Week 4 of the 5-Part Writing Special is upon us! This week it's all about our supporting characters and should be loads of fun. Be sure to check out the other participants' posts, and let's dive into mine! (Because obviously you came here for that one.) 

Hmmm....

So probably the most important side character (and character overall, besides Esma, who you all met last week) is one I can introduce to you only as Rishatta. I can't tell you anything about his personality, his family, his history, his motives....anything. Because it is LITERALLY ALL SPOILERS. EVERY BIT OF IT. He and Esma have perhaps the most complicated relationship I've ever tried to write, and I'll let you all make of that what you will.... ;) 

Then there's Derek. He's one of Esma's best childhood friends, and still very close to her. He's probably the most practical of the gang in this book, and the leader of the group as well. I should probably also tell you powers as we're going along here--his is healing, but only to a minor extent. Basically, he can stave off infection, which is not a bad talent to have. 

Kariana is Esma's very best friend, and the best spy in Lascogine. She has hair that seems to change color every day and never goes anywhere without at least two knives strapped to her belt. She also grapples with some really severe PTSD. Her power is generating light. (Also, she and Derek are besties, platonic ones, in a very deep and beautiful way.)

King Martin Pentegreen, Esma's father, is the king, and that's basically all there is to him. He's not quite as well-developed as some of the other characters in the book, but basically embodies that "good fantasy king" type really well. He's powerful and noble, and although occasionally his temper runs a little high, he really wants to do what is best for both his kingdom and his family (which leads to some struggles.) His power is to create thunder/lightning storms. 

Queen Bernathel Pentegreen is Martin's wife and Esma's mother. Her power is fire, and that nicely sums her up, I think. She is nothing if not fire-y. She's blonde and small, but super fierce and good with a sword. And she'll also do anything for her kids. And I mean anything.

Torin Pentegreen. His last name isn't really Pentegreen, but he's Esma's little brother, basically. I'm not quite sure how old he is. He was abandoned on the castle doorstep when he was about two years old, and the queen took him in. They were never able to get his name changed because no one could track down his mother, but in the end Esma and Torin are as close as hands and feet. I love this little guy <3 His power is speed. 

(Don't have a pic of him at the moment....)

The last of the good guys I'll deal with is Clarence Redow, who I guess fills the role of the Love Interest? Esma's had a crush on him since she was about ten and now it seems like he's finally starting to return her interest. I....don't actually know what his power is. (#Whoops) He's not a character I care a ton about. So. XD Esma likes him. So. We roll with it.

Clarence, basically: from Pinterest

And finally, my villain: General Burashna Woods. I'll tell y'all more about him in a minute, but for the moment, his power is ice, and he's quite horrid. So. Heh heh heh....

 (Also don't have a pic of him...)

Rishatta: 

He looked to be about eighteen, a year or so older than she. His skin was a tawny brown, a warm color that carried a glow in the light of the throne room. His hair, which was dark, dark black, and so shaggy and dense it didn’t look like he’d brushed it in about ten years, hung in shambles around his face. He was tall, at least six feet tall, which put him over a foot taller than she, and those muscles that could lift her as easily as if she were a rag doll were even more accented here in this bright room.

Kariana: 

Kariana pulled herself free from the middle of the group hug. “Oh, I just arrived, Tor. Rode all the way here from the border of Venaria in two days. Every few months I do it and every few months I’m astonished as to how I did it. It was faster this time, though. I honked all over the house of the guy I was supposed to be spying on after eating some mushrooms that I didn’t know were poisonous.”

Martin:

Esma’s father—in the morning, shedding his cape and crown for an old leather jacket and faux hunting cap, but during the day, dressed in the scarlet and crimson befitting to a king—raised his hand and sent a thunderclap into the council chambers.

Bernathel: 

Esma twirled a hair around her finger painfully. The urge struck her to run back to the castle --before her mother could catch her-- and change her clothes. How did Bernathel do it? How did she always, always, look so nice, even when she had just come in from a day of fighting and was bleeding, sometimes?

Torin:

The horn had just blown for the city gates to be opened when Torin came racing out of the castle into the courtyard. His sister already stood there, waiting. Of course, the speed of his passage carried him straight into a tree, followed by a torrent of yelling, a smatter of cursing, and a whole lot of hopping around the courtyard.

Clarence:

“Well, how are you, Princess?” he asked and swept her into a gentle yet at the same time bone-crushing hug.

And General Burashna: 

And there he was, a single figure surrounded by a cloud of blue walking at the front of his army. They called it Dauthang’s army. Dauthang might be the real enemy, but it was Burashna the army was taught to fear. He was the one who did all the work for Dauthang. He was the one who tried to kill her.He was the one who made the commands that, on every attack, made her heart leap into her throat.

Well, it depends. I mean, Esma has parents and a brother, so obviously they're pretty close to her. But then Kariana is her best friend, so the two of them spend a lot of time together. (And then of course there's Rishatta...BUT SPOILERS.)

