David N Humphrey's Blog
April 29, 2019
Winterfell v Helms Deep
There is a lot of mumbling on social media as to which is better; The Battle of Winterfell in Game of Thrones episode The Long Night (S8 E3) or Helm's Deep in Peter Jackson's The Two Towers. Let's compare them.
Obviously, the GoT episode is fresher in my mind and to be fair, I'm still reeling from it. Whilst the early seasons of HBO's series had budgets that meant much of the action took place offscreen, replaced by with talking in tents and then post-battle fields of blood and static extras, The Battle of the Bastards helped nudge the bar higher for large scale medieval combat and yes, I'm including big budget movies here. Even the peerless Ridley Scott's superb work on Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood were trumped on that flat screen in the corner of my living room.
LOTR and GOT are certainly similar but have many important differences. The most obvious is Thrones' target audience. Whereas The Two Towers was a 12A movie, George R R Martins's stories are hardly that and we are dealing with undead.
Yes, it was dark at the beginning, everyone noticed that and it has launched many a meme already. It was supposed to be -- this is a night-time battle and more importantly an epic zombie attack.
The Two Towers featured opposing armies (albeit one of them were Orcs) laying siege and defending a stronghold, they weren't pretty but they were not undead and it was more of a military conflict, for that reason Helm's Deep is more akin to the Battle of Blackwater than this. The attack on Winterfell owed as much to 28 Days Later and World War Z than the Lord of the Rings trilogy featuring sprightly whites à la Dawn of the Dead remake with its speeded up shufflers (on the subject of Zombie speeds I still like the older 'shuffler' type; They're scary because of their numbers and no matter how fast you are you never outrun them, like Cybermen or Yul Brynner's gunslinger chasing you down corridors in Westworld). When a colossal army of undead advance on a castle you set it at night to make it scary. The dead are more dreadful when they hide in darkness or at least fog but that trope has been done already north of the wall.
The scene where the Dothraki, their weapons ablaze, charge off into the darkness only to be silently snuffed out was a standout for an episode where the enemy was rarely seen until the castle walls were breached. The other reason for keeping things dark was when the dragons breathe their fire on the undead it reinforces their power in bright orange. Everything is lit up better from this point on until the refreshingly intimate sneaking through Winterfell's corridors tones down the brightness.
The first episode of Season 8 had a scene inside the Last Hearth that was played like a 'haunted house' sequence that sent the newspapers in a flap for being 'too dark'. It was only for a couple of minutes and totally justified. We fear the dark and our eyes play tricks on us. I have always found it annoying when night-time is filmed artificially bright with a handy full moon or on a studio stage's colossal lighting rig. Incidentally, did you know that 3D horror movies have to be filmed brightly lit for the 3D optics to work and then have to be artificially graded down to look scary? Years ago my dad used to grumble some of Clint Eastwood's movies were always too dark, not the ones with the Orang-utan, the other ones. Didn't bother me as much I've always liked the contrast of things like Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz head appearing out of the shadows in Apocalypse Now. It's about setting the atmosphere and that's phere with an F. But y'know, some people would strip light a ghost train if they could.
Others have said that the jerky camera work and fast cutting meant it was confusing to see who was getting attacked and one person seemed to witness Brienne nearly dying twice. Ever since Gladiator, when Sir Ridders championed the overcranked camera style that is more or less compulsory now this unreal look is in full effect here and it's a fair point. Alien3 suffered from a similar problem at times with everyone running around in the dark, bald and wearing the same clothes, and you have to balance it carefully. But again this was a deliberate choice surely? Everyone watching is expecting a high body count and fearful for their favourite characters and the producers know this and are messing with your heads. The frenetic confusing cuts between the action -- and we have a LOT of protagonists to show remember -- paints the chaos of battle superbly. This isn't the artificial ballet-rehearsed dance of a Jackie Chan Hong Kong fight sequence, this is visceral combat, jittery people desperately fighting for survival and its not pretty.
I like the Lord of the Rings movies. They are breathtaking vast in scope both in front of the camera and in terms of what it took to make them. The standout scene in The Two Towers is rightly the assault on Helm's Deep and it is excellently done, but not without problems. Minor quibbles are the orcs are largely interchangeable and some of the model work when the wall explodes is unconvincing but mainly the tone is uneven and distracts for me. To pacify the censors and no doubt offset the upcoming violence, Gimli and Legolas turn into Laurel and Hardy with their odd out-of-place comedy quips. But for every 'shield used as a surfboard' moment you have the brilliant Aragorn yelling for the same elf to stop a torchbearer before he can light the fuse.
The real problem is that no major character seems to be in any jeopardy. Thousands are killed on both sides and yet in Star Trek parlance they are all 'Red Shirts' and no one cares. At the time of writing at least six characters were killed in the Winterfell massacre with a good few not looking too chipper as the credits rolled. I'm not going to name any names of the deceased in this episode but sudden death has always been one of the trademarks of A Song of Ice And Fire and these very tangible stakes have always been present throughout the story arc and is absent in the Helm's Deep sequence.
In the Middle Earth of Peter Jackson that was lit so perfectly by the late cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, it seems that everyone, not just the Elves, has night vision. I would also like to point out that when they re-teamed for the Hobbit trilogy they used 48 frames per second instead of the standard 24 and they too received similar comments of confusion and dizziness from the press.
Strangely, both end with an almost 'Deux Ex Machina' denouement, whether its Gandalf riding out of the morning sun or thingy killing you know who at the last minute (spoilers!) but that was hinted at for many seasons back.
Much has been talked of Thrones' 11 weeks of consecutive night shoots for this feature-length episode alone and it shows on screen. Not only is there fighting for a solid hour there are multiple narratives with many characters, not just extras, who all have a part to play in the story.
In conclusion, T2T shows the majestic spectacle of war, and GoT shows the terror, the pain and its consequences. Plus it has three dragons kicking the stuffing out of each other. Helm's Deep is great but not today. If you really must put a sword to my head and make me pick a side, I'm #TeamWinterfell
Obviously, the GoT episode is fresher in my mind and to be fair, I'm still reeling from it. Whilst the early seasons of HBO's series had budgets that meant much of the action took place offscreen, replaced by with talking in tents and then post-battle fields of blood and static extras, The Battle of the Bastards helped nudge the bar higher for large scale medieval combat and yes, I'm including big budget movies here. Even the peerless Ridley Scott's superb work on Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood were trumped on that flat screen in the corner of my living room.
LOTR and GOT are certainly similar but have many important differences. The most obvious is Thrones' target audience. Whereas The Two Towers was a 12A movie, George R R Martins's stories are hardly that and we are dealing with undead.
Yes, it was dark at the beginning, everyone noticed that and it has launched many a meme already. It was supposed to be -- this is a night-time battle and more importantly an epic zombie attack.
The Two Towers featured opposing armies (albeit one of them were Orcs) laying siege and defending a stronghold, they weren't pretty but they were not undead and it was more of a military conflict, for that reason Helm's Deep is more akin to the Battle of Blackwater than this. The attack on Winterfell owed as much to 28 Days Later and World War Z than the Lord of the Rings trilogy featuring sprightly whites à la Dawn of the Dead remake with its speeded up shufflers (on the subject of Zombie speeds I still like the older 'shuffler' type; They're scary because of their numbers and no matter how fast you are you never outrun them, like Cybermen or Yul Brynner's gunslinger chasing you down corridors in Westworld). When a colossal army of undead advance on a castle you set it at night to make it scary. The dead are more dreadful when they hide in darkness or at least fog but that trope has been done already north of the wall.
The scene where the Dothraki, their weapons ablaze, charge off into the darkness only to be silently snuffed out was a standout for an episode where the enemy was rarely seen until the castle walls were breached. The other reason for keeping things dark was when the dragons breathe their fire on the undead it reinforces their power in bright orange. Everything is lit up better from this point on until the refreshingly intimate sneaking through Winterfell's corridors tones down the brightness.
The first episode of Season 8 had a scene inside the Last Hearth that was played like a 'haunted house' sequence that sent the newspapers in a flap for being 'too dark'. It was only for a couple of minutes and totally justified. We fear the dark and our eyes play tricks on us. I have always found it annoying when night-time is filmed artificially bright with a handy full moon or on a studio stage's colossal lighting rig. Incidentally, did you know that 3D horror movies have to be filmed brightly lit for the 3D optics to work and then have to be artificially graded down to look scary? Years ago my dad used to grumble some of Clint Eastwood's movies were always too dark, not the ones with the Orang-utan, the other ones. Didn't bother me as much I've always liked the contrast of things like Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz head appearing out of the shadows in Apocalypse Now. It's about setting the atmosphere and that's phere with an F. But y'know, some people would strip light a ghost train if they could.
