Barbara V Evers

Wow oh wow! JordanCon sweeps you away with the fans' enthusiasm for The Wheel of Time (WOT) series, especially with the  first season of the TV show on Amazon. I wish I could have spent more time attending panels and participating in the conversations about the Dragon Reborn, Aes Sedai, Aiel, Warders, and everything WOT.  If I tried to list everyone I came into contact with, I'd miss someone, so forgive me for not doing so. It was so great to see so many familiar faces in my writing tribe and meet new WOT fans. The organizers of JordanCon deserve huge accolades for the successful weekend. Having run a large writing conference in the past, I know all of the moving parts are hard to keep steady and advancing forward. Thanks to everyone on the JordanCon team, including volunteers, for doing just that! Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank my friend Suzie for manning my table when I had to be elsewhere. And some of you bought her fantastic tumblers! Woohoo! One of the most ...

A few weeks ago, I shared a crossword puzzle based on The Watchers in Exile , so today I bring you the final puzzle (for now) of the third book of the trilogy,  The Watchers at War .  As before, the puzzle is below, but you can go here to get a printable version and the answer key . Enjoy! ACROSS 3. Color of Adana's wedding dress 7. Name given the firestarter stick 8. Stone for the giraffe eye in Adana's crown 9. What Nuala called the Watcher who failed Suru 10. Vuur’s title as head glimmer maker DOWN 1. Used to collect the ingredients for glimmer fire 2. Number of giraffe who die 4. Leera's army eventually numbered this many 5. Rodent claimed by Shana 6. Adana's vision reveals Sarx & Quilla's army as this

I was digging through old notes from writing conferences and ran across the following information from a session at a previous South Carolina Writers' Association conference. John Kessel, author of Pride and Prometheus, taught a workshop on characters and plot. Here are a few highlights of his character development points. Save the Cat How many times have you read a book review where the reviewer did not care about the protagonist? It's hard to compel someone to read your story if they don't like or feel anything about the story's character. One way to create some connection is to save the cat near the beginning of the story. In other words, make us sympathetic to the character by seeing them act in a way that reveals who they are. This could be them saving a cat or doing a good deed or giving into a dare or . . . you fill in the blank. In The Watchers of Moniah , my protagonist, Adana, faces the imminent death of her mother with denial, going so far as to convince hers...

This is my first year attending JordanCon , and I'm super excited. Why? These will definitely be my people. The Wheel of Time series inspired me as a fantasy writer. Prior to reading this series, I wrote contemporary fiction. I hadn't attempted to write fantasy . . . yet. The more I soaked in the worldbuilding of this epic fantasy great, the more my imagination took off. Over time, a seed of an idea grew into THE WATCHERS OF MONIAH trilogy. Other authors and their series, of course, contributed to my muse such as the vivid storytelling of Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series and Sara Douglass' Wayfarer Redemption series. Images have stuck with me from all three of these series, but I believe The Wheel of Time inspired me the most. I wrote about Jordan's influence on my blog last year:  How The Wheel of Time Influenced My Writing Panels and Fun, Oh My! So, of course I'm excited to attend this con. For those of you coming to JordanCon, here's my schedule: I pla...