Rani Divine's Blog, page 15

A+D

Happy November, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! It’s finale day, and it also just so happens to be the inaugural day of NaNoWriMo, which means I expect you’ll all be hard at work filling your word quotas this month.
If you’re in the Albuquerque area though, and you need to do some reading (to get your mind off the writing), come check out the Albuquerque Museum Author Fair, this Saturday from 10AM-4PM! I’ll have copies of all my books, plus Mavguard and Letters from Hell, and I’d love to see each and every one of you!
For now, let’s get onto that finale.
All month, we’ve been talking about themes, myths, and legends that are done (and maybe nearly overdone) in fiction around the world—and, for some reason, that readers just can’t seem to get enough of. We’re talking about these topics and discussing what we can do to put our own spin on them, to make a story that’ll rattle the world.
And I’ve saved what I think is the best, for last.
#10: Angels and Demons
For once! This is something I’ve actually written! Yes, indeed, I wrote a story about the birth of demons. It’s still in my editing queue, behind a series I need to finish asap, but I’m hoping to have it released after the Druid Novels are all out. It’s one of my favorites, and my beta readers have all said it was one of their favorites as well.
And that’s why I wanted to talk about it!
Angels and demons are two things readers cannot get enough of, if only because of the sheer mass of religions which involve both angels and demons. True, Asian religions don’t always, but Christianity, Mormonism, Catholicism, Islam, and others all have both angels and demons in their belief system—which makes it something that people within those religions readily enjoy reading.
Why? Because there’s always that possibility that the story might be real, and that’s just fascinating.
It’s also why we should never stop writing stories in this theme. Because there will always be readers who love to read things in this vein, and probably a great many readers who only read things in this vein.
But it’s also something where we can have a lot of creativity, because, obviously, we can’t really say very much about angels or demons. As someone with beliefs firmly rooted in Christianity, I can tell you there’s not a whole lot written to tell us what angels look like. We know what they do, what they’re for, but we don’t know, really, who they are.
So it’s up to writers, to decide (for your story, anyway)! Which, let me tell you, is a great deal of fun. I highly recommend it.
That’s it for our series, and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it! Now that NaNoWriMo has started, I hope I’ve given you some good ideas for stories to work on throughout this month, or maybe just helped to point you in the right direction when it came to choosing a theme for your novel.
Thank you all for reading! Check back in on Tuesday to see what we’ll be talking about through NaNoWriMonth!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

idk

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. This week, we’re finishing out our series for the month of October! How crazy is that? November starts on Thursday—but I’ll be sticking with this series through the end of the week, so you’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out what November’s theme is. ;-)
This month, we’ve been talking about themes, legends, and myths that are incredibly popular in fiction (and have been, for a very long time). They’re things that can easily be modified to make amazing new stories, even though we’ve seen a lot of these things a million times before.
And today? Yet another that I haven’t explored yet, in my own writing. I really need to though.
#9: The Unknown
I partially debated not using this as a topic, because it could be argued that the unknown is in every single story ever. There’s always something the reader doesn’t know until the end of the book. That’s just the way stories go. But that’s not what I mean, really.
By the unknown, I mean using that unknown as a major part of a story. For instance, in the movie The Village, those we don’t speak of are an unknown factor, something that doesn’t exist in real life. It’s a creature, or a thing, or maybe it’s a person in a mask. We don’t know, and that’s what makes it fascinating.
It’s also done to death, between movies, television shows, and writing.
But I’ll have you notice that Stranger Things also focused on the idea of the unknown, and that it did so with wild success—and without anyone really saying that they’d already seen this story done enough times and didn’t think it needed to be rehashed in the method the writers had chosen.
So, obviously, it can be done to great benefit and great appeal. Which is why I wanted to bring it up as a part of this series.
As with everything in this series, even the idea of the unknown is enough to spark interest in a lot of readers, which is what makes it one of those themes that we writers should really take advantage of. Seriously. I need to do this. You should too.
This will always be a topic that interests readers, and if you can take your own incredibly unique spin on it, your story could be the next one that ends up being as big as Stranger Things or The Village. That could be you. All you have to do is find the right angle—and I’d love to help!
No, really! If you have story ideas and you want to run them by someone, I’m always here for you. I’ve had plenty of ideas in my day, and a good half of them were duds. I can tell you what’ll make a good story, and what might not have enough story behind it. And, you know me, I’m the author who loves to help other authors. Always.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Flourish

