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Sibling relationships in life and fiction
I am the middle child of three girls (the middle of 5 kids total, counting step-siblings who are real siblings to me). I have great relationships with all of them. They are ALWAYS there for me, and I hope they are able to say I am there for them. They support and help me. They…
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Character Spotlight: Laskenay, Lady of Sorrows
As a woman fighting in a civil war, Laskenay doesn’t try to be a man. She’s wise enough to know she’s not a traditional soldier, and any chance she has to succeed or survive lies in adopting other tactics.
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Kora’s first raid, part 1: Excerpt from “The Crimson League: The Fight For Hope”
Monday means an excerpt here on the blog! Today I’m excited to share the first excerpt from an action scene, showing magic and civil war at play. This is from Kora’s first raid as a member of the Crimson League, the organized resistance against sorcerer-dictator Zalski Forzythe. Three veteran members of the league, all men,…
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This morning’s blog-related “God moment”
I have a friend who calls explicit acts of providence in her life-the ones she recognizes as God reaching out to her–“God moments.” I had one today at Mass THE SET UP Yesterday, I wrote a blog post to release today, introducing the members of The Crimson League (the rag tap resistance group in my…
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The Crimson League shows everyone has something to contribute
Each leaguesman IS needed. Each one is beautifully necessary as the story of the League unfolds–the quiet ones and the brash ones, the thinkers and those who rush to act, the sensitive ones and the hardened ones. So it is in real life. Each one of us is unique and irreplaceable. We fight different flaws…
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My favorite street marker in Madrid
I’m a bit of a world traveler in my way, back from my days in graduate school, mostly. I almost got a PhD in Spanish literature, so I’ve spent a lot of time in Madrid. I actually finished my first draft of The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope there the summer after graduating with…
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My funny prof, first day of class antics, and what he taught me about narration
My last semester as a grad student at the University of Alabama, I took a narratology class. I was technically studying Spanish lit, but I had ONE elective outside the Spanish dept, I was writing my own fiction–I had always wanted to be a writer–and writing was my passion. I figured narratology would be a…
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Flaws versus faults, character development, and why it matters
One of my most popular posts ten years ago on my old blog was about the distinction I’ve always made between flaws and faults in fictional characters (and real people). You see, it’s important as an author to show that you respect your reader (as I recently discussed). One way we do that is by…
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On courage
G. K. Chesterton (he’s just about the most quotable guy ever) says in Orthodoxy that: “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” For YEARS now, I cannot think think of this quote without thinking that it would be a perfect…
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On hope: why it’s worth fighting for
I find it intriguing that, as I work toward re-releasing my fantasy trilogy (and then a prequel), the publisher I’m working with suggested “The Fight for Hope” as a subtitle for the first installment. They suggested a few other subtitles, none of which I liked at all. “The Fight for Hope” grabbed at me, and…
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Creative Writing with the Crimson League 