D.B. Jackson's Blog, page 66

Sneak Peak at the THIEFTAKER T-Shirt!

Here it is, all!  The official THIEFTAKER t-shirt!  (Pay no attention to the red line down that middle.  That’s a graphic tool used to center the image on the shirt — the actual t-shirts won’t have it.)  In case the image isn’t clear enough on your browser, the front reads:  “Boston Thieftakers Guild” and then at the bottom “Est. 1765,” which happens to be the year in which the first Thieftaker book takes place.  On the back it says “THIEFTAKER, by D.B. Jackson  www.DBJackson-Author.com.”

The design was done by a friend of mine.  I wanted something that would look just like one of the old-time guild insignias — authentic, hand-drawn, but also official enough to be convincing — and he really came through for me.

I don’t know yet what I will be selling them for — that will depend on what my final cost per shirt comes out to.  I would think that for regular sizes the absolute maximum price will be $15 (2x and 3x sizes will be $2.00 more than the base price); I am hoping that I can go lower than that.  My goal is to get people wearing them.

So, do you like the design?  Who wants one?

Defining Success, Or Not

Loaded title, right?  But I’m in one of those moods — contemplative, questioning the meaning of everything, wondering where I fit into the cosmos, etc.  Well, maybe not that last, but you get my drift.

Thieftaker comes out in forty-eight days, and if you think I’m not counting the hours, too, you’re wrong.  I want it to be huge; every author wants every one of his or her books to be huge.  Nothing new there.

But what does that mean, and what sort of “success” will satisfy me?  Bestseller?  Yeah, that would be great.  Just making it onto one or another of the lists (New York Times, USA Today, Locus — whatever) would be terrific.  And yes, the higher on the list, the better.  I would love for the book to win an award — I dream of someday receiving a World Fantasy Award or a Hugo or a Nebula.  But these are dreams.  Pipe dreams, some might say.  If the book doesn’t make a bestseller list and doesn’t get a major award, does that mean it’s a failure?

Of course not. But again, that brings me back to the question:  What is success?  Good sales?  Yeah, sure.  Whatever that means.  Good enough that the series continues for a third and fourth and fifth book.  Yes, that would be great.  Nice reviews, too.  It would be very satisfying if Publisher’s Weekly and Locus and Library Journal and (dare I hope it) Kirkus said positive things about the book.

But now it feels like I’m aiming too low.  Good sales vs. bestseller; nice reviews vs. award-winner.  There has to be some comfortable middle ground, some level of achievement that feels ambitious without feeling pie-in-the-sky.  I just don’t know where that middle ground lies.  I’m searching for it, but it’s not obvious yet.

I guess this post is a bit aimless; sorry for that.  Sometimes I try to provide answers and advice in a post.  At other times, like today, I can only raise questions and hope that with time the answers will become apparent.

Music From My Kids

I used to tell my daughters that no good music had been produced since sometime in the late 1970s.  I didn’t really believe it, but they were younger then, and at the time they were listening to some truly horrid stuff.  I won’t name names, but really you don’t have to work to hard to think of musical acts that 12 and 8 year-old girls would like and that their Dad would hate.

Well, they have set out to prove me wrong ever since, and I am ready to concede the point.  There is some truly terrific music being put out these days, and my daughters have introduced me to a ton of it.  My favorites?  Well, I really, really like the John Butler Trio — funky rock with some incredible guitar work.  But I have also enjoyed Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes, Avett Brothers, Sublime, Jeff Buckley, Ezra Koenig, Jack Johnson, Gotye (and Walk off the Earth), and a bunch of other stuff that I’m still learning to recognize.

I’m not looking for more recommendations (though feel free to make some if you’d like); I have more new music than I can get through in the next several months.  But I have to admit that I love learning about new music from my kids.  It’s fun to hear what they like, and to find out that their tastes are developing, maturing, becoming both more sophisticated and more reflective of their personalities.  It’s one of those aspects of parenting that I had never really considered and that has been a wonderful surprise.

Gay Marriage and the Founding Fathers

Earlier today I was listening to NPR, which was airing a discussion of gay marriage and President Obama’s announcement yesterday that he now supports the rights of gay and lesbian Americans to marry. During the discussion, a listener called in to say that he thought that the Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves in reaction to the President’s interview.

And my reaction was “Well, good.”

I have a doctorate in U.S. History, and I honestly believe that it is impossible to study the creation of our system of government without being struck by the brilliance and foresight of the men who crafted the U.S. Constitution.  But I have always believed that we can respect their accomplishment without fetishizing it and them.  These were flawed men who were limited not only by the blinders worn by all people of their time with respect to gender, religion, race, and yes, sex, but also by their own all-too-human failings.  They were guilty of repeated and abject hypocrisy: Even as they championed liberty and the rights of men, they codified slavery, literally fractionalizing the humanity of those living in servitude. They ignored the rights of women entirely.

And some think they only started spinning in their graves yesterday?  Really?  Isn’t far more likely that their gyroscopic gymnastics began long ago?  Frankly, I’m not even sure I could put a date on when the spinning started.  1861 comes to mind — Secession would have set them in motion, don’t you think?  How about 1912, when the Constitution was amended to allow the direct election of U.S. Senators by what the Founders would have called “the rabble?”  (Originally, Senators were elected by the State Legislatures.)  How about 1920, when women were given the right to vote?  Or 2008, when we elected an African-American man to the White House?

What President Obama said yesterday — what he should have said months or even years ago — might have added a couple of RPM to their rotational speed, but the Founders were already going round and round.  Trust me on this.

And what’s more, that’s just what they expected.  Because despite their flaws, or perhaps because of them, these foresighted men created a form of government that could adapt and adjust and grow as evolving values and changing circumstances dictated.  Therein lies the brilliance of their work as well as the humanity of their legacy.  No, they could not have envisioned a day when a sitting U.S. President — especially one in the early days of what promises to be a close and contentious election — would have the courage to say that he supports the right of all people to marry, regardless of their sexual orientation.  But they did envision a time when their own assumptions and prejudices would be hopelessly outdated.

And so rather than clinging to their original words as if they were sacrosanct, we should embrace their clear intent and accept that progress is inevitable, that change is good, and that we are blessed to live under a governing system that allows for both.

Maurice Sendak

I’m sure that this will not be the only tribute to Maurice Sendak that you read today and in the days to come.  That’s okay.  Sendak’s books reached so many of us, and meant so much to all who read them — he deserves to be praised and eulogized by all he touched with his brilliant work.

My daughters grew up with Sendak’s Nutshell Library, which consisted of Alligators All Around (An Alphabet), Chicken Soup With Rice (A Book of Months), One Was Johnny (A Counting Book), and Pierre (A Cautionary Tale).  Both girls had my wife and me read them over and over, and when they began to read themselves, they would take all four books onto a couch or chair and read to themselves, delighting in Sendak’s rhymes and wonderful illustrations.

For me, and for others in my generation, Sendak is best known and utterly beloved for Where the Wild Things Are.  I LOVED that book.  I remember trying to take it out from my elementary school library, and having to wait for it for weeks at a time, because others wanted it too.  I would get it, read it, return it, and get my name back on the waiting list so that I could take it home again.

It seems to me that for today’s children, Where the Wild Things Are does not occupy the same unique place in the pantheon of kid’s literature.  It is one of many children’s books with fanciful, slightly dark imagery.  It is lovely to look at, and has a marvelous cadence that is both musical and poetic without being overbearing in either sense.  But the book does not stand out today as it did when I was a child some forty-plus years ago.

Back then, there was nothing else like it.  Nothing at all.  This was a book about a child’s anger, about his disobedience, about the trouble he gets in for NOT being a perfect angel.  And, of course, it is about his magical voyage to a land where he can dance among monsters, and act out in ways that normal society just would not allow.  Reading the book was liberating; it allowed me to see that my own moments of anger and disobedience and wild behavior were normal.  And it showed me that imagining places that were untamed and uncivilized was normal, too.

When I am asked about the books that influenced me, that set me on the path to becoming a professional fantasy author, I usually site the work of Tolkien and Donaldson and Guy Gavriel Kay.  Today it occurs to me that it all began with Sendak.  I had read (or been read) fairy tales; we all had.  But it was Where the Wild Things Are that introduced me to the notion of alternate world fantasy.  Maybe that was because I found the book on my own in my school library. Maybe it was because the book was such a revelation.  Maybe it was because I was a little boy, and Max’s adventure spoke to me as no other book every had.

Whatever the reason, on this day, as the world mourns the death of Maurice Sendak, I find myself wishing I had found a way to thank him while he was still alive.  The gift he gave me with his illustrations, his words, his stunning imagination, has lasted a lifetime.

Flash Writing Tips: Three Rules I Follow When Creating Magic

This post is about creating magic.  Literally.  More to the point, it’s about creating a viable magic system for your fantasy story or novel.  A couple of months back I wrote about worldbuilding and might have alluded briefly to magic systems.  But coming up with a magic system is not nearly as easy as it looks.

Obviously, every system of magic is going to be different — such things tend to be as individual and idiosyncratic as the authors who imagine them.  I think it’s also self-evident that magic is (and ought to be) cool.  It is the element of fantasy that takes our collective breath away, that makes us go “Wow!  I want to live in this world!!” But as with all things, it should not be overused, and it should not completely take over your world or your story.  To this end, I like to keep three general rules in mind as I create a magic system.

First, I believe that a magic system, like a law of nature, has to have rules.  It should work consistently across space and time.  Conjurers or mages or wizards (whatever you want to call them) will certainly have varying degrees of skill.  In some magic systems (including those I have created under my other writing name, David B. Coe) different mages possess different forms of magic:  some might be able to heal, some might conjure fire, some might see the future or read the thoughts of others.  But while the “flavors” of magic might vary, and the degree of skill might change as a person masters his or her craft, the rules of the magic system ought to stay the same.  If your characters can’t conjure on Sundays on page one of your book, they should still not be able to conjure on Sundays on page 475, even if you as the author REALLY need them to be able to at that point.  Convenience is NOT an excuse for bending established rules.

Now, there is a bit of a caveat in this, a way out for your characters and for you as the writer.  I have had characters learn of aspects of their craft that they hadn’t known before, and as long as these new skills do not violate any rules of your magic system, I believe that is perfectly legitimate.  But generally speaking, establish rules and stick with them.

Second, I also believe that magic should carry a cost.  The cost doesn’t have to be huge (although it certainly can be) but it should be at least somewhat significant.  What do I mean?  Well, maybe a spell requires the sacrifice of a life, human or other. That I would consider a fairly steep cost.  Maybe a spell requires the spilling of blood.  Maybe the casting of spells leaves your mage weakened and fatigued.  Maybe your system requires that a mage use a familiar (human or other) in whom all spells are sourced.  The point is, there should be some price paid for the magic that is used.  Why?  Because it makes your magic more interesting.  Maybe it darkens the magic a bit.  Certainly it makes it so that your mages can’t cast a spell whenever they want to, and that can be a very handy plot device.  As an example, conjuring in the Thieftaker books and stories requires some source for the power expended.  That source can be as easy to find as water or air for simple illusion spells, or it can be as dear as blood or even a life for more powerful conjurings. That’s one cost.  The other potential cost of conjuring in the Thieftaker “universe” is that in 18th century Massachusetts, people still feared witchcraft.  Cast at the wrong time, in front of the wrong person, a spell can get my main character, Ethan Kaille, hanged as a witch.

Third, I believe that magic should have limits.  This is related to the second rule.  Certainly the cost of magic constitutes a limit on its use.  But I like to carry this further.  I feel that unlimited magic would quickly take over any world in which it exists — and it may be that you want that for your book or series.  That’s fine. Then ignore this rule.  I would urge you, though, to give some thought to that decision.  Unlimited power will very quickly make for a fairly boring storyline.  Yes, I suppose a battle between two mages of unlimited power could be interesting.  Once.  But then what?  By limiting the scope of what magic can do, we force our characters to rely not just on their powers, but also on their wits, their physical abilities, maybe even their non-magical friends.  And that will make for a far, far more interesting set of characters and narratives.

In short, magic, in my view, is a tool.  It is a tool for our characters, and it is a tool for us as we write.  It can do certain things very well, but it can’t be the answer to all problems, the fix for all narrative issues.  As cool as magic can be, it is not the only trick in an author’s bag.  Sometimes a character who is smart in the absence of magic, is even more compelling that a character who can do anything and everything with a spell.

Think about it.  And keep writing!

Off to the Races With a New Story Idea

Sometimes inspiration for a story will come at the oddest times from the oddest places.  A case in point:

I was just thumbing through a book on the history of Boston, called When In Boston: A Time Line and Almanac (by Jim Vrabel, Northeastern University Press, 2004).  As the subtitle implies, the book basically gives a year-by-year account of significant political, cultural, and social events in the history of the city from the earliest days of exploration (there is an entry for 1000 that speculates about Leif Ericson’s possible exploration of the waters in and around present-day Boston) to the pinnacle of Boston pride:  the Red Sox World Series victory in 2004.

The entry that caught my eye and fired my imagination was for 1765, the year in which the first Thieftaker novel is set.  There is no precise date attached to the event, but it is listed under the heading “Sports and Recreation.”  It reads simply:  “Horse races are first held on the Boston Neck.”

That’s all.  But as soon as I read it, I started imagining a short story in which Ethan Kaille, my lead character, attends one of these early horse races and so is there when a more wealthy attendee is robbed, perhaps even murdered.  And suddenly, as the expression goes, I am off to the races.  Plot points, characters, visual details — all are swirling through my head.  It’s not a matter of if I will write the story, but rather how soon, and how quickly.

Now I will admit that I have recently finished one Thieftaker short and so have been looking for my next story idea.  But this one caught me completely by surprise.  And often, those stories are the most fun to write.

THIEFTAKER Giveaway on Goodreads!

Tor Books, the publisher of Thieftaker, book I of the Thieftaker Chronicles, is doing a Thieftaker book giveaway on Goodreads!  Ten copies of the book are up for grabs!  But in order to have a chance, you have to register.  Go here. And good luck!!

Flash Writing Tip: Research — How Much Is Enough?

Researching the Thieftaker books and stories has been a great deal of fun.  Lots of work, yes, but incredibly interesting and gratifying.  And weaving that research into the text of the books has been fun, too.  There is something incredibly gratifying about sliding a key historical detail into a scene in a way that makes that moment in the narrative come alive and ring true.

But as with all things, research and the use of researched details has to be done in moderation.  Too much research and the writing never gets finished; too many details and the narrative gets lost in an avalanche of data dumps.  So how do we decide how much is enough?  How do we keep from overdoing it?

When it comes to the actual research I do before writing a book, I like to limit myself by coming up with a series of questions that I need to answer.  That list of questions allows me to limit my search for information, and it gives me a finite guideline for the preparatory work I have to ahead of time.  Now, it is absolutely true that more often than not, researching one question will lead me to five more questions I had not anticipated.  Research doesn’t proceed in a linear fashion.  Rather it blossoms, like secondary fireworks blooming after the primary explosion.  But still, if I have that initial list of questions, and if I am careful to write down the secondary questions as they occur to me, eventually I will come to a point where I have information on pretty much everything I wanted to know for the purposes of the book.  After that, it’s a matter of extracting myself from an inherently addicting process and simply telling myself “Enough!  It’s time to write.”

