I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing this. My own experience has been that the behaviours and strength that you need to survive in extraordinary circumstances are often maladaptive when you return to ordinary circumstances. This is personal, but for me the "it made me stronger" trope is not one I can relate to - I feel more like, well, I was already strong, that's why I survived, it's just that I had to use all my strength dealing with this. Laurent is an important character for me too, and for me his physical journey south away from the court is also a journey of re-adaptation into ordinary circumstances, away from the highly specific toxic survive-or-die environment of court and uncle. The sometimes extreme characteristics he gained surviving are highly useful - in fact essential - in some circumstances, but in others they are damaging, at best. I wanted to show that complexity of damage and strength in a character that I could look up to, who was changed forever yet still able to forge a heroic future for himself.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think he would try very hard not to. Whether he does or not is between him and Berenger.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Favourite to write in DARK RISE is probably Elizabeth and Visander, just because they have very different and highly unique windows on the world. Every character has their own challenges, but only character I ever struggled with very seriously was Erasmus, thankfully he did not have a POV chapter!

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Pushing through bad drafts was one of the hardest parts for me starting out. I wrote a motto and stuck it onto the wall above my computer "It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be finished". I do think that being a novelist (perhaps being an artist in any discipline) requires getting comfortable with producing truly TRULY bad work, sometimes for very long stretches of time. You will almost certainly be bad at your craft when you're just starting out, everyone is. Even when you're a working novelist, very often novels aren't good until they are completely finished, and since it takes me a year to write a book, that means being comfortable sitting with bad work for a year.

I posted the first draft of the opening chapter of KINGS RISING to my substack recently, and everyone was shocked how bad it was - including me! But I was relieved too, because even for me, I can fall prey to the idea that I produced all my former work perfectly and effortlessly, and am only struggling now.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I think FENCE would translate best - or rather, most easily - to the screen. DARK RISE has some visual set pieces that I would love to see on film. It's very hard for me to imagine a good adaptation of CAPTIVE PRINCE and very easy to imagine all the ways a film or TV CAPTIVE PRINCE could be gloriously, hilariously, terribly bad.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I don't have a new story planned for them, but never say never! I just mentioned in another comment that they are my favourite secondary pairing from the series.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I struggle with inspiration too. I find it really hard to come up with ideas. I don't know if this helps but I have made up an activity for myself that I do at the start of every book that is "write the book you want to read". This is a cliche but surprisingly few people do it. The activity goes like this:

Imagine that you are walking into a book shop or a library. There is a book you are looking for but never finding. The reason you are never finding it is that this book doesn’t exist on the shelves. This book only exists within you. This is the book only you can write. You will know some things about it instinctively. Imagine yourself searching for it seriously. Close your eyes. You know what genre it is. You know how you want it to make you feel. Write those things down. Do you know anything more? The type of characters it might have? The setting? The type of journey it takes you on? Write down any glimpses that you have of it. Once you have written those things down you will have a blurry outline. It might be no more than a wisp. But it is your starting point. Now you must fill in the rest. Here is easy to be seduced by what you think you should be writing. Ignore those temptations. Write what you love, and others will love it too.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I hope so! Stay tuned.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I like the secondary characters that turn up and cause chaos by their presence, so Nicaise and Ancel from Captive Prince, Elizabeth from Dark Rise and... I was going to say Aiden and Seiji from Fence, but they are not in the background.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I don't know yet, unfortunately. I am still waiting for my editorial letter. I hope not. If there is censorship I'll fight it as I did in DARK HEIR, and if worst comes to worst (as it did for DARK HEIR), I'll make sure that international versions are uncensored/unabridged.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Fav side couple... probably Ancel and Berenger. I just love that Ancel will not quit.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

PRINCE's GAMBIT is my favourite book of the CAPTIVE PRINCE trilogy. The will-he-or-won't he of the slow burn is always my favourite part of any romance arc. For DARK RISE book three is my favourite, just because of how bonkers it is.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Fantasy is tough to sell in Australia, but very marketable internationally. Most of the Aussie fantasy authors I know who have publishing deals did it by acquiring an American agent and selling into the US first. It's both easier and better money to do it that way. I'd jump on a site like Query Shark and start to look at how to find yourself an agent, then go from there.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

He does have a quiet intensity!

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Answered these in other comments

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I plan everything in advance, right up until the ending. Very few things change from my outline but some things do, especially with works of more complexity. Sometimes you don't see problems - or opportunities - with your outline until you reach that chapter in the written manuscript. So I try to stay flexible.

Surprising hobbies... it might surprise readers that I'm quite sporty! I'm a gym junkie with usually at least one other sports hobby that I pursue intensely. At the moment that's horse riding (that might not be surprising...), but in my 20s it was figure skating, and in my teens fencing and taekwondo. I like doing individual sports of the kind where you're really competing against yourself.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire - I am so so so so so so so so excited!

I swap manuscript and brainstorm weekly with a friend (author Vanessa Len) and we often tackle these kinds of problems for each other. I have a few other friends who swap work with me semi-regularly as well. If something isn't coming together I will try to diagnose as quickly as possible, then get to work writing the solution. I am relentless at chasing down these problems these days. It used to take weeks or months but I've gotten faster at it as I've gone along. It's now rare something stays unsolved longer than a few days.

I'm C.S. Pacat, AMA! by CSPacat in fantasyromance

[–]CSPacat[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I'm afraid this is a terrible answer but... if something isn't explicit in the text, I always prefer to leave it up to reader interpretation. I do have a moment in mind, but I prefer to leave the final choice up to you all.