Character Profiles: Phillipa Sabre and Alpha Greyson

We’re coming to an end of all things Magiford–at least until Cat Girl’s trilogy launches later this year! I decided to close the party out with the two characters I imagine you most wanted to learn about, Pip and Greyson!

Pip strode onto the scene confident in her hunter skills and fragile in her relationships–which was pretty much the exact opposite from Hazel and Leila.

Hurt by a lifetime of being left behind by those she loved–at least from her perspective–Pip was very reluctant to form deep attachments. This is a trait that’s typically assigned to male characters, but I decided to use it in Pip since it was the perfect foil to Greyson. (Greyson–with the matebond at his back–was sure to be overwhelming in the romance area. If I gave him an inch, he was going to have Pip married to him the second he figured out she was his mate.)

This also made for an interesting character arc, though, because unlike Leila and Hazel–who were typically most anxious in their books during the big fights–Pip is relatively chill about the battles in her books, but instead has meltdowns when it comes to her friends and her possible romance with Greyson. (There’s a reason why she’s hanging out of a tree at the start of Fated. She might not be in physical stress, but she’s got a whole-lot of emotional stress!)

To add to her emotional load, Pip has a loyalty streak that’s so wide, the whole Pack could drive golf carts across it, even though she tries to hold back. You can see it in the stubborn way she cares for Princess and Princess for the sake of her adoptive werewolf parents, even though they’ve been gone for a while. You can see it in her determination to help the newly minted werewolves in United, even though she doesn’t understand her own magic and her whole world has turned upside down. A hallmark of Pip’s personality is that she’s willing to sacrifice to help others all while fearing that they will eventually hurt and leave her.

Like I said, she’s got a slew of emotional stress.

Thankfully, by the end of the series she fixes her thinking, and you can see that as she’s more powerful at the end of the book than she was before. (Cedar is a perfect example of this.) And that’s what makes Pip a particularly powerful Wolf’s Kiss. Not only is she willing to use her powers for the Pack that she loves, but she wants to help others, even if it means risking herself. Thankfully, for the sake of her wellbeing, she’s got a mate who is going to keep her safe. No matter what!

This isn’t a character note, but I wanted to share that Pip’s fighting style was particularly fun for me to develop because of the flavors her magic comes in. First, her hunter magic is mostly physical based. She’s not blasting lightning bolts or forging magic shields, she’s tracking and hunting with her regular hunter magic. But her second fighting style involves her magic as a Wolf’s Kiss, which–as you see in the last battle–is best used as a sort of “home base” or “central control spot” for a fight. Pip wasn’t in the thick of things, she had to step back and depend on her Pack to protect her while she wielded her magic. Her Wolf’s Kiss magic is especially different because it strengthens her Pack, it doesn’t actively do anything to harm the enemy, so playing around with her actions and the Pack dynamics was so fun!

Greyson…where to begin with him? He was SUCH a hard character for me to nail down because I didn’t want him to be so…borderline abusive, which is something an alpha-type character can easily turn into.

I found the best way for me to make him have that hardened edge/strong vibe was to make him so ridiculously strong that he couldn’t ever relax around anyone–except Pip, due to her powers. Since Greyson is an excellent Alpha, he’d never want to make his packmates uncomfortable, which means he’d always hold himself back and give him a bit of a distant edge. He hides that distance with a healthy dose of charisma and cunning in his personality.

I decided to make him smart because while in modern literature the werewolf character type usually focuses on the sheer strength aspect of being a werewolf, in old fairy tales and fables the wolf is typically said to be dangerous because he’s crafty. Now that sounds like my kind of hero, right? But cunning is seen as a dubious trait, so I decided I needed him to show his intelligence in ways that were cunning, but only because he’s using it for good.

Greyson calculates everything out. He is always measuring out his alpha power and is constantly reviewing what he’s saying and doing because he has to act 1) for the safety and good of his pack 2) for the safety and expansion of Timber Ridge 3) frequently has to fight off challengers, intruders, etc.

