It appears that some questions must be answered:
Well, it appears that the cover art has a lot of you scratching your heads and asking questions. So, before getting into the blog proper, and without giving too much away, let me answer some of the most asked questions right up front. Yes, that is Alex on the cover, and no that’s not what he looks like in my head either. Yes, he looks a bit young and different than he has on previous covers. I really do like this cover, even with the too young looking Alex and that really strange looking staff he’s carrying. Yes, that is supposed to be his staff, yes his real staff is made from a dark wood with gold and silver inlay. I don’t know what happened there, maybe the artist didn’t know or forgot. Let’s see… Yes, that is a giant snake on the cover, not a dragon. Finally, that bird you see on the cover… it’s not an eagle and it’s not Alex, but it is important to the story. (Ha, you still don’t know what’s going to happen, do you.)
Alright, with that out of the way I can tell you that I did finish the book and that it is now with my publisher and editor. I know they are going to have a few test readers go over it and give me feedback. If more changes are needed then I’ll go back to work on it. If no more changes are needed, well, then it will go to press and we will move closer to an actual release date. No, I don’t know when it will be out. I don’t have any say in release dates, but I will let you know as much as I can as soon as I know anything at all. I am hopeful that most of the problems with the story have been fixed and that little if any additional re-writing will be needed.
I would like to thank everyone who has suggest other books to read. There are some good ones listed, and a few that I’m going to need to hunt down and read as well. Also, thank you all for your support and suggestions. I am always surprised when you guys come up with ideas that are close to what I’ve written, but just now I’m not saying who is close and who isn’t. I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait until the book comes out.
Now, on with the questions:
Q: Is Alex a more powerful wizard that Whalen? Well now, that is an interesting question. More powerful, maybe. It depends on how you look at things. Alex might have more power, but Whalen has more experience and knowledge. Power alone isn’t always what you need, understanding and knowledge are important as well, so I’m not sure how to answer that, at least not yet. At some point in time I believe that Alex will be the greater wizard, but I don’t think we are there just yet.
Q: Will Alex ever go on an adventure with Whalen? Yes, he will, but “Sands of Nezza” isn’t that adventure.
Q: Well, it’s sort of a question. Some of you have asked about the elves that have faded. Will Alex ever meet one outside the known lands and such are common questions. Here’s the deal, when elves “fade” it is like dying. They vanish from the known lands and from the land of the living. They are waiting until the worlds are renewed, and no, I don’t know how long the wait will be. Elves don’t cross the wall into the shadow lands like humans and dwarfs, so it’s no good looking for them there. In short, No, Alex will never meet an elf that has faded.
Q: Since Alex is the only wizard to ever change into a dragon, does that make him the most powerful wizard of all? Right, let me see. Other wizards have changed into dragons in the past. I think I mentioned this in one of the books, but it might have been edited out. Those other wizards did one of two things. 1. They flew away as dragons and remained as dragons for the rest of their days, or 2. They went insane and died after returning to their own form. So, Alex is the only wizard who can turn into a dragon and return to himself without going mad and dying or getting lost in the dragon form. Why? Because Alex is the only wizard who is also part dragon. Does that make him the most powerful wizard ever? No, it makes him a wizard that is part dragon. Yes, he is special, yes it makes him more powerful, but the most powerful… probably not.
Q: (I really like this one.) Can you create a room or a place inside a magic bag where you can keep horses? Oh yes you can! Almost any kind of room you can think of can be added to your magic bag. There are only two questions you need to ask. 1. Do I need that kind of room? 2. How much will it cost? You could add a room that includes a forest, complete with animals if you wanted to, but why would you? You could add a dungeon if you needed one, and some adventurers might need one. There is no real limit to what kinds of rooms you can add, but remember, whatever you add you have to pay for. Huge rooms with forests and animals in them would be expensive, and the animals might wander into the rest of your bag and make a real mess of things, so be careful.
