Reedsy recently published some great tips for fantasy authors–tips which can be easily applied to any fiction writing. Here is my summary of a selection of these tips.
Image: Pixabay
1. Identify your Market
If you think it’s enough to say, “oh, I write fantasy,” think again. With so many fantasy genres, readers tend to cluster around specific subgenres which can range from Harry Potter to steampunk and Young Adult.
2. Use Short Stories
This was a great tip, reminding us of the value of short stories to flesh out our world and characters. When you write these with the specific aim of excluding them from your novels, you will find that you have more creative freedom and can discover surprising things about your universe.
3. Tie your World-building into your Plot
The best example to describe this is Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. The whole fantasy premise flows…
I’m trying really hard to remain positive and find the patience to get through various events in my life. Of course, this had me thinking about patience. At least, I assume so because I only had the word written down as a post topic for today. Not sure if I planned a poem, humor, or something specific. It’s written with confidence, which means I really wanted to use it as a topic. So . . . where to go with this? Well, what things do we tend to get impatient with?
Characters
These voices in our heads can really poke at our buttons. One moment they’re on task and doing what we want them to do. A few minutes later they’re throwing the plot into a wood chipper while whistling show tunes. Many authors decide to force these characters to do what they are ‘supposed’ to do while others just toss the whole thing out. It wouldn’t end this way if we had a little patience. These obstacles appear for a reason and relaxing to take the time to think can reveal the source. Maybe you were focusing on the wrong character or having them do something that goes a little against their nature. Maybe the scene was boring and you needed to spice it up. The answer is somewhere in your head and patience is needed to find it.
The Audience
Okay, I’m kind of staying in the author realm here. We need to be patient with the audience because not everyone reads at the same pace. Not to mention, everyone has different tastes in books. You will commonly find a person who will grab a book that is out of their wheelhouse because they liked the cover. Let them ease into the book at their own pace instead of pouncing. Of course, this is entirely if you can interact with the audience, which many authors try to do through blogging. Getting an audience is another thing, which requires patience. Keep working hard and you’ll get attention some day.
Children
This really goes without saying Be patient with kids because they’re still learning how the world works. Oh, I guess I did say it.
Parents
They mean well.
Grandparents
Just help them with whatever technology they’re having trouble with.
Authors
Back to the topic at hand . . . Wow, this is becoming a train wreck. Anyway, people need to be more patient with authors. We work hard and have so many hoops to jump through before a book is done. Demanding that we finish by a certain time can only cause us more stress. There are also times when we wear down and need to rest, which isn’t the time to start talking about income and progress. Authors are humans and they require just as much patience as anyone else. We put the most amount of pressure on ourselves, so we don’t really need other people jumping into the fray. Not to mention, imagination can be fairly delicate, so constant pounding on the confidence can cause an author to give up completely. Patience is key when interacting with us and doubly so if you want to support our path. Few things hurt more than a person we depended on for support decides to give up on us.
Well, I’m not sure what else to write here. Share what you think about patience and how/why it’s important. Maybe I’ll remember the original way I was going to write this too. I doubt it though.
I wasn’t sure if I should put this up as #1, but it really shows the entire theme of 2018 for me. There are no tags or categories because this was a spontaneous and crushing announcement. Some things improved while others went even further south, but I guess part of me wants to revisit this. Guess I’m also curious as to how this one got the top spot since it was kind of a downer. Going to add a few notes here as well.
This post went live on August 11, 2018. (A month that will live in pain and infamy for me.)
*****
So, this is (was) a sticky because I want to make sure people see this. Everything else is still below and I’m writing this with a heavy heart. (Not gotten any lighter!)
Due to financial issues and personal developments (UNDERSTATEMENT!), this looks like it’s my last year of publishing. (Might have been a little too dramatic here, but it felt that way.) I have to put my time and energy into something that brings in money with the hope that I can return. Maybe I can release a book or two throughout the year, but I can’t guarantee it. At best, I can do War of Nytefall: Lost in September and pray that I can get War of Nytefall: Rivalry out in December. (I didn’t pull off the second part of this.) After that, I can’t make any promises.
