Characters and keeping faith

Every author dreams of that moment when a publishing company takes their manuscript and says 'yes we'll publish" in the mean time it can be a little soul destroying dealing with rejection after rejection or even worse not hearing anything at all. So the big question is how do you keep the faith in your work. I thought I'd offer a few tips from my own experience and from others who have been kind enough to offer advice.
1 - Get friends and family to read your work and give an honest review they will be able to point out those little tweeks that mean all difference.
2- It's difficult but don't give up remember all dreams are worth chasing and even established authors had to start somewhere.
3- Make sure you enjoy what you are writing, its a guarantee that the more you enjoy writing the better the flow of creativitiy.
4 - I opted for self publishing in the mean time through Amazon create space there is nothing quite like holding your work in your hands as a real book.
5 - Use social networks to share your trials and tribulations support from others can mean all the difference especially from those that have been there.

Another passion of mine within my writing is to make the characters as life like as possible and being able to relate to them. We all know the greatest stories are those where we live the highs and lows of the characters we read about. I like to give my characters a full range of emotions, no single protaginist can be pure and right all the time. I make them fell anger and hate the same with my antagonist they are not just full of hate and anger. The grey areas even in something a far from reality as fantasy gives a real depth and something I try to put into my work.

But the best tip I can give is let as many people possible know your work is out there its no time to be a wall flower.

Lauren x

Thoughts on inspiration from a fellow indie author

On my twitter feed a little while back I asked what inspires indie authors to write and keep on writing. Fellow Julie C Hall gave her  inspirations and talks about her battles:

Who inspired me to write. Well, it kind of happened when I found out that I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was talking with a friend and she said that the woman that wrote Seabiscuit had the same disease. I have always wanted to write, but didn’t know what to write about. When I found out about CFS I wanted to write about my experience with it. But I thought that it would be too boring. I was having this huge writer’s block, I didn’t know how to start. My boyfriend said, “Honey just write anything and it will come.” Well you know what? He was right!

I love anything supernatural/fantasy, so one day I wrote a poem about another dimension. From there a story came to life. I love to hike and I meditate a lot. While hiking, I came up with the story plot. I have always felt that nature talks to me. So my story was inspired by nature and elementals. The other interesting thing I found out, is that when I get acupuncture characters and ideas come to me. It must have something to do with my chi flowing better!

Once I started writing I found it was like therapy. It completely brought me joy and happiness. I hope that others find the same joy in writing that I do. I also hope that my stories entertain people and bring them joy also.

Check out her blog and facebook page on:

http://juliechall.com/

http://www.facebook.com/skyrabtwn

A peek into Blades of shadow

A peek into the first chapter of Blades of Shadow, enjoy.

            Lord Bardhol awoke to the sound of screaming. He knew he’d been living on borrowed time and luck and now it seemed both had run out. Without a second thought he threw back his bedding, pulled on his clothes and reached for his sword. He looked up to his armour that was strapped to the wall by his bed but shook his head at the thought before it had fully completed. It would take far too long. Silently he slipped from shadow to shadow wanting nothing more than to find his daughter and find her before anyone or anything else found her first.

            At the sound of footsteps Bardhol pressed himself against a wall. The cold from the stone began to seep through his shirt making him shiver. Bringing the sound of his breathing down to a minimum Bardhol waited.

            Silver was strapping her daggers to her belt and was just about to reach for the door. It flew open. Silver jumped back a silent scream on her lips and one of her daggers in hand.

            "What in the name of all…" Bardhol motioned his daughter into silence and then for her to follow. Her soft leather boots barely made a whisper on the flagstone floor as they made their way out towards the court yard. Thoughts rushed around Silvers head but pushed them aside and focused on following her father.

 Bardhol kept his mind blank. Years on the battle field had taught him that an idle thought, a single one could mean the difference between life and death.

            Out in the servants quarters the screams had long since died away. In the stables a young man lay in a corner with a body at his feet and a large pool of blood creeping ever closer. The fear that had a strangle hold on Jasper began to loosen. Slowly, painfully slowly he made his way out of the servants’ passage ways and towards the relative safety of the countryside.

            Out in the court yard the cold was sharp and the silence deep. The smooth sound of a sword being drawn made Bardhol turn around.

"Why!?" The lords’ voice boomed of the walls around him and huge falcon wings spread from his back, a deep dark brown leading down to white which shimmered in the moon light.

            Silver had only ever seen her fathers’ wings twice before once as a child and then when her mother had died of the fever all those years before.

            "I will not ask again, why are you here?"

In a blinding flash of movement Bardhol’s sword point was resting on the throat of the hooded figure stood before him. The point tinged red by a small drop of blood.

