Concerning Iron Sickness and Once Upon a Time

so how does iron sickness work in OUAT exactly? Because human blood can make Dylan's brownie sick and Nuada hates the smell of blood but it doesn't hurt him and the iron chains his dad used were magicked to stop him from resisting the iron but in the first few chaps he had iron fatigue? was it b/c he was sick? Does Sreng have a sensitivity to iron since he was made immortal by fae magic? And how come the cubs don't worry about iron? Or Wink?

Iron sickness only affects certain fae. I’m not sure why iron affects faeries (apparently it’s a holy metal because it’s an element, not an alloy? And it’s hard to manipulate which I guess makes it constant??? I dunno) but in a lot of western euro-centric mythology, it does. However, for some creatures, even western euro-centric ones, it clearly doesn’t. Redcaps, for instance, wear iron shoes and have hats that bleed human blood (which has iron in it). Dwarves obviously don’t have an issue with iron, and dullahan are said to fear gold, not iron, because it’s such a bright and cheerful color.

So Becan would get sick if he had to handle human blood (wash it off the floor, etc) because he’s one of the Wee Folk and doesn’t have a lot of magic, but Nils Fjonisse, who’s a tomte (the farm/barn equivalent of a brownie) can handle iron because he has magic that concerns horses, which wear horseshoes. Wink isn’t sensitive to iron because he’s a cave troll (so he has immunity similar to Dwarves).

Nuada is sensitive to iron - it smells really bad to him, though he’s become accustomed to it over the centuries - and if he’s unwell, it can cause mild irritation, a rash, or even burn him. He can smell iron in Dylan’s blood very strongly when they first meet because she’s bleeding, but as she heals it becomes bearable and by now he doesn’t even notice unless she’s injured.

Although sensitive to iron, as long as he is otherwise okay - not sick, not hurt - mundane iron doesn’t affect him other than to make him a little twitchy/uncomfortable because he’s a royal and he just has sooo much innate magic, the iron can’t deplete it enough to make him sick or kill him. If he were to become king, he wouldn’t notice it at all except for the smell. So the magic would have to be enchanted - only a very powerful fae could enchant iron - with magic-killing spells in order to hurt Nuada. Which is what the king used on him for the whip and the shackles when he was flogged.

In the first chapter, Nuada was suffering from iron fatigue because a few weeks earlier, he’d been bitten by a dipsa serpent. A single bite can kill a human in less than a minute, and kill most fae, but Nuada was at peak health when he was bitten, he spent most of his recovery time in a healing-spelled chamber, and his blood is saturated with royal magic. But he spent the first couple weeks after being bitten so sick that Wink had to take care of him and he couldn’t get out of bed and he barely ate anything, which left his body weakened to the iron and lead of the city above him once he moved out of the healing sanctuary to a normal hideaway.

Sreng has iron sensitivity like Nuada - royal magic made him immortal - because of the magic flowing through his veins, but he also has iron in his blood, so he is in constant pain. It’s one of the reasons he’s insane - he’s been in mild agony for over three thousand years and he has iron sickness, but can’t die from it because he’s immortal, and the pain is exceptionally bad because he’s a human with raw, wild, royal magic poured into his body to keep him alive without any sort of buffering spells to balance him out.

The kids don’t have to worry about iron because as far as I know, Cherokee otherworldly beings don’t have iron allergies.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir Review (4.5/5 stars)

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy. There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

“Just because he’s a good leader doesn’t mean he’s a good person.”

“I’d rather die than live with no mercy, no honor, no soul.”

“Fear is only your enemy if you allow it to be. Too much fear and you’re paralyzed. Too little fear and you’re arrogant.”

