M.D. Kenning's Blog, page 3

Letting a Book Go (post publication)

So your book is done, it’s published and the world now has access to it.  What do you do next?  In my opinion, boot up the computer and start typing your next book.  That doesn’t mean you do not pay any attention to what you just released. You obviously need to talk about it, publicize it, and let others know it exists.  At the same time, right before a book is released you are living and breathing that book constantly.  You go over final edits, approve covers and formatting, and start setting up a support network for it.  All you can think of is that book day in, and day out.

If you are an e-author however your bread and butter is new books.  You don’t have the same publication machine as the large publishers, so you cannot be content to rest a bit before kicking out another book by the next year.  Not to mention in most cases your efforts have been more procedural based and you probably were not writing much while the book was about to be published.  Now is the time to hit they keyboard and move on!

The biggest advice I believe though is to not get caught up in the sales aspect of the new book.  It seems it takes 12-36 hours for payments to process, and it can make a person go insane if they just keep hitting refresh waiting for the latest sales reports.  Instead channel that fidgety energy into launching into the next narrative.

Another issues I have noticed is no matter how long you have a book in the editing process you can always think of little things you want to change or alter once it is out.  Unless it is important (like typos, grammar, major errors) then it is best just to let it go.  I have known several people who have written some great things but never tried to  publish it, for they could never find the “final” form they want it to be in.  Instead they clamp both hands on their manuscript down firmly and never release as they keep trying to perfect it into eternity.  I personally don’t think there is such thing as perfection, and if a majority of the people editing/beta reading like the product, it is time to let the world have it.

Not to mention one of the joys of e-publishing is if you really do need to make changes, you can do so after publication.  I would not recommend this with large story points, and of course you should thoroughly remove all spelling/grammar issues before hand.  If you really want to tweak that one piece of dialogue though, or add one sentence to a description to clarify intent, you can do that.  Don’t do it right away though.  Come back a month after your book is released, and then re-read it.  If you still have those issues it won’t be because you just could not let go, and then it won’t be a bad thing to make those alterations.

Poll

This poll is not completely related to this post.  It’s also different for me, because for once I am not starting a new book (still working on the second Allmother’s Fire book) or in the final process of getting another book out.  I am curious of something though, and it definitely ties into publishing:

Where do you hear about new books?:

1)Old Fashioned word of mouth.  My friends tell me about a great book, and I then try it.

2)Internet Retailers: I go to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc and look at their recommendations for me

3)Reviews: From magazines, Goodreads, newspapers, I read something proactively to hear about new good books

4)Social media: I see what options are out there on Facebook, Google +, Pinterest

5)Actively see out new books.  I don’t randomly read reviews, but I will google for books similar to ones I already like.

Take Our Poll

World Info will return with the next blog.  I need some catch up time, and will be writing a blog for Genre Underground soon that I will link to.

Mandatory Paradise is published today!

The new book, Mandatory Paraidse,  is published!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XM6ST4

Alnanla has not always enjoyed her life as a Priestess and a teacher, but she, like every citizen of the Island of Nimoa, has always had her needs met. At night she gazes up at the energy shield that keeps everyone safe from the flying monstrosities of legend, and she wants more than just to exist in her pre-ordained role. When hundreds of innocents are massacred, Alnanla finds herself to be the prime suspect. To clear her name, she teams up with a grieving Bureaucrat, an eternally optimistic Artist, a gruff Outsider and a sarcastic Spirit. As they begin to discover the details of what really happened, they find more than they bargained for. Should they expose the dark secrets they find and risk their society’s destruction? Or should they sacrifice their lives and let the lies continue in order to preserve the way of life that has given them all peace and safety for thousands of years?

One interesting aspect of the novels is each chapter is written in a style similar to the thought processes of the character it is showcasing.  Two of the characters have a rather flippant and sarcastic way of percieving the world, and it shows in their chapters.

Go and grab a copy today, and tell your friends as early sales are great for the life of a book!

Mandatory Paradise Cover Art (Fitting the tone of the Book)

Not the most creative title ever, but pretty accurate.  Here is the cover art to my new book below:

Cover art is very important, as often even before a synopsis is read a prospective reader will see the cover.  If you are in a list the title and the cover is all they have, and it must catch the eye and interests of a prospective reader.  It helps if it fit’s the book tonally too, so it is not jarring to a reader if they see an epic fantasy like cover then read a story mainly focused on economics.

The cover you see is not the first draft, and it is significantly different than the first.  The first had an authentic Minoan background, but it clashed a lot with the rest of the cover, and some people thought it would repel readers.  We chose the current background you see of a Labyrinth due too it’s importance to the story, and that it gave a neutral tone so the rest of the cover would “pop” better.

Also, the stark lack of details about book plot from the cover was done like many thrillers. The intent was to give more of a feel and less of a preview of what actually occurs in the book.  The only tone aspect that is not shown in the artwork is the “flippant” (think more Terry Pratchett) tone some chapters are told in due to who the characters are.  Each chapter is written featuring specific characters, and when that is happening the “voice” of the chapter synchs with who is starring in it.  So a chapter about a priestess or a bureaucrat will be more serious than one told from a rather frivolous artist or gruff outsider.

With all of those differences there was not a way to convey this on the cover without clashing in a very “busy” manner.  I do like the details in this cover and it holds up very well when increased in size, and I may eventually make this book available for print (there was resolution issues with my last one, and I will not be able to have that book ready for print until I can resolve them).

As for other final touches, the book will come out this week, most likely Wednesday or Thursday.  There will be a blog post when it comes up.  I’m just doing one last once over and all of the involved formatting before it is released.  The Sample Chapter available at the top of this website has been altered to match the edited text of the book.

