Cameron Darrow's Blog, page 8
September 9, 2021
Writing Smart Characters
One question I see floating around for authors is 'How do you write characters who are smarter than you?', and since one of my characters is a doctor of physics and very much smarter than I will ever be, I thought I would throw in a few of my own answers.
The easiest one is: take your time. You have months, maybe years in which to write a novel, you don't have to think the way your character does in 'real time', as it were. Just like the rest of the story, what takes a reader seconds or minutes to read can take... a lot longer... to think up and write down.
Do your research. You don't have to know everything they know, just enough to fill in the story. In the Ashes books, Victoria understands general and special relativity, a good chunk of quantum mechanics, atomic structure, and has the periodic table memorized (just to start). I... don't. But I don't need to! I need to know enough to draw on and so that she can throw out examples here and there. It's also important to know enough to not egregiously break the rules. In Victoria's case, that's physics. She can't do anything, she still has to conform to natural laws. She can bend them, though. But she can't do that if I don't know what they are.
Write to your strengths and interests. This is something that applies to writing historical fiction in general, as well. Choose a strength/area of education for your character that you're already interested in. This will make research more enjoyable, and give you a sturdier base from which to start from. You'll learn things you want know, and that enthusiasm will infect your characters, as well. Victoria gets really excited about really esoteric stuff, but that's part of the charm of her character, and it feels authentic. Her enthusiasm is enhanced by my enthusiasm, because I think that stuff is neat, too.
The last method I'll go into is: work backwards. Start at the end, then figure out what the character needs to know to get there. Don't stick her in a box with no air holes and then figure out how to get her out. (Unless that works for you! Some people need the pressure to solve problems, and that's fine, too. This is just one way.) Remember, you have the solutions to the problems they face, because you're the one who made up the problem!
These are just of the few ways that I've used along the way, there are many more. I hope you find them useful, because the world needs more smart characters!
The easiest one is: take your time. You have months, maybe years in which to write a novel, you don't have to think the way your character does in 'real time', as it were. Just like the rest of the story, what takes a reader seconds or minutes to read can take... a lot longer... to think up and write down.
Do your research. You don't have to know everything they know, just enough to fill in the story. In the Ashes books, Victoria understands general and special relativity, a good chunk of quantum mechanics, atomic structure, and has the periodic table memorized (just to start). I... don't. But I don't need to! I need to know enough to draw on and so that she can throw out examples here and there. It's also important to know enough to not egregiously break the rules. In Victoria's case, that's physics. She can't do anything, she still has to conform to natural laws. She can bend them, though. But she can't do that if I don't know what they are.
Write to your strengths and interests. This is something that applies to writing historical fiction in general, as well. Choose a strength/area of education for your character that you're already interested in. This will make research more enjoyable, and give you a sturdier base from which to start from. You'll learn things you want know, and that enthusiasm will infect your characters, as well. Victoria gets really excited about really esoteric stuff, but that's part of the charm of her character, and it feels authentic. Her enthusiasm is enhanced by my enthusiasm, because I think that stuff is neat, too.
The last method I'll go into is: work backwards. Start at the end, then figure out what the character needs to know to get there. Don't stick her in a box with no air holes and then figure out how to get her out. (Unless that works for you! Some people need the pressure to solve problems, and that's fine, too. This is just one way.) Remember, you have the solutions to the problems they face, because you're the one who made up the problem!
These are just of the few ways that I've used along the way, there are many more. I hope you find them useful, because the world needs more smart characters!
September 3, 2021
Going With Your Gut
I don't plan out scenes. Not totally, anyway. For big story-altering scenes I have a very good idea of what happens and what it needs to do, so I go into those with my eyes open. But what about the other scenes? The ones that connect this to that?
Many times, I'm not sure where it's going exactly, but I know what needs to happen in the story, so I trust my writing instincts to shepherd it along. This has been the case in the first few scenes of Book V, where I know the tone I want to set, and the overall goals of the early moments, but I don't know exactly what the characters are going to say, or exactly which beats I'm going to introduce.
I follow my gut. And I don't really question that choice anymore. Earlier in my writing journey I would have hesitated a lot more to Leeroy Jenkins my way through a book, but now, especially with the Ashes series, I've learned to trust that the ground is actually there, and I'm not just leaping into empty space. I know these characters and this world so well, I can let the story tell itself in some cases, more so once I have the overall book outlined.
