So, thank God for Tumblr. It was simple and easy to upload the audio file over there. Just click on the link here if you’d like to hear the sample. http://sonshinegreene.tumblr.com/post/158234656382/everyone-dies-at-the-end
And remember, #SupportIndieAuthors!
Took me long enough. I mean, I’m glad I took the time to make sure I did it right, but damn if it wasn’t more of a pain in the butt than I thought. Still, it’s available here on Amazon in Paperback (Soon-Createspace is slow.) and Kindle, and I should be finalizing the ACX stuff shortly.
I’m kinda upset at WordPress, because I can’t put a preview up for you guys like I wanted unless I pay for the site, and unfortunately I am broke as a joke. Still, I’ll provide a link, and I will be putting up tutorials and thoughts on the audio process, including having audio casts for people to listen to…Looks like it’s time to get a SoundCloud account to pair with the blog.
Have you ever tried to write an epic fantasy? I have, and I loved every minute of it. There’s a lot of work and planning that go into building your world.
Should I include a prophecy or shouldn’t I? Should I build an intricate magic school or shouldn’t I? How much of my plans do I reveal to my readers?
I’m not your typical epic fantasy author. I don’t use overly colorful language, though there are some curse words in my books. I tell it as I see it, knowing the story will carry itself in the end.
(Insert penis joke.)
There’s a hint of love that could blossom, but hasn’t. And there’s no sex, for those bothered by it.
A group of friends and family that only want to help.
There’s Nord, an elf who is too pretty for his own good.
Sanche, a stern elven general looking to fade into obscurity.
Missy and her fairy friends try to keep everyone on task.
Tyrosh is a dragon unable to shift forms and held prisoner by the false Tutanbringer, Martell.
Jaxon is the halfling friend of everyone, only along for the ride.
Martell is the man who stole Tyrosh’s mantle.
And Lovonian is the one out for revenge, while seeking to bring balance to the world.
I wrote the books to learn to write, and I’m glad I chose the genre I did. Writing the story of Lovonian felt like telling people about a movie only I could see.
I can still see the scenes clear as day if I close my eyes. It’s almost like magic. If only it was as simple translating the images to words.
There’s a ton of planning that goes into writing an epic fantasy, but I really did none of that for Breath of the Titans. I only sought to write a story I would enjoy reading as time passed. So far, that holds true.
Now I’ve written several different genres, from contemporary fiction filled with zombies and other monsters, to a science fiction adventure filled with a myriad of races. In both cases, it was much easier to start the world building process. It could be experience, but I think it’s genre.
In my horror stories, it’s much easier to get started because they are set in a world like this one. I don’t have to plan a religion, politics, or anything that I know the reader already knows. Whereas in a fantasy book, all of those things need to be taken into account. I can’t assume you know the religions of the world, because I am building it from the ground up. I can’t assume you know how the king will react, as he rules a land only in my head.
But in a contemporary environment, I can mention the president, and you can imagine how they could react. Same with religion, if I say christianity you automatically know what I mean. That’s not to say that horror can’t have the same planning and storylines that go into an epic fantasy, just that if the author chooses they can be a bit lazier about the entire process.
Science Fiction is a bit closer to epic fantasy, as far as world building goes. I cannot rely on the reader’s knowledge to fill in the blanks on the same issues. But I can include modern gadgets and whizzbingers. I can say, “They carried a communicator in their hands.” and you can picture an image of what I’m talking about. You may even understand on a basic level how the contraption might work.
Harder to do that in a fantasy world. Harder to explain that the titans are robots made by magic. Or how a magician uses his mind to shape the very fabric of the world. These are concepts that, while not difficult to understand, are much harder to put into words. It’s much harder to convey exactly what propels them, versus in science fiction where I can point to the gears, nuts, and bolts and say, “That’s what makes it tick.”
Having written several genres now, I can officially say that they’re all equally difficult. The thought and planning that goes into any book is monumental. It just seems to me, that epic fantasy takes that little bit more planning.
As it is, I’m amazed at how quickly my books came together. I learned a lot from the experience about pacing and telling the story you want to tell.
The great thing about an epic fantasy, or really any work, is you can put your ideals into it. Take Breath of the Titans, I wanted to write something that reflected all of the many religions I’ve tried to study in my life. I wrote the series with an approach to life that a new age spiritual person might use. I meditated and sat in the sun, thinking positive thoughts and listening to the world around me. Then I would go inside and sit in front of my computer, and the story would literally pour from my head onto the page. I didn’t have to think, I didn’t really plan all that far ahead. I had my characters and their limitations. With those in mind, the story seemed to build itself from the ground up. There’s a bit of foreshadowing in the book, though I freely admit most of it was accidental. It’s amazing what our minds can do when we sit and put them to work.
Everyone Dies At The End and Journey From Atremes have a little bit different process, but the premise is still the same. I go and I think. I work my brain muscle until it hurts, and then I work it some more.
Keeping the voices of the characters different was simple, though I admit the dialogue is probably a bit more contemporary than in most fantasy novels.
I know this is going to sound a bit like schizophrenia, but when a character speaks to me, I hear their voice. The inflection, the way they carry themselves. I see it all in a million little images, shapes, and feelings. The problem I have comes from translating the sights and sounds in my mind onto the page for someone else to understand.
I tend to write in Rilenese, which means I need a lot of translation from what I originally put down upon the page to the finished story. People, places, names, anything can and will change during the process.
