How Lockdowns Influenced Celestial Plague

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about how the lockdowns influenced my YA Post-Apocalyptic series, Celestial Plague. The series starts because a virus starts spreading around the world, infecting people and encouraging them to infect others so they can pass onto Nirvana or Heaven. While I started writing the series before the pandemic, I have gone back and edited some parts to be more realistic to the lockdowns that happened around the world.

Isolation.

The SARJ virus happens very early in the books so we only see the characters at school once. Shannon watches a short news reel on the virus which states that it's spreading, but no procedures have been put in place yet. The characters all still go to school as normal before the virus hits their small town. They hide in Shannon's house, only letting in one person who infects Shannon before leaving. The rest of the girls then keep Shannon in her bedroom until they can determine that she won't infect them. They mainly stay in Shannon's house for the first book until they are forced to leave. The SARJ virus is not a respiratory one, instead it is spread through bites. The virus also shows it's symptoms almost immediately, which means that the infected can be isolated if others are quick enough.

Groceries.

When the girls sneak out to get food, they notice that toilet paper and perishable food has all been taken first. Originally I wrote that canned food would be the first to run out of stock but when lockdown happened that wasn't the case. It was mostly bread, milk, toilet paper and hand sanitiser that ran out first. So I incorporated that into the books.

Misinformation.

The main source of misinformation in Celestial Plague comes from Warren, the leader of a cult. At first he tells people that the virus only takes the sinners and kicks out the infected. But he then has a change of heart down the line and starts accepting the infected as well. He preaches ways people can keep themselves safe from the virus and that it's a punishment from God. He is also able to control some of the 'demons' that appear when people start going to Nirvana and Heaven.

Travel.

Due to most people getting infected and passing on to Nirvana or Heaven, the girls don't come across many people in vehicles. When they do it's usually from people who have looted them from those who have gone. When lockdowns first happened there were very few people on the roads, so I tried to incorporate that into Celestial Plague.

Fear.

The SARJ virus can only be passed on through a bite from a human. So this makes the survivors fear the infected more so than usual. One of the main characters, Jenna, is especially hostile towards the infected and hates them with a passion. There are many groups that will only allow those who are uninfected to stay with them. When the lockdowns happened, people were scared for their lives and tried to stay away from others as much as possible. This is also true in Celestial Plague.

That's it for this week, see you next week!

PS; check out this bundle for some free books!

August Fantasy Giveaway

Underwater Stories

Hi all,

Before I start writing Original Elementals #4: Devouring next month I want to get some short stories written. I've found some anthologies with themes that I find really interesting and they all involve underwater beings. I thought I'd write a post explaining what creatures I'm planning on writing about in these stories.

Nessie.

One of the anthologies has a strange theme of Loch Ness Monster vs Ghosts of Atlantis. I think this theme is unique and a good one to stretch my imagination. As the title of the anthology suggests, Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, will be involved. But I'm also going to include Morag, the monster of Loch Morar. I think these two go well together as they inhabit separate Lochs and I think it will be interesting to tie them in together. As for the ghosts of Atlantis, I've got a few ideas bouncing around in my head but nothing solid for now.

Mermaids.

A different anthology has the theme of mermaids. I'm thinking this story will be a horror one, featuring a mermaid preying on fishermen who have taken something from her. I don't know whether the thing that they have taken will be a mythological creature or a tiger shark, I haven't decided yet. But this mermaid won't be nice to people she comes across, she will use anything at her disposal to make them suffer.

Kelpies.

I like the idea of kelpies in their horse form. I would like to include them in a short story, but I'm not sure if this will tie in with Nessie or the mermaid. The kelpies will probably appear in a herd and I like to imagine them being aggressive. They will not hesitate to attack whatever is threatening them.

Leviathan.

A monster hiding in the deep that suddenly comes to the surface is one of my favourite tropes. The monster that I'm thinking about will erupt from the deep and will control the weather. Freak storms, maelstroms, tsunamis - all controlled by this monster.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

PS; check out these free ebooks:

August Fantasy Giveaway

My Writing Playlist Part Two

Hi all!

Two years ago I wrote a blog post about songs I listen to that have inspired my writing. As it’s been a while I thought I’d do a part two to that list. You can read the first part here.

