Deby Fredericks's Blog, page 51

I’m Losing It!

Some e-mails, that is. I know I’ve seen at least two responses from people asking about Queen Titania’s Court. The thing is, I looked at them on my cel phone. When I went back to my desktop computer, the messages had vanished. I want to follow up on this, but I can’t find those original messages. Just this morning, I combed through over 1,000 deleted e-mails both on the cell phone and the computer, to see if they somehow got swiped-right into the trash. No such luck.

So if you or someone you know reached out about Queen Titania, please ask them to try again. I really do want this to happen! (But if your initials are A. L, you are the one I didn’t lose, so you’re all good.)

In other news, I’ve mostly got the names reassigned for The Renegade, although not a new title, yet. I’ve completed a book map to help me find where the weak spots are as far as plot action. I know where I need to deepen the character motivations and amp up the emotion.

The obstacle to starting the second draft is that I’ve received my annual review at work and it was unexpectedly negative. Like, “needs improvement” in every category, where every previous review noted that I exceeded expectations. This year has been rough for everyone, but I thought I had a good working relationship with my supervisor and I’m really discouraged by this review.

So I’ve been in touch with my union representative and have advised the principal that I’ll be protesting the evaluation. But I’m just going to have to allow myself to be depressed and distracted for the next week or so.

Hope it’s all been going better for you!

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Calling All Authors

Submissions are now open for my summer book event, Queen Titania’s Court!

Coming up in June, this humble blog will host Queen Titania’s Court, a celebration of fantasy books. Titania, Queen of all Faeries, summons magical people and beasts from every corner of the fantastic world to join her for a grand ball on Midsummer Night.

This invitation is for any and all fantasy writers, especially independent authors. Each day in the month of June, I’ll feature one author’s book. Pick ONE character from ONE of your books to attend the Midsummer Ball.

This is the second year I’m hosting this event. It was really fun to do, and hopefully helped some fellow authors draw attention to their work. There was room for more guests, so here’s where I appeal for your help. If you are a fantasy author, you are welcome to participate. Or if you know some fantasy authors, I hope you’ll suggest it to them.

***IMPORTANT! You have to e-mail me in order to take part. You can’t just comment on a blog post! ***

Check out this page if you want all the details. My e-mail is there, too. To see some of last year’s gala, start here.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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Garden Weekend

Now that I’ve finished The Renegade Count (or whatever I end up calling it) it’s time to take a break. The weather is supposed to be in the 70s here, perfect weather to be out in my garden. I have a few transplants to get in, and more than a few weeds to get out. I’m also taking in a webinar about soil care, because if you don’t have good soil, your flowers and vegies will only struggle.

While my hands are busy, I’ll be thinking about the new names and titles I need. Some of them might sound strangely botanical. Nobody will notice that, right?

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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Names, Names

I’m still doing a bit of work on the very end of The Renegade Count, just making sure everything fits together the way it should. While I do that, I’m also starting the first step of my revisions, which is to name or re-name a few people and places.

Names are a detail that I pay a lot of attention to. The sound of them, and how they fit together, is an important part of my world building. I want them all to sound like they come from the same place and time. Although I try to come up with a list of good names before I start the first draft, and pick from that list when I encounter a new character, there are always a few I get stuck on.

For this novella, I’m re-naming a couple of characters whose names are too similar and might cause confusion for readers. There are also a few, very minor, characters who I didn’t anticipate needing names. No big deal, I’ll just play with sound combinations until I get them how I want them.

The major problem that I have it with the title. The Renegade Count was supposed to be about Berisan accidentally being appointed “count” of an obscure village. Since the people are expecting military-style magic to defend them, and Berisan is a pacifist, I thought that would be an interesting conflict. As it worked out, though, Yamaya’s character arc took up a lot more of the story. The village didn’t draft Berisan as their protector in the way I had anticipated.

This leaves me the choice of completely re-writing the plot to force my original intention on it — you writers out there know this hardly ever produces a better story — or coming up with a new title. Guess which one I’m choosing?

So the work goes on… or begins, depending on where you count from!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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So Close…

So close to finishing up with The Renegade Count! That octopus of a plot is pinned to the matt except for the end of one tentacle is still twitching.

Basically, the last chapter is a big ol’ mess. It’s really disorganized, but in a way I can handle. There were a couple of great observations made by Berisan and Yamaya. They’re so great, I think I used them more than once. So I need to go back over those chapters, decide where the great lines should go, and generally shape the conclusion to my liking. With any luck, I’ll finish that this afternoon.

Saturdays are my day off from writing, and I have a fun thing going on where some friends are running an online role-playing game. I’m going to moderate a chat for them. But, on Sunday I should be able to start the next draft. It had been my intention to finish The Renegade Count several weeks ago, so that I can publish it in mid-May. That’s not a lot of time, which is one reason I’ve been anxious about finishing this draft.

However, the pauses to think and attention to detail usually mean that my revisions go quickly. So a May publications date looks chancy, but it’s not beyond possibility. If I have to push it into June, so be it. I can feature that book during Queen Titania’s Court.

Onward!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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The Octopus Plot

Coming to the end of The Renegade Count has turned out to be sort of like wrestling with an octopus. There are so many arms, and they’re kind of slippery! I have good stuff written, but I’m struggling to get it in the proper order.

As I start the chapter, the two viewpoint characters each have a big question left to solve. The thing is, Yamaya just solved Berisan’s problem for him. And her solution makes so much more sense!

I think that I’ve mentioned Berisan stepped in to help some villagers being menaced by bandits. Then the village headman drafted Berisan to protect the village if the bandits come back. Berisan isn’t a fighting mage, but the Headman won’t listen to his protesting.

