Roderick T. Macdonald's Blog, page 29

Why I write Fantasy: A suitcase of treasures, Part 1

In the mid 70s I lived for a couple of years in the USA. When we moved back to Scotland, a large green suitcase came with us. This piece of luggage lived in our garage for years, and when I eventually explored it, I discovered that among the many odds and ends it housed were quite a few books. Two in particular caught my eye, and came to have a lasting effect on me. Both were parts of a series, and for years I did not have access to the other books in those series, and so read and re-read these books in splendid isolation.

The first was Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny. I was utterly captivated by it. Like Tolkien and Lewis, he offered a vision of our world connected to something much grander, filled with mystery and magic, just the turn of a corner, or a page away. Corwin is just the most fun to be with as he tells you his tale, a rich saga of betrayal, heroic failure, (the assault on Kolvir with Bleys is just immense!) and the beginnings of revenge. Because I only read this first book in the series for about six years, I spent a lot of time imagining what was going to happen next, how Eric was going to be defeated and what Corwin would do once he had triumphed. For years I searched in used book stores for more of the series and came up empty. Then I happened into a Forbidden Planet shop in the early 80s, idly looking yet again, and was shocked and incredibly excited to find all five books (I had no idea there would be five) sitting there on a shelf, waiting to be bought! One mad dash home to collect my saved paper-round money, and they were mine! Little did I know I was going to meet a bird who discussed Schopenhauer, or how many years would pass before I understood the reference!

Roger Zelazny’s writing sings to me. “I saw the Old Moon with the New Moon in her arms…” That line stuns me every time. There are so many more. His willingness to experiment inspires me. His ability to pack so many ideas, actions and adventure into relatively few words (his novels, for all their incident, tend to be short), is intimidating. I love his humour, am dazzled by his intelligence, awed by his facility with language, and feel grateful to have found his writing and been so transported by it. My desire to create undersea cities is entirely down to him and Rebma! He is one of my literary heroes, a master from whom I hope I have learned much.

But what of the other novel I dug out of that suitcase, shoving aside multiple books by Lobsang Rampa to get my paws on an intriguing cover of a woman in white emerging from the sea? That can wait until next time!

The Writing Life: It Takes a Team

I tried for years to transform my writing from manuscript to novel on my own, and for years it did not work. Eventually, I recognized that I needed a team. Only through accepting this, that I was not equipped to do it alone, did I finally flourish…and I intend to do a whole lot more flourishing with my team going forward!

So I’d like to thank my team, here and now, for their help in making my dream real, and getting The Thief and The Demon published.

First: my dear old mum, the original cheerleader, the most resiliently unrealistic fan who still maintains my manuscripts written at 14 are works of art. Without her, I would never have had the confidence to get here. She is the wellspring from which my writing life originally flowed, and remains my biggest fan.

Second: my wife, who not only believes in my writing, but as an avid reader of fantasy also has the ability to point out flaws, and as a professional writer to suggest improvements. That I do not always follow her advice is on me. (Sometimes it’s justified, honest!) There was an incident in Rome where she told me a lot of truth I did not want to hear at the time, but I am much better for it now. Her contributions are immense and almost innumerable. I am a very lucky man.

My long-time friends, Dave, Andy, Matt, and newer friend Shelly, for supporting my ideas and my dreams, some after hearing me whitter on for years about this book or that with almost infinite patience, and then for being my beta readers, and giving me the feedback I needed. I knew you guys couldn’t be objective, but I love that you tried!

The folks at Critters who helped me learn how to critique strangers’ work, and critique it with kindness. That was an invaluable lesson. And for being the first truly objective voices of outside reason when contemplating my book. Those insights stuck with me and helped shape a lot of what came after.

My editor in book form, Don McNair, whose book Editor-Proof Your Writing was an invaluable first step for me in really getting to grips with the mechanics of my writing, and learning how to tighten it up. I’d owned other guides to writing earlier in my life, but either I’d been unreceptive to their lessons, or had barely cracked them open. Don’s book, with its 21 steps, took me down a new road, because finally I was ready to learn, and it improved me as a writer immeasurably.

