Taran Matharu's Blog - Writing Tips and Thoughts

My writing tips, blog posts and assorted musings, all in one easy location!

pride and prejudice and zombies:: dreadfull ever after

When we last saw Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy-at the end of the New York Times best seller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-they were preparing for a lifetime of wedded bliss. Yet the honeymoon has barely begun when poor Mr. Darcy is nipped by a rampaging dreadful. Elizabeth knows the only acceptable course o...

passerine

"I understand. You heard the place you loved was in trouble, so you came back, but I don't-I just-why didn't you take me?" Here it was, at last. Catharsis, or something close to it. "I would have hunted them down with you, Philza, the people who did that to your town. I would have given you your vengeance on a silver...

The Trade - Do You Want to Play? | ✔️

You've been playing on this addictive phone app for months and you're just one catch away from defeating the game, but the developers have made it impossible! However, you've never been one to give up easily. Though most players have long since abandoned their accounts, you plan to soldier forward until you capture...

Pride + Prejudice + Zombies

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upo...

Blood of Requiem (Song of Dragons, Book 1)

Long ago stood the kingdom of Requiem, a land of men who could grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem ruled the sky. But Dies Irae, a tyrant leading an army of griffins, hunted Requiem's people, burned their forests, and shattered their temples. Requiem fell. This ancient land now lie...

Mr Wolf and the White Princess

A wolf and a princess fall in love as they fight the Raven and the forces of boredom and ugliness in a magical London. They must race against time as they try to stop the Raven’s evil plan for destroying the city. But can they also resolve the mysterious chemistry between them? If you like Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde...

Outcast & Other Scary Shorts | ✓

When Grace Cho's parents unexpectedly move the family from vibrant Seattle to sleepy Gallatin, Montana, the seventeen-year-old isn't surprised the locals treat her as an outcast. Wanting nothing more than to finish her final year before college in peace, Grace is actually disappointed when three other members of the C...

Sir Rob's World-Building Workshop

Welcome to Sir Rob's World-Building Workshop! Would you like to be part of building Sir Rob's next fictional realm? Then join him on his journey and let's make a wacky world of wonder! (This is not an actual story. It's a workshop. So if you're allergic to bits and pieces of fictional worlds flying around, do not ente...

The Dragon's Heir [Beta][Complete]

COMPLETE #1 in Fantasy #1 in Adventure #1 in Historical Fiction ---------- Sometimes, believing helps us to see truth. Other times, we need a little evidence to believe. But there is truth behind everything; every false manoeuvre, ever little lie...a small piece of truth is hidden. Just like truth is wound into le...

The Robber Knight's Protege

**This is fan fiction for Rob Thier's Robber Knight series** It has been twelve years since the Margrave von Falkenstein's armies threatened to destroy Luntberg. Back then, Fye was a little girl who could only stand in awe of the battle prowess of the great Sir Reuben (and occasionally jab her enemies with a stick). N...

The Monster Boy in My Dreams.

Jewel is a normal high schooler who knows how she wants things done. But through her years she has had one secret she has kept from the whole world, an ability that lets her travel between dimensions. One boy has the same problem and has always been looking for someone who understands.... When they finally meet will t...

The Robber Knight's Love

Ayla has uncovered a terrible secret: the man she loves is in fact her worst enemy. As a mighty army gathers to destroy her and her people, she must ask herself: will he join them to destroy her? Must she cut him out of her heart to survive? Or is there another way – a way to forgiveness and... love? Sequel to Robert...

DEAD IN BED By Bailey Simms: The Complete Second Book

The highly anticipated follow-up to the ⋕1 Wattpad hit DEAD IN BED is here. Bailey's and Ashley's sagas continue in the heart-wrenching finale to Adrian Birch's totally unique meta novel. ----------------------------------------------- Haven't read Book 1 yet? Check it out here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/255...