            Unmoved the man chuckled before raising his own blade and taking a step back.

"You mean you do not know?"

Silver was so focused on her father that she did not notice another cloaked figure stalking her from the shadows. Hands gripped tightly around her neck so tight that she could not cry out. In the struggle that ensued Silver managed to get her right arm free and reach for one of her daggers. As her vision began to grey Silver planted the small blade into her assailant’s arm, the grip only tightened.

            "Silver!"

            Bardhol pushed the body of the dead man off his blade and rushed to where Silver was rapidly losing her grip on consciousness. With a smooth strike, the grip on Silvers throat immediately slackened.

            Silver managed to lift her head and would have wept if she could. Her father’s wings were tinged with blood. Silver felt a rage boil with in her lending her the strength to get back to her feet.

            "Father, you’re hurt" Silver placed a hand on his shoulder but quickly pulled it away. Without looking she knew it was slick with blood. A groan escaped from the man who had only a few moments before been choking the life from Silver. Ignoring his daughter Bardhol knelt down and dragged him into a sitting position.

             "I will ask you this only once more. Why have you come?" Bardhol’s voice was little more than a whisper yet the venom that dripped into his words was as strong as that of any viper. Bardhol shook the man but he had already slipped into the realms of the dead, but the Lord of Firth got his answer as the hood fell from the dead man’s face. The tattoo across his forehead and the chain around his neck gave Bardhol all the answers he needed and in that moment all his worst fears came into being.

            "Silver, take this” He passed his daughter the chain. "Keep it safe not matter the cost"

            "But…"

            "Just do it, now follow me we need to get out of here…alive"

Bardhol took off and Silver was left to try and follow. Silver tried to watch every shadow. She could still feel hands around her neck. There was no time to think only time to keep moving and hope. With that Silver lost sight of her father and stopped dead in her tracks to look for some sign of where he had gone.

            Blazing pain ripped through the left side of Silvers face. She bit her lip to stifle her scream and crept back into the shadows hoping that she could no longer be seen. Tentatively Silver raised her hand to her up her face, she almost screamed again as her finger tips found what was left of her ear. A crossbow bolt had taken almost half of it away. Blood was flowing down her face and onto her hands. She cursed herself for a fool in-between the throbs of pain. When she opened her eyes Silver found herself in the shadow of the stables. Her father was knelt beside her.

            "You always were a lucky sod"

            "That’s what you think" Silver chided her father yet she knew the truth in his words. That bolt could have just as easily killed her. She heard a grunt from the stables and jumped to her feet and almost laughed when she heard hoof steps. Ever obedient was Swordrunner, Bardhol’s war horse.

            Silver was pulled into the saddle behind her father. Every step sent a jolt of pain from her ear down her neck. Only keeping her jaw clamped tightly stopped any sound escaping. Without a word of warning Bardhol put his war horse into a gallop, Silver had to bite her tonge.

            As they reached the gate Swordrunner reared nearly throwing Silver from the saddle. Three figures stood blocking the path. There was a faint tingle in the air. The magik they were using spooked Swordrunner and he was not going to take another step closer. Bardhol dismounted and patted his horse on a large muscular shoulder.

            "Steady old friend" He turned to his daughter eyes blazing "Silver go!"

            "No" Her voice almost chocked "Not without you and not without a fight" Before she had finished her words a dagger had left her belt then her hand and found its way into the throat of the figure nearest to her. Ignoring his strangled cries Silver pulled another dagger from her belt and chose her target. Her father only just his blade up in time to block a killing blow.

            Bardhol could not believe the speed or the skill with which these men fought. It was a fine balance, it had been years since Bardhol had met anyone with even half his skill with a blade and now he was being pushed to his very limits. He ignored any contact made, there was nothing, no sound, no light, no dark he was just an extension of his sword.

            Silver knelt to retrieve her other dagger, keeping her eyes locked with the figure in front of her. A small buckler was strapped to the front of his arm so he could block but keep his second hand free for a second weapon. He drew two short swords.

Slowly they circled one another looking for any sign of weakness. Silver jumped forward to strike but was met with a solid defence and she gained a deep gash along her arm for her trouble.

            With all she speed she could find Silver swept across with the dagger in her right hand but in mid-swing drew it back and came across with her left. The strike found its mark, the blade dug deep into his gut. Silver dragged the dagger across before pulling it free.

            Bardhol raised his sword and went on an all-out offensive; stroke after stroke landed with lightning speed gradually beating down any defence, with a final strike the sword whipped its way across his assailant’s chest.

            Falling to his knees Bardhol looked into the face of his dying opponent and whispered.

