R.M. Archer's Blog, page 39

Character Profiles – Help or Waste?

When creating characters, you’re often told to use a character profile. But do they really help you flesh out your characters or are they just laundry lists of useless facts you’ll never use? I think they usually tend to be a combination, and it depends on the profile. There are some profiles with more hard-hitting questions and there are some with more shallow questions, and how much you get out of a profile depends somewhat on what the balance is.

Profiles are also more or less helpful for each writer, since every writer is different. I tend to like them because they give me things to think about regarding the character that I won’t necessarily think of on my own, and then a place to write them down, but others just find them time-consuming and would rather learn about their characters through writing. Neither of these is wrong, and I’ve used both methods in the past.

So what should you look for or put on a character profile?

I tend to get the most use out of questions that talk about a character’s nature, past, and relationships. I also like those spots for physical attributes in case I don’t remember (which I usually do because I usually have a pretty clear picture of that in my head, but I wouldn’t want to give a character brown hair in one scene and blonde in another, for instance, so it’s good to have just in case), and other things that will recur in the book. A tendency to run a hand through their hair, always wearing their sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a certain thing they do that makes another character laugh, etc. (Although you could say these tie in with the nature-related questions, which would also be acceptable.)

You can do a lot of character development by connecting the past and present, even coincidentally. For instance, in “worst childhood memories” for my character Cordain, I found out that his sister Braia was bitten by a spider when they were little and he’d been terrified she was going to die. As it turned out, I’d already put down “spiders” as a fear of his, and now I knew why. You can also do this intentionally, by looking at something about them (a fear, a goal, a scar, a mannerism, just about anything) and figuring out why they’re scared of that, what happened to lead to that goal, how they got that scar, etc.

But what questions should actually go on the profile?

Basic physical appearance. I usually leave weight off of this because I don’t tend to find it useful, but something like body type makes a good alternative for me because it’s easier for me to picture at a glance. What you do is up to you. I also like to have a face claim of a celebrity (Pinterest or faceclaim directories – which you can just google to pull up a few – are really helpful for this) so that I have an even clearer image of that character. And don’t worry if the faceclaim doesn’t fit your character 100%, because that’s just not possible. Pick someone that’s as close as you can get.

Personality type. I usually have their MBTI type, what Divergent faction they’re in, what Hogwarts house they’re in, and sometimes what their alignment is (neutral good, chaotic evil, etc.). You may just consider this super nerdy, but it actually tells me a lot about their character to know these things, because these are preconceived boxes with assigned traits. All of these might not fit your character, but it gives you a framework. And on Pinterest you can find oodles of posts about each MBTI personality type, which can be super helpful for getting to know your character. I actually have a whole post on personality typing your characters.

Name meaning. Maybe this is just me, but I find name meanings fascinating and I tend to enjoy using them as plot ideas for those characters. And some of them fit perfectly right off the bat (I once named a queen character Rhianna and then later looked it up and found out it means “great queen”), some are wonderfully ironic (my cruel, evil pirate’s name means “grace”), and some are just funny (I have a set of brothers named Sulien and Ciaran. Sulien means “sun born” and Ciaran means “little dark one.” On top of which, Ciaran is very pale with platinum blond hair and much more pleasant to be around than Sulien.)

How they treat people above and below them. This tells a lot about their character and how they’re likely to respond to characters who are above or below them. My character Nissa from The Shadow Raven treats nobles with the respect due, but she mixes it with a hint of mockery. Meanwhile, in those below her (and there are few below her) she sees herself and wants to help them. At least at the beginning of the book.

Best and worst childhood memory. These could come up in the book or could not, but they’re good to know anyway. They can lead to a lot of present-day things like goals, fears, scars, behaviors, etc.

Moments that changed them/significant moments. These are two separate things, but they almost always overlap. If it changed you, it’s a significant moment. These can be job changes, family changes (new siblings, death of a parent, adoption, etc.), home changes, whatever.

Odd things in their childhood. For instance, being raised by a thief/assassin is fairly odd, as is killing your parents at the age of twelve or so. Yes, those are descriptions of three of my characters. The latter is a psychopath, so… He’s fun. (Actually he is a lot of fun to write, but anyway.) Anything particularly odd about their childhood, and try to base it on their society, too. For instance, it would be odd in Shae-Nir (where Cordain lives) for a child to be raised by a single parent or live in a big mansion or not participate in the harvest festival. In Vanore (where Nissa lives), it’s pretty unusual to be orphaned, to not live in a house, or to steal from the palace. Pay attention to what things would be odd in your character’s society, not just yours.

