Tag: Forever Avalon

Why be a writer when it costs you time, money and leaves you open for criticism? Because …

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My journey as a self-published author really began more than 30 years ago. A college dropout, with very little education or ambition to show for it, I decided my only option was to join the military. With my background in art and writing, I was offered the chance to be a Navy Journalist. I jumped at the opportunity and enlisted.

During my first few years in the Navy, I got married and started my career aboard the aircraft carrier USS FORRESTAL, stationed in Jacksonville, Florida. I also began a steady diet of playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, to pass the time during those long deployments at sea. Back then, before video game consoles, the internet and satellite TV, D&D was the only distraction available to pass the time.

That’s where my stories began to develop. You see, when you’re spending a large number of off duty hours playing D&D, missing your wife and newborn daughter while deployed thousands of miles from home, it can mess with your head. In my case, I started having a recurring dream about me and my wife, trapped on an island filled with magical fantasy creatures. The dream changed as my children grew older, they started coming into my dream. Finally, I decided I had to start writing it all down.

During my last deployment in 2001, I started developing the story of Forever Avalon. I used my family as inspiration for the family in my novel, including using their middle names as the names of my characters. It took me a few years to really develop the story until it was finally completed in 2004. The funny thing is, when I finished the novel, I stopped having the dream. It seems there was a purpose to it after all.

From that point on, it was just a matter of finding a publisher. I sent out my manuscript to various publishers but got rejected multiple times. I was finally contacted by James A. Rock Publishing and they offered to publish my book, for a price. Now, I didn’t know a lot of self-publishing at that time and it seemed to be a great opportunity. They helped me get my novel in the proper format, had an artist do the cover and put my book online.

The first thing I discovered about self-publishing was that the publishing companies are not book editors and they don’t really edit manuscripts. After Forever Avalon was published, I sent copies of my book to all my family. My mother, bless her heart, sent me two pages of spelling and grammatical errors she found in the book. That was a truly humbling experience. My publisher let me pull the book, make the proper edits and then sent it back out.

The next thing I discovered about self-publishing is that publishers don’t publicize your novel. I spent every minute of my time calling book stores to see if I could set up a book signing, contact and pay people to review my novel, and set up social media to advertise my book. You wanted to be just a writer, but I discovered that in the world of self-publishing, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades instead.

I took the lessons learned from my first novel and applied it to my second one when I self-published The Dark Tides. That brings me to my third lesson in self-publishing … MONEY. You have to invest a lot time and money into getting your work out there for that slim possibility someone will notice you and maybe, just maybe, you can go from self-published author to best-selling author. That’s the dream but, unfortunately, it’s not always the reality.

Self-publishing can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t change a single thing. Even if one or two people read my book and fall in love with the stories and the characters I created from that dream all those years ago, it’s worth it to me. I will continue to strive to be a storyteller to those who will listen to me.

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Without magic, what would fantasy writers talk about?

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1423642074_magical book wallpaper“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.” Nora Roberts said it quite plainly, and truthfully, that magic does exist in our world.

You see it in the everyday things from a baby’s smile to the rainbow after a storm. Sure, science has it’s part in all this, but deep down inside, all you can think of is the magic of the moment.

For a writer, that magic is a part of our genre. Magic can be found in the works of every great novelist from William Shakespeare to J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis to J. K. Rowling. We look at all things magical, from wizards to creatures, myths and legends. The question is, where has the magic gone and why do we need it?

Magic is the focal point of many fantasy stories. It turns young boys into wizards and makes us believe in faeries. That’s the great thing about magic. It can be anything you want it to be. In the world of Forever Avalon, magic is the center of the world I created. All magic, that once existed in the outside world, now thrives on the island of Avalon. This magical realm is overflowing with magic, so much so, that everyone on the island can do some form of spell casting. Most can perform simple tasks like lighting a candle or cleaning up with the mention of a single word. More complicated spells takes time, training and a certain amount of patience to coax the magic out.

Magic is a powerful tool for the fantasy writer, but it must be handled with care. Magic, like anything else, can be used and abused. You must cultivate the magic in a way that makes sense to the readers. I can attest to that in my current novel, The Dark Tides, where I explored the combination of magic and technology. I wondered what would happen if technology found its way into a world entirely devoted to magic. The answer was a Gunstar.

