Michael R. Baker's Blog, page 17
October 15, 2018
SPFBO Author Interview: Josh Erikson “Hero Forged”
I return! A new week, a new survivor to rise out of the ashes 
October 12, 2018
SPFBO Author Interview: William Ray “The Great Restoration”
Welcome back to another segment of my SPFBO mission! Yet another survivor managed to escape the Scar Pit this week. I really need to check the locks on their cages. Silly me!
Let’s get the first bit out of the way. Yes, Booknest Awards!
I will give another reminder that it’s only a few days until Booknest Award stage closes, so come along and vote for your top picks!
The Thousand Scars is longlisted as Best Debut. The categories are chock full of amazing authors and great books, so visit the website by clicking on the fancy image below. Voting ends on the 14th October. Come along and pick your top authors 
So today’s latest survivor of my Interrogations of Doom is William Ray, here with his SPFBO entry The Great Restoration. Below is a rather spiffy link to his cool book cover. I love a happy fire-breathing dragon.
First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?
My name is William Ray, professionally I’m a former lots-of-things, including licensed attorney. I’m a big fan of tabletop RPGs, comics, Transformers, Star Wars, and even a long-standing member of the 501st Legion, and I write a series of stories called Tales of the Verin Empire.
My stories are fantasy, but the sub-genres are a little muddled. It’s a fantasy setting, somewhat like the 19th century British empire. They’ve been called ‘flintlock’, and ‘black powder’ and even ‘steampunk’, although I don’t feel like there’s much punk. The world is a bit dark, but not bleak.
Sometimes I like to call them ‘post-high-fantasy’ stories, but the idea is simple enough: a fantasy world in the usual Tolkien style, but after the greats have begun to wander away. As a kid, I used to wonder what would happen years after, once some poor unfortunate had dug up another Balrog without a wizard there to fight it off. My setting had a very different transition of power from the magical world to the ‘modern’ one, but the fantasy staples I use will be somewhat familiar to regular fantasy readers. A lot of themes have more in common with science-fiction than traditional fantasy, as my stories tend to center around battles between a ‘modern’ world and ancient evils. I chose a 19th century parallel because that was such a fascinating period of rapid change for us, and the era that gave rise to many of the classic forms of literature we still use today.
My first book, Gedlund, was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2016, as well as receiving a Kirkus star and Indie of the Month recognition. It’s the story of a colonial power that goes to war with a kingdom ruled by the undead.
https://www.amazon.com/Gedlund-Tale-Verin-Empire-Book-ebook/dp/B00QN3M7NG
For the SPFBO, I have submitted my second book, The Great Restoration. It’s a combination of fantasy, Victorian detective serial, and later noir detective stories.
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Restoration-Tale-Verin-Empire-ebook/dp/B075ZXQ4DG
One of my goals as a writer was to move away from the unsatisfying fractional stories of extended epics, so each thing I write will hopefully stand on its own, thus even though this is the second book, my hope is readers finding it through the SPFBO will be intrigued enough by the concepts to seek out Gedlund as a prequel of sorts.
How do you develop your plots and characters?
The first spark for my first story actually came from an old D&D game. I wanted to play a paladin that wasn’t a legalistic jerk. I gave him an absurdly detailed background, and then only played him for a single session. He was intriguing though, so I pulled him and chunks of his ridiculous backstory out of the game and built another story for him to be in. The things I’ve written since have all been ideas that spun out from that clash of concepts.
My stories tend to flow from broad symbolic ideas. Gedlund arose from the property law concept of a ‘dead hand’. I wanted to show conflict between stagnant immortality and the irrepressible will of humanity. The Great Restoration came to me while pondering related themes centered more around manipulation than force.
Tell us about your current project.
Gedlund is a Victorian war story, The Great Restoration is a detective story, and so the next will be more of a frontier story. I’m also planning to occasionally put out short stories in the same setting, the first is a Case of Eager Heirs, which follows the same detective who stars in The Great Restoration. I occasionally share links to a free download of that for those who interact with me on social media or subscribe to my mailing list.
Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!
In The Great Restoration the main character is Gus. He’s a sergeant in Gedlund and slips free of his military service after being injured. Fighting the undead has left him a bit… I was going to say ‘haunted’, but that seems in poor taste. He had a rough time in my first book, and that took its toll both physically and psychologically, but he’s a stubborn soul. He’s a bit sarcastic, a bit cynical, and while he puts up a dedicated front of pure self-interest, he’s very loyal and not entirely a bad guy even though he’s often a bit of a jerk.
What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?
Study it first. Merely reading and enjoying fiction is not quite the same as crafting it, and to get your best work you need to build your stories with purposeful precision. We all like different things in our fantasy books, but you need a very strong intellectual grasp of what it is you like in order to synthesize it for yourself. I don’t think that requires classes, but it does take a different mindset than I usually employ when reading merely for pleasure. Most importantly of all, hire a good developmental editor – it’s a painful process, but it makes all the difference in the world.
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
My world, apart from the magical intrusions, shares a lot with 19th century colonial powers, and there is plenty to read on those. I actually had a scene in my original draft of Gedlund that was a nearly word-for-word re-creation of a soldier’s description of an actual battle’s aftermath… but had to remove it because my editor felt some of the details seemed entirely too far-fetched!
The Great Restoration borrows a lot from Alan Pinkerton’s descriptions of crime in 19th century America, as well as other true detective stories of the era and a smattering of 19th century fictional accounts.
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always been prone to exploring strange fantasy worlds, and there is a peculiar delight in sharing them with others. In many ways, I suspect I was simply lonely, and wanted more people to talk to about some of the places I’ve seen.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Maintaining the will to soldier on! My first book gushed out in a torrent, and I was incredibly pleased with the results, but then terrified at the prospect that perhaps that was it; that one book was my limit. The second story was smaller in scope, and fantasy is so often mired in the apocalyptic that I felt that no one would care once I finished. Now as I hammer away at the third book, I keep humming that TMBG classic, “There’s only Two Songs In Me”.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
The climax! Some authors bounce around in whatever order they please, but I always write from front to back. Mystery stories require a lot more structural precision than military adventures, so after my editor returned my draft it was a long slog to get to the end again. When I reached the conclusion of The Great Restoration, everything I had fixed, all the new work, it suddenly and magically crystallized.
Penning those last few pages of the climax was emotionally exhausting and as I recovered from it, I checked my email to discover a new release from a band I love, and the song they had sent out that day was so perfectly fitting to the end of my story that I must have listened to it a dozen times in a row. That song, by the way, is “Under Your Spell” by the Birthday Massacre.
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
A million things! Some of them about stories, some of them just about 19th century commerce. Most importantly I learned not to give up on my work. I despaired because the first draft had terrible problems that Gedlund had never suffered from, but I think the end-result is a book that’s even better.