Q: Will Alex ever go on an adventure and run into another group of adventurers that are after the same thing? Well, that already happened in “The Horn of Moran.” I was, at one time, thinking of an adventure where Alex’s group of adventurers and another group of maybe not so honest adventurers, (Hard to call the second group adventurers because they don’t really follow the rules.) were both after the same thing. I don’t think we’ll get to that story in the series, but it would be fun to write. Maybe someday I will write it.
Q: Will there be anything that can harm Alex when he is a true silver dragon? Yes, I think there will be. Oh, and I do want to point out, as some of you didn’t understand… When Alex met Salinor, the guardian of the past, I said that they were equals. Yes, Alex could destroy Salinor, but at the same time Salinor would destroy Alex. It’s not like you can kill a dragon like Salinor and just walk away, it’s going to cost you something. There are things more powerful than dragons, I think, but not many. You should also think about this, how much is Alex’s enemy willing to do to hurt Alex? How much is that enemy willing to give up? Salinor could destroy Alex, but he would probably die as well. Would some other enemy be willing to die just to hurt Alex? Maybe they would, I don’t know yet.
Q: Is there a chance of Alex ever meeting a dark elf? Yes, there is a chance. I’m not sure if it will happen or not, but there is a chance.
Q: Was the name Thrain taken directly from Tolkien or was that a coincidence? I’m going to claim it was coincidence. I’ve read Tolkien many times, and I’m sure a lot of his names are hidden deep in my mind. I didn’t even think about it when I used the name, I didn’t remember who Thrain was in Tolkien’s stories. Wait… who was Thrain anyway? Dang, gotta read all those books again. Thrain isn’t a name Tolkien made up, it was a common Norse name back in the day, or so I understand. Now if I’d used a name like, Bilbo or Frodo, you could yell at me… but that won’t happen because my editor wouldn’t let me use those names. Oddly enough, I had used the name Angmar in “Sands of Nezza” without really thinking about it. My editor told me to change it, as there was that one character in LOR who was “The Witch King of Angmar”. You know who I’m talking about.
Finally, for normal questions, Alex’s step-brother Todd. Oh dear. In “Slathbog’s Gold” I tried to make it clear that Todd wasn’t the adventurer type. Even Mr. Roberts didn’t think his son would ever have anything to do with adventures. Yes, it could be cool, but I’m going to stick with my original thoughts. Todd is not adventurer material. Mr. Roberts might turn up in one of the later stories, but I don’t believe that Todd will. Sorry for those of you with hopes and dreams in that direction, it’s not going to happen.
Now, for a little on writing. There are some questions here that I want to answer, but remember, there isn’t just one way to do things when writing. Things that work for me may not work for you, so you might have to try a few different things before you find what’s best for you.
Q: How do you focus and decide on story plots? I don’t. Well, that’s not really true, so let me explain how I write. I don’t sit down and plot the story out. I sit down and tell the story. All I want to do, especially on a first draft, is tell the story. I don’t worry about the plot, the theme, the hidden message, or anything like that. I sit down and I tell the story that’s in my head. For me this has worked well. Oh, I can add little details about the plot later, I can change things up to make plot twists when I go back and edit. For the first draft, however, all I care about is the story and getting it out of my head and into the computer.
Some writers I know spend a lot of time outlining their story, working out the plots, figuring out the back story or history of the characters, lands, races, etc. That’s all fine, and if it works for them, great. When I write I’m all about the story, I think, “What is the story I want to tell?” Yes, I take notes as I go. I write down things about characters, races, lands, places, animals and whatever else. Most of my notes will never make it into the book, but it is important that I know all those things so that I can tell a better story.
For those of you trying to write and get published, I’ll just note a comment from AALivengood here, who asks me to rate my publisher… um, you do know they run this blog don’t you? LOL, I love my publisher, but there are things you should know. If I can help any of you with information or ideas or suggesting books you should read, email me at Bregnest@gmail.com Anybody else who just wants to drop me a line can also email me there. I won’t promise to reply to everything, but I will promise to at least read everything.
So, until next time, when I hope to have more news about where “Sands of Nezza” is…
I remain yours in fellowship,
Mark
