Our guest blogger, Terry Ervin, was nice enough to share his book trailer for Flank Hawk.
You can view it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCVKXkAXOlk
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Myth and Folklore
by Gail Z. Martin
At the last couple of conventions I attended, I was on several panels about myth and folklore. It was a lot of fun discussing how myth and folklore show up in fantasy, as well as how as writers we use myth and folklore to create our own stories. We talked about modern myths and how myth influences the real world, both in terms of deliberate mythmaking and pop culture/urban legend terms. For talking about stories that were thousands of years old, the conversation sometimes got rather heated!
I like to draw inspiration from myth and folklore because I figure that if something about a trope or archetype has captured human imagination for hundreds or thousands of years, it’s good. So I enjoy adapting and adjusting folkloric and mythic elements to make them my own, and to fit them into the world of the Winter Kingdoms.
Of course the conversation came around to vampires, werewolves and magic, which are intrinsic elements of folklore and mythology. I mentioned how I still chuckle about the one book reviewer who was very impressed that I had “used urban fantasy tropes like vampires and werewolves” in a medieval, epic fantasy. Of course, urban fantasy stole the tropes from medieval folklore!
Filed under Gail Z. Martin
Edits and Editors
by Crymsyn Hart
Edits. The dreaded word sends shivers down my spine. They make me want to crawl under a rock and hide from the world just so long as I don’t have to face them. I hyperventilate. Scream. Shriek and shout. I’ll clean the house or run far far away, but I can’t get away from them. They will always still be there when I get back. And yet when I open my email, there they are waiting for me.
Honestly, edits are not that bad for me. Over the years that I have been writing, I have learned much from the editors that have assisted me. When I peruse earlier works that I had from college or high school I just shake my head because I see how far I have come and I’m thankful for all of the help that I’ve been given over the years. As much as I, or any other writer, dislike edits the have helped me shape my works into much better manuscripts.
I’ve had some editors I didn’t get along with because they didn’t get my style or whole I used a verb tense. Or having a character think too much in a book. Shrug. I like my characters to think a lot in some of my stuff. But even when I didn’t get along with a particular editor, I have valued their advice because it does help. However, there are other editors that I have gelled with and I think that is one of the best relationships to have. At the moment, I’m working with editors from three different publishing companies and I’m still learning from them.
I may hate to see their emails pop up with edits attached, but in the end I know it is all for the best. They help me continue to improve and am grateful for that.
Filed under Crymsyn Hart
The Last Green Note
By
J. F. Lewis
Eventually, we will get around to the final Little Green Note on my wall, and then I will have shared all my writing secrets and you will shine like in the movie The Last Dragon. You’ll have “the Glow” and will be able to beat Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, in a disco club-themed kung-fu battle and… Okay, maybe not, but you will know what the post-it notes I stuck on my wall say… So… How about right now? 😉
Get a Better Feel for Marilyn
In the context of the Void City books, what this really amounts to is making sure readers get a feel for a very important background character. She isn’t a huge mover and shaker in the first book, but understanding this octogenarian bar tender, a human, who isn’t afraid to slap Void City’s resident vampiric top dog right in the face or laugh at him, or correct him, or even order him about, is a key to understanding things about said vampiric top dog.
I’ll admit it’s one of the quirkier things about the series… the idea that the main character’s relationships with women will all fail because he’s still in love with the same woman he loved when he was alive, but she’s now in her eighties and will have nothing, romantically to do with him. A lot of it had to be packed into STAKED., too, because SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT, I killed her at the end of the first book.
She had to die partially because it’s fun to ruin Eric’s day, but also because I wanted readers to see that even without Marilyn’s presence, Eric still loved her and was incapable of truly loving anyone else romantically. In those moments, and in others, we get to see Eric as what he is on the inside, an eighty year old man, who has lead a long life and is basically, pretty tired. Not world weary, because that tends to annoy the crap out of me, but set in his ways, with the world changing around him everyday as he tries to keep up with the times.
And I suppose that’s what that note is really about. Think of some of the most memorable characters in movies you’ve watched and books you’ve read. I’ll bet some of them weren’t actually in the book all that long, but you got such a good feel for them, that didn’t matter. If, when Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru died in Star Wars: A New Hope, we’d never seen them on screen or hadn’t gotten a chance to observe Luke’s relationship with them, then their deaths would have seemed empty. In STAKED, my equivalent scene for Marilyn came from a request in my revisions letter.
It’s a scene between Tabitha, the newest of Eric’s girlfriends, and Marilyn, the love of Eric’s life. Some people don’t like the scene because they don’t like Tabtiha’s reaction to what is going on. They want her to be a better person than she is, but the scene isn’t really about her. It exists as a brief window into one the main character’s key relationships, and therefore, into the main character himself, to reveal things a guy like Eric is unlikely to ever reveal about himself.