What I Liked: Oh my gosh, so much! I like that Laia is really scared all the time even though she’s trying to be brave. I like that Elias is biracial and that we don’t know much about his dad and that he comes from a very non-traditional family, being raised by his maternal grandfather. I also like that even though his mother hates him, she still loves him a little, too, even though she doesn’t want to and hates herself. I loved all the characters - Laia, Elias, Helene, Telmun, Elias’s grandfather, even Marcus and Zak - because they’re very fleshed out and believable, even though some of them suck so bad, because each of them is well realized and has strengths and weaknesses, fears and wants, etc. I even found myself pitying Marcus a little bit at the end of the third Trial and then once again at the end of the fourth.

I loved the Trials, even though they were just awful. I loved all the plot twists - I wondered what the fudge was going on with Helene the whole time and I can’t wait to get her POV in A Torch Against the Night. I love how even though the book left us with questions, it wasn’t super frustrating because the author answered just enough to satisfy my need to know things while also keeping some of my questions alive for the next book. I had several “oh s***” moments during the Trials, especially the last one. The book left me wanting to know more without making me frustrated.

The writing was pretty simplistic but still managed to keep that lyrical quality I like in most of the book, even with Elias. And there’s humor in it, too, which can be difficult to pull off when doing that style. The mythology is so interesting - a mixture of Roman and Middle-Eastern things but shown in an all new way. I recognized the mix of cultures in the book within the first few chapters, which really impressed me - a low-key fantasy set in what is essentially Roman-occupied Israel but without the religious contentions that were occurring at the time. I love how there is magic in the world but it’s fairly low-key, only manifesting in the thing about the silverskin and the augurs and the monsters they have to fight. Magic isn’t something everyone has access to, which is cool and makes the stakes harder to compete against, you know?

I loved this book. I need the whole series in my life now. Omg. There were only a few things I didn’t like.

What I Didn’t Like: Very little. There were only a few things. I didn’t like how Elias sort of bought into the whole “the dance of death is my prayer” thing his grandfather came up with for him. Like, I felt changing it a little to get away from the homicidal aspect of it versus the battle aspect (so keeping the first 2 lines, ditching the last 2) would’ve been more in keeping with his character.

And then how people talked about raping Helene like it would totally be okay and it’s like, I feel like the Commandant would’ve stopped him from raping her? Slave girls, I could see the Commandant not caring. And Helene manages to take care of herself, of course, so nothing happens, but Marcus is just like, “Yeah, I’m gonna do it eventually” and nobody thinks to tell an adult? Or Helene’s parents?

And then the Emperor is made out to be this big bad problem but we never see him before he gets killed by the Commandant’s goombas, which was kind of a letdown. Lastly, I do not ship Elias and Laia. I don’t mind them feeling some sort of attraction to each other but Laia has Keegan and Elias has Helene and I do not want Helene getting shafted in this way, she is so loyal to Elias and she loves him so much and I’m a teensy bit tired of the male and female leads falling for each other in YA. I’d like to see where that doesn’t happen.

But those were the only things honestly that I didn’t like and didn’t work for me.

Things of Note: I did edit out some of the violence in the book, just because I couldn’t really handle it. A kid gets flogged to death (he’s like, 10) and I had to edit that. Also, I’d say trigger warning for child abuse, parental neglect, parental slut-shaming, mentions of rape, torture, and mentions of attempted infanticide.

Would I Recommend: If you can handle all the things I mentioned in the above paragraph, than heck yes!!! I absolutely loved An Ember in the Ashes. I read it in less than 3 days even though I had to go to work and pre-ordered the sequel right after I finished it. So there. :)

Characterization: 1 star
Plot: ¾  star
Realism: 1 star
Word Choice: ¾ star
World-Building: 1 star

Plus ½ stars for originality (Roman-occupied Israel for a low fantasy? Dude)
Plus ¼ star for biracial protagonist
Minus ¼ star because why is there only one girl a generation at Blackcliff?
Minus ¼ star because of normalization of rape
Minus ¼ star because it doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test

Victoria Aveyard and Plagiarism

Okay, I was just on Goodreads and apparently according to a bunch of people Victoria Aveyard ripped off Pierce Brown’s Red Rising with her book Red Queen.

