Bubble and Squeek for 25 Sep 2012

I met Adam Gaffen while participating in the DragonCon mentoring sessions. He’s got a process to learning all about his novel’s characters and how that informed his decisions on the novel’s universe.   Today, I’d like to tell you about how I came to meet Cass and Ken, and how the process of getting to know them led me to creating an entire universe for them. It all started with a name – Aiyana Cassidy. I knew, immediately, that nobody called her Aiyana, that her friends, her family, they all called her Cass. Once I knew that, I started to get a picture in my mind: red hair, glasses, very serious. A woman who could have traded on her looks, but instead relied on her brains. Proved herself over and over, and is now professionally respected. She does something that requires lots of both practical and theoretical knowledge, how about...

I’ve with Danielle off and on over the years. She’s a wonderful writer, an excellent editor, and has a warm heart. She has spearheaded this campaign to help CJ Henderson and is waving the pom-poms for all she’s worth. This is why she’s spearheading the campaign. I, being a stretch goal author, am not unbiased. This Indiegogo campaign has funded but every little bit helps. — I have a secret for you. I…am the Queen of the Outcasts. No…really. With a few, rare exceptions I fit nowhere in society. Not at work, not at church, not among my family. Always I have been that awkward figure on the fringes wanting to be embraced and brought in to the crowd. Always. This doesn’t mean I wasn’t welcome or loved, just that in general the world—yes, even my family—doesn’t get me and can’t relate. Halfway through my life I found my exception...