Daniel Sherrier's Blog, page 56

Come to the Hanover Book Festival

 

If you’re in or around Central Virginia Saturday, please stop by and meet a whole bunch of authors. Maybe even buy their books. Since my books are only digital, I won’t be handling any money, but I will have free samples and cards to hand out. Come say hello!

Sorry to those of who you aren’t in Virginia. I’ll make sure my next post is less geographically specific.

Making paranormal rules is fun!

This article was originally written for C.J. Brightley’s blog during the Blogger Book Fair, and I’m re-posting here in case you missed it.

I’m writing a series about ghosts, but before I started, I had to figure something out: What on Earth can ghosts do?

If I was writing a series about police officers, I’d need to research and learn about the laws governing their behavior on the job. If I was writing about tigers, I’d need to learn everything I could about tigers. But there aren’t any concrete, factual accounts of ghosts. Tons of stories and legends are out there, but to what degree my stories conform to existing folklore is entirely up to me.

That means I got to make up my own rules, and I couldn’t get started on the first draft until I sorted out what some of those rules were. I was certainly free to change my mind along the way—and I did—but I needed a tentative rulebook to get started.

The series premise shaped the rulebook. RIP is about a guy who perceives ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh-and-blood people. Physical interaction with ghosts is the cornerstone of the whole thing here, so that led to my first decision: Ghosts would appear in human shape only, and only their own human shape. No shape-changing, no turning into mist, no floating bedsheets. These ghosts are people.

To set my main character apart, I wanted him to be the only living person who could perceive these ghosts. If he can see, hear, smell, and touch ghosts, then no one else can.

That brought me to my next question—how do these ghosts interact with the living?

But before I could answer that, I needed to figure out a bit more about these post-life folks, namely why are they still here? Why didn’t they go somewhere else? Why aren’t they ready for Heaven or Hell yet?

Then I realized another key component of the series. These ghosts aren’t ready for Heaven or Hell. The truly good and truly evil people went straight up and straight down, respectively. Anyone who’s a ghost on Earth is in purgatory. These people still need to prove themselves worthy of either destination, so even the “good” ghosts are deeply flawed, and the “bad” ghosts couldn’t have been all that terrible in life.

And that brought me to two main categories of ghosts—those who are trying to improve themselves to earn entry into Heaven, and those who have given up and are just doing whatever they darn well please until Hell sucks them in. To spice things up, they don’t know for a fact that Heaven and Hell exist. They have a vague notion that there’s a better place and a worse place, but it’s up to them whether they want to take that notion seriously.

So now I had to figure out how ghosts earn their way to Heaven and Hell. Basically, what supernatural powers do they have to help or hurt the living? Direct physical contact is already ruled out. Instead of physical, then, how about…emotional?

Yes. These ghosts can adjust emotions. That could easily come to resemble mind control, so I decided they can’t create emotions. They can only work with whatever the person is actually feeling. How much they can dial something up or down depends on the unique strength of that particular ghost. The bad ghosts, naturally, have an easier time manipulating people. All ghosts are empathic, and emotions are basically the only thing they can feel.

That didn’t seem like quite enough, so the wicked ghosts can also conjure minor hallucinations, and some are better at it than others. The strongest can manipulate small objects, not with much precision, just to fling a pebble across the room, for example, or knock a glass off a counter. The bad ghosts are the antagonists, so they need to be formidable to some extent.

The good ghosts need to be more limited. They can’t move objects or make people hallucinate, but the good ones can visit people in their dreams and try to communicate with them there. It’s all trippy and ambiguous, though. Can’t be too easy.

I also had to consider what it would feel like to be one of these ghosts. If people can’t touch them, then the ghosts can’t touch people. They can’t touch anything. They need to be able to see and hear. I could allow myself that convenience, and I decided it’s better not to bother explaining why those two senses still function. It’s just a weird quirk. But they can’t touch, smell, or taste. All that sensation is denied to them. They can see and hear the world, but it feels like it’s nothing. Living people are like ghosts to them.

As I wrote, additional details emerged, such as how ghosts are always flying, even if it looks like they’re standing or sitting. Everything is immaterial to them, so how could they stand? They’re just acting in a way that makes them feel human.

