Category: Beta Reading

Beta Readers, Sci-Fi and Urban Fantasy

On February 25, 2019

In Beta Reading, Cill Darae Volume Five, Ramblings, Self-Publishing

Beta Readers

Cill Darae, Volume 5 of the New Druids Series is almost through the second draft. I have a few beta readers lined up and I am still interested in more. Beta Reading is a task. It requires a critical mind and sense of what good epic fantasy is all about. If you are interested send me an email requested to be considered and why you think you are a good fit.

I’ve had the good and the bad with beta readers. A few I consider exceptional. Their feedback to me was invaluable and I’m so glad to have met these people. Some simply took my novels and that was it. Beta reading is critical to authors; it is through the back and forth that a novel starts to polish. Freamhaigh was the novel that saw the most feedback from beta readers and I find it stands above my other novels. So please, if interested, shoot me an email at donalddallan@gmail.com

Urban Fantasy

I adore urban fantasy. Its my dirty little secret. There is something about reading fantasy in a modern, urban setting that I really, really enjoy. There are some truly talented authors writing urban fantasy today [shoot me an email and I will share with you my list of favourite authors in this genre]. I would love to be one. I’ve wanted to write something in this genre for a while now and I think I have the start of a concept. That’s all: just a concept. The New Druids series was always much more than a concept: I had visualised the entire series, you see, almost in one painful flash of insight.

So, I need to flush out my urban fantasy idea a little (okay, a lot) more. Then I am going to try traditional publishing. I am prepared for rejection. I feel I have already become an accomplished author and have nothing to prove to myself. If it fails the big houses, then I will self-publish, again. The premise, in case you are curious, is a man finds a single torn page hidden inside an old book. It contains a spell for finding things, written in old English. He tries it, and it works. Then he wants more spells. But there is another group(s) looking for the same thing. And another trying to wipe magic from the world. And history, ancient history, from Arthurian legend starts to expose itself [with a nod to Mary Stewart]. Dun dun dun!

Anyway, that’s the premise. It doesn’t sound like much, but with my imagination, I am sure it is going somewhere interesting! I can say that I love my heroes simple: Honest people like you and me that suddenly find themselves having to do something extraordinary. And not knowing why, or how. Not like a certain series where the main characters are all omnipotent demigods. They would have a problem, struggle through chapters and chapters and then suddenly realise: “Hey, we’re gods…” and snap their fingers. Yes, I hated the Belgariad… The struggle is real, dammit!

Science Fiction

I still have a sci-fi novel on the back burner. It is the prequel to the New Druids series, but set in today’s time. Yes. I have a sci-fi novel that prequels my fantasy world. I had flushed this story out (single novel) a number of years ago. Then I wrote myself into a corner by writing something truly horrible (I had an AI carrying on a conversation with the protagonist’s subconscious…shudder). Happily, the New Druids series sprouted from that seed. But, I need to write it and I will. It’s not a truly happy ending kind of book. It’s a little On The Beach, if you know what I mean. It yells at me for not writing it. It has an attitude. Nasty thing.

Freamhaigh First Draft Completed

By donald

On April 2, 2018

In Beta Reading, Freamhaigh Volume Four, Website

I am pleased to report that my first draft of Freamhaigh, Volume Four of the New Druids series was completed on 1 April (and that’s not an April Fools prank). I’m sitting at 95K words and that’s perfect I think. I’ve started the Second Draft and finally managed to get the compiler of Scrivener 3 to produce something reasonably close to my old published formats. That’s quite the relief for me; Scrivener 3 is a beautiful program but the new compiler is simply not user-friendly. Now I know I can produce a novel I can publish.Other

I can confirm that Freamhaigh completes the Will Arbor main storyline. I find it quite amazing that the story I envisaged over four years ago is now completed. As I wrote it filled and swelled and now the work is done. Of course, I have created a large world and I have started a new storyline in the last novel and push it off in Freamhaigh. The New Druids is a series and I will keep writing them so long as I have something to write about.

I am pleased with Freamhaigh. The conclusion of the Will Arbor story worked out better than I hoped and I had one of those “wow” moments when all the little threads I had put in the novels came together. It started as a “what if” kind of idea, I had a confrontation in mind, and that grew to four novels. I hope everyone likes what I created. It may surprise some readers, but I if you’ve read my novels you probably should have seen it coming!

Other News: I have confirmed some excellent Beta Readers for Freamhaigh and sent them my other novels. Their enthusiasm warms my heart and I hope to get the Second Draft in their hands by end of April. Once I have their feedback and make corrections I can push to get to Final Draft. I plan to publish end-May 2018.

Website: Yeah, I know. It sucks right now. I’m working on it but my skills are not leet. It’s an upward climb. Please be patient.

Thanks for reading.

Ciao.

Duilleog Second Edition

By donald

On February 13, 2016

In Beta Reading, Craobh Volume Two, Duilleog Volume One

Duilleog cover with Global Ebook Award Nominee badge.

Duilleog Second Edition

Dear readers, some good news about the Second Edition. Amazon has approved the Duilleog Second Edition. However, because the changes were considered minor in nature they will not be sending an email out to people. Instead, you will need to manually do this by logging into your Kindle account on Amazon, hover over “Shop by Department“, move down to “Kindle E-Readers & Books” and slide your mouse over to click on “Manage Your Content and Devices“. Under the Contents tab, look for Duilleog and click on the update selection. Note, if you had previously turned on “Automatic updates” under the Settings tab, the new version will be sent to you, automatically. I have confirmed this with my own copy.

Why have this convoluted process? The answer: Amazon will not automatically push new content to subscribers unless they have already selected that option. The reason being that readers can highlight and make notes on their Kindles and any new update will wipe anything they entered into the book. “What?” you ask. “People make notes? Whatever for?” I can only tell you to ask a student who reads her/his textbooks on a Kindle. That should answer your questions.

Why should you care about this second edition of Duilleog? Well, I moved the extract to my second novel into the first one as an Epilogue and in so doing I also added a bit of content to it. This Second Edition is arguably a much cleaner version and has a few missed typos corrected. If you purchased Duilleog through the Amazon Print on Demand service, CreateSpace, then I’m sorry you have missed the content. The good news is that I am including it in Craobh before the novel begins. So when you purchase the next book you will see the newer content.

Octopus Books

In other news, Octopus Books on Third Avenue in the Glebe area of Ottawa, Canada has graciously agreed to display Duilleog (Second Edition) in their store. If you are in Ottawa and want a trade paperback version of Duilleog then please stop by, buy the book, and then tell the owners how much you adore the writing of Donald D. Allan. Heh. It’s a gorgeous store that focuses on Independent Writers. So I really like them, too. It is such a perfect store for the Glebe area. Stop by even is you don’t want to buy my book and have a nice browse. You’ll love it. You can’t imagine all the wonderful titles they carry.

Beta Readers

Well, I have seven beta readers all lined up for Craobh. I have given them access to Craobh: Part Three (first half of the novel) and can’t wait for them to tell me what they think. I should have done this with Duilleog. I am so very thankful to these folks. I’ll name them when/if they allow me to. They are friends, family and strangers. Perfect mix. I still will welcome more beta readers, so if you are interested please drop me a line at donalddallan@gmail.com.