The Steel Rose

 

Aspen is a five-foot-six rouge with a dodgy past; her best friend is a troll named Hannah, who she met the night she was an outcast from her pack.

What will happen to the pair of friends as they journey through life together?

https://www.wattpad.com/story/323354586?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create_story_details&wp_uname=PhoebeMCAuthor&wp_originator=qh71i2vYKe2cTS9XEuZQAybRKHzSQyeA0jEW9sy7Ra4CzrZ3%2BHArw2mtUzznOhMi3U%2FG6XVqwTAhN7RXJjF9C%2BcBLA%2BNzBf00KuK5G20E8joq2UaG5Y9WLwXmj7FloKj

Chapter one Teaser

The sky darkened as Hannah ran alongside me; who would have thought that things would have turned out like this? I turn right around the corner and let out a wolfie grin as the wind changes direction and flows through my coat. 

I love this. I think to myself as I continue running, looking back at Hannah occasionally to ensure she is keeping up. 

Hannah is not your average person; she's not a person at all. Her long golden red hair flows down her back, framing her seven-foot stature. Her bright green eyes show she is from the forest we live in, and her horns fit perfectly on top of her head. 

"Hurry up, slow coach", Hannah giggles, somehow getting in front of me.  I bark in return and hurriedly catch up with her.

I observe as the small wood cabin we call home quickly approaches.  The dark, dusty wood cracked ever so slightly from the recurrent earthquakes; the once glass window shattered all over the ground from rowdy teens who thought it was funny to destroy one of the last intact cabins here in the middle of the forest. 

The sky darkened as Hannah held her hand on the rough door handle, trying to avoid a splinter from the nearby wood and pushed her way inside. I turn back to look out over the forest. The birds chee furiously in the distance as the wind picks up, sending beautiful music into the air; I push my way past Hannah and into our cabin, shifting back into my human form. Every bone in my body cracks into place. I slowly grow in height, reaching my five foot six height; my long blonde hair flows down past my shoulders, my yellow eyes switch back to my doe brown; I quickly stretch out my back and sigh in relief at the freeing feeling. I love being in my wolf form, but having lived as a rouge for five years, I don't get to spend much time in human form anymore. 

"Better?" Hannah questions, making me nod happily.

"Much better, now let's eat. I'm starving", I laugh before heading into our kitchen; our cabin might be small, but it's perfectly built for the two of us to live in.

I still remember the day I met Hannah; it was the day I became a rouge outcast from my pack, and with nowhere to go, I ran into a village where I found Hannah, who was imprisoned in a cage but the hunters; It was the first time I had ever come across anything like her, but I saved her anyway, and we have been inseparable Ever since. 

I stare at my plate full of meat and smile at Hannah.

"Thank you", I smile graciously; if it weren't for Hannah, I would have starved to death by now Because I can't cook. 

"You're welcome, your majesty", she mocking bows making me growl lowly.

"No", I state, trying to calm my wolf down

"Sorry, I forgot," she states, making me nod, knowing that she is telling the truth. She would never do anything to annoy me on purpose, and I know it. 

"What are your plans for the rest of the night?" I question, curious as to her answer. 

"Might go and find my prince in shiny armour", she laughs before gulping back her coffee 

"I'm kidding; I will probably just go to sleep with you tonight because I'm beat after our run", she states.

"Strange, you normally go out and don't come back until the early hours of the morning", I state back, making her nod.

"Not tonight", she smiles before eating her bacon and eggs. 

I finish off my plate of meat before taking my finished dish up to the sink and rinsing it off to make it easier to clean after my coffee in the morning.

"I might go to bed early", I smile before kissing Hannahs's cheek good night and heading into my dimly lit room.

My dresser is pressed up against my left wall, my book collection placed on top of the draws, as well as a few photographs I have picked up over the years. The only family photo I have is framed and hung above my bed, which is opposite my dresser on the right wall, and my sheep skin rug is placed nicely next to my bed so that I don't get cold feet in the morning. One of my biggest pet peeves is having cold feet.

I jump into my bed and close my eyes, praying for a peaceful sleep.

Interview with a book character

Today I decided to give you an inside look at one of my WIP characters with an interview. 

This character is from my WIP titled project hideaway

 1. What is your name?

My name is Anastasia, but I go by Anna.

2. How old are you?

I am twenty human years old but I am really 60.

3. Where were you born?

I was born in a small village called crescent which was wiped out when I was eight years old. 

4. What did your father and mother do for a living?

My father was a slaughterman for one of the local farmers and my mother was a stay at home mum. 

5. Were you well off? Middle class? Impoverished?

We were neither impoverished nor middle class; we did okay for ourselves but couldn’t say we lived any sort of luxurious life. 

6. Do you have siblings? If so, what are their names and ages?

I had an older sister named Camilla who would passed away from illness when she was fifteen. 

7. Where do you fall in the birth order? The oldest, youngest? 

I am the youngest. 

8. Which one of you is your mother’s favourite? 

Camilla was my mother's favourite. 

9. Why?

She was always the golden child and the most intelligent if only she could see me now. 

10. How did you feel about that?

I wasn’t too happy about it, I went out of my way to try and impress my mother but it never worked which was my downfall. 

11. When you were a child, what was one thing you could always be sure of?

When I was younger I could always be sure that I could get away with anything I wanted because no one paid attention to me; not my family or the town. 

12. What was something you were never sure of?

I was never sure if I would ever be noticed by someone until I was ten years old when I was noticed by Jacob. 

13. Where did you grow up? Is this a place you’d go back to now? Or avoid?

I grew up in the town over from Crescent called moonlight I would avoid moonlight at all costs now because if I ever went back I would be stoned. 

