Marissa Beck's Blog
June 25, 2025
Update and Hiatus
Hello, Everyone!
Long time, no talk. This is an update and an announcement for a (hopefully brief) hiatus.
I’m alive, as this update indicates, however, I’m very busy, which explains the radio (online) silence. Wanted to give a little update as to why I’ve been away.
Not going into any details, but I’ve recently taken the opportunity to seek treatment for a condition I have. I’m okay, I’m not going away. This was an important decision for me and is necessary, but this choice is demanding of my time and of my finances. Which is why I will be going on a publishing hiatus.
While my insurance is actually covering the majority of my health costs (a blessing and a shocker) it’s still set me back a little, and I’d really rather not fork out a bunch of money on publishing projects when I’ve got debt to pay off.
I’m not really able to write at all at the moment because my time is nil, but that restriction will go away once treatment is done. However, it would be financially irresponsible of me to publish another book this year, considering it’s $2,000+ to publish a book in the condition that I would be happy and proud to publish in. I have standards. If it’s not the best I can do in that time/place, then I don’t want to put it out there.
I’m going to be working on getting debts paid off and my cushion back before I publish again. Suppose I’ll just have to write a whole back-catalogue in the meantime.
My health and personal life/safety definitely come first for me, even though I hate that I’m breaking up my schedule to publish my works. I’ve had some of these announced and planned for ages and I’m sorry, but I got to put my life jacket on first.
When I know exactly how much I’ll be set back and how much I can power through it (reasonably), I’ll give you an approximate update for when I’ll be able to start publishing again.
In the meantime, I did just drop Again, which is pretty awesome…even though I’ve been offline and haven’t promoted it. But it is an awesome flipping book that I’m proud of and love.
In the meantime, so you’re all aware. I am alive. I’m crazy busy. And it’s just a hiatus until my life’s a bit more stable and I can endorse tossing out that much money to publish a book (because, yeah, it’s kinda like tossing it out at this point in my career—that’s just facts, Jack).
I wish you all the best and hope you’re all doing awesome.
Take care!
-Marissa
Long time, no talk. This is an update and an announcement for a (hopefully brief) hiatus.
I’m alive, as this update indicates, however, I’m very busy, which explains the radio (online) silence. Wanted to give a little update as to why I’ve been away.
Not going into any details, but I’ve recently taken the opportunity to seek treatment for a condition I have. I’m okay, I’m not going away. This was an important decision for me and is necessary, but this choice is demanding of my time and of my finances. Which is why I will be going on a publishing hiatus.
While my insurance is actually covering the majority of my health costs (a blessing and a shocker) it’s still set me back a little, and I’d really rather not fork out a bunch of money on publishing projects when I’ve got debt to pay off.
I’m not really able to write at all at the moment because my time is nil, but that restriction will go away once treatment is done. However, it would be financially irresponsible of me to publish another book this year, considering it’s $2,000+ to publish a book in the condition that I would be happy and proud to publish in. I have standards. If it’s not the best I can do in that time/place, then I don’t want to put it out there.
I’m going to be working on getting debts paid off and my cushion back before I publish again. Suppose I’ll just have to write a whole back-catalogue in the meantime.
My health and personal life/safety definitely come first for me, even though I hate that I’m breaking up my schedule to publish my works. I’ve had some of these announced and planned for ages and I’m sorry, but I got to put my life jacket on first.
When I know exactly how much I’ll be set back and how much I can power through it (reasonably), I’ll give you an approximate update for when I’ll be able to start publishing again.
In the meantime, I did just drop Again, which is pretty awesome…even though I’ve been offline and haven’t promoted it. But it is an awesome flipping book that I’m proud of and love.
In the meantime, so you’re all aware. I am alive. I’m crazy busy. And it’s just a hiatus until my life’s a bit more stable and I can endorse tossing out that much money to publish a book (because, yeah, it’s kinda like tossing it out at this point in my career—that’s just facts, Jack).
I wish you all the best and hope you’re all doing awesome.
Take care!
-Marissa
March 24, 2025
ARC Boxes for "Again"
Hello, Everyone!
My next release, "Again," is a serial killer book with time loops. 8 time loops, to be exact. So I figure, 8 time loops... 8 ARC book boxes?
If you are interested, check out this link right here: https://forms.gle/4W8kMgt7CqGU58jm7
Super excited for this book and if ya'll want an ARC copy with extra goodies, go ahead and sign up to get a chance at one of 8 boxes.
Hope you have a good one!
Take Care!
-Marissa
My next release, "Again," is a serial killer book with time loops. 8 time loops, to be exact. So I figure, 8 time loops... 8 ARC book boxes?
If you are interested, check out this link right here: https://forms.gle/4W8kMgt7CqGU58jm7
Super excited for this book and if ya'll want an ARC copy with extra goodies, go ahead and sign up to get a chance at one of 8 boxes.
Hope you have a good one!
Take Care!
-Marissa
October 26, 2024
Symbology of the Eight-Point Star
Hello, Everyone!
I recently joined Bluesky and holy mother of engagement Batman. People have talked to me quite a bit over there. And recently someone asked me about my profile pic, so why not do a whole post about it? I gave the short answer over there, but here’s a long one.
Now, if you’ve read my books or been on any of my platforms, I use an eight-point star as my profile pic and for the publishing symbol on all of my book spines. It’s even on the front page of every book.
It does mean something and (though you haven’t seen it yet) there is more than one version of the symbol. (Two, there’s two, but that’s too many to count. (If you got that reference congrats, you win a cookie.))
The symbol is technically a logogram because it is a word in a language. Specifically, it means “Unhara” in dragon tongue on the planet Acesicfir. (Fun fact it is the first planet in the Iridescent Universe and the oldest language in the universe that still occasionally pops up in symbology on other planets.)
Dragon tongue is an interesting language, because it does not have a lot of words in it. The inflection of every word and the pressure and order of how each symbol is written determines the meaning. You could know the language, but if you are not someone who actively listens or reads, then you can mis hear or read basically any sentence. It is a language that requires active participation and understanding of inflection.
For instance, “Unhara” means many things: to choose, path, journey, fate, direction, free will, choice, decisions, wandering, navigating, following, freedom, etc. You get the vein of words this one covers.
Written with equal weight and heft, with all the lines and circles done without a single break, it means: free will. Which in dragon tongue is considered Eeyam’s (God) greatest gift.
This symbol, through mild understanding loses it’s full meaning and context, but not the baseline, as many cultures took it up as a means to navigate. You’ve seen it a million times, this shape/symbol/word, was converted into a compass rose as the years went on. Those in the know of dragon tongue (of which there are not many), still hold the true nature of the symbol, but it still spread throughout the Iridescent Universe as a guide to all going through long journeys—and the oldest dragon, his original name being Elijavae, is perfectly fine with that, though he’d wish for more nuance.
The number of points do matter. Not only do they refer to the number of main characters in the Unhara Chronicles (the characters known as the choosers of fate, or those that decide the direction the world takes), but it also represents… kinda a big spoiler, and something very personal to me which I may or may not ever share—we’ll see.
But wait! There’s more! There is symbolism to the colors in the symbol too, because I totally thought about it ahead of time. I’m flipping awesome.
The star is done up in iridescent colors. Iridescence refers to the name of the universe and the color of souls. Everyone’s souls have different colors of light to them, but all of them have a multi-colored mother-of pearl sort of base to them. That underlying shimmer of light. Then of course souls have some more dominant colors, pinks, greens, oranges, mauve, cadmium yellow, titanium white, alizarin crimson—wait those are Bob Ross colors… It doesn’t matter, those count too. Every color you can imagine can exist in a soul, but they all have an iridescent quality to them.
The black color also has to deal with choice. As you’ll learn in “Again” people can create beautiful things with their souls and free will. They can also straight up create monsters. These negative choices and the resulting monsters are represented in the flat black color.
Next, the gold circle. This touch is either in the symbol, or left out. The golden circle refers to something in the universe that I will let you find on your own. There are rules for me as to where I put the gold circle and where I leave it out. We’ll see if you figure it out.
Get your conspiracy boards out everyone!
There are some other hidden nuanced things in the symbol, but I’ll let you guys uncover that as we go along.
Anyway, that’s the symbol, and that’s the whys. Like I said before, I almost picked something else, but this symbol had been with me for a very long time and I decided it was the much better fit.
Take care!
-Marissa
I recently joined Bluesky and holy mother of engagement Batman. People have talked to me quite a bit over there. And recently someone asked me about my profile pic, so why not do a whole post about it? I gave the short answer over there, but here’s a long one.
Now, if you’ve read my books or been on any of my platforms, I use an eight-point star as my profile pic and for the publishing symbol on all of my book spines. It’s even on the front page of every book.
It does mean something and (though you haven’t seen it yet) there is more than one version of the symbol. (Two, there’s two, but that’s too many to count. (If you got that reference congrats, you win a cookie.))
The symbol is technically a logogram because it is a word in a language. Specifically, it means “Unhara” in dragon tongue on the planet Acesicfir. (Fun fact it is the first planet in the Iridescent Universe and the oldest language in the universe that still occasionally pops up in symbology on other planets.)
Dragon tongue is an interesting language, because it does not have a lot of words in it. The inflection of every word and the pressure and order of how each symbol is written determines the meaning. You could know the language, but if you are not someone who actively listens or reads, then you can mis hear or read basically any sentence. It is a language that requires active participation and understanding of inflection.
For instance, “Unhara” means many things: to choose, path, journey, fate, direction, free will, choice, decisions, wandering, navigating, following, freedom, etc. You get the vein of words this one covers.
Written with equal weight and heft, with all the lines and circles done without a single break, it means: free will. Which in dragon tongue is considered Eeyam’s (God) greatest gift.
This symbol, through mild understanding loses it’s full meaning and context, but not the baseline, as many cultures took it up as a means to navigate. You’ve seen it a million times, this shape/symbol/word, was converted into a compass rose as the years went on. Those in the know of dragon tongue (of which there are not many), still hold the true nature of the symbol, but it still spread throughout the Iridescent Universe as a guide to all going through long journeys—and the oldest dragon, his original name being Elijavae, is perfectly fine with that, though he’d wish for more nuance.
The number of points do matter. Not only do they refer to the number of main characters in the Unhara Chronicles (the characters known as the choosers of fate, or those that decide the direction the world takes), but it also represents… kinda a big spoiler, and something very personal to me which I may or may not ever share—we’ll see.
But wait! There’s more! There is symbolism to the colors in the symbol too, because I totally thought about it ahead of time. I’m flipping awesome.
The star is done up in iridescent colors. Iridescence refers to the name of the universe and the color of souls. Everyone’s souls have different colors of light to them, but all of them have a multi-colored mother-of pearl sort of base to them. That underlying shimmer of light. Then of course souls have some more dominant colors, pinks, greens, oranges, mauve, cadmium yellow, titanium white, alizarin crimson—wait those are Bob Ross colors… It doesn’t matter, those count too. Every color you can imagine can exist in a soul, but they all have an iridescent quality to them.
The black color also has to deal with choice. As you’ll learn in “Again” people can create beautiful things with their souls and free will. They can also straight up create monsters. These negative choices and the resulting monsters are represented in the flat black color.
Next, the gold circle. This touch is either in the symbol, or left out. The golden circle refers to something in the universe that I will let you find on your own. There are rules for me as to where I put the gold circle and where I leave it out. We’ll see if you figure it out.
Get your conspiracy boards out everyone!
There are some other hidden nuanced things in the symbol, but I’ll let you guys uncover that as we go along.
Anyway, that’s the symbol, and that’s the whys. Like I said before, I almost picked something else, but this symbol had been with me for a very long time and I decided it was the much better fit.
Take care!
-Marissa
August 15, 2024
Pricing and Costs
Hello, Everyone!
I did a post earlier on my Ko-fi about my likely prices for future books/stories. And then I looked at it a week ago and realized I forgot to factor something in.
Do ya’ll know that printing costs go up based on the size of the book? Huh. It’s almost like some books use more resources than others. The chonky ones got more pages, and ink, and binding, yo! And if you have to use more stuffs… it costs more.
Sooo, my math wasn’t mathing. I hate math, but I took some time putting a spreadsheet together. Because I didn’t have any of the larger books to put into KDP to check how much my printing costs were, I found a handy-dandy calculator on Amazon to do it for me! The link is in the actual pricing sheet here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
I did the maths and I’m going to let everything be transparent. It is expensive AF to publish books. This is WITH me getting a deal on editing. To get editing from most people, it’s about $.03 per word. Just multiply all my editing costs by 3 if you wanna know what that looks like (I’m sweating thinking of it). I’m grateful and in debt to my lovely editor who continually helps me out and makes my work look like I can words good. (I can’t.)
This is why the starving artist is a common theme. To make quality art, to make sure it’s polished… it costs money—as you can see.
If you want to know why I price my books this way, you can see the spreadsheet. I could bump the prices higher, which many others do. But I’d rather have people be able to afford them than not. I saw someone self-publishing with a HB book cost of $49 and it was 200 pages and my heart squeezed. This girl is frugal.