It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?
What do they want, what do they fear, and what do they think is funny. I find if I understand those three things, I generally have a good handle on a character.
What are your future project(s)?
I’m working on a third novel, which involves another character from Gedlund in her career as the first female sheriff of a frontier boomtown struggling with outlaws, goblins, and colonial conflicts.
If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?
I’ve had a lot of other jobs, and while this one doesn’t pay well, it’s pretty ideal. My dream career was once to be of-counsel on intellectual property licensing for a toy company… but, thanks to a friend of mine with a small toy company, I actually got to briefly live that one out. I’m very lucky as such things go, having failed or flubbed a number of careers without careening into total ruin. My wife is a big fan of my books and volunteered to pay all our bills so that she can read more of them – if I can sell enough to pay for edits and artwork for the next book, then I’m already living my dream.
What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?
The fastest is probably Twitter, as I stay pretty active there, but you can find me on Twitter, Reddit and Facebook as VerinEmpire. I love talking fellow fantasy readers, so there’s no need to be shy!
You can find links to my books, my social media, and sign up for my mailing list at: https://www.verinempire.com/
On Goodreads, you can find me at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15504802.William_Ray
October 10, 2018
SPFBO Author Interview: Carol A. Park “Banebringer”
So I return to you with my interviews! A latest survivor managed to claw their way out of my interview dungeons, but before we let them go out into the wild, I will give another reminder that it’s only a few days until Booknest Award stage closes, so come along and vote for your top picks!
The Thousand Scars is longlisted as Best Debut. The categories are chock full of amazing authors and great books, so visit the website by clicking on the fancy image below. Voting ends on the 14th October. Pick the best.
Now onto the main event with Carol A. Park, author of the nifty looking Banebringer. It has a pretty cool premise and I dig the cover, so come check it out down below:
First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?
I write what I love to read—fantasy! My books are secondary world, character-driven, and tend toward hard magic systems. I don’t write paranormal, grimdark, or fantasy romance (as a sub-genre, though I enjoy well-written relationships/romance as a sub-plot in my fantasy).
How do you develop your plots and characters?
Most of the stories I’ve written or started writing have begun with a character or characters in some way. Then I grab an idea I’ve had rolling around for a magic system or plot thread and mix and match until something clicks. For me, character is primary, meaning the story I want to tell is about a character or characters and as a result what events they are involved in, rather than about a series of events and as a result the people involved. Thus, my plots often evolve around the character rather than the other way around—though certainly as I write and edit the two inform each other.
Even when I start with a plot idea first, if I can’t get the main character(s) right, the story stalls.
Tell us about your current project.
Right now I’m focusing on finishing The Heretic Gods trilogy, which is a secondary-world, character-driven adventure fantasy (for lack of a better sub-genre). The first book, Banebringer (my entry in SPFBO4) was published on May 1, 2018, and I’m in the process of editing Sweetblade, which is a shorter stand-alone spin-off about one of the main characters. Then I’ll move on to drafting book two proper!
Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!
Vaughn is the titular character of Banebringer. He’s a Banebringer—someone given powers by heretic gods—and thus a fugitive. He was born the third son of a prominent noble, though his bloodline is largely irrelevant now that his very existence is illegal. He’s also a skilled archer, which he puts to use hunting bloodbane, the monsters that terrorize the land because of the existence of Banebringers.
What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?
Read. Read in your genre, read outside your genre, and read non-fiction. Practice. Write (and finish!) a book, and then scrap it (or re-write it from scratch, if the premise is still solid). And then edit, edit, edit.
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
I have a habit of plucking interesting bits out of ancient mythology, cultures, etc, and making up my own world that resembles nothing in ours precisely. The “heretic gods” pantheon is based loosely on Aztec mythology. The core of the Setanan Empire has loose roots in Celtic culture, with a bit of ancient Canaanite thrown in.
What inspires you to write?
Writing is a bit cathartic for me. I’d write even if I never sold another book (though I might be less driven to meet deadlines), because it’s an outlet for my constantly churning inner life.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Getting Ivana right. I went through three drafts and had to write 20k words of her backstory (not wasted words, since they’ll end up, in part, in Sweetblade!) before I was happy with the character.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
That’s hard, but I think any of the chapters where I get to play with mythology, linguistics, or have fun with Ivana and Vaughn’s “frenemy” relationship. I can’t say much more without spoilers!
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
This was the second book I’ve polished for publication. I discovery-wrote the first book (which I will publish eventually) and had to scrap the entire thing like three times while I figured out what the plot was! This time, I actually started with an outline of the major plot points, which worked much better for me because I wrote tighter and with less waste to start. While I don’t think I’ll ever be a hard-core outliner, I’ve learned to incorporate outlining into my planning process, and I’ve grown as a writer because of it.
Because this is the novel that I decided to go indie with, I also had to struggle some with my goals as a writer as I considered abandoning the track of trying to get traditionally published.
It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?
To me, writing characters is a bit like acting. I rehearse scenes in my head (or out loud, if no one is around) playing all the parts. I’ll toy with different inflections, wordings, reactions, just as if I were practising a role for a play, until I get it right. I think that makes me slightly crazy, but aren’t all artists?
Sometimes I’ll do fun things like take personality tests as if I were a character (not like, what Disney princess are you, but think Myers-Briggs, etc), because the questions make me think deeply about how that character would really react given certain circumstances.
What are your future project(s)?
After The Heretic Gods is finished, I’ll return to a world I’ve already created and finished the first book. This four-part series is epic fantasy, but still heavily character-driven, about a world that has lived in a golden age of peace since its inception—and how it spins out of control.
If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?
Teach dead languages to middle or high school students at a private school.
What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?
Whatever works best for people! My website is www.carolapark.com, and you can sign up for my newsletter there or contact me through the contact form. You can also follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/parkcarola), Twitter (@parkcarola), or of course Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17950418.Carol_A_Park).
You can buy Banebringer on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Banebringer-Heretic-Gods-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07C29DQH5/) and you can also find it at B&N, Kobo, and the Apple stores.
Thanks for the great interview Carol! I will return this weekend with another. For me, it’s back to editing The Aegis Mora and working with my characters. They do get annoying.
October 7, 2018
SPFBO Author Interview: Amanda M. Justice “A Wizard’s Forge”
Welcome back to a wonderful Sunday of happy adventures, grimdark treks through villages seeped in blood and. . .other things. I really need some coffee.
So it’s one week until Booknest’s Award voting ends, so get voting!
The Thousand Scars is longlisted as Best Debut. The categories are chock full of amazing authors and great books, so visit the website by clicking on the fancy image below. Voting ends on the 14th October. Pick the best.
