislava in 1933 a romantic girl falls for a bookseller from Berlin. Greta Weissensteiner, daughter of a Jewish weaver, slowly settles into life with the Winkelmeier clan. The political climate and slow disintegration of the multi-cultural society in Czechoslovakia becomes more complex and affects relations between the couple and their families. The story follows their lot through the war with its torment, destruction and its unpredictability – and the equally hard times after. From the moment that Greta Weissensteiner enters the bookstore where Wilhelm Winkelmeier works, and entrances him with her good looks and serious ways, I was hooked. But this is no ordinary romance; in fact it is not a romance at all, but a powerful, often sad, Holocaust story. What makes The Luck of the Weissensteiners so extraordinary is the chance Christoph Fischer gives his readers to consider the many different people who were never in concentration camps, never in the military, yet who nonetheless had their own indelible Holocaust experiences. Set in the fascinating area of Bratislava, this is a wide-ranging, historically accurate exploration of the connections between social location, personal integrity and, as the title says, luck. I cared about every one of this novel’s characters and continued to think about them long after I’d finished reading.” — Andrea Steiner, University of California Santa Cruz The Luck of the Weissensteiners is an epic saga set in wartime Eastern Europe. It follows the lives of two families – one Jewish, one Catholic – and their entwined survival amidst the backdrop of the Second World War; first the fascist then the communist invasion and occupation of Slovakia, and the horror of the consequences of war. The reader is transported to a world of deception, fear, distrust and betrayal, alongside enduring love and family drama. Weissensteiners is a magnificent tale of human survival. Author Interview What are the main themes of your book? “The Luck of the Weissensteiners” is about a Jewish family in Slovakia before, during and after World War II. They are mainly assimilated and not very noticeable at first in the multi-cultural society of post-Habsburg Czechoslovakia until Slovakia becomes independent and a fascist Axis power. The book is about the ties between us and what binds us together, be that family, religion, national boundaries, friendship or ideology. It is also about what manifold misfortunes there were during that time – not just the obvious victims. The book is the first in The Three Nations Trilogy, but not a Trilogy of the Twilight kind. It is a series of three books with similar themes, trying to shine a light on the same themes at different times in different Nations. Who or what inspired your story? My grandmother was from Sudeten Germany and forced to leave Czechoslovakia after the war. She never spoke much about it and after my father died I became very interested in the family roots and the history of that nation. During my ‘research’ I read many touching stories and I began to have a first idea. Initially closely based on her the plot soon took on a life of its own and new characters appeared and took over. What do you like best about your primary characters? Their goodness. I believe that most people have decency and...
read moreGeekus Interruptus: A Novella about Geek Love by Mickey J. Corrigan
Marcy Margate has it all: she’s young, rich, and built like Barbie. She isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but the girl’s got sass and spunk to spare. Plus, she’s sizzling hot. When her marriage to a real live genius starts to dim and grow cool, however, she’s puzzled. What went wrong? Marcy loves her husband, even if Jess Margate is from the planet of the nerds. She decides to play it smart for a change. Using spyware and creative strategy, she plots to find out why her geek has been interruptus. Armed with miniature technology, Marcy plans to uncover the cause for the downtime in their love life. A modern romantic comedy of hot errors and hotter apologies, Geekus Interruptus is a story for our time. Because these days, nerds rule. And geeks have guilty pleasures too, some quite different than our own. What are the main themes of your book? Opposites do attract, and it’s not always a bad thing. He brings out the best in her and vice versa. Often, everybody wins. But it’s not so easy when you don’t speak geek and that’s his native tongue. This is the theme I wanted to explore in Geekus Interruptus. Who or what inspired your story? After reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, I had sexy geeks on the brain. Plus, I live with a young geek. I am struggling to learn the language. What do you like best and least about your primary characters? Marcy is plucky. She’s loyal. She cares. Passionately. But she’s kind of dumb. She’s nosy. And she needs a lot of attention. Did I mention her hormones are wacked? Jess is brilliant. He’s successful and rich. He works. Very hard. But he lives in his head, in his own special world. He doesn’t pay enough attention to his sexy wife. Did I mention he’s a total geek? How does your main character evolve? When she thinks her husband is having an extramarital affair, Marcy takes the situation into her own hands. She has to learn to use that brain of hers for more than shopping and seduction. She also has to re-evaluate her marriage. How much does she love this man? And when Jess is confronted with a situation he doesn’t understand, he must remember how much he loves his wife in order to resolve their considerable differences. Men and women need to get along so we can move the species forward. The good news? It can be done, folks. Couples do it every day. Plus, it can be fun! What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about your book? I love reviewers. Read this from Smardy Pants Book Blog: “This is by far my favorite Mickey J. Corrigan book. So far I’ve only read three of her books and she is HILARIOUS!! I know I will be highly entertained by her shenanigans…I’m not usually one to read stand-alone novellas, but if Mickey J. Corrigan writes it, I’m going to read it!!” Where can we purchase it? Amazon About Mickey J. Corrigan Originally from Boston, Mickey J. Corrigan lives in South Florida. The tropics provide a lush, steamy setting for hot romance and Florida pulp. Mickey’s ebooks include the cyber romance Dream Job (Breathless Press, 2012), which has been compared to The...
read moreMoonless by Crystal Collier
MOONLESS is Jane Eyre meets Supernatural. Alexia’s nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with her beloved and risk becoming one of the Soulless. What are the main themes of your book? True love means sacrifice, and embrace who you are. Who or what inspired your story? It was actually a story dream, right off a Dickens reading binge, and suddenly I had this image in my head of a young woman who didn’t fit into her time period or circumstances. She was forward thinking and brave enough to break free from society’s expectations, inspired by a startling murder and a dazzling set of blue eyes. What do you like best about your primary characters? Alexia faces her fears. She recognizes her own naiveté from a lifetime of sheltering, but she isn’t afraid to step into the dark and embrace the possibilities. Kiren would give his very soul to protect those he associates with, and has sacrificed all for the sake of others. His compassion endears him to me. Bellezza is gung ho in her cause, even when it means breaking laws. Her determination gets me. Sarah knows how to laugh off the awful things in life. Miles loves deeper than anyone. He’s learned from a lifetime of patterning that to truly love someone, you have to put their happiness before your own. What are their worst peculiarities? Alexia’s unsure of her place in the world, and vacillating between the powers that govern her life. Kiren thinks he’s always right—because he knows way more than he should. Bellezza kills people. All the time. And loves it. Sarah’s a flirt. Miles is pretty much socially inept. How does your main character evolve? Alexia has always been sheltered and kind of ugly, but she’s okay with that. Belonging to a noble born family, that’s not exactly the most promising circumstances for a good match—which is pretty much her sole purpose in life—or so she’s been led to believe. The night she suddenly becomes stunning, she discovers she’s not only been living under a veil of deceit, but she has abilities that draw Soulless and eternal monsters to her. In order to protect herself and those she loves, she has to make some difficult choices, which I won’t spoil. Throughout the story, she matures into a strong young woman who understands her place in the world. What’s the principal message you want to send to your audience? The truest definition of love is being willing to sacrifice all for the sake of another person. What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about your book? I’ve heard so many nice words, but the best were probably “Brain Candy,” or when someone called Kiren a darker Mr. Darcy. My favorite review was probably this one. Where can we purchase it? Buy MOONLESS HERE. About the Author Crystal Collier, author of MOONLESS, is a former composer/writer for Black Diamond Productions. She can be found practicing her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible...
read moreRecommended
Featured Writers
Follow Me