Gunstars are magical weapons that resemble a flintlock pistol. The are breach-loaded weapons that uses a special shell casing called a spell shot. The spell shots are a combination of alchemy and magic compressed into a single cartridge, like a shotgun shell, covered in runes. The hammer on the Gunstar activates the runes so that, when the trigger is pulled, the spell fires out the end of the weapon. It could be anything from a fireball to an icy spray or even a “magic missile” if you will (D&D players will get that reference).

This is what I meant when I said magic was a tool for fantasy writers. You cannot replace true spirit, character development and storylines for the sake of magic. It cannot be the focal point of your story, but rather something for your characters to use to help tell the story.

I created the Gunstars as a way of bringing a modern weapon to a medieval world and bridge that gap between the old and new. Most of the older, traditional characters in my novel reject this new form of magic as an abomination whereas the Gil-Gamesh and others see it as just another tool, like a wand or a staff, to utilize magic.

The point of this blog is to say let the magic guide you in your stories but don’t make it the overreaching arch that fills your every word on every page. Don’t let it get away from you, or you may regret it. Remember, in these instances, you are the wizard, so cast your spell with care.

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, it grows creativity and imagination

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shutterstock_171710123Henry Petroski said, “Many of the familiar little things that we use every day have typically evolved over a period of time to a state of familiarity. They balance form and function, elegance and economy, success and failure in ways that are not only acceptable, but also admirable.”

This is how I look at familiarity, from a writers stand point. To me, familiarity is one of four parts of a writer’s psyche, along with imagination/creativity, passion and skill. The last three are easy to define in the mind of a writer. The PASSION for putting words to paper lend to the SKILL of the individual writer and opens the IMAGINATION as seen through their eyes.

But it’s FAMILIARITY that makes the writer believable. It’s hard to understand that when one of the greatest writers of our time, Mark Twain, is very famous for saying “Familiarity breeds contempt, and children!” I never really understood that quote. Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, rather it breeds comfort in our surroundings, our personal being, and our state of mind.

I will say that familiarity can sometimes lead to complacency, and that can be very dangerous. I’ve seen that happen too many times during my Navy career.; but I’m talking about familiarity as it relates to being a writer.

When you’re writing about a particular topic, it is best that you are familiar with the specific interest. Sure, many authors have read up or interviewed people about a particular story, and then put it down on paper. That’s being done at countless universities on a daily basis.

What I’m talking about is combining that familiarity with pure inspiration and imagination. When you find yourself intrenched in a particular topic of interest, it opens the mind to an avalanche of possibilities. That familiarity feeds your imagination and lets it run through a myriad of possibilities.

Recently, I found myself in a rut as I tried for weeks to work my way through a bad case of writer’s block. I am currently writing the third book in the Forever Avalon series, The Outlander War. It has been difficult to focus on the story and break through. I have the ending all planned out (in my head) but I have to get there through the middle of the story.

Now, here’s where the familiarity comes into play. The characters of my story are based on family and friends. I found it easy to develop characters using the same personalities and quirks I associate with the people I interact with each and every day. My wife and children became the wife and children of the hero of my story. I even used their middle names as the first names of their characters.

While this helps me develop my characters relatively easier, it also blocks me when I am having real world issues with them. Let me explain that as best as I can. I lost my job back in November 2015 and it’s been very difficult around my home. Stress and worry about money has hampered my relationship with my wife and kids and led to massive writer’s block. That’s how familiarly hurts a writer.

What’s helped me break through it is the love and support of my family as we work through the problems. As we’ve talked about things, it has improved my relationship with my family and thus, helped me push through my writer’s block.

James Hillman said, “Anytime you’re gonna grow, you’re gonna lose something. You’re losing what you’re hanging onto to keep safe. You’re losing habits that you’re comfortable with, you’re losing familiarity.”

As we grow as writers, we have to hang onto that familiarity within ourselves to maintain the connection with our stories, our characters, and our imagination. If we lose that, we lose that spark inside us to build a new world in the pages of a story.

51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_SKU-000941753 Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Why do humans always hang out with Dwarves and Elves in fantasy novels?

