My NEW RELEASE IS NOW AVAILABLE at both SCP publishers.

If you would like to WIN a pdf. copy of" Elanessë" please go to my BLOG at 
http://magickandlipstick.blogspot.com.au/ and answer these three questions. and I will pick a winner and contact them the next day.

You have to join my Blog and leave your email to be eligible. The prize is a free pdf. copy of my new book.

1. Whose body does the sorcerer Istani inhabit? Found in the Blurb which is about the book.

2.What are they searching for, answer found in the review.

3. What do the Knights of Paladia receive on the day of their investiture? Answer found in the excerpt.

GOOD LUCK

Elanessë :- September 19th 2013 Release! Print in Dec.2013

What if sorcerers had been real? What if magick had existed and there had been a massive cover-up?

A world is ravaged by a war of demons and sorcery that no human can combat. Rastehm is on the verge of destruction. Silverdawn, daughter of Mikkasah, born to the magick.

Mikkasah is forced to send his daughter into the unknown future of the 20th century Australia, where she grows to maturity and moves to London with her adopted parents. She has no knowledge of her origins nor that she holds the key to the safety or destruction of both her new world and her old. Until one night, she is stalked by a lion and a griffin, and cast into an adventure that will change her life   A dark knight becomes her savoir.Faren Malaan, Knight of Paladia of the Kingdom of Rastehm, is sent forward in time to track and retrieve the Crystal Pyramid. Mikkasah's Astronomers have learned that the pyramid, which shifts through the portals of time, is cracked. And if not restored Isanti's demons may soon escape.Through sheer luck Istani was not imprisoned by the Goddess Deharna. He also travels through time. However, he must body hop, taking over the bodies of innocents and casting them aside when he has done with them. But this time Istani is trapped in the body he inhabits. The sickly, weak body of Peter Waymer. His only escape from the cancer eating away at him is to find the Pyramid , release his demons and have them in turn heal him. With one thought in mind after his release, to wreak destruction upon mankind!The fate of two worlds rests in the fading skills of Pendragon former mage to the king, a banished Princess of Rastehm and a Knight of Paladia who combats his own demons. These three heroes, and the three people they meet along the way, must join forces to restore the Crystal Pyramid to Deharna, and battle the tormented mind of Iraj who will stop at nothing to gain his prize.A mixture of Celtic Mythology, Romance, Dark Fantasy, and Time Travel    

REVIEW

Elanessë by Julie A. D’Arcy 

In a slightly different kind of urban fantasy, Julie D’Arcy’s Elanessë takes the reader back and forth between modern London and the mythical medieval world of Rastehm, from where many of our culture’s ‘heroes’ supposedly emerged.Elanessë, Rastehm’s infant princess, is exiled to our world because of her magical abilities, but when she grows up, her life is endangered by the fact that she carries the key to unlocking the prison which contains the evil hordes of Iraj of Istani (who escaped into exile when his minions were defeated).
Faren, most trusted Paladian Knight of Rastehm, is sent across the dimensional border to save Elanessë and retrieve the key before it falls into Iraj’s hands. Naturally, Elanessë and Faren fall for each other, but there are obstacles to their relationship that both must conquer, and the ever-present threat of Iraj makes their coming together all the more difficult.
The quest to claim the key and each other gains momentum throughout the book and the overpowering scent of evil propels the book to a wonderful climax.
For those who love a fairytale-like battle between good and evil, liberally sprinkled with romance, this book should be added to their list. Julie A. D’Arcy brings the chivalry of medieval adventures into the modern world with a deft and easy to read style.

Romance – 8
Characterisation – 9
Sexual tension – 8
Plot - 9

Jennifer Brassel
Book Reviewer

****************************************************************

Excerpt

She watched him, silent, bemused, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps. Aching for him to come to her, aching for him to fill her as no man ever had.

He rose and, in the muted light of the bed lamp and the dying embers of the fire,  his hands went to the fastening of his jeans. 

He flicked open the top button and their eyes met. He paused, running his gaze over her body then cursed loudly and swung toward the window, threading a hand through his hair. “I am sorry. I cannot do this.” His voice came like the crack of a whip in the silence.

Elanessë turned onto her side, her face flushed. She reached for his raw silk shirt and pressed the dark cloth against her breasts. “Was it something I did?”

