You all make me happy… happier even than my tea habit! (Photo by my tea-sharing friend Andrea Beaulieu.)
Huge thanks to my creative, supportive potential readers who contributed the following ideas to include in my DelFaerune Rhapsody novel series (in-progress). I could not do this without you!
– Ann
Critique partners
- Dotti Enderle
- Lisa Hood
- Sheila Larkin
- Angela Myron
- Paul Narcisian
- Karen Nunes
- Sonya Weiss
Beta readers
- Chelle Davis
- Jennifer Hartz
- Sara Rebennack
Maori and New Zealand words, pronunciation, and culture
- Daphne McKenzie, my new Maori friend in Australia
- Maori Dictionary
- Maori Language Pronunciation
World-building consultant
Cutter Videan
• Various Delfaerune, Fae, and plot ideas discussed over numerous Pei Wei lunches
Vegetarian recipes for the Noble Fae banquet scene
Joanne De Biasi
• Stuffed squash blossoms
Syd Hoffman
• Quinoa salad with organic peas and corn
• Spinach salad with onion, strawberries and balsamic vinegar
Barbra Kebba Buckley
• Rice-stuffed grape leaves
• Nutmeat paté en croute
• Corn squash with piñon-nut stuffing
Songs for the heroine Lark’s iPod
Barbra Simon Anderson
• “Mummers Dance” by Loreena McKennitt
Deb Bader
• “I’m on my Way” by The Proclaimers
• “Get on Your Feet” by Gloria Estefan
• “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers
Veronica Barrera
• “Song of the Lonely Mountain” by Neil Finn (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
David Campbell
• “Happily Ever After,” or “All About Us” by He is We
Eduardo Cervino
• “Rumba Azul” by Armando Oréfiche–The Lecuona Boys
Joanne De Biasi
• “Love on Top” by Beyonce
Karen Mueller Bryson
• “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves
Cynde Cerf-Dehmer
• “Sunsets” by Powderfinger
Sandy Anders Crockett
“Protectors of the Earth” by Two Steps from Hell
Mark R.Hunsaker
“Jump in the Line” by Harry Belafonte’s (from his 1961 album “Jump Up Calypso”
Kathy Jones Miranda
“Your Heart is Black as Night” by Melody Gardot
Paul Narcisian
• “Runnin’ With the Devil” by Van Halen
Salih Rashid
• “Song for Mia” by Lizz Wright (folksy, sad)
Cassandra Reeves
• “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles
Marsha Sandoval
• “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles
Marcus Silving
• “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera
Kris Tualla
• “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers
Codi Videan
• “Wake Me Up” by Avicii
Robert Videan
• “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” by Izzie
Fae version of roshambo (rock, paper, scissors)
Cherie Scott
fist with thumb up = tree houses creature
two fingers curved = ‘bunny ears’ creature eats leaf
thumb and forefinger in oval (kinda like holding a guitar pick) = leaf tops tree
__________________________
Write on!
Ann Narcisian Videan
Write • Edit • Self-publish • Word-of-mouth
Ann Narcisian Videan: Book Shepherd/Editor/Author 
You mentioned needing ideas for this book series at your Tempe Library workshop. I thought about it and have some ideas for you. It might be interesting to have the three instruments belong to gods of their lands. The citizens have angered or disrupted the realm in some way and that’s why your heroine needs to collect and master these instruments, to bring peace back to the gods. I think it would be a unique element for the Lark character to have become deaf and virtually no one knows because she is so good at concealing it and plays all her instruments by memory of the notes and feeling the music vibrations. When I watched the movie Book of Eli, the late reveal that the main character was a blind hero was quite intriguing. I think if Lark were deaf, it’s a plot element that can add unique moments of conflict and peril for the character throughout the story. Maybe as a reward for restoring order through the instruments, the gods grant her sole access to hear the instruments in unison, essentially the most beautiful sound in the universe, and it restores her hearing.
Alee, what a great idea! Thank you. I will definitely consider Lark’s deafness as a conflict point for the second book! Thank your brilliant mind for me.