Andy Peloquin's Blog, page 51

Writing Has Taught Me the Value of Mistakes

Mistakes–you’ve gotta hate them! Even a small mistake (think plot holes, inconsistent characters, factual errors, etc.) can totally tank a great book. How many good books could have been great had the writer not make a small mistake?

But those mistakes are totally what help us writers to improve, and I’m glad that I’ve made so many mistakes in my short writing career!

Oprah said it best: “Learn from every mistake, because every experience, particularly your mistakes, are there to teach you and force you into being more of who you are.”

In the publication of my first book–In the Days: A Tale of the Forgotten Continent–I made the mistake of rushing. I wrote, edited, and published the book in the space of two months. Definitely not enough time to deliver a quality product AT ALL! Not only were there a few mistakes (typos, character stuff, world-building, etc.), but I rushed the launch as well. I sold way too few books.

But that’s life! Now that I’m launching my next book–The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer–I’m going to do it right!

I avoided the mistake of typos, plot holes, and errors by having it professionally edited, going over it repeatedly myself, and giving it to beta readers.

I avoided the mistake of rushing the launch by giving myself 4 months to prepare, and I have compiled a list of nearly 200 people who will help me out. I have nearly 150 people who will read an ARC and write a review. That’s pretty epic!

Best of all, I didn’t rush into publishing the book myself, and now it has been picked up by a publisher. It sets the launch back a bit, but I now have a team behind me to ensure that the book is as professional as possible!

Mistakes suck, but boy do they teach you to get it right VERY quickly! I hope to keep learning from my mistakes as I go, and I know that my writing career will only blossom as I avoid the things that I screwed up in the past–and that I’m screwing up now. Make mistakes now, learn from them, and let them help you kick ass in your future!

 

Book Review: Body Language Bible by C.K. Murray

Bonus Book Review Saturday, my favorite day of the week! Today, we’re getting out of the realm of fiction and heading into the non-fiction territory…

Body Language Explained

Prepare yourself.

You are about to learn invaluable strategies for improving your life TODAY. Did you know that 93% of what we say isn’t actually said? That nonverbal communication and the language of the body are indispensable to healthy, happy living?

Whether trying to grasp body language basics, unlock body language secrets, or harness the power of the subconscious mind, nonverbal communication has the power to change your life forever.

Without a firm understanding of nonverbal cues, we will never achieve optimal success. Instead, we’ll slink through life unsure and unimpressive, never reaching our full potential and never knowing what could have been.

Is that what you want?

 

My Review: 4 Stars

I found this book to be quite helpful in a few ways. As a writer, I am always looking for ways to “show” instead of “tell”. As the book explained the body language cues, it helped me to know what people do when they are lying, hiding something, telling the truth, showing interest, and so on. It actually made it a bit easier for me to write more effectively.

The writing was simple and plain, and the information is communicated in a very easy-to-understand way. You don’t have to be uber-intelligent to read this book, but it’s one anyone can pick up and comprehend easily.

There are two reasons I gave it four stars:

There’s not enough depth. The information in the book is the kind of stuff you can find on ANY website, and there’s very little new in there. I could do a Google Search and find all of the data for free. It would take hours, but I could learn about body language cues without having to buy the book. There’s no “secrets” or “nifty tricks” to give this book the added value that would cause people to purchase it.
There are no sources. Copywriting is all about delivering information in an interesting way, but where do you get your information from? There are no sources to back up the claims and statements made in the book, so there’s no PROOF that the book is true or not. Anyone writing non-fiction–especially of this nature–knows that providing resources, scientific studies, and published journal papers is the best way to prove that what they’re saying is true.

A good read for those who want a simple primer to body language!

 

Here’s a Taste:

Body language is everything.

Every minute of every day, our bodies are talking. When we’re finishing that last bit of work, when we’re walking around our neighborhoods, moving about our grocery stores, at sporting events and movie theatres and shopping malls and stores and interacting with a cashier at the drive-thru at McDonald’s—everywhere we go, our bodies speak. From the way we tilt our heads, blink our eyes, touch our noses and move our mouths; everything we don’t say, says something.

 

About the Author:

C.K. Murray is a health promoter, addiction and recovery counselor, motivator, and autodidact. Having worked in various fields and careers, Murray now enjoys spending free time with his girlfriend, and best friend, in the Pacific Northwest.