I almost cyber-punched someone because obviously these people have never actually double-checked one very important detail.

Red Rising came out January 28, 2014.

Red Queen came out February 10, 2015.

That literally means Victoria Aveyard managed to: 

- read Red Rising

- write the rough draft of Red Queen (her debut novel)
- edit it
- send it to an agent
- have her future agent read it (slush can take up to 6 months, you guys)
- have her future agent schedule a phone call with her
- have the actual phone call
- sign the agent contract
- mail the contract back to the agency
- start the agent-editing process (which takes up to 3-4 months)
- finish the agent-editing process
- send it out to editors
- have an editor read it (can take a month or more)
- have the editor contact her agent
- negotiate a contract
- have Victoria sign the contract and mail it back
- start and finish the publishers-editing process
- create a cover
- put together ARCS
- send out all the ARCS

And somehow Victoria the Whiz Kid Queen managed to do all of this in…let’s see, ARCs come out 2-3 months before a book’s release date, so she had to be done by say, December with that whole list. So she managed to do all of that…in 10 months.

Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me???

Next person that libels an author needs to get cyber-slapped, because that stuff isn’t okay. Like, if you don’t like her book, fine. But don’t lie about her to make you look like you’re oh so fucking smart.

Someone Asked My Beta This Question...

WHY does LA like to debate w/ people tho? Like what does she get out of it?

It’s a way to sharpen the mind. It’s like mental chess. It helps you learn to think fast, adapt to changing circumstances, overcome obstacles. My parents and my brother and sister and I have held debates on random things since I was like, 3 years old. I learned research skills, how to keep calm under pressure, how to handle overwhelming odds without cracking, and how to read certain things from people (mostly when they’re starting to get nervous cuz I’m winning).

It’s also just a good way to learn how people think about things (which in turn can tell you a lot about their background) and you can learn things from debates, too. It opens up new avenues of thought for me when someone mentions something I haven’t thought of before. And as long as everyone keeps their cool and we don’t resort to name calling or insults or whatever, it’s a great way to make friends with people who like to analyze stuff (mostly books but sometimes not) as well.

It also taught me something major that’s helped me a lot in my life - don’t commit to something unless you’re sure. When my dad and I would debate things and he would say, “That’s wrong,” if I argued, he would say, “I bet you. I bet you.” My dad doesn’t bet unless he’s certain. And so winning a bet of that kind with my dad was always a big deal, a sign that I’d taught him something.

But being wrong sucked. So I learned to make sure that in a situation where I was like, “No, this isn’t just conjecture, I’m positive I’m right,” I was pretty d*** positive before I even put myself out there.

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord Review (1.5/5 stars)

On a remote island in a tropical sea, Celaena Sardothien, feared assassin, has come for retribution. She’s been sent by the Assassin’s Guild to collect on a debt they are owed by the Lord of the Pirates. But when Celaena learns that the agreed payment is not in money, but in slaves, her mission suddenly changes—and she will risk everything to right the wrong she’s been sent to bring about.

What I liked: I liked the premise. I liked the new location (we’re out of Rifthold!) and I really liked the map the Pirate Lord has. That map was freaking amazing and I want someone else to get a map like that sometime in a later book. I loved getting to see Sam’s backstory, see people Calaena cared about from her assassin days, see how she interacted with Arobynn. I liked that her relationship with Sam started off with them as rivals. I liked the introduction of Ben, because it explains - among other things - why Calaena didn’t realize how awful things were with Arobynn.

And I liked the basic plot. The action scenes were well-written and the tavern brawl was awesome. That time when Sam and Calaena starting fighting on the beach after going to inspect the slaves was brilliantly written, too. And the voice/word choice was, as usual, fairly fantastic.

What I Didn’t Like: Oh, boy…let me count the things. 