Does it cut down on what I make? Yes. Does it let my readers have easier access to my work? Also yes. I’m okay with that. I love creating characters and stories and worlds, and I want you all to be able to have access to that. I do have to be able to sustain the creation though. This is about as low as I can go to do both.
As you can see, if I’m not selling a shit-ton of copies, I’m not breaking even. Not even close. What I’ve sold in a year and a half doesn’t cover the artwork for “Listen” yet. Just putting that into perspective. I will keep publishing books, as fast as I’m financially (responsibly) able (I can seriously write 2-5 books a year depending on my mental health—finances are the gatekeeper here, not my creativity or productivity).
If you can and are able to toss a coin to your writer, Ko-fi really will help. Every $3 Ko-fi subscription nets me $2.26 a month. If one person subs for one year, that’s about $30 for me to put into a book. (Not gonna lie, I didn’t put advertising costs in, but that’s like a week of ads on amazon, this is why I can’t advertise, I’m broke.) Any little bit helps. If you can’t afford to toss a coin, I get it. I have a list of creators I want to support too… and can’t.
I set aside as much as I can afford (and not starve) to every month into a separate ‘writing account’ to support publishing funds. All of my royalties also go directly to that account as well as all my Ko-fi support.
If you cannot afford to help me, or any indie creator for that matter, the best thing you can do, spread the word. Tell your friends about my book or your favorite artist’s paintings or your favorite small streamer’s best vods. Spread word about your favorite indie creators. It helps. Every bit helps.
I will continue creating. If I save every single cent I earn and take all the “profits” I make from book sales (still in the negatives that’s why the quotes), I can publish 1.5 books a year currently. Yes. 1.5, and still have a roof and food. Life’s expensive.
Anyways. I want to do this with as much transparency as I can. I know I put out numbers earlier and it was off. So this is me re-correcting my shoddy math.
I try my best to be open and honest, but that all goes sideways when I do dumb math and don’t fact-check myself.
This is me, owning being wrong, and posting the numbers again. I’ve also put it in a doc form, because the KDP printing rates went up this year, so if that happens again, I can alert you and change the numbers if they do that again. (With less bad math hopefully?)
Take care!
-Marissa
I did a post earlier on my Ko-fi about my likely prices for future books/stories. And then I looked at it a week ago and realized I forgot to factor something in.
Do ya’ll know that printing costs go up based on the size of the book? Huh. It’s almost like some books use more resources than others. The chonky ones got more pages, and ink, and binding, yo! And if you have to use more stuffs… it costs more.
Sooo, my math wasn’t mathing. I hate math, but I took some time putting a spreadsheet together. Because I didn’t have any of the larger books to put into KDP to check how much my printing costs were, I found a handy-dandy calculator on Amazon to do it for me! The link is in the actual pricing sheet here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
I did the maths and I’m going to let everything be transparent. It is expensive AF to publish books. This is WITH me getting a deal on editing. To get editing from most people, it’s about $.03 per word. Just multiply all my editing costs by 3 if you wanna know what that looks like (I’m sweating thinking of it). I’m grateful and in debt to my lovely editor who continually helps me out and makes my work look like I can words good. (I can’t.)
This is why the starving artist is a common theme. To make quality art, to make sure it’s polished… it costs money—as you can see.
If you want to know why I price my books this way, you can see the spreadsheet. I could bump the prices higher, which many others do. But I’d rather have people be able to afford them than not. I saw someone self-publishing with a HB book cost of $49 and it was 200 pages and my heart squeezed. This girl is frugal.
Does it cut down on what I make? Yes. Does it let my readers have easier access to my work? Also yes. I’m okay with that. I love creating characters and stories and worlds, and I want you all to be able to have access to that. I do have to be able to sustain the creation though. This is about as low as I can go to do both.
As you can see, if I’m not selling a shit-ton of copies, I’m not breaking even. Not even close. What I’ve sold in a year and a half doesn’t cover the artwork for “Listen” yet. Just putting that into perspective. I will keep publishing books, as fast as I’m financially (responsibly) able (I can seriously write 2-5 books a year depending on my mental health—finances are the gatekeeper here, not my creativity or productivity).
If you can and are able to toss a coin to your writer, Ko-fi really will help. Every $3 Ko-fi subscription nets me $2.26 a month. If one person subs for one year, that’s about $30 for me to put into a book. (Not gonna lie, I didn’t put advertising costs in, but that’s like a week of ads on amazon, this is why I can’t advertise, I’m broke.) Any little bit helps. If you can’t afford to toss a coin, I get it. I have a list of creators I want to support too… and can’t.
I set aside as much as I can afford (and not starve) to every month into a separate ‘writing account’ to support publishing funds. All of my royalties also go directly to that account as well as all my Ko-fi support.
If you cannot afford to help me, or any indie creator for that matter, the best thing you can do, spread the word. Tell your friends about my book or your favorite artist’s paintings or your favorite small streamer’s best vods. Spread word about your favorite indie creators. It helps. Every bit helps.
I will continue creating. If I save every single cent I earn and take all the “profits” I make from book sales (still in the negatives that’s why the quotes), I can publish 1.5 books a year currently. Yes. 1.5, and still have a roof and food. Life’s expensive.
Anyways. I want to do this with as much transparency as I can. I know I put out numbers earlier and it was off. So this is me re-correcting my shoddy math.
I try my best to be open and honest, but that all goes sideways when I do dumb math and don’t fact-check myself.
This is me, owning being wrong, and posting the numbers again. I’ve also put it in a doc form, because the KDP printing rates went up this year, so if that happens again, I can alert you and change the numbers if they do that again. (With less bad math hopefully?)
Take care!
-Marissa
July 25, 2024
“Again” Book Announcement!
Hello, Everyone!
No this isn’t a release date announcement, sorry. But it is an announcement on what my next book is going to be. Some details and such. I don’t have an official release date yet, for financial reasons and for big-life-change reasons. It was going to be in October… but life happened. So probably next year. I’ll aim for early next year, but we’ll see.
“Again” is a true crime/urban fantasy story. It’s largely inspired by my obsession with true crime, the psychology of criminals, psychology in general, NBC Hannibal, and Groundhog’s Day. Yeah… it’s true crime meets NBC Hannibal… all wrapped in a time-loop burrito—and I love it. It’s my child. It’s my baby. And one of my beta readers have already screamed at me over it so… I know it’s doing something right. (Laughs in author.)
“Again” follows a sassy Remnant Spiritualist (someone with the ability to sense souls and sense the impressions they leave behind) Emia Breda, who works as a private investigator after a traumatic event makes her leave public service as a peacekeeper.
She’s pulled back into working with her ex-boss Peacekeeper Soma to work on solving the crimes of the Grim Artist, who’s murders look more like deep artwork than gruesome crimes. He never leaves any evidence and never gets sloppy. But he’s also never had to contend with Emia.
Working to protect her once-coworkers, guide the optimistic rookie Spiritualist on the force, Officer Uly, and trying to bring down the world’s most elusive killer… Emia actually gets close.
Too close.
So close, the Grim Artist kills her.
Only for her to wake up in her bed on the day when PK Soma came to call on her for help.
And it all starts over “Again.”
By my readers I’ve been told it’s grim, with beautiful descriptions of awful things, it’s hilariously punny. Emia is a lovable, grumpy, jaded, sassy little gremlin, and that Uly is a precious puppy.
This book tossed a suspicious giant red fish even at me, let me be frank. There are twists I did not see coming. I’m a pantser. I go into any project with a mental outline, and with this book, I knew (I thought) where I was going. I even wrote the last chapter first!
Bad guy goes full egomaniacal monologue about why he had to kill Emia’s kid and why it was or the better, before Emia went full angry policewoman on him. I hadn’t decided who won at that point, but that was the end.
No. There is no kid and no monologue rant. As soon as I started from chapter 1, my character’s personalities formed and I was merely writing up the absolute chaos that ensued as all of them met.
This became, for me, an exploration in what crime is and what murder/killing is. I’m obsessed with true crime, mostly from a psychological perspective. The thoughts all intrigue me. The actions in the aftermath are intriguing. And holy crap interrogations are so flipping interesting. Seriously shout out to True Crime Loser, JCS, and The Behavior Pannel on YouTube, because it’s all so interesting. I love learning this stuff.
But I often wonder where the line is between killing and murder. If a sniper takes out someone holding hostages, we as people applaud and breathe a sigh of relief. If a fictional character takes out their enemies, we’re excited. Don’t tell me that you wouldn’t cheer if/when Kaladin strikes Moash down.
I’ve literally have had a beta reader say “I was so satisfied when fantasy character A killed evil dark lord A.” and then five sentences later say “I don’t like this character, he’s a killer, so he’s automatically evil.”
It’s a hilarious thing I see all the time. So. I wanted to look deeper into killers and why we’re totally okay with Harry ending Voldemort and Mrs. Weasley killing Bellatrix, but oh lordy lord how dare Scar kill Mufasa?!
(Motive, by the way. The answer is motive and nature. There’s a reason why in NBC Hannibal we’re almost immediately on Hannibal’s side regardless of the brutality, and why we immediately hate Mason Verger. It just works.)
I get to play around with that a lot here. Because almost all of the named characters are either police, murderers, or military, and every last one of them have taken lives. Yet, my readers give me all different reactions to each person, and it’s been a real joy to see.
There are so many true crime references too. Real-life crimes that got emulated through this, because people are absolutely nuts in what they’ll do to one-another, so I didn’t have to really make up crimes, they’ve all already been done.
I hope to be able to give you more about this story soon. There are a couple of posts on my Ko-Fi page (I believe the first chapter and a middle chapter are posted there). > ko-fi.com/marissabeck40
Publishing has had to get pushed back because of some real-life situations. My safety had to be more important to me than my creativity, so I did some priority changes. But all of that is going to be changing soon, thanks to the love, kindness, and support of friends and a hell of a therapist.
If you want to help me push the date up for publishing, you can help by supporting me on that ko-fi page. Every cent literally goes to a different account set up entirely for publishing costs, and right now I have the editing goal posted on there. For a monthly tier at $3, there’s also a bunch of works on there right now available to read. I think there are 8 works and over 100k words to take in, plus another novella is in the works for release soon. Super excited by that.
Anything on there goes primarily towards editing and artwork, before going to possible advertising, if that’s possible.
Hope you all have a good one. See you next time.
Take care!
-M
No this isn’t a release date announcement, sorry. But it is an announcement on what my next book is going to be. Some details and such. I don’t have an official release date yet, for financial reasons and for big-life-change reasons. It was going to be in October… but life happened. So probably next year. I’ll aim for early next year, but we’ll see.
“Again” is a true crime/urban fantasy story. It’s largely inspired by my obsession with true crime, the psychology of criminals, psychology in general, NBC Hannibal, and Groundhog’s Day. Yeah… it’s true crime meets NBC Hannibal… all wrapped in a time-loop burrito—and I love it. It’s my child. It’s my baby. And one of my beta readers have already screamed at me over it so… I know it’s doing something right. (Laughs in author.)
“Again” follows a sassy Remnant Spiritualist (someone with the ability to sense souls and sense the impressions they leave behind) Emia Breda, who works as a private investigator after a traumatic event makes her leave public service as a peacekeeper.
She’s pulled back into working with her ex-boss Peacekeeper Soma to work on solving the crimes of the Grim Artist, who’s murders look more like deep artwork than gruesome crimes. He never leaves any evidence and never gets sloppy. But he’s also never had to contend with Emia.
Working to protect her once-coworkers, guide the optimistic rookie Spiritualist on the force, Officer Uly, and trying to bring down the world’s most elusive killer… Emia actually gets close.
Too close.
So close, the Grim Artist kills her.
Only for her to wake up in her bed on the day when PK Soma came to call on her for help.
And it all starts over “Again.”
By my readers I’ve been told it’s grim, with beautiful descriptions of awful things, it’s hilariously punny. Emia is a lovable, grumpy, jaded, sassy little gremlin, and that Uly is a precious puppy.
This book tossed a suspicious giant red fish even at me, let me be frank. There are twists I did not see coming. I’m a pantser. I go into any project with a mental outline, and with this book, I knew (I thought) where I was going. I even wrote the last chapter first!
Bad guy goes full egomaniacal monologue about why he had to kill Emia’s kid and why it was or the better, before Emia went full angry policewoman on him. I hadn’t decided who won at that point, but that was the end.
No. There is no kid and no monologue rant. As soon as I started from chapter 1, my character’s personalities formed and I was merely writing up the absolute chaos that ensued as all of them met.
This became, for me, an exploration in what crime is and what murder/killing is. I’m obsessed with true crime, mostly from a psychological perspective. The thoughts all intrigue me. The actions in the aftermath are intriguing. And holy crap interrogations are so flipping interesting. Seriously shout out to True Crime Loser, JCS, and The Behavior Pannel on YouTube, because it’s all so interesting. I love learning this stuff.
But I often wonder where the line is between killing and murder. If a sniper takes out someone holding hostages, we as people applaud and breathe a sigh of relief. If a fictional character takes out their enemies, we’re excited. Don’t tell me that you wouldn’t cheer if/when Kaladin strikes Moash down.