Returning to the village a few days later, Berisan intended to negotiate some other arrangement with the Headman. Yamaya just marched in with knives on her belt and said, “Leave my employee alone.” End of problem.

I love this approach and how it avoids so many unnecessary words. It’s just that it leaves Berisan without much to do for the rest of the story. If I could, I would have him turn around and solve Yamaya’s problem for her. Fair is fair, and again would be a surprising twist. But it doesn’t quite work.

Yamaya’s remaining problem is that she’s being courted by a sort of arrogant guy who might actually mean well. Since Berisan is not in a relationship with Yamaya, it would be really awkward for him to tell Kinson, “Leave my boss alone.” Yamaya needs to make her own romantic decisions, and besides, she can’t do all the lifting at the end.

I know I’ll figure it out. It’s just really confusing right now. Sort of like wrestling with an octopus!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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Woman at Work, Part 14

What’s Happening? Spring break officially began yesterday afternoon. Although this school year had a lot of lost time (for reasons we all know), I feel good going forward. I know what skills I want to work on with my groups for the back end of the school year. Spring break holds no extravagant plans for me. I’m going to do the archetypal spring cleaning. Fun! Also, I get my second Covid shot later today. I’m mildly worried that it will affect my extravagant to-do list, but it will be fine either way.

What I’m Working On. So close to being done with The Renegade Count! I passed the apex two weeks ago, and sort of frittered away last week, but I feel very confident of finishing by the end of spring break. It should be right around my goal of 30,000 words. I can clearly see some things that need work in the second draft, but first I have to finish this one.

What’s Next? Major organizing for two projects, Queen Titania’s Court and SpoCon. For the latter, I need to send out a second solicitation for speakers and fascinating panel ideas. We are still hoping for an in-person event. SpoCon is in October, so I feel like we have a decent shot at it. For the former, Queen Titania’s Court is in June, so I’ll be getting those invitations out right away.

Fun and Games. As always, I’m playing Animal Crossing. Who doesn’t want to live on a beautiful tropical island where you’re surrounded by adorable animal neighbors? My alternate gave is Wasteland 3, a post-apocalyptic adventure in a nuclear winter. There’s somewhat of a sheriff-cleaning-up-the-town vibe. The play style is very different and the voice acting is a little too over-the-top for my taste, but I’m soldiering on.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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Blast from the Past

All this week, I’ve been hearing from some very excited kids about a new movie coming out. That’s Godzilla vs. King Kong, of course! The kids in question are in third grade. It’s been really fun for me to hear about this, because when I was in third grade I adored Godzilla, too.

My versions were the classic, black and white shows with the monsters played by people in rubber suits and/or puppetry. I guess I was a naive kid, because I never even noticed that the cast were all Japanese and their lip movements didn’t quite match the dialogue. As we all know, more recent adaptations have been created with CGI and similar technology, but to me they are just pale imitations.

Anyhow, in some ways Godzilla can be considered a sea dragon. Back when Wyrmflight was focused entirely on dragons, I did a series of blogs about the history behind this incredible King of the Monsters. If you have a mind to, you can click here to check it out!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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Chapter Endings

Endings can be tricky for writers. Not just The End, the conclusion of the story, but the many small endings that come between chapters and sections within chapters. These are a couple of different ways I like to handle these.

End with a hook. This ending makes it clear something else is going to happen immediately, and it makes the reader anxious to continue reading. For instance, “The squirrel went sprinting away from the dog.”

End with a point of tension. Rather than physical plot actions, this implies the character has or will experience emotional growth. “The door slammed and Jeff wondered if he had driven Jan away forever.”

End with a point of resolve. The opposite of a tension point, a point of resolve is where a character commits themself to a goal. “Princess Leonfalla would save her people, no matter what it took.”

End with a temporary pause. It’s clear there is more to the story, but things have reached equilibrium at least for the moment. “Everything will be fine, as long as nobody walks past the wishing well at daybreak.”

End with a point of rest. Similar to the above, this allows the reader a break to do other things. Eating, showering, going to work… “She wasn‛t a bandit! Not any more, and never again.”

For those of you who are fellow writers, what kind of chapter endings do you like to use?

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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Dither and Delay

I’ve been dithering a bit with The Renegade Count this week. Mostly I think it’s because my pacifist main character is about to find out he seriously hurt someone. Maybe even killed them.

As we all know, life is never totally under our control, even in stories. I like to to express that by not completely planning some things. I’ll roll dice for some outcomes. So the situation is that Berisan reflexively pushed away at some people who were attacking him with swords. They were standing on a slope of loose stones, and it started a rockslide.

What I have to decide is how badly the two attackers were hurt in the rockslide. A couple of dice rolls showed me that one attacker had 30% damage to his left arm. That’s pretty easy to describe as having a broken bone. The other one had 50% damage to his chest. This one is puzzling me a bit to interpret. Fifty percent damage sounds serious. Like multiple broken ribs, maybe? Or internal injuries? With no medical care to speak of, he might still die.

Neither attacker was killed outright, but they won’t be coming after Berisan again, either. Still, I want him to have that realization that he isn’t some emblem of perfection. His philosophy of non-violence can’t insulate him from all circumstances. Even if Berisan was defending himself, he hurt these men. It’s going to be a painful realization.

We all know writers who chuckle gleefully when they think of some torment to put their characters through, but I’m not one of them. Inhabiting this part of Berisan’s journey is going to be stressful for me, too. That’s why I often dither and delay starting those scenes.

Oh well, better get to it!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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