My blogging is scheduled until end of October and I might not add much onto it. (This was just before WordPress told me I was on a massive posting streak. I’m determined to hit 1,000.) I’ll do a Saturday update, try to keep up with a few friends, and make a post or two throughout the week once November hits. Other social media sites will be even more difficult to keep up with in the future. That’s really only Twitter, so we’ll see what happens there.
I’m not happy about this and I’m crying. I wish I could have gone the distance and find that lucky break, but my time ran out. (It still feels this way.) Thanks to everyone who supported me. The published books will always be available, so I hope they will not be forgotten. (Sales say otherwise.) Maybe things will turn around and I can return. (If even as a personal project.) To everyone else who is still in the fray, good luck and feel free to send me a guest post that I can share. (Offer still open!) I’ll try to lend a hand to others when I can.
Seriously, I’m sure the furry bastards are going to lie. That or make absolutely no sense, but they get all this attention. I say we ignore them until the temperatures get above freezing. Actually, anybody ever think that disturbing a groundhog’s hibernation is a really mean thing to do? Eh, I’ll move on to the real post since I got my yearly mini-rant out of the way.
This week as a productive . . . decent . . . semi-productive . . . biking was . . . Hey, I woke up and got to work on time every day. I know I’m on Long Island and people have it worse in terms of temperature. Yet, the -15 we got after wind chill one day drained what little energy I had. Best part of this weather was the 15-20 minute white squall or whatever it’s called that hit. Horrible visibility, so you don’t want to be on the roads. Of course, I was out just before it hit to take my son to a doctor appointment. Thankfully, it was over by the time we got out and the roads hadn’t frozen over. Home safe and only somewhat tired from the ordeal because I hate driving in those conditions.
The work week was flanked by early wake-ups (2:45 am on Monday and 3 am on Friday) by my son. The first one was because his music wasn’t on and the other is because his blankets fell off the bed. This on top of the cold weather just drained me, so I was a zombie for most of the week. I had energy at work to avoid falling asleep when I entered a warm room and kept myself going. Have to admit that the midday conversations with my student actually gave me an odd charge. Overall, it was a really good week at the day job if I say so myself. This is in the face of that life upheaval situation gaining a few twists and turns.
All of this meant that I was physically and mentally done by the evening, so writing didn’t happen. I’m still only 1.5 chapters into War of Nytefall: Eradication. I have today to get further into it, but I’ll probably only get half a chapter done since it’s also the Super Bowl. My family always throws a party, so today is cleaning between sections and tomorrow is the actual day. A downside here is that the TV from my room gets brought down to the main room for everyone to watch. So, I can’t go to bed early and have to wait for the game to be over in order to move it back upstairs. Otherwise, I can’t put it on for the traffic and weather while I get dressed. The things we do when we have jobs outside of the house.
There really isn’t much else to talk about beyond a comical incident. My car is terrible when it comes to moisture. The condensation ends up on the inside of the window at times, which is frustrating. One morning, the doors and the locks were frozen shut, so I had to fight them. Used some WD-40 on the inside of the lock, but the door was still fused to the side of the car. I finally got the passenger side door open and got in to push the driver side door open. Since my car spent most of its life in Florida, it has some issues that include the inner plastic of the doors being very brittle. So, I couldn’t push it open without causing some more damage. Still, I got in and the car was able to drive. End of the adventure? Not quite.
Apparently, on my way to work, the driver’s side door frozen to the car again. Not sure if any of my coworkers saw me sitting in the parking lot for a few minutes trying to get the door open. There was the usual pushing, shoving, banging, odd facial expressions, scratching of the head, and finally getting the dang thing open. Now, my car can still drive, but I need a new one. Since the winters here can be pretty mean to cars, I’m holding out until the spring. This also means I don’t have to learn the ins and outs of a new car (mine is a 2001) while driving in snow or on ice. Yeah, Long Island isn’t like other places, but it isn’t pretty when winter really strikes.
