R.M. Archer's Blog, page 2

Summer Hiatus Notice

Hi there!

This is just a quick notice for those who may not know that I’m taking the months of June-August off from blogging in order to focus on a new baby!

There will be only one new blog post going up between now and September, and that will be a blog anniversary post in early August.

While the blog will be quiet, I do have a full summer email series set up for newsletter subscribers! You can subscribe to get those weekly bonus emails here:

If you’re not interested in getting the full summer series but you do want to hear when I return to posting in the fall, you can subscribe via this form instead:

(I do recommend signing up for the summer series, as it’s full of bonus goodies!)

Looking for something in the meantime?

A list of popular posts can be found on the “About” pageThere is also a list of affiliate links on the “About” page, if you’re looking for writing tool recommendations!My books can be found under “My Books” or in the shopAll of the resources and services I offer authors can be found under “For Authors“

Thank you for visiting Scribes & Archers! I look forward to returning this fall!

The post Summer Hiatus Notice appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

5 Benefits of Worldbuilding Challenges

In my last post before beginning my hiatus, I wanted to share something that would be relevant over the summer, so I’ve decided to talk about worldbuilding challenges–like World Anvil’s upcoming Summer Camp challenge.

Didn’t know I was going on hiatus? Want to get an exclusive email series over the summer while I’m gone? Sign up here for all the summer fun!

*This post contains affiliate links, marked with an asterisk. Purchases made through these links earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you.

I’ve participated in various worldbuilding challenges over the years–mostly World Anvil‘s* various events and the worldbuilding week of my own Preptober Prompts event–and they’re always a lot of fun! In my case, they make an already enjoyable part of the process even more fun, but I believe that worldbuilding challenges have benefits even for those who aren’t so naturally disposed to enjoy worldbuilding, and today I want to talk about some of the benefits I’ve seen from such challenges!

Worldbuilding Challenges Stretch Your Skills

Some worldbuilding challenges–like World Anvil’s Summer Camp–encourage you to think about new elements of your world (or flesh out things you’ve already started to build), and some focus on strengthening your worldbuilding process and/or skills. In either case, they can be a great way to develop your worldbuilding skills, as even those that focus on developing new elements of your world can often focus on areas you might not have ventured very far into before!

You may find yourself learning more about how to develop certain elements (which will then pay off the next time you have to develop something similar), how to research certain things effectively, or how to tie in different elements that you haven’t had to tie together before.

And, of course, when a challenge is specifically focused on helping you grow in your worldbuilding skill or refine your process, the growth is even clearer.

Challenges Expose Gaps

When you participate in a worldbuilding challenge, you may find that some of the prompts are about things you’ve already fleshed out, but you’ll likely find that there are also of plenty of prompts that make you stop and think about things you’ve never considered before. Sometimes, these unexpected gaps are just for-fun areas–maybe even areas you’ve skipped on purpose–but you may also find from time to time that you’ve missed something that could add great clarity or color to your world!

Another great thing about worldbuilding challenges, though, is that they don’t only expose gaps; they also help you fill those gaps! Some challenges may offer more support in this area than others–there might be additional tips & tricks attached to various challenge prompts (like in my Worldbuilding Checklist mini-course), or you may have only a prompt to work with–but, at the very least, the challenge offers an opportunity to flesh out that new area, and focused time to do it in.

Challenges Add Fun to the Worldbuilding Process

Whether you’re already a fan of worldbuilding and want to have fun with it alongside others, or you find worldbuilding challenging and need encouragement to find the fun in it, worldbuilding challenges are great for adding fun to the worldbuilding process. (Plus, often, competition, for those who need a daring push to get into things.)

Worldbuilding challenges aren’t meant to be taken too seriously. If you’re feeling obligated to accomplish every challenge step and it’s no longer fun, take a step back and reframe it. Worldbuilding challenges are for fun. They’re meant to provide a break from your normal worldbuilding routine, challenge you to think outside the boxes you may be stuck in, and work on whatever prompts are fun for you. Nothing says you even have to keep everything you develop for a worldbuilding challenge!

When approached with a playful attitude, challenges are great for making the worldbuilding process fun and for encouraging community and collaboration around the craft!

Worldbuilding Challenges Provide a Break from the Norm

If your worldbuilding process has started to feel stale, a worldbuilding challenge might be just the thing you need to pump life back into it! Worldbuilding challenges offer something different–usually from outside your own brain, though you could also build your own worldbuilding challenge for yourself if you wanted to–and add new variety to the worldbuilding process (and sometimes to your world as a whole, depending on the prompts and how much they do or don’t line up with what you develop out of habit).

Worldbuilding challenges are great if you need a break from another part of the writing process, from your standard worldbuilding process, from a particular world, from a particular part of the world, etc.

Challenges Offer a Great Opportunity to Receive Feedback

Lastly, challenges are almost always community events, and many involve constructive and encouraging feedback as part of the fun. If you’re interested to know what parts of your world are most interesting or connect best with people, where your world could use further fleshing out, what readers want to know, etc., worldbuilding challenges are a great way to get that sort of feedback on your world.

This is particularly the case with World Anvil, as their events include live pages that collect “featured articles,” leaderboards, etc.; they make presenting your worldbuilding and receiving comments easy; and they encourage community feedback on “articles” submitted for events! (And for anyone nervous about getting such feedback, I’ll assure you that I’ve gotten several comments on articles over the years and it’s all been very positive, even where people have had critiques or suggested areas to flesh out.)

Interested in participating in worldbuilding challenges? World Anvil’s Summer Camp takes place in the month of July, so now is a great time to give World Anvil a test run*, if you haven’t already, and prepare to participate this summer! World Anvil also hosts a month-long worldbuilding challenge in December, plus various smaller challenges throughout the year.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding challenges with a smaller community, and/or challenges that focus on worldbuilding skills and process as well as prompts for developing your world itself, you should check out the Worldbuilders Guild! The Guild isn’t open yet, but it will be opening to the waitlist this fall (with a limited-time discount) and to everyone else (at full price) early next year. If you want to be an early part of the community and one of the first to start the journey to worldbuilding mastery, you should join the waitlist!

The post 5 Benefits of Worldbuilding Challenges appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Worried Your TBR Will Crush You? 5 Book Management Tips

I’m not one to do a “digital detox” every new year, but I significantly pared down my inbox in January, which drew my attention to the nearly 2,500 books I had marked to-read on Goodreads, many of which reflected past interests and reading habits I’m unlikely to return to… and I suspect I’m not the only one with such overwhelming stacks of books looming from the to-read pile (whether that pile is visible or not).

Especially as we look toward summer reading, it seemed a fitting time to discuss how to declutter that TBR (To-Be-Read pile) and get back to reading what you’re interested in—with the ability to clearly see the next interesting book on the stack.

Start at the Bottom

Start your purge with the things you’re least likely to read. With my emails, this meant starting with the oldest emails and working my way up to present. With my TBR, this means starting with my “might want to read” list before tackling my “to-read” list.

Starting at the bottom makes it easier to get rid of things quickly because you’re not starting with all of the hard decisions of whether or not to keep the things you’ve recently added. You will get to those eventually, but by then the pile will be much smaller and you’ll have more breathing room when it comes time to make those more difficult judgments.

Remove Books Liberally

If there’s any significant doubt that you’ll really want to read something, either delete it or move it to a “look at later” sort of list. You can come back to these if you’re really bored, want something different, or have some time to kill on book-sorting, but delete as many books as “don’t spark joy.” (While I find that difficult with books I already own, I promise it’s much easier with books you’ve only thought about reading… and sometimes only thought about once.)

There’s also no harm in removing a book from the to-read list. Unless you’re getting rid of physical books, you can always add a book back onto the list later if it catches your eye again!

