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A New Name in Fantasy

I have some very exciting news. For those that have been following my writing journey, you shall remember my deal to publish my first novel, To Wield the Stars with publisher Fiction Vortex, however, in short, it went bust from COV-19.

And just as the Phoenix

rose from the ashes,

she too will rise.

Returning from the flames,

More beautiful than before.

Shannon Heartz

As a member of the story verse with other authors, we were hung out to dry with meaningless contracts until our Head proposed an idea. To become a publisher. Thus, Of Metal and Magic Publishing was born. Keep reading below to find out how to get FREE BOOKS!

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Seven Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish

Publishing is a competitive industry whether you self-publish or go the traditional route. Polishing your manuscript until it’s the best it can be is even more important for the self-published author. When you publish your own work, you likely don’t have an entire team of editors and industry experts to help bring your book to market.

If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list to recieve exclusive offers, free stories and extracts from my novel. Click the link below to be taken to my sign-up page.

Mailing List

Below are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.

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Why and How Should Authors Build a Mailing List?

I’ve done a bit of research into why authors need mailing lists. If you have a strong mailing list, you will sell books. If you don’t, you might, but you might not. Therefore, your best effort is spent building an email list so you can sell more books.

With an email list, you can promote and share new ideas, products, and services and then direct readers to a place where they can make the purchase. I began building my mailing list two months ago and it sits at a comfortable number but I regret not starting when I created this blog.

If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list to recieve exclusive offers, free stories and extracts from my novel. Click the link below to be taken to my sign-up page.

Mailing List

To continue from the title, below are Why and How Authors Should Build A Mailing List. 

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Five Ways To Annoy Your Reader

At times it is difficult being a writer and a reader, since looking at novels with a critical eye can ruin the fun of reading. But reading often what makes our writing stronger. Over the years I’ve discovered similarities between the works that irritate me at best and cause me to lose interest and stop reading at worst.

Below, in no particular order, are five things writers (maybe including myself) do that annoy reader:

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Should I Use Reddit?

I spoke to a few people about Reddit and what it actually is. If you don’t use Reddit or you don’t know what it is. Reddit is a web content rating and discussion website. Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down by other members.

Before I went and created an account, DouglasWTSmith, I did a bit of research of what content was being post on there. I was surprised at the involvement of people answering the questions and strict rules each subreddit has to prevent spammers and unrelated content.

Three things to consider before you sign up.

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Five Reasons Readers Should Leave Book Reviews

To begin, this is a call-out for Book Reviewers for the Of Metal and Magic: Compendium One

To begin the topic of the title, I started the discussion in a recent post, Of Metal and Magic: Compendium One and Book Reviews but I wanted to dive deeper into the topic of book reviews and how it can help authors.

Below are Five Reason Readers Should Post Book Reviews.

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Be Focused and Finish Your Novel

It’s funny. I promised I would attempt to post regularly on my blog––and it’s not the first time I’ve made that promise with my followers. Each time I apologize but this time: I’m not sorry.

Okay, maybe I am a little bit but over the past months, I devised a writing routine that works for my lifestyle and busy schedule. It has taken me a long time to work out the best and most productive writing life for me.

It might take writers and authors days, weeks, months or years to work it out but once you work it out, you don’t want to break that cycle. I don’t want to break the writing cycle I’ve created for me.

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Four Ways to Explore Multiple Point of Views

In the last posts, I discuss Seven Ways To Add Subplot To Your Story and Four Ways to Build Suspense in Your Novel.

The most common way authors explore subplot and build tension is through multiple points of view. Multiple viewpoints can build the suspense for the protagonist, for example, in Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers. Having Merry and Pippin encounter the Ent in the Fangorn forest and deal with the source of Sauron’s army whilst Aragon, Legolas and Gimli are cornered in Helm’s deep with the people of Rohan, add pressure for Frodo and Sam to make it Mordor and destroy the ring.

Each point of view of the story should have a unique voice. Below are four exercises to challenge yourself and explore new ways to think about your point of view writing.

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Seven Ways To Add Subplot To Your Story

In previous posts, I discussed how to foreshadow and how to add suspense to your novel.

One of the points I intentionally left out was the subplot.

A subplot is an excellent tool for writers adding suspense and character dimension to their novel. The best authors know that much of a novel’s success depends on the interplay of plot and subplot. If your plot seems to be falling flat, or if your story starts to resonate as too one-note, it could be that a well-woven subplot is just what you need to add the kind of complexity and tension that readers crave.

When writers and authors begin to view subplots as material to weave into our main action, it becomes easier to see the strands of the plot individually—and to feel confident handling them.

I have outlined below seven ways to add a subplot to your story.

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Four Ways to Build Suspense in Your Novel

For many writers and readers, the suspense is a genre. However, it is also a key element in all stories—if you want your readers to keep reading, that is.

Tools for creating suspense belong in every writer’s toolkit because they help arouse expectation or uncertainty about what’s going to happen.

And that worry pulls readers deeper into your story, whether it’s fantasy, thriller, science-fiction, literary fiction or any other genre.

Below are four ways to help add suspense to your novel, no matter where you’re at in the writing process, from drafting to the fourth round of editing (like me).

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