Don’t really have any real plans for the week beyond the usual. I believe tomorrow is the last of the Top 5 Posts of 2018, which means I need to think of something for next Sunday. Maybe a call for volunteers for War of Nytefall: Rivalry? I have a week to figure things out and I might be busy next weekend too. Anybody want to promote something next weekend?
Goals for next week:
Stay warm!
Go to work and continue having fruit for lunch.
Book fair at school!
Maybe write a little War of Nytefall: Eradication
Do some outlining of the Sin Stories.
Pat the Ichabod Brooks notebook on the cover. Some day.
There’s always a temptation to push a monster character to the edge and let them dance around there. How violent can they be before the audience feels that they have gone too far? What about going in the opposite direction where their monster side is almost superficial? As I’ve stated before, a lot of this comes down to balancing the two sides of the character. You also need to factor in genre because a lot of gore can work in action or horror, but not really in romance or children books. So, let’s examine the two extremes since that’s where the risk is:
Too Much Monster
This is one that I worry about when it comes to Clyde in War of Nytefall. I need to keep him close to the edge because he has the monstrous rage, which the other Dawn Fangs didn’t inherit. There are times I need him to be violent and cut loose to remind the audience that he is a monster. The gore comes into play here since he’s hand-to-hand and tears people apart. Clyde can tear through an army if he decides that he doesn’t want to use any self-control. He doesn’t go into a blind frenzy, but he releases enough that he can be terrifying without losing the one thing that keeps him ‘human’.
And that’s the key. There’s a cap on Clyde because he wants a challenge from his fights, so he won’t really cut loose. His outbursts are rare and fairly controlled after the initial charge, which prevents him from going full monster. If he did then it would be difficult to draw the audience back into believing that he can work with humans or even his own kind. That idea of the monster being able to hold back their worst instincts is necessary to maintaining interest in their story. Once they go over that edge, it’s really hard to bring them back. Even if you do, people will always be waiting for it to happen again and that creates distance between the character and the readers.
Too Little Monster
Sometimes an author might focus so much on the human side of a hero that they’ll almost completely eliminate the monster side. This isn’t as jarring and violent as having them be an agent of destruction, but it brings up some interesting questions. For example, why bother having them be a monster in the first place if they have no problem interacting with humans? This can be undone by having them be an outcast and including members of their species who are monstrous. Yet, people might wonder how this hero even fits into their birth world since they’re far too human. You really do need some kind of dangerous edge to these characters or it feels like a barely thought out gimmick.
Another issue that can stem from this is if you have some ‘monster hater’ characters turn up. These are the ones who refuse to believe the hero isn’t out to eat humans and go out of their way to be antagonistic. If the hero is acting so human that you forget their a monster then you would start to wonder why these other characters are so suspicious. The whole subplot can feel forced because there is too much evidence to prove that this monster isn’t a threat to people.
Summing Up
Honestly, the only reason I did this section was because I didn’t want people thinking I was continuing the last one. All of this comes down to what you want as an author and what works for the story. You’re always going to have people that think you didn’t go far enough or went too far. It’s the nature of the beast in regards to working with beasts as heroes. These characters have a lot of pre-existing lore and preconceived notions to break through, so they won’t always hit their marks. Even Dracula has his haters who say he isn’t a good example of a vampire. So, just do your best and stay true to the character you’re creating.
Don Massenzio I’m pleased to feature author Ann Barnes in this edition of the 2019 Author Interview Series. Let’s take a look at the 10 questions she has selected to give us insight into what motivates and inspires her as … Continue reading →
As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
This is a topic I have been thinking a lot about since I decided to venture into the Kindle Scout program. Since you are required to provide an opening to your book and try to entice them to vote for your book based on what they see in that brief extract, being able to obtain and hold their attention is extremely important.
With that being said, I thought I would gather some tips on how to grab your reader’s attention at the beginning of a book to help out others as you create your masterpieces.
Give a hint of what to expect
In your opening, you can tip off your reader on what will be coming. I have tried a few different style openings in my own books. Since they are usually murder mysteries, I have sometimes used a variation of what I call the “Columbo opening”.
Image: Pixabay 
Legends of Windemere 