My real-life editor, Jeff Seymour, who worked with me on the developmental and line edit passes of my book, and helped to transform it yet again. Together we sanded smooth the rough edges, modified  sections, and changed emphasis to strengthen the overall story and its presentation. He also provided me with guidance to help maintain a uniformity of style when I had been switching between choices and uncertain which way to finally fall. Hiring him was the best decision I’ve made in my writing career. I needed outside professional help, and he provided it, along with cheerful email conversations, in spades. Thank you, Jeff.

My cover designer, James T. Egan at Bookfly design. (We middle T.’s have to stick together!) I had searched for cover designers for a long time, but found nothing to match my taste until I saw his portfolio. I gave him a rough idea of what I’d like, including the idea of using a clan belt to honor my Scottish roots; he did the rest, and did it amazingly well. The Celtic knotwork, the keyhole, the flame, were all his ideas and matched perfectly with the content and themes of the book. Moreover, he was very responsive to design discussion, and allowed me to go into any amount of detail with good grace and patience. I could not ask to work with a better partner in creating the imagery to represent my world.

My formatter, Rob Siders of 52Novels. Like James, he displayed great patience with a newcomer to the field, helping to answer my questions while producing flawlessly formatted ebook and print editions of my novel, that are not only functional, but attractive (especially the print edition, which I think looks amazing), to make the act of reading a pleasure, in every format. And he, like James, was great to work with on last-minute corrections and revisions, and handled everything with efficiency and good humour. A professional who was so easy to work with, it made the last difficult round of proofing and corrections, if not a joy, then at least a task taken on with relish, because the end was in sight, and help was at hand. His work made the stress of uploading the books to Amazon non-existent, because everything went off without a hitch.

And finally, you – my readers, my friends and family and first buyers and reviewers – you are all part of my team too, and without each and every one of you, I would be greatly diminished.

Thank you all.

Why I Write Fantasy: Primal Influences

Like so many others, it is the tales that captured me as a child that have led me to this place where I declare myself a fantasy writer.

There were fairy tale collections, those of Grimm and Andersen, and the Ladybird Well-Loved Tales series that each came in their own slim-line hard back with wonderful illustrations of a fancifully medieval Jack hastening away from a most angry giant, or the redoubtable little red hen facing off against the sly fox. Other tales of odder ancestry came in old hardback covers, like my favourite – It Happened One Day, which I long ago lost, (and have just bought the 1954 edition online!) but the individual tales still linger strongly in my mind. I loved The Water Babies for its pure escapism and adventure, (I was oblivious to its crude racism as a boy) along with Alice and her Tenniel illustrated adventures.

But what made me a writer of fantasy were these two classics: The Hobbit, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Read and re-read as a child. The idea of wild lands of the imagination, filled with their own history, mystery, and wonders was what captured me then, and still does. With the Narnia books you could indulge in the fantasy of literally leaving this world behind as the Pevensie children did. In the Hobbit, Bilbo was there as your stand-in, with the talk of post offices and tea times a framing that made it seem like Tolkien’s world did, somewhere, blend into our own. In one land you riddled with a dragon, in the other, you became a dragon, complete with regretful tears and a sore arm!

The Hobbit I still adore (though the references to modernity seem much more jarring now), the Chronicles of Narnia strike me as an adult as rather heavy-handed in their allegory, but I love them for the memories they evoke – reading until falling asleep, then waking to read again until I had to fall out of bed and run down the road to school, having put my uniform on and got back into bed to read just a little bit more after wolfing down my breakfast! For years I could only read the first 70 pages of Prince Caspian, as the book had fallen apart and the second half was lost, but still I came back to it, and imagined the ways the story would go, what gaps I could fill between it and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, my childhood favourite, though The Silver Chair and The Last Battle ran it close.

And try as I might, (and I did), I never quite found my waking way to Narnia or Middle-Earth. But what was born in me was the desire to see other strange lands of the imagination, to read other books like those early classics, and what I found became the second wave of stories that inspired me to write my own.

My Book has Launched!

