Welcome back to Love Bytes!

I’ve been largely absent over the past year primarily due to a move from the west coast to the east, a hurricane, and planning the remodel and expansion of my home. Nonetheless, I write and am writing. I cannot not write—I was reared by a prolific author and it is ingrained in me. I’ve written for several industries and in multiple genres, but Ella’s Law is my first attempt at a young adult steampunk novel.

My grandfather pressed hounded me to write what I did not know. Indeed, Bret Anthony Johnston (Michener Center for Writers) makes great arguments for doing exactly that in Don’t Write What You Know.

Being a research fanatic, and in direct violation of the “write what you do not know” code, I had to know the origins of steampunk, the requirements of the genre, and the tricks of the trade. All of which varied wildly depending on who and what you read. I did find it fascinating that Jess Nivins credits [Edgar Allan] Poe as one of the mainstream writers who created “The American cult of the scientist and the lone inventor.” That said, there is nearly no consistency to the genre except that one must consider steam a primary force of [you name it] and dirigibles must be involved—or not—depending on whether you’re writing punk punk, biopunk, cyber punk, cape punk, cattle punk, desert punk, ocean punk, mythpunk, solar punk—inhale—peter piper punked a peck of pickled prose—the apunkalypse, or what–ever–punk!

I decided to write a Gaslamp Fantasy (steampunk with supernatural elements). No, it isn’t called Fantasypunk. Go figure.

Here, I thought the key to it would simply be write a good base story, throw in the fancy, the cool gadgets, and be done with it. Wrong. Writing an alternate history is hard enough. Writing an alternate history with alternate devices, with alternate attitudes, motivations, politics, conflicts, and resolutions is harder than *!*.

If you’re a writer, you know you must write no matter what. I #amwriting… but must admit the only thing saving my sanity is writing other works as I work on Ella’s Law—and Fairy and Grotesque are keeping me grounded at present.

See you back here next month on Wednesday, October 17^th!

About Cody Kennedy

Cody is an author who lives, most of the time, on the east coast of the United States. Cody also writes adult mystery thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, and romance as Aisling Mancy.

Raised on the mean streets and back lots of Hollywood by a Yoda-look-alike grandfather, Cody doesn’t conform, doesn’t fit in, is epic awkward, and lives to perfect a deep-seated oppositional defiance disorder. In a constant state of fascination with the trivial, Cody contemplates such weighty questions as If time and space are curved, then where do all the straight people come from? When not writing, Cody can be found taming waves on western shores, pondering the nutritional value of sunsets, appreciating the much-maligned dandelion, unhooking guide ropes from stanchions, and marveling at all things ordinary.

Cody’s Facebook, Twitter @CodyKAuthor, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, Ello,
Goodreads, Medium, Booklikes, and read my free serial story, Fairy.

Find Ash on blog, Twitter @AislingMancy, Facebook, Google+, Goodreads, Booklikes,
Dreamspinner Press Author Page, and Amazon
and Ash does respond to emails because, after all, it is all about you, the reader.

Safe and Slaying Isidore’s Dragons are being translated
into French for a December 2nd release!

Pssst. Click on the captioned title of each book to read the first chapter!