Legends of Windemere Fantasy Bundle #1
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Over the years, I’ve gotten into a few discussions about fiction that revolve around the hidden meanings of stories. Like how ‘Hunger Games’ is all about wealth inequality or ‘Lord of the Rings’ is an analogy for WWII. Some of the translations make sense while others are rather odd. For example, I met someone who claimed ‘Twilight’ was about the Cold War and I kind of turned off when they began with the fact that there was snow in the story. Anyway, this is only the set up for a mini-rant off the top of my head.
As an author, personal thoughts do slip into what my characters say or do. It’s inevitable and usually accidental. When on purpose, my intention is only to get the emotional react right. I might use my personal thoughts on poverty and homelessness to make sure I’m pulling on my own heartstrings. A civilization may touch on an aspect of our world that I think is flawed, but roll into something else. My confusion on there seeming to be an endless parade of divorces is a big part of Bor’daruk’s creation. It does move toward an opposite extreme too if you really pay attention to the entire tradition. This is problem the biggest and most intentional example of me accessing my personal thoughts for a fictional story. Although I’ll admit that Luke Callindor wanting to be a hero does sometimes mirror my younger thoughts on becoming an author.
Did I want it to start a conversation with Bor’daruk? Not really because my main goal has always been to entertain and provide escapism. If a debate happens then it happens. As I said, my personal beliefs and curiosities come through in my writings if there’s the opening. Typically, it isn’t even the whole belief because that would be too preachy and I immediately cut it off. It also gets chopped down in my own editing runs if I fail to notice what I’m doing. Other times, I use what I feel and do the opposite. My emotions guide me and not only the positive ones. The negative ones tell me I’m doing right by a villain or going in the right direction for a character that I would disagree with. At least I think so because it doesn’t come up as often as people may think. Again, entertainment author here and not somebody who is trying to change society beyond providing a fun escape.
A funny thing is that many people do read a story and search for the hidden meaning, which they’ll always find. Not because it’s there, but because they want it to be there and already have it in their head. Go into anything with an agenda and you’ll be able to uncover evidence. This can cause trouble too. A reader may despise an author because of what a villain does even though the author doesn’t support the action in real life. I’ve had a few complaints about Stephen Kernaghan because he’s a sadistic rapist and some people seem to think his existence means I support him. Uh, he’s a villain and writing his death scene will be (or already has been) a true pleasure because he’s pure evil. His actual purpose is to pit the champions against someone who is a true monster and has no redeeming qualities.
My point here is that you can’t take what a character does or says and think that’s what the author truly believes. Especially if there are other points of view in the story and these things are more for character coloring than plot. People seem to want authors to always stand for something, but that might not always be the case. Sometimes a story is just a story for entertainment. Looking too far into it can mar the experience and make you miss out on the fun. I always think that intention is what we should look at before making a judgement and that holds true for this. There’s a big difference between an author writing fiction to make a social point and one doing it for entertainment.
So, do you go into stories looking for social context or hidden meanings?
Posted in Thoughts
Tagged author, entertainment, fiction, hidden meanings, social context, writing
31 Comments
The Rug Is Pulled . . . Again
Stability found
Then lost without reason
Leaving you confused
Life has ripped the floor from below
Dropping you into a blender
A ride you know too well
The pieces gained
Are ground into dust and pulp
Perhaps to be replaced
But who can really tell
Doom dances in your head
Not helped by words of comfort
How many times do you restart?
Knocked back into the gutter
By the decisions of others
And made to feel you failed
Stability is such a fragile thing
When only a tattered rug
Stands between you and the abyss
An Audiobook Experience: “The Wolf’s Moon” by Patrick Jones
Audiobook sales increased 12% from 2008 to 2013, reaching 1.6 billion dollars in sales in 2013 alone. No wonder, then, that Abigail Young’s guest post on audiobooks proved to be quite a big hit with you. In the comments, my author friend Patrick Jones mentioned that he and his wife, Sandy, had already gone down that route. I asked for a guest post, to share their experience, and they kindly delivered in record time. Enjoy!
