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Author Nicole Janeway

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Exploring Worlds Through Fiction

Portfolio website for fantasy novelist Nicole Janeway.

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Work in Progress

Sub-genres: coming-of-age, quest fantasy, romantasy

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book i

The Infiltration Plan

“It’s high risk, high reward—either a trap or the best option for…
book i, deleted scene

Asha & Eirian in Carrick

Hands tucked deep in the pockets of a new coat, Asha wandered…
book i, deleted scene

Apartment Asha

When the knock came at the door, Owen got up from where…

Bringing Worlds and Characters to Life

nicole_janeway

fantasy and sci-fi with lit-fic energy 📚
supporting writers 🙌
co-founder Atlanta Flash Fiction ✨

Lately, I've been busy with some behind the scenes

Lately, I've been busy with some behind the scenes work – planning to change my pen name 🙃 I just really wanted to confuse everybody now, before I get closer to publishing

I'm setting up an author website and distribution list, in case you'd like to be notified of new works and/or beta reading opportunities

This weekend, I celebrated America's birthday by watching The Handmaid's Tale (lol), and then my partner and I went for a little run up and around Kennesaw

On the way back, I made a flower crown (which is rapidly becoming my favorite decompression activity) while complaining about various things I have to fix in my WIP duology

Anyway, the posting might be fairly minimal this week while I get set up with the writer alias 😎

🏷️: writergram, writing update, writing a novel, burnout, writing community, writers of Instagram

this list plus I reread The Locked Tomb and you al

this list plus I reread The Locked Tomb and you already know those are all-time favorites

🏷️: fantasy books, contemporary fiction, litfic, sff, upper ya, book recommendations, book recs, bookstagram, booksta, writergram

it is so easy to get discouraged while working on

it is so easy to get discouraged while working on a long creative project

* I'll read critiques of other works and mentally assign them to my own unfinished writing
* I'll come up with a solution to a plot hole and then spiral because it either creates new plot holes or necessitates a significant rewrite
* I'll worry my work is derivative or else I'll worry I'll never be as good as the authors I admire

I think taking a break is really the best thing you can do when you get to the end of a phase of work (or you start to find yourself having anxiety every time you try to write or even think about writing).

I filmed this lil update at the beginning of June, then set aside my main project for a month and started kicking around ideas for a new standalone.

Now the month-long break is over, I'm back to tinkering with my main project again. I'm hoping that keeping the side project going as well will help me feel more balanced.

🏷️: writing update, writing a novel, fantasy novel, writing community, writergram, writers of Instagram

I heard star ratings are out, so I'm gonna try boo

I heard star ratings are out, so I'm gonna try bookstagram approved yes/no/maybe ratings.

YES
✅ /The Song of Achilles/ by Madeline Miller – this was such an effortless read. Miller's level of detail was just right, and the story was always tugging me forward. I found Patroclus a deeply empathetic and engaging narrator – I would have enjoyed him telling just about any story. Of course, the level of difficulty here was extremely low; the Iliad is already one of the best stories, but Miller's reworking is truly masterful.
✅ /Circe/ by Madeline Miller – Miller's craft is on full display again. Really enjoyed this as well, but the story felt more episodic, and it was harder for me to connect with the protagonist.
✅ /Monster/ by Walter Dean Myers – poignant and thought-provoking story of a kid on trial for an unaliving that happens during a crime he may or may not have participated in. He's crafting the story as a screenplay to help himself get through the trial. Thought this was really, really well executed.
✅ /Daisy Jones & The Six/ by Taylor Jenkins Reid – very fun, gossipy story about an emotional affair within a Fleetwood Mac-inspired rock band. [We also watched the Prime mini-series, which handles the romance beats differently, but is also great. The music is actually very fun in its own right.]

MAYBE
🤷‍♀️ /Lessons in Chemistry/ by Bonnie Garmus – some nice storytelling here, but reading this helped me understand that I personally don't prefer omniscient narrators. All the loose ends tie up way too nicely for my taste, but it was a fairly decent read overall. (This is a probably yes for you, no for me.)
🤷‍♀️ /The City We Became/ by N.K. Jemisin – this was so unique!! Jemisin has such a creative approach to worldbuilding. Pacing-wise, it reminded me of Broken Earth. But unfortunately, I found it really hard to get fully invested. I think it's definitely worth a try if you're at all curious about the premise.
🤷‍♀️ /The Buried Giant/ by Kazuo Ishiguro – again, very difficult to rate. It's a very dreamlike, highly symbolic book – almost like a really long prose poem.

NO
The rest. Will provide additional commentary on request.

best reading weather 🥹🥹 🏷️: bookstagra

best reading weather 🥹🥹

🏷️: bookstagram, booksta, bookish vibes, writergram, writing community, writers of Instagram

You got this!! 🏷️: writergram, writing a nov

You got this!!

🏷️: writergram, writing a novel, writing community, writing motivation, writers of Instagram, booksta, bookstagram

stop scrolling and go write your story 🙃 I'm ro

stop scrolling and go write your story 🙃 I'm rooting for you!!