Goals based on their past. I love this one, because it embodies what I was saying about the past and present being interconnected. For instance, Nissa’s profile says that when she was a child she wanted to be a teacher, and then in this section it says “The want to become a teacher was based on the help, hope, and encouragement that her own teachers gave her, but that dream mostly died.” Her current goal (“instilling fear in people’s hearts”) is based on never wanting to be abandoned again due to {spoilers} and never wanting to depend on anyone again (due to the same spoilers).

How they respond to a threat/fight, and what their weakness is in fighting. These are helpful to know, and fighting weakness is one I need to remember is there and look up when my characters are fighting (or even just sparring), because I tend to forget about weaknesses in that area. Also, keep in mind that fighting could refer to physical fighting or verbal fights.

Choice of weapon. Obviously this ties in with the above.

You can also add things that are world- or story-specific. What affiliations they have with key organizations in their city, who they work for if it’s pertinent to the story, etc.

Want to see what else I put on my character profiles? Sign up to my newsletter and get access to the full template for free!

Giveaway Winners!

Okie doke. So, I ran a giveaway a few weeks ago for a copy of Slander & Steel and two pairs of bookmarks (3 winners total), and almost all of the entry options were sharing my Kickstarter giveaway, because I don’t currently have the money I need to get Slander & Steel professionally edited and get the cover art and all that jazz. My Kickstarter was still unsuccessful, despite y’all’s sharing, but I still appreciate your help.

Unfortunately, an unsuccessful Kickstarter means still no book, and I have to form a new plan which will almost certainly push the release date back, so I’m not sure when you winners are going to get your prizes. I’m absolutely not backing out or anything, you will get your prizes, but I can’t promise when. :P I’m still working to push forward, and the plan is still to publish in 2019 if at all possible, so I’m not giving up on any of this yet.

Now, with that caveat out of the way, let’s announce the winners!

The winner of the grand prize is… Marissa Baker! You will be getting a copy of Slander & Steel a month before its release.

The two winners of the bookmark prizes are… Mary Bliese and Leah Tutton! As soon as I have the official cover art I can put together y’all’s bookmarks and send them.

Thank you for your help promoting the Kickstarter campaign. I hope I’m able to get your prizes to you in a semi-timely manner.

I’d like to thank the rest of you for your support, as well. I’m excited to share Slander & Steel with you all, and I really hope you enjoy it when it comes out. ^-^

Character Interview: Parr Renate

Parr is a character who popped up uninvited in chapter 4 of The King’s Paladin and immediately caught my attention, partially because he sprung into existence with a full character arc, backstory, and relationship arc with Coraline (i.e. he’s the most fully-formed character to ever just show up). He’s the son of two Mandorian advisors and captain of King Shordin’s private guard. Enjoy his interview!

Parr: *comes in and takes a seat across from the interviewer* Hello.

Interviewer: Hi! How are you today?

Parr: I’m all right. How are you?

Interviewer: I’m doing just fine. Are you ready to get started?

Parr: *nods*

Interviewer: Excellent. What is your name?

Parr: Parr Alexander Renate.

Interviewer: How old are you?

Parr: Twenty.

Interviewer: Do you have any siblings?

Parr: *shakes his head*

Interviewer: Do you have a job?

Parr: I’m captain of King Shordin’s personal guard. *lifts his chin, but sounds almost resigned*

Interviewer: Are you an introvert or extrovert?

Parr: Introvert.

Interviewer: What is your favorite food?

Parr: Meat pastries.

Interviewer: Favorite color?

Parr: I’m almost always in sky blue. *lifts an arm to bring attention to his sky blue uniform jacket*

Interviewer: But that’s assigned. Is it your favorite?

Parr: *shrugs* I don’t have a particular preference.

Interviewer: Do you enjoy reading?

Parr: It depends on the book.

Interviewer: Do you have a favorite?

Parr: I tend to enjoy history books, or books set in deserts.

Interviewer: Why deserts?

Parr: There are no deserts on Themar, so it’s interesting to read of them.

Interviewer: Do you have a favorite thing about deserts?

Parr: The color. I imagine it’s a very beautiful mix of reds and golds and oranges.

Interviewer: *smiles* I imagine so, too. What is your favorite animal?

Parr: Eagles.

Interviewer: Any particular reason?

Parr: Not particularly.

Interviewer: What are your hobbies?

Parr: I don’t have any.

Interviewer: I imagine guarding the king would keep you rather busy.

