The Good Advice I'm Glad I Didn't Take

When A King's Trust was in the editing phase, the first couple of beta readers immediately disliked Beau. "He's too much," they said. "He takes up too many causes, he gets too easily overwhelmed, he's kind of annoying."

And that's, you know, not what you want to hear about the character in whose head the story takes place.

I spent a few days sitting on the feedback, but eventually I decided I wasn't going to change him to be any less autistic, less ADHD, or less of a passionate bleeding heart. In fact, I went through and amped up all his unique qualities a little, adding back some of the things I had thought might be too much, but that felt authentic to me.

Those were the same things his peers in the book didn't like about him. But they were also what made him the person Elias loved, the person his found family on the isles loved, and the person Penny would come to love, too.

So I hit send on a book with an annoying male main character. Nerves abounded. And then people started to read and review it, and again and again, Beau was their favorite part. Some actual quotes from the first handful of reviews I pulled for this:

What a good, loving, caring man with a traumatized inner child...Beau is complex and naïve and has a heart of gold. I've never felt more attuned to a character.

"Beau was my favorite: such a sweet, kind-hearted man, doggedly determined to try to do the right thing. Also, as a reader with ADHD and a history of self-harm, I thought his experiences with both were thoughtfully, beautifully portrayed."

Beau is the kind of protagonist who is very easy to root for: he is deeply personable and cares strongly about doing what is right...

"...my favorite character, the main character, Beau. He is an incredibly real and believable MC, and one of the most relatable that I've ever read...his view of the world was so eerily similar to my own, for better and worse. His thoughts about his own bisexuality and reading people, his opinions on tattoos...his hypersensitivity and his imposter syndrome made it so easy for me to understand him, the plot, and further reflect on my own character."

"I've always wanted to read a fantasy book about court intrigue with an autistic character at its center, and this absolutely delivered. The autism & ADHD rep in this is great and honestly even hit a little too close to home sometimes."

"...if you don't love Beau's character then something may be wrong with you (kidding...sort of...Haha!). He is a traumatized, sarcastic, misunderstood and underestimated sweetheart who doesn't like violence but can turn deadly in a heartbeat. He is my definition of 'cinnamon roll book boyfriend'."

By letting Beau be unapologetically "too much," he found his people. They resonated with him, they got to see him become the hero, the leader, the loved one, and they loved him for all his quirks, flaws, and realness.

And as the person on the other side of the keyboard who's been "too much" plenty of times in my life, it's pretty gratifying to find the folks who love my little AuDHD prince as much as I do.