The final Synopsis has been made by the way :

Alnanla has not always enjoyed her life as a Priestess and a teacher, but she, like every citizen of the Island of Nimoa, has always had her needs met. At night she gazes up at the energy shield that keeps everyone safe from the flying monstrosities of legend, and she wants more than just to exist in her pre-ordained role. When hundreds of innocents are massacred, Alnanla finds herself to be the prime suspect. To clear her name, she teams up with a grieving Bureaucrat, an eternally optimistic Artist, a gruff Outsider and a sarcastic Spirit. As they begin to discover the details of what really happened, they find more than they bargained for. Should they expose the dark secrets they find and risk their society’s destruction? Or should  they sacrifice their lives and let the lies continue in order to preserve the way of life that has given them all peace and safety for thousands of years?

Poll Question:

Which cover do you prefer?:

A) The Fall of House Nemeni

B) Mandatory Paradise

Take Our Poll

There were aspects I liked about both covers, but due to the resolution issues I might contemplate using a different artist for the second Allmother’s Fire book than I used for the first one.  I personally like this new one more, but I am curious what my readers think.

Next Blog: THE RELEASE OF MANDATORY PARADISE!  Woo  hoo!

Interview with A. E. Marling

Today we have an interview with  A. E. Marling.  He is the author the best selling “Brood of Bones” a very unique epic fantasty.  This enthralling mystery has a complex and well detailed world and it comes highly recommended.

MD: This world is so original it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s start with this world’s religious/supernatural elements? Can you briefly describe the role Enchantress’, the Bright Palms, Feasters, and any other devotes of gods/goddesses in this world?

Briefly describe? No, I can’t.

I will say the Bright Palms disbelieve in all gods and hold nothing sacred except the heroic labors of the common man. That they also shun wealth puts them at odds with the enchantresses, who require jewels and gold for their craft. The Bright Palms also object to dread illusionists stalking the night, the Feasters.

MD: A lot of little details not often described in most fictions (such as clothes and jewelry and other accessories) seem to have a supreme importance in the book? Was this a conscious decision due to the personality of the main protagonist, or where their other reasons involved?

Jewels are the cogs and gears on which the protagonist’s magic turns. She also carves them as a hobby, and they’re a solace and a distraction for her in a life made difficult by her condition of chronic sleepiness. Enchantress Hiresha feels ashamed that she sleeps more than she lives, and to her, the gowns she wears are shields against potential scorn.

MD: This book is written from one main perspective and still maintains several fully fleshed out ‘background’ characters. Was there a specific influence or reason you preferred the novel to be from the perspective of one characters? Was there any issues stemming from those limitations?

In Brood of Bones the protagonist searches for the sorcerer responsible for wronging the women of her city, drawing power from their unnatural pregnancies. The story is a mystery, and in that genre, first person is the norm. Perhaps you could call Brood of Bones the Dresden Files in a dress. In many dresses, to be precise.

MD: With the exception of Jenny most people seem unaware of their weaknesses, and sometimes strengths. Is this a reaction to the lack of this in many books, or was it an unconscious decision or is there another motivation behind it?

A spoonful of realism helps the fantasy go down, and in real life, people rarely admit to their own weaknesses.

MD: Was there any specific inspiration for this book? Was all of it an attempt not to be similar to other fantasy novels, as the plot, world, and characters are very unique? Did you create the world as a whole first, or did little parts of it come to you at different times?

Enchantress Hiresha, the protagonist in my story, must succeed in spite of her disease of sleepiness, which we might call Idiopathic Hypersomnia. Once I had crafted her character I chose a plot that I felt would most test her. I threw her into the situation that would most upset her, the worst thing that could happen to her, because I respect her as a character. Strange, she has not thanked me for it.

MD: What is your background as a writer? Have you written anything in the past or are you inspired by any particular writers or styles or other media?

I wrote my first fantasy novella after my freshman year in high school. In college, I found nothing gave me a greater urge to write than science lectures, and I sat through a lot of ‘em. I have yet to repent my fascination with fantasy and am intrigued by its grip on the human imagination.

I am inspired by Sir Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, Oscar Wilde, and PG Wodehouse.

MD: You delved right into events, with little explanation of the world or its characters. This means the reader has to keep up to understand what is happening or the importance of events, but gets rid of using clunky or artificial devices for explaining the world too. Was that the main reason for this style, or what other reasons (or reactions to other novels) were behind telling the story this way?

I respect the intelligence of my readers, and I assume they’re as impatient as I am to delve to the glittering vein of a story’s plot. I don’t feel the need to burden the narrative with every last facet of a fantasy world, and I trust readers to gather what they need to know based on the interactions between characters and the protagonist’s worries and musings.

MD: Are you planning other books with any of these characters? If not, why, if so, how connected will it be to the events of this book?

I have written two more stories set in the Lands of Loam, and one will feature Enchantress Hiresha as well as the Lord of the Feast. The other is a YA novel with an antihero protagonist. The former at least will be published this year. Currently I’m machinating novels beyond those.

 

MD: That’s all for this today!  Next blog: the new cover!

Inspiration (Order out of Chaos)

One of the most frequent questions a writer receives is “Where do you get your inspiration?”  The answer to that for most authors is varied.  Personally a lot of my novels or the worlds they take place in have been inspired by history.  Sometimes it’s an old or obscure culture, sometimes it’s a specific event.  I normally go far from the original thing that inspired me, but it’s a good jumping off point for ideas.  Once your characters are fleshed out they can constantly inspire you also. Even though they are just constructs good characters react to things in ways even the author may not expect, creating future plots and ideas.

That’s good for the overarching plot but what about specific details?  If your protagonists are in a fantasy world and travelling a lot, you may have to come up with a few dozen cultures/cities/tribes in a very short time. You could once again “steal” from other sources like history or repurposing other fictional characters (take Boss Hogg and put him in a Ninja culture and boom, instant interesting character) but after a while it might feel forced or repetitive.  Many fantasy worlds are almost exactly like ours, with some serial numbers filed off and one or two minor changes to food or dress.  You can normally figure out which ancient culture they are and after seeing most of “Europe” you expect to meet the “Scandinavian” culture of the world and like clockwork you do, three chapters later.

