Martin Hengst's Blog, page 6

When Fantasy Becomes Reality

I’m an author at heart, and being an author means that, more often than not, I process my thoughts and feelings best when they’re put on the page. This post has nothing to do with my characters, my books, my plots, or my ideas. It has nothing to do with the world of Solendrea or the half dozen other worlds of my imagination. It is merely my ruminations on current events, and as such, I’ll forgive you if you choose to sit this post out. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Being a writer is, in large part, being a student of the human condition. As authors, we lift up the rocks and look in the dank and murky places for the things that make other people squirm. We confront the monster in the dark, tame him, and make him do our unruly bidding and in so doing, we better understand both the beast and ourselves.

What then becomes of us when we have to confront the monster in the dark not within the confines of the blank white page, but in living, breathing reality? That real monster has come in the form of a ruthless disease that has killed thousands and has the potential to indiscriminately kill thousands more. Ebola, once a shapeless threat by virtue of distance, is becoming a dark shadow that dogs the footsteps of the wary, the suspicious, and the paranoid.

Greater writers than I have explored the depths of the end of the world. In particular, Stephen King’s The Stand sticks out because of the similarities in the delivery vehicle of our doom. However, there are others, no less terrifying in their own right. We like stories about the end of the world, because we like to be scared, and because it felt far enough removed that it couldn’t happen for real. So we visit our post-apocalyptic wastelands in movies and television. We watch as actors skirt death and destruction at every turn and thrill to their survival for another week, another movie, another book.

It is important for all of us to remember, though, that the entertainment is worlds apart from the reality. Thousands of people are struggling for their lives and losing. It is difficult for us to fathom and it’s not our fault. Many of those who have died are simply outside our monkeysphere. We can’t process the impact of all those deaths because it’s not easy for us to process the impact that far out on our personal fringe.

To be honest, many of us don’t want to process that information. It is an unpleasant reality that we’d rather just ignore if we can.

But there may come a time when we can no longer ignore it. When the struggle becomes profoundly personal for us in ways that we can’t right now imagine. I hope that moment never comes. I hope that minds more brilliant than mine who are, even now, working in labs and in the field, find a way to beat the virus and put down the threat for good.

In the meantime, don’t panic. The best way you can protect yourself is by gilding yourself in the armor of facts. Eschew misinformation and rumor. Panic is a deadlier weapon than the virus can hope to be. Instead, hug your kids a little longer. Kiss your wife, or husband, or partner a few more times. Say I love you.

Because in the end, we’re all in this together.

Pirates of the Siren’s Sea – Detailed Glimpses

As part of developing the story for Pirates of the Siren’s Sea, I’ve had an opportunity to delve into some of the minute details of life on Solendrea. Part of that exploration has included designing flags and markings for the ships that prowl Solendrea’s seas.

I’ve included them here with a few details on their origins and the meanings behind them.

The Bloody Cross – Pirates of the Siren’s Sea

Sometimes referred to as the “Bloody Cross”, the standard of the Pirates of the Siren’s Sea is a crimson cross on a field of black. While here on Earth, the Jolly Roger was known and feared on the high seas, the Bloody Cross enjoys a similar reputation on the oceans of Solendrea. The black field denotes, among other things, death, the dark of night, and the blackness of a pirate’s soul. The crimson cross represents the bloodshed that inevitably follows crossing a ship that flies the pirate flag.

National Flag of the Human Imperium

Consisting of a column of inverted red chevrons on a white field, the national flag of the Human Imperium represents the Dragonback Mountains and the blood that was shed to unify the warring tribes of men under a single government. The white field represents unity and the new beginning for the tribes at the dawn of the Imperium.

There are certainly other flags, standards, and emblems that make appearances on the lands, seas, and battlefields of Solendrea. These are just the ones I happened to be working on today.

Pirates of the Siren’s Sea should be available for pre-order soon.

~MFHengst

Writing Life : More Milestones

I think that most authors probably have similar milestones in their careers.

My first big milestone was when my father, who has been a voracious reader all my life, told me that the book I had written was “pretty good” and that with some effort, I could be as good as some of his favorite authors. Names like Anne McCaffrey, Issac Asimov, Tom Clancy, and others. While I don’t have the hubris to think that I’ll ever be as good as some of those names, it was enough that he thought so.

The next major milestone came when I was able to quit my day job and start writing full time. It’s been an adventure, and one with an uncertain future, but for a little over a year, I’ve been able to support my family solely from my writing income. It hasn’t been easy, and it’s required some sacrifice from everyone, but I’m (at least for now) living the dream. For as scary as it is, it has also been amazing.