Figure 8 - Ellie Goulding

Guns and Horses - Ellie Goulding

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

Stone Cold Classic 3000 - George Barnett

Est-Ce Que Tu M'aimes? - Maître Gims

Je Te Pardonne - Maître Gims ft Sia

Breaking My Bones - Friday Pilots Club

Heat Waves - Glass Animals

Young Gods - Halsey

Burn The Stars - Massive Vibes

Hiding In The Blue - TheFatRat & RIELL

Darkside - NEONI

Don’t Look Back - The Dear Hunter

G.O.M.D. - Sickick

Glass Animals is on the list again as I absolutely adore their music and it’s great for writing to. There’s also quite a few by the same artists here as well. Once I find a singer that resonates with my writing I tend to explore a lot of their songs!

Some of these are great for writing action scenes to, such as Breaking My Bones and Stone Cold Classic 3000. Whereas Je Te Pardonne and Don’t Look Back are better for sadder, more emotional scenes. I listen to these songs a lot, as well a lot of the ones from part one of this post. Maybe in two years I can expand on this list again! I’m always on the lookout for new music to keep me going while I’m doing short writing sprints or to inspire certain scenes.

Hiding In The Blue has actually inspired what I hope to be a book series about Norse mythology! (Once I’ve done a bit more planning…). I’ve also had a few ideas bounce around my head since the first time I listened to G.O.M.D. which will hopefully turn into at least one book.

That’s it for this week, I hope you check out some of the music I’ve talked about, the songs are great to listen to whether you’re writing or not. See you next week!

PS; check out these Sci-Fi and Fantasy books!

Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy

The Winged Character in Celestial Plague

Hi all,

Not that long ago I wrote a blog post on Raya, one of the main characters of Celestial Plague. Following on from her post, I thought I'd write about another of the main characters - Shannon Pennylove. Her power is passive as she can fly. Unlike a lot of winged people however, her wings are deformed thanks to her genes. Her father has bat wings while her mother has bird wings. While this would usually present itself as the child getting one of their parent's wings this didn't work out for Shannon. Instead she got a strange mix of both that aren't the best for flying or appearance. For years her parents were a laughing stock because of this and considered her birth to be a punishment that drove them towards Warren's cult. Her parents consider her a disappointment because of this and don't interact with her much.

Her wings are a mix of a bird’s and a bat's - she has the structure of bat wings and the membranes but they're covered in brown and grey ombre feathers. They're bulky and hard to fly with. Not that flying matters to her anyway, as she is terrified of it. Thanks to her parents lack of encouragement and several failed attempts at flying, she developed a fear of heights. This appears several times throughout the books and Shannon barely uses her wings because of this, even when it would help her friends.

Her dream is to become a police officer one day, though this dream is shot down due to her wings. Some of the only jobs she can do involve flying or piloting. Neither of which she wants to do. She feels lost and useless compared to her friends, especially Raya who is fine with fighting off threats whenever necessary. She, Raya and Ashleigh were all part of Warren's cult before Shannon was outed as a lesbian and kicked out. Surprisingly her parents picked her over Warren, which is something she never understands.

Jenna is her girlfriend in the beginning of the first book and the two of them could be considered close, though their relationship is one-sided. Ashleigh and Raya don't like Jenna too much, but put up with her for Jenna's sake. With all the events that happen in the series Shannon still holds a torch for Jenna and will always try to help her if she can. Even when her friends plead with her to let Jenna go.

In the future I'll do posts on Jenna and Ashleigh - the last two main characters of Celestial Plague.

I hope you enjoyed reading, see you next week.

The Team Taking Down The Rot

Hi all,

On the first of this month I started writing the fourth book in the Celestial Plague series, Hell. As well as the core main characters there are also new characters that are important to the story, so I thought I'd talk a bit about them here. They are the ones who decide to get rid of The Rot and their powers are quite interesting with how they fit into their plan.

Mirai.

Mirai is the oldest of the new characters at twenty years old. She is Japanese. Her power is passive as she can see visions of the future. She can't control these visions and she only sees things that are deemed 'important'. Her father also has visions of the future but his are near constant and he sees everything regardless of whether it's important or not. Her family plays a large role in this book as they are the ones who convince the others that they can eradicate The Rot.

Shari.

