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A look into an author’s mind a week before launch day
Launch day is basically a week away for my YA fantasy sword and sorcery epic adventure, and I wanted to take stock here and make a log of all the crazy thoughts running in and out of my mind . . . Anyways, that’s what’s going through my head right about now! It’s a circus,…
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What the graveyard scene in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” taught me about high stakes action scenes
The graveyard scene at the end of the fourth Harry Potter book is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. I cannot describe how gripped I was, reading it for the first time at the age of fifteen. I had never read or experienced anything quite like that in fiction. It was amazing.…
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Character Spotlight: Zalski Forzythe, because everyone loves a good villain
Zalski Forzythe (ZAL-ski FOR-zithe, last syllable like scythe) is definitely my favorite villain–and one of my favorite characters overall–in my entire series. He’s one of those characters who absorbs all the focus in every scene he’s in. Every editing pass I made through The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope, I could feel the anticipation…
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Kora’s first raid, part 2: Excerpt from “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope”
This week’s excerpt continues last week’s action-packed raid by the Crimson League on a group of sorcerer Zalski Forzythe’s elite guardsmen, hoping to discover his long-term goals and what he has them searching For. What will they discover? In the meantime, Menikas had helped Ranler hoist the other man to his seat for Lanokas to…
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Why is it so hard to “let go” of a WIP?
You never “finish” a work of art. There just comes a point when you stop working on it. There comes a point when your novel truly is ready for beta readers, and then truly ready for an editor. After that, there comes a moment when you DO need to send it to the proofreader, and…
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Editorial Review for “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope”
It’s release month, and I am so stoked to share this editorial review with y’all for my sword and sorcery action-adventure tale! It just makes my heart sing! “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope by Victoria Grefer is a riveting fantasy story with a firm footing in all that makes traditional fantasy great. This…
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Changes to the second edition of “The Crimson League,” Part 2: reflections on revision
Today, I wanted to highlight (spoiler-free) the more subtle changes to my second edition, both as I have been asked by readers to explain how this edition differs, and because it’s always useful for writers to reflect on or read about the revision process.
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Changes to the second edition of “The Crimson League,” Part 1: Goodbye, Hal!
Someone on Facebook recently told me she had enjoyed the first edition of The Crimson League (squee!) and asked what changes to expect in the upcoming second edition. (I took my entire trilogy out of circulation years ago to fix things up and make a more professional go of it.) The first major thing anyone…
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What Ryan George/ ScreenRant’s “Pitch Meeting” catchphrases can teach us about plot
If you’re not familiar with Ryan George’s “Pitch Meeting” YouTube channel, you can thank me later. Basically, George has a series of videos picking apart popular films. The concept is that George plays two characters, “Writer Guy” and “Producer Guy.” In each video, Writer Guy is pitching the film to Producer Guy, who has lots…
