I’m excited to share I will be releasing two stories in new worlds with new characters this year (2024).
Last year, I released MAN OF MANY SMILES, the first of two Amagladeus x Kitiora pairing short stories in a mini series running concurrent within the larger Beastking Chronicles series.
The story was published in Seattle Erotic Art Festival’s literary anthology for 2023.
This year, break into a world of treetop clan battles and castle captivity as one member of the evolved hummingbird race fights against the clock to uncover why her people keep disappearing into the recesses of the dragonfly castle. The future holds the key to the past, but the enemy commander may be the only path to the future.
This story will be published in an anthology with other speculative romantic stories.
Enemies-to-lovers, implied time travel, high fantasy, dark fantasy, dark romance, pseudo-monster romance, pseudo-shifters, hybrids, forced proximity, warring clans, prisoner of war, magic mirror, interracial/humanoid interspecies, dub-con
You may like this if you like: humanoid shifters, winged people, beauty and the beast castle, captive dark romance, parallel dimensions romance, Green Goblin-like armor
Blacksmiths service heroes, but this hero is getting more than he bargained for when he hands a blacksmith apprentice his sword. Turns out there’s more than one way to quench a blade, and a love potion more than does the trick. Commissioned on a side quest under the influence of a the blacksmith’s potion, what at first looks to the hero like a break from the snotty heroine on his own quest has him side questing into a whirlwind of trysts with the wrong type of woman for a hero.
This story will be published in an anthology with other erotic stories.
Love potion, dub-con, side quest, high fantasy,erotic romance, erotic fantasy
You may like this if you like: heroic journey spinoffs, isekai, unconventional shifters, monster fighting, quest-based fantasy anime, role-play games, “grease monkey” heroine
If news here seemed quiet in the last several months, it’s because multiple things are brewing.
1. Increased Writing Community
I joined some really great writing organizations and Discords, including Passionate Ink, an erotica consortium, and San Joaquin Valley Writers. I’m also volunteering at the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Romance Chapter (FF&P) of RWA to get to know the other members better and learn how not to bore you to death if and when I start a newsletter of my own. Let me know in the comments whether you’d be interested in reading a newsletter from me, and what you hope might be in it.
I’ve been attending a ridiculous number of writing workshops. Most writers with whom I’ve become acquainted say I’m doing to much. I say I’m doing what is necessary to get my stories to you as the best those stories can be.
2. Attempted Poetry
(Not to Be Confused with Attempted Murder…Sort Of)
Last year’s AWP conference exposed me to fantasy fiction poetry (vs. prose). I was starstruck. I’d read Beowulf and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, so I’d seen some epic fantasy- and and mythology-type poetry before. But I didn’t realize there were poets today writing erotic fantasy mythological poetry like Rebecca Lehmann’s “Nike, Medusa, Jocasta, Split.” A little further reading into some online poetry databases and journals, however, revealed that many didn’t have a non-mythology category for fantasy poetry. Weird, right? Since when was that restricted? A recommended poetry book tried to get me to write about the dishes in my sink instead. No thanks. If I wanted real life, I’d stick my nose outside, not in a book. I’m sure Bre’s dishes are way more interesting than mine.
There was another motivation, too. It’s the one we fantasy writers don’t talk about. There’s this horrible thing that happens when a fantasy writer who’s definitely not a poet tries to write a fantasy prophecy. They pretend to be a poet, but something really lame comes out. I needed that not to be me. Rrohm has too many prophecies surrounding him for them to look like I played with a crossword puzzle and hoped for the best.
So, I attempted poetry. I’m not saying it was particularly good poetry. (My instructor and fellow workshoppers were kind, but I have no delusions of grandeur.) However, some BeastKing Chronicles things and some non-BeastKing things came out, along with the buriable real-life things. I started to wonder if a BeastKing Chronicles fictional poem could make it into a newsletter that I send out. Would that be a terrible idea?
Maybe that depends on how terrible my poetry is.
3. Attempted Short Stories
My short stories are breeding like crazy, and they’re coming out faster than I know where to put them. I was always a one-project person, but now I have many. The good news is they will get to you faster than BeastKing Chronicles, and some of them are running parallel to the BeastKing Chronicles plot about three books in. That’s right, I said three. I know you haven’t seen book 3 yet. At all. It has a guaranteed existence. It’s just in the rugrat stages right now. If you don’t mind a little bit of a spoiler, Kitiora has a story you can read in last year’s Seattle Erotic Art Festival’s literary anthology. The sequel is out on query, along with another non-BeastKing story.
