Authorpreneur Dashboard – L M Davis
Interlopers: A Shifters Novel
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Make sure to clean up your messes. Keep the cat in the house. Fraternal twins Nate and Larissa Pantera know all about strange rules. They've grown up with plenty of them, and they have always obeyed those rules without question However, disturbing things are starting to happen--both at home and at school. And when their parents go missing and a strange messenger appears, they discover that the only way to save them is by breaking all the rules. Interlopers: A Shifters Novel is the thrilling fantasy adventure. Fans of YA fantasy, such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, love this new series about the Pantera twins, who discover that everything they thought they knew is only the beginning of the truth.
Book Bubbles from Interlopers: A Shifters Novel
Not for Nothing but Ray's a Genius
Ok, first, this is a long one, but there are reasons for that. One of the things that always annoys me as a reader of fantasy in all of its many permutations is the cluelessness of some of these characters. I can never not sigh when Superman somehow becomes unrecognizable as Clark Kent because he puts on glasses (or any version of this misrecognition that helps conceal the main characters' secret identity ). My characters are not clueless. In fact Ray, Nate's best friend is something of a genius, so he's going to notice if his friend is doing something that is not humanly possible. Also, because of the kind of guy that Ray is, he's going to call Nate on it. This is one of the first times that Nate's secret starts to spill over into his everyday life. It was one of my favorite passages when I was doing readings for Interlopers.
Not Your Average Kid
So much of YA is filled with these kids that are not "average" but they have no idea that they are special. I wanted to write about a different kind of character who knows and has always known that he is different. In fact, his "specialness" has been the defining feature of his life. But here and throughout the series really, I was thinking about that idea of "with great power come great responsibility." In Nate and Larissa's world, part of that responsibility in keeping their peculiarities a secret from the world.
A Villain Is Born
When I was thinking about how to introduce the villain for my series, I knew that I wanted to unveil the identity slowly. At the same time, I had this character in my mind who was both hypnotic and horrifying and had to be in order to command allegiance the way this villain does. That's where the voice came in.
Posers
Science Fiction & Fantasy
After the strangest summer of their lives, Nate and Larissa prepare to face their biggest challenge yet: High school. With jocks that seem intent on making Nate’s life miserable, the reappearance of the mysterious green-haired shifter (now with new and improved blue hair), and Charlie, the new girl, who affects Nate in the weirdest way, it’s shaping up to be a doozy! Greendale High isn't the only place in turmoil; Panteria is dying and only the Pantera twins can save it. Will Nate to return to the world that he has sworn to hate before it’s too late?
Book Bubbles from Posers
What's in a name?
So in creating Panteria, I actually had to come up with quite a few names for the different creatures, organizations, martial arts forms--you name it--that I had to invent to flesh out this world. It was a challenge, because names are really hard for me. Many of the names (Kulan and Anakulan) have their genesis in the languages of Africa and Asia, the places where leopards are found in the real world. Other's like Bastion already exist but take on an additional meaning. Sometimes, I have name regret. For instance, IBG stands for Imperial Bastion's Guard. They are the army that does the will of the Bastion and helps her to protect Panteria. After the publication of Interlopers, I kind of though that it would have been more clever/cute to call them the Bastion's Imperial Guard. Then they could be BIGs for short. See, cute. It would be especially appropriate given the role that IBG Bailey plays in this novel. Now that I am writing the third installment, though, I'm back to being glad that they are the IBG. Sometimes there's such a thing as to clever/cutesy.
Down to the tiniest detail...
This is something of a long excerpt and it has everything to do with world-building as a fantasy writer. My Shifters Novels exist in two worlds, a human world that we all more-or-less recognize and the world of the Great Kingdoms, which is an alternate dimension that I have created. This scene takes place in that alternate dimension, and I chose this moment because of how it demonstrates what goes into the process of world-building. Not only did I have to be able to see this world and it's people, but I had to create customs for the Great Kingdoms, Panteria, Leonin, Tigeri, and Yaguaria. Everything about this moment, from the clothes that the different shifters wear to the description of the Great Chamber at trial should suggest something about the cultures of these worlds and how, even though they are all shifters, those cultures are very different.