The only time Greyson isn’t plotting is when he’s with Pip. Pip is able to give him relaxation and peace, but it’s a double edged sword. She means so much to him that he’s willing to make idiot-level bargains just to keep her safe. (Hello, the last 40% of Fated…)

Now…regarding Greyson’s wolf form! I designed Greyson to resemble the largest subspecies of gray wolf in the world: a Makenzie Valley wolf/Northwestern Wolf. These wolves live in western North America–in Canada and the US. The males of this species range from 105 lbs to a whopping 159 lbs. (That’s 47.6 – 72 kg.) The bigger ones tend to live in the US. For reference, the average Euroasian male wolf clocks in around 88 lbs. These guys are built. They also have thicker fur, shorter ears, and–hilariously–a rounder head.

And that’s it for Pack of Dawn and Destiny. Thank you so much for your support of this series, Champions! You blew off my socks with the rush of ratings/reviews and your general love for Pip, Greyson, and the rest of the Timber Ridge crew. Magiford has been such a fun world to write in, and it lets me put everything I’ve learned about writing and crossovers from my previous series (I’m looking at you, Timeless Fairy Tales) into practice.

However! But just because the Magiford fun is over, doesn’t mean the party is ending! I still have my (VERY LATE) 2021 year-in-review post to unveil, and some general community news about things like Sheacon 2022 and new covers coming your way. So stay tuned, Champions, and until next time, thank you for all of your love and support.

Supernatural Cities: Timber Ridge

In Pack of Dawn and Destiny, the city of Timber Ridge itself is practically a character due to how important the city itself is to Pip, Greyson, and the harmony between wolves and humans. That harmony is a big deal in the book, so I knew I needed to make sure that scenes in the city counted, so you could feel the difference between it and other normal cities–or even Magiford itself. I attempted to achieve that by filling it with interesting characters like Mayor Pearl, and by being very purposeful in the kind and stores, shops, and restaurants I showed.

I started by focusing on attempting to put a northern Wisconsin atmosphere in it. There’s a region in Wisconsin called Door County (in the map below, it’s the red part.) Door county is a popular tourist area since it pokes into Lake Michigan. The area is filled with Bed and Breakfast homes, beaches, cherry orchards, wineries, parks, and more.

What’s unique about Door County is that it’s exactly that, a county. There’s lots of little cities in Door County, and equally small cities on the lake that are clustered near Door County but not quite in it.

A few years ago I traveled to area just south of Door County, and explored cities like Manitowoc, and Green Bay, but it was the smaller cities–like Two Rivers and Algoma–that really captured the feeling I wanted for Timber Ridge. The smaller cities in Door County and the area just south of it have more of a traditional Wisconsin vibe with their excessive amounts of bars and churches, but each town also have very specific, tourist-friendly places. For instance, every city has a café, and typically one diner, and a “supper club” in addition to the bars–which, yes, most bars in Wisconsin serve fish fries on Fridays! Most cities will also typically have a bowling ally–or one within a 20 minute drive–and most libraries tend to be right on, if not close to, the town’s main street.

Despite being clustered together, each city has a unique spin–some have ice cream parlors, small museums, or huge parks with walking trails. The idea for the Timber Ridge Welcome center was partially inspired by a welcome center in the town of Algoma, and by another location I’ll mention shortly!

I modeled downtown Timber Ridge–with its park, Town Hall, Welcome Center, library, café, and other eateries–after the smaller Wisconsin cities in the area. However, a lot of the theming and more tourist-friendly locations the wolves came up with were inspired by another Wisconsin city–one much larger, and located in south central Wisconsin: Wisconsin Dells.

Wisconsin Dells is another huge tourist city with its many water parks, amusement park, forest reserves, **mini golf**, and lakes that provide space for entertainment like water skiing, canoeing, and the Wisconsin Dells Ducks. The Door County area is more beach focused since it’s on Lake Michigan, but Wisconsin Dells–despite being in southern Wisconsin–has more of the log-cabin/up-north feel to it. (There’s a literal Paul Bunyan themed restaurant which has been around so long, I went to it as a kid!)

