Today Nora and the Siren Song has officially been released, and I am so excited for people to get to read it. Nora’s story has grown, and so has her character. I am neck-deep in drafting the fourth and final book for her series, which is due to release in October, so fans of her story will be happy to know that by the end of this year, they will have the WHOLE THING.
No more waiting for another installment.
No more cliffhangers. (cough, ahem, sorry/not sorry)
Nora’s story has been a pure joy to write and I sincerely hope all of you have enjoyed it as much as I have. To celebrate this newest release, here are all of the pretty promotional things I’ve shoved on Instagram/Threads/X/FB.
Because using them all just ONCE after spending 2 hours creating them feels like a waste and I want my money’s worth of Canva now that they raised their prices. Again.
I enjoyed this book a good deal. I won’t lie, it took me a minute to get into the novel because of the magic system built into it, but I feel like that’s more of a me problem than anything else. My brother was big into some of those trading card games as a teenager and I’m afraid that’s all I could imagine for the first little bit reading the book. Once I equated the magic system to a regular deck of cards, with mild callbacks to the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, I was able to get into the book more.
The characters were well fleshed out and the narrative itself was smooth. I enjoyed the Nightmare and the conversations the main character had with him. Elm has to be my favorite character on the page, but who doesn’t love a reckless Prince thumbing his nose at the Crown?
It’s not your typical fantasy romance. The main characters have secrets to keep that make sense within the society on the page, and the attitudes they present are understandable. It’s not like the character jumps in with a chip on their shoulder and a crude gesture to the rest of the world, which seems to be the popular route these days. The fact that they had relatable reasons for their distrust is what really held my attention.
For those of you who love or hate spicy scenes, this book has just one really spicy moment. So if you like that sort of thing, it’s there, and if you don’t, it’s easily skimmed through.
So there has been a lot of conversation around this book. Some people hating it, some people loving it. Most people falling somewhere in between.
I fear I fall “somewhere in between” loving and hating it.
I’ve followed some of the arguments about how this is Bryce’s story and while many people may have wanted to see a larger gathering of talents and minds for this war, I’m afraid that’s not where I felt the most disappointed. I fully accepted that these people did not know one another and that a crossover beyond what we saw was unlikely to occur.
The things that bothered me were not that Bryce was a turd to Azriel and Nesta, but rather that Bryce never seems to grow.
Like… ever.
The reason I loved the original Crescent City novel, and what had me picking up the second novel, was that Bryce grew an incredible amount in that first book. She underwent some horrifying things and she as a character grew from them. She is precisely the same person at the end of House of Flame and Shadow as she was at the beginning, and she really should not be.
Enter the Spoiler Zone.
I do hate giving spoilers, but the things that bother me about this book require some details, so here it goes.
#1 – At no point did I fear Bryce would lose.
Someone should have perished. Someone we cared about. They needed to LOSE somewhere in this novel, and in a big way. But even when they kind of-sort-of lost, that person was brought back from the brink of death and still played a major role in the end scenes. The book falls flat because nothing was really at stake.
#2 – The… info-dump magic video-montage.
This lasted… uh… for ages. And it gave way too much away. Sure, it was interesting at first, but I remember that every time we flashed back to Bryce in the cave listening/watching to the history that I started to groan and asked, out loud to my very confused husband; “We’re really just going to spoon feed me everything right here?”
The book would have been far more interesting if some of this magic-montage-history-lesson had been corrupted somehow. Say, maybe, at the water parasites… and instead of just having Bryce show up and mention they have a water problem, the Ocean Queen could maybe have been investigating this all along since… you know… she’s an OCEAN QUEEN and innately tied to the water.
But that’s just my gripe here. The big mysteries were explained and unveiled too early on.
#3 – Hunt got sacrificed to Bryce’s awesomeness too much.
My lord, if she mentioned Bryce doing all this amazing stuff in her pink shoes one more time I was going to lose my mind. What little Hunt was allowed to do never eclipsed or matched what Bryce did. Ever. It made him the weaker of the two, rather than her equal in the relationship, and this… This frustrated me the most. Relationships are built on give and take, and we read Romance and Romantic Fantasy to see two people come together and work out how this looks for them specifically.
