Feb 10, 2022
My Main cast for "The Coward's Emblem": Marya, Hamasa, Valerius, and Arash (starting from the top and going clockwise)
@ketolic thanks for the muse 😉
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My Main cast for "The Coward's Emblem": Marya, Hamasa, Valerius, and Arash (starting from the top and going clockwise)
@ketolic thanks for the muse 😉
As a writer, how long does it take you to come up with a fantasy name that is both exotic enough to transport the reader into another culture but simple enough that the reader will believe it is a real in-universe name?
Sometimes it'll take two seconds.
Usually it takes a while lol. I'm a cliche-trope-chugger and I like names to have meanings. Plus, I'm a linguistics BA, so I like the etymology of things. I'll look up meanings in the root language I want, and I'll play around with phonology and spelling to simplify it.
The most important part of course is figuring out the root/culture of the language. Once that's figured out, I can play around to my heart's content. Are they casual with few registers, do they use honorifics and family names, or do they have titles and specific nicknames? Do families and lineages matter, down the mother's line or the father's? What about their physiology?? ex. Dragons would have more silibant and less labial sounds because they don't naturally have human-like lips, so Hamasa and Arash and Jaser (yaser).
I love coming up with new words and names, actually😆😆 If it wouldn't confuse the crap out of people, I'd do it more. (Though I'll never be as great as Tolkien, e.g. doing a whole new language)
I recently read Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! where he presents some unorthodox style dragons. What are some other unique representations of dragons you've read and how have they influenced your work?
I've really only read a few Pratchett stories (which a major failing on my part) but I go5chu here
I think my biggest influences are:
Patricia C. Wrede (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles)
Tamora Pierce (esp her The Immortals Quartet)
and a little bit of Elizabeth Kerner (Kolmar series)
I like dragons being mages with full sentience and their own cultures, all but immortal, and gender being a thing they barely care about. And, as Kerner wrote them, sexy. While I can appreciate dragons written more like magical beasts (ex. I did really love GuardsGuards and the dragons were interesting!) than "people", I do hard-core HATE when dragons only have two hind legs and little clawsies on their wings. they are not bats. they are not wyverns. they are DRAGONS, four legs or bust.
Spoiler question: What is the relation between the person and the emblem? Can anyone use an emblem and become a dragon?
Oof, this is not how the emblem works! The emblem is the human word for "rohh".
A rohh is a dragon's soul.
In brief:
1- person and emblem? depends on the person you mean.
2- can anyone use it? hmmm, yes and no. also depends on the person.
More in depth explanation below the cut:
What was the most difficult scene for you to write? Conversely what was your favorite scene to write
OOF here's a doozy, especially since it'll involve spoilers for my debut novel (May 1 2022!!), so maybe I'll just keep it a bit more vague...
The most difficult scenes to write are definitely the action/battle scenes, though they are the most satisfying to finish. In TCE, there's a scene of a knight v GIANT DRAGON and I was just like... how does this work?? I read Robin McKinley's Hero and the Crown and rewatched Dragonheart (Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery, amazing nostalgic movie!) for some help. Then, I spent a lot of time in deep ~imagination~ basically making a movie in my head and trying to get the style of writing to reflect the pace of the fight. Tough? Yes. Satisfying? VERY YES.
I'm a total romance shill, monster/alien love interest trope is a longtime fave, so the teases and baits of the different connections between characters was probably the most fun. The best scenes, though, were the scenes with Arash, the snarky b*tch dragon being his snarkiest b*tchiest self. One of my favorite lines ever is said by him.
How did you get started in writing?
My older sister actually! Well... kinda.
I always wrote stories in my head as a kid. I was stuck in my room a lot and not allowed to play (tldr), so I spent a lot of time making up stories, talking out loud to myself and imaginary characters while folding clothes or cleaning up messes, etc.
When I was 13, my sister was 15, and she found fanfiction.net and Sailor Moon fics. She wrote a few, but I got super invested and I've been writing ever since. If I wasn't writing fanfic, I was playing DND or roleplaying on messenger sites, ff.net, and here on tumblr. I was just always writing and making up stories in some way my whole life.😁
How rare are dragons in the Emblem world? Would an average person know the Shield of the Emperor is a dragon? How unexpected was it when the Merciless came and laid waste?
ooooh this is fun!!
So, it really depends on the region. As a whole, the entire world has some recognition or fables of dragons. But a few countries have dragons, like, baked into the very fabric of their cultures. Two countries/continents in particular are: Osekai and Teogón.
Osekai (continent&country) has had dragons as part of their theology AND imperial dynasties for thousands upon thousands of years. It's a very small, insular continent.
Teogón (continent) didn't really have dragons, though, until about 500 years before the beginning of the story. It was rife with magical beings (Others), but dragons didn't really bother with Teogón until the Riyukezu came from Osekai and founded new Empire there in Mekshi (country and setting of novel 1)... yanno, with their dragon to force it. Most of Teogón would know exactly what the Shield of the Emperor was, even if they've never seen a dragon with their own eyes. Northerners, far from the capital, would mostly know older tales and the newest Shield (and even Emperor) would be pretty unrecognizable without pomp and circumstance.
As for the Merciless's attack... the sheer scope of devastation would've been unexpected. Since the typical Teogónian's only dragonlore are stories of the two Shields in their history, any new kind of dragon would be terrifyingly unexpected. Dragons want to be rulers, guardians of their Chosen Emperor, so the people might've expected a civil war (again), but one destroying entire countries out of pure fury and spite and leaving nothing behind?? That was... surprising (understatement).
Who is your favorite and least favorite character from TCE?
this one's a little tough
I'm a bad "mom" and I have a VERY easy fave: Arash. I love LOVE sassy asshole sidekicks with a huge, all-forgiving devotion streak underneath. toss in Unrequited pining trope and icy white dragon?? stick a fork in me, I'm done. he also says my favorite quote in the whole first novel. 😏
Least favorite though? I just don't know. they're all fun and interesting in their own way to write, even the "villains". Book 1 the villain is really "the insecurities we met along the way", sooo there's also that. I guess the hardest to write would be: Valerius? I know most readers are going to find it hard to love Hamasa at first, but I adore crybaby heroes that learn to overcome themselves so yeah, Valerius. He had the least depth in book 1, and he's VERY different from the rest of the group (classic foil).