As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.
Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.
JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES
Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?
Goodness, ANOTHER happy find! I don’t know if I’ve ever had such a run with great books on this podcast. 🙂
Babel by R.F. Kuang not only has a fascinating book cover, but an intriguing premise as well: the world’s magic is manipulated through words and silver, and in the early 1800s, England is the master of that magic. The opening is not set in England, though, but in China, where a young boy awaits his death from cholera, the same illness that had already taken his family. A mysterious British professor knows where he lives and magically heals him before taking him to the English Factory. Where this factory actually is I’ve no idea, as this would take us past five pages, but I can safely say the first five pages do a wonderful job of hooking us as readers. Kuang’s use of descriptive language wastes no time ensnaring us with her description of the boy’s mother dying of cholera and his acceptance of his fate. On the second page, we’re already shown a magic healing; while it doesn’t tell us how the boy is healed, it’s enough worldbuilding for us to know that some have magic, and others do not. As a writer, I’m also intrigued by the details dropped about the mysterious professor and English woman who helped raise the boy. What is it about this particular child that has drawn distinctively different English people to him, thousands of miles away in China? I don’t know, but I’m excited to find out. 🙂
For the first time in an age, my library got a new fantasy for its shelves.
As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.
Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.
JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES
Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?
Okay, that gripe aside, the opening pages of The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin do successfully balance hints at the fantastical while remaining grounded in New York City. Our protagonist, who’s unnamed in the opening pages, hears something breathing and calling back to her whenever she sings or paints the city. It’s a unique balance of active exposition that helps readers see and feel the same unsettled curiosity as the protagonist. The only interaction we see the protagonist has with another human being is Paulo, who seems to have this mentor kind of position of a side character. Paulo is trying to share his own moment of seeing something alive in the depths of the city and knows the protagonist can hear whatever that thing is. But the protagonist doesn’t care about a thing; she cares about getting some food in her stomach and having a safe place to sleep from one night to the next.
So this story is something of a slow burn. I’m not saying that’s bad; Jemisin isn’t shy that this is the first book of a series, so Book 1 will of course be full of dropped seeds and mystery boxes to compel readers to read. And these opening pages do have moments alluding to the fantastical hidden among the everyday grit and grime of the city. Why this had to be inside a huge prologue I don’t know, but for those who enjoy urban fantasy stories, I’m sure Jemisin will not disappoint.
Well, it’s certainly been a spell, my fellow creatives!
Partly this was due to health–a nasty sinus infection knocked out my voice and energy for much of October. But the other part came from a serious reflection inspired by dear creative kindred Pam Lazos, who asked me if I needed a break from blogging and podcasting. Turns out I did. My new position in the university, while exciting, also means doing more with research and scholarship, and that initial realization sucked the joy out of any writing for a spell.
But while trick-or-treating with my kiddos yesterday, I realized that I cannot let academic life drown out my writing life. I must find a way for both to co-exist.
So here we are with my first try. No more analysis for the time being. And the podcasting will, I think, return in December. For now, the writing here will be fictional, fantastical, and most of all, fun.
Rather than the pressure of a novella or novel, though, I’m going with the short fiction route. I already wrote one story for this peculiar place some time ago, and now it’s time for us to return to this land of homegrown magic, where sorcery is as everyday as the harvest.
We will begin with a boy, as many stories do…
Day 1, Story 1: The Boy Who Conquered Goose Island
If one were to ever bother traveling west of Pips Row—and few of the city-sort ever do—one would see nothing but farms and forests. How very dull to a city-sort’s eye! To the country eye, one may see a bit more in the promising harvests: grains to promise safe relations with the goblins, vegetables to promise stable transport and roads, fruits to promise means of celebration and good weather. Magic grows in every seed and every root, as any down-to-earth soul knows.
But even country folk don’t travel too far west if they can help it, for they’ve not worked out the best magic to promise safe relations with the birds.
Geese, in particular.
You may smile now, thinking all those fingers and brain cells make you somehow smarter than a goose. That is only because you’ve never met a goose from our part of the world.
