Let’s get a few War of Nytefall: Lost teasers in! I don’t really get to highlight Bob and his powers very often. So, here’s a fun one that shows him in his glory. Continue reading →
Write every chance you get. Write every day if you can. You should be thinking about writing or actually writing whenever you can.
Reading is so important. You should read every chance you get as well. Read good writing and read about writing. Balance fiction and non-fiction to help you improve your own writing.
Use your everyday observations to help you with coming up with surroundings, characters and situations for your stories. You can do this by keeping notebook with you, or if you’re not afraid of being stared at, use your phone and a recording app and pretend your on a call while you make note of what you see.
Check your writing for repetitive words and phrasing. If you find yourself using the same words repeatedly, refer to a thesaurus (Shift-F7 in Word) but don’t confound your reader with extravagant utterances and locutions that will flummox them. (Fancy…
There are many types of quests out there, which have been used throughout mythology, history, and fiction. You have hunting down a villain, finding a mentor to save the world, and the long journey. Another that doesn’t turn up as often as I originally thought is the ‘Collecting Quest’. Not the official name, but I couldn’t think of any other way to name this specific plot line. So, what does it entail?
It’s rather straightforward and you probably know by the name. A set of ‘things’ or parts of a single ‘thing’ have been spread out across a landscape. They are needed to stop whatever the antagonist is about to do. A great example is the Triforce from ‘Legend of Zelda’, which you need to gather the pieces of to defeat Ganon. On a less world-saving level, you have Pokemon where you have to catch them all. So, the set is not always of things that can be physically connected. You can have other people hunting for these with their intentions either to replace the hero, solve a personal problem, or help the villain. The core point of these stories is that the protagonist is searching for these items, which fall into the MacGuffin category. There, I used the word, so nobody has to say I was avoiding it any more.
The funny thing is that I started this topic thinking I’d have a ton of references. Yet, I found that I was sticking almost exclusively to video games (Legend of Zelda), cartoons (Pirates of Dark Water), and comics (Inuyasha). You have it kind of turning up throughout the Marvel movies since Thanos is gathering the Infinity Gems or the final book of Harry Potter with the Horcruxes. Still, I’m finding that I’m hard pressed to think of more literary examples. ‘Lord of the Rings’ would have been this if they were gathering all of the magic rings instead of trying to destroy the One Ring. Anyway, I’m really saying that novels don’t use this plot line nearly as much as other media.
A reason could be that it is fairly simplistic and can get routine. In Legends of Windemere, the champions need to cleanse all of the temples and regain their power. I realized early on that this could get rather boring if it was nothing more than a series of dungeon crawls. That’s why the series has a solitary story for each book alongside the overarching one. For example, Charms of the Feykin involves the temple that Delvin Cunningham has to clear, but not until the end. The rest of the story involves the mysterious happenings that caused Delvin and Sari to suddenly claim themselves to be the Feykin’s Generals. This story line gives them another reason to enter the temple and fix what has gone wrong instead of simply powering Delvin up. These ‘dungeon crawls’ also lead to something important for the characters. Delvin and Nyx became closer on this story, Timoran’s allowed him to regain his confidence, Luke had a difficult decision, and the list keeps going.
The point is that you need to do more than the collecting of items, which become nearly background. I think many authors who attempt this try to make it the only highlight instead of having it be the vehicle. Character development and personality will be a big driving force for the audience to care about the story. I’m currently reading ‘Rave Master’, which is a manga where the hero has to gather the 4 pieces of an artifact that can defeat an evil one. I’m more interested in the characters and how they evolve than the actual quest because they stand out. They have flaws and personalities, which overshadows the fact that this is nothing more than an elaborate ‘Collecting Quest’. This difficulty might be why you don’t see it in novels that often, especially since it works best in a more episodic style instead of it getting drawn out.
So, what do you think of this kind of story? Can you think of any examples? Is it more a piece of the foundation than the whole show?
