Inspiration

Inspiration comes in many forms. I thought I'd discuss one of mine in this entry today.

For "Path of Peril", I was inspired through playing "Dungeons and Dragons" with friends. (Geeky but true!) A group of us would gather together for a weekend from several different cities hours apart, and play for about 20-24 hours. We enjoyed our characters so much I decided to write stories about them. However, in the end, only Morgan and Kilian survived to be in the book -- and the character of Baron Fralen was greatly expanded from one we encountered in our game. The story took on a life of it's own, and as I knew that other characters needed to be added, some of "our" characters were dropped.

While I wait for my agent Matt to show "Path of Peril" to publishers, I decided to work on another book entirely. I was considering several different ideas until I had a really vivid, nasty nightmare one night. I am prone to nightmares -- I'm not sure why -- but I go in stretches where I'll have them frequently. This one particular night I woke up and the dream was still vivid in my mind. An island continent that had only been discovered recently, but contained very scarce minerals that had magnificent properties for civilization's use. Mining them would make a person fabulously wealthy. But there was a dark secret behind them -- why they existed and why they were on that hidden continent -- and mining them would also threaten the very survival of everyone on that world.

In my dream, I was a soldier who was supposed to be protecting a mine from the natives, and as all hell started to break loose, I learned why we shouldn't mess with the minerals. But greed was driving the owners, and they wouldn't be stopped no matter how I tried to reason with them. And then things got REALLY ugly . . .

I woke up sweating, my heart beating wildly. In the dark of my bedroom it took a few minutes for me to realize where I was. I thought through what I remembered, and knew if I could convey the feelings I had from the dream into the book, it'd be a great novel.

I started working on that story -- and it has really been the focus of my free time since then and part of the reason that I am so behind on this blog. There is only so much time for writing every day -- and I'm caught up in finding out what will happen to the characters in this story and their world. Afterall, their survival is seriously in question! They deserve a resolution!

Back to the nightmare . . .

Replies to Emails

It's been awhile since I have posted here, and I apologize for that -- I've been spending a lot of time on my next book. However, I've gotten a number of emails from folks who have checked out the site with some interesting questions that I thought I'd post some answers to below.

"After I read Chapter One, I really felt that Bria was a great protagonist. Then I read Chapter Three, and although Baron Fralen appears to be on the opposite side of the conflict, I definately want to see him succeed. I think it's cool how you made me like both characters, but whose side do you want me as a reader to be on?" -- Teri L.

Actually, Teri, I would like my readers to find something to like (and dislike) about each of my characters. I'm not a fan of the "heroic hero against total evil" type of story. I tend to believe most conflict is a question of context and motivation, and depending on where your sympathies and empathies lie decides which side you support. Most "evil" people don't normally believe that what they are doing is "wrong" (Hitler for example). They have a philosophy and reasons behind their actions. A majority of others may believe that what they have done is evil, but the person whose actions are in question would probably not agree. I like my characters to be "real" people, with flaws and strengths and opinions. You may agree with their view or disagree, they may make a decision along the way that you suddenly feel is wrong (and bad consequences may come of it!) In short, I'm very glad you are feeling the way you are while reading my story so far, and I hope you will continue to be drawn into all the characters once you have the chance to read the whole book.

"I notice that Chapter Three brought in an element of magic, which you called 'blood magic'. What are your feelings on the use of magic in fantasy?" -- Chris M.

To be perfectly honest, I love magic and hate magic. I love how it adds drama and intrigue to a story, but I can hate how it can overwhelm stories and "come out of nowhere" sometimes. I like the muted use of magic that George RR Martin uses in his series -- literally hundreds of pages can go by without seeing any. But when you do, it really stands out. While I have always been a "Dungeons and Dragons" fan (and currently have a mage character in "World of Warcraft"), I tend not to prefer books where magic happens all the time -- in some ways it seems to be an unfair advantage to some characters, and makes others very weak.

