It’s my husband’s birthday today! So I’m going to be offline celebrating with him. Have a great day everyone.
Story Bibles
In season five of Writing Excuses, my favorite episode focused on Story Bibles (though they had a lot of great episodes on POV as well).
Story Bibles are a document, a wiki, or some other webpage or something you have that help you keep up with your universe. I use scrivener to some degree for this, but I’m toying with the idea of creating a wiki for the Persephone Universe where I go through the real life connections of the myth, the powers and how they work in my universe, the characters, and the rules. In fact, right now I’m writing a blog post that will link to all the existing content I have on all of that in my blog.
That’ll be the public equivalent of my story bible. Eventually, I may post the private one. The scrivener character profiles that go into all the development of each character in each story. The plot summary for that story. The layout of different places in that story, and the rules of the universe in that story.
The biggest reason I haven’t made the jump and created an actual wiki for the Persephone universe is because right now, I have everything I need in scrivener, so anything I do in wiki will just basically be me procrastinating on writing the next book. I don’t want to get world-builders disease (where you use world building to procrastinate actual writing). But I also don’t need to do that much because Persephone is basically set in our world. It’s an alternate reality of our world, but it’s not very far alternate. If I need to remember something about the setting, I can visit it. If I need to know how long it takes to get port to port in Aphrodite’s cruise ship, I can google it. I know my rules well enough to avoid getting tangled in them (gods can’t lie, charm isn’t forever, glamours work like x). But my magic system is fairly simplistic because my characters are actual gods. I don’t have to worry much about god complexes, because if any creature deserved to have one, it would be the ones who created the world.
But if I were to write a new story, set somewhere else with different rules, a story bible would be a must. So this podcast gave me a lot of great tips on creating one.
You can listen to it here or read the transcript here.
Mythology Monday: Voting!
Tomorrow is election day in the good old U.S of A, so if you’re in country and eligible, go vote! Do your civic duty and stuff.
To further inspire you, I thought I’d do a special edition Mythology Monday voting edition to show just how important it is to vote and the dire consequences that follow if you vote wrong.
This election day, I’m going to feature the most famous example of voting in mythology. The judgement of Paris.
Eris was the god of strife, chaos, and discord. She is the daughter of Nyx, and sometimes Erebus, sometimes Cronus. Eris is the major deity behind Discordianism. Eris and Enyo, a younger goddess of war, are sometimes referred to interchangeably.
Eris is most famous for setting the Trojan War into motion. She was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, so she showed up anyway in a very Malificent move, bearing the gift of a golden apple. The gift, she explained, was intended for the most beautiful goddess in attendance. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite immediately began bickering over the apple, and in the end Paris was chosen to judge the divine beauty contest. Each goddess tried to bribe him, and Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful mortal woman on earth, Helen of Troy, won. Unfortunately, Helen was not yet of Troy, she was married to Menalaus, so when Paris kidnapped her he started the Trojan War.
See. Your vote can make an impact 😀
Have a happy election day tomorrow.
Athens Montessori Fall Festival
If you’re a fan in the area, feel free to drop by the Fall Festival at Athens Montessori School tomorrow from 10:00-3:00 PM. There’s a local author table set up that I’ll be at on and off throughout the day. You can buy books, get an autograph, or just hang out for the very cool petting zoo.
For more information about the event, click here. Hope to see you there!
Winners for #NASH
The winners for the New Adult Scavenger Hunt will go live today! Check them out here. Several authors also hosted giveaways on their own blogs, so be sure to visit them again so you don’t miss out on any great prizes. The winner for my giveaway was Carie.
Thank you all so much for participating!
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has fun tonight! But if you need a little something to get you into the spirit, enjoy these halloween themed myths.
Monsters
Halloween Mythology Part 1: Reapers
Halloween Mythology Part 2: Hecate
FAQ: Deus Ex Machina
I get this one a lot about the ending of Persephone. How did Persephone defeat a god who has been around since almost the beginning of time after only four months of training?
The fact that I’m asked that means I made a rookie mistake and didn’t put the gun on the mantel early enough or clearly enough in the story to avoid a Deus ex Machina scenario at the end. Fortunately, since my character is in fact a god, I get a bit more leeway with the whole God in the Machine bit, and I was not slammed for this in reviews to the extent I should have been. But there were reasons. Just not terribly well explained ones.