When your normal inspirations take away your predictability you must do something to leap out of the rut you have created.  Something perfect for new ideas is finding a way to be inspired randomly.  My new go to resource for that is the random button on Wikipedia.  You can get an insanely wide spread of ideas from people, from cultures,  art,  and ideas.  In the current book I am writing, two of the characters need to go to a place to retrieve something.  I knew the plot ramifications from this, I knew the thing to be retrieved, but I had not fully fleshed out where they were going, as it was not as important.  All that was necessary was that the place was exotic, and differed greatly from where the characters originate.

I clicked on the random button and got a country, an article about an energy activist, and information about a type of rock.  My mind began to create order from this chaos, and I thought about what could possibly connect those three very diverse Wiki articles.  I let the three ideas stew in my mind for about twenty minutes, and a great new location was born!  You still have to create the ideas and write the scenes, but a tool like this is a great way to use random information to guide you.

My personal writing style probably would not allow me to use this to create over arching actual plots.  Most of my plotting is either generated from how the characters react to the situations they are in, or are thought of in advance to guide the story.  However there are still parts of all novels that are not thought of until specific scenes are reached, and using this can help with those “mini plots.”  Honestly any way to randomly generate information can help.  You could flip through a large book like a dictionary, random searches on google or even flip on the TV and go to three channels if you wanted to synthesize something.  The important thing is as a writer your mind is already good at finding connections between unrelated things, and this just a great way to jump start this process.

Today’s Poll

Last I checked last week’s poll was tied, or within one vote of being so.  This means I honestly do not know yet if I am going to take The Fall of House Nemeni off of its exclusivity with kindle or keep their one last time.

This poll will be on Mandatory Paradise.  It’s twice the size of Fall of House Nemeni, and self-contained.  Due to the size I was thinking of pricing it at 4.99 (still less than commercial paperbacks and any fast food meals not bought off the dollar menu).  Besides the size of it, if I don’t it will feel weird pricing my next book at 3.99 also.  However, I don’t want to “price” this book off of peoples casual consideration list.

Should Mandatory Paradise be:

1)3.99

2)4.99

Take Our Poll

World Info:

Since it is the book coming out shortly, I will once again focus on this world.  The main religious ceremony of Nimoa, the island this takes place on, is the sacred Bull Dance.  Twelve Priests and Twelve Priestesses “dance” with the bulls.  This is highly ritualized and include using “labrys” sacred axes that are found covering the labyrinth in the city’s walls.  The goal is not to kill the bull, but to move with it.

As said in a previous blog the clergy raise energy to work their miracles through dance, and this is a dance that most of the island participates in.  The energy drawn that day sustains most of the citizens so they do not have to eat for the next month.  Part of the reasons this island is Paradise is because no one ever goes hungry, as long as they show up at their monthly dance.

Sample Chapter for Mandatory Paradise and It’s Easier to Walk the Path a Second Time

I now have up the first chapter of Mandatory Paradise, my soon to be released Epic Fantasy Thriller.  It is not part of the Allmother’s Fire trilogy or even set in the same world.  It is a self-contained novel, and I only plan to write in this world again with short stories and the like.  You can click here or go the link at the top that says “Sample Chapter for Mandatory Paradise.”

It feels a little bit easier this time to do the final things needed to get a completed manuscript done.  The “Race” to finish everything seems familiar now. Formatting is not so bad once you learn a few tricks.  This novel was already done before I started the Allmother’s Fire Trilogy, but it has been easier to adapt properly as I do rewrites and accept edits.

I am in talks with an artist (A different one than what I am using for the Allmother’s Fire Trilogy) and I feel more confident describing what I would like this time around.  I hope to have that cover in the next week or so.  I have a final editor doing a final pass on the manuscript before I get it ready to publish.

As for when it will be published, I expect it to be ready before, or at Gencon,  (around August 16th) so I can market the book then.  The last time I was this close I was panicking, not knowing how to do this properly and not focusing on the right things (it should have been edited more, frankly, but that was my own impatience.)

After the results of the recent polls this is the most likely description. Small changes to it, including favorite parts of other descriptions are encouraged in the comments or email (the below is actually adapted from someone’s re wording of the “option B” from my poll.

Alnanla has not always enjoyed her life as a Priestess and a teacher, but she, like every citizen of the Island of Nimoa, has always had her needs met. At night she gazes up at the energy shield that keeps everyone safe from the flying monstrosities of legend, and wants more than just existing in her pre-ordained role. When hundreds of innocents are massacred, she finds herself the prime suspect. To clear her name, she teams up with a grieving Bureaucrat, an eternally optimistic Artist, and a gruff Outsider. As they begin to discover the details of what really happened, they find more than they bargained for. Should they expose the dark secrets they find and risk society’s destruction? Or should they quietly disappear to preserve their way of life?

The second novel in the trilogy is doing well, and at this rate I will easily make my own milestone to finish it within this calendar year.  It’s been so easy to write it, and I think feedback from my first novel has a lot to do with that.  Not only do I feel like I have learned as a write since the first one, I feel I know more of what my audience wants too.  Working in a vacuum with only a couple of friends for feedback can be disheartening, and the overwhelmingly positive response of the actual first book released has gotten me over any writer’s block periods pretty quickly.

Also, a road already tread once is much easier to follow the second time.  I recommend anyone going through this the first time to just breathe, and not panic, because it will be a lot simpler later.  That and the panic cause more problems than it helps.

An Epic Fantasy Thriller has the pacing and plot expected from a modern day thriller like James Rollins, Brad Meltzer, Steig Larson, or Tom Clancy.  However it has the trappings and expanse that one expects from an Epic Fantasy with its own culture, world, and magic system.   The difference is there is no magic MacGuffin of Awesome that will defeat the evil Dark Lord.  Survival is what is at stake, no one can be trusted, and on top of that your enemy might shoot fire out of a spear.

Today’s Poll

So originally I was publishing Mandatory Paradise so that when my Exclusive period for The Fall of House Nemeni ended I would still have 1 book available to be in the Kindle Select Program.  However, it has come to my attention that a very major promotion will occur after my current exclusive period ends.  No matter what, I will have Mandatory Paradise available for it.  However the last promotion got a lot of exposure for my book, and I am pretty sure that is where all my good Goodreads reviews came from.  That makes me tempted to renew The Fall of House Nemeni as Kindle exclusive for 3 more months (around August 21st)and that means it would not be on the nook till around Thanksgiving.  I definitely think it was wise to do this three month period of exclusivity, but forcing my Nook readers to have to wait 6 months total before they can have any books?

