For the Criminally Inane

When Elias of Elderberry introduces his best friend Jaron Finley to his magical world of fairies and castles, wizards and yōkai shape-shifters, will Jaron ever want to go back to his dull world of school and homework, especially after meeting Elieli, the fairy princess of Estraelia? It’s doubtful, but he must—the mortal that he is. Will Elias have to alter his memory and erase all that his friend has seen, or will Jaron be able to keep the secret that Elias Rey—a sophomore at PVHS, is a wizard and the youngest heir of Elderberry? Held captive by evil wraiths in the dungeons of Sirusas, Elias’s older brother Saulen struggles with remembering who he is. How will the sons of Elderberry battle the dark forces of sorcery and rescue him? And finally, when Adalee trips and falls by a nest abandoned from a Swypht Dragon of Ural, she takes an egg, knowing it has little chance to survive on its own. How will she keep it hidden in t

When I first started writing, I wrote short stories and scenes. When I decided to try my hand at writing a novel, I soon discovered that this was a different beast. And I mean beast! Now that I've tamed the beast (for a novel is a huge unruly thing), I can finally hone my skills, fine tune my writing, make my storytelling stand out and develop my style and voice. I've had some help along the way.  My top ten favorite books now are listed below and why I like them. My collection of books. In the order I bought them. 1. The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing . Writer's Digest 2nd edition. I used this book as a base for when I first started writing. It's a compilation of different writers on different subjects. It's a good first book for starting out to get an overview of how to write a novel. 2 . Fire in the Fiction: passion, purpose and techniques by Donald Maass. Writer's Digest Books. He talks about writing deep, passionately, purposefully. Make your bo