Blogging My Way Along
by Faye T. Knight
(US)
Daughters of Qora
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Hello everyone! I am in the process of writing the fantasy/adventure novel, “Daughters of Qora”. I developed the storyline over a year ago and watched it blossom into something I’ve decided to release into the world like a wild butterfly. However, knowing when, how and where to bring a book into the world is a journey all its own.
The process of simultaneously blogging and writing has worked like magic to keep me motivated to self-publish a novel.There are some days when I’m stuck with writer’s block and other days when I feel like I know my characters so well, I stay at my desk until the wee hours of the night. My characters still surprise me from time to time. As I write, I find them evolving and maturing, which is why I chose the Young Adult genre for my novel.
Teens and “young adults” (which I hope includes 20-somethings!) live in a strange universe of self-discovery. Be it fantasy or reality, I feel that young adults often have it worse. We have to juggle the strain of becoming independent while managing relationships with peers and family members. My main character, Kalkuro Azura, is still learning who she is inside and out. She was sheltered most of her life and suddenly, she is swept away on an amazing adventure where she is faced with many difficult decisions.
A few of the major characters are actually modeled after people I know. I’ve taken bits and pieces of friends and ex-friends and stirred them to life inside my novel. In my blog, I try to capture the basic essence of them in posts with pictures of famous actors who sort-of resemble them. In the blog-o-sphere, I’ve noticed other writers doing this too in order to give readers a sense of who these imaginary people are. I think blogging also helps give depth to the story. I’ve added story background, inspirational photographs, links to other websites and helpful hints on how to do what we all want to do...self-publish.
I WISH there was a manual for physically designing a self-published book. After endless research, I have found several software programs that have nifty templates, but where is book or site that says: “Step #1, In MS Word, insert a Section Break after the Table of Contents”? It doesn’t exist! There is no such manual because each self-publisher’s book is a unique creation. Still, there is no sense in reinventing the wheel!
In my blog, I have religiously posted nearly every single thing I have discovered about self-publishing a book from S-C-R-A-T-C-H. Like many of you out there, I have no clue what I’m doing, but I’m willing to roll up my sleeves, do the research and find out how to make it happen! The journey is long and I’m not there yet, but Kalkuro’s journey is something I hope will inspire other writers. Thank you Steve B. for developing this website! He is so right, never, ever learn alone!
~*~ Faye ~*~
Visit Faye's blog, Daughters of Qora. Tell her you want to be informed when the book comes out!
