Rebecca Enzor

It will probably come as no great surprise to you that I’m a bit of a earth-loving hippie, and as such I take a lot of my inspiration from nature. And the thing that has been inspiring me lately is heat lightning.

When I moved down to Charleston several years ago it seemed like there was never heat lightning. There were storms, and there was humidity (my gods was there humidity!), and there were oppressive summer nights, but never any heat lightning. Now that I think about it, it was probably too humid for me to sit outside and watch for heat lightning, but now that I have a backyard and I’m used to the weather I love to sit outside at night and look up at the stars and watch as the heat lightning becomes a storm. And now that this beautiful bit of weather is back in my life again, it’s making an appearance in my stories.

You may have noticed that yesterday’s Aleda’s Story had a bit of heat lightning in it. And although you can’t see it yet, the most recent scene of Fie Eoin also had heat lightning. It appears to be my latest nature fad. And now I can’t wait for dark to fall and the next storm to roll in so I can watch the silent flashes across the sky and dream up more scenes that promise stormy weather.

Is there something in nature that you find yourself writing into your stories? Do you have a nature fad?

Sometimes it can be hard to remember all the rules of your world. Especially if you are writing fantasy. Especially if you are writing fantasy in a time period that most people don’t write about. While most of Fie Eoin takes place in an approximation of the Iron Age, Aleda’s Story is so far in the past that iron hasn’t been discovered and used yet (in fact, Gaerlom still doesn’t use much iron in FE, and the Faye won’t touch it at all). But when you are switching from present day to the past as often I as have been these last few weeks sometimes you get confused.

It took me two read-throughs of Aleda’s Story #2 to catch this little mistake, and even then I only thought of it on the way home in the car. I also caught a “year” in next week’s Aleda’s Story even though they have no concept of “years” (they count only summers, so if you are born in June and you make it to September you are already one summer old). And I’m constantly having to re-read Fie Eoin for any mention of “months” – they go by “moons” instead. It may seem silly, because these are all such small things, but these are just the type of things that a reader would catch, and it would draw them from the story. Once you’ve established the rules of your world you cannot change them. Readers are too smart for that.

Are there any rules that you find yourself constantly breaking in your world? Or are you one of those lucky ones that writes in the here and now?

And a small PSA: I’ll be in Key West for the next two weeks, taking a much-needed vacation and celebrating my 5th anniversary! I’ll still be posting Aleda’s Story on Fie Eoin Fridays, and I’m participating in the Power of Tension blogfest (hosted by fellow New Adult Crusaders Cally Jackson and Rachel Morgan), but I won’t be able to reply to comments until I return. I’m also being interviewed twice this week: Tuesday over at Cally’s blog, and Weds at JC Martin’s blog! I’ll post to remind you. And if you can, please do join the Power of Tension blogfest! It should be fun!

Happy Easter! If you’ve been keeping up with Fie Eoin Fridays then you will probably recognize this sticky from Aleda’s Story #2. Aleda and her husband, Carrick, have just herded the Faye children out of Gaerlom to the relative safety of the mountains. But their ordeal is far from over, and Aleda has never been so far away from home.

I thought it was appropriate for today because Aleda is the Mother Goddess of the Seven Tribes. This Aleda is not named after the goddess – in fact, the goddess is named after her. I’ve always been intrigued by legends and myths, and it always seemed to me that some part of them were anchored in the truth. A truth that had been exaggerated and blown out of proportion over time. Aleda’s Story has been a fun way for me to explore how the legends and myths of the Seven Tribes (including Fie Eoin) might have some small basis in fact.

Have you explored the legends and myths of your WIP’s world? Could there be a hint of truth buried in there?

Guess who got a new scanner today?

And to celebrate: A sticky that’s been sticking around in my sticky-note holder for a few months, at the least!

My critter, Angela Perry, gave me a tiny little “what if Kindra was kicked out of the warriors?” when she read the first few chapters of Fie Eoin. That, of course, started my brain a-goin’  (I’m southern now, you know) and completely changed the second half of the book. Kindra being kicked out by Chief Oak would fit nicely into the rumors that have been running around the Seven Tribes since her father died. And while the rumors may or may not be true, Kindra as a warrior is the only thing that could throw Oak’s family out of power, and who doesn’t like a power struggle?

So instead of Kindra flailing around for something to do in the middle of the book, she’s now got a goal (she doesn’t realize it until 2/3 through, but Gar does). There’s action where there was self-loathing and a random horse. Now the horse has purpose – so does Kindra – and that’s exactly what my WIP needed. Thank you, Angela

EDIT: You can find the adorable sticky notes here:
http://www.verabradley.com/product/Collection/Paper-and-Gift/Forget-Me-Nots/154841/defaultColor/Baroque/pc/640/c/0/sc/825/p/154841.uts

Hey guys, you remember how I Kicked It Up A Notch the other week? After that insanity I took a little time off to read and ruminate on this new (to me) process of editing.  And a few days ago, after finishing the Mortal Instruments series (which I highly recommend and will talk about soon) I started thinking of Fie Eoin again.  I had been gone for a week, which is a long time for me to not visit my favorite place in all the worlds.