Pretty well, most of the time. They're all very close friends, and everyone has their own role in the group. (There's also a couple of characters who I'm not mentioning here....one of them because he just bugs me and does not DESERVE the honor of a shoutout, and a couple because they're kind of minor. I actually have about twelve other characters in this series....but I can tell you nothing about them, because. Spoilers, mostly, or I just don't care. XD) 

I don't know if this counts as clashing, but while their strength is that they're all friends and family and get along very, very well, this also contributes to their weakness. All my good guys are a web of alliances and love and all that stuff that normally would be a good thing, but which my villains have no qualms about using against them. Basically, there's a lot of "You'll have to choose between your heart and what you know is right!" in this series. Which is a problem. 

Icy//vengeful//arrogant

Let's go back to the worldbuilding post from a couple weeks ago, where I said this:

Once upon a time, Faith wrote a love triangle between three of the most powerful people in the world.
One of the men wanted power and the girl. The other man wanted the same thing. The second man got the power and the girl. The first one got angry.

Well, spoiler: The first one is Burashna. The second guy is Martin. The girl is Bernathel. XD Our mysterious dictator, Dauthang, has offered Burashna a second chance at the things he wanted once, and so he's not going to refuse. He also wants to make Martin and Bernathel pay for the things they did to him when they were all younger. I can't go too much more into detail on this, but....ya know. 

In the end, Burashna himself is kind of a minion. *Gosh, Faith, you came up with this question....why in the world didn't you consider how you would answer it???* But just because he serves Dauthang doesn't mean he doesn't have thousands of servants himself. He is, after all, a general. *evil smirk* He has an army at his disposal, along with several councilmen, a couple secret agents, a couple of spoiler characters, and a certain assassin....

He walks like an ordinary guy. He talks with sort of that villainous swagger that is so, so hard to avoid. (Basically, I'm playing up the "cliche villain" aspect of him, so that some of the other villains will be a little bit more of a surprise...)

This is basically how he talks: 

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhh....

Burashna likes to talk. A looooooooot. He's also big into intimidation, and he's very, very tall, so he's....ya know...actually intimidating. He also makes threats and follows through on them. (Honestly, he's slightly draining to write.)  

He is also one of the most powerful people in the world (when it comes to his physical power) and so he usually has a faint blue cloud surrounding him at all times. Because all that ice just can't be contained within one person. He likes to freeze people (which gets important later...mwah ha ha...) 

Hope y'all enjoyed reading about some of my babies! I'm sort of bummed that I didn't get to share more with you about a couple of the more quirky characters, but they're spoiler-y so that wouldn't have worked anyway. What do you think of my charries? Chat with me in the comments! 

Let's get started over here! Today, you all get to meet my protagonist, Esma Pentegreen.

Be sure to check out the posts from the other participants (I'm SO EXCITED about this week's posts.)

Protagonists are awesome. <3

The protagonist of my story is Princess Esma Pentegreen, Light of Misue and Hope of the South, Child of Fire and of Kings. 

Or just E, as her friends would call her. Just Esma is okay too. All those titles are a little bit....overwhelming. 

In every way conceivable? 

So, it depends on which villain we're talking about to some extent here. The series villain, Lord Dauthang, wants to conquer Esma's country and destroy her city, and obviously she has some issues with that. A couple of the other villains want her dead. Some want to use her for their own ends (there are a lot of people who could turn a tidy profit from killing or kidnapping a princess, after all.) Basically, she wants her life, her freedom, and her kingdom's safety, and the villains want the opposite of that. And there's an unfortunately high number of them. XD

Esma desperately wants a world in which she can just pretend to be normal again, like she was before this war. She also would really like to find love.

Then she's got a brother, Torin, who basically is a cinnamon roll and needs protecting (more about him next week!) and of course her parents, Martin and Bernathel, who happen to be the king and queen of Lascogine. Esma has a secret dream in which she and her family are just another family living on a farm someplace and can be normal and don't have to deal with every threat in the world being leveled in their direction.

To sum it up: She fights for family and peace.

Hmmm....this is actually a really hard question. 

I think, somewhere deep down, Esma has a sense that she as an individual does not matter. Esma is not the part that's important; the "princess, future queen" label is important. And so all she does must be directed towards only the good of her people and her country and the world around her. She tells herself that her own good does not matter as much as that of anyone else. She's less valuable.

On one level, this could just be humility, which is not a bad thing, but at the same time, it's also self-deprecation...so that makes things interesting. And it's also a very subtle undertone, so you may not have seen it if I hadn't pointed it out. XD 

Esma has a tendency to get very, very emotional, and she cries a lot. She sees this as weakness. It's not, exactly. It's just...different from a lot of the very stoic people around her. When the darkness around them is as stifling as it is, a lot of my supporting characters have ended up largely burying their emotions, but Esma doesn't find herself capable of that. So...she ends up weepy and emotional, which she thinks means weakness, even though it's just her way of dealing with the heavy staggering evil she deals with on a daily basis. 

