Deirfiur Series Archives - Martha L. Thurston

I’ve been thinking…

mthurston — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 02:23:00 +0000

Since being off for three days this week, I’ve had a lot of time to work on my writing and catch up on my reading. Much of thoughts lately (when I think about my next work) have been on Ashlyn and Ciaran’s story.

I remember as I researched and laid out the details for those 4 books that I really wanted to carry it over. We don’t know what happened to the baby that was kidnapped from its cradle. We don’t know what is going to happen to those characters and if there will ever be a war with the goblins again. We don’t know the powers of those twin daughters (especially the one that was kidnapped), and we don’t know when they will notice her gone.

I put off research on those books because I needed a break. I can’t tell you how full my head was with details from Yeats’s writings and from other sources that I checked. In fact, I realized yesterday that I have a whole file folder on my computer with that information.

Maybe it’s time to start sorting through research and plotting a story. 1 book? 2 books? 5 books?

Hmm? I think I’ll ponder it all.

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Special Promotion

mthurston — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 17:18:00 +0000

You can get the all inclusive 4 book series for one low price of $0.99. Today only! On Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A3OMCZS

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As Worlds Collide

mthurston — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 17:54:00 +0000

I recently had the time to redesign the cover for my book, As Worlds Collide. This is book 4 and the final book in the Deirfiur series. I’m really excited about this book. It tied up Ashlyn and Ciaran’s story nicely.

If you would like to purchase a copy, you can do so by using the links below:

Amazon

Nook

Kobo

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Finding time to focus

mthurston — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 23:36:00 +0000

It has been such a hectic summer so far. Normally, I would be writing during the summer. This summer, it has been challenging to find long stretches of time to write.

The problem? Changing jobs and moving to a new part of the state.

Who knew that changing schools and districts would require such a huge time commitment?

I am looking forward to the move, though. I have the opportunity to teach middle school while teaching 9th grade English. Once more, Romeo and Juliet is a part of my teaching curriculum! O’ how I have missed thee!

In the time between packing and driving 130 miles, I have been writing, revising, and editing. The last book in the Deirfiúr series is scheduled for publication in August. It is my goal to have a cover reveal in two weeks. I will have a more precise date as it gets closer.

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Have you missed me?

mthurston — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 03:33:00 +0000

I feel as though it has been years since I have written or published a book! My day job- teaching- has taken much of my free time.

At this moment, we are finally enjoying a Spring Break, so I plan to do a little writing during my short vacation from teaching. Of course, I have been having some fun moments along the way, as well. I completed my first 5k Saturday morning with one of my best friends. We had a blast participating in the Color Run Clemson! I think I’m still scrubbing off color!

Then, this morning, I enjoyed a wonderful time at church, followed by lunch with my dad and sons, and then a much needed mother/son fishing trip! I took the boys fishing, and while we did not catch anything, we had a wonderful time just catching up with one another.

Tomorrow, after I run errands, I will be hitting the grindstone, and it is my hope to at least finish up 3 chapters before Saturday. The next book in my Deirfiur series, should be ready by July 1st. It is the last in its series. I can’t wait to share the finished product!

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If All Else Fails…

mthurston — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 00:56:00 +0000

Sometimes, the best way to find out whether or not your book would sell to your target audience is to hand books out to your target audience.

This past week I had the opportunity to share an excerpt from my book, The Necklace, with my 7th grade ELA class. I had 2 copies of the book and I had students requesting to read it. They loved it! They even shared it with others they came into contact with and now, I am being asked by so many different students, if they can read it. Positive promotion can come in forms you never knew. I knew that my book was geared toward middle school age students, and I was right.

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My Favorite Character in the Deirfiur Series

mthurston — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 03:05:00 +0000

If I had to choose one character out of the series that I absolutely love, it would have to be Ciaran. He is like the bad boy that you don’t want to fall for, but whose mystery kind of draws you in until you fall for him. I think that is Ashlyn’s problem now. She’s not sure who she truly is after: Fergus or Ciaran.

I am on book 3 right now of the Dierfiur series and I don’t want to say too much, because I want you, the reader, to experience that same kind of feeling for him that I have. Writing these 3 books (and yes, the 3rd one is undergoing revisions as I write this post) and seeing Ciaran’s transformation and his story evolve alongside Ashlyn’s story, has been fun to watch.

My theory in the classroom has been the same with the characters. You reap what you sow and how you label and nurture is how they will react. If you place a child in terrible conditions, they will not thrive. But if you place them where they are loved and nurtured, they will always thrive. So when I sat down and thought about Ciaran I had to ask myself several questions:

Why did Ciaran threaten Ashlyn at the end of The Necklace?
What would his life be like with her as his step-mom? (In other words, did she nurture him?)

I dug down deep to find his motivation and what happened, surprised me in book 2, The Winter Witch, but astonished me in book 3. It seems like Ciaran is turning out to be a pleasant surprise. And he has a lot of surprises!

If you do not know WHAT he is, then you are missing out. You have to read book 2, because the romance is JUST starting to heat up and the puzzle is starting to be solved.

I promise, book 3 will not disappoint! It is filled with love, action, and surprises!

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Price Dropped on The Necklace at Smashwords this weekend only

mthurston — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 17:14:00 +0000

Looking for a deal this weekend? Smashwords is currently running its July promotion with coupons available at the check out. For this weekend only I have dropped the price of The Necklace to $1.99. On the page you will notice a coupon code for 25% off. That means that you can get the first book in the series for $1.50. That’s half off the original price of $2.99.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/323437

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Launch day for The Winter Witch, but….

mthurston — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 17:53:00 +0000

I am fully aware that today is the official launch day for Book 2 in the Deirfiur series, The Winter Witch, but I couldn’t wait to share with you the fact that in the midst of working on another book and gathering research for Book 3, I finally got it.

Yes. In the middle of everything that was going on, I woke up this morning and knew exactly what my next adventure for Ashlyn Conner was going to be. I love it when it starts to come together like that.

Yesterday I sat down and tried to create a plot synopsis for the notes that I already had written down and I realized that the story was going to be humdrum and boring. Where was the excitement? Sure I could have added in the blooming romance, but where is the excitement in that? I needed something more formidable. I needed dragons and fighting and great epic battles….

So this morning, it all came to me. I know exactly what is going to happen in Book 3 and I know what it is going to lead up to for Book 4, and perhaps Book 5. You never know! Maybe I should end it at Book 4. Then it would be complete! Book 4 will be much longer if I do that.

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Results of The Winter Witch cover switch

mthurston — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 13:47:00 +0000

First results are in on the new cover and it seems to have been the right decision to make. By changing up the cover of the book, I actually managed to increase the books popularity. On a site where people are allowed to download samples, I had 6 downloads in a matter of minutes. I really wish that I could track that sort of thing across all markets, but it isn’t available. I mean, I am a numbers, data, and statistics kind of girl. I like to see the data. You know, like I had 100 people view my book, they ranged in age from?, and out of that number ? amount of people purchased it and of those who did not, they purchased ?. I think that with the data, I could improve my product. (i.e. change up the cover, change the description, change the first few chapters to increase the action or build the tension more, or maybe even change the price.) You never know what or how you could improve something unless you look at the data.

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