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Author’s Spotlight with Steven E. Scribner

Hello all! It’s been a while since I posted something here, but today I have a guest to interview. Steven E. Scribner is the author of the Tond series, and he’s here to answer some questions about his book, Grendul Rising, which is the first of the Madstones Tetralogy, the second series in the world of Tond. Let’s dive right in!

Steven, thanks for being willing to answer these questions for this author spotlight! I’m glad to have you here today. First up, can you tell us what the inspiration for this story was?

Several threads came together.

One: there were a couple of loose ends in my original “Tond” books, which I thought I could put together to write another story.

Two: Current events (and the division in manners of thinking) have gotten so extreme and bizarre that they almost sound like a fantasy story themselves. I wanted to treat them in an allegorical manner and, at the same time, have the characters go on a third path that can restore sanity. (In this book, though, only the madness is presented, and only part of it; the resolves will come later in the tetralogy.) I don’t have the characters “discover” this third path because it’s always been there for them.

Three: Old stories (by me). There were some characters and sub-plots that I had put in the very first versions of my “Tond” books (written when I was in high school, more than forty years ago); I had eventually dropped these ideas as the stories evolved but I thought it would be possible to bring them back into another story. So, the newest “Tond” book contains some of the oldest “Tond” material.

Four: Old stories (not by me). This new series will feature retellings of one Medieval and one Renaissance story, along with a lot of “folklore” that I invented (but based on actual folktales from various places in the world).

That’s awesome! It’s always nice when you can put a message into the book naturally without losing any of the meaning in the message or the story, and retellings of folklore and stories through your own lore is very inventive! Now, let’s look at our next question. If you had to boil the story down to its fundamentals, what is the theme you’re trying to get across to the reader?

Discussions on the nature of evil, and how we know about it. In the original “Tond” series, the villain is pure evil; a vast monolithic force of corruption and destruction in the manner of Tolkien’s Sauron. This time, though, I present a subtler antagonist. In this first book he seems to be nothing more than a petty dictator wannabe who sews discord by means of propaganda and misinformation. That much is obviously “evil”, but some of the characters (who have known him previously) drop hints that his psychology is more complex and his motives may not be purely malevolent. Likewise, the protagonists are not always obviously “good”; one of them resorts to bribery at one point, and under-the-table criminal activity seems ubiquitous in the part of Tond called Kaii. So how do we recognize evil? This point will be discussed more in depth later in the series.

That’s one of those enduring themes that has so many good iterations of it and new angles to explore. I love that you’re looking at both pure evil and also subtler evil that may not be readily apparent and may not purely be motivated by malevolence. As is often said, the worst type of dictator (or villain) is the one convinced he’s doing it for your good! So, did you consciously choose this theme, or did it sort of reveal itself during the process?

It pretty much revealed itself after I had put together the four “threads” I talked about in Answer #1.

Always nice when that happens and you don’t have to sit there and heavily think about what sort of theme would be best illustrated by the story you want to tell! It definitely makes writing the book easier when it all falls together that way! So let’s look at some fun questions now! What is your favorite moment in the novel, and why?

A lot of it deals with serious themes, but there’s a lighter moment in Chapter Two that I like. Nanta Hornblower is charged with playing the Horn on Horn Hill every morning at sunrise. This is taken to be a very serious occupation in Kaii, and it may involve hardship (Nanta has to live in a chilly, smelly little hut atop the Hill and go several miles to get food and water, for example). When one of her friends asks why she does it, she points out the view from the Hill: misty and sunlit mountains and forests, and twinkling lights that are the sunlight glinting off of glass windows in the towns in the woods. She appreciates the beauty of nature and of art. The inspiration for this scene (which goes back to those very early versions of the “Tond” books) was the horn calls and forest music in Mahler’s Second Symphony. (Here’s a link: begin at 19:25 if you want to hear the actual piece! Gustavo Dudamel / SBSOV Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Mov V (1/2) – YouTube)

And, a comical moment also involving Nanta and music: (this is a paraphrase since the original makes no sense out of context). In the midst of a riot: “Put your hands up and step away from the bagpipe!” (The Tondish bagpipe is a Rube Goldberg contraption quite a bit zanier than the familiar European versions.)

That last one sounds like a really funny moment in the scene! So since you’ve noted a lot of the story deals with serious themes, let’s turn our focus back to that discussion. What is the moment you feel best illustrates the theme and why?

Tazzie spoke up, “You said that Grendul’s motivation is a misplaced desire to do good. Creating madness does not seem to be desire to do good.”

S’Enrik emitted what sounded like a grim laugh. “Ah yes, that’s the trouble, isn’t it? It depends what kind of madness.”

Grendul Rising, Scribner

This fragment of conversation states the theme precisely, though at this point the reader doesn’t know what S’Enrik means. Hopefully the reader will be taken on a journey (along with the characters) to answer his question.

I like it. Sometimes, blunt and open is the way to go, especially if you’re doing it at the earlier point before the journey is fully taken so you can unfold the real meaning behind the statement of the theme as you go! So this definitely doesn’t sound like an easy book to write. What was the greatest challenge you faced while writing this, and why?

Organizing all of the plots and sub-plots. The story is fairly complicated, and it has to tie into what happened in the first “Tond” series but still be understandable to those who haven’t read those books. My solution (I think it worked, but so far no one has commented on it) is to make this a Book of Questions. Though the major plotlines reach a conclusion, it’s definitely part one of a series and there are a lot of hints that will only come to fruition in later books. One character seems to have some kind of powers, but has no memories from earlier in his life. Another is on a quest to answer “seven questions”; by the end of the book he says he’s found the answer to one of them but doesn’t say what the other six are. Two characters have been given missions, but we don’t know what either mission really is, who gave the orders, or why. There are a number of other disconnected comments and incidents; this includes the book’s cover: why the moon-horse? It’s an image from some of the “folklore” I made up, it but doesn’t seem particularly relevant at this point. Of course I, as the author, know the answers to these questions, but answering them to the readers’ satisfaction will continue to challenge me. (Kudos to the illustrator, Cassander Garduna, for a great moon-horse.)

Those more complex stories can definitely be tough to work with, especially with all the things you have to tie together and keep track of! It sounds like you came up with an interesting solution to it, though! So what was the easiest part of writing this story?

The several descriptions of the world of Tond (both of nature and of cultural details). These were easy simply because I enjoy imagining and inventing things, and then writing about them.

That’s always one of the fun things about writing fantasy! There’s no real limit to what you can come up with to make your world unique. Along the same lines of favorites as we had earlier with your favorite scenes, who was your favorite character to write?

I have two. 1.) The aforementioned Nanta Hornblower, because she’s associated with music (another one of my interests), enjoys nature, doesn’t take guff from anyone, and (like me) is a bit nerdy and weird. 2.) S’Enrik; at this point he’s a sort-of Gandalf/Obi-Wan character, but he has a long backstory that touches on Tondish philosophy. I hope to flesh that out in the second book of the series.

Sounds like you’ve got a few fun characters to play with, then. Now, I always like to ask about influences, so can you tell us which books you feel had the greatest impact on your writing and why they did?

For the entirety of the two “Tond” series: Obviously, Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and Herbert’s “Dune” books. Little needs to be said here; most modern fantasy is indebted to them. A more subtle influence is from James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Jerry Spinelli’s “Stargirl”. These are very different books (one is a short kids’ book; the other is a sprawling tome that’s not even remotely for kids) but the odd similarities are features that I’ve tried to invoke in “Tond”: both show mythic archetypes appearing in everyday life (though in the case of Tond, that “everyday life” is in a made-up realm) and both immerse the reader in a tiny fictive world that stands for the entire universe. (The “tiny world” does not apply to Tond, though it does stand for wider ideas.) And, I might add (though I don’t know if I’ve been able to imitate this), both are veritable fountains of quotables and gorgeous prose.

For this book in particular: I recently started reading N.K. Jemisin’s “Broken Earth Trilogy”, and her manner of telling the story (separate timelines that come together as the book progresses) helped me solve some problems with the narratives in this new “Tond” book. As I’m planning it now, the first three books of The MadStones Tetralogy will all be told in this manner.

Great influences to have! I haven’t read all of them, but I’ve heard they’re all very good! On the subject of books, let’s end off by talking about some comparisons for readers who might be interested in reading your book. What books would you say Grendul Rising is most like?

Hard to say. It’s along the lines of a lot of fantasy with its invented world, cultures, and languages. Maybe the “Dune” books are closest because of the mix of fantasy and sci-fi (though, unlike the “Dune” books, the fantasy element is the stronger of the two) and the exploration of history, politics, and religion (though again, the takes on these topics are very different from Herbert’s). Mostly, I hope the readers will enjoy this book and make their own comparisons.

I think that’s what we all hope! Well, thank you again for being a guest on the blog, and readers, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read today from Steven. If you did, be sure to check out his Tond series and Grendul Rising! That’s it for today, everyone. See you next time!

Author’s Interview: Olive M. Creed

Hi everyone! Ariel here with another author’s interview. Today’s author is Olive Creed, the author of Fallen King, the first fantasy novel in the series Chronicles of Elyndia. Thanks for being here with me today, Olive! I’m so glad to have you. As we’re starting off the interview today, could you tell us all a bit about yourself?

I’m a homeschool graduate who lives on a homestead with my family. When I’m not chasing chickens or writing, I like to experiment in the kitchen, paint, and play around with graphic design!

That’s wonderful! I’m also a homeschool grad myself, and I grew up out in the country with chickens and a giant garden, so I can relate. It can be lots of fun, though it’s also a lot of work! So, as I noted in the introduction, you do write fantasy, but what type of fantasy do you write, and do you write any other genres? Then, as a follow up, can you tell us why you chose that style or flavor of writing?

I write Fantasy, and it ranges from what I call Cowboy Fantasy (historical fantasy that’s not really based on one specific time period) to Dystopian Fantasy. I love dabbling in different genres, but love the world building that comes with Fantasy. I’ve attempted writing Modern Day Fiction, but it always ends up Fantasy!

That’s really interesting. I’ve never heard the term Cowboy Fantasy before, so you’ve taught me something new. I love historical fantasy though, so I’m sure it would be right up my alley! I also know what you mean about things always ending up fantasy. I’ve dabbled with sci-fi, but somehow, I always end up with either pure fantasy or cross-genre fiction with fantasy as the main genre. Now, most authors are also readers. So tell us, what genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read a lot of different genres when I have the time to sit down and focus. As long as there’s no sex (preferably very little romance) no gore, and no horrible language, I’ll give it a shot! Though, currently, most of my books in my meager collection is Fantasy, LOL.

That makes perfect sense. A lot of authors seem to mostly read the genres they write, I find. If we enjoy reading it, chances are high we’ll also like writing it, though that’s only a general rule. So besides reading and writing, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I like to Role Play with friends, paint, bake, and cuddle chicks. Sometimes I’ll read or watch something, but it’s usually too much to focus on when I’m trying to relax, LOL

I hear you there! I like to watch things to relax, but often I need something that’s not going to require a lot of focus if I’m really going to relax. Even better is an activity totally unrelated to work! As someone who edits and writes for a living, it’s not always relaxing to go sit down and write or edit my own projects off work hours! I definitely understand wanting something else, and these activities sound like awesome ways to take a break physically and mentally. So this is one of the fun questions! What can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

My current WIP is book three in my Chronicles of Elyndia series. It’s called Tainted Throne. I can’t say too much without spoiling the two previous books, but there’s lots of pirates in it!

Oh, how fun! I love pirates. They always make things more entertaining! So I kind of spoiled the answer to this question since I noted that you’re the author of the first book in the Chronicles of Elyndia series, but… I’ll ask anyway… If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience? If this is your first experience, what has that been like?

I’m indie published, published my first book in August. I…still have not quite grasped marketing yet!

It was a little overwhelming hiring out edits and formatting and all that, but at the same time, it’s very rewarding! My editor has been a tremendous help keeping me sane and helping me along, and I’m very thankful for her!

That’s great! Sounds like you found yourself an excellent teammate to work with from the start. Editors really can make or break the process of prepping a book for publishing, and I’m glad you found a good one, especially for a first experience! So for the next question, let’s talk about gaining inspiration. For your current series, what were your inspirations for writing?

I take a lot of experiences I’ve had, blow them up to Fantasy Proportions, and then throw them onto my characters, LOL. Book one in my series, Fallen King, was inspired by a random image that came to mind one day while I was doing homework with my best friend. It was a lone survivor, bleeding and more dead than alive, standing in the middle of a massacre.

Those are some interesting sources of inspiration! It’s really neat to hear about where other authors get their ideas from. I work a lot like you do from the sounds of it, since I also tend to grab experiences I’ve had, things I’ve observed, and random inspirations that hit while living life to inspire my work. So now that we know a bit about your writing and your process, can you tell us who got you into writing when you first started?

My mum really got me into it. She’s a book worm, and I’ve been a storyteller since I could talk. I would entertain my younger sisters at bedtime with the most outrageous stories in existence! As I got older, my mum started encouraging me to write down my stories and learn how to write an actual book. My first attempts will never see the light of day! (Especially since most were lost in a house fire, LOL)

Oh, no! That’s so sad. I know I always smile a bit looking back at old work because it really shows how much progress I’ve made up to now, so I can’t even imagine losing the ones I felt were worth keeping to a fire! But it’s great that you had the encouragement to start writing from your mom! It’s always nice when family comes alongside to support you as a writer. Speaking of support, was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

My two best friends. I would not still be writing today if it wasn’t for them. One has been my best friend since before I started writing, and has encouraged me the entire way. Even when book after book was a complete “failure”. My other best friend, I met almost two years ago as I was editing the Chronicles of Elyndia series (back when it was one ginormous book with no consistent plot and a complete overwhelming mess.) She helped me straighten everything out and encouraged me to keep going when I wanted to quit.

Wow! Sounds like you had really solid friends. I’m glad they kept you writing! In light of your own journey as a writer, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

The first book you write is likely not going to be the one you publish. And that’s okay! Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wasting your time. You’re learning and perfecting the art of writing, and that takes time! Just write, and write for yourself first.

And if you want to write the craziest, whackiest, weirdest story ever, then write it! One, if you don’t enjoy what you write, chances are, neither will anyone else. And two, people love weird, crazy stories.

Those are definitely good points to keep in mind. I know I didn’t publish my very first book, and I actually published one that I later unpublished because it really never should’ve seen the light of day. It happens, and when we’re learning, we’re going to learn in different ways and make mistakes as we go. And the weirder the story, the better in writing, just as long as it makes sense! Sometimes the weirdest stories are the ones that most hold attention as you’re reading. In the same grain as the last question, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Don’t take criticism from people who haven’t read your story. And, even if they have, just because they say something is wrong doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong. Use your Authorly Wisdom to discern what actually needs fixing, or what is just something they aren’t a fan of. 

Oh, yes! That’s a great point. I don’t know that I ever did that because my earliest writing experiences were with family as readers and critics and then with critique groups. But everyone and their mother will have an opinion, even if they haven’t read it. The worst thing to do is work off an opinion from someone who has zero context to form an opinion with! So, we’ve come to the last question, and I’ve tried to make this a fun one, though I know it’s a tough one for a lot of authors! What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

My favorite book ever is Dare, from The Blades of Acktar series by Tricia Mingerink. Favorite character? Leith Torren from The Blades of Acktar! *cue the fangirling* He’s a sweet, adorable, tough-as-nails assassin, and I love him!

Sounds like my kind of character! Well, that’s all for today, folks. Thank you for hanging out with me and Olive for the interview, and thank you again for taking the time to answer the questions I had, Olive! Best of luck to you with the rest of your series and your future writing endeavors!

Readers, if you want to check out Olive’s first-in-series, Fallen King, you can find it here. You can also follow Olive on Instagram and Facebook to see any updates she may post. Once again, thank you for being here, and I hope you’ll take a moment to check out Olive’s book and social media pages!

New Release – Light’s Insurgent

new release cover

Hey everyone! Ariel here with an update. Light’s Insurgent, the sequel to my release Shadow’s Dissident earlier this year, is now live on Amazon! I’m very excited to present to you the final book in my Children of Chaos duology. It’s a great feeling to have a complete series done and published, especially within less than a year. As with the last book, I want to provide readers with an idea of what to expect from this second book, though if you read the first through to the end, you should already know there were hints at some really big stuff going on behind the scenes.

For those who haven’t read Shadow’s Dissident, you can find the new release announcement and info about it here. Unlike my Legends of Alcardia series, this one cannot be read in any order, so you’ll want to pick up book one first. Both books are free on KU if you read that way, but they’re also available with Kindle and on paperback through Amazon if you read one of those ways.

For everyone else, onward to book two! This book fulfills the promise of a tangled web of secrets that book one hinted at toward the end. It also ties up loose ends and brings onboard V, a character who was introduced as a mystery/wild card in book one. Now, as I noted with book one, this book is not your typical YA dystopian fantasy novel. I’m not going to give you a sniveling, cringy heroine who starts strong and falls apart in book two. Personally, nothing irritates me more as a woman than a strong female lead who has promise and is really relatable but then falls off the wagon with no warning in book two. I’m not going to write something that I find obnoxious myself, and I certainly wouldn’t ask a reader to pay to read that! So if you like characters who are strong but human, that’s what you’ll find here.

Gwen really takes on the challenges in both books head on, but in the second book, readers will get to see her growing and adapting as she learns to meet those challenges with more wisdom and decorum than she sometimes had in book one. So she does change and grow, and of course, like anyone would, she struggles with the difficult situations she’s in, particularly since she often has to face them without Sheppard’s strength to support her. Readers can also expect to see Sheppard growing as he has to face his own insecurities and fears about his relationship with Gwen and the new secrets that he’s uncovering as he works with the Coalition to topple Oblivion.

This book is much more complex than book one was. There’s more building out of the societal structures and magic system of the world, as readers were hoping to see in book one, but the majority of the book focuses on the plot to bring down Oblivion and what the various characters are doing in relation to it. Readers will find that the book brings everything to a conclusion that leaves everyone’s journeys tied up.

For those of you who have been reading or will read the series, I am happy to announce that there will be a companion series. Healer of Alcardia is a high fantasy trilogy that focuses on V, the character introduced in book one and brought into the main cast in book two of the Children of Chaos duology. Her story is the only one that doesn’t fully conclude in this series, so if you enjoyed her character in this duology, rest assured you’ll be seeing more of her in the future! I am currently working on book one, Healer of Shadow, and I hope to have that out come the middle of this year.

Finally, as usual with my new release announcements, I want to take a moment to provide a bit of info on what sort of content you should expect for parents who want an idea of whether this is appropriate for their child.

While this is YA appropriate, as was book one, it does deal with difficult and sometimes dark themes. It’s certainly a bit darker than the first book because the characters are growing and facing growing dangers/difficulties with Oblivion. However, I approach all of my work with the concept that, while young people should not be sheltered from evil’s existence, the goal should be to present it as evil and in a form that is appropriate to their age. This means that, depending on the age range I am aiming at, my work may include difficult subjects that can become very dark. But it also means that I strive to show only what is absolutely necessary and to avoid too much discussion of certain subjects that may not yet be appropriate for an age group if that age group is on the younger end of the YA spectrum.

For Shadow’s Dissident and Light’s Insurgent, this means that while Oblivion runs escort/brothel services as a means of control over key political figures on planets they’re trying to control, does some horrific things to those in their training programs for soldiers and trainers, and is extremely evil, these things are only mentioned in brief but generally are not shown. In book two, things are spelled out a little more. There are some scenes where the abuse that V endured in her past are hinted at. There is also some suggestive content from a few less savory characters, though I strive to keep it clean enough that it can be realistic without being gratuitous or scarring to younger audiences. I don’t shy away from what is being suggested in the single scene where one character proposes Gwen sleep with him, but he is promptly and sharply rejected and the idea is presented as being a bad one. So for older teens, again, it shouldn’t be an issue. Nothing actually happens, and it is kept fairly clean even though it’s obvious what the guy is asking. There is some kissing between Sheppard and Gwen; again, I strive to keep it realistic but clean for a younger audience.

My approach is intentional because, as I said, while I don’t believe in sheltering teens and young adults from the reality of the evil that can go on in the world, I also don’t believe the best approach to helping them to realize that evil exists is to hand them writing with graphic descriptions of all the horrible things that could happen to a person. It is enough to establish that it exists, what brand of it is being dealt with, and why it is evil without going into lengthy descriptions of its manifestations.

However, this does mean that some parents may not feel comfortable with giving the book series to their teens. I leave that decision in their hands; my goal is to provide them and you as readers with the information they and you need to make an informed decision on whether or not you want to read it. It is not my job or my concern to determine your decision or to decide if it is a good one or a fairly considered one. For those who have dealt with abuse before, this may not be the book for you. It isn’t graphic in its descriptions, where the abuse is described at all, but I understand that even the presence or mention of it may make those who have been through abuse uncomfortable. If that’s you, please, for your own mental health, don’t read this.

And finally, if you read the first book, it is a pretty good indication of the sort of content that will be in this one. There’s no sex, some kissing, and descriptions of violence are kept appropriate for the target age range. If you’re looking for something with a higher heat level to the romance or more R-rated descriptions of violence, this won’t be the book or the series for you. Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope this helps to bring some clarity to readers and to let you all know what to expect! Happy reading!

Author’s Interview: Jenna Terese

Hi all! I’m back with another author’s interview. Please welcome Jenna Terese! I’m delighted to have her on the blog as this interview has been in the works for a while. Thanks to the Iron Walls release and then coming down with two different illnesses in a row, the interview had to be postponed, but we are finally here with Jenna! Thank you for being here, Jenna, and thank you for the patience you had as I worked to find time and the health to do this! Let’s go ahead and dive right in.

To start, I always like to ask authors to tell my audience a bit about themselves, so if you wouldn’t mind, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

First of all, thank you so much for having me! I am a Christian young adult author passionate about how art affects the world and on a mission to impact people through stories. I’m also a booknerd, Marvel geek, musician, and plant mom. 

As I said, I’m glad to have you on, finally! So the next thing I’m sure everyone’s curious about is what kind of genres you write. And as a follow up, why did you choose that style or flavor of writing?

I write mainly science fiction, but I’ve also got a few fantasy ideas in the works. 😉 I used to write only historical fiction, but once I read my first speculative fiction book I was hooked. I love the freedom of creativity I have with sci-fi and fantasy. There are no limits, and that excites me. 

That’s wonderful! Perfect fit for this blog, too! We love all things speculative fiction over here, though most of the authors I’ve had on write mainly fantasy. I personally love a good historical fiction novel too, so it’s neat that you started out there! Now, shifting gears from writing to reading, what genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read mainly fantasy and sci-fi. I definitely draw inspiration from what I read for my writing.

I think you’re in good company there! Most of us write what we enjoy and read it too. So besides writing, which most writers know can be either relaxing or extremely stressful depending on the day, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

Reading, of course. 😉 I also love to play the piano, knit occasionally, and make aesthetic Pinterest boards for my WIPs.

All great things to do! I like spending time on Pinterest too, maybe a little too much. Once you’ve gone down that rabbit hole, there’s no coming back! So, focusing back on your writing, can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

I published my debut novel Ignite (YA sci-fi/superhero) this year, and I’m currently working on editing the sequel to it, Embers. That’s my main project, but I also have another sci-fi/futuristic racing novel in the works. 

Congratulations! A debut novel is a really big deal. It’s great that you have the sequel in the works too. It sounds like you’re making great progress on building up your backlog of books in the new genre. Did you publish your debut traditionally or through self-publishing, and can you tell us a little about the experience? If this is your first experience, what has that been like?

I independently published my debut novel and chose that path over traditional publishing for my future books. This definitely isn’t an easy road. Indie publishing is like managing your own business, and even after I’d done a lot of research, I still didn’t feel prepared for the amount of work a book launch took. But seeing readers’ response to the book release and them sharing how much they loved it makes it all worth it. Sharing my stories with the world can be a bit scary at times, but I love sharing the characters in my head and their journeys with others.

I know what you mean! I love the control self-publishing gives me over the process, but it’s certainly a ton of work. Especially with the first novel when you don’t know what you’re doing entirely. I remember how scary that was and how stressed out I got, but it gets better even if the work load doesn’t improve! So as far as this book and others go, what were your inspirations for writing?

I get inspiration from almost anywhere. Being a visual person, I’m often inspired by things I see. Movies, shows, people, places, art, and more. 

I know how that goes! I’m very similar in drawing inspiration from just about anything at all. It’s always fascinating to see what sparks an idea when you’re out and about. Can I ask, who got you into writing when you first started?

I grew up with my mom reading to me and my siblings. I loved how a story could draw you in and make you forget about the real world, take you on an adventure, and leave you craving more. That fascination is what led me to begin crafting my own stories. 

That’s awesome! I also grew up with a parent in the home who loved to read to us. There’s not much better than listening to a good story, especially if the person reading does voices. As you began moving from reading to also writing, was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

Along with the support of my awesome family and encouraging writer friends, God has really been there through it all. I didn’t always realize it, but looking back now I can see how He’s grown me and how that translates into my writing. Whenever I’m discouraged about my writing, I can remember the truth that He gave me a love of storytelling for a reason and that my stories matter. 

 
That’s definitely a blessing! Not every writer can say that. Speaking of other writers, especially beginners, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

Similar to my previous answer: your stories matter. Stories have a powerful way of impacting people and you were given a passion for it for a reason. Things won’t always be easy. In fact, maybe most of it won’t. But it matters. So keep at it. And remember, practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes better. I believe you can’t achieve perfection in art, so don’t expect it of yourself. But keep practicing and refining your skills, and it will pay off. 

That’s definitely good advice! I think we often forget that practice can’t make us perfect and get discouraged when it doesn’t, but it’s encouraging to recognize that it definitely makes us a lot better! Along the same grain, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Basically, my previous answer. XD Also, I wish I’d known about the comparison trap writers struggle with before I struggled with it myself and stunted my creativity. I also wish I’d known more about making my own unique creative process, experimenting with different ways to craft my stories instead of copying others. 

Yeah, those are all good things for beginning authors to know. Especially the last two you mentioned. Comparison traps are one of the biggest pitfalls a writer can fall into! And I think a lot of beginners also need to hear that it’s okay to just experiment and try things many ways without worrying about how everyone else does it! Learn from what others do and use techniques they used successfully while experimenting, but if it isn’t you, that’s okay. Move on and try something new! Now, on to the fun question that every author (really, any avid reader) hates! What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

It’s so hard to narrow my favorites down to one book! I’ll have to cheat a little and give my favorite series: the Out of Time series by Nadine Brandes. It inspires me as a Christian (and Christian writer). It’s a young adult sci-fi/dystopian full of suspense, emotion, and deep characters that encourage and inspire. Thank you again for interviewing me!

I know it’s not an easy question when there are so many good books to choose from! I’ll take favorite series. Usually authors end up giving me more than one, and I rarely have just one answer to the question myself!

Well, that’s it for today, everyone! Thank you again for being here today, Jenna! This was a lot of fun, and I’m sure my readers will enjoy getting to know you as much as I did. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re reading today, Jenna’s book Ignite is available here on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, or–if you prefer to get the really nice type of hard copy–hardback. Give it a look, and if you find it interesting, maybe give it a shot! I’m sure Jenna would also love to hear from you if you have read it and enjoyed it! You can also find Jenna on the web here. That’s all for today. Until next time!

Author’s Interview: Amanda Wrights

Hi everyone! This is the final interview in the interview blitz I’ve been doing leading up to the release of Iron Walls, a new dystopian anthology I helped to format, layout, and publish. Tonight, I have with me Amanda Wrights. Welcome to The Fantasy Nook, Amanda! We’re glad you could join us! Let’s go ahead and jump right into the questions.

First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a 19 year old writer, and have been writing stories since I was around 12 years old. I’ve always loved reading and at some point, when I decided not enough stories I wanted to read were being told, I decided to start making my own. I’ve since branched from writing novels into cooperative story telling through Dungeons and Dragons, and I very much enjoy both styles of story telling. I also love listening to music and enjoy drawing on occasion.

That’s great! Cooperative story telling can be a lot of fun when you have the right group of people. So, tell us, what kind of dystopian did you write for this anthology, and why did you choose that style or flavor of writing?

I wrote a more post-apocalyptic, government control dystopia. For the story that I wanted to write, and the world that I wanted to write it in, this ended up being the most sensible decision I could make. Because of the state of the world after the apocalypse struck, anyone who wanted power and knew how to take it could have, which led me to conclude that the most realistic way for things to have gone in the world was towards total government control, and ultimately, a fight against that.

Awesome! Nothing wrong with going with the basic staples of the genre. Now, let’s switch gears a bit… What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I tend to read a lot of fantasy, action and adventure, or thriller novels. For the thrillers, specifically, I prefer the Christian romance ones. Occasionally I’ll also read sci-fi. I wouldn’t say I write all of the same ones, as I’ve never written a thriller before. However, I do mix and match my writing with the other genres, almost exclusively. Typically most of what I write is in the fantasy adventure genre, but I’ll mix in sci-fi sometimes if I get a good idea for it.

Definitely a good blend there, and it sounds like it helps you to write better too if you enjoy mixing genres a bit! Besides writing or reading, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I enjoy listening to Dungeons and Dragons podcasts quite a bit. I’ll also listen to music pretty much whenever I’m not listening to something or someone else. I write to relax sometimes. Or just when I need to get an idea out of my head. I also play video games.

The D&D podcasts is one I haven’t heard on here before! But I like it. It’s a nice break from being the one to tell or create the story. Going back to writing, can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Currently I’m working on a fantasy novel that hopefully will become a set of two books. It takes place in the same world as my story in the anthology, and tells the story of the apocalypse, how it happened, and how some of the population survived it, all through the lens of a group of young adults who fought to stop it. They’re actually referenced somewhere in Defiant Flame, though I’ll let the readers find out where exactly that is.

Then it sounds like, at some point, readers who like this piece can enjoy more from this world. That’s great to hear! Now, let’s talk publishing. If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience? If this is your first experience, what has that been like?

Unfortunately, I haven’t published anything yet. Defiant Flame will be my first published work. Overall, because I’ve not been in the main group of people doing formatting and fully publishing things, it’s been a simple process for me. I just had to write and edit my own work, and apply some simple formatting changes to make things a bit easier for the people in charge of everything else.

Well, on behalf of both myself and James, we’re glad your experience was a pain-free, easy one! That’s what we were aiming for. So, when it comes to the writing side of this story specifically, what were your inspirations for writing it?

It’s hard to fully pinpoint all of the things that have influenced the world that Defiant Flame and my other current project is set in. I got the idea for my current project years ago reading a manga that I thought had an interesting military structure which I wanted to implement in my own world. But past that, I think a lot of my main ideas, characters, and concepts came somewhat at random. Typically when I sit down and try to fully write out a character and story, what I come up with depends on the day. A lot of it is subconscious inspiration, or occasionally ideas from dreams I remembered and wanted to use.

It’s always great when your subconscious mind can grab onto ideas that are usable. I’m not much of a subconscious writer when it comes to my planning process, but once in a while, when I’m stuck, I do wish my subconscious could solve the problem with a little inspiration in the background! So, continuing more broadly on the trend of inspirations, who got you into writing when you first started?

My older sister, Abigail. She’d been writing for a few years before I started, and I figured if she could do it, surely I could too, and I could use that to get my own story ideas out into the world. Of course, I started partially out of pure determination to prove I could do it in the first place. But as it turned out, I enjoyed it too, and picked it up properly as a hobby quite quickly.

That’s great! I think we all have to have that moment when we move from determination to prove ourselves to someone else to doing it for ourselves, regardless of the reason. As you were working through this, there must’ve been some tough moments. Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

I have a very good friend named Zoe who I met early on in my writing journey on Wattpad. She and I hit it off, exchanged story ideas, and became sound boards for each other. Whenever I was struggling to come up with ideas or hit writers block, she was there for me to help inspire me or get me writing again with a word sprint or something similar. Through all the times when I was writing and didn’t know where to go from someplace or got discouraged after being eliminated from a writing contest I was in, she’s always been around to build my confidence and encourage me to keep doing it. I’ll never forget that, and I’ll always appreciate it.

 
Friends are great! I’ve also met some of my best writing partners and friends through Wattpad, so I know how that goes. It’s a great place to connect with other authors, or at least, it was when I was active on the platform. So as a writer and author who’s just starting into a new phase of the journey, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on this journey?

Find someone you can do it with. Writing is something I don’t believe is meant to be done without support. Even if it’s just one person who really believes in you and will give you constructive criticism to help you grow – find that person. It will help you stay on the path to becoming a great writer for more than any informational book or blog ever could. Though you should absolutely read those informational books and blogs, as well as other books in your genre too. It’ll give you ideas and more perspective on how to write your own novel.

That’s definitely a good point. Certainly, people can’t always be there or push us along, and writing is often a very solitary pursuit, but all of us need some support once in a while no matter how independent we are! So thinking back to when you started, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you first began writing?

I wish I’d been told before I started that it’s a skill, not a talent. Because it’s so easy to believe when you fail in a contest or someone tells you that your writing isn’t that great that “Oh, I just don’t have the talent for it”. And if you do believe it’s a talent and not a skill, then that thought becomes far more discouraging, since a skill is something you can improve and a talent is something you have to start out good at.

So true! I know many people who view it as a talent and not a skill, and I’ve definitely found they tend to become discouraged about their work more easily than those who see it as a skill. Let’s close out our interview on a question every avid reader hates but all of us love to ask our favorite authors! What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? And can you tell us why?

It’s nearly impossible to pick out a favorite book or series, but I am a very big fan of Lord of the Rings series. It’s so well written and the characters are well developed. Plus, it’s a high fantasy epic adventure, which is a genre I particularly love. As for a favorite literary character, that’s also difficult to choose, because I can relate to and love reading the stories of so many different characters. My favorite character from LOTR specifically, though, is Sam, because he’s so incredibly loyal, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help Frodo reach Mount Doom and toss the ring in.  One of my favorite parts is the scene where Frodo can’t go on, and rather than taking the ring from him to continue, Sam helps to carry Frodo up the mountain. It’s a really powerful scene of a friend helping a friend out, and I loved it.

It’s definitely a well-loved classic in the fantasy genre! Well, that’s it for tonight, everybody. Thank you again for being here, Amanda! If anyone wants to read Amanda’s story, you can grab a copy of Iron Walls and start reading it today here. For readers who have Kindle Unlimited, it is free through that program, so there’s nothing to stop you from picking it up and giving Amanda’s story or any of the others in the collection a read. All proceeds will go to Voice of the Martyrs. If you enjoy the stories in the collection, please leave a review to let us and other potential readers know you did! It takes just a few minutes, but it really helps to boost our visibility, which in turn puts the book in more readers’ hands and helps us to raise more funds for the charity.

Thank you for reading, everyone. Until next time!

Author’s Interview – Steven E. Scribner

We’re back with another interview this week! Two in a row because I was sick last week and ended up off schedule, but next week we should be back on track for any remaining interviews with authors in Iron Walls that haven’t been spotlighted before. I’m hoping for one or two more before the release on October 26th! For today, we have Steven E. Scribner with us. He’s the author of “The Scapekite” in Iron Walls: A Burning Embers Dystopian Anthology. Steven, it’s a delight to have you on. Thank you for doing this! Let’s dive right into the questions.

First, could you tell us a little bit about yourself for readers who aren’t familiar with you?

I’m a high school teacher, amateur musician, part-time blogger and full-time nerd, living in the tree-y suburbs north of Seattle with my wife, Arleen.

That’s great! Sounds like you keep really busy with all of that. High school is a tough one for teaching too, so bravo for taking that on! So, tell us, what kind of dystopian did you write for this anthology, and why did you choose that style or flavor of writing?

My story is about a corporate dystopia; end-stage capitalism gone mad. This is a form of totalitarianism not as frequently seen in literature as world-wide political dystopias are.

Certainly an interesting take! My readers have probably gathered, if they’re reading both my blogs, that I’m extremely pro-capitalist, but I think we can all agree there comes a point where morals fail to properly restrain people and it can go too far. It’s important to remind people that no system is ever perfect or can fully restrain people’s behavior if they want to act badly. It’s definitely not the usual in dystopian tales though, so it’s great to see that so many of the authors in this group took on unique themes! Moving on from the type of dystopia for the anthology, let’s talk about genres in general. What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I don’t have any particular genre that I choose to read; I like sci-fi, fantasy, “magical realist” fiction, realistic fiction, historical fiction, experimental fiction, and nonfiction about science, history, music and art. I mostly write fantasy and sci-fi because I find it fun to make up the worlds I write about.

Wow, that’s quite a range! I myself enjoy many of those genres, so it’s always nice to find fellow fantasy authors who enjoy reading a broad range of material. I think reading a broad array of writing actually enriches our writing regardless of what genre we choose, but I definitely find it helps when creating worlds for fantasy and sci-fi. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to pull from with what you enjoy reading. Now, besides writing, which some of us may find therapeutic and the rest of us wish we did… What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

Besides writing (really, I write for relaxation), I enjoy cooking, watching movies (sci-fi, drama, foreign films, animation, documentaries) and listening to music (classical, jazz, experimental, and musics from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa). I also like to go for long walks.

Ah, so someone who does find writing relaxing! That’s great. Music is at the top of my list for things to relax too! So going back to the writing stuff, can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Currently I’m working on the fifth book in my fantasy “Tond” series. The continent of Tond is located on earth but one has to go through a tesseract to get there. It’s been enjoyable inventing all the peoples, cultures, histories, languages, literature, music, and food of Tond. The first four books followed a large story arc; this fifth begins a new story with some new characters and a new (and maybe more subtle) villain.

That sounds really interesting. It also sounds like you’ve done a lot of work on the worldbuilding, which of course is a hallmark of a lot of fantasy and science fantasy! So obviously you’ve gone through the publishing process already, so I won’t ask what this experience is like if it’s your first! But could you share a bit about which publishing route you’ve gone and the pluses and minuses of that route?

My “Tond” series and one other novel are self-published. This has its plusses and minuses: I didn’t have to wait and re-submit over and over (authors often complain about the number of rejections), but it’s lacking in any kind of promotion so very few potential readers have heard of my books.

I’ve found the same myself. It’s definitely better in the sense that you have more control, but it’s certainly not easier with the lack of promotion to get your books out there! This next one’s probably one of my favorite interview questions. I absolutely love finding out where people started with writing and what got them hooked on it. So, tell us, what were your inspirations for writing?

I had written a few stories in school, but then one day in eighth grade, when I was walking in the hallway between classes, I started thinking about The Lord of the Rings (which I was reading for the first time). Out of nowhere, I said to myself, “I should write something like that someday.” I started writing fantasy. I finished the first version of the first “Tond” story a year later (I was in ninth grade). Over the years, my writing has changed quite a bit, but there are still threads from those early versions.

That’s great! Lord of the Rings was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. I probably read it six or seven times before my parents decided I needed to put my energy into reading new stuff and took the books away for a while! It’s definitely a great starting point for writers getting a handle on fantasy or those interested in the genre. So besides the inspiration Tolkien brought, who got you into writing when you first started?

I have to mention my high school creative writing teacher, and a professor in college, both who encouraged me to continue working on the “Tond” material.

It’s always wonderful to hear about teachers who encouraged writers to keep going. Sometimes that little push and a “well done” at the right moment is all we need to keep going. In light of that, writing can be hard, especially at first. It doesn’t necessarily become easier in every way, but what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey to help them out?

In the “Tond” books I make the metaphor: the universe is a song; add your own harmony. In the case of writing: it’s a story. Add your own chapter. This is more of a philosophy than concrete advice, but maybe someone needs encouragement to start writing.

Hey, sometimes the philosophy is the best starting point. Many of my favorite authors have given advice that has more to do with your mindset than the concrete aspects of the craft. You can learn the concrete stuff; your mindset is the one thing that will make you or break you early on, especially. I think it’s great advice. So one more question related to beginning authors and writers… What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Editing is a continuous process.

Absolutely! That’s probably up there on the list of things beginners need to be told. That and “you’re never going to get it perfect” are some of the most frustrating bits of advice to writers, but I think they’re the most needed ones. Now, moving away from the writing, let’s talk about you as a reader for a minute. Can you tell us what your favorite book is, and who is your favorite literary character? Why?

I have a lot of favorite books. The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” are two that I’ve enjoyed reading several times over the years. Other authors I like are Nnedi Okorafor, Arthur C. Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin, and YA author Jerry Spinelli. I also like Julian Barnes’ biography of Shostakovich (“The Noise of Time”), Richard Fortey’s ruminations on natural history, and experimental fiction like Italo Calvino and James Joyce.

Concerning favorite characters, I always enjoy the archetypal “wise fool”. Sam Gamgee from LOTR fits in this category, as does Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl, though otherwise they are very different characters. I suppose I like them because no matter how stupid I feel (don’t we all, sometimes?) I see that there’s still some wisdom to be gleaned from the situation.

Well, there are a few names on that list that I haven’t heard of, but they all sound interesting! Ursula K. Le Guin is one author I really enjoy when I have spare time to read. She’s an excellent author. So you’re hearing it from two fantasy writers and readers, everyone! Le Guin is another one of those solid fantasy authors worth checking out if you’re just starting to take a foray into fantasy. As for the characters, those are some great choices too. I’m not familiar with Spinelli’s Stargirl, but I loved Sam’s character in Lord of the Rings for the same reason you noted: he’s not the flashiest character, but he definitely has some of the wisest advice to offer. He’s probably the most underrated character in the book!

All right, everyone! That’s it for today. Thank you again for taking the time to do this interview, Steven! It was wonderful to have you on the blog, and I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming writing endeavors. Readers, you can check Steven’s work out on Amazon, and of course, if you haven’t already pre-ordered a copy of Iron Walls, you can pick up your copy here. There will be a paperback version for those who prefer a hard copy, but we’re currently going back and forth with Amazon over formatting issues, so the release is taking longer than anticipated. It may not be out until the release date of the ebook or after, depending on how long it takes to resolve the issues to Amazon’s satisfaction. In the meantime, the ebook goes live on the 26th of this month! All proceeds will go to Voice of the Martyrs.

Author’s Interview – Astrid V.J.

Hi all! Today, I have Astrid V.J., the author of short story “In Pursuit of Independence” in Iron Walls, the dystopian anthology I’m helping to release. She’s going to answer some questions for us about herself and the story she has in the anthology.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in post-Apartheid South Africa and attended a German foreign school because my dad is German and that meant my schooling was subsidized. Growing up in the shadow of Apartheid and Nazism has definitely formed me as a person and my university studies in psychology and social anthropology reflect the concerns this background raised within me. My specialization in social anthropology is in Post Colonialism, Identity Construction and Migration, topics that still form the lynchpin of my interests today as I work alongside Muslim immigrants in Sweden. My writing has always reflected these interests, but In Pursuit of Independence is the first time I dig deep beneath the surface of human thinking and modern theory.

What kind of dystopian did you write for this anthology, and why did you choose that style or flavor of writing?

I think the closest subgenre I write to is “feminist”, although I have to admit that this particular story, being as it is in answer to some of the extreme postulations of modern feminism, cannot be classified as a feminist utopia, nor is it “anti-patriarchy” per se. It is underpinned by my personal experiences in answer to something I see troubling in the current discourse about “womanhood” and “femininity” and is not in direct opposition to “masculinity” or “manhood” although “the patriarchy” is touched on.

What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read a wide range of genres including fantasy, romance, dystopian, historical fiction and non-fiction (particularly self-help). My writing tends to span subgenres, weaving between the standard divisions. In Pursuit of Independence has elements of dystopian future, space opera, and women’s fiction, as well as taking into considerations certain postulations from psychology and other social sciences.

What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I love reading, playing the violin, cross stitching and doing crafts with my children. We’re also frequent duck-feeders in the local park.

Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

I’m currently working on Warring Lions, a novella in my The Wordmage’s Tales series. This is an clean LGBTQ+ historical shifter fantasy romance following Alanna in a coming-of-age tale that combines my love of fairytales with my passion for transformational life coaching. This particular tale is dedicated to the principle of transformation: befriending your fear. It’s been a struggle to write. Even though it is one of the first Wordmage’s Tales to come to me, it has proven one of the hardest to write.

If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience? If this is your first experience, what has that been like?

This will be my twelfth book. I’ve self-published seven books solo and two anthologies so far, as well as having participated in a USA Today list-aiming set. I love self-publishing. I enjoy having artistic control over my work. I thoroughly enjoy the process of working with my editors and my fabulous cover designer and find the process very rewarding. I definitely think the experience is coloured by the team one is able to assemble. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve managed to find the people who work very well for me and who serve my books well. I know others who’ve struggled awfully because those people whose functions should support the publishing process aren’t right for the book, or don’t have the necessary experience to help the author succeed.

What were your inspirations for writing?

In Pursuit of Independence came about as a simple exercise in putting on a particular mindset. In recent years I’ve come across a lot of statements made by hardcore feminists that I cannot relate to at all because they do not reflect my unique experiences as a woman and certain desires I’ve always had. One day, I wondered what it might be like to truly believe these postulations and internalize them, superimposing them on my personal wants and needs. This short story is the result of that exploration and my examination of what would become of me if I were subjected to such a contrast of “conscious thoughts” versus “subconscious dreams”.

Who got you into writing when you first started?

I got myself into writing. Yeah, it’s kinda funny, but I came up with an idea when I was twelve and simply started putting it down on paper. I never stopped. No one encouraged me particularly, but neither was I ever discouraged. It was just my thing and people around me accepted that. My parents did encourage reading, though, and I think that is definitely an important factor in my growth as a writer because I’ve had a solid background in a wide range of genres thanks to my parents.

Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

In my twenties, I stopped believing in my writing. I considered that becoming an author was a pipe dream and not something worth pursuing. Taking the Ultimate Success Masterclass by Natalie Ledwell in 2018 helped me shift that thinking and allowed me to not only embrace my true nature as a writer, but also helped me find my calling: transformational life coaching. I have since become a certified life coach as well as having published my books.

 
What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

I know I’ve said this before, but I consider it of utmost importance. Write from the heart! When you’re writing what you truly believe in and what is important to you, your book can stand on its own once its been sufficiently polished. It will move people. Your truth will speak through it. That is meaningful. And it is powerful. Everything else will fall into place when your book is capable of moving people.

What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

It’s okay to stumble and even fall. You don’t need to be perfect. Even your book doesn’t need to be perfect. There is such a thing as “good enough”, and finding that sweet spot (or lagom as the Swedes say), is crucial. Pushing yourself too hard doesn’t do you or your writing any good. It’s also not great for your social relations. Not doing enough is no good for your book or your reputation. So, trust your gut. When it says it’s “good enough”, go with it.

What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

This is such a difficult question for me. I have been moulded by so many books and characters, but I think today, I must honour a very influential book (and character) from my childhood. Momo by Michael Ende (yes, that’s the author of The Neverending Story) took me by storm and I recently realized the power it has exerted over me. Thanks to that book and the wonderful character, Momo, I was able to say “no” when I realized I’d been taken advantage of and that things could have ended up with me accommodating things that simply weren’t necessary. It also reminds me constantly of the importance of creativity and fun. So, I’m off to have some fun with my children, because they totally deserve to have more time with me, which has been sorely lacking for the past year and a half (due to my day job, not my writing 😉)!

Well, thank you for being here today, Astrid! It was a pleasure to learn a bit more about you and your writing. Readers, check out the new anthology here. It releases on October 26th, so pre-order a copy and check out Astrid’s story! All the proceeds are going to Voice of the Martyrs.

Upcoming Release: Shadow’s Dissident

Hi all! Today, I want to share about my upcoming release, Shadow’s Dissident. This is part of the Children of Chaos series being hosted by INDIE/pendent Book Services. It will have a sequel, Light’s Insurgent. Now, I’ve had mixed feedback from BETA and ARC readers, so I wanted to take the time to provide a little insight into what to expect for those interested in reading it.

First of all, while it is YA, it is not your typical YA like Divergent, Hunger Games, or Twilight. The female lead doesn’t whine, rely totally on the guy for everything, or go from being a strong heroine to a weak one in the next book. I hate when authors write these sorts of female characters. Drives me up a wall, and it makes me want to quit reading. So I promise you I will not do that. Gwen does some seriously stupid things in the book because she’s young, inexperienced in life, and totally out of her depth in the situation she finds herself in. But she learns. She learns, and she grows as a character, but one thing she never lacks is courage, spunk, and strong moral fiber. She may sometimes do dumb things, but my goal in writing her was to give young adults and teens a role model in her. One that is admirable, strong, and relatable to young people. So yes, she does act like a teenager or a silly child at times because she is one.

Second, the book focuses mainly on setting the scene within Oblivion as it relates to Gwen and S, the main characters, and on the character development/relationship development. The pace is slower, and it is not packed with fight scenes and action. This is because, in order for the sequel to make sense, all of this set up has to be done. If you’re looking for a book that will delve into the character relationships and slowly unravel the secrets simmering under the surface, this will fulfill that. Book two is going to dive headlong into the plot to bring Oblivion down that begins at the end of book one and on the further unraveling of the secrets that started to come out at the end of the first book. It will also feature more of the various abilities, more action sequences, and a broader setting. With the set up and the relationships set down, the lines in the sand drawn, and the sides decided in book one, book two is free to really get into the rest of it. If I had dumped the readers into all of that from the get go, the dynamic between the two MCs would make no sense, their reasons for wanting Oblivion destroyed would be less clear/would require way more tedious set up and info dumping, and would generally not ring quite so true as it does once the reader has seen what these two went through to get to where they are by the opening of book two. I understand this will distance those readers unwilling to wait for the setup. Of course, we can list any number of classics that required this slower start to set everything up too, and it didn’t make them less successful. It just meant the groups that enjoyed it were going to be ones willing to take a slower journey to the end. So the decision to do this was intentional and done with an understanding that some readers would quit when they realized it wasn’t your stereotypical YA novel packed with fast paced romance and a whirlwind of action.

While this is YA appropriate, it does deal with difficult and sometimes dark themes. I approach all of my work with the concept that children should not be sheltered from evil’s existence. Instead, the goal should be to present it as evil and in a form that is appropriate to their age. This means that, depending on the age range I am aiming at, my work may include difficult subjects that can become very dark. But it also means that I strive to show only what is absolutely necessary and to avoid too much discussion of certain subjects that may not yet be appropriate for an age group if that age group is on the younger end of the YA spectrum. For Shadow’s Dissident and Light’s Insurgent, this means that while Oblivion runs escort/brothel services as a means of control over key political figures on planets they’re trying to control, does some horrific things to those in their training programs for soldiers and trainers, and is extremely evil, these things are only mentioned in brief but generally are not shown. With the exception of one brief section where one of the villains beats the female lead or a scene depicting the aftermath of the abuse meted out on S, most of it is never described or is only hinted at.

This is done intentionally because, as I said, while I don’t believe in sheltering teens and young adults from the reality of the evil that can go on in the world, I also don’t believe the best approach to helping them to realize that evil exists is to hand them writing with graphic descriptions of all the horrible things that could happen to a person. It is enough to establish that it exists, what brand of it is being dealt with, and why it is evil without going into lengthy descriptions of its manifestations. However, this does mean that some parents may not feel comfortable with giving the book series to their teens. I leave that decision in their hands; my goal is to provide them and you as readers with the information they and you need to make an informed decision on whether or not you want to read it. It is not my job or my concern to determine your decision or to decide if it is a good one or a fairly considered one. For those who have dealt with abuse before, this may not be the book for you. It isn’t graphic in its descriptions, where the abuse is described at all, but I understand that even the presence or mention of it may make those who have been through abuse uncomfortable. If that’s you, please, for your own mental health, don’t read this.

And finally, this first book–though it does develop the romantic relationship between S and Gwen–contains no sex (nor will the second one) and doesn’t even contain kissing. The second may contain kissing but will, as it is YA, contain nothing beyond that. The first book is, therefore, a pretty good indication of the sort of content that will be in the remaining book of the duology.

I hope this helps to bring some clarity to readers and to let you all know what to expect! Usually I don’t put this kind of thing out, but in this case, as I’ve noticed the mixed responses between readers who read a lot of YA and were a little surprised (and not always pleased) with the difference in approach and readers who don’t usually read YA and loved the different approach because they found the differences refreshing, I wanted to make sure I was giving readers all a fair heads up. So if you like the YA genre and you’re looking to this expecting a Hunger Games or Divergent-esque story…. Don’t. You’ll be disappointed. It’s nothing like that. It won’t ever be anything like that in any of my books. I don’t write what I don’t enjoy. I’m not saying the books are bad or that people can’t enjoy them, but the types of characters and the way these books approach themes throughout the arc of the series drive me nuts, which means I don’t want to write them. Doesn’t matter to me how many potential readers it loses. I won’t write what I don’t find interesting any more than I am willing to write books with main characters that I find obnoxious or without any admirable qualities. For those who appreciate the cleaner content in the YA genre but also dislike Hunger Games or Divergent-esque YA because the leads become progressively weaker and whinier throughout the books, this book will not do that. You’ll find that, while it sticks to YA appropriate content, it is oriented around the goal of providing young people with role models in the main characters, showing the multi-faceted aspects of people, and presenting a world true to human nature even though it’s set in a science-fantasy setting. If that sounds like something you’d like to see, then you’ll probably like this set of books.

Author Spotlight – Emily Fortney

Hi all! It’s been a while since I posted an author’s spotlight. Today, I have Emily Fortney with me. Emily reached out to me to see if I could do a book review. Sadly, with the chaos of my schedule, I haven’t really been reviewing much in the way of fantasy since most of my reading of late has been squarely centered on my research pursuits and reading for articles I post on Atlas Island. So instead, I’m having her on today for an interview/spotlight. Well, without further ado, let’s jump right in. Enjoy!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Of course, my name is Emily. I live with my husband in central Pennsylvania, USA. We have a cat named Philippe who was my writing companion from the beginning! Like many authors I’m addicted to coffee and dark chocolate and my favorite color is purple. I always enjoyed stories and storytelling but it wasn’t until after college that I fell in love with writing and finally gave myself the “permission” to write.

What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

I write young adult fantasy with a dystopian undertone that I’d put in the “light” fantasy category. (If there is such a thing!) My books certainty have supernatural elements, but it kind of hangs around on the peripheral until you get deeper into the series. But all of my books have some level of magic and yes, there’s a witch at the source of it.

What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I’m a pretty broad reader. My favorite guilty pleasure reading is definitely the genre I write it, young adult fantasy and dystopian stories, but I also enjoy classics like Pride and Prejudice and Dracula. I’m a heavy consumer of true crime and business non-fiction books too.

What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I like to get out in nature and go for a walk or hike pretty regularly. This keeps the creative juices flowing! I also enjoy a nice brainless sitcom like The Office and if my wallet allows, I’m gonna be honest, I’ll hit up the spa for a massage or pedicure.

Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Yes! I’m the author of the YA fantasy series, The Camilla Crim series, which follows the journey of 17-year-old Camilla as she tries to save her brother from execution. But she learns that the scheme to murder her brother goes higher than she thought and is somehow connected to her absent mother. Camilla is a feisty heroine that ends up re-awakening a rebellion from a decade ago. I just launched the 4th book in this series at the end of January 2021, so I’m at the very beginning stages of working on the next book in the series. I’ve been brain storming and taking notes of some big things I’d like to see happen in this book.

If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience?

I have self-published all of my books so far. This was 100% by choice and it’s a choice I made early on. I have actually never sent a query letter or approached an agent and I don’t have any plans to.

Both publishing paths can bring you success, it’s just about a personal choice of which one will be better for you. For me, I grew up in a home that was sustained by a small family business so I always had an entrepreneurial mind so the choice was easy for me. Mostly I would say my experience with self-publishing has been positive and I tend to recommend it to my writer friends. You can get your book to market fast, like super fast, and you have FULL creative control over the product (your book). BUT it comes with a pretty big catch. You have to do EVERYTHING. You’re in charge of booking an editor and a cover designer. You have to advertise your book and find readers, and you have to fund it all yourself. Although self-publishing can be done cheaply, if you’re in it for the long haul, eventually you have to look at your book writing as a business. If that intrigues someone who’s reading this, then I say, go for it!

What were your inspirations for writing?

For as long as I can remember, I had a story in my head. I used to play it out as a kid and think about it while I sat in school. That story eventually became my Camilla Crim series. So, in a way, I would say I was inspired by my own play as a child. But through my teen and college years I really latched on to books like the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series and they helped fully formulate the Camilla stories in my head and drive the need to write them down.

Who got you into writing when you first started?

No one! I didn’t know a single writer or author when I started. It was my own need to write that got me to do it.

Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

I never had a writing mentor or teacher that helped me, but in my early days when I was VERY unsure of myself, my sister, Sarah, would read my chapters and encourage me. I know my writing was terrible back then, but she kept encouraging me to keep going.

 
What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

Just write. I know that sounds trite, but what makes you a writer is that you write. Spend more time actually writing than you do talking about writing. Write tons of mediocre stuff and focus on improving your craft. I also highly recommend that every writer engage in a critique group, or writing class where you read and comment on each other’s works. It can be brutal and hard to take but your work needs to stand up to critique and it will help you to grow exponentially. I’ve been a part of a writer’s group for 6 years and there are still days that it’s difficult to hear what others have to say but usually after I’ve thought about it, I realize they’re right. And that’s how you grow as a writer.

What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Not to be afraid to write and not to be afraid to write whatever I want. I used to think I had to be highly educated and have tons of experience to be “allowed” to write. That’s simply not true. And the highly educated, experienced writers out there had to start somewhere. I also used to worry about what people would think about my books. Write what’s in your heart. Put it to paper and tune out any haters.

What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

Oh goodness. Favorite book? That’s tough. I would probably have to say The Hunger Games. It inspired my own character of Camilla Crim and it’s the book I use to compare all others. For favorite literary character I’d have to say Sherlock Holmes. I haven’t met a Sherlock Holmes story I didn’t enjoy and he’s such an insatiable, compelling character I can’t get enough of. I also love almost every rendition of him in other books, movies, and TV show. He’s a timeless classic.

Thank you so much to Ariel for having my on your blog! If anyone reading is interested in trying out my Camilla Crim series, I’m offering a FREE eBook copy of the first book in the series to anyone who signs up for my email newsletter. You can do that here>>> http://eepurl.com/g0x0bH

Thanks again! Emily

Princess of the Beasts Character Interview with Joanna White

Hi all! It’s been a while since I posted on here. But today, I’m doing a character interview with one of the characters from Princess of the Beasts, Joanna White’s newest upcoming release, which is part of the Children of Chaos series. Let’s dive right in with Sahri, our guest for today’s interview!

  • Can you introduce yourself for my readers?

Yes, of course. My name is Sahri, and I am Princess of the Kingdom of Ahri.

  • What role do you play in your story?

Most would consider me the main character, although I believe Jekre plays an important role as well. But I am the character who can talk to and heal animals, so if you consider all the hope of the kingdom riding upon my shoulders, then I suppose that would make me the main character. Yet, I could not have done it without Jekre.

  • What’s your philosophy when it comes to life?

I try to believe that people are basically good at heart, but most of my time is spent around animals—helping to heal pets that belong to other people. To be frank, I prefer the company of animals, on occasion.

  • What’s your favorite quote?

I am not entirely sure that I have one. Although, one of the Anati, Crim, can be witty when he speaks to me, which I quite enjoy.

  • Favorite part of your story?

When the Anati returned from their migration and we had the Festival of the Anati. It is tradition to celebrate their return, and for me to use my abilities to ensure that the creatures are safe and healthy after their migration across the Emerald Sea.

  • What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?

When the Anati were killed. They were the only friends I had and I could not imagine why someone would be that cruel.

  • The best thing?

When Crim and this generation of Anati were born. I assisted Crim’s mother when she gave birth to him, and it was one of the best moments of my life.

  • Since much of my audience is composed of readers or writers, what’s your favorite book?

Do not tell my parents—for it is improper for a princess to be interested in herbs—but I thoroughly enjoy books on herbs and medicines.

  • Which other character from your story do you like best and why?

Jekre. He is my loyal bodyguard and I consider him a good friend—even if he does not like royals, understandably so. The Ahri Reformation is a cruel tactic that I oppose and would gladly defeat when I become queen.

  • Which other character from your story do you like least and why?

The hunters who killed the Anati—my reasons are self-explanatory.

  • What’s the one thing you regret the most and why?

This is a good question, and a difficult one. It is also a bit deep—for the readers, perhaps—but because of the Rune of Obedience, Jekre is forced to obey any order a royal gives him, including protecting me. Jekre has often told me I submit to my parents too much—I’m a passive person and do not truly believe in fighting back and he says that I do not use the freedom I have been blessed with—that he envies.

  • What is the one principle you will never compromise/break?

To never kill another person or creature. The King of Heaven created us all and therefore, it is His right alone to take a life, or not. Not ours.

  • And to end off the interview, what is the one thing you want my readers to know about you before we end today?

I would like them to know that I did the best that I could to save the last three Anati eggs, and thus, my kingdom, but I did not do it for the rich, elite, and royals. A famine is inevitable—until the eggs are grown, at least—but it will be the poor of the land suffering, starving, and dying. The royals, such as my family, the nobles, and elite will hold up and horde food. They will survive. I did not do this for them—I did it for the less fortunate, to save as many of their lives as possible.

ARC Reviewer Opportunity

Hi all! So Trader Prince of Aleshtain, the second book in the Legends of Alcardia series is coming out in paperback later this month and in ebook format on Christmas. In preparation for that, I need advanced review copy (ARC) readers! ARC readers read a free ebook/print copy of the book in exchange for a review on Amazon and other sites on the day of release.

It’s a great way to get a free book while also helping out the author. For those who haven’t used Amazon to publish or are new to it, the site doesn’t start promoting your book through their algorithms until you hit 50 reviews, and they don’t allow close friends or family to review anymore, so you can imagine that it can be hard for authors to find those first 50 reviews no matter how good the book is! I’m trying to find people who want to review an ebook copy of my upcoming release. We can work out the exact date your review would need to go up on Amazon.com and whatever other sites you might review books with (only Amazon is required), but in general, I am aiming for reviewers to post reviews between December 7th and 25th, with the latest date to post your review being the day of release on the 25th.

Now, to help you in deciding whether or not you’d enjoy the book, I’ve provided the book info below along with the general “rating” of the content and any possible trigger warnings. There is also a brief excerpt to give you a glimpse at what’s in the book. You can contact me via email at arielpaiement@gmail.com if you’re interested in helping out!

Title: Trader Prince of Aleshtain

Genre: High Fantasy/Romance

Rating: PG-16

Trigger Warnings: There is a bit of a power exchange dynamic between the two main characters, but there’s no abuse in the relationship. However, there are mentions of prior abuse and, later in the book, mentions of a rape that occurs. The sexual abuse/rape is not described in the book, but due to the more mature themes these issues present, it may make some readers uncomfortable and renders the book unsuitable for younger audiences.

Book Description:

He is faced with a hard choice. The path of freedom or the path of duty. Only one leads to his salvation. 

Eras has always dreamed of escaping his gilded cage and his title of Crown Prince to become an air captain. But duty to Aleshtain and her people keeps him bound to a loveless future and a heavy crown. Unlike his revolutionary friend, he has no aspirations to do anything but his duty, and he’s determined to stay out of the power struggles in the palace until he is king. But his love of justice and his yearning to be free of his father’s oppression soon make that impossible.

When he takes a bold step to protect a slave girl from his father, he places himself in the thick of the struggle for power within the palace. Now, he must face the system head on and win. His life and his new slave’s hang in the balance. All he ever wanted was his freedom. Now he must fight for both freedom and life. But even if he succeeds, the costs will be staggering.

Can he win their freedom from a kingdom of death before it claims their lives?

Trader Prince of Aleshtain is the thrilling second book in the Legends of Alcardia high fantasy series. If you like riveting plot, intrigue, and complex characters, then you’ll love Ariel Paiement’s high-stakes fantasy. 

Excerpt:

THE LITTLE RESTAURANT where Eras took her was a quaint place. With the warm lighting and crackling fire nearby, it felt intimate in a way even Eras’s room didn’t. She shook her head as she followed Eras and the barmaid to a table in a secluded corner. Just because they were in disguise, had ditched the guards, and were spending a night out like a normal couple didn’t mean things were different.

“Rhubhian?”

She looked up and blinked. “Yes, sir.”

The barmaid gave her an odd look, and she ducked her head. Shades of Rith! She hadn’t even thought about how that would look. It came naturally to address him that way in public after weeks of doing so. Hadn’t Eras said men expected deference from their women? Why did the woman keep staring at them? At least she hadn’t slipped up and said Sire instead of sir. That would be harder to laugh off.
Eras took her hand with a laugh and winked at the barmaid. “We’ll take a pint of ale and a hot cup of slightly sweetened aledh tea for the lady.”

The barmaid cleared her throat. “Of course, sir.” Then she scurried off and left them alone.

Rhubhian collapsed onto the pillows on one side of the low-lying table with a sigh. “I thought you said women here deferred to the men,” she hissed at Eras.

He shrugged. “Well, they do. But usually they don’t speak much.” He grinned. “And most men don’t require their women to address them as sir. Given names are fine.”

“Well…” She hugged her knees to her chest.

“Don’t do that.” He reached across the table and tapped her knee. “It’s considered rude and very childish in our culture. Cross your legs instead like I’m doing.”

She obeyed with a blush. There was still so much she didn’t know about this culture, and clearly palace rules weren’t the same as the rules around here. “So,” she whispered. “Since we’re in disguise, what do I call you?”

“Dhiabhan. It’s my street name.”

She laughed, loosening up as she noticed he was at ease and no one was paying them any mind. “You make it sound like you’re some sort of street thief or something.”

“Yes, that’s my night job.” He leaned in closer across the table. “But it’s a big secret. You can’t tell anyone.”

A giggle burst out of her, and she clapped her hands over her mouth. What was she doing? She was acting like a girl in love for the first time. Foolish. So foolish. She wanted to get to know him better, but she couldn’t fall for him under any circumstances. She was going home as soon as she could, and a Faelkishian didn’t fall in love with an Aleshtainian. Ever.

Eras frowned. “What—”

The barmaid chose that moment to return with the requested drinks. She lowered the tray to the level of the table, and Eras took their drinks off it with a nod to her. “Thank you, Maredh.”

The blond nodded with a hint of a smile. “Are you ready to order, Dhiabhan, sir?”

He glanced at her. “Should I choose, or would you like to know what’s on the menu?”

She bit her lip. Given how different it was here from the palace, she probably wouldn’t know what to do with the menu anyway. If she could even read it. Speaking Aleshtainian was hard enough. Reading it was worse. “You choose.”

He nodded. “We’d like the spiced Serat as the first course, two bowls of the deagaler stew for the second, and some of the house’s hummus, with extra flatbread to go with it. We’ll decide on dessert later.”

The server scribbled it onto a scrap of paper. “I’ll go have the cook start it right away, then I’ll be back with the bread and spiced Serat.”

“I know the drill. Thank you, Maredh.”

“Anything for my favorite guest.” She turned with a smile and rushed off toward the kitchen’s entrance.

“So… She seems to know you well.” Rhubhian watched her go, a strange, sharp twist in her chest.

“I come here for a night away regularly. She’s always working night shifts or really any shift she can get, and I’ve built a bit of rapport with her.”

Rhubhian nodded and took a sip of the tea. It was perfectly brewed just the way she’d come to like it when the palace maids made it up for breakfast. “Why did you ask me to come with you tonight?”

“I wanted to spend time with you where we could just be two people having fun and enjoying each other’s company.” He took a pull of his ale.

“Oh.”

“Why did you think I asked you to come along?”

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “But it meant a lot.”

“I could tell. You lit up like a beacon when I asked.”

Her cheeks burned and she stared down at her cup. “Did I?”

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he murmured. “I’m glad you agreed.”


She nodded and took a slow breath to steady her nerves. What was there to worry about? Tonight, they had the chance to be normal without the slave-master dynamic and without the pressures of keeping up the act in public. “I’m glad I did too.”

Update

Hi all! As those of you who are regular readers here may have noticed, there hasn’t been much in the way of content on here lately. This is because I’ve run out of things to discuss. If you guys have topics you’d like me to cover that aren’t in the archives, by all means, please suggest them! I am more than happy to do posts answering questions or covering discussion topics you have. However, aside from that, most of the content I will be posting will now be related to my books, short writing snippets, and (of course) book reviews!

None of the content I’ve published previously is going anywhere. I’m just shifting gears a bit on what the more regular content will be. I’m going to aim to share pieces of what I’m working on with you all every other week for now, and I may also have some fun giveaways or contests to run, particularly when I have book launches going. Keep an eye out around Christmas. I have a new release coming out, and I’ll be sharing about that as well as doing something to celebrate with you all!

Additionally, I may start doing more sketches to add to the library of artwork that officially goes with the various series I have. This would include sketches of the different clothing styles and maybe even some of the creatures mentioned in the books. So if any of you really enjoy seeing visuals to go with the books you read, I’ll be slowly adding more of that in for you all. I may also start creating some mood boards on Pinterest to share here for those who like to look at them.

If you have other things you would like to see on the blog, feel free to shoot me an email at arielpaiement@gmail.com or get in touch through my Facebook Page. I’m always happy to get suggestions from readers!

Thursday Technicalities: Genre-Switching In a Series

Introduction

When I asked those who follow this blog on Facebook to give me some topics they’d like discussed, this was one of the suggestions. This is a somewhat nuanced topic, and the question is: how do we approach genre-switching in a series, and is it going to lose readers? That’s the question I will be getting into today.

When can you employ genre-switching?

First of all, every book in a series has different needs to make it a good story. Generally, series stick to the same overall genre, but they may change in tone or flavor through the progression of the series. For example, book one in a steampunk fantasy might focus more on action and fantasy while maybe the second one moves to a more urban fantasy/steampunk mix.

A good example that comes to mind is Orson Scott Card’s Ender series. Ender’s Game is mainly action/sci-fi. But the second book, Speaker for the Dead, sees Ender a bit older and traveling through space. The book takes on a heavily political tone with less action/adventure undertones while remaining sci-fi. The books after that were more philosophical than anything, though, again, they remained sci-fi.

So what do we take from this? Primary genre shouldn’t change. If book one is fantasy, you can’t switch to realistic fiction and romance in book two. But you can change the secondary genre. Perhaps book one is fantasy romance but in book two the characters are now married and the focus shifts from romance to adventure giving you a fantasy adventure. As long as the transition is smooth, you’re unlikely to lose readers over this. A well-told story is more important than a contrived adherence to secondary genres or elements.

How do we make the genre-switch?

This depends on the needs of your series. Some switches are easier than others. Going from action to adventure or from fantasy to science fantasy is easier than going from urban fantasy to high fantasy might be. The goal is to make the transition smooth whatever switch you are trying to make.

Abrupt changes in genre are no better than abruptly going from a kick-butt heroine to a whiny teenage girl between books with no warning (Divergent…). We want a gradual transition. Setting up a shift in secondary genre–especially if the change is big–is a part of setting up for book two. It’s your job to leave the clues there in the end of book so that the reader is unsurprised by the genre shift.

Unless the series is made up of standalones tied by some sort of theme besides genre, you don’t want your genre-switching to be a surprise. Again, I want to stress that how this is achieved varies from book series to book series. I would be doing you a disservice if I told you there was a one-size-fits-all solution. That is rarely true in writing, even in grammar.

How do i know if genre-switching is working?

I have two suggestions when looking at how well genre-switching is working for your series. First, you should be an avid reader. If you are a writer and want to be a good one, you need to read. You need to know what a good story looks like to construct it. As is the case in so many things, learning by example and by doing is much better than reading thousands of books on the topic. If you have been reading well-written fiction, then the first suggestion I have will work well for you. Use your intuition.

So long as you’re honest in your assessment of the transition, your intuition can go a long way in helping you decide if genre-switching is working.

Second, get outside perspectives from friends who read a lot of books, especially ones that are well-written and in your genre. They don’t need to be fellow writers, but if they are, that’s a bonus. This is especially important if you’re a new writer or don’t read much because your intuition will likely catch only the most glaring issues.

However, even seasoned authors should be looking for outside input. I started writing at eleven. I’m twenty-two now, and even after eleven years of writing, I still hold the insight of my beta-readers (or listeners since my mom prefers I read the stories to her instead) in high regard. No matter how well I can write or edit, there will always be blind spots I have that my readers don’t. Every honest, seasoned writer admits the same. Never discount the usefulness of beta-readers and critique partners. They are indispensable and the really good ones deserve your appreciation and a huge thank you at the very least.

Conclusion

I hope this has been helpful in providing you with guidance on handling this nuanced area of writing. There’s no one way to handle genre-switching mid-series, but there are some ways that work better than others. So be willing to try several methods until you find the one that works for your series. You can always delete, re-write, and edit. It’ll be worth it for a piece that is of exceptional quality.

Getting Back Into Writing After Publishing

Introduction

Anyone who has published before knows it’s a long, involved process. It isn’t easy, and getting back into writing after publishing can be hard. After pushing so hard to reach the finish line of publication, we often feel burned out and unprepared to dive back in. But if we’re trying to build our list of publications, we have to keep writing. So how can we get back to writing after publishing?

Tip #1 For Getting Back into Writing: Take a Break

Not all of us are able to do this. We may have deadlines looming for other projects. This is the case for me as I just finished editing Trader Prince of Aleshtain and am preparing to launch in in December, but I also have to dive headlong into pounding out the words on my Children of Chaos project then editing and launching that, all before April 2021. It doesn’t leave much wiggle room to take a break.

However, if your deadlines allow for it, do take a break! Often, we feel burned out because we haven’t properly balanced work with life. I know I’m absolutely horrid about balancing these two areas. My family and best friend will tell you that I would probably work myself to death if my health issues didn’t flare and force my body to quit going at some point. And even, then, I still push myself far past when the first warning signs of a breakdown in health appear and frequently need to be told by others I trust and respect to stop. So I know very well how easily imbalance leads to burnout, unfortunately. While the opportunity to step away is often impossible during the process of getting a book publish-ready and then actually published, a break after goes a long way.

Tip #2 For Getting Back into Writing: Lessen Time

If you can’t take a full break, try lessening your time on other projects for a bit or breaking it up a little more. This allows for a little breathing room if you’re struggling with burn out or going back to writing after publishing. This is most frequently the method I employ, and it’s the one I’ve employed with Shadow’s Dissident for the Children of Chaos series. After the whirlwind of writing and editing and now formatting with Trader Prince of Aleshtain, I really do need a break, but I can’t take one. Lessening my time spent a bit and breaking it up so that I can focus on sewing (something else I really love) in between or can go read really works wonders.

Tip #3 for Getting Back into Writing: Vary What You Write

This one is a little less obvious, but sometimes I find that writing in a different genre or having two projects going that I can switch between does help. Especially if one of those projects is just for fun and has no deadline. It helps me to remember why I love writing, and that makes it easier to go back to the writing that’s on a deadline. It puts the life, creativity, and fun back into things and gets me out of any ruts I might have ended up stuck in with the previous project. It also gets the previous project out of my head. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the project you just finished because you’re so invested and you just need to find a way to let go and be excited about something new.

Tip #4 For Getting Back Into Writing: Rewards

We are reward-driven creatures. None of us does anything on any frequent basis that we don’t feel like doing unless there is a reward for it or, alternatively, an unwanted consequence for not doing it. Since there aren’t always consequences to choosing not to write when you should be (especially if you are only answerable to yourself for the missed deadlines), rewards are the way to go. It doesn’t have to be big, but set small goals and corresponding rewards for finishing them.

Tip #5 For Getting Back Into Writing: Take It At Your Pace

Lastly, take it at your pace. There’s something to be said for sitting down and writing a little bit each day, even when you’re not feeling inspired. It builds a good habit. However, overwhelming yourself with huge word count goals or large time commitments right after a large project’s completion is setting yourself up for a struggle at best and failure at worst. Start small and build into your routine for the new book. No two books are the same, and you may find that the routine you had with the last book changes for the new one. Be flexible and learn to know when you’re overdoing it.

Conclusion

Everyone handles burnout differently. These are just a few tips I’ve found work well for me. Some may work better for you than others, and some may not work at all. That’s fine! The important part is finding what works for you so you can still get writing done if you need to without burning out. Have tips to add? Feel free to share them in the comments!

Thursday Technicalities: Blogging – To Blog or Not to Blog?

Publishing Journey

Introduction

One area I often hear discussed by groups organized to help authors is blogging. It is repeated over and over that authors should have blogs, but many of us have no idea what to do with a blog if we even decide to take the advice to start one. So these authors frequently start one up and then barely touch it or procrastinate out of uncertainty on where to start. Starting a blog can feel overwhelming. So let’s break it down in relation to you as an author. Knowledge is power, as they say.

Blogging Tip #1: Decide on Your Subject

Okay, so it’s a bit over-repeated, but you should be blogging. That’s not something many dispute. The problem is where to start, and I recommend you start with the main theme or subject of the blog.

Well, that’s easy you might say. I’m an author, so there’s the subject, right? Me as an author. Well… Not precisely. While readers may want to know things about you as an author or about your books, it’s unlikely they care to hear about Fluffy the cat or your grocery store trips. So you as an author or a person is not the subject in most cases unless your everyday life is both highly interesting and relevant to your writing.

So what is your subject? Well, if you write fantasy like I do, your subject matter could be anything from fantasy book reviews to serial fantasy provided for those reading each week. If you have a lot of writing experience, then writing tips or discussions could also be your subject.

Blogging Tip #2: Decide on Your Audience

Once you have a general subject or topic, decide on your audience. Is it readers? Writers? Some other group?

This is one of the most important pieces of blogging because it determines what kind of content you focus on within your subject area. Your opinion of fantasy books isn’t likely to attract many authors since they’re busy writing their own things, but it would interest fantasy readers (some of whom may also be writers but are there as readers, not writers).

Blogging Tip #3: Decide on Your Approach

The third key blogging tip is to decide on your approach to blogging before you write anything. What will the tone be? Light? Humorous? Educational? This choice matters a great deal as it informs what and how you will write for the rest of the time that you are producing content for the blog.

The step should not be neglected because, much like the other two, it will help to give you structure and direction. If you’ve been feeling like you have neither, this may be the missing link, particularly if the first two have already been set in stone.

Blogging Tip #4: Decide on Self-Hosting or Free

Free always sounds good to us, doesn’t it? Undeniably, self-hosting is not cheap in blogging or any website endeavor. If you’re just starting out, I don’t recommend self-hosting unless you can afford to sink 200-300 dollars on it a year. That said, if you ever intend to offer anything for sale via your website or wish to know your content will never be intentionally removed from your site (unless it’s illegal), self-hosting is in your future.

If you can afford the cost, start with self-hosting when you begin blogging. Switching from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress platform was nothing short of a stressful, nightmare-inducing process even with all the help from Bluehost tech support. I sorted it out eventually, no thanks to the WordPress team over on the non-self-hosted site, but I could’ve saved myself the headache if I’d chosen to go with self-hosted to start. Unfortunately, with little knowledge of blogging and an even slimmer budget, that wasn’t an option. But if it is for you, I recommend saving yourself all the hassle.

If you can’t afford it, save all of your blog posts somewhere you won’t lose them and then expect to have to repost them on the new site when you move to self-hosted. I did not anticipate this, and that was a large part of my issue since I could not migrate the site with the backups that the free version of WordPress offered.

Blogging Tip #5: Decide on a Schedule

Finally, be consistent. As consistent as possible, that is. Life happens, but try to post at least once a week and have a set day you do so. I like to schedule my posts for the same day and time every week so long as I have the content to schedule.

The schedule will help you to turn out content regularly so you can build up your content sooner. It also allows regular readers to know when to go look for your newest post, which will often encourage one-time readers to become more frequent readers as well.

Conclusion

Blogging isn’t easy. But using the five blogging tips provided here will give you a strong starting point. If you work these things out prior to starting your blogging journey, you will be better prepared and can have more confidence in where you’re headed. As I said in the introduction, knowledge is power.

Thursday Technicalities: Philosophy in Writing

Introduction

Recently, it struck me that one of the reasons I rarely find anything to challenge my mind in indie fantasy (and even in many traditional fantasy pieces) is that the authors do not often intentionally use worldview and philosophy in writing their books. They generally tell a good story, but it doesn’t challenge me to think or to consider a different perspective on anything in particular. While the occasional mindless read can be stress-relieving, turning one’s brain off isn’t the purpose of reading, in my opinion. I’d watch TV if I wanted that. So how can we ensure we’re including philosophy and worldview in our writing in a balanced way? We’re going to go over that here.

What Do I Mean by Philosophy and Worldview in Writing?

When I say philosophy or worldview in respect to writing, I mean the unique set of beliefs and the outlook on life you possess. These may come out subtly, but in fantasy, it’s easy to become so divorced from reality that we don’t concretely ground our work in the world around us and in our own unique take on that world. We then lose even the smaller ways that those views may come to light. But when we fail to give to our work the underpinnings of reality, philosophy, and worldview, things tend not to resonate as well with readers.

In the Interest of Honesty With Philosophy in Writing

When dealing with worldview or philosophy in writing–particularly in fantasy–we have to be careful to keep ourselves honest and transparent. This doesn’t mean that we hit the reader over the head with our point of view, but it does mean that we have nothing to hide and are not trying to use our words to in some way trick the reader into agreeing with us when they would not otherwise do so. We’re not propagandists; we are authors looking to tell a good story that also imparts some truth or viewpoint that might not otherwise be as well received outside of a story context. (Or even truths that are. There are many reasons to include even basic truths in our work, particularly if we’re writing books that are meant to teach good values to a younger audience.) 

This transparency and honest might come in the form of an author’s note at the beginning if the purpose or inspiration directly relates to real world issues, your philosophy, and your worldview. But it could be more subtle in that the worldview may simply manifest in an easily seen theme or element that acts as an undercurrent to the entire story. There are many ways to handle this area, but the goal should be honesty and transparency. Present your viewpoint and let the reader decide what to accept or reject, whether your viewpoint or another you have also represented that may not agree with your own. It is particularly crucial we do this when writing for younger audiences who are highly impressionable and may not always be able to pick up on worldviews if they are not clearly presented. Whatever your audience, fantasy is still fantasy. We’re looking to tell a good story at the end of the day, and adding in worldview is part of that goal. We aren’t interested in sacrificing the story for the sake of creating a soapbox out of it to preach against whichever philosophies we dislike or for those we do like.

Avoiding Heavy-Handedness Using Philosophy and Worldview

One thing I know many authors I’ve spoken to struggle with is how to include philosophy and worldview without hitting the reader over the head or becoming preachy with it. There’s no one right way to handle this area in order to avoid the pitfalls. However, i have found a few that work well for me or that I have observed used to great effect by others.

Philosophy in Theme

This method is one that I frequently utilize. Each book I write has one or two concepts (occasionally more for longer works) that provide the underlying theme of the book. 

For example, Trader Prince of Aleshtain’s theme is mostly living for what’s right in the face of persecution and the struggle to decide whether it’s right to leave a place bent on destroying you for doing the moral thing. Bane of Ashkarith focused on the theme of truth, its worht, and the ways that people can take objective truth and twist it or subvert it until it is considered a lie. In Darkness Lost focused on how we handle suffering. My short story for Glimpses focused on submission to show readers the strength that can be found in a person who chooses to submit to another’s authority while still retaining the capacity to think critically.

All of the themes have a great deal of variety, but each fits neatly with the story showcasing it. Theme is one of those pieces of a story that should develop naturally from the plot and your worldview intersecting. This, rather than weakening the story with poor attempts at philosophizing through the story, strengthens and deepens it because it is a natural result of story and worldview instead of being forced.

Philosophy in Allegory

Allegory is often considered a device used only in religious fiction. While this is often one of the largest uses for it, the technique can be used to convey any sort of idea or philosophy through story so long as one or more elements intentionally and clearly represent their real world equivalents. I haven’t employed this technique as often, though I suppose some might say my Eclesian Chronicles series has allegorical elements when you get into books two and three. But for a better example, you’ve got C.S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia or something like Idi and the Oracle’s Quest by T.N. Traynor (see the review I did for that here.)

Philosophy in Individual Elements

And the last major way to achieve our goal is to include elements of the philosophy directly and intentionally where the story allows. If you’re making a social commentary, for example, on poverty and caste, you might weave both into the story to great effect by simply doing it directly. If you’re trying to illustrate the destructiveness of certain habits or beliefs, having characters and/or societies who have these beliefs or habits and discover their destructiveness can also be extremely effective. You get the idea. Every story, particularly in speculative fiction, varies in the degree to which you can employ this technique, so use discretion in how much you use it and where.

Conclusion

Worldview is a vital part of writing. We can’t escape it as readers or as writers, nor should we try. More and more, we see that today’s fantasy is particularly shallow in this area, but we don’t have to contribute to that trend. Let’s start utilizing worldview and encouraging our readers to engage mentally with our works even as they enjoy a good story.