She's principled and knows it, and she appreciates that she sticks to who she is and won't back down even if people tell her she's wrong. (See below...)

Strength: Esma is absolutely, utterly honest; this can be exploited, but she works to make sure that it doesn't. She also knows who she is and sticks to it. 

Weakness: Well, from the first time she picked up a dagger and threw it into the dead center of a target, she knew that she'd never be able to kill anyone.... 

Esma is currently working on and off on putting together a history of her parents' lives as king and queen. And while she can't kill anyone, she is a wicked shot with a throwing knife and is a strong runner, so she's very in shape and likes to maintain that. 

She also spends a lot of time lost in thought, talking to her several good friends, and hanging out with her brother. And she likes to read, too. She got a bit of new reading material in this book, actually... *evil cackle in critique partner's direction* 

And also this picture:

Or this one:

Similar: Esma and I are similar in looks and in demeanor in a lot of ways. We're both kind of wimpy (lol....at least hers will get better over the course of the story.) We're both good at public speaking, although neither of  us particularly enjoy it. Basically, our personalities are very similar and our looks are somewhat similar (short fierce brunettes, although she's a stick and I'm a lot more curvy.) 

Different: Esma tends to rush headfirst into everything, which can sometimes be good and sometimes gets her into very much trouble. She's also good at combat (which I am not...). And she's very much a physical touch type person, which I also am not. 

So what do y'all think of my protagonist? Is your curiosity piqued? I'll admit that I absolutely love Esma. <3 Talk to me in the comments! 

(I was tagged for this by Ivie. Thanks, girl! *hands you all the cookies*) 

Okay. Seventeen things about me that you won't find boring....*taps pen against temple* Let's see...

1) I only really drink water. Tea and juice are always nice...but I do not like coffee (bye bye, author stereotypes! XD) and I drink soda about once in a blue moon. I also get dehydrated really easily and can't survive without about ten 16-oz glasses of water a day. 

2) I play the piano. And I'd like to say I'm fairly good at it...

3) Despite the fact that English is my favorite subject, I don't really love the writing part of it. I don't love formal writing; I'm much more into stuff that flexes my creative muscles when it comes to writing. So while I love the reading aspect of English class, I'm not crazy about writing papers/doing deep analysis/anything like that.

4) I'm overfond of parentheses (can you tell?) (See above about not being good at formal writing...)

5) I plan to major in strategic communications in college...potentially. There's a slight problem with that, which is that of the three schools I am considering, I would have a different major at each of them. So....yeah. 

6) I did dancing for seven years, from the time I was 6 until I was 13. I used to do ballet, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, and a smattering of hip hop. My favorites are tap and lyrical...

7) In that vein, I tend to embarrass everyone around me when it comes to dancing in public. Grocery store floors, combined with the background music they play? Perfect for tap dancing. So my hands go on my hips and I am all over the aisle whilst everyone with me pretends they don't know me. I think my family is fairly used to it at this point, but I went with a friend one time and remember him just staring at me in horror the entire trip. 

8) Give me a song and a pair of earbuds and I will walk into a lion's den.

9) My favorite Bible verse is John 16:33-- "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble--but take heart! I have overcome the world!" 

10) When I was little, my favorite thing to do was play paper dolls. I had some of the sort that you would cut out of a book and hold the clothes up to, but I never loved those. What I liked to do was draw hundreds and hundreds of very specific people from the stories that, even then, I was coming up with--and then cut them out to the most precise of details and act out stories with them. On and on and on. I didn't need no toys when I could make my paper dolls. 

11) I've always been a hard-core music fan; my favorite band/singer growing up was Rebecca St. James. 

12) The first superhero movie I watched was 2012's The Avengers, and the first time I watched it was on an airplane on the way home from London. 

13) Oh yeah! I've been to London. Spent eight days there, and it was AMAZING. I would absolutely go again if I could. <3 I'd also share some pictures if I had any decent ones on this computer...

14) I've done door-to-door fundraising for my Students for Life group, and believe me, it is NOT FUN. 

15) I've probably written 20 "books" in my lifetime...if you count all the little short works I called books, the additional versions of others (like Pentegreens book 1...), and the novellas I've rattled off for various contests and challenges. 

16) I was one of those kids who had an entire world in my backyard and went to it frequently. I also had the insane blessing of having a bestie who knew about my world and had helped me build it, and we went out there CONSTANTLY. That was one of the greatest highlights of my childhood.

17) I'm Calvinist. (Did you really need to know that? I'm not sure. But I needed one more fact and that happened to be the first one that came to mind...)

