Limited editions?

So this week the subject is whether or notg we incude charcters with physical limitations in our stories.

Of course I do. Where wouod the fun be if every character was nearly perfect?

But the less glib answe goes something like this: The characters, as in real life, are deg=fined not only by what they can do, but by what they can't do. Gooing all the way back to UNDER THE OVERTREE, my very first novel, I have always believed charcters should have flaws. Any in thius case, I mean physical flaws. Mark Howell, the main player in the story (I can really call hi the hero of the tale) was obese and obsessed wigth not being o erweight. He was obsessed witgh a lot of things, really, but he couldnpt stand being overweight because he thought that held him back from the girl of his dreams.

Tyler Wilson a scrawny kid with horriboe eyesight and a dangerousoy loud mouth, saw tghe world differently and refused to let the fact that he was blind as a bat without his glasses and didnt have a battgleship body to back uo his battleship mouth stop him from firing said mouth off at the drop of a hat. they had two very different approaches to their world, as well they should.

The thing ofit is, we as people are defined not only by the world around us but by our perceptions if that world. I think you have to show that as much as possible in writing if you want to breathe life into your golems.

I ALWAYA want my golems to live as much as possible. how can i convince reader to care about the characters if they aren't able to understand their motivations I may as well as comic readers to accept stick figures (all I'm capabe of drawing these days). Theose flaws, those physical limitations can make all of the difference. In SEVEN FORGES Andover Lashk is maimed for life, His hands are utterly destroyed, and he faces a life as a cripple, assuming he survives the infection that set in on his damaged limbs. The challenges and miraculous cure he is offered shape the rest of his life from that moment on.

In the SEVEN FORGES series, it is important that one faction of the people see scars as a weakness and another sees scars as a sign or strength.

For me this us simple and effective way to show the differences in cultures. It is also a simple and effective way to show the strenhgths and weknesses of chracters who will elvolve and adapt, or fail to adapt, in a story.

Tead=ser time: Here's the back cover for a new anthology I'm editing. I'll posty more about that soon.

Cover Reveal! The Dragon's Daughter and the Winter Mage

I'm headed out of town so today I'm just sharing a cover reveal for my September release! The Dragon's Daughter and the Winter Mage comes out September 24 and isn't this cover stunning??

Preorder here!

     

Invisible Loner

Gendra—partblood daughter of an elite mossback soldier and the only shapeshifter to achieve the coveted dragon form—is anything but interesting. She’s actually plain and awkward and … invisible. Every guy she meets either looks right through her or—worse—thinks of her as just a friend. Fortunately Gen is far too practical to wallow in self pity. Much.

A Search for True Love

But as Gen accompanies her oldest friends on a quest for Her Majesty High Queen Ursula, she can’t help feeling bitter about her lonely fate as, two by two, they pair off with each other. As usual, everyone but odd-woman-out Gen seems to be finding the happiness in true love that has always eluded her. And Gen’s pathetic attempts to come out of her shell have only met with social disaster.

Dragon’s Daughter

Still, with magic rifts plaguing the Thirteen Kingdoms and a strange intelligence stalking them from an alter-realm, Gen has plenty to deal with—especially when she’s cut off from the group, isolated and facing a lethal danger. It just figures that Gen is on her own, once again. But with no one coming to save her, she has only herself to rely upon.

And, perhaps, the help of a mysterious, stranded magician… 

     

Dearest Reader...

 

This week we're talking about things we love loathe about publishing. What I love most is easy. The readers. I'm fairly new to publishing, though I've been in the writing world for a decade. Even still, readers have been such an encouragement for me. I've had people from around the world ask for signed copies of anthologies or track me down on Facebook to chat about The Witch Collector and how it changed from a novelette to a novel, or how Yeva and the Green Garden hooked them on my writing. I've watched a line form at a signing table in New York and readers smile and tell me how they couldn't wait to dig in. I just recently had a reader tell me how invested she is in the characters from Silver Heart, a novella I offer for free on my website. It gives me such joy to hear things like that. You don't have to please everyone--some people probably hate my work. But those who love it make it worth it. It makes my day to get messages from readers, and I cannot wait until the Witch Collector is out in the world. My little reader group--the Rebel Readers--are already such a wonderful support system. They're excited, and that makes ME excited. It makes me work harder.

As for things I don't like about publishing? Petty people and waiting. But these things feel minor in comparison to what I wrote above. I might be too new to answer this week's question with anything but naivety ;) But for now, I really love this gig, and I hope I get to do it for a very long time.

Writing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

 Ah, the idealism of the new author. Everything is so shiny. All possibility lays before whatever debut book is about to hit the world. That pivotal moment is the very best part of writing. Anything could happen. Then the book is published and an author's fortunes fall as they may. This is my list of the best and worst part about the journey.

The Good

• Finishing a book. There's nothing like that feeling. Nothing. I love solving story problems to the point that I wrap a story. 
• Editing. Fixing what I've written plays to my strengths - which, in case you're wondering - are overthinking and paralysis by analysis.
• Readers. 