Hunt was constantly on his back foot and I kept waiting for him to have a moment where he got to do some of the giving, or even have his own idea that surprises us all where he narrowly skates through danger, but he was never given this opportunity.
Now…
All that said, I gave the book 4 stars. The series is a worthwhile read for worldbuilding alone, and the Ruhn and Lidia plotline had me invested through this book. In fact, Ruhn seemed to carry the novel the most as he and Lidia had the stakes I was looking for and seemed to struggle the most to overcome the circumstances and problems surrounding them.
I will preface this blog entry with the reminder that what works for me might not work for others. Writing is an ever-evolving craft wherein I learn something new with every single book. What follows are simply the steps that I’ve found work for me.
Maybe this will change in a year. Maybe my writing process will remain the beautiful chaos it is now until the day I pass on from this life. I honestly don’t know.
Let me also say that I never set out to write a SERIES.
I simply set out to tell a story. Sometimes that story winds up being far bigger than original anticipated, is all.
The Nora Grayson Series is by far my largest undertaking, and the possibilities for offshoots keep cropping up. Which is either super exciting or daunting, I can’t decide which. Regardless, the fact that it has grown so very large in my head means that I have had to take some serious steps to keep things in line.
I’ve mentioned the Story Bible before, which for me is a singular notebook that has the outlines, draft notes, and character notes of every book in the series in it. When I say it’s chaos, I mean that it is absolute chaos. There are different shades of ink, there are scribbled notes in the margins, there are highlighted bits and then question marks beside those highlighted bits and timelines and character questions everywhere.
I pity the man who picks it up and tries to make sense of it.
For me, however, it is my happy place.
It’s my Muse at her most free, dallying here and there with tantalizing possibilities. I have no rules for the Story Bible other than I’m concentrating on this one series and no other books. There are, however, what I call KEY pages.
For instance, I have one KEY page titled: SET IN STONE.
This seems self-explanatory, but these are the key elements of the story that have already been published. Details go in here that I often need to reference such as Nora’s home address. It is sectioned out between books, so for Werewolf Wedding I have a running list of names for those she met in that book and how they correspond to her and then any unresolved matters that did not get addressed in that particular novel.
With each new book, the SET IN STONE page grows. For obvious reasons.
Readers are smart, and I don’t want to upset one by assuming they aren’t going to notice that Delilah’s eyes changed from green to blue between Books One and Three. Or if they do change color, it better make sense in the story.
Which brings me to the most important part of writing a series…
Reading.
Or rather, re-reading. I’m working on these concurrently, so I have an audio version of Werewolf Wedding being narrated to me, am doing final pass edits on Duke of Autumn, am drafting Siren Song, and outlining Winter King. There’s a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of details I don’t want to miss.
If it looks overwhelming, don’t worry. The fact is, I’m having a blast. I love Nora and these stories and I cannot wait to share them with you. Truthfully, if I am ever not having fun, it normally means I’ve lost sight of the story and need to go back to the Story Bible and flip through it.
There are a ton more KEY pages in my Story Bible, such as the Compost Dump that I’ve mentioned before. (I still recommend Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass on Writing. You won’t regret it.) But I want to highlight one more before I run off for the day. This KEY page is titled: The Lies They Believe.
It’s a very evocative title, I know.
We’ll take Nora for example. MILD SPOILERS INBOUND.
Werewolf Wedding – The Lies Nora Believes – is that she is a low level empath whose only use is as a counselor. Further, she’s a burden to her Nana Bess and Uncle Martin – especially Uncle Martin. She believes Fairy is a place where criminals and reprobates thrive, that decent people never go there, because this is what Bess and Martin have told her. This lie is reinforced by the fact that her own parents abandoned Fairy before she was born, though they never told her precisely why.
Why is this page KEY?
Because by the end of Werewolf Wedding, Nora has to see through these lies, if not confront them.
