R.M. Archer's Blog, page 4

Goal-Setting for Authors

As we near the end of the year, many of us are already turning our attention toward goals for next year. (If you’re like me, you started thinking ahead all the way back in September or October!) Whether you have what feels like an overwhelming list of goals, or just a few big goals that you’re trying to prioritize well, this post is all about how to set the right kind of goals as an author–and how to ensure that those goals serve the purpose you need them to serve.

The Purpose of Goals

First, it’s important to define what your purpose is for setting goals. If you’re someone who needs to complete every task on the list, then you want to be very clear on what you can or can’t achieve in a given time-frame so that you’re not causing yourself undue frustration. If you set goals so that you have something to push toward but you don’t expect to complete every goal off the list (or even any of them), only make progress, then you may have more freedom to set a lot of goals all at once. Essentially, you should know whether you view goals from a perspective of progress or completion and adjust your goal-planning accordingly.

Evaluating Past Goals

I always start a new goals list on the basis of the previous list, adjusting and adding as necessary but using the previous list to inform my new goals. With this approach, you’ll start off with about three categories of goals: goals you accomplished last time, goals left unfinished from last time, and new goals you’re adding on.

Goals you accomplished last time fall into two categories: ongoing or stackable. This would be like the difference between “read 52 books this year” and “finish the first draft of my novel.” The first goal is one that can be repeated, it’s an ongoing goal that you work on over the goal’s entire time-span; the other is something that you would stack a new goal on top of, like “revise my novel.”

If you accomplished an ongoing goal, you know that the goal you chose fit well into the time-frame you were working with and you could probably set it the same way again–or adjust for new variables, if you know of something that will impact your time and energy for the coming time-frame, with the original as a baseline to work from.

If you accomplished a stackable goal, ask yourself how much of a break is necessary between the accomplished goal and the next step, and whether or not that project is still a priority for you this time around. If the break is short enough and the project is still a priority, then the next step logically goes onto the new goal list. Note that the next step of a stackable goal does not always have to be the next “big” step; maybe you’re not ready to add “revise my novel” to next year’s goals, but you want to set a goal of writing 20,000 words’ worth of worldbuilding to get a firm grasp on that before you dive into revisions.

If a goal was unfinished from the last list, evaluate why so that you can adjust accordingly. Some goals fall victim to changing priorities, some weren’t articulated in a way that was easy to keep track of, some didn’t have enough of a plan behind them, and some just didn’t quite fit within the time-frame of the goal list.

If a goal no longer suits your priorities, it doesn’t need to go back on the list; if your priorities have shifted back to something that makes sense with the goal, then maybe it makes sense to add it back in.

If a goal wasn’t written in such a way that you could keep track of it, then you might need to rethink how you wrote it. Maybe “make progress on developing my coaching program” doesn’t work, but “prepare three months of coaching program content” does the job.

If you didn’t have a sufficient plan for accomplishing a goal, maybe it would help to focus on the planning this time around–whether that means repeating the goal but making a plan to accomplish it, or actually making the planning the goal itself for this particular list. Let’s say I wanted to sell 50 books this year. That’s great, but it won’t happen on wishful thinking alone; a goal like that needs a marketing plan behind it. So I might say again, “sell 50 books,” but set up a sales funnel for my email list to help make that happen, or I might scratch the “sell 50 books” goal in favor of goals like “set up a sales-specific email funnel,” “update welcome sequence according to written plan” (if I’ve already brainstormed such an update), “publish my next book,” etc.

If a goal just didn’t fit within the time-frame, then you might set a goal to finish the project at hand within the next time-frame (if it’s not ongoing) and try to adjust other, similar goals accordingly (whether ongoing or stackable). For example, you might have not quite finished a draft, and you may not only put “finish the draft” on the next list, but also adjust the goal of “write the entirety of the next book’s draft” to just “reach the midpoint of the next book’s draft.” If you’re just a few chapters away from finishing a first draft, “finish my first draft” might be a no-brainer goal. If you weren’t quite able to read 52 books in a year, maybe you set this year’s goal to 45 instead. Of course, this depends on how much effort you think you put into the goal last time, and how much you’re willing to put in this time around; maybe you want the challenge of reading 52 books even if you didn’t quite make it this year, or you want to increase your drafting speed so you still put “draft a new book” on your list even though you didn’t quite make it last time. For progress-oriented people, especially, these can still be very helpful goals!

Some goals just aren’t helpful to us, personally. I have learned (over many frustrating years) that I hate sales-based or financially-based goals. I’m bad at planning to accomplish them, I never get close, and they just leave me depressed and frustrated as a result. But I still need ways to keep track of whether I’m actually growing in those areas and keeping my business afloat, so this year I plan to focus on more task-oriented goals that are designed to benefit my business’s financial well-being–along the lines of the examples earlier. You may find that there are categories of goals that consistently leave you frustrated, too; some of these you might be able to throw out because they’re not actually serving you or don’t actually align with your priorities, and others you may need to find a new perspective on.

Types of Goals for Writers

When you’re thinking about new goals, it can be helpful to think in categories so that you can be sure you have a well-rounded list. Some of these may be more or less relevant depending on your specific situation and priorities, and you may like to do multiple goals in various categories or just one per category.

Reading goals

Reading goals can take different forms depending on what you want to prioritize and how much you want to intentionally direct your reading. I participate in the Goodreads reading challenge every year, so I have an annual goal of (usually) 52 books; I’ve also been trying to read more classics over the past few years, so I have an annual goal of making 10 of those books classics I’ve never read before. You might aim for a minimum number of books from a certain genre, on a certain topic, published a certain way, or just generally for the duration of the goal list. Maybe you want to read a certain number of books you own but haven’t read, or check out a certain number of books from the library, or read a certain number of books specifically for analysis or review.

Looking for recommendations? Sign up for genre-specific recommendation lists and my sortable running database of book recommendations!

Learning goals

It’s important to continue learning and growing over time–both in your writing craft, specifically, and in other areas that can (and will) naturally inform your work.* Whether you want to take (or complete) a particular course, read up on a certain element of the craft, read a certain number of writing craft books, enroll in a mentorship program, reach out to a potential writing mentor on a more personal level, etc.–or whether you just make additional goals that extend beyond your writing into life experience–make sure you’re creating room for growth and learning in your goal lists.

* Not sure how to integrate your broader skill set and interests into your work with intention? Get the “worldview focus questions” worksheet!

Writing goals

Obviously, as writers, this is a big category! You might aim to draft a new book, finish a draft in progress, write a certain number of chapters, write a certain number of short stories, write a certain number of articles, etc. Whatever it is you’re writing, set a goal for it! I would also categorize pre-writing goals here, such as doing a certain amount of worldbuilding, outlining a certain number of chapters, etc.

