adarmistead

[adarmistead]

It’s launch day! That means you can read Spirits and Sunflowers 🌻 today. This book — written by myself and @midnightprelude — tells the story of a grieving necromancer, a grumpy, protective single father, and the way they change each others’ lives for the better.

Spirits and Sunflowers is the first in the multipart series Maligned Magic. Each book explores a world where magic is real and tightly regulated by an organization called the International Arcane Order through the eyes of a different couple, each with their own personal struggles.

You can buy our debut novel on Amazon here. You can also read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. Reviews are welcome and encouraged, as this helps other people find us. Thank you for your support! 🏳️‍🌈

The amazing cover art was created by the one and only, immensely gifted @lethendralis-paints. The busts over the cover were the work of @kf1n3. Giant thanks to both incredible artists for bringing our boys to life.

You can find us on Instagram @austindanielwrites and @adarmisteadwrites.

[adarmistead]

My debut novel with @oftachancer is more available in paperback and will be available as an ebook and on Kindle Unlimited on March 20th! Check out the link here!

Thanks to @lethendralis-paints for the gorgeous cover art! They were amazing to work with as always!

In addition, you can sign up for my giveaway here to enter to win a signed copy of the novel or an art print!

[adarmistead]

announcing the writeblr garden 🌱 the place to grow as a writer!

the writeblr garden is a community space focused solely on the progress of your novel(s). whether you're in the outlining stage, 10 drafts in, or already completed a book and are aiming towards your next, the garden is here for you! we plan to host events made to encourage you to write and share your progress.

currently, we are not accepting any network members. anyone who participates in our events is considered a gardener to us 🌿 however, everyone on writeblr is welcome to join our events and use our public tag #writeblrgarden. you can also join our discord server!

we're excited to see what creations come from the garden, be sure to join us so we can all bloom! 🌷 first event coming soon 🌻

[adarmistead]

Our first giveaway is live!

Before we release our first novel, Rebuild, we're giving away a short story focused on one of the main characters. Check it out for free at the link below!

When Lucas Halpern's long-lost adopted sister arrives on his doorstep, pregnant and on the run from the International Arcane Order, he can't help but invite her in.

Even if she'd made his life hell when they were young.

Even if she'd only run away again.

Even if it was bound to change both of their lives forever.

It would be what his parents would have done, had they been alive. It was what they would have wanted.

This prequel short story can be read before or after Rebuild and focuses on how Lucas became a single father.

[adarmistead]

Our first giveaway is live!

Before we release our first novel, Rebuild, we're giving away a short story focused on one of the main characters. Check it out for free at the link below!

When Lucas Halpern's long-lost adopted sister arrives on his doorstep, pregnant and on the run from the International Arcane Order, he can't help but invite her in.

Even if she'd made his life hell when they were young.

Even if she'd only run away again.

Even if it was bound to change both of their lives forever.

It would be what his parents would have done, had they been alive. It was what they would have wanted.

This prequel short story can be read before or after Rebuild and focuses on how Lucas became a single father.

#queer books #lgbt #revive #rebuild #maligned magic series #my writing #giveaway

[adarmistead]

Introducing A.D. Armistead & Austin Daniel! We're a duo of queer authors who write fantastical romance novels and are planning to release our first books soon!

Works in progress include:

A contemporary paranormal m/m (and m/nb) romance series set in a world where magic is heavily regulated. [3 drafted novels + 4th in progress]

A m/m Christmas novella starring a dumped Hallmark movie boyfriend and a gorgeous bartender who dresses up like Santa on the side [1 drafted novella]

A f/f paranormal romance where a recent American divorcee has to contend with her new haunted house with the help of a very pretty innkeeper [1 novel in progress]

A f/f romance featuring an adorable, plus-sized witch, a very skeptical baker, and a pair of adorable cats [1 novella in progress]

Follow for more information or subscribe to our quarterly email newsletter here!

