Continuing The Merchant of Nevra Coil teasers, this is one of the newer regions that the champions will be seeing. Called Everthorne, this is the northern Sister City and sits in a very difficult region. A briar forest to the south, icy expanses to the east, swamplands to the west, and a craggy shore to the north. Yet, it sits in a comfortable weather zone. It has a lot of trouble though, which you’ll get to see more of in the book once it’s released.
I’ve been doing some thinking about heroes and their reputations. Mostly how I work with them in my books. I’ve always found it interesting when a character considers the long term affect of their adventures. Even if they don’t think about it, I do enjoy showing how they go from unknown to known or how their past comes up in the present. To me, it feels like this gives more impact to their actions, especially in fantasy where the adventures tend to be rather lofty. There are two characters specifically that caused this thought and inevitable question.
One is Ichabod Brookswho starts his adventure with an in-depth reputation. This comes after years of taking on dangerous jobs, so it’s been earned. Something about working with a character that already has a past is fun. You can to see him react to people knowing him, which can open up personalities that you don’t get from a new hero. In Ichabod’s case, it’s one that has been altered by bard tales. That gives me some humorous conversations and misunderstandings to play with. On the serious side, it gives more credence to a character’s abilities since he or she has been doing things for years. Guess it also helps that Ichabod is older than the other side of this coin.
That would be Luke Callindor, especially in Beginning of a Hero. He starts as a relatively unknown since it’s his last name and family reputation that precedes him instead of his own deeds. This is why he starts off rather obsessed with cutting his teeth on a first adventure. Unlike coming in with an established reputation, the readers get to see how Luke’s legend is forged. There’s no embellishments or missing parts like you would get from a character like Ichabod. You witness the failures and backtracks instead of only getting the victories, which can be good and bad. The good is that you establish a closer connection of growth. The bad is that some readers don’t like seeing the failure and immature side of a blossoming hero. Is this better or worse? Neither because it’s simply different.
So, what do you think about fictional heroes and their reputations? Not only to the reader, but their reputations within their own world?
I love infographics. How many times have I said that on here? They are fantastic. Quick, fun, and reliable, I’ve always had a good time seeing stats unfolded on a beautiful display for all to see, and this one is no exception. As writers, we are often way too hard on ourselves, and I know I worry about how I’m spending my time in regards to my writing career. Heck, even though I started at 16, I’ve been feeling down about turning 24 and waiting for my release dates to get back into the market. This infographic is sure to stop that sort of worry in its tracks. Today, thanks to Essaymama, we get to see where our favorite writers started, some as young as 13, others as late as 65.
It’s Never Too Late To Start Writing Your Best Seller by Essay Mama
Today I thought I’d share this competition from Fantastica, an Australian-based small press.
From Fantastica Sci-fi – a great opportunity for Australian and New Zealand writers with a speculative fiction novella:
FROM THE PUBLISHER WHO BROUGHT YOU SEIZURE AND VIVA LA NOVELLA, COMES A NEW COMPETITION FOCUSSED ON FINDING FRESH AUSTRALIAN SPECULATIVE FICTION.
What is ‘speculative fiction’? Well, that’s open to speculation: science fiction, dystopias, fantasy, horror, paranormal (yes, even the romantic type), post-apocalypse, superheroes – all fall within the realms of speculative fiction. For us, at least.
What are we looking for? Speculative fiction that is thought-provoking, intelligent, genre-busting and a cut above the rest. No clichés, no inappropriate gender stereotyping and preferably no vehicles that travel at light speed, unless you’ve worked out the math.
So who the frak are we? We are Fantastica, a group of like-minded individuals who have a love for all things science fiction…
First, I’m still gathering volunteers for The Merchant of Nevra Coil and the August release. I don’t have an exact date, but I’ve been chatting with Jason who had some detail questions about a location. Editing is moving along too. The last week of July will still have the hype posts and next month is all character interviews because it’s going to be chaos incarnate. So fingers are crossed that I can get everything together and carve out some relaxation.
Why is August going to be a mess? I will hopefully have the book debut along with a party for the parents (70th bday, 70th bday, 40th anniversary), my 5-6 day exile from the house that I’m not thrilled about, and my son will have most of the month off. So I’ll be running around to keep him occupied while holding down the social media and writing fort. It will not be pretty and September will be a welcomed respite. Especially if the humidity and heat are still a pain.
My plan is to edit during that time, but a wrinkle might appear. I should be able to finish Books 9 and 10 before the exile. If I finish 11 too then I’m really golden. This leaves me with a problem. What do I do during the 5-6 day period? Do I sleep in the hotel room and watch TV the whole time? Well I’m supposed to write, but there isn’t might I can do in such a short period. I could start the new idea, except I go right from this exile to my son being home all day. That means 3-4 weeks of putting a non-fantasy story on the shelf since I doubt I’ll have much energy at night. So I have a lot of thinking to do. This is if I don’t spend the entire time promoting the new book because there’s always the chance that the day I head out is also the day I release The Merchant of Nevra Coil. I can already feel a migraine coming on.
In the realm of editing, I really need to take better notes at times. I stumbled onto 3 items in Book 9 that I forgot to carry over into later stories. One is an heirloom item that might not reappear until Book 11. Another is a marking on a character that is hard to miss once the illusion is down. The final one is a fun set of magic items that never reappear because they were a spur of the moment thing. I now have a post-it with all three things in BIG LETTERS and exclamation points! Author oops, but it’s good that I read through these again.
On the non-author side, we’re getting to my son’s 6th birthday. The party is next weekend and it’s the first time we’ve done a party outside of the house. He’s both excited and not really sure what’s going on. I’m sure everything will go smoothly. I should have Book 9 edited and off my to-do list by then too. This might not seem important, but I’ve kind of left this party in the hands of my wife . . . and now for goals of the week!
Are you an indie author and want to share your wisdom? Maybe you simply want to tell your story. If anything this doesn’t hurt when it comes to promoting yourself. Check these questions out and spread your experience.
For anyone who would like to answer these questions, feel free to copy them and send your responses to readfulthings@gmail.com
For anyone who missed it the other day, Charles Yallowitz and I are starting a help page on both of our sites for indie authors who are new to the publishing arena. Nothing too complex, just asking authors the same set of questions and hoping to get answers from those who write across a broad array of genres. The answers will be posted to the blog once a week and then links to those posts will be put on a page where authors can go and refer back to them. We will also be listing sites that have useful info for authors about marketing and promotion both free and paid.
So if you’d like to take a moment and answer the questions, it would be much appreciated. Only thing we…