That’s basically how you build a paranormal world. Start with your main idea and develop the rules around it, and each new idea will lead to more ideas. Then fine-tune these concepts as you write.

It’s fun. You get to make up all the rules! The hardest part is getting started. So, go and get to work.

Limited-time editing discount

By the way, I also do manuscript editing, and I’m having a “Welcome, August” sale! (Note that the comma indicates I am welcoming August. Without the comma, “welcome” would be an adjective modifying August.)

I usually charge $6 per 1,000 words, but for the first seven days of August, I’m knocking off 10 percent, bringing it down to $5.40 per 1,000 words. Editing a full 100,000-word novel would then cost only $540, which is a price with many bargain-like qualities. As usual, I’ll edit the first five pages for free so you can see how I work.

All you have to do is contact me by Aug. 7. If your book isn’t quite ready, that’s fine. I’ll hold the price.

You can reach me at daniel@sherrierbooks.com.

(Sorry, but I don’t do erotica, nor would you want me to.)

Earths in Space episode 3 deleted scene!

Presenting…an Earths in Space deleted scene! This was in the upcoming third novella before I decided to start over with a new approach. It’s deleted for a reason. This isn’t wonderful — too much straight exposition, for example — but it’s a chance to meet the characters, and it’s a little teaser for what the plot will entail:

*****

The octahedron was lying on one of its faces, while the artificial gravity within hummed along to keep everything in its proper place. Gilmore knelt on top of the hull, tightening the last few screws of his masterful propulsion work and shoving the units back into their casings.

He had worked in peace and quiet for most of the time, but now people were present. He liked some of them.

Amena was his favorite, not that he’d ever admit it. He even tried to hide this fact from himself, until he needed to explain the unusual palpitations that seemed to occur only in her presence.

He had never seen such a natural beauty. He would almost consider her hypnotically pretty, but only lesser men were prone to hypnotism. There was more to her, though.

Just look at her now, about to brief her crew on their next mission. That smile. That fidgety excitement at the thought of something new. He envied how she saw everything. She stirred protective impulses he thought had atrophied years ago.

Right behind Amena was her sidekick. Kaden leaned lightly against the wall, but he didn’t slouch. He was always alert and always calm. Gilmore considered him a nice enough fellow, though he was nicer to women. Men needed to make sure they were nice to Amena if they didn’t want to become acquainted with Kaden’s highly trained fists.

Gilmore could do without Ballard, the ex-Navy SEAL who was ex for a reason. Ballard tried, sometimes, but never hard enough. The jerk didn’t deserve to be better looking than Gilmore, and he certainly did not deserve to be ogling Amena like that. Gilmore attempted to scare him off with a glare, but he persisted, which wound up being okay. Amena was oblivious to Ballard, and he did deserve to be beneath her notice.

Jem was, as usual, upside-down. This time, she was doing a handstand, but only using a single arm at a time. Her blood must have been a frequent visitor to her head. She had her moments. They tended to alternate between mildly impressive and considerably annoying.

The last person in the room was the most sensible. Gilmore considered Mariana the only other professional in this whole operation. She blended book smarts and street smarts better than anyone he ever met.

“Stop that,” she told Ballard.

“What…”

“You know.”

She was easily his second favorite. Intellectually, he understood she should have been first, but Mariana never induced palpitations.

“Alright, let’s get started,” Amena said, her arms unable to remain still. “Pluto!”

Ballard’s face went askew. “Did you say…?”

“Yes! We’re going to Pluto. The planet, not the mythological figure. Ex-planet. Poor thing.”

Ballard shook his head and crossed his arms, knowing damn well how loudly he sighed. “Do we think there’s life on Pluto?”

“You do realize she’ll explain everything even without your helpful prompts,” Gilmore said.

Amena smirked. “Ballard, your objections have already been anticipated and soundly rejected. So, anyway, on the subject of Pluto…” The corner of her mouth curled up as she let out a little laugh. Then she got serious. “There’s this long ship in orbit over it, or I guess I should say most of the ship is up there. Part of it crashed onto the surface. The telescope’s picking up a faint energy signature, so there’s a chance someone might still be alive somewhere in there. Of course, our information’s about five or so hours out of date, because light’s such a slowpoke, so step one is to pop over there and get the real-time view, and we’ll take it from there.”