I don’t like to put a book down and start working immediately on any writing project, unless it’s Lady of the Light (because I aspire to write that well and it helps to read a chapter to figure out how it is written and then try to figure out how to do that in my own writing), so I didn’t really start thinking about Fie Eoin until I went to bed.  You see, the only big problem anyone has had with the beginning chapters of FE so far is Kindra’s motivation.  I know what her motivation is, of course, and I thought it was clear right from the beginning, but apparently not.  So as I fell asleep I was trying to think of way to make her motivation stand out without having her come right out and say “Hey, I want my mark completed and I want my warrior name already! Also, revenge on the Obsidians would be nice.”

The answer is easy, when you are half asleep! Kindra wants her Mark completed, and the only way to complete a Mark is in battle.  She has to dive head-long into every battle she can find and hope for the best.  She’s already foul-tempered most of the time, getting her to fight someone isn’t really a stretch, and she’s in numerous fights throughout the book (one thing about a warrior MC – they don’t lead boring lives!).  All I have to do is Kick It Up A Notch and really make her dive into those battles, instead of having her pulled in by circumstance.  So now, instead of a Kindra who just happens to stumble into battle after battle I have a Kindra who is actively seeking them out.  And I have two antagonists who are actively seeking her out too.  With a combination of stronger word choices and an active MC I’m hoping Kindra’s motivation will come across loud and clear.  People were already hooked and asking for more – now they shouldn’t be able to put the book down!

I do apologize for not putting up a sticky for the past couple of weeks.  I’ve actually been writing Kaye scenes, and when Kaye finally decides to speak you shut up and listen, because normally her sister drowns her out.  As it turns out, Kaye’s quite chatty when you get her away from her sister, and she’s becoming quite a lovely character.  In the first version of Fie Eoin she was depressed and flighty, but I know that’s not who she really is.  This time around her true character is shining through – fun loving and sweet to everyone until she’s crossed.  She’s got a little temper, but she doesn’t hold grudges like Kindra does.  It’s all forgive and forget and try not to get your wings cut off with Kaye (although she’s not very good at the latter).

Most of the scenes I’m writing are Kaye’s introduction and building relationship with the Faye.  In the original version of FE I mention that they speak with an accent, which seemed like a cop-out way of saying I didn’t want to figure out how they spoke.  So this time (along with figuring out what they eat, where they sleep, and how they dress) I decided to give their “accent” a little more definition, and I decided that since many of them are priestesses they should speak very formally – at least compared to the people in Fie Eoin.  Not only is it another interesting detail to flavor the world, but it also helps the reader distinguish who is talking.  If Bryant or Celeste or any of the other Faye are speaking it will sound very formal (in fact, Kaye makes fun of Bryant at one point for his formal speech, at which point he tells her she speaks like a child), making it easier to figure out who is speaking without littering the scene with dialogue tags. 

As you can see I’m trying to do the same thing with the Gaerloms, but so far all I’ve come up with is “aye”.  I’m trying really hard not to make Timin sound like Jamie Fraser (although having him say “dinna fash” in homage is very tempting!).  Do you have any ideas for things he might say to set him apart?

Happy Summer Solstice!  I know that today’s sticky is about Spring, but since it’s already been over a hundred degrees here for the past two weeks I must say I’m really missing spring.  The new, bright colors, the rain, the ability to go outside at seven in the morning and take the dogs for a walk without sweating.  Getting my stickies up on time rather than a day late because it’s beach weather.  Cheers to spring!

You know, when I first started the SNS blog, I thought it would be helpful for other writers, to see a bit of the creative process and learn that sticky notes are an essential tool to keep around at all times.  At least I think they are.  But really this blog has been very helpful for me.  It helps me expand on ideas I’ve had and forgotten about, as I re-find the stickies to put up here.  And having the stickies up here helps me to find them quickly and easily.  As long as I know I’m looking for a sticky from Fie Eoin, I can browse all the Fie Eoin stickies to find what I’m looking for.  It’s much quicker than going through all of my notebooks looking for them.

This weekend I got stuck trying to figure out what happened next in Kaye’s timeline.  I knew I wrote a sticky years ago about it, and I remembered putting it on SNS, so I searched through the Fie Eoin category (on the side there, if you want to see all the posts I’ve ever made about Fie Eoin) and found Sticky #30 – a star sticky about Kaye and Timin.  Aha!  Next he hunts some silkies, they have a conversation about Ian’s Cove, and that’s it for the scene.  Now I just have to finish writing it.

Have you ever been scared and breathless, friends?  I was this week – I sent the first few chapters of Fie Eoin to my critiquing group to read and give back.  And then I really went all out and posted the excerpt online for a critiquing group full of strangers.  Talk about scared!  But you know what? I’ve already gotten some feedback from it, and while there were problems (and I knew there were problems) I’ve gotten some good advice on how to fix the problems and make the scene stronger.

Kind of like Kaye’s wings.  You see, she’s one of only two people in Fie Eoin that has wings, and she rarely uses them (there is still a lot of prejudice in FE over winged folks), so when she gets to the Faye lands her wings aren’t strong enough to use all the time, like they do.  She has to practice, build up her strength, and find the courage to do things like jump off the cliffs.  It takes time, but she learns, and the experience is so freeing.

Kind of like the experience of finally submitting a chapter of your baby to strangers.

What scary, breathless things have you done lately?