Author, Alayna Williams, reveals the elements of developing her tantalizing mystery Dark Oracle.

During the previous decade, fantasy readers’ tastes became refined, resulting in the birth of several subgenres.  Urban fantasy emerged for storylines set in a metropolitan area, featuring a protagonist with a tragic past, and flavored with fantasy beings or happenings.  The publishing industry requires writers to supply what the market desires, but due to the newness of the subgenre, study guides are limited. 

Established urban fantasy author, Alayna Williams, shares her secrets that resulted in her earning multiple publications. 

Alayna, I welcome you to this forum and consider it a gift to have an expert in the urban fantasy field openly discuss her craft.

Alayna:  Thanks so much for inviting me to come by and chat!

Janie:  The protagonist of Dark Oracle, Tara Sheridan, is a gutsy girl raised by a modern oracle.  She fights federal authorities trying to control a scientist’s high tech invention stemming from Albert Einstein’s theories.  An explosion in the research base thrusts Tara into the mystery of finding the missing scientist and discovering why his invention is in such high demand.  Tara’s education and street savvy lead her down the scientist’s path during the days prior to his disappearance and right into the snares of not one, but three evil villains.      

Dark Oracle provides a refreshing take on the magical world of oracles.  Tara’s isn’t a bumbling protagonist who relies on learning how to perform magic in order to grow as a person.  Instead, Tara possesses integrity to use her intellect with witchcraft for the good of mankind.  Tara embodies a striking presence, strong enough to confront without hesitation evil influences that place mankind at risk.  Tara is a heroine determined to save the common man.  Heartless villains hunt Tara down, outwitting her with reality-based witchcraft, unlike the telepathic-style magic saturating the market. 

Should a writer select the elements of her storyline based on the expected interests of readers with a goal of achieving originality? 

Alayna:  There’s always a tension between creating something out of the box and writing something that readers will be interested in reading. There’s always risk in taking the road less traveled, but I think that it ultimately serves the readers better by giving them more choices in the marketplace.

Janie:  Do you visualize your readers during your creative process?

Alayna:  I do. In DARK ORACLE, I knew that many readers probably haven’t been Tarot card readers. As a result, I set out to explain the free-associating process that goes along with reading cards. Tara follows her intuition, leaping from one symbolic image to another…and that’s a lot of what goes into dealing out the cards in real life.

Janie:  Alayna takes a unique approach by focusing her character development of Tara on her past relationships with several complex antagonists.  Each antagonist is granted personal justification as to why he had the right to kill Tara.  Adrienne feels threatened by Tara’s natural talents as an oracle and her birthright to claim the Daughters of Delphi throne.  Corvus had laid a trap for Tara to be murdered prior to the story and still wants her out of his career path.  Gabriel just plain enjoys hunting people down and killing them.  All the evil doers feel justified that the world would be better off without Tara.  Contrary to the antagonists, Tara’s love interest, Li, plays less of a role in the story development.

What is the benefit of making the antagonists’ relationships with the protagonist the focus for moving the story forward instead of relying on her love interest? 

Alayna:  I like to write heroines who are powerful in their own right, who have their own careers, their own flaws, and make their own mistakes.

Using the love interest to move the story forward is a perfectly valid approach – and Harry does draw Tara out of her shell. Tara was attacked by a serial killer several years ago. The attack caused her to quit her work as a criminal profiler and left her scarred for life. Harry’s influence on her life is subtle, drawing her back from self-imposed exile.

But it’s equally valid to use the relationships between a person and her enemies to mark where she stands in the world.  Tara’s enemies force her out into the open more traumatically than Harry does, causing her to use her powers to preserve life – whether she wants to or not.

Janie:  Tara’s inability to trust the people in her life who love her is parallel with man’s constant disappointment in others.  Do you recognize the sad points in life and then write them into your outline?

Alayna:  I think that most people have times where they are solitary and choose to withdraw a bit from relationships. I hope that readers are able to connect with that.

Janie:  What inspires your unique and dark manners of having Tara killed?  She survives the worst of situations and yet most would drive a victim mad. 

Alayna:  Tara is pretty strong and resilient. In DARK ORACLE, we come up on her at a stage in life where she’s withdrawn and is licking her wounds. We’ve all been there, but in much less dramatic ways.

Janie:  Tara owns a pet.  She leaves her cat in the safety of her home while ridding the world of evil.  A woman Tara holds animosity toward protects the cat until Tara returns from her adventure.  The cat hardly interacts with Tara and is in few scenes.

Do you feel it is significant for a protagonist to have a pet in order to be grounded? 

Alayna:  I’m an animal lover, myself. I’ve always had pets, so it’s difficult for me to conjure a heroine without one.

Janie:  Had the cat been injured by the villain, Tara would have lost a large part of her life.  The cat played a role in Tara’s mental state.  Was this more to provide a sense of comfort for the readers?

