A post on Christmas

As the title says, this post is on 'Christmas'. Why do people celebrate Christmas? What's so special about Christmas, and what's the main theme of Christmas? This post will answer all three questions.

Why do people celebrate Christmas? Christians celebrate Christmas as the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ. However, it has become more of a general tradition/festive period, even for other religions. They believe it's a season to be with one's family. That said, I agree with everyone who celebrates Christmas as the coming of Jesus Christ, and the reunion of loved ones.

What's so special about Christmas? In my own words, I believe Christmas is the most festive season of all. Why? One: it falls on the last few days of the year, which makes it unique and special. Loved ones can come together after a long year to share goals, accomplishments and setbacks. Two: It has a significant figure, which everyone loves - Santa Claus. Unlike Halloween (Pumpkin head/witches), this figure doesn't really have much of a contradicting nature. Parents of most religion, culture and ethnicity don't mind their kids sitting on Santa's lap. It's a classic tradition.

What's the main theme of Christmas? Other than coming together with loved ones to merry and celebrate, Christmas is also about 'Sacrifice'. The year has ended, what will you do to make everyone around you happy? For Christians, Jesus Christ sacrificed so much for his children. For others, Santa Claus sacrificed so much to make all the kids happy. He doesn't stay at home with his family, unlike everyone. He moves around giving out gifts and placing smiles on everyone's face. Oh, I loved this season; I feel it's a mixture of 'Valentine's day' and Halloween, considering the 'LOVE' and the use of 'COSTUMES'.

In all, this season should be a time to stay with loved ones and reflect on everything you've done, celebrate and share the love. Merry Christmas to all

Sloutenville, the main location of 'LS: The Beginning'

 

My paranormal romance series 'LS' is mainly set in a fictional city called 'Sloutenville', pronounced - slow-ten-ville'. This fictional city is located in northern USA, close to cities like Minneapolis, Wisconsin etc. In this post, I'll give a bit detail on Sloutenville as a contemporary city, and explain why I chose to use a fictional city.

Sloutenville

Abbreviation: SV

Capital: Genezel
Population: 301, 427 people
Timezone: CST (UTC-6)
Average temperature: 30.6 F
Language: English - 99.1 %
                   Spanish - 0.9%
Tourist Attraction: Atlantic Towers
Government - Mayor: Francis Lekinston
.

So why did I choose a fictional city?
As most of you know, I don't live in the states, yet. I reside in England, UK. Therefore, it seemed a bit hard setting the location of the book in a known US city. Most people would notice the difference in dialogue etc, and I wanted to avoid this, thus creating my own fictional city, Sloutenville. This was because, if a reader complains about a certain dialogue i.e 'People in New York don't talk like this.', I would bring to his/her attention that Sloutenville isn't a real city. Therefore, the way the characters talk might be slightly different to other states.

Where did you get such idea from?
Frankly, I got the idea of creating my own fictional city in a real country from watching 'Smallville' and 'One Tree Hill', two of my favorite TV series.

Are there going to be more fictional cities?
Yes, certainly. Read the book(s) to find out more :)

That's it for today. My question to everyone: do you like the idea of fictional cities? If yes, what's the name of your best fictional city?




Credit: Image: posterize / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Now free on Smashwords

The Enchanted Book

From now till the end of the year, my romantic/comedy novella, 'The Enchanted Book' is free on Smashwords. Anyone who loves a short read and wants to veg out between massive series, will love this book. The Enchanted Book is a humorous look at the original Cinderella story, but in a male's  POV and with a twist.

Blurb: Jimmy Evans has less than a year left to graduate from high school and move into his dream college, but relies on his stepfather's support to achieve his dream.
 
In his struggle to enter college, he comes across a special book, and a gorgeous girl. These two are linked in a way even young Jimmy doesn't know, until he finds himself in need of both of them.

Cover art: Hannah Sher
Manipulated by Kelvin O'Ralph

Behind the Chapters - LS: The Beginning

LS: The Beginning

This is going to be an unusual blog post, but a very special one. I'm going to list the first two chapters in the first book of my paranormal series, 'LS', and tell you a bit about the writing process behind each chapter. Also, if I'm going to give you insights on each chapter I choose. Beware, if you haven't read this book, you might be forced to read it after reading this blog post. :) Just kidding.

