Guest Post and Giveaway: Becoming the Chateran (The Chateran Series, Book One) by S. J. Aisling

Description:

When Princess Rhea’s actions inadvertently condemn two innocent knights to death, she wakes to the hard reality that not even nobility is above the law. All her attempts to remedy the situation only complicate it, however, until she finds herself a fugitive in her own kingdom, having dragged her best friend into the trouble, as well. Their only hope for pardon? To accompany Sir Paladin and Sir Zephen in their sentence:

Slay, or be slain by, the Dragons of Sama-Ael-Fen.

Travelling incognito, they meet with more malicious Phoenixes than could be coincidental, discover the mysterious disappearance of numerous citizens, and come face to face with a reawakened evil power. With the kingdom oblivious to the connection of these dangers, it’s up to Rhea and her outlaw companions to stop the rising threat and redeem their names – if they can survive their quest.

GUEST POST

Six Tips for Defeating Your First-Draft Fears

You’ve decided to write a book. How wonderful! You have your original idea, memorable characters, plot twists, and everything all planned out. 

You just… can’t… start. 

Overwhelmed? That’s natural – you’re trying something new and challenging yourself. I’ve been where you are, and I want to share a few hints I’ve learned that have helped me immensely. Here are three suggestions each to stop and start doing as a writer to help you get through writing your first book. 

Stop:

- Stalling. If you really want to write as much as you tell your friends, then write.

- Worrying about perfection. The problem with published books is that we only see the finished product. When we start writing, ourselves, we feel embarrassed, perhaps even shocked, when our own work isn’t on par with what we read. Please, for the love of the Oxford comma, don’t do this to yourself. Every masterpiece that was ever penned went through the gangly, awkward rough-draft phase, and your soon-to-be-written tale is no different. Your first draft will not be worthy of being a bestseller the moment you’re done with it, and that’s okay. Neither was J. K. Rowling’s, Garth Stein’s, or John Green’s. 

- Rehashing. You are writing right now, not editing. You can edit later.

Start:

- Planning ahead. If you're a pantser (newbie: this is a term for someone who writes on the fly, by the seat of their pants, instead of fully plotting out the entire book before they start writing), you probably hate me for saying this. Please, let me elaborate before you chuck that rotten tomato my way. It is much easier to steamroll out several hundred words a week if you have a gist of what you're supposed to be achieving with them. I, myself, lean more towards being a panster, but within certain limitations. 

At the beginning of each chapter I make a few bullet points listing things that need to happen to further the plot(s) or strengthen the character's development within it. It's okay, however, if I don't hit them all in letting my characters take charge of events. They're not an iron-sided channel for my creativity – they’re a springboard for it. 

- Relaxing. There is no pressing need for you to do anything spectacular. Writing alone is spectacular - it is not something that everybody does. Ask a stranger: "You written your inciting incident yet?" and I bet he won't know what you’re talking about. (Newbie, an ‘inciting incident’ is the ‘she was a normal girl until this happened’ plot element.) 

- Taking it page by page. Stop looking at your book as a whole once in a while – consider each page a triumph, instead of simply sweating about all the chapters you still have to write, and the going will be easier. Learn to enjoy the process of writing instead of just the thrill of having written.

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About the author:

Stacia Joy has always loved to tell stories and invent fictional lands and characters. But she never considered becoming a writer herself until age thirteen, when, inspired by a pretend play she invented with a friend, she wrote the first draft of Becoming the Chateran. The story has since expanded into what will become The Chateran Series. Stacia Joy also writes in several other genres, including steampunk and paranormal/science fiction, and occasionally writes poems about buffalo.

Wanting to be able to show others what her imagined universe looks like, Stacia Joy taught herself to draw by studying the work of illustrators like Alphonse Mucha, Arthur Rackham, Kate Seredy, and Jan Brett. She also received training in illustration and graphic design at Madison Area Technical College, and plans to become a full-fledged freelance illustrator before long.

When not immersed in writing or art, Stacia Joy spends her time playing the piano and folk harp, composing music, Irish dancing, singing at the top of her lungs, and learning new things. She also enjoys helping with children's ministry at her church, and currently resides in the Madison, Wisconsin area with a kitten named Lord Peter Whimsey.

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