Thursday Technicalities: Story Ideas

Introduction

Today, we’re talking about story ideas, both before and during the writing process. After all, all the things we’ve been discussing about plot do us no good if we have no ideas or concepts to play with. Often, people I meet discuss the idea of writing a book but not the idea they will write about. One results in a pipe dream that never happens. The other gives the chance, at least, to see a dream become reality. Fellow writers and those aspiring to be writers alike have asked me how I come up with ideas so easily, hinting to me that–especially in the realm of fantasy–they don’t know all of the areas of inspiration open to them. So let’s talk about where ideas can come from and what to look at when you’re stuck.

Story Ideas in the Real World

One of the things I notice disappearing from fantasy as a genre these days is the grounding in reality. The great fantasy writers of old, and even today, certainly included many fantastical elements, but they also brought it back to Earth by including in those elements a glimpse of reality. They took real world problems into their fiction, whether it was through the ideas of the day or a specific event they wished to focus on. For example, Tolkien’s inspiration for the final scene in the Shire has been said to be the destruction of the countryside he loved so well in the real world. He drew that into his story, and it leaves something that can resonate with fellow lovers of nature and idyllic beauty seen in the countryside. We can do the same in finding story ideas.

All of us have experiences and see the events around us in our world. Why waste those two things? They make the books you write, however fictional, seem even more real to the reader when you artfully weave reality with your fictional world. This is what an author does. They tell truths in the form of artfully woven lies. The truths are the themes behind the tale, and the story itself is the lie since it isn’t reality.

Experiences

This is, in a way, a subset of the real world, but we all have experiences that have taught us things about life. We can use those experiences which are unique to us to find story ideas that can inspire or touch others. My book, In Darkness Lost, is entirely founded on that premise. It is fantasy, but it is inspired entirely by an experience that occurred in my life when I was around eleven or twelve. You would be surprised how many people are more connected to a book that has its roots in a personal experience of the author.

In Darkness Lost received the most notes from readers who were touched by it and wanted to tell me it had encouraged them. Readers have said my other works are eye-openingly realistic at times. However, they have not left notes saying that it was an encouragement. Why? Because the encouragement to the reader came from hearing a story rooted in personal difficulties. They then read about the real story behind the book in the author’s note and felt encouraged. They felt that encouragement, many times, because someone else understood their pain.

Story Ideas from History

The third place of inspiration is history. You may have heard the saying that reality is often stranger than fiction. Well, it’s true. Even if your book isn’t about history, you can find many strange tales in history to draw ideas from. In the process, you give your story grounding in the real world even if the tale itself is fantasy. It brings that sense of humanity to the story that otherwise might not have been present.

As an added bonus, this has the effect of expanding your mind and your knowledge. Two birds with one stone, right? You get story ideas and a chance to learn interesting things you hadn’t heard before.

Story Ideas from Other Books

This is the final place I frequently find inspiration. You have to be careful here because you don’t want to plagiarize, obviously. However, other books can be great places to draw inspiration, ideas, and learning. I’ve found some of my greatest inspirations for books in reading someone else’s handling of a topic then having an idea spark on the topic from another angle. You can do this as well.

This one, like history, has an added bonus. You get to see the trends going on in your genre and in the world of writing in general. For authors, this is indispensable. Knowing what the competition is doing so that you can stand out in a manner appealing to your target audience is essential. So while you’re drawing inspiration for your own work, you can also use it for research purposes.

Conclusion

There are so many avenues of inspiration available to us if we will learn to stop, observe, and remember. Wherever you choose to find inspiration, there is little reason to be bankrupt of ideas when you’re actively taking the time to observe, live, and learn. Even fantasy writers can use these sources of inspiration to give them the characters or a plot for their next novel. We just have to learn how to utilize it. Once we do that, we often end up with more ideas than we know what to do with!

Sunday Stories – Set-Apart Living Pt. 2

New Blog Schedule

Introduction

Last time on Sunday Stories, we talked about set-apart living and what it is and is not. This week’s focus will be on how we can go about a set-apart life practically. It does us no good to know what something means if we don’t also know how to utilize what we know, so this second piece is an indispensable part of the discussion.

What Does Set-Apart Living Mean Practically?

Set-apart living is going to look a little different in practicality for each of us. For me, God has nudged me to eliminate certain books that are likely to contain content of an impure nature and to spend more time listening to or reading biographies and autobiographies of Christians who did live a set-apart life to Christ. The reading content I have removed led only to temptations to sully my mind and soul, which should be an inner sanctuary for my Savior. However subtle the impurity and however “clean” the immorality’s nature is compared to the worst the world can offer, books that are heavy in this content or that are focused on it present the encouragement to sin. So, as Scripture says to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us, God drew me to eliminating the temptation. But He didn’t just draw me toward eliminating the temptation and then leave that space a vacuum that could be filled with other temptations. Instead, He drew me to filling that extra space in my reading time with Christian autobiographies and biographies that could encourage me in my walk with Him instead of tearing me down. Furthermore, He has also convicted me of things I spend too much time doing, even though they aren’t bad, and that has led to placing limitations on my writing time. I only write two hours a day, at most, instead of writing every spare moment. This leaves me with time to focus on His word and prayer as well as time to spend with those who can help encourage me in my walk with Him.

For you, it might be the same, but it’s highly likely that it’s something else. Maybe it’s a friendship that doesn’t point you closer to Christ. Maybe it’s cutting back on social activities to ensure you can make Him a priority. For every individual, it’s a little different, but the outflow of those changes is the same: a clearly set-apart, different life that reflects the nature of the One we are walking closely with.

Signposts of a Set-Apart Life

As a natural outflow of the changes in our focus, attitude, and hearts, our lives will begin to show clear differences from the world. As Romans 8:7-10 says, the spirit and the flesh are in enmity. They cannot coexist. Those who live in the Spirit, set-apart to God, display the qualities of their Master, Christ. They exude an unusual peace, joy, and confidence. They aren’t perfect, but they seem to have an inner radiance that is unexplained by any worldly lifestyle or standard. 

Another sign of a set-apart life that, though the person is not living in sin or in anything worthy of reproach, they are still ridiculed. For example, young people who choose to honor God and their future spouse by staying pure physically and emotionally are mocked, and these days, it isn’t just the world that does the mocking. It can even be people within the church who should have been supporting and guiding, not discouraging and rebuking. If you take a strong view on sin? You’re seen as being intolerant. Refuse to abide bad language, crude jokes, and inappropriate behavior, you’re a prude or a goody-two-shoes. 

Choosing to live the right way out of genuine love for our Lord will give us an inner loveliness, but the world doesn’t value that sort of beauty and so, as a whole, will deride, dismiss, and detest it in others because it brings conviction and uncomfortability simply by existing and refusing to take part in the unholy activities of the world or by giving up behaviors and things that pull us away from God.

The Character of a Set-Apart Life

But a set-apart life is also characterized by a spirit of meekness and love. One who is walking in the Spirit and living holy before God is one who adorns the Gospel of Christ and makes it lovely. This means that, even when we must tell someone they are doing wrong according to the Scripture, we do it in a way that is tempered with grace and love. A set-apart Christian is one God is teaching daily to approach those around them with gracious truth. 

Those who are living in Christ may at times have to take a firm stand against sin (in fact, it is inevitable that this will happen). But when they do so, the attitude in which they do it will be markedly different from those who are following a list of rules. There will be not only Bible behind what they say but also a spirit of humility. At times, the truth must be stated bluntly. As Proverbs says, there is a time to answer the fool according to his foolishness. But most of the time, in dealing with the world around us, harshness under the guise of being blunt is the MO of Christians who have the right doctrine but are not approaching those erring from that doctrine or those truths in a humble, love-centered mindset.

On the flip side, there are those who sacrifice the truth because they would prefer not to offend in the name of “love”. A set-apart Christian is prone to one or the other of these areas as much as any Christian, but their lives will reflect the balance Christ had in His approach to people. At times, a stern rebuke may be called for so long as it is done from a heart of humility and concern for God’s glory as well as for that person. But at other times, a stern rebuke would do more damage than good, and a soft answer is necessary. Only the life that is walking in step with Christ will reflect the balanced approach needed to respond to both individuals and situations in a Christ-like manner.

The Conversation of a Set Apart Life

Often, though we may face social disdain and ridicule from society, I have found in my life that when I am walking close to God and focusing on Him, it comes out in my conversations with unbelievers in a way that results not in scorn but instead in either bewilderment or appreciation. This isn’t because I’m somehow finding a magical formula for approaching others. It’s simply because when I’m walking close to God and my mind is focused on God, my view of people is aligned with His view of people. He died for sinners, and I am talking to sinners (whether saved or not). Should my actions not reflect the same love of Christ that was both meek and lion-hearted at the same time? Should my discussions with non-believers not reflect His firm remark to the woman at the well regarding her sin but also His gentleness with the sinners He came to save?

More often than not, it is those who are religious and have become puffed up in their own perceived righteousness that are most critical and cruel to those living in sin or even in some perceived “error”, and they, like the Pharisees, must be firmly rebuked.

But those who are un-believers? I have often received the comment that I was “not what they expected” or that even though I stand for my beliefs and am firm on the Bible, I am “more open-minded than most conservative Christians”. They define conservative Christians as harsh, unfeeling, uncaring, and prideful. At times I have been all of those things, and I know this response from any unbeliever I may come into contact with is through no merit of my own. In and of myself, I can be exactly what they believe all conservative Christians are: unduly judgmental, harsh, critical, and unloving in the way I present the truth. I naturally lean toward the side that is inclined to look at those living lives not in line with Scripture and to turn my nose up at them. But God has shown me a better way and has patiently worked on me (and still is working on me) to develop His purity, holiness, and loveliness in me and in the way that I interact with people. 

The God-Given Encouragement in Living a Set Apart Life

My point in saying this is to simply encourage you that though the world’s system will mock you and many individuals may also do so, there will be those in your workplace, your school, and your neighborhood that take notice when God is shaping your words, actions, and attitudes. And they will not only take notice, but they will appreciate it. They will be more willing to ask you to pray for them and for those they care about. They will understand that somehow, you are an individual that is close to Him. They censor their behavior too, in many cases. 

I’ve seen this time and time again in my life and that of others. Many of the people I know refrain from swearing around me because they’ve noticed that I don’t swear. A few weeks to a month ago, my coworkers and I were discussing the issues with the virus, and I mentioned that if you’re feeling ill and have symptoms, you should get tested. I stated that I’d been ill over one weekend and had gone to get tested because I didn’t know what was causing the issue.

I felt better the next day (and didn’t have the virus, as it turned out), but I went anyway just in case. My boss remarked that many people my age can’t tell the difference between being hungover, allergies, and actually having the virus. But she followed it up by saying, “Of course, we know your problem isn’t going to be a hangover.”

They knew that to be true because of looking at how I talk, dress, act, and live my life. They knew that because of my stance on the Bible, I wouldn’t do certain things, and drinking is one of them because I don’t want to open any door for Satan to gain a foothold through insobriety and drunkenness. My hope is that all of those in my life see Christ in me and that with each passing day, the image of my Lord and Savior grows clearer. But if I’m not living a set-apart life, that will not be true of me.

The Power to Live a Set Apart Life

Of course, we wouldn’t fully cover the topic if we didn’t take a moment here at the end to focus on where the power to do this comes from. It can never come from us because in and of ourselves we are unholy, unlovely, and thoroughly sin-stained creatures. Instead, the power to live the kind of set-apart life that honors God comes from living in Him and in His power.

It comes from walking closely with Him and from going to him for strength every day whether we are struggling with any given temptation or not. It comes from our relationship with our King and Heavenly Father, not from within ourselves. It comes from listening closely to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He does His work to guide us through God’s Word and through the conscience that God has given each and every one of us.

The moment that we allow any hint of pride to creep in and begin to believe that we have the strength in ourselves to achieve this set-apart life of purity and holiness is the moment that we lose the battle. Our greatest enemy is our own flesh in so many instances, and the only way we can combat it is if we’re living out our position in Christ.

Conclusion

A set-apart life isn’t easy. There must be sacrifices to live in step with a holy God. While our salvation is secured by grace through faith and can never be lost no matter how heinous the sin (See 1 & 2 Corinthians for an example), our fellowship and friendship with God can be broken if we clutter our lives with unholy things, idols of any shape or form, sin of any sort, or so much busyness that God is pushed off to only when we can “make time” for Him.

But as much as a holy life isn’t easy, the worth of it is beyond measure. It’s worth any cost. If you’ve been on the fence on the matter of set-apart living, I encourage you to take the first steps toward it. Spend some time in serious prayer asking God to show you what He would have you to remove or to add, and ask Him to soften your heart toward Him. This soul-searching should be coupled with His Word to shine a spotlight on your soul and any areas of your heart and life that need cleansing.

If there are things you already know need to go, get rid of them and put down some boundaries in those areas that will help you to ensure you don’t let those things creep back in. A holy, set-apart life is of immeasurable value. Don’t let it pass you by because you bought into the lies of an unholy, ungodly culture around you.

Thursday Technicalities: Upping the Stakes

Introduction

Today, we’re going to talk about upping the stakes. Last week, we talked about sub plots, and we’re going to tie together our sub plots and upping the stakes. Often, sub plots are the result of upping the stakes. Whether you end up with a sub plot or not, however, upping the stakes will always result in more complex plots.

What Does It Mean to Up the Stakes?

Simply put, upping the stakes just means making things more difficult and more important for your characters. You want the outcome of the story to come to matter so much that the character cannot walk away. In some cases, the stakes may rise so much that the character’s stake in the situation is a life or death matter. But making things matter so much for them is going to require some work on your part. Let’s take a look at how you can achieve this.

Upping the Stakes – Where to Start

The exercise to figure out where and how to up the stakes for characters is relatively simple. Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or pen. Then write down the characters and, next to their names, what it is that matters most to them. Once you know that, ask yourself how you make that thing matter even more. Keep listing out reasons until you run out of ideas. Then set it aside and come back to a little later to see if you can add even more ways it will come to matter.

Using the Exercise

Once you’ve listed out all the possible reasons that what a character wants most comes to matter, look over the list. What are some of the best reasons in your list? What will work well with the story or add layers of complexity to what you already have? Are there any surprising reasons on the list? Often reasons that add complexity or are in some way surprising are the best ones to add in. They keep the story interesting and engaging for the readers while simultaneously forcing the character to a point where they must make choices, fight for what they want, and decide not to walk away (or perhaps are unable to do so).

The key is to take away from the exercise at least five or six good reasons that you can develop as the story goes along.

Developing the Stakes

Once you know what will keep upping the stakes, you have to develop those stakes in the story. If they were all out in the open to begin with, there would be no progression of events, and you really wouldn’t be upping the stakes at all. Instead, take the most obvious motivators or the ones that still allow the character to walk away from the fight and start out with those. Let’s take a look at an example.

Trader Prince of Aleshtain

In my current WIP, Eras wants to become an air captain. It’s been his lifelong dream. Unfortunately, he’s the crown prince of a country, and he can’t just ditch his duties to go flying a ship through the skies. That’s the first stake. He wants to be an air captain more than anything, but if he did so, he’d have to leave his home and his people behind. But what can make his childhood dream matter even more? The introduction of a slave girl he’s trying to keep out of his father’s clutches.

As his father thwarts his attempts to keep her safe, he goes to increasingly high risk methods to keep her from harm. Eventually, he bets his father that in two years as a trader and captain of his own ship, he can make enough money to pay off any investment his father has in the venture. If he succeeds, he wins his freedom, which is what being an air captain really means to him. He also wins the ability to do as he pleases and to protect his woman from his father.

And if that isn’t reason enough to care? His father’s treachery and backstabbing in an attempt to ensure Eras loses that bet force him to send his woman away, perhaps permanently. And doing that puts his own life at risk in an increasingly unstable political environment. So now if he doesn’t win the bet, he could lose his life, not just his chance at freedom. So by the time that the book is beginning to come to the climax and conclusion, the matter of becoming an air captain—and thereby winning his freedom—has become a matter of literal life or death for him and for those he’s trying to protect.

Your Process

This is the same process you want to follow. Your character’s stakes won’t be the same, but the point is that it has to come to matter so much that they have no choice but to fight for one thing or the other that they want or need. It must seem like life or death for them even if, in the end, their failure won’t actually result in their deaths.

Sub Plots and Upping the Stakes

In the process of developing the stakes, you may discover that you end up with sub plots without really trying. For example, a sub plot that developed from the example above is Eras’s time traveling around Alcardia to trade. It’s connected to the main plot, but it is not the true plot. Similarly, Rhubhian’s time in her country after Eras sends her away is a key sub plot and leads to development for her. Despite that, it isn’t the main plot even though it leads into happenings within the main plot. If you find this happening in your work as well, don’t stress about it. Let it happen. Usually this results in a better, stronger story even if you didn’t plan for the piece to go that direction.

Conclusion

I hope that this has helped you to better understand how to up the stakes in your novel. How you choose to go about doing so is up to you, of course. Everyone has a different way of figuring out how and where to up the stakes. The method I presented in this exercise is simply my preferred method out of the ones I’ve tried.

Whether you choose to use it or another method, however, upping the stakes is a must. No matter what type of story you are telling, the book will fall flat without the work you will do. Upping the stakes will broaden the story in ways other techniques can’t. It will certainly make the characters’ main desire matter ever more in the course of the story. This will result in better reader engagement in the end. The work will be worth it!

If you’re looking for more detail on upping the stakes, check out Donald Maas’s Writing the Breakout Novel set.

Book Tour: Sweet Dreams

Introduction

Hi, all! Today, I’m helping out a fellow author by featuring her book on the blog as part of her book tour with Silver Dagger Book Tours. Kae Galla is one of the authors in the Children of Chaos series, which I’m participating in, and since I do book features and interviews, I wanted to help her out in getting the book out there! So, without further ado, let’s go take a look at a bit about the book and the author.

Sweet Dreams – Book Info

Children of Chaos Series 

by Kae Galla 

Genre: Paranormal Romance 

There are stories and legends written, all around the world, about my father. Many of those tales, although highly fictionalized, do speak some semblance of truth. My father is what you’d call “The Sandman.”

For eternity, the men in my family have traversed the realm of dreams, putting the world to sleep. It’s a great honor and fantastic ability…at least, that’s what my father says.

I wouldn’t know, because I have yet to gain my legacy.

As the school year comes to a close, and I spend more time with the loneliest girl in class, things begin to change.

What will happen when her secrets come to light?

Will I be able to help her?

Will she be able to help me?

**Only 99 cents!**

Goodreads * Amazon

About the Author 

My name is KAE Galla and I’ve loved writing since before I knew how. I’d sit with my mom and grandma telling them exactly what I wanted my story to be, and they would write it down under misshapen scribbles I tried to pass off as art work. It wasn’t until years later that I finally decided to go full throttle with my passion and share it with the world. Now, thanks to the support of my loving family, great friends, and an amazing team, my dream of becoming an author are reality. My heart is in Paranormal Romance, and Romance in general, but I love challenging myself and broadening my horizons so you can bet there is more to come! 

If you’d like to follow KAE Galla, you can do so using the links below!

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Giveaway Notice

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

Thursday Technicalities: Sub-Plots

Publishing Journey

Introduction

Today, we’re talking about sub plots. Last week, we talked about plot complexity, so this is the perfect point to discuss sub plots as the two often work together. To start, I’ll define sub plot. Sub plots are the plots taking place while the main plot is still moving forward. They’re extra layers, if you will.

Differentiating Between a Plot and Sub Plot

First, we need to know the difference between plots and sub plots. Sub plots are smaller plots within the larger, overarching story goal. They often resolve through the course of the novel or may even happen mostly in the background. Plots, on the other hand, are the main stories of a novel. The book must have the plot at least or it won’t be a story.

Examples

This concept can be a bit abstract, so let’s look at a few examples.

Way of Kings

In Way of Kings, the main plot lines are focused on Dalinar’s struggle to understand the strange visions he receives, Shallan’s quest to steal a fabrial (magical device) to replace one her family broke and now owes to a nasty group of thugs, and Kaladin’s struggle to survive battle after battle as a bridge carrier while unprotected from enemy fire. Those are the main plots in the story, at least to start.

But Sanderson also introduces many sub plots. For example, there is a plot to kill Jasnah, the woman Shallan is both learning from and attempting to steal a fabrial from. Dalinar and his sons are attempting to navigate both infighting between various nobles involved in their fight against the invading Parshendi and to figure out how to win the war for territory they are engaged in. Kaladin discovers he has abilities he didn’t know were still possible to possess and in his struggle to survive, he turns his focus on turning his bridge crew into a force to be reckoned with. Then there are the interludes about characters seemingly unconnected to the main story, which introduces still more sub plots. None of these are the main plots of the story, but they’re all strong features and play into the main plots.

Stephen Leeds Novellas

A simpler example would be Sanderson’s Stephen Leeds Novellas. Each book has a new case for the impressive Stephen Leeds and his many “aspects”. But Sanderson adds layers by giving the books the same underlying sub plot. He’s looking for someone in his past, and time is running out as his aspects go rogue one at a time, dying off as his mind is unable to cope with them all. The girl from his past might have answers, and so he searches. It takes a back seat to his cases, but as the last book approaches, that sub plot morphs into a plot and becomes the focus of the final book.

Using Sub Plots

Hopefully the examples have helped you to understand the difference between plot and sub plot. Now let’s discuss how and where to use them.

First, the size of the story determines whether you can have a lot of sub plots. A short story, for example, probably doesn’t have the room for much addition in the area of sub plot. You add dimension in other ways when you have a 10K word limit, but you don’t spend time discussing events unrelated to the main story in a strong way. For novellas, you can comfortably fit one or two to add complexity. In a novel with a thousand pages like Way of Kings, you can fit quite a few if you do it well.

Second, all sub plots should connect to the main plot whether the sub plot belongs to a main or secondary character. The connection may not be obvious at first when the sub plot is part of a longer book or if it spans several books. Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives are one great example of ways to use sub plots to leave readers guessing at the larger plot’s conclusion or to introduce surprising twists in the story.

There are many ways to incorporate sub plots, and the best method for you depends on your book. To know where to introduce them and how to develop them, you need to know where the story is headed and what the best points for the sub plots to intersect the main plot are. This is why I’m such a big advocate for doing at least basic plotting. You need a foundation to work from if you want your novels and series to have the type of complex plot that can surprise, hold attention, and convert casual readers to avid fans.

Conclusion

At this point, you should have enough information to start working out your story’s sub plots. Does it have them? Are they underdeveloped or not brought into play in the right moments? If your story is already complete in a rough draft form, go back and look for sub plots and any issues with them. If your story isn’t done or is still in the ideas stage, make sure you think about this while planning and writing. It will add life to the story in the most unexpected ways.

Sunday Stories – Set-Apart Living Pt. 1

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

One of the things I’ve been thinking about—and have been finding God poking at me about recently—is the idea of being set apart to Him. All too often in life, it’s easy to become so busy and so focused on our goals that we, as Christians, crowd God out. Even though the activities themselves may not be wrong, in and of themselves, if they’re putting God in second place or causing us to “fit” God in, then they’re getting in the way of a life that is holy (or set apart) before God. This will be a two-part series since I know there’s a lot of information here. This week, we’ll focus on the definition of set-apart living, why it matters, and what it isn’t. Next week, we’ll talk about how we can practically live a set-apart life according to Scripture as Christians in an increasingly hostile world.

How Do I Define Set-Apart Living?

It’s important to note here that, while set-apart living is often discussed in the arena of sexual purity or encouraging kids not to do drugs and drink, that is not all there is to it or even the main focus that we should have in discussing the subject. Sometimes some speakers or pastors will talk about it in a broader sense. Here I’m going to talk about it in the broader definition. I define set-apart living as living a life that is focused entirely on God. Set-apart living or living a holy life is living within the world but not being of the world. A person living this sort of life is going to look markedly different in their daily lives from someone who is not living set-apart to God. They won’t do, say, or listen to the same things as the world around them does. To those who do not see them frequently, the difference in their way of living may not be, immediately, clear. To those who see them every day, however, it is obvious that they are not the same and that the difference can only be attributed to a close, personal walk with God, not mere religion or personality.

What Does It Matter?

These days, not many appreciate a man or woman who has wholly given themselves to God. People who do so are often called radicals or, worse yet, cult leaders. I know a few good Christian leaders that have been accused of that. It has usually been on the grounds that they’ve chosen to live a life that exemplifies high standards of purity that “no one can expect to achieve” or that they preach a lifestyle that can be lived without knowing sin in God’s power.

And yet, these radicals and “cult leaders” do manage to achieve these standards by the grace of God. They are not perfect, and they do sin. However, they are not living in a lifestyle that encourages or fosters it, and they have removed the hindrances that might cause them to stumble in their walk with God or stagnate in the same. As such, the work He has done through their ministries is nothing short of astounding in most cases.

It has been my observation that many Christian leaders wish they’d see this success, but they rob themselves of it because they focus on everything they’re doing for God but forgo a focus on the One they’re doing it for. They talk well, but they do not practice the principles laid out for those wishing to see God move in their lives. They do not seek to utterly remove self from the equation so that in every way they may exemplify Christ, and so they meet with mediocre success.

Even in the church, it’s common to get weird looks from people if you choose to live entirely set apart to God. You don’t have to live like a monk in a monastery to get those looks, by the way. Things as simple as refusing to make fun of someone, not engaging in gossip, or refusing to watch, listen to, or read even certain “Christian” things are enough in many cases. 

Given the Reasons to Bother

So, in a world that doesn’t value any semblance of godly living and with a church that is increasingly following suite, what’s the point? Why bother with this at all instead of just going with the rest of the world and much of the church in deciding that holy, godly living is impossible and entirely unnecessary?

The obvious reason, to me, is that we are to seek God’s approval, not men’s applause (Gal. 1:10). We are bought with a price, according to 1 Corinthians 6:20, and we are no longer our own but His. If we are truly His, then, there ought to be a desire within us to live a life pleasing to Him and to be in fellowship with Him, not with the world. This does not mean, of course, that we never fall or that we never choose sin over God. We, like the Israelites, sin time and again. But a Christian who is living in the Spirit and not according to the flesh is able to feed themselves in the Word and is convicted by God of that sin. A Christian living carnally or in the flesh is unable to feed themselves in the Word and needs to be rebuked for failing to follow even the most obvious of commands (See 1 and 2 Corinthians for an example of a church in this state). The Bible has a great deal to say to Christians about living in the Spirit instead of the flesh, and it is clear that we, even as His children, have the choice to live in sin. But a believer who is rooted in Him and exemplifies Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, in Ephesians 1:16-23, will not live in sin forever. The fellowship they have known is broken when they live in sin, and those who have known that fellowship feel its loss keenly. They, then can continue in sin only if they sear their conscience and grieve the Spirit.

This then leads to the other reason which, though not our main focus as Christians, is no less important to our lives than the first was. The second reason that set-apart living matters is because it brings life more abundant. It brings a life that, while it is not always free of hardship and persecution, is filled with peace, joy, and fulfillment as you walk with Him. So, the only reason we need for why this matters is that He saved us to Himself and asks it of us, He also promises us blessings and more, beyond the already immense kindness he showed in saving our souls from damnation.

If we are His, adopted into His family through grace, then we are no more the servants of sin but are instead the servants of God. This matters because true Christians can never be content living in known sin without searing their conscience and grieving the Holy Spirit. Paul warns us not to do this very clearly in Ephesians 4:30. It brings grief to God’s heart when we choose the world’s way after all He did to free us from that into a better way in Him. We are, therefore, called on to live lives set apart to God even as we live in the midst of a wicked, corrupt world, and so we then must sin if we put anything before Him. 

There is no sin we can do that is greater than robbing God of His rightful place and His glory in our lives. To do so is to deny the Creator His rights and our God His temple (1 Cor. 3:10-23). The other sins that we often focus on in the church, such as sexual immorality, drunkenness, addictions to drugs, and other “big ticket” sins, are (though clearly wrong and denounced in Scripture) merely the outgrowth of a life that is not given over to God. It is a life that is putting self and flesh on the throne, not God and Spirit.

These sins have no place in the Spirit-filled Christian life. If seen, other Christians, living in the Spirit, are instructed to go to them in love and rebuke the behavior so that they may turn around before they face the fullness of God’s corrective power in their lives (1 Cor. 5). These Christian brothers and sisters who are rebuked may not return immediately, but those who are truly His will return.

When they do, we are to greet those who do return not as though they are unbelievers but as brothers (2 Cor. 2:5-11; James 5:19-20). So then, choosing to live a life to ourselves, in any area, is to refuse our Lord His rightful place, and to worship anything (self, things, or people) above God is idolatry. As such, living a life set-apart to Him matters for these reasons: we are called to it, we are bought with a price and are not our own, we cannot be wholly blessed if we do not live in Him, and we sin if we place anything above Him in our lives.

What Set Apart Living Is Not

We’ve talked about what set-apart living is and why it matters, but I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on what set-apart living isn’t. Often, the object to holiness or set apartness is that it might lead—or must lead in the minds of some—to austere, monk-like living. While not everyone has this objection and some are honest enough to admit they simply prefer living their way instead of God’s way, many of us who started out more like the Corinthian believers and have had to be brought into this set-apart living by God’s firm but loving hand went through the fears that we would lose friends, might have to give up everything to go sit in a cave somewhere to read our Bibles all day, or might need to become monks. While these fears are blown out of proportion a bit, some people really do have these concerns. Some of us have sat there and thought, “Set apart living is impossible because there’s no way I can spend five or six hours a day just reading and praying.” 

The fact of the matter is that isn’t what set-apart living is. Many of the men and women we see in both segments of Christianity lived lives that, while centered on God, involved regular jobs and living in a society that didn’t want them there because they were considered “radical”. God calls on us to live in the Spirit, to be transformed into His likeness, and not to be conformed to the world. He does not say “Dress in sackcloth, eat nothing but the simplest food you can find, and never do anything but read your Bible and pray.”

The Heart of the Issue

While some people genuinely are unsure of what it means to live a set-apart life and are worried they won’t be able to do so and live life too, the real issue is all too often not what we will or will not have to give up in particular. Instead, many who object to set-apart living object because they realize that a set apart life means dying to self. They’re okay with giving up things they think would be good things to give up to show how good they are as people. Some of them may even genuinely believe that giving up things while still living for themselves is living a life that’s “good enough”. But while these people may look good on the outside, if you start talking to many of them about areas of life they don’t want to give up but that are not in line with the Bible, the responses are rarely good. They can range from “Well, that’s not really necessary for today” to “I don’t think God cares” to “That’s one of those outdated things that only old-fashioned or holier-than-thou types do.” This is, of course, by no means a complete list of excuses we as human beings can come up with for why we don’t need to remove the things God has told us to remove. My own excuses usually have been along the lines of “Well, it’s not that bad” or “I’m not doing this really bad thing, so this one little compromise isn’t really a problem”. But they all boiled down to “I want to do this, and I don’t care if God cares or not.”

Living a set apart life will mean giving up the self-focused life and suffering ridicule for the things we choose to omit to make our focus our King instead of ourselves. That much is a guarantee. And too often, we have no desire to put God in charge because we’ll lose friends, activities, or things that we want more than close friendship with our Lord.

Conclusion

What a sad state of affairs when even some who claim the name “Christian” prioritize friends, things, and their own pursuits over the One who died one of the worst deaths known to man to rescue our souls from eternal damnation. He did all of that so we could have eternal fellowship with Him! At times, I daresay, we have all been guilty of doing this, but it should be the exception, not the rule, friends. Could we deliver any more sound a slap to the face of God than to accept His grace but then refuse to give anything of ourselves in a spirit of love, duty, and gratitude to our Savior? More and more of late, God has been showing me that He is not just Savior. He is also Lord and Master, titles which demand our respect and our devotion, not just a vague sense of gratitude for what He did with zero inclination to live as He has required.

Thursday Technicalities: Plot Complexity

Publishing Advice

Introduction

Today we move away from our discussions on character to discussing plot. A good plot is one that is both character driven and intricate, but many new authors (and even some who have been at it for a while) struggle in this area. Often, writers are unsure how to deepen plot, make it interesting, and keep it from becoming predictable. Today, our discussion will focus on the idea of intricacy and complexity in plot, but in future weeks, we will also discuss how writers can make plot less predictable, up the stakes, increase tension, and make things matter more in relation to the characters. We will also discuss sub plots and how you can properly use them to add dimension to the book and to keep life in every page. Let’s get started on today’s discussion, shall we?

The Importance of Complexity and Intricacy in Plot

While characters are the lifeblood of a good story, plot is the foundation. If you don’t have an interesting plot, the story will still end up collapsing or falling short. You need both elements to make the story go well. It is true that you can have a somewhat generic plot (as is often the case in many romance novels) and manage to make the book somewhat memorable if only because the characters are memorable. However, if you want a truly exceptional novel, the plot needs to be just as exceptional as the characters.

This makes complexity and intricacy in a plot integral parts of any story that an author wants to polish until it shines. I don’t mean that it has to be the level of complex or intricate you see in many murder mysteries or thrillers, though it could certainly become that complex depending on your genre. What I mean is that there should be many layers to the plot. It should not be simplistic, nor should the layers clash in such a way that there is no subtlety to them at all. Crafting fiction is an art, and it must be done with balance and artistry to be done beautifully. 

There is a great deal of variety in how this goal might be accomplished when it comes to writing. You’ve probably heard that there’s no one way to do things as a writer. This is very true in most areas, with the exception, in some instances, of grammar-related issues. But there are just as many wrong ways (or ways that do not work) to do things. Therefore, our goal is to know some of the key tools that will help us to do the right things so that we can succeed.

Giving Plot Complexity and Intricacy

One of the first, and simplest, ways to add complexity to plot is to ensure that nothing is too easy for your hero. Make sure that your protagonist can’t get what they want easily. This could mean they have an internal conflict that’s preventing them from having one thing if they go after the second thing they want equally, or it could mean that some external force gets in the way. But what other options are there for adding much-needed complexity besides this first, obvious one?

Obstacle Difficulty Mounts

The obstacles that show up in their way should be increasingly difficult to surmount. What do I mean by this? Well, take Trader Prince of Aleshtain for example. In my current work-in-progress, the goal of both main characters is ultimately freedom. But one thing after another stands in the way. For Rhubhian, the female lead, she has the entire Aleshtainian system, which has enslaved her in the way. Then she has Eras, the male protagonist, and her own feelings in the way of what she perceives as freedom. Even once she has a chance to live free, she isn’t able to live with the brand of freedom she’s won back for herself because she has lost the other thing–love–that she now realizes she wanted more than her “freedom”. 

For Eras, he finds that duty, his father, the priesthood in his kingdom, and financial straits keep him from gaining his freedom. Then, in a desperate bid for freedom, he signs a contract with his father–the king–that takes an incredibly risky gamble with his future while allowing him at least the chance to win it. But even here he meets obstacles as the pieces he was relying on to allow him his victory prove to be against him instead. The two of them face problem after problem, some due to intentional intervention from outside forces and enemies and some due to simple misfortune and life getting in the way.

But that’s what keeps the story moving. The goal is always just out of reach or, at their worst moments, seems impossible to achieve. In a very real way, failure is always on the table for these two, and while it may or may not be how things end for these characters, it should always be something you consider an option.

Multiple Plot Lines

Another way you can add complexity is with the introduction of several plot lines. Each main character has their own thread to follow in the tapestry that is your story. Sometimes those threads will tangle with other threads along the way, and at times, a character may even have multiple threads at once as they pursue multiple goals. But either way, however many threads you have, if you are able to successfully bring them all together, you can create a plot that is complex and seemingly genius or effortless to any who don’t see the hard work that went into it.

Subplots

Finally, you can introduce subplots. We’ll discuss these in more detail later on, but essentially these are the other threads in the story that run beneath the overarching story goal or plot. So, in the case of my earlier example, freedom for the two main characters is the overarching story goal, but the attempt to keep Rhubhian safe from others in the castle would be a sub plot for Eras. It adds complexity, but it is only an underlying thread in the larger tapestry and the goals both are ultimately striving to achieve. The goal is not to keep Rhubhian safe and a slave for the rest of her life. The goal is her freedom. Keeping her safe is just a necessary journey or sub-goal along the way.

Weaving It All Together

In the end, the best method to add complexity and intricacy to a plot is to have several threads all running throughout the story. Some may be immediately obvious in their connections while others may be less so, but in the end, you have to bring them all together. 

One example of this is Pathway of the Moon, a piece I wrote about a year ago and am in the process of editing. In this story, the book has two distinct storylines for much of the book: that of the assassin-vigilante, Leo Ryalin, and that of High Imperial Knight, Alrian Haridan. These two interact under various aliases throughout the course of the book without ever realizing who the other is until, finally, circumstances, an investigation into the assassin on Haridan’s part, and the connecting link–a maid Ryalin rescued–end up bringing Haridan to an Aha kind of moment.

Examples

But the two have entirely separate story lines for much of it and only hear about the other’s story line when they happen to hear rumors or are directly investigating, in the case of Haridan. The clues pile up, and while the reader knows that Ryalin is the assassin, they begin to realize there’s far more to him than just that as Haridan’s investigation uncovers threads of his ties to other happenings in the kingdom, which were seemingly unrelated.

Another example, which is far more masterful at tying things together than my own work is, would be Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. If ever you want to see a master of plot and character in action, you should read Sanderson. As an author and editor, I can imagine (and in some cases know all too well) how much work goes into making the kind of sweeping plot lines, intricate connections, and unexpected twists Sanderson utilizes work properly. If this is an area you’re trying to improve, read this series. I say that as someone who learned most of what she knows about plot intricacy and characterization from simply reading and observing this master in action via his own work.

The Concept in Action

Practically speaking, this is an exercise in imagination, logic, and creativity. You can find some initial connections quite easily by considering your characters, your major plot lines, and your locations. Donald Maas, in his Writing the Breakout Novel, suggests that you write them down and start pairing a character with one item each off the other lists. Some connections aren’t going to make any sense, but often you’ll find ones that do that you never anticipated would work. Write those ones down to keep. Make notes on them. Use them. It will make the novel better and far more complex if you can find a way to weave all of the key connections you’ve made together.

Conclusion

Good plot, like good character, is something you must develop. It takes time and planning. Some books may require much more formal planning than others, but all will require some degree of planning or else a great deal of revision if you want your plot to shine like it can. While the effort may to some seem an unworthy use of time, I can promise you that this is an area you don’t want to skip. It’s an area that Donald Maas focuses on heavily in his book because, as a literary agent, he rejected thousands of manuscripts due to issues with plot. It pays to pay attention to and to develop soundly the plot for any book you’re endeavoring to write. Don’t ignore this crucial piece of crafting a novel.

Thursday Technicalities: Motivation

Introduction

The last few weeks, we’ve been discussing characterization. So far, we’ve discussed internal conflict, acting out of character, and secondary characters. Today’s focus will be motivation.

We all have reasons we do the things we do. Those reasons may or may not relate to whatever internal or external conflict going on, but they will drive our responses to every aspect of life. Our characters should be no different. Even if our readers don’t get to see every motive our characters have, the motives should be there. You, at least, need to know them, particularly if the character is a main character.

What is Motivation?

Motivation differs from internal conflict in that internal conflict is wanting two opposing things while motives are the answers to why you want what you do. No one is ever without a why behind their desires, thoughts, and actions, even if they themselves have no idea what that motive is at the time.

Why Motivation Needs to Be In Your Work

Why does motivation need to be in your story even if your readers don’t ever notice it? Simply put, because your readers notice when it isn’t there. They might not always recognize it when it’s just an undercurrent to the character’s actions, but if it isn’t there, they’re going to notice. They’ll spend energy, in many cases, wondering what those motives are. If you’re going to reveal them during the character arc, this may be fine so long as you’ve written the character in a way that makes it clear to the reader they have a hidden agenda. If not, you’re going to have a problem. Readers who don’t drop the book due to feeling that the characters are flat may leave at the end of the book feeling dissatisfied without even knowing why. As such, motivations need to exist in your characters even when they’re only undercurrents.

Developing Motivations

I’ve told you how important motivations are, but now some of you may be wondering, “How do I develop them in my characters?” Some of us may be lucky because our characters show up in our heads with their own personalities and motivations already at least partially there, and our jobs become straightforward: find a way to put that on the page. But for many, that’s not the case.

My suggestion, regardless of which you are, is to start with their internal conflicts. Figure out why they want those two opposing things. From there, expand out to what drives them as a person. What are the goals they have that may motivate them to act? What strongly held beliefs do they have that drive them to draw lines on what they will and will not do? What matters most to them and why does it matter?

Strengthening Motivations

Once you’ve developed motivation, the next step is to strengthen those motivations. Make sure it really matters to the character. The danger here is that the things they want and the reasons they want them might not matter enough. If they don’t, then these motivations won’t work well as motivations because as soon as it’s easier to cave or to head another direction, the character will. So take a good look at the reasons behind the actions they’re going to take and ask how you can make those reasons matter so much that changing motivations would require a major turning point (at least for the core motivations that will drive core actions).

For example… In my current WIP, Trader Prince of Aleshtain, the male lead wants his freedom more than anything else. But the reasons why he wants his freedom are more powerful than the desire itself. He wants his freedom because he’s trying to flee his father’s oppressive thumb, escape assassination because those behind the throne don’t want him to take his rightful place on it, and find a way to be able to marry the woman he loves. The actions he takes striving for his freedom are motivated by a desire for freedom, but the desire itself is motivated by even deeper convictions and needs. Those convictions and needs matter so much, and come to matter even more in the course of the book, that staying and doing his duty becomes practically impossible. In my character’s case, his internal conflict is tied up in this motivation of wanting freedom and the further motivations behind that because, as the Crown Prince, he also feels strongly bound by duty to stay and try to lead the country even though it doesn’t want him or the kind of king he would be. But in your character’s case, you don’t have to necessarily tie their motives entirely to the internal conflict. There should be motivations behind the two opposing forces in their internal conflict, certainly, but the motivations that mostly drive their actions do not have to be solely tied to said internal conflict.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve seen how key motivations are to your work. Even if readers don’t notice them consciously, the motivations need to be there for your story to work. Take some time to look at your characters. Are their motivations clear to you? Are they clear in the text (with the exception of any motives you’re intentionally hiding for a later reveal)? Have you made them matter enough? If the answer to those questions is no or maybe not, then you’ve got work you can do to improve the story. So do it! It will only make the story stronger.

Author Interview: James Quinlan Meservy

Hey all! We’ve got James Quinlan Meservy here with us today to share about his experience as one of the authors in our new anthology, Glimpses of Time and Magic, which will be releasing at the end of this month. Since James has been with us on the blog before, I gave him a new set of questions to answer just to keep things fresh. Thanks for taking the time to be here, James!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

(JQM)

I am James Quinlan Meservy,

Fantasy Author Extraordinaire,

Creator of Creatures,

Embellisher of Events

And Firebrand

“Stories That Kindle Imagination”

I have a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Archaeology, and minors in Russian and Geology from Utah State University.  Unlike many of my fellow authors, I was not a fan of books as a kid.  I was more of a TV, movie, and video game kid, who learned to love to read as a senior in high school, and learned to love writing in my late twenties, early thirties.  It was long, gradual process to teach myself to love to turn my dreams into stories.

Glimpses is a historical fantasy anthology, so have you ever written this genre before, and if so, what got you into it?

(JQM)

You know, I actually have written some historic fantasy before.   My novella, The Viscount of Sternboard, A Realm of the Light Novella, is a Titanic story set in my fantasy realm, The Realm of the Light, which is a parallel realm to our own. 

What was the inspiration for your short story?

(JQM)

My story included in Glimpses of Time & Magic is Excal’Byr, A Realm of the Light Short Story.  It was inspired by my love of Arthurian Lore and Camelot. 

What was the most difficult part of writing the story?

(JQM)

Bleen, I don’t think any part of this story was difficult.  I have been thinking of how to fit Camelot and Excalibur into the Realm of the Light for several years.  So when I started writing, it just flowed out.  So, I guess the only real difficulty I had with this story was to find the time to write it out.

What was the easiest part of writing it?

(JQM)

The writing of it. The story flowed out of my mind and into words with ease.

Can you tell us about what you’re working on now with the anthology drawing close to its release date?

(JQM)

The Cross of Roses, A Fantasy Thriller from the Realm of the Light.

The Cross of Roses takes place some three or four years after the end of The United, and is about a serial killing priest who uses magic to murder the unrepentant sinners in his congregation.  This one is NOT a YA story, though I do keep the content fairly clean, which in this case means no sexually explicit scenes, limited vulgarity, and limited gore.

Who was most helpful on your journey with your short story in Glimpses?

(JQM)

The most helpful person with Excal-Byr?  Well, that’s easy.  My editor, Dorcia Beland.  She is a fantastic editor, and helped me fix a few problems that came up in the writing.  Second to her is my wife, who is always willing to talk out a story with me.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers who are considering anthologies?

(JQM)

Read anthologies and short stories.  Get a feel for how they flow, how they fit into a writer’s larger literary world.

Second to that is to write.

What is the most difficult part of being involved in anthologies for you?

(JQM)

Most difficult part?  Probably getting all the contributing authors to agree about price, sales objections, marketing strategies, and the overall goal of the anthology.

What do you like best about being involved in anthologies?

(JQM)

Being part of Glimpses of Time & Magic really pushed me to write Excal’Byr, a story that was lingering in the back of my head for a long time, but I never committed to paper.  Writing out that story was probably my favorite part.  The second is meeting, working with, and making friends with new authors.

What part of working with the group of authors in Glimpses was your favorite?

(JQM)

Meeting new authors.  Glimpses was the first time I ever worked with Joshua Reid and Michaela Baker, two very talented authors whom I look forward to working with in the future.

Find Out More About James Quinlan Meservy

If you guys are interested in learning more about James, you can find him on Amazon. He has several other full-length novels and a few children’s books available there. You can also find him on Facebook.

Thursday Technicalities: Secondary Characters

Publishing Advice

Introduction

Last week, we talked about character dimensions or aspects, and this week, we’re moving on to talking about secondary characters. Secondary characters are often ignored or not given the focus they should be given simply because they are secondary, but good fiction will develop these characters too. Let’s talk about what part your secondary characters play and why they’re so important that they too need as much development as the main characters.

Roles of Secondary Characters

When it comes to secondary characters, we often view them as supporting cast members to our lead roles, the main characters. While it is true that they’re going to be supporting characters, if they’re going to do their jobs to the best of their abilities, their roles need to be defined and their characters developed.

So what are their roles? Well, secondary characters predominantly provide either support or opposition to our protagonists and antagonists. But if they’re going to do that, they’re also going to need to take on more specific roles in the story. The ones who show up for any length of time should be fulfilling multiple purposes or roles along the way in helping or hindering the protagonist and antagonists. And, interestingly enough, it isn’t always necessary that these secondary characters be intentionally working to help or hinder. Some secondary characters may do both at different times simply in the process of living their own lives and pursuing their own goals.

Developing Secondary Characters

As you work with your secondary characters, my recommendation to you is that you develop them the same way you develop your protagonists or antagonists. Take the time to carefully craft them and to give them their own goals, internal conflicts, and dreams. Some writers avoid this because they’re worried the secondary characters will steal the show. This is rarely the case. If this is starting to occur, it’s usually due to having chosen the wrong protagonist/antagonist or having underdeveloped either of those two. But if those two issues aren’t present, then usually a well-developed secondary character can help rather than hinder your plot’s advancement and richness.

So when you’re developing the secondary characters, the key things to focus on are internal conflict, motivations, and storylines. They should have their own development in all of the areas just as the protagonist and antagonist do. In order for their storylines to add to the conflict in the main storyline, their subplots cannot be undeveloped. The things they want and the story arcs they’re going to travel through will all impact the main story if you’ve woven the two together well.

How to Weave the Storylines Together

But now you might be asking… How do I weave the two together so that they flow into each other properly? This one is a little bit difficult to achieve at times, but here’s one really great way to do it. Take the characters you have, list out a few locations, and write down the key plot points for the main plot and any subplots that will impact that plot. Then start connecting a character with a plot point and a location. Sometimes, the connections will make zero sense, but if something is working, make notes on how they all interconnect. I think you’ll start to find that your subplots for secondary characters intersect and enhance the main plot in ways you never would’ve imagined. Try to find at least three or four ways that your secondary characters can interact with the main plot while following the arc of their sub plot.

Too Many Cast Members

The last thing I’ll note here is that you can have an issue with too many secondary characters. Usually, a story doesn’t require twenty secondary characters. Even in my most complex series where I have two plot lines going on at the same time, I have maybe five to seven secondary characters who play any significant role in the story. The rest show up only as needed. Those that show up when needed are given the illusion of being real, but not much development is done with them because they’re only there for a scene.

The problems that usually lead to too many cast members are not using your characters to their fullest, having too many directions, or giving screen time to those who don’t need it. Most of the time, the issue is that an author hasn’t used their characters to the fullest of their potential. For example, in Trader Prince of Aleshtain (my current WIP), I initially had the MC’s best friend separate from the MC’s mentor figure/voice of reason. But the mentor figure only showed up in one or two scenes, and after he departed the stage, another supporting character takes on that role. I only needed the mentor figure to give good advice toward the beginning of the book. So in the newer version of the draft, that mentor figure has been blended with the best friend. Now, the best friend offers the needed sage advice while also encouraging the MC to do what he knows is right. I didn’t need that second character to act as a mentor figure at all because I had the MC’s best friend and could easily combine the roles.

Additionally, pulling in too many directions can weaken your use of character and your story by extension. If you give so much screen time to a character meant to be a supporting cast member that they end up hijacking the main character and the plot line, your story can end up pulled in too many directions. The best solution for this is to remind yourself of the story’s focus then go back and trim out any scenes with that secondary character that aren’t useful to advancing the main plot, helping one of the main characters, or hindering their journey. While a secondary character should be as developed as a main character, they don’t get the same amount of screen time as a main character. Instead, their development is shown in more concise ways during interactions that the reader has with them while they are in some way advancing or hindering another character or heightening the conflict.

Conclusion

Developing your secondary characters is extremely important. Failing to do so means that you have failed to use them to their greatest potential in building your story and your plot. Don’t lose the richness and the additional complexity that a well-developed secondary character can bring to your tale. Be careful to keep their time on the stage balanced so they don’t steal the spotlight, but don’t be afraid to give them their own goals, hopes, and dreams. Let them live and breathe on the page too.

Sunday Stories: Christianity and Racism

New Blog Schedule

Introduction

Right up front, I’ll warn you this post is going to be long. To answer the questions I’m going to discuss here thoroughly, I’ll need you to bear with me. The argument I’m going to present takes some set up, and so I hope you’ll stick with me as I go through the necessary background information to get to the argument and the answer to the questions I’m going to present. Furthermore, for those who may be liberals in my audience, understand up front that I do not support racism in any way, shape, or form. I’m about to go through why. I’m hoping you’ll track with me on this one, though, because I’m about to go through the moral, historical, and ideological grounds that lead to racism. I’ve spoken to various liberals about why they believe what they do regarding racism, and I often hear good reasons with very, very inconsistent and bad logic. It’s entirely possible to be right and be completely inconsistent in your viewpoints, and that’s where most liberals I’ve spoken to are at. We’ll dive into why in this article, but please read with an open mind.

Why We Need to Discuss This in the Church and With Our Kids

I genuinely believe that the ideologies that most of our culture has bought into from a moral standpoint and from a worldview standpoint have led to the problems we are seeing today. If you look at history and where other countries who have adopted America’s current philosophies as pushed by the radical far left movement, the end result has always been the breakdown of all three areas of authority that God put into place: State (human government), church, and family. It happened in Russia, Nazi Germany, Italy under Mussolini, Cuba, Venezuela, China, North Korea, Prussia, and many other places in both geographical and historical locations. Right now, our country’s liberals are praising those like Stalin and Mussolini. Mussolini’s reign of terror was short-lived compared to some dictators, but in twenty-one years of power, he killed two-thousand political opponents and an estimated 430,000 people total died under his regime. Stalin was responsible for killing an estimated twenty million or more, according to many historians. Stanford historian, Norman Naimark, considers Stalin’s mass murders to be genocide and states that Stalin and Hitler have more in common than many of us in modern day culture seem to believe. These are the men we’re seeing the Democrat party praising or aspiring to be like. They want the same system of government that these men wanted and used. They’re repeating the same trends that past dictators did. Arguably, so are some of the far right radicals in office as well. Both are incredibly dangerous.

But if we don’t educate ourselves on history, we don’t see the trends. We ignore those who lived for many years in countries who have done all the same things we’re now doing thanks to the liberal, progressive agenda, and even though they express the fear they feel over seeing us doing what their governments did on the intentional path to dictatorships and communism, we scoff as if somehow they’re nutcases. If we don’t know what those who believed what we’re now espousing and hailing as forward thinking had to say about their goals with their philosophies, the things that were inseparable in their minds from their theories, and the ways in which those who followed after their founders chose to apply them, we’re going to be very easily led astray. Our young people are already being misled and taught lies. They’re swallowing it because we’re not teaching them any differently. They’re swallowing it, and we’re playing into the hands of our enemies. Outright communists in our country have the confidence to tell those of us who fight back: “Good job finding all of the links between communism and what we’re doing here. You’ve done your research. But it won’t matter. We’re going to win because we have your children.”

This isn’t something out of a crazy conspiracy novel. I wish it were! If it were, I could laugh it off and roll my eyes at the crazy people who believe this. But when you examine the history, the evidence, and what’s going on right now in our country, you can no longer dismiss what is happening. There is a very real battle going on, folks. And while it’s tempting to look at the rioting and looting around us and say that’s the battle, the battle goes far beyond that. It is a battle of ideologies, and right now, those who are prevailing hold a distinctly anti-God, anti-American, and anti-freedom perspective. We’re going to discuss why any of that matters.

Who Is This Mainly Geared Towards?

I would be remiss, at this point, if I didn’t say something about who this is geared towards. To some of you in my audience, you’re already yawning and rolling your eyes or becoming extremely incensed, if you even made it this far. Some might be considering saying a few nasty things because they think I’m insane at this point. That’s a risk I knew I’d be taking if I chose to speak out on this issue. But I’m going to do it anyway because this is so incredibly important for the Church to consider and understand.

To some of you, it might even sound like a wonderful thing to destroy every principle our country stands on. I am not naive enough to believe that every liberal individual out there is simply unaware of what’s going on, the agenda that the Democrat platform is truly pushing behind the scenes, or the implications of what they believe. I have to give those in the liberal camp credit: not all of them are being misled. Some of them are doing the misleading.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, my main focus here is on Christians no matter what side of the fence they’re on politically. Those who are believers, who have given their lives to Christ, and who have chosen to–in some way, at least–live for Him. Those who are non-religious, only believe when it’s convenient, or who are merely religious as opposed to living out the natural results of a heart fully surrendered to its Creator and King? You are all welcome. It is not my intent to tell you not to read on or to tell you that you aren’t welcome to read what I have to say here. But my focus is on my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ because the trends I see in the Church today both horrify and devastate me. At times, it can feel as if I’m on an island and am the only one in the Church who is seeing the horrific direction that Christ’s Bride, who is to be unspotted by the world, has taken. I know I’m not, but I also know that fewer and fewer Christians, regardless of what they think politically, are a) really redeemed sinners who are living in the Spirit of God and b) walking with God in a relationship with Him once they are redeemed. We have conformed to the world around us instead of being transformed into the likeness of Christ through the renewing of our minds in the Word of God.

Probably Stepping on Toes

I’m likely making some people very angry right now, but here’s the thing… Those of us on the conservative side have historically chosen to give up, not stand up, and to just stand aside as those who hate our country’s founding principles keep taking ground from us. If no one is willing to tell the truth, we will become a country living in deceit, lies, and misdirection (more so than we already are). Some who have been misguided will someday wake up and see what’s happened, and they’ll wonder how everything good they truly thought they were fighting for could’ve been destroyed. I pity those individuals, and I pray we never end up there. But if the Church and those who know where the philosophies being taught by a society running to destruction will end don’t choose to stand up? We will end up where every other country doing what we are has ended up: ruined, without the equality for all that the radicals claimed they wanted, and wondering how we lost our freedoms so quickly.

Most people on the opposite side of the political spectrum from me will boo even literal quotes, which reveal uncomfortable truths, from people they hail as heroes. I’ve watched it happen. I have watched as various conservative blacks around the country have tried to warn their community about the facts. I’ve watched as those people, who have a heart for their communities and want to end the Democratic party’s manipulation of their communities, have been silenced, booed even before they’ve done anything but give statistics, and told they’re not “truly Black” if their opinion doesn’t fit the Democrat party’s narrative. Really? Really, guys? Could this behavior be any more childish and willfully blind? And lest you think I somehow believe just the Black liberals do this? It’s been done to me by white liberals who presume they can speak for the whole Black community because they’re “allies”. I’m the enemy because I listed stats or because I dared to ask them to provide proof on any specific area that there’s a real instance of racism going on. Some of you may be preparing to retaliate against the things I’ve already said or will consider it by the time I’m through here.

Further than that, I don’t even have to say these individuals are wrong or even try to start an argument. Expressing an opinion or asking a question is enough to get the name-calling, booing, and hate flowing. I ask a legitimate question in an attempt to understand what another community I’m not part of is going through, and what I get from other white people (who also are outside the community I’m trying to understand) is, you’re a racist because you bothered asking and don’t just automatically assume they’re right on everything. Sometimes those from the community jump on the bandwagon with the white individual who already started the name calling, mockery, and disrespect. Those who do often complain that I can’t understand because I don’t know what I don’t know, but they do. The complaints boil down to, you’re a racist, and I know that because I’m a minority, you’re not, and as such, I have special knowledge you don’t. (This isn’t to say that no one outside the minority community is racist and rightfully called out on it, of course. There are definitely instances where an individual from a minority rightfully calls out racist behavior as it is. But these days, simply asking a question is racist, and the individuals I’m referring to above are the sorts who propose to judge the motive behind the question even when none is actually given. How they can do that is beyond me. I mean, I know I don’t have that particular superpower, but apparently some special human beings of other colors do, so…)

Now, granted that’s not everyone’s attitude. But the vast majority of people making a lot of noise and fuss and pulling the race card on things that have become increasingly more ridiculous think this way. Those of you who are non-Christians probably don’t see the big deal. But while I do hope that this article will be a good learning point for you guys in seeing why the Biblical worldview will always take the strongest possible stance against an attitude of racism possible, my goal in writing this article is mainly to address my fellow Christians: liberal or conservative.

A Wake-Up Call

Guys, we need to wake up and start getting back to the God of the Bible and what He has to say. No two ways about it… If we don’t do this, we are going to keep losing our children to a socialist/communist agenda that seeks to destroy any belief in God, seeks to destroy God’s people, and seeks to destroy liberty. That’s why this is important.

Right now, the church is not meeting the culture with a strong Biblical stance on the issue of racism. We’re instead pandering to the culture, refusing to talk about it at all, or are wishy-washy on it. If we do any of those three things in response to this, we’re giving the culture the opportunity to inform our children’s viewpoints on because we have not first shown them the Biblical point of view. We will lose them to a culture that says racism is wrong with zero legitimate reason, from a non-Biblical, evolutionary point of view, to say that it is.

Nothing in evolution requires that we think that somehow we are the only race that has escaped the evolutionary hierarchy. Saying otherwise is to contradict everything in the theory, as it has changed remarkably little since Darwin and his immediate predecessors first developed it. If we want our children to believe in something that has no inherent reason to respect the sanctity of human life, no foundation for any sound or consistent morals beyond whatever society or the individual chooses for themselves, and zero reason for any concern for those around them… If we want our children to walk away from God because we have given them a view of Him that is so utterly decrepit and unholy, so utterly without answers to the issues they’re seeing around them every day, then going silent on the issues around us and on what God has to say is the way to do it.

I don’t yet have kids to train up in the way they should go. But someday I will, and I don’t want to live in a country where I have no freedom to do what God has called me to do without fear. America’s greatest strength has been in its promise of liberty and the protection of rights for everyone. Granted, there have been times where we as a nation didn’t uphold those ideals like we should have. But we’ve always had groups who stood up and fought rightfully through our legal system, peaceful protests, and petitions to make a difference and to stop injustice. That’s an amazing thing, but if we start in the home by teaching our children a Christ-centered viewpoint that respects even those who as individuals have proven undeserving of it, that loves even the most unloveable, and that speaks truth even when it is unpopular to do so, we’re going to start seeing a return to the values in our Constitution. We’re going to lose fewer of our children to the world’s lies, and we’re going to raise kids who are able to change the world around them for the better because they have a God-sized vision for change and for reaching the hearts of men for their King.

While I don’t have kids to raise yet, if I want to be able to raise them safely and in freedom without the fear of the government taking them away, refusing me the right to raise them in the fear and admonish of the Lord, or trying to brainwash them while silencing me as the parent, I need to be doing my part to defend those liberties now before it’s too late. Right now, I might not have kids, but I do have a voice, and I can use it to try to reach even just one or two others who can catch the vision for a church and, yes, a country, that is once again God-centered, God-focused, and multi-generational in its view toward the future. It isn’t too late for us, especially for those of us in my age range who don’t have kids yet and don’t have to lose them to a world that will destroy them and everything truly morally good and upright in them.

So let’s start addressing the issues in today’s culture from a Biblical worldview. Today, I’m starting with the one most in our faces right now: race and the issue of racism.

The Question for Consideration

Why is racism and racist behavior or thinking wrong? Liberals and Democrats would scream from the tops of mountains and to anyone who will listen that anyone who dares have such a mentality is one of the most disgusting, wicked human beings out there. Ironic considering their worldview often gives no yardstick by which to measure morality and thus offers them no leg to stand on to say anyone is more wicked than another for any given behavior. But I’ll save that for later on in this discussion.

The fact of the matter is that right now we’re hearing society’s loudest voices shout down anyone who dissents against their view on racism and we’re hearing countless voices, conservative or liberal, denouncing racists and racism behavior. But if we’re going to do that, shouldn’t we know what we’re standing against and why we’re doing so? As Christians, it’s imperative that we exercise discernment and understand why we do (or do not) agree with a given philosophy or belief so that we can ensure every word, deed, and thought is in line with Scripture.

So let’s take a look at why the biggest supporters of anti-racism will be those who are true believers following God’s Word and living in the Spirit. Let’s also examine where this concept of racism really sprang up from, why it did so, and why you must have a Christian worldview (at the very least on this issue) to have any validity in saying racism is wrong.

A Question of Morals

There are many places I could start on this discussion, but I’m going to start with morals because I don’t believe any discussion on this topic can be meaningful if your morals are not grounded firmly in truth. The issue of racism is a moral one, whether we want to admit it or not. I think most of us can agree that it isn’t political, even if others want to say it is. If it were simply political, there would be no outcry on the grounds of certain behaviors being right or wrong.

But here’s the problem that you run into, then, if you recognize it’s a moral issue but you refuse to acknowledge God or His Word as the solution. Many people will say something along the lines of “we don’t need God to know the difference between right and wrong.” Now, I’m not trying to make light of these people or mock them, but that is the statement of a fool according to the Bible (Psalm 14:1) as a fool doesn’t acknowledge that there is a God or a need for one. But why is it so important that there is in fact a God, and specifically a God like the Bible presents, if we are to have any basis for morality?

Change as the Reason

The answer? Change. Human beings are subject to change. Once upon a time, the Germans (or at least large groups of them) thought it was fine, maybe even morally praise-worthy, to round up and slaughter Jews, Blacks, and other minorities like animals simply because they were “less evolved” and “not a part of the superior race”, which was exactly how Hitler justified what he was doing. Once upon a time, rich white plantation owners justified one of the most horrific forms of abuse known to man in the form of American slavery, and while no one up North likes to admit it, most people North and South didn’t care much one way or another.

No one but a select group of very loud abolitionists, who rightfully found the practice reprehensible, spoke up against it. While some might have personally believed it wasn’t a good thing, most simply ignored it if it didn’t affect them or viewed it as necessary. And few, if any, on either side even viewed the Africans (or other slaves from say Ireland who were under the guise of “indentured servants” and were treated as poorly or worse than the Africans due to how cheap they could be acquired) as human beings or people. Thus, they came up with insane compromises like treating them as 2/3rds of a person under the law in some cases and like property in others.

Once upon a time, Darwin stated that the natives of South America were savages and hardly human if they were in fact human at all, and those who followed in his footsteps on the matter of evolution agreed. They made inherent dehumanization of those who didn’t act or look like them a major part of their theory. Darwin himself justified this by saying that it was simply one more example of evolution in action, just as the Galapagos finches were to his mind examples of evolution in practice. Therefore, he said, those savages (referring to the non-white tribal people of South America and later to African slaves) were closer to being apes than he and those from England or Western Civilization were, and he saw no problem with treating them as less than human.

These examples are only a few of the instances where humans set their own moral standards of right and wrong without God and His Word in the picture. But what happened? Do we still believe those mindsets are acceptable? No! We don’t. Even though we still have evolution around, and even though there is absolutely nothing in the evolutionary theory or the science supposedly behind it that would give us reason to say that we shouldn’t behave just like the other animals around us (since we are, after all, simply more evolved animals ourselves), we still view these actions and thoughts as disgusting. Liberals and conservatives alike would decry these behaviors. Few think they’re acceptable in any way. Why? Because society changed its mind. We don’t live in a society that thinks this is still okay.

The Breakdown of Morality

Okay, but clearly we still can have some moral compass without God, right? Wrong. Anyone who is going to argue that one thing is wrong and another is right must argue it with a rooted belief in the God of the Bible. They won’t admit it, of course, and they make their own arguments logically fallacious because they don’t believe in God, but evolution or any viewpoint with an unchanging, perfectly holy God must then be unable to declare anything moral or immoral. There is no set standard because we as humans, who change our minds constantly, are the only ones who can decree what is right and wrong. If there’s no yardstick to measure by, then if society decided tomorrow that it’s acceptable to kill every, let’s say, white liberal man in a given country, we can’t say it’s wrong. Because society said it was fine.

You also can’t say that Hitler was wrong because the majority of his society agreed with him. Had he won, most of Europe wouldn’t have found anything wrong with what he did either because the victors write the history books and put their own spin on it. That area of Europe would’ve adopted the same mentality because with no moral code higher than ourselves, why would we declare it wrong so long as everyone around us says it’s right?

If I could ask for a show of hands right now for who feels comfortable with that conclusion, I doubt many would raise their hands. But here’s the problem. If you don’t believe in an unchangeable, holy God who gave us His moral code, which can never change, then you’re left with only one option: humans must decide what is moral good or moral evil on their own. Whether society does it or you say a single individual does so for themselves, there will be problems with either.

Deep down, most of us can admit there are just certain things like murder, hating your fellow man on basis of skin color, or taking/destroying another’s property that are simply wrong. But why? Have we stopped to ask that question? For someone with a Christian worldview, the answer is easy. God says murder, hatred (murder in the heart, according to Scripture), and destruction or theft are all sin. He punishes them, and they are clearly labeled as outpourings of a sin nature, which goes beyond a simple issue with a specific sin and is ultimately what will condemn us without Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and His blood applied to us. But if you don’t believe that God exists, what is your basis? Society said so? You said so? Last I checked, we’ve already proven both are subject to change and that both can be wrong, so how can you condemn someone who thinks differently than you if that’s the case? What if they’re right and you’re wrong?

In the end, then, all things must be named acceptable so long as either a) they are acceptable to a large enough crowd of people or b) the individual has decided it’s right for them. Neither is a good solution. Both lead to all kinds of issues, and inevitably, as we’re seeing all over in America today with the looting, rioting, senseless killings, and outcries for a false justice to be meted out on an entire group of people who in most cases neither descended from slavers nor have done anything truly racist or wrong. Both options that leave God out of the equation result in a breakdown of morality.

No True Morality Without A Holy God

There are no two ways about it. You can split hairs all you want. But if you are going to be logical about it, you can’t say everyone is human and deserves respect as such (that’s a Biblical concept, not a progressive, evolutionary idea), you can’t say that we should do unto others as we want done unto us (that’s also a Biblical concept, not a progressive evolutionary idea), and you can’t say in any honest way that we can discern right from wrong (because that’s a Bible idea and a conscience thing, which animals and evolution have no room for, and it’s not a progressive evolutionary idea).

If you’re going to be logical and honest about where a viewpoint without God leads in the matter of morality, you must then say that the only reason you think something is right or wrong is because it isn’t to your taste. It isn’t truly right or wrong because there’s no such thing if you aren’t reasoning from a measuring stick that doesn’t change. Right and wrong are determined by society or by the individual, so the fact that you don’t find it tasteful doesn’t mean they’re morally wrong for doing it. Your opinion is no more valid than someone else’s if there’s nothing behind it except your own ideas of what’s right and wrong. Those ideas are all in your head. They’re as made up by you as a fictional world is by a writer. Unless there is a God who holds us to an unchangeable standard and is Himself above all else with the authority to declare what is right and what is not, unless there is a holy, just God who will never pass judgment in error or change the standards up, you cannot have morality.

The Mindset that Justified Slavery

Slavery of the sort American plantation owners and British upper class citizens practiced has been around for nearly as long as mankind has existed. You can go all the way back to the Romans, Ancient Egypt, and certainly Ancient Babylon or Assyria even further back than the first two. You’ll find it, and it didn’t discriminate in color when it came to the wickedness of treating another human being like property. Many times, these slaves were “spoils” of war.

But by the time history gets around to Colonial America and Britain previous to their anti-slavery policies, we see something start to happen that wasn’t as common if it was found at all. British and American traders began to take slaves on their forays into Africa, South America, and the Indies. They had other slaves, of course, in the case of convicts from Britain who were sent to work on penal colonies or Irish political prisoners in other cases. But there were rules governing how these individuals were to be treated, even if they were mistreated in many situations, and they weren’t viewed as non-humans. So why is it, then, that Africans and natives of places like South America or the Indies weren’t afforded the same privilege?

The answer lies in the mindsets springing up around the world and in the combination of both the old world view of the native inhabitants of the new world and the emergence of evolution via Charles Darwin and those who followed in his footsteps. Now, I know full well that those who support evolution (meaning most liberals and even some Christians) will say, we don’t follow Darwin, and we know better because science has advanced. But Darwin was not simply a product of the prevailing discriminatory attitude Western civilization had for anything that wasn’t Western. He certainly had that mentality, and it’s obvious in his writings, but what is equally transparent is that Darwin was happy to state that his views on evolution informed his thinking on treatment of and status of the natives and Africans he encountered.

He not only viewed the natives as savages, but he also states many times things such as “one could hardly believe they were human” or that they were “far inferior to the English colonists”. He viewed them as “primitive beings” and didn’t see them as human. He had zero issue with slavery, not because it was widely accepted at the time, but because he believed natural selection dictated that it was fine and that the eventual extermination of the “savages” was inevitable due to natural selection. Darwin even compared the natives of South America that the crew took back to England and their transformation into “complete and voluntary Europeans” as well as many other situations he observed in the native lifestyles to the natural selection he found in the finches on the Galapagos islands, which he viewed as evidence for evolution.

Using the Mindset and Philosophy to Justify Unspeakable Acts

So then, when his teachings are observed, it is clear that, at the very least, Darwin applied evolutionary principles to the human race and used it to create a distinction between a European and a native in South America. While it should be admitted that Darwin himself, on a humanitarian scale, didn’t agree with the heinous mistreatment of the natives despite his belief that they were, at the least, not the superior race, his beliefs and the logical conclusion of them were adopted by many who followed after.

This led to disastrous events and unspeakable mistreatment levied at those “less superior” races. Most notably, history gives us Hitler, Stalin, and the American version of slavery. Darwin would likely have been horrified by Hitler and Stalin. What he would’ve thought of slavery in America is less certain since he himself did not find any moral issues with it during his time, and it was no less hideous then. But there is no escaping the facts. The European mindset of Western superiority blended with evolutionary philosophies as Darwin and others developed it set the stage for justification of some of the worst acts known to man. And for those who are willing to be honest and consistent in their beliefs, we still see it causing issues today.

The Liberal Arguments Against Racism: Substantiated or Not?

From a liberal perspective with God out of the equation, the arguments, as I briefly noted earlier, run something along the lines of saying all of us are human regardless of skin color, no one is superior to another on that grounds, and we should all treat each other the way we want to be treated. Further, some would say, we don’t need God to know right from wrong, and we don’t hold to Darwin’s teachings on this matter because science has advanced enough to let us know that was wrong. Some would say that science has proven Darwin’s teachings and that it isn’t a religion or faith-based thing but is instead that Darwin discovered a scientific fact and was later proven right. In some cases, I’ve heard from liberal acquaintances and friends that whether we have any purpose on the Earth or not, and whether we were created by God or evolved for no particular reason at all, should have no bearing on how we treat each other.

These are real responses I’ve gotten when I’ve asked liberals why they think racism is so bad when God is taken out of the equation. I asked because I didn’t want to get the answers wrong, misrepresent their viewpoints, or unfairly accuse them of saying things they wouldn’t ever say. (And… Well, I asked because I was genuinely curious too. Never have heard a good answer–or really any answer at all–backed by sound logic from a liberal who believes in evolution wholeheartedly, and I was curious if anyone had some answers. We seem to take it for granted that this issue is wrong, but while I have reasons why it’s wrong from my perspective, I didn’t have any idea what a non-Christian liberal thought. Now I do!)

So, let’s break this down. I agree with them on the first three points. Let’s start with those since it’s a point of common ground. While they are correct to state we’re all human regardless of color, that no one is superior to another based on skin color, and that we should treat others as we want to be treated, what is the reasoning point for this? I’ve heard zero good explanations of the grounds for these statements from any liberal who removes God from the equation. This is entirely due to the discussion on morality I gave above. Evolution doesn’t give them any ground to claim this because evolution says, hey, we’re all random chance, products of natural selection, and more evolved animals. A viewpoint like that results in the following logical conclusions:

  1. Nothing actually matters that much because it’s all random chance and there’s not much to live for except, depending on who you ask, furthering the survival of the human race. But what’s the purpose for it? Why bother if there’s no reward or benefit in it? I’m going to die eventually, and so will my children. So why not live in whatever way most pleases me? I have zero reason, from this viewpoint, to care what happens to other people around me unless I happen to have some sort of emotional concern for them because they’re friends or family. We see exactly this attitude in those who are stealing, looting, rioting, and burning the homes or businesses of individuals who haven’t done anything wrong. It is entirely a me-focused mentality, and why shouldn’t it be if it benefits your survival and your needs? At best, you might be concerned about the survival of those around you simply because they’re central to your preferred existence or because you have feelings of affection toward them. But any altruism that doesn’t in some way benefit us? Evolution gives us no reason for that. It’s a good thing from a Christian point of view to serve others and to be self-sacrificing. From an evolutionary perspective, who cares? We’re random chance and animals anyway, so why bother to act like we’re not?
  2. We’re all animals. Animals don’t care who gets hurt when they do something. One monkey who dukes it out with another over a female doesn’t care if it kills the other male who lost. One group of lions who fight another over turf doesn’t feel remorse over killing their own kind. So if we’re no different than animals, what do we care if we kill someone else? There’s nothing special about us, no inherent aspect that goes beyond simple matter or neurons firing in the brain. Just like animals, we simply live and work off emotions, the drive to survive, and the drive to reproduce. We don’t have a soul or something called a conscience because animals don’t possess it, and if we’re animals, neither can we. We’re capable of more thought than a dog, say, but at the base of it all, we’re still just highly-advanced animals. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if what I do hurts someone else. I’m just acting on my instinct to survive and on my baser instincts to fight when challenged. If I happen to have the pack mentality some animals possess, great. If not and I’m more of a loner type of animal that will attack anything that comes onto its territory, eh, who cares? Whichever of us is superior will win, and natural selection will have strengthened the winner’s group by weeding out the losing party, who was too weak to make it anyway.
  3. Nothing can actually be morally right or wrong if you’re going to be both logical and honest. We went over this one before in detail, but if there’s no standard that’s unchanging outside of societal pressures or our own changeable, fickle natures, then we can’t have morality. So an honest evolutionist would also have to say that, while some things might not be their preference, it’s all okay because, really, it’s all about what you or what your society wants to do.
  4. I have a right to be prideful and think I’m better than everyone not like me if I’m the superior race. After all, survival of the fittest dictates that whoever is best equipped for survival survives. They weren’t fit for survival or aren’t currently and are in the process of dying out, so it’s only natural that my expansion and my upward movement on the evolutionary totem pole may result in their diminishment or perhaps even their complete destruction, and there’s nothing wrong with that because it’s just natural selection/survival of the fittest at work. I haven’t done anything wrong in helping it along either because that’s just naturally what the superior race does as it expands in its quest to survive. (This, by the way, is exactly what Darwin believed and found integral to his evolutionary theories. His contemporaries Herbert Spencer and Thomas Malthus saw this in his theories, though Darwin himself spoke of it rarely and mostly contained it to his personal writings, and they ran with it. From this viewpoint came the idea of laizzes-faire capitalism, or in layman’s terms, unrestrained capitalism. Spencer applied survival of the fittest to economics, and unrestrained capitalism during the Industrial Revolution was the result, much to our detriment in America today. This “social Darwinism” was used down through history to justify many horrific acts of racism, imperialism, eugenics, and social inequality. —History.com)

There are, of course, other issues that evolution can lead to in terms of thinking. But these are the ones relevant to our discussion here. You can see that, if you think through what evolution actually says and apply it logically with no rose-tinted glasses and without any inconsistencies or conflict of your beliefs, you must come to a conclusion that is at best untenable to most but, in reality, is repugnant and horrifying to nearly everyone. To those who object that evolution is science, not faith, and doesn’t have anything to do with what religion you choose to hold… Believing evolution is true is as much a belief as believing that you are a good person or believing that one person would be a better president than another. Furthermore, it is in fact as much faith-based as believing there is a God and has fewer answers with more logical holes and fallacies than any belief in a Creator. We all hold beliefs, and evolution is one of them that people hold by faith since, though we teach it as fact in school, the very scientists who once thought it true have admitted they have no idea how it happened, have been unable to repeat it or observe it–something absolutely necessary to make something scientific fact per the scientific method–and do not know how they might prove it to be true beyond the simple belief that it must be true because how else could we come to be? If that is not enough, their “scientific fact” has ignored the clear display of intelligent, intentional design in everything from the plants around us to the very eyes we use to see those plants. Intelligent, intentional design requires an intelligent origin! We would never look at a car and say, Wow, how amazing that particles randomly smashed together to create parts, which randomly organized and evolved into this vehicle that I am going to drive. That’s ridiculous. We know when we look at that car that someone had to create the design that others would then build. How much more inane is it to say that the incredible work we see in the way our own bodies function, in the way the world around us functions so well together in nature, is somehow the result of random chance? We have brains, and those brains, if they weren’t taught to believe the philosophies we’ve been fed since birth, if they weren’t insistent on denying any Creator’s existence, would never reasonably come to the conclusion that we’re no different than animals, that the world is random chance, and that such intentional design could randomly evolve somehow in a way we can’t even replicate.

To be clear, only the truly crazed individual or someone with no love on any level within their darkened heart could say the things I have just laid out. I’ve not yet met an evolutionist or a liberal evolutionist who was willing to say these things because they’re too inpalatable and disgusting to beings with a moral compass in the form of a God-given conscience. No matter how insistently they refuse to acknowledge God or His law, they still use it in determining how they should interact with their fellow man even when their worldview gives them zero reason to turn to love, kindness, and respect for those not like them. Unfortunately, that crazed individual or person without any love at all in their hearts would be more honest about the conclusions they must draw from their evolutionary belief than any other evolutionistic liberal who chooses not to acknowledge these things and instead reasons from a Christian moral system while denying the very God who gave it. Is it any wonder our world is so messed up on moral good and evil?

The Conclusion on the Matter? Substantiated or Not?

So then, we see that while liberals are correct to argue that we are all human regardless of color, that we should do unto other as we want done to us, and that we shouldn’t hate someone based on something like skin color, they have rendered their own argument invalid and unsupported by removing God from the equation. Another similarly godless individual might well look at them and say, “That’s nice and all, but you have yet to give me anything that makes your opinion better than mine. So I think genocide is okay, and that’s what I’m sticking to.” Another similarly godless person would argue just as validly that racism, hatred, murder, and mass slaughter is all perfectly acceptable because a liberal arguing these things from their worldview invalidates their own message, even if it is in fact the right one. That liberal has nothing to point to that demands respect for human life, the sanctity of that life, or the importance of behaving with love towards those different than us. They can shout about it all they want, but they don’t have any valid reason not to look at the individual who thinks killing others unlike them is okay and say: “That’s not my preference, but you do you, I guess.” They can’t argue from any moral ground because their viewpoint removes morals entirely from the equation, so if they’re going to try to reason from a moral perspective, they have to use God’s Word and His law to reason against the wrong belief that killing an entire people group (or anyone, for that matter) is okay.

In response to their last two points, I point back to our discussions on morality and to what modern evolution still has to say about the human race. The fact that we call someone of a different color than us another race in the first place is evidence to just how deep evolution’s roots go in the issue of racism. Had science truly developed, we wouldn’t use that terminology. Even though science may clearly show that our DNA doesn’t differ by much at all (certainly not enough to make us separate species), we’re still wrongly dividing people up by race and using Darwin’s system even as we argue that racism is bad. If science has developed so much, we would see evolutionists firmly disputing Darwin’s claims on the whole because they were motivated and rooted in racist opinions and even those views which are not tainted by it are questionable as we cannot repeat them, and we would not call the issue of hating those of other colors in our population racism at all. Rather, we would more accurately call it discrimination (which to be fair many do, but they use it interchangeably with racism). We would call it that because we would recognize what so many liberals don’t seem to: hatred of another on the basis of color or any other factor is not restricted to only those in one group or “race”. If it were, you wouldn’t see BLM reps calling for whites who haven’t participated in active racism, haven’t owned slaves, and (in so many cases) have only immigrant ancestors who never once owned a slave and were often equally discriminated against in the North.

So, on all points, their argument’s basis renders itself logically and reasonably invalid. Does this mean we should discard everything they’re saying? No! So let’s take a look at that next.

Racism in light of the Bible

When it comes to a proper view of the wickedness of racism, the Christian man or woman rooted in God and His Word can confidently say it is wrong, and when asked why, we can give a logical, sound reason for it! Granted, liberals and others who refuse to acknowledge the existence of an all powerful, entirely holy, unchanging God will say this isn’t valid. But as we’ve already proven, they’re going to take a stance on it that, while lighter than the one I believe we as Christians should be taking, is still entirely rooted in Scripture whilst they deny the God that makes their argument at all valid or accurate. Let’s review why we can make a valid, logical, and substantiated claim that racism is wicked from a Biblical worldview.

  1. The Bible doesn’t recognize any “race” but the human race. It has plenty of nations and tribes or peoples, as they’re sometimes called, but race does not enter the equation. Anyone who says that a person who looks different them on the grounds of skin color or appearance is a different race? They’re patently wrong and ignoring the fact that God didn’t make more than one human race. He made Adam and Eve as the father and mother of the human race, and we all descend from them. (Genesis 3:20)
  2. Christ was inclusive of people of all colors, tribes, and nations. In Jewish society, outsiders (or Gentiles) were looked down on. People like the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip spoke to and baptized in Acts would be considered lesser than a Jew. Worse than that, anyone who was of mixed Jewish and Gentile heritage was hated or despised more than a Gentile would be. And yet, Jesus came to die for all peoples, tribes, and nations. He didn’t die for just Jews, and He makes that clear time and again, even though the Jews didn’t get it. More than that, lest anyone miss that point, Paul and other men inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote to the Jews and Gentiles both and reminded them that Christ died for men of all types, not just for their group and no other. (Acts 10:34-43; Acts 15:7-11; John 4:1-41; Romans 3:21-30)
  3. The Bible is very clear we should do unto others as we would have done unto us (the same argument liberals use while denying that it was God that said it!), and so if we would not want our friends in another color group to attack us, enslave us, hurt us, or deride us simply because of what color we are, then we’d better not do it to them. (Matthew 7:12)

These are all very good reasons why we shouldn’t have a mentality that divides people into other races just because they’re not the same color as we are. But there are some even bigger problems with a Christian who endorses anything like the American or British versions of slavery or who has a racist mentality. So here are some clear sins we’d be committing if we did approve of racism.

