R. L. Stedman

Writer

A Necklace of Souls

True Love and Book Boyfriends: 7 Great Romance Novels

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Old-Fashioned Romance

It’s Valentine’s Day week! Time for romance and true love.  To celebrate the festival, here’s my top favourite romances. All these books are old (well, most of them, anyway), and have stood the test of time. Just like true love. And if you want to check out a sample of these wonderful novels then just click on the title;  you should be able to read a preview on Amazon.

Happy Valentine’s Day.


A Necklace of Souls – by ME!

Okay, so I know this is my book, but as a writer it’s impossible NOT to fall in love with a romantic hero of your own creation. And what’s not to like? Will is kind, dependable, vulnerable, athletic – oh, and a kick-arse fighter!

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

It’s hard not to go past storm-browed Heathcliff, whose good looks and moody personality became the ideal persona of a romantic hero. Personally, I’d find him just a little hard to live with – but who said romance was practical?

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

“Reader, I married him.” The best ending to a book ever. Plus, the gothic, creepy setting. Plus, there’s Mr Rochester, with his complete absence of a first name, and his mysterious past.

Angels – Marian Keyes

I adore Marian Keyes: like the best romantic novelists she explores both the dark and light aspects of humanity, but always with a veneer of Irish humor. This, to me, is a stand-out exploration of the fantasy culture of LA – how hard people push themselves to appear better than they are. It’s also really funny, especially the description of Mass. It’s not just a church service – it’s a SHOW.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

This is my favourite Jane Austen. I love Mr Darcy’s flawed personality and the finely observed mannerisms, the ironic, almost sarcastic tone. This novel also makes the heroine powerful; although Lizzie Bennett is poor, she has integrity of character – and through this, Mr Darcy recognises his own shortcomings.

These Old Shades – Georgette Heyer

The story of Justin, Duke of Avon, and Leonie, orphaned urchin, turned mysterious beauty. Set in Paris in the years of Le Roi de Soleil, this story exudes decadence and melodrama. It’s exciting and romantic, full of understated descriptions of the fashions and culture of the time. Highly recommended.

Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

The clothes! Rhett Butler! Scarlett O’Hara! Their very names mean romance. Yet, this novel is so much more. It’s a tale of a time long gone, of ignorance and greed. It’s the story of a selfish, privileged girl with a total lack of insight – and yet, how can you not enjoy her. She’s flawed, yes, but she is human; she’s a battler, and she’s courageous. And Rhett is pretty hot too 🙂

Romance is always in fashion. 45% of Amazon sales of ebooks are Romance – yet despite that, the genre has a bad rap.

“Oh, it’s just a romance novel,” say the critics, disparagingly. And yet, who doesn’t love a good romance? What is so wrong with a happy ending (or, in the case of Gone with the Wind, happy-ish)?

Romance is much, much more than escape; a great romance is a portrayal of a society, an exploration of character, and at heart, its triumph over adversity.

We all need more romance.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Perils and Pitfalls of Writing a Trilogy

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Writing a Trilogy? Here’s What to Do (And What Not To Do)

SoulNecklace Stories (Box Set)

I’ve just published the final book in The SoulNecklace Stories.

This feels like a momentous occasion; it certainly has felt like a lot of work! This series has been nearly eight years in the making, with a fair number of fits and starts along the way.

So this blog post is like a message to my former self – as well as to anyone embarking on a trilogy. Here’s the things I wish I’d done, plus the (few) things I did do that worked well.

Top learnings:

Do

  • Write them! Series are great! They are actually a heck of a lot easier than writing stand-alone novels, because you don’t have to reinvent another world or another set of characters. Writing A Memory of Fire, the last book in my SoulNecklace Stories, felt a little like slipping on a comfy pair of slippers. Once I’d settled on the plot, I could just go.
  • Build your world-rules carefully. When writing fantasy, or indeed any fiction, you create a fictional world. This world has rules: things that are allowed, or not allowed.  Readers are (generally) content to go with these rules, but they do become upset when they spot an inconsistency.

