The Pen & The Sword: A Discussion Book

|Discussion Article|I Went On An Adventure... Now I'm Back!|

I'm baaaack! Did you miss me?

Hello all, I just got back recently from a few last minute vacations. For those of you who don't know, I live in Alaska. This summer we spent most of our time in Valdez. I went on a cruise. I saw glaciers, otters, eagles, bear, moose, whales, and ORCAS HUNTING. *screams* It was so cool. Here're some pictures before I get into the article, all taken by yours truly:

My favorite picture of all. Isn't is cuuuuute? Leave some captions in the comments!:

The North Western from Deadliest Catch: 

And Moosies: 

Blurbs Galore: 

There are two things that people will look at when deciding to read a book--- the cover and the blurb. 

I, like many others, judge books by their covers. I'm sorry, but it's true. But I also read your blurb and judge that too. The cover is just the first step in Mama's Mahana's test of worthiness. You gotta have a blurb and it's gotta be outstanding. 

Now, I'm not an expert, and some of you may think my blurbs aren't that good. *shrug* Keep thinking that lol. All I'm laying out right now is some things to think about as you write your blurb.  

We wanna know who and what it's about, what the conflict is, and what questions does the blurb make us think up, going into the book. 

No more than five paragraphs: even though I think five is a little long. You can't put the whole kitchen sink into your blurb. I will literally hunt you down and love slap you upside the head if you do. Keeping it short, makes it easy for readers to quickly decide if they want to read it and it also keeps you from going into an info dump. 

Good grammar: think of this as your audition tape for America's Got Talent (I obviously live in America, so insert your country in there if you don't live here). I wouldn't go out and sing in front of Simon Cowell without warming up--- why would you post a blurb without editing it? You can have the coolest story, the most amazing MC, the sickest villain, but typos will be your Achilles heel. Why? Because it's a pretty good indication of how much work you've put into the rest of the book. 

Get a friend: Get someone to help you write it out, ask them their opinions on it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where to start: 

Introduce your:

Main Character(s)

Setting (This includes geography and time). So many people forget time periods--- I'm not telling you to add in a sentence that says, "On December 12, 1818." I want you to hint at what kind of time this was set. If you say, "Sword fights abound," I know it's gonna be medieval. If you say, "

Your obstacle: What is standing in the way of your characters' living a peaceful life? 

Your mystery: What's your unknown? What is something so cool about your book, that readers will have to open it up to find out?

Some example blurbs that I've written: 

Story: Turn

Note: This doesn't have an exact time era on it because I'm not exactly sure how to explain it yet. 

Blurb: 

Annaliese Stone, a Terif of the Ceilion police, has spent the last year rooting out her enemies.

Her base, the capital of Creose, is the glittering jewel of the Prima Ryst--- and the city's underbelly is crawling with sordid filth that would love nothing more than to see it shattered to pieces. An unsavory official herself, Annaliese has abandoned a sense of fair justice and morality in order to hunt them down.

After months of plotting and investigating, Annaliese is closing in on the terrorist leader known only as "Rhystcoff". Nothing will stop her as she sets out to find them, destroy them, and then move on to her next assignment. Set upon her biggest lead yet, Annaliese will find that not everything she knows is true and that sometimes to find the truth you have to turn back the clock.

Story: Heart Like Fire with the help of ShannonTolhurst. 

Blurb: 

"It's either this or death."

Caught in the act and bound by a strange magic, two thieves from opposing guilds must work together to complete the task set by the witch that cursed them. If they're to have any hope of stealing The Egr, a mysterious bestowal of divine rule, they'll need cunning, strength, and more than a speck of teamwork.

Because, with half the kingdom out to see them fail, they are going to need all the luck the gods can spare.