Alayna:  The cat was written into the story to demonstrate that Tara is still capable of loving and being loved.

Janie:  Oftentimes, writers avoid messy details for the sake of fitting a number count or keeping the storyline simple.  Did you feel Tara would have been a different character had she not owned a pet?

Alayna:  Yes, I think so. The cat is an anchor to the world. She’s got to get up and feed him every morning, provide a place for him to live…sometimes, it’s the small things in life that keep us going. Without having a pet to take care of, I could easily see Tara as being nomadic, maybe living out of a hotel somewhere.

Janie:  Tara’s love interest, Li, doesn’t fall madly in love with her.  He holds back his feelings and shuns her use of tarot cards.  Thus, Tara remains emotionally isolated despite her interacting with society.  For Tara, the tarot cards aren’t a hobby, but are her last physical connection to her deceased mother who taught her how to use them.  Tara consults her cards before making decisions and never acts hastily.  Li, however, feels Tara’s taking advice from randomly drawn cards to be impulsive and insincere. 

Tara’s loneliness taps into the occasional feelings of the average person despite his relationships with work peers, social friends and acquaintances in shops.  Was Tara’s isolation an element of today’s urban society? 

Alayna:  Ah, the idea of anomie. Sure, Tara is a pretty anomic individual. Her standards of conduct and values differ from those of the government and those of the order of oracles in which she was raised. She’s got one foot in each world and really belongs to neither.

Janie:  Alayna creates character development through Tara’s interpretations of the tarot card readings.  For instance, Tara considered herself to be level-headed by reading the cards before taking action to an adverse situation.  When you decided to make one of Tara’s strengths her skills with reading tarot cards, was it to develop her character or create the storyline or even just to add an interesting element to a mystery? 

Alayna:  I’d always wanted to write about a profiler who used Tarot cards to solve crimes. I hadn’t seen it done before, and I wanted to experiment. The trick is explaining Tara’s intuitive leaps in a way that seems plausible for the reader. As a result, I get to work with the cards and their symbolism in some depth in the story.

Janie:  Tara rejects her mother’s magical practices, but then depends upon her teachings in order to solve her mystery.  She works for the federal government, yet trusts the cunning oracles.  She loves a man who annoys her.  He resents her use of tarot cards, which is the essence of her character, despite his affections toward her. 

When drafting your plot outline, do you create a list of qualities for each character and then counter those with their opposites?    

Alayna:  I think that the key to creating tension in a story is to create opposition to the protagonist. And, in real life, nothing is perfect. There is no perfect, harmonious love without obstacles. And nearly everyone bickers with their families, as Tara does with the other oracles.  People have flaws. These are things I think that people can relate to.

Janie:  There are complicated inventions and high tech knowledge explained in simple terms throughout the story.  The past plays a large role in the protagonist’s current mental state.  The settings exude an emotional chemistry with the protagonist and the antagonists.  What is the process for layering complex plots without confusing the reader?

Alayna:  Research, I think. I do a lot of research for my books. Much of the material remains unused, but I do like to add nuggets here and there – like the information about particle accelerators and dark matter. Fascinating stuff. I’m not a quantum physicist, obviously, but the broad concepts are fascinating to me.

Janie:  Tara doesn’t back down from a fight.  She protects those she blames for her mother’s death and she accepts rejection without holding a grudge.  Is there a method to your creating a female protagonist today’s market can relate to? 

Alayna:  I like for my heroines to have a nugget of realism about them. They have jobs, burn the toast, and sometimes make the wrong choices. I don’t find perfect heroines to be believable. I like flaws in my heroines, because that gives me something to exploit in the story. Perfection is, well…boring to me.

Janie:  Female protagonists have changed drastically over the past decades.  What about our era creates Tara as the ideal heroine?

Alayna:  I don’t think that Tara is really “ideal.” She’s had her beauty and her ability to have children taken from her by a criminal. She’s introverted, analytical, and tends to play out situations several moves in advance. I think that makes her more interesting than ideal.

Janie:  Is the combination of Tara’s strengths and weaknesses a particular personality type we can all study or do you allow your characters to make individual choices for each situation?    

Alayna:  Tara is an INTJ in terms of the Meyers-Briggs Scale. She won’t lead unless there’s any other choice – hence her resistance to Delphi’s Daughters. She’s a planner. She’s not the type of heroine who goes into situations with guns blazing. She’s more of a chess master.

Janie:  What three words best describe your secret for a successful urban fantasy novel?

Alayna:  Persistence, research, and being a little unorthodox.

Janie:  What elements are necessary in creating urban fantasy?

Alayna:  I think that UF requires, more than anything, the desire to ask ‘what if’? What if the oracles of Delphi survived into the modern world? What if a profiler used Tarot cards? What if particle accelerators really created black holes that survived for more than a second?

