When it comes to the inclusion of explicit sex scenes in fantasy novels (particularly those not targeted towards romance readers), the decision tends to be divisive. Readers typically fall into two camps: those who find the sexual content gratuitous and/or unnecessary, and those who disagree. I’ll admit that I used to be in the former…
Of all the chapters in Petition, this is probably the one that I learned the most from even though it is one of the chapters that changed the least. Because I write very similarly to how Naomi Novik writes—by starting with a character’s voice and inhabiting that character’s viewpoint—I generally have a very strong sense…
When I started out writing Petition, I chose to write it in third person limited perspective. There were many reasons for that decision: After deciding to write in a close third, the next choice was tense: past or present? In my experience, past tense is more common but present tense lends a feeling of immediacy…
Many things have caught me unaware during the process of writing Petition but one wins the prize for the biggest surprise by a very large margin: the romantic subplot. That’s because I absolutely detest romance as a genre. (Sorry romance fans; it’s just not for me.) I could—and have—gone on long rants about why: I…