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Tag Archives: New Writer Tips

info and ideas to help authors succeed in marketing, writing, and other publishing industry areas

No longer in available in eBook

eBook available exclusively on Ream

Print version

All available locations: https://books2read.com/guide-tec

 

Genre: Non-fiction, writer's guidebook

For #PietasFans & #LucRah lovers

The Companion is a World Building Bible and Guide to Writing a Science Fiction Series.

Before writing the first book in the Tarthian Empire, I wrote ten thousand years of future history.

This book features that history, and spans Earth and its colonization of the galaxy, focusing on the big picture.

The Tarthian Empire Companion also provides advice and suggestions for creating a Science Fiction series and building worlds.

The companion provides organizational tips, links to marketing sites, groups supporting writers, science fiction groups, and more.

Illustrated in full color with original art created by Jamin Allen and Kayelle Allen.

What is a Story Bible?

A "story bible" is the book an author uses to keep all the details straight when writing a story or book. Different from a synopsis or outline, a story bible is a collection of details that bring a story to life. Is your hero left handed? What year did your king assume the throne? What is the name of your heroine's pet? What type of money does your character have in his pocket? All these details and more are kept in a story bible. This book includes my story bible -- and shows you how to create your own.

Qualified to Write a How-To

I have studied the craft and read classic Scifi since I was a child. In 2008 I won an honorary mention for the EPIC eBook Award for Fantasy, and in 2010 won the EPIC eBook Award for Science Fiction Romance. My books have won reviewer's awards and received multiple four- and five-star reviews. I have published numerous Science Fiction books, Science Fiction Romances, and have written within the genre since 2003.

Writing a History

Writers must understand the culture of the people about whom they write. What events drove their wars? Who won them? What made the peace so short, and the fighting so dire? The Tarthian Empire Companion suggests other questions to consider when writing a history for your world.

Where to buy the Tarthian Empire Companion

Universal book link - buy from your favorite store: https://books2read.com/guide-tec

Characters mentioned on this page might be found in multiple books in my story universe. Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.


~ Copyright ©2024 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!


To experience art, sci-fi, romance, and space opera with unstoppable, unshakeable, unforgettable characters so real you'll swear you've met them, join me on Ream Stories!

The Creative Team

Nik Nitsvetov: Performer for Pietas cosplays

Pietas Cosplay

Nik Nitsvetov is an award-winning cosplayer and photographer who portrays the immortal king, Pietas, from Bringer of Chaos. His role on the Creative Team is invaluable.

Read More >>>

Belyaeva Yuliya - AKA By_Cosphoto

Photographer

Professional photographer Belyaeva Yuliya is a critical member of the Creative Team. She photographs Nik Nitsvetov as Pietas in videos and snippets, and brings my immortal king to amazing life through her creativity.
Read More >>>

Zack Black: Voiceover artist for Pietas audio and video

Voiceover

Professional voiceover artist Zack Black is the member of the Creative Team performing the voice of Pietas in the Ritual of Strength and Who Are the Ultras videos. Zack sounds the way Pietas does in my head.

Read More >>>

Zachary Johnson - Narrator

Voiceover

Professional voiceover artist Zachary Johnson creates the voice of Pietas in videos and snippets. Zachary also performs on his YouTube channel as Pietas. This member of the Creative Team adds a punch of fun to the lineup.

Read More >>>

Volgraza: Illustrator for the Tarthian Empire Companion and Tarthian Tour Company

Artist

Volgraza (aka Jamin Allen) illustrated the Tarthian Empire Companion and the Tarthian Tour Company. He's also my Photoshop help line. :)

Read More >>>

Cover Artist: GermanCreative

Cover Artist

GermanCreative is a cover artist and graphic designer. She has created many covers for the various series of books set in the Tarthian Empire, including the cover for A Stolen Heart.
Read More >>>

DRATAR - Sculptors & Artisans

Artisans

DRATAR creates custom decor and gifts, and have partnered with me to create a custom dragon box featured in the book Ring of the Dragon.
Read More >>>

Website Design: Dee Carver

Website Design

Dee Carver of Personalized Marketing Inc. created the Kayelle Homeworld theme and is the website guru. She holds a Masters in Business Administration.
Read More >>>

Blue Crystal Works Photography and Videography

Blue Crystal is an artist who specializes in graphic design and art that moves. His images take on a spirit of their own.

You will find his work on YouTube and Instagram, where he brings static images to dynamic life.

Read More >>>

Nano-Core: Concept designer and artist

Concept Design

Nano-Core creates fantasy and sci fi weapon designs, environments, mechs and other objects. His part on the creative team is concept design.

