R. K. Brainerd's Blog

When a Fantasy Author goes Grad-Schooling…

So, if you haven’t heard already, this author decided to go to graduate school (ten years after graduating undergrad). Sticking to the brand apparently, I am working on a degree called Political Ecology, which is basically if politics and environmentalism had an activist baby with every other field of academia.

Maybe that wasn’t the best mental image.

Basically, it’s the study of a system of why an environmental problem came to be. It focuses a lot on the power dynamics involved, focusing on who does and doesn’t have a voice, why, and how (there’s a lot of feminist and decolonial approaches). If you can think of a field of academia, it’s probably used in Political Ecology to understand, interrogate, and problematize environmental and human concerns. It’s a highly analytical, complex, and passionate field, with a history of activism—so, it fits me well.

You might be asking at this point: okay, Author R. K. Brainerd, what does this have to do with fantasy novels?

First off, hey! I’m allowed to be a multi-faceted being. It’s not all dragons and kissing and complicated plot-lines.

(And on that note, personally, working in environmentalism is something I’ve wanted to do my entire life. The state of the world as it is, there’s no guarantee that’s where this will lead me, but I hope it does.)

But, and it’s hard to fully explain, I do believe this degree—and experience overall—is going to elevate my writing (probably in ways I’m not even fully aware of yet). There’s the basic argument that rather any kind of experience can be utilized to create story and elevate writing, especially when a different culture is involved. But there’s something else here—maybe the way I’m learning to critique and analyze systems of how the world works, or how to truly research something, or problematizing an issue to fully understand it. I haven’t quite figured out how to say it eloquently.

What I do know is that—as I have said from the beginning of this ol’ blog—my writing is political. I think this degree is going to help hone this. Everything is political when you get down to it, but I’ve always wanted to be intentional with the ways my stories are political. Have I really figured out how to do that? Eh. It’s a work in progress. I get the feeling that the Obsidian Divide series is going to be more on the angsty mental health side, with the more political stories yet to come. I’ve been thinking more on those.

I think, sadly to say, that working on the sequel to Jagged Emerald City may not be possible while I’m in graduate school. I’ve also been participating in societies, activist groups, and learning how to be better at socializing and connecting with people—alongside a ridiculous amount of reading and essay writing. I want to experience this to the fullest, and I’m definitely coming up against the aggravating reality that I’m not capable of doing everything all at once. Not writing makes me feel a little like I’m losing part of my identity, but ya know. Life is all about growth or something.

Honestly not sure exactly how to end this post. I’ve just touched on where I’m at in this moment as far as authoring, but there is so much to talk about beyond that as far as what I’m learning, what’s happening with the United States, and the state of the world. I don’t know where to start or really how to start unpacking everything into something coherent, so I’m probably just going to leave this post here.

Needless to say, there is going to be a lot more coming.

Until then friends, stay safe and do good.

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Debut Novels: How My First Publication Came to Exist

My debut novel, Jagged Emerald City, is not the first book I‘be written. I actually wrote 2 1/2 books before that; a portal-fantasy series about a girl who discovers she’s a dragon who’s been locked in human form her whole life (not wishful thinking on my part AT ALL).

(I did try to traditionally publish this series, around 5 or 6 years ago. At that point I was focused only on traditional publishing, and querying… didn’t go anywhere. But I did learn a lot about querying!)

Now, I’ve talked about choosing to self-publish my debut novel and how I came to that decision. But today I’d like to talk about the inception of Jagged Emerald City. It has a particular story of how it came to be, why it came to be, and what I learned while doing so.

How It Began

Jagged Emerald City started as me (at 15 years of age) writing two characters (Fairian and Daimyn) falling in love after becoming friends. It was set in an urban fantasy world with all our typical lovely fantasy creatures, but the concept wasn’t fully formed yet. It all started as fragments of interactions as I explored their characters and world. It was fun. No pressure. A delightful playground.

When I decided to focus on this story and actually turn it into a novel, my intentions changed. I reframed what I wanted from Fairian and Daimyn, and when considering my skills as a writer, I focused on improving one thing in particular: not info-dumping.

The Ever-Problematic Info-Dump

I’ve joked before that my dragon series taught me how to write characters, and Jagged Emerald City taught me to plot. I focused on this with a specific idea: don’t reveal information to the reader until it’s absolutely necessary. This included everything from character background information to world description and characterization. (And to my utter delight, the reviews I have gotten reflect this. More on that later.)

The reason this is so important to writing is that info-dumping can bore or take a reader out of a story. A slow reveal (done right, of course) can be much more interesting and satisfying. It also adds an element of suspense and mystery that I think also really engages readers.

