In 2006, I finally listened to that inner voice telling me to do what I’d always wanted to do– write novels. Then there was the question of what to write about. While I was busy with another hobby of mine, genealogy, it came to me. My family history contained many stories that needed to be shared, so that’s where I started.
Fortunately for me, I love to do the historical research involved. What I love even more is filling in the details that make the story come alive. And there’s no one living to tell you that you got those details wrong. Another great thing about historical fiction is it’s not time sensitive. The stories never go out of date. History is always there– a great pool ready for you to jump in. And for the reader, it is much like fantasy– an unfamiliar world to escape into.
The impossibly moving story of how Judy, World War Two’s only animal POW, brought hope in the midst of hell.
Judy, a beautiful liver and white English pointer, and the only animal POW of WWII, truly was a dog in a million, cherished and adored by the British, Australian, American and other Allied servicemen who fought to survive alongside her.
Viewed largely as human by those who shared her extraordinary life, Judy’s uncanny ability to sense danger, matched with her quick-thinking and impossible daring saved countless lives. She was a close companion to men who became like a family to her, sharing in both the tragedies and joys they faced. It was in recognition of the extraordinary friendship and protection she offered amidst the unforgiving and savage environment of a Japanese prison camp in Indonesia that she gained…
This is what we’re seeing as a family today. Should be fun and I’m really curious to see a nature show on the big screen. It will be a nice cap on a long and rough week. Let’s categorize:
Family Life
The zoo trip last Sunday was a great success and we saw everything, except for the Madagascar exhibit. That was closed. Monday was a fun play date for the little guy and Tuesday was just resting before school on Wednesday. Oh, I set up an Easter Egg Hunt around the front and back yard last Saturday since the zoo trip meant he couldn’t do any of the public ones. There should be some pictures of that in tomorrow’s post. Overall, it was a successful, but tiring Spring Break. Kind of hard to jump back in the saddle, especially with what else is going on.
Mood
I’ve been switching from cranky to depressed lately. Trying to force a more jovial mood when on-line or in public. Getting harder by the day since the stress continues to pile up for some reason.
Legends of Windemere
Ritual of the Lost Lamb will be released eventually. The book is edited and the blurbs have been tested here. All I’m missing is the cover art. That’s where a problem that we can all relate to came up. Remember when my computer died a little ways back? Same thing happened to Jason and it’s much worse for an artist than an author. We can use a notebook or work at the library while a new machine comes in. Artists need certain hardware and software since they work with pictures. So, that’s what happened. Nothing can be done about it because these things happen. Technology makes our jobs easier, but these are the risks. I hope people are looking forward to the book and are supportive even if it comes out later than expected. You might get some rapid-fire releases from me since I have Ichabod Brooks coming too.
Ichabod Brooks
Thanks to all of the beta readers who got back to me within a two day period. I’ve been going over your notes and suggestions. I’m glad everyone said that they liked the stories. This is my first attempt at a short story collection, so we’ll see what happens. It’s tough because I treated each one like a separate entity.
Dawn Addison
She says hi.
Kira Grasdon
Why would I mention her? Curious.
Protecting Bedlam
The blog-only story is coming along smoothly. I only had 3 days to work this week and I got 2.5 chapters done. This is a difficult project since I’m writing a book and it’s going to end up on the blog. Some sections might be long because of this and I can’t chop it up any more than I already have. Sorry about that. Another issue is that people seem to be getting more sensitive about politics and social causes. It’s making me nervous when I touch on certain characters and situations. Doesn’t help that I’m throwing physics out the window more often than in the previous stories, which is driving Lloyd nuts. I do hope people get a kick out of this and I don’t get a beating in the comments. People really go crazy over these things.
Manga
I’ve been reading more manga than books due to time and distractions. Had to put Fairy Tail on the side because my wife is reading my stuff. Not fair for me to go ahead, so I’ve been working through Soul Eater. The question is what to go for after I finish this one. I’m thinking of Rurouni Kenshin or (for insanity’s sake) One Piece. The library has all of the volumes for both. Kenshin is shorter and complete, but I’m really curious about how far One Piece has come since I stopped reading long ago. Think I have a few weeks before I have to decide.
Goals
Laundry and writing tomorrow.
Write more of Protecting Bedlam.
Poke at the superhero ideas.
Make contact for Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks cover. (Title opinions?)
Look over the last two Windemere books to get an idea of editing time. They run alongside each other, so it helps to edit one after the other.
Cooking as usual.
Speaking of #5, I’m getting a little nervous that I’m not thinking about Legends of Windemere as often as I used to. Maybe it’s because I finished all the first drafts and there’s nothing else I can do besides editing and publishing. Did I make a mistake finishing it all so early?
A novel is like a pinball game. Once the shiny new character leaps into motion, it encounters the bumpers and flippers of the plot and bounces wildly off, tracing out the unique path of tension and surprise we call a story. Done right, a novel is a thrill dispenser connected to your neural architecture. For the author, it’s an even bigger gamble.
I cut my teeth reading literary novels by women authors… Louise Erdrich, Barbara Kingsolver, Jane Smiley and Ann Patchett. The adventure novels I write these days are a cross between speculative fiction and women’s fiction. Why? Because the writer must always heap tons of trouble on their characters to build the ending’s payoff, and in our society, women as a group endure a lot just by living, let alone being cast as fictional characters.
