Tag Archives: Gail Z. Martin

by disq2332 | March 30, 2012 · 9:23 am

Who are your favorite heroes?

by Gail Z. Martin

I did a post recently for Orbit’s blog about some of my favorite SF/F heroes. You can read it here:

Of course, there’s not enough room in one blog post for all my favorites. I’ve been a Batman fan since I was a kid (goes with the vampire thing, I’m sure). And along with that certainly goes other favorite vamps like Lestat (because Louis is too whiny), Barnanas Collins (the Jeremy Iron’s version), Acheron, the Count Saint-Germain and even Sinclair from Mary Janice Davidson’s Undead series.

Big surprise that mages also turn up on my favorites list. I was pleased to watch Harry Potter grow into a strong heroic character. I liked Belgarion from the David Edding’s series, pretty much all of Mercedes Lackey’s main characters, and Camber of Culdi.

I like heroes who have self doubt, who aren’t arrogant in their power, who are conflicted and question themselves, which keeps a hero from becoming a vigilante. I want heroes who are believable as real people, not just cardboard cutout, square-jawed action figures. I also want to see heroes who have meaningful personal relationships, someone who has people he or she truly cares about, who has a reason bigger than him/herself to act.

That’s what I try for in my own heroic characters, although I think each of them would try to wiggle out of the term “hero.” So here’s where I’ll turn it over to you. What makes your heroes tick?

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by disq2332 | March 23, 2012 · 9:22 am

Adding Texture To Your Writing

by Gail Z. Martin

Does your fictional world have texture?

By texture, I mean details that make your world immersive for your reader, engaging all their senses as well as their imagination.

Think about the “texture” in your everyday life. That includes things like the weather, background noises, ambient scents, and the colors, people and landmarks you see each day. How would your world be different without those things that form the setting for your life? Now think about your writing. Without those textural details, what’s missing from your characters’ world?

Without texture, our fictional worlds and characters seem flat and unrealistic. When we don’t work those details into our writing, our readers lose out on the feeling that they have truly visited.

How can you add texture to your world so that readers can recall not just what happened, but the sights, sounds, smells, feeling of the world itself? If you’ve ever visited someplace on vacation that was very different from where you live, you know that years later, you recall not just what you did or saw, but the food you ate, the color of the light itself at different times of the day, the smell of flowers, the feel of bed linens, the voices of people you met.

Make your fictional world come alive in a whole new way when you add texture to your writing, and make your story memorable for your readers!

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD

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by disq2332 | March 1, 2012 · 9:19 am

On The Road With The Dread

by Gail Z. Martin

The Dread, Book Two in The Fallen Kings Cycle, is now available!

The Dread is the conclusion to the struggle for control of the Winter Kingdoms that began in The Sworn. For those who have read my Chronicles of the Necromancer series, it’s the sixth book following the lives, struggles and adventures of Tris Drayke, Kiara Sharsequin, Jonmarc and Carina Vahanian, and the rest of the crew.

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teyvxnIEITg
Excerpt #1 https://www.4shared.com/document/aypH5jjv/An_excerpt_from_The_Dread_chp_.html
I’ll be out and about with The Dread, so catch me here:
Reading and signing at SheVaCon in Roanoke, VA Feb. 16 – 18
Launch party at Mysticon in Roanoke, VA from 7 – 9 pm in the Con Suite on Feb. 24
In-store signing at the Barnes & Noble at The Arboretum, Charlotte NC on Feb.
In-store signing at Books-A-Million at Carolina Mall in Concord, NC on
In-store signing at Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC on
Watch for more in-store signings to come!

I’d love to hear from you—please comment on my blog or on Facebook, and of course, I always really appreciate it when you forward my posts to your friends.

I hope to meet you at a convention or signing this year. Enjoy!

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by disq2332 | February 23, 2012 · 9:17 am

Living With Your Writing Resolutions

by Gail Z. Martin

Now that we’re a few months in to the new year, are those resolutions starting to chafe a bit? Maybe the diet is history, the exercise plan is on again/off again, and the desire to meditate daily has hit the snooze button. So where does that leave your resolve to make this the year you finish your book?

Whether you’re writing for your own satisfaction or with an eye on eventually getting published, there will be a lot of days when you don’t feel like writing.

Write anyway.

Maybe you just get a page. Maybe you just get a paragraph. By having the discipline to sit down and put thoughts on paper, you will be that much closer to finally completing your manuscript.

I find that even on days when I don’t know where the book is going to go (and even with an outline, there are days like that), once I sit down and start writing, ideas begin to flow. Not all of the ideas will work. But some of them will be perfect, and I wouldn’t have gotten those ideas without the discipline of putting butt in chair and cranking through ideas to get the good ones.

Maybe your schedule isn’t giving your the time off for writing you’d envisioned. That’s OK. Take stock of the opportunities you do have, and adjust your expectations accordingly. If you think about what you’re going to write any time you have a moment to daydream, you’ll find that even a half hour or an hour of writing time becomes much more productive.

