For the past two weeks (and a few days) I’ve been involved in a huge competition which makes use of your skills in social media as well as writing. I used a piece which involves characters from my upcoming book, Echoes of Winter but in a different setting where magic flows and wolves can fly. (But only if they have wings, of course!)
It’s been an interesting thing to do – I’ve asked people for honest reviews and mostly the feedback has been amazing! Short stories aren’t my forte but this one seems to have appealed to people for some reason. Some people didn’t think the pacing was too fast, or that I told rather than showed the reader what was happening/in the scenery. Some people believed that this was part of a larger piece (which it isn’t, but I do plan another short ‘installment’ to finish the story.)
Other people are fascinated by the ideas represented in the story. Two friends, close enough to call themselves sisters, are torn apart by the depression of one and her failure to care about the responsibilities she has. What made people even more interested was that these weren’t humans – these were wolves and yet they had emotions like those everyone feels.
Relying on other people to review and vote is a patchy business and yet I’ve managed to remain in the top ten for the last week and a half! I’ve had a lot of support from friends and writing groups, who often go and hit the tweet button. The reviews count as well, as I prefer honest reviews. If you love it, write that and more importantly…tell me why! If you hate it, again – I want to know why you hate it.
An author can only progress with the constructive criticism of the type I’ve received, so thank you to everyone who HAS reviewed it.
Interested in reading yourself? Does this synopsis sound like something you could enjoy?
‘When winter springs a challenging blizzard onto a pack besieged with doubt? What will happen to the wolves that have been chased from their home, have lost their Alpha male and are watching their Alpha female die? Well, if Kamduis has anything to do with it, she’ll have a lot to do with it! Read on for this tale which mentions the wolf goddess Luna, winged wolves and betrayal between two sisters who have no real bond but the love in their hearts and the song which joins them together as pack.’
If so, then take a look here!
http://www.ebookmall.com/author/dom-goodall
Dominique Goodall is the author of the soon to be released Echoes of Winter, book one in the Seasons of the Wolf series and a self-confessed wolf addict. She has currently been published in two anthologies by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing and is currently working on getting herself better known by sending in manuscripts for as many different anthologies as she possibly can.
As much as she loves to admit it, she never will be able to count her wolf stuff- there’s nothing left for her to be truly able to collect without her own home.
She can be friended on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/WaterSinger
Her author page on Facebook is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dominique-Goodall-author/250907358312446
The page for Echoes of Winter is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Echoes-of-Winter/355235744499607
Her twitter name is: https://twitter.com/#!/DomGoodall
And her blog can be found here: http://dominiquegoodall.wordpress.com/
And the trailer for her book is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kix63EXBW50&feature=plcp
"The Song of the Summer
King" centres around Shard, a gryfon who is just
coming of age and trying to earn his place in the
pride of Sverin, the Red King. Shard has a number of
things going against him, and worse than that, even
as he's beginning to earn a place of honor, he begins
to learn things about the pride's history and his own
past that makes him question the king, and everything
he's ever known. He begins interacting with those
that the gryfons call enemies --a gryfon exile, a
wolf . . . and when a war breaks out, he must decide
where he stands. I call it your classic fantasy
adventure--with gryfons.
There are no humans in this world.
5. Is anything in your book based on real life
experiences or purely all imagination?
I hope it's a good mix! I think most people
have more of themselves in their writing than
they realize, but if you write purely from your
own experience, that can be a shallow pool.
So read, research, daydream. I did a lot of
research on lions, eagles, wolves, and tried
to mix their animal behaviors into the story,
but they have their own culture and ways of
being because it IS a fantasy story, not an
animal behaviour manual. I researched Iceland,
because their home islands are very much like
that region, a little Viking and Norse culture.
The wolves are loosely based on the Hopi tribe,
because as I researched, their values seemed to
match what I wanted for the wolf culture. The
"themes" in the story--tolerance, courage,
individuality, the underdog, etc-- are things
that are important to me personally.
6. What was your favorite chapter (or part)
to write and why?
Oooo I don't want to spoil things. But there was
a certain scene I had in my head that's about in
the middle of the book, one of those scenes I'd
been picturing since the beginning of the story,
that was awesome fun. I think people will be able
to tell which one it is, because so much leads to
it. Some scenes are so integral, so fun and you
hope they're so powerful that you write the book
toward those scenes. Let's just say Shard meets
someone powerful, and I had great fun writing
the tension and interaction.
7. How did you come up with the title?
Well, you'll have to read the book to figure that
out!
8. Be honest, how often do you wash your hair?
Every other day.
9. Are there certain characters you would like to
go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love
to work with?
Since I'm a fantasy fan I tend to think in trilogies!
So I have the luxury of going back to every character
for a couple more books. I love the main character
Shard, of course, but sometimes others come out in
the writing who just beg for a little more time in
the spotlight. His stepfather (or nest-father) Caj,
is one of those. Some of those secondary characters
that just seem so interesting, or deeper, or have more
complicated motives than you first thought, are always
fun to go back and explore. As a reader, I always like
connecting with the secondary characters in a good book,
and I hope my readers will too.
10. Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
I could give advice all day 
Make sure you're a
reader. Read everything. Force yourself to read outside
your genre. Write. Do Nanowrimo. Finish things! The best
way to learn how to write a novel is to write a novel.
Put in your 10,000 hours of practice to earn your
mastery (That's from Seth Godin's book, 'Outliers').
Writing is just like any other profession, art, or
sport. Just because you have the ability to put words
on paper doesn't mean those are the best words you're
capable of. Push yourself. Practice. Write. Treat it
like a sport or a musical instrument. You've Got to
put in the time. Read about writing. Study.
And right now when it's so easy to self-publish, make
sure you give your work time to sit before you go
back and read over it and decide to publish, if you
go that route. You might see major changes that need
to happen, or you might come back perfectly happy with
it. But there's no rush! Remember that. There's
absolutely no rush. It's just all very exciting. I've
been writing for ten years for the pure joy of it, and
this is the story I want to show to the world. And
finally, write the first draft for yourself. Don't
worry about anyone else. It's your world, and if you
don't have fun playing in it, nobody else will.
So dive in.
You can find Jess on her
