Legends of Windemere Fantasy Bundle #1
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Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Guest Writer – Frank Prem – Welcome to Beechworth, Victoria, #Australia
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More Challenges Faced by Indie Authors
This is the second in a series of posts centered on the challenges faced by indie authors as we try to compete in the vast ocean of competitors/cohorts that is filled with sharks and other predators. Here are more that I’ve come up with to get you thinking and to foster a discussion:
The Stigma of Self-Publishing
I refrain from calling what we do self-publishing. I am an independent author. My publisher is Amazon. Instead of having services provided to me by a traditional publisher, I outsource them to providers that fit within my budget and style.
I recall trying to join a local author group and being refused because I was “one of those self-publishers”. Truth be told, I had essentially published more books than the total of all of the authors in the group. Many of them were waiting for some big publisher to say yes. Of those…
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Fantasy Armies: Popular Tools of the Trade
Chronicles of Narnia
This theme is probably going to be very similar to the City Guards week from December, but that isn’t surprising. Guards and soldiers get used interchangeably in a lot of fiction because they are part of the setting. The nameless warriors who are there to either be in the background, push the heroes to the next plot point, or be taken out in a scene to show how powerful/evil the villain is. Yet, there is one subtle difference between the two that drives me to do a week for the military characters. So, what am I talking about?
That would be location. City guards are in the city and that’s where they tend to stay. It’s in the name and they are closer to police than soldiers at times. While still working for the same kingdom, soldiers are more prone to traveling away from the city. They patrol the wilderness instead of the streets and march to war when necessary. You tend to have larger armies than guard forces too because this is where the true might of a nation will be displayed. Gear might differ as well because guards need to chase criminals while soldiers need to clash with their charging enemies. This could mean the military has stronger armor, heavier weapons, and more advanced technology such as catapults. Not that different from the real world.
Even with all of that, guards and soldiers tend to get the same roles. Unless they are going to join the main or supporting cast, these guys are nameless victims of the story. You do get a grander scale with armies though. Think about how often you see two opposing forces crash together like tidal waves of bodies and metal. It sets a chaotic and bloody scene for the heroes to work within, but it doesn’t do anything to develop the armies beyond ‘the fight and die’. We really do rate battle scenes on the enormity of the forces and the brutality of the fighting, which really drives home the idea that these nameless characters are fodder. Heck, I remember ‘Game of Thrones’ gloating in December about one of the final episodes having ‘the biggest battle ever shown in a TV show’. That tends to mean a lot of soldiers on the screen with no reason to be there other than fighting and dying.
It’s not the deepest role and it is kind of sad since any character who steps out of the army to be more than scenery loses something. They may still be a soldier, but they aren’t part of an army for the most part. At the very best, they are acting as a representative of that nation for the sake of the story. It’s not that easy to do the jump either. Those with high rank would come off as odd if they’re taking orders from the main hero, so they might create tension in the cast. Those of lower rank might require more orders and fall further into the background until they become something else. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it is a challenge for a fantasy author, especially if the story involves adventuring. The life of an adventurer is one that doesn’t always follow the rules, which is the opposite of the law-abiding soldier.
Have you ever used a military character in your story? What were some of the challenges?
How You Can Grow with Self-Publishing
Great list that brings some positive clarity to the life of a self-published author. We really do overlook the changes because we focus more often on the challenges.
Happy President’s Day to all the Story Empire readers! Best wishes to everyone and enjoy the day if you have time off.
Being a writer is lonely and being a self-published author can be trying to the nerves as you constantly juggle writing, publishing and marketing. The latter can challenge even the most stouthearted among us. The question can often linger in our minds if we’re actually doing anything useful, but we manage to keep going just because we enjoy the creation of a book and we love books!
Our view can often be myopic as we’re just too close to what we’re doing to notice how the writing changes us. But there are changes and there are affects that make a difference. Let’s zoom out from that up-close view and take look at the bigger picture. Here are some ways that self-publishing can benefit you as an author:
- You…
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Guest Post: Katia Raina
Please welcome to the blog the awe-inspiring Katia Raina, who is here to talk about her young adult novel! Take it away, Katia!