Born in 1959, Murray has an extensive personal knowledge of health-related issues. Beginning with drugs and alcohol abuse in his teens, Murray spent years in and out of treatment programs. He landed in outpatient and inpatient recovery, weekend interventions, 28-day rehabilitations, and a variety of transitional housing for addiction.

After a long bout with depression and the criminal justice system, Murray finally got clean. He is currently in his 8th year of sobriety and continues to this day to attend addiction and rehabilitation meetings. He is a proponent of Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and a firm believer in the combined power of group therapy and self-help.

He continues to help numerous addicts conquer their demons and enjoy successful, meaningful lives.

You can find the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Language-Explained-Communication-Relationships-ebook/dp/B00MF0XIS4

Connect with C.K. Murray on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writemurray

 

When It’s Hard to Keep Going, What Do You Do?

When I sit down to write these days, it feels a bit like trying to take a winter swim in an outdoor pool filled with molasses. Not easy going, let me tell you! Things at home are a bit hectic and chaotic, and life is kind of up in the air at the moment. All of this makes it quite tough to keep my mind focused on my writing!

Every writer has those times in their lives when it’s just too damn hard to write! Whether it’s a family emergency, writer’s block, or a lack of desire to write, there’s always something that tries to take us away from our writing. It’s hard to sit and hammer away at the keys because there’s so much else on our minds!

I’m the kind of guy that likes to tackle stuff head on. I’ve got a thick skull, so I’ll usually lower my head and charge. This time that I’m struggling to write, by God, I’m going to make time to write more so that I can get over this problem.

But sometimes I find the better approach is to finesse the problem. Instead of trying to force myself to keep writing when I really don’t feel it, it’s time to switch things up! For example, shifting my writing time an hour earlier has totally helped to increase my productivity during that 60 minutes that I get to write. I can’t increase my output drastically, but it’s enough that the writing seems to flow more easily, and I have fewer distractions.

It’s all about finding the right tool for the job! Sometimes it’s better just to tackle that writer’s block or distraction head-on, and treat it like an obstacle that needs to be rammed. Other times, it’s wiser to take a break, change things up, or find a new way to do the same thing. It can definitely help to deal with a problem before it gets serious!

So how do you handle these problems? When they come around, how do you face them?

 

 

Book Review: MacGregor’s Wolf–Lessons of Time by Bill Howard

Our book of the day is a bit out of the ordinary, a metaphysical novel with a bit of just about everything…

 

MacGregor’s Wolf: Lessons of Time

Struggling to make sense of his life, Ray Barrett seeks solace in the mountains and encounters a lone wolf, a mystical creature, according to the Sioux. From that point forward, he is transported back in time and into the bodies of various persons throughout history.

The ancient wisdom of the Sioux and a spirit guide named MacGregor accompany him through a series of experiences that teach him about life and purpose. Along the way, he falls in love with an assistant to MacGregor, Alexia, who fulfills a longing that has haunted him for quite some time.

My Review: 3.5 Stars

The book started out a bit odd, the opening sentences describing how the character is suffering and never why. It takes a LONG time for the reason to be explained, and by the time we find out why there is so much angst in the character, we’ve lost interest.

The character meets this MacGregor, who takes him on the oddest, most random “spirit trips”. The problem is that there is no indication that he is going anywhere or on any trip. He simply appears or wakes up in a new places, with little or nothing to delineate where one trip ends and where another begins. It’s almost impossible to know when the story is back in the real world or when it’s on a trip, and which trip it’s on. It is VERY disjointed and quite hard for me to follow.

I also suffered from a natural disconnection from the character. The purpose of the story is clearly to teach some sort of lesson to the reader by having the main character go through all these journeys, but I was never pulled into the story. Just when I was about to identify with the character, there would be some jump that would lose me and I’d have to force myself to stay reading to keep up with it.

That being said, the quality of the writing was quite good. No typos, few mistakes, and all in all, solid writing. The prose is flowing, and there’s a good rhythm to everything. The action scenes in the beginning leave a bit to be desired, but truth be told, I have very little complaints about the writing.

