Friday Favorites, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

Woohoo! It's Friday! This is the best Friday ever. Why? Because I have my edits! Sorry, super excited about it all, really.

I had to take a break and make sure I got this post ready in time. I'll have to schedule a few more, because I love this Friday post. Apparently, lots of you do as well.

I am a bit short on time, so I am not going to be posting the pics of the book or movies or music group I choose. I'll make sure to keep doing that at a later date.

So here we go!

Favorite books/authors:

Disc World. Those books were so funny! I got to thinking about these books and really have to revisit them because I read them so long ago. What prompted me to think about them was seeing a movie on Netflix based off of the books. I remember a friend of mine having a video game related to the books as well. Fantasy, humor, what's not to love?

Favorite movies:

I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan. I loved him from 21 Jumpstreet all the way to Pirates and even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's one of my most favorite actors. Right up there with Billy Zane and Jerry O'Connell. Billy Zane just cracked me up in 'Demon Knight'. The sponge scene had me rolling. But Johnny... oh, Johnny. He was so sweet in 'Benny and Joon'. I love that movie. It was a movie I could sit and watch with my daughter. She quickly became a fan because he was so cute in that movie!

Favorite Music:

Hmm... I think this is going to be a week for Queen. Love, love, love Queen! I suppose it helps they did the soundtrack for 'Highlander'. I think I need to find more Queen for my iPod.

Fantasy Art:

With all the copyright issues out there, I'm going to use my own damn artwork! Why not? It qualifies as fantasy. This is what a Kefferling looks like in my books. Half elf, half cat. Furry and sleek, watch out for the claws!

And now the funny:

Oooh! Someone's gonna get choked... lol! Have a good weekend everyone. See you Monday!

The Edits Are Here!...

Hey everyone! Just want to let you all know I received my edits and so if I am missing for any length of time, you know where I am.

I have a few scheduled posts for the upcoming weeks on my World Building series. I also have a couple of guest posts to fill in some openings. Of course, I also have my Friday Favorites to work on. If you see a post from me during all of this, it will either be an update or a rant.

Ha! No, not really. I like all the suggestions given to me. It is helping me a lot and I certainly appreciate the hard work of editors.

I hope you all had a good week. Hope the rest of your week is good and enjoy the weekend! Have fun kids, don't start any fires you can't put out.

Writing Wednesdays: Building Languages...

This is an important post regarding fantasy world building. When you think of fantasy worlds, you always think of the creatures, the magic and all that. However, one thing that gets overlooked is the languages.

Sure, you automatically assume there are going to be unique languages associated with different races. Tolkien built on languages for Elves in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Elven language is copyrighted, despite the fact that Tolkien wanted to share aspects of Middle Earth so others could write from it.

I tried, they said 'No.' Quite firmly I might add...

So what's a girl (or guy) who writes fantasy to do about languages? Make it up as you go along.

Unless you have the time, skills and education Mr. Tolkien had, you have to use what is available to you. Most of it will be your imagination. There are ways to go about it and create something. I have a link here to my translator page. I use Latin for a lot of things. No surprise, look at the titles of my books. But I sort of cheat and mix Latin with Drow or Tolkien's Elvish. I'm not using his work, just using it as a guideline of sorts.

What I do is take a word. Let's use the word 'Sword'. We want another 'name' for Sword in our story, so we think about it a bit and hit the internet. Now in Latin, you can use the word Gladius. In Drow it is Killian. But I can't use Drow and I don't want it to be in Latin, that's sort of boring. I want to be unique. So I would combine the two somehow. Kildius, Kilius, Gladian... you get the idea. But a couple of those look kind of lame. So I just shuffle things about a bit and go for something along the lines of Kildan, Adius or completely away from either of my language choices and try Samas. Does this make sense? I may not get an exact derivative from my two language choices, but it sparked my imagination enough to come up with something else entirely.

There are name generators out there as well to help with the language and naming processes. I know there are sites out there that tell you when naming things in fantasy, don't use an apostrophe. Well. Screw that. Use what you want! I have lots of names, including the name of my world that have an apostrophe. Eir du'Brusai.

People always ask me how I come up with names. I honestly cannot give you a formulaic answer. I don't know. Names and the like just pop up in my head and I use what fits. Languages are the same for me unless I get stuck and then use my tricks up above with the two different languages. I try to be unique but not so unique in everything that people get frustrated reading my work. I try to give the unique name and try to find a way to describe exactly what it is to the reader. Most everyone will get the idea right away that my D'raetus Pastiniir are lethal, elite assassins.

But there is that pesky apostrophe!

Too bad. Fantasy Police don't like it, they can arrest me.

I am always happy to help other writers find unique names for people or items. So if you get stuck, by all means, drop me a line! I'd be happy to help. Most of my name generator links are on my links page of the blog. Check them out.

Book Review: The Way of the Black Beast by Stuart Jaffe...

Title: The Way of the Black Beast

Author: Stuart Jaffe

Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform

Pages: 310 (Print), File size: 512 kb

Page Number Source ISBN: 1466321849 ASIN: B005NRXT6W

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Summary from Amazon.com:

In a parallel world destroyed by the abuse of magic, one woman fights all odds to survive and find the answers behind her mysterious past.

Despite the challenges - crazed magicians, guitar-playing assassins, mutated beasts - she pushes on with a single-mindedness that may destroy all she holds dear.

My thoughts:

'The Way of the Black Beast' is a post-apocalyptic fantasy. Malja is a warrior. She's a fighter, she's a loner and she's on a mission to find the two men who hurt her the most. Growing up, Malja was raised by two brothers, magicians both and not exactly loving men. They trained her from the beginning to be something she wasn't and when she doesn't turn out how they planned after ten short years, they desert her and leave her to die. Enter another man, a different kind of man. One who is more nurturing than the two previous. He takes Malja in, trains her even further but when she suddenly becomes a threat to the two brothers, they send assassins to kill her.
Only they kill the man she's come to love and respect as a father.
Malja sets out to find the two brothers, to confront them and put an end to them once and for all. She's tired of running, she's tired of fighting, but it is in her blood and she's good at. Damn good. Along the way she picks up a young boy who she takes under his wing. He's a magician, but in this world, when you use magic it makes you crazy. Literally.
Killing the brothers is her only real chance at survival and living as normal a life as she can carve out for herself in this alien world. Secrets are revealed to her in the end and sometimes, vengeance leaves more of a mark than anything else.
This book was well written. There were a lot of moments of memories, flashbacks and a large chunk of past information that I felt could have been done differently. You take out a good amount of those moments and you've got an awesome story you can't put down. I liked this book a lot, but was not too thrilled about the information moments, the reflections on Malja's past. I know the importance of it all to the heart of the story, to learn about the character, but overall, it could have been done differently. There are two more books in this series that I intend to read. I like Malja's character and the entire world this story is set in. Well developed characters, good story, just needs ... something.

I give this three and a half skull and crossbones.

Giveaway Poll...

Hey everyone! I've been trying to use Blogger's poll gadget for weeks now with no success. Quite frankly it is ticking me off.

So I am going to do this the old fashioned way! I will hold this poll open for a couple of weeks.

Now bear in mind I'm a broke goddess. Money is sort of an issue. Depending on your answers, I may put up a little Paypal thing and ask for donations for giveaway prizes, but that seems quite tacky. At least in my opinion because I really do not like to ask for money even if it is for a good cause. (Don't take this as an insult, please, I just hate money in general and would rather give it than receive it.)

Anyway, when my book releases, Cheri and I will be doing a giveaway. We've got items for that already and have stuff planned. I want to know what you would like to see in the future, because I would like to hold a Twitter party during my release of my book and give stuff away at random during said party.

So what would you like to see? What is your opinion on asking for donations to hold a giveaway?

Most of the options are as follows:

Books ~ These can be copies of the new books being released, of course or just books in general. What books would you like to see being given away?

Swag ~ Items that are related to the book such as bookmarks, small gifts and items that are not really related to the book at all.

Kindle/Nook ~ This is something I want to do someday, but until I have the money, I can't do it. But would you like to see it being done again?

Gift cards ~ These are always a favorite. You get to spend them on whatever you like, which is cool.

Any other suggestions? I'd like to hear what you have to say, so please, please leave me a comment! My mind reading abilities have been blocked lately. Stupid tinfoil hats...

Friday Favorites, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

It's Friday, it's Friday! Well, doesn't mean much for me since I work 7 days a week with the paper route. Okay, 5 since Larry gives me two days off.

Still, Friday!

All right, I'll get on with it, oh, impatient ones...