Poll Should I keep The Fall of House Nemeni exclusive three more months?

a)Yes

b)No

Take Our Poll

Also if anyone has any questions about the next book, let me know!

Interview with Dave Meek

Today’s interview is with Dave Meek, author of Stalker Squadron a modern or slightly future techno thriller.  He is a member of the Genre Underground, and he has some great real world experience to bring to his exciting novels!

MD: There was a lot of precise military details, from tech to chain of command in this book.  What is your military background?

Dave:  I spent eight years as a naval flight officer.  I was a flight navigator and an airborne communications officer with over 2,000 flight hours.  That’s a lot for one tour with a squadron, but that was the nature of the work.  My first assignment was a unique squadron that flies highly classified missions.  Most of what we did was strategically, rather than tactically, oriented.  After that assignment, I rotated to an anti-submarine warfare training center, which was very different from my squadron.  It was there that I worked with ex-military contractors.  In short, I pretty much lived the foundation of what I used for the military material in the book.

MD: How much of the details in this book were from personal experience, how much was researched, and how much was fabricated?

Dave: What I find most interesting about the story’s technology is that it holds up so well.  I originally wrote the story in 1998, back when drones were basically remote-controlled post-war aircraft used for target practice for fighter pilot training and weapons testing.  At that time, people were just starting to suggest using drones for spying or carrying weapons.

In 1998, I had just finished a contract as technical writer for Intel Corporation, so I had a good understanding of leading-edge computer technology, the direction of development, and the future potential.  I also did considerable research into military aviation technology in addition to my own military experience.  Combined, what I learned was that by the time we see the “leading edge” technology, it’s actually old tech and nearly obsolete.  The pipeline that we don’t see is already full.  What we consider “leading edge” is often 5-10 years old.

So what I did with the story was to ask not, “What’s next?” but, “What’s after that?”  Basically, I assumed “what’s next” had happened and used that vantage point to better see what was after that.  I tried to imagine what was actually just entering the pipeline.  Based on what we’re seeing now, I think I hit the mark.

The downside was that when I finally got an agent in 2000 and shopped the story around, no one would pick it up.  We got several responses that the story was “science fiction” rather than techno-thriller or action-adventure.  My agent asked if we should rebrand it as science fiction, but I know science fiction well enough to know this story isn’t true science fiction, nor could I make it so.  Now, if one keeps up with this sort of thing, you’ll see that we are preparing to deploy drones that are almost at the level of the Stalkers in my story.

As for the people and places, I researched just about everything, and used my research as a foundation for fabrication.  So the technology was 90 percent research and 10 percent fabricated, which consisted mostly of how I combined separate technologies into a new whole.  As for the rest, it’s roughly 40 percent research and 60 percent fabrication.  Most of the fabrication comes from assembling something new from a variety of separate parts.

MD : Kate is a very original protagonist for a techno thriller, and very three dimensional.  What where you influences for her as a character (literary, real life, anything else)?

Dave: First of all, thanks for the compliment!  As a writer, it’s always a joy to hear that a reader has enjoyed a story and its characters.

Now, to answer your question, Kate’s character was influenced by everything you mentioned and more.  Frankly, I find a lot of “strong” women characters to be guys in drag.  But a woman doesn’t need to act like a guy to be strong.  In fact, the strong women I’ve known have all been strong in a very female sort of way.  I’m talking about women who have raised four or five kids on their own after being widowed.  I grew up near quite a few families like that during the time of the Vietnam War.  I also read stories written by women.  There’s even a little Sigourney Weaver thrown into Kate.

MD: All of the characters in this book have their own goals and drives, and most can even clash with their allies and friends.  As a reader, I loved this and it drove the plot in interesting directions.  Was it a conscious decision to do this, and as a writer did you let the plot change based on the individual drives?  Or where these goals each people had created when you made the characters for the specific point of reaching certain places in your plot?

Dave: I’ve been on a lot of teams and projects in the military, the private sector, and the public sector.  The reality is that people have shared goals and their own goals, and sometimes those different goals clash.  I wanted that sort of realism in my story.

I was very careful to ensure that each side, the good guys and the bad guys, had their own goals and drives that often clashed.  At the same time, the good guys’ differences were all focused in the same direction, and the bad guys’ differences were all focused on separate directions.

MD: For a very Political based book (as anything dealing with the White House and interactions with other countries is) you definitely stayed away from having the characters be from specific parties or even overall espousing specific political views.  Was this done intentionally to make the book itself be non-political?  Was it so that politics would not get in the way of the story or other reasons?

Dave: Politics is a very hot topic, especially these days, and emotions often run high. As a writer, I want my books to have as wide an appeal as possible.  On the other hand, Stalker Squadron deals with a conspiracy against the president of the United   States, and things don’t get much more political than that.  I felt I owed my readers a story that people from all parts of the political spectrum could enjoy.  So I tried to distill the common elements at both ends of the political extremes, which is basically, “grab power, push it to the max, and don’t compromise.”  That’s an oversimplification, of course, but the idea was to present things in a way that everyone relates to without being offensive to anyone.  It’s a tightrope walk.

MD: Your Chapters contained multiple character, time, and location viewpoints (separated by when and where each scene took place).  Taking this into account, what did you use to define when you wanted a new chapter to start?

Dave: I treated each chapter as a separate, small story within the larger story.  I felt that, within reason, each chapter had to be somewhat self-contained.  It wasn’t always easy to define the limits, and of course each chapter needed linkage to the rest of the story.  But this approach helped the story build step-by-step.  I also took advantage of chapter breaks to control the pace and build suspense.

MD: What is you writing experience/background?  Have you written anything before?