  1. The sin of hatred. Jesus calls hatred committing murder in our hearts. It is the inward attitude or heart problem that may, in some cases lead to committing the physical act of murder, and the Bible takes it very, very seriously. A Christian who commits this act of inward murder in the mind and heart is a Christian who is not obeying the command to love those around them. So in hating someone else because of skin color, we would then be committing sins of both commission (hating when we’re told not to) and omission (failing to love when we’re told to). (Matthew 5:21-26)
  2. The sin of pride. Proverbs has all kinds of things to say about this, all of them negative! Most notably are the verses where God says he resists the proud and gives grace to the humble or the point in Proverbs where Solomon through God’s inspiration writes that there is more hope of a fool than a man wise in his own eyes. God hates pride. Pride was the sin that ultimately got Satan kicked out of heaven along with all the angels who joined him in it. It’s deadly, it’s destructive, and it’s ugly. In the case of discriminating against another because of their skin color, pride yet again rears its ugly head as the individual doing the discrimination is literally saying, I’m better than you because I’m part of this group and not your group. It says, you don’t deserve to be treated with respect and dignity or with love and kindness because you are beneath me. What a wicked attitude to have! (Psalm 10:4; Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 11:12; Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 16:5; Proverbs 26:12; Isaiah 14: 12-15; Daniel 5:20; Obadiah 1:3; Mark 7:20-23; Luke 14:11)
  3. The sin of blasphemy. When I first saw this connected to racism, I admit I was a bit confused. How is being racist blasphemous against God? Blasphemy is when we talk about God in an irreverent or sacrilegious way. When we look at another human being in disgust, we are in essence telling the world and God that He got it wrong. We’re maligning His character, if you want to think of it that way, because we’re looking at the amazing creativity God had in creating us with so many variations and beautiful differences in appearance and saying, God, if I were you, I wouldn’t have done it like this. We’re now turning our pride on God and saying, I could’ve done it better than You did, so let me tell you how it should’ve been done. What a dangerous place to be! Even if we don’t recognize it as such, looking at another of God’s creatures with such contempt and disgust solely on the grounds of color and appearance they were given from birth, which they had no control over, requires us then to make a statement on God’s design. Because if the human beings we hate for being black, white, red, yellow, or any other skin color under the sun had no control over how they were made, then our statement of poor design can only reflect upon the designer, not the work of art. God’s design was always for us to dwell in peace with Him and our fellow men. Sin has broken that fellowship and peace between all parties, but we are still called to live peaceably with all men as much as lies within us (Romans 12:18). While no specific Bible verse is going to tell you it’s blasphemy, an attitude that says God got it wrong denies the very nature of God, His plan, and His Word, all of which is blasphemy for a believer to say.

So we see that there are three very insidious sins involved in the actions and attitudes of a person who is truly racist. Those attitudes of hate, blasphemy, and pride are all sins, and they should be addressed as such.

Conclusion

When next you’re speaking to a non-Christian on the topic of racism, I challenge you to present it from this light. This is an opportunity to take a stand against sin. In this case, while the world may hate us and shame us for not condoning more sin in response to individuals’ sins already committed (by which I refer to the growing push to punish/demand restitution from all whites across the board, even if they genuinely have done nothing wrong, under the belief that they are at fault for everything wrong with the Black community as a result of their ancestry), we still have an incredible opportunity to stand up and speak out. We can stop applauding the wrong philosophies of the world around us while still affirming that God has called His people to love those around us, even if they hate us and spitefully abuse us. We can stop applauding an attitude of hatred on both sides while still affirming that racism is wicked and wrong.

But more than that, this provides an amazing opportunity to challenge an unbeliever to reconsider their views on God. As we’ve seen, the belief in evolution has contributed in so many ways to an worldview that logically would promote racism and offers those who already desire to engage in that heinous attitude an excuse to do so without guilt. So this is an opportunity to both find common ground and also challenge them. You can agree with them that racism is wrong, but then ask them why they think so. Ask them what the reasoning behind this is. Listen to them. Be thoughtful, respectful, and considerate. But push for answers. It’s always okay to keep asking “But why” or to say “But if you believe this, then why don’t you believe this is/isn’t okay?”.

These questions will probably make people mad, even if you ask it as kindly and gently as possible. I’ve been told many times that reasoning in this way and asking the question “Why is racism wrong” after having done so makes my question invalid and undeserving of an answer. But despite what the culture might wish to say or insist on, they’re valid questions to ask and do deserve an answer. The culture around us demands an answer of us. Why can we not also ask an answer of them, especially when we do it far more kindly and gently than they often have? There is a double standard, and if we play by their rules instead of using the brains and the tools God gave us to combat philosophies that are stealing our young people and deceiving those around us, we’re going to lose. Stop playing by their rules! They don’t want to be held to their own standards of reasoning, but they should be, and it’s time we started to do so respectfully but firmly.

In many cases, these questions can open the door for you to witness to people who otherwise never would’ve considered listening to a Christian, as well. If you’re able to have an honest conversation, help them to understand you aren’t approaching them in pride (if that’s not true, it’s better you don’t approach them at all), and point out the problems with their perspectives, the chances are much greater that they’ll be open to hearing you out, and in the process, God can use you to work on their hearts. He can’t do that if you’re rude, combative, and entirely un-Christian even as you may be factually correct.

Most importantly, pray. Pray for those that God gives you chances to be a light to. Ask Him to work on their hearts. It is not for us to save, only to take every opportunity God brings to us to be the salt and the light to a dying, lost world. Let’s do that by taking the truth to that dying, lost world in love and refusing to let go of them. They may scream, they may rage, they may call us names or refuse to listen. Perhaps when you ask if you can pray for them, they will say no. Pray anyway. Ultimately, while we need to understand the truths I’ve gone through above, and we need to have an answer to give for the hope that is in us and the things that we believe, prayer is our greatest weapon. We can speak the truth in love until we’re blue in the face, but if God does not change the hearts to receive that truth, then we will still see no fruit. So while we’re doing the active part God has called us to play, let’s not forget that prayer is also an action and must not be ignored.

I hope this has been an encouragement and, perhaps even, an eye-opener for those of you who are believers. We do have answers for the lost, dying world around us. We do have answers for our young people if we will only live the way we are asking them to. If we will address our culture’s false claims and Satan’s lures on our young people with Scripture and guide them to see the beauty in a life surrendered totally to God, we are going to lose far fewer of them to the temporary pleasures of sin and the world’s system.

Furthermore, at times, those around us who are condemning us so roundly for what we believe are actually in agreement with us without even knowing it. This includes both children who have already begun to reject our message in favor of what they are hearing at school, from peers, or from society as well as others around us who are part of that society and culture. We can find incredible opportunities to use that common ground, where it may exist, as a way to be the light God may use to open their eyes. This is not to say we should conform to the world or create common ground by compromising on Scripture. That is unacceptable if we are to live a set-apart life, holy in the eyes of God. However, if that agreement or common ground already exists beforehand when you are simply following what Scripture says, take advantage of that to show them the why behind what they’re claiming to believe. Most probably have no idea that the moral values they hold have Scriptural backing but no backing in the socially acceptable, evolutionary viewpoint of today’s society.

But even if we’re not able to stand on any common ground in our witnessing to individuals around us, we still can rest secure in the fact that we have a sovereign God who is still on the throne and that our God has not asked us to do the impossible but only to go to those around us with the hand of love extended and the truth on our lips. It’s time for us to reclaim the Church for God, to see a revival like we see in history’s pages happen today, and to stop letting the culture inform us on how we can be Christians in name without offending anyone by being Christians in reality. We please God, not man. He has given us the answers to a morally bankrupt society if we will only stand on those truths, exemplify them in our lives, and pass them along to the next generation. God help us all, in whatever stage of life we may be in, to do our part in achieving that God-focused goal in our life.

Thursday Technicalities: Acting out of Character

Publishing Journey

Introduction

First off, I apologize this wasn’t out last Thursday! I was having a bit of a hectic week, and I wasn’t able to get around to the post. Hopefully that won’t become a regular thing. Now, last time on Thursday Technicalities, we talked about the idea of internal conflict in a character. Today, we’re going to discuss what Donald Maas calls “character dimensions” and what I’d simply call aspects of a character that make them feel real. Maas used less words than I did, obviously, but initially, when reading through the exercise on this, I struggled with his terminology because I didn’t quite grasp what a “dimension” was. But this is a very important piece of developing your character, so let’s go ahead and dive into it!

What are character dimensions?

Character dimensions, simply put, are the various aspects of your character that make them who they are. For example, if your character is characterized by kindness and warmth, then those are character aspects or dimensions. Dimensions of your character make them multi-faceted and more realistic to the reader. They give us as readers some baseline for what a character will do or not do.

Why it’s important to establish these in your novel

Aside from just making a character feel well-rounded, character dimensions actually give you opportunities for growth, character arcs, and conflict. For example, say I have a character who’s generally non-violent. Let’s just say that they’re a healer and can’t stand the idea of harming another person. If I throw that character into a situation where they have no choice but to fight or die, that’s going to create a whole lot of internal conflict. We need these dimensions or aspects in our characters, regardless of who they are or what they stand for, because without them, we lose the richness our writing can have. But it’s also going to force them to act out of character, and this goes into the next important discussion point.

Acting out of character

Now we get to the portion of this discussion that I pulled the title from. If your character always acts exactly in accordance with their usual dimensions/aspects, they’re going to get boring fast, and they won’t seem like real people. All of us, when pushed to a certain point, will do things that would ordinarily go against the our grain. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes it’s not, and it creates more trouble for us.

Your characters should be no different. While they may have some aspects that they’ll never compromise on (for example, someone who has an aspect to them where they will die for what they believe probably isn’t going to suddenly wake up one day and realize they no longer believe that thing or are no longer willing to die for it), they’re always going to have something that will push them out of their comfort zone in a way that results in doing something that isn’t in line with their usual character aspects.

This doesn’t have to be anything highly important all the time either. I have a character I’m working with in my current WIP that is used to being good at everything and avoids anything he knows he’s not good at unless it’s necessary to do those things. There’s a scene where he sits down to paint with the girl he’s protecting. That’s extremely unusual for him. He’s bad at it, and he goes further by admitting he’s no good at it even though he’s not fond of admitting weakness or ineptitude. But his decision to do it anyway, even when he doesn’t need to, leads to a bonding moment between the two. In and of itself, the decision to sit down and paint seems like no big deal, but it’s what’s behind the action that goes against his grain that makes it a big deal.

Adding points to your novel that force your character to do something that’s opposite of their usual defining traits brings this kind of life and realism to even the most fantastical of stories. This is why people are able to say of some fantasy books that they’re more realistic than some realistic fiction out there. It’s because the characters feel like real people experiencing real world struggles even though they’re on some other planet, have green skin, and use a lot of strange expressions. There’s an element of humanity and depth to them that resonates with us as readers, and an author who does the work to incorporate this will have a book that can do that.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve already got a few ideas going for areas to utilize this tool in your toolbox. If not, I encourage you to sit down and really start thinking about this. Jot down some defining traits or characteristics of at least your main character(s), and then find the opposite of that and see if you can’t come up with some points in your novel where that character might have to act in accordance with the opposite trait, not their defining ones.

Author’s Interview: Michaela Baker

We’ve got an interview with Michaela Baker today! She’s the author of short story “Maiden of Embers” in our anthology Glimpses of Time and Magic. Thanks for being here, Michaela! Let’s jump into the questions.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

My name is Michaela, and I’m a pharmacy technician who loves the world of fantasy. 

What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

I like to write both regular fantasy and historical fantasy. 

What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

 I like to read fiction, dystopian, and fantasy, but I only write in Fantasy. I tried writing dystopian but didn’t get the hang of it. 

What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I like to relax by listening to music, reading books, singing and play with my pup Kenai. 

Can you tell us about your current work in progress?

Wow, I have so many I’m not sure which to choose, haha! Well, I will tell you about my most recently finished novel that I am still editing. Dragons of Egypt is about a promising young high school journalist who taken, along with all his school mates, to Egypt by a deranged magician who works as Pharaoh’s right hand. Now, Eldwin must team up with the people of Egypt to run off their imposter of a Pharaoh and find a way to return him along with his school mates. 

If you are published, can you tell us about your experience?

Glimpses of Time and Magic is my first published work and I must say the experience has been exhilarating. Parties, running promo’s telling people to buy the book once it’s official.  

What were your inspirations for writing?

My inspirations have always been my sister and a few of my favorite authors. We didn’t have the privilege to be raised under the same household, so we kept looking for outlets for us to get into together. Needless to say, we have created several and will keep creating worlds together.

Who got you into writing?

I told my sister about an idea for a story, and she stole and ran off with it. So I began writing to see if I could finish it before her and then we started to compete with other ideas, then we would role play scenes she was having trouble with and then I branched off into my own stories. 

Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

My sister Kelli Buffin has been by my side through it all, and I will forever be grateful. 

What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

If you love what you do, then do it to the best of your ability. Also, choose a Genre you love. I forget who said it but there is a saying that goes, “Write what you love.” In other words, if you don’t love what you are writing then you won’t give it the time and effort it deserves. 

What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started on the writing journey?

What you write will affect you. You will go on many journeys of your own creation, make friends and then say goodbye to them. Writing is like a family or getting a new pet. Your characters will be there for a lifetime. Make sure they are worth the effort before you start your journey with them. Once you bring them to life you will never want to let them go. 

What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

My favorite book is the Dragon of Starlight series by Bryan Davis and Sword of the Dragon by Scot Appleton. I love the way they describe their world and how Bryan tells one story through two different characters so that you get an idea of the timeline through both eyes. I must admit, I have adopted this style for Dragons of Egypt. 

Conclusion

Thanks again for being here, Michaela! I enjoyed doing this, and I hope all of you reading this have learned a bit about this author and had fun with us. Until next time!

The War of Independence and the Civil War: Parallels

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

The topic of the American Revolution, the Civil War, and rebellion have all become rapidly circulated issues in today’s culture with everything going on. People would like us to believe that the American Revolution and the Civil War are miles apart, that rebellion is a good thing, and that the only reason the Civil War happened was because slavery. But are any these things true? That’s what we’re going to explore today as we dive deep into history and take a look at the facts on both the major wars fought on our soil, the parallels between the two, and the issues surrounding both.

The Matter of Jurisdiction and Rebellion

Before we can get into the parallels between the two wars and the issues pointed out in the introduction, we have to go over the topic of jurisdiction and authority and define rebellion. Too many Americans (and people in general) don’t understand this, but if you don’t understand these issues, then you can’t really understand anything that’s going to follow in this discussion, nor are you fully able to comprehend the intent of the Founding Fathers or our Constitution.

Hence, we see a breakdown of American ideals and society, and we see an increase in the numbers of people who want to liken seizure of city blocks by a mob to the American Revolution. We hear more and more comparisons of riots to our country’s founding or to the Civil War, and while there may be some argument for this on the grounds of the second war in that we haven’t in all the time that has passed managed to improve our attitudes since it occurred, the argument for the first is baseless due to these principles.

So what is jurisdiction? Jurisdiction is the realm of authority afforded to each sphere of life. The spheres of life are family, government, and church. (I know many non-Christians would argue me on this point, but I can get into why the Christian viewpoint is the one that we must reason from on matters of morality–which rebellion is–in order to have any validity at some other point. This is not the point or the forum for it.) Within those spheres of life, certain realms of authority have been given by the Creator, who is above all earthly authorities.

For example, the government has no authority to regulate how you teach or raise your children (with the exception of certain scenarios such as clear abuse of a child, which requires a higher authority to step in and help). They overstep these bounds all the time in modern day society, but the Bible is clear that within the home, it is the responsibility of the parents to teach, raise, and train children in the way they should go. They are wards of the parents, not the states.

Likewise, the church has no authority to tell the government to run the country, and the government has no God-given authority to force the church to worship or not worship in a prescribed way. Oh, they can arrest those who choose to worship in a way that goes against state wishes, as they do in China, but they have no authority to tell Christians not to worship God because we answer to a higher authority, that being God, and we are to obey God’s laws rather than man’s if there is a conflict between the two. So while there will be persecution and consequences for doing the right thing, we do it anyway because the highest authority of all, from whom all other authorities derive their power, commands our loyalty.

Why does this matter? Because there are clear dictates to jurisdiction. In many cultures, authority figures have chosen not to bind themselves by their own laws. Western civilization is unique in this regards because there is a contract between us and our rulers that states our rulers must abide by our laws just as much as we must. This gives us recourse when they break their end of the contract. Understanding this is essential if you’re going to understand either the American Revolution or the Civil War. But we’ll get to that in a few.

Western Civilization and the Contract of Authority

As I said earlier, Western civilization is unique because there is a stated contract between our rulers and we the people that they will do A, B, and C in exchange for us doing D, E, and F. That’s the whole basis of our Constitution. It is an agreement by our rulers with us that all of us will abide by the rules, whatever those may be, and that no one is above those laws. When a ruler steps outside of the bounds of authority established in that contract, they are in violation of the agreement and are no longer exercising rightful authority.

In the case of a country without this sort of contract, then whatever the authorities do, with the exception of choosing to try to stamp out God’s church and His worship, is rightful authority as they have given no such promise to their people to abide by any given set of rules. Therefore, though they may do many, many heinous things, any uprising on the part of their people would be, in fact, a rebellion and therefore unacceptable on the part of any Christian who is following the Scripture. This doesn’t mean Christians won’t disobey a law if it requires them to break God’s laws, which are higher than any civil law on Earth, but it does mean they will have no part in fighting a war against the authorities and will accept whatever punishment accompanies their decision to obey God rather than man.

So how are the American Revolution and the Civil War not rebellions? Because of two very important documents and what they said. Let’s start with the document that gave the American Revolution the status of a war of self-defense, not a war of rebellion.

The Magna Carta

The Magna Carta was a document that laid the foundation for the entire system of British law. It was agreed to in June of 1215 and was an agreement between King John of England and the nobles representing the English people, who were at the time revolting, at least in some areas. It established some basic liberties and the agreement that not even the king was above the English law.

This important document along with the individual charters that colonies had with England formed the backbone of the American Revolution. During the years leading up to the American Revolution, the king was ignoring both the Magna Carta and the individual charters established with the colonies. Had the colonists been in England, their rights as English citizens would never have been so blatantly disregarded, and so they wrote letter after letter and sent representatives to plead with the king and Parliament to hold their part of the deal in all cases, not just in the instances where it benefited them.

King George III and Adding Fuel to Fire

Instead of addressing the concerns, which would have kept the peace and kept the colonies as part of Britain, the king and Parliament ignored them. They continued to pick and choose when to follow their own laws, thereby invalidating the contract by which they held authority. Since they wouldn’t honor their own agreement, it became invalid, and the colonies sent the Declaration of Independence. In a nutshell, that declaration was saying, “You won’t follow your own laws, you won’t treat us like citizens, and so we declare that we do not recognize your wrongful authority nor are we going to continue behaving as if we are citizens when you do not view us as such.” Obviously, the language was much prettier when Jefferson wrote it, but the point was the same.

Essentially, as King George III continued to add fuel to the fire, the colonies finally seceded from Britain. We like to think of it as a grand rebellion for freedom, but it wasn’t. We declared our independence with no violence. After doing so, we appointed our own leaders as any new country would and we kicked out the ones who had invalidated their authority. Most of that was still not violent unless soldiers from Britain wouldn’t leave colonists’ homes, in which case the colonists defended themselves. But that was still self-defense, not rebellion, because Britain had invalidated its own authority and jurisdiction.

The war began when Britain decided to treat the colonies as rebels instead of ex-citizens. They attacked the newly formed coalition of colonies, and the forming country defended itself.

The Constitution

This document formed the backbone for the Civil War in more ways than one. The finalized and superior form of law after the Articles of Confederation we first tried failed, this important document regulated what could and could not be done legally in America. We continue to use it today, though more and more lawmakers try to twist it and often get away with doing so. But in the days leading up to the start of the Civil War, this had not yet begun.

Granted, there was major hypocrisy in how we applied the terms of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence’s statement on the matter of liberties for all men. We as a country had the ugly issue of slavery to deal with if we were to address the issue of hypocrisy that had become so ingrained in our nation by the time of the Civil War. Some illogical (and, if the Constitution were fully followed, illegal) compromises were made to deal with the tension between the two segments of the country–North and South–on this issue. But nonetheless, we had the Constitution, and it governed our laws underneath its umbrella.

Secession and the Constitution

How did this come into play during the Civil War? Prior to any shots being physically fired, segments of the South had already chosen to secede if Lincoln were elected. He won the election with not a single Southern state supporting him. While the hot button issue was slavery, it is worth noting that some states had a secessionist attitude over anything they felt stepped on their toes, not just slavery.

North Carolina, in particular, had been an issue for past Presidents even when no violations to the contract (the Constitution) between states. But regardless of the issues they were arguing over, the fact of it is that secession at that point remained an option. The Constitution did not forbid this right to the States, and so, even if their reasons for doing it were to preserve slavery, which they perceived as absolutely necessary to their existence, the South had the right to leave.

This in no way means that they were right for wanting to keep their slaves. That was a dark blot on the promises the Constitution made. It was inexcusable, wicked, and disgusting. It never should’ve happened, and the Founders had planned for it to fade out. When it didn’t, we ended up with a lot of unexpected problems, and sadly, our leaders on both sides didn’t deal with it in a way that was morally correct. Had they done so, they would’ve freed the slaves (indentured servants included in this since most were treated just as badly, sometimes worse, than slaves) and made sure that those individuals went through the process to become citizens like anyone else or were sent back to their countries of origin. Instead, they went to war over it before we even fired a shot in the Civil War, and the South developed a siege mindset long before a true war even erupted.

But, despite the poor decision-making, wrongful behavior on the parts of many individuals, and a sickening practice of enslaving fellow human beings, the States all had the right at that time to leave the Union. Legally, they should have been allowed to go.

Lincoln and Adding Fuel to the Fire

Lincoln’s election, through no fault of his own, added fuel to the fire. If he had stopped at that being the only thing he did to add fuel to the fire, then he would be blameless in this whole affair. Instead, he blatantly stated in his inaugural address that he was treating the newly-seceded states, which were to form the first part of the Confederation, as rebels. They were not, according to our Constitution, rebels. Thus, after Lincoln declared the Union would force them to return to and stay a part of the Union, the seceded states began preparing for war. They organized further militia forces beyond what was normal the individual States to maintain and prepared to be forced to defend their land and their choice to secede. More states joined them and the fledgling country as the months led up to the Civil War and Lincoln continued to throw fuel on the fire.

He refused to meet with any representatives of the new coalition of states, much like King George III had done, because he wouldn’t recognize them as their own country. He utterly refused to acknowledge their right to leave, regardless of the reason, and insisted on treating them as rebels as opposed to a new country trying to work out the issues between themselves and the neighboring country. Then he further added insult to injury by sending supply ships to a Union Fort in the middle of their territory without asking permission to pass through their borders. Had it been any other country or circumstance, this would have been considered unacceptable, and firing on the ship and fort would’ve been acceptable since the ship wasn’t declared or given permission to pass borders. Instead, Lincoln thought it was fine because he viewed them as rebellious states still in the Union, not as another nation. Why shouldn’t he be able to send his ship anywhere he pleased in his country, right?

To be fair, there were miscommunications on both sides in the issue of Fort Sumter, and those misunderstandings led to many of the issues that resulted in the fort being fired on, but Lincoln’s antagonistic, dismissive behaviors led to the boiling point, and the war began.

To be fair, there were miscommunications on both sides in the issue of Fort Sumter, and those misunderstandings led to many of the issues that resulted in the fort being fired on, but Lincoln’s antagonistic, dismissive behaviors led to the boiling point, and the war began.

Similarities between the American Revolution and the Civil War

Some of the similarities should already be readily apparent from our earlier discussion on jurisdiction, authority, and rebellion. But let’s go over them more clearly and state a few additional similarities that I have come across in the research I’ve done on the two wars.

Rebellions?

First off, neither was a rebellion. In fact, I would call both wars of self-defense, even if, in the case of the Civil War, the first shot fired was over a miscommunication. If you look at how both wars were fought, both were fought on the soil of the newly-independent country, predominantly or entirely. Neither of these wars’ defendants were interested in seizing territory from the other side as a policy. They simply wanted to leave quietly and be left alone to govern their own affairs.

Fought on the Defendant’s Soil

Most of the war in the case of the Civil War was fought in border states that had been split in half between North and South or in Southern territory. The Confederate States were utterly destroyed by the war and Lincoln’s determination to overrun them, run roughshod over their choice to leave, and force them to return to the Union. In the end, he succeeded, but he cost both countries enormous losses of life and cost the Confederacy a great deal of the infrastructure they did have. The war only further entrenched the siege mentality the Confederate States had and confirmed their worst fears that they wouldn’t be allowed to leave.

In the case of the American Revolution, it was fought entirely on American soil, and we fought, just as the Southerners did, to defend home and family. While the American Revolution didn’t have the cause of slavery added into the mix to make the war appear “unrighteous” on the part of those who seceded, it and the Civil War are similar in that the war only started when the new countries were threatened or outright attacked by the countries they seceded from.

Given this is the case, the American Revolution would be more accurately termed the American War of Self-Defense, and the Civil War would be more accurately termed the Confederate War of Self-Defense. After all, the American Revolution was not a revolution in the true definition of the word, nor was the Civil War a Civil War because it was between two countries, not one that was split. You can’t have a civil war if the war isn’t between citizens of the same country, and no matter how much Lincoln wanted to ignore the Constitution’s terms, the South had legally left and declared themselves no longer citizens of the Union, so it wasn’t a situation of citizens of the same country fighting.

Struggles Against Wrongful Authority

Since both wars were fought between countries who operated with the Western form of government, which involves contracts that both parties most follow to have authority or to be governed, both the colonies and the Confederate States were fighting against wrongful authority. As mentioned earlier, the colonies were fighting against a government that was not following its own contract and laws. The Confederate States ended up fighting a war against the Union because its leader and government chose not to honor their contract, which allowed the Confederate States to do what they had done and secede. In both cases, the governments that had previously governed them violated their contracts and therefore were exercising wrongful authority when the wars erupted. This directly leads back to the reasons why neither were, in fact, in rebellion.

Conclusion

To round out this history discussion, let’s go back to the beginning. The issues I proposed as questions were that the American Revolution and the Civil War are miles apart, that rebellion is a good thing, and that the Civil War was about slavery alone or predominantly. So looking over what we discussed, here are the facts.

  1. The American Revolution and the Civil War were in fact vastly similar. Both were wars of defense against wrongful authority, and both were fought in a mainly defensive manner, supporting their claims that they just wanted to leave in peace.
  2. Rebellion is never acceptable from a Christian worldview. Those who promote it are wrong to do so, and a Christian espousing a rebellion is doing so in direct violation of myriad commands to respect authority.
  3. The Civil War itself was not about slavery. The South seceded over slavery, but the war happened because the North broke away from the Constitution and treated them as rebels for leaving. Their cause for leaving? Entirely unjust, but legally allowable. Their cause for fighting the war? Entirely justified because the North had no right to disregard the usual courtesies expected for passage between nations and the parleys that would occur between both. So while there were certainly problems and hypocrisies in that time of our nation, the war itself was neither a civil war nor was it acceptable for Lincoln to decide to get us into a war because he wanted to force them to stay. That was the move of a dictator, just as King George III’s behavior was, not that of a ruler abiding by the laws he and the rest of his government agreed to be bound by through a contract with those around them. Had he treated them as an opposing country and tried to conquer them like Germany did to France or other countries through history have, he might’ve been given some leeway, but he didn’t, and so, while he might not have been a bad man personally, he was nonetheless a dictator who chose to ignore the rules he was required to operate under by law.

I know many people would argue with these conclusions, but facts are facts. While no situation is every fully black and white, particularly with wars, the facts that lead to us being able to declare something a rebellion or a war of self-defense are not. Those distinctions lie solely in facts and definitions, whether we like it or not. Though we shouldn’t disregard or marginalize the uglier sides of history or try to pretend they were justified, let us also avoid declaring those on the losing side entirely unjust in their defense of themselves or in declaring the winners justified simply because they have won. This is what we have done when it comes to our country’s history, and while it is commonly understood that the winners write the history books, we cannot be a people who disregards truth or fact in favor of emotion and perception simply because the latter is more favorable. To do so is to destroy our very foundations and ourselves, and this is exactly what we have chosen to do in modern society.

We have not improved or moved away from the very same attitudes that inspired the Civil War in modern society. There is still a desire on various sides of the issue to ignore history, ignore our country’s founding principles in favor of whichever flavor of hypocrisy we prefer, and to demonize the other side simply to support our own. If we wish to have another war where we split into two countries, this is the path to follow. But if we want to learn from history, avoid its same mistakes in present day, and finally move past what was done in the past, then we’re going to have to be honest about the facts. I hope today’s exploration into the background on these two wars has been informative and beneficial.

Author’s Interview: Alicia Scarborough

Introduction

Today, I have Alicia Scarborough, author of the short story “Misted Love” in our anthology Glimpses of Time and Magic. She’s going to share a little bit about herself, her work, and writing with us today. Thanks for being here, Ally!

Her story’s cover and the anthology cover are below for your enjoyment.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the interview!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Uhhh, I guess you could call me a whirlwind of crazy ideas that manifest themselves either as stories or paintings. For you see, I’m an author and artist that must follow the whims of my muse and create the songs that it wishes to sing for those to hear and see.

What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

Right now, I’m writing Urban Fantasy. Both Youth (Middle Grade) and Adult. If you’re curious as to which stories is appropriate for a younger readership then pick up the books that have ‘Alicia Scarborough’… the other books that use my initials ‘A.L.’ are for a more mature audience.

As for other genres, I write poems, horror (stories from my nightmares) and some humor. I’m currently working on two more stories. One is about a little girl that likes to turn her playmates into dolls; that story is not due to release until April 2022. The other story is still under wraps, but I can say that it does involve T-Rexes and will be releasing this December 2020.

What got me into writing fantasy? I’ve always loved it. When I was younger I would write stories that mimicked some of the fairytales that I heard as a child and I would add a slight twist or make up what happened after the ‘Happily Ever After’

What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read mostly Urban Fantasy, but I do branch out into other genres. Especially if I need to research the other genre for writing purposes. Yes, this is my excuse to be able to buy more books. LOL.

What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I play ARK, read, paint pretty pictures in Photoshop, watch tutorials, watch anime, play with my green cheek conures or groom my beloved Pomeranians’ fur (I have two)

Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Well, I kind of already spilled the beans on the doll one. But yeah if you like Goosebumps then you’re going to love the story “Play with Me” for it’ll give you that chill factor and make you want to turn a cautious eye towards all dolls. Yet, it won’t be released until April 2020.

The t-rex one… I can’t say much except keep your peepers peeled on my FB page for updates or news. You’ll see stuff for that secret story soon enough because it will be released this year.

If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience?

Planning. It makes the difference between a successful release or a tragic release. I like to know what I’m getting into before I take the plunge. I’m self-published because I want that extra control and the ability to make that key point decision if necessary.

Self-publishing is a ton of work but it’s a trade off if you want to have control on things that matter like your book cover, blurb, price and marketing. From what I’ve heard from my fellow traditionally published authors they have to work within the confines of the publisher.

That’s not for me. I need the freedom to do what needs to be done and without delay.

What were your inspirations for writing?

Dreams. I always have vivid dreams that I sometimes wonder if I’m having a glimpse into another reality and into that person’s life. Because some of those scenes feel so real.

Who got you into writing when you first started?

4th Grade teacher, Mr. Cox. He always encouraged us to do freewriting just before we started our Language Arts (English) lessons. Sure, at that time we were still dealing with the fundamentals of writing, but it was good practice. Since then I’ve kept up with it even if it was poems or just writing down my thoughts.

Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

No, not really. I would have to say that I have an awesome gang of author friends now as opposed to when I first started self-publishing.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

Don’t do it for the money. I’m serious. You’ll get heart broken if you start this journey focused on the thousands of dollars. Writing is tough and it’s going to get tougher before you’ll even get a reward.

Instead, focus on your ‘Why’ – why do you really want to write? What’s the burning reason that will keep you trudging through the dark trenches of despair and push you towards victory?

What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Stop listening to everyone else and do your own thing. Everyone’s journey is different and there is no secret formula to success. It’s a matter of rolling up your sleeves and getting dirt under your nails to get that hard work done. There’s no shortcut. Period.

What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs. Mercy Thompson is my favorite character because of the trouble that she gets thrown into and must figure a way out of it. She’s tough, smart and she never gives up. Even when her body is mostly a pile of mush she keeps on fighting because she has people she wants to save. She’s one tough cookie and I like her.

Conclusion

Well, thanks for being here with us today! I’m sure we all learned quite a bit about your work and you as an author, and I enjoyed having you on the blog. Best of luck with your future endeavors. Readers, if you want to find Alicia’s books, you can do that on Amazon. As she mentioned, she uses two different authors’ names depending on which age group the books are appropriate for. You can find her profile on Amazon here.

Sunday Stories: First to Stop Applauding

New Blog Schedule

Introduction

The scene is a political rally for Stalin in the Soviet Union. A tribute to Stalin is called, and a standing ovation is given for a man who isn’t even present. Three minutes turns into five, and on it goes. No one dares to stop applauding even if they do not agree with the regime and even if they’re so exhausted they want to drop. Enthusiasm wanes as the applause goes on, stretching out to eight minutes. Everyone knows the police are watching, and even if they drop dead, they won’t stop clapping.

At eleven minutes in, a paper factory directory on the platform does what not even the leaders have dared do. He stops clapping and sits down. The false enthusiasm in the rest of the crowd disappears, and to a man, they too stop and sit. Russian Author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who saw much of this first hand, describes this very scene and concludes it on this note:

The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel. That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night, the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him: 

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.”

The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn

An Applause Mentality and Leftist Culture

So why start off with that quote from Solzhenitsyn and the story he told? Because our culture is much like the men watching for who would stop applauding first to find the independent ones and shut them down. How, you ask?

Well, we don’t arrest independent thinkers, yet, in this country. But what we have seen in the liberal/progressivist mentality is a shift from simply requesting that dissenting voices be silent to demanding that dissenters applaud even the most abhorrent acts known to man. I point out the liberals and their agenda (on a government scale, certainly, but also on a personal scale at times) because they are usually the ones who scream the loudest in this country. They’ve got a peculiar mob mentality and seem to think that if they shout louder than anyone else, they’ll be right.

It’s a very odd phenomenon that I’ve observed in person as well as secondhand, and I rarely see that in conservatives. Sure, conservatives have their issues, but shutting down free speech, mob mentality toward the opposition, and demanding that the opposition applaud what they’re doing aren’t usually among them. On average, conservatives tend to be the types who do what they believe is best and right and don’t care if it’s going to cause them trouble. (Note that this isn’t true of government officials, typically, even in the right wing/conservative group, but when it comes to behaviors seen in the voting demographic, this tends to be how things work.)

Now, it used to be that it was enough if we simply didn’t speak up loudly in opposition to liberal agendas on hot button issues such as education, abortion, racial issues, or LGBTQ+. No longer is tolerance enough. Today’s culture (or at least the loudest ones in it) demand that we also approve. We can’t stay quiet and just avoid voicing dissent to get by and avoid persecution anymore.

Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in those individuals who say such things as “All whites are racist devils from birth” or “It’s great that you whites supported us, but that doesn’t get you out of paying for what your ancestors did” or “You support pro-life? Then you’re anti-women, sexist, and straight up backwards-minded”. These are things I’ve actually seen and heard people say!

If we need any further evidence that ours is an applause culture, we need look no further than these examples or the current chaos going on over black rights, defunding the police, and silencing anyone who disagrees. Even blacks are not exempt from the wrath of people in the BLM movement, for example, if they choose to speak up and dissent. One black veteran, who spoke out against the mentality and culture in black communities that has led to the violence we’re seeing now, was injured in a hit and run shortly after by protesters who didn’t like what he’d said. Another black man who dissented and spoke out against them for their behavior was shot in the head and died for daring to speak out. That doesn’t even begin to include the number of black cops who have died trying to defend innocents from angry mobs who only showed up to kill, loot, and destroy.

Other Examples

In case what I gave earlier wasn’t enough, let’s look at some other examples.

Anyone who’s not willing to applaud BLM and the rioting going on right now? Well, we’ve already seen what happened to individuals from the black community itself who disagreed. But if you’re white? How can you be so racist? That’s the outcry. You aren’t supporting us? Your silence on it doesn’t exonerate you. It means you support our oppression and hate us like the racist bigots you are. At one time, silence on the issue wouldn’t be an indicator of wanting oppression to continue. It would’ve meant the person didn’t agree with some subset of what was being said or simply had no opinion on the issue.

Christian artists who run their own businesses? It used to be enough for you to just be quiet about your beliefs regarding the LGBTQ+ community. You weren’t targeted by the hateful segment of the community (and to be clear, not everyone in the community is hateful. I’ve known some really awesome people who were a part of the community. I didn’t approve of their lifestyle, but they remain some of the kindest, nicest people I’ve ever known.), and you weren’t forced to create works of art celebrating a lifestyle you had a religious and conscionable objection to. But not anymore. Show your support and celebrate their lifestyle or end up in court and lose your own lifestyle because you wouldn’t applaud like everyone else.

What about pro-lifers? You aren’t willing to openly show your support for those who want to help women murder their own babies in the womb? You dare to tell those women, however gently or kindly, that there’s another option? You want to take away the choice to murder a baby and leave them with only three options (contraception, abstinence, or pregnancy)? Then you’re against women and want to force them to carry a baby against their will. Being quietly pro-life will no longer protect you from the social suicide of having an opinion that isn’t socially accepted.

What about those who want to raise their own children and teach them without government interference? According to an article published in Harvard’s journal and written by a Harvard lawyer/professor, you’re a nutcase and your children will be white supremacists (never mind the fact that there’s a sizable community of black and Hispanic homeschoolers too). If they don’t show immediate signs of white supremacy, then they’re just ticking time bombs. Worse still, they’re probably going to end up being religious (because that’s such a bad thing in a country that has historically prized freedom of religion).

Furthermore, you’re abusing your child because you might not be educated enough to provide them quality education. (Statistics actually show that homeschoolers generally outperform public and private schoolers on standardized tests, which are the generally accepted method of testing how well-educated and intelligent a given student is compared to the rest of the student population from any given demographic.) Society looks down on homeschooled kids. While they can generally get into colleges with their standardized achievement test scores, some colleges have more rigorous and difficult enrollment requirements for homeschoolers specifically. We have to jump through more hoops simply because our parents dared to educate us at home even if we’ve proven we’re just as well-educated and smart as any of our peers in a government run school.

What if you dare to stop applauding?

No matter how polite you are in daring to sit down, society will decry you. They can’t handle any voices that don’t fit the narrative that liberal government and media have established. There’s no room in our system for voices that disagree. We’re too advanced and intelligent for that, and anyone who doesn’t agree with the generally accepted beliefs that the majority (or the loudest voices) promotes is backwards and, possibly, a danger to society.

If you’re a public figure, you’ll find your character will be demeaned and your goals, however honorable, decried simply because you were the one who dared have them. Heaven help you if you’re a conservative Christian who refuses to comply. You’re going to be socially crucified.

The Leftist mentality can tolerate no independent thinkers if the conclusion is one that doesn’t fit with their narrative and their goals. While not every individual who is a Democrat or liberal is like this (I’ve known my fair share of those who are more polite than some conservatives and Republicans I know), the overall mindset promoted and pushed by the Leftist, liberal agenda is one of intolerance toward anyone who doesn’t conform and applaud for their ways and their agendas.

As I said earlier, I’ve been on the receiving end of their intolerant, hateful attitude toward anyone who disagrees more than once. As an author who is Christian and also unafraid to speak my mind, I’ve personally experienced the backlash from a mob of Leftist liberals who didn’t like the fact that I didn’t support everything they thought I should. I’ve been called a racist, labeled as un-Christian because I wouldn’t approve of the things God has clearly denounced as sinful and wicked, called unintelligent and told I’m living in a fantasy world when I presented stats and facts that contradicted what was being claimed, mocked because of being a homeschooler, accused of being bigoted because I didn’t agree with murder in the name of “justice”, and looked down on as naive just because I was Christian. People make judgments about me all the time because of my background without even knowing me and, often, without actually listening to anything I’ve said. The list goes on.

If I’ve learned anything about society during my childhood and teen years, it’s that no matter how hard someone tries to fit in and do what they’re told to, think what they’re told to, and say what they’re told to, it will never be enough. More will always be demanded, especially in a society rushing headlong into insanity and depravity. I learned early on not to bother trying to fit in. I learned that doing the right thing was always more important than the socially acceptable thing. I learned that while there is a kind way to tell someone they’re believing a load of lies, it isn’t kind or loving to allow someone to believe lies to their own detriment. I experienced the hatred society had for people like me firsthand growing up.

My first exposure to the ugliness of racism was on the playground when I asked a few black kids to play, thinking they might want to be included because most kids do, and I was told “White kids don’t play with black kids.” They said that with as much disdain and harshness as little kids can muster. But they learned it from somewhere. I ran into that attitude frequently from blacks around me, just as much as I ran into blacks who were some of the sweetest, kindest people I knew. And I learned from that. I learned that ugliness exists in humanity regardless of color or “race”. I learned that two people who look very similar can be totally opposite in their behaviors, thought patterns, and treatment of others around them. Selfish, rude, bigoted behavior can exist on any level in any person regardless of race, sexual orientation, or religion because people are people no matter what shape or color they may come in. 

Is my viewpoint popular? No. Do I know exactly what it’s like to live in the culture that blacks live in where kids often get picked on for wanting to learn because it’s more cool to skip class instead (something I’ve heard a few blacks say lately)? No, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what discrimination and disdain for someone else on the basis of something they can’t change looks like. I do know that first hand, and it makes me sad that anyone would have to experience that today. Equally, it makes me very, very angry when I see anyone treating someone as if they’re a lesser human being for any reason, regardless of what that reason is, because I know what it’s like to be the one frowned upon, disapproved of, and shunned just because I didn’t fit the system’s narrative.

Why Christians Need to Stop Applauding Today’s Culture and Society

The most obvious reason to stop applauding is that we’re being asked to applaud out-and-out wickedness. I’ll be the first in line to applaud things like putting a corrupt cop in jail for unnecessary force that led to anyone’s death, arresting those who allow hatred of another to cloud their vision to the point that they commit murder, or giving the death sentence to a serial rapist. I’d also be the first in line, however, to demand that abortions stop because they are taking the lives of babies, and we are not given the permission to take the life of anyone except in very specific instances, none of which include killing infants who haven’t done anything wrong. I’ll be the first in line to applaud dealing with clear cases of injustice in our world that lead to the mistreatment of those around me even if I disagree with those people’s lifestyles or moral choices because injustice is injustice and that person has an inalienable right to the same freedoms I enjoy regardless of what I think of them personally.

But I will never  applaud for those who want anarchy, for those who hate another just because they’re a different color (and to clarify, that means both black and white groups because both do this and have done it in the past), for those blaming an entire skin color group for their problems as if every individual in that group is to blame by virtue of the skin tone they were born with, for those who ignore the facts and the truth in favor of emotion and pure evil, for those who want to kill defenseless babies, for those who want to subvert or outright destroy the concept that marriage is between one man and one woman as God ordained it, or for those who advocate murdering those who did nothing wrong. That’s a group that stands for sin and injustice, not for good and justice, and for those people I refuse to applaud.

And make no mistake about this. No Christian who is going to stand by Scripture and God would or should support those things. Beyond that, a Christian living in the light of God’s Word will not applaud anything that Word says is evil or sinful. As such, though we are called to love those who do sinful things, we must be the first to stop clapping for what they’re doing, even if the system demands our applause. If refusing to applaud gains us persecution in any form, so be it. We obey God first and our authorities in so far as they do not demand we do something directly against God’s commands. 

We are called to be salt and light to a dying world. Light should hold no darkness or untruth in it, nor should it applaud those things. We are called to love those around us. But love does not stand aside and stay silent as those it is directed toward run to their ultimate demise. It stands in the way, earnestly pleads with the erring one, and speaks truth even at its own expense.

Doing what we’ve been called to do means facing suffering and persecution. We need to do it anyway.

So I’m sitting down. I will be the first to stop clapping for the evils our society is promoting, even if I choose not to clap and no one follows suit. If that means arrest, social suicide, or actual death in order to stand by my God and what is true, right, and pure, so be it. To go against God and conscience to stand for evil and sin is neither safe nor wise.

Conclusion

To my brothers and sisters in Christ… Please stop applauding what is going on in today’s society. The looting, burning, rioting, killing of innocents, abortion of our own children, and destruction of the Biblical principles our country stood on for more than a century after its founding are sickening to God. He makes it clear that murder, hatred, destruction of others, theft, and insubordination to authority (except in the case where demanded to go against God Himself, who is the ultimate authority) are unacceptable. They are sin. 

We must be the light to a dying world, or we must bear a guilt and shame far greater than anything that could be laid at our feet by the world for not having the “politically correct” actions and words. Our shame should be rooted in our applause for the world’s insanity in the first place. Our ancestors may have applauded slavery in their time, and that was to their shame. We now applaud further evils in the name of reversing the evil that our ancestors (in some of our cases, anyway) created by applauding the evils of their day. If we should need to apologize for anything to the world around us, it should be for living in a way that told them God was a joke and His Word a lie. It should be for not loving them enough to sit down and stop applauding for their wickedness. It should be for not caring enough to stand up for the truth and to plead with them earnestly to repent before it’s too late. Those are the things we need to apologize for if we claim to believe in God and His Word but then applaud the world because in doing that, we have defied our Lord’s commands and made Him a liar to a lost and dying world.

So Christians, let’s be the first to stop clapping for everything that should make us weep for the atrocities being committed. That is our moral duty and our God-given responsibility if we’re going to be salt and light as we’ve been called to be. It’s time we took it seriously.

Thursday Technicalities: Internal Conflict

internal conflict

Introduction

With our discussions regarding publishing concluded for now, we’ll turn now to discussing some of the key elements of crafting fiction that you can use to improve your writing, both with a completed manuscript and with one you’re still writing. I’ve recently been working through Donald Maas’s Writing the Breakout Novel, and I’ve found that these areas are ones that can prove challenging but are going to really take your work to the next level.

So, I’m going to go through some of the sections I found to be most useful and important with my own take on them based on things I’ve seen work out well in fiction. Today’s topic is going to deal with conflict within the character, otherwise known as internal conflict. This is an important part of fiction and really brings characters to life, so it’s not something we can overlook as writers. Let’s get started!

What Is Internal Conflict?

Internal conflict is when the character is conflicted within themselves regarding any given situation or decision. This differs from the major conflict that drives your plot (at least in many cases) in that the conflict driving the plot is usually some sort of external conflict that puts pressure on the character and may even exacerbate their internal conflict. In some cases, the internal conflict may be the driving conflict in the story and may create the external conflict due to a character’s actions in response to the conflict internally.

On a more basic level, internal conflict is when a character wants two opposing things at the same time. This simpler definition usually makes it a little easier for us to think about what our characters’ internal conflicts might be. Regardless of what the internal conflict is and whether or not it is the result of external pressures or the leading cause of those external issues, this is a tool in writing that cannot be ignored if you want a character that feels real and alive.

Keys for Internal Conflict

First and foremost, an internal conflict for a character must include two fundamentally opposed desires. This sounds really straightforward, but here’s the thing… You have to figure out how and why your characters could or would want those opposing things. We as people have issues with this in our own lives all the time. For example, consider someone who wants to eventually have a family but also doesn’t want their freedom to hop from partner to partner taken away. Those are two opposing desires. They can’t have both, and they’re eventually going to have to decide which one matters more. We all run into these kinds of ultimatums, and we all eventually go with one or the other when it becomes apparent we can’t have both.

The second key is to make the two options mutually exclusive. We all feel conflicted about things from time to time, but if we can find a way to make both work, then we often do. Furthermore, the options facing a character need to be ones they strongly care about. For example, in my book Bane of Ashkarith, the male lead has a strong desire to uncover the truth and to share that truth–whatever it may be–with the world. But he also has a strong desire to stay alive, and the truth is likely to get him killed if he goes ahead with telling it. He can’t have it both ways. He either tells the truth or he doesn’t. And he has strong reasons and motivations to choose either option, so it isn’t a situation where he can simply decide one choice doesn’t matter that much and just go with the other. No, he has to fight through the internal conflict to make a decision on what to do.

What if my character is too black and white to really struggle in the obvious ways?

You want to ensure that you set your characters up with a similarly stark set of options that lead to internal conflict. Sometimes, however, you find a character that is simply too morally upright and black and white to struggle with some of the more common issues. I’ve run into this recently with my male lead in a novel I’m working on. S is a trainer for an intergalactic organization whose sole goal is to sow dissent, chaos, and evil throughout the galaxy. They are directly opposed to God and anything that could be considered good, though they don’t really care what form evil and darkness takes so long as it does in fact drown out what is good and right. S doesn’t agree with them or their standards, but his situation is such that he must play along.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like S necessarily is conflicted between two choices. At the beginning of the novel, he’s offered a way out. In order to get out, he has to play the long game and be patient, but there’s no question in his mind or that of the individual who offered him an out that he’s going to take it. He isn’t conflicted about it, and he isn’t conflicted about waiting it out so he can get himself and the girl who offered her help out safely.

So at this point, I’m faced with an issue. S is the protector, the dominant/alpha male who makes sure everyone under his care is safe even if it costs him everything to achieve that. He doesn’t dither over whether he’s willing to make the sacrifice to protect Gwen or others directly under his care. He already knows he will. He also doesn’t question the choice to leave because he refuses to be a part of the organization’s wickedness any longer than absolutely necessary.

“Growing” the internal conflict

In this case, S is a character that starts out with no internal conflict in his mind and must end up “growing” one. The way I chose to handle this? As Gwen begins to change his outlook on the situation and his approach to those around him, he begins to feel responsible for helping and protecting not just Gwen, who is directly under his protection, but also the other trainees whose trainers hurt or even kill them. He comes to a point where he is no longer certain that he can in good conscience abandon it all to run and never look back. Instead, he has a turning point that leads to his internal conflict: leave or find a way to fight back for the freedom of those who, like him, never had the chance to speak up and walk away from the horrors inflicted on them.

Gwen herself is put into a similar position, but she comes to it much sooner and sees it far quicker than S does. Her nature is not the protector so much as it is the outspoken voice for what’s right. That gets her and S into plenty of trouble in a culture that despises the truth and anyone who stands for it, but she stands firm anyway. Her internal conflict then, takes on a slightly different flavor than S’s, but the nature of the two is still similar in that the conflict is not in-built but must instead develop as their viewpoints and goals gradually begin to shift.

What if I just can’t think of anything?

Sometimes, characters make it very difficult to figure out what their internal conflict is or to determine how to push them into one. This might happen because the character doesn’t know what they want or is generally a somewhat weak type of person. I ran into this with Sebastian, a character from an allegorical sci-fi novella I’m working on revising. He falls into the category of “I don’t really know what I want or what I believe”. His problem was that he didn’t believe the popular narrative and was suspicious of the government’s claims, but he didn’t know what he believed if not that. He develops through the book, but I still have the issue that he doesn’t seem to really have much of an internal conflict at the start.

The solution to this? Start thinking about what they really want. If push came to shove, what is it that they’d fight for? Maybe the push might have to be really extreme, but what is the one thing that they couldn’t bear to lose, not accomplish, or fail at? Now take that thing and figure out what the opposite of it is.

For example, with Sebastian, the one thing he really can’t stand to lose is Vivian, the female lead. The opposite of that, to my mind, would be to lose her or let go of her. That gives me an internal conflict right there if I can find a way to set it up through the story such that he wants (or at least has to seriously consider) both paths.

Something else that I also found for Sebastian is that he is fiercely loyal to those he cares about. He can’t stand to lose the people he cares about or to walk away from them. So another conflict I can give him is having to decide between fighting for the people he cares about or walking away. With this character, however, there is no question in his mind, at least in the first novella, on which one he will choose for either of these. So in order to create any kind of internal conflict with him, I have to force him into situations where he can’t choose what he wants to choose. I have to make it so that he does have to walk away from his loved ones or so that he has to give up Vivian.

Sometimes, characters are like this. There should be conflict, but it might not always be clearly caused by the character wanting two different things. Sometimes it might be caused by a character wanting one thing but knowing the opposite is best and choosing the one thing they don’t want to do. This is a trickier one to pull off, and I would recommend you make sure you have at least one main character whose conflict is driven by two opposing options that they want to pursue.

Conclusion

That’s it for this discussion, everyone! I hope this was helpful for you. Next week, we’ll be talking about points of decision. We’ll go over why you need them, how to build up to them, and how they play into your character’s arc as well as the story itself. Until next time, happy writing!

Sunday Stories: The Attributes of God

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

This week’s focus is on the attributes of God. Attributes are concrete details about who He is; it differs from essence in that essence is what makes Him God while an attribute is part of how He works out what makes Him God. For example, if I were describing attributes of my own, I might say I have hazel eyes. It’s a part of who I am concretely, but it doesn’t tell anyone what I’m like in terms of behavior or personality. It does not tell you who I am, only some aspect of what I appear as physically. In the case of God being a spirit, we can understand attributes to be a description of how His essence impacts us and our world. He has no physical attributes to describe, but He does have some very important attributes that link to His essence.

These attributes fall into two categories: those not linked to morality and those that are. We’ll start with the non-moral attributes, and then when we reach the moral ones, we’ll start off with a discussion of why morality must be linked to God and why these attributes matter so much.

Non-Moral Attributes

Omnipresence (Acts 17:27-28; Hebrews 4:13)

This attribute links directly to God’s immensity, which we discussed last time in the discussion on God’s essence. What is omnipresence? It is a logical conclusion or extension of His immensity that states God is present everywhere and at all times, not in pieces of Himself spread out to reach everyone but in His entirety due to how immense He is. If you haven’t yet read the post I wrote on God’s essence, please start there. This post isn’t going to make much sense without it because you can’t understand the end conclusion properly if you haven’t seen where it began.

Omniscience (Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 147:5; Matthew 10:30; Micah 5:2)

When it comes to omniscience, this is God’s ability to know all things, and it stems from both His immensity and His eternity/infinity. Because of these essences of God, He knows everything down to things so minute we don’t even think of or care about them. This links directly to the concept that His knowledge is infinite in both breadth and depth, but also in time. Nothing can, has, or ever will surprise God, and He will never need to learn anything new. He already knows it all.

Omnipotence (Genesis 17:11; Job 42:2; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26)

This is the attribute of God that is all-powerful, all-mighty, and undaunted by even the greatest or most impossible feats. This one, however, will usually lead to a question from skeptics and even some believers. If God is all these things, particularly if He is all powerful, why allow sin? And why not save everyone?

This leads to an essential point in our discussion that must be made before we go further. If you miss this, then falling into doctrinal errors and heresies surrounding God’s nature become very, very easy.

How He Exercises His Attributes

The key point here is to look at what God says about and reveals about Himself, both in Scripture and in the world around us. He is a God of order. Furthermore, He Himself does not change, and He is unable to deny His nature because to do so would be to change. Therefore, when it comes to His attributes, He must therefore exercise them in a way that is not only consistent with His nature but also in a way that will not violate any other attribute. If He exercised His attributes in a way that violated another attribute, that would be to violate part of His nature, and as we made clear here and in the previous article on His essence, that is not something God will do.

But if He’s all powerful, why can’t He will that He exercise love and ignore His justice, holiness, and other attributes, for example, to just allow everyone into heaven? Because He only does what He wills, and He is clear that He doesn’t want sin, inconsistency in His nature, or violation of His attributes.

This is why those who focus on just His love or just His judgment then must force His use of one attribute to violate another. Most people who say things like “God wouldn’t do that because He’s all loving” or “There are some sins that are greater than others/will send you to hell if you’re living in them” don’t realize that what they are doing is saying “God will exercise this attribute I like more over the others, even if it requires Him to violate or invalidate the other in doing so”. But that is in fact what they are saying when they pick one attribute to focus on and ignore or sideline another. They are essentially saying that God is, at best, inconsistent or, at worst, that He has changed in His nature.

So in conclusion on this particular attribute, He is able to do anything, but He will not do everything because He has control over His power, and He knows how to exercise it according to His will and in accordance with His nature. (Habakkuk 1:13; II Timothy 2:13; James 1:13)

Immutability (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6; Romans 11:29)

Immutability is the attribute that has do with His unchanging aspect. He cannot mutate or change either Himself or His will and the plan that He established before the foundation of the world. They will never alter due to any outside force or influence either. Furthermore, He doesn’t change His mind on His promises or His dictates. (Numbers 23:19; Psalm 110:4)

But then, you will ask, what about when it says God repented of what He was going to do in various Bible passages? A valid question until you actually dig into the word repent, but let’s start out with giving a few examples people often bring up. In Exodus 32:14, we have Moses interceding for the people, and God “repenting of the evil He had thought to do”. Then, in II Samuel 24:16, there was a plague God had sent on the nation of Israel in punishment for their king’s disobedience in numbering the people, which was an act of pride and desire to compete on the level of nations around the nation of Israel as well as in direct disobedience to God’s clear dictate not to do so. The plague was so bad that it would have wiped out the nation of Israel had it continued, but God stays His hand in this verse and says it is enough.

Sure looks like God is changing His mind and His will in these passages, doesn’t it? People have a real issue with this idea that God could start out in one direction and then change to another without having changed His will. Furthermore, this leads to a difficulty with God altering the way He handles people through time and the idea of dispensationalism (the concept that God dealt with different people with different approaches at different points in history). For example, He only allowed approach to Him through Israel in the Old Testament. But the law didn’t save; it was a way to show trust and obedience to God before Christ. So now that Christ has come, God changed the approach and has said we must come to Him through Christ alone, not through the Law and our own merit, which can never truly restore fellowship. The Law was no longer necessary, then, because Christ’s death allowed Him to write the Law on our hearts.

But people struggle with this because they assume that a change in approach means a change in nature. This is a fallacious understanding. Why? To understand, we have to look at the word “repent” used in the KJV version of the passages in Exodus and II Samuel, and we also have to take a look at whose perspective that “repenting” is being viewed from.

Repent and the Perspective It is Given To Us From In God’s Word

Repent means to change direction in its simplest form. It means to stop doing what you are and to go another way. This in and of itself doesn’t really help people to understand why a change in approach doesn’t equal a change in nature though, nor does it clear up the confusion as to how God can change approach and not change His will. To understand that, we have to combine this definition with an understanding of whose perspective this word is seen from.

The important thing most people miss is that repent is seen from the viewpoint of humanity, not God’s. How do we know that? First of all, if God could change His mind in a way that changes His actual will, He wouldn’t be eternal, omniscient, or immense. This would, in the end, make Him no longer God as His eternal and immense essences are a part of what makes Him God. Without them, He would not be Himself.

At the end of the day, then, we will all go the way God planned, and God’s plan won’t change. But why say repent then? Because God did, in a sense, “change His mind” from our perspective. We do not have the eternal perspective, so to Moses pleading with God not to destroy Israel or to David praying for God not to wipe out the nation of Israel (something God had promised wouldn’t happen), it would look very much like God changed His mind or His desires in response to their prayers of faith. But what really happened?

The reality is that if God were to go through with what He was doing all the way to the end, doing so would force Him to violate His promises or His nature, neither of which being things He can do. The end goal therefore was not what we assumed it was, but often He allows something to start or sends us down a path for a time to teach, correct, or prepare us with that end goal in mind. He knows what He’s doing. And even though we look at the path and wonder why God would “change His mind” or send us to do something He “didn’t want us to do”, the reality is that the direction you were headed in was a part of the plan but wasn’t going to be the only direction He needed to take us to get to the end. So, while we could see the change in direction as His changing His mind, the reality that is in keeping with His nature is that His plan always had the change in direction there.

This is in keeping with the fact that He knows everything. He already knew we or others around us needed to go in one direction for a while before heading off in another in order for His plan both on a personal level and on a much larger scale to come to fruition. If we understand then both the meaning of the word repent and the perspective in which the Bible presents it to help us understand a God who is so far from human that without human words we couldn’t understand, then this is no longer a problem like so many feel it is.

Moral Attributes

Now we get to the second section of this topic: morality and moral attributes.

To begin with, we must understand why it is important that God has attributes linked to morality. This is because morality only exists if there is an outside standard above anything we can understand. Why do I say this? Well, let’s take an example from today’s world. Some people object to God and any worldview that contains Him because if God exists He allowed Hitler, and Hitler was evil. But if God doesn’t exist, why was Hitler wrong? Why was Hitler wrong but euthanasia, abortion, and other crimes against humanity are all okay? We as individuals all put value on lives. It’s normal to do so. We recognize an intrinsic worth to them. But if God is removed from the equation, then those who have removed Him still put value on lives, but they must define it their own way. Therefore, those who object to Hitler object not on the grounds of true morality, but on the grounds that he did not determine value in a way they agreed with. They determine value in their own minds and use that value on life or those moral guidelines to determine whether others are right or wrong.

But here’s the problem. If it comes from us, it can’t be morality. If there is no absolute standard, no yardstick to measure by that is unchanging, then we cannot judge anyone for anything they do. Murdering people en mass is okay. Killing babies is okay. Rape, incest, molestation? All okay. Maybe certain individuals don’t want to do those things, but they do not have any standard by which they can say “you are wrong because you do those things” since all they have is their own opinion, which, without a being outside of us to validate it, is as valid as the opinion of the serial killer raping and killing women.

People don’t like this. But truth is truth regardless of one’s feelings. Anyone who believes there is a God or that the Bible is infallible must, by their own belief system, therefore believe in right or wrong, and they must use God’s yardstick, not their own, to measure by.

But those who do not believe there is a God or that the Bible is infallible must also, by their own belief system, believe there is no absolute truth, no real right or wrong, and must therefore allow all things even if they themselves do not wish to participate in a given action. Equally so, anyone who says that we cannot know God or that we cannot trust what He has said in Scripture because it is not God’s revelation but is man’s ideas, must also say the same. If you don’t know the measuring stick and haven’t been given it, you are left in the same moral quagmire as those who have declared there is no God but fickle humanity, which changes its ideas of right and wrong on a whim.

With that established, what attributes of God are linked to morality, and what kind of measuring stick do they give us for determining right and wrong in our world?

Holiness (Leviticus 19:2; Isaiah 40:23; Exodus 26:33; 1 Peter 1:15-16; John 17:11; Psalm 47:8; Psalm 89:14; and Isaiah 6:1-3)

The word holy or holiness means completely apart from. In God’s case, the Bible uses the word to indicate that He is completely apart from and exalted above all creation as our Creator. But in the case of humans who have been redeemed, it means we are set apart from the world (but not exalted above it as we are still human and are not God).

When it comes to God, this attribute encompasses the ideas that He is separate from His creation, sin, unrighteousness, and moral evil. This is the unchanging yardstick by which we then measure ourselves against when it comes to morality, or at least, a part of it. When compared to a spotless, blameless God who has never once done anything evil, we who have shed innocent blood and sacrificed our children on the altars of false gods or the altar of our own selfishness suddenly seem a lot more wicked. Even those who might say, well, I’ve never murdered anyone or done child sacrifice, are stained black by their own sins when faced with something as pure as a holy God.

Look at it this way. If you dumped red wine onto a white dress, would the stain be any less red and obvious just because you only dumped a little onto it and not an entire glass? No. The red stain would still stick out like a sore thumb because the dress is such a pure, bright white that any spot or blemish must show. God’s holiness is like that dress, pure and radiant, and we are, when compared to it, all the red stain.

Did God’s Holiness Disappear In The New Testament?

There are some who would say that God got rid of His unwavering holiness in favor of His love when the New Testament rolled around. Those who say this believe that He loves everyone and will therefore excuse the sin that stains us despite the fact that His holiness keeps Him from having fellowship with evil, unrighteousness, and sin. This is not accurate.

His holiness cannot disappear in the New Testament because it is the basis for all other moral attributes, including His love. It is the first one we’ve discussed for that very reason. If you remove His holiness, He is no different from Zeus or other pagan gods who were just like us (or worse), slept with anything that moved in many cases, and did all manner of reprehensible things. Emphasize anything above His holiness, and you reduce Him to that level.

Furthermore, God’s holiness is the basis for needing salvation and the basis for Christ’s death on the cross in the first place. If God had ceased to be holy, not only would He cease to be God, but He never would have needed to send Christ to die for us in order to restore the fellowship broken when Adam and Eve sinned. His holiness demanded that the stain of sin be removed before fellowship could be restored. But as the one offended by our affront and our sin in Adam and Eve’s fall, He had to be the one to reach out and bridge the gap created by broken fellowship. The offended must reach out to the offender to restore, not the other way around. The offender can plead for forgiveness, restoration, and mercy, but if the offended chooses not to give it, then nothing can fix the rift the offender created. As such, God had to initiate, and man had nothing to do with that choice to initiate. They played no role in it and, in fact, as we often see, wanted nothing to do with restoration anyway.

So then, God’s holiness must be the first moral attribute we understand and behold, and it must also not cease simply because a Savior was sent or His approach to us changed in accordance with His Son’s death on the cross. For if it did, then He would cease to be God and Christ’s death on the cross would be meaningless for one man with a sin nature cannot die to redeem another with the same ailment.

Righteousness and Judgment/Justice (Psalm 89:14; Isaiah 61:8; II Chronicles 6:15; Exodus 34:7)

This moral attribute is a natural extension of His holiness. Because He is the holy creator and is above His creation, He has the right to pass judgment on His creation. God is also a God who loves the concept of right versus wrong. If he didn’t, we wouldn’t even have a right and wrong, nor would we have a conscience, which stems directly from His concern with us knowing what He views as right versus wrong. This attribute states that God’s justice rewards right and punishes wrong, even if He is longsuffering (patient) and does not immediately heap condemnation on the heads of those who have done wrong.

God’s Goodness (Mark 10:18; I John 4:8,10; I John 4:16; Job 14:5; Psalm 145:9; Matthew 5:45)

This moral attribute of God has four sub sections. We’ll start with His love.

God’s Love (Mark 10:18; 1 John 4:8,10,16)

God is love. Does that statement strike some of you as a little strange? If you’ve grown up in certain sectors of the Church, then you hear about His judgment all the time, but you don’t hear much about God being love. That’s what the Bible says though. He doesn’t just have love; He is love. Furthermore, only God is truly, completely good and therefore capable of fully loving in the sense the Bible presents (though through His grace and power, His children can show this love as well).

What kind of love is God? It isn’t an emotional love or one that ebbs and flows. It is agape love, which in the Bible is a love that leads to action characterized by sacrifice. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the death of Christ on the cross for our salvation.

God’s Benevolence (Job 14:5; Psalm 145:9; Matthew 5:45)

This second category of His goodness is the way in which He takes care of His creation regardless of whether they serve Him, acknowledge Him, and so on. He often goes above and beyond what we need and allows us to prosper, even if we turn our backs on Him and choose not to serve Him.

Why is this? Well, as one wise person said, for a Christian, this world is the only Hell we’ll ever know. For the unsaved, however, this world is the only heaven they will ever know. So while God is benevolent to all on this earth and in this life, those who reject Him in spite of His love and His benevolence have an eternity of suffering ahead, according to the Bible. So why should we be concerned about whether the wicked temporarily prosper when we know their end? Instead of being jealous, an understanding of God’s benevolence leads us to pity them and pray earnestly for their salvation.

God’s Mercy (Ephesians 2:4; Romans 11:30-31; Isaiah 55:7)

God’s mercy is the way in which His goodness is shown to those in distress. It is not exercised all the time toward everyone. This is important because it leads to the point that He can exercise His attributes differently in different situations. Going back to what we focused on earlier, God won’t exercise one attribute in a way that violates another. So if He exercises His mercy in a way that overlooks justice, then it would violate His holiness and righteousness, and He will not do so. But if He can exercise it in a way that doesn’t violate the other attributes, He is free to do so.

This means that because of His nature, He cannot do unfair or unjust things just to be nice. Think about that. How often do we hear people say things like God would never send so and so to Hell because they never heard the Gospel and that would be cruel, or God would never do ABC because He’s loving? I bet we’ve all heard those statements. Maybe we’ve even said them. The problem with this is that if we say those things, what we’re really saying is that God will do unfair, unjust things in order to be nice to those people. They are saying His love takes precedence over and violates His other attributes.

This is another attribute that relates to salvation, as well. God needed a way to save that satisfied holiness by not ignoring our sin and leaving us unchanged in that sin. But He also needed to satisfy His goodness. So, He sent Christ, God incarnate, to take our sin because He alone had none of His own sins to pay for and had an infinite ability to exchange His life for ours through substitutionary atonement.

God’s Grace

This aspect of God’s goodness is the way He manifests it to those who have actively gone out of their way to be undeserving. This is shown to man in general in His forebearance with us. One sin, one time is enough to make Him just in simply killing us as that is the penalty for sin, but instead, His grace constrains Him, and He chooses not to immediately mete out punishment. But it is also shown more specifically to individuals in our salvation, which the Bible is very clear is through grace in Jesus Christ.

Truth (Job 38:1-2; Job 27:1-6)

This is the last moral attribute of God, and it simply is that God, in what He knows, what He declares, and what He says about Himself and creation, is utterly true and unbiased. Only God is fully capable of being utterly true and unbiased. Humanity has perceptions and perspectives, and we see reality through those perceptions. Some of us are closer to the truth than others, but we are not infallibly true like God is in our understanding.

This is an important point because unless God sees reality with no bias or perception, the Bible cannot be infallibly true. Unless He is truth and is outside of creation, so utterly holy that we cannot fully comprehend Him, the Bible isn’t trustworthy because His perceptions and ideas about the universe, creation, and even Himself, might not be totally accurate or infallible. So we see that if this point or any of the other attributes He holds are removed, He must cease to be truly God and we can therefore know nothing for certain about a Creator or the Divine because there is no source but our own imagination to turn to.

Conclusion

I hope that this discussion has been both instructive and grounding for my fellow believers as well as thought-provoking for those who do not believe. Our perception and idea of God (who He is, His character, and His very existence even) is the single most important thing we think because on it must rest everything else about our worldview. Our belief in God or our lack of it determines how we live our lives, what we do, and why we think what we do, even if we don’t recognize it.

Christians, if we have a wrong view of God, we end up on tenuous ground, unable to fully support our own arguments to either a world going to Hell or to other Christians who challenge us. In I Peter, God tells us through Peter that we should be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. But if we do not know the God we serve, we are in danger of being unable to give that answer to a world that needs to see it. I know that this study has definitely helped to ground me personally and to solidify why I believe what I do about God, and my hope and prayer is that it has done the same for you. We have the answers for a critical, lost world right in front of us, so let us not be ignorant of them and therefore represent to the world a God who is not the God of the Bible.

Author’s Interview with Sara Zagorski

This week, I had the opportunity to interview Sara Zagorski, one of the authors in our new anthology Glimpses of Time and Magic and author of the short story The Heart of the Coast. I won’t take up any further time from the interview, so let’s dive into the questions and answers.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, world! I’m Sara, a 15-year-old sophomore from Chicago. I may be young, but I’ve
been writing ever since I knew how to read, and most of my daily life is filled with reading
and writing. On the side, I play softball, play the flute in marching band, and draw. I have
a cat named Sydney, a dog named Molly, and a very tight group of friends who continue
to inspire and support me every day!

What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

I tend to write high fantasy set in my ongoing magical universe that exists outside of our earth, though I’ll also dabble in other types of fantasy whenever I get inspired. I can’t remember exactly what got me into this type of fantasy, but I could probably trace it all the way back to second grade when I first started liking Peter Pan. Ever since I first saw that movie, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of other worlds existing outside of our own that have their own laws, history, and magic, and whenever I get inspiration for another one of these worlds, I enjoy creating stories about them.

What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read almost exclusively fantasy and science fiction, and that translates pretty directly to
my writing. I find real-life really boring and scary sometimes, and writing stories set in
alternate worlds is a really easy way for me to escape stressful situations and envelop
myself in a different universe.

What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

Reading and writing are pretty high on that list, though I also like to put on my music and
take a walk around my neighbourhood if I’m feeling particularly stressed. It also helps to
watch movies or shows that have really good memories associated with them to help
remind me of good times.

Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

The Heart of The Coast is the first story I’m getting published, but I never actually
anticipated having the opportunity to put my work out there until I was a lot older. As of
now, I don’t have any other books in the making that I’m looking to publish, but I’m
working on a couple of stories for fun in the meantime. My main project right now is
called Kye Rising. It’s another story set in my alternate universe in which the main
character, Kye, is sent to my fantasy world where he has to adapt and prepare for war
before the antagonist, a dark elf known as the Dark One, takes over the last standing
kingdom that opposes his reign. I haven’t gotten far with this story yet, but I’m loving the
characters so far, so it’s going to be a fun ride!

If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience?

Like I said before, this is my first time getting published. I don’t have much valuable
insight into the experience, but I think this opportunity is a really good starting point for
getting published in the future. Working with a group of experienced authors has helped
me understand the process a little better, and I have a good idea of what I’ll need to do
to publish my own work on my own!

What were your inspirations for writing?

Most of my inspirations for writing come from books, movies, or shows that I’ve been
obsessed with at some point. As I read and watch things, I usually take notes on the
distinctive traits of my favourite characters, plot points I love the most, and any other
unique characteristics that make me enjoy the books and movies as much as I do. Some
of my biggest inspirations were the Game of Thrones series, works by J. R. R. Tolkien,
and The Untamed.

Who got you into writing when you first started?

I can’t actually remember who first got me into writing. I’ve written books ever since I
learned how to read, and some of my oldest stories date all the way back to
kindergarten. Because I’ve been writing for so long, there’s no one person in particular
who inspired me to start writing, but there have been a lot of authors along the way who
helped give me ideas for stories.

Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

There was actually one person who really helped me with my writing, and her name is
Joanna White. She’s the author who first introduced me to this project, though I’ve
known her for a long time before this. She’s been a really great mentor for my writing
ever since I started doing her Author’s Games back in fifth or sixth grade, and because
of her helpful comments and critiques on my writing, I’ve improved drastically ever since.
Her Author’s Games also gave me an excuse to write new stories every week, and I got
to put my creativity to good use for the period that I competed. I’m genuinely really
thankful for all the help she’s given me over the years!

What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

My best advice is to not force yourself to write if you don’t want to. Waiting until the
perfect inspiration hits you makes your stories that much better and more enjoyable to
write. Also, basing your stories off of things you enjoy in your everyday life can make
your stories really personal, and you can connect really deeply to the characters and the
settings. The best part of writing for me is making that connection to the characters and
finding yourself in your work.

What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

I wish someone had told me not to force myself to write if I don’t want to. There were
times where I burned myself out and couldn’t write anything because I’d tried to make
myself write too much, and those periods were always really miserable.

What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

It’s almost impossible for me to pin down my favourite all-time book, so I’m going to say
that my current favourite is An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. The book has lots of
incredible character development, and it also includes one of my favourite plot points in
which the villain ends up becoming the hero (or the other way around). As such, my
favourite current literary character would have to be Elias. He’s got really good morals,
he’s an awesome fighter, and he overcomes many challenges that end up building him
up as a person. He’s the perfect example of my favourite type of character.

Discussing Racism and Division in Light of American History

Introduction

First, let me say up front that this is from an American perspective on America. It isn’t written with other countries in mind because their history is different, and I’m not as familiar with the global history of racism and division as I am with the history of it in the States. Second, let me also state this: my opinion probably won’t be popular, but it is based on all of the reading I’ve done on the topics, research into what those who were involved in the events I’m going to highlight had to say, and the trends I see that have started back toward our country’s beginning and have continued to come to light.

Having an Opinion on the Matter

If you listen to some people today (including both colored and white people), non-colored people are not allowed to have an opinion or pass judgment on anything that half of our country is doing simply because of skin color. This contains a fundamental flaw in my opinion.

What is that flaw? The idea that somehow skin color makes us different. Oh, I know people say we’re all the same even if we have different skin coloring, but all evidence stands to the contrary in so many cases. Our country as a whole says one thing and does another. But what they’re saying is in fact the truth! Both white and colored are human beings, and we are all affected by what the other group does because we live in the same country, the same neighborhoods at times, and face varying difficulties based on how the other group responds to us. If we believed this in practice, not just in what we said, then we wouldn’t have the issues we do, or at least, not in the same way as we do.

Historically, black, Hispanic, and Asian communities have faced unjust and in some cases illegal persecution. The white community has affected them in this way, and it is without a doubt wrong. However, with all of the rioting going on, which has not only been aimed toward the police and a corrupt system but also toward stores, business owners, and individuals who had nothing to do with the issue people are supposedly protesting, white communities also live with fear and despair now. Further complicating the issue is that the rioters are only a small piece of the black community or, in the worst cases, aren’t POCs at all but are trying to give them a bad name. This has resulted in an enormous amount of fear incorrectly leveled at an entire group of people who often have done nothing wrong, don’t agree with the violence, and only want their voices heard.

Some would argue that it’s a sort of poetic justice that whites now have to live in fear because of what some small segment of the black community (or those looking to make the black community look bad) is doing in response to years of oppression and mistreatment. I would argue it only compounds the problem because it only breeds more hurt, fear, and resentment, and it solves nothing. But more on that and why I’m saying that later.

Why I Believe Everyone Should Have An Opinion

In the end, I believe every one should have an opinion on this matter, no matter what color they are. We’re all part of the human race, and we should get very angry when another part of the human race is unduly punished or persecuted simply because of color. To say that half of our country shouldn’t be allowed a voice (whether white or black) simply because they are not the other color is inherently flawed because we’re all going to affect one another in how we act. Only a self-centric view of yourself and those around you would lead you to believe that someone who is a different color than you cannot have an opinion on your actions simply because they are a different color. Let’s not do that to anyone.

Friends who are of color? You guys have every right to be angry and devastated over what has been happening to you. It’s wrong, and I’m so sorry you have had to live with the injustice, persecution, and fear that has been inflicted on you. But white friends? You guys can have an opinion too. If you’re sitting there saying that everything that’s happening is fine and you don’t understand why anyone would need to protest, even peacefully… Well… That’s your opinion. It’s one that’s, politely, very head-in-the-sand and very inaccurate, but it is your opinion. For those of you who, like me, agree change needs to happen but denounce the violent rioting going on, you are also entitled to an opinion.

But let’s make sure that while we have our opinions, we’re doing our best to support those who need our support right now. Everyone is going to suffer if the violence continues, most of all our black communities because the violence is only going to lead to further fear and brutality in response from our police departments. If we’re not all working together to bring change, to speak out against what’s going on where we’re able, and to shape the next generation to think differently than our own has, then we are part of the problem no matter what color our skin is.

Let’s Talk History – The Revolutionary War

To start off with, we need a brief discussion of the Revolutionary War. Why is this relevant? Because so few people actually know anything about our history, if discussions going around on social media are anything to judge by. People have been comparing the riots and protests to the Revolutionary War. While I do see some parallels, they’re flipped from what people are claiming, which is that the riots on the part of the black community (not the protests, per se, but riots specifically) are just like the colonies fighting for independence from Britain.

This is a misconception on several levels. First, the Revolutionary War was a war of self-defense, not independence. Yup. You heard me right. The war didn’t start until they’d already declared their freedom and had gone so far as to kick out the British governors in favor of appointing their own. The Declaration of Independence was a notice to England/Britain that we as the colonies were opting out of citizenship and as such did not recognize their authority to govern us. It was a peaceful declaration, and war wasn’t implied or suggested by the colonies.

English Law and the Magna Carta

Now, what was the basis for this declaration of independence? The colonies were, up to that point, considered citizens of Britain, but they had specific restrictions as well as liberties given to them because of the charters they had with previous kings prior to King George III. Furthermore, they and every citizen of Britain had specific rights and duties under the agreement made between the nobles (House of Lords), the king, and the people and first signed on June 15th, 1215. This agreement was the Magna Carta, and it was a huge part of English law. Why was it so important? Because it stated that no one, not even the king himself, was above the law. Therefore, King George III was required to treat the colonies as English citizens properly by following the laws and the charters they had.

But King George wasn’t doing this. He decided to do his own thing, and though many appeals were made to point out that what he was doing was in fact a violation of English law and wouldn’t be tolerated if the people of the colonies were living in England itself, he continued to grow worse and worse. The colonies were treated as citizens only when it benefited England but were denied their rights under English law when it didn’t.

So the colonies wrote the Declaration of Independence to, in a nutshell, say “You won’t treat us like citizens unless it suits you, so we’re declaring we aren’t citizens as you’ve ignored every legal appeal made to this point.” And at that point, Britain’s leadership should have said one of two things. Either, they should’ve said, “You’re right. We’re going to fix this,” or “You’re right. We’ll let you go.” They did neither. At this point, they declared a war and decided to treat them like rebellious citizens, though by then the colonies were not in fact citizens anymore. They had made the decision Britain wouldn’t between citizenship and non-citizenship, and Britain forced them to it.

So What?

Why is this important to what’s going on today or to the rest of this article? Because we’re going to talk about the Civil War, where something very similar happened but ended up splitting a nation in two. But it’s also important because people are paralleling the rioting with this event incorrectly. The American Revolution wasn’t started by the colonists protesting. Even events like the Boston Tea Party were not violent. This isn’t to say that they never did anything the wrong way. They were human just as we are, and certainly once the war actually started, individuals made poor choices. But in general, it was peaceful up until Britain decided to attack us. Then it became a war of self-defense (maybe now the comment I made about that at the beginning makes more sense?).

The riots, on the other hand, are not at all peaceful, nor have they been even close to discriminatory in who they drag into the mess. Business owners, cops who did nothing wrong, civilians who happened to be in the path of the violence. Businesses are burned, fires started on playgrounds that were for children of all ages, colors, and abilities, buildings defaced, rocks thrown at fire fighters’ equipment when the men and women manning them are putting their lives on the line to stop fires rioters started.

The parallel I would draw between the American Revolution and the riots is not that the rioters are the colonies rising up against injustice but that they are Britain making a moment of injustice worse. They aren’t defending themselves from a point in time when police brutality is occurring to them or their families. The police haven’t come into their homes or businesses and first attacked them, nor have they done so on the streets.

That has happened, yes, and those who defend themselves from it are right to do so. Those who step in to help to defend others from a current instance of that sort of brutality are also right to do so. When injustice is happening and people speak up against it to say, this is wrong, unjust, and in some cases, illegal, they are acting in true American spirit like our founders did. But when they choose to do so violently, they are no longer the protesters but the aggressors, and we saw with the American Revolution, this exploded into violence, more lives lost than necessary, and a war that never needed to happen.

The Civil War

I know this is getting long, but we’ve got one more important stop to make here, and this one has everything to do with where we’ve ended up as a country today. Now, we’ve all been taught that the Civil War was about slavery and how the blacks were being treated. This is the accepted view, at least in the North. In the South, if you go visit many of their monuments and Civil War national parks, you will see an entirely different picture of what happened, and that’s what we’re going to talk about here.

As a Northerner, I’ve been told many times Lincoln is the best president we’ve ever had and that he was amazing because he freed the slaves. I’m sorry to say to those of you that hold this view that history does not support such a viewpoint or high regard for Lincoln, as I hope will become clear as we begin to examine what really happened in the Civil War. While the South and the North both made mistakes, no doubt, the South was in the right for what they chose to do, though not on the issue that most believe was the reason for the war and their secession.

What was the Civil War About?

The Civil War, while it did in part have to do with slavery issues, was not predominantly about that. Lincoln’s primary motivation was focused on something entirely different, in fact. Now, before you get mad and accuse me of trying to somehow warp history or marginalize the issue of slavery, I’m not saying it wasn’t an issue on the table. But what I am about to share with you is the reason we still have such a strong divide both between North and South and between black and white. Lincoln and the Civil War are the reason. (Yes, I know… He’s one of our best presidents. How can I say such a thing? Well, hear me out.)

Before the Civil War started, the North and the South had been going back and forth on a lot of issues. It wasn’t just slaves. On the issue of slavery, the South objected because their entire infrastructure was based on agriculture, and if they just did away with slaves entirely right away as the North wanted them to, they would collapse. The entire economy would be ruined. Lives would be ruined. And it wasn’t just that the plantation owners stood to lose. Everyone did.

Part of the issue in question was what to do with all of the slaves once they were freed. Should they be shipped back to Africa to an environment where warring tribes very often sold those they’d captured from a rival tribe to the slavers? Or should they stay in America? If they stayed in America, what would be done to take care of them? They didn’t have any trades, they weren’t educated, and the system couldn’t handle the strain of trying to support all of them. In fact, the situation was such that many freed slaves with masters who treated them well chose to remain on the plantation to work as they had in exchange for food and board because their entire life was on that plantation. Is it right that the system was such? No, of course not! But the situation was complex and multi-layered, and the North tried to act as if it was not in many cases.

Where was the North coming from? Well… You know how we say whites who have an opinion against violent protests on black rights are coming from a place of white privilege? The North was coming from a place of privilege in this case. While they were right to say that the slaves should be freed, they stood to lose nothing at all if the slaves were freed. In fact, in some ways they stood to gain. The North was mostly industrial with little to no agriculture. They didn’t rely on slaves to keep their plantations going, and they were more than happy to hire freed blacks to work in their industrial sites for cheap wages. So if all slaves were freed all at once, the South could go down and the North wouldn’t suffer.

Bigger than just one issue?

