I’m choosing, with this round of storytelling, to dive into ‘harder topics,’ and things I want to write about. I want to give my worlds more nuance, my characters more stakes, and hopefully more heart. I write for everyone but I cannot deny my experiences–Black experiences–are what have shaped me and should shape my writing. I’m adamant about this because of the erasure of my Black characters in THE DARK WORLD series by white readers.
‘THE TALES OF SINNER SHARPE: DARK WATERS’ Excerpt: Bats
This helped shape the nature of the story: Sinner is an outcast from this island. He has no magical ability, same as all from Othril, and when on the mainland, this lack of magical ability is apparent—he is ostracized not only because of his physical dark features, but his inability.
It was always my intention as of late, with Sinner Sharpe to delve into the horror he’s facing–not physical horror–at least not yet, but the mental horror. He’s seeing horrific visions, he’s losing large gaps of time, he’s being attacked on his ship (an already enclosed space) for weeks.