Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, marketing, series, writing on October 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »
For the last week or so, I’ve felt stuck. No obvious progress on BECOME–other than an improvement to the cover.
However, sometimes I just have to allow myself those pauses. As often as not, it’s because my subconscious is busily working on the story behind my back.
Yesterday, the story just . . . came unstuck and started to flow again. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what happens next as much as I just didn’t have the emotional part worked out. Though it seems obvious to men, now.
So, forward.
Posted in writing, tagged conflict, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, inspiration, series, world building, writing on October 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The governments of the five different realms of BECOME
are not as diverse as the ones in my DUAL MAGICS series.
That would be a tall order. But they do have different ways of passing power from one ruler to the next.
Some use the familiar inheritance by the nearest male relative of the old king. Some use something more like the Holy Roman Empire–a council of prince-electors chose the successor, often from among themselves. In my story, the council is empowered to choose the new king from the old king’s extended family.
And, one kingdom uses a system somewhat related to Frazer’s (See, THE GOLDEN BOUGH) sacred king. In my case, a Great Combat is held at intervals in which two men must fight for the right to rule. The Combat is controlled by the Goddess’s priestesses and serves to reinforce that the right to rule comes from her–only. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always guarantee a good or even a competent king.
There are those who want to end this system, for that reason as well as for dynastic ones. And, of course, those who want to continue it. The conflict between those two groups is part of the background of this story.
Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, series, world building, writing on October 23, 2016| 4 Comments »
In the world of BECOME, magic and religion are inextricably linked–which probably makes sense. After all, BECOME is loosely based on the Greek myth of Hercules. So, in this story, all magic basically comes from the goddess. (Note: There are other gods in this world, but they aren’t important to the story. In fact, so far, only one other has even been referenced: a mountain god. And, for reasons that are made clear early in the story, none of them are likely to be the source of magic–at least not in the same way.)
In Greek mythology, Zeus had quite a few children with mortal women. Since I’m turning the story on its ear, in this world it’s the earth goddess who has a few children with mortal men. And, to each child and his or her descendants, she gives a magical gift. And that’s the source of all the magic in this world.
Since he’s the ‘Hercules’ in this story, Gaian’s gift, of course, is strength. Although, it will eventually become clear that there’s a purpose behind that particular gift, that will come to fruition in his descendants.
Meanwhile, as I try to work out exactly how the next couple of very important scenes need to go, I’ve been doing a little more work on the cover art for BECOME. When I’ve finished, I think I’ll like this version:
Much better than the original image:
I’d tried lightening this image up–and I may lighten the blue version, too . . .
But it still felt a little too monotone for my tastes. Besides, it’s always best to modify the stock image in some way so that this book doesn’t end up somewhere right next to another one with the same exact cover image. (Yes, I’ve actually seen that happen.)
What do you think?
Posted in writing, tagged creatures, fantasy, first drafts, series, world building, writing on October 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »
So, my last post was about the physical world of BECOME–the map and the forest, chiefly.
The other thing that makes up the physical world is the creatures that inhabit it.
The only magical creatures so far planned for BECOME are some very magical small grey cats.
Sort of like this guy–though Beethoven (Toby for short) was never a small cat. All cats have some magic about them, anyway. And his disposition was very like the little cats in this story.
And a dragon.
For some reason, I don’t have any photos of dragons. 😉 So I’ll use this one which I used (modified) for the cover of “Wyreth’s Flame”.
The dragon in this story will breathe fire–but he won’t be made of it. And he’ll live in mountains something like these:
That’s the Great Western Divide as seen from Morro Rock, Sequoia National Park. Morro Rock is already a bit over 6,700 feet high, so it’s not as though this is the view from the feet of these mountains. (Every one should climb Morro Rock once–and only once. Unless you have a fear of heights. Then don’t.)
This is a closer view (well, using a zoom lens, anyway) of the same mountains.
Those are all for now, though, as a discovery writer, I’m open to new creatures deciding to show up. Always possible.
Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, inspiration, series, world building, writing on October 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »
There’s a lot of world building that goes into a second-world fantasy like BECOME.
There’s the physical world and the creatures that inhabit it. The systems of government and the economies. The magic system. And more.
Sometimes, not always, it helps to start with a map.
(Admittedly, I don’t do the very best maps you’ve ever seen.)
See all that forest area? That’s a really important part of this world and it’s not your typical fantasy-setting forest. It’s a temperate rain forest, like this.