Others have said that the jerky camera work and fast cutting meant it was confusing to see who was getting attacked and one person seemed to witness Brienne nearly dying twice. Ever since Gladiator, when Sir Ridders championed the overcranked camera style that is more or less compulsory now this unreal look is in full effect here and it's a fair point. Alien3 suffered from a similar problem at times with everyone running around in the dark, bald and wearing the same clothes, and you have to balance it carefully. But again this was a deliberate choice surely? Everyone watching is expecting a high body count and fearful for their favourite characters and the producers know this and are messing with your heads. The frenetic confusing cuts between the action -- and we have a LOT of protagonists to show remember -- paints the chaos of battle superbly. This isn't the artificial ballet-rehearsed dance of a Jackie Chan Hong Kong fight sequence, this is visceral combat, jittery people desperately fighting for survival and its not pretty.
I like the Lord of the Rings movies. They are breathtaking vast in scope both in front of the camera and in terms of what it took to make them. The standout scene in The Two Towers is rightly the assault on Helm's Deep and it is excellently done, but not without problems. Minor quibbles are the orcs are largely interchangeable and some of the model work when the wall explodes is unconvincing but mainly the tone is uneven and distracts for me. To pacify the censors and no doubt offset the upcoming violence, Gimli and Legolas turn into Laurel and Hardy with their odd out-of-place comedy quips. But for every 'shield used as a surfboard' moment you have the brilliant Aragorn yelling for the same elf to stop a torchbearer before he can light the fuse.
The real problem is that no major character seems to be in any jeopardy. Thousands are killed on both sides and yet in Star Trek parlance they are all 'Red Shirts' and no one cares. At the time of writing at least six characters were killed in the Winterfell massacre with a good few not looking too chipper as the credits rolled. I'm not going to name any names of the deceased in this episode but sudden death has always been one of the trademarks of A Song of Ice And Fire and these very tangible stakes have always been present throughout the story arc and is absent in the Helm's Deep sequence.
In the Middle Earth of Peter Jackson that was lit so perfectly by the late cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, it seems that everyone, not just the Elves, has night vision. I would also like to point out that when they re-teamed for the Hobbit trilogy they used 48 frames per second instead of the standard 24 and they too received similar comments of confusion and dizziness from the press.
Strangely, both end with an almost 'Deux Ex Machina' denouement, whether its Gandalf riding out of the morning sun or thingy killing you know who at the last minute (spoilers!) but that was hinted at for many seasons back.
Much has been talked of Thrones' 11 weeks of consecutive night shoots for this feature-length episode alone and it shows on screen. Not only is there fighting for a solid hour there are multiple narratives with many characters, not just extras, who all have a part to play in the story.
In conclusion, T2T shows the majestic spectacle of war, and GoT shows the terror, the pain and its consequences. Plus it has three dragons kicking the stuffing out of each other. Helm's Deep is great but not today. If you really must put a sword to my head and make me pick a side, I'm #TeamWinterfell
September 9, 2018
Writing Tips: Things I do include
In my previous Blog post, I listed eight things I avoid when writing my medieval Valguard adventures. This time, let's talk more positively about the things I do include:
1. BAD GUYS MUST DO VERY BAD THINGS -- Villains who are properly evil have to do horrific things. This is something that has bugged me since 1989's Bond movie, Licence To Kill. For Dalton's 2nd outing he was trying to get away from Rog's earlier flippancy and be darker and truer to the source material. The studio wasn't so keen and cut the more brutal actions of Sanchez wanting to make a PG Die Hard-lite. The problem is when you soften the villain you begin to weaken your empathy for the protagonist who ultimately beats him. Fantasy books conventionally demand that the villain is killed (as opposed to convicted in police/legal genres) so if the baddie isn't that bad, the reader won't differentiate between the hero and the villain. Bad guys must do bad things to make the good guys good, or at least preferable. You can't just label them bad and give them a black hat, their actions must be loathsome and the reader must demand punishment and his wrongs put right. Remember this is a brutal world for grown-ups.
Additionally, if your hero is just about to vanquish the baddie, don't have something stop him just so you can replay the conflict again in the sequel. Finish the story arc and then you can invent a new, more evil villain for the next book. This point leads into...
2. KILL PEOPLE -- If characters all survive the story there is no jeopardy, there is no risk or dangers to be overcome. Like a game of chess, even your favourite three-dimensional characters sometimes have to be sacrificed, not just the faceless 'redshirt' non-player characters. No one has embraced this as much as George R. R. Martin, with his 'all bets are off' philosophy you really have to enjoy the characters while you can as there is no guarantee they will survive to the next page. But unexpected deaths should not just be there for the sake of it, make them count: Give a major character a fitting send-off that will shock or bring a tear to the eye as if it was a close friend. In the Strontium Dog story 'The Final Solution' published way back in the 1980s by the UK comic 2000AD, mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha was blinded and killed on an alien world in a story that shocked its readership, but he sacrificed himself to save everyone else. It was, without doubt, the best 5 pages I have read in any comic. EVER. I even have the pages printed out and framed on my office wall. This was heartbreaking to read as a teenager but was more emotional than JJ Abrams throwing away Han Solo off a gantry in the belated, disappointing remix that was The Force Awakens. Never has such a beloved character been so badly served or mourned less, even by poor Chewie. Back in 1992, When they were editing one of the many reshot endings of Alien 3, they famously said Ripley must voluntarily fall into the furnace before the xenomorph appears out of her chest otherwise it is not a sacrifice -- it's just 'garbage disposal'.
Even an unexpected accidental death can have gravitas and a sense of tragedy to it. Don't have supporting characters outstay their welcome and always leave them wanting more. That said, don't go overboard and kill everyone either, it's a delicate balancing act. Like swearing, the most impact is to be had by occasional and perfectly timed use, otherwise, you lose their power. In 'Spares' by Michael Marshall Smith, the lead character pretty much gets everyone he meets killed in his wake, a bit like 24's Jack Bauer whose address book is so full of crossed out names, it is tragic by even Shakespearean proportions.
Maybe at this point, I should point out that I have already written Valguard's death scene. As he suffers from visions when he sleeps and the worst recurring nightmare he has is seeing his own death. This foretelling can be both the liberating in some ways offering a sense of invulnerability and a curse to live with as we can explore the repercussions of fate and destiny and the reliability of portents and their interpretation. All that remains is the question of which book it will appear in I will not say for now. No one is safe!
3. DESCRIPTIONS -- I know many writers never even specify as much as hair colour of the protagonists and rely on the dialogue and plot to propel the narrative. I understand this speeds up the pacing of the book with fast tennis ball exchanges of dialogue filling a page (mentioning no names, but it rhymes with Lee Child) but I see the scenes vividly in my head and then have to describe them as best I can. I like to think of it as adding colour to a sketch. Each person should be different visually as well as in attitude or personality. It is all too easy to have another angry fighter no different from the last, and I don't just mean 'oh, I dunno... I'll give him a limp' kind of trait. Always remember, if I had the time and money this would be a graphic novel or better still a movie or HBO TV series.
4. FRUITY LANGUAGE -- It was no picnic in the dark ages and, then as now, swear words are often used especially in life or death situations. So far in my Valguard books, the first words he says in every book is a swear word; 'fuck' in Knight, 'piss' in Chariot and 'shit' in Vampire Night. He's a classy guy. The exception is the very short story Sanctuary which when originally wrote it had so little bad language in it, I have since gone back and swapped it all out. As this story was designed to be a permanently free taster it probably would be alright to clean it a little. Like I said, it wouldn't alter the story much and finally, my 11 year old son would be able to read one of my stories. Generally though, the more a character swears the more unlikeable or uneducated he probably will be. I love a well-timed swear word for effect but when every other word is effing this and effing that, I roll my eyes, even if the character IS that retarded. I haven't watched all of The Wire or Deadwood because I was a put off by the constant swears and these are milestone TV programmes that were buried away on the UK when they were originally made but I'm sure I will have another go at some point. I'm no village vicar but there's a time and a place for profanity, never in front of the kids and you should always play to your audience. In print, I have yet to drop the C-bomb but have written a scene in which Barwick, the foul-mouthed landlord of Valguard's local inn, The Gravedigger, really goes to town insulting a stunned drunk troublemaker for a whole page and a half. It is by far the most offensive thing I have ever written and although quite funny, I'm unsure if it will stay in the proposed book. Yes, it's that bad.