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Coffee Time Romance

Coffee Time Romance

Coffee Time Romance is a premier spot for authors and readers to gather around a mutual love of hot beverage!
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The Romance Studio - Romance Today

The Romance Studio

The Romance Studio, Romance Today for authors and readers. Reviews and features for those who love books.
Read More >>>

Bookish Indulgences with bOOk r3vi3ws

Bookish Indulgences with bOOk r3vi3ws

Bookish Indulgences with bOOk r3vi3ws where authors and readers share beloved books. Highly recommended!
Read More >>>

Rene from Rene's Getaway

Assistant

My former assistant, Rene, runs Rene's Getaway, the best spot to show off your works, join a tour, or gain assistance marketing at an affordable rate. I highly recommend her.
Read More >>>


Characters mentioned on this page might be found in multiple books in my story universe. Download a printable book list and check them off as you read.


~ Copyright ©2024 Kayelle Allen. All rights reserved ~ Kayelle Allen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates program, an affiliate advertising program which provides the means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com. If you purchase an item listed on the site from Amazon.com, Kayelle will earn a small commission. Other sites might be affiliate links as well. These will not result in higher prices for you. Thank you for your support!


To experience art, sci-fi, romance, and space opera with unstoppable, unshakeable, unforgettable characters so real you'll swear you've met them, join me on Ream Stories!

Rene's Getaway is the best spot for you to show off your works, join a tour or get some assistance with your marketing at an affordable rate. The Getaway is a one-stop shop from creating eye catching graphics, performing hashtag research, organizing newsletter swaps and creation to social media management and encouraging follower growth. Arranging book tours and finding BookFunnel followers is a specialty.

https://renesgetaway.wordpress.com/blog/

 

 

 

Website Design: Dee Carver

 

Dee Carver of Personalized Marketing Inc. created the Kayelle Homeworld WordPress theme and is the website guru.

Personalized Marketing, Inc.

Facebook

Twitter

Google Business

Pinterest

Dee began working online in 2004 by launching her journey as an author which is where her love of designing websites was born. Later as a reviewer and then freelance publicist, she saw the value of quality service. In 2008, she opened Personalized Marketing Inc in 2008, combining each of these roles.

She holds a Masters in Business Management with a Concentration in Marketing, a Bachelor in IT with an Advanced Software Development Certificate and is a published author.

Tell Dee that Kayelle sent you and you will receive a nice discount on services.

 

 

Halloween 2006: birth of a monster that rocked the writing world #MFRWauthor #MFRWhooksTo be honest, I didn’t know I was birthing a monster. I thought it was only a small, innocent creature that would help writers. I had no idea it would end up changing lives, including my own.

The monster was MFRW. Marketing for Romance Writers — a peer-mentoring group open to the entire literary community has opened doors for writers, trained writers in how to handle promotion, introduced friends who would never have met any other way, and paved the way for writers to network all around the world.

I founded the group on Halloween because that year, there were no kids on my block at all and no one was ringing the doorbell. I was bored and going through my email (again) late at night.

When I saw the same marketing question from three different friends, I thought — what if I made a Yahoo group where all of us could ask a question and then whoever knew the answer could post a response? Would anyone be interested in that? I quickly set up the group, named it Marketing for Romance Writers and emailed a dozen friends.

By the end of the year, there were 100 members. Membership climbed as friends recommended the group to friends. We opened the doors to anyone in the literary community, including publishers, personal assistants, and promo companies.

The biggest thing we required was no promo. None. At. All.

Members love that. It’s the thing I’m most often thanked for when members email me. No promo to wade through. Just business-oriented questions, advice, and opportunities. If one person wants to promote a book — they ask for blog spots with other authors, and offer their own in return. If someone wants to hold a blog hop, they can announce it on the group.

MFRW Growth

Today MFRW boasts over 2400 members, and over 7000 members make up our Facebook group. We have a multiple-award-winning magazine. We have over 400 followers on Goodreads and feature our members books in the MFRW Book Place group. On Pinterest, over 1500 people follow us, we have 55 genre related boards, and almost 1000 pins. Want your book cover pinned on our site? Even if you don’t have a Pinterest account, you can take advantage of our presence there. Join our Yahoo group today and you’ll get information. Services and membership are free.

Come share your tweets on MFRW’s monthly Retweet Day. The hashtags #MFRWorg #MFRWauthor and #MFRWhooks help you promote everywhere.

If you have questions about marketing your books, join us. The MFRW motto is “seek, teach, share, learn, succeed.” Services and membership are free.

MFRW Volunteer Staff

Alice Orr, Barbara Donlon Bradley, Carmen Stefanescu, Emerald, Jessica Cale, Kayelle Allen, Libby McKinmer, Lisa Lowe, Lyncee Shillard, Michelle Davis, Mona Karel, Nicole Morgan, Paloma Beck, Reet Singh, Rochelle Weber, Tina Gayle

MFRW Online

Yahoo group (where you can get help) https://groups.io/g/marketingforromancewriters
Twitter https://twitter.com/MFRW_ORG
Kayelle Allen on Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/mfrwauthors/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/161092-the-mfrw-book-place
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/mfrworg/


JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It’s a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.

Elemental Storytelling uses Tropes

Elemental Storytelling uses Tropes

Tropes are literary themes that recur across a genre. Think of tropes as the ‘brilliant detective’ of murder mysteries or ‘the virginal heroine’ in Regency romances. Tropes are more than character descriptions, however. They can relate to plot as well.