He turned to look at her. Her skin was so fair, so beautiful, against the ebony of his shirt. The sight of her distressed face made his heart weep—a fair rose he had almost defiled.

She looked from his gaze, unable to meet the blueness of his eyes now circumstances had changed. “I was too forward? Is it because I allowed you to do that? I know I am probably different from the women you have known…” She left the sentence hanging.

Faren hurried to kneel before her, framing her face in his hands. He pushed her damp tousled hair back from her cheeks. “Never think that. You are perfect. It is I. I feel nothing but loathing for my own weakness. I made a promise to myself, which I have now broken. I should never have let this go so far. I am but a Knight in your father’s court. You are the Princess of Rastehm, perhaps one day to be queen. Your father means too much to me for me to besmirch his daughter.”

“And I mean too little to you to love,” she said, tears glistening in her eyes.

He wiped the tears away with his thumb then released her and rose to move to the window. He stared into the night. Funny how the brilliance of the stars reflected none of the pain that he felt.The sharp claw of desire clutched at his gut. He was so hard with the wanting of this woman, he thought he would burst. Yet he could not bring himself to take her. As much as his mind and body screamed to do so, his head told him it would go against all his teachings as a Knight of Paladia. “I know little of love, Elanessë. I have never had time for matters of the heart. I am but a rough soldier. I do not know if I understand what love is.”

Elanessë donned his shirt, which came just below her thighs, and rose to follow him. Her arms snaked about his waist; she pressed her cheek to the hard warmth of his skin. “Then, Sir Knight, I shall teach you.” She felt a tremor run through his body as her breasts pressed against his back.

He stepped away, deliberately putting distance between them, and turned to face her. “Perhaps, but you are still who you are, and I am who I am.”

Elanessë felt her heart clench. What could she say to stop his words of rejection? Stop him from walking out of this room and never touching her again. Even the thought was too painful to contemplate. “And never the twain shall meet?” she asked softly, almost flippantly, while the knife pain in her breast twisted a little more. “What of Guinevere and Lancelot?”

“And to what end did they come?” he countered dryly. “He a monk and she a nun.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”

Faren raised a dark brow. “If I could change the proof I would, but to refute the truth is akin to holding back the waning of the moon.” He gave a bow and reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips.

The gesture seemed to Elanessë only to distance them more, slotting her neatly into her place—princess to his knight, far beyond his reach.“You are a stubborn man, Faren Malaan.”

“Goodnight, princess.” He rounded to stride to the door.

Elanessë found her voice as he reached for the handle. “One question.”

He stilled but did not turn.

“Does the dragon tattoo bear any significance?”

Faren glanced down at the red dragon that scaled his arm from elbow to shoulder then turned, his gaze locking on Elanessë. “All Knights of Paladia receive the dragon on the day of our investiture. It is our insignia.” He pulled the door wide.

“And are damsels not sacrificed to temper the dragons?”

“Not this time, my lady, not this time,” he said, not turning as he pulled the door closed behind him.

BUY NOW

My NEW RELEASE!

 15th MARCH

Night's Eternal Promise

READ EXCERPT AND WATCH FOR THE RELEASE ! Secret Cravings Publishing.

Vincent followed the young woman up the concrete steps of her apartment building and stood behind her as she jiggled the key in the lock of the glass security door.

What was he doing here? He crossed his arms over his chest and regarded her in the reflection of the glass. What would he do if she glanced up and caught note that his reflection did not fall in behind her? Why was that he wondered, not for a first time? Was it because he had no soul? Was our reflection really the true face of our soul staring back at us? He shook himself from his mournful thoughts and stared down at the perfect pale arch of the girl’s slender neck, beckoning for his attention. His gums tingled. The sweet perfume of her slim young body, singing an age-old tune to him. She was so small, so frail. So easily he could break her. Nonetheless, he knew he wouldn’t. Already, his emotions were running deeper than intended. The woman called to him, like a siren’s song. Sweet, alluring, her blood would be like honey on his tongue, but the taste of her mouth would be even sweeter, as would the arch of her body against his. He felt a stirring in his loins, kindling a flame in his belly, which he thought long dead with the death of his wife. He knew he should leave, go now, never see her again. Yet, knew he would not. But, he could not help thinking of what happened to people when he got too close. He looked down at her small white hands fiddling with the lock. Those people died. 

“Got it.” She glanced over her shoulder with a tentative smile. “The lock is old and has a tendency to stick. Sorry ‘bout that.”

