R.K. Lander's Blog, page 4
July 5, 2018
Ultimate Writing Goals and How They Can Change
This is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world (I missed the memo about it needing to be posted yesterday, apparently). This month’s question is “What’s are your ultimate writing goals and how have they changed over time?”
I think the most important thing about writing goals are to not be too “married” to them, because your creativity can pull you in unexpected directions and you can discover new genres, new areas to write in, and new ways to fulfill your writing dreams.
My writing goals have definitely changed since I was nine (or thereabouts), when I first wrote a story and discovered that writing was something I wanted to do.
Initially, I was going to write historical fiction, something along the lines of the American Girl series that I…
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June 27, 2018
Book Review – Shadows of Tomorrow
Title: Shadows of Tomorrow
Author: Ryan Lanz
Genre: Dystopia Short Stories
Only One Mask:
Nob only trusts two things: his knife and his breathing mask–the latter because he has to.
Ever since the world went crazy, he feels like he’s always on the run. Running from those who want to kill you. Running from those who want your food, your water, and your only way to safely breathe.
Tricia once said he takes things too seriously. That was a long time ago. Now taking things seriously keeps him alive.
He’s used to taking what he needs without an ounce of guilt, but now he’s faced with a moral dilemma that threatens his survival. They’ve never given him pause before, but this time, it’s different.
The Price of Art:
Jordyn prefers art to friends.
She remembered thinking that growing up, and it’s still true today. Art never let her down. Art…
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A Writer’s Moment of Glory
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So did I ever think this would happen to me? Nah! Dream on, lovely. So I did, and it happened!
I won’t say I don’t know how, because I do. There are so many factors involved in getting to a #1 spot: marketing and promotion, understanding the wiles of Amazon, writing a good book, and along the way, you really, really need help because the questions never stop, and there are always indie authors out there that know a lot more than you do about it. There is the the Alliance of Independent Authors who have a great forum for members where you can ask just about anything and get an answer. There are great blogs out there, like A Writer’s Path or Into the Writer Lea, and other amazing Indie authors who have been so supportive; I just want to give something back to this amazing community of Independent Authors by helping others, if I can.
So how long does it last? Who knows! One hour and I may be taken over by that vampire novel again. But it might be a week, two even. Well I’ve got the screenshot to prove that once, my book was a #1 Best Seller and will soon be wiping it all over the place shamelessly.
So thank you to everyone who knows me, that supported me, and especially – to all those people who read the book. Motivation for book three has never been higher; ten more months, and the story continues. For now, my personal story as a writer has hit a new height, and for however long it lasts, I intend to enjoy every second of it.
June 18, 2018
Review: Road of a Warrior by R.K. Lander
Thank you so much Frank. This is s7ch a wonderful review.
FF’s Star Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I stand dissolute behind every word in the sentence that follows this one. If you love reading fantasy novels with elves in them, you’ve never wanted to actually be one of or at least among them as much as when you’ve started reading R.K. Lander’s The Silvan trilogy. It’s something else. Something you will want to discuss for days with other readers. Road of a Warrior is the second book and starts readers right off with the extraordinarily beautiful and ember-eyed half-Silvan, half-Alpine elven warrior Fel’annár as he takes down one of many Deviants, mortal humans that stay alive as their bodies rot away for daring to chase after immortality.
Fel’annár is part of a small group of elven warriors. His name means Green Sun. Closest to him are the following warriors: Ramien, the Wall of Stone; Idernon, the Wise Warrior; Calderon…
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June 5, 2018
How to Pick a Character’s Name
This is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world. This month’s question is “What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names”
For me, it’s definitely coming up with a book title. Because I’m primarily writing a series, I want the titles to all work together, to where they sound like they’re part of a “family” of books. And then, I want them to be memorable, to not be something already used by another writer (at least, not on the blockbuster level). I don’t want to be one of 5 or 10 authors who wrote a book by the same name if possible.
By comparison, coming up with names is simple. I usually start with a feel for who the character is, what sort of person…
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June 1, 2018
The May Book Cover of the Month Begins!
Oh! And there is my book cover!
Happy first everyone! As is now officially tradition here on my blog, it’s time to start a new book cover of the month competition.
Siren’s Lure by Frost Kay joins 31 brand new covers this month.
You can vote all the way through the tournament, supporting the covers you like best through each round. I like to make sure people get the credit they deserve, so please show your support. Please vote and share as much as possible to get people a chance to pick their favorite.
As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as…
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May 26, 2018
The Hardest Chapter Of Road Of A Warrior
A blogger recently asked me which part of my recently launched book, Road of a Warrior, was the most difficult to write. There was no doubt in my mind, I said. Chapter fourteen – it was always chapter fourteen.
As an author, there are scenes I find a joy to write while others are a proverbial pain in the backside.
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For instance, writing a battle scene is something I love. I imagine the scenes playing out like a movie in my mind, over and over in my head. I can even hear the music as my main character battles with a Deviant or a Sand Lord. They attack and parry, the blows come heavier and heavier until Fel’annár somersaults over his hideous opponent and then lashes out with his long sword, slicing its head off while his shorter sword arches up and around, stabbing another rotten Deviant who thought to take him from the side … OK! I’ll stop, and I think you have the picture, right? I am incorrigible.
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But it gets worse; sometimes, I will even reach for my industrial-sized toilet paper rolls and perform the Kenjutsu moves myself – just as I have written them. Does it work? Is it logical? Would it really happen like that? Everything is ok as long as the neighbours don’t see me through the kitchen window!
I also love scenes with political intrigue. I love the rhetoric, the scepticism, the fleeting glances and knowing gazes. I love riling the reader and then giving satisfaction as the victim becomes the victor.
