Off the Topic Writing

 We love to write, otherwise we'd never come up with these wonderful worlds and characters.  We like the thrill of telling stories.  But eventually, the story comes to an end and you need something new to work on.

In my case, I've finished, edited and formatted my three additional books in my series.  They are just waiting for my cover artist to finish. (Can't ask a pre-vet student to drop everything for mom... I really want my free veterinarian lol).  So in the mean time, I need to scratch that itch of writing.  Here are a few ideas of how to keep your mind going.

1) Think of side stories, prequels and sequels to your work.  What happened before your heroes changed the world?  What brought them to that point.

2) Maybe expand on the backgrounds of some of your characters.  This may fall into side stories, but as you wait for something to move on your "finished" story, you might find something that will add flavor to your story.

3) Maybe pick up an entirely new story line.  I've been working on a story with "end of the world" sorta vibes, based in my lovely childhood home.  It will probably go no where, but it gives me a creative outlet.

4)This also works for roleplaying games.  Maybe you are a pause for your campaign because of real life, (darn that).  Maybe fleshing out places, people or even plots will help you make an even more vibrant campaign.

Happy writing.

How Did You Reach Where You are?

 Everyone's story world has an origin.  You saw a play that inspired you, watched kids playing in the park, was sick of the story you were reading.  Me, I was home sick.  That sounds like a silly way to start, but it is the truth.

I, by nature, am a very introverted person.  I would spend all my time on my farm and away from people if I could.  When I was younger, it was the national forest my father worked in.  Nothing is as aspiring as running around in old and second growth trees and pretending to be elves or magical beings or heroes of some sort. I was free in a way most people never will know, stuck in their concrete cities and stuffed in like sardines.  But I had a great imagination to go along with my setting.

When I went to college for my biology degree I was now stuck in a city, (Okay, most people might call it a small town, but for me it was huge) and eight hours from my beloved forests.  Sure, my future husband was there with me, before we were a thing, and I had awesome friends.  But I felt trapped.  So I wrote.  My father had gifted me with loving fantasy writing and I used it to relieve the stress of being trapped with so many people.  At first it was just for my own intake.  I wasn't willing to share, but one of our friends was very persuasive and snagged my notebook.  He read, smiled, and asked when I got famous would he sign his copy.  I laughed, not thinking about ever publishing my writing, but I did keep writing, even after we graduated.

I still don't know if I will ever publish my first go, even if I fix it up, but I'm certainly enjoying the new round of stories to go with my new path in life.

So, my point is, no matter how your story comes into being, remember it fondly when you do publish.  It will always be a fun story to tell at those book tours. 

The Importance of Character Description

 Description of a character may or may not be important to the reader, but they should be important to the writer.  I don't mean just the color of the eyes or the cut of their clothes, but personality as well.  Here are some examples of what I mean.

1) Yes, typical description.  The reader needs to have a general idea of how the character looks.  I want to know if they are 5 foot tall or NBA star tall.  Are they thin and lithe or burly?  Is their skin dark or pale? (And this is not racist, it's just a detail like the color of hair.)  Are they wearing fancy clothes or rags?  All of these details gives your reader an idea of what the character looks like.

2) Mannerisms.  This is also an important detail because it gives an idea of how the person responds to situations and how they are feeling.  When Krom is feeling nervous or angry his ears go back, like dogs and horses tend to do.  When he is listening they go forward, like a cat's would. It gives a feel of how the character is feeling or what is about to happen.

3) Speaking habits.  Guthlaf has a bit of Cockney in his speech, (though not even completely close).  Elly speaks of Kenna as her "little dragon" because of Kenna's habit of looking for knowledge.  Duncan calls all those with him as "young".  These little things will give your characters more personality and make it easier to figure out who is talking.

Happy writing!

Notes of Importance

 If you are like me, whether for a novel or a roleplaying campaign, you have word files, notebooks and scraps of paper sitting around with ideas and additions to your universe.  Here are some ideas to not lose your important ideas.

1) I'd like to say I'm good at this, but keep a word/document file with just a list of ideas.  When you have an idea, jot it down on the list so you can come back to it later.  Even just things you want to look for when you are editing! I also recommend you print it once a month or every month, depending on how often you get to your list.