I ended up putting a fair amount of magic into my book -- but in a way I thought was very realistic. Since most people cannot "use" magic, it is generally feared by the majority of the population. Nobles and clerics have forbidden it in some cultures, while in Thrall it clearly is used by some of the most powerful people in ways that are not popular. It is not used often and normally used covertly to avoid bringing attention down on the user. But when it is used, it becomes something of great power and significance that hopefully adds great drama and impact to the story -- and it always exacts a price on the user.

"What is your writing process? What time of day do you write? How long do you have to write to feel productive? How much editing do you have to do?" -- Raven

Those are some big questions, Raven, and many have asked similar questions so I feel I must address them.

My process is to do a relatively brief outline of the entire book -- basically a paragraph for each chapter. I've written in an earlier entry about outlining, and it is not something that comes easily to me. And it definately changes as we (the characters and I) go along. Because once I start a chapter, and climb into the head of my character, they don't always do the things I want them to do -- or follow my outlined plot as closely as I would like. I'm a very instinctual writer, and tend to follow where my characters take me. That can mean a lot of rewriting sometimes when things do require a change, but that is a big part of the fun I find in writing -- watching the characters come to life and assert themselves.

My best time to write is early morning. I can edit in the evening, but rarely can I "create" in the evening.

I generally need to write at least 3-4 hours straight to really feel I've been productive. That is primarily because it always takes me a little while to climb into the head of the character in that chapter and really feel like I'm seeing things through their eyes, and finding their voice in dialogue. That amount of time usually will result in 5-10 pages of draft work, which will eventually require pretty extensive revision.

I'd like to say I don't need to edit too much, but actually I do a ton of editing. I actually love the revision phase -- I enjoy the process of honing and crafting the dialogue and scenes to get tighter and tighter. Most of my editing is cutting stuff that was originally written, rewriting sentences to be more clear, tightening up action and dialogue to focus on the main thrust of the scene (which sometimes has changed since the beginning of the scene!) I would imagine I have reread every chapter dozens upon dozens of times -- and I know I'm done when I'm only changing a word here and there. But I could probably feel the desire to change something every single time I reread a chapter -- so eventually I have to decide that it is good enough and move on.

Typically, I try to get a chapter done each week.

Keep the questions coming -- and thanks for visiting the site. It just hit 60,000 views in the past month! And if you are on myspace, feel free to friend me and send me a message that you've checked out this site. I'm approaching 3,000 friends (almost all fantasy or writing fans) as I write this -- and appreciate all the feedback on this site and the conversation about the craft (and if you email me, I will personally respond to you as well -- you won't have to wait for a blog post.)

Dying Breed?

It seems I've seen a lot of stories lately discussing the difficulties that publishers and book stores have these days. Fewer folks are buying books -- apparently everyone is spending all their time surfing the web, writing blogs, and viewing amateur videos on YouTube. Scary stuff for a guy trying to sell a book to a publisher!

Are books going away? I certainly don't get that feeling from the feedback I'm getting about my book. In the last eight months there have been 48,000 page views of my site, hundreds and hundreds of downloads of my samples, and if you've checked the "Raves from Readers" link -- a lot of people like what they see and want to see the book published.

Each day I'm getting dozens of "friends" requests from fantasy fans on my Myspace site with messages of support and well-wishes on the book finding a publisher. Between my website and Myspace page I have contact information for almost 2,500 people interested in "Path of Peril". Folks are even asking if -- heaven forbid -- no publisher ever buys the book, could I make and sell them a copy on my own so they could continue the story they started in the samples! They want to know what happens! (While I appreciate their enthusiasm, the passion I'm getting from readers convinces me that it will not be a question of "if", but "when" a publisher will pick me up!)

I am also very gratified by the folks who have enjoyed my work and then referred other people to the site. As promised on my site, I just sent off a random Amazon gift certificate as a "thank you" to one such supporter -- who goes by the title "White Trash" on fantasy boards all over the web. More than twenty folks who had "signed the petition" have listed "Trashy" as the person who told them about the site, and once they checked it out they liked what they saw. White Trash has made posts about my site on fantasy boards, and given me a nice listing in the author section of the fantasy board he runs called the "Nuthouse". I really appreciate his help in getting out the word.

