Aldrea Alien

On this Monday for Anything I have the pleasure of featuring a guest post by Aldrea Alien, author of The Rogue King. Before we get to that let’s learn a little more about Aldrea…

Born and raised in New Zealand, Aldrea Alien lives on a small farm with her family, including a menagerie of animals. Since discovering a love of writing at the age of twelve, she hasn’t found an ounce of peace from the characters plaguing her mind.

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And now I’ll turn it over to Aldrea as she tells us about:

Three Things I Learned While Writing The Rogue King

Seeing that this was the first story I ever wrote, I learnt a lot of the basic stuff with it as well as discovering that third person limited is my preferred point of view. I think far faster in it than I ever did trying to write in first person. It may have led to me to rewriting the entire story—and the start of what felt like endless edits—but it was for the better.

I will get a good idea whilst in the shower/driving my daughter to school/basically anything that stops me from writing. In the past, it meant my work breaks were spent huddled in the corner, furiously writing in a notebook for ten minutes.

I also wind up talking to myself about said thought, whether in my head or out loud. It mostly happens with dialogue (generally, I just end up arguing with myself), and it always has me repeating the whole conversation again and again in order to remember what I just said so I may write it down as soon as I’m able … providing I don’t get distracted by a certain little girl on the way.

Thankfully, my out loud talks happen when no one’s around to overhear me. That could get awkward.

Accepting critique (and also how to spell the word without thinking about it) was perhaps one of the biggest lessons for me. To begin with, it took me several days to read any critique and not automatically get defensive about it. I was so terrible back then. I never outright snapped at anyone, because, hey, that would’ve been rude. But it didn’t stop me from ranting all around the house, telling my family how they were idiots and totally didn’t get me or the story.

Of course, I got the trolls just as readily as I got helpful comments and those negative remarks, the outright putdowns, actually helped me in other ways. I started to see just how helpful the other people were trying to be and that they *gasp* might actually be right. It might actually be me who didn’t get it.

That was a fair few years ago now. If someone was to give me a critique now, I might still grumble at the less favourable parts, but that grumbling is more towards myself and part of my process in figuring out why didn’t come across as I’d hoped.

Thank you Aldrea. Now let’s learn a little more about The Rogue King…

Such is the warning Koral has heard for twelve years. Born a product of genetic manipulation, he knows little else of the world beyond the steel walls of his home.

When fate gives him the choice between certain death and the unknown, there’s no question in what he must choose. But he’s about to find out the sands he must brave are full of more than mere monsters.

Providing the desert doesn’t kill him first.

This is a world ruled by instinct, where innocence is drowned in blood. Here, men are offered up to the great Serpent God, Lorric, only to emerge as the most feared killers on the planet: The Rogues.

With the god’s sights set on turning Koral into a legend, he must sacrifice himself to survive and be reborn as… The Rogue King