As most of you know, I am a member of Rave Reviews Book Club. One of the objectives of the club is to recognize outstanding talent in its membership. A literary group has been established within RRBC named Rave Writers – International Society of Authors (RWISA). This month the club is featuring these authors on a tour. I will be hosting them throughout the month and I hope you enjoy being introduced to some excellent writing.
Karen Ingalls
A FISHY DAY
By Karen Ingalls
It was one of those wonderful August days when the sun was high and warm in the sky. The big cumulus clouds slowly drifted by, creating designs that filled Jim’s imagination, who at nine years could see all kinds of amazing sights. He had been playing with his model airplane in his aunt and uncle’s yard, where he spent the summers on their ranch in San…
This is my second guest post on the site—or perhaps open letter is more accurate. It’s great to “speak” with you all again. As for those that missed my initial post some months ago around the time of my debut novel’s release, allow me to introduce myself to you. First off, please don’t be wary. I like to think I’m a decent person. And though I’m sure you’ve been told more than a few times to never talk to strangers, this is the internet. Where comments from the unfamiliar are routine and pseudonyms are no more worth noting than an errant twist of string on the carpet.
Without further ado, I go by the name, Nicholas Rinth, though I do love monikers and have plenty of them. Ranging all the way from Mallow to Blob and even obscure things like Nyang, so if you’d like to give me…
As most of you know, I am a member of Rave Reviews Book Club. One of the objectives of the club is to recognize outstanding talent in its membership. A literary group has been established within RRBC named Rave Writers – International Society of Authors (RWISA). This month the club is featuring these authors on a tour. I will be hosting them throughout the month and I hope you enjoy being introduced to some excellent writing.
Fatherhood is a slight theme in The Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks. He is proud of being a father and there is one story that involves a father/son. Another involves orphans being escorted to their new homes. Originally, I was going to do the 7 Humorous Tips type of post for this, but then I realized something. I couldn’t really think of many fantasy fathers. Most of them fall into these categories:
Deranged father who the child has to overthrow.
Deranged father who the child works for.
Dead/missing father who the child either looks for or wishes to live up to.
Missing father that doesn’t come up in conversation.
Killed at the beginning.
Parents in general seem to be fairly expendable in fiction because authors love to take away that layer of protection for the protagonists. If there’s anybody who is going to stop a character from going on an adventure then it would be their parents. With them being dead, you don’t have that ‘obstacle’ and most people can relate to the idea of avenging the parents. If not that then simply not having someone to stop you, but the point is that they aren’t in the picture. Yet, I’ve seen more dead fathers in fantasy than mothers. If the latter is dead then the former is either already dead or died with her.
You also get more of the absent father stuff in fantasy. They’re simply not in the picture for one reason or another. I’m not sure why this is. Sometimes it sets the father up as one of the villains or a future encounter of some kind. Yet, I’ve seen it usually just be a vestigial aspect that comes up once. ‘Your father was a great man who died’. ‘Your father was a horrible man who abandoned us’. ‘We aren’t sure who your father is because we want a big reveal later’. I guess with fantasy typically being medieval settings, it’s easier to believe that the father is out of the picture than the mother. Actually, I think that goes for these days too because people really don’t touch on single father much outside of comedy or stories where he finds a new wife. I wonder if there’s a genre here.
Anyway, a lot of this went through my head when I was designing Ichabod Brooks. In fact, it was the big part of his transformation. He started as a science fiction character who could survive on the toxic surface of Earth and worked as a Diver, but he was an anti-social hermit. When I decided to make a hero who had a family, Ichabod came back to my mind and changed. The biggest factor for his personality going from anti-social to friendly was him having a son. He became a guy who would happily talk about his family, especially his son. Yet, he is restrained on this topic because he doesn’t want to reveal too much about the kid to potential enemies. So, you get a sense of pride for his son while also a desire to protect.