I hope you enjoyed this post! I'm not going to tag anyone for it, but I will link back to my givaway >>>>HERE<<<<  so you can enter it if you haven't gotten the chance yet! <3 Who was your favorite band growing up? Have you ever gone door-to-door fundraising? If you have, did you enjoy it? Tell me EVERYTHING down in the comments! 

Well, pretty much every person in Sildalone has a "power" or enhanced ability that allows them to do things that ordinary humans couldn't. It's not magic--it's more like X-Men, I guess. Some people are stronger than others, and some are closer to superpowered (like many of my most important characters.)

The range of these powers is all over. My protagonist has, as she puts it at one point in frustration, "the power to string words together" (or to give excellent speeches, which is useful when you're a princess!) Another character has the uncomfortable power of making people cold. One character can create lightning storms. The most interesting thing I've found is that making one villainous character a mirror of one of the good guys creates a cool effect. (For example, one of my main villains has the power of ice; one of the heroes has the power of fire.)

What place in this world (Earth) most reminds you of your world? 

Honestly, the United States. Hear me out! I'm not just giving this as the easy answer!

My world has four main countries (only two of which are really visited within the story) but a lot of different regions and climates within those countries. There's a really rugged and cold band of mountains that my characters may or may not have to cross at some point (the Rockies). There's a section of rolling farmland that goes on and on as far as the eye can see (the Midwest.) There's ocean-front places (Maine, because they have rocky coasts.) Most of the story takes place in a city surrounded by fields all around with a forest less than a mile away to the north and east. (Not sure where that's from, but oh well...)

This is probably a longer answer than you were expecting, but oh well. Here's a picture of a dark forest, which is actually where a great deal of the book takes place. (Confrontations in dark woods. Ooh it's so much fun to write, especially when you forget that the POV character doesn't have night vision and thus can't see any faces.) 

In the city where my main character lives? Not really.

But the other country, Venaria, which is currently known as the "Bad Country," does in fact have some.

Venaria is occupied at the moment by the villains, which nobody there likes, but they're putting their heads down and trying to survive despite the fact that they could be forced to join an army they don't support at any time and may well starve during the winter. Which STINKS. They used to be a very rich and tradition-heavy country, but thanks to occupation most of that is gone.

At one time, however, Venaria was known as the most open place in the world. People covered up who they really were on the inside and made a game of it, but every window was always open for the duration of the summer.

At every meal, families set at least one extra place at the table, and the door remained open so that if someone happened to be passing by, couldn't afford their own meal, or just wanted some company, they could wander in and be treated to a good, full meal with good company. 

That sounds really nice, actually, even for me who is a major introvert. 

Describe the general infrastructure of your world: (i.e., cities and what are those like?) What are the main locations in your story? (Bonus points: Include a map.)

Okay.

As mentioned above, there are four main countries.

One of them, Brue, doesn't really feature in the story at all because it's kind of that walled-in-totalitarian-society that no one gets into and no one gets out of. I didn't choose to focus on it much. Mostly because there's just not enough room.

The other one that I don't deal much with is the Southlands (yes, I am now ripping off of Goldstone Wood; deal with it. XD). Mostly farmland. Mostly peasants. I don't know a ton about it.

Then there's Venaria, where everything used to be rich and beautiful and the defining characteristics of the people are: Arrogant. Beautiful. Powerful. They're a ton of fun to write, even though their society is kind of being crushed under the heel of occupation and I wish I could do more to help them out of it...

And finally, we have Lascogine (I'm not sure if I ever actually use that name within the story. This must be remedied.) The capital city, Misue, is where my protagonist lives with her family, and so that's where most of this first book takes place. The others will be a little more all over the place. Lascogine contains a broad range of places, from the Mise (which needs a name change because it's too similar to the capital city) which is kind of the slum of the world and is inhabited by a ton of people with knock-off British accents; to the Northern Sector which is all farmland and fun times.

Misue as a city is large, and kind of that stereotypical walled fortress that fantasy is known for. However, there is trade and commerce that happens there, and the city is not just a means to itself.

While this is not quite what the castle looks like, the coloring is accurate; everything in Misue is made of white stone. Faith totally didn't rip this off of Minas Tirith when she was eleven, not at all....From Pinterest

Umm...Oh boy.

I got nothing? *shrugs*

Everyone prays before their meals in Misue, and something that didn't make it into this draft but I'm hoping to be able to edit in is that everyone in the city serves the Mighty One (basically like the Maker in Wingfeather Saga; God, essentially, who's sovereign, but there was no Jesus figure in my world). They have a Bible-like text, and at the end of the day, at five o'clock, a bunch of bells ring and everyone goes to their rooms or chapels or whatever to pray for an hour.

Which sounds lovely, in all honesty.

Well...at the moment, Lascogine and Venaria are at war thanks to the occupation happening there. So that complicates matters; they used to get along okay...

Southlands sends surplus supplies north to Lascogine because so many of their fields and farms and stuff have been burned in the war.