But the issues that led to the Civil War were greater than just one issue, however awful that one issue might have been. The North had begun to completely cut the South out of the equation. The abolitionist movement was gaining sway in the North, and they were trying to enforce their laws and regulations on the South slowly but surely. Every new state that joined the Union was a battle between not just slave and free but industrial vs agricultural. The South was justifiably worried that if the North won most of the States and also allowed the blacks to vote, they would lose any and all say in what was going on. The fear ran deeper than just the surface matter of slaves to what would happen if the North gained enough force to push whatever issues they pleased.

Then the North wanted them to start paying every slave they owned to work? They couldn’t afford to pay their slaves in addition to housing, feeding, and clothing them too, something most already were doing to one degree or another (some better than others, sadly). The anger just burned hotter and hotter as their every concern was dismissed or they were accused of trying to encroach on Northern state rights in the process of protesting the slow walk toward the death of their own.

The South was angry. They tried many times to appeal what was being done. Granted, the majority of the surface fighting was about whether or not the North would return slaves to their owners, something the two sides both agreed was required by the Constitution. But it ran so much deeper than that. It was predominantly a fight between class: rich, upper class against middle class against slave. And it wasn’t just the South dealing with this. It was the North too.

The loudest voices in the South were those of rich plantation owners, all of whom stood to lose a great deal. The smaller plantation owners who grew most of the food supplies often didn’t own slaves, but they still chose to side with the South on the issue, though not all did. A huge mess was brewing on all sides, and it would erupt into a civil war when the people had had enough. The South was afraid that the rising distaste for slavery, something their society really wasn’t able to function well without, would result in an extreme disadvantage for them all the way around. If slavery were to be removed, it would have to be gradual to avoid a full infrastructure collapse, which is what both sides had initially agreed would be the case. The North, however, changed its mind as its landscape and its own issues began to change the situation.

But Congress and the leadership wouldn’t listen to the South. Compromise was a thing of the past, but it would not be a part of the future it seemed. They favored the North, who had more people, more voices, and more pull. And the South got fed up with it. (Sound familiar… Kind of sounds like the colonists who weren’t being given their rights by England.) Essentially, the North was bullying the South and only acknowledging them when it was convenient. They were taking advantage of their own countrymen, and the South eventually snapped when Abe Lincoln showed up on the scene.

Why Was Lincoln the Gas to the Fire?

Lincoln was a staunch Whig and definitely was not in favor of the South. When he was elected, the South saw the death of their hopes. They felt that, with Lincoln as president, they would lose any semblance of a voice they still had. And they were right.

December 20th, 1860, seven of the Southern states seceded in the Lower South. Sick of the tyranny and hostility of the North toward them, afraid of losing everything (not just their slaves) if it continued, and looking for independence, they declared themselves to be the Confederate States of America and set up their own government in Montgomery, Alabama. This wasn’t a war over state rights, just as many have said, but it also wasn’t a war against state rights. It was one group of people fed up with the attitude and treatment displayed toward them walking away, which was at the time an option the Constitution neither affirmed nor denied. At this point, there hadn’t been a war and had been no overt violence, just as had been the case with the American Revolution.

Lincoln had the same choice that George III had: let them go, make amends and treat them appropriately, or start a war. Once again, our country faced a situation where a war of self-defense would be fought. The Southern states had declared their independence, which was, according to the Constitution we had, their right to do. They hadn’t done anything illegal in doing so. They should have been allowed to go.

Instead, the North began a war. Between December 20, 1860 and June 8th of the next year, more Southern states would join the Confederacy until a total of eleven states had joined. On April 12th, 1861 the Civil War began with the Confederate bombardment of a Union fort (Fort Sumter) that was in Confederate territory. This was the result of Lincoln’s decision to send supplies to the fort soldiers, who were running low. His move, to the Confederates, appeared to be one of war. The US President was stocking up the fort and fortifying it, and since it was in their territory, they viewed it as an act of aggression.

Why Would the South See It As An Act of Aggression?

Previous to this point, Lincoln, who had been elected without the vote or approval of a single Southern state, had in his inaugural address made it very clear how he felt about their secession and their “rebellion”. Lincoln himself admits that “Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered,” in his address. His statement to those who wanted to leave? “If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it–break it, so to speak–but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?” In other words? The North refuses to let you go.

At the time, to Lincoln’s own admission, there was nothing in the Constitution that said they couldn’t depart. But he stated that it was implied that the Union was to continue into perpetuity simply because no other government established at that time operated with any other intent (until, of course, there was a Revolution and people set up a new government, but Lincoln conveniently ignored that). He argued that the intent behind the Articles of Confederation in 1788 (which predated the Constitution) and the Declaration of Independence was perpetuity and that, if the goal of the Constitution was “in order to form a more perfect Union” as it had been stated, then perpetuity must be the legal expectation of all involved parties as it wouldn’t be better than the Articles of Confederation or the Declaration of Independence if not.

The Flaws in Lincoln’s Argument

The flaw with this of course is how one defines “more perfect”. If by more perfect you mean that you give no legal recourse for abused parties to declare their independence, just as England had tried to do to the colonies, then yes, Lincoln’s assumption would have been correct. Unfortunately, our Founding Fathers and those who drafted the Constitution fully understood that abuse of power by a central government was all too common and easy. They had seen it first hand, and they did all they could to avoid it. Each draft of the Articles and later the Constitution were revised to do everything possible to keep a strong central government from abusing some or all of its people.

That was the goal, not an afterthought, and so Lincoln’s argument went against what the Founding Fathers themselves had done and their goals in drafting our Constitution. They would have supported the South in declaring non-citizenship in the Union as the South wasn’t being treated like a full citizen by the time of the secession. The South followed in the footsteps of the colonies, who declared non-citizenship in response to England’s repeated ill-treatment of them.

So when Lincoln sent the ship to stock Fort Sumter without asking permission to travel into the territory of what had become another country, that country’s citizens, who had already been sent a clear message that Lincoln would use whatever force necessary to keep them in the Union against their will, retaliated against what was to them a clear sign of aggression. After firing on the ship and chasing it off, they chose to also fire on the Fort and so began the Civil War. But without Lincoln’s inflammatory remarks, clear disregard of the South’s decision to leave a Union which had mistreated it time and again, and choice to ignore the diplomacy that would be required to supply a military station in a hostile country this event that began one of the most horrific wars this country has faced might never have occurred.

Was the South Right to Fight the War?

From all that I have learned about both sides, I would say that neither side was fully in the right. On the one hand, the obviously right thing to do would’ve been to free the slaves, just as the North was saying. But on the other hand, the North had no right to force the South to stay and under the Constitution, they had no right to abolish slavery in the South against the will of the South.

What makes the Civil War such a nasty event is that it really brought out all of the issues facing our nation, and I don’t mean just the racism that was going on. The South, as I said earlier, was divided between four groups, roughly. Rich plantation owners who only grew what would make money and ran roughshod over regular, middle class farmers, middle class farmers who sided with the Union, middle class farmers who sided with the Confederates, and slaves who were being used by both sides as a tool (more on that in a minute). Many families were split because some of their men chose to defend their families and their homes as the Union overran the South, which was fighting a primarily defensive war strategy wise, while others of their men chose to join the Union. This was scene most predominantly in border states where father turned on son and brother on brother when the war really got under way.

But the North was equally full of issues. They were less apparent in their racism, and when the war was made about slavery in the last half, they appeared to be the righteous party. They were not. Their divides were between upper class businessmen, blue-collar and union workers, minorities, free blacks who were afraid of violence from the whites, and whites who were afraid they’d go hungry and jobless because of the influx of freed or runaway slaves taking up jobs faster than they became available. To top it all off, the North was already flooded with immigrants before all of this happened, so adding the new people taxed their economy further since they couldn’t send them back to the South to work on plantations.

Food became scarce as the crops in the South were destroyed, and people on both sides who didn’t have money went hungry. The fears that the South had of what would happen if all the slaves were freed and how they would find work, be cared for, and paid? The concerns that had been raised surrounding how the economy could survive an abrupt freeing of the slaves were all coming to fruition in the North, but they still wanted to push the South into a similar situation and even force the issue when the South seceded.

How the War Added to Our Racial Tensions

Prior to the war, there was a definite argument over the way slaves were treated, whether they should be freed or not, and how the matter should be handled in the first place. Both sides were fired up about it, but there was one group that was relatively left out on the matter if they were included at all: the blacks themselves, both free and slave. Some were writing books (such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the moral wrong of slavery but also showed slavery in all forms) that spoke out against it. Some were speaking up. But their voices were mostly unheard.

Most slaves and freed slaves working on plantations didn’t have an education. They weren’t included in what was going on. And yet those around them held a view of them that was a mix of fear and prejudice in so many cases, both in the North and the South. The situation wasn’t good, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was when the war started and then afterwards. Why is that?

Well, when the Civil War started, both sides used the black community and the slaves of it as chips in the dispute. On the Southern side, there were rules about the draft that allowed wealthy slave owners to avoid the draft if they owned a certain number of slaves. On the Northern side, they were not enslaving blacks, but they also didn’t give blacks citizenship in many cases and viewed them with suspicion and mistrust.

Then, when the North was losing the war and many Northerners wanted to just let the South go, Lincoln was seriously concerned he was going to lose the next election. So he came along with his Emancipation Proclamation which did nothing to help any of the official slaves because all of them were in the South, and until the North won the war, there was no way to enforce such a proclamation. Nonetheless, his proclamation changed the tenor of the entire war. It was no longer about the Union and preserving it, as Lincoln himself said it was in the beginning. It became about freeing the slaves. And when the North’s general, Ulysses S Grant, won several major victories for the North, they were revitalized in their holy fervor that the war should be fought to end slavery now. As the victors write the history books, the North was immortalized in their version of events as the ones who freed the slaves.

Where did it really lead?

The Civil War ended with the South devastated. Much like World War I would later leave Germany devastated and lead to the rise of Hitler, the Civil War and the way the North treated the South afterwards led to intense hatred between North and South and, worse still, led the outraged, hurting white communities who had been mistreated by the elites and the rich plantation owners in both the North and the South, turning their anger on the newly-freed slaves who would now compete with them for jobs in a failed economy. The North made it still worse by essentially leaving the South to fix its own problems. But when it became clear the South was going to implode with the hostilities between blacks, whites, rich, and poor, the North came in and forced everything to straighten out.

Only they didn’t actually make anything better. In both the North and the South, racial tensions continued to rise. Black communities were mistreated (at best) and slaughtered and oppressed in most cases. The fear, hatred, and blame left in the wake of a war that is widely known as America’s deadliest war compounded into rioting, looting, straight up murder of blacks because the South couldn’t punish the ones they blamed most of all, and tensions that still exist today between both North and South and black and white.

Why Does any of this Matter?

This matters because if we don’t understand and know our own history and that of the world around us, we are bound to repeat it! And that is what we are doing. Only this time, instead of rioting from oppressed laboring classes and poor farmers during the Civil War, we have segments of the black community rioting. Unfortunately, the way things are going, we have the brewing of round two of the Civil War happening. It will be no less deadly than the first, and lives of all colors will be lost. They already are being lost. Good people on both sides will die. We can’t stop it by rioting any more than those who rioted during the Civil War and after it fixed racial and class tensions or stopped brother from fighting brother.

If we want to stop it, the solution is solidarity. It was the one thing that those involved in the Civil War did not have. At every turn, there was only dispute, dissent, and fury. Had both sides come together and found a solution that prized both what was right and what was best for all parties involved, the war could have been averted. Instead, Lincoln further polarized the issues between the two sides, the people on all sides fought between themselves, and no one truly presented a united front.

In the end, while the solution will require all of us to work together as the people to send a clear message to our leaders and those in power that we will no longer tolerate this, violence does not send that message. It did not during the Civil War era, and it will not now when we are dealing with many of the same issues our ancestors did. Just as the violence and war created a stronger problem with racism, suspicion of immigrants and freed slaves, and class segregation, another war now will do the same. Perhaps it might reverse the roles. Who knows? But whether it reverses roles or not, our country will be worse for it, not better.

If we want to avoid repeating history, we all need to do our part, however small it might seem, to put an end to injustice in ways that are legal, non-violent (unless it’s a clear issue of self-defense, in which case, it’s clearly okay to fight back), and we need to promote the understanding that at the end of the day, we are all human. It doesn’t matter what color our skin is, and if people are trying to segregate and separate based on that, we should correct that behavior, but we should do it in love. If we correct the opposing side’s wrong views of other people in an insensitive, unkind, and unloving manner, we’re only going to further entrench them in their wrong views. Instead, we must confront them with a reality that is consistently different than what they think it is. Love, kindness, and consistency go much further than rioting, looting, and killing, which only serve to confirm opinions on the black community that are harsh, unfair to most people in the community, and extremely prejudiced.

Further Resources

These are some of the sites and sources I used to look into the Civil War and the issues behind it. I quoted directly from Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, which you can find here.

History.com

Battlefields.org

Essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com (Discusses the class conflicts and racial divisions. While I don’t agree with all of the things they’ve said about the Civil War being predominantly about slaves or it being a war against State Rights on the part of the South, I do believe they’ve done an excellent job explaining the tensions in both sides before the war even got started. Those tensions only further deepened and exploded during and after the war.)

Thursday Technicalities: Dealing With Rejection

Publishing Journey

Introduction

I said I was done with my publishing series here, but what discussion on publishing would be complete without a discussion of rejections? While it isn’t on my publishing checklist because it isn’t something you actively need to do, it is something we need to cover. So while it isn’t technically part of the publishing series I finished up last week, it still is in that it deals with publishers, agents, and your work.

Personal Experience Dealing with Rejection

Hi Ariel, I am put in the horrible position of having to write you a rejection for the bootcamp program. You were a strong contender for me, but ultimately there were people more suitable for where I wanted to go. Your work is strong, and I think you know that. You’ve got some great social media presence, and amazon sales and everything, so you are definitely on the path to make a great career out of it. Where I think I might be able to inject some constructive criticism is in the vibrancy and excitement of your writing. There’s something about it that’s a little slow, and for something like a Watty, you need to really blast forward with your stuff; slim down overly descriptive passages and really lean on dialogue to fire the story. If ultimately I had chosen you on the program, that would have been my initial drive; to get you to speed things up – grab your reader and don’t let them go. I read the first few chapters of your book, and could really see a lot of great stuff in it, but it just didn’t grab me. I was able to put it down and look at something else, and, as an author, you never want that to be the case. Honestly, I think you’re going to do well as an author and I think self-publishing on Amazon could well lead you to relative riches, but I don’t think this book in its current state is going to win a Watty. Fantasy is REALLY hard to convince people to pick up for awards like this, and epic fantasy even more so. You need to find something that hooks in the reader and just doesn’t let go, and what you have is a descriptive book that is very good and nice but works better in paper form, where the reader is more invested and has the time to sit in their chair and dedicate an hour or more to it.

I’d love to speak more with you generally. I think your work is promising and genuinely believe you are going to go far. You have the drive and passion (and the words) for success and I can see myself in the future saying to someone ‘oh yeah, I passed her up once for a mentorship program’ and them going ‘what?!?’! 🙂 Good luck with it all!

Crispin O’Toole-Bateman, Author of A Very English Necromancer and 2020 Wattys Bootcamp Mentor

Hi! I just wanted to drop by and say that I really enjoyed Pathway of the Moon, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take you on as a mentee. I’m honored you chose to submit to me though. Your first chapter started off great. I was swooning over Leo from the get go. I hope to be able to send you feedback on the chapter that you sent me. If this is something you are interested in, please let me know.

Mikaela Bender, Author of Expiration Date and 2020 Wattys Bootcamp Mentor

I received these from two out of three of the mentors I applied to be mentored by for a writing bootcamp on Wattpad. For those who don’t use Wattpad, it’s a writing platform I frequently use to interact with writers and readers, and I have some of my stuff up for free. I am looking to enter the major contest that Wattpad HQ–the people actually running the organization and website–do, called the Wattys. It’s a big deal on Wattpad and can lead to publishing deals or other connections for winners. These two have already succeeded as Wattpad Stars and/or former Wattys winners, so they’re strong writers and know a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in those areas. These two were really helpful and kind in their rejection letters, and the point of including them is to show you that rejections aren’t really all that scary even if they’re disappointing to us as recipients.

The writing/mentoring bootcamp is separate from the contest and is run by former winners or individuals who are part of paid Wattpad programs, which requires some serious talent and skill to achieve. The quotes above? My rejection “letters” sent via PM from two of the three mentors I applied to. Ultimately, I wasn’t accepted into the program, so I’ll be revising without the help of a mentor.

But this is a good lead in for what we’re talking about. How did I handle this? How should we all as authors deal with rejection, and what’s the best method for dealing with this tough area? People deal with it in lots of ways, some better than others, and that’s why we’re going to discuss it.

Dealing With Rejection is Tough

Let’s just be honest. None of us enjoy being rejected! Whether we get that dreaded rejection letter from the agent we were hoping would take our work on or just waited and waited but never heard back from a publisher, rejection leaves us feeling a bit dejected and very disappointed. I mean, sometimes it stings so bad we want to sit there and cry or down a tub of ice cream.

Now, both rejection letters I got from the mentors I applied to were very kindly worded. Neither said my work was complete trash or even hinted as much. And for the most part, you’re not going to run into that when dealing with rejection. I’ve heard a few stories about things publishers or agents have told authors, but on the whole, usually it’s a very polite no if you get any response at all. However, both of mine were special because they took the time to actually offer feedback! This was my first experience with rejection letters since I’ve done mostly self-publishing or worked with groups I was already established with, but having read a lot from various authors, agents, and others in publishing, this doesn’t happen all that often. You may get a polite letter telling you they aren’t able to take on your work or aren’t interested in it at this time, but feedback is rare and extremely valuable. While the two mentors who responded back with friendly rejections via private messaging aren’t publishers, they’re busy too, and they didn’t have to take the time to offer any constructive feedback. I very much appreciate their doing so.

While I’m obviously disappointed that I didn’t get into the program because I know it would’ve been an awesome learning experience for me and would’ve been very good for the book, I got some direction on where I might want to focus my editing efforts, and I know how to fix the problems pointed out because I’ve got the practical knowledge to do so and have fixed this very problem for other authors. (Funny how we can fix things for other people and be blind to the same issues in our own work!)

What If I Don’t Know How To Fix It?

If you’re not an experienced author dealing with rejection letters, you’re very likely to run into this issue. Either you were given feedback and don’t know what to do with it or you have no feedback and still don’t know why it was rejected. Even experienced authors may run into this as they may not see the problems others do. There are a few ways to deal with this. First of all, quitting is not one of those ways, okay? Quitting means you actually failed. So keep writing, but really put your focus and attention on learning how to improve. One book I very highly recommend that I’ve used to improve my current WIP is Donald Maas’s Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (there’s a companion book too that I haven’t started, but if it’s anything like the workbook, it’s going to be gold).

How is this work book going to help?

Why do I recommend this? Because Donald Maas was a literary agent for a very long time before he moved to independently publishing his own writing guides. He’s seen thousands of manuscripts in his years as a literary agent, and he knows exactly what the common issues are that result in the rejection of a manuscript. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could fix those issues before an agent or publisher ever sees your book?

Now, I promise what he offers will help. But it’s also a ton of work! Anyone can do and understand the exercises, but they’re hard. Some of them really force you to think, and many of the exercises have not only changed my perspective on my manuscript and my own characters but have also changed the story’s arc. Expect to make a lot of revisions, add a lot, and maybe remove just as much. But expect that if you do the work, you’ll have a book you can be proud of putting into readers’ hands.

Other Appropriate Responses

Second way of dealing with it? Take it to an avid reader friend. If you don’t have one, try asking some other writers who are more experienced than you. You should already have a connection with whoever you choose to ask, just to clarify, but ask. They might not have time, but you never know! They’ll probably see things you didn’t and might be able to pinpoint the reasons your manuscript is getting rejected.

Final recommendation for dealing with rejection is this… Get an editor if you haven’t already. Seriously. This might sound like a plug for myself and other editors since I’m a freelance editor myself, but we’re not recommending this because we get paid for it. We’re recommending it because it’s indispensable. Authors who have their own personal editors are often first in line to corroborate this. It’s important, so don’t ignore it. If you don’t have the money for it, see if you can at least get a critique partner who’s got strong skills in areas of writing where you know you struggle.

What if I’m Still Rejected After All That?

But Ariel, you might say, I’ve done the work and even had an editor take a look, but the book’s still being rejected. Well, there are of course any number of reasons this might happen, but if you’ve got a really strong, well-crafted story, chances are high you’re just not a good fit for that individual or that publisher. It’s still tough to take the rejection, but don’t give up. Someone out there will want the story, and if they don’t, self-publishing is always an option. Plenty of big name authors started out that way and ended up with publishing deals later, so don’t lose heart. Accept the situation with grace and keep working at it.

Conclusion

My hope here is that you’ve realized that rejection isn’t as scary as it seems. Yes, it’s disappointing and sometimes hurts a bit. But it only means you have more work to do or that your piece wasn’t a good fit for that individual or publisher. We’re not all well-matched with every person we meet, and we shouldn’t expect our stories to be any different. What one publisher thinks is trash and rejects could end up being a best seller with another publisher.

Keep a positive attitude, use the feedback you get if you’re lucky enough to receive that from whoever you submitted work to, and keep working at it. No one promised this would be easy or that you wouldn’t fail. No one promised your work would be ready for publication as soon as you thought it was ready to go and mailed it out. No one promised everyone would want it. But I can promise you this. If you respond to it properly and with a good attitude, your work and you yourself will be better for it.

So when you get those rejection letters, put a smile on your face, keep that letter to remind you of where you’ve been, and turn your face to the future where you will be better than you were the day you got that letter. That makes the difference between a successful learning experience and a failure, not whether or not the publisher or agent accepted you.

Thursday Technicalities: Traditional Publishing

Introduction

This will be the final section in the publishing series I’ve been doing. Next week, we’ll be moving on to another topic. Last week was on indie publishing, and this week, we’re going to discuss traditional publishing. This will be a slightly shorter post since the application process and package is often not all that different from indie publishing packages. But the rules for submitting that same material are a little different, usually. So let’s get into it!

Rules for Submitting Manuscripts

For most traditional publishers, they won’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. This just means that, unless they’re running a special period for you to send in your manuscript directly, you’ll need an agent. Some indie presses may also want you to go through an agent, but they’re not as particular about this all the time, which makes it important to read through their website and find out if they actually accept manuscripts unsolicited.

But with a traditional publisher, expect to need an agent unless there’s a note that they’ll accept unsolicited manuscripts. If you don’t do this, your manuscript will be consigned to the trash pile. They’ve got too many manuscripts as it is without spending time on people who won’t follow guidelines. If their website doesn’t say either way and you really, really want to take a shot with them, your best bet is to look to see if there’s a way to contact them and ask what they expect for submissions. Politely inquire if there is a way you can submit your manuscript or if you need an agent to do so. Some of the smaller publishing companies might be open to it. Bigger ones like Tor or Random House? Probably not. But those bigger companies are usually clearer on what they expect.

Don’t Be Cute or Fancy

Rule two? Don’t try to be cute or fancy. This is like applying for a job in some respects. Sending your cover letter or other documents on hand-designed stationary or any of the other weird things people have done with cover letters or other application papers is a no. Just don’t do it. It does not make you look good, it will make them laugh (but not in a nice way), and you will most likely be rejected. Tasteful and professional is the way to go. Let your manuscript speak for itself and don’t give them a bad impression before they even read the piece.

Reasons to Choose Traditional Publishing

There’s no doubt about it that traditional publishing, if you can establish yourself, goes a long way. You get editors, cover designers, and marketing plus royalties (or an advance, depending on how they pay). Plus, even though indie and self-publishing are perfectly valid ways of publishing, people still give traditionally published authors more weight. That last reason to choose this route has gradually been shifting with the success authors have had going it alone with self-publishing, but there’s still a bit of a stigma among those who don’t know much or anything about publishing or the writing industry, so there’s a chance the readers you want to reach are more likely to pick a book up if it’s in Barnes and Noble, not just Amazon. While there are ways to achieve that if you’re a self-published or indie author, being traditionally published is definitely easier.

Reasons Traditional Publishing Might Not Be Your Best Option

One trend in traditional publishing that tends to be a bit of an issue at times is the lack of proper editing. The quality of editors has gone drastically downhill, partially because the demand for them has been higher than the number of editors who learned from other seasoned editors. When it comes to editing, you learn by doing and by working with editors who know the craft well, whether through self-paced classes or books from those editors or by actually working side-by-side with them. Unfortunately, when you don’t have enough editors who do that, then you have an issue with quality of edits performed on books.

The other problem that I’ve heard traditionally published authors complain about is that editors don’t really give their book the attention it needs for one reason or another. Many end up getting a freelance editor to go through it before they even submit to a publisher because they want it to be ready for print before the publisher even works on it.

Why? Because while some authors get really great editors, a trend that has become an issue in traditional publishing is looking to see if the manuscript can be published as is. If it can, they put it to print with minimal editing or with sub-par edits. If it can’t, it often gets tossed unless the author is already established. This isn’t true of every publisher that’s traditional, but it’s a disturbing trend, and more disturbing when you start reading that even some established authors are finding this happening in their work.

Issues with Control and Involvement in the Process

So be aware of that issue. The other reason it might not be for you is that you have very little control over the process with a publisher. With indie and small publishers, you may find you have some control over things or that they’re more open to your suggestions. Not so much with big publishers and traditional publishing in general. You’ll get paid royalties or an advance, but until you’re well established, you won’t get paid big sums of money for the book, typically, because the publisher won’t invest if they’re not sure it can sell. This may also mean that marketing for your book isn’t as strong as it could be.

Conclusion

As with anything, traditional publishing has its pros and cons. Nothing is ever completely perfect, so you have to evaluate which options available will work best for you. Once you find that option, go for it! Expect to be rejected a lot with traditional publishing, but don’t give up on it. If they give you any feedback in their rejection letter, then use it to improve. Otherwise, keep your chin up and keep trying. In the meantime, don’t stop writing while you wait! Writing is one of those skills where you can only improve by doing, so keep learning and practicing no matter how many rejection letters you get.

If you really want to make a career out of it, it is possible, but you’re going to have to really work to stand out head and shoulders above every other hopeful, author wanabee. While the odds aren’t as low as people sometimes act like they are, they still aren’t high for you making it. So never stop learning and improving and honing your craft. That’s your best shot at making this work.

Book Spotlight: KM Jenkins’ Tales of Ferrês

This is the book spotlight for Tales of Ferrês, a fantasy book by K.M. Jenkins. I’ll just include the book information and the beautiful cover here. If you want to find out more about K.M. Jenkins, you can see the interview here.

Blurb:

Since the beginning of time, one kingdom in the world of Tarzinëa has remained a mystery. Very few have entered its depths and survived. Walk alongside our heroes and watch their tales unfold as they enter the Forest of Ferrês. Discover everything from wolves so large they look like full grown ponies, to devil creatures that lurk in the night. Expect the unexpected as you venture into the magical land of Ferrês where not everything is as it seems.

Cover:

Author’s Spotlight: K.M Jenkins

Hi all! Today, I’ve got a special for you. It’s been a while since we’ve done an author’s spotlight or interview here on the blog, but today, I’ve got Katie Jenkins (K.M. Jenkins) with me for her blog tour on her new release, Tales of Ferrês! It’s on pre-order on Amazon right now, so go head on over and check that out! I’ll be putting up a book spotlight page for the first time. Since I haven’t read the book yet, I can’t really write a review, but I can spotlight the book, so you can see that here. Let’s get started on the interview!

First, tell us a little bit about yourself, Katie.

I am an International Bestselling Speculative Fiction author. My works consist of fantasy and paranormal romance. One day in the future I plan to add horror to my list of genres, but right now these two fit perfectly for me. I am the proud mama of twin boys that are only two-years old. They keep me busy on most days. I work a normal day job part-time and write in my freetime.

Very neat! I also work a normal day job and write in my free time, so I know it gets busy, but doing that on top of parenting? Definitely a challenge! So, tell us… What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

I write High Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Everything I write is either for the YA crowd or the New Adult crowd. I got into writing High Fantasy because I started creating a world that revolves around several kingdoms with different species. I love world building and making things from nothing. So, it just fits me. My paranormal romance kind of chose me after I read several werewolf love stories. Mine are more geared towards the younger crowd so they are clean reads that anyone over the age of 15 can read.

That’s great. I’m a huge fan of world-building myself, so I can understand the pull toward high fantasy because of that! Now, what genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read just about everything. I have been stuck in a rut where I have been craving dark romance books. I also read fantasy and paranormal romance. Those tend to inspire my own stories. The dark romance books are more for my enjoyment.

I’ll admit I like dark romances myself. I’d never write them myself, but I do enjoy them sometimes. So, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

My top favorite thing to do on a free day is to curl up with a good book. Sometimes I will watch a show on Netflix, but I really have to be in the mood to watch TV. My other favorite thing to do is to sit in a dark room and listen to music. It is like meditating and helps me calm down from a stressful day.

All good options, for sure! Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

I will be starting on my next series of short stories here this coming August. I plan to introduce the next kingdom in my Tarzinëa world. This kingdom is Tarza and I will be doing a lot more romance stories this time around. There will be a few characters making a reappearance in this series while I will be introducing several more.

My other work-in-progress is my Vortex Series. I actually release a new chapter each month from book 1 to my newsletter subscribers. The book is about a young cop named Cassie that finds out she has supernatural powers. Not only that she goes from living a normal life to being thrown into a world of supernatural creatures. She has to find her true place within this bizarre world, all while a war is on the verge of breaking out. 

They sound really exciting. Speaking of things you’re working on, let’s switch gears a bit to talk about the publishing side of things. If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience?

I’ve self-published pretty much my entire journey so far. It is a trying process and has its ups and downs. I’m making more of a push now to get my name out there and to keep my content flowing through my Facebook and blog accounts. It can get pretty overwhelming when you do mostly everything yourself. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, because I love being able to control everything that is mine.

I’m the same way, to be honest, though I have worked with a publisher and liked that experience too. So, what were your inspirations for writing?

I love writing. The big inspirations for my writing are books, movies and meeting new people. They tend to create characters in my head that eventually create worlds. Then they drive me nuts until I have to write their story.

My characters are the same way! Of course, they don’t shut up even after I write their story, but that just leads to more books, so I’m not complaining. So tell us… Who got you into writing when you first started?

I started writing when I was a kid. I always loved getting creative writing projects in school. I didn’t get a lot of support from my teachers though. They didn’t understand why I enjoyed writing fantasy stories. That is why I didn’t really give it a go until I was in college. I started writing one day and just couldn’t stop. Then after a few years I finally decided to take the leap and publish my own stuff for everyone to see. I am still learning and look at all the reviews I get to help better my craft.

Seeing the reviews, both good and bad are definitely a really helpful tool. There’s always something you can learn, even from harsher feedback. Speaking of learning and feedback, was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

I would have to say the biggest person who helped me the most was my editor Allison Reker. She is an Christian Fantasy author that I PA for also. She is like my best friend of all my author buddies. We partnered up several years ago and have been working together ever since. She helps me keep motivated by being my writing partner. She also is the main reason why my stories turn out as good as they do. I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without her.

That’s great! Now that you’ve been doing this for a bit, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

I would say do your research and build your author platform months before you release your first book or story. If you want to find readers you have to put in a lot of leg work in order to find them. I am still struggling with my platform but I have gotten several loyal readers so far and want to keep it growing.

So true! The power a well-built platform like that has can’t be understated. On the same theme of writing advice, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

How to efficiently write content for my blog. I would love to say I succeed at this but alas I don’t. I’m still working on it and trying to get better at it. Your blog is one of your key features to have for building your author platform.

That’s excellent advice. I often tell those asking me for advice the same thing! Next, what’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

My favorite book of all time would be Sword Sworn by Mercedes Lackey. The main character is Kerowyn (Kero) and she is a strong female lead that shows the strength of a woman in a man’s world. I loved this character so much I found my own main character in my Tarzinëa series come to life. I loved the name too.

Alright, everyone! It’s been great having Katie with us today. I hope you all enjoyed and will check out her book. If you don’t use Amazon as your main reading platform, you can access the list of available platforms here.

If you want to connect with K.M. Jenkins, you can do so at any of the following places:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Street Team

Twitter

Dragon Ryder VIP Readers List

Instagram

Amazon

Bookbub

Goodreads

Sunday Stories: Learning Who God Is

New Blog Schedule

Introduction

Recently, my family has begun a study into various aspects of Christianity and learning about the nature of God or theology. This has really gotten me thinking because it’s not a subject often discussed in churches. Certainly not in liberal ones, and sadly, not even in conservative ones. It is avoided, and I believe there is a reason for that. It isn’t a good one either.

Why It Matters

The reason this subject is the starting point and matters so greatly is that no study of how we ourselves should apply Biblical principles can be complete or accurate if we do not know the nature of God. As Tozer says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. … Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

“For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech…”

What We Believe About God Has A Huge Impact On How We Live Our Lives

Truer words might never have been spoken. What we believe about God defines how we come to the Bible, and it defines how we approach every single thing about our lives. If we believe He is a being that will accept us however we are, then we can comfortably live our lives however we please for the knowledge of the holy is insignificant and need not affect anything of the divine.

But if there is a God who has a nature that we can, if there is a God whom we can see anything of in the order of nature and the natural laws, if there is a God revealed through His own revelation to man in the Scriptures? If we know that God, then we know our view of Him must impact every aspect of our lives, leaving no area untouched. Not education, not our beliefs, not any action or part of our lives. 

We must hold all up to the light of who that God is, not our imagination of who God is. For if the Bible is true and if there is anything we can see of God’s nature from the natural world, our imaginations of who God is are invalidated and only the truth of who He has said He is can stand. But if it is not true, if any part of it isn’t true, then it is one person’s imagination of God against another and there is no way to know anything. Simply put, there would be nothing different between Jehovah God and Zeus for we can no more know Him than the ancient Greeks could understand and know Zeus. With no clear indication of who God is from His own revelation of Himself, He remains so high above our imaginations that we have no hope of understanding Him and therefore no hope of understanding His actions, how we might gain His favor, or how we ought to act in order to gain a favorable eternity.

The Results of Not Believing the Bible Is Infallible and God’s Word

We see the results of a belief that Scripture is unreliable in many religions and beliefs. Some have thrown it out entirely, and they believe all manner of things. Their beliefs range from the belief that there is some cosmic energy they’ll become a part of to the belief that there is no heaven, only constant reincarnation until one reaches a state of enlightenment. But sadly Christian groups have also fallen prey to this belief. Many liberal churches and most if not all Catholic churches teach that the Bible is only a group of stories that are meant to give us instruction into how to live a good life.

Of course, if this is true, then what shall we base our morals upon? Our own ideas of morality cannot be trusted. They have produced men like Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini. Our own moral codes vary widely and can become very, very messed up. But if we cannot trust our own and we are, as those who claim the Bible can’t be trusted might say, unable to know God at all, where then can our moral codes come from? They have to come from a higher power. But if you cannot know the higher power whom they come from, then you have a serious issue because you also can’t know what that higher power’s standards are for morality. For all you can determine, the higher power could be happy with Hitler and angry with your own “good” behavior. There is zero basis to say what is moral and what is not if the Bible is not true, then. 

What Does God’s Nature Have to Do With This?

God’s nature comes into play because it is necessary for us to understand anything at all about Him or what He expects. Several very basic things must be true of God’s nature if any of us are going to be able to understand Him in even a limited capacity. After all, if the Bible is true, then God’s goal is to have a relationship with us. As with any relationship, there are boundaries and rules to follow. While the relationship isn’t all about rules, it is governed in some ways by them. But what relationship that is loving and good can function with no communication of expectations or the personality of the individuals involved? Therefore, to have a relationship with us, God must reveal both His nature and His expectations.

And that leads us to the main focus of this Sunday Story and the next. For today, I want to go over what I’ve been learning about the essence of God. God’s essence are those things that make Him God. They are different from attributes, which I’ll discuss next time, in that they are not physical descriptions of Him and are often harder to pin down. But they’re important because without them, many of the attributes that Christianity and the Bible assign to God have no basis to stand on.

God’s Essence

God is a Spirit

First on the list, we have the essence of God being a spirit. Or, a better way to say is that God is spirit. (Luke 24:39 and John 4:24). Sometimes, God uses anthropomorphism in His Word to help us to understand Him. Some examples of this are in 1 Kings 8:29 where the people pray God’s eyes will be on them, but because He is Spirit, He has no real, physical eyes. Or, in Nehemiah 1:6, Nehemiah refers to His ears and eyes as he cries out to God. Again, because God is spirit, He doesn’t have physical eyes or ears, but He uses those to give us an understanding of Him. It’s important, however, to know that He has no literal physical traits because if He did, He would have the physical limitations we do.

He is Invisible

Second under this point is the concept that He is invisible (Deut. 4:15-19; John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16). This is why we’re not supposed to make up something or to create something that we call God or serve as God. This means not just creating idols we serve as a god but also setting up anything that we serve as the God of the Bible when it does not match with the God of the Bible. So when we replace God with our own image of who God is instead of how He presents Himself in His word, we create an idol, even if it isn’t the usual golden statues and wooden images we typically imagine in Christianity when told not to create idols. Furthermore, the passage in John adds another layer to this in giving us the distinction between God the Father and God the Son. It does this by making it clear that God is Spirit while the Son, though fully God, is the physical manifestation of God the Father. If you miss this, then it’s easy to land yourself in a lot of Biblically inconsistent beliefs, such as saying that Christ wasn’t God or was only partially God and partially human instead of 100% both at the same time.

Finally under this point, God is alive (Joshua 3:10; 1 Samuel 17:26, 36). What I mean by this is that He has life in Himself. The idea of life in Himself is the idea that He is eternal and never dying. We do not have life in ourselves. We only have life in Him. So His being alive is not the same sense of being alive as we would say we are alive. He literally has life and is the only one who can give it to another. Why is this important? Because if you don’t believe this, you end up with a cosmic force like you see in Hinduism that has no life in and of itself. Interestingly enough, not only is this cosmic force where the idea of karma came from, but this is also the idea that Star Wars and the Force were based upon, at least in terms of the philosophy.

He is a Person

A person must be self-conscious and self-deterministic. This means they can think about who they are and are capable of making choices. So what is the basis for saying God is a person? He is both self-aware and self-deterministic. (Isaiah 45:5; Job 23:13; Acts 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:37) If you miss this, you easily stray into Deism, the belief that God wound up the universe like a clockmaker by one method or another and then let it run with no further intervention or interaction (or, in some individual’s beliefs, He only takes an interest in the really big things and has no concern for anything smaller). I should also note that Theistic evolutionists often are in reality Deists who believe evolution is the method God used to wind everything up. But in either case, not believing God is a person, but is instead just a cosmic force or spirit, leads to easily believe He would abandon His creation as an entity without personality has no sense of caring or concern for anything.

God Is Self-Existent

In Exodus 3:14, God states I AM that I AM. The power of this identification is significant because only God can truly say this. We cannot say I am that I am because it steps us outside of time. That statement, in its truest meaning, means that the individual saying it has always existed and always will. It leads to another aspect of God: His eternal nature. We can say that we are tired or we are ourselves, but we don’t have the capability to sustain ourselves, nor are we eternal. So, therefore, in making this statement, God is saying He is self-existent and outside of time.

God’s Immensity 

This is the concept that God the Father is so immense that He simultaneously fills time and the physical planes of Heaven and Earth. The support for this is found many places, but some of the key supporting passages are 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 2:6; Jeremiah 23:24; and Isaiah 66:1. 

God’s Eternity

The concept of how God’s immensity fills time is encompassed in the word eternity. God exists in eternity: in and at all times. He not only exists outside of time as we know it, but He created time and what we use to measure it. Unlike us, however, He is so immense that He is able to fill all of time. 

Now why is this and time important? Because time is full of change. It’s an essential part of our lives, so much so that we know nothing different. Every one of us changes over our lifetimes, and the things around us are always changing. God is the only One who doesn’t change no matter how much time passes. This goes back to the concept of His eternal essence. Because He is outside of time, to Him, it is only, always, the here and now and He never changes.

Because change is everything to us and all we know, this is a hard concept for us to comprehend. But we absolutely must believe this about God because His claims to sovereignty and His very being as God demands it and relies upon His immensity and eternal being.

We find the support for this in Genesis 21:33, Isaiah 57:15, Hebrews 1:2 and 11:3, and John 1:3 among many other places.

His Sovereignty

So why does His sovereignty depend on His immensity and eternal essence? If God couldn’t exist simultaneously in all times, then He could miss something, not know something, or need to learn something new. He would be like us, and things could catch Him by surprise. He wouldn’t be able to have an overarching plan for time that would come to fruition no matter what anyone does. In short, He wouldn’t be sovereign, and He wouldn’t be God because being God means being sovereign, eternal, immense, and spirit.

This leads to further discussion, then, on human free will and choice. But I’ll leave that for another post. It isn’t the point of this post, though it is an interesting discussion and one well worth having. 

Conclusion

These essences of God are key to understanding who God is. These are the foundation for our understanding of God and for all doctrines we hold to. If they are not, then we easily stray off into heresies and misinterpretations of God and His Word. Every false religion or belief leads back to a flawed understanding of God or a complete denial of Him.

So this lesson, this study of God is absolutely essential if we are to know with any certainty why we believe what we do about God. Without the Bible and without these aspects of His nature, we could know nothing of God and could have no assurance of any eternal destination, any purpose in life, or any structure for morality or anything else. Some of these aspects of life relate more specifically to His attributes, which I’ll discuss next week, but in the end, this foundation is necessary if we’re going to understand His attributes, which are more commonly discussed.

Understanding the foundation and laying our doctrines on it is an unavoidable step if we want to build a life that is consistent with what God has said and who He is. Only when we are content with or ignorant of our flawed, inaccurate view of God will we be content to focus on the end result with no concern over understanding why we believe the end result is true.

Thursday Technicalities: Indie Publishing

Publishing Journey

Introduction

Indie publishing is the next topic in the discussion of the final step in publishing. Last time, we discussed publishing with Amazon and focused mainly on self-publishing. Indie publishing is a little bit different. It’s often used to refer to both publishing with a small independent press and publishing yourself with Amazon. But for our purposes, we’re only talking about publishing with a small independent press here. There are some important things to consider if you want to go this route, so let’s go over the key points.

Indie Publishing – The Query

With indie publishing, you now start getting into dealing with gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are the ones who will read through your query package and, usually only if they find that promising, your manuscript to decide if your work is good enough and fits well with what they’re looking for at that company. Both traditional and indie publishers do this, and it makes your query very important.

Generally, queries will include some sort of query letter, which has the hook (why they would want your story specifically as opposed to any of the thousands of others vying for the same place in their catalog) and information regarding the book. I may get into writing a query letter and other querying steps at a later date, but a lot of information is available regarding this process. The key things you need to remember are to research and make sure you submit to the people who would be most likely to want your book, to remain professional while also providing unique content that will make them take notice, and to be genuine.

Agents and publishers have far more query letters and manuscripts than they can possibly go through, so you want to avoid giving them an excuse to chuck yours in the trash. Putting it on flashy stationary or doing similarly unprofessional things will not help your cause. Think of it like you would a resume and a cover letter. You don’t use flashy, ornate paper. You focus on the content and give them a good reason to want to talk to you. This is the exact same idea. The only thing that changes is the content and the precise way you choose to present it in your letter.

Indie Publishing – Precautionary Tales

One major thing you need to understand about indie publishing is how easy it is to accidentally get stuck with the wrong kind of publisher. By this, I mean that it’s easy for newbies and even established authors who are newer to indie publishers to accidentally end up with a vanity press.

At best, a vanity press will publish your work for you, but they charge you hefty up front fees and do very little to help you with the book or sales. My recommendation? If a publishing company is asking you for money up front, you should be running the other way. That said, there are a few reasons why it would be acceptable for a company you’re working with to ask you to pay them for a book that will go into their catalog.

One major reason is that they’re not technically going to publish the book. For example, I’m currently part of a group of authors who are writing for the Children of Chaos series hosted by Indie/pendent Book Services. They aren’t technically a publishing company, but the books, though published by the individual who wrote them, are all in their website’s catalog of books for the CoC series. This means that I as an author get extra exposure from both the company’s promotion of their hosted series on the website and from the marketing efforts of other authors in the series. They required us to pay a $20 upfront fee for each book publishing slot we claimed for paying the cover designer to do the covers for each book. This was reasonable not only because that’s an extremely low price for a well-designed cover but also because they’re not making any money off the royalties on each individual book and have no rights to the book beyond the right to have the author keep it published indefinitely.

Anthologies are another one where I’ve seen small indie presses ask authors to contribute some small amount toward the costs of the book. It all depends on the press. But if they’re asking you for anything more than $100, I would be questioning why, particularly if they’re going to end up with rights or money from the sales the book makes. Essentially, be extremely wary of any publisher that asks you for money.

As I said earlier, best case scenario? They charge you a lot and produce the book but don’t do much to help you get it out there. Worst case scenario? They charge you and never deliver at all. Either way, it’s a scam, and it’s going to cost you a lot for no reason at all. Just don’t do it no matter how excited you are that someone accepted you and your manuscript. Con artists and scammers are more than happy to prey on your desire to be a successful, published author.

Indie Publishing Advantages

The advantages to indie publishing, of course, are fairly obvious. You get an editor, a cover designer, and help with the marketing. Depending on the company, you’ll get more or less of this, but it’s nice to have someone else on your team. Why go it alone if you can get a team to help?

But besides the obvious, another advantage of indie publishing is that you may have more reach than you would alone and you also get practice pitching your work to editors and agents. That will prove invaluable if you want to later take another series or book to a traditional publisher. Learning here is a good place to do it.

The other major advantage is that, if you find the right fit for you, it can come to feel more like a support network than just a publisher. I know authors working with small publishers and indie presses who have said their group feels more like family than just agents, editors, and publishing staff. Your book also may get more focus and attention from your editors and publishing staff than it would at a bigger company. This isn’t guaranteed, and the quality of the editors still has to be factored in, but the likelihood of getting closer attention to detail and polishing is still higher.

Indie Publishing Disadvantages

Besides the possibility of cons, the most prominent disadvantage with indie publishing or traditional publishing is the control you give up. Of course, chances are, if you’re looking for a publisher after going it alone with self-publishing you’re more than happy to give up control of every little detail in order to gain the advantages a publisher can offer. But if you’re new to the process of publishing, know that you will give up a lot of the control you have over it.

The publisher will dictate how you can use the book outside the publishing contract, they can typically make pricing changes without asking first (though some will ask anyway), and your royalties will be negotiated differently than they would if you did things directly through Amazon. What that looks like really depends on the publisher, though. Furthermore, they are the ones who do the cover design, often control marketing efforts (though most will expect you to pitch in on the promotion of the book), and handle many other areas of the publishing process. What your publisher decides to do depends strongly on the contract that the two of you negotiated.

Bottom line? Read your contract very, very carefully. Pay attention to what rights you’re giving them and make an informed decision before signing with any given indie publisher. You don’t want to regret the decision later after all the work you’ll put into the book.

Conclusion

In the end, what you choose to do with your book is your decision. There are advantages and disadvantages regardless of which you choose to go with, and you need to know what those are before you decide. Read the contract, make an informed decision, and go for it. Expect to be rejected as the norm, not the exception, because smaller presses only have a set number of people they can publish within their budget, just as big name publishers do, and their selection is typically smaller. But if indie publishing is the direction you want to head, don’t give up! Keep submitting and use the feedback you get from one publisher (if any) to improve for the next one you choose to query.

Sunday Stories: Submission Vs Subjugation

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

Last time on this section of the blog, I talked about my best friend, L, and the lessons I’ve learned in my time as his friend. That story and what I learned about myself lead into today’s story well. This story and its lessons, however, are far harder to share. In fact, this might be the hardest post I’ve felt God leading me to write, at least to date. But while it’s hard to think about this chapter in my life, even nearly two years after it all happened, I strongly believe the story could help others like me avoid the heartache I went through. So, I will share it as best I can along with the lessons I learned through it.

My Standpoint and Defining Terms

I’ll start by stating a few things very clearly so no one’s unsure or confused about my standpoint or how I define terms. First, I believe every woman should submit to the man God has placed in authority over her and that she should obey so long as the command given doesn’t go against clear Biblical principles. Fighting words with many, many women, even in Christian circles, which is both saddening and disheartening. But, I believe this is because many of us haven’t been taught a right view of submission, nor have our men, which is why the application of this lesson will be directed both to the women in my audience and to the guys (more as a plea based on issues I’ve observed than anything). 

Defining Submission

But onto point two. I believe that submission varies vastly from subjugation. Because of that, we need to define terms here. Submission, as I define it and as I believe the Bible teaches it, is the choice of the individual to obey and place themselves under the care of an authority. It is something that both men and women do every day when they obey the laws, and it is something God commands women to do (Eph. 5:22-23) for their husbands as well as for children to do with their parents in the same chapter (though the word obey is used instead). Like it or not, women, that’s what the Bible says.

But our fundamental churches are teaching an unbalanced message on submission that barely touches on (or entirely ignores) the men’s responsibility in response to the women’s submission. Though no pastor would intend for the results of this unbalanced message to lead to abuse or harm of women, that is very often what occurs. Why? Because the men hearing the message assume that they are not only owed their wives’ submission but also the right to behave however they see fit toward their wives. Why would they assume differently if the focus is entirely on the woman’s responsibility to submit? It seems to the listener that the man has no dictates for how he ought to treat his wife, and this then leads to subjugation. It is an unintentional but very dangerous result of the one-sided, unbalanced teaching on the role of women and the role of men in the home.

Defining Subjugation

So, how do I define subjugation? It is when a woman obeys not by choice but out of fear of retribution and harm if she doesn’t. It is when anyone, really, is no longer making a willing choice to obey (which would be submission) and instead cooperates because the other person is stronger and may inflict emotional, mental, or physical harm if they don’t get their way. Submission ceases to be submission if it is not a willing choice and is instead coerced. At the point that someone must coerce another to obey, they, at the very least, are not on the receiving end of the other individual’s submission.  

It is very important that this definition includes the point that the obedience is won through either open or perceived threats of some sort of harm. A person may feel forced to obey or obey grudgingly (neither of which are submission) without being subjugated. So please understand that there is a point where a woman may not be submitting but is also not being subjugated or trampled down by her husband. That middle ground is still an issue, to my mind, but it isn’t an issue on the part of the man, at least. Subjugation is obvious, at least to others, because it robs an individual of freedom of thought, a voice or say in matters, and their choices on a broad scale.

Because of how I define subjugation, I view subjugation as a perversion of submission and something that should in no way be advocated. It is, even if subtle, abusive in my experience. It results in men treating women as though they are inferiors, not equals. While I believe strongly that there is a hierarchy of authority in the home based on the Bible, the Bible is also very clear about how men (both fathers and husbands) ought to treat the women and children in their care. Subjugation doesn’t follow that model at all, and in the case of marriage, it eliminates the aspect of partnership that the Bible promotes. In no way is abuse of a woman justified, nor is it excusable to try to wear her down mentally so that she will both obey without thought of her own and avoid ever voicing her opinion on matters that affect her. A man who wants to hurt the woman he should be caring for or rob her of the God-given ability to think for herself is a man unworthy of any woman whether she’s submitting to him or not.

Reasons for Submission and the Commands Surrounding It

Finally, before we talk about how I learned the difference between these two and what shaped my view of this important subject, I feel we need to discuss the commands the Bible gives to men and women regarding submission and authority in the home in general.

In Ephesians, where it tells women to submit to their husbands, it also tells husbands to love their wives. Some of us may wonder why that is. Let’s start with the husbands and why they need to be told to love their wives.

Why Different Commandments to Different Genders?

Simply put, because women and men are different. Like it or not, we think differently and have different aspects of our nature. In general, for example, women are more nurturing than men. And men, in general, don’t need to be told to take charge. It’s built in to their nature, and the only reason men today don’t do so is because modern feminism has taught them not to be men.

So why tell men to love? The men do not love their wives naturally. Sure, they might have the emotional type of love, but the sacrificial, agape love that Christ has for the church? That’s not something they naturally display, so they must then be told that’s how they should respond to their wives.

Women, generally, have an easier time with loving and nurturing, but they instead have difficulties with a fight between taking charge and knowing their place in the home. So, God wisely tells them, submit. That command helps us as women to understand the structure of authority in the home.

It isn’t saying we’re lesser beings or worth less than the man. It’s saying that the man is the authority in the house, and he must answer to God someday for all he allows and commands within that home. The woman’s place is not to usurp that God-given authority but to submit to it.

The Results?

If both individuals obey the commands given to them, then the woman submits without fear to a man who loves her, cherishes the gift she has given, and will sacrifice to ensure she has what she needs (even if not always what she wants). That is a marriage that can last! The marriage built on these principles is a happy one. The marriage that does not in some way act on these principles is much more tenuous, and in my experience, a much, much less happy one. I’ve seen both, and I can tell you that I don’t want the type of marriage that upends the order God has given to things. It isn’t pretty, and even if it isn’t absolutely awful, it certainly has more problems.

Learning to Differentiate

That last section was on the longer side, but a careful and clear defining of terms is necessary for any discussion that may be doctrinal or controversial in nature. Otherwise, misunderstandings or twisting of words may easily arise. But, moving on from that, let’s talk about how I learned the difference.

Growing up, the churches I was in talked about submission frequently, but their focus was only on the women. They rarely, if ever, spoke to the guys about their responsibility as the leaders in the home receiving the submission of their wives and children. They only mentioned it in any real way on Father’s Day, and once a year hardly teaches our men and boys that the subject matters in any way. 

The definition they presented for submission and the way they presented it always made me extremely uncomfortable and frustrated. If their idea of submission was all that was possible, or was what God promoted as good, then why should I want it? It didn’t seem good, and what they taught colored my understanding of God in this area to a less than flattering view. I thought for myself enough to recognize I wanted no part of that, but not enough, yet, to understand why or to search for answers on it. Since my views on the topic were cemented by the time my father got around to really teaching about it, I filtered everything he said through what I already thought. I didn’t understand the differences between what he believed and taught and what our church believed and taught. Not until I was in college.

Changes in Perspective

In college, I might have continued to hate the word and idea of submission as the church used it if not for L. After meeting my best friend, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. At that point, I started looking at the idea of submission more closely as the Bible taught it, not as I was told the Bible did by the church. I was learning to apply my mind to this area too, not just other areas where I already held a different opinion from my church and had Scripture to back it up. I was learning to study and act on Scripture instead of simply reacting to what might or might not be false teaching. 

This led to the realization that we actually choose to submit all the time in our lives. We follow laws, and we often abide by unspoken societal rules. We choose to cooperate with government, usually, even when we might not be very happy with what they’ve chosen to do. Children submit when they obey their parents. Wives submit when they let their husband make decisions with a happy and willing spirit, even if the decision is as small as where they’ll go out to eat. In my case, I chose to give my best friend a lot of say in my life on matters big and small. I chose to defer to decisions he made unless doing so violated my moral beliefs. Others protested on occasion that I gave him too much control, but I was happy with the way things were. I didn’t feel as though he took advantage of it at all.

A Much-Needed Relief

In all honesty, L made it easy to leave the decision-making to him on things affecting us both as well as issues affecting only me. I barely even thought about what I was doing until later, most of the time. Granted, we both had lines and standards we felt were important and wouldn’t cross or break. But I don’t remember ever stopping to think, “Well, maybe I don’t want to do what you said to,” when he would tell me to go to bed because I wasn’t making sure I got enough sleep or when he would decide where we were going to eat. Sometimes, I had my own opinion or preference, but it became habit after a while to decide ahead that I’d go with what he wanted unless there was a reason to voice an opposing opinion.

I really appreciated that he took charge, and I found relief in letting someone else make the decisions. For years, I operated under the motto that I could do things myself and didn’t need any guy to do anything for me. I mean, I fussed about my brothers opening doors because I saw it as a commentary on my capability, not as a sign of respect toward me. I finally gave up control, and just as I’d started to feel grounded for once, L had to leave school.

Less than Bright Decision-Making

I’m not proud of what followed next. After L left, I felt lost. I grew accustomed to having someone there who loved me despite my flaws and who used the control I handed over to help me and to support me. I felt freer than I ever had in ages, and naturally, I missed that feeling. Besides that, I still wasn’t good at dealing with my depression alone. While he was there, L helped me tremendously, but I still didn’t fully know how to cope with the bouts I still had yet. So his departure was a huge blow. Going back to being alone and having that constant stress of always taking care of everything and making all the decisions by myself left me tense, lonely, and cut adrift.

So, when C stepped in, more than happy to take control and help, I was all too happy to let him. I met him before L left, and he and L were friends, so we spent a lot of time together. C wasn’t very controlling, at first. He didn’t offer any real structure in my life, but he did listen and encourage me, and he gave gentle nudges toward the right direction. He encouraged me to read my Bible and turn to God for encouragement, and he generally said all the right things.

Taking Things at Face Value

Since I was preoccupied, I took it at face value. I was so desperate to find someone who could help and bring back that sense of completion I’d felt previously that I didn’t notice the earliest warning signs and ignored my gut on the rest. When he pressed for a relationship, I admit I was unsure and scared. Those two words defined everything that was to follow.

Unable to find a logical reason for the bad feeling I had, I chalked it up to silly emotions—as I at the time prized logic over emotion to an unhealthy extreme—and moved ahead. Neither parent liked the relationship, but they wisely realized that I needed to learn my lesson somewhere safe, so my father didn’t stop me. The school rules protected me mostly in the physical arena, so they let the two of us proceed and prayed it wouldn’t end too miserably.

A Cruel Reality

Sadly, things went wrong faster than anyone expected, and it was worse than anticipated. C changed his tune as soon as we talked about dating, but it really changed when we were dating. He didn’t take no for an answer (unless there was just no way I would budge and he couldn’t get away with ignoring my wishes due to school policies), and he made every effort to assure me that being uncertain was no reason not to move forward or to cooperate. He guilt-tripped me from the start of the relationship by accusing me of stringing him along when I expressed doubts about moving forward so quickly. I was with him for a semester, and I saw firsthand what the difference was between submission and subjugation.

What I Expected From Prior Situations

My relationship with C was a nightmare and not at all what I’d hoped for. I guess in some ways, I was expecting him to respect me like L had. I trusted L implicitly. We had our issues, but I usually felt safe, loved, grounded, and sure of where we stood. At our worst, I sometimes felt unloved or unsure, but that was it. He genuinely apologized when he realized he had caused hurt or negative feelings. In turn, I quickly forgave wrongs or hurts because I knew he loved me, even if things in life sometimes caused him to treat me in a less than kind manner. 

Best of all, I knew where I stood with him. If I stepped over a line, L made it clear in no uncertain terms, and he told me what he would do if I did it again. But I always had a choice, and he never tried to push me into one or the other. He never threatened to cut off contact or shut me out if I didn’t do what he preferred with an issue. Instead, he just did what he could to mitigate the issue. He was there not for himself, but because he cared. He gave me his full support if I wanted to work on an issue he gently pointed out, and he made sure the relationship had a balance of give and take. I did my best to offer him the same: unconditional love, respect, and support no matter what.

What I Got With C

But with C, I was never able to fully trust him. I lied to myself and said I did, but looking back, I never did. I was constantly unsure where he and I stood. Consequences for stepping over lines were never clear. In fact, I rarely knew where the lines were until I crossed them, and then C would make me feel awful for even a small offense. I couldn’t ask questions about anything he felt we’d discussed enough, and I never knew when that might be because it changed for every topic. Talking to anyone but him about my doubts was the only consistently punished offense as it earned me accusations of distrust and censure for not believing him.

I gave him my respect, my heart, and what trust I could manage. He returned the gift I gave with disrespect, broken boundaries, and broken trust until it all fell apart. I should’ve left sooner than I did, I know. But even when he pushed me physically, emotionally, and mentally, I held on. 

Making Excuses

I wanted to believe in him, and I wasn’t able to come to terms with the changes in him. Frankly, I didn’t understand how he’d changed so much. I didn’t really think I could change him, mind you, but I kept hoping that if I waited it out, he’d go back to normal. I kept chalking the poor treatment—and the fights that erupted when I tried to say no or give an opinion—up to stress. He was just too tired or too worn out because of school, I told myself. Maybe this. Maybe that.

Finally, I faced the truth. He hadn’t changed. The person he let me see for the time before we started dating had been a lie. A lie that he wholeheartedly believed, I think, due to the very real psychological issues he had, but a lie, nonetheless. 

Consequences of a Bad Choice

He and I split at the end of the spring semester right before finals and just a few days before I turned twenty. My father asked him to leave me be until school ended for the summer. I needed to focus on school and was in no state to explain why I was ending it immediately. Frankly, I was a wreck. I barely managed to study for finals. Since we were both working on campus for the summer, I figured I could talk to him once I was done with finals so we could part ways amicably.

But he refused to leave me alone. He called my friends and brother (who was on campus with us) constantly because I wouldn’t answer, showed up at places he knew I usually went (to the point that I quit going to my usual spots unless I had to), and gave me a week or two tops to come to terms with things. He didn’t allow me to grieve or try to put the pieces back together, and he refused me the relief escaping him brought. 

A Living Nightmare

During the summer, my brother ran interference wherever he could. But that just made C angry and put my brother (and anyone who helped me or cared enough to support me) on the receiving end of his anger. Eventually, he began avoiding me like the plague. However, he still antagonized my brother, and at times, I was terrified he’d hurt the people I cared about. He treated anyone who supported me with accusations of distrust, and even his own brother, who had initially tried to continue including me in breakfasts Sunday, dealt with C’s anger. I lived my entire senior year in fear that I’d somehow set him off again and restart the whole waking nightmare. I was thrilled about graduation because it meant going home, far out of his reach. 

Friends and teachers started to notice that I withdrew from people, and I spent more and more time in my room to avoid any chance of running into him. But even with that, I couldn’t avoid running into C sometimes. Having classes on the same floor as he did made that impossible. We weren’t allowed in the hallways outside classrooms until five minutes before class, and so the open seating arenas on each floor were the only options for students to sit down or congregate. Those days, my teachers would ask if I was okay when I came into class. Even though he never spoke to me and usually avoided eye contact, just seeing him was enough to leave me trembling for the first five to ten minutes of class. 

At the End of the Day…

My situation was far worse than most regular breakups are. However, when you make bad decisions, even just one, and you involve yourself with someone like C, this is the kind of thing it leads to. My story is tame in comparison to what some women have gone through at the hands of guys like this. (I refuse to call them men because a real man knows how to treat a woman with love and respect.)

The Moral of the Story

This has been quite a long post, but I hope you’ll bear with me just a little longer. Let me level with the guys here first. I’m not going to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do because it’s not my place. But I’ll do my best to give a bit of perspective on this while highlighting what the Bible has to say about the issue. What you choose to do with it is your decision.

To the Guys:

Here’s the thing. I’ll be the last woman you will ever hear advocating that the women should be in charge instead of the men. That’s not Biblical, and frankly, we’ve seen just how well that’s worked so far. It hasn’t…  While every marriage is unique in how the couple handles submission, just as the people involved in that marriage are unique, Scripture is clear on one thing. Women should submit to their husbands. Even if you aren’t a good husband or authority figure. That doesn’t mean you can take advantage of it, though.

If you’re lucky enough to have a woman who genuinely wants you to lead and wants to submit to you, cherish that! Especially if she’s under no obligation to submit to you yet. The world is, at best, unable to understand their need or desire to submit to you and leave themselves in your care, and at worst ridicules them for a good desire. So, it takes a lot of strength to be honest with herself, let alone with you, about that need. Please don’t make her regret being transparent with you on this. You have a very special woman. Both she and her willingness to submit and heart to serve are a gift, whether you recognize it or not.

In the end, no fellow human being can tell you what to do with that gift. Only God and His Word can do that. But I can tell you the consequences if you don’t. If you are one of those guys who don’t or won’t treasure it, she will walk away when she’s able. And if she’s not strong enough to do it alone? Others will be happy to help her to do so. When she does leave, some other man will treat her like the treasure she is. He will pick up the broken pieces you created. He will be glad to show her that she is a treasure, even if it takes time because of the damage you’ve done.

To the Girls:

Ladies, if you grew up in a fundamental church, you’ve been hearing all about how women should submit to men. If you didn’t grow up in a fundamental church, you’ve probably been hearing the opposite. “Women shouldn’t have to submit to a man. We’re strong, independent women, so they have no right to tell us what to do.” Sound familiar? Regardless of what you grew up with, you’ve probably heard the world’s idea of a strong, independent woman both extolled and ridiculed.

I’ll be honest. I can’t stand today’s idea of a strong, independent woman as it’s presented. That said, some women buy into this but in practical life are actually very feminine, kind women. Their personalities aren’t the Type-A sort. So while they may agree with the idea, they’re not exactly the poster child for it either. All of us are different, and we all fit in differently. But I still really hate the ideal that’s presented to our girls and young women today.

Why I Can’t Stand It

The strongest of today’s feminists would tell you that being a strong, independent woman means you don’t submit to a man. Doing so is weak and is, in fact, allowing yourself to be subjugated. Instead, you must get a job and support yourself. And you find a man who will be somewhere in the range of total pushover and caring a little. Heaven forbid you marry a man who wants to be in charge of any areas of your life. Okay, I’m being a bit sarcastic. I don’t have any problem with women working or having a degree of independence. However, I have a big problem with what they have to say about submission. I also take issue with the fact that many mistake equality for having no difference at all in roles.

The Desire to Submit is Not a Bad Thing

Girls and young ladies out there, wanting to submit is not a bad thing! It’s actually a good and natural desire. Don’t let the rest of the world tell you otherwise. They’re wrong. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being independent or strong. But their definition of a woman who is those things? It’s not the only one, and I would propose that it isn’t even the right one. A woman who submits even when she isn’t happy about a decision is much stronger than one who rebels. Trust me. I know. I’ve done things both ways. Submission is a choice that, though sometimes hard, is a lot more fulfilling than rebellion. 

The Desire to Submit Can Be Used Against You

But also know this. Your desire to submit can be used against you just as it was with me. Please, oh please, be careful who you give that kind of power to! Never give it to anyone who wants to take it without permission or right to it. If you get involved with a man like that—especially if you marry him—submission becomes much harder. It’s easy to shift into subjugation before you know what has happened. And once you’re involved, the road back to freedom and yourself is much, much harder. Wait for someone who will give as much as they’re taking. Wait for a man who recognizes your value and honors you for it. Men like that do exist. They’re not all bad. If you don’t wait for that man, you’ll do a lot of damage to yourself before you meet him. And it’ll be damage you can’t undo.

Conclusion

My greatest regret to this point is what happened with C. I lost a piece of me, and I’m never going to be the same. God’s grace brought me, step-by-step, to a place where I don’t look at every guy with suspicion. But unfortunately, what C did to me, what I allowed to happen, is not something I can get rid of. It changed me as a person. I learned a valuable lesson, but I can only look back on my choices with regret. My choice affected how I look at the world. It affected my ability to look at the guys around me the same way. Even if I get to a point where that’s no longer a problem, it’s still going to color my perspective. And so, it’s likely that things will be harder for the right one when he shows up.

Ladies, please don’t fall into that same trap. Learn from my mistakes. Don’t let guys with ill-intent turn your submission into a weapon to be used against you. Your submission is a gift you choose to give, so choose wisely. The choice you make will impact you for the rest of your life.

Glimpses of Time and Magic: A Historical Fantasy Anthology

Finally, we’ve come to the point with this anthology that we have both the pre-order link and the cover to share! Our reveal party for the cover happened yesterday and went very well. Now, myself and the other authors in the anthology are sharing the cover, blurb, and information on our sites so you all can find it easily!

So, to begin with, what is this anthology? It’s a collection of nine stories from nine authors, and the theme Joanna White and I gave everyone was history with a fantastical twist. We definitely got that! With stories ranging from Victorian England to Ancient Rome and Arthur, we’ve got stories with a fantastical twist to share with you all now! The best part? We wrote and organized this anthology as a way to raise money to donate to Feed My Starving Children, a charitable organization that uses donations and the time of their volunteers to pack and ship meals around the world to feed starving children for a year. Isn’t that great?

If you want to know more about the organization, you can check them out here. I’ve been to the location near me twice to help pack the food. It’s a great activity, especially if you want to take the whole family to do something. Be prepared to work hard, but it was a lot of fun and a great team building exercise for the groups I went with while also allowing us to be involved in helping feed these kids who would otherwise go hungry.

And now, the cover! This cover was created by illustrator_aesthetics (Anne Zedwick). You can see her blog and her Fiverr here if you’re interested in having her do cover art for you as well! She also does things like logo design, product branding, and more.

Blurb:

We know the stories from history we’ve heard since childhood, but what if, behind the tales, there were magical secrets desperate to be revealed?

Pompeii was a tragedy the world will never forget, but what really caused the volcanic eruption that ended it all? Why was the great sword Excalibur really destroyed? The rolling hills of Victorian England seem peaceful enough, but what secrets really lurk there?

And would it surprise you that there are darker secrets in Ancient Rome than people ever dreamed? If the Great Fog of London isn’t what it seems? You think you know Harry Houdini, but do you know the man behind all the tricks?

And what if the mystery of Roanoke runs deeper than you could ever imagine? Could Ireland’s potato famine really be caused by a mage gone mad? What if a ghost ship off the coast of England was more than a phantom?

If you like fantasy and history, then you’ll love this collection of nine fantastical stories. Buy Glimpses of Time and Magic now to find out what secrets really lurk behind the stories we’ve all been told.

Besides Buying a Copy, How Can You Help?

We need reviewers who will follow through on their word and review the book between July 14th and July 28th. If you’re a fan of historical fantasy and can promise a review, we’d like to have you in our ARC group! We’re not requiring much. Just your email so we can keep in touch closer to the review date. The author you sign up through (me, if you’re signing up on my blog) will get in touch with a friendly reminder about submitting reviews just before the first day when we’ll have the paperback live for reviews to be submitted. They will also follow up with you a few days after the 28th (to give reviews posted last minute time to process on Amazon) to check in if your review isn’t posted.

If you do sign up, please note that we’re not questioning your integrity if a review isn’t posted by July 28th. I’ve had issues with customers posting reviews on Amazon’s Australian website, say, and I’m not able to see them because I use Amazon.com for the US. Stupid? Yes, yes, it is. But with the issues I’ve had, let’s just put it this way… If I can’t see the review, I’m not assuming you didn’t post it. I’m just looking to see what happened in case there was an issue with posting that I need to hound Amazon about. (I still haven’t sorted out the issues with other books’ reviews not showing on all sites, but it doesn’t hurt to try.) Point is, if you don’t provide us with a link to the review after it’s posted and we’re not seeing it by end of July, we’re going to ask just to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

As such, if you’re interested in helping out with this, please get in touch! I can direct you to the form to fill out to join, give you more info if you like, and verify that I’m sending the book to the most convenient email address. You can contact me at arielpaiement@gmail.com. I’m friendly, and I love talking to new people, so don’t be shy! Get in touch if you want a review copy of Glimpses of Time and Magic. We’ll talk over it and get you signed up! 🙂

Thursday Technicalities: Publishing with Amazon

Publishing with Amazon

Introduction

Moving on from our discussions on marketing, we’re going to start looking at the last step in the publishing process. And that is publishing itself! Today, we’re going to focus on publishing with Amazon, but I’ll also talk about traditional publishing and some of the things I’ve experienced while working with an independent publisher, which is a third option that is slightly different from traditional publishing while still not being quite the same as self-publishing.

Amazon is probably the biggest platform authors use for self-publishing. Other sites like Kobo and paperback distributors like Lulu follow closely in Amazon’s footsteps, but when it comes to publishing both paperbacks and ebooks? Amazon is the best known platform for that. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the pickiest platforms I’ve worked with, and there a many little tips and tricks that most don’t know. Knowing how to get the most out of the system (extort it, if you will) usually makes the difference, at the very least, between making it onto the top 100 in any given category and dying in obscurity.

Lovely, right? Well, no matter how annoying Amazon can be, it has the largest reach out of the online retailers selling and publishing ebooks and paperbacks. So, we can’t ignore it even if we don’t much appreciate how ridiculous things can be. But, not ignoring it means that we have to learn the system if we want to be successful. By the end of this article, I hope to give you the major tools you need to do exactly that.

Publishing with Amazon’s Manuscript Requirements

To start, you’re not going to do very well if you can’t even get your ebook or paperback off the ground and onto the platform. Amazon has some seriously strict requirements for formatting. It’s quite frustrating at times. The time investment to get a nice looking ebook or paperback can be daunting.

If you’re going to do self-publish consistently and have a Mac, I highly recommend getting Vellum. It isn’t available for Windows users, so sadly, we’re all stuck spending a good eight to ten hours trying to get the formatting to look nice on Kindle. (I know because I go through it every time I have a new book to prep.) Vellum takes you twenty minutes once you’re accustomed to using it.

If you’re doing the work on Word, there’s a plugin Amazon created for Kindle that can be downloaded and installed for free. They also have a version for desktop that’s its own program for after you finish working in Word. That’s what I linked to above.

Whichever format you prefer, don’t waste this tool. Use it. It doesn’t make everything better, and you won’t get highly complex formatting. Images still won’t work so well, but if you keep things streamlined and simple, the tool is going to make your life way easier. You’ll have fewer revisions to make to your document before it’ll work right on Amazon’s platform and e-readers. If you need some guidance on handling ebook formatting, I go into that here. I won’t rehash that now since the post would get too long if I did.

A Word on Paperbacks

When it comes to paperback formatting, you can get a lot more fancy, but make sure that when you’re done, you “print” it as a pdf with fonts embedded and the paper manually set to the size your finished paperback will be on Amazon. For most fiction books, I’ve found that using a 5.25″ x 8″ size works very nicely. If you have a program that lets you print pdfs with special settings already, then that should allow you to embed fonts and change to custom paper sizes. But if not, I use Bullzip Pdf Printer for mine. I invested in the fully-featured version, which has been well worth paying a one-time fee to access the settings I needed.

Make sure you get a proof copy to check cover, page numbers, table of contents, and sizing of any images you included before you hit publish on the paperback. Ebook issues are easy to fix. Paperback ones are not! Fixing spelling errors on paperbacks or glaring errors that I somehow missed when formatting has been nothing short of a nightmare in the past. It is worth noting that Amazon allows you to reupload the manuscript and the cover after you publish, something I couldn’t do when I had to make changes to Bane of Ashkarith. So that’s a definite improvement. But some of the information you’ll enter for the book page can’t be altered, so it pays to make sure you’ve double checked everything to save yourself time and headaches later.

Pre-Orders When Publishing with Amazon

For ebooks, you have the option of offering a pre-order period to readers. This gives you time to build hype and to gain reviewers for when the book comes out (something we discussed in the ARC readers post). But it also gives you time to get your categories and other issues ironed out before the book is actually delivered to buyers. I recommend using a three to four month period for your pre-order, so plan your other activities to prepare in accordance with that if you’re going to stick with that pre-order time frame.

Once the book is off pre-order, the manuscript you uploaded is automatically delivered to the reader, though. Because of that, you want to be sure you upload the finalized manuscript before the deadline Amazon gives you in the book’s content section. Don’t miss uploading because it’ll create all kinds of issues! Be sure that what you’re uploading is also the version you want readers to get.

Publishing Paperbacks

Paperbacks don’t have a pre-order period, sadly. I suppose it makes sense as Amazon probably doesn’t want to or may not have a way to keep track of all the orders they’re going to have to print at some random date in the future. This means, however, that you have to plan more for publishing the paperback. You don’t get extra time to get Amazon to iron out the issues with your categories or other things. Once it’s up, you have to hurry to get it all done.

I recommend putting your paperback out around two weeks before the actual release date for your ebook. Rather, announce its release two weeks before the ebook’s. Publish it a few days before your announcement of its release and either email or call Amazon about switching the categories, something we’ll go over in a moment.

It’s important that you have those categories switched before you do a big marketing push using the new book’s purchase link. If you don’t, none of your sales will help your ranking in the new categories because they’ll have gone toward the old, generic categories you chose in the initial setup of the book. Just one more way publishing with Amazon gets tricky. But once they’ve confirmed that they switched the categories over or updated them, then you can start sharing the link and using it in the marketing avenues we discussed in previous posts.

The other reason you should release the paperback two weeks before the ebook’s release is because it allows you to give your ARC readers two weeks to post their reviews before the ebook comes out. Having reviews out of the gate on your ebook can make a big difference, particularly if you were able to hit the 50 review threshold that gets Amazon’s algorithms to kick in to help sell the book.

Categories and Publishing with Amazon

And now we get to categories, something I keep mentioning but haven’t yet explained. If you’ve already published a book or two with Amazon, you know what they are. But did you know that you can have Amazon change them to less competitive categories or that the ones Amazon gives you to choose from at the beginning represent only 20% of the possible categories (the most competitive ones, by the way)? Most don’t.

For the newbies in my audience, you’ve come to the right place to learn about this! I’ve gone through three or four books now with this process, so I know the potential pitfalls, the difficulties, and the best methods for getting this ironed out. To begin with, let me explain what the categories are so you’re not lost. If you already know, feel free to skip the explanation.

Categories are the various classifications Amazon gives to their books. That’s the simplest explanation. But to put it in terms that you’d understand as an ebook or paperback reader with Amazon… Categories are all those options in the sidebar that let you narrow down a search. You know. You can choose to look under paranormal romance or teen fiction in the ebook store or under everything. Or, you could go to the nonfiction header and select autobiographies from the list. Those are the categories, and authors choose them. Sometimes, based on keywords chosen, Amazon may place you into certain categories automatically, but they’re not foolproof, and often, this doesn’t happen properly.

Notes on Categories when Publishing with Amazon

You can have up to ten categories on a book you’re publishing with Amazon, and there is no reason to leave it up to chance. As I said, the two categories you’re allowed to choose when first setting up the book are only 20% of the possible categories and are the most competitive 20%, likely because most don’t know they can add more or change their categories. You know your book far better than Amazon does, and so, as long as the categories seem relevant based on the description, they’re not going to fuss about it, usually.

However, when you call or email them under your author central’s help tab/contact us, you should know a few things to make the process smoother. I’ve made these errors both at the beginning and even now when I’m moving too fast and not checking the email before I send. Let’s go over them.

  1. Age group matters! You can’t select Teen and Young Adult categories and also ask Amazon support to apply Children’s categories. They don’t like it, and they will tell you no. I know, I know… Your age range is set for 12 and up. They don’t care. Your choosing children’s as a category doesn’t mean the same thing to them as it does to you. To them, children’s means little kids, juvenile means anyone from about 9 – 12. Teen is 13 – 18, which makes sense. And adult, obviously, is 18+. But in some ways, the method makes sense. Wouldn’t want you to be able to categorize a book for adults as a teen or children’s book just to get better rankings.
  2. Ebook and Book categories are not the same. If you’re asking them to change the ebook categories, make sure it says Kindle Ebooks or something to that effect, not books. And vice versa with books. If it says ebook instead of book, Amazon will reply back telling you they can’t change the categories and to resubmit, which is a pain.
  3. ASIN or ISBN is a must. If you provide the ISBN, just know that you’ll need to only give book categories since the ISBN doesn’t go with ebooks on their platform. ASIN can be provided for both types so long as you specify that you want to change the categories for the ebook, list them, then specify you want to change the categories for the print book, and list those separate categories.

This should go without saying, but make sure the categories are relevant to your book. If they aren’t, readers and other authors tend to get annoyed because you’re taking up space in a category that has nothing to do with your work. It’s a great way to get bad reviews from your audience. Don’t do it even if the category is less competitive than the ones relating to your book. If you absolutely must take advantage of the category, write a new book. But under no circumstances should you apply it to the old one that doesn’t fit it.

Finally, make sure you send Amazon the entire pathway for the category. This means you need to not just tell them Paranormal Romance, for example, but you should instead be telling them you want Kindle ebooks > Teen and Young Adult > Paranormal Romance. This is just an example, and this probably isn’t the actual category path, but the idea is, everything you have to click on to get to that exact category must be provided or they won’t change anything.

Tools for Category Research

Personally, I prefer to use Publisher Rocket to do my category research. It’s going to be the easiest route because it gives you the info on number of books sold to reach both #1 and #10 in a category along with the seller ranking of each book’s publisher (individual or publishing company). It keeps the information in one neat, tidy place and provides you with the exact path, which you have to provide to Amazon if you want categories changed.

However, if you’re not able or inclined to spend the money for it, you can do it manually. Search in Amazon’s search bar for something related to your book, select a category that fits well, and note down the Amazon seller ranking for the top 10 books. Then, take those numbers and plug them into KindlePreneur’s Kindle Best Seller Calculator. This will tell you how many copies a day each book must sell to remain at their current rank. You would need to sell at least one more copy than they are in a day to beat them and take their spot. You can also use BkLnk to see all the categories books similar to yours rank under to get ideas for categories that might fit your book.

Conclusion

We already went over covers, so I won’t go into a huge amount of detail about that. Just make sure that your cover artist has the appropriate dimensions for the paperback cover you want them to create. They should know to create a Kindle cover using Kindle dimensions, but if you have issues with getting it to load, it’s acceptable to politely let them know what the problem is and ask them to address it if you specified that you wanted the cover for Amazon’s Kindle platform.

At the end of the day, publishing with Amazon is more effort than people think, if you want to do it well, at least. It isn’t as simple as throwing up a cover and calling it done. You have to work at it and perfect it if you want to deliver a product that stands out to readers in a good way. And that is what you want to do, particularly since so many others are also publishing on Amazon. You need to differentiate yourself from them in a positive way! Hopefully this proved useful for you. If you have questions or further comments, please feel free to add to the discussion in the comments!

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing and Networking

Publishing Journey

Introduction

Now we come to a part of marketing that, for some reason, a lot of authors I’ve seen in my various Facebook groups seem to neglect. I have to say that authors on Twitter that I’ve dealt with seem to do well with networking as a part of their marketing. Authors on Facebook though? Anytime someone hosts a networking style event for readers and writers, I see the same faces and rarely anyone new. If you’re in the camp that, for whatever reason, avoids networking… Well, networking is essential, and connections are vital, so don’t keep avoiding it if you want to be successful. A lot of you may be avoiding because you don’t know how simple networking can be or where to start. Hopefully, by the end of this article, there won’t be an excuse left or a feeling of not knowing where to start.

Why Networking?

The simple answer? No business owner or business ever succeeded without connections, and networking is where it starts. Know anyone who got a new job because they knew someone who knew so-and-so, who knew the person in charge of hiring? Assuming you aren’t that person yourself, you probably do because it’s not uncommon for connections to give you a foot in the door and start the ball rolling. They might not hire you predominantly because of who you knew, but it sure doesn’t hurt anything.

Word of mouth and connections are powerful things. It starts with those in your network liking you and what you have to offer then telling someone else. And guess what? That’s exactly what your ARC readers are meant to do. But you find them through your network of other writers and readers most often, so if you don’t build that network, you’re at more of a disadvantage than you already were with Amazon’s strict review policies.

Simply put, you cannot operate in a vacuum. No one can. Not if they want to succeed. You need other authors on your team, and you absolutely need readers you’ve connected with to share their unique experience or take on your work. 

Does Networking Work?

Those of you who’ve been reading the blog for a while know I like examples of the things I recommend or discourage. In the case of what I recommend, examples of success are preferable. This one is no different. I found every one of my ARC readers and most of my reviewers via my network. How? First, I let those I’d already connected with via social media or email know I was looking for help with reviews. Then, some offered to help, but many of my author acquaintances or friends just shared it. They didn’t have time to help me with a review, but some of their connections did

Another way I’ve used networking is through groups on Facebook or threads on Twitter. It’s relatively easy to strike up a conversation or join in on one already started, and often, it leads to further connections. It might not yield a sale or a review right away, but my sphere still grows, and if I took the time to connect and then to keep the connection fresh, then it may convert to sales or reviews later–if not from them, then from their audiences if they share your content.

In the end, yes, networking works. But it’s not a get-rich-quick method. You won’t see results if you treat it that way. If you’re in it for the long haul to build your platform, though, then you must network, even if it leaves you a little less writing time.

Connections sell better than cold, hard pitches, especially in a virtual market where people expect you to do more to give them that sense of a real, genuine connection with you before they’ll buy what you want to sell them. They can easily ignore your cold, hard sell or get bored and move on. A connection lasts longer.

Handling Networking

Hopefully now you’re convinced you need to network, if you weren’t before. We don’t work in a void, so people are part of the process, particularly with marketing. 

But now you may wonder… How do I network? It sounds hard. I don’t do well talking to people, and I hate selling people on my work. I don’t know what to say… The objections go on and on.

Let’s address a few of the more usual issues.

First, it’s not hard. Depending on what you do, it’ll take you more time than some thing, but in and of itself, the task isn’t hard. If you’re totally new to networking, start small. Join group on Facebook or participate in ones you’ve already joined. Or go search for different threads on Twitter under various writing hashtags and start interacting on there. Get yourself out there and start building those connections.