I count on it, really. I don't write complete outlines, and I've stopped trying. I know all the major plot points and where they happen, but leave the bits in between to what I come up with on the day, and it's worked out pretty well so far! One advantage is that it forces you to come up with solutions. When you're in the scene, you have to put the words down, and that means committing to something, even if you change it later. Sometimes you surprise yourself, and "improvise" your way into something that you can use for the entire rest of the book! A subplot, or a key to unlocking an element of the pain plot, and so on.
I can't recommend this technique to beginning writers, when it's really important to learn what you're doing first, and internalize what the purpose of different story elements are, especially when it pertains to structure and character arcs. I've learned to do it this way because it works for me, and it's something I'm only publicly admitting I do now, while I'm writing my seventh(!) novel.
The time before you start a story is always the most intimidating, when all you have is a white screen and a handful of notes to go on. But once you get stuck in and you're putting words down and solving problems, success begets success, and you stop worrying. (Or, I do, at any rate.) You can always fix stuff later! There is a lot to be said for experience, but you won't have any if you don't get any. It sounds like a tautology, and maybe it is, but what I'm trying to say is: you can't learn what works for you if you don't go through the process of finding out.
Everyone writes differently, there is no one way, otherwise we would all do it. Find yours and let the magic flow.
Many times, I'm not sure where it's going exactly, but I know what needs to happen in the story, so I trust my writing instincts to shepherd it along. This has been the case in the first few scenes of Book V, where I know the tone I want to set, and the overall goals of the early moments, but I don't know exactly what the characters are going to say, or exactly which beats I'm going to introduce.
I follow my gut. And I don't really question that choice anymore. Earlier in my writing journey I would have hesitated a lot more to Leeroy Jenkins my way through a book, but now, especially with the Ashes series, I've learned to trust that the ground is actually there, and I'm not just leaping into empty space. I know these characters and this world so well, I can let the story tell itself in some cases, more so once I have the overall book outlined.
I count on it, really. I don't write complete outlines, and I've stopped trying. I know all the major plot points and where they happen, but leave the bits in between to what I come up with on the day, and it's worked out pretty well so far! One advantage is that it forces you to come up with solutions. When you're in the scene, you have to put the words down, and that means committing to something, even if you change it later. Sometimes you surprise yourself, and "improvise" your way into something that you can use for the entire rest of the book! A subplot, or a key to unlocking an element of the pain plot, and so on.
I can't recommend this technique to beginning writers, when it's really important to learn what you're doing first, and internalize what the purpose of different story elements are, especially when it pertains to structure and character arcs. I've learned to do it this way because it works for me, and it's something I'm only publicly admitting I do now, while I'm writing my seventh(!) novel.
The time before you start a story is always the most intimidating, when all you have is a white screen and a handful of notes to go on. But once you get stuck in and you're putting words down and solving problems, success begets success, and you stop worrying. (Or, I do, at any rate.) You can always fix stuff later! There is a lot to be said for experience, but you won't have any if you don't get any. It sounds like a tautology, and maybe it is, but what I'm trying to say is: you can't learn what works for you if you don't go through the process of finding out.
Everyone writes differently, there is no one way, otherwise we would all do it. Find yours and let the magic flow.
August 27, 2021
Callbacks vs. Payoffs
So last week I talked about going back through the other books in the series searching for inspiration and things to draw on in the new one, and I want to elaborate on that a bit.
When writing a series, the early books have events, dialogue, scenarios, etc. that are set-ups that are fully intended to pay off down the road. They're deliberate, and openly hint at things to come or leave the door wide open for them, things you the reader might be able to guess at. Victoria getting her acceptance letter at the end of book 3 is paid off by having Doctor Ravenwood step onto the scene in book 4.
Then you have foreshadowing, which can set the tone for the rest of the story, or give hints as to where it's going, so it doesn't feel like the writer just pulled a solution/the ending out of thin air. In book 4, an early scene has Millie looking at a picture of Elise, then immediately arguing with Niamh, setting up her choice towards the end about what to do about her future.
Then there are callbacks. Callbacks are basically references to things that happened before, and can help knit the (story) universe together by providing a sense of continuity above and beyond the events and character arcs. In book 3, Victoria wears Collette's bridal gauntlets to the witch Council in France. Those gauntlets are only mentioned once, offhand, at the beginning of book 1! But they come back.