The day has finally arrived. Hard to believe after all this time that the work of writing is done, and I am a published author. My book, The Thief and The Demon, is now available for sale as an e-Book and paperback, online at Amazon.com. It still seems crazy to say that.

Now that the creative work is complete, it’s time to encourage people to buy The Thief and The Demon, and I’m learning how to do that. On my website there is a handy little button just to the right of this text. You know the one, the ‘a’ with a smiley arrow beneath it (you may be seeing it right now!). Press it and you will find my book waiting for you. On my Facebook author page, look for the blue “Shop Now” button, or visit my shop for links to all the book’s formats. Yes, I have a Facebook shop, which is hilarious to me. The book also has an entry in goodreads, along with a terse, non-spoilery review. You can’t buy from directly from there, (though of course there is a button leading to you know where!), but it’s another way to get the word out.

As people buy my book (and a few strong supporters already have – thank you!), it’s becoming real for others, not just what I imagined they might think of it, but actually theirs. As I’ve said in other blogs, the book is now no longer my own, and that makes me very happy. I truly do look forward to your thoughts, whatever they are. Although everyone says not to read reviews, I know myself well enough to understand that there is zero possibility I won’t look. I just will. Maybe not immediately, but sooner or later, I’ll feel brave enough, and click… And I will try to take the advice of thousands, and not get sucked into answering the negative reviews when they inevitably come, but will try to learn from them, to become a better writer.

No book is universally lauded, or loved. I think I’ve produced something that many will like, but not all. It has champions already, though I believe that they have some discernable bias! I hope it finds its way into friendly hands and eyes.

Why am I not leaping up and down with wild excitement? Because I am calm. I am content. I am an author. And I know there is a lot more work to be done. I will be giddy when I’ve earned it, though I admit it is breaking through here and there despite my best efforts to stay focused on the many tasks at hand!

Thank you all for reading, and I hope for taking the next steps of the journey with me, into life as a published author. Have a beautiful day. I know I will!

The Writing Life: When Plans Change

I have had many plans in my writing life. Or at least I thought they were plans at the time, when in truth they were more like wish lists. Either way, the imagined path has often gone awry.

This blog was originally going to be about dealing with when your writing process gets derailed, or when stories don’t work out, or life interrupts and you have to set writing aside for a time to deal with more pressing issues. However, recent events have switched its focus, because once again, a plan hasn’t exactly followed its expected course.

I am moving my release date back to October 5th. I did not want to, and I tried to stay on target, but I cannot (did not!) make October 1st. I decided that it’s better to push my launch back so I can be sure that when any potential reader goes looking, they find my book waiting for them, first time, every time. I don’t want to risk someone looking, not finding it, and then not coming back.

Nothing terrible happened: if there is any reason for the delay it is down to me. I thought I knew that things always take longer than anticipated. I forgot that things really do take longer than anticipated!

There is always something else you did not expect, and that really needs to be done. So a day or two slips by. A few of these and the days add up fast! Another lesson learned – build in a bit more wiggle room in the future. Stuff happens. I can’t change it, so I’m rolling with it. To use the old saw, this is an opportunity – I have more time to work on my checklist, to research and learn more about the inner workings of FB, to create more content for my online platforms, to say hello to my friends.

I had a plan, and now I’m changing it. On the bright side, that lines up some more material for another post in the future! I think it is important to realize that when plans change, it doesn’t have to mean abandoning the original idea. If the idea still has merit, it can be used later, not thrown away in frustration. That’s a lesson it took me a while to learn.

Change is not the enemy. Being paralyzed by it is. I think that if you keep moving forward, keep checking boxes and hitting other targets, even smaller ones, you can maintain your momentum. That is my goal.

See you on October 5th!

PreLaunch: No Time for Fear

Only a few days remain. Not to be dramatic or anything, but this is the culmination of a lifetime’s effort, and a childhood dream.

However, the important thing is this: I believe I’ve written a book that’s worth your time to read. And enjoy rereading. I really do believe this, when I swat away the gnats of doubt fizzing around my head.

It is easy to hit them – they’re the size of cantaloupes.

I hope you will read my book, and I hope you’ll tell me, and others, about it, and why you liked it, and what problems you may have with it. The gnats tell me it has flaws, every book does, but I’m more interested in your opinion than my own on that score. I can learn from you; I hear my own blather all the time.

So please, after you have read my book, share your opinions of it with me, with the world. Amazon likes verified purchase reviews, and so do I! Goodreads is waiting. Booktube beckons. I’m confident you’ll like it, but I’m ready to listen and learn. Your experience with my story and the characters that people it is important to me because now is not the time for fear, now is the time to embrace the fact that my book will soon belong to you, the readers.

Thank you.

Countdown Part 3: Ignition

It’s hard to believe I’ve reached this point, but the formatting of my first book is nearing completion. Soon, with the final text and image files in hand, there will be no impediment to launching The Thief and The Demon, only hesitation and the desire for everything to be “just so” before I hit that button.

The starter motor is rumbling, signaling its readiness to fire up the main engines. I feel more strapped in than ever, part of a process that cannot now be stopped, and that I don’t want to stop, but which still causes thrills of excited trepidation to shock through me. This is really going to happen, after a lifetime of waiting. Unlike the tortured analogy of a rocket launch that I have been indulging in, releasing a book does not require all preconditions to be perfect, which is lucky for me, given my rather incomplete systems check last week!

I still have some time though, to run through my checklist, to get as many more tasks completed as possible prior to launch, and to have those things that must wait until after launch to be implemented, like the Amazon and Goodreads author profiles, ready to go. This is also the time to take a few deep breaths and remind myself to accept that I won’t have everything exactly where I imagine I want it, that this is a learning process, and that I will get better at this in the future.

This is also a time to enjoy. These are the moments when all things remain possible, and one thing is certain: there is a particular monkey on my back that has ridden with me for a long time, but he isn’t coming with me on this journey. At long, long last, I will be free of him. I think I’m standing taller already.

The Writing Life: Why Now?

While I’ve always wanted to be a writer, for far too much of my life I wanted to write a first draft, be praised for my creativity, and have that draft magically transformed into a bestseller by some random alchemy that had nothing to do with me working on it myself. I wanted all the acclaim, none of the effort. It was an odd, and self-indulgent, fancy.

So this writing life is happening for me now because, at last, I realized life does not go on forever, and you don’t always have the next year, or the next five. And procrastinating in the hope that someone would come along and do all the work for me was decidedly unsuccessful as a plan.

The boring, unsexy truth that I read many times (but for so long chose to ignore) is that to be a writer, you have to do the work. The scattered and sometimes sublime first draft has to be revisited, refashioned, nailed down and made fit for public consumption. Or you can release the rough draft that some people might decide has potential, but most will just run away from with a click.

I am here because I finally realized I had to do the work, and I finally got around to doing it. No more, no less. And part of that hard work was hiring an editor, which does not mean that he or she does the work for you – it means you agree to do a lot of work with them. (Or you can do very little, and get very little in return for your money.)

So there it is, I’m doing this now because I want to, I feel driven to, and because I accepted that I needed to do the necessary hard work and then took it on. That work has already paid off, because I now know I’m a writer, after years of wondering if I had just been pretending.

That alone makes this journey worth it.

Countdown Part 2: Systems Check

In the previous countdown blog, I felt like I was strapped into the capsule, no turning back.

However, it is not enough to simply strap yourself to the top of a rocket and declare the job done, you need to control the engines, and maybe even be able to steer the thing if you want the launch to be successful. It’s time to ensure that the systems which will help to deliver my novel payload are up and running.

Website updated? In progress. Engineers are working on it as we speak. Blog content creation is in progress, a schedule set. Having content ready in advance reduces the pressure to make more each week, and makes writing each new column that much easier.

Facebook page activated? It exists, but requires work before launch. As noted last time out, I could have regret at not having been an aficionado of FB and an online forum dweller for years already, but the milk is spilled, no time to worry about it now. I do what I can when I can.

Mailing list created? Check, but it can always be expanded. Always.