He gave her a strained smile of his own. It was, how did that song go? Now or never. She pushed open the door and preceded him inside, and he stepped into the foyer after her.

Swiftly they climbed the two flights of stairs and walked down a narrow hallway. Vincent could have made the journey in a fraction of the time had he swept her into his arms and traveled at his normal pace, but unfortunately that was out of the question.

 He counted three doors before she stopped, once more producing her bunch of keys. They seemed almost too large for her small hand.

“Would you like me to do that?” He reached for the keys.

She handed them to him and moved aside. “I seem all thumbs tonight.” She smiled.

He fit the key to the door, pushed it open, switched on the light around the corner, and allowed her to enter. When he did not follow, she turned, a frown marring her lovely face.

“I thought you were coming in?”

“Do you wish me to?”

“I thought that was understood. You were going to have some wine, listen to Bach.” She sounded agitated.

“Then you must ask me.”

 Again, she frowned. “I thought… Is this some kind of joke?” She took off her jacket and held it to her chest almost defensively. “If you don’t want to come in just say so.”

He pushed his hands into his coat pockets and looked into her dark olive green eyes. He knew she was annoyed, but how could he explain that a vampire could not enter a dwelling unless he was invited. He remained silent, seeing a gambit of emotions cross her face.

 “Very well.” She sighed. “Would you like to come in?”

 He released a heavy breath, stepped into the room, and shut the door behind him. Well, he was here. Now what? A young woman had never invited him home before, this was all new territory.

She tossed her jacket onto the lounge and crossed the carpet to switch on the heating. “Have a seat while I get something for this headache. I’ll just be a moment.” She disappeared through a door on the left. He heard her rummaging in a drawer in what must have been the kitchen, the clink of a glass and the running of water.

He had a feeling she was angry with him.

He didn’t really care. He could make her forget he ever existed and leave in the blink of an eye, but she interested him, so he would stay awhile. It had been long since he’d shared company with a woman, and she had promised him Bach.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

 

As part of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, I was tagged by Cornelia Amira in her post last week. The purpose of this hop is to introduce readers to writers and works that might be unfamiliar. This includes new releases or Works in Progress (WIP).  This is week 30 of the hop.

According to the rules of the hop, I will be answering the same questions as every other blogger on the hop about either my newest release or my WIP and then I’ve tagged Tabbitha Shay who will do the same thing in her blog next Wednesday, 01/22/13.

What is the working title of your book?
Elven Magick  was my last full length novel released 06 November, 2012. And came 10th out of around 70 entries in the 2012 P&R Awards. For best fantasy romance.

What genre does your book fall under?
Fantasy/Romance with elements of witchcraft.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Orlando Bloom to play Vellandril, and not sure about Johden, but the only person who comes to mind is the young blonde haired girl that played Meg in the first series of Supernatural. Sorry I do not know her name.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Can a trust betrayed be regained?

What is the longer synopsis of your book?

Twenty one years has passed since the Dark Priest Narokah was defeated and condemned to the Fiery Abyss.

The Sword of Niraz has been stolen and Vellandril Ballindoch sets out on a quest, which will lead to his past, the woman he betrayed and never ceased wanting, and a son he did not know existed.

After forsaking her past and gaining the title of First Knight to the Dragon King, Johden de Danann is forced to undertake a quest with a man she swore never to forgive, but never stopped loving.

Gabrienne Ballindoch, despised by his people and called Kessa; halfbreed, follows his mother on a quest to find the murderer of his best friend and discovers instead a father he thought dead, and the daughter of his father’s enemy. The woman he was destined to love.

Morganna le Mordah; cold, heartless, ruthless and beautiful; promised by her father to his henchman in repayment for soldiers and fealty, must choose between loyalty to a father who dotes on her, and the love of a man who is prophesized to lead to her doom.

Again Gola-Dah is under threat. Wiliame le Mordah, has sworn revenge for the murder of his brother and the loss of his inheritance, and with the help of his sorceress mother, an Elven enchantress, and a magic sword, he is on the path to achieving it. Treachery, betrayal, adventure and action, a magical world of Elves and romance combine to bring forth the exciting conclusion to a tale that began with “The Dragon and the Rose” and finishes with happily ever after—for some.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The publisher of this book is Secret Cravings Publishing. I have several other books with them, Whisper of Yesterday a Ghost/Historical/Reincarnation/witchcraft Novel as well as a prequel To Elven Magick, titled The Dragon and the Rose, and a Novella /Fantasy Romance, Face of a Stranger.  My new release late Feb. 2013 is a vampire novel, titled Night's Eternal Promise.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Elven Magick is a full length novel of around 110,000words and it took me roughly around 9 months to write.  

