Wednesday, February 13, 2019

February is Fantasy Month Week Two// Characters

So, I can't really believe that a whole week has passed already. We are now on week two of February is Fantasy Month. In this post I will be discussing characters. I'm a very character driven reader and writer, which means I feel very strongly on this subject.

Okay, before we go any further, I have an admission to make. I love assassins and thieves and princes and queens and pirates. Mercenaries are a particular weakness of mine. But no matter how much I will be intrigued by a character by hearing that they are an assassin or a mercenary, that's not what's going to make me love them as a character. There's so much more to a fantasy character than these titles and tropes.

Cedric from my Snow White novella Winter Cursed is a prince, but he is far from Prince Charming. He's a sarcastic, snarky dark lord with shadow powers and attention deficit disorder. Nikolai from my WIP Here is There is also a prince, he's also a rebel and pretends that he's crazy and less powerful to avoid notice. What do they have in common? They're both dethroned princes. They couldn't be more different though. Being dethroned made Cedric irresponsible, when Nikolai lost his throne, he never lost sight of his duty to his people.

Aleria from An Apprentice of Death (not a story I talk about much, but it's a high fantasy) and Adilah from League of Thieves are both assassins. Aleria is used, she's deadly. She's a pawn. She's the queen. She's every piece in the game and she will destroy you. Honestly, she scares me even if she doesn't look like much. She may or may not be responsible for killing my favorite character, but enough of that. Adilah, on the other hand, she fought to become what she is, she wasn't forced into it by anyone else. She is her own master, she fights to fit into this world, even disguising herself as a man to have this profession. My heroine Jaye in Of Gold and Iron also becomes an assassin, but she does so because she has no choice. She doesn't even plan on really assassinating anyone, to her the title is simply that, a title. Unlike Adilah and Aleria, being an assassin is what they are.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make is there are tropes, especially in a genre such as fantasy. When I figure out a character, I do sometimes go with these tropes because hey, they are tropes for a reason. But even with these tropes that I love so much, that isn't where it ends. That isn't who these characters are. That's just the snappy marketable bit that is supposed to get fantasy reader's attention.

Your characters have to grow, develop, be unique, be real in order for them to truly be loved. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you have kick-butt girl pirates that your story is complete. If you don't take the time to develop these kick-butt girl pirates to make them more than simply that, then your story is never going to truly be complete. I say this because I recently read a book that took no time to develop its characters because it thought that the tropes were enough. It was awful. Like I said, as a character driven reader and writer, to me, your characters are the most important part of your story.

I think I would be remiss if I didn't mention magic on the topic of fantasy characters. I know that there are some people who don't like magic. I am not one of those people. I love magic. The more magic in a book the better. But if you have a super powerful mage you also have to make certain that you don't make the mistake of letting their magic become who they are. They still have to be a character with flaws and hopes and dreads. The magic should cost them something. They should struggle with it and with other things as well. I also think it's realistic to have a mixed cast of magical and non-magical characters in a group of characters because talents vary so why shouldn't magic as well? Some books I have more magic, some, like League of Thieves, I have only one main character who has magic.

I'll touch briefly on the topic of romance, because I probably have too much to say on the matter and I don't want to get carried away (maybe I'll do a series about how to write romance...), but I will say that you don't have to have a romance between an assassin and their target or a pirate and a princess in order to have a swashbuckling swoony romance. If you do it right, you can have a romance between an assassin and an artist or a pirate and a traveler and have it be just as good if not better. It's not about what your characters are be it royalty or scoundrels or mages or magical creatures, it's about who they are. And I guess that's what the point of this slightly rambly post is.

All right, so that's it for this week in February is Fantasy Month, next week I'll talk about fantasy plots.

If you want more February is Fantasy Month be sure to check out the blogging schedule here. You can find other participants here and here. And we have a prize! So be sure to comment to increase your chances of winning.

And don't worry, guys, I didn't forget. I promised a cover reveal for A Winter Dark and Deadly and so a cover reveal I shall give you..

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Mirror… Mirror…

Elisabeth risked her life to defeat her stepmother and reclaim her crown, but her courtiers have a different idea of who should rule. Her twenty-first birthday is still years away, and it seems that if she does not marry they will give her throne to another regent until she comes of age.

All will fall…

However, she wonders if it will even come to that when she discovers that despite everything she has been told, her stepmother Ismena is still alive and bent on reclaiming her crown- as well as her beauty. Rumor has it that Ismena is searching for a mystical weapon in Mooraven that has the power to end them all. Elisabeth intends to find it first, but how much is she truly willing to risk to save her kingdom?

There is no fairest...