Sam is an idiot. The way he just rips off Calaena’s mask like that? Like, what the frack? Her identity is a carefully guarded secret you could be tortured to death for revealing. Are you stupid? Apparently. Despite being Arobynn’s second-best student.

The use of slavery? Calaena is very much a white savior. It would’ve been better if all the slaves we see weren’t almost 100% from Ellywe, but even then…I feel like maybe more time should’ve been spent on maybe a slave coming to the fore and having more of a spotlight/helping out more to get somewhat away from the white savior trope. But here it just feels like SJM threw in the slavery thing as a way to show how good at heart Calaena was?

The sudden fondness Calaena feels for Sam felt very rushed. And I get that it’s a novella (which is why I typically don’t read romance novellas anymore) but there are ways to do it where it wouldn’t seem so abrupt. It could’ve started a bit earlier. Or maybe Calaena could, instead of straight-up hatingSam to begin with, could’ve always wondered why he didn’t like her and wishing he’d stop being so antagonistic - so that when he is, she’s more receptive to softening up to him. Here it just felt forced.

Calaena has no reaction to the heat except to sweat but she’s sweating buckets and not drinking anything hardly at all. Because she’s from Adarlan, dehydration would be a problem for her. Now, it could be assumed that she’d be okay since she’s worn that cloak ensemble before, but she wouldn’t be if she didn’t drink between breakfast and late dinner and was sweating like that. It would be like being in a sauna all day, but without the ability to drink or even lick the sweat off your skin. If nothing else, she’d have dehydration headaches, but she doesn’t. I’m pretty sure Sarah J. Maas has never actually been dehydrated or lost in a desert in her life.

Because I loved Throne of Glass - even with its flaws - I expected to love The Assassin’s Blade. But I didn’t. I didn’t love “The Assassin and the Pirate Lord.” It was okay. I didn’t hate it. But unlike Throne of Glass, I’m not going to be raving about it. And it wasn’t so good that the flaws didn’t detract from my enjoyment of it, as with books like Throne of Glass.

Also, since peeps might be wondering about the ¼ star for characterization - Calaena is so unlikeable in Throne of Glass and in this that she loses ½ a star. Sam being an idiot dropped it another ¼.

Things of Note: It’ll get a little better, but then it only gets worse as the novellas go on. You’ve been warned.

Would I Recommend: I would tell people who are curious about Calaena’s thoughts on slaves in the beginning of Throne of Glass that they could find out more in this novella, but that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Characterization: ¼ star
Plot: ¼ star
Realism: ½ star
Word Choice: ¾ star
World-Building: ½ star

Minus ¾ a star for bad usage of slavery and use of the White Savior trope; it’s used here to show Calaena as a white savior, but the slaves are mainly objects, with no real value as their own characters.

One of the Scariest Things I've Ever Done

When I was 7, in my swim class they offered…some kind of prize, I forget what…for jumping off the lifeguard stand into the deep end of the pool. It was perfectly safe but a) I was only 7, b) I was afraid of heights, and c) I couldn’t swim very well. I mean, I wouldn’t drown, but I didn’t go into the deep end without floaties because I wasn’t confident in myself that way.

But I did it and it scared the bejeebies out of me. My dad was super proud of me and took me to McDonald’s and my brother picked me up and carried me to the car because he was so impressed. :)

Why Do You Hate the Marauders!? (Comment-Question)

*sigh*

Okay, most of Booklr who’s seen any of my posts about the Marauders-era young people probably already know this…but.

Now, when I say Marauders-era peeps, I’m not talking about the Weasley parents (I feel like they’re a bit older than James & Lily were?) or Tonks (she’s quite a bit younger). I specifically mean James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Snape, and Lily. And we’ll throw in Dumbledouche for kicks because he was headmaster at the time, right? I seem to recall he was.

So that’s…7 people. Why do I hate those 7 people?

Do we really need to ask about Peter, Snape, or Dumbledore? Nah. So that leaves me with four - Sirius, James, Remus, and Lily.

Sirius: a bully and an unrepentant thief, a little creep who picked on other kids (including his so-called friend, Peter, and on Lily), who tried to murder someone for funsies.

James: add the the first 3 things I mentioned for Sirius.

Remus: allowed the first 3 things to happen. Also abandoned his child to go fight in a war (twice) because “oh poor me, I’m a werewolf, my self-loathing and cowardice is more important than being a decent father and husband”

Lily: shacked up with the douche-nozzle mentioned previously. And okay, supposedly she waited until James got his head on straight, but what does that say? Sexually harass a girl for 6 years, profess you’ve had a change of heart in 3 months, and she’ll have your babies, even after you tortured her best friend for years. People say Snape was a lousy friend, and the older he got, it becomes truer and truer. But that b**** was a lousy friend, too.

And yeah, she dies sacrificing herself to protect Harry, but you know who else has sacrificed their lives for their children? Malcolm Merlin, who’s massacred hundreds of people. Marissa Coulter, who helped murdered dozens upon dozens of kids all under the age of 12. Darth Vader risked his life to save Luke. Risking your life to save your child does not make you a hero, because plenty of villains have done it.

Oh, well, they fought Voldemort. So? Regulus Black was a racist little turkey but he gave Voldemort the ultimate f*** you (and good on him, too). You know who else fought Voldemort? Narcissa Malfoy, who would’ve let Harry die if he hadn’t been key to saving her child. The goblins of Gringotts, who torture animals and loathe all wizards to ever exist ever. Fighting Voldemort doesn’t make you a good person, either. Fudge and Scrimgeour would’ve fought Voldy if they could’ve and they are both evil little men.

So yeah, I’m posting this slightly long and hissy answer so that the next time someone asks, I can just link it because I realized I’d never gone into much detail about why I dislike the Marauders so much - because they’re bad people, who are lauded as good people because they were heroes. James, Sirius, and Lupin? They’re just as bad as Snape and Peter. Lily’s not as bad, but she’s still a cutthroat b****. And I know there’s that whole “strong girls are often called b****es,” well yes, they are. So are treacherous ones.

This is why Gen 2 is better. Harry and Ron and Draco, Neville and Ginny and Luna and Hermione, are better people than James, Sirius, Snape, Peter, Lily, and Remus. I love them. Their predecessors suck. All of them.

For the record: if you like the Marauders, fine. I don’t care/mind, I’m not gonna hate you or say you should be ashamed of yourself. People can like what they like. I have a very admittedly critical view of Harry Potter the series anyway. But this is why I don’t like the Marauders and why I wish Lily had stayed single and someone else could’ve been Harry’s mom and Tonks could’ve hooked up with someone better than Lupin who could love her like she deserved.\

Concerning Chinese Dragon-Elves in Once Upon a Time

In Once Upon A Time, do all chinese/dragon elves have the slitted eyes and scaly eyebrows/necks? Or just the royal ones? I like your story, it's very good :)

Dragon blood is what causes vertical pupils instead of circular ones, so the stronger the dragon ancestry/bloodline, the more likely you’ll get reptilian/draconian eyes and scales. 

This means all royals and most nobles have them (the emperor tends to take at least one or two dragon concubines every generation to make sure the top princes are dragon Elves), and about 50% of the common Elven population has them (although to varying degrees). 

Dragon blood tends to pop up in different ways in non-Elven Chinese fae, and also can have interesting results in fae with more than two bloodlines (can you imagine a fox-dragon vampire?). 

I Was Asked Would I Write a NB/Genderfluid Character

I have a book in the works (reading An Ember in the Ashes and Throne of Glass really makes me want to work on it), working title is Hallows. And it’s about this fantasy world where there are generally regular people like us and then these people called Hallows, and a certain number are born every generation, and they have special powers because they’re anthropomorphic personifications of certain traits of humanity - hope, joy, wonder, fear, etc. Things that have had a major impact on the development of human culture (hope and fear have influenced a great many solar festivals).