I’ve literally have had a beta reader say “I was so satisfied when fantasy character A killed evil dark lord A.” and then five sentences later say “I don’t like this character, he’s a killer, so he’s automatically evil.”
It’s a hilarious thing I see all the time. So. I wanted to look deeper into killers and why we’re totally okay with Harry ending Voldemort and Mrs. Weasley killing Bellatrix, but oh lordy lord how dare Scar kill Mufasa?!
(Motive, by the way. The answer is motive and nature. There’s a reason why in NBC Hannibal we’re almost immediately on Hannibal’s side regardless of the brutality, and why we immediately hate Mason Verger. It just works.)
I get to play around with that a lot here. Because almost all of the named characters are either police, murderers, or military, and every last one of them have taken lives. Yet, my readers give me all different reactions to each person, and it’s been a real joy to see.
There are so many true crime references too. Real-life crimes that got emulated through this, because people are absolutely nuts in what they’ll do to one-another, so I didn’t have to really make up crimes, they’ve all already been done.
I hope to be able to give you more about this story soon. There are a couple of posts on my Ko-Fi page (I believe the first chapter and a middle chapter are posted there). > ko-fi.com/marissabeck40
Publishing has had to get pushed back because of some real-life situations. My safety had to be more important to me than my creativity, so I did some priority changes. But all of that is going to be changing soon, thanks to the love, kindness, and support of friends and a hell of a therapist.
If you want to help me push the date up for publishing, you can help by supporting me on that ko-fi page. Every cent literally goes to a different account set up entirely for publishing costs, and right now I have the editing goal posted on there. For a monthly tier at $3, there’s also a bunch of works on there right now available to read. I think there are 8 works and over 100k words to take in, plus another novella is in the works for release soon. Super excited by that.
Anything on there goes primarily towards editing and artwork, before going to possible advertising, if that’s possible.
Hope you all have a good one. See you next time.
Take care!
-M
July 6, 2024
Soul Power
If you’re singing, my bad. (Or not, who knows?) Technically this post will be about four things, not three. I didn’t title it as such, because why not make a music reference? I got issues, it’s okay, I admit it. That’s the first step, after all.
Anyway! In my last blog post about the Iridescent Universe, I mentioned that souls have power. This is a universal concept. A big one. All the beings with souls (because there are too many species to name individually) have these abilities. Does that mean everyone uses them? No. Does everyone know how to use them? Not at all. Because every soul is unique, everyone has a different way to tap into these abilities. Some people never learn how to do them. Some find their abilities by accident, some under duress, some have an instinctual way of using them. It depends on the person and their natural inclinations.
Much like everything else, people are born with inherent talent and knowledge. Some may be born with the ability to use one or multiple of these powers. For instance, one woman, a witch sometimes known as Estella, could perceive people’s souls from birth. But a private investigator who grew up half-way across the universe, Emia, figured hers out at a young age for self-preservations purposes—yet her sense is far stronger than Estella’s.
There are three pours (okay, I’m leaving that error in, it’s funny, this is why we have beta readers and editors). Let’s start again!
There are three powers that EVERY soul has, one specific to each part of the soul. I divided a soul into threes for the Iridescent Universe: heart, spirit, and mind. These make up the eternal part of people. Bodies are temporary in the ‘Verse, souls are eternal… unless otherwise harmed—long story to be told later.
#1 – Soul/Spiritual Perception
Soul perception is a gift of the heart of a soul. While many have a different requirement to use this ability, the most common necessity is compassion or empathy on a deep level. This ability may manifest in any sense: feel, taste, smell, sound, or sight (a combination may happen as well).
The people with this perception tend to have noticeably sharper eyes. They’re the sort of people who you feel like can see INTO you. Most people in the universe tend to feel a little uncomfortable around those with this perception. And it’s not an entirely comfortable gift to have, seeing others for who they really are.
People with this gift, depending on how good they are at it, may get a sense other people’s emotions, or be capable of feeling them as their own. Some can sense the physical manifestation of a soul and use that power to predict what someone will do next—this is a common practice to Dragons on Acesicfir, they use this particular sense to predict how opponents will move in combat, making them deadlier and more efficient. The more sensitive people can even feel memories that souls leave behind on objects and in places, sometimes being able to relive those memories (in extreme cases, like Emia Breda, who has hyper-empathy and can sense and relive memories that people leave behind on objects. Thus far Emia Breda is my most sensitive in this regard).
This skill does not require physical ability. For instance, a physically blind character could still SEE souls, if that was the sense they perceived souls in. Spiritual abilities and physical abilities are NOT the same. Magical abilities and spiritual abilities are connected, but not exactly the same, though that’s a longer separate rant. (Magic is sort of an in-between thing. Like attached to physicality and spirituality. One foot in each camp.)
Earth-related things that you could compare to those with soul perception are empaths or mediums. In other places they may be called Spiritualists or referred to as having Dragon Eyes. Though not a universal truth, those with soul perception tend to be kind and compassionate (I mean, they are highly empathetic.). They make for great listeners, healers, and are loaded with wisdom beyond their years.
#2 – Soul/spirit weapon
The second spiritual ability is a soul weapon. They are a gift of the spirit of a soul. Again, everyone has a unique rule to claim their spiritual weapon, but the most common is a hope for peace. The people who can use this ability, when faced with adversity and horror, don’t wish to use a weapon to cause harm, but to bring peace back (again, not a constant for everyone, but that’s the most common requirement to wield this trait).
Spiritual weapons manifest as the weapon a person is most comfortable carrying. Swords. Guns. War fans. Staffs. Spears. Maces. Knives. Gauntlets. Bow and arrows. Sewing needles. Parasols. Scythes. You name it, someone in the universe carries it in their soul. This weapon can destroy Voids and Reapers with semi-ease (unlike physical weapons which would struggle to do so and magic that is a bit less efficient than a spiritual weapon.) It destroys physical matter with ease as well. A spiritual sword, for instance would stab easily into a cliff-side without shattering. These weapons are far more durable than physical weapons and waaaay more deadly.
These spirit-weapons can appear in multiple ways. I’ll use Emia again for this example. She carries a physical knife, it can be a plain-Jane throwing knife, but if she holds it and uses it, light glows around her blade. This light is visible to everyone, and is a manifestation of her soul around the blade. If you see someone in the universe wielding a glowing weapon (unless explained by magic), it isn’t just a physical one, it’s spiritual. However, some, like Dragons, will Manifest their weapon.
People with high levels of control over this power will not carry a physical weapon at all. They can call their spirit weapon at will and it will form in their hand(s). The colors that glow along a spirit weapon will depend on the soul the weapon comes from. For instance, Kadon’s spirit-gun is shrouded in blue light, Emia’s knife glows orange and pink. It entirely depends on the manifestation of the individual soul—everyone is different.
Skilled fighters may have changeable spiritual weapons. Death’s spirit weapon, for instance, can change shape, from scythe, to sword, to a dagger. The more proficient a person is with weapons, the more likely their spirit weapon will be able to change forms too. (A highly trained combatant may switch spirit-weapon forms and fighting styles on a dime when the need arises. Most only have one form this weapon takes, however.)
Again, though not a universal constant, the people who wield spirit-weapons tend to be considered great warriors and defenders. They tend to be highly moral (morality is a flexible construct, just saying) and would rather avoid conflict, but will do what they must when called to action.
Basically, don’t piss them off and you’re fine (for the most part).
#3 – Soul-Shield
The third and final spiritual gifts (sort of final) are soul shields. They a gift associated with the mind of the soul. This may as well be called the “with great power” ability. Again, every soul is unique, but the most widely needed requirement is knowing that they could attack and win, but choosing to defend instead.
A soul shield can protect from Voids (for a long time, unless constantly pressured), spirit weapons, physical threats, Weapons (for a limited time), and magic. The best of the best can hold onto these for a while, but the more damage soul shield’s take the more likely they are to fail. Skill and strength and practice definitely matters with this. And when I say it sort of protects against Voids and Weapons, it does protect against them, but they wear out shields pretty quick.
Those who use this ability are often on the stronger side. This could be in general competence, magic, physical strength, whatever. These people tend to be very strong fighters, but more often use that strength to shelter those weaker than themselves. Typically seen in law enforcement, military, and teaching positions. Very protective people, who know they can do great harm but use that strength for preservation instead.
.
These ^ three skills are ones that EVERYONE can use. They require a learning curve sometimes. But some people may have an instinctual ability to them. They can be learned throughout life and those with longer lives tend to master them (why I tend to mention dragons a lot, they have a lot of time to learn these things and were assumed to be the masters/originators of them because of it). Some of these abilities are even cultural norms for some species, things so ingrained in their people that basically everyone in the culture has that trait. (There are a couple species who have soul perception as a rule because of their empathic nature, kinda cool.)
But there’s one more thing connected to the soul.
#4 - Weapon
A Weapon, yes, it’s capital. It is a different thing altogether from the spirit-weapon. This is how the Iridescent Universe got its name. A Weapon manifests with an iridescent or pearly coloring. Weapons do not attack physical items. They kill Voids with ease and damage souls directly. Weapons are very rare in the universe and are the deadliest thing in the ‘verse. Very little can protect a person against a one. If wielded with kindness, they can sever souls, sending them right to the afterlife, swift and painless. Or they can pull souls apart bit by bit or even destroy souls entirely (as in, no afterlife, no nothing, you’re gone, completely).
Voids and Weapons are among the only things that can permanently destroy a soul.
Those souls born with Weapons don’t always know that is the case. They are, however, hunted, typically from birth. Voids like to chase power and like to kill anything that could kill them. Some people with Weapons may be considered cursed by others. These people don’t have a general type, they are random and aside from one of them who was given it, got this weapon at their creation by sheer happenstance. (More common towards the beginning of the universe than later in it, but that’s for… reasons later to be discussed.)
People who have Weapons can set off alarm bells in fellow people. Self-preservation tends to kick in REALLY quick around them. And darkness follows them a lot, so they tend to grow up in painful, troubling lives, often having to claw for survival from day one in a universe that hates and fears them subconsciously. A good person, with proper training and a Weapon, can put armies in the dirt without spilling a drop of blood. A bad person, with proper training and a Weapon, might bring about apocalypses and massive wars.
The morally grey? Well, they’re just FUN in my opinion.
Weapons can and have been stolen from people, which is kind of a problem in the universe because that kind of power shouldn’t be in certain hands and it keeps ending up in bad places, lemme tell you. (I will tell you… in books.)
Unlike normal weapons, shields, or perceptions, a Weapon is not attached to any certain part of the soul, but to that person’s most powerful part. As I said before, these Weapons are iridescent in color, surrounded by the light of their wielder’s soul, but the longer and more skillfully they’re wielded by a person, the more they shift in appearance to look like that wielder’s soul. For instance, in the Iridescent Universe, the phrase “heart of gold” actually originates with one of the holders of a Weapon, who’s strongest part is their heart, as such, their Weapon has shifted into a mix of gold and iridescent colors the longer they carry it.
The carriers of these Weapons don’t always know what kind of power they have, but people with Weapons usually figure it out as they’re being hunted, or get killed and stolen from.
And people with Weapons can use all other soul abilities, if they know how. Each requirement to use one of the Weapons varies with every soul. One, for instance, must have balance in their love and their wrath towards their enemies to use their Weapon.
Just… don’t EVER make Weapons mad. Just don’t. You won’t win. Ever. They will. And don’t get in the middle if two of them are fighting.
.
Well, there we go, a general telling of all the Iridescent-Universal soul-powers. Throughout the books you’ll get closer looks at this and all of the manifestations people have of these abilities, but here are general rules behind them. For better or worse, any sort of person can use them and chose to do with them, what they will. An ability can be used for good or evil, that’s how free will works and it doesn’t always turn out well.
If I were trapped in my universe, I’d want the shield. But more realistically, I’d have the sense. I think it’s a big part of creativity to have that openness to see things from all angles, so, I’d probably have that ability. And I would not want any sort of weapon unless I had centuries of training. And you could not pay me enough to carry a Weapon. I’ve said it and I stand by it. The price of that thing is way too high and all the things that can go wrong are just…. Eek. Could not make me do it.
There you go. Now you know a little more. Keep an eye out, you’ll start seeing different characters with these skills pop up everywhere. The first one to appear in any of my books is in Listen. If you’ve read Listen, do you know who it is and what they can do? Lemme know.
Take care, everyone!
Anyway! In my last blog post about the Iridescent Universe, I mentioned that souls have power. This is a universal concept. A big one. All the beings with souls (because there are too many species to name individually) have these abilities. Does that mean everyone uses them? No. Does everyone know how to use them? Not at all. Because every soul is unique, everyone has a different way to tap into these abilities. Some people never learn how to do them. Some find their abilities by accident, some under duress, some have an instinctual way of using them. It depends on the person and their natural inclinations.
Much like everything else, people are born with inherent talent and knowledge. Some may be born with the ability to use one or multiple of these powers. For instance, one woman, a witch sometimes known as Estella, could perceive people’s souls from birth. But a private investigator who grew up half-way across the universe, Emia, figured hers out at a young age for self-preservations purposes—yet her sense is far stronger than Estella’s.