Connection (Romantic and Otherwise)

With the spark of this story beginning with the connections between people (and romance), that is still a foundational element. Fairian and Daimyn are definitely involved in a love-affair that burns slow. But unlike my initial teen writings, I deepened and added complexity; not only from actual personal knowledge now (ha), and much better skills as a writer, but also being intentional about what I’m trying to show.

The relationship between these two continue throughout the whole series, but especially starting in book 2, there is another element of connection that I’m exploring: friendship and community.

I really want to show the healthy building of community and friends. Romantic love is not the only that exists, and relying on it for all socialization needs can actually be really harmful. Friendship can be one of the most healing and beneficial connections we have. I want Fairian’s journey to be full of meaningful connections, because I honestly believe that true healing comes through community.

Surprise: The Mental Health Element

The newest addition to this story, which came as a surprise, were the mental health themes. It shouldn’t have come a surprise, considering the experiences I’ve had. But it did take me a while to figure out that I’d been working through my own trauma through Fairian. Once I realized this, and where I could go with it, I intentionally expanded and focused on this element.

My journey with trauma and healing has given me insight into issues surrounding mental health, including a decent understanding of how badly this is often portrayed in literature. It’s become very important to me, both personally and professionally, to have positive mental health representation in the stories we read. Not only because of the devastating impact that some of these stories have on people struggling with these issues. Not only just to help inform and create empathy for those who don’t understand. But because hopeful stories that show people dealing with these issues in real ways can have an incredible impact.

All of this applies to the Obsidian Divide Series, which, of course, begins with Jagged Emerald City. I’ve got big plans on how these themes will progress with each book in the series. Positive mental health representation, in a way that is genuine and hopeful, is something I want to do for the rest of my career.

The Obsidian Divide Series itself will mainly focus on the effects of childhood trauma, betrayal trauma, anxiety, and depression. In other words, you’ll see Fairian heal from the affects of long and short lasting trauma, learn to trust herself and what she needs, form genuine and healthy attachments, and thrive. Even after having gone through hell. I get gritty and harsh in my stories, but they end hopeful.

Not Forgetting the World-Building

World-building is what I would currently call my weakest writing skill. (It’s not going to stay that way.) With my first novels, the dragon ones, it was set in a world of pretty much our own, with a portal fantasy element of dragons living in a pre-industrial environmental paradise. The world-building didn’t require a lot of heavy lifting on my part.

With Jagged Emerald City, I wanted to push my skills in this manner too—and I got to play with my environmentalist instincts and my growing understanding of social justice. I took several concepts that fascinated me and built the history and world. I worry that this method (smashing unrelated characters and world together) has made things a bit disjointed, as far as the world should influence character and vise-versa, but alas.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the duology I have planned (after Book 2 and 3 of Obsidian Divide of course) is going to be the thing that teaches me world-building. Or maybe more specifically writing compelling and believable culture within the world.

But back to JEC. In Book 2, I’m still discovering world-building to develop further, which makes me feel a bit like I’m building the car as I’m driving it. It’s both exciting and intimidating… and sometimes makes me feel like I have no idea how to write a book. But! We know that’s not true, eh?

Conclusion

There we have it, folks. The main pillars on how Jagged Emerald City came to be and the themes thereinto. I’m actually going to do an Instagram series over the next few weeks showing how reviewers have seen these themes come to life, so if you’d like to go check that out, please do!

The post Debut Novels: How My First Publication Came to Exist appeared first on RK Brainerd.

Nicole Evans on Her First Self-Publishing Experience

My dear friend Nicole Evans has just launched her debut novel: Blood Price. As someone who has had the privilege to read initial drafts and hear brainstorming sessions, I am so excited that this hauntingly beautiful and real book is coming out into the world.

Blood Price is already receiving tons of positive reviews and excitement (go check out Evans’ Instagram to keep up on that). For my part, I’m posting an interview with Evans about her self-publishing journey. I’ve talked about my own journey before on here, and thought it would be a treat to hear about hers! If that’s not your speed, you can jump to the end to see my own review blurb on Blood Price and links to where you can learn more about it.

Without further ado, here is Nicole Evans on her self-publishing journey:

What brought you to the decision to self-publish Blood Price? Tell us about your journey of why! 

Though I wasn’t always smart enough to read and realize the value of self-pub, once I learned more about it and began actively reading and supporting the authors in that sphere, it definitely became an avenue I was really interested in. After seeing the excitement and journeys of writer friends Ladz and R.K. Brainerd (coughyoucough) entering the self-pub space, I found myself itching to join the ranks of so many authors I admire. Last December, I decided to stop querying BLOOD PRICE and begin pursuing self-pub in earnest. Though it’s been stressful, it’s also been incredible and rewarding beyond measure. I don’t regret my choice at all and am excited for the journey!

What’s something you wish everyone knew about self-publishing? 