The Bad

• First drafts. OMG, y'all. I so want this to come easier, but see the above line about overthinking. Now you can add in second guessing and not trusting myself.
• Finding/creating the time and space I need to do the deep work I need to do in order to write. Turns out moving your parents in with you during a pandemic isn't conducive to silence and contemplation.
• Isolation. The pandemic nonsense has zapped a bunch of us who need to come together once in awhile in some kind of evil master mind convention and trade energy.
• Daily chronic migraine. SO gets in the way. We're working on it. I swear.

The Ugly

• Me. Drafting. Again. Drafting is my own Sisyphean task. WANT TO FIX. Help me fix me!
• Having someone you need to be able to trust abuse that trust by withholding vital communication. This is a thing. Remember you own your own business. Don't be afraid to fire people. Somedays it's necessary. But it's definitely bad.
• My marketing. 

Alexia's Favorite Perk to being an Author!

 Publishing is a strange, strange occupation…at least from my POV coming from the medical field. It’s time tables are opaque and responses from people lag for months until suddenly something is needed yesterday. 

It’s easy to pick out the dislikes in the book making biz, as it is with everything. But I like to focus on the good stuff—the highlights! 

My number one fave of being an author:

Being blessed to be included in some wonderful groups of authors!

This picture are my 2018 Golden Heart sisters, the Persisters. Having a group of writers that, no matter which publishing path they were taking, were starting out at about the same place was invaluable. Having these fabulous women, and the women I met through my Golden Heart experience, is definitely the best part of being an author and I hope that each and every one of you find a like-minded group to feel at home with. 

My next fave is being able to work from home and have this guy around all the time. 

Ullr the husky pup

Writing's a lonely gig! You're in your own head, you need no to minimal interruptions, quiet places rule, and all communication is done through email. It's easy to loose connections, which is maybe why authors are so fond of their pets. And I gotta say, I'm awfully fond of Ullr—even when he's a knucklehead and whining to go outside to chase squirrels. 

What are your best and worst aspects of being an author?

Writing, the best of jobs, the worst of jobs

This week on SFF Seven, we’re talking about the absolute best part of publishing… and also the worst, the nadir. The pit. The suxors.

First, the good stuff. For me, the best part of publishing is not even publishing, not really. It’s writing the book. I believe that writing is not a thing I do so much as it is a thing I am in my most core self. If I wrote nothing, I would no longer exist. That’s how integral storytelling is for me. 

Note that I’m using words like writing and storytelling here, not necessarily publishing. Where publishing shines is those occasions when I am identified as an authoress. In other words, I love validation from the outside world of a thing that I know already: that I’m a thing that writes. That validation can come in the form of an email from somebody who read a book of mine and liked it enough to tell me, or having my agent or editor express excitement over a manuscript, or even my kid telling her English teacher that she developed strong writing skills because her mom is “a professional writer.” 

Those are the moments in my life when I feel the most real, like I’m earning my spot on this planet by doing the thing I was meant to do. Publishing sometimes offers those moments, and I love it for that.

I love it less for being a business, which leads us to my least favorite thing about publishing: money. Anybody says they’re writing purely for the riches of it all gets an automatic side-eye from me. That person would be better served in almost any other profession, because fiction writing is a terrible get-rich-quick scheme. The dirty secret about this biz is that most writers don’t make a living wage through their fiction writing alone, so they supplement by giving talks, doing a little editing on the side, writing how-to books, teaching classes, or, as in my case, having a partner who doesn’t mind that I’m a net negative on the household income tax form. Yeah, I am very aware of my privilege, and I am grateful. 

To him, mind you. Not to publishing. Publishing as a biz minds very much if a writer does not rake in the bucks. Publishing is very okay with kicking that writer right to the curb. Nothing personal, just business. And that’s the thing I hate most about it.

Best & Worst of Publishing

What is the best and the worst thing about publishing?

Best: Getting to share my stories with the world!

Worst: Most of the world being unaware of the existence of those stories. 

~takes knife through the heart~

~collapses to the floor~

~single tear dribbles down cheek~

The pros and cons of the writing gig

What are your favorite and least favorite things about publishing? Oh, my...So many options.

Dislikes: 1) Everything happens so slowly, except the deadlines to turn around edits. Inevitably once you've turned in a book the hurry up and wait begins.. Then, and this is UNIVERSALLY WITH EVERY BOOK I'VE EVER DELIVERED TO A MAJOR HOUSE, when they shoot themmanuscript back to you, they want it back in ten days please.

2) once again with the major houses, I've had remarkaby little say on cover art.

3) could we, maybe, just this once mind you, try advretising the book/ you know, so i can spend my time writing?

4) wouod we maybe be able to work out buying the book on an outline and a few smple chapters? It happens, but not as often as I'd like.

5) I got you blurbs. Can we use them?

Likes:

1) I have 9 moths to write this. Plkay, I'll spend seven months on other prok=jects, but I have 9 months!!!

2) Damn, that's some pretty cover art. With the exception of maybe three covrs, I've almost universally loved the artwork for my books.

3)Self-publishing is no longer a sin. BAD edit jobs are, but not self-publishing. I'll take what i can get. 4) i love occasionally writing media tie-ins. I'd do that more often if it were offered. How can you NOT love writing in some of your favorite sand boxees?

5) I can nver say how much i've learned from good editors, and I am normally blessed with good editors.

A bonus ;love: I get so much excitement out of projects that stick in my mind and whispr to me. The image below is one of many pieces of insoiration for my nove abut the Bogeyman. I'm 30,000 words into this beast and its echoing around in the back of my head. This is goingto be deliciousy evil fun!

What are YOU working on, writer types? Artist types?

The Pain and the Glory of Publishing

 

At the SFF Seven this week we're asking: What are your favorite and least favorite things about publishing?

How much time have you got?

Okay, okay - the question implies one of each, so I'll go with that, starting with the negative so I can finish on the positive.

Least Favorite Thing

The uncertainty. 

The uncertainty, she be a bitch. Unless an author really strikes gold, the uncertainty never goes away. And I'm talking serious gold here, not gold-for-a-season. I'm talking million-dollar sales. And even then, there's no guarantees. I'm thinking of a couple of authors who struck serious gold, have made millions and millions of dollars on a particular book or series, then can't sell anything else. This happens surprisingly often with phenoms. Whatever it is about that one book or series that attracted the phenom lightning, it rarely happens again. In some cases, where it was the idea that attracted the lightning and the writer themselves isn't all that great - or doesn't push themselves to grow - the likelihood of them penning another book that anyone but the most die-hard fan wants to read is super low.

For other authors, working away at their productive word mines, it's difficult to know what the next day or next year - or next decade! - will bring. There's no corporate ladder, no particular career path, no salary or benefits. Publishing is a fickle beast and I hear regularly from my author friends, some very successful, who hit rough patches and worry about the future of their careers. The ones who survive are ready to reinvent - and to be flexible and diligent in their efforts.

I'll be frank: a lot of them can't take the uncertainty and give up. It's not a career for someone who wants certainty and security.

So, why be a writer at all? Well, that's... 

The Favorite Thing

Writing for a living.

Seriously, it's the reason we put up with the rest. I've had other jobs and a nearly twenty-year career in another profession, and being a writer is the absolute BEST. It's amazing being a creator and the font of something that I alone bring into existence. From there other people can also have jobs, but I am the origin. The money I make is from my own self, not derived from someone else's thing, and that's an incredible experience. 

It kind of comes around to the risk/opportunity ratio. Yes, there's a lot of risk and uncertainty, but there's also an equivalent or greater measure of opportunity. Because there is no corporate ladder or career path, it's all up to me to create. And I love that. I love that all the meetings have to do with something I'm passionate about, that the phone calls are about me and my work. I'm serving my own creation and not someone else and that, my friends, makes all the rest worth it. 

Weathering the Storm

This week's topic is Temperature Control: How often does weather, climate, or environmental temperature factor into your stories?

I am an atmospheric writer. I like description that makes me feel something. As a reader, I like to be completely submerged in a world, and that means that all the senses need to be engaged. I also love scene setting. There's nothing worse than trying to read a book that doesn't orient me or suck me into the scene. Setting can also create suspense or nostalgia or evoke fear or happiness, or any other gazillion emotional responses. It's a handy tool when used correctly. So in answer to this week's prompt: Yes, weather absolutely factors into my stories. Sometimes A LOT.

The trilogy I'm working on now is an example. The elements are a character in themselves. Book one, The Witch Collector, finds the hero and heroine trapped in an enchanted, frozen wood. In book two, the weather element will be different, as the characters move south, and book three will change again. This trilogy was designed around weather. There's a Frost King and a Fire Queen, and gods who reflect much of the area of the world they represent. My characters are forced to weather storms. Literally.

But even if I hadn't designed these books around elemental reasons, you will always get a strong sense of atmosphere via the weather in my writing. Weather can build so much tension, provide conflict, and even mirror characterization. I thought I'd share a few snippets to give you an idea: 

Cutting through the village green, I memorize every detail. Frost glistens on the thatch of each cottage and hut, and the last thin breaths of nighttime fires curl out of chimneys. Gardens are dying back, and the wildflowers lining the path to the fields have turned to colorless husks. Soon, snow will pile on the eaves and creep knee-deep over every door, and life here in the vale will grow bitter and difficult.

My attention draws back to the path. As we ride, the autumn cover changes, the dirt and rotting foliage becoming marred by branching veins of crystallized frost. The awaiting cold reaches for us, clawing at the ground to drag us closer.

Ahead, light snow swirls in a coming breeze, depositing a white dusting over everything. With flurries dancing, I almost miss the second flicker of movement along the path’s edge.