Today, I added another major milestone to my life as a writer. I walked into the local library and there, on the shelf, are the first two books of my Magic of Solendrea series. I’m sharing shelf space with the likes of Frank Herbert’s Dune and the Hugo Award Winners. No matter how you look at it, that’s pretty amazing.

All right, that’s enough self-indulgent posting on my part. Back to working on Pirates of the Siren’s Sea. I’ve got a book to release.

Best Wishes,

MFHengst

The First Long Terrifying Step Into The Void…

There is something about the blank white page that is both terrifying and exciting. The whole world is hidden there, waiting for my words to reveal it. All I have to do is sit down and put the words on the page that will bring my world to life for all of the people who don’t live inside my head.

I’ve never jumped off a cliff, or out of an airplane, but I imagine that there is a similar rush that we crafters of the written word get to experience when we finally spill blood, sweat, and tears onto that first blank page and watch as our world, our characters, and our ideas are formed out of nothingness.

I started the rough draft of Pirates of the Siren’s Sea yesterday and worked on it more today. The word count is slowly climbing as the characters take their place on the stage and say their lines. I haven’t gotten much done yet, but it’s a start…and starting is always exciting.

Are you looking forward to Pirates of the Siren’s Sea? Stop by the comments and tell me what, or who, you most want to see in the next installment of the Swordmage saga.

~MFHengst

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5 Tips for Success as an Indie Author

I frequently hear “I’m just getting started with self publishing, how can I ensure success?” While there is no one-size-fits-all plan for success, I’m more than happy to offer my opinions and insights as to what has worked well for me. I believe that all indie writers need to stick together and that when one of us achieve success, it helps to validate all of us in the struggle to overcome the stigmas associated with being a self published author.

 

5 Tips for Success as an Indie Author

 

1. Always Be Writing – There is a scene in Glengarry Glen Ross where Alec Baldwin writes, in big block letters on a blackboard, ABC – Always Be Closing. While one can take offense to the language in the scene, or perhaps even Mr. Baldwin himself, there is a similar sentiment that I’ve found is critical for my growth as a writer: ABW, always be writing. Most writers who write for a living will tell you that they have some goal for daily writing. Mine is 5000 words. If I hit that goal each day, every day, I know I’m doing well. Some days it comes easily and I sail right past my goal. Some days, I have to struggle to reach it. Either way, I’m writing every day. If I’m not writing every day, it means that there’s something wrong and I need to check my priorities and my motivation.

“Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating, by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road he wants to go. I would only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto.”  ~ Ray Bradbury

2. There Is No Such Thing As Writer’s Block – I take a lot of heat for this statement, but I firmly believe that there is no such thing as writer’s block. I think that you can stall on a story, or an idea, and not have anything to say about it, but that’s not the same as having writer’s block. If you hit a stall, that’s your sign to move onto something new or different. Stalled out writing a horror? Take your main character and put them in a comedy. Stalled out on a dystopian thriller? Take your antagonist and put them in a shopping mall on a Sunday morning. Sometimes exploring the ridiculous helps. This goes along with my first tip. Always be writing, even if what you’re writing seems silly or unconventional. You’ll be surprised where your best ideas come from. I’ll say it again and prepare for the flood of hate mail: there is no such thing as writer’s block. Writer’s block is a convenient scapegoat to use when you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing…writing.

 

3. Take Your Medicine & Grow From It – No matter who you are, no matter what you write, there is going to be someone, somewhere, who hates what you’ve endeavored to create. You’re going to get some negative reviews. Some of them are going to be brutal. Prepare yourself mentally for the criticism, allow yourself a single moment to feel the sting, then get up, brush yourself off, and move on. No one likes to be criticized, least of all authors, who often pour their heart and soul into the works they create. It hurts when someone tears that down…but it’s going to happen, so you’re better off accepting that fact at the outset. Sometimes, the people who hate your work will tell you WHY they hated it. This is invaluable information to have. It may be something you want to look toward changing. It may not. Either way, you’ve been given feedback about your work and that is how you grow as a writer.

 

4. Don’t Take Things Too Seriously – A writer, particularly an independent writer, needs to hone their ability to laugh at themselves. Sometimes, things are just going to go horribly wrong. You’re going to write something that stinks. You’re going to get a bad review. You’re going to accidentally delete a month’s worth of backups of the story you’ve been working on. Things go wrong. As long as you can take them in stride and with a sense of humor, you’ll be ahead of those who take things so seriously that they have no wiggle room for when the unexpected and unfortunate happens.

 

5. The Golden Rule – Treat others, particularly other independent writers, the way you’d want them to treat you. The more we, as a group, succeed, the closer we come to forcing a change in the paradigm of traditional publishing. It behooves us to help our fellow authors find success. There are millions of people out there who are looking for good content. It is up to us, as writers, to produce the best, most professional content we can and provide to our consumers. If you have tips or tricks that could help out your fellow authors, don’t be bashful about sharing them.

 

As I said. There is no master plan for success as a writer. Sometimes its a struggle, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely one engage your fellow authors and enjoy their company on the journey.

I hope these tips help someone out.

~MFHengst

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Martin F. Hengst is the author of the Magic of Solendrea series, a sword and sorcery fantasy set in a world where science, magic and technology collide. More information about Martin and his books can be found at http://martinfhengst.com.

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Gods and Demons: The Story of Solendrea’s Creation

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This post is also available as Martin Hengst Podcast #1. If you’d rather listen to the author read this post, please click here to listen to the track on SoundCloud.

 

 

[dropcap style=”font-size: 40px; color: #9b9b9b;”]W[/dropcap]ar is hell. More so when you know you’ll never die. Tiring of the plots and intrigues of the Eternal War, six souls banded their powers together and set out to create something for themselves, a place that they could escape the ravages and infighting of the Far Beyond, where the Eternals squabbled with each other.

Together, the six souls created the Deep Void and filled it with unthinkable horrors. Demons that would give the Eternals pause and would make it impossible for mortal beings to cross the threshold between the Void and the Far Beyond. When they felt the Deep Void was adequately populated, they turned their attention to lighter matters.

They turned their minds to creation. They wanted an emissary race, a group of beings who could act on behalf of the Eternals. This race would be the eyes and ears of the Eternals, seeing that their will was carried out beyond the great barrier that the Deep Void created. These beings were the Pheen. Created by the Eternals, they were gifted with great intelligence, cunning, and bravery. The Pheen were sent to the empty place beyond the Deep Void.

Arriving in nothingness, the Pheen set about creating a barrier between the world they would create and the nightmares of the Deep Void. The home they created for themselves is known as the Meridian. It is the place between the Physical Realm and the Deep Void. The Meridian is the embodiment of the Quintessential Sphere. The source of all magical power and paranormal creatures.

Though they had banded together for the purpose of creating their emissaries, the six Eternals had their own plots and schemes. Each of the Eternals added to the Pheen traits that they believed would turn the Pheen to their favor. In the end, all their meddling was for naught. The Pheen tended to fall naturally into one Enclave or another, each Enclave being devoted to one of the Eternals. Though this vexed their creators, the Pheen found it maintained a reasonable balance of power and set about to ensure that the Enclaves were equally represented in all things.

In the Meridian, the Pheen planted the seed of the Tree of Living Memory. The Tree of Living Memory sprouted six roots. In each of these roots, the Pheen Enclaves made their homes. Each of the great roots houses one autonomous Enclave.

The Root of Life is home to the Enclave of Light, worshipping the Eternal Lyrissa. Lyrissa is the Goddess of Light and Life.

The Root of Water is home to the Enclave of Water, worshipping the Eternal Wyrnett, the God of Storms and Seas.

The Root of Earth is home to the Enclave of Earth, worshipping the Eternal Eyrald, the God of Hunts and Harvests.

The Root of Air is home to the Enclave of Air, worshipping the Eternal Ayrid, the God of Winds and Change.

The Root of Fire is home to the Enclave of Fire, worshipping the Eternal Fyron, the Goddess of Fire and War.

And finally, the Root of Death is home to the Enclave of Darkness, worshipping the Eternal Dyrmot, the Goddess of Death and Disease.

As the Tree of Living Memory grew, it gained the power of all the Pheen who had come before it. Pheen who die are absorbed back into the roots, their memories and powers absorbed by the Tree of Living Memory and flowing out from the branches of the tree to the whole of the Ethereal Realm. Each possible memory, of what could have happened, what did happen, and what could happen in the future, is hidden somewhere in the layers of the Tree of Living Memory. Like layers of an onion, or rings of a cut tree, the Quintessential Sphere has more layers than any mortal could possibly hope to dream of in a lifetime.

Only the oldest of the Pheen have the power and experience to traverse the whole of the Tree of Living Memory without fear of being lost in its infinite branches. Most Pheen stick close to their roots, as those are the places they are attuned to from birth. Mortals traveling into the Ethereal Realm risk being lost to the timeless growth of its branches.

