Series Experiment: Fae Emperor

Warning: Today’s post has big spoilers for Court of Midnight and Deception! Do not proceed if you haven’t read it yet!

When I wrote the Hall of Blood and Mercy series, I mentioned I pulled a few experiments. I had repeating scenes that you see in every book–in HoBaM it was dinner with the vampires, in CoMaD it’s the cafe scenes–that I played around with, and I experimented with plotting systems, characters, and more. (If you want to read more, click here!)

In Court of Midnight and Deception I carried out another mini experiment–or perhaps we could even call it a mini quest–and that was combatting power creep.

Power creep is what you see in long book series/TV series/movies as the heroes acquire new skills that make them increasingly more powerful and are then pitted against increasingly powerful villains. (It’s also commonly called Power Escalation.)

You may start a series where the villain is threatening the city and in order to save the city our hero has to learn the most ultimate of all magic skills: Power XYZ. At the end of the book, the hero learns XYZ and is able to defeat the villain. But what can the writer do for the next book? They have to up the tension, of course, which means the baddie will now threaten the entire country, and power XYZ isn’t strong enough to overcome it! The hero has to learn a new ultimate skill!

You’ll see this most often in fantasy shows/books/movies, but it’s pretty prevalent in entertainment in general.

The danger of power creep is that it can make things feel boring. By the third time it happens, you know the Hero is going to get the new ultimate skill to conquer the villain–who is now the 5th generation of badness our hero is facing and frankly not frightening given that you’ve seen this happen again and again and again.

Power creep tends to especially be a problem with magically inclined heroines/heroes. Their magical powers keep increasing so they can face the problems they come across–because they have to since the hero needs to face everything all by themselves, right?

Leila, as an inexperienced queen with a broke Court and ungrateful citizens was in serious danger of experiencing power creep. Sure, I could make her charisma what wins her people over, and give her a hefty amount of magic so she can do cool things like wake up a hydra, and there would be little danger there, particularly since Queen Rime is around and she can kick Leila’s butt any day.

The real danger would be if Leila was the one to save the night realm all by herself–talk about over powered!–and if she also became the sole figure the fae rallied behind.

The problem was…Leila needed to become the monarch the fae look to. Given what I have planned for future series that follow the Paragon’s search (more on this coming in future posts!) I needed the fae to get it together and collectively wake up and stop all the infighting.

Leila is best suited for that for all the reasons laid out in the books…but the power creep!!

So I tempered her powers by requiring her Court to stand with her to save the Night Realm and even to get her wings. She still doesn’t have wings unless her people are there and standing in the gap between Leila and the Night Realm for her. But that still wasn’t quite enough to steer her into the clear.

Leila saves her Court–which was bankrupt, on the brink of destruction, and the biggest dumpster fire ever–in the span of a year. If I added into it that she needed to become the fae empress–which requires the blessing/support of Courts from multiple regions, not just the Midwest?? I’d never be able to pull it off in three books–there would be too many Courts to introduce–and it would make Leila ridiculously powerful in the span of a few months. No thanks.

So, I decided to slowly have Leila gather additional support in the background of future trilogies. She’s got the Midwest behind her, but as we know there are lots of fae Courts out there in other regions–including all of Rime’s siblings that rule the Winter Courts.

And giving Leila the opportunity to keep growing is something unique I can pull off because we’ll keep seeing her. Hazel is similar. She’s the Elite’s trainee, not the Elite herself–it’s kind of like she’s got training wheels on, so it shows how important she is without making her the most-important-wizard-in-the-whole-universe.

Hazel and/or Leila working by themselves won’t be able to fix magic and save supernaturals. Even if the two of them work together they still couldn’t pull it off. It’s going to require help from a lot of groups/people, including supernaturals who are older, stronger, and more experienced than them.

And THAT is how I figured out how to combat power creep in this series, muwahahah!

I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the curtains of my mind. I typically do have some sort of writing issue/axe to grind with every series I write. For Leila’s series, it was power creep!

Thanks for reading, Champions, I hope you have a fun-filled week!

The Night Mares’ Inspiration

The night mares are an integral piece of the Court of Midnight and Deception books, and I knew when I was plotting the trilogy out that I wanted them to play the roles of kingmakers and supporters. But when it came time to write, the night mares stampeded into the books with vivid personalities, specific body language, and a planned arc.

A lot of that was inspired by a real life gelding I rode, who was named Abo.

Abo was a huge gelding–his height specifically influenced Solstice–and he was a retired jumper with more training that I ever knew how to use. (This also inspired a lot of the scenes where the night mares jump and do fancy things that Leila is unable to keep up with.) As an older gelding, he greatly inspired Fax because it wasn’t safe for him to jump much, but he was still impressive enough to school me in riding even though I spent my childhood around horses.

Me and Abo! He was actually a dark, almost black-bay color, he just bleached out a lot under the summer sun!

Abo acted a lot like a grumpy grandpa–his body language very specifically inspired the night mares because he went through life with his ears half pinned more often then not, but he was the sweetest teddy bear ever. He nickered whenever he saw me, let me lean into him and wrap my arms around him whenever I’d had a particularly rough day, he’d press his muzzle against my temple after I kissed his nose, and he had the brightest, sweetest eyes.

