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Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Release Day: Collision (Alliance, #3) by Emma L. Adams

It's release day for Collision, Book 3 in the universe-hopping urban fantasy Alliance series! I had a lot of fun writing this one, even though edits almost finished me off. (I went through eleven drafts before I got the story in the right order. A very good job I love this series!) Anyway, Collision contains angry forces of nature, a rabid unicorn, griffins, and the usual world-hopping magic and monsters. And an ending that changes everything… (*muahahaha*)



When Earth suddenly gains inexplicably high levels of magic, all fingers point at the Alliance.

On a distant world, where magic-fuelled forces of nature rule over humans, a disaster is sweeping the land, threatening to knock the Balance across the Multiverse out of sync. When Kay and Ada are sent there with the other Ambassadors, they’re thrown into the centre of chaos. Nature is alive, and angry.

Ada embraces the magic she still half-fears, but learning to control it proves harder than she can imagine. Kay, meanwhile, becomes more reckless than ever when testing the boundaries of his own abilities. When faced with living magic, no one is safe from its influence. Ada and Kay must choose what they’re willing to risk for the sake of saving a world that might already be doomed. Can mortals overcome the gods?

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Excerpt:


“Guys, stay back!” I yelled at two other guards who’d come to stand alongside me. “It’s not stable.”
I’m not stable.
But I had no choice. I struck with the stunner, sending a searing bolt of lightning at the nearest beast. Except the lightning didn’t come from the stunner. It came from my hand.
A nearby guard swore. “I’m out of shots.”
“Take mine,” I said quickly. “I can fight without it.” Magic seemed to want me to.
“Thanks,” he said, blinking like he was surprised I’d give away my weapon, and caught the stunner.
A snarling bundle of red smoke descended on us. How many of these things were there? For every one I knocked down, two more appeared, sparking and trailing smoke. I struck another with a bolt of magic, aiming at the floor to make sure I didn’t hit any of the other guards. The beast dissolved in smoke… and then divided in two. Like some ghastly hydra. Both halves growled at me, sparks flying out from their clawed, smoky red hands.
Shit. I backed away, thinking hard.
A rumbling sounded, and the ground trembled under my feet. What the hell? I’d thought the reinforced floor was impervious to any kind of hit. The magic. It’s got to be the magic. Lucky my shoes were magicproof, too.
“I’m getting outta this corridor!” someone shouted, and the sound of running footsteps clattered on metal.
A growl sounded, but before I could strike the two smoky creatures down, both dissolved into a formless red haze. Through the fog, guards ran everywhere, shouting, while I struck out with magic, to no effect. The magic-creatures had turned themselves into smoke, and it was like trying to beat up a cloud. At least we all looked equally ridiculous, I thought as I spun on the spot in what probably looked like an undignified ballet manoeuvre. Another guard face-planted, while a second tripped over him and brought the two of them crashing into a heap.
And the floor shook again, the smoke coalescing in the centre to form one formidable beast, filling the space from floor to ceiling. A shower of purple-red danced off the walls. I jumped back, but not before a spark grazed my forehead. The pain was more sharp than electric. Wincing, I braced myself against the wall, out of range of the magic. I still couldn’t see the creature. It was made of pure magic, and didn’t have a solid form. But I could feel the energy burning, and it was all concentrated in one place. The monster had pulled all the magic in the area into itself. It has to burn out. It can’t keep going like that.
But the monster didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Stunner shots mingled with the sparks, and inhuman screams told us at least one hit the target. My hands shook too much to risk aiming another magic shot, even as I felt the creature’s magic surging through the air. A bolt of pain shot through my forehead. I reached to touch the skin, and found it blistering hot. I thought magic couldn’t hit me!


Start the series from the beginning with Adamant (Alliance, #1), only 99 cents this week!




Ever since a devastating magical war tore apart Ada Fletcher's homeworld, she and her family have lived under cover on the low-magic Earth. Stuck in a dead-end job in London, Ada has spent her life hiding her true identity--and her magic. Until she loses her job, is chased by a rampaging monster, and is arrested as a prime suspect for a murder she had nothing to do with. It really isn't Ada's day.

Kay Walker, grandson of the Inter-World Alliance's late founder, expects to spend his first week as an Alliance employee hunting rogue monsters, not solving his supervisor's murder or questioning a strange, fierce young woman caught trespassing in the Passages between worlds. Killer or not, her abilities raise questions about the Alliance's history, and the closer he gets to the truth, the higher the body count rises.

The last thing Ada wants to do is help the infuriating Alliance guard who arrested her, but it soon becomes clear that the Alliance knows too much about Ada's magic. More, in fact, than she knows herself. One thing's certain: she's not the only one keeping secrets, and trusting the wrong person might cost more than her life.


