Musical Inspiration: My J-Pop Writing Soundtrack
A J-Pop song (or two) for each of the nine main characters in my feminist fantasy novels for the faith-curious. My song selection leans heavily into feminism with a light touch of fantasy and no allusions to faith topics, but that is how I like my pop music. The part that I am the most proud of? I chose eleven songs with no repeat artists!
Best Fantasy Book About Leaving a Cult?
A list of my favorite books about leaving a cult - in other words, books and characters I would compare The Acolyte’s Heresy and Serena to. My list is fairly short, probably because of self-selection bias when I was reading as a cult member, so I would love to hear your recommendations and expand my TBR list!
What’s In a Name? Power
I have always been fascinated by how people can go by different names when in the company of different groups of people for personal, cultural, and historical reasons. I believe there is power in claiming a name as yours, so, as you read my novels, please pay attention to names: what names characters choose for themselves, what names they go by with who and where, and what names they let go of.
Awesome, Amazing, Anachronistic
In my everyday life, “awesome” and “amazing” are some of my favorite words to describe something that is, well, awesome or amazing. Yet, I worry that using these words in my novels will ruin the cohesive, otherworldly vibe that I have carefully curated. Anachronisms and the Tiffany problem are the Scylla and Charybdis of writing words like “awesome” and “amazing.”
Distinguishing Voices and Switching Code
In the previous post, I talked about how I stumbled into writing dual POV novels because the way my character arcs worked, I needed at least one character my readers could root for (and not just pity) from the very beginning. However, that introduced a new challenge: how do I write POV characters to sound differently enough from each other? If I was going to do this, then I was determined to do it well. But how?
How It Begins…
It always starts with a death, plot-wise, and always the character arc, plotting-wise. Before any other plot element, I need to know how the POV characters are transforming. Because the plot is how the character is forced to transform. Once I hone in on that arc of transformation, really, the climax scene, then I build the rest of the story around getting my POV characters to that point.
Welcome to Kazarah and Aeona!
And how shall I greet you, dear reader? This is no simple question in my world. Major themes include religious diversity and religious sectarianism – so, each character would greet you differently when they meet you based on which sect they adhere to.