I find myself at a thrilling turn of my life’s journey. Today, I am the debut author of Castle of Concrete, a young adult romance set in 1990s Russia, coming this June from Young Europe Books. Once a relentless journalist, now a goofy middle school English teacher, always a stubborn early morning writer, I am excited to share a bit of my story with you here on L. Marie’s blog.
My story starts across the ocean in a small Ukrainian city, then Siberia, then Moscow, Russia.
On the outside, I was a quiet Russian girl (photo at left), a shy one, an odd one. On the inside, I was Jewish, and proud, even though I knew early on it was not a thing to advertise…
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This Week in Indie Publishing
Hello,
This was a relatively popular feature on my blog and I’ve decided to resurrect it. I will try to curate four to five interesting stories each week related to Indie Publishing. I hope you find them useful and enjoyable.
5 Tips for Self-Publishing a Book
Have you always wanted to see your words in print? Publishing a book used to be a drawn out, complicated process that was left only to the pros. Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to get your words out there thanks to self-publishing.
In the Kindle Store, 31% of all e-book sales were for self-published books. Those are good stats if you’re hoping to earn a living from writing alone. Whether you’re experienced in the world of publishing or this is your first project, here are 5 tips for self-publishing your book in no time.
1. Don’t Skimp on Editing
Editing your book is what…
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April Post Idea Drought
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To be honest, these posts usually don’t get a lot of attention. Yet, I’m finding myself struggling, so what do I have to lose? I’m trying to come up with posts for April, but there’s a catch:
They have to connect to War of Nytefall: Rivalry in order to help hype the new book.
So, the topics can involve vampires, specific characters, fantasy, the series, or writing in general. I can use the book as an example. This isn’t going to be easy since people haven’t read the book, but it’s worth a shot.
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Tagged april, author, blogging, Dawn Fangs, fantasy, ideas, vampires, Windemere, writing
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Goal Post: Winter Break as a Teacher (Assistant)
Where to even start with this week? Well, I took my son to see Lego Movie 2 last Sunday, so we’ll start there. Not as good as the first one, but still very entertaining. I like how they incorporated both worlds this time. It’s more musical than its predecessor, which isn’t a bad thing. They had fun with it and there are some fun twists. We went to the Lego Store afterwards to pick up some sets since you can’t take a kid to a Lego movie and expect him to not get some afterwards. This was a great way to end last weekend . . . and step into a really odd week.
Very early Monday morning, my son got sick and it resulted in me spending most of the night doing laundry. Of course, he couldn’t go into school and I wasn’t able to get anyone to change their schedule to watch him. My first time taking off from being a TA and I really didn’t know what to do with myself. Felt so bad about not being there, especially since the next day was a snow day. Not for my son, but for my school district. I just kind of sat around working on War of Nytefall: Rivalry posts. I wanted to work on my book, but the snow day call came at the same time as my alarm. The combination just threw me off, so I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. The rest of the week went somewhat smoothly. Learning that things don’t always go as planned when dealing with teenagers, which I’m sure I knew beforehand. If a nine-year-old is a challenge then an older kid isn’t going to be any different. Part of the fun and challenge.
What else to talk about? I didn’t get any writing done on War of Nytefall: Eradication because of time and tiredness. Barely getting any sleep at the start of the week did a number on me. That personal issue I’m unable to talk about sapped my strength too. Honestly, we should just assume that that event is talking a lot of energy and attention from me. Ended up earning a new health issue, but it isn’t anything to be too worried about. Either caused by going from cold to warm temperatures or stress, I get a full body itch around the end of the day. Half a dose of Benadryl helps, but I’m getting things checked out today. Had the doctor’s appointment anyway. My hope is to get one chapter done this weekend, but we’ll see what happens.
I do feel weird about my writing time and ability. Since I’m still trying to get into the swing of things, I don’t do much during the week. I probably could if the itchiness and cold weather weren’t draining me. At some point, my schedule will adjust itself to let me do biking between getting home and my son getting back too. To be honest, I started War of Nytefall: Eradication about a month and a half ago and I’ve only done 3 chapters. That’s out of 18, which used to take me about 2 months. That’s what happens when you get a day job, which takes priority. I’ll figure this out eventually. I’m getting things together to apply for a summer camp job too, so I won’t get those two months off and they might be busier. If I can, I’m going to work on Ichabod Brooks stuff during that period and maybe Nytefall will remain a school year project. Using weeknights to prepare blog posts after my son goes to sleep helps too. I’m getting ready to start scheduling April posts and I’ll be asking for topic suggestions tomorrow. Though, I’ll be focusing mostly on my vampire series.