Exciting news: Two other, longer short stories I am working on will be coming out this year for sure. One is an enemies-to-lovers dragonfly- and hummingbird-shifter time travel romance with a sordid castle and a dark, magic mirror. The other is a heroic-reversal love potion story where a blacksmith ropes a hero into doing her side quest and gets a bit more sexual tension than either knows what to do with. They’ll have some of the tones and power plays of BeastKing Chronicles, but are completely new stories in their own worlds. So if you’re interested in BeastKing Chronicles, you may enjoy these stories as well. As always, I’ll be bringing you an antihero to remember and a heat level to make you trip in your socks.
As a caveat, I do also have a few stories rolling out that will not have a heat level at all. You’ll still get all the surly antihero goodness, deep characters, special abilities, and otherworldly adventure. You just won’t feel like you’re getting heatstroke from mating heat. If you’re not sure how that would work based on my writing style, you’ll just have to come see for yourself.
4. A Thing Called a Website
As short stories continue to roll out into the public eye, and as I continue to prep BeastKing Chronicles and Salty, With a Taste of Dragon for querying, I’ll be updating this site to reflect that. One change already is the domain. Next steps will be taking more control over the way images and information on the site are laid out.
Perhaps the most exciting will be the addition of cover designs and/or short story emblems. In an era where stock photos amass, and photo credits and AI-generated images have become major concerns, I think it’s time I updated all the graphics on my website. I am scoping out artists, paying for images I can mutate, and learning the most basic of cover designing techniques. Many of my stories have mature and/or graphic content, and I think it’s very important that the cover images representing those stories stay classy and not the kind I would want to hide if small children were running by or my boss were to find me reading my new purchase in a Barnes & Noble café. I’ve been that person ducking behind shelves in the romance aisle, embarrassed that that dude over there saw me surrounded by poster equivalents of suave shirtless men. I’m not doing that to you, as far as I can help it.
Another exciting development is I’m drawing up new maps for BeastKing Chronicles. Or rather, it’s on my list to do. Say goodbye to the days of maps made in Paint. And feel free to point me in the direction of an ink artist/cartographer who does fantasy maps. I don’t want mine to look like I dropped you into a pixely video game dungeon.
Much like I’m no expert poet, I’m also not a professional web designer or graphic artist, so please bear with me as I navigate image licensures, commissions, and best practices.
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, another potential website update is in blog content. I am considering doing a mini series on uncommonly discussed niche writing tropes and sub-genres.
I am still on X, but I have also recently created social media accounts on BlueSky and Instagram. I will add links once they are properly set up. Many author guest speakers I have encountered over the last year are on BlueSky, and I’m glad to join them. However, it may be best not to expect a whole lot out of me on Insta until I have story trailers or something to share. That may be a while. Until then, all you’ll probably get out of me is DIY home library stuff, and maybe excited anthology cover photo shoots.
I’m thinking of doing a mini series on writing tropes or sub-genres that have been underrepresented.
What do I mean by that?
Previously, I blogged about how difficult it was to find articles on writing revenge romance. Recently, another writer confided how difficult it is for her to research her niche of cozy fantasy. I replied with how difficult it has been for me to research what type of plot pattern a good mystery needs to have, for my mystery subplot. In addition, there is an entire taboo category of romance and dark romance that gets ignored unless you’re in the right reader Facebook group. Yet, these are obviously categories many readers camp in.
Which would be fine, if we were actually teaching people how to write these things. But who can I approach to teach me how to drop mystery hints when my protagonist is not a self-proclaimed sleuth, or how far is too far in rawness in an erotic romance scene? Who can teach me how to keep readers from hating my antihero who wants revenge on the heroine, when she does not want revenge on him? What about showing and not telling, when showing is graphic, or how to write in rich metaphor without overusing “like” and “as”?
You were going to answer, “Find a how-to writing book or article,” weren’t you. (Or use software to nitpick individual words.)
Except, we have a problem: How-to books these days aren’t even what university teachers are recommending. That’s because they are so general that they rarely help other than making a writer sometimes feel less alone in the process. Which is what writing community is for, by the way. Find a workshop. Find a Discord. Find a local group. Something. Anything. Use an online search engine before you say you can’t.
I have several how-to books on my shelf. The issue isn’t that how-to books exist. The issue is that people describe the same elements and repackage them with a different cover. Plot, dialogue, character, and setting are staples. You cannot promise me YA-specific content, or NA-specific content, and then tell me all the generalized content about stories that I already know, and place a line at the end saying, “You should read books in this category to see what’s the norm.” No. That’s why I bought your book. Tell me what I’m looking for. Tell me something other than how teenagers might call me out for trying to be hip. I live in real life; I’ve already seen that. I’ve been that teen. Tell me how to craft voice when I have a younger character. Don’t chicken out because you’re an adult and you’re winging it.