Craig Boyack’s March 8 guest post about speculative…
I don’t know if I’ve ever written a post about mentors in the Legends of Windemereseries. I’ve talked about the mentor characters on their own and how they influence the heroes. For example, Selenia Hamilton has been getting brought up a lot since the early days. Makes sense since she was the first one to appear along with Kevin Masterson and Duggan Ironcaster. Later would be Queen Tempest, Cyril, Willow, and a couple others. Some keep appearing while others have only shown up once and have never been heard from again. Also, only 4 of the 6 champions have mentors. Dariana doesn’t have one and Sari has simply never talked about the clan members who she looked up to. So, I can see how mentors fall by the wayside when I talk about the series.
The thing about the Windemere mentors is that most of them are still alive. It’s always a big thing for the hero to see a mentor die and then learn to fight without them. Hasn’t happened here except for that one time that I can’t reveal here. I think a big reason for that is the mentors have typically stayed out of the real fights. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Gandalf went on the adventure. Those who taught Luke and Nyx stayed put after their teachings were done. Some fights happened in their area, but that’s on home turf and that’s always an advantage. These are seasoned veterans that would be a challenge away from their comfort zone, so they are even more dangerous when attacked at home. They don’t show up a lot either, which keeps them safe. The Baron has no reason to worry about the mentors since they’re content to stay out of the prophecy.
There is one question that comes up in my mind and from other people when they read even the first book. Is it a good idea to avoid killing mentors and supporting characters? I wouldn’t say I avoided it, but it never felt right. The deaths would have come off as weak and almost pointless because of how limited the page time for these characters were. I believe there really should be a reason for a character to die and that it should carry a weight. Even if you do it within the course of one sentence while someone is talking, there should be more than shock value. At least for me. Not to mention, people seem to expect the teachers to get taken out. It’s practically in the role description in some people’s minds.
As I start looking at the end of Legends of Windemere, I do begin to wonder if I was too soft. Perhaps this is why I have such high body counts in Crossing Bedlam and Chasing Bedlam. Kind of like a compensation for myself since I don’t think the audiences are crossing over. Anyway, I look over what I’ve done and the idea that I went too easy on the cast does come to mind. I’ve always believed that the death of a character is the end of their story. They can come back as a ghost or be resurrected, but that’s something that shouldn’t be used a lot. Even then, they don’t really grow and change like the living. I put this mentality toward the mentors as well, but then I’ve realized that these are typically characters that have reached the end of their evolution. It’s really too late to second guess myself since everything in my series was happening for a reason. A character lived because they had no reason to die. Kind of mean to off them simply because their role is done and it could hurt a hero.
So, what do you think about mentors and the tradition of them dying? Is the way it should usually go?
Welcome to my stop along the Springtime Book & Block Party route. Let’s get the preliminary stuff out of the way first. I’m giving two prizes away, and you don’t have to be a member to win. All you have to do is leave a comment, and a random draw will decide the winners. Contestants are only eligible from North America, due to the restrictive cost of shipping.
So what could you win? How about one of these awesome coffee mugs, featuring my personal assistant, and the spokesmodel for my writing career, Lisa Burton the robot girl.
Look how beautiful that marble bust looks, oh and Lisa looks nice too. These things are huge, and you’re going to want one.
This time the party took me by surprise. Last time we did one of these, I timed a book release around it, and that worked out extremely well. I don’t…
First of all, I do how one beef with a WordPress change. Where in the world is the Underline toggle? I see Italics and Bold. No sign of underlining, which is a fairly common practice. I have to use Ctrl-U every time, which seems to go against the idea of making things easier and more user-friendly.
On to the real topic, which is . . . How is everyone doing out in Blog Land?
I ask because my traffic has been pretty bad. Likes seem to flow in pretty easily, but not much in the way of comments. I was thinking it was just me since I haven’t been reliable in my book releases, I’m running out of interesting topics, and I’m still having bouts with depression. Yet, I do see people wondering the same thing, so maybe it’s an across the board issue. Wordpress might be losing some of its luster from when I started a few years ago.
Can’t say I’m surprised or that I think it’s permanent. I think there’s only one person from my first few months of blogging that I still interact with and/or see activity from. Many have disappeared, taken a short break that led to disappearing, openly quit, became nothing more than reblogs, or just left my circle. Not that I have much of a circle to begin with. I’ve been seeing a lot of groups turn up, which is cool. Remembering my own time in one of those, I can only imagine the dedication going into those. Time and energy aren’t in abundance with me right now. The little I have tends to be shifted toward my own projects because I really want to finish Legends of Windemere this year. Not that I’m bored with the series, but it’s written and I feel I should get the whole thing out there before my life takes more unexpected downturns.
Back on topic, I do wonder if more bloggers and authors are receding into their own corners because traffic is lower. There’s a rise in newsletters and I’ve seen some authors do those only with no blog activity. Maybe something on Facebook, but they go silent or show up with less consistency than before. So, is the blogging platform becoming a dinosaur like Myspace and launching books through open windows? That last one might be more of a potential felony than a dinosaur thing. Guess I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on or if it’s just me.
So, how has your blog been doing? Any changes that you’ve made that improved performance?
In 2006, I finally listened to that inner voice telling me to do what I’d always wanted to do– write novels. Then there was the question of what to write about. While I was busy with another hobby of mine, genealogy, it came to me. My family history contained many stories that needed to be shared, so that’s where I started.