Don’t give up on making this the year your finish your book. If you want to do something bad enough, you’ll find enough stolen moments to make it happen. Persistence leads to publication!

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD

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by disq2332 | February 16, 2012 · 10:10 am

What characters do when you’re not looking

by Gail Z. Martin

One of the fun things about being an author is that you don’t have to wait for the next book in your series to come out to find out what’s going to happen. (Actually, that’s not entirely true, because things come up when you’re writing that you didn’t foresee.)

Another fun thing is that between books, your characters still hang out in your imagination, kind of like a “green room” for imaginary people. They never really go away, they just relax a little when they’re off camera. Or maybe it’s like a “wrap party” after the filming for a season of a TV show ends, and the actors all get together to celebrate.

If you want to know the truth of it, it’s kinda like having a noisy Superbowl party going on in the recesses of your mind, except that no one has to vacuum up the potato chip crumbs.

(What, doesn’t everybody experience this phenomena? All the writers I know report some variation. Oh, you meant “normal” people…)

Eventually, the characters get over their hangovers and finish up the snacks, and then decide it’s time to go adventuring again. That’s when they come knocking ever-so-gently at the front of my imagination, saying, “Please, can you write us another story?”

OK, so it’s more like pounding on the door with the pommels of their swords, yelling and screaming, “When do we get another damn book!” (My imaginary friends aren’t a demure bunch.)

That’s when I find out that while they’ve been swilling ale and chowing down, they’ve actually been discussing their next adventure among themselves, and they’re ready to clue me in on it, since they need my fingers to type. The ideas start flowing, it turns into a book proposal, and it’s my turn to take it back to my agent and publisher and say, “I think I’ve got the next story arc.”

So if you ever wondered, characters don’t just wander off to the beach or rent a cabin in the mountains in between books. At least mine don’t. Probably a good thing, or it might look like that Capital One commercial with the Vikings.

In fact, I think I’m getting a message from them now. What’s that? Oh. Pass the salsa.

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD

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by disq2332 | February 9, 2012 · 10:08 am

Tips for getting your own book written in 2012

by Gail Z. Martin

So you want to write a book? Congratulations. Now it’s up to you to bridge the gap between “wanting” and “doing.”

The hardest part of writing a book is making the commitment to set aside the time to do what needs to be done. That’s not just the writing; it’s also making sure that it’s proof read and as well-edited as possible. If you decide to go the traditional publishing route, you’ll need to research and pitch your proposal to agents, and once you sign on with an agent, he/she will then pitch your proposal to publishers. It can be a lengthy process.

If you decide to self-publish, you’ll need to format the book properly, determine things like cover art, and decide whether you’re going to do a paper book print-on-demand or just create an e-book (and handle the conversion, either or both ways). There will be plenty of research and decisions involved. And once your book is complete, you’ll need to plan for promotion, even if you have a traditional publisher. Writing the book is only the beginning!

Still want to do it? Good. Here are six things you’ll need to do to make your book a reality this year:

Set aside time each week to write, and set a weekly goal of how many pages you want to write. You may not always reach your goal (or you may even exceed it sometimes), but the goal keeps you on track. You can always do more, but try not to do less.
Start researching now. Start learning about what agents and editors do, what types of ebook formats are out there, how print-on-demand works and who the major players are.
Think about how the book fits into your business, and whether you’re willing to change your business model to take full advantage of the book (for example, adding speaking engagements to your calendar, making time to create and send press releases, write articles, be a guest blogger or pitch yourself as a radio guest.
Make connections with other authors and ask plenty of questions to see how they got published, what they would do over, and what they’ve learned the hard way.
Consider using a “book shepherd”, someone knowledgeable about the publishing industry who can help you finalize your book, determine your publishing options, and even pitch it to agents if that’s the route you want to go.
Take a hard look at the time and effort you’re willing to put into this project, as well as the money you can invest. The price of book publishing has come way down with print-on-demand and ebooks, but it still requires some investment to hire a book shepherd, get an editor (if you self-publish or need help with the fine points of grammar and punctuation), format your book and create a cover (if you self-publish), and promote your book.

Writing a book is a fantastic step toward achieving your dreams, promoting your business and exploring your creativity. Make this the year that you make your dream come true!

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD

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by disq2332 | February 2, 2012 · 9:06 am

Welcome to The Dread

by Gail Z. Martin

The Dread, Book Two in The Fallen Kings Cycle, is now available!

As plague and famine scourge the winter kingdoms, a vast invasion force is mustering from beyond the northern seas. And at its heart, a dark spirit mage wields the blood magic of ancient, vanquished gods.

Summoner-King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Neighboring lands reel toward anarchy while plague decimates their leaders. Drayke must seek new allies from among the living – and the dead –- as an untested generation of rulers face their first battle.

Then someone disturbs the legendary Dread as they rest in a millennia-long slumber beneath sacred barrows. Their warrior guardians, the Sworn, know the Dread could be pivotal as a force for great good or evil. But if it’s the latter, could even the Summoner-King’s sorcery prevail?

