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Tales From Undersea Character Profiles. Part One – Heroes

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

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If you want to know more about the main characters of the Tales From Undersea series, here’s some juicy details (don’t worry, they’re spoiler free):

Alethea Hera

Real name: Priscilla Stephenson

Age: 36

Race: Caucasian

Nationality: British

Birthplace: Bath, UK

Sex: Cis female

Orientation: Bisexual

Appearance: Average build, strong, tall, long brown hair, grey eyes.

Virtues:  Brave, strong, capable.

Vices: Paranoid, stubborn

Skills: Leadership, planning, combat

Weapons: Four barrelled pistol, long sword. Occasionally uses a dagger

Likes: Pastries, ballet, Greek mythology

Dislikes: Opera, high society, parrots

Favourite item: Robert’s gun

Background: Alethea was born Priscilla Stephenson to a rich family in Bath, UK. As a girl she was incredibly shy and quiet. At age 16, her parents tried to find suitors for her, and rejected Robert Holburne because he ripped his pastry instead of cutting it. The two got along well and fell in love anyway, but their parents didn’t approve so they ran away together to the Undersea Kingdoms. They were happy but short on money so they joined Redscalp’s Pirate crew. After many adventures, they were betrayed by Louis who left them to be killed by a cipactli. Robert sacrificed himself to save her and died. She was rescued by the Barracuda. Kei convinced the captain to let her stay on the sub. Priscilla was distraught and deeply depressed over Robert’s death until she gave birth to their daughter, Marina. She changed her name to avoid detection from the authorities, who were after Redscalp’s crew. Becoming a strong warrior mother, she worked her way up the ranks until she became the Captain of the Barracuda, which she has been for five years now. Now she is beginning to tire of the dangers of the pirate life and wants to retire and build a safe and stable life for her daughter, but that will require one last mission…

Inspiration: Kyoko Honda (Fruits Basket), Thirrin Lindenshield (Icemark Chronicles), Aunt Josephine (ASOUE)

 

Marina Hera

Age: 17

Sex: Cis female

Orientation: Homosexual

Race: Caucasian

Birthplace: Barracuda

Appearance: Fair skin, cropped black curly hair, green eyes, skinny.

Virtues: Brave, intelligent

Vices: Impulsive, argumentative

Hobby: Reading

Skills: Swimming, combat, engineering, lockpicking

Weapons: Blanch percussion pistol, rapier

Background: Marina is the daughter of Alethea Hera (real name Priscilla Stevenson) and Robert Holburne, but was born after her father died. Her mother raised her on the Barracuda.  While Marina has been raised as a pirate and used to combat situations, it still worries her mother, which causes a lot of tension and fights between the two of them.

Inspiration: Jim Hawkins (Treasure Island), Princess Tiabeanie (Disenchantment), Terri Waters-Waters (Gayle)

 

Shu Kei

Sex: Cis female

Age: 39

Orientation: Bisexual

Race: South east Asian

Nationality: Cantonese

Appearance: Short stature, short greying hair. Brown eyes.

Languages: Cantonese, English

Virtues: Strong, kind, intelligent

Vices: Bossy, sarcastic, greedy

Hobby: Gambling

Skills: Organisation, keeping order, combat, lockpicking

Likes: Luxurious things, tea with honey

Hates: Men

Weapons: Four barrelled turn-over pistol, rapier, longsword

Duties: She takes charge of the sub whenever Alethea Hera isn’t there. Her duties include day to day management of the craft and seeing Alethea’s orders are carried out, dividing the plunder, discipline, controlling the food and water supplies, and deciding what to plunder from found vessels.

Inspirations: Anna Fang (Mortal Engines), Washimi (Aggretsuko),

Note: In Cantonese name order her name is ‘Shu Kei’ but in Western name order it is ‘Kei Shu’.

Background: Kei was a prostitute until she married a Pirate and had a son with him. They were successful until her husband abandoned her. She and her young son moved Undersea and joined the Barracuda, becoming friends with Priscilla Stephenson and even convincing the Captain at the time to let her and her new born baby stay on board, since she was also raising her own child on the sub. She rose up the ranks, becoming Priscilla (now Alethea’s) quartermaster.