Editing goals

These may be set in addition to or in place of writing goals, depending on the time-frame of your list and how you find you need to balance projects. Any edits or revisions fall into this category, which I’m counting as separate because 1) it tends to be a very different sort of process from writing/creating and 2) it can involve additional collaborators, depending on where you are in the process. One editing goal, for example, might be to research editors or assemble a beta-reading team!

Publishing goals

If you have publishing goals for the coming time-frame, they may include sending out a certain number of queries, writing up a book proposal, getting your book formatted, acquiring a cover, etc., depending on which route you’ve decided to take.

Going indie and not sure what goals to set? Grab the self-publishing checklist!

Marketing/Sales goals

If you’re a published author (or you’re going to be soon), you might have goals for how many books you’re hoping to sell, how many reviews you ask for, what means you want to have in place for selling automatically, how you want to optimize your book page, etc. This category might also include things like setting up a bookshop on your website, running a Black Friday sale, or launching a new course.

Setting Effective Goals

Once you know the categories you’re looking at, you can think about how you might create effective goals within those categories. Not all goals are created equal, as we’ve already seen!

First and foremost, your goal should align with your priorities. If you’re setting a goal to write a short story per month because you feel like you “should,” but you’re not actually interested in short stories and haven’t enjoyed writing a short story in months, then that’s probably not a goal that really aligns with your priorities right now and it probably shouldn’t be taking up space on your list. Or maybe you need to make the goal more specific and say you want to write a certain number of short stories connected to a particular project you’re interested in, so the goal has more direction keeping it more in line with your priorities. As an extension of this, your goal should align with your longer-term goals; if one of your goals is to publish a collection of short stories in the next three years, then maybe pushing yourself to write more short stories makes sense even if you’re not “feeling it” right now.

Your goal should fit the time-frame. As we discussed, some goals might be good to set a little outside of what you think you can accomplish, for the sake of the challenge. (Not so far out that you’ll feel like you didn’t even get close when the time-frame ends!) But even that requires you to know how much you can currently accomplish within the time-frame–or at least to have a ballpark idea. In general, your goals should be suited to the time-frame for which you’re setting them–or at least stay close.

Your goal should be measurable. I know you’ve heard this one before, but it’s true. If your goal is ethereal and can’t be measured, then you’re setting yourself up to be confused and/or frustrated later. You need to be able to look at a goal and design a way to accomplish it. “Write something cool every month” is way too vague to do anything with, because what you think is “cool” could change from month to month; “write something every month” or “complete a piece of writing every month” are measurable goals. Maybe you have a personal writing hall-of-fame where you keep pieces of writing you’re really proud of, in which case “write something each month that gets into the hall-of-fame” might actually be a measurable goal. But all of those are more specific and achievable than “write something cool every month.” Keep specificity in mind!

Your goal should be something you’re responsible for making happen. This is another easy pitfall of sales-related goals, for an example. You can’t make people buy your book (and would you really want to, anyway?); you can only provide opportunities for people to buy your book. The outcome is out of your hands. Goals in which the outcome is out of your hands are not productive goals. Your goals should be things that you are able to do–or at least make a great deal of the effort toward–on your own. This does not mean that all collaborative goals are bad; if you want to do a blog collaboration each quarter, you have a great deal of power over making that happen, by reaching out to potential collaborators and having enough of a list that the goal isn’t completely shot if one person says no. Even more specific collaborative goals can be useful–if, say, you want to collaborate with Brandon Sanderson specifically–though in such cases it might be more productive to make your goal “Reach out to Brandon Sanderson about a collaboration” rather than “Collaborate with Brandon Sanderson” so that the goal measures your productivity/initiative and is not dependent on a particular outcome from someone else (especially someone as busy and popular as Brandon Sanderson!). Again, this will help prevent frustration when your goal’s time-frame expires!

There are my best tips for setting writerly goals! If you’ve already started setting your goals for next year, I’d love to hear which goal you’re most excited about–and which one intimidates you most. If you’re willing to share (one or both), comment below!

My list isn’t finished yet, but right now the most exciting goal is to launch the Worldbuilders Guild–and that’s also the most intimidating, lol. I know that life circumstances are going to make that goal more difficult in the coming year, so it will be a matter of God’s will and timing!

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2024 Know the Novel: Part 2 – Within the WIP

Welcome to part 2 of the Know the Novel link-up. If you’re looking for an update on how Thunder is going, you’re in the right place! Thanks, as always, to Christine Smith for putting this link-up together!

1. How’s the writing going overall?

Simultaneously faster and slower than expected. I’ve been pretty fatigued lately, so it’s been hard for me to write with as much consistency throughout the week as I had when finishing up my worldbuilding book, but on the days I have had energy to sit down and write I’ve been able to get in high word counts in shorter time frames! Getting back into the practice of writing has enabled me to get my hourly word count back up to where it was several years ago, on some days, which has been very exciting to see. And the story has been flowing sufficiently well for me to sustain such speeds without big blocks, so overall I would say the writing is going quite well!

2. What’s been the most fun aspect about writing this novel so far?

For this portion, it’s probably been writing about Nyla using her abilities.

3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?

Overall, I’ve felt less connected with the characters while writing Thunder than while I was writing Lightning. They’re still themselves, I just feel less personally invested? (Hopefully I can remedy any issues that’s causing when I go back to edit.) But Nyla is probably my favorite; I think she’s the most normal/relatable in this part of the story, and one of the easiest characters to like as a whole, so she’s the easiest/most compelling to write right now.

4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?

It’s surprised me that I’ve been able to get back into it so smoothly. I burned out on it pretty bad the first time around and I wasn’t sure how resuming the draft would go, but I’ve been happily surprised to see my focus and speed carry over from my work on the worldbuilding book in between.

5. Have you come across any problem areas?

When I got back to this draft, the first thing I had to do was backtrack and fill in several chapters I’d skipped because one of the POV characters hadn’t been working right and I’d left her chapters to come back to later–which worked fine until I hit a chapter from another POV that required me to know how her plotline had developed to that point, lol. So filling those in was the most tedious part of the process, during this portion of the drafting process (and that POV was clearly a problem when I was drafting the first half of the book).

6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?

Getting those POV chapters done and being able to move on to writing the rest of the draft in order, lol. I was very pleased to have those out of the way and get back into the chronological writing process that’s worked best with this duology!

7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?

This question is always one of the hardest of the link-up for me to answer, lol. I imagine I’d be either Rhys or Nyla, if it’s based on pure similarity in personality, etc. If I were Nyla, I’d have a much harder time putting up with Erika, lol. If I were Rhys I don’t think I’d be able to stick out the jobs she gets put into; I’d go home to the family farm and relax around the horses instead of dealing with tech and government jobs.

8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph then 2 (or 3!) more favorite snippets!

First sentence: “I knew that motorcycle.”

