Ask the Author: C.V. Nór
Answered Questions (8)
C.V. Nór
8 to 9 books for the series of For the Empire's Throne, and other novels. I also do music.
C.V. Nór
Whatever I'm in the mood for at the time. Sometimes I like complete silence, spec. for editing. Some music has helped me in building a certain atmosphere. It's hard to pinpoint. But for war scenes or the like I like listening to bands like Led Zeppelin. I get some inspiration from philharmonic music of Lord of the Rings or heroic music I find on youtube. For love scenes I like music with a lot of sentimentality. But I find it often wrong being inspired by music, since what you write with music often results in a false impression of what you wrote, a realization when you read what you wrote again.
C.V. Nór
Write or edit. The point is always to work. Sometimes editing allows you to think of new things. Editing puts words in your head, and often gives the impulse to write more.
C.V. Nór
It's being alive within what I write, and the reaction of readers when they themselves dive into the pages.
C.V. Nór
There are two ways to write a story: the easy way and the hard way. And they both require a lot of work and patience. No simple story will be sellable or of any great success unless the writer dives into its pool and live in its dimension. Success is never thwarted or guaranteed with either approach. The easy way often results in a lighter and more fun narrative, while the hard way, because of all the ideas and plots that go into it, might tank. My story, "For the Empire's Throne," though the child of inspiration, required much thinking of complicated plots, and thus might end up in the bin of forgetfulness, while my lighter prose is the one that might get me the Nobel Prize. So you never know. My advice is write about what you know at first, and use as many simple sentences as you can. Your own particular voice will come. Also read, read, read.
C.V. Nór
Editing part two of For the Empire's Throne, and working aside on a couple of other stories, one outside the realm of fantasy, and another an urban fantasy, both short works.
C.V. Nór
Realism has ever been my aim in anything I write; thus I pick flowers and jewels from the world of reality, and probe deep into what drives people to do certain actions that, being different, they would not do. The evil people in my stories are never truly evil--except one or two here and there, though even they attempt to reflect the reality of evil as I see it. I never have truly good people--especially because they don't exist. The heart hurts my loving by its irrational actions. My inspiration thus comes from my surroundings, psychology, news, and my curiosity to understand the insides of humanity, i.e., why each of us does "things."
C.V. Nór
The idea germinated from the hero of the Leatherstocking Tales "Natty Bumppo" (La Longue Carabine). It was quite accidental at first. I was playing the role of a half-elf in a Dungeons & Dragons game with an ex-girlfriend some years back. My half-elf was an archer, which reminded me of Natty Bumppo and his mastery with the rifle. The first story was about him, but as I rewrote different beginnings I came across a character (she came up accidentally too, simply a prop for the larger tale) that my girlfriend said, "I wish to know more about her." That was the birth of Maxina Varlk, and the rest is history. The story of my half-elf archer was pushed to the back. Having to get to him eventually, my story became a large volume of over half a million words, and I wasn't even close to him. The length was too large for a new author, as I was told, with each part a book by itself. The theme changed slightly in the process of concentrating on my new heroine, with troubles brewing in the Imperial Kingdom I had started. For the Empire's Throne became thus the story of a child's fall, a child who is pushed to the top by politics and the ambitions of her father. Though the book, as may be seen, has a couple of minor errors--a word out of place as an example (cruel to a perfectionist writer)--it is a book that, though my readership might not find it the best thing ever, though I have confidence they will (I wrote it for their entertainment), it is to me the best story ever. I have never been so enamored of anything else in my life--aside from math books. This is a story about love, tragedy, and the resurgence of strength and courage in the face of evil and impending destruction. I suffered with my characters, quailed at the evil, and cried often. This is my jewel, and few could ever undermine my love for it. I did not live until I wrote this story--by "this story" I mean the entire collection of books that form the theme of For the Empire's Throne. I hope you get to love it too. And if not, my thanks for the opportunity of delving into my world are still profuse, since, even with a bad opinion, you got to know my child.
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