We are coming up on the holidays and I am about to take a step back from Blogging so that I can concentrate on family and reading and winding down, so this will be my last real post of the year. That means I get to talk about all the amazing things I managed to get done this year AND what I hope to accomplish next year.
This is my happy post because I get to brag a little.
And I do enjoy making goals for next year, even if I don’t manage to get them all done.
DRAFTS
We will start with the number of drafts I got finished in the year because honestly, this is what takes up the most time. I started the year with The World Beside Us, the second of the Nora Grayson novels. The first draft is completed and I managed to run it through the first revision pass, but it still needs another two or three passes before it is up to par and will be ready for publication.
Then I picked up Melody of Bones again, which I know I promised was a “little darling” that had been slain but let’s face it, an entire book as a “little darling” is hard to accept. It was literal years of my life I was trying to kill off and that didn’t seem at all fair. So I found a serial novel place called Novel Cat where I was able to sign the book and it is presently available in completed form. There are some charges you will have to pay to read the whole thing, if you’re interested, but it is relatively cheap. You can find my dragon Pru and her story HERE if you are interested.
Then we come to Paw Prints on the Wall, which went through several drafts before it became available for purchase in November. This story is near and dear to my heart and I am so pleased that people have been enjoying it. There are already a couple of reviews out there and I am hopeful that more people can find something that touches their hearts in the story. You can find it HERE if you are interested.
And to wrap up the year I have written (am nearly finished with) Last Child of Winter, which is a tale about a fairy talent show that I am super excited to see out in the world. It’s got fae folk as refugees on Earth and is a kind of mystery/love story/horror story all bundled into one. I adore it.
Or at least, I haven’t been working on it so long that I’ve hit the point where I hate it yet. Because that’s part of the writing process too. Don’t worry, by the time the editing process is done I’ll love it again.
BEYOND WRITING
Also this year I started podcasting this very blog. Which means you can read it OR you can have me read it to you. It has been interesting learning how to get all this done. I’m still a little wobbly when it comes to vocal editing and annunciating every word the way my high school drama teacher always taught me to do, but I will get there.
For those curious, this is the first step toward audiobooks. I have had several requests for this, and I have some vocal talent lined up for Tapped and Enemy Souls, but it is a process. With any luck, the first audio version of Tapped will be ready about the same time that the third book in the series – tentatively titled Tango Five – is ready for publication next year.
Which brings me to NEXT YEAR…
The first three months of 2023 are going to be dedicated to the completing Last Child of Winter, which is turning out to be bigger than I thought it would be. After this I will turn my focus to producing the audio version of Nora and the Big Werewolf Wedding. I am hoping for this to take no more than 6 weeks out of the year, so by the middle of May I should have something decent to present for Beta-Listeners. And then there will be announcements for a release date of the audio and print versions of the book.
For my second novel of the year I want to dive back into science fiction and get the next Tapped novel finished. Right now it is tentatively titled Tango Five, but that is likely to change mid-draft.
Titles are hard, alright?
I would also like to have edits for The World Beside Us completed, and to have a rough draft of the third novel in her series done.
I’ve learned that three major projects a year is plenty for me. It is an achievable goal and I do so enjoy achieving goals. But here are some things I would also like to complete, and/or at least begin working on:
The Little-Big Book of Testimonies – Christian Fiction
Nora and the Minotaur’s Wife – Short story
Fantasy Anthology – Possible Christmas 2023 release because I only need a couple more short stories to fill the pages. This is basically because you cannot get Torven in print anymore thanks to new guidelines/rules at Amazon. You can still get that book in digital format on Kindle.
The Debrief – Prequel Novelette for the Tapped series. This one’s been waiting in the back of my head for several years now and just needs a clear conclusion.
And that’s it. We will see what 2023 brings because I am old enough to know better than to think it will all go my way.
Happy Holidays, everyone. I hope you stay warm and safe and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year.
There was a time I swore I would never write First Person POV outside of my own journal. To me, the lines between author and character blurred far too much, which is likely because my first attempts at writing were done in this vein. Back in the 6th Grade – yes, that’s when I first started scribbling stories down – it was easy to write that way because I was the hero.
Peeping out the window during the storm.