Focus on the Present

Just because you were interested in a book three years ago doesn’t mean you still have to be interested in it now. If your subjects of study have moved on or you no longer read a particular genre, category, or plot type, you can remove those books without shame. (Exceptions may be made for interests that you know are recurring—mythology is such a topic for me—or that you have a strong suspicion will return in the relatively near future.) I’ve scrapped a lot of romance-heavy YA, dystopia, and YA fantasy from my lists; it doesn’t appeal to me the same way now that it did when I was 14, and that’s probably a good thing, lol.

If It Helps, Sub-Categorize

If this idea overwhelms you, skip it. But if it helps you to be able to see sub-categories when you’re choosing what to read next, then it may be worth adding things to genre- or topic-specific Goodreads shelves, tagging books in LibraryThing, or otherwise marking what books are about (or what tropes they contain, etc. depending on what is helpful to you) while you’re already going through everything. With my email, I did my best to add labels to everything obvious as I went along so that I can easily archive things to specific folders; with the right tools, you can do a similar thing with your books.

While I find this most useful for categorizing books I already own (which I do in LibraryThing), I do have some specific shelves in Goodreads for particular genres.

Prioritize

With your list pared down, you can make a plan to 1) read the books on said list and 2) add new books with more specificity.

This doesn’t have to be rigid; you can choose a whole category or two to start with. Maybe you want to read about classic authors and you want to read books from authors you know, or maybe you want to read all of the books you currently have on loan or on your physical “current reads” shelf (this is me), or all the books you own but haven’t read (also me).

Maybe you know you don’t enjoy “strong female characters” or romance-heavy stories, so you just don’t add those unless a book really catches your eye.

This is not to say that you should be fearful about adding new books because “what if they’re the wrong books?” It’s good to read outside of your comfort zone every once in a while, and you can always do another deep clean later for the books you don’t end up reading after all.

Hopefully this has been a help to those of you struggling, as I have, with keeping your TBRs managed in a way that serves you and your reading habits instead of adding clutter to the process. If you decide to pare down your TBR, let me know how it goes!

In the meantime, what are 3-5 books you’re most excited to read next? I’d love to hear about them!

Interested in getting edifying book recommendations, reviews, and other bookish content delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up and get instant access to my ongoing book recommendation database!

The post Worried Your TBR Will Crush You? 5 Book Management Tips appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Developing Gender Roles for Fictional Cultures

Last month, it was brought to my attention that I didn’t yet have any articles on developing gender roles in fictional cultures, which led to the topic floating around in my brain until a post outline formed (likely helped along by the fact that I do have a section on gender roles in Building a World with a View, so this is a topic I’ve written about before even if it wasn’t in an available format until now). While some folks prefer to avoid gender roles as a fraught topic, knowing how your culture views the responsibilities and roles of men and women makes a huge difference in how they frame society as a whole; broader societal structure has its foundation in the structure of gender roles and family units, whether we like that reality or not, so gender roles are an important topic to consider when fleshing out a fictional culture!

Consider Natural Strengths & Weaknesses

Men and women have different natural strengths and weaknesses–biological and otherwise. The same is probably true even if you’re working with a fictional race rather than solely human characters; unless you’re building a fictional race specifically to explore the question of what a culture would look like in which men and women are identical, any species is going to have natural distinctions between men and women in some area or another. Knowing what these distinctions are gives you the foundational facts that your culture will have to account for (or ignore) as they work out their conception of gender roles.

Human men, for example, are physically stronger than women. Women are naturally more physically weak (even physically strong women are still at a biological disadvantage against men when it comes to physical strength), but they also have biological abilities that men don’t–like carrying and growing babies from conception to term (and then delivering those babies).

While these fundamental differences are unchanging (though people may believe otherwise), how a culture views these differences and values or devalues the distinct strengths of either gender can differ drastically and create drastically different gender roles from culture to culture.

The Purpose & Origin of Gender Roles

What your culture sees as the purpose and origin of gender roles will affect how it shapes those gender roles. A culture whose purpose for gender roles is to optimize the societal impact and personal well-being of its citizens will have very different-looking gender roles from a culture which views these roles as a way to control the way people engage in society–or to keep whichever gender they prioritize more highly in power over the other.

Likewise, a culture that sees gender roles as a human construct will have a different attitude toward them–and different resulting guidelines–than a culture which sees gender roles as having been instituted by their deity.

Your culture’s purpose for gender roles and their perception of the origin of gender roles will also impact what areas of life these roles have an impact on. Some cultures may only expect gender roles to be observed when it comes to what work one does; some may have gender roles that dictate where a person should predominantly spend his or her time in a physical sense; some gender roles may impact one’s interaction with society through dress, etiquette, etc.; some gender roles may influence some combination of these areas.

Cultural Prioritization of Gender

Once you’ve established the natural strengths and weaknesses of men and women in whatever race you’re working with, there are two questions of cultural priorities that will form the backbone of cultural gender roles; prioritization of gender, and prioritization of tasks.

Some cultures are biased toward either men or women, some view the two as equal and equivalent (more on that later), and some view the two as equal but different. Which category your culture falls into will affect its overall idea of gender roles. If neither gender is prioritized over the other, then gender roles may be more nuanced–or, on the other hand, practically non-existent. If, however, the culture prioritizes women, for example, gender roles may be more strict in favor of women and their natural strengths, and the roles and work of men may be looked down upon.

It should be noted that prioritization of gender and prioritization of tasks don’t always coincide. Say you have a society in which men are acknowledged to have greater physical strength so they’re assigned physical labor, but the culture prioritizes women, who are acknowledged to be physically more fragile and given the work of artistry, motherhood, etc. There are two ways this prioritization of women might play out. On the one hand, you might have a culture that sees physical labor as a “necessary evil,” looks down upon men and their physical work, etc. On the other hand, you might have a culture that acknowledges the necessity of physical labor in a more positive way, appreciates men for sparing women that physical work, and sees men less favorably than women but still acknowledges their purpose and value within society as a whole.

If a particular gender is prioritized over the other–in either direction–keep in mind that this will have a negative effect on those who are of the lesser-valued sex. This may lead to a culture in which the devalued gender neglects their natural strengths and leaves gaps in society as a result, or in which the devalued gender tends to abuse their natural strengths because they feel those strengths are repressed but they don’t know how to use them properly because they were never encouraged to do so. Or, of course, you might end up with a combination of the two.

Imbalanced prioritization can also have a negative effect on the more highly-valued sex, as they may have fewer boundaries around their strengths and thus abuse those strengths–or use them to abuse the opposite sex–and may be blind to their natural weaknesses.

Cultures with a more balanced view of the value of men and women may have the same weaknesses if they treat men and women as having entirely equivalent roles; while cultures that have a balanced view of both the value and the respective roles of men and women may better equip their people to know their strengths and their weaknesses and to use their strengths in tandem vs. in competition. (More on that shortly.)

Cultural Prioritization of Tasks

Sometimes, as we’ve just discussed, cultures have an underlying gender bias. Sometimes, however, a culture values or devalues certain tasks which are best fulfilled by either men or women, and gender bias may arise out of that bias toward or against particular tasks.

For example, let’s say you have a culture that doesn’t believe in harming living things unless it’s absolutely necessary–and still sees causing harm as distasteful even when it is necessary. Men might be most naturally suited to things like hunting, defending against invaders, etc., but all of these tasks would be seen as undesirable by the culture at large. Then, even if your culture doesn’t have anything against men for their own sake, they may look down on men for being the ones to do the distasteful act of causing necessary harm.

This can also work in reverse. If you have a culture which highly values children and family, you might end up with a culture that places somewhat disproportionate value on women because they’re the ones who most nurture their children–even if that culture also acknowledges the value of men in training, disciplining, protecting, and providing for their children.