As time passed and the power of the Tree of Living Memory grew, it began to form a realm all its own. A world that solidified from the flowing currents of the memories surrounding the Tree. When the Pheen observed this phenomenon taking place, they used their own powers to influence the growth of the new world.

The Enclave of Darkness crafted deep fissures and caves that would never be touched by the light of the celestial bodies the Enclave of Light scattered through the night sky. The Enclave of Earth made tall rock spires and rocky spines that travelled across the lands, and the Enclave of Water created oceans and seas. The Enclaves of Fire and Air brought change and chaos to the new world, wreaking havoc on the fledgling planet.

The Pheen looked at their new world and named it Solendrea, a Pheen word meaning “place of peace”. With the help of the Eternals, they placed a barrier around the world of Solendrea, separating it from the power and uncertainty of the Quintessential Sphere. That barrier between the Physical and Ethereal realms, ensured that the Pheens’ awesome powers couldn’t be used to influence Solendrea or the lives they created there.

Each Enclave created a race that would call Solendrea home, from the upstart humans, to the ancient dwarves and the fearsome Xarundi, but that is a story for another time.

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Indie Author’s Guide to DMCA Notices

Someone’s Pirating My Book!

So you’ve done an Internet search for your books and found them listed on one of the many torrent sites popular for pirated media. After you get over the initial shock and feeling of violation, what do you do? There is a mechanism in place for dealing with this scenario. Although it isn’t perfect (few things are) it can help you to feel like you have a little more control over the situation. I’m speaking, of course, of the DMCA.

 

Shedding Light On The DMCA

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, enacted in 1998, makes it illegal to aid in the distribution of unauthorized copyright material. There is a lot of debate surrounding the DMCA and whether information should be free to be disseminated by any means, but I’m not going to get into those arguments here. I’m going to show you how you can use the DMCA to your advantage to try and cut down on the number of sites that carry your works illegally.

I say “cut down on” because removing every site that is pirating your work is well-nigh practically impossible. The Internet is a living, breathing thing and there will always be new pirates popping up to try and spread your hard work, and others, around the Internet without your knowledge or consent.

 

How A DMCA Takedown Request Works

Most service providers are willing to listen to claims of copyright infringement and (at least nominally) do something about them. It is in their best interests to do so. Failure to adhere to the DMCA can cause them problems further down the road. If they fail to act on proper DMCA notices, one can go after the web hosting provider (the servers where the offending site is located) and force them to shut the site down. Many of these sites operate off of advertising revenue, so it is in their best interests to keep the site up and running as long as possible.

The general process is simple. You go to the site where your copyright is being infringed and note the URL, or address, of the infringing content, then you send a notice to the provider stating that you are making a takedown request under the DMCA and asking them to remove the infringing content.

Here’s where things get sticky. Just because they have to (or should) adhere to the DMCA, doesn’t mean they have to make it easy. Many sites demand proof of copyright ownership, a statement of ownership, the URL of the infringing content, contact information, etc. In short, they’re going to make you jump through some hoops, in hope that you’ll just give up and go away.

The process isn’t that hard. So for the rest of this post, I’m going to take you step by step through the process of a DMCA removal request, using my own works and my own takedown template as resources. Please feel free to copy my takedown template and modify it for your own purposes. I’ve have pretty good success with it, and I hope you will too.

 

Step One – Find The Infringing Content

This is pretty easy. You can do it through any search engine. I’m going to use Bing, but I know I’m in the minority. You can use whatever search engine you want. Do a quick search for your title, and the words download or torrent. That’ll give you a quick overview of sites that have your work posted without your consent. Unless, of course, you are using torrents to legitimately distribute your work, which is a subject for another time.

These are the search results for The Last Swordmage, my first novel. (Legitimately available for purchase from Amazon.com):

As you can see, there are a lot of torrent sites out there. Getting rid of all of them is like playing a never ending game of whack-a-pirate. You’ll never get to all of them, but if you can keep on top of the most popular ones, it might help. If nothing else, it’ll probably make you feel better about being proactive about it, instead of just letting it happen.

 

Step Two – Recon

The next step actually involves clicking on those links and seeing if your copyright is being infringed, so let’s take a look at one of these.

 

Now, I know for a fact that my book, The Last Swordmage, is in the first of these search results, because I’ve requested this same torrent to be taken down on other sites. So I’m going to go ahead and click on the Fantasy_Trilogy’s_&_Series torrent, so I can show you the content and where my copyright is being infringed.