14. Do you still have friends there? Or family?

Everyone from my past died a long time ago. 

15. How did you do in school? 

I never actually went to school, I was told I didn’t need to because I would never get anywhere in life but once I grew up and got away from my family I started to teach myself everything I needed to know. 

16. What was your favourite subject?

I loved to learn math it was my favourite thing to learn once I started to teach myself things I needed to know to survive with the ever-changing world. 

17. What was your greatest talent?

My greatest talent is running, I’m like a lightning bolt in the night you see me one second and the next I’m gone. 

18. What did you do badly?

I was never one for art. 

19. What is your life like at the moment?

My life at the moment is something I have pride in, I built myself up over the years to be someone I am happy with. 

30 unique character names

Sometimes we have a book idea come to us but no matter how hard and long you look you can never find the perfect name for your character. In the past, I have done a blog post on A list of character names but sometimes when you can't find the perfect name it's because your character is demanding either an uncommon or Unique name.

In this blog post, I will be going over strange character names and what they mean.

Boy names:

1. Cormoc-impure son
2. Amos-to carry; borne by God
3. Zaire-"the river that swallows all rivers"
4. Valentino-"strong"
5. Talon-"large claw pf a bird of prey"
6. Koa-"brave, bold, fearless"
7. Beckett-"beehive, bee cottage"
8. Aera-“strength of a lion.”
9. Arsenio- “strength”
10. Axl- “father of peace”

Girl names:

1. Xylenna- name meaning unknown but also means Thanks
2. Nikolina-"victor of the people"
3. Brigitta- "exalted one"
4. Clementine- "Merciful"
5. Effie- "well-spoken"
6. Arwen- "muse"
7. Caitríona- "pure"
8. Allegra- "joyful, lively"
9. Isolde-"ice, battle"
10. Thais- "beloved, bandage"

Names that could be unisex:

1. Abendrot- "The colour of the sky while the sun is setting"
2. Ali - "Elevated or champion"
3. Avery - "Elf king."
4. Azure - "Bright blue"
5. Aeonian- "eternal, everlasting"
6. Nohea-"Beautiful"
7. Armani-"Warrior"
8. Lennox-"with many elm trees"
9. Tatum-"cheerful bringer of joy"
10. Baylor-"one who delivers goods"

How many words I wrote in 2020

Back in 2019, I started tracking how many words I could write in a year. I wasn't really keeping an eye on what days I was writing and how many words I was actually writing I just went off the books I had started that year to work out how many words I wrote and as you all know in 2019 I wrote 300,000 words in total.  

In 2020 I was all over the place, I went through a terrible breakup and lost all interest in writing. The world went into lockdown, and I failed all three NaNoWriMos. 

I focused a lot on editing my hybrid series as well as getting Wrongful Love ready for publishing (out now) I also moved three times in the span of fourish months, so I wasn't really writing many words. I failed almost all my writing goals, but I did write a total of 189,447. It wasn't how many words I wanted to get written, but it is better than nothing.

How many words if you were tracking did you write last year? Last year was a challenging year for everyone, so no matter how many words you wrote, it is one step closer to the end game.

If you would like to purchase Wrongful Love, the paperback is available on Lulu, and paperback and ebook are available on amazon.

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Lulu

Four Things That I Wish I Knew About Writing

There is a lot I wish I knew before I started writing so I have compiled some of them to help you.

One of the major things I wish I knew is that your first draft will never be perfect and just because it sucks doesn't mean it can't be great. this was something that took me forever to understand because for the longest time I would think my writing was amazing and then I would come back and read it and it is garbage so I would throw it out instead of editing and trying to make it better.

Talking about it is so much easier. I have spent hours and hours talking to my family and even friends about the amazing book I am writing or thought of and even discuss every little detail but the minute I went to write I couldn't find the right words, how to write it the way I pictured it in my head. which brings me onto the new thing I wish I knew

Perfection isn't key, now obviously if your book doesn't have spelling mistakes it would be so much easier in the long run to edit but the first draft is just you telling yourself the story, you can edit it the way you want the book to be once you have written the book so it is better to write half pie ideas and plots then not writing at all because you want it to be perfect from the start.

Not everyone will like your work and that's okay. when you are a writer rejection is a big part of it from agents, publishing houses, friends, family and readers alike. your book won't be for everyone and there will always be at least one hater who will try and destroy your confidence but no matter what you do there will be haters and as long as you love your book don't worry what others think.

What is something that you wish you knew?

How to make a book bible/ series bible

making a book bible was foreign to me not that long ago, I didn't even know what they were but now I have made five-book bibles for different stories and they are amazing so here is some information on them and how to make your own.

A book bible also known as a series bible is a place like a folder or a notebook where you keep all books information. so this is the place where to write their names, what they look like hobbies and all of that so it doesn't randomly change in the middle of book one or even in the third book of your series.

even if you are a Panster like me it can be really beneficial to have one of these, you don't need to have a book outline in this just the small details you need to remember so you dont randomly change something like eye colour throughout the books.

things you should have/what I have in a book/series bible are

• series name
• start and end date of the book
• mini blurb about each book
• word count per chapter
• goals for the book (word/chapter etc.)
• key information like things that need to go into the next book

• characters name
• age
• race/kind 
• hair/eye/skin colour
• height/ build
• marks on the body (tattoos, scars etc.)
• skills and abilities
• personality
• living situation
• family
• occupation
• history
• life experience
• education
• history

and there you have it, I book these now for all my book series and even just some of my stand-alone books that I am forgetting a lot of information. these can be done digitally or even physically all up to you.