Knowing what tasks your culture does or doesn’t value–which will be greatly rooted in their core cultural values–and tying that into the strengths and weaknesses of either gender can go a long way toward developing your culture’s gender roles.

Collaboration, Competition, or Conflation in Gender Roles

I’ve already alluded to this a great deal, but it’s critical to know how your culture views the relationship between the roles of men and the roles of women, and there are three basic options for this: gender roles may be collaborative, competitive, or conflated with one another.

Cultures that acknowledge the distinctions between men and women but value both equally are most likely to have collaborative gender roles–roles that complement one another, so that men and women work together in their respective roles for the betterment of society. Though, it could also be interesting to explore a culture in which men and women are viewed as equal-but-different, yet their roles are set in competition against one another somehow; while a more unlikely dynamic, it would be an interesting combination to work through for a culture.

Cultures that acknowledge the distinctions between men and women but value one more highly than the other, or that value both equally but don’t appreciate the distinctions between the sexes, are most likely to end up with gender roles that are competitive–gender roles that set men and women at odds with each other, either causing one group to look down on the other or pushing men and women to vie for the same roles within society. In either case, this is likely to lead to conflict and resentment between men and women.

Lastly, cultures that value men and women equally but try to erase the distinctions between them may conflate gender roles, so that they appear non-existent. This can lead to the same conflict of men and women trying to fill the same positions and getting in each other’s way, and it can also lead to certain roles going unfilled–or underfilled–as no one of either gender is prepared or encouraged to fill any specific role.

Flexibility of Gender Roles

Not only is it helpful to know what your culture expects of men and women within its society, but it’s also important to know how stringent its gender roles are. Overly strict gender roles can generate disproportionate dissatisfaction among those who feel like they don’t naturally fit the mold expected of them, while gender roles that are too loose can easily leave people feeling unsure of where they belong and lacking guidance to figure it out. The dynamics available, of course, are many and varied, as they will depend not only on where your culture falls along the spectrum of strict vs. loose but also how that interacts with their unique expectations and prioritization for gender roles.

There are two big things to understand when deciding the flexibility of gender roles in this culture. One significant factor is the culture’s underlying values. For example, order-focused cultures may be naturally strict on most things, gender roles included, while a culture that values nature might instead have gender roles patterned after the most common strengths and weaknesses of men and women but leave more room for exceptions when they naturally arise.

The second biggest thing to understand is that the strictness of gender roles is a spectrum. Some cultures might be incredibly strict, encapsulating everything from work to clothing to way of speaking to etiquette under the umbrella of “gender roles” and leaving no room for deviation; some cultures might have very clear guidelines around what types of work each gender is meant for, but allow for greater flexibility in how they fulfill that work and/or in how they engage with society beyond that work (in dress, etiquette, etc.); some may have no guidelines at all, as previously mentioned, leaving men and women to work and interact with society in whatever ways they please without regard for sex.

This will, of course, be highly influenced also by your culture’s purpose for gender roles and where they believe  these roles came from, as discussed earlier. There may be less room for flexibility in gender roles that are perceived to have been instituted by a deity–but even so, how broad these guidelines are may only extend to those areas on which that deity has spoken; perhaps the deity has given clear guidelines on how each gender should dress, but not on how they must work, for example. Of course, there is always the possibility that your culture may take this beyond the direct instructions of their deity to create stricter guidelines than they were given, as well.

There are a few core things to think about when developing your culture’s idea of gender roles. Is this a topic you’ve explored in your worldbuilding before? Which point stood out to you most? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking to incorporate your worldview into your fictional worlds more intentionally? Subscribe to download my set of Worldview Focus Questions!

The post Developing Gender Roles for Fictional Cultures appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

How to Replace a Character in Your Cast (Without Irritating Readers)

Have you ever watched a show or read a series in which a character ends up replaced–whether the original character dies or goes off on their own adventure, and their place is taken by someone new–and the transition leaves you with a strong distaste for the new character? “What do you mean this is who’s replacing so-and-so?” Yeah, me too. But I recently saw a transition like this done well in Leverage (this post will include some season 2 spoilers), so I decided to analyze what made this cast replacement work when so many others simply leave viewers or readers irritated. Here’s what I came away with.

Know What Purpose and Role Your Character Serves

Before you can effectively replace a character, you need to know what it really is you’re replacing. Every character should have a certain purpose and role in the story–one that you have a clear understanding of, even if your reader only picks it up on a subconscious level. Generally, when you’re considering replacing a character, you’re replacing a member of a team, which means that their purpose and role within that team should be part of their overall purpose and role within the story.

For the sake of this post, I’m going to define your character’s “purpose” as their external, plot-focused function in the story. To use the example from Leverage, Sophie is the actress/con woman on a team of criminals. She’s the one who sells their cons.

“Role,” then, is the character’s emotional function–where the character fits in with the rest of the story’s cast. Sophie is the team’s “grifter,” but she’s also a bit of a “motherly” or “big sisterly” figure; she’s the one the rest of the team goes to for emotional support, and she’s the one most likely to call them out when they’re being stupid or failing to take proper care of themselves (which she does in a mostly nurturing sort of way).

For a less episodic example, so we can look at a more over-arching story purpose instead of one that’s somewhat “fresh” every episode, let’s take Nyla from the Lightning duology as a character study. Her “purpose” is to provide a working, thought-out plan of escape from Grantech; she’s called upon to balance out Erika’s impulsiveness and ensure they don’t get themselves in worse trouble than they started in. Her “role” is as the best friend/confidante, the one who provides encouragement and empathy to those around her.

It’s important to know your character’s purpose and role, because it’s critical to know what you’re removing from the story by taking them out of the picture (whether temporarily or permanently). If you’re not clear on the purpose and role you’re leaving empty, your replacement character might end up filling a completely different space and leaving the original character’s space empty–which can leave readers dissatisfied. It’s important to know both, because some replacement characters will only fill an original role or purpose–which can be used to your advantage, as we’ll look at next.

Leave a Gap

While your new character shouldn’t neglect the space left behind by the original character, it’s also important to recognize that your original cast member is unique and your reader doesn’t want that character treated as replaceable. Your character should fulfill their role and purpose in a unique way (as should their replacement), therefore there should be some gap between what the old character accomplishes and what the new character accomplishes, and you should leave space for your readers–and other characters–to acknowledge and mourn the loss of the original character. It’s also important to recognize that your replacement cast member should be unique and shouldn’t even be able to fill the role in the exact same way the original character did.

There are a couple of ways to do this. You could create a replacement character who can fill the original character’s purpose or their role–not both. Or you could create a replacement character who does fill both the purpose and role left behind… but in a very different way than the original character did.

In Leverage, Sophie is replaced by Tara. Tara is another grifter, so she’s able to fill Sophie’s “purpose,” and she’s assigned to look out for the team so that Sophie’s “role” isn’t neglected either. However, her style of work is very different, she’s a lot more bossy, and her lack of connection with the team means she can tell them when they’re being stupid but she’s much less personal about it. Tara fulfills the needs of the story–and of the team–so that it doesn’t completely fall apart as soon as Sophie leaves, but she is no replacement for Sophie on an emotional level, whether for the characters or the viewer. The critical thing is that the writers don’t try to make her one. The writers let Sophie be Sophie and Tara be Tara, and they leave the other characters to handle the change in a realistic way, acknowledging Tara’s strengths as well as acknowledging where Sophie is missed–which allows the viewer to do the same.

The key to an effective cast swap is to make the original character and their replacement similar but different–the function within the team still needs to be filled, but the replacement should fill it in their own unique way–and to acknowledge that in the way that other characters respond.

