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Ramblings from the D'Vaire Lair

I thought it might be fun to get you caught up with what’s going on around in what today I'm calling the D’Vaire Lair. 😜 On Sunday I finished Marked by Lightning which is Prism Wizard Vadimas Porfyra’s book. I haven’t always done outlines but as I started working through Drystan and Conley’s story I found that it aided me in staying on track and remembering every detail and nuance of my characters that I wanted to be highlighted in it. My routine evolved into detailed outlines that are easy for me to check off and while I never stick completely to them Vadimas’s mate nearly had me tossing the damn thing out the window.

You think you know a character after spending some time with them and I’ve had Vadimas’s story floating around in my head now for more than a year and a half. He wasn’t always easy to pin down and was quite the chameleon for a while so when I sat down to put together the outline, I had to make sure I understood him. I thought I knew him, but I found out I only knew aspects of him. He did crazy things – inviting new characters into the story that came out of nowhere, displaying aspects of his personality that had me wondering just who the hell this man was, and in the end all of it only made Vadimas fall more deeply in love with him.

It was a fun story and I don’t always get to say that. The last year I’ve put myself through uncomfortable character situations, given them traits of my own life that were much more difficult to address than I imagined, and stressed over whether any of it was any good. (That’s nothing new – few of the books feel like a success when I’ve finished them but that’s just insecurity and I eventually find the beauty in it as I trudge through my own editing process before sending it off to my wonderful team.) I’m so excited for you to meet these characters or get to see ones you’ve known for some time find their happy ending.

As you may know by now on July 25th, you’ll get your hands on the next D’Vaire book. It’s the second half of Chrysander and Ellery’s story. I know cliffhangers aren’t fun. I don’t enjoy them myself but as a writer there are times when your characters give you little choice. And I firmly believe that there are people in the D’Vaire universe who simply deserve more than a single book and the leader of the Council fell into that category. I hope you enjoy the conclusion to their journey and hopefully you’ve enjoyed them both because Ellery is one of those guys who keeps beautifully nosing his ways into stories. (And there’s always been plenty of Chrysander hanging around.)
Often when I finish a book I need to take a break. I try to force myself to take a step back from writing. It rarely lasts long but I’ve experienced writer fatigue where I just can’t seem to find the right plots lines or can’t get into a character’s head, so my goal now is to give myself some space to recharge my batteries. This time around, that’s just not possible. I was about halfway through Vadimas’s book when I realized that for the overall story arch I might have to once again switch around my master list for things to make the best sense. I hadn’t come to any conclusions when the couple it would affect BURST into my head and pestered me through the entire second half of Marked by Lightning.

This pair weren’t supposed to happen for almost ten more books but since I was forced to listen to the jerks, I was swayed by the argument that it was time. I’ll admit I’ve pushed this story off because it’s going to be tough and truthfully, I’m scared of it. Both guys are tremendously important to me and to the series and I’ve always wanted to be sure I could give them the type of story they deserve. But the time is right and while there’s fear I’m also excited. It’s one of those that I thought originally would likely get split into two but I’m in the outline process and there’s no point where it makes sense. And although there’s no secondary couple in this epic tale, it’s going to be a very long book. I mean the outline is already eighteen thousand words. It’s practically a short story and it’s still not done though it should be today or tomorrow at the latest. As you can imagine given my meanness and penchant for being mysterious about the couples I’m working on, I’m not going to tell you just yet who they are.

I’m working on the title too and if it winds up being one that gives it away, then I’ll let the cat out of the bag. In the meantime, just allow me to assure that I’m working hard so I can get these two and everyone else in the D’Vaire universe to you. Thank you so much for continuing to read these guys! Oh, if you want Dra’Kaedan’s Coven, Sentinel’s Dagger, or No Ordinary Drakeling in print you can get a copy on Amazon. If you’re attending GRL, my pre-order form is up and I will only have a few at most with me in New Mexico so I highly recommend planning ahead!

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