Morgan L. Busse's Blog, page 13

Book Review: Oath of the Brotherhood

Oath of the Brotherhood by C.E. Laureano is a Celtic fantasy and the first I’ve read of its kind.

The story revolves around Conor Mac Nir, a young nobleman gifted in music in a magical sort of way. When he plays the harp, he is able to draw on magic. But he’s not the only one with magical abilities. Aine is a noblewoman, healer, and able to see the future, though not always so clearly.

When the clans go to war, something deeper is paving the warpath, an ancient magic that wants to eradicate those who follow Balus. Conor and Aine race to find the harp of Meallachan, an instrument that under Conor’s power can turn back the tide of evil…if he can find it in time.

Oath of the Brotherhood was a very different kind of fantasy compared to the usual medieval fare. The names, the places, and the feel of the book were definitely Celtic in nature. As a fan of anything Celtic, I very much enjoyed this story.

The only thing I found hard were all the names and places at the beginning of the story, so it made it a bit of a slow read until I had the people and places firmly fixed in my mind.

Oath of the Brotherhood is the first book in The Song of the Seare series, so it ends with more to come.

I recommend Oath of the Brotherhood for those who enjoy fantasy.

 

*I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review of the book

Story Momentum

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first Coffee Date Friday! Every fourth Friday of the month I am opening my blog up to questions from my readers. You can ask anything from writing to personal (for the most part ;). I first announced this on my Facebook page and already have a couple questions lined up. So I will start with those. If you think of more questions, leave them in the comments and each month I will answer a couple of them. Now let’s begin!

Brenda asks, “How do you keep the momentum of the story going?“

Take out all the boring parts ;). Ok, that’s only part of it. When I first start dreaming up a story, I see different scenes in my head. I keep a folder on my computer with those scenes in it. Then when it comes time to actually write the book, I take those scenes and start moving them around, testing them and seeing if and how they fit together. If they don’t fit, they get axed. If they do, I ask how did my characters end up in those situations?

It’s amazing how our subconscious ties things together. Many times those scenes fall into place, creating the story for me. And then I write it.

There are different story aspects that keep a story going: the romance thread (are they going to fall in love?), the mystery thread (what’s going to happen next?), the villain thread (how is the hero going to stop the villain?), the “make things worse” thread (wow, how is the hero going to get out of that one?), and so on. By using at least one of these per chapter, I keep the reader turning the page. That is how I keep the momentum of the story going.

Thanks for asking, Brenda!

Now for the next question.

Maegen asks, “Do you ever get stuck in a scene or chapter? If so how do you get the story moving again?”

First, I love the way you spell your name! Very unique take on Megan :)

Ok, so I made it sound like all I have to do is dream up the scenes, put them together like a jigsaw puzzle and write the story in the previous question. I wish it was that simple. Then I would never get stuck in a scene.

Sadly, there are times when I do get stuck. I call them “plot knots”. It’s where something isn’t working out, or the story is getting boring, or I’ve written myself into a corner and can’t get out. So yes, I do get stuck in a scene or chapter. And that’s when I panic (especially if I’m under a deadline) and wonder why I didn’t just choose to do something else with my life, like become a professional cake baker ;P

So how do I get moving again? Well, if I get the sense that it’s a boring scene, I axe it right then and there. If it’s a scene that is needed but the pieces aren’t working together, I take a break. I go for a bike ride, play a video game, watch a movie, read a book outside my genre, something to give that part of my brain a rest. Usually the scene will come to me that day or the next (and usually right at bedtime too!).

However, there are days when I’m just stumped. That’s when I move on and work on a different part of the book, on a scene and chapter I already have firmly inside my mind until the problem scene works itself out. Luckily those are few and far between.

Thanks for the question, Maegen!

That’s all for today. If you have any questions you would like me to answer next month during my Coffee Date Friday, please leave them in the comments below :)

 

The Power of a Smile

Vacations have the ability to be both wonderful and highly stressful at the same time. Things fall through and your expectations are not met, and without realizing it, the grumpy look steals across your face.

