Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet

Fantasy author. Writing complex characters wrestling with the truth in an indifferent world. Currently querying Thunder and Velvet.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

I don't think you have to throw out intelligence to create good conflict. Some of the most intelligent people I know create the conflict against which they struggle.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@tonyhenandez790 Broken characters marginally healing through the struggle the plot presents to them.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@Chronodendron Il Principe by Machiavelli

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@NatalieO73314 Curiosity is normal. Gotta say, I'm pretty sure anyone who isn't curious had it burned out of them somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, it often seems to be a bad teacher that did it (I say as a teacher).

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@ToniAdwell @NoahRayWrites No doubt, and I think there are two common, inappropriate responses. The first is to protect the glass bubble of ego, where you do what's described above. The second is to be so spongy that you don't have the wherewithal to stand up for any originality in your work.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@SketchesbyBoze (You could also ask a brick anything you want to know. Doesn't mean it's a wise or productive thing to do.)

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@SteffenJack84 Thanks! Kind of you to say.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@SteffenJack84 Two protags running a PI agency in a fantasy metropolis. It's not grimdark in tone. It's got some horror-adjecent moments, but it's hopeful. Fantasy western: lone wanderer trope coming into frontier towns and stumbling into trouble. He's jaded and grouchy, but does right.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

The second protagonist in Thunder and Velvet is Athalie: an apostate priestess of the goddess of justice. As a private detective at Owl and Bloodhound Investigations, she must make sense of justice outside the system that once defined her.

#Writing #Characters #WritingCommunity

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

Well, I think I might have committed to writing my next novel: a boy-adventurer in my fantasy version of pre-collapse Atlantis. Only, the boy's "dog" is, in fact, an amorphous blob. A boy and his blob.

#Writing #Fiction #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@vickyweberbooks @AngelaPenaDahle Oof, I bet. I'm a teacher (and aspiring author), and I don't have a clue how I'd manage to do your job. I've had parents who, in the same breath, admitted to writing their child's paper, and complained that I didn't grade it more highly.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

Thunder and Velvet features two protags. The first of these is Babitha, a bounty-hunter raised in a primordial wilderness who is now trying to run a detective agency in a bustling, hyper-capitalistic metropolis.

#Writing #Fiction #AmWritingFantasy #WritingCommunity

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@EllieJayWrites Oh yeah, for sure. When I'm drafting dialogue, I have to play both parts--- gestures, facial expression, and all.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

Love people (and characters) who're possessed of the courage to shove aside social awkwardness or anxiety in order to extend a kindness to a stranger.

#Writing #Fiction #Characters #WritingCommunity

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@whataimeereads_ "This is the fourth time I’ve wandered this week, according to the journal I’ve apparently been keeping.
I pinned the letter back inside my jacket and wondered how long I could hide dementia’s slow advance.
Someday, someone will know. Perhaps not me."

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@whataimeereads_ In the US, jellies tend to be juice-based, while jams tend to be pulpier.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@PJScribbansAuth Occasionally, it's when the plot and characters mirror real events I've experienced too closely and have no desire to relive--- and I don't mean trauma. Just certain characters with certain behaviors I find insufferable in my real life, and don't want to live with in my fiction.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

@DNicholsAuthor Hoo boy! I had to systematize body language in order to better interpret it, and express myself in a way with which others were more generally comfortable.

[Aaron Bowen | Querying Thunder and Velvet @AaronKBowen]

So tired of characters who mistake prestige for competence. When EVERYONE prioritizes protecting their own status, it's hard to keep characters from becoming self-important idiots--- even the protags.

#Writing #Fiction #Characters #StoryCraft #WritingCommunity