Reader Question Day #54 – THE GHOSTS, Sword & Sorceress, and writing advice
Danica asks:
Any chance you will release the stories that appear in the Sword & Sorceress books into a book of shorts?
Eventually the books will catch up to the short stories – at the end of the last book, Caina is twenty-one, and at the end of the last short story, she’s almost thirty. So eventually the events of the short stories will be incorporated into the books. But not for a few books yet. 🙂
Kenzie asks:
Also, I would almost think you a fan of comic books, for the way you create situations to transition from one to the next.
That’s interesting, because around 2010 (before I discovered ebooks) I played with the idea of starting a webcomic, and tried to teach myself to draw at least passably well. But the bald fact is I have absolutely aesthetic inclination whatsoever, and eventually gave it up as a bad idea. I think THE GHOSTS would transition well to a comic-book format. I have to admit that I sometimes see the characters in anime form in my head as I write.
Nicholas asks:
I am 13 and am wondering if you have any advise for a young fantasy writer.
Well, I would start by writing short stories or novellas. A novel’s a bit of an endurance run, and it takes practice to get up to it, like how you need to be able to run a mile before you can manage a 5k run.
When writing a story of any length (whether short story, novella, or novel), bear in mind that it needs to have four basic things: a protagonist (the hero or main character), a conflict, the method the protagonist takes to deal with his conflict, and a resolution. Now, the conflict can have an actual antagonist, like a knight fighting an evil wizard, or it can be a situation, like a man stranded in the desert – in that case, the conflict is the man’s efforts to survive thirst and the sun. But the protagonist has to have a problem to solve.
Additionally, the protagonist must also take action to solve his problem. A story where the main character doesn’t do anything, but just sits around passively, is not interesting. This doesn’t mean the protagonist’s actions always have to be effective. Often a story can be made more interesting when the protagonist’s actions make the conflict even worse or result in unforeseen complications (like, the knight slays the evil wizard, but this breaks the spell the wizard had used to keep a rampaging dragon in check).
A good way to keep characters from becoming one-dimensional is to give them mutually incompatible desires. Real people often want to do two incompatible things at once – like a woman who wants to go her friend’s party but has to fill a late shift at work, or a man who wants to stay with his girlfriend but has a job offer in a distant city. In fact, the conflict between incompatible desires can often provide the necessary conflict for a story.
Finally, the ending of a story must, must provide emotional resolution to the conflict. It can be a sad ending, or a happy ending, or any sort of ending at all, but it must resolve the conflict. If it doesn’t, the reader will feel massively cheated.
Not every writer recommends this, but I think it’s best to write a complete outline before you start a story. Otherwise you’ll get a third of the way in and realize you don’t know what happens next, much like driving across the continental US, getting to Arkansas, and realizing you don’t have a map and don’t know where to go next. Outlining forces you do the hard work of planning the story before you start to write it.
This will sound dreadfully patronizing, but the bald fact is that it gets easier to write as you get older, because you’ve simply had more stuff happen to you. That said, it’s best to avoid writing thinly-veiled parallels of people you know in real life, since this is an excellent way to get sued or cause familial estrangements.
Write a lot, since the best way to get good at something is practice.
Also, if there’s a topic that interests you, don’t be afraid to write nonfiction.
-JM
“I have to admit that I sometimes see the characters in anime form in my head as I write.”
Do you watch anime? If so, any favorites?
“If it doesn’t, the reader will feel massively cheated.”
ME3 *cough* 😉
Sure it did have a resolution….that stunk up the whole series for a ton of fans, lol!
I keep missing these reader question days. But there are so many direly important questions to be asked! Like:
Richard III or Henry VII?
Richard III or Henry VIII?
Boxers or Briefs?
Shaken or Stirred?
Batman or Superman?
Elves or Dwarves?
Robert Jordan or James Oliver Rigney, Jr.?
Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter?
Morgana or Morrigan?
Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk?
Glass half full or Glass half empty?
Sunny side up or Scrambled?!
Bonus: Templar or Teutonic?
There are just so many pressing questions to be asked, so little time!
😉
Richard III, I don’t drink, Batman, Dwarves, Robert Jordan, Baldur’s Gate, Morrigan, Greyhawk, half-empty, scrambled, Teutonic. 🙂
The only anime I’ve seen has been in the Castlevania game series, but I think the art style would lend itself to THE GHOSTS pretty well.