I had a great time in Oregon a few weeks ago, but there were a few hiccups during our trip. For example, we got into Portland after midnight (2am home time) and we are more than ready to check into our hotel and go to bed. But when we arrived at the counter, they told us they had overbooked and had no room for us (panic!). So we were shipped off to another hotel and finally went to bed around 1:30am.

Not a great start to our vacation.

Then the next morning I had to go get our rental car from downtown Portland (half the price if we picked it up there, so being the budget conscious people we are, we went with that option). This country girl hasn’t driven in a big city in a loooong time. Cue another panic attack, this time in the middle of traffic. By the time I got back to our hotel, I was frazzled.

Dan and I don’t fight a lot, maybe 2-3 times a year. But between energetic kids (hey, they’ve been trapped in a car for 8 hours, airport for a couple more, and now a hotel), no sleep, bad coffee, and shot nerves, we were at each other’s throats.

At one point, I stormed into the bathroom. I was done. Then I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and recoiled back. I looked awful, not because of lack of makeup or a bad hair day, but because what I was feeling inside was definitely showing on the outside. And it was ugly.

Smile.

The thought popped into my head.

No way! I don’t feel like smiling.

Just smile, the voice kept urging.

Wow, it felt like I was lifting a hundred pounds with my lips. I forced my mouth to curve upward until I looked like my old self again.

Let me tell you, it was an amazing transformation. My heart felt lighter, I looked better, I felt better.

From that moment on, I decided I was going to smile the entire trip. Every time I realized my lips had dipped down, I forced them back up. I wanted to be beautiful, both on the inside and the outside, and knew from my mirror experience that a smile could do that.

And it worked. It helped me refocus on what mattered, on enjoying my time instead of letting setbacks make me grumpy, and being an overall nice person to be around.

My trip is over, but I learned a huge lesson from it. Smiling changes us. Maybe some people can fake a smile, but I can’t. If I am going to smile, I have to change my attitude first. What a difference that little action made, both in my heart and across my face.

So I challenge you to smile today, especially when you don’t feel like it. Trust me, it will make a world of difference inside of you :)

 

The Beauty of Oregon

After planning and saving for over a year, my family finally went back to the state we called home for many years: Oregon. If you have never been to the Pacific Northwest, you are missing out on what I would consider one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Many of the places in my Follower of the Word series are based on actual places I have visited or lived, including Oregon. For example, the coastal country and city of Avonai are based on the couple years I spent on the Oregon coast. In fact, watching how the ocean changed each day inspired the Avonain race and their connection to the sea (and how their eyes changed color with the moods of the ocean). For more on these people, check out my post The Sea People of Avonai.

Anyway, enough talk. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words and I have some beautiful pictures to share from my trip. Enjoy!This is the Pacific Ocean on our first day. A nice, calming gray.

Enjoying a walk along the beach.

A sunny day on the beach. Look at how blue that water and sky is, and all that white sand! However, you wouldn’t really want to go swimming. It was around 60 degrees while we were there.

After a couple days on the beach, we headed up into the mountains, far away from civilization (including cell service, internet, showers, and toilets lol). But who wouldn’t trade all that for this kind of view from the porch of your cabin? And for those who are wondering that is Mount Jefferson.

Went hiking into an area that was devastated by a wild fire a couple years ago. You can’t see it in the picture, but there were wildflowers everywhere, a reminder that beauty can rise from ashes.

Last picture. I was on another hike and found this meadow and pond. We hiked up to a lake and went swimming. Not for very long, though. The water was freezing! This particular trail intersected with the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), a famous hiking and equestrian trail that runs the length of the US from Mexico to Canada 100-150 miles east of the Pacific coast.

So that’s my trip, and what a wonderful trip it was. I hope someday I can go back and revisit all of these wonderful places.

How about you? What is your favorite place to visit?

 

Teen Titans and Book Reviews

A couple days ago I was watching Teen Titans Go with my kids. In this particular episode Raven (one of the characters who is usually portrayed as intelligent and dark) introduces the rest of the Titans to reading. They fall in love with reading and want more. So they ask her what they should do next. She says they should start a book club and discuss their books. So they start a club and discuss their books and how much they loved their books.