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4449747-3801600654-triolEver since I got into fantasy, especially with those long weekends in college of 24 hour binge sessions of pizza, beer and Dungeons and Dragons, there seems to be a pattern with adventure groups. You will always find a human travelling with a Dwarf and an Elf (or some combination thereof). We’ve read it in Lord of the Rings and the Shannara Chronicles and seen it in movies and television. I don’t think you can write a fantasy/adventure story without that combination.

I know that many will say this is the trap writers fall into, creating something that has been seen and used over and over again. I can even remember that God awful D&D movie (with Jeremy Irons, Marlon Wayans and Richard O’Brien from Rocky Horror fame) with the same combination of human, Elf and Dwarf in their midst. It seems to be an endless chain of events in magical fantasy stories.

So the question is, as writers, why do we do it? For one thing, it boils down to diversity. That seems to be the strong sentiment in society today … The need for more diversity in our lives and our media. We’ve struggled with diversity for the past 200 years. It’s hard to bring different cultures and races together and, putting it into stories, is easier for most people to comprehend.

thor-gallery-1-2011-a-lA great example I see is the changing diversity in comic books today. In the past few years, we have seen classic Marvel Comics characters change from male to female, white to black, including Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel, and Wolverine just to name a few. The same could be said for television and movies. I remember all the trolls complaining when Michael Clark Duncan was cast as Kingpin in the first Daredevil movie or when Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall in Thor. It never bothered me because I don’t look at the color of their skin but at the skill of the actor, and in both cases, they were very successful.

In fantasy, it’s not about the color of the skin but the race of the character. There has always been an intense dislike and  suspicion between humans, Elves and Dwarves. You see it in the characters of J.R.R. Tolkien and others. I too “ran the gambit” when I put together the friends of the Gil-Gamesh in my Forever Avalon series. I wasn’t trying to be similar like Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli from Lord of the Rings. It just seemed natural to me as if I was playing a game of D&D.

To give you an example, here is an excerpt from my latest novel in the Forever Avalon series, The Dark Tides, where the Gil-Gamesh, Bryan MoonDrake meets Dwarf Master Dinius Oddbottom and the Elf Eonis for the first time.

***

Every man and women wanted to shake the hand of the new Gil-Gamesh, or even just touch him on the arm. Th e talk around the tavern grew louder and louder. Even the bards were already making up songs about the new Gil-Gamesh and how he stood up to Constable Durm.

Bryan sat down as Lily brought him a fresh pint of ale. Th rough all the excitement, he noticed that Dinius never stopped eating and drinking. Bryan was amazed at his ignorance. “Well now, Gil-Gamesh …” Dinius ascertained, “… You sit down and drink with a Dwarf and don’t tell him
who you really are?”

“I apologize Master Dinius,” Bryan retorted, “My deception was necessary to maintain a low profile during my Grand Tour of Avalon, especially now since I’m travelling alone.”

“Alone?” Dinius asked. “I thought Sir Thomas was travelling with you?”

Now Bryan wondered who this Dinius Oddbottom was. How does he know Sir Thomas? “Sir Thomas is heading to Cornish on a personal matter,” Bryan interjected. “He’s meeting me at Strongürd Keep aft er I confer with the Wizard’s Council.”

Dinius nearly choked on his drink when he heard this. “You’re going to Strongürd alone? Are you mad? Th at’s takes you through Blackbriar Forest? Every cutthroat and brigand will be waiting for you in there?”

“Well, I’m going to have to deal with them sooner or later,” Bryan insisted. “It might as well be now. I’m not going to cower like a frightened child.”

Dinius smiled at the brash attitude this young man had. “Well, I am heading back to the Gilded Halls and it just so happens that Strongürd is on the way there. That is, if you don’t mind the company.”

Bryan thought about his proposal. He didn’t know this Dwarf, so it could be a trap for an easy kill to collect the bounty. Before he could answer, an Elf approached their table. He was handsome with long brown hair. His pointed ears stuck out through his hair. He wore a shining chain mail under a green and brown wrap and a long green cloak. A long sword hung at his belt and a bow and quiver were slung across his shoulders.

“Salüs dai Tulafáir Gil-Gamesh, I am Eonis,” he introduced himself, placing his hand over his heart and bowing—a sign of respect in Avalon. “I bring you greetings from the Elves of Alfheimer.”

Bryan stood and extended his hand to Eonis. Th e Elf took it as a sign of human friendship. “Thank you Eonis. I hope to be in Alfheimer sometime soon to pay my respects.”

“I will inform Lord Baldrid of your intent,” Eonis concurred. “We will anticipate your arrival.” Eonis quickly turned his attention to the Gil-Gamesh’s companion, whom he recognized.

“Master Dinius,” he said, bowing again with respect. “What brings the Lord of the Gilded Halls to this corner of Avalon?”

Bryan turned to Dinius with a look of disdain at the Dwarf he’s been buying drinks and food for all night. “Lord of the Gilded Halls, huh?” he inquired. Bryan’s heard about the Gilded Halls, the home of the Dwarves of Avalon. It seemed Dinius Oddbottom wasn’t what he appeared to be. “I guess I wasn’t the only one ‘hiding in plain sight’, eh Master Dinius?” Bryan joked.

Dinius gulped his ale, aware that his own deception had been uncovered. “Yes, well, Sam makes the best ale this old Dwarf has ever tasted,” he tried to explain. “I come here from time to time to satisfy my thirst.”

Dinius got up from the table and walked over to Bryan. “Forgive my deception lad, but the Wizard Browbridge mentioned you may be coming this way and, knowing that I frequent the Weathered Wren, he asked me to keep an eye out for you … Indiscreetly that is.”

Now everything was starting to make sense to Bryan. “I suppose Archie sent you too?” he asked Eonis.

“Sir Charles, actually …” Eonis explained. “He asked me look in on you as well. Th is was a logical stopping point on your journey to Strongürd Keep so I came here and waited.”\

“And is there anything else I should be aware of?”

“Besides an embarrassed Dwarf and Elf, nothing at all,” Eonis bemused, attempting a joke, something Elves were not known for. “But truthfully, Gil-Gamesh, Blackbriar Forest is no place for any man to go alone, including you.”

“He’s right lad, just think of us as close companions on your journey,” Dinius added.

Bryan couldn’t believe it. Since his arrival on Avalon, people who never knew him had gone out of their way to protect and aid him. The devotion to the Gil-Gamesh was overwhelming to him.

“Alright, you can accompany me to Strongürd,” Bryan noted. “We’ll be leaving in the morning. Until then, good-night.” Bryan walked over to Sam to ask about his room. Sam motioned for Lily to escort Bryan upstairs to one of the rooms at the tavern. Eonis and Dinius kept a close eye on him until he disappeared behind the door.

“Well, that didn’t go as well as expected,” Dinius lamented. Eonis looked down at him, visibly upset.

“It may have helped if you didn’t scrounge food and drink off him all night,” he declared. Dinius huff ed and returned to his seat.

“A Dwarf’s got to eat, you know,” Dinius told Eonis, drinking down his ale then belching loudly as he finished his meal.

***

51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_SKU-000941753Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

One line can make any story memorable

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blade-runner_55553“All those moments will be lost in time…like tears in rain. Time to die.”

That’s a line from one of my favorite sci-fi movies, Blade Runner, as said by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). The words resonate with me as do many lines from a movie or a book. You may not remember the entire story, but that one line can stick with you forever, like a song stuck in your head.

That’s the great thing about movie quotes. You may not read a book over and over again, but a movie you’ll watch time-and-time again. It’s what drives them into our psyche. Everyone remembers the obvious ones like “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” from Gone with the Wind or “There’s no place like home” from The Wizard of Oz.

But I like those obscure movie quotes. The ones with life lessons packed into a single sentence. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive.” — Full Metal Jacket (1987)

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.” — Gandhi (1982)

“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.” — She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” — The Godfather (1972)

“There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me, ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’.” — The Godfather, Part II (1974)

“Anything can be great. I don’t care, bricklaying can be great, if a guy knows — if he knows what he’s doing and why, and he can make it come off.” — The Hustler (1961)

“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.” — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)

“You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you, you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.” — The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

“Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t.” — Schindler’s List (1993)

“Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.” — V for Vendetta (2005)

“ou must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.” — True Grit (1969)

“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” — Dead Poet’s Society (1989)

There is something about movies that inspire us. Now, I’m not saying that one line can make or break a movie or novel. It’s not just one line or some scene, but the combination of writing, acting, and directing that makes it memorable. When I think about Blade Runner, I think about the striking visuals of the future, the gritty performances by Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford, the haunting music by Vangelis and the incredible story written by author Philip K. Dick.

