Michael J. Sullivan's Blog, page 45

Sign up for Age of Swords Beta is closing

Hey all, Robin here.  I try to help Michael (who is really slammed right now) in making posts. For instance, he wrote one for SDCC, that I have to look over and copy edit before posting. But I also need to get this announcement out so people don't miss a deadline.
I'm closing the sign-up for those who want to be beta readers for Age of Swords (Book #2 of The Legends of the First Empire).  In general, we get many more people requesting to beta read than I could ever process, so there will be more people turned down than accepted.  To help you decide let me explain a bit about the process.
1. There is a sign-up form. Where I ask questions about whether you are a veteran Sullivan reader, or new to his works, also age, gender, whether English is your native language, and a host of other questions. The purpose of this is so I can develop a good cross-section of readers.  
2. I'll comb through the entries and narrow the list down. People will then get a write up telling them what to expect (but I'll give you the short form here). If they feel they still want to be a beta reader after finding out the expectations then they'll get a copy of the book in any number of ebook formats.
3. Some will provide feedback on a chapter-by-chapter basis, others will do so on a "reading session" basis (several chapters at once) answering questions about what they liked, didn't like, were confused by, etc.  They will also rate each chapter on a scale of 1 - 5 on things like plot, character, pacing, and overall enjoyment.
4. After completing the book, they'll do one last survey that will be used to give their impressions as a whole.
5. Finding typos or grammatically errors are not a requirement of the beta (we're not looking for free copyediting support) and because it is an early edition, there is likely to be several mistakes in the book on those scores. But, if you do happen to run across something then certainly noting them is helpful.
That's it in a nutshell. I had planned on closing the sign up on 7/31 but then I didn't get his post up until now.  Since I'm late in posting, you can be late signing up.  I'll close the doors for good on Wednesday.  
Thanks all, and I'll try to get Michale's SDCC post up soon.

SDCC Schedule - See you in San Diego (I hope)

In a few days Robin and I will be jetting off to San Diego for our first ever trip to San Diego Comic Con!  Here's my itinerary in case you want to drop by and say hi, get a book signed, or try to get one of the few remaining ARC's of Age of Myth.
Day Date  TimeLocationWhatThurs  07/21   5:00 - 6:00 PM  Del Rey Booth #1515 Signing and ARC GiveawayThurs07/21 7:30 - 8:30 PM Room #4Panel: Deleted Scenes with Kevin Hearne, Harry Turtledove, Tricia NarwaniFri07/22All day VariousMeeting with readers on a one-on-one basis
Sat07/23 3:00 - 4:00 PM Del Rey Booth #1515Signing and ARC Giveaway
As you can see I'm available all day Friday, so if you want to meet, send me an email (michael.sullivan.dc@gmail.com) and we'll setup a time. You don't have to have a SDCC badge to meet with me but you do need to be able to get to the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina since I won't have a car.

And of course there are plenty of other authors besides myself to visit such as: (To find a complete list of their event schedules click here).
Renee AhdiehSasha AlsbergJ. Patrick BlackMike BraffTerry BrooksJeffrey BrownPierce BrownLorraine CinkPeter ClinesJessica CluessCristina ColangeloAndrea CremerBlake CrouchMelissa de la CruzIndras DasJames DashnerSylvia DayCamilla D’ErricoChristopher FarnsworthMatt ForbeckCory GodbeyAlwyn HamiltonKevin HearneMatthew HolmJennifer HolmCole HortonColleen HouckJason HoughRachel IgnotofskyGini KochSarah KuhnJ.M. LeeStacey LeeTodd LockwoodTahereh MafiDrew MagaryMeagan MarieSeanan McGuireChloe NeillSylvain NuevelRyan NorthBryan Lee O’MalleySydney PaduaNatasha PolisBob ProehlChristine RiccioRansom RiggsBrendan ReichsPatrick RothfussPaul RuditisRomina RussellCavan ScottScott SiglerNalini SinghAlan SmaleKathleen SmithSherry L. SmithThomas SniegoskiAnne SowardsHayley StoneRebecca SugarMichael J. SullivanSabah TahirHarry TurtledoveJessica WadeAndy WeirChuck WendigScott WesterfieldKiersten WhiteJudd WinickLisa YeeBrenna Yovanoff
Hope to see you there!

From the mailbag, advice on creating characters.

I get a lot of mail from aspiring authors who are stuck or looking for help with their writing. It takes time to answer them, but I try to be as complete as I can. Robin was going through my email recently (she sorts it for me) and saw a response I made and said, "You should share this with others...why help just one person when others might find it useful?" She's so smart.  Well, I'm not sure whether this will help others or not, but I do think it makes sense to share it.  So here goes:

KS wrote: "I am having a hard time developing the characters. The story revolves around , a hobbit type creature."

My response:
First decided what you want them to ultimately do. What role they will play in the story. 
Let’s use Lord of the Rings as an example. 
Frodo. What do we need him for? To carry the ring. Why him? He is decent, kind, lacking in pride or a desire for power, making him resistant to the ring’s influence. This makes him ideal to carry it, and why others cannot.
In this way you can see how the plot will dictate much of the character. You need a person to be a certain way, to fulfill a task in the plot, and so you create that character. If you don’t need a character, don’t make them.
Once you make a character, get to know them the same way you might a real life person, by asking them questions:
How old are you? How tall? How much do you weigh? 
These are important while what color their eyes are is not. Even the color of their hair is not, but the length might be. Why? Because these aspect can influence the story. Many aspiring writers spend a lot of time on eye color, but I’ve never known eye color to affect a story, except for Dune. 
Parents? Siblings? Grandparents? Children? What are their names? What are they like. Do you like them? Do they like you?
All of these are standard physical features questions. They don’t usually make the character come to life, but some of these next questions might.
What is your goal in life?What is your greatest fear?What secret(s) do you not want anyone to know about you?What are you most proud of?What bad habits do you have?What hobbies, or side interests do you have? (that have nothing to do with the story)What would you say are some of your quirks—everyone has them.What’s yours?What is your greatest failure? What are you most embarrassed of?Who are your friends?Who are your enemies?What are some things that you like? And what things do you dislike?What odd talents do you have?What is your greatest weakness?What is your greatest strength?
The more of these sorts of questions you can answer about your character, the more real they become, both in your mind and the mind of your readers. Knowing the characters well, knowing more than will ever be put in the story, is what makes them interesting. 
Don’t think you have to answer all these questions for every character. Knowing the answer to a handful will usually get you going. And they can change as you develop the character. The point is that in trying to answer the questions, you’ll learn things about the individuals you create, they will gain depth and you will see them better, understand them as people. (If you have trouble coming up with answers, do real life studies of people you know. You can even ask them the questions and see how they answer.) Also you can add more questions if you think of some good ones that might help.
The last thing you might need to do, is a brief history. 
You thought it might be fun if your character built ships as a hobby. Now the question is how did this develop? Did he learn this trade from his father? Oh—but no, you answered “orphan” to the parent’s question. So now you need to build a logical solution to this aspect of the character’s life. Working out that solution may provide important backstory that can be used in the novel. 
Also consider going on line and doing an image search for pictures of people you think might look like your character. Copy and paste it into a file that you can reference. Sometimes seeing a face will give you ideas about them. 
Hope this helps,

One of these things is not like the other...

One of the nice things about new book releases is the bump that comes from having something new and shinny out. As most here already know, I write books for myself, and I'm always amazed to discover there are a few other people who seem to like the kind of books I do.  Anyway, I was sitting at my desk typing away on some edits for book #6 of Legends of the First Empire when Robin (my wife) sent me the picture below with the email subject of "Nice Company to be in."


Hmmm....Terry Brooks, Neil Gaiman, Michael J. Sullivan. Robert Jordan, and Stephen King. I appreciate my wife thinks it's company that I should be in, but the only thing I could think of is the old Sesame Street song: "One of these things is not like the others...one of these things just doesn't belong." Don't get me wrong, I'm really, really pleased with my writing and my career.  But I consider the proximity to that group of authors as a momentary alignment of planets that lasts but an instant and won't be seen again for another 10,000 years. Still, it did bring a smile to my face before I turned back to the keyboard and started tapping away again.

Did you know that today, July 1st is INDIE PRIDE DAY? Wel...

Did you know that today, July 1st is INDIE PRIDE DAY? Well, now you do!
On July 1st 2016, Indie Authors from around the world will be posting to  social media pictures of the authors holding up their books with the hashtags #IndiePrideDay and #IndieBooksBeSeen. Last year thousands participated, and the Indie Pride Day trended for three days on Twitter; generating over 25,000 tweets. 
As most know, I'm a big indie supporter and have a number of titles that are self-publishes as well. To give a helping hand I plan on buying 10 indie books and then posting reviews of the ones I enjoyed. My preference is not surprisingly fantasy so if you are an indie author and have a book for sale, leave a one paragraph introduction in the comments and I might pick yours.
I should also mention that some authors will also be offering book discounts and giveaways – so keep an eye out for the Indie Pride hashtags; you might just end up with a new book to add to your shelf.  
Also, if you know an indie author, tell them to participate as well. Hoping that I'll find some great new books and that some new authors will get a needed spotlight.

Age of Myth: Release Day + 2

Well, it's two days past the release of Age of Myth and things have really gone well so far.  Fingers crossed for continued success.



Really pleased to see the book caught the attention of some of the biggest industry sites. For instance:
Audible featured Age of Myth on the front page of their websiteBarnes and Noble's Sci-fi and Fantasy blog featured Age of Myth in it's weekly releases post.And Goodreads featured Age of Myth in in their 21 Hottest Books of the Summer
Along with these nice pieces to help spread the word came some pretty incredible quotes:
"A young man grapples with his destiny as a God Killer in this spellbinding tale of power and rebellion, the first in a new epic fantasy series." -- Goodreads 21 Hottest Summer Reads
"Sullivan brings his masterful world-building and agile imagination to bear on a host of interesting characters and a story that feels new and vibrant." -- B&N.com Sci-fi & Fantasy Blog


Initial sales have been strong. So strong, in fact that I moved up substantially on Amazon's Most Popular Fantasy Author List. I usually hang out around 50 - 100. And I was in the 8 - 10 range post release.

Things have been so busy that I forgot to mention some other things that were going on.  So here they are.
I taught a course for Writer's Digest on the various paths for publishing. This was part of a 2-day online course (which is now over), but it was recorded and will be offered for sale in the near future. I did a guest post for Insecure Writer's Support GroupI participated in a Book Launch Party for Gail Z. Martin's new book, The Shattered PathI did an AMA on Reddit's Fantasy Sub
Also, Robin tried to arrange a Book Launch Party for Age of Myth at our old stand-by One More Page Books. Unfortunately we couldn't get the timing to work out.  When we were available the books weren't, and now that the books ready we're booked.  Oh well, we'll see what we can do maybe later on in the year.  That said, for people who pre-ordered the books, Robin got all the single orders packaged and sent out. Today she'll be finishing up the packages for those that ordered 2 - 3 books. Originally, the plan was to use a fulfillment center to process these orders, but the volume level wasn't high enough for them to take the project on. So once again Robin has the house torn apart with bubble wrap, boxes, and packing tape. It's not like we are complaining, buying books direct is the best way to provide the most amount of money into the author's pockets, so we are grateful for those people who do buy direct.

Up Next:  What's up Next (now that Age of Myth is released).

Age of Myth: And So it Begins

Age of Myth is about a fairly likable fellow named, Raithe of Dureya, who is having a bad day. Being destitute, his father has this crazy notion of leaving their miserable homeland and migrating to the lush, territory across the river. The land there is owned by the gods and humans are forbidden from its banks. No one knows why, but everyone knows that disobeying gods is a bad idea, but desperation is the mother of most things crazy, and with the death of everyone else in their family, Raithe and his father have little else to stop them.

The water in the river is near freezing, the current strong, and Raithe nearly drowns on the crossing, but his father was right, the land is amazing—fertile and beautiful. And empty. The two explore this new world for days discovering a wondrous landscape and falling in love with a patch of land where they intend to build a new home for themselves. Raithe’s father has grand dreams of constructing a village, rich in food and wood and clean water. Then he’ll send Raithe back to their homeland to find a wife—maybe two—and together they will build a new future for their family away from the wars and the brittle grass and endless dust of Dureya.

They hunt deer for food, and bring one down with ease. Everything in this new land is easy. Then as Raithe’s father is gutting the stag, Raithe notices they aren’t alone.

The gods have found them.

It’s at this point that the novel begins.

Age of Myth is the first book in the Legends of the First Empire series, and it was released yesterday, Tuesday June 28th. In many ways, this series is an origin story for the world of Elan. It tells the epic story of how my world came to be, and the simple story of a handful of unassuming people who changed everything.

It’s the story of a man who kills what is supposed to be an immortal god. As a result…

It's the story of a woman who isn’t a warrior who must now go to war to save her people. As a result…

It's the story of a girl who insists the only way to win the war is to talk to a tree. As a result…

It's the story of all the little people who make history, but who are forgotten by it.

Age of Myth is a small story that will launch an epic tale that will lay the foundations for a world where in three thousand years two thieves will uncover much of what was lost, but so many more revelations remain to be discovered.

I invite you to start your journey today, with Age of Myth, and learn what you only thought you knew.

Age of Myth: Scene Stealing Characters Stage a Plot Coup

Book outlines are, in effect, plans. What do we all know about plans, whether they be of the battle preparations or the best laid sort? For the stories of plots, they usually don't survive and often go into the delete bin. Such was the case with Age of Myth. 

I had my outline and my characters. I was building my story nicely, but trouble was brewing in the most unlikely of places—the tertiary character district. I can’t help it. Whenever I create any character, I create a person. Doesn’t matter if they have only a bit part, I make a whole individual. I can take greater chances with the third tier cast as the story doesn’t rest on them. In the case of Age of Myth I kept making characters and those characters were unfortunately—great. I discovered I liked them a whole lot more than the main characters. They were far more interesting, more colorful, more tragic, and more emotionaly moving. That’s when a radical idea hit me.

Why not make them the main characters?

This was silly. These assortment of misfit toys from the reject pile can’t possibly carry a novel about heroes the likes of Achilles and Hercules…can they?

So many fantasy novels are about privileged princes or princesses, or skilled warriors, or powerful wizards doing grand things. How many are about average people—no—how many are about less than average people making a real difference and doing something truly extraordinary? Frodo and Sam come to mind. Dorothy of Kansas does, too. I liked the comparisons and set out to explore the possibility of doing something that surprised me, that I hadn’t been expecting. The more I thought about it, the more it excited me.

How much of history was created by people too small to be remembered by historians? Did the big names really do the things they are lauded for, or was it the efforts of a dozen quiet folk who might not be respectable enough to carry such a lofty mantle as "hero"?

The idea just kept picking up speed.

Wasn’t a huge part of why I liked Lord of the Rings because they seemed like ordinary people who succeeded at achieving amazing things?

What if the fate of mankind did not depend on the bravery of a muscular man with a broadsword and a gritty past. What if everyone owed their future to a cripple, an emotional shut-in, a self-centered bitch, and a little girl who likes stories a bit too much? Wouldn’t that be way more interesting? How could such a thing happen?

This idea is where Legends of the First Empire really started.

I didn’t change what I had written prior to this discovery. I didn’t want to. I like that the idea might creep up unseen on the reader the same way as it had with me. I wanted the reader to discover this amazing shift from the expected to the—are you kidding me? No way!

As a result, just like in my Riyria series (where I began with a slow build and familiar tropes only to later twisted them), I did it again. Didn’t mean to. Just happened.

I’m glad it did.

Tomorrow: Age of Myth, And So it Begins

Age of Myth: All the Stuff I Did Wrong

I work alone.

"I don’t play well with others," is how I'm most apt to put it. I tried to collaborate in my youth, and the result was frustration followed by my rewriting everything done by others. This did little to assuage their sense of worth, our friendship, and led to my abandoning the project altogether. I’m not necessarily a control freak, I merely want things done exactly how I want them.

Recently, I turned down the chance to write a book series in collaboration with a film director, because, for me, "Hell" would be writing in another person’s universe where I am subject to their rules. Luckily this tendency is limited to my writing—that’s my story anyway. This said, you can perhaps understand why my wife, and Alpha Reader, almost never gets to see anything I’m working on until the work is finished. Sometimes I will discuss a work with her, but only in specific details that without any reference points, must sound like gibberish. Most of these times my ramblings end up scaring her into thinking I’ve lost my mind.

 “Okay so my problem is that in order to escape the Agave, they need to utilize a source of power, but all they have is stone, so the solution here is water—do you see? Does that make sense to you?”

Anyway, I must have thought that something was wrong with Age of Myth because after writing  the first chapter I let her read the first scene.

She hated it.

 When Robin first finished reading the Riyria Revelations she half-jokingly insinuated that I did not actually write it because it was too good. This time was similar.

 “Who wrote this?” she asked, with a sneer as if something had just died in her mouth.

 “It’s not that bad,” I countered.

 She stared at me with a look usually seen on the faces of rookie first responders.

 “What’s wrong with it?”

 “It’s like you didn’t write it. This isn’t a Michael J. Sullivan book.”

 She went on to mention many things, but it didn’t matter as that one sentence explained everything. I had known something was off, and now I knew what that was. Good suggestions are like that. They don’t need to come from an experienced, talented editor—although Robin is most certainly both of those—anyone who can come close to communicating what’s wrong with a piece will generate that explosion of OMG! Of course! They see the thing you’re blind to. They point it out and boom, there it is—“Where’d all these baseball players come from, Ray?”

What she showed me was that I was writing in a different voice, a different style—most importantly, the wrong style.

This new series is set 3000 years before the events that take place in the age of Riyria. If Royce and Hadrian lived in a time roughly equivalent to say the High Middle Ages and if I go back 3000 years (if you want to think of it in Earth terms) the book's setting is in the intermediate to late Bronze Age in the Near Easter timeline, or the First Phase Nordic, or middle of the British Bronze Age. Generally, for those weened on the history of Western Civilizations that would be the age of legends, the era of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Trojan War...a time before written history when Gods took active roles in the course of human events and when larger-than-life heroes such as Achilles and Hercules roamed. The Bronze Age was also a time when—in the area of northern Europe—mankind was still very much in its infancy. Near Eastern cultures were reasonably advanced (at least by comparison), while in Briton or Ireland, people dwelt in small communities of roundhouses of thatch and daub.

This, then, was the setting, and I wanted to convey that shift in time between Riyria and Myth in more than mere limitations. I wanted the books to sound different in their prose. As a result, I adopted a more classic tone. My prose and dialog was intentionally formal, more high-minded, more dramatic. My presentation was more ladened with exposition. In short, my writing reflected the style generally found in most fantasy novels, and Robin was right—it wasn’t me.

When I wrote Riyria, one of my goals was to write in a readable form. Beowulf and other ancient ballads were written in a lofty style. In the 1800s George McDonald trimmed that style to reflect the taste of a more contemporary audience while writing the same sort of tale. Tolkien did the same to MacDonald. He wrote in the same heroic-fantasy vein, but once again discarded much of the prose style, tossing the gothic sound for a more modern, easier to digest approach. I wanted to do the same. My aim was to bring fantasy out of the lofty rhetoric were authors attempt to guess at what they think ancient people sound like, and instead translate that into modern English. Some authors want to transport readers to a strange and foreign place—I want to send you somewhere that feels like home. “We shall march at first light!” becomes, “We’ll leave first thing tomorrow.” Because that sounds far more believable to the modern ear, and this translates into easier reading, and easier reading allows readers to lose themselves far more readily in the text.

When Riyria was released, I received some pushback on this technique from fantasy traditionalists, but on the whole most readers appreciated the style. Many were not even aware why, only that the way I wrote was far more enjoyable. They found my characters to be so life-like, and I suspect that is largely due to my use of contemporary language. I could make jokes and use word plays that made sense. However, as I began writing Age of Myth I tossed that concept aside and wrote in a more lofty, more archaic style. I was channeling my inner Homer, and inventing terms for well-known things. Kings would be called “Fane” and tiny fortified cities would be called “Dahls” which I altered from the ancient term of “Tell” used for ancient hill forts. (I liked Dahl because Dahlgren is a place already in the Riyria stories).  I was going back on my self-pledge not to let the prose get between the reader and the story.

Robin hated it.

 I hated it too.

So I started over.

Tossing aside all the heavy prose, I felt free once more to write a gripping tale. Characters came to life, and the story flowed like water too long damed. And just when I thought this first book was going to pour out as smooth as pudding, the characters staged a revolution. In one afternoon the whole book changed, and went from what I had planned to "are you kidding me?" That’s…that’s…hmm…okay, wait, that could work. Hmm, that’s pretty freaking awesome. Let’s do that!

 Tomorrow: Scene Stealing Characters Stage a Plot Coup.

Age of Myth and the new series

Age of Myth is being released Tuesday. It’s my eleventh published novel. I still don’t have a midnight release party, not sure who to call about that.
This will be my first full-blown series since Royce and Hadrian were asked to steal a sword and my hardcover debut. As a result, I thought I ought to take a little time and explain a bit about the book, what it’s like, how I came to write it, and how the whole thing went off the rails just before it took off.

With the publication of Heir of Novron, which completed my Riyria Revelations series back in 2012, I didn't anticipate writing another fantasy novel, much less more Royce and Hadrian books. I never set out to be a “fantasy author,” that’s just how things turned out. Can’t complain. The coin derived from the jobs Royce and Hadrian performed have made my life quite comfortable.