 

 

Yep. There it is. The smoking gun, as it were. Unfortunately, Ed Greenwood, JV Jones, and Robin Hobb are getting caught in the crossfire as well. They’ve all been lumped into this torrent, so the copyrights on all of our works are being infringed upon (unless they’ve chosen to freely distribute their books). So now that we know my copyright is being infringed, now we have to do something about it.

 

Step Three – Gather Your Intel

Once you’ve found the offending material, you want to make a note of the web address, or the URL where the offending material is located. You’re going to need this for your DMCA Takedown Request, which we’ll go into later. For now, let’s just make a copy of the address that we need.

 

That’s what we want. That address will help us identify the content we want to submit for removal. For now, make a copy of the address and put it someplace like a scratch file in your favorite text editor. We’ll come back to it later.

 

Step Four – Find The Right Contact

Most torrent sites have some sort of DMCA removal procedure. On some sites, it’s easier to find than others. Common places to look are at the bottom of the search page or torrent details page as well as inside a dedicated help page, or site map. Take a look around. You should be able to find it. If you can’t, let me know and I’ll be happy to see if I can figure it out for you. In this case, there is a handy link right at the bottom of the page. So we’re going to click on it:

Doing so gives us a list of their removal requirements and the email address where we are going to send our removal request. Torrents.fm seems to have pretty reasonable requirements. They ask for decent grammar, the URL of the content to remove, and contact information. All pretty standard stuff. Many torrent sites WILL NOT ACCEPT removal requests from free service providers, such as Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo. You’ll need your own domain name and domain email to have your content removed from these sites.

 

Step Five – Setting Up Your DMCA

There is a certain art to these things. Very few people are willing to tell you exactly what information to include in your DMCA takedown request, and templates vary wildly from source to source. I’ve had about a 95% success rate with mine, so I’ll share it with you. Please feel free to copy it and modify it to suit your needs. Here’s my template:

Pursuant to 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A), this communication serves as a statement that:

1. I am the exclusive rights holder for the following titles:

The Last Swordmage, ISBN #978-1481830447, ASIN #B00AR187RA, published on 12/27/2012

The Darkest Hour, ISBN #978-1483921945, ASIN #B00C2YUYPS, published on 03/27/2013

The Pegasus’s Lament, ISBN #978-1495985393, ASIN #B00FGHLC6I, published on 09/26/2013

Volinette’s Song, ISBN #978-0692201084, ASIN #B00JNTIKZQ, published on 04/12/2014

2. These exclusive rights are being violated by material available upon your site at the following URL(s):

–paste URL to remove here–

3. I have a good faith belief that the use of this material in such a fashion is not authorized by the

copyright holder, the copyright holder’s agent, or the law;

4. Under penalty of perjury in a United States court of law, I state that the information contained in

this notification is accurate, and that I am authorized to act on the behalf of the exclusive rights

holder for the material in question.

5. I may be contacted by the following methods:

Martin F. Hengst  PO Box 86, Windsor, PA 17366

legal@martinfhengst.com

I hereby request that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears on your service in as

expedient a fashion as possible. Thank you.

Best Wishes,

Martin F. Hengst, Independent Author

email: legal@martinfhengst.com

website: http://martinfhengst.com

Obviously, you’re going to want to change the first section to include the information about your books and fill in the URL of the offending content. We’ll do that via email in the next step, which is actually sending the DMCA takedown request.

 

Step Six – Taking Action

So now we’re ready to make the request. I’m going to be using my domain email address, legal@martinfhengst.com, to submit the request. Torrents.fm, the site we are requesting removal from, doesn’t specifically state that they don’t accept free email accounts, but I’m much more comfortable erring on the side of caution. Here’s the email set up with the template, all ready to go:

The image is a little small, but hopefully you can see where I pasted the URL that we copied earlier for the removal. I’ve also addressed the email to the address requested in the takedown requirements. All that’s left to do now is click send, and wait.

 

Step Seven – Hurry Up And Wait

What happens next varies, based on which torrent site you’re dealing with. Some of them will send you an email letting you know that they’ve taken action on your request. Others won’t send anything. The best thing you can do is wait three or four days and check the site’s search results for your book and see if it’s been removed. If it has, you’re done for now…until someone else posts a copy of your book and you have to do it all over again. If not, you start all over from the top.

If this sounds inefficient and redundant, you’re not wrong. Sometimes it can take a few tries to get a takedown request honored. Sometimes, it won’t ever happen. However, I feel that it’s better than sitting on your hands doing nothing.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I’ll always help the best I can.

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