Dave: My interest in writing started when I was 14.  I enjoyed reading stories and watching stories told in movies and TV shows.  At some point, I realized someone had to tell those stories, and I was awed by the idea that a person could take the vaporous images in his mind, put them on paper, and have the same images appear in another person’s mind.  At that time, I tried writing short stories simply by writing the events as I imagined them.

In college, I took a class in which the entire semester was spent reading and analyzing Homer’s Odyssey.  It was then that I was introduced to the structure of story telling and the power of symbolism.  Good storytelling is more than stitching together a bunch of events.

Since leaving the Navy, I worked for 11 years as a technical writer, mostly in the computer industry for companies such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard, as well as with state government entities.  On the side, I’ve written a bunch of short stories, some of which I consider to be fairly good.  I’ve also written two novel-length stories, one of which was a 900-page monster.  Neither of those is worthy of publishing, but they honed my ability to write structured, consistent stories that hold a reader’s attention.  Stalker Squadron was the first story in which I did those things while simultaneously my writing began to come fluidly, without being forced.  (Well, mostly.)

MD: Are there plans to do more books with any of these characters?  Or do you prefer to write self-contained books?  Either way, why?

Dave: I always start by envisioning a self-contained book.  I find this approach helps me focus on the story at hand; otherwise, I’d get distracted too easily.  Also, although the idea of a series or spin-off always hovers around in the background, I figure that if the original story succeeds, those considerations will take care of themselves.  If the story doesn’t succeed, a series or spin-off probably won’t succeed either, so there’s little point in my thinking about it too soon.

Now that Stalker Squadron is done, I have plans for a spin-off with Major Eckland and his team facing off against terrorists.  I find the storyline very timely and intriguing, and I’ve made extensive notes.  However, I’m currently working on another story that suddenly grabbed my imagination and won’t let go.  But Eckland’s time in the limelight will come next.

MD: What writers or other media have influenced your writing?

Dave: Number one is Homer’s Odyssey, which is perhaps the greatest story every told.  It spans the entirety of human experience and psychology.  Our technology and mores have changed since Homer’s day, but basic human qualities have not.  The next greatest influence is Joseph Heller’s Catch 22.  It’s nearly a handbook on human psychology and behavior, although it’s definitely skewed toward the darker side of the human psyche.  After that, there are a number of influences, but none that particularly strong, except perhaps an ever-present but somewhat mild Hemingway influence.

MD: What is your next book and how far through into it are you?

Dave: I just started chapter 7 of my next book, and it’s a complete departure from Stalker Squadron.  It’s a fantasy about a secret society living within our society.  It’s a worldwide yet extraordinarily small society.  They have special powers, of course, but they aren’t strong enough to survive discovery by society at large.  An internal power struggle threatens this secret society and the outcome of that struggle will have consequences for them and the rest of us.

For a variety of reasons, I’m very excited about this next book.  First, M. Todd Gallowglas is helping me with it, and he’s an amazingly talented and creative writer.  I have some characters, and he has others that conflict with them.  It all makes for some very challenging but exciting writing.  Also, every story contains a “special world” in which the characters operate, and every special world has its own rules.

For example, the special world of Stalker Squadron was that of military pilots, computer experts, high technology, and politics.  The characters had to behave and react according to the inherent rules of that world.  It was a fun story to write.  But it was somewhat limiting too.  They couldn’t violate the rules of physics and aviation, the limitations of technology, and the realities of politics.

With this new story, we have created an entirely new society with its own rules of behavior.  Their powers have special rules as well.  It’s challenging but fun to see how we can manipulate these rules to achieve interesting effects.  And for me, the most fun is seeing how I can push the rules to the limit, to reach logical results that surprise the reader and yet are entirely consistent with the special world.  And I’m finding the story telling is so fluid that it’s completely unforced.  I can’t wait to see what readers think of it.

Very Important Nonexistent Back of the E book (synopsis)

Just because there is not physically the back of an e-book to look at does not make the description that occurs there with traditional books any less important.  The Product Description of an e-book, the Synopsis, is the main peek into your novel that a possible reader has.  Sure, in Amazon, they get a chance to preview a few chapters of your book; later on they may read reviews on Amazon or Goodreads.  The text that gives them the motivation to look at reviews or sample chapters however is the book synopsis, making it incredibly important.

I do not believe there is honestly any one specific way to do an excellent book synopsis.  At its heart what you want to do is obvious; create a desire for your prospective reader to read your book.  However different people respond to different things and each novel has its own unique challenges in how to give a compelling summary.

Some people only want to read a book if the characters sound like something that hooks them. However what if you are doing a novel with enough twists that you do not want who your protagonists are to be obvious from looking at the back of the book?  It might be due to rapid death of obvious protagonists, cases where the protagonists and antagonists switch, or even people who seem to be background characters at first are the true ones the spotlight will be on.  When this happens vague descriptions help, or focusing on the character aspects you think will hook people, even if it misrepresents the novel (such as focusing on someone who seems a hero but will be a villain, if the description of the person is compelling inside a synopsis).

Other times the plot itself has so many twists (think like the original Matrix) that an accurate description might ruin the impact of the narrative.  In these cases one must focus on the characters in a synopsis, point out the compelling points of the obvious narrative, and then give small hints of the hidden twists (enough to intrigue) without giving it away.

In the fantasy and sci fi genres (and modern horror or paranormal books) just talking about the world and the types of people might be able to help hook a reader, but only if it is unique enough.  Merely stating there is magic and an evil god that must be defeated won’t hook a fantasy reader any more than a paranormal reader really cares if you have a vampire werewolf romance.  This technique can be used in contemporary non supernatural novels too, think about how many movie trailers start with the phrase “ IN A WORLD…”

One of the best techniques, and it can combine several of the above focuses, is to have a description that makes the reader curious in general.  Make statements or ask questions that makes them demand to know more.  The larger the questions, or the more paradoxical the revelations seem, the more your reader will want the book just to assuage their curiosity.