So today I bring you an awesome interview I held with Amanda M. Justice, author of The Wizards Forge and her SPFBO entry! Click on the Amazon link down below and check her out. These people are pretty awesome!
First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?
The Woern Saga is a blend of science fiction and fantasy (aka science fantasy), with a setting similar to Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels. The world is a lost space colony where advanced technology has disappeared, and most people believe their off-world origin is a myth (a central tenet of the world’s main religion is that the documents remaining from the world’s settlement period are metaphorical parables rather than historical facts).
I like to play with the tropes of fantasy and science fiction and write stories that use those elements, but with very realistic characters and plotting. Vic, the protagonist of A Wizard’s Forge, my SPFBO entry (and the first book in the Woern Saga), appears to be a typical young fantasy heroine in chapter 1: she’s a smart, skinny 15-year old girl with low self-esteem. She’s also a chosen one who, by the end of the first chapter, is pulled into world events. However, Vic’s story quickly departs from fantasy norms, and over the course of the book she grows into a complex adult woman dealing with PTSD, who makes some very questionable choices in her quest for revenge.
How do you develop your plots and characters?
What comes first, the plot or the character? I’m a pantser (meaning I rarely outline or have a plot in mind when I start writing), so my plots and characters tend to develop together. If the plot requires that a character take a particular decision or action, it must be plausible that the character would make that choice. Sometimes this requires a lot of rewriting to reshape the narrative up to that point—and sometimes it requires replotting the course of the story, because you say to yourself, “well, he simply would never do that.”
One thing I’ve learned to do as a writer, and which I’ve come to prefer as a reader, is to develop the story using only point-of-view characters who themselves have a narrative arc within the novel. My earlier books introduced point of view characters at late stages who would pop into the narrative to betray one element of the story, then disappear. I’ve come to believe this is lazy storytelling, and to try to avoid it (although it is occasionally necessary).
Tell us about your current project.
I’m working on A Wizard’s Sacrifice, the sequel to A Wizard’s Forge. Forge is Vic’s origin story and focused pretty narrowly on her development from a shy, awkward teenage scholar to a grown woman who is the most powerful person on the planet. Sacrifice has a much broader, epic fantasy feel, with a larger assortment of POV characters (who all have narrative arcs!) and intertwining plot threads.
Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!
The titular “wizard” in the Woern Saga is Victoria of Ourtown, aka Vic the Blade. She was a victim of sex trafficking at a young age, and she carries the scars of that experience into her adulthood, when she becomes first a warrior and then acquires the power of wizardry. In my world, wizardry doesn’t refer to magic-wielding that one learns in a school, but rather it’s what people call the telekinetic powers conferred by infection with a neurologic parasite called the Woern. Woern infection is deadly to most people, and Vic only risks it because she’s not given a choice about it.
What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?
Take classes if you can, and whether you can or not, find a good critique group (either in person or online) and listen to their advice. Most of all, be willing to revise.
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
Because I’m writing science fantasy rather than fantasy, I like to have at least a pseudo scientific rationale for the supernatural aspects of my world. Thus, a wizard’s power comes from a biological source (infection with the parasitic Woern—similar to the midchlorians of Star Wars). I also like positing an Earth-bound ancestry for the people in my fantasy world, rather than simply placing humans in a strange land that includes purely imaginary creatures (the usual fantasy suspects of elves, dwarves, dragons, etc).
Knownearth’s governing systems are loosely inspired by historical governments. Traine (the largest city on the world of Knownearth) roughly similar to Ancient Rome. Latha (where Vic spends most of the novel), is a monarchical republic very loosely based on the British parliament and monarchy (although there is no landed gentry). The guilds, which control the economy in Latha, are a combination of medieval guilds and modern-day co-ops—basically imagine if each industry was union-owned and managed, with both the good and negative aspects of that system.
What inspires you to write?
The desire to escape to other worlds!
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The sex abuse passages were a challenge to write because I am squeamish about those topics (nice girls don’t talk about that stuff!). In an earlier version of the novel, I glossed over the abuse with glancing allusions rather than explicit depictions. Several friends encouraged me to overcome my inhibitions and show exactly what happened to Vic because it has such a profound impact on her psyche—it is at the core of the main conflict in the book.
I suppose I was successful because those scenes provoke very strong reactions among readers. They comprise less than 1% of the narrative (just a handful of paragraphs), but nearly every reviewer comments on them, whether they hate them or appreciate how they shape Vic’s character and story.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
A Wizard’s Forge is very dark and pretty grim, but in the middle of the book there is a courtship chapter that offers a break from all the heavy material before and after. One of my favorite scenes is when Prince Ashel volunteers to help Vic with some housekeeping, in order to see her laugh.
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
How to streamline narratives. My first drafts can be very wordy—in this book I really focused on writing tight by not overwriting actions or repeating information.
It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?
I approach it somewhat like method actors do. I imagine myself as that character—put myself in his shoes—and really think about the situation from his or her perspective, then write accordingly.
What are your future project(s)?
Once I can get my brain out of Knownearth, I plan to return to a historical novel I started a while ago but haven’t finished. It takes place in the early 1600s and bears the working title Galileo’s Doctor.
If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?
I’m already doing my ideal job (outside of being an author). I make my living as a freelance medical writer.
What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?
Website: www.amjusticeauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMJusticeWrites
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMJusticeauthor/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6903962.A_M_Justice
Many thanks for the great opportunity Amanda, and best of luck in the contest!
I intend on submitting the next interview up on Wednesday, but it might be earlier. I’m also working on an article exploring The Elder Scrolls games and my comparisons between the Big Three. Stay tuned!
October 2, 2018
SPFBO Author Interview: Samuel Gately “The Fire Eye Refugee”
And we’re back!
First of all, lots of excitement. BookNest Fantasy Awards recently went live. . .and The Thousand Scars is longlisted as Best Debut! The categories are chock full of amazing authors and great books, so visit the website by clicking on the fancy image below! Voting ends on the 14th October. Pick the best. *coughs and points to my hat full of change*
So today I bring you a new author to the table of doom being Samuel Gately, author of his spiffing book The Fire Eye Refugee.
Check out a selection of past interviews down below:
SPFBO Author Interview: Jeffrey Collyer “Dreams and Shadows”
SPFBO Entry Interview: Keith Mcardle: “Fallen Empire”
SPFBO Entry Interview: Alex Anthony “Servants of Rage”
First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?
Hi! My name’s Samuel Gately and I write epic fantasy. I have some heavy influences which I channel into it. These include classic crime noir like Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler, spy stories like Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, and good old Elmore Leonard. The result is firmly rooted in fantasy worlds but with core elements of espionage and mystery. Magic and lengthy descriptions of magical elements and systems often take a backseat to intrigue.