Typically, a writer will have rules that are based around location or appearance (you can’t have a black-haired character suddenly becoming blonde without a reason) but in fantasy the rules are way more extensive and can include magic, technology, religion, geography: in fact, any part of life. This makes writing fantasy fun, but full of pitfalls.

As a writer, it can be hard to remember all your rules, especially once you’re 300,000 words in!

  • Draw maps and pictures. This helps to navigate around castles, houses, villages, countries, whatever. Once I figured this trick out I could get a feeling for distance (how long would it take to travel 40 leagues – and how long is a league anyway?)
  • Plan a little bit, but not too much. I found it helpful to have an idea of the stories ultimate destination (and no, not going to give that spoiler away), but by not being too settled on what would happen too early, interesting characters emerged. Like the Kamaye, the Wayhouses, TeSin and Ma Evans. They all spontaneously arose from my subconscious. I’d not planned for them at all, but weaving their stories into the main narrative added a lot to the overall depth.
  • Write faster! I really wish I’d just knuckled down and put the words on the page. Instead, I became distracted by other projects. This was partly fear – what if the conclusion was awful, what if no-one liked it. So, all in all, it took nearly 8 years to complete the series, but if I’d gotten over my fear issues I could have finished it a lot sooner.

WTF

Don’t

  • Don’t bother too much with the marketing until you’ve finished the series. I really wish I’d figured this out earlier. No point on worrying about Facebook ads or Goodreads giveaways until the series is completed. On a plus side, once a series is completed suddenly readers are very happy, because they can binge-read.
  • Don’t overpromise.  I found that I needed breaks from my imaginary worlds to retain the joy of the process, and this meant I had slow periods. Plus, because writing a series just takes so darn long, life gets in the way. This is part of the writing challenge, but it’s hard to explain to an impatient publisher or reader.
  • Don’t be daunted by the amount of work. Writing a novel is a huge amount of work. Writing a trilogy … oh man! It’s way more! You have to be totally committed before starting, because this world and these characters will be part of your life for a couple of years. It’s a big deal, taking on a two-year project, and not being certain of the outcome. All the time, through your head, a little voice murmurs: What if it’s no good. What if no-one likes it? What if no-one buys it? What if, what if…

And Finally

The most important lesson to anyone embarking on series: ditch the fear. Just do it anyway. You’ll be glad you did.

And, as a bonus, the third book might be so much fun to write that you might be tempted to write another book, or even just a novella, in the same universe.

A Long, Long Life

But that’s another story…

 

You can find The SoulNecklace Stories online or, in hard copy as individual titles on this website, or at your local library.

6 Things You Didn’t Know About My Books

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Six Things You Didn’t Know About The SoulNecklace Stories

I’ve been asked these questions about The SoulNecklace Stories:

  • Why do you have Christmas in your worlds?
  • Pockets weren’t invented until the 1700s. Why do your character’s clothes have pockets?
  • How come you don’t have guns but you have fireworks?

 

Great questions! Here’s why:

1. The books of the SoulNecklace Stories (A Necklace of Souls, A Skillful Warrior and A Memory of Fire) are set in a parallel world to ours. The world has similarities, but also a great many differences.  For example, in the world of The SoulNecklace Stories, much of the technology we have, like cars and guns, were never invented. Coal-fired steam boilers are present, and so is hot water. Fashion, though, is similar to that of the 1800s, and hence long skirts, jerkins and … pockets.

2. The events in these stories take place at roughly the same date and time as the present day in our world.

3. In The SoulNecklace Stories some characters have the ability to move between worlds. N’tombe, an enchantress, is one such person. N’tombe actually comes from The Central African Republic (CAR) in our world, where they do have guns. (Actually, she refers to them briefly in A Skillful Warrior.)

4. When writing a fantasy, it’s important to have rules that contain the world-building. Here are my rules for the history of The SoulNecklace Story world:

• Rule One: Worlds split off from other worlds when something significant happens. That is: an event with two possible outcomes occurs – AND each outcome will create a significantly altered future. The separation is called ‘a divergence’. (This rule was created long before the Divergent series!)