Now that I'm on the final books, I'm having fun laying down the end points for all three of these types of table-setting (Did you think we would see Elise's apple pin from the very first scene of Remember, November again? What else might we see again?), but I am trying to be very careful of being too self-referential. I see this a lot as series wind down, and it gets annoying. These last books are their own thing, and should stand on their own without needing to be draped in the costumes of the old ones to be interesting.
Still, it can be fun, and satisfying, especially on re-reads, to discover things that are only obvious the second time around, or for them to take on new importance when you know what they mean for the future.
Book 5 has some of all three already, and my notebooks are full to bursting. Once the books are done, they're done, and I won't get the chance again, so I have to make them count.
When writing a series, the early books have events, dialogue, scenarios, etc. that are set-ups that are fully intended to pay off down the road. They're deliberate, and openly hint at things to come or leave the door wide open for them, things you the reader might be able to guess at. Victoria getting her acceptance letter at the end of book 3 is paid off by having Doctor Ravenwood step onto the scene in book 4.
Then you have foreshadowing, which can set the tone for the rest of the story, or give hints as to where it's going, so it doesn't feel like the writer just pulled a solution/the ending out of thin air. In book 4, an early scene has Millie looking at a picture of Elise, then immediately arguing with Niamh, setting up her choice towards the end about what to do about her future.
Then there are callbacks. Callbacks are basically references to things that happened before, and can help knit the (story) universe together by providing a sense of continuity above and beyond the events and character arcs. In book 3, Victoria wears Collette's bridal gauntlets to the witch Council in France. Those gauntlets are only mentioned once, offhand, at the beginning of book 1! But they come back.
Now that I'm on the final books, I'm having fun laying down the end points for all three of these types of table-setting (Did you think we would see Elise's apple pin from the very first scene of Remember, November again? What else might we see again?), but I am trying to be very careful of being too self-referential. I see this a lot as series wind down, and it gets annoying. These last books are their own thing, and should stand on their own without needing to be draped in the costumes of the old ones to be interesting.
Still, it can be fun, and satisfying, especially on re-reads, to discover things that are only obvious the second time around, or for them to take on new importance when you know what they mean for the future.
Book 5 has some of all three already, and my notebooks are full to bursting. Once the books are done, they're done, and I won't get the chance again, so I have to make them count.
August 20, 2021
Back to the Future
Writing a series is hard. Really hard.
There's a lot to keep track of, arcs to plan out, time to commit, lots and lots and lots of words to put down on the page, and the ever-present fear that you could f*ck it all up at any point.
But one of the great benefits is being able to go back into previous books when you get stuck. Or when your motivation flees you and can't be tracked down. There's inspiration waiting in virtually every scene, seeing how far your characters have come knowing how far they still have to go. You want them to get there, but they never will unless you do it yourself.
And not just character development, you can go back and find things to call back to or pay off that help make the world feel coherent and lived in, which is always fun as both a writer and a reader.
I know where the series is going, so going back can also make it easier to connect the dots from here to there. It's a lot less daunting, because you're not making something out of whole cloth, you're evolving something that already exists. The firmer a grasp you have on where you're going, the more it feels like your filling in an empty patch rather than building out some endless pathway into infinity.
As I go back through the old books, I've been keeping notes on what I find. Things I can use, callbacks, references, and most of all, stuff I just straight-up forgot about. The arc of one character in particular has been helped immensely by going back and re-reading some of her sections, answering a question I'd been sweating over for a few days. I won't say who or why, obviously, but it was a forehead-slapping "Of course!" realization that comes with the territory of having such a volume of stuff to keep track of.
For these last two books, I'm writing everything down. I simply can't keep everything straight in my head anymore (the series is at right about half-a-million words right now!), and hopefully they will be better, and all the more satisfying, because of it.
Where we're going, we do need roads. Ones that go in both directions.
There's a lot to keep track of, arcs to plan out, time to commit, lots and lots and lots of words to put down on the page, and the ever-present fear that you could f*ck it all up at any point.
But one of the great benefits is being able to go back into previous books when you get stuck. Or when your motivation flees you and can't be tracked down. There's inspiration waiting in virtually every scene, seeing how far your characters have come knowing how far they still have to go. You want them to get there, but they never will unless you do it yourself.