The amount of work it requires to create and produce a high quality book for readers to receive! And I’m not talking about the quality of the book itself and the story I’ve written, but just the process of getting it from finished draft to buyable book. I knew self-pub would be work, but I think everyone who looks down upon self-pub doesn’t realize how much work it truly is and actually respected it as it’s own publishing path instead of trad’s lesser sibling.

What’s next in your self-publishing journey? 

I am working on the sequel to BLOOD PRICE! I have no promise on timeline, as I’m still trying to figure out writing schedules, routine and self-care, but I’m excited for what I have mapped out for poor Ashilde. 

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far? 

I would say the biggest lesson I’m learning is not second guessing kindness and help. I’ve had so much kindness in response to BLOOD PRICE’s announcement, from friends helping with social media, those who joined this promotional tour, to those who preordered a copy of the book. Sometimes, the pesky part of my brain feels undeserving of such a response; that I should be doing everything myself, that my book will fail, that everyone is lying about their excitement. But, I am trying to be kinder to myself and allow myself grace, hope, optimism and help. I know not everyone will love this book, but it’s okay that I’m excited for those who do. It’s okay to lean on my support systems. It’s okay to get help with marketing. 

What’s been your favorite thing about this publishing path? 

Working with Zoe Badini on the cover art. It was a dream experience that resulted in a dream cover. I’m forever thankful.

Who are some of your favorite self-pub writers to support? 

I have a ton (including an entire recommended list in the back of my book!) but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Veo Corva’s work recently, with how inclusive and kind each story is, yet they also always make me cry, despite feeling so warm and fuzzy throughout my reads. Also, it is cheesy to point out there is this incredible eco-driven mental health fantasy by a partner of this interview I really dig?  

What project are you currently working on? 

Aside from BLOOD PRICE #2, I am really itching to dive into fantasy romance. To scratch the itch I will finish out Ashilde’s story, I’ve been writing a lot of video game smutty fanfiction!

What is one thing you’d change about the publishing industry? 

A lot of my critiques come regarding trad, but they include: being centralized in New York for no reason; limiting remote work options; pay scales for employees; not having dedicated project managers so editors are free to do more editing; treatment of marginalized writers and the policing and tokenization of their stories; the current infatuation with A.I.. For self-pub, my biggest thing is the taxes charged, which are outrageous and unfair. Sorry, that was way more than one thing. 

And that, my friends, is Nicole Evans on her self-publishing journey so far. Thank you Nicole for your thoughts and perspective!

R.K.’s blurb review:

“BLOOD PRICE is like taking a walk in a familiar fantasy landscape with brand new glasses. There is something so haunting about this book, somewhere between the flawed nature of humans, the questions about the divine, and the journey our MC takes. BLOOD PRICE creeps in slowly and by the time you realize you’ve been gripped, it’s too late. It would be remiss not to mention how excellently Evans crafts on-screen menstruation as a concept the culture is built around—and within this framework, the ease in which she handles the differences between bodies, sexuality, and identity is beautifully done. BLOOD PRICE has all the complex characters, beautiful description, riveting adventure, heartache, and brutal truth you could ask for.” – R. K. Brainerd

To learn more about Blood Price, find buy links, and whatever else you may need, click here!

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My First Book Convention

I attended my first convention with my book this previous weekend! It’s called OryCon, and it’s the premier fantasy and sci-fi convention in Oregon (according to them, anyway). It’s been held since 1979, so it’s been around a while.

I ended up attending because a family member, months ago, was like hey! I’m going to go to this con as a vendor, my friend is going to sell art, I’m going to pull together a bunch of fantasy stuff, come with us! And I was like surrreeee…

Turns out, they went as an excuse to get me to go.

… which, you know, worked.

I think I got tricked by the idea of “going with” instead of “performing as The Author,” and my anxiety-perfectionist brain didn’t get triggered. Much. It felt more like a trial run, a way to learn about how this worked. That made all of it so much fun. In the moments something did go wrong (like I forgot to double check square worked, haaa) I was stressed, sure—but I didn’t get paralyzed.

I have so many ideas for next time on how to spice things up and keep it fun, and I wonder if I wouldn’t have gotten to those ideas if I hadn’t been taking things in stride.

Oh, and I did sell several copies of Jagged Emerald City! Plus I made a few author friends, attended panels which were insightful and nudged my creative brain, and got to hang out with some great people.

I think my favorite moment was a panel dealing with writers block and resurrecting your novel. The moderator in charge was pretty adamant that the problem all boiled down to having someone else’s “should” in your head. In other words, thinking you need to do something that you read, or someone told you about. When really, there is no “should” in writing—there is only “would.”

What would work best for you. What would make you feel inspired to write. What would work right now to make the best story.

So I’ve been thinking about that a lot.

