#WritingWonders
20. Do you have any LGBT+ characters in your story?
#TheHoneyedScentOfIron
Minou and Chickie are deeply in love, but Minou can't stay in The Edge because of her active Shifts, and Chickie won't leave there because her dreamcatcher business is going so well. So for now, it's a long distance relationship with the odd torrid meet up if Minou is there for business.

#WritingWonders 10: Your story is: fun, epic, dark, sad, etc.?

The Orson Chronicles (four titles: #HowToBreatheUnderwater #HowToWearYourDragon #TheHoneyedScentOfIron plus one more -- all titles are in flux and may change btw...) are YA fantasy, full of leaps of imagination, magic, friendship and love. Good endings. All my things have good endings.

#WritingWonders 6/8: How are weddings celebrated in your world?
#HowToBreatheUnderwater
#TheHoneyedScentOfIron

Orson doesn't have marriage, so there is no celebration.
People are free to form and release relationships of any kind, as they please, as often as they please. Women may have children if they choose, and it is also their choice how involved they wish the father to be. But it is a matrilinear society: after all, you know who your mother is, but you can't be certain of your father.

#WritingWonders 7Jun- MC POV: Name one place in your world you try to avoid. Why?

#TheHoneyedScentOfIron

Shayne: I don't try to avoid anywhere! it's all good, I can make any place my own. But... I don't always want to stay long. That's not the same thing though, is it?

#WritingWonders Day 6.
Does your MC have any nicknames? If so, how’d they come by them?

#TheHoneyedScentOfIron
#HowToBreatheUnderwater

Strangely, no. Now I think about it, none of my people in any of my writings have nicknames. Am I missing a shot here?

#WritingWonders Day 5: Meaning of your MC's name? Does it fit their personality?

#TheHoneyedScentOfIron
I'm Shayne. People seem to think this is a boy's name, and mock me for it, but let me tell you, I am female through and through. As for where my name came from, it just came into my authors mind. And I don't care what you think. I LIKE it.

#WritingWonders Day 3rd June - Share art, pics, and/or mood boards of your WIP world.

And, did you think I was finished? Oh no... here are a selection of characters from #TheHoneyedScentOfIron as Hollywood actors...

I've realised as I put excerpts of #TheHoneyedScentOfIron that Shayne is fixated on her burgundy shoes. To the point, I think I will retitle the book to suit:
I give you The Burgundy Shoes (and the second in the duology, The Scarlet Dress)

#WritingWonders 6.1 — Intro Day: You’re transported into your WIP world, where is the 1st place you’re going?

#TheHoneyedScentofIron

I'm going to visit one of the nicer places first.

There are more than enough grotty, slimy, mossy, damp places, like the lane outside Merry's house, that Shayne is forced to live in, but I'm going to start with Geena's palace in Liberty.

#WritingWonders Day 30 - What colours do you associate with your WIP? Why?
This is interesting. I have a definite attachment to colours around each book.
#BarkyTheSpaceWolf is without doubt black for space with silvery stars.
#HowToBreatheUnderwater is green and teal. With russet streaks for hair.
#TheHoneyedScentofIron is burgundy for the shoes and gold for Shayne.

#WritingWonders Day 29: What type of government exists in your story?

#TheHoneyedScentofIron and
#HowToBreatheUnderwater are both in the same world. 2/2
The Edge, although it has a heriditary leader, has a large insurgent faction who wish for an elected democratic leader instead: this causes friction in #TheHoneyedScentofIron.
Leaders are often overthrown and a new family will take precedence. In practice, this is of little interest to normal people, since nothing changes for them.

#WritingWonders Day 29: What type of government exists in your story?

#TheHoneyedScentofIron and
#HowToBreatheUnderwater are both in the same world. 1/2

Orson is split into regions, each with a leader. The regions of interest in this book are Liberty, Tower and The Edge. The first two have an unelected hereditary leader, each part of a council who decide on world-wide laws, and each leader may also decide on laws that only affect their own region. 1/2

#WritingWonders Day 25 - Does your antagonist have a favourite food or drink?

#TheHoneyedScentofIron

Henni doesn't mind much, so long as it doesn't contain goat.

#WritingWonders Day 19: What things in my story would I like to exist in this world?

#WIP 2, 3 and 4 are all based in the same world:
#TheHoneyedScentofIron
#HowToBreatheUnderwater
#HowToWearADragon

Imagine having MindMagic. The ability to Jump anywhere you had the coordinates to. Being able to Create anything you could imagine, and to Heal anything from the inside out. The world would be a place for creativity without fear of pain.
(Ignore the ability to inflict pain and suffering.)

#WritingWonders 18Apr- Does your MC have a love interest?

#WIP 2 #TheHoneyedScentofIron

Not really, no. Shayne doesn't like to get emotionally close to people. There's nothing wrong in eyeing someone lasciviously, but actual love? That takes commitment. She's not ready for commitment yet.

#WritingWonders D17: Secondary character POV: What do you secretly admire about the MC?

#WIP 2 #TheHoneyedScentofIron

Tilly: Shayne didn't stay with us for a long time, but I had charge of her while she was in Tower, and she's so funny, she really perked my day up. She's very self-centred, rather like me, I suppose, but suddenly she'll say something and you realise she's lost inside. All this bluster is just a mask for a sensitive little soul. She's still not having my steak though...

#WritingWonders D14: MC POV: What qualities do you find attractive in a person?
#WIP 2 #TheHoneyedScentofIron

Shayne: I tend to go for blond men, muscular, with nice arms, know what I mean? Though dark men, like Alyn, really complement my own blondness, making me even more golden and beautiful. Shame Alyn isn't a bit taller, or he'd be much more my type.
I do like him though...

#WritingWonders Apr11: Secondary character POV: What annoys you the most about the MC?
#WIP 2 #TheHoneyedScentofIron
Henni: My granddaughter Shayne? She's so like her mother, the pair of them ingrates. They want life on a plate for them, no idea how much work it all takes. Well, she's not going to take this leadership, she's far too selfish to look after a region and care for a people without only looking out for herself.
Why are you looking at me like that?

#WritingWonders 10: Name one unusual thing in your MC's home
#WIP 2 #TheHoneyedScentofIron
This depends on where you consider Shayne's home. If you mean her family home, then the ever present plate of Eymira's chocolates is unusual. Eymira invented the power chocolates to store excess energy at the end of the day, but she's now addicted. She eats what she makes, then makes again. One day, she'll use up all her energy in making them, and Shayne will find her, pale and shrivelled on the bed

#WritingWonders Apr 9
Describe your MC’s style as in a fashion magazine
WIP 2 #TheHoneyedScentofIron
Shayne: The Profligate Players star & her stylist Lise let her suede leather skirt & corset be the central focus & added minimal accessories, just burgundy dagger-heels. Shayne Created her own makeup keeping things timeless: flushed cheeks, dewy skin, waterliner to define her blue eyes, & long blonde curls with writhing snakes curling through. Want to be Super-Created? Shayne’s got your back.