Diversity and identity politics can be a minefield. In my science fantasy series, Pearseus, I had as diverse a cast as possible, with strong female leads, a main hero of Indian descent, another one of Chinese descent, Masai warriors, a lesbian leader, etc. Even so, I got flak from people who felt their preferred minority was underrepresented because, for example, my warrior heroines were slim and slender (even though one of my favorite characters, Head Priestess Tie, was a big woman with a shaved head).
So, should we, as authors, shy away from diversity?
In one word, no. With Pearseus, I didn’t set off to create a diverse cast; it came about organically as that was simply what fit my characters. I seem to have an eye for the quirky and the unusual when people-watching and that shows in my own work. And I find it boring when I write stories with…
Well, here we go. The first of our Top 5 2018 posts . . . or would this be the last since this is #5? I’m actually surprised how easy it was to get these together since none of the ones at the top were reblogs. Anyway, let’s start with one that got a lot more responses than I expected when I first posted it.
War of Nytefall is very much an action adventure, so the sex side of vampires doesn’t really come out too often. The Dawn Fangs will demonstrate having urges from time to time, but much of it really centers around Chastity. I might have it come out more in future volumes, but it isn’t a priority now.
To be honest, I never fully understood why vampires get associated with sex so often. I mean, they’re dead and that’s kind of gross. Not to mention, it’s strange that the equipment can work unless the vampire is able to use blood to get the job done. Then again, they do feel pain, so pleasure could be in there too. Either way, I don’t see why anybody would want to or why these creatures would care. It isn’t like they can reproduce and it always seems they enjoy feeding more than sex. At the very least, they’d enjoy it more with each other. There’s just so many questions that never seem to get answered because vampires are so intertwined with carnal desires.
The truth is that vampires began with a connection to sexuality, but Bram Stoker’s Dracula reduced this because of the times. Sexuality wasn’t discussed in public and the non-sexual vampire remained for a while. They still seduced, but the actual act didn’t return to their mythos for a while. Apparently, it isn’t too surprising since the whole fangs penetrating flesh is seen as an analogy for intercourse. Yet, people still argue over vampires and sex all the time. Some think that’s where they should be, others think it’s unseemly for fiction, and others fall in the middle. Personally, this makes me wonder if vampires originally stemmed from the succubus and incubus myths. Those are the demons who seduce men and women respectively.
So, what do you think about vampires and sex? Is this a part that’s essential or do you think it’s unnecessary in their stories?
Is anyone willing to do a review of Vengeance of a Slave in return for a free copy of the book? Please let me know if you would do this. I can send you a file in any format you wish.
There will be no obligation to review the book, but if you do, please say in your review it was a free copy. Amazon gets a bit sniffy sometimes.
Let me know if you would do this and what format you would like by emailing me at vivienne.sang@gmail.com
If you are unsure about what to write in a review, I did a post about it on Nove 20th Follow this link here.
Thanks.
Here’s a bit about it.
Adelbhert is only six years old when he is forced to watch his father and other men from his village being crucified in revenge for an attack on the Roman…
Does 2019 feel any different than 2018? Not really since everything from last year has basically carried over. It would be nice if the ball dropping in Times Square set off a spell that gave everyone a clean slate in terms of stress and issues. Guess that could get messy though. Speaking of the ball dropping, I spent that night at home and was supposed to wake my son up for the event. Picked him up out of bed an hour beforehand and he spent the whole time staying asleep in my room. He woke up the next morning asking why I didn’t wake him up, so I showed him a picture to prove he was asleep the whole time. I was smart enough to tape the event, so we’re all good. Now, let’s categorize here:
School/Work
I went back to work on Wednesday and it was a little wonky getting back into the groove of things. Keep in mind that I started the week of Thanksgiving, so I haven’t had many full weeks of school/work. Overall, it was a good three days where I felt like I was happier and more relaxed. That isn’t to say things went entirely smoothly, which I can’t go into details because it’s fairly ‘person’ specific. Coming off a 1.5 week break always has some bumps in the road, but things got back to normal by Friday.