Here we stand at the western edge of Pips Row. A quiet place, nowadays, now that our resident sorceress has been silenced! This road is named Chresto’s Way, and it leads to the river Chresto’s Tears. You can see it there, beyond the orchard of Fruit Seller and hives of Honey Weaver. It’s the thinnest of silver ribbons from here, but I promise you, the river stretches and shrinks in all sorts of peculiar ways as it flows through this countryside down to the Marplen Sea. Whoever Chresto was, their path ended with that water long before Pips Row was founded, and it is water that shows no kindness.
Which makes it no surprise, then, that the Goose King settled there.
Never heard of the Goose King? What a strange soul you are. Surely you’ve heard of Scraps and Goose Island, at least.
WHAT?
That settles it. Grab yourself an apple—not for eating, but for protection. I’ve a few corn ears and a week-old biscuit, but we best include a sack of cheese sticks and cocoa muffins, just in case.
Mind your feet, this road’s not used enough to warrant paving. It’s mud and dung all the way, I’m afraid. Let’s see, where to begin…
In my days as a tutor for Pips’ Pupilry, I helped many children find the special seeds with which their inner magic bonded. Some had a way with oranges, some with carrots, some with rhubarb, and so on. Once every moon or so, a child’s inner magic would not bond with a seed, but with an ore, and that’s how Pips Row has its own unique collection of artisans.
Once, and only once, did I meet a child who bonded with neither seed nor ore. His name was Mycroft.
But everyone called him Scraps.
The boy did not come from a family of any, well, worth, you see. The father delivered parcels while the mother polished the words of the Council before they were sent off to the Capitol Businesses for evaluation. Being neither farmers nor artisans nor business, their place in the town was of a lowly sort, so Scraps was not treated like other children in Pips’ Pupilry. His clothing was secondhand and stitched, and his toys cast-offs from the Scrap Bins of alleyways.
Yet of all the children I have tutored—and may I note that number is high, indeed—no child was ever as happy as Scraps. His smile could shade the sun whenever he made a new discovery. “Look, Professor Hastlot!” He ran to me almost every day before school with something in his hand. One day I was sure it was the maw of a beaver, but this day it was a broken pitcher mold. “You’ve been near Silver Smith’s again.”
Scraps held the broken mold up to my face. A little fellow of wiry frame and curly brown hair, his long fingers somehow dodged every sharp point on that rubbish. “It’s the perfect piece.” Everything was “the perfect piece” for Scraps.
“Perfect for what?”
“You’ll see!” And at his corner table, away from all the soil pots and miniature forges, Scraps would send the classroom into awes and giggles every day with whirlybird messengers, decoy duck walkers, dust bunny hunters, pea soup freezers, and even whole number crunchers. (A particular favorite on Arithmetic Assessment days.)
It was clear to any child and tutor like myself that Scraps’ inner magic had bonded with, well, scrap. But because it was neither seed nor ore, the Headmaster preparing to expel the boy. Imagine, being expelled merely for shining at being yourself!
That, my friend, is where the Goose King comes in.
We’re a bit closer now to Chresto’s Tears—let’s stop by this knocked tree so you can see it down this sloping hill. Such a dark, mysterious blue! I’m certain something lives in those depths. But it’s the island I want you to see especially. It’s not particularly big—a few school buses long, I’d wager. All trees and wild brush, nothing tenable for a farmer. No clear ground for good trips or mining. But there in the center you can see it, yes? A giant among all that brush with its wings outstretched, its muddy, colorful feathers eternally fluttering in the wind.
The Goose King ruled that island with an iron beak. Guards circled the island constantly. The infamous Gaggle would fly out and return with whole loaves of sugar-bread soley for him to devour. Any stray goose caught by the guards would be forced to give up their goslings to the King. Those who defied the Goose King were left outside the Butcher’s back porch. The Goose King would sit atop the tallest dead tree, as wide and tall as an old sow, and honk the terrible honk of tyranny.
On the day in question, Scraps did not come running up to me in the school yard. His hands were empty, and his eyes were downcast.
“Whatever is the matter?” I cried. “Did the Scrap Truck beat you to the construction site?” Those were Scraps’ very kind of bins, particularly because the Green Trenches tend to arrest adult trespassers for digging through them.
“No.” He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Yesterday Papa went to buy me the last sugar-bread for a treat because my corner-cleaner-upper helped Mama so much, but the stupid Gaggle mobbed him and took the bread and he had no money for any more!”