If you can find that one line and put it into your next book or film, who knows … It may make someone’s favorite list in the future. For now, I’ll toss mine out there for your consideration.

51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_“Love has a magic all unto itself. The connection between you and your husband is undeniable and unbreakable. Not even Death could sunder the ties that bind you and the Gil-Gamesh.” — Lady Lyllodoria, Forever Avalon

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Some may say I’m a dreamer, and they’re absolutely right

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Dreaming-Quotes-93Dreams are the lifeblood of a writer, for it is in the dream that we cultivate and grow our stories. John Lennon once said, “I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?”

That’s the truth about writing for in the dream, we get our inspiration, make changes to character and plot and navigate our way through the dreamscape. It was in my dreams that I found the story that is the Forever Avalon series.

I was a sailor, deployed far from home and missing his wife and newborn baby daughter. Off duty hours were spent indulging in my favorite pastime, Dungeons and Dragons. The combination of the two led to a recurring dream of being stranded on a magical island with my family. Over the years, the dream changed and expanded until I finally decided to write it all down.

Today, that dream has come full circle in the publication of the Forever Avalon series, including The Dark Tides and the third book in the series, currently under development, The Outlander War. These are the products of my dreams, my pure inspiration and fantasy.

People use to tell me to stop being a dreamer, to grow up; but Oscar Wilde declared, “Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” That’s the magic of being a dreamer.

I often try to guide my dreams as I fall asleep, so I can continue to cultivate my story each and every night. Sometimes, I just let the dream take over and see where it leads me as I sleep. More often than not, the dream escapes me and I toss and turn as I try to sleep. On more than one occasion, the most brilliant idea comes to mind and I have to get up and write it down before I forget it completely.

These are the faults of our dreams. As writers, we can’t stop creating, even when we sleep. The dream is our reality, though not in the Inception kind of way. It’s funny how the human mind works. in that sense, our dreams are our (the writer’s) way of bringing our reality into everyone else’s.

Stephen King said, “And people who don’t dream, who don’t have any kind of imaginative life, they must… they must go nuts. I can’t imagine that.” Neither can I.

51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_
SKU-000941753Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

The worlds inside the mind of a writer

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Middle Earth from “The Lord of the Rings”

Franz Kafka said in The Diaries of Franz Kafka, “This tremendous world I have inside of me. How to free myself, and this world, without tearing myself to pieces. And rather tear myself to a thousand pieces than be buried with this world within me.”

That explains what’s inside the mind of a writer. I know I’ve touched on world building before in my blog, but I had to take another whack at it. World building can either make or break a story. You have to make the world your characters live in believable. That means, as an author, you have to be an architect, city planner, landscape artist, geologist and mapmaker, all rolled into one.

I really started last week when I started watching Terry Brooks’ The Shannara Chronicles on MTV. It really made me appreciate this new world he created from the ashes of our world today. That’s a common thread you see in world building in literature–building a new one from the old. You see that in the Four Lands in Shannara, Panem in The Hunger Games just to name a few. These are not worlds built using by redrawing the lines of states and countries but places imagined after the worst possible disaster.

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Westeros from “Game of Thrones”

Then there are original worlds like Middle Earth from J.R.R. Tolkien or Westeros from George R.R. Martin. These are the works of masters in the art of world-building. Author Ace Antonio Hall said, “When you get some free time, write. When you get some lazy time, plan. When you get down time, world build. When your time comes, shine!”

This is true for those who take the challenge of creating a world from scratch. This was the problem I faced when I started writing the Forever Avalon series. Though Avalon was a place mired in legend and mythology, it was never something that was mapped out. I had to create Avalon as it would develop in my story and mine alone.

Author Patrick Rothfuss was interviewed by bloggers The Rabid Rainbow Ferret Society about world building. He said, “World building has two parts. One is the actual creation. The other is bringing the world into your story. Everything you create should not be in your story.” He called this secondary world creation.