#morning reblog

[adarmistead]

Introducing A.D. Armistead & Austin Daniel! We're a duo of queer authors who write fantastical romance novels and are planning to release our first books soon!

Works in progress include:

A contemporary paranormal m/m (and m/nb) romance series set in a world where magic is heavily regulated. [3 drafted novels + 4th in progress]

A m/m Christmas novella starring a dumped Hallmark movie boyfriend and a gorgeous bartender who dresses up like Santa on the side [1 drafted novella]

A f/f paranormal romance where a recent American divorcee has to contend with her new haunted house with the help of a very pretty innkeeper [1 novel in progress]

A f/f romance featuring an adorable, plus-sized witch, a very skeptical baker, and a pair of adorable cats [1 novella in progress]

Follow for more information or subscribe to our quarterly email newsletter here!

#writeblr #indie authors #queer romance #fantasy romance

[adarmistead]

Looking for a critique circle for your upcoming novel? Want more eyes on your manuscript? Need help drafting a blurb or back matter?

There are a few more spots in my indie writers discord server! Let me know if you’d like a link to join! We’re mostly fantasy, romance, and sci-fi (with a strong focus on lgbtq+ stories) but open to others!

#writeblr #writers of tumblr

[adarmistead]

Worked with Conner for developmental edits and she was so thorough and helpful! Plus, she highlighted all of the things she liked, as well as the things that could be improved, which is just as important.

10/10 would recommend.

ALL TYPES OF EDITING FOR ALL TYPES OF WRITING

If you need your writing edited, please contact me! I offer:

Developmental editing - big-picture feedback on things like plot/story structure, characterization, arcs, pacing, etc. You’ll get a heavily-annotated PDF plus an editorial letter summing up my thoughts and suggestions. (I annotate like we’re BFFs!)

Copy editing - editing for voice, tone, word choice, and readability, as well as grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Proofreading - once you’re totally happy with everything about your manuscript, I’ll comb through and catch any remaining errors.

Not sure what kind of editing you need? Message me or email me and let’s chat!

Genres I LOVE: LGBTQ+, romance/romcom, YA, NA, paranormal, fantasy, comedy, middle grade

If you’re interested in working with me, check out my website and shoot me a message here or an email! ([email protected])

Not in need of editing at the moment? Please reblog to help me out! Thank you!

#signal boost

[adarmistead]

Happy Wednesday! Tagging @tc-doherty, @lunafioreauthor, and @antique-symbolism to share a snippet from a WIP. Let me know if you’d like to be added to my tag list!

Hoping to finish up Rebound soon, run through for edits, and send off to betas by the end of the month!

The bed was softer than he was used to. It gave under his shoulder as he rolled away from the sunlight, burying his face in a pillow that smelled like cedar as a headache raged forth from behind his eyes.

Cedar?

He squinted, mouth dry as a desert, and even that small movement sent his headache cascading across his scalp and down his neck. Nausea stirred his belly but bile lost the battle to climb up his throat.

A shoulder. A narrow, naked shoulder, and a pale ladder of ribs inscribed with something that looked oddly like honeycomb. A sharp-boned hip that- fortunately or unfortunately - ended at the sweep of a quilt that covered the rest.

He leaned up onto his elbow carefully, glancing down at himself… Yeah. Definitely naked.

#rebound #wip wednesday

[adarmistead]

Happy WIP Wednesday! Tagging @lunafioreauthor and @tc-doherty and @antique-symbolism to share a piece of a WIP they’re working on this week! Let me know if you’d like to be added to my tag list for the future!

“Why aren’t you working?” Troy took a seat at the bar across from him, resting his chin on his hand. “You haven’t taken a single day off since I’ve known you.”

“Can’t concentrate.”

“Why can’t you concentrate, Atlas?”

He turned the plate in a circle so that the edge moved past the tip of his nose. “…He won’t call me back.”

A little trouble in paradise for Rhys and Atlas, the protagonists from Rebound.