Thanks for the answer! It has helped a lot so far. I am currently outlining a story for nanowrimo.com. Probably wont accomplish the goal but my writing will definately get better. If I finish my outline early then I have a bunch of short story ideas to improve my writing. Your advice has helped increadiby!
Glad it helped. Good luck with the writing!
Ah, so you did answer them! When I wrote them I was only half serious, but now that you have….some of your answer REQUIRE explanation! Sorry Jon, they just do. 😉
1)Richard III
Oh, so you side with the man you believe to be a murderer, eh? Do you often side with kin-slayers Jon? 😉
FWIW I don’t believe him to be the nephew-killer or villian he was made out to be, I think it was nasty Tudor prop. He also had the better claim to the throne, was the last of a great house (one of the greatest in Medieval Christendom), and, as a Catholic, how can I not sympathize with Richard, when it was Henry’s line that brought about the doom of Catholic England?
So what’s your reasoning behind your choice?
2)Glad you did not answer the underwear question. 😉
As I said earlier, I was only half serious when I wrote the list, and only included that one because that seems to be the cliche ‘this or that’ question. Same with Batman or Superman. Though I like your answer for that. The other would have been…um, TMI. lol
3)Don’t drink
Neither do I. Can’t stand the taste of alcohol. Shame too, there are some wines I’d like to try…but the alcohol taste just kills it for me. 🙁
4)Dwarves
Dwarves?? Over the window into eternity that is the Elven race? The stubborn miner over the graceful long-lived? Now this I have to hear.
(FYI: I was thinking Tolkien Elves primarily, but their norse inspiration works too. I am not, I repeat NOT, referring to the gay hippie tree-hugging enviromentalists that often masquerade as them. That is a false portrait, and I reject them, as all good men should!)
5)Robert Jordan
A trick question that, I take it you picked up on it? 😉
And yes, Robert Jordan does sound much better.
6)Baldur’s Gate
Now this is interesting, when I wrote the question I did not specify what I meant by it. I’m betting you took it as a choice between the game series (in which case I’d have guessed you choose BG, knowing your love for it). But suppose I meant the setting itself. Which then would you choose?
(Also as a bonus question, if you could choose another D&D city to base a series of games around, which would it be? Obviously you can’t choose BG, or Neverwinter, or Icewind Dale, or Dagger Dale for that matter.)
7)Morrigan
Wha??! That witch?! Ha! Both are evil, but I’d even choose Morgana over her, seeing as I spent half of DA:O wanting to kill off Morrigan! 😀
I take it you think she was an interesting character?
8)Greyhawk
Another interesting answer! Most people would undoubtedly have choosen the Forgotten Realms, it is by far the more popular and was far more fleshed out, in everything from lore to books, games, etc. I do admit a fondness for Greyhawk, it was after all the original setting, and some of the lore in it is less screwy (for example it never introduced Egyptian and Aztec pantheons into it’s setting just to spice things up). Why do you prefer it?
9)Teutonic
Ah, the Knights of the St. Mary over the Knights of the Temple, eh? I’d have a hard time choosing, but the Teutonics take everything that made the Templars special and add a cool german flare to it. Why do you favor them? And had I added the Hospitallers into the mix, would that have changed your decision?
10)This was not on there, but I’d like to ask you anyway, seeing as how I’m reading WOT right now. 😀
Matrim Cauthon or Perrin Aybara?
Rand al’Thor or Lan Mandragoran (a reluctant hero vs a kick-butt warrior)
and finally, the three way battle royale,
Aes Sedai or Warder or Children of the Light?
As for the anime, I’d have thought you’d have watched more, there really is alot there I’m sure you’d enjoy. Stuff right up your alley.
“So what’s your reasoning behind your choice?”
He’s a more interesting figure than Henry VII, which is admittedly a very subjective assessment. I do think he murdered his nephews, but I suspect he would have been a capable king had he kept the throne, given how he governed the north quite well during Edward IV’s reign.
“Dwarves?? Over the window into eternity that is the Elven race? The stubborn miner over the graceful long-lived? Now this I have to hear.”
I like their work ethic. I come from a long line of grim German farmers, so I’m inclined to admire work ethic wherever I find it.
“Now this is interesting, when I wrote the question I did not specify what I meant by it. I’m betting you took it as a choice between the game series (in which case I’d have guessed you choose BG, knowing your love for it). But suppose I meant the setting itself. Which then would you choose?”
I’ve never actually played Neverwinter. I’ve had the game since 2004, I kid you not, but I have yet to play it. But this is not unusual for me – I bought Knights of the Old Republic in 2004, but did not play it until 2009.