OryCon held all sorts of things fantasy and science fiction, including crafters, book sellers, blacksmiths, you name it. (I got some holiday shopping done cough.) This convention was shut down a couple years due to Covid, so it came back as a little smaller. Which, honestly, made it a lot easier to handle for my easily-overstimulated-brain.

Now that I’ve gotten practice, I feel much more prepared for future ones.

Because I’m definitely going to future conventions (as long as the world doesn’t end tomorrow or something). Why, you ask, considering my introverted and reclusive nature?

Because, while it’s a few days post-Convention, and while it did exhaust me… it also invigorated me? Enlivened me? I can’t really put a finger on what exactly has happened. Maybe it’s just the high from being in a place with other people like me and being like “hey! look! I belong too!”

Overall, I had a great time at my first book convention and am looking forward to the next time I get a chance to do this.

Have you attended a Convention as a vendor before? How did you like it?

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Why does publishing your first book ruin your life?

Okay so this title is a little click-bait-y. But stay with me, because I’ve got a point, an interesting story—and it’s actually positive. This is also going to get personal.

Context: if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you probably have seen that my relationship of 13 years, and the life I’d been planning for about a decade, went up in flames. (I’m going with the flames metaphor because I’m determined to turn this into a phoenix moment.)

ANYWAY.

The point I’m getting to here is when things began to settle and my head cleared, I realized… this story is oddly familiar. Maybe I’m drawing conclusions, but several of my favorite authors have stories where, after their first book, their marriage falls apart. Or their life has a radical shift of some kind.

So it makes me wonder… mostly joking… what is it about publishing your first book?

I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s related with something very powerful: prioritizing the accomplishment of dreams.

In my own situation, I’d been writing Jagged Emerald City for over a decade; drafting, scrapping it, rewriting it, almost traditionally publishing it, scrapping and rewriting again—on and on.

But something shifted in me the year or so leading up to finally publishing, and not just related to writing. I stopped hesitating so much. I grew more confident in my actions and words. I also grew more fearful, oddly, because I realized how lucky and grateful I was for what I had. Writing has always been a core part of my identity, and something changed where I stopped playing around and started taking that seriously.

The shift was so gradual I can’t really pinpoint where it started. Maybe it was my horrible depressive episode the end of 2019, where I finally got help. Maybe it was COVID and the shattering of “normal.” Maybe it was the shift in my day job where I was actually enjoying my work and taken seriously.

Maybe it was simply approaching turning 30 years old, and getting too tired for b*llshit.

Whatever it was, this gradual shift led to my decision to stop waiting on other’s approval and publish my book myself.

I’m sure now that this shift in my confidence and focus destabilized coping mechanisms and patterns in my relationship with my then-partner. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really conscious of what was happening, or had the skills to navigate it. Distance grew. I didn’t know what to do. So I acted on faith that he appreciated our partnership as much as I did, and focused as hard as I could on my and our combined future.

Then came buying our first house on 5 acres, the remodel project that grew and grew, and the final straw: his infidelity. I found out about the cheating, moved alone into the house that was supposed to be our future, and continued the house remodeling project in the months leading up to my debut’s release.

Side note: anyone who has been cheated upon, my heart is with you. And I mean that. If you ever need to talk, my DMs are open, and my email address is on my contact page. No one should go through this alone. Ever.

To those of you who haven’t experienced this—and thank god; now go look up infidelity warning signs and practices to keep this from happening to you, because it can and will happen to anyone—I’m not sure I can accurately explain the devastation. But I will try.

When I was a teenager, I was groomed and basically had to claw my way out of a cult. When I was 19, my father committed suicide. In the year 2019, I fought every day not to kill myself, swallowed by a depth of self-hatred that still scares me.

Infidelity blows all of that out of the water as far as pain, confusion, self-doubt, trauma, physical dis-ease, and eradication of future.

My family kept me upright. My friends kept me sane.

My writing kept me walking.

I published my first book four months after discovering the infidelity and the end of the future I’d been building.

It’s now been a year since I found out. In infidelity-trauma-timeline-speak, I’m still on the road to recovery. But between a very intense amount of therapy and a single-minded determination to root out all my fears and trauma, I’m starting to see things clearer. Probably clearer than I ever have.

I’ve lost the property I thought would be home for a long time. My goats, the brilliant creatures I’ve raised for over a decade, all have new homes. The relationship I was so proud and grateful for is ashes. (It might not even have been what I thought it was in the first place.) I’m 30 years old, and living with my parents again.

And yet my life is also opening up around me. I am unattached, free, and more in synch with myself than I have ever been. The possibilities are endless.

Publishing my first book was not what burned my life down. It probably wasn’t even a catalyst. But it was a sign of something, a quiet but tectonic shift. I still have work to do—let’s be honest, self-work is never done—but I’ve built a new strength with tears, tenacity, and ink.

