Hi, book friends! Have you heard of the book Machine of Death? It’s a collection of science fiction stories (edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki), and all of the stories revolve around the same premise: there is a machine where you put in your blood sample, and it will spit out a …
Category: Novels
Short Story: Bonfires and Blizzard Bucks
Hey, book friends! I hope you guys had an amazing weekend 🙂 The week ahead is full of Christmas hustle and bustle for me, and I’ve loved seeing all of your beautiful holiday-themed posts on Instagram. I wanted to give you guys a little story gift, too. I had such a great time putting together …
Protective Crystals and Protection Stones
For The Raven Mocker, I knew I wanted to bring some protection stones and protective crystals into play. After all, when a mythological creature is after you and your friends, you’re going to want all the protection you can get! “I’m going to give you something,” Lily Mae said. The contents of the first box …
Sci-Fi Writing Prompts: 8 Sci-Fi Story Ideas
Can you believe October is halfway through? That means National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is right around the corner! If you’re looking for awesome story ideas with a sci-fi twist, check out these sci-fi writing prompts below. (And if you’re looking for writing prompts in a different genre, be sure to check out my posts …
Book Cover Magic: Behind the Scenes
Time for book cover magic! If you missed the last video, I gave a tour of my desk and talked about how I write novels (even while I’m working a full time job. Whew!). Today’s video–making the book cover as awesome as the shapeshifter story inside! If you like watching me draw this book cover, …
My Desk Tour and Best Writing Tip
Hi, book friends–welcome to my room! I made a short video to show you guys my writing space and tell you a little bit about how I put together my latest YA fantasy story, Murmur. Hope you enjoy!
Book Inspiration: Ancient Aztec Words
With so many magical stories in North America alone, I knew my books had to have some Mexican myths thrown into the mix! While I was weaving the latest danger into Devil’s Den, I stumbled into some really cool Youtube videos where people are speaking Nahuatl (historically known as the Aztec language). In fact, over …
Book Ideas: How Do You Name Characters?
Finn was really cute and I love the name, too! —@lifeofpages_ Yes! I was so happy to see this comment in a reader’s review of Murmur. Good names are so important, don’t you agree? (Also, geez—I can only imagine what it’s like to name a real-life baby. So much brainstorming.) Here’s the low-down on how I …
Book Inspiration: Where Do Your Ideas Come From?
Where did you get the inspiration for the Murmur books? A reader sent in the question above, and I think it’s an especially awesome question for fantasy fiction books. Where do all of these pieces come from? For me, I think the ideas for the Wildheart books draw from a couple of wells of inspiration: …
Crow Boys Drabble
Hello, bookish friends! Here’s a rough draft excerpt from a Finn/Will story I’m working on..hope you enjoy! ****** Forbidden to shift at home, Finn turns to biker’s son Will Branson for help. Will takes Finn to Jack Corbin’s house. Making friends is hard. ****** It took two seconds for Finn to ruin everything. He hadn’t …