I did a lot of this in my misspent youth playing hours upon hours of Dungeons and Dragons. As a Dungeonmaster, you create everything from the country to the towns and the dungeons, then fill it with everything under the sun from monsters to Elves, Dwarves, etc.

I took Avalon to be a lot like England was in medieval times, specifically because legend and local lore suggests Avalon was actually a part of Wales. So first, I divided up the lands, giving them out to the various Lords of Avalon to control, in the name of the King. I even used names from towns, provinces and local landmarks in England, assuming that people who were brought from England to Avalon needed that familiarity.

(FYI, here’s my self-serving pitch for those wanting to catch up on Avalon in my first two books, Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.)

I actually had to draw out the map of the island so that, when I’m writing, I make sure I’m going in the right direction when I’m moving characters around the island. I can’t begin to tell you how difficult that’s going to become after my third book, The Outlander War, is finished. So, no spoilers here … not yet at least.

For the best advice on how to reveal your world to the reader, I have to give it again to Patrick Rothfuss, who said, “My advice is to withhold information from the reader. Because if you tease with a little information early on, they’ll get curious. And if I can get them to go “How does this work?” and lean in a little bit, then I’ve won.”

He’s absolutely right about that. In Forever Avalon, I teased my readers about the dragon island Emmyr, the home of Lord Bryan MoonDrake, the Gil-Gamesh of Avalon. I talked about the dragons, how he built a home there, but never let on about the true nature of the island until they arrived to see the floating island in the sky, shrouded by mist and encircled by flying dragons. The surprise was worth the wait.

So create your worlds, build them as you build your story, but keep the reader guessing. It’ll help draw them in and wanting more.

A look ahead to 2016 — A preview of “The Outlander War, Book 3 of the Forever Avalon series”

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year-in-review-1Well, here we are in 2016. I hope everyone had a Happy New Year and, although it’s the first Monday of the new year, let’s be positive. 2015 was not the best year. Between terrorism, political intrigue, riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, email scandals, mass shootings and unexpected deaths, it’s definitely not in my top 10. The positive things I can say about 2015 was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the return of Bloom County on Facebook, Doctor Who season 9, great comic book TV shows and the positive reviews I received for my second novel, The Dark Tides. More bad than good, but still, just an okay year.

As I look ahead to 2016, I am happy to report that the third book in the Forever Avalon series, The Outlander War, is nearly finished. So I thought what better way to kick off 2016 than with a preview of the next chapter in my medieval fantasy/adventures series. Here is the prologue from The Outlander War!

* * *

The field was strewn with the dead; warriors felled by sword and axe, spear and shaft. Blood flowed across the ground, but there were no winners here … Only death triumphed this day. Camlann sat near the southern coast of England in Wales. This was the last stand by Mordred and forces loyal to his sorceress mother, Morgana le Fay, against the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The Battle of Camlann was the final conflict between King Arthur and Mordred. The two combatants laid side-by-side on the ground, both men mortally wounded by the other.

As Sir Percival ran to his monarch’s aid, Mordred crawled away, not wanting to wait for the last of the Knights of the Round Table to finish him off.

Percival dropped his sword and lifted Arthur’s head on his lap. “My liege,” he cried. “I am here Your Majesty.”

“Percival … Listen to me,” King Arthur groaned. “Take Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake; it must not fall into the wrong hands!” He handed his sword to Percival, placing the hilt firmly in his hands. “You must do this for me.”

Percival nodded his head as tears began to roll down his face. “I will sire! I will” he assured his King. Arthur smiled, his mind at ease. He coughed violently, blood spewing from his lips.

“Find Mordred, Percival,” he choked out. “He must not be allowed to take the throne of Camelot. You must …” King Arthur coughed again as he gasped for each breath. Percival did his best to comfort the dying monarch.

“Do not fear, milord. As long as there is breath in my body, he will never sit on the throne. This I swear!”

King Arthur took one last breath before his body went rigid, his eyes stared into the stars above. His arms went limp as the King fell back and died. Percival cried as he closed the King’s eyes and set him gently down on the ground.