A knot formed in my throat. Sugar bread may be another child’s everyday snack, but for Scraps, that would be a special treat, indeed. “Then I will go with you to the baker’s during Play Period to get some,” I said, holding up a coin as a promise.
Scraps’ little fists shook as he glared at me. “No. It’s not the same. I’m gonna get that stupid Gaggle!”
Whew! Okay, time to take care of children. But I can’t wait to return here tomorrow to see what Scraps does next!
Perhaps this year, National Novel Writing Month may be the light you need to find your way back to the Writing Life. If you’re involved this year, I’d love to hear about it! It’s only Day 1, but I’m determined to be here on Day 30 and beyond. x
Welcome back, my fellow creatives! I’m thrilled to continue sharing some lovely indie authors I’ve met in our community. This month, please welcome the adventurer cosmic, Kent Wayne!
Let’s begin with your adventures as a reader. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
Some early experiences with powerful language come from (now) outdated comic books, specifically Preacher by Garth Ennis, and the early run of Ultimate Spider Man by Brian Michael Bendis. Ennis was able to reinvent a bunch of 1960s and 1970s toxic Americana machismo into something heroic, inspiring, and infused with tolerance (for the 90s). He does allude to underlying problems and hypocrisy, but the parts where Jesse Custer learns what it means to be a hero no matter what the odds, then accompanies the act with a passionate monologue or iconic one-liner, made me aware of how a written story could charge my entire being with hope and purpose. Conversely, Ultimate Spider-Man (the early run) made me aware of how important silence, implication, and organic-sounding speech (even if it’s riddled with ums, dot-dot-dots, and yeahs) could make me want to stand up and cheer for a kid who—despite being saddled with terrible responsibility—is still able to seek out and experience joy. He’s one of the few characters I really felt for, to the point where I wanted him to stay naive and optimistic, and the scene where he almost kisses Mary Jane (Ultimate Spider Man #13) is burned into my brain as the best romantic scene I’ve read or seen.
What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
When I first read it, I didn’t like the seminal work Dark Knight Returns (by paradigm-shifting comic book author/artist Frank Miller). It was only later, after I realized the significance of his depiction of media, was I able to appreciate the barrage of dialogue between his news pundits.
Have you ever gotten reader’s block? That is, did you ever encounter a story that you just could not finish?
I tried to read Cloud Atlas, thinking it would be similar to the movie, but it was so much slower than I thought it would be. I think I stopped a third of the way through. Other than that, I think I’ve finished every book I’ve read.
Time to dive into your own stories! Your first book, Echo: Approaching Shatterhit virtual shelves in 2015. Please tell us what first inspired this story and motivated you to explore this world and discover the three other stories in this series.
Echo was inspired by Die Hard with a Vengeance, specifically that opening scene where John Mclane is forced to wear an offensive sign in public and it puts his life at risk. I started wondering what would happen if an entire city turned against one person, then that person had to fight their way out? I wanted it to be science fiction (because I’ve always been a fan of robo-suits), and then I had to create a backstory for a sci-fi scene where it was one guy versus an entire city. I didn’t get to the actual scene until the end of Echo 3.
Speaking of series, I’d love to hear more about your methods in discovering whether a story should be a single standalone or a series. We’re so often pushed by the gurus that series will sell over standalones. What are your thoughts on this?
I believe writing is one of the worst ways to make money (if you’re looking to make money), and that it should feed your soul before anything else. That being said, I would say write in a way that brings you the utmost joy and allows you to feel like you’ve honored the characters. Whether that’s a standalone book or a multi-volume series is up to you and your muse. If writing becomes a chore because I’m forcing a series, I’m not sure that I would want to keep doing it.
What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?
I’m not too knowledgeable about traditional publishing, but from what I understand, things have vastly changed since Stephen King’s earlier days, where they’d work with you if you showed potential. Nowadays, they might arrange for your book to be turned frontwards instead of sideways for a few weeks at Barnes and Nobles, and possibly arrange some readings or a book tour. That’s not unethical, but I wish publishers would be willing to invest more into budding authors instead of just letting them sink or swim.
Okay, I HAVE to ask about your comic, Kor’Thank: Barbarian Valley Girl. Its premise is so utterly bizarre I cannot help but love it (it also helps I’m a fan of Conan the Barbarian). Where did this story come from in your imagination?