“The Wolf’s Moon” by Patrick Jones: Bringing the BEAST to life in Audiobook
After publishing “The Wolf’s Moon,” my wife and I worked very hard to make it a success and a reading pleasure for all. We worked hours to publish and deliver to the reading public a product they would love. Those were the key words: Reading public.
There was a vast segment of the population that we missed. They are the ones…
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When a Fictional Fight Gets Bloody
Spike from Cowboy Bebop
I recently finished writing a scene where two characters have their final showdown. It’s a very brutal fight with broken bones, punctured organs, bleeding, and a wonder that both of them didn’t die. The reason it came to this is because this isn’t their first battle, which meant the stakes and severity had to keep going up. I reached the point where they simply got angry and agreed that it was time to end it without holding back. Similar to Spike and Vicious from ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and we know how that ended. Or do we? (Yes. Yes we do, anime conspiracy person.)
Now as I wrote the scene, I wondered if I was going too far. Then I realized that this felt more real while worrying that readers would find it gratuitous. Especially given the characters involved. I’ll say it to clear things up: I wrote the final battle between Nyx and Trinity. This isn’t much of a spoiler because anyone who has read the book or the blog knows that this was going to happen. And it’s destructive. Still, I’ve gotten a lot of heat for having a brutal scene where I describe the injuries during a fight. (Though never when it’s Luke taking the beating.) For some, this seems to pull them out of the moment. Yet I also hear that a fight scene with no injuries or only minor wounds makes little sense.
Personally, I don’t mind reading that a character has a broken arm and continues fighting. In fact, I fall into that second category because an injury reminds me that a character can be killed or crippled in the scene. If it’s all punches and kicks without bruises and some bleeding then it might as well be a slap fight considering how little impact the strikes are making. Is this a hunger for violence? No because this is in stories that require a fight scene and if you have one then you need to show the results of said violence. Also a hero fighting with an injury brings more gravity to the situation. This can show a lot of the character’s mental toughness and determination too. I enjoy a character who takes a beating, drags themselves back to their feet, smirks, and says ‘try it again, Princess Limp Wrist’.
So, that’s my personal opinion on a bloody fight that doesn’t skimp on the details. Though I will say too much information takes away from the actual action. As usual, balance is everything.
What do you think of fictional fights that get brutal and bloody?
Coming Down the Pipeline at Legends of Windemere
This is going to be more about the future than the past since we’re coming to the end of September. I’ll be sectioning things off to make it easier too. Might make that the new format too since the old one may have been too messy.
OCTOBER FUN!
Thursday is October 1st, which means we’re stepping into the month of Monsters! All of the new creations have been scheduled for Fridays and I wrote up stuff on the top 8-9 monsters from the poll. So October will be stuffed full of fun . . . and then there’s Raven’s Hold.
For those unaware, this is the paranormal thriller I wrote earlier in the year and never knew what to do with. Couldn’t even bring myself to edit it because it really drained me emotionally. I go more into this on Thursday. This was originally going to be a ‘Tuesday Only’ thing until I saw something that made me want to keep it in October. So Raven’s Hold will be posted section by section from October 2-30 at 11:55 PM EST. For some reason the scheduler wasn’t letting me do midnight. This means October 1st will be an intro and October 31st will be a discussion or ‘what do you think?’ Again, this is probably never going to go beyond the blog. Not unless I get a sudden urge to tinker and challenge it again. So it’s a special gift for all of my followers.
Due to the structure, the sections have a wide range of word counts. Sorry, but I couldn’t find any better breaks without damaging the flow and I was told that suspense and tension are necessary for the genre.
Crossing Bedlam News
I should be finishing this up by the middle or end of this week. Then comes a week of resting with some outlining and making a list of potential tales for Cassidy & Lloyd. This has been a fun ride, which I’m hoping my alpha reader (maybe 2 of those) enjoy and give me good feedback on. Not sure when it will be released since I’m trying to decide on how to do the editing part of this. Do I use beta readers? Do I do it with alphas, myself, and, if she has the time, my editor? Why is this such a difficult thing to figure out?