I borrowed the more rustic feeling of Wisconsin Dells when coming up with the insides of my Timber Ridge buildings–specifically the Welcome Center and Howl-In Cafe. But while the town of Algoma inspired the Timber Ridge welcome center, Wisconsin Dells inspired the giftshop inside the center, as well as the never seen Sweets Shoppe.

Wisconsin Dells has a famous candy store called Goody Goody Gumdrop, and more themed giftshops than I could prepare you for. (The boggling number of giftshops was incredibly useful to me when I needed to come up with ideas of inventory for the Timber Ridge Welcome Center gift shop!) Some of the giftshops also sell fudge, truffles, and other sweet treats that are made right there in the shop–which inspired more than a few conversation topics for the visiting Night Court Fae.

You can also see the Wisconsin Dells influence in the Northern Lakes Wolves’ camp-style compound with the small cottages and giant main lodge that’s built out of timber and decorated in a matching, rustic fashion.

And there you have it–the inspiration for Timber Ridge! This city was so much fun to dream up–particularly because I’m very familiar with the area. Confession time, I set Magiford in the Midwest–which is a pretty unlikely place for urban fantasy novels–because it’s the only  area I can reliably describe. Also, I have some speech patterns, sayings, etc that are part of my Midwestern accent and I don’t even know they exist, so I was very aware that even if I researched the heck out of other areas, my characters would still sound midwestern, so…ta da!

I hope you enjoyed learning about Timber Ride! Until next time, thanks for reading!

Character Profiles: The Bedevilments

Today we’re taking a look at two of Pack of Dawn and Destiny‘s most cantankerous characters: Prince and Princess. I’m thrilled to share with you that these troublesome siblings are real. In fact, just about everything they do to Pip, the real life Prince and Princess have done to their owners–or, as I’m sure they see them–their staff. With that, please allow me to introduce you to the Bedevilments.

To start out, yes, Prince and Princess are full blooded siblings from the same litter of kittens. Prince is the one sitting on the arm of the chair, while Princess is sitting on the seat….I think. I can’t actually tell this duo apart when they’re not together, but their owners can! Who are their lucky humans, you might be wondering? Why, it’s Rock-Star-Assistant-Meg, and her hubby.

Meg got these siblings several years ago as fuzzy kittens, and while they adore her husband and tolerate Meg, they find the general populace–like myself–pretty distasteful.

Just like in the book, Prince and Princess have had health issues that requires special cat food. Each one needs a different kind of food, which can make feeding times all sorts of interesting as for the longest time they kept trying to eat each other’s food which would make them sick. And yes, at one point Princess did need butt cream that Meg had to apply to her daily. Neither of them were happy about that arrangement.

These siblings also love to use their litterboxes while Meg is cleaning them out, and they rule Meg’s home with an iron paw so even the dogs fear them–which is what inspired PoDaD’s Prince and Princess general disdain for werewolves.

The scene where Pip ruthlessly beats down an Alpha because she thought Prince was in danger was even inspired by real life events. Two coyotes once had a fight on Meg’s porch, just outside her front door on her porch. Meg was convinced they were attacking Prince, so she slammed the door open to discover the coyotes were on her front mat. The coyotes ran off, but they’d scratched each other during the fight and gotten blood on the porch, so a terrified Meg thought for sure they’d harmed Prince. She went tearing outside, and thankfully found him in the barn–sour faced and grumpy because she’d woken him from a nap.

But, I can’t just complain about them, because Prince and Princess aren’t all bad. Despite their sour temperaments, they are actually quite kind in the ways they’ll let you pick them up and cradle them, and they don’t bite/scratch even if you kiss the tops of their heads. (No, they’re way too conniving for that kind of simple retribution.) Princess has the softest fur, and although for a while they were really fat, Meg valiantly worked to slim them down, so they’re now a healthy weight. They’re friendly enough that they’ll bound around the yard with Meg, and they generally like to see what she’s doing and enjoy inspecting new visitors.

In conclusion, the real life Prince and Princess are very much like a typical cat in their ability to be gentle/loving, and their spiteful cat games. Thanks for reading, Champions! I hope you enjoyed learning more about Prince and Princess!