So in this world, in some countries Hallows are considered normal people with jobs like how doctors, lawyers, bakers, and butchers are just normal people with jobs. In some countries they’re revered in the same was as oracles and priests. In others, they’re considered royalty. And in some, they’re second class citizens or even enslaved or considered “enemies of the state.”

And my 2 characters - Maya and Sethsis - are each Hallows. Maya is a hope-Hallow and Sethsis is a joy-Hallow. Sethsis is also genderfluid. And the two of them are from different kingdoms - Maya from a kingdom where Hallows are just people, Sethsis where Hallows are treated like royalty - but they’re both kidnapped (Sethsis is disguised as a regular guy just chilling with normal peeps at the time) and sold into slavery to fight in the gladiator pits in one of the other kingdoms. They team up in order to survive until they can fight their way to the final tournament, where they have to survive for a moon in the wilds with other Hallows and soldiers and competitors trying to kill them.

So it’s sort of like The Hunger Games meets Ancient Rome with Egyptian and Yoruban mythology thrown in through the lens of Rise of the Guardians.

But one of my leads is Sethsis, who is genderfluid. I just need a name other than genderfluid for this book because as it has been pointed out to me before, high fantasy novels wouldn’t use the same words we would for things like that.

Someone Asked If I Could've Written ToG/ACOTAR Better Than Sarah...

I think if I’d had the idea for Throne of Glass, I could’ve done it better based on my technique. BUT. It’s not just technique that makes a book. It’s not even mostly or even half technique. The ideas Sarah J. Maas brought to the book series (so far, anyway; I’m only 2 books in) are something I don’t think I could have created better than she did, and they are what make the series so good.

I think, other than some passive voice (which I only noticed because I’ve been slashing it out of a manuscript I’m editing) in ACOTAR/ACOMAF, there’s no real flaws in them except for the way she describes the sexual aspects, which I skimmed over anyway. And I will say that the aspects of ACOTAR that she took from The Black Jewels were changed in such a way that they were still unique and interesting and I had no issues with the things I noticed coming from TBJ.

What Are Filter Words?

Filter words are words that filter the immediacy of a story through the lens of a character, but do so in a way that isn’t necessary. Here are some examples.

“Romeo felt the anger boiling in his blood as he stared at Mercutio’s corpse” could be rewritten as “Anger boiled in Romeo’s blood as he stared at Mercutio’s corpse.”

“Feyre smelled the stinging scent of paint thinner” could become “The scent of paint thinner stung Feyre’s nose.”

Sometimes filter words work and are even necessary, but most of the time they’re not really and can slow down the pace a lot.

How I Edit a Manuscript

Basically it goes like this.

Notebook round: I write down what’s what and what I need and different world details and plot points in my notebook. I have a lovely set of pens just for this. They give good scratch and it inspires me.

Rough Round One, Fight! I type up my manuscript, chapter by chapter. I used to do it out of order but my scene transitions were always too jarring, so I ditched that bit. I refer to my notes as I type, possibly have to stop occasionally to revisit the notebook round and flesh out new avenues of plotting-ness. And as I type, I edit. Now, I don’t recommend this for anyone because a lot of people get super hung up on every word they type being perfect, and I’m just like, “It’s gonna be good, and I don’t need it to be good right now, because I’ll fix it. So check this lyrical prose, b*****.” So if I don’t like how a sentence flows, I’ll change it mid-scene. But I don’t obsess over it. That way lies madness.

Between this round and the next, I sit for about 2-3 weeks and do other things. Otherwise, I run into problems. Waiting is a good idea, mah peeps.

Don’t Be a Passive Pansy (Check Yourself): I print out my manuscript and go through my entire manuscript with 4 colored pens, looking for passive voice, filter words, basic typos, and any copy-edit mistakes because I’m always gonna stab those to death when I find them, to prevent them from breeding and spreading across my manuscript like demon bunnies. I also go through looking for repetitive information/dialogue tags/actions.