• Rule Two: Things in place prior to the divergence event are unchanged. It’s only the future that is altered.

• Rule Three: The reason for the divergence in The SoulNecklace Stories was a comet striking Earth. The comet carried a passenger (or perhaps, the comet is the passenger). This happened on or about AD 75.

5. So, the history of The SoulNecklace Stories is the same as our world up until about AD 75. This means that in The SoulNecklace Stories the Roman Empire existed and, because Jesus was born before the comet strike, Christianity arose (and so did Christ’s Mass, or Christmas). But the Renaissance never happened and in The SoulNecklace Stories, the Chinese Empire is the dominant power. And so we have fireworks, used for celebrations and religious festivals, but not guns.

6. This means that, as you read The SoulNecklace Stories, you may find things that are the same as our world, but you’ll also find things that are different.

SoulNecklace Stories (Box Set)

I hope this clarifies the point for readers who noted apparent errors in fashion, holidays and religious festivals. Well spotted, but No.

Book Review: 4 Books I Wish I’d Written

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Anyone who’s read A Necklace of Souls will know I love writing (and reading) about Girls With Swords.

Book Review

I have NO idea where this came from. As a child, no-one put a blade in my hand and whispered: “Go! Fight!” But somehow, I love stories about women who fight.

When I was growing up, back in the dark ages of black and white television and dinosaurs, it was hard to find stories about fighting females. They were a rarity, a throwback to B-grade sixties movies.

But  recently there’s been a plethora of stories of girls who not only fight, but who win.

I’ve put a short review of my top four of these books in this post, in ascending order.

Each of these books are really well written, fast-paced, with great characters. Each one leaves me desperately envious. Why? Because I wish I’d written them.

Ah well, never mind. I have my own tales to tell.

Book Review

4. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Books - Throne of Glass

 

Throne of Glass starts with a bang. Celaena Sardothien, erstwhile Royal Assassin, is serving a sentence in the salt mines, when she’s offered a choice. Fight as champion for the Crown Prince, or return to prison. The reader plunges straight into the story, and there’s no going back. Throne of Glass is the first in a series, and while its sequels, Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire (and more recently, Empire of Storms), are exciting and fun and keep you up at night, Throne of Glass is my favourite.

Just a warning: if you like strong male leads as well as female, and you’re not keen on instalove or love triangles, you may not like Throne of Glass. But what the hey, the fight scenes are excellent!

Maas has written another series, Court of Throne and Roses, a Beauty and the Beast retelling . I’ve not read this yet, but its definitely on the TBR list!

3. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stievfater

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The Raven Boys, first in the four-part series of The Raven Cycle, is a fabulous read. Although it isn’t really a Girls-with-Sword adventure,  I’ve included it here because a) I love the characters and b) I wish I’d written it.

The Raven Cycle tells the story of three boys and their friend, Blue, daughter of a clairvoyant. The boys are on a quest for a dead Welsh king and Blue is on a quest to stop one of them becoming dead. The problem is, she knows she’s going to fail.

The characters in this story simply leap from the pages, especially Blue’s mad clairvoyant family, and there’s a healthy mix of mysticism, magic and street racing. There’s a bit of romance, too, but it’s not overwhelming and never gets in the way of the story. This is a story that boys will enjoy just as much as girls.

2. A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab

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I’ve just finished this book, and I’m still reeling. First, because I read the series in the wrong frigging order. If you’re going to read this series, people, and I highly, highly recommend it, START AT THE BEGINNING.

The first in this series is called A Darker Shade of Magic. I can’t talk about it, because I haven’t read it yet, but I can talk about its sequel, A Gathering of Shadows.

A Gathering of Shadows is about a thief named Delilah Bard, a wizard named Kell and three different Londons: Red, Grey and White. And a contest. It’s a fun, fun read, contains fantastic world-building, and deals with difficult concepts, including home, and freedom and how do we know we’re alive. This book (this series) will be loved by both males and females, which I think makes it quite unique in these days of very polarising YA reads. And, as an extra bonus, there is NO love triangle. Amazing!