There are three pours (okay, I’m leaving that error in, it’s funny, this is why we have beta readers and editors). Let’s start again!
There are three powers that EVERY soul has, one specific to each part of the soul. I divided a soul into threes for the Iridescent Universe: heart, spirit, and mind. These make up the eternal part of people. Bodies are temporary in the ‘Verse, souls are eternal… unless otherwise harmed—long story to be told later.
#1 – Soul/Spiritual Perception
Soul perception is a gift of the heart of a soul. While many have a different requirement to use this ability, the most common necessity is compassion or empathy on a deep level. This ability may manifest in any sense: feel, taste, smell, sound, or sight (a combination may happen as well).
The people with this perception tend to have noticeably sharper eyes. They’re the sort of people who you feel like can see INTO you. Most people in the universe tend to feel a little uncomfortable around those with this perception. And it’s not an entirely comfortable gift to have, seeing others for who they really are.
People with this gift, depending on how good they are at it, may get a sense other people’s emotions, or be capable of feeling them as their own. Some can sense the physical manifestation of a soul and use that power to predict what someone will do next—this is a common practice to Dragons on Acesicfir, they use this particular sense to predict how opponents will move in combat, making them deadlier and more efficient. The more sensitive people can even feel memories that souls leave behind on objects and in places, sometimes being able to relive those memories (in extreme cases, like Emia Breda, who has hyper-empathy and can sense and relive memories that people leave behind on objects. Thus far Emia Breda is my most sensitive in this regard).
This skill does not require physical ability. For instance, a physically blind character could still SEE souls, if that was the sense they perceived souls in. Spiritual abilities and physical abilities are NOT the same. Magical abilities and spiritual abilities are connected, but not exactly the same, though that’s a longer separate rant. (Magic is sort of an in-between thing. Like attached to physicality and spirituality. One foot in each camp.)
Earth-related things that you could compare to those with soul perception are empaths or mediums. In other places they may be called Spiritualists or referred to as having Dragon Eyes. Though not a universal truth, those with soul perception tend to be kind and compassionate (I mean, they are highly empathetic.). They make for great listeners, healers, and are loaded with wisdom beyond their years.
#2 – Soul/spirit weapon
The second spiritual ability is a soul weapon. They are a gift of the spirit of a soul. Again, everyone has a unique rule to claim their spiritual weapon, but the most common is a hope for peace. The people who can use this ability, when faced with adversity and horror, don’t wish to use a weapon to cause harm, but to bring peace back (again, not a constant for everyone, but that’s the most common requirement to wield this trait).
Spiritual weapons manifest as the weapon a person is most comfortable carrying. Swords. Guns. War fans. Staffs. Spears. Maces. Knives. Gauntlets. Bow and arrows. Sewing needles. Parasols. Scythes. You name it, someone in the universe carries it in their soul. This weapon can destroy Voids and Reapers with semi-ease (unlike physical weapons which would struggle to do so and magic that is a bit less efficient than a spiritual weapon.) It destroys physical matter with ease as well. A spiritual sword, for instance would stab easily into a cliff-side without shattering. These weapons are far more durable than physical weapons and waaaay more deadly.
These spirit-weapons can appear in multiple ways. I’ll use Emia again for this example. She carries a physical knife, it can be a plain-Jane throwing knife, but if she holds it and uses it, light glows around her blade. This light is visible to everyone, and is a manifestation of her soul around the blade. If you see someone in the universe wielding a glowing weapon (unless explained by magic), it isn’t just a physical one, it’s spiritual. However, some, like Dragons, will Manifest their weapon.
People with high levels of control over this power will not carry a physical weapon at all. They can call their spirit weapon at will and it will form in their hand(s). The colors that glow along a spirit weapon will depend on the soul the weapon comes from. For instance, Kadon’s spirit-gun is shrouded in blue light, Emia’s knife glows orange and pink. It entirely depends on the manifestation of the individual soul—everyone is different.
Skilled fighters may have changeable spiritual weapons. Death’s spirit weapon, for instance, can change shape, from scythe, to sword, to a dagger. The more proficient a person is with weapons, the more likely their spirit weapon will be able to change forms too. (A highly trained combatant may switch spirit-weapon forms and fighting styles on a dime when the need arises. Most only have one form this weapon takes, however.)
Again, though not a universal constant, the people who wield spirit-weapons tend to be considered great warriors and defenders. They tend to be highly moral (morality is a flexible construct, just saying) and would rather avoid conflict, but will do what they must when called to action.
Basically, don’t piss them off and you’re fine (for the most part).
#3 – Soul-Shield
The third and final spiritual gifts (sort of final) are soul shields. They a gift associated with the mind of the soul. This may as well be called the “with great power” ability. Again, every soul is unique, but the most widely needed requirement is knowing that they could attack and win, but choosing to defend instead.
A soul shield can protect from Voids (for a long time, unless constantly pressured), spirit weapons, physical threats, Weapons (for a limited time), and magic. The best of the best can hold onto these for a while, but the more damage soul shield’s take the more likely they are to fail. Skill and strength and practice definitely matters with this. And when I say it sort of protects against Voids and Weapons, it does protect against them, but they wear out shields pretty quick.
Those who use this ability are often on the stronger side. This could be in general competence, magic, physical strength, whatever. These people tend to be very strong fighters, but more often use that strength to shelter those weaker than themselves. Typically seen in law enforcement, military, and teaching positions. Very protective people, who know they can do great harm but use that strength for preservation instead.
.
These ^ three skills are ones that EVERYONE can use. They require a learning curve sometimes. But some people may have an instinctual ability to them. They can be learned throughout life and those with longer lives tend to master them (why I tend to mention dragons a lot, they have a lot of time to learn these things and were assumed to be the masters/originators of them because of it). Some of these abilities are even cultural norms for some species, things so ingrained in their people that basically everyone in the culture has that trait. (There are a couple species who have soul perception as a rule because of their empathic nature, kinda cool.)
But there’s one more thing connected to the soul.
#4 - Weapon
A Weapon, yes, it’s capital. It is a different thing altogether from the spirit-weapon. This is how the Iridescent Universe got its name. A Weapon manifests with an iridescent or pearly coloring. Weapons do not attack physical items. They kill Voids with ease and damage souls directly. Weapons are very rare in the universe and are the deadliest thing in the ‘verse. Very little can protect a person against a one. If wielded with kindness, they can sever souls, sending them right to the afterlife, swift and painless. Or they can pull souls apart bit by bit or even destroy souls entirely (as in, no afterlife, no nothing, you’re gone, completely).
Voids and Weapons are among the only things that can permanently destroy a soul.
Those souls born with Weapons don’t always know that is the case. They are, however, hunted, typically from birth. Voids like to chase power and like to kill anything that could kill them. Some people with Weapons may be considered cursed by others. These people don’t have a general type, they are random and aside from one of them who was given it, got this weapon at their creation by sheer happenstance. (More common towards the beginning of the universe than later in it, but that’s for… reasons later to be discussed.)
People who have Weapons can set off alarm bells in fellow people. Self-preservation tends to kick in REALLY quick around them. And darkness follows them a lot, so they tend to grow up in painful, troubling lives, often having to claw for survival from day one in a universe that hates and fears them subconsciously. A good person, with proper training and a Weapon, can put armies in the dirt without spilling a drop of blood. A bad person, with proper training and a Weapon, might bring about apocalypses and massive wars.
The morally grey? Well, they’re just FUN in my opinion.
Weapons can and have been stolen from people, which is kind of a problem in the universe because that kind of power shouldn’t be in certain hands and it keeps ending up in bad places, lemme tell you. (I will tell you… in books.)
Unlike normal weapons, shields, or perceptions, a Weapon is not attached to any certain part of the soul, but to that person’s most powerful part. As I said before, these Weapons are iridescent in color, surrounded by the light of their wielder’s soul, but the longer and more skillfully they’re wielded by a person, the more they shift in appearance to look like that wielder’s soul. For instance, in the Iridescent Universe, the phrase “heart of gold” actually originates with one of the holders of a Weapon, who’s strongest part is their heart, as such, their Weapon has shifted into a mix of gold and iridescent colors the longer they carry it.
The carriers of these Weapons don’t always know what kind of power they have, but people with Weapons usually figure it out as they’re being hunted, or get killed and stolen from.
And people with Weapons can use all other soul abilities, if they know how. Each requirement to use one of the Weapons varies with every soul. One, for instance, must have balance in their love and their wrath towards their enemies to use their Weapon.
Just… don’t EVER make Weapons mad. Just don’t. You won’t win. Ever. They will. And don’t get in the middle if two of them are fighting.
.
Well, there we go, a general telling of all the Iridescent-Universal soul-powers. Throughout the books you’ll get closer looks at this and all of the manifestations people have of these abilities, but here are general rules behind them. For better or worse, any sort of person can use them and chose to do with them, what they will. An ability can be used for good or evil, that’s how free will works and it doesn’t always turn out well.
If I were trapped in my universe, I’d want the shield. But more realistically, I’d have the sense. I think it’s a big part of creativity to have that openness to see things from all angles, so, I’d probably have that ability. And I would not want any sort of weapon unless I had centuries of training. And you could not pay me enough to carry a Weapon. I’ve said it and I stand by it. The price of that thing is way too high and all the things that can go wrong are just…. Eek. Could not make me do it.
There you go. Now you know a little more. Keep an eye out, you’ll start seeing different characters with these skills pop up everywhere. The first one to appear in any of my books is in Listen. If you’ve read Listen, do you know who it is and what they can do? Lemme know.
Take care, everyone!
June 6, 2024
The Iridescent Universe... What is it?
Plain and simple, the Iridescent Universe is the universe my stories take place in. It started a very, very long time ago when I did a little thought experiment. I don’t remember the exact date, but I was a teen, judging on the dates on some of my Word files (the oldest one I still have is dated 2010, may have been others before, but I've lost data from two computers over the years). I’d written a couple books and I had a character in one that I thought would be hilarious if hanging out with a character in another.
So, I wrote a tiny little scene where the two met. It was funny… and bloody. And a bit stab-y. It was horribly written, upon rereading, but I see what I found in value from the exercise.
More recently, in the last eight-ish years, I’ve done a lot of work to make it make sense. I wanted every book and series to have its own story, but I also want every story to impact a larger Universal story. Some of these things will be little, some very large and important.
To do this, I wrote the last book in my universe. (Sort of, okay, it’s a WIP, but I know what happens. It’s being plotted in my pants-y sort of way) I know where characters end up, what happens, and why. I know secrets. I know the good guys. I know the bad guys. I know their goals… and I understand and sympathize with both sides. I know the people with the most power. I know the most influential. I have universally constant powers and concepts. For instance, the magic systems in the whole universe are largely the same, even if different cultures have different approaches or ways of speaking about it (but they work the same way). I know some of who will live and die in the end (these things always end up changing though when I finally write them out).
I also have a pretty good idea of where most of my stories will fall on the timeline of the universe as well.
Why did I name it the Iridescent Universe?
It was not my first pick. Nothing was rolling off the tongue. I almost picked the Unhara Universe (which makes sense in context of my books, but heavily favors one series and I didn’t want to do that). I had a couple other ideas, but they were spoiler-heavy (so not saying anything here).
Then I thought more about a power that exists throughout the Universe. Annnnd since Opalescent Universe didn’t sound great and Dark Universe seemed too bleak (though it was a top contender), I shifted to Iridescent Universe.
And I was like, huh, I like that. It captures a thing that’s important in my universe. It rolls off the tongue. And Iridescent Books sounds good too. Okay, cool. (Does it also reference one of my favorite songs, which I didn’t realize until I was already sold on the idea? Yes. Yay happy accidents.)
Every book and series in the universe (except for a couple fun side-adventures I have planned) will make total sense and be complete stories on their own. But in every story, I will put hints to the bigger things at play throughout. Like in an upcoming title Again, there’s a character that changes things who is meddling with things a bit. It seems strange and a little curious, but not so far from the reality that it can be brushed off, but what they do has a large impact further down the line. My first book Listen includes the strongest magical being in the universe. The Ruby of Idree has two world hoppers and a re-born soul in it (literally, adoption has made for the most messed up family tree of all time, I have it written down and it’s hilarious to me).
There will be a lot of things that cross over through the books I write. Easter eggs that some people will take note of and appreciate if they’ve read a lot of my work, but also a large story building along the way. Major pieces pulling themselves forwards. There will be abilities explained in some books that you may go “OH! That’s what that other character in another series had too!” Some characters may be reborn from other planets, pay attention to certain phrases or people who feel a little… weird or have strange memories they can’t quite figure out. (Some of them are very aware of their previous lives though.)
I do have some stories that aren’t part of the universe, but when those crop up, I’ll make sure to inform you that they aren’t part of the universe.
If you want to know how meta this is going to be, my penname was picked with extreme care in regards to the story I’m telling in-universe.
If you’ve read my first two books it may seem totally innocuous. And yet, there are multiple universe-related things hidden in them. I hope to keep it that way, that I can keep subtle things peppered throughout. But it won’t always be subtle. Some will be very explicit. Some series, like the Warrior and Mage series, will explain a few staples of the universe in a clear way. While things like the Unhara Chronicles will dig into more detail-oriented staples.
