Craig Schaefer's Blog, page 21

Writing Challenge Tuesday: Sherlocked

I was watching Scandal in Belgravia tonight. It should be no surprise that I’m an Irene Adler fan if you’ve read basically any of my books. That said, my own lead female is of a different quality. 

I’d always considered Adler to be a right hand to power, which is sort of ironic because in the Faust books, I’m pretty sure Caitlin is the power. 

I promise, I’m going somewhere with this. I was thinking tonight of the weaknesses of main characters. Obviously, from Redemption Song, Caitlin is a huge part of Daniel’s weakness. She isn’t all of it, though. His own past and his fears are far more a ‘weakness’ than she is. 

All that said, I’d say he’s definitely SHERlocked for her. So my writing challenge is this: Who is your protagonist SHERlocked for? I’m sorry if you haven’t seen Scandal in Belgravia, because that’s not going to make any sense. But I suspect that years later it’s okay to spoiler. 

If your protagonist has a beloved, are they an Achilles’ heel, or a strength? If your protagonist has a mother, a child, a ward, a student - who is it that makes them act? I’m reminded of Molly from the Dresden Files, or Kenzi from Lost Girl. 

By the way, I’ll do an inspirations post on that next week, but Lost Girl is totally worth a watch.

Catch you all on Thursday for another Inspirations post!

Inspirations Thursday: Educating Myself

In keeping with the theme earlier this week, and in honoring the ongoing struggles, I wanted to talk a bit about media by non-white authors and artists. It’s become clear to me over the years that I need to make an effort to seek out diverse and multi-faceted fiction and art.

Obviously, that leaves me out, and I’m really okay with that. If there’s even the slightest chance I could shine a light on someone else’s work, I’d like to. There's room for everybody!

Starting off, there’s Invisible: Personal Essays on Representation in SF/F. This anthology of essays features all kinds of representation from race related, to gender, to disability. I can’t recommend it enough. Mark Oshiro, from Mark Reads, wrote a fantastic piece in it called “Parched” which always moves me to tears. 

Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History. This is a fantastic anthology of fiction like you’d find in Lightspeed, featuring an impressive array of different walks of life, cultures, and races.

For those who enjoyed the Sword and Sorcery books, I’d like to recommend Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology. And if you enjoy it, there’s a second book as well! PoC characters are remarkably absent from SF/F books, even historical fiction ones. 

Join me next week for more writing challenges and inspirations. 

Writing Challenge Tuesday: Heroes

The last couple of weeks have been difficult to watch unfold. There’s been a lot of incredibly charged stuff in the media that I want to comment on, that I want to offer help where I can, but I’m not sure how best to. I’m in a privileged position; I’m a white guy with a relatively comfortable life. I can’t go out and protect people, but I can say what I think is right, and I can stick up for others when they’re under attack.

I’ve gotten my share of flak over the years for being a white knight, for championing a cause, for speaking up when I could’ve kept my mouth shut. I’ve told friends that a rape joke wasn’t all that funny to me, or I’ve said I see no problem with an adult male watching any show they like, no matter how ostensibly “feminine.” If that makes me a deluded white knight, I’m okay with that. Because to me, either I’m a feminist and an ally, or I’m not, and that doesn’t go away just because someone makes me feel challenged or uncomfortable.

Some of my biggest heroes in this arena (as I’ve mentioned before) are people like Jim Hines, Chuck Wendig, and Greg Rucka. I’m still sorting out this whole “putting my public face on” stuff since I’m not used to having one. However, those are people I hope to be like. 

All that in mind, I wanted to say this: The racial disparity and problems with police violence in this country are out of control, and I can’t adequately encompass all the nuance. It’s not mine to do and I’m not going to quote anyone out of context. Instead, I wanted to give the podium to some of the better speakers out there on the topic. 

Please, instead of a writing challenge this week, take a moment to visit some of these videos or articles. 
Ill Doctrine - Jay Smooth
Hypocrisy, Race and Literary Gentrification - Foz Meadows
Jesse Williams on Race Relations in America

On Writing, One Year Later

One year. Damn.

One year ago today, The Long Way Down was released. I'd love to say "and the world was forever changed" or something similarly dramatic and portentious (pretentious?), but I'm just a midlist fantasy writer in a very big sea, doing my thing and plugging away.