2) Keep a notebook at hand.  This could include the notepad on your phone, but have something you can jot down that idea that just jumps into your  head.  I find myself thinking on story ideas and fixes as I'm driving to get my mother-in-law or kids to take to what ever.  A couple hours in a car gives me plenty of time to think.  So when I reach my destination I'm reaching for my note book to get my thoughts down quick.

3) Review your random thoughts on occasion. Sometimes that is just enough to get the creative juices flowing.  You might find yourself saying, "hey, I forgot about that aspect".  My recent example as I'm editing my 3rd novel is the fact I never have Kenna and her mom physically reunited in the story line, even though I literally have half a chapter in there about Kenna's mom bullying Captain Reed to let her come along to find Kenna.  That was a big drop on my part.  So now I have a note posted on my desk to remember to get that in the next book.

Happy Writing!

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!

Self Imposed Deadlines

 As a freelance writer, beholden to no one, I find you need to make your own deadlines or nothing gets done.  This is easier to say then do, but here are a few ideas.

1) Write every day.  I know that both the teachers I had for creative writing says the best way to get your creative juices is to write every day, even if its just a few minutes, writing an outline, or looking up info you might need.  If you get your brain on the topic, you can let it stew all day long!

2) Set aside time.  This is easier said then done.  I figured when the kids went off to college my life would be more my own and I could write more.  I laugh at that idea now.  I'd like to say I take that 15 minutes every morning I "set aside" after morning chores for my writing, but it doesn't happen as much as I'd like.  But try very hard to get that time in.  If nothing else, as you mow the lawn, drive to work, or clean the house THINK on your story.  That will at least get your creative juices flowing.

3) Make your own deadlines.  You don't have to hold firm, life happens, and this isn't your career, but try very hard to stick to the deadlines you make.  Mine right now is to publish my second book on Amazon by the end of May.  Granted, I have to await the pleasure of my cover artist... (cough, cough, wonderful daughter, cough, cough).

Happy writing!

Relationships in Your Story Line

 For a novel or story to work you have to have relationships between your characters.  I don't mean just love affairs but how do they work with the other characters, both good and bad.  I think a lot of TV and movies as of late, and maybe even books, have forgotten how this is supposed to work.  Don't shoe horn the plot in, make sure the characters would do what you are having them do when they interact with other characters.  Here is a few examples from my story.

1) Krom and Tarkil.  Here are two polar opposites if ever there was.  It's not that Tarkil is evil, completely, at the beginning, he just isn't the black and white sorta person Krom is.  With Krom there is good and there is evil.  No in between.  So Tarkil, who rides that line and sees shades of grey, not just black and white, is an issue for him.  Krom can't understand the evil Tarkil does even as he is working on the side of good.  And Tarkil, raised in a world where no one means what they say, can't fathom Krom's black and white nature. During the four novels Krom and Tarkil butt heads, but I weave in the fact that each, over time, begins to understand the other.  I don't make it a, "hey, now we are best buds because the plot says so," I work the growth of the relationship, with all it's bumps, in over time.

2) Raphael and Tarkil.  The hate/hate relationship is just as important as friendship relationships.  How does your main character interact with the antagonist?  In this case it is clear from the start that both hate each other, but as the story progresses they hate each other even more until it builds up into the final confrontation.  You don't want something where your bad guy meets the good guy/guys at the very beginning and the very end, unless you have a build up of why there is so much hate between them during the story, even if they aren't face to face.  There doesn't have to be direct confrontations through out the story, but you have to show why they hate each other.  Don't wait until the end of the story to do that!

My point is, don't forget to flesh out the relationships.  They are an integral part of the plot and to a good story.

Happy writing!

Inspiration

 I've invested a lot of time and energy into my novels, which I assume the rest of you have as well. It's hard to see it languish, knowing that someone else might love to see it.  My son and I were talking about projects the other day and I came to the realization that my thought of publishing books inspired him.  He is more into computers and programming then writing large novels, but it's the same concept.  He published a pocket game on Google Play because I said I was going to publish a book.  He figured if I, his old, stodgy mother could put herself out there, so could he.  It felt awesome to inspire someone else to try and reach their dream.  So here are my thoughts on helping you help someone else reach their goals.

1) Volunteer at school.  This sounds basic but having done it myself, you never know who is going to get that little push because you were there to inspire them.  There are many kids who do not have role models, don't have a direction in their life.  Maybe one conversation won't change a life, but it may. It feels good to help them achieve something they wanted to do, but was to scared to try on their own.

