Judging a Story as a Whole

It’s now 2018, and I’m 16k words into The Xiaran Mongrel, the finale of my Annals of the Bitch Queen trilogy. This is going to be divided into two acts, each at around 90-100k each, so…quite a doorstopper. Anyone who has finished The Agartes Epilogues know I take finales very seriously. Not only do plotlines have to come …

On Discovering Your Voice

This is a scheduled blog post. I am hoping by the time it publishes itself, I would have finished the first draft of my…I’ve lost count of the actual number, but what will be the seventh book I’ve completed with the intention of publishing (but because of weird scheduling issues will be the sixth out). …

The Story of The Wolf of Oren-yaro In One Line

I‘m bored and procrastinating, so I wanted to play a bit and dissect the opening line of The Wolf of Oren-yaro. They called me “bitch”, the she-wolf, because I murdered a man and made my husband leave the night before they crowned me. I don’t like wasting words. The rare exception is in dialogue or introspection, …

Epic Fantasy Ramblings: Writing Characters People Care For

So before we talk about how I do epic fantasy characters, just let me put duct tape on my inner critic’s mouth… So, now that that bitch is quiet…I’m starting another novel on Monday, which means a whole new bunch of characters, and I’d like to make them all very well-rounded because like with all my …