Guest Post & Excerpt: Tab Bennett and the Inbetween by Jes Young

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Jes Young, author of the urban fantasy novel Tab Bennett and the Inbetween. She is here today to talk about what she learned about writing urban fantasy by reading the work of nine bestselling authors and the father of modern fantasy. As an urban fantasy reader and writer myself, this is one of the most fascinating posts I have ever seen. I can guarantee you will recognize at least some of the authors she mentions. I hope you all enjoy. And don't forget to check out the excerpt from the book below. I don't know about you but after reading that, I am dying to read Young's book.

 

Thank You Mr. Tolkien

 

By Jes Young

A couple of years ago I decided I wanted to write a book about elves. I imagined it as your basic good versus evil, light versus dark, princess in disguise fantasy story with a beautiful heroine, a handsome prince, some unresolved daddy issues, and a quest for revenge. Easy breezy, I told myself. This won’t take any time at all.

Then I sat down at my desk and, drawing on everything I’d learned about writing fantasy fiction by watching the Lord of the Rings movies, I wrote the first draft of Tab Bennett & the Inbetween….

….And that’s when I realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know anything about urban fantasy or paranormal romance. I didn’t even know the difference between the two. (I’ve since figured it out.*) I was in way over my head. As is so often the case, I found the solution to my problem in a book – in many books actually. Here’s what I learned about writing urban fantasy by reading the work of nine bestselling authors and the father of modern fantasy:

• From J.R.R. Tolkien I learned that people will believe what you tell them to believe. If you do it well enough they’ll forget they ever believed anything different.
• From George R.R. Martin I learned that constructing a world and its mythology and then moving everyone around in it is difficult and time consuming but worth the effort.
• Charlaine Harris reminded me that characters should be flawed but likeable – just like actual people.
• Karen Marie Moning and her excellent Fever series taught me that a cream puff can become a tough cookie with the proper motivation. Also never to trust a man who can manipulate time and space or cause mind shattering orgasms through sheer force of will.
• In the Merry Gentry series Laurell K. Hamilton introduced me to the necessary mix of magic and menace and power. Also tentacle sex . . . but that’s a different story.
• The compulsively readable Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole showed me how to use an enigmatic and (almost) all-powerful character to guard rail the plot when things get messy.
• Gena Showalter and the Lords of the Underworld showed me how to overcome my inhibitions and write sex scenes without worrying that my mother was going to read them
• Jeanine Frost taught me the value of a sense of humor.
• J.R. Ward and the Black Dagger Brotherhood confirmed what I already knew: vampires are dead sexy.

These authors taught me a lot, gave me a lot to think about, and, completely without their knowledge, made me a better writer – which in turn made Tab Bennett & the Inbetween a better book.  I owe them each a muffin basket and a great deal of gratitude.

For an urban fantasy, the first draft of TB and the InB didn’t include much in the way of the fantastic. It just didn’t occur to me to include any. I said they were elves, so they were. I guess I expected the reader to take my word for it. Needless to say, I fixed that in subsequent drafts and I’m happy to say there’s plenty of it in the book now – and more to come in the next book. I thought I’d share an excerpt from Tab’s first brush with magic with you guys now.

Many thanks for having me over today, Jennifer. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and your readers! Now it’s their turn to talk to me. I’ll be checking in throughout the day so feel free to leave questions or comments!

* Urban fantasy is the combination of fantastic elements, like elves or fairies, and realistic settings, like elves or fairies who live in New York City and work at the New York Times. If it’s a paranormal romance, they have sex on the desk.

Summary
Yesterday Tab Bennett was a bank teller. Today she’s at the center of a centuries old war between Light and Dark. Tomorrow...well let’s just say she’ll be lucky if she lives to see it.

Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, employed at the local bank, and finally living on her own for the first time at twenty-four years-old, Tab Bennett has no interest in a fairy tale life. She’s perfectly happy with the normal one she already has. But when her sister is murdered on a moon-dark night, revealing a world of power and magic she never dreamed existed, a fairy tale is exactly what her life becomes. Figures it would have to be the Grimm kind.

