A Peek at my Warrior Cats FanFiction

Hi all,

I'f you’ve read my blog posts for a while you might remember when I posted about the Warriors Short Story Competition. The book series, written by Erin Hunter, has been a favourite of mine for years now and I was so excited to enter. I didn’t win, but I did promise to eventually post my entry for you to read. I think you’ve waited long enough to see what my FanFiction is like!

Brightpaw swings around, expecting a short trek to Snakerocks. Instead, she finds that they've arrived already. 

"How did we get here?" 

Swiftpaw nudges her with a purr. "We walked, mousebrain!" 

"But I don't remember-" 

"Quiet!" Whitestorm raises his tail. "What can you two smell?" 

Swiftpaw eagerly inhales. "Dogs!" 

"Dogs?" Brightpaw echoes, her tail drooping. 

This doesn't happen like this.

"Yes, I'm sure of it!" Swiftpaw continues to meow excitedly. "Do we get to chase them off, Longtail?" 

Brightpaw wants to speak but finds herself unable to. Her mouth goes dry, and her paws feel rooted to the spot. 

There's a panicked yowl from the patrol as a dog seems to appear from the rocks in front of them. Its large body ripples with a bark and it pulls its lips back in a snarl.

"Longtail!" 

Swiftpaw's panicked scream makes her flatten her ears. The tabby tom is being dragged back into a forest by another dog who just came out of nowhere. Another has Swiftpaw pinned. She screams as the dog darts forward, going for her friend's neck. Before the teeth can make contact, the black and white tom disappears into a fine mist. Her fellow apprentice is completely gone and now the dog is glaring at her. 

None of this happened this way! 

She looks to her mentor for comfort, but Whitestorm isn't there anymore. Instead, a pure white she-cat is stood in his place, her green eyes flashing with fury. 

"Come and get me, mange-pelt!" The she-cat yowls. 

No! She wasn't here! 

The white cat sprints forward like Swiftpaw did. Her paws pound against the earth, sounding like thunder in Brightpaw's ears. She can only watch in horror as her beloved daughter springs forward, her claws outstretched, ready to fight like all of LionClan. 

"Whitewing! No!" 

Everything seems to happen in slow motion as the dog snaps its jaws around Whitewing's torso. The dog pins her beneath one of its grubby paws. Her daughter looks at her mother with fear in her green eyes. 

"Mother!" She cries out, clawing at the ground with her free paw. 

"Whitewing!" Brightpaw is still frozen to the spot, no matter how much she wills her body to move. "Whitewing!" 

"Mother!" 

The last shout is clearer, and Brightheart's eye snaps open. The ginger and white she-cat shoots out of her nest with a gasp, taking several clumps of clawed moss with her. 

Her daughter brushes against her with a purr. "I'm here, mother." 

Brightheart takes a moment to catch her breath. "Another nightmare." 

"I've asked Thornclaw to cover my spot on the dawn patrol. I can stay here with you." 

"You don't have to pause your warrior duties to worry about a silly elder." 

Whitewing brushes her tail against her mother’s chin. "I don't have to, but you know I will. Why don't we go out for a walk to clear your head?" 

"I'd like that," She purrs. "I love you." 

Whitewing grins just like Swiftpaw used to. "I love you too, mother." 

***

That’s it for this week! Next week will be my year in review, so keep an eye out for that. See you next Sunday.

NaNoWriMo 2023 Wrap-Up

Hi all! 

For NaNoWrimo this year I pledged to write 50k for the first draft of Original Elementals #7: Stormburst. After taking a break in July I thought I would go back into full swing into the Elemental Dragons universe. 

My word count is... 

I managed to finish the first draft on the final day and I am pretty pleased with the result. This book was a lot easier to write than other books I've done and I found I didn't get as burnt out. I don't know if that's because I love writing about dragons or if I was just in a better place mentally when I started writing it. 

This book focuses on Logan and his mission. He is to help a Sea Serpent find a mate. Although he thinks that this will be easy, he soon discovers that it would take longer than he hoped. The town of Serpentbridge is introduced, who live alongside Sea Serpents in harmony. 

Logan is based off of my cat, Rocky. When he passed away in August I was devastated. Especially since I knew this book was coming up. But I thought it was quite therapeutic and I was glad to give him the happy ending he deserved. I also managed to fit his girlfriend, Serena, into the book as well! Serena vanished one day so I wasn't sure if she passed away or ran away from home. Either way, I am so glad that I could get them together again for the book. 