This week is Winter Break, so I’m focused more on having fun with my son. I don’t get to play with him as much as I used to, so this is a treat. He still has some appointments, but we’ll figure some things out. We’re seeing ‘How To Train Your Dragon 3’ on Friday and I would like to do an animal-related outing at some point. That second one is going to be tough in the winter, especially since he has appointments. The weather might be gross too, which means playing inside. Trying to avoid video games as much as possible since he’s become a little obsessed. We still have a few science projects in a kit that he got over the holidays, so I’ll try to talk up one of those.
Oh, this happened at 8:04 PM EST with Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,953 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
- #29 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Fantasy
- #43 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic
- #48 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
Seems the freebie ‘sold’ 21 copies and shot up the ranks. I don’t know if it got any higher since I’m writing this Friday night. Seriously, nothing is really going to happen between me finishing this post and it going live. If the numbers get better then that’s great and I hope it has an effect on the rest of the series too. Not sure what caused this either.
Considering this is Winter Break, I’m not really going to bother with goals . . . Yet, I really should do something:
- Spend time with son.
- Rest up for return to school.
- Write some of War of Nytefall
- Finish the blog tour posts.
- Biking would be nice.
- See ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3’.
- Watch more ‘Seven Deadly Sins Season 3’. I like Escanor a lot more than I expected.
- Really should request more books from the library. Down to two.
That’s really it. Hope everyone has a fun weekend.
Phases of a Story: The Churning Gas of . . . No Clean Way to Do This Title
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I had to think long and hard about this one because I couldn’t really put my thoughts to words. There was a moment of giving up and throwing the concept out to everyone for how they would do it. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to call it quits when I’ve come so far with the theme. I mean, the analogy has to work somewhere. How could liquid and solid be connected to writing, but gas is impossible? It shouldn’t be and I’m going to bring this theme home.
First, what is gas? It is an air-like fluid substance, which expands freely to fill any space available, irrespective of its quantity. Yes, this is the dictionary definition. I see this as an ephemeral phase of matter because you can’t really hold it and it drifts away so quickly if you see it. Think about how your breath dissipates on a cold day instead of hanging around. It’s this hard to grasp, but still exists side of gas that keeps drawing my attention here. There has to be that part of writing where you know something is there and are trying to contain it. This can lead to the ‘gas’ becoming a liquid and solid, which means I’m not at the end of the path. I might be at the beginning.
Once you have your idea locked down, you move along and don’t really consider the earliest stage. We talk about how the idea came to us, but immediately jump to when it became solid. Yet, there was a moment, either brief or extended, where you were struggling to grab that spark of imagination. Without a doubt, it was there and you know you needed it like you need oxygen. Yet, you kept having to chase it and find a way to creation the conditions to make it solid. Maybe you left it alone and it congealed while you were doing something else. Perhaps meditation worked or you simply brainstormed off the feeling until something clicked. The point is that you began with an ephemeral, barely there idea that grew into the story.
This means, the gas phase of writing is much harder to control than liquid and solid. It doesn’t appear when you want it or expect it. This part just materializes on the periphery of your mind then gradually gets closer to the conscious mind. You are along for the ride at the beginning since you might not realize it’s there. This isn’t to say that you can’t grab it by the horns and wrestle it into submission, but that can leave pieces of it behind or damage the idea. Perhaps at this stage, we’re all pantsers because we aren’t working off a plan. This is where the plan is forged, but it has to be at the proper pace or you will lose it all.
Personally, I tend to ignore these sparks for a bit to see if they stick around. Long ago, I got so many that it was impossible to chase them all, so I let the strongest ones survive to be nurtured. The others vanished back into the ether only to stay gone or return connected to another spark. It makes one wonder if an idea can ever truly be destroyed or it simply changes into something else like matter.
So, what do you think of this ‘gas’ phase of writing? Does it make sense?
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