Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #crownofhorns, aggregated by home.social.
I received such a wonderful compliment today!
I ran into a coworker who got my book last year. She told me she’s not usually into fantasy—she finds it too hard to get into and gets a bit overwhelmed—but she got it to support me and give it try.
She said that she enjoyed how accessible my book was and how “real” it felt—how it was relatable but through a fantastical lens.
She’s excited for the sequel ☺️
What a lovely shot in the arm!
#ScribesAndMakers Aug 25: Do you have any self-imposed rules for your creative work?
I don’t think I have any general rules across pursuits, but I will set certain rules/constraints for a given project.
For example, for Crown of Horns I decided I wanted to play with multiple POVs and so I set a strict constraint that I would always follow an A-B-C order of who was narrating.
It stretched my creativity and made for some unique moments.
Cropped section of @AudraBalionArt ‘s painting for my cover.
One of the coolest parts… it uses some of Stuart Semple’s blackest black and whitest white—because you need that high-contrast drama!
Getting closer and closer to Horns of Shadow and Gold 💛 🖤
#indieauthor #indieartist #painting #acrylicpainting #books #fantasy #bookstodon #CrownOfHorns
#WritersCoffeeClub 12. What's the last museum you went to? Did it inspire you?
We went to a bunch of museums on our trip to Vancouver and Victoria last year. I’m not sure the last we visited, but the standout was the Beatty Biodiversity Museum!
As someone who writes books with horned characters… well, let me show you!
I’ll also note, I was very excited about the kudu. Its horns inspired Siranna’s from my book!
Got timeline estimates from the printer. Audra just finished up the last required illustration.
Gotta decide if I really wanna go ahead with this preface.
Cover. Back matter. And then into marketing mode.
Who likes to book?
Got a quote from the printers for my next book!
Things are becoming more real and you’d think that after doing this once before it would feel normal-ish, but no… absolutely terrified.
It’s an exciting time. More details soon for the sequel to Crown of Horns!
#books #author #authorlife #indieauthor #selfpublishing #CrownOfHorns #writing #amWriting #writingcommunity
I don’t think I’ve ever given so much thought to something that 95% of my readers are just going to gloss over.
But I’m learning a lot.
#WordWeavers 8/1: Which character would make the best tour guide and where would they take us?
If we wanted to see the breadth of Vsevora, probably Velodik. As a Senator, he’s been almost everywhere and as a corrupt Senator he knows the best places to party and get the good stuff.
If you wanted a tour closer to home, Kostyk could take you to the wilds of Ksenya. There are some lovely views on the mountain and they could take you to their favourite spots.
#writersCoffeeClub 30. End of the month roundup: How well did this month go for you?
Amazing! Holy moley!
I got through my round of line edits—ahead of schedule! (And it was already an aggressive schedule.)
Now to format and then… done? 😱
It all feels a little surreal. I’m even too nervous to officially drop the name yet… Sequel to Crown of Horns: coming soon. 🥰
That's it. Round of edits complete.
Holy shit.
#writingcommunity #amWriting ... Okay, but am I writing? Now I'm off to formatting. 😝
Late to the party, but here we go!
#ScribesAndMakers July 22: Create a poll listing 2-3 creative things you've accomplished this month and 1 you're still hoping to. Ask people to guess the one you're hoping to.
Can you guess which one is still on the chopping block?
Feel good moment of the day:
A fellow author shot me a message with a photo. She was over at a friend’s house and what does she spy? Why, a copy of my book sitting on a stack by the kitchen!
🥰
#WordWeavers Least likely love song pt 2
Thinking of some of the new characters that appear in my WIP things get more definitive…
Young woman on her honeymoon—absolutely.
Highly emotional 17-year-old—he’d do anything for love.
Stoic hunter living in the wilds—only if writing it to the mountain.
Old crone who purged the concept of love from her very being…. I don’t think she’s physically capable of writing a love song.
I think I figured it out. 😜
#PennedPossibilities 1063 — How do the skies in your WIP’s world look different from the sky that we know?
More airships.
More reflections off mountains made of crystal/glass.
#WordWeavers 6. Which of your MCs would be most likely to win a dance off?
Kalrevi. She’s nonchalant enough that she won’t be overcome by self-consciousness, and she’s certainly quite agile and athletic. If she can parkour up a building, she could probably boogie.
#ScribesAndMakers 6/7
Share the first sentence of the last chapter of one of your novels.
Oksana was a miserable place.
#ScribesAndMakers 4 Jul 'Sample?'
On my Itch page I have my prologue available as a download, both for Ebook and Audio.
(You have to scroll down a bunch to get the free download.)