Winter is coming and with it war. However, Elisabeth’s court is determined to sit idly by and watch the threat from afar. With nowhere else to turn, she is forced to seek an alliance with the only person who can help her. Cedric saved her once, but can Elisabeth rely on him when he is obviously lying to her?

Of them all.


With a kingdom on the brink of war, Elisabeth quickly learns that there is no one she can fully trust. Not even herself with her control over her ice magic slipping and her heart yearning for the dark prince. Through it all, one thing becomes dangerously clear… the queen who has the most power is the one who will rule.

Add it on Goodreads here!


And, as some of you may already know, today is my birthday! Yay, I'm nineteen. Not sure what I'm going to do with myself... But enough of that because the reason I'm even stating this. The reason I'm stating this is because I want to share with you the birthday present my sister got me. She commissioned an artist to draw a picture of my characters.

It's Cedric and Elisabeth!!!!!!
Isn't this lovely piece of artwork just perfect??? It looks just like them, eep! I think I'm going to actually put this in A Winter Dark and Deadly when it finally gets published so that you all can enjoy this lovely piece of artwork as well. Thanks so much to my sister Jes!

Okay, so that's all from me for today. What about you? What are your favorite types of fantasy characters? What do you think of that cover? Comment below!

21 comments:

  1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! (And I LOVE the cover for A Winter Dark and Deadly!)

    Gosh, yes, the trope shouldn’t be who they are. THANK YOU for saying that!

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    1. Thank you so much :P (I'm SO GLAD that you do!)

      I feel exactly the same way, you're welcome ;P

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  2. Happy birthday!!! I'm kinda new around here, but I'm looking forward to hearing more about your books - the characters sounds really epic!

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    1. Thank you!

      Well, welcome aboard then ;P I'm glad that you think so.

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  3. That cover, though <3 *heart eyes* Also, the ART COMMISSION!!!!!!! Jes is the best :D

    You have me super curious about League of Thieves now--I desperately want to read that one someday. ALSO, WHAT IS THIS ABOUT JAYE BECOMING AN ASSASSIN?????!!!!! What exactly brings that on?! Is she going to be okay?! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS CHILD.

    The contrasts in your characters are so cool. I've been noticing as I've read more of your writing that you do tend to go with the same character archetype but not write the same CHARACTER, and it's really cool! Kind of your signature thing ;)

    My favorite kinds of characters to write are the people who are broken but have to cover it up--I'm not sure what the name for that would be? But it shows up EVERYWHERE in my writing, which is weird because I CANNOT do it for the life of me. xD

    I also love assassins (I have a lot of villains who are assassins, but in my non-Pentegreen books, I have some sort-of assassins, probably more like executioners, who are good guys).

    Basically, if a character is strong and uniquely written, I'm gonna love them. Conflicted, set in their ways, driven, exhausted, hurting, snarky--give 'em a personality and a goal I can get behind and I'll go with it.

    Lovely post! Can't wait to see next week's :D

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    1. <3 it's so pretty, I'm in love. YES!!! It was such a fun surprise, she really is :D

      I'm trying to hold out from working on it since really the last thing I need is another book to edit, but that book keeps coming straight back to my mind. I WANT TO WORK ON IT SO BAD. I'm telling myself I can pick it up when I finish this round of edits on Of Gold and Iron ;P YOU HEARD ME RIGHT, SHE BECOMES THE FAERIE'S ASSASSIN, it says so in the synopsis at least. Is she going to be okay? No, probably not.

      Haha, yeah, I kinda have a weakness for coming back to these same archetypes, because I love them so much, but my characters are also so different in my mind, they are their own persons that they couldn't be any more different.

      Oh yes, those characters break my heart! I'm not entirely sure, but I would say that Cedric would even fall into that category. My poor son...

      What's not to love? (I have some villains that are assassins, but somehow they keep ending up as my main characters *shrugs innocently*)

      Same, girl, same.

      Thank you! ;P

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  4. Ok, your books sound super cool and I need to look them up now. I'm always down for a good assassin or a prince on the run. And I appreciate the points you made, that tropes can help create characters but that you can't stop there.

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    1. Aww, well thank you. I love assassins and princes, on the run or otherwise. Thanks! ;P

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  5. Happy birthday Nicki!! I LOVE THAT COVER IT IS SO GORGEOUS and now I have new motivation to go and beta-read AWDaD already. XD

    *Fangirls over cover a few moments more* IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL <3

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    1. Thank you, Merie!!! ISN'T IT THOUGH, IT MIGHT JUST BE MY FAVORITE OF MY COVERS!!! Well, good luck with that ;D

      When I first saw that cover, I fangirled hard over my own story <3

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  6. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICKI!!! May this year and the next and the next after that be blessed with a wonderful life with family, cake, loads of books, and lots of writing. <3 =D

    First of all, that cover!!! *heart eyes* IT'S BLUE!!! And so PRETTY! Your cover artist did a wonderful job portraying both Cedric and Elisabeth. And the art work that Jes bought you is beautiful! That artist did a wonderful job as well!