5. HUMOUR -- the text should be laced with dark humour to offset the grim reality of medieval life and death. I find a lot of humour in dire situations. I don't know if it's a British thing or just gallows humour, but sometimes when the excrement is piling high you sometimes can only laugh at the mess you are in. No matter how dark the story gets there is always time for some infantile banter. Even when you have a tavern full of serious cutthroats they will take the piss out of each other's haircuts, drinks, armour whatever. Worryingly, in this age of social media and people confusing offence with not liking something, it is becoming more of a concern. I wonder if some of the dialogue that feels acceptable today will not be in ten years time and should that be something to address in my writing? What used to pass for fairly innocent mocking of a person's sexuality can now be labelled gender shaming. Ultimately your barometer of taste can only be what is acceptable at the time of publication and just as glaring errors like Agatha Christie's Ten Little N******, these things will be revisited at a later time with more enlightened eyes. But blokes back then would always be just as shallow as the men in your local today, nothing has changed. Tarantino proved this with his trademark scenes in Reservoir Dogs when the jewel heist gang bicker like kids over their codenames during the briefing. It all comes from well-written, great dialogue. As long as the humour comes from the situations they find themselves and not just slapstick clowning around. Mind you, once people are full of ale anything could happen.
6. DIRT -- almost everything is old and covered in mud, sweat and blood. To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 'How do you know he was a King?' 'He's not got shit all over him.' Many in the population will be defined by malnutrition and scarred by disease. Life is hard. Food is often scarce and meals are missed for days. Life expectancy is short, children die young and newborn babies don't always survive. In fact, Valguard is considered a veteran in his mid-thirties and he knows himself he will soon be on borrowed time. Where you have riches, the world becomes new and clean and shiny and only serves to counterpoint a feudal world of privilege and power over the rest of the struggling population and the widening gap between these worlds. Much like today really.
7. A TOUCH OF MAGIC -- All the great wizards have gone now and magic is a rare a forgotten craft. There are sorcerers but these are occasional and peppered through the books. Valguard's powers of telekinesis aren't magic, he didn't learn spells through scrolls and books, it was an unexpected ability he developed in his youth and learned to control. Like an X-man's mutant powers or a Jedi's use of The Force. Even so, in any situation, it is only one of many responses he could deploy and more often than not he would still prefer to use use a sword or hand-to-hand in combat.
8. RESPECT YOUR READER -- Any book in a series should be self-contained and give at least a passing nod to relevant character milestones or plot points in previous books. It could be thought of as arrogant to think your reader will have read all your previous entries and neither is it right you should demand they must read your books in sequence. Especially as an author, I am guilty of writing them 'sort of' out of sequence in the first place (it's complicated). You have to expect a reader could very well stumble across your book by accident or be lent it from an impassioned friend who insists you'd like it. I myself started reading Sycamore Gap by L.J. Ross before realising it was actually Holy Island that was the first book in the series, I don't know if it mattered but I started at book #1 anyway. A textbook example of that is James Cameron's screenplay for Aliens. You could watch that movie having never seen Ridley Scott's original as all its plot points are effortlessly dropped into the first act explaining the alien's physiology and the events onboard the Nostromo.
9. ACTION -- These stories should be thrilling adventures, an in your face yarn of old-school daring and lucky escapes. Never be complacent and when the reader thinks they know where the story is going, pull the rug out from under them. Use plot twists, left turns and surprises to keep the reader on his toes and unsure what will happen in the next bit -- not simply at the end, Mr M. Night Shyalaman, which ironically, becomes the oxymoron that is the expected twist. Always leave a chapter on a cliffhanger or a hook of a question and stop the reader closing your book / switching off the Kindle and turning off the light. 'Just one more chapter' is what you have to aim for and then when the book is finished, they should be downloading the next one.
These points may be nothing new, but they are key touchstones in my writing process. My stories take place in the sweet spot where Historical Fiction and Fantasy meet and come with its own rules. If you missed the more controversial list of things I avoid putting in my books it is available on my Goodreads writing blog here http://bit.ly/2O1GsJn
Cheers, Dave
1. BAD GUYS MUST DO VERY BAD THINGS -- Villains who are properly evil have to do horrific things. This is something that has bugged me since 1989's Bond movie, Licence To Kill. For Dalton's 2nd outing he was trying to get away from Rog's earlier flippancy and be darker and truer to the source material. The studio wasn't so keen and cut the more brutal actions of Sanchez wanting to make a PG Die Hard-lite. The problem is when you soften the villain you begin to weaken your empathy for the protagonist who ultimately beats him. Fantasy books conventionally demand that the villain is killed (as opposed to convicted in police/legal genres) so if the baddie isn't that bad, the reader won't differentiate between the hero and the villain. Bad guys must do bad things to make the good guys good, or at least preferable. You can't just label them bad and give them a black hat, their actions must be loathsome and the reader must demand punishment and his wrongs put right. Remember this is a brutal world for grown-ups.
Additionally, if your hero is just about to vanquish the baddie, don't have something stop him just so you can replay the conflict again in the sequel. Finish the story arc and then you can invent a new, more evil villain for the next book. This point leads into...
2. KILL PEOPLE -- If characters all survive the story there is no jeopardy, there is no risk or dangers to be overcome. Like a game of chess, even your favourite three-dimensional characters sometimes have to be sacrificed, not just the faceless 'redshirt' non-player characters. No one has embraced this as much as George R. R. Martin, with his 'all bets are off' philosophy you really have to enjoy the characters while you can as there is no guarantee they will survive to the next page. But unexpected deaths should not just be there for the sake of it, make them count: Give a major character a fitting send-off that will shock or bring a tear to the eye as if it was a close friend. In the Strontium Dog story 'The Final Solution' published way back in the 1980s by the UK comic 2000AD, mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha was blinded and killed on an alien world in a story that shocked its readership, but he sacrificed himself to save everyone else. It was, without doubt, the best 5 pages I have read in any comic. EVER. I even have the pages printed out and framed on my office wall. This was heartbreaking to read as a teenager but was more emotional than JJ Abrams throwing away Han Solo off a gantry in the belated, disappointing remix that was The Force Awakens. Never has such a beloved character been so badly served or mourned less, even by poor Chewie. Back in 1992, When they were editing one of the many reshot endings of Alien 3, they famously said Ripley must voluntarily fall into the furnace before the xenomorph appears out of her chest otherwise it is not a sacrifice -- it's just 'garbage disposal'.
Even an unexpected accidental death can have gravitas and a sense of tragedy to it. Don't have supporting characters outstay their welcome and always leave them wanting more. That said, don't go overboard and kill everyone either, it's a delicate balancing act. Like swearing, the most impact is to be had by occasional and perfectly timed use, otherwise, you lose their power. In 'Spares' by Michael Marshall Smith, the lead character pretty much gets everyone he meets killed in his wake, a bit like 24's Jack Bauer whose address book is so full of crossed out names, it is tragic by even Shakespearean proportions.
Maybe at this point, I should point out that I have already written Valguard's death scene. As he suffers from visions when he sleeps and the worst recurring nightmare he has is seeing his own death. This foretelling can be both the liberating in some ways offering a sense of invulnerability and a curse to live with as we can explore the repercussions of fate and destiny and the reliability of portents and their interpretation. All that remains is the question of which book it will appear in I will not say for now. No one is safe!
3. DESCRIPTIONS -- I know many writers never even specify as much as hair colour of the protagonists and rely on the dialogue and plot to propel the narrative. I understand this speeds up the pacing of the book with fast tennis ball exchanges of dialogue filling a page (mentioning no names, but it rhymes with Lee Child) but I see the scenes vividly in my head and then have to describe them as best I can. I like to think of it as adding colour to a sketch. Each person should be different visually as well as in attitude or personality. It is all too easy to have another angry fighter no different from the last, and I don't just mean 'oh, I dunno... I'll give him a limp' kind of trait. Always remember, if I had the time and money this would be a graphic novel or better still a movie or HBO TV series.
4. FRUITY LANGUAGE -- It was no picnic in the dark ages and, then as now, swear words are often used especially in life or death situations. So far in my Valguard books, the first words he says in every book is a swear word; 'fuck' in Knight, 'piss' in Chariot and 'shit' in Vampire Night. He's a classy guy. The exception is the very short story Sanctuary which when originally wrote it had so little bad language in it, I have since gone back and swapped it all out. As this story was designed to be a permanently free taster it probably would be alright to clean it a little. Like I said, it wouldn't alter the story much and finally, my 11 year old son would be able to read one of my stories. Generally though, the more a character swears the more unlikeable or uneducated he probably will be. I love a well-timed swear word for effect but when every other word is effing this and effing that, I roll my eyes, even if the character IS that retarded. I haven't watched all of The Wire or Deadwood because I was a put off by the constant swears and these are milestone TV programmes that were buried away on the UK when they were originally made but I'm sure I will have another go at some point. I'm no village vicar but there's a time and a place for profanity, never in front of the kids and you should always play to your audience. In print, I have yet to drop the C-bomb but have written a scene in which Barwick, the foul-mouthed landlord of Valguard's local inn, The Gravedigger, really goes to town insulting a stunned drunk troublemaker for a whole page and a half. It is by far the most offensive thing I have ever written and although quite funny, I'm unsure if it will stay in the proposed book. Yes, it's that bad.
