The Making of Guardian of the Onyx Empire

Setting

- Map
- Making of New Pangaea
- Onyx Empire
- Kingdom of Vinn
- Magics

Heroine
The idea for Lizeria came from a subplot in my
first novel, which remains hidden in my hard
drive. After jotting down Lizeria's history and
romance, she grew into a story of her own. The
call for submissions at Ellora's Cave prompted me
to finish it.

Unfortunately, I had to chop off the original
first chapter because of Gray, the Dwarf. I'd
entered an earlier version of Lizeria's story in a
few contests. It scored second place in several,
having lost points because the judges wanted
Lizeria to stick with Gray. She was never with
Gray. No matter how I write that Dwarf, people
still root for him.

Out of all my Hybrid Elf heroines, Lizeria
undergoes the greatest metamorphises. Her
adventures continue into thicker plots in a
different time, along with Alexander and Gray.
More on this later.

Hero

Originally, I'd written Alexander into my first
novel after he'd fallen to the lowest point of his
life. How he got there started long before
Lizeria's story, but his most noble deeds are
here.

Villains

My critique group argued I should change the name
of the villains to something else. At the word
"Wizards" they pictured old men with long beards
who walk with canes. However, what do Wizards look
like when they're young? Do only old men learn
wizardry?

I imagine that to perform very powerful spells
you'd need a lot of power, which comes from
mitochondria in your cells. Athletes have more
mitochondria than couch potatoes. Bulking up
through strenuous exercise (breaking and
rebuilding muscle tissue) signals the mitochondria
to reproduce. Thus, a thickly muscled person has
more cellular power than the scrawny stereotype of
a Wizard. Plus, I like that a Wizard can become
stronger through hard work - both mentally and
physically.

More on Wizards

Elves

Hybrid Elves