Turning a glance over my shoulder, I look more closely as we pass. Snow clings to a thick patch of curled briar vines that have been hacked away, leaving a barbed hole big enough for a person to crawl into if they become desperate enough. Beyond, I think I see the whites of eyes. An animal, perhaps, but I can’t be sure.

The old oil lamp Alexus found at Littledenn hangs from his hand, its wavering flame giving off enough illumination through the amber glass that we travel inside an orb of golden light. Worry for Eastlanders spotting us has long passed, our need of light the larger worry. The rest of the world outside our little bubble is dark but white with cold, the snow and ice that glazes every limb and needle and leaf emitting the faintest eerie glow—a forest made of silver and shadows.

Stormy Weather or Sunny Book Skies

Happy Friday the 13th from stormy and bracing for tropical storm Fred Florida. Apropos that we're talking weather in books.

Have you ever gone on vacation on one of those gloriously clear topaz days where all the colors are brighter and vibrating with life? Have you ever gone on vacation only to have the temperatures plummet, the wind blow clouds and misery in?

You probably felt a certain way about each of those experiences. And weather in books is a tool I can exploit to bring those feelings back to you while you read. 

I can either juxtapose lovely weather against a character's misery, or I can have it mirror their misery or joy or sorrow or rage. Weather offers an easy-to-deploy threat, yet another obstacle to be overcome if I really need to test how well my characters have learned a lesson, or how badly they want a goal. 

Because I'm writing mostly science fiction, environmental conditions take on outsized importance. Ships in space live and die by environmental factors. Weather provides great color for alien worlds. It's also a great plot point. It shows up in every single book I write. In one book, a key scene hinges on how sweltering a noxious swamp is. Another book describes a planet having its atmosphere being slowly blasted away by an expanding sun. In the current WIP, the weather is a ticking clock. Beat that clock and live. Fail and die. 

Even in the urban fantasies, weather gets mention. It's such a constant part of our lives. Weather determines our survival as individuals and as a species. Without some kindly weather, we'd starve. So while it might be something we don't always consciously think about, we all experience it. Day in. Day out. It's familiar. It helps me take you someplace you've never been, but still anchor you with an experience you can relate to. 

Besides. If I didn't use weather in my books, how else could I get my emo on?

What's your book weather?

Great Smokey Mountains  

 Tendrils of smokey mist curl through the trees, dampening the air to curl my hair. It’s called the breath of dragons…

How often does weather or climate factor into your stories? 

When I write fantasy—all the time. To me, fantasy and nature go hand in hand. Rumbling thunder and earth quakes are the result of incredible power moving through. Mist hides monsters. And twilight is for smoldering gazes that ignite. 

Our environments—rain, sleet, or shine—effect our emotions. Rainy days make us want to curl up on the couch with a hot cuppa the same way bright blue skies make us want to run around outside. And when I think of my favorite books they all feature character emotions that are highlighted by the weather. Sort of like a movie soundtrack…only it’s book weather! 

Before writing this post I’d assumed weather only showed up in my fantasy stories. Then I thought about The Mars Strain and how it opens up on a steamy, summer day that contrasts with the cool, dry inside of the lab. 

I guess I can say weather and climate are part of my writing tools! Writers, do you like to emphasize character emotions or events with storms and sunshine? What's your book weather?

Weather in Fiction: Effective or Tedious?

Weather starts out as a huge part of my Wanted and Wired series…and just gets more important. In the very first scene of the very first book, a sniper lines up her target while rain beats down on a grim, gray future urbanscape. Later, we find out that storms — hurricanes in particular, and climate change more broadly — have shaped this fictional world and raised stakes that, in a climate-neutral alternative reality, might not have been such a big deal. Weather events are intentional, important to both character and plot.

So, yeah, I use weather and climate to propel a story. I think it can be an effective tool in your storyteller’s belt.

Just be careful not to overdo it. For instance, I love Dean Koontz (shameless fangirl here). Those early books of his were important to my teen brain development. So when someone recommended a Koontz book — the Jane Hawke series — a few years ago, I devoured it and all its sequels, and then eagerly recommended the whole thing to my critique partner. Well, she read the first one, and when I asked what she thought, she gave me a look and said, “He does love his long weather descriptions, doesn’t he?” 

Honestly, I hadn’t even noticed on first read, but when I looked back, holy crud, almost every chapter begins with some gloomy mood-music description of the weather. I guess it sets the tone or something, but it almost never has anything to do with the story itself. I can see how she thought it overwhelmed the story instead of deepening it.

And that, perhaps, is when weather becomes tedious: yes, use it to layer in plot or character points; no, don’t overdo it when it is just a ruffle tacked on to the story.

p.s. — I would still rec the Jane Hawke books. They’re super fun. Just skim the weather bits if they bug you.

Weather: From Window Dressing to Antagonist

 Question of the week: How often does weather/climate factor into my stories?

Sometimes the presence of weather/climate is negligible. Others, it's an external conflict for one arc of the story. Occasionally, it's significant enough to be the primary antagonist for the whole book. 