5. HUMOUR -- the text should be laced with dark humour to offset the grim reality of medieval life and death. I find a lot of humour in dire situations. I don't know if it's a British thing or just gallows humour, but sometimes when the excrement is piling high you sometimes can only laugh at the mess you are in. No matter how dark the story gets there is always time for some infantile banter. Even when you have a tavern full of serious cutthroats they will take the piss out of each other's haircuts, drinks, armour whatever. Worryingly, in this age of social media and people confusing offence with not liking something, it is becoming more of a concern. I wonder if some of the dialogue that feels acceptable today will not be in ten years time and should that be something to address in my writing? What used to pass for fairly innocent mocking of a person's sexuality can now be labelled gender shaming. Ultimately your barometer of taste can only be what is acceptable at the time of publication and just as glaring errors like Agatha Christie's Ten Little N******, these things will be revisited at a later time with more enlightened eyes. But blokes back then would always be just as shallow as the men in your local today, nothing has changed. Tarantino proved this with his trademark scenes in Reservoir Dogs when the jewel heist gang bicker like kids over their codenames during the briefing. It all comes from well-written, great dialogue. As long as the humour comes from the situations they find themselves and not just slapstick clowning around. Mind you, once people are full of ale anything could happen.
6. DIRT -- almost everything is old and covered in mud, sweat and blood. To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 'How do you know he was a King?' 'He's not got shit all over him.' Many in the population will be defined by malnutrition and scarred by disease. Life is hard. Food is often scarce and meals are missed for days. Life expectancy is short, children die young and newborn babies don't always survive. In fact, Valguard is considered a veteran in his mid-thirties and he knows himself he will soon be on borrowed time. Where you have riches, the world becomes new and clean and shiny and only serves to counterpoint a feudal world of privilege and power over the rest of the struggling population and the widening gap between these worlds. Much like today really.
7. A TOUCH OF MAGIC -- All the great wizards have gone now and magic is a rare a forgotten craft. There are sorcerers but these are occasional and peppered through the books. Valguard's powers of telekinesis aren't magic, he didn't learn spells through scrolls and books, it was an unexpected ability he developed in his youth and learned to control. Like an X-man's mutant powers or a Jedi's use of The Force. Even so, in any situation, it is only one of many responses he could deploy and more often than not he would still prefer to use use a sword or hand-to-hand in combat.
8. RESPECT YOUR READER -- Any book in a series should be self-contained and give at least a passing nod to relevant character milestones or plot points in previous books. It could be thought of as arrogant to think your reader will have read all your previous entries and neither is it right you should demand they must read your books in sequence. Especially as an author, I am guilty of writing them 'sort of' out of sequence in the first place (it's complicated). You have to expect a reader could very well stumble across your book by accident or be lent it from an impassioned friend who insists you'd like it. I myself started reading Sycamore Gap by L.J. Ross before realising it was actually Holy Island that was the first book in the series, I don't know if it mattered but I started at book #1 anyway. A textbook example of that is James Cameron's screenplay for Aliens. You could watch that movie having never seen Ridley Scott's original as all its plot points are effortlessly dropped into the first act explaining the alien's physiology and the events onboard the Nostromo.
9. ACTION -- These stories should be thrilling adventures, an in your face yarn of old-school daring and lucky escapes. Never be complacent and when the reader thinks they know where the story is going, pull the rug out from under them. Use plot twists, left turns and surprises to keep the reader on his toes and unsure what will happen in the next bit -- not simply at the end, Mr M. Night Shyalaman, which ironically, becomes the oxymoron that is the expected twist. Always leave a chapter on a cliffhanger or a hook of a question and stop the reader closing your book / switching off the Kindle and turning off the light. 'Just one more chapter' is what you have to aim for and then when the book is finished, they should be downloading the next one.
These points may be nothing new, but they are key touchstones in my writing process. My stories take place in the sweet spot where Historical Fiction and Fantasy meet and come with its own rules. If you missed the more controversial list of things I avoid putting in my books it is available on my Goodreads writing blog here http://bit.ly/2O1GsJn
Cheers, Dave
July 11, 2018
Writing Tips: 8 Things I Avoid Putting in my Books
In the Venn diagram of Historical Fiction and Fantasy, my medieval mercenary Valguard stories sit in the uncomfortable area where the two genres overlap with a foot in both worlds. Half fantasy, half HistFic I like to think of it as ‘Swordpunk’, its medieval with slight fantastical touches. As a proud Indie Self-publisher, I am writing for the pleasure of creating these stories of which I am very proud, I take my time, edit and improve the prose multiple times. I write based on my gut feelings and instinct and hope that the stories I like might appeal to other people. and I have certain rules when I am writing. Here are eight things I don’t do:
1. NO MAPS -- Controversial one straight away. They are expected in every fantasy novel only because Tolkien used them and the Misty Mountains were the first thing you saw when you read The Hobbit at school. I can understand having a plan of a castle or town that was besieged in a Historical Fiction -- that proves you've done your research -- but they rarely have maps in crime or sci-fi stories so why have them in yours. They look good but I don't think they are necessary. The plain fact is, if you write the book well, you shouldn’t need one.
2. NO EXTENDED FAMILY TREES -- I'm not writing a soap opera here. No one cares what your great, great step-uncle did. If you insist on drawing elaborate dynasties just remember you'll never do it as well as George R R Martin. Darth may be Luke's father (spoiler) but that wasn't Lucas's plan when he wrote A New Hope. In Spectre, James Bond is now Blofeld's step-brother which is ridiculous and trite, all that world domination to get back at a sibling? Really. It's all a bit unlikely and often a misplaced device to try and increase the stakes, well, it doesn't. It's lazy writing. A character's actions should up the tension.
3. NO DUNGEONS, NO DRAGONS -- OK, full disclosure, I played TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as a teenager in the 1980s. It was a fun, creative and relatively cheap hobby for me and my friends who didn't do football (soccer) or sport or any kind. The average dungeon is much like all the others and rarely did it make sense to exist in the first place, I guess that's why you had dwarves. One overused plot device was the magical Inn or Tavern that would be the start of most adventures; a chance to overhear gossip of quests, right a wrong or recruit new characters was a must but all medieval taverns are pretty much the same. Try and differentiate between any you write. There have been great Dragons in fiction and movies but I try to keep my stories mostly human based.
4. NO ELVES, ORCS OR HOBBITS -- Another hangover from D&D. I've never understood E. Gary Gygax's obsession with Elves. Fair enough they couldn't have 18/100 strength but they did get better dexterity, constitution, charisma, lived forever and could see in the dark. I think both man and elf should have been more balanced as elves didn't seem to have a weakness. A bit like Jack Reacher (both a genius AND built like a shithouse). Perhaps I'm Elvist, but to this day my heart sinks when I see the world Elf mentioned in a fantasy book as they just always come across as smug and aloof, although Michael J. Sullivan's excellent Ryria books tiptoe around it and I won't have a word said against his character Royce Melburn. Hobbits are merely comic relief copyright of the Tolkien estate and Orcs are ubiquitous, photocopied sword fodder. Dwarfs are fine, but in my world, they are just short people and not automatically great tunnellers or weaponsmiths.
5. NO LARGE SCALE ARMY BATTLES -- Epic fantasy tales of thousands of soldiers marching to war may be exciting on screen but it's hard to write well and the numbers alone make it impersonal. Sure wars are mentioned in my books and may even be happening in the next town but I go the opposite way and make my stories more intimate and keep it tight on a handful of characters. The entire world does not have to be in jeopardy to make you care about the protagonist's plight. Yes, you can show background characters suffering if a siege bites or a plague takes hold in your setting, but your hero's own world will end if he is killed and that should be enough. His jeopardy is to make it alive to the last page. If you want to connect with your hero don't upscale the peril to everyone, focus on him, make it believable and put him in real danger.
