Welcome to the first part of the character Q&A celebrating the release of Daican's Heir! It's been a LONG time coming. Enjoy! And don't forget to stop by Instagram or Facebook to enter the Daican's Heir giveaway bundle!
I slide off my blue and black dragon and untie the basket
secured behind the saddle. Of course, I can’t show up to one of these sessions
empty-handed. My characters surely expect yummy treats by now as consolation
for making them answer questions. I then crunch through the icy snow toward
Jace and Kyrin’s cabin. At least Landale didn’t get as much snow this year as
the previous year.
At the door, I knock,
and Kyrin opens it a moment later with a smile. “Welcome. Come in.”
I thank her and step
into the cozy cabin. Jace smiles and nods at me from where he is stoking the
fire across the room. After over ten years of this writing adventure, I think
my characters have finally excepted that I knew what I was doing despite all
the hardship I put them through. We’ll see if the others are as happy to see me
as Kyrin and Jace are.
I hold up the basket.
“Kyrin, I know you said you would make shortbread cookies, but I did bring a
couple of extra things I’m sure Kaden will enjoy.”
She takes the basket so
I can slip off my coat. “I’m sure he will. It was the one thing he said he was
looking forward to about another one of these sessions.”
“Well, you guys did get
a nice, long break from having to answer questions. I have a feeling, now that
the series is over and everyone is more or less settled, most of you won’t mind
the questions so much.”
“You’re probably right.
Even Jace isn’t as nervous.” Kyrin sets the basket on the table and smiles at
him.
He shrugs. “Can’t be worse than what we’ve already been through.”
I half laugh, half
snort. “That’s for sure. Especially after this last book.”
Before either of them
can comment on that, the door opens behind me. I turn as Kaden, Talas, Marcus,
Liam, Holden, Rayad, Timothy, and Leetra file in. I shiver at the chill air
that comes in with them. I really don’t like the cold.
“Hey, everybody.”
They greet me with far
more cheer than in previous encounters. I was right in my prediction that they
would feel more relaxed now that they don’t have to wonder what I’m going to do
to them next. As far as they know, anyway… Little stories could pop up, though
they would probably just be fun stories. Nothing too crazy or awful.
It takes a bit of
shuffling for everyone to find seats around or near the table. Kaden reaches
for the basket Kyrin set there and peeks inside.
“What did you bring us
this time?”
“I brought one of my
favorites—no-bake cookies.”
Kaden raises a brow.
“How can cookies not be baked?”
I reach into the basket
and pull out the full container. “Because they are basically chocolate and
peanut butter fudge with oatmeal, not actual cookies.”
He looks more than
willing to try it out as he takes one from the container. After a bite, he
lifts both brows. “Okay, these are good.”
I take a seat in the
middle of everyone as Kyrin finishes serving coffee or tea to the group and
reach into my pocket for the stack of question cards. “Shall we begin?”
Kyrin takes her seat
next to Jace. “Might as well.”
I start to flip through
the cards, but my eye catches on Talas, who is lounging next to Kaden. “Hold up
a minute. Talas, what are you doing here? I told you I didn’t have any
questions for you this time.”
“What, you think I’d
miss sitting in and listening to everyone have to answer invasive questions?
This is awesome. I just get to sit back and relax and laugh.”
He grins, and I shake my
head. Just because I don’t have any reader questions doesn’t mean I can’t think
of a few they would like answered. I’m about to go on but pause again, this
time on Holden.
“Wait, you don’t have
any questions either.”
He shrugs. “Moral
support.”
“Fair enough. Okay,
first question…” I stop at one of the cards. “Since we were just talking about
food, here is a question for Kyrin from Tito. Do you think you and your mother
are starving Kaden?”
Kaden’s head falls back
with a dramatic sigh, and Kyrin laughs.
“Are you kidding me? No,
we definitely do not starve him. If he’s that hungry, he’s more than capable of
making his own food.”
Kaden rolls his eyes.
“After almost ten years of this, people are still stuck on the fact that I like
food, huh?”
I shrug. “You’ve got to
love a good running joke.”
“They do realize I was a
teenager for most of this story, right? Teenage guys like to eat.”
“Of course, but it’s
still fun to tease you about it. It just means we love you.”
“All right, whatever.”
But I can tell he’s not
actually bothered by it.
“Let’s go with another
easy question. Karen wants to know how old everyone is. So, as far as everyone
here currently, Jace is twenty-three, Kyrin and Kaden are twenty, and Marcus
and Talas are twenty-six. Actually, Daniel is twenty-six too. Leetra is twenty,
Timothy is twenty-two, and Liam is twenty-three.” I pause to look over at
Rayad. “You just turned sixty, right?”
He nods.
Then I turn to Holden.
“You know, I never did find out your age. Would you mind sharing with everyone?”
“I’m thirty-four.”
“Oh, my age. Cool! At
least now I don’t feel quite so old around all these young people. It’s crazy.
When I first started this series, I was just a couple of years older than Jace
was at the time. Now I’m only a few years younger than his mom.”
Kaden makes a face.
“That’s just…weird.”
“I know, isn’t it? But
it’s been over ten years for me and only three for you all. I’ve been on this
adventure with you guys for a long time.” I flip to another card. “Since we’re
sharing such information, Rebecca wants to know how tall you guys are. She
knows Jace is six three and Kyrin is five seven”. And if nobody caught on,
Kaden and Jace are the same height. But what about the rest of you?”
Marcus glances around
and answers first. “I’m right at about six foot. I definitely didn’t get the
Veshiron genes when it came to height.”
He looks over at Liam,
who shrugs. “I’m a little over six three.”
I shake my head. “You
all make my five foot five feel tiny.”
Talas grins. “Not all of
us.”
