Hell’s Gate and Forging the Blade, Second Edition, Are Now Available on Amazon!

Posted 2 CommentsPosted in Forging the Blade, Getting Published, Hell's Gate, Mainly by Moonlight

You have no idea how happy I am to announce that Hell’s Gate, the book I’ve been working on for the past three years, and a much better version of Forging the Blade are now nestled snugly beside the second book, Mainly by Moonlight, on Amazon. They are ready to read in either paperback or eBook format. It was a long, head-banging process. If someone had told me how difficult and confusing it is to set up a series with a second edition as one of the titles for Amazon books, I would never have believed them. Fortunately, KDP has patient and knowledgeable techs. Hell’s Gate is a popular title with authors, so be sure to also type in C. LaVielle, and if you want the second edition of Forging the Blade, be sure to get the 2021 edition. I have author copies of all three books if you’re in town and want to buy them from me. But if you buy them on Amazon… Read More »

Fact and Fiction in Storytelling, or, How Do You Really Forge a Blade?

Posted 2 CommentsPosted in Forging the Blade, Major arcana, Tarot, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

If you want to tell a story that keeps your readers turning pages, you must convince them that perhaps it could be true. Or, at the very least, convince them to suspend their disbelief for the duration of the story. This won’t happen if they spot even small errors in your work. It breaks the spell and they stop reading–something writers strive to discourage–and say “Wait! That’s not right.” And even if they then continue to read, they will be suspicious of everything else you tell them. In chapter 14, the Temperance chapter of Forging the Blade, the Damian goddess, Brigga, forges a magic sword for Molly, the main character. She uses Molly’s blood to bind her to the blade. As the sword is forged, Molly is also forged into a warrior. I figured that forging a blade would be a perfect metaphor for Temperance. This is a key chapter in the book, and to make it work, the reader must totally believe in the drama of a… Read More »

Molly, Astrology, and Character Development

Posted 3 CommentsPosted in Astrology, Forging the Blade, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

  When I began writing Forging the Blade, the concept of character development was a total mystery to me. All I knew was that I had this teen- age girl in my head that wouldn’t go away, but steadfastly refused to give me any helpful hints about who she was. When I would ask, all I got was a petulant, “You know who I am, write the freakin’ book.” Our twin boys had just graduated from high school, and I had watched, listened, and learned as they went from freshmen to seniors. Fortunately they were (and still are) bright, adventurous, active, and healthy. But they are also impulsive, assertive, quick tempered, and tend to assume that the world revolves around them. OK, this is a personality type that I knew and had been dealing with for years. Could I make Molly—that was definitely her name— a female version of my kids? “Yes,” she replied, “I’m like them, but I’m not them.” Fair enough. Todd and… Read More »

FORGING THE BLADE is now available in paperback from Amazon!

Posted 3 CommentsPosted in Forging the Blade, Getting Published, Tarot, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

Yay!!! Happy dance. Yes Yes Yes.  Air punches. My baby is finally out in paperback. The cover was what was holding things up. Two months ago the first proof came back and the cover was too dark. The beautiful teal blue at the base was a murky blue grey. After two weeks and another round of proofs, CreateSpace’s phone consultants finally were kind enough to tell me that CreateSpace can’t/won’t make changes to my pdf file. I needed to make the changes. This is an important piece of info for anyone uploading their book to CreateSpace. They do not want responsibility for changing your files. All CreateSpace does, and all you are paying them to do, is create a book from the file that you give them. So I emailed my illustrator, Ture Ekroos, and asked if there was anything she could do. There was and she did it and sent the new file to my graphic designer, who built up the cover from the new… Read More »

FORGING THE BLADE is now available on Kindle!

Posted Leave a commentPosted in Forging the Blade, Getting Published, Tarot, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

I’m so excited to have this out in time for a cozy holiday read or last minute gift. Enjoy.      The paperback version will be out soon on Amazon and at a Portland bookstore near you. I’ll let you know who has them when they’re actually in the store.

Self-Publishing: The Back Cover: More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About ISBNs and Copyrights

Posted 4 CommentsPosted in Forging the Blade, Getting Published, Writing, Young Adult Fantasy

The front cover of a book is all glam. It’s what catches the reader’s eye and pique’s their curiosity. The back cover, however, is all business. On a trade paperback, which is what Forging the Blade will be, the most noticeable element is the blurb, one of the most difficult things an author ever writes. It usually begins as rewrite after rewrite of query letters to agents and is later distilled down to its essence for the book cover. In a few, screaming sentences it must tell enough about the book to convince someone that they really want to read it; but it must never give away the ending and or get tangled up in too much plot. Trust me, it’s an excruciating exercise. I can’t even begin to count the number of rewrites my cover blurb went through. I chose to include a tarot card to give color and interest. This is where I learned about copyrights. Even though the most popular tarot decks were first… Read More »