There is a deficit on our bookshelves and online and on our e-readers. The topics that we very clearly need sensitivity readers for are the topics that I have a 10% chance of getting in a workshop once in two years, and almost no chance of getting anywhere else. DEI is not the only thing that got buried.
If you’re like me, in that hole, trying to research and coming up empty, I can’t give you expert advice.
What I can do is start a blog where I share what actually helps me from my search, as I’m searching. Maybe that will jumpstart your own blocked search. Maybe it will spark someone who actually is an expert in one of these categories to do more than regurgitate how important it is to have a plot, have three sections, and save a cat. Those books have already been written. We need your help with new specifics, please. We need your techniques.
Don’t worry; our writing won’t come out like yours if we’re using your technique. We’ve got our own quirks to apply your techniques to.
We talk about “writers lifts” on social media, but isn’t a true lift when we give each other the tools we’re missing, so the rare manuscript gems that are challenging us the most actually get into readers’ hands?
Since when was the status quo fun to write for books?
Let’s write what needs to be written.
I want to pause and say to the many workshop and webinar instructors and speakers I’ve been sitting under for the past two years, and earlier than that: Thank you. Thank you for taking the time and covering the difficult topics, for providing the one-sentence takeaways that I’d been searching three years to find, for answering a dozen questions in a row, for not turning away our difficult and messy endeavors and our crayon-drawing-equivalents of addressing writing prompts and trying out your techniques. It took me a long time to find workshops like yours, and I recommend them to many other writers. I can’t say they all step up to try to tackle such big ideas, but I hope in the future they will.
My Summary:
Violet is a rags-to-famous fortune-telling prophetess who purposely thwarted the crown prince’s death destiny during childhood on the streets to make her own life better. Where that’s gotten her is under the king’s thumb, where she can’t say no and has to lie to the populace for a living for the king’s political gain. She lives under the shadow of a prophecy that the previous occupant of her position gave without explanation. When Violet discovers the answer to the prophecy is ransoming the prince’s stolen life back to the Fates, she can’t decide whether it’s in her best interest. Meanwhile, Prince Cyrus, who is ambiguously uninterested romantically in both women and men, can’t decide whether to throw Violet out on the street, trade her away for another seer, or get under her skirts…or a combination thereof. As the charismatic Cyrus is forced into a Cinderella ball where a blind date set up by his father threatens to overwrite his real destined bride, a witch plots to steer Violet’s visions to create a future where corruption magic reigns supreme. Under threat of a conquest-hungry dying king, fairy forest beasts, and more than one imposter, Violet struggles to understand who she is, what occupational knowledge for her profession has been lost, and whether love can exist without trust.
This is a Romantic High Fantasy Beauty and the Beast retelling that takes place entirely within one city. It has just as much a New Adult feel to it as Young Adult, though technically it is upper YA. You don’t have to know anything about the Fates, but I kind of wish I did. I drew heavily on my Fates knowledge from Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series. I would not be surprised, based on the ending, if this book gets a sequel.
My Thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve been able to speed-read and binge-read in a long time, and that’s a compliment. The heroine is snarky, and the prince snarks right back, making for a hate-lust combo that is hard to beat. Definitely squarely in the enemies-to-lovers trope. The roses-forest-wolfbeast combo is inventive, and the main character was classified as a seer and not a witch, except when it was construed that others might have a negative image of her. Considering the recent fads of overloading readers with witchcraft, I was relieved to see magic and threads of fate used in a way that I could enjoy them without being forced into a religious vise.
If you think the snarky characters will suddenly have a change of heart on the meaning of snark, you’re mistaken. I was impressed with the consistency of the characters’ personalities throughout the book without ever making it boring. Even the comic relief characters, like Camilla, never felt like they were there just for the sake of diversity or random humor.
One thing this book did do very well was diversity, without beating me over the head with it. Various elements of world cultures were integrated with the Fantasy in a realistic, believable manner that added to the world rather than distracting from the plot.
Another thing done very well was the narrative language of the book. Concise word-pictures were consistent and everywhere. I was able to read them quickly while still getting the full effects. I marveled at how many ways Chen avoided falling into the kinds of overuse of synonym or sentence structure patterns that plague my writing drafts.
What got confusing was Cyrus’ romantic preferences. I spent the first half of the book thinking he was asexual and only trying to find a bride because the king was pushing him. I had guessed that the heroine had to be an exception somehow, because of the prophecy and because it’s a fairy tale retelling. I was very confused about how he felt about Dante due to a later remark by Cyrus. I suspected he had always liked Violet, but none of that made sense until Cyrus said it himself, which took a really long time and I almost didn’t believe him by then, and then I only sort of bought in because he A) must have been covering up that he liked Violet the entire time he was around her from childhood, and B) still wanted to marry her after she tried to kill him…which was a little weird.
