The Brutally Honest Author - Part 1

One afternoon I was sitting at the office on my break. I should have been editing, but instead, I was on Twitter. I was scrolling through some writing community questions and it got me thinking—which is always a dangerous thing.

So many questions. So many people wanting answers. Twitter is a bit restrictive and most people try to be nice about their answers. In fact, unless I know someone well, I tend to be rather nice about my answers.

But sometimes nice doesn’t really cut it. And I thought, what can I do differently? How about some no-holds-barred, brutally honest answers to your questions?

So, I put the question out to the writing community on Twitter. Are there questions that you want to ask a writer or author and get a brutally honest answer for?

Thankfully, the community did not disappoint. The questions rolled in. To the point that this may just become a regular series for me. Just keep in mind that when I say “no-holds-barred, brutally honest answers to your questions”, I mean I will more than likely be cursing.

Now, do remember, these are my experiences and opinions only. Others may think or feel differently than me because they've experienced things differently. I'd love to hear your opinions as well, so please do respond in the comments! And if you got questions, ask away and I will try to get to them in the next “Brutally Honest Author” post!

@CJPDouglas asked "How do you make yourself edit? It's such a slog for me..."

I often tell people that I love the editing stage but as much as I love it, I also hate it. It's tough to tear your own work apart and, somedays, it can be hard to convince myself to sit down and do it.

In fact, that's the hardest fucking part, actually sitting down to do it. I moan and groan and bitch about it, until I start the process. As I read through I find myself falling in love with the story, if not my flawed and typo-laden writing. 

As soon as I start actually getting into the editing I find myself eager to see how well I can polish my words. How I can take the block of granite and turn it into an artistic masterpiece. When I rediscover the love for my story I realize how much I want to make this better, make it something that I would want to buy if I were wandering through a bookstore.

One thing I have noticed, when I find editing the hardest is those spots in my manuscript where I really screwed the pooch. Not just clunky writing, but terrible bouts of crappy exposition. I find if I make it through a chapter and I am still hestitating moving on to the next then I have to go back and take a harder look at my work

And after all of this—rinse, lather and repeat. I know I have something good when I find myself getting consumed by the story every time I go into edit. Although I always have that "Oh, dear god, do I have to do this AGAIN?" feeling before every edit session.

@_WARoberts asked "Which do you find better, self-pub or the traditional pub? Or are they both about the same?"

This is such a hard question to answer. Each of them have their benefits and downfalls. I love having full control in self-pub, but it can be such a maze to navigate, especially for first timers. I had no fucking clue what I was doing when I first self-published my novel. How it turned out decently is still a mystery to me. 

What I enjoy about traditional pub is that I have a support network built into my experience. I have someone to do that cover design. I mean, I have a background in graphic design, but I am sometimes at a loss as to what I want to do with the cover for one of my own stories. I am too close to it. And, covers are the first thing people see. It needs to be good.

I think what it comes down to is if you know what you're doing, have access to good editors, designers and formatters—have at it with self-publishing. It's going to be a tough go for most people. Getting reviews, getting noticed, marketing. It's hard.

However, traditional publishing only takes some of this pressure and expense off your shoulders. As an author, be prepared to sell not only yourself, but your books as well. Both are tough, you need to be prepared for tough.

Unless you're one of those rare, lucky bastards who manages to knock out an international best seller for their first novel. In that case, I both hate and admire you.

@JoshMGillingham asked, "Where do your ideas come from?"

Oh man, this fucking questions. First off, as an author, have two answers for this question at all times. Your socially acceptable, tell at interviews answer that is pithy and quoteable. Then have the real answer that you only tell to a few people.

Today we explore the real answer. For me, it starts with a sentence, a couple of words, a random comment, something I see. It marinates in my brain and starts bumping uglies with other thoughts. Before I know it, story ideas start falling out of my ears.

Seriously, I don't often go looking for ideas. They find me. If you keep your brain air conditioned enough (aka - open), they'll come looking for you too. My first novel was inspired by a Santana song and an image it provoked in my mind (Road to Redemption). Another was me thinking about a what if - what if an elder god got trapped in the body of a girl.

Often the end product looks nothing like the inspiration, but all I need is that first domino in a string of thoughts to end up with a story that makes people go "What inspired this story?" By the time it's written the answer is usually "I don't fucking know. It just happened."

Thanks for tuning in for Part 1 of the Brutally Honest Author. In the next Brutally Honest Author post, I will be addressing questions from @NicoleDCarver.

If you asked me a question on Twitter, don't worry. You are on the list. Each question that I have responded to has been added to the queue. I will get to it! 

Feathers and Fae - Where it all began

This was not a novel I had ever planned to write. Heading into November 2016 I had no idea what I was going to write for NaNoWriMo. I had a lot I could write, but nothing I wanted to write. A joke about having someone give me random prompts turned into a challenge between friends.

Three random, unrelated prompts were given to a few of us by another friend. Our story had to incorporate all three prompts.

I received my prompts on noon of October 31st. I had twelve hours to think up a way to combine these three unrelated prompts into a story that made sense. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I sure as heck was going to try my hardest to make it work.