It’s just a bit too trippy for me to have enjoyed fully…

 

Here’s a Taste

Suddenly, a spear flew past his head and stuck into the chest of the man beside him. He raised his shield and the head of another spear struck it with a deafening clang . He thrust it aside and continued to advance, peering through the thin slot of his helmet. He had no idea how he had so suddenly been thrust into the midst of a pitched battle.

The instinct of the wolf and of Hoka took over and he rushed toward the enemy with sword and shield. The shock of being thrust into a sudden fight for life rapidly turned to rage. He struck out with his sword and felt its blade slice through the flesh and bones of a man. He had no time to watch him fall, but was quickly turning to run another through. He pulled his sword from the falling soldier and raised his shield in time to deflect a blow which drove him to one knee, but he recovered and thrust again with his sword; another man went down.

All about him he could hear the groans and gasps of men in the midst of a deadly struggle. He could smell sweat and blood all around him and the stench of fear and danger permeated through his senses. There was no time for thought, only action and movement . His breathing was ragged with exertion and his chest burned. His arms and legs were fatigued, but he ignored them and pressed onward. He felt himself tumbling across the ground as something hard struck him and a blade slashed past his head dangerously glancing off of his helmet.

He realized that he had been struck by the chest of a charging horse and its rider had barely missed his head. The better part of valor was to lie and wait as the cavalry charge passed him by. He was assumed dead and left alone as the horsemen cleared a swath through the middle of the ranks of his fellow fighters. A counter charge of opposing horsemen rode down upon them and there was soon a mêlée of swirling and turning horses.

He could hear their screams of pain from the horses as they were struck with swords or spears. They were rearing, falling and plunging as the men on their backs parried and thrust with swords and shields. He was on his feet again and rushing into the ranks of foot-soldiers which were rushing down upon them. It seemed like he would have to face a thousand men alone, yet he fought on. There was nowhere to run and no place to hide. His instinct told him that he must fight to survive and he fought viciously. Had he the fangs of a wolf, he would have sunk them into the throat of a man and thought nothing of it. The taste of blood was already in his mouth and the drive to live was even stronger.

 

About the Author:

Bil Howard is a native of the small ranching community, Powderhorn, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where he was raised on a cattle ranch. In 2013 he exchanged the Rockies for the Andes and took up residence in San Antonio de Prado, Antioquia, Colombia. He has a BA from West Texas A&M University. He studied pre-law as an undergraduate and minored in English Literature.

He continued his love of English by pursuing an MA in English and Social Studies Education. He also studied psychotherapy at the graduate level. He has been a talent scout and manager in the Latin music industry. He has experience in vocal performance as well as theatre.

Find the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OY1LILG/

Check out his writing on his website: http://bilhoward.blogspot.com

Send him a Tweet: @BilHowardNovels

Connect with him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bilhowardnovelist

Or Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BilHoward

Writing Has Taught Me to Dream Big

When I read books like the Wheel of Time or The Gentleman Bastards series, it’s clear that the writer has something much larger in mind for the series. While each book has its own self-contained story line, each is working toward a greater plot or ending.

It’s hard to come up with such far-reaching consequences for seemingly inconsequential actions taken by the main characters in your books. A small decision made in the opening chapter of Book 1 may come back to haunt the character in the final chapter in the last book.

Being the writer of the story, you have to make sure that you track each important detail of each story. That’s the only way you’re going to have consistency across each of the books in a longer series, but it’s also the one way to keep the story going. One book may only be one story, but it’s part of a larger story. Any writer who has written a series with more than one book knows EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

But learning how to do that with our novels helps us to do the same with our lives.

The missus and I are talking about some pretty major decisions, both for our future and for the future of our kids. We’re having to start doing small things TODAY that won’t come to fruition for at least another few years. But the only way they’re going to happen later on in life is if we take those small steps now.

What you are doing now is the first small action in the Chapter 1 of your Book 1. If you don’t do that “something”, you won’t set off the chain reaction that will lead you through Book 2, Book 3, and all the other books of your life. You’ll never get to “The End” of the series because you never took that first step.

I’ve had to dream big–both for the Last Bucelarii series, and for the life I want in the distant future. I don’t know which will come to fruition first (the goals I want to achieve in my life, or “The End” for my character), but I do know that it’s the small things I’m doing today that will help me to one day reach that “end” I’m working towards.

