COOKING AT THE NTH DEGREE

 

with author Beth Daniels, aka Beth Henderson, J.B. Dane 

There is a land – or if there isn’t, there should be one – where everything is arranged the way we want it. Oh, that doesn’t mean that it’s a place without danger, pain, death, despair, and all those other things that make up REAL life, but it has things in it that fascinate, intrigue, lure us.

Fortunately, we’re beings of extreme imagination – we write worlds into being that exist nowhere but in the pages of a book, ones that owe their existence to our own creation theories. Or fascination with guys wielding magic swords.

Some writers borrow from the legends of the past – particularly the tales of a myriad of pantheons of gods, goddesses and their offspring, some who are monstrous and some who are just as selfish and self-centered as their parents. And like the civilizations that believed these stories, all of these beings were usually vicious enough to get a kick out of torturing mankind.

Well, like those gods of old, we now do these things to our characters. We plunk them down in worlds of our own creation – whether they borrow directly from the old tales (as Tolkien did quite a bit of) or spin them with modern twists.

I’ll admit that I came to fantasy late. Someone handed me THE HOBBIT when I was in my early twenties because, they said, “you like reading so you’ll love this!” Didn’t. Was incredibly bored with the Hobbits and their lifestyle. Never made it past the middle of the first chapter, I’ll bet. Yes, I know this is considered sacrilege to many but it just wasn’t my kind of book. Still isn’t…those Hobbits, you see. I’m prejudiced against people with extra-large hairy feet, I suppose.

And so I went back to reading medieval historicals, then American west historicals. I continued on with my love of mysteries (I had a reputation for daring in high school as within whatever text book was supposed to be opened, there was a spy novel tucked within it). I went on to write historicals, romantic-suspense, romantic-comedy, even YA romantic-comedy…and then I got bored reading the sort of books I was writing.

Not with writing them, just with reading other writers’ similar work. And that’s when I discovered fantasy on my own.

First it was urban fantasy, my favorites being series with smart mouthed main characters. Guys like Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden; gals like Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan. I had different reasons for picking up those first books – with Butcher’s it was the lure of mystery and magic tied together with Dresden being a wizard who was also a PI in Chicago. With Harrison’s stories, it was the early titles that twisted the titles of spaghetti westerns – the same sort of things mystery novels did, and that the stories played out in Cincinnati, which is an hour south of me down I-75. Plus both of these series had humor running through the storylines, and if you can’t get me grinning, I probably won’t pick up the next book in the series. From there I moved on, falling back on my love of a man with a sword in his hand. Current favorites are Brent Weeks (Lightbringer series) and Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid series). I discovered Kate Griffin’s Matthew Swift series with its modern reworking of urban magic. I even waved the LOL quotient for Marie Brennan’s fantastic Onyx Court (faery world meets human world) books and Naomi Novik’s Tremereire (yes, dragons are people, too) books.

While I read these authors and these sorts of tales, the fantasy realm that really intrigues me is Steampunk, and that has a lot to do with the historical take and all the genre mixes that create the various niches. As a historian at heart with a focus on the 19^th century (see my diploma from college? It says “History” on it!), how could I help but not like Steampunk?

It gives me everything I’ve worked with in the past and opens the door to delightful new avenues to pursue in the future. The mix can be as I wish it, something that hasn’t been an element in my writing past.

In fact, though I despise cooking anything, let’s look at this as though it were a recipe:

·                     Take 4 to 5 parts historical fact and place in blender, set to slice and dice and run for 10 seconds. Skim off top half and set aside. Discard the rest

·                     Add one part magic or magician illusion to the saved historical bits

·                     Mix with one created being or more than one

·                     Stir in intrepid main characters

·                     Fold in one or nefarious circumstances

·                     Season with mystery, humor, romance to taste

·                     Pour into mold, size depending on word count required by publishing house

·                     Heat with sweat of brow to the Nth degree

·                     Serve to (hopefully) delighted audience of readers

And, please, please, do take seconds! 

BIO

Beth Daniels, aka Beth Henderson, J.B. Dane, and a few other pseudonyms, saw her first novel released in 1990 – the day after she was awarded a BA – and continued to live her dream of being a published writer (all except for the getting rich part that she was sure would follow when at 12 she decided on this course). Since 1990, twenty-eight of her novels have been released by various publishing houses, as have a couple of short stories. She is also the author of two non-fiction books about writing, a number of articles, and frequently stands at the front of a virtual classroom presenting online fiction workshops. Currently she is attempting to finally finish the first of a Steampunk series, move ahead on a mystery series, and wrap up a historical romantic mystery adventure. There is never only one manuscript in progress on her desk. Visit her at www.RomanceAndMystery.com and/or www.Muse2Manuscript.com.

I hope you will join my class on

GOGGLES & CORSETS

Hosted by

Fantasy-Futuristic& Paranormal Romance Writers

This 4 Week class starts March 11, 2013

For more information click HERE  

Creating New Characters in a Character Driven World by Sayde Grace

Hello everyone! First let me give a huge thank you to FFnP for allowing me the honor and pleasure to be here guest blogging today. When I first decided to write a book I knew two things: one I wanted it to be about werewolves and two I had no clue where to start.

Thankfully a friend suggested I try FFnP where I immediately joined and hit the crit group up for help. A few years later I had written two paranormal books and secured a lifelong friendship and critiqueship with the amazing Rebecca Zanetti.

As I’ve grown as a writer and a reader I’ve learned something else, it’s damn hard to create characters in a world where we see and read about so many unique and fascinating characters. It’s challenging to create new worlds, spins, and points of views on ideas.

 For me the creation of my characters take more time than creating my world or species within my paranormal books. Usually this is because I start with what I want my characters to be like, what drives them and once I know that I figure out why this drives them. Most of the time the why is what determines what they are.

One thing I have found useful in creating new memorable characters that will stand out in a sea of fantastic characters is to give them real world humor, events, and problems along with the apocalyptic disaster surrounding their species or world.

For example, I live in southern Alabama in a very rural area. Once in awhile I will drive into Mobile, Al to go shopping. About a week ago I needed to go get some new shoes and headed to town. I drive a gas hogging Tahoe so I had to stop to get gas in down town. Well, as I stuck the nozzle into the gas tank a man walked around the corner of my truck and asked me for my phone number.  I resisted the urge to give him the death stare and instead explained I wasn’t interested and thanked him anyway before he tried to sell me a Lakers shirt for $10 that would make me look super smokin hot according to him.  As he peddled off on his womans bicycle still holding onto the Lakers shirt, I wondered about what kind of character he’d make in a book.

I instantly saw him as the lust driven but never laid side kick to my newest hero. You know, super annoying because everything he does is about sex that he never has, yet in the end he’s funny and useful. Or maybe he’ll be an undercover cop or PI following my heroine for an evil wolf looking for a new mate. You just never know, but can you see how the real life situation opened up so many character traits and even plots? While it’s always great to create something new and special and completely different from everyday life you still want to have a character us poor humans can relate too.  Those are the types of characters I remember.

So go forth, watch the people around you, ease drop on conversations while waiting at the doctor’s office or in the line somewhere, you never know when a real life situation or person will strike a memorable character for you.

Thanks everyone,

Sayde Grace
http://saydegrace.com/