Attempted city vibes:

Erika was already several strides ahead, and [redacted] took a couple of extra large steps to catch up—forcing me to jog a few steps—before settling back into a pleasantly slow pace again with a glance down to make sure I was still okay.
The buildings grew steadily taller as Erika led us into higher-traffic parts of the city, the single-story garages and warehouses giving way to multi-story businesses and apartments, then to the skyscrapers that had surrounded me all my life, some nearly blinding in the sunlight. As the crowds increased, we were able to disappear into the masses. I was practiced at avoiding brushing shoulders, though no one would bat an eye even if they bumped me; in this city, it was expected. Erika’s red hood helped us keep track of her even as she moved ahead. I hoped we were the only ones using it that way.
Erika crossed a street and we followed, moving against half the crowd as we crossed in front of automatically-stopped vehicles. I looked down a street to our left and found myself shifting closer to [redacted]. We were only a few blocks from Grantech’s main campus. What if someone saw us? What if they put us right back where we’d started—or worse?
[redacted] squeezed my hand gently. “Okay?”
I nodded and forced my attention back to Erika’s hood, peeking here and there from between dark hats and expressionless faces.
We made it to the harbor and Erika took a seat right on the edge, on a concrete railing. I sat beside her, looking out at the skyline of the other half of the city across the water, tracing its edges. [redacted] released my hand but stood close, looking across the water with us. I glanced over at Erika to find her not looking at the city at all, but out to the open water where the river met the ocean and swept out who-knows-where.

Since you already know that Nyla uses her abilities in this book…

I rolled his shirt out of the way, careful not to skim his skin with my fingers. Because they were probably cold, or so I told myself. I shifted the bandage out of the way next, so I could see the damage. I grimaced at the gaping bullet wound, which went clear through his side.
Taking a deep breath, I set my hand beside the wound, framing it in the crook of my thumb, and closed my eyes.
As soon as I tried to draw my abilities to the forefront of my mind, I could see the frays in his side, in his skin and muscle and kidney. Taking another steadying breath, I envisioned the gap closing. It fought, the frayed edges barely brushing as the wound tried to reopen. I grit my teeth, pain shooting through my own side, and a grunt escaped me.
“Nyla—“
I shoved [redacted]’s voice to the back of my mind, picturing a golden thread stitching into one side of the wound and pulling the edges together, stitching them back together. The pain in my side intensified and I yelled as I fought the wound closed.
“Nyla stop!”
I could barely feel my head shaking as I got the first few stitches in. It was too late to stop. Too late…
Finally, the wound was halfway closed, the golden thread stretching to hold it. The pain in my side was trying so hard to pull my attention away. Pulsing, stabbing, throbbing, screaming at me to stop. Was my face wet?
I stabbed the golden needle with its thread through again, and again, and again. Finally, it needed only two more stitches. Two more… I had slumped in on the stabbing pain in my side, as if shielding it would stop the pain. It hurt… so badly…
The image of the nearly-sewn wound began to waver, and I forced my attention back to the golden thread, jamming the needle through one more time, pulling it over to secure the opposite side. Once more…
Finally, the stitched wound fused and faded away, and the power disappeared again into my subconscious, leaving me to slump against the edge of the couch.
I felt [redacted] sit up.
“Nyla? Nyla?” He dropped down beside me, arms around my shoulders. “[redacted]. Are you okay?”
My awareness returned to find that I was shaking in his arms, tears streaming down my face, the pain in my side still pulsing as though I had a bleeding wound. I didn’t have to look to know there was no such wound.

Surprise! My favorites are from Nyla’s POV. XD

9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)

I feel like most of the interesting tidbits already came up in answering previous questions, lol. Nothing particularly drastic has changed. Although, I did end up shifting that troublesome POV character’s situation and stakes a bit (which helped somewhat and will hopefully help even more in edits) per a friend’s suggestion. I didn’t take the suggestion exactly, but it was critical to figuring out what I did need to do to motivate the character more effectively.

10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!

I’m generally writing at my desk, usually in the afternoon or evening, coinciding with the scheduled writing sprints in my Discord server. Whether or not I’m writing with others depends on how much activity a given sprint gets; it can vary from just me to 3-4 authors joining in. Lately I’ve been pretty boring in the beverage department, just drinking water. XD My Thunder playlist is pretty much a must for getting myself into writing habit mode; it makes it so much easier to focus when I sit down to write. Though I do still get distracted by other tasks here and there, especially during the first sprint or two before I find a solid writing rhythm. ;P

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Book Review: Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies by Hannah Carter

Twenty Hills Publishing is a fairly new publishing house that caught my attention earlier this year as a Christian publishing house that tries to emphasize Christian values and light-centered stories without requiring those stories to be 100% squeaky clean in every context. When I entered a giveaway over the summer, one of the entries was to sign up to one of their street teams, so I ended up receiving an ARC of Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies to review and was glad to have the opportunity to read something from Twenty Hills Publishing.

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

What is Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies about?

The country of Umbra is caught in a war between its magical history filled with spellcasters and the new modern revolution. At the core of this civil war is the missing princess, who is prophesied to end the war and put the spellcasters back in a position of power.

To figure out where the heir is, the spellcasters throw a ball and invite all twenty-year-old women to see if one of them is the princess.

Though she’s forced to attend, Hazel Cartwright has no magical powers, so she can’t possibly be the missing heir . . .

Right?

Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies is a short story full of political intrigue, a missing princess, magic versus modernity, banter, and spies.

This story starts off with a very Anastasia-esque premise, albeit a much more rough-around-the-edges protagonist than Anastasia. Hazel’s nation (kingdom?) is trying to locate their missing princess, and she fits the criteria to be tested with the other girls of the right age. It’s hard to review such a short story in a comprehensive manner without spoiling the story, but I’ll do my best.

My first issue was with Hazel herself; she seemed edgy for the sake of being edgy, and I didn’t feel she had many redemptive qualities. Sure, she tries to support the more moral political party and acknowledges even their weaknesses, but in terms of her everyday behavior, she just didn’t come across as likeable or respectful at all. This might have been fine if the male main character had balanced her out, but he was just as crude and “grey.” And their relationship was not clear enough through her POV to come across smoothly instead of just weird in the context of the whole middle portion of the story. (Again, it’s hard to be clear while avoiding spoilers.)

The world was interesting, and the writing was fine, but the story felt like it had no clear theme and the characters were unlikeable enough to me that if this story were novel-length I likely would have DNFed it. I also would have liked for the “twist” to have been better set up/foreshadowed so that the characters’ relationship felt more believable and the reveal didn’t feel like it came out of left field. As a short story, this was a decent enough tale, but I was glad it was short and while I would be interested to see more in this world, I wouldn’t want it to be through the eyes of–or even following the story of–these characters.