I was the warrior princess scaling the mountainside, intent on visiting the wizard.
I was the dragon slayer.
And the character had no true development because my still-developing brain was focused on the adventure and not the true story. Because at the heart of every story is a character who must grow in some way. If that growth does not happen, you have cool set pieces and neat action sequences, but no real story.
That isn’t to say I haven’t tried first person POV since abandoning it as an endeavor of my youth. Persona’s first drafts were done in the first person. I’m not sure why I changed it, other than I thought a requirement of “real stories” that it be in the third person limited.
Two decades later and I’m sitting before my computer, writing in first person POV with a character named Nora Grayson who is most assuredly her own person. While I have given her empathy as her superpower because I am a deeply empathetic person, that is really the only thing that I can point to and say for certain it came from me. And she is growing.
Not only that, but I find her delightful.
So delightful that I am far and away over my projected word count. I enjoy lingering with her late into the evening, when I should have closed up my laptop and called it a day. The entire world she is seeped into is a place I want to visit, which admittedly isn’t difficult because who doesn’t want to visit the land of Fairy?
Point of View is just another tool in the writer’s toolbox, and I’m glad to have finally learned this lesson. I cannot imagine Nora’s books without her clear voice on the page, and while there are arguments to be made that adult novels steer away from the first person, what it ultimately comes down to is what story you’re telling. When taken as a whole, this series of books could not be told without Nora as the central “I” shown on the page.
As of October 28th, Darkside of Bright has a completed first draft. Calculating how long this took, it was about 4 months of work start to finish, which isn’t bad at all. There are things I am still debating changing but for now, it is going into a virtual corner to sit and simmer while I work on something else.
And because National Novel Writing Month begins TOMORROW, I will be participating as a Nano-Rebel again. Because my brain needs a break from the act of Drafting.
So I will be editing my Shelter novel. Which has a new title; For Every Pet, A Home.
I’m not married to that title.
For now it will do.
It is, quite obviously, about an animal shelter. And yes, it draws off personal experience having worked in one, but no it is not a biography. It is also 100% different from anything I have ever written. It’s modern. It deals with right now. It doesn’t have ghosts or magic or any such thing in it.
Unless you count the magic a dog possesses when they put their chin in your lap.
It’s about faith and relationships and the lessons we learn by simply caring for a creature that needs our help. My time at the shelter was precious to me and I deeply admire all the people who can work in that field for the long term. It is, quite frankly, the most difficult job I have ever done – and I was in the Army.
The emotional toll it takes to greet that animal who is being surrendered for the first time, who is scared and lost and doesn’t understand what is happening, still makes my chest squeeze tight sometimes. This is not a job for the faint of heart and I do pray that this book, once it is completed, is a proper salute to animal shelter workers across the globe.
She’d heard all these things before. She knew the chances of landing a traditional publishing deal were astronomical. All the statistics were the same. All the naysaying was the same. And that nagging voice telling her the minimum wage day job was all she would ever know? Yes, that too was the same. So why was this article different? Why did this one make the flickering candle of hope inside her gutter out? Certainly she was older now. She had experienced a plethora of rejections, and deep down she knew she was no Hemmingway reincarnated, but she had always accepted it as paying her dues. That some time very soon would be her time to shine. After all, there were books out there that made her cringe and she knew she was better. She put down her iPhone, desperate to forget the past ten minutes of reading. The irrational side of her considered unfriending the fellow author who had shared so horrible an article, but that would not give her back those last ten minutes. It would not light the candle of hope that had carried her through years of writing and re-writing manuscripts. And really, she knew it was not her friend’s fault. They were probably feeling the exact same about this dismal accounting of the publishing business. Her notes and carefully constructed outline sat on the desk, closed and waiting for her return, but she turned away from them. She ignored the laptop sitting in sleep mode even though the manuscript was in there, its characters begging for more life, more time, for the plot to reveal the entire point of their existence. She could not go back to them yet. Was there a point in going back to them at all? Her dog enjoyed a longer walk than usual, some extra belly rubs. Her cats took turns sitting on top of the closed laptop because that was how they preferred the desk to be. It meant she would stop and give ear rubs as she passed the desk like a good peasant. She made an unsavory snack of celery and carrots, because no fiction could melt away the calories she’d eaten at lunch. And then her son came home from school. “Why does walking down the road give me so many ideas to write?” he exclaimed, all excitement and joy. She smiled, heart aching because of statistics she could not dream of sharing with him. His candle still shone so bright! “Because you’re a creator,” she told him and kissed his forehead. They sat down together and with a sigh, she opened her laptop as together they began to write.