This book also solidifies everyone's distrust in Zmei and most of the characters turn their backs on them. One decides to stand by Zmei rather than their friends, however. Draca comes across as the good guy but if you've read Elemental Dragons then you know that's not the case. 

The next book that I will be working on is Turf, the eighth book in the Original Elementals series. As I've said previously, I'm hoping to make a Patreon which will be a dragon lovers paradise. The books from the Original Elementals series will be posted there first and then published on Amazon at a later date. 

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

My First Ever Book

Hi all, 

When I was 10 or 11 years old I started writing my first book and managed to finish it in a few months. It was a complete rewrite of my favourite book at the time, Into The Wild. Of course it's a Warriors book! I wrote the book with the same plot and characters, only to include my own character into the mix as well. 

I remember being so proud of it at the time and excitedly showing it to my family. I hand wrote the entire thing and even redrew the cover! My grandfather was the only one to read it through and he shared my excitement even though looking back the book was awful. I was still proud of myself for doing it and it proved that I could write a book if I really wanted to. Of course, it would be almost a decade before I wrote my next book, an original one called Blood and Water. 

The Warriors rewrite wasn't great, as I just moulded the story around my own character. She was a cat who could shoot thunderbolts out of her paws. She was best friends with the main character and helped him with all aspects of the story. Technically it was my first FanFiction too! I think the main character was called Thunderheart but I can't quite remember. 

I did start writing the sequel too, which followed most of the same story as Fire and Ice. I don't think I got around to finishing that one though. I think a wrote a few chapters and made the cover. While most of my family thought it was just silly children's writing, my grandfather was always there to support me. He helped me weave maths into the story so I could learn while I wrote and made it fun. I know he loved the fact that I carried on writing into adulthood and I'm so glad that he got to see three of my books published before he passed. He was probably also glad that he didn't have to read about Warrior Cats anymore! I hope that he's proud of how far I've come with my writing now. 

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

PS; check out this book bundle full of free post-apocalyptic books!

A Post-Apocalyptic Christmas Giveaway

NaNoWriMo 2023 Project Announcement

Hi all, 

With November on the horizon it's time for me to announce my project for NaNoWriMo. This time, I'm going to be writing 50K words of the first draft of Original Elementals #7: Stormburst. Now that I've taken a break to write Missing Constellations, I feel a lot more refreshed to step back into the Elemental Dragons universe. 

First off, what is NaNoWriMo? It’s a yearly writing event where you have the month of November to write 50,000 words. This can be for a new book or an already existing project. I always start new books for this event.

This book will be bittersweet as the main character, Logan, is based off my late cat, Rocky. Everything will be written in his perspective, though he won't be exactly the same as his clone, Rocky, in Elemental Dragons. I miss my cat a lot and I'm hoping that this book will bring me further towards healing. It's going to be hard to write as he's always going to be in the back of my mind but I know he would want me to keep writing. 

This story will focus on Logan and his dragon, Stormburst. His mission is to help Sea Serpents. Although it isn't going to be as easy as he expected. First he needs to track down a Sea Serpent, which is difficult when you're locked up in a camp with guards patrolling at all hours of the morning. He already doesn't trust Zmei so will not be listening to their advice much. 

Stormburst is not fully developed enough to fly with a rider, but because Western Dragons are so new their companions aren't aware of this fact yet. She has had a growth spurt between books but not enough for her to support Logan on her back. The book will delve into his disappointment with this and how this affects his relationship with her. 

The other Originals will appear as well, but mainly Benjamin as he is Logan's best friend. 

I'm looking forward to diving back into the Elemental Dragons universe as I really need to scratch that itch to write about dragons! Completing this book will draw the series even closer to it's end and I can't wait to start publishing these books. 

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

PS; don’t forget to check out these fantasy book bundles:

Silver Winged September: KU Fantasy Adventures that take to the sky!

Abundant Woo-niverse Giveaways for Magical Realism, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi

Why I Love Participating in Anthologies

Hi all! 

If you've been checking out my other publications page, you've probably seen the list of anthologies that I've been published in. When I write short stories, I submit only to anthologies now. Why? Read below! 

Physical copies. 

Anthologies are far more likely to do physical copies when published. I love lining them all up on my bookshelf to see how much I've been published in. One anthology that I was included in even sent out a physical copy as part of the payment for submitting, which I thought was really nice. 

Builds your portfolio. 

You can add Anthologies that you've submitted to when you're pitching to agents and publishers. The fact that you already have work out there shows that you're dedicated to your craft and also boosts your letters if you're struggling to find stuff to add to it. 

Free Submission. 