“I take it you think she was an interesting character?”
Yes. Though that depends on what her actual motivations are, which we might get to find out in Dragon Age 3.
“Why do you prefer it?”
It is a bit simpler, and for all that Generic Fantasyland gets mocked, I do like the setting.
“Matrim Cauthon or Perrin Aybara?
Rand al’Thor or Lan Mandragoran (a reluctant hero vs a kick-butt warrior)
and finally, the three way battle royale,
Aes Sedai or Warder or Children of the Light?”
Actually…I can’t answer that until you finish WOT. Spoilers. 🙂
“I like their work ethic.”
Oh. Well I was not expecting that. That works.
“I come from a long line of grim German farmers”
Heh, grim enough for your Grim Marches?
I thought your last name sounded german, or at least it reminded me of other german names I have heard of.
FWIW-If they were grimdark german farmers, they’d fit perfectly into the Warhammer/Warhammer 40k settings. 😉
“I’ve had the game since 2004, I kid you not, but I have yet to play it.”
Your not alone in this, fret not! I’ve done the same thing….on many occasions. I buy far more games than I have time to play them, thus resulting in some games not seeing the light of day until years later. Just last week, I finally opened up and played a game I had from 2006. 😀
It does work against you though, doesn’t it? When a game first comes out, it is at it’s peak, years later, even if it’s still great, it is no longer at the top of it’s game. Let me explain: KOTOR is an amazing game, but you played it in 2009, long into the next generation graphics, while KOTOR was from the previous generation (2004). I played the game when it came out, and it looked simply great, it only added to the experience. You played it in 2009, unless you had been abstaining from new games at that time, the game could not have given you the visual impact it had on me in 2004, in it’s heyday. Same for Oblivion, I was just goofing around on it the other day, and I realized how when I first played it the visuals blew me away, where as now I see better all the time.
You really should play the Neverwinter games though, they’re quite good. The first is very dated looking now, but the sequel still looks good, and IMHO I enjoyed it more, though most fans would probably pick 1 over 2. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it more (other than the much better looking graphics), was because it was a true D&D experience in this: it gave you a full party, where as the first only allows you one companion, which I thought was just wrong. NWN 2 was, in my mind, a much closer experience to KOTOR or Dragon Age than was NWN 1.
“Actually…I can’t answer that until you finish WOT. Spoilers.”
Nevermind then! 😀
I’ll ask you again in a couple of years when I finish the series. 😉
(Note: Years could mean decades for this series, I read books like you play games. :D)
Thanks for the explanations, though you did miss one, #9 Teutonic. 😉
You descended from a long line of grim germans, is it a german thing? The Teutonics even if I inserted the Hospitallers into the mix?
Speaking of the Hospitallers, they are celebrating their 900th year anniversary this week!
Found out thanks to this link, which summarizes what the order is up to today.
http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/nine-centuries-of-chivalry.html
“It does work against you though, doesn’t it? When a game first comes out, it is at it’s peak, years later, even if it’s still great, it is no longer at the top of it’s game. Let me explain: KOTOR is an amazing game, but you played it in 2009, long into the next generation graphics, while KOTOR was from the previous generation (2004). I played the game when it came out, and it looked simply great, it only added to the experience. You played it in 2009, unless you had been abstaining from new games at that time, the game could not have given you the visual impact it had on me in 2004, in it’s heyday. Same for Oblivion, I was just goofing around on it the other day, and I realized how when I first played it the visuals blew me away, where as now I see better all the time.”
For me, at least, the visuals are only ancillary. If the game engages me and fires my imagination, I am indifferent to the graphical quality. Because I don’t want to buy a new video card, I play SKYRIM on the lowest detail setting and enjoy it just fine.
“You really should play the Neverwinter games though, they’re quite good. The first is very dated looking now, but the sequel still looks good, and IMHO I enjoyed it more, though most fans would probably pick 1 over 2. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it more (other than the much better looking graphics), was because it was a true D&D experience in this: it gave you a full party, where as the first only allows you one companion, which I thought was just wrong. NWN 2 was, in my mind, a much closer experience to KOTOR or Dragon Age than was NWN 1.”
I’ve been meaning to play it for nine years! 🙂
“The Teutonics even if I inserted the Hospitallers into the mix?”
I think the Teutonics are more interesting because they were more effective than the Templars, at least until the Battle of Tannenburg.