All in all, over thirty people have been listed by others as the person who referred them to check out my writing -- some just once, others have obviously told many friends. "Buzz" is what makes things happen in the world, how we share those little secrets and delights that make our days fun and enjoyable, and find entertainment amongst all the other noise. The opinion of a trusted friend means a lot in a world full of advertising.

While the sales numbers may be a concern for the publishing industry, I'm convinced that the "death of the book" is certainly not imminent. People do have more options for their entertainment time and dollars, but my project shows that people are willing to read -- even stuff from a guy they don't know -- and then tell their friends. Through this project, I'm watching folks use the technology of the web not to replace a book, but to enhance the opportunity for my book.

I started out to build my audience "one fantasy fanatic at a time." It's amazing to see how quickly that audience is beginning to add up.

When Characters Don't Cooperate

I was on vacation last week in Florida -- which means I was writing six hours a day. Writing isn't work -- it's fun -- and I was really enjoying writing on the beach.

But then I got to a chapter where the characters didn't agree with my outline.

The outline said that two characters who have been romantically-linked will get over a fight and get back together again. This was important, because their world is about to really fall apart -- and I need them working together to survive.

The male has had his issues with commitment and letting the female character down in the past. But he came back -- after having faced a life-threatening situation -- ready to try to be the person the woman he loved wanted him to be.

In the outline, he convinces her and she takes him back. They have a happy reunion and several good days together to build their bond before things start to get dicey around them.

But a funny thing happened while I was writing the scene. She was a whole lot angrier than I knew, and she was in no mood to accept his lame excuses again. Her dialogue just flowed across the page -- she shot down every attempt he made to counter her points and convince her of his sincerity.

In the end, he left -- dejected and distraught. And she felt pretty good for standing up for herself.

I loved that chapter. I loved the way the characters took to life and let me know what they were thinking and how they wanted their lives to go.

It means I have to redo my outline a bit, and going forward I need to figure out how they're going to find a way to get together again -- but that is all workable. I had one of those moments I love so much -- when the story just becomes something real and true and I just have to follow along and try to keep up.

I can't wait to see where they take me next . . .

The Joys of Outlining

I have never been one to enjoy outlining my chapters -- other than a couple of sentences of the key things that have to happen.

But I've been struggling lately with my latest work. While I wait to see what will happen with "Path of Peril" at the publishers, I've been working on an entirely different trilogy in a whole different world. I have three POV characters who are fascinating to me, and I love the story. But six chapters in I was struggling along, just not sure what should happen next or where I was going. I know where Book One is going to end -- I can see the destination -- but the journey just wasn't on track.

With "Path of Peril", I literally made up each chapter as I went along. I gave the characters life, and let them live. Oftentimes the chapters went in directions that were very different than I thought -- and that was very exciting. Some great things happened with that spontaneity.

But it also caused a lot of editing. A LOT OF EDITING. My main reader often would tell me to hack off the first couple pages of almost every chapter, because they just weren't getting to the point fast enough -- just weren't interesting enough -- just weren't right. That was because there hadn't been a plan, and it took me a few pages to find out from the character where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. When I reached that point, I could back and revise to make it tighter to that point.

It wasted a lot of time.

Recently my friend Shawn Speakman was talking about outlining in his blog. Shawn is the guy who designed my site (along with many of the great writers in fantasy), and he is a superb writer in his own regard now shopping his first manuscript. He was outlining his second book, and discussing that process. He shared some of it with me -- and I was intrigued by the effort he put into it.

So today, I sat down with the intention of just working on the outline to my current, stalled story. Over seven hours, I managed to get a paragraph on each of the chapters for the whole first book. It was fun, it was interesting, I thought up twists and turns and additional ideas that I had never really considered before.

And making the required changes in the outlines of other chapters to match up the new arcs was a heckuva lot easier than needing to go back and rewrite chapters!