Shari is the youngest of the new characters at fourteen. She is half Hungarian on her mother’s side and grew up there before moving to the UK when the SARJ virus hit. Her power is creating a pocket dimension that she can send things to, but they can't come back. If you've read my previous blog posts about Celestial Plague then you might remember me mentioning a character called Shani who initially supposed to have a book of her own in the series before I revamped the idea and characters. Shari is almost identical to Shani apart from the name and the fact that she isn't raised by Jenna and Cindy. I really liked the idea of the character and was ecstatic when I came up with a way to slot her into the series again. Her power is the key to getting rid of The Rot, as the plan is to send it to her pocket dimension. Shari is also the only one of the new characters that is Bitten.

Romina.

Romina is seventeen and her power is shapeshifting. She is Spanish. She can shapeshift into a tiger at will and is skilled in combat. She is protective of Shari especially as she is the youngest of the group. She and Mirai are close but are stressed with their way of life and the SARJ virus and The Rot. She jumps at the chance to do something about it, and is the most willing member of the group. The only person she doesn't get along with is Amyra.

Amyra.

Amyra, like Jenna and Cindy, isn't a part of the initial group. She joins later after stumbling upon the group's cabin after they are attacked by a mutated Sarj. She is a British Muslim. Her power is that she can create forcefields that can keep almost everything out. Her power is the key to reaching the source of The Rot, as she can protect the others from its effects as they travel. She is sixteen and is extremely distrustful of the group at first, especially Mirai. They know each other but they're hesitant to tell anyone why.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.

Why Celestial Plague Now Has an Extra Book

Hi all,

If you follow me on social media you may be aware of the fact that I’m going to write a fourth book in the Celestial Plague series next month. The series is a YA Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy series following four teenage girls as they try to survive in a new world amidst a virus. The series was eventually only going to be three books, but I can’t shake the idea of a fourth out of my head.

The fourth book will haver a time skip.

Celestial Plague #4: Hell, will take place just over a year after the events of the previous three books. I won’t talk about this too much as it includes spoilers. But, all four characters are in this book as well and they will all have chapters dedicated to them.

There will be new characters.

As well as the characters from previous books there will be new ones as well. This book will mainly focus on Jenna, one of the main characters, and more of her adventures in her new world.

There are new villains.

Without giving too much away for the previous books, there will be new villains in this one. This book should also tie up a few loose ends from the previous books.

The virus is still around.

Although not as powerful as before, it’s still around and Jenna hates it. It’s a lot harder for people to get infected now, though it is still possible. The Bots and the Sarjs will also make appearances as the two are unable to live peacefully with one another.

The Rot will be explained.

Although this has little meaning to you now as the first book isn’t even out yet, just know that this book will explain The Rot. It has nothing to do with the virus and is merely a coincidence that it popped up the same time as the virus did. Jenna knows far more about its origins than she’s letting on, however, and this will come out in this book.

That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!

PS; check out the books in these bundles:

Free Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

When the Sun Sets…

Multiple Points of View in my Books

Hi all,

This week I'm going to talk about POV (point of view) in my books. Although most of my books are focused on one character with an occasional change of view, I have written a few books where there are multiple main characters who each have chapters dedicated to their point of view. These can be different scenes or areas that other main characters aren't involved in or different views of the same scene.

Celestial Plague.

In this series, there are four main characters. Shannon Pennylove, Jenna Carlton, Ashleigh Warren and Raya Oovo. Each of them have multiple chapters in every book. They are cycled through every so often so one character doesn't get two chapters in a row. They each have different personalities and opinions of the world they live in. For example; Jenna is more cynical and pessimistic while Ashleigh is a lot more meek and less likely to dive into conflict.

In the books, their chapters will be differentiated by a different chapter header for each character. A bird for Shannon, a fish for Jenna, a panther for Raya and a sun for Ashleigh. The chapter headers are supposed to represent their powers as well, which will make it easier for readers to identify. I did consider just having their names under each chapter but I wanted an illustration as well. My newsletter subscribers voted on this as well and decided that they also wanted illustrations.

Curse of Anubis.

There are two main characters in this series: Tahira Kahana and Bastet. As she is a goddess, Bastet is mostly in her cat form throughout the books and engages with the other gods in their animal forms as well. Although other gods appear throughout the books, Bastet is the only one who has chapters dedicated to her. I've written a lot of cat characters in the past so I wasn't too worried about writing a book with half of it in a feline POV!

