Researching Reality

 Now we are all fantasy writers and readers, but even we need things to work right.  They have to make sense.  Magic is an exception, of course, along with creatures such as minotaurs or dragons.  But there are some things you have to keep true or it drags the reader away from the actual story.

1) If you don't know anything about something, research.  I know just enough about armor to be dangerous, so when I have to describe stuff, off to Google or the giant arms book my sister left me.  I want things to make sense.

2) There is an author that we love that we just stopped reading because of some major real life type stuff that wasn't right, so don't lose readers this way.  My example here is gas.  There is some major disaster in this book and for 20 years the place has been in a downward spiral with no modern conveniences.  But one of our heroes finds an ATV with gas in it and it started right up. For those who do not know, gas goes bad and lines clog if they sit too long.  That's why your mower sounds so horrible after it sits all winter if you didn't drain the gas.  It was hard to finish the book, especially with all the missteps with food that had come before.  The stuff the author was messing up with could have been researched and explained, but they didn't explain it, which drew away from the story.

3) If something doesn't "work" in the "real world" explain how it works.  So with the healing magic in my story a reader would wonder why healers just don't go around the world healing and saving everyone in my world.  But I explain that away with the fact it takes something from the healer, so there is only so much they can do per day or for a dying person before killing themselves.

My suggestion is just make sure things work and make sense or you could pull someone from your story.

Happy Writing!

Tidbits About Martapa

 I've talked about the bits and pieces of Martapa before, but I feel with the book out now, I'd bring up a few things.

1) The calendar for Martapa is 365 days long, because of the Tayke civilization.  Before their calendar was widely used it was a calendar of 28 day months, to match the moon phases.  Weeks are 5 days long, or a five day.  Each month has 6 five days.  The 5 Holy Days make up the remainders of the days and are never included in a month.

2) The money standard is gold.  Platinum is the highest value, followed by steel, then gold, then silver, then copper then half pennies.  2 half pennies make a copper, and 5 coppers makes a silver, 5 silver make a gold, 5 gold make a steel and 10 steel make a platinum.

Happy Writing!

Houses of Martapa: A Little Lore

 The foundation of my stories is the Houses of Martapa.  It is what I started with, then expanded from there as I wrote more.  But here are a few random facts I found in my notes, that even I had forgotten about. (Good reason to write down all your random ideas, no matter how random.)

1) Vandez, the first person to pledge to Peter, was Peter's protector and rock.  He wasn't the fastest or most brilliant man, but he was devoted to Peter.

2) Olaf Cole, the founder of House Cole, was called "The Cunning".  He was a man who liked strategy and craved it.  It was because of him that Peter and his rag-tag army took out so many ogres with so few numbers.

3) Tresh Bloodhelm could never keep blood off him, even when they weren't in battle.  Peter often wondered if he would feel comfortable with out some bit of blood on him at all times.

4) Gandalf Merryweather was a farmer before the ogres attacked his village. But when he joined Peter's army it was like the sun rising for the first time. They called him "The Stag", not for his abilities with the ladies, (though that was also rumored), but his ability to disappear into the underbrush once he had loosed a surprise attack.

5) Jade Tayke was the only woman in the bunch, (which one would think is weird since I'm a woman, but I liked it that way).  She was often called "The Dragon" in battle, a term she wore with pride.  In Peter's world a dragon was fierce and unyielding.  In Jade's culture, (which turns out to be Janesh), the dragon denoted wisdom.

Happy writing!