My wife, and numerous readers, lobbied successfully for another R&H book and got two in the form of the Chronicles prequels. Already having the characters, the setting, and much of the story done, made that choice an easy one. Also, a critic once argued that it was impossible that two such diverse people as Royce and Hadrian could ever have come together as a team—the premise of Revelations was flawed because the critic couldn't imagine a way in which such a thing could happen. Couldn’t let that slide. There were other questions too, I decided to answer them in the Chronicles.

After that, I finally got the chance to do something different.

I wrote a science fiction novel entitled, Hollow World. While HW was a financial success, garnered some rave reviews, and has even been taught in a couple of colleges, it hasn’t seen the same popularity as the Riyria works. So when the question of what I would do next came up I settled on a middle ground—something old and something new.

When I conceived the world of the Riyria Revelations, I knew it had several distinct parts: the ancient world of the First Empire, the Empire Years that ends in the Fall of Percepliquis, the Intervening Years where the heir and his guardian were hiding (which includes the Rise of Glenmorgan), and finally the completion of the Uli Vermar as seen in the Riyria Revelations. Each of these eras are filled with great stories, and I always played with the idea of writing something along the lines of Issac Asimov’s work where he joins his stories across millenniums.  I loved the way Asimov linked everything so that as a reader you could see the full development, reminisce about how it once was, and see how those seeds blossomed into what everything became. Even when I was started to write The Crown Conspiracy, and the idea of getting published or having anyone at all read my stories was a pipe dream, I arrogantly imagined that I might write the whole history of the world, or at least the big three eras: The First Empire, the Fall of the Empire, and Revelations (or the Return of the Empire.)

That’s why when it came time to pick my next project, I decided to write the First Empire.

Walking to lunch with my wife I explained my vague idea for the books: “It will be about this guy, the field commander of an elite platoon in a foreign country, who starts to go native. He’ll be like Robin Hood with this band of specialized men. Maybe it will be a love triangle between this commander—who’s like a Roman general in Britannia (maybe I’ll call him Trajan), and this native popular resistance leader who is like the Celtic Queen Boudica, and a native hero—think William Wallace. Each needs the others, but hate them at the same time and manipulate and maneuver to get what they want.”

I thought this was a nifty idea.

I also thought I would call the book Rhune, after what most humans in that area were called at the time. In case you’re wondering if I just gave away the plot of Age of Myth—nope. That was where I started. That’s not where I ended up—not by a long shot.

Some authors are discovery writers, meaning that they just start writing and see where the story goes. I used to do that too, but learned that it was impossible to write a perfect book making it up as I went. Invariably I would discover things on the way that made previous work obsolete or useless, forcing me to re-write. Hemingway is attributed to having said, “All writing is rewriting,” but there are a lot of quotes like this by famous authors. I once told a fellow author that I was editing my book, and she looked at me funny. “My editor edits; I rewrite.” This made me self-conscious because only once have I ever rewritten a novel, and as it turned out I trashed it as unacceptable. Rewriting an awful idea still makes for an awful book.

The concept of writing a whole novel, then tossing it aside and writing it all over again, then doing it a third and fourth time in an effort to “find” the story, strikes me as about as intelligent as building a house not merely without plans, but without any idea of what sort of house it should be. Seems to me that deciding a few things on paper first would save years, money, and resources.

Some say that if they know where the story is going they lose interest in writing it—yet I don’t see how that helps if as a result they are forced to rewrite. So when I decided I wanted to write for a living, I figured it was best not to waste so much time re-writing. Instead, I thought ahead and worked the big things out. Some people call this outlining, but it is never anything as grand as that sounds. Some people outline so much that they can write out of order. I find that bizarre too, as a lot of writing is done by feel, and too much outlining will often contrive a plot and result in wooden characters who rather than act like people, follow the outline.

What I do—I realize now—is rewriting, just not on paper. I rewrite in my head.

I run the story through my mind in storyboard form—picturing the key points, the highlights. I find problems. I can then erase what was and replace it with what should be in an instant. Mentally I write and rewrite the plot points, characters, settings, and even some dialog. When I hit issues, or dead ends, or think of something better, it is an easy thing to alter the story. People, places, and things come into existence and wink out just as quickly.

This is what I did with Age of Myth—and in the process the story and characters changed—a lot.

Characters came and went. Scenes were fleshed out, altered, rebuilt, and finally tossed. I most likely rewrote Myth a dozen different ways before I ever put pen to paper. Even so, even after all that I still didn’t have it right.

Tomorrow: All the Stuff I Did Wrong