What I have mixed feelings about were the sex scenes. I understand that the age category is YA, which often involves censoring. The feel of the characters and the tone of the book were not lost in these scenes; rather, they hit all the right buttons, and I was super engrossed in reading them. But sometimes, because the language was only allowed to insinuate, I got confused. I thought Cyrus was touching her leg, or her stomach through the clothing, but that was not what was happening at all, and I only realized that because Violet’s reaction was disproportionate to what I had assumed was transpiring. If a younger reader picks up the book, they may not catch that they went all the way (or at least, I think they did; again, purposefully ambiguous due to language structure). But any adult who has read a blatant sex scene will figure it out. Either way, waaaaay better than some of the blackout scenes I’ve seen.
Consensus:
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fairy tale retellings, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella in particular, and enemies-to-lovers. If you’re hoping the heroine will turn out to be “a nice girl” and Prince Charming will be non-playboy charming, this isn’t the book for you. But if you enjoy quick wit and quick narrative pacing, and a heroine who has seen the ugly side of the world and is smart and scrappy enough to take nothing at face value, and if you understand that redemption is a long road, this book makes for quite a thrilling read.
If you’re squeamish about blood magic via self-injury, though, maybe think twice.
My Summary:
Cookie may be dying, but she’s not going to let that stop her from kicking butt at video games. A heart transplant offers Cookie an extension on life, a chance to enjoy living in her dream house. But this fey heart comes with complications. Sucked into the world of the fey to become Kaysar’s revenge pawn against those who imprisoned, tortured, and kept Kaysar from his little sister, Cookie’s new life becomes one dangerous mishap after the other. Kaysar is not a very patient man, but he can’t imagine life without revenge. Soon he can’t imagine life without Cookie either. That’s just fine; he can adjust his plans. Or so he thinks. Kaysar is good at acting to get what he wants, but Cookie doesn’t like being lied to, and she can dish back just as much as she’s served. With abandonment of him on the table like it’s never been with any other woman, Kaysar begins to realize his stake in Cookie’s life might need to be permanent. As Cookie and Kaysar try to feel out what a hot, steamy future together might look like, their aspirations to help each other backfire. Cookie fights for first place in Kaysar’s priority list, but even if she can free him from his revenge cycle, she would be signing up to be Revenge Target #1 instead.
This is an adult High Fantasy Romance fey story, heavy on the spice and, later, heavy on the sex. The plot is the Romance, not the Fantasy.
My Thoughts:
The book starts out in Kaysar’s POV, which is incredibly helpful. DO NOT SKIP THE PROLOGUE!!! Kaysar is more than a little off his rocker, and you need to know why. Yes, I know, it’s long enough to be a chapter. Take it as it is.
Kaysar himself is difficult. His motivations aren’t difficult to understand, but it’s hard to wrap your mind around him, and therefore hard to understand how he should be handled. Kaysar is, in fact, the villain of the book. He has kidnapped and mutilated and stolen and conquered, and he fully intends to continue to do so. Not all of the characters Kaysar is harming fully understand what happened to Kaysar, and while few who do would dispute that what happened to him wasn’t right, that wouldn’t slow his revenge.
The temptation, I think, is to see this as a breeder book. Don’t. It’s set up that way in the beginning, with Kaysar’s revenge goal for the remaining Frostline prince using said prince’s wife, but the real romance is about prioritizing each other and overcoming obstacles. It’s also, interestingly enough, about embracing the darkness inside one another rather than trying to change one another. The book raises an interesting question: Would one man’s wife be a different man’s wife if she had gone through a different set of life experiences, or been rejected more? Should one partner really expect the other to be happy like they “used to” be?
The story is also a really interesting play with organ donor ideas. It’s said that, when someone gets an organ transplant, they may take on the likes or propensities of the organ’s original owner. In this story, the heart transplant literally changes Cookie from the inside out, to the point where she has to rediscover who she is and what she is capable of in her new life.
Consensus:
In terms of narrative voice, Showalter by far outdid herself. I had previously read her Urban Fantasy-set (Paranormal) Romance, Playing with Fire, and while it helped get me into non-wolf shapeshifters, the engagement of the narrative doesn’t even compare. That’s aside from my preference for otherworld Fantasy anyway. This series came recommended to me, but I don’t remember if it was by an MFA teacher or another reader. Yes, it’s a series, but I think the next one might be a little too brutal for me. And that’s saying something.