It makes my debut novel that much more special. It was the magnet that brought me onto the path of something more aligned with myself, and acted as my lifeline through the storm.

Maybe the other authors, the ones I mentioned at the beginning of this, didn’t have quite such a monumental change. Maybe I’m trying to make a garden out of weeds. But I can’t help but see a thread here, that the accomplishment of this powerful, heartfelt dream has ripple effects in every part of life.

So really, it’s probably more accurate to title this… how publishing your first book saves your life.

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When Writing Plans Derail, Time to Reassess

Weeelll… my plan to have Obsidian Divide Book 2 drafted by today did not pan out. Writing plans: derailed. So now, I’m trying to find the middle ground between not beating myself up but also holding myself accountable.

Overall, I think it came down to a few factors:

This stubborn middle actUnderestimating other life adventuresDepressionMiddle Act Frustrations

I’m not sure what’s going on with this middle act. I have the pieces there, but they are just not fitting right, and I keep having this “it’s boring” voice on repeat in the back of my head. Most of the time I can quell that voice by chanting “the only job of a first draft is to exist,” but it’s hard to write when you’re, well, also bored.

I’ve been jumping around, working on the end, not writing linearly, which helps. And recently I’ve worked on scenes and ideas just for the hell of it, which also helps at least get the juices flowing. But there is just something… missing… and I cannot figure out what it is.

My snarky inner voice tells me it’s because I need more plot and less character angst. Which… okay. Maybe I do need to flesh out the “plot” points a little more.

I have this pet peeve developing of things just happening to the characters instead of the characters making things happen. But maybe I need to just chill and let things happen instead of railroading it all so much.

Life Time-Sucks

If you don’t already know, these are the other things going on for me: working full time, finishing up a house remodel, and taking care of a small farm of goats and related land.

I’ve also just gone through a life-alerting personal tragedy. So I’m also trying to focus really hard on self-growth habits and care: good food, exercise, positive socialization, therapy, and reading lots of books. And while most of this is normal to me, I forget sometimes how much time and energy it all takes.

Tales Of Depression

Depression is the worst beast, to be honest. If you haven’t experienced this particular mental delight before, it’s hard to really explain. And everyone experiences it differently, I think.

For me, it’s not just being sad and sleeping all the time, though that’s certainly a part of it. The worst part is I literally don’t care about anything. I (mostly) do my routines because I know intellectually it’s important and I’d like to keep myself and my animals alive, but everything else is just… a numb fog. It’s frustrating, but if I focus on how frustrating it is, then I start hating myself, and we go to other bad places.

This factor in itself is enough to derail all best laid writing plans. (Can you guess why mental health is such a theme in my books?)

The Solution

I let this deadline kind of sneak up on me, so time to reassess. I’m saying this for everyone else out there who might be struggling with this too: patience with yourself. It’s really easy to say, not easy to practice. Beating yourself up for something you can’t change now isn’t going to do anything, and shame isn’t going to alter behavior.

Sooo I’m reminding myself that I made goals with about a million other things going on. While I’m glad I made them to keep me motivated, perhaps they weren’t the kindest goals. And I did say in my goal-making post that I would alter the plan as needed. I just hoped it wouldn’t be alter the WHOLE plan, ha.

So, first up is making new goals to keep myself motivated, but remember to be more kind. I’m probably not going to make my December 12th deadline, which is disheartening. But I’m going to be okay with that, because life is a wee bit hard for me right now, and piling more on top isn’t going to help.

I still wrote 45,181 words over the past three months. So! We’re going to use that as the guideline. That’s about 500 words per day. I’m at a little over 115k in the manuscript right now, I’m guessing this is going to finish out at about 160k (remember, I’m still going to revise after that), so I need about another 45k. Which… okay, that’s three months.

So I needed to double my original deadline, is the gist here. Ha! That’s… awesome (not).

*chanting * I’m being kind to myself, I’m being kind to myself…

All right. Now we’re looking at end of August as the deadline, with easier goals.

It still doesn’t help my first issue, the trying to figure out my middle. But I think I’m going to try to shake things up, maybe call a friend for help, to see if I can jar loose whatever it is I’m missing in this thing.

Okay. Now I’d love to hear y’alls stories about writing plans getting derailed? Tell me I’m not alone, ha!

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Accessible Fantasy: Writing the Supernatural that Anyone Can Love

I receive a review for Jagged Emerald City the other day that got me thinking about accessible fantasy. (Before you say it, yes I know, reviews are for readers not for authors and I’m courting danger here, but I’m still in that initial stage where my book hasn’t attracted enough notice for the nasty reviewers to get ahold of it and I’m hungry for feedback.)