Writing update 3/5/2021

03 Monday May 2021

Posted by in author, Blog, self publishing, steampunk, writing, writing update

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How is everybody’s spring going? Mine is as chilly as ever and making me regret putting away my winter clothes.

Now that I’m settled into my new flat, I’ve been able to write freely again. Book 2 in the Tales From Undersea is scheduled for release on Midsummer (June 21st) and is due for editing at the end of this month. The cover is also underway, and I’ll be posting a cover reveal here when it’s done.

Book 3 is currently three drafts in. When I’ve finished a draft, I leave it for a while and work on something else so I can come back to it with fresh eyes and spot mistakes easier. I’ve yet to see if three drafts will be enough and if the book will be ready for a first round of edits and being shown to beta readers. In any case, if all goes well then I hope to have this book out by the end of this year and then a box set of the whole trilogy next year.

After that, I’ve already started something new for the series, a prequel explaining the backstory for how the Undersea world was formed. It’s called Codex Leonardo and follows Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Lisa del Gioconde (the sitter for the Mona Lisa) travelling in the first submarine to beat Christopher Columbus to the ‘new world’. So far it’s looking like it’s going to be a bit shorter than the rest of the books, but it will have all the same steampunkish elements. And of course knowing me, I couldn’t get away without a little romance. I hope to have this book published in the middle of next year at the latest.

I’ll post more updates here or you can join the Undersea mailing list for new release announcements and special offers. You get a free short story for signing up, too!

Four Reasons Why I Write for Mental Health

03 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by in author, Blog, mental health, self publishing, writing

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There are many reasons to write: Money, pleasure, revenge, or preferably all three. On top of these, one of the reasons I write is for the sake of my mental health.

I started the first book in what would turn into the Tales from Undersea series in 2017, about a year after I went through a period of severe depression. I won’t go into the details, but I’m a British immigrant living in an EU country, so you can probably figure out what caused it.

At the time I was working on a novel I’d been writing on-and-off since university. I liked it and enjoyed writing it at the time, but I was becoming increasingly aware that it was full of cliches and probably wasn’t going to be well received if it was published. It also focused mainly on a revolution plot, which was a little too much for me, considering where my mental health was at the time.

But then I got the idea for a submarine pirate adventure book which I started once my mental health had improved to the point that I could write again. Not only was this book exciting, it was funny. It gave me something to be passionate about again. These are some more ways it has helped me:

  1. Stable routine

I admit I’m still somewhat of a night owl and an insomniac, which makes it difficult to get up in the morning. But getting up mid-morning, writing, and working on marketing and publishing activities in the afternoon is a much better routine than getting up at 2pm when the sun is already beginning to set, lazing about in my Moomin pyjamas for a few hours, then deciding it’s too late in the day to begin anything and eating an entire tube of Pringles. Getting up somewhat earlier has also allowed me to get in some morning exercise to get direct sunlight on my face and prevent winter depression.

2. Celebrating small miracles

My book still only gets miniscule sales. Yet whenever I make a big achievement like finishing a draft or making a sale, I get a hit of dopamine (the happiness chemical in the brain). Even small things like getting a new subscriber to my newsletter or a comment from someone on Instagram saying they like my book’s cover gives me a small hit. Long periods of barely any sales can be depressing, so I wouldn’t recommend a self-publishing career to those who can’t handle that level of rejection. Yet to me, that only makes it better whenever I do get a single sale or review.

3. Dealing with things I don’t want to face

A lot of people assume the things authors put in their books reflect their subconscious desires. If that’s true, authors must be the most terrifying creatures in the world. While a lot of my writing is self-indulgent (it’s fun to imagine myself as a badass pirate captain), I mostly use it as a way to explore things I don’t want to go through in real life. I can live out the fantasy of being a mother, fighting in a war, or falling in love with someone else then come safely back to my own life.