I feel like I should have some Big Important Thoughts today, but what I mostly feel is a quiet sense of gratitude. Readers have not only ventured through my humble offerings, but come back for more, and even brought their friends along for the ride. Sharing these worlds and these characters with me, and caring about them as much as I do. That means so much to me, I can't begin to express my gratitude. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

This first year was all about laying groundwork. Introducing you to the world of Daniel Faust and the Revanche Cycle, and finding my own stride as a storyteller. This coming year? That's Phase Two, if I can shamelessly yank a concept from the Marvel Comics movies. This is the year the world opens up, with the Harmony Black spinoff, and Faust's adventures will escalate to a whole new level as the threat of his new nemesis unfolds.

There will be answers. And you will hear, in the distance, the thundering of long-range Chekhov Guns. More than anything, I'll keep working hard to deliver thrills, chills, and a roller-coaster ride in every book. That's my promise to you.

(My other promise is to step up audiobook production as fast as I and my awesome narrators can manage. I feel bad about keeping my audio listeners waiting! Don't worry, folks, that's getting fixed pronto.)

Hey, since it's the one-year anniversary of The Long Way Down, here's something to ponder. The Stacy Pankow murder led Daniel to meet Caitlin, and set the stage for all of his adventures to date. Nothing in any of the later books would have happpened if Daniel hadn't met Jud and taken that job. But here's the curious thing: the first crucial clue came from Stacy's autopsy report, proving she couldn't have drowned the night of the rainstorm.

"They told me they could only give that report to immediate next of kin," Jud said. "Granddad don't count. On my way out, a young fella pulled me aside and put that copy in my hands. Said I oughta read it real close."

So, who was that mystery man? Just some food for thought.

And again, because three times isn't enough, thank you.

Craig.

The Revanche, Book Two, is here!

A day earlier than expected, The Instruments of Control is live on Amazon, and other storefronts should be enabled shortly (as well as the print version, which should be available by the end of the week). I hope you like it! Here's the pitch:

Livia Serafini must die. 

To the Church she is a heretic, tried in absentia and sentenced to burn. To her brother Carlo, she stands as a threat to his corrupt rule and a symbol of resistance. To her new "allies" in the east, she is a pawn to be played and sacrificed as they see fit. They don't hear the whispers that follow her in the streets: whispers of hope, and the name of a long-dead saint. 

When Livia rises up to fight, she will not rise alone. 

Across the ocean, Felix struggles for control of his family's fate against the crime lord Basilio Grimaldi. Basilio is wealthy, ruthless, and the master of a hundred killers. All Felix has are his wits and his courage. It won't be enough. To break free, and to save the lives of everyone he loves, he'll have to face the darkness that followed him home from Winter's Reach. 

And as the Owl's horrific vengeance unfolds, her coven teeters on the brink of civil war. All the dominoes are in place now, lined up from the frozen north to the swamps and ruins of a dead empire, and set to tumble at one man's command. When they do, a world will fall with them.

Writing Challenge Tuesday: Post-History

I'm a bit of a horror buff. You might have guessed that. I can wax enthusiastic all day long about smart, psychological horror, and probably send you away with an armload of DVDs and a viewing list.

(Torture-porn, not so much. While I have no problem with gore when a story calls for it -- my books, case in point -- horror that relies on violence over character and plot just strikes me as criminally lazy; anybody can splash some red stuff around and call it a day. Though it's even worse when the gore actively undercuts the story. I will never not be pissed at the Saw series for doing something nobody else has -- a deep, intricate and winding plotline stretched across seven freakin' movies, while playing with clever time-shifts and drawn out reveals -- and hiding all that great stuff behind mountains of torture scenes and general nastiness.)

The Scream series is an interesting one, mingling comedy and slasher tropes. While deconstructing horror seems old-hat today (and has anybody done it better than Joss  Whedon's "Cabin in the Woods"?), remember that back in '96, a character actually calling out (and sometimes succumbing to) horror-movie tropes was pretty radical.  One of the phrases that Randy, the film’s film buff, uses, has always struck me: “Preponderance of backstory.” 

Specifically, he’s talking about how to tell if you’re in an installment, or the final chapter of a trilogy. As it happens, the movie makers sort of backtracked that, since they made a fourth. All the same, it’s a fantastic phrase, and it’s something I’ve always contemplated in particular with the older generations in my books. Bentley and Corman have plenty of story yet to tell, and someday, I hope to tell it. I’m not sure yet how it will all come out, but I’m looking forward to it. Suffice to say that in their heyday, they got up to some antics that rivaled Daniel's...

So this is my writing challenge for the week: Write a preponderance of backstory for one of your elder characters. A father, a grandfather, a mother, an aunt. Someone who hasn’t had their tale told as part of the course of the story yet. Maybe it ties to the main plot. Maybe it doesn’t, and they’re in the middle of saying goodbye. 

