Helen Lowe's Blog, page 53
October 14, 2020
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Kylin
USA
The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:
“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alphabet...
October 11, 2020
What I’m Reading: “The Darkest Evening” (Vera Stanhope Series) by Ann Cleeves
I wasn’t always a reader of detective novels and police procedurals, but was introduced to them by my sister, primarily through Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallender novels. I’m still not a big reader in the genre, but there are some great characters and stories out there to be discovered. Plus when you’re (“one is” 
October 7, 2020
Sea House Marines in “The Wall Of Night” Series
USA
My last About The Characters post featured Koris, a marine escorting Lord Nimor, the Sea House’ envoy.
Posting about Koris recalled a conversation with a friend away-aways back, who was puzzled about why I called the Sea House soldiers “marines.” Her puzzlement chielfy arose because she thought marines were, by definition, specifically a US military corps.
My reply was that, in fact, “marines” is precisely the right term for troops trained to serve on land or sea, in the same way that “sailo...
October 4, 2020
Gorgeous Words: Laini Taylor and “Strange the Dreamer”
It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a Gorgeous Words post, but I can think of absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t dip back in, and add to, an earlier post series — or more of a mini series in this case. 
October 1, 2020
On Supernatural Underground Now: Worldbuilding in Fantasy #9 — The Many Worlds Of Kate Elliott
w00t! Tis 1 October time and you know what that means!
Yup, you got it: it’s time for my next Supernatural Underground post on Worldbuilding in Fantasy.
This month it’s lucky post #9 and I’m featuring another master worldbuilder, the impressive Kate Elliott. Not least because I’m honing in on not just one world, but many…
To find out more, click on:
Year of Worldbuilding in Fantasy #9 — The Many Worlds Of Kate Elliott
September 27, 2020
Swing Into Spring
Tis that time of year again: just as the Northern Hemisphere (NH) year is “closing in” to autumn, with all its colour, followed by winter (yes, indeed-y, “winter is coming” for NH folk) we are starting the swing into spring.
Although last Wednesday, rather than any business of future arrival, the temperature gauge suggested summer was well and truly here!
Since then, the weather has generally reverted to vernal, while remaining mild where I live, but everywhere I look we’re well into spring, esp...
September 23, 2020
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Koris
UK/AU/NZ
The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:
“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alp...
September 20, 2020
A Quintessential Female “Lovable Rogue”
Faith Lehane: last week’s rogue, mostly lovable…
September 16, 2020
Inside the Writing Life: Fun With Friends
It’s been a year for putting the shutters up…
In this time of Covid, I’ve frequently joked that the writing life is “naturally self-isolating”—and although speaking in humour, it’s also true, by and large, since one of the key ingredients for writing (for most writers, although I’m sure there are exceptions) is uninterrupted writing time.
The corollary of this, of course, is that storytelling and literature spring from observation, interaction, and the hurly-burly of life. So although writing ma...
September 13, 2020
Having Fun With Epic Fantasy #13: We All Love To Love — The Lovable Rogue
Han Solo the quintessential “lovable rogue”
Long before fantasy-dom began adopting anti-heroes as main characters (in my mind, Michael Moorcock was an early adaptor, with the Elric novels), the “lovable rogue” was an established, some would say essential part of the canon.
Very often, the lovable rogue overlaps with the sidekick, characters that (as discussed in Post #12) sometimes morph into central, point-of-view (pov) protagonists in their own right. The single best example I can think of whe...