I only submit to anthologies that don't have a submission fee. Not because they're not worth it, but because I don't think it's right to charge authors a lot of money to have one short story published in the book. I know some authors prefer only submitting to paid ones, but I like to keep my budget for my own books. 

Different Themes. 

I've found that my writing has gotten a lot better when I broaden the themes. My favourite theme so far is one about nephilim. I found the subject so intriguing that I knew I needed to write something for it straight away. 

Collaborative Project. 

I really love reading other authors’ stories. I love seeing an insight into how their minds work and how their writing differs from mine. You can find your new favourite author in an anthology if you look hard enough! 

More Variety. 

I can write a variety of short stories or even submit ones that have been sat in my folder for a while. It gets them out there and it also drives me to go outside of my comfort zone on some occasions. 

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoy reading, see you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Silver Winged September: KU Fantasy Adventures that take to the sky!

Abundant Woo-niverse Giveaways for Magical Realism, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi

July Camp NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

Hi all,

Another NaNoWriMo is done! This one was for Missing Constellations, which I’m hoping to launch as a Patreon exclusive at some point. This event was the best I’ve done in a while and I found myself getting more and more drawn into the story.

Missing Constellations follows Ataraxia and Laelaps, two constellations from Greek mythology who become stranded on Earth. The book contains various creatures from mythology, including: the Namean Lion, Scylla, Charybdis, Chrysomallus and Cerberus. There will be more as I continue writing, as I’ve found that the story isn’t quite done yet!

Instead, Missing Constellations will now be a trilogy. The series will be called Empty Skies, and the other two books will be called:

Book #2: Freezing Constellations

Book #3: Blazing Constellations

My final word count is…

I managed to complete the first draft the day after NaNoWriMo ended and the story is over 77K in total.

Ataraxia is a lot more adventurous than Laelaps and is more likely to rush headfirst into situations. Her power means that she always escapes anything, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get hurt. Laelaps’ power is to always catch whatever he chases. Unlike Ataraxia, he is anxious and hates fighting. The book explores his anxiety and how much he struggles with everything that they have to do. But Ataraxia is always by his side and willing to help in whatever way she can.

They are joined by the Namean Lion, who calls himself Ichor, and Cerberus. Together, the four of them battle to take down The Remnants. A trio of beings who represent the anger and loneliness in the world. They were locked away in Tartarus, but have now managed to escape. They have blessed three monsters with immortality in exchange for getting rid of the constellations. The one that they fight in this book is The Missing, who has blessed Scylla with immortality. Scylla uses a pack of dogs to do her bidding for her and wants nothing more than to rid the world of the gods and the constellations.

I’m not sure when I’ll start writing book two as I want to get through the rest of the Original Elementals series first. But I would still love for this series to be a Patreon exclusive and then eventually end up on Amazon. I love this universe and I can’t wait to share the stories with you.

That’s it for this week! Next week I’m going to be talking about my first solo book signing, so keep an eye out for that! See you next Sunday.

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before they disappear!

Celebrating Book Lovers

Angels of August: Fantasy Novels & Box Sets Galore

A Milestone in NaNoWriMo

Hi all,

Ever since I joined NaNoWriMo in 2018 I've tried my best to take part in all of the events that they offer yearly. I've written fourteen books during NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo and I've just hit a massive milestone...

One million words written!

If you haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it's an event that happens three times a year where you have to hit a writing or editing goal. I always go for the usual 50K words in a month.

I've never counted up all the words that I've written but I'm so glad that NaNoWriMo gives you the option of doing so on your profile. I've seen that number tick up over the years and I'm so glad that it's now at one million. Every book that I've written for NaNoWriMo will eventually be published and I love adding the covers to each of the projects and marking them as published.

If you're curious, the projects that make up the one million words are:

Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice

Elemental Dragons #4: Cinder and Fire

Celestial Plague #2: Heaven

Years 

Mute

Curse of Anubis #1 (Name Change Pending)

Curse of Anubis #3 (Name Change Pending)

Curse of Anubis #4 (Name Change Pending)

Original Elementals #1: Frostbite

Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter

Celestial Plague #4: Hell

Original Elementals #5: Tempest

Orignal Elementals #6: Sunrise

Missing Constellations

I'd love to hit two million words written and I will keep writing for NaNoWriMo events. It has helped me so much with my writing and I love adding my daily word count to the website to see the numbers tick up.

That's it for this week! Next week I'm going to do a wrap-up for July Camp NaNoWriMo, see you then!

PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles:

Celebrating Book Lovers

Angels of August: Fantasy Novels & Box Sets Galore

My Feline Co-Author

Hi all! 