I’m told as we age, we start to contemplate how we’ve gotten where we are, and what brought us here. If that’s true, then our stories are just going to get more important right before the end. 

See you all on Thursday for another Inspirations post, and next Tuesday, look forward to an awesome announcement!

Inspirations Thursday: VNV Nation

Typically when I discuss inspirations in posts, I’m talking about a specific mix I’ve made. In this case I wanted to talk about a band. VNV Nation is a fantastic band. I had a friend some years back who was a huge fan of theirs, and told me a story from her college years. One of her professors put forth the idea that in our current times, instead of being huge believers in religion and disciples of a church, we are disciples of our fandoms. 

It’s a quaint conceit, but one I can understand. We worship lyrics or we travel far and wide to follow a favorite band. We ship characters in television shows, follow tumblr artists who make fan art. Nothing is without an obsessive following, and I frankly like it that way. Not to date myself, but there was a time in my own lifespan when fandom was a discussion between two people who figured out they liked the same book. Now I can find thousands of other fans of Leverage, of Blacklist, of any band in creation.

Anyway, getting back to the point - if we are disciples of our music choices, then VNV does a reasonable job of running a church. I went to a live show of theirs a few years back. Not only did the band do an amazing job of connecting to the audience, but their messages were not what one would conventionally expect from an industrial band. 

Today, this song is inspiring me, and I hope you’ll all enjoy it too.

“Thank you for all the doubts, and for all the questioning,
For all the loneliness and for all the suffering.
For all the emptiness, and the scars it left inside.
It inspired in me, an impetus to fight.
For the conviction, for the purpose found along.
For the strength and courage, that in me I've never known.
And if it seems to you, that my words are undeserved,
I write this in gratitude for whatever good it serves.”

It’s been quite a road to get here, and I had a lot of adversity to thank people for. Now, I can also thank people for inspiration. 

Writing Challenge Tuesday: Tarot Cards

Nothing has had more of an impact on Faust’s story, I’d say, than playing cards. Between Caitlin’s introduction, his magics in general, and a handful of smaller ventures, entire parts of Daniel’s life have been decided by the cards.

Tonight I was thinking about it, though, and it occurred to me that there are a lot of similarities with characters in my books and tarot cards. Not just the Faust series, but Revanche as well. Livia reminds me of Strength, or the Two of Swords, and Felix has a distinctly Hanged Man appeal to him at times. 

There’s obvious parallels to the Devil card in Faust’s books, but who would it be? Sitri, with Daniel and Caitlin at his hands? Or would he have Emma, or other servants? Is Daniel in that deep? What card would Caitlin actually be? For the Lovers, I’d choose Bentley and Corman. They’re simply adorable. For the Star, Melanie. Who would Emma be? Something of Pentacles, that’s for sure. Queen? I don’t know. I think maybe King, given what she represents. 

I can’t say much more without spoilers, but let’s just put it this way: Someone in Redemption Song definitely proved that they were the Moon. And now I’m speaking entirely in metaphors.

So this week’s writing challenge is this: What cards are best represented by your characters? How many facets of different cards do they relate to? Can the same character be Death, and Temperance, and the Star? What about the Page of Cups, and the Eight of Swords? How do characters rely on their archetypes in a storyline, and how does fate play a role for them?

Are your characters in your chosen story part of some greater fate, or have their cards not yet been chosen? I’ve always been fascinated with tarot cards, with divination, and with what it represents. It’s an interesting thing to consider, and it offers us some kind of intuition or a path we haven’t considered, even for those who don’t believe that there’s a hand of fate involved.

I can answer with certainty which card Daniel would be, if I had to choose one. But better if you guess. Tell me, which one do you think?

Introducing: Harmony Black

So, remember that top-secret project I've been hinting about off and on? Now that we're safely past April Fool's Day, the truth can be told. I'm pleased to announce that this winter, courtesy of the awesome  folks at 47North Publishing, I'll be bringing you Harmony Black: the Series. That's right, the Daniel Faust series is getting an official spin-off. Here's the pitch:

VIGILANT LOCK is an illegal covert operation concealed within the United States government. In a world where criminal syndicates shield their operations under the cloak of black magic, corporate oligarchs rise to power with blood sacrifices and demonic patronage, and terrorist cells are upgrading from bombs to occult bioweapons, Vigilant's mandate is clear: investigate, exterminate, and keep the truth out of the headlines at all costs.

