Day 31: Why I Love Halloween

Probably a question to those of you who have read more than one post through this whole endeavour is why did I decide to do this 31 days of Blogtober challenge?

Well, there are a couple of reasons for it.

The first is that because I’m just starting up on this blog and want to allow my readers to get to know me a little a better. I’m a huge fan of transparency, and this seemed like a really good way of helping with that. So, I’m trying to put myself out there so you guys can know who I am and where I’m coming from.

The second reason is that I love Halloween and everything to do with fall, and I thought this was a really good idea. And I’ll be honest, this was a lot of fun.

Now, as to why I love Halloween.

It’s a magical time of the year for me. As a kid dressing up and getting mountains of candy. As I got older and developed a love for horror and the supernatural it became more interesting. The veil between worlds is thinner tonight than is usually is, after all.

I’ve always liked dressing up as someone else and pretending to be someone who isn’t me. I’ve loved the idea of magic and creatures you wouldn’t normally think to exist, existing.

I love pumpkins. I just love everything having to do with it. I could go on and on for a very long time, but eventually, I’d get frustrated because I can’t properly explain all of my reasoning for it. I just love everything about it, it brings up really good memories. I love the aesthetic. Just, everything about it I love.

Thank you for joining me for the LAST DAY of my Blogtober challenge, which was me posting a fall or Halloween themed post every day for the month of October. As of today, all of these posts will be up for you to look through as you like if you’re interested. I will be resuming my regular posting schedule of one logical post on Fridays and additional bonus content throughout the week as things come up. I hope all of you have a happy and safe Halloween, and you get a lot of candy. I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

Day 22: 10 Facts About Me

Now that I think about this, I should have planned to have this on the 10th just for OCD-ness.

I think this is a tag, but I’m not sure. Basically, from what I know you just list off 10 random things about you that are true. If this is a tag, someone please let me know so I can cite the actual source of this.

But, without further ado, 10 facts about me.

1. I’m a Ravenclaw.
2. I’m an Aries.
3. I’m an Introvert
4. I am a middle child, I have an older sister and a younger brother.
5. My favourite holiday is Halloween(though it’s much more a season to me then it is a holiday)
6. I will only drink coffee if it’s flavoured or has a flavoured creamer in it and lots of sugar.
7. My favourite pokemon is Eevee.
8. I’m dyslexic.
9. I attended culinary school for a semester before dropping out. I found it wasn’t for me, and afterward began the pursuit of my literary career.
10. After a bad encounter I had with a cat when I was a kid, I’m now kind of scared of/anxious about cats. Especially when their claws are out.

And there we have it. If this is a tag game then I tag all you guys reading who would like to do this. And if not, and you still want to, do it. I encourage it.

Thank you so much for joining me for day 22 of my Blogtober challenge, which is where I post a fall or Halloween themed post every day for the month of October. Again, this isn’t so much either of those, but what you gonna do? If you like this come back tomorrow and see what I have for you then. Or, if it’s after the 31st then all of these are up for you to look at if you would like.

I hope you are having a great day/afternoon/evening/night, and I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

Day 9: Getting to Know the Writer Tag

This is going to be the first of a few tag games I do here, specifically this month. This one I got from a tumblr user As Flies to Wanton Blogs(check out the original post and its poster here if you’re interested —>>> https://ofvisitorsthefairest.tumblr.com/post/174340788743/writeblr-friends ).

For those of you who are unfamiliar to tag games, basically what they are is you answer the questions and then tag people. If you are tagged by a person who has already done this tag then you need to do it as well. Depending on the tag there might be additional things you need to do, like come up with your own questions or something like that. This one however, is just answer the questions and tag people you want to get to know.

So, without further a due let’s go!

1. What genre(s) do you write?

I write a lot of fantasy, with romantic subplots. Recently, for one of my wips I have dabbled into action and adventure. Just about everything I write, however, tends to have darker themes or elements in it.

2. What’s on your reading wish list?

I think I’m going to save everyone the grief and just put a link to my goodreads here —>>> https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/86372138

If you’re interested in seeing what I want to read or have read, check it out. I’m not going to force anyone who doesn’t want to, but it’s there if you’re really curious.

3.Your favourite character from your current WIP?

From ‘Realm of the Demon Empress’ I really like Lord Syler. He’s a great character and his actions really challenge your views on how Demons actually act, especially to their loved ones.

From my newest wip, ‘Trials for the Princess Ryanne’ I have to say I really love Blair. Blair comes from a small village near the mountains, she comes from a family of hunters, she has a couple of older sisters who are all married. She’s almost eighteen, and as such her father’s trying to marry her off as well. She doesn’t want this, she’s really taken to her father’s trade and became an amazing hunter, basically becoming a shadow in the forest. She’s sarcastic, agile, adaptable, she doesn’t have a lot of respect for a lot of people, especially right off the bat, but after she gets to know a person and they earn her respect they have it and she’s rather loyal. This is especially evident with the MC, Sloan; whom, as much as I like, she’s not my favourite character.

