Lindsay McCafferty's Blog, page 2

Journal Entries Part 10

This would have been my sophomore year in high school, and yes, most of the time it was a blow-off class with plenty of time to write, read, or work on homework. I remember that we watched a lot of movies in that class, so I half paid attention to the movie and half focused on other things. Writing almost everything by hand was more out of necessity than by choice. I also used to like to draw things from the books, although I’m not a good artist. If I could trace something, like horses, I d...

A Fantasy Author’s Search History: When was paper invented?

Modern paper made from wood wasn’t established until the 1790s in America. In AD 105 in China, paper made from materials such as hemp, rags, and fishnets was invented. Linen and cotton rags were also used as raw materials, and it switched over to wood pulp as demand grew.

A Book’s Journey: Part 13

Chapter 13 in E1 is chapter 15 in E2. The chapter was very similar to the final version, with lots of little bits that were changed or cut out. I wish I had known to use Grammarly when I first wrote the book because there are plenty of red lines under mistakes in the E1 version.

Reminder: My notes will be in italicized red font, and the text from E1 will be in black. E1 refers to edition one, and E2 refers to edition two.

13

Aria and Jayce eventually make their way back down to...

Landaro Quote

This quote from Landaro from Reawakened Flames is one of my favorites. I wanted to include the physical bursting into flames of the phoenixes and the metaphorical bursting into flames inside, no matter how much life tries to beat you down. This goes for every character in the books, even the phoenixes.

A Fantasy Author's Search History: Nature and Animals

Writing fantasy books is more than knowing about weapons, armor, and medieval life. A lot of fantasy stories take place deep in the natural world. Mine, especially, because I have animal characters.

I had to look up information about cougars and leopards for my panther characters, scarlet ibises and eagles for the phoenixes, and I learned more about wolves than I thought I knew. I also had to learn more about caves and mountains for Ehckrist and temperate forests on which to base Lythannen.

A Fantasy Author's Search History: Were there any fireproof materials worn in medieval times?

I looked this up specifically for my dragon books out of curiosity. The best answer I could find was that they actually did make clothes with asbestos, but I don’t feel comfortable having my characters use such a toxic substance if it’s not necessary. Leather can also be fire resistant to a point.

National Appreciate a Dragon Day 2025

Happy National Appreciate a Dragon Day! Here is a teaser quote from my forthcoming novella, Axes and Wings: A Dark Horizon. Dwarves, dragons, goblins. This book was inspired by House of the Dragon and The Hobbit and will be filled with action, drama, and clean romance. Perfect for any lovers of dragons and dragon riders. This shorter series will run concurrently with Sparks Shall Rise.

Why I Write Fantasy

Why do I write fantasy? When I watched Lord of the Rings, it was the first time I sought out fantasy books. There’s just something about the medieval settings, usually deep in nature, sword battles, magical creatures, and horses that appealed to me as if they were ingrained in my DNA.

And then there’s the good versus evil themes. I love a classic epic fantasy of the good guys versus the bad guys, dark against light. And they are mostly in other worlds other than our Earth. I live in the ...

Regarding Pirated Copies

Recently I got scammed with a bootleg copy of a DVD. I’m always careful when ordering from Amazon, and I think I mistakenly thought the product was sold by and shipped by them. It took a few days to finally realize that it was not a genuine copy. There was no design on the inside flap under the discs where the episodes and special features are usually listed, the discs did not list episodes or special features on them, and when they were played, they went straight to a menu instead of showi...

Carmen Mental Health Quote

This is a quote from a new character in A Stormy Path. This portrays exactly what the Sparks Shall Rise series is about. And not just mental illness, but other struggles like grief, disability, low self-worth, and more to come. Each book has to strike the balance of telling the story of a character’s struggles, as well as a fantasy story. And I know I’m not a perfect writer, but this is all being written with the hope that people who feel as if their life has fallen into too much darkness can find a reason to keep fighting.