Author: ajmaguire

One of the comments most commonly made about Sedition is the character of Trenna.  Everyone seems to love her, and to be honest I’m pretty attached to her as well.  She’s quirky and tough, great with a sword, not so great with relationships, and has a sense of humor.  In short, she’s a blast to write.  But … where did I come up with her?

I’m going to sound a little off-balance, but I think most of my writer friends would agree that sometimes there is a physical object that yanks a character into view.  For me, I picked up an old templar sword and ka-boom! there she was.  I wish I could say the whole story was like that, but I’m afraid the sword only showed me the character and I was intrigued enough to start writing her story.

In actuality, the first scene I wrote with Trenna in it was the ambush scene from Sedition.  I’ll post the little blurby for you all to see what I started with …

***

It would have been a well-planned ambush, five archers hiding in the treetops all trained on the trail below with keen and steady eyes. Many wouldn’t have even noticed them, but Trenna, who had been escaping the castle by means of a cross-country walk, had caught sight of a flash of black where there should have only been green. Somewhat bored and aggravated at the state of things between herself and Dalton, she moved to investigate.

They weren’t in uniform, but they seemed well trained. They had at least camouflaged themselves in such a way that they almost looked a part of the great pines they sat in. And it looked as though they’d been planning this for a while because she spotted small, squared platforms under their feet. The question was for whom they were waiting. Politics notwithstanding, living in close quarters with so many people riled a lot of nerves, and there were plenty of powerful people with enough money to hire assassins.

Come to think of it, there were plenty of assassins for hire as well.

She wondered if it paid well.

***

That’s the first scene I ever wrote with Trenna in it.  Sedition fans will notice that this is actually in Chapter 4, but let’s face it, the rough draft never resembles the finished product.  And I knew when I wrote it that I was just testing the waters to see if I liked her enough to spend the years it would take to complete her story.

In Saboteur we get to see the depths to her character.  She’s not all about brazen swordplay and drunken bar fights, and I wanted that to really shine in the sequel.  That was part of the reason we find out that she’s pregnant in the first chapter of the book.  I wanted to limit her ability to fight, forcing her to take aid from her husband, Nelek.  ((For those who haven’t finished Sedition yet, I apologize for that spoiler.))

Next up … Nelek Vronat Dyngannon.  Tomorrow, I’ll explore where the “warring Prince” came from.

As promised, I am going to give you all a grand post of extra’s, snippets, previews and everything Saboteur that I can think of without giving away the whole story. My finals are finished, my brain is slowly recovering, and I’ll be back to writing for a month before the next semester at school begins, but before I go and do that I need to properly introduce you all to Saboteur. Because I was nearing the end of the semester when it was released, the poor book was not given the appropriate amount of attention that it should have been. On my part at least.

So! Saboteur is the sequel to Sedition … Which was the pretty black and white and grey cover with the big sword on it. It was also the introduction to the world of Dyngannon, a fantastical place populated by Eldur and Humans. Eldur, which I snagged from an old English word meaning “from the elder tree.” Why did I pick that name? Well, because someone somewhere at some point described elves as people of the tree’s. I really can’t remember who or when, but I remember it because it stuck with me. And my pointy-eared race of people have a lot in common with elves — Tolkein elves, not Santa elves — so I thought I’d be cheeky and name them something dealing with tree’s.

Now, as much as the Eldur have in common with elves — pointy ears, longevity, tree’s — they have some distinct differences as well. First of all, they aren’t peace loving and for all their years of living, they aren’t really elegant or snobbish, as some elves are prone to being in this genre. They are gritty people. Also, their magic is … erm … different.

Blood Magic has one very simple rule — everything is a trade. You can’t just make a wound disappear, someone else has to take it for you. And, when you get married, you trade your individual life for a life bound to another — meaning, when you die, so does your wife or husband. This very simple rule has been a great plot-complicator. We see Blood Magic a bit more in Saboteur than in Sedition, but the work I’m currently doing on Usurper (the third book in the series) is the one that is really going to explain the details of the magic.

In fact … didn’t I promise you snippets/sneak peeks? … Here you go! Fresh from Usurper’s pages::

***

“Varaloomessa oct ell et te,” Bree repeated, wafting the magic still closer.

Warm light filtered past her eyelids, an odd tickling sensation running over her lashes, and then she traded her sight briefly for a vision of a low-flying hawk. Magic itself picked which hawk, an odd twitch to Blood Magic was that it often had its own ideas of what should be done. The magic in use only knew she wanted something in the air, something that could give her a clear view of the island, and had accepted the price of her own vision for a time.

The only problem was that she wasn’t certain how long magic would keep her eyesight. She could be rendered blind for months if it so chose.

Shoving that worry firmly aside, Brigetta concentrated on the hawk’s vantage. It wasn’t far from the little cabin they were standing in, flying close to the treetops. Bree wavered, disoriented, and reached out for something to steady herself on. Faxon’s hand clasped on her own and she felt him step closer. She felt his body heat warm against her side and tried to relax.

Because she had only traded sight, the vision came with no sound. This made things even more disorienting, since she could still hear everything in the room, to include Faxon’s quiet breathing just beside her. Exhaling through her teeth, Brigetta battled a weird sense of vertigo and focused more.

The bird turned in a wide circle, scanning the forest floor in search of food. At least, she assumed it was hunting. That was what hawks did, after all.

Unfortunately for the hawk, its hunting grounds were being intruded upon.

***
And … That’s my first snippet/ sneak peek. I’m going to keep this book party / belated release party going for the next week. For those fans who recognize the name Brigetta, I’m happy to report that … yes … this is the very same Brigetta from Sedition. While she isn’t in Saboteur, she is absolutely integral to Usurper. I’m actually quite surprised by her antics in this novel and can’t wait for the rest of you to see what I mean.

