This is adapted from a presentation I gave at the 2017 Pagan Unity Festival. If you’re here reading this, you probably already know that my Tufa novels are about a race of exiled fairy folk in the mountains of east Tennessee. The title of the sixth and final book in the series, The Fairies of Sadieville, explicitly references this connection. And although they’re … Read More
On Themes and the Tufa, Part 2
See part 1 here. When The Hum and the Shiver proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, I wanted to advance the themes as well as the story. I decided that the central recurring character would be the place, not Bronwyn Hyatt. Cloud County and Needsville held many other characters I felt could (and subsequently did) carry their own novels. I’ve said … Read More
On Themes and the Tufa, Part 1
When I wrote the first Tufa novel, The Hum and the Shiver, I had no plans for a series. I wrote it on spec, without a contract, just prior to the release of my first novel, The Sword-Edged Blonde. In that first Tufa book, I had a very particular, self-contained story in mind: circumstances force Bronwyn Hyatt to decide how … Read More
An announcement about The Fairies of Sadieville
As I’ve said before, every book in a series is a balancing act between giving readers something new, and giving them what they already love. We’ve all read series that over time seemed unable to do the former and settled for repeating the latter. It’s common to say, “That series should’ve ended back at <insert series book title of your … Read More
Reader Question: Writing from a Woman’s POV
Reader Jane Payne (a name I just may borrow for a character) asked on my Facebook author page: “Writing POV for female characters. You do well! Is it challenging?” First, thank you for the compliment. I appreciate that a lot. Is it challenging? I can’t deny that it was at first, mainly because I expected it to be. We’re taught … Read More
Edit Disasters Addendum: When It All Goes Right
This is a quick addendum to yesterday’s blog post about editing disasters, to show you an example of when things go right. Recently I sold the short story “White Hart, Black Knight,” to Uncanny Magazine. It’s a story about my character Eddie LaCrosse, inspired by an Arthurian tale of Sir Gawain. When I turned it in, the editor very astutely pointed out … Read More
Edit Disasters and the Writers Who Cause Them (i.e., me)
Over on my Facebook author page, reader Susan Wachowski asked, “Any edit disasters after you turn in your manuscript?” In my usual process—and mine is really the only one I know—there are several steps before a book reaches a reader’s hands. First I typically do at least three drafts, possibly more, before anyone else reads it. That can clock in … Read More
Win the audio version of Gather Her Round!
So the good folks at Blackstone Audio have sent along a couple of copies of the audio version of my latest Tufa novel, Gather Her Round. Once again it’s read by Stefan Rudnicki, who makes my writing sound at least ten percent better. It’s a $35 value, but you can enter for a chance to win one of them FREE … Read More
Guest post: Robyn Bennis on the Uselessness of Writing Advice
I firmly believe that all good writing advice is generalized to the point of uselessness by its third retelling. You know the sort of advice I’m talking about. It takes the form of the tired maxims your critique group can’t stop themselves from repeating, the literary platitudes from a once-great author whose work began to flag about the time they … Read More
Interview: the Lucky Nows
The music in the Tufa novels comes from three main sources: classic folk music, modern indie music, and me. By that, I mean that if I can’t find lyrics to quote from in the first two sources, then it falls back on me to create them. I’m under no delusions about being a songwriter, and I don’t necessarily consider my little … Read More