Parr: *nods*

Interviewer: What’s it like being captain of his personal guard? What are some of your duties?

Parr: I mostly serve as an escort, with the rest of the personal guard. If there’s a threat, I neutralize it.

Interviewer: Surely you’re not with him 24/7.

Parr: No. I’m captain for the day shift. Rin Marrow takes over for the night shift. *a smile plays at his lips briefly before he hides it*

Interviewer: Is that a man or a woman?

Parr: A woman. One of few who was able to earn a place among the guard.

Interviewer: I take it you admire her.

Parr: *nods* I do. She’s a capable captain.

Interviewer: Which of these is most important to you: Kindness, intelligence, or bravery?

Parr: Intelligence. Bravery is worth nothing without it.

Interviewer: And honesty or selflessness?

Parr: Selflessness.

Interviewer: What’s something you can’t leave home without?

Parr: My sword.

Interviewer: That was the last question. *smiles* Thank you for your time.

Parr: *nods and leaves*

Farewell to November

November’s Writing

I participated in NaNoWriMo this month, but I stopped prioritizing it about halfway through the month. I learned that The Dark War Trilogy doesn’t work well for NaNoWriMo–it’s too long and emotionally draining (in the case of The King’s Paladin, the MC is difficult to write because she thinks so differently from me)–so in the future I need to focus on a shorter, easier piece that I can get really excited for beforehand. This year I was more hyped for NaNoWriMo itself than for the story I was writing.

I got approximately 20k written this month, some of which was on The King’s Paladin, some of which was Kersir worldbuilding, some of which was blogging, and some of which was the beginning of a new apocalyptic novel I want to write (which is determined to annoy me, but is still an amazing idea).

I also worked on promoting my Slander & Steel Kickstarter campaign, which went a lot better than last time around. There’s $625 to go in the next six days, so I’d really appreciate contributions (of any size), shares, and prayers. (Don’t forget that you can enter a giveaway for a free copy of the published book by sharing!)

November’s Reading

I read four books this month:

Hoffmann’s Assistant by Renee Lauter
Project Canvas by Caroline Meek
Antiheroes by the Phoenix Fiction Writers
and King’s Warrior by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

I still have six books on my “fall reading list,” and I’d like to read them all and review most of them before the year is out, so hopefully you’ll get several reviews next month.

December Plans

Like I said above, I’m planning to read the last six books from my fall reading list and review them. I’m also planning on reevaluating my writing projects and figuring out what I need to work on when and what sort of pace to set. Tomorrow I’m doing a Q&A livestream on my Kickstarter campaign at 4pm EST, which I’m kind of nervous about since I’ve never livestreamed with readers before, only fellow writers/editors. I’ll also be working on editing Slander & Steel throughout the month.

I’d like to get into a healthy sleeping pattern, ’cause my sleep is all out of whack currently, and I’d like to consistently play a Wii dance game in the morning for exercise.

I’ll also be putting together my goals for 2019, and I’ll get a bullet journal for the new year and plan out how to decorate it. (I plan to get more artsy with my bullet journal this coming year, which I’m excited about. ^-^)

How did your November go? If you did NaNoWriMo, what was your final word count? What did you learn from the experience? What are your plans for December? Do you have any goals for the new year yet, or will you be planning sometime next month? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. :)

 

 

 

The Shared WIP Tag – Week 5: Bonus Party!

This week’s theme is… anything! One of the suggestions was a playlist, which I thought would be fun, but my trilogy playlist is 10 1/2 hours long. So I pulled out the songs that fit The King’s Paladin, specifically, to share with you. The shortened playlist is still 3 hours, but a lot of that is instrumental, and I’ll only be sharing the lyrical songs here, along with brief descriptions of how I think they fit. Without further ado, the music!

We Own the Night by Selena Gomez

Coraline would really like to escape from her responsibility as Paladin, and this is basically the mood she goes into when she cracks under the stress and just needs to get away for a bit and hang out with Gabel.

Waiting on the Night to Fall by Casting Crowns

Antagonist song. *dun dun dunnnnn*

Legends Never Die by League of Legends

This one pretty much defines the tone of the trilogy as a whole, so it’s included here. And Coraline is the most classically legendary, as Paladin.

Troubled by Elephante

This is Coraline’s view on life in general.

Get it Right by Diplo

This song fits both Coraline and Parr. They feel like they have to play parts they’re either not equipped or don’t want to play, but they’re determined to make other people happy by doing it anyway.

