Discussion

Hi Folks,

My campaign seems to have stalled. I have been getting many visitors from FaceBook, but the visitors are not seeing the same promise in my work as you have (and I thank you for that).

I thought perhaps it was too much biographical information, so I removed my biography.

I thought perhaps it was the opening scene where Alaina gets her arm ripped off by a troll, so I removed that scene. I'm posting that scene at the end of this update so you can advise me if the book opens better with or without it.

I'd also appreciate any suggestions you have for boosting my appeal.

In the end, it may be that Inkshares is not the right place to find supporters for Young-Adult and Middle-Grade fiction. But I will keep trying--still two months in the campaign.

You can't imagine how much your support means to me!

Thanks so much,

Bryan

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The Scene in question:

THE TROLL 

 I advanced on the troll slashing my blade back and forth in front of him. I was forcing him backwards into a trap where my squad of eight pixies and a goblin waited to pin him to the ground. I’m small, even for a pixie girl. I’m just under two toadstools high, and the troll was easily three times my size. But my smile was gigantic as I lunged and managed another step forward—another step backwards for the troll. 

I slashed again, but overbalanced, spun halfway around and stretched out my left arm to keep from falling on my face. Instead, with a speed that his ape-like body didn’t look capable of, the troll reached forward, grabbed my arm and twisted. After hearing the snap of a bone and the pop of my arm flying out of its socket, I must have fainted. I don’t remember anything else until I opened my eyes and saw Quillan, my second in command, pouring his canteen of water over my head and face. 

 I choked and coughed and sputtered. Talk about adding insult to injury. You would have thought that I’d suffered enough. A troll had ripped my arm right off my body. Boggling snot! A troll had ripped my arm right off my body! After fainting, I had missed the part where I had been turned into a pixie torch by Kekipi’s goblin-fire attack on the troll. Quillan was just trying to douse the blaze and save my life. 

BC Dee · Author · added over 8 years ago
The Trend Continues: Another Dad Stays Home

The books are short with big print and lots of pictures. The stories are in rhyming verse. These are not the typical fare you'd expect from a former Mercer University political science professor who specializes in mega-cities and urban poverty. But with three children's books under his belt and another on the way, author BC Dee (the pen name of Dr. Bryan Williams) is winning the hearts and minds of young children around the world. He is also one the small population of stay at home dads (SAHD) in the US.

"I felt like I was missing out on my daughter's life," says BC Dee. "Her first two years flew by." Changing careers to become a stay at home dad "has been the third-best choice in my life, after marrying my wife and having a child."

In the United States, there are around 425,000 fathers who stay at home primarily to care for their children and family. In comparison, there are more than seven million mothers (more than 18 times as many) who are making the same choice. Of the nearly two million at-home dads, the percentage who specify that they stay home to take care of their children has risen from around 5% in 1989 to around 21% in 2014. Nevertheless, stay-at-home dads fight a social stigma.

In a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, 51% of the respondents felt that children would be better off if the mother stayed at home. Only 8% felt that the father would have the same, positive effect. "I had to work hard with the change in my identity," BC Dee said. "I was transitioning from a well-respected profession and moving into one that is often referred to as 'babysitting,' when fathers do it."

"I suppose I became an author so that I could feel like I was contributing to the family, which is silly because my biggest contribution is the time I spend with my daughter." BC Dee cites his daughter as his inspiration for his stories such as The Girl Who Drank the Moon, The Hiccupopotamus, and The Celebrated Jumping Frog.

He is currently working on a middle-grade fantasy novel that is "based on unanswered questions in Disney's fairy stories. For example, why do fairies use pixie dust? Where do they keep the pixies? Do the dust-keeper fairies only package the dust, or do they have more nefarious tasks." BC Dee has turned to the crowd-funding publisher, Inkshares, to launch his first novel: The Pixie Wars.

"I'm also trying to contribute to the at-home dad community," BC Dee said. "The National At Home Dad Network holds an annual conference. I went to the twentieth in Raleigh in October. It was eye opening and life changing." With plenty of humor, this community is very active on social media, and in local meet ups. BC Dee says "the ideas and education we trade is helpful, but the moral support is priceless."

Source: Gretchen Livingston, 2014. “Growing Number of Dads Home with the Kids: Biggest increase among those caring for family.” Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center’s Social and Demographic Trends project, June.

Dear patrons of the arts, I have been writing and revising like crazy. The second draft might be done by Sunday--Halloween at the latest.

 I am so excited by this project, and I think you are going to love how the story is coming together.

I could really use your involvement to make this book the best it can be. I have prepared a six-question anonymous survey about the use of swearing, the characters' names, and the titles of some of the characters.

You'll find the survey on my website: http://goo.gl/aL3CY2

Thanks, as always, for your support!

BC Dee

Good morning patrons of the arts! I am about to start my direct-mail campaign. I would love to hear your feedback on the following letter:

Dear human person,

We pixies are in danger, and we need your help!

I am Alaina, the daughter of The General, the commander of our army. He is a stubborn and prideful pixie, so he cannot know that I am asking for your assistance. But, because I know his weaknesses so well, and our peril is so great, I write to you for the greater good.

The fairies’ lifestyle and entire economy is only possible because it is buoyed by “pixie dust.” Everybody knows that, and the fairies even brag about it. But the source of pixie dust is a closely guarded secret among fairies, and merely a rumor among us pixies. 

“Dust keeper fairies” carry out the dark duty of finding and enslaving pixies who are capable of magic—a kind of magic that fairies cannot touch. These poor slave pixies live horrible, painful lives and die young. 

We have to channel magic. It is very much like how your human electrical cords channel electricity to make your lightbulbs shine. Slave pixies are turned into exactly this kind of electrical cord for magic. They live their days writhing in agony until death finally takes them.

Fairy slavery of pixies has been going on for more than one thousand years, but now the fairies have a new leader, the self-proclaimed ‘emperor’ Oberon. He appears set upon attacking our lands and enslaving all of our people. He claims that he is the “sire of all fairies, and ruler of all magical domains.” We expect the fairy army, along with mercenary trolls, to attack our lands any day now.

There must be something you can do to help us. To save us. 

I have documented all that I can, and I implore you to read it. Humans are worldly and learned. I am sure that you will think of something, once you know the situation.

Please visit https://www.inkshares.com/projects/the-pixie-wars-elemental-magic/ and read what I have written. 

You are our last and only hope. I pray you will help us.

Most sincerely,

Alaina