Authorpreneur Dashboard – Maggie McVay Lynch
Chameleon: The Awakening (Book 1 of the Forest People)
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Camryn Painter is a 16-year-old freak of nature. Or possibly the savior of a civilization that isn't supposed to exist. She's an uncontrolled human chameleon... one who transforms into the image of whoever she sees. Escaping from a medical research facility, Camryn discovers a magical forest world. Not that she's welcome. Her new home is filled with faeries and beasts set on destroying her. Striking a tribal alliance between what she once believed were mythical beings is her only chance of survival... if she can just control her power and figure out who to trust.
Book Bubbles from Chameleon: The Awakening (Book 1 of the Forest People)
An uncontrolled human chameleon
How do you portray someone who has no control over her changes? When she looks at anyone, she immediately turns into that person--in every way. It is painful to the Chameleon, and alarming to those who see it. What would you do if you couldn't control this happening? If you saw someone change would you freak out? Would you report it? Would you believe it? At this point in the story, Camryn doesn't know she is special. She only knows she is a freak. She has been raised by parents who adopted her as a baby and now she is orphaned and only 15 years old. This is the beginning of Camryn's quest to find out who she is. Why she's a freak. All she wants is to be "normal." Unfortunately, normal is not in the cards for this fifteen year old.
Birth and Death
The Quatcho and Mazikeen are not allowed to wed, and when Nakani and Fia choose to be together they are banished from both tribes. Then when a child is conceived, the punishment for Fia is death. As Wynbune's mother dies, the entire forest reacts in pain. The deep connection of the forest, the lichen, the animals, and all the Forest People is one that is key throughout this series. As the Chameleon, the potential savior of their world is born, the forest weeps for the loss of her mother. It is into this world that Wynbune must step when she becomes of age.
Chameleon: The Choosing
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Camryn Painter's powers come at a steep price. It's one thing to master her chameleon abilities in the ancient forest world she now calls home, but another to use her abilities wisely. With the life or death of an entire civilization in her hands, Camryn must bond with a thunder dragon and join a battle she has little chance of winning... unless she can face down her own inner demons without destroying those she loves.
Book Bubbles from Chameleon: The Choosing
Conceiving of Dragon Lore in this World
There is so much lore around dragons, bonding, imprinting, flying. No matter what an author chooses to do it is bound to be built on what she has read before. The dragons in the Forest People world have some similarites to other dragons. Like Anne McCaffrey's dragons they can go "between." I'm not sure how McCaffrey's dragons did that so for my dragons I created a space called the void, known as the "Zwischen" which serves as that transit point. It can transit the dragon and a rider from one place to another within a particular world or dimension. It can also go between dimensions--though it is not recommended. How do Dragon's communicate? Many storytellers use telecommunication between humans and their dragon, and I do as well. However, in this scene we also see dragon to dragon communication played out with colors and no words.
