I never know how to start a blog post, much like I never know how to start a book. So I’ll inevitably end up starting somewhere awkward. The technical term for this is in media res, which translates from Latin to I just jumped into the action and made up the story later.
This process can go on a few times before I get it right, too. I rewrote the first chapter of I Am Not Your Chosen One three times before I was happy not just with how it started but with where it was going.
I rewrote the second chapter twice as well before I figured out where the book was really going to go. The original idea for I Am Not Your Chosen One involved a much stronger reliance on video game logic and frameworks that just didn’t end up working out in writing.
But the thing with starting in the middle of the action is that, eventually, I need to figure out where the action is going to end up and what made the action happen in the first place.
I end up pantsing and plotting in turns. I will pants a situation into being (such as the opening scene of I Am Not Your Chosen One) and then plot out meticulously why that scene happened and what will happen as a result of it. It’s a somewhat hit or miss method that relies on both spontaneity and the ability to sit down and unravel a plot in the long term, so it definitely doesn’t work for everyone.
Or even for me all the time.
But I am too committed to this method to redo how I write at this point. If it works (well enough), why fix it? Given, I have only successfully written two full books with this method, and not very quickly at that, but …
Well, it works. And sometimes things that work are good enough.
This is actually a central theme that comes up in my writing quite often, and is a driving force behind a lot of my ideas. I grew up reading a lot of traditional fantasy (Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Dragonriders of Pern); books with grand adventures and grand finales. And those are great! I love a sweeping fantasy epic.
But what if the fantasy wasn’t so epic? What if the hero wasn’t great or strong or brave, but was just … good enough? Did the bare minimum that was needed to complete the quest, or better yet, circumvented the actual quest and solved the underlying issues causing the problems in the first place. But, like, without fighting or grandstanding or multi-army battles.
I love a good subversive fantasy just as much as an epic one, and I get most of my ideas from looking at common tropes and thinking “but what if someone put in a whole lot less effort.”
And the fact that I myself cannot commit to one good method or location or schedule for writing could be related to the less-than-heroic heroes I love to write: the ones who are not perfect but still try to save the world, though only a reasonable amount and only if they get something out of it.
And that’s who Kell Porter is. An average twenty-six year old suddenly burdened with the responsibility of saving the world, he reacts not with joy or bravery but with annoyance. Who decided it was his job to clean up this mess? And who even left the mess in the first place?
These are very important questions (much more important than “how to save the world?”) that Kell will spend I Am Not Your Chosen One and the Not Your Chosen series trying to solve.
Magic in Allune is dying.
The stars and the goddess call out for a Chosen Hero to save it.
Unfortunately, all they get is Kell.
Book Title: I Am Not Your Chosen One
Author: Evelyn Benvie
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Release Date: June 14, 2022
Genres: High Fantasy Humor, M/M Romance, Demisexual romance
Tropes: Refusal of the Call, Slow Burn Romance
Themes: Found family, self-acceptance, finding home
Heat Rating: 1 flame
Length: 102 000 words
It is the first book in a new series and does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Blurb
IKell Hồ Sinh Porter is twenty-six years old and desperate to leave his unhappy life and his dead-end town. One night his wish is granted by a mysterious voice—though not in any way he would’ve imagined—and he finds himself in the semi-magical land of Allune where everyone thinks he’s the “Chosen One.” Kell politely disagrees, and absconds from his duties. On the search for an adventure that doesn’t come with world-saving responsibility attached, he’s joined by companions. Every adventurer needs them, but his turn out to be Ansel, a sheltered fallen angel, and Fre, a half-orlk who wants to be a hero.
Destiny, bad luck, and the gods conspire against him. The Dawn Goddess wants him to take up his Chosen One mantle, which Kell is sure means becoming cannon fodder in an ancient divine war. The Lich King’s demonic minions carry out sporadic attacks in an attempt to kill him and prove he is not the Chosen One. Temperamental elves, talking stars that aren’t all that helpful, image-conscious demons, maddening pieces of prophecy that everyone thinks Kell should already know, and his growing feelings for Ansel all mix in a frustrating stew as Kell tries to juggle his feelings, his duties, and all the things trying to kill him. No one asked him if he wanted to be anyone’s Chosen One, and he can’t begin to understand why he was chosen. Kell needs to figure out who to trust and how to forge his own path before it’s too late for Allune and for him.
Kell woke up slowly. Awareness filtered back to him in pieces. Rough wood under his palms. The warmth of the sun on his skin. The low, tumbling murmur of gathered people. Something weighing hot and heavy against his ribcage. The scent of fresh baking and old sweat mixing on his tongue. He wrinkled his nose and blinked his eyes open.
He was lying on a platform near the middle of town, judging by the smell and the noise. That wasn’t necessarily troubling in and of itself. But the sky …
It was blue, yes, and the sun was midmorning high and bright enough to make his eyes water. But there were stars speckling the sky all above him, little pink pinpricks of light dusting what should have been a solid-blue backdrop. Kell stared at them hard for a long moment, then closed his eyes again.
Weren’t dreams supposed to end when you woke up? What was this, a dream within a dream?
Whatever it was, he didn’t feel up to dealing with it right now.
Apparently the world wasn’t going to give him a choice. Someone nudged at his leg, gently at first but with increasing insistence.
Someone, Kell thought, with perhaps an edge of bubbling hysteria, or something. He giggled a little, biting his lip to keep the sound in. God, what is with me?
Maybe he had heat stroke. It was unusually warm out now for only being March.
What had happened last night? Fuck it. He didn’t remember getting drunk enough to pass out in the middle of the street. He didn’t remember planning on drinking at all.
A throat cleared above him, polite but impatient. Oh, well. Time for him to get up anyway before he got cited for public drunkenness or whatever. Kell made an effort to lift his head, but it was hard, and he was tired, and staying here a little longer couldn’t hurt, right?
Was public drunkenness even a real crime?
“Oh for the love of Skuache …” someone muttered, and then Kell found himself being gripped firmly on either side and hauled upwards. He let out a yelp of surprise, flailing around as strong arms did their best to hold him steady. The world spun as he opened his eyes, and it took a moment to get his feet under him. He staggered a bit, keeping his eyes trained on his feet for balance until he felt he wouldn’t fall over at any moment. Not that his rescuers had any intention of letting him go any time soon, with the way they held onto his arms just this side of too tight.
Shouldn’t have wished for the cops last night if this is where it gets me.
“Really, goddess,” the person continued to mutter. They sounded close. And important in a kind of college professor way. The kind used to lecturing and looking down on failing students. Kell dubbed him Professor Throat Clearer and entertained a brief image of a stuffy man in tweed giving lectures on how to properly interrupt conversation with discreet noises. It sounded like a fun class. Kell would have taken it.
“I have faith in your efforts, I truly do,” Professor Throat Clearer continued, speaking low and to himself. “But I swear, these Chosen get worse every time.”
Evelyn Benvie is the wooly jumper in a family of black sheep. Both a cynic and a romantic at heart, she writes diverse poetry and queer-positive spec-fiction with strong characters, quirky romances, and (almost always) happy endings.
Sometimes she’ll try to be funny, to varying results.
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