Start small, but keep that big dream in mind. It’s really the only way that you’re going to get anywhere in life!

Book Review: Legacy of Darkness by Dawn Peers

Yet another high fantasy book for review, this one written to be a bit darker than your average “sword and sorcery”…

 

Legacy of Darkness

For hundreds of years, the Vaians waited for revenge. It was deserved. Many of their kind were killed when mankind drove them out hundreds of years ago. The Vaians don’t just want their land back, though. They will spill blood, and take souls, to get what they want.

One of their own kind, Haelyn, knew what the Vaians were like, and what they wanted. Pregnant, she escaped, desperate to give her child the kind of life she knew she could never have. With the help of Idirin, her bodyguard, she left the Vaian lands. Soon after, she died. Vaians cannot simply leave their lives behind. Haelyn knew this; she sacrificed herself, so that her daughter would not be brought up in her world of bitter isolation.

Twenty years after Haelyn’s death, the Vaians returned. Idirin had promised himself he would be ready for them. He was not.

Join him in his desperate quest to save the life of Haelyn’s daughter, before her estranged father can kill her. Join Idirin’s headstrong daughter, Arroryn, a thief with a reputation and the willpower to match it. Together, as the only influential fae left in human lands, they have to unite the races against a threat that many believed had died in to legend.

Under the apathetic rule of the unscrupulous King Ryn, a man blinded by greed and ignorant of his sons’ feuds, the final battle between the Vaians and mankind will begin. Legacy of Darkness introduces the reader to this world, and to the struggle Arroryn and Idirin face.

They have to stay alive. Otherwise their souls, and the souls of all mankind, are doomed.

 

My Review: 3 Stars

Written/Reviewed by Samuel Denberg

This is a difficult book to judge. It has a lot of promise and intrigue, it’s more of a “set the stage” book than the intro to the world–the kind of story I expect from a prequel. It’s a “look-back to see where our characters came from and what they did before”, written as if we already knew who to root for and why the rules of the world are the way they are.

As the opening book for a series, it’s lacking in that “hook” to draw us in. From the beginning, there’s no primary character or point of view. The narrative bounces between a king who behaves like a spoiled child, his son who rebels with classic teenage drama, Threnedir the villain, Arroryn the thief, and her father Idirin. Prepare for VERY long paragraphs of narrative, broken up by far less dialogue than you might like.

The only character we really get to know well is the villain Threnedir, who is so blatantly “evil” and selfish he’s almost a comic book villain. Threnedir seems to have no motive other than greed, envy, and a blind lust for power. It is stated several times that he wants to kill certain people to prevent them from threatening his power base. However, it is never explained why those peoples existence threaten him or how their deaths might help him.

This book needs to define its characters motivations, magic rules, and political system. Too much is left unsaid and undefined. The basic story and plot are good, the world is intriguing, and the story has lots of potential–just needs to be tightened up!

 

Here’s a Taste:

Swinging his eyeless head from side to side, Arroryn could see scratchings on his face, lines standing white in the darkness of the dried blood. There were circles and triangles gouged in to both of the cheeks and words she couldn’t make out scratched in to his forehead and seeing this she knew exactly what she was facing. Behind her fear was every nightmare story her father had ever told her. With every bloody iron-soaked breath the creature panted in to her face came the simple warning. Run. If you ever see one Arroryn, run. You don’t know why it’s there and who has sent it and you don’t want to wait to find out. Bindings do not think, they obey. Just run. She breathed in sharply as it made a sudden move towards her, sniffing at the air as Dozy’s fresh blood dripped from his chin. Its face came to within inches of hers and turned to one side, the good ear seemingly being used to try to isolate where she now was. Slowly the man brought his head back round, the snarl turning to the most evil grin she had ever had to witness. His wordless hiss brought the putrid stench of flesh and blood rolling over her senses and her stomach again roiling, she rolled her head away resisting the temptation the close her eyes against the horror in front of her.  Only her years under Idirin’s tutelage meant that she saw and recognised the slight change in stance and the unconscious roll of the shoulder as the dagger was brought round to strike in to her belly. Only her instincts brought her remaining short sword out of its sheath to meet the clumsy strike. As she pushed the binding to one side she used the momentum of its swing to push it off balance, and he, it, she didn’t know what any more, fell to the forest floor.