Now, here is where something unexpected turned up. There are three levels of Teaching Assistant and I’m a 1. To be a 2 and then 3, I need to take 9 credits of college courses and have a year of experience for each one. For a few weeks, I’ve been trying to find out what types of courses and would get either no response or a canned one from the Department of Education. I must have asked the right way this time because I was told that my college transcripts are on file. That’s odd . . . Why would . . . Yup, my Bachelors Degree work count towards going to Level 2 and 3. That means I can put in for them once I get the proper experience period locked in and focus more on finding an online Masters program to get my teaching certification. I found a system for SUNY (State University of New York) schools that have 100% online programs, so I’m hoping to get in there. Saw my alma mater on there too, which is what I’m aiming for if they have the right programs. I’m trying to decide on going for English Education, Secondary Education (English BA), or Reading and Literacy Education. That third one is more nuanced, but I’m seeing a lot of schools of all grades pushing Reading and Literacy more. It could put me in a program at the University of Buffalo, but I don’t have to go there to get in.
Writing
I finished editing War of Nytefall: Rivalry and handed it off to my alpha reader. It was pointed out that someone stepping into the series here will have trouble getting into all of the characters, which I’m going to work on. On the other hand, I’ve had a feeling that this will be a weakness of the series. Unlike Legends of Windemere, this series has a lot of introductions right off the bat and includes jumps of years instead of weeks or months. It isn’t a traveling adventure too, so characters are settled into structures and lives instead of wandering on a quest. There was a gradual introduction of the champions while the Dawn Fangs are fairly blunt and in your face. I’ll have to see what else I can do and hope for the best here. Not having any other test readers who can help me get the book ready to publish in April (that means finishing by the first week of March) does put me at a disadvantage. This is me getting back into the swing of things and writing/publishing will be a side project/hobby from now on. The career is teaching and I’ll find balance eventually. Feels painful writing that, but it’s what it has to be until my situation settles.
As far as new stuff, I was going to start writing War of Nytefall: Eradication this week, but it didn’t happen. My evenings became too cluttered and the last category will tell more of this. For this weekend and week, I’m going to be focusing on preparing posts for March to clear up my time. Once next Saturday hits, I’m going to begin writing the next book. I might only be able to get 2 chapters done a week at most, which means 9-10 weeks instead of my usual 4-5. That’s a pretty big drop and the main reason I’m retiring Bedlam after this adventure and saying Ichabod Brooks is a distant release. This Nytefall book would be a December release too. Used to take pride in being so prolific, but that stage of my life is over. Wish I could keep things moving along, especially since I still have nearly 30 other series to work on before I’m worm chow. If I’m lucky, I can reduce the writing time to 6-7 weeks and use Ichabod as a breather. That’s going to be even harder to do if I start classes for a Masters. Only so many hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the month, months in the year, and years in the lifespan.
Downtown Abbey?
Exercising
I’m trying to take exercising and eating healthier more seriously. I only bring a sandwich with yogurt, fruit, and veggies for lunch. Being at work means I’m not snacking, which is a good thing. I’ve been told that I look a little thinner, but I don’t feel it. With exercising, I’m trying to do 15 minutes of biking every weekday. This is tough because I need to wake up at 5 am and get my Internet stuff done in 30 minutes to get on the bike by 5:30. That gives me an hour to bike, shower, get dressed, make food, and then get my son up for school. It doesn’t help that mornings are cold and getting myself to leave the warm bed in exchange for shorts and a t-shirt is a challenge. I get derailed during non-work days too and that forces me to bike at night once my son is asleep, which then cuts into the limited writing time. You can see how my stress isn’t improving that much because I’m trying to balance so much here. How does society expect people to enjoy life or avoid mental illness when it’s designed to keep you running from morning to night? The least life could do is have it that humans burn calories from the rat race.
Goals of the week:
March and early April blog posts.
Talk to cover artist about War of Nytefall: Rivalry
So many meetings and appointments.
Make granola bars.
Do more Graduate School research.