However, for me, the challenge comes in the guise of romance. I mean even the word itself is open to such a wide diversity of interpretation. What is romance? How do I understand it and does that coincide with what others expect of a romantic scene?
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I have always felt myself struggle with romantic scenes and this is why I need to get in there and just do it. What is there not to love about expressing perhaps the deepest and most uncontrollable emotion we know? The passion and the violence, the tears and the wonder. So why do I feel so awkward when I try to put pen to paper and write that scene? There’s nothing for it, it has to be done.
Which brings me to chapter 14 of Road of a Warrior, the second book in The Silvan series. It was a massive challenge because this chapter has battle, heartbreak, magic and dialogue galore and of course – love! I remember endless days with my beta reader, M.Y. Leigh, and my editor Andrea Lundgren, grinding out the scenes, fleshing them out, changing them and then changing them again until my hair was a mess and they were as good as they could be. I would be extremely interested in hearing from anyone who read the book to lend me their thoughts, of course.
When I look back to my debut novel, Path of a Novice, the first book in The Silvan series, I still love it, but I can see just how far I have come as a writer in the year it took me to prepare book two. Part of that success is due to my own enthusiasm, naturally, but it has also been about finding the right people to accompany me on the journey. A brilliant editor and a marvellous beta reader have made such a huge difference and I truly hope to have them by my side for book three, Dawn of a Legend.
If you are a writer, what scenes do you especially love to write? Which ones do you hate and all-importantly – why?
May 25, 2018
Character Actions: Should There Be a Reason Why?
Characters do all kinds of things in fiction. Their actions make up the stories we write, and if they did nothing…it’d be pretty boring.
But how much motivation should there be in what they do? Do you, as the author, need to always know why they’re doing it, or can they just “do something for doing it”?
Let’s take a look at a scene and see how it works.
She walked over to the glass. On the other side was a habitat, all sand and rocks with only a few scaly plants, the surface of their stems mirroring that of the creature who should’ve been inside.
Slowly, she touched the glass. Her hand stayed there for a long moment, not moving, in firm but gentle contact against the clear silica-based partition until it slowly began to warm to her touch.
Then she backed away.
Now, we, as readers, don’t need…
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May 17, 2018
Fantasy World Creation
“Past our great city and further north still, the Deep Forest begins. It is hotter here, humid and hazy in summer. This is the homeland of the Silvan people, our birthplace. Our villages are dotted over a map of sprawling woods and vales, dells and bubbling brooks, hot springs and mossy enclaves. There are no grand halls here, only cottages and flets, mighty talans even, but it is all wood and rope, stone and bone for these are the elements of this land.”
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So says Marhené, the Silvan chronicler in The Silvan series. But why even have a chronicler? Keep reading.
When writing a fantasy novel, one of the first things you need to address is ‘where not in this world’ are we? First because, how can you even start writing without making immediate references to where you are in one way or another? I know for some writers, it is the world they envisage that actually fuels the story, whereas for others it is the story itself that begs for a place in which to play out. This was my case, and Bel’arán is the result.
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The Wonderful Hector World devised and then hand-drew this wonderful map, after hours of talk time. Oh we could have created an entire planet had we continued, but that wasn’t necessary. You’ll see that the cold regions are down south, while the warmer areas are towards the north. Everything else is either forest, mountain or prairie.
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Now you might be thinking – well – why not be more imaginative? Go all out and make something new and unique; defy the laws of physics! But here’s the thing. If you’re going to do that, it’s so that your readers can enjoy that world, right? And if that is, indeed, the case, then you will have to explain it, too. Now there is a challenge – right? Because just how interested are our readers in the finer points of our fantasy world if those details are not related to the story? I dare say they are certainly not as interested as the writer. How many times can we read reviews in which the reader complains of excessive wordiness, pages upon pages of description? Way too many times, but as a writer, the temptation is, at times, irresistible. We want readers to see what we see when we write.
I think it is all about balance, about giving the reader enough information to suggest what your world looks like, smells or feels like, without dishing it up on a plate, or without cramping the reader’s own creativity. Personally, I opted for short extracts to introduce each chapter, so that I didn’t have to work in too much description in the chapter itself. Marhené, my Silvan chronicler, does this for me. She speaks of the land, of the Silvan people, of the events that have shaped their existence, about their history and beliefs. It was the only way I could find to avoid the wordiness, avoid pacing issues that can easily arise when a writer gets lost in her own world and doesn’t understand when it becomes boring to those who just want to ready the story.
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I make up for the similarity of Bel’arán to Earth by introducing other species and races. Alpine, Silvan, Pelagic and Spirit elves, Mountain Hounds, Deviants, Incipients, Gas Lizards, even humans– gulp! And describe away, say I, because you really do want to know who is fighting, how hard it will be to kill this opponent, why others react to them the way they do.
Fantasy fiction has these challenges because you are creating worlds, creating creatures. You can’t just say, “Fel’annár jumped onto his Gas Lizard and shot off …” It all needs to be drawn in the book, not in strokes of pencil or colour but with words not only that describe, but that suggest, that conjure, that awaken the reader’s senses and allow them to travel, to lose themselves in their own, unique perception of the world the writer creates.
What do you think? As a reader, how much description do you actually want from a fantasy novel? When does it start to bore you? As a writer, how do you avoid going off on a tangent? How do you introduce readers to your world and its inhabitants?
May 6, 2018
Editorial Review – Road of a Warrior: The Silvan Book II
I subjected myself to the ultimate test a writer possibly can; a professional, editorial review. This is the result …
Title : Road of a Warrior: The Silvan Book II
Author : R.K. Lander
Genre : Epic Fantasy / Military fantasy
This sweeping tale of love, heritage, honor, and intrigue continues the saga of Fel’annár, a young warrior elf of mixed blood who dreams of being a captain in an army where only pure Alpines rule.
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