She didn’t wait to see how quickly it would get up again, as she only knew that it quite simply would. This thing was killing anything it found alive and the next thing it wanted was her. Arroryn turned heel and ran for her life, the adrenalin masking the headache that had been starting to take hold before her brief few slips of the thawroot which was now left behind, bag open and forgotten with its contents trampled into the undergrowth of the forest floor. The sun was fading quickly but there was nothing and no one that Arroryn would stop for in flight away from the binding and home to the safety of her kin.

 

About the Author:

Dawn Peers is a UK-based author of fantasy and horror. She also writes under the pen name Warren Fielding.

A lifelong reader of most types of fiction, she has always had a passion for writing. Legacy of Darkness is the first book in a fantasy series called The Graces, which Dawn has been trying to write in some guise or another since she was sixteen years old. Now in denial about turning thirty, she plans on bringing the rest of the series out by July 2015.

Dawn was born in Warwickshire, and now lives in West Sussex. Whilst still enjoying reading, she also spends much of her days telling people to turn their computers off and on again. When she isn’t being a professional geek, she is being a casual one. She blogs, reviews, and enjoys mountain biking and running.

 

Find the book here: http://smarturl.it/GracesOne

Tweet at Dawn Peers: @dawnpeersauthor

Or connect with her via Facebook: www.facebook.com/dawnpeersauthor

 

The Struggle to be Normal

I am painfully aware that I am not the average man in his late twenties. I’m not talking about my above-average height or weight, but I’m talking personality-wise.

Where most men my age are trying to live up their final days of youth by partying, drinking, and doing crazy things, I’m the kind of guy who would rather stay home and watch TV, play a game, or–and this is what I really want to do–write.

I’m reminded of my abnormality all the time when I see others–many twice my age–doing all those “young people” things that I “should” be doing. I hate to say no when the missus wants to go dancing, but the truth is that I HATE dancing at nightclubs even more.

It’s hard to force myself to do things like this, but that’s part of being “normal”, right? So I put on a smile and go out of my way to do the things asked of me so that I can maintain friendships, keep up with appearances, and avoid offending people.

But the truth is that my situation is not unique. Sure, the combination of challenges I face are definitely unique to me, but that doesn’t mean I am alone in my struggle to be “normal”. Everyone has that same struggle.

Everyone fights to keep up with the things that others think they “should” do with their time or their lives, even if it means going against the things they want to do. It’s why so many people look so bored at the myriad bars, clubs, and “hot spots” around town. 90% of them would rather be anywhere else and doing anything else, but they are forced to be there just to appear “normal” to the people around them.

But what is YOUR normal? Is it sitting at home on a Friday night and writing your latest short story, or is it driving to a firing range and shooting at practice targets? Would you rather be at home watching TV instead of at the club, or would you prefer to be enjoying a meal with friends?

Don’t let other people dictate what your “normal” is or should be. If they are truly your friends, they will accept what your normal really is, and they will love you despite the myriad oddities and quirks that make you who you are. You are the only one who can decide what your normal is!

 

Book Review: The Dragonscale by J.E. Feldman

It’s Book Review Wednesday, one of my favorite days of the week. Today, we’ve got a story that blends dwaves, elves, vampires, sorcery, and so much more into one epic fantasy book…

 

The Dragonscale

The Dragonscale amulet could be the key to Arbedenion’s survival…Vampires have ventured out of their caves in the north to wreak havoc on the peaceful races. Their Queen will brutally slaughter thousands and push the races to extinction if something isn’t done. Someone must rise above the masses and lead the war against the Vampires as members of each race tell their nightmarish journey to their uncertain fate.

My Review: 3 Stars

First off, I have to say that the premise of the book was absolutely awesome. Vampires tend to be cast in urban fantasy books, so bringing them to epic/high fantasy was a move I could get behind. The main character of the book was the kind of person I could get behind, and there were a lot of things about the story that I highly enjoyed. For the story alone, I give it a 4-star rating.

Sadly, I can’t judge ONLY on story, but I have to take the writing into account as well. This is where the book fell a bit flat.

