Demon Soul the making of part 6: Why is it painful for angels to cure people and not for demons?

 

Demon Soul is mainly about demons, especially one demon named Sahel who is learning about his powers.

In the book, we discover how baby demon acquire their powers over the fourth elements and how when they reach adulthood (which is a bit younger for demons than for humans) they go through a special training to obtained their fifth power, the Aether power which allow them to cure themselves, to regenerate, to cure other people, to change form (It's more difficult for the Watchers than for the Nephilim but they can manage that with a lot of training) and other things related to connection with people and the mind which are not explored in Demon Soul but in the further novels coming up. Sahel is just a beginner at using his powers and he already rocks at it.  

Here is an example  for Aether powers used from Demon Soul (chapter 13)

The little creatures that had visited him in his living room few days ago appeared in the purple smoke as the demon from his dream was going back to the end of the room.

“You see”, he said. “That is the perfect example of what you should achieve but will never be able to.”

He pointed at the little creatures who transformed into three huge demons under the incredulous eyes of everybody. A young female demon fashionably dressed was the first to get back from her surprise.

“I hope I’ll never achieve it”, she said, “I wouldn’t like to look that ugly”, she laughed making a group of demons around her laugh as well.

The old demon threw her a terrible look, probably thinking about making her pay later for daring ruin his effect.

“Well, well, well”, he said. “As you seem all to be more than willing to die for our pleasure, let’s start the festivity.”

Demons can cure people without feeling any pain or having to deal with carrying the pain of others, just you have to make them want to help which is another matter. But Isakael, the only angel of the story, does feel tremendous pain when curing other, he seems to be stealing the pain from them. Even though we saw before that demons are the descendant of the angels there abilities became very different at time passed. 

The angels are given powers by god when they are born, that's painless and they don't have to go through training to use them learning to use them is more like learning to speak and walk, it comes naturally. Therefore their powers can't evolve and are limited. They don't have the powers over the fourth elements like the demons do. However they have the Aether power enabling them to heal. When someone is sick or hurt, it belongs to God's plan. If an angel decides to interfere and to go against God's plan by curing that person, the pain is transfer to the angel to keep the balance in the world. This is the reason why they are in pain, they need to pay tribute, healing is not for free.

Here is a passage about Isakael and his relationship with his powers from Demon Soul (chapter 6)

Ayokunle was a cursed baby, every time he wished for something his dream would come true but he would have to go through a lot of pain to get it. It had already happen with his wings and had reminded Isakael of the traumatic experience he had to go through himself while his own wings were growing. He had flown the house every morning unable to bear the cries of the little boy, as his healing powers had been useless on the cursed wings.

The demons at the contrary broke their contract with God. As they are having a difficult life a part of it is to get powers that are not directly given to them but written in their genes, they come like an infantile decease difficult to survive as the idea was to limit the number of demons breeding and filling the world. So they accumulate the pain through the training they have to go through and for the survivors, the reward is to be able to use their powers without any pain. If they interfere with God's plan it doesn't matter because when breaking their contract they obtained free will.

The ebooks of Demon Soul has been updated don't forget to go grab it

Demon and Fairy WeWriWar 1

    Today is my first participation to the Week-end Writing Warriors. I'm really excited about it and I hope that I will be able to keep up on time. I decided that my first project would be to contribute by giving excerpt of "Demon and Fairy". I have been working on this novel for months now. I was planing to release it in June last year but I wasn't totally satisfied so I didn't. Now I'm hoping to have it ready by the end of next month and I hope that the Week-end Writing Warriors project is going to help me with that.

Demon and fairy is the story of Seti, a demon of Chaos who can't touch anyone without disintegrated them and Kallisto, a princess fairy raised in the Human World who have to go back to the Fairy World to get married. She seems to be the only one able to take away his pain with her music as he is looking at her from a portal between the Human World and the Demon World.

Here are the 8 sentences introducing the novel. 

        Seti was flying to the beach, his head hurting like hell and the pain blurring his vision. 

He was holding his head with both hands making it difficult to keep balance and to fly straight. 

The voice of Chaos in his head was asking for more fights. 

He knew he shouldn’t have given into it in the first place but it was too late to think about it now. 

The Chaos was asking for more chaos, always, and it was getting worse every day, except, when she was there.

He had discovered her by accident. 

Who could have thought that such a passage existed? 

He had been fighting again. 

If you are interested, you can read more about Demon and Fairy here. 

Discover the excerpts of other participants through the Week-end Writing Warriors's blog here. 
Facebook Snippet Sunday group for more posts here. 