“Excuse me,” Kaden said, raising a hand. Unlike Ballard, his curiosity was genuine. “The telescope picks up energy readings?”

“It’s a special telescope,” Amena said.

Sela entered, carrying a stack of strange clothes nearly as tall as she was—not that that was saying much.

Kaden understood the specialness of the telescope, and he immediately went to relieve Sela of the burden. “I got that.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling at him.

“Now you show up,” Gilmore said. “When the work is nearly complete.”

“Are you suggesting there’s any aspect of the work I could have performed better than you?” Sela asked.

“Not even remotely.”

Mariana explained to her, “His yelling missed its audience.”

“I figured as much, but I had an idea,” Sela said.

*****

A better version of this story is coming out later this year, along with two other new novellas that have already been written. For now, the first pair of novellas is available for your reading pleasure.

Adaptation

RIP was originally planned as a television series, as I’ve previously mentioned.

I had already written about four and a half TV episodes, some more polished than others. The first episode, “Hi, I Kill Dead People,” became the first e-book, “Touch.”

Having the TV scripts gave me a head-start, but plenty of work remained. When you write a script, you’re not supposed to try to direct it. Don’t choreograph every last little bit of action. Don’t tell the actors exactly what to do. Describe a setting in a sentence, not a paragraph and certainly not paragraphs. You also need to avoid figurative language. The action should only describe what we’ll see on the screen—don’t put some metaphorical image in the reader’s mind that makes them think of something else entirely. This does, however, give you more time to focus on getting the dialogue and story structure right.

So when I started converting the first RIP to a novelette, I had the dialogue and structure ready to go, to a large extent. I made changes, of course. There’s always room for improvement, especially when you’re adapting something you haven’t looked at in a couple of years. In fact, the ability to get in the characters’ heads allowed me to trim some dialogue, which cleaned up the overall product.

The hardest part was filling in the description around the dialogue, but as I did, I discovered new depth to the characters. I knew I couldn’t rely on actors to develop the body language, for example, so I had to figure it all out on my own, and I learned new things about them and their world. What initially seemed daunting turned out to be enlightening.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using the TV script format as your first draft (though it doesn’t hurt to experiment and try something different once in a while, even inadvertently). I’m using all my pre-existing content in the upcoming RIP vol. 1 Choices, which will feature the first four novelettes and a short story. The first two episodes follow their script versions pretty closely, but the second two diverge considerably, though some dialogue exchanges remain. Volume 2 will continue the novelette format, but I’ll write it as a book from the start.

There was one TV episode I had written more than half of, and I started converting it to a novelette, but I decided it put too much focus on new characters we might never see again. That would’ve been fine for episodic television, but the books need to concentrate on Rip, Serissa, and Kalli. So I scrapped most of that one and reduced it to a short story interlude.

And that brings me to a major plus of bringing the television structure to books (specifically the season-long arc TV structure, not the procedural structure). I find it to be a good sprawl deterrent. It helps keep me focused on what’s important. It breaks the overall arc into 13,000-word chunks. Each chunk has its own beginning, middle, and end, but they still build on each other to form a greater whole.

I stumbled into this experiment by accident, but it’s been interesting. Writing for different mediums has improved my overall writing, as it’s gotten me to focus on different elements. But if I ever write another teleplay, I’ll need to remind myself to just say no to figurative description and inner monologues.

Get to Know…Margaret Taylor

Today’s visitor from the Blogger Book Fair is science-fiction and fantasy author Margaret Taylor. Welcome, Margaret!

Tell us about your two new books.

I have two works out at the moment.

A First Love Never Dies, which is Book 1 of the Spi-Corp Series. This book starts you out here on Earth and then gives you a brief introduction into the “Universe As I See It.” It’s the story of Janel Canton who was bullied horrifically in her younger years, kidnapped from Earth shortly after she graduated from high school and sold on the Alien Flesh Markets of the Jaikalor Consortium. She comes back to Earth just in time for her 20-year reunion with the intention of finding her one true love, Jake Reeves. I won’t say anything else, because it would spoil it.