Rating: 2 stars

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Developing Beauty Standards for Fictional Cultures

Beauty standards have been a topic on my “to blog about” list for a long time now, and honestly a topic that has intimidated me, lol. But I reached a point in my worldbuilding book where I had to push past that fear and write about them anyway, so here is some of my advice for developing your fictional culture’s beauty standards (and a sort-of sneak peek at my book)!

(As a side note, I find it amusing that this ended up coming out so soon after the release of the new Uglies adaptation. That was not intentional, but it does seem oddly fitting.)

General Beauty Standards

Before getting into your culture’s specific beauty standards for characters, you should know a bit about their overall perception of beauty. Think about whether your culture prefers sleek, straight lines or swirling curves; think about whether they draw inspiration from the natural world or prefer for things to look man-made; think about whether they prefer minimalism or ornate detail. Where your culture falls on each of these “sliders” and how these interact with each other will help you to create a unique look and feel for your culture’s aesthetics—in areas beyond personal beauty, as well.

What resources, skills, and technology your culture has access to will help to shape the direction and scope of their design. This is true in areas like apparel and architecture, but also with personal beautification; a culture without ink won’t have tattoos, for example, regardless of any opinions for or against them.

It is also important to consider whether your culture prioritizes beauty or utility on the whole; a culture that values utility may stick to personal routines that are easy and practical without going out of its way to beautify things, but a culture which values beauty might encourage special effort to make one’s natural features more beautiful or to imitate neighboring cultures that they see as having a similar eye for beauty—or might encourage alterations for achieving their idea of beauty in otherwise impossible ways.

Natural Features

Think about what natural features, what overall colors and shapes, your culture generally finds attractive. Maybe they generally prefer fair coloring or dark coloring, or high-contrast coloring; specific hair colors, eye colors, skin tones. Maybe certain body types are considered more beautiful, whether those be bodies with high muscle tone, big bellies, or little by way of anything. Think about whether your culture prioritizes health, strength, diversity, indulgence, etc., as this will affect what body types are viewed positively.

These preferences will likely be guided primarily by what is common in this culture—whether they prefer the familiar or they prefer more foreign appearances. Perhaps they like the rounder eyes of their foreign neighbors because they are different, or perhaps they largely prefer fairer coloring because their own people are quite fair. This will reflect their values, whether they are proud of their own culture or whether they are adventurous and embrace other cultures, whether they are isolated or nomadic, etc.

Eye color and shape, as well as hair color and style, may be details to consider. Maybe they not only push for red hair, but red curly hair is considered the most beautiful. Or red hair worn long and braided. Think, too, about how standards may differ for men and women; perhaps long, braided hair is considered beautiful for women but distasteful on men who are considered more handsome with shorter hair, or vice versa. You could also push this further and think about unfair differences in how beauty standards are pushed on one gender over the other, if that is a theme you are interested in exploring, or how they might balance out as different areas are prioritized for different genders.

Think about how looking more feminine or masculine might influence whether you are thought to be beautiful/handsome. Think about whether your culture has a preference for feminine vs. masculine looks (i.e. is it beautiful to be masculine and handsome to be masculine, or the opposite) or whether they prefer men to be masculine and women to be feminine and beauty lies in embracing your given gender.

Body hair might also be a factor, from facial hair to leg hair. Your culture might believe that all natural hair should be left alone, that it should be groomed but kept, that some of it is private, that some of it (or all of it) is distasteful, etc. This, too, may differ between men and women.

Beauty Modifications

The first question when considering modifications to enhance beauty is whether modification as a whole is seen as acceptable in the first place or is viewed as a disservice to natural beauty. If this culture is one that believes only what can be accomplished naturally is beautiful, then piercings may be out of the question no matter how subtle or tasteful. Other cultures might not bat an eye at modifications for beautification.

If modifications are acceptable in this culture, then you can consider which specific modifications are acceptable and, beyond that, which are seen as enhancing one’s beauty. Perhaps tattoos are acceptable, but not seen as beautiful, or perhaps they are both. Perhaps it depends on the specific tattoo, its placement, or its color. Tattoos, piercings, makeup, etc. would all fall into this category to think about.

Even more specific than this would be those modifications that are specifically designed to push someone closer to a cultural beauty standard. For example, think about plastic surgery used to fill out areas that are considered more beautiful when more full, or to change the shape of facial features or body parts. In fictional worlds, perhaps there are products or magic tools that can be used to alter one’s appearance, and these are used to help characters better resemble the “beautiful” ideal. This may serve its intended function, making the characters appear more beautiful by their culture’s standards, or it may be seen as ugly and fake, a selling-out of one’s natural beauty. This may be a principled view, or a double-standard that says “this is what we think is beautiful, but only if you can attain it naturally; otherwise, tough luck.”

Modesty

Modesty may come into play in what is viewed as beautiful, as well. Think about whether modesty is perceived in this culture to add to one’s beauty or to cover it. This will reflect how your culture actually views modesty as a concept, and how much it follows its own rules. For example, do they harp on modesty but make modest dressers feel ugly? Or do they back up what they say they believe by viewing modesty as something beautiful?

In some cultures, function may supersede “modesty” and utilitarian beauty routines and clothing may be seen as more beautiful than what may be seen by other cultures as more modest routines and attire. Modesty may not be a factor in perceived beauty at all, in some cultures, but a secondary matter or a separate consideration altogether.

What is Ugly?

The natural counterpart of beauty standards is that there will be features that are considered ugly, those that are the opposite of “beauty.” If fair hair is considered beautiful, dark hair will be seen as ugly or at least undesirable. If you have to be plump to be considered beautiful, then those who are slim will be considered ugly. In some cases, these can also be independent of beauty standards; perhaps fair hair is considered beautiful, but red hair is even worse than dark hair because it is associated with an evil mythological figure or its infrequency has given it a reputation of being unnatural. (Sorry for picking on the redheads; I actually love red hair.)

These beauty standards will not only shape the appearance of characters apart from their clothes, nor affect only their accessories (in the case of piercings, etc.), but may also influence the design of clothing items. Garments might be designed to make characters look taller, shorter, slimmer, broader, long-necked, long-legged, etc. depending on what is considered beautiful. Even in cultures that look down upon physical modifications toward beauty standards, clothing is often a more subtle tool to similar effect, so keep these standards in mind as you develop your culture’s apparel.

Need someplace to keep your worldbuilding notes? Check out World Anvil* or sign up below for my worldbuilding worksheet template!

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Story Idea Organization

As we hit the season of big writing challenges and you may be trying to decide what to write next or endeavoring not to be distracted by plot bunnies, it seemed like a good time to refresh an old (messy) post about my process for capturing, organizing, and prioritizing story ideas.