These are the three prompts we were given:

And, yes, all these elements made it into the story. I finished the month of November by hitting 'The End' on this novel at a bit over 60K words. And, even after umpteen million edits, they are all a part of the story still.

I had no idea what I was writing until I wrote it. I put one word in front of the other with no plan and somehow I got a novel out of it. I did add several chapters after the first draft on the recommendation of a good friend and freelance editor, but that was about all I did besides the normal editing processes and a few slight changes to chapter one.

So what is it about?

Our story focuses on the close friendship between Emmett and Kami, starting in our own world in the town of Blakely Grove. However, the story quickly takes you on a journey into the realm of Mythos. A place where all the creatures of myth and legend live.

While the focus is on Emmett and Kami, the story expands to include Jewel, a seer, and Bob, a yeti. It’s a fun cast of diverse personalities and a very handsome villain who will stop at nothing to reach his goal – destroying Emmett and Kami. Oh, and ruling over all the five realms – Mundialis, Mythos, Immortui, Anabasa, and Castus.

If that wasn't hard enough, there is a web of secrets and lies that is slowly unravelling and it has the potential to tear Kami and Emmett's friendship apart.  

What makes this novel special?

For me, it’s the characters and how their relationship changes and develops over the course of the journey that takes you from forest to peat bog to the frozen mountaintops. It’s a slow and deliberate reveal of the secrets that Emmett is hiding and the lies he tells to protect those around him. Although, you can be the judge of whether the lies did more harm or good in the end.

Why should I read it?

I honestly believe that not every story is for every person. However, if you love a bit of sword and sorcery, wild adventures, incredible landscapes, mysterious secrets, and end-of-the-world thrill rides then you will probably love this story.

Or just read it for Bob the Yeti. Everyone loves Bob.

Feathers and Fae - An Adventure in Pantsing

Next month, on October 11, my first traditionally published novel will be released. One thing I wanted to do was share a few things about this book and my adventure in writing this story.

Starting in two weeks, every Wednesday leading up to my release date there will be a post about how this novel came to be, about the myths I used to create the world of Mythos and about the incredible landscapes I write about and the inspiration for them.

However, this first one will be about the fact that this was an entirely unplanned novel. As I describe in more detail in my next post, this started as a dare/challenge between friends for NaNoWriMo. I had three unrelated prompts and 12 hrs to come up with a story. For those not familiar with writing terminology, this is what is known as 'pantsing'.

I started doing NaNoWriMo back in 2008. This novel was written in 2016. In the years between I have pants many novels and I've also planned novels to the extent of having written 10K word outlines and 11-page spreadsheets. And of course, I've done everything in between.

This also isn't the first time I'd taken on a challenge like this. I did something similar once before so going into this adventure I had some practice with learning how to let a plot flow and follow the narrative.

Things I decided to do as I wrote...


I planned my two main characters, Kami and Emmett, around the prompts. While Kami's name did change in the first set of revisions, Emmett has always been Emmett. Because I planned the prompts around these characters I had a basic idea of who they were and what I wanted to reveal about them right from the beginning.


Once I decided on who my characters were (mostly), then I had to decide what sort of world that I wanted to create. Once again, like many fantasy writers, I leaned on the myths of our world and naturally decided that this world, Mythos, would be the place where those stories originated, from a time when their world and ours moved more closely together. This would allow me to draw from many sources and bend a few myths as necessary to fit the story.

As I'll mention in one of the upcoming posts, when I finished writing the first chapter I knew I wanted to write a journey that was reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings. I wanted incredible landscapes and danger at every turn. Each adventure more dangerous than the last.

I also knew that my characters were going to need help, what was so that is where Jewel came into existence. Someone to tell them what to do and how to do it. I knew I wanted her to be a bit out there, but knowledgeable.


Things that surprised me...

Tithoriea and Malawli were not supposed to be nearly as interesting as they turned out to be. Maybe one day I will write their story, but those characters that appear for all of one scene ended up having a wonderfully complex history.

I had no idea that Jewel would join them on the journey. I wrote it and then I rolled with it. Why not, a third person to give an outside perspective on the relationship between Kami and Emmett didn't seem like a bad idea.

Kami's character arc developed naturally. I hadn't planned it and as I realized what I was doing with the character I made sure to keep an eye on it as I wrote. Like her name, a lot of her interactions required significant rewriting and alteration after the fact because of this. I do think that rewriting this part made for a better novel (and a more likeable character).

Bob the Yeti. He just showed up, pushed his way into this story, and left me wondering what the hell happened. What was supposed to be a throwaway innkeeper who would give my three weary travellers a small hand in their journey turned into what is most people's favourite character in the entire novel. I would also like to credit my friend Ashe for naming him. Bob's name was originally be more exotic, but he got named Bob and it stuck.

THAT CHAPTER. You'll know what I mean when you read the book, but there is that one chapter when it seems all hope is lost. Every good story like this needs to have that moment when we all doubt that our heroes will win. But how that happened in this story? Man, it still breaks my heart a little.