Filed under J.F. Lewis, Uncategorized
Goal: A Sequel that Compliments while Truly Standing Alone
by Terry Ervin
I spent a good part of the spring and into the summer figuring out how to write The Blood Sword Gambit (working title), sequel to Flank Hawk and the second novel in the First Civilization’s Legacy series.
A sequel sounds easy, right? Sure, when I typed the “The End” to Flank Hawk, I knew the basics of what would happen in the next novel, and then fleshed it out a bit while submitting Flank Hawk to publishers.
So, what’s the problem? I’m an author, right? And authors know these things. As to the first question: The problem is getting the balance just right. The second question: Yes, authors do know these things, and that’s how I went about finding a way to strike the balance.
What balance? A sequel is a complete work in itself but continues the story of the preceding novel. Blood Sword continues Krish’s story, but to do so it’s necessary for new readers to understand a bit about who Krish is, including friends, associates, and his experiences. While I’d love for those readers that start with the sequel to go back and read Flank Hawk, I want them to be able to enjoy the second novel without having to go back and read the first. But if they do so after reading Blood Sword, I want them to enjoy Flank Hawk—the conflict, struggles and excitement, and discovery of the world in which Krish lives. I also want readers of Flank Hawk to enjoy its sequel, and not to be put off by references to events in the first novel—things necessary for those who haven’t yet read and enjoyed Flank Hawk.
Okay, that’s what every author who writes a series strives to achieve. With that in mind, I went right to the source: Authors who’ve successfully done what I was preparing to attempt.
My Criteria:
a. Writes action-filled stories, in first person, past tense.
b. Although one story arc was completed in the first novel, a larger storyline continued to be explored.
c. Events and choices made in the first novel impacted what happened in the next.
d. Characters, from close friends to associates in the first novel continued to influence what happened in the second—even those that died or didn’t appear ‘on stage’ in the second novel.
Naturally, I went with authors I’d read previously and enjoyed: Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos series), Roger Zelazny (Chronicles of Amber series) and Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake series). I read and reread the first two or three novels in each series, and even listened to audio versions when possible, all the time paying close attention to when and how the authors made reference to previous information and events within the context of the second novel’s storyline.
It reaffirmed what I already knew:
1. There’s no secret formula with respect to when and how much previous information to provide in the sequel.
2. It’s handy for readers of previous works in the series to be reminded of past events.
3. Linking the previous storyline with the current one as well as weaving both into the overall direction of the events for novels to follow provides a consistent and enduring foundation for readers to comprehend and recall the who, what, where, when, how and whys of the created world, conflicts and characters.
After the careful study, I also came away with examples of techniques the authors used, including methods and timing that allowed for smooth transitions from present to past and back, while foreshadowing the future. Things like dialogue and POV character recollection, intertwined with character motivations (directly stated or implied), items and places, scenes and descriptions all played a role.
And as I work to complete The Blood Sword Gambit, I am integrating those techniques, merging them with my own storytelling method and writing style—working to get ‘that balance’ just right.
If you do give Flank Hawk a try, and/or The Blood Sword Gambit (when it’s released), either way I hope you’ll let me know if my effort was a success.
You can listen to the audio from when Terry was a guest of Blog Host, Gail Z. Martin’s Ghost in the Machine podcast here: https://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WBpTSY07
Filed under Guest Blogger
Paranormally Speaking
By Tina R. McSwain
Paranormally Speaking from the Con.
This weekend, we are at StellarCon 35 in High Point, NC. We set up our display table and met and talked with many interesting people. They had good stories to tell, and a few questions for us as well. We spoke on two panels. One I would call Ghost Hunting 101, and the other was deemed “Meet the Ghost Hunters”. Panels for you non con-goers are exactly what they sound like…a panel of experts in their field, seated at a table up front and speaking to a room of interested persons.
Now at cons, you meet all kinds; stormtroopers, Jedi, Starfleet, Klingons, steampunkers, pirates, authors, vendors, gamers, artists, podcasters, and some that defy explanation. We conducted a poll on views of the paranormal and got the following results. The Jedi believe in the paranormal, stating that the force can be likened to what we would call telekinesis (moving things or otherwise affecting them with the mind), they also believe in the existence of ghosts, pointing out that many Jedi have returned from the dead to offer advice to their living counterparts. Most notably Qui-Gon Jinn spoke to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan and Yoda spoke to Luke, and even Anakin Skywalker allowed his son to see him on the good side after he died as Darth Vader. Starfleet officers told us that it depended on which planet you were from so they really could not give us a definitive answer to our poll questions. But the Klingons did state that they do believe in an afterlife and believe they must die honorably to enter Stovokor. Should they die dishonorably, they would be thrust into Grethor (their version of Hell). They also told us of a Jatlyn, the Klingon term for spiritual possession. Translated into human speech, it means “the taking of the living by the dead”.
So, yes, no matter what race you are, the paranormal realm fits in nicely at the cons.
Filed under Uncategorized
Paranormally Speaking from the Con.
