Forgot to blog yesterday. Probably because I barely touched the computer all day.

Unsurprisingly, I haven’t gotten a lot of writing done on BECOME during the last few days.

But now, most of the distractions are behind me and I hope to get a lot more done before I go back to work on January 3rd. The most distracting thing I have planned for today is laundry.

But, you know, sometimes these little delays work out all right. In this case, just this morning, I found some very interesting perspectives on the relationship between the two brothers in my story here.

Back to work.

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As part of the Fellowship of Fantasy, I’m participating in a giveaway.

A kindle copy of BY SWORD, TALE, OR MAGIC.

Follow this blog and leave a comment. (Hint, some way to contact you if you win would be great!)

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I’m still mired in surgery on WAR OF MAGIC.

So here’s a deleted snippet (that was set up for a scene that’s been moved.) Enjoy:

Vatar ambled across the main market square of Caere, not really looking at any of the wares being offered for sale. In his mind, he was already bending the gold and silver wire he’d just purchased at his guildhall into a gift for Thekila. He’d spent days perfecting the complicated woven knot—meant to symbolize their bond—in cheaper copper.

Maybe he’d give that first version to his young daughter, Savara. It was the kind of thing the little girl would like and it could as easily represent the twin bond that was developing between her and her brother, Zavar. Of course, he’d have to have something for Zavar, too. He knew what kind of gift Zavar would ask for, but he was much too young for edged weapons. And Zavar wouldn’t take to jewelry of any kind. And yet the gifts had to balance. Hmm. He’d have to talk to Thekila about that. Perhaps something promissory, like a hilt for the—unsharpened—short knife Zavar could have in a few years, worked with the same pattern. Vatar could fit a wooden blade in the hilt for now.

The image of the half-planned work shattered at the sound of a panicked scream nearby.

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Starts today.

Happy fall! Can you believe it’s fall already? I know I can’t. This summer seems to have gone by very quickly. As we batten the hatches and prepare for winter, are you ready to snuggle in front of a nice warm fire with a good book? Maybe you have the nice warm fire, but not necessarily the perfect book. I have just the thing for you!

A bunch of authors and I collaborated in putting together a “Fall Into Reading” sale. The first page on the website has all the books on sale categorized by genre. Some are free, and others are discounted. If you want to find other clean books that aren’t necessarily on sale, check out the second page.

I hope you have an awesome fall!

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Here’s the third and final blog post about Vatar’s unique relationship to the magic of the world of the DUAL MAGICS series.

Acquired Magic:

Having been born and raised among the Dardani, Vatar is a fully initiated member of the Lion Clan. As such, he can sense the presence of lions and tell whether they’re resting or hunting. That’s normal for him.

However, the two kinds of magic interact. The first indication Vatar has of this in THE VOICE OF PROPHECY is when he accidentally sees through the eyes of a hunting lion. His Far Speech is also accompanied by the shadow of a lion. And, more dramatically, his Transformation into his avatar—a white lion with a black mane and tail tuft—is much too large, about twice Vatar’s actual size or the size of a real plains lion. That breaks all the rules of how Transformations are supposed to work.

When Thekila was initiated into the Eagle Clan, similar things happened to her. There is the shadow of an eagle in her Far Speech. She can see through the eyes of eagles. And her avatar—a white eagle—is the size of a normal eagle and able to fly. Thekila’s younger brother, Theklan, was also initiated into the Eagle Clan, with the same effects.

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Today is the last day to pre-order DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING for only $0.99.

Keep your head down. Don’t draw attention. Above all, don’t make yourself a target. Those are the rules seventeen-year-old Ailsa lives by. It’s just part of being the daughter of the disgraced ex-king and living too close to his more-than-slightly paranoid successor.

Ailsa isn’t the only one affected by the new king’s insecurities. The mages backed her father. Now the new king’s repressive policies drive the mages out of the kingdom–and with them the magic that her desert country desperately needs to survive. Ailsa sets out to study magic so she can help keep Far Terra green.

Her plans are nearly upset when her oldest friend, Crown Prince Savyon, proposes. Marrying him would mean giving up her magic. Her family history proves that the barons will never accept a mage as queen. A year of training won’t make her a mage—unless she has insanely powerful magic. And there’s been no sign of that. But at least she’ll know what she’d be giving up before she makes a decision.

A magic-tinted kiss from Jathan, her cheerfully annoying study partner, makes her question what she really feels for Savyon. She and Jathan could do great things together–except that he never wants to go near the desert.

Are magic and love forever mutually exclusive for Ailsa?

Here’s another scene, featuring another important character. Not his first appearance in the story, but at least this one doesn’t include any spoilers. Unfortunately for their friendship, Jathan is as fond of attracting some kinds of attention as Ailsa is conditioned to keep herself in the background.

Jathan dropped Ailsa’s hand and turned as the crowd swirled around them, parting to allow half a dozen men in uniform through. He cursed under his breath. “Why do they always have to interfere?” He narrowed his eyes at the much more ornate uniform of the leader. Arrigo. Seven hells! What was he doing here?