After I wrote Echo, which had plenty of violence and darkness, I wanted to write something fun and silly in the vein of Barry Ween (early 2000s comic). I was playing Kingdom Rush and noticed this primitive, mean-looking goblin guy named Gul Thak, and I started toying with the idea of a Conan-esque character switching bodies with a stereotypical cheerleader. After that, it was just a matter of playing up the ironies (despite outward appearances, she’s the mean one), adding a giant dose of juvenile humor, and sprinkling in some high school sweetness, infused with the eager young outlook and unjaded energy that I wish all high-schoolers were able to enjoy, simply because that’s what I wish defined peoples’ high school experience.
Kor’Thank also gets me wondering about that old chestnut of a writer’s debate regarding originality vs. catching a trend. What are your thoughts on trying to be more original vs. delivering to readers what they want?
This might seem a bit selfish, but I think it’s mainly what brings joy to the author. I’m all for originality, but not if it’s some arthouse-type work that evokes no emotion from me, despite being supposedly brilliant in theme and execution. Conversely, if I watch something that’s full of cliches, then I don’t care so long as it’s engaging.
Kor’Thank ALSO also gets me wondering about your character names. Can you describe your process for finding/selecting character names? I’m always a sucker for selecting historical names with meaning.
I wasn’t so good with names for Echo (I just wanted to get on with writing the story, and select names that wouldn’t be too jarring). Nowadays, because my YA fantasy series hews outside the bounds of traditional fantasy, I’ve placed great emphasis on names, dialogue, and culture in order to evoke the old-school fantasy feel, despite the nontraditional setting. I look for names that are evocative of behavior and background. For example, from my second book, Eralindiany felt like an Elvish, feminine name with a lot of flow and lilt, so that’s why she’s Jon’s half-Elf girlfriend. Syfaedi Kysaire felt like something that had flair and derring-do, so I made her a pirate captain. Raefingham Bask felt Victorian and refined, so I made him a Sherlockian detective. The bottom line is I go by feel. A lot of the time, I’ll use a “placeholder name” then change it in the edit as I get a feel for the character and my mind starts coming up with better names.
I’ve been following your blog for a long time, and I see that you’ve transformed a series within your blogs (Musings) into a book collection. Can you describe your process for bringing your blog to the bookstore, and do you have any other marketing advice for fellow indie writers?
Some of my readers wanted me to compile Musings into a book, so I acquiesced and turned it into a compilation of philosophical pseudo-poems. Once again, my advice on bringing my blog to a bookstore is infuriatingly vague: search your feelings, just like Obi Wan said, and if it feels right to publish, then go ahead and do it. In creative pursuits, I’m of the opinion that going by feel and intuition is of utmost importance. Because arguably, that’s what defines them and/or separates them from technical pursuits.
Your latest book, a YA Fantasy, sounds like a delightful escape from the mundane of our world. Considering how the HUGE variations of worldbuilding within the fantasy genre, did you find it difficult to challenge the reader while also guiding them through your story-world?
Absolutely. Since my main character is from Earth, I wanted to convey the wonder of discovery and adventure through his eyes, without getting bogged down in too much backstory. Also, building out a system of magic was a definite challenge, especially when the plot hinges on different styles of spellcasting.
What would you say was the most difficult scene to write in Evermoor?
The most difficult scene to write in Evermoor was when the hero finally gets to kiss the girl. I’d never gone all in on a romantic scene until then, and I really wanted to get it right. I wanted to convey his excitement at finally getting to experience this joyous moment—possibly the most joyous moment of his teenage existence—with the crush of his life.
Lastly, we all struggle with a writing Kryptonite—that thing that just saps our creativity and prevents us from telling the stories we love. What is your writing Kryptonite, and how do you overcome it?
My writing kryptonite is frustration that no one’s made my books into a movie or tv show, LOL! The scenes are so vivid in my mind, that I desperately want to see them onscreen. I have to deliberately focus on enjoying my story and immersing myself in the joy of writing it, because I can easily go down a depressing rabbit hole if I start obsessing about recognition or movie deals.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat, Kent, and I can’t wait to see where your creativity takes you next!
~STAY TUNED!~
Nature is on my mind! Whether it’s the music of nature or the landscape of mystery, perhaps it’s time we venture out and explore with the words and sounds of others.
