Category: Books and Affiliated

Books and Affiliated

The Flower Letters

FanTC

Can you believe it? I’m so pissed off at poorly written secret codes, that it brought me back to my blog, haha!

I purchased a series of Flower Letters from an Instagram ad. This one is the Norah Aven Chronicles. I’m 3 letters in and so far, they are fun, creative, and interesting. I’m not here to trash the author. I think her business is incredibly awesome and I’ll be purchasing more for sure.

BUT… And here’s the nuisance. This story has a decoder key and each letter provides a secret message from one character to another. This was absolutely thrilling at first, until I started decoding the first message. It threw me aaalll the way back to middle school when cereal boxes had toys and one was a decoder ring or something. I’m pretty sure Calvin & Hobbes even has a comic strip about this specific toy.

The “secret message” they always gave you was some drivel like “congratulations! You’ve decoded the message!” And even as a kid, I felt terrible miffed by the let down.

Well, here I am as an adult TERRIBLY MIFFED that these secret messages I’m wasting time and brain matter on are ABSOLUTELY USELESS DRIVEL. If I could say anything to the author (besides I LOVE YOU, THIS IS AWESOME, PLEASE KEEP WRITING MORE LETTERS) it would be:

… For real? … You thought these messages were a good idea? Who is your editor? I would like to slap them.

So here I am, saving some annoyed reader the frustration of decoding yet another useless message.

And, trust me, I thought about ignoring them all together…

But I can’t.

Curiosity always gets the best of me.

Every two weeks, I’ll receive a new letter. And every two weeks, I’ll decode it and post it here.

I hope you find this when you need it.

This has been,

FTC

#Letter2 #TheFlowerLetters #NorahAven #TheSecretLanguageOfJack #DrJackALukens #Books #Letters #BookMail #Adventure #SecretMessage #SecretLanguage #DecoderKey

Books and Affiliated

I’m Back!

FanTC

We’re kicking off the summer with a brand new project I’m excited to show you guys. The old Muse has returned with a fun series of stories I’m fondly calling “Forgotten Fairy Tales,” stories of enchanted women living alone in the wild who graciously answer the summons of knights and questers.

First in the series is The Story of Loam which will be dropping on Amazon this summer. Keep an eye out for a pre-order link!

This has been,

Fanny T Crispin

Books and Affiliated, Raw

Be Your Own Hero

FanTC

It’s pretty evident in my writing. The heroine always needs someone to help her defeat the villain. She builds a team throughout the story, so she’s not doing the journey alone.

Which is fine. Everyone needs a team backing them up. But the reality is, this was a direct correlation to my psyche at the time. I wasn’t strong enough to fight my battles. My heroines betrayed my own weaknesses.

It took challenging myself in my job and gaining confidence in my career to prove that my MC could do the same. I interviewed tough. I got my sh** together. I show cased my accomplishments without reservation. It’s true the old saying that a writer needs to become the person they need to be to write the book they need to write. I’m finally the person I need to be to write empowered female characters. I finally feel empowered in my own story.

And you should be empowered in your story. After all, you’re a hero, not a passing placeholder. Live like a hero.

This has been,

FanTC

Books and Affiliated

Mystery Book!

FanTC

Here’s a fun challenge! I’m going to release a book for FREE right here in my blog. But there’s a catch… You’ll need to pay attention and look sharp! A secret message will be published on my Ko‑fi page which will give you the date for each new chapter. They’ll be published at midnight in the gloaming hour when all the great mischief happens. Each chapter will only be available for 13 days, so be quick! If you’re very clever, you’ll decode the message right away.

Now for the story: Where do we begin? Shall we start with the day Jezelle bested the Prince of Callevale and utterly humiliated him? Or maybe when Rosetta discovered her knack for Black Magic? Or perhaps we could start with the mysterious summons from the nocturnal Master Xavier?



There’s a lot to unpack in this tale of deception and lies. Maybe it would be best to begin at the beginning. After all, that’s where all great stories start.



See you soon, wizards…



FanTC

PS Follow on Twitter for more clues. I need 300 followers to get this mystery party started!

Books and Affiliated

Wanna Trade?

FanTC

In the writing circle, you may have heard these words in the context of manuscripts and storylines. I’ve come to realize it’s inevitable. Even I during my energized and excitable years have uttered the suggestion.

I don’t offer it anymore. Part of me is worried someone may steal my ideas if it’s not a trusted beta reader or friend. But let’s be raw here for a moment, because who doesn’t want to share their work for a potential sneak peak at someone else’s?

I don’t offer to swap manuscripts because in the past I have always put in more than I receive. There wasn’t a single trade in which the other party failed to complete their end of the bargain. (My current beta readers excluded.)

Because you see, it’s more than just reading someone’s work. Manuscript swap or beta reading comes with a level of responsibility and expectation: feedback, constructive comments, and overall review.

I take it back, ONE instance left me brutally scarred from the ordeal because they criticised TOO much. That’s also a potential result. I get it, the story isn’t your pace, not your style, but at least be gentle. Writers have fragile egos in the early years.

I probably won’t manuscript swap with you. I’ve shelved my beta reading hat for the time being. But if you want to talk about your work and troubleshoot a scene, I’m here.

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin