Upcoming Interview - The Will Anderson Show

I will be joining local talk show host, Will Anderson on air during his show on Wednesday, July 23. The show airs on WTKI and WEKI weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. central standard time.

We will be discussing my debut novel, Right of Succession.

Right of Succession is Available!

Long time readers will know I've spent more than half my life working on my first full novel. I've written other things in the past nineteen and a half years, but I kept going back to Right of Succession.

Well, it's finally been finished and published!

It is available on Kindle and in paperback form. In fact, you can snag an electronic copy free from Amazon if you head over and download a copy by Tuesday, June 24.

For local folks, I'll be at Con Kasterborous this weekend, and I should have about twelve paperback copies available for purchase at my booth. (If they arrive when my publisher says they will, that is.)

Personalized, signed copies will be available through contentedcomfort.com along with all bath and body, knit, and crocheted items come mid to late July when I finish integrating my storefront with the main website. My Etsy store will stay up as a means to accept inquiries from existing customers and to direct returning customers to the main website.

If you read and enjoy, please help a new novelist out and leave a review. And as always, thanks for your support!

Musing on Character Archetypes

So, I was listening to one of the local radio stations this morning, and they read something called "Captain America's Top 10 Complaints" since they're giving away movie passes to Winter Soldier. One complaint stuck out: "That Iron Man gets all the girls."

Movie still from The Avengers

My first response was to roll my eyes. Both have plenty of fangirls and can do well enough in their own right. Besides, Tony's in a committed relationship. And Steve, so far as the latest movies go, hasn't been awake for long and is still grieving. It's not something I think either character would care much about anyway.

Once Upon a Time Inspired Fragrances

You know what time it is folks. The spring craft show and arts festival season is fast approaching, so I've been hard at work developing and making the 2013 fragrance line!

First up are two fragrances inspired by ABC's Once Upon a Time: Snow Huntress and The Spinner. 

Snow Huntress is inspired by Snow White/Mary Margaret and is a light and feminine blend of evergreen, white gardenia, and fresh picked apple. The Spinner is inspired by Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold and is a blend of oak moss, sandalwood, evergreen, dirt, honey, black amber, clove, nutmeg, and firewood. It's very woodsy, but it has a sophisticated edge to it as well without being overwhelming or cloying.

Both soaps are fully glycerin, so they're vegan friendly. They're made with a blend of coconut oil, vitamin E oil, and corn oil. The colors are achieved with mineral oxide and mica powders. As always, they are free of detergents, dyes, paraben, and phthalate, so they are as gentle as they are luxurious.

They'll show up on the website and on the storefront either Thursday or Friday, weather permitting.

And as I said in the video, if you're going to be in the area in early June, make sure to stop by the Con Kasterborous website and purchase your tickets now before they raise the price. I hope to see you there!

What is it about long lived characters?

I've never in my life had cable, so it's only because of Netflix carrying the newer Doctor Who series I've been able to discover the series last month. (Yes, I only got to start with the Ninth Doctor, but I did try to find the older series. No luck.) We're only a few seasons in, but it really is addicting.

There's just something about a character as long lived as The Doctor, Highlander's Methos or Darius or Amanda, any number of vampires, or any centuries old character. All those experiences, the knowledge, the joys, and the pain they've experienced, the things they've seen makes them fascinating. What makes The Doctor doubly so, is the writers show how he continues to grow, learning from his companions as he teaches them.

There are tons of videos out there, but I came across one that seems to sum up character of The Doctor almost perfectly.



Of course, it probably doesn't help personally that Christopher Eccleston looks like a good deal like Hubby and there are quite a few similarities between the personalities of both the ninth and tenth Doctors and Hubby's. It's like watching what he'd become if he had centuries of life ahead instead of just the few decades any of us can hope to have.

YouTube Fun

I had a little time to kick back and mess about on the computer yesterday. I found some fun fan videos I'd like to share with you.

I was in something of a Buffy mood, and I came across this little gem set to "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. I'm not the biggest Black Eyed Peas fan, but the clips of Angel dancing at the beginning made me giggle. Warning: The author used the uncensored version of the song.

Boom Boom Pow [B]tvs

Then you have Buffy vs. Edward Cullen. I found myself giggling maniacally at this one. Actually, I think the Buffy/Angel drama should have ended the same way.

Buffy vs. Edward

Let's move on to Battlestar Galactica. The first series was before my time, though I have caught a few of the old episodes on a retro television network. Personally I like the character driven bent of the new series better. Then again, I'm a dark story junkie, so the tone fits my personality better anyway.

Here's a set of clips beautifully set to Requiem for a Dream from Lord of the Rings.

Battlestar Galactica Requiem

This next one has kind of horrible video quality, so I wouldn't suggest enlarging the video any. However, I love the song, having fallen in love with it thanks to the Highlander series. It fits the tone of the series very well.

Battlestar Galactica Who Wants to Live Forever

Of course, that got me to thinking about an old favorite Highlander video. It covers the Horsemen story and is set to "It's Been a While" by Sting. Warning: the author used the uncensored version of the song. Not work safe.

Methos: It's Been a While

Con Dreams

I've wanted but never actually managed to make it to Dragon*Con for years, ever since I heard about it over at Anne McCaffery's Kitchen Table Bulletin Board, which was taken down some years back. Why I haven't gone changes with the years, but it generally revolves around responsibilities and a lack of funds. This year, I didn't even realize it was about that time until Jen from Cake Wrecks began twittering from the con floor Saturday morning.

She mentioned what a good time she and her husband were having watching the Stargate panel, and being the massive Stargate geek I am, I've been checking here and there trying to catch some videos. Alas I've yet to find any from this year's panel. However, I did find one video that's just too fun.

Apparently con goers got together to try to break the world record for number of people dancing to Thriller. One of the dancers happened to be in an Alien costume, and the results are quite giggle worthy.

Why do I have images of a whole line of Aliens dancing Thriller in my head now?

Forgotten Influences

Thursday night we were searching for a movie to watch together, and we decided on Dragonheart.

I remember being extremely excited to go and see it in theaters with my aunt when it came out, and it's been on of my favorites ever since. However, it's been a long time since I've watched it. I think the last full viewing was when I was on bed rest before Boo Bear was born, so about three years ago now. And like I did when reviewing Escaflowne, I realized Dragonheart was a major influence on my writing.

I began writing Right of Succession in January 1995, so neither series nor movie influenced the original concept. However, the idea has morphed and evolved, both when I was actively writing on it and when it was simply percolating in the back of my mind. If someone had read those sorry thirty something handwritten pages of the first draft and hadn't heard me talking about the story since, they wouldn't guess it was the same story.

Dragonheart came along when I began to mature enough to realize my characters were all flat. Other than a few images branded into my imagination, the movie's major influence was on my characters. Einon, Aislinn, Bowen, Kara, Draco, and even Brok lent bits and pieces of their personality or appearance to Ralic, Maya, Lanre, Chantal, Tricon, and General Bour.

Einon's temper and twisted sense of affection sparked a change in Ralic's character. Before the man had been nothing but pure evil. It was a small change at first, but it's grown as I've aged. As an adult, I've come to see people in more shades of gray than I did as a teenager, and oddly the effect has made him both more sympathetic a villain and creepier at the same time.

Aislinn lent her bearing to Maya, who before was little more than a teenager pretending to be a woman nearly grown. (I wonder why?) Bowen gifted Lanre with jaded view of life and mankind. Lanre's first incarnation was horribly idealistic. The picture of a Gary Stu, everything magically worked out for him, which likely came from his appearance and much of his personality being modeled after a friend of mine upon whom I had a crush at the time.

Kara, Draco, and Brok's influences were mostly appearance based. Chantal, Tricon, and General Bour all bear a resemblance to the other characters. Chantal has the curly red hair and solid determination to bring a tyrant to justice as Kara. Draco's appearance in the movie influenced the anatomy of the Yekaran race in size, proportion, and the bone structure and musculature of the limbs, digits, and muzzels. And Brok lent his gruff nature and sheer bulk to the idea for General Bour.

It's amazing just how much Dragonheart influenced Right of Succession considering how different the stories are otherwise.

* The photo is a screen cap of Draco from the movie. Imagine him with three dominate horns on the skull plating, burnished gold and rust coloring, smaller chest plates, sans spikes down the back and tail, and about six to seven feet smaller in proportion, and you have Tricon. What I see when imagining him anyway.

Considering the Blog Novel

I'm in something of a quandary regarding a story idea I've been kicking around since before From the Ashes was written. You see, I know it has the potential to be a good story, but I'm not sure it's one that would be a good fit with today's publishing market.

From the Ashes was a basic historical fiction. Cathbad and Conchobar mac Nessa were real men. Their lives are documented in first century Ulster. Queen Maive as well was a real woman, and her cattle raids on Ulster were a thorn in mac Nessa's side. Deirdre figures in a myth centering around Cathbad and mac Nessa, though I haven't come across anything suggesting she was more than a romantic story figure.

The story idea I have is a continuation of Deirdre's story, and it crosses the line from historical fiction into fantasy while keeping the historical elements. I go far enough away from what we do know about Ulster in the time period, I suppose you could call it just plain fantasy, but I'm not sure on the point.

In any case, I've been thinking about publishing the story in a blog format, one or two 1000 or so word posts a week as I work on reformatting The Icarus Project. It's a fun read, but I'm somewhat of a mythology geek. I'm not certain if anyone else would find the story as enjoyable as I do.

What do you think? Would you read a novel in blog form?

Fits of Fantasy

Do you remember when you were little and anything seemed possible if you dreamed hard enough?

I do. I remember daydreams where I suddenly sprouted wings, magically knowing how to use them all in an instant, and I'd fly out over what was left of the old forest behind Papa's fields and just keep going until I couldn't fly anymore. Then I learned about the old legends of mermaids, and having been a lover of marine mammals as long as I can remember, I'd spend hours some afternoons wondering what it would be like to swim with them without the need of scuba gear.

Boo Bear is in this imaginative phase. She's moved on from simply play acting with her toys to placing herself in new roles. As with many girls her age, princesses and fairies are her favorites, aided in part, I'm sure, by the big box of dress up clothes her Gammy gave her for Christmas complete with five frilly dresses, a tiara, gloves, tiny heels, and a set of wings. Any new concept must be thoroughly explored.

I've heard most people outgrow this phase, but I find it hard to believe. Do they really? That's so sad if it's true.

I'm still prone to these fits of fantasy. Something, more often than not the oddest of things, will catch my attention, and my mind is off concocting all sorts of ideas and images before I can blink. It seems so normal, I find it hard to believe not everyone does so. Yet, I'll admit, I cannot think of a time I've seen several folks I'm close to daydreaming.

Is there something about those prone to artistic pursuits, or am I just weirder than I thought?

* The picture is of Boo Bear at a Halloween party this past year.

Art Influences Art

With the weather being horrible of late, the family and I have been looking to old videos and such for entertainment. This is how I happened to go back through the whole one season series of Escaflowne nearly a decade after first discovering the tale.

At first it just looked interesting in the promos, and I was bored. If the local public schools had allowed early graduation back then, I would have graduated at Christmas. So having read all the books which interested me at the time, not actually having a challenge in school, and being between ideas for my own work, I decided I'd give the new series a shot. If nothing else, I figured it'd be good for a laugh.

I did laugh at first. It seemed as trite as any children's show, and the brewing tension between the main three females was amusing. However, something began nagging at me. There was something off about the series, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. So I naturally checked out the videos when the series was canceled halfway through, and it didn't take long to discover why something seemed off. They'd cut huge chunks out of the original material to squash it into the desired rating.

Not that it was "adult" adult, but it did have some strong language, suggestive images and themes, and lots and lots of violence. I mean, they had to cut so much from the Freid story arc, they squashed three episodes into one simply to hide the fact one of the main characters discovers he has an illegitimate child.

Anyway, after I began seeing all the cut material, the story really pulled me in. I rewatched the series after the first time through to see if I could decipher the mythological influences and symbols woven throughout the story. In doing this, I was delighted to discover I recognized the kata Van keeps practicing throughout the series. It's the first in the basic series of katas used in Kendo, which I began to study through what limited training Sensei Hardyman was able to provide. (I wasn't about to attempt writing swordplay without understanding at least the basics of handling a sword!)

The mythological influences and symbolic images in the series are still fascinating, but as I rewatched this old series this past week, I began to see instances where the series influenced my own writing. Nothing big. It's just little things here and there.

For a fairly accurate and entirely amusing look at the main characters, check out these which character are you image results. (The language is crude in parts, so you might not want to let the kiddies read.) Unfortunately, the quiz is long since defunct.

* The image is a screne cap from "City of Ingrigue."

Plot Bunny Free to Good Home

As some of you may know, I've dabbled in fan fiction now and again. I find it a good resource for practice now and again, especially if you're having an issue writing a specific type of scene, genre, or character type. You don't have to waste a ton of time world building for what boils down to an exercise, and feedback is generally plentiful if you post it on one of the better fan fiction sites. Though, it can be difficult to find reviews which are genuinely helpful.

I was attacked by a particularly vicious plot bunny last week, and I simply don't have time to attend to it as the handful of abandoned stories over at Twisting the Hellmouth will attest. Therefore, I'm giving this one away free to a good home before it gnaws my brain to bits.

The plot bunny is a crossover between Legend of the Seeker and Harry Potter, with the crossover really just lifting an idea from the television show and plunking it into the Potterverse. The idea mentioned is the notion of the pristinely ungifted from episode 16, "Bloodline," which is an individual who not only has no gift for magic, but who is so far removed from it magic cannot touch them in any way.

Imagine if on any given raid, the Death Eaters come upon someone on whom none of their spells have any effect. Snape would be able to use the guise of using the individual, or individuals considering the possibility of parent and child, as a test subject to find a cause and way to exploit the trait or at least detect it in order to remove the pristinely ungifted to the protection of the Order of the Phoenix. Now, imagine this individual is an adult with a good education and a solid understanding of unarmed self-defense, evening the odds between muggle and wizard as characters. What wackyness could ensue?

You're welcome to take the idea and run with it if you wish. I only ask you let me know where to find the story if you do.

Maybe the idea will leave me alone now.

Musical Inspiration

It's spring cleaning time around our house, and that means it's time to put some CDs in the stereo and crank them up to fuel the work. Turns out I had trouble finding my usual cleaning music yesterday morning, so I ended up popping Loreena McKennitt's "The Visit" into the player. It's a little slower than I generally like for get up and go type of music, but it's a lovely album.

I was introduced to Ms. McKennitt by my favorite English professor at Athens State University. She played title four, Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott," set to music.

I'd already connected to the poem during our study of it, going so far as to make a note of a particular line I still intend to allude to nine or so books into the Yekara series should it ever take off enough to develop into the full series I have mapped out. McKennitt's version is a lovely piece, haunting in spots, and I enjoyed it enough to go out and find the album.

I won't go so far as to say "The Visit" inspired any particular scene in Right of Succession or anything in "From the Ashes" or the following novel I have planned, but I have had it playing in the background on a regular basis while writing. The sound and mood of the album works extremely well with the fantasy genre.

* The picture is the front jacket of "The Visit."

Thank you, Editorial Anonymous!

Even as I've been working on rewrites and edits on Succession, I've had this nagging feeling something was still off with the manuscript, but I couldn't name the problem. So, when Editorial Anonymous offered a first pages clinic over on her new blog, The Anonymati, I decided to submit the first page for a professional opinion.

Am I ever glad I did!

The problem was obvious. It's a problem I know I have, and I've been working to correct the habit for a couple years now. However, Succession is a piece I've always been incredibly close to, and I suppose I was too close to see the problem. Now I know what to fix, and soon this book's journey will come to an end for better or worse.

What was the problem? I was overwriting. Even with all the cuts I've done in the last months, there were still too many extraneous details, awkwardly wordy phrases, cliches, and word choices that had her thinking of a romance novel.