Harmony Black, FBI agent and Vigilant asset, has a new team and a new mission. Together they'll shine a light across the shadows of modern America, unraveling secret histories and unspeakable crimes. They aren't the only conspiracy in town, though, and the powers of hell may have already wormed their way into the marble halls of Washington D.C...

Nobody can be trusted. No place is safe. And your closest ally may have a bullet with your name on it. From Las Vegas to Miami Beach, from sultry Louisiana bayous to the frozen peaks of the Catskills, getting the job done means navigating a web of danger and deception. And Harmony and her team will get the job done. After all, they're the good guys.

You may have questions about all this. Here are some answers!

Q: So, is the Faust series ending?

No, absolutely not.  The Faust and Black books will not only alternate, but interweave. I've been given free reign by 47North to bring Faust characters and events into the Black line, and vice-versa. What we're doing here is pretty ambitious and, I think, super-exciting: opening up an entire supernatural world of which, so far, Daniel Faust has only explored one small corner.

The core difference is tone. While the Faust novels are crime stories, drawing inspiration from the greats like Elmore Leonard and Richard Stark/Donald E. Westlake, the Black series is taking on a more conspiracy/mystery/espionage angle.

Also, Daniel commits occult crimes, while Harmony solves them. Big difference there.

Q: Harmony Black? Really? Isn't she kind of, uh...uptight?

Bear in mind that you've only seen her through Daniel Faust's eyes -- and ever since they met, she's been making his life miserable. There's a lot more to Harmony than he realizes. Read the first book and I think you'll agree.

(And that's not even mentioning her supporting cast. If you dig Daniel's crew of rogues, just wait until you meet Harmony's new team...)

Q: What if I only read one series but not the other? Will I miss out on anything big?

I don't think so. I'm structuring the plotlines and crossovers so that they won't be jarring if you're only reading one -- but if you're reading both, they'll add insight and depth to the overall story.

For example, Dr. Khoury (from A Plain-Dealing Villain) has a small role in the first Harmony Black novel. If you've never read APDV, the scene stands completely on its own. If you have, there's a bit of eyebrow-raising dialogue that'll shed new perspective on Khoury's talk with Daniel at the Field Museum.

Rest assured that this won't be a situation where you're reading a great storyline across five issues of Batman, only to find out the whole thing got wrapped up in a side issue of Aquaman. And then you have to go to the store and ask for Aquaman and everybody laughs at you, and you've got like, one issue of Aquaman now and it's screwing up your whole filing system and now you hate comics forever. I wouldn't do that to you.

(In this analogy, to be clear, both Daniel and Harmony are Batman.)

Q: Will this series have vampires?

Vampires aren't real.

Q: Sexy vampires?

Get out.

Q: Is this just like the Dresden Files? Because I--

I WILL CUT YOU.

Q: Is this a kissing book?

It's more of a storming-the-castle book.

That's all I can tell you for now, but I'll keep you posted as we get closer to the big day. For now, I'd better get back to work.

Uwe Boll Presents: Daniel Faust

Fans of Craig Schaefer's Daniel Faust series were elated by Wednesday's press release, revealing that the first book would be adapted for film by legendary director/producer Uwe Boll. While acknowledging that Hollywood adaptations often take unnecessary liberties with books, Boll wished to assure readers that "absolutely nothing -- beyond some very minor tweaks to make the series more palatable to a broader audience -- has been changed from the original story."

The film will follow the adventures of Daniel Faust, a vampire hunter working for the Vatican, and his girlfriend Caitlin -- an angel in disguise, sent by the heavenly powers to protect the innocent on Earth. Together, along with their wacky friends, they'll take a road trip across America ("at least the parts of America that look just like Eastern Europe," Boll added) in their quest for the mysterious Etruscan Box. A box, the legends say, filled with pirate gold.

Early production efforts were stalled by a lawsuit from the Syfy Network, alleging that they already owned the rights to the Daniel Faust character and, in fact, had aired a Faust TV series back in 2007. "Wait," a Syfy executive was overheard saying, "what do you mean, this isn't the Dresden Files?"

We can only hope that the Faust adaptation fares better than the ill-fated Revanche Cycle TV series, which was notably cancelled by Fox Television a record five minutes after the deal was signed. "You see," explained a Fox representative, "instead of canceling it after a single season -- preferably ending on an episode filled with cliffhangers that will never, ever be resolved -- we realized we could achieve maximum viewer irritation at minimal cost by canceling the show before shooting the pilot."

"But still," he added, "that pilot script? It was really good, I mean, you would have really loved that show. Which is why it had to die."