#rebound #indie authors #writeblr #wip wednesday #aidee’s writing

[adarmistead]

How to Survive the Editing Process

Writing a first draft takes so much of your time and energy. When you finish something, celebrate your accomplishment! It’s proof of your creativity and hard work.

If you want people to read your work, then it’s time to edit.

Editing can seem scary. Daunting. Confusing.

Use these tips to get started.

1. Take a Break from Your Work

It’s so important to let your brain reset after finishing any story. Close your draft and spend the next few days or weeks doing other hobbies. When you feel ready to return with a newly energized, distanced perspective, you’ll get your best editing work done.

2. Start With Developmental Editing

Writers often think that they have to start editing line by line, looking for grammar and spelling issues. While you’re free to do that, you’re likely going to add and remove plenty of content before your final draft is done. 

Instead, start with developmental editing. Read through your work and take notes about how the larger plot points are working or not working. Does each chapter move your characters through each point on your plot outline or your visualized storyline?

This step may involve adding new scenes or removing others. It can also mean reworking old scenes so they’re less wordy, more descriptive, more actionable, or whatever you feel like is missing.

Take notes about plot holes too. You don’t have to fix them on your first read-through, but note where they’re happening and why they’re holes. You can return in your second read-through to address them.

You can also break your developmental editing into questions, like:

What is my story’s theme and does each chapter support that theme?

What does every character want and do they achieve that? Why or why not?

What motivates each character? Do they retain that motivation or develop a new one to better serve the plot? (Sometimes writers forget about initial character motivations while getting lost in the writing process. This is the time to revisit that!)

Do you have a beginning, an inciting incident, building through the middle, and payoff at the end? (You can have much more than these, but these are very basic plot mechanics to look for.)

3. Save and Start a Second Draft

After reading through your manuscript and noting the things above, create a copy for your second draft and start working on your notes. It’s good to have a separate second copy in case you want to include something from the original draft later on or just want to compare where you story started/how it ended up.

Again, you’re not supposed to worry about line work at this point. Focus on bigger-picture story issues like plot mechanics, how scenes work/don’t work, plot holes, and your theme(s).

Reminder: there’s no timeline for getting these steps done. Work when you have the energy and take breaks when you don’t. Your manuscript will stay right where you save it.

4. Reread Your Work

When you’ve worked through your list of notes, make a copy of your manuscript and start Round 3. Reread your story and start a new list of bigger-picture notes as needed. This time, the list should be shorter or include new notes that you didn’t catch before. They may also include notes for new scenes you just added.

The point of this reread is to make sure that your manuscript still works. Your plot shouldn’t have any holes, it should flow smoothly, and it should be engaging. 

Here’s a key concern for many writers: how do you edit your story without getting away from your original intentions?

Keep your eyes locked on why you write your original draft. If you make edits/scene removals or additions with that purpose or theme in mind, your story will stay on track. It may eventually look completely different than what you originally wrote (if that’s your editing journey), but the heart of it will remain the same.

Try posting your story’s purpose or theme on a sticky note attached to your monitor.

You could also write the theme in your document’s header so it appears on every page.

5. Save and Start a Fourth Draft

Yes, it’s time for another new copy that’s your official fourth draft.

Remember—you can still walk away and return to your work later! Burnout won’t result in the story you’ve been working so hard to create. Get some sleep, see some friends, enjoy your other hobbies. You’ll come back ready to go.

The fourth draft is another chance to read through your work and ensure that everything works. Your chapters should get your characters closer to your theme/purpose with each page. The scenes should flow, not repeat information, and keep you engaged.

When you have a small list of edits or none at all, it’s time to start line work.

The spell check feature of any word processing software is a lifesaver, but it’s also not perfect. You’re going to have sentence structures that spell check deems incorrect when it actually works for your writing style or character. You’ll have fake names you made up that spell check wants to change.

If you use spell check, proceed slowly. Read every sentence with a flagged issue to make sure it’s a good or bad suggestion.