Second, if you don’t do well talking to other people… Well… Online does make it a little easier because you can think through what you send prior to sending. But in all honesty, you’re going to have to talk to others at some point. There’s no avoiding it. Just be yourself. If personal conversations make you uncomfortable, not to worry! Networking isn’t about being extremely personal or deep. You just have to be genuine, warm, and professional.

In fact, I generally advise you avoid deeply personal conversations online unless you know the person fairly well already or have good reason to believe they are telling the truth about who they are. It’s just basic online safety. Don’t share things like your address, your phone number, or any details that could give a clue as to where you live. (Obviously, if you’re using some newsletter softwares or other things, your personal information surrounding mailing address and the like may get out. So if you’re uncomfortable with that, I’d advise a PO box.)

Not everyone online is a creep, but there are enough of them out there to warrant being a little bit paranoid. Just be smart and avoid giving personal info unless there’s a very, very good reason to give it. The guy who’s been messaging for a week who just asked for your number? There’s no good reason to give it. Shouldn’t need to clarify this part on networking, but lots of authors and new business owners don’t seem to understand basic online safety or how to handle professional interactions.

We’ve all heard stories, but for some reason, despite hearing the stories, some people still make unwise decisions. Anyway, the point is be professional, stick to business-related topics or harmless conversations that don’t provide any private information, and use common sense. But don’t let talking to people or the chance of a bad egg in the lot ruin your attempts to network. 

Third, you don’t know where to go or how to start… Social media. That’s what I’d start with. Like I said before, join some groups related to your business and your books. Talk with other readers and writers, and don’t be shy.

Fourth, you hate feeling like you’re selling something to people. On this one, the blunt truth is…you are. You’re going to have to accept that and move on. But, you can alleviate some of the feelings of being sold to and the frustration that can bring. It’s simple, really.

Unless they’ve asked you to tell them about your book or product and to sell them on it, don’t start off with it. Let it come up in the conversation naturally. Develop the connection so that when they see a post on a product you want reviews, buyers, or whatever else for, they’ll be more inclines to say yes. And, down the road, nothing wrong with selling to them–if you do it in a way similar to how you’d sell to a friend or a good acquaintance. Whatever you do, if you get the sense they wouldn’t like or find your product useful, don’t try to pitch it. That only frustrates everyone involved.

Conclusion

I’m hoping that answers the basic questions and issues regarding marketing. It’s really not as difficult as you may think. It can be as simple as getting on Twitter and replying to or posting a few Tweets. I try to do that regular, and I get a fair amount of interaction from people either in the replies or via a new follower. Building that connection is essential though, so if you’ve been avoiding it, stop now and work out how you can include it in your marketing plan.

Lots of like-minded authors looking to succeed are throwing release parties or author takeovers (where authors get time slots to post about their work) on Facebook or even on Twitter. They’re doing live videos on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. They’re involving each person who comes on board with their audience. You can too. You’ll have to show initiative and do the work for it, but while it might take time, it isn’t rocket science. So give it a chance and don’t discard this important piece of marketing just because it might be new or uncomfortable. And if you’ve been doing it for a while? Keep working at it. Find new ways to interact and engage with others to build your network.

That’s it for this week, everyone! I hope this has proved useful. Feel free to leave questions in the comments below if you have them!

Sunday Stories: A Drastic Change

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

Today’s post will be a bit longer mainly because the time in my life I’m about to share with you was so significant and also stretched over a longer period. But I’ll do my best to keep things condensed as much as possible. Those of you who have been following this section of the blog probably remember that the first post in this newer section was about the lessons I learned from the situation with my Mom. You’ll probably remember that I had fallen into serious depression and addictive behavior patterns that created all kinds of issues.

My First Year in College

By the time I reached my first year in college, I was a mess. I’m sure that, to most, it looked like I had it all together. I doubt anyone would’ve looked at me and thought, that girl has serious trust issues, crippling depression, and addictive behavior patterns that will probably land her in a world of trouble. Of course, no one knew me well enough to see that. They may have known I was unhappy, if I let it show in public, but the closest anyone came to recognizing there was an issue was my mother, and that was only because we fought all the time.

By the time I got to college, my relationship with my mother was starting to mend but still tenuous, and I was harboring a massive load of resentment toward my dad for not being there for me when everything went wrong with my mom, but I didn’t even recognize that I resented him because I’d spent so long punishing myself and my mother, taking that resentment out on us both (but mostly on her) instead of the person I put on a pedestal and believed was too perfect to be blamed for anything.

None of us deserved anything that I’d been dishing out on us in that time. My father had done his best to be there for all of us while also being there for my mom and working. My mother tried her best after the fact to reconnect and give me back what I’d lost. And me? I was lost, drowning in the aftermath I didn’t know how to cope with and making it worse because I had zero self-confidence in facing my emotions.

I brought this with me to school, spending all but the last week or two of school without friends. No one stayed around for long, and in part, I think this was because I was searching for something no one around me at the time knew how to provide, something even I didn’t really know I was looking for or needed. 

The Beginnings of a Change

In the last two weeks of the semester, all of that changed. Not immediately, of course, but it started there and continued on from that point. The only person I’d managed to make any significant connection with (and the only person who cared enough to constantly introduce me to people) was an outgoing, sociable pastoral major. (I’ve chosen letters to represent the individuals I’m going to talk about to protect their privacy and identities.) Let’s call this guy D.

He introduced me to so many people during the few weeks at the beginning of our friendship that I’d begun to lose count. I was also fairly… Well, shy isn’t exactly the word. I was reserved and extremely cautious around guys due to some less than wonderful experiences during community college years. Nothing too bad, but just enough to make me distrusting and ill-inclined to let them get too close to start off. Which makes what happened at the end of that first semester even more startling.

I’ll never forget the night D asked me to meet him at the campus Sports Center to hang out and meet another friend of his (whom he said rarely left the dorms and was a double major in math and engineering). I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was that I was lonely and had nothing better to do. Maybe it was that I kind of liked D a bit at the time and thought any opportunity to see more sides of him was too good to pass up. My curiosity always has been what’s gotten me into the most trouble. Well, that and running my mouth too much. But whatever the reason, I agreed.

An Intriguing Individual

His friend was interesting. That’s the best way I can put it. I was more focused on the new guy I’d just met than I was on D, and I was also a lot more open than I usually was. We’d met to play a few games of checkers (it was the only game in the Sports Center that allowed for more than brief snatches of conversation between taking turns at a game or flying around the ice rink), and right away, D’s friend L made a point of letting me know he was just okay at checkers. I didn’t really believe him because, after all, it’s best not to underestimate an opponent, no matter what they say. Turns out that was a smart move. We played two games, each of us winning one, before we decided to head over to the commons area and just hang out to chat. 

By this time, I was really intrigued by L. He wasn’t what I expected (though, honestly, I have no clue what I was expecting…), and he had this way of seeing through people. The most interesting thing was watching as he and D took turns analyzing each other. They took the time to go through everything from how they knew what mood the other person was in to what they’d figured out about the person just based on their observations.

Then they drew me in. I didn’t know either of them well, and I’d only just met L, so an hour or two wasn’t much time to use to analyze. Lucky for me, I was bothering to pay attention because they’d grabbed my attention. So, I got involved in the conversation and offered them what I knew. The rest of the night passed in a bit of a blur, but by the time curfew rolled around, I was more comfortable with L than anyone else I’d met and known for weeks.

An Unexpected Question and an Unexpected Friend

The thing that really did it, though, was the question. He waited for D and another friend who had joined us in the Commons area to go before asking, something I didn’t think much about at the time but very much appreciated later. Then he asked me: Why do you always wear a mask? 

I remember standing there, my heart pounding. I wasn’t expecting the question, and not even friends I’d had for months ever asked that. Whether because they didn’t see it or because they felt it would be rude to ask, I don’t know. But L asked it as if it was the most natural question to ask a person you’d known for just a few hours.

I considered trying to regain the upper hand in the conversation by refusing to answer. It wasn’t long until curfew, so if I’d refused to answer, I could’ve bowed out politely. But I didn’t. I don’t know if he even noticed the pause or the internal struggle, but I calmed down not long after and just answered him. I actually felt relieved. When the first moment of fear and surprise passed, I didn’t feel anything except relief and, for some reason, a sense that I could trust him with the answer.

That night, if I’d refused to answer, I don’t know where our friendship would be. Maybe he would’ve decided it wasn’t worth trying to figure out what was wrong and why I spent my time hiding from everyone. Or, maybe the fact that I wouldn’t say would’ve made it him that much more curious. Either way, that night was the start of more than I ever would’ve imagined.

Gifts I Didn’t Know I wanted

After that, we spent a lot of time together. He was determined to help me face what I didn’t want to look at, and he was determined to engage me intellectually. I enjoyed the talks. Our earlier conversations were difficult because he was still learning how to approach me, how to handle the situation. But he kept trying, and while it took me some time (and some prodding from family and friends when his approach was doing more harm than good) to learn to communicate what I needed and what I didn’t like, we figured it out. The two of us become extremely close, and by God’s grace, I believe, he brought me out of the darkness I was living in and helped me to both find the light and understand myself better.

He gave me some of the greatest gifts I’d received in a very long time: a listening ear, unconditional love and acceptance, and the ability to feel safe not being in control. Those days we spent together at school were some of the brightest moments in my life despite the pain I sometimes had to face. But he was there with me every step of the way, offering his strength when I didn’t have any, giving his insight when I couldn’t understand the things I felt, and then letting go when he saw I was able to walk on my own. When I regained my footing, I was able to also offer him support and acceptance when he struggled, and the relationship became stronger for it. He was the protective older brother I’d never had and hadn’t ever admitted I wanted.

Refining Fire

As beautiful as those days were, what really made our relationship what it is today was the hardship that it went through. We parted ways at the end of spring semester after knowing each other for only a semester and a few weeks, and both us went home. We called and Skyped over the summer, but toward the end, something changed, and we talked less often. When I got back to school, more than a little had changed.

He was distant. When we’d parted, the two of us were so close that we were hardly ever apart. But when I came back, it felt as if some part of him had left. I did everything I could think of to fix it. I’m afraid I made it worse instead of better.

Neither of us did a good job of communicating the issue, and matters were only made worse by the fact that one or two of our close friends had begun to nag about whether or not we were an item. We weren’t, but some of those friends began to tell L that I was lying about how I really felt. Things between us got so bad that, if a mutual friend hadn’t intervened, we might’ve lost our friendship entirely. I didn’t want it, but my attempts to bridge the gap and fix things made him feel suffocated and pushed him away. 

He left that semester, right after we reconciled, and he never came back to school. For a while, we didn’t talk, and during the time that we weren’t really in touch while he was in boot camp and I busy with school, I got involved with a mutual friend. In all honesty, I felt lost after he left. He had helped me to embrace my emotions, my past, and the part of me that felt most content when someone else I trusted took control so I could just be me. With that gone, I didn’t know how to cope. The only person I felt comfortable sharing anything at all with was gone, and in my desperation to find solid ground again, I made some very foolish decisions. But those decisions and what they led to are a conversation for another day.

Reconnecting

We did reconnect the summer after he left right before school began, and it felt as if no time at all had passed. Both of us had things we were dealing with. He had new adjustments in life. I was navigating a messy breakup that had left me feeling more lost and terrified than ever. But God brought both of us through it. He and I got to talk each other through some of the tail end of those changes and difficulties, just as we’d done so often in previous difficulties.

But the distance and the struggles both were helpful. They prepared me to handle the breakup, at least in avoiding becoming bitter over how I was treated. I’d already learned how to deal with emotional pain inflicted, albeit by accident, by someone I loved. So when my ex inflicted it because he only cared about what he wanted, I navigated that without becoming angry or bitter. (It wasn’t much help when it came to watching my ex hurt mutual friends too, but something’s better than nothing!)

I learned so many things from this relationship, and I continue to learn things. I learned how to love someone with no regard for myself, how to communicate, that it was safe not to be in control so long as the person who had it was trustworthy, and so much more. L taught me so much about myself, about the world around me, about people, and about helping others.

The Most Important Things I’ve Learned

At one point, L told me that he felt I no longer needed him during that time of difficulty. He couldn’t understand why I would want him to stay back then. I don’t know if he understands it now. But however illogical it might have seemed, he at least accepts that I wanted him to stay. Sometimes, we have to remember that not everything in life makes logical sense. It would be nice if it did, but it doesn’t.

Our friendship has lasted four years so far, longer than any friendship I’ve had since I was a child. I don’t know where God will take us both next, but I do know this. We’ve learned a lot from each other and will continue to learn if the friendship continues on.

But the most important lesson I learned? God never brings anyone into our lives by mistake. Every relationship has its share of problems and struggles, but when God brings a person into your life, it’s always for a reason, and there’s always something you can learn. Never take for granted the people who love you or what they have to teach you. Conversely, never take lightly those who bring difficulty into life. They’re also there for a reason, and sometimes, even though they may bring pain, that pain is exactly what you need to grow and to heal. 

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing #2

Marketing on Social Media

Introduction

On to the next topic in this set of marketing discussions. Social media. Most of us have it, though I know there are some who really can’t stand it and would rather avoid it. But, if you’re a business, you can’t afford to ignore social media since that’s where most of your potential customers and clients congregate. However, figuring out how to appropriately utilize social media for your business as an author can get confusing. We see how all the bloggers with other types of businesses utilize it for marketing their business, and we think: I can’t do that because it doesn’t fit my business.

And, you’d probably be right. As an author and a freelance editor, I’ve used multiple social media platforms and gone to a lot of different master classes via webinars or in person to learn more about marketing and social media. Problem is, a lot of the action steps given are hard to apply to authors. So, I’m going to share with you my perspective on it and what I’ve found seems to work for me.

What Types of Social Media Work Best?

If you’re like me, you’d rather not worry about every social media platform on the planet. Instead, you’d prefer to figure out what works and scrap whatever doesn’t. After all, unless you’re paying someone to do it for you, how much time do you realistically have to manage this? If you don’t do anything besides writing for your day job and you don’t have kids, maybe you have the time to learn and figure it out on your own while managing five different social media accounts. It takes time away from writing, but if you have time to spare, fine.

But most of us don’t have that kind of time. I work a 8-5 job, and while I may have lapses where I have nothing to do and can, therefore, check my social media or work on handwriting my next blog post, I don’t have a bunch of free time during the day. So, I come home, already tired, and I only have so much time to write and manage my social media pages before I need to make sure I go to bed so I’m not too tired to do it all over again the next day. Sound familiar? Throw in needing some time to go read a book for a review or just get away from work, and I don’t have the time to manage things that don’t work.

So, what does work? For me, I’ve found that I have the most success with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I rarely touch Instagram, though other authors have told me it works well, and I’ve not gone anywhere near SnapChat because I don’t have time for more platforms.

What Kind of Marketing Works Best with Each?

I find that Twitter works best for letting friends, fans, and prospective readers know what I’m up to throughout the day or for posting content I think will be helpful. I’ve had more success, on the whole, with finding ARC readers on Twitter and getting people to engage with me than I have on Facebook. People generally seem more engaged on Facebook, and I don’t have to go to random groups that will allow me to post my book link in order to hopefully gain some new readers. Lots of Twitter users will actually post things like #ShamelessSelfPromotionSaturday or #SupportIndieAuthors to ask for book links and new reads.

While you might not get any new readers from it, if you share it with your following and others are doing the same, there’s a better chance of your work being seen by someone than there is posting it in a group on Facebook where it’s going to be buried under thirty other similar posts within the next twenty-four hours (more if you’re unlucky).

What Facebook has on Twitter is the room to have a group to engage with your fans through playing games, doing author takeovers where other authors and yourself have scheduled time slots to post about your books and yourself as an author, sharing what you’re up to, and taking questions for Q&A type stuff. They make it far easier to do events where authors team up to bring readers new books, content, and even giveaways. Twitter isn’t set up for that because they impose a strict character limit on the tweets sent out and don’t have any way to easily organize everyone.

The Odd One In The Bunch

As for Pinterest? Well, Pinterest is the unique one out of the bunch. It isn’t technically social media, though you can use it similarly. Instead, Pinterest is a search engine. I like it most out of the three I use because it requires the least amount of activity. I can Pin one or two blog posts or writing prompts of my own and drive traffic to my blog, generate interest in my services, or guide people toward my books or others’ books that they might enjoy reading. But I don’t have to constantly post, try to run ads, or bother people asking them to share the content around.

It’s also nice that once you start to gain traction, Pinterest works with you. If your Pin is doing well in the related categories for search results, then they’ll put it higher up in the search so more people will see it. They don’t bury it, and those following the board or you will be notified of the newest Pin you created. Unlike Facebook, they’re not going to pick and choose whether or not to show it to the people who already said they were interested, and that alone makes it better.

If you’re looking for an easy platform to help drive traffic to your blog and to your products by extension, Pinterest is the way to go. Facebook and Twitter are far more time-costly than Pinterest to manage, and I’ve seen way less traffic to my blog from either as opposed to Pinterest. It’s worth learning the new platform. If you haven’t used it before, I’ve got some tips and will walk you through it in this post.

What Kinds of Marketing Content Work?

Obviously, this will be a little different for everyone depending on what sort of book you have and who you’re trying to reach. The starting point for everyone, however, is to know your audience. There are few directions you can go with social media to really build your brand: informative/expert in industry, humorous/light-hearted, a combination.

For Example… My Approach:

I’m not generally a very funny or light-hearted person. Unless sarcasm counts as funny… But most people would argue that poking fun at others isn’t the best way to build your brand unless satire is your brand. It’s not mine, so I went with informative/expert in industry. You can tell I have pretty easily because my blog and a lot of what I post on social media that isn’t related to my own books has to do with writing and editing. The content is geared toward educating and establishing the fact that I do know a thing or two about editing, writing, and publishing.

This was a choice I made before I even began the blog because I knew I wanted to appeal to both writers and readers of speculative fiction and, specifically, fantasy. As a freelance editor and an author, it can be hard to find an approach that will gain me new clients as well as new readers. This was my approach. It lets people know up front that if they come to me for editing or for advice of any sort on writing, I’m going to have an answer or I’ll find one that’s based on research and fact. Having this approach also has the added bonus of gaining me opportunities to guest post for things unrelated to my published books specifically. My article on Burning Embers Publications regarding editing and the other one regarding Pinterest are two good examples of that.

What Difference Does That Make?

To put it succinctly, a huge difference. My choice of approach affects the kind of marketing content I use. Granted, if I’m marketing my books, I’m probably going to market them about the same way anyone does (or wants to): with strong copy and information on how to get the book. But if I’m trying to market myself as an author, which is really what you’re doing whether you’re actively trying to sell a book or not, then my choice of direction changes what I’ll post about.

Sure, I post stuff that I just find amusing or interesting. But usually, those are shares or retweets of other people’s stuff, not my own marketing content. I strive to make my content reflect my goal: providing expertise on the industry and helping others to learn from what I know. Your content should do the same.

But Really… What Types of Marketing Content do I post?

For authors, it’s all about readers liking your writing and, ideally, liking you. It’s not just about them buying the book. It’s about whether or not they want to support the message you’re sharing. If they don’t buy into the message you’re trying to share, they’re not going to be very eager to share the work with others. But if they really like the book or series and your style and message, they’re going to be much more happy to tell all of their friends about you.

We all want to support businesses and brands that align with what we care about and the values we feel are important. If the content we’re reading, whether it’s on social media or in the book itself, doesn’t align with what we believe in and the core values we hold to, we’re not going to pass it along to others. Why would we? As a business, it’s our job to know what our message is and how the audience we’re targeting will perceive it. Then, we have to take that information and find a way to package it so that it’s interesting, palatable, and engaging for our target audience.

It’s like I said at the beginning. I can’t tell you exactly what kind of content will work for you because every individual brand and author will be different. But I can tell you that if you know your goals and the approach you want to take, you’ll be able to discern what content will fit that and post only what does. It’s not easy, but it is pretty simple.

Final Notes

Navigating social media is difficult. It poses all kinds of nuances, potential trip ups, and points of stress. Some people find it easier than others, but at the end of the day, none of us can avoid it if we want to utilize all the marketing tools available to us. If you know the angle you want to take and have goals to accomplish, it’ll make your journey easier.

In the end, my best advice regarding social media and marketing is this: be professional. That’s the number one thing you can do for your brand, no matter what direction you take. No matter what you’re posting, be professional. Act in a manner that is courteous, treat people with respect even if they’re not giving you that same courtesy, and make it about your reader and your audience, not you. It’s fine to talk about yourself and let them know you need help, but make sure that more of your content is focused on what they’re wanting and needing than it is on what you want and need from them.

This will go further than just about anything else in any area of your life. Treating others in a manner that’s kind and professional puts out a lot of fires. I’ve watched what happens when someone’s upset and the business or individual treated them with disrespect, condescension, and lack of compassion. It’s not pretty, and it doesn’t achieve anything except giving your business a bad reputation. It isn’t worth it. If you need to, scream about it away from the computer, phone, or person. But don’t let your frustration or anger out on them. Be polite and kind to a fault even if they’re not.

Conclusion

Professionalism and courtesy should be obvious parts of your marketing and branding strategy, but I’ve seen so, so many people screw this up, and it can make the difference between failure and success. Don’t let it be the reason you fail in your marketing and business goals! Use the tips I gave for platforms and content, and then add professionalism to it. You’re going to get much better responses from people that way, I guarantee. Best of luck to you in your marketing endeavors! Next week, we’ll talk some about your blurb, Amazon sales pages, and attracting readers.

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing #1

Marketing

Introduction

Marketing is a really broad topic. If any of you have ever done a Google search on tips and tricks regarding this topic, then you know the results seem to be endless. Everyone has a different opinion. My goal here, as it usual, is not to give you my opinion, primarily, but to offer you the options and give both the upsides and the downsides of both.

But because the topic of marketing is so vast, I’m going to break it down, and we’ll have a few posts on the issue. Today’s is going to center around the issue of building your email list and fan base. We’ll have some discussions about social media in a later post, and you can also see what I have to say about Pinterest now if you’re interested in starting in on that right away.

An Indisputable Fact About marketing

Here’s the one thing that will always be true about marketing. It will go hand-in-hand with publishing no matter what you choose to do. I don’t care if you’re indie-publishing with Amazon or going through a small publisher or even going with a big brand publishing company. Marketing is a must. Now, depending on what route you take, you may not need to do a lot of your own marketing. But as an author, you are always going to be interacting with fans, old and new, and striving to increase the visibility your book has.

If you rely on a company to do it all for you, you’re not going to do as well as you would pitching in. After all, you’re the writer, and people who are fans of your work want to talk to you, not your publisher. So you have to know about marketing, which is why we’re talking about it in regards to publishing.

A Launching Point

Everyone needs a launching point as an author. If you’ve been doing this for a while, you’ve already found and used yours. You’re moving on to finding new and better ways to do things. But if you’re new… Well, chances are you’re feeling overwhelmed and have no idea where to start. Even if you’re not new, there’s a chance you’ve overlooked this crucial launching point for authors in marketing.

To those who are new, let me just say… Take a deep breath. You’re going to be fine. You’ll make mistakes along the way, but that’s fine. We all have and still do. You’ll have to if you want to figure out what works. The good news is, in this day and age, there are lots of people who have done it before you and have figured out what works. And those people have an easy avenue to share about it online. You wouldn’t be reading this if we didn’t.

So, what is the starting point? In marketing, your starting point should be an email list. Social media is fine and all, but you don’t control that. If you’re locked out of the account for some reason and can’t get in, you’re not going to be able to engage with your audience there. The same is not the case for an email list. You own that, and you can send content to subscribers at any time. As long as you’re not doing anything sketchy or illegal, you won’t have to worry about being shut down.

As such, this is your starting point.

How Does Marketing Work With An Email List?

Glad you asked! For authors, there are lots of choices for marketing to an email list and for marketing to potential subscribers. The thing that seems to work the best for me is to offer free content of some sort or to give away a coupon that discounts one of your books (if you have your own website and a connected store).

Attracting New Subscribers

This is the concept of having a lead magnet. You have to give something to get something. In this case, no one wants to give up their email address if they’re not getting anything useful in return. The possibilities for a lead magnet are endless. I’ve offered coupons (as I mentioned earlier), completed short stories that are only available free to new subscribers, and free previews (the first few chapters) of books. Sometimes, I’ll offer both the free preview of a book and a coupon to go with that book, but it all depends on how I’m doing things at any given time.

If you haven’t started an email list yet, your lead magnet and choosing a platform to use for the mailing list is your first priority. You don’t have any subscribers yet, so you’re not going to be too worried about what content to send. But, once you start getting subscribers, content is a concern. So, let’s chat about that next.

Marketing to Current Subscribers

This one’s a little more work. A lead magnet is done once you have it up. You do the work up front to make it the absolute best it can be regardless of what you’re going to offer. But once the work is done, it’s done, and you don’t have to repeat it.

Marketing to the subscribers you have is harder. The goal you have is to make sure that you know your audience. Who are you trying to talk to?

Let me give you an example. I’ve talked before about who this blog is aimed towards, but for those who weren’t with me for that post, I’ll review. My goal is to provide writers with content that is professional and coming from a position of expertise. If I don’t know something, I go research it before I decide to talk about it. I make sure I know what I’m talking about.

But, I also target readers. I’m an author and a freelance editor, so my goal is to not only establish my credibility as an expert in my field but to also give the readers in the crowd something they can enjoy. That’s why I do book reviews. It’s my way of sharing books I love with other readers. At the end of the day, I’m an author and editor, yes, but I was a reader first, and so I like connecting with my readers and with others who just enjoy a good book like I do.

I take that same approach when dealing with my newsletter. The content targets both my readers and my writers. You, if you figure out who your target audience is, can do the same thing. And your goal with your lead magnet is to make sure that free or discounted content attracts people who will actually want to look at your emails.

Why Does Target Audience Matter?

Okay, story time. When I first started my newsletter and got my lead magnet set up on StoryOrigin to start attracting newsletter subscribers, I offered a short story for free. And I got a lot of subscribers. But here’s the problem… I was losing five or six every time I sent out a newsletter.

My newsletter only goes out once a month right now because, a) that’s all I can manage and b) if my audience is anything like me, once a month is fine but more than that is a nuisance in an already full inbox. I tend to unsubscribe if I’m getting emails every day or every week, and I’m less likely to buy anything from someone I feel is spamming me with content. So, I just don’t do that.

But, apparently, for the people I was attracting to my audience, one email was too much. Now, there will always be people who sign up just to get the content you’re giving away and then unsubscribe, which is why I prefer to offer coupons or discounts instead. And there will always be people who sign up and, despite your best efforts, seem to expect something from the newsletter that you never advertised. It’s good for those people to go so your list isn’t cluttered with people who have zero interest in your content.

Avoiding Freeloaders and Zero Interest Subscribers

If you’re filling your list with people who just want free stuff and have zero interest in what you have to offer, then the moment you send a newsletter that talks about a new release or markets any of your products to them, you’ll lose them. I’ve watched this happen with my newsletter before, and it’s not only frustrating, it’s disheartening. You can’t stop it from happening entirely, but gear your reader magnet or lead magnet toward those who have an interest in what you have to say.

That’s why it’s crucial you take the time to figure out your target audience and how you want to approach marketing. Your marketing strategy will be very different if you’re trying to establish expertise in your field versus trying to entertain your audience.

Now What?

So now you know why you should be building an email list and some strategies for making the process smoother. But now what? Where do you go? What email providers are best? Can you do it for free?

No one platform ever fits every person. As a result, I can’t tell you which platform you’ll like best. Usually, you can start a free account and have what you need to get started. Therefore, as long as there’s an option to export your list of emails if you choose, you can try something else and find what works.

I’ve chosen to go with MailChimp. It integrates with my website’s store and other platforms well, and I don’t have to pay to get that feature. Since I don’t pay, I can say that it’s a little limited on what it can do at times. I can automate welcome emails and organize the email list as I wish, but I can’t schedule emails for future dates. Instead, I write the email, save it, and manually send later. A little inconvenient, but it gives a lot of features that other platforms don’t always give, so no complaints here.

Options for Integrating Your Email Subscription Provider with Lead Magnet Sites

On this one, I also found that MailChimp is easier to find integration info for. However, the two sites I use for lead magnets do support other email list sites. I’ve liked working with StoryOrigin best for gaining new subscribers with lead magnets. They seem to have more options for joining promotions with those lead magnets than BookFunnel. However, BookFunnel also has options and has more ways to control the delivery of ARC copies than StoryOrigin does. However, you do have to pay a monthly (or annual) subscription fee. So if you’re looking for free, StoryOrigin offers quite a lot for being free software.

Conclusion

Well, that’s all on marketing for this week. Next week, we’ll go into some other areas of marketing that you’ll need to give your book its best shot at publication. I look forward to having you all join me!

Sunday Stories: A Past Altered

Ariel Paiement

As election season gets into full swing and everyone is posting about this or that that’s got their hackles up thanks to something “the other side” has done, I’ve been watching what people on both sides are saying. And while I think that both sides sometimes have good points, I’m alarmed by what I see. Even more so as I’ve been reading through 1984 by Orwell and waking up to just how many parallels there are between the world Orwell presents in the book and our own world right now. (If you see lots of quotes from Orwell’s 1984 in here, now you know why.)

Scrolling through the comments on political posts or my newsfeed on Facebook where both liberals and conservatives are posting, the thing I see most is an overwhelming proliferation of ignorance. Yes, you heard right. Ignorance. Sure, they’re well informed about what they can’t stand about the other side or what their side has done that they may or may not be super happy about (such as the newest things Trump has done to make the liberals angry or the fact that the right is pretty happy Sanders dropped out of the running). But they’re uninformed otherwise or they wouldn’t be sitting there arguing over two sides who are both going to destroy our nation.

Looking at history–and no, I don’t mean history textbooks because they’ve been changed often enough that you can’t even get them to match what the federally protected national parks say about the historic events in them–reveals a lot about how we ended up here. I understand, as Orwell said in 1984, the how, but I do not understand the why.

Bear with me here. Don’t shut me down right away because this isn’t really about politics or any one political party. That’s just the most recent outlet for the bigger problem I’ve been seeing for years in people of every political stripe and affiliation.

A bit of setup here to help you understand my background and where I’m coming from on this topic… Growing up, I was homeschooled from start to finish in a Christian home. Now, my more liberal readers may be tempted, in many cases, to assume that means I’m brainwashed and don’t know anything… Not saying you all do because that would be too great a generalization and therefore untrue, but I’ve heard it more than enough times to know that’s the general consensus about homeschoolers from the liberal crowd. I don’t even get a chance to say what I think before those of you in this crowd form an opinion of me, all because I said I was homeschooled and a Christian.

May I suggest to you a point of consideration? For those who grew up reading the firsthand accounts of history, it’s also easy to look at you, listen to the “facts” you rattle off from the history textbooks you were taught to believe, and shake our heads as we think exactly the same about you? We understand, of course, how you can believe something so strongly.

But don’t people on both sides of the argument understand that? I think most of us understand that it’s pretty typical for those who were taught a particular viewpoint (as opposed to being taught to think for themselves) to cling to whatever lies they were told even when presented with an alternative that’s supported by the facts. Both sides do it all the time. And we can respect a person who’s clearly intelligent and holds an opposing view even as we wonder how they could be so misled, can’t we? We do it all the time. Agree to disagree, right?

My point is this… You may look at the other side and shake your head thinking they’re idiots for holding onto something that’s so clearly “false” to your way of thinking, but they’re doing the same to you, and it gets no one anywhere. Express your disbelief in the “stupidity” of others if you must, but don’t forget… There are always two sides to every story.

I get that not every homeschooler has (or had) parents who really encourage them to think or make them sit down and read the accounts of those who literally lived history. Mine did. My parents had me read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, many of the classic authors (both fiction and non-fiction) who have been pulled from our public school curriculums, and countless autobiographies from various Presidents, Founding Fathers, and other important men and women. I learned to love history not because of a textbook but because I was able to practically live it in my mind as I read from those who had actually lived it.

My parents’ goal to teach me and my siblings (the youngest being 13 now) about a history our nation has all but forgotten involved a trip we all took from Illinois down to Texas. We drove, and along the way, we took the time to visit national park after national park. We read the plaques, walked the grounds where historic moments occurred, and read what the men and women from those days had to say about their stories, about why the things that occurred did.

And you know what? Time and again, those firsthand accounts of history don’t fit the narrative given in the textbooks used in public schools or, even, in the ones we used at home, which were sometimes more accurate than the public school textbooks and sometimes less. How have we ended up at a point where the accounts of the men and women who lived through the history we claim to know don’t match up with what we’re being told happened?

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut, this isn’t an accident. People altered the records. How else could they change so that they don’t match what the people living in those times had to say about the events going on? Lies don’t self-propogate with no origin point. The victors write the history books, as they say, and they most certainly did in this case. We ought to stop worrying about what one side or the other is doing and start worrying about what has happened to us.

We’ve elected officials, on both sides, who have supported changing the records of history as taught in our schools to our children. We’ve allowed our children to be taught lies as if they are truth, and we’ve done nothing. We’ve even participated actively in removing the influences that might undermine the social conditioning and the lies our government is encouraging, in some cases. As Orwell said in 1984, “Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future” (Orwell, 1984.) He couldn’t be more right. And I think the most frightening part is the point we’ve reached.

People argue that we’ll never end up like Orwell’s society in 1984, altering every record to fit whatever the government’s chosen narrative is and controlling all information–even the very minds of our people–but we’re already well on the road to that. Maybe it hasn’t gotten that bad, but if we don’t wake up, it’s going to. We shouldn’t expect, friends, to walk the same road of destruction others did, refuse to turn around, and then not end up at the same disastrous end that they did at some point. We’re already doing the same things he warned us about on a small scale. The country we know today is not a country our Founding Fathers would be proud of. Our federal government has more power than it ever should’ve, and every day they take more. We don’t notice it because it seems insignificant to us at the time, but Orwell couldn’t have said it better when he stated, “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end” (Orwell, 1984).

We’ve reached a point where we look at the warnings embedded into books like 1984 or Animal Farm, at the warnings in the non-fiction writings of so many who lived during the time when socialism, fascism, communism, and more were emerging, and think, that’s not ever going to happen to us. We can use those systems and not end up like them. Why do we think this? Because we don’t know history, people. We don’t.

Kids today aren’t taught history. They’re taught propaganda. I’m not blaming it on the teachers. They don’t decide the curriculum, and at this point, the ones who fight to keep the truth in our schools are viciously attacked and called ignorant for wanting to promote reality instead of this new reality that exists only in the minds of those buying into it. The ones who don’t often don’t even know the truth themselves because they too were taught a lie. The lesson I have learned from my time in a secular community college, a fundamental Christian college, and watching the opinions of both sides is this: those who do not know history are doomed to repeat its mistakes, and we do not know our history, so we are doomed to repeat our mistakes.

I know this isn’t a popular opinion. It isn’t a popular statement. No one wants to be told that they’ve willing chosen to be ignorant. But here’s the reality of it. If you choose to accept what your history textbook says without checking the “facts” presented against a primary source, you have chosen to rely on someone else’s word for your own heritage and your own country’s history. You have chosen, then, to remain ignorant of the voices of those who lived through it, which reach beyond the grave to dispense their warnings, wisdom, and truths. You chose that. And so, then, you are responsible in part for the current state of affairs where we squabble over things that are symptoms of a larger problem, not the real root of the problem.

To those who actually know what I’m talking about when I quote Orwell, it’s time to wake up. It’s time for you to face the music. I don’t care what side you’re on. If you keep refusing to turn to the past–the real past as it’s presented by those on both sides that lived through it–you’re responsible for what happens as a result. You are responsible for the decline and eventual destruction of your country as you know it. I can’t speak for how things are in other countries and whether or not their history in schools matches history as it’s told by the primary sources, but I can speak for America because I’ve seen it firsthand, and it’s horrifying.

In twenty years, how much more will history have changed? Will you even realize that it has changed? Did you pay enough attention to educating yourself and thinking for yourself–no matter what political party you belonged to or where you were schooled–to notice when those “facts” change yet again? For most people, the answer would be no. Do you even care?

We need to wake up and realize what’s going on. We need to turn back to educating ourselves and our children on the real history and how things happened. The national parks and museums are one place to start. The firsthand accounts of people like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other famous leaders and individuals in our country’s history are another place to start. It isn’t as though it’s really hard, though it will require mental exercise and purposeful intent to learn the truth from those who have spent a lifetime ignoring it and dismissing it as unimportant.

History has all kinds of important lessons. Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Learn from them. Find ways to do better than those who went behind us. You might be surprised at how much you discover that doesn’t match with what the popular opinions of the day say about our history. Learn to be curious, to think, to aspire to know more, to understand the why not just the how.

If we want to preserve our freedom, we must do all of this and do it now before it’s too far gone. You don’t have to contribute to a further downward spiral of ignorance of your own heritage. Take responsibility for finding out the truth and holding onto it even if people mock you for it or call you crazy for doing so. After all, “Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad” (Orwell, 1984).

Thursday Technicalities: Finding ARC Readers

Publishing Journey

Introduction

The third stop on our discussion of preparing for publication is finding ARC readers. To start off with, for those who don’t know what ARC readers are, they are advanced review copy readers. They are not beta readers and shouldn’t be considered such. Instead, they are readers who read the book before it’s out for the public and review it on release date. So let’s talk about how you get them and where.

Where to Find ARC Readers

The first step is finding your ARC readers. There are many places and ways to do this. First, you can use sites like StoryOrigin and Bookfunnel to join promotional events for reviews run by other users. On sites like these, people sign up for your ARC copy, and you approve them. Recommendation here for these platforms… Pay attention to the stats. I know you want reviews, but don’t just accept anyone. Look at the stats if they’re provided and approve reviewers who have decent stats and reputations for following through with reviews. I learned the hard way that if you approve people with no stats or bad ones, your risk is very high that you’re just giving away free copies of your hard work in exchange for nothing at all.

The other possible places to find reviewers are social media sites, writing forums that allow you to post about that kind of stuff, and through family connections. A word to the wise on family connections, though. Family members and close friends can review the book, but not on Amazon. If they do and Amazon catches the connection, you could lose all your reviews and both of you could be banned from reviewing. Not good news, so don’t mess around with this. If family members or friends want to review, have them do so on platforms like Goodreads and Bookbub.

One other avenue is by reaching out to the readers on your newsletter. If you’ve done a good job building your list, then there should be at least some who will be happy to help out in exchange for a free copy of the book.

Dealing with ARC Reader Deadlines

The next thing to consider is your deadline for ARC readers. Some people read faster than others, and you want to make sure you leave enough time for even slower readers to make it through the book before your release day. I recommend giving them roughly a month to read it. The best scenario is that everyone is able to finish and reviews on time.

Of course, we all know the best scenario is rarely what occurs in every case. You’ll have readers that don’t do it on time and need to be followed up with. If you acquired your ARC readers via social media or your newsletter/email list, you should know how to get in touch. The problem that I run into all the time with getting ARC readers through StoryOrigin and similar sites is that people’s emails and contact info aren’t given to you until the reader has actually submitted reviews (showing interest, therefore, in your work). This means you have no way to get in touch, and while the sites remind them to submit their review links and review, they can ignore that. If they do, there’s nothing you can do, and you can’t even contact them yourself.

What to Do If They Don’t Review

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do. If you have contact info, you can get in touch and try to find out what’s going on. You can encourage them to leave the review and kindly remind them about the deadline for the review. But if they still don’t review, you can’t force them to do so. You want to keep relationships good and stay as professional as possible, so don’t be abrasive or too pushy about it.

If you don’t have contact information, there’s nothing at all you can do. You just have to wait and hope that the site your reviewer applied through will succeed when they try to remind them to review. Without contact information, there aren’t any options open to you if they don’t fulfill their end of the deal. That’s the risk you take. This is why you should look at the stats on how often they reviewed in the past to try to find reasonable assurance that they’ll review.

Bottom Line on ARC Readers?

The bottom line is that your new release needs reviews. Amazon’s algorithms won’t kick in to help you sell the book until you have at least fifty 4-or-5-star reviews. The only way to get a good start on that is to have reviews when the book comes out, and you can’t get those without ARC reviewers. Do your best to screen the people you’re giving the ARC copies to, and if you can, try to have contact info for the majority of reviewers promising a review on release date. I can’t promise you’ll have 100% participation, even though you should if you swapped a free copy of your book for the review promise, but at least if you can follow up, you’ll have a better chance of getting the reviews you were promised.

Voices: Religion As A Writing Tool

Voices

Introduction

Voices by Ursula K Le Guin was the last book on my March reading list, and I actually finished on time, but I’m a little behind on posting the review. At any rate, I’m done reading it, so let’s take a look.

Reader’s Review: Voices

This is the first YA fantasy novel I’ve reviewed on my own without a request for a review here on the blog. Le Guin didn’t disappoint either. The piece is well-written and perfectly suited to this blog. I have read Le Guin before, as I read her Earthsea series when I was fourteen or fifteen. I loved those books, so I had high hopes for this book. And, as I said, Le Guin didn’t disappoint. She masterfully wove a story that captivated me with a rich story, a vibrant world, and dynamic characters.

The only real complaint I have is that it was in present tense at the beginning. I really don’t like that in books, but because it was first person and was almost written as an address from the MC to the reader, it was easier to move past. It did eventually switch to past tense as the full narrative got underway, and it was much easier to enjoy then.

The book is suitable for older children and teens. I’d say it’s fine content wise for anyone who’s at least twelve. The book does mention rape and abuse of women by the soldiers in the city where the book takes place, but nothing is actually shown or discussed in much detail. Similarly, there are one or two conversations the MC ends up roped into where one of the soldiers’ sons was talking about sex and trying to figure out if any women the MC knew would be available, but the MC shot the conversation down quickly and not much detail was actually given. The author keeps it PG-13. The language, to my recollection, was clean. Overall, I would recommend parental guidance for kids under twelve, but it is a YA book and stays appropriate for teens.

Writer’s Review of Voices

As the title hinted, our discussion today will center on Le Guin’s masterful use of religion in her work to bring the story and its civilizations to life.

I know some fellow authors who, as Christian authors, strongly object to religions besides Christianity being in their work. They won’t include any deities in their writing, made up or otherwise, that are not the Christian God or a representation of Him. I respect that, and if you’re in that camp, you’ll probably find this particular writer’s review rather useless to you. But if you do want to include deities and religions in your world for authenticity or other reasons, as many writers do, Le Guin has a lot to teach.

Her work Voices mainly represents two religions: that of the Alds and that of the people native to the city the Alds conquered before the book began. The two are in conflict to start because the Alds believe in and worship only one god, believe writing is evil, and see the gods the natives worship as demons that must be purged from the earth to make way for their god’s return.

To start with, they only conquered the city in an attempt to find the origin point of all evil, which their legends say is located in the city or the land around it. They march in and destroy all libraries, writings, and statues of the gods they find along with anything that they believe to be a temple.

The natives are then forbidden to worship any god besides the Alds’ god, and anyone found with books is killed. Naturally, this doesn’t sit too well with the natives who were used to their worship and to governing themselves. It creates a great amount of hatred, tension, fear, and suspicion.

Le Guin uses religion to add to the conflict as well as to bring the world to life. If you dislike stories where religion, even made up religion, takes a strong roll, Voices probably isn’t for you. But because religion is an indispensable part of the world, the conflict, and the story, Le Guin’s work is an excellent place to start learning how to use fantasy religions, or even real ones, to bring your story world to life and to add fuel to your fire of conflict.

I could go on and on about the ways Le Guin uses religion to add to her story, but I’m a firm believer in the idea that observation of how it’s done well is one of the best ways to learn when it comes to writing. So go read Voices. See how Le Guin uses religion and then apply the principles you see to your own work. You’d be surprised what this kind of practice and learning method can do for your writing. Good luck!

Thursday Technicalities – Cover Designers and Your Cover

Okay, this won’t be a terribly long post since the only covers I tend to do are the artistic, silhouette-style covers you see on some of the re-covered classics. You know, the ones with the flowy, decorative fonts and more of a focus on shapes and color than fancy Photoshop skills. So I’m not really the person to talk to if you want to a lot about cover design like you see on most books. And that’s not the focus of this blog anyway.

But, if you’re an author, you do have to know how to handle your cover. It’s the very first thing a reader sees, and readers do, unfortunately, judge a book by the cover. This can be turned to your advantage, but only if you’ve gotten a designer who designs or have yourself learned to design cover art that’s a match with the genre and the feel of the book. If you haven’t… Well, your cover may send the wrong message.

The main things you need to know about cover art are as follows:

  • Designers are not one-size fits all.
  • You must own the image rights.
  • You want the cover to fit the genre: the goal is not to necessarily stand out but to fit in while giving readers a general idea of what your story is about.

Designers Are Not One Size Fits All

This is pretty straightforward. Not every designer will be a match for your project. Make sure you do your research. Look at what they design and the artwork they’ve done for other covers. If you can, talk to people that have purchased for them or read reviews left on their work. Ask for samples.

Most designers have a style they stick to. Their covers are going to feel somewhat similar just as paintings from a particular artist will feel similar when you look at them. A Van Gogh, for example, looks far different than a Leonardo Da Vinci. We can pick up on those styles of each artist and differentiate between the two. It’s similar for a designer. You can tell if someone’s being honest about the work they’ve done by looking for those similarities in the designs. If their work is all over or has some designs that are way, way different than anything else in their portfolio, be careful about it. They may be using other people’s art. Just be smart, basically. Do your research and take your time because your cover can really do a lot for the book.

You Must Own Image Rights

I don’t care what images your designer uses, you need image rights. If they create the piece entirely from scratch, which some do, then you get the rights when the artist is paid and gives you permission to use the art they created for the cover as they created it. But this means you need a piece that, from font to background image, needs to be entirely 100% owned by the artist. Otherwise, things get trickier.

If your artist didn’t create the image and the font 100% on their own, you need to own rights to images for use in that way. Places like Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels that offer free stock photos with Creative Commons zero licenses (use them basically for anything with no attribution) aren’t reliable. There have been issues I’ve seen occur in groups where artists used their images only to discover that the image was originally not the poster’s image and, as a result, the artist was in trouble for copyright infringement. It’s serious, guys. Don’t use these sites. Invest in a subscription for a year to a place like Envato Elements or buy individual stock photos from places like Shutterstock or Adobe Photoshop if you’re not going to require your artist to do the work to get images that you’ll have rights to using in your cover. Same deal for the fonts. If you’re in doubt on the fonts on what you can use it for, ask the designer. Free for commercial use may not always extend to ebooks or covers (As dumb as it is), so make sure you check with the person who’s listed as the creator. At least that way, with a written paper trail, you can say you did your due diligence to make sure you weren’t infringing on copyright.

A Cover That Fits the Genre

Lastly, make sure your cover will fit the genre. Make sure your designer does good work within your genre too before hiring them. You aren’t looking for something that will be super unique. Only something that draws the reader’s eye and gets them to click on the blurb. And, ideally, you want those people drawn in to be your type of reader. If you write dark romance, you probably aren’t too focused on drawing in fantasy readers unless your dark romance is set on another planet with elves and dwarves. Same goes for the reverse. I, as a speculative fiction writer, am trying to draw in speculative fiction readers with my cover not readers looking for a light, feel-good romance or some other genre.

So it’s important that your cover fits the genre and then, if you can, try to incorporate some aspect of the book. It can be a vague representation, but having a little bit of something to give your readers a general idea of what the book will be about helps with marketing, so don’t ignore the boost it can give your book.

Conclusion

That’s all for today, everyone! I hope this has been helpful to you. See you next week on Thursday Technicalities to discuss more topics from our current discussion on publishing preparation. Stay safe with all of the craziness currently going on with this pandemic. Until next time!

Sunday Stories: Calm In The Storm

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

With everything going on due to the Coronavirus, there has been yet another opportunity for me to learn to trust God. It’s a stressful time for most people, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stressed at all. While I’m not particularly worried about my job security like some are right now, I’m adjusting to a new situation in life. For the first time in years, everyone is home. It’s not just me, my parents, and a few of my younger siblings. It’s all eight of us, and that hasn’t been the case since I was eighteen and graduated from high school. 

It might not seem like that much to complain about considering what everyone else is dealing with, and admittedly, it’s not. But with everyone home, tempers run high, and people get stressed. Working from home, while it has its perks, isn’t as wonderful when you have everyone at home making noise or interrupting you to do things during work hours. And in all of that, there’s the temptation to lash out, get angry, and lose it on the people around you, especially when you can’t go anywhere.

Learning to Trust in the Storm

I’m not the most patient person in the world, so this has definitely been a learning situation and a trust situation to boot. I’m having to learn to trust that God can help me stay calm and patient with people around me. Those who know me more personally know that along with not being very patient, I also am not very trusting. I struggle with trusting people, and I struggle with trusting God. While I’ve learned to trust Him on some things, it’s an ongoing process with each new thing, it seems like. (Apparently, I’m not a very fast learner or the concept is just not quite computing.)

But, as difficult as it can be, I appreciate the opportunities to learn to trust. Maybe not at the exact moment I’m being tested, but afterwards, I do. A few months ago, it was trusting God while I was looking for a job. I determined that I wasn’t going to stress about it because stressing meant I wasn’t trusting God. I also determined that, aside from those family members who already knew and were praying for me, I wasn’t going to ask for prayer. Probably sounds a bit weird, but in my head, I needed to go through the struggle alone. It wasn’t something that I felt I should share because it felt like it was between me and God. I needed to go to Him on my own without relying on others’ prayers for me. Normally, I wouldn’t do that with something. I’m all for asking for prayer when I’m struggling through something hard, but that was one learning experience I just felt needed to happen alone. 

And God got me through it. He helped me to grow, and He showed me that there wasn’t a need to worry. That was the least stressful job hunt I have ever gone through even though I only ever heard back from one company on an interview months after I started looking.

Now I’m in another situation to learn to trust God. To trust Him to provide, aid, and bolster. Being stuck at home every day with no ability to leave unless I absolutely have to in order to get meds or shop makes me feel claustrophobic and trapped. It would be easy for me to get worried, frazzled, and scared like so many people have. It would be easy to look at everything going on around me and wonder what I’m supposed to do with everything going to pieces around me.

Instead, I’ve chosen something else. I’ve chosen to trust God. To believe that He will get me through this and help me to respond in a way that honors and glorifies Him in spite of what’s going on. I have chosen to remember the God that I serve and who He is.

Psalm 46 – A Very Present Help In Trouble

The Scripture that has been most on my mind of late has been Psalm 46. I learned this through a song by Judy Rogers called Refuge. (If you’ve never heard it, you should go listen to it. It’s a perfect reminder for the times we’re living in, in my opinion.) I’ve put the Psalm below (KJV version), and I’ll explain why it’s been such a help during this time of storm in a moment.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early. 

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. 

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Why Look to These Verses?

These verses have been an amazing comfort to me because they remind me of a few things about God. First and foremost, He is in control. He could stop the virus, but He has chosen not to. Granted, I wouldn’t say the virus itself is a good thing, but God has already been using it for good. In China, there are already stories of how local and government authorities have received the word of God from Christians they would ordinarily persecute because those Christians were willing to serve God and risk their own lives to help others. We don’t see that in America and, in fact, the prevailing attitude among many Christians I’ve seen talking on Facebook posts has been that we need to take care of the temple God has given us.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t, but ultimately, if God is glorified by us being tortured, persecuted, killed, or getting sick and dying helping others, then we are actually a hindrance to His work and His glory by trying to take care of ourselves. So often, that is an excuse to allow fear in situations like this to keep us from doing what we know God would want us to do. Obviously, right now, many of us are in states with shelter in place regulations. We can’t go out on the streets to pass out Bibles and face masks like the Chinese Christians did, and if we were to disobey our local authorities in this matter, it wouldn’t be very God honoring. Not to mention there would be very little point in doing so because who would be around to see it in many cases? But the point is that many of us in America are so wracked by fear and a me-first mentality that we can’t even fathom the idea of risking life and limb to trust God and do what He asks even if it’s dangerous.

So the first thing I see is that God is in control and is using this for His glory. Just as it says in the tenth line of the Psalm, Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. He is doing just that. He is exalting His name through this virus in spite of the fear and the attitude of distrust many Christians in many countries, including our own, have displayed. That alone should be a comfort because we know that even what others view as evil can be turned for good in an amazing, miraculous way.

But the second thing I see from this is that we have an amazing God who is our refuge and our strength. I don’t need to be afraid because He is in control and He is my refuge. No matter what happens–even if I get sick and die–He is working everything out for His glory and my good. Ultimately, if my death brings Him glory, who am I to argue? I am given the greatest gift I could be given in that moment because I am dying to give Him the glory and I know I’ll go to be with Him. Paul says in Philippians 1:20-21 “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

It is an honor and a privilege to live for Christ and nothing but gain to die for Him too. So if I know He is in control, that even death is a gain, and that He is my refuge, why would I fear? Why wouldn’t I trust? Sometimes, I look at myself and am amazed that I have such an easy time trusting on the big things and such a hard time with smaller things. But I’m human, and that’s one of my particular shortcomings. Nonetheless, I’m grateful for His calling and His faithfulness to work in me the good work He chose to begin. And in this area of trust, He continues to give me chances to grow.

Struggling with Trust

Maybe you’re also struggling with trust. Maybe you look around you and see everyone panicking, and you too feel a little twinge of fear, an urge to take things beyond what is wise or full of temperance and moderation. It’s easy to see everyone else freaking out and feel like we should too, isn’t it? But if you’re in Christ, if you know Him as your Master and your Savior, you too can hold onto the promises made throughout Scripture. You can say along with Paul that to live is Christ and to die is gain. You can hold onto the promise in 2 Timothy 1:7 where Paul writes to Timothy that “God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Take it from your own experience and from someone else who has been in plenty of storms where she chose not to trust God. It’s so much better to let Him have control. In the end, He does whether you admit it or not. The only thing you do by trying to wrest it from His grasp is stress yourself out, scare yourself, and add additional pressure into your life that doesn’t need to be there. If you’re doing this, trust me, you’re not alone. I’ve done it. I’m very prone to doing it. But if I can learn to let Him take charge without being afraid and stressed out, so can you. 

The takeaway today is this. If you’re His child today and you’re stressing out or scared about what might happen due to the current world events or what has already happened because of this virus, stop. Take a deep breath and go to Him with your fears and concerns. You may have something He wants you to do, but I can guarantee that if you don’t stop and pray first, you are going to take on a whole lot of things He doesn’t want you to do, and you may even miss doing what He does want you doing. 

So pray. Ask Him to take away your fear and replace it with His peace that passes all understanding. Let Him in. He cares for you, and even when things are hard, He wants to work in your life and will work things out for your good whether you understand how it’s to your good or not. Trust Him. He knows more than you ever could. As the Psalm I quoted here said, He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. That hasn’t changed. It never will. And so, you are able to also say you don’t fear even if the earth is destroyed, the mountains thrown into the sea, and the waters roar and are troubled.  

Some Monsters Never Die: Bringing Fantasy To Life

Some Monsters Never Die

Introduction

I recently finished reading Some Monsters Never Die by E.A. Comiskey, and let me say, I was impressed. More on that in a few. To start with, E.A. Comiskey is an author that I already know fairly well from working with her in our critique group. She’s awesome to work with, and when I put out the word that I was looking for fantasy books to review for The Fantasy Nook, she asked if I’d be interested in her book, Some Monsters Never Die. Boy, am I ever glad I chose to take her up on the offer.

Some Monsters Never Die: Reader’s Review

E.A. Comiskey really brought fantasy to life with this book. First off, it’s set in the real world in real (or fairly realistic) places, and that alone makes this piece seem more real than some. I loved the humor, magic, and larger than life events that moved the story along. The characters themselves were masterfully written. They’re also the most unlikely heroes and heroines. I mean, the female lead maybe works, aside from being a bookworm. But two old guys from a retirement home hunting demons and the unnatural?

Let’s just say it makes for quite the ride, and more importantly, it opens up all kinds of opportunities to grow on the parts of all the main characters. They set off on a quest all together and end it all together but as better, stronger people than they started out. Definitely worth the read!

Writer’s Review

Some books I’ve reviewed, like the Vine Witch, have done an excellent job of weaving magic into the world. Others have done a phenomenal job of world-building. But in this book, E.A Comiskey has managed to bring fantasy to life. Granted, most of the fantasy stuff she brought to life is the horrifying, monster side. The kind you never want to meet, right?

But, if it’s any consolation, her main characters are two old men and one bookworm woman. Not exactly the kinds of people you’d think would be able to handle things that belong in fantasy books as the antagonists coming to life, but hey. They manage.

And that’s part of what makes this book such a great piece. Comiskey took characters that seem so unlikely to succeed or even cope, with the exception maybe of the old guy who’s a hunter, and she threw them into a world where the horrors of a fantasy tale are all real. Skinwalkers? Check. Giant worm-like things that burrow in the ground and try to eat people? Also check. Dragons? Well… Stanley killed the last one a while ago, but beside the point.

Comiskey uses humor, unexpected heroes, and larger than life threats to really bring fantasy to life in this book. I’d label it as paranormal or maybe urban fantasy, but it’s by far one of the most unique takes on both genres that I’ve read in quite some time.

The Takeaway?

There’s lots to learn from and glean from reading this book, but for today’s focus, I have just one takeaway. Focus on how she weaves the monsters and their magic into every day life and then apply those techniques and principles to your own work. You may not be writing something that’s meant to be even a little bit funny. You may not intend to focus mostly on supernatural monsters and magic spells to kill them.

But if you’re writing fantasy, then there’s going to be some fantastical element you need to make real to your audience. And if you want to bring fantasy to life, especially if you want to do it in our world, Comiskey’s book will show you one way how, and it will do it well.

Don’t waste the opportunity!

Thursday Technicalities: Pinterest for Authors

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

We’re taking a break from our discussions on publishing to talk about Pinterest today. Mainly, the focus will be on Pinterest for authors. This was a request for a guest post over on the Burning Embers blog. It’s up over there today as well, so check their blog out. They’ve got lots of useful tips for authors and writers. Their topic this month is marketing for authors. Let’s get started!

I’ve talked to quite a few of author friends who are sitting in front of their computers hemming and hawing about whether or not they need to be using Pinterest. If that’s you too, let me make this super easy! I mean no offense to anyone by saying this, but you should be using it! No two ways about it, you should. If you aren’t, especially as an author who has plenty of graphics and covers that would fit right in on the platform, you’re missing out. 

But, Ariel, you might think. I have no time to add another social media platform. And if that’s you, you’re in good company. You’re also in good company if any of the following excuses have crossed your mind in reference to Pinterest:

1) I don’t know what to post.

2) I don’t know how to use the platform.

3) It’s social media, and I really dislike using that any more than I have to.

4) It’s time consuming and maybe it costs something? 

5) Any other excuses to procrastinate. I’m sure someone else has also thought of them even if I haven’t.

Answers to the Questions and Reasons Why Not

Okay, the sarcasm and joking aside, I get that people have a million reasons not to start using Pinterest for their business. But let me answer some of those concerns right up front before we dive into how to get started, what you can do, and what you need to be doing.

1) I don’t know what to post. Well, by the end of this post, you’ll have some great ideas for things you can do, so this will no longer be a problem.

2) I don’t know how to use the platform. Also not going to be a problem when we’re finished here.

3) It’s social media, and I really hate using that more than I have to. False. It is actually a search engine, not social media, and you get to use it for free along with all the analytics tools that come with search engine optimization (SEO) on the site for free! Yup, you can stare at the pretty line graphs and see your traffic go up and down, see your viewer demographics, and track link clicks and so on. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My point is, this is not social media, and you should not be treating it as such. If you do, you’re shooting yourself in the foot from the start.

4) It’s time consuming, and maybe it costs something? No, it is not time-consuming. I mean, sure, it’s going to take you some time if you choose to go the entirely free route because you’ll have to manually upload the post, but it takes maybe five minutes tops once you know what you’re doing, so that’s less time than it takes to write the average blog post or even some Facebook posts. You could do it on your lunch break. As for costing something, it doesn’t if you’re not paying for ads and you post your own content. And, most importantly, it is not pay-to-play like so many other sites, so you can still build traffic and succeed without paid advertisements if you’re smart.

5) Any other excuses you can come up with? Since I don’t know them, I can’t guarantee I’ll give you a reason not to procrastinate, but by the end of this post, I’m hoping you’ll be fully convinced that you should be doing Pinterest even if you’re not doing much in the way of other social media.

Who is Pinterest For?

Let’s start with this. Who’s on Pinterest? Well, hopefully your ideal reader. But let’s just break it down to something simpler. Lots of people are on Pinterest. Varying age groups are on at different times during the day, and they’re all looking for different things. But mainly, Pinterest attracts people who are doing a few things:

1) Shopping around to figure out what they want to buy for any given type of product (decor, books, electronics, you name it)

2) Looking for amusement because they’re bored (so maybe they’re looking at humor, book reviews, DIYs, or memes)

3) Looking for information (They want to know about something or how to do something, and they’re looking for free blog articles or graphics explaining how)

4) Needing inspiration for a project (painting a new room, decorating their house, planning a wedding, writing a book, and anything else under the sun)

Why is Pinterest great for these? Because it’s a search engine in a visual form. People see Pins, which is just another word for visual search results created by Pinterest’s content creators (aka me and, hopefully, you too soon). If they look under the Pin, they see the title and maybe some basic information. Let’s take a look:

I’m a fantasy writer, so I looked up fantasy writing prompts. The image above shows all of the results that fit into the screenshot when I took it. Notice that some have titles while others don’t, but all of them have some kind of visual that lets you know what it is. You shouldn’t need the title to figure out what you’re looking at in most cases. So if I’m looking for inspiration for a project, for example, maybe I choose the third result: Sunday Story Prompt. 

Now that you understand who is on Pinterest and why, let’s move on to understanding how people move through the site and how you can use it to gain traction for your blog!

Understanding the Site Layout

You’ve already seen how to search for things in that first screenshot, and we talked a little about why it’s such a useful way to search. Your viewers can figure out if your content is something interesting to them without even reading the header in many cases. Not that you don’t put a header in, since that helps to improve search results and pop your Pin to the top of the results page when certain keywords are hit. But they shouldn’t need it to have a general idea of what the Pin is and to be drawn to looking at the Pin further.

So once someone has clicked on your search result, what do they see? I clicked on the Sunday Story Prompt result I mentioned earlier, and here’s what I get.

Pin

Now, notice that this individual didn’t give the Pin a title. Generally, that’s not the best because as a search engine, Pinterest is going to use your title and description to show your Pin to Pinners searching for content using your keywords. So don’t skip the title. If the Pin has a title, you can see that here:

Description and Title on Pinterest

Notice that now you see both the website link and the title of the Pin above the description. The title is the first thing a Pinner sees, and if that isn’t what they were expecting, they might still Pin the content since the image appeals, but they’re probably not going to click the link to go to your blog (which is what you want them to do since Pinterest is meant to be a funnel, not just a fun toy to amuse yourself when you’re bored, right?).

And After the Title?

After they see the title, if that’s still interesting, they’re probably going to look at the description. If the Pin is for an actual blog post, then you should describe what the post will do for them and how it can help them. Include a brief explanation of that and then a call to action (if you’re sharing a product or asking them to do something specific). If you’re not selling a product (Which I recommend you don’t, typically, since Pinners aren’t interested–yet–in buying anything. They’re converted to buyers once they leave the platform, like what they see, and check out what else is available from the Pinner they are looking at.), then your call to action might just be, click the link to learn more on my blog. Super simple.

So, this is what one of my descriptions looks like. This one has no particular call to action since the Pin itself is really not intended to specifically do anything beyond what the graphic provides. If your Pin is like that (we’ll talk about why you might have Pins like this), you can do something like this.

Titling Pinterest Posts

Notice that this includes a few questions to add on to the content I provided in the original prompt. (Ignore the blue circle. My personal account just wants me to click on the link. Pinterest will encourage viewers to do that with outbound links sometimes if they’re newer accounts. My personal one is because I originally converted my personal account to business when I started this. I’ll explain that later on.)

Anyway, the questions I provide ask them if they’re in a predicament of sorts. Then I provide the solution by saying, hey, you’ve got a prompt here, so finish the story. This has in the past gotten me engagement on the Pin in the comments, but not always. Regardless, that’s my call to action. If readers like that, then they’re going to keep reading and, in another situation, may choose to go read the blog article. In some cases, even with Pins of this nature, you’ll get visitors to your blog anyway. I actually do quite often on these Pins in comparison to others.

Pinning It

Last point before we move to the next section of the article! Once they’ve decided they like the content, user can choose to Pin it. You can see below that clicking the save button will give them options to save it to Boards. This is kind of like saving things to different folders in your bookmarks but more visual since the Boards will display a certain number of the most recent Pin images saved to that Board. Quite handy if you want an idea of what was saved to it beyond just the title.

Here’s what some of my author’s Boards look like.

My Pinterest Boards

I’m explaining all this in case you’ve never used the site because you’re going to end up doing some of the same things your potential readers and followers will do. You’ll have to start off from scratch, and that means pinning other people’s content more often than your own to begin gaining traction. Fortunately, it’s far easier to do that on Pinterest than any social media site because a Pin’s lifetime is up to two years instead of the two-or-three-hour lifetime of most social media postings. So, hey, there’s a reason right there to start using Pinterest. You don’t have to spend as much time posting and monitoring, and pinning other people’s content is even easier than creating your own.

Why Business Pinterest?

Now that you understand the site’s layout and have a general idea of how people move through the site, let’s talk about your author’s or blogger’s Pinterest account. First off, if you already have an account, you can’t just use your personal account. You need a business account to access the analytics, create your own pins, view stats on the pins, and to connect your website. As you can see, my personal Pinterest account is missing quite a few options that my business account has. I’ve got a red plus sign for creating pins on my business account in addition to an announcements section to see what fans are saying on my pins.

Business Pinterest
Personal Pinterest

So, bottom line, your blog needs a business account. You can do that one of two ways. Either you can convert your personal account to a business account (free of charge regardless of which way you go) and then take down any boards you created on the personal account that don’t relate to your business or your blog (so go into the board’s settings and turn it to private. We’ll go over that in a bit.) or you can create a whole new account and simply choose business instead of personal.

Notice that in the image below, I’m on my personal account and am given the option to add a business account under settings and Account Settings. It’s near the bottom of the screen. That’s where you’d go to convert your own account to a business account.

Pinterest Business
Creating Pinterest Business Account

Claiming Your Website and Socials on Pinterest

Once you have that set up, you need to claim your website and any social media links you may have. I’ll show you where to go for this, but note that if you’re not a techy sort of person, you’ll want to get your host site to help you get the two sites connected. I had to get help when I wasn’t self-hosted because WordPress.com is difficult and I couldn’t find what I needed.

Otherwise, Pinterest has an article on it as do other bloggers on the web, and it’s pretty simple to figure out if you follow the steps. If you have issues, you can always reach out to your website host or Pinterest to get someone to walk you through it if you can’t get it working. I’m always having to do that for new features on my blog and site, and I’m sure I drive the support teams nuts when they see my name and the newest problem, but hey… I’m nice about it, and that’s why they’re there.

To claim your site and social media links, you should go to edit settings and then to claim, which is just below the account settings tab where you switched your personal account over to a business account. Here, you’ll see slightly different options for business accounts. It should look like this:

Pinterest Claim Page

Notice that I already claimed my website and my Instagram. I don’t use Etsy at all or YouTube (often), so neither of those accounts are connected. But you can connect any of those platforms or social media accounts if you need to. I won’t go into detail on this because Pinterest’s help article on it explains far better than I can.

Secret Boards

Once you have your account moved over to business on Pinterest, you need to go through your boards and delete or hide any that don’t relate to your blog and business. To be an effective funnel for traffic, your account needs to be attracting only those who will actually find your blog, business, and product useful or desirable. Keeping only boards relevant to your business will ensure that Pinners do some self-selecting on which category they fall under.

To turn a board to secret or delete it, just go to the board settings and select one of the two then save or confirm. You can use the images below to help you find where to do that if you’re new to Pinterest and haven’t edited a board before. I chose to show the steps on my Writing Fantasy Tips board. You can either delete at the bottom or, under Visibility, check the box to keep the board secret if you still want to use it but don’t want others seeing it. I’ve used this for quite a few of my own personal boards. Just make sure you save if you decide to use visibility settings to hide it. I should also note that this is all done from your profile under the Boards tab that I showed earlier.

Pinterest Board
Making Boards Secret
Secret Boards on Pinterest

So, now that the account is set up, how do you use it? What do you Pin and how do you create your own content? Glad you asked! That’s what we’re going to discuss next!

What to Pin

To put it simply, both your content and that of others. But I’m going to talk about content creation a bit later, so let’s focus on what to Pin from others. As stated earlier, every Pin should reflect your brand and business. As an author, there are a few directions you can go.

Start With Your Approach

I’ll explain what I have chosen to do just to give an example, but you should do what fits your blog’s focus and your business’s brand. Every author has a slightly different approach and branding they’re trying to stick to. My way isn’t the only way!’

The Fantasy Nook is focused on providing quality content for readers and authors. My goal has been to establish myself as an expert in the market for writing and editing, especially for fantasy in particular, by providing quality educational material for writers and authors but also by providing reliable book reviews for readers. I also share short flash fiction pieces to demonstrate that I know how to use what I preach.

All of this is aimed at establishing in my viewers’ minds that I am a credible source with a high level of skill and expertise in the field.

How Pinterest Ties In

With that explained, how does my Pinterest account show that? Well, it focuses on writers and readers both, and it has both repined and original content that centers around book reviews, book-related stuff, editing, blogging, and writing in one fashion or another. It’s a mix of fun stuff like writing prompts and reviews to more educational and resource-based materials.

This draws people in because it offers them something that helps them. In our most recent generations, people buy things advertised or placed in front of them for one or more of the following reasons:

  1. They’re convinced they need it.
  2. It’s not too expensive, and it’s an impulse buy.
  3. It makes them feel good because it supports a cause they like.
  4. It’s interesting, and they want it.
  5. It fulfills some area of their life that they already needed help with.

Focusing In

Younger generations in particular focus heavily on what they get out of it. They’re not terribly interested in reason 3, but if it’s one of the other reasons, then heck yeah! They’re all about that. Reason 2 is iffy depending on the person, obviously, but in general, your millennials (to some degree) and your Gen X (to a very high degree) are very concerned with what you’re giving them. Self-centered? Absolutely. But hey, it is what it is. And in a business world, unfortunately, you’re not going to go anywhere if you don’t pander to the way people think and advertise accordingly. Prove to them that they can use it and can’t live without it, and you’ve got a new customer, hopefully permanently.

For authors, it’s much more focused on proving to this group that your book or story is going to entertain them better than something else or another book. Daunting prospect, but really, it comes down to getting your product in front of them and grabbing their attention. This group will impulse buy, depending on the person, and ebooks—even ones in the 2-3 dollar range—aren’t terribly expensive. Less than a coffee at Starbucks, and it lasts a lot longer. So for you, your goal with Pinterest should be to get them to do the following:

  1. Click on the Pin and then the blog link
  2. Get interested in your content
  3. See your book
  4. Find it interesting
  5. Buy the book not the coffee

Obviously, your blog itself plays a direct role once they’re off Pinterest, but that’s not the focus for today’s article. At the end of the day, figure out your goals and the image you’re going for in your brand and marketing, then go Pin accordingly.

Creating Your Own Content

Elements of Creation – Examples

Pinterest is a visual platform, so your content needs to be some sort of graphic that lets others know what the Pin is about even without clicking. If they don’t know what it is, they’ll keep scrolling. That means engaging images, bold and clear fonts, colors that work well together and grab the eye, and a clear representation of the main idea. Let’s look at a few Pins to see how to do that well and what you should think about.

Pinterest Search

To start off, take a look at these search results. The image is small, but some results stand out better than others. For example, the font on the cover in the first search result is still fairly readable even though it’s small. This was actually one of my book reviews. I didn’t know it would pop up, but it’s the only good cover example here, so let’s use it. For reviews, I only post covers, typically without any sort of other title over the top. I’m trying to highlight the book, not necessarily just a post. Covers are more difficult to see sometimes on small screenshots, but they’re easy to see and admire on a phone or even on a computer, though most people will browse on a phone or other mobile device like tablets and ipads.

Pinterest Art

The next pin to stand out is the one with orange, blue, and white as its color scheme. You should quickly see the one I’m talking about. It has a big font and can be read even on this small screen. The Pin’s title on the graphic is How to Use Allusion in Writing. It’s a good example of using brighter colors to draw the eye, and it has pretty decent contrast. Maybe it’s not as pretty as it could be, but it does the job, and the colors don’t clash.

Pinterest Art

The last pin we’ll look at is actually one of mine as well! I didn’t know either of these would show up in my search (writing), but they did, so we’ll look at this one since it stands out from a lot of the other writing prompt pins that are on this results page. (That was intentional too when I created the template I use for these.) Notice how lots of the search results are bland colors with less than appealing graphics? They all kind of blend together after a while, and it’s easy to scroll past them because you don’t have to stop really to read them or think about it.

A Word on Creating Your Own Background Art

What I did with my pin, however, is different. In the closeup, you can see it has a nice background image (one I know I have a license for, which is really important when you create graphics for your Pins. Don’t use Unsplash, Pixabay, or Pexels. There have been issues with stolen art, and if the pirated content’s poster doesn’t have a license, they can’t give you one. Even if they do, if they’re not the original owner, they still can’t give you permission to use it. But I digress.), and the font is in a color that’s made to stand out. It doesn’t have giant bold font like some of the more informational posts do, but that’s fairly standard for writing prompts that aren’t one liners or simple like dialogue starters. You can also see that I included my blog’s link, and it shows up over the image at first when people pull up the Pin. This was before I had a special page for writing prompts on my blog, so you’ll note that I have the link sending people to my homepage, something I generally wouldn’t do.

I could go back and edit, but I’ve chosen to just leave it be.

Pinterest Descriptions

What Else To Include?

Besides the graphic, you need a title, a brief description, and a link to your site. Let’s talk about each individually.

  • Title

Besides the image, this is the most noticeable part of the Pin. Name it using keywords that reflect your content.

  • Description

A good description will, as we discussed earlier, explain the Pin’s purpose in more depth than your title. It should contain long-tail keywords—more on that in a minute—and hashtags if useful or relevant. Pinterest searches using both to give Pinners content most relevant to their search.

  • Link

If you can, try to avoid sending your viewers to your website homepage. Instead, show them the content that relates to the Pin. If you have a post on the topic, link to that and write your description accordingly. Readers and visitors tend to feel disappointment when they click on your link expecting read more of what they were viewing only to be sent to a homepage, or, worse still, a sales page. Unless the Pin they’re viewing is related to those pages, don’t send them there! They’ll go look if they’re interested. Otherwise, they’re probably not your target reader anyway, so let them go without too much consternation.

How to Create Pins

Pinterest makes it really easy to create Pins. Take a look below to see how step-by-step.

Creating Pins
Pinterest Business Account

Fill in the page you’re given with the information we already discussed.

Research For Your Pin Description

Now, before you choose a board to publish this to in the top right corner, you need to take a few minutes to do some keyword research to find the long-tail keywords that will go into your description. Pinterest won’t do this for you, but it does make it easier to do than some search engines. You can find your long-tail keywords and examples of descriptions for content like yours in the search bar and results. Let’s look at how.

Pinterest Long-tail Keywords

In my search bar, I typed writing. Now, all these other suggestions come up from Pinterest. These are your long-tail keywords. I’ve circled the one we’re going to go look at for the next part: finding examples of content like yours.

I get a ton of results, and I’m going to scroll through them to find things that look relevant and similar to what I’m trying to Pin. Let’s say I’m trying to write a Pin description for a Pin about writing your antagonist and making them terrifying. Okay, lots of stuff shows up in writing characters that isn’t relevant. So I just keep scrolling until I find the first one that looks relevant. How about the one below? Looks pretty relevant.

So, I’ll open it up and take a look at the description they used. Keep in mind that I already have my long-tail keyword, or one of them, anyway. We went with writing characters. But maybe this description will help us figure out a better long-tail keyword. If you’re not sure if your idea for the keyword is something people are searching, just start typing it in like I did with writing and see what Pinterest suggests. As long as your search is specific enough, you can look at the top results to see what they’re doing and mimic that (without copy pasting, of course).

Pinterest Keywords

Maybe for some reason this one isn’t giving me what I want or I’d like more examples. In that case, I can scroll through the Pins below it in the More Like This section to find other relevant, similar content. That can be helpful for mining keywords that are common to Pins. If they’re near the top of the results, it means they’re doing better, so keep that in mind.

Now, notice that to start, I can’t see what their description is, but I can see a few keywords in their title, which is another important thing to notice. They use words like writing, antagonist, tips, and how to. I might want to use some of those words too. Now, let’s look at the description up close.

Pinterest Keyword Research

Okay, so we’ve got all the key words in here, a good strong description of what the question we’re asking should be, and the solution. This individual presents first the importance of the topic, then two questions about handling the creation of a strong antagonist (paralleling the topic presented in the title), and gives a solution by ending with the title to bring us back full circle to the blog post (I assume it’s a blog post) that will answer those questions we now have. This is a good pattern to follow, and while she isn’t talking about how to create a terrifying villain after all, and therefore might not be exactly what we need for keywords, she is a good pattern for the structure of our description.

Finishing Up and Publishing Your Pin

Hopefully you’re seeing now how to do the research. Once you’ve done it, write your description, upload your graphic, insert your link, and include the title. Finally, Pin it to a board by choosing a board from the drop down menu in the top right corner of your content creation/pin creation screen, and hitting publish.

Creating Pinterest Content
Pin Created

That’s it!

If you choose to publish content of the same type regularly like I do with writing prompts, you can create a background template graphic and change only the text for each new Pin graphic. This saves me a lot of time. In addition, you’ll get used to what keywords, hashtags, and long-tail keywords work best for similar Pins. Check them every so often with the keyword research process to make sure that they’re still trending and current, but in general, if you chose well, they’re going to last a while as long as you’re not buying into a fad.

Does Pinterest Really Work?

What’s the best part of this? You don’t have to touch the Pin again once it’s up. Aside from checking to see how it’s doing, you can sit back and let people continue to repin with no work on your part, ads or no ads. You’ll have to build traffic, but it happens. I started end of October of 2019 and had this by the same date in November a month later (Impressions are your number of views, engagements are the people who clicked on your post, audience is who’s looking at any of your boards, and engaged audience is made up, in general, of those who click on things frequently and visit links):

Pinterest Stats Start

I thought that was pretty great. Here’s where I’m at to date with everything. October through to January barely registers. It might as well be zero in comparison to what I’ve been getting.

This was January 29th to February 29th.

Big difference, right? My peak here is at 16.25k views in a day. I’m usually not below around 1K views in a day now, even though I only post twice a week and Pin others’ content sporadically throughout the week when I think of it. This came from work at the beginning of the account’s lifespan to build my following by pinning content from other users.

At the start, I had hardly any of my own content, and I was lucky to make it to 50 views on any one of them. Now, I’ve got a few pins that are anywhere from 15K to 60K views. It snowballs. Maybe now you guys understand why Pinterest is such a powerful tool. I get more clicks to my website from this than any other platform I use and far more than I ever have seen from social media. This works if you put in a bit of time up front to learn it and play around.

Pinterest Topics

Now, some of you still have no idea what to Pin, so I’m going to leave you with a few ideas for content that has worked pretty well for me (some better than others).

  1. Book covers for books you reviewed or liked with a link to the review if you have it on your blog. (These do okay, but they aren’t my highest-viewed posts.)
  2. Writing Prompts (These get the most attention with my highest sitting right around 54K views when I last checked, I believe.)
  3. How-To Pins (Relevant graphic and link to a how-to article. I don’t do as many of these, but I know they work well for many people.)
  4. Informational Articles (Similar situation to the how-to pins.)
  5. Blog Tour Schedules with a link to the schedule on the blog (Mine was my second most viewed Pin to date for On Twilight’s Wings. It got roughly 12K views in a day when I posted it, which was a shock for sure!)
  6. Product-Service related pins (Much like the ones you see when Pinterest shows Pins they’re promoting or brand-sponsored pins.)
  7. Humor related to your blog or those who are in your target audience
  8. Boards with collected images that help readers visualize the world and characters in your books
  9. Inspirational material your audience would find useful
  10. Quotes related to your brand’s audience (similar to humor)

Conclusion

This was a really long article, and for that, I apologize! There’s a lot to cover, but I hope that this has been useful to you in some way or another. For those who have never used Pinterest, I hope it’s provided a crash course that you’ll be able to use to get started. If you were already using it, I hope this has convinced you to use it more frequently or to start using it for Business. It’s a handy tool and it’s free, so why not start today? You’re the only one who misses out if you procrastinate on it!

Thursday Technicalities: Editing and Formatting

Ariel Paiement

Last week, I put up a post on publishing tips and tricks. It was an overview of the most important things to do before your publication date along with some tips on them. Well, now we’re going to go through them one at a time and talk about them in more detail. Today, we’re talking about editing and formatting!

Editing and formatting are two of my favorite parts of the publishing prep process. I know they’re probably not most people’s, but they are mine. And as a freelance editor and editorial designer (interior book designers/editorial designers make the actual book pages between the cover pages look pretty), I’d be pretty miserable if I didn’t! So this is one of my favorite subjects to talk about besides actual writing topics. I’m sure it shows as this is a bit long. However, there’s a lot to cover. I’ve done my best to ensure it’s all useful.

This week, we’re going to do something a little different format wise. Depending on what you guys think, maybe I’ll do these a little more often. But for today, I decided to record the discussion about this instead of writing it out! It’s on YouTube, but I’m embedding it here to make it easy for you guys to view it. If for some reason it won’t load, you can also access it here.

Let me know in the comments if you prefer this format, the usual blog post, or both! If you guys have any questions for me regarding editing and formatting or even about other areas of writing and publishing, feel free to ask! I’m happy to answer the questions or to save them for my next video/post if I’m going to be discussing the topic soon anyway.

The Vine Witch: Integration of Magic

The Vine Witch

I recently finished listening to The Vine Witch on Audible. It was a great listen and a wonderfully written fantasy novel. This is the first fantasy novel I’ve reviewed on here that wasn’t by request too, actually. As always, I’ll start with the reader’s review and then go into the writer’s review. Don’t read the writer’s review if you want to avoid spoilers!

The Vine Witch – Reader’s Review

This book was a great listen! I got it from Audible and wasn’t at all disappointed. The characterization, imagination, and craft behind the story creates quite a bewitching tale. The only fault I had with it was that I didn’t like the way they brought actual words in for the spells here and there. They didn’t always do so, but I’m not fond of magic systems that use spoken incantations. While I don’t necessarily get too upset over being told a character chanted an incantation or spell, I dislike when actual words are used since I have no way to know what’s actually being said if it’s in a foreign language, which it sometimes was here.

The author clearly did her research on the darker side of the arcane arts, but I was pleased that she kept it clear that blood magic, demonic activity, and arcane/dark magic were considered evil and not to be meddled with. Whatever problems I had with the way she handled spells, this clear delineation between a magic that allows for things like crafting superb wine or creating pastries that allow one to realize the validity of love towards another and magic that kills, consorts with demons, and delves into darkness was something I greatly appreciated.

The other thing that I’ll note is that it’s fairly clean. No sex scenes, barely any heated kissing, and little that would cause me to say the book wouldn’t be okay for a younger audience. The only thing that might cause some parents to prevent their children from reading it would be the dealings with the darker, Satanic type of magic. I wouldn’t recommend the book for young children because of it, but it’s probably okay for thirteen and up.

The Vine Witch – Writer’s Review

As the sub-title of this post notes, we’re going to be looking at the integration of magic into the world within The Vine Witch. We’ve talked about magic in previous posts on Saturday Setups, with the most recent being on the consequences of it. Weaving it into the world can be difficult. However, Smith did a good job, and we can learn a lot from her techniques. So what were her techniques?

Spoken Spells

As I mentioned in the reader’s review, I didn’t like the use of spoken spells. Smith didn’t use them every time you turned around, which was good, but it still bothered me. That said, it did lend a certain sense of realism to the piece. Why do I say that? Well, not every type of magic that Smith had used spoken spells. Some did, but often, the spells used by the vine witches in the vineyards had more to do with remedies and unspoken communication with nature than it did spoken words.

Still, other kinds of witches, especially those dealing in hexes or curses, do use spoken spells. One interesting thing about how Smith chose to weave this into the story is that she uses rhymes. While some of the words used to activate spells weren’t English (And who knows what language they were. They didn’t sound familiar to me.), many of them were actually rhymes.

That part was quite interesting. Many of the spells the main character used were nursery rhymes she’d learned as a child. That isn’t something I’ve seen done much, but it gave the magic a unique flavor and served to blend it into the world more clearly.

Making Magic Indispensable

Worth noting is that this book is set in the real world somewhere in France (I believe). So while Smith didn’t have to create a new world, she did have to find a way to spin a tale where magic could fit in. In the case of The Vine Witch, people are actually quite open about the use of witches.