Wolf’s Paradox, Book 1 of The Layren Series, is the story of Kathy Granite, a writer whose words actually have the ability to affect other worlds. Only she doesn’t know it. She’s guarded, if you will, by her Layren Protector, Ronon Wulfdrak, who’s made sure to bring her people over the last six years who only want their story told. In other words, the people she talks to don’t have an ulterior motive.

When did you realize these ideas could fill series?

Well, with Spi-Corp, I didn’t know it would be a series. I wrote the first draft back in 2007 in a little under three days and had no intention of it being anything more than a stand-alone. It wasn’t until I started filling in the Universe in order to fill out some of the details in the book that I realized, hey, wait a minute, I might be onto something here. 17 books later and wow, I’ve got a series on my hands…

With Wolf’s, I’ve decided it’s only going to be four to six books. But again, it wasn’t until I actually started expanding the backstory that it dawned on me, wow, this could be a fun series!

What are the books’ opening lines? Why did you start there?

Well, with Wolf’s, it was easy. The idea actually started from a comment someone made on Twitter one day. I don’t honestly remember who said it, but one of my many followers piped up with, “It sucks having a demanding fictional boyfriend…” Which popped a scene into my head of a writer sitting at her desk having an argument with a character – as we’re prone to do anyway – but the character was physically standing behind her and not just in her head. And that led to… the first draft of Wolf’s Paradox about a month later.

With a First Love, I started it at the point I felt when I returned to my small home town for my 20-year reunion and the nervousness I had quivering in the pit of my stomach over seeing all those nasty people again. (Yes, I was bullied horrifically in high school, too.)

What actors would you cast as some of the main characters?

Wow. I’ve never really thought about that. I don’t think I could. Not that I’m so vain as to think no one could play any of these characters on the big screen, it’s just that they are their own people. In my mind anyway and finding someone to fill those shoes is tough. I don’t tend to see a picture of an actor or an actress and be inspired to create a character based on that image. My brain works much differently than most and call me crazy, but I see the character for who they are. I tend to create them, from scratch and I rarely let that be influenced by another person in the ‘real’ world.

What do you most enjoy about writing?

The creation process. I’m a panster, I write by the seat of my pants. I don’t plot or outline or anything like that. If I can see the first line of the book, the headphones go on, the music plays and I’m gone until the words just stop flowing. It’s only later that I go back and fill in the details necessary to the story. (The background, the Universe and so on.) And I love it. Mainly because when a twist or a turn hits me, I’m just as surprised as I hope my readers will be.

Please share a writing tip you’ve found helpful.

Well, someone once told me writing is like building your favorite sandwich. You need certain components to make it all work and if you follow that general outline you can put together a book easily enough.

You need a beginning and an ending – your two pieces of bread. If you don’t have that, you don’t have a sandwich or a book.

You need some meat – which are your main characters. They’re the heart of your story and without them, there’s no story – or sandwich.

You need your lettuce, tomato and etc. This is your plot. It complements the characters but doesn’t or shouldn’t overwhelm them either. If you overwhelm – put too much lettuce, tomatoes, onions and so on on your sandwich, you lose the flavor of the meat, or your characters.

And finally, you need your condiments, the mayo, the mustard, the ketchup, the relish. These are your sub-plots, the things that keep the story moving forward or make the sandwich really tasty.

What do you enjoy about the science-fiction and paranormal genres?

Oh, being able to make things up as I go. I hate research, I suck at it, to be honest, and being able to make up whatever I need to fit into the story and make it work and be believable is what I love.

Tell about your photography work, please.

Oh, it’s just a hobby more than anything else. I hate being in front of a camera, I really do, so from an early age I found myself behind it, snapping away. I don’t sell my photos or anything like that, but maybe someday I will. They’re more for me but occasionally I share them with my Facebook fans.

What’s your favorite book?

Wow, I could no more name a favorite book than I could take my next breath. Like most of us, I’m an avid reader – when I have the time, and I love the Indie Press. They are a no-holds barred, let’s twist this idea into something fun and new, I’m not going to write what everyone else is because it’s been so over done group that I adore discovering.

But, I do have some auto-buys such as Lilianna Hart, Julie Garwood, Colleen Hoover, Jill Slavis.