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. I hope you’re enjoying this month’s series—I know I am! I’ve gotten so many new novel ideas based off the things I’ve written this month. It’s pretty amazing, I have to say. Although now I find myself struggling to decide what I want to write next...
If you’re new here, this month we’re talking about Themes, Legends, and Myths that are extremely popular with readers in general. They’re all things we’ve seen a lot, things that in some ways could be considered overdone, but we’re taking a new spin on them and using what’s already been done to springboard a new idea, a new story, that’s never been seen before.
This week, let’s talk about one I’ve never tackled (and one I’m not sure I ever really will)
#8: Magic (or Lack Thereof)
If you’ve read anything of mine, then you know magic isn’t something I write. It’s just not. It’s one of those things I try to avoid, simply because it can give certain characters far too much power in certain situations. I don’t like when that happens.
But, it’s also something that I know a lot of readers greatly enjoy. In fact, I know a great many readers solely read stories that have magic as one of their central themes. Magic, or, of course, the lack thereof.
It’s something we all know about, something we’ve all heard about since we were knee high to a grasshopper. Magic has been whispered about all the time, in nearly every context known to mankind. Science has been known as magic. Witchcraft. Sorcery. Technology. The list goes on and on and on, and people just can’t get enough of it.
Which makes it one of those things that’s extremely popular for us to include in our writing.
People love the idea of magic, the notion of having abilities other than the mundane ones given to nearly every human on the planet. We’re all intrigued by the idea of magic, by thoughts of powers beyond ourselves, and we love to see what people do with those powers.
Of course, because we’re talking both about magic and the lack thereof, you have several options when it comes to writing a story in this vein.
You could write about characters who have magic but don’t realize it. You could tell the tale of a people who are searching for magic in a world that doesn’t have it. You could write the journey of a mage who’s lost his magic, in the act of searching it out once more.
As per usual, the possibilities are endless—and I’ve only listed some extremely obvious ones. Magic is one of those themes that we can do anything with, in almost any base genre.
Sure, it’ll probably turn into some form of fantasy by the end, but urban fantasy is a thing too, you know.
Readers will never get enough of their want of magic.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Hooded

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. It’s nice to know you’re around.
All month long, we’ve been talking about myths, legends, and themes that are used (almost to the point of being overused) in a lot of fiction throughout the world. From films to television shows to short stories to movies, we’ve all heard of these things being used and reused—and there’s a reason for it. That’s what we’ve been talking about this month. Those things that everyone knows and loves, that we writers can use to our advantage when it comes to our writing.
#7: Robin Hood
Now, some of you might counter that Robin Hood is far overdone in modern fiction, and I’d say that in some senses, you’re right. But I don’t necessarily mean using Robin Hood himself. No, what I mean is taking a character who is essentially good, labeling him as the bad guy, and having him go around doing good for the people around him. People love a story like this. They’re drawn to it, which is why Robin Hood is such a popular legend to begin with.
Let’s use that to our advantage, shall we?
The Robin Hood theme can be used in any genre, in any number of ways. I literally cannot count the number of ways I’ve seen the idea of Robin Hood, of the good guy labeled as a bad one, done in writing, television, and film. It can be done in a modern setting, with a protagonist who steals from those who’ve swindled others, only to get the money back to whom it belongs. Or it can be done in a fantasy setting, with a protagonist who rights wrongs caused by others.
Point is, no matter what genre you write in, Robin Hood is one of those themes you can take and tweak into your story—and it’s one that we know people will love.
True, some people don’t like the Robin Hood tales. True, some people would say it’s been done a million times before and they don’t want to see it again. True, there’ve been so many actual Robin Hood stories made into film and television that sometimes it really is overwhelming. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there who love it all.
Robin Hood is a popular enough legend that it’s safe to remold into something that suits your writing. Both in style and in genre.
Of course, I know not everyone wants to play it safe—but that’s when you take the themes of Robin Hood and mold them into something completely new. Maybe your protagonist isn’t even the Robin Hood character, but is instead the Sheriff of Nottingham. There are a million ways you can play it to make it into something amazing, something no one’s seen before, something readers won’t even realize was initially based off Robin Hood.
I’d love to see you try. Send me links or excerpts if you do!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Beings