Everyone in the Chateau valley where the vine witches work knows about the witches who work the vineyards. In fact, the witches are revered because no one makes good wine without them. In this way, Smith makes magic an indispensable part of life. Usually, magic used on an Earth setting for a book tends to be less relied upon. Smith didn’t choose that path. She wove a tale where magic and life couldn’t be separated.

In fact, that was proved many times over in The Vine Witch because when the male lead tried to force the use of magic out of his vineyard, the vineyard constantly failed. He didn’t make good wine, and everything kept going downhill until he was willing to open up to a world he couldn’t see.

Differing Views on Magic

The other thing that Smith uses to bring the world to life is the difference in views on magic. Some view it as purely evil while others have a more complicated view of it. Even the witches themselves have areas of magic that they believe are absolutely foul and should never be touched (such as blood magic). The main character initially falls into the camp that magic is superstition at best and evil at worst.

He finally is able to reconcile magic with reason when one of the monks at the local church talks to him about it. The monk tells him that once upon a time, the ideas of bacteria, pasteurization, and cars would have all seemed like magic too.

Why? Because they were beyond the realm of human imagination and senses at the time. The monk notes that the vine witches are able to see a part of the world that normal human senses can’t but that being able to do so doesn’t necessarily make them evil. Magic, like any other tool, can be used for good or for evil.

I don’t necessarily condone that perspective of things as some of the magic used in the book is undeniably evil. The author doesn’t try to make it seem good either, but in moments like this, there is cause to question whether she really believes it’s evil in every case.

As a Christian speculative fiction author, I prefer more clarity here. However, each author and reader has to make that choice for themselves. My personal convictions won’t match everyone’s, and that’s fine. As I said earlier, there were things that bothered me about the book. However, it was a good read overall with a lot that authors can take away from it.

Conclusion

As both a reader and a writer, I found The Vine Witch to be an engaging and interesting read. I was pulled in to the story and kept enthralled until the very end. It had twists and turns I didn’t expect and characters I could relate to and bond with emotionally. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy with the caution that if you’re staunchly against any kind of spell-based or spoken-word magic, you may want to steer clear.

New Blog Schedule For the Fantasy Nook

New Blog Schedule

Hi, everyone! I hope this finds all of you doing well. Things have been chaos for me lately with finishing out teaching, working full-time as well, and finishing out my own freelancing projects in addition to upkeeping the blog and still writing. I’ve been handling it all for months now, but now that I’ve gotten my acceptance into Liberty as a Masters student for Composition/English, I only have this summer before much of my time will be spent on work and my classes. I’ve been thinking a lot about a new blog schedule for The Fantasy Nook because of this.

And I’ve finally decided. Yes, I’m going to make adjustments to the blog schedule now. I contemplated waiting until January when I’m planning to start classes, but I want to have time in the summer to slow down a little and enjoy life. I haven’t really done that since I started my associates in community college nearly six years ago. And I can tell because it’s all becoming way too much. I can’t cut everything back, obviously. However, having a new blog schedule is one way I can help free up time to still enjoy what writing I do have instead of feeling like it’s a chore. As such, here’s what I’ll be doing.

The New Blog Schedule

I want to keep posting the Thursday Technicalities and Sunday Stories. I really enjoy writing those, and I feel like they’re the most useful regular segments of the blog. Here and there, I might also share a sneak peek at what I’ve been writing, but my writing pace may slow down quite a bit because of time limitations. Now, I’m not sure if I’ll be posting the Sunday Stories every week. I may end up doing it every other week, especially since I have to work from home for my job every third Sunday. On Thursday Technicalities, I will do my best to write one a week for you all. If it becomes too much, I will let you all know.

Book reviews! Since I won’t be overloaded with writing, I will be doing more reading. That means that I should be able to post book reviews more regularly. I’ll be putting up a page with what I’ve got planned out to read and when I hope to have the review posted. I do accept requests for reviews (only fantasy for the blog, but I’ll review other things on Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub even if it isn’t fantasy). So, while I do have a list, I’m not opposed to adding something to it if I have room and time. Sign up for reviews here.

At the End of the Day…

You’ll get Thursday Technicalities once a week as usual. Sunday Stories will be every other week typically. I’ll post book reviews as I finish fantasy books. Updates or sneak peeks at work will only be up here and there. I hope you’ll all stick with me despite the less frequent content!

The newsletter will still go out once a month with its usual content (book recommendations, updates, and a writing discussion for the month). I’m working on making that more reader-friendly for users who may not have the easiest time with their eye-sight. Someone kindly brought it to my attention that the format is misery for those with bifocals. To those who have the same problem and have struggled through it, thank you. I’m very sorry it’s been so difficult to read. It’ll be updated for the next newsletter assuming I’m able to get it fixed in time. If you want a spot in the newsletter, you can sign up on this form.

Flash Fiction Fridays: Choices

Dasara stared at the cliff edge then glanced back at the stony-faced man behind her. His focus remained unflinching. She swallowed back tears. ” Don’t make me choose, Domarius.”

He crossed his arms. “Your choice was made very clear, Ara. You didn’t want to be mine even though you made a vow. And those who betray the Society, betray me, only have one place to go. Ten feet under.” His lips curved into a tight, pained smile. “Be glad I see my wife differently than one of my men. They’d already be dead. You get a choice instead.”

She swallowed. She could take it back, say she didn’t know what she’d been thinking. That was true enough. She hadn’t been thinking clearly since she agreed to join the Society and then married their leader after a charming but short courtship.

Now here she was, faced with the horror of where her choice had led. To a cliff’s edge where, whether she jumped or not, she would be dead. If not on the rocks at the bottom of the literal cliff, then on the rocks of the cliff of insanity under her husband’s stifling watch.

She didn’t want it this way. Leaving had seemed the only way out because he didn’t listen. Well, maybe he did. She’d never tried, and right now seemed like a good time to try seeing if he would. What did she have to lose? “Dom…” She turned to face him. “Can we talk this out, please? I made a mistake, I know, and I’m sorry.”

“You realize that now, do you? Did you think I’d see your attempt to leave me with no warning as anything less than betrayal?” Hurt flashed on his face. “Has it been so miserable?”

“Not at first.” Her shoulders slumped. “But no one can live in a cage by unspoken rules forever no matter how gilded the cage. And so I’m suffocating in the cage you’ve built. Maybe the cliff really is my best option.” She glanced at the yawning chasm. “Running didn’t have to permanent. I didn’t want permanent, and so I thought…”

“You thought?” He shook his head. “Not about the impact of your decision, clearly. If you had, you would’ve known better. You would’ve talked to me instead of shutting me out, and you would’ve known I’d have to punish you if you ran.” He pointed to the cliff. “So you have a choice. Come home to talk it out and decide on a way to save both of our reputations. Or die as any other traitor would.”

She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at him with tear-blurred eyes. He would never admit that he wanted her to choose him over suicide, but she knew him well enough to read the plea he’d never make out loud with his second-in-command watching from a distance. The plea he might not even make aloud if they were alone. She swiped away tears and sucked in a slow breath. “We can talk it out at home? You’ll listen? Be reasonable?”

“Yes. We always could have done that, you know.” His expression softened, but his posture remained tense. “You’re my wife, not one of my men. You have that privilege. I’m always willing to hear you out. Just because I give the orders and I’m in charge doesn’t mean your opinion is meaningless or can’t sway mine. But you didn’t even try. You never came to me at all.”

She winced, cheeks burning. No, she hadn’t. She’d assumed based on how he treated his men that he would be unapproachable. “I’m sorry, Dom.” She hung her head and stepped away from the cliff edge. “This was all a terrible mistake. I… I do want to go home. Take me back? Please?”

He strode to her and wrapped her in his arms. “You talk to me when you have a problem with something, you hear? I’ll listen. I promise.”

She nodded.

He squeezed her closer. “I need you to say it. Say you will. Promise me.”

“I promise,” she whispered.

He pressed her head to his chest with a sigh, the weight of his hand on the back of her neck a reassurance now not a silent warning or command. Then again, maybe this gesture of his had never been either of those to start. She didn’t know him as well as she’d thought. Her own assumptions had blinded her, and who knew what else she’d gotten wrong?

“I still have to do something to clean this up,” he murmured.

She tensed. Would he punish her? Past transgressions had required it, so this one would too, probably. She shivered. Punishments when he was truly upset were never fun. True, she always knew when she’d stepped out of line and felt better later like the punishment had wiped the slate clean for them to start over, but they also made her feel sad. She wanted them to discuss what things deserved that and what things didn’t. She could only imagine what he might do to make sure that the secret of her flight was kept.

As if he knew her thoughts, he said, ” But I think today was punishment enough. I’ll tell everyone you were going through some severe depression and weren’t thinking straight. I didn’t know how bad it was until too late, but you’re on meds and are seeing a therapist to address your recent attempt to run away and throw yourself off the cliff. Thankfully, I found you just in time, and for now, you’re staying at home to recover.”

“Elaborate.”

He snorted. “Close enough to the truth to be believable.”

She laughed and pressed a palm over his chest where his heart raced. How scared was he that she would jump? He cared far more than she’d guessed. Her chest tightened. “I really am sorry for hurting you. For running instead of talking to you.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair and sighed. “I know. Now, let’s get you home.”

Thursday Technicalities – Publishing Preparation

Publishing Journey

Introduction to Publishing

Switching gears, we’re going to talk about publishing. Today, we’ll go over the things you need to take care of in order to get your book and its launch prepared for your publication date. There’s a lot to consider and a lot to do, so getting started roughly six months in advance is generally a good idea, especially if you don’t have a lot of extra time to work on things. Let’s dive in.

Publishing Checklist

Item #1: Editing, Formatting, and Proofreading

So, you have your book written, but now what? Before you can publish it, assuming you want it to have its best chance at getting into the hands of your intended audience and doing well, you need to have it edited professionally.

Yes, professionally. Sure, you can self-edit, but here’s the thing. You’re not going to as good a job as someone else (assuming that person knows what they’re doing or is at the same level as you are). Why? Because while you can (and should) take the time to edit your own work, you will always have a certain level of blindness on your own work. As an editor myself, I can attest to this. Editing other people’s work not only takes less time but also goes better. I catch more because, even if I’m enjoying the story, I see all the problems too. The characters aren’t my characters, and the story isn’t my story. So I’m able to keep perspective. We’ll talk more about what you should expect to pay an editor and why you should be willing to pay those rates.

Second, in conjunction with professional editing, you want to either do the formatting yourself or pay someone to do it. If you’re not design oriented, you’ll want to hire someone to do it for the paperback at the very least. Ebook is stricter on what it does and doesn’t allow due to what the ereaders and their programs are able to read. I have an entire post dedicated to ebook formatting if you’re interested in doing it yourself. You can read it here.

Finally, do a last proofread, even if you had a professional editor go over it. This will help you ensure you caught as much as possible. If there were typos, spelling errors, or grammar mistakes, then this would be the time to catch them.

Checklist Item #2: Book Cover

Really, you can have this done whenever, but do know that in order to have the paperback cover copy done, you need to know your page count using the proper page size (based on the trim size you chose through your publishing platform). Hire a designer that has examples of work in your genre. Just because a designer can do a cover doesn’t mean you’ll get an eye-catching one. If they don’t do covers in your genre, then hiring them may not be the best option.

To have one made, make sure that you’ve done a few things.

First and foremost to know with this part of publishing. You need to make sure you have or make sure your designer uses images you have the license for. So no Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, or any other free and “creative commons zero” license sites. Yes, they’re free. But you’re highly likely to end up infringing on copyright because these sites do not vet their artists well.

People can post anything and claim it as theirs. There have been issues on these sites with stolen artwork. If the individual doesn’t own it, they don’t have a license. Ergo, neither do you. Even if they have a license, they can’t confer that on you if they’re not the original owner. The same thing goes for fonts, though those ones can be trickier because free for commercial use might not mean free for ebook and print covers (dumb, I know, but it is how it is).

If you insist on using sites that offer free fonts, images, and so on, then mitigate some of your risk by getting in touch with the artist and asking them to confirm ownership (on the image sites) and the rights you have to use it. That way, at least, you can say you did do your due diligence. With fonts, get in touch with the font creator and ask them what you’re allowed to use it for. Tell them what you want to use it for and ask if the license covers it. If not, sometimes they’re willing to negotiate a price for a license if you ask nicely.

Point is, never ever assume that sites with no fees and free images are actually okay to use. If you don’t want any risks, Envato Elements is a good option. It’s a year’s subscription for around 160-200 USD, and you can download as many images, fonts, and other things on their site as you need to. The only thing is, you need to license each download to a specific project, and you can’t keep any unused (or used) images after the subscription expires. Read the instructions for licensing the images carefully though. They’ve got some rules you need to follow to make sure they’re properly licensed for your use.

Checklist Item #3: ARC Team

Next up, you want to gather your ARC (Advanced Review Copy) team. These people, ideally, should be ones who are interested in your genre and have some or all of the characteristics of your ideal reader. When asking for ARC readers, you should make sure you provide the blurb of the book, links for them to go look at the book (if it’s available), and any information on who the intended audience is and what they can expect. Then ask those interested to get in touch if they’ve got questions or want to participate.

Be clear on when the review is due. Give readers enough time to go through the book (I’d give about a month if possible), but tell them the review needs to be in by the deadline agreed on. You can’t force them to review, but if you agree on a date that will work for each individual, you’ll get the reviews by that time most of the time. Even if not, you know when you should be following up with them if you need to. Sometimes this will be necessary. People forget or get behind, and they fail to communicate. So it’s best if you both agree on when you should follow up if there’s no review.

Checklist Item #4: Marketing

This one is one of the trickier parts of publishing, and I could discuss a lot of different options. But I’ll go over some marketing strategies and techniques in more detail in later posts. For now, you should know that you should be utilizing the various outlets available to you.

Social media and Pinterest are free exposure and should be used. It’s not an instant thing though. You need to be active on your social media and Pinterest accounts long before pushing your work . If you aren’t, you won’t have the connections you need with readers and other writers to really make marketing work.

When it comes to publishing, your connections with other writers and reviewers is key. Those you connect with are valuable resources at launch point. It’s a long road to launch, and it would be sad if the book failed from lacking exposure. Your connections give you people to go to when you need people to review the book, share it, and help you out with blog tours should you choose to do that.

Another area of marketing for your upcoming publication is to share it with your newsletter subscribers and on your own blog. Again, however, this only works well if you have an established readership on your blog and with your newsletter.

It does no good if it goes out to people who only subscribed for free stuff and then ditch as soon as you try to “sell” them anything. No matter how nicely you put it, if you’re trying to get them to consider buying something, they’re going to jump ship. However, if your readership is interested in your work, free or otherwise, then you’ll find more success here.

Checklist Item #5: Publishing

Finally, we’re to publishing. If you’re using Amazon, know that you will need to change your browse categories after it’s live (pre-order or actually live) on the site. The options in Amazon’s KDP setup for ebooks and paperbacks represent only 25% of the available categories. However, they’re the most competitive categories available. You’ll need to do research to figure out what categories are less competitive that your book can fit into. 

To illustrate how important this is, your categories will make the difference between needing to sell thousands of copies a day to reach bestseller status and needing to sell somewhere between 30 and 40 a day to reach that. For doing this research, I recommend using Publisher Rocket’s free tool for calculating how many copies a day you need to make it into #1 Bestseller category as well as the article they have on changing categories.

Once you’ve gotten your browse categories fixed, it’s time to let people know that your book is available for sale and that your ARC readers can provide reviews any time they’re ready (as long as it’s before the agreed upon deadlines).

Make sure people know not to buy the book until you’ve gotten those categories updated. Any sales you make before go to the generic categories you chose and don’t help your rankings at all. So, make sure you let people know to wait on buying or reviewing until you have those updated if you want the reviews and sales to count.

Conclusion

That’s it for this post! I know it’s been quite long, but I hope it’s been useful. Feel free to ask questions if you have them. I’ll go more detail on some of these topics in the upcoming weeks. Thanks for reading!

Work-In-Progress #42

Lightning

This week’s Work-In-Progress is from a short story that I’ve been working on here and there between working on my novella When All Else Fails for the Open Novella Contest. It’s from Enlil’s Royal, a short story that will be going into a collection I’m planning to release next year.

~~~

ENLIL ROSE INTO the sky, the sparks dancing around him and the winds picking up. He opened his mouth in a soundless scream of triumph, spread his arms and unleashed the storm inside. They thought they could beat him down? They thought that because he was of a lower class than they were that they could treat him like scum? Well, they’d learn. Because this so-called slave was their downfall, the perfect storm to bring reform. The princess was his, and they had denied him to her simply because he didn’t look like the one they thought she was pledged to.

Lightning arced out of his fingertips, and the thunderheads blew from his mouth as he howled his victory. Below, houses went up in flames, and torrents of rain washed away whatever the flames didn’t touch. Then the rain put out the flames in the other areas too, and everything was enveloped in a maelstrom of wind, rain, and lightning with the thunder booming over it to provide the final beat on the drum that announced that death had come.

He stretched his arms out further, tipped his head back and laughed into the sky. This was power. This was freedom. They would learn, and they would suffer just as everyone they had touched with their corruption had. Just as he had. This storm, he himself, were only the beginning. The beginning of devastation.

Only his betrothed would escape. But if she scorned him? His fingers twitched, shooting off more sparks and another bolt of lightning. If she scorned him, he would make her suffer more than all of her subjects. She had no right to refuse destiny, no right to look down on him because fate hadn’t chosen a more worthy object for her affection. So, if she thought him unworthy, he would show her how wrong she was. The vessel that housed him might be a slave, but he was no slave. He was far more ancient and powerful than any of them. He was storm. He was thunder. And he was destruction incarnate. He would have his way.

They would hear him thunder, and they would regret awakening his wrath. The gate to the castle grated upward, and Enlil paused in meting out his anger on the village. He squinted at the rising grate and watched a tiny figure exit. He waited, trying to make out who the figure was. In the gloom of the storm, he could only see that it was a girl with a slender build and a sword strapped to her waist. She made her way straight for him, so he crossed his arms and waited for her to reach him. Was it Ashurina, the girl he’d started this over?

She drew closer, and he waited with bated breath. Finally, she stood before him, and the painful wait was over. It was the girl he’d been dreaming of and waiting for. She was here, all grown up and ready for him. Only, she wasn’t ready because her family hadn’t prepared her and had then refused him his due. They knew who she was, but still they denied him to her. Rage boiled in his veins, and lightning sparked at the tips of his fingers. He’d blow them to pieces. That would teach the people around here not to go back on their word to their gods. He’d tested them, and they’d failed. He’d given them a chance, and they hadn’t taken it.

“Princess.” He smiled at her.

She shivered, but her grip remained firm on her sword, and she didn’t give any other visible sign of distress. “Who are you?”

“Enlil. The destroyer.”

She bit her lip and tightened her grip on her sword. “Why are you here?”

“To repay them for the vow they broke.”

She shook her head. “You can’t destroy them.”

He took a step closer and grabbed her wrist. “I can do whatever I please, particularly with you, Princess.”

Another tiny shake of her head. “You can’t.”

He ground his teeth and narrowed his eyes at her, wondering if she’d really just said he couldn’t. “I’m capable enough, I assure you.”

A shudder traversed through her body, and she looked near tears. Yet, somehow, he didn’t want to relent. He wanted to punish her. They had denied him what was his. Someone had to pay. Killing them would be one way to exact the price, but would it send the message he wanted? He released Ashurina and crossed his arms with a frown. Maybe not. Perhaps it would be better if he made sure her parents knew she was suffering for their crimes. Perhaps he would only kill the king and leave the queen to bear the guilt of what she and her husband had done to their daughter. Their only baby girl. He grinned and took another step forward so that his chest almost brushed Ashurina’s. Making her pay sounded good. He’d make her see reality, and he would crush her in retribution.

She was his, and her presence here sealed the deal. He wouldn’t leave without her. She was his Chosen, and she would remain by his side, lending him the strength only a Chosen could give, until she passed from this realm to the afterlife. A strange sense of exhilaration sang inside, the prospect of shaping her into the perfect instrument for his revenge and the perfect vessel for his use driving the sensation to a peak. Yes, undoubtedly, she was his, and there would be no escape for her.

~~~

That’s it for this week’s work-in-progress Wednesday. What are you guys up to this week? Working on anything new for your own work-in-progress or reading anything interesting? Feel free to share!

Sunday Stories: Unexpected Hardships

Ariel Paiement

If you’re getting the idea by now that much of what I’ve learned has been through suffering, adversity, and seeing how wrong things go around me when people make bad decisions, you’d have the right idea. Today’s lesson I’m sharing about is no different.

Where it all began

I was beginning my junior year of high school and starting out on my journey as a dual credit student in the year 2014. For those who don’t know, dual credit is when a high school student takes college level classes for credit both in high school and towards college later on. I was majoring in business and was there to not only finish out my high school education but also to earn my associate’s degree. But the journey to that goal was anything but easy.

Class work wasn’t as hard as I expected, but I had more responsibility because I’d started working a job that required a lot of long, difficult hours. I wasn’t full-time, but with full-time school and a job that could give me upwards of 30 hours a week, I didn’t exactly have much free time or room to rest. This was fine by me as I frequently did more in a day than most people would consider normal. Granted, I spent most of that time in less physical labor than I was doing at work, but that was fine. I knew how to work hard and had grown up doing a lot of different manual labor tasks around the house.

At this time in my life, I was very withdrawn, however. I had serious social anxiety, and I still remember that my dad’s advice to me my first day of school was: “Don’t hide in a corner. Make friends and avoid doing what you usually do because it makes you look like a snob who doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”

Maybe not the nicest way of saying it, but honestly, it’s what people usually thought. They assumed my reservations about interacting with people was just me being stuck up. Whether it was or not really didn’t matter.

My point in saying all of this is to lay the stage for you. At sixteen, I was doing far more than most high school students would be doing. I thought I could handle it no matter how stressful it was. I was wrong.

My entire first year of college, I had one cold or virus after another. I still had to go to work, though, because how else would I pay the tuition fees? So, I ended up hyped up on cold and flu medications constantly. Had I known how badly all of the stress would start to damage my body, I might have taken it easy, but I’ve never been particularly good about knowing my limits. I’m stubborn, and in my mind, the sky is the limit. If no one steps in and pulls me back down to ground me in reality, my ambitions, passions, and to-do lists can quickly start to drown me and I don’t even really understand why it’s a problem. Unfortunately, by the time someone did this for me in high school, it was too late.

I already had fairly extreme depression and serious anxiety due to still having unresolved issues with my mom and the aftershocks of her surgery, but with all the added stress on top of it, I began to break down mentally, emotionally, and physically. I passed classes with flying colors and was one of the harder workers at work, but inside? Everything was crumbling to pieces, spiraling out of control, and heading toward a crash. But I kept going.

Maybe a semester into my first year of dual credit enrollment, I started experiencing terrible abdominal pain. Usually, it was just a sharp or dull pain in one side or another, and I’d ignore it because what else was I to do? I had work and school, and in my mind, I had no time to lie in bed. I did enough of that on the days when my depression was so bad that I did almost nothing productive unless it wasn’t optional. In my mind, the abdominal pain was probably just my body’s response to all the meds.

So, I stopped taking them for a while and suffered with the symptoms of the cold or whatever viral infections I’d caught during that year. I’d work anyway as long as I could still talk to the customers ordering food from me, and I tried to soldier on.

The pains got worse, and I started to have bad attacks where I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying because the pain was so crippling. The first time it happened, my parents thought my appendix might be rupturing because of the severity and the location of the pain. It wasn’t, but so far as the doctors could tell, nothing was wrong with me. I went through xrays in those first two years when we went in, but they found nothing.

So, I went on with life. I sucked it up and learned to deal with the pain. There were days I was hurting so much I couldn’t go to school or work, and there were days where I would work anyway and people would worry because I looked so sick. But I pushed on, trying to ignore the questions that rose in my head. Questions like: why is God letting this happen? Am I being punished for something I did? What did I do to deserve this? Is this ever going to end, or am I stuck with it for the rest of my life?

I’m Sick? Like, Chronically Ill Sick?

The doctor we were seeing at the time diagnosed me with IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a chronic condition that results in a lot of bloating, cramping, gas, and general abdominal discomfort. Most people end up having issues with having normal bowel movements too. I’ll leave it at that and spare you any graphic explanations. Needless to say, it isn’t life threatening, but they don’t know what causes it and have no cure. I was devastated. She gave me a laxative to help with my constipation and recommended I avoid foods that upset my stomach. She didn’t do any other tests to rule anything else out, and nothing she gave me actually worked.

That was toward the beginning of the ordeal. I refused to go see her after the second time of being given the same solutions that didn’t work. So, I suffered for the next two years while I finished my degree. The summer before I went off to Florida to start my bachelor’s degree, we switched doctors. My parents were worried, scared a bit, and couldn’t stand seeing me in such constant pain with no answers. So, they found a doctor who would do tests.

That whole summer, I went through test after test with every one of them coming back with no answers as to what was wrong with me. I got more and more angry, depressed, and confused with every negative test result they did. Did I want to have some debilitating illness? No. But I wanted answers, and to me, it seemed God was refusing them. How could He let this happen and then give me so little consolation? I couldn’t understand it.

During that summer, I spent whatever time I wasn’t working sleeping and trying to ignore the pain. I didn’t do much of anything, and I spent very little time with people. I was too short-tempered to handle anything, really, and my family wasn’t patient with it for the most part. My mom and dad were supportive, but my siblings either didn’t understand or didn’t care that the constant pain made me crankier than usual. I tried to put on a brave face and act like it was all okay, but I couldn’t.

Answers at last

Finally, after all the testing, the diagnosis was handed down. I did have IBS after all, and it wasn’t going to just disappear. I wasn’t going to die, but I was going to have to live with an illness that would cause my abdominal/intestinal muscles to spasm for no reason, resulting in sometimes crippling pain. I lost it.

When I heard that I really did have IBS and that there was no medication that could do anything to solve it, I shut down. I couldn’t process everything I was feeling, and I didn’t understand how God could allow it. I wanted to trust He had a good reason, but at that point in my life, my trust in Him was seriously failing. After everything with my mom, I was hurting, angry, and feeling betrayed even nearly seven years after it happened. I never would’ve admitted it, but I didn’t trust God at all. I didn’t know what He was doing, but it sure looked like He was trying to wreck my life, as awful as that sounded. I held on and stubbornly refused to admit that, instead choosing to make my head believe that He had a good reason even if it was painful then. My heart, however, knew that it wasn’t real faith, and it didn’t get on bored.

Walking through the storm with God

I’m so glad God didn’t leave me there. He could’ve, but He didn’t. The years that followed at Pensacola Christian College were hard. I had no choice but to attend class even when sick because of the attendance policies. Even though I needed more sick days to give my body the breaks it needed at times, I couldn’t take them unless I wanted to lose an entire letter grade or, if I had two weeks of absences in a class in a semester, fail the class entirely. It didn’t matter how well I did at teaching myself the subject or succeeding even if I missed class, I would fail if I let my health keep me from physically being there. Many classes and church services (or other required events), I barely knew what was going on because my mind was so clouded with pain and trying not to be a distraction to those around me that I didn’t really hear anything going on around me.

But despite all the dietary restrictions, hardships caused by the strict rules they set (which for any other student without a chronic illness would really not have been that bad, to be honest), and my own broken, battered heart, God did work. He taught me that even though life is pain, it can still be joyous anyway. He taught me that others could benefit from my suffering if I was willing to take a step of faith in Him and keep a positive attitude with a willingness to share. It was hard to do that. I’m not an optimist by nature. If anything, I’m a realist who borders on pessimism in some cases. But if I hadn’t chosen to desperately cling to the Scriptures that say He plans everything and works it all out to the good of those who love Him, I would’ve lost my mind, I think. The stress I endured and the guilt I felt on days where I couldn’t attend events and knew I’d get a mark on my record for it or would have to attend the recording later was nearly unbearable, and if I hadn’t chosen to believe, regardless of my emotional state, that God had a good purpose, I wouldn’t have made it.

Gradually, God brought people alongside who, though they could do nothing to solve my physical ailments, were a support system I desperately needed. He brought me healing emotionally and mentally in many, many ways through those people so that, even though He didn’t take away my physical thorn in the flesh, He did show His mercy, power, and love in my life. He grew my faith through the trial, and because of what I go through on a daily basis, He is able to reach people through me that He could never reach otherwise.

In the same way that He used what happened to my mother, and to me as a result, to help those suffering around me, He also used my illness to bring hope, encouragement, and joy to others in similar situations or to those who had family suffering the same way. My illness, as hard as it is to bear some days, is a living testimony to His goodness. I know. That sounds really weird. How can He be good if He lets me suffer?

I struggled with that question constantly at the beginning.

Until I realized, it isn’t about me. It’s about His glory and His honor. In His sovereign wisdom, He knew many things I didn’t about the results of this illness, and He knows there are many more things I will likely learn as the result of being sick. Could He miraculously heal me? Sure. Has He chosen to? In spite of my pleas at the beginning for that, no. And I’ve benefited more from seeing Him work in spite of my weakness than I ever would’ve if He’d healed me nearly six years ago so that I could go on to pursue everything I wanted to with no hindrances. My character has been forged in fire because of this illness. I’ve learned lessons I never would’ve without it. I’ve watched God humble me because of it, and I needed that. I needed to recognize my place and my purpose, and I couldn’t do that without this illness. My own pride would have prevented it.

So, God in His infinite wisdom gave me IBS. Do I still hope that someday it’ll go away? Yes. I worry sometimes about the future because I know an illness like mine will make being a mother and a good wife very difficult, and I hate that. I want a family, and I want to give them all of me and my attention. I can’t do that on days when my illness takes over and lays me out on the bed wishing I could just die in a hole somewhere because I’m in so much pain. My mind and my body aren’t capable of giving people around me my attention or my love in those instances, and I hate that. But I also know this. Someday, if God chooses to bless me with a husband and kids, He’s going to get me through it. He’s never, ever going to make me face a trial that He is not going to walk me through. Sure, He might give me a trial I can’t handle. But never one that He can’t handle or doesn’t intend to handle as long as I choose to give Him control and walk step-by-step with Him. It might be a rocky road sometimes, but what’s on the other side will be worth it in the end.

A Special Book Feature: Faith in Abertillery

Hey, guys! I’ve got something different for you today as part of the final day of the blog tour. Please don’t shoot me for changing up the routine! Just kidding. I know you guys won’t.

All joking aside, I know I normally only review fantasy, but this is an exception for the blog tour! It’s not fantasy. Instead, Faith of Abertillery is a historical romance set during the Welsh Revival. Good stuff, in my opinion. Can’t get much better than clean historical romance with a Christian emphasis, at least for me.

When TN Traynor and I were talking about what we could do for the last day of the blog tour where I’d be on her blog, she suggested we could do book highlights. That’s something you usually don’t see in blog tours, but hey, it’s different and different can be a good thing. She mentioned that the book was shorter, which was perfect since both of us were on tight schedules to finish reading the new book before today.

I knew the book wasn’t what I usually review on here before I told her what I could do in terms of posting the spotlight, but because I’d already read Idi & The Oracle’s Quest by her, I had high hopes that this new story would be equally good in terms of characterization and storyline. I certainly wasn’t disappointed, and hopefully some of you won’t be disappointed that I’m posting something that’s not fantasy. 😉

I can honestly say that between this book and Idi & the Oracle’s Quest, I much preferred this one. Usually, I like fantasy and romance about the same but favor fantasy romance more over regular romances. But in this case, I found that the author much improved her writing and her style from the first book she released (Idi & the Oracle’s Quest) to Faith in Abertillery.

Boy, am I ever glad I agreed to read this for the highlight! I loved the book. The only two things that kept it from earning five stars from me were the use of present tense throughout the whole book and the translations of every Welsh word used inline. The first is just personal preference. The second kind of pulled me out of the book to interpret and read the interpretations of the Welsh. Some of them might have needed a glossary, but others could have done without any entries or explanations because context made them clear. So I didn’t like that so much, but the book was on the whole quite enjoyable to read! If you like historical Christian romance, you should definitely give the book a whirl. I very much doubt you’ll regret it! I certainly didn’t. You can find more information here, and I put the blurb below.

You can find TN Traynor online here.

Blurb:

With ‘An Officer & A Gentleman’ feel, and a Christmas Day ending, this is a perfect festive season, feel-good book. She’s given up on love. He’s marrying for money. But God has other plans…

South Wales, 1905. Faith only believes in the certainty of pain and suffering. Born with a club foot and harboring a dark secret, the barmaid can’t escape her sinful past. But after the country’s religious revival puts her out of a job, hope sparks when a handsome aristocrat gallantly offers her a second chance.

Lord Geoffrey Driscoll fears his estate will run out of money before he can find a suitable bride. However, the devout nobleman can’t keep his mind off the stunning redhead despite her lowly status. As the attraction between them grows, Lord Driscoll is torn between his need for a wife of means and his heart.

As Faith falls for Lord Driscoll’s kindness, she wishes that she could erase the sinful past that stands in the way of their union…

Can the troubled couple trust in God to light the way to true love?

Faith in Abertillery is a touching Christian historical romance. If you like stories of forgiveness, rich backdrops, and charming chemistry, then you’ll adore Tracy Traynor’s moving tale.

Buy Faith in Abertillery to watch young love follow a higher power today!

Flash Fiction Fridays: Weaponized Rain

Lightning

My sister gave me this idea for a flash fiction piece while we were sitting in the coffee shop last week. She told me to write a piece about a character who finds out a terrorist group figured out how to weaponize rain. So, here we go!

~~~

Raya stared at the screen and the data flashing across it. She closed the report and ran it again. How? How had the ITO managed this? Weaponizing rain itself, or, actually, anything in a specified zone? She hit the print button and rushed to snatch it off the printer.

She barged into her boss’s office, ignoring how rude it was. She’d apologize later, and he’d want to know this now. Besides, he’d cut her some slack given how polite she usually was. He paused in mid-sentence on the phone and raise a brow.

“Sorry, sir. But you have to see this.”

He nodded and sighed. “Sorry, Pat. I’ll have to call you back. If I don’t get back to you about it by end of the business day, shoot me an email. I’ll respond when I get home. Yes. Exactly. Thank you. Bye.” He set the phone aside and pursed his lips. “Raya…”

“It’s important! I promise.” She hurried over and set the reports down on his desk. “You know how you set me on monitoring ITO?”

He began rifling through the papers with a frown. “Yeah?”

“Well, they made their move, and it’s worse than we thought. The intel indicates they found a way to remove air resistance from specific areas with some sort of machine. They’re going to weaponize rain according to the files we stole and decrypted.”

“Let’s pretend I don’t have a Ph.D in physics and I hired you to break things down for the non-scientifically minded individuals like me.” He smiled. “Explain to me how someone weaponizes rain.”

“If you remove air resistance, sir, then rain will just keep gaining speed as it falls through the atmosphere. When it hits, it’s going to have an insane amount of velocity on it. The speed at which that water droplet hits will make it like a bullet in whatever it hits, but there won’t be any trace of the weapon once it hits.”

His mouth opened and closed as he searched for a response.

“So, sir, I think this justifies barging in?”

He swallowed and nodded. “I… It more than justifies it. I’ll get the higher ups on the phone. You can just go back to monitoring and keeping an eye on things for now. I’ll have someone go get you if I need you.”

She nodded and turned to leave.

“Thank you, Raya. You may have saved us all by finding this now.”

“I doubt that. We don’t have much time. I’ll be at my desk if you need anything.” She hurried out the door, her heart thumping wildly. They had to stop this. If they didn’t, the results would be disastrous. Life and death were the currency they were now paying down in any bet they made in the attempt to stop this weapon. She just prayed it wouldn’t backfire on them.

Thursday Technicalities – Weaving WorldBuilding Into the Story – Final Thoughts

In the end, no post or set of posts can possibly cover every detail of world-building and weaving it into your story. Your story will have some elements and not others, and your style will utilize some techniques but not others. This means that, if you really want to grow in this area, you’re going to have to read. Read authors who do this work really well. Find out which authors in your area of speculative fiction (or any fiction) are the best at bringing their world to life, then read those authors. Pay attention to how they do it. Mark up your copy of the book (yeah, I know… Write on a book? Are you insane? Maybe, but taking notes in pencil or underlining the sentences that really bring out some aspect of writing you’re trying to learn will help you recognize what works and what doesn’t. If you can’t bring yourself to write on a book, which I rarely can, then jot notes in a notebook and make sure to keep them labeled.). Whatever you do, don’t spend thousands of dollars on courses on how to do it. You don’t need to! You’ll learn best by example and by seeing it done.

To that end, who do I recommend for this endeavor? First, I do recommend reading through Holly Lisle’s ebook course on world-building. It’s the only course I’m going to recommend, but I highly recommend this just because she’ll teach you so much. You’ll go through tons of exercises, and it’s a great way to learn how to do the world-building quickly while also weaving it into your work. Besides Lisle’s course, I recommend reading Tolkien, Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Cinda Williams Chima, Ursula K Le Guin, and Terry Brooks. These authors in varying ways and to differing degrees are phenomenal world builders. Tolkien, Sanderson, and Brooks are my top three authors for this area in fantasy. I’ve learned most from Sanderson’s work, but I learned my share of things from Tolkien and Brooks too. I really can’t recommend these guys highly enough.

All of them know how to bring their worlds to life using many or all of the techniques I’ve mentioned plus some. You’re going to learn what really good world-building within a story looks like if you take the time to really dig into and pull apart these authors’ works. Most of them have paperbacks available for a lot of their books in addition to ebooks, so this is a much more affordable way to learn than taking who knows how many courses. Plus, if you’re like me, you have a tendency to start a course and then forget you were doing it in the busyness of life. Sure, you plan to go back to it, but you somehow never do, and so that’s money somewhat wasted. A book though? I might be slow in reading it, but I usually finish the books I start. It’s not too common that I don’t. So I’ll learn more in a less expensive way if I just try to learn from what great authors did well.

New Ebook on Writing – Input from You All

Hey, everyone! As I mentioned before, I’m putting together an ebook about the craft of writing. I’ve placed the table of contents (currently) below so you can see the topics I’ll be covering. I’ve already gotten one suggestion from an author on something they thought would be useful, and I’d love to have more! I might end up having to split the book up and do a second volume if I get too many new topics, but that’s not a bad problem to have. So, please give your input. What would you find useful for you as a writer that isn’t on here?

Current Table of Contents

What I put above is what I’ve got right now in the order I’m discussing it. Feel free to email ideas or just comment on this post with them!

JQM Literary Chat Video Interview and Upcoming Guest Post

Ariel Paiement

The YouTube video for yesterday’s video interview is live! You can find that here. Today’s blog tour stop will be with Joshua Reid on The Wandering Scribe. I’ll be guest posting about how I got into Christian fantasy and how On Twilight’s Wings ties in. The author’s interview Joshua did with me is already up, and you can read that on his blog here. I’ll have the other link up later on once it’s live on the blog.

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #41

This selection comes from When All Else Fails, once again, since it’s all I’m really working on right now besides some short fiction pieces that I’m not really focusing on too heavily at the moment. So, without further ado, this week’s WIP selection!

~~~

VIV HURRIED ALONG the street to her house. If only she could’ve stayed to listen to Seb and Mr. H. But the two had been talking about Seb’s questions and God for at least two hours, and she’d needed to get home before they noticed she was missing. She really needed to move out. At twenty-two, it was more than time, and unlike the previous year, she wasn’t close to her family. She loved them, of course, but they didn’t understand her anymore, and she was forbidden to talk about anything that questioned the Supremacy.

She eased the door open with a heavy sigh. Yes, it was time to move on before she landed herself in any more trouble or made relations any more strained than they already were. She slipped inside and shut the door.

“Vivian.” Dane’s voice startled her. “Where are you coming from so early?”

Why was he up this early? She froze, her hand on the door knob still. “I went for a walk. I’m usually back before anyone wakes up. What are you doing up?” She turned to face him with a tight smile.

“You don’t take walks on Saturdays because you sleep in. The door’s system logs also don’t show any regular trips on Saturdays.” His jaw clenched. “But you know what they do show?”

He’d totally ignored her question. Clearly she couldn’t have a variation in her routine, but the same standard didn’t apply to him. She swallowed hard and shrugged. Why? Why was he snooping? He’d always been overprotective and a little too concerned with her for her comfort, but this? Had Mom and Dad put him up to it?

“You go out during quiet hours on Sunday mornings. Everyone, even law enforcement, spends those hours doing what good citizens do. Two hours of reading the Codex. Everyone but you, anyway. You get back just in time to avoid being caught.” Dane narrowed his eyes. “Whatever you’re up to stops now, Vivian. Before it’s too late.”

He knew, and he was furious. He never called her by her full name unless she’d really messed up. And as for his anger? That was written all over his face. He knew more than just that she wasn’t behaving like a good citizen. How though? Well, it didn’t matter. That he knew was all that did. Now she had to find a way out of this without lying to his face. “For real, Dane?” She rolled her eyes, but her heart thumped wildly against her breast. Dear God, please, let him drop it. “What do you think I am? Some sort of spy? I’m not up to anything.”

“Don’t dig the hole deeper. Don’t make me do something with what I know,” he murmured softly.

She shivered at the menacing tone and shoved her hands into her pockets. “You mean what you think you know.” Had he noticed her trembling? “I haven’t done anything.”

Dane chuckled and shook his head. “You’re not a good liar, and you’re not fooling me. Come. You should see something.”

She stared at him. “Since when did you decide I was a liar?”

And since when did her little brother act like this? He’d always been a little cool toward Seb, and she could see him doing this sort of thing with her best friend, but that was different. Dane didn’t like Seb because… She frowned. Because why? She’d always assumed it was because Dane didn’t like hearing things  that contradicted the Supremacy. But with everything that had happened the last few days, could she really believe that? What if there was more to it?

He crossed his arms. “According to sub-section fifty-five of the Codex, humanity is selfish and acts in its own best interests, which is why we have the Codex and the Supremacy to keep us in line so we do not succumb to the evil inherent in us all. We have no basis for truth unless it suits us.” He stopped quoting the Codex with a frown. “You’ve proven that really well lately too.” He inclined his head toward his bedroom down the hall. “Now, are you going to come with me or do I need to make you?”

Maybe if she played the older sister card? “You want me to tell Mom and Dad you need to see a shrink, Dane? You’re acting crazier than normal, and if you don’t stop it, I’ll–“

“You won’t say anything. Mom and Dad are out of the house because they know I needed to talk to you about things. They’re not going to be here, so just quit acting like a five year old threatening to tattle. Acting like you’re not a mature adult isn’t going to get you out of anything.”

Her stomach roiled. So much for that ploy. Well, she hadn’t really expected it to work. Dane knew better. He knew her too well, and he always had. “Okay, fine… I’m not going to say anything to them. You already knew I wouldn’t though or you wouldn’t have been so rude at the door earlier.”

“Mom and Dad won’t shelter you from everything. Keep that in mind before you tick me off.”

She blinked. What? He acted like their parents would side with him over her. In what universe had that ever happened? She was their heir, and as such, they gave her more responsibility and trusted her way more than they did her irresponsible younger brother. “Hold on. Shelter me? Mom and Dad do not shelter me.” 

Dane turned his back on her and headed for his room. 

“Dane, wait! Explain.”

He didn’t answer her, and he didn’t turn to look at her, so she followed, her heart in her throat. Somehow, the sense of dread just grew with each step toward the bedroom until her heart was in her throat and her stomach had dropped to her toes. What could he possibly mean? Had he found her notes? Bile surged in her throat. She’d hidden them. No one should be able to find them.

They reached his room, and he held the door open for her. She shuffled over the threshold. The door clicked shut, and she stared at the bed where all her notes and files lay in neat piles. No. No, he couldn’t have these! How? She tensed and had to keep herself from turning to run. If she did that, Dane would stop her anyway.

His hands came to rest on her upper arms, holding her in place. As if she could’ve moved to start. She was frozen in indecision now, no longer fully functioning. “Now, Vivian,” he murmured gently against her temple. “I’m a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. Maybe quit pretending you’re the stupid one, and we can talk this out as equals?”

She swallowed back tears. “I…” She couldn’t even get the words out past the lump in her throat. “I don’t know…”

“Shh… Shh…” His grip tightened on her arms. “Think very, very carefully before you lie to me, little girl. One slip that you’re one of the Diexebels, and poof. You end up in some freak accident or you vanish with a note that you couldn’t handle the pressure anymore. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

Her parents would never, ever allow that. He had to be kidding. Her baby brother wouldn’t dare rat on her, would he? Was he really that brainwashed? Could she still deny this? No, probably not. “Come on, Dane. You wouldn’t really give me up to the Supremacy’s lackeys, would you? You’ve always said you value family more than anything.”

Dane spun her to face him and forced her to back up until her calves hit the bed. Then he pushed her down to sit between the stacks of papers with a tight smile. “I do, but that situation doesn’t apply here.”

~~~

Well, that’s it from me this week! What do you guys think? And what are all of you up to lately? If you want to, feel free to share in the comments below. I love hearing what everyone’s been working on or reading lately.

Sunday and Monday’s Blog Tour Stops

Ariel Paiement

The last few days have been quite busy, so I didn’t have a chance to update you guys on the blog tour stops for them! Sunday, I was with Peter Younghusband on his blog Perspective by Peter talking about the themes in On Twilight’s Wings and how they reflect the overall themes of the rest of the series. You can find that here.

Yesterday, I did a video interview with Allen Steadham. This one’s more of a general author’s interview, so I answer questions about all kinds of things. Check it out on his blog or on his Youtube channel.

Today’s will be up once I have the link, but I’ll be on James Quinlan Meservy’s blog with another video interview, this time answering a different set of questions about me and the book. It was a ton of fun to do this interview with James, particularly since we recorded it with both of us talking back and forth. Allen’s was fun too, but that one was me just answering the questions he sent over. Overall, I’ve had a ton of fun with this blog tour so far, and I’m excited to share the last few stops through Saturday.

In case you guys don’t know, there’s a giveaway going on right now in celebration of the launch, and it’ll be running until March 7th. We don’t have many people signed up, so your chances of winning are high. We’ve got two possible winners. One will get an ebook bundle (which includes both the book I just released and Bane of Ashkarith in addition to six or seven other authors’ books), and the other will get a paperback copy of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones (Mortal Instruments series that the ShadowHunters TV series was based on). The paperback is US only just because of shipping. You can check the giveaway out here, and no purchase is necessary to enter.

Sunday Stories: How Big is Your God?

Lightning

This one is going to be a little bit longer this week, everyone. Please just bear with me. I promise there’s a point, but to get there, I have to share some background.

~~~

If someone had told me back when I was ten years old that my mom would have a brain aneurysm and that I would never be the same, I probably would’ve stared at them blankly. I wouldn’t have known what an aneurysm was, and I would probably have laughed at the idea that I would go from a care-free, outgoing ten-year-old to an introverted, hurting, and depressed eleven-year-old in the span of just nine months. But that’s exactly what happened.

I was a week shy of my eleventh birthday when it all started. I can’t remember very much from before I was ten. Not sure why since those memories were most certainly far happier than the ones that came in the years to follow. But for whatever reason, my mind lost those childhood memories and lost more of them than most people would at my age. However, I remember the day my mom got sick vividly. I still remember the leather chairs in the lounge and the water fountains off to the side. I remember the gleaming but scratched gym floor we were roller blading on, and I remember what was said to me. I remember lots of things about that one day when everything turned upside down and I was set on the track I’m on today. It was one of those life changing moments, which I would later learn happen when you most need them but least expect them. Although I didn’t see it then or for many, many years later, God was working on me and working out His plans through me. But that perspective comes much, much later down the road.

When my mother had her aneurysm and ended up in the hospital on both her birthday and mine (Which was the week after hers), life went from unclouded to stormy all in one go. I don’t remember feeling much of anything when my father sat us down at the dining room table and explained that our mother needed surgery and that the doctors didn’t know if she’d make it or not. I remember what I was thinking though when he told us we had to grow up and be tiny adults now if everything was going to go smoothly. I was thinking that it was what it was and that I had no more time for being a child. As the oldest out of six, I viewed it as my responsibility to take care of everyone while Mom was out of commission. I even viewed it as my responsibility to take of my mother once she came home on bed rest until the neurosurgeon could operate in November, nearly five months after she had her first brain bleed.

It was a scary time of stepping into shoes I didn’t know how to fill, feeling abandoned and lost, and pushing aside those feelings every day until they became distant noise in the background that I didn’t notice. The fear was there though. At eleven, I understood more than at least the two or three youngest who ranged from six or seven down to two. I knew there was a chance my mom would die. I knew she shouldn’t have survived the first bleed and that, if she had another one, she would die even if the operation would’ve been successful. With one bleed already on her record, the likelihood of another was pretty high. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. But I didn’t have time to stop and think about it during the day because I was busy taking care of things, worrying about my education, and helping with my siblings. At night, at least up until her surgery got closer and we started figuring out where all of us would go while my dad stayed at the hospital with my mom an hour from home, I don’t really remember thinking about it much. I went to bed and went to sleep.

From end of April when she had her bleed to October or November of the same year when she finally had her surgery, I was, to all intents and purposes, a machine. I felt very little or allowed little of what I felt to touch me, and I moved on autopilot. I did what was logical, what needed to be done, and I cared for everyone else around me as best I could. But I didn’t take care of myself and no one knew I needed more than just the basic attention to my education and physical needs because I myself didn’t recognize a need. While I was needed, everything seemed fine. I’m the kind of person who, generally, in a crisis doesn’t shut down but instead thinks in a very logical fashion. I figure out what needs to be done and then do it with little thought to how scared I am or what’s going on emotionally. That’s all left behind until later. And later is when it really hits. Later was when it finally hit here too.

I was twelve by the time my mother was back on her feet. I’d just live through some of the most harrowing months of my life, and I didn’t even register that. I just knew my mom was back on her feet. I suppose I expected everything to go back to normal, and those expectations were cruelly dashed on the rocks of reality. Nothing went back to the normal I’d known, least of all me.

My mother struggled constantly with the fact that the surgery had left her partially blind in her peripheral vision on one side, with the slow return to her ability to speak, remember things, and do things, and with the inability to drive at first. She struggled with the recovery process and her natural inclination to think she was stupid was only compounded by her newfound lack of ability to do even some of the most basic things, like remembering her own children’s names. I often caught her crying when she thought we weren’t looking or couldn’t see her, and I always seemed to show up at all the awkward times when she stole off to take a moment to break down.

And I was breaking down too. She just didn’t know. Maybe if we’d both admitted it, we could’ve helped the other. We understood how the other felt more than we knew at the time. Instead, as my siblings returned to the normal they’d known before and went back to the happy, care-free kids they’d been, I became more and more depressed and retaliatory. I lashed out at them because they got mad when I wasn’t the same, and I lashed out at my mother because she wanted me to go back to someone I didn’t even know anymore.

The twelve-year-old girl she saw should’ve been the same ten-year-old girl she’d left behind in her mind. But she’d missed an entire year of my life, and I couldn’t forgive her for it. I knew logically that she didn’t choose to leave me alone without the one person I always talked to when I was struggling with emotions. But now that the crisis was over, every negative emotion I’d been feeling and shoved aside all that time came to the forefront in one enormous wave, knocking me down and drowning me in the pain. I couldn’t cope, and so I fought with everyone. I built walls. I shielded myself from any more pain, or I thought I did. Instead, I just refused to be vulnerable, and so, as a result, no one could help me.

The years following her surgery and recovery were some of the worst in my life. I spiraled out of control. Living in a Christian home and being a believer myself, I could never justify certain methods of dealing with the problem such as suicide. I was firmly convinced my life was God’s, and as such, no matter how miserable He allowed it to get, I wasn’t going to take what wasn’t mine to take.

But even as I cried out to Him begging for it to end, I became angry and bitter. I no longer trusted anyone. Not myself, not God, not my family or friends. But with everything spiraling so far out of control, from my perspective anyway, I needed to feel like things were somewhat controlled. No one stepped forward to comfort me and tell me it would be all right. No one took control for me like I so desperately wanted, though I would probably have said at the time that I didn’t want that at all due to the lack of trust in people. So, I took control. I found ways to cope. I wrote, I asked God a lot of questions I didn’t really expect answers for, and I turned to my own head for some sort of comfort.

By the time I was sixteen, no one who knew me when I was ten probably would’ve recognized me. I didn’t care about anyone or anything because my pain was so great that I was blinded to everything. You’re probably wondering now how anything could possibly get better when things were so sad. Well, fortunately for me and everyone else putting up with me at that point, God didn’t leave me there.

I hit rock bottom at fifteen or sixteen. By then, I was becoming or was already addicted to reading pornographic content in the form of romance novels (I really can’t remember exactly where I was at by then). I didn’t have the mental capacity or presence of mind to skip content that wasn’t appropriate, and I got sucked right in. It offered an escape, and at the time, it let me live for a bit in someone else’s skin without all my baggage and with someone who seemed to care. But in the end, it left me worse off because, afterwards, I knew I shouldn’t have been reading stuff like that and my guilt added to the depression.

I think things might have kept going like that if not for God. But isn’t that how it usually goes? I shared the things above so you can understand just where I was because if you don’t understand that, then you might have a pale view of just how powerful God is. I was a mess in every since of the word. Suicidal but not able to take that last step because of my beliefs, disconnected from everyone, and tormented in spirit and soul. I didn’t deserve God’s grace, and if I had been honest with myself, a large part of me felt betrayed if not a little angry because He hadn’t taken away the suffering when I’d asked. I had a wrong view of God and a wrong view of myself in so many ways, and I had to hit rock bottom before I was ready to admit that I couldn’t go on as I was, that I couldn’t take control or do it on my own because when I tried, I failed every time. I wasn’t ready to hand the reins over to God, but I wanted someone to bring some clarity and some control to a time in my life that was severely lacking in both of those and in the self-discipline necessary to pull me out of the mess I’d created.

That’s when God finally stepped in. It started when my parents pulled us out of the home-school group at the YMCA so that we could do riding lessons as a family on a horse rescue farm where we could work for lessons. At that point, I had no friends. I’d made one friend per year we’d been there (two for the first two years), and when the third year rolled around, the only two friends I’d made had moved on. I had no one, and I didn’t really care what we did. My best friend had moved away roughly two or three years before when I was thirteen or fourteen, and I had nothing left I really cared about. Horseback riding was, however, something I’d always been interested in, so I had something to be excited about for the first time in years.

Turns out that horseback riding was one of the pivotal pieces in His plan to bring me to where I am now. While I was there, I didn’t initially connect well. I liked riding, but it was mostly just something to do. I didn’t ride with anyone who wasn’t family, and besides my instructor and her kids, who were younger than me, I rarely interacted with anyone else. I acted like it didn’t bother me, but being away from my usual routine where I was used to the pain of being lonely actually made the loneliness more acute.

Then, on one of the days where I was working in the barn cleaning stalls with my instructor and helping to groom horses while everyone else gardened in the co-op garden she ran, I happened to spot a red-gold mustang in one of the stalls. I don’t know why, but for some reason, I was immediately drawn to the high-spirited horse, and my riding instructor shared the horse’s story with me. He’d been rescued from a paddock where he’d been left loose with one other mare, who had died while he was out there. The owners severely neglected him, so when he first came to my instructor’s farm, he was starved and could barely walk due to overgrown hooves. Immediately, I connected. Silly, I know. He was just a horse. He couldn’t understand, and he couldn’t talk to me like I talked to him. But I didn’t care. This horse had trust issues just like I did, and this horse was lonely like I was.

No one else would ride him besides the teacher because he was so uncooperative and stubborn. I didn’t care. I wanted to ride him, and I pushed to get to a level where I could. For the first time in years, I made a strong, real connection and I cared about something besides myself or the difficulties I was facing. I practically lived for the one day a week when I got to see that horse. And when we moved just half a year to a year after we’d started there, I was broken-hearted. I didn’t have anything left there that I cared about except that horse, and I spent a lot of nights crying myself to sleep because I missed working with him, grooming him, and just spending time with him.

But that connection, as much as losing it hurt, brought something in me back to life. And God began to slowly work on me as He brought new friends into my life and taught me more and more about how to live life again and how to do it while trusting Him. Now, I’m at a point where I don’t struggle with depression all the time. I still do, but not as often. My addiction is under control even though it too remains a struggle because of my sinful decisions in handling my depression as a child and a teen. And I now have a friend that has remained my closest friend for almost three years now, something I never thought I’d have again after my childhood best friend moved. I still struggle to trust people, and things I’ve been through since have made that even harder in a lot of ways. But you know what? God’s constantly using new things to teach me to trust Him, even if I don’t have the ability to trust others or even myself. He’s mended my relationship with both my parents as well and has helped me to mend relationships with my siblings, even if not all of them are great all the time.

If you’d told me back when I was ten that I’d live through all of that and come out of the darkness into the light on the other side, I would’ve laughed. My God back then was not big enough to do all that. My God now? Let’s just say He looks a lot more like the God of the Bible who could take on anything and win.

Choosing Themes or Themes Choosing Me: The first stop in On Twilight’s Wings’ Blog Tour

Hi, everyone! We’re kicking off On Twilight’s Wings’ blog tour on Joanna White’s blog tonight with a guest post on choosing themes or, rather, God choosing them and them gravitating to me. Check the post out on her blog here! Tomorrow’s stop will be on Peter Younghusband’s blog, Perspective by Peter. When I have the link for that, I’ll post it here with a quick summary of what the post is about. Until tomorrow, I hope you enjoy tonight’s guest post and then come back for the rest of the days!

Saturday Setups: Habitats

Introduction

Today, we’re going to focus on habitats. If you’re creating your own creatures, you need to take habitats into consideration. What an animal or creature is equipped with will vary depending on what they need to survive. A desert animal is going to have very different features than a jungle animal, for instance. This stuff should be pretty obvious, but we’ll go over some general stuff to think about. The specifics are too varied to cover here, but once you know what kind of habitat your animal is going to live in, you can tweak your design or build it with that in mind and do the necessary research.

Considerations

Let’s chat about what you need to consider about your creature and the habitat.

To start off, the most important thing about your creature is what it eats and how it gets to its water source. If the animal lives in the desert, it doesn’t have many options for these two things most of the time, so you’ll have to plan accordingly. But if it lives in the middle of the woods, this might be considerably easier to manage.

Second, how big is your animal? The bigger they are, the more food they’re probably going to need. Muscles need fuel, and that fuel comes from food. The more muscles you have, therefore, the more you’ll need to consume. A mouse doesn’t eat the same amount as a black bear before hibernation, for example.

Next, what kinds of resources are available to your creature and what sort of creature do you have? Rodents, for example, such as mice or gerbils need things to gnaw on because their teeth never stop growing. As a result, they need an environment that provides hard foods or things to chew on. A dog, on the other hand, doesn’t have that problem. They, instead, have the issue of needing plenty of meat to sustain them, so they need an environment that has plenty of prey to catch. The kinds of resources available in your environment might limit what kind of animal you have or, as is often the case with Earth’s incredible creatures, your animals may need to have special features that allow them to live in their environment.

Finally, the other thing I think is really important to consider is whether or not your creatures share their habitat and territory with humans or humanoid beings. If they do, you’ll have to take their interactions into consideration. Do the humans or their equivalent get along well with these creatures? Or are they constantly at odds? Have the humans destroyed these animals’ habitats or have they managed to coexist without doing that?

Conclusion

I’ve only covered some of the considerations, but the ones I covered are the ones I’ve found to be the most important for thinking through your creatures. At the least, it will give you a solid launching point for your own creations.

Flash Fiction Friday: Different than You Remembered

This week’s flash fiction is based on my most recent writing prompt on Pinterest. It was pretty popular over there, so I thought I’d write my spin on the story. To set the stage, the prompt is the featured picture for this post, and if you guys want to see more like it, you can check out my writing prompts board on Pinterest. There’s a little bit of everything over there, pretty much!

~~~

The girls hurried along the sidewalk past the alleys and storefronts. Jen listened to the chatter, but her mind wasn’t on it. Anna and Rianna didn’t seem to notice since they just kept talking. The streets became more and more familiar as they got closer to the restaurant, and she shivered. She pulled her cloak closer with a sigh. Last time she’d been here, she’d almost ended up being the victim of some guy looking for a little more than just a wad of cash, though he’d taken the cash and run in the end. The man who’d scared him off before he could truly do her any harm still lingered in the back of her mind.

Well, maybe man wasn’t quite the right word. He’d been young, and he certainly hadn’t seemed human. She wasn’t sure exactly what had scared the other guy off since she hadn’t actually seen her savior until after her attacker had gone, but for someone who was practically a boy to scare of an armed, grown man? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Earth to Jen!” Anna waved a hand in front of her face. “You’re, like, a million miles away, girl. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

She winced. Anna didn’t know. Neither of the girls did. They hadn’t known her back then, and she’d agreed to come here because she wanted to move on. In fact, she’d been the one to suggest this location. “Sorry, guys. I’m just… My head’s somewhere else, is all. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. Brings back memories, I guess.”

“Ooo… Memories. What kind?” Rianna grinned. “You have a fling with some really hot guy here?”

“She doesn’t do that kind of thing, Ri.” Anna scowled at their bubbly friend. “You’re the incorrigible flirt, remember? The rest of us aren’t guy crazy, and you’re well aware how Jen feels about guys.”

“Look, it’s not important. The memories aren’t that kind of memory, Ri.” Jen hugged herself and scuffed a shoe along the sidewalk. The street sign up ahead read Elmswood. She’d been attacked there and dragged into the alley in the dark. Was it really a good idea to come here? It was dark now. Would they be attacked like she had been all that time ago?

“Jeez, Jen. I’m sorry…” Ri cleared her throat. “That bad?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine. Really. Let’s just get to the restaurant and have a good time, okay?”

Anna linked her arm through Jen’s with a smile. “We’re going to make sure you have the night of your life, okay? You’ll have new, better memories of this place after tonight.”

A siren wailed nearby, cutting off her remark. People streaming past paused to watch the cop car rush past, followed by an ambulance. Someone slammed into her from the right, and she sucked in a breath to snap at them just as the stranger stopped and put a steadying hand on her arm. “Sorry. So sorry. Are you okay?”

She frowned and lifted her head to gaze up at the tall stranger. Dressed all in black, the man cut an imposing figure. But she recognized him immediately. The boyishness was gone, and whatever gentleness had lurked in his dark gaze back then had also fled to be replaced with sharp observation and a sly twinkle. He raised a brow at her, a glint of recognition lighting in his deep blue eyes. “Jen Ashton?”

She swallowed past a now dry throat. “D-do I know you?”

A smile lit up his face. “Maybe not. You might not remember.”

“Jen, who is this weirdo?” Anna tugged at her arm. “Just tell him to shove off and let’s go eat.”

Tall-dark-and-mysterious frowned. “Do you always address everyone so disrespectfully? One of these days, it might come back to haunt you. You never know who you’re speaking to.”

Ri laughed in that bubbly, light-hearted way she always did. “Are you the President or something? Because if not, I’m not that worried. If Jen won’t tell you to shove off, then I’ll tell you–“

Why did Ri just cut off? Unlike her. Jen frowned and turned to look at her friend. Ri stood frozen in mid-sentence, her mouth open, and everyone around them had frozen too. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears, and she stared until strong, warm fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her out of her daze.

“Now… With them temporarily indisposed, where were we?” His grin faded. “I know you remember me.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I… Yeah, I do. I never got the chance to thank you.”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet, darling.” He gave her a wry grin. “I’m not here to catch up, and I didn’t bump into you by accident. You’re coming with me.”

She tugged her wrist out of his grip. “No, I’m not! Unfreeze my friends and leave us alone. Otherwise I’ll call the cops.”

“They won’t come. The whole city’s suspended in this state, and no one will get to you soon enough.” He crossed his arms. “You are coming with me. I need your help, and unfortunately, I don’t have time for the nice way. I’m sorry. Truly, I am. But this is how it has to be.” He reached out and smoothed her hair out of her face.

A cool tingling spread over her forehead, and the world around her spun then tilted crazily. Everything went black, and she lost her balance, dizziness washing over her. His arms wrapped around her, and a feeling of calm and safety swept her off into oblivion before she had time to register just how terrified she should’ve felt.

~~~

What do you think happens to her? Why does he need her? Well, I’ll let you guys go wild coming up with your own endings. But that’s it for this week! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I’ll see you next week for another flash fiction Friday.

A New Ebook

I’m working on a new ebook for you guys that takes all of the topics I’ve discussed on Thursday Technicalities so far and places them into a streamlined, step-by-step ebook that covers the major topics every fiction writer should understand. Once I’ve got it ready, it’ll go up for sale on the store here. I’ll also be working on getting a print version online with Amazon so that you can order print copies if you prefer them.

However, here’s what I want to know. What is an ebook with all the content I usually discuss worth to you? I’m considering including templates for some of the things I walk you guys through, as well. Would those be helpful to you? What kind of content would you like to see added to expand on topics I’ve already talked about here? The point of the ebook isn’t just to generate sales, though, of course, let’s be real… This is a business I’m trying to grow. Of course I want sales. But the reason I do this isn’t mainly because I want the money. I do it because I love it and I love helping you guys learn from all of the things I’ve spent several hundred dollars on learning in the course of my writing career. Some of it you get for free just because I share about it on the blog. Some of it will be in this ebook or in the course content I’m working on developing.

So my question to those of you who are writers is this. What would it be worth to you to go through an ebook/paperback that would cover all of the main topics you need to not only become a better writer but to also make sure you’ve covered all your bases and are doing the things that will make you successful? What do you need to do better as a writer that I can discuss in order to make this book as useful as possible?

Work-in-Progress Wednesdays #40

Lightning

This week’s WIP Wednesday comes from my ONC novel, again, since that’s mainly what I’m working on right now. This piece is from my most recent chapter.

~~~

He frowned. “Viv, hate to break it to you, but unless I’m going mad, nothing’s here. Is Mr. H meeting us here?”

She grinned. “Nope. Come on. We’ve got to go behind the buildings around this lot and under the fence. Follow me closely once we cross the fence line. The field’s an abandoned minefield, and only certain marked paths are safe.”

He sucked in a sharp breath. Wait for it… He’d ask the same things she had when one of the Deixebels had brought her here. He cleared his throat. “What do you mean abandoned minefield? They built this close to something that could blow everyone here sky-high?”

“Look around, Seb.”

He did as asked with a deepening frown.

“What do you see?”

“Run-down apartments that should have been condemned by now.”

“And who lives here, do you think?”

His gaze wandered around the space then returned to her, and understanding lit on his face then morphed to disgust. “All the people the government deemed unfit for a button or a good life. The ones they’d get rid of if they weren’t so useful for all the work no one else wants to do.”

“Precisely.” She headed across the lot, sidestepping debris and trash piles. “They’re citizens just like us, but no one cares if these people die. They’re all slotted for labor camps or execution based on age. But most people in their cozy two room apartments or big houses have no idea these people exist. No one respectable comes here. No one wants to risk ending up like them.”

He made a sound between a growl and a snort. “Are you serious? They just turn a blind eye?”

“You have to understand,” Viv said. “The people here live and die on the government’s whim. Too young to work? You live here with those who are too old for the labor camps or mines. Too old to do that either? You’re exterminated. Who would want to risk ending up like these people? There are rumors, of course, about this kind of thing happening to those who dissent, and even though no one says it, they’re scared they might end up that way.”

“And these people? Did they dissent?”

“No. Most were like you. Too outspoken for their own good, too freethinking. They didn’t dissent. They just questioned. But unfortunately for them, none of them were from the upper class. They were from the lower class.”

His lips pressed into a thin line, and he shook his head. “And they claim they take care of everyone.”

“They do. But some get taken care of in a very different kind of way than others.” She crossed her arms. “The Supreme Council believes they are gods, and gods hold life and death in their hands.”

He scowled. “How can anyone allow this?”

Her gaze fell on a young girl sitting in an alley, her belly distended and her eyes hollow. The girl seemed familiar, and then it struck her. This was the young woman from meeting last week that she’d seen giving her own share of bread away to another little girl even though she clearly needed it. Viv’s heart squeezed. If only she had a chip or two to give or even food if money wasn’t an option. She glanced down at her barely touched coffee. This was all she had, so it would have to do. She hurried over to the girl and knelt in front of her, ignoring Seb’s questioning stare. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

The girl’s gaze fell on the coffee, and her face lit up with interest. But distrust still lurked in her eyes when she lifted her gaze to Viv’s. “Evia, Miss.”

The Fantasy Nook is Migrating

Hi everyone! This is just to let you know that I am migrating all existing content on this domain over to Bluehost Self-Hosted services with WordPress.org. The domain will stay the same, so it shouldn’t mess up your ability to access the site, nor will the content be changed or missing. But, due to the way I have to export, I’m not 100% sure if you guys will be exported as followers to the new site.

So, this is just a heads up that you may want to double check that you’re still following if you want to keep getting notifications for the content that goes up! Otherwise, you can just check in on the days you normally read blog posts and view the new content at the top of the blog as always. Whatever you’re happiest doing, but I wanted everyone to know so no one would be confused or unsure what was going on. I’ve never done this before, so I’m entirely new to it and am doing my best to find out how I can make the process as smooth as possible. Thanks for your patience, guys!

Flash Fiction Fridays – Intergalactic Space Tours

My most recent writing post on Pinterest was a prompt about someone who goes on an intergalactic space tour only to discover there’s more to the guide assigned to them than meets the eye. Since it got a lot of views and attention, I thought you guys might enjoy seeing my spin on it. Here it is!

~~~

Elmora peeked around the corner of her bathroom door at the man sitting on her room’s couch. He didn’t notice her. Too engrossed in checking his personal holo while he waited for her to come out of the bathroom. He was supposed to take her to the ship’s dining hall for dinner and then out onto the surface of the planet they’d landed on. Shyn, was it? Or maybe Shryn? She couldn’t keep the places straight anymore. The things she’d seen just blended into a kaleidoscope of colorful cultures, new foods, and a few unpleasant surprises.

Unpleasant surprises were the reason she was now hiding in the bathroom. Thryen was one of the unpleasant surprises, to be more specific. Well, maybe not unpleasant. She couldn’t really decide if it was pleasant or unpleasant to run into him here. But she definitely didn’t like the fact that he’d lied to her about what he’d been up to the last few years. She sucked in a slow breath and pressed her back to the wall. Should she confront him about it? Ask him why he’d left a life of luxury and peace to be a tour guide, of all things, aboard the InterGalactic?

Well, it had to be faced at some point, didn’t it? Equally pressing was the small matter of his interest in her and the utter lack of subtlety he exercised in showing it. Heat rose in her cheeks. It wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t be assigned a guide that couldn’t hide his interest and kept secrets. To think she’d thought they’d be good friends when they’d first met during on of his assignments on Earth.

She shook her head and smoothed down her skirt before stepping out of the bathroom. Thyren looked up at her, and one of his rare smiles spread over his lips. “Ora, the dress looks lovely on you.”

The heat in her cheeks rose to the tips of her ears. “Thanks. I guess… Thyren?”

He shoved his holo into his pocket and raised a brow. “What? You look like you’re going to faint of fear. Is something wrong?”

She played with one dangling earring. “Maybe. I don’t know…”

“You don’t know?” Confusion flitted across his face. “What does that mean?”

“You lied to me,” she blurted out.

The color drained from his face. “I lied to you about what?”

“You said you were a nobody when we met. You told me you wanted a quiet life and that after your task on Earth was over, you were going to find a quiet place in the woods to have that life.” She bit her lip and held in the tears. “But you weren’t telling the truth. You knew how I felt about liars when you said it, and you still lied!”

“I… I may have left some things out,” he murmured. “But I wasn’t lying about what I wanted.”

“Then why are you here? I don’t get it! You grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. The acclaimed half-breed child, the first half-human and half-alien that survived from a breeding between humans and your mother’s race. And you left it all to what?” She waved a hand at the room as a whole. “To do bounty hunting and then give tours to air-headed women and arrogant men who want to see all the galactic wonders?”

“I hated being there. Out here, I’m free to be me.” Thryen’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. “Out here, I don’t have people demanding that I be what I’m not just to suite their needs. I don’t have women of both races trying to trick me into marriage just in the hopes of having their own exotic baby.”

Her heart ached for him, but her rational mind only saw the lies. How could she excuse this? True, his secret wasn’t really bad or good. But it hurt that he hadn’t chosen to trust her during the entire time they were friends on Earth or even now, when she’d come under his protection and guidance for the duration of the tour. “And you didn’t think I’d get that?”

He sighed. “I wanted to leave it behind, Ora. I wanted you to see me for me and just enjoy our time together without thinking about everything back home. Is that so bad?”

She lowered her head with a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t know, Thyren. I really don’t. But I think I’d like to skip dinner. I’m not really hungry.”

“And the tour on Shyren?”

She shook her head. “I… I don’t want to go. I want you to leave me alone, please.”

“Ora…” He reached out and rested his hands on her shoulders.

She should shrug him off, but she didn’t have the energy.

“I know you’re mad. And I should’ve known you’d be upset if I didn’t tell you and you found out some other way. I’m sorry.” He pulled away and shuffled to the door. “If you change your mind about dinner, you know I’m just next door.”

She nodded but didn’t look up. The door banged closed, and she stood there, trying to understand everything that had just happened. Her heart hurt so badly that she wasn’t sure she could bear it another second, but since she couldn’t escape her own feelings, she just shambled to the bed and dropped onto it. Curling into a ball, she lay there and hoped sleep would put her out of her misery soon.

~~~

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed and are having a great end of your week so far! See you next week.

Thursday Technicalities – Formatting for Ebook

This week, we’re taking a brief break from the discussion about weaving world-building into the story because I recently did a guest post on illustrator_aesthetics’ blog regarding formatting for ebooks. I thought you all might benefit from it, so that’s what this post is regarding. If you want to learn more about the cover design and graphics side of book design, go check out the illustrator_aesthetics’ blog here. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the guest post that I did on her blog!

INTRODUCTION

First of all, I want to thank Anne for inviting me to guest post on Illustrator Aesthetic’s blog. I’ve been asked to share a bit about ebook formatting. There’s quite a bit that goes into it, but let’s just get into it, and I’ll do my best to break it down a piece at a time.

KINDLE REQUIREMENTS

The first order of business is to understand what the requirements are for formatting in the first place. We’ll focus on Kindle’s requirements since it’s the most popular ebook option, but I’ll also go over some of the differences between Kindle’s Mobi files and Epub files for other platforms.

To begin with, Kindle only supports specific display fonts. It won’t display fancy font properly. I’ve been told that some programs can override that, but in my experience, nothing I’ve used has been able to, even if you embed fonts, which I’ll explain in a moment. So when you’re talking about formatting for an ebook, no fancy fonts. You need to use system-based fonts or else install the Kindle plugin for Word (if that’s the program you’re using) to give special effects to fonts. If you don’t use Word, there’s another way to do this, but when you’re doing your initial file formatting, don’t include any fancy fonts.

Second, no page numbers. This probably should be one of those obvious things, but Kindle won’t display page numbers because there’s not a lot of reason for it. The page numbers don’t correspond to the actual page number in the paperback, so just skip this. This also means you should skip page numbers in your table of contents.

Include a table of contents. This allows your Kindle book to give readers an option to navigate through the book conveniently. The table of contents needs to include the hyperlinks to each chapter header. If you’re using Word, you can easily make this work. Other programs will usually have different ways of achieving it, but since Word is what I use, that’s mainly what we’ll cover in this article.

Avoid drop caps and pictures. Kindle just does not like these. You can make it work, but it’s really difficult to get pictures in particular to do what they’re supposed to. Drop caps can be inserted using Amazon’s Kindle Create later on, but in your initial document, avoid them. It’s asking for Kindle to mess your entire manuscript up.

FORMATTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

As I mentioned earlier, I use Microsoft Word, so we’ll mainly focus on that. I also use Scrivener as I’m writing, so I often end up exporting from that program to Word. Unfortunately, the Microsoft version of Scrivener doesn’t allow its users to edit as many settings in exporting as Mac’s version, so it makes it impossible to avoid having to do more formatting adjustments in another program anyway.

When it comes to Word, you’re given a really handy tool for quick formatting in the form of styles. You can create your own custom styles to make formatting easier, and then you can apply those custom styles to your manuscript’s paragraphs. In particular, using headings on the style menu allows you to quickly format your chapter headings so that they show up with the proper hyperlinks on your table of contents.

Beyond that, when you use styles, particularly ones you created, you’re able to make changes to the style itself and update all paragraphs with that style applied all at once. This becomes really handy when you’re dealing with over 300 pages of text. No one wants to spend eight hours going through and trying to catch every error in style.

I will note that using styles does sometimes mess up italics if you have entire sections in italics but don’t have a different style with the italics built in. So, you’ll want to double check your italics to be sure those weren’t changed. If they were, you can fix it, but you may have to mess around with it to make sure that only those sections are changed and not the rest of the paragraphs with that style.

Finally, note that you shouldn’t have any sort of section breaks in a document formatted for Kindle. Kindle and Epub files are meant to be formatted for streamlined reading experiences, so avoid any of those kinds of breaks. Page breaks are fine. Also avoid a bunch of extra blank lines that were put in with the enter key. Kindle typically removes them, so if you need extra space between the top of the page and the chapter header, say, you’ll need to use the “add space before” option to move it down the page.

ADDING EMBELLISHMENTS

When it comes to adding nicer fonts, images, or drop-caps, you can do it one of two ways using Word. Either you can install Kindle’s extension for Word and use that to make chapter headings, drop-caps, and images blend properly, or you can go ahead and use Amazon’s Kindle Create app to do it. Neither is better, per-se, but if you need more options to make last minute adjustments, I’d recommend the extension for Word. If you don’t, Kindle Create might be a little simpler to deal with. The nice thing about Kindle Create is that it makes it easy to save it in a package that can be uploaded straight to KDP and put into Mobi format without the hassle of trying to save pdfs or make things look just right from a document they didn’t convert well.

Make sure you preview the ebook before you hit publish or release for pre-order though. Even with the Kindle Create app, your file still might not convert quite right, so you want to make sure nothing looks off before you publish it.

EPUB VS. MOBI

Your Epub files are often a bit more flexible than Mobi. The formatting requirements are a tiny bit less stringent, and—in my experience—easier to work with when it comes to your drop caps or pictures. They still don’t really allow for a bunch of fancier fonts, but if you save it in either a pdf file or a Word document (which one you use depends on the publishing site), it usually converts a little bit easier than Kindle’s does. Generally, I’ve used epub files for Barnes and Noble’s Nook or for Kobo’s ebook platform.

CLOSING REMARKS

Formatting your manuscript for Kindle or Epub isn’t always simple. Even when you’ve done your best to keep things simple and streamlined, things can still go wrong. You’re probably going to have to adjust things or tweak stuff here and there to make it work just right. But using the tips above can make that job easier, especially if you use Word to format. From personal experience, I know exactly what it’s like to want to tear your hair out because Word’s formatting doesn’t want to mesh well with Kindle or Epub. The tips above help to fix some of those issues.

That’s it for this week’s Thursday Technicalities post. I hope it’s been helpful for you guys, particularly for those who have experienced the nightmares of trying to format for ebooks using Word! At some point, I’ll talk a bit about paperback formatting too because that’s a whole other ball game. But for now, we’ll leave it at this!

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #39

So those of you who follow me on social media know that I’ve been talking about my newest WIP a bit more now that it’s in full swing. I’m really excited about it! So, if you didn’t hear about it on social media, I’ll explain here.

The piece I’m working on for ONC (Wattpad’s Open Novella Contest) is the most sci-fi style piece I’ve done. It’s also the most unique in terms of its magic system and world. I did a live video on Facebook about the book’s behind-the-scenes last week on Thursday, and you guys can watch it here if you didn’t see it live.

At any rate, since it’s the only longer piece I’m working on right now (and will be until I finish and edit it before the end of April–I think that’s the length of the contest?), that’s what I’ll be sharing from for today!

~~~

SEBASTIAN STEPPED OFF the lift with a weary groan. The faces around him all held placid smiles, perfect images of the poise and tolerance society loved so much these days. Not that he had anything against it, per se, but the lengths some people went to… Well, there just ought to be a limit. He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes to make it to his mother’s. Ten minutes for something to go abominably wrong, knowing his luck. But, if he just avoided any situations that might require the use of his button, all would be well. As long as the button didn’t have to get involved, life was generally not too bad. Good, even, on occasion.

He shoved through the crowd, ignoring the sidelong glances people gave him. Seriously, didn’t any of them have more productive things to do besides standing in the way and glaring at anyone who wasn’t equally keen on that? Union workers. He shook his head with a snort and rushed out the door onto the bustling city streets of Winchester. Nine minutes now. Good thing McGayen Inc was located on the city outskirts. If he ran, he could make it to the family estate, maybe even on time for once.

“Seb?”

He sighed and turned back toward the building’s entrance. Scratch that. He’d be late, and this time he couldn’t blame it on a mishap with the button. Well, Mother liked Viv, so it would be forgiven if he was late.

“Good thing I caught you. Where are you going? Weren’t you going to leave work with me to meet Dane at the station?”

He frowned. Was he?

“Did you forget already?”

“Uh… No, no. Not exactly.” He wracked his brain and came up blank. “Okay… I guess I did.” He rubbed the back of his neck, careful to avoid the cold metal lump under his ear where his button resided.

She snorted and put her hands on her hips, an oddly petulant stance for Vivian McGayen, an accomplished business woman whose own reputation was only exceeded by her father’s. “You’re always forgetting things. Drinks after work. You promised, remember? We were going to head over to Featherweight, that new bar in town. The one with the specialty drinks?”

Oh, right. How had he managed to forget? Would his mother mind two extra people for dinner? He couldn’t cancel on either of them, so he’d have to find a solution. Fortunately, Mother would probably be thrilled to make room for Dane and Viv. She always cooked too much anyway. Just in case, she said. “Well, I guess we can still do it. But my mother scheduled dinner for tonight, and I can’t bail on her. Not after what happened with Dad last month, you know?”

Viv nodded and pursed her lips. “We could move the night out to tomorrow if you wanted.”

“No, no. We’ve already done the planning. Not your fault I forgot. How about we head out after dinner at my mother’s? You two are welcome to join. It’d save me the chewing out for being late. Again.”

Viv laughed and played with an auburn curl. “Wouldn’t that be intruding, Seb? I don’t want to get in the way or stress your mother out. She’s got enough on her plate with your Dad running off like he did.”

“It wouldn’t be intruding. Having you there might actually cheer her up.”

“Then tell you what.” Viv smoothed her hands over her pencil skirt. “I’ll give Dane a call and tell him to meet us over there. Then we can just go together. It’ll be quicker than walking if I take you.”

He glanced at her button, easily visible just under her left ear. Easier, yes. But also so very humiliating. She had a working button that was useful, but he was stuck with the dud because some idiot bureaucrat screwed up his paperwork and someone else installed a reject instead of the real deal. Maybe he should be glad his worked at all, since it wasn’t supposed to, but considering the fact that using it only worked out maybe once in a hundred presses, he didn’t feel too bad about his irritation. And every time someone used theirs with no mishap, that irritation grew until he wanted to punch something or slink off into a hole to die of shame. At least no one pointed and laughed anymore. Openly, at least. “I can walk.”

She rolled her eyes. “Seb, grow up, would you? Accepting my offer to teleport both of us doesn’t make you a lesser man.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is? If your button has the better transportation method, we can use that.”

“That’s a low blow, Viv.” He turned his back on her. “You know it doesn’t. It doesn’t do anything right, and you know how I feel about others using their buttons out of pity for me. I’ll walk.”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him off to the side. People stared, but a short glare from him sent them scurrying, appalled and judgmental stares marring their lukewarm smiles. So much for tolerance of whatever anyone else did. Clearly, the motto “You do you” only applied when they were the ones being judged. Not a surprise. He’d seen it growing up, and it was no better now.

Viv squeezed his shoulders and brought his attention back to her. “The button—”

“Doesn’t define me?” He sighed and shrugged her off. “I know that. Never said it did. But it would be nice if I knew what I’d get when I pressed it. It would be nice if, for once, I had somewhere to fit in instead of being the freak show at every gathering.”

Viv grinned. “You know what you’ll get.”

Despite his restless, irritable mood, he smiled at that too. “Yeah, guess so. But knowing it’ll be random every time isn’t exactly the same as knowing what I’ll get.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and resumed his fast pace with a glance at his watch. Three minutes. Great. “Call your brother while you walk, then. Showing up with you only gains me five extra minutes to get there.”

“More like seven. Your mother adores me for some reason.” She pulled her phone out of her purse. “But you wouldn’t be late if—”

He raised a brow at her. “We discussed my feelings on charity.”

“More like you talked and I pretended to listen.”

He put a hand over his heart with an exaggerated wince. “That hurts my feelings.”

“Too bad.”

“How intolerant of you.” He wrinkled his nose. “I can’t believe you would be so inconsiderate of my feelings and my opinion.”