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the very-normal title it's given. I may be a very good writer, but naming stuffs isn't part of my talents. Even when I write computer programs, my boss complains I don't name them well. So don't judge a book by it's name. Then again, some people are compelled by the names of books. I promise to learn more about 'naming' stuffs, and hopefully the names of my future projects will be epic, or at least compelling.

Chapter One: The Day I arrived
It would interest you guys to know that I rewrote this particular chapter more than 15 times. Not because I'm a terrible writer, but I needed to make it as real as it could be. During the process of writing this chapter, I made sure I stayed without food or distraction, so i could channel my thoughts to writing. The Male MC, Stephen Wilson arrives at his place of birth, Sloutenville, after a long period of living in Africa. Now, most people want to know 'Why did he move to Sloutenville?' Well, the answer's elaborated in the last book of 'LS', though his main reason for leaving Africa was for a better education. Simple. Then people are annoyed that he is welcomed like a King as he arrives; however, this is so not true. He's just a bit fortunate to have wealthy relatives who love him. Personally, Stephen is a broke dude. One more thing I need to clarify, when Stephen reads his cousin's mind, he's totally not aware. This was the very first symptom he had because he moved into the same city with his soul mate. Nice right? There was a moment when Stephen and I hardly agreed on anything. He wanted to cut his long hair, but I told him NO. He didn't like his dress code, but I told him 'Deal with it'. It took a while for us to get on the same page; even then, he still moaned like a little baby. Meanwhile, Lisa was just an angel. She never complained about anything - and they say girls nag a lot.*laughs*

Chapter Two:  First Day at College
In this Chapter, I had to enter Stephen's head as he goes to college for the first time in Sloutenville. Luckily, his cousin, Stacy Ford,  helps him to settle down in college. Stephen happens to sit beside a girl with long hair, gorgeous body and a taste for skimpy wears, name Lisa Morgan. At that very moment, he began to feel stuffs he'd never felt before. To Stephen, he assumed it was a symptom of LOST(secular LOVE), little does he know he's being reborn into a new man, a man who can create ice from his bare hands. This chapter also introduces a special character in the book, the British young lady, Julie Hitchens. What is a love story without the jealous lover? We see Julie Hitchens as she tries to lure Stephen to become 'more than a friend'. She's certainly an entertaining character to read. I really enjoyed writing her character.


Well, that's it for now. I'm sorry if it's a bit short, I didn't want to give out away too many spoilers.If you've read 'LS: The Beginning', did you enjoy it? Do you have any questions you need answer to, concerning the characters/plot of the book? Just leave a comment below and I'll do my possible best to give you reasonable answers.

My review on Breaking Dawn (Twilight)

Breaking Dawn is the fourth and last book in the twilight saga. It's been split to two parts, just like Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. After I read a review from a newspaper here in UK, I was looking forward to see an awful film, but I WAS WRONG. Why? I'll explain thoroughly as I go on :)

In the review I read, they stated that the film was more of a photo album and nothing more. Also, I read in another review that apart from the wedding and the baby, nothing happens. I find these all to be unfair and quite biased to be honest. Movies are not all about action and fantasy, werewolves, vampires, witches etc, though, these adds some spice to movies, but every movie has its main focal point. I believe the part one of this movie was meant to be more of drama than action(happens as the review stated).

Firstly, I love the wedding part a lot; I could watch it again and again. It was amazing. We see Bella and her father walking towards the people in the garden. Bella is shivering as she walks, literally. I could see the emotion in her eyes as she feels frightened of becoming a vampire, of getting married at 18, everything. Then as she looks up and sees Edward, everything disappears; she becomes as strong as a horse. I think Producer 'n' Director did a brilliant job in this scene. Well done. Also, as they were saying their wedding vows, I loved the song in the background(Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron and Wine) I almost cried at this point. It felt so real. Anyways, as they spoke to each other, I noticed there was no one in the background; all the guest seemed to have disappeared. Some may think this was a flaw by the producers and director, but I'm sure it wasn't. They wanted to make it look like the two couples were in their own world as they said their vows, nothing seemed to matter to them at all. I loved that. Then, there was the comedic scene with Charlie, Emmet and Renee as they gave their toast. It was hilarious.

Sadly, I can't drone about the entire movie. I'm just going to list my best scenes. Okay, I love the part where Bella was seducing Edward, but he resisted. It was quite funny, and the people at the cinema would agree to this. Then the movie got hotter as Bella became pregnant. Jacob became involved in their lives and we see Taylor Lautner performing really well in some nice scenes. The action began with the wolves and all, most fans would enjoy this. I for one, think it was okay.