Why three stars? It’s not the writing. Though pressing some of the romantic points home did get a little redundant, the way those things were said felt fresh and new every time. The mashup between a vengeful dark fey self-made lord antihero and a boyfriend-ditched gamer who loves junk food was perhaps the most original pairing I’ve seen, as well. The sex scenes never got old. I think my real problem, quite honestly, was Kaysar. I was intrigued, but I never fully connected to him. He was vivid, hot, larger than life. But he was so trapped in his childhood, and in childish malice, that I never felt like I’d actually want to bring him home or stay in his castle, even if I could understand why the heroine did. Cookie didn’t really have any adult moves to make up for that. In the end, they got their happy ending, but I wasn’t convinced it would stay that way for long.
In all, it’s a brilliant piece of fiction, and it’s permanently staying on my shelf. Even though they were not my favorite characters of all time, they are dynamic, and you need to find out what happens next. I do recommend it to graphic readers who, like me, are so sick of people setting all their Romance in the real world. The book’s a wild ride, and enough to digest that at times I had to take a break. It’s good to have a book like that sometimes. Do note that there is violence and explicit sex in it, and that it’s not about optimism, before you pick it up.
I want to take a moment and thank my FictionPress readers who have been with me since the beginning. What started as a story in a notebook when I was graduating high school has evolved over the years into a much more complex sequence of events than I ever imagined originally. Through trial and error, and with the help of your reviews, private messages, and enthusiasm, the scope of BeastKing Chronicles has grown far beyond what I could have reached alone.
Many of you have voiced that you are still hoping that further chapters will be posted. As of right now, my intent is to post through the end of Book 2 on FictionPress. I believe you deserve that closure for still holding on with me after all these years.
I do intend to make some changes from here on out, however. You have seen me go through revisions, and have even commented that you see the story improving with each revision. I appreciate your encouragement. I want this story to be the best that it can be. Over the last four or five years, I came to recognize that this story had outgrown my skill level. Since 2019, I have been looking for ways to level up my writing and, with it, elevate my manuscript to a publishable level. At this stage, I am pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in fiction novel writing, to this end.
I am about ten chapters into a rewrite of Book 1, and I admit, it has been like pulling teeth since March. I am reaching a stage where I need beta readers who have been with me since the beginning to tell me what is working and what is not. Specifically, I would like readers who could tell me whether they feel a character is acting out-of-character in the beginning of the series, based on what they know of later events and the sense they have already developed about the characters, their personalities, and their reveals. I am incorporating a revenge plot, a Fantasy subplot, earlier Pandora actions, and a fair bit more characterization for Bre. But that is not the only new content to which you would be privy, if you decide to beta-read. I have already begun writing into Book 3, and my current intention is not to post it on FictionPress, because I believe I will be much closer to publication by the time Books 1 and 2 are sorted. In other words, when I do take stories down from FictionPress for publication, you would get to keep reading. And I promise you, I haven’t even hit half of the plot twists and relational developments I have planned, so it will definitely be worth it.
If you are interested in beta reading, please either DM me on FictionPress or submit an “inquiry” on myAuthorship page,accessible on the top navigation bar on this site.
I am also excited to announce I have some emerging short stories, which I will be seeking to publish on platforms other than FictionPress. Two novellas are emerging from the BeastKing Chronicles world, simply because they may not fit within the scope of Books 2 and 3. They will be treated as part of the series, featuring the same main cast of characters, and thus will be directly referenced within the main books. One novella is set to take place between Books 2 and 3, as a stage-setter. Major romantic developments between Rome and Bre will be happening in there, so don’t miss it. The other novella features Kitiora. I’m not a big fan of switching to main characters. But as a “chapter,” this would have had to be written in Kit’s POV, and (on purpose) I did not structure my novels to accommodate that kind of random POV shift. Let’s just say, once Kit decides to finally stop sitting out the dating game, she grossly underestimates the identity of the man she chooses for a one-night stand in the face of what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. Even Rome and Bre are unnerved by her choice. Though, it may take someone getting stabbed next to her for her to realize why.
I also have a short story about a water dragon and a village girl, playing off of the classic girl-offered-to-dragon and beast-vs.-lord tropes. Because it drops very quickly into a one-night stand before tapering up to actual Romance, I’m going to have to classify that one as either Erotic Paranormal Romance or Erotic Fantasy. But it is not sex only. You know me: Nothing can be that simple. Not even Kit’s oneshot.
I also have a planned short story about a dragon and a bard. And one about a dragonfly castle. And one about the boogie man. I doubt any of these will turn into full-fledged novels. Not that anything I write doesn’t have that potential. After all, BeastKing Chronicles started off as only a one-liner idea.