Stranger Things by Kygo

(These lyrics are incorrect, btw.) This one is more from Gabel’s POV, “mourning,” as it were, the fact that responsibility has driven a lot of the easy wonder from Coraline.

Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson

This is basically how Coraline feels about Gabel, but less romantically.

Until We Go Down by Ruelle

I’m pretty sure this has incorrect lyrics, too (“Erased, I missed till the break of dawn” makes no sense). This is a song for Orlan, particularly due to the first few lines.

Warriors by Imagine Dragons

All the Paladin kids relate to this one.

Battlefield by Svrcina

This one fits both Coraline and Ammadeus, not necessarily together. (Maybe together. I don’t know yet.) They both take their responsibility toward the kingdom very seriously.

We’ll Be the Stars by Sabrina Carpenter

Another Gabel and Coraline song.

Save the World/Don’t Worry Child by Pentatonix

There’s Coraline, trying to go save everyone again.

Stand Up by The Cab

This one is basically Orlan’s advice to his men.

Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons

This one fits Gabel and Coraline, specifically for each other, and Ammadeus in general.

Ceasefire by for KING & COUNTRY

Coraline’s ideal ending.

Live Like Legends by Ruelle

This one fits Orlan pretty well.

Class of 2018 Medley by Anthem Lights

This one’s a good wrap-up song for this book and for the trilogy as a whole.

There are several more with lyrics, but I’m gonna judge by the fact that I’m getting tired of finding YouTube videos for all of these that this post is getting long and I should stop. XD You can find the full playlist here:

I’m gonna leave you with a few character aesthetics and then wrap things up. Which of the songs was your favorite? Which Shared WIP Tag post was your favorite? Comment down below and let me know, and tell me which King’s Paladin character you’d like to interview next! (I need to get back into consistent character interviews.)

Dorian
Gabel
Orlan
Toril
Wisterin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: King’s Warrior by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

I love indie-publishing and indie-published authors. I love the support of the community, and I love supporting and helping fellow indie-authors. Unfortunately, when I read poorly edited indie novels I really want to go to the author and say “This was good, but it could be better” and help them polish it, and I usually can’t. This is one of those poorly edited novels.

The potential is all there. The characters are good, the plot is interesting, there are a lot of connections between things. Unfortunately, I wasn’t emotionally invested, and there are a few reasons for this. First of all, we’re never in one character’s POV for more than three paragraphs at a time (and that’s the high end of the spectrum). It’s really hard to form an emotional connection with a character you don’t get more than five second meetings with. It also removes the emotional oomph of character relationships–and particularly conflicts–when you don’t get to share in a character’s frustration or confusion or whatever the case may be because you’re immediately seeing both sides of an issue. I want to experience things with the character, and that doesn’t get to happen when you’re seeing everyone’s POV in a given scene and each one only lasts one or two paragraphs.

In a similar vein, there was too much information shared, and it wasn’t done so in an artistic way. We’re told almost everything. Emotions, backstory, worldbuilding… whether it’s through character dialogue or narration, we’re always told things and never shown. Done well, backstory and worldbuilding can really add to a story and give it more depth. Done poorly, it only detracts from the story and draws the reader out of the action. And you want to be intentional about what you include or when, otherwise the reader feels like they know everything and there’s no mystery or intrigue anymore.

One way we were given too much information goes back to POV choice (or lack thereof). Almost every character has a POV at some point. Even a random Dark Warrior in a battle who’s there for all of three paragraphs to almost make you pull for him before he dies. There’s no information given in those three paragraphs that’s useful to the rest of the story, it doesn’t create any emotional depth because it doesn’t affect the good guy on the other side in the least, and the character has no importance anywhere else in the story. But that guy aside, we see into the POV of the antagonist, at least one of the antagonist’s lackeys if not two (who give away different aspects of the plot so it’s not a mystery anymore), every meaningful protagonist, and several less-meaningful protagonists. It removes any sense of mystery if we’re seeing every single angle of the story, we don’t get to wonder about any one character’s backstory as much as we’d like (*cough*Brant*cough*), and overall there’s just a lot less tension and interest.

As a result of the lack of showing anything and the POV choice, the characters ended up less engaging than they could have been. Their basic personalities managed to shine through, but were squandered by the lack of emotional depth to the writing. I also thought their dialogue all sounded the same, which was disappointing. And almost none of them spoke in contractions; I think even the 12-year-old often spoke without contractions.