Who is your favorite fictional character? (Any medium)

Again, I couldn’t pick one if I tried. Right now though, I adore the Fellarians. You’ll meet them in Book 2 and see them interspersed through some of the other books and finally one of them, Brant Olin, gets his own story in Book 6.

If you could have one super-power, what would it be and why?

Hmmm…I think I’d like to be immortal. I want to live long enough to travel among the stars – if we humans don’t destroy ourselves in the interim.

What’s next for you?

Well, I’m continuing to polish off the Spi-Corp’s for release. As I said, there’s 17 books in the series which I’m releasing over the next year, year and a half. Beyond that I’m writing more for the Layren’s and I’ve got a series on my take of the Myth of Santa Claus I’m going to start releasing in the next few months.

Where can people learn more about your work?

Well, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, my blog or my website.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorMargaretTaylor

Twitter: www.twitter.com/AuthorM_Taylor

Blog: www.margarettaylorsthoughts.blogspot.com

Website: www.margarettaylortx.com

Please tell us one fun fact about yourself.

I’m a closet World Of Warcraft junkie if you must know…

Thank you, Margaret!

Readers can find her first book on Amazon.

Get to Know…C.J. Brightley

It’s Blogger Book Fair week, and today I’m hosting fantasy author C.J. Brightley. Welcome, C.J.!  

Tell us about your Erdemen Honor series.

The first book, The King’s Sword, was initially intended to be just a simple coming of age story, with Hakan, the prince, realizing that he must take the responsibility of the crown for the good of his country. The little twist I added was to tell the story through the voice of Kemen, the retired soldier who mentors Hakan. As I wrote, Kemen became more than a mentor; he was the true hero of the story, and he was much more interesting than I’d realized at first.

The second book, A Cold Wind, begins just as The King’s Sword ends, and introduces another point of view character, Riona. It’s a more internal book in some ways, but there’s also more grittiness too.

I’m giving away five signed copies of The King’s Sword through Goodreads – the giveaway ends July 31st. It’s free to enter!

When did you realize this idea could fill a series?

Not until I finished writing The King’s Sword. I’d finished the first draft, intending it to be a standalone book. It does stand alone, but there was more depth to be explored in the world and in the characters themselves. I began writing A Cold Wind immediately after finishing the first draft of The King’s Sword.

I’m excited to see how the series develops. I’m working on the third book now, which I hope to publish in November. There’s a fourth in the works as well, set much later in history with all new characters.

What’s the first book’s opening line? Why did you start there?

I crossed his tracks not far from Stonehaven, and I followed them out of curiosity, nothing more.

Kemen is narrating, and this first paragraph is an important introduction to his character. A few lines later, he explains his fear that whoever left the footprints might be lost in the bitter cold, and his own intent to offer assistance if necessary. The whole story begins because Kemen can’t walk away if someone needs help, even a stranger.

What do you most enjoy about writing?

The characters. Even when a story is planned, the characters reveal aspects of themselves as I write. That process of discovery is a lot like the experience of reading a favorite book for the first time; something in it is familiar and loved, but it’s also new and exciting.

I also love hearing from readers! When readers let me know they’ve enjoyed my characters and my stories, it’s incredibly encouraging.

Please share a writing tip you’ve found helpful.

Write the stories that only you can write.

It’s tempting to try to polish and edit a story into perfection. It’s also easy to define perfection as something that a certain agent, editor, or publisher will want. But there are no perfect stories – every reading experience is unique. No story, no matter how beautiful or profound, will please everyone.

I hope to continue growing and learning as a writer, and so I’ll always look back on something I wrote years ago and think of ways to improve it. Critiques, workshops, beta readers, and your own internal editor can wreck havoc on your writing voice. Always try to improve your craft. But don’t think that you’ll ever reach perfection, and don’t polish any one story until you hate it. Finish it, and move on.

Don’t try so hard to write a story that everyone will love that you lose your voice. Write what you love, and keep learning how to tell your stories better.

What do you enjoy about the fantasy genre? What types of fantasy appeal to you?