Let Other Characters Fill In

The weight of filling the gap left behind by the original character shouldn’t fall solely on the replacement’s shoulders; other established characters should fill in some of the needs left behind, also.

Existing cast members have the benefit of familiarity with the original character and with their role and function in the group; they should begin to fill that space among themselves even without the help of the replacement–even if they try and fail in doing so.

One of Sophie’s key roles in Leverage is to keep Nate from going off the deep end. The whole team knows this, which means that when she leaves, the other members of the team try to contribute to keeping Nate on track. They’re not especially effective, which contributes to the acknowledgment that Sophie had a unique part to play in the cast, but it shows that the characters understand what’s needed and what is lost when Sophie leaves, and they do their best to fill in the space left behind.

Letting other characters fill in takes some of the pressure off of the replacement character to be exactly as likable and effective as the character they’re replacing; it gives readers more grace for the new character (though, obviously, they should still be a strong character in their own right!), reducing the chances of readers automatically hating the replacement because they’re the replacement. It also provides an opportunity to stretch the other members of the cast and show growth in them, as they branch into new purposes and roles, and can strengthen the cast’s bonds with one another.

Be Mindful of Time

Sometimes, writers replace a beloved character with someone new and essentially ask the reader to, “Just wait! You’ll see that they’re not that bad! You’ll come to love them!” (Often the replacement character is much more obnoxious and/or abrasive than the original, which is an additional hurdle, but I digress.) Truthfully, they’re often right; often, those writers do have a plan to endear the replacement character to the reader or viewer, and eventually the new character comes to be just as (or almost as) beloved as the character they replaced.

But, the longer it takes the reader to adjust to a replacement character, the more the initial bitter taste will linger when the reader thinks back on the transition (and the replacement character), even if they eventually come to accept the new character.

The Flash TV show was really bad about introducing obnoxious characters to the team and making viewers put up with them for episodes upon episodes before those characters finally mellowed out. Some of them I never got around to liking, but one who did eventually win me over was Ralph. He was the worst when he first came on, and he took forever to mellow out. Thinking back on the show, I know and remember that I came to appreciate his character eventually, but he’s still stuck in my head as that character they forced in when he was super annoying. My feelings about him as an addition to the cast are overall not positive, even though I ultimately came to like him.

Tara, on the other hand, established herself very quickly as a character who was not Sophie, didn’t do things the way Sophie did, but fulfilled the purposes the team (and the show) needed her to fulfill. She was established as a “replacement” who was yet her own character, which made her much easier to warm up to much more quickly.

The smoother you can make the transition between one character and another, the more positive the reader will feel about that transition (and the new character) as a whole

Those are my tips for effectively swapping out characters in the cast of your story: know what you’re replacing, don’t make the replacement exact, let other characters fill in, and be mindful of the time you require of your readers to adjust.

Have you ever had to replace a character in a series? Do you have plans to do so in the future? Which tip did you find most helpful? Comment your thoughts below!

Looking to strengthen your characters and their unique voices and behavior? Subscribe to download my character voice worksheet!

The post How to Replace a Character in Your Cast (Without Irritating Readers) appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Ready to Publish? 4 Indications to Look For

It can be hard to tell when a book is ready to be sent out into the world–especially if you’ve never published before–but developing the skill to identify when a book is ready can be critical to the publishing process, whether you’re trying to minimize agent rejections or you’re indie publishing and have to serve as your own gatekeeper. Ultimately, one develops this skill primarily as one writes and publishes more books and comes to better understand one’s own process; there is variation between authors, and you’ll ultimately come to understand when your own books are ready simply from gaining familiarity with the process–and through trial and error. But here are a few indications to look for, as you first begin building this skill, that can help you know when your book is ready for publication.

Editing in Circles

If your edits aren’t making your book better, just different, then you’ve probably reached the end of what can be done to improve your story. This is true whether the edits in question are your own, whether they’re based on beta-reader feedback, or whether they’re from a professional editor; in each case, when you reach the end of what is substantially improving your book, it’s probably time to move on to the next step.

This does not mean that you’re ready as soon as your individual edits start to go in circles! Outside feedback is critical to the process, as I’ll get into in later points. When your own edits start to circle, it’s a good time to bring in beta-readers; after those start to circle, it’s a good idea to get professional feedback to give a more experienced opinion; then, circling edits become the biggest indication that your book is really ready to go.

Investment in Professional Edits

While this is not a strict necessity–and I completely understand having a budget that simply doesn’t allow for professional edits–it is a good idea to invest in professional editing at some level before you attempt to publish (especially before you publish independently).

This can indicate readiness in one of two ways (which will put you at two different stages along the process). If you’ve already invested in professional edits, then your book is probably close to ready to publish; see the point above. But if you’re ready to invest in professional edits, that can be a good time to move forward and hire an editor as the first step of the publishing process!

To some degree, this point depends on which publishing route you’ve decided to take (authors seeking traditional publishing may be better able to skip this step, as a professional editor will be built into the process after acceptance; that’s not an out-of-pocket expense for trad authors) and your own definition of “ready to publish” (is that “ready to put on Amazon,” or “ready to begin the publishing process”?)

Regardless of the nuance, a professional editor will help get your book publication-ready!

Want to invest in professional line edits? Bookings are still open until next Friday for May projects!

Book now!

A Settled Setting

This point is particularly relevant to speculative fiction authors. It will help you a lot in the long run to ensure that your story’s setting is completely settled and not likely to change much before you publish your book. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have the entire broader world set in stone! But the specific area in which your story takes place–and/or the specific cultures from which your characters hail–should be well-defined and relatively unchanging before you publish. Once you publish, it’s a lot harder to change things!

I learned this the hard way when I published Caithan in Short Story Collection vol. 1, during the writing process of Calligraphy Guild. The titular character of Caithan is from a group of Virilens who have been relocated to a neighboring empire, so the culture ought to largely match that of Virilia proper, which is where Calligraphy Guild takes place. Unfortunately, I developed additional elements of Virilen culture while I was working on Calligraphy Guild, which resulted in certain details within Caithan mismatching from those in Calligraphy Guild. Because the characters of Caithan have been displaced from Virilia, it’s a reasonable excuse for cultural changes to have taken place… but if you finalize the setting as much as possible before you publish, there’s a lower chance of having to explain away disparities between this book and later books.

Accomplished Purpose

I would say that this is the biggest indication to look for when considering whether or not your book is ready to publish: Does your book accomplish what it was intended to?

Does it connect with readers the way you wanted it to? Do the intended themes come through the way you planned? Do readers like and dislike the characters you expected/wanted them to? Does the world inspire the type of response you were going for?

This is where beta-reader feedback can be very helpful. Beta-reader experience should be a key indicator of reader experience as a whole, and getting this feedback prior to publication allows you to make changes accordingly if that reader experience isn’t what you wanted.

If your story accomplishes even more than it was intended to, all the better! It’s also okay if your book ends up fulfilling a purpose different than what you expected, but that different purpose suits the story and remains in line with your overall goals as an author. You probably don’t want your book to give off a pro-Strong-Female-Character vibe by the end if you hate the Strong Female Character trope; but if your book unexpectedly has a deeper spiritual meaning that goes hand-in-hand with the spiritual themes you included intentionally, or if your point was to focus on authority structures and a different facet than you expected of that same theme ends up being the focal point, you’re probably still checking off this box!

This was the biggest indication for me that Calligraphy Guild was ready–and it’s what makes me so proud of Calligraphy Guild to this day. It’s also what helped me gain appreciation for Lost Girl after a season of greatly disliking it.

If your book is structured and written well enough to effectively fulfill its purpose with readers, if you’re getting resounding feedback that yes your purpose came through (ideally not in so many words), it’s probably ready to go out into the world for more people to read!

