Columbines Tale Write a Book Series Book Giveaway

Columbines TaleColumbines Tale (The Tales of Tarya #2) by Rachel Nightingale. Its published by Odyssey Books.

 “Suspense, magic, fantasy tale of intrigue.”…  Karen Tyrrell (me)

Meet Rachel Nightingale, author of Columbines Tale and The Tales of Tarya series.

Rachel Nightingale is a writer, playwright, educator and actor. With a passion for storytelling and the theatre, her first fantasy series centres on both.

Columbines Tale Blurb

For three hundred years the travelling actors of Litonya roamed the land entertaining crowds. But secretly leaving devastation in their wake. Is Mina the only person with the magical power to stop them?

In the ethereal otherworld of Tarya, Mina begins to master the rare, inexplicable powers attached to her gift for storytelling. She discovers she can touch dreams, influence the real world, and perhaps find out who is manipulating Tarya for dark purposes. In the waking world Mina is on the run, beset by divided loyalties between the travellers. She’s caught between two men she could love, and a brother who desperately needs her help.

Columbines Tale

Columbines Tale How to Write a Book Series – Interview by Karen Tyrrell

  1. Columbines Tale is book 2 of the Tales of Tarya series. In 20 words can you explain what happened in book 1, Harlequin’s Riddle?

When Mina discovered the secret behind the performances of the travelling players, she found herself in a lot of danger.

  1. How did you to develop Mina’s story in book 2?

In the second book Mina is still looking for her missing brother, but she is also driven by a need to undo the damage done by at least one of the travelling players. She needs to work out the best way to do this, but this leads her to even more hidden secrets about the world of artisans.

  1. How did you plan your entire book series so you would have enough content for a series?

At the heart of the series is a mystery – who is doing terrible things in the name of art, and why? Mina is basically uncovering the clues to answer those questions, one piece at a time. She can only find out new pieces of the puzzle as she gets better at travelling in Tarya and understanding what she is seeing.

To do that, she has to develop her own gifts as a storyteller. All of that takes time. In planning the series, I had to work backwards – I had to know what’s really going on. Then I worked out what to reveal when, and fit that in with Mina’s journey. And of course, Mina’s growing up and travelling for the first time. So there are other discoveries too, including romance.

 

  1. How do you keep tabs on your character traits, and details of the settings so they remain consistent through the whole book series?

I have a fairly big word document that I’ve set up with headings so I can jump to the right section straight away. That sets out all my characters, relevant history, physical places, and places within Tarya as well. Writing a story over three books, continuity is so important, so I’m constantly going back and double-checking what something looks like, or what powers are possible in different parts of Tarya.

If I think I can hold it all in my head, I’m going to get something wrong, like when Nadia (the cover artist) checked Mina’s eye colour with me for the second cover and I gave her Miranda’s eye colour instead! Luckily a dash of paint and it was easily fixed!

5. Can you please share 5 tips on how to write an intriguing book series?

  • If you’re writing a story over several books you definitely need to plot. Don’t fly by the seat of your pants. If you plan it all out, you can put little clues into the first book that will only make sense once the mystery is solved in the final book. That’s the sort of thing I find intriguing.
  • Having interesting characters who grow and change will also help – otherwise people will get bored with following their adventures, no matter how exciting the events.
  • I think posing questions and not answering them straight away is good – it keeps people curious. Is Mina ever going to find her brother? Who tried to kill her?
  • Knowing how to pace the story is also important. With three books you can include a lot more, but you don’t want it to drag, so you need to keep it moving. Okay, that’s four!
  • Make the relationships interesting I’m already getting feedback after the second book about Mina’s connection with a couple of different characters, and what’s going to happen there, but I can’t say anything more because… spoilers!
  • Old inkstand with feather near scroll and Venezian mask on canvas background.

Columbines Tale Books on Tour Schedule

Monday Oct 22    www.justkidslit.com/blog

Monday Oct 22  www.maureeneppen.com

Tuesday Oct 23  www.karentyrrell.com HERE

Thursday Oct 25  www.readforfun.com.au

Friday Oct 26 www.littlebigreads.com

Monday Oct 29 http://sharingyourstory.com.au/

Tuesday Oct 30 www.carolyndenman.com

Wednesday Oct 31 blog.boomerangbooks.com.au

Thursday Nov 1 nikkireads.blog.com

Friday Nov 2  www.intheirownwrite.wordpress.com

Enquiries www.justkidslit.com/books-on-tour.

Columbines Tale Book Giveaways

Win a FREE ebook of Columbine’s Tale by leaving a comment below on why you want to win a copy. 2 FREE copies to be won.

This is a game of skill not chance. Competition open to anyone around the world. Winners announced next Friday 2 Nov 5 pm.

Winners Columbines Tale

Announcing the winners of Columbines Tales Book Giveaway

Ani Peters

Georgina Ballantine

I’ll be in contact soon about your prize

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