#fantasyromance | S. R. Cronin

telling tales of doing the impossible

Posts tagged ‘#fantasyromance’

When shouldn’t you make up words for your book?

I love to ask other fantasy authors how much vocabulary they created for their books. R.W. Buxton, author of Moscow Nights surprised me recently with his answer of “one word.” Read his interesting explanation of why.

This is an easy one… Just one. Day-walker, a person with vampiric powers that aren’t undead and can survive the sun. Although in this book I break the rule, I guess you’ll have to read it to find out how, and why.

In urban fantasy, in general, I don’t see the need for the creation of many new words. After all, it’s set in the world we are all familiar with. A world we can reach out and touch every day. Sure there are fantastical creatures like vampires, werewolves, or ghosts, but they don’t require that many new words. There is one exception to this, and that’s urban fantasy that involves the Fae. For me, these usually cross over into the realm of true fantasy novels. In this sub-genre I find there is a good deal of new vocabulary and of course new worlds, or should I say realms.

Not that the first draft of Capital Thirst, my first novel, didn’t have its fair share of new vocabulary. After I posted that draft to an author critique site, I received overwhelming feedback that it wasn’t necessary and confused the reader. It disheartened me. I worked hard to create that vocabulary to build a mystic vampire world. Not to mention it was my first novel, and I wanted everyone to love it.

After much thought, I decided these other authors were probably right. It wasn’t necessary, and I wanted the book to take place in the real world, albeit one with vampires. So I took it out.

There is clearly a time and place for creating new vocabulary. Science fiction or pure fantasy, for example. But in the end, it just wasn’t necessary for the type of writing I’m doing. Overall, it just confused things.

Find Moscow Nights at

Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KXG6CWS
Apple — https://books.apple.com/us/book/moscow-nights/id1527771232
BN — https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/moscow-nights-rw-buxton/1137483626
Kobo — https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/moscow-nights-7

See the original post, which was part of a Goddess Fish Book Tour, at Moscow Nights.

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It’s Really Happening

Writing a book is a really long process.

Even for self-published authors like me, the path from best-idea-I-ever-had (they all are) through getting-the-first-draft-finally-done (they all suck) is no small thing. Then come the rewrites, then the critiques from whatever support system you pay for or coerce, then the next set of rewrites, and the cover design, and the final edit and proofread, and the formatting, and there is nothing quick or easy about getting a novel out there.

I continue to be amazed by how many people do it. I continue to be amazed that I somehow manage it. And yet, I’m about to do it again.

The great idea struck in May 2019. I was at a local spa, enjoying a mother’s day present called “the works” or something like that. I was bored while people massaged things into me.

Now, my seventh novel, and the first in my new series, will be out on kindle November 13, and in paperback and through other retailers shortly after.

I’m excited. I’ve moved on from writing about superpowers in my own world to creating an alternate history. For a year and a half, I’ve been living and breathing the 1200’s on another timeline, one in which seven young women work together to save their homeland. My days have been filled with magic and bravery, and with treachery and a little romance. It has definitely helped get me through Covid-19.

To celebrate having got this far (and to maybe sell a few pre-orders), twenty-four different excerpts from the first book will be featured on twenty-four different blogs over the next four weeks. So, from August 31 through September 25, you’ll find parts of my new novel on a variety of blogs.

I’d love to have you check it out. You can enter to win a $25 gift card while you’re at it, and also take a look at other people’s interesting novels. Despite how long it takes to make a book happen, there’s a lot of good stuff out there.

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