Fearful Symmetry
My shifters are not tigers, but they are were-leopards (all part of the same big family). One of the things that I have loved about writing these Shifters Novels is a chance to create a shifter that is after my own heart. Here, James--one of the bad guys--is committing a cardinal shifter sin. He is changing into his leopard form in a place where humans might discover him. Bailey, the IBG who has chased him down is horrified by the turn of events, but helpless to stop it. This moment is all about the imagery of the shifter transformation. Each time I describe the shift, I want to capture exactly what is happening to the bodies of the characters that are shifting. I wanted to make the image so vivid in the minds of my readers; I wanted them to understand how awful James is. Did I succeed?
I
My writing may just be a little old school. I am a fan of description, of painting the picture, of setting the scene. The authors whose books I loved as a child (Susan Cooper, Virginia Hamilton, Madeleine L'engle) were masters of descriptive prose, which is so important to setting the scene, particularly when creating an entirely different world as I have done in the Shifters Novel series. It's probably why I love fantasy so much, because it provides ample opportunity to build new worlds.
...of the Same Coin
At the same time, Charlie is really strong. Her mother is training her to be the ultimate weapon and Charlie is learning those lessons well. The question is: will that physical strength translate into strength of character or will Charlie always be at the mercy of her domineering mother?
Two Sides...
Charlie is the last of the characters that really makes her intro in Posers. Again, we meet her briefly in Interlopers, but we really get to know her in Posers. Charlie is a weird set of contradictions. She is both friendly and sweet, but also timid and easily cowed. Of all of my characters, Charlie is the one that I worry about the most--if that doesn't sound too strange. But, once you get to know her mother, Blanche, you'll understand why.
Taking Center Stage (Part II)
Hawk, the infamous green-haired monster, is another character who is introduced in Interlopers but gets a lot more face time in Posers. One of the biggest complaints that I got from Interlopers readers was that they wanted to know more about this character, who actually appears in only one chapter of the first book. I always knew that Hawk was going to have a central role in the series, but I also knew that he would not really become a player until later. So for all my readers who were hungry for more Hawk are rewarded for their patience with Posers. In Book III, he is even more epic.
Taking Center Stage (Part I)
There are a couple of characters who we meet in the first book, Interlopers, who we really get to know in Posers. Bailey is one of them. From the first book, we know that Bailey is an IBG (Imperial Bastion's Guard) and one of the youngest members at that. Throughout Posers, we get more of her backstory and come to understand even more how powerful, driven, and troubled she is.
Skinless: A Novel in III Parts
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Looking at Luca, who’s just saved my life, I can’t respond. No explanation I might offer will satisfy after all of the extraordinary things he’s just witnessed. —Ankh AnCaela Murphy's body is a ticking bomb that only her mom can defuse. The problem: her mother is missing and presumed taken by the Skinless, bogeymen from Ankh’s home world who have been hunting her and her mother for two years--ever since they fled that world and certain death. With help from Luca, a boy whose touch confuses and who refuses to back down, Ankh races against time to find her mother before the bomb inside of her detonates, taking her life. Tracking the Skinless across the country, the pair search for her mother and uncover the horrifying truth behind the generations-old war.
Book Bubbles from Skinless: A Novel in III Parts
What's in a Word (Part I)
Ankh is, quite honestly, one of the hardest characters I have ever written. There is something about her voice and the way that she sees the world--how everything is so new and how there is so much that she tries so hard to understand--that feels very raw to me. She has to be so strong, but she is so vulnerable and fragile at the same time. Added it to that, the language she uses is so restrained. It has to be because of how new even English is for her. She's not like Luca, with all sorts of language tricks at her disposal. So I had to try to convey all of this emotion through a very limited vocabulary.
What's in a Word (Part II)
I have to be honest, writing skinless was so much fun, not in small part because of the way that I could play with language while creating these characters and their voices. I have written about teen boys, but I have never tried to put myself inside of the mind of one. Luca's voice is such a departure from anything that I've written before; it's so stream of consciousness and he kind of goes where language takes him.
I Write Sweet Boys
Angst: it's the bread and butter, milk and honey of YA. Everyone, me included, loves a good angsty, tortured hero; the heroine never quite knows where she stands and, of course, that's part of the thrill. Love them though I might, when I write I go 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I write sweet boys. Boys who are head over heels and don't care if the heroine knows--in fact, they would prefer that she did. There's never a question about my boys stand. They are smitten and sweet--not saccharine, but loyal and committed--they would never pull a disappearing act. I don't know why I write them this way, maybe it's because that's what all girls deserve.
