17 Sept. 2013: The Dungeon Master has fixed the problem.
Well finally. I got word to my dungeon master and the first chapter is now up on the Adventurers Wanted site. Some of you have already seen it, as I think it was up last Friday on the Shadow Mountain site as well. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, you can find it on the Shadow Mountain site by going here: http://www.shadowmountain.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Adventurers-Wanted-bk-4-ch-1.pdf OR on the Adventurers wanted site by going here: http://www.adventurerswanted.com/_pdfs/aw-book4-excerpt.pdf
Hope both of those links work. I’ll try to test them before I post this, just to make sure.
Well, now that the problems with chapter one being up are fix… I think there were some questions that needed to be answered. Um…
Brian: On the idea of short stories about different characters from the Adventurers Wanted series… Yes, I have thought about it but I’m not sure if it will happen or not. I was working on a collection of shorts called, “Tales of Whalen Vankin”. It kind of stalled out and I don’t know if I’ll get it going again or not. We’ll have to see what happens, but it is possible.
Rhyme 90: And everybody else thinking about pets for Alex. I’ve thought about this several times, and I keep changing my mind from yes to no and back again. I don’t know if Alex will every really get a “Pet”. In “Sands” Alex does get a sort of pet/helper/familiar… I personally think of him as a friend/helper but you all might get different ideas when you read the story. Let me know what you think when it does finally come out.
Bartender: My original plan for Adventurers Wanted was an ongoing series of adventures with no fix end. Alex would be in most if not all of the stories and different adventurers would come and go and come back again. The publisher didn’t like the idea and told me I needed an overall story arc for the series and a limited number of books. My suggestion of twenty-seven books didn’t work, so that’s where we are with that. Posters would be cool, but as I’ve said in the past my drawing skills are limited mostly to stick figures. We did get posters of the cover of Slathbog’s Gold, but that’s the only one we’ve done a poster for so far.
PorterRocks: I’m not sure what you are really asking here??? race/magical exceptions restricted??? Um… I think I’ll say no, but on the other hand, it might happen.
David: The information giving by other posters is correct. Shadow Mountains web-site does list how to submit to them, and I will point out that they are one of the few publishers who will accept manuscripts from authors and do not require that you have an agent. That’s one of the reasons I submitted to them. (Agent… I ought to look into that one of these days.) (Thanks to Tallonis for posting the web-site info.)
Daniel: Lots of small or a few large battles? I guess it would depend on the book, or rather on the story you want to tell. You could get away with no large battles at all if you really wanted to. There has to be conflict of course, but that doesn’t mean there has to be a lot of destruction and giant battles or even any battles at all. (Well, small personal battles and one on one or something stuff.) I really can’t say which is better because both work. It all depends on the story you want to tell, which means I can’t say which will work better for you. (Gee, that’s kind of a worthless answer. Sorry about that.)
Haley: Lots of characters can be a good thing, but then you will find that many editors and some authors who give advice on how to make your story better, will say, “Kill Them”. Yes, that hurts and you don’t want to, but sooner or later some of your characters are going to die. Oh, and if it is a really cool evil character, you might feel bad but not cry when he/she dies.
Branden: Did you find the information you need to send your letter? Post and let me know, and if you can’t find the address for Shadow Mountain I’ll post it for you. If you need a reply back for your school project, well… look at what I suggest in the comments of the last post. – Go Cheese!
Jacob: Good advice that. I always make lists of characters when I’m writing. I do it just to make sure I don’t change names along the way or mix things up. Also, Yes, take some time off before editing. You will find things you never noticed before if you are willing to take a few weeks or even a few months off after writing something and before editing it.
Daniel: Yes, the dagger would pair well with a sword. I don’t think Alex will get a shield, and if he does it will be for some special reason and not something he’ll carry around all the time with him.
Jared: How do I start writing a book? Well, most of the time I start with the story, or at least some piece of the story. I might start with something like… The seasons had changed. Winter was getting longer each year, and crops no longer had time to grow before the cold returned. – Solution: Someone has to go into the mountains and find the Mountain King, and then ask him to fix the trouble with the seasons. Problem: Everyone who has ever gone looking for the Mountain King has never come back or been heard of again. Now, who’s going? Why are they going? Are they going willingly or are they being forced? Oh, there are lots of questions. Now, what does the world look like? How big are these mountains where the Mountain King lives? What kinds of creatures live int he mountains? Right, that’s enough of that. Yes, this is a real story that I’ve been thinking about but haven’t gotten very far with yet. That’s the big answer to your questions. The short answer to your question is simple but you have to think about it for a bit if you really want to get what I’m saying. Ready? How do you start writing a book? One word at a time. (Be careful to choose the right words.)
Fred: Of course I like Dr. Who… But I will confess I’ve only ever watched the old BBC ones and have not seen the new stuff. Part of the reason for that is… I don’t own a T.V. I don’t own a T.V. by choice, so don’t panic.
Richard: I don’t think I’ll mix any Sci-Fi in with the Adventurers Wanted, but yes, there will be romance int he future.
Tyler: I don’t know if Alex will ever see a Durnlow, but he might.
Rebecca: Wow, you’ve put a lot of thought into this dragon question and colors matching with powers and elements. I know in some stories the color of the dragon can determine what powers they have and if they are good or evil. I honestly don’t know. I’m sure some dragon’s can breath ice or at least super cold breath, and some may have more control over different elements than others… but I’m not sure that has anything to do with what color they are. I’ll have to think about that. So far, the only “Special” type of dragon I’ve included is the “True Silver” dragon. Yes, you will learn more about this as the series continues.
BookAddiction: If I had to pick a creature for a pet what would it be? Um… I’m not sure. I, personally like tigers and would love to have one as a pet, if I could be sure it wouldn’t eat me that is. For Alex, a big pet could be a problem on adventures unless it could vanish or change shape or something. Maybe something small and smart, something that could be a pet/familiar. I don’t really know, I do like the creature that helps Alex in Sands, but I’m not saying what it is, so you’ll have to wait and see what you think.
Right, I think that’s it for this time, so until next time:
I remain yours in fellowship,
Mark