Look out for the next snippet tomorrow!

I’m too tired to celebrate, but my final paper for my final class is finally done for the semester … Oh … oh … that means I can write again … but … but …

Yeah, I’ll wait until Monday. My brain is seriously frazzled. I don’t think I could manage recalling the PLOT of Dead Magic, let alone what scene I’m on right now.

As happy as I am that Saboteur is out for sale … I am in the middle of Finals and am super-crazy busy. As soon as this week is over, I’ll throw some fun extra’s up and some sneak-peek information on the next book in the Sedition/Saboteur series. Until then … pray that my brain doesn’t melt too badly during this week.

Hurray!  It’s here!  Saboteur was released this morning from Wings ePress.  I’m going to throw the purchase link in HERE so that you can easily access the book.  There are several different ways you can get it.  It’ll be on Amazon soon, I promise.  You’ll see me make an announcement here again when that happens. 

Remember, this is the sequel to Sedition, so if you loved Trenna the first time then you’re bound to love her again.  She’s just as sassy and kick-butt, and has that wonderfully gritty sense of humor to push the story forward.  And if you haven’t read Sedition, then you can still love Saboteur because … well … Trenna is just that awesome.  Plus, if you read Saboteur and then love her, you can learn how her story began in Sedition whenever you want. 

Woo!  I’m so happy to see it out for sale.

Now excuse me while I go work on Usurper.

First of all, I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I was sick, but I still managed to make a turkey and put up my Christmas tree.  For those of you who think it’s too soon to have your tree up … well … you might be right, but I totally did it anyway.  My son and I had a great deal of fun doing it, too.  I promised Hazen that when we put the tree up, we would also pull out the train set I bought him.  (The train set was on clearance back in January, so I’ve been holding onto it for a while.)

Because I was sick all week, I was a little behind in my Errata list for Saboteur, but fear not!  It is completed and now sitting in my Publisher’s in-box.  Which means, of course, that Saboteur will be out on schedule; December 1^st 2011!  In fact, I purchased some business cards with the cover art on them and am sorely tempted to send them out in lieu of Christmas cards this year … (That’s a joke, I’m really not that tacky, I promise.  But that does remind me, I need to go buy some cards before I’m horribly late in sending them out … again.)

Come December 1^st, I will make certain to share the purchase links for Saboteur everywhere.  I’ll make it super easy to find, I promise.  For those of you who have been pining after more of Trenna and her gritty, sword-swishing sass, I think you will be extremely pleased with this newest installment.  ((SPOILER ALERT)) She totally gets to kick some butt.

Because I have moved from the world building to the actual writing on Nellis V, I have removed its project page from the site. I’m thinking of making a snippet and/or teaser page because my poor little blog looks so small now. Plus, you know, I still love all those pretty pictures of space. So how is Nellis and National Novel Writing Month going? …. Well, good and bad. Good, because I do love the world and the story, but bad because there is absolutely no way I am going to make it to 50k by November 30th.

But that’s all right. I sort of knew that would happen.

I finished a great book this week. The book was Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and I loved it. There were some moments that I found predictable, but the characters carried the story so well that I could forgive the fact that I knew what was coming. Plus, I mean … seriously … you just can’t go wrong when you mix vampires and steampunk. That’s just a recipe for awesome right there.

Because of a heavy load at school, I was unable to get as much done for NaNoWriMo this week … BUT! That should be fixed this next week. I just have to run to catch up. I’m sitting at 1774 words.

But I am loving Nellis just as much as when I was creating the planet. This is going to be an awesome ride.

To all of you out there who are doing NaNoWriMo … I wish you the best of luck. Write fast, write hard, and make it to 50K.

I really have been playing with business cards. I’ll be purchasing them either next week or the week after that. The front side has Saboteur’s cover art, the back side says — A.J. Maguire — Fantasy Romance with Grit.

And then I have my website information as well as the ISBN numbers for the book below that. I just thought it was a great way to describe my work. I mean, you can sort of see by the lack of bare-chested males on my covers that I am not exactly the traditional romantic author. So! I think that’s my new theme.

That being said, I do have the edits from my editor and have until November 10th to get them finished. I am hoping that this will work to my benefit since my new class is truly mind-warping. I’ve already listened to the first lecture, which turned out to be two hours long. If that wasn’t enough, the textbook is making my brain hurt.

Because of this, I have recognized a real need for “down time”. I am weird because my “down time” is actually my writing time. So! I have decided that I will absolutely be participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. I’ll be writing something completely new, something not on my agenda right now, something that I’ve been excited to write for the last year … Nellis V, here I come!

If you don’t know what Nellis V is, check out the page on my navigation bar and you’ll get it. I haven’t written any of the actual book yet, I’ve just been building this world and planet for a whole year. I am truly excited for this. I know I’m going to fail NaNoWriMo, but the much needed down time will be necessary to keep my mind from exploding whilst amidst this new class.

I will probably make a new page dedicated to the NaNo progress just to keep things honest.

I am still torn on the idea of trying to do National Novel Writing Month this year.  If I attempted it, I know that I would fail.  I’m still in school, for heavens sakes, and would have to crunch writing into the wee hours of the night.  This would not make me an altogether pleasant sort of person at work.  I’m not sure my son would appreciate it, either.  Still … it is so tempting.

Currently I am waiting to purchase some business cards with Saboteur’s cover art on them.  I would like to start passing them around in the middle of next month.  This would be my first real step toward marketing my books.  Exciting stuff, man.  I’m sure my publishers will be pleased to hear this.

That being said, I am hunting for a contest.  Any sort of contest.  I would like to host one with a grand prize of free copies of Sedition and Saboteur … I just have no idea how to pose it.  I’ll keep brainstorming and post details as soon as I have them.