My Weekend at Faeriecon

I haven’t worked on anything NaNoWriMo in three days.

You see, there’s this little thing called Faeriecon that took place this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And that’s exactly where I was instead of working on my story.

Despite my absolute love of faeries, I only found out about this venue last year. So this year, instead of checking it out as a consumer, I went right ahead and signed up to sell my Faerietales books. I thought, what the heck! They’re about faeries, my books are about faeries… why not?

So I put together a fantastic poster, designed a new flyer to give out to any writer wannabes, and printed 100 copies of Not So Human, along with seven copies each of To Err Is Faerie and Up in the Air. Obviously, I was hoping to sell all of them, but I understood the very real possibility that I might lose several hundred dollars out of the venture.

Which I did.

Turns out, Faeriecon is more for people looking to dress up like faeries than to read about them. There were two other authors on the floor I was on, and they didn’t appear to be any more popular than I was. Though it wasn’t an entire wash, as I might have gotten some editorial clients out of it. I gave away the majority of my flyers, so here’s hoping for some bites!

Plus, some of my vending neighbors around me were highly entertaining. There was Bobby across the way, who was selling jewelry. He had vampire fangs, a kilt and a long list of entertaining stories to tell. And Lauren and Kristin right beside me were just as hysterical.

Lauren, a djinn, had painted herself the most vivid shade of blue, complete with large, twisted horns sticking out of her head. She looked utterly awesome, and while I was rather envious of her aqua pigment choice, there is no way I would want to duplicate the look, as it took her at least an hour and a half to get all done up every morning.

That’s patience I just don’t have.

Her best friend and business partner was a faerie with the curliest red hair ever. If Disney Princess Merida had pointy ears and wings, she would look exactly like Kristin. I swear. Once again… jealous.

But overall, lesson learned. Faeriecon is for faeries, not for authors.

Tomorrow, it’ll be right back to NaNoWriMo for me. Which, incidentally, isn’t worrying me despite my three-day sabbatical.

I reached 25,000 last Wednesday. So I think I’m good.

Off The Beaten Path

I’ve mentioned a few times now that I’m working on the fourth installment of my Faerietales series. I actually finished editing the first draft a week ago and plan on going over it again shortly.

Believe me, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

But while I was still in the process of writing this masterpiece in the making, I read two other fantasy books, one by Jim Butcher and one by Seanan McGuire, both of whom are experts in their craft. Butcher pretty much owns the genre at this point, and while McGuire is more up-and-coming comparatively speaking, she’s still phenomenal.

Now, they’re both purists in their writing. By that, I mean they stick with all the “ancient texts.” I swear they went to school to study mythology before they ever dreamt about writing their respective series, The Dresden Files and October Daye. So in their worlds, faeries include a wide range of critters of varying shapes and sizes, from the beautiful to the terrifying, with an equally diverse assortment of magical powers.

In fact, Butcher and McGuire both covered the same exact myth recently: The Wild Hunt.

That’d be one of the terrifying ones. But so cool! (I’m not going to describe it myself, but here’s the Wikipedia article if you’re curious.)

The thing is, reading their accounts proved to be a blatant reminder of how far off the beaten path I’ve taken my own stories. In my fantasy world, faeries are all humanoid, all have wings and aren’t magical. If they want to maintain their anonymity around clueless humans, they do so through scientific means, not spells or pixie dust.

In main character Sabrina’s case, I like it that way. I meant it that way. Yet still, sometimes I have to wonder…

So far, most of the people I know of who’ve read the Faerietales books aren’t die-hard fantasy fans, and so I didn’t have to worry about offending any of them with the license that I took.

But I’m really curious to see what the typical Jim Butcher or Seanan McGuire fan would think after picking up a Jeannette DiLouie novel. Will they love my fantastical twists or hate them?

Who knows… Maybe I’ll find out after my book signing on October 3.

Faerietales 4: Because Trilogies Are So Cliché

At the beginning of the month, I mentioned how I’d started another story despite my plans to work on completely different novels.

So here’s the big reveal now that  I've officially published Faerietales 3 (available on Amazon.com in both print and Kindle copies)... I’m working on Faerietales Book 4.

It had to happen, I suppose, considering all the questions I left unanswered at the end of the appropriately named “Up in the Air.”

It’s not a cliff-hanger ending. Don’t worry, guys. I had originally intended this to be the last Sabrina-focused book, and so I gave her a promising new future. But it did still end in such a way that left a whole lot of room for a whole new story.