Climate was less of an issue in my Immortal Spy UF series. It functioned primarily as window dressing to show the seasonal passage of time or establishing "this is not earth" settings. Once in a while, climate changes served to show-vs-tell the upper levels of magic in action. It rarely took center stage because my protagonist would be slightly inconvenienced by such changes, but not threatened. She's the kind of not-a-human who has to remember to wear a coat in the blizzard simply to blend in, not because she's cold. 

However, in my Fire Born HF series, the grueling hot, arid climates in the first book were boons for my fire-warrior protagonist. OTOH, the persistent winter in the second book was a huge problem for her since ingesting moisture of any kind is toxic and relentless cold is crippling. Her circulatory system isn't blood-based, it's fire-based. Fire + water = bad. Safe to say the climate in Book 2 was an inescapable antagonist.

My current HF WiP takes place in a world of elementals, so climate is more than pivotal, it's personal, political, and very present.

Climate/weather is such a wonderful tool for writers. It can be a passive presence that sets the mood or a violent death-insisting character. It can dominate as a theme or subtly evoke emotions in the reader. 

Mood lighting for the ages.

So this week's subject is how much does the wether affect your stories. The answer for me is r4elly quite simple: It's another part of the environment of my tales and that menas it may as well be a character. In my currenty story, the weather is extremely important. TRhe character are in a new town, and being hunter=d. They are dealing with a dark night and a very heavy fog, mening their ability to see what is stalking them is very limited. in other tales the weather plays its pazrt. Funerals with sunlight play out differentoy than funerals in the rain. in one of my stories involving Jonathan crowley, the monster hunter, one of his enemies is trying to get away in a snow storm. That chNges everything and rdically at that, There is no definite=ive answer for me., except that the weather can be a mild s mood lighting or as important as any min charcter depending on the situation. The one thing I promise yu, is that the weather plays its part.

The Witch Collector #Bookstagram

Man, I almost missed today's post! I've been under the weather and writing, so my mind isn't on point. And I would've hated to have missed today because I love love love Bookstagram! I'm a photography fanatic and have even done headshots, graduation pics, and engagement photos for various people. Graphics are a fun pastime for me, and having a book coming out soon that I can showcase makes that hobby even better. 

If you follow me on Instagram, all those graphics you see are made by me, unless I share a Bookstagram photo created by someone else. Canva is my go-to for this, although I've also used Bookbrush. There are all sorts of ways to do your own mock-ups and flat lays--free. For instance, this is just a Canva stock photo with my book image on top. I used a shadowing effect to give it a more 'real' appearance since I don't have paperbacks yet.

Here are a few more I made on Canva:

**For an easy, free book mockup tool, check this out. This is how I made the paperback image above. Below, I used the digital cover + shadowing again.

Even cooler?? When other people Bookstagram your book!

I have mad respect for Bookstagrammers. Just trying to curate my own little baby Insta is a grand task. I can't imagine the time and work they put into some of their images. I mean, hello, @myfriendsarefiction built a BOOK THRONE for The Witch Collector. That's WILD. I still can't get over it. And there will be more images to come in September from various book bloggers on Insta. We won't even talk about BookTok yet. I'm struggling in that department. One social media platform conquer party at a time ;)

Do you have a favorite bookish Insta account??

XOXO,

Instagram Time Sinks

 Pretty Instagram photos haven't been on my list of things to do. Should probably be. Aren't. In part because cats and a moveable composition aren't compatible. I do realize I could maybe go somewhere in this house and close a door with the ever so helpful felines on the other side of it. I just haven't. Instead, I play with virtual photos - these were ads that ran on Facebook and got posted (but not boosted) on Instagram. They did fine. 

The issue for me is that I can spend a bunch of time on photos, or I can steal that time back for working on a book. Given that I've had to take on a day job (living in a house big enough to accommodate four adults - one with mobility issues is more expensive than  two people living in a 34' boat - who knew) the hours available for writing have shrunk considerably. 

I'm going to opt for words over photos most of the time. So while these are a little flat and shiny rather than textured and lush like Jeffe's lovely photos, the ads are the closest I get to Instagram-worthy shots. If I want yet another job, I'll figure out some means of creating clever TikToks cause nothing says time sink like an amateur doing video editing.

Bookstagram The Mars Strain!

 This week's topic is right up my alley. If you follow me on Instagram you know I love photography, and bookstagram falls right into that category! 

I had a lot of fun finding a NASA shirt. And naturally I had some old test tubes laying around—bookstagram fun! 

Crystal at Reading Between the Wines Book Club does a fabulous job with all of her bookish picks. @ginandtolkein have also swayed my next reads with their shots. 

Tell me, do you have a favorite Bookstagrammer? 

Not a visual person

This week we here at SFF Seven are trying our hands at creating bookstagrams: staged photos that feature our books for the purposes of posting on Instagram. I've seen these things floating around, and it would be so flattering to have one made for one of my books. But by and large they haven't been, and in any case, I wouldn't be the right person to do it.

See, I'm not a visual person.

