Upon the Wings of Greater Things

The creative endeavours of Starla Huchton

Cover Design: Some Quick Tips

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helpful tips

So, I often see people posting on social media asking for feedback on their book covers. More often than not, I don’t respond to these publicly for a variety of different reasons. You never can tell who is receptive to honest feedback and constructive criticism, and typically I err on the side of caution and stay silent to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings or looking snobbish. My rule of thumb for all public postings is to keep it positive. I don’t want drama, but I do give feedback if asked privately. Not everyone appreciates my honesty, but… Anyway, I digress.

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Cover Reveal! The Ghost Rebellion by Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine

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You guys, this is something pretty awesome. It’s not often that I do cover reveals for other people on this blog, but today I get to share something I’m really excited about!

Last year, I was approached by Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine asking if I’d be up to the challenge of creating a cover for the next book in The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. The first four books were all traditionally published, but book 5 was going to be funded by a Kickstarter. It took me all of two seconds to answer with a resounding YES, but I knew going in the bar was set very high. Could I create a cover on par with Big 5 resources? Just little ole me sitting here in my house by myself? Was it a thing I could actually do, and do successfully?

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Of Dragons, “Others,” and Creative Brain Fodder

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(Advanced warning: this gets kind of a lot nerdy. I will attempt to come at this as though the people reading it are at ground-zero level of experience in this topic.)

So, if you follow me anywhere on social media, you’re probably aware of the love affair I’ve developed with BioWare’s Dragon Age franchise. Although, maybe this is the first you’re hearing of it, in which case I’ve severely failed to adequately articulate my obsession. I’ll admit a few things off the bat first before I dive into the purpose of this post: [Read more…]

Guest post – Swimming Upstream: Telling the Story that Doesn’t Sell

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I have a guest post for you! I’ve known Tee Morris (and his amazing wife, Philippa Ballantine) for many years, and have been blessed to have their support and wisdom at my fingertips whenever I needed it. So today, I’d like to share the thoughts of the Yodas I’ve had access to since the earliest days of my writing career. I recently posed a question that I think a lot of authors have asked themselves (or been asked by others): What makes you keep writing certain books when you’re made to question whether or not they’ll succeed?

Tee brings up some excellent points to consider here, so if you’re debating whether or not to write the thing you want to write, do keep reading.  -SH

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World Building at ZappCon!

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helpful tips

I had a little adventure this weekend! I had the awesome opportunity to fly out to Fresno, CA for a great little convention called ZappCon. I’m still working through some of the awesome of the trip, but I’m feeling over my jet lag enough to address one of the happenings today.

On Sunday, I had a Q&A session with a small group of folks about world building in fiction. At first, I wasn’t really sure I was overly qualified to speak on such a topic (or anything, really, LOL), but there were some excellent questions raised that maybe others are curious about, in as far as my opinion on them exists.

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Humaning 101 (Or, How to Fake Extroversion)

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Being an author is sort of a strange thing. As a writer, I spend a lot of time by myself, submerged in worlds only I live in. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, when I call myself an introvert. I’m not good with large groups of strangers and, more often than not, I feel like a failure as a human when I’m unable to do what “normal” people seem to do in those situations.

So what happens when it comes time for events when success is riding on coming across as human? Basically, you fake it.

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Excerpt: SIREN, by Jennifer Melzer

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Greetings, folks! Today, I’d like to share this space with one of my favorite people on the planet. Jennifer Melzer has been my editor for almost a year now, but did you know that she’s an author as well? I was captivated by her writing years ago when I listened to the audiobook podcast of The Goblin Market, and have been following her work ever since then.

As a special treat for you guys, I’d like to share an excerpt of one of her newest book with you. [Read more…]

The SFR Brigade’s Summer Cafe – Weird Science!

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SFR Brigade's Summer Cafe, week 2

 

Welcome to the SFR Brigade’s Summer Cafe! I’ll be one of your hosts for this week’s little blog hop, so please feel free to seat yourself wherever you like, and today’s special will be delivered to you shortly. If you’d instead like to peruse the menu, simply click the banner above and the full list of offerings will be on display. Alternatively, you’ll find the other items listed at the end of this post. Do scroll down to the bottom, however, as there is a special giveaway for those who make it through this course of the meal! [Read more…]

Balticon Panel Review: Getting Noticed in the Self-Publishing World

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So, this past weekend was Balticon 49, and, as always, it was a lovely (albeit exhausting) time. It’s great to catch up with old friends, but I had something else I took away this year from the experience. On Monday, the last day of the con, I had the extreme pleasure of being part of a panel on how to stand out as a self-published author when everyone is self-publishing. Now, I’m not sure I’m a foremost authority on this, but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of some basics, and the other four people on the panel generally agreed with what I had to say and added bits of their own that left me nodding in firm agreement. So here’s the gist of the discussion distilled down for you.

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Helpful Tips: Teaser Images

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helpful tips

 

Occasionally I have conversations with people that make me think there’s maybe a need for me to post about certain topics. Yesterday, I had a rather in-depth discussion with an author friend who was attempting her first teaser images and was wondering if I had any advice (spoiler: YES I DO OMG). If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, teaser images are a quick impact way to promo your book, and typically include a very short excerpt of your story, an eye-catching image, and the title/author name. The conversation I had about teasers made me really stop and think about the subject, which leads me to believe maybe other folks might have the same questions my friend did. So, here goes. Here’s some things to consider when building a teaser image for your book:

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