The characters’ emotional reactions to things (particularly when it came to knowing or not knowing or realizing things) was often over-dramatized. Dylanna’s surprise anytime Brant revealed some part of his backstory she hadn’t been aware of (how did she not know about him if she’s ancient and has been around the castle for ages he was {spoilers}, anyway?), Oraeyn’s surprise at the sword (dude. that was obvious from the very beginning because we knew everything about the sword’s history from the get-go. if he didn’t, why did we? and if he did, how did he not put two and two together?), etc. And are we really supposed to believe that those four sisters never kept in touch given their abilities and thus were totally lost as far as who they were familiar with? (Again, BRANT.)

The book also needed a proofreader/line-editor for the grammatical issues (particularly surrounding dialogue), which seems to be pretty common even with indie books that are well-written otherwise. (Which kind of makes me sad. Come let me fix your grammar and make your book even prettier. I want it to be the most beautiful it can be! D:)

I mostly enjoyed the ending (the very final scene painted a beautiful picture), and I thought that things were wrapped up nicely for the most part. (Although King Arnaud didn’t really know Oraeyn, so that particular choice seems a bit odd to me, considering he’s also pretty young.) It had the same problems with emotional depth as the rest of the book, except for that final scene, which clearly stands out to me.

Overall, this book has a lot of potential, but it needs a clearer focus and less excessive information.

Why Writing Isn’t a Solo Activity

People always talk about writing being an introverted profession. We sit at our desks for hours on end, silently producing words and sharing them with few people, until we finish it and have to share it with an editor and then the world. But writing shouldn’t be an isolated activity. We need help now and then (from actual people, not just Google), and we need support. So let’s get into a few ways people can be a great help with our writing.

We need support

First of all, we can’t do this writing thing alone. It’s hard. It can be draining. It’s easy to prioritize it over simple things like eating and sleeping. We need other people as moral support and to remind us to take care of ourselves. We need people to encourage us to keep writing when it’s slow going and remind us that we’re still making progress, even if it feels like we’re barely moving. We need people to remind us that our writing isn’t as terrible as we think when we’re on our fifth draft and we feel like burning our manuscripts.

But we also know honest friends, who will tell us it’s time to step back from the draft before we grab the blowtorch, who will tell us when the projects we’re focusing on aren’t really worth continuing with, who will give us constructive criticism. That’s support, too, painful as it sometimes is.

We need additional eyes and outside perspectives

When we’re on that fifth draft and we feel like all our writing is awful, or when we’re on the third draft and we know there are issues in a scene but we’re so numb from rereading it a billion times that we can’t figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it, we need outside eyes. We need help from people who haven’t read the thing a billion times, who will come at it from a fresh perspective and catch things we can’t because we wrote it and we know it inside and out. We need people who will look at our work objectively and from the perspective of a reader who knows close to nothing about the story, who will catch all those things we overlooked because we knew them and took them for granted.

I’m thankful for my Slander & Steel beta-readers, who helped me pick out issues in my second draft: Gabi, Andrew, True, Frances, Anna, and Emma. I’m also thankful for Allie’s help with my current fourth draft, as she helps me identify and fix the problems I’m too numb to to see clearly.

It’s also super helpful to have friends you can go to and bounce ideas off of when you’re stuck with a plot hole. Sometimes just working it out aloud to someone who will listen is enough to get it figured out, which is awesome. Sometimes you’re really stumped and you need an outside perspective to help shake things up. There was a plot point in Slander & Steel about two thirds of the way through that stumped me so bad I dropped the book for six months. When I came back and still couldn’t figure it out, I took it to my dad and he sorted it out in ten minutes.

We need people excited about our work

This kind of ties in with the “support” section, but we need people who will get excited about our stories who can keep us going when we’re tempted to stop writing, or shove our books at people on the street when they’re published, or promote them in blog tours if they want to be less drastic about it

Writing is great, but what’s its purpose if it’s not getting read? And how do we find people to read it? Well, once you have this handful of people excited about your work, they’re going to help you find more readers and your book is going to be more widely enjoyed thanks to them spreading the word about it.

These people aren’t just our minions for world domination through books, they’re also our readers. And, for me at least, often favorite readers because they’re the people who are going to engage and they’re the people you’re going to get to know through blog post comments and reviews and fanmail. (I have not actually gotten fanmail, but my experience with blog post comments and reviews has been amazing.)

I’m thankful for all of my frequent commenters, readers who share my promotional posts, and all the authors I’ve gotten to know online because we’re excited about each others’ work. (And all the rest of you, whether you’re openly excited or totally bored about my projects.)

