BLOG TOUR!!!!

Well, I haven't been posting nearly as much as I should. However, I have a good reason!  I've been working hard on my latest manuscript.  More about that later.

 

 Today, I'm participating in a "blog tour." 

 
 

To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure what that means.  Evidently, it's like a blog chain letter. 

 

Devon Winters, the wonderful author of ThePerfect Player: Book One of the Caendorian World and avid blogger, wrote last week and I'm supposed to be writing this week.  I'm supposed to answer four questions about my writing process.  Being successfully married for ten years now, I've learned to just do what I'm told. So here it goes.  

 

My Writing Process . . . :

 

Question 1!  What am I working on?

 

As I reported in my last post (long, long ago), my fantasy series Riddle in Stone is ending.  The final book, Blood in Snow, should be released in July (fingers crossed!).  I might someday return to Riddle and self-publish some additional storied about those characters; however, my agent would like me to start an entirely new series. 

 

It's a bit of a pain in the ass, to be honest.  I knew Edmund and Pond Scum and Abbie so well that writing about them was nothing more than recording what I saw them doing.  Now I have to create new people and new situations.  It's quite painful!

 

For example, I had this idea for a character, Magnus . . . a cocky, street urchin type trying to make his own way in the big dangerous world.  I got about a hundred pages into the story when I realized that he was just like every other fantasy character out there! I mean, in every fantasy book there seems to be the upstart kid who has nothing, but he's redeemed by his quick wit and resourcefulness. 

 

So that wasn't any good.  I needed to come up with something new! Something fresh!  Something completely different than what's out there.

 

So what I'm working on now is developing a character that is a little more atypical for the fantasy genre.  Something readers can relate to but still think . . . "Hey! This is pretty unique!"

 

I don't have everything completely worked out yet, but I've been writing about this young kid with magical powers whose parents were killed by this bad dude. Anyway, this kid has a circle-shaped scar on his head and a ring that's really powerful.  Not to ruin anything, but he has to destroy the ring by throwing it into a volcano while still maintaining good grades at a school for wizardry.  I think it has potential.  We'll see.

 

 

Question 2!  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

 

Crap! I don't know that it does.  I mean, compared to all the great fantasy writers (Sullivan, Rothfuss, Tolkien, Rowlings, et al. et al.) I'm nothing!

 

What I try to do is create characters who are like most "ordinary" people.  They aren't big and strong and good looking and tremendously gifted in every way imaginable. 

 

I like characters who are incredibly flawed and don't get what they want, but learn to deal with it. 

 

Not every hero gets the girl in the end.  Most of us get screwed and tossed aside when somebody better-looking comes along.  Or we work hard to accomplish something and somebody else takes the credit.  Welcome to the world.  If you aren't one of the beautiful people, it's cold and dark and filled with aching pain that lasts your entire miserable life.   Unless you have a wonderful wife like mine. Then everything is splendid!

 

 Question 3!  Why do I write what I do?

 

I don't know.  Honestly!

 

When I started writing Riddle in Stone, I wasn't trying to write a book.  I was just practicing writing.  I literally started with this guy walking down a dusty road heading out of town.  I had no idea who he was or what he wanted out of life or what would happen to him.  I just watched as he walked and wrote down everything I saw.  Characters crossed his path. Some stayed. Some left. And things happened. That was my story.

 

Why did I write about those characters?  Because they were there and they wanted me to write about them.  I'm successfully married.  I do what I'm told.

 

 Question 4!  Final Question.  How does my writing process work?

 

I sit down and I watch my characters. I then write what I see.

 

Occasionally, my characters do things that are kind of mindless and those parts get deleted from the story.  But, generally, I just follow my characters and write down what they do.  It may sound odd, but they're their own people. They have their own likes and dislikes, whims and desires.   I just let them do their own thing.  Who am I to tell them what to do?

 

Well, that's it.  My answers to four questions!!!  I want to thank Devon Winters for having me do this!  Also, if you ever need a terrific editor...she's your person!  Seriously, she has been a huge help getting my books in good order.  If you need a professional editor at reasonable prices...contact her!

 

That's it for now.  I have to get back to writing my yet to be titled story.  Hopefully I can make it into something worth reading.

 

Until next time . . .