Official page for the Divine Trials book series! It's the one about gay angels, magic, and that one hot guy in the yellow coat that everyone seems to love. Check out the FAQ if you've got questions, or maybe take a peek at Important Links if you have a second to spare!
In a fantasy world split into three realms, a Scribe with prophetic powers finds himself dragged into the conflicts of angels, demons and gods. Visions of danger and destruction plague the dreams of a young human named Enoch Augnium. To protect those around him, he must face off against people blessed with magic abilities; track down Remnants of the gods that existed before the world itself; and stay true to his belief that every life is worth saving.
Interested in reading the series?
You can find the eBook versions of published books here! Each link will bring you to the book’s page in the Kobo book store. Additional books will be added upon their release.
Book 1: The Origin of Enoch
You can order a paperback copy of published books in the Etsy shop here! If you aren’t able to use Etsy, you can also send a message to one of the series’ social media pages to discus ordering as well (Etsy just streamlines the process)
Book 1: The Origin of Enoch
Links to Other Social Media (since sites are dropping like flies nowadays)
Official Instagram Page
Official Facebook Page
Interested in buying some Merch?
The series has a fairly small budget right now, but I’m hoping to have prints, bookmarks, and other kinds of merch available down the line! When they become available, they’ll be listed on the Etsy page here. I’ll also have a catalog of sorts added to the blog for the sake of window shopping. Well, browser windows, that is.
I did a very quick, sketchy comic because I was extremely inspired by this post. (Credit to @pinkdiamondprince for the original post.)
The entire analogy was just fantastic and so, so accurate, and I wanted to make a comic for it, even if it’s very sketchy because my attention span is nil.
I love first-person because it’s about what the narrator chooses to tell. What do they focus on? What do they leave out? What can you learn from reading between the lines? Are they lying to you? Are they lying to themself? It’s great for unreliable narrators and for epistolary storytelling! It’s intimate but there’s still a distance because you aren’t really seeing the narrator’s thoughts–you’re just seeing the story that they’ve constructed.
I love second-person because it’s a conversation. Does “you” mean a broad, indefinite “you”? Does “you” really mean “I” but with plausible deniability? Does “you” mean one specific person? Can they hear the narrator? Do they know the narrator? What is the relationship here? Who’s talking? Who’s listening?
I love third-person limited because it’s focused and intimate. What does the world look like from inside this character’s head? What are they seeing? What are they feeling? It doesn’t grant them the privacy that first-person does; the narrative isn’t something they’ve chosen, it’s invisible and inescapable. As a reader you’re not watching so much as astral projecting.
(I love singular point of view because of how much it leans into that limitation. You’re not getting the whole story; you’re not seeing anything unless this character sees it. How do you embrace that? What do you do with the gaps around the edges? How does that define–or warp–the events that they’re experiencing?
I love multiple points of view because of how it broadens your understanding of the story and the world. If two point-of-view characters react in opposite ways to the same thing, what does that tell you about them? About the world? How does it feel to spend time inside a character’s head and then see them from someone’s else’s point of view? How do all of these viewpoints work together?)
I love third-person omniscient because the narrative is a character. It’s great for stories that know they’re stories! It allows for a camaraderie between the narrator and the reader! It allows for wider and more cinematic descriptions because you’re not limited to what a specific person can see! It lets you look at the characters from outside while still giving you the option to delve into their heads because you have full control over what you’re focusing on!
And I love authors who can combine viewpoints in ways you wouldn’t think would work but manage to pull it off! Stories with multiple point-of-view characters where one is first-person and the others are third! Stories that combine first- and second-person! Stories where the omniscient narrator suddenly refers to themself in the first person! Stories where you realize halfway through that you were wrong about who was narrating it!
Isn’t it fantastic that there are so many different ways to tell stories!!!!
How to make characters that start a story off dead feel real.
Name them- this is the bare minimum
Happy memories- what did this person mean to those they had relationships with? These little details contextualize your living characters and who they are as people.
Identity- who was this person outside of these relationships?
Agency- give them a last action related, but more personal simply dying. For example, taking a bullet, giving one last piece of advise, leaving a scar on their killer's face, telling a joke, or even just figuring out a plot to kill them and doing something about.
In conclusion, characters who start a story off dead should mean something besides making a reader's feel sympathy for another character. Death is a big deal, and neglecting this reality can mess with a reader's suspension of disbelief, even for characters the reader will never truly meet. Having bits and pieces of a dead character feels more real because it mimics that experience of getting to know a person through their family and friends or reading a diary of a person long dead.
I cannot stress this enough, write it poorly. Write the shittiest draft you possibly can, stick 'ah fuck something happens here and now they're fighting' to get over
Write the worst fucking version you possibly can and stick it in a folder and forget it for a month or two before you look at it again. You know what you have now?
A first draft. And with enough time to think some new thoughts about it, you'll soon end up with a better, second draft! And eventually, you'll end up with something you'd be perfectly okay with letting other people read!
You'll never believe this process works no matter how many times you do it, but it totally does. You just have to drag your brain kicking and screaming to that blank page and get the bones down first.
At what point should a backstory be explained or expanded on? (Midpoint, four chapters in, etc?) thanks!
Hello!
Where does Backstory Go?
There's no really hard and fast rule for when to do anything. I tend to sprinkle the majority of backstory throughout the first act turn and the midpoint. I'll typically reveal the essential thing you need to know to get a good sense of the character/world within the first couple chapters, and then leave the extra details (and the spicier details) to sprinkle throughout until we reach the the middle. If there is a big surprising thing to learn, we tend to learn it right before the midpoint.
Backstory for smaller characters or elements can come out after that point, but I always found it a bit odd to still be learning big things about the MC after it all goes down--unless the learning is a result of that event. Still, that's not a hard rule.
You want to really carefully balance the keeping secrets to create suspense and mystery with the revealing so we can get a greater sense of the characters/world. I talk more about this in a different post (linked below), but essentially, you don't want to keep too much hidden for too long. However, this balance is totally up to you and what your intuition is telling you.
In my last project I was so proud of all my clever secrets—in the mystery of every character having something to hide, in the chapters where
If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking:
Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?
Thematic Relevance- Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?
Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?
Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?
Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?
"The Origin of Enoch" is available in the Kobo book store here!
And in paperback through the Etsy here!
Plot synopsis under the break
After hiding from his prophetic powers for years, a young Scribe must overcome the demons of his past to save the futures of the people he loves.
In a world of immortal angels, banished demons, deadly magic and endless war, how much of an impact can one human have?
Enoch Augnium, a Scribe working for the Church that rules over humanity, is content with a simple existence. For him, his solitary work in the Cathedral library is enough, and chasing after the future stolen from him isn’t worth the risk.
But even a Seer, cursed with the ability to see the destinies of those around them, cannot escape the entangling threads of fate.
When an encounter with a kindhearted Pilgrim leads to a vision of death and devastation, Enoch realizes just how fragile his simple existence truly is. Demons lurk in the shadows of the capital. Deadly destinies plague his dreams. Unknown dangers threaten the lives of those he holds dear, and to save them he must choose between his peaceful way of life, and a responsibility too heavy to bear alone.