I’ve got five books out. Three are in a series called The Spies of Dragon and Chalk, which I sometime pitch as the idea of James Bond carrying a sword and working for a dragonarmy. My other series starts with The Fire Eye Refugee, my entry into SPFBO 2018, a story of a spy fighting for her survival as her newly built life is upended by the aftermath of war.
How do you develop your plots and characters?
In pieces. I tend to build on key moments, or really feelings, that inspire me and force me to start typing. I start weaving those moments into larger storylines and before I know it, I’ve created the framework for a book I’m excited about. For The Fire Eye Refugee, the whole thing started when I became intrigued by the idea of a character with two names. As in two completely different names which meant entirely different things to different people. That was the foundation for my main character and central to who she is. She built a second life with a new name and developed a new persona go with it. Her fierce defense of her world is a defining characteristic, as is her fear that it will be taken away, that she can’t escape the name she was born with and the fate it signifies.
I also may be somewhat unique in that I tend to inflict horribly strict time structures on my books. Each of my Spies books takes place in five days/nights. And each of my Fire Eye books occurs between the opening and the closing of the Fire Eye, which is a six night celestial event. I was well into my third book before realizing that this was becoming a universal thing for me. I like fast-moving reads and the snowball effect of action and mystery piling up. I am less of a fan of the long journeys and slow development arcs that are sometimes common in epic fantasy. Apparently, for fear of rambling, I feel the need to design ways to restrict myself. The time structure keeps me very focused on having a tightly woven plot and well-grounded characters.
Tell us about your current project.
At the risk of being obnoxious, I just can’t. It’s too early. Too much light makes the baby go blind. I will, however, 100% be continuing forward with both of my current series, I just don’t know which will come first. Like every other writer I know, I’m dying to make writing a larger part of my life, and that means listening to the readers and giving them what they want.
Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!
Kay the fetch is the main character of The Fire Eye Refugee. She is a sort of detective that hunts for missing children on the behalf of their families. Part of the job is tracking down runaways. The other part is finding and bringing home those who were taken at the point of a knife. She is a bit of an odd fit within the rigid society she calls home and faces a lot of danger for that reason. Kay has an attitude, but is smart enough to keep her thoughts to herself and preserve her ability to strike from the shadows. She has a team she works closely with and she secretly treasures her role as a mentor. Just don’t ask her about her past or you might get a face full of demonlord pepper (hint: mace).
What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?
Find a way to manage your own mental health and wellbeing and stick to it. Writing creative fiction for an audience can be a taxing endeavor. You will get negative reviews, both fair and wildly unfair. You will get indifference, which is sometimes worse. You will struggle with jealousy and self-doubt. But if you pay attention to your mental health (the same way you do your physical health), you can find ways to control the peaks and valleys.
For me, I have a tendency to gloss over positive feedback and deeply internalize negative feedback. I’ve learned that it is important for me to short-circuit that tendency and really allow myself the time to enjoy a good review or a positive career development or milestone. I can’t cheat myself of those feelings or I suffer and then my dedication to the craft suffers. I think everyone has a different answer. The only wrong way to do it is to pay no attention to what is an important part of being a writer – finding ways to be consistent and confident in your work.
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
I lived in Japan for a couple years and have studied Tae Kwon Do (Korean) for many years, and both of those cultures have a major influence on one side of the cultural conflict at the center of The Fire Eye Refugee. The other side of that coin is largely drawn from the Scotch-Irish and border English described in the book Albion’s Seed (a great nonfiction read for writers developing fictional cultures and looking for good examples of ways of defining/describing real cultures). There’s zero historical accuracy and consistency, of course, I just cherry-picked the elements I wanted to see in a story. I also have a scene, one of my favorite to write ever, which was inspired by the alley fight in Big Trouble in Little China, in case you were worried I was getting highbrow.
What inspires you to write?
I just get super jazzed over the stories. I keep chewing over them in my mind, getting more and more excited, until I just have to get them on paper, and then I have to get them closer to the image in my mind, and then I’m trapped until I’ve written an entire book from start to finish. It keeps happening, and while it does take its toll in time and energy, I love it and wouldn’t give it up for anything.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Writing the racism was a challenge. The culture this book explores is steeped in, in many ways defined by, racism, and the plot does not shy away from tackling the topic. I found it tricky though. I didn’t want to write a fundamentally depressing book about how people are inevitably cruel and broken, and I didn’t want a cartoonish villains-get-their-due-hooray tale. I had to find the right balance and try to put a real person in the middle. I had to describe someone who doesn’t let others define her without making it seem like that is an easy thing to do. Still not sure I did it justice.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
I already mentioned the alley fight, but another that comes to mind is a big twist about halfway through the book. It forces Kay (and the reader) to reevaluate everything they’ve heard to that point. I love writing twists, carefully setting them up and then pulling the trigger. If it’s written right, you can just feel the blood draining from our hero’s face as she suddenly realizes the game has changed.
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
This was my first time writing a female protagonist and I really enjoyed exploring that perspective. This is also a single POV narrative, and that carries its own challenges and opportunities. (Both of those elements contrasted with the previous books I’ve written in the Spies series, which features dual male protagonists and secondary POVs.) With the single POV, you can get much more intimate and spend a lot of time on character development, but it becomes harder to develop secondary characters and you have to leave some interesting plot threads on the sidelines because your character can’t be everywhere.
It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?
That’s a good question, but I would say I struggle more with communicating who my characters are than understanding them. I spend so much time seeing the world through their eyes, I feel like I know them incredibly well. But then someone will give me feedback or ask me a question, and I’ll realize I haven’t shown them what I see (which is 100% my job as a writer, no excuses). The main thing I do is think about every action my characters say and every word my characters say and where they are holding back and where they are letting loose. You need the right balance. Too restrained and you risk the character not being known to the readers. Too loose and you get obvious, unrealistic characters.
What are your future project(s)?
More of the same. Epic fantasy with that espionage, crime noir edge.
If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?
I’m so impressed by the artwork out there. I lose hours surfing websites like Artstation and Deviant Art for fantasy-related art. I would love to have talents in that space.
What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?
Best would be signing up for my mailing list here. I post any major updates to my website www.samuelgately.com and through @samuel_gately and on Facebook via Samuel Gately Books.
And finally, thanks for having me! Pleasure to speak with you. I’m thrilled to be a part of another SPFBO, such a cool thing. It has introduced me to so many great fantasy writers and helped me stock my Kindle for a lifetime or two.
You’re most welcome!
That is all for now. I will return this weekend for another cracking interview. Now. . I must go and prepare The Thousand Scars for war. We have a vote to win.