A couple minutes into the meeting Raven says it’s  not enough to share how much they like their books. They need to go deeper. How? they ask. She starts with her own book by saying the premise of the book was unbelievable and goes on for a minute breaking her book down into tiny increments, dissecting each scene and word.

The Titans stare at her in horror. “You just took the fun out of reading!” they shout.

And that’s what I found interesting. I don’t think books were meant to be taken apart and each little section scrutinized and reviewed. Books are meant to be read as a whole. Enjoyed. Read and understood in their full context.

Sometimes I can’t articulate why I liked or didn’t like a book. I just know I liked it and it made me think. Or I didn’t like it because it left a bad feeling behind. Perhaps that is one reason I don’t like writing reviews (for the most part). Because I feel like I need to take the book apart and say why I did or didn’t like the book. Bleh.

I’ve seen reviews where the book is scrutinized down to its very words. I’ve even known people who read with a pad and pen next to them so they can take notes. I don’t think fiction was meant to be read like this. How do you get into the story when you’re constantly taking notes? Perhaps that’s just me.

The episode ends when the Titans read a mystical book that lets loose evil magic that feeds off their imagination. In order to stop the book, they start reviewing the book, talking about its premise and using big words. In essence, they are shutting off their imagination so they can trap the magic back inside the book.

Ironic, isn’t it?

For those who are curious, the episode is called Books.

 

Enclave Publishing

A couple months ago I shared that my publishing company, Marcher Lord Press,  was bought by Steve Laube (you can find my post about the sale here). That sale has brought about some changes within the company, many of them good in my opinion. I wanted to update you, my readers, on these changes.

First, a name change came with the company. Marcher Lord Press is now Enclave Publishing. The mission is still the same: to produce quality Christian fantasy and science fiction. With that name change is a new website: Enclave Publishing. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you need to. It looks great!

This fall will see the first set of novels from Enclave Publishing. Instead of doing the usual pre-order, Enclave is doing a kickstarter. Take a moment and check out the books that will be available this fall and consider choosing one of the options for a discount on these select books. Enclave Publishing Kickstarter

Finally, I know many of you have been asking when Heir of Hope, the third book in the Follower of the Word series, will be released. With the purchase of Marcher Lord Press came some changes within the company. One of those changes was my release date. I can now say it will be 2015. I am expecting my first set of edits back in a couple weeks and will begin the big revisions.

I will also have other book news coming in the next couple months. If you don’t want to miss out, consider signing up for my newsletter. I only send it out when I have book or author news and it’s a great way to make sure you know what’s happening and when a book is releasing. Click here to sign up.

It’s going to be a busy and exciting couple months for me and for Enclave Publishing :)

Moments of Wonder

A week ago I was at a friend’s house celebrating the Fourth of July. With dusk came the fireflies (or lightning bugs as they call them here in the Midwest). Having spent most of my life in the Northwest, I rarely saw a firefly, let alone hundreds of them. But here on a warm, summer evening you can find them glittering above the grass and bushes just as the sun sets.

I was captivated by the hundreds of little sparkling lights, so much so that I wasn’t even paying attention to the fireworks. My friend noticed. “Don’t lose your wonder,” he told me. At first I didn’t understand what he meant, then I realized he was referring to the fireflies.

How many of us “grow up”, move on, and in the process lose our wonder of the small things around us?

I spent the next day thinking of all the things that awe me: the peaceful sound of rain hitting the window panes, a thunderstorm blazing across the open plains, a cat’s purr. Newborn babies, gardens, the scent of a flower, the sound of the ocean’s waves.

It is in these moments of wonder I see the fingerprints of God. They connect me to my creator.

I can still be distracted by all the busyness and demands of being an adult, a mother, and a writer. But I don’t want to lose my wonder.

How about you? What are moments of wonder for you?