Everyone just sort of ignores Brue for the moment because they're staying out of the way, and while Queen Bernathel of Lascogine would love to something about the awful conditions of the people there, the army doesn't have the manpower or means to start a second, simultaneous war with two neighbors at once.

The main industry of Misue is creating weapons at the moment. They also deal in jewelry. Here's a snippet from the actual WIP that sums it all up nicely:

Esma walked through streets bustling with activity, past smithies and grocers and shops that made the jewelry that once had been Misue’s greatest claim to fame. Even before the Pentegreens had come to power, in the days of anarchy and destruction, men had made fine jewelry and sold them and traded them.

In her bedroom at home Esma had several pairs of earrings and a single necklace made from the jewels forged in the mountains far away, the jewels that only the men of Misue could turn into something that looked beautiful around the slim neck of a fine young lady.

Not really.

In Venaria, when a child of an influential (or really just comfortable) family turns ten, he or she is presented with their first weapon. This is a huge thing for most of them; it's also when their power begins to show itself for real and they can begin to train with that power.

In Lascogine the powers tend to show themselves a little sooner. If it's obvious, then you'll know what your power is around the age of seven. If it's a little harder to figure out, you'll have to wait until you're about twelve. 

Well........................... *clears throat awkwardly*

Once upon a time, Faith wrote a love triangle between three of the most powerful people in the world.

One of the men wanted power and the girl. The other man wanted the same thing. The second man got the power and the girl. The first one got angry.

So the war that's happening now, if you know where to look, can be traced back to that, to some extent. Because Faith is awkward and, just like everyone else, sets up her story's history on a love triangle. 

The powers?

The fact that it's home to my characters?

Okay, I'll stop now. XD

I hope you all enjoyed this post! Be sure to check out the similar posts that everyone else is putting up today--I hear they all got theirs up on time. *side eyes at this blatant conspiracy* What do you think of my world? Interesting? Flat? I have a lot more I could have talked about, but the questions didn't ask. #RUDE Chat with me in the comments, and if you have any questions, by all means, ASK ME! (Speaking of questions: I'm filming my Q&A on Monday, so if you'd like to ask any and haven't gotten the chance yet, GO DO IT OVER HERE!) 

Mind games//disguises//spies//an unlocked door//fire and ice//desperate hearts//unreasonable enemies//destruction of all that's right//moral grays//redemption

I've talked about this several times on the blog before: in my post about this beloved brainchild, and in this post about some of my early stories.

It's been kind of a habit to write versions of this book for a while now, and I figured what better way to start out 2018 than with a story I was pretty much guaranteed to finish? (Even if it is version four of a story that's gone all over the place).

Probably a less interesting answer than you were hoping for, but oh well...

I sent a text to my amazingly wonderful friend Ry and asked her if she'd be interested in reading a train wreck. As it was being written. O_O Because she is so amazing, she graciously accepted, and has made this whole process so much better. I definitely recommend having a brainstorming/encouragement partner early on in the writing process, y'all. It has helped me SO MUCH. 

Then I opened a blank Word doc (this later changed to Google Docs because above reason of letting Ry read it as I'm writing it), said a prayer, and dove in. 

That's about all the preparation I was able to put into it. 

Not really. I mean, I did have to research "will someone fall forward or backward when stabbed with a knife" and "how much blood do you have to lose to bleed out" and "how to knock someone out using your head" and then dunk my (ungloved) hand in snow and then stare at it trying to figure out how to describe the sensation. But other than these inconsequential little writer anecdotes there wasn't much research involved. 

Well, for the most part it's been a breeze. I'm currently at 85,000 words (WHAT EVEN) and it's still flying, even though things have been getting a little more sloggy lately. Like I said above: Having someone who cares about my characters almost as much as I do and is interested in helping me make this first draft the best it can be is SO HUGE. Whenever I'm stuck, I usually just page her and shriek about how stuck I am, and then she just kind of waves her magic wand and fixes my problem. 

So mostly easy. There have been some parts that have been a little bit harder so far. But for the most part we're just kind of flying over here.

(Me writing, basically)

Uhhh...well, normally I'd tell y'all that I simply wrote the whole thing on my laptop, but I'm afraid that wouldn't be quite true. 

No, I'd say about twenty thousand words of my currently 85,000 word epic was written ON MY PHONE IN GOOGLE DOCS. I've written it on airplanes, in the car, during college trips, and all up and down the East Coast. Most of it has come into being on my desk, but parts also sprang into being in South Carolina, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington D.C., New York, and New Hampshire. 

What can I say? I've traveled a lot so far this year. 

Oh boy, so much. 

I tried to come up with a comp title for this story, and while I always, always have trouble coming up with comp titles, simply because I'm very original as ideas go, I could not do it. 

I can find comparisons to certain elements. I can find comparisons to some of the characters. 

But I can't compare the story itself to anything. 