My outline is rough, and will need a lot of work. It will grow and inevitably change. But it is started, and I can see how it will help.

I'm now a convert.

Thanks Shawn.

Hanging Off the Cliff

A visitor to this site recently emailed me and said, "I love the beginning of this book and want more! Since you have characters on both sides of the fight, I'm guessing they can't both succeed and I want to know how this book ends! Can you just tell me? I won't tell anyone else."

As the "Reader Raves" show, hundreds of others want to read the ending too! While I certainly appreciate the interest in the story, I'm going to let a publisher make the end of the story available -- and hopefully that will happen in the new year. All I can really say is that by the end of the book one, several story arcs will be complete, and others will end in interesting cliff-hangers.

Personally, I love cliff-hangers. I try to include them in almost every chapter in one way or another. What I like best about a cliff-hanger is that it includes ME in the story. As soon as characters I enjoy are left in a dangerous situation without resolution, my imagination begins to work: what is really going to happen? Which of many possibilities is the most likely from clues (or perceived clues) that the author has included before? What would be most "realistic" in this situation? And what do I really want to see happen?

Ultimately, the author answers those questions -- and I either agree or disagree -- the resolution is either believable to me or not, and either satisfying or not. Sometimes I am upset when a character is killed, but characters can die and it can be both believable and satisfying. In every case, a story full of twists and turns involves the reader and encourages them to invest more of themselves in the story, which leads to a greater sense of entertainment.

Ultimately, that is the main thing I want to do -- to entertain.

So, for those of you have "invested" in the story after the sample chapters -- I thank you for your feedback. Keep referring friends to this site, and we'll make sure you get to that ending!

New Chapter Posted

I recently added another chapter to the site -- Chapter Three -- and I loved this chapter while I was writing it.

We meet Baron Loras Fralen, the famed commander of the Thrall Empire army that took Pinixer. In the early chapters from the other character's points-of-view the reader is led to feel that the Thrall Empire is "evil". This chapter certainly brings some truth to that perception, but in meeting Baron Fralen, it also brings some "gray area" into the black and white idea of "evil."

As I discussed on some of my other links, it is pretty rare in life to find true "good" or true "evil". I believe that actions need to be placed into the context of a character's situation, background, and world view. Hitler certainly didn't feel he was doing "evil". Most other tyrants throughout history were the same way. They felt they had a point, a philosophy, a crusade -- whatever was driving them to do the things they did -- and they thought that ultimately something "good" would come of their actions.

I've always been a person fascinated by those "gray areas" in life, where you may feel that you need to do something "evil" to protect yourself, save yourself or others. When I was in high school I read "The Prince" by Machiavelli. I hoped I was never in a situation in life where I had an enemy I was really afraid of -- because a key lesson I got from that book is "don't let your enemies live to come back after you." How many times in history has an enemy been allowed to live: go into exile, prison, whatever -- and then come back to overthrow the one who they were pitted against? The arrogance of the winner led to letting down their guard, showing some mercy or whatever it was that left that enemy around and gave them the chance to turn the tables -- and that was their undoing. It is a theme that I find works itself into all of my work -- one way or another.

It was the one reason I wasn't as enamored of "The Lord of the Rings" as others I knew. I just didn't fully get Sauron. He just hated everyone. Wanted everyone dead and destroyed. But I just never understood why. Why did he think all of them being dead would be good for him? He wasn't greedy for money. He wanted "power" -- but that just wasn't enough for me. We never got to understand his motivations or the context of why he wanted power. Overcompensating for a childhood of neglect? Trying to impress a particular hot girl? (that would have been an interesting angle!) We never get to understand his view.

Well -- as you read my work you'll find motivations. You'll find flaws. You'll find talents and skills. In both the "good" and the "bad" characters. Good people will sometimes do bad things. Bad people will sometimes do kind things. And hopefully . . . it will be hard to predict the outcomes. That's how it is in life. That's what makes life dangerous . . . and frightening . . . and worth living.