She threw her head back and laughed her rich, throaty laugh. Been a while since he’d heard it. It brought a warm feeling inside that partially chased off the bad feelings. This time, she didn’t even grace him with a response to his inanity. Both of them had a healthy respect for one another’s views on society’s belief in tolerance and social relevance. Neither of them really liked the way things were headed there, and that drew them together.

“Well, typical of you. You going to keep making fun of me? I’m still going to walk, so you can either join or go on ahead.”

“And tell your mother what?” She scoffed. “Your son invited me over, but he’s ten minutes away because he couldn’t get over his pride long enough to join me?”

“If you want.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and held back a laugh. “I don’t care what you tell her. You’ll come up with something, and I’ll see you in five minutes.”

“Suit yourself, then. I’ll try to spare you her wrath.” She gave him a saucy grin and wiggled her fingers in farewell before she disappeared, leaving him alone among the crowds on the sidewalk.

~~~

Hope you all enjoyed the opening scene of the book! This is in the raw since I haven’t done extensive editing on it yet, but I don’t expect the beginning to change too much unless I run into major issues with it later on.

Author’s Interview with James Quinlan Meservy

Today, I have James Quinlan Meservy with me on the blog to answer some questions about himself, his writing, and his inspirations! For those who don’t know, Meservy is the author of the Rai Saga, the first of which is the book The United. I reviewed that on the blog recently, so you can find that here. Let’s see what he has to say.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Mornin!

I am James Quinlan Meservy, Fantasy Author Extraordinaire, Creator of Creatures, Embellisher of Events, and Firebrand “Stories That Kindle Imagination.”

I am originally from Logan, Ut, USA.  Shortly after I graduated from High School I lived two years in the Far East region of the Russian Federation, serving a mission for my church.  My time in Russia and my knowledge of the Russian language greatly influence my writings, especially when I am creating names for characters, events, locations, etc.  For instance, Rai is Paradise in Russian

What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

I write epic fantasy and YA fantasy with my Rai Saga, children’s fantasy with my Sykar Series, and urban fantasy with my self-published short story, Jackalopes: The Real Story.

I have always enjoyed the fantasy genre, and when the original idea for The United came to me as a young child, it happened to story about a talking wolf who gained immortality by devouring souls.  Now, that was a long time ago, and the story has adapted into its current novelized form, but once I started writing the story, I fell in love with the genre.

As for the Sykar Series, I wrote that so I could share one of my published stories with my children.  And it is a favorite of theirs.

What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I will read any author once.  If I like what I read, I may read another title, or I may not.  But most of my reads tend to be Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Classic Literature (yes, in my world Charles Dickens and Mark Twain both constitute their own genres) Fantasy, and since I have two or three science fiction WIPs in mind, I am starting to read more sci-fi.

What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

To relax?  Well, if you ask my wife and kids, I don’t relax.  I am always reading, writing, exercising, eating (brownies and Cherry Pepsi will eventually be the death of me), or spending time with my family.  So, for relaxation, I guess I mostly play silly match 3 games on my phone and watch movies.

Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Which one?  At present I have 4 WIPs.  Perfectly Evil, the Realm of the Light Book 3, Shades of Mortality, the Realm of the Light Book 4, UNTITLED, the Realm of the Light Book 5, and a science fiction project I am co-authoring with a friend.

Let’s start with Perfectly Evil.  That is a great story, beginning with Vulktyramous waking up in the Coliseum in Rome after losing the Second Great Denizen War to his brother, Arctyrus Hunter.  I don’t want to spoil too much of the story, but Perfectly Evil is really about how Vulktyramous went from a pawn in everyone else’s game to becoming a force to be reckoned with on his own.

Shades of Mortality is probably the most anticipated WIP on my docket, for it is the immediate sequel to The United, and chronicles the life of HeatherAnn Parkinson.  I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I will say this book shows HeatherAnn coming to terms with herself, accepting herself for who she is, and trying to find her place in the world.

If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience?

I am hybrid published.  The Realm of the Light Series is published by Cosby Media Productions, and I have a number of self published short stories. 

About the experience?  Editing manuscripts is always fun for me, because I get to see ideas become novels, and then enjoy learning how to improve my stories and preparing them for publication, and I am constantly learning how to write better.

What were your inspirations for writing?

In 5th grade, I was given a Halloween themed creative writing assignment.  I thought about what I wanted to write about, then I had a dream about a wolf who obtained immortality through stealing souls.  And to be honest, my dreams have been my inspiration for stories ever since.

Who got you into writing when you first started?

That would be my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Card.  Then as I grew up, I went through a prolonged I will write, I will never write again stage that lasted about 20 years, before I finally gave in to the dreams and ideas and thoughts that would not leave me alone.  So as a kid, it was my teacher, as an adult, it was inspirations and myself.

Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

When I first self-published The United, it was poorly edited, had a bad cover, and not all that great.  And I knew it.  But, I received a message from Cris Pasqueralle, asking if I was interested in doing a review swap.  I agreed.  Since then, he has been my mentor and good friend.

When I landed a publisher with Tate Publishing, Cris helped me promote my book.  Then when Tate went out of business, he referred to Cosby Media Productions.  Cris has always been ready with words of encouragement, advice, and support whenever I needed it.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

Read.  Read everything, and anything.  Do not just read your genre, by everything I mean everything.  Read some how to write books, read some fantasy, read some scifi, read some classic literature, some thrillers, anything you can get your hands on.  And as you read, pay attention to how the author writes.  Learn from their successes and failings, and adapt writing methods and styles you like to your own work. 

Second to that is write.  Ideas are great, but I cannot read the ideas in your mind on my Kindle.

What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

To read.  I was not a reader as a child.  I did not really enjoy reading until I read A Christmas Carol in a high school class as a senior.  So the first thing I did when I decided to take my story and turn it into a novel was write it out.  It was horrible and dragging, and boring, and predictable, and I had no idea how to write a fantasy novel.  So I read a lot of fantasy, some how to write books, some classics, and some books of different genres just so I could see how different authors write narrative prose.

What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

My favorite author is Charles Dickens, and my favorite book is A Christmas Carol.  As I mentioned above, it was the title, and he was the author, that really got me into reading.  Now that I think about it, I think that part of the reason for my love of A Christmas Carol is because it was the first book I ever read that inspired me to change to become a better person.

As far as favorite literary character, I have more than just 1.

Eponine from Les Miserables.  I love her so much.  She is one of my greatest literary crushes, and I love her story.  No matter how bad her life became after her father lost his inn, she never lost hope, and she did not allow her experiences to harden her heart.

The Bishop from Les Miserables.  Words cannot express how much his example of Christ-like love means to me.  The way he gave away everything he owned to those who were in greater need is nothing short of inspiring.

Renee, aka Captain Espan Rose aka Captain Varda from the Sovereign of the Seas series by KR Martin.  I love Renee.  She is my third literary crush. I love her determination, her devotion to both her cause and her family, and her drive to never give up.

The United by James Quinlan Meservy – A Large Cast

Introduction

Hey, everyone! I’m here with a new book review for you all! Today’s is for The United by James Quinlan Meservy. He graciously provided me with a review copy when I mentioned I would be interested in having more reviews of different authors’ books on my blog. After he got in touch, we agreed that I would review his, and he was kind enough to provide a review copy so I didn’t have to purchase my own copy. I’m really excited to share this book with you guys, so let’s take a look! As always, the reader’s review is first followed by my review for writers. Don’t read that second review if you don’t want any spoilers provided for you.

rEADER’S rEVIEW

So, just being honest here… The beginning half was a bit hard for me. I don’t know for sure why because I did like the characters and the overall idea of the story–as I understood it–but I just struggled to wrap my head around what was going on. My main issue, I think, was the jumps that happened between the Realm of Light (Earth) and the Realm of Rai (which seems to represent Heaven or something of that nature). It was just difficult for me to make the jump between the characters in one place and the characters in another, and the fact that the Creatures of Rai could be in both realms was initially something that had me really confused.

However, once I got into it, I found that I did enjoy the book. The characters were written very well, and the way Meservy approached things was realistic and sensitive (when the issues being discussed called for it). The story itself was also a riveting plot line. I was intrigued by the legends and lore that was woven throughout the novel, and I think that was done pretty well. The incorporation didn’t feel heavy-handed or odd to me at all.

Sometimes, the fight scenes were a tiny bit difficult to follow though. Mainly because mind-control is a factor in a few (or I suppose mind-control in the form of causing someone to hallucinate and do things they wouldn’t ever do, like killing friends and family). Sorry for the slight spoiler there, guys! But basically, when characters end up under that mind-control, they no longer keep their own names or think of themselves with that name. They get this superhero pseudonym thing, so it’s a little hard sometimes to figure out who’s who in the hallucinations while they’re under the influence of the mind-controller. I didn’t like that too much because it just left me so mixed up and mentally fogged until the scene went back to normal. Still, it’s a relatively minor thing in the scheme of the entire story, especially considering the fact that the plot line was neat and the different mechanisms used in combat and in preparation for it were quite unique.

In the end, I would recommend it. It’s got a lot of clear references to Christianity and, I feel, presents things from a strongly Christian point-of-view without glossing over the fact that people make mistakes and lead lives that can have choices and events they end up regretting after coming to Christ (or even things they regret doing as a Christian). Because the book doesn’t shy away from openness about the fact that even Christian couples make mistakes and sin in the area of premarital sex, I wouldn’t say the book is one ultra-conservative Christians would label clean. Personally, I think that removing it would leave the book unrealistic and lacking, given the story James weaves. But, if you don’t want even the mention of sex included in your novels or in what your child reads, don’t pick this up. There aren’t any actual sex scenes or anything, but the characters are clear that they’ve had premarital sex and regretted it. So, yeah… If you’re not okay with that being brought up, The United might not be for you. Otherwise, it’s a good read.

Writer’s Review

Okay, now for the fun stuff! Picking apart The United to go over what was done well and what wasn’t. First, as the title hints, we’re going to talk about the large cast of characters that Meservy had, why it worked, and what he did well with it. The second thing we’re going to talk about is handling books where you have things going on in two different realms or worlds parallel to one another. This can get confusing for readers, and it did in Meservy’s book, so we’ll go over why it was so confusing and what you can do in order to alleviate some confusion for readers.

First, let’s go with the good things Meservy did with his large cast! To begin with, lots and lots of people died in The United. Straight up, lots of people end up getting killed when facing off with Lord Yrimwaque, and without his large posse of characters to continue on the story after two or three died, Meservy wouldn’t have had much of a story left. The villain would have won, and that would have been that.

However, because he had a group of friends plus several Creatures of Rai to play major roles in the story, you never ran out of characters. Granted, this could become overwhelming for the reader easily, but in Meservy’s case, it didn’t because so many of them died. In the first battle, they lost one out of the three who were involved (and the rest barely escaped). In the second battle, they lost another two, if I counted right. By the third battle, they lost two more, leaving Blaze, one of the main characters, as the only one really left who played a major role in trying to kill the villain. The Creatures of Rai all survived since all of them were dead to begin with and just passed from the Realm of Rai (Heaven) to the Realm of Light (Earth) either through evil means or by order of their Master (God/Christ).

Interestingly enough, Meservy never actually got rid of the characters he killed off. Instead, they become permanent residents of the Realm of Rai as Creatures of Rai, and they helped to offer guidance and protection to their friends who were still fighting back on the Realm of Light. This was achieved through dreams, which those of the Realm of Light wouldn’t fully remember but still found would guide them later on as premonitions of sorts, or through direct interactions between the Creatures of Rai and the inhabitants of the Realm of Light. In a way, it seems as if those who died became like guardian angels.

This, obviously, is a bit of a departure from Biblical narratives on what happens to mortals when they die, but given the fact that there’s a lot in the story that’s meant to be allegorical or is just creative license, I wouldn’t fault Meservy on it. It was an integral part to the story and not something I found to be particularly objectionable. You may not want to keep your cast of characters the same size using this method, but note that it is an option if you want to keep people around even though they’ve died. Ghosts are a common theme in a lot of paranormal fantasy, so it’s a viable option for you, though obviously your spin on it won’t be the same as Meservy’s has been.

Now, about what I felt wasn’t done well. I mentioned in my reader’s review that I found the start to be difficult to follow. It was confusing and jarring to jump from one world to the other with everything going on at the same time or at different times but with no clear markers on which was which.

This is something I’m fairly sure Meservy addresses later on in his writing since his short story for the anthology I’m organizing is in this same world and has clear headers to let us know as readers which realm we’re on and who it is that’s the viewpoint character. I found this to be a much more effective method of switching between realms because without those markers, it becomes very jumbled. This is, of course, one way of handling a similar situation in your own novels to avoid confusing readers or jarring them out of the story.

Beyond that, Meservy had a third realm, of sorts, and that was the realm of the mind. In this realm, the character only enters it when under the control of Lord Yrimwaque and the Threat, at least in The United. Once they’re in this realm, the characters cease to view themselves as themselves. They take on names like the Avenger, Traveler, Friend, and more. While in this state, they’re approached by someone from the Threat who masquerades as someone they want to follow, and, under mind control in the hallucination/mental realm, they do follow instructions. This leads to actions in the real world that frequently end with friends killing each other or one friend attacking and killing other friends. They can be snapped out of this realm when sprayed with water (for whatever reason this is the only method that works), but it’s usually too late to save anyone.

This mental realm was also confusing because the lack of names made it hard to follow who was who. So, while, eventually, I was able to figure out what was going on, I was never certain which character was the one being controlled until the mind control was removed and we were left with a fresh body count. This was pretty frustrating. If you have something similar, I recommend that you show them initially fighting it or slowly succumbing to it as their mind fades into the scene and they begin to think of themselves as this other character. That way, even if we don’t know for sure who they attack or what they do to those around them, we do know for certain which character we’re following. This just helps to ground the reader as they read through what might otherwise end up seeming confusing or disjointed/divorced from the reality built up in the rest of the book.

Conclusion

Despite the confusion at points in the book, I did find the storyline to be one I could follow and enjoy. I would recommend the book even if it wasn’t always the easiest to understand at times. The confusion wasn’t bad enough to make the book a no-go for me. It was more a minor frustration and distraction when it showed up and not even a problem the rest of the time. I loved the characters, and it made me sad any time someone died because even though I knew they weren’t gone forever, I saw the impact on those left behind, and it hurt for that reason. That means Meservy did quite a few things right, so I’d definitely say this book is one I can recommend without too much reserve.

You can buy the book through Amazon, and you can get in touch with James Quinlan Meservy through his website or his newsletter signup. I will be doing an author’s interview with Meservy to go along with this post, so once he has finished the questions, I’ll put that up!

Be on the look out for that and for my review of TN Traynor’s historical romance set in Scotland, which will be posted on March 7th. I know it isn’t the genre I usually review on the blog, but she and I are doing spotlights as part of my blog tour for On Twilight’s Wings, and because I know her work, I said I’d spotlight the book even though I normally wouldn’t do that for non-fantasy on the blog. I’ve already started reading the copy she sent me, and I’m really enjoying it so far! It’s better polished than Idi & the Oracle’s Quest was too, so I’ve been having an easier time reading it. There won’t be a writer’s review because it isn’t what I normally talk about on the blog, but I’ll have a review from my perspective as a reader along with a blurb, book links, and the cover. So for all of you who read romance too, you can look forward to that special feature come March 7th!

Pirated Content

Hey, guys! So… I recently discovered, thanks to a friend on Facebook, that a site called Bookinistika.com is pirating authors’ ebooks and selling them for a higher price, which obviously means that all the money goes to them with no royalties to you. My books were on there. They removed Bane of Ashkarith, but they have yet to remove the anthology I’m in that I also found on the site.

I am beyond angry about this because I know how much work has gone into the anthology, and I definitely know how much effort and creative work went into Bane of Ashkarith. Please, if you are an author, go check to make sure your stuff isn’t up here. Search all book titles in addition to your author’s name as their search engine is, intentionally perhaps, not well-designed and won’t pull up everything by author’s name. If you’re a reader, a word to the wise! If the price is way higher or lower than Amazon, Kobo, or Barnes and Noble (or any other well-known retailer) or you don’t recognize the seller, then they probably are pirating the ebooks. I’m not going to 100% say they are, but you should check with the author if you can to make sure they know their work is up on that third party vendor’s site. Chances are good that indie authors and publishers are not putting their books up for sale on some obscure site that doesn’t have an established name in the market. Don’t buy if you think there’s even a chance that it’s pirated! You’re hurting the author instead of helping.

Usually, you can double check on authors’ sites to see what platforms they are listing the book for sale under. For mine, I always post book information for new releases, and those new release info sheets include the links to all the places I or my publisher have chosen to list it for sale. If a new site is added, I add it to the list. If you don’t see the book listed for that site, then it’s not on that vendor’s site legally, and either you should report it or you should get in touch with the author to let them or their publisher report it. Being an indie author is tough enough without having your work stolen! Help us out and let us know if you see something suspicious. Thanks, guys!

Behind the Scenes with Ariel Paiement and Joanna White

Hi guys! Interested in finding out more about my writing process, books, and philosophy for writing? Curious about Joanna White, who has been interviewed on my blog before? The two of us did an interview format question and answer where we asked each other questions about writing, books, and more. You can watch it below or on YouTube here. Thanks for watching!

Sunday Stories

This is a new section on the blog that I wanted to start. Sometimes, I think the blog focuses a lot on the aspects of writing and editing or on what I’m working on, but there’s not a lot of personal stuff to it. Obviously, there’s a fine line between sharing and over-sharing, but I personally really like it when I see stories and personal notes from the authors of blogs I follow or books I like to read. It makes it feel like I know them just a bit better and have a more personal investment in their work. It also makes it easier to recommend them, at least for me, because I can tell friends or parents I talk to that the author’s philosophies, outlook on life, and personality are also commendable.

So, I’m going to start sharing things I’ve learned through life’s experiences so far and things that I’m learning now. For those who aren’t Christians, I’m not going to discourage you from reading, but you should know that this part of the blog will be much more obvious in its Christian roots because I am a Christian, and the lessons I have learned are ones learned through hardships God took me through to teach me things I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. If that’s something that’s offensive and bothersome, just skip over these posts when you see them and keep reading what you already do. I won’t be offended by it. But if you do decide to join me, then welcome, and thank you for doing so!

Today’s Sunday Story comes from a lesson I learned about loneliness in my first semester of college at Pensacola Christian College in Florida.

~~~

They say your college years are the best years of your life. Mine have been both the best and worst years so far. I know, a strange statement to make, but a true one for reasons that will, I think, become apparent as I share more of the things I learned during my college years.

I won’t deny that I have an overall negative opinion of my alma mater itself. At this point in my life, I still haven’t fully sorted through all of the emotions, positive or negative, that I went through while there. I’m a bit of a slow learner when it comes to emotional things, and my final year and a half at PCC was filled with many negative emotions, some directed at the school and some toward myself. But that’s a story for another Sunday and isn’t really the point of this post. My only reason for mentioning it is to be up front about the fact that I most definitely have a bias against the institution but that, because God richly blessed me with friends from the student body who could facilitate growth even when the school failed to do so, my view can’t be entirely negative of my time spent there, at the very least.

My first semester was mostly bleak, especially in the beginning. I had no friends, and those I tried to make would agree to plans enthusiastically only to leave me alone when the time for our plans rolled around. This meant many meals spent eating alone, but it also created a fair share of problems since the school had a “no-going-off-campus-alone” rule at the beginning of my time there.

The rule itself wasn’t bad since our area was more than a little dangerous and had gangs who operated near the school and targeted our female students. The school tried to make it easy to find people to go with for the weekends since they ran buses that went to Walmart, the mall, and one other local shopping destination. Unfortunately, the rule regarding going off alone also applied to the weekend shopping trips and the bus, which I initially didn’t even realize. (The rules regarding bus use were more than a little vague in that area.)

Furthermore, I could only go with girls, so my pool of people to choose from was relatively limited. I tended to have very little luck connecting with girls my age despite repeated attempts. This was by no means the school’s fault, but it did make things difficult for me. As a result, when people cancelled plans every time we had them (and that semester, there wasn’t a single weekend that the people I made plans with didn’t cancel on me last minute), I was forced to either cancel plans to avoid breaking the rules or go alone even if it broke rules. 

For most students, this wasn’t an issue. They could either not go that week or had no problem finding friends to go whether it was last minute or not. In my case, I couldn’t choose not to go because I had to buy food I could actually eat regularly without making myself sick and needed to buy my own toiletries. One of my roommates had a car, but neither of them liked me or was keen on lending me anything if I wasn’t able to get to the store, so I relied heavily on making time on a weekend to go. So, I spent much of that semester discouraged and struggling because I couldn’t manage to find anyone to go anywhere with me or do anything, even on campus.

It took me a long while to give up on it. I admit that I gave up in despair and for all the wrong reasons, but once I gave up, God finally got through to me, and I began to learn one of the first lessons the people there taught me, though I’m sure it wasn’t their intention to teach me this lesson. Loneliness, as uncomfortable as it is, is not the end of the world and is often a tool God uses to draw us to Himself. In this case, it did just that.

Later on, I did make friends, and some of them are ones I’m still in touch with, my best friend included. I made them at the very end of that first semester, but not until I learned to do two things. First, to accept the hollowness a lack of human companionship left in me. Second, to bring it to and give it over to God so that He could fill it with a thankfulness for the One who never leaves and for the person of God Himself. 

I still struggle in this area sometimes, but this lesson had to be learned and has stuck with me. It is one of the few things the school itself ended up having a big part in teaching me, on a spiritual level at least, because in some ways, their rules made my lack of friendship more apparent every time I had no choice but to go on the bus alone to get things that couldn’t hold off for an uncertain “I’d love to go with you next week” from those I thought were friends.

I had many nerve-wracking, guilt-ridden trips to Walmart then with plenty of time to consider the fact that, unless I wanted to go without toilet paper or food I could eat safely for another week or more, I had to break the rules. I spent those rides terrified I’d get in trouble for being on my own, ashamed because I knew I was breaking rules, angry because I wanted to follow the rules (even if I hadn’t known about some of them until I got on campus) but couldn’t because others didn’t follow through week after week, and lonely because everyone else had a group while I was alone. Not a “good” experience, certainly. By the end of that semester, I had come to dread Walmart trips and hate the health issues that made trips necessary every other week, even if I had to break rules to go. But the acute emotional distress did force me to choose how to respond and to find a solution.

So, I eventually chose to stop looking for friends. A strange decision, I know, but it was the only one that seemed remotely reasonable at that point. I told God that, as sad as I felt about the prospect of being friendless for three years in a place I was already beginning to feel alone and out-of-place in, I was going to accept it if He didn’t choose to give me any friends.

After all, I’d already chosen to obey His leading in coming to a school that I never would have attended on my own because of the rules they did make clear, and that hadn’t even covered the ones that were tacked on or made themselves manifest after I first arrived that weren’t even in the student handbook or the differing applications of the student leaders in charge of enforcing them. But I was living with all of it, even if I wasn’t thrilled about it, and I was doing it because I strongly believed it was where I belonged even if I never fit in with more than a handful of people there.

So, if I could do that, then I could surely survive three years with no friends if it was what God called me to. To me, at that point, I was mostly just resigned and a little relieved I could stop putting all my efforts into developing friendships that never went anywhere. There was, at that time, no excitement about trusting God with the situation, but only a hopeless prayer of unhappy resignation to the loneliness if that was what had to be for His plans to be worked out in my life. (Had I known back then what I would find by doing this, I might have had more enthusiasm and less of a depressed, if I have to attitude, but hindsight is 20-20, as they say.)

Over the next month, bus rides got easier. Oh, the guilt and frustration over the fact that I had to break rules to get what I needed was still there. I couldn’t get around that without just eating foods that made me sick until I could buy non-perishables and whatever I could store out of the fridge for a week or so until I could shop again. But those trips never allowed me to buy enough to tide me over until the next trip, and I didn’t have a way to extend shelf-life on the fresh foods or fruits I needed to eat more of. I made it through, though, and I dealt with the consequences of my choice with a good attitude. I knew I was breaking policies, and while I felt bad about doing it, I knew I was still responsible for it if I got caught. I accepted that risk and the guilt that was a consequence of breaking rules I felt should be followed.

Some would have told me at the time (and later a few guy friends did tell me this) that I should have kept the rules even if it meant suffering health-wise because it was wrong to break a rule you knew about. That’s one of those things I still don’t know how to feel about.

I’m not a rule breaker, and breaking rules is something I hate doing. But there were many times where I didn’t know how rules should be interpreted or what they applied to because every resident assistant did things differently. I often felt guilty for breaking rules, even if I didn’t know about them beforehand because they weren’t in the version of the Pathway I’d been given prior to updates. I learned to accept and expect the guilt. As I said, my head got tangled up and confused on the issue, and in the end, whether it was right or wrong, I chose to do what was best for my health so I could focus on classes, even if it meant breaking a rule.

When it came to the bus situation, however guilty I may have felt, the loneliness itself eased up as a week or so passed in this state of isolation and prayer. I wasn’t angry at people for ditching me because I expected them not to show and leave me in a bind, and I didn’t care if we were able to hang out or not, so I wasn’t disappointed when it didn’t happen. Maybe that’s pessimistic of me, but I felt no real antipathy toward anyone for it. I just saw things for what they were and didn’t expect things to change.

Eventually, though, things did change. I didn’t expect them to, and I didn’t notice right away that, while no one else around me was changing, I was changing. It took time, but I grew to find walking, eating, studying, and living life with just me and God to be a joy instead of a burden. My problems weren’t solved, and I had a lot of growing ahead, but I was at peace about the journey ahead and the steps behind.

In the end, the lesson I learned from the struggle wasn’t an easy one, and I didn’t like the experience that had to happen for me to learn it. I wouldn’t tell you the experience was positive because that would be a categorical lie. But what I could tell you is this. The experience was painful and what was going on was negative, yes. But the results and the growth that came out of the experience were positive. Those were good and necessary.

It’s easy for me to forget, often, that even if what happened to me was undoubtedly negative, the results were not if I grew and came closer to God because of my suffering. The suffering and other people’s lack of integrity or good decisions (in this case, their poor planning and lack of following through) wasn’t good. Should those things have happened? No, probably not like they did. But if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have learned to embrace loneliness instead of fighting it, and I would be a lesser person today. The experience was bad, but the outgrowth from my response to it and what God did through it was something way more positive than I ever could’ve dreamed.

Saturday Setup: Creatures – Creating Your Own

Introduction

Any discussion of creatures and fantasy would be totally remiss if I didn’t cover creating your own creatures. After all, while we’ve got a plethora of well-established fantasy creatures, creating your own is one really fun way to put a unique spin on your world, and plenty of authors do it. There’s a variety of ways to achieve this goal, and we’re going to talk about some of the options available to you.

Option #1: Entirely New Creatures

First off, you have the option to create creatures that are entirely new. They’re not based on anything in existence, and they are all their own thing. When I think about examples of this, you’ve got the telfies from my book Bane of Ashkarith or some of the creatures in Brandon Sanderson’s works (though most modern fantasy creatures couldn’t be placed in this category, some of his could be, in my opinion.).

With the telfies from Bane of Ashkarith, they aren’t really based on any particular creature. I just kind of decided on the general appearance based on their diet and what I wanted them to be able to do. Some people have asked if they were dragons of some sort. The answer is a resounding no. (No offense to anyone who wanted them to be dragons. I like dragons, but these guys just aren’t it, and they’re not based on dragons either.) Given the fact that they have fur that can change color with their moods, a tubular body with no legs, horns, and no big nasty teeth (oh, and acid slobber if they decide they don’t like something), they’re not really based on anything recognizable. So, arguably, they’re pretty much entirely new creatures because of this. You could strip it down to basic components and claim they derived from some Earth-based animal or mythological beast, but that’s true of just about any creature.

For Sanderson’s work, the most clearly unique creature he created that doesn’t seem to be really based on anything clearly Earth-related is the chull. These are lumbering beasts with carapace covering their bodies. They’re herd animals that often get used in place of horses in terms of functionality, but that’s where the similarities in appearance pretty much end. The creatures definitely look unique. Depending on who’s doing the art and which type of chull we’re talking, some of them look sort of more like crabs than anything else, but others look as if they’re some sort of strange dinosaur with giant shells on their backs. I’ve put pictures below so you can have a better understanding on this one, but when you read the descriptions of them in the books, they definitely seem otherworldly and unique.

Axehounds are another creation from Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives that are pretty unique. On first glance, you’d think they’re basically just a type of dog, but when you get a look at the creatures, it’s hard to decide if they were based on dogs or something else. Arguably, this one isn’t quite as unique to itself as some other things, but it’s not a terrible example.

This is from ArtCanine on Facebook.
This is from StormlightArchive.fandom.com. As you can see, they do sort of resemble crabs. Kind of. But they’re not always this crab-like in appearance. The larger they are, the more different they look.

Option #2: Based On Mythological or Real Creatures

This is probably the most commonly used option for fantasy creatures. With this one, you just pick a mythological beast or a real animal from our world and tweak it so it’s different. Arguably, some would say, Sanderson’s chull are an example of this. Of course, this depends a bit upon which type of chull we’re talking about. That case could easily be made for at least the smaller varieties, at least. However, even if that example doesn’t hold true entirely to this category, there are plenty of things that do. I mean, just look at dragons. How many times have those been done? Thousands, right? And everyone has a slightly different spin on it, even if there are lots of similarities when you look at all the representations as a whole. So, they’re a perfect example of this category!

oPTION #3: cOMBINATIONS

Don’t feel like creating an entirely unique creature but also don’t want to just alter the usual suspects from Earth? Combinations are probably your best bet, then. With this third and final option, you take interesting features from other animals and blend them together. (You can do the same with mythological creatures or with animals and mythological creatures.) Some combinations are going to produce some pretty odd or grotesque creatures, but if that’s your goal, it’s easy to accomplish. Otherwise, you’re going to want to choose features that go well together or animals that wouldn’t look too strange when combined.

One example of this that I can immediately think of would be the Numahi from my novel, Pathway of the Moon. This creature shows up later on in the book and is described as having somewhat feline features like those of our big cats on Earth mixed with those of a bear. An odd combination? Maybe. But the different features of a cat and bear are not so bad that they would make an ugly creature either.

The combination possibilities are literally endless though. You can come up with so many different things, and this is a ton of fun. If you’re an artist, you can sit down and just sketch up some different ideas for how to combine things to see it visually. Even if you’re not an artist, you could do this if it helps you to visualize. No one else has to see it, right? Even if you don’t do that, if you can get a good mental image on it, you should be all set because you can write the description down to help others visualize it too.

Conclusion

Hopefully this has been helpful to those of you wanting to create your own creatures. There’s a lot that goes into it, especially if you’re creating your own creatures, so on upcoming Saturday Setups, we’ll be talking about things like determining habitat, types of animals, and creating your creatures around what their environment and feeding habits are (since these are the two most important factors that determine what a creature will look like and what features it needs.) Until then, happy writing, and thanks for joining me on today’s Saturday Setup!

A Few Announcements (Giveaway and Blog Tour)

Hi everyone! If you’re on my email list, you’ll be seeing an email with this same information, but I didn’t want to miss anyone on here if they weren’t on the mailing list, so I’m posting to let you know about a few things going on.

First of all, as a way to celebrate my most recent book launch, I’m doing a blog tour! It’ll be from February 29th to March 7th. I have all but two spots filled, so if any of you like to feature fantasy authors with clean YA content, please feel free to comment below or just get in touch by email. I’m happy to do anything from a guest post to author interviews/character interviews. For guest posts, I can write about most things regarding fantasy, writing, and editing, so if you have ideas for what you want me to do, let me know! Otherwise, I’m sure I can come up with a few ideas to pass by whoever wants to host a guest post. It’s first come, first served with this, but I am open to extended the tour a bit if more than one or two people are interested in having me on the blog. My past experience has just been that if I manage to fill all of the slots and never have to do more than repost the guest posts/interviews to my blog, then I’ve been really lucky.

Second, I’m running a giveaway through Rafflecopter! There are two prizes: a copy of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones (US winner only) and an ebook bundle with seven different authors and nine different ebooks, which will be given to the second person drawn. Terms and conditions are on the giveaway here. The only requirements to enter are following the Facebook pages of the authors in the ebook bundle. Besides that, everything else is optional, and no purchase is necessary to join. Some of the entries do require proof of completion (such as following blogs, joining newsletters, or requesting review copies for authors offering them), so you should check out the giveaway post on Facebook for more information on how you can provide proof of completion for any entries that need that. You can find that here. The giveaway post is pinned to the top of my page.

Well, those are the updates I have for the moment, everyone! If anyone has questions, they can be directed to me on social media, in the comments on this post, or via email. Whatever you’re more comfortable with.

Flash Fiction Fridays: Someone Else’s Scars

This week’s flash fiction is based on a prompt I saw on Pinterest. The prompt is pretty simple: her skin is carved with scars that someone else earned. It seemed interesting, so here we go.

~~~

Anorah gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. The knife dug deeper into her arm, avoiding any arteries but inflicting more than enough pain. That would scar. Tears slipped down her cheeks, but she didn’t open her eyes. It would only be one more scar out of dozens.

Dozens of scars that she hadn’t earned but bore for love. These days, she wasn’t even sure why she suffered this anymore. Was he really worth her long-suffering and her silence in the face of pain he himself allowed to be inflicted?

“Give up on him. He isn’t worth this, Anorah.” Her tormentor’s breath was hot on her cheek. “He’s letting us do this. He’s too apathetic to do anything. You’re just taking the punches for him. For a man who doesn’t even care.”

She swallowed hard and opened her teary eyes. “I’m not going to give up on him. You want me to give him up? To let him fall into your hands? To let you drag his soul into the darkness?”

“You know what we want. We’ve told you. Why do you keep fighting? He’s going to end up under our sway eventually whether you die or live.”

She shook her head, a cry sticking in her throat. “I won’t give up on him. You can do whatever you want to me. You can even tear me to pieces or rip my heart out of my chest. But you can’t make me step out of the way or tell you how to get to him.”

“So you’ll die to protect him?” The man’s dark features twisted into a snarl. “What calls on you to do such a thing, hmm? He. Is. Not. Worth. It.”

“He is.”

He dug the knife deeper. “He’s not.”

She choked on her sob and shook her head. “You’ll never understand because you only know how to take. You don’t know how to love.”

“Love? Don’t think that nonsense means anything. He doesn’t love you, so why suffer for him?”

She smiled past the pain, the ache in her heart worse than even the pain in her arm. This man just didn’t understand. “He has hurt me more than you ever could. He destroyed my heart. You’re just destroying my body. But I forgave him anyway. I forgave him because I love him. I don’t love him because he’s good or perfect. I love him because I chose to, and I won’t change that choice. Ever.”

He growled and drove the knife through the fleshy part of her arm. “What could possible inspire you to love him? He’s a monster!”

Her voice strangled as the pain overwhelmed her, but she got the words out anyway. “I love him despite what he’s done because I have been loved unconditionally despite what I’ve done.”

Her tormentor twisted the knife, and white hot pain seared through her. Her mind blanked, and blackness fringed her vision. In the distance, she could hear herself screaming, but the pain no longer touched her. Then the blackness swallowed her.

~~~

That’s it for this week’s Flash Fiction Friday. Hope you all enjoyed. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday Technicalities: Weaving World-Building Into Your Story – Through Your Character’s Eyes

Introduction

This week, we’re going to talk about weaving world-building into the story through your character’s eyes. There are multiple ways to go about weaving your world into the story, but one of the best ways is through your character. So let’s talk about how.

dISCOVERIES

The first way you can go about weaving your world into the story is to allow your readers to discovery it alongside your characters. When you have characters who haven’t experienced the world before, it’s a lot more acceptable to show more of the world in a way that’s overt instead of hidden in the lines between the action. Characters’ confusion over things in their world suddenly make sense because they don’t know anything about what’s around them to begin with.

Interactions

What if you don’t have a character who’s new to the world just like the reader is? You can still world-build and weave that building into the story. One great method for this is to develop the reader’s understanding of the world via interactions between your world and your character.

This method strongly goes back to the idea that your world is its own character with its own personality. No one person or world will interact the same way with each other. This method requires you to know a few things. You need to know your character, know your world, and know how your character views the world. These three determine how your character and your world will interact together.

Interactions can happen a lot of ways. It can happen through the character’s meeting with various creatures in the world. Or, maybe your character is a healer and spends much of their time gathering plants and supplies from nature. They might be an adventurer who has to brave the elements and the difficulties of terrain to reach their goal. Really, the possibilities are endless and allow you plenty of room to show the world to your reader. But the key with this method is that you should treat it the same way you treat an interaction between two characters. You won’t info dump on the reader because an interaction between two characters only reveals bits and pieces of both individuals, not everything. Instead, you’ll reveal only what is relevant to the interaction/scene and the story as a whole. Reveal what needs to be revealed then and no more.

The one difference between this method and an interaction between characters is that you may reveal things about the world that aren’t necessarily serving a specific purpose to the plot. At times, you may choose to reveal things about the world in interactions simply to make the world itself feel richer and more alive or even to reveal something about the person interacting with the world.

Happenings

The final main method for weaving world-building in has more to do with sentence-level inclusions and events. These may not be interactions with your main characters specifically, but they typically affect the character in some way or another. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be seeing it as the readers since you can’t show us what your viewpoint characters don’t see unless you’re using omniscient POV.

With this method, your world-building will be less obvious. It might be a common phrase that’s used by the inhabitants of the world or a common creature that is seen all over the place. It might be some sort of distant report of a creature terrorizing villages on the outskirts of a kingdom. Maybe it’s a brief mention of terrain in an area a character is occupying. One way or another, this world-building method usually doesn’t involve intrusive or overt mentions of the world. This is more subtle and is like the spice added to a dish. It makes everything read better, but your reader won’t notice the individual additions: only the whole of the writing’s flavor.

Conclusion

This type of world-building is more complex than what we often think of as world-building, but it’s also vastly more effective than what we usually see in most writing these days. It takes practice and instinct to do this well, but the instincts surrounding what type of weaving to use and how can be developed the more you write using the methods I’ve given here and in the previous post on this topic.

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #38

This week’s WIP Wednesday is the last one that will feature Pathway of the Moon since I’m on the last chapter and finishing it up. Enjoy!

~~~

WHEN LEO WALKED through the door of the cottage, Amadeira flung herself at him. He caught her and staggered back before he caught his balance and held her to him. They stood there in silence, and she looked over his shoulder to see Nadar lingering on the doorstep. She caught his gaze and looked at him, praying he’d have the answers she and Leo needed.

He dropped his gaze to the ground, regret twisting his features. Her heart sank. No answers then. She squeezed Leo closer and buried her face in his shoulder, the hot tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. Well, it had been too much to hope that the old world god would know when this kind of thing wasn’t documented anywhere. None of the books documented anything like it, and Bane’s diary said nothing on the matter. She’d checked it three times while waiting for Leo to return, but nothing had turned up. 

Leo rubbed her back and pulled away with a sigh. “He didn’t have the answers, Deira.”

She bit her lip and lowered her head.

He cupped her face in both hands. “Hey, look at me.”

Her heart lurched at the raw emotion and affection in his words and his touch. She did as told and found hope warring with sadness on his face. Heart aching, she reached out to run her fingertips over the crease in his brow. “Tell me it’ll be okay?”

He leaned closer and rested his forehead against hers. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart. We’ll figure it all out, but we can’t find any of the answers here. We need to go.”

She sighed. “Are we going on the king’s orders or on our own?”

“On the king’s orders. His men are waiting for us at the Path. They gave us time to say goodbye to this place and grab whatever we needed to take with us.” His fingers tangled in her hair, holding her to him. “Did you pack?”

“Yes.”

“Good girl.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and pulled away.

She blushed and stepped to the side. “Nadar, why don’t you come in and make yourself at home? Leo and I will grab the bags and be right back out.”

He glanced toward the small bedroom and kitchen barely visible from the doorway. Shrugging, he stepped inside and strolled to one of the couches, sprawling out there. His expression neutral, he scanned over the place dispassionately. She gave him a weak smile and hurried after Leo, who was already rummaging through things in the bedroom.

~~~

That’s it for this week! What are you guys up to? If any of you write on Wattpad, are you doing the Open Novella Contest this year? I’m doing it, and I’m really excited about it. I’ve already met the first 2,000 word-count milestone for it. If you guys are doing it too, I’d love to hear what you’re writing about! Feel free to share in the comments.

Idi & The Oracle’s Quest: Characterization and Voice

Introduction

This was the newest book on my list of books read. So far, it’s the only one I’ve finished this year. I’m off to such a great start on that sixty-books-read-this-year goal, aren’t I? Yeah, not really… Anyway, I finished this sometime mid-January but am only just getting to the review for the blog now. As usual, my reader’s review is the same as the one I post to the usual reviewing sites like Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub. If you are interested in learning more about the craft in the book, skip the reader’s review and go straight to the writer’s review. Or feel free to read both. I don’t really mind.

Reader’s Review

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It could have gone through another edit. There were a lot of little errors and problems that a strong editor could have ironed out of the book, and as an editor, those issues were abundantly clear to me. However, I found the story itself to be entertaining enough, and I don’t feel those problems would keep a reader looking for a quick read from enjoying. Unless you’re the type to be a grammar Nazi, a writer who’s picky about stuff being just right in every way, or a freelance editor like myself, you’re probably not going to notice the issues most of the time.

The characterization was pretty strong with several characters having particularly unique voices, which I appreciated. The variety in character, personality, and voice was refreshing, and I liked the struggles they all went through between choosing right or wrong in the entirety of the story.

That’s another thing. Right and wrong were clearly defined in the book with consequences for doing either clearly outlined too. It’s hard to find books that keep that line from becoming blurred, particularly in fantasy, so I liked that Traynor did this well. If you’re looking for that in your fantasy books, then this book has that going for it, for sure!

I would recommend this story. It’s a good choice for younger kids (pre-teens and up), I would say. There wasn’t anything terribly inappropriate, in my opinion, and the book doesn’t use any foul language. Kids who like adventure books with magic and wizards mixed in will enjoy this, and it’s easily accessible for even reluctant readers.

Writer’s Review

Now the fun part, right? We’re going to pick apart the craft for this book and talk about what could be better as well as what was well done. To begin with, let’s talk about the good things that we can all learn from. I’m going to focus mainly on voice and characterization since I noticed these two elements stood out as being nicely done in this book.

Voice

To begin with, voice was excellent here. When I say voice, I’m specifically referring to the different voices and flavors of speech that characters had. Some authors do very well with this while others don’t. Traynor did well with it. You could tell the difference between characters by the dialogue alone in most cases. The way they phrased things, what they said, and the word choices they used were unique with each character. Some were, of course, more similar than others, but they were all, in my opinion, different enough to allow readers to tell the difference. This can be pretty tough to do, so if you choose to read Idi & The Oracle’s Quest, pay special attention to the different ways Traynor differentiates between characters in dialogue. I think you’ll be surprised at how many ways it can happen with everything from sentence structure to the individual words themselves. It’s often more subtle than you’d think, though in some characters, such as the dwarves that one of the main characters stays with, have more unique voices than others.

Characterization

In many ways, voice is simply a subset of characterization. After all, the way a character speaks says a lot about who they are. However, voice wasn’t the only part of characterization Traynor executed well. Her characters in general feel as if they could be real people thanks to their little quirks, oddities, and practices. No two are alike, however similar they may be at times. Their uniqueness sets them apart from one another and goes a long way toward making the story believable. For me, the characterization was one of the main reasons I kept reading the book. I started it after picking it up in a Facebook review exchange group I’d joined, and we were only obligated to review if we felt we could give the book a good rating (anything above three stars). At first, I wasn’t positive if I could or not because of what the book didn’t do well, but the characterization combined with an overall interesting story-line saved this book from receiving no review or a shelving on the not-finished shelf on Goodreads from me. This just goes to show that many times, even if a reader isn’t fond of your plot or something else in the book, they’ll keep reading anyway if you can invest them in the characters.

A lot of what brought the characters to life was the humanity in them all. Idi started out with a petulant, rude streak but grew into a decent, kind human being. He went through struggles we can all understand (to one degree or another, at least), and I wanted to root for him. I wanted to know what happened to him. His mentor Marcus was also well-rounded. He was a kind old man who sometimes lacked patience but generally was very loving in spite of his insecurities and frustrations surrounding his apprentice. These are only two examples out of many in the book, but they’re good places to start if the area of characterization is something you struggle with.

What the Book Didn’t Do Well

Okay, so this is more a cautionary tale than anything. I know editing is expensive, or at least seems so when you’re a broke author struggling to make it in the highly competitive market, but it’s important. Now, I could tell some effort had been applied to this book, but it fell far short of professional in many places because of missing or misplaced commas, poor sentence structure, or lagging flow in the story. These are all things that, by themselves, wouldn’t necessarily cause a reader to stop reading for pleasure, but they’re certainly going to stand out to one degree or another.

We don’t notice what isn’t there. Unless it should be there, that is. Likewise, we often don’t notice what is there until it isn’t when it needed to be. This book is a good example of that. Mostly, its issues weren’t ones that an average reader would catch every time. They might notice a confusing sentence, a slow paragraph, or even a missing comma here and there. But for avid readers, it’s going to be a stumbling block. And here’s the thing. The avid readers are, many times, the ones who will share your books with all their friends and read them a million times if they really liked them. If they can’t point to a book and tell you it was a good piece of writing, they’re not going to recommend it. The average reader is going to read it, might mention it to one or two people (if they think of it or someone asks), and move on. Maybe they read the next book. Maybe not. If they’re not big readers but really found your book appealing, you may get a bit more exposure from word-of-mouth. Avid readers though are much more likely to become enthusiastic fans. I can say that honestly as an avid reader myself. I’d recommend my favorite authors in a heartbeat, and chances are that I’ll review them, share them, and talk about them too. At the least, I’ll be talking about them, even if I wasn’t directly asked. (Maybe a little too much sometimes).

All that to say that editing matters. It pays off. I know it feels expensive and it’s easier to do it yourself, but unless you’ve got some background in editing or have done a lot of research on it to learn how, it’s only easier because you don’t see all the problems with your manuscript. No one likes to admit it, but that’s the way things are. Even for me, as someone who edits for clients, I find that I don’t catch everything in my work without multiple edits (probably four or five as opposed to the thorough, once-through or twice-through edit I can do for a client), and not even then sometimes. Why? Pretty simple. I wrote it. I know what I was thinking. No one else does unless I communicated it well, and if I didn’t, well, I’m not going to catch on to that little problem unless it’s so obvious that even I don’t understand what I was trying to say. (Then I know there’s really a problem. Probably something along the lines of “I wrote this when I was three-fourths of the way asleep, and I need to rewrite this whole section” kind of problem.) That’s going to be at least equally true of anyone with little to no experience editing.

There’s no shame in that.

But you do need to address it if you want your book to stand out from every other self-published title on Amazon that some beginning writer threw together in hopes of making a quick buck on it. We all know a good cover sells books, but you’re not going to sell more than a few copies if everyone drawn in by the cover wants to leave five pages in because your work is so full of problems it’s impossible to get through.

To be clear, Idi & The Oracle’s Quest was not that bad. It wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t understand it or wanted to bang my head against a brick wall. It was just bad enough to frustrate me a lot at the beginning and to continue to needle me here and there once I was invested in the characters. But, since we’re trying to learn from what went right and what went wrong with these book reviews, I didn’t want to overlook this important point. Get an editor if you don’t know how to edit. Even if you have to ask a friend who’s good at it to do it in exchange for something else (like a free copy of the book or a really nice dinner out), get an editor. If you can edit proficiently, then find beta-readers. Get input from your intended audience members so that you know what you missed! You will not catch it all because you are hardwired to understand what you are trying to communicate. No one else in the world is. Make sure you know what areas you need to clarify before you go publishing things.

Conclusion

I hope this has been helpful to you all! If you want a copy of Idi & The Oracle’s Quest, you can pick it up in ebook or paperback formats on Amazon. In closing, I would like to point out that this book did have an excellent message. It’s clear that the book has Christian influences to it, so if you’re looking for a good juvenile or YA Christian fantasy, this would be a good choice. It isn’t as clearly Christian or allegorical as Joanna White’s or Allen Steadham’s stuff, but it’s still good. I’d say it’s more like what I tend to write in that it has clear Christian influences, but it isn’t necessarily meant to be expressly Christian through clear salvation themes or Bible verses woven into the text. The influences are there if you’re a Christian or know anything about Christian beliefs, but you won’t be hit over the head with it everywhere you turn either if you’re more in the mood to read a book without serious philosophical undertones.

Flash Fiction Fridays: Face-to-Face

This week’s flash fiction doesn’t go with anything in particular. It’s just a short piece based on the idea of portals and what someone might do if they found one or what they might find on the other side.

~~~

Molly stared at the portal in the small cave. It hadn’t been here yesterday when she’d found the cave in the woods of her new property. Granted, she hadn’t been looking too closely, but she wouldn’t miss a glowing light emitting from the cave, would she?

She glanced around. Should she tell someone? Maybe. But if she did, then she’d have people swarming the property to get a look and reporters hounding her for a story. She bit her lip. Best to keep it to herself. But since she was keeping it to herself, she’d better have a closer look at it, make sure nothing dangerous would come out of it. Like dragons or something. Dragons didn’t exist, of course, but then again, neither did portals, so maybe they did. Regardless, she couldn’t afford trouble coming onto or off of her property. Not after she’d just moved here to get away from the trouble back home.

Heaving a sigh, she climbed down into the cave and trudged to the portal. It didn’t look dangerous. Still, she could be mistaken about it. It might not be a portal. Maybe it was some sort of laser that chopped things to bits. She picked up a stone and chucked it through then walked around to the other side of the glowing portal thing. No stone. Well, whatever this was, it either vaporized things or it was a portal. She could check the vaporizing theory at least. Climbing back out of the cave, she found a stick with good length to it and managed to get it back down into the cave. She shoved that into the portal thing and pulled it back out. Nothing looked any different about the stick. Huh. Maybe it really was a portal.

One way to find out. She sucked in a deep breath and stepped into the glowing ring. For just one frantic heartbeat, everything went dark. Then the light was back, and she stepped out into a barren wasteland. Nothing, not even scrub bushes, dotted the ravaged landscape. Just cracked earth and oppressive heat. She turned to look at the portal behind her only to find a person standing in its place.

A person who looked exactly as she imagined she would if she were twenty years older.

~~~

Well, that’s it for me this week! I hope all of you have an awesome weekend, and good luck to all of you in your writing endeavors. If you’re stuck and looking for inspiration, considering checking out the writing prompts I post on Pinterest. Otherwise, have a great rest of your week!

Thursday Technicalities: World Building Tools – Weaving Together Plot and World

Introduction

This seemed like a fitting place to begin a new series on Thursday Technicalities since we talk about world building tools on Saturday Setups and since I was just discussing where I learned most of what I know in my newsletter this week. So, yes, we’re going to talk about more world building tools, but this time, we’re going to start examining ways to really weave world building into your story and how you can bring your world to life.

A lot goes into world building writing. There’s lots of room for failure, but it’s not always so easy to succeed at this. Sure, there are lots of ways to weave world building into the story, lots of ways to show your reader this world you’ve built, and lots of ways to world build and many more tips for world building. But more often than not, those methods aren’t used by authors. Worlds either end up flat because the author decided they wanted to flavor their romance/adventure/thriller/etc with fantasy instead of flavoring their fantasy with those other things, or they end up flat because the author didn’t weave the world into the story well and ended up info-dumping, which drives readers nuts. Neither way is a pretty way to die. So, let’s start into how you can avoid this.

Beginnings

For world building to truly work well, you have to understand that what you choose to do outside the story will probably be way more than what you’ll ever show in the story if you take the conventional approach. Now, it doesn’t have to be that way, but usually it is, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But while a series might have room for you to show your reader a picture of your whole world and all the cool things you put into it, a single book will not. This means that when you’re actually considering your world building in light of your novel, you need to do so with the very beginning of the book: when you start working on that kernel of an idea known as your plot.

There are really two, maybe three, ways this happens.

First, you may have a plot but not necessarily the world. In this case, you’re able to start building the world and the plot together. If you’re taking this approach, you can use an approach that Holly Lisle’s world-building course calls SANE world building. You build what you need when you need it and no more (unless you’re just doing it for fun). This approach is good if you’re the sort of person who feels like you can’t start writing until you have every detail of the world nailed down. You’ll never get anywhere doing that, so approaching world building writing as a part of building your plot can help you to tie the two together without going insane or never writing a single word of the story on paper.

Second, you may have the idea for a world, but not a story. This can happen to those of us who love world building writing because we conceive an idea for some sort of power system, magic system, or other world-based structure, but we don’t necessarily have the characters and the stories that are going to populate it. However, in this instance, the world building itself often gives rise to the story. When I was doing my undergrad in accounting, a friend and I came up with a story idea and were co-writing. However, she was taking a long time to do anything on her end, and I was bored, so I started doing world building writing for a bunch of random things and history-related stuff for the world. (Yeah, I know. Nerdy. But I was in accounting, and that was really, really boring.) Long story short, as I was developing the history, I ended up with the idea for Rith’s Disciple, which led to a vague desire to fill out the history following it. When I joined Wattpad’s ONC contest, that desire combined with a really good prompt resulted in Bane of Ashkarith.

Finally, though perhaps not always as common, sometimes you have the idea for a world and a story idea, which leads to further stories. This happened with Bane of Ashkarith. I already had the world established, as I mentioned above, but the history I’d developed for the world gave rise to Bane of Ashkarith and the rest of the series that I’m working on. All of the stories are literally just histories of the famous people from the world’s past. Readers wouldn’t necessarily pick up on that right away unless they knew me and had read about the background behind the series, but because of the combination of the idea for a world and a story together, I ended up with an entire series. Nice when that happens, right?

Expanding our Understanding

I think the other important world building tip for world building enthusiasts (and those who hate it too) to realize is this: world building is more than creating languages, building races, and making up fantastical creatures or cool tech. It’s way more.

Have you ever thought about how strange it would be to us if metal striking stone made a hissing sound instead of a clink? Or what if, when you stepped on grass in the summer, it crunched like gravel but stepping on gravel was soundless? What if the sky was purple, not blue?

When you’re creating a world, building it includes little details. These details can be split into three areas, really. Set, objects that act as props for the set, and mechanisms/methods by which things work.

tHREE aREAS OF pLOT-oRIENTED wORLD-bUILDING

Set is pretty straightforward. Having a sky that’s purple instead of blue is a set item. It sets your world apart from others. Lots of things could be part of the set. Anything from the color of the sky to the way water looks lapping on the sand to the sand itself could be a part of set. To clarify, set is different from your prop objects in that props are things people bring onto the stage. They’re objects like pens, candles, food on a table, or the table itself. Your set is anything that occurs there naturally like trees, bushes, deer paths, bodies of water, and so on.

Your props and objects are just as varied as set. But they’re also a part of world building writing, something Holly Lisle points out in her course on the topic. People don’t often think that props are as important to the stage you’re building for the story as the story or the big flashy fantasy creatures being installed, but they are. The objects around us say a lot about who we are and why we are the way we are. They are our insight into those around us and even into the world. What is there can sometimes be as important as what’s not. If everyone uses candles and not flashlights, that tells you something about the world. If stone doesn’t exist much of anywhere, but people build everything with wood, it says a lot about the set without you ever having to come out and say anything. Objects can also help us to understand the more immaterial mechanisms and rules in place surrounding the world. Those rules have to act upon an object, person, or part of the set. So we can often see them in action and learn those rules of order by observing what they act upon. This can help us to avoid info-dumping or becoming too obtrusive with our world.

Objects carry a lot of weight in the world, though. In a story, if you show us an object, particularly if you show it to us independent of any human interaction, we’ll assume it’s important. Now, maybe you put it there intentionally to tell us what kind of person occupies the space it’s in. Or, maybe it plays some larger role in the story as a whole. Only you know that and can decide. But, the fact remains that if you put it there, it needs to serve a purpose. If it doesn’t serve one, don’t put it in. That’s what leads to overwriting, purple prose, and bored or confused readers. None of those are good, so just don’t do it.

Mechanisms and rules are far less obvious than the first two, but no less important. Mechanisms and rules are what tell us that on Earth, when you drop a coin on a concrete surface, it clinks or gives off a ringing noise. It doesn’t purr because that would be breaking the rules. Mechanisms tell us that healthy grass should bend under our feet and spring back when we step on it in the summer time. It isn’t going to turn into a bunch of deadly spikes and stab the bottoms of our shoes or our feet. If we didn’t have mechanisms and rules to keep things organized and somewhat predictable, then everything would devolve into chaos. Your world is no different in this regard.

The main method for showing mechanisms and rules, however, is different than it was for the first two categories of practical, plot-oriented world-building. For mechanisms and rules, you generally end up showing them when they’re in use on objects, interacting with the set, or affecting a character. They’re seen subtly, but even though most readers don’t immediately pick up on it all the time, they’ll expect it to be a trend unless you’ve made it clear what just happened was really weird.

For example, in the first chapter of Pathway of the Moon, I show my main character, Leo, scaling a wall using shadows to stick himself to the wall. He proceeds to do the same on the way back out of the castle after a successful execution of his target. This sets a precedent or a rule for his magic. Shadows allow those who can use them to stick themselves to different surfaces. I didn’t represent it as an odd thing or something that other shadow users couldn’t utilize, so the reader will anticipate that it’s normal for the world and the character, and if I use it again, they won’t find it odd. These kinds of encounters help to flesh out and build the world for the readers without them even noticing or realizing that you have.

Conclusion

In upcoming posts, I’ll go into some more specific writing tips for slipping world building into your story and talk about the techniques. The point of this post was simply to help you to understand some basics on how you can begin weaving the two together. It is by no means an exhaustive thesis on the subject. I hope that it’s been useful to you, and I hope you’ll stick with me as we explore some of the various ways myself and other authors utilize to develop worlds that readers can delve into and enjoy in their own rights because of their individuality and fresh perspectives.

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #37

This week, I finished up chapter fifty-nine of Pathway of the Moon. One more to go, and then it’s done and off to my list of works to edit (which currently consists of only that one piece and part of another, so it’s a short list of books for my own work, at least). I’m extremely excited about this (as I know I’ve said before), and this week’s work-in-progress comes from the most recent chapter.

~~~

Alrian glanced up at the Numahi. “Is this what we need to activate?”

She nodded. “It should be touch-activated. The one on our world was accessible to anyone in Sedra’s circle, but we couldn’t open it. She made sure of that.”

Brennan frowned. “You’re sure this is it? Is it even functional?”

“It is the record system. I’m sure of that, at least. But I don’t know if it will be functional or not. If it isn’t, the written records abandoned here should be enough. It’s written in an older dialect than what you use now, however.”

“Neither of us can read the dialect that far back.” Alrian leaned over and pressed her palm against the dark surface of the orb. “So, let’s hope this thing turns on and translates for us too.”

Just after she touched it, the orb began emitting a pale glow, which grew brighter until it became a piercing beam that scanned over her. What was it doing? Hopefully it wouldn’t kill her. She squeezed her eyes shut and stood still. If it was going to hurt her, it was too late to get out of the way. If she froze, maybe it wouldn’t hurt her? A tiny trill emitted from the glass orb, and she peeked at it. The beam dimmed back to a tolerable glow, and she opened her eyes fully. 

“Records activated,” a robotic female voice chirped. “Please request an option from the navigation menu.”

She glanced at Brennan then back to the orb. “What are the options?”

Something whirred, and then the voice came back. “Review log files. View recordings. Enter a new log file. Record a new video file.” The voice spouted off a few more things she didn’t understand then said, “Please request an option from the navigation menu.”

Brennan’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Umm… View recordings?” He glanced over at her. “What is a recording, anyway?”

The Numahi laughed. “A recording is simply a record that contains audio and sometimes visual that was taken down in the moment it happened. You can communicate using those devices that are programmed to one another, yes?”

She nodded.

“Well, this device is more sophisticated. It can capture that communication and save it.”

Alrian shifted from foot to foot. A device that could capture their words and faces? Didn’t really sound like it led anywhere good, but maybe it could be useful. After all, without that, they wouldn’t be able to activate this old thing and find out what was really going on. She sighed and crossed her arms as the device whirred once more and projected an image onto the table. She squinted down at it with a frown. 

Brennan looked equally confused. He poked his finger through the glowing stretch, but the image only moved over his finger too. “What is this?”

The Numahi snickered. “I forget that your communications are primitive here. It’s what we call a holo.”

“How does it work? Magic?”

“No, not magic. Technology. But never mind how it works. You need to tell the device which video to play. If it’s like the ones back home, you can choose based on the dates on the bottom left corner of each still  image. If you don’t see something interesting, you can tell the orb to scroll to the next set.”

Brennan looked over at her. “You ready?”

She sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s just start at the beginning.”

Brennan turned back to the video display. “Show us all the videos starting with Entry One, Year 0.”

The screen changed, and sound poured out into the room. What she heard in that first video made her stomach clench, and sweat beaded her forehead. The creature hadn’t been lying. Maybe it had lied about other things. Who knew? But it hadn’t been lying about this, and even minutes into the first video, she was ready to shut this whole thing down and run. Still, she couldn’t move, couldn’t flee. This had to be heard. The threat was still out there, and who knew what might happen if it found out they still existed? They could all end up in dire danger if the organization backing the odd experiment Sedra was describing on the recording had the power to help her create life itself. This organization played the part of a god, and they had no problem with doing even the profane. If they found Alcardia, everything would be lost.

~~~

That’s it for this week, everyone! Next week, I may have something from the final chapter to share. Then that’s it. No more excerpts from Pathway of the Moon for Work-In-Progress Wednesdays because it’ll be done. I’ll be moving on to new things.

Speaking of new things, I’m participating in Wattpad’s Open Novella Contest this year! I did this last year too, and Bane of Ashkarith was the result. (So everyone who has really like the book, you have that contest to thank. 🙂 They’ve got some pretty good prompts.) This year, my piece is shaping up to have more of a sci-fi feel, but I’m basing it around the prompt “If all else fails, throw a little magic at it.” I’m liking it so far, so you may be seeing some of that on this section of the blog through until April when the novella has to be finished.

Saturday Setup – Creatures: The Usual Suspects

Introduction

This week, we’re moving from language creation to talking about fantasy creatures. Today, we’re just going to go over some of the typical fantasy creatures and what you ought to be considering for them. Mainly, this week’s post is going to be focusing on bigger creatures like dragons and sea monsters. It won’t be a long post, but I’ll discuss some things I think people overlook a lot when they populate their world with these monolithic creatures.

Problems Presented by Large Creatures

First off, most fantasy novels featuring dragons, giants, sea monsters, and their ilk never take the time to consider some very important factors. Given the size of these creatures, we’ve got a few issues: living space, temperament, and food.

With living space, you’ve got some leeway because if your world is vast and has lots of forests, mountains, and ocean that isn’t being ruined by mankind, then these larger creatures will be fine in this arena. But, it is something to think about. A dragon is by no means a small beast, and it’s going to need lots of room to fly, hunt, and live.

On the temperament side of things, you also have leeway. For creatures similar to humanity in their varied temperaments, such as giants, trolls, or other similar creatures, you may not need a particular environment to satisfy them temperamentally. But if your dragons prefer their privacy and really don’t like humans, you’re going to have a problem if they live near or on human territory. On the flip side, if dragons just adore humans and can’t stand trolls or giants, they might not be so happy living in the mountains or forests away from humans. These sorts of considerations have to be made.

Finally, food! This is the biggest one that nearly every fantasy novel with these creatures ignores. They have to eat something. They’re not going to survive on air, not with those big frames. So what are they going to eat? If they can’t get enough food from hunting big game, then they’re going to spend all their time hunting. A few measly deer from the woods or even a nice cow or two from the local village won’t sustain these creatures. They’re simply too large biologically for this to work, so you’ll have to find a way this can work if you want these guys in your world. Without that, it just isn’t going to make much sense. Granted, readers have been taught to just accept their existence, so you may get away with it on some level, but laziness doesn’t pay, and some subset of avid fantasy readers will notice.

Considerations

Now that you understand the problems, you should be able to figure out where to start for considerations. Take those three main problem areas and start asking yourself how you’ll solve them. Start thinking about what kind of personality your different large creatures have. It’s important that you don’t just throw generic fantasy creatures into your world to give it the flavor of fantasy. Doing that will end with your world feeling flat and unmemorable. So have fun with it. What makes your fantasy creatures unique, and how does that play into considering their needs in the environment around them?

Conclusion

That’s it for this week, everyone! I did promise it would be short. Next time, we’re going to talk a little bit about creating your own creatures. This can be a ton of fun, so I hope you’ll join me for it. See you there!

Flash Fiction Fridays: Cold Hard Stone

This week’s flash fiction is my take on a writing prompt I recently posted on Pinterest.

~~~

Shauna opened her eyes to…nothing? Inky blackness met her gaze, and she shifted with a soft whine. Pain sparked through her arm, but she ignored it and forced herself to sit up anyway. Where was she? Cold stone met her palms and the backs of her thighs, and she winced. Not being able to see anything was unnerving.

She slid her fingers along the stone until they met empty air. Some sort of pedestal then. How far was it to the floor? She didn’t dare try to climb off this thing without knowing what lay beneath. Really, in this kind of darkness, the floor could be thousands of feet below her or some monster could lurk in the darkness. She’d seen enough to know the monster under the bed wasn’t always the result of an overactive imagination.

But she couldn’t sit here all day, either. Well, maybe not day. Too dark to know if it was day or night wherever she was. Either way, she couldn’t stay here. She felt down the side of the stone she sat on, inch by inch. Nothing snapped at her fingers, but she also couldn’t feel any other surfaces to step on just yet.

Her head ached with the motion, and her injured arm throbbed. While she quested for some indication of where she might be situated and how to escape, she occupied herself with trying to determine what might have happened to her. Had she been drugged? Given how her head felt, quite likely. She must have put up a fight to be injured like this unless whoever dragged her down here and been careless. Why, oh, why– Her fingers brushed against another solid surface.

Cheering mentally, she leaned over to feel along the cool surface. More stone, but it seemed to be more the sort flooring might be made out of. That was a good sign. Even better, it didn’t drop off that she could tell. She slipped her feet over the edge and eased onto the solid ground beneath the stone slab she’d been on. One step at a time, she felt her way along the new surface until she hit a wall.

Walls were good. They meant that, besides stairs, the floor probably didn’t just end somewhere. They also meant she was in a man-made structure of some sort, whether built entirely by hand or built into some sort of cave structure. At least she knew there would be some rhyme or reason to the building. She continued forward, shuffling along at a slow, steady pace.

The darkness in the space eased a bit at a time with each step she took. It felt like an eternity before it happened, but she took a turn with the wall and burst out into a dimly-lit hall. A door stood at the other end, and through the tiny pane of glass, she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be some kind of lab. Had they brought her here to be a guinea pig? If so, why leave her in the dark, unchained and free to roam whenever the drugs they’d given her wore off? Perhaps there was something more going on in that dark place. And just maybe she’d gotten out in the nick of time. She stopped at the door and peered in through the glass pane.

Her breath caught in her chest, and bile rose in her throat. There, on the screens mounted all over the room, was the unmistakable form of some giant creature on the infrared camera feeds. It must have been down in that place she’d come from or somewhere even deeper for whoever owned this place to use infrared cameras to keep an eye on it.

She cracked the door open and slipped inside the unoccupied room. Once inside, she simply stared at everything. The word Behemoth was written in bold red ink across a folder nearby and again in black print on the far wall. Behemoth. Was that the creature or the organization? She reached out and flipped the folder open with trembling fingers.

Pictures of twisted, torn bodies of young women spilled out across the metal table in disarray. She gasped and stepped back, her fingers going to her throat. What was this place? She turned away, stomach heaving, and took one step in the direction of the door.

Black, polished shoes reflected the fluorescent lights. Her gaze traveled up over black slacks, a white lab coat, and a neatly pressed grey shirt until it met a blue gaze as sterile as its owner’s clothing. She swallowed hard.

The man offered her a razor sharp smile. “I see Moth didn’t take you. Well, guess he’s judged you suitable for phase two, which means you’re all mine from here on out.”

A scream lodged itself in her throat.

“Oh, come now. You weren’t eaten alive. This part will be much better than that, I promise. I’m the much gentler side of Behemoth. The face it presents to the world. I won’t hurt you. Much.”

Now why didn’t she believe that? She took a shaky step back and snatched the first sharp object she saw off the table. A pen. How useful.

He eyed it with a bemused grin and slipped a syringe from his pocket. “I can see he chose well, little girl. When you wake up, it’ll all be much less frightening, I promise.”

~~~

That was a little bit longer than the last few have been, but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway! If you’re curious about what the prompt was or want to give it a try yourself, you can check it out on Pinterest. I post about two writing prompts a week on The Fantasy Nook Blog’s Pinterest page, so if you’re looking for inspiration, head on over and take a look. I also pin other people’s writing prompts when I find interesting ones, so there’s a little of something for everyone, I think.

Thursday Technicalities: Self-Editing

Introduction

Last week, we talked about the types of edits that can be acquired when you’re ready for an editor. But what if you can’t afford an editor or just want to make sure the edit will take less time so you don’t have to pay as much? As an editor, I always encourage people to get an editor before publishing, particularly self-publishing, but I also understand that not everyone has the money to do that. So what can you do if you’re in that situation? You can self-edit.

Basics of Self-Editing

To begin with, let me say this. Self-editing means nothing if you don’t have a clue how to do it. This is why I recommend that authors find an editor who can help them in this area. Why? Because frankly, most authors can’t do both. There’s no shame in that. They’re not bad writers because of it, certainly. I’ve helped out plenty of people who had great ideas and even an okay execution of the idea, but they didn’t know how to edit it so that it would truly come to life. So, chances are pretty high that you may not have any idea how to edit, even if you know your way around writing a story well enough.

If you’re in that situation, again, there’s no reason for embarrassment. It’s a normal situation to be in. You should, however, take the time to learn about editing. I know it takes time and that time is often in short supply for all of us, but self-editing means you are going to be your own editor, and whether or not readers can really enjoy the story depends entirely upon not just how well you write but also how well you can edit.

This post can’t possibly cover everything you need to know about self-editing. There’s simply far too much to cover, and you’re not going to be able to learn it all overnight. You should approach this with the basic understanding that self-editing is your doing the same things an editor would do. Since that requires a lot of knowledge, the rest of the post will be going over resources you can use to learn how to be a better self-editor. You have to learn and practice editing the same way you had to learn and practice writing. The two are related but separate competencies, and they require very different mindsets and knowledge bases.

Resources

  1. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King: This one is a really good book to start with if you have no self-editing experience. It’s at the top of the list because it’s more modern than book two on the list but still covers a good mix of basic and advanced topics. It’s well-organized and moves from simple to complex.
  2. Strunk and White’s Elements of Style by Strunk and White: You should read this if you read nothing else. It’s a bit drier than Browne and King’s book listed above, but it’s just as relevant, and you’ll learn a lot, particularly about the grammar and style portions of editing that every editor should know. I recommend it to both authors and to those asking me for editing advice. For all its dryness, the book is still indispensable, and once you’ve read through it once, you can continue to use it as a reference while editing.
  3. Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell: This comes from a bit more of a writing perspective based on the pieces I’ve looked through for reference. I’m reading through it in its entirety now, and it’s packed with useful examples, information, and pieces of advice from editors and authors who have experience in the field. Bell also has a pretty good sense of humor, in my opinion, and it comes out in the way he says things or the selections he chooses for examples. This one’s definitely not a terribly difficult read either.
  4. Woe is I: A Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner: I haven’t personally read this one, but it’s a national best-seller recommended by editors for people looking to self-edit. It focuses more on the sentence-level edit, something every book benefits from but often doesn’t get. Welcome to the world where you agonize over every page, paragraph, sentence, and word in your book. Fun stuff, right? In all seriousness though, this book is well-known for being a humorous, fun approach to teaching you what you need to know about grammar and sentence-level edits.
  5. Editing Mastery: How to Edit Writing to Perfection by Shani Raja: This is an online course with Udemy written by an ex-Wall Street Journal editor. I’ve gone through almost half the course, and it’s been one of the most valuable resources I’ve ever come across. It’ll teach you how to do a deep edit like some of the world’s top editors do. The course example and practice assignment focuses mainly on non-fiction, but I’ve found that the principles are fairly easy to apply to fiction of any sort as well.

Conclusion

I hope the resources I’ve provided help you out in your self-editing journey. It’s not an easy area to master, frankly, but the resources above have been some of the most useful ones I’ve come across in my time both freelance editing and self-editing. Whatever you choose to do, I wish you best of luck with your piece!

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #36

This week’s work-in-progress comes from Pathway of the Moon, mainly because that’s what I’ve been working on most lately. I’m getting so close to done, and I’m definitely feeling end-of-book jitters. More than usual, in fact, but I guess that’s to be expected since the book is way longer than anything I’ve ever done before. But, hey, I’m still excited to write the sequel, so that’s probably a good sign, I think.

~~~

THE CEREMONY WAS finally here, and it didn’t quite seem real. She stood at the front of the small chapel with her hands in Leo’s, and for the first time, it slowly started to sink in. She would be his Bond when this finished. Really, truly, his. A small tremor zipped down her spine. Before today, she’d dreamed of this moment and spent hours fantasizing about it. It wasn’t everything she’d dreamed of. But it was everything she really needed.

Anyone who mattered even a little sat in the rustic pews and watched the two of them as they placed their interlocked hands over the bowl of clear, fresh water on the altar. In the old days, this would have been done in a large pool of water for larger chapels or at a stream for chapels without the ability to furnish the pool. Now, they kept the symbol without the actual ancient tradition. She stared into the clear water. A symbol not only of the purity of their intentions today but also a sign of the clarity and transparency that was to characterize their lives as Bonds. 

The presiding minister stepped forward and wrapped a leafy length of vine around their hands to show the way their lives would be bound to each other’s, and she smiled. The words of the ceremony barely registered. Didn’t matter anyway. She knew that she could pledge herself to the man standing across from her with no doubts or reservations.

He squeezed her hands with a smile of his own, and she knew he wasn’t paying close attention to the droning of the minister either. She blushed and lowered her head. Her mind drifted toward the other ways they’d become Bonded after the ceremony. They’d been holding back on it for long enough, and finally, the waiting would end. No more interruptions or people keeping them apart. If anyone tried to get in the way of her Bonding night, she couldn’t be held responsible for what she’d do. Her entire body was ready to combust with a single touch from him, and the gentle pressure he was putting on her hands felt like a silent promise.

And then the minister was asking her for her vows, and she resurfaced just in time to recite them. If she was being honest, she doubted she’d remember much about this part of the ceremony. It already felt like a blur, and she hadn’t even finished going through it yet. Years from now, her Bond’s expression and the love shining in his eyes would probably be all she remembered. That thought didn’t bother her nearly as much as she’d expected it to, though. Really, Leo and her new family was all that mattered. The ceremony was a formality to allow the Bonding magic to unite their ashtras. Nothing more.

The priest kept droning on for a few more minutes, and Leo rolled his eyes. She glanced out across the crowd and caught a smirk on Brennan’s face. At least one person had caught onto their impatience. A bubble of laughter welled up inside her, but she squashed it. Laughing now would be highly inappropriate. Leo looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to rush the priest or laugh about how stuffy the man sounded. Well, they were in this together then. Just like they would be in everything else from now on.

Finally, the priest said the only words Leo had been waiting for this entire ceremony. The moment he had permission from the priest, he dipped her back and covered her mouth with his. No chaste, polite peck for him. He had to devour her lips like a man dying of thirst. She clutched his broad shoulders for balance, knowing this was only a small taste of what she’d get later. Her cheeks heated, but she liked that he wasn’t shy about declaring his affections even if Nadar did cough when the kiss went on a little too long. He finally let her come up for air, but his dark gaze whispered promises for the minute he got her back to his room. She shivered and didn’t let go of his shoulders as his gaze swallowed her whole.

~~~

Well, that’s all for this week, everyone! What are you guys working on? Anything you’re finding fun and exciting? For those of you who don’t write, what are you reading? Feel free to share in the comments!

Flash Fiction Fridays – Guardian

This week’s Flash Fiction Friday is another one based on a prompt I found on Pinterest. This one is built on the premise that everyone but you has a guardian angel. Instead, you have a guardian demon who deals with things in more violent but much more efficient fashion. It sounded interesting, so let’s see where this goes.

~~~

“Did you really have to do that?” I pointed to the corpse with his burned-out eyes and open mouth, which had, just seconds ago, been releasing a lot of noise. A lot of hot air too. Seriously, he should have known no one could reason with a demon. I’d figured it out ages ago. Hadn’t taken me more than a few hours after he showed up.

“He was a danger to you.”

“Azariel, he just wanted my wallet.”

“I know humans and their dark intentions, little girl. I’ve been around a few times. Seen things you couldn’t even imagine.” Azariel examined his sharp, curving claws with a sniff. “He would’ve done much worse than steal your wallet.”

“Thanks for that image.” I gagged and turned away from the corpse. “But you can’t murder everyone who comes after me!”

“Why not? I’m not an angel, pet. I’m a demon, and demons create havoc, destroy things, and lead humans astray.”

I groaned and shook my head. “Remind me again why you’re here? I never asked for a guardian—angel or demon—but I certainly would’ve chosen anything but you.”

“Such bratty behavior for someone who would’ve died if I hadn’t stepped in.” Azariel smiled at me and flicked my wayward bangs out of my eyes. “Really, Ash, would it kill you to be grateful? I know I’m supposed to encourage greed and all other banal, wicked attitudes in humans, but I have feelings too. I’d appreciate a little bit of thankfulness for saving your life.”

Azariel,” I drawled. “You have been leaving a trail of corpses behind you since we met a month ago. I’m going to end up in jail as a serial killer, and my life will basically be over anyway. Can you pleasejust let me handle things and, I don’t know, buzz off?”

“That would be boring.”

“You’re thousands of years old. You don’t need me to amuse you. Find some other human to toy with. I don’t need the devil’s protection.”

Azariel pursed his lips. “Well, it’s all you’ve got right now.”

“And I’m telling you, I don’t want it. I know the cost associated with it way too well.” I grimaced, hating that I couldn’t get him off my back. Really, I’d seen what contracting with demons resulted in, and I didn’t want any part. Maybe I might not have a guardian angel, but I could live with that. God could decide when I went, guardian angel, demon, or whatever. Not like anything was going to stop Him, and I didn’t want anything to do with this demon since it seriously increased my chances of ending up dead.

Azariel had been silent for too long. He looked like he was in pain, but then the expression flashed away, replaced with the usual smugness he projected. “What if I said I’d stop being your guardian demon?”

“On what conditions? My immortal soul?” I crossed my arms. “Come on, Azariel, what do you take me for? A fool?”

“Well… You did almost let that man—”

I raised a hand. “Enough. I get the idea. What will I have to give you in return for getting rid of you? Hmm? My firstborn child?”

Azariel shivered in disgust. “Good gods, no. What would I do with a baby? Eat it?”

I gagged. “Seriously? That’s the first thing you come up with?”

He shrugged with an innocent smile. “I’m a demon? Generally, my first idea is the most violent one.”

Unbelievable. “What. Do. You. Want?”

“Well, I’m not going to leave. But I’ll stop being your guardian demon.”

I face-palmed. “That doesn’t get rid of you.”

“Nope. But it does exonerate you of the price you’d have to pay for my guardianship.”

I stalked off down the alley. “Stupid demons. I’m going to snap his neck like a twig one of these days, I swear.”

“I heard that.”

Well, good. He was supposed to.

~~~

Well, that’s it for this week’s Flash Fiction Friday. Hope you enjoyed it. As always, if you have something you’d like to see here, feel free to reach out in the comments or by email!

Thursday Technicalities – Types of Edits

Introduction

Editing. Doesn’t everyone just love it? Well, some of us do. If you’re like me, one of your favorite parts of the writing process is actually the rewriting and editing stage, at least when there’s not a huge time crunch. I know, I know. It’s weird. Most writers really can’t stand this process, and most writers don’t have a clue how to go about it. Now, most of us are capable enough of catching the stray grammar error or glaring plot hole, but many times, writers–and even published authors–don’t know what it takes to make their book publish-worthy material. That’s the job of their editor. 

Which begs the question. How do you know what kind of edit your work needs if you’ve never done this or if you haven’t worked with an editor before? I’m glad you asked because that’s what today’s discussion is all about! Let’s get right into it.

If you’re a beginning writer, chances are you need a deep edit. A deep edit goes through several stages and looks at everything from story structure and big picture stuff to the gritty details of sentence structure and word choice. This is a quite extensive edit, and most freelance editors I’ve spoken to specialize in specific areas, so a deep edit from one editor may be difficult to achieve. This means that, often, a beginner writer may need to find two or even three editors to look at the piece. This obviously isn’t the most fun thing to work with, but if you can find one or two editors who are able to compliment each other’s skill sets to give your piece a well-rounded edit, that’s usually easiest. For those of you in this situation, the key is to look for an editor or editors who note that they’re good with content editing, structural editing, style editing, and presentation editing. For fiction, these areas may not be presented exactly with these titles, so read on to find out what kinds of things fall under each so you have a better idea of what you’re looking for.

If you’re not a beginning writer, you probably know what areas you struggle with frequently. Chances are you don’t struggle with all of them, though you may struggle with more than one. So I’m going to break down the stages of deep editing for both you and the beginners wanting to know what each stage entails. This way, you will have a better idea of what skill set you need to find in an editor to give your book an edit best fit for it.

Content Edit

A content edit is the first step a deep editor takes in editing a piece. In fiction, a content edit is going to take a look at the purpose of the piece, the genre it’s in, and what it contains. The point of this level of editing is essentially to ensure that every major point in the book or story revolves around the purpose, genre, and main idea of the story. This kind of edit gets rid of scenes that might be unnecessary or repetitions of previous scenes that made the point already. It will eliminate rambling and make the piece more concise. It will also focus on adding anything that’s missing. Practically speaking, a content edit is focusing mostly on the plot of the story in fiction and making sure that the book’s scenes make that plot work from beginning to end.

Structure Edit

With this type of edit, the editor is going to shift gears to look at the angle and narrative structure. Depending on the work, there may not be any particular angle, but there will be a narrative structure. This type of editing will make sure that each point in the narrative structure is ordered elegantly and works smoothly with the others.

Style Edit

Here, we start getting into the finer details. A style editor is going to look over the work to remove clutter in your scenes, paragraphs, and sentences. This edit fine tunes and refines the work so that the narrative style really shines. This one is, perhaps, one of the more difficult edits to do because it calls for someone who will really dig down into the piece to look at things like word choices, sentence structure, and pacing using more technical avenues like paragraph and sentence lengths. Having done this before, I can attest to how much work this is. Sometimes, it can be a hard call on whether something is clutter or necessary and whether to use one word instead of another in a specific sentence. However, these changes can make a huge difference in a piece, so if you can’t do this yourself, find someone who can.

Please note that an edit like this doesn’t focus on fixing grammatical errors or presenting things in a clean, professional way on the page. That’s saved for a presentation edit. What this edit will do is improve your narrative style, make your ending resonate with the reader, make your middle flow from paragraph to paragraph seemingly effortlessly, and make your beginning arresting to the reader. If that’s what your book is missing, this is the type of edit you need, so find an editor who specializes in this area.

Presentation Edit

Last editing stage, everyone! In this stage, your editor will worry about the nitty-gritty details of grammar and punctuation. They’re going to look for those pesky misplaced commas or fix misspellings. They’ll read it through to make sure that any leftover sentences that might trip readers up are removed, and they’ll trim the sentences you don’t need if necessary. This stage cleans up your manuscript and makes it ready for presenting in its final form to your reader. If you’re able to do the first three types of edits on your own, it may still pay off to have someone do this sort of edit for a piece. As humans, we’re prone to error, so having someone else take a quick look through our work to clean up any missed problems is usually a very wise decision. 

Conclusion

I hope this has been informative for you all! Next week, we’ll start talking about some of the specifics on knowing where your work is at, knowing when to self-edit, and knowing who to hire when you need an editor. This area is one that I see a lot of uncertainty about, particularly with writers new to the editing process, and a lot of mistakes can be made. My hope is that, in the upcoming weeks, I can take some of the stress and confusion out of the process for you!

On Twilight’s Wings – Upcoming Release

Hey, everyone! My next release is coming up soon, so I’m posting to let you all know a bit about it. On Twilight’s Wings is the first in a series of YA fantasy novels set on an alternate world. The story centers around a web of secrets, a kidnapped bride, a jilted lover, and a dethroned prince. I’ve included the information for the book below.

The soft release for the ebook is on February 15th for those who pre-ordered. However, there are some technical things I have to do to get the book (both ebook and paperback) into the right categories, and I want to give reviewers time to read the book before any reviews are due. As such, the “official” release date will be March 30th. I’m planning to do something to celebrate the launch over on Facebook. Depending on my schedule, it may not be a full-blown launch party, but I’ll probably be doing a giveaway of some type to celebrate the release, and I may share some excerpts from the book or even do some videos with readings. More details will be out about that once I actually finalize plans and figure out what I’m doing.