(P.S. Interested in participating in a fall writing challenge but not sure where to start? This post offers some alternatives to NaNoWriMo.)Idea Receptacles

Inspiration can strike anywhere, so I have notebooks and other means of collecting ideas in all sorts of places. I have small notebooks in my purse and by my bed, another on my desk, and a note in my phone designated for collecting random ideas. I also designate a “story ideas” page whenever I start a new full-size, general-purpose writing notebook and jot down ideas there until it fills up and I have to start a new page.

These spaces for collecting ideas are not organized at all; any short snippet of a scene (no longer than a couple lines), line of dialogue, description, gets written down (or typed up) directly after whatever disconnected idea came before it. These spaces are for the sole purpose of capturing ideas so that they’re not lost, and organization comes in the next step.

Idea Filing

Every so often, I go through and copy the ideas from my assorted idea receptacles into a neatly organized document. This document has sections for

characterssettingstitlesrandom lines (single lines of dialogue, description, etc.)plot ideasnames (for settings, characters, and objects)scenes/paragraphsand miscellaneous ideas that don’t fit anywhere else.

With these categories, it’s easy for me to find something if I want to start a new story with a particular element as its prompt, or if an existing story is missing something specific. If I want to prompt a story with a character, for example, I can reference the “characters” section of this document to find one who can lead the story. If I need a new side character for a work-in-progress, I can do the same thing.

Ideas are usually copied over from my main writing notebook whenever a “story ideas” page fills up; notes from other sources are copied in more sporadically. This document is also where I put notes on story elements that have to be cut from other stories–such as characters or settings that didn’t fit anymore but I still wanted to make use of later.

Idea Development

While my organized “writing adoptables” document has sections for scenes/paragraphs and for more comprehensive plot ideas, these sections don’t get a whole lot of use anymore. Instead, I’ve begun creating new Scrivener* projects for any ideas that have deeper or more specific notes attached to them, or ideas that are rattling around in my brain enough that I’m likely to need space for more notes pretty quickly. This also applies to ideas that have pieces in different categories, so I’m not sticking the main character of a story in the “characters” section, disconnected from the scene I’m keeping elsewhere in the document and the title I’ve already picked out for the story.

Starting a new Scrivener project gives me the space to begin fleshing out an idea with more depth and breadth, allowing me to keep its various pieces all in one place while still separating what I need to into different documents within the project. I can come back and add a note whenever one pops to mind, focus on fleshing it out for a bit when I want, and pick it right up wherever I’ve left off when I’m ready to start outlining and/or drafting the project.

*This is an affiliate link, which means a purchase made through it earns me a small commission at no extra cost to you.Idea Prioritization

The last step of taking an idea from “idea” to “project” is to add it to my project prioritization spreadsheet. This may happen as soon as an idea is big enough to warrant its own Scrivener project, or might not happen until I pick up the project for outlining/drafting, but from there I can keep track of a project all the way from the beginning to the end of the writing, editing, and publishing process and know where it falls on the priority list throughout that process.

The spreadsheet keeps track of how deeply developed an idea is, what draft it’s in, its current status in terms of activity (in progress, on standby, resting, etc.), and some other details I just like to make note of for my own use (like POV balance and general notes). This is great for record-keeping purposes (especially if you add columns for “date started” and “date finished”), knowing how many projects you have in total, choosing your next project, etc. The version you’ll get if you sign up below is stripped back to the essentials, but those essentials are 80% of my own spreadsheet and the template is highly customizable to whatever you want to keep track of.

Want to get your own copy of the project tracker I built and use? Sign up below to get access!

What does your idea-keeping process look like? What are your favorite tools for capturing and developing ideas? Comment below!

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2024 Know the Novel: Part 1 – Introduction

Hello and welcome to the third annual Know the Novel focused on Lightning and Thunder! Y’all asked for a re-introduction post, so here we are, and today’s post will be a little different from the previous two because I’m primarily working this year on finishing Thunder while the past two years have been spent working on Lightning. I’m going to do my best in this post to focus on Thunder without giving away spoilers in the process. Thanks, as always, to Christine Smith for hosting the Know the Novel link-up!

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?

While I was outlining Lightning, I realized the story was longer than I’d thought and would need to be split into a duology. Plus, with a title like Lightning it was only natural to follow it up with Thunder, so I was pretty pleased to have an excuse to use that pairing of titles.

2. Share a blurb (or just an overall summary)!

My blurb is decidedly spoilery, so, um…

The city is a bigger part of the setting in Thunder, there’s a lot more tech focus, just about everyone is faced with hard choices to make, and I got to write about a gala heist.

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects of the setting?

It takes place primarily in the city of Newbridge. There are a few specific settings within that, including the Grantech facility of course, a townhouse, a garage, and a fancy gala venue. My favorite thing about the setting, I think, is how I get to use it to showcase the characters and who they are (and aren’t). As I flesh out the world more between drafts, I’m sure other details will be a lot of fun to work with, but right now I really like the effect of the setting and I’m excited to strengthen that as I strengthen the setting itself moving forward.

4. Tell us about your protagonist(s).

As she was in Lightning, Erika is the first POV character. She’s sarcastic, doesn’t take (or dish) any nonsense, and likes to think she’s invincible. She’s often abrasive and thoughtless, but we get to see a bit more of her heart in Thunder. She and Nyla butt heads quite a bit over their differences in values (and sometimes morals), but she’s beginning to learn how to be a team player. Mostly.

Nyla is still the most frequent POV character, despite the fact that she doesn’t get to start telling the story until chapter 5 in this book (she kicks off with chapter one in Lightning, beaten out only by Erika’s prologue). She’s kind and selfless but she’s still getting over her feelings of being less-than and unwanted. Ever since Grantech’s experiments on her, she’s dealt with chronic pain and malfunctioning powers that she generally tries to ignore. (Guess who has to face her fears anyway?)

Ash is the only main character who doesn’t have any scenes or chapters from his POV, through either book, but he’s a key member of the team all the same. There’s a lot going on with him in this book that I can’t really talk about, but I’ll just say his arc is going to be really interesting when all is said and done (after lots of revisions and help from beta-readers and editors, lol).

Alaric and Rhys are still critical to the story as well, but they largely take a back seat to these three. For anyone wondering, Rhys is my new problem child since Ash vacated the role, and I owe thanks to my friend Bethany for pushing me to make Rhys more desperate in order to make her more interesting, because I think that’s actually going to help, lol.

There’s another character, too, but that’s literally all I can say.

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

Still Grantech, but now with an added force that you’ll just have to read Lightning to learn about. Also, inter-personal issues cause a lot of conflict in this book, for… reasons.

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

Um… having it done? This draft has been so. slow. and I’m very excited to check it off the list. But also, the climax is one of the most interesting parts so I’m excited to get to the end for that reason as well. Plus, I want to be another step closer to getting this duology into your hands, since I know a lot of y’all have been waiting for it for a while and are anxious to read it.

7. Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

‘Tis a duology. I’ve thought about adding a third book that’s basically just the story from Ash’s perspective, since he doesn’t get to share his perspective in the main duology, but I don’t think that’s really a necessary addition. (Maybe I’ll change my mind if readers and I both have enough interest and I’ll offer it as a newsletter freebie or something, but right now the idea is off the table.) Of course, the duology also fits into a much larger series of books taking place in Concordia over hundreds of years, and it’s actually on the later end of that timeline, so expect some “sequels” and a lot of “prequels” in the future.

8. Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

I’ve plotted this series. Most of Thunder‘s outline was written all the way back in January, so that tells you how long I’ve been trying to get this thing drafted, lol. It’s entirely outlined; I just have to sort out the knots that pop up as I’m writing–like Rhys being problematically boring. But we’re working through those things, and right now I feel confident about the plan, so hopefully the remainder of the draft will go fairly smoothly! I’m about halfway through the draft, altogether, so we’re looking at a 58k word count if the current count doubles, which is probably about right since my ultimate target is 80k and Lightning was close to 20k under its target word count too, lol.

9. Name a few unique elements in this story.Chronically ill “superheroes”“Superheroes” with mental health issuesA mix of 3rd-person and 1st-person perspectives

Any of the more unique elements I can think of that are specific to Thunder vs. the duology as a whole are, unfortunately, spoilery.

10. Share some fun “extras” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

 

Also, here are the previous Know the Novel introductions for this series: 2022, 2023

There you have a little more insight into Thunder! Let me know what you think, what aspects of the story intrigue you most. And if you’re working on a project this fall, whether as part of an event or not, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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Book Review: World-Building for Writers by H.C. Harrington

I recently discovered the existence of a couple of worldbuilding books I hadn’t previously come across in my searching, to my mingled dismay (that I had managed to miss them) and delight (that there are actually more authors writing about this topic). One was a series, and its collected volumes are huge, so it’s on the list to get later, but one was a reasonable impulse-buy price so I grabbed it, so here I am today with a review of World-Building for Writers!

What is World-Building for Writers about?

You Can Build A World

For many authors, there’s nothing that slows down their writing process more than world-building. Whether it’s deciding on what types of fantastic beasts to include in their stories or how to name characters and locations convincingly H.C. Harrington, Amazon Best-Selling Author of the Daughter of Havenglade Series, explains step-by-step how to create deep and engrossing worlds while saving time.

World-Building For Writers breaks down hundreds of examples of effective world-building from novels, films, and television to demystify the process, make it enjoyable, and help readers unleash the inner voice they never knew they had for creating worlds.

Prepare to enter the realm of your own imagination.

“In your hand is a map of creative imagination, good habits, and practical examples to ensure that you build a world that’s fun and functional, that births heroes, cultivates epic tales, and inspires awe in readers.”-Dustin Porta, author of The Dragon’s Hide

Review

Let me get the negatives out of the way first, most of which are fairly minor or specific to me and those of you who share similar priorities (as evidenced by the fact that I only docked half a star).

First, this book is split into two sections… except not really. The author talks about how he’s covering things in brief in the first half and will go deeper in the second half, to serve both writers who want to do bare bones worldbuilding and those who want to build deeper worlds. That’s all well and good, except there is no dividing line, so it’s a little confusing when he starts revisiting the same topics he already covered, and I would have liked for the chapters in the second half to have not only covered different and deeper details than their first half counterparts, but also to have been longer and more in-depth overall, which they were not.

This brings me to my second gripe, which is just that I don’t understand how or why all authors who write about worldbuilding seem to keep all of their chapters to 3-10 pages. The topic is worldbuilding, which is vast and varied and deep, and such brief chapters can only scratch the tiniest bit of the surface. When chapters are that short, it’s no wonder that the authors only explore very limited options and perspectives on a given sub-topic! If you’re looking for a book that will start to hint at some of the variety of options for founding and developing an element of your world, my advice is to look for a worldbuilding book with longer chapters.

For Christian readers, I would warn that the author is not Christian, so some of his examples reflect a secular worldview and his assessments of some Christian-authored stories–such as Lord of the Rings–often lack depth. There is also one use of “s***” used in a literal context in one of the excerpts he includes. His segment on potential foundations for magic systems is also very narrow in its scope and mostly covers options that many Christian authors may be uncomfortable with.

With all of that said, this is possibly the best worldbuilding book I’ve read so far in terms of covering foundational elements accurately, drawing in relevant examples, and discussing worldbuilding from a clear love for and understanding of the craft. It is also excellent at highlighting the connection between worldbuilding and other aspects of storytelling such as character and theme and touching on how one might tie these aspects together well; the author clearly understands the integral connection that should exist between a world and its story, and it was great to see that emphasized and encouraged in this book.

There are elements left out that I might include (notably, cultural worldview), and I do wish that the whole thing were less snappy because of the topic, but this is a solid worldbuilding resource to have on the shelf as a speculative fiction author.

Rating: 4.5 stars

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How to Choose Your Next Project

If you’re trying to decide what project to work on next, whether for a writing challenge this fall or simply because you’ve finished one project and you’re ready for something new, this post is all about how to simplify that process–both now and in the future. I’ve written on this topic before, but I wanted to put together an updated and expanded guide that better serves you. Note that these tips can also help if you’re choosing what project to work toward publishing or querying, though I recommend also checking out this video from Bethany Meyer if that’s the season you’re in.

Without further ado, let’s get into some tips for developing an effective story prioritization system!

Understand Your Rhythms

As you begin to develop a system for project prioritization, it’s key to know how you work best. This will help you decide what kind of project to work on next, at what stage, and how many projects you can take on at a time. It’s also important to be aware of how these rhythms might differ as life seasons change; you may be able to juggle half a dozen drafts at once for years, only to hit a point where you find you work much better by honing in on just one for a time, and vice versa. Remember that these changes aren’t a sign that you’ve grown weaker as a writer, but sometimes that you’ve grown in your craft or simply reached a different season that’s not better or worse.

Knowing how many projects you can focus on at a time is really important, as this will help you to know whether you need to choose just one project off the list or three or five at a time. I can personally handle 1-2 book projects at a time, with short stories here and there, and it helps if, when I do work on multiple books at once, they’re different genres and/or at different stages of the writing process (e.g. I’m drafting one and editing the second, or editing one and outlining the next). But that’s just my current rhythm; I used to be able to draft three fantasy novels all at once, and your rhythm might be something different altogether!

It’s also important to identify broader patterns to your work, beyond a single season of focus on so-many projects. Do you need a break period between finishing one project and starting the next? Do you need a just-for-fun project to stay on the back burner so you can work on it when you start to burn out on your focus project? Do you have to alternate genres from focus project to focus project? Do you start to burn out if you spend too long working on books of the same series back-to-back? (I found out the hard way that I need breaks between books of a series when I burned out on Thunder.)