Hello, my fellow creatives! March is a finicky time in the Midwest. Spring teases us with snow and ice one day and warmer, green days the next. We require snow pants and boots in the morning, but by the afternoon we’re running around without any winter gear at all. I’ve used music to escape the icy mud only to find myself lost in another time, another place…
Sadly, that different time and place was not a crime scene on a riverboat in 1930s Egypt. Our babysitter backed out, so Bo and I were unable to see the new Branagh adaptation which I wanted to include in my analysis of Death on the Nile.
No, I actually found myself going back in time to my early days here as a blogger. Back in 2016 (around 200 posts ago?! Zounds!), I was just finishing up my rough draft of Middler’s Pride, the first of a Young Adult fantasy series set in another realm. The second book, Beauty’s Price, featured characters based heavily on the Bennet sisters, so revisiting this music…rewatching the film—rereading the story…it got me re-evaluating projects past and present.
Storytelling
Many of us work as well as write. When I taught part-time, I managed to have time for writing and publishing while bringing in a little income. Teaching in higher education full-time, though, eats a lot of time, and teaching online means one is never really separated from students or the work. I discussed this struggle in 2021, and that struggle has never subsided. The goals I set for myself were not reached. Sure, I got a short story published in an online magazine, but that wasn’t the same as self-publishing my novel in 2020. We so often beat ourselves up for these misses.
But putting oneself down is not going to lift oneself up. Quite the opposite.
So, I’m putting 2021 down as a year I published SOMEthing. Still a win. 2022? I will still publish SOMEthing. I’ve got a short story I’m proud to query. And listening to Pride and Prejudice has me thinking of my Shield Maidens and wondering…
Perhaps the Princeborns are just going to have to have a break this year. Perhaps Idana is where I need to be.
I have one novel down, a second partially done. Notes on the third, and the fourth…well that one’s in the “I kinda know what I want” stage. Middler’s Pride was in the online reading library Chanillo for a while and had gotten some strong input on the free writing forum Wattpad, so I’m hopeful that a little revision could go a long way in getting Meredydd back to the virtual bookshelves.
I could even share my character brainstorming for her here with you, which would allow time writing blog posts to convert into time with the story. I could re-share some of my old posts, such as the music that inspired my worldbuilding, analyses of the craft that went into the stories to see what has changed, what has not…hmmm…
Platform
Remember back when authors could just worry about telling good stories and someone else handled the other stuff? Anybody remember that?
Nnnneeeeever mind.
We all fight like hell to get our stories to others. When my first novel was picked up by a small publisher, I was ecstatic to have the help, but the majority of the marketing was done by me. The time it takes to market, to query, to network, to gather reviews, to format the book, to design the cover…it’s basically a full-time job on top of writing on top of whatever we do to actually earn the money to keep writing. All too often, it’s the actual storytelling that keeps ending up on the backburner in order to prioritize everything else. And it sucks. A lot.
Isn’t the point of writing to WRITE?!
Now folks can say that this is what Fiverr is for, and hire people to do the little stuff so you can focus on the big stuff. That’s all well and good when you can afford the help, but many of us are on tight budgets as it is. Sure, I’ll save up to use Fiverr for a kickin’ book cover, but I can’t hire someone to market for me. Few of us can. That’s why we’re blogging here and sharing pieces of ourselves on social media. Some folks manage to balance TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Lord knows what else. We’re guest posting and reviewing and collaborating and virtual touring and all the things to connect with one more writer, one more reader. Those who can balance all this, you are AMAZING. Those who are struggling, you are also AMAZING. Why?
Because we all struggle finding that balance and working out what methods fit us and which don’t. I enjoy connecting with fellow creatives here on WordPress. I enjoy sharing things on Twitter. Once in a while I get to Instagram. But don’t ask me about TikTok or those other things. Fellow indie author Anne Clare made an important point she learned that when it comes to the author’s platform, it’s far better to do a little bit well than a lot badly. Considering time and energy here, I am taking that lesson to heart. That’s why you don’t see me on Facebook anymore, and rarely on Instagram.
Which brings us to my experimental venture of 2020…
Podcast
After nearly a year of posting weekly podcasts for Story Cuppings, I wanted to share a couple of takeaways here. This podcast was to “force” me to read more, which it has, but to also reach new readers, which it hasn’t. For those of you who have listened, thank you for always sharing your thoughts and encouragement! I know not everyone has time for this sort of thing, and that is completely acceptable. For those who comment, thank you for sharing your reading journeys with me as well! It’s just that hope to connect with the crowd that does have time for podcasts has not gone the way I hoped, and that got me wondering why. Two major answers come to mind:
I’m not consistent with the material I read.
The podcast title.
I like focusing on first chapters of novels. I stand by that concept. After all, how often are we told as writers that we have to hook readers in the first few pages or we lose them? So focusing on the story and craft in those opening pages is still worthwhile to me. Plenty of other folks do book reviews and book podcasts on the whole story. To me, the first few pages can be incredibly instructive. Plus, it allows the podcasts to be kept reasonably short–mine average between 16-22 minutes–so producing them does not take long.
But I DO need to be more consistent with what I’m reading. I’ve read old things, genre-specific things, indie things, and now library things. Out of all the things, the library-related podcasts have gotten the most reaction, so I think I will just stick with what I find on the New Release shelf. It makes me pick stories that are already in the public eye, and it makes me try genres and authors I’d have never considered before.
Next, the title just doesn’t relay the podcast’s premise well. I thought it did, but upon reflection, who knows what a cupping is? I had to look it up. It sounded novel (pun intended) because the term is used for tasting coffees, and plenty of folks had wine/book themes. Why not a coffee/book theme? But after nearly a year of not hooking listeners from beyond my current community, it’s time to change the title. Just as a book’s title needs to hook readers, so does a podcast title need to hook listeners. The title needs to be crystal clear in relaying the podcast’s intent, soooo let’s try this title out and see how it goes over:
Well, what do you think? I’d love your input! You have been such kind souls and dear supports these seven years. 250-some blog posts later, you are still here with me, sharing these writing wins and woes. You’ve seen me through parenting adventures awful and amazing. Your support is a foundation in my world, and for that, my dearest friends, I cannot thank you enough.
And let us hear from you now, my creative kindreds! Are you reviving old projects, or revealing new untold worlds never explored by your characters? Are you giving yourself time to recollect and refresh, or perhaps a moment to reflect on what deserves a revisit…or a respite?
Here’s to a splendid spring for all of us. To a beautiful year for all of us. To brighter, better days for all.
Welcome back, my fellow creatives! We’ll continue tasting the wares of fellow indie authors I have gotten to know in this beautiful community through the years.
I’m sure many of us can relate to dealing with bratty children at some point in our lives. (Or, we are raising those little buggers and are surrounded by them EVERY DAY. But I digress.) Let’s take a sip from flavors both relatable and fantastical in the brew Picky Eaters by S.J. Higbee.
Welcome back, my fellow creatives! We’ll continue tasting the wares of fellow indie authors I have gotten to know in this beautiful community through the years.
Welcome back, my fellow creatives! We’ll continue tasting the wares of fellow indie authors I have gotten to know in this beautiful community through the years.
We’ll continue with the fantasy undertones, but some bright, humorous flavors are in store for us In the Land of the Penny Gnomes by Wesley T. Allen.
If you’re ever curious about helpful writing/worldbuilding software, fun RPG, matters of family’n’ faith and more, please do check out Wez’s amazing website Painfully Hopeful.
Be on the look out for more sweet indie goodness in the autumn podcasts to come!
What does a reader experience in those opening pages, and what lessons can a writer take away in studying but a few paragraphs? Should I be reading these books after long days of grading? Let’s find out!
This book was recommended to me by indie author S.J. Higbee. I do hope you check out her stellar blog and books!
If there are any stories you would like to recommend for sipping on this podcast, let me know in the comments below! I’d also welcome reading any indie authors’ own stories. Let’s all enjoy different genres and styles of storytelling throughout the year, shall we? xxxxxx
Hello hello, my wonderful fellow creatives! We find ourselves caught in the whirlwind that often billows about in the middle of summer. After a few good swimming lessons, the kids are determined to prove themselves ready for their own Olympic-style marathons in the water. So long as they don’t participate in another round of “Toss the dead fish” as some other kids did at the beach, they’ll be fine. 🙂
While they splash and holler at one another in the lake, allow me to introduce another lovely fantasy author whose debut novel hits bookstores this month. My friends, meet Ian Green!