4. Getting outside my own head

This is perhaps the best thing that writing can do for your mental health. While I’m more-or-less recovered from my episode now, I still have moments where I feel overwhelming anxious, angry, or depressed. When I’m writing, it forces me to focus on the task at hand rather than any of these negative emotions. I can’t be thinking about how much I want to hurt myself if I’m trying to figure out how my characters are going to escape from the monster or what the best synonym is for ‘roar’.

 

Check out the first Undersea book or join my newsletter for exclusive free stories, updates, and special offers.

Cover Reveal – Tales From Undersea: Traitor’s Revenge

18 Sunday Oct 2020

Posted by in art, author, Blog, cover reveal, fantasy, indie, self publishing, steampunk, story

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I’m very excited to reveal the cover of my debut novel, from the wonderful people at Purple Dragon Design.

Here it is:

Traitor’s Revenge is the first in the Undersea series, a YA steampunk/flintlock fantasy series with submarines, pirates, vikings, and mythological sea monsters. You can read the first three chapters here.

This debut book is the result of over ten years developing my writing skills and three years writing the first book. It’s my first step to becoming not just a hobbyist writer but a professional author.

The Amazon e-book release will be in early December, and the paperback and wide (non-Amazon) releases will be coming after that. I’ll be posting all updates on this blog, as well a regular excerpts of the next two books.

Top Seven Horrible Love Stories

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in anime, Blog, Common Criticism, musings, romance, shojo, story, writing, writing advice

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I’ve already written several posts on my blog about tired old romance clichés such as love at first sight or love triangles and how they usually don’t work unless they are handled in the right way by a good writer. I have put together a list of other love stories that I also hate and want to see less of. If you have any of these in your own novel then it might be time for some re-writes.

  1. Love Conquers All…Somehow

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all over stories where the power of love wins through despite all odds. But when the day is saved with no explanation other than ‘its true love’, or if this is the only justification for a couple getting together, that’s just lazy writing.

  1. Love Cures All Tragic Backstories
Dead girlfriend? What dead girlfriend?

Dead girlfriend? What dead girlfriend?

Not to mention all phobias and mental illnesses. A supportive partner can help somebody to deal with these issues but they can’t make them magically go away completely. It is much better to see a love interest helping someone learn to live with whatever troubles them rather than making them forget about it completely and live in a world of sunshine and flowers.

  1. Hate Turns to Love

Once again, I feel this is a plot which can kind of work if it is done in just the right way, but it is rare to see it pulled off successfully. There needs to be a legitimate reason why the couple stops hating each other and begins to like each other but many stories skip straight over this necessary development. Most of the time, I feel like it is a way to draw out unnecessary conflict.

  1. He Was a Boy, She Was a Girl

This is the idea that a boy and a girl are going to be romantically involved only because they appear in a story together. Especially horrible is when the only female character in the whole story is expected to get together with the male hero, no matter how badly suited they are to each other. Just because centuries of outdated storytelling says that the woman is expected to be the love interest, it doesn’t mean that she should be.

  1. The Only Two Gays in the Universe

Or the fictional universe at least. This is a version of the above mentioned trope when the token gay character gets together or at least flirts with the only other gay character in the story. They’re gay so they have to like each other, right? Even if being gay cuts down the number of potential love interests for them, that doesn’t mean they have to hook up with somebody just because their sexualities happen to match up.

  1. The Yaoi Principle
'But you both thought you were straight ten minutes ago!'

‘But you both thought you were straight ten minutes ago!’

I call it this because it seems to show up a lot in yaoi manga, but it appears in other media too. This is when a guy falls in love with another guy (or a girl for another girl, but it is usually the male example) despite having no prior attraction to any other men. There’s nothing technically wrong with this because sexuality is a complex thing and apparently it can happen in real life. I know a few women who I would happily throw away my heterosexuality for. But these stories are never about the guy coming to terms with being bisexual or labelling himself as such. It’s still ‘I’m in love with a man but I’m still technically straight so it’s all ok. No need to panic, Middle America!’ It is starting to dwindle even in yaoi manga but still crops up far too much for my liking.

