The Faesyorin

A little (or maybe not so little) explanation about Faesyorins.  (There may be bitty spoilers below)

The word, while containing the more common Fae (Fay) is actually pronounced Fie (like Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum).

The -syorin part is a slur. S-your-in.  Accent on the -yor- 

Fae-sYOR-in

If I could figure out how to record me saying this, I would.  Any computer savvy readers, feel free to explain.

Originally, the creature was called a Telemorph, but every time I read that word, I wanted to rip out the pages, so I came up with a better alternative.

Now, a Faesyorin at the most basic level is a person with telekinetic abilities and is also capable of transforming into one specific animal.  But the Faesyorin is much more complicated than just that description.

When we look at the fictional characters we already know who have telekinesis, we think of Stephen King' Carrie, or Matilda, and especially Jean Grey. 

For the most part, these...I just realized I only mentioned women. I'll see if I can find a list of those with telekinesis and put it at the bottom.*

Anyway, for the most part, the telekinetic ability means you can manipulate objects with your mind. Carrie and Matilda did little with their telekinesis, but Jean...well, Jean is just fantastic, isn't she? She not only manipulates objects, but she can create force fields, fly and even make explosions. And then, when she tapped into her Phoenix side, she was even able to break matter apart!! How freakin' cool?

The Faesyorins are sort of a step forward from the Phoenix, which is why they must go through the trials to gain their magic. We know what happened to Jean Grey when so much magic was thrown on her at once, so Faesyorins must learn to balance there powers little-by-little. Who's to say Jean couldn't have handled the Phoenix if that side of her hadn't been suppressed?** Faesyorins are a step in the direction of what could happen with someone with telekinesis who had the proper training. 

Every Faesyorin, when born into existence, is accompanied by the gem that is linked to his or her magic.  But this magic cannot be accessed until the child reaches maturity (15 years-old for a Faesyorin).  The power lies dormant inside each Faesyorin, moving closer to the surface every year.  All the Faesyorin would technically need to do in order to bring the magic forth would be to touch the stone, but it is up to the parents to keep this gem safe until the Faesyorin child is old enough to complete the tasks and prove him/herself strong enough for the magic.  Too many deaths occurred when young Faesyorins gained their magic too soon.

Their abilities are also closely linked to their emotions. Anger creates fire. Happiness inspires light. Fear promotes cold. And so on and so forth.  By honing in on certain feelings, a Faesyorin can accomplish much more than the standard object manipulation.  They can even go as far as projecting images.  They don't create false images in the mind, they actually make a sort of hologram.  This picture cannot harm, and in truth it has no real benefit, except perhaps to confuse or misdirect an opponent.

But while they can influence any kind of matter, their control over certain materials is weaker than some creatures.  For example, take a Torian (I'll go into more detail in a future post...but basically they control the elements).  The Torian is specifically designed to affect the elements.  They don't just move the earth, they change the molecules, they become part of the earth.  For this reason, a Faesyorin would be considered weaker, but they simply have more tools in their arsenal and would be the victor 9 times out of 10.

We haven't seen any Faesyorins fly yet, mainly because I feel that ability would raise too many questions regarding why they wouldn't just fly everywhere in the story.  Perhaps the ability to fly requires too much of the mind and can only be accomplished by several Faesyorins...that might work.  I think I'll add that right now.

Just talk amongst yourselves while I insert this brilliant idea into my novel.







And we're back.

Now, on to the animal transformation part of being a Faesyorin.  Not much of this aspect is touched upon in The Finding, since technically this ability shouldn't surface until the middle of the tasks, but Lily/Theola is a unique case with the Faesyorins.  She hasn't obtained any of her Ruby pieces and the magic still tries escaping to act as a defense.

The animal counterpart of a Faesyorin is a bit like being The Hulk.  

When the change happens unexpectedly, the beast within takes control, allowing the human-side to remain useless in the background.  But if the transformation is done with purpose, there remains a level of focus.  Either way, the animal instincts are prevalent.  And because a Faesyorin has such a connection to an animal, it gives them better senses while in their human-forms 

So there you have it...the Faesyorin.  I hope I've explained them well enough, but if you still have questions, feel free to comment.

*Turns out the only list I could find is on Wikepedia and I don't exactly trust that...oh well.
**I refer to the X-Men movies since, sadly, I haven't read the comic books.

Why I Love Being Indie

So, the wonderful people with #indiebooksbeseen directed me to this amazing post by Christina Rozelle called, 10 Things that SUCK (and ROCK!) about Being an Indie Author (Part 1).  What she has to say about Indie publishing is so spot on and expresses so many of the sentiments I've felt myself.

If you are an Indie author, or know one, or plan to be one, I would definitely check her out...she has so much to bring to the Indie table.

That being said, it is getting to be involved with people such as Christina that make being an Indie author all worth the challenges.  Coming together with her and all of the spectacular people with #indiebooksbeseen and those amazing bloggers who take the time from their busy lives to support the Indie life, make you feel part of a family.

I won't lie; self-publishing is like sitting on a bed of hot coals.  You keep thinking to yourself that if you just get off now, the burning flesh might be a bit salvageable, but then your skin heals over and you think you can hold out for a bit longer.  Every day offers another punch in the gut when you see you haven't sold a book or someone left a nasty review (or you don't have any reviews at all).  You wonder why you ever bothered getting into the business and maybe all of the traditional publishing people were right when they turned down your work.

These are the darkest of days.

And then you wake up one morning and find that you love the smell of your hot coal-burning-flesh.  That you can't wait to spend six hours on twitter bragging about how tremendous your book is or how everyone must read it or how everyone who is anyone already has.  You light up thinking of all the bloggers in the world who are bound to review your book any day now.

And do you know why?

Because you get to wake up every morning knowing that nothing stood in your way to publishing the masterpiece you worked so hard to perfect.  You didn't let the dozens (or hundreds) of NOs get you down.  You wouldn't listen when everyone told you to give up.  You had all the courage and faith you needed from the beginning, and to hell with the doubters.

You get to call yourself an author.  And it doesn't matter if you've sold 1 copy to your mom or a thousand copies to strangers; you are finally sending those characters out from under you bed and into the world.

For this reason, I love being INDIE.  Without this world, I wouldn't have had the strength to trust my novels.  I would have forever listened to those who turned me down, telling me I wasn't good enough.

Self-publishing opens up so much more for authors.  We GET to choose what stays or what goes; we GET to pick out our covers and fonts and word choices; we GET to be free.

Because we are INDIE-pendent, and we are INDIE-vidual and we are INDIE-structable.

Don't lose hope.  We are in this together!

Check out Christina's amazing post Here