Niceties first! Tell us a bit about yourself, please.
Hello! I’m Ian, I’m a writer from Northern Scotland. I have a background in scientific research (working on cancer epigenetics!) and I’m currently based out of Algiers. Whenever I can I spend my time hiking in the woods or clambering around ruins. My first novel, The Gauntlet and the Fist Beneath, is out this summer. It is an epic fantasy- book one of a new trilogy!
What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
My dad had an old paperback of The Lord of the Rings- all three volumes in one huge thick book, with an amazing John Howe painting of Gandalf on the front cover looking utterly mysterious and serious. I remember reading that when I was too young to understand most of it, but the cadence of the language and the weight of the words, the way Tolkien’s writing could summon images in my mind astonished me- the imagery of the shire felt true to me in a way I didn’t think fiction could be. That, and perhaps reading Goosebumps in the school library and managing to scare myself- how can a word elicit such strong emotion? I was hooked.
Who ISN’T scared of this?!?!?!
Hey, there are plenty of Goosebumps books that scared me as a kid by their insides–and outsides! I had to stay away from any volume with that ventriloquist doll the cover. (Shivers.) What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
I struggled with Cixin Liu for a long time- I found the start of The Three-body Problem impassably dense, and the characters didn’t resonate with me throughout. I think I was coming from a long run of character driven SFF and this was such sweeping, concept driven SF that I just couldn’t seem to find a purchase. I’m so glad I stuck with it- the second book in that series, The Dark Forest, is one of my favourite SF books.
What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
Malagash by Joey Comeau– I’ve been a huge fan of his work for a long time, and this novel is so tender and sad and brutal and sweet. It delivers perfectly, a dark humour running throughout even as it prises open your heart. Utterly incredible. I want to give a copy to everyone I know.
Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
The book that made me think differently about fiction was The Bridge by Iain Banks. My mum gave me a copy when I was probably too young to understand a lot of it- but I understood the sheer audacity and fun it was having. It was having so much fun with structure and there was such a joy to it. For me fiction can serve so many purposes, from light entertainment and escapism to far heavier explorations. The Bridge to me was a book that did all of those without a thought to convention, and did it all with a smile.
Ah, that sounds like a marvelous story! Any book that not only is run to read but to experience sounds like a perfect find in my, well, my book. 🙂 Speaking of books,Congratulations on your debut fantasy novel The Gauntlet and the Fist Beneath! I love hearing about fellow fantasy writers’ worldbuilding process. Did you base Gauntlet’s world on your Scottish homeland, or was other research involved in creating the story’s setting?
Certainly, Scotland was a huge source of inspiration. When I wrote this book I knew I wanted to set myself a few challenges regarding the culture I created and the story I was telling, but with the world I wanted to take some of the rugged and harsh beauty of Scotland- to make sure that the physicality of the world had an impact on the society and the world that grew around it. So in terms of geography I took a lot of inspiration from Scotland. Historically I think the Pictish stones scattered around Scotland gave me my first ideas of how the magic of the world might work- the old ideas of celtic animism that have been so long lost were a big inspiration. I wanted to create a world where monotheism had never become a dominant force, and to take some of the ideas of animism and craft them into a new and novel magic system and world. In terms of the history and cultures represented, I tried hard to make sure I wasn’t echoing any specific histories- I drew inspiration from a lot of history and myth from around the world, and I didn’t want to create a world that was simply a fantasy version of Scotland- I wanted to create something wholly its own, with its own myth and legend and history and forces pushing and pulling at its people.
Building such a rich, complex world is no small undertaking. Do you think it wise that aspiring writers take on such a project, or is it better they try a different method to sharpen their skills?
I think it can be tempting to start hugely ambitious projects (creating an entire world! A ten book series covering the fall of an empire!) but I found more successful to work on shorter pieces while I was honing my craft and voice. This also let me try out lost of different styles and concepts to see what I wanted to do more with.
Ah yes, your short fiction. We’ll get to that in a bit. 🙂 All this world-building must surely take a lot of time in your writing process. Have you ever experienced a blockage during that research, or have ever become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all?
I sometimes need reminding to clarify some points of a world’s lore- when you are so deep into research and worldbuilding it can be easy to forget that someone coming to the material fresh is coming from a totally different context and set of background knowledge! Luckily this is something that can be fixed without too much stress normally.