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by.
As you (should) know, this month we’re talking all about several legends, myths, and themes that readers just can’t get enough of, that readers already know well enough, that there’s already a plethora of on the market—and that we should never stop writing.
Be sure to check out the previous posts if you’re behind—I’ve really been loving this series. :)
#6: Dinosaurs, Dragons, and other such Monsters
It hasn’t happened very many times in this series, that I’ve talked on a topic I haven’t already written. In fact, I think this is only the second, thus far. I write a lot, I write very diversely, and I love it. But I’ve never written monsters. Ever.
Now, I’m classifying everything in this list as monsters, but as you well know, they’re not all actually monsters. Sometimes they’re good creatures, beings very unlike ones that are alive and well in the real world. But for lack of a better word (because I don’t like to use “creatures” if I don't have to) we’re going to go with monsters. Okay? Okay.
Whether it’s dinosaurs, dragons, griffins, manticores, centaurs, minotaurs, the list goes on, people know what they are, they know what to expect from them, and they can’t get enough of them. Readers love the fantasy genre because it’s filled with beings like these. They love horror genres because it uses monsters like these to push its plot forward. And because the work has already been done, you won’t have to do any convincing for a reader to believe that these monsters exist in your world.
Isn’t it great?!
I’m not sure what it is about these beings, that makes readers love them so much, but I know that it’s true. The only thing I can think of is that they’re strange, that these monsters are so unique and different from what’s alive in the world today that we just really want to know what it would’ve been like to live with them. And so we read about it, because what could be better than that?
The amazing part though, as it has been throughout our series, is that though these things are written and written and written some more, no one ever seems to tire of them. No one picks up a book with a dragon on the cover and thinks “not another dragon.” No. We’re looking for dragons. We’re looking for monsters. We’re looking for things that get our hearts pounding and our imaginations running rampant.
That’s what you should be writing, too. Things that we love, things that you love. The line intersects, you know.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

The end of all things

Hey guys! Welcome back to Too Many Book to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. :)
All month long, we’re talking about themes, legends, and myths that have been popular for eons and will continue to be popular until the end of time—and why I think we can use these things to our advantage, when it comes to our own writing. Thus far in our series we’ve discussed everything from Arthurian Legend to wandering gypsies (if you haven’t been keeping up, make sure you go back and read what we’ve already discussed!), and this week, I have two more really fun topics to discuss with you.
#5: The Apocalypse
All right, sure, this theme hasn’t been insanely popular for that long, but still, it’s one that people have enjoyed reading about, hearing about, talking about, for hundreds and hundreds of years. It’s something that intrigues many people, and something that became huge over the past decade or so.
And I think I know why. The world is complicated, right now. Much as we try to claim that technology simplifies our lives, we all know that’s not really the truth. It makes us reliant upon it, yes, but it doesn’t simplify anything. The coming of the apocalypse means the end of technology as we know it, and a world like that is simply… intriguing, to say the very least.
Thing is, there are so many different versions of the apocalypse that there’s literally an unending stream of paths you could take with this, in your own writing. I’m serious, you could do whatever you wanted, and make it into the apocalypse. You could follow some trendy veins like zombies or plagues, or you could make up something of your own. Maybe people just suddenly started dying, and no one knows why. Wasn’t really an illness, wasn’t really anything. They just started dying, and now there’s hardly anyone left.
Fascinating, right?
Millions of other people think so too. In fact, there are millions and millions of readers who prefer (or solely read) fiction based on the apocalypse. That’s an entire treasure trove of readers in your target market, and they already believe in the thing you’re trying to sell! They believe the apocalypse is coming, or that it could be coming, and they want to know what happens to people when it comes.
You could be the next writer to make a billion dollars of this idea. Yeah, I know, that’s not what I’m here to talk about, but it’s true. With the number of ideas that are out there, just waiting for you to pick them up and use them, the apocalypse will forever remain one of those subject matters that’s safe to work with, no matter what. There’ll always be someone out there who wants to read about it.
Seriously. There will. The hardest part is finding them, but isn’t that always the case?
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Traveller

