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Hellooo, everybody!
Tomorrow is the release of The Savior's Champion!
Holy shit!
If you haven't pre-ordered yet, today is literally your last day to do so.
So you better get on it.
Additionally, not only is TSC releasing tomorrow, but I am hosting a live stream in order to celebrate.
Join me here on my channel at 5pm.
We've got games, we've got grand prize reveals, and I'll be launching another giveaway because
clearly I'm just not tired of givin' away free shit.
Anywho you guys have sent in your questions about The Savior's Champion,
and i'm here to answer 'em.
Let's get to it.
“What inspired the idea behind The Savior's Champion?”
Short answer, I'm inspired by my twisted imagination.
I am constantly thinking up stories and characters, my brain literally never stops.
It's kind of a problem.
Long answer, I came up with the initial idea while listening to AFI’s cover of
Head Like a Hole, by Nine Inch Nails.
When I listen to music, I like to create what I call mental music videos.
Basically I'll listen to a song and a story will play out in my mind that coincides with
the nuances in the music.
It's kind of like my own interpretation of the song, or how it makes me feel.
Whenever I've listened to Head Like a Hole, I'd imagine a bunch of dudes navigating this
underground tunnel, filled with deadly trials.
The whole time they're doing this, some redhead with super pale skin and a lace gown is sort
of manipulating their traps and trials.
Basically, commanding their circumstances behind the scenes.
This is the story that would play in my mind for years while I listened to the song, and
one day it just sort of hit me that this could totally be a book.
Why wasn't I writing it?
Thus, The Savior's Champion was born.
“Which two characters did you have the easiest and hardest time writing respectively?”
The easiest characters are usually my favorites, because they're my favorites.
So that would be Tobias, Leila, and Kaleo.
Overall, I didn’t find any characters difficult to write per se, but the characters who usually
give me the hardest time are characters who are putting up a front.
The ones who are full of shit.
In this case, that would be The Proctor, and sometimes Wembleton.
I think I find them a little bit harder to write because I'm basically having to write
their bullshit.
The Proctor’s job is to give instructions throughout the tournament, and he is completely
apathetic to everything going on around him.
He's always dead in the eyes and spouting off orders.
Sometimes that's irritating to write, when you as the writer know what's going on in
their head, but it's very different from what they're saying.
Sometimes he breaks character through facial expressions, but otherwise he's pretty consistent,
except for one brief moment in chapter fourteen—be on the lookout.
Wembelton, on the other hand, wasn't quite as good of a bullshitter.
As the book goes on, his neurotic tendencies start to leak through.
And I actually enjoyed writing him more when he was like that, because at least I was writing
the real Wembelton.
“Why did you decide to make Tobias an artist?”
First of all, I feel like male leads, especially in fantasy, tend to be very unfeeling and gruff.
You rarely see anyone outside of a jaded soldier, farmer, or hunter.
Second, I believe the kind of people who inspire positive change and question conventions are
often creators, and that was really important for the story.
It was just a matter of figuring out what sort of creator Tobias was gonna be.
My first thought was maybe to make him a musician, but that seemed kind of weird since I'm engaged
to a musician, hit a little too close to home.
Writer was out of the question.
I'm not really a fan of writers writing about writers.
Having him be an artist was the perfect fit, not only because it matched his personality,
but because I have a lot of experience here.
A lot of you know that I have a background in art.
My original plan was to be an author and illustrator.
And for a good chunk of my life, people knew me for my drawings, not for my writing.
Obviously I did a ton of research for Tobias, but having extensive personal experience will
always make things at least a little bit more natural.
I know firsthand all about seeing people and colors through an artist's gaze.
I have experienced artists' block, I know all about the crippling insecurity that comes with it.
Plus, I know a lot of artists who were more than happy to beta read and make sure Tobias
was being portrayed correctly.
All in all, it was really fun to write about a character who is passionate about something
that used to be a part of my life.
It was kinda like revisiting an old friend.
“What is Tobias and Leila’s ship name?”
I am so glad you asked, because we need to clear some shit up.
I've seen so many weird ship names floatin’ around, and it needs to stop.
Let's start from the top Tobias and Leila ship name is not a Tobila.
Say it out loud, Tobila—it sounds stupid.
Then we move on to the next most popular, which is to Tobeila, visually it makes sense,
but the spelling is a nightmare to pronounce.
To-be-lah? Tobe-lah? Tobi-lah?
Ship names are NOT supposed to be this complicated. I rebuke it.
“But Jennaaa, why don't we just start the ship name with Leila's name?”