2) Volunteer in after school or other child organizations.  There are lots of organizations that can always use help and help kiddos reach their goals.  Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire, even 4-H are always good places to help.  Battle of the Books, (I think it goes beyond Oregon), is a good competition to get kiddos interested in books.  Or if you are more robot inclined try the First organization.  Soooo many years invested in that program.  Aspire, to help those kids that don't think they can go to college or trade school reach that goal, as well. Even helping with sports can help kiddo stay on the straight and  narrow.

What does this have with writing?  Well, it may have nothing to do with writing, but it has to do with inspiring kiddos to reach for their dreams, to do what you are doing.  Writing because you love to write and damn what the world thinks!

Happy writing! 

Layers to Your World

 I know a lot of mainstream novels don't take time to build their worlds.  Most just stick them into the current world or variations of the same fantasy world.  Yes, as a fantasy writer, you will have a lot of overlap with other worlds. Monsters, magic and odd features are the bread and butter of the fantasy world.  But you can definitely add your own lore and twists to make your story world unique.

Take time to point out features that are different.  Many fantasy worlds allow teleportation with ease.  That's an easy out for bad guys.  I know I do use it several time, but it definitely has costs.  That's my point.  I make my teleportation take huge magical structures or cost much to the person who is casting it so that teleportation doesn't happen often.

How about those monsters?  You will always have your goblins, orcs and ogres.  Tolkien kinda made them mandatory.  But you don't have to make them standard.  Add your own twists to those creatures that are "standard" fantasy creatures.  My dragons can shape change, and though that occurs in several major fantasy world, it isn't a standard operating procedure for all fantasy.

Magic can manifest in many forms.  You don't have to make it the standard wave of the hand and chanting.  Though I do use that, I also use magic that only takes a thought and concertation.  An innate magic, if you would have it.  And I like to add visuals.  Magic can be just as spectacular to describe as sword fights.

Pantheons.  Some people like them stoic, some like no pantheon at all.  I like my pantheon to feel "human".  They have just as many problems as their mortals, just on a larger scale.  I take the time to make them feel like characters vital to the story, not just some supernatural power over seeing things.

Happy Writing!

Spin-offs, Shorts and Never to Be Seen

 The hope of all authors is to see their stories in print.  But once that happens, what do you do next?  As an avid reader I love to learn about side characters, lore and before the quest.  So why don't you write about your world! 

I have all sorts of notes on what I'd like to write on and someday, (I keep telling myself), I will sit down and do it.  Here are some of my ideas which I hope might help you think of some of your own.

1) The story of the Chosen.  This is really what started my whole writing in Martapa, but it was when I was young and not a polished writer.  I have the bones of a trilogy, but some of the plot holes I see now make me cringe.  I'll have a lot of work to fix them up for public consumption.

2) Lore is always fun to do. I'd love to write a guide to my world, which I've mentioned before, so when my grandkids look at my dusty old books then can see what grandma was thinking.  This is a huge undertaking.  Not only do you have to consolidate your random thoughts and make them flow, but you have to  make sure your lore actually matches.  That last is a lot harder then you think.  I've spent hours trying to find the name of some random character I wrote on a scrap of paper just so everything matches.

3) Short stories.  Wouldn't it be neat to know how Tres and the Flaming Shield came together?  Wouldn't it be interesting to know how Flash met Duncan for the first time?  Or how did Sebastion become a Mercenary Lord? My problem is I can't write short stories.  If I try they end up being around a hundred pages plus.  Some day I mean to work on that, though.

4) Spin offs.  I have in the wings stories about Noshi, Sebastion, and Miyaca, a trilogy, really. Also a one off on how Ukiah and Dyani, Amber Blackwolf's parents, came together and how Ukiah ended up using the Gods as they used him.  My list is very extensive and I know I don't have time to write them all.  Especially if I don't write.

So keep writing and have fun!

Ideas to Help You Get Writing Again

 Sometimes you just hit a wall.  You have a brain freeze.  Writer's block just won't let go.  We've all been there.  Life gets in the way or the inspiration just flitters away for some unknown reason.  Don't give up on that idea you've lovingly nurtured, try some different approaches instead.

1) Think of where you are most creative.  For me it's out of doors.  If I'm stuck I take out my notebook and head for the barn to lay in the hay and watch the critters do their things.  At the very least it gets me to relax, which sometimes is all you need to think creatively again.