That kind of thing. Before you know it, the questions have piled up on themselves in your head and its time to stir ‘em into a bigger story.

Janie:  Outstanding insights!  Your tips gave further depth to your gripping story and provided direction for creating a concise, yet intriguing storyline.  Alayna, thank you for sharing your craft and by all means, keep writing.

Alayna:  Thanks very much!

 The Dark Oracle is one of Alayna’s recent publications and is available in local bookstores and through online sellers.  Alayna invites additional questions about her writing craft for today’s urban fantasy market by contacting her through her website, www.alaynawilliams.com.

Candid answers from a literary mastermind.  

It isn’t often a writer has the opportunity to meet an established author with multiple publications, but if you visit the website, www.salamanderstales.com, you will find locations where romantic fantasy author, Laura Bickle, materializes next.  Don’t be bashful with introducing yourself.  She spreads her grace and openly discusses the ins and outs of the publishing business.   Today we discuss one of her 2010 published works entitled, Sparks.

Laura:  Thank you so much for having me, Janie! I’m thrilled to be here.

Janie:  I appreciate your taking time to share your thoughts behind your Sparks creation. 

Laura’s famed heroine in her urban fantasy series, Anya Kalinczyk, possesses a special gift as Lantern – meaning Anya has the ability to devour ghosts.  Anya’s talent saves her from the horrors shifting throughout our world, but not without strife.  Anya feels responsible for her mother’s death.  She carries this burden from one failed relationship to another, landing her smack dab in the sensuous arms of evil souls.  Paranormal has fresh meaning with Laura’s pair of dysfunctional lovers who fight supernatural injustices.  Laura carefully layers Anya with inner conflict addressing the morality of her essence as a Lantern.  Anya claims integrity, even if it means defying the men she loves. 

Reading Sparks, I was struck by the intelligence of Laura with all her techno knowledge and investigative savvy.  Her amazing short stories spark the pages of numerous science fiction and fantasy publications, too many to list.  Writing mystery novels is her natural talent; Laura holds several degrees in criminology in addition to actually working with off-beat minds causing havoc in society. 

Anya Kalinczyk is a super-heroine in our modern-mayhem.  Her personal tragedies ignite the pages in the same manner the victims go up in flames from the rare real-life syndrome of spontaneous human combustion. 

In Sparks, Anya has a constant companion salamander that eats paranormal nuisances.  Sparky, the salamander, acts as Anya’s guardian angel.  Sparky gives her solace in times of strife, such as when she recalls her mother’s death.  Sparky also protects Anya from the evil televised evangelists. 

Does the salamander represent man’s universal desire for security from evil forces?   

Laura:  He does. I think that no matter how dangerous or safe our occupations are, we want to feel that we are safe from danger. Sparky has been with Anya since she was a child, and even slept curled up with her in her crib. I wanted Anya, given all the uncertainties in her professional and personal life, to have a touchstone. Despite her failed relationships, I wanted her to know unconditional love. Curled up at Anya’s feet at night, cuddling his Glow-Worm toy, Sparky provides that love and certainty.

Janie:  What were the symbolic reasons you chose a salamander?

Laura:  Sparky really represents the side of life that isn’t human. He’s not human, and he doesn’t try to be. He is pure nature. In Paracelsus’ mythology, salamanders were the elementals tied to fire. He’s an unstoppable force, but he’s fickle and quite unpredictable. He’s challenging for Anya to control. He is destructive, like fire: he eats cell phones and sets fire to microwaves. But he also provides warmth, and is necessary to her life.

Janie:  Was the salamander an afterthought, or did you create Sparky to boost the evil forces Anya faced?

Laura:  Sparky actually evolved about the same time as I was creating Anya. I wanted to create a heroine who had the power to devour and incinerate spirits. I became fixed on the fire aspect, and knew that I wanted to give her a magical sidekick. Salamanders really haven’t gotten much press since Paracelsus’ time, and I knew that I wanted to work them into a story. Sparky seemed a natural companion for Anya. I gave him many of the quirks and personality traits of pets I’ve had over the years. They seemed to mesh together nicely, so you could say that they grew up together in my head.

Janie:  Anya is an approachable girl with intense emotions regarding lost love.  She risks her life to solve crimes.  Her ability to communicate with ghosts of the victims makes her investigations intriguing.  She sympathizes with unsettled souls and holds the strength to save them.   At times, Anya saves souls even if it means the end of one of her beautiful love affairs. 

Did you intentionally create a protagonist who suffers the same emotional pain as the ghosts? 

Laura:  I wanted Anya to be an outsider. She has one foot in her work as an arson investigator, and the other foot in her work as a ghost hunter. She’s not a part of either world, since her power sets her apart from others. And it’s not a pretty power. It hurts her to devour souls, leaves her with scars.  She feels a good deal of guilt about being the judge and seeming executioner of the ghosts. She isn’t able to get close to people because she knows that they are impermanent and really quite fragile.

