Crafting a Culture: A glimpse into how the Tazu Nation was built

by J. Leigh

For those of you who've not yet read Tangled Paths, the Tazu are a race of tall, humanoid people who have scales in a multitude of colors and patterns instead of traditional skin. Oh, and they can shape-shift into dragons.

Interestingly enough, in creating their corner of the Way Walkers world, I did not start with the Tazu themselves, I stared with a moot-- a genetic throw back who couldn't shape shift into a dragon as the Tazu can. I'd already written three books for another Walkers series before this set in the Clan Lands, home to the vampric Clan, (who also make an appearance in Tangled Paths, but not as prominent) and in that setting introduced my first moot-- a human looking person, born from two Tazu but the only physical indicator of that was his draconic eyes. When I decided I wanted to move away from my Clan Lands in favor of a shorter series, I choose the idea of a moot for a main character.

What would it be like, as a moot amid Tazu? For that matter, what was it like as a human, living side-by-side with these shape-shifting creatures? What were the main differences, just in day-to-day living? Structure became an immediate issue to flesh-out, and coupled with an Architecture for Dummies book and a trip to of all places Las Vegas, NV, my obsession with draconic buildings and the crux of Jathen's personality began.

Now I had previously lived in Las Vegas for three years prior to that 2010 visit, and had already developed a love for a particular artist's glass work sculptures, one Dale Chihuly. (http://www.chihuly.com/) Now this is the man who crafted the Bellagio's ceiling and even more for the Wynn hotel, but it was the trip in 2010 to the newly opened City Center on the strip that found me inside an art gallery dedicated solely to Dale Chihuly's glory.  I stood beneath those tall, spiky glass forms and the little sea form bowls under glass and thought, "My god, what if the Tazu could make buildings that looked like this--or at least were supplemented with it?"

And off I went.

It just worked so well. A dragon's natural tendency to be ostentatious and their love for shiny things, all crafted not with just gemstones as might be expected, but with glass. Beautiful, colorful, flowing glass. Granted, there were a lot of practical issues I had to address, like stairways and size accommodations for humans that didn't quite gel with my more wild glass-built ideas, but I was still able to bring a lot of the beauty I'd found in Las Vegas to life inside the Tazu Nation.  And what's more, my main character Jathen, the moot who couldn't fly through all the beautiful colors, he fell in love with all this wild architecture, too. I'd never had a character with the mind of an engineer and an artist, and it was refreshing and new, and wholly Jathen.

The path of Tazu Nation architecture also lead me down the road of architecture throughout the continent, starting with the places Jathen visited on his journey. Now I won't go into deep details, but all this plotting and planning and considering the possibilities of using magic to make buildings helped to also shape certain plot-points of Tangled Paths as well.

Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Way-Walkers-Tangled-Paths-Tazu-ebook/dp/B00JJXUWUM/

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/way-walkers-j-leigh/1119132601?ean=2940149284979

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/way-walkers-tangled-paths

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18649551-way-walkers

Book Page on RAP: http://redadeptpublishing.com/tangled-paths-by-j-leigh/

Author page on RAP:  http://redadeptpublishing.com/j-leigh/

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Raise your hand if you were a "messed up" teen

I know I was. Not a day went by that I wasn't freaking out about something. Meanwhile, the world seemed to turn on in its effortless perfection, leading me to feel like the lone loose screw in an otherwise well-oiled machine.

Looking back, that seems like a ridiculous thing to think. We're all imperfect creatures fumbling through a chaotic world, doing our best to make sense of it all and plastering on confident faces to hide our insecurities. But yet when you're caught in the snare of mental illness, such words seldom make you feel better. You worry that if you seek help, you'll be slapped with the "crazy" label and stigmatized for life. You wonder if you really need it, or if you'll just get over it if you just toughen up. And you feel alone, so alone.

Yet according to the National Institute of Mental Health, 11% of teens have a depressive disorder by age 18. Meanwhile, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 86% of students surveyed reported the onset of an eating disorder by age 20. And about 2 million American teens, which is 3-5% of the teen population, suffer from ADD or ADHD. I'm sure I could find more statistics out there showing that mental health issues are far more prevalent than one might believe from looking at all the confident attitudes projected to the world. 