🏷️: writing community, writergram, writing motivation, writers of Instagram, booksta, bookstagram

the weird things we do trying to get through a wri

the weird things we do trying to get through a writing session 😄😄

🏷️: writing a novel, writing humor, writing community, bookish community, booksta, bookstagram, wip

Saw this trend floating around, and I figured I ne

Saw this trend floating around, and I figured I needed to do it, especially since I've been trying to add to my physical collection recently 📚

((In defense of /Freshwater/, this book was a hard read largely because of the v__l_nc_ against women that it depicts. I would definitely give another book by Awaeke Emezi a try – I enjoyed her writing style and how she blended different mythologies together to convey the protagonist's unique background and psychology. And yes, I did accidentally spill iced coffee on the cover 😬😬))

🏷️: bookish community, bookstagram, booksta, book recs, book recommendations, writergram, writers of Instagram

I'm just being silly… We'll all get to completed

I'm just being silly... We'll all get to completed novels. One day...

🏷️: writing humor, writergram, writing community, writers of Instagram, wip, booksta, bookstagram, bookish humor

reminder: you can write very short fiction just fo

reminder: you can write very short fiction just for fun, and it only takes a few minutes.

every week, some friends and I meet up at a local cafe to write based on a random prompt. We set a timer for 20 minutes...

...it's brutal...

...then we share what we wrote.

It's a fun exercise, and even though it only takes a few minutes, I definitely feel like it improves my creativity throughout the week – I'm always trying to notice things that might make for an interesting very short story.

🏷️: writing community, writergram, writers of instagram, booksta, bookstagram, short fiction, greek mythology retelling, silly fiction

consider this your sign 🙃 🏷️: writing com

consider this your sign 🙃

🏷️: writing community, writergram, writers of Instagram bookish community, booksta, bookstagram

do we have any in common? 🏷️: writergram, wr

do we have any in common?

🏷️: writergram, writers of instagram, writing community, booksta, bookstagram

I'm planning to really challenge myself and write

I'm planning to really challenge myself and write an extrovert as the protagonist of my next book 😄

but, like, is that even legal?

s/o to @lexiheathermoor for the great audio

🏷️: writing a novel, character development, writing humor, writing community, writergram, writers of Instagram, bookstagram, booksta

save money. buy indie books from your author frie

save money. buy indie books from your author friends.

went on a nice book thrifting date with my partner. Can't wait for him to read Flowers for Algernon and cry 😏

🏷️: book recommendations, book recs, bookstagram, booksta, writers of Instagram, writergram

what to expect when you read my stuff – sibling

what to expect when you read my stuff

– sibling dynamics: if you ask me why I like a particular piece of media, I'm very likely to talk about the sibling relationships (if present). I am endlessly fascinated by sibling rivalry and devotion, functional and dysfunctional relationships, birth order, and family systems in general.

– coming-of-age and young adulthood: I write upper YA fantasy, so this shouldn't be surprising. For me, nothing beats a story about the late teen years of first figuring out who you want to be.

– love triangles: HEAR ME OUT 😂😂 my favorite way to use the love triangle is where one love interest reflects the protagonist's current beliefs, the other one represents the future (think Gale and Peeta)... It's not about creating tension over who the protagonist will choose. It's about asking whether they're ready to face their future.

– dialects: also endlessly fascinated by how people speak. Every character needs their own unique diction, based on their background, personality, and interests.

– ruining the protagonist: like all authors, this is my favorite thing to do 🙃

– greatest strengths that are also greatest weaknesses: I think this is the case for every interesting character.

– appreciation of the natural world: and a healthy dose of fear.

– turning my mental health issues into jokes for the imaginary audience in my head: that's it, really.

what meme best represents your writing?

🏷️: writing community, writergram, writing a novel, fantasy novel, booksta, bookstagram

still thinking about Alecto the Ninth how fun wou

still thinking about Alecto the Ninth

how fun would it be if we ended up getting an additional book?

🏷️: The Locked Tomb, GtN, Gideon the Ninth, the black vestals

fantasy sports romance in a secondary world with n

fantasy sports romance in a secondary world with no magic

/The Hunger Games/ if the teens weren't trying to k!ll each other

/The Goblin Emperor/ if instead of an opera singer, the love interest was a gymnast, the story took place during an expo, and it was a proper love triangle

✫ ⋆｡˚˙✧˖°

still in the early stages with this one! Would you read it?

🏷️: writing a novel, ya fantasy novel, romantasy novel, upper ya, writergram, writers on instagram, bookstagram, booksta, wip

taking little creative breaks is good for you and

taking little creative breaks is good for you and your project

but it's so hard to do 😄😄

🏷️: writing humor, writing process, writing progress, writing community, writergram, bookstagram, booksta, writers of Instagram, wip

I'm rooting for you ☕🙌 🏷️: writer commu

I'm rooting for you ☕🙌

🏷️: writer community, writergram, writing a novel, writing motivation

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