How did I come up with that? Naturally. I used my own feelings toward my son to design Ichabod. Still, I wondered if there had to be something different since Windemere is a magical world. That’s where the trophy collection came from. I don’t always make it clear what Ichabod takes back for his son, but he has a trinket from every adventure. This is because he has a dangerous job and wants his son to have things that remind him of the man he is. These are physical items, but he will have stories written down for each one and goes over the collection with his son all the time. More that he answers questions and lets him examine the safer items. Not that there is anything dangerous, but he wants to be careful.
The more I write this post and think, the more I realize that you don’t see a lot of fatherhood in fantasy. They really do get placed more often as fallen heroes, drunks, absent, abusive, dead, and other roles that don’t involve raising the child. Am I complaining? A little bit because I’m at a stage where I’d like to see more male characters find balance between family and the big job. Maybe it is because we connect fantasy to a period of history where men didn’t do much, if anything, for child-rearing. Maybe male characters are simply more expendable because we’re used to them dying in droves. I just can’t figure out why the closest things I had to getting help with Ichabod was thinking about myself and remembering ‘Lone Wolf & Cub’. Only difference is that Ichabod’s son doesn’t go on the adventures, which might be for the best.
Anyway, what do you think about fathers in fiction? Is there a change to this role that you would like to see?
Don Massenzio This week, I have the pleasure of featuring Author Robert Eggleton on this edition of A Perfect 10. Please enjoy this week’s installment of A Perfect 10 If you want to check out past interviews, you can find … Continue reading →
I love having audio books, and I love listening to audio books. Recently I was helping another author with advice on getting her books converted to audio. I thought I’d share my notes.
A quick guide on turning your book into an audio book with ACX – part 1
Why should I turn my book into an audio edition?
Audio books are very popular – they are great for the commute to work (which is usually when I listen to them), around the house, in bed or just about anywhere. Many people don’t have the time to sit and read, but as an audio book can be playing whilst you do other things a listener can hear and appreciate the story and not need to put time aside to look at a book. They are also, of course, a great format for people with restricted sight, who might find it…
First, I just realized that goal posts like these never show the music video in Twitter. It takes a picture if I put one in the post or my black & white author photo from a few years ago. Learn something new every day.
So, this week came and went fairly quickly. Maybe not that quickly, but my brain is a slight blur. I’m still getting used to the oral appliance, so my sleeping isn’t improved by much. I think last night was the first one where I felt like things were getting better. The problem is that the top still hurts and I think one side of the bottom part needs to be tightened. The other is on there good, but it feels like I can wiggle the other like it’s a loose tooth. Tuesday is adjustment day, so we’ll see what happens.
Writing-wise, I made some major progress on Derailing Bedlam. I could feasibly finish it by the end of next week if nothing goes wrong. That and I get to write a section tonight and tomorrow night. Even if I don’t finish, I’ll get it by the following Monday or next weekend. Then I have a week and a half to prep the September posts and start working on the December guest posts. Can’t believe the summer school is already down to 2.5 weeks left. I don’t know what I’ll be working on between that and the first day of regular school, which is another 2.5 week span. Maybe outlining? All I need for Path of Traitors is one more piece and then I’ll have a September release. I’ll only have nights, so outlining will probably win unless I still have guest posts to write up. When the kid is home, parenting takes the lead. Speaking of parenthood:
I no longer have a 7-year-old. He’s 8 and we had his bowling birthday party today, which is why this post is late. Wanted to have the real fun to talk about. All of the kids had a blast bowling and my son even got a few strikes. This is very impressive considering he never aims and is too busy jumping in place out of excitement. There was no stopping this, but why would you? We spend so much time trying to get him to act calm that one day of letting him give in to his hyperactivity isn’t bad. He even got to wear the crown his teacher made for him.