There are four points I recommend looking for when determining whether or not your book is ready to publish. Which of these points is the easiest for you to spot? Which is the hardest to come by? What do you use as the biggest indication that your book is ready to publish? Comment and share!

Going indie and looking for a step-by-step guide to the self-publishing process? Sign up below to download my self-publishing checklist!

The post Ready to Publish? 4 Indications to Look For appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Revisiting My (Self-)Editing Process

Way back in 2018, I wrote a post sharing the editing process I intended to use for the novel I was revising at the time (which was shelved shortly afterward and has yet to see the light of day). That was the last project I made editing notes on in print (at least for an early draft), so I revisited that post when I decided to work on Lightning in print. Since it’s been so long, I’ve grown so much, and I’ve seen that original process not work, I ended up making some significant changes from that process to this one.

Now that I’m further through the process and can say what actually worked and what didn’t (vs. the 2018 post which I wrote at the beginning of the process, before it was really tested), here are some of my observations from how this modified editing process worked for Lighting.

A Quick Recap

If you want to see an in-depth look at how I planned to edit The Heart of the Baenor (that unpublished 2018 novel), jumping back to that original post is your best bet. But here’s a quick overview, for those who don’t care to see the full failed version and just want an idea of how this new process compares.

In 2018, I had a color-coded system for editing notes. It was largely focused on analyzing the balance of writing elements (dialogue, action, thoughts, etc.), underlining each element in a different color. This ended up being incredibly unhelpful for me, as I don’t work best by simply collecting data and developing solutions from said data, which was essentially what this process set me up to do.

I had a secondary color coding system for a separate list that went scene-by-scene to break down goals, motivations, conflict, etc. in each scene. This was a great idea in theory, but practically speaking I found it unhelpful to have this as an entirely separate list; it’s more helpful to me to be able to see notes like this in the context of the scene itself.

Additionally, I kept a separate document that detailed my theme and how it should present itself through each character, which was one of the more helpful elements of the 2018 process (though not one I adopted for Lightning). A couple of other helpful elements:

1. My list of overarching editing notes gathered from a full read-through. In Lightning‘s case, I started this list long before this pass of edits; I’ve made a habit since Calligraphy Guild of starting this list during the drafting process, as things pop up that I know I want to be aware of when I start edits but don’t want to stop the drafting process to fix immediately. For Lightning I added to this through the drafting process, in December (during the break between drafting and editing) as I watched replays of Nadine Brandes’ self-editing classes from Realm Makers (she has a whole self-editing course that I’m interested in taking in the future!), then throughout the read-through and annotation process.

2. The fact that I put a tab at the beginning of each chapter for easy navigation and ease of comparing chapter lengths. I found sturdier tabs for Lightning than I used on The Heart of the Baenor, and I color-coded them based on POV since there are several different POVs in Lightning. I also added a separate tab that I move to keep track of where I left off, stuck to the top of the page instead of the side (you can just see it peeking out in the photo below).

The New Color Code

Simply marking what was already there was quite unhelpful with The Heart of the Baenor; marking what’s there–while it can help highlight the balance of elements (or lack thereof) and what’s missing–doesn’t really help fix anything. This time around, I used a color code focused more on actual note-taking, and one that would help divvy up changes based on the actual categories I focus on in different drafts.

I still used two “separate” color codes, but they looked very different–and both were for use on the draft itself, not merely separate notes. The first color code relates to the writing itself and mostly uses highlighters; green highlights mark lines that I like and want to keep, yellow highlights mark lines that immediately stand out as needing to be reworded, and orange highlights mark sentences that just make no sense as-written. Additionally, I use a red pen for marking typos, grammatical errors, and other technical issues in the writing.

The second color code covers all other notes. Dark blue covers plot and scene structure, light blue is for general character notes or notes on side characters, purple is for worldbuilding notes, and then I have different colors for notes relating to each of my primary characters (and villains, as a group). This way, I can make note of different characters’ goals, motivations, etc. in a given scene–serving a similar function to the scene list I made in 2018, but keeping everything in the context of the draft and leaving more room to note different details for different characters instead of lumping everything together–and also note where specific characters have voice issues, are operating inconsistently with their values, etc.

(This is the practical division between the two color codes, anyway; on my key sheet, they’re instead separated between character colors (bottom) and everything else (top).)

Outside Documents

While I prefer to have most of my editing notes on the manuscript itself, so that everything is kept in context, I do have a couple of separate pages for more overarching notes.

One is the list of big-picture edits noted before; this covers things like entire character arcs, relationship arcs, worldbuilding details that have changed, etc. Things that affect large portions of the book (not just a scene or a chapter) go on that list.

Additionally, I have a page that breaks down each character’s primary and secondary goals. These, too, affect the whole story, so it makes sense to keep them separate to be referenced throughout, to compare scene goals against, etc. This list is split into two parts, with one covering “initial goals” and the other covering “updated goals,” as most of the characters have significant goal shifts around the midpoint.

I have other lists–an overarching editing list for Thunder, an overarching editing list for the duology as a whole, a page of notes on how to increase conflict in Thunder, and a worldbuilding checklist for Esleon–but those are mostly past (the worldbuilding checklist has been completed) or future (everything Thunder-related).

The overarching editing lists will be pulled out when I get to work on the actual application of structural changes to the book.

In Practice

I have two binders for this editing process; the white binder on the left is approximately a 2-inch binder, and it contains the manuscript itself–because the blue binder on the right is only a 1-inch binder and there was no way the book was going to fit. The manuscript binder holds the manuscript (obviously), my color code key sheet, and a pen case that holds my highlighters. The blue binder holds the overarching editing lists (for Lightning, Thunder, and the duology), worldbuilding checklist, etc.; it also contains other duology-related materials like my map, synopses of both books, leftover tabs, etc.

Contents of the Blue Binder

Here’s a sneak peek at my current editing timeline for the duology; whether or not it works out according to plan remains to be seen.

Additionally, here’s an idea of what my character goal sheet looks like (color-coded by character).

These give an idea of what types of edits go on the big-picture lists. Some are deep structural changes that affect large portions of the book, while others are smaller details that nevertheless need to be updated throughout the book (such as having changed a character’s name, or having moved the setting to a different part of the state).

This is a peek at my worldbuilding checklist, as it was not the same as “the” Worldbuilding Checklist that I post about here on the blog. This list was developed based on what I needed for this story, specifically, to give the world more color and depth in ways that influence the story at hand.

The Manuscript

Here are some examples of what editing notes look like on this manuscript:

These are the goals of two of the three main characters in the first scene of chapter one. I have these simply noted in the appropriate character’s color, for easy reference to see if those goals hold true throughout the scene, and in Erika’s case I’ve added a note to strengthen her motivation as that part of her goal is unclear.

Here we have an example of goals entering conflict (which is beneficial to a compelling scene). Of course, the conflict doesn’t start in the right place/from the right character; the most likely scenario is that I’ll shift around the dialogue of the scene so that Ash is more careful/reserved with his words and Erika is the one stirring up trouble. (I didn’t like Ash’s line of dialogue here, anyway, so it works out nicely to scrap it.)

Here, a goal fails to make sense (which is less beneficial to a compelling scene, lol). Here, a simple shift in the focus of the prose in this area should remove the implication of a goal that doesn’t exist.

Sometimes, the events of a scene shift a character’s goals in a more intentional direction; that’s also important to note, to ensure that the character’s behavior shifts along with that goal.

Here’s an example of what one of my “scene/plot structure” notes might look like. I have a lot of these at chapter openings and chapter endings, whether the comment is specifically on how the chapter opens or closes (often, my chapter endings need work) or it’s a summary of my thoughts on the structure of a chapter as a whole (I have several of those, as well, especially on chapters that need lots of restructuring, need to be moved, or need to be cut entirely).