Anyway, the review goes something like this:

“This is not my usual genre but I decided to try something new. I was pleasantly surprised that I found it difficult to put down. My intention was to read this on a plane, but after I began it never made it to the plane. An interesting story of a strong heroine who is also plagued with the same self doubts and second guessing we all possess, yet she is able to overcome these and forge ahead. Looking forward to Book 2.”

This is not the first time I’ve heard someone say they were surprised how much they liked it, as they’re not usually a fantasy reader.

Now, I’m someone who loves fantasy. The weirder more impossible the better. But I’m also a big believer in the idea that fantasy can give us a lens that helps us better understand the real world. I love writing authentic people and issues into my stories.

(To be fair, I think most writers might say that.)

The point is, I’m going to state (despite my fear of sounding arrogant) that JEC is accessible to the non-fantasy-lover. The world is not so very different from our own, and the characters are struggling with, to quote the reviewer above, “the same self doubts and second guessing we all possess.” At its core the story is about struggling with trauma, grief, and belonging.

Which brings me to our subject: writing accessible fantasy

By no means am I an expert, nor do I think this is the only way to write fantasy that even the non-fantasy-lover can enjoy. But my understanding of what I do (always a hazardous prospect, but alas) boils down to a couple things.

1: Relatability

We might not all relate to being obsessed with hunting down demons. But I think we can all relate to the grief of losing someone, whether that’s a sibling, partner, parent; whether it’s by death, separation, or growing apart.

If someone doesn’t naturally love fantasy, you’re going to want to connect with them with the best tool you have available: emotion.

It’s a little difficult to give an example from Jagged Emerald City since I weave in bits and teases of the backstory (as I apparently wanted to drive my readers nuts by dragging out the answers), but this should give you an idea:

A camera rose out from the crowd, pointed towards me. The shutter flicked. More cameras appeared, more shutters flicking rapidly. I tried not to freeze like a deer startled by a predator. Mari had been so good at this. She’d make fun of everything alongside me, but she couldn’t hide her relish as she worked society politics. She’d flourished in it. A crater existed where she used to be, and I would never be big enough to fill it.

And:

My father didn’t miss a beat, stepping back and placing his hands lightly on my shoulders. “This is my daughter, Ms. Fairian Leynthall.”

The introduction sent a twist through my heart. He’d introduced me how I wanted—Ms. Fairian Leynthall, instead of Ms. Leynthall—but Mari’s absence throbbed like a hole in my being.

Would it ever stop?

But how, you may ask, does this relate to magic?

Well, I hope you got from the these quotes how out-of-place Fairian feels, and its tie to the loss of her sister. In JEC, what Fairian does feel a connection with (for reasons you’ll have to read about to find out) is magic. She spends the first half of the book hunting down any information she can on “demons” and their ilk. This is increasingly juxtaposed with feeling out of place and boxed in by the life her family is pushing her into.

So now there is relatable motivation for Fairian’s obsession with magic: hunting for belonging, trying to escape the grief of a lost sibling.

2: Tie to the familiar; then make it weird

With fantasy being such a popular genre, this is a little easier. Most people know what witches, dragons, and fairies are. Most people clue into pointy ears meaning an elf or fairy situation.

As we get into more obscure magicks (or even invented ones), then it’s a good idea to give the reader a foundation to start from. For example:

Kelpies. In Jagged Emerald City, Fairian encounters a kelpie. Don’t know what it is? That’s a horse that lives in water that wants to drown people and eat them. In the scene, I use horse-related descriptions:

Even though I knew something lay under the water, I jumped when two wide nostrils appeared, flaring wide once it breached water. A grin split my face as more surfaced: an equine nose, face, ears. Their eyes emerged, murky and pale, yet somehow burning. Something hungry and predatory.

And:

The creature’s equine head slowly cocked to one side, farther than anatomy should allow.

And:

The creature slowly circled around me, their long tail dragging across the dock behind them. Snuffling ran across my hair, down my back. It tickled. I giggled, then twisted around and hesitantly put a hand on their furred side.

Bone stood up sharply against my hand under cooler flesh.

See? Make it a horse, then make it weird. In this case, make it creepy.

This can also apply even if you’re “inventing” something new. In JEC, I wrote in a society of creatures that are shadow entities that live in the trees. (In hindsight, I probably got the idea from Doctor Who.)

I did two things.

A) Literally built a translator into this reclusive society.

The [person speaking Latin stopped], and snapping hisses rose in the trees. My whole body shuddered at the sound. It came to a halt, and the other voice spoke again, in English:

“You know what has been happening, or you would not be here. The deaths of our own were not enough to motivate you, but apparently now that it’s anyone else you are here.”

“The depth of your situation was only revealed to me recently,” Daimyn said. “I am here now to provide assistance.”