I'm trying to write a story that points to the light and is full of beauty and love and strong relationships and light...but also very much shows that there is dark in this world. Dark, but light that is stronger. And I know there's plenty of other such stories, but that is my ultimate goal for the story. 

Also my characters are amazingly unique and real (at least to me.) You'll find out more about them in a few weeks when I do a couple of character themed posts for this five-part special... ^_^

• My playlists
• My characters are beautiful
• My plot is finally flying together
• This book is THE ONE
• Basically everything and everyone
• Having a critique partner who is AMAZING

Apparently it's the season of blogoversaries, because everyone and their pet chinchilla is having one. Which is awesome! It's so cool to see all the people who started this journey and are celebrating it. Blogging is amazing. If you have a recent or upcoming blogoversary and you're reading this, CONGRATULATIONS! (Also have this gif of a chinchilla because WHY NOT.) 

I never knew how much I like assassin stories until I started reading these books. The "protagonist" is actually kind of a villain, and I have to admit I love him soooooo much (more on him later in this post....hee hee hee.) There's all kinds of weaponry and real-life-fighting and injuries and sneaking through the dark, and I LOOOOOOVE it. With all my evil heart. 

Our hero Leith Torren starts out book 1 as a cold-blooded assassin who can't decide whether it would be right or wrong to murder the kids giving him medical care. Our heroine Renna Faythe starts out book 1 terrified of her own shadow and uncertain as to whether she "claims" her faith as a Christian. Her younger sister Brandi is a lighthearted, carefree girl who's practically perfect. 

None of them are the same by the end of this series, and they all change in different ways. That doesn't even start on the side characters--I don't think there's a single character who's actually in the book for more than a few pages who doesn't change substantially in some way. Some change for the better, some actually change for the worst. It's marvelous, and is honestly character development goals.

The Gospel has the power to change lives. Not everyone in the church has a squeaky-clean background, and even worse, not everyone in the Church is willing to invite those with a Past in. That's part of what makes these books so wonderful. They're real to the church as it is--but they're also full of hope and beauty. There's prejudice, but it is presented as an evil within the church. That plays into what I said before about character development--EVERYONE changes.

I know, I know. I tend to get very infatuated with male main characters. But Leith Torren is something special. He's an assassin with thirty-four kills to his name and he serves the impostor king with all his devotion. 

But then he changes. 

I love Leith with all my heart. He's so cold but precious and he puts me into full-scale fangirl mode. He is my favorite thing about this series, and that's saying something. LEITH. <3333333

You need to read this series for Leith alone. 

Renna and Brandi are amazing both as individual characters and as sisters, but I almost love them better together. Tricia Mingerink manages to perfectly bring together the beautiful relationship that close-knit sisters have in all its glory--they bicker, they hug each other, they hide from danger together, they splash water on each other and tease each other about their crushes, they're best friends even though some days they just want nothing more than to bite each others' heads off...I love the two of them with all my heart. 

I know I said above that I love this aspect of them, as well as how realistic they are, but that does carry a slight problem with it: the Blades of Acktar are very, very violent. 

There's murders in the dark, talk of assassinations, and lots of wounds and bleeding. A major character is horrifically tortured at one point, and this lasts a while. An entire church is executed for refusing to denounce their faith in Jesus. Sometimes the violence feels gratuitous, but the thing is--it isn't. It's horrible and hard to look at, but it's REAL. The people who suffer in these books suffer because they profess faith in Christ, and that's not smooth sailing. This isn't violence like the Hunger Games. Sometimes, it might even be worse, especially on an emotional level. But it's there for a real reason, and it's resonating. Especially because in the real world things of equal or even worse pain are taking place for our brothers and sisters in the church. 

So if you can handle some very dark violence that's not glossed over but is also not glorified, I ABSOLUTELY recommend the Blades of Acktar!!!!!!! 

Chat with me! Have you read the Blades of Acktar? If so, what did you think? Are these books on your TBR yet? Do you have any ideas for future posts you'd like to see me do in the Great Christian Fiction series? Talk to me in the comments!!!!!! 

Which means we're rich in money but not rich in time. 

We sit in front of screens and fritter away 

The thing that makes us all equal

No matter how much is in your bank account

Everyone gets 24 hours a day

Dollar signs make us the 1%

But in reality we're among the 100%

24 hours a day and you could die at any time

How you spending that currency? 

Are we all just millennials, 

throwing away our lives, 

Partying and claiming we live like there's no tomorrow

When we really know that we're living like we have a thousand years?

God gives his people a chance every day

To make a difference, make a change, 

Make the world a better place. 

And we might be poor (heaven knows I am, 

Even with my smartphone and computer and expensive keyboards)

but in time everyone's equal. 

Time is a gift. Time is a currency. 

Time can't be wasted. 

So how will you use your time? 

Put down the phone, turn off the computer, stop doing things that don't matter

It's time to live like there is no tomorrow

Like every breath could be your last

It's hard

It's not natural

But it's worth it.