The story looked like a “rough draft”, without all the polish and shine that makes a story readable. I had a hard time getting past the VERY simplistic writing, and it completely ruined my enjoyment of the story. You’ll see in the excerpt below what I mean.

The book had quite a few anachronisms–for example, there was a “Bengal tiger” in a land where there is no India or Bangladesh to give it its name. The speech patterns were a bit off. Some situations that should have been formal were far too informal, and the personalities and character traits often clashed with each other.

A few clichés were present (dwarves being named after rocks being just one of them), and A LOT of typos and grammar mistakes. For the writing alone, I have to give it a 2-star rating.

Which leaves us with a 3-star rating–GREAT story, iffy writing.

 

Here’s a Taste:

Six days later, Tashtym asked to meet with the king that morning and upon seeing Dlecott, insisted on having one more day to supply the soldiers.

“What else is left to do?” Dlecott inquired, allowing the Head Warlock to lead him towards the armory.

“Not enough food has been gathered and all of our warlocks are too exhausted from helping the blacksmiths. We’re having all of the children and the wives who aren’t going to war prepare as much food as possible while our warlocks rest.”

“Will the warlocks be able to travel after all of that work?”

“Yes, sire, but we won’t be able to protect the entire army from a very strong magic attack,” Tashtym replied as the group turned a corner.

In the next moment, a Dwarf crashed into Tashtym and Dlecott, knocking them over. Most of Dlecott’s Royal Guards immediately assisted their king and Tashtym back to their feet as another two grabbed ahold of the Dwarf responsible who was apologizing continuously. The Dwarf was young but what worried Dlecott is that the Dwarf’s face was white and his eyes were wide as if he’d seen a ghost.

“What’s wrong?” King Dlecott demanded, though not unkindly, while the young Dwarf tried to catch his breath.

“You’re both needed…at the Main Entrance.”

“Why?” Tashtym demanded as the group changed their course and rushed towards the summoning point. It was only a ten-minute walk but at the pace they were going, it would take them less than five.

“Dragons have come,” the messenger replied. Dlecott, Tashtym, and Gabbro all exchanged looks. “You did summon them, didn’t you?” the young Dwarf questioned.

“Not exactly,” Dlecott replied after several moments and it seemed that the young messenger would ask another question but the group had abruptly burst into the Main Entrance. The sight that met them was astonishing.

The Main Entrance was two miles high and was two miles wide. Lucky it was so large because there were three dragons waiting there. In all of Dlecott’s life, he had only set eyes on a dragon once but that had been from a great distance. As the small group drew closer to the dragons, the power emanating from the creatures was almost overwhelming. The Dwarven guards were still standing off to the side and Dlecott waved them back to their duties as the king, his guard, and the young messenger halted in front of the dragons. King Dlecott didn’t know where to begin.

     You are King Dlecott Rhyolite? a female voice questioned inside the king’s mind.

Dlecott looked up and met the eyes of the silver dragon who towered over them all. He knew immediately that it was she that had made contact with him. The torchlight glittered off of her scales creating the illusion that she was larger than she actually was.

     I am, he confirmed. Why are you here? Dlecott inquired.

     It is for the obvious. To help in the battle for Vleamontus.

 

About the Author

Born to a loving family in South Carolina, Jade Feldman began to show an interest in reading and writing at the early age of 3. As the years passed by slowly with many adventures of travel and new friends, her stories amassed to a great number. At the age of 15, she decided to create a Fantasy Writers group as a safe haven and family-like networking. This helped her to reach the outside world and discover other authors hiding in the shadows. Thus the getting published urge became a wonderful reality after years of hard, not-so-organized work.

Find the book on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/JEFeldmanTDS

Connect with her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dragonqueen321

Or visit her Blog: https://dragonqueen3.wordpress.com/

Writing Has Taught Me Organization

I’ve always been a fairly organized person. Even when my work desk looks messy, I can see that everything is put in its proper “area” so to speak. My slight OCD-ness makes it easy for me to be organized when it comes to my desk.

But I used to think that creativity had to come from within, without any rhyme or reason. I wrote my first book–In the Days: A Tale of the Forgotten Continent–like that. I just let the story flow, without writing any notes or plotting any story line. I think it came out as a good finished product, but my goal isn’t just good–I want GREAT!