And not just character development, you can go back and find things to call back to or pay off that help make the world feel coherent and lived in, which is always fun as both a writer and a reader.
I know where the series is going, so going back can also make it easier to connect the dots from here to there. It's a lot less daunting, because you're not making something out of whole cloth, you're evolving something that already exists. The firmer a grasp you have on where you're going, the more it feels like your filling in an empty patch rather than building out some endless pathway into infinity.
As I go back through the old books, I've been keeping notes on what I find. Things I can use, callbacks, references, and most of all, stuff I just straight-up forgot about. The arc of one character in particular has been helped immensely by going back and re-reading some of her sections, answering a question I'd been sweating over for a few days. I won't say who or why, obviously, but it was a forehead-slapping "Of course!" realization that comes with the territory of having such a volume of stuff to keep track of.
For these last two books, I'm writing everything down. I simply can't keep everything straight in my head anymore (the series is at right about half-a-million words right now!), and hopefully they will be better, and all the more satisfying, because of it.
Where we're going, we do need roads. Ones that go in both directions.
August 12, 2021
The... End...?
Work continues apace on Book V (and VI, really); I wrote my first new words for it in almost two years. The outline isn't done, and I have a lot of questions left to answer, but there was one scene I know has to happen that I saw so clearly I had to get it down before it evaporated.
This post isn't about that scene.
It's about the last one. Ever. I didn't write it, but I think I saw it. I've always known how the series is going to end, but in an overall sense, not in 'this is what the last scene is going to be' kind of way. I might now.
How I feel about the end of the series is a topic that's going to come up a lot between now and when it's out, but I would like to document my feelings as I make the journey.
Having that glimpse, however brief (and probably temporary) of the last scene of the last book is something I'm still coming to terms with. I started writing Remember, November in the autumn of 2016. These books have been omnipresent in my thoughts since then (even when I'm working on other books!), and the idea that is has an end, and actual concrete, that's it, end hasn't fully sunk in yet. Make no mistake, I'm still a long way from getting there, but I've seen it. I've felt part of it. I was in [REDACTED]'s head when I did.
I won't say anything about the context or the emotions of the scene itself, don't worry, but my feelings about it are hard to quantify right now. I doubt I will ever achieve anything in my writing career that I am more proud of than From the Ashes of Victory, and if Victoria Ravenwood is mentioned in my obituary, I will consider it a life well led, so the idea that her story will be over someday doesn't feel real yet.
At the same time, I want you, the reader, to have a complete story, one you can return to again and again to discover new things and live with these characters in this world, but to do that means it has to be over at some point. This immense thing I started and have invested so much time and energy into is finite, and it hasn't really felt that way before.
Now that I've said all of that, though, I have to actually go out and finish it, and do it right. So I have no time-table for these last two books. I'm not going to rush them, but I want you to have them as much as I want to write them. The last year and a half has taught me (and you as well, probably) the folly of trying to predict anything anyway, but I promise that when you do get your hands on these final books, they will be as good as I can make them. As good as they deserve to be.
This post isn't about that scene.
It's about the last one. Ever. I didn't write it, but I think I saw it. I've always known how the series is going to end, but in an overall sense, not in 'this is what the last scene is going to be' kind of way. I might now.
How I feel about the end of the series is a topic that's going to come up a lot between now and when it's out, but I would like to document my feelings as I make the journey.
Having that glimpse, however brief (and probably temporary) of the last scene of the last book is something I'm still coming to terms with. I started writing Remember, November in the autumn of 2016. These books have been omnipresent in my thoughts since then (even when I'm working on other books!), and the idea that is has an end, and actual concrete, that's it, end hasn't fully sunk in yet. Make no mistake, I'm still a long way from getting there, but I've seen it. I've felt part of it. I was in [REDACTED]'s head when I did.
I won't say anything about the context or the emotions of the scene itself, don't worry, but my feelings about it are hard to quantify right now. I doubt I will ever achieve anything in my writing career that I am more proud of than From the Ashes of Victory, and if Victoria Ravenwood is mentioned in my obituary, I will consider it a life well led, so the idea that her story will be over someday doesn't feel real yet.