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

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Published in 2009, Graceling quickly became a sensation. I can see why; the story is about Katsa, a girl Graced in fighting. She’s smart but forever separate, not only because she’s use by the king as his private army, but because she has a deformity: her eyes are different colour.

All Graced have different coloured eyes, and they’re all feared because of it. Katsa, though, is feared more than most, until one day she meets a young man with different coloured eyes. Graceling is about survival and self-knowledge and courage. It’s won multiple awards and is one of my favourite books. One of its strengths is that it’s a stand-alone story. There are others in the same world (Fire and Bitterblue) but to my mind they lack the strength and the lyricism of Graceling.

Finally, as a small digression: Kell, in A Gathering of Shadows, has eyes of two colours. That’s how you know he’s Antari, a magician. Katsa, being Graced, has different coloured eyes. Clearly, there is something to be said for having eyes of  different colours.

A strange, and probably unrelated fact: My eyes are different colours. One is blue, and one is grey.  I am not, as yet, a magician. Still, I live in hope.

 

An Exclusive Snapshot: The Backstory to the SoulNecklace Stories

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Just as Every Person has a Past…

…every story has a backstory.

Because nothing really starts (and nothing really ends), my stories are just a snippet of a grander, larger whole. I plan the larger whole just as I plan the snippet that constitutes the little pieces that make up the books. Today I’m sharing a part of the backstory of The SoulNecklace Stories.

 

Imagine…
A castle on a hill. A small girl plays a chasing game along its ramparts. Mid-stride, the girl pauses.
‘Daddy,’ she stares at the castle tower. ‘Look! I see someone!’
As her father grabs her into his arms, his crown falls. ‘No, Dana. There’s nobody.’
Peeping over his shoulder, the girl sees: a flash of red at the tower window, and a figure smiling. Her father is wrong. There is someone there.
‘She’s waving at me,’ Dana whispers.
Her father hugs her tightly…

 

My story-world begins in fire and ice. First came the fire, and then the ice, and then, much later, the fire returned. This second time the fire came it changed the world, and my story-world split away from our own Earth. So my story-world, the world of The SoulNecklace Stories, is similar to our own, but is also very different.

With the second fire came the Kamaye, creatures of great evil. Seeing the world, so beautiful, so small, they wanted it for their own. The Kamaye struck a bargain with a powerful emperor: they would ensure he would never die, provided he gave them his eternal obedience.

Of course, the emperor agreed (after all, who wouldn’t want eternal life?) and so the Arm of the Eternal was born. A side note: the emperor should have asked for eternal youth, but being young when he made his choice, he did not consider the effects of age. Youth was all he knew; he took it for granted that it would remain.

Over time the emperor grew old, but did not die. And being old and full of malice and a most efficient ruler, the Arm of the Eternal gradually spread throughout the world. Eventually the entire planet came under his domain. Except for one small island, far out to the west.

 

There is a castle on this island, and a tower within the castle and a woman within this tower. The woman wears a necklace, and the necklace protects the castle from the Emperor. This woman is called the Guardian.

There’s one catch.

There’s always a catch.

 

The necklace protects the land by taking her strength and magnifying it, but …At the base of the necklace is a ruby. The ruby lies over the wearer’s heart. Over time the ruby becomes the heart; the wearer’s ribs dissolve and her heart dissolves and they grow into the ruby, and the Guardian becomes the necklace. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to live without a heart, so when this happens the body of the Guardian dies. Another Guardian must be found.

Almost always the Guardian comes from the royal family. Almost always she is the oldest daughter of the King.

As The SoulNecklace stories begin, Dana is the daughter of the King.

At the beginning of A Necklace of Souls, Dana wakes from a dream of a necklace and an old woman, dying…

This is only part of the backstory. There is more. Because nothing really starts, and nothing ever ends.