In the edit letter for my first book, I remember my editor asking basically what my characters looked like because the book was sparse on physical -- read: visual -- descriptions. I was like, hmm, Mari's a south Texan from Whataburger country and Heron lived in Egypt before his mamas adopted him, so probably they both have brown hair and eyes, medium brown skin. Mari's tallish and Heron's lanky. And... that's about it? 

Apparently it was not enough for a cover designer, and honestly, not quite enough for readers either. They wanted a "he's so hot" long description of my hero's pulchritude. But I guess I had a hard time delivering what readers wanted because that's not what really gets me going. I lean hard into textures and smells and sounds and tastes, because those are the senses that move me emotionally. 

To me, visual is seeming, which is not the same thing as being.

Visuals rarely convince me to buy a book, so if I created a bookstagram for my own book it wouldn't feel authentic or right. Which is probably why, although I have an Instagram account, I mostly post pics of my pets and stuff that I find in the garden. 

Though, all that said, these cakes that match book covers are super cool. And naturally, if somebody ever made fanart for something I'd written, I would lose my shit. That would be amazing.

Burned Bookstagram

 

Meet the gatekeeper on a mission from Hel.

The Burned Spy 

Book 1 of the Immortal Spy Urban Fantasy Series

(I'm clearly lacking the artistic eye necessary for good #bookstagram pics.)

Jeffe the Bookstagrammer?

Our topic at the SFF Seven is "Bookstagrammer for a day!" We're making our own "amazing" cover shots. I'm putting "amazing" in quotes because I'm not at all sure mine qualify. 

This was a crazy time-suck, people! And I have renewed respect for all those Bookstagrammers who produce such gorgeous images. Finding a background that sets off the book cover without overwhelming it takes a lot of trial and error. Also, if you have long hair like I do and you're taking a photo from above? Yeah, you have to tie it up. 

I think the above is my best shot. What do you think?

Also, here are some of the others. (By far not all.) If you know what I'm doing rong, please let me know!

Level Up or Nerf a Character?

You guys! Guess what? This week we're talking about "leveling up" characters, which, being gamerspeak, merges two of my very favorite things in the universe: gaming and storytelling. Basically, this is my happy place. *happysigh*

Sorry, I just had to glee all over you.

Back to the topic.

Should a writer or should a writer not level up a protagonist over the course of a book or series? I think my initial response to that question was kind of, duh, of course. But then I actually thought about it. I mean, yes character development needs to happen. That's kind of what effective story is (don't believe me, read Lisa Cron or Michael Hauge). However, developing or evolving a character does not necessarily mean their power or skills "level up." In fact, I've done it both ways.

Perfect Gravity depicts a character leveling up. The protagonist, Angela, begins at the effect of other characters' power plays, but she takes ownership of more and more of her own power until, by the end, she has fully come into her essence and is one of the most admired and feared people on the planet. The increase in level, or relative power, is a metaphor for how much she has come to control her own destiny. You see this kind of parallel powerification a lot in, say, superhero stories, which I love.

But it's not the only way to tell a story. As I was writing Angela's story, I thought a lot about the potential disconnect between character evolution and superpower leveling up, and when I sat down to write More Than Stardust, I decided to do the exact opposite. In that book, Chloe begins with incredible superpowers -- she literally can begin and end wars and is described by some as a god -- but as she incrementally loses that power, she claims more of her self, her personhood, so by the end she has leveled down in terms of how much she is able to affect humanity or the planet, but as a human person, she is much more evolved. 

In gaming land, we have a term called "nerfing," which is to reduce the impact of a character's power, to render them less effective even if they haven't technically gone down in levels. It's a game balance thing. That's kind of what I did to Chloe, I guess, in order to produce the kind of interior character development I wanted for her. 

Possibly this term could also describe that thing you hear writers talk a lot about: throwing rocks at protagonists. That is, every time a character seems to have leveled up or achieved something, you're supposed to introduce a new or tougher conflict, yet another seemingly insurmountable obstacle, and basically just torture them more. It's supposed to be a good technique for getting characters to dig deep, be scrappy, show grit and determination, and generally inspire readers.

Potential caution, though: Unless the new obstacle is inevitable within the context of the story, I have found nerfing characters to be a little frustrating, both as a reader and as a game player. 

So, leveling up, yes or no? Yeah, leveling up in the superhero way is likely to give you the kind of structure readers are familiar with and will enjoy.

Nerfing though? Much more complicated and difficult to do effectively.

Character Growth: The Point of the Story

 Is it necessary for a protagonist to continually gain power/ability/expertise as a series progresses?

For my book it's imperative the protagonist, at a bare minimum, grows emotionally. They can grow, break, and rebuild over the course of the series. The "break and rebuild" is useful if a series that was intended to be seven books suddenly becomes wildly popular with enough demand to justify continuing the series (hey, I'm allowed to dream, right?). However, if there's no character development internally and/or externally, then the series is Same Shit, Different Monster. That's no fun for me to write. If it's no fun for me to write, then it's no fun for anyone to read. 

