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Cameron Montague Taylor

Fantasy Author & Fiction Editor

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Dark Arm of the Maker

Morning Pages: Who He Is

September 9, 2021 by Cameron Montague Taylor Leave a Comment

Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Pick a prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: The gay pronoun problem defeats me even at the best of times.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the GPP, it’s when you’re trying to choreograph a scene between two characters who share a pronoun. It hit me harder than usual this month (though to be fair, most of the characters in this month’s roundup shared a scene with their same-gender partner, so I did this to myself). The choreography in “Who He Is” proved particularly difficult to sort out, especially in the beginning when Mel attempted to carry Nev into a tent. Two sets of limbs, and all of them belong to a “he” — a predicament, indeed!

This month, I also wrote a short blog post about epithets in fiction (and defeating the GPP), so I made a particular point of watching how I navigated the GPP during edits. It turns out, my natural response is to delete as many pronouns as possible for the sake of increased clarity. Thus, instead of writing, “Nev had fisted [his/Nev’s] hands in the front of [his/Mel’s] coat, I deleted pronoun #1 and wrote “Nev had a fistful of his coat” — the subject of the second ‘his’ mostly implied by the prior sentence.

Interested in reading more about the GPP (and finding tips on how to avoid resorting to epithets like *the Potionmaster fisted hands in the Prince’s coat*? Say no more. Here’s the blog post on epithets.

The Prompts:

“Show a funerary service in a world that isn’t ours.”

“Last Farewell:” Oceana ‘verse. It’s never easy to lose a parent.

“There’s a woman working in the lighthouse on the old point. She sings to the fishermen every time it’s rainy or foggy and it’s hard to see the light. Write a story from the POV of one of these fishermen.”

Miss Eliza might be borderline tone-deaf, but that doesn’t bother the local fishermen.

“That’s not who he is.”

Mel from The Dark Arm of the Maker sees Neveshir perform dangerous magic for the first time.

“Snowed In.”

Oceana ‘verse. Men who’ve lived their whole lives in the tropics dream of snow.

“Oh, I’ve seen plenty.”

Siath from the Oceana ‘verse is a good brother, even if a nosy one.

Picture Prompts

“Connect the dots:” Oceana ‘verse. Some games are more fun when your partner has freckles.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • Do you have any tried and true tricks for getting around the GPP?
  • What are they?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!

Filed Under: Morning Pages Tagged With: Dark Arm of the Maker, fiction writing prompts, flash fiction, picture prompt, writing community, writing exercises, writing inspiration, writing prompts

The Dark Arm of the Maker is LIVE on Kindle Vella!

July 17, 2021 by Cameron Montague Taylor Leave a Comment

Exciting news, everyone! The Dark Arm of the Maker has gone live on Kindle Vella. For those of you who read the story under its original name (Potionmaster) and in its original form, you’ll be excited to learn that the edited and expanded version contains almost 10k more story, including a much-requested pre-epilogue scene. Want to learn more about the edited version? Read on!

What’s Kindle Vella?

Kindle Vella is Amazon’s new serialization platform. Creators post content one episode (or chapter) at a time, often on a schedule. Readers can check out the first three episodes for free, after which they can purchase coins, or tokens, to unlock the rest of the story. Right now, Vella is only available for Amazon US customers, but they should start expanding to other regions soon.

If you have an Amazon US account, you can log in and claim your first 200 coins for free! You can unlock an extra five chapters of The Dark Arm of the Maker with them, and I’d be extremely grateful for the support.

Click here to read The Dark Arm of the Maker on Kindle Vella!

Tell me more about the story!

The Dark Arm of the Maker is a standalone, Dark Fantasy & MM Romance novel. Here’s the blurb:

Royal Chef Neveshir Sevelin is a Karán: a man born with dangerous magic running through his veins. Like all Maker-touched, he can use fire to transmute, but only Karán have the power to kill with it. Though most Karán spend their careers bound in service on the war-front, Neveshir has sworn off killing. He roams free in Alkaya where he uses his talents to craft culinary masterpieces for his former shieldmate and dearest friend, Shah Melík Saf Kanh, ruler of all Esenia.

When a terrible disease breaks out in the city, however, Neveshir is asked to revisit the powerful magic he hasn’t used in decades — a request that has the Maker’s Guild up in arms. Neveshir can’t blame them. He knows what he is: a poison-blood who was Maker-made to take lives, not save them.

Then Melík falls ill. The disease spreads beyond the Guild’s ability to control, showing a malevolence that defies medicine and forces Neveshir to consider more extreme measures. In order to discover the source of the disease, transmute a cure, and save the man he’s not supposed to love, Neveshir must overcome his fear of his own nature — before it’s too late.

Are you all about the tropes? The Dark Arm of the Maker features found family, magic that comes at a price, and forbidden love. It also includes gay, bisexual, non-binary, and aroace representation.

That sounds great, but I’m not giving Amazon another dime

No worries! The Dark Arm of the Maker is also available, edited and in full, on Patreon at the Patron+ tiers. Click the link below to head over to my novels masterpost and check it out:

Click here to read The Dark Arm of the Maker on Patreon!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Dark Arm of the Maker, fantasy, Kindle Vella, Potionmaster, writing

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