6. NO RIDICULOUS, UNPRONOUNCEABLE NAMES -- Stop showboating and keep those consonant-heavy, unpronounceable anagrams to yourself please. Don't go overboard with the x's, q's and z's and think of your reader. Possibly, more importantly, spare a thought too to the narrator of your forthcoming audiobook. I also try not to have more than one character share the same initial on their surname, it helps to differentiate in a busy scene. I'm sure I won't be able to keep this up forever but I'm trying my hardest. Dickens tried to make the character name onomatopoeically fit the person and that's a noble idea that I bear in mind when choosing surnames. Finding names can be hard; my top tips are looking for ones buried way down in TV or movie credits or why not have a wander through a graveyard for inspiration, you often get duplicates of local families but there are some brilliant names -- I found a Shillinclaw and that became a type of rum. Personally, I find naming rivers the hardest for some reason, I have no idea why.
7. NO 'OLDE WORLDE' DIALOGUE -- I write my stories in modern English. These are action thrillers that just happen to be set in a medieval world. Think of it as if Tarantino did medieval. Friends bicker and take the water out of each other over trivial stuff just like real people. And the language used is colloquial, in a land where poverty and illiteracy is often the norm, not everyone's words are polished Shakespeare. No forsooth's or hey-nonny-nonnies and such. Obviously, I avoid modern slang terms like 'OK' and anachronisms like 'the clock was ticking' as it makes no sense in the medieval era. Sadly, it also means I am unable to write an exciting car chase, which is a shame.
8. NOT OF THIS EARTH -- And this is my big cheat really. The Valguard stories are set on a skewed version of a world, not unlike 15th century Britain. Countries like France, Germany, Persia etc are not named as such but different races are alluded to and exist in the various compass points from the land similar to Northern Britain. Black people to the south, Asian to the east etc. I keep it vague but familiar. Not mentioning the French is tricky as so many parts of armour and castles have French-derived names, that it is hard to avoid. I don't directly acknowledge organised religions like Christianity either, there is an organised Church but here there was never a Jesus, so no son of God. Crucifixion doesn't have the same poignancy and therefore crosses are not used as religious symbols. I avoid using terms like 'heaven' and 'hell' which can make sudden exclamations tricky, but the predominant belief system in the rural countryside is still a kind of Pagan but generic monks, druids and proto-fascist paladins feature in later books.
Some of these rules may go against conventional wisdom but I'm writing the stories I'd want to read so if it makes mine different, for better or for worse. Feel free to agree or disagree and add any comments below, and next time, I'll be listing some of the things I insist on including in my stories which if nothing else will be a lot less negative.
Until then, Dave
1. NO MAPS -- Controversial one straight away. They are expected in every fantasy novel only because Tolkien used them and the Misty Mountains were the first thing you saw when you read The Hobbit at school. I can understand having a plan of a castle or town that was besieged in a Historical Fiction -- that proves you've done your research -- but they rarely have maps in crime or sci-fi stories so why have them in yours. They look good but I don't think they are necessary. The plain fact is, if you write the book well, you shouldn’t need one.
2. NO EXTENDED FAMILY TREES -- I'm not writing a soap opera here. No one cares what your great, great step-uncle did. If you insist on drawing elaborate dynasties just remember you'll never do it as well as George R R Martin. Darth may be Luke's father (spoiler) but that wasn't Lucas's plan when he wrote A New Hope. In Spectre, James Bond is now Blofeld's step-brother which is ridiculous and trite, all that world domination to get back at a sibling? Really. It's all a bit unlikely and often a misplaced device to try and increase the stakes, well, it doesn't. It's lazy writing. A character's actions should up the tension.
3. NO DUNGEONS, NO DRAGONS -- OK, full disclosure, I played TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as a teenager in the 1980s. It was a fun, creative and relatively cheap hobby for me and my friends who didn't do football (soccer) or sport or any kind. The average dungeon is much like all the others and rarely did it make sense to exist in the first place, I guess that's why you had dwarves. One overused plot device was the magical Inn or Tavern that would be the start of most adventures; a chance to overhear gossip of quests, right a wrong or recruit new characters was a must but all medieval taverns are pretty much the same. Try and differentiate between any you write. There have been great Dragons in fiction and movies but I try to keep my stories mostly human based.
4. NO ELVES, ORCS OR HOBBITS -- Another hangover from D&D. I've never understood E. Gary Gygax's obsession with Elves. Fair enough they couldn't have 18/100 strength but they did get better dexterity, constitution, charisma, lived forever and could see in the dark. I think both man and elf should have been more balanced as elves didn't seem to have a weakness. A bit like Jack Reacher (both a genius AND built like a shithouse). Perhaps I'm Elvist, but to this day my heart sinks when I see the world Elf mentioned in a fantasy book as they just always come across as smug and aloof, although Michael J. Sullivan's excellent Ryria books tiptoe around it and I won't have a word said against his character Royce Melburn. Hobbits are merely comic relief copyright of the Tolkien estate and Orcs are ubiquitous, photocopied sword fodder. Dwarfs are fine, but in my world, they are just short people and not automatically great tunnellers or weaponsmiths.
5. NO LARGE SCALE ARMY BATTLES -- Epic fantasy tales of thousands of soldiers marching to war may be exciting on screen but it's hard to write well and the numbers alone make it impersonal. Sure wars are mentioned in my books and may even be happening in the next town but I go the opposite way and make my stories more intimate and keep it tight on a handful of characters. The entire world does not have to be in jeopardy to make you care about the protagonist's plight. Yes, you can show background characters suffering if a siege bites or a plague takes hold in your setting, but your hero's own world will end if he is killed and that should be enough. His jeopardy is to make it alive to the last page. If you want to connect with your hero don't upscale the peril to everyone, focus on him, make it believable and put him in real danger.
6. NO RIDICULOUS, UNPRONOUNCEABLE NAMES -- Stop showboating and keep those consonant-heavy, unpronounceable anagrams to yourself please. Don't go overboard with the x's, q's and z's and think of your reader. Possibly, more importantly, spare a thought too to the narrator of your forthcoming audiobook. I also try not to have more than one character share the same initial on their surname, it helps to differentiate in a busy scene. I'm sure I won't be able to keep this up forever but I'm trying my hardest. Dickens tried to make the character name onomatopoeically fit the person and that's a noble idea that I bear in mind when choosing surnames. Finding names can be hard; my top tips are looking for ones buried way down in TV or movie credits or why not have a wander through a graveyard for inspiration, you often get duplicates of local families but there are some brilliant names -- I found a Shillinclaw and that became a type of rum. Personally, I find naming rivers the hardest for some reason, I have no idea why.
7. NO 'OLDE WORLDE' DIALOGUE -- I write my stories in modern English. These are action thrillers that just happen to be set in a medieval world. Think of it as if Tarantino did medieval. Friends bicker and take the water out of each other over trivial stuff just like real people. And the language used is colloquial, in a land where poverty and illiteracy is often the norm, not everyone's words are polished Shakespeare. No forsooth's or hey-nonny-nonnies and such. Obviously, I avoid modern slang terms like 'OK' and anachronisms like 'the clock was ticking' as it makes no sense in the medieval era. Sadly, it also means I am unable to write an exciting car chase, which is a shame.
8. NOT OF THIS EARTH -- And this is my big cheat really. The Valguard stories are set on a skewed version of a world, not unlike 15th century Britain. Countries like France, Germany, Persia etc are not named as such but different races are alluded to and exist in the various compass points from the land similar to Northern Britain. Black people to the south, Asian to the east etc. I keep it vague but familiar. Not mentioning the French is tricky as so many parts of armour and castles have French-derived names, that it is hard to avoid. I don't directly acknowledge organised religions like Christianity either, there is an organised Church but here there was never a Jesus, so no son of God. Crucifixion doesn't have the same poignancy and therefore crosses are not used as religious symbols. I avoid using terms like 'heaven' and 'hell' which can make sudden exclamations tricky, but the predominant belief system in the rural countryside is still a kind of Pagan but generic monks, druids and proto-fascist paladins feature in later books.
Some of these rules may go against conventional wisdom but I'm writing the stories I'd want to read so if it makes mine different, for better or for worse. Feel free to agree or disagree and add any comments below, and next time, I'll be listing some of the things I insist on including in my stories which if nothing else will be a lot less negative.
Until then, Dave
January 9, 2018
An author's review of 2017's writing
Happy New Year everyone, hope you had a good Christmas. Now seems like a good time to review my last year as an author and make some predictions for this one.
A year ago, at the very start of 2017, I won the Best Literary Merit Award for Knight of Coins from Fantasia Awards. This was a huge surprise and a great honour for a first self-published book from a new author. They had positively reviewed the book a few months earlier and although I had a garnered a few good reviews, this was the cherry on the top.
