The Emotional Complexity in my Writing
As many of you who follow me know, I applied for a Kirkus review back in December for The Moon’s Eye. This was one of the scarier things I’ve done as an author to date – Kirkus is the book review site and what they say about a book can make a huge difference for an author. The only way I managed to convince myself it was worth doing was their caveat that if the review was unfavorable, I had the option not to publish it and it would remain between myself and Kirkus.
My review came in on the evening of January 27. I spent several moments staring at the email, not sure if I wanted to click on the link and read what they had to say. Well, you won’t know until you do it, right? So, I clicked and read the review. (You can read the full review by clicking here.)
Holy hell, Kirkus liked my book!!!
Now, writing this post a few weeks later, I’ve had time to calm down and reread the review a number of times. It’s a great review. I can use quotes from it in my marketing process and post it to Amazon and Barnes & Noble as an editorial review. Awesome! But there’s one quote that really stuck out to me and meant more than anything else they wrote:
“Calvin’s engaging and epic tale opens with a dense and emotionally complex narrative.”
While I was writing this book, I wanted the reader to experience the emotions of each character. The fact that Kirkus picked up on it absolutely made my day. Now, not all of the characters are likeable, and not all of them have happy stories (actually, there isn’t a lot of happiness in the series until toward the end, so there’s that…) Anyway, it was that statement about emotional complexity that prompted this post.
Here’s an overview of each character’s basic emotional state throughout book 1.
Vardak is the first character the reader is introduced to. He has a stoic nature and internalizes most of his thoughts, making him a limited conversationalist. At the beginning, he’s thrown into the role of protector for Janna on the orders of the gods. She is chatty enough for three people, which often irritates him, but by the end of the story they understand one another better and develop a friendship. He’s often frustrated by the gods’ role in his life, but rarely speaks about it. Only when he’s around family do his emotional walls break down.
Next is Aran’daj, the Murkor commander. His goal is to protect his people, even if it means great risk to himself. He’s a skilled strategist, devout in his faith, and willing to do anything if it means sparing other Murkor from the Soulless’ wrath. He walks a fine line between doing what’s right and what he must in order to achieve his goals. For those not in the know, the Murkor have been subjugated and are being forced to fight for the Soulless, though Aran’daj is part of a plot meant to subvert them.
Tavesin is the happiest character of the cast, at least at the start of the series. He’s in training at the Shining Tower, learning the ways of magic, and is often in the company of two close friends, Rostin and Badolo. He’s a typical teenager in that he’s excited about his future, he enjoys spending time with his friends, he encounters his first “crush”, and he’s impatient to be finished with his training, if only to have less oversight by his mentors. Tavesin’s story takes a turn in the latter half of the book, when another of his friends, Arra, encounters one of the Soulless. He experiences heartbreak on a level he’s never been forced to cope with previously, and his frustration with the wizards’ inability to help her pushes him toward a dangerous and reckless path. While writing the second book, there were a couple of times I thought Tavesin’s storyline was going to break me. Some of what he endures hurts me as the author—and I’m the one who plotted it.
Then there’s Dranamir… She’s one of those Soulless I mentioned, a zealot in the employ of the Nameless god. To put it bluntly, Dranamir is a sociopath. She enjoys inflicting pain and views murder as something of a release. And she’s powerful, which makes her even more dangerous. Her chapters include some of the most brutal scenes in the series—and she enjoys every moment of it. (There are times I worry about myself when rereading some of Dranamir’s scenes. Seriously. They’re disturbing. What dark corner of my mind did she crawl out of?)
The final two characters are introduced in The Moon’s Eye, but aren’t fully entrenched in the story until book two, The Talisman of Delucha.
Ravin is a mage with a long and troubled history who is a sworn enemy of the Soulless. At the beginning, his sole focus is on revenge. He is determined to kill Dranamir. His past continues to haunt him, and try as he might to break free of it, his struggle is a constant source of frustration for him. As the story progresses throughout book two, he forms an unexpected friendship that alters his worldview significantly. His focus shifts from revenge to a desire to protect, and even teach. From my perspective, Ravin’s story is one of my favorites.
Last is Emra. She’s introduced in the first book as a knight in command of a small contingent of soldiers. They’ve been dispatched to bolster the defenses at Jennavere, though they come too late. Like Ravin, her story is very limited in the first book, but by the end of book two, she’s in command of an army and is a proven leader. There’s also a bit of a romance subplot for Emra that begins in book two (I wrote a little about this in my post from February 3: Character Relationships in The Relics of War.) She also experiences some significant grief in the second book, as well as frustration with a certain god.
There is actually a seventh character that gets some POV time starting in book three, but I’m not ready to share who that is yet.
So yes, there’s definitely some emotional complexity going on in the book/series. Seeing that mentioned by Kirkus was a huge achievement for me.
The Moon’s Eye is currently available from multiple retailers in ebook, paperback, and hard cover formats. Click here to learn more.
The Talisman of Delucha is scheduled to release in July 2022.