We need people willing to buy our books

This is what we do, so it’s obviously helpful to have people who are willing to buy the books we poured months or years of work into, and who will be willing to support us… monetarily.

Things I hate: asking people for money. Things I don’t have: money. Things I need to self-publish a book: money. Hence my Kickstarter campaign, which hit halfway yesterday! I’m super thankful for all the people who contributed, and I’m amazed that there’s only one book box left. I’ve been thanking God for the success, and praying that He would guide the project to completion. I’m super hopeful that I’d be able to get the rest, even though there are only nine days left, and that I’d be able to publish this book for God’s glory next summer.

(If you’d like to help, you can contribute to my Kickstarter, share the campaign, or just pray that God would guide the campaign to the right people and that He’d help it to succeed.)

A lot of us authors need these people who will put their faith in us and help us complete our projects when we hit the stage of paying for editors or cover art: grandparents, parents, friends, people we only know from online… It might surprise you how many people are willing to contribute toward getting your book published, or buy it when it comes out.

I’m incredibly blessed to have such a wide group of supporters, of all kinds: beta-readers, people who encourage me to keep writing, people who’ve helped contribute to my Kickstarter, people who’ve let me bounce ideas off of them, people who read my blog, people who’ve left reviews on my short stories. I sincerely hope that all of you authors out there have a wonderful support group, whether it’s a couple dozen people or only a small handful. It takes a village to write a book.

Thank you for being a part of my “village,” and I hope that I’m able to be part of yours. :)

Black Friday Indie Book Sale

Welcome! I wanted to tell you about a HUGE sale that is going on this weekend! There are over 150 titles available and they are all either $.99 or FREE! There are also a long list of paperbacks for sale at incredibly discounted prices as well, and the good news is that all the books included–ebook and paperback–are clean reads! Be sure to go check out this amazing sale here.

There is also an amazing giveaway going on! Grand Prize winner receives 20 paperbacks and the 2nd place winner gets 20 e-book titles from the sale for free!

You can sign up for the giveaway here.

Giveaway runs from November 22nd till November 26th @12AM ET Grand prize open to US winners only. 2nd place prize is open Internationally.

2nd Place Winner Receives 20 E-books

Gather Round the Fables by Erika Matthews

The Case of the Tabloid Tattler by Perry Kirkpatrick AudioBook

The Twelve Cats of Christmas by Perry Kirkpatrick Audiobook

Coffee Shop Christmas Ebook by Ryana Lynn Miller

The Land of Cotton ebook by Ryana Lynn Miller

Entertaining Angels, Entertaining Angels Book 1 by Emerald Barnes

Secret’s Kept by Jennette Mbewe

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doue

Beyond Broken Pencils by Julie C. Gilbert

Ashlynn’s Dreams by Julie C. Gilbert

Soldier On by Vanessa Rasanen

Burning Rose by Hope Ann

Iced and Nailed by Avery Daniels

Imani Earns Her Cape by Bokerah Brumley

October by J. Grace Pennington

Disowned by Sarah Addison Fox

My Compass Home by Michaela Bush

Summer Shadows and Necessary Evil by Killarney Traynor

 

Grand Prize Winner Receives 20 Paperbacks

Mythical Doorways by Jenelle Schmidt

Faith is the Victory by Faith Blum

Kiera by Kate Willis

Because Anonymous Diana L. Sharples

After: Book One in The Neverway Chronicles by Savannah Jezowski

Specter: Book Two in The Neverway Chronicles by Savannah Jezowski

Leandra’s Enchanted Flute by Katy Huth Jones

Eagle Eyes by Tammy Lash

London in the Dark by Victoria Lynn

When Beauty Blooms by Victoria Lynn

Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset by Sarah Ashwood

Iced and Nailed by Avery Daniels

There Was Always Laughter in Our House by Sarah Holman

Bridgers: A Parable (paperback) by Angie Thompson

Love Blind (paperback) by Angie Thompson

Code by Angie Thompson

Christmas Eve at the Backdoor by Rebekah Morris

The Seven Drawers by Kendra E. Ardnek

He’s Making Diamonds: A Teen’s Thoughts on Faith Through Chronic Illness by Sara Willoughby

 