The book I’m editing now, Again, also has a lot of universe lore in it. A particular emphasis is placed on the soul and spiritual abilities in that story. That’s a blog post all to itself. The spiritual abilities are their own universal constant fun thing (not quite magic, but a magic system if that makes sense?).
Something that will exist in one series, might be called something else on another planet. Some characters may pop up again. Magic from one place might show up somewhere else. It’s going to be a whole mess of things.
The symbol that I use on the spines as my publishing symbol is also the symbol for the Iridescent Universe as a whole. I did end up taking that from The Unhara Chronicles (a series in the ‘Verse). On that particular planet the symbol represents choice, free will, decisions, life-path—that sort of thing. It’s in dragon tongue, so the exact meaning depends on how you pronounce it and how you write it (world-building for later down the line).
The points represent all the ways you can go, and the star’s inter-connected, never-ending line, shows that there’s always more paths, more choices you can make, things you can do, even if it feels like there isn’t. I like the idea of that and feel it is incredibly important in life and in the context of the universe. Free will and choice are very important as themes throughout my stories, so the symbol felt very fitting.
The only other symbol I considered was the Thratva dragon sigil (again, later work). That one is a symbol of strength of character and life. I liked it… but I think my current one makes more sense in context for the whole ‘verse.
There will be a lot more to this, but I’m not out here about to spoil my whole universe. I’d like ya’ll to be able to pick up these things organically as you read. To see the little threads or sometimes huge ones, I weave between stories.
I’ll probably do a post about spiritual abilities later, because my writing group finds it intriguing and wanted to know more as they read Again, so I’m going to get ahead on that for you.
Have a good one, everyone!
Take care!
-M
So, I wrote a tiny little scene where the two met. It was funny… and bloody. And a bit stab-y. It was horribly written, upon rereading, but I see what I found in value from the exercise.
More recently, in the last eight-ish years, I’ve done a lot of work to make it make sense. I wanted every book and series to have its own story, but I also want every story to impact a larger Universal story. Some of these things will be little, some very large and important.
To do this, I wrote the last book in my universe. (Sort of, okay, it’s a WIP, but I know what happens. It’s being plotted in my pants-y sort of way) I know where characters end up, what happens, and why. I know secrets. I know the good guys. I know the bad guys. I know their goals… and I understand and sympathize with both sides. I know the people with the most power. I know the most influential. I have universally constant powers and concepts. For instance, the magic systems in the whole universe are largely the same, even if different cultures have different approaches or ways of speaking about it (but they work the same way). I know some of who will live and die in the end (these things always end up changing though when I finally write them out).
I also have a pretty good idea of where most of my stories will fall on the timeline of the universe as well.
Why did I name it the Iridescent Universe?
It was not my first pick. Nothing was rolling off the tongue. I almost picked the Unhara Universe (which makes sense in context of my books, but heavily favors one series and I didn’t want to do that). I had a couple other ideas, but they were spoiler-heavy (so not saying anything here).
Then I thought more about a power that exists throughout the Universe. Annnnd since Opalescent Universe didn’t sound great and Dark Universe seemed too bleak (though it was a top contender), I shifted to Iridescent Universe.
And I was like, huh, I like that. It captures a thing that’s important in my universe. It rolls off the tongue. And Iridescent Books sounds good too. Okay, cool. (Does it also reference one of my favorite songs, which I didn’t realize until I was already sold on the idea? Yes. Yay happy accidents.)
Every book and series in the universe (except for a couple fun side-adventures I have planned) will make total sense and be complete stories on their own. But in every story, I will put hints to the bigger things at play throughout. Like in an upcoming title Again, there’s a character that changes things who is meddling with things a bit. It seems strange and a little curious, but not so far from the reality that it can be brushed off, but what they do has a large impact further down the line. My first book Listen includes the strongest magical being in the universe. The Ruby of Idree has two world hoppers and a re-born soul in it (literally, adoption has made for the most messed up family tree of all time, I have it written down and it’s hilarious to me).
There will be a lot of things that cross over through the books I write. Easter eggs that some people will take note of and appreciate if they’ve read a lot of my work, but also a large story building along the way. Major pieces pulling themselves forwards. There will be abilities explained in some books that you may go “OH! That’s what that other character in another series had too!” Some characters may be reborn from other planets, pay attention to certain phrases or people who feel a little… weird or have strange memories they can’t quite figure out. (Some of them are very aware of their previous lives though.)
I do have some stories that aren’t part of the universe, but when those crop up, I’ll make sure to inform you that they aren’t part of the universe.
If you want to know how meta this is going to be, my penname was picked with extreme care in regards to the story I’m telling in-universe.
If you’ve read my first two books it may seem totally innocuous. And yet, there are multiple universe-related things hidden in them. I hope to keep it that way, that I can keep subtle things peppered throughout. But it won’t always be subtle. Some will be very explicit. Some series, like the Warrior and Mage series, will explain a few staples of the universe in a clear way. While things like the Unhara Chronicles will dig into more detail-oriented staples.
The book I’m editing now, Again, also has a lot of universe lore in it. A particular emphasis is placed on the soul and spiritual abilities in that story. That’s a blog post all to itself. The spiritual abilities are their own universal constant fun thing (not quite magic, but a magic system if that makes sense?).
Something that will exist in one series, might be called something else on another planet. Some characters may pop up again. Magic from one place might show up somewhere else. It’s going to be a whole mess of things.
The symbol that I use on the spines as my publishing symbol is also the symbol for the Iridescent Universe as a whole. I did end up taking that from The Unhara Chronicles (a series in the ‘Verse). On that particular planet the symbol represents choice, free will, decisions, life-path—that sort of thing. It’s in dragon tongue, so the exact meaning depends on how you pronounce it and how you write it (world-building for later down the line).
The points represent all the ways you can go, and the star’s inter-connected, never-ending line, shows that there’s always more paths, more choices you can make, things you can do, even if it feels like there isn’t. I like the idea of that and feel it is incredibly important in life and in the context of the universe. Free will and choice are very important as themes throughout my stories, so the symbol felt very fitting.
The only other symbol I considered was the Thratva dragon sigil (again, later work). That one is a symbol of strength of character and life. I liked it… but I think my current one makes more sense in context for the whole ‘verse.
There will be a lot more to this, but I’m not out here about to spoil my whole universe. I’d like ya’ll to be able to pick up these things organically as you read. To see the little threads or sometimes huge ones, I weave between stories.
I’ll probably do a post about spiritual abilities later, because my writing group finds it intriguing and wanted to know more as they read Again, so I’m going to get ahead on that for you.
Have a good one, everyone!
Take care!
-M
June 2, 2024
Well... I'm Getting Hate for This...
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy… aren’t great.
I don’t like them.
Pause while you gather pitchforks and torches and to the small handful of you with launch codes to get prepared.
Before anyone gets killed off in a bloody, awful way while people chant in elfish or while singing some sort of expository song or ranting about Tom Bombadil… let me explain.
I will not deny that that Tolkien is a genius. There are a lot of great things within these books. The world building is a marvel. I adore it. I think it’s awesome. There is so much to learn from this. I could see the world in my head, easy. Perfect. Wonderful. And they’re very well written.
But… uh, that’s when my gushing stops.
See, character matters most to me in a book. And I didn’t connect with most of these characters. In fact, I nearly DNF’d The Hobbit, because outside of Bilbo… I could scarcely tell anyone apart or feel for any of them. And my connection to Bilbo was… wire-thin at best. (I finished this series as a personal challenge, not because I fell in love with it.)
There are some good character moments, but they tend to be largely unearned or unbuilt upon. There’s a couple decent characters.
Many feel flat though (Aragorn doesn’t feel real… I ended up feeling like he was just that stock goodest good boy.) And some were beyond irritating. (Ugh… don’t kill me for my opinions on Gandalf.)
Okay, but quick aside. Can I say I caught narcissist vibes from Gandalf? Like, he brags himself up all the time, always has an explanation when things go wrong, always gets the street cred when things go right, and he’s like “whoa, you need to stop talking, we don’t have time to waste on YOU explaining what happened to you, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, the concerns of middle earth are worth more than you, don’t you understand that? Now excuse me while I talk for thirty minutes (at least in the audible version) about everything that happened to ME on my side-quest while we stand around doing nothing and baddies keep moving.” (I don’t care that we don’t see what he did in-scene and this is the way to tell it, but his tone says a lot before he delves into it.)
Oh, yeah. I know people are going to hate this. But oooh the characters and lack thereof. Seriously, I know more about these peoples GENEOLOGIES then I know about THEM.
This dude begot this one and no… that’s… that’s not ever going to connect to me. Could it connect to someone else? Sure? But it feels like cardboard to me.
If I don’t have characters to latch onto… I don’t care how compelling the plot or how beautiful the world… there’s no way for me to step into it. To connect. People connect… and without physically being in a place I don’t usually connect to it. So my ability to join in on this journey is stunted.
Who is Fili again? I sort of get Thorin? Right. Dude wants his home back? I guess. But the mood and tone didn’t hold so it didn’t really seem as important.
I love Sam, though a pretty static character (aside from choosing to go on the adventure) he was devoted guy. Gollum was fun. Eyowyn was cool. And Legolas and Gimli had moments that were decent. Farimir was a decent dude. And the Steward of Gondor probably had the best characterization in my opinion… can’t believe I’m saying that about tomato bro. (By the way sorry if I spell any of these wrong, I couldn’t make it through the books so I had them read to me via audio.)
The characters just felt… flat. Lifeless. The world was so bright and vibrant… and the characters were mostly black and white cardboard cutouts.
This is my opinion breaks the story. Why should I care about a fictional war if there’s no people in the war?
Or, in The Hobbit, where it feels like 80% of the fighting happens off screen and 15% Bilbo is KO’d so it conveniently goes off screen. Well, there’s that tension gone.
Action/plot in this story struggles too, mostly in The Hobbit for earlier reasons. But even what is going on feels flat because I don’t have attachment to the plot. No stakes.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Characters reign supreme to me. I don’t care if they’re good or evil or grey, I just need them to be people and feel real. But um… they didn’t here and that’s the quickest way to get me to DNF a book.
But, everyone always hyped these books and some have even shamed me for not reading them. I did it though and it was a personal challenge and a slug fest.
I don’t tend to be 100% critical of anything. Even in the worst books you can… learn how not to write a book. If something is bad, it doesn’t mean it’s devoid of good things.
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit aren’t bad books. But I don’t like them. There’s a lot of good things. I could praise the world-building and attention to detail and WHO THE HELL CREATES AN ENTIER LANGUAGE?! But it isn’t a book for me and I won’t read them again.
I love the movies though. I think there’s a lot more character there and complexity too. Aragorn isn’t always the goodest good boy. Boromir has a more powerful arc, which in turn makes the family and political arc better. The actors brought a lot more depth to them and that helped, but the books… eek. Not for me.
No worries if you love them. I totally understand and I get why they’re beloved. But no art is meant for everyone. I’m well aware. Some people write nothing but plot and have stock characters run through. Some people paint beautiful worlds… and stuff vaguely happens… I guess. Some people write all characters and no plot.
Seriously. Middle Earth has a better character arc than any of the characters actually do and I still couldn’t find a grasp on these stories.
There is a necessary balance of the three elements and I know I’m heavily biased. I believe that by the end of a full story you should know and understand the people more than anything else. That that’s the connection that will linger. But, not everyone is like me and that’s okay.
And I’m apparently not like the countless others who have gum shrines devoted to Tolkien in their closets.
That being said, I got invited to see the extended edition of Two Towers with friends and if it’s showing at a theater I have a gift card for, I’m going… otherwise I’ll have to skip, kinda on a spending freeze. But if it’s at a place I have that gift card for, then I’ll be there. I love the movies.
Oh crap.
I’m going to say it.
I can’t believe I’m going to say it.
The movies were better.
Take care. (Don't murder me, I haven't even had the chance to live yet, have mercy.)
-M
I don’t like them.
Pause while you gather pitchforks and torches and to the small handful of you with launch codes to get prepared.
Before anyone gets killed off in a bloody, awful way while people chant in elfish or while singing some sort of expository song or ranting about Tom Bombadil… let me explain.
I will not deny that that Tolkien is a genius. There are a lot of great things within these books. The world building is a marvel. I adore it. I think it’s awesome. There is so much to learn from this. I could see the world in my head, easy. Perfect. Wonderful. And they’re very well written.
But… uh, that’s when my gushing stops.
See, character matters most to me in a book. And I didn’t connect with most of these characters. In fact, I nearly DNF’d The Hobbit, because outside of Bilbo… I could scarcely tell anyone apart or feel for any of them. And my connection to Bilbo was… wire-thin at best. (I finished this series as a personal challenge, not because I fell in love with it.)
There are some good character moments, but they tend to be largely unearned or unbuilt upon. There’s a couple decent characters.
Many feel flat though (Aragorn doesn’t feel real… I ended up feeling like he was just that stock goodest good boy.) And some were beyond irritating. (Ugh… don’t kill me for my opinions on Gandalf.)