Time is a gift.

We're all equal in it.

Let's treat it like so.

~Faith

Hey everyone! Today's post is going to be about effective ways to debate on social media. It'll be fun, and hopefully it'll be helpful. Let's jump in! 

Now look back at that paragraph and imagine if I'd worded it more like this: 

"I hate what social media does to people. It makes them stupid. Social Justice Warriors are a plague on this nation and they offend me. Facebook and Goodreads are the only platforms I'm on and just those trigger me! I hate social media and the people on it. Stupid people." 

Or like this:

"Bleeping bleep bleeps! Social media is bleeping bleep bleep and I think all the bleeping people on it are out to get me. Bleeping bleep and bleep. Bleep."

These may be bad examples, but they're different approaches to the same way of discussing things using social media. In person, it's easy to remember that you're talking to a living, breathing human, because you can see their face and they can tell you in real time when you've hurt their feelings. But when you're debating over the internet, something happens. We forget that the person we're talking to is a real person. We forget that words have an impact on them and can make their stomachs roil and cause them to lose sleep.

I think the most disturbing thing I've ever seen on the internet was when I was reading through the comments on a YouTube video for a song from Les Miserables. There were a lot of civil debates happening about who the best version of that character was, whether the scene did the song justice, and more. But then I happened upon another comment. I don't remember what it was that the original person said, but someone really, really didn't like it. 

When I clicked the "view replies" there were two. The first one said: "Just kill yourself." The second said, "Yeah. Please kill yourself."

Um, I'm sorry. WHAT?!!!!!! 

This is a prime example of what happens when you forget who the person on the other side of the computer screen is. You're talking to another person. But somehow it is so, so easy to forget that and somehow tell them they should commit suicide. 

This is a super long introduction, but my hope is to show you all just how much this matters. It may not be life or death in your case, but it could carry far more weight than you'll ever know.

Here we go. Some tips and tricks for how to effectively debate over the internet.

No, hear me out.

Sometimes, it's worse rather than better to talk to somebody. I know. Every day when I scroll through Facebook or Goodreads, I see something that makes me want to put my thumbs on that phone screen and just LAY. IT. DOWN. Some person with more time than brains makes a comment that makes steam come out my ears, and I want to enlighten them. And believe me, I could. I work really hard to not get snarky.

But people will not always listen.

No, much of the time, when someone makes a stupid comment or posts something offensive, it's time to back off and just let them live with it. Someone else can engage for you. If I'm on Facebook, what I'll do in that sort of a situation is leave an angry face emoji on their comment and move on. Ain't nobody got time to engage with every single offensive comment out there.

However, there are times when you MUST engage. If you've decided that this particular comment is worth it, go for it.

I'm going to share an example of a time when I started to engage and then backed off. On Goodreads a little while back, a friend of mine posted a review of a book featuring a controversial opinion stated very bluntly. The first few comments on this were civil and thanked her for putting her words out there.

Then the world blew up.

I think by the time that thread finally got shut down, there were 290 comments on this one review on Goodreads. Now, guys, Goodreads is not the place to do debates on social issues. It's a site for sharing books. You want a debate, you go to Twitter. But for a couple of days, that was literally the only thing I saw on my Goodreads feed. More people cussing, screaming, and beating each other up. On both sides of the argument.

That is painful to watch.

I only commented a total of three or four times. Once was to answer a particularly rude question asked of one my friends, and another was to ask people to stop cussing each other out because I was sick of it. Otherwise, while I read through all the comments and thought about what I might say, I stayed out of it. In most situations, that's the wisest thing to do.

However! Sometimes you will want to or even need to comment. Here are some tips for what to do when that happens. 

(Aka Me giving you these questions.)

I saw a thread a few days ago on a pro-life article on Facebook where a woman was being snarky about an unrelated issue, and a bunch of people jumped on her to tell her exactly why she was wrong. She snarked right back at them, until the moment that all of them seemed to miss, the moment when she mentioned that she was raped by her abusive boyfriend and got an abortion as a result.

No one talking to her even mentioned this. They didn't stop to show sympathy. They kept right on telling her exactly why she was wrong.

If somebody shares something personal with you (even if it's on Facebook, shared by a stranger,) they are being vulnerable and setting themselves up for pain. This is the part where you show sympathy (not pity; there's a difference there.) You say "I'm so sorry." You ask them if they're doing okay. You show them that YOU CARE. 

And you don't say that they only think that because they're an idiot. You don't talk down to them. If you're speaking to a friend, it's okay to use terms of endearment, but when you're debating with a stranger who could go hostile, don't use words like "sweetie" or "hon" or anything like that. It is so condescending, and it always, always hurts far more than it helps.

You may forget that you're talking to a person. It looks like you're talking to an avatar with a picture of a dog, or just watching words scrolling past as you fire back responses. But on the other side of the screen is a real, physical, HUMAN person with a heart and feelings that are just as easily damaged as you. 

