Friday, March 24, 2017

Character Encounters feat. the Cast of Blood Ties!



For the final day of Indie E-Con I wanted to do something fun and take part in Kendra's "Character Encounters" which is a writing link-up she runs on her blog where the author writes about encountering their characters in a place Kendra chooses. She came up with a special one for the E-Con where you encounter the characters at a physical Indie (not)E-Con! I just thought this sounded like a lot of fun, and figured you guys would hopefully find it entertaining so I decided to give it a go. Go check out the other Character Encounters people have done for E-Con as well right here! Also visit Kendra's blog and see the rest of E-Con here.

Disclaimer: This is officially the strangest thing I have ever written. But I guess every author has to try to meta thing at least once :P This kind of turned into more of a satire on just my writing process with some in-jokes, but I hope it's still entertaining. Enjoy!

Character Encounters
Featuring the Cast of the Modern Tales of Na Fianna


Indie Con was a bustling place; so many fantastic indie authors out there that I got to chat with throughout the day about their books and the writing life in general. A couple of my bestie writer pals and I had done a panel earlier, which was part of what we fondly called our “Tour of Destruction” which was the ongoing tour of signings we did for people. Lot’s of dark humor. Lots of coffee.
            Now however, it was my turn to moderate a panel, which was made up of my own characters, and boy were there a bunch of fans waiting for them.
            “Hey everyone, I’m Hazel, and I’m about to introduce the brave heroes of the Modern Tales of Na Fianna series,” I said to the crowd who burst into applause. “Come on out, Lady and Gents!”
            They filed out from back stage. I knew Eamon wasn’t going to like this at all, hating to be the center of attention but of course there were also the ones like Keevan who were eating it up, and of course Deaglan wasn’t unhappy about all the fangirls.
            They took their seats, and I waited for the crowd to calm down before I started. “So, we’ve just gotten through book two, ‘An Earthly King’, and book three is due to be out the summer of 2017, but to avoid spoilers for anyone who is not yet caught up, we’re only going to be talking about the first book, ‘Blood Ties’. So, Ciran: as the main character, what are some of your thoughts overall?”
            “Well, our mission took a lot out of all of us, but we are happy to be here today to see all of you. I think, to avoid any spoilers, I will just say that we kicked butt and leave it at that.”
            “Some of us kicked more butt than others,” Keevan piped up.
            “Okay,” I cut in, knowing this could go on forever if it was allowed to continue. “So, Eamon, you’re the star of Book Two, what do you think about that?”
            Eamon shrugged. “Well, you know, it is what it is. I suppose everyone has to have a part in the story.”
            “Come on, Your Royal Selflessness, you loved it and you know it,” Killian cut in. “Mainly, I liked it, because it also meant I got to be in it more. There, see? I don’t pretend to be all humble.”
            “Oh, don’t worry, Killian,” I said. “No one ever accused you of being humble.” I waited for the jeers of the others and the laughter of the audience to die down before I opened the floor. “So, are there any fans who want to ask some questions?”
            Hands went up and I pointed at one of them.
            “Hi, my question is for Caitlin,” the girl said. “How was it having to be the only girl on the team?”
            Caitlin laughed. “Well, I grew up with two brothers, plus Eamon and Oran running around so I was pretty used to it. Honestly, it didn’t bother me. We all had our job to do and when you’re in that kind of situation, you just end up doing the job and watching your comrade’s back, no matter if they’re a boy or girl.”
            I picked another fan and she was handed the mic. “So, this is for Keevan. I was wondering what is your favorite kind of yarn to crochet with?”
            Keevan started. “I don’t crochet. Next question.”
            Riordan shook his head, turning back to the fan. “Of course he does. He just doesn’t like you to know it. He crocheted the scarf he’s wearing.”
            “I did not, shut up!” Keevan protested.
            “He did, I watched him,” Tierney offered. Deagland nodded in agreement.
            “Well it’s relaxing…sometimes!” Keevan said defensively and slumped back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest. “Can someone please ask another question?”
            “I like your sweater by the way,” Riordan told the girl before she handed the mic off again.
            A young boy got the mic next. “I have a question for Riordan.” Keevan proceeded to fake snore loudly so I shot him a look. “What’s it like being a berserker?”
            “Well, it takes a lot of training,” Riordan said. “You have to make sure you manage your anger. Which is why I do breathing exercises and sometimes yoga. I also find knitting to be very relaxing.”
            “Loser,” Keevan said, muffling the word with a cough before Ciran smacked him across the back of the head.
            “But you also get to be really scary in battle,” Riordan said with a smile.
            “Cool!” the boy exclaimed.
            The mic was handed off to the next fan I picked and this girl turned to Killian. “So, Killian, my question is for you.”
            “Finally,” Killian said as a loud aside to Eamon before he turned with a smile back to the girl. “What is it?”
            “Why can’t you ever just give Eamon some peace?”
            Killian scoffed, offended. “Excuse me? I am his captain of the guard! I do not have time to give him peace! His Royal Introvert just needs to learn to appreciate it!”
            “Besides,” Eamon cut in. “If he didn’t, I would probably never get any kingly things done. I would be lost without my captain of the guard.”
            “You know that’s right,” Killian grumbled.
            We moved to the next question. “So, I heard that Eamon is going to have to choose a bride to be his queen in Book Two, is that true?”
            Eamon groaned, putting a hand over his face and Killian quickly cut in. “I’ll take this one.” He gave a wicked grin. “Yes. But you’ll have to read the book to find out how that goes.”
            “Spoiler alert—horribly,” Keevan said.
            “Alright, next question!” I said, looking around the audience.
            “Hey! How come I didn’t get to be on the panel?!”
            “Prince Oberon!” someone in the audience cried in delight.
            “That’s right, at least someone cares,” Oberon said, smiling at the various fangirls swarming him. “Really? I’m the Prince of the bloody Unseelie and you don’t even give me a spot on the panel?”
            “Oberon, if you were here, no one else would get a chance to answer any questions, and that’s saying something when you would be up against people like Killian,” I told him.
            “Hey!” Killian protested. “I’m considerate of others!”
            “Sure you are,” Caitlin said, smiling at her brother.
            “Unless there are mini quiches, because then you shove anyone out of the way to get to them,” Keevan said.
            “Okay, so I like mini quiches. So what?”
            “Tell that to your waistline in Book Three,” Eamon told him.
            Killian turned around indignantly. “Really? Etu, Eamon? And here I was thinking you were like a brother to me.”
            An argument soon broke out and the convention security had to escort everyone out. Pretty soon, I was the only one left, along with Oberon, who came up on stage and took a seat, pouring himself a complimentary glass of water after picking up a spilled glass that had been sitting on the table.
            “So, do my adoring fans have any questions for me?” he asked the audience.
            I sighed. “And there you have it everyone; the essential writing process of Book Three.”
           