 

Week-end Writing Warriors and updates on writing

I decided to join the Week-end Writing Warriors.

Week-end Writing Warriors is a group of writers who post 8 sentences part of their current works on their blogs every Sunday. Tomorrow will be my first entry and I'm very excited about it. I was brainstorming all week trying to figure out what to post but I'm still not very sure. I guess I'll spend part of the evening looking at how other people do it and try to find something for myself.

Currently I am working on an update for Demon Soul correcting the typos found by my readers and the one they didn't find. I'm hoping to be done by tomorrow night if my perfectionism doesn't start kicking in to badly. Then I'll be working on Demon and Fairy which owed to be finished and out for you to read by the end of June (one year delay but I want it to be the best I can) and I need it as prices for "Mich's summer mystery" which will be introduce to you later this month. So there are a lot of things coming up to look forward to and I'll probably use Demon and Fairy for the Week-end Writing Warriors project.

I also started some editing project. This is fairly new to me to be working intensively on someone else's work but I enjoy it a lot. I can give ideas and point out at things without having to deal with the complexity of writing then and letting the writer decide for herself what is best for her story. It's creative and relaxing and I'm learning a lot. I think it also helps me to become a better writer. She rewrote her first chapter but I haven't read it yet. I'm a bit impatient to discover all the changes. I'll let you know how things goes as the story move forward.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow to discover my first excerpt. What are you working one at the moment?

Demon Soul the making of part 5: Why do the novel have a lot of little personal stories?

In Demon Soul, there is a lot of "side stories" for secondary characters. I'm building a world here. Even though the main plot is about the relationship between Brownie and the soul that was stolen by demons, I don't want to make to story only about her love story. Here is why and also the reason why I think it's really important to have well developed secondary characters.

So at the beginning of the story, Brownie is left by her lover who can't recognize her as his soul has been stolen (see relation between soul and memory here) then there were two choices left to me. 

My first choice was to send Brownie to a lonely apartment were she can cry her eyes out and grudge against fate and try to build back her life and to find a way to get the soul back. There are a lot of story like this where you get stuck with a character who has lost everything and trying to get by on his/her own. I wrote one of them with a depressed main character who end up in the middle of a mystery. (It's called Harajuku Kiss, no demon and no magic here, it's a detective story).

My second choice was to send Brownie back to a very crowded place where she has responsibilities and other problems to deal with. Isn't it what every body faces in their daily life? Even when you are going through a hard time emotionally you still have to face reality, daily work, daily cores, daily people. I wanted to give that to Brownie and that's why I ended up with so many characters including some who are here only for one or two paragraphs.

I think this book is to be taken like life. Yesterday I went to the bank, someone helped me do some money transfer, I don't remember her face or her name but I know she is still working their and might recognize her if I go back. In my book, characters are like people. Around you there are people you interact with at all time and some who just appear for few minutes. The woman who stopped by to tell me in which side of the mail box to put my letter was useful, in a novel I might have put the letter in the mail box directly, it save time and space but I think small interaction are still important and I don't thing we should deny this to our reader just to make things pretty. Life is messy, if they can take it daily, they can take it while reading. It made me smile to have someone helping me even though it was maybe not needed. Some of my characters might be forgotten after few pages but when you go back and reread the story, they'll still be funny and make you smile when you reach that part. 

Here is a "useless" part in Demon Soul's first chapter for you to enjoy:

Mchumba opened the library door abruptly “Brownie, where are you? It’s time for dinner.”

Mchumba wasn’t the most delicate boy of the house, by far.

“I’m here, I’m coming” Brownie said from the second floor. 
Mchumba ran up the stairs to join her, and grabbed her arm 
“Hurry, we’re having spaghetti. What are you doing with all those books anyway?”

She made her list disappear quickly in her trousers pocket. 
“Nothing really, I’m almost finished. You can go first.”

“No, I’ll help”, Mchumba took the book in her hand and put it on the shelves. “See all done, let’s go.”

“You can’t just put books like that anywhere, or they’ll be lost”, Brownie answered taking the book back and looking for its real place.

“Well it’ll still be in the room so that’s not a problem.” Mchumba laughed.

Brownie shook her head, “That’s not what I mean; you need to place them in alphabetical order, see here.” She placed the book carefully on the shelf “or you won’t be able to find it easily next time you’ll be looking for it.”

Mchumba sighed.
Books are so boring anyway and I’m hungry.”