At the same time, I want you, the reader, to have a complete story, one you can return to again and again to discover new things and live with these characters in this world, but to do that means it has to be over at some point. This immense thing I started and have invested so much time and energy into is finite, and it hasn't really felt that way before.
Now that I've said all of that, though, I have to actually go out and finish it, and do it right. So I have no time-table for these last two books. I'm not going to rush them, but I want you to have them as much as I want to write them. The last year and a half has taught me (and you as well, probably) the folly of trying to predict anything anyway, but I promise that when you do get your hands on these final books, they will be as good as I can make them. As good as they deserve to be.
August 6, 2021
Finding Old Habits
I'm in the early stages of outlining Book V, and I've only just realized that this is the first time I've started an Ashes book in over two years. Colours took so long, and had such a difficult gestation, I completely forgot that I started it in the spring of 2019.
Starting over again is a strange feeling. This is the fifth(!) book in this series, but I still find myself wondering if I can do this. I mentioned last week that getting back into this series is intimidating, and that holds true still. There's the whole question of 'where was I' in addition to 'where are we going'. I know exactly where we're going, don't worry! It's the plotting of the steps between here and there that takes some real sitting down and thinking.
To help, I've been reading through my old notebooks, and gaining both confidence and insight through my old self. My old notes are much more freeform than my newer ones, with a lot more brainstorming on the page. Even the size of the notebook itself is bigger to allow for it! I've also noted just how much (or how little) of the finished story is in them. There's a lot of finding the story and working stuff out in the notes (sometimes comically so, like 'I can't believe I ever thought that was a good idea' level), but an enormous amount of refinement in the writing itself.
So what have I done? I've gone back to bigger notebooks again, and am allowing myself more room to think out loud, as it were, on paper. Just because I know these characters and this world so well now doesn't mean I know everything there is to know! But I'm also giving myself permission to find more of the story in the writing, if I have to. I'm not a plotter or a pantser, I'm somewhere in between, and that's okay.
Also, with Book VI being the last one, I have to put a lot of thought into how V will lead into it, and what elements I may need to satisfactorily end the series with. I've planted a lot of seeds along the way, but not all of them! I already anticipate the structure of VI being slightly different, so I want to help it as much as I can now.
I know where the goal line is, and what it looks like. I even know how far away it is. I just need to plan my route, through paths both familiar and new.
Starting over again is a strange feeling. This is the fifth(!) book in this series, but I still find myself wondering if I can do this. I mentioned last week that getting back into this series is intimidating, and that holds true still. There's the whole question of 'where was I' in addition to 'where are we going'. I know exactly where we're going, don't worry! It's the plotting of the steps between here and there that takes some real sitting down and thinking.
To help, I've been reading through my old notebooks, and gaining both confidence and insight through my old self. My old notes are much more freeform than my newer ones, with a lot more brainstorming on the page. Even the size of the notebook itself is bigger to allow for it! I've also noted just how much (or how little) of the finished story is in them. There's a lot of finding the story and working stuff out in the notes (sometimes comically so, like 'I can't believe I ever thought that was a good idea' level), but an enormous amount of refinement in the writing itself.
So what have I done? I've gone back to bigger notebooks again, and am allowing myself more room to think out loud, as it were, on paper. Just because I know these characters and this world so well now doesn't mean I know everything there is to know! But I'm also giving myself permission to find more of the story in the writing, if I have to. I'm not a plotter or a pantser, I'm somewhere in between, and that's okay.
Also, with Book VI being the last one, I have to put a lot of thought into how V will lead into it, and what elements I may need to satisfactorily end the series with. I've planted a lot of seeds along the way, but not all of them! I already anticipate the structure of VI being slightly different, so I want to help it as much as I can now.
I know where the goal line is, and what it looks like. I even know how far away it is. I just need to plan my route, through paths both familiar and new.
July 30, 2021
Switching Gears
There's always a bit of an adjustment period when you move from one project to another, but this time is maybe the biggest mental shift I've had to make since I started writing.
If you've read Without Words, you know that one of the main characters, Zifa, has a limited vocabulary and finds expressing herself in spoken words difficult. If you've read the From the Ashes of Victory books, you know that Victoria Ravenwood has exactly the opposite relationship to language. She has a bigger vocabulary than I do! Switching from one to the other is a process I'm still in the middle of, and requires a lot of submersion back into that world by re-reading the previous book and all of my notes.
