Cozy-adjacent fantasy author
We all play games. Board games, card games. Solving problems and competing against each other on a small scale is part of the human condition. It makes sense to reflect games and game-playing in fantasy fiction. Games – real and invented – are common in contemporary fantasy novels. For example, Tak in Rothfuss’s Temerant, and…
The Lavender Tavern was my attempt at a queer fairytale podcast. It worked, but it was very draining to come up with a bunch of different short story ideas. I have the feeling I burned through years of brainstorming in only a few months. Gallants in Distress is a typical story: Hamlyn sells take-away ale…
(Content warning: There’s sex in them thar spoiler blocks below) Does sex belong in cozy fantasy? Yes. Next post. Seriously, though. We’re still at the start of the cozy fantasy boom (please, let there be a boom) and the definitions of what is and isn’t cozy fantasy are shaking out. You can take the pulse…
For those who are unfamiliar with him, the Marty Stu (or the female version, the Mary Sue) is an unwelcome character trope in fiction. He’s flawless, fearless, is beloved by all the other characters, and has the answer to every problem. Readers can’t stand him, for good reason. When you’re writing a main character who…
Talio’s Codex is a legal thriller and courtroom fantasy set in the secondary-world city of Nuciferia. When my publisher asked for a description of Nuciferia for cover art, I wrote: “Dreamy medieval Dutch/Venetian city of canals” is how I always pictured Nuciferia. Imagine my surprise when I got to the end of my first full…
I got halfway through the first draft of The Library at Eventide last summer and gave up. It was too much of a downer. One of the main character’s parents passed away. The world was post-apocalyptic. The other main character was struggling with a chronic illness. There was a heavy, unpleasant feeling of sadness and…
Going back through my notes for Talio’s Codex, I discovered some research I did at the very start of the project. I wanted to see what kind of cases, terminology and legal concepts were used in medieval England. Fortunately, the proceedings of the Old Bailey (the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales) are online….
Reusing material you’ve already written is a huge help during revisions. Don’t get rid of anything permanently! Whenever I delete a scene, or even a part of a scene, I tuck it away in a OneNote notebook in case I’ll need it later. In the case of Talio’s Codex, there was an entire pages-long scene…
Yesterday, I got an email from my publisher (Space Wizard Science Fantasy) that they were good with the developmental revisions for Talio’s Codex. After two years of writing, I feel like it’s finally finished (but not yet published – that’s coming in July). Exciting times. I’m going to go back over some early notes and…
From the pilot episode of the Lavender Tavern podcast. Go give a listen! In a city that stood on a hill by the sea, every child born was given a pair of dice. When the doctors had delivered the baby, red and crying, and cleaned it and cut the cord connecting it to its mother,…