Like Celestial Plague, this series will also have illustrated chapter headers. Bastet's, of course, will be a cat while Tahira will have a leopard. Again, I didn't just want the names under each chapter, I wanted something visual to distinguish a change of POV.

Why chapter headers?

There were a few things that I considered before choosing chapter headers as the way to distinguish POV. The others were:

Character name below each chapter - This was my first option but I decided I wanted something that looked better.

Different symbols in each chapter with a key explaining which character was which - I thought that this option might get confusing, especially in the ebook version. Most of the time Amazon will immediately jump to chapter one while skipping the contents. I didn't want people flicking back and forth and getting confused while reading.

Naming each chapter after the character - So, instead of chapters 1,2,3 it would go: Ashleigh 1, Shannon 1, Ashleigh 2 etc. I also thought that this would get confusing and would also be a pain to format.

In the end, I decided that illustrations would look best. I read a lot of Warriors books that have chapter illustrations and loved them. So, I thought they would be a good idea for my books.

Will I write more books with multiple POVs in the future? Possibly. I don't want to rule it out. For now the books that I'm planning on writing are all one POV, with the occasional chapter seen through the eyes of a different character. Because these books only have one POV I won't be doing illustrated chapter headers for them.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!

PS; last chance to get these books before the promo ends!

Science Fiction Giveaway

The Future of Street Rats

Hi all,

This week I’m going to talk about Street Rats! The book has been on hiatus since October 2021 and I thought I’d make a blog post explaining why.

If you aren’t aware, last August I asked my followers to vote on what standalone book they wanted me to write next. The winner was Street Rats. You can see a basic plot summary and genre here:

I started writing that book soon after. At first writing went well and I was really enjoying the story. I also enjoyed the fact that this book is set in a parallel world with different ideas of technology to ours. Instead of police they instead capture animals and experiment on them. These animals are often given robotic parts and have chips in their brains from which they receive orders. Of course, there’s a cat in in it who helps the main character, Hailey.

However, my mental health started to decline and I started losing passion for the project. I wanted to get it done in time for NaNoWriMo November 2021, where I was planning to start writing the first draft of Original Elementals #1: Frostbite. More and more days were passing by where I would get short bursts of writing done but then write nothing for days. The book was slowly coming together but I found I wasn’t happy with it at all.

November comes around and I’m just over 72K into the first draft. I decided to put it on hold to write Frostbite like I’d originally planned. I managed to finish the first draft of that book in early December.

However, Street Rats is still on hold.

I’m not happy with how the story turned out, but I still want to write the ending. I know it’s going to need some heavy editing which I’m not looking forward to. However, I still love the premise and I am willing to go back and finish it. My mental health has also improved a lot and I am more willing to finish the story than I was before. I think the fact that I was feeling low rubbed off on the story and I started getting frustrated with it.

Will Street Rats be finished?

The first draft - yes. After that I’m going to leave it for a while before attempting to go back to it to edit.

When will it be finished?

I’m not sure, whenever I feel ready. It could be after I’ve finished Camp NaNoWriMo this month, or it could be later on in the year.

Will it be published?

I want it to be. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to change the story enough to where I’m happy with it. I still want to see the story out there.

That’s it for this week! Next week keep an eye out for Years, which will be available on Amazon on Tuesday! See you next week.

PS; looking for some more Kindle Unlimited books to read? Check out the books in these bundles:

The Fantastic Kindle Universe

Taking to the Sky This Easter

Why I'm Writing a Standalone After Every Three Original Elementals Books

Hi all,

If you’re subscribed to my newsletter you might already know the answer to this. But to those who are not, I wanted to let you know what’s going on and why I’m not writing all ten books in the Original Elementals series at once.

First, I’m worried about burnout. Ten books is a lot and it takes a lot of planning just to make sure that all of the books gel together and that there are no inconsistencies between books. The biggest one I’m struggling with right now is what the dragons look like, I find that I keep changing it every few chapters!

I also don’t want to be stuck in the same universe for a long period of time. While I love the Elemental Dragons universe, I have so many other book ideas that I want to get done as well.

So, to try and combat all of the above, I will write three books in the Original Elementals series and then a standalone that I’ve had planned for a while. The only exception to this will be Celestial Plague #4: Hell. I had originally planned for this to be a trilogy, but a final book would tie up some loose ends with one of the characters and would also offer more insight into what happens after the events of Celestial Plague #3: Purgatory. I won’t go into too much detail due to spoilers but I think you’ll enjoy this book as it shows more abut how society rebuilds after the virus.