At least that’s what a certain lovely, lovable, obnoxious someone I know told me after reading Book 3. And I guess I caved to the pressure.

Nah… That’s not being fair to her. If anything, she got my imagination fired up. That’s it. The rest is all my fault.

So here I am, typing away, reusing memorable tertiary characters from “Not So Human” and “To Err Is Faerie” that I never thought I’d write about again. Oh yeah, and I’m introducing a new character based on one of the greatest emotional con-artists I’ve ever personally met.

Unexpected though it is, it’s totally fun!

Don’t ask me what the title is, because I’ve got nothing right now. But I do have a good grasp of where the plot is going. And let me tell you… It’s going to rock! As is Sabrina. No more scarred little faerie… This princess is ready to rule.

Since I’m still in the early stages of writing, don’t expect this baby to fly free until next year. But here are a few elements I may or may not have already written into existence:

·         There may or may not be a wedding involved.

·         There may or may not be a faerie plot to kill humans for a change.

·         And Sabrina may or may not have to work hand in hand with the HPAC at some point.

I wish I could say more, but I really can’t. For one thing, it would be giving away too much of the recently-debuted “Up in the Air,” which is now available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and print copies.

But also, I don’t like locking myself into anything. I reserve the right to go back and edit out anything I want to until I push that “publish” button.

In the meantime, feel free to post any suggested titles in the comments below. I’ll take all the help I can get!

If I Was a Faerie

If I was a faerie, I’d pretty much be Sabrina, my main character in “Not So Human.” Unlike her, I’d have short, curly brown hair and brown eyes, but that’s about where our differences would end.

The rest of the comparison checklist matches up pretty darn well, since we both:

·         Are sarcastic (sometimes) to a fault

·         Have a silly habit of falling for either short moody men, or tall delusional types who think they know everything

·         Crave life beyond our dead-end jobs and ridiculous coworkers

·         Thinks bangers and mash are one of the finest food concoctions ever devised

·         Have found internet dating to be more problematic than it’s worth

I’d also be up for having bright green wings. Frankly, I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t.

So yeah, if I was a faerie, I’d totally be Sabrina. In which case, I have to say I’m really, really happy I’m not one.

Because as awesome as it would be to have those wings, travel to Scotland and meet tall delusional types with gorgeous accents, I don’t think it’d be worth all the drama that comes with those perks.

As I mentioned last month, “Not So Human” briefly began along an autobiographical bent, hence the reason why our characters are so very similar. Yet considering the chaos that follows Sabrina around, I’d say it’s clear she became her own distinctive character along the way.

If that wasn’t true – if she was me – let me tell you, I would have written a much kinder storyline than I did. It’d be all moonlit flights and strolls through Edinburgh and, yes, bangers and mash.

So basically, not a story worth reading.

Proving, I guess that boring really can be best when it comes to real life.

Not So Human

On Monday, I promised I’d talk more about my upcoming novel, Not So Human, the first installment of my Faerietales series. (And yes, I know I spelled “Faerietales” incorrectly. It was on purpose.)

As the title implies, the story is about someone who isn’t nearly as normal as she thinks she is. She’s in fact – *GASP!* – a faerie.

I know. You totally didn’t see that one coming, right?

The story actually started out autobiographical in nature. You see, once upon a time, I was working a temp job where I had about fifteen minutes worth of tasks each morning, and then pretty much nothing else to do for my remaining eight hours and fifteen minutes there.

Don’t ask me why they needed a temp in the first place. It was an utter waste of their money.

It also isn’t my idea of a good time. Neither is listening to coworkers who constantly joke about inane sexual stuff, like using animal crackers as condoms. I kid you not.

But moving on…

My boredom and disgust pushed me to start writing about a 24-year-old college grad stuck in a dead-end temp job with coworkers who could put Spencer’s gifts to shame. And somehow or another, my story took off from there, landing squarely in the fantasy realm.

Here’s the recap:

Sabrina might not care for everything about herself, but she’s still fairly used to being a human, an orphan and an everyday average American. However, her life changes forever the day she’s followed home by four men in dark suits and sinister shades. A crash-course in reality reveals that she’s actually a faerie princess, with a royal family in Scotland and some particularly brutal enemies hunting her down in the U.S.

Fleeing the country doesn’t solve her problems though. It only adds to them. With her new tiara to try on for size and a potential romance that seems bound to go badly before it begins, Sabrina still has to stay one wing ahead of the Human Preservation and Advancement Committee. Which has made its mission to ruin her life. Permanently.

And here's the working cover. I know it's a bit blurry, but this is the general idea: