The Arbiter- It's Good to Be Back

Hello there, the five of you who read my blog posts.  It's been a while since I've been around, but we finally got our project finished and, for a minute, I'm able to redirect my attention toward writing books and such.  With the direction everything's gone in, I completely lost focus on what I was working on before.  Bearing that in mind, I started work on a book that is both new and very old.  It's new because I'm writing it now.  It's old because it's the first story I'd ever created.

A while back, I finished the first draft of "Atreleise", the first book of Terra that I completely finished.  It has my favorite characters, settings, and, in my opinion, most memorable story, but you only get to see half of it.  Near the end of the book, the main character, Atreleise, reunites with his initial companion, Eryn (the Arbiter), who has acquired quite a number of his own companions.  I never explain where these people come from or what their stories are, but it's implied that they experienced an adventure all their own.

That is the premise of "The Arbiter".  It follows Eryn from the time he enters Terra all the way to the end of the story seen in Atreleise.  When I initially wrote it, the story was all over the place and it was written in a third-person omniscient voice that went along as the tale did.  In this new version, we have Eryn as the narrator, talking about the experience as if he's watching the movie of his life.  He relates exactly what he sees and hears while also trying to share what he must have been thinking and feeling, as he can't clearly remember such things.

I took the cue from Hemingway, whom I rekindled a flame for after rereading "The Sun Also Rises", and while I don't copy his style, I certainly take some things from it.  Eryn admits that he's not an author and isn't trying to be one.  He relates his story concisely, with no real verbosity and little in the way of purple prose.  He's himself in the future looking back on his past actions, so he often regards himself with disdain as we go along with him, ashamed of some of the ways he felt and acted.

I've never done anything like this before, so I'm hoping the dream comes to fruition.  I'll be posting little tidbits about the characters, story, and setting here and there, so keep an eye out.

Until then, thanks for reading, and here's to the future!

In Absentia

Sorry guys- I've been gone for a while.  Working on a book unrelated to the Terra series for a little while and also helping develop a video game for the iPhone and Android, so it's been busy.  I'll be sure to restart the thread once my audience grows and I get back into the vein of fantasy adventure.

Until then, cheers!

Making People Talk

Without a doubt, the toughest part of writing is and has always been good characterization.  Even if the setting, the plot, themes, morality, love, the power of friendship, and every fable that Aesop could muster all gathered together in perfect timing and harmonized beautifully, without interesting, believable characters there is no book.

I think anyone who pressed their ear against the door while I was going through scenes would think I'm crazy.  To get the best accents and most organic dialogue that I can, I speak out loud to myself as different characters and type down the first things that I think to say.  For me, whatever I said naturally after getting into character is what that character would have said were they real.  Of course, if it seems asinine or poorly scripted in retrospect, I'll change it.  But, for the most part, it works like a charm.

I seem to have the easiest time writing secondary and background characters and making the "extras" of the world come to life.  I've never had a problem making the hero's friends or the villain's trusted lieutenants interesting or unique.  It's always the main two or three that give the most issue.

For the hero, he can't be perfect because he's only a person, but he has to be likable.  The villain also can't be a complete monster because then there is no empathy from the reader for him, no remorse for his death and no greater thought beyond triumph and "Yay, we beat Sauron."  I don't want that from my works at all.  Ever.  And I never want my readers to feel that.

Characterizing the hero has always been on the back burner for me.  Sure, he's the main character, but I'm often less interested in the good he's doing than the bad.  He must be riddled with flaws and often unwilling to admit it, but I also have to make him distinct from the last hero.  What is he like and what do people like about him?  What stops him from being perfect, how does it affect his relationships, and how does that, in turn, affect the story?  Perfect heroes are boring.

For myself, it's the villain.  It was always the villain.  The plot is made because a hero is needed.  Heroes are generally a reactive force to a proactive villain.  In essence, the bad guy needs to do something evil in order for the good guys to need to exist.  It is for this reason that I've always preferred villains and enjoy creating them the most.  They are what makes a hero relevant at all.

I absolutely hate when a villain wants to just "conquer the world" because he wants to.  There is no lamer reason for seeking power than "just because".  He/she should have a reason for doing so, a screwed up past, or some great moral dilemma that has turned them down the wrong path.  Sometimes, the hero and villain are distinguishable only because the author chose one of them as their point of view.  Those are my favorites.

When I write, I try to make the villain of one book the hero of another.  If you guys want, I will one day write their books as well.  Here's hoping I do well enough for it.  Thanks for reading.

Here's to the future.

Short Story Briefing- Pun Intended

Once more, I've hit the creative roadblock that always happens during every book I write.  I've built the world, named its inhabitants, and identified where they belong within the over-arching story.  When I write and think of writing, I use a lot of music as an aid and it puts images in my mind of moments that would be really cool to explore in a book.  Unfortunately, this leaves my characters doing a lot of really cool things with no development in the middle.  If I wanted that, I'd write new scripts for He-Man, or I'd recreate new Conan comics, but I want my work to have more substance.

The latent issue is coming up with realistic events that tie these "action scenes" together in a way that leaves you emotionally-impacted when whatever happens happens.  Sure, it's sad to see someone getting crushed under the heel of a hundred-foot-tall monster called the Monolith, but it's a lot more side when you have two-hundred thirty pages invested in them.  Ultimately, I'm trying to create the believable characters that react the way I imagine they would in certain situations.  I want my books to read like really good movies.  That, I'm finding, is seriously hard.

And so I go to the short story.

In every tale is a cast of characters somewhere between major and tertiary, but none of them fill the place of "hero" except one.  You can develop them in a book as much as you want, but the reader will normally root (if you've written them properly) for your main character.  The other guys are interesting for sure, just not enough to warrant a fifty-thousand-word lexicon of their goings on.

Instead of giving them their own full novels, I've decided to write snippets, little slices of their lives and events that ultimately bring about the end of the entire saga.  With these, I can talk about any event that I want, flesh out whomever I want, and make moments as cool, crazy, or interesting as I want because I don't have to worry about tying them together with a lot of "Middle-Earth walking".  I get to kill two birds with one stone: eliminating my roadblock, and writing constructively until I can focus on the novel again.

I'm working on a few short stories that I'll tie together in compilations, but in the meantime I'd like some feedback from you guys, either on here or via e-mail, for suggestions about what you'd like to see or whom you'd like to hear about.  After all, the story doesn't go forward without you.

Here's to the future!

Politico- The Elven Edition

As a nation, Galavia must have a government, a seat of power from which the people are controlled through enforced law.  It must also have a religion, a seat of power from which they are controlled through their minds.  Because I based it on Ancient Rome, I wanted it to have a base and style reminiscent, but not identical, to the world I'm pulling it from.

Because the Roman Empire ceased to exist at the dawn of the Byzantine, I have to project what it would be like if it existed to this day.  The architecture is primarily Italian High Renaissance, since a lot of Greek and Roman work was revived by the masters of the period, but the more inland regions of the country could be confused with Spain.  It used to be a senatorial empire, but slowly became a senatorial monarchy as the government decentralized.  Around the time of Throne of Blood, it's kings have drawn more power back to the crown, with the current king having recently begun calling himself an emperor and granting himself power over a third of the military.

Besides the king there is a regent, a man who is granted the king's power if he dies before an heir comes of age.  There are also two retainers, men who get the same power if the regent dies and are never allowed to be in the same place in case of emergency.  The king's house also has seven cardinal generals, each over an army of the military, with three directly beneath the king's control.  There are also a number of dukes, barons, and common lords who owe fealty to the crown in wartime and must pay a tribute tax annually in exchange for protection against foreign invaders.

At the provincial level, a greater lord lives in a fortified city with a huge tract of land around it that no one can use for anything (as per a "beautification" law).  Surrounding him within his province are dozens of smaller fiefs, usually a few-hundred to a few-thousand acres in size and ruled by minor lords who rule over either land-bound workers or free men, depending on the ruling lord.  At the bottom rung, the peasantry follows laws established by the landowner, who follows the laws of his lord and so on.  The system of laws in Galavia is remarkably complicated and bureaucratic, and because of this great inefficiency a lot of people have been crying out against the government more and more.

On top of a mostly-ineffectual ruling class that uses a great deal of money, the people of Galavia adhere to a religion that is slowly dissolving in the face of recent advances in science.  The official religion for over a thousand years has been a polytheistic one with a Pantheon of gods that controlled different aspects of nature and natural law.  There are gods for things like storms, fruit trees, and gravity, and patron lesser gods for things like apples, clocks, and the left-hand turn.  In light of learning heliocentric theory, such a pantheon seems utterly ridiculous to anyone who can read, which is a surprising number of people in the wealthy nation.

With the people losing faith in the system and becoming empowered through growing knowledge and the newly-invented printing press, the government and church both push back with fears of their influences waning.  With both sides bent against each other in the middle of a growing global conflict, the sparks of revolution flicker brighter and brighter.  It is in times like these that bonds are broken, heroes are born, and kings are made.  I don't know about you guys, but I'm all kinds of excited for the Throne of Blood!

Thanks for reading.  Here's to the future.  :)

Galavia- A Brief Note on Weapons and Armor

For me, the best way to create a plausible story with believable characters is to put them in a functioning world.  Tolkien said the he drew the map of Middle-Earth and went from there.  For me, I'm writing the history of the world and allowing characters to fall into place.

A parallel of our own world and for good reason (a spoiler that I won't yet spill), the world of Terra is one that exists in a setting just before the dawn of the early modern era.  Guns have just been invented and, while incomparable to sorcery and the existing war machine, their usefulness is certainly noted.  Beyond food, fashion, and language, however, the way of the world is markedly different from our own.  The three primary continents are merged around a single massive body of water, the White Sea, and their cultures show it.

Modeled after 15th century coastal Europe (primarily Spain), Galavia is different from its real-world counterparts by a lack of a massive navy. While sea trade is important, the lack of a trading partner across an open ocean has turned their focus toward light, fast ships and a military with the same focus.

Bearing in mind the implications of deep river movement leading to a vast sea, the Galavian navy consists of weaponized cargo ships similar to small galleons, as well as light warships reminiscent of the Roman bireme, fitted with a ram and small guns.  With a third of their standing army staying on ships, most of the elven (Galavian) military is outfitted in light armor- leather with mail underneath and six quick-release straps in case one falls overboard.  Heavy units include cavalry and shield-bearers who wear solid-plate armor that functions like gothic armor but looks similar to the centurion armor of antiquity, including stylized galea with horse hair plume and all.  The greatest of them, the Praetorian Guard, are the royal elites in charge of guarding the king and his household; fitted with a thicker version of the shield-bearer armor, they play a surprisingly big role in Throne of Blood and other books to come.

With armor down, I’m left with weapons.  By this period in history, heavy armor had made both shields and slashing weapons far less common, if not obsolete.  While shield-bearers used broader weapons for thrusting and slicing, Praetorians use a thinner version of the zweihander, with a rapier as a secondary, a cinqueada as a sidearm, and something like a Swiss mercenary’s pike as an alternate weapon.  Marines, fighting mostly unarmored pirates and privateers, use a shamshir with the end modified for weight, a design that they took from their desert enemies.  Lastly, any footmen that use swords normally hold a rapier that is either bone-handled or has a modified crossguard, with a cinqueada or stiletto at the side.

In the end, the lot of it is inconsequential nonsense, but for me to keep in mind what they use helps me to remember how they should fight, the ways they react to things, and what types of enemies they should come up against depending on what I want to happen.  For the average reader, it’ll mean nothing.  For anyone as nutty about the High Renaissance as I am, it’ll be a treat to know that I’ve done my research, at least to a degree.

For now, that’s just a tidbit of the world I’m trying to create.  I hope you guys enjoy hearing about it further and let me know if there’s anything you want me to discuss. 

Here’s to the future.

Finally Underway Again

It has definitely been a long time coming, but between work, Army obligations, and trying to further other ventures, I haven't had a moment to write.  Now that I'm finally able to again, I've also had something to blog about for the first time in a long time, which is nice.

With a couple hours one night and nothing better to do, I turned to the laptop and started reading through my old content.  A LOT of old content.  Stuff I wrote more than a year ago, that had been left lying neglected on the dusty, upper bookshelf in the library of my mind.  I read through what I'd written for Throne of Blood, and I think I've decided that it's going to be the next book I finish.

The story is a re-telling (naturally) of themes that have followed any great hero, as well as most of us.  The book explores loss, betrayal, vengeance, the strength of the family bond, along with what defines a family.  In it, I'm trying to weave together a tale that is easy to follow without being too obvious, while also introducing a cast of characters that is both large and fairly memorable- just enough so that they are missed once removed from the plot.

The story takes place in the land of Galavia, a large country with forests, sweeping plains, and rolling hills, separated from other nations by two mountain chains and a vast stretch of ocean coast.  In the book, the people are suffering under a king who is both self-gratifying (go figure) and inattentive to the slow destruction of his holdings.  Fed up, his peers spark a revolution that engulfs the capitol and changes the ruling hand early on.  What follows is a story seen primarily through the eyes of two characters: Aurelius, the young son of a duke and one of the heirs-apparent to kingship, though he's too immature to take office; and Lycinius, one of Aurelius' guardians, his father's retainer, and a member of the dukedom's court.

The two must grow together, both in stature and maturity, and must together face a world that threatens to descend into chaos at any moment.  With treachery lurking in the shadows and enemies around every corner, it will be more than a feat to raise the child into the man the kingdom needs, if he even lives that long.  Through the trials and tribulations, the duo learn about the power of trust and what it means to rely on one another.  Both their friendship and resilience will be put to the fire and by the end of it all there will be a great many weeping eyes.

Will their bonds remain strong, or will they stand against one another?  Will the nation burn around them as infighting embitters them to inaction?  Will they even survive?

Find out in my next book, Throne of Blood.