Okay, so there hasn’t been blogs the last two Saturdays. It’s okay. I knew I had a release and didn’t want to spam everyone with emails and blog updates. So I took some blog time off. Expect it in the future as well.
Now, because of this… STREAK : 6 (I think? I should check. I won’t)
Onto what the blog is actually about. I did an AMA in my reader’s group a few days ago! Now, there were SO MANY QUESTIONS. I’m going to split this into two parts. Books and Personal. Today is books. This won’t be all the questions, but nice selection (and the typos are from the original posts). After the fact means I’m adding more clarification for this blog post.
Q- What gave you the idea to an interconnected world like the tribunal world? Also can we have more hisao
A- I love world building. Love love love it. Being able to write an interconnected world lets me build this massive world and use different characters to explore different parts of the world. I wanted werecats and werewolves on the forefront of a series so Jacky is the lead. But she would never really explore the issues of nagas or kitsunes or witches. It’s not her character. So I’m using other series to explore all of those in detail. While none of the series overlap in plot, I love my side characters jumping around.
Hisao may never be a lead of his own shorts, but he will eventually make an appearance in Kaliya as well. And he’ll always be making small appearances in Jacky. He’s a quiet man with a very specific set of skills. He doesn’t want to be center stage.
Q- What do you want to evoke in a reader – said another way, what feels like success as an author beyond sales and numbers.
A- Age of the Andinna is a clear series I can point to as a reference to answer this. Not many people read it. It costs a lot to make (thousands).
But seeing the visceral reactions to each book and how the plot has unfolded has been one of my greatest joys. It’s my love letter series to epic fantasy genre. Seeing people go with Mave through victory and heartbreak, feel it the way she does… I feel like I’ve done something right in that series. It’s getting everything I ever wanted from it.
Q- Who are your favorite characters in the books you’ve written? (and why if you want to answer that lol)
A-I can’t answer this. There’s really no answer. I don’t have particular favorites. My characters are all the way they are because that’s who they want and need to be. Some I enjoy writing for the depth of their pain. Some the depth of their love. Some are complicated and I have to fight to show the depth of that. Some are simple and lovable.
So no favorites. They’re all good and bad for their own reasons.
After the fact- I answered this honestly. Seriously. This isn’t me trying to be like “I secretly like someone the most and won’t tell you”. I really don’t have a favorite.
Q-What was the hardest scene for you to write ( in any book )
A- Boring ones. The ones I know need to happen (important conversations) but for some reason seem to take 1000 hours to put on paper
Q-Do you have an idea of what your next RH book series will be after finishing AOA or will you be focusing more on K.N Banet series?
A-I’m taking 2021 off from publicly writing RH. I’m hoping to maybe finish Witch of the Wild West in my free time and then releasing the final three books together, but I can’t make any promises.
I need a break.
Q-There is sometimes M/M content in your books (Redemption, Andinna…) but I can’t recall F/F. Are you less comfortable with that?
A-Not really. I’m bi, so FF is just like MM or MF to me. It’s more that I haven’t found a natural moment for it yet.
I got to write Yenni and Allaina though and that made me happy. But, they’re not POV characters, so I didn’t get the chance to explore then deeper.
Also, the MM in AotA isn’t even harem. Mat and Bryn kiss once but that’s all. Alchan and Rain are a relationship but they aren’t the leads or the harem. There’s also an ace character that snuck her way into the series (I wasn’t planning on Lily being ace, she decided that).
I worry more about the pacing of the story than what relationships get the most screen time. Part of this is the problem of there’s more MM because there’s more male characters. There’s more opportunities for one or more of those characters to swing naturally than me trying to force a female MC into wanting another girl.
After the fact- Yenni and Allaina are two wonderful female Andinna from Age of the Andinna. Yenni is a lesbian, Allaina is bisexual, still discovering that part of herself. Her 3 husbands are very encouraging of her exploring her sexuality.
After the fact 2- Ace is a term for asexual.
Q- If your characters were real, who would you choose as your: – Best friend – Lover – Mortal enemy
A-Best friend- Jacky Lover- Raphael Mortal Enemy- (this is hard) Uh… Shadra
After the fact- This one, especially the middle part, is really awkward to answer.
And there you are. Some insight into books or book related things. I hope you all enjoyed this! I’ll hopefully do another one in the future. Next week, it’s going to be the ‘personal’ questions.
And for a life update? I’m writing Jacky 5 (Shades of Hate) as fast as possible. After that is Age of the Andinna 7 (The Avatar’s Flight). Busy busy.
And if you don’t come back to the blog before 2021 arrives, here’s a preemptive Happy Holidays! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!