Being "offended" is overused these days. Everything is "offensive" in some way. But this doesn't necessarily have to mean that your fragile ego has been damaged or you're "triggered." No, what it means is that it's time to back off. Remember you're talking to a human.

Sometimes, when I'm really fired up by something I've seen on soc. med., I'll pull up the comment form and write out a whole scathing, sassy rant about how I feel. I'll read back over it, come to the conclusion that I cannot in good conscience put this up without a lot of people jumping on me, and then delete the whole thing and move on WITHOUT HITTING SEND. 

This is a good method for things that you don't really want to engage on. However, it works on things you're actually sending, too.

When you've written a response to something and you're preparing to send it, read it over and ask yourself these questions:

• Am I prepared to respond with love to any lashback I get from this statement?
• Would I be pleased to have my parents/significant other/spouse/best friend (or any person who you know agrees with your position) read this comment? 
• Would I be pleased to have a friend of mine who DOESN'T agree with me on this issue read this comment and see that this is how I feel about it?
• If people get mad at me for what I say here, am I justified?
• Will publishing this response make things better, or is it just to make myself feel better?

Eventually, a point will come when you need to stop talking. You've got a class to get to. You're sick of this person cussing you out. You're ready to just back down, please.

It's human nature to want to get in the last word. However, in an internet debate, you can't just drop the mic and then walk away before the other person can say something. They ALWAYS have another chance to say something else. If you're trying to get in the last word, they'll shoot something back and then you'll have an unending fight. This is the LAST thing you want. DO NOT get pulled into trying to get the last word in. It doesn't work.

When you're ready to be done, just stop. Don't make any apologies. Don't call the other person a troll (that is pretty much the worst thing you can do in this situation, because they will NEVER leave you alone.) Simply type up one last thing for them to think about (if you want to; you don't have to do this) and set down the phone or close the window. You do not owe it to them to keep arguing. If you're done, you're done. This is different from a face-to-face discussion. In that case, you want to let the other person decide when they're done. But on the internet, if you're done, go ahead and be done.

When I was brand-new to Facebook (in June or maybe July of 2017) I stumbled across an article that lots of people were mad about. Basically, a woman at a public workplace had offered to pray for a non-Christian co-worker. If I'm remembering all the details correctly, he refused, and she was threatened with a lawsuit for bringing her "toxic religion" into the public workplace. The question posed by the article is "Should this woman have had the right to offer to pray for him?"

There was one person in that thread trolling all the evangelicals who responded, getting into long, meaningless arguments with him. Here's my response to that article, and his response to my comment.

This comment didn't seem to really have anything to do with my response, and I didn't have the time or interest in getting in a fight with this guy. There were plenty of others willing to do that. I was uninterested. So what did I do?

I simply walked away. 

I gave no response. I didn't let this person jump on me. It's not hard to do; it gets easier with practice. If you can't stand the heat, get away from the fire.



One last tip that is HUGE:

DO NOT surrender.

If you are talking to someone who does the opposite of what I'm telling you here--cusses you out, attacks you personally, treats you like you're not human, keeps trying to fight with you--do NOT just back down to make them leave you alone. 

If their arguments are genuinely compelling and you say, "Huh, I see your side better now," it's okay to concede that point. If someone actually changes your mind through the intelligence of their arguments and you actually believe differently thanks to someone's discussion with you, that's different. You can tell them that. You can change your thinking.

BUT. If someone is simply trying to intimidate you into backing down, DON'T FALL FOR IT. 

That is what they want. That is what they are trying to do to you. They want you to throw up your hands and say, "Okay! Okay! You're right after all! I'm sorry!" They want to hear that they can keep going in this fashion, attacking people and using bad tactics. 

If this person is the one talking to you, don't give them that victory. If YOU are that person, it's time to stop and rethink your tactics. It's time to work to change the way you speak. You wouldn't want to be a bully in the real world; don't be a cyberbully.

A few more miscellaneous tips: 

• Don't just regurgitate other people's arguments without actually doing the research yourself and formulating your own opinion.
• Don't curse. It makes you look less intelligent and makes people less willing to talk to you.
• Don't stalk pages of people you disagree with just so you can troll their posts. It's mean and rude and only makes people hate you.
• Do be kind. Try to assume the best of people and give them the benefit of the doubt.
• Be aware of the lack of body language and go out of your way to be friendly.
• Choose a friendly-looking profile picture! 
• Be intentional and kind, and if you're somewhere like Facebook, "like" all the comments of the person you're talking to, even if you disagree.
• Don't use technical language! 
• Move your conversations to some form of Private Message (Facebook Messenger, Goodreads mail, Google hangouts, etc.) as soon as possible. 

I hope this post has been helpful for you! What's your favorite tip for posting on social media? Have you ever seen great results from a conversation online? Do you usually engage, or do you usually avoid the fire? Talk to me in the comments!