Author Guest Post with Kevin King: Song of the Adoël

To protect himself from the commoners who fear what they don’t understand, all of the Adoël live as servants to the royal family, using their unique skill with illusion magic to entertain bored nobility.

Welcome to the March 12th stop on the blog tour for Song of the Adoël by Kevin King with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Make Your Characters Suffer

Many times, in many situations, from the time I became involved with the writing community, the most consistent advice I’ve heard has been to make your characters suffer. Most of the time, that’s the sum of the advice. Make them suffer. That will make your story more interesting.

I believe that is great advice, but I can’t just leave it at that. Because in my experience, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. What is the key to making it work? Because, those are some nice characters you got there, and it would be a shame if something should happen to them for no reason at all.

So here is what I’ve come up with about making characters suffer. The suffering itself is just a tool, not the end goal. The end goal is empathy, or connection to the characters. We empathize with characters that we like, or understand on an emotional level. We connect to characters with whom we share common experiences or character traits. Suffering alone isn’t enough to redeem a nasty, unlikeable character. So, what can make that work?

Adding suffering to a villain’s backstory can give them believable motivation for their villainy. If they were legitimately hurt, they may be lashing out in anger, looking for revenge, or maybe the hurt just made them cynical and bitter. It may or may not make you like the villain, but if you can understand their motivation then at least it doesn’t distract you from the story. I’ve heard it said that nobody does bad things just for the sake of being bad. If the villain has no motivation for their actions, that calls into question the entire story.

Past trauma can be an effective reason for a protagonist to have flaws. Dishonesty, for example, is a trait that makes me dislike a character. But if I learn that the character had an abusive parent and had to lie to survive as a child, then I’ll be rooting for the character not just in spite of their flaw, but in part because of it. The important thing, in that case, is to see them overcome their flaw by the end of the story. Often times, overcoming past trauma involves some suffering in the present.

Stories of flawed people who overcome their flaws inspire readers with hope that they can overcome their issues too. It’s not just about the suffering. The important thing is how a character responds to the suffering. Will they break, becoming angry and bitter? Or will they push through and find healing on the other side?

In my story, Raendel is born into a family suffering from an inherited curse. From childhood he has been taught that they brought the curse on themselves, that they deserve it, and that his whole life must be spent paying penance for the mistakes of his ancestors. The curse changes his appearance in a way that makes everyone who sees him for the first time draw back in shock and fear. As a result, Raendel suffers from deep insecurity and identity issues. He wants to reject the idea of inherited guilt, but the feeling of unworthiness has grown so deep that it feels like a part of who he is. Raendel’s story is about the power of friendship and love, being forced into desperate situations where he discovers that he can make a difference after all. It’s a story of redemption and hope and security in your own identity. That’s what I want my readers to connect with, and be inspired by. The suffering is just the means to that end. Pain with no purpose is just painful. Nobody wants that. Pain that ends in victory enhances the victory.

We all want to believe that our suffering has a purpose, that it can make us stronger. We love stories that help us believe it.

About the Book

Song of the Adoël
by Kevin King

1st Edition Published 20 February 2022
Brimstone Fiction

2nd Edition Publishing 15 March 2024
Ingramspark

Genre: YA Fantasy Adventure
Page Count: 264
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Raendel is one of the Adoël, the cursed people. Passed on to each generation, the curse drains his body of color, leaving his skin and hair a ghostly white. To protect himself from the commoners who fear what they don’t understand, all of the Adoël live as servants to the royal family, using their unique skill with illusion magic to entertain bored nobility. Raendel is bound by traditions, but also by his own lack of self-confidence. Prince Kenan is the younger of two princes, frustrated by his gilded cage and the combat tutoring that feels pointless in a secure and peaceful kingdom. He dreams of adventure, of making a name for himself with heroic deeds. An unexpected assault from an ancient enemy sets the two on a quest that begins as pursuit of vengeance, but soon leads them into a struggle for survival that will teach them both that they are small pieces of a long, dark history. But even the smallest actions can change the fate of a kingdom.

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Excerpt

Kenan shifted his energy, a little for speed and a little for strength. He rolled just far enough to get clear of Peristra and his blankets, jumped to his feet and sprinted headlong into the approaching figure. He ran at an angle across the clearing to get between the stranger and Timothy, who had wakened but still fought to get free of his bedding.

Kenan grabbed the man’s knife hand and twisted. His extra strength had no effect. A normal man would either have dropped the knife and fallen back or suffered a broken arm. The knife arm barely turned at all, and the man didn’t stop moving forward in his vacant-eyed march toward Timothy.

More strength, Kenan thought. The Art would allow that. But at what cost? He would either have to give up his speed or drain his mental energy, and there wasn’t time to think about the utter exhaustion that would result. He had to act now.

Again, Master Jabal’s training saved him. He left one small part of his brain to handle automatic bodily functions and focused the rest of his energy into strength. At last, the attacker responded, turning the knife toward Kenan and grabbing at him with his free arm. Kenan’s arms flexed and stopped the knife inches from impact with his chest.

About the Author

Kevin works as a software developer in the Seattle area by day, and an author by night. He enjoys Renaissance Fairs, bookstores, fencing, and daydreaming. He has been reading fantasy from age six, and writing from age twenty-two. He loves exploring fantasy worlds, especially exploring human nature through fiction. Fantasy is his first love, but he also dabbles in sci-fi, creepy horror, and devastatingly sad dramas. He posts regular flash fiction stories to his Instagram account and website.

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