    I also love character driven stories, I find books without character development hard to get into sometimes. Like something is missing from the book or something.

    Really good post! And what? Now I really want to know more about "An Apprentice of Death". You know, assassins. ;)

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    1. THANK YOU GRACE!!! Those are all things that I can get behind, thank you so much <3

      It is, it's so magical! And also slightly dark and ominous. She did, I was utterly flabbergasted when I saw it for the first time because I was just like, did she pull them out of my head and slap them on a cover or what? Isn't it, I was so pleased, it will look so nice inside of the book I think. She did!

      Yay, a fellow character driven reader. If a book isn't character driven it just isn't complete.

      Thank you! Eep, An Apprentice of Death was my first high fantasy project I ever worked on, I put it aside because it was so dear to my heart and it was so complex that I wanted to make certain that I got it perfect. The only thing stopping me from picking it up now is I have no time! But yeah, lots of assassins, and mercenaries, and enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers again— like I said, it's really complex ;P

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    2. Ohh, "An Apprentice of Death" sounds really, really cool. ;) And now I really want to how they get to enemies to loves to enemies to lovers to enemies to loves, several times over. XD

      Arg! Fantasy must be hard to write or something! My first big fantasy series (the series that I was working wayyyyy before I even thought about "Team Vergate") I've rewritten the beginning at least three times before I put it aside. I have huge plans for it, but its plot is also so complicated. It's not high fantasy, but it is more like fantasy/sci-fi/allegory or something like that. XD

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    3. It really is! Maybe I'll be able to work on it later in the year*
      (*what I've been telling myself since 2015). Haha, well... it's like thirteen books long and then there's a second series... a lot happens in this story.

      It is! But I would say a large part of that has to do with the world building, I would say that it's no harder than Sci-Fi. Aren't those stories the worst where you just can't figure out the beginning? I have a super hero story like that. But it sounds awesome all the same!

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    4. Thirteen books long? Nice! Somehow I love long series. ;) You'll write it when your ready. I'm still waiting for some of your sequels, lol.

      True, true. I guess both genres are hard in their own ways. ;) Though the world building for me is always the fun part.

      Yes, stories with difficult beginnings are the worse. You have a super hero story too??? Cool. XD

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    5. Yeah... And I don't even know how long the sequel series is gonna be, but yeah. I like long book series too, is it obvious? XD Haha, working on them!

      World building is pretty fun for me too, but Sci-Fi you gotta ask other questions like how the ships get from one planet to the next when they are so many light years apart.

      *glares at stories with difficult beginnings* Oh yeah, Becoming a Ghost... Literally. I have it pretty much all mapped out and what happens in all six of the books, but I just can't get past the beginning and it kills me. One day I'm gonna have to just sit down and write it because my heroine Autumn is literally the most cinnamon of the cinnamon rolls

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    6. And there is a sequel series too?!!? You're doing great then!

      Let's see here, "Team Vergate" is going to have like 17 books and has a sequel series of 3 books. My fantasy series will have something under the lines of 7 books with maybe two sequel series of 3 books each. XD I think that we both are going to be busy with our series XD

      True, for me I mix real science with fiction to answer questions like that. Though you do similar things with the magic in fantasy as well, especially when you're mixing in real methodology. It's basically creating rules to how things are supposed to work, even warp drives and magic. XD

      Now I can't wait to learn more about more Autumn. =D So yes, someday you'll have to write it. =)

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  7. Awesome post! Tropes are meant as guidelines, and a good starting point for certain things and even characters, but that's definitely not where the effort should stop!!! *nods*

    Your characters all sound so intriguing! I need to get my hands on your books at some point!!!

    Happy belated birthday! (I've gotten a little behind, we have company staying at our house and so my attention's been a bit divided) but that artwork commission is gorgeous!

    And that cover!!!!! WOW! Beautiful!

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    1. Thank you. I'm glad that you agree :)

      Thank you, I definitely love them dearly.

      Thank you!!! (totally understandable ;P) Yes it is, I love it so much.

      Meep! Thanks! :D

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  8. meeep - happy birthday!!

    I love how you broke down your characters and how they fulfill the archtype in different ways :)

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