More waiting, my lovelies. 2-3 weeks is a good time period, especially if you’re working on another project or reading a lot of different books.

Don’t Be Racist/Ableist/Sexist/A Douche: after making all my changes from the previous round, I reprint my manuscript and take new pen colors to it, looking for any kind of anything that could be racist, sexist, anti-lgbt+ in any way, or that just doesn’t conform to the religious, racial, cultural, or queer identities of my characters (this usually snags almost all characterization contradictions, so it’s doubly useful). Usually this is only a very small thing. 

For example, in Eidolon there’s a moment where Janine is thinking about a kiss, and it’s not clear that this kiss is supposed to be a chaste and sweet one instead of a passionate teeth-tongues-and-drool kiss, so I underlined that sentence and rewrote it to make it clear that Janine’s not into those kinds of kisses, because she’s ace. Or like, also in Eidolon, I did a Google search on ways to describe a deaf person’s voice and vocal patterns without being offensive, because I’d left a footnote-mark in a certain color of pen where said mentions needed to appear when describing Princess Madeline’s voice.

And yet more waiting. Don’t worry, this keeps you from wanting to chuck your manuscript out the wind because you’re just so dang tired of looking at it.

Taste the Freaking Rainbow Round: the final round of editing before chucking it over to a crit-partner, with a third round of printing (so I’ve used up 2 reams of paper at this point). Basically I’m double-checking for all the things you were looking for before, and also slashing through any excessively overwritten or purple prose, or any prose that due to situation may sound good but ends up being confusing. This is also my last chance to triple-check for repetition, my ultimate foe.

And then I give it over to someone else.

Plot Bunny Ranch: Night-Dreamed Roads

Um…essentially Night-Dreamed Roads is Mad Max: Fury Road meets The Fairies of Pixie Hollow. It’s a solarpunk sci-fi/fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic future where the apocalypse was long ago enough that society has dragged itself back together again, and my group of Mormon girls all live in this solarpunk town in a string of towns where everything is a mix of tech and magic (with magic-users needing to use math and science to work and science relying on magic in the same way), and my girls are all witches on the verge of testing to become Adepts, but they have to go through the actual test, which changes from year to year, and sometimes witches have died.

And in the middle of preparing for the test (which has an academic portion as well as the different-each-year practical portion), their town gets attacked and the girls try to teleport out with the rest of the townspeople, but they go back for their elderly teacher and when they try to teleport out, the teleporters are destroyed in the middle of the transport and the girls end up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dangers, and needing to get back to their town to save their teacher.

This spawned another book idea about Mormon witches in space, which I was also calling Night-Dreamed Roads because I don’t have another title for it yet and I hate things not having titles. It’s the only thing standing in my way right now of starting my VR gaming book.

I Was Asked If I'd Ever Written an Ace Character...

Usually I write high fantasy, so the word “ace” doesn’t really exist in those situations. However, my ace characters make it very clear that they are in fact ace. The one urban fantasy I wrote with an ace character and then “The Ride,” which is set in the future, were written at a time when I didn’t know there was a word for being ace so they don’t use it, but the urban fantasy - Glass - is being overhauled, albeit slowly, so the word is going to be used in the book.

Why Is the Witch Queen a B****? Motive Is Important (Short Answer)

ok is your evil witch queen in your faerie book just a bitch because she's the popular girl or what? b/c that's so fucking tired. girls can be popular w/o being bitches you know?

No, she’s not. Well, there are two popular girls who are antagonists. One of them is just mean for the sake of being a b**** but the other one is being forced into this position by her father. He’s incredibly abusive and views her only as a commodity to make him look good to the other adult witches because “my daughter did this,” “my daughter did that,” “my daughter has the entire school under her thrall and they fear her.”