  1. Give Up the Dream Job For Love

Usually tied in to the ‘chasing someone through the airport’ ending, which I have also put on my list of clichés which really must die. I hate it when a woman (yes, it’s still always a woman) gives up a dream job which most people would kill for and which she’s been working hard on for years for the sake of love. Too many writers still haven’t realised that settling down isn’t the ideal ending for every woman or the end of her career goals.

 

What love stories or romance tropes do you think are overdone or should never have existed to begin with? Which are most likely to turn you completely off of a love story?

How not to market an e-book

10 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in indie, internet, self publishing

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Last week I wrote about six things to avoid if you want to write a good e-book. As difficult as writing a book is, any self published author will tell you that the writing isn’t the hardest part. Now that it’s finished, you have to market your book. I’m not a book marketer, there are many talented people out there who can tell you the right ways to market your book, but I do work enough in the industry to recognise the warning signs of when a book isn’t going to sell.

The good news is that if you followed the advice in my last post and have written a great book, then you’ve already given yourself a huge advantage. Read on and you’ll find out why.

  1. Assume the cover alone will sell it.

A good looking, professionally designed cover is essential for your e-book sales and it goes beyond sticking on a stock image of a sexy lady or a shirtless hunk (or whatever does it for your target audience). If you hope people will just pick up your book thanks to the cover and not bother to take a few moments to read the first page then you’re assuming your readers are idiots. Don’t think that you can sell an inferior product if it comes in nice packaging.

  1. Believe you can sell sand to the desert.

If you’re stuck with a hastily written book with a tacky cover, you might hope you can use your savvy sales skills to move copies. Any marketing professional will tell you that no amount of marketing plans and expensive advertisements will sell something that is terrible. You’ll save yourself a lot of hassle by putting the time in to write a decent book.

  1. Bug people online.

Social media is a great way to gain a following for your written works but you have to do it in the right way otherwise people will know you’re just trying to flog something to them. Sending hundreds of friend requests on Facebook will get you banned and mass following on Twitter won’t get you any genuinely interested readers. Also, don’t send hundreds of annoying messages asking bloggers to review your book, especially if they say on their website that they don’t review self published books.

  1. Order 2000 paperback copies.

Many self publishing services offer printing options but these should be taken frugally. If you had a new product you were trying to sell, wouldn’t you test it first to see if there was a market for it before you set up a factory and made a huge batch? Similarly, would you order 2000 copies of a book when you don’t even know if it’s going to sell a single copy?

It’s disheartening to order lots of books only for them to either take up room in your shed or be pulped. Instead, use a reliable short run printer that can print a few dozen books at a time so you have enough to sell at your book launch and can give one to your granny. Or alternatively wave one in the face of your old maths teacher to prove that all those years of daydreaming in class weren’t a waste.

  1. Ask anyone you know (or don’t know) for a review.

It’s still true to an extent that one of the best ways to move books off the shelves is to have an endorsement from a famous writer somewhere on the cover. That said, I’m not the only reader who’s becoming annoyed with the blurbs on the back of books being replaced with quotes.

Unfortunately, it’s near impossible for a self publisher to get one of these celebrity endorsements. Margaret Atwood wrote an entire poem about why she doesn’t provide blurbs, so under no circumstances should you ask a famous author for one, unless you’ve actually saved their life and they owe you a big favour.

Even worse is asking anyone you know who’s even remotely well known to give you an obviously fake quote. This becomes awkward when you see a former mayoress saying how much she loved a gory zombie horror book.

  1. Write in a genre because it’s popular.

It’s becoming depressing to walk into a bookshop and being surrounded on all sides by rip offs of whatever happens to be popular at the moment that were obviously put out quickly and cheaply to cash in on that book. It’s especially disturbing that currently that book is 50 Shades of Grey…

Once again this comes down to writing just to make money. If you genuinely enjoy reading and writing in that popular genre then go for it. But if you don’t, it would be a waste to try.

The best thing about self publishing is that you don’t have to worry about what’s currently selling down at the supermarket. You can be as niche as you like without having to worry about appeasing your agent or publisher. Your time is free for impressing the most important people in the publishing industry – the readers.