Swoon-Worthy Characters of YAtopia

To wrap up our swoon-worthy month, a couple YAtopians so kindly gave us a peak into what makes their characters swoon-worthy.

Emily Moore's swoon-worthy character is named Vaku. Here's what she shared with us:

Vaku the desert elf rebel leader offers readers many opportunities to love him. Upon first meeting my main character Samana, he offers to help her rescue a friend against impossible odds, cleans her wounded hands, and feeds her before she disappears.

Two years later, they reunite. She accidently kills him with her unpracticed magic and revives him with the same magic. Despite this, Vaku offers a comedy relief to Samana’s serious and pessimistic character, often teasing her with passages from the Great Essence’s prayer when she is obviously not exemplifying them.

His fierce protective instincts for Samana reveal themselves in sacrificial ways: leaving the rebellion seat to go with her to the enemy’s cliff city, degrading himself to a servant of the household that he despises, giving Samana his beloved knife and teaching her self-defense, and shaving his unique red hair in an effort to blend in and stay close to Samana. Lastly, battle scars are sexy; Vaku’s amputated hand lends him a broken quality that makes his easy-going nature that much more endearing. I’d call Vaku incredibly swoon worthy!

An excerpt from my W.I.P. “Samana’s Flair”:

"Don't you dare try to get into the Holding Place. You will get yourself trapped inside," Vaku predicted, shaking his finger playfully at her.

"Don't tell me what I can't and can do!" Samana snapped, widening her nostrils. How dare he. Just like all the other wonderers she’d ever known besides Dimerez. Determined to tell her who she was and where she didn’t belong. She wasn’t a child.

"I'm just saying, me and the cart might not be there to hide you next time," Vaku jested with a snicker.

Samana jumped to her feet with a snarl.

"I don't need you or anyone else to tell me what to do. I will make it on my own. Thanks for the bread," she huffed, stomping further down the path toward the Chief’s Walk. The wide road wound out across the desert toward Benami’s farms and rock formations.

"Don't be like that," Vaku said, following her. "What are you so mad for?"

Samana paused to look back at him. The flickering of fire on the yucca window coverings of the surrounding pueblos only slightly illuminated Vaku's grin and raised eyebrow. She almost returned the smile, but instead let out an anger-diminishing breath. Shaking her head, she mumbled, "I have to go."

"May you walk gently!" Vaku called after her as the night's bitter-cold air singed her skin.

Thank you for sharing with us, Emily! If you want to connect with Emily Moore, you can find her here:
Email at emilygmoorewriter@yahoo.com
Facebook
Twitter
Blog/Website

Next we have Chris's swoon-worthy character named Stefan. Here's what he shared with us: 

My most swoon-worthy character is 18-year-old Stefan from my YA Fantasy novel IN THE NAME OF MAGIC, which is the first book in a trilogy, and is forthcoming from NineStar Press this June. Stefan is the main character's love interest.

17-year-old Maximillian must offer shelter to his non-magical best friend (Katherine) while balancing his budding relationship with the evil queen's estranged younger brother, Stefan, in the backdrop of a contemporary fantasy Earth-like country plagued by a totalitarian monarchy.

Stefan is swoon-worthy because of his mysterious personality when readers are first introduced to him in Chapter 1 upon him meeting the main character (Maximillian). Stefan is evasive, yet I was careful for him not to be one-dimensional. He doesn't use his past to justify bad decisions; he's just damaged because of his past toxic family dynamics. Stefan also wears a half-mask for a third of the book, which is a physical symbol of his vulnerability.

Furthermore, Stefan is swoon-worthy because of how he always gives his boyfriend, Maximillian, the benefit of the doubt--even when some people might not. Including when Maximillian fibs about the real reason he agrees to a weekend getaway with Stefan.

Thank you for sharing Stefan with us, Chris! Keep your eyes peeled for IN THE NAME OF MAGIC coming in June 2018. 