Participating Authors

Kate Willis

Hope

C.B. Cook

Vincent Trigili

Malachi Cyr

J. Willis

Diana L. Sharples

Sarah Addison-Fox

Annie Douglass Lima

Marc Secchia

Katy Huth Jones

Savannah Jezowski

Kandi J Wyatt

Joan Lightning

Angela Watts

Ava Mallory

Sara Bourgeois

Jaye L. Knight

Sarah Ashwood

Killarney Traynor

Zanna Mackenzie

Valerie Howard

Bokerah Brumley

Kat Bellemore

Faith Blum

RJ Conte
Abigayle Claire

Tayla Alexandra

Kristen Iten

Emily Selby

Stephanie Damore

Erika Mathews

Frances Hoelsema

Grace Pennington

Rebekah A. Morris

Frankie Bow

Martha Fuller

Lena Karynn Tesla

Allison Tebo

Sarah Monzon

Victoria Lynn

Sonia Parin

T.I. Lowe

Lia London

Tammy Lash

maria grazia swan

Deany Ray

Paige Sleuth

Jenny Berlin

Annie Louise Twitchell

Jordaina Sydney Robinson

Kelsey Gietl
Kendra E. Ardnek

Frances Hoelsema

Stacy Juba

Laura Guenot

Michaela Bush

Tricia Mingerink

Hailey Rose

Ryana Lynn Miller

Angie Thompson

Nadine C. Keels

Kellyn Roth

Angie Thompson

Vanessa Rasanen

Julie C. Gilbert

Jennette Mbewe

S. Johnson

Amy Williams

April Lynn Newell

Lauren Lynch

Lea Doue

Kelsey Bryant

Avery Daniels

Sarah Holman

R.M. Archer

Emerald Barnes

Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
Cathy Perkins

Laura Jackson

P.D. Workman

Emily Hinkle

Hannah Loviisa

Claire Banschbach

Rebekah Jones

Faith Potts

Sara Willoughby

Shared WIP Tag – Week 4: Side Characters and Worldbuilding

List your SC’s, state one of their main hobbies, and tell us how they influence your MC in the story.

Parr Renate likes cooking, and he helps Coraline see that maybe a harsh exterior is a coping mechanism instead of an unchangeable character trait.

Gabel Tyrell loves tending horses (which is actually his job), and he’s always there to support Coraline and tell her she’s strong enough to be Paladin.

Casabree Selene tends the horses with Gabel and hangs around both the castle apothecary and the town apothecary where her mother works, and she’s always good at cheering Coraline up.

Toril Valda greatly enjoys chess, and he tends to distract Coraline. But he’s also a better guy than I was planning on, so he tends to help her out fairly often.

Ammadeus Maste has no hobbies. Literally. His character is such that he just wouldn’t. He’s dedicated to his work and keeping out of his past… whatever that is. He mentors Coraline and often challenges her.

There are more side characters, but I’ll stop there.

Who is the SC that is the closest to your MC?

Gabel. They’ve been friends since they were babies.

How do your SC’s act around people they don’t know?

Parr is standoffish even around people he knows, so…

Gabel is warm and open.

Casabree is chipper and chatty.

Toril is guarded, but polite.

Ammadeus doesn’t associate with people he doesn’t know.

What conflict do they add to the story (disagreeing with the MC, perhaps)?

Parr doesn’t like Coraline at all to begin with and he makes little effort to hide that fact.

Gabel tries to protect Coraline all the time, which gets on her nerves now and then because she doesn’t want him to endanger himself for her.

Casabree… I’m not sure yet.

Toril is a distraction Coraline has to get over. She’s strongly attracted to him, but she knows they shouldn’t be together for multiple reasons.

Ammadeus is secretive and Coraline doesn’t often understand why he tells her the things he does, so she’s often frustrated with him.

Would your MC die for any of them? What about vice versa?

She and Gabel would die for each other.

Coraline would die for Casabree.

She’d probably die for Toril, too, but I’m not sure.

Ammadeus would die for her, but I’m not sure she’d die for him.

If you were writing books about your SCs, what might the books be like?

*laughs hysterically* I’m actually half-planning to write multiple spin-off novellas/novels following side characters of the trilogy, so…

Gabel’s would be a lot of “I would really like to wring Orlan’s neck, but I can’t.” “Coraline, please don’t do anything stupid and put yourself in danger.” “Horses are wonderful.” (His would actually be kind of boring, I think, and he’s close enough to Coraline that I’m not likely to write from his POV anytime soon.)

Casabree’s would be totally unrelated to the main plot because she’s kind of all over the place as far as setting goes and she doesn’t have a huge bearing on the plot.

Toril is one I might actually consider writing, and I’d be interested to see how that would go, actually. Because currently his side of the story isn’t particularly fleshed out yet. Why does he protect Coraline so much? How does he feel about his diplomatic powers? How does he feel about Eliot and why?