So when it came time to write The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer, I figured I’d approach it from a different angle. I laid out a fairly rough structure for the story, and made sure that it adhered to my basic plan as I went. There were a few changes in the creative process, but by the end of the book, it still resembled the beast I had laid out in my notes.

Since then, that sort of organization has come naturally to me. I’ve got four or five documents for a single WIP, each with important notes on the character, callbacks to the last books, plots for future books (yes, I’ve already got most of Book 3 planned), and the character development I want to keep going. It has helped me to keep the overall story progression in mind, leading to a much more cohesive story.

Don’t think the organization ends there! I have my daily work planned out so that I know pretty much when I will be done with my day job, and I’ve got my gym workout down to a science. Fitting in my 1,000 words per day is much easier because I have my afternoon organized (I’ll try to write when the missus hits the gym in the PM).

You may not think that creativity is organized, but most artists NEED some form of organization in their lives. Without organization, your art will meander all over the place. It will never be as consistent as it needs to be, and you’ll end up with characters with multiple personalities, dramatic twists in your plot that never lead anywhere, and MASSIVE plot holes.

That’s not to say that everyone needs to write down every detail of their story before writing it. Creativity needs room to breathe, and too much organization can quickly stifle a great story. But a modicum of organization can make all the difference between a good story and a GREAT one.

 

Book Review: Oblivion’s Forge by Simon Williams

I’m a huge fan of epic fantasy, which is why I’m so thrilled to bring you a fantasy book on this Bonus Book Review Saturday!

 

Oblivion’s Forge

Oblivion’s Forge is the first book in the Aona series of dark fantasy novels which chronicle the struggle for supremacy between two ancient forces, and the lives of the people trapped between them as chaos grows across the known world. The younger races of Aona will all be swept up in a struggle for survival, as their ancient, malevolent masters, guardians of all the world’s greatest secrets, rise to do battle with their foes, remorseless destroyers of world after world throughout the known Existence.

My Review: 3 Stars

I would have loved to give this a higher review, but I found the story VERY hard to follow. The plot was pretty solid, but the writing style and manner of presentation made me want to put the book down.

The book is VERY wordy–two out of every ten words could be cut (adjectives, adverbs, flowery phrases, etc.) and would make the book much easier to read. The pace of the book is a bit odd, and it’s hard to stay in the mood of the action or slower scenes thanks to the pacing.

Inner dialogue is used a lot, almost too much. The inner dialogue communicates more than a normal person would, so it seems a bit unrealistic. There are a number of typos and grammar mistakes that make it a bit hard to read.

The author uses the “info dump” a lot. There are a lot of FASCINATING facts about the world in which these characters live, but the way we learn about them is a bit odd. The characters don’t get solid back-stories until much further into the book than I’d like, but we learn more about unimportant characters and things than necessary.

In a few places, it was difficult to know whether the author was writing about the current action or some flashback the character was having. It wasn’t clear, forcing me to read over it and find where it changed from present to past.

At one point, we were introduced to the person who served as a sort of villain of the book, but there was nothing about him to hint at anything more than a passing figure. I had a hard time feeling anything for the characters, as there was nothing to connect me to them. Their personalities sometimes seemed a bit disjointed, and their conversations were occasionally vague.

Big things happen with absolutely no buildup, and I felt it lacked the ups and downs that I look for in a good book.

The story definitely earned high marks–fascinating, rich, and complex–but the presentation dropped my rating down to three stars.

 

Here’s a Taste:

Tears of rage and frustration rolled down Kian’s cheeks as she leapt up onto the window ledge and remained straddled there, one leg either side, peering into the gloom of the castle chamber, and then out into the greyish half-light of the Mirk. She dared not go any further at this point; not until she had gathered her thoughts and perhaps found herself an excuse.

Shimlock would be patiently awaiting her return. Kian shuddered as she thought of him sitting in his decayed inner chambers, neither eating nor even moving for days on end, upon his face the rictus-like smile of a man who had lived- after a fashion- too long in shadow. She was his eyes and ears to the world, but he seldom seemed to listen to any of the tales she brought back to the Mirk of events elsewhere. And in turn, the world had long since ceased to remember Shimlock, let alone any of his kin. To the people out in the surrounding lands, the Mirk was simply that: a vast swampland clad in the perpetual grey of a mist that never lifted. Perhaps it held the remnants of an old city; perhaps it did not. Maybe, like whatever lay below the waterline- and not even Shimlock himself could remember that- everything that still reached out into the mist would in time be reclaimed by the swamp.