2) Listen to music.  If you are trying to do a light hearted moment, listen to classical.  If you are trying to write an action scene, movie music always help.  A scene where the characters are spilling their hearts to their love, a little love music helps.  It doesn't work for everyone but I find it helps my mind focus more on those types of activities.  It's like a movie in your head, you have to have a musical score.

3) Read.  This seems odd, but sometimes you are just in need of a reset.  Sometimes reading your favorite author will once again inspire you.  At the very least you get to read a good story.

4) Walk away from your current project for a bit.  I don't mean abandon it, just walk away and give it a break.  Work on a different project. Maybe just do some writing exercises just to get your writing juices going again.

Happy Writing!

Keeping Track of Story Ideas

 I'm a very organized person, or try to be.  So, I like to organize my story ideas, and the stories I work on.  I have a feeling most of you would love to be organized, as well.  Here are a few things I do.

1) Keep separate folders on my computer for each story and their ideas. When I write a chapter or format a document for Kindle Direct I make sure to label it for what it is.  I didn't for a while and only labeled "Chapter One" or "notes".  That was a headache.  Now I label "The High King's Sword Chapter 1" so I know what I'm looking at.  That does make it hard if I haven't named the story, but you get the gist of the idea.

2) Keep printed copies of your stories.  Computers are awesome, but sometimes they burp.  Hard copies, short of animal intervention or fire, will be there.  It might seem to be wasteful, but you spend a lot of time on these works.  You don't want to lose them forever!

3) Save on a portable hard drive/flashdrive/google drive.  If you like the electronic, then this is another option.  I suggest instead of copying over what you had on the drive, save as a different folder.  That way you have your stages.

4) Have a master list of stories. I like to organize this in order of "importance" to myself.  Right now, clearly, my High King's Sword series is priority, but I have ideas in the wings.  I'd love to get my stories down so that my grandkids might see how silly their grandmother was. :)

Happy Writing!

Tidbits About the World of Martapa Part 2

 Here are a few more tidbits about my book series:

1) The Wizards of Shaniko are named after a small town in Eastern Oregon.  When we were going to college in La Grande, (Go Mountaineers), we would drive through the small town when we went back and forth.  I liked the name, so popped it right into my story.

2) Quite a few of the names in my stories are from small towns or fun places we have been. 

3) Some of my elven and Akicitia names are Native American in origin.  Akicitia is actually "police" in Lakota.  Tsalagi, (the main stretch of mountains in Taina), means Cherokee and is pronounced "jah-lah-gee".  That was a nod to my dad's side of the family.

4) There are a lot of nods to my family in the books, whether right out there or more subtle.  The name of the mountain range is definitely right out there.  In my original series Amber, my half elf heroine, was a nod to the fact my dad had to choose between being white or Cherokee at the time.  (Things are definitely different now, but it was a hard decision in the 50's and 60's.)  I don't like to be political, but that was more of a personal subject that affected me directly, not knowing until I was an adult that my grandpa was Cherokee, for sure.  So I expressed it in my writing.

5) The map I made for my writing was slapped together in 5 minutes.  I flushed it out more later, but one of my friends wanted to see what my world actually looked like so a whipped it out.

Happy Writing!

Tidbits About the World of Martapa

 I thought I might share a few random facts about my world of Martapa today, just for fun!

1) The name Martapa is built up of my husband's and our friend's names, plus a few random letters.  Yeah, not the best way to name something, but I like it.

2) All of my main characters were a roleplaying character for the campaign I ran via the internet for our friend, my sister and us.

3) Elly was originally a gnome, because my sister loved gnomes, but I have no gnomes in my story world, so I had to make her a very small human.

4) Tarkil almost didn't live through our first meeting of the six main characters.  It was a good thing my husband wanted our friend to have fun and spared him.

5) Duncan was my husband's and he was not anything like what my husband usually roleplays with mages.  They are usually flashy, all powerful mages who have to show off their power.  He wanted someone who was humble and unassuming, yet powerful.  Thus Duncan was born.

6) There are quite a few scenes and conversations that are plucked right from our roleplaying sessions, though I had to clean them up to make them flow a little better.  I literally was writing a story as I went since I would send anywhere from 1 page to 5 pages out ever three days to my group.  It was fun!  So when it came to writing the first book I had a VERY good outline I'd already written. And though some of the subplots were not in the original sessions, I was weaving in a lot of the main plot, even if we never got to them.