The first that divine powers don’t take much training. They are used by gods, and gods think therefore thinks are. Persephone herself notes this when she’s trying to learn how to dreamwalk from Hypnos. Everything comes easy to her, including aspects of her own powers, but dreamwalking is hard because she has no natural talent for it. If she had a natural talent for it, she’d master it pretty much instantly, like how she managed to create a plant the very first time she ever even attempted to use her powers. When she charmed people, she charmed them completely. She doesn’t need to learn to use her powers, she needs to learn which ones she has, how to access them, and how to use a light touch so she doesn’t accidentally destroy stuff. To use a light touch so she doesn’t unintentionally destroy stuff. She doesn’t use a light touch on Boreas, or precision. She uses the power equivalent of a sledge hammer.
And that works, because as far as sledge hammers go, hers is stronger. She may be a junior goddess, but she’s actively being worshiped by Orpheus’s fans, and she outranks Boreas. It’s established in the book that bloodlines are all, each generation is less strong than the last. Boreas is a minor wind god and son of a minor set of Titans. Persephone is divine royalty. She’s the daughter of two realm rulers. As Thanatos pointed out, she outranks pretty much every living god left.
Of course Persephone’s biggest advantage didn’t come down to experience or power. It came down to a vow of fealty he’d sworn to Zeus. It’s well established in my universe that divine children share their parent’s powers. Gods are only vulnerable to their own powers, ergo their children are their weaknesses. But when a god swears fealty to another god, they are surrendering their powers to them. That makes them vulnerable to things like that god’s charm, the same charm Persephone holds a piece of.
That third advantage is the one I messed up the most. Fealty isn’t introduced as a concept until after the fight. Plot wise, I couldn’t have explained that fealty makes gods vulnerable to charm specifically without really spoiling my ending. But I could have made hints earlier (or at all) in the story. If I had a do-over, that’s exactly what I would do. Add in one or two scenes where fealty is subtly mentioned. Probably in one of Hestia’s lessons and in one of the library chats with Hades.
But for now, all I can say is oops.
New Adult Scavenger Hunt
Welcome to New Adult Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was inspired as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 96 hours!
Go to the New Adult Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the TEAM Orange but there is also a TEAM Green and TEAM Purple for a chance to win a whole different set of books!
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the New Adult Scavenger Hunt page.
***THE SCAVENGER HUNT***
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my lucky book number. Collect the lucky book numbers of all the authors on TEAM Orange, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 30th, at noon Eastern Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
LET THE HUNT BEGIN!
***MEET Jen McConnel, AUTHOR OFCounting Curses: CURSE OF GOLD***
Jen McConnel is an award winning author. She writes Young Adult and New Adult fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. When she isn’t writing, she can be found on her yoga mat, teaching, or wandering off on another adventure. She grew up in mid-Michigan, attending Western Michigan University, and now lives with her family in North Carolina. She holds a MS in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and she is currently working on her MA in Children’s Literature at Hollins University.
Want to learn more about Jen? Visit her website today!
Some curses aren’t meant to be broken…
When Riley moved to London to get her graduate degree, she never thought of herself as dangerous. But when a guy she loves drops dead, Riley starts to believe in the family curse. Her eccentric grandmother insists that it’s up to Riley to break the centuries-old curse that has plagued the family, but all Riley has to go on are Gran’s cryptic remarks and a little bit of mostly awful luck.
Her luck changes for the better when she meets Tom, a scholar with a treasure-hunting hobby who knows more about Riley’s curse than either of them realize. Despite the risks, Riley is drawn to Tom, but her curse prevents her from acting on the growing attraction. Will their combined love of esoteric history be enough to break the curse, or will Riley remain deadly to anyone who falls for her?
***EXCLUSIVE CONTENT***
READY FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT CURSE OF GOLD?
Riley held her breath and counted to three.
When she opened her eyes, the wood-paneled hallway had stopped spinning, but her stomach was still rioting. She took another deep breath and sank down onto the strategically placed bench outside her advisor’s office. Dropping her head between her knees, Riley focused on remaining conscious. Bottle red hair brushed her face, but she didn’t bother to push it away. Riley knew what it felt like to hyperventilate, and she was dangerously close to it. She wasn’t sure any student had ever passed out while waiting to meet with her advisor, and Riley didn’t plan on going down in King’s College history as the flighty American who couldn’t handle the pressure of defending her thesis. She smiled grimly at the thought. I’ve already made enough college history.
Getting a grip on her rebellious stomach, Riley slowly stood up. She crossed the wide hallway and raised her hand to knock on Dr. Fullingham’s door. Get it together. Gritting her teeth, she forced a smile and rapped lightly on the heavy oak door.
Maybe she won’t be here. Riley crossed her fingers, but her heart sank when a rich voice called, “Enter!”