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

After writing and completing The Dragon and the Rose, I enjoyed my secondary characters, Johden and Vellandril so much I just knew they had to have their own book. I did not reckon with the course which the book took. As it took on a life of its own and just about wrote itself. I felt as if I were just a character pushing the computer keysJ My daughter Errin also inspired me in the way Gabriene’s character should grow.

What else might pique the reader’s interest?

Elven Magick is a follow up novel to The Dragon and the Rose, but it can stand alone as well. It is a fast paced novel for female and male readers alike. I holds enough action and a touch of violence to hold the interest of the male readers, and plenty of hot romance to satisfy my female readers. Also Morgana le Mordah is not your typical heroine, and throughout the book she keeps you guessing which side she will ultimately end up on. Good or evil.

 You can read excerpts from both these books at www.julieadarcy.com

Book Marketing Workshop

The class will take place on a Yahoo loop. Lectures will be posted to
the group and in the files section. Registrants will receive an
invitation to the group after they’ve completed the registration
process (after February 5th).
Course Details
Clear your calendar for one week and focus on how you use the Internet
to build your author brand, market your books and build your
readership. This one week intensive is very hands on and limited to 10
students. Students will review their profiles on various social media
platforms as well as their usage of social media, their author website
and blog. Students will be asked to review and give general
impressions and feedback on each other’s virtual real estate. During
the one-week intensive, we’ll cover:

Website and blog
Facebook profile and author page
Twitter
Pinterest
Amazon Author Page
Google+
LinkedIn
Goodreads, Shelfari & LibraryThing
Newsletters, Yahoo Groups, Mailing Lists
Following the one-week class, students will remain on this private
class loop for six months. Here, they can continue to act as a
“benchmarking group,” discussing updates and changes they make to
their
social media with fellow students and sharing feedback. We will also
schedule 2 individual follow-ups with each student via telephone or
Skype during this six-month period.

Goals
For students to build a stronger, more cohesive online presence
For students to take ownership of their time spent on social media
For students to learn ways to integrate their social media to save
time
For students to gain knowledge and tools to help them improve their
online presence
For students to discover trustworthy resources for further research
Instructors:
Amy Atwell is the self-published author of Ambersley, which sold
36,000

copies in its first year and hit #1 in Historical Romance on both
Kindle and Nook. Amy combines 10+ years of writing experience with
perspective from her previous careers in production management, retail
and education to develop classes for Author E.M.S., an online resource
library and service center for authors. She is an active member of
RWA,

MWA and HNS and founder of WritingGIAM, an online community for
goal-oriented writers.
Kelli Finger is published under her pseudonym Abbey MacInnis and has
recently set up her sole-proprietorship publishing company. A
classically-trained vocalist with a Masters of Social Work, Kelli is a
strong advocate for people with disabilities and has worked for over
six years as a Braille proofreader. Having faced the challenges of
developing her own self-publishing career, shes eager to help others
save time and understand their many options.

Registration:

http://www.authorems.com/ai1ec_event/virtual-real-estate-assessment-intensive/?instance_id=

[1]

For more information, contact Amy Atwell: a.atwell@authorems.com [2]

 

 A New 5 STAR REVIEW!

 

 5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting Story, January 6, 2013

 

By 

Cornelia Amiri "LONG SWORDS, HOT HEROES, AND ... (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elven Magick (Kindle Edition)

"The sword le Mordah carried was no ordinary sword, the magickal blade glowed with a white light as he fought, and any who had stood in his path were struck down. It cut into their defenses like silver-fire into steal. " These lines are from Julie D'Arcy's fantasy/romance Elven Magic, book two of The Dragon And The Rose.

This romance of myth and magic involves two couples, Johden and Vellandril, from The Dragon And The Rose, and Morganna and Gabriene. Johden and Morganna are both strong warrior princesses. Vellandril, is a handsome, muscular, Elven king and Gabriene, who possess the same attributes and is half elven, is his son. Years before this book begins, Velladril betrayed Johden and she has never forgiven him. Then, early in this book, Morganna betrays Gabriene. The question for both couples is: Can a trust betrayed be regained?