Start writing War of Nytefall: Eradication
Weather permitting: Zoo trip.
Exercise more consistently.
Have a more interesting goal post for next Saturday.
Thanks, Chris, for having me back today. I’m so excited to talk about my new publication, Voyage of the Lanternfish.
This one is a pirate fantasy, and features all of the magic, monsters, and mayhem you might expect from one of my stories.
Today, I’m sharing an excerpt. I don’t usually go with these, but admit they boost interest in the story. This section occurs early in the tale. The characters have just fought a bunch of black cloaked assassins, and are leaving the city for good in a couple of wagons.
Johnny set a brisk pace away from the port.
Dan stuck his head out of the caravan. “What’s his hurry?”
“Even if there aren’t more assassins, the night watch isn’t going to ignore all that gunfire,” James said. “Besides, we even touched off the swivel gun. I don’t feel like answering questions tonight.”
Welcome to the only place that provides authors with the merchandising choices of their dreams. We don’t even charge real money. Oh, we’ll get to that part near the end because you don’t want to ruin the surprise. Now, what kind of event are you preparing for? A convention, a book signing, a contest, a craft fair? We recently had one author who was promoting her book during a dog sledding competition. She was in the race and we had to create some specialized merchandise. So, what do you need?
Conventions are common and simple, but only if you let them be. The vendor room is cutthroat since people rarely bring enough money to spend on everything they want. I know they have cards, but many get uncomfortable once that comes about. You mentioned it being a fantasy series and you already have books to sell as well as stickers and bookmarks. Not a bad start, but do your bookmarks project holograms of your characters? I thought not. Those are our best sellers and you can make it that each one has a random character. Make them a collectible set and you can sell hundreds. Oh, those are the freebies? In that case, I’d just pick your favorite character and leave it at that because the scramble for all of them only helps if people are paying.
How are you on signage? Decent banner and flanking standing signs, which are more than most people have. Now, I don’t want to push you too hard on this, but what about screens that show various scenes from your book? Nothing with spoilers, but an animated depiction of a few action scenes could draw people to your table. We can even have it done in a way that it travels from this side along the raised banner and down this side. If you are worried about revealing too much then you can write an action scene that isn’t in the book and use that. Spelling and grammar wouldn’t be important here as long as our programmers get the general idea. We can include these prismatic cubes that can show the buyer these scenes whenever they want. They come in key chain size, but they cause the human brain to imagine that they’re on a big screen. I’ll put you down for a maybe on this one.
Now, we do have some fun fantasy specific merchandise that will require some information from you. Come this way and you’ll see that we have a working forge in the back. Our blacksmiths can create the signature weapons of your characters, which you can sell for any price of your choosing. We also have jewelers if there are unique pieces in your stories. This is fairly popular among fantasy authors, but you have to make it clear that none of these are magical. There have been some problems with buyers suing for false advertising since they assume replicas of fictional weapons possess powers. That should be easy to fix. Another special service is that we can craft an animatronic version of a monster that appears in your books. Space is an issue, so don’t ask for a dragon if you can’t get it into the room. Since this is something you would want to sell, you might want to go for a small amount of fairies, tiny dragons, goblins, or anything that you can pack into the back of a van. Then again, you could also have one big thing that you keep outside and run a raffle. That’s been successful in the past, but you will have to warn those running the convention.
Was there anything else you wanted? Hats, mugs, t-shirts, and phone cases are all options that we can go over in a few minutes. My real job is to get you interested in our more unique services. Oh, you want to know about the payment now? Step over here and have a seat. Don’t worry about the helmet being put on your head. I assure you that it isn’t hooked up and my hand on this lever means nothing. All of what we can provide will be yours for the simple price of an idea. Give us one of your story ideas and we are at your service. Could be a full series or a single book as long as you let us take it from you. Why? What if I was to tell you that I’m from the future where humans no longer have imaginations and I’m sending the ideas of modern humans back to try and revive the creativity of our species? Now, should I pull the lever or not?
Legends of Windemere 