Lastly, this is just an example of a chapter that was lighter on notes vs. one that was especially heavy on notes; the volume of notes can differ a lot from chapter to chapter, as some are already stronger or weaker than others. (Chapter 20 was quite weak.) Though it may also be helpful to note that the chapters that need to be cut or moved entirely often have the fewest in-line notes; notes on those tend to be concentrated at the end, as described previously. Chapter 20 is an example of a chapter that has a good premise and serves a purpose that should be retained, but which was executed very poorly and needs a lot of work in order to fulfill its purpose effectively.

(It should be noted that while I have skimmed the above pages for spoilers and I don’t believe they contain anything major, any zooming-in is done at your own risk.)

Next Steps

With all of Lightning annotated, I’ll be moving on to working through Thunder–which will happen in two stages, because Thunder has more significant weaknesses in the structural department. The first stage for Thunder will be going through it on the computer to add scenes and chapters that need to be added, move things around, etc. After that’s done and I have a more workable foundation to work from, I’ll print it out and go through the same annotation process I used for Lightning.

After both books are annotated, I intend to go through a similar process to what I used for Calligraphy Guild. I’ll work on underlying structural changes first–adding, removing, and rearranging things–then have a separate draft focused on each primary character to flesh out their arcs, smooth out their voices, add in quirks I forgot about, etc. Worldbuilding fixes will also get a designated draft, after all of the characters have been addressed. Once all of the fundamentals have been fixed (which may require for certain stages to be repeated), I’ll go through and clean up whatever prose issues are left behind before sending it off to beta-readers.

This process–of focusing a separate draft on each of these elements–should be made easier by the fact that my notes were set up to correspond with each of those drafts, something I was able to set up intentionally as I thought about what worked with Calligraphy Guild and how to combine my past two editing processes into a single approach that would be well-suited to Lightning.

Have you ever used an editing process similar to this one? Which part of the process most stood out to you? Do you have any questions? Comment below!

Finished with the self-editing stage–or wrapping up–and looking for a professional line edit? Book a sample to find out if we’d be a good fit!

Book now!

The post Revisiting My (Self-)Editing Process appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

How to Write an Effective Character Death

Most of us have a character death or two that we can point to as having effected us as readers, whether or not we can identify why exactly that particular death struck us so powerfully. In this post, I’m analyzing some of the character deaths that I’ve found most impactful–both as a reader/viewer, and from the storytelling perspective as an author.

Note: Due to the nature of the topic, this post does include spoilers for Warehouse 13, Arcane, and The Maze Runner trilogy.

The Crux of the Matter: Character Deaths Should Have an Impact

You probably already know this–on an instinctual level as a reader if not from an authorial perspective–but character deaths must have an impact on the story in order to feel meaningful to the reader. There must be some sort of impact on the story and/or the characters left behind, or else the death feels like a cheap trick used for shock value.

I would say that The Death Cure falls into this shock-value trap when Newt dies (along with a few others, but Newt’s death stands out the most). Newt’s death has little long-term impact on Thomas, despite their close friendship throughout the series (and the circumstances of Newt’s death), and feels like it has very little bearing on the remainder of the story, either. While it did impact me as a reader because I cared about Newt as a character (more on that point in a moment), it also made me incredibly mad at James Dashner because it felt like it was solely included to shock and dismay the reader, not because it added any meaningful benefit to the story being told. Death matters, it’s a tragic thing, and throwing it in for shock value cheapens its potency.

On the other side of the coin, some character deaths have a purpose to the story but little emotional impact for the reader (and/or the characters around the deceased). While these are forgivable because they do have meaning, and sometimes they are necessary, these can still be overdone and inadvertently cheapen the idea of death in your story. You don’t want to do that, either, so use these sparingly and (at least as a general rule) only for minor characters/”extras.” (It also is possible to use some of the tips in this post on a toned-down scale to make sure these “minor” deaths don’t feel cheap.)

When a primary or secondary character dies, it should matter–to the story, to the characters around them, and to the reader. That level of impact is what I hope this post will help you achieve.

Connect Your Reader to the Character

This is the most critical element of making a character death meaningful to your reader. If they don’t care about the character, they won’t care (much) when that character dies. There is no one guaranteed way to ensure that your reader connects with your character, because that will depend on your reader’s specific personality and preferences, but there are obviously still ways to increase the connection between your character and readers!

The most obvious step is to ensure that your character is well-rounded, thoroughly fleshed out, and feels realistic to the reader, with an authentic voice (ideally one that your reader can relate to on some level). Your reader should be able to understand and empathize with your character’s goals and motivations, and perhaps have some idea of their backstory (especially if you bring this back around to play some role in the context of their death).

Another element that can be a huge point of connection between the character and the reader is the relationships your character has with those around them. Even if your character is drastically different from your reader in personality, lifestyle, etc., an older sister character will still be relatable to your older-sister readers because of her relationship with her younger sibling(s). The same applies to all sorts of relationships; your reader will connect with familiar connections just as much as (if not more so than) they will connect with familiar traits.

Show the Effect of the Character’s Death on Other Characters

Up to this point, we’ve discussed what a character death needs to be and how it needs to be set up. From here on out, we’ll get into what elements need to surround the character death itself in order to lend it the impact it needs.

This is probably the most effective element toward making a character death impactful to your readers, because just as your reader will connect with the character who has died, they will have also connected with the surrounding characters, and they will feel the impact of the deceased character’s death with (and through) the characters left behind.

There are two character deaths in the latter seasons of Warehouse 13, and I think that this is the core reason why one of them hits me harder than the other. With one, the viewer is shown the immediate reaction of all of the surrounding characters. (This death gets me every time I watch the show.) With the other, the character reactions are delayed and–for most of the characters–shorter-lived. While both character deaths are well-done, and I’m sure that part of the disparity is also my personal level of investment in each of the deceased characters rather than the writing, I think that the immediacy and depth of the character reactions surrounding the first death mentioned add to the impact.

Obviously, not all character deaths lend themselves to immediate reactions from other characters, and you shouldn’t try to shoehorn them in where they don’t fit! But giving depth to those reactions as early as is reasonable will help add to the impact of the character’s death on your reader. Funerals can be a convenient means of revealing character reactions to a death, but they can also be overused, so consider whether a funeral is the best way to do this (or adds to the story in some other way) or whether a more “casual” scenario might work better and offer greater impact to your reader. Funerals have the weakness of providing some closure to the reader and characters, which can resolve the emotions surrounding a character’s death (for the detached reader, at least; maybe not the invested characters), which can decrease the impact of a character death when used too early.

Different characters will have different reactions to a character’s death–due to differing personalities, different relationships with the deceased, etc. All of them can add to the impact of your character’s death–including those that clash with one another. If one character has a very emotional response to a character death while another acts cold (whether due to genuine callousness or in order to hide their own grief), this can highlight and draw out even more of a response from that emotional character to emphasize the impact the deceased character had on those around them.

Showing a variety of reactions to a character’s death can also communicate a lot about the surviving characters to your reader, deepening the reader’s connection with those characters as the story moves along after them.

Prevent the Deceased Character from Achieving Their Goal

While not a critical point, a character death that prevents a character from accomplishing their goal or fulfilling their perceived role can have added impact as it leaves your reader with a lack of closure that can add to the wrongness of the character’s death.

I believe this clear sense of failure is another reason that the one Warehouse 13 death has more impact to me than the other; while both characters fail in their immediate goals at the time of their deaths, one goal has been established for longer and is more clearly cut short by the character’s death.