Here is where the writing and parenting collide a bit. I’m going to have to type with really sore thumbs. Partially self-inflicted. My son is big into superheroes and asked for a lot of superhero Lego sets. Also, an ultra-soft Batman plush blanket that makes me wish for colder weather, so we can share it. Seriously, it’s one of those blankets that cause you to get drowsy just by putting it to your cheek. Where was I? Ah . . . Here is the Lego haul that we’ve yet to tackle:
Wolverine & Magneto Micros
Lego Batman Movie: Clayface
Lego Batman Movie: Joker’s Lowriding Limo
DC Superheroes: Brainiac Attacks (Only set with Martian Manhunter)
Avengers Tanker Turmoil or Something
Spider-Man Robbery
It doesn’t end there. He got enough gift cards and a check to cover one that I’ll admit to wanting myself. You see, I only get to put these together with him. Once the sets are complete, I can’t touch them without permission. So, building is fun for daddy. We’re heading out tomorrow to get:
7. Lego Batman Movie Batcave (1,047 pieces)
Spaceship, Spaceship, Spaceship was 940 pieces. That took 4 hours and an entire morning. We’re thinking of getting this in the morning and tackling it all afternoon. I’ll admit that I mentioned getting a small 8th one just because it feels weird stopping at 7 when he turned 8. Might be a little masochism at work here too.
My hope is to get all of these built by next weekend and do a post with all of them. Figure that would be more interesting than me talking about writing a bit more of Bedlam and the oral appliance. Not unless something amazing happens at his first swimming class, which is going to make the Lego Bonanza difficult to maintain. Maybe I’ll do a goal post and Lego post on Sunday. Anyway, let’s look at the goals:
Write more of Derailing Bedlam
Put together 7-8 Lego sets with son.
Ice thumbs
Get oral appliance adjusted
Wonder why my thumbs are twice their normal size
Mix up the Batmen masks (he’ll have 8) and female hero’s hair when he isn’t looking.
Read more Claymore. What is keeping #24?
Contemplate the fate of humanity
Admit that I should watch a lot less news and act accordingly
Ichabod Brooks has had a long and exciting life that could fill many books with adventures. His youthful years were reckless, but he survived and gained the skills that would make him a legend. The middle of his career showed that he had no fear and he developed his reputation with a little help from bards. Now, he’s a seasoned veteran who is mellow and hard to truly surprise.
And it was only that third stage that I bothered writing about because I liked the idea of a protagonist with a history. The only problem was I didn’t know how much of it I should plan out beforehand. Too much detail would take away from the current story and I didn’t want to have him start at the beginning of his career. It would undo the desire to have a hero who had a family life. Not to mention the amount of time I’d be putting into crafting stories that I didn’t plan on writing. Those days/weeks could have been better spent writing the things I planned on publishing. So, what did I do?
Dug right into the third stage of life stories and crafted pieces of a history as I went along with outlining and writing. Every character he works with brings their own tales to share with Ichabod. Just reminiscing about the old times as they add more adventures under their belts. I like how you get to piece his experience together and it doesn’t take away from what he’s doing. Just like with his wife, Ichabod’s past is a puzzle that you get to discover as you read along. It helps fill out a character who has already lived a good portion of his life too. You don’t so much see him evolve, but see how he did it to become to person you see now.
Maybe I’ve spent so much time writing stories about heroes starting out in their careers, so this still throws me. The champions are all met at the beginning of their grandest adventure. Cassidy and Lloyd are introduced to each other at the same time the readers meet them. Clyde will be met when he becomes the first Dawn Fang and kicks off that event. Ichabod Brooks doesn’t fit with these characters because he’s not on an epic adventure and is older. I don’t need to bother with him training or learning the ropes of adventuring. It’s a little disorienting at times too because it means he keeps a cool head and can connect to a previous experience. As much as I can have Ichabod be surprised, it isn’t the same as someone who is new to the life.
This mystery past of Ichabod is another thing that keeps me coming back to him for more adventures. What I write about him now will reveal where he’s been. It’s almost like two adventures in one, which I hope the readers feel at times too.
Karen Ingalls 
Yvette Calleiro 
Legends of Windemere 