September 30, 2018
Kingdom Come Deliverance: Review
Boy, is this post a long time coming. I think I’ve played enough of this game to give it a review, even though I haven’t played through the main quest fully. In fact, I’m only really halfway through. However I am 63 hours in, my SSD drive is crying for space and I know enough about the game to know where I stand with this.
This might just be my favourite game of 2018.
This game was played on my ZOOSTORM laptop: GTX950M 2GB, 8gb Ram and Intel (R) Core i5-4210M 2.6 Ghz.
Brief Overview
What an experience it is so far. Now, I’m fully aware of the games problems with bugs and glitches. For many, it’s still broken, and I thank the deepest tentacles of Lovecraft Cthulhu that I don’t have this on console. I started playing Kingdom Come Deliverance in April, and I’ve avoided most of the botched bugs and crashes that others have suffered.
Now, I’ve had some problems. Some texture pop-in, a few visual bugs like NPCs merging like some weird Chimera experiment and some little things like that but nothing gamebreaking. I’ve had a couple of scene crashes and one infinite loading screen, but thats honestly it, and every patch has improved the performance for me. In fact I’ve been pleasantly surprised how well the game runs for me. My laptop isn’t great but loading times have been nice and quick (My SSD goes a long way of course, and I highly recommend one for everybody) and FPS is generally good with playing about with the settings. I never expect to run high end games in max but then again, I don’t care about 4K and all that. I just want it to look good and run good.
Now I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here and this isn’t directed at Warhorse Studios, but gaming as a whole. And believe me, the game has had some problems at launch. It still does. It’s had quite the flak from people for its semi-broken launch and some more serious bugs, and that should be so. Frankly I’m sick of games being released in such a buggy state, and for a game that was Kickstarted, asking people to pay 50-60$ then to have it take ages to be fixed is not a good way to start off. I’m being as nice as possible here, because I have big respect for both the game and Warhorse Studios for having the balls to make something like this in an over-saturated market of open world exhaustion-fests. Only indie studios take risks these days which is a crying shame, but I will not treat them differently. Do not release your beloved game in such a terrible state and expect people to jump up and down and love you when you fix it. This isn’t just for KCD, but for every fucking game that comes out lately. How about making sure it’s stable at launch? That would be great.
Now that rant is over I can finally start talking about the game as a whole. I haven’t played such an immersive, enjoyable 1st person game in a long time. The world-building is good but not overly saturated, it’s well researched, the systems in the game are excellent, and I adore Henry as a player character. He’s a burly, blacksmith’s son who likes drinking and fighting, is terrible at first with a sword, and the voice acting I really dug. There is some amazing voice acting in the game, sprinkled with some. . .lesser voice acting. I’ll go into more detail with this in general.
I love most of the systems, like the pickpocketing, rich combat system and the alchemy, but I do feel there’s…something missing. I want more, but although there are a lot of random events said, I’ve come across so few that the world, beautiful as it may be, can seem a bit barren at times. I love travelling in the world regardless, and although the game feels like it still suffers from Open World RPG syndrome, at this point in the game this isn’t a problem. It’s not a chore, and I enjoy that.
[image error]
This does not look creepy at all.
So, onto the main review itself. I’m going to do things a bit differently for this review, and make bullet point categories for things I loved, things I liked, indifferent and things I don’t like.
Things I love in Kingdom Come Deliverance:
The cast. There is a rich and well-crafted group of characters in here, all believable and well thought. Many are taken from history itself, and the research really shows. Hans Capon is my favourite, the guy who I hated at first sight at first, but as the story develops, you really begin to love him. Fighting him in an archery contest and a brawl, then having to be his peasant bitch in a hunt, saving him from bandits and a really cool friendship develops. This is repeated throughout my playing the game. The evil fuckers are really good to hate, and your dopey and leechy friends you just want to punch in the face. Just look at these twats. Otherwise, this is one of KCD’s main strengths. I want to explore the characters and learn more about them, and I love playing as Henry. He’s just a lovable dope who becomes a badass.
[image error] These asswipes. I was too tempted to kill them, but one of their quests is a serious amount of fun and I want to finish that one first. Lazy bastards. One of them has the head of a potato.
The world and immersion. It’s beautiful! I’ve spent a lot of time transversing the countryside on my own, and with the lighting, the forests and all the scenery it’s really impressive how nice everything looks. It might just be the most beautiful game world I’ve ever been in. Skyrim looks good and so does The Witcher 3 for certain, but KCD has the advantage over TW3 in that it’s in first person. Even with my fairly middling gaming specs, the game looks gorgeous even in mixed settings. I’ll get back to that soon.
The game mechanics: It’s safe to say I absolutely love some of the mechanics in this game. The pick-pocketing is nicely thought out and gives you a challenge, the alchemy is wonderful in that I actually need to sit down and think and not fuck up (Coughs and points to Elder Scrolls), lock-picking is workable but thank god for the patch and of course the fighting, which I’ll go back to in another segment. There’s a lot of different systems at work here and there’s a lot of ambition. Does it hold up? Overall, yes. One of my favourite things to do in the game is alchemy, so much so I wish there was more substance to it. I’d love to do some odd jobs in the game even if it was just a radiant mechanic. It really helps the feeling that you’re walking in a medieval world, and there’s a lot to love here. There is a sleep/food mechanic as well and while I do think that the base system is a little too friendly, it’s probably better this way. You need to think about it but it’s not intrusive which is a nice thing. If you want a harder challenge, just do the Hardcore mode.
The game menus. They’re fucking gorgeous! There’s also a considerable amount of lore in the game about the locations, history and medieval life, and it’s honestly one of my favourite things about playing the game. It’s quite in-depth and there was a lot I didn’t know.
[image error]
(There is an elephant in the room here. The Save system. I know. I’ll be getting to that in a moment, trust me.)
Things I like about Kingdom Come Deliverance:
The combat system. Now I have a couple of niggling concerns and I was originally a bit turned off when I started playing. The games intro was hard and I kept dying, so much so I was prepared to grab a save game which started me off in Rattay and go from there, but I got through it. For an RPG, they’ve built one hell of a system and overall I really enjoy it. Beating your first enemy feels really rewarding, there’s a lot of different weapons to choose from and while its punishing, it gets better and your character progresses.
Character Progression is a really tough balance. Little Henry starts off with fuck all skill with a sword but with time can really turn into a monster. Much of the game’s difficulty is tied into the combat system. Master its little quirks and a lot of that difficulty will go away. The archery is tough with no target, but with training you can nail headshots for OHKOs like a +6 Garchomp sweeping your opponents team in Pokemon Generation 4 oldschool style. You feel like a knight in training when you start off, which feels great. To all those who are worried about the combat, don’t be. The start is rough but once you’ve advanced someway into the main quest, Captain Bernard gives you unlimited free training in the fighting arena at Rattay, and you don’t need to fight that many people to get that far. Don’t worry.