Amidst the strong conflict of betrayal between these lovers, lies a tale of high adventure as Gabriene strives to retrieve the magical sword from his enemies. At the end of the book, Vellandril makes a decision to return the sword from where he it took it in the book The Dragon And The Rose.

Here is a brief excerpt: "Hitting the ground, they spun and watched the stairs pull back, the dark ragged pennants vanish and the black castle of myth recede into the black, glassy wall behind it. Not a window or turret remained to tell the tale of Castle Niraz's tormented existence."

Award winning author, Julie D'Arcy is many things, the founder of Eternal Press Publishing, a talented cover artist, whose art graces many wonderful books, the owner of a book trailer company where she creates wonderful videos, but most of all Julie D'Arcy is a gifted story teller. She brings magic alive in this engaging fantasy/romance. This is a fast action adventure of kings and castles, magic books and magic swords, immortal elves and most magical of all: true love. This enchanting story, Elven Magick, swept me away. I highly recommend it.

I have decided to start posting a few writing articles which may be of help to fellow authors or those who are thinking of starting to write.
My first article is a bit of a tongue in cheek, piece which I wrote myself several years ago. If you have any articles you would like to send me to post,  up to 3 links will be posted with your article.
 Articles can be sent to, julie(DOT)darcy3(AT)bigpond.com
cheers

How To write a Fantasy novel. A bit of fun.

By Julie D’Arcy

Hero, Heroine Setting. Quest, Subplots and secondary Characters and Villains.

And perhaps a magical animal or 2 :-)

.

What is a Fantasy novel?

At the heart, despite its infinite variety, a fantasy novel is always a journey.

Your main characters consisting of a Hero and a Heroine always leave their ordinary surroundings to venture into a challenging unfamiliar world.  It may be an outward journey to an actual place: a labyrinth, forest or cave, a strange city or country, a new locale that becomes the arena for their conflict with antagonistic challenging forces.

You could use this world, an ancient culture or a parallel world as your setting, but your reader has to suspend disbelief. ­ You have to convince your reader that the world you create is real.

In my second novel, Silverdawn,  I brought my characters Silverdawn and Fallen Malaan from the Fantasy World Rastehm to present day London to battle my villain, Iraj of Istani.  However, I would advise you to wait until you have at least one other novel published before attempting to bring your Fantasy novels into the present world as some readers find it hard to suspend their disbelief and find it hard to believe magic and fantasy can live in this world.

As well as our practical setting there are as many stories that take the hero on an inward journey, one of the mind, the heart, the spirit.  In any good story the hero grows and changes, making a journey from one way of being to the next: from despair to hope, weakness to strength, folly to wisdom, love to hate, and back again.  It's these emotional journeys that hook an audience and make a story worth reading.

Now let us speak of our characters in general.

Our main characters job is to solve the quest, defeat the villain and live happily ever after, but it is your job to put them through enough hell to make them worthy of this eventual outcome.

So, what kind of hero and heroine do you have? I bet they won't be a pair of peasant kids who settle down to live as serfs and share their mud-floored hut with the livestock. They aren't going to have to worry about starvation, privation, pestilence, taxes, tyranny or vermin - at least not for very long.

No, whatever else may occur in the course of events, your hero and heroine are going to settle down in the nice, warm castle and take good care of the peasants down in those mud huts. You aren't going to dwell on the fact that your lord and lady live off the backbreaking labor and brutalization of the folks down in the village. We treat the feudal system much the same way Southern characters in pre-Civil War novels deal with slavery. Those characters don't own slaves, and yours will treat the serfs in a kindly, paternalistic fashion, if the peasants get mentioned at all.

If they do start out as commoners they will most likely end up a king or prince or at the very least with a knighthood. Why is that? Because reality has never been, nor will it ever be, sexy or romantic. Fantasy is about glamour and action. In fiction we live vicariously, and these imagined people had better be better than we are, and lead much more interesting lives, or we might as well read a literary work and be depressed.

Fantasy writing is not about reality, it's about having fun. Our knights and ladies get to play dress-up for us.

Our heroes are warriors, our heroines noble ladies.