                     "It’s a shame your soul fell into darkness, you made a fine swordsman"

            Silver rushed to her father’s side as he fell to the floor. From the first touch her hands were covered in blood and when Silver looked into her father’s eyes she could see they already held a death glaze.

            A groan escaped him.

            "Silver…please go" Silver felt his hand squeeze her own. She could see the effort it was costing him. "Be…strong"

            Silver screamed as she saw her father’s chest rise and fall for the last time. With his head held in her lap she cried out. She wanted anyone or anything to stop the pain. The moon passed behind a cloud as if it could not stand the sights and sounds of what had come to pass. When her sobs began to subside Silver took her father’s sword and strapped it to her hip. Silver somehow managed to lift her father’s body across Swordrunner’s saddle. The horse tossed his head and whickered. Silver whispered a few gentle words in to his ear before leading him into the night.

            Out on the road footsteps echoed. Swordrunner’s ears flicked forward at the sound. Silver held a dagger with a white knuckled grip.. The footsteps where becoming louder.

            "Show yourself"

            The footsteps faded quickly in the opposite direction. Silver turned off the road and led the war horse towards a thicket of trees.

            Exhausted and weak Silver collapsed against a tree. She could now feel every wound on her body, with her right arm held tightly against her chest Silver let out long keening sobs which were only answered by the wolves in the forests that surrounded Firth.

            A single star shone through a break in the clouds. It took all of Silvers will power to tear her gaze away. It was so easy just to sit and stare and not to think but deep down Silver knew that would do little good and it certainly would not avenge her father. Pulling a dagger from her belt Silver marked out and area for a grave and began to clear the earth. She ignored all the stones and roots that tried to cut into her hands.

            Silver gritted her teeth and continued, when she finally looked up the first streaks of dawn were showing in the sky. Gently Silver placed her father into his final resting place. Tears made streaks down her dirty face.

            "I’m so sorry father…I couldn’t leave you" A sob racked through her "I couldn’t…save you…I love you"

Leaning forward she kissed his cheek then set about replacing the earth. With a heavy heart Silver found some small stones with which she could mark his grave. Once the stones were set into the shape of a pair of wings Silver mounted Swordrunner and nudged him into a gallop. Silver didn’t look back

Local paper and me

As you may or may not know I've a battle with M.E and this sometimes makes life difficult but I always try to stay postive and upbeat and writing is a big part of that. I also like to reach out to fellow sufferers with this conditon and let them know as horrid and as restrictive as this condition is you can still chase your dreams. Along these lines there is an article in my local paper  http://www.thecomet.net/what-s-on/hitchin_me_sufferer_writes_debut_novel_1_1459669
heres the link if you are interested in reading. It's one of more step forward not only in my writing but also raising awareness of this conditon.

Reading, writing and staying sane

Ive been struggling for a few days for what to put on this blog and just now a couple of thoughts struck me. First is how much I adore re-reading books at the moment I am working my way through the wheel of time series for about the 7th time. Sounds slightly sad I know but I find so much more each time I re-read not only this series but any book. The characters seem to be more alive and at the risk of sounding cliche the characters become more like friends as you re-vist.
Sat out on my balcony today, the feeling struck me as it does many times when I am reading it's one of lifes greatest joys and escapes. For me that;s something that is really important, because lets face it we all have problems and demons we want to leave behind even just for a couple of hours.
This brings me onto my next thought and other love of my life, writing, not only do I escape I can create a world that is truly my own and where it is possible to defy everthing. Like many writers I have a story to tell and a lot of it is my own life experience. I find it helps me cope with past events in my life and gives me a way of speaking out without directly saying anything. Im sure I'm not the only one out there who does this, do any of you wonderful readers and writers out there find that writing keeps them sane in an insane world????

A little bit about my cook book project:
Along with ME I suffer with a conditon called endometriosis and part of the disease treatment is a diet that is free from meat, wheat, gluten and dairy. Which at first I thought 'what am I going to eat' so over time I have experimented and put together a collection of over forty recipes that are free from all the above but also easy to make and tasty

A welcome and hello

Hi there, My name is Lauren Auty and this is my first blog. I have recently put my first book into print through Amazon create space. It's been a bit of a roller coaster writing it as I suffer from M.E but decided that I wasnt going to let my condition stop me chasing my dreams. The book is called Blades Of Shadow. I was inspired to write by several authors but the most significant author in my life would be the late Robert Jordan author of The Wheel Of Time series which is being finished by Brandon Sanderson and he's doing an amazing job. I would also like to take the time on my blog to introduce and review fellow indie (independant authors). There is a lot of talent out there but sadly its not always easy to give it a voice so in my own small way I want to do my bit them as well.