I love characters more than interesting thought problems. Characters reveal themselves through the choices they make, and fantasy allows characters to experience all kinds of dramatic situations where they are forced to make interesting choices. I especially love heroes and heroism, both in crises and in small, daily choices. I like being able to root for the good guys, but complexity makes things interesting. Choices need to have consequences, but I like happy endings, or at least redemptive endings.

I also read a lot of historical fiction and international fiction. In fantasy, I’m drawn to some of the same things – that scared-excited feeling in a new place or culture before you get your feet under you.

What’s your professional background? How does it influence your writing?

I have a master’s degree in international affairs with a focus in national security, and I worked for a government contractor for several years in nuclear counterterrorism and intelligence positions. I’m interested in other cultures and how people with different perspectives and cultural backgrounds can look at the same information and see it differently. I’m also interested in the choices that leaders make when put under pressure.

I do some consulting now but I’m not working full-time. Living outside of Washington, D.C., I can’t help but be aware of politics. But I don’t have any desire to write a political thriller. I focus more on international politics and security issues than domestic political infighting. I care about the issues, but writing about them would stress me out!

Tell us about that time you hugged a tiger.

I went on a mission trip in Pattaya, Thailand, during the summer of 2003. I went with some Thai and American friends to a local wildlife park / botanical garden. Safety regulations in Thailand are considerably less strict than in the U.S., and there was a tiger out in the open that you could take pictures with. There was a staff member there to supervise, but he couldn’t have done anything if the tiger had mauled me. The tiger was chained, but the chain was pretty long. So I hugged the tiger, and the staff member repositioned the tiger’s front leg so it was across me, as if it was hugging me. Unfortunately, that picture came out looking like I was a tiny fake mannequin being mauled by a tiger – my head was completely hidden! The tiger was pretty sleepy and mellow – I don’t know if he was just well-fed or sedated.

During the same visit, I was picked up by an elephant as part of the elephant show! I don’t have any good pictures of it, but I remember that the elephant’s trunk was all sweaty, and consequently I smelled like elephant for the next five hours.

What’s your favorite book?

This is an impossible question. ONE book? Aside from the Bible, I’d have to say A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens), Children in the Night (Harold Myra), and The Heaven Tree Trilogy (Edith Pargeter). And Les Miserables (Victor Hugo). And The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis).

I’d better stop now.

Who is your favorite fictional character? (Any medium)

That’s hard! I’m writing a whole blog post series on characters I love… narrowing it down to one is impossible!

Reepicheep in the Chronicles of Narnia. He’s brave, and although he’s flawed, he always does what he truly believes is right, no matter what it costs. He follows after Aslan, who represents God, with all his heart.

Sir Percival Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel. He’s brave, he’s passionate, he’s intelligent, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself for others. He makes himself a laughingstock in order to continue rescuing people from the guillotine undiscovered. The Scarlet Pimpernel books definitely have flaws, and the author, Emmuska Orczy, obviously has a lot of sympathy for the aristocrats (less so for the poor commoners who finally rose up against them). But the character she created was not only the genesis of the masked superhero, he’s also a fantastic individual character.

If you could have one super-power, what would it be and why?

To be superfast so I could get everything done! I always have about 85 things on my to do list.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a supernatural thriller / urban fantasy series. The writing process has been completely different than anything I’ve done previously. It’s been entirely by the seat of my pants, with no pre-planning at all, and yet things are coming together into this incredibly exciting, complex story. I hope to have the first book in the series published before Christmas.

Where can people learn more about your work?

You can find me at:

CJBrightley.com – my blog, excerpts of my books, sneak peeks into upcoming books, etc.

Facebook – stay in touch!

Google+ – I tend to post about writing, publishing, etc. as well as fantasy.

Goodreads

And you can find my books at:

Amazon – my author page, with my books and some short stories

Smashwords – other formats

Barnes&Noble

Kobo

Please tell us one fun fact about yourself.

In my free time, I teach karate. I’ve been involved in one martial art or another for over nineteen years, and I am a black belt in taekwondo, chidokwan karate, and okinawan kobudo (weapons). Also, I have to brag – my daughter is not quite two years old, and she can already bow and do a recognizable front snap kick! She needs to work on keeping her guard up though.

Thank you, C.J.!