She doesn’t really want to be this way. She’s under a lot of pressure to be in total control, to be perfect all the time, to be respected always and if possible feared by her peers, and she’s not allowed to really be a person because her father wants her to be a ruthless machine. And a big part of the story arc is how Alyssa, the MC, first is her enemy because she doesn’t know this stuff, but then helps her get away from it all and start over and she (my witch queen; her name is Lily) ends up moving into Alyssa’s house and they become friends and allies in the war to take down Lily’s dad, who’s the main antagonist.

Why Does Dylan Hate Balor So Much?

Because the man’s a grade-A douche nozzle. :)

Okay, but in seriousness, how many times has Balor done something hecka-decka abusive to Nuada? I mean, I realize Nuada is like, 40. But Balor is still his dad and still his king and the man has some serious power over our prince. Also the whole Nuada-almost-dying in chapter 11 and Balor not-really caring for all intents and purposes (he still hasn’t apologized!!!) are not far from our girl’s mind, you know. And the bed thing. And the marriage thing. And the constant accusations of Nuada being a rapacious psychopath. Etc, etc, etc.

Someone Asked Why Did Loki Freak Out in TEODD Ch 6?

He had a flashback. The man has severe PTSD because of all that happened while in the Chitauri dungeons and after that in the Asgardian dungeons. He also has been hallucinating off and on over the course of more than a year and while his mind is slowly healing in that regard, it’s causing him severe anxiety as well. And then Thea had to go and f*** with his mind to make him stop trying to kill Steve, which stopped him, but f***ed with his mind even more.

How Many Fat Characters Do I Plan to Write? (And Why Did Someone Ask Me This?)

Quite a few. Janine is my current girl because I’m still working on Eidolon and she’s my MC. Juliet from House of Gears is built like Raven Symone and I’m going to hop back to HoG at some point in the future (it needs serious editing). My female lead in my unnamed VR book - I seriously need a name - is fat. So is my girl in Hit the Lights and my main girl in Frost & Fire. So is my girl in Empress of Ice & Oceans. That’s just a few off the top of my head. I’m sick today so I’m not firing on all cylinders; I apologize. :)

PS - why is this a question???

Someone Asked Why Do I Write Mixed Characters?

Because I’m mixed, first of all. Second, there aren’t as many mixed characters in writing where that mixed-race aspect of themselves is acknowledged except when it’s part of an issue book or contemporary fiction, neither of which I read much of. Third, because as a kid people told me I couldn’t do things because I was too white, too black, blah blah blah, and I couldn’t point to anyone who fit that description who’d really done anything so that I could say, “But they did.” I don’t want that to happen to other children.

My Thoughts on Tamlin the Tool

Having finished ACOMAF last night, I have this to say.

1 - Tamlin isn’t sorry he abused Feyre. He’s just sorry that she left because of it. It’s obvious he isn’t sorry about how he actually acted because of how he treats her in the last two scenes we see her in.

2 - Because of the politics happening right now, there’s not enough room for Tamlin to redeem himself on such a personal level since the abuse aspect of his character arc is so divorced from the actual war going on.

3 - He’s so immature and oblivious, I don’t think anything Feyre could do in the next book would make him change what made him abusive to begin with.

4 - Because these books are in large based on The Black Jewels by Anne Bishop, I’m almost positive Tamlin will never get over the idea that anything Feyre does or says that he doesn’t like, or any opinions she has that don’t mesh with his view of her, is a direct result of mind-rape by Rhysand.

5 - Even if by some miracle he managed to pull his head out of his butt and stop being such a dick and let Feyre go, that doesn’t make up for the things he did separate from his obsession with Feyre - like the lion-queen, and Tamlin’s treason, and Cas, and her sisters, all that stuff. And the only thing in that that he’s sorry for is the sister-bit.

6 - Although I love Sarah J. Maas, I don’t think she has the literary skill at this point to fix Tamlin even if she wanted to.