The story that very well might turn into a novel is Poppin’s story, Fire and Lyra. Once upon a time, I was forced to create short stories for undergrad courses, which I had never seriously attempted prior. It birthed the water dragon story and the aerial dancer story. Poppin is the aerialist. He’s also a transient kleptomaniac with portal-jumping abilities. (Because, you know me: I can’t just make a normal character. That would be boring. I don’t do boring characters. He has to be a drug-addicted, flame-dancing fire god descendant who hangs out in rafters like a bat.) Poppin’s story isn’t a Romance—not even in subplots—unlike pretty much every other story I have ever written, whether seen by others or hidden away. If you’re a fan of Doctor Who, you might favor some of his travels on his way to retrieve the box he stole that got stolen from him. Right now, it’s a serial, with each short story acting as a publishable standalone. Read in sequence, they would create what may eventually equate to a novel-length work.
Throughout the next year, I intend to submit short stories to contests and journals. These will likely include shorter ideas not listed here. If any stories are chosen, I will post here and on Twitter to notify you so you can go read them.
What do you do when you realize your antihero’s revenge isn’t just an embellishment, it’s the plot of your novel?
Why, look up revenge plotting resources, to make sure you hit all the main points, of course. Until you find out there aren’t any.
Revenge is a trope readers and viewers know well. Classic examples are William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Jason Bourne movie series, and the TV show, Revenge. Clearly, the revenge trope can overtake an entire plot. So, why has no one converted the Hero’s Journey or the traditional plot arc into a map for writers to follow?
My best guess is it’s because revenge is an emotional motivation, and most people aren’t brave enough or foolish enough to try to logic out a string of emotions into a plan. Yet, isn’t that the essence of a revenge story? Isn’t that what the protagonist is doing in their head every step of the way?
The setup only gets worse when you’re writing a Revenge Romance. How can the setup of a known trope, in such a definitive genre, be so blurry?
Here is what articles have said:
Essential Archetypes: Victim, Villain, Avenger
The protagonist has to become an outlaw for the sake of revenge
The Victim died
The law doesn’t work; justice is not served
The Victim’s death is the inciting incident
Show the hero’s normal life before the victimizing event
Make the reader feel like the protagonist is in the right and their actions are justified, even if not admirable
Revenge plots are a function of Thrillers
Use the Villain as a foil to the Avenger
Successful revenge ends in death, likely for the protagonist
I’m no expert, but those points seem to be ignoring some things.
Here’s why that doesn’t work:
The offender (Villain) is now an unwitting Victim
The Avenger is the Victim, and is turning into the Villain of another character’s story
A non-Avenger Victim doesn’t have to be dead; they could be kidnapped, they could have been forced to marry another, they could be seriously impaired mentally or physically, or they could have gotten over their trauma in a way the Avenger cannot
Revenge tropes show up in every genre, with Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Romance in particular inviting revenge as a motivator
An administrator of Law could use the law to take revenge
Justice could be served by another character, but the Avenger’s grudge is personal and therefore not resolved
As proven by the Revenge TV series, revenge may be most effective when working from within, rather than being hindered by outlaw status
Depicting the Avenger’s lost normal life at the beginning of the novel might mean starting the story too early, which is the bane of publishers’ existence and not why readers are picking up a revenge novel; you’re just giving people something to skip
Killing off the protagonist in a Revenge Romance makes the story a Tragedy
If the Avenger is set up to get revenge on their not-yet-Love-Interest, the ending may not be satisfying, and may even undercut the rest of the story’s progression
If you have to convince the reader that your morally grey Avenger is serving true justice, they’re not; revenge is about personal satisfaction from within one’s own means and an attempt at practical closure, not about the existence and efficacy of justice as an abstract idea
Enemies-to-Lovers makes this theory crumble to pieces
Every time I have mentioned Revenge Romance, somebody asks if I meant Enemies to Lovers.
No, I did not. I said what I meant.
Revenge Romance vs. Enemies to Lovers
Enemies to Lovers implies each party sees the other as an enemy to get revenge upon. Mutual destruction is assured, unless one bests the other first or both fall in love simultaneously. Think Romeo and Juliet.
Revenge Romance only necessitates one party see the other as an enemy. One character could be blissfully unaware that the other is targeting them, or could have no desire to fight the Avenger even when antagonized. There is also a greater likelihood that revenge methods could be curbed by slowly-softening characters to lead to more humiliating, more redemptive, less lethal solutions.
I’ve begun reading Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss to explore this a bit deeper.
Revenge Romance in BKC
If you were reading The BeastKing Chronicles back when I was posting chapters, you probably noticed that Rome pulled some jerk moves because he was self-consumed and misguided. But sometimes, those motives were also skewed as a response to what Labriella had done to him in the past.