In the process, I have fallen in love with these characters and this world all over again. The Ashes books are very hard to write, and it makes getting back into them intimidating. Every single time I think that I can't do it, that I'll never find that voice again. I thought it especially before Colours of Dawn, but now that I've had some time away from it (and how difficult it was), I absolutely adore that book. Reminding myself where I left off makes me want to jump right back in and continue that story, and I'm more eager than ever to do just that. I needed the break from them, but now I'm ready to go again. As we close in on the end of the series, I'm getting to check off more and more of my bucket list I had for it, and there is a unique kind of satisfaction in that that only adds more momentum.
Victoria, Katya, Millie and the rest of EVE are coming back, and I can't wait to show you what they've been up to.
If you've read Without Words, you know that one of the main characters, Zifa, has a limited vocabulary and finds expressing herself in spoken words difficult. If you've read the From the Ashes of Victory books, you know that Victoria Ravenwood has exactly the opposite relationship to language. She has a bigger vocabulary than I do! Switching from one to the other is a process I'm still in the middle of, and requires a lot of submersion back into that world by re-reading the previous book and all of my notes.
In the process, I have fallen in love with these characters and this world all over again. The Ashes books are very hard to write, and it makes getting back into them intimidating. Every single time I think that I can't do it, that I'll never find that voice again. I thought it especially before Colours of Dawn, but now that I've had some time away from it (and how difficult it was), I absolutely adore that book. Reminding myself where I left off makes me want to jump right back in and continue that story, and I'm more eager than ever to do just that. I needed the break from them, but now I'm ready to go again. As we close in on the end of the series, I'm getting to check off more and more of my bucket list I had for it, and there is a unique kind of satisfaction in that that only adds more momentum.
Victoria, Katya, Millie and the rest of EVE are coming back, and I can't wait to show you what they've been up to.
July 12, 2021
Without Words Out Now!
I am so very happy to announce that my new fantasy romance Without Words is now available on Kindle and in paperback!
If you have a Kindle, it's available through Kindle Unlimited, as well.
Set thousands of years before Midnight Magic, Without Words tells the story of an outcast and a princess trying to save an entire tribe of elves from evaporating from the face of the world. In the process, they each get more than they bargained for...
You've been very patient, and I can't thank you enough for that. I hope you enjoy the book, and come to love Zifa and Skathi as much as you did Vimika and Aurelai.
More posts to come!
If you have a Kindle, it's available through Kindle Unlimited, as well.
Set thousands of years before Midnight Magic, Without Words tells the story of an outcast and a princess trying to save an entire tribe of elves from evaporating from the face of the world. In the process, they each get more than they bargained for...
You've been very patient, and I can't thank you enough for that. I hope you enjoy the book, and come to love Zifa and Skathi as much as you did Vimika and Aurelai.
More posts to come!
July 8, 2021
Final Steps
Just a few more odds and ends to sort out before Without Words is out for you to enjoy. This is one of the more stressful parts of releasing a book, since there's a lot less wiggle room left. Decisions have to be final, you can't second-guess things anymore. I've said before here that I'm not a perfectionist, and I'm still not, I just really hate the feeling of finding a typo 10 seconds after hitting the 'publish' button, or sometimes years later. Mistakes happen, things get through even the most vigilant re-reads, so at some point you just have to declare it 'done'.
What can I do to help this along? Several things. One, have someone else read it. That's the biggest. They will notice things you don't (or can't, in some cases). Fresh eyes haven't been looking at the same manuscript over and over for months, and problems big and small are much more obvious to them, from missing plot points to missing periods. (Remember, in my head I have all the parts that were cut out, the characters' motivations, what happens off-page, etc. Some things just get lost.)
Another is devilishly simple: change the format you're using. I've found that simply going from word processor to ebook reader makes a huge difference in revealing mistakes. The paragraphs are in a different shape, words line up differently, even a font change can make things stand out when you've been reading something the same way over and over again. Many authors swear by printing the entire thing out and using an actual red pen to circle mistakes, but that's a lot of paper and ink for my taste. (The Fires of Winter is almost 600 pages long.)
Without Words is going to be available in paperback from day one, so I want to make doubly sure that it's as good as it can be, hence the extra little delay. I've teased 'soon' a lot here, but it's for good reason.