It's been a while since I wrote a post about Mishka, so I thought I would rectify that! She's my five year old cat who has been with me through several books. 

Writing. 

She assists me with my writing, usually by headbutting my phone or laptop. Occasionally she will place a paw on the keyboard to try to add stuff in. If I spend too long writing and not paying her enough attention, she will walk all over me until I pet her. She's always making sure that I take enough breaks. 

Editing. 

If I spend too long editing, she let's me know by screaming or walking over my laptop. Unfortunately she has a habit of deleting sentences that I often have to re-write anyway. A bit annoying, but helpful in the end.

Formatting. 

While I'm formatting my books, she usually takes this time to curl up beside me. Either by my hip or by my armpit. I guess this is the time she knows not to disturb me too much, except if I've done it too long without a break. 

Uploading books to Amazon. 

Despite publishing eight books, I still get nervous whenever it's time to hit publish. Luckily I have Mishka beside me. Just stroking her while she purrs eases my anxiety while my book uploads. She makes me feel better about the whole process. 

Marketing. 

Now we're back to headbutting my laptop. She loves doing this, just to let me know that she's still around and wants my attention. Whenever I run Amazon ads she wanders in front of the screen so I can't check the numbers too often. Either that or she paws at the keyboard.

Despite her being annoying sometimes, I wouldn't swap her for anything in the world. She's become a vital part of my author career, even if she is just screaming. I know I'm not the only one who has pets that help them write, quite a lot of authors have fuzzy companions to help them! 

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

My Favourite Greek Myths

Hi all! 

As I am now writing the first draft of Missing Constellations, I thought I'd tell you about my favourite Greek myths. 

Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox. 

This should come as a surprise to no-one as I'm writing a book about them! This was always one of my favourite myths, mostly due to the fact that it's a paradox. They can't touch each other without one winning over the other. I always knew I wanted to write a book about them and I'm so glad that I can do that now. 

Perseus and Medusa. 

There are so many iterations of this myth but I still think it's one of the best. In some, Medusa is the victim and in others she's just a monster. Either way, Perseus defeating her with the gifts that the gods gave him is always a great read. 

Pegasus. 

Winged horses are always beautiful in my opinion and Pegasus will be in Missing Constellations too. I couldn't leave out one of my favourites! 

Hercules and Cerberus.

I named one of the dragons in Elemental Dragons after the three headed canine so of course it would be one of my favourites! I love how Hercules managed to wrangle him in the end and marched him out of the underworld. 

Jason and the Golden Fleece. 

This one is really popular and I can see why. I've watched several films where Jason has had to retrieve the golden fleece and the story never gets boring. The fleece is even mentioned in Missing Constellations, but I haven't decided if it will make an appearance yet. 

There are so many great myths out there but these ones are definitely my favourites. I grew up watching Jason and the Argonauts and Hercules. I loved reading mythological books before I went to sleep too. It's no wonder that I'm now writing about the myths themselves! 

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

PS; last day to check out this Sci-Fi bundle!

SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS THAT KNOCK YOU OUT JUNE 1ST -- JULY 1ST

The Impact of Writing on Mental Health

Hi all! 

This week I wanted to talk about the impact writing can have on your mental health. Writing can help me immensely when I feel low, but sometimes that can reflect what I write. I thought I'd list a few things here. 

Relieves stress. 

Even if you only write a few words a day, I've found that writing can be a huge stress reliever. It lets your mind wander for a bit instead of worrying. 

Get your emotions out. 

Writing can be a good way to get your emotions out, good and bad. It may help you with how you're feeling and relieve some of the pressure. However, this can also be a double-edged sword. I find that when I'm mentally ill, this reflects in my writing a lot. I tend to write the characters with what I'm going through and how I'm feeling. This is especially evident in Street Rats, which has taken over the entire story. 

It's an escape. 

You can escape for however long you want in writing. Even if it's just for a few minutes every day. It gives your mind a rest from what's going on in the world. But this can get unhealthy if you're doing this too often, you need to make sure that you're not making yourself more sick by writing longer than you need to. 

Improved mood. 

It can help improve your mood as it gives you something else to focus on. Afterwards you can come back from it with a clearer mind. 

Organises your thoughts. 

Writing can help you organise your thoughts and feelings by writing them down. You don't even need to write a story, you can just write about your feelings and what made you feel that way. 

I hope this blog post can make you feel better about writing, even if you don't feel like you're in the best mental state. I've found writing to be such a good thing for me and it gives me an escape but also a way to get my feelings down. I love writing and it has definitely helped me when I've been at my lowest. 

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