In January, I was still writing my unexpected NaNoWriMo novel, Vampire Night which despite a late November start and overrunning badly, was coming along nicely -- even before and after the Christmas rush. But only two weeks into January, I was made redundant from my day job in Newcastle and I became self employed again. I had to sideline the writing and focus on getting busy and paying the bills. Over an uneven year, there was busy and quiet months and there is always room for more graphic design work. I have never claimed that my writing -- despite the enjoyment I get from it -- is anything other than a hobby, something I do in my spare time. Even though its always turning in the back of my head all the time.
Writing continued slowly and intermittently, usually just when waiting at the pool when my son was swim training, thankfully his hours increased and I had some decent chunks of time (over 3hrs on a Sunday) but with Vampire Night no longer at the front of my mind, I found it harder to return to its complexity and juggle all the story threads.
I decided to finish, teh half written story I was writing before the Vampire Night thunderbolt of inspiration the previous November. Spinning plates once again I filled in the gaps, edited, rewrote, edited and as usual, added more gore. Originally called The House on The Hill then The Tower, it finally became THE CHARIOT -- a tarot card that represents a hard won fight which is certainly appropriate for the story.
Even while writing this, the back of my mind is always developing other short stories and there was one where Valguard found himself in a distant town. Having collected his pay for a previous job, he gets drunk and finds himself wanted by other bounty hunters. Working out what his completed mission for two lines of backstory became a 3,000 word mini-story in itself, named SANCTAURY. This was written in a month, proofed and finished a couple of weeks after that. Initially published with a only a couple of swear words, it would be cleaned up so it could be a universal release, which is better for a giveaway.
At the year end, both books are on Tablo, and as paperbacks on Blurb. Sanctuary is on Smashwords as a permafree download despite some ebook formatting issues I hope to get the others onto Amazon shortly. As always, ARC copies are available on request.
TAVERN STORIES, an future anthology collection of Valguard stories began to fill out nicely with the inclusion of Sanctuary, The Chariot, Queen of Cups (2016 unreleased 8k story) plus a couple of more Tarot-esque short stories including Wheel of Fortune and the exactly 1000 word exercise, Justice.
In November, my NaNoWriMo task was a slightly cheating attempt to finish 2016's unfinished (35k written) attempt, Vampire Night. Sadly, this nice idea was scuppered early due to personal circumstances. I wrote and edited as much as I could but as I was way off expected progress, I knew again it wouldn't be complete. The story is in two distinct parts and as (for once) I was working through from the top, at least the first half is complete. The work count for it is about 40k words (pt.1 = 16k, pt.2 = 24k)
Lastly SILENT KNIGHT, a winterised version of Knight of Coins, Chapter 1 - His Job is Death was completed and is once again available exclusively on Tablo's website and app during December only. It could also be included in the anthology.
Progress was made in difficult circumstances, but it's never enough.
PLANS FOR 2018
I have two unfinished novels now, Vampire Night and Ten of Swords -- my 'magnum orifice' -- and I would like to produce a few more short stories. I have plenty of ideas.
Currently, I have returned to Vampire Night now I have less 'plates spinning'. I hope to complete the second half of it and then edit, proof and tighten it up. It's a more contained story with a good resolution and purely because it has the word 'Vampire' in it has been attracting a lot of interest on Tablo where all finished chapters are posted. I would like to finish Vampire Night in 2018, but there is always a chance other quick reads may appear first.
I cannot stop writing and aim to have at least one new story every year and am always envious of writers who have more time to commit to their novels. Next year perhaps...
A year ago, at the very start of 2017, I won the Best Literary Merit Award for Knight of Coins from Fantasia Awards. This was a huge surprise and a great honour for a first self-published book from a new author. They had positively reviewed the book a few months earlier and although I had a garnered a few good reviews, this was the cherry on the top.
In January, I was still writing my unexpected NaNoWriMo novel, Vampire Night which despite a late November start and overrunning badly, was coming along nicely -- even before and after the Christmas rush. But only two weeks into January, I was made redundant from my day job in Newcastle and I became self employed again. I had to sideline the writing and focus on getting busy and paying the bills. Over an uneven year, there was busy and quiet months and there is always room for more graphic design work. I have never claimed that my writing -- despite the enjoyment I get from it -- is anything other than a hobby, something I do in my spare time. Even though its always turning in the back of my head all the time.
Writing continued slowly and intermittently, usually just when waiting at the pool when my son was swim training, thankfully his hours increased and I had some decent chunks of time (over 3hrs on a Sunday) but with Vampire Night no longer at the front of my mind, I found it harder to return to its complexity and juggle all the story threads.
I decided to finish, teh half written story I was writing before the Vampire Night thunderbolt of inspiration the previous November. Spinning plates once again I filled in the gaps, edited, rewrote, edited and as usual, added more gore. Originally called The House on The Hill then The Tower, it finally became THE CHARIOT -- a tarot card that represents a hard won fight which is certainly appropriate for the story.
Even while writing this, the back of my mind is always developing other short stories and there was one where Valguard found himself in a distant town. Having collected his pay for a previous job, he gets drunk and finds himself wanted by other bounty hunters. Working out what his completed mission for two lines of backstory became a 3,000 word mini-story in itself, named SANCTAURY. This was written in a month, proofed and finished a couple of weeks after that. Initially published with a only a couple of swear words, it would be cleaned up so it could be a universal release, which is better for a giveaway.
At the year end, both books are on Tablo, and as paperbacks on Blurb. Sanctuary is on Smashwords as a permafree download despite some ebook formatting issues I hope to get the others onto Amazon shortly. As always, ARC copies are available on request.
TAVERN STORIES, an future anthology collection of Valguard stories began to fill out nicely with the inclusion of Sanctuary, The Chariot, Queen of Cups (2016 unreleased 8k story) plus a couple of more Tarot-esque short stories including Wheel of Fortune and the exactly 1000 word exercise, Justice.
In November, my NaNoWriMo task was a slightly cheating attempt to finish 2016's unfinished (35k written) attempt, Vampire Night. Sadly, this nice idea was scuppered early due to personal circumstances. I wrote and edited as much as I could but as I was way off expected progress, I knew again it wouldn't be complete. The story is in two distinct parts and as (for once) I was working through from the top, at least the first half is complete. The work count for it is about 40k words (pt.1 = 16k, pt.2 = 24k)
Lastly SILENT KNIGHT, a winterised version of Knight of Coins, Chapter 1 - His Job is Death was completed and is once again available exclusively on Tablo's website and app during December only. It could also be included in the anthology.
Progress was made in difficult circumstances, but it's never enough.
PLANS FOR 2018
I have two unfinished novels now, Vampire Night and Ten of Swords -- my 'magnum orifice' -- and I would like to produce a few more short stories. I have plenty of ideas.
Currently, I have returned to Vampire Night now I have less 'plates spinning'. I hope to complete the second half of it and then edit, proof and tighten it up. It's a more contained story with a good resolution and purely because it has the word 'Vampire' in it has been attracting a lot of interest on Tablo where all finished chapters are posted. I would like to finish Vampire Night in 2018, but there is always a chance other quick reads may appear first.
I cannot stop writing and aim to have at least one new story every year and am always envious of writers who have more time to commit to their novels. Next year perhaps...
December 9, 2017
A Festive, Feel-bad Free Read
Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy holidays!
As a Christmas treat, I have released a newly winterised 2,800 word short story called 'Valguard: Silent Knight' for you to read over the Yuletide season.
https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
Originally the beginning of 'Valguard: Knight of Coins' called 'Chapter 1 - His Job is Death' and released in 2015. If you have read this novella I'm afraid there is very little new here but I thought it would be fun to have a 'Festive Feel-bad Free Read' as a giveaway. So I have let it snow on the high moors over Hartside and painted the fells in white for Christmas. Follow the eponymous antihero, Valguard, who says very little as he invades the compound of some unsavoury bandits in the hope of rescuing a hostage.
I did release Silent Knight as a freebie just for fun last Christmas, but now I have went back and winterised it by sprinkling snow and ice over it. Gone is the mild autumn evening with its twinkly stars above the rich fern moors and in comes cold breath and lazily falling snowflakes and white drifts.
If you have read KNIGHT OF COINS before, there is little new here. It is designed for new readers but I have to admit there was a couple of grammatical corrections. If it's been a while since you read Knight, why not give it another quick read? It won't take long and you may spot something you missed first time around.