Oh genius.
Now we've got the ship name Lobias!
Do you see what this looks like?
It is one letter away from a labias.
Thanks a lot jackass, now my ship name is Jennatalia!
Tobias and Leila are two vagina lips in a vagina pod.
Which leaves only one possible ship name: the most obvious answer, the truly superior choice.
Tobleila.
Rolls right off the tongue, I'm glad we got this cleared up.
“Is The Savior's Champion a young adult novel?”
Guys, I love you, but this has to stop.
I know young adult is very popular, but have emphasized repeatedly that
TSC is an adult novel!
Now I can see why some people would confuse it with new adult, because the main character
is twenty-one, and that's fine.
But when people refer to it as young adult, it makes me really nervous because this book's
got some graphic shit.
To be clear, this has nothing to do with any category or elitism.
It's just important to me that readers are aware of the mature content.
Also, to be clear, when I say adult novel, I don't mean erotica.
I just mean that the book would likely have an R rating.
So again, just putting it out there, TSC is a romantic dark fantasy adventure,
written for an audience eighteen and up.
The characters are ages twenty to sixty-five.
The content is violent, political, and a little bit sexy.
This is a book that features the F word and the C word.
This is a book that features penises.
This is a book that describes brains sprayed across the wall.
And all that is just in the first three chapters.
If you're not an adult, but you wanna read TSC anyway, that's fine.
Just know that shits gonna go down.
“What are the themes in The Savior's Champion?”
You guys know I don't reveal my themes.
It's on you to try and figure ‘em out.
If you think you got the themes, hit me up, tell me your theories, and I'll let you know
if you're hot or cold.
“Do the Cinnamon Roll Meme for TSC?”
For those who don't know, the Cinnamon Roll Meme is where you assess certain characters
based on whether or not they look like they could kill someone,
or wherever they look light and fluffy and sweet.
So here we go.
Who in TSC looks like a cinnamon roll, and actually is a cinnamon roll?
I'm gonna go with Xander.
He's handsome in this disarming approachable way, and he's also a total gentleman.
He's just a really nice guy, easily the nicest in the tournament.
I like to call him The Precious Lamb of TSC.
Who looks like a cinnamon roll, but could actually kill you.
That would be Leila.
Leila is five foot three, her favorite color is purple, she has the best assortment of pretty dresses.
She's not the kind of person you would look at and think.
‘I bet this woman knows how to kill people.’
But she does.
Who looks like they could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll?
No competition, this is Enzo.
Don't get me wrong, Enzo could kill you.
He's actually killed a number of people, but his killing side is overshadowed by his
warm cinnamon roll side.
He may have a thick, muscular outer shell, but on the inside, he's soft and gooey.
And the last one.
Who looks like they could kill you, and could actually kill you?
There's a lot of characters who fit the specification, but I'm gonna go with Anteus.
Antaeus is called The Giant.
He is literally the tallest man to ever enter the tournament, in the history of the tournament.
He's huge, and he's mean, and he uses his size to intimidate people.
And it works.
Lastly, ``What are ten awesome things we can expect in the next book in the series,
The Savior's Sister?”
The second book in the series is The Savior Sister which is a companion novel to TSC.
It starts back at the beginning of the tournament and follows Leila and all of her shenanigans.
Ten awesome things you can expect are: a lot more Leila, a lot more Delphi, and a lot more Pippa.
Awesome friendships between women.
Murdering, because I just can't seem to write a book where someone doesn't get shanked.
A Lot more royalty, politics, and a ton of magic.
Lots of characters, some of which are brand new, others are returning favorites.
And lastly, romantical goodness, some of which you don't get to see in TSC.
So there you have it.
Those are my answers to your TSC questions, now pre-order the book,
because it comes out tomorrow, dammit.
But first, I've got prizes to hand out.
One of the entrants of my presale giveaway is walking away with a Cosima and Delphi candle,
made by ThatBookieCandles.
If you want your house to smell like royalty, these ladies gotcha covered.
And the winner is…this person.
A huge thank you for pre-ordering TSC, it means more than you know.
And a huge thank you to Julia Thompson from ThatBookieCandles for celebrating my characters,
it’s an absolute honor.
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Ring-a-ding-ding-dong, and then you're good.
My fantasy novel The Savior's Champion comes out tomorrow.
Pre-order it now, and be sure to join my live stream tomorrow at 5pm Pacific Time.
And be sure to follow me on social media.
I'm on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and of course you can tweet me @JennaMoreci!
Bye!