He looked over to Excalibur and knew he had a promise to keep. He reached for the sword but it was quickly scooped up by the hands of Merlin the Magician. The sorcerer and advisor to King Arthur took the sword without a word to Sir Percival, walking up toward the top of the hill.

“Merlin, what are you doing?” Percival screamed as he leaped to his feet. “I must return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. It was the King’s final command.”

Merlin said nothing. He quickened his pace to the reach the top of the hill. He walked past the bodies of the dead knights, laying where they fell in battle. Percival became irritated at the wizard. He ran up and grabbed him by the arm.

“Dammit Merlin, answer me!” he commanded. Merlin pointed his staff at Percival to ward him off. The twisted shaft of Wych Elm had three branches at the top, looking like a trident, with crystals of rose, smoky and white quartz embedded in those branches. The crystals glowed, as magical energy hovered between them, threatening the knight to stay away.

“We don’t have time Sir Percival,” Merlin exclaimed. “I must act quickly to save us all.”

Merlin turned away to continue climbing up the hill. Percival was confused by Merlin’s statement. “Time for what? Merlin, what do you mean?” he shouted as he chased after the wizard.

“The age of magic is coming to an end, and so is our world,” he explained. “With Arthur’s death, the magic that fills our realm is already starting to fade. I must act quickly if I am to stem the tide.”

“But how?” Percival asked. “How can you do that?”

“There is a spell, one of the first ever written,” Merlin began to explain. “If I focus that spell through Excalibur, it will bring all magic together in one place.”

“Where Merlin? Where are you sending it?”

Merlin stopped as he reached the summit. “To Avalon, my boy! To Avalon! There, I will summon all the magic, magical creatures and beings into one place, hidden from the rest of the world.”

The wizard rammed his staff into the ground in front of him. He took Excalibur and placed the hilt between the branches, allowing the sword to hang down from the staff. Merlin stood behind them and started chanting. It was an ancient language, unknown to this day and age. He repeated the spell until he got into a rhythm, chanting as magic began to erupt from the ground around him.

Percival stood back as watched the ritual unfold before him. The energy around Merlin grew brighter and brighter as the spell reached its zenith.

“No!” shouted a voice from behind. Percival drew his sword as he turned to see who was shouting at them.

Mordred, bloodied and wounded from his fight with King Arthur, charged up the hill. His blonde hair was dirty and matted, but his golden armor—a gift from his mother to protect him from harm—still shined brightly in the glow of the magic that surrounded Merlin.

“I will have Excalibur,” he shouted. “By birthright, I am now King!”

Percival stepped between Mordred and Merlin. “You will never be King, Mordred. My descendants and I will always stand between you and the throne.”

“You will not stop me Percival,” Mordred chastised as he drew his sword. “No matter where you go, I will take Excalibur in my hands, I will sit on Arthur’s throne … I will be King!”

Percival leaped at Mordred, bringing his sword down at him as Mordred raised his to counter his attack. As steel clashed together, the magic around Merlin exploded in brilliant flash of light. In an instant, they were all gone. Across England and around the world, anything and everything touched by magic just disappeared; faded into myth and legend, never to be seen again, or so they thought.

* * *

In case you want to catch up on the first two books, Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

What I learned at Pitchfest “book-to-movie” 2015 in New York City

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I had the honor of attending Pitchfest this past weekend in New York City. Pitchfest was a book-to-screen seminar where independent, self-published authors like myself were taught how to turn our novels into a two minute pitch and then pitch that idea to studio/production representatives from movies and television.

The event was hosted by Author Solutions, a company that provides services to self-published authors. They saw a need in Hollywood for the myriad of ideas from independent authors that was virtually unknown to them. That’s why they put together their first Pitchfest. Since then, they’ve done these bi-annually to get authors that two minute chance to sell their book idea to the silver screen.

With the expanding television audiences emerging from small, online production companies associated with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, the need for new ideas is paramount. The guest speaker, Bob Kosberg, is known as the “King of the Pitch” and he was an honor to learn the business from him.

One of the most influential quotes he told us was by former Disney CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg. “I the dizzying world of movie making, there is one fundamental concept … The idea is King!” That said, everyone has an idea or concept, but making it into a compelling story is what makes the pitch.