Well the issue comes down to Lloyd Tenay and his ‘4th Wall Breaking’. This appears to be a very sensitive topic where people either love or hate it, which could be a problem. What do you do if a beta reader simply hates the tactic and that colors their entire experience? It also doesn’t help that Lloyd doesn’t REALLY do 4th Wall Breaking. Not directly. This is explained in the book, but he never actually talks to the audience like Deadpool, Shakespeare asides, or Family Guy. He comes off more as delusional than actually aware of being a book character, which is something I might play into in later books. So originally claiming he broke the 4th Wall might have been a mistake since he spends more time alluding to comic books, movies, tv shows, and other pop culture things.
This brings up another question: Should I have openly stated that he would do stuff like this? If you read the book and didn’t expect him to break the 4th wall, would you react the same to when Lloyd claims that a scene is boring the audience?
A final part on this topic: I’m trying to figure out ways to find stories for these characters and have a few in my head. Someone suggested once to ask readers what areas of the Shattered States of America they want Cassidy and Lloyd to travel to. Working off an old idea where I already gave each state a resource, culture, and issues, I have a lot of groundwork for a ton of stories. Yet, I don’t know if I really want to try this because people are most inclined to choose their own state. Also Hawaii and Alaska are kind of out of action for now.
GOALS (Probably cover next 2 weeks)!
- Finish writing Crossing Bedlam and give to 1-3 alpha readers. These are already chosen.
- Make a list of potential ‘Bedlam’ stories.
- Make a list of future Ichabod Brooks adventures and do a brief outline of one for next summer’s release.
- Write blurbs for The Mercenary Prince and maybe even Crossing Bedlam.
- Work on November posts. 10 days left to cover since I moved a few extras into the first week along with a spontaneous poem.
- Do more work on the notebook stuff for Sin.
- Mentally prepare to return to Windemere and tackle The Spirit Well. This will put me at 4/5 completion for the series in terms of first drafts. After this comes the final stretch with Ritual of the Lost Lamb, Path of the Traitors, and Dawn of the Frozen Baron. Not sure about that last one. I actually had a great title for the final book, which I lost during the computer crash.
- Play a little God of War 2 when needing a break.
Posted in Goal Posts
Tagged Crossing Bedlam, goals, Legends of Windemere, october, September, the future, updates, writing
17 Comments
#eNovAaW Women of Words
This post is part of the #eNovAaW Women of Words Multi-Author Book Blitz ~ September 23 – 27 blog tour. I am hosting two books written by two extraordinary authors – Dale Furse and Phoebe Matthews. During the tour, you can get Dale’s book for free and Phoebe’s one for just 99c. Enjoy!
Curse
by Dale Furse
Series: Wexkia Trilogy, #1
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Nell is looking forward to leaving the isolation of her beach and attending University in the city. But when her father reveals she isn’t human, but a product of two warring alien species, her life somersaults as ever-increasing evidence proves him wrong.
She is something else.
She must now decide if knowing the truth is worth risking lives.
With friend Sam by her side, she travels to an alien world where she must battle the growing number of enemies and find the hidden book containing the…
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Edge of your seat psychological thriller
Sue is a dear friend of mine, and she has a new book out. She’s popped over to tell us about it, and she’s offering a super pre-release deal on it too. I already have my copy.
***
Thanks for having me today, Craig! I’m so excited to talk about the research behind Marred, my new psychological thriller.
I had to do a ton of research beforehand. When I was planning the story I wanted Sheriff Niko Quintano to be a father figure to his deputies, teaching them the ropes the way he was taught. But in order for me to do that I needed to know what I was talking about. The first thing I tackled was blood spatter analysis. Recently a friend of mine, an ex-cop/ex-coroner, published a post that would have saved me days. Figures, right?
But I didn’t have that post then. I was on my…
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