Lastly, I liked the scene where Bella gives birth. It was bloody, literally. Then the baby comes out and everything seems perfect for me. I love babies. She looks so cute as Rose, Edward's sister carried her in her arms. Then the fight scene takes place, and I expected at least somebody to get hurt, but everyone seemed fine after the fight. Not a big deal though. The ending just placed the cherry on the cream as Bella became a vampire.

My Rating

If you've watched Breaking Dawn Part 1, what do you think of it and what rating would you give it? Leave your comments below :)

On the edge: I guess this is where it ends

it's been a while I started writing. To me, I feel writing is my life and most of the time, I prefer writing to speaking. However, I'm at the point in my life that I have to make a vital decision, for me and my future family.

There are so many secrets behind my writing career. I hope in time I'll get to reveal them to the world. No worries, they aren't bad things. 'I don't do bad'.

So recently I got a review for the first book in my paranormal series, LS: The Beginning. It was rated 2 stars out of 5. To be honest, I felt a bit hurt at first, knowing how much I'd given into this book. I can clearly recall staying home just to write each chapters, while my friends went outing. I'd sacrificed a lot to become a writer. Does this mean I should get 5 stars every time? A big NO to that. I believe for one to become successful at anything he/she does, there needs to be three main factors: Passion, Skill and Luck.

Passion: As I aforesaid, I love writing and even if I never make it in the future, I'll keep writing for the fun of it. I had to buy a blackberry just because I want to be writing even when I'm on the bus, on my bed, anywhere.

Skill: I won't say I'm the best, considering my age. At the same time, I won't say I'm the worst, considering my age. haha :) I have gotten a few 5 star reviews, which means at least I must be a bit good at what I do as a writer: creating compelling stories and characters. There was a reviewer who rated the same book above 3 stars out of 5. Then she left a comment for me on Librarything. Thank you again for sharing your work with me. Keep at it Kevin and remember you have readers out in the world waiting for more of your books.

I had chills just reading this. To be honest, I almost cried. Although, why do most people call me Kevin; it's Kelvin :)

Luck: Now, this is the factor I seem to lack. Although, I think it's the least of the factor. if one doesn't have any of the two above, I doubt even the luckiest man could become John Locke or Amanda Hocking, just saying. I've read some paranormal romance out there on kindle, and I say to myself, this book's okay and it's doing really well. Why aren't mine? I believe that's the period of weakness. I try to compare my books with others, which to me isn't right. Every author has a unique voice, and I'm learning to understand that.

So right now, I'm preparing to release a new romance fantasy book, but I keep asking myself one thing. Will readers like this? or will they hate it like some did to the rest. As the bestseller, Melissa Foster said in a guest post, "bad reviews don't mean your book is not good, it just means if fell into the wrong hands." Also, John Locke said this as well in his amazing book 'How I sold 1 million eBooks in 5 months' If you're an aspiring indie writer you need to check out this book. It's just $2.99. That's just less that £2 in the UK, and it could change your life. It changed mine.

I read a post on Patti Roberts blog, an amazing Aussie writer. She said we should complete this...

Mark Twain wrote “Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.”

So how should this end: 'Write Like....."

In an agreement to Mark's quote. I'll add, "Write Like No One's Reading"

The funny thing about this blog is that I started with an intention to tell the world how I frustrated I am with my bad reviews and slow sales, but now I just realized something: THIS ISN'T THE END, IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING

P.S: Please do check out the blogs of the mentioned authors on my blog list at the side. They are amazingly gifted. Also, do leave your comments on how you battle bad reviews

Winners of 'LS' Giveeaway

Hiya everyone,

I've reviewed the entries and randomly selected the winners of the LS giveaway. I love being fair, so i didn't want to pick the winner myself. So I used a random picker tool online at this SITE. It's really nice. Also, below is a screenshot of the First Prize Winner.

Amy2011

Congrats Amy, I'll send you an email shortly. Now, the second Prize winner is:

Amanda

Congrats Amy. I'll send you an email shortly. Now, the last but not the least winner

Andra

Thank you so much for entering this giveaway, and to the people who weren't mentioned above, thank you for participating; remember, you're still a winner.

Thanks