Just like that, the life she had planned is over. Instead of cashing checks and handing out lollipops, Tab is unraveling clandestine assassination plots and learning to wield the magic that is her birthright. And as if fulfilling her destiny isn’t hard enough, she’ll also have to choose between Robbin, a man who’s turned out to be a lot more complicated than the proverbial boy next door, and Alexander, the handsome prince whose smile leaves her weak-kneed and weak-willed.

Now, while Tab struggles to hold on to the human world she’s always known and understand her place in the magical one she’s just discovered, dangerous forces are gathering close to home. If she wants to live to see happily ever after, she’ll have to figure out who she can trust, who wants her dead, and why. The answers will change everything she believes about herself, the people she loves, and the place she calls home. Add on Goodreads

From Tab Bennett and the Inbetween

Pop and I sat across from each other in his dimly lit study. He held my hand, palm up, pressed between the two of his. I felt calm and light and strangely far away. I looked up and saw stars where the ceiling should’ve been. I could see the Milky Way. I could count the loops in Orion’s belt. “Do you know where Rivers is?” he asked in a quiet, almost sing-song voice that called my attention back to him. “Where is your sister, Tabitha?” Colors began to swirl in his eyes, the blue darkened until the iris was such a deep navy I could barely see the pupil. “I don’t know,” I said. I was having trouble thinking straight. My mind felt cloudy. My body felt like it would float away if not for the magnetic pull of my grandfather’s eyes. The color shifted to the barely-blue of the sky on a cloudy morning. I stared at him, unable to look away, as the color of his eyes drifted from gray to blue to black. I didn’t answer him or blink or move. I watched the colors, lost in the tempest.  This must be what a concussion feels like. “Look harder. Are you sure you don’t see her?” His eyes became the color of ripe blueberries. “No.” Once again the color drained from his eyes, leaving them a misty, washed out gray. “I think you do see her,” Pop whispered. “Look again. Be brave. Only you can see her where she lies.” His eyes darkened to nighttime sky. I watched the stars twinkle and burn there, mirroring those on the ceiling. “Tell me what you see.” I answered without thinking, without knowing what I would say. The voice was mine but the words were not. “I see betrayal and blood and deepest darkness. I see light and magic and sex.” Pop’s eyes went lavender – the same strange shade as mine – and he dropped my hand like it had burned him. The clouds in my head cleared instantly. “I want to stop now,” I said, stepping away. Pop shot to his feet. “We will stop after you have told me what you see.” He grabbed for my hand again but I pulled it back. My cousin George, who I’d honestly forgotten was even in the room, subtly moved between us. “I don’t see anything,” I insisted. “Why are you lying to me?” “How can you accuse me of lying? We all know I’m not the member of this family who is pathologically incapable of telling the truth.” George actually gasped. “Meaning?” Pop’s narrowed eyes were their regular cloudless blue. “Meaning that you have done nothing but lie to me and everyone else since the night Molly disappeared. Meaning that Becky and Rivers might still be alive if you’d told the truth from the beginning. Meaning that I can’t trust you at all anymore.” Pop looked furious for a split second before he straightened his tie and smoothed his hand over his silver hair. “Since this conversation is pointless, I am going outdoors to find the others. Perhaps I can be of some help in the search.” “I doubt it – unless they need someone to stand around barking out commands.” I was shaking as he left, shocked at myself for yelling at Pop, which was something I never did. When I looked at George, I could tell he was shocked too. “Well that was unexpected,” he said. “More like overdue,” I replied, sounding braver than I felt.

Author Bio
Jes Young was a copywriter at Random House for eight years before leaving the job she loved to be a full time mom to two babies she loved even more. She holds a BFA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Like so many first novels, Tab Bennett and the Inbetween was written between the hours of 11PM and 2AM.

Links

 blog: http://www.jesyoung.com
fb: http://www.facebook.com/jesyoung3.tab
twitter: @JesYoungWrites

Buy at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble