Tag: prequel

Last day of free short story

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Becoming stardust is on its last day as being a freebee. The short story prequel is under 10k words and you can read it in an afternoon. In fact, it’s currently listed as number 69 (hehehe) on the Best 45-minute Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Reads. After today the story will be 99 cents and be on exclusively on Kindle until June 9 before appearing on Smashwords.

Here is the synopsis if you’re interested.

Before Ilona took on the identity of a dead girl, she was a hunted girl. Her mother and she had known nothing but running until the bounty hunters finally caught them. Wounded and orphaned, Ilona sneaks her way onto a smuggling ship. Subsequently becoming part of the crew. This appears to be the break that finally gives her a safe upbringing. However, it is just the beginning.

Reminder Becoming Startdust is free

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Becoming Stardust is free for another two days. You can get it on Amazon here. It’ll then be on Kindle Select until June 9 before then appearing on Smashwords.

So download it and please leave a review. It can be just a star rating or you can leave a few words 🙂

This is the prequel story to ‘Stardust’, a YA sci-fi family drama that will follow. I intend to have this novel ready for publication in late 2022.

Becoming Stardust is free for 5 days

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If you’re on Kindle unlimited, Becoming Stardust is free on from the 13th to the 17th 🙂 So download it and give me a review 🙂

It is just under 10,000 words so it’s a quick read introducing some of the characters that’ll be appearing in Stardust. Here is the synopsis.

Before Ilona took on the identity of a dead girl, she was a hunted girl. Her mother and she had known nothing but running until the bounty hunters finally caught them. Wounded and orphaned, Ilona sneaks her way onto a smuggling ship. Subsequently becoming part of the crew. This appears to be the break that finally gives her a safe upbringing. However, it is just the beginning.

Works in progress

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Currently, I’m looking at shorter works that I can polish up while I’m in a bit of a writing slump. There is this one group of short prequel stories that belong to a story I haven’t written yet. That’s three years old now and I’m starting to panic. The days are passing by, and I’m not as successful as I want to be. I am also moving to the Netherlands in about two months and the stress is getting to me.

The most current things I’m rotating between are;

  • A social sci-fi YA that I think will be quite long. It’s 60ish thousand words and maybe a third? done. Not too sure where I’m heading with the end. Maybe I might have to break it into two books? Atm, I’ve run out of steam so it’s going on the back burner until I get some more ideas for it.
  • A dystopian novel that is not even halfway through the first draft but I have a guestimate of where the ending is. I’ve changed the POV from first to third so it needs a rewrite.
  • A sci-fi YA that’s over 120 thousand and I need to complete the 3rd draft. I’ve lost a character somewhere and need to resolve that one.
  • The prequel stories I’m editing at the moment does not have a novel attached to them and I need to write a story plan for that, plus write a first draft of the novel.

I don’t think I’ll have any stories ready for publication for at least 12 months. That worries me because I wanted to have more done by now. I’m almost 30 and with not much to show for it. I know when I move I will have some time off and hopefully, I’ll use it to my full advantage.

 

Jumpstart draft no. 11

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iStock-669387114_1I opened this word doc and to my surprise saw that I was already mostly done with this draft. I guess I gave up some time ago lol. Anyhow, I’ve had this story in the works since mid ’17 and god damn have dragged my feet on this. But I’m worried about when I have it done and there is no sequel ready. I have only written the first chapter and dot points for the next series of events.

I did more editing than I thought I would for something that is supposed to be in its eleventh draft. I think I deleted as much as I added. I know I have more to do with it as Chris has given me some pretty decent comments to go on.

I hope that when this is ready to be released I will have progressed with the next story. Also, I have no idea how that story is going to end and where the third book begins eeeek!

 

Jumpstart edit 8 done

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iStock-669387114_1Finally got the eight edit done. It was like torture. I could only do a few pages a day. It seems that my energy for this story is coming to a close. I think maybe one or two more edits (praying to the writing gods here).

I could see that I had repeated some information and cut a lot more words out than I put in. It was all line edits, nothing structural anymore. I think that was done with that a few edits ago.

I reduced the word count to under 22,000. I have a few bits and pieces that need to be fixed, but I’m just glad I got through this round. 🙂

Fourth draft of Jumpstart completed

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iStock-669387114_1Yesterday I finished another edit of Jumpstart. It’s a prequel novelette for this sci-fi and paranormal adventure story I thought of some time earlier this year. I haven’t even worked out where the book will end or what the next one in the series will be about, but I’ll work it out later.

The series was going to be called Odine King’s Big Space Adventure, but I changed that a few days ago to the Tune Trilogy.

The premise revolves around a young woman who has the ability to communicate with spirits, hence the tune references (get it? Tune into the spiritual world). She is also fluent in a second alien language, Dalradian, that she uses as a means to escape her homeworld and go off into space for an adventure and employment prospects. She is employed as a private translator for a business ship that has the goal of setting up independent trade relations with the Dalradian race.

But her psychic abilities are growing and they alter her interactions will everyone. She has to decide what course of action she is going to take. Use it for her own gain and the gain of her employer or keep quiet and ignore it. But in the end, it might not matter.

New story idea brewing

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Currently, I’ve got this new space adventure idea churning in my head. The main novel, which I’m planning on calling Fine Tune, is still forming in my mind. But I’ve already written just under 12,000 words for a prequel. So far the two books will be under the banner name of ‘Odine King’s Space Adventures‘. The genres of the series are sci-fi, young adult, paranormal and space adventure.

The prequel is more thriller and mystery because of the main character, Odine King, is in the process of learning to utilize her psychic powers. Initially, she goes into a psychic research study with the hopes of finding her father’s killer. He’s been missing just under a year and things are not looking good. However as her powers begin to grow and she starts to control them, the story takes a darker turn as another ghost makes contact with her. This begins her journey of amateur detective in the cold case of a missing, presumed dead young woman.

I’m not sure how many more words it will be, but I think I’m about 1/2 to 2/3 complete for a draft 🙂