So, my plan is:

Write Frostbite, Maelstrom and Shadowhunter. Then Hell, from Celestial Plague.

Write Devouring, Tempest and Sunrise. Then The Core, which was the second highest voted from my poll in August about what standalone I should write.

Write Stormburst, Turf, Arcturus and ???. Then an unnamed YA Paranormal Horror.

This will enable to me to get all the books written with a break in between to work on something else. I won’t be writing all of these books in 2022, however, I’m hoping to get the first drafts done for all of the Original Elementals books in 2024.

That’s it for this week! I hope this clears up some confusion as to why I might be hopping from project to project. Next week I’m going to talk about the future of Street Rats, which has been on hiatus since October 2021. See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books to read? Check out the ones in these bundles:

The Fantastic Kindle Universe

Taking to the Sky This Easter

My Outlining Process

Hi all,

I posted a poll on Twitter to help me decide what I should blog about this week. Talking about my outlining process is the winner! Outlining a story means to take your ideas and organise them in some sort of order. For example; plot points, character profiles etc.

Premise.

I start by writing down the barebones of my story. What happens in the book? How will it end? This is usually no more than a few sentences as I go back in and fill in the rest of the details later. Here is very basic the premise of Elemental Dragons #1: Blood and Water:

Main character gets dragon egg at fifteen. Has water element. She gets water markings on her back that only dragons can get. Scientists bring extinct dragon back to life. Extinct dragon goes after the main character using the markings as a beacon.

It's only a few sentences long and let's me get down the basic details of the plot. Adding in other characters, side plots and more details comes later.

Main Character.

When I'm writing the premise I usually come up with a pretty good overview of my main character. I don't have the finer personality details decided yet, but the appearance and name are the first things I decide on. This is how I first described Hazel from Elemental Dragons in my notes:

Hazel Adams (15-18) - Dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, pale skin, acne, scar from nose to right eyebrow, 5"5 - anxiety. Water. Light blue swirl markings up back and neck.

I have her name, age and appearance done. I've also linked her to the premise by giving her the water element and the markings that will attract the dragon to her. I usually give my characters heights as well just so I can get a general idea of how tall they are compared to other characters. It can be an insignificant detail at first but I find it helps with my writing later. I give all of my characters surnames, even if they aren't mentioned in the book itself.

Main Plot.

Now that I have my main character and the premise, I move onto filling in the main plot details. No matter how much I outline I always end up deviating from what I've planned! So, I try to keep my outlines short and sweet as I know I'll change details later. For Elemental Dragons, the main plot is:

Hazel gets her dragon egg when she moves to Aria, a camp for Elementals. Her egg hatches into a black common dragon, which has never been tamed before. Hazel is looked down upon by others for being a commoner and is often ostracised from certain activities. Hazel starts getting dragon markings on her back and she starts meeting others who also have markings. She joins up with them to find out what's going on. She also has to deal with the Cindaraans, who are recruiting students into their group. The leader wants to know more about the dragon markings and orders Hazel and her friends to report to him. An extinct dragon species is brought back to life by scientists and escapes.

Setting.

Most of my books are set in the UK, so my main location is already decided. Next I decide on where the story will be set and the areas around. For example:

Aria - Elementals camp. Contains cabins, school, shops and hotel.

Arimouth - City near Aria. Mostly an urban area filled with workplaces, shops, housing and government buildings.

Mountains - Area from Draca's memories.

Again, basic descriptions just in case I change my mind!

Other Characters.

Now that I've outlined everything else, I can move onto the other characters in the book! I found the most fun ones to do were the dragons. I had a lot more fun with their designs and their personalities started coming through as I wrote them. Here is the outline profile for Aqueous, Hazel's dragon:

Aqueous Adams - Common Western black, turquoise eyes, markings to face and front feet. Hazel = Water.

Again, short and sweet as I like to develop their personalities while writing.

Write!

Now that I have my outline done, the only thing left to do is start writing! I haven't outlined many of the side plots as I find I change this while writing. So I try to stick to the main plot, though this often goes off course as well.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books to read? Check out the ones in this bundle:

The Fantastic Kindle Universe