Keep on writing!

The Second Book and Putting Yourself Out There

 So as I spout about making sure to keep on writing, I have been working on my second book to polish it up for publication.  Almost there, just a few editing problems and my cover artist... (cough, college age daughter, cough) is a little busy at the moment.  But the plan is to have it on Amazon by May.  Every time I say, "I'm going to publish my book" I feel very self conscious.  I'm not sure how all of you feel, but here are some notions that have crossed my mind.

1) This is my baby and I want everyone to love it.  Let's be practical, not everyone is going to "love" your book.  You are going to get some bad reviews, but it's okay.  What did mom say, "words will never hurt you"?  It's hard to take criticism, but it is good. It helps you improve.  If nothing else, my critique groups helped me with this concept.

2) Don't beat yourself up if you don't become a super star.  For me, this was all a bucket list sort of thing, anyway.  Yes, the book taking off would be wonderful, but I will take the fact I actually sold some books.  And they weren't all relatives! I even sold a few Kindle copies to people overseas!  My husband calls me an international author because of it.

3) Promote yourself.  I am guilty of not doing this, but that is what my husband, (and fellow Grange members), is for.  But seriously, talk about your book.  It isn't bragging, it's letting the world know that you have made something new to share with the world.  Your book following will not grow if you don't talk about it.

Happy Writing!

The Power of Weather

 When you are writing, the setting and mood are very important to the scene.  This includes the weather.  You never get bad news when it's sunny.  The hero always has a brilliant sunrise as they save the world. When the lovers must leave each other, rain is always an option.  It sets the mood in a way that describing the mood would not work.

I wouldn't use the weather as a mood setter unless you really need to convey a certain mood, such as tension or a great loss, but it never  hurts to describe the weather briefly so your reader doesn't expect something horrible or wonderful every time you mention the weather.  It gives it an air of surprise.

I like to mention things like wind before a battle or interaction.  The wind, for example, will affect how arrows fly or items flying into people as they battle. It's a small thing, but adds to the feel without jumping out and saying, "hey, it's super windy and it's going to make it hard for them to win this battle".

Darkness, because of clouds or rain, can also add to the mood.  When the group is battling at the end of my series this weather adds to the dire nature of the situation.  And as they win and Aiyana uses the magic to heal so many upon the battle field the sun begins to push through the darkness.  It adds to the mood, as well.

Just think hard on not only the setting, but the weather as well, and I think you will have a better way to express the  mood of your scene.

Happy writing!

Happy New Year and Keep on Writing!

 Another year has come and gone and I hope that everyone was able to keep on top of their goal list for the year.  I'd like to say I've stayed on track, but I know I've derailed on occasion.  It's okay!  Keep on writing.  Work on your goals and don't give up.  Even though the end of the road may seem so far away, you can do it.

From my family to yours, Happy New Year and keep on writing!

Holidays and Writing

 As we plunge into the holidays, which ever they may be, we spend a lot of time trying to fit in family activities and our projects go to the way side.  Don't get me wrong, families are very important!  But so is your writing.  Here are a few ideas on how to sneak in a few minutes of writing in-between all the fun family activities, at least what has helped me.

1) The few minutes you are eating breakfast.  Make sure to eat breakfast, of course, but take a notebook to the table.  Think on your story ideas and jot down a few notes.  If you are like some families, where everyone eats together, zone out for a few minutes and just think on ideas.  Then after breakfast, jot them down quick. The same could work for lunch and dinner, even at work!

2) Ten minutes before bed, as things are winding down, jot down the ideas of the day or think on your story to relax your mind.  Just because you don't write anything down doesn't mean you haven't been productive.  Sometimes thinking on the story plot is just as important as the writing.

3)Tell the family you need a few minutes to yourself and dump out your ideas, (or some of them), before you forget them.  Most families will understand the need.  Creativity doesn't happen on a schedule.

4) Don't stress if you can't think of anything.  This last one is important.  With all the hustle and bustle going on during the holidays, it is understandable if you can't think on your story.  Just remember to pick up the pen, (or keyboard), after the holidays.  Don't give up on your dream.

Have a wonderful holiday season and good luck in the new year with your writing projects!