Keeping a story believable

Before I get to today's post, I want to announce the winner of the autographed copy of Jennifer Estep's Spider's Bite . . . Jade! Jade, email me with your full name and mailing address and Jennifer will get your book in the mail to you.

And thank you to everyone for all of your comments; I had a great time reading them! Hmmm, having guest bloggers is fun -- I'll have to start making that a quasi-regular thing. Get my author buddies to come over for a visit. What do you all think? Let me know if that's something that ya'll would like.

Now on to today's topic: Keeping a story believable.

Fantasy writers especially face the challenge of making their characters, situations, magic system, and world-building believable.

For me, the key to enjoying a fantasy series is being able to identify with the characters. I'm very character driven. And when it comes to magic, it has got to make sense. Likewise, the world has to be well thought out and developed. That was one of the reasons why I based Mermeia on Venice. One, Venice is uber cool. Two, everyone can immediately visualize a Renaissance-like city with canals.

As to my characters, I try to give them flaws. Goodness knows, real people aren't perfect, so characters shouldn't be either. A little bit larger than life is acceptable; heck, they don't call it fantasy for nothing. ; ) Like Jennifer Estep, I like my locations and my characters gritty and real. My favorite fantasy series are filled with characters who I can't wait to visit again and again -- like real friends.

And when I set rules for magic, character behavior, action sequences, etc. I do my best to keep them consistent throughout the book. Nothing sticking out like a sore thumb and disrupting the flow of the story. Having a reader stop reading and go "huh?" is very bad. I hope I've managed to avoid that. The ultimate goal is a "suspension of disbelief," for you all to accept that goblins exist (and they're hot), that elven pirates prowl the seas preying on the rich and unsuspecting, and that a spellsinger can sing a baby to sleep in a nursery or sing a platoon to sleep (or to their deaths) on a battlefield.

I hope I've been successful.

Tomorrow I'll let you all know when and where the official Bewitched & Betrayed

Book Launch Party will be held.