 

Thick Skin

I never really liked the term “thick skin.” The Urban Dictionary defines thick skin as the ability to withstand criticism and show no signs of any criticism you may receive getting to you. In the writing business, a writer is expected to have thick skin. After all, it is one of the few professions where you put your heart and soul out for the world to critique you in a very public way.

The reason I never liked the term is because many times it seems thick skin goes deeper, into a hardening of the heart. But if my heart is hard and calloused, how can I write from my heart? And how does one develop this “thick skin” that supposedly saves you from the hurt and doubt that comes from criticism?

Those were the thoughts I had this morning. I’ve been writing for years, I have two published books with another one soon to be released, and finaled in a couple awards.

I don’t have thick skin. What I do have is experience. It is not success that builds thick skin, it is disappointment. No matter how much you prepare for that first hard hitting review or intense criticism, it still hits hard. It is in that moment that you start to figure out who you really are as a writer.

Who do you write for? Why do you write? It is the answer to these questions that keep you going. This is your “thick skin.” No matter what other people say, you know deep down this is why you do what you do.

Who do I write for? Honestly? I write for myself. Yep. I don’t write for an audience, I don’t even write for God, although my writing becomes an outpouring of my questions, awe, and understanding of God.

Here’s why: audiences are fickle. Their tastes can change from year to year. If I were to tailor my writing after my audience, I would be chasing the wind and find disappointment when what I wrote doesn’t match up with what the current audience desires. If I am going to spend a couple hours a day for a year or more on a novel, I am going to write the story that burns inside of me. Granted, that may mean I don’t find an audience for my story, but I will have spent the better part of my time enjoying what I did.

Why do I write? I am a storyteller. I have these stories with complex characters thrown into awful situations and I have to figure out how they survive! As I start to write the story, I connect with the character. I feel what they feel. I understand their past and why they ended up in this situation. I ask the same questions they are asking.

This is my thick skin. When I receive a review that hurts, I remind myself why I write. No matter what the person says, he or she cannot take that away from me. When someone dislikes a character or scene, I take it in stride. I wrote for myself. I won’t please everyone. As long as I am pleased with the character or scene, then that is enough for me.

How about you? What is your “thick skin”? Why do you write and who do you write for?

 

Writing Process Blog Tour

I’ve been tagged by my friend and fellow author Anne Elisabeth Stengl. If you haven’t checked out her books, you need to. Seriously. She writes fantasy stories with a mythical/fairytale kind of flavor. Tales of Goldstone Wood are some of my favorites stories (and quickly becoming my daughter’s as well).

With that, onto the questions she sent to me!

1) What am I working on at the moment?

I just finished Heir of Hope, the third and final book in the Follower of the Word series and now it is in my editor’s hands. Wahoo! It is not slated to be released until 2015, but it will be worth the wait. Not sure? Here the response from one of my beta readers after she finished the book: “Wow, just wow.”

Now I’m working on a completely new project, a Victorian steampunk. To find out more about steampunk, check out Nadine Brande’s article here. In a nutshell, it is genre where the story takes place in a world where technology is run on steam. My world will have a Victorian era flavor to it, which has been a lot of fun to research the last few weeks.

My new story revolves around a high society young woman and bounty hunter in a Victorian world where science is crossing into the mystic in search of secret knowledge.

 

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Well, for one thing I write for adults. There are not that many Christian fantasy novels that are geared toward the adult reader. That doesn’t mean teens shouldn’t read my book (they do, and I have received some great emails from teens who were encouraged by my books). It simply means my characters are adults and they deal with adult issues.

I also don’t have the fantasy creatures and world building that people usually associate with the fantasy genre. There are no dragons, no elves, no orcs, etc… Don’t get me wrong, I love that stuff, but I write more about people who are given extraordinary gifts and then explore what they do with them.

My work has been compared to The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and Shannara by Terry Brooks. If you’ve heard of either of these authors and like their stories, then you’ll probably enjoy the Follower of the Word series.

 

3) Why do I write what I do?