But if you really want some new Valguard, why not read one of two 2017 Valguard stories, 'Valguard: Sanctuary', which is also available free on Tablo here
https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
Silent Knight is exclusively available on Tablo during December, and I will remove it in January until next Christmas. So, get it while its cold.
https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
If you like it, have a look at the rest of the story when our silent knight has a bit more to say. The eBook now only .99 in all currencies ( £ $ € ) and the links are below
Be warm, well fed and surrounded by your friends.
Best wishes, Dave.
KNIGHT OF COINS links
AMAZON (US) http://amzn.to/1zFhaYg
AMAZON (UK) http://amzn.to/1z6ptuv
BARNES&NOBLE (US) http://bit.ly/1zuri2P
KOBO (US, Rakuten) http://bit.ly/1D57Lss
APPLE iBOOKS (US) http://bit.ly/1KjNyiV
GOOGLE PLAY http://bit.ly/1BP6rFL
January 4, 2017
Award winning for Knight of Coins
2017 has had an unexpectedly good start for me - I won my first writing award for my short story KNIGHT OF COINS. Just before Christmas, I was one of four books shortlisted by Fantasia Reviews for their indie Book of the Year 2016. This in itself was great but now it turns out I was awarded their Best Literary Value of the Year award.
https://fantasiareviews.com/2016/12/3...
That might sound like it's a gong for being the cheapest pulp paperback in the bargain bin next to the tills, but turns out it is more to do with literary merit. Just as well as further Valguard books are on their way.
Fantasia doesn't mess about, placing its reviews in Good, Bad and Ugly categories and ultimately listing both the best and worst in each and I'm happy to find myself on the good side. Just as well as further Valguard books are on their way. This was their original review https://fantasiareviews.com/2016/12/0...
Give it a whirl, it’s only 99p and available on Amazon, Apple, Nook, Kobo etc. Even as a paperback on Blurb.
It seems other people think it's a decent read and inexplicably, well written too.
Dave
https://fantasiareviews.com/2016/12/3...
That might sound like it's a gong for being the cheapest pulp paperback in the bargain bin next to the tills, but turns out it is more to do with literary merit. Just as well as further Valguard books are on their way.
Fantasia doesn't mess about, placing its reviews in Good, Bad and Ugly categories and ultimately listing both the best and worst in each and I'm happy to find myself on the good side. Just as well as further Valguard books are on their way. This was their original review https://fantasiareviews.com/2016/12/0...
Give it a whirl, it’s only 99p and available on Amazon, Apple, Nook, Kobo etc. Even as a paperback on Blurb.
It seems other people think it's a decent read and inexplicably, well written too.
Dave
January 3, 2017
My NaNoWriMo story
November has been and gone, but I would like to share my own experience with #NaNoWriMo initiative in 2016. If you don't know, NaNoWriMo is an annual contest that encourages writers to write 50,000 words in the month of November - that's an average daily output of 1,666 words - every single day for 30 days. At the end of this, the goal is to have a finished, first draft of a novel. For more information use the hashtag #NaNoWriMo or visit their website http://nanowrimo.org
The validity of the concept splits opinion; Pro writers insist genuine authors should already be writing every day but I think for a hobbyist or first-time writer it is a valid motivation. Here's my personal brush with it in 2016.
I've never NaNoWriMo-ed before and in 2016 had no intention of being part of it again this year, no sir, not me. Definitely not. NO. I had been happily - if slowly - chipping away at a 10k Valguard standalone novella that I want to offer as a permafree kindle story. I work full time and only write occasionally in the evening or during my lunch hour when family life allows.
On the 8th of November, when many NaNoWriMo-ers would be sitting on a 13k headstart, a lightbulb went off in my head as I had a new idea for a story which when joined with a long abandoned setting made perfect sense and a once impossible book suddenly fell into place. Initially, I just wanted to get the structure down but dialogue and description appeared and suddenly I was off writing and unusually for me, it was with Chapter 1. Normally I have the plot and characters in my head and write chunks of different chapters, flipping back and forth. Undisciplined, but if you write in small chunks it kind of works, then you can backfill the gaps at the end.
This was different. I was writing well and was focussed on the project. Characters were fleshed out and every other day I seemed to have a new chapter. This was great, it was practically writing itself and what might have just been an interesting story had layers, symbolism, good motivations and could be a really good book. And I was writing well, making fewer mistakes, revising the prose less - getting better.
The first day of December arrived and everyone else put their pens, quills and typing fingers down. Many succeeded and some failed their 50k first draft challenge. I hope their books are redrafted, proofed and finessed and get published straight into the hands of waiting for readers whose lives will be improved by their single-minded graft. As I wasn't an official NaNoWriMo-er and didn't start until 8th November, I cheekily gave myself another week's extension to get more words down and doubled my efforts.
A week later Deadline day arrived and how did I do? Did I finish the book? Well, no. I wrote 25k of my early estimate of 25k which now realistically could total 40,000+ words at the end. A short book? Maybe, it puts it roundabout Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for length. This was unofficial NaNoWriMo-ing and was always going to be a shorter tale and it was the urgency, not the word count that I was tapping into.
But it does show you what can be accomplished and the importance of goals. I have always appreciated the pressure of a deadline in my day job as a graphic designer and casual writing doesn't cut it. The self-pub or indie author does not have these hard deadlines or agents harassing you for the next opus. For me, writing this much was enjoyable but hard, it could be kept up for a month or so but not forever.
I can only guess what could be accomplished if I had the luxury of being able to devote dedicated days to writing the way a full-time author who does. It does, however, shine a light on the poor progress made on my overdue big, epic novel and how I should have set aside more time for completing it. The true measure of the NaNoWriMo process is how much you write the month afterwards. For me, I turned in another 10k plus revisions and changes to the structure.
They say you learn from your mistakes and my glorious failure is actually 34,800+ words of a 'jump started', almost finished book that didn't exist at the start of the previous month. That is a result in itself but it also illustrates what could be achieved if you squeeze every minute of writing. Even if its a couple of hundred words tapped into an iPhone while waiting for the school run. I took a break for Christmas and now in early January, let's get it finished with NanJanWriMo!
Dave
The validity of the concept splits opinion; Pro writers insist genuine authors should already be writing every day but I think for a hobbyist or first-time writer it is a valid motivation. Here's my personal brush with it in 2016.
I've never NaNoWriMo-ed before and in 2016 had no intention of being part of it again this year, no sir, not me. Definitely not. NO. I had been happily - if slowly - chipping away at a 10k Valguard standalone novella that I want to offer as a permafree kindle story. I work full time and only write occasionally in the evening or during my lunch hour when family life allows.
On the 8th of November, when many NaNoWriMo-ers would be sitting on a 13k headstart, a lightbulb went off in my head as I had a new idea for a story which when joined with a long abandoned setting made perfect sense and a once impossible book suddenly fell into place. Initially, I just wanted to get the structure down but dialogue and description appeared and suddenly I was off writing and unusually for me, it was with Chapter 1. Normally I have the plot and characters in my head and write chunks of different chapters, flipping back and forth. Undisciplined, but if you write in small chunks it kind of works, then you can backfill the gaps at the end.
This was different. I was writing well and was focussed on the project. Characters were fleshed out and every other day I seemed to have a new chapter. This was great, it was practically writing itself and what might have just been an interesting story had layers, symbolism, good motivations and could be a really good book. And I was writing well, making fewer mistakes, revising the prose less - getting better.
The first day of December arrived and everyone else put their pens, quills and typing fingers down. Many succeeded and some failed their 50k first draft challenge. I hope their books are redrafted, proofed and finessed and get published straight into the hands of waiting for readers whose lives will be improved by their single-minded graft. As I wasn't an official NaNoWriMo-er and didn't start until 8th November, I cheekily gave myself another week's extension to get more words down and doubled my efforts.
A week later Deadline day arrived and how did I do? Did I finish the book? Well, no. I wrote 25k of my early estimate of 25k which now realistically could total 40,000+ words at the end. A short book? Maybe, it puts it roundabout Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for length. This was unofficial NaNoWriMo-ing and was always going to be a shorter tale and it was the urgency, not the word count that I was tapping into.
But it does show you what can be accomplished and the importance of goals. I have always appreciated the pressure of a deadline in my day job as a graphic designer and casual writing doesn't cut it. The self-pub or indie author does not have these hard deadlines or agents harassing you for the next opus. For me, writing this much was enjoyable but hard, it could be kept up for a month or so but not forever.
I can only guess what could be accomplished if I had the luxury of being able to devote dedicated days to writing the way a full-time author who does. It does, however, shine a light on the poor progress made on my overdue big, epic novel and how I should have set aside more time for completing it. The true measure of the NaNoWriMo process is how much you write the month afterwards. For me, I turned in another 10k plus revisions and changes to the structure.