Blurb:

She is the key to everything.

Until a few months ago, Cat’s only worries were about her foster parents and whether she’ll be shipped off to another boarding school over the summer. Dealing with a painful past and a friendless existence were at the top of her priority list.

All of that is about to change.

Shortly after she finds out that she’ll be remaining home for the summer, the visions, headaches, and terrible pains start. Then a new guy shows up in her quiet neighborhood, and, suddenly, her visions are showing events surrounding him and other strange beings.
Nothing is as it seems.

In this new world, nothing is the way it was, and everything requires her to become more than a frightened foster kid trying to make it through the day. She’s determined to get answers, but the more she sees in her visions, the less certain she is that she wants those answers.

But answers are coming.

Like it or not.

Final Notes:

For those wondering, I do have the sequel written already. I have to go through and do an extensive edit on it, but my plan is to have it out around this same time next year just like I did with this one. I will warn you that there’s a cliff-hanger, but I’m not cruel enough to leave you hanging on that for a full year (unless you really want to wait that long). So, if you head over to my Wattpad profile, you can find the first chapter of the second book there. It resolves the cliffhanger. It isn’t fully edited, I will warn you, but it’s not so bad that I felt embarrassed to leave it up, for whatever that’s worth.

You can get a copy of the book on Amazon or Kobo, and, later on, I will also be putting it up on Barnes and Noble if Nook or a paperback that isn’t from Amazon happen to be your preferences for reading. I’ll be putting up links for the book once I have everything all settled and sorted out.

If you guys want a free copy of the book, I have ARC copies available. You can apply to get a review copy from me at StoryOrigin or email me, and we can discuss a timeline for it. If you’re looking to read the book but don’t feel you can justify purchasing it at this moment in time, I get it. This is a great way for you to read it in exchange for a review instead of purchasing a copy. Otherwise, the pre-order is available on Amazon, and the book is already out on Kobo (since the background stuff Amazon makes me go through to categorize it the way it should be categorized isn’t necessary on Kobo, so far as I know.).

Parents, this book is intended for a slightly older teen audience. It does involve some discussion of abuse, sexual harassment, and rape due to the nature of one of the character’s pasts and the ongoing situation in the book. However, aside from a few scenes that mention it or points where the main character opens up about her past, nothing is shown. I’ve kept content PG-13 and as sensitive to these difficult topics as I could. That said, the book is probably best suited for teens who are at least 15 and have the ability to understand the seriousness of these topics as well as that these behaviors are never okay.

If these kinds of things are triggering to you, you may want to steer clear of the book. While the main character overcomes her past throughout the course of the book, the journey to get there is difficult and long. If that’s going to bother you, then the book probably isn’t for you. I understand that not every book will be for everyone, and I want to make sure my work doesn’t cause mental distress to people unnecessarily or without prior warning, particular on issues like these.

Work-In-Progress Wednesday #35

This week’s work-in-progress is a small bit from a short dystopian romance story I started. Enjoy!

~~~

Something snapped in the distance, and she lifted a finger to her lips. The sweep was happening. They’d have to be absolutely still and silent if they didn’t want to be caught. Luckily, her companion stayed quiet and didn’t move. A light flashed overhead, and the crackle of the energy field washed over her skin. When neither of them moved, the beam continued on its way in moments, and she sagged back against the wall in relief.

“What was that?”

“The reason they don’t need guards for the exterior of this building. As for your other question, that’s something I’d rather answer well away from this place. If my father catches me here again, he’s likely to sell me off to the whore houses directly or to enslave me to one of his own masters.” She grabbed the stranger’s wrist and ignored the strange wash of warmth that cascaded through her at the contact. 

He didn’t protest, and she dragged him out of the bushes, darting toward the fence. “Hurry. There’s not much time before the next sweep. They always come in pairs.”

The man picked up the pace. To the left, she could hear the hum and snap that foretold the approach of the field. She bolted for the hole just behind her new acquaintance, and together they scrambled underneath it. On the other side, they lay on the ground side-by-side, and Eltara stared up at the stars while she regained her breath.

“Alright, explain. What’s with the weird beam, why was it so easy to get past the fence, and why would your own father ever sell you into slavery?”

Well, he just had to ask all the hard questions, didn’t he? “The beam of light is an invention they created about ten years ago to eliminate the need for guards outside this complex. Too inefficient to patrol, I guess. It will send out an alarm signal to my father, the head of the Mors Animi, and to all the guards inside the building, if it finds any trace of human movement. The program is designed to ignore the usual animals that lurk about the building at night. If either of us had moved or made a noise while the wave passed over us, we would’ve been caught.”

“Good thing I stayed quiet then.” He groaned. “You’re lucky I didn’t ask another question. I wanted to.”

“Yes, well, good thing you didn’t. We’d probably both end up dead or hooked up to the machine in there, our minds being drained into whatever abysmal reality my father chooses to torment us.”

~~~

I hope you guys enjoyed this! What are you guys reading or writing these days? I’m always happy to hear about it, and I’m currently open to new book suggestions, particularly if they’re ones you guys might like to see reviewed on The Fantasy Nook. (To be considered for review, the books do need to be some genre of fantasy, and they can’t be erotica. I have a few younger readers and would like to avoid creating an unsafe or inappropriate environment for them, so I don’t review that sort of stuff.)

If you want to share, you can do so in the comments or, for book suggestions, feel free to shoot me an email if that’s more your cup of tea! Until next week, happy writing and reading, everyone!

Saturday Setups – Factors to Consider

Introduction

Last time, we talked about languages and developing them, but this week, we’re going to briefly go over some factors to consider. Building languages is complex, so it’s important to break it down and go part by part. How far you go with it obviously depends, as we said last time, on what you want and need out of this exercise. Some people may just decide they need a few common sounds and aren’t concerned about an entire working vocabulary. Others will choose to go all out. Regardless, there are some factors you should consider when building the language.

Readability

First off, you should consider readability. Your reader is going to be seeing names and, in many cases, at least some words from the language you’re building. If you create a name like Aldafhjfd or some other such strange combination, people will have trouble processing it. Granted, even in real life, we’ve got names or words that we don’t know exactly how to pronounce, especially if we’re looking at a language like Gaelic or Welsh and don’t know the pronunciation rules. We’re likely to get it wrong. But we can still process it. We can still assign some method of pronunciation to the word, even if it might be wrong.

As writers, we expect that when we create our names or use unusual names from other cultures in real life, we’re going to have some subset of readers who may get close but a much larger subset that won’t get even close. So, our goal isn’t to worry about whether or not they can pronounce it properly.

Chances are that most of you wouldn’t know how to pronounce the name Leorithdhil, but you could probably come up with something that made sense to you, and you’d be content with it for the duration of the novel if need be. It doesn’t matter to me that you can’t pronounce it right. It does matter to me that you don’t trip up on the name or the word every time you see it. If you’re stopping to try to wrap your head around the sound of a word or name whenever you come across it, I’ve failed because those couple of seconds (or minutes, if you’re like me and try out every possible pronunciation method trying to figure it out) are seconds you can choose to stop reading because you’re no longer involved in the story.

That’s bad!

I don’t want you all to stop reading, and you don’t want your readers to do so either. So, before you do anything else, readability and ease of access for the readers should be at the top of your list of concerns.

SImplifying to Keep Your Sanity

Guys, let’s just be honest here. Building a language is hard. If you’re trying to build it from grammar rules up, it may make you want to tear your hair out, no matter how happy you are with the end result. I should know because I’ve done this. I still have stuff I’m tweaking with the language I’ve been building, but much of the grammatical side is already in place because I love grammar, syntax rules, and language in general. (If you couldn’t tell…) In spite of my love for those things, there were times when I sat and stared at the page in despair because I couldn’t figure out how to handle a problem that had arisen with the rules I’d created or with the way something fit together.

No matter what, you’ll have those moments if you do any extensive language building, just as you will with extensive world-building in general. However, you don’t have to dissolve yourself into a mushy mess that can’t think or function. Simplification is allowed. You’re not trying to create a language people in real life would be able to use for every situation. Even Tolkien didn’t do that, though he did give his fans a highly-developed, impressively functional language with more vocabulary than most language constructions have. Despite that, he still didn’t give them the amount of vocabulary necessary for every day conversation.

So, don’t feel you have to either. Create what you need first, then worry about adding to it as you feel like it, not worrying about or stressing out over it. Once you’ve developed what you need, the rest is icing on the cake. It isn’t necessary and shouldn’t be something that makes you want to bang your head into a brick wall repeatedly.

Simplification comes in quite a few forms. You could choose to remove letters from the alphabet, as we discussed last time, you could borrow grammar rules from other languages in real life, you could borrow sounds from languages around you, or you could even decide to limit yourself to creating words only as you need them. Whatever form of simplification you choose, do implement some simplification method(s). It will keep you sane!

How Much is too much

The last area of consideration I’ll cover is more of a question than anything. How much is too much? You need to figure this out before you start building, particularly if you’re going to use the simplification method of building only what you need. Knowing how much is going to be too much for your novel is really important. It keeps you from overloading your story and your reader with the overabundance of building you’ve done in this area.

Every story is going to be different in its requirements and what you can and cannot get away with. Every audience will have different expectations of you as an author and of the area of language building in particular. Know what those requirements, restrictions, and expectations are. If you don’t know them, you’re highly likely to disappoint your readers with too much or, in some cases, too little.

Once you know what your story and its audience require, limit yourself. Don’t go to the extreme of too much. Include what you know will be tolerable and enjoyable for your readers.

If you want to build beyond that, then collect it somewhere for your reference and for the reference of enthusiastic fans if you have them. There may be some fans who really want to learn more about this world you’ve built and the languages in it, but don’t write the book for those fans because they won’t be the majority. If you pander to them, you’re going to drive away your main audience: readers who just want a good story in your genre. Instead, make the further resources on the world and its culture, languages, and more available to those super-fans who really want to dig into it, but make it available outside the story. A glossary and further resources for readers section on your website is one good way to do this.

Conclusion

In the end, when language building, you have a lot of technicalities to consider. But those technicalities need to be framed properly with an understanding of your audience and their needs. Go with what your audience needs to access and enjoy your story. Leave the rest in notebooks for your own personal enjoyment or reference.

Flash Fiction Fridays – First Meetings

This week’s flash fiction is about Leo’s parents and their first meeting. If you’ve ever wondered how his mother ended up stuck in such an awful situation, this answers that. Enjoy!

~~~

She held her head as high as she could and looked him in the eye. Pale violet blended out into a deeper shade of indigo, and she stared just as much as he stared at her. A shiver went down her spine. No warmth lingered in his gaze. He was cold. Even colder than the slave traders who had brought her here. 

The way station’s travelers bustled outside the large three room house where they were kept. None of them had any idea what went on in here. None of them knew that she would probably leave this building with one of the men here today. But she held her head high anyway and forced back the tears. No help was coming. No one on the outside could do anything even if they knew, and she couldn’t pull them into this mess. The men here were all powerful in their own rights, and none of them would think twice about killing anyone who intervened. She’d seen it happen.

The violet-eyed man stalked to her position in the line, his gaze never leaving hers. A challenge flared to life there, as if he were daring her to run from him, daring her to find out that she wasn’t so strong after all. She tensed and fought the urge to lower her gaze and to hide from him. He stopped right in front of her and reached out to grip her chin between his fingers. She flinched, and a cruel smile curved his lips. He could’ve been carved from marble for all he cared about how he made her feel. He was even worse than the men leaving with their new slaves. They might afford their slaves some dignity. This man? He would break anyone he chose, and she was the unlucky soul he’d chosen. He might not have bought her yet, but he would. She knew the look in his eye. Saw it all the time, in fact.

“What’s your name, girl?” His low voice washed over her in warm baritones.

His voice didn’t belong with a man so hard. She lowered her gaze, unable to stand staring into those cold, hard eyes.

His grip tightened. “Do not make me ask again. I will take you into one of the back rooms and beat it out of you.”

She bit back a cry at the sudden pain in her jaw. “It’s Anne, Master.”

“It’s Caladhor. From now on, you will address me by sir or by my name.”

She licked her lips. How was she to know which to use when?

“Is that understood?”

“How do I know which to use?” She glanced up at him.

“It depends on my mood. If I look like I might want to kill you, sir might be most appropriate. If I’m pleased with you, my name will do. You’ll figure it out. And if you don’t pick up quick…” He released her with a sharp smile. “Well, never mind that. I think you’ll figure it out quickly enough.”

She swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re figuring it out already.” His grin widened. “Though I don’t want to kill you just yet.”

Anne didn’t say anything. If he was hoping for a response, she wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. She would do what she had to in order to live, but she wasn’t going to let him break her. She wouldn’t lose her spirit no matter what he did to her. He walked off to talk to the slave traders, and she watched the gold change hands. Inside, she was numb now. When Caladhor returned and grabbed her by the arm, she let him drag her out of the house without a word. Like it or not, a new life awaited, and this man would be the one who decided her fate. She would make sure she found a way to have a good one.

~~~

That’s it for this week, everybody! I hope you all enjoyed. If you have something specific you want me to write for this section of the blog, feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment! I’m always happy to see new ideas and new writing prompts, particularly if they’re ones that would be more interesting to you all!

Thursday Technicalities – Sorting It Out: Constructive or Destructive?

Introduction

We talked about how to find critiquers and beta-readers as well as about how to figure out what kind you need, but let’s talk about one last important thing regarding this area before we move on to a new discussion. You have to know how to sort out the constructive feedback you get from the destructive feedback. So let’s dive in and talk about each.

Constructive Criticism

We’ll start with constructive feedback or criticism. This is, obviously, the kind you want, but sometimes it can be hard to tell whether something is constructive or not. Not everyone who offers destructive feedback is a troll or someone who just hates you and your book. Many times, they’re very well-intentioned and think they’re helping. So, how do you know the difference in those cases?

First, constructive feedback is going to be relevant. It will be commentary on areas that don’t fit the needs of your audience, things that are just outright incorrect (usually grammatically), or areas that aren’t clear. This by no means an exhaustive list, but typically, constructive criticism is going to focus more on what is wrong than specific ways to fix it. The ways of fixing it come as you have a discussion with the individual offering the feedback. While that individual may offer some ideas for how you might go about fixing something, they may not always know, so more questions are typically necessary to figure out what the best solution for the problem will be.

Please note that we’re talking about people doing more of a high-level review of your book. They themselves may not be writers, and they very rarely are editors. You want your critique partner or beta-reader to be someone from your audience, not someone looking at your book for how to make it read like a best-seller. An editor, if you have chosen well, will know enough about writing and, ideally, your genre to know whether or not something will work to make your fiction marketable, not just a bunch of text you put together in a semi-useful way. The editor does a different job from a critique partner or beta-reader, so you won’t handle that interaction exactly the same way.

Second, constructive feedback will be specific. What do I mean by that? Well, you’re trying to make sure everything in your book is clear, engaging, and focused. A reader will notice points in the book where this isn’t the case, and if you’re getting good feedback from a beta-reader or critiquer, they will too, and they will make note of it. They will not offer you a general, vague opinion of the book. That’s something a general reader might do, but it’s not much use to you if you need to fix anything.

Finally, constructive feedback will be an honest assessment. And by honest, I mean frank about the good and the bad. Constructive feedback has to recognize both what you’re doing well and what you’re not so that you can keep the good and fix the bad. If all it points out is the good stuff or only the bad, you’re imbalanced in your perspective. Only good things will result in an inflated view of how good the book really is. But overwhelming commentary on all of the bad undermines your confidence, causes you to write poorly, and results in you–most often–changing even those things that weren’t bad to start. The person offering the feedback will, of course, have their own biases, but you want to find someone who will offer their opinion in addition to clear feedback on things that are obviously working well or working poorly. You don’t want them to try to change the entire point of the story, but you do want them to help you see what you may not.

Destructive Feedback

In most ways, destructive feedback is the opposite of constructive feedback. So we’ll just briefly go over what signs to watch for with destructive feedback. Destructive feedback will often be feedback that tries to change the heart of the story. It isn’t correcting a problem that actually is real. Instead, it’s just feedback on everything the reader personally didn’t like about the book and an essay on what they would write if they were you. That’s clearly not helpful, and if you follow that kind of advice, your book will change with every reader. You’ll end up destroying anything that was good about the book to start.

Destructive feedback is also feedback that’s irrelevant, too general, or unbalanced. Any of these can derail a book and the entire story you were trying to tell. Allowing someone who predominantly offers this kind of feedback to influence your decision-making process is extremely unwise.

A Word of Caution

Please know that many people give a mix of the two kinds of feedback. Unless they really just hated the story, they’re probably going to have some feedback that is helpful and constructive with some feedback that is destructive mixed in there as well. It’s just how this sort of thing tends to work because everyone has different ideas of what makes a good book. Not everything you have will be their preference, even if it might not be a problem. That’s why getting a few different people to critique or beta-read is extremely useful for writers.

In the end, unless someone is only giving you destructive feedback, don’t toss them out as a possible option simply because you see some destructive feedback in the mix. Be fair and be realistic. If you were reviewing something for someone, you’d have a mix of feedback too. And if you were the one doing it, you wouldn’t think twice. A mix of feedback would be acceptable. So, afford your critiquers and beta-readers the same leniency you’d give yourself here. Just make sure that, when you look at the feedback, you sort through to see what you should keep and what you should toss.

Conclusion

That’s it for today’s Thursday Technicalities. I hope this has been helpful for you all! This also concludes the section on critiquers and beta-readers. On upcoming Thursday Technicalities, we’ll be discussing editors and the principles surrounding the editing process. I hope to see you all join me for those posts as I know this is an area that many authors are unsure about, particularly when it comes to self-published authors. Until then, have a great week!

Work-In-Progress #34

This week’s work-in-progress is from Pathway of the Moon. It’s almost finished with just four chapters to go, and I’m beginning the setup for the sequel. This piece is part of my most recent chapter.

~~~

He caught a rustle of movement in the bushes, and a small, furry creature hopped out of the bushes. It stared at him with bright red eyes before scampering back under cover. He stared after it. Nothing back home had fur that white. He dropped to a knee and peered under the bushes. Whatever it had been it was gone. He pressed a palm into the feathery grass beneath him and paused. How was it this green? How was any of this so vibrant? 

Something tickled inside his head. He frowned. How could the inside of his head tickle? The fluttering sensation danced on the fringes of his consciousness, and he shook his head, trying to clear it. Still, it didn’t dissipate. He glanced around him. Was some magic at work here? There. Some faint whisper of sound echoed on the fringes of his awareness, and it sounded like words. He strained to hear whatever was in the background. Was someone else here watching him? His head ached and pulsed, and then the whisper clarified to a normal tone. People were talking, and they sounded close. How could that be? And how was it they spoke his dialect of Wyrdhan? He sprang to his feet and slipped into the brush and woodland to wait behind a tree for them to come out from their hiding place. Whoever was here, they didn’t seem interested in coming out with him around. He fixed his attention on the clearing and listened.

The Path opened, a female voice chimed past the general buzz assailing him.

I know. I felt him. This time, a man answered. He opened it.

The female hummed in response. Yes. The Cursed will be happy, I’m sure.

They already sent an emissary through when the Path first opened.

Has it made contact?

Not with him. The man huffed. But with those who will bring him, yes.

That’s a good thing, Laur. Why does it bother you?

So, the man was Laur. But why were they talking about him, and how did they know who he was? Perhaps they just thought he was someone he wasn’t. That had to be it.

You know why, Nim. Don’t pretend you can’t see it. 

I see feelings and intent, Laur. Not private thoughts. The woman, Nim, sounded annoyed now.

Leo crossed his arms and tipped his head back against the tree trunk. Why hadn’t they shown up yet? Unless… Unless he wasn’t truly hearing them. He’d heard of people who could hear thoughts. But that made no sense. These two were holding a conversation, so he wasn’t hearing thoughts. It just wasn’t possible. But how could he be hearing them if they weren’t here? He frowned and edged out of the woods, calling on his shadows. More voices joined the chatter, but none of them spoke to Nim or Laur. He ran a hand through his hair. This world clearly had more going on than they’d thought, and it seemed like his was connected somehow. Maybe? 

He listened for Nim or Laur. For a minute, he couldn’t find them. Then their voices returned, louder this time. Did that mean they were closer now? He waited for any noise to indicate someone’s approach. Nothing. So, he waited and listened. 

We should check the portal. Nim this time with her melodic voice.

You think he’s still around? Let me guess, you want a glimpse of the fabled Son of Shadows. Is that it, Nim? 

Leo swallowed hard. They were talking about him. How? How could they know who he was and what he was? It shouldn’t be possible. 

Don’t mock me, Laur. You know how long we’ve waited. Just because you’re not happy doesn’t mean I can’t be.

Yes, yes, I know. We’ve waited ever since she brought the First to us. But it was never our vendetta. We shouldn’t have to fight. His presence will stir up the Cursed and get us all killed. If we leave it be, the Cursed–“

Will eventually tear us apart, Nim interrupted. We need him. He’s the only way, and the Aura wants him here.

A branch crackled.

Leo melted into the woods and shadows.

Two people emerged from the opposite side of the clearing. One was clearly female. Nim, perhaps? Eyes almost too large for her face perched above a pert nose. Those eyes turned on him and changed from yellow to a brilliant emerald hue of green. Her silver hair swayed as she stepped closer, and Leo stared. Despite a releatively human appearance, she had something distinctly inhuman about her. Maybe in the way she moved?

He is still here. 

He stiffened. Where had the voice come from? The woman’s lips hadn’t moved at all. With bated breath, he waited. Until they left, he couldn’t go home, and he didn’t want to be found either. Then, he would have to fight. He certainly wouldn’t let them take him away from this place. Not when it was his only way home.

Laur peered in the direction Nim was starting, his eyes an electric blue that pierced into Leo. I don’t see him. And I don’t feel him anymore. 

He is here, Nim insisted. But he will fight if we engage him.

Just let him be, Nim. Maybe he won’t return.

He will. He reeks of curiosity. And when he does, I will greet him with the hospitality he deserves. She turned away and walked past Laur, brushing shoulders with him. You will too, so you’d better start practicing. 

Laur’s nose wrinkled, and his eyes flashed a flat gray before returning to blue. Nothing more came from him, and Leo watched until the alien turned and walked away. Then he slumped to the ground beside his tree. What had that been?

~~~

That’s it for this week! What are you guys working on or reading these days? Feel free to share in the comments!

Saturday Setups: Language Building – An Introduction

Introduction

In a post on language factors, we already went over some basics about languages and building them for specific areas as well as basics on how to do it in general. In this post and upcoming ones, we’re taking a look at this more closely. This is a process that is entirely optional, and people do varying degrees of it. Some go all out while others opt out entirely. Neither is wrong. A language you’ve created isn’t necessary to lend credibility to your work in most cases, but it can be very helpful. The goal of this section is to equip you with tools you’ll need to build languages if you choose to do so. I can’t cover everything, but I’ll try to cover what you need to get started. We’ll begin with an introduction to building languages and why you might decide to do so.

Why Create a Language?

First and foremost, creating a language should be done for fun. It isn’t required, even for high or epic fantasies, to make a good story. In fact, it’s easy to end up taking away from the story with this type of world building if you’re not careful. Because of this, the predominant reason to create a language is because you want to for the sake of experimenting, having fun with it, and being able to say you’ve created your very own language. If playing with sounds, coming up with new writing systems, and dabbling in creating grammar or structure rules sounds fun to you, then this area of world-building is for you. If you already know you’ll hate it, move on. It isn’t worth driving yourself nuts. For those on the fence, I encourage you to give it a try. You never know; you may love it. At the very least, you can say you tried it.

Besides fun, another reason to build a language of your own is because you want a naming system (or just the names) for people, places, and things that sound suitably unique but also have some sense of cohesiveness and weight behind them. This could mean you just want names that sound like they could come from the same regional location or it could mean you want names that go as far as having root words from a language that gives the names an actual meaning, much like our names on Earth have meanings behind them. Those two different sides of the spectrum obviously require differing levels of involvement from you in terms of language building, but they’re both valid needs. 

Finally, language is so entwined with culture that many times your culture ends up changing with the language. If you’re writing something heavily invested in culture, language–spoken and written–plays a big part in it. You may only choose to add in some exotic names and maybe some insults or curse words to lend to the illusion of depth you create, or you may choose to go all out and create the language that you need to include songs in that language, like Tolkien does with Elvish in Lord of the Rings. How far you go depends on your interest in it and on what your readers are expecting. You can go overboard with this, so it’s important to always have balance. Don’t overwhelm readers with a lot of text in fantasy languages you’ve created. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some terms or names that are pulled from the language creation work you did.

Where to Start

If you’re feeling like this is complicated at this point (or have felt so since you saw the topic of this post), I’m not going to lie to you. It is complicated. But it isn’t impossible, and there are ways you can make life easier on yourself. Let’s just look at the starting point I’ve used for this in the past since a starting point helps to make things seem a little less chaotic.

Usually, I start with the alphabet. I take the time to think about all the sounds available to me in my language and alphabet (English in my case), and I weed through those root sounds. I may take out a vowel or a consonant here and there to lessen the number of letters I have to deal with. I have also, in the past, chosen to incorporate the diphthongs (vowel combinations like ae) found in Latin or other languages. When you’re adding sounds to your alphabet or syllabary that your native tongue doesn’t have, you can look at the sounds of other languages. This is a tremendous help, and it can give a lot more depth to your language, especially if you’re doing this for the first time. Even Tolkien, a well-accomplished linguist in his own right, borrowed from other languages to create the dialects of Elvish. 

Starting with your alphabet or syllabary gives you the building blocks for words. It makes it easier to determine what sounds can and can’t be involved, and you’re making a call on what the language will sound like at the very basic level. If it’s going to be soft and lilting, it’ll be because of the sounds you kept, added, or threw out in this stage. If it will be harsh and guttural, it’ll be because of what you kept, threw out, or added at this point. Everything in a language pivots upon two things: its grammar and its vocalization/sounds. Grammar is more complex, so start with what’s simple and build up from there.

Conclusion

Hopefully you have a better understanding now of why you might want to create a language and the uses it can serve in your novel. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a deep breath. This isn’t as bad as it seems, and I hope to show you that it can be a ton of fun for creative minds in future posts. You can set up the language in whatever way you choose. Look at the languages we have here on Earth. There’s tons of variation there, right? Well, for your fictional languages, you can use systems just as varied, and you also have the freedom to mash together concepts, sounds, and techniques from other languages around you in real life. If you let go of the stress of thinking everything has to be perfect and just start with your sounds and the premise that this is meant to be a lot of fun for you, you’re going to be fine. You can take it as fast or slow as you need to, and you can choose how much you feel like doing. No author is required to build a complete language, nor are they required to do any language building at all. It really is entirely up to you, so have fun with it and don’t stress! Just like all other areas of world building, this is your chance to do things your way and to have fun while doing it. Take advantage of it!

Flash Fiction Fridays: Dead Men Do Tell Tales

This week’s is pretty short. It’s based on a writing prompt I saw on Facebook that looked interesting. Hopefully you all enjoy even though it’s short!

~~~

He never should’ve taken the job. Or at least, not without asking a lot of questions first. His target lay bleeding out on the floor, her spirit long-gone and her knowledge his. He wished it weren’t. Swords for hire didn’t have much loyalty or honor, but gods curse it, he had some standards, and this violated them. 

He didn’t kill children or innocents.

He didn’t stand for selling out those who hired you.

Until today, those rules had governed his jobs. The woman–General Eilesi Araden–had been staging a coup, one of the largest in her country’s history, to take down her country’s corrupt oligarchy. His client had been her second-in-command, and his client had also lied about her. She hadn’t been guilty of anything except wanting the best for her country and her people.

He stepped away from the cooling body and fought down the bile rising in his throat. Now that she was dead, he would be a target if anyone knew he had her knowledge. Did his client know about his unique abilities? He didn’t generally broadcast it, so he could be safe. But even if he was safe on that front, would they risk the loose end he posed? He doubted it. Which meant he was going to have to run. The hunter had just become the hunted.

~~~

And that’s it. Like I said, it’s short. Do you guys have something you’d like to see on Flash Fiction Fridays? If so, feel free to email me about it or leave a comment below!

Thursday Technicalities – Interacting with Your Critiquer

Introduction

So, we already discussed interacting with your beta-reader, but as you know, beta-readers are different than critiquers. So, while some principles will be the same, not all of them will be. Let’s take a look.

Do’s and Don’ts of Interacting with your Critiquer

1. Do not argue with your critiquer.

This goes for beta-readers too, but a critique partner ought to be someone with more knowledge of your area of writing and of writing in general. While they can make mistakes or poor judgment calls, chances are much higher that they know what they’re talking about. If you’re defensive or arrogant, no one—not even a less experienced critique partner—will be happy working with you. So no arguing.

2. Do ask questions and discuss areas you aren’t clear on.

If your critiquer has said something to you that doesn’t make sense or that you’d like further pointers on, you should ask. Unless they tell you they aren’t open to further questions (which is unusual for a critiquer), you can ask about whatever you need to. Just keep rule one in mind and avoid shutting them down.

3. Do discuss.

Along the same lines as rule two, you should discuss things with your critiquer if you don’t agree or if they seem to be missing something important to the story. Explain where you’re coming from and ask their opinion. After you have that, ask any clarifying questions you have and thank them for the input. Then you can decide if you want to take the advice or leave it.

4. Do not behave in an inconsiderate or arrogant manner after you get the feedback from them.

This should not have to be stated, but it unfortunately does because there are people out there who do forget this and need to be reminded. Your critiquer is human too. I’ve seen many writers treat critiquers poorly and harshly or put them down as people because the writer didn’t get the feedback they wanted. These kinds of people are a misery to work with. Literally, I can promise you that if you’re like this, you are going to be the person we hate working with most because not only is it likely your work is poor quality because you ignored advice from three people before us, but you’re not going to fix it after we review it, and you’re going to be rude to us in addition. Kindness will get you much further.

Hopefully, no one reading this is like that. But I recognize that these people are out there, so if you are one of those people, please know that you are shooting yourself in the foot first and foremost. We’re not going to be happy with you, obviously, and some of us may get upset over how you treated us, but in the end, you are the one to suffer because arrogance or defensiveness mixed with rude behavior will make your journey from writer to author much harder if not impossible. I hope that no one reading this is in that position, but, this needs to be pointed out because too many times people don’t stop to be grateful that the critiquer took time to go through their work.

If you didn’t get a glowing review, be doubly grateful! They took time to pin point the book’s problem areas instead of reading a polished book off a bookstore shelf. Critiquing badly written work is way tougher than doing so for a well-written work. Show your appreciation and be mindful of their feelings too.

If you aren’t, I guarantee they’ll spread the word to anyone else they know who might consider working with you. And the Internet makes that very easy. I’ve heard stories myself from fellow Wattpaders and writer friends, and I have some of my own. Rude behavior lost one writer a chance at joining a critique group because people in the group had worked with the writer and shared their awful experience. This individual was refused on the grounds that their behavior ruined the previous critique group they’d been involved in. Please don’t let that story be yours too!

Conclusion

This isn’t an extremely long post because the main point is that you should be polite and professional in every case. If you aren’t, you only damage your own image and give another writer cause to say bad things about you. Being polite and courteous goes a long way toward avoiding ruffled feathers or smoothing them over if they occur. In the end, it’s your book, and you can do what you choose to do with it. The best way to handle dealing with a critique, good or otherwise, is to take whatever you can from your critiquer’s input to make your book better, but don’t feel obligated to use the rest. Throw it out and move on.

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #34

This is a sneak peek at a short story I’m working on for a short story collection that I hope to publish in 2021. I know, a while out, but I like to get a head start so I can make sure everything is finished on schedule. Anyway, this one is about Enlil, a storm god in an alternate universe who has kidnapped a princess who is supposed to be his Chosen, the one to keep him steady and complete him. Things are…not working out as planned. (But really, when do they ever, right?)

~~~

ENLIL watched Nunael from across the table. She wouldn’t lift her gaze from her food, and they had already passed most of the meal dancing around any real conversation. In fact, she had spent most of her words on avoiding any conversation with him at all. He hadn’t envisioned things going like this. His Chosen was supposed to obey and to adore him, and he was to love and to protect her. Had the ring chosen wrong this time? In his long lifetime, it never had. Still, this mulish, raven-haired slip of a woman wasn’t anything like the others the ring had chosen in the previous millenium. He tightened his grip on his cutlery. He’d been happy with all of the previous Chosen. What was the ring doing? Changing up a working system was madness. He frowned down at the ring, and the ruby set into the intricate metal band stared back, winking in the light. He looked up at the girl again.

She picked at her food with a groan. “Why do you insist on staring at me?”

His scowl deepened. “Why do you insist on giving me a headache?”

She snorted. “I’m not a telepath, so I can’t possibly give you a headache.”

“You most certainly can. There are ways to do it without using any magic, and you certainly have managed it in the short time since you came here.”

“Since you kidnapped me, you mean.” She returned to picking at her food, and candlelight flickered over her high cheekbones.

“You came willingly.”

“I came because I had to.”

“You still chose to come. And is it really that miserable here? Have I hurt you in any way?”

“Not yet.”

His grip on the silverware turned vise-like, and shocks flickered over his forearms. He forced himself to take a deep breath and to calm down. “I’m not going to. Do you know what a Chosen is?”

“An individual sacrifices to a god to act as a consort and a tie between mortal and immortal.” She pushed her plate away. “How is this relevant?”

“You are my vessel’s chosen.”

She sat back and slumped down in her chair with a huff of breath. Disbelief, judging by the expression on her elfen features. “Your vessel’s chosen?”

“The Chosen are picked by the ancestors of the deity.”

She frowned at that but didn’t ask the question that was obvious on her face.

He answered anyway. “We’re not really immortal. But it takes someone or something as strong as we are to kill us.”

“And if you aren’t killed?”

“We live for a long time.”

She stared out at the torch-lit courtyard below their window. “How old are you, then?”

“Old enough. You?”

“Eighteen.” She still didn’t look at him.

He watched her, curiosity warring with irritation. This was the least intractable she’d been so far. But even now, she looked for an escape from his presence. “You know you’re stuck here, right? Stuck in this palace with me…”

Her golden eyes finally shifted to him. Still, she didn’t answer, and stubbornness glinted in that shadowed gaze.

He stood and stalked over to her, pulling her to her feet. “You can’t go. Ever.”

Her gaze lowered, shut him out and blocked his words. “So you have said.”

What would it take for her to get it? He yanked her into his arms and caged her in his embrace. “I mean it. Until you and I are Bound and become one, this place will not let you leave.”

She tore from his grip with a mournful, angered cry. “You lie!”

“I don’t.” He crossed his arms. “Test it if you like. But you’ll only prove me right, Princess. Save us both the trouble and accept your fate.”

“Never.” She spun on her heel and fled out the door, her dress fluttering around her ankles.

He watched her go before shoving his hands into his pockets and following behind her. She rushed down the hall to the grand staircase. There, she paused and looked back. Her gaze caught on him, and she froze for a moment. Then she took off again, all but tumbling down the stairs in her haste. He didn’t rush. Why do that when he didn’t need to? She’d see soon enough.

They ended up in the gardens on the border of the castle’s wall. She stepped out of the gate in the wall, and Enlil waited by the burbling fountain. Moments later, she reappeared beside him, stumbling a bit. A confused whimper escaped her, and he steadied her. She tore her arm from his grip and sank to the grass surrounding his fountain. Her tiny frame trembled. “Go away! You won, so just leave me alone.”

He chewed on his inner cheek and crouched down beside her. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

He didn’t know. He just felt terrible about the pain she was in, and he wanted to alleviate it. He reached out to take her hand then pulled back. She wouldn’t welcome his touch. Not right now.

She kept her face turned away from him. “This is your fault. You’re not really sorry for anything. You just feel guilty.”

He wanted to be angry with her, but she was right. He didn’t know what he was sorry for, and he did feel guilty. It was, in some ways, his fault. But not entirely. He stood and glared down at the ring on his ring finger. The ring had chosen her, not him. The ring had decided this headstrong, unsubmissive, and angry woman would be the best match for him. He tore the infernal thing off his finger and threw it into the grass. “If I had my way, I never would have brought you here at all. You’re not what I need, and you’re not what I was hoping for.”

She laughed bitterly. “Then go away! Leave me be. I don’t want you either, so I guess that makes us even. At least we can agree on that.”

He shook his head with a sneer and stalked off. Cursed ring and its wretched judgment. Next time, he’d rather be damned for eternity in the fiery pits of Aratroth’s furnace than let the ring pick another ill-matched, ill-mannered wench. He’d choose his own woman next time, and his ancestors could just suck it up and deal with it. He could make his own decisions.

~~~

Well, that’s it for now, everyone! Hope you guys enjoyed. What are you working on? If you’d like, you can share it in the comments below! I’d love to hear from everyone.

Flash Fiction Fridays – The Shade of Whitsmare

Okay, so this one is a one-off that doesn’t go with any particular story or world. I got the idea from a prompt on one of the writing groups I’m with on Facebook, and I figured I’d share it. This one’s in first person. I rarely write in first person since I generally prefer third and feel I am strongest in that, but this one is the exception. It’s also shorter than the others have been, but hopefully you guys enjoy it anyway.

~~~

I couldn’t watch this happen to him. He was the light to my dark, and if I lost him, I would lose myself. I’m not even sure exactly what happened in that moment, but at the moment that I heard the report come crackling over the cop car radio that the Shade of Whitsmare was trying to hold off Kyrelon, something inside me snapped. It didn’t matter that he was supposed to be the hero–my hero. I just had to know he was safe. I closed my eyes and did the one thing I had vowed never to do with my power. I shade walked in the mind of my hero. I had promised I wouldn’t ever take over, even if I could wrest control from his conscious mind in order to be in control. 

The moment he gave in and let me take over, my heart broke. He stepped back and gave me control, the very thing I’d always craved over him, and now I didn’t want it. I stared up at Kyrelon through his eyes and lifted his hands. He might not be able to beat Kyrelon, but if I channeled my power through him, I could defeat the villain. And I would. Even if it meant I would likely die engaging Kyrelon’s mind, I would do it. After all, a villain is only as powerful as the hero she must battle, and I was no exception. I was as strong as I was because of Shade, and if he was gone, I would be nothing. Life would be meaningless anyway, and he deserved to live. 

So I whispered my last farewell into his mind, willing him to live on even if he hated himself for letting this happen. And when I had done that, I cast my mind around Kyrelon, weaving a dream from which neither he nor I would escape. My mental projection thrummed with power, and I felt my mind leaving my body entirely. Then it slipped loose of the tether Shade’s body provided, and I was lost in my dream world, dragging Kyrelon with me. 

Loving and saving him were the only things I never regretted no matter how lost I got in that world I’d made and no matter how many times Kyrelon and I battled or died there. They were the only good things I ever did in my life. The only truly selfless things I chose to do of my own volition. I’m glad I did. Even a villain has something they cannot bear to lose. I found that thing. The Shade of Whitsmare.

~~~

There you have it! Hopefully you all liked it. It’s in a different sub-genre of fantasy than I usually use, and if you’ve followed my posts on Allen Steadham’s Mindfire or Superhero Fantasy, you know I’m not usually a fan of the genre. But hey, I think it went okay all things considered!

Have something you’d like to see on Flash Fiction Fridays? Feel free to share the idea with me via email or in the comments, whichever you’re more comfortable with. I don’t bite, I promise! I’m always happy to interact with you guys and any of my readers.

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #33

This week’s goes with an idea I’m playing around with for a short story. We’ll see where it goes, but I’m liking the idea and characters so far. Enjoy!

~~~

Eltara reached out with trembling fingers and touched the cold stone base of the statue at the center of the square. This city square held only ivy, crumbling cobblestone, and the unweathered statue. Even though the guards didn’t watch this place, it still held an oppressive air of sorts. Or so she was told. She only felt sadness and longing. The statue was abandoned here just like she was, but unlike her, it at least lived on in whispered children’s fables. If anyone dared whisper of love and soulmates in a world that had outlawed such things.

This place held a draw on her that she couldn’t explain, but that wasn’t why she was here tonight. She was here under the full moon, staring at a statue, because Lutania had wanted her to take a picture with the statue. The girl, despite her father’s attempts to knock some sense into her, retained a strong sense of romanticism, and she’d insisted on sending Eltara to test the stories. Now that she was here, though, she couldn’t bring herself to take Lutania’s picture. She just stared at the forlorn expression on the statue and shoved her hands into her pockets. “Who did you represent when you were carved? Whoever shaped you took a big risk. The person you’re supposed to look like can’t have appreciated that forlorn, lost look on a marble likeness of himself.” She climbed up onto the marble base and sat at the statue’s feet, staring out across concrete yards, rows of tidy houses, and pitch-black roads in the city down the hill from the square.

“What was it like back when your maker lived? Were you formed back when this land was part of America? I wish I could’ve seen it. Equality must have been a beautiful thing. Being free to be whatever you were must have been even nicer.” The breeze snatched her soft words away, and she stood, hands on her hips. While she was asking questions and making confessions, she might as well get the things weighing on her off her chest where no one would hear or hurt her for saying them. “I hate this place. No one wants me, and I have nowhere to belong. But I’m not weak just because of my birth’s circumstances, and I’m not meant to be treated like an outcast.” Her smile dropped, and she reached out to run her fingers over the cold stone chest of the man. “Whoever’s image you were carved in, you’d be just like me. Not quite similar enough to either side to be accepted anywhere.”

The statue remained still and silent.

Sighing, she turned and leaned back against the statue’s chest, placing her hand in his one free hand. Maybe someday, someone besides a cold statue of a man long dead would embrace her. Not likely. An ache spread through her chest and stole her breath, left her with only the pain instead of the air that should occupy her lungs. She’d never be matched with anyone. A half-breed who never should have lived would never be picked for the ranks of the Chosen. Even if she were, her fellow Chosen would hate her, wouldn’t they? Her match would recoil in disgust. Tears filled her eyes, and she sagged down to hunker at the statue’s feet. Would the loneliness and separation ever end? If she could leave and find her own way in the world, maybe it would be better? But it wasn’t possible for one half-breed with no help. She’d be caught trying to escape the Praesaepium’s walls and thrown into the mental hell of the Mors Animi. Her tears spilled over past her lashes. She buried her face in her arms and allowed herself this moment of weakness. Out here, at least, she could have that.

A groan sounded behind her, and she froze. The sound had almost seemed human, but it had a strange grating sound like pebbles or stone grinding against other stone. She hugged her knees to her chest more closely and listened. Was someone else out here with her? Had Lutania sent someone to make sure she actually did what she was supposed to? No, that made no sense. She was to return with a picture.

The groan came again, and she reached out for the boot of the statue to push herself to her feet. Her heart pounded, and she almost missed it because of the adrenaline pumping through her.

Warmth and real leather caressed her palm. 

She gasped and snatched her hand back. She scrambled to her feet and backed away from the statue. The moon, standing directly over it, illuminated the cold marble. But that cold marble was slowly, but surely, losing its sheen and becoming something else altogether. A clap of thunder boomed overhead, and lightning split the sky. The statue moaned this time, and she froze in place.

Then the most miraculous thing occurred as she watched. The statue began to shrink. She gasped and stumbled away, but not quickly enough to avoid the statue as it toppled over. She squeezed her eyes shut. Was this how she went? Crushed to death by a giant statue magic was shrinking? Had she done this? She took another step down the stairs before the statue toppled onto her. How could she have done this? She wasn’t a Fortis. She didn’t have magic.

The former statue had, somehow, become a living, breathing man. Clearly magic was involved. Had it been the curse Lutania had gone on about? Her heart hammered in her chest. No, no, no. That wasn’t okay. It wasn’t possible. His warm body pressing against hers said otherwise. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her palms to his bare chest to push him off. She had to get out of here. If the Fortis guards bothered to check the square tonight, she’d be in so much trouble. Emerald eyes met hers, and the man pushed himself up off her, but he didn’t stand. He just hovered over her, a frown furrowing his brow.

She stared too. Mesmerized, she reached out to run her fingers of his face. He’d been cold marble moments ago. How could this even happen? She chewed on her inner cheek. Whatever had happened, if anyone found out she’d woken him up, she’d disappear like any other Infirmi who had Ability. No one would miss her because she wasn’t even fully Infirmi and both sides wanted her gone. She pulled her hand away. Her movement snapped whatever spell he was under, and he moved off her, standing up and staring at the city. The furrow in his brow deepened, and his brows pulled down.

“S-sir?” She scrambled to her feet and looked out across the still sleeping Praesaepium. What was he looking at?

He didn’t answer.

Should she leave him to figure out his own problems? Or stay and help him? Helping him would jeopardize her safety, and it might also mean she would have to attempt an escape even if she didn’t think she’d make it. But if things went sour, she’d be tangled up with him, and they’d end up running from forces belonging to the elite members of the Fortis. She turned away, her steps faltering. Her heart whispered that she shouldn’t go, but she couldn’t let it dictate this situation. Not if she wanted to survive in this society of rules and dictates.

“W-wait.”

She froze.

“Tara?”

Eltara shook her head. “You’re mistaken, sir. I’m not the woman you’re searching for.”

“You have to be. You… You broke the curse.”

She shook her head again and glanced over her shoulder. His malachite gaze rested on her hopefully. She couldn’t leave him here. He looked lost, and she knew what that felt like. She’d never be able to ignore someone in need. Not when she knew what it was like to be there and have no one. She sighed. “I’m Eltara. Please, keep quiet. If the Fortis that check around here catch us, you’ll be in trouble.” And so would she, particularly since this didn’t look very good. They’d think she was trying to seduce one of their own, and that would gain her a quick pass to the Mors Animi. She shivered. “Really, you don’t want to know what might happen.”

~~~

Well, that’s it for this week! Hope you guys enjoyed it! What are you working on? I’d love to hear about it, so if you’d like to share, please feel free to utilize the comments section to share with us.

Saturday Setups – Magic: Consequences

Introduction

This week’s discussion is the last on magic for now. We’re going to go over consequences to magic. We’ve already hinted toward this a bit, but a closer look at it is important because there’s so much variation in the topic. So we’re going to examine this area in a little more detail. Since I already covered the importance of having structure to the magic system and the need to have boundaries as well as consequences that limit magic use, we won’t go into that with too much detail. Instead, we’re going to look at some of the kinds of consequences and how they can be used. Let’s get started!

Types of Consequences

Okay, so this particular topic is pretty vast in that the possibilities for consequences to magic and why you have them vary so widely. But let’s take a quick look at some different types of consequences. You can have mental, physical, emotional, or tangible consequences for things. The first three are relatively straightforward. The consequences in these categories will end up affecting the user directly in one of those three areas, so there may be restraint in how much magic is used depending on the severity of the consequences. The last is a little less obvious. Tangible consequences are ones that don’t fall under the other three. They affect the user indirectly instead, usually by affecting his loved ones or by taking something from him that is precious to him.

Examples of Consequences

Obviously, the consequences for using magic change a great deal depending on what category they fall into. A magic system whose consequences are mental might include anything from losing memories to going into a coma. Obviously, the severity may vary depending on the magnitude of the magic used, but the type of consequences allowed will be dependent upon what you choose to use for the consequence category. A physical magic system wouldn’t include losing your mind or losing memories, but it could include illness, losing body parts, blood sacrifices, or some other physical consequence for using the magic or even for making it work. And still yet again, emotional consequences won’t be the same as either of the previous two. This type of consequence isn’t necessarily as common as the first two because it’s a bit harder to come up with things to use. But emotional consequences might include losing the ability to feel a specific emotional, temporarily or permanently, or could even include a heightening of some negative or positive emotion for a time period as well. Or, perhaps the consequences emotionally result in some sort of “mental” illness that affects only one’s emotions or perceptions of the world around them. Typically, emotional consequences are going to go hand-in-hand with mental consequences simply because the two categories often impact each other, even in the real world. 

The category that’s most expansive is the tangible consequences category. This is because the consequences are taken out on those around the magic wielder. So, a mage’s sister could go insane because he tried a spell that was really strong. Or, perhaps a close friend dies as a result of the use of magic. Really, the possibilities are endless. The key to note here is that when it comes to consequences, I don’t mean direct consequences that occur because someone used magic wisely or unwisely. Think of consequences here more as a price that is exacted after magic is used. In some systems, that price might be the drain on some sort of extra energy reservoir that the magic wielder possesses or use of life force. In others, the price could be something else entirely. The magic will work, but you don’t get it for nothing.

Practical Use of Consequences

Now that we have a foundational understanding of the topic, we need to understand how to use consequences practically in a novel. This can take many forms because, as noted above, the choices and combinations are pretty limitless. And you aren’t bound to staying with only mental or only physical consequences. You could have differing prices depending on the type and magnitude of the magic. For example, in Pathway of the Moon, I have three different consequence systems for three different situations of magic use.

The first is the normal type of magic almost everyone uses. In this consequence system, people draw on an energy reservoir inside of them. That reservoir will replenish, but those who try to do magic that requires more than what is in that source will end up drawing on their own life force. Obviously, this is a strong incentive for people to understand their own personal limitations and to avoid overdoing it.

The second system is in place for those use dark magic or shadow magic. Since both have similar workings and both can draw on the life force or energy source of other people around, the system is the same for both. In this case, those who have and use this kind of magic pay a different price if they choose to use someone else’s energy instead of their own. They suffer mental consequences as the blackness of the magic used can overwhelm them and will eventually drive them mad.

The final system is in place for, again, those who use magic drawing on the force of others. But in this case, it is for light-wielders because their magic doesn’t operate the same way as the magic of the shadow-wielders or dark magic users. In this system, drawing on the life force of others results in physical consequences, not mental. Using magic this way here results in the loss of physical senses over time, and each subsequent use of others’ life force comes at a higher and higher cost.

All of these systems operate in the same world and series, but they’re all very different types of consequence systems. Hopefully this helps you to see how you can weave consequences into your own book and your own magic system. How you choose to do it will vary to one degree or another from how I’ve done it, but this was just an illustration to underscore the fact that you can combine things as you like.

Conclusion

I hope this article has been helpful to you and has brought you some useful advice on how you can work with this very important area. It’s not a matter of right or wrong in this case, so have fun with this and don’t be too concerned with whether or not it’s “correct”. Have questions or suggestions? Feel free to leave those in the comments below!

Flash Fiction Fridays – Thuriel’s Dagger

This week’s flash fiction is about the forging of the dagger from Revelar’s Queen. Enjoy!

~~~

Thuriel bent close over the glowing silver in its crucible. Bubbles formed and popped on the surface. It was almost time. Soon he would forge the blade that would protect his descendants, the blade that would destroy her. The Seelie Queen who had taken everything from him. His soulmate, his throne, and his people. This dagger would take it all back and inflict the same pain on her. With each descendant who held it, it would grow in strength, in the thirst for revenge. His descendants would ruin her even if he couldn’t.

He plunged his hand into the boiling silver, wrapping his hand in a cocoon of magic and blending the magic into the silver. When it glowed and sparked with his power, he removed his hand and let the silver bubble in its crucible over the fire a little longer. Then he removed it and brought it over to cast the dagger. 

Each movement was precise, and he took each with care as if he were crafting the subtlest of masterpieces. He whistled to himself as he worked, continued to imbue it with his power throughout the entire process and ended the process with a final blow of the hammer. The dagger lay on the anvil, gleaming under the light, and he placed one last piece into it. Heating up the handle, he warmed the metal until it would give under his hammer. Then he embedded a single uncut ruby into it. This was the tricky part. He reached deep inside, grabbed a part of his soul and tore it away from the rest forcefully.

His body convulsed, and he screamed in agony, but he gritted his teeth and continued. This had to be done if the dagger was to guide his descendants. He directed the piece of his soul into the ruby and bound it there. Finished at last, he sagged to his knees on the ground and rested his head against the table. It was finished.

~~~

That’s it for this week, everyone! Have something you’d like to see on Flash Fiction Fridays? Feel free to leave the suggestion in the comments!

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #32

This week, I have a scene from Pathway of the Moon’s most recent chapter. I’ve got ten chapters to go in this monolith of a book! Super excited to have the end in sight. This has been my most rigorous project yet, and the sequel promises to be even more complex in its plot and the execution of that plot. Lots of threads are going to be woven into the story’s tapestry, and it’ll be interesting to pull them all together as things continue on through the story. Hopefully I have the skill to pull it off. But only time will tell!

~~~

ALRIAN and Brennan stared down at the blackened, charred path through the grain field. She couldn’t believe the amount of destruction this one creature was capable of. Of course, they had some destructive animals on Alcardia, but most of them were shy or reclusive, and they rarely caused much trouble even if they were capable of it.

Brennan put his hands on her hips with a groan. “This thing is certainly determined to leave a trail behind it.”

“It’s almost as if the creature wants us to find it.” Alrian leaned back into his chest. “Do you think it hurt any villagers this time?”

He raised an arm and pointed to the village nestled in all of the fields. “I don’t think so. The village is still in one piece, and it shows all the usual signs of life.”

She watched the smoke trail up from chimneys and nodded. Her Bond was probably right. He usually was. She craned her neck to look up at him. “You know, I’m very glad I don’t have to track this thing alone.”

“You would find it just fine on your own, especially if this thing were to continue leaving a trail this conspicuous.”

She turned her gaze back to the charred path through the fields with a sigh. “Why would it leave such an obvious path, Brennan? What do you think it wants?”

“No way of knowing.” He ran his fingers through her hair and turned her to face him. “But I think we’re going to find out. Together, as usual.”

She grinned. “Yes, yes, we are. That thing is going to wish it never stepped through that Pathway.”

“Don’t be hasty, love. Besides terrifying some villagers and terrorizing the local livestock population, it hasn’t actually hurt anything.”

“You’re forgetting the field.”

He snorted. “It didn’t burn the whole thing down. Just a small portion of it. Doesn’t really count.”

She smacked his shoulder. “Brennan! That’s someone’s livelihood.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t hurt me over it!” 

“Well, alright. This once, I’ll let it go, Captain.” She grinned up at him, not wanting to miss a chance to give him a hard time now that he was running the Imperial Knights.

He dipped his head until his lips almost brushed hers. Almost. But he didn’t close the last little bit of distance, the tease. She whined, but he only laughed. “Isn’t it High Imperial Knight now?”

“Why, sir, I didn’t know you were such a stickler for formality.” She smirked, her hands inching up his back to rest against his shoulders. She had to stand on her toes to reach, but he put his hands on her waist and steadied her, making the task easier.

“You’re the one who’s using formalities and titles.” His breath fanned over her face, and a shiver slipped down her spine. “Although, I’m not objecting.”

She bit her lip and lowered her gaze. “So, you’d accept any nickname I came up with, husband?”

“It would depend. But I haven’t heard one I didn’t like yet.” He finally dipped his head and claimed her lips for a breathless moment. “And I don’t think I will. Not if you give it with affection.”

She tried to hold back her smile and her laughter, but in the end it bubbled out. She dropped back to a flat-footed position and rested her forehead against his chest. Brennan always knew just what to say. He was always there, supporting and listening. He’d even kept her secret for her when he could’ve chosen to turn her in. After finding out she’d lied to him, he would’ve had every right. But instead, he’d loved her as much as her false identity allowed and kept the rest of his love to himself. Until now. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. “Thank you.”

He held her close too. “For what?”

“For caring.” She lifted her head. “For being you. For everything you do for me.”

He stroked her cheek with one large hand. “Anything for you, my love. Now, let’s get going. We have a creature to catch, and it isn’t waiting around. The sooner we catch it, the sooner we get to return to a warm bed and something besides hard tack.”

She pulled away and flipped her braid over her shoulder. “You love hard tack. It’s the best on-the-road food there is. Your words, not mine.”

He groaned. “I never said that. And why would you think I love hard tack?”

“You always ate my share and yours in our army days.”

“Only because you gave it to me. I was doing you a service.”

“A service?”

“The sergeant used to check up on everyone to make sure they ate their share. Do you know how many men got in trouble for not sticking to ration or for wasting their ration? I risked a good caning for you.”

“How come he never checked my share?”

Brennan gave her a sheepish grin. “Well, I may have told him I was taking your portion when you weren’t hungry.”

“You told Sergeant Croops that?” She stopped and stared at him.

“Yes.”

“And he didn’t turn your back black and blue?”

“No. But he told me if I didn’t finish both portions, I’d get two canings for taking an extra share and wasting it.”

“I can’t believe you did that!” She shook her head with a laugh. “So you didn’t really like hard tack?”

“No. I hated the stuff, to be honest.”

She chortled, wiping tears from her eyes. “I never knew.”

“Don’t laugh about my pain, woman! That was three years of misery while we were deployed out in the middle of nowhere.”

She dropped back to walk beside him, leaning into his side with a smile. “I won’t, I won’t. Thank you for eating double your share to save me from Sergeant Croops’ wrath.”

“You’re welcome. Glad to know you appreciate it. Later, you’d better show me just how much you appreciate it too. A massage and a hot meal sound nice.”

Her lips curved up in a smile. When they got to a village that had an inn to stay in for the night, she’d make sure they acquired a hot meal and the nicest bed she could find. And she’d pay for it out of her salary. If he wanted that and a massage, he’d have it. It was the least she could do for him. He’d given her so much, and she wanted him to know how much that meant. “You’ve got it.”

~~~

That’s it for this week’s WIP Wednesday. What are you guys working on? Feel free to share in the comments!

Sunday Sub-Genres: Flintlock Fantasy

Introduction

Most of us know what steampunk and Victorian fantasy is, but I’m guessing most of us haven’t heard of flintlock fantasy. To be honest, I myself hadn’t prior to researching different fantasy genres to discuss for Sunday Sub-Genres. It isn’t one of the more commonly known or widely spread genres in fantasy, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a style of fantasy that appeals to readers and writers alike, so we’d be amiss if we skipped it. Let’s get started!

Defining Flintlock Fantasy

Simply put, flintlock fantasy is fantasy written in a setting with all of the bells and whistles of the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. It received its name because the firearms’ advancement level is usually right around the flintlock stage of gun development. A creative name? Maybe not. But it does serve its purpose. Politically speaking, the scene is more attuned with Napoleonic-era Europe than you see in most fantasy stories, which typically use a more Middle Ages-style structure. So you’re going to see a rise of industry and industrial buildings as well as more technology. This makes things interesting, as you’ll see when you read through the next section of the post.

Writing Flintlock Fantasy

Now we get to the interesting part. We mostly know what to write and expect in typical fantasy genres, but flintlock fantasy is a whole different beast from what we’ve tackled in previous posts on fantasy sub-genres. Still, it makes for some fun combinations in story-telling, so let’s get into it!

Magic

We’re going to start here because this part is pretty unique to flintlock fantasy or any fantasy book that has a more developed society. Magic use can be all over the place in these books. Some have very high magic use while others really don’t. Some may keep the magic hidden away from general society while others may allow it out in the open. But here’s the thing. When you can easily gun down the mage with no magic of your own, things tend to shift in the power balance here. People with magic are no longer the only ones with an edge. They may use the magic to do many things, but if technology can do those same thing or do them more efficiently, then that leaves magic-users with an option: adapt or die in obscurity. Keep in mind that one of the most interesting things in flintlock fantasy is the way the authors end up combining magic and gunpowder. That can create some very interesting combinations and effects. So if you’re writing this genre, you’re going to do some serious thinking about magic and how you want to include it because this is one of the hardest decisions you’ll probably make regarding this type of fantasy.

Society

Here’s a critical one. Flintlock fantasy is set in a society on the cusp of some amazing inventions and changes, as well as some not so great ones. One way of life is slowly dying to give way for another, and depending on how you choose to tell the story, your tale will reflect that. It won’t have much of a choice because of the nature of flintlock fantasy. This opens the door for remarking, through the use of fiction, on the horrors of trends in society as technology began to really barrel forward. It allows writers a chance to make a commentary on history and on what may happen to us in the future because of it. 

Steam Power

Okay, this is a little of a weird one to include, but it’s also really important. You might be tempted to think at this point that this isn’t much different from steampunk besides maybe focusing more on flintlock innovations and what not. But that’s actually very far from the truth. While an argument could be made that these two are closely-related cousins, flintlock fantasy is not steampunk fantasy. So no steam-powered machines of gears and cogs that can do wild things. If it was an actual invention during the time period flintlock is based on, it’s probably fine. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t have anything steam-powered, but it shouldn’t be prominent or the focus because then you’d be writing steampunk, not flintlock fantasy.

Change and Military Might

Remember how I said your society is on the cusp of change? Well, it’s not just technology that changes. When technology changes, everything does. Your warfare tactics have to adapt. Your society alters to adapt to the new amenities and struggles. Most of us probably don’t even realize just how wide-spread the influence of technology is in our lives, and even though the technology in this case will just be gaining the first bit of momentum in a flintlock fantasy’s society, it’s going to create ripples. Nothing is going to be able to remain as it was, especially when it comes to guns and new weapons.

This means that flintlock fantasy often focuses on themes of change or military.

Plot

Flintlock fantasy is one of those sub-genres that has very high plot complexity. Because it draws on readers’ understanding of history, the time spent setting up the world is not as heavy as it would be for other types of fantasy. As such, more time is then devoted to the plot and making it full of action and battle. Since military is often a theme in flintlock fantasy, it’s quite usual to find that flintlock fantasy is more focused on a linear plot surrounding soldiers or military characters of some sort. Things are still changing in this genre, but one of the best ways to explain the plot is to say it’s high-powered. Lots of momentum, lots of forward movement. That’s going to be important if you want to write in this genre. There’s room for you to make it your own, of course, but these are some guidelines generally used for the genre.

Conclusion

Flintlock fantasy can be a lot of fun for the right writers. But it’s also specific in its requirements. If you want to have dwarves facing off against elves with bows, arrows, and swords, well… That’s not going to work in a flintlock fantasy for obvious reasons. They’re going to die because they’ll be up against guns, not bows and arrows, when they face off against the enemy. If you want to write this genre, I cannot stress enough how important it is to read books in the genre! These books can be pretty high violence and can get dark depending on the theme of change that’s focused on or what type of military themes are brought in. But if this is what you want to write, you absolutely must read it! I’ve included some recommendations below.

Brent Weeks’ works in particular are ones I’ve read some of, and I feel he’s a good author to learn from. Reviews are mixed, and there were certainly some things that weren’t the best about some of his earlier work, but he had a good grasp on how to write flintlock style fantasy. His societies are definitely ones on the cusp of change, and the one book I read through entirely (first in the Night Angel Trilogy) had very strong political and military themes. You don’t see as much of the guns side of things, but you definitely get an industrial revolution feel from it.

Sanderson is another very good author to learn from. I personally have learned a great deal from dissecting his work to learn from it, and I highly recommend you read his work, regardless of what sub-genre of fantasy you want to write. He’s a must-read fantasy author in my opinion, and you rob yourself of some seriously useful learning opportunities if you don’t take the time to read his work and digest it. His Mistborn series, Elantris, or Warbreaker are great places to start.

If you’re more of the epic fantasy sort, I can’t recommend his Stormlight Archives more highly. You’ll learn more about writing fantasy, phenomenal world-building, and superb characterization from reading his work and looking at what he does than you will from a lot of writing guides. Almost everything I know and nearly every technique I utilize for world-building in my novels came from what I learned reading the Stormlight Archives. I’ve since added to that knowledge, of course, but I haven’t seen a more valuable example of how to use extensive world-building well than I have in his work.

Further Resources and Reading

Brent Weeks’ Night Angel and Lightbringer series (Two separate series. Based on what I’ve read from Weeks, I don’t recommend this for kids. It would be best if readers are fifteen or sixteen at least because it gets pretty violent and has language.)

Brandon Sanderson’s Alloy of the Law (Sanderson is a phenomenal fantasy author to learn from! If you only read one book on the list here, read his. His books are generally suitable for those fourteen and up.)

*Bradley P. Beaulieu’s Lays of Anuskaya

*Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

*Michael A. Stackpole’s At the Queen’s Command

Flash Fiction Fridays – The Goal

This week’s flash fiction is from the universe of Aurelai. Hopefully you all find it interesting!

~~~

He tapped his long, bony fingers against the stone arm-rest of his throne. His bulbous eyes focused in on the connection he was maintaining between himself and his denizen. The creature had found the ruins in that other place, had found the source of power, and was waiting for the pursuit to catch up. It wasn’t the smartest of his subordinates, but it was the only one who wouldn’t appear too threatening to the beings of that other planet.

Non-threatening was key here if they were to deliver their message to these humanoid creatures. And it had been ingrained in them that they were to bring the son of shadows here. He didn’t know who that was, but this seemed like the best start on it. Up until recently, they’d been unable to make any headway at all. They had fought with Aurelai’s surface dwellers for a place in this world, for a way to access the Gate that would lead them to the son of shadows. But he hadn’t been able to use it. 

The way to that other place and the coordinates given had been useless. The Gate let the surface dwellers go other places, but it never admitted him or his men when those numbers were entered. He knew the Gate worked. He could feel the hum of energy right up until he fed the coordinates in his mind into the machine. And then the magic sputtered to a stop and the gears inside ground to a halt. 

But after centuries of surviving against all odds, they finally had broken through. The Gate had flashed and sent out a beacon with those coordinates, and he’d sent someone through. Now, he just had to wait.

Waiting was the hardest part, of course. He reached out with his mind, breaking the link with his subordinate. Nothing special going on over there. Until the Gate brought someone else to this world besides returning surface-dwellers and their goods, he didn’t care too much about what his liaison did. The runt was always a bit on the dull side, but it knew how to communicate well enough, so it served a purpose.

Heaving himself out of his chair, he clopped across the hall on his hind legs before dropping to all fours. Walking like the surface-dwellers became easier every day. Maybe if he kept working at it, he could finally gain freedom from this wretched prison. But until he looked like them, they would never accept him. And while his projection allowed him to appear human enough to them, he couldn’t hide a strange gait or awkward speech. But someday. Someday, he would be free to mingle up there. Free to find out what all the fuss was about in that cloud city. And he would find out himself. Maybe if he could understand them and their culture, the senseless killing of his people could stop. They were different, but that didn’t mean they were inhumane. It wasn’t their fault their creator made them with a goal that overrode any sense of humanity in them. But the goal didn’t control everything, and someday, once the son of shadows came, it would be gone. He would be free.

~~~

And there you have it! That’s it for this week. Have something you’d like to see in this section of the blog? Feel free to leave your suggestion in the comments below!

Work-In-Progress Wednesdays #31

This week’s WIP Wednesday is from Trader Prince of Aleshtain. Enjoy!

~~~

Eras left the sitting room and ambled down the halls. He had almost reached his door when Albhia’s voice arrested him. “Eras. Eras, wait.”

He stopped, but he didn’t turn to face her.

“Are you really going to leave without any assurance to me?”

“Assurance?” He knew what she wanted, of course. But it wasn’t something he would give.

“Yes, assurance. A token of affection? Proof that you’ll accept me?” Her voice rose in pitch, a sharp shrill of pain and anger. “What of that?”

“What of it?” He still kept his back to her.

“You will give it. So why are you making me wait.”

He laughed. “I will not give it.”

She sucked in a breath. “You led me to believe—”

He turned then. “It was your own delusion that led you on, not me. It’s only my rspect for your father that has kept me from more harshly declining the proposed match. I believe I had already made it clear in Aleshtain that I would not wed you.”

“But your father…” Her pretty blue eyes filled with tears. 

“Is not in charge of my destiny or who I wed. Did you think his favor meant anything to me, Princess? Did you think he liked you?”

She stared up at him with wet eyes.

“Because I respect your father, I will do my best to teach you a lesson he tried to teach but couldn’t. The world is a cruel place, and my father is crueler still. He has no fondness for anything except the land he’ll gain.”

“How can you think that?”

He sighed. Teaching her and opening her eyes to life’s unfairness wasn’t his job. “Because it’s true.”

“It can’t be.”

“Believe what you like, Princess. I hope your naivety doesn’t land you in too much trouble.” Turning his back on her, he strode the rest of the way to his room and left her to find her own way back to her bedroom.

~~~

So, what are you all working on? Now that NaNoWriMo is over, are you starting new projects or still editing the one from November? Feel free to share in the comments below, regardless of what your current WIP is. Just remember to keep content and feedback clean and courteous toward others.

Holiday Giveaway Announcement

Hey, everyone! I’m happy to announce that Port & Key has graciously offered to put up two ebooks for giveaway for this holiday giveaway. They’re offering a copy of the new anthology, The Mage’s Apprentice, and a copy of Amber D. Boyd’s, Howling at the Moon (if you’ve read my review then you already know I enjoyed it). As such, we’ll have two different winners for this competition.

The rules for this one are simple. If you aren’t already subscribed to my email list, subscribe to that. Everyone who subscribes between today and January 15th will be included in the random drawing for the ebooks. Please be aware that if you win, I will need an email address for Port & Key to email you your ebook copy through Bookfunnel. Amber and I both promise not to share the email with anyone. We hate spam as much as the next people, and we’re not about to contribute to it!

If you’re already subscribed to the email list, you can still join. Just shoot me a quick email at arielpaimenet@gmail.com so I know you’re already subscribed and would like to participate.

That’s it. Super simple, right? I hope so, anyway! I’m really excited for this giveaway, and there are lots of good stories in the anthology, not to mention Howling at the Moon, which is a great short story too.

Happy holiday season to you all!

The Mage’s Apprentice Is Live!

Hi everyone! This is the update I promised for The Mage’s Apprentice. It was released on Friday, but we had to wait to announce the buy links until the book was in the right categories and properly set up on Amazon. Now it is, and I’ve got everything to share with you all, including a press release on the book from Port & Key!

We would really like to make this anthology another #1 Bestseller on Amazon, just like we did with the previous one, so if you’re looking for a Christmas gift for a loved one who’s a bookworm, this might be just what you’re looking for. Pricing is pretty affordable for both Kindle and print, so please consider purchasing a copy.

You can view the press release here.

The Amazon print book is available here. And the ebook version is available here.

Howling at the Moon – The Surprise Ending

Introduction

To start off with, let me say that Howling at the Moon is a short story, not a book. So my review on the writers’ end of things will be a little bit shorter than it would normally be since there wasn’t as much in the book to dig into. But we’ll still go over that section, so let’s just dive right in!

Reader’s Review

Amber offered me a copy of this story when I mentioned I did book reviews on The Fantasy Nook and was looking to build up the content in that area. This was an already published work she had out, and I’m so glad I took her up on the offer of a free copy to review! This short story was over way too fast. I loved it, and I was really sad to see it end. The story drew me in from the start and held my attention through to the finish. The ending is a little bit unexpected, or, at least, it was for me, so I was a bit surprised by it. I had mixed emotions as a reader on the ending side of things. A part of me was glad that things worked out how they did, but another part was worried it might end nowhere good for the characters in the future. But, hey, it’s a short story, so the beauty of the ending is that we don’t know either way what happens as a result. All in all, I would definitely recommend reading the story. You can get a copy through Port & Key’s website or use the Amazon and Kobo links posted there to grab a copy.

Writer’s Review

Okay, those of you who are still with me are probably here looking to see what you can learn. If you’re just interested in reading the story or, at the very least, want to read it before I spoil it, please don’t read any further! There will be discussion on the story’s techniques and specific details, so please take the time to read the short story if you don’t want it spoiled. Then come back here.

Still here? Okay, let’s get started then!

The main thing I saw that was done extremely well was the twist ending Amber gave the story. At the beginning of the story, we have our protagonist, a witch who bakes cakes and cupcakes, and a woman who comes into the shop. The woman ends up having a tarot reading done by our protagonist, claiming she wants to know if her husband is cheating on her.

At this point in the story, I’m assuming that the main character might somehow help this poor woman or, since I didn’t realize it wasn’t a full-length novel, that the woman was just part of scenes to set up the main story. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Turned out the guy our protagonist was dating was married to the woman who came in for a reading, and they’d split, so the woman was trying to kill him. Now, I’m not entirely sure if she did it because she wanted to make sure that if she couldn’t have him nobody would or if she just did it out of spite and anger. Who knows. But I wasn’t expecting her to actually kill him, using the spelled cake made by the protagonist to fulfill the woman’s wish. The protagonist’s sympathy was misplaced, apparently.

None of this was anything I expected, but I really didn’t expect the finale. The protagonist tries to bring her lover back from the dead, and Circe, the goddess of magic the witches are bound to in this story, agrees upon the condition that our protagonist becomes immortal and acts as her hand to remind the other covens who is really in control. Yup. She ends the story with a shade for a lover, whom she can only see during witching hour, and immortality for herself. Not at all what I was expecting to happen.

But, it worked really well. Amber set it up beautifully, and even though I never saw it coming, it made sense later after I’d finished the story. For those of us trying to achieve a similar effect with our endings, this is a good lesson in doing so. Set up the clues, make them subtle but still there, and then surprise the reader with the ending those clues led to. After you do that, you’ll have the certainty that most readers will understand why the ending was what it was, even if they didn’t expect it at first. 

The Mage’s Apprentice Anthology

Hi, everyone! I’m just giving a quick update for everyone on an anthology I’m in. I was just given the green light to share about it and to share the graphics. The anthology is fantasy and is based on the premise of using, learning, or teaching magic. It will be releasing on December 13th of this year. As soon as I have the blurb and the buy links, I’ll share those here for everyone. For now, I’ve just got the graphic I was given to share. There’ll be more on the book once I’ve got it. My particular story is high fantasy set in the same world as Bane of Ashkarith. So if you guys enjoyed that, you’ll probably enjoy this new story. If you haven’t read Bane of Ashkarith yet, then my short story, Rith’s Disciple, will be an awesome introduction to the world and will add new layers of depth to the novella.

Giveaway Winner Announcement and Book Update

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway! The winner for this giveaway is Joanna White. For those who didn’t win this time, keep an eye out for future giveaways!

And in other news, everyone, Pathway of the Moon is almost finished! I’m really excited about this since the book has been over a year in the making and will be closing out at a total of 60 chapters. Yup. 60 chapters. It’s the longest piece I’ve ever undertaken, and while I’m not sure just yet what will happen with the sequel, with what I currently have in mind, I’m guessing the second book will be pretty long as well. So that’s fun!

Last update for everyone! Next July, the anthology myself and author Joanna White are compiling. We’ve got lots of interesting stories and great authors with us! My particular story is historical fiction set in Victorian England in the countryside. The anthology is historical fantasy. I’ll have more info on that once we’ve got a pre-order link and are releasing our cover art for the anthology. I’m just about bursting with excitement to share that, but I can’t yet, so we’ll all just have to wait. The hope is to have the pre-order link out in February or March and to release the book in July. So it’ll be a bit before I can share.

Mindfire – Worldviews in Writing

Introduction

Okay, guys! So, this book review is a little bit of a different fantasy sub-genre than I’ve reviewed in the past. Hunter and Shifter were both more allegorical fantasy or high fantasy. This one is superhero fantasy. If you don’t know what that is, you can take a look at my Sunday Sub-Genres post on it here.

Normally, I’m not much for superhero books, honestly, so when Allen asked me if I did book reviews on my blog–which I do–and asked me if I’d be willing to review Mindfire, I was kind of a little bit… Hesitant. Yeah, I know. I read a lot, and so why would I be hesitant about this? Well, my family and good friends will attest to the fact that I seriously have a thing against superhero movies on the whole. I watch very few of them. Sorry to those of you out there who adore the genre! I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, obviously. I’m just saying I don’t enjoy it. Doctor Strange and the very rare episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D when my family has it on is the extent of my superhero movie or show watching.

Given that, you might understand why I didn’t really feel overly excited about Mindfire. More like, cautiously curious. I knew Allen was a Christian author though, so I was really interested to see how he would handle superpowers and weaving God into his stories. I was pretty happy with what I got. So, that said, let’s get into the reader’s review first, and then we’ll talk about the writer’s side of it.

Reader’s Review

As I said above, I wasn’t jumping with excitement over reading Mindfire. I approached the book with curiosity because it wasn’t my usual genre. However, since I’d just finished blogging about superhero fantasy, I thought it would be a great example for my blog’s review section to help those looking to write this kind of fantasy.

As a reader, I found that I did have a bit of trouble getting into the story at first. I guess just because I don’t usually enjoy the genre. It also didn’t help that my reading time often consists of ten minutes snatched before work shifts or on a break from grading papers. So not all of the attention issues stemmed from the book. However, once I was into the book, I did enjoy it a lot more. I was invested in the characters and wanted to see what would happen to them.

Allen used a varied approach in how people had powers and why, which I appreciated. Some of the superheros were your typical, my powers just showed up or I had an accident and they manifested, kind of superhero. But others were genetic, like the werecats and werefoxes. One of my biggest complaints about superhero-themed books and movies is that they generally tend to develop the powers because they were in some freak accident or something. Obviously, that doesn’t hold true in every case, but things get pretty predictable after a while in the genre. Because that’s one of my biggest pet peeves about the genre, I was extremely happy to see that Allen didn’t do that. The story, while it may have highlighted superpowers, did not tell the typical story you see in the superhero genre.

One noticeable difference I saw was the characterization. Often, superhero films and the few books I have read seem to portray superheros as these epitomes of goodness. That’s going by the wayside a bit as you get heroes like Arrow who aren’t always morally black and white, and I appreciate that shift. I do believe right and wrong should be clear in any book or movie, and Allen definitely adhered to that, but the choices we make aren’t always black and white. I felt that Allen’s characters stayed true to that. Some of them made really terrible choices and had to live with the consequences, but all of them came across as very human. They had reasons for what they did, even if the reasons weren’t good. Superhero and supervillain alike struggled with decisions made and had things they regretted. In short, the characters weren’t all good or all bad. Even the best of them had their problems, just like we do in real life.

If you really enjoy this genre, you’re probably going to like this book. I will say that, for those who aren’t religious or aren’t Christian, just to be very transparent, you may not be the audience for this book. Allen is very overt in his talk about God, Christ, and salvation. Even when it isn’t directly mentioned, the theme of second chances, redemption, and forgiveness are woven throughout the entire book. If you don’t mind this, you’re probably going to enjoy the story. If you’re actively anti-Christian or just prefer to avoid reading books that are openly pressing home the points of Christianity, you may not like this. Still, if that’s not you or you’re just on the fence, I would highly recommend this book to you. It’s a good choice, and once I got into it, it was a very easy read with relatable characters. I don’t think you’ll regret it. As a bonus, parents, if you’re looking for a good book for your superhero-loving child or teen, this book would be appropriate for even the younger kids, though it might be a little hard for some of the young ones to grasp all the concepts.

If you’re interested in Mindfire, the purchase link is below.

Amazon

Writer’s Review

For those of you who are here to learn more about the craft of writing, this review is for you. Don’t read this if you plan to read the book and wish to avoid spoilers. Read the book first, then come back to this if you’re interested in seeing my take on what we can pull from this book. With that disclaimer, let’s jump right into this.

Characterization

Let’s start here because this is one of the things I felt the author did a phenomenal job with! Now, I kind of came to this book expecting a run of the mill superhero story. I was not, by any means, expecting characters who would come to life on the page the way Allen’s did. I guess I was anticipating larger than life characters for both superheros and supervillains. Relatable was definitely not in the list of expectations.

So, I was very happy when I discovered that the characters were relatable. Particularly Leia and Dane. These two characters both had superpowers, and both of them discovered more about themselves and those powers in the course of the book. These characters definitely went through some traumatic stuff. Dane lost his mom, the only family he felt he had left. Leia lost both of her aunts by the time things were said and done, she killed one of those aunts trying to protect her birth mother, husband, and unborn child, and she discovered her mother wasn’t really her mother, among other things. To top it all off, her birth mother is the supervillain everyone most feared: Malevolence. Not exactly what one wants to discover about one of their parents, right? 

Through all of these challenges and difficulties, these two characters continually rise to the challenge. But they don’t make the choices you normally see people make in the superhero genre. These two, one of them a previous superhero and the other trying to figure out where she fits, both end up deciding not to become superheros. I was a bit shocked by this turn of events, especially with Dane, because their parents were superheros, and they had powers. Normally, things go the direction of saving the world (or at least their city) one crook at a time. But not with Mindfire. 

All throughout the book, every character faces difficulties and decisions that aren’t fun to make. Leia and Dane are only two examples, which I felt were very prominent. But even the super-villain, Malevolence, is made relatable and human for the reader as the reasons for her choices and the difficulties she faced, which led to her assuming the identity Malevolence, are revealed through the book. No character remained flat or inaccessible because of some super-human ideal. Unlike Superman, who almost doesn’t seem touchable, every superhero and supervillain in this book is as human as you and I, with the exception of having a little extra boost of superhuman ability.

While not everyone here is going to write a superhero book, everyone here will have some degree of characterization required for their story. With Mindfire, you see a very good example of how to make characters realistic and relatable for the reader. If you’re writing fantasy, there’s a pretty good chance magic is involved, even if it isn’t in the form of superpowers, and other species besides humanity may also be front and center. You need to ensure that, despite these differences, readers can connect, and Mindfire is an excellent example of how to do that.

Themes

This is another area I felt worked well for Mindfire. Allen did a good job of weaving themes into his story. You can see the Christian influence everywhere, but this book isn’t allegorical like Joanna’s books Shifter and Hunter. Set in this world as opposed to other planets, Mindfire took a much less subtle, but still appropriate, approach to the author’s worldview. The most obvious themes in the book are those of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances.

Malevolence is probably the clearest example of these themes. While she wasn’t necessarily a huge obstacle our heroine had to overcome to save her loved ones and home, she still made choices that, while relatable, led to suffering. In particular, her choices in trying to be a mother to Leia indirectly led to the death of Leia’s mother-in-law and Black Fox, Dane’s mother. Her choices also led directly to deaths or injuries to people around Leia as Malevolence used her telepathy or telekinesis to protect her daughter. Through the course of the book, Malevolence gradually changes. She reverts back to Angela Merrick, her original identity, for a time until that’s too much to bear because of the guilt and pain. But once she’s back to Malevolence’s personality, she still doesn’t quite become like she was. Far from being a heartless villain who wants only power, she is a concerned mother, about to become a grandmother, and a grieving individual who has lost too much. As the story continues, Malevolence eventually does find forgiveness and redemption as well as a second chance. She goes from being the villain everyone fears to being friends with her daughter’s family and having a place to belong.

For writers interested in using themes, what you can learn from Allen’s approach in Mindfire is two-fold. First, you have to realize that a theme should be a natural extension of the story. If Malevolence hadn’t been working toward being better, hadn’t realized her mistakes, hadn’t regretted anything, then Allen’s themes wouldn’t have worked out. The characters and the story have to support it. Two, the integration should be smooth. If it fits well with the characters and story, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but the key point here is that readers should get the idea without being smacked in the face with it. It should be clear but not overwhelming or obvious in a heavy-handed way.

Christianity

Okay, so this was an area I had mixed feelings on. Allen wove themes of Christianity into the entire novel. (See my previous point on those themes). That worked really, really well for Mindfire. However, he also included some places where salvation, God, and Christ were discussed quite prominently. As a Christian author, I wasn’t particularly bothered by this. I appreciate the courage it takes for an author to overtly include Christianity that way because it definitely will alienate certain audiences. The mixed feelings came in more with certain conversations. Some of them felt a little bit contrived.

There were a few I really liked, such as the conversation between Leia and Sue, her adoptive mother, at a few points in the book as Sue tries to help Leia to understand that Christ and a relationship with God can be the calm in her storm as well as an answer to her current unrest. However, there were others that felt much less natural. The points where Leia was saved and the conversations between Sue and her mother in the flashback scenes felt a little more heavy-handed. They pulled me out of the story to sit and think about the scene instead of reading through it, grasping the main concept being presented, and moving on. I didn’t enjoy those parts as much because they felt out-of-place instead of intentionally woven in. The different terms used were also very much “Christianese”.

I think the thing to learn here is that your worldview, no matter what it is, can be presented in a way that’s natural and in a way that’s heavy-handed. Obviously, you don’t want to be the kind of writer who tries to hide their worldview. That’s not a good thing, and it’s, in my opinion at least, wrong to manipulate the reader like that. But worldview and beliefs ought to be woven into the story so that readers are able to see how it fits. It needs to make sense. If it’s feeling forced at all, it probably is. So, if you really need it to be there, find a way to smooth it out and fit it in without trying to make a round peg fit in a square hole. Readers will notice if you’re forcing it, and that isn’t what you want.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, despite points where the use of Christian terminology and Christian viewpoints was a little preachy, the book was still a good read. I skimmed those parts and moved on with reading the story without too much disruption to my suspension of belief. For writers looking to learn from Allen’s use of writing techniques in Mindfire, there’s definitely a lot to learn. Picking apart his writing style and the various tools he used will provide you with a lot of different things to learn. I’ve just scratched the surface in covering the areas I felt were most important. Hopefully you’ve learned something from this though. If you’re interested in Mindfire, the purchase link is below.

Amazon