Kian shivered and hugged herself as tendrils of fog snaked into the bare chamber. Shimlock might well be furious at her failure to bring back anything of note from Fistelkarn’s tower, depending on whether or not he was having one of his more lucid moments. He was patient enough when it came to awaiting her return, knowing that the journey there and back was a long and arduous one- but that patience would swiftly evaporate when he found out that all she had managed to bring back were the useless trinkets she had absently stuffed into her pockets before conducting her search properly.

She had always known that she would never feel entirely comfortable here in Mirkwall. She was twenty-two years old, barely full-grown for a du-luyan, and had been brought here, according to Shimlock, by a man and woman- her parents- who had for some reason given up their child to the decrepit mage, and then either left or become lost forever in the Mirk. Kian often wondered why they had abandoned her. Had she been hideous in some way? She cautiously thought of herself as pretty enough whenever she looked into the mirrors here, but perhaps she had been less becoming as an infant. From what she knew, it happened quite often that ugly children grew up to be pretty whereas those blessed with looks in their first years might easily become plain as they matured. And she knew du-luyan to be a proud, vain people; she might not have grown up amongst her kin, but she had met a few of them.

Kian sighed; this was far from the first time she had pondered the matter, and it would not be the last, but the answer seemed as remote as ever.

She thought briefly of the people who had disturbed her and ruined her chances of leaving Fistelkarn’s tower with anything useful. She had never seen du-luyan and humans together before, and certainly not du-luyan, humans and luyan all together. That was especially odd. She was sure that someone had once told her that the luyan were supposed to be the enemies of her race, but could not recall who it had been, except that it had been a human woman. Human folk all seemed to think themselves experts in everything- certainly they held opinions on everything- but Kian reckoned they were no better than average at most things.

She had often contemplated never returning to the Mirk, and instead spending the rest of her life wandering, and learning more about the world. Only the thought of what Shimlock had done for her- he was terrifying, otherworldly even, but he had raised and protected her- kept her from doing just that. She had no idea how old he was- he said centuries- but he was growing more and more frail in the twilight of his long life. Looking into those haggard features, Kian would have said he had bought more years, more decades even, than his body would allow, using whatever strange forces he called upon to prolong his dismal life. In her gloomier moments she sometimes wondered why he persisted at all, in the grey silence of a mostly-abandoned fortress, and she had no idea whether he would last another month or another year. Perhaps, to a point, it was up to him.

His temper- weaker though it had been of late- worried her, but nowhere near as much as the creatures that she had seen, or glimpsed at the periphery of her vision, around the castle. Creatures that were there one minute and gone the next, shadows flitting away before she could figure out what they were. Shimlock denied that they existed, and would say no more about them.

On very rare occasions she had caught a proper glimpse of one or two of them, and wished immediately that she hadn’t; these were odd, constantly shifting shapes that looked like long, voracious worms, glistening deep red, moving with a deadly grace and horrifying speed.

Kian took a deep breath, willing herself into the castle chamber and then down the long, lonely corridors in search of her stepfather. Once, Shimlock had told her, these passageways had been grand and opulent, and men and women other than himself had wandered their lengths. Kian had asked what became of them, but Shimlock could not remember, or perhaps chose not to. The Mirk takes us all in the end, he had said with bitterness. Whatever we do, and for however long we persist.

 

About the Author:

Simon Williams is an author of fantasy, science fiction and speculative fiction. He is based in the UK. His first book for children and teens, “Summer’s Dark Waters” was published in 2014 and a sequel is planned for late 2015. His Aona dark fantasy series is comprised of three books published so far with a fourth due out in February 2015. A fifth and final volume in the series is also being written.

 

My UK friends, find it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oblivions-Forge-Aona-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0082XW04G/

While those of you in the US can get your hands on it here: http://www.amazon.com/Oblivions-Forge-Aona-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0082XW04G/

Visit his website at: http://www.simonwilliamsauthor.com

Tweet at the author: @SwilliamsAuthor

Or hit him up on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Simon-Williams/167649143291810