BLOG TOUR: Once Upon A Fairytale Princess by Adrianna Morgan

Once Upon A Fairytale Princess

By Adrianna Morgan

Adrianna Morgan was born in the Bahamas. Of both West Indian and African ancestry, she was exposed to the shadowy world of the supernatural at a young age. She was blessed with a mother that knew the importance of a good ghost story making her fascinated by anything that goes bump in the night. Adrianna is obsessed with werewolves, vampires and demons, oh my! A Marine Biology teacher by day, she is still intrigued by the weird and the unusual. Currently, she has 10 books on Amazon and has challenged herself to write one full novel per month this year, although she admits she is ready to throw in the towel. Almost.  Adrianna writes Urban Fantasy, Erotica and Romance. Visit her at http://adriannamorgan.com  for more of her books.

Genre - Fantasy/ Historical Romance

Release Date - August 28, 2012

Publisher – Self Published

In a matter of moments, Ella Fitzpatrick’s life went from bad to worse. Her father’s boast pits her against every seamstress in the village all vying for the ultimate prize—guest of honor at the Prince’s ball. Once there, Ella catches the eye of the charming prince and manages to make a powerful enemy; one who is not above using magic to aid her quest. Now Ella is on the run, chasing the very villain who killed her mother ten years ago and who may be trying to kill her now. The only thing stopping Ella is her lack of knowledge about her own magical background—and Hunter, the Prince’s brooding bodyguard. Hunter Kirk has been in love with Ella since she promised to marry him when they were children. Now she is pledged to his Prince and someone might be trying to kill her. He has to get to her before the last Fitzpatrick sorceress is killed—and he loses his chance to tell her how much he loves her.

Purchase - Amazon

Guest Post:

Most Common Mistakes in Fantasy Writing

            Writing has become a new norm and a goal for almost every high school and college graduate.  Many readers are certain they could write a novel better than the author.  And they probably could, if they had the time.  Some embark upon the task of writing; sitting in coffee shops and bookstores all over the world to churn out the next bestseller.

            As great as that novel may be, one of the most common mistakes made in Fantasy writing is modeling your book too closely after your favorite read.  After “Harry Potter,” there were tons of books featuring ‘magical British children’.  Some were great, others were a dismal failure.  Similarly, after “Twilight,” there was a rash of twilight-esque books.  It became something of a joke to read which new book, especially Indie, was actually fan fiction and could be relegated to the slush pile.  My e-reader was chock full of knock-offs and although some were written very well, I could only take so much of vampiric ‘teenagers’ driving expensive cars and falling in love with the high school outcast, or depressed new girl. 

            Find some way to make your novel stand out.  If you like vampire and werewolves, great!  But produce something which is not a replica.  My “Blue Moon” Trilogy is about—you guessed it!  Werewolves!  But, as one reviewer put it, “it was a twist on how I became a werewolf.”  It’s not easy to keep your story completely original when you are writing in the same genre which you are a fan of, and it is easy to reference your favorite tomes.  However, keep in mind, those references can date your book.  If you wrote a book and ten years from now someone is reading it, are there any references which might date your story?  Beyonce Knowles supposedly once said that if she could change anything about her music, it would be the references in some songs to companies which no longer exist.

            Cliffhangers.  There is a difference between a series and a serial.  A serial has cliffhangers and keeps you on edge for the next episode.  A series had a plot which is tied up at the end of the novel but there is still some part of the story which remains unanswered for the next book, but for the most part, the problem is solved.  I learned about cliffhangers the hard way.  In my first series, book one ended with a cliffhanger.  Reviewers did not like that.  I was told, “great book, but…” so many times I wanted to scream.  It brought down ratings for what I thought was an excellent book (I might be a bit biased) but it taught me a valuable lesson in how to end my books.

            Your fantasy world should make sense.  Yes, you want to have fantastic creatures and weave this intricate world, but be careful.  You could spend so much time describing this world that the plot of the story gets lost to it.  I recently read a book where the author used about ten pages talking about the exotic world the main character was experiencing.  By the time she got back to the dialogue, I had already forgotten what the main character was even talking about.  And I did not want to go back to find out!  Take the movie “Avatar.”  With the exception of the characters being blue and a few other quirks, the planet itself was not that different from our own; trees, birds, water, and the characters were similar to what I watch on National Geographic every Sunday of indigenous people.  Keep it simple and realistic.

            Don’t lose yourself when writing your novel and try to become someone else.  You don’t have to use big words all the time and you don’t have to be a comedian.  Simply write the book you would want to read—and others will want to read it too.