One of the most important things to realize about mental illness is that it is an illness. A cancer in your mind, eating away at your joy. A fever in your head, burning away at your reason. And you might as well be bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, because that's what it feels like. Except the worst part is, you've no visible wound to prove that there's something wrong - even to yourself.

And so the well-intentioned but misinformed tell you to "be strong" and "get past it," and then question your choice to take meds because they might alter who you are. Which is why we need to constantly remind the world of what mental illness really is. And slowly but surely, things are changing.

Meanwhile, in the book world, issues of mental health have long been used to add drama and interest to young adult novels. It's a tricky area to navigate, because on the one hand, it does help raise awareness about depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and other illnesses when they're depicted from the point of view of a sympathetic character. On the other hand, authors have to be careful not to sensationalize the matter.

I've yet to tackle these sticky issues face-on in my own books, although I do have one character who suffered from depression and anxiety as a teen and PTSD as an adult (those of you who've read my books can probably guess which one). It wasn't easy, because even though these were important elements to his personality, I didn't want them to define him. Because ultimately, they're not who he is - they're what's holding him back. Especially since he operates under the mistaken belief that this is just who he is, and he just has to deal with it.

We've come a long day from the days when the mentally ill were thrown into snake pits in hopes of shocking them back to sanity. But we've still got a ways to go. And aside from the research and invention of new therapies and medicines, we also have to make sure that people know what mental illnesses really are: actual diseases, not just bad attitudes or bad choices.

Because no one suffering from mental illness should feel like it's their fault. Or that they're alone.

Part of the Mental Health Awareness Month blog hop

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Kate Moretti

Kate Moretti, author of the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling novel Thought I Knew You, stops by to talk about her new book, Binds That Tie.

 

Hi Kate! Welcome to Zigzag Timeline. Can you tell us about your background as an author?

Well, I have no formal training as a writer, unless you count writing scientific reports. But I wrote my first novel in 2011, which later became Thought I Knew You. I learned everything I know about writing from my editor, Michelle Rever.

“Binds That Tie,” a thriller, is quite different from your first book, “Though I Knew You,” which is contemporary romance. Why’d you change genres?

I don’t think I really did switch genres. Both Thought I Knew You and Binds That Tie have a female main character with an internal struggle. Thought I Knew You incorporated mystery elements (where is Greg?) while Binds That Tie did lean more towards a thriller. But neither book falls squarely in any one genre. I’ve never considered Thought I Knew You to be a true romance novel. There’s too much that doesn’t fit, nice and neat.

How have your fans from “Thought I Knew You” reacted to “Binds That Tie”?

So far the response is positive. I’ve had one person tell me they liked Thought I Knew You better because Binds was a bit too dark for them. I can appreciate that.

“Thought I Knew You” recently hit the New York Times Bestseller List. What’s it like in the stratosphere?

Surreal. I’m actually level headed about it. I think I write in a very popular genre and my tendency to cross into mystery or thriller, which are also popular genres, only helps. I think Thought I Knew You has an absolutely stunning cover, courtesy of Streetlight Graphics. I spent two years building an audience and collecting reviews. A sale and an ad sent it sailing. I’m not on any list anymore. I’m a flash in the pan, I tell ya. But it’s been a blast.

Among your characters in “Binds That Tie”, who's your favorite? Could you please describe him/her?

Oh they’re all terrible. I love Maggie. She’s such a mess. And she makes horrible decisions. She’s too used to being “bossed”: by her sister, her husband, her brother-in-law. She has no idea how to stand up for herself, until she eventually does. I might be the only one who cheered her on. Most people hate her.

What's your favorite scene from “Binds That Tie”? Could you please describe it?

