Thursday, February 27, 2014

Cold feet

Spring is sprung! The grass is riz! what is bloomin? The flowers is!


Well, not quite yet. And I just threw away a pair of socks (holey socks!) so my feet are cold. Hence the title.

At the moment I'm feeling a little lazy. My cat is demanding my attention but I'm sitting here staring out the window.

And of course, there are stories running through my head. I worked on Fairy Ring yesterday and it turned in a surprising direction. Two of the other books in the series are out, but I need to work on a new cover for the first before making it perma-free. The cover for the third book is in transition.

So at the moment I am actively writing Fairy Ring and Let It Go, re-vamping DemonBorn, editing Guardian and Heart of the Castle and trying to figure out the marketing thing. I have Axon, Seshallass and Glory Road that I'm thinking about when there's nothing else running through my head and a dozen others that try to squeeze in at odd moments, screaming to get my attention and demanding I work on them next.

An author's life, I guess.


Excerpt from BayStorm, a novella set in the Demons Bay world. This is the same world as the DemonBorn series, Heart of the Castle, and Guardian. Heart of the Castle should be the next book out.


She should have been terrified. Instead she stared up into the dark pit of the vortex, wondering what it would be like to die.

With a growling surge the thunder wrapped around her. Mutters and screams in the thunder were certainly only her imagination. If she died she would no longer be a threat. The curse would die with her.

She raised her hands, stared into the black maw surrounded by rainbow lightning, and begged it to take her.

For a moment the winds died. The air tightened around her, making her breath come short. The air around her heated, and darkened until she seemed to be staring up a narrow tunnel toward a black sun.

Abruptly the funnel reversed itself, darting down toward the ground faster than she could follow. Darkness followed the lightning, dragging it back toward the funnel, and the wind returned to yank her off her feet.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

DemonBorn Update

A few years ago (for NaNo, of course) I wrote DemonBorn. I was so excited about it that I started writing the sequel (UnderHill) in December (*wince*) and finished the third in the series about mid-year. I'm now working on number five, and the middle three are pretty good. Not perfect yet, but getting there.

The problem is that the first book is a disaster. When I wrote it I thought it was great, I was excited about the characters (who show up in later books) but there was just something...wrong. Three years later I'm still working on book one and it's not there yet.

There were originally three main storylines, and eight POV characters in a book that's less than 70k. When I started this most recent rewrite I knew I had to make some hard decisions. The problem is, I love these characters and I don't want to eliminate any of them. Also, one major storyline starts twenty years or so before the story begins (which might end up being another novel later on, but I can't think about that right now). I've already cut out three unnecessary POV's (although not the characters) and two sub-plots that just made a hash of the whole thing.

OK, so here I am with a gordian plot, and I'm afraid that the only way to unravel it is to take a sword to it. I hope not, but if that's necessary it will be better for the operation.

I'm excited to find out what it looks like when it's done.

*****

If you caught the historical/mythological reference, let me know in the comments or on my Facebook author page (LaurenRitzTheWriter) for a chance to win either a novel critique or a copy of one of my books.



Excerpt from DemonBorn:

Shadyel turned her head to let one of her side-set eyes focus on a space in the circle her team had formed around her, the place of least prestige immediately opposite from where she floated in the shifting water of the lake. Her hands moved in the familiar ameso sign language, larger than normal because she was angry. Where is Tiyet?

The others' hands fluttered without meaning. Sunlight sprayed in curious ripples from the surface of the lake above them, obscuring some motions and accentuating others. Trees wavered beyond, two moons almost indistinguishable from the clouds.
Not able to get away, Giyac reported after a short pause, his hand-signs very small as if he wanted to avoid Shadyel's notice. The identifying pattern of scars along his arms in ameso form almost made him seem to fade into the water behind him.

Shadyel indicated her contempt for the absent ameso woman, fingers almost shouting the words. No excuse.

She turned her head, looking to her second, but Oyai was staring up through the water. All gazes followed, to see the faint outline of a human standing on the dock.