The cover is ready, the description is written, it's almost ready to go! I won't jinx anything by giving an exact time frame, but I very much want my next post here to be the release announcement. Fingers crossed!
What can I do to help this along? Several things. One, have someone else read it. That's the biggest. They will notice things you don't (or can't, in some cases). Fresh eyes haven't been looking at the same manuscript over and over for months, and problems big and small are much more obvious to them, from missing plot points to missing periods. (Remember, in my head I have all the parts that were cut out, the characters' motivations, what happens off-page, etc. Some things just get lost.)
Another is devilishly simple: change the format you're using. I've found that simply going from word processor to ebook reader makes a huge difference in revealing mistakes. The paragraphs are in a different shape, words line up differently, even a font change can make things stand out when you've been reading something the same way over and over again. Many authors swear by printing the entire thing out and using an actual red pen to circle mistakes, but that's a lot of paper and ink for my taste. (The Fires of Winter is almost 600 pages long.)
Without Words is going to be available in paperback from day one, so I want to make doubly sure that it's as good as it can be, hence the extra little delay. I've teased 'soon' a lot here, but it's for good reason.
The cover is ready, the description is written, it's almost ready to go! I won't jinx anything by giving an exact time frame, but I very much want my next post here to be the release announcement. Fingers crossed!
July 2, 2021
What's With the World of Without Words?
Alliteration, ho!
Last week I announced the title of my next book is going to be Without Words, and that it's set in the same world as Midnight Magic. This week I would like to expand on that a little bit for you.
Midnight Magic and Without Words now comprise the first two books in a whole fantasy lesbian romance anthology series! They will all be thematically and tonally similar, all taking place in the same world, but can be read in any order, without knowing anything about the other books.
I have a lot of ideas for smaller romances like Midnight, books that are shorter and less hefty than the Ashes books. Books you can read in your garden or on the beach in an afternoon that make you feel good about things!
Now they all have a home. Same magic rules, same world, just over wildly different eras and locations. My intent isn't to create a dense, interconnected universe of sticky canon questions, just a safe, familiar setting that lets the characters and the story come first. Hopefully, these books eventually become as comfortable as the blanket or the PJs you're swaddled in when you read them.
Will there be overlap? Well, I can't ruin all the fun by answering that definitively, but just because stories are separated by millennia doesn't mean they can't answer questions (or raise them!), at least. Who knows who or what might show up when, or what stray line of exposition might spin off a story of its own?
The one bit of consistency I want you to be able to count on is heart. Positivity and sincerity are sorely lacking in a lot of modern storytelling, and these books are going to provide both of those in spades. They're the kind of books that I have needed over the last year or so especially, so I hope they provide refuge from whatever storms befall us in the future for you, as well.
That's the general overview! More info to come (including the name!) as the release date for Without Words creeps ever closer. It's in final edits now, so not much longer.
Last week I announced the title of my next book is going to be Without Words, and that it's set in the same world as Midnight Magic. This week I would like to expand on that a little bit for you.
Midnight Magic and Without Words now comprise the first two books in a whole fantasy lesbian romance anthology series! They will all be thematically and tonally similar, all taking place in the same world, but can be read in any order, without knowing anything about the other books.
I have a lot of ideas for smaller romances like Midnight, books that are shorter and less hefty than the Ashes books. Books you can read in your garden or on the beach in an afternoon that make you feel good about things!
Now they all have a home. Same magic rules, same world, just over wildly different eras and locations. My intent isn't to create a dense, interconnected universe of sticky canon questions, just a safe, familiar setting that lets the characters and the story come first. Hopefully, these books eventually become as comfortable as the blanket or the PJs you're swaddled in when you read them.
Will there be overlap? Well, I can't ruin all the fun by answering that definitively, but just because stories are separated by millennia doesn't mean they can't answer questions (or raise them!), at least. Who knows who or what might show up when, or what stray line of exposition might spin off a story of its own?
The one bit of consistency I want you to be able to count on is heart. Positivity and sincerity are sorely lacking in a lot of modern storytelling, and these books are going to provide both of those in spades. They're the kind of books that I have needed over the last year or so especially, so I hope they provide refuge from whatever storms befall us in the future for you, as well.
That's the general overview! More info to come (including the name!) as the release date for Without Words creeps ever closer. It's in final edits now, so not much longer.