There’s a flashback when Maggie at an amusement park and her mother is apart from the other mothers, because of how she dresses and her mannerisms. She’s not a motherly mom. Maggie wanders off and ends up in the funhouse, staring at herself in the mirror, trying to see if the funhouse will really make her, for the first time in her life, have fun. But all she wants to do is sleep. She hides in a janitor’s closet and takes a nap. When her mother finds her, she yells at her that they shut down the park and she was so humiliated. Maggie spent most of her childhood thinking the word “humiliated” meant “worried”. She had no idea it means “ashamed”.

To me, this typifies Maggie’s relationship with her family. It’s all about what she can do for them, or to them. None of them care about her.

What's your favorite part of writing? Plotting? Describing scenes? Dialogue?

When I’m plotting, I like drafting. When I’m drafting, I like editing. When I’m editing, I can’t wait to get back to plotting. I’m never satisfied. That being said, the part after the story is written when you get to go back and just add in characterization and flashbacks and random description? That part kicks a lot of ass.

If you were to switch genres again, what would you write?

Chick lit. Straight up girly nonsense.

What’s your experience with Red Adept Publishing been like?

I’ve had a great experience with Red Adept. Their editing is amazing, their covers rock. They are the best small publisher I know of. They pay for ads, they’re encouraging, they understand that it takes time to build a fan base. I would never go to another small publisher.

Did you ever surprise yourself when you were writing your book? Characters who took on lives of their own? Plot elements that took unexpected turns?

Always. That’s the best part. Miranda and Maggie were originally supposed to be best friends. They ruined that on their own, the jerks.

If you could co-write a book with anyone across time and space, including famous (or not-so-famous) dead authors, who would you want to write with?

I don’t know that I could co-write a book with anyone! Certainly no one famous. I have a wacky way of doing things. I’m erratic and unreliable. Whoever I picked would hate me, and I’d never want to do that. I prefer to use my writing skills to slyly duck interview questions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Binds-That-Tie-Kate-Moretti-ebook/dp/B00JAQZIOS/

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/binds-that-tie-kate-moretti/1118956686?ean=2940149396740

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20764381-binds-that-tie

Book Page on RAP: http://redadeptpublishing.com/binds-that-tie/

Author page on RAP:  http://redadeptpublishing.com/kate-moretti/

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Let's face it: there aren't enough tech-savvy heroines in sci-fi

There are plenty of girls, but too often they're cast in supporting roles. The dorky genius helper girl. The impossibly hot doctor girl who got her PhD at 22 and wears four-inch heels in the lab. The badass hacker girl who's smart-mouthed and "strong" but has no depth.

Where are the sci-fi stories about brainy young women? I know they're out there, but their numbers pale in comparison to the tales of gallant, irreverent men with nominally smart girlfriends. And those girlfriends are usually flat as a pancake.

I must confess that my Jane Colt character doesn't entirely break into the STEM - that's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math - fields, since her chosen career is in the arts. I do hint at her braininess (she pilots complex starships, analyzes music, and has no trouble handling the mountain-loads of data her office job dumps on her, albeit she does so grudgingly), but there wasn't really a place in Artificial Absolutes or Synthetic Illusions to showcase her inherent nerdiness (which she, in her insecurity, covers up with a cavalier attitude and, at times, feigned cluelessness).

So when fellow sci-fi author Paige Daniels, who wrote the "Non-Compliance" cyberpunk trilogy, proposed putting together an anthology featuring girls and gadgets, I jumped at the idea. I know I've already talked about this a few times over on my website and on social media, but I realized I haven't written about it on this blog, and I want this announcement to reach the far corners of the Internet, so here I go again!

The anthology will be a collection of young adult sci-fi tales called Brave New Girls, and we're running a Kickstarter this summer to raise money to indie publish it. All revenues will be donated to a scholarship fund through the Society of Women Engineers. We'll each be contributing a story, but the anthology would be no fun if it were all us! We're currently looking for submissions...

Meanwhile, I'm going to take this opportunity to delve into Jane's nerdy past. The story I'm contributing will feature her as an ambitious teenager who's not afraid to turn to tech when she needs to.