Hi guys! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by again, for today’s addition to our series.
As you (should) know, this month we’re discussing some popular myths, legends, and themes that everyone knows about and many people love to read—and that, by extension, writers should never stop writing. Thus far in the series we’ve discussed everything from Arthurian Legend to the legend of Atlantis, and we’re nowhere near done. I have a plethora of ideas for you, just wait and see.
#4: Gypsies
For the first time in our series, I’m talking about something I haven’t written already! What?! How is this possible?!
It’s true, I’ve never written a story with gypsies in it. But I also don’t write a lot of stories that take place on Earth, or that would naturally have gypsies within them. You know, most sci-fi doesn’t have gypsies in it (maybe one of us should change that).
Gypsies, for some reason, are an extremely popular theme in fiction. No, actually, I know why. It’s because gypsies are very different from the average person you meet in your everyday life. Gypsies don’t have a real home, necessarily, but travel from place to place on a whim. They go where they want to go and do what they want to do. Sometimes, they practice the occult. Others, they’re masters of the circus arts. Still others, they’re just fun-loving people who didn’t really want to settle down.
Whatever the case, whatever the version, that’s what makes them fascinating to a so-called average reader. The average reader doesn’t live like a gypsy, and so a gypsy is an extremely interesting thing to consider.
And, again, gypsies are something we all know about. Everyone knows what a gypsy is, or has their own idea of what a gypsy should be. Some of us think of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, while others go straight to Phantom of the Opera. Others think of surfers or artists, or groupies of a band.
Thing is, there aren’t as many gypsy stories as there should be. Or maybe there are, and I just haven’t seen them. We should try to fix that, too.
There are so many things writers can do with gypsies, in literally any genre. They fit into every world, because nearly every way of life would naturally have them. Maybe there are entire species’ who live their lives as gypsies. The possibilities are endless! And I sincerely hope that you explore them, publish them, and then send me a link so I can come along for the ride.
Seriously. I need more gypsy stories in my life.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Lantia

Hey guys! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by for the continuation in our series on myths, legends, and themes we writers should never stop using. This week, I have two really fun topics—and I hope you enjoy them as much (or more!) as I do.
As you know, this month we’ve been discussing some of the most popular myths, legends, and themes which authors have readily available for our use. Readily available because everyone knows what these things are, and we have far less to go through in order to suspend people's disbelief in what’s going on in our story. Of course, as you probably know, most of these work better in sci-fi/fantasy genres—but this week, I have two that could go either way.
#3: Atlantis
I love the legends of Atlantis. I love all the ways Hollywood and authors both big and small try to take this legend and make it into something new. Sure, sometimes it gets overdone, but a lot of that is because people are trying to remake what’s already been done. And that, of course, is never what I’m suggesting.
See, everyone knows Atlantis. Say the name, and literally everyone in the room knows you’re talking about the lost city that supposedly sunk to the bottom of the ocean and disappeared. And that’s what makes it one of those legends, those themes, that’s easily moldable into a completely new story.
Not even on Earth, perhaps? ;-)
But really, there are a plethora of things you can do with the idea of Atlantis, even if you never refer to the city as Atlantis. Just the idea of a city being lowered into the bottom of the ocean creates all kinds of story ideas.
So maybe your protagonist is a scientist, one who’s been obsessed with Atlantis since he was a little kid. And maybe he's now found something, some secret buried in the Norse myths (which, as you know, aren’t related to Atlantis), and discovers its location. Say, when he gets there, he uncovers a disease that could wipe out humanity. Now this scientist has what he's always wanted, but now he also has a problem he’ll have to solve before he can go home.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that story before, have you?
That right there is evidence that there are still millions of things available for us to do with the legend of Atlantis. There are millions of possibilities, of storylines, just waiting for us to write them down and go on the adventure.
And because everyone already knows the legend of Atlantis, because the legend has a following of fairly large proportions, you’ll already have a good start when it comes to finding a fan base.
We all know how nice that is.
But it’s not just Earth fiction where we can write stories based on Atlantis. Ever see Stargate? They had a whole spinoff dedicated to the idea that Atlantis was a spaceship, a flying city, and that it was now in the Pegasus galaxy.
You could take the idea of Atlantis and make it into something new, something no one’s ever heard before, and renew a love of this legend in people who may have given it up. In fact, I believe that you should.
Somebody has to.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Selkie