The voice rose again in Latin. It almost sounded like they were translating Daimyn’s words…

B) Don’t ask me why, but I got snake imagery when devising the situation, so that’s where I started.

A forked tongue flickered out of the shadowy coils next to me. Once. Twice. Three times. Then they slid fully from the tree, pooling on the ground across tree roots even as their head barely moved position, tongue still tasting the air.

And:

A soft croon from the creature, and around their head a ruff flared outwards, framing their face. It was lined with near-glowing veins of pale gold, breaking through the darkness like a glittering, lightning starscape.

Make it a snake, then make it… intimidating but beautiful?

3: Rules

As much as I hate to say it, rules give a reader comfort. A framework to rely on. A sense of groundedness in the world. If you’re writing something contemporary the rules are, for the most part, unconsciously understood. With fantasy, you’ll need to explore and build them for the reader.

It’s also just good storytelling. With a good story, you need stakes; rules can help create those stakes and consequences for the characters. (Sidebar: don’t go making magic rules and then breaking them willy nilly with more magic. It’s disappointing, I don’t care how epic the magic is.)

Also, if you can build magic-rules based off of reality-rules, even better. For example: magical artifacts that do such-and-such-thing need to charge in the moonlight once it’s depleted. I think most of us plug in a cellphone every night, yeah?

(I’ll be honest, this is the one I’m the least good at, I think. I don’t really “craft” my rules so much as “feel out” my rules and then… make it canon? Just make sure you keep track of what you have figured out as a concrete rule!)

In Conclusion

There we have it, my guidelines for writing accessible fantasy. Overall, these ideas might simply just apply to good storytelling, but I think they might be particularly important to the fantasy and science-fiction genres.

What do you think? What draws you in the most about fantasy worlds or characters? And hey, if you’ve read my book, tell me if I know what I’m talking about or not!  

And hey… if you’re interested in the book that inspired this post (and that awesome review), you can check out what Jagged Emerald City is all about here.

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How to Craft Writing Goals to Keep on Track

Well, Jagged Emerald City is out in the world, but that’s not the end of Fairian’s journey by far. Book 2 of the Obsidian Divide series needs to be finished, and now that I’m *officially * an author, I should do things like make deadlines and build discipline to make sure I meet them. Thus, I’m diving into creating writing goals for the next several months.

To be fair, I do have a decent chunk of book 2 written, even before JEC came out. So I’m a little ahead of the game. But it’s still so easy to fall behind and get out of practice, and with my brain having been living in book marketing world for the past several months, I want to return to actually writing with gusto.

Famous last words, I know.

But here’s where I’m at: I chose the publish date for JEC based on the new moon (because it holds relevance in the books). I really like the idea of sticking with that theme. So to give myself plenty of time, I want to aim for the last new moon in 2023, December 12th. There’s a cool symmetry in that too; the first book on the first new moon of the year, the second book on the last new moon of the year.

Making A Timeline

Since March is, like, tomorrow, that gives me 10 months. More like 9. Which seems like a lot until you start sectioning off how much time things take.

I want to aim to have 6 weeks cushion between being done and the publish date, based off of what I learned getting JEC into the world. That puts us at end of October/beginning of November.

I’m guesstimating two months for a round of beta readers, and a month after for revisions based on feedback, so that eats up October, September, August. As long as I am organized and have beta readers ready to go, that shouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility.

I’d like a chance to do my own revisions beforehand as I always learn things in the drafting process… total guess, but I think a month. However, the manuscript will definitely have to sit for a bit after drafting so I can have a fresher head coming into it (2 weeks minimum; a month is better). I’m nervous I’m over-promising myself, but I think that will be about 2 months all together. That takes up July and June.

So that gives me 3 months to draft (March, April, May). There’s the first part of my writing goals. Phew.

Calculating Word-Count Goals

I have about 60k words done on Book 2 just based on tidbits written here and there over the years, and over the past few months when I desperately just needed to write damn it during JEC’s debut.

Actually, I guess technically I’ve already writtenbook 2… like 5 years ago. But I’ve scrapped that totally and this is basically a completely new book. Though there are some similar elements. (Like werewolves. Spoiler!) This also gives me a leg up, because I know my overall story, and I’m actually using a tool to plot out the beats so I know where I’m aiming as I draft. (I’m using the Save the Cat method.)

JEC originally clocked out at 130k words. Revisions took it to 160k. (Then spent a long time getting it right back to 130k, but we won’t talk about that.)

I’m going to *guess * Book 2 will be about similar length. (Though who actually really knows, right?)

130k – 60k = 70k words left to write. 70k divided by 90 days is 777.7777-(into infinity). So I’m going to round that up to 780 words per day.