They say you learn from your mistakes and my glorious failure is actually 34,800+ words of a 'jump started', almost finished book that didn't exist at the start of the previous month. That is a result in itself but it also illustrates what could be achieved if you squeeze every minute of writing. Even if its a couple of hundred words tapped into an iPhone while waiting for the school run. I took a break for Christmas and now in early January, let's get it finished with NanJanWriMo!
Dave
September 19, 2016
Sale on Real Printed Books!
Save 20% on a copy of VALGUARD #1: KNIGHT OF COINS physical book exclusively available on Blurb books web site.
Simply use the code "VIP20" and you will cleave off exactly one fifth of the cover price of this gripping quick read
Available as
• Paperback
• Special edition 'Black Label' paperback
• Large print Hardback
all on #Blurb books simply click this link and choose your weapons http://bit.ly/1FlwZ6a
Also available for .99 at all good ebook stockists
PRAISE FOR 'KNIGHT OF COINS'
"Depraved villains & gruesome deaths"
Philip C. Stephens, author of the Reality Seed books
"Bloodier, rougher and funnier than I could have imagined."
P. Reeve, Amazon review
“Good story with a bit of violence and humour.”
P Wyatt, Amazon review
“Bloody Fun!”
J. T. Williams @authorziok, author the Saints of Wura trilogy
"hits you square in the face from the opening paragraph..."
C Berry, Amazon review
"Cracking read! I really enjoyed it. Bring it on!"
Shaun Foster, Amazon review
"Very good first book, can't wait for the next one."
Paul Lavender, fantasy author
"Plenty of medieval violence and a touch of magic..."
Cora Pop - Chick with a quill, Goodreads review
“His job is death... & I'm hooked"
http://tometender.blogspot.com/2015/0...
Dii - Tome Tender, Goodreads review
"Plenty of Action. A great prologue“
Aidan Stone
"David writes with passion and precision."
"You'll like this novella, David has talent."
T. A. Uner, author of the Leopard King saga
“an entertaining debut..."
David Grey, Amazon review
"Really enjoyed the plot & laughed out loud"
Brian Harrison, Dublin, Blurb review
“Superb story... flowed well & easy to read”
JM Atkinson, Amazon review
“Knight of Coins was excellent.”
Nigel Graves
“A good short read”
Andrew McVittie, @writerdrew
Thank you, lovely readers
Dave
Simply use the code "VIP20" and you will cleave off exactly one fifth of the cover price of this gripping quick read
Available as
• Paperback
• Special edition 'Black Label' paperback
• Large print Hardback
all on #Blurb books simply click this link and choose your weapons http://bit.ly/1FlwZ6a
Also available for .99 at all good ebook stockists
PRAISE FOR 'KNIGHT OF COINS'
"Depraved villains & gruesome deaths"
Philip C. Stephens, author of the Reality Seed books
"Bloodier, rougher and funnier than I could have imagined."
P. Reeve, Amazon review
“Good story with a bit of violence and humour.”
P Wyatt, Amazon review
“Bloody Fun!”
J. T. Williams @authorziok, author the Saints of Wura trilogy
"hits you square in the face from the opening paragraph..."
C Berry, Amazon review
"Cracking read! I really enjoyed it. Bring it on!"
Shaun Foster, Amazon review
"Very good first book, can't wait for the next one."
Paul Lavender, fantasy author
"Plenty of medieval violence and a touch of magic..."
Cora Pop - Chick with a quill, Goodreads review
“His job is death... & I'm hooked"
http://tometender.blogspot.com/2015/0...
Dii - Tome Tender, Goodreads review
"Plenty of Action. A great prologue“
Aidan Stone
"David writes with passion and precision."
"You'll like this novella, David has talent."
T. A. Uner, author of the Leopard King saga
“an entertaining debut..."
David Grey, Amazon review
"Really enjoyed the plot & laughed out loud"
Brian Harrison, Dublin, Blurb review
“Superb story... flowed well & easy to read”
JM Atkinson, Amazon review
“Knight of Coins was excellent.”
Nigel Graves
“A good short read”
Andrew McVittie, @writerdrew
Thank you, lovely readers
Dave
August 26, 2016
KNIGHT OF COINS now on Tablo
Hello everyone!
I have just uploaded a sample of my first Valguard novella, KNIGHT OF COINS onto Tablo and you can read it for free at https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
Last year I uploaded a teaser sample onto the now defunct and greatly missed ReadWave website and it seemed to go down well. I have been looking at a number of platforms to publish online - both for samples and free complete stories - so you can expect more soon. I plan on releasing more short stories/novellas/quickreads or as Kindle calls them 'singles' in the future and over the summer I have been writing two more; Queen of Cups is finished and an unnamed standalone story is nearly there but I wanted it finished by September so I can return to the epic novel, Ten of Swords.
The sample posted is Chapter 2: 'Captured' and is far more typical of the rest of the book and my writing style. It is more tense and the hero is trapped, outnumbered, bound, literally on his knees and facing a very immediate death.
Whilst most sites I'm listed on allow you to read the first few pages of the book I have always found it showed text that was atypical of my writing. There is almost no dialogue in it and it is consecutively violent with the protagonist deliberately shadowy.
Here's the link https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
It's totally free and you don't need to sign up or anything and if you like this and are looking for your next read - the entire book is only 99¢ 99p .99€ on Amazon http://amzn.to/1zFhaYg as well as all the other major eBook shops.
Dave
I have just uploaded a sample of my first Valguard novella, KNIGHT OF COINS onto Tablo and you can read it for free at https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
Last year I uploaded a teaser sample onto the now defunct and greatly missed ReadWave website and it seemed to go down well. I have been looking at a number of platforms to publish online - both for samples and free complete stories - so you can expect more soon. I plan on releasing more short stories/novellas/quickreads or as Kindle calls them 'singles' in the future and over the summer I have been writing two more; Queen of Cups is finished and an unnamed standalone story is nearly there but I wanted it finished by September so I can return to the epic novel, Ten of Swords.
The sample posted is Chapter 2: 'Captured' and is far more typical of the rest of the book and my writing style. It is more tense and the hero is trapped, outnumbered, bound, literally on his knees and facing a very immediate death.
Whilst most sites I'm listed on allow you to read the first few pages of the book I have always found it showed text that was atypical of my writing. There is almost no dialogue in it and it is consecutively violent with the protagonist deliberately shadowy.
Here's the link https://tablo.io/david-humphrey/valgu...
It's totally free and you don't need to sign up or anything and if you like this and are looking for your next read - the entire book is only 99¢ 99p .99€ on Amazon http://amzn.to/1zFhaYg as well as all the other major eBook shops.
Dave
September 23, 2015
Free sample of KNIGHT OF COINS now on ReadWave
Hello everyone!
I just published a free chapter of my novella VALGUARD: KNIGHT OF COINS on ReadWave website.
It's something I've been thinking of doing for a while now. Whilst most sites I'm listed on allow you to read the first few pages of the book I have always found it showed text that was atypical of the rest of the book. There is almost no dialogue in it and it is consecutively violent with the protagonist deliberately shadowy.
Chapter 2 'Captured' is far more typical of the rest of the book and my style. If Tarantino were to film the story, he would probably start at ch2 and include ch1 later as a flashback! Its more tense and the hero is trapped, outnumbered, bound, literally on his knees and facing a very immediate death.
Here's the link http://bit.ly/1MpRxxF
It's totally free and you don't need to sign up or anything if you like this 2.5k words and are looking for your next read don't forget the entire book is only 99¢ 99p .99€ on Amazon http://amzn.to/1zFhaYg as well as all the other major eBook shops.
Dave
#Medieval #Action #Thriller #Fantasy #HistFic
I just published a free chapter of my novella VALGUARD: KNIGHT OF COINS on ReadWave website.
It's something I've been thinking of doing for a while now. Whilst most sites I'm listed on allow you to read the first few pages of the book I have always found it showed text that was atypical of the rest of the book. There is almost no dialogue in it and it is consecutively violent with the protagonist deliberately shadowy.
Chapter 2 'Captured' is far more typical of the rest of the book and my style. If Tarantino were to film the story, he would probably start at ch2 and include ch1 later as a flashback! Its more tense and the hero is trapped, outnumbered, bound, literally on his knees and facing a very immediate death.
Here's the link http://bit.ly/1MpRxxF
It's totally free and you don't need to sign up or anything if you like this 2.5k words and are looking for your next read don't forget the entire book is only 99¢ 99p .99€ on Amazon http://amzn.to/1zFhaYg as well as all the other major eBook shops.
Dave
#Medieval #Action #Thriller #Fantasy #HistFic