There are two ways to move on from this point, and either can add to the emotional impact and storytelling strength of a character death. One is for the dying character to pass the baton–either with their dying words (as is especially common with mentor characters, in particular) or in a will/letter found afterward (whether they expected to die–which can add its own sense of impact–or whether they planned to pass along the goal/role more personally but died before they had the chance). The other is to leave the goal/role hanging, in which case the surviving characters will need to determine how to pick up that goal/role on their own or adjust their plans to work without that goal/role fulfilled.

Consider whether your character’s death has a greater impact on your story before or after the deceased character has accomplished their goal/fulfilled their role–and, if a lack of closure is the better fit, what sort of internal and external conflicts may result as that gap demands to be filled or bypassed.

Use the Character Death to Fulfill a Goal

On the flip side, you can use a character death to fulfill a character’s goal/role–especially if that goal/role involves protecting other characters. While this offers some sense of closure, which I’ve talked about weakening emotional impact in some cases, it does so in such a way that the closure almost feels wrong in and of itself because the character had to die to accomplish that closure. It makes closure cost.

You can influence the degree of closure vs. lack thereof depending on whether or not the other characters expected the deceased character to accomplish their goal/role this way, as well; a character death that accomplishes the character’s goal/fulfills their role in a way that they expected but the other characters didn’t can still be shown as a shock and “wrong” way for the goal to have been accomplished, through the characters who weren’t expecting it and can’t accept that this was how the goal was reached.

In some cases–again, especially in which the deceased character’s goal/role was to protect others–a character’s death can simultaneously fulfill their goal/role and leave it incomplete/vacant. Early in Arcane, for example, Vander plays a fatherly role to the main sister characters; when he dies, he does so protecting them–fulfilling his role–but he also leaves them (and the larger group he’s responsible for) without a protector and must pass that role on to the older sister he died protecting.

A Word on Resurrection & Fake Character Deaths

The majority of the time, fake character deaths are unnecessary and resurrections cheapen death. However, this is not always true. Fake deaths, in particular, can be done well when the story calls for it. Often, fake deaths work best when they take advantage of the reader’s skepticism (“show me a body or he’s not actually dead”), offering enough evidence to make the reader wonder and ensure the ultimate reveal isn’t completely predictable, but leaving enough doubt that they don’t feel like the rug was ripped out from under them–and the character’s grave–when the character turns out to not actually be dead.

Fake deaths and resurrections are both best used sparingly, but this is especially true of resurrections. Resurrection, overdone, cheapens death more than anything else. When no one stays dead, death loses all weight and meaning–and all of its impact, as a result. The DC comic shows on the CW were especially guilty of this, which was part of why I stopped watching them (among other reasons). That said, a once-in-a-blue-moon resurrection with clear purpose can be done well.

In order to pull off a resurrection that your readers can get behind, make sure that it makes sense with your world, characters, plot, etc., and make sure that there are consequences. Resurrection should pretty much never be easy or without consequence. Resurrection goes against the way the world functions (in almost all scenarios), and there are going to be challenges and consequences to going against the natural law of the world. Keeping this in mind will not only help your reader accept a thought-through resurrection, but also keep you from pulling out this trick too many times.

Have you killed off a character before? Are there any character deaths from books or TV/movies that stood out to you as especially impactful? What do you think made them work? Comment below!

Need help fleshing out your characters to connect with readers? Subscribe to download my set of character voice questions!

The post How to Write an Effective Character Death appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Book Review: DragonFire and Other Nonsense by Bethany Meyer

I haven’t posted as many reviews this year as some other years, as a consequence of reducing the volume of books I read in order to take my time with books that I really enjoy. Let me start by saying, this book was definitely worth the time.

(Required disclaimer that though I received a free copy to review, the following opinions are my own.)

Since this book concludes the Scorch trilogy, here is the blurb from book one rather than DragonFire itself:

What is Robbing Centaurs and Other Bad Ideas about?

Wick the tree messenger is bound for success. His career as a messenger is better than it’s ever been, and he’s on the fast track to getting an even more important job as a councilor. But before he can succeed, word spreads that a thief is after the most powerful magic in Aro, the Heather Stone, and stealing it piece by piece. To be safe, Wick is entrusted with moving one of the stones to a safer location.

On his journey, Wick is overtaken by the thief himself, a seraph named Archer, but Archer’s plans as he explains them are nothing like what everyone thinks. Wick doesn’t know what to believe, but Archer seems so sure. Wick’s options are limited: ignore Archer and keep his piece of the Heather Stone out of potentially dangerous hands, or choose to trust this thief and the warning he brings.

Something is coming. An ancient scourge that could destroy all of Aro. All that stands in its way are an uncertain messenger and an untrustworthy thief.

If he chooses wrong, Wick could lose everything.

Prior to reading DragonFire and Other Nonsense, I went back and reread both Robbing Centaurs and Other Bad Ideas and World Saving and Other Disasters–and I’m quite happy to have done so, both because they’re fun in their own right and because I was able to note details and plot threads that were introduced in prior books and fulfilled in DragonFire and Other Nonsense.

Robbing Centaurs is a fun, witty fantasy adventure that has made me laugh out loud multiple times, and it’s a bright and bold introduction to the story, world, and characters of the Scorch trilogy.

World Saving and Other Disasters is easily the weakest installment of the trilogy, in my opinion, but by no means a weak one! While some of the writing is a bit weaker in World Saving than in its fellows and some moments feel a bit like a repeat of Robbing Centaurs, it offers a tonal transition point between books, features a role-reversal that is fascinating to see play out, and offers particularly “cozy” scenes that I loved reading. While I may consider it a 4- or 4.5-star read rather than a 5-star, it is absolutely still a worthwhile and enjoyable installment to the series.

That brings us to DragonFire and Other Nonsense. It can be difficult to review a sequel without massive spoilers, but this book has plenty of heart underneath the plot points to make the task easier.

DragonFire is the longest and most intense book in the series; everything else ramps up toward and prepares for this climax–and, boy, what a climax it is.

While Meyer does a great job through the majority of the series of matching the level of plot intensity to the level of emotional intensity (for the characters and the reader), I think that most shines through in DragonFire and Other Nonsense. It can be difficult to pull off such heightened action and emotion–especially where both are involved–without overwhelming the reader or coming across as melodramatic, but Meyer does a beautiful job in DragonFire of including enough peaceful moments to keep things balanced and ensuring that all of the higher action and emotion feels incredibly meaningful. (Part of this, of course, is laid out through the previous books, as she gets you invested in the characters while the stakes are lower so that you care when things come to a head.)

Look, a lot of what I’m going to talk about in this review is heart and emotion, because that is definitely a strong point of this book. It’s rare that a book makes me feel a whole lot for the characters–and even more rare if a book gets me to tear up or outright cry. While I did not cry while reading DragonFire, I did tear up once or twice and I certainly felt a great deal–both empathizing with and worrying for the characters. Meyer manages to capture very real emotions on the page, translating them into meaningful prose and dialogue that makes you realize, “I’ve felt that.”

On a more superficial note, the world expands in this book! Y’all know I love a good expansive world. I started to wonder about the world outside Aro during my reread of World Saving and Other Disasters, and I felt well-rewarded by DragonFire and Other Nonsense. Paradoxically, DragonFire is perhaps the most geographically contained book of the series. Do with that what you will (or, you know, just go read the trilogy).

DragonFire and Other Nonsense is the strongest Scorch book in terms of its writing, which contributes to its effectiveness in the emotional department. While the previous books are not, as a whole, poorly written, DragonFire takes the series to a new level and offers probably the most immersive and rewarding reading experience of the series (Robbing Centaurs competes, but its tone is so different that it would be a difficult comparison)–which secures the skillful storytelling and helps DragonFire and Other Nonsense stand up as a fulfilling end to the trilogy’s arc.