“Well, yeah,
technically, most of you are average height or under, but I still feel tiny.” I
tip my head. “Since you went and spoke up, how tall are you?”
He sits up straighter.
“Five eight, which is actually on the taller side for a crete.”
I shift my attention to
Kyrin. “How tall is Ronny now?”
“Well, I think he’s
pretty much as tall as me now, so about five seven”, but I have a feeling he’s going
to surpass that very quickly now. Soon I’ll be the shortest one in the family
besides my mother.”
“Yeah, I went through
the same thing with my brothers.” I look around the table. “As far as the rest
of you go, the only ones not an average height are Timothy and Leetra. Timothy,
you’re about the same height as Kyrin, and Leetra, you’re right at five foot,
right?”
She nods, but I know
full well she has enough fierceness to fully make up for any lack of height.
“And just for the
record, in case anyone is wondering,” I say as I look for another question,
“The General is six foot five, so he’s pretty much taller than anyone save for
Sam, Tane, and the giants.”
“There’s a good reason
he’s so intimidating,” Kyrin adds.
“All right, we should
probably delve into some real questions.” I focus on her. “How about we start
with you this time?”
She takes a deep breath.
“What do you have for me?”
“This one isn’t too
deeply personal yet. Rebecca wants to know, if Aric marries your mother, will
Rayad still be the main father figure to you? And how do you feel about the
possibility?”
“Well, Rayad and Aric
both mean a lot to me. They’ve both been instrumental in my life. I do think
Rayad will probably be in my life more than Aric will, so I suppose Rayad will
continue to fill that role as a primary father figure.” She and Rayad trade a
smile. “As for how I feel about my mother and Aric, I’m very happy for them. I
want someone at her side who will love her and care for her. Ronny is growing
up so fast. It won’t be long before he’s doing his own thing, and then she
won’t have anyone she is actively taking care of. I think that would be very
difficult for her if she was alone.” Her expression sobers. “Especially now
that Michael is gone too.”
Sadness fills the room,
and I squirm guiltily. I clear my throat. “I guess since we’re on the topic,
now would be a good time to ask one of Karen’s questions. How is your family
coping with what happened?”
Kyrin sighs. The tears
in her eyes make me feel even worse, but I did have
a reason for what happened to Michael. Both William and Michael’s deaths opened
eyes and triggered positive changes in others. Not that it will make her feel
much better at the moment.
“We’re coping about as
well as can be expected. It’s hard, but we have to keep living and fighting for
our futures.”
Jace puts his hand on
her shoulder, and she smiles tearfully at him. “It helps to have loved ones
close.”
I glance around at the
others, who are all nodding quietly. “I have one more question for you and your
brothers pertaining to Michael. Rebecca would like to know what your favorite
memory is with him?”
“It’s hard to pick just
one.” Kyrin smiles wistfully. “One thing I’ll always cherish was the way he,
Ronny, and Kaden interacted once we were reunited. Kaden and I didn’t have much
of a childhood, so seeing Kaden recapture a little of that with Michael and
Ronny was really special.”
Kaden nods, his eyes a
little watery. “Yeah, those were good times.”
Marcus clears his
throat, but his voice is a bit thick. “I’ll never forget the way it was
whenever Liam and I would come home after a while spent at the fort. Michael
would be glued to us the entire time, asking all kinds of questions. He really
wanted to be a soldier.”
Liam agrees.
Now I clear my throat,
feeling a little choked up as well, and look for a question to help ease the
sadness. “How about a question for me. E. Dison thinks you all are amazing and
wants to know how I came up with all the different characters in the story. I
guess there’s no short answer to that. All of you have come from so many
different bits of inspiration and situations. The idea for Jace was initially
inspired by Bardon in DragonQuest by Donita K. Paul, and that’s what set off
the whole series. Trask and Anne were inspired by Robin Hood and Marian, which
is kind of obvious. Most characters developed through a variety of ways. I
never quite know when or how inspiration for a character will strike. Take
Davira, for instance. She didn’t exist when I first started writing Resistance.
I was a few chapters in when I came across a photo I had saved on my computer,
and my brain just instantly went, ‘That’s Daican’s daughter.’ That one photo
then impacted the entire series. I don’t even remember what was supposed to
happen in the end before that. So yeah, characters can be inspired by other
fictional characters in books, movies, TV, or come from something as simple as
a single photo.”
I notice Kaden giving me
a look. “What?”
“You’re saying we had to
deal with Davira nearly destroying our lives because of a photo?”
“Basically.”
I love these Q&A sessions and how human it makes the characters. I think that human aspect is part of why these books are some of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I’ve never seen an author write an interview with her characters before, this is awesome!
ReplyDeleteWow, if I ever knew Sam and Tane were that tall I totally forgot. I still want a little book about Sam. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd Davira didn’t exist originally?! Wow. I certainly can’t imagine the series without her!
Also, yeah, these characters sure did get young over the years!! Thanks, Holden, for being a bit older for us. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I never would have guessed Liam is the tallest! Great call there.
ReplyDeleteI am late to the party but I am here!
ReplyDeleteOh! The nostalgia is real! Wow. I was fifteen years old when I got into this series and I've got double nostalgia--the books and characters and world, AND these Character Q&As! The short bread!!
My favorite parts:
“How can cookies not be baked?” Priceless.
“Moral support.” Holden. XD
“After almost ten years of this, people are still stuck on the fact that I like food, huh?” XD Poor dude.
LIAM is TALLER than MARCUS?? What is this madness. I feel like there's no way that wasn't mentioned so that's my bad for not getting it, but wow.
“You’re saying we had to deal with Davira nearly destroying our lives because of a photo?”
“Basically.” Oh that cracks me up!! XD XD XD
-Stargazer