On one hand, she loves Brian, who’s the ghost-hunter tech geek. He’s entirely human. Part of her is drawn to that, to the ordinary. Part of her craves something more indestructible, which explains her attraction to Drake, the only other Lantern she’s ever known.  She wants someone she can’t hurt.

Janie:  Does Anya represent all women who desire love but refuse to compromise their morals in order to attract a man?

Laura:  Hmm. Good question. I think that Anya would say that she does not always make the best choices when it comes to men. Like a real person, she’s made mistakes. But I think that her strength lies in the ability to walk away from any relationship. In EMBERS, she walked away from Drake at the end. In SPARKS, she learns that Brian’s morality is all-too-human. If she chooses to walk away from him, as well, I know that she will have the strength to do so.

Janie:  Was there a particular person or even an era of woman’s movement or mythology you had in mind when establishing Anya’s character traits?

Laura:  I don’t think that I had anyone specifically in mind, but I was thinking a bit of what it’s like to be a woman in a male-dominated profession. Anya is an arson investigator, and she’s been successful in her career. She takes it very seriously. She’s not a woman who shows up to work a crime scene a miniskirt and stilettos. She’s good at what she does, but as a professional, she maintains some distance from others.  She works hard, but doesn’t really let her guard down very much.

Janie:  Anya is smart.  She understands people and is successful in her profession as a detective for the fire department.  Some of the most touching scenes included Anya’s interactions with her boss and best friends.  You broke the prototype with regard to people who influence lives.  Anya’s boss is understanding and respectful.  Her best gal-pal is eccentric and motherly.  Her boyfriend is sensitive and detached, while her father is a powerful demon.

Did you intentionally create the personalities a woman desires from each aspect of her life, aside from the demonic father, of course?

Laura:  Hmmm…I didn’t plan it that way. It sort of just happened. I wanted Anya to have good relationships, since her mother is dead and Dad is apparently roasting marshmallows in hell. In some respects, her friend Katie took over the role of “mother.” Her boss, Marsh, is very much a fatherly type. I can see how she might gravitate toward those personalities, with the vacuum in her younger years.

She still has issues with men. I’m most interested to see how her relationship with the psychopomp, Charon, will develop. Where Brian gives Anya a lot of space, Charon challenges her. Often. 

Janie:  Did you lay out the personalities before writing your novel or did they evolve according to what Anya needed in that scene?

Laura:  I start out with something of a profile on each character, but I add to it as I’m working the story. In order to keep everyone consistent, the major characters are assigned Myers-Briggs types. No kidding. Anya is an INTJ. Sparky, however, defied categorization into human personality structures.

Janie:  Your writing style is recognized for building series urban fantasy novels with femme protagonists similar to the victorious Joan of Arc and her holy war against murderous invaders of peace.  A noteworthy aspect of your writing style is your gift with creating character growth and leaving evolved issues open at the conclusion of your tale.  A revelation in Anya’s knowledge about her heritage heals a part of her inner pain, yet causes her heart to bleed even more, much in the way a soap opera tantalizes romance lovers.    

At what point in writing did Anya develop into a series protagonist? 

Laura:  Wow. Thanks. I’m really humbled and flattered. I wanted Anya to have the chance to grow. Once I put her together, I like winding her up to see how she works through a maze.

Janie:  Was it because of the complexity of Anya that you established the story to be a series or was it because of plot development introducing new interesting questions?

Laura:  I would love to watch Anya grow. She has a lot of adventures in her, and I think she’s a person who learns best by doing, by being involved in the action. 

Janie:  Do you consider the entire series to provide a resolution to all of Anya’s issues, or do you prefer to always leave room for reader’s imagination to fill in the blanks?

Laura:  I’m not really sure, at this point. I hope that there would be more books to explore her issues and bring her to a satisfying resolution. But, at this point, I’m contracted for two books, EMBERS and SPARKS. I hope that there will be more, of course. I’d like at least another book to finish the main arc I have planned. But I would like there to be a few small puzzles left to the imagination.

Janie:  Laura, reading your novels expands my intelligence regarding paranormal existence, criminal investigations, and art history.  You thoroughly research your topics, even for the subplots.  Anya introduces a new image of a modern woman.  Your success with having more than twenty-one publications proves your brilliance and hard work is appreciated.  Bravo to Laura for writing what she knows and thank you for educating readers on controversial topics.  Many blessings for a good tomorrow.

Laura:  Thank you so much, Janie. I’m overwhelmed and thrilled that you enjoyed the books, that they spoke to you on such a level. I hope that readers come along with us for the ride.

Many bright blessings to you and my readers, too.