Ayyyyy, that doesn’t sound so terrible, does it? Definitely way less than NaNoWriMo’s 1,666 words per day goal! If I’m able to sustain 1.6k words a day, I should be able to do 780. And, if I’m being anxious about progress (which undoubtedly will happen) I’ll probably up this to 1000 words per day at some point. Just to be safe.

Note: if this had calculated out to be 1000 or higher, I probably would have had to seriously consider pushing back Book 2’s publishing date. I’m not trying to stress myself into burnout this early in authorlife.

There you have it

And that, friends, is how I’ve established my writing goals for the next… entire year. But there’s one final point I want to be sure to mention:

Stay flexible.

This plan may be blown out of the water in a few weeks because of some unknown element. But something I’m learning to practice in both this industry and just personally, is to not cling so tightly to expectations.

A, it sets you up for disappointment. B, you might miss something even better if you’re obstinately focused of one particular thing. Creativity needs room to breathe!

That’s not to say to throw out the goals or timeline or whathaveyou. Especially for someone like me, deadlines and goals are motivating, and getting rid of that leaves me at a standstill. But who knows what the future holds, and you gotta roll with it.

So now I must ask: what are your writing goals for this year? Do you have a process or plan? Do you work better just “winging it”?

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How Migraines Inspired My Main Character’s Superpower

I’m curious, have any of you read books where the main character has migraines?

Sometimes I can be really oblivious to elements in my writing. Fairian’s “Episodes” in Jagged Emerald City turns out to be one of those things. Minor spoilers ahead if you haven’t read JEC already!!

I’ve suffered from migraines since I was 11 years old. The all encompassing kind, where spots covered my vision until I could barely see, I threw up for hours, and excruciating pain left me immobile for pretty much the entire day.

Your brain does funky things when that happens; your thoughts wander and mull and there’s something just off about reality around you. I once couldn’t stop staring at my fingers because I felt like they’d swelled to quadruple their size, and every time I closed my eyes that’s all I could feel.

Fun times.

Anyway. The point is, if you haven’t read JEC yet, Fairian goes through something during the dark moon (hey did you know that’s why I published my debut on the first dark moon of this year??) that some might describe as… er… an acid trip. Basically, she becomes a magical cerebro for several minutes, reality smears into incomprehension, and she can Feel the living energies of the entire city around her.

Okay, so I can’t claim that my migraines gave me superpowers to feel people. But that excruciating awareness of everything around me, the seemingly warping of reality… well it wasn’t until about a year ago that I realized “oh duh, I wrote this into my book.”

Thankfully, my migraines have gotten easier and more manageable over the years.

Fairian, however… I don’t have great news for her.

I’m curious to know, have you read anything where the main character experiences migraines or something like it? I can recall one book I’ve read where the character suffered on-page migraines I read about (though I can’t remember the title of course) but it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of books with it out there!

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The Benefits of the Self-Publishing Mindset

Something interesting came up in conversation with a writer-friend of mine, the fantastic Nicole Evans. We’ve been talking about my decision to self-publish, what that means, how things are different, and she mentioned something about a self-publishing mindset.

For some reason it stuck with me.

The conversation started because I added back a scene at the end of Jagged Emerald City. I’d taken it out in an attempt to slash my word count, but it’s bothered me that while it wasn’t “necessary” to have this particular scene, it’s absence seemed to take away from the closing of that arc. But now that I’m in control of publishing it, I don’t have to worry about my word count. (Within reason, of course.)

I’ve always been someone who wants a partner in this publishing adventure. I like challenge and learning, and this can be difficult (and lonely) to do by yourself. For me (and probably a lot of you too) this has always meant getting an agent and a publisher. There’s also an element of validation in having someone (who is a supposed authority) say “yeah, this story is great.” It’s not just you believing in yourself. I get nervous that without someone pushing me, I’m going to stagnate, or get stuck and complacent when I’m low on energy.

(There is also the up-front costs part. I’m not ignoring that just not what I’m delving into right now.)

However, looking for mentorship and validation in the publishing industry may be a foolish endeavor anyway. If you’ve been paying any kind of attention, publishing has a *cough* few flaws, and doesn’t treat their creatives very well. I hear there’s improvement, but still. There’s a long way to go.

Additionally, the whole “it’s all on me” thing is hard to avoid when most authors are responsible for a huge chunk of their own marketing.

The point in all of this is: I’ve stepped down the path of self-publishing, and it’s been really freeing to know I can just… make the decision and run with it. I can try new things without worrying I won’t be able to. I can share my writing without worrying about legal requirements. I can hire my own artists for covers and fulfill the vision I have in mind.

And while it’s scary, and this might not be for everyone, I think it’s going to work great for me

Just FYI that book I mentioned putting back a scene in, it’s published and in the world! Check out what Jagged Emerald City is all about here!

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