Character Bio - Yahto Veli

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone in this holiday season! I've taken a short hiatus from blogging while we celebrated the holidays and entertained family, but now I think it's time to return to my promised character bios. So I am sitting amidst the detritus of new Christmas toys in my living room and ignoring the monumental mess around me to take a little time out to write about Yahto Veli. I should say before I begin, however, that writing a character bio about a nark is rather difficult as each nark is really two characters, not one, and none more so than Yahto Veli, but I hope to put together a bio that would please Veli and at least cause Yahto not to scowl too deeply. I'm also going to try and avoid repeating anything that I've already explained about narks in previous blog posts, so if you find yourself confused, you might want to reference my "Student Questions" posts. And so, we begin...

Full Name: Yahto Veli (Narks do not have surnames, although they do belong to clans).
Siblings: Yahto Veli had only one sibling, in the manner of all narks, who is mentioned briefly in book 3, if you can find him. You will notice the past tense used here because his brother, Yeriel Yavin, died before our story began.
Physical description: Yahto has black hair, tan skin, and dark grey eyes, while Veli has blond hair, light blue eyes, and fair skin. As with all narks, Yahto Veli has long hair that falls about to his shoulders, large, pointed ears which he can twitch and move slightly independent of the rest of his head, and very angular features that are humanoid, but ever-so-slightly otherworldly. He is tall and slender with very long fingers. When the Six first arrive in Alitheia, he is about 50 years old (equivalent to about 30 in human years). After his time with the Oracle, however, he has aged to about  85 in nark years, placing him in the early years of "middle aged" according to his kind.
Personality: Here is where I have had the most fun with Yahto Veli. While most night and day narks share nearly-identical personalities with their counterparts, Yahto and Veli are unique in their distinct personality differences. While much on the surface of their personalities is different, however, I've tried to drive home that at their hearts, they are the same. Yahto is glum, pessimistic, impatient, and caustic, while Veli is cheerful, optimistic, a patient friend and companion, and kind. Their personality shifts, therefore, mirror their appearance shifts. What they have in common, however, is a deep thoughtfulness and loyalty. They are each devoted to the cause of the rebellion and would lay down their lives for any of their friends.
In Alitheia: Yahto Veli is part of a special caste of narks who have joined with the humans in a traditional relationship of service and protection. For hundreds of years, narks who felt called to these duties would separate themselves from their communities and clans and join together in training and preparation for this task, which begins when they are very young. Only a select few ever choose to take the Oath of Service to a member of the ruling royal household, and Yahto Veli is part of the rotation of narks from this caste that go through terms of trial to see if they are suited for this special position. Yahto Veli broke tradition by making the Oath of Service to Darcy that you find at the end of book 3.
Trivia: Yahto Veli's name was chosen very specifically. Yahto means Blue (Native American) and Veli means Brother (Finnish). So, essentially, he is a "Blue (or grumpy) Brother." I was originally going to kill Yahto Veli off at the end of the series, but I found that my readership became so attached to him (and so quickly!) that I simply couldn't do that. I still needed him to make a self-sacrifice of some serious sort (holy alliteration, Batman!), though, so I came up with the idea of his episode with the Oracle to replace killing him. He is engaged in a courtship with Voitto Vesa, although I cannot elaborate on where that is going because my readers still do not know the fate of Voitto Vesa as of the end of book 3. He will continue to play a dominant role in each of the remaining three books. He was the first nark that I envisioned.

Character Bio - Tellius

The much-promised and long-awaited character bio on Tellius is finally here! Thanks for sticking with me...

Full name: Tellius Ecclektos VII
Parents: Tellius Ecclektos VI and Mitera Ecclektos
Siblings: Cadmus Ecclektos (1 1/2 years younger)
Physical description: Tellius has changed a lot from book to book, but he's on his way to being tall (~6 feet) and lean. He has dark brown hair that is wavy and brown eyes with flecks of green in them. He has a straight nose and freckles, although not as pale a complexion as Darcy. He has a square jaw and strong lines in his face.
Personality: Tellius's personality is rather tricky. I've kept him pretty mysterious for a while so that I can reveal things about him a little bit at a time. As you find out in book 3, however, Tellius has a lot of repressed feelings of fear, anger, and personal torment. He is haunted by the childhood memory of his parents' murders and is hyper aware of his own mortality and of the imminent danger that the remaining few members of his family are in. He tends toward seriousness and resentment over things from his past and things foretold to come in his future. Because of these things, he had to grow up much faster than usual for a boy of his age, and he tries desperately to control any aspect of his life that he can. It's not all negative for Tellius, though! As with many people who go through extreme trials, he will eventually allow them to transform him into a strong ruler and someone who is fiercely protective of the people he loves. He's also quite courageous, if a little rash at times, and thoughtful. And, well, there's a lot more that I could say about him, but I have to leave some things to be discovered!
Likes: Swordplay, archery, horseback riding, reading, art.
Dislikes: Having his life determined for him, hypocrites and people who act fake, autumn, being left behind/left out.
Birthday: September 15th
In Alitheia: Tellius is the seventh of his name in the Ecclektos line of rulers. He is a descendant of the first legitimate human king of Alitheia and the bearer of the promise of the prophecy that a king (presumably in his line) would someday wed the Intended. He is gifted with inverse fire and water magic, which is very unusual because most people in Alitheia are born with earth magic.
Trivia: His governess, Eleanor Stevenson, is like a surrogate mother to him. Tellius is my favorite character in the entire series and easily the most complex. While Tselloch ruled at Ormiskos, Tellius and his brother hid in plain sight as servants under their first cousin once removed, Tullin, at the low castle-keep of Kenidros. It took me a long, long time to settle on Tellius's name; it could not be too difficult to say, and I wanted it to convey a sense of royalty while also sounding friendly. I eventually based both his names off of Greek words that have significant meaning to his identity, but I'm not revealing what they are! Although his interactions with Cadmus have not been given much time in the books, Tellius loves his little brother more than anybody else in the world and is attached to him as only the older of a pair of orphaned boys could be. Tellius is the funnest character to write. 