I would be remiss to finish this review without dedicating time the characters, as they are the beating heart of the entire Scorch trilogy. Archer and Wick, as well as their friendship, grow and develop so much over the course of the trilogy, and DragonFire brings their arcs to a beautiful conclusion that makes perfect sense for each of them. They contribute so much to one another’s growth, and seeing the culmination of their friendship and all they’ve been through and learned is such a satisfying ending to their story (even if I wished that story could just never end, lol). Not only that, but the side characters drawn together (and those newly introduced) in DragonFire and Other Nonsense contribute their own depth and influence to the main story and the main character arcs, in addition to being engaging on their own merit, and DragonFire offers the opportunity to get to know a number of them more deeply–especially Fowl, Twill, and Ongel.

Overall, DragonFire and Other Nonsense is just an excellent book as well as an excellent trilogy conclusion, and I would highly recommend checking out the Scorch trilogy if you haven’t already!

Rating: 5 stars

Buy on Amazon | Add on Goodreads

Want to get future reviews delivered straight to your inbox, along with edifying book recommendations and other bookish posts? Sign up below!

The post Book Review: DragonFire and Other Nonsense by Bethany Meyer appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Getting Past the Chapter 8 Slump

A few years ago, I had a conversation with someone who said he’d tried to write a number of stories, but could never seem to get past chapter eight. I was familiar with the feeling, and maybe you are, too. It’s easy to blaze through the start of your story, fueled by all the excitement of a bright new idea, banking on momentum until… that momentum inevitably runs out. Today, I want to talk about how to get past that initial loss of momentum to keep going and complete that exciting new project you’ve started.

*This post contains affiliate links, marked with an asterisk. Purchases made through these links earn me a small commission and help support my work at no extra cost to you.What is the “Chapter 8 Slump”?

For the purposes of this post, I’m discussing that first big case of “writer’s block” after you’ve started a new story. For some reason, it seems that has a tendency to hit around the chapter-eight mark, or after 10-20k words. In my own personal experience, it’s also more prevalent when “pantsing” a story vs. working on a story that has already been plotted out ahead of time, but that could just be a personal issue; if this “chapter 8 slump” is a problem you’ve faced, I’d love to hear in the comments whether you’re usually a “pantser” or a “plotter”!

Tip #1: Expect the Slump

Here’s the thing: Every new story idea loses its luster and causes the author’s momentum to falter. As Rick Riordan put it,

“Writing a book is always hard work. It’s much easier to think of new ideas. You’ll get to the middle of the manuscript and you’ll think, ‘Oh, this is too hard. I’ll start another book instead and that will be easier.’ DON’T! That new book won’t be any easier.”

Part of having a strong defense against the chapter 8 slump is to expect it and prepare for it ahead of time. One way to do this is to outline your project ahead of time–however that works best for you. I like to use K.M. Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel* as a reference when I’m outlining a new novel, but I’ve used less “structured” methods in the past as well. One major cause of the chapter 8 slump can be not knowing what comes next, and plotting your story ahead of time bypasses this problem.

Already hit the point of “What comes next?” Subscribe for a set of character-driven plotting prompts to help you brainstorm the most effective next move for your story!

It can also help to have an established writing habit. Fueling your writing process with discipline over momentum might not make the chapter 8 slump disappear, or make the next steps of your story easier to figure out, but it can help keep you going despite the slump and get you through to the other side–the point at which writing becomes easier again.

But even if outlining isn’t your thing and this season of your life doesn’t allow for a consistent writing habit, simply knowing that the slump will come and preparing yourself mentally–as well as arming yourself with some of the mid-slump tips that follow–can make it easier to navigate and push through.

Tip #2: Revisit What You’ve Already Written

The chapter 8 slump has two primary causes, in my experience:

Decreased interest in the storyLack of clarity about what comes next

Both of these causes can be helped by going back to the beginning and rereading what you’ve already written of a project. In the mad dash of getting the beginning of a story onto paper, we can lose track of details slipped in and plot points alluded to, even by the time we get to chapter eight. Backtracking can help us expose these forgotten details, which can sometimes help spark new ideas for the next portion of the story.

Sometimes, there are no specific details we’ve lost, but revisiting the beginning of the story as a reader–or with an editor’s eye–can help us trace the goals and actions of our characters to clarify what they would realistically do next.

This rediscovery of plot can sometimes even be the catalyst to reignite your excitement over a project! But sometimes, when lack of excitement is the problem, you need to go back without analyzing so much; you need to go back with an eye for what you love about this project–whether it’s a certain character, certain details, the setting, a plot point you’re working toward, etc.

In some cases, this story may have lost its luster to you because you feel that the story on the page isn’t living up to the vision you had for it in your mind. Then, you may have to go back beyond the start of your draft to what that vision was. What excited you about it? What are the core elements of that vision, that you can focus on implementing as you move forward? The hard part is that you will also have to acknowledge that your draft probably won’t live up to that vision initially–but that doesn’t mean you can’t use this project to strengthen your writing skill, or make that vision come to life more clearly in the editing stages! The only way you’re guaranteed not to capture your vision on the page is if you give up. So keep at it!

Tip #3: Intentionally Brainstorm

While revisiting the earlier part of your story may be sufficient to give you the next steps, sometimes it takes a little more dedicated brainstorming time to determine what’s holding a story back and what needs to happen next.

If you’re still struggling, pull out an empty document or notebook page, grab a friend if you need someone else to bounce ideas off of, and start testing ideas. List everything that could happen next, no matter how crazy. Explore your characters’ goals and motivations and consider what might happen if those were pushed too far. Think about what sorts of scenes, settings, and situations would further your vision for this story.

Once you’ve come up with as many possibilities as you can, go back and filter them for those that make the most sense for your story and/or interest you the most!

Looking for a community of like-minded authors to brainstorm with? Join the Scribes & Archers Discord server!

Join the server!

Tip #4: Backtrack

Sometimes the chapter 8 slump hits because we’ve genuinely written ourselves into a corner. Hopefully, through revisiting earlier parts of the story and/or brainstorming, you’ll be able to identify when this is the problem. Sometimes characters act outside of their character, the plot goes in an unsustainable direction, you find a crucial part of your world is under-developed, etc. When this happens, it can sometimes warrant completely deleting portions of your draft (or relocating them to a separate document, if you don’t like to permanently delete anything) and starting over from a previous point.

This can be difficult, especially when you’re struggling to make forward progress and it feels like you’re backtracking and losing ground! But removing what doesn’t serve the story and replacing it with something that does can actually enable you to make more forward progress than you would have otherwise, and will ultimately serve the good of your story as a whole.

Tip #5: Take a Break

Sometimes we chase a story too far, too fast and we end up burned out. In these cases, no amount of preparation, revisiting, or brainstorming is going to solve the problem; the only effective solution is to let yourself–and the project–rest for a time. This can mean a number of different things. Maybe you need to take a break from writing entirely and refill your creative tank, or maybe you just need to switch over to a different project until you can come back to this one with a clearer head and increased energy again. Maybe you need to focus on a different creative outlet for a little while. Maybe you just need to give yourself enough space from this project for your mind to start working in the background to solve whatever problem has you blocked. Whatever the case, rest from a project is sometimes the best option.

Just make sure (if your burnout is mild) that you make a plan to come back to the project after a certain amount of time has passed, so it doesn’t accidentally end up in the indefinite archives!

Have you faced the “chapter 8 slump” before? What have been your most effective tools against it? Share in the comments!

Looking for prompts to help you brainstorm your story’s next step? Subscribe for downloadable plotting prompts!

The post Getting Past the Chapter 8 Slump appeared first on Scribes & Archers.