Regular visitors to this blog know I'm a planner. I plan the series arc and how many books will be in the series before I begin Book One. By having a predetermined end of the series, I avoid giving my protagonist too much power too quickly, thus robbing her of risks and challenges, which deny her character growth and make the story dull. 

It is absolutely possible to over-develop a protagonist and have them grow too much too fast. Average Joan leveling up to an omnipotent undefeatable world-creator overnight is a trap that happens often in series that aren't pre-planned. The character has no space to grow. They have no believable opposition. They have all the gizmos, all the magics, all the knowledge...and the character fizzles. They're no longer compelling. Readers become bored and abandon the series. 

Yes, there are series with 25+ books holding firmly in the Best Seller lists that have zero character growth. The books are as formulaic as the characters. Obviously, those stories aren't character-driven. Obviously, the audience for those books enjoys the comfort of predictability. Obviously, I'm not dunking on a dedicated fanbase for liking a style that's not mine. It's one of many reasons why there are few hard and fast rules in writing. Most everything is recommendations based on "what works for me. YMMV."

For me, my protags have to evolve over the course of a book and a series. Otherwise, what's the point of the story?

You call it “Leveling Up,” and I call it growth.

Okay, so this week we’re discussing whether or not characters need to “Level Up,” as a tale progresses. I put that in quotes because frankly it needs definition.

Leveling up is changing, becoming, at least in theory, more powerful. Well, kids, I have to say this straight away: Unless you’re writing comic books, (and even then) if your character does not change or evolve, or unless it’s actually a plot point in the tale, you’re doing it wrong.

Sorry, that’s just my opinion and I’m sticking to it. Listen. For me it’s like the idea of being the same person you were in high school at the end of college If you haven’t grown, changed adapted or evolved you’re going about life the wrong way.

Now, I don’t m=necessarily men getting more powerful. We’ll get to that in a minute. I mean adapted to your way of life. And, yes, by “you” I mean the characters in your stories. Trust me, I was a very different person at 13 than I was at 18, and the changes kept coming for a long, long time.

So why wouldn’t the same rule apply to characters? Seriously? Now, about those power levels…

Listen, I mostly write horror and fantasy with a side of science fiction If my characters don’t change, (and there ARE EXCEPTIONS) then I haven’t put them through the grist mill enough. Sometimes the transformation of character is from alive to dead (or vice versa) and sometimes it’s an evolution. Mostly it’s on an emotional level but there are as always exceptions.

I have one character who has already had his hero’s journey as it were. He doesn’t change much. Someday I might even tell his earlier tales and explain how he got from where he was to where he is but I’m not there yet and I may never be there. Time will tell.

That said, the story you are telling is supposed to be about a character who is meeting new and interesting (read: often extremely dangerous) challenges on physical and emotional levels. And if you want me, the reader, to care about this character, there better be some transformation going on. People either adapt or stagnate. That’s the way of the world.

In some cases, characters get stronger. In other cases, they are broken by the world. Happens in real life, too. The most blatant example of character evolution I can use in my own writing is Brogan McTyre, the main character in my TIDES OF WAR trilogy.

Once upon a time, while watching late night TV, I came across the original King Kong, when the natives have captured Faye Wray and are offering her to Kong as a sacrifice. Great scene. But it got me wondering why it was that in all the old movies when the sacrifice fails, nothing untoward really happens (in Kong’s case he’s not actually a god. I get that.). And so, I decided to examine that concept. The result is the aforementioned trilogy.

I gave Brogan what I can only call the Job Treatment. One day all was well in his world and the next I added venom and chaos to his recipe and stirred vigorously. In the first chapter of the book, I kidnapped his entire family. They were taken by the He-Kisshi, the literal messengers of the gods in the world I built. They were taken to be sacrifices to the gods. In a fit of justifiable outrage Brogan gathers together the other mercenaries he knows and rushes off to save them all before they can be killed.

He fails. The sacrifice is messed up, he gods are angry and before long Brogan has done horrible things in a fit of rage (read: mass murder and selling lot of survivor into slavery as punishment for killing his family).

Folks, there’s nowhere for Brogan to go but up by the time the third chapter of the book is done. It’s a dark, bleak story about vengeance and death and angry gods. The gods decide to end the world. The only option they offer is to replace their chosen sacrifices (Brogan’s whole family) with Brogan and the mercenaries/friends who came to his aid.

So, the world is being destroyed by the gods, and the only cure as far as the gods are concerned is to kill our hero and all of his associates. Brogan goes a different route. He declares war on the gods. And then he tries to figure out how to kill these deities.

He has a lot of help, but believe me, Brogan McTyre levels up a few times in the course of the story. Musty he levels up by finding a way to actually interreact with the gods in the first place. He uses sorcery to aid him in discovering a method wherein a mortal can physically reach and deal with a god. In the process, he gets a few godlike abilities. Weird as this sounds not as many as you might think. Mostly he finds out where he can physically reach the gods and he discovers a weapon that will let him combat them on a relatively level playing field. He does not get godlike abilities (well, he does, but only for a few minutes) but he is forever changed in the process. He is emotionally changed since the start of the first book. He is physically changed by the end of the last book and he is not alone in that process.