The Robber Knight's Secret

The final battle for love, life and liberty has begun! Ayla has had to defend her people in the past, but this time, it is no mercenary rabble outside the gates of her castle: it is the army of the Margrave von Falkenstein himself. Her people are outnumbered and have nowhere to run. But they do have one last, desperat...

DEAD IN BED By Bailey Simms: The Complete First Book

You've never, ever read a book like this. When a sexually-transmitted plague breaks out in Ashley Young's small town, leaving its victims with a bizarrely amplified libido, everything about her life changes. DEAD IN BED is partly a suspense thriller with a strikingly unique story, partly a page-turning mystery about a...

I Need A New Phone 'Cos Jeff the Dick Broke It. Now I Can't Use Tumblr Anymore.

I Need A New Phone 'Cos Jeff the Dick Broke It. Now I Can't Use Tumblr Anymore. (Also My Wi-Fi Went Out.) Camryn Reynolds is that one girl who never puts down her phone. It's like her life. She's a Tumblr girl and is very passionate about it. She's weird, awkward and hangs out with people just as weird. But, of course...

The Legend Of The Twelve Peers (on hold to be rewritten)

After he is accused of raping his secret lover, Charles is exiled by his father, the Frankish King, to serve a five years penance amongst the Deadcloaks, a ragtag band of war deserters redeeming themselves by defending the Frankish borders against the Saxons. There, he truly sees the withering state of his father's pr...

The Robber Knight

When you are fighting for the freedom of your people, falling in love with your enemy is not a great idea. Or is it? Ayla has to defend her castle and her people all on her own, with nobody to help her but a dark warrior she hates with all her heart.

Streetfighter

OK so maybe a fifteen year old girl. Sneaking out In the middle of the night wasn't such a good idea especially if your already grounded but when you have a secret as big as mine it's kind of hard to come right out and say it. But seriously a delinquent school I'm not that bad...or am I???????

Being Bitten

Juliette is a human. Your typical quiet girl, the one who's always listening to music and blocking herself out of the world. Romeo is a werewolf. He's your typical popular playboy, the one who's always throwing crazy parties and dating his 'mate' Kassidy. Romeo thinks he's already found his mate, but boy is he wrong...

Killer Protector (Jeff the Killer story)

[1st installment of the KP Series] Elizabeth always knew she was a special sort. Her family and friends knew too. She's an introvert and feels like a weirdo wherever she goes, even in her own home. But what happens when she encounters a man known to the world as a notorious monster? Jeff the killer. She never thought...

The Monster & Mrs. Blake

Jeremy Blake is too old for the monster under his bed...but that won't stop it from killing him. Originally published by The Story Station, November 2009 Cover illustration: "The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli, used under creative commons from www.athenaeum.org

A Guide To Murder

Jeff The Killer, BEN DROWNED, Eyeless Jack, and Laughing Jack are in search for Slenderman, who had disappeared mysteriously only a little while ago. They look for him for the sole reason of Slender owing them something in the future, but soon their little quest spirals out of control. Will they survive other killers...

The Knight's Dog

When Dern encounters a dying knight, he forsakes his life as a thief to do the honorable thing and deliver the knight's weapons and orphaned dog to the king. Civilized life is nothing like he imagined it, though. At every turn, someone is trying to swindle him or cut his throat. Everyone but the surly dog that now loo...

Bazza'Jo

It begins with a plant. It begins with Baz. In the old days of the Empire, only talented Casters could eat the Baz grains and tap the power that lay in the seed. Bazza'Casters were powerful, legendary figures with abilities that were limited only by their talent, skill and imagination. These days, Casting is for every...

The Ghost Tiger's Lament

As a child, Ashne swore two oaths. With her adopted sister Zsaran she made a pact: one would never die without the other. To their mistress, the queen, who plucked them both out of the inhospitable marshlands, she vowed eternal loyalty. When a tiger spirit from a rival kingdom kidnaps the queen's only daughter, Ashne...