Wednesday, October 23, 2013

An observation on being mean to my characters

I can tell when I've really pushed the envelope of my own boundaries as far as what I'm willing to do to a character. I will actually have a hard time facing up to it, for some weeks. I might find myself shying away from writing details. And what I do write is generally the character going through grief reactions: shame, anger, self-pity, etc.

Eventually I will realize I have worked it out, and then I have to go back in and add strength to the character. Nobody wants to read a bunch of crying, lashing out, pity and horror without at least a good dollop of fortitude. But sometimes I need time to find that fortitude myself.

It's a good illustration, to me, of how stories help us to learn how to cope with being human.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A few Dark Metropolis updates!

Dark Metropolis now has an official release date:

June 17th, 2014! Whee!! 



And I am told that ARCs will be printed soon. Although this is my fourth book, seeing these little signs of a book creeping out into the world are just as exciting as ever.