In the first couple versions of the story, Rome came out hot tempered and emotionally resistant, while still thinking sensually. His temper, and his catch-and-release cycle, drove Labriella nuts and stunted the story progression. The next couple versions of the story integrated the suddenness of a predator who waits, then snarls and suddenly pounces. Anybody would be afraid of a predator, even an old childhood friend, and so is Labriella, though she still cares about the man she knows beneath.
But what came out, in the private moments between the two characters, was a tit-for-tat vie for acceptance of which of them was right about what their relationship should be. In the back of Rome’s mind was always the sight of Labriella’s back, fading into the distance, leaving him alone again, and the urge to make sure she paid for that mistake. As the story progressed, Rome’s tactics for making her pay backfired, and he found himself caught in his own trap with sensual desires he didn’t know could cripple him.
That may have been what was in the back of Rome’s mind, but in the back of my mind was the worry that it could take a whole book unto itself to reconcile Rome’s starting disposition with Labriella’s disposition toward him—possibly even a whole story arc. That was when I realized: Rome’s revenge mindset, or at least his initial hurt, needs to be dealt with before the end of the temple repossession arc. Book 1 already needed to be shortened. The best solution may be to let his revenge play out in Book 1…and bite him in the butt.
About 6 chapters into reading Carol Berg’s Song of the Beast, I went to add it to my “Currently Reading” list on GoodReads, and got distracted by someone’s 1-star review. There were quite a few 2-star reviews, though that was not the dominant rating. The more of those reviews I read, the more I concluded that people reading this book don’t actually know what they’re reading.
The problem is, I think, that there are Fantasy readers who only read 800-page epics, and they came for battle conflict and the mysterious cover. If they had read the first two pages of the book with objective eyes, they shouldn’t have had any doubt what they were reading. But they wanted to believe that the book would curb to what they expected, so they kept reading, and were sorely disappointed that it didn’t.
Number one complaint by reviewers: This book is so psychological that it makes it slow.
Wake up, people! This book never gave any hint of not having that kind of focus or pacing. If you were looking for an epic, you picked the wrong book. This is about male main character angst, and his spiritual journey that has caused him physical anguish. He’s not just going to snap out of it and liquidate a plot for you. You can’t think of this book like punchline Fantasy or Epic Fantasy. This is dark, psychological, torture Fantasy. This is character development that will err on the side of a Literary Fiction style, if that’s what it takes to get the character across and sympathizable. If you can’t deal with borderline Literary Fiction, and couldn’t deal with that kind of narrative in Berg’s other series, why are you trying again with this book, then blaming the book?!
Other complaint: Unending flashbacks.
Now I can tell you either got waaaaay further into the book than me before you made this statement, or you did not get as far as me. I see no continuous flashbacks where I am, have hit only mini ones so far (and I’m in chapter 6, where he’s not flashing back at all, only playing sleuth), and even skimmed forward for telltale signs of prolonged flashbacks, only to find none. Alternately, what you’re really saying you don’t like is chronology that is too difficult for you, in particular, to follow. Because the narration is so seamless, you were not able to pick up where the main character’s past tense turned into “had been’s” without using explicit “had been” language. That’s fine for you, but don’t go blaming the author for being seamless. I will concede that there are flashbacks and there is a lot of introspection about the past. But even being picky about flashbacks, that’s about all I can concede. Actually, as a writer, I’m in awe of how well flashbacks have been handled without being info dumps.
Other complaint: This is not true to musicianship, and/or the music part is unnecessary.
As a musician, I profusely disagree with you. The purpose of this book is not to read to you every note on the staff, every perfect pitch, and every crescendo that led to a dragon’s lilting wail. If that is what you are here for, I am sorry. Music is written in music language; that is why we learn to read the staff. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried, but it is extraordinarily difficult to articulate to a non-musician the beauty of a countermelody without referencing things on a staff, music theory, etc. As both a classically trained and improv musician, who has performed in formal sitting bands and by-ear in gigs with guitarists who only know how to read chord letters, I’m telling you you’re missing the point. Berg is talking about the effects of the music on the listener, and on the performer.
A fellow musician and I once nicknamed the first movement of a piece “The Mermaid’s Scream,” because it required us to hit such an unnatural pitch that we could not imagine anyone would want to hear it, let alone as the intro the piece, and all of us hitting it together sounded to us like a screaming, flailing mermaid. Is that the technical language of the piece? No. There was a trilling B in the 7th or 8th octave–which, for our instrument, meant forte or piano was irrelevant. But do you care about that, as a non-musician, when I’m telling you that? Or can you better picture you trying to outrun a siren (mermaid) to save your hearing, while your fellow musicians shudder in indignant horror?