(That photo was taken, by me, in Princess Louisa Inlet, British Columbia.)
But, because this is my world and I can make it however I want (as long as I can make it believable), I’ve included a different kind of tree in the Heart of the Forest. This tree is something of a composite. Mostly, it’s based on the Giant Sequoias that grow at around the 6,000-foot level on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Like this one:
I think this picture was taken in Calaveras Big Trees State Park (North Grove), but it could have been in another grove. That’s my mother in the pinkish outfit in the foreground. Could be Dad ahead of her, but I can’t swear to that from that angle. The hat’s right, anyway.
Here’s another view that shows the bark better.
This one I know was taken in Calaveras Big Trees.
These trees are not just tall, they’re massive, literally big enough around that the trunk would not fit in most average-sized rooms. Or, if it fit, would fill the room completely. They can grow to almost 300 feet tall and more than 50 feet in diameter (though most are not quite that big). They’re so impressive that many of them have names, like General Grant, General Sherman, or The President. (The names reflect the time period in which these trees were first discovered by non-Native Americans.)
But, since it’s my story and I can make up what I want, I combined these giants with a related tree. Thought they don’t–quite–grow in temperate rain forests, the Coast Redwoods would be more comfortable in that environment. (These are the ones redwood lumber at your hardware store comes from. The wood of Giant Sequoia’s is not actually useful–too fibrous.)
The Coast Redwoods actually grow taller than the Giant Sequoias, but not nearly as massive and they don’t have the distinctive cinnamon-colored bark. But the main thing I included in this story is the incredible quality of the light filtering through a grove of Coast Redwoods. It’s probably due in part to the fact that they grow so much closer to the coast, in an area prone to fog. And it’s not something an amateur photographer could ever hope to capture. Hopefully, I can capture it in words.
Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, series, timelines, writing on October 12, 2016| 3 Comments »
Hmm. I’ve always thought of BECOME as either a two- or three-book series.
However, the way the reorganization of the first draft is going, maybe not. It might still be two books, but I doubt it will be three.
This is good, in some ways. One of the things that’s always bothered me was that it looked like the first book was going to have to end on something of a cliffhanger. Not the nothing-has-been-resolved kind of cliffhanger. But definitely the kind that leaves something way too important unresolved. And that didn’t make me happy. I hate those endings as a reader, so I didn’t want to commit that crime as a writer.
Now, it looks like that won’t be necessary. After reorganizing to a non-linear story, it looks like I might hit that point much earlier.
Probably two books, come to think of it. That’d work well with the significant interruption in the timeline. Yeah, I think I’ll plan for that.
Posted in writing, tagged characters, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Point of View, series, writing on October 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »
At least for me.
I’ve finished the new scenes for this chapter of BECOME.
Now, I just need to do a little revision/rewriting on what I already had to put the remainder in the other brother’s point of view and I can call this chapter done.
It also now includes what was the following chapter (always from the other brother’s POV) which makes it really long. I’ll probably end up cutting at least some of this during the revisions, but that’s a problem for after I complete the first draft.
More importantly, THE SHAMAN’S CURSE is free for the next couple of days. Now’s your chance.
Posted in writing, tagged characters, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, series, world building, writing on October 5, 2016| 6 Comments »
Sometimes writing goes fast, like all you have to do is let it flow out. Sometimes it’s slower than that.
This chapter is a pivotal point in the relationship of the two brothers so . . . I need to make it right. Of course, it doesn’t have to be perfect–yet. This is still the first draft. But sometimes, especially on the pivotal chapters, I have trouble reminding myself of that. And, the revisions really are much easier if at least the right bones are in place to begin with.
Between some new ideas, which I think will make the chapter much better, and some annoying real life distractions, this chapter is taking its time making it onto the page. Sometimes, I just have to go with that.
Posted in writing, tagged characters, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Point of View, rewrites, series, writing on October 2, 2016| 5 Comments »
Hard at work on BECOME.
Right now, I’m rewriting a chapter. Since I’d originally started trying to tell this story chronologically, the chapter was written from the point of view of the main character. But now that I’m allowing the story to be nonlinear, it really needs to be told from the brother’s POV.
This means that I need to write a completely new scene (or more) as well as rewrite the main scene from a different perspective entirely. Some of that is going to be a bit challenging to write. Because the main character is about to do something that makes sense to him, but which his brother thinks is totally insane. (And . . . he could be right, at least a little.)
This should be fun.
Meredith Mansfield, Author 