I hope your Christmas was wonderful, filled with the love of family and friends and the joy and wonder of Christ’s birth. We had fun with my parents and Skyped my brother and new sister-in-law, whom we haven’t seen in far too long. Twelve Days of (Faerie) Christmas (obviously) wasn’t ready in time for a Christmas release. Partly this was because I needed to tweak a few things and editing always, without fail, takes longer than I expect it will. And partly this was because my fantabulous cover designer was booked up until well past Christmas! So this leaves me with […]
On Writing and Publishing
63 posts
The authors of Luminous, including yours truly, are celebrating the release of the boxed set with a series of interviews and a giveaway! I’m hosting J.S. Bangs interviewing Intisar Khanani on my blog today. What is noblebright fantasy? Noblebright fantasy is fantasy set apart by a sense of hope. Noblebright fantasy includes at least one character who, although flawed, still deliberately pursues goodness. And that goodness has the power to make a difference. In a noblebright story, even villains are not without hope. Their redemption isn’t guaranteed, of course, but it is a possibility. You can find more detail here on […]
My answer: I have so many favorites for different reasons! But one of my enduring favorites is Reepicheep, from the Chronicles of Narnia (the books much more than the movies!). He’s arrogant and quick-tempered, probably partly to hide a little insecurity. He makes mistakes, but he’s always quick to apologize. He follows hard after Aslan, risking his life without a thought to do the right thing and inspiring others with his courage. He’s kind, generous, valiant, and a respected leader among the mice. When the party on the Dawn Treader is at the edge of the world, he is overcome […]
The Lord of Dreams is now up for pre-order! When a fairy king grants a human wish, there’s more at stake than dreams. Claire Delaney has a good life, despite her adolescent angst. But she wants more. In a moment of frustration, she wishes to be “the hero.” What she actually wants is to be the center of attention, but what she gets is a terrifying Fae king demanding that she rescue an imprisoned fairy, facing fantastical dangers and hardships she could not have imagined. Yet the dreams–and the rescue–are only the beginning of her journey. She is at the […]
When I wrote the first post about noblebright fantasy, I got a comment from author L. Jagi Lamplighter (isn’t that a wonderful name?!) about the superversive literary movement. I’ll post more about that later, but I thought I’d start with this lovely essay about why she writes fantasy (reprinted with permission from her website here). All About The Wonder Recently, I met my first grader at the bus after school. As we walked home, he asked suddenly: “Mom, why do you write fantasy?” I must admit, I was taken aback. I did not have an easy answer ready on the tip […]
Several years ago I was fortunate enough to connect with another indie author, Mike Reeves-McMillan, who wrote a lovely review of The King’s Sword, which he described, tongue-in-cheek, as “cheerybright.” He meant that the world wasn’t perfect, but good characters exist and can make a difference in their world and society through actions defined by honesty, integrity, and self-sacrifice. While the term cheerybright certainly made me smile (and was a lovely counterpoint to grimdark), we eventually discovered the term “noblebright.” The term noblebright was originally something of a joke from the gaming community. The quintessential grimdark game Warhammer 40k (which I […]
This post was originally written for D. H. Aire’s blog for the 2013 Blogger Book Fair and is slightly expanded here. Note: The information below is geared toward relatively realistic hand-to-hand fights with real-world physics. Magic changes things! If your characters are wizards or mages or shapeshifters or something, that will obviously affect the fight a great deal. Fight scenes are one of the areas where even experienced writers can run into difficulty. Although I wouldn’t call myself an expert, I’ve gotten some nice reviews and comments on the fight scenes in my books, particularly The King’s Sword, so I thought I’d […]
More adorable characters from W.R. Gingell! Althea and Markon are the two main characters in Twelve Days of Faery. Althea is confident and competent, magnificently understated, and somehow adorable rather than intimidating. She’s kind and funny and endearing, while remaining supremely focused on her mission. She’s quite understandably fascinating to Markon (and to the reader), and she’s a wonderful example of a “strong female character” who isn’t written as a physically rough-and-tough sex symbol with too much attitude. Markon is the point-of-view character, and he’s immediately likable. He’s overworked, beset by annoying visiting dignitaries, and deeply upset by the curse […]
I’ve started on a number of new projects, but I need to focus after my long period of post-surgery recuperation. Why yes, I’m almost functional again! Thanks for asking. I’m getting better! I don’t want to go on the cart! I’d originally posted this on G+, but I figured my blog is a better place to do this. Plus a lot of you aren’t active on G+ so maybe you’ll vote this way. What should I work on next? I have an abundance of ideas at the moment. All of these are started but only the first has anything approaching […]
Did I mention I’ve been loving W.R. Gingell’s work lately? I have. All of her characters are delightful (except the horrible ones, who are horrifically horrible). Jack is the son of the Queen of Hearts. Jack is a self-centered, untrustworthy liar, shallow and prickly and sarcastic and utterly, completely delightful. He’s disappointing and brilliant, and he makes the story infinitely more personal to narrator Mabel. And Mabel is his equal, impulsive and brilliant and dangerous in her mounting terror at the Queen’s evil manipulations. Playing Hearts is a novella, but there is so much story crammed in a relatively short […]