Okay, but quick aside. Can I say I caught narcissist vibes from Gandalf? Like, he brags himself up all the time, always has an explanation when things go wrong, always gets the street cred when things go right, and he’s like “whoa, you need to stop talking, we don’t have time to waste on YOU explaining what happened to you, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, the concerns of middle earth are worth more than you, don’t you understand that? Now excuse me while I talk for thirty minutes (at least in the audible version) about everything that happened to ME on my side-quest while we stand around doing nothing and baddies keep moving.” (I don’t care that we don’t see what he did in-scene and this is the way to tell it, but his tone says a lot before he delves into it.)
Oh, yeah. I know people are going to hate this. But oooh the characters and lack thereof. Seriously, I know more about these peoples GENEOLOGIES then I know about THEM.
This dude begot this one and no… that’s… that’s not ever going to connect to me. Could it connect to someone else? Sure? But it feels like cardboard to me.
If I don’t have characters to latch onto… I don’t care how compelling the plot or how beautiful the world… there’s no way for me to step into it. To connect. People connect… and without physically being in a place I don’t usually connect to it. So my ability to join in on this journey is stunted.
Who is Fili again? I sort of get Thorin? Right. Dude wants his home back? I guess. But the mood and tone didn’t hold so it didn’t really seem as important.
I love Sam, though a pretty static character (aside from choosing to go on the adventure) he was devoted guy. Gollum was fun. Eyowyn was cool. And Legolas and Gimli had moments that were decent. Farimir was a decent dude. And the Steward of Gondor probably had the best characterization in my opinion… can’t believe I’m saying that about tomato bro. (By the way sorry if I spell any of these wrong, I couldn’t make it through the books so I had them read to me via audio.)
The characters just felt… flat. Lifeless. The world was so bright and vibrant… and the characters were mostly black and white cardboard cutouts.
This is my opinion breaks the story. Why should I care about a fictional war if there’s no people in the war?
Or, in The Hobbit, where it feels like 80% of the fighting happens off screen and 15% Bilbo is KO’d so it conveniently goes off screen. Well, there’s that tension gone.
Action/plot in this story struggles too, mostly in The Hobbit for earlier reasons. But even what is going on feels flat because I don’t have attachment to the plot. No stakes.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Characters reign supreme to me. I don’t care if they’re good or evil or grey, I just need them to be people and feel real. But um… they didn’t here and that’s the quickest way to get me to DNF a book.
But, everyone always hyped these books and some have even shamed me for not reading them. I did it though and it was a personal challenge and a slug fest.
I don’t tend to be 100% critical of anything. Even in the worst books you can… learn how not to write a book. If something is bad, it doesn’t mean it’s devoid of good things.
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit aren’t bad books. But I don’t like them. There’s a lot of good things. I could praise the world-building and attention to detail and WHO THE HELL CREATES AN ENTIER LANGUAGE?! But it isn’t a book for me and I won’t read them again.
I love the movies though. I think there’s a lot more character there and complexity too. Aragorn isn’t always the goodest good boy. Boromir has a more powerful arc, which in turn makes the family and political arc better. The actors brought a lot more depth to them and that helped, but the books… eek. Not for me.
No worries if you love them. I totally understand and I get why they’re beloved. But no art is meant for everyone. I’m well aware. Some people write nothing but plot and have stock characters run through. Some people paint beautiful worlds… and stuff vaguely happens… I guess. Some people write all characters and no plot.
Seriously. Middle Earth has a better character arc than any of the characters actually do and I still couldn’t find a grasp on these stories.
There is a necessary balance of the three elements and I know I’m heavily biased. I believe that by the end of a full story you should know and understand the people more than anything else. That that’s the connection that will linger. But, not everyone is like me and that’s okay.
And I’m apparently not like the countless others who have gum shrines devoted to Tolkien in their closets.
That being said, I got invited to see the extended edition of Two Towers with friends and if it’s showing at a theater I have a gift card for, I’m going… otherwise I’ll have to skip, kinda on a spending freeze. But if it’s at a place I have that gift card for, then I’ll be there. I love the movies.
Oh crap.
I’m going to say it.
I can’t believe I’m going to say it.
The movies were better.
Take care. (Don't murder me, I haven't even had the chance to live yet, have mercy.)
-M
May 11, 2024
Plot, Characters, World—A Cage Match
This is a huge debate for most people. There is no right or wrong answer, technically speaking. It’s all about preference. What do YOU like best in a story? (Feel free to answer below.) I have a definitive answer for myself, but everything IS important, don't get me wrong, I see the value in all parts, but this is my preference.
For this post, I’ll talk about them from least favorite, to favorite. And I’ll explain my reasoning along the way.
3. Plot
Plot is important. Let’s start there. It’s the what are we doing? of a story. There is no doubt that it’s important. However, there’s a thing about plot. Some people say, well, there are only seven types. Some boil it down to six or four. Technically all plot can be boiled down to one thing: there’s a problem—or more comically: I got a bad feeling about this.
All plot is is a problem that needs to be fixed. If there’s a problem, there’s a plot. I’ve seen a plot wherein the problem was “character is bored” and guess what… it worked.
Plot is essential, sure. But by this point, we’ve seen all the plots possible. Fetch quest? Seen it. Epic journey? Seen it. Tragedy? Seen it. Mystery? Seen it. Hero’s journey? We’ve seen it. Heist? Seen it. Inner demons? Seen it. Combinations of those? Seen them.
Plot tends to be at the bottom of the pile for me. (And I have a really, really good example to explain this whole blog post! I literally just came up with it. Ooh! This will be fun. It’ll come at the end.)
Don’t get me wrong, I like a solid plot. I like going on a journey, but once you get a chapter or two into a book or series, you know where the plot is heading. You know someone is going to betray the hero (even if you don’t know who) you know there will be struggles and trials. You know the mentor has to die tragically. We get it, right?
Plot is cool, but it’s, to me, really just the chip that carries the guac and salsa or the crust that holds that delicious pie filling. Is it necessary? Yes. Is it my favorite part of the pie? Well… no.
In fact, because we’ve seen all the plots possible, it’s usually the dullest part of a story. It is the first thing to fall apart in a story, because all plots require a world and characters. No world? No place for the plot. No engaging characters? Why should I care that there’s a problem if I don’t care about the people experiencing it.
Some stories go at break-neck paces, thinking dashing adventures are the best thing ever… but I get bored easily. Because usually, when someone is going that fast, they haven’t stopped to give a reason to care. I read through a story and it was back to back to back to back action that I nearly DNF’d (one character who showed up for like two chapters saved the book for me and I kept waiting for them to come back meaningfully, but they never did, should have DNF'd, to be honest). There's no room for breathing in stories like that… but I'm not left breathless, because if there is no one in the story what's the point of a plot? There's no reason to feel attachment. No reason to care.
Think Raiders of the Lost Ark (I just learned I can’t spell Ark, I do words good, I be author, write much books). Sorry! Anyway. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark. Right at the beginning. Think of all those traps! The arrows! The pits! The big boulder!!!!
Now, go watch that scene and pretend that Indie isn’t there. Just erase him from the scene. Why do I care if arrows fire? I don’t. Why do I care about the boulder? I don’t.
No characters? =No plot. No texture to the world? = No plot.
Plot is the last thing I worry about. Is it important? Hell yeah. People got to people. World gotta turn. But we’ve seen all the plots ever, and it cannot survive at all without anything else backing it up.
2. World/World Building
This? This right here is where stories start to get fun for me. Though plots aren’t unique at this point, worlds can be. Sure, we all draw from what we know, but there is a lot of imagination that goes into building a world.
Most of which, never sees the light of day.
Why does this culture act this way? What’s up with that tradition? Why is that color sacred? Why are people named that way? Why won’t they eat this food? Why is this thing shunned? Why is that thing shamed? Why the hell is the sky pink? (That’s a question for another book though.)
Sure, some of these questions get answered. Others, you’ll never know the answers to. And it makes your mind fill with all sorts of ideas.
For instance, in a series I’m writing, The Warrior and the Mage, all the mages are named after the first magic they perform. But, if you look into the ancient texts on the planet, mages weren’t always named like that. Why? As the author, I know why. Am I going to explain it? Probably not. But whenever a reader sees a name like Brightly or Tox or Stint or Vanish (definitely Vani for short) within the context of my world, they will know not only that they’re being introduced to a mage character, but also what that character is good at. It’s an obvious thing, sure, but it is a world-building aspect.
So much goes into world-building. Cultures. Foods. Music. Landscaping. Temperature. Length of day. Types of species of flora and fauna. Magic systems. So much piled into it.
When reading and writing, this is where I really have some fun. I like feeling emersed in a new world, but still having questions. Still supposing a little more. Still wanting to know the ins and outs. I want enough to know what it’s like to live and exist in that place and time, but also enough left without answers so there’s still mystery, still room for me to put my own imagination in. Or enough for me to riddle out myself. Because finding hidden gems and Easter Eggs in stories makes it all the more fun, makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something too, not just the characters.
For me, world building is far more intriguing than plot. In most books, hero’s gonna face a problem, hero’s gonna struggle, hero’s gonna win or lose, the end. But the world adds so much texture and color, and can even have a hand in twisting the plot. It for me, is the second most important part of a book. This gives texture, color, a sense of being, a structure. Plus it’s imagination-capturing when done right.
1. Characters
Yup. This has to be here. Because I can go through a dry or predictable plot. I can live with a flat world-build. But if there aren’t decent characters? I’m out. Lack of characters/flat characters is the first thing that will make me not finish something.
I will put a book or show or movie down and be done. I won’t be sad about it either.
I’ve had shows/movies/books/games that had an awful plot and no worldbuilding that have kept me on the hook because gosh darn it I really like that one character, okay?! (No shade to fans, but I will finish Once Upon a Time one day, just for Rumpelstiltskin and I know it. It’s not my thing, but I liked his character, so guess who will watch that show eventually? This girl.)
Characters are the heartbeat of any story. They’re the lens that we view all that worldbuilding from. They’re the way we interact with the plot. If the character is flat and boring… so too will be the world and the plot.
A boring/predictable plot can be made engaging by a good character.
A familiar, tired world can be enhanced and mad beautiful with a brilliant character.
The foundation to all of my stories are the people in them. Even the ones that may be considered reprehensible—I love them. You ask me to summarize any work of mine, I’ll tell you all about my character, their backstory, their world, and how they fit into it. The last thing usually on my mind is them going from A to Z. I care far more about the person, than the thing. Because, as in real life, all people are going from A to Z and what they’re doing isn’t nearly as special as WHO they are while they do it.
‘Who’s matter most to me. This is the heartbeat of a story. Take out the people, the (in)human connection? And you have nothing. A description of a world can be breathtaking, but does it matter if you can’t feel it? A plot can be insane and complex, but does if matter if no one is there to experience it with us?
People, in real life and in books, matter most to me.
…
Now for a fun comparison that I mentioned earlier. Let’s talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender.
If you have seen the show and the M. Night movie, you may see where I’m going with this.
The show and the movie have the same plot, same ‘world,’ and same ‘characters’ (as long as you don’t count the Aang/Ong, Sokka/Sooca thing).
Let’s talk about it. Because almost everyone agrees that Avatar: The Last Airbender show is a beautiful piece of art and that the movie is the worst movie ever made. Let’s talk about what makes it different.
The plot is largely the same. The movie follows Book 1 of the show. And we can even forgive that some things were left on the cutting room floor, right? Changing about seven-ish hours into under two means stuff has to get cut. That’s how adaptations work.
Let’s look at plot:
Boy found in ice must fulfil his duty as Avatar and master all four elements to help fight a war because—gasp—everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Plot is the same, right? Cool. Pacing is off, because adaptation, but usually we forgive that, because adaptations have to do that. So that’s not the reason why we hate the movie, is it? If the plot is the same… it can’t be the reason why we hate the movie and love the show, right? Right.
Let’s talk about the worldbuilding:
In the show, all the nations and towns/villages have their own cultures and styles and stories. They all have their own ways of existing and interacting with the world. The colors they wear. The food they eat. The bending abilities they perform. The way they travel and communicate. Their style of fighting. It’s all different.
The cultures at large have certain characteristics, but are the swamp dwellers like the tribe in the south pole? Nope. But they’re still water benders and have similar traits.
Think about the fighting and bending. Air Nomads are often defensive and light on their feet. When we flash back in Aang’s memories, they’re using their abilities to play together in his culture. When you look at the Water Nation, they build and heal and protect with their abilities (not Hama, no association there, haha). The Fire Nation get out their aggression in agni kai’s and forge war machines. The Earth Kingdom has WrestleMania for God’s sake! There is a vast difference, not only in bending, but the approach to using that power too. And it all makes sense why each culture developed that attitude because of what their strengths are.
Do we get that detail in the movie? No. Not really. And that’s frustrating, isn’t it? Not seeing the world, you know and love come to life feels like a rip-off. We get some vague color coordination. Fire nation has machines… but… eh, falls flat.
But the worst part of the movie?
The CHARACTERS.