As a writer, especially a writer of fantasy or science fiction, the details are so clear to us and such a part of the story the temptation to cram them all in is a strong one. After spending so long building a world, it's difficult to leave some details to the reader. It feel like leaving something you love, something important completely up to chance. I suppose you could compare the feeling to sending your child off to their first day of kindergarten without teaching them how to share. There's a sense something is going to go horribly wrong.

Yet, unlike sending a child without a knowledge of sharing into a large group of other children, leaving the unnecessary details to the reader actually helps the manuscript. Filling in those bits empowers the reader and prevents the story from being lost in its own trimming.

So, I'm off to the editing room again. It's time I had a talk with my inner editor. Seems she's been too merciful with the striking pen. This won't do.

Thank you again, Editorial Anonymous, for helping me see what I've been missing these past six months or so.

For the full post on Succession's first page, click here.

Why Sci-Fi and Fantasy?

Have you ever been looked at cross eyed for being a fan of or a writer who specializes in science fiction or fantasy? I have. High school teachers, college professors, friends, and some family members, upon finding out my aspirations to make a living by the pen and my penchant for the genres, have given me a look that screams, "Why waste your time with that stuff for social rejects when you could write romance, or crime fiction, or suspense, or humor?" even as they plaster on a fake smile and try to come up with something a bit more polite to say.

You know what I have to say to their attitude? Why not write science fiction and fantasy? I've tried my hand at romance, mystery, horror, humor, and suspense. My horror was a bit tame, and my sense of humor is a little to dry for most folks' taste. I'm capable of pulling off romance, mystery, and suspense, but I simply enjoy writing in my preferred genres more. Plus, there's a level of quality my joy in writing the piece brings to the finished product you simply don't find in something less pleasurable to compose.

Well, why does anyone enjoy science fiction or fantasy? Why were the genres developed in the first place?

There's so much to explore, especially with the strides being made in the sciences today. Being a woman naturally drawn to the sciences, exploring the possibilities in tomorrow's technologies is second nature. Also, there is a level of social detachment interjected by placing your story in a completely different culture which frees you up to speak about issues difficult to address without immediately alienating good chunks of your audience.

Yes, there's a level of escapism in the genres. This is why so many academics and writers tend to look down their noses at "genre fiction." They lump it all together in a gigantic bubble gum wrapper and toss it in the bin with everything else they consider entertainment junk food, never noticing the nutrition for the soul held within.

Variety and spice are as essential in maintaining a healthy love of reading as it is in keeping to a healthy diet. Elements such as fantastical species, magic, exotic cultures, and space travel or other advance technologies are the basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme to the skinless baked chicken and steamed veggies of social commentary held within.

Thoughts on World Building

Something occurred to me the other day as I sat musing over what I’d write this week. The process of world building is a lot like pregnancy.

Now wait a minute before you go running for the hills. Yes, male readers, I’m talking to you. I’m not going to say anything gross. I promise.

Like all forms of art, sci-fi and fantasy literature, movies, and television shows begin as an idea, minuscule and delicate. The author oscillates between moments of manic research, quiet reflection, and at times days or weeks where the awareness of its presence, its potential, is nearly forgotten in the press of day to day concerns. Yet it grows: gaining form and purpose, developing systems, and gathering strength until the idea is finally able to make itself known.

Those first nudges are subtle and easily missed or forgotten by a distracted author, but they quickly become more definite and insistent. The author begins putting words to paper, taking care to ensure all needed elements are available and eliminated unwanted materials from the diet. Research intensifies. Preparations are considered, and growth accelerates. Soon the idea is only recognizable as the same tiny spark it was before in its most basic elements.

The first set of revisions and rewrites begin, and the idea, already almost fully formed, matures and gains weight. It occupies the author’s thoughts more now than ever, and the nudges, once so gentle, can be surprisingly strong even painful at times. Arrival is within sight, and the author increases their efforts to prepare.

Soon time for final edits arrives, the shortest and most painful phase for most. All is ready. All remaining is the final push and cleansing before the author holds their world, newly born and perfect in their hands.

Then the hard part begins.