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)
