I keep a ton of notebooks, just because I never know when I’ll get a chance to write. I’m not always at my computer when I have time to sit and write, so I have a lot of scenes in notebooks. It’s pretty much all stuff for book three, so that one is going to put me through a lot of typing up hand-written ideas later on. The scenes are already detailed and well laid out, so I just have to transcribe them.

Sometimes I’m not in the mood to write, so I draw various characters. It’s usually someone for a scene that I’m on, which is great because I can think about them as I’m drawing, and that helps be when I get back to writing. What have they been through, what motivates them, what’s important to them?

This is a couple from Book Two: Traipsing Light and Shadow. At one point, Prince Zarrek is attanding an academy designed for nobility, and these are some of his fellow students there. They come from Mithkyn, the kingdom know for bardic talent and playfulness, and they’re the only people from there that Zarrek can actually tolerate. The young man is Dioni Astrus, the youngest son of a baron (so he’s not at all high-ranking). He has nothing better to do, and in Mithkyn they don’t expect the noble to train as knights unless they want to to, so he is enjoying his time at the academy.
He is courting the girl in this picture, Rhiannon. She is the daughter of a count, but does not expect to have too many responsibilities, since her olding siblings will be looking after most of them. She is not afraid to tease Zarrek, although it’s never to be mean; just to be playful. She ends up becoming close friends with Eledrynne and a certain princess who shows up later (I’m not telling!).
Dioni gives advice to Zarrek when he is willing to listen, and while they are not best friends, he is one of the few people whom Zarrek can count on. He is reliable and predictable, something that our moody prince has not really had in his life.
These two are only around for a part of the book, but they are still important to helping Zarrek mature. They’re very light-hearted and help keep things from sinking into a dismal mood the whole book.