Alexis Steinhauer's Blog - Posts Tagged "dragonfate"

Hello again! Many thanks and love to everyone, and a happy, happy October!

Still writing Dragon's Crown, it's coming along. Writing this one is crazily hard, because I have to get everything just right. I need to close every plot thread and see all of my dear Dragonfate friends off at the end, because I don't want there to be a fifth book! I'm poking at every step before I take it; it's a pity I can't stand outlines, because it might actually make my job easier.

For anyone who doesn't know, I'm a huge fan of Christopher Paolini. I just created a fan group for the Inheritance Cycle here on Goodreads, and if you're a fan, I'd love to see you there! It's a group for talking about the merits and drawbacks of every facet of Inheritance that you can think of, and lots that you can't!

I also have an idea. There are lots of weird facts and backstories behind my own books, and I'd love to share some of them with you. So, I'm going to compile a list, and pretty soon I'll start a weekly Weird Facts gift for anyone who reads this. Sound fun? Good! You'll like them, I promise, most of them are really stupid and/or embarrassing to me.

I designed a new Dragonfate logo yesterday, it'll be appearing on my website once we get it all redesigned. It's pretty cool, and it took hours of work because none of my art programs are compatible with each other!


Okay, so, that's it for now! Goodbye, and good luck with all of your endeavors!

Hello again! Looks like my last post has been gelling for a while, so I thought I'd make good on the promise I made a few weeks back. I said I would drop a completely irrelevant and, for me, probably embarrassing piece of information regarding my books. Well, then, the next post I write, in a week or so, will contain the answer to this question:

Why does Kyaza, my protagonist, have red hair?

Believe it or not, there is a solid reason. So, while I'm waiting for that, I'm going to rant a little about redheaded characters in literature. You may have noticed that ninety-nine out of one hundred times, the author will make some remark about their character's "fiery red" hair, or their "fiery temper."

Why is this? Not all characters who have red hair need to have fiery red hair. Not many real people do, unless they dye it. So, why are there next to none in literature who have red hair without it being dark and luxuriant, or bright and fiery? Why? The phrase "fiery red" doesn't actually tell you what shade of red it is, except that it's very bright. It doesn't tell you if it's golden-red or red-red or brown-red. And let's face it, before it became a repetitive phrase (if there was ever such a time), it wasn't that imaginative or insightful to begin with.

Please, people, please, I implore you, if you ever write about a redhead, do not say that they have fiery hair or a fiery temper. Please, just don't do it. I don't think I can take any more.

Needless to say, I save the fire in the Dragonfate books for my dragons' breath, and not their hair. If I ever said that Kyaza had a fiery temper or fiery hair, I very much apologize, and I don't remember it. I actively try to avoid using phrases like that.

. . . Anyway, now that my rant is over . . .

Farewell, all! Good luck in all your endeavors!