Those are my favourite. I’ll rephrase, those are my favourites without giving spoilers right now.

4. Some writing tropes you like

I love a good underdog story. There is nothing more satisfying to me than the struggle and the eventual success.

I also love found families. These usually go hand in hand with underdog stories in my experience, but I really do love it. It goes to show that you can choose your family. Family is not restricted to those who are related to you by blood.

I also really like when there are two characters who constantly pick on one another and have dorky nicknames and they just throw insults back and forth at one another, but at the end of the day they are the first one to throw themselves in front of a bullet for the other.

5. The story behind your WIP’s name

I choose titles once I’m done with the first or second draft of my wip, and I’ll select words that are constantly coming up and repeating themselves.  So, with ‘Realm of the Demon Empress’, Realm came up at least once in a chapter; this was because there were different Realms. The Human Realm. The Demon Realm. The Realms under the South-Eastern stars. Realm is everywhere. Demon comes up a lot as well, and the reason I chose to include this in the title, I cannot say because spoilers. Empress doesn’t become prominent until near the end of the book, when Amilia gains that title… somehow.

So, there isn’t really a story behind it so much as it just fit. Sorry if that’s not a great answer.

6. Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Can I say I’m both?

I am a plotter because I need a time line or an outline to help keep me on task because my mind has a tendency to wander. So I need that to stop me from taking the story off in a completely different direction or getting lost along the way.

I’m also a pantser because, while I have an outline, it’s rather bare bones. It’s really only the big, main points that I want to accomplish in this scene that’s on the outline. And I’ll just fill in the blanks as I go. It could take me three sentences to get from one point to the other, it could take me six pages. I might realize I need to include this and forgot to put it in so I’m going to put it in here. I don’t know.

So, yeah. I think I’m both.

7. Do you post your work somewhere?

Here! Pretty much the main reason I made this site. I also post bonus content sometimes on my tumblr (check me out —>>> https://pir8chickk18.tumblr.com/ ).

8. Do you also read/write fanfic? If yes, for the same genres as what you write?

Reading and writing fanfic is actually how I discovered my love of writing. I have/had a fanfic blog that I’ve been posting regularly on until recently(I needed to focus my energy more on my work and building my author platform, which is why I stopped). As for the genres, I’m taking this as the original pieces I’m writing fanfic for. In which case, yes. Action, adventure, fantasy/not our world, with darker elements in them.

9. Your favourite dessert. Because why not.

Okay! Umm, I really like ice cream. But something I had once was tiramisu, which is amazing. So, I’m going to say that!

Alright, now that I’m done I’m tagging all of who are reading this to do this too. You can do this on your blog, on tumblr, on some other platform. Just please remember to come back here and post a link to your answers in the comments here, I would love to see them.

Thank you so much for joining me for day 9 of my October 2018 Blogger Challenge, which is where I post a fall or Halloween themed post for the entire month of October. If you liked what you saw here today you can come back tomorrow to see what I have for you. Or, if it’s after the 31st, all of these are up and you can check them all out. I hope you’re having a great day/afternoon/evening/night, and I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn

What I’m Doing

I’ve always loved the idea of transparency when it comes to connecting with an artist. It’s all well and good to believe and know that someone is a professional and can produce amazing work, not to say that what I produce could give Shakespeare a run for his money, but it’s nice to know that this person is also human; with flaws, fears, doubts, and insecurities.

I have quite a few of all of these.

I’ve recently started my journey in building up my author platform, and, to be quite frank about it, I have no idea what I am doing in the least.

It’s easy to say to watch a bunch of videos on Youtube or look for blogs and sites on the web that can give you tips. But that’s the issue. There is such a saturation of information, opinions, reviews, options.

It’s amazing that we live in a world where we have access to these option and knowledge and aren’t just running blind, but it can get very overwhelming, very quickly.

I’ve recently just started looking into different publishing houses that I might want to query, not because I’m ready yet to start submitting my manuscript, but because I wanted to assess my options and find out what’s available.

I have gone to dozens of sights, probably leaning towards a hundred, just trying to find a house that works with new authors and, beyond that, publish fantasy. There aren’t too many from what I’ve seen who are doing that right now from new authors anyway.

It’s very much a saturation of information, and, at times, you can’t sift through that information at all.

I’m not trying to say this complain, I just wanted to get that off of my chest and let you know about the stress that I’ve undergone the past couple of months. There will me more from me in the future, and if you’re interested in that then please follow this blog.

I will see you soon.

-T.R. Flynn