And here are the blurbs for her two books:

The King’s Sword:

A disillusioned soldier. A spoiled, untried prince. A coup that threatens the country they both love.

When retired soldier Kemen finds the young prince Hakan fleeing an attempted assassination, he reluctantly takes the role of mentor and guardian. Keeping the prince alive is challenging enough. Making him a man is harder.

As usurper Vidar tightens his grip on power, Kemen wrestles with questions of duty and honor. What if the prince isn’t the best ruler after all? Invasion looms, and Kemen’s decisions will shape the fate of a nation. What will he sacrifice for friendship and honor?

A Cold Wind:

When retired Erdemen army officer Kemen Sendoa helped the young prince Hakan Ithel reclaim his throne, he thought he was happy. He had shaped the future of his beloved country and earned a place of honor and respect.

In the shelter of the palace, he finds peace and the promise of a life he’d only imagined. Yet his own choices, and brewing border troubles, may force him to make a final sacrifice.

A tale of love, honor, and forgiveness, A Cold Wind follows The King’s Sword in the Erdemen Honor series.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who downloaded RIP: Touch during its free days!

Over the course of three days, 527 people chose to download it. During that time, its sales ranking reached this:

And this:

You all have made my days. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy the book.

Stay tuned for RIP vol. 1: Choices, coming soon!

Free days ahead!

Sorry for the absence of posting this week. I’ve been busy preparing content for next week’s Blogger Book Fair, in which I’ll make appearances and C.J. Brightley’s and Margaret Taylor’s websites, and those two authors will stop by here for interviews on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

In the meantime, indulge in some free RIP. Yes, RIP: Touch is now a member of the KDP Select program, and its first free days will run July 18-20. So please treat yourself to a free novelette, and then come back for its re-release as part of RIP vol. 1: Choices later this year. (Or if you want to buy “Touch,” that’s great, too, and it will help with production costs of the four-novelette volume.)

And one last thing: Tomorrow — Thursday, July 18, 3 p.m. EST — the fine folks at Bublish will interview me in a Twitter chat, so be sure to follow @DanielSherrier and @BublishMe. Fun will ensue.

Diversify your dialogue

Ever notice superb dialogue in a movie, TV show, or play? Examples are springing to mind, aren’t they? You always remember great dialogue.

Books can have great dialogue, too. There are many ways to go about this –  building in subtext is a huge one — but for now, let’s look at character voices.

You have your unique author voice, and that’s wonderful, but each character in your story needs to have a unique voice, too. They need to say things as only they would. I’m not talking about dialect, which I do not recommend, unless your name is either Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens.

It’s not easy, but here’s a simple method to think about speech patterns. Place your characters along several different spectra.

Is she terse, or does she tend to ramble? How terse or how rambly? Compare that to the other characters, and you’ll get a sense of which ones are more apt to spew a larger quantity of words at a time.

There are countless spectra you can use, and these will influence word choices, grammar, sentence structure, and more.

How formal or informal?

How smart or dumb?

How friendly or rude?

How serious or silly?

How realistic or whimsical?

How sincere or sarcastic?

And the list goes on.

It’s the difference between:

“Hey there. How’s it going? Isn’t this the most fantastical day you ever did see?”

And:

“Hello, my good sir. This is indubitably a pleasant day.”

And:

“Yo. What’s up, man? Check out this weather.”

And:

“Hey. Looks like the cumulonimbus clouds have cleared. That’s a victory for the sun.”

And:

“Yeah, I can tell it’s sunny. How nice for the weather.”

And:

“Hi.”

Not that your characters should focus on the weather, but you can see the variations in a simple situation.

Here’s a writing exercise you can try RIGHT NOW! How fun!

1) Pick a few spectra.

2) Draw each spectrum as a horizontal line, designating one end as one extreme and the opposite side as the other extreme.

3) Take a few of your characters and place them along each spectrum.

4) Write those characters in a conversation, keeping those spectra in mind. They can chat about current events, a recent sports match, or a topic related to the world of your book. Just have them talk.

5) Take away the names and see if someone else can identify the three different voices as Speaker A, Speaker B, and Speaker C.

This is all easier said than done, of course, and you don’t want to go overboard into overly colorful territory. But it might help some of you, so I throw it out there for your consideration.