Category Archives: BKC Chapter Updates | Vol. 2

New chapters, chapter revisions, planning, expanding and compiling in “Ignoble,” Volume II of ‘The BeastKing Chronicles’

Inside of Bre

Posted by Seriah Black Sheep on

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.

Let the Story Begin

Posted by Seriah Black Sheep on

So here’s what I’m thinking:

When is romance/sex most poignant in a novel: when it’s just another nail in the coffin, or when it comes like a thief in the night, sneakily riding the wave of the plot until the perfect time?

I’m going to create another version of the story. I know I’ve been talking about it, but I’m actually going to do it, instead of just moving a few things around, adding in here or there. To me, it’ll still just look like moving things around. But to you, it will probably look like a full story makeover. I’m doing this for the sake of the story. There is a time for Rome and Labriella’s relationship to be hot and heavy. But I rushed it–not because I introduced attraction too early, but because I made attraction the main event. Yes, that attraction is vital, but I don’t have to singularly focus on it for it to come to pass.

I wanted to find out if I could write abruptly instead of detailed.
I could.

I wanted to see if I could write sex scenes.
I can.

I wanted to see if I can get away with detail and gore.
I did.

Now it’s time to write a story.

Write What’s Not There

Posted by Seriah Black Sheep on

It’s been really encouraging to see people reading, following, and favoriting me as an author. As I’ve been hunting for stories online to read lately, I’ve been reminded of why I began writing my story in the first place. Sure, I was bored and didn’t have a book with me to read. But I also had devoured so many online stories that there were few left in my genre that appealed to me at the time. Exasperated, I realized that I had subconsciously developed an ideal male character in my mind’s eye, somewhere between a fantasy and a character I would want to read about…but he existed nowhere except in my mind.

And so I created him. And somehow, I ended up writing the kind of story that I wanted to read—the kind of story there are so few of. It’s a darker genre, traditional in its culture of men placed over women, but unconventional in its opportunities to flip things on their heads, and in its determination to get inside the characters’ heads.

And really, that’s what I wanted: An angsty fantasy story with graphic romance as both the problem and the solution. I wanted to see two strong main characters fight against themselves, each other, and the world to become one. I wanted to see the woman use her “lower” position in society to become valuable. I wanted to see the strong man have an identity crisis. I wanted to see a beautiful beast who remained beastly. I wanted to see up become down and down become sideways. I wanted to take the “known” (a well-known fairy tale in this case) and turn it into Wonderland (which is illogical/mind-boggling). If I saw one more Superwoman or girly-girl, I thought I would scream…or vomit. If I read one more “let’s get pregnant and have a family,” I was going to throw something. I don’t want to read about a kid; I want to read about the love bunnies. Everybody else can go take a hike. And why do I have to wait until next chapter for a POV change?! What if I want to know what they think now, when it’s most important and fresh in my mind?

And so Beauty and the Beast was born—renamed The BeastKing Chronicles now. A series, but really all one story. A story that could continue on and on for an eternity, because it follows an immortal. A story whose romance doesn’t end in a single volume to trade for another minor-character couple, or end in a family and a happily-ever-after. A story that’s full of trials, just like life—but extraordinary trials, such as you could never actually live. A story full of characters who would be phenomenal or terrible to meet in person—the kind that could make you lust or scream, murder or sex up.

Don’t you want to read that kind of story?

What kind of story do you want to read?
And why aren’t you writing it?