No matter how good your book is, if you can’t hook your reader with at least one of three tools (good synopsis, great cover, positive word of mouth) no one will try it in the first place.  I will be covering some of the others in future blogs.  As for now, all of these things are on my mind as we get closer to releasing “Mandatory Paradise.”  Here are some possible synopsis. This may be familiar to long time readers of this blog, when I was getting close to releasing the Fall of House Nemeni.  Like before, pick which description you like below. However, please feel free to correct or enhance the current ones, or offer entirely new synopsis’ in the comments or PM/email to me.  You can also combine elements of multiple ones, but still please choose one of the below synopsis as where I should start my framework.

Synopsis for Mandatory Paradise

A) On the Island of Nimoa everything is seemingly perfect.  All of its citizens needs are met from shelter to sustenance to entertainment.  Everyone has a role assigned to and safety is guaranteed.  The monsters cavorting in the skies outside the city ensures no one desires to leave.  A massacre annihilates these absolutes for a Priestess, A Bureaucrat, and an Artist and they find themselves fleeing everything they trusted while they search for the truth. Will they be able to reveal a conspiracy that has existed since the foundation of their island bound empire?  If so, are they willing to give up their lives and maybe even their existence just to have the facts come to light?

B) Alnanla has not always enjoyed her life as a Priestess and a Teacher, but at least she has always had her needs met like all the citizens of the Island of Nimoa.  She has gazed at night up at the energy shield surrounding the sky of her island that keeps the flying monstrosities of legend out. Despite the fact this keeps her whole society free of strife, she has still wanted more. When a massacre occurs and she is the prime suspect she must team with a grieving Bureaucrat and an eternally optimistic Artist to find out what really happened.  In doing so they reveal a conspiracy wrapped around every aspect of their society.  Should they expose it and other dark secrets they find, risking their entire society’s destruction?  Or should they quietly disappear into the night in order to preserve their way of life?

C) The shield of energy that surrounds and protects Nimoa from the monsters outside of the island means that all the people’s are met and no harm can come to any of it’s citizens.  This truth is proven false when a horrific massacre occurs, and a teacher Priestess is blamed for it.  In her quest for truth and survival she finds allies in a wealthy Bureaucrat and an eclectic Artist as well as one who claims to come from beyond the shield. Can four people withstand a conspiracy and other dark secrets that have held their society together since it’s foundation?  More importantly, is it worth their own lives and a few lies to risk destroying a way of life that has given them all peace and safety for thousands of years?

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As for other news:

Mandatory Paradise is now on it’s final editor!  It has been through several, and this last edit is not really encountering any of the typos or normal issues that my drafts have had, due to the large amount of editors involved, and I am getting seriously excited.

The next Allmother’s Fire book is getting to about the 40% mark for the first draft, and part of that has already gone through multiple editors, as I plan to keep that up the whole time so as to minimize time  needed between when I finish my first draft and final edits.  At its current pace I may even have the second Allmother’s Fire in time for the Holidays!

World Info:

This time it will again be about Mandatory Paradise, since that will be released earlier.

On the Island of Nimoa each person has a role, and the magical things they can do have to do with those roles.  There are also two types of ways to sue the mana energy that is on the island, through moving the whole body or just ones hands.

Artists , Bureaucrats, and Craftsman work the mana energy with their hands to accomplish effects based on their roles (Artists make illusionary displays, Bureaucrats store and access information, Crafstman create, etc).

Soldiers, Priestess and Priests, Laborers and others of that nature most move their whole body to harness the energy and complete their tasks.  Be it dance, a memorized fighting style, or even the ritualized way one stomps grapes, the whole body must move for these amazing uses of the island’s energy to work.

It is said it is impossible for anyone to use both forms of body movement and hand movement, as they are inherently separate ways to access the gifts the island has given them.

Interview with Christopher Kellen

Today’s Interview is with Christopher Kellen, the author many books, including the highly popular “The Arbiter Codex.”  I conducted this interview after reading Elegy, and it is not necessary to have read the novel to enjoy the Interview.

MD:      Central to your entire novel is the concept of manna.  It drives everything about the plot and characters of this world.  Can you please describe it, and the things that make it a unique magic/energy source in contrast to things it may be compared to?

Christopher: There are many fantasy stories and worlds that deal with some kind of life force, some central source of energy that wizards or others can draw from. When I began writing ELEGY, my central hypothesis was: what if that life force was actually deadly to everyone it touched? What if it drove them mad, turned them into monsters, outright destroyed them?

 

After I solidified that idea in my head, I realized that if the good side of the life force (which I decided to call ‘manna’) was deadly, then the bad side must be even worse. If it also had a bad side, there must be someone who was immune to the deadly power.

 

As of my latest Arbiter Codex book, LEGACY, more about the source of the manna, where it came from and just why it’s so deadly have been revealed, but I’ll avoid going into more detail to avoid spoilers.

 

MD:        The title of the series is The  Arbiter Codex.  Could explain the roles of Arbiters in this world?

Christopher: Corrupted manna (that is, the ‘bad’ side I mentioned above) creates monsters. It turns normal things into hideous versions of themselves, and has actually nurtured strains of monsters going back generations that have become separate species.

 

The Arbiter’s job is to hunt down the places where the life force has become snarled. Normally, it flows like a river, but if someone exerts too much force on it, or if someone attempts to hoard it, the power spoils and becomes corrupted. This usually results in a great many terrible things: walking corpses, horrific monsters, and otherwise rational people gone insane. The Arbiters, working from their Tower, seek out those places, destroy the monsters, and return things to normal.

 

MD:     The Arbiters have a few unique pieces of equipment and the way they interact with manna.  Can you let us know of the heart blade, the manna blade and other things the Arbiters use to carry out their duty?

Christopher: I’ve dreamed about a crystalline sword for a long time. I have story fragments going back ten years or more that feature this particular concept, but none of them worked until I started writing ELEGY. There is heavy color symbolism featured in The Arbiter Codex, and the glow of the crystal manna swords represented it perfectly. It allows them to be instantly recognized, for no normal person could carry the power of the manna so closely to them.

 

The heartblade came out of a need to explain more about how the Arbiter’s world works. I debated heavily on just what it was that allowed the Arbiter to be immune to the power of the manna. Originally, the plan was for them to have been exposed to the power in small doses starting at a very young age, but that didn’t provide enough of the ‘hopeless world’ feeling that I wanted. Instead, I turned them into addicts; the heartblade is a tiny, needle-like blade that recharges itself over time (from a specific place, not from the manna as a whole) that must be driven into the Arbiter’s heart. It both recharges them and re-ups their immunity to the manna’s deadly influence. Without it, they would die.

 

MD:       The Pulp influences on your novels is very visible.  Let us know why you love this style of writing, and ways you incorporated it into your novel.

Christopher: I wrote ELEGY in 2008, for National Novel Writing Month. At the time, I had just finished a two-year stint as a graphic designer and formatter for a small press that was working with public domain properties like Tarzan, John Carter, and Lovecraft. During the process, I had learned a lot about the old pulp stories, and got introduced to Howard for the first time. I can’t really describe how immediately and thoroughly Howard’s work spoke to me. Around that time I was also introduced to Karl Edward Wagner, whose Kane stories I also count among my biggest influences, and I also discovered the work of Andrzej Sapkowski, the modern-day pulp writer of The Witcher.

 

From the moment I began writing, I imagined D’Arden Tal as a combination between Geralt of Rivia (the Witcher himself) and Solomon Kane – a religious zealot who is also an outsider, thought of with suspicion even though he is the only one who can save them.

 

Reading the pulp stories has led me to where I belong, I think. I’ve grown tired of stories where a ‘farmer’s boy’ finds some magic MacGuffin and saves the world from an overbearing evil. I like it when my characters are already competent before entering the story, when they’re already world-weary or at the top of their game. They face down some horrific evil, and they may change, or they may not. Conan took the crown of Aquilonia, but it never changed him. Wagner’s Kane was an immortal who never changed, no matter what he went through – he was always a magnificent bastard. Those are my favorite characters, and that’s what I’ve been striving for.

 

MD:      The novel moves along at a very steady pace that makes it hard to put down.  Is there anything specific you did to keep it that way, such as cut things out after your wrote it, make a conscious decision to not write anything that does not directly move the narrative along, etc?

Christopher: Well, I’m definitely glad that you feel that way!

 

Actually, ELEGY is sort of an interesting beast, because when I wrote it, I struggled for every word; and not in an angsty, ‘it-has-to-be-perfect’ way. For many years, it was very difficult for me to write any work, because they always came up short on the word count. I’d write what I felt was a complete short story and it would be 1,100 words. I’d try for a novel and get 13,000. Thankfully, this has now changed, but at the time it was very difficult.

 

Honestly, the reason that ELEGY is so tight is because every bit of plot was necessary to keep my words coming to hit the 50,000 goal for NaNoWriMo. In fact, in its first incarnation, ELEGY ended at precisely  50,000 words. I cleaned up a lot of the NaNo-isms and revised it so that it all flows together much more solidly now (and changed the ending significantly, which seems to be a theme for me) and it turned into a very tight, fast-paced (but short) novel.

 

MD:       Are all your novels set in the same world?  If not where else are they set in, and if so how do they tie together?

Christopher: Ever since I was very young, I’ve dreamed of having a world in which I could set multiple stories, at multiple times, in many different places. A world that I could explore, with characters that I loved.

 

At last, I think I’ve found that place, although I never expected it to come from where it did. When I wrote ELEGY, it was never supposed to have a sequel. It was just a discarded NaNo project. When I started revising it for submission to a now-defunct webzine, I began to realize that there was more potential in it than I had originally thought. It took a lot of thinking, but I finally decided that I would call the world “Eisengoth” and give it a heavily-Germanic influence.

 

Right now, I have three series set in this world of mine: The Arbiter Codex, The Elements of Sorcery (book 2 launched July 20, 2012), and Tales of Eisengoth.

 

The core story is found in the Arbiter Codex. The Elements of Sorcery is exploring the history of one of the secondary characters, the sorcerer Edar Moncrief. The Tales of Eisengoth contain other stories about the world, the characters, and their history.

 

MD:        The instant feeling a lot of people get when reading your novel is “Conan meets Star Wars.”  How would you describe your series in your own words, and how much of the above description seems true to you?

Christopher: I don’t disagree with that assessment, although the quasi-religious wanderer is inspired less by the Jedi than it is by Solomon Kane. The crystal swords certainly do evoke the idea of the lightsaber, which wasn’t entirely unintentional. I mean, come on. There’s pretty much nothing more awesome than a lightsaber!

 

Really, though, I like to think of my work as a spiritual aspirant to the great pulp work that has been mostly forgotten. People don’t think of Conan when they think of fantasy (a string of miserable adaptation attempts to bring it into the modern consciousness doesn’t help), they think of Tolkien, and Dragonlance, and Harry Potter (high fantasy, Dungeons-and-Dragons-derived-high-fantasy, and modern fantasy respectively).  I want to bring the idea of heroic fantasy back to life in my work: Howard, with modern sensibilities; and Lovecraft, with just the terrifying monsters, and without the horrifying racism.

 

MD:       What is your background with writing?  Any formal training, influences, or early projects you did that drive how you write?

Christopher: The only training I have is the thousands of books and stories that I’ve read. I’ve never formally studied the writing process, but I started reading very young, and I’ve never stopped.  I was also very fortunate to get brought into my parents’ D&D group at the tender age of 6, and when my Dungeon Master moved away, I became the DM for my group of friends at about age 12. That started me on the world-building process, and to this day I absolutely love gaming and collaborative storytelling.

 

Unfortunately, there’s also a downside to that last part: the tropes and methods of role-playing are so deeply ingrained in my consciousness that I often have to struggle against those instincts in order to write!

 

I started doing NaNoWriMo in 2005, and it was mostly just a way to have some fun during the month of November, since I kind of liked to write (but I would never finish anything that I started). Doing NaNo was really the propulsion that led me toward where I am now, and I would never have done that without my then-girlfriend (now my wife) telling me that I should.

 

All of those things combined, plus a healthy love for the methods of storytelling, some of Holly Lisle’s no-nonsense writing techniques, a deep desire to communicate, and a lot of encouragement are really what keeps me going.