So is this the last book in the Winter Kingdoms? No. But I’m going to step away from these characters for a while and give the survivors a much overdue rest (the action of the six books takes place over the course of about two years, so they’ve earned it). Later this year, I’ll tell you more about what comes next, but for now, I’m very excited to share the rest of the story with you and take you along on the dark and dangerous road to save the Winter Kingdoms.

Here are some extra goodies in celebration of The Dread’s launch:

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teyvxnIEITg
Four excerpts to get you started:
Excerpt #1 https://www.4shared.com/document/aypH5jjv/An_excerpt_from_The_Dread_chp_.html
Excerpt #2 https://www.4shared.com/document/W7IBgFfL/An_excerpt_from_The_Dread_chp_.html
Excerpt #3

https://www.4shared.com/document/E7QlVWJc/An_excerpt_from_The_Dread_chp_.html

Excerpt #4

https://www.4shared.com/document/xHN5lNvM/Dread_Excerpt_4.html

Order from Amazon through my link at www.TheWinterKingdoms.com and get special bonus downloads from a slew of my author friends!

And I’ll be out and about with The Dread, so catch me here:

Reading and signing at SheVaCon in Roanoke, VA Feb. 16 – 18
Launch party at Mysticon in Roanoke, VA from 7 – 9 pm in the Con Suite on Feb. 24
In-store signing at the Barnes & Noble at Carolina Place Mall, Charlotte NC on Feb. 4
In-store signing at Books-A-Million at Concord Mills, Concord, NC on Feb. 11
Watch for more in-store signings to come!

I’d love to hear from you—please comment on my blog or on Facebook, and of course, I always really appreciate it when you forward my posts to your friends.

I hope to meet you at a convention or signing this year. Enjoy!

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by disq2332 | January 19, 2012 · 10:04 am

What’s your writing resolution?

by Gail Z. Martin

If you’re a writer, what’s your writing resolution for 2012?

Is this the year you’re going to finish your manuscript? Find an agent? Self-publish?

Whatever your resolution, when are you going to get started?

I know, things are busy right now. But here’s the truth—things will always be busy. There will always be some reason why you can’t work on your book—unless you decide to make it a priority.

The truth is, writing a book based on your area of expertise can be a fantastic way to promote your business. Just by virtue of the fact that you actually wrote and finished a book (and published it), you can claim the title of ‘expert’. You can promote your book (and your expertise). You can even give away your book as an expanded calling card. You can package your services or products as an extension of the book. But that only works if you actually sit down and write the book.

So here’s my 30 day challenge to you: Write something every day. And by this, I mean a good faith effort, not just jotting down a single word or a single sentence. Set aside just 30 minutes a day and use that time to outline, to write a few paragraphs, or maybe even, on a good day, a whole page. My bet is that by the end of 30 days, you won’t want to stop. It will be so much fun, such a creative release, so invigorating, that you’ll want to keep on going. Or maybe, you’ll even have a draft completed.

Remember that there is no official definition of how many pages (or words) it takes to make a book. Your book could be 10,000 words, or 50,000 words or maybe event 75,000 words. It doesn’t matter. It’s all about how long it takes to say what you want to say. And it all begins with the commitment to begin.

So how about it? I want to know what you do, so please comment and let me know what you’re going to do in the next 30 days to get started on that book you’ve always meant to write!

Go for it!

“Like” my WinterKingdoms page on Facebook and enter to win a prize package of signed books, foreign editions and rare Advance Review Copies https://on.fb.me/yRGfHD

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by disq2332 | January 5, 2012 · 9:39 am

What to buy with those holiday gift card? A geek guide.

by Gail Z. Martin

So you got a gift card. Why not get your geek on and buy what you really want?

Like an iPhone skin that turns your phone into Han Solo encased in carbonite, or a remote controlled R2D2, or even a Star Wars movie poster skateboard? (Because you already got the BluRay DVD set of Star Wars, ‘fess up.)

It’s late in the season, but you could probably grab a Star Wars Lego Advent calendar so you’ll be ready next year. Or the Lego Deathstar with over 3,800 pieces. How about Star Wars Mighty Beans?

Brighten your holidays with a Dalek Christmas tree? (I’m not making this stuff up, honest– https://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/12/gift-guide-giveaway-2011/)

Or what about a pizza cutter shaped like the Enterprise? (You know, I never realized the similarity before, but now that they point it out….)

There’s always Klingon Monopoly or a Spock Mr. Potato Head.

Of course, you already have a Jayne hat, right?

Everyone’s got Harry Potter Clue, don’t they? But how about your very own Mirror of Erised? A “Team Neville” t-shirt? How about a wand that lights a candle? (Now that’s a twist on The Clapper.)

Of course, there’s always a copy of William Shatner singing Bohemian Rhapsody https://youtu.be/cKo4FMzt_hM

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