Breath of the Titans never suffered from that problem. Once I started writing it, I had all my characters already pre-planned. Those characters are what compelled me to write the story. Having to choose between having them bug me, or putting their words upon the page.
Even though I went into everyday with no idea what I wanted to write, I never had a problem getting words onto the page. I didn’t struggle to find things and events to add to the book. If anything, I struggled with finding places to fit their adventures into the novel. There are a thousand things I never mention in the books, because if I did the trilogy would be 1,000 pages long, and I didn’t want to write that.
I wanted to write a fun little adventure, full of excitement and imagination at every turn. I think I did that. Feel free to let me know your opinion.
If you want, you can pick up a free copy of it by clicking here.
Latest episode of #EveryoneDiesAtTheEnd is out now, you can listen to it free here! So are you guys tired of hearing me laud praise on the people who work behind the scenes to transform my rough book into something to be enjoyed by the masses? I mean, seriously, you can ask Amanda, even with me going over it dozens of times I’m sure sometimes she scratches her head and wonders, “Is this english?” (And she doesn’t help just me, she’s helping three other series that I know of just this season, as well as being a reasonably good author in her own right, you can check out the first of her books here.) She and the other editors do an AMAZING job of taking my rough story and crafting it into a solid tale.
Then their’s my narrator that’s doing an awesome job. Eliza Enea is an author in her own right, and has a series on BigWorldNetwork as well as being a narrator for them. And I love the way her voice seems to fit the story I’m trying to tell.
And last, but not the least, Mario Hernandez. I would link to an art gallery or something, since he did my ebook cover, and I LOVE it, but I keep getting told that Bigworldnetwork IS his art gallery. Still can’t thank him enough for the rat clutching a finger, he did an excellent job on it.
I think that’s it for today….but I’m learning that being an author/blogger/IndieAuthorSupporter is just like being a CNA in one major aspect. The work is never finished!
Are you guys tired of hearing from me yet? Don’t worry, only six more weeks in Everyone Dies At The End. Here’s this weeks episode for your enjoyment.
And don’t forget, I’m holding a giveaway on Goodreads for Breath of the Titans. It ends April 27th, so jump on it while you still can!
I just can’t thank the hard working people at BigWorldNetwork enough, they’ve been EXTREMELY supportive and willing to bend over backwards in order to help in anyway they can. Also, I found her! You can see the narrator, Eliza Enea’s, own work, Small Steps, that is on the site as well!
And I thought I’d toss in my book trailer, just because.
Tell me what you think! And remember, if you’d like to be featured in any of our segments, please, let me know at RileyAmosReviews(at)gmail(.)com!
Thank you Jackie G. Mills, and others that offered places to go in order to find some good background music. And thank you to Bigworldnetwork for providing me with the music I used in the end. Anyways, let me know what you guys think of it!
WOOT! Release day for the first chapter! Looking forward to seeing people’s responses to it. So, if you’re interested, take the time to pop on over to BigWorldNetwork, and feel free to drop me a line about it. I have yet to meet an author who doesn’t LOVE to talk about their books!
So I’ve been doing a lot of reading on other sites over the past few months, trying to learn from other people’s mistakes, and from what I’ve seen I have a completely different writing style than anyone I know. I find it kind of heartening, as I’ve heard a thousand different methods for how people churn out books.
One method I’ve heard touted everywhere is “The Snowflake” method of writing. And I know for some people this just works best for them, but I tried hammering out a book the way they describe, by taking so much time between points of actually writing it, and I found I struggled.
I do best with my own method. I sit down, decide the story I want to tell, and I tell it. I think of characters and descriptions, I think of their voices, I do all the things he describes in the informal phase, and then I just start to write.
Truth to tell, I find it much more exciting writing this way. I never know what’s going to happen in the next scene, and watching it unfold just to write it is easy. I used to approach being a Games Operational Developer (G.O.D from here on out) while playing D&D the same way.
But there was one paragraph that really stuck out to me on the site, one that I feel EVERY aspiring author should take to heart.
This was the most important bit of information I found on the site, and to me it’s the most important lesson every author should learn. There isn’t a “Formula” to writing books. There’s no way to guarantee your book will be an ultra best seller other than by putting good content into it.
Then there’s what Christina Dodd (And I can say in all honesty, I would probably never read one of her books. I’m not a romance guy, so I really just like the advice) said:
I’m not a romance guy, but I am a guy that loves advice, and that there is golden people. Put it together with the first paragraph, and you’re on your way to writing your best seller. It does take a lot of work, and if you get published, you’ll see it really does take more than one person to write a book.
Don’t forget to get your T-shirt if you’re an Indie Author, proceeds are going to setting up a #SupportIndieAuthors website and domain.
Last but not least, I want to give a shout out to the people who have helped me on this book.
Thank you, Mario Hernandez (I asked for a link to a portfolio and was told the BWN website x D) for the awesome cover he did for the book. And thank you to Amanda Meuwissin (Tell me if I spelled that wrong) and her associate editor for being an immense help in finishing Sara’s translation from Rileynese to English. And I can’t say enough about Eliza Enea’s voice, you guys really should go listen to her even before my series comes out. Very hypnotic in my humble opinion.
If you’d like to be featured in either the #RileyAmosReviews or the #SupportIndieAuthors series, shoot me an E-mail at RileyAmosReviews(at)Gmail(.)com
And don’t forget to check out #EveryoneDiesAtTheEnd (Crude Language and Drug Use ahead 18+!) on March 16th on BigworldNetwork.com
Sumo Sized Ginger 