Paranormally Speaking
by Tina R. McSwain
This weekend, we are at StellarCon 35 in High Point, NC. We set up our display table and met and talked with many interesting people. They had good stories to tell, and a few questions for us as well. We spoke on two panels. One I would call Ghost Hunting 101, and the other was deemed “Meet the Ghost Hunters”. Panels for you non con-goers are exactly what they sound like…a panel of experts in their field, seated at a table up front and speaking to a room of interested persons.
Now at cons, you meet all kinds; stormtroopers, Jedi, Starfleet, Klingons, steampunkers, pirates, authors, vendors, gamers, artists, podcasters, and some that defy explanation. We conducted a poll on views of the paranormal and got the following results. The Jedi believe in the paranormal, stating that the force can be likened to what we would call telekinesis (moving things or otherwise affecting them with the mind), they also believe in the existence of ghosts, pointing out that many Jedi have returned from the dead to offer advice to their living counterparts. Most notably Qui-Gon Jinn spoke to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan and Yoda spoke to Luke, and even Anakin Skywalker allowed his son to see him on the good side after he died as Darth Vader. Starfleet officers told us that it depended on which planet you were from so they really could not give us a definitive answer to our poll questions. But the Klingons did state that they do believe in an afterlife and believe they must die honorably to enter Stovokor. Should they die dishonorably, they would be thrust into Grethor (their version of Hell). They also told us of a Jatlyn, the Klingon term for spiritual possession. Translated into human speech, it means “the taking of the living by the dead”.
So, yes, no matter what race you are, the paranormal realm fits in nicely at the cons.
Filed under Tina R. McSwain
Freebie Friday from Jeffrey Thomas
Our guest blogger, Jeffrey Thomas has graciously offered to share the Punktown-based short story “The Dance of Ugghiutu,” from his short story collection VOICES FROM PUNKTOWN, here: https://www.darkregions.com/template/samples/voices_from_punktown_sample.pdf
Filed under Freebie Friday, Guest Blogger
Caught Between Zones
by Gail Z. Martin
When I’m actively working on a book, I’ve found that I don’t like to read epic fantasy. Part of it is not wanting to be subconsciously influenced by anything I’m reading. Part of it is probably a desire for something different from what I’ve spent all day working on. The difficulty is, now that I’m writing two fantasy books a year, it either means I have to figure out a new way to approach the problem or I won’t get to read any epics at all!
Lately, I’ve been enjoying urban fantasy, paranormal mysteries and cross-genre stuff like the Undead and Unwed series (a little of both with some paranormal romance thrown in, though with an emphasis on action/humor). Since I often spend my time mentally living in the middle ages, it’s fun to spend my free time reading books that are so thoroughly modern. Although, as I’ve mentioned to a couple of my friends who write paranormal mysteries, what is it with the Internet? How come people don’t just Google what they need to know, like in real life, as opposed to saying, “Gee, we can’t catch the bad guy because we need to know something and the library is closed until Monday!” I often will check the copyright date if characters in a book are stuck with only the library as a research tool or if they don’t use a cell phone. I’ve also chuckled at some of the ways authors have managed to avoid a slam-dunk rescue by putting the hero out of cell phone range or making a point that the cell phone is dead.
On the other hand, over on the epic side of things, I often have to face the reality of how slowly information could get from one place to another in the pre-telephone/telegraph/email days. Throughout history, battles were often fought weeks after the treaty had been signed because no one could get the word out to the troops in time! As someone living in the modern world, I have to constantly remind myself that it would take weeks or months to send the fastest messenger, meaning that there’s no way characters separated by distance can know what’s going on with each other (unless there’s a magical alternative).
Writing books set in a time period other than the one I live in does make for an interesting feeling of being caught between zones. Don’t even get me started on word origins
Filed under Gail Z. Martin
Questions
by Crymsyn Hart
After some debate with friends on writing, there are many different opinions and questions about what an author should write. Some people say write what you know. Others go real deep into research to get things exactly right in a story. Others do both and some just wing it. Sometimes it depends on the subject of the novel as we authors want the reader to enjoy what they are reading. Hoping they can fall into the story and let their minds follow the characters to destinations unknown.
I do a little bit of both depending on the storyline or the characters. If the main characters are witches or psychics, I write from experience because I’m both. The same with any vampire novel I write only because I’ve done tons of research on them in the past so it’s pretty much committed to memory. However, I also do research on what I don’t know which is a lot. It’d be great to say I knew it all, but then my head would explode.
Then again, there is the question on writing just for the market and not following the muse that screams in a writer’s head. Over the past year, I’ve had to face that same question. My muse has tendency to go against me when it comes to including the amount of sex in a book that I like to put in and what the readers want for erotic romance. The market calls for a lot and there are times it’s just hard to put out. But I go to a place and come to a meeting of the minds with my muses and it gets done.
All in all, I do whatever it takes to get the book done and made the characters interesting. As questions come up, I answer them the best I could. But where there are more answers there are always more questions.
Filed under Uncategorized