Link: https://empyclaw.itch.io/crown-of-horns
And also… from my current WIP, a lullaby:
O willow—the sun sets below
O willow—in the night indigo
O willow—here in your shadow
O willow—may honeyed dreams flow
I made it!!
It was a hard-fought battle to get through this editing pass. My mental health kicked my ass through May and June. But I did it!
86k words read, revised, rewritten, other verbs probably.
I still want to get through one more revision for better line edits. And hopefully my favoured beta reader can spare some time to give it another go.
My gosh, y’all. Feels so good to get here. Still a long way to go… but time to celebrate!
Only got through three chapters today. If I didn’t have to work tomorrow I could probably sneak in one more. 😜
But that’s okay. I got an extra one yesterday and these three were the most important of the third act.
I am very happy with what I accomplished on these days off. 🥳
Last few chapters haven’t needed so many revisions (that is to say, massive rewrites 😜) so I’ve made it through three chapters already at a pretty reasonable pace.
Time for a little outing, figure out some food, and then I can dive back in.
Just a few hours left to snap up Crown of Horns on sale!
The ebook/audiobook combo is on itch.io and just waiting for you to pick it up. (It’s also elsewhere, but not nearly as much on sale.)
Check it out here: https://empyclaw.itch.io/crown-of-horns
Crown of Horns is a political fantasy where art and compassion triumph over tyranny.
#CrownOfHorns #books #writingcommunity #bookstodon #scribesandmakers #writerscoffeeclub #wordweavers #fantasy #reading #ebook #audiobooks
#ScribesAndMakers 13 Share a photo (with alt text) or snippet of something you've been working on this week
Wiry demons with ragged teeth and branching horns clawed and clattered across the ground. With cloying fingers they gathered scattered stones and lifted them up high until they sparked and burned with black fire in their hands.
#WritingPride June 4: Does queerphobia or repression of non-cis, non-hetero people exist in your setting?
Kostyk faces rejection of their gender identity within their community, but queerphobia is not really present in the world at large. It’s fringe at most.
While I wanted prejudice to be a key component to the political tensions in Vsevora, I did not want them to be based on sexuality.
A lot of my readers have expressed they really appreciate that aspect of the work 💜
#CrownOfHorns
#PennedPossibilities 1033. Writing a main character with a mental illness…
Yes, Siranna is constantly challenged by her anxiety.
My partner shared a lot about her experience with anxiety to help me shape it in the book.
When asked, Siranna is often the least favourite of the three narrators. I guess watching someone spiral while barely scraping ahead is a bit of a bummer… but I wouldn’t do anything different.
Those that like her really connect.
#anxiety #writing #mentalhealth #CrownOfHorns
Tune in for something different!
Tuesday June 9th after 5 pm MDT, catch a reading of Crown of Horns on Twitch in a lovely British dialect.
This streamer got challenged to read a book live on stream and through a wild twist of events, they chose mine! Should be fun 😄
https://m.twitch.tv/pinkxemochildx/home
#twitch #twitchstream #books #bookstodon #CrownOfHorns #writing
#WritingPride How do you portray your characters' queerness?
Velodik wears it on his sleeve with his promiscuity.
Oskar and Emil with their quiet, steadfast bond.
Kostyk through processing past trauma and growing in their identity.
Others… just between the lines.
#writingcommunity #CrownOfHorns #pride #lgbtq #books #QueerAuthors
#WordWeavers 7. Who is your most visually stunning character? How do others react to them?
Ishkara for certain. She is always in a new vibrant dress with furs and gems. She wears beads of fine glass in her horns.
She sees herself as the modern Vekara, a queen known for never wearing the same gown twice, and each one a hand-made masterpiece.
Last night, someone told me that they picked up my book a few days ago but he’s probably not going to read it for a year.
Opened it up to read a couple lines at a random spot in the middle and… huge spoiler. Now he needs to wait to forget it.
He told me he’s done this with every book he’s gotten for years and it’s the first time it’s burned him.
Oops! Looking forward to his review next year I suppose!
#WordWeavers May 30: Is it possible for someone in your world to make a living as a writer or artist?
Yes! One of the main characters is an artist. It’s not easy, especially as industrialization moves in. But, there are some very lucrative opportunities. Especially if you turn a blind eye to the propaganda you’ll be asked to create.
Oh… oh wait…
@AudraBalionArt art credit
#amWriting #art #CrownOfHorns #writingcommunity #illustration
#WordWeavers May 25: What one event defines your MC?
There are a few, but I will focus on Siranna today…
Her mother’s rejection, telling Siranna that she will never make it in the world.
From that moment onward, everything she does is in defiance of that… or a painful reminder with every failure.