That’s good to hear! The research involved in building a world can easily intimidate any writer, but writing outside of one’s own experience can REALLY put the pressure on a writer these days. The protagonist of your book, General Floré, is a parent determined to fight through any hell to rescue her child. This is a character many of us readers can root for! What challenges did you face as a writer in writing characters from the opposite sex, and do you have any advice for other writers who want to write outside their living experience?
I don’t think for me writing a character of one sex or another held any more challenge than any other sex. In the world of The Gauntlet and the Fist Beneath sex, gender, and sexuality are of far less consequence than they are in our own world, and so I really just focused on character and motivation. In terms of writing outside of my lived experience, in a lot of ways fantasy as a genre frees me up to not worry so much about accuracy except within the confines of what I’ve created. I’m writing from the perspective of seven foot tall lizard people who live in intricate coral reef cities, and people who live under the weight of an eternal arcane storm- nobody has lived those experiences! There are of course more normal experiences where this might come to bear, but all I can do is rely on research and imagination and beta-readers with different experiences to myself to hopefully make sure I am not straying too far from the mark.
Gauntlet is your debut novel, but as your website shows, you’ve published loads of short fiction as well. When you write short fiction, do you know it’ll be short fiction going in, or do some novel ideas transform into short stories in their creation (or vice versa)?
This is a great question- so when I’m writing short fiction I often know that is what I want to do, I will have simple concepts or plots or ideas that I want to play with. For longer work, before committing to writing a whole novel what I normally do is flesh out a few potential ideas and then try and write a short story in each- I can pretty quickly tell which idea I’m excited about and want to keep going with! I always keep those other fragments though- just because I’m not excited about it right now doesn’t mean it might not be a strong contender to flesh out either as a short story or a longer piece later on.
One of my biggest struggles with writing short fiction comes with the worldbuilding. I wanted to say sooooo much in my story “The Hungry Mother,” but there just wasn’t the space. How do you overcome the restraints on worldbuilding when writing short fiction?
I love the challenge of this- it is so difficult to present world-building that feels deep and real in that shorter setting. I try and pare it back so I’m not presenting details that are unnecessary (are all the window frames in this world black for an obscure historical reason? Does this impact the plot? If not, forget about it!). So anything that impacts the plot or the physicality of the character’s situation I try and expand on a little, but unless it is vital I don’t bother expanding on explanations- the reader’s imagination can do a lot of the heavy lifting!
What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?
As I was looking for an agent and publisher for The Gauntlet and the Fist Beneath I came across plenty of agents who would charge reading fees, editors claiming they could increase your chance of publication with their proofreading, and services promising to push your book to the right people. I’m not sure I know what the most unethical practice in the publishing industry is, but in general I think there are plenty of bad actors willing to take advantage of people are trying to break into the more mainstream spaces- caution is often a good thing!
Oh, I agree with you there. I’m sure we could all share a story or two of the bad actors who beguile us as writers. That’s why so many of us just choose to “go it alone,” as it were. This means we’re handling all the steps of publishing as well as marketing, and I’ve got to admit it is HARD. Have you worked out any useful way to market your books?
This is my first novel so I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask! I’ve tried to make myself as available as possible for any opportunity- I’m not famous, I’m not particularly well-connected, and historically my social media profiles have mainly been links to music I like and pictures of mountains, food, dogs, and cats. So switching all of that to focusing more on marketing my work has been a strange idea! There are so many communities where you could potentially interact and grow your audience, but I think it is important to try and partition off specific time for this or else you could spend all of your time marketing rather than actually writing.
I also saw on your site that you co-wrote a story inspired by game play! I’ve heard so many friends tell me how Dungeons and Dragons inspires fun fantasy storytelling for them. Would you ever write another story based on gameplay as you did The Cursed Tomb?
The Cursed Tomb is a very fun wee book that is essentially a transcript of a game me and some friends were playing- certainly not something I would expect other people to buy and spend time on, we actually published it more as a memento for the four of us. I do think it is a lot of fun, and very silly- those gameplay stories benefit from the chaos of multiple creators, each of whom can bring their own ideas and background to play. I’d definitely do so again, but unless it was a lot more organised I think it would end up being another artefact for me and my friends, rather than a book I wanted to send out into the world!
Jean Lee's World 