 

MD:       Do you have any dream projects you would want to work on? This could include original takes on existing properties, genres you have not written in before, etc.

Christopher: Well, I wrote a science-fiction short story (available as Dutiful Daughter) which I need to turn into a full-blown novel at some point. That’s definitely on the horizon.

 

I’ve never been overall too comfortable working in other peoples’ worlds or with their characters; I’ve always preferred to work with my own. Still, as a creative exercise a few months ago I re-structured the plot of the video game Mass Effect 3 to fit my sensibilities, and that was a lot of fun as a thought experiment.

 

Right now, my dream is really to keep learning and growing; to try out different genres and different kinds of stories, and to keep improving my methods. If something else should come up along the way, I’ll take a look at it.

 

I’d also like to (at some point) do a collaboration with another author. I think working on story genesis with another person would be a lot of fun!

 

MD:     Do you have any novels coming up?  If so let us know more about them.

Christopher: Well, I just released Sorcerer’s Crime, which is Lesson II of the Elements of Sorcery, on July 20. Right now I’m back in the planning and initial drafting phase for a project which I’m tentatively describing as a ‘steampunk/fantasy political thriller’, which will be significantly different than anything I’ve done before.  Since it’s just in the initial phases, it’s hard to say when(or if, frankly) it might be done.

 

My short-range plans (next 6 months or so) also include the next entry in the Elements of Sorcery (since short fiction is much easier to write, edit and publish), and then I’ll get started on Book Three of the Arbiter Codex. Farther out than that… who knows?

Letting your Tapestry have Loose Threads (Foreshadowing)

One of the great techniques used to enhance a book is foreshadowing.  It easy to do wrong, such as doing it so heavy handed and obvious that there is no surprise when the eventual pay off happens because you expect it.  The other extreme is easy to accidentally do, to slip one line in the background and then not reference it again until a book or two later.  When this second thing happens some readers might not even think it was not truly planned out, but that you just randomly took something that happened and gave it significance after the fact (hint: see Lost).

I just saw “The Dark Knight Rises” and it my mind ended what I believe to be the best cinematic trilogy I have seen.  The primary reason for this is a lot of inventive foreshadowing from the earlier movies, that if it was not planned, was done so perfect that it seems so.  At the same time not all of it was expected either.  In the blog I will not directly spoil events that happened in that movie, but I will refer to techniques used (seriously, spoiler free, any examples I give illustrating points will not be from the movie but might be from my own books).

The best technique that I gleaned from the film was when hiding a plot thread that will have later significance but you do not want to make it too obvious at the time, is to have the conversation have a completely different set significance.  That way you can do something like tell a story that gives examples of how ruthless a character is.  The event’s told all point to this and focus on this.  During that story of the past however a character may be introduced as an example of an object lesson in how ruthless the antagonist is, but the seeds might be planted for that same person to come back later and be a character you have already met, without knowing the connection between the two.  The actuakl importnace of the character may also have nothing to do with the original display of ruthlessness.

Another good use to make foreshadowing have more of an affect is misdirection.  Purposely be heavy handed through something “obvious” like prophecy or even physical descriptions.  Make it so that it “must” happen a certain way and “of course” this person will grow up to be Captain.  At the same time you can plant many hints that another person could be Captain too, but “overwhelming evidence” points to the wrong person and only a second reading reveals how much the quiet young person in the corner was better suited all along, but looking at the obvious had obfuscated this.

The final technique I think I saw but did not have proof of was to purposely keep a few threads open, but not attach a reason for them yet. If you do it too often it can go back to the earlier flaw of being so obscure no one believes it was purposeful.  If only done a little bit though, such as knowing someone’s boyfriend left them under strange circumstances, or having a locket always around someone’s neck clues in the reader this is a mystery that might be important later. You do not necessarily have to even plan out what this may be, or you may have two or three ideas and he let the actual flow of the narrative dictate what is the most common sense conclusion and then use it.  No matter what letting a few loose threads fray at the end may help you weave a more beautiful tapestry later.

In case not all the announcements have made it to you I wanted let you know the results of polls and what is happening with the current books:

The second book in the Allmother’s Fire trilogy will now be called “Rise From the Sun Below.”  This book is past the one third mark, maybe around 37% complete or so for the firstfDraft.

The epic thriller fantasy novel will be called “Mandatory Paradise”.  Although sporadically edited by multiple editors in the past it is now a good 85% done through a longer very thorough editing.  The last sentence was not intended to offend any Leprechauns or their family (you know who you are).  Currently I am looking to see who I would want to do the cover Art, and plan to choose before the end of the month.

Just like I asked advice for titles, I will now get some vague advice towards the cover, to have something to give the cover artist.  This is for the Mandatory Paradise novel.

The Mandatory Paradise novel cover should be:

1)Mainly symbolic.  Although it can tie into things from the book, the cover should reinforce the name of the book.

2)An Actual scene: A specific occurrence from the book should be the focus:

3)People or Objects or Locations from the book: It does not need to be an actual scene, but it should represent physical people or objects that are unique to the book

4)A combination of these things.  If you choose this, please clarify what you mean in the comments below!

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World Tid Bit:

Since my next focus (not in terms of what I am writing, but in terms of marketing and getting published) is Mandatory Paradise, I will start giving tidbits about it.  This will also help when it comes to ideas for the story description.

The book takes place on an Island named “Nimoa.”  On this island it’s inhabitants live pretty perfect lives.  Their nation houses them, gives them all the sustenance and wine they want, entertains them, and gives them roles to carry out in their lives.  They are safe, never knowing war, and rarely do the Legions even have to act against common criminals, for they are few.  Why have crime when you get everything you want anyway?

Part of why they know they are safe is because the whole island is surrounded by a mystical shield.  On the other side of the shield they can see all the monsters and myths of legends careening in the sky, and destroying the outside world.  As long as they listen to what they are told they are safe, happy and protected, right?

So what happens when a massacre occurs that makes their entire existence seem suspect?

That is the setting for Mandatory Paradise.