Of course there’s the issue with all combat focused games. You’ll eventually hit that stage where you become so powerful the game becomes a non-issue, and KCD is no exception. I don’t really know what can be done to stop this, but one thing in this games favour is that it still takes a while to hit that point. There is one big problem with the combat however and that’s taking on multiple enemies at once. You auto-lock into your target when combat starts and taking that off involves a fiddly double click which is annoying and frustrating in the middle of battle. I really wish they had a better way of doing this as even a bunch of peasants in sticks can bring you down. it makes it harder then it needs to be but on the other side of the coin, this is pretty realistic. The game has done a good job in making things have authenticity but still allowing for gameplay. Again this is a difficult balance to achieve, and overall the devs have made this happen. I give them a lot of credit for that.
Now let’s talk about the quests. There aren’t a huge number in the game but there is more then enough content for me, and there is little signs of game bloat. The world may seem a bit small but it’s just large enough to keep it interesting. This game doesn’t make as many faux pas in the open world syndrome by stuffing it with filler but there still lies some tiredness. The world itself is pretty and full, but a lot of the landmarks don’t really have much to them. Even with this in mind, you can tell it’s well made.
Now back onto the quests, there’s a good amount of variety here. Fetch quests are still there but there’s some pretty cool options, like roleplaying as a monk, taking part in an odd witchcraft ritual, looking for jobs for your fellow village survivors and some execution stuff. You can do quite a lot and the quality shows if not a little buggy at times. Unfortunately the romance line was fairly inconsequential but I’d say it’s still worth doing.
The Stealth and Crime is also pretty nice now, and a perfect example of how patches can completely change my mind. Once there was a massive problem with how crime was detected, where you took massive reputation hits even if your crimes aren’t detected by anyone. In the past this was my biggest gripe with the game and seriously reduced its appeal to me but this has recently been fixed. Now you only get a minor hit to reputation which vastly improves it.
[image error]
Look at the death glare in Henry’s face. Does anyone need any help dying?
I’ll also talk a little about performance. On the whole I was rather impressed overall. I’m talking about its basic fundamentals here, not bugs. It’s a little choppy but I’m amazed it even ran on my rig, and quite well at that. With some minor changes to settings I hit a perfectly playable 35-40FPS pretty much everywhere. If you’re not obsessed with maxing everything out then you should find few problems but I recommend an SSD, otherwise I’d imagine the loading times would be quite horrendous.
Issues:
Now, let’s talk about the problems. Fortunately for me, I don’t have many but no game is perfect. First of all is the main quest and its ending. I haven’t finished it but it seems the game was intended with a sequel in mind, and the story kinda ends on a heavy cliffhanger. I know now Warhorse said from the beginning that it was originally going to be 3 Acts, with one per game but we eventually got Acts I and II in with this game. Thank God for that, otherwise I imagine a lot of people would be pissed off with paying 60$ for that.
I’m enjoying the game no question about it, but I do question this policy. Instead of splitting the game into 2-3 games…why not one? Just a thought. Then again it’s not as though Kingdom Come Deliverance is short on content. It’s not, it’s absolutely packing with it. It’s just a pet peeve of mine that people insist on selling content onwards instead of having it in the first place. On a good note, the game has been well supported so far, with some tasty looking added content coming and the big Workshop mod support coming along as well.
Back to what I said about the world. . .it can seem a little lifeless. Sure it’s beautiful to wander in, but while there’s random events they seem to be few and far between. I suspect this was deliberate by the devs in an attempt to combat a bit of the difficulty especially early on. Seeing as in the latest patches I’m seeing more events now, it could be the case. Still, I would love to see more things happening. The world is immersive and solid, but it could be so much better.
I also have to talk about the bugs, not so much for me but for those who’ve struggled with unplayable messes. Yes, I know every game has bugs, and I hate the fact that people blast this game for it while giving the likes of Bethesda and CD Projekt Red a pass for everything. If anything this game is far more polished then Skyrim.
On the other hand, why do we has a whole allow this? Games should be in the best nick possible on release, and being made to wait ages for simple problems to be fixed is frankly insulting. This is more for the gaming market on principle rather then just Warhorse.
Then you get bugs like this and just piss yourself laughing.
[image error]
You alright there?
So, the limited save system. Yes, it’s staring us in the face. Yes it’s annoying but it’s not a huge problem. Here’s all the ways the game allows you to save:
The limited item Saviour Schnapps. These are piss easy to make, you can create them as soon as you get an alchemy bench and they require virtually no ingredients and just five minutes if that. You can also buy them.
You get a Save on Exit.
Rattay’s Mill is a save point.
Any Inn you stay at for “A week or more” is a permament save house.
Camping sites
It saves when a new quest starts and big milestones.
So it’s not a major problem. I’ve only used three of the “limited item” in 60 hours of gametime. It’s really not as bad as you think.
So then, if this is no big deal, why do you have it as an issue? Principle. When a game has bugs, this is when the gaps show. I’d hate to repeat game time just because I wandered into bandit camps and got killed, then realized it did not save. When crashes are taken into account, the limited save system shows its problems.
Conclusion
Kingdom Come Deliverance took a long time to come out, and it’s taking a long time to fix. Consoles really have it rough and there are still niggling issues. But do I recommend it? Oh my days, yes.
The game doesn’t hold your hand and combat can be rough but I haven’t played an RPG like this in quite some time. It’s quite taken my breath away at times, the story and characters on the whole are pretty good and it’s just an overall fun experience. Even better, Warhorse is continuing to support it with future content and I can’t wait for all the Workshop mods in the future. I will err on the side of caution and say this isn’t for everyone. Do not come into this expecting something like Skyrim or Witcher 3. It has its jank and has its quirks, but it’s one of the best experiences you can ask for – if you’re forgiving of some bugs. If you’re a performance micro-manager, I would wait for a little longer, and I would definitely recommend PC over console if I had a choice.
Total Rating: 8/10. It’s not perfect but in a market over-saturated with games that take no risks, this is a refreshing experience. Euro-Jank for certain but don’t let that get you down. This is one real diamond in the rough, and a potential GOTY for me.
September 28, 2018
Monthly Round-Up: September 2018
This is a bit of a cheat, but I thought to round off September I would post the links of all the past interviews in this month into one post and make it pretty. I have all their book links down below, so go and check everyone out!
The next SPFBO interview will be up during the first week of October!