You can double your line work by combing through it by yourself. Print your story and grab a highlighter or use the highlight feature on your computer. Note linework issues that you can fix with a quick edit when you get a chance, like:

Misspellings

Missing punctuation

Wrong punctuation marks

Missing words

Inconsistent capitalization or spelling

Formatting issues (spelling out numbers vs using numerals, etc.)

Using the wrong tense in some paragraphs or chapters

Inserting indents as needed

Extra spaces between paragraphs

6. Send Your Work to Beta Readers

Repeat the saving, making a copy, and editing as many times as you want. When you feel like you’ve got your strongest draft yet, you can send it to beta readers.

How you define beta readers depends on your specific situation. You may have a few writing friends who know the craft well and will read your work with a professional eye. You might have a family member or best friend who doesn’t know about the craft of writing but always reads your work.

There are also places like Reddit threads and Facebook groups where people volunteer as beta readers.

The primary reason to get fresh eyes on your work is to get notes from someone who hasn’t been working on the content for months or years. 

Their advice might not always be usable, but it’s still an important part of editing. Your beta reader might suggest points where they lost interest because your pacing slows down or point out places where you described your protagonist as having long hair when they have short hair during the rest of the story.

You’ll know which suggestions are actionable and which aren’t based on who’s speaking and how it resonates with your story’s purpose. You’ll probably get better advice from other writers who have been through editing before, but that doesn’t mean their advice will always be correct.

Check in with your story’s purpose or theme before taking action on a beta reader’s notes.

When Should You Stop Editing?

One of the final battles during your editing experience will be recognizing when you can stop working on your manuscript.

There will always be moments where you could think of a new scene or a new way to rewrite a scene. That doesn’t mean you have to!

Ask yourself these questions to finish your editing when your story is strongest:

Question 1: Have I Worked Through the Most Essential Plot Mechanics?

A finished manuscript doesn’t need more structural work. But structural, I mean that you’ll be at peace because your manuscript:

Doesn’t have any plot holes

Addresses your theme/message from beginning to end

Showcases each character’s growth through plot developments

Has natural dialogue

Has introduced and resolved conflicts (with the exception of conflicts that will continue in a sequel or series)

Has no known typos or grammar issues

Question 2: Are My Edits Improvements or Are They Inconsequential?

You could spend a lifetime swapping character names, adjusting your world map, or revising how you describe locations. You might like your edits better, but they aren’t vital to your story’s plot or character development. If there’s no substantial improvement with your edits, you’re likely done with your manuscript.

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Editing can be tricky at first, but using steps like these will help you whack through the densest parts of the work. Take your time, give yourself space to rest, and you’ll create the story you’ve been working so hard to finish!

#editing #writing process

[adarmistead]

A Quick Guide to Varying Sentence Starters

One of the things that really winds me up about my own writing is looking back and seeing a multitude of sentences beginning with “I” or “And” or “But”. I’m a messy first-drafter as it is and I do a lot of line edits, but it’s still takes up a significant portion of my time going back to change things. 

So, I’m here today to share with you the ways I try to vary my sentence starters and some tips and tricks for drafting and edits” 

-.-.-.-

We all know why it’s important to vary your sentence structure, and by extent, your sentence starters. Besides obvious intentional things such as creating tension, or specific mood/tone/atmosphere, we should be aiming to vary how we start sentences to keep the reader engaged and not it being repetitive.

This is especially important if you, like me, write in first person and begin a lot of sentences with things like “I was” or “I am” etc. Or if you have a habit of beginning sentences with characters’ names. But what other options do we have? Here are five general categories that I like to use:

ING WORDS Coughing, she pushed her way through the blaze.  Smiling, he leaned in for a kiss. 

SIMILIES (and other techniques) Like the chattering of a typewriter, their eyes flittered over the group in front.  Sweeping in like a dove, she cut through the awkward conversation.