I'm Official!

I know that I promised a character bio on Tellius, and I will make good on that, I've just gotten a bit swamped early this week with activities and so I am a little behind. I will do my best to get that done tomorrow night! I did HAVE to blog about what happened today, though! Today I signed a publishing contract with The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House (TWCS) for the first three books of The Gateway Chronicles and the remaining three in the series. So that means that I am now no longer an indie author, but an official, contracted author! Huzzah! Follow the link below to read about TWCS, and I'll keep the blog updated as I have news about the new releases of the books. (They are still available on Amazon and Kindle, but will go unavailable for a time as TWCS gets ready to re-release them).

http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/publishinghouse/

Character Bio - Darcy

It was suggested to me to start a series of mini character bios, so that's going to be my main focus for the next several blog posts. I hope you enjoy!

Darcy
Full name: Darcy Marie Pennington
Parents: Allan and Sue Pennington, owners of Pennington Furniture Surplus
Siblings: Roger Pennington (3 years younger)
Physical description: Darcy is about medium height for a girl (I imagine 5'4" or 5'5") and thin, but not overly skinny. She has wavy, mahogany-brown hair that she wears long, pale skin, freckles, and grey eyes.
Personality: Darcy has a very introverted temperament. She tends to be introspective which, at first, keeps her trapped in a wallowing pit of self-pity and selfishness. Early on, she tends to assume that everybody around her is either judging her, not interested in her, or just as selfish as she is. As she grows throughout the series, however, her introspection helps her to become deeply sensitive to the feelings of others, thoughtful of her words and actions, and braver than many of her friends. Darcy will always struggle will awkwardness in social situations, however, and never has an easy manner with people, especially when she is uncomfortable.
Likes: Animals, reading (especially fantasy literature), rock music, history, and French toast (to name a few!)
Dislikes: Pop culture trends, being in a room full of people she doesn't know, girly stuff, biology, and touching people.
Birthday: March 2nd
In Alitheia: She is the Intended. Her standard is a horse and she is bonded with a horse named Hippondus. She can manipulate earth and air elemental magic. Her special talend is to mind-speak with high animals. She is supposed to marry Tellius and become queen of Alitheia.
Trivia: I came up with Darcy's name after watching Pride and Predjudice one night. It worked perfectly because I have little homages to all my favorite authors in the books. After I had her name picked, the rest of the story just fell into place. Darcy's mom and dad are from the South (they lived in Birmingham for a time). Her mom was a cheerleader for Alabama and her dad was a baseball player for Auburn. Darcy blushes with her ears because I blush with my ears, and she has freckles because I always wanted to have freckles.

Girl Who Reads: Thankful: The White Thread

Girl Who Reads: Thankful: The White Thread. Fabulous review that made me blush! Enjoy.

Book Signing

Well, tonight was a very fun night! I had a book signing sandwiched in-between socials for the Logic and Rhetoric students at my school, and a lot of people showed up! I sold clean out of The White Thread within 45 minutes (something I truly did not expect) and sold several additional copies of my previous two books as well. After the signing, I had a question and answer session with about twenty of the students who stayed for the social, and it was quite fun to listen to some of their theories and speculations and to get to answer some questions about my books. And then I came home and got to sit down and order fifty more copies in for people who still want to buy them! It was a good night. Tomorrow I get to have a conversation with a professional in the business to discuss some options for my books, so I'm looking forward to that as well. I'm going to continue focusing on marketing and sales up through Christmas here, and then hopefully begin work on book 4.

Going Strong!

I find myself woefully behind on my blogging, for which I sincerely apologize. The effort of completing early marketing efforts on The White Thread and monitoring early sales has consumed that part of my brain that is available for my writing endeavors (ie. that part which is not taken up with being a wife, mother, housekeeper, and full-time teacher). I am happy to report, however, that my sales are going strong, and last I checked I had two five-star reviews up on Amazon for the print edition (which you should check out if you're new to me or my writing). I'm getting fabulous reviews from those people who have already read my third installment of The Gateway Chronicles, and I have a book release party/signing scheduled and coming up soon (for info, visit the group fan page for The Gateway Chronicles on facebook). All things considered, the past couple weeks have been a whirlwind, and I'm doing all I can the keep the momentum strong for the Christmas season. I am constantly being told, "This should be a movie!" or, "WHEN is this going to be a movie?" I usually laugh and say, rather tongue-in-cheek, "Well, that depends on YOU!" In all reality, though, that is the truth. As a lowly independent author, the success or failure of this series rests largely on the shoulders of those of my fans that are willing to spread the word, write me reviews on Amazon, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Good Reads, and wherever else my books can be ordered, buy my books for others as Christmas or birthday presents, and place copies in school and public libraries. (Some of you are already doing so many of these things, and for that I genuinely thank you!). For my part, I promise to keep writing, through this series and beyond, and to keep scheduling book signings, to keep blogging (hopefully more frequently than I have as of late), and to keep being active on Twitter and facebook. Thanks again to all of you who have enthusiastically helped me, and if you're new to me, click on one of the book icons on the right to read about my books and what my readers think of them. Bye for now! (To follow me on Twitter, search for @kbhoyle1).