POWER STUDY

This short story was written for my email newsletter subscribers. I like to include exclusive content in each of my issues like a deleted scene or an extended excerpt, and, by this time, Ari and Janco had gained quite a fan base (don’t tell Janco!). Readers wanted to know more about the power twins, so I started writing Power Study. I sent it out in eight installments. I enjoyed writing from both their POVs, but I must say, Janco is my favorite character to write. He’s just fun.

Ari and Janco started out as two soldiers who were tasked with tracking Yelena in the Snake Forest when she played a fugitive for a military exercise. I planned for them to become friends and teach her how to fight. I didn’t plan for them to become family or be so integral in all the stories. I really didn’t give them backstories as I expected them to disappear after Yelena learned how to fight and defend herself. However, bits of their backstory did emerge on the page, but obviously not enough.

As I mentioned before, my characters reveal themselves to me as I write them. I usually have a general idea of who they are, like with Ari and Janco, they’re partners, inspired by Battlestar Galactica. I loved the relationship between Apollo and Starbuck in the original 1978 series; they were partners who would do anything for each other. Ari and Janco have shown me parts of who they are, but there is still more to discover and understand. I know I’ll learn more about them when I write The Study of Magic and The Study of Fire and I plan to explore how they met. I’m intrigued as well!

The events in Power Study come after Fire Study and before Storm Glass.