Make sure that as you look at your working rhythms, you account for the rest necessary within those rhythms as well. Rest is a key part of having a sustainable work rhythm, whether that means taking complete breaks from writing or having projects that are themselves a break from other work (or both). When I burned out on Thunder, my worldbuilding book proved to be the break I needed from that series. For a time, I also had a gothic fantasy project I would write by the seat of my pants every so often when I felt like writing but didn’t feel like working on any of my core projects at the time (which actually proved to be a really interesting experiment in using subtext in dialogue). It is 100% okay to have projects that are just for you, just for fun, “rest” projects, and just to take breaks! That doesn’t make you–or your project–a failure*. I promise.

*Want to get emails like this one delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up to the newsletter below and get access to the story ranking worksheet I use, too!

Know What You’re Passionate About

The second key part of developing a prioritization system that works for you is to know what you’re passionate about when it comes to the projects you work on. This, too, can change as life seasons change and interests come and go, but knowing what you’re passionate about–both the values that stay the same and the interests that change–can make it a lot easier to choose what projects to focus on.

If a specific project is grabbing your attention and capturing your imagination, that might be a good idea to prioritize! But it also might be helpful to know why this project is so exciting to you. Are the themes important to you? Do you love the world? Does it feature tropes you really enjoy? Is it for an age range you’re passionate about writing for? Is it a step out of your comfort zone? Knowing these things will not only help you to detect patterns in your projects–as certain themes, tropes, etc. will likely crop up again and again–but might also help you to develop projects that you’re not as drawn to and to imbue them with features that will make them more interesting and important to you.

Especially if your project prioritization is tied to publishing plans, knowing what your mission is with writing and how your various ideas fit or mismatch with that mission can help you decide what is the next important step toward those goals and what might distract from them–or simply need to be a more intentional diversion.

Not sure how to find your interests or incorporate your unique passions into your writing? Subscribe to download the Worldview Focus Questions worksheet!

Monitor Story Development

Having a way to keep track of how well-developed a story idea is may make it easier for you to choose your next project. If Project A is already fully outlined and just waiting to have a full draft written, while Project B is only the kernel of an idea, Project A might be the simpler choice to prioritize next. Of course, the level of preparation that you’re looking for in a project may differ depending on what stage the project is at and whether you’re more of a discovery writer or a plotter.

While starting with a more developed idea may be a practical help that makes the drafting (or editing) process easier, it’s also an indication that you value this project enough to have developed it to a meaningful degree already–whether consciously or not. If a project has been whirring away in the back of your mind for a while, or you’ve set aside dedicated time to develop its plot, characters, world, etc., then chances are it’s a project you find interesting and/or important and it’s worth considering placing it toward the top of the priority list.

Connecting Ideas

Lastly, I want to talk about some different options when it comes to connecting ideas–whether to make use of ideas that can’t sustain a whole book, use those connections as another prioritization metric, or just simplify your project list.

First, if you have a story idea that doesn’t seem to be sustainable for a whole book, you have a couple of options. One is to see if there’s a way you can incorporate the idea into a different, larger project on the list. If you have another project of a similar tone, theme, setting, etc., this may be a useful option. Another option is simply to turn the idea into a short story or novella; maybe it doesn’t need to be as long, but it’s still worth writing as a story of its own. Lastly, perhaps the project needs to be left at the bottom of the priority list for a while to see if more pieces present themselves and it can be fleshed out into something bigger. Sometimes small ideas just need time to percolate.

If you’re overwhelmed by how many disparate projects you have and you want some way to tie some of them together, consider whether they might be suitable to take place in the same world or universe. This is a relatively easy way to build connections between your projects and help readers stay engaged with your work as you publish. Some projects might even be able to follow the same characters! If you’re not sure how to decide whether you need numerous worlds, or how to tie existing stories into the same world, check out this post written around the premise of Brandon Sanderson’s “Third Law of Magic.”

Connections–whether pre-established or discovered/developed later–can also be a helpful means of prioritizing projects. If you’ve published a book set in World A, your readers are likely to want more of that world (and/or series, if applicable). Does that mean you can’t work on anything set in World B instead? Of course not! Especially if you make a plan to cycle through different worlds/series, you can still work with the personal rhythms discussed before. But if you’re trying to decide between World A and World B and you would be able to work on either within your work rhythm, knowing what your readers are and aren’t expecting (or even just how much time you can take away from a series before losing continuity), knowing what comes next can be a helpful aspect of prioritizing the next right project.

If you’re into the publishing stage, the order of a series or the order of projects along a particular world’s timeline may be an important factor to consider, as well. While some projects may be more independent of one another even within a particular setting, others may depend on prior context–or may suffer from being published as “prequels” where readers already know what comes later along the timeline. This is something I’ve had to consider with Lightning and Thunder, as these are some of the latest projects in their world’s history and I’ve had to ask myself what mystery will be lost in prior projects and what context will be lacking if I publish them before certain other projects set in the same world. Sometimes other factors may trump series order or similar considerations, but if you’re still struggling to decide between a handful of projects, this might be a helpful thing to think about to break the tie.

Do you have trouble choosing between project ideas? Which of these points has been most helpful to you? What are you most excited about with regard to your current or next project? Comment below!

Want to grab the spreadsheet template I use for capturing and prioritizing story ideas? Need a system for tracking the development of your story ideas? The story ranking worksheet is designed to be that tool. Sign up below for access!

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Book Review: Sailing Magic by Order of the Pen Press

I haven’t reviewed an anthology in a while, but while at Realm Makers I finally picked up a copy of Sailing Magic from Order of the Pen Press! This is an anthology that I’ve been really interested in since before it came out–in fact, I’d intended to submit a story to it myself but didn’t get around to writing one in time–and it was just as fun as I’d hoped!

About Sailing Magic

Ships are a timeless symbol of adventure, promising individuals the opportunity to explore worlds unknown. Sailing Magic features ten exciting stories that will take you on fantastical journeys to lands you’ve never seen before!

Review(s)

Heir of the Silver Throne
This was an interesting story with great characters. I really liked the focus on a married couple, and the MC’s best friend as well. I felt the writing was a little lack-luster and the story would have benefited from a bit more foreshadowing, but overall a fun read.

The Phantom
The writing and plot of this one were great. I loved the way the story unfolded and the lore built around it, and the ending was satisfying. If you like pirates, you’ll like this story.

The Man Who Caught a Falling Star
I loved this one! I’m not always a big fan of reading space-based sci-fi, but this one blended that genre with fantasy beautifully. I loved the characters, the story, the worldbuilding… I would definitely read more in this same world.