About the creative process of pantsing...
Planning is necessary for many types of novel, but a straight-up fantasy adventure works nicely for a pantsed story. A lot of this kind of tale involves a point A to point B to point C thinking style. While I still had to develop an ending and antagonist on the fly, I found that I was still able to work in plenty of groundwork for all the things that had to be added later

One of the things I did was using a decision-maker to decide on a path if I couldn't decide which way to take my story. Like the flipping of a coin trick, if I really hated the option that was chosen then I went with the one I really wanted, but this rarely happened. I sometimes even used this method for deciding what my characters would say some instances.

I could go on and on about how I made this novel happen, but I won't too much. To be honest, it's a lot like driving down a strange road at night. I got there a little at the time without knowing what the road would look like, but I followed where my characters took me. Thankfully, they were strong enough characters to carry me along.

ARC Review: What Once Was Home - by B.K. Bass

This novel is published by Kyanite Publishing. I, once again, had the privilege of being able to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this compelling story. Release date is October 25, 2019. Find out more about this story and where to purchase it here: https://kyanitepublishing.com/product/what-once-was-home/

When this novel first came up as an ARC, I knew I wanted to read it. However, I was on vacation and didn't have time to respond to the message. Shortly after returning home, I had a message from B.K. asking if I wanted to read this even though I had recently reviewed another novel of his.

I didn't hesitate to assure him that I was eager to read this novel after hearing about it and seeing the back-cover blurb. It sounded right up my alley and I've enjoyed all his work immensely so far. 

Before I get into the writing, look at that freaking cover. Gorgeous right? It may not seem much to people, but the interior formatting on this story was wonderfully done. I don't often notice interior formatting unless it stands out as exceptionally beautiful or it's so bad it annoys me (and as a result affects my opinion of the story). So, yeah, I couldn't NOT mention this little tidbit.

This book is nothing like I've ever read from B.K. before. I knew I was in for something special when I read the 'Introduction' that he wrote. By the time I finished reading the first chapter my thoughts on this subject were confirmed. 

I thought I had been excited to read this before, but now there was no doubt in my mind that I was about to go on one hell of a journey that would spare no emotions. This story lived up to all my expectations and then some. B.K.'s talent at world-building is apparent from the start and you can tell that this is a novel that he poured a lot of emotion into writing.

Every step of the way, I was enthralled by Jace's story. Every word drew me so deep into this world, that it became real to me. It's what I want when I read a book, a movie in my head. An incredibly engaging and heart-wrenching journey. With an ending that made me sit back and repeat the word "Damn" to myself several times. Because, damn.

What Once Was Home stunningly combined the incredible speculative elements that I love about science fiction with the engaging personal stories and moving internal struggle that continues to draw me back to contemporary fiction. 

Compelling characters, fast-moving plot, and a world you can sink into—you really cannot ask for more from any story. Even if science fiction and alien invasions aren't your things, this is a book you do NOT want to miss out on. Jace's journey is one that I think will touch many readers and bring them back again and again. 

Until this moment, my favourite book by B.K. was Warriors of Understone, but this story far surpasses it. 

ARC Review: It Starts With a Kiss

This is a novella by J.L. Peridot and published by Kyanite Publishing. I had the privilege of being able to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this novel. Release date is September 13, 2019. Find out more about this story and where to purchase it here: https://kyanitepublishing.com/product/it-starts-with-a-kiss/

Romance has never been one of my favourite genres. I still have hangups from the days where a romance novel meant one of those Harlequin cheese-fests with a half-naked guy on the cover that were so annoyingly formulaic they made my head ache.

While I do read romance and erotica, it never ranks high on my list of things I read unless there is a primary plotline to engage me. With a title like "It Starts With A Kiss", I wasn't too sure what to expect in the way of a strong and engaging plotline. However, knowing the standards of Kyanite Publishing is the reason I wanted to see what this story was about.

Once again, this is a case of 'I'm glad I got to read this'. As with many of the titles that this publisher has invested in, it was a great story—even if romance or erotic romance are not your things. If you are worried about the word "erotic", don't be. Seriously, it's not heavy on any sort of erotic content and the few parts that are there are done very tastefully. Don't let that word be a reason to avoid this wonderful story.

Right from the word go I can sympathise with Celeste Cho, our delightfully sweet protagonist working in some crap conditions. I swear J.L. describes Celeste's terrible boss so well that I had flashbacks to some of the terrible bosses I've had my life. In fact, I'm sure her situation is one we can all relate to.

J.L. does a wonderful job of setting the scene right from the first page. This is, first and foremost, science fiction. Though the romance element is strongly present, the science fiction plot is equally as strong. This is a well-developed futuristic world with enough tidbits of techno-babble to make most science fiction fans happy.

For those that live for the dynamics between characters than you will not be disappointed with the wide variety of personalities in the main cast. I love how they work together, or sometimes don't work together. JL didn't create characters, she wrote real people. That's how they read on the page and I loved it.

Even if romance isn't your thing, this is a great science fiction story. It just happens that the romance paired well with it. I found almost all the romantic or even slightly sexual stuff, very well done, no purple prose or awkward wording. It was incredibly well-done, you'll see when you read it.
So, what are you waiting for? Go, preorder your copy now.