Arrigo stepped up just a little too close and looked down his overly large nose at Jathan. “Well, well, well. Hello Jathan. Imagine finding you in the middle of . . . this.”

Jathan’s nod of greeting was just barely short of insulting. “Arrigo. What happened? Did Father demote you? Surely you have better things to do than follow me around.”

A muttering grew in the surrounding crowd as Imperial Prince Arrigo was recognized. Jathan set his teeth against a rising aggravation. Even here, Arrigo just couldn’t help but try to put himself above Jathan.

Arrigo pulled himself up to his full height—two inches taller than Jathan. “Your body guard is technically under my command, you know.”

Jathan relaxed into an insolent slouch, direct opposite of Arrigo’s aggressive military posture. “I don’t need a body guard. Not here. I’m in the middle of the Institute and barely a mile from the imperial palace. What’s going to happen here?”

Arrigo shrugged and looked at the crowd gathered around them. “I don’t know. Seems you have a talent for collecting a mob.”

Jathan snorted and shook his head pityingly. “It’s not a mob, Arrigo. It’s a game. I’d explain it to you, but it involves brains rather than muscles, so I doubt you’d understand.”

Arrigo stepped still closer and lowered his voice. “Careful, Jathan. You wouldn’t want me to repeat that last statement to Father, would you?”

“Oh? And how are you going to explain what you’re doing here, when you’ve been expressly ordered not to interfere with my training?” Jathan hissed back.

They glared at each other for a moment.

Arrigo broke first. “We should continue this in private. If your classes are done for the day, you might as well come on home with us.”

Jathan shrugged. “Sorry, Arrigo, but I can’t. I’ve promised to see Ailsa home safely. I’ll see you there later.”

Arrigo’s eyebrows rose in curiosity. “Ailsa?”

Jathan turned to take Ailsa’s hand again and bowed with perfect courtly precision. “Imperial Prince Arrigo, I have the honor to present Princess Ailsa of Far Terra.” Jathan ignored the renewed murmurs of the crowd. Now why did that make Ailsa look like a frightened doe about to bolt back into the forest? It couldn’t possibly be the first time she’d been introduced as a princess. After all, she could claim that title by birth. Not just by adoption like him.

In fact, Ailsa had appeared terrified ever since Karensa had started the game. He’d just been too excited to finally have a team mate to recognize it. She’d wanted to stay in the back in Barth’s class, too. He didn’t understand what frightened her about that, but he could at least try to help her out. Probably best to take her home with a minimum of fuss, for a start.

Arrigo bowed over Ailsa’s hand, completely oblivious to the way she stiffened. “Princess Ailsa. My very great pleasure.” He glanced at Jathan as he stood back up and smiled. “Why don’t we all see you safe home, Princess?”

Ailsa swallowed and looked up at Jathan, her eyes pleading for help.

Jathan took Ailsa’s hand again, noticing that her palm was slightly damp. She really was scared for some reason. “No, Arrigo. I think you’ve made quite enough of a commotion for one day. I’ll take Ailsa home.”

Ailsa relaxed a little and gave him a half-smile. That must have been the right answer. Well, he could certainly understand why anybody would want to avoid more of Arrigo’s company. The rest . . . Jathan guessed he’d just have to figure out the rest later. Right now, the best thing was clearly to get Ailsa back to her grandmother.

Arrigo still missed the signs. “I insist.”

Jathan sighed and tried to give Ailsa’s hand a reassuring squeeze. There really wasn’t any way he could stop Arrigo at this point. Not short of a public brawl, anyway.

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Well, first the draft has to be allowed to rest for a few weeks. I’ve been living in this story for about six months. I need to go get my head into some other stories (“Modgud Gold”, DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING, maybe MAGE STORM) so I can look at it with fresh eyes. Also, making the cover:

Then it will need between two and four rounds of revisions (at a guess).

First, I need to go through for all the plot changes that happened during the drafting. I’m a discovery writer. That means that sometimes I go down the wrong trail and have to fix it later. There are places where I’ve changed my mind about who is present at a particular event. Where I’ve changed the motivation for certain actions. Where I’ve changed the timing of some events. Some things will need to be deleted (not many with this one, I think). In other places, I’ll need to add scenes or whole chapters. All of that has to happen first. It’ll require at least one revision, maybe two.

Then, I’ll tackle the usual round of things I always have to deal with in early drafts. When I’m writing dialog and it’s flowing, I don’t stop to add the dialog attribution—the “he said” or the little bit of action that combines with the dialog, that might be as simple as a facial expression or a bit of body language or might, if the stars align, allow some interaction with the setting. Also, all the little things, like the places I flagged because I used the same word six times in the same paragraph, but didn’t slow down to fix it in the first draft. That’ll also take at least one and maybe two drafts.

Then it’ll be ready for beta readers, hopefully by June. This typically takes another month or sometimes a little longer. They’ll tell me any places where my plot doesn’t work or is too confusing. Any times when my characters do something that doesn’t feel right. Where the pacing is too fast or too slow. They’ll also help me catch some of those nasty little typos. That leads to at least one more round of revisions, sometimes two.

And then the polishing edit.

Only then is it ready to format and send out into the world.

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