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Recent content by Samantha England

  1. Samantha England

    How have those who have published stories or books, published them?

    My research has led me to determine that getting traditionally published is a mixed bag with a lot of factors. Of course, if you have a novel that has gone through a bidding war with the massive numbers you've mentioned, then yes, I think the publishing house would do their very best to market...
  2. Samantha England

    Books with the fall/corruption arc?

    I can wholeheartedly agree with this and your example is really nice! Personally, though, I usually go for the more greyscale "depends on which side of the fence you're on" kind of evil, or at least that what I'm running for with a dark-fantasy story of mine. People have ambitions and so more...
  3. Samantha England

    How have those who have published stories or books, published them?

    That's interesting, as I'd been pointed more towards the explanation that, should your manuscript get purchased by a publishing house, it also gets handled by an in-house editor. That is, of course, after it's already been revised and edited before it even gets seen by a literary agent who would...
  4. Samantha England

    How have those who have published stories or books, published them?

    Self-published here! I wrote a little novella (little over 11,000-word count) and I self-published it through Amazon Createspace (though now merged with Kindle Direct Publishing; KDP) I had done a lot of research, and while most of it didn't end up helping me as I had no prior audience, no real...
  5. Samantha England

    Books with the fall/corruption arc?

    Haven't read any fantasy stories that have a 'hero to villain" character arc, but I can offer advice concerning "evil" D&D campaigns and why they're difficult to do. This is because a really good evil campaign isn't a murderous hack-n-slash, it's leading the players along a series of events...
  6. Samantha England

    Language, craft, and the literal act and art of writing

    I've been writing for almost nine years now. I started when I was thirteen, the age at which I looked at my skill set and interests in order to actually come up with a career I would be happy doing. I love reading and writing, and so I decided to become a writer (note: my dad was not as ecstatic...
  7. Samantha England

    Map Scaling

    Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions! I think putting a grid over the map (and my other maps) will help immensely concerning zooming in to create more detailed maps, as well as overlaying a map of our world to get a better perspective of what I want more precisely of my own map scaling...
  8. Samantha England

    Map Scaling

    Along with square miles and so on and so forth. Just the math and bettering my understanding of it so I can maintain consistencies between various maps of this world (and the consequently maps for my other projects). I am horrendous at math and I'm likely overthinking this whole thing - my...
  9. Samantha England

    Map Scaling

    I'm mostly concerned about consistency, especially when I want to make another map that's a closer, and more detailed, look at a particular region within the greater continent without losing the sense of scale (if that makes any sense). I do want the larger landmasses to take some time to cross...
  10. Samantha England

    Map Scaling

    So I'm having a bit of trouble with map scaling, specifically the math behind it (oh math, my most persistent foe!) I'm very into map creation and while it's not too hard to create said maps, scaling them beyond 'world', 'continental', 'regional', and 'city'/'village' is troublesome. The math...
  11. Samantha England

    Books for Market Research Purposes

    Hmmm, the only story I can think of at the moment that comes close to this is the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. It's a meaty low-fantasy series (12 books in the main series that's finished and he's currently putting out a prequel series called Ranger's Apprentice: The Early...
  12. Samantha England

    Influences

    M.L. Forman (Adventurer's Wanted Series) - Got me to write/want to be a writer and develop the goal that each story I write should be an adventure. J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings Trilogy)/John Flanagan (Ranger's Apprentice Series) - Influenced my interest and goals for sheer scale and depth...
  13. Samantha England

    What are you doing to improve your writing?

    With my writing, it's quite a bit of trial and error mixed with study of the writing process of other writers. Talking with other writers about their process is not only fascinating but a fantastic motivator as well. There are so many ways to tell a story and many more concerning how to go about...
  14. "The Birds of Corvus" Novel - Draft

    Epilogue | The End, Perhaps

    The tale now finished and Darrah’s woe now made known to Corvus, silence took its place as the Raven God mused through his thoughts on the matter. Darrah, all this time, had not looked to Corvus and now took a small measure of peace in the silence. Corvus would make his conclusion known when he...
  15. "The Birds of Corvus" Novel - Draft

    CH 6 | Of Us (Part 2)

    It had been a mere two days since the Crow Lord had last seen Asha, and the atmosphere of the ruined tower felt lonelier for it. Darrah had not known much peace as he cared for the birds that roost at the height of the tower. The shadows seemed longer and time simply went on without him. He only...
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