Have you written a swoon-worthy character? Tell us what makes them swoon-worthy in the comments!

Weaving in the Normal Abnormal

Summer nights. In Alaska, where I live and where my debut novel (releasing in August!) takes place, nights in the summer don’t look much different than summer days. I’m not above the Arctic Circle, so technically, we don’t have 24-hours of daylight, but the period from sunset to sunrise is twilight. May through July is my favorite time to adopt a puppy because the middle of the night visits outside give me the chance to see the midnight sun, like last night, when my not-really-a-puppy-anymore Yorkie needed to go out at 2 a.m. It could’ve been 2 p.m., except the city was quieter and I was tired.

For Alaskans and my characters in Betrayal of the Band, putting on sunglasses at 10 p.m. is normal, but how do you weave in something so normal to your characters that they wouldn’t think about it, yet it’s not normal to most of your readers?

1. Action. As mentioned above, putting on sunglasses at 10 p.m. or squinting against the sun’s glare. Those are natural actions for the character which serve as a reminder to the reader that the setting is different from their normal. 
2. Add a Character New to the Environment. Introducing a character, either as a POV character or a supporting character who is new provides the opportunity to talk about the unusual normals, because to them—like the reader—it isn’t normal. 

What ways have you seen authors make clear their characters’ normal when it’s abnormal for the readers?

Sarah Tipton decided she wanted to be sixteen forever, and she’s accomplishing that through writing contemporary YA fiction. In 2015, Sarah won ACFW’s Genesis Contest in YA, and her debut novel, Betrayal of the Band, releases August 2017. She finds plenty of creative inspiration in the heart of Alaska where she homeschools her five children. When she’s not sitting cross-eyed in front of the computer getting hand cramps, she enjoys running, reading, and getting crafty with yarn. 

How’s the Weather?

What do you talk about when you can't think of anything to say? The weather, of course! Seriously though, weather has been on my mind a lot. Or affecting my mind.

While the calendar says spring arrived over a week ago, in interior Alaska, we still have snow. Like a lot of snow. Like you could lose a full-grown Labrador in the snow. But last week, the sun appeared and so did puddles, and I started to feel sunny inside too. Then the clouds came back.

After nearly nine years of living in Alaska and experiencing the extremes of sunshine-all-the-time and darkness-all-the-time, I’m beginning to see how the weather affects me. January and February are tough months if I don’t have plans to leave the state for warmer, sunnier climates. Last week, when the sun was shining, I felt happy and energetic. Then when the clouds returned, I felt lazy, listless, lethargic.

I’m so moving to Hawaii someday.

Anyway, what does this have to do with writing? In high school English, we talked about weather being used as symbolism. At the time, I thought that was dumb. The weather occurs regardless of how a person feels. It doesn’t rain when I’m sad or depressed. The sun doesn’t shine just because I’ve gotten good news. And to an extent, I still feel that way. The weather doesn’t mirror my emotions.

But from experience, I know weather does affect a person. When I’ve had bad news, a sunny day makes me angry. An overcast day zaps my energy and pulls me down, even if everything else in my life is happy and positive. And today, with the sun shining again (despite SNOW this morning!), I don’t feel the pull to lie around napping all day like I have every other cloudy day this week. 

So the weather should be considered in our characters’ lives. Besides the obvious—one doesn’t go cross country skiing on the river in the summer—how is weather impacting the plot? What would a scene look like on a rainy day versus a sunny day? What if the day were windy? Humid? Dry? And how is the weather impacting the character’s mood and behavior? Good news on a nasty-weather day? Bad news on a sunny, blue sky day? For a character who deals with stress by gardening or running might like bad news on a sunny day, and bad news on a stormy day for that same character could send her into a desperate situation if caught outside in the rain, thunder, and lightning. 

Obviously the weather isn’t a consideration in every scene, but give some thought to how the weather could add conflict to a scene or within a character, and have some fun considering the possibilities!