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you came by. I’m happy to have you :)
This month, we’re talking about myths, legends, and themes that are so beloved in writing that we authors can easily take them, tweak them, and make them into amazing new works of fiction. We’re not rewriting tales here, however! We’re writing whole new stories, based on things everyone knows and loves. And why? Because everyone already knows and loves them, so we won’t have to suspend their disbelief. They already know to believe.
Today? Another of my favorites. Selkies and Mermaids
Okay, so mermaids have been insanely popular over the past couple years, and selkies are on the rise, but I really think selkies never got their fair share of the attention. Selkies are cooler. I love selkies. I’ve written many a short story about them (one of which may have been published in Mavguard), and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
And that’s exactly why mermaids and selkies are one of those themes writers can easily take and transform into a new dimension, a new form, to make an incredible new story.
I may have already done this, and it might be one of my favorite books I’ve published. (Its name is Dwr: People in the Water, and it’s available at RAD Writing, Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, if you’re interested)
See, the people who love mermaids love mermaids. They’re fanatical about mermaids. And literally everyone knows what a mermaid is. So why not use that to your advantage?
For me, it was an easy step for the Druid Novels. I needed a species of Dewin that lived underwater, so, why not make a being that’s similar to a mermaid, but very much not a mermaid at all? That’s precisely what I did, and I’ve heard nothing but good things from the people who’ve read it.
That’s why I brought this one up today. It’s one of those topics that writers use frequently, yes, but with good reason. Everyone knows what mermaids are, everyone had at one point in their lives wondered if mermaids exist, so having a character that’s a mermaid isn’t a far stretch for anyone to believe.
That’s half your work done right there. The rest is down to the story, and that’s all you.
You’ve got this.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

The Legend of Arthur

Hi guys! Welcome to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by.
As always, with the beginning of the month comes the beginning of a new blog series, and this month is one… well, it’s one that I literally thought of just in time to write this post and get it ready to post online. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good one! In fact, I really like it. And I think we’ll all have fun this month.
Themes, Myths, and Legends from which Great Stories Come
Yep. You read that right. For the month of October, we’re going to talk about mythological creatures, legends of old, and themes that writing repeats all the time—and that we could all stand to borrow in our own writing, because they’re just that good.
Today?
Arthurian Legend
I love Arthurian legend. I even took a class on it in college. It’s one of those legends that I can’t get enough of, one of those stories I get more and more out of every time I read it—whether I’m reading Percival or Le Mort D’Arthur, or anything in between.
There’s a reason for that.
Arthurian legend, if only because of how much it’s loved in Great Britain, is one of those stories that never gets old. It’s a story of knights and maidens, of chivalry and epic battles, of the once and future king who will return to the throne of Camelot one day.
But, because it’s so well-loved, because we all know it so well, it’s one of those stories we can easily take and modify into some amazing writing that a lot of people will love. There are, after all, droves of people who flock to Arthurian legend novels, whether they be old or new. You could be one of the authors they find themselves loving, you know. ;-)
Of course, you have to know how to do it.
You can’t just rewrite the story of Arthur. You can’t easily make it into a modern retelling, and if you try, you'll alienate a lot of the people who so love the legend. But you know what you could do? You could take one or two of your favorite characters from Arthurian legend and write a story about them, outside the already written Arthurian canon. You could take Galahad on an epic adventure to slay a dragon, or to discover a web of spies threatening the security of Camelot—the possibilities are endless.
All you need to know are the characters and base canon of the Arthurian legend tales (and if you need any of that, well, you know who to ask). 
Make your story one that fits into the canon, that doesn’t discount anything we all know has happened to Arthur and his knights. Make us believe it. We’ll love you for it, and we’ll keep coming back for more—even if you start writing other things.
[love]
{Rani Divine}