PREPOSITION (beside, near, with, across, around, out, at, in, etc.)  On the starter’s whistle, I pushed forward.  Under the heavy fog, the streetlamp glowed valiantly 

CONNECTIVE (Because, but, and, despite, after, before, etc.) After he left, I slipped the dagger back into its brace.  But I wasn’t about to give in now.  ED WORDS Distracted, she let the ice cream fall from her hands.  Stunned by his words, they stopped in their tracks. 

.-.-.-.

Obviously you can make these examples much more complex and attuned to your own styles! There are lots of other ways you can vary your sentence openers, these are just what I personally use - so hopefully you can get some use of them! 

.-.-.-.

Hints and Tips!

Use the highlighting treatment! Go through your WIP and focus on your sentence openers. Select a different colour for each category (Blue for She/He/They/I starters, red for ED Words, yellow for ING words, as an example) and use it to help you see where you may need to add some more variation! 

This also is a great exercise to do with a published book you really enjoy or by an author you admire - it’s a great learning experience!

Use a good mix of short, long, and medium sentences! If you find that your writing feels a bit samey or dry, even with varied openers, try changing the structure of the whole sentence itself! 

Experiment and play around with word order and structure - free write for a few minutes every day and try something new! It’s all practice and even if it never sees the light of day in your WIP, it’s still a worthwhile thing to do! 

.-.-.-.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide and/or found it useful!

If you’d like to request a particular guide, please pop into my inbox and leave a request!

#writing advice #writing process

[adarmistead]

Still taking a few folks if anyone is interested!

The indie writers support group is up on discord! It’s focused on building a small network (~10) of indie authors interested in publishing original works (or who have published original works) and helping each other through the process. Let me know if you’d like a link!

[adarmistead]

ALL TYPES OF EDITING FOR ALL TYPES OF WORKS

If you need your writing edited, please contact me! I am offering extremely discounted services while I receive my first Fiverr reviews and gain experience. I am currently offering:

Beta reading - Receive thoughts on your early draft from a reader’s POV

Developmental editing - Receive detailed feedback and recommendations on plot, story structure, pacing, characterizations, and more

Line editing - I’ll comb through every sentence, editing for grammar & spelling, voice, tone, word choice, flow, etc.

Proofreading - I’ll edit your last draft for correctness, including grammar errors, misspellings, typos, and formatting

Not sure what kind(s) of editing you need? Message me! I also offer discounts on packages of two or more services from the above list.

I am up for most genres! Genres I LOVE: LGBTQ+, romance/romcom, Young Adult, New Adult, paranormal, comedy, middle grade, fantasy. I am also open to fanfics!

If you’re interested in becoming a client, please contact me on here or on Fiverr to discuss your project. For more information on my editing business as well as my own writing projects, check out my website!

Not in need of editing at the moment? Please reblog to help me out! Thank you!

#signal boost #editing

[adarmistead]

Are you currently published or publishing a novel in 2023? Are you a writeblr or active writer on tumblr?

Hey everyone! I want to dedicate two months in 2023 to reviewing the published works of indie and self-published authors of tumblr. The current state of the publishing industry frustrates me as both a consumer and future author, but I see the imaginative works of so many fellow writers through this app and hope that we can collectively shine a spotlight on the talent showcased here. My reviews will be posted across social media platforms and shared on all major book review sites (like Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Indigo).

I do not want free ARCs or copies of your work. I personally believe it’s important for us to increase the book sales of smaller, debut authors so they can find a larger audience. I will pay for all of my copies, as I have the means to do so.

I do want you to please reblog this post and share the title, link, genre, and description of the book you have published or will be publishing in 2023.

Feel free to use or adjust the below sample template, or respond with your own.

Please reblog and boost!

Author name:

Relevant social media: (any social media you would want potential readers to seek out)

Book title:

Genre:

Word count:

Summary:

Trigger warnings:

Publication date: (if known)

#boost

[adarmistead]

Room for a couple more people!

The indie writers support group is up on discord! It’s focused on building a small network (~10) of indie authors interested in publishing original works (or who have published original works) and helping each other through the process. Let me know if you’d like a link!