The Gilded Horizon
This was a sweet little story, very well-written, but it ended too soon and left me with more questions than answers. The feel-good ending didn’t feel like it had been earned by the set-up of the worldbuilding, so I would have liked to see a little more explanation for how things happened the way that they did.

The Princess from the Sea
Aside from the insta-love, I really enjoyed this one! The worldbuilding was rich, the characters were likeable, the plot as a whole flowed naturally, the writing was great. I mostly wish it hadn’t ended with a kiss, I think, because that pushed the insta-love over the edge for me and I would have liked to see more thought–from the characters–put behind the romance. But the speed of the relationship was my only gripe with the story, and I’d love to see other stories set in this same world.

Questing Hall
This story made me laugh out loud multiple times, which is something few authors can accomplish. It’s also just a great story, with a vivid cast of characters and a really interesting atmosphere to the setting. It blends a lot of different elements into something really unique and intriguing, with bits of fantasy, sci-fi, and history all blended together. It was very fun, and this is another story that made me want to see more of its world.

Outcasts of the Addan
This story definitely felt like it was meant to be set-up for a larger book. Again, I really liked the world we get to see in this story, with its different races and their tensions with one another. I was also glad that the ending was what it was; I was afraid certain things wouldn’t happen, but they did, so I was happy to see it. I’m not sure I found this story as compelling as some of the others, but I would be interested in the larger project this is meant to lead up to.

Bard for Hire: Will Travel
This was another installment where I felt that the story/plot was its weakest element, but I enjoyed the writing, character, and setting and if there were more following this main character–or even with him as a side character–I would read it. This story had a really enjoyable writing style, and the worldbuilding detail that the story hinges on is one I would be interested to see fleshed out further in the context of a larger work.

Blue Sails
This was a great short story. It had a sense of context, but it was a well-contained story in its own right that didn’t feel like it needed more in order to make sense or resolve questions. It was well-written, the characters were compelling, the worldbuilding was well-done, and the theme was beautifully executed. This was probably one of the strongest installments in the collection.

Luck of the Emerald Venture
I don’t know quite what to think of this story. The setting and premise are interesting, and I like the emphasis on marriage in the story. I’m not sure that the characters felt consistent enough, to me, to effectively convey the intended theme and make the ending feel satisfactory. The character intended to be a cautionary tale was a little too reasonable, and the main character a little too easily convinced of an opposite opinion, and I felt the author had to rely on telling us who we should and shouldn’t trust to make the ending work instead of drawing up characters who really communicated their intended character themselves. That said, the bones were certainly there and I think that with a little more character depth and polishing this could have been a much stronger and more powerful story.

Overall
This was a very enjoyable collection! There was a lot of diversity of style, some diversity of genre, and it got me to like some genres that I don’t tend to enjoy reading, plus I was introduced to authors I’d like to see more from! I definitely recommend this if you enjoy sailing stories in the fantasy and/or sci-fi genre and you’re looking for new authors to follow in those genres.

Rating: 5 stars

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Do you like short stories? Have you read any books from Order of the Pen Press before? Comment below with your thoughts!

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Book Review: The Librarian’s Ruse by Thirzah

Today’s review is in honor of yesterday’s book release–A Traitor’s Vow, which is the sequel to The Librarian’s Ruse. For the sake of context, I began with this book and am sharing this review for others like me who might be unfamiliar with this series as a whole.

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

What is The Librarian’s Ruse about?

ONE MISTAKE. TWO EMPIRES. COUNTLESS SECRETS.

Amelia’s peaceful life as a librarian is cut short when she and her older brother Leon are sent on an errand to Eldnaire, the capital city of the vicious Vilnarian Empire. After witnessing a crime carried out in the woods, Amelia and Leon enter the capital only to be faced with an impossible tell the truth and risk imprisonment, or lie and face far worse if they’re caught.

One deception leads to a dozen more, and before she can put an end to the lies, she and Leon are swept up into Vilnaria’s high society. Amelia finds an unlikely ally in Vilnaria’s handsome new ruler, Emperor Kyvir. But as the secrets and scandals continue to pile up and danger closes in on all sides, Amelia must decide once and for all what matters the truth…or her life?

Let’s start with the characters, as they were the driving force of this book. Unfortunately… I didn’t really like them. I didn’t believe the dramatic difference of morals between Leon and Amelia as siblings–particularly given their homeschooled upbringing; Leon is intentionally insufferable (so points for effect, I suppose); and Amelia is too passive to be a likeable main character. Kyvir was likeable enough, but not fleshed out sufficiently to be as engaging as he could have been. The side characters were charicatures, either vague and uninteresting (as in Fern’s case) or mismatched in their motivations and the way their actions came across (as in Gladik’s case). All of the characters had potential, but were either pushed too far or not far enough to be effective in their portrayal.

The dialogue was so-so, owing to weak characterization and too many modern speech mannerisms to be believable. Thirzah is a good writer, as I’ll discuss shortly, so it’s clear that the dialogue would have been a strong point had the characters been stronger and had her editor addressed the dialogue’s overly modern sound.

The plot was well-paced, but its conclusion fell flat for me. There were too few meaningful consequences–especially for Leon–and the end of Gladik’s plot arc was unfair. Besides which, a new character is introduced at the climax to fix everything in deus ex machina fashion. Overall, the plot is well-done for most of the book–if a bit contrived due mostly to the character weaknesses discussed above–but the ending was largely dissatisfying and thematically weak.

I found the worldbuilding vivid in the details but wobbly on its foundations. There are three nations(?) involved in the story, and their relationships are vaguely sketched out but left me with a lot of questions. Namely, how do librarians and libraries work in this world? It’s the characters’ vocation, yet I’m confused as to what they were actually traveling to accomplish and how it was supposed to work. I also had trouble keeping Vilnaria and Ivanyar straight due to the similarities in their names. I would have liked to see more clarity in the foundational elements of the international politics that are at the heart of this book. That said, I was intrigued by some of the details, such as mercenary pins and how one of the nations might have learned to optimize the profit of war after becoming so accustomed to it; these are the sorts of details that hint at something more and grab me as a reader, regardless of whether there’s anything behind them or not. I would have liked for the foundations to have been solid enough that the world had been less distracting and these details could have been a bigger highlight by themselves.

The actual writing of this book is good. Thirzah does a good job at using unique, vivid metaphors in her description and balancing description well with action and dialogue. This contributes, I think, to the quality of pacing, and those two things–the writing and the pacing, with those fun worldbuilding details thrown in as a bonus–were what bumped this up to a three star read for me. This book was easy to read, novel-length but not long, well-written, paced for a light read, and every bit of it had potential even if it wasn’t realized here. I really look forward to seeing that potential grow and be built upon in Thirzah’s future work as she grows in experience and the storytelling craft.

Rating: 3 stars

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