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What reviewers are saying

"Adams delivers high suspense throughout the whole book and manages to get you emotionally attached to the main characters which keeps you worried at every twist and turn. I basically flew through the action-packed story with its monsters and magic." - Goodreads reviewer

"Adamant is a fantastic start to a fun, adventurous and super cool series... Can't praise it enough!" - Alisha at Reality's A Bore.



Discovering she's a walking magical weapon is just the beginning of Ada's problems.

Joining the Alliance might be the key to seeing the worlds she's always dreamed of, but now Ada's in trouble with her family and her boss has put her on goblin-catching duty. With enemies around every corner and a centaur uprising threatening to bring a bloodbath to Earth's doorstep, the Alliance has their work cut out. While investigating the mysterious death of the centaurs' king, Kay and Ada navigate tensions between humans and centaurs and find the real, deadly potential of magic.

Against an enemy they quite literally can't see, Ada and Kay must face up to the power that almost destroyed their lives...

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The Passages between worlds are out of bounds for a very good reason, but nineteen-year-old Kay Walker sees them as another challenge. Exploring the monster-ridden tunnels offers a thrill nothing on Earth can match. Until a rivalry escalates into a deadly game, and the lure of magic comes with a high price...

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Friday, 6 November 2015

Some tips for streamlining the writing process!

I've been writing long enough that I know the subjective nature of most writing advice. My weird process probably won't work for most people. For example, I draft fast because I need to keep my head in the story consistently from beginning to end, otherwise I lose track and the story ends up a confused, contradictory mess. I haven't always been a fast writer, and I've found that, over time, I've become more efficient at writing cleaner drafts in less time, too. So, here are some of my tips for getting some control over the chaotic process of writing a book...
  • Write everything down. Most of my ideas develop quickly because I have so many notes from old projects and ideas. I can't control when an idea will strike, but I can control the process of developing a concept into a workable outline (I've written about this before, and my process is essentially the same but more character-focused). I've had years of stalled and failed projects to learn from, and this planning process has worked for all the manuscripts I've written in the past year and a half.
  • Related: Scrivener templates. I made a workable template in Scrivener and I reuse it for every new manuscript. I used to plan by hand and still sometimes brainstorm in notebooks before an idea's developed enough to make a project folder for, but Scrivener makes reorganising and cut-and-pasting easy. So I have an "Ideas" folder where I write down my initial inspiration and any ideas that occur to me. Then I have different folders for the main characters and their arcs, synopses for each book, various areas of worldbuilding, etc. And then I have a main manuscript folder divided into chapters with my outline template pasted into them, complete with story beats. It did take a while to actually set up the template (it's a work-in-progress that changes slightly with each book), but now, all I need to do is create a new folder and the tools for writing a book are right there in front of me. I never entirely stick to the actual outline, but I've used this basic template for the last eight books I've written and the chapter/story beat estimator is pretty much spot on. Since setting this up, not only are my ideas much better-organised, but I'm quicker at outlining and actually *gasp* don't mind writing a synopsis. Much.
  • Things I figure out in advance: character arc, main conflict, goals, stakes. An issue with one of these can undermine the entire story, so by figuring these out in the beginning, I'm hoping to avoid major problems in edits. Even if I don't entirely stick to my outline, the one thing that usually doesn't change is the main character's arc. Figuring that out in advance is key to understanding that even if the story takes a new direction, it makes sense for the character(s). Most of my outline diverging happens when my characters take the reins anyway...
  • Plan ahead, especially with a series. I always pre-outline my series and it saves so much time in the long run.
  • Or have multiple projects on the go, especially when waiting for emails. I'd have driven myself crazy during the ten-month gap between edit rounds on the third Darkworld book if I hadn't had other projects. The risk, of course, is that everything will land in your inbox at the same time (as happened to me), but it's better than constant inbox refreshing!
  • Bookmark everything. I have folders of bookmarked pages on writing advice, plotting, research, etc. Again, it took a while to set up, but if I want to check on something, I can do so without falling down an internet black hole. (I also sometimes take notes if I find a particularly useful article, and work them into my Scrivener template so I can find them when I plan a new project.)
  • And... write everything down. I have a list on a post-it note of the steps to develop an idea into an outline, and another of the various editing stages. I keep these on my desk so I can grab them whenever I'm stuck mid-draft or before starting edits. Again, this is subjective, but after working with CPs and editors, I know what my own weaknesses are, so I can be sure to try to address them (see this post on my editing process). I hesitate to say it gets "easier" with each book, but you do tend to become attuned to your own problem areas as a writer after years of feedback! 
Obviously, this advice is coming from a self-confessed organisation-freak. Sometimes I wish I could just throw myself into a draft with abandon, but I've compared it to jumping out a plane without a parachute before and it never ends well for me. One thing I will say is: experience definitely helps reduce the fear of starting a new project!

Some excellent resources I've used:

Rachel Aaron - 2K-10K: Writing Faster, Better, and Writing More of What You Love
Libbie Hawker - Take Off Your Pants: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing
Chris Fox - 5000 Words Per Hour