We lose them.
The show has bright, vibrant characters that are complex. They shift and change and grow. Don’t even get me started on them, because I could write a book about it. We can talk about Zuko for years. Iroh? Toph? Katara? Sokka! Hell, even Hama! But you want to know who doesn’t get enough credit?
Aang. (Not Ong.)
Aang is a child. Carefree, loving, kind. He wants peace, not war. And throughout his journey he has to grow. He has to learn so much. And that is a wonderful, beautiful thing. You want to know what’s better than all that?
He doesn’t change. That’s what makes him special.
He sticks to his principles even when the entire world tells him he doesn’t have a choice. That is some powerful shit. We all love a character that grows and becomes a better version of themselves (Hey, Zuko here.). But here’s to the kings and queens out there who start off with so much good in them, and manage to hold onto it throughout the horror they see. Good on you Aang! I love a character that can see horror and keep their peace and give that peace to others.
Do we get that in the movie?
From anyone?
Nope. Cardboard. We get cut-outs. Tropes. Not even just tropes, but lazy and flat tropes.
I’m not going to blame child actors for that either. It’s lazy through and through. We’ve seen that kids can act by this point, I mean, have you seen The Haunting of Hill House? Jesus! (If you haven’t watched that show, please do, everything about it is gorgeous, down to how many steps characters take. Fun fact, anyone know why Luke always counts to seven? It ain’t just ‘cus his family has seven members, watch the show again, and count!)
I digress, sorry!
The movie took beloved, perfectly crafted and painted characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and ripped them up, flattened them down, and replaced them with some of my drawings. (I can’t draw a stick figure, if that helps the metaphor.)
That is what draws the line between the movie and the show. The plot is largely the same, so that isn’t what ruined it. The characters and world were stripped away, and that is what ruined it.
So, yeah. There’s my lengthy rant on why characters are my favorite part of a story and why plot (in a larger sense) doesn’t really matter. (I mean, we know it does, but you get what I mean.)
Special shout out to the unexpected Avatar cameo, did not go into writing this thinking that would happen.
If you haven’t seen the show, don’t let the ‘animated’ ‘kid show’ wrapping get you down. Go watch it. The story is worth it.
If you haven’t seen the movie, bless you—and never ever watch it. It’s horrible. -1/10, do not recommend.
(But I still totally recommend Haunting of Hill House. Chef kiss on that one. Characters are great, all of them get their own episode and you learn so much about them, world (the house) is intriguing, and the plot is twisty.)
Take Care, Everyone.
-Marissa
For this post, I’ll talk about them from least favorite, to favorite. And I’ll explain my reasoning along the way.
3. Plot
Plot is important. Let’s start there. It’s the what are we doing? of a story. There is no doubt that it’s important. However, there’s a thing about plot. Some people say, well, there are only seven types. Some boil it down to six or four. Technically all plot can be boiled down to one thing: there’s a problem—or more comically: I got a bad feeling about this.
All plot is is a problem that needs to be fixed. If there’s a problem, there’s a plot. I’ve seen a plot wherein the problem was “character is bored” and guess what… it worked.
Plot is essential, sure. But by this point, we’ve seen all the plots possible. Fetch quest? Seen it. Epic journey? Seen it. Tragedy? Seen it. Mystery? Seen it. Hero’s journey? We’ve seen it. Heist? Seen it. Inner demons? Seen it. Combinations of those? Seen them.
Plot tends to be at the bottom of the pile for me. (And I have a really, really good example to explain this whole blog post! I literally just came up with it. Ooh! This will be fun. It’ll come at the end.)
Don’t get me wrong, I like a solid plot. I like going on a journey, but once you get a chapter or two into a book or series, you know where the plot is heading. You know someone is going to betray the hero (even if you don’t know who) you know there will be struggles and trials. You know the mentor has to die tragically. We get it, right?
Plot is cool, but it’s, to me, really just the chip that carries the guac and salsa or the crust that holds that delicious pie filling. Is it necessary? Yes. Is it my favorite part of the pie? Well… no.
In fact, because we’ve seen all the plots possible, it’s usually the dullest part of a story. It is the first thing to fall apart in a story, because all plots require a world and characters. No world? No place for the plot. No engaging characters? Why should I care that there’s a problem if I don’t care about the people experiencing it.
Some stories go at break-neck paces, thinking dashing adventures are the best thing ever… but I get bored easily. Because usually, when someone is going that fast, they haven’t stopped to give a reason to care. I read through a story and it was back to back to back to back action that I nearly DNF’d (one character who showed up for like two chapters saved the book for me and I kept waiting for them to come back meaningfully, but they never did, should have DNF'd, to be honest). There's no room for breathing in stories like that… but I'm not left breathless, because if there is no one in the story what's the point of a plot? There's no reason to feel attachment. No reason to care.
Think Raiders of the Lost Ark (I just learned I can’t spell Ark, I do words good, I be author, write much books). Sorry! Anyway. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark. Right at the beginning. Think of all those traps! The arrows! The pits! The big boulder!!!!
Now, go watch that scene and pretend that Indie isn’t there. Just erase him from the scene. Why do I care if arrows fire? I don’t. Why do I care about the boulder? I don’t.
No characters? =No plot. No texture to the world? = No plot.
Plot is the last thing I worry about. Is it important? Hell yeah. People got to people. World gotta turn. But we’ve seen all the plots ever, and it cannot survive at all without anything else backing it up.
2. World/World Building
This? This right here is where stories start to get fun for me. Though plots aren’t unique at this point, worlds can be. Sure, we all draw from what we know, but there is a lot of imagination that goes into building a world.
Most of which, never sees the light of day.
Why does this culture act this way? What’s up with that tradition? Why is that color sacred? Why are people named that way? Why won’t they eat this food? Why is this thing shunned? Why is that thing shamed? Why the hell is the sky pink? (That’s a question for another book though.)
Sure, some of these questions get answered. Others, you’ll never know the answers to. And it makes your mind fill with all sorts of ideas.
For instance, in a series I’m writing, The Warrior and the Mage, all the mages are named after the first magic they perform. But, if you look into the ancient texts on the planet, mages weren’t always named like that. Why? As the author, I know why. Am I going to explain it? Probably not. But whenever a reader sees a name like Brightly or Tox or Stint or Vanish (definitely Vani for short) within the context of my world, they will know not only that they’re being introduced to a mage character, but also what that character is good at. It’s an obvious thing, sure, but it is a world-building aspect.
So much goes into world-building. Cultures. Foods. Music. Landscaping. Temperature. Length of day. Types of species of flora and fauna. Magic systems. So much piled into it.
When reading and writing, this is where I really have some fun. I like feeling emersed in a new world, but still having questions. Still supposing a little more. Still wanting to know the ins and outs. I want enough to know what it’s like to live and exist in that place and time, but also enough left without answers so there’s still mystery, still room for me to put my own imagination in. Or enough for me to riddle out myself. Because finding hidden gems and Easter Eggs in stories makes it all the more fun, makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something too, not just the characters.
For me, world building is far more intriguing than plot. In most books, hero’s gonna face a problem, hero’s gonna struggle, hero’s gonna win or lose, the end. But the world adds so much texture and color, and can even have a hand in twisting the plot. It for me, is the second most important part of a book. This gives texture, color, a sense of being, a structure. Plus it’s imagination-capturing when done right.
1. Characters
Yup. This has to be here. Because I can go through a dry or predictable plot. I can live with a flat world-build. But if there aren’t decent characters? I’m out. Lack of characters/flat characters is the first thing that will make me not finish something.
I will put a book or show or movie down and be done. I won’t be sad about it either.
I’ve had shows/movies/books/games that had an awful plot and no worldbuilding that have kept me on the hook because gosh darn it I really like that one character, okay?! (No shade to fans, but I will finish Once Upon a Time one day, just for Rumpelstiltskin and I know it. It’s not my thing, but I liked his character, so guess who will watch that show eventually? This girl.)
Characters are the heartbeat of any story. They’re the lens that we view all that worldbuilding from. They’re the way we interact with the plot. If the character is flat and boring… so too will be the world and the plot.
A boring/predictable plot can be made engaging by a good character.
A familiar, tired world can be enhanced and mad beautiful with a brilliant character.
The foundation to all of my stories are the people in them. Even the ones that may be considered reprehensible—I love them. You ask me to summarize any work of mine, I’ll tell you all about my character, their backstory, their world, and how they fit into it. The last thing usually on my mind is them going from A to Z. I care far more about the person, than the thing. Because, as in real life, all people are going from A to Z and what they’re doing isn’t nearly as special as WHO they are while they do it.
‘Who’s matter most to me. This is the heartbeat of a story. Take out the people, the (in)human connection? And you have nothing. A description of a world can be breathtaking, but does it matter if you can’t feel it? A plot can be insane and complex, but does if matter if no one is there to experience it with us?
People, in real life and in books, matter most to me.
…
Now for a fun comparison that I mentioned earlier. Let’s talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender.
If you have seen the show and the M. Night movie, you may see where I’m going with this.
The show and the movie have the same plot, same ‘world,’ and same ‘characters’ (as long as you don’t count the Aang/Ong, Sokka/Sooca thing).
Let’s talk about it. Because almost everyone agrees that Avatar: The Last Airbender show is a beautiful piece of art and that the movie is the worst movie ever made. Let’s talk about what makes it different.
The plot is largely the same. The movie follows Book 1 of the show. And we can even forgive that some things were left on the cutting room floor, right? Changing about seven-ish hours into under two means stuff has to get cut. That’s how adaptations work.
Let’s look at plot:
Boy found in ice must fulfil his duty as Avatar and master all four elements to help fight a war because—gasp—everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Plot is the same, right? Cool. Pacing is off, because adaptation, but usually we forgive that, because adaptations have to do that. So that’s not the reason why we hate the movie, is it? If the plot is the same… it can’t be the reason why we hate the movie and love the show, right? Right.
Let’s talk about the worldbuilding:
In the show, all the nations and towns/villages have their own cultures and styles and stories. They all have their own ways of existing and interacting with the world. The colors they wear. The food they eat. The bending abilities they perform. The way they travel and communicate. Their style of fighting. It’s all different.
The cultures at large have certain characteristics, but are the swamp dwellers like the tribe in the south pole? Nope. But they’re still water benders and have similar traits.
Think about the fighting and bending. Air Nomads are often defensive and light on their feet. When we flash back in Aang’s memories, they’re using their abilities to play together in his culture. When you look at the Water Nation, they build and heal and protect with their abilities (not Hama, no association there, haha). The Fire Nation get out their aggression in agni kai’s and forge war machines. The Earth Kingdom has WrestleMania for God’s sake! There is a vast difference, not only in bending, but the approach to using that power too. And it all makes sense why each culture developed that attitude because of what their strengths are.
Do we get that detail in the movie? No. Not really. And that’s frustrating, isn’t it? Not seeing the world, you know and love come to life feels like a rip-off. We get some vague color coordination. Fire nation has machines… but… eh, falls flat.
But the worst part of the movie?
The CHARACTERS.
We lose them.
The show has bright, vibrant characters that are complex. They shift and change and grow. Don’t even get me started on them, because I could write a book about it. We can talk about Zuko for years. Iroh? Toph? Katara? Sokka! Hell, even Hama! But you want to know who doesn’t get enough credit?
Aang. (Not Ong.)
Aang is a child. Carefree, loving, kind. He wants peace, not war. And throughout his journey he has to grow. He has to learn so much. And that is a wonderful, beautiful thing. You want to know what’s better than all that?
He doesn’t change. That’s what makes him special.
He sticks to his principles even when the entire world tells him he doesn’t have a choice. That is some powerful shit. We all love a character that grows and becomes a better version of themselves (Hey, Zuko here.). But here’s to the kings and queens out there who start off with so much good in them, and manage to hold onto it throughout the horror they see. Good on you Aang! I love a character that can see horror and keep their peace and give that peace to others.
Do we get that in the movie?
From anyone?
Nope. Cardboard. We get cut-outs. Tropes. Not even just tropes, but lazy and flat tropes.
I’m not going to blame child actors for that either. It’s lazy through and through. We’ve seen that kids can act by this point, I mean, have you seen The Haunting of Hill House? Jesus! (If you haven’t watched that show, please do, everything about it is gorgeous, down to how many steps characters take. Fun fact, anyone know why Luke always counts to seven? It ain’t just ‘cus his family has seven members, watch the show again, and count!)
I digress, sorry!
The movie took beloved, perfectly crafted and painted characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and ripped them up, flattened them down, and replaced them with some of my drawings. (I can’t draw a stick figure, if that helps the metaphor.)
That is what draws the line between the movie and the show. The plot is largely the same, so that isn’t what ruined it. The characters and world were stripped away, and that is what ruined it.
So, yeah. There’s my lengthy rant on why characters are my favorite part of a story and why plot (in a larger sense) doesn’t really matter. (I mean, we know it does, but you get what I mean.)
Special shout out to the unexpected Avatar cameo, did not go into writing this thinking that would happen.
If you haven’t seen the show, don’t let the ‘animated’ ‘kid show’ wrapping get you down. Go watch it. The story is worth it.
