Stop on by! Should be fun.

Writers who are lucky enough to get paid for our stories are all asked the same question: “How do I get published?” It starts with one very important, undeniable fact. You need to write an incredible story! Here are 17 books that will help you on your journey.

TOP 10

• Writing the Breakout Novel (Donald Maas): Paperback | Kindle
• The Fire in Fiction (Donald Maas): Paperback | Kindle
• The First Five Pages (Noah Lukeman): Paperback | Kindle
• Story (Robert McKee): Hardcover | Kindle
• The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing (J.A. Konrath): Kindle
•  Self-Editing for Fiction Writers (Dave King): Paperback | Kindle
• How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months (John Locke): Paperback | Kindle
• The Plot Thickens (Noah Lukeman): Paperback | Kindle
• Myth: You Can’t Make a Living Writing Fiction (Dean Wesley Smith): Kindle
• Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott): Paperback | Kindle

BEST OF THE REST

• Think Like a Publisher (Dean Wesley Smith): Kindle
• A Dash of Style (Noah Lukeman): Paperback | Kindle
• On Writing (Stephen King): Paperback | Kindle
• The Elements of Style (Strunk & White): Hardcover | Kindle
• Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (Donald Maas): Paperback
• On Writing Well (William Zinsser): Paperback
• Writing Magic (Gail Carson Levine): Paperback

Other writers on the panel:
SARAH MLYNOWSKI- Whatever After #1: Fairest of All
NATALIE STANDIFORD- The Secret Tree
MICHAEL BUCKLEY- The Council of Mirrors
LIZZIE K. FOLEY- Remarkable
AMY HEST- Letters to Leo
JENNIFER E. SMITH- Storm Makers
BRETT HELQUIST- Storm Makers

Cover Wrap

From Derek: Here it is. The final installment of the Clockwork Chronicles. This has really been a fun series to write. I fell in love with Iron Bridge Academy. I only wish I could have gone there when I was a kid. Of course, I’d need a bounder. And a Templar body guard. And maybe a super power, or two. But otherwise, I’d fit right in. We hope you enjoy this book. Let us know what you think! Thanks again for being such great fans! 

A new world means a world of trouble…

The Paragon Engine, a machine that can unlock portals to any dimension throughout the universe, is the most powerful and dangerous invention in Templar history-and the Grey Griffins have just been pulled through it. After they are transported through the engine, Max, Ernie, Natalia, and Harley have no idea what to expect. There could be vicious monsters or terrifying creatures lurking around every corner. But soon, they discover that this new world looks just like theirs. Except there is one big difference: everything that went wrong in their world never happened and the Templar rule society. Is this world truly perfect? Or should the Griffins risk their lives to find a way back home? Things get even more complicated when they learn that their arch enemy, Otto Von Strife, is also in this world-and he has the power to destroy everything.

In this final book of the Clockwork Chronicles trilogy, the Grey Griffins face questions about destiny, personal choice, and what courage really means-all while finding a way to destroy Von Strife, his evil half-fairies, and his legion of killer clockworks.

You can order the hardcover and the kindle version from Amazon. Just check out the Books page on this site!

When we were growing up, we used to play something called Middle Earth Roleplaying Game or MERP. It was basically Dungeons & Dragons, but set in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. We loved creating characters, writing scenarios and playing for hours as we sat around a dining room table eating taco pizza from Casey’s General Store (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) and drinking Dr. Pepper.

MERP is part of the reason we became writers. When we created characters we had to come up with backgrounds, what kind of languages they spoke, what their talents were, what they looked like, and more. It taught us how to make multi-faceted characters that went beyond stereotypes, and it was the part of the game that we loved the most. Our love for MERP is why we introduced gaming into the Grey Griffins series, but tabletop roleplaying games had gone out of style when we started writing, so we created Round Table, a hybrid that mixes a traditional tabletop roleplaying game or RPG (complete with D10 dice) with a Trading Card Game or TCG (similar to Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh).

But Round Table became more than a game. It afforded our characters an opportunity to learn how to fight monsters and dark faeries without getting hurt.

We had no idea that the Grey Griffins would end up selling nearly a million copies in the initial trilogy, nor were we ready for the popularity of Round Table. Five years after its inception, we still get a lot of requests from people wondering when Round Table will be available for purchase. Unfortunately, we’re not sure.

It was in development at an incredible gaming company called WizKids. They created something called Heroclix, a kind of chess meets RPG with miniature superhero action figures. Unfortunately WizKids folded in the middle of Round Table’s devlopment cycle, and though the company was later sold to NECA, HeroClix was the only property that survived the transition.

At one point it looked like someone was going to create an online version, but that fell through as well. So for now, we’re concentrating on wrapping up the Clockwork Chronicles trilogy with The Paragon Prison. Once that’s done, we’ll sit down and decide what comes next.

We want you to know how much we appreciate all of your support over the years. And we hope that one day we’ll be able to provide you with an opportunity to play Round Table!

Art by Travis Hanson.

People often ask what inspired us to create the Grey Griffins series, and the truth is that we had quite a few influences . . . J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), and George Lucas (Star Wars) are at the top of the list. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t add Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Stan and Jack co-created many of the superheroes who have become household names (The Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, The Avengers and many more). Derek and I spent a lot of weekends hanging out at a comic shop called the Comiclogue, reading stories that featured many of Stan and Jack’s creations. In fact, I bought my copy of Fantastic Four #112 there when I was thirteen, and I still have it today.

Derek’s favorite comic book was the Uncanny X-Men, which centered around Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, where a telepath named Charles Xavier (Professor X) gathered powerful teen mutants to teach them how to use their powers for the good of mankind. We decided that would be Ernie Tweeny’s motto as well.

Ernie is a huge comic book fan, just like we were. Not only does he spend most of his time hanging out at a comic book shop (The Spider’s Web), but he writes and draws his own comic (The Amazing Adventures of Agent Thunderbolt). The stories center around . . . well, Ernie. You see, he’s become a real life superhero.

** SPOILER ALERT ** At the end of Rise of the Black Wolf, Ernie nearly dies. In order to save him, Max Sumner injected him with faerie blood that not only carried a healing property, but it turned Ernie into a changeling. ** END SPOILER **

So what is a changeling? It’s a lot like a mutant from the world of Marvel Comics, but instead of carrying an X-gene, changelings get their powers from faerie DNA. The faerie whose blood courses through Ernie’s veins not only had an ability to heal quickly, but it was fast and had enhanced hearing and eyesight. Now Ernie does, too. But there’s a catch. The more a changeling uses his or her abilities, the more he or she will turn into that faerie. Eventually, that person could lose his or her humanity completely.

The good news for Ernie, is that he found out a way to block that transformation. The secret? He drinks dragon dung tea (no, that isn’t a typo).

For nearly a year, Ernie thought that he was the only changeling on Earth, but when he transferred to Iron Bridge Academy he found out that there were other kids just like him. And they all had different powers:

* Denton: super strength and agility
* Smoke: teleportation
* Raven: can talk to inanimate objects
* Tejan: can wipe memories
* Laini: flight
* Hale: shapeshifting
* Robert: transmutation

Eventually Ernie (aka Agent Thunderbolt) formed his own superhero team called The Agents of Justice, and they’ve made it their mission to rid the world of slavers. You can find out how they did in Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #2: The Relic Hunters.