Films are often identified by their tropes: chick flick, shoot ’em up, RomCon, or the well known Whodunnit.

Tropes are similar to archetypes and clichés, although not necessarily negative in aspect. Tropes can abbreviate writing — and reading.

In the 1990 Arnold Schwarzennegar film Total Recall, the futuristic world had so many futuristic elements that it was hard to recognize roles. In one scene, a woman sitting at a desk casually changes the color of her nails by applying it with a special wand, while she answers a phone. Instantly, her secretarial role became recognizable. The shorthand of her actions told us what we needed to know, without spending time doing it. If a character walks in the room and he’s wearing a white coat and has a stethoscope hanging around his neck, we expect him to be a doctor. The props themselves are part of the tropes for these kinds of characters. It can become a cliche, yes. Even become part of a character archetype. Evil laugh for the villain? Check. But tropes are not necessarily a bad thing. There are thousands of tropes.

Tropes in Trailing Kaiwulf

Tropes as Elements in Fantasy and #Scifi @kayelleallen #IAN1To see where these colored boxes come from and to understand their concept, click HERE to open the Periodic Table of Storytelling in a new window.

Ind – Adventurer Archaelogist (Dr. Viva Post)

An older woman, Dr. Viva Post was confined to a hoverchair after a cave in at a ruins injured her spine. She uses a silver “strength suit” to walk or climb limited distances.

Ag – Action Girl (Jee Tonopah)

Jee is the personification of an Action Girl. She can go toe-to-toe with her male counterparts without breaking a sweat. The day she has to be rescued will never dawn. Although she is tiny in comparison to her beefy partner, she is the undisputed brawn to his brain.

Gb – Genius Bruiser (Dane Raphyel)

The Genius Bruiser is a big guy who is also a geek. Dane is far from being Dumb Muscle. He understands the significance of the MacGuffin being sought, as well as some of the history of the Gates Technology (Applied Phlebotinum).

Cal – The Call (TRAIL mission)

Trailing Kaiwulf

Trailing Kaiwulf

The first step in a hero’s journey is the point where our heroes learn they must abandon their well-earned vacations, saved for over a period of years, and go on a dire quest to retrieve a MacGuffin. A Living MacGuffin in this case.

Ob – Obstructive Bureaucrat (Jeff Thompson / Lt. Cmdr. Morrison / unnamed executive)

There are multiple Obstructive Bureacrats for the price of one in this story. Their machinations generally meet dire ends, as befits the annoying natures of the characters.

Phl – Applied Phlebotinum (Gates Technology)

As the tropes site explains, this is science, magic, and strange things unknown to science or magic. In Trailing Kaiwulf, there are various advanced technologies that are unexplained because they seem commonplace to the characters using them (intersteller flight, strength suits, communication devices, etc.). However, the defining “phlebotinum” of this book is the Gates technology. The ruins of twin steel arches over 200 feet high have been found on several previously thought uninhabited worlds. Scientists have puzzled over their intended use. On the planet Ust, they find a dying race that still uses the technology — or would have, if the key to turning on the Gates hadn’t been stolen. Finding and retrieving the person who stole the key is the crux of the story.

Mcg – MacGuffin (Kaiwulf)

Kaiwulf is a “Living MacGuffin” whose presence in the story serves to drive the plot. He’s an invisible man who can enter another dimension, and the heroes of the story must find and return him to this dimension.

Here’s a link to the original post on Melissa’s site for last year’s event.

Learn More About Tropes

A popular site for fans is TV Tropes. It started out as a small wiki for TV watchers, and has grown into millions of fans in every media. During the month of July, Author Melissa Snark is featuring a number of authors on her Snarkology site who will discuss tropes in their stories. The series is based on the Periodic Table of Storytelling, which is linked to the TV Tropes site. For this event, Melissa’s site and the TV Tropes site will be linked. Be sure to visit both. You won’t want to miss.

Each author in the Tropes event will have the opportunity to show off the varied tropes within one tale. Here is a list of appearances. I’m up first, on July 7th with The Last Vhalgenn.

July 7             Kayelle Allen
July 8             Jax Daniels
July 9             Nicole Zoltack
July 10           Houston Havens
July 11           Melissa Snark
July 13           Caroline Warfield
July 14           Jude Knight
July 15           Emily Walker
July 16           Mari Christie
July 17           Jami Brumfield

Click to tweet this: Tropes as Elements in Fantasy and #Scifi @MelissaSnark http://ctt.ec/wb18d+ #IAN1 

Please visit Melissa’s site and follow her on Twitter to hear more about the event. If you sign up for my newsletter you’ll be the first to hear when the post comes out. Signing up is easy. Just click the link shown above, or enter your email in the link on the left. Why not also follow the blog by choosing one of the options listed? Or sign up for one email when a new book is released by clicking here: Author Alarms Thank you for your support!