Graphic design approved? Check. I love the design, it works as cover and thumbnail brilliantly. Final delivery date agreed. There are nerves about this, which is totally understandable, but my designer has been great, so I do not anticipate any problems. I just have that feeling you get when waiting for an important flight, you know it will arrive, but until you see it pull up to the gate, you can’t help but be a bit anxious. So I’m a bit anxious. It’s natural. I’m rolling with it.

Formatting completed? In progress, completion date logged. Nerves about this too, because the moment I sent my book to the formatter, I had to accept that it was in its final form. I have fiddled with those words forever, and now they are fixed, or I pay to shift them around. It is harder than I thought to accept that I am done messing with the text.

Why am I not formatting the book myself? Because I want everything associated with my book to be as professional as possible, and cannot guarantee that home-made formatting will work flawlessly across multiple devices. Hiring an industry pro gives me confidence that this will be the case. Of course I will feverishly check all formats after first upload and before the official launch date. Because quality control is always required.

Text reviewed pre and post formatting? Check, and yet to be checked. I don’t think you can re-check this too many times prior to launch, as the whole mission depends upon successful delivery of this media to the world. No pressure. And yes, I found and fixed a ‘couple’ of things on my last pass. I also accepted that I had to leave other words as they were, and trust my earlier self’s judgment. He was not working to the final deadline and freaking out. It’s cool. Breathe.

Amazon author profile ready? Check. But I can’t create my author profile until the book is published. I had hoped that registering my ISBNs would get the system to recognize the coming birth of The Thief and The Demon, but no, I must wait.

Goodreads author profile ready? Check, and the same story as above with Amazon. But what photo will I use? Must I inflict my image upon poor unsuspecting readers?

Potential reviewers contacted? Not yet. I should be doing this now, but I want to be able to answer interested replies with a swift response and dispatch of book to review in the reviewer’s favoured format. Hard to do that pre-launch. There is much chicken and egg to this process, I seem to be discovering.

So, the systems are up, but not all are running. I’d better get on with it before the launch window opens.

The Writing Life: Why me?

I’m not sure if I ever actually chose to be a writer. It seems to have always been with me, as natural as breath.

If I had to point to one event that set me on the road, it would be my mother reading me The Hobbit when I was five years old. I was transported. I did not want to story to end. After that, I read the book for myself, over and over.  At first that was enough, but soon I wanted more. I daydreamed alternative adventures, extra episodes. But daydreaming alone also proved insufficient. When I was seven, I decided to write my own version of The Battle of Five Armies. (Yep, I started out in fan fiction!)  It was eight glorious pages long. After that, I knew that what I wanted to do was write my own stories, and as I read my way repeatedly through Narnia and other imaginary lands, there was only ever one form my stories were going to take: the fantasy novel.

As a child it was never a question of whether, only when. I started my first novel when I was thirteen, writing at an old desk my mother inherited from an accountant’s office. I remember The Last in Line by Dio playing on my stereo and the sun shining through my window, which inspired me to start the book with a scene in sunlight. One hundred and sixty three pages later it was finished. I decided the book was not long enough, and I had a great idea, so I added in a parallel storyline, to get twice as much story! It had to be twice as good, right? And then on to the sequel, now with added subplots!

I still have those handwritten efforts, and the typed revisions and expansions that were hammered out on a typewriter also inherited from that accountant’s office.

All my dreams have been of writing, of being a writer, and though I put aside those early books, I never imagined a life without writing. It has been a long road from then until now, but always I’ve thought about stories, about novels to write, to re-write, to finish. In my 20s and 30s, I struggled for too long with a book I was too insecure to submit. Years were lost; hard, slow lessons were learned. Eventually I learned to swallow my brittle pride, and ask for help. Fortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, I received it.

I decided to start afresh, something entirely new. I wondered what would happen if a thief, in the course of escaping from prison, released a demon. That seemed an interesting turn of events, and I explored it further. Thus, The Thief and The Demon, and so much more beyond it, was born.

So: why the writing life for me? Because despite all the distractions and diversions of life, all the other paths offered, I could not be anything else. And now, at long last, I’m about to bring my first novel to the world.