Brownie laughed.
“You didn’t say that when you were little.”

“I wasn’t the king of hip hop when I was little. You want to see my new move?”

His eyes suddenly brightened and he started to dance in front of her without waiting for her answer. She watched him do tenderly.

“So, do you like it?” he said at the end.

“I love it. Now let’s go for dinner before they eat all the spaghettis.” She said smiling.

Mchumba always needed to show her anything new he learnt and she was good audience.

I think it's important to have well developed secondary characters. Even if you meet them for a very short time it is nice to have information about them and to know how they interact with the main character now or in the past before the story even begin. It has the advantages to make the main character seem more lively and real and creates a background for the main character as well. It also helps the reader understand the main character's reactions and purposes. It also gives you a lot of options some that you can use, some that are left open.
One of my reader's favorite character is Yobi. Yobi could be consider as a useless character. He doesn't help the plot to progress, he doesn't help Brownie in anyway. He is just making a huge mess in the house but he is apparently entertaining enough for someone to chose him as his favorite character and laugh while telling me that while thinking about the story. It might not be the main purpose of the book. I totally wanna yell at everyone who doesn't tell me that Sahel is the best character ever or Dylan, or Viorel or... nah just kidding. But I totally consider that a Writer Win ! I made someone laugh with my novel, I mean: Isn't that the best reward for a writer?

 

Guest's Blog: Ontario by Heidi Nicole Bird

Today, I am having an interview of Heidi Nicole Bird to celebrate the coming out of her new book Ontario

Heidi Nicole Bird has been writing for as long as she can remember and it is her favorite thing in the world. Heidi is a regular NaNoWriMo participant and is mostly a young adult fantasy writer, but also likes to write juvenile fiction and other genres. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Brigham Young University and she looks forward to exploring the genre of historical fiction. Heidi lives in Utah with her family and three dogs, and loves working from home as a full time writer.

Also by Heidi Nicole Bird, Through the Paper Wall

Where did you grow up?

West Jordan, Utah.

What was your favorite thing to do as a child?

Play Barbies with my sisters in our basement or backyard.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Oh lots of things! A violinist, a singer, an author, a jockey, a three-day event star, the list goes on and on.

What are some things you like to do when you aren’t writing?

Camping, reading, playing with my dogs, watching CreateTV, singing or playing one of my instruments, going to church activities and spending time with friends. 

When did you start writing?

I think I started keeping a daily journal when I was around eight years old, and I still do that today. I maintain two daily journals, actually. The first story I remember writing was probably around the same time. I also wrote poetry and other things when I was young.

What are some of your favorite authors?

Bruce Coville, Lisa Mangum, K. D. Emerson, and, or course, J.K. Rowling.

Tell us about your newest book.

Ontario tells the story of a teenage girl who has recently been abandoned by her mother, her only living parent. Her brother Eddy becomes her legal guardian and together they try to juggle the new life they have been thrown into. In order to feel like less of a burden on her brother Ontario takes a job at the local 50s diner, and it’s there that she meets her new “family” and love interest Austin. Through these people she learns that she can still trust and love, even though she has been let down so much in the past. The story follows Ontario and how she comes to heal from her past, but it is also full of fun 50s music and style, great fun, and romance. 

Have you written anything else?

Yes, I have. I have three, almost four other unpublished books, and one other that is available.

Through the Paper Wall, an early-teen fantasy, may be purchased in all formats from Amazon and Smashwords and various other places. 

What is your favorite thing about each of the books you have published? 

For Through the Paper Wall it is probably the story line itself. I still have no idea where it came from and it baffles me every time I think about it. For Ontario, I probably have to say I love how much of myself came out through her character and the story. I didn’t realize just how much I was a part of the story until I finished editing.

How have you published your books?

I chose to go the indie way, self publishing through Createspace.com, and soon through ACX.com, though I am proud to note that Ontario was sought after by a publisher at one time. 

What advice would you give to others authors, aspiring or otherwise?

It’s easy to get discouraged with all the writing, editing, formatting, marketing, and everything else that lies before you as an author, but you can’t ever forget your dream. I now have two books available, and there was a point in my life where I never would have thought that was possible. Don’t give up! The last thing you want is to look back on your life and regret not doing the things you totally could have. Just keep going and you will get there! 

Find Heidi here:

www.facebook.com/HeidiNicoleBird

www.twitter.com/HeidiNicoleBird

http://heidinicolebird.blogspot.com/

Links to Ontario:                                                               

Paperback                             
Kindle Store
Ontario on Goodreads