Stepping into Dr. Fullingham’s office had always reminded Riley of wandering through the wardrobe into Narnia. It was worlds away from the austere halls of King’s College, and as different as night and day from the other faculty offices. Dr. Fullingham collected oddities, and she proudly displayed her bizarre treasures on every free surface of the office. The African fertility sculpture beside the door had jabbed Riley the first time she set foot in the office, but after three years, she had learned to feint slightly to the left to avoid the ebony phallus. She kept her eyes up, but that didn’t mean she was able to avoid all of the strange odds and ends in her advisor’s office. Where had she snagged the gold reliquary? And is that skull on the bookshelf real?
Dr. Fullingham was standing on her desk chair, one foot perched precariously on the glass top of her desk. Riley had a sudden vision of the glass shattering and her instructor disappearing in a haze of crystal shards, but she shook her head. It wasn’t a good idea for her to fantasize like that, even for a moment.
“This cursed Clematis just won’t behave. Hand me that stake, will you?” She gestured with the tip of her brown suede boot, and Riley spotted a slender wooden garden stake buried under a stack of papers on the desk.
“Here,” she offered, passing the wicked looking spike to her advisor.
“That’ll do.” Dr. Fullingham stabbed the stake not into the potting soil as Riley had expected, but into the flimsy ceiling tile. She looked like an errant vampire hunter, and Riley tried not to smile at the thought. White dust rained down on them as Dr. Fullingham wrapped the unwieldy vine around quivering wood.
Riley brushed her eyes and took a hesitant seat in front of the desk as Dr. Fullingham hopped down.
“All right, what did you need to see me about?”
Riley swallowed, pressing her sticky palms against her thighs. Her stomach turned once but then was still. “My dissertation date.”
“That’s all settled. You’ll defend to the committee in a week.”
“I was hoping we could postpone it.”
Dr. Fullingham gave her a sharp look, and Riley leaned back in her chair. “You’ve already postponed it. Twice.”
“I know, but I’d just like a little more time.”
“Riley, most of our students finish in a year.” She held up her hand to forestall any protests. “Even the part-timers like you manage to complete the program in two years. You’ve been here for three.”
Riley’s mouth went dry. “It’s just that–” she trailed off, glancing around the room for some excuse. Her eyes landed on the reliquary that sat on the windowsill, and she shivered. Which piece of which unlucky martyr was hanging out inside?
“Stop making excuses. I know you’ve had a hard time of it, but it’s time to buck up, girl. Life goes on.”
Not for me it doesn’t. Riley dropped her gaze to her ragged fingernails. “I’m sorry.”
Dr. Fullingham sighed. “I’m sorry, too. You can’t change your defense date again. Either you’re prepared to show us what you’ve got on September 1st, or you need to think about pursuing another field.”
Riley’s eyes shot up and locked on her advisor’s steady gray gaze. “I can’t do that. I’ve put everything into this degree!”
“And you’ve got some good ideas. I’m looking forward to your defense next week.” She shuffled some papers on her desk, skimming for something. “Did you ever confirm your translations with Doctor Malcom?”
Riley shook her head. “I’ve tried, but–”
Her advisor cut her off. “No buts about it, Ms. Belmont. He’s the undisputed expert on the Woman’s Book of Hours, and I expect you to get in touch with him before your defense.”
Riley wanted to tell Dr. Fullingham that she’d tried to reach the illusive Dr. Malcom for months. Instead, she forced a smile. “Yes, m’am.”
“Good. If you don’t have any other issues, I’ll see you in a week.”
The conversation was obviously closed. Unsteadily, Riley got to her feet. “Thank you, I guess.”
Dr. Fullingham waved her hand. “Not at all. Just be prepared. I know you’ll do fine.” She turned her attention to the brass statue of an elephant on her desk, petting it and polishing it with her sleeve.
Back in the dark hallway once more, Riley fought back the urge to burst into tears. It was worth a shot. Dragging her feet, she began the walk down the long, marble-tiled corridor. Not for the first time, she wondered if the builders of King’s College had been trying to construct a structure that would make the students feel completely inferior. If they were, it worked, at least on her. Every day that she’d been a student here she’d felt unworthy. Light spilled in the frosted windows as she turned down the stairs, and as she reached the ground floor, her hand flicked out unconsciously to brush the statue of Sappho as she passed. Riley didn’t write poetry, but for some reason, the erotic writer’s marble presence always comforted her. If she could beat the odds, maybe I can, too.