The moral of the story is not to let other people delude you into thinking a book is bad just because they are not yet able to slow down long enough to understand it. I added this book to my shelf after reading Dust and Light, another angsty Berg book, and so far I am definitely not disappointed. I was surprised by how much the main character’s dependence on music is a solid vein throughout the piece. But that is what uniquely flavors the storytelling.
I’ve come to a very unsettling conclusion about what other people think about single feminine living. Don’t get me wrong: I’m used to blowing people’s minds out of their tight little boxes without trying. But yet another person said to me yesterday, “You have so many projects!” And I thought to myself, What a hypocrite.
There seems to be this misunderstanding that only married or partnered home owners can have projects without them being “many.” That yard upkeep or relandscaping, home improvements, home organization, and crafting hobbies (welding, fixing, painting, writing, sewing, quilting) are only to be expected if you’re “settled” enough to own a home and solo-pay bills, yet “too much” for a single apartment-dwelling woman. That by doing these same projects, I am intimidating. I am doing too much. I am doing more than is to be expected. I am overreaching. I just need to ditch some projects. I’ll be happier that way.
What they fail to realize is I am “settled” in an apartment. That I can pay my own bills without a roommate. That I don’t need a roommate or a partner to feel secure or to somehow be a grown person. That if I don’t do home organization and maintenance, I won’t have a nice place to live. That I’m knitting or no-hem taping discounted cushion covers or sewing jewelry pouches or coloring surplus shelves with a gifted half-can of stain, because I don’t want to spend the $100+ they did to not have to do any work. Because I want to have my dream library room without spending $2,000 per shelf. Because I don’t want to sit around doing nothing like they do and call it “fun.”
I realize people mean well. Their box is all they know, all they’ve ever desired since they forgot what it was like to want more. They don’t know what it’s like to live within their means while getting “outlandish” things that they want. There isn’t a slot in their head for traveling internationally for the same price they just spent on their giant-screen smart TV or their new car.
But can we please wake up and realize that just because someone does more than you, doesn’t mean they’re over the top?
I picked my projects because I liked them. Because they were doable. Because they fit my personality. Because they improved my quality of life in the long run. Because I knew that 20 minutes or an hour here or there could get it done. They are not any less than what you’re doing trying to start your own online e-commerce business or installing IKEA kitchen cabinets, nor are they any more remarkable. They simply are.
You do yours, and I’ll do mine. And later, perhaps, when you want advice on leatherworking or clothing alteration, and I want advice on how not to kill my plants, we can exchange notes.
A growing concern in my mind over the years has been the increasing sense that Labriella, the semi-normal-perspectived main character, is a flat character. Most of that stemmed from having little to no interest in her. In the beginning, turning from a Damsel in Distress into a Damsel with a Kick was the main point of Bre’s origins and tendencies. Basically, she existed to show off Rome, and she was built to want to show off Rome.
But as any of my readers would readily tell you, Rome is not the type of guy to love a dunce just because she was there. Especially when she is the reason he hit rock-bottom for the second time in his long life, Rome would be more prone to kick the girl to the curb definitively than to wishy-wash back and forth with uncontrollable emotion over her exit. The magnitude of this is seen not only in Rome’s dealings with shopkeepers and employees, and with nobles, but also with the nobles’ showcases. A remote attraction to Kitiora can only be true if she has a brain, and the balls to kick him in them.
And yes, if you haven’t noticed, Bre’s concern over that last bit is grounded in reality, not jealous paranoia.
So, what is an author to do with a heroine who exists to be as unobtrusive to and un-hated by female readers as possible?
The first major recognition is that Bre lives in a world outside of my area of expertise. I do have professional ties to the medical world and service experience through prior employment. I know masseuses, nurses, and mushroom hunters. I now live in a wooded area. I grew up in a conservative religious culture. I have a family member who beat cancer post-surgery through homeopathic supplements and dietary changes. I have another family member who made burn cream in her backyard. But what do I really know about binding wounds, tinctures and tonics, poultices, and poisons? What about those “long-lost” apothecary skills? What about herbal remedies that aren’t attached to witchcraft?
Throughout (or despite, or because of) my long college career, I gradually found the opportunity to study some of these things: CPR, Wilderness First Aid, mushrooms and poisons books through inter-library loan and a co-worker, and tonics and tinctures through another co-worker, plus pheromonal experimental study results as they relate to psychology.
Today, I add to that study through a couple preliminary classes on Udemy about massage and herbs.
The amount of behind-the-scenes research we conduct, even as Fantasy or Romance authors, is amazing. Just because we can create our own world from scratch, doesn’t mean we aren’t cobbling together actual starting matter based on real-world principles.
Seriah Black 