Once I have turned to writing my book, I also have to resist the urge to share with my readers every interesting tidbit I’ve found.  The fact is, even taking care to place boundaries around my research, I still wind up finding lots and lots of superfluous stuff.  There is no shortage of interesting stuff out there about pre-Revolutionary Boston.  But not all of it is essential to my story, my character work, or even my worldbuilding.  And so I try to apply a simple test to the information I provide to my readers:  Do they have to know it?

If a certain historical detail is central to the story then certainly I include it.  If it’s not essential, but it adds a good deal of ambiance without cluttering up my narrative, then usually I will add that, too.  If it’s really cool, but it has little or no bearing on my story, then I will usually cut it.  Well, I might include it, but it has to be REALLY cool, and it can’t detract in any way from the story I’m trying to tell.  If it’s just cool, but is in other ways not relevant, then it doesn’t make it into the book.

The corollary to the “Do they have to know it?” test is the “Do they have to know it NOW?” test.  Sometimes a detail might be crucial to the story, but it might not come to bear on the narrative for another hundred pages.  If that’s the case, then in the interests of flow and clarity, I don’t include it until it’s time has come.

Clearly, every book is different, every detail is different, every author is different.  My tests work for me, as do the criteria I use to answer those questions.  You might approach these issues differently and you might use or discard details that I would use in another way. That’s fine.  The key is this:  You need to know a lot more about your setting, your characters, your background material than your readers do.  Just because you don’t use a detail that doesn’t mean that you’ve wasted your time finding it.  Sometimes just understanding the history (or science, or craft, or whatever else you might research) is enough to add richness and depth to your story.  The sheer weight of your knowledge of certain things can be conveyed without specific details, but rather through the authority and confidence with which you write about them.  I didn’t include in Thieftaker anywhere NEAR all that I learned about 1760s Boston.  But I know the terrain well enough that I was able to convey contour and feel without getting bogged down in detail.  And ironically doing MORE research enables you to encumber your narrative with LESS superfluous detail.

So do the research you need to do; give the details that enhance your story.  But don’t overdo it.

And, as always, keep writing.

THIEFTAKER: 10 Weeks and Counting!

THIEFTAKER, by D.B. Jackson, book I of the Thieftaker Chronicles (Jacket Art by Chris McGrath)

The official release date for THIEFTAKER, book I of the Thieftaker Chronicles, is exactly ten weeks from today.  That may seem a long way off to you, but given that I’ve been counting down for well over a year, it feels to me like it’s getting very close.  So, at ten weeks out, how am I preparing?

Well, I have two short stories that are set in the Thieftaker universe to tell you about.  One of them, “A Memory of Freedom,” is already out and can be found at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.  The second story, “A Spell of Vengeance,” is not yet out, but will soon be appearing at Tor.Com.  Look for it in June.

I am also starting to piece together a virtual tour AND an actual signing tour for the weeks just around Thieftaker‘s July 3rd release.  The virtual tour will consist of guest blogging appearances and interviews online.  The actual tour will include book signings in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.  Dates and locations for both tours will be posted on the D.B. Jackson web site as the release date draws nearer.

Finally, I am having promotional materials made up for the big event.  I already have post cards made and available, and if you are interested in receiving one by mail, use the email link at the D.B. Jackson site to send me your snail mail address.  I will sign the card and send it out to you.  All I ask in return is that you tell people about the book!  In addition to the post cards, I am also having T-Shirts made.  I’ll post more information on these when I have a better idea of when they will be available.  But they are going to be gray heather; they will have the (newly created) insignia of Boston’s Thieftaker Guild (established 1765) printed on the front, and the book title and D.B. Jackson URL printed on the back.

So there we are.  Ten weeks out.  Lots happening.  And I’m so excited I can barely sleep at night.