As she headed out into the watery sunlight, Riley stopped to take in the view. Even after three years, the expanse of the Thames that stretched in front of the college always surprised her. She hated the river now, but when she’d first come to London, she’d adored it. Across the river, the gaudy London Eye winked at her, and Riley smiled unconsciously, remembering her tourist-driven glee when she’d seen the ugly Ferris wheel for the first time. If she looked to her right, the familiar sight of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament would greet her, but Riley didn’t look in that direction today. Instead, she turned left, heading for the Temple tube stop. She supposed that she could have spent some time wandering through the streets to clear her head, but she didn’t really see the point.
I don’t need a clear head. I need a miracle. As she walked, she thought about her upcoming dissertation. She’d been ready to defend her thesis for months now; it wasn’t laziness that prompted her to request an extension. She wasn’t worried about her material. Her research was sound, and Dr. Fullingham had often told her that she had an interesting take on the intertwining of gender bias and religious tracts in the Middle Ages. It wasn’t even the strange silence from Dr. Malcom that was slowing her down; Riley felt like her translation was good enough to stand, with or without his approval. No, it wasn’t a lack of confidence in her research that had made Riley try to postpone her dissertation again.
It was him.
Everything she’d done since she came to King’s College three years ago was overshadowed by what had happened to him. The faculty might be too polite to say anything to her face, but Riley knew they talked about it all the time. A tragic accident. So bizarre. And did you know she was the last person to see him alive? Eyes followed her all the time on campus, and Riley couldn’t bear the thought of being up on display while she defended her work. It would only be a small panel of faculty, but still, she knew that they mourned his death as much as she did, and she was sure that at least one of the members of her committee blamed her for what had happened.
It didn’t help that she thought they were right.
I hope you enjoyed the exclusive look into Curse of Gold!
I love free content, don’t you? Before moving on to the next blog, take a moment to tell me about your favorite Greek myth in the comments below. You’ll be entered to win an e-copy of any one of my published books. (Yes, that includes my latest release, LOVE AND WAR). And sign up for my newsletter for a free audiocopy of DAUGHTER OF EARTH AND SKY (Book 2 of the PERSEPHONE trilogy. I normally give away PERSEPHONE with newsletter sign up, but since it’s on sale for .99 cents at the moment, I’d rather give away the higher priced book.
To enter the NASH GIVEAWAY, you need to know that my lucky book number is 14.
Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on TEAM ORANGE and you’ll have the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
***CONTINUE THE HUNT***
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author, Sharon M. Johnston!
Good luck!
New Adult Scavenger Hunt
Hello Everyone! Hope you are excited as I am, because we have two days until the Fall 2016 New Adult Scavenger Hunt begins! A few weeks ago, I participated in the YA version of this hunt and it was so much fun, I knew I wanted to signup for the new adult hunt with Aphrodite. The Scavenger Hunt is a simple blog hop puzzle. Each fan will write down the lucky numbers from each team, add them up and submit the total.There are 3 grand prizes being offered. These grand prizes consist of one book from each author in that team. IE: The grand prize winner from Team Green will receive 9 books as a grand prize. Each blogger also has the option of offering their own individual giveaways, so I’ll be giving away a prize on my blog as well.
I’m on team orange! Here are the Fall 2016 #NewASH teams:
TEAM GREEN
TEAM ORANGE
TEAM PURPLE
The New Adult Scavenger Hunt begins at Noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, October 26th and runs through Sunday, October 30th. For more information, follow NewASH on Twitter (@NAScavengerHunt), Facebook (NA Scavenger Hunt), check out the Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/936229823097234/) or on the website (http://newadultscavengerhunt.com/). Your participation decides the success of NewASH!
Love and War is Live!
After narrowly escaping with her life, Aphrodite wakes up to find herself at the demigods’ base camp—a gorgeous tropical island. Powerless and injured, she has no choice but to glamour herself as a demigoddess in order to find out what’s really going on. Lucky for her, she’s not alone. Ares is with her, also in disguise. But she soon realizes she might be more of a liability than an asset when her panic attacks and nightmares threaten to expose them both.
Ares is as anxious as anyone to shut down the demigods’ plot. But right now, all he can think about is Aphrodite. He almost killed her, for Gods’ sake! And though the timing couldn’t be any worse, he’s falling hard and fast. He’ll do anything to protect her . . . even if it means sacrificing himself.
Still, they find allies in the most unexpected places . . .
More goddess than demigoddess, Medea is married to the rebel leader, Jason. But there’s something odd going on. Jason is acting very strange, and Medea finds herself drawn to a new demigoddess who mysteriously arrived on the island half-dead. She senses there’s more to this visitor than meets the eye. Little does she guess . . .
War is coming, there’s no doubt. But, in her weakened state, does Aphrodite have any hope of surviving it?
Kaitlin Bevis 