You start off with the set-up, putting your ideas to a particular genre, comparing it to other stories out there, like “this is Alice in Wonderland but set on Mars.” Then you go into the inciting action, what gets the ball rolling in your story, followed by an introduction of your main character. Here is where you being to really sell the idea.

Lastly, you have to lay out what’s at stake and then resolve the plot. All of this I two minutes, and they do mean two minutes.

We were put in what can only be described as “speed dating” as we walked into a room with several tables with one-to-two reps per table. One we sat down, the two minutes began and you started your pitch. At two minutes, the buzzer sounded and you shifted to the next table on the right. You had maybe a couple of seconds to finish your last few words, but then it was on to the next. You got up and shifted to the right, starting your pitch all over again to another pair of reps. This process continued until you end right back where you started from.

By the fourth pitch, my mouth was so dry I could barely speak, but I pushed on until I was done. It took less that 15 minutes but I made all my pitches. I’ll find out in a few weeks whether or not any of the reps want a copy of my book, then it’s really a waiting game from there.

As Keith Ogorek, Author Solutions Senior VP for Marketing, explained that the process was not a quick one. If a production company wants to option a story, they’ll pay an author between $500-$1500 to reserve the rights for a year to 18 months while they start developing the concept. Authors can offer to help by writing the screenplay or just wait until the project fully develops. It can take anywhere from 3-5 years or more for a project to culminate in a finished movie or television show.

A great example he gave was the novel Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It was self-published in 2006 through iUniverse. It was opted for the screen and was finally released in 2014 starring Julianne Moore (Hunger Games movies, Hannibal, Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

I had a blast learning so much about the movie business, but more importantly, how to condense my novels in the Forever Avalon series into a two minute pitch. Why two minutes? It’s the average time spent in an elevator. So if you walk in an elevator with Steven Spielberg, you have your pitch ready to go. After all, it only takes one idea to make movie magic.

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The Dark Tides is now available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Is special effects making or breaking the fantasy genre?

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tumblr_nagzsvgqUx1t3g0gjo1_1280Is the fantasy genre being overdone and is that the fault of today’s special effects? I ask myself this question because of the rash of TV programs being thrust at us this year. You have a myriad of television fantasy choices from Once Upon a Time, Atlantis and Grimm to almost every other show on the CW Network. Add to that the shows that try for historical accuracy like Vikings, The Bastard Executioner, and The Last Kingdom.

Add to that the surge of superhero movies and television, fantasy is at its prime. CGI and motion capture has made it easier for production companies to do fantasy epics. When you look at the sprawling scenery in the upcoming Shannara Chronicles, you realize how far we’ve come in special effects. You couldn’t get images like that over 30 years ago.

But at the same time, computer software has made it easy to make a halfway decent movie. The Internet is loaded with low-budget movies and shorts by freelance, home-taught movie makers using their iPhone or Galaxy cellphones that put some of these multi-million blockbusters to shame.

In some cases, the story lacks for the sake of the effects. The one thing you never, ever forsake is the story. They need to be grounded on a well-written script to carry it from beginning to end.
The one positive thing I have to say about special effects is how it’s bringing stories you never thought you’d see to life on the big screen. Could they have done Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit movies 30 to 40 years ago! Doubtful.

In a recent interview, Academy award-winning producer and director Steven Spielberg said that “the superhero movie goes the way of the western.” As much as I hate to disagree with a personal inspiration of mine, I must.

For the first time, comic book fans can finally see an accurate portrayal of their favorite characters. No spandex or rubber costumes, bad blue screen effects, but actually stepping into these fantastic worlds.

Like I said earlier, don’t make a movie for the sake of the special effects. It needs that great story to back them up.

When I began writing Forever Avalon, I was inspired for the magical flying galleons in my story by the animated movie Peter Pan. This week, the movie Pan hits theaters and flying ships are an essential part of the story. The effects are spectacular and I can’t wait to see it.

This scares me a little bit, though, because I don’t want people thinking I copied the movie or think it’s overdone. This may be another detriment to the fantasy issue. We’re all experiencing “group think,” having the same ideas and using them in our stories. Because special effects today means “anything is possible” so we let it all hang out in our stories.

I know I’m “heating a dead horse” but I think I need to really press this point. We need great stories with great effects, not vice versa.

Forever Avalon is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.