I don't have a lot, but West (West Flows) surprised me by declaring he was gay. I will admit I struggled with that, until I realized that love is just love. And he is very much in love with his Jeko.
I hope that more characters will come out as queer. I think my Moon might be. (She's the MC in the book after Sun Burns.)
#WordWeavers 5/21. Do you consider how your MC’s appearance may contribute to stereotypes?
I worry about that, yes.
However, I believe it cannot be helped, really. People will have their impressions and will stereotype. Still, I try to stay away from them.
For example, Sun won't have red hair, even though he is a fire mage. In fact, I'm not even sure what Laisal looks like, to be honest. I'm bad at imagining faces.
Still trying to find that elusive epic fantasy series that I completely vibe with. Tad Williams’s ‘The Dragonbone Chair’ surprised me with some great characters/worldbuilding and the high quality of the prose.
#WordWeavers 374. Antagonist POV: How do you feel about animals?
I'll fall back to our antagonist friend, the Head Priest of Jungle Fortress, for this one.
"Animals are part of the Gods' creation, just like us. We should respect them, even as we use them. We should treat them well, care for them, and if necessary, make their deaths swift."
Sky Falls, Pillars of the Empire 2
(available in all stores)
Writer Brain in combination with the Aztec Empire. Of course, then it took its own spin.
Fun fact: When the idea crossed my mind, I instantly came up with all nine titles in the series. As I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I repeated them over and over to myself, so I would remember them in the morning.
#WordWeavers 2/16. What is your antagonist’s pet peeve?
Let's go with the Head Priest of Jungle Fortress again.
He is really annoyed that the general populace doesn't recognize how much he does for them. I mean, it's not fun having to sacrifice a South every year.
And while the people cheer when he does, they stay away from him the rest of the year, when he doesn't force them to cheer. It's disgusting, really.
I had great fun today chatting with @mkucsera about Sky Falls (and a lot of other things that were more or less related to the series and writing in general).
If you feel like listening to us ramble and have fun (and me reading Chapter 3 of Sky Falls), click on the link and pick your favorite source.
#PennedPossibilities 217 — How intelligent is your MC overall? Are they smarter than the average person, or less than? Are they primarily self-taught, or did they acquire most of their knowledge in school? Are they more street smart or book smart?
Sky is really smart, but in a scientific sense. Definitely not street smart at all. Also completely self-taught, in fact, the Priests hid most information from him.
Of course, there's a bit of a catch. Yes, it's up on Amazon, Google and Kobo, but the other stores are still taking their sweet old time. (Looking at you, Apple and Tolino.)
Which means that the link below isn't yet as fully functional as it will be in a couple of days. Apologies!
#WordWeavers 1/22: Have you ever scrapped a written character? Why?
I... don't think so.
You see, I'm a pantser. Sometimes, people wander into my stories and I have no idea why.
Writer Brain often makes sense of them later on. One example is Madu, the grumpy shaman in my Winds and Pillars series. She just wandered in and supported South.
And then, she became a force of nature for West. grins