A necessary evil. Either Brogan is leveled up, or the entire tory evolves around him ranting at the gods while they ignore him and have him hunted down and killed. The entire story revolved around him being altered until he can successfully defy the gods. That is his “hero’s quest.”

Let me clarify here, that at best Brogan McTyre is an anti-hero. He is not at all altruistic, at least not at the beginning. He is forced to change and adapt if he’s going to survive and win. That is his only choice. The rest of the story revolves around his transformation and his drive to save the world after he screws it up. His level of success varies greatly. He is literally wading through Armageddon as he seeks to find way to fight the gods.

Is he a very different person by the time the story is done? Dear heavens, yes. He is different emotionally. He is different physically He has been changed by the events in his world Does he level up? Well, yes and no. he can still be killed by a well-placed arrow, but he can also go toe to toe with the gods of his world. He can be captured poisoned and killed. He can defy the gods and fight them on their own turf. He is “leveled up” but only in certain ways.

We’re not talking about Mary Sue here. Everything he does costs him. Every action he makes changes him, some for the better, some for the worse. Because that’s the way life is, frankly. We learn We adapt. Sometimes we become better for it. Sometimes we are scarred by our actions and never fully recover.

Jeffe's One Rule of Character Leveling-Up

This coming Friday, July 30, at 6pm Mountain Time, I'll be joining these great friends and powerhouse Fantasy Romance authors for an online panel! Tickets are free for this event sponsored by Love's Sweet Arrow bookstore in Chicago. Join me, Jennifer Estep, L. Penelope, and Lexi Ryan for a chat moderated by Jen Prokop. Ask us anything!

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Leveling-Up: Is it necessary for protagonists to continually gain power/ability/expertise as a series progresses?"

I had to mull over the basic premise of this question. Do I do this in my own books? I don't always have the same protagonists in successive books of a series, but when I do, do they continually level up?

I guess... yes. That's the pattern I've followed. 

My usual rule with writing in general and worldbuilding in particular is, when I discover I'm implementing an element or trope without consciously examining it, that indicates some programmed ideas I need to investigate. 

Thus the mulling. 

So, is it necessary for the protagonist to continually gain power/ability/expertise? No, it's not necessary. BUT, character growth is fundamental to my concept of storytelling and the progression of ability to control one's personal power is a key metaphor in books that are about magic. I suppose you could have the magical/paranormal abilities remain constant and have the character grow in other arenas. As human beings, however, our lives are largely about gaining and refining our skill sets. That aspect of humanity makes it an evergreen topic of interest for us. 

Now that I think about it, it might be fun to have a wizard at the top of their game get tired of it and try a new career, learning an entirely foreign skill set. 

The rule I do cling to is, if a fundamental of the world is set as a limitation of powers, then that can't be discarded in order to level up later. This is akin to making a disability magically vanish, or an incompatible species couple suddenly have a magic baby. Some limitations should be real and permanent, not exploded for plot sparkles. So sayeth I.

MICE Preference

Greetings from the Hemingway House garden in Key West, FL. No mice here. Too many polydactyl cats on the property. They have the run of the place. They are pampered and well cared for and they own the place. 

Like everyone else this week, the MICE tool is new to me. The concepts aren't, but I had never heard of them brought together this way. Still, who doesn't like a good acronym?  

I love a good milieu. See photo at left. So. Milieu, Idea/Inquiry, Character, and Event. Those are my options.

Okay. Pre-existing conditions: we know Marcella is a character-driven writer versus being a plot-driven writer. This means that no matter what other MICE element I might use to frame a story, character is always, always a part of the picture in that frame. 

My first book opens with Ari being someplace she doesn't to be in a context she doesn't want and an EVENT kicks off her story. 

For book two, EVENT again. Someone Damen Sindrivik cares about becomes a target. Cue mayhem.

Book three mirrors the first book. Edie is someplace she doesn't much want to be in circumstances she doesn't want. Then someone drops a burning spaceship on her head and things get worse. So again. EVENT. 

Book four - - someone help. I seem to be stuck in a rut. The heroine is a prisoner sentenced to die in a war on a miserable planet in the middle of nowhere. And EVENT. Huh.

The Urban Fantasies start with character and a bit of milieu ,but then, that's the genre, isn't it? This makes me wonder if your MICE choices might be partially dictated by genre expectations. Idea/inquiry is going to show up reliably in mystery and thriller. UF really wants to linger in setting. Space opera requires a steep on ramp to an inciting incident - the event. Women's fiction usually lasers in on character. I feel like I rarely see a single element used from the MICE toolkit. It's usually a combination of two. I'm trying to think if I've ever seen a story that used more than that, though. I'm coming up empty. Can you think of someone who's used more than two tools at a time? Bonus points if they do it really well.