I’m not certain who first coined the phrase that writers must “kill their darlings” but I find myself staring down the barrel of my proverbial gun today. With my shelter book finally completed – yes, that only took me all of COVID and then some to finish – I am on to the next project!
Or, projects, really.
For the entire month of May I have opted to work on Story Bibles, Outlines, and World Building for the Werewolf Wedding novel and Tango Five, the third installment of the Tapped Series.
For my dear, lovely readers who have showered me with their love of Enemy Souls, I thank you. And I am deeply grateful that the book delivered a satisfactory story! This was the second installment of the Tapped Series and I am excited to be working in the science fiction realm again, preparing for the third novel. And, as I often do, I have begun reading the series from the first book onward, taking notes to reference technology and character development.
I do already have a vague story bible written in respects to the Tapped series, but I have found that nothing prepares me better for writing the next book, than reading the ones that came before. I’m not sure how other authors who work with series of novels handle this portion of the process, but this is what works for me. Even if I do cringe sometimes, recognizing that I have learned so much more about the craft of writing since the first book was published.
So where does Killing Darlings come into all this?
Well, for the Werewolf Wedding novel, if you must know. For fans who have been following along this whole time – by the way, I love you all and I hope you keep reading and adventuring and reading some more – you will remember a novel by the title Melody of Bones. Also known as my dragon novel.
After a great deal of debate, I have decided to kill this novel. It is, in fact, a little darling.
A two-plus-year darling that I have nursed and attempted to sell and simply gotten no where with. But the really cool elements of the novel fit perfectly into the story I am telling with Nora Grayson, and I know that both stories will be told better by doing a Dr. Frankenstein move and piecing them together.
Does it hurt?
Yes.
Egads, yes.
I love Prudence Alturas and her tragic tale as an exiled dragon.
But if I do this right, I’ll get to tell her story better than my first attempt.
So here is me, pulling the official trigger and killing off a darling. I hope to have a new draft completed by the end of July, with several more novels waiting to step up to the plate.
For my fellow authors out there, I hate to say it but… they saying is right. Sometimes we really do have to kill our darlings.
I’ve killed off characters in my books. There are several in particular who I mourned as the author, and still others who I really hadn’t noticed. It seems to be a popular past-time in fiction to strategically murder personalities that we, the readers or viewers, have fallen in love with.
I know everyone hated to see Coulson go in Marvel Avengers, myself included. But then, Joss Whedon has made a name for himself as one of those directors who has no qualms offing a beloved character for the sake of driving up tension. But, of course it’s more than that.
Yes, the tension goes up, but it also has a profound effect on all the other characters on either the page or the screen. As storytellers, we’re told this is good. And in part it is. Life is not without loss, and storytelling is an art that is at its heart about life in all its gritty, beautiful detail.
However …
It’s becoming a cheap trick.
Without spoiling dozens of popular stories across several venues (TV, Movies, Novels) I can say that I have seen no less than 7 traumatic deaths in the last couple of years alone. Some of them I even knew were coming at the very start of the story, which is a problem in and of itself.
As a storyteller myself I have to sit up and take notice. While I understand the impact a death like that has on the story-line and on the other characters, I have found myself sitting back as a reader/viewer feeling cheated and manipulated by the author/director.
This should alarm us.
We are becoming desensitized to this sort of story mechanic. That’s not to say we can’t keep using it, but more to say that we must be very, very careful when we do. If we must kill off a beloved character, then it has to hit our emotional buttons on every level. It has to mean something both to us as authors and to the story itself, or our readers will feel the cheapness of it.