SPFBO Author Interview: Jeffrey Collyer “Dreams and Shadows”
SPFBO Interview: Darran Handshaw “The Engineer”
SPFBO Interview: Sean Cunningham “Ghost Electricity”
Author Interview: Kaitlin Bellamy
SPFBO Entry Interview: Bryan Schuder “Ain’t a Hero”
SPFBO Entry Interview: Alex Anthony “Servants of Rage”
September 25, 2018
SPFBO Author Interview: Jeffrey Collyer “Dreams and Shadows”
I’m starting to run low on SPFBO interviews! It feels odd but I think I’m down to the last half dozen or so. If anyone hasn’t been in touch yet, do so
September 23, 2018
SPFBO Interview: Darran Handshaw “The Engineer”
It’s good to be back: my next interview is with Darran Handshaw, who entered his book The Engineer into this year’s SPFBO! I have to say I’m a big fan of that cover. No witty remarks from me this morning, let’s get right down to it.
Check out a selection of past interviews down below:
[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]
First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?
I’m Darran M Handshaw, I write science fiction and fantasy. I just released my debut novel, The Engineer, this past December. I started writing it in 2014, and it is a lengthy story, so it took me three years to write and edit it. Since I’m pretty new to this, I’m learning a lot as I go, but the Indie Author community is great and helpful with any questions I’ve had.
The Engineer is actually the story of how I met my wife in the text-based RPG Redemption MUSH, which she was a co-creator of. We went on some amazing adventures in that game, and The Engineer is my effort to do them justice – so it’s a very special story for me.
In addition to being an author, I work full-time as an R&D Engineer at a technology company. Creating and designing products is actually very similar to the writing process. I also volunteer for my local fire department, where I’m currently serving as an Assistant Fire Chief. Despite all this, I still find time to write!
How do you develop your plots and characters?
Character and plot development is a very organic process for me. I tend to generate both spontaneously. As I fill in my outline with more and more developed plots, I love to find additional character and plot ties throughout the story that makes the world and the people in it feel more multi-dimensional.
Tell us about your current project.
Right now I’m working on another stand-alone novel in the Redemption universe that begins where The Engineer leaves off. It will be another Chronicles of Actaeon Story, but this one starts out in the midst of a Redemption-wide war, which make things very interesting. I’ve spent a lot of writing time drawing up battle plans for the different sides and thinking about how things will pan out. There are some major battles in The Engineer, and I loved writing them, but this new book will bring some of the characters into the centre of some major conflicts. It is particularly interesting because Actaeon is not a warrior type, but he’ll be forced into making some difficult tactical decisions.
Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!
Actaeon is The Engineer in the novels that I’ve written and am writing. He’s an eccentric engineer in a society that’s just trying to survive in a ruined, futuristic city where people care more about survival, politics, and power than anything else. Because of this he’s very out of place and many of the other characters don’t understand him. They see his usefulness as an inventor firsthand in The Engineer though, and many of the other characters are willing to overlook his strangeness to take advantage of his talents. The same talents also get him into a variety of problems that I won’t spoil for you!
What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?
The thing I hear the most since I published is that many people have their own ideas for stories and dream of publishing their own book one day. My best advice to them would be to set some dedicated and regular time aside every week to write. I wrote The Engineer every Tuesday night after work for three years. I work full-time and volunteer as a firefighter, but I was able to do it – it just took time. Anyone else that is serious about writing can do that too. Just be patient and enjoy the process! Write on!
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
The Engineer is based on some epic in-game adventures that I played out during my time on Redemption MUSH, which was co-created by Stefanie Handshaw and Simon Svensson. With their permission I wrote The Engineer and am writing additional books and short stories in the world. Redemption was inspired heavily by the world of Stargate Atlantis. It also has a lot of post-apocalyptic elements that I drew from, given Redemption is a ruined city. I’ve always been interested in abandoned structures and ruins, so many of the scenes that have the characters delving into ruins of the city draw from that interest.
What inspires you to write?
I have stories in my head that are just itching to be told. I’ve always loved telling stories, and, as many of my firefighting friends can attest, I have a plethora to tell. Writing is a great way to share those stories. Unfortunately, I’ll never have the time to write them all. I discover new stories (or they discover me) faster than I could ever write.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The toughest part about writing The Engineer was the length of the project. A three year long project can be tough to maintain focus and energy throughout, and it helped that I really loved the story. The length of time I took to write it also created another issue: it is difficult to be consistent over such a long time period. Because of this, a big part of the editing process was making sure the story was consistent throughout and there were no errors or redundancies. My writing skill also grew tremendously during those three years, so editing the beginning to bring it in line with the later parts of the book was time consuming.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
There are so many favorite scenes and chapters that I have from the book, but I think my favorite has to be writing the scene where Knight Arbiter Eisandre (my wife’s character) has to rescue Actaeon. It was the gender opposite of the damsel-in-distress trope, and it was also a major growth moment for Eisandre’s character. The plot put her in a situation where either direction she chooses, she violates a huge part of who she is, and the way she handles it is tremendous.
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
Yes. Aside from the obvious of becoming a better writer throughout my debut work, I also learned that your book doesn’t always turn out the way you expect. When I started writing the book, I figured it was mainly a story about Actaeon, and the story mainly follows him. What I learned in the end though (and was pleasantly surprised by!), was that the most important story was really about Eisandre and her growth. Although the story follows The Engineer Actaeon for the most part, he is really a supporting character to Eisandre, who is the true hero of the story, in my opinion. I won’t spoil anything to that end – you’ll have to read it.
It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?
Roleplaying Actaeon for 3 or so years was a huge help for me to understand him well. You might say I /was/ Actaeon for those years. I also played Trench and Wave, and Gunther Arcady, the story’s main human villain, and even Phyrius Ricter, all in the game. Playing them in a roleplaying game really helped me to understand those characters well and I think I write them the best because of it. I’ve heard other authors say that they write their characters in random scenes that they later delete, all to better understand them. I can totally see the merit in that.
What are your future project(s)?
There are so many. I have outlines for two more Chronicles of Actaeon Stories and several more Tales (short stories). I also have plans for a prequel that delves into the origin story of Trench and Wave, the comic duo of veteran mercenaries that has Actaeon’s back throughout The Engineer. Trench and Wave have their own deep story that will make for quite a book that will read more like a military fantasy story.
I also have plans to write a firefighting memoir that details my many firefighting and EMS adventures (which are still ongoing!). My wife and I also wrote about half of a science fiction novel together that explores a cateclysm that occurs on a colony world that was colonated from Earth – we’ll finish it one day. That doesn’t even count my ideas file for more stories.
If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?
I’m doing it! I love being an actual engineer. I get to invent things, design them, and hold them in my hand! I’ve used things that I’ve made in the field – and I’ve even been lucky enough to get the opportunity to design firefighting tech that I’ve used while fighting fires.
What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?