We glorify men who killed people. That's the reality, but the men we love to write about aren't murderous, greedy, stinking, illiterate louts. Our heroes are defenders of good against evil - who just happen to lop off a few heads in the name of justice and saving the heroine. Our heroes are never going to be, say, a handsome warrior bishop who rules a city and has six kids by his beloved wife. Because our modern sensibilities don't deal well with that image of a medieval priest, not because there weren't plenty of handsome and far from celibate warrior bishops running around the Middle Ages.

We are dealing with images. Our image of a hero comes straight out of medieval fiction - he's a nobleman, a knight who does mighty deeds, holds great estates and loves a lady fair to distraction. That was the glamorous image then, and it's the glamorous image now. The fact that most knights never owned land, and hence, couldn't afford to get married, is neither here nor there. Our hero's going to get married, and he's going to get married to an heiress, our heroine.  Unless he is already rich.

Our hero is going to be a mighty doer of deeds. He's going to be handsome, kind, clean, honorable, rich, tall, broad of shoulder, well-dressed, probably somewhere in his thirties, ride a stallion, be an accomplished and creative lover, be named something like Kale or Garret instead of Otto or Cuthbert.

Handsome by who's standards you may ask?

Ours of course.

Now, a medieval woman might have thought a man handsome if he bathed once a month, had all his teeth, not too many smallpox scars, battle scars, lumps, limps, or skin diseases.

Or was Kind?

Well, a medieval lady might consider her lord kind if he didn't beat her too often, and let her out of the house once in a while. Honorable? Honor was very much a man's prerogative in the Middle Ages, and its definition was not the same as ours. Honor involved feudal obligations, not the Boy Scout Manual.

Rich.

Wealth was measured in land.  In most Fantasy novels the Villain is trying to steal the land.  Whether it be the heroines, or hero's kingdom or the whole realm. Or perhaps he is trying to destroy it.  Either way land usually comes into the story somewhere. 

Villains are really into real estate acquisition.

Our hero will be Tall  At least six foot.

Now, I would like to say that this would make him a giant in the Middle Ages, since it's well known that medieval people were short. However, since it's known that William the Conqueror was about six foot tall, that Charles the Great was probably about six four, and that the Plantagenets grew large men, let's say that our hero was lucky enough to have the same sort of genetics mixed with the excellent diet that those royals had.

Broad of shoulder is also acceptably period, as it took a lot of muscle to swing a broadsword - those suckers are heavy.

Well-dressed?

Well, if he had more than one wool tunic with a bit of embroidery on it to last his lifetime that would constitute splendor in the real Middle Ages. But in the Fantasy novel you will invariably find your hero dressed in black and carrying an array of weapons which he is well versed in using.

Being thirty did not make one young in any era but our own, but the point is, we are writing for our era, and romantic heroes in their teens or twenties tends to turn off modern readers. The stallion is optional except for your hero's war-horse, but since riding a stallion sounds exotic, you might as well substitute one for the more sensible gelding for his everyday mount.

Our hero will most likely be flawed. Possibly troubled and wracked with some sort of modern neuroses. Instead of turning to the Church and his confessor like a good medieval boy, he will turn to the love of a good woman to cure his ills.

Or otherwise he may have a scar down his cheek or is blind in one eye and wears an exotic eye-patch.

Heroines

Now, as for the heroine, she will, of course, be beautiful, young, sensual, clean, kind, accomplished, willful, independent, opinionated, clever, musically talented, literate, and the leader of her people.

She'll frequently have healing powers, the Sight, practice magic, or cross-dress in men's clothing. She'll drive the hero mad with desire at first sight, but of course he won't admit it.

As for beauty, she'll be beautiful by our standards, probably with large breasts and magnificent hair. She will be lush, when the actual fashion was for sway-backed, narrow-hipped females with tiny boobs and pot-bellies. Look at medieval nudes. The women portrayed in those paintings are not beautiful by our standards, but they were the ideal of the time. An ideal we rightly ignore. And her name will be Rhiannon, or Isabeau, not the more common Maude or Bertha or plain old Marie. And why should she be saddled with a dull, ordinary, ugly name? She's a heroine! Young? Well, yeah, but I don't think we'll be writing about eleven year old brides in our books. Sixteen for the age of the heroine is about the youngest our modern sensibilities will let us get away with. And to us sixteen still sounds like a child.