Fin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also this was something I meant to do back during the Earthly King blog tour, but here is a sketch dump of some Na Fianna sketches I have done so I hope you enjoy those too :)


(from left to right-then down: 1. Killian and Eamon, 2. Keevan and Riordan, 3.Tierney and Ciran, 4. Deaglan, 5. Keevan and Riordan, 6. Ciran and Caitlin, 7.Deaglan, 8. Jarlath and Gorlan, 9. King Lorcan, 10. Riordan, 11. Jarlath and Gorlan, 12. Eamon and Killian)

6 comments:

  1. This. was. so. much. fun! Aaah, I had an absolute blast reading this. XD These characters!! The dialog was great and I love all the interactions! You poor writer, having to put up with them--but it sounds super fun too. ;) Thanks so much for sharing! I'd love to go to a conference and see them talking. :D (Keevan and his not-crocheting though. XD) I LOVE THEM ALL AND CAN'T WAIT FOR BOOK 3! <3

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it ^_^ I had fun writing it, even though it was kind of strange haha. They really are a handful :P

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  2. Indie Con, brilliant!
    Lot’s of dark humor. Lots of coffee. (yesss) XD

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    1. Lol the "Tour of Destruction" was kind of an in-joke between me and a friend because our goal is to be famous enough to go on book tours and have very opinionated panels with lots of dark humor :P (And coffee-or tea in her case)

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    2. Famous enough to go on book tours, yes! Count me in on that dream!

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