If you haven’t seen the movie, bless you—and never ever watch it. It’s horrible. -1/10, do not recommend.
(But I still totally recommend Haunting of Hill House. Chef kiss on that one. Characters are great, all of them get their own episode and you learn so much about them, world (the house) is intriguing, and the plot is twisty.)
Take Care, Everyone.
-Marissa
April 30, 2024
The Warrior and the Mage Series
The Ruby of Idree launched today. Yay me! But I’ve been feeling sick and anxious. This book has been in some stage of work for (lemme go check). Well, I’m a dummy. I moved them around and that messed with the creation dates. I can tell you that the query for The Ruby of Idree was created in 2018, back when I was trying to traditionally publish. So, this first book has gone through A LOT of drafts, because this got like four more since.
Let’s just say it’s been 8 years? (I like the number eight, so fair.)
I want to talk about this series, not just the plot of the first book (maybe another post?). This series was mostly inspired by Soul Eater, RWBY, and Harry Potter. All three with similar premises, magic school, baddies trying to steal something under the school (don’t believe me? Keshin, Relic, Philosopher Stone/Horcruxes). They all go about it at different paces. In these cases: Fast, slow, and medium, respectively.
I’ve liked all of these stories for different reasons. And while The Warrior and the Mage was largely a nice way to explain an Iridescent Universe power, and it came about as a question of: “What if weapons and meisters had to work together or… die painfully?” That was a question I wanted to ask… then this story just sort of… plopped into my head? (They do that sometimes.)
As it has grown and developed, I strayed away from the premise that brought the idea to mind and changed what I focused on.
These has come to be the real questions: What do you do when the world beats you down? What do you do to those who hurt you? Who are you when you’re given the chance to do your worst or to be kind? What is worth fighting for, when you know there’s nothing more? (That last one was a Linkin Park reference, but it’s a good question.)
I built a world teetering on the edge of apocalypse. Majaskis is always at the brink of annihilation… and they just keep going. (Seriously, I know the history of this planet, and it’s survived 3 apocalypses before the start of this series, the people on Majaskis are on another effing level.) The people on this planet are all part of a delicate balance, but it is royally messed up and people are done playing nice with each other.
I wanted to see what happens.
When I began structuring this series, The Ruby of Idree went crazy towards the end. But… as I read it, I didn’t feel it. My focus is always on characters first, but this first go just didn’t have it.
So after some minor plotting and a lot of pantsing, I attempted to shape the series in a way that worked.
Wanna know something?
It ended up looking like the hero’s journey. The Ruby of Idree, became an introduction to the world, a way to meet the characters, a way to see the ‘normal.’ The Spell (the thing that kills mages and helps keep balance) is sort of its own character. I show how it changes the shape of the world. I wanted people to see what ‘normal’ was—terrorist attacks and extremist groups and children learning to fight and all.
Then I took our ‘normal’ and dragged them into the war that was brewing around them. Their normal was somewhat safe, then it wasn’t.
The plot of book one isn’t about the larger conflict. But it is. The Spell is, in a way, an antagonist. It’s like that Spiderman meme. The normal people pointing at the extremists pointing at the Spell. The thing is, that the Spell effects, everyone. It is ruthless. And, to a point, the extremists have a leg to stand on (violence ain’t the option, but you know) and in some ways, people ignoring the suffering of a whole species is… wrong.
Starting with Blaze dying by the Spell (not spoilers, it’s on the back cover)… is my way of saying, “Hey, this is the reason why people fight.” This is the normal, every-day tragedy that pushes people over the edge. This is why people are fighting. But then I show you monsters and the things that the Spell protects people from. The Spell is not all bad or all good and I wanted to introduce that on an easier-to-parse small level. Let you get close to that, breathe it in.
Every character, whether explicitly or not, has been effected by the Spell. I wanted to show it up close before we started delving into the bigger picture of Let’s Start an Apocalypse! When I initially wrote this first book, there was a hollowness. It’s always more abstract if you start far away. We look up and see one less star in the sky and… well, we may not even notice.
If you’re front and center when that star explodes, you’ll understand the gravity of it… for like the split second you’re alive.
I decided to narrow the scope on this story and then broaden it as the series continues. Micro to macro… then a return to whatever micro “normal” is at the end of this.
This means that the start of this series focuses on individual issues. Then those issues will be compounded because lots of people are going through similar things. Then…oh my Jor (God), you really exploded. (I had to put the RWBY reference in there.)
It isn’t as fast paced as Soul-Eater, where we’re slicing and dicing baddies and fighting witches pretty early. Not as slow as RWBY where shirt really hit the fan when a magic trick turned a penny into quarters (Oops… sorry). It’s somewhere in the middle. In Harry Potter, we deal with wizardly threats, all pertaining to the larger story, but… the first time we really see Voldemort as a full visible threat IRL… is book 4.
I only have five books in this series, so baddies of all kinds will be around sooner, but you catch my drift. I want this thing to start closer though. I want to have that context. There will be six ‘main’ MCs, plus four more of/on throughout, and I want people to be able to see the micro through their eyes, because that is what gives context for what is really being fought for.
There are things going on on a macro level all the time, but in real life, all these things really begin at the small level.
So I come back to my questions. What will these characters do when faced with hardships? What will they do when they see people suffer? What will they do when they suffer?
There’re always at least three options to any given question. (What will you do when you suffer? For instance has a millions, but here’s a base three: pass on that suffering, become kind, or sit and do nothing.) And at different points, everyone in my stories have to face choices, and at different times, they’ll all have vastly different answers.
This series has been in the works for ages. I have whole pages of every student’s name in Tharos. I have their backgrounds. I have histories of the planet. I know when the naming convention for mages changed and why. I know about the apocalypses and how they were overcome. I know where the monsters come from (even if the people on Majaskis don’t). I know why they have physical forms (and that’s not even a question that will come up in the series!). I know where the Tharos and Locke lines began and I know when/where they end. I know why the Knights fight and their backstories and the suffering of the mages. I know exactly how much each coin is worth and translated it into real-world currency and even had a mention in the book to help with context (the editor removed this even though I spent ages real-world mathing this, because apparently I gave a good enough image without going into depth… but I did the math!).
I have a bible for this series and it is… (lemme check) 51 pages long.
Yet, jumping right into the mess of the world fell so flat and lifeless. So, I zoomed in. All the threads of the broken world and people are still there, woven all around.
I’m happier this way, the progressive zooming out a bit at a time is working. A hero’s journey both on a book level and then at the series at large. It wasn’t intentional… and then I realized what I was doing, so now I will fully claim it was intentional.
Book 1, The Ruby of Idree, came out today. The Sword of Cressida is planned to release early next year. I’m hoping book 3 will also be in 2025, and that 4 & 5 will release in 2026.
Welp, I’m exhausted and still anxious and off. So, now that it’s a normal human hour to eat food in, I’m gonna go out and grab a nice lunch in celebration. Hope you have a wonderful day, I’m going to try to stop shaking.
Take care!
-Marissa
Let’s just say it’s been 8 years? (I like the number eight, so fair.)
I want to talk about this series, not just the plot of the first book (maybe another post?). This series was mostly inspired by Soul Eater, RWBY, and Harry Potter. All three with similar premises, magic school, baddies trying to steal something under the school (don’t believe me? Keshin, Relic, Philosopher Stone/Horcruxes). They all go about it at different paces. In these cases: Fast, slow, and medium, respectively.
I’ve liked all of these stories for different reasons. And while The Warrior and the Mage was largely a nice way to explain an Iridescent Universe power, and it came about as a question of: “What if weapons and meisters had to work together or… die painfully?” That was a question I wanted to ask… then this story just sort of… plopped into my head? (They do that sometimes.)
As it has grown and developed, I strayed away from the premise that brought the idea to mind and changed what I focused on.
These has come to be the real questions: What do you do when the world beats you down? What do you do to those who hurt you? Who are you when you’re given the chance to do your worst or to be kind? What is worth fighting for, when you know there’s nothing more? (That last one was a Linkin Park reference, but it’s a good question.)
I built a world teetering on the edge of apocalypse. Majaskis is always at the brink of annihilation… and they just keep going. (Seriously, I know the history of this planet, and it’s survived 3 apocalypses before the start of this series, the people on Majaskis are on another effing level.) The people on this planet are all part of a delicate balance, but it is royally messed up and people are done playing nice with each other.
I wanted to see what happens.
When I began structuring this series, The Ruby of Idree went crazy towards the end. But… as I read it, I didn’t feel it. My focus is always on characters first, but this first go just didn’t have it.
So after some minor plotting and a lot of pantsing, I attempted to shape the series in a way that worked.
Wanna know something?
It ended up looking like the hero’s journey. The Ruby of Idree, became an introduction to the world, a way to meet the characters, a way to see the ‘normal.’ The Spell (the thing that kills mages and helps keep balance) is sort of its own character. I show how it changes the shape of the world. I wanted people to see what ‘normal’ was—terrorist attacks and extremist groups and children learning to fight and all.
Then I took our ‘normal’ and dragged them into the war that was brewing around them. Their normal was somewhat safe, then it wasn’t.
The plot of book one isn’t about the larger conflict. But it is. The Spell is, in a way, an antagonist. It’s like that Spiderman meme. The normal people pointing at the extremists pointing at the Spell. The thing is, that the Spell effects, everyone. It is ruthless. And, to a point, the extremists have a leg to stand on (violence ain’t the option, but you know) and in some ways, people ignoring the suffering of a whole species is… wrong.
Starting with Blaze dying by the Spell (not spoilers, it’s on the back cover)… is my way of saying, “Hey, this is the reason why people fight.” This is the normal, every-day tragedy that pushes people over the edge. This is why people are fighting. But then I show you monsters and the things that the Spell protects people from. The Spell is not all bad or all good and I wanted to introduce that on an easier-to-parse small level. Let you get close to that, breathe it in.
Every character, whether explicitly or not, has been effected by the Spell. I wanted to show it up close before we started delving into the bigger picture of Let’s Start an Apocalypse! When I initially wrote this first book, there was a hollowness. It’s always more abstract if you start far away. We look up and see one less star in the sky and… well, we may not even notice.
If you’re front and center when that star explodes, you’ll understand the gravity of it… for like the split second you’re alive.
I decided to narrow the scope on this story and then broaden it as the series continues. Micro to macro… then a return to whatever micro “normal” is at the end of this.
This means that the start of this series focuses on individual issues. Then those issues will be compounded because lots of people are going through similar things. Then…oh my Jor (God), you really exploded. (I had to put the RWBY reference in there.)
It isn’t as fast paced as Soul-Eater, where we’re slicing and dicing baddies and fighting witches pretty early. Not as slow as RWBY where shirt really hit the fan when a magic trick turned a penny into quarters (Oops… sorry). It’s somewhere in the middle. In Harry Potter, we deal with wizardly threats, all pertaining to the larger story, but… the first time we really see Voldemort as a full visible threat IRL… is book 4.
I only have five books in this series, so baddies of all kinds will be around sooner, but you catch my drift. I want this thing to start closer though. I want to have that context. There will be six ‘main’ MCs, plus four more of/on throughout, and I want people to be able to see the micro through their eyes, because that is what gives context for what is really being fought for.
There are things going on on a macro level all the time, but in real life, all these things really begin at the small level.
So I come back to my questions. What will these characters do when faced with hardships? What will they do when they see people suffer? What will they do when they suffer?
There’re always at least three options to any given question. (What will you do when you suffer? For instance has a millions, but here’s a base three: pass on that suffering, become kind, or sit and do nothing.) And at different points, everyone in my stories have to face choices, and at different times, they’ll all have vastly different answers.
This series has been in the works for ages. I have whole pages of every student’s name in Tharos. I have their backgrounds. I have histories of the planet. I know when the naming convention for mages changed and why. I know about the apocalypses and how they were overcome. I know where the monsters come from (even if the people on Majaskis don’t). I know why they have physical forms (and that’s not even a question that will come up in the series!). I know where the Tharos and Locke lines began and I know when/where they end. I know why the Knights fight and their backstories and the suffering of the mages. I know exactly how much each coin is worth and translated it into real-world currency and even had a mention in the book to help with context (the editor removed this even though I spent ages real-world mathing this, because apparently I gave a good enough image without going into depth… but I did the math!).
I have a bible for this series and it is… (lemme check) 51 pages long.
Yet, jumping right into the mess of the world fell so flat and lifeless. So, I zoomed in. All the threads of the broken world and people are still there, woven all around.
I’m happier this way, the progressive zooming out a bit at a time is working. A hero’s journey both on a book level and then at the series at large. It wasn’t intentional… and then I realized what I was doing, so now I will fully claim it was intentional.
Book 1, The Ruby of Idree, came out today. The Sword of Cressida is planned to release early next year. I’m hoping book 3 will also be in 2025, and that 4 & 5 will release in 2026.
Welp, I’m exhausted and still anxious and off. So, now that it’s a normal human hour to eat food in, I’m gonna go out and grab a nice lunch in celebration. Hope you have a wonderful day, I’m going to try to stop shaking.
Take care!
-Marissa