This is my first foray into the business side of publishing, but I like to think I've been at this whole book thing long enough to know what I'm doing. Paige and I are both project managers by day, so naturally, we have a detailed plan all laid out to get it all done. Project plan and budget? Check. Website up and running? Check. Online announcements? Check, but we'll keep going at it, since the Internet is a crowded place where one has to shout to be heard.

Next up: the Kickstarter campaign! We're currently working on creating the video, and we've got the donor rewards all planned out, with levels starting at $5 from Interstellar Resident to Hacker Extraordinaire to Alien Benefactor... and a bunch in between. And then there's the Multiverse Deity, for the level that practically funds the whole thing. If anyone wants to step up and claim that title, I will write a sci-fi short story about him/her or a person of his/her choice. I'm not kidding.

So stay tuned... it's going to be a fun ride!

So who is the Firedragon?

If you're reading this, chances are you've seen one or more of my online posts about my recently released YA dystopian fantasy novella, The Firedragon, a precursor to the "Flynn Nightsider" series. You may even know that it's about a teen girl living in a dark future in which monsters have overrun the earth and those with magic oppress those without.

But here's a question I haven't really addressed: just who is Aurelia Sun, nicknamed the Firedragon?

She's a challenge, for sure. Both for me to write and for some readers to accept. When I first conceived the character, a girl with amazing combat skills trained to fight monsters since she could walk, I knew I was walking toward a trap. Characters like her are a staple in sci-fi and fantasy, and more often than not, they're flat stereotypes. They'll get a clever quip here and there meant to showcase their "personalities", but for the most part they lack any depth. Take away the super warrior skills and who are you left with? A boring shell.

I knew if I was to maneuver around the trap, I'd have to see her as a person and not a plot device. A flawed girl with thoughts and emotions of her own. Her basic backstory wasn't hard to construct - she's an orphan raised by the state and trained to be a weapon against supernatural threats - but how would that affect her personality?

For one thing, she wouldn't be very nice. Actually, not nice at all. She never experienced affection growing up, never learned the value of friendship, never found any value in treating others with kindness. Her world revolved around one rule: kill or be killed.

And because she was exceptionally good at what she was trained to do, rewarded and praised for her fighting prowess, she would be arrogant. Having been told that she's the best and proved it before powerful judges multiple times, she would naturally think herself better than her peers.

So many readers probably won't find her very likable at first glance. I've had plenty of people tell me that she's tough and awesome, but also plenty whisper that they didn't really like her. That's okay. Her peers don't really like her either, and she knows it (she doesn't like them either).

But despite her prickly exterior, she does have a heart. She might not care about many people, but when she does care, she cares a lot. Enough to do some pretty extreme things to keep them safe.

And despite her arrogance, she actually thinks very little about herself. She sees herself as a protector and a champion for something bigger than herself. While she does bask in praise when it's given, she knows that ultimately it's not about her, it's about the larger world.

Care to meet her? The Firedragon is only $0.99, and everything my publisher and I get after the online retailers take their cut is being donated to the San Diego animal shelter.

Download the e-book here:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Who's afraid of diversity in books?

This gritty cyberpunk novel stars a
woman of Central American descent

My theory is: writers are. And marketers, of course, but everyone knows that.

Well, let's start with them, since their reasoning is obvious. Marketers know that we live in a Western country where Straight White Able-Bodied Male is considered neutral. So anything else, except maybe a book a Straight White Able-Bodied Female, is considered "niche." Marketers are afraid of diversity in books because they worry about limiting their audience and therefore the amount of money they can make. 

A modern-day retelling of Cinderella with your usual white beauty in the lead is considered mainstream because in our society, white is normal. A retelling with a black or Hispanic or Asian beauty is suddenly an "issues" book. And Lord help you if you decide to have her dance with Princess Charming. Your market suddenly shrinks from The Whole Universe of Fairytale Lovers - a.k.a. Pretty Much Everyone - to People Interested in Issues Books. So... Frou-Frou Lefty Liberals.

Or so the thinking goes. Luckily times are a-changing, and we, the people, can vote with our wallets.