Ammadeus’ would be a lot of pain and suffering. I’d have to actually figure out his backstory. (I know it involves wolves. That’s all I know.) And I’d have to deal with a lot more future-seeing than I currently do, which would be kind of annoying. But Ammadeus is another likely candidate for a spin-off novella, or at least a short story.

What is your favorite part about the setting?

Um… I really like the tone of both apothecaries (castle and town). They’re both really distinct and inviting, in my mind. And they’re all about healing people, which is cool.

What was the hardest part about coming up with the setting?

As far as Mandoria in general, the map. (I still don’t have a complete map.)

Is there anything about the setting that produced a major change in your character throughout the story?

Nope. Not yet, anyway.

Did you base your setting off of any place in particular?

Nope. Just my imagination.

Participants
Jules @ Saver of Memories

Nicole @ Legend of a Writer

Ceci @ Ceci Creates

Lisa @ Inkwell

Gray @ Writing is Life

Julia @ Lit Aflame

Jem @ Jem Jones, Writer

Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer

Brooklyne @ Showers of Blessings

Ariel @ Scribes and Archers

Keturah @ Keturah’s Korner

Sarah @ Pen of a Ready Writer

Book Review: Antiheroes by Phoenix Fiction Writers

For those of you who don’t know, the Phoenix Fiction Writers are a group of indie speculative fiction authors who’ve banded together to support each other, promote each other’s work, and write awesome anthologies together like Antiheroes. All of the people involved are amazing, both as people and as writers. I was super excited to get a chance to read Antiheroes before its official release in exchange for a review, my expectations were high, and I wasn’t especially disappointed. Without further ado, let’s get into the review.

The Wolf at the Door

I was laughing so hard at the introduction to this one. The reader is warned not to keep reading… but obviously I ignored the warnings and continued on. After that it gets more serious, but Shultz masterfully weaves in bits of fairytale, the creatures that inhabit the world are intriguing, and the ending is not what you expect.

Vengeance Hunter

Hannah Heath’s worldbuilding is amazing. It’s woven in beautifully, it’s rich and detailed, and it always leaves you wanting to know more and explore the world she’s created. The motifs and tone of the story were also incredibly well-done, which further contributed to my vivid view of the world. The characters were all muti-faceted and gripping, as well, and seeing Ishtaka’s struggle (from a distance!) was really interesting. I’d love to read a sequel.

The Word Thrower

The Word Thrower was probably my least favorite in the anthology, unfortunately. I wasn’t as engaged with the main character, and I felt like there was an unnecessary number of side characters that we didn’t really get to know. None of them stayed solid in my brain, even after a second read-through. However, the idea of word throwing is really interesting (I wish we’d gotten to see more of that), and the decision the main character had to make at the end was really thought-provoking.

The Astoundingly Mortal Peril of Denna Dorwen

The wit and humor in this one is amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed Denna’s story, and the characters were incredibly distinct and unique.

Stealing Freedom

After reading Stealing Life in Phoenix Fiction’s smaller anthology (which you can read if you sign up to their mailing list), I was super excited to see similar tech and characters and settings in Stealing Freedom. This one felt less action-driven and more character-driven, which was a bit disappointing, and I missed the more tech-filled tone and atmosphere I remembered from Stealing Life. I really enjoyed the tech that Koya had, and it fit well with what we saw in Stealing Life. This was another story where I found it difficult to connect with the main character, unfortunately. I might enjoy it better if I re-read it as its own thing rather than as sequel to Stealing Life.

Gynoid

I’m honestly not quite sure what I think of this one. I think it was interesting but it wasn’t especially engaging for me? The idea of having an android for a main character is really interesting, and I think it was done well. I think the story would have been more satisfying and engaging if there were more background on REPL and AIHA, because they ended up seeming kind of faceless. I wasn’t quite sure what their goals were or why and I got them mixed up. (That could just be me, though.) I think I’d enjoy seeing more in this universe, this story just wasn’t for me.

Striker

I really enjoyed this one. Space-based sci-fi isn’t usually my thing, I tend to prefer cyberpunk and future tech on Earth instead of spaceships and other planets, but this one was really good. The main character was engaging (even though he kinda needed to be smacked upside the head) and his motivation and drive really came through on the page. I also enjoyed the world around him, and I’d be interested to see more of it.

As a whole, I really enjoyed this anthology and I look forward to reading more from Phoenix Fiction Writers, both as a group and individually. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction and/or antiheroes. :)

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