Unfortunately, Abo died in October, right after I finished Crown of Moonlight. It was unexpected and very sudden, and it broke my heart. It’s been months and I still miss him and still cry for him occasionally, but it’s gotten a lot better. (I now ride a hilarious goofball of a horse who makes me laugh, so I’m still riding!)

The worst time was when I knew I needed to write the Queen’s Crown, and I had no idea how I was going to drag myself through writing about Leila and the night mares–who had to play a key role in several scenes in order to carry out the story properly–when I’d lost the horse that had inspired them.

How was I going to write about these horses, who all resembled Abo in a thousand different ways?

I’m afraid the books did suffer a little–the night mares aren’t in the beginning of Queen’s Crown very much as I was trying to figure out how to write them without crying. But I’m still really happy with Fax and the night mares and their contribution in the second half of the book, and this series will always be very special to me because of what Abo meant to me.

I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got in me for today. Have a lovely week, Champions! I hope you love the night mares a little more after learning about their inspiration.

Character Profile: Chase & Indigo

We’re continuing our deep dive into Court of Midnight and Deception characters! I’m delighted to present to you today the first fantastic werewolf secondary character in the Magiford universe, and the fae who I dearly loved to write since she “happened” to love all my fandoms!

Chase Washington is Leila’s Director of Security who hails from the Northern Lakes werewolf pack in Wisconsin. He is a mini golf champion, fiercely loyal, and takes his job Very Seriously.

I designed Chase because I knew Leila needed someone who wasn’t a fae to help guard her back–or Miss-Paranoid-the-fae-hater was going to die of a nervous breakdown. But although he was essentially supposed to be Leila’s insurance policy, he became so much more both to her and the story.

For starters, Chase let’s us readers see the werewolf perspective on things–which naturally helps confirm how warped fae thinking is, but also shows the ways werewolves are unique. Chase displays their natural athleticism, stronger senses, and their deep loyalty.

But as a character Chase changes through out the CoMaD trilogy, too. In the first book he’s all business and is professional to an almost impersonal degree. He’s likable–all the shades and glooms love him and he’s able to tell them apart! But Leila’s the only one who would find that quality admirable. In the second book we get to see his intelligence and cunning–despite Rigel being an assassin Chase judges Leila to be safe with him, he worked to get a truck in the night realm, etc–which also shows why he’s able to thrive among the fae. We know all the fae working for him respect him and–as side effect–Leila. But it’s not until the third book that we see how important he is to the Night Court, and how much he’s adapted to life among the fae. He shows up to help with the barrier with all the other fae, when technically as a werewolf he shouldn’t even be able to help! But that also reveals how much Leila, Rigel, and the whole crew mean to him.

To werewolves, pack is everything. And technically it shouldn’t be possible for them to bond as a pack with anything besides werewolves…and yet Chase acknowledges in Queen’s Crown that he’s starting to see the fae as his “pack” and Leila as the “alpha.” (Which tells you something about Leila!)

Of course, we also get to see Chrysanthe’s feelings develop for the oblivious werewolf. In future series in this world, you’ll get to see continued glimpses and peeks of this pair, but that’s a topic for another day!

I had a blast writing Indigo–mostly because she just “happens” to share all the fandoms I personally love and adore. She’s got a savage wit about her, doesn’t take guff from anyone, is a fantastic chef, and is the first of Leila’s staff to understand the new Night Queen. Not gonna lie, she’s one of my favorites. (Which is why Indigo was gifted with the first opportunity to deliver King Fell a knock-out blow in Crown of Moonlight!)

Indigo’s baking abilities were greatly inspired by two youtube channels I love, Rosanna Pansino’s Nerdy Nummies and Feast of Fiction! And a lot of what she created, I’ve made myself! (My rose flavored Turkish Delight was about as delicious as Leila makes it out to be. I’m telling you, it tasted like a bathbomb.)

Indigo has the same kind of logical street smart streak that Leila has–which is why Leila’s antics bother her less than the typical fae. Maybe it’s because she shares a love of human entertainment?

I really wanted to write Indigo as being even more nerdy than she was–I wanted to use more gaming references and Disney/Star wars references. Buuuuuut trademarks used in books are tricky things, so in the end I had to downplay it a lot more than I was planning because I don’t want to get sued. Hahah.

As a character, Indigo perfectly rounds out Leila’s circle of close friends. She’s more wry than Skye or Chase, but easy going so she readily accepts Chrysanthe even though the previously-bratty fae lady once nearly injured her. In addition to her chef skills, Leila needs Indigo’s taste for fashion, or she’d go around in jeans and a flannel shirt all the time. Indigo is perhaps the quietest about the role she plays, but the fact is her touch on Leila’s life is the most predominant out of all other characters when you match her cooking with overseeing Leila’s wardrobe.

That rounds out Leila’s inner circle of friends! We’ll take a look at Rigel and our leading lady herself, but I’ve got some other fun themed posts we’ll go over first. Until next time, Champions, have a delightful day, and thanks for reading!