Hmm, good question. Probably because I couldn’t write anything else.  I love historical fiction, and I have thought about writing in that genre, but I’m sure something magical or fantastical would make its way into my story and then it would end up being a fantasy ;)

Since I was little girl, I have always had a very colorful imagination. The fantasy genre gives me a place to explore my ideas and stories. That and I love the freedom that comes with being able to create my own world.

 

4) How does my writing process work?

It usually starts with a character. I see this character in some kind of situation and start asking who are they? What happened to them to get them into this situation? And what will happen to them next?

For example, when I first saw Caleb Tala, the assassin in the Follower of the Word series, he had just murdered a man. I wondered who Caleb really was, why had he done this, and what was going to happen to him next? From there his story grew.

I collect the pieces of the story in a folder on my computer, accumulating dialogue, character information, and plots for months and years. When I am finally read to sit down and write the story, I know the majority of the story (like the beginning, the end, and major plotlines). Then I write.

As a mother and a pastor’s wife, I only have a couple hours a day to write, Monday-Thursday. I’m also a slow writer (sloooooowwww!) so it takes me about a year to write a book. However, I’m very meticulous while I write, so when I go back and edit, there is usually very little change to the story, just cleanup.

After cleanup, the manuscript is shipped off to my editor and I start my next story :)

***

Thank you so much for stopping by! Now it is time for me to tag two more authors.

First is Nadine Brandes. Nadine’s debut novel, A Time to Die, will be releasing this fall. It is a YA dystopian about a world in which everyone has a clock that is ticking down to the day they die. I can’t wait! Anyway, Nadine will be posting next Wednesday, June 25th. Go check out what she has to say: www.nadinebrandes.com

And my second author is Angie Brashear. Her debut novel, Of the Persecuted, just released! It is currently on my to-be-read pile (so no spoilers!). Angie will post her part of the blog tour on Saturday, June 28th. Check out her blog here: www.angiebrashear.com

 

Sometimes There are No Answers for Why Things Happen

I like answers. I want to know why something works, what happens when you do X, and how can I get the best outcome. I tend to get to the point, whether it has to do with work, solving a problem, or with relationships (about drove my husband mad with this early on). So when life doesn’t compute, I want answers.

Unfortunately, sometimes there are no answers for why things happen.

I struggled with this over the past year. Most of the time I can find an explanation on why God allows something to happen. You know, the usual answers: to grow us, to prepare us for a greater blessing, fill in the blank. But none of those answers seemed sufficient for the pain and tears shed over the last several months. I wanted to know why. I wanted a reason so I could close those doors, heal, and move on.

Did God let Dan lose his job because He has something better planned? Why did it feel God was leading us to church plant, to then not have it work out? Why do bad things happen to people who want to follow God?

I will admit this past year shook my faith to its very core. I could feel the darkness closing in on me. I cried out to God, but couldn’t seem to hear Him. I felt alone and spiritually cold.

Now some people will say you should never question God. I believe it’s better to be honest with God. David was honest with God in the Psalms. Jeremiah the prophet was honest with God. God knows my heart and can see the hurt and confusion already inside. Through honesty comes truth. And with truth comes answers.

A couple weeks ago, I had my answer: that sometimes there are no answers. I could feel in my heart that God had been patient with me, but it had come to the point that I needed to let go. I would not have the answers for why things happened the way they did this year. Why? Because God is God and I am me.

In that moment, I caught an awe and terrifying glimpse of God. I forget how much bigger, how much smarter, how much more God knows than I do. He is running this entire universe, watching over every life, creating divine intersections, moving things along on a scale that I can’t even comprehend. So when He says that all things work together for good (even if I can’t see it), He does and I need to trust that. And I need to let go.

I may have my answers someday, perhaps in heaven. But I have a feeling that by then I’m not going to care. Why? I’ll finally be in God’s presence and that will be all I need.

 

*I wrote this back in 2011 a couple months after Dan was abruptly let go from a church we were serving at. I still have no answer as to why it happened, but for those of you going through dark times, I can tell you healing does come when you let go of your need for answers and move on, your hand in God’s hand.