Now, here's another issue: what if we, the people, want to but have nothing to vote for? What if we go to the bookstores with our handy little credit cards, aiming to go totally colorblind on our purchases so long as the premise sounds interesting, but find that all the stories we're actually interested in star the usual milky suspects?

This being 2014, I like to think that a publisher wouldn't not publish a book because it starred a minority if the premise was good. Would Harry Potter be any less magical if Harry - or even Ron or Hermione - was of Indian descent? Would the Hunger Games be any less suspenseful if Katniss were bisexual and Gale were Gail? Would Percy Jackson be any less adventurous if Grover happened to be black? I guess not, since they cast a black actor as the character in the movie version and no one complained (well, they complained, but not about that).

So perhaps the issue starts with the source: the writers. 

The first piece of advice any newbie writer gets, after "stop before you hurt yourself," is "write what you know." Sound advice, so long as it's not applied too literally. Now, take a look at the population of writers, especially bestselling ones, and... Wellp, I think you know where I'm going with this.

My sword-wielding Asian teen.
A stereotype? Whatever.

I think there's an underlying nervousness with writers, especially new ones, when it comes to writing diverse characters. For those trying to break in, the fear might come from the thought that their book won't be marketable unless they cast a Jennifer Lawrence lookalike as the lead. Even for those already established, I think there's a worry that they'll do or say something that offends someone somewhere. And in the world of hypersensitive Internet opinions, it's a valid fear. Would someone accuse you of writing a racial stereotype because you envisioned your character as an Asian martial artist, even though you thought of her as a martial artist first? [I use this example because I just know I'm going to get flack somewhere down the line for making my character Aurelia a double-sword-wielding fighter of Chinese descent.] 

So, to avoid the perceived future accusations of racism, many writers default to the norm... Straight White People. Can't offend them! [Well, you can, but only if they're real kooks.]


Part of the problem also lies in the fact that we are surrounded by Straight White People in media, and so we've subconsciously absorbed the credo: This is normal. Anything else is an "issue."

This historical mystery stars
a biracial girl, with a Chinese boy
as the romantic lead. Oh my!

Some writers try to add color to their books by adding minority supporting cast members to their stories, but this kind of tokenism doesn't help much; in fact, it can harm. Because it says, "Minorities can't be the lead. But they can be decorative." Argh.

The fact is that we live in a diverse world, and no one should have to feel invisible or shunted into the category of "niche." It's hard to change the ways of marketers, since they're working toward a Corporate-Ordered Bottom Line, so let's change the market.

If books starring minorities - and not just "cultural" books like Amy Tan's repertoire - start flying off the shelves, the marketers will get the hint. Unlike the noisemakers who fret about anything different from themselves, they don't care about politics - they just want to sell stuff. I would know... I am one.

And to help that along, writers have to give readers more options. It's not fair to ask readers to buy books just because they star a minority. Books are about good stories first.

So, are you afraid of diversity in books? No? Prove it.

Publishers Marketplace's Little Code

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Publishers Marketplace is an online hub for publishing professionals - agents, publishers, editors, etc. And one of the many services offered is the "Deals" section, which is just what it sounds like: a place for people to report deals. Now, it's locked behind a login screen and meant for paying members only (and a subscription costs about $20/month), but every so often you'll see deals quoted on peoples' websites, blogs, and social media platforms, mostly when they're whooping for joy because someone bought their story. 

I've seen a few of these little posts around, and they always seem so polite... "Agent A sold Novel B by Author C to Publisher D in a pretty little deal." Well, actually they'd say something like "nice" or "good," rather than "pretty little" (although maybe that should be a new one!). 

But they aren't just being nice to each other. That's actually code for how big the advance is. And here's the key, in case you're curious:

Nice deal = $1 - $49,000
Very nice deal = $50,000 - $99,000
Good deal = $100,000 - $250,000
Significant deal = $251,000 - $499,000
Major deal = $500,000 + 

See, I'm not making it up!

Just a little tidbit for fellow industry stalkers...