Universal Book Link: http://getbook.at/engineer
Amazon: Author Page
Facebook: fb.me/ActaeonRellios/
Twitter: twitter.com/Engineer7601
Goodreads: goodreads.com/TheEngineer
SPFBO Interview: Darren Handshaw “The Engineer”
It’s good to be back: my next interview is with Darren Handshaw, who entered his book The Engineer into this year’s SPFBO! I have to say I’m a big fan of that cover. No witty remarks from me this morning, let’s get right down to it.
Check out a selection of past interviews down below:
[image error] [image error] [image error] [image error]
First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?
I’m Darran M Handshaw, I write science fiction and fantasy. I just released my debut novel, The Engineer, this past December. I started writing it in 2014, and it is a lengthy story, so it took me three years to write and edit it. Since I’m pretty new to this, I’m learning a lot as I go, but the Indie Author community is great and helpful with any questions I’ve had.
The Engineer is actually the story of how I met my wife in the text-based RPG Redemption MUSH, which she was a co-creator of. We went on some amazing adventures in that game, and The Engineer is my effort to do them justice – so it’s a very special story for me.
In addition to being an author, I work full-time as an R&D Engineer at a technology company. Creating and designing products is actually very similar to the writing process. I also volunteer for my local fire department, where I’m currently serving as an Assistant Fire Chief. Despite all this, I still find time to write!
How do you develop your plots and characters?
Character and plot development is a very organic process for me. I tend to generate both spontaneously. As I fill in my outline with more and more developed plots, I love to find additional character and plot ties throughout the story that makes the world and the people in it feel more multi-dimensional.
Tell us about your current project.
Right now I’m working on another stand-alone novel in the Redemption universe that begins where The Engineer leaves off. It will be another Chronicles of Actaeon Story, but this one starts out in the midst of a Redemption-wide war, which make things very interesting. I’ve spent a lot of writing time drawing up battle plans for the different sides and thinking about how things will pan out. There are some major battles in The Engineer, and I loved writing them, but this new book will bring some of the characters into the centre of some major conflicts. It is particularly interesting because Actaeon is not a warrior type, but he’ll be forced into making some difficult tactical decisions.
Who would you say is the main character of your novels? And tell me a little bit about them!
Actaeon is The Engineer in the novels that I’ve written and am writing. He’s an eccentric engineer in a society that’s just trying to survive in a ruined, futuristic city where people care more about survival, politics, and power than anything else. Because of this he’s very out of place and many of the other characters don’t understand him. They see his usefulness as an inventor firsthand in The Engineer though, and many of the other characters are willing to overlook his strangeness to take advantage of his talents. The same talents also get him into a variety of problems that I won’t spoil for you!
What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?
The thing I hear the most since I published is that many people have their own ideas for stories and dream of publishing their own book one day. My best advice to them would be to set some dedicated and regular time aside every week to write. I wrote The Engineer every Tuesday night after work for three years. I work full-time and volunteer as a firefighter, but I was able to do it – it just took time. Anyone else that is serious about writing can do that too. Just be patient and enjoy the process! Write on!
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
The Engineer is based on some epic in-game adventures that I played out during my time on Redemption MUSH, which was co-created by Stefanie Handshaw and Simon Svensson. With their permission I wrote The Engineer and am writing additional books and short stories in the world. Redemption was inspired heavily by the world of Stargate Atlantis. It also has a lot of post-apocalyptic elements that I drew from, given Redemption is a ruined city. I’ve always been interested in abandoned structures and ruins, so many of the scenes that have the characters delving into ruins of the city draw from that interest.
What inspires you to write?
I have stories in my head that are just itching to be told. I’ve always loved telling stories, and, as many of my firefighting friends can attest, I have a plethora to tell. Writing is a great way to share those stories. Unfortunately, I’ll never have the time to write them all. I discover new stories (or they discover me) faster than I could ever write.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The toughest part about writing The Engineer was the length of the project. A three year long project can be tough to maintain focus and energy throughout, and it helped that I really loved the story. The length of time I took to write it also created another issue: it is difficult to be consistent over such a long time period. Because of this, a big part of the editing process was making sure the story was consistent throughout and there were no errors or redundancies. My writing skill also grew tremendously during those three years, so editing the beginning to bring it in line with the later parts of the book was time consuming.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
There are so many favorite scenes and chapters that I have from the book, but I think my favorite has to be writing the scene where Knight Arbiter Eisandre (my wife’s character) has to rescue Actaeon. It was the gender opposite of the damsel-in-distress trope, and it was also a major growth moment for Eisandre’s character. The plot put her in a situation where either direction she chooses, she violates a huge part of who she is, and the way she handles it is tremendous.
Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
Yes. Aside from the obvious of becoming a better writer throughout my debut work, I also learned that your book doesn’t always turn out the way you expect. When I started writing the book, I figured it was mainly a story about Actaeon, and the story mainly follows him. What I learned in the end though (and was pleasantly surprised by!), was that the most important story was really about Eisandre and her growth. Although the story follows The Engineer Actaeon for the most part, he is really a supporting character to Eisandre, who is the true hero of the story, in my opinion. I won’t spoil anything to that end – you’ll have to read it.
It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?
Roleplaying Actaeon for 3 or so years was a huge help for me to understand him well. You might say I /was/ Actaeon for those years. I also played Trench and Wave, and Gunther Arcady, the story’s main human villain, and even Phyrius Ricter, all in the game. Playing them in a roleplaying game really helped me to understand those characters well and I think I write them the best because of it. I’ve heard other authors say that they write their characters in random scenes that they later delete, all to better understand them. I can totally see the merit in that.
What are your future project(s)?
There are so many. I have outlines for two more Chronicles of Actaeon Stories and several more Tales (short stories). I also have plans for a prequel that delves into the origin story of Trench and Wave, the comic duo of veteran mercenaries that has Actaeon’s back throughout The Engineer. Trench and Wave have their own deep story that will make for quite a book that will read more like a military fantasy story.
I also have plans to write a firefighting memoir that details my many firefighting and EMS adventures (which are still ongoing!). My wife and I also wrote about half of a science fiction novel together that explores a cateclysm that occurs on a colony world that was colonated from Earth – we’ll finish it one day. That doesn’t even count my ideas file for more stories.
If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?
I’m doing it! I love being an actual engineer. I get to invent things, design them, and hold them in my hand! I’ve used things that I’ve made in the field – and I’ve even been lucky enough to get the opportunity to design firefighting tech that I’ve used while fighting fires.
What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?
Universal Book Link: http://getbook.at/engineer
Amazon: Author Page
Facebook: fb.me/ActaeonRellios/
Twitter: twitter.com/Engineer7601
Goodreads: goodreads.com/TheEngineer
