Several months ago, I asked my readers what types of things they wanted me to write in my emails/blog posts. I got a few requests for what my writing process is like. So this month I wanted to focus on CHARACTERS!
It’s appropriate since I have a release in less than two weeks! Many of you have read Courting Fae Thieves and Crowns on Kindle Vella, but I know a lot of you have waited for the book versions. Your wait is almost over because book one releases on January 18th!
Preorder it here —> COURTING FAE THIEVES AND CROWNS
Choosing/Creating Characters
When I began brainstorming Courting Fae Thieves and Crowns, I had an idea of the basic plot I wanted and I had an idea of what I wanted the female main character (Amberle) to be.
Since The Selection is one of my favorite series and I love watching The Bachelor/The Bachelorette with my husband, I knew I wanted a similar competition for the prince’s heart. I had also recently read Throne of Glass and loved the idea that Celaena was taken from prison to compete for her freedom as the prince’s champion.
So I meshed the two. I knew I wanted the female main character to be approached by someone to enter the competition for her father’s freedom. I also liked the idea that the prince didn’t know the true reason she is there, for added conflict.
My books don’t have a lot of stabby/killing scenes, so I didn’t want to write the life of an assassin (like in Throne of Glass), so she became a thief instead.
Since I had already spent so much time worldbuilding the world of Faerie and the Raven Court, I wanted to set this story in the same world. I went back to all my development of the history of Faerie and the Raven Court and the old king, Orion, was the perfect match for my prince.
King Orion is mentioned in the Raven Court series, but his wife or mate had never been mentioned, so I was free to create Amberle and the other contestants for Prince Rion’s heart from scratch. But I did place a few other names from the Raven Court. I won’t tell you who they’re related to (you might be able to guess some) but Didi Beechriver, Kali Islandwort (the healer), Wyn Firetail, and a few others have connections to the Raven Court series.
It’s not the first time I’ve done this. Tessa, in Remember (Dream Walker Academy), is Emily’s daughter from In Her Dreams. And in Frost Boarding House there are several family connections. Evandrus Quinn is an ancestor of Juliet Quinn from the Siren Prophecy, Aline Dracul is related to Kol Dracul, Gemma MacLugh is related to Kenzie MacLugh and of course Leif Villers is in so many Shifter Academy books.
I love creating these connections! In fact, as I’m writing Becoming a Fae Queen (Raven Court #4) I’m already adding references to Amberle and her story in Courting Fae Thieves and Crowns.
This is obviously just a snippet of my process and a lot more goes into it, but I love sharing my writing process, so if you want to hear more, let me know!