The World Book Day YA App

    I know this was a long time ago (all the way back in March! This year's going by so quickly!) but World Book Day is the biggest celebration of books around the world. Readers, writers and illustrators come together and school children can pick up a voucher for a free book or £1 off any other book. :)

    This year, World Book Day brought out a new and exclusive app; the World Book Day YA app. This was powered by the online website Movellas, which is ideal for anyone aged 13+ for reading, writing and sharing stories online. The app stars many fantastic young adult authors along with forty nominations from the Movellas Community of thousands voted to be part of the app.

    I was lucky enough to have been nominated and have the privilege of having my short story ‘In Need of an Adventure’ featured alongside these great authors. I loved writing this story and I really grew to love the characters and the adventure :) It is finished and in the editing process so if you have any spare time and fancy a read, check it out here:

In Need of an Adventure

    I also created the cover which was incredibly fun :) I'd recommend Movellas to anyone willing to read and write and share their love for imagination and the app is up and running for you to download :)


~White Ravens~

Thinking of Character Names Part 2...

Hello again :) Another tip for thinking of character names for you. :) Translators are another good way to go:

2. Use a Translator:

 

  Whilst not the best for long passages for French essays, just think of a trait for your character or part of their history and translate it to think of an unusual first name or unique last name. Like if a character is a copycat of everyone without their own thoughts, then translate something like 'Clone' into another language such as Italian or Danish.

   Take Professor Lupin from J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter'. Many of you may already know that 'Lupin' is derived from 'Lupus', the latin for wolf. This indicates his darker side on a full moon. Also, Voldemort literally translates to 'Flight of Death' in French and this murderous character lives up to his name. J.K. Rowling thinks up so many amazing names that fit her characters perfectly as well as creating the most wonderful, magical world of all time! (Can you tell I'm a Potterhead ;) )


   Another fun way I use a translator for is to create a hidden message behind the character through their full name.

   For example, take the main character from my story 'Everto'. Her name is 'Ena
Intenebris'. I used a name meaning website to find 'Ena', which means 'bright and shining', and then a translator to combine 'in ténebris', which means 'in the dark', to create 'Ena Intenebris' - 'Bright and shining in the dark.' This leads on to different possibilities in the rest of the plot and the all important prophecy. Most people might not notice this but it's fun to add a little back story to a name that only you know.

   However, with this way you run the risk of translating wrong, but it's not much of a problem if you gain an interesting name from it :) 

  Another part in this series of tips up and running :) I hope they've been useful but there's three more to come if you're looking for something else :)

~White Ravens~

Thinking of Character Names... :)

  I find this one of the most interesting parts of planning a new story. There are many ways to go about finding the perfect name for your heroes, villains, background characters etc. but if you're struggling, here are a few tips that help me :) I will post five in total so keep watching for more:

1. Use Name Meaning Websites and Books:

 

  This is probably one of the more obvious ways of naming your characters. There are so many useful websites all over the interweb waiting to be found as well as baby naming books in the shops and libraries. Just think of the main trait of your character or the main aim in their lives and find a suitable name that fits that meaning.

    You could go for a really simple trait, like one of my characters is extremely clever, so I typed in 'clever' to a name meaning website and it came up with a huge list. My eyes fell upon Cassidy and that's my character's name. :) Simples!

   Or perhaps you could use an aim of your character. Sofiel is a young boy who wants to protect nature, so I searched a name that meant something along the lines of 'Nature's Guardian' and Sofiel meant 'Angel of Nature'. Perfect :)

  On the other hand, you could type in a name you fancy, find out the meaning and then allocate a relevant character. For example, I love the name Brianna so I wanted to call a character that and up pops the sidekick to another story again. Brianna means 'Strong one' so perfect for a girl who has been through a lot but keeps on going for her friends and future.

  It's really easy and there are so many sources for you to use. Many websites and books give you snap shot meaning as well as detailed history, the name's popularity, origin and other useful information.

   This is the first tip so stay tuned for another one soon :)

   ~White Ravens~

My Blog :)

Hello :) This blog will be used by me to post anything to do with writing. To put words on paper and let it transform into a new world of adventures is beautiful to me and I wanted to share my passion with anyone willing to read it :) I will occasionally post my favourite quotes, reads, characters, reviews and maybe snippets of my own writing but this blog will mostly be centred around this craft. So, once again, merry blogging! :D