Now your average medieval woman was indeed downtrodden, her life incredibly circumscribed no matter what her social rank. She had to be very careful and canny to get what she wanted. However, medieval women were not generally indolent, and your heroine is bound to be one busy little bee. That will make her more valuable in the hero's, and in society's eyes. Women worked very hard in the Middle Ages, as women have worked in every age, to make the world a more comfortable place for their men and their children. Even the highest born ladies of the land spent a lot of time spinning flax or wool into yarn, weaving, knitting, sewing, embroidering. Medieval women made things because they had to, and providing their households with clothing, bedding, hangings, bandages, diapers, menstrual cloths and every other use for cloth was a survival function and it was almost exclusively women's work. Not just clothing, but everything in a medieval castle had to be made by the people who lived in the castle, and this work was done, and supervised by women.

Despite reality, the heroine of a fictional fantasy might not know anything about household work, though how she got out of learning it is your tale to tell. She might run wild in the woods, communing with the spirits. She might be a scholar, train horses or sit around all day playing her harp. She might have a career that seems more appropriate for our post-industrial, everything instant, fast food, convenience store sensibilities than practicing the complicated and worthy profession of housekeeper. This is, after all, fiction, and modern fantasy women do not wear aprons. We are feminists, and our noblewomen heroines are as well (though personally I've never seen anything wrong with a feminist doing woman's work…it's the work that should get respect). Our heroines get to do things that most noblewomen would have considered beneath them, and downright illegal or heretical in many cases.

Since we are writing from a modern perspective about our heroines, our job is to come up with reasons why they get away with doing interesting things.

Our heroines can usually wield a sword or dagger as good as any man, wear a velvet gown well enough to drive our hero to distraction, and be magical, besides.

In the late twentieth century we have an enormous interest in angels, ghosts, fairies, witches, old gods, fortune telling, and occult practices of all sorts. Since this interests us, we write about it. Many of the things we have our medieval characters do would get them excommunicated at the very least in the Middle Ages. It was not a time of religious tolerance, nor was the practice of magic looked upon as a harmless hobby. Alchemy and astrology were considered sciences, and frequently practiced by churchmen, but heaven help the civilians that experimented in such things. The Church came down very hard with both feet on anyone, especially women, who practiced magic. Heresy had a very broad definition, and being accused of it could get you killed. Just ask the Templars, or the Albigensians.

But we live in a secular time, a more tolerant time. We see unicorns and tarot cards as essentially harmless - because we don't believe.

Or do we?

Some of us like our heroines to have a magical gift. So, to get around the fact that the Old Religion and psychic powers were sternly frowned upon by the Powers That Be, we'll let our heroine keep her gift, but set the story off somewhere on the supposed fringes of the Christian world - Celtic settings are always good for this kind of story. Make her Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish…you might possibly get away with Breton, and magical stuff is okay. We'll ignore the fact that Ireland, Scotland and Wales were converted long before the rest of Britain, and emphasize the strain of mysticism in Celtic culture instead. That is if we want to keep your Fantasy in the real world or likewise you could create your own world using your knowledge of the medieval world.

As for our heroine disguising herself as a boy for one reason or another, in the real Middle Ages there were laws against it. Technically, that's what got Joan of Arc burned at the stake. However, I say that if Patrick Swayze and Guy Piece can dress up as drag queens for our entertainment, our Fantasy heroine can run off disguised as a squire to follow her hero on his quest, or to run away from the pursuing villain who she has vowed never to wed.

Trouser roles are perfectly valid fictional conventions, and the danger of its being forbidden can add tension and conflict.

Secondary Characters .  Here you can have some fun.

You could make up some really great weird and wonderful Race.  Or you can use one of the already proven identifiable races, such as Elves, Dwarves, ghosts, werewolves, unicorns, vampires, (you could even have a hero who was a vampire if you were so inclined.  Many great books have been written about Vampire heroes.  Or we could have my favorite, the Mages or Sorcerers.  In Time of the Wolf, my first published novel, one of the main secondary characters was the Hero’s Liege man.  The story actually starts with this character telling the hero's story.

Villains

Villains, could have some sort of magical power.  Classic Evil Sorcerer or sorceress type villain.  Or he could be the King of a rival Kingdom or the leader of an invading army.  Or again, a vampire. 

Now that it has been settled for better or for worse who your Hero and Heroine will be,  and have some idea of your secondary characters and Villains, you are set to write your story. Good luck!

Julie A. D’Arcy