Favorite Books/Authors:

Well, I only read one of her books in her series. The one in the middle, no doubt, but I absolutely fell in love with her book and characters. Seriously, book love at first sight, who'da thunk it? (Ha! Nails on a chalkboard to editors, that last sentence.)

Of course I am talking about Julie Kagawa and her Iron Fey series. The book I read was 'Iron Queen'. Totally. Epic. Book. 'Nuff said. I am fascinated with the Fey as it is. I love all the folklore, the stories behind the Veil. There are several books I have absolutely cherished and devoured several times over. One of them being 'War For The Oaks' by Emma Bull and the other being 'Faerie Tale' by Raymond E. Feist.

Favorite Movie:

Any of the Indiana Jones movies will do. I first saw Indy in the movie theater with my brother when 'Temple of Doom' came out. My brother thought I'd have nightmares and didn't want me to tag along because our cousin Paul had come to town and was taking him to the movies, but I begged and Paul agreed to let me go. I fell in love with Indiana Jones and wanted to be an archeologist. *Sighs* Good memories tied to that movie. It also impressed my brother who then made it his life's mission to make me into as big a horror movie buff as he is. Horror extended into all genres throughout the years and when I am looking for good music or movies, he's the one I go to.

Favorite Music:

All right. Here is a shocker for you. Ready? 80's flashback warning ensuing in 3... 2... 1...

Prince. Yep. Purple Rain. There are still quite a few songs of his I like, but Purple Rain is by far my favorite album of his. Again, a brotherly influence.

Fantasy Art:

This is called 'Edge of the World' and it is a wallpaper. Freakin' cool!

And the funny!

Yes, sweet kitty, yes it is...

 

You all have a great weekend! We'll see you on Monday.

In Hiding...

I love my book cover! Woot!

Okay, so I'm not literally in hiding. I'm just being very reclusive these days. I spent a week sick with some bug that gave me a horrible headache and nausea to no end. Didn't feel like doing a blessed thing. I did the paper route a couple days and spent the rest of the time on the couch or on the computer just goofing off more than anything.

Good thing I had several posts scheduled in advance! Phew.

I have a world building series going on every Wednesday. I know, 'Thanks Captain Obvious!'

Well, you are welcome, random citizen.

I got word from the editor working on my book. I should have something this week, possibly next depending on how much hair she yanks from her scalp going over every sentence.

But it looks like I will have a book released soon!! I've been sitting on pins and needles for the longest time and you know, they really hurt.

I do have a couple other posts coming up for the world building, but also a couple more guest posts. One of my best friends from high school, Lynn, is beginning work on writing her first book. Based in my world. Sort of like the Dragon Lance or Forgotten Realms books. Oh yeah, baby!

Awesome!!!

Here is the link to her blog. Show some love and follow her please, it'll make her all nervous to have an audience. *Grins wickedly* Don't make me be the only follower!!!

Just kidding. She knows I kid. I'm a kidder...

I'm looking for guest posters, drop me a line, read the policies and such. I'd love to have you on my blog. September is going to get busy as is October, so get to me soon!

I suppose I should go write something while I wait for these edits, huh? All right, fine. Have a great weekend everyone! And look for tomorrows Friday Favorites post!

Writing Wednesdays: Building Kingdoms...

So if you have been keeping up with me these days, you'll know I've been working on a series of posts. This is how I built my fantasy world, something I've worked on for well over ten years.

The first post I did was regarding magic. Rules or no rules? Limitations to magic? You can check it out over here and continue the discussion if you like over there as well.

This post is going to focus on kingdoms.

In sword and sorcery fantasy, there is always a King and Queen and the first born son is usually the most likely successor. There is also usually one or two kingdoms. Sometimes you've got the two warring with each other or they live in harmony and decide to work together to vanquish a common enemy.

But let's think outside of the box.

In my world, I have patriarchal societies as well as matriarchal. If you don't know your hierarchies, this can be confusing. Patriarchal is ruled by men, matriarchal is ruled by women. I have kingdoms where it doesn't matter if the successor is male or female. Some kingdoms dictate that only the eldest daughter can  inherit the throne. In my Elven kingdom, there is a king and queen, but the majority of the rule is given to a council of nine women.

I've read some books where the next ruler of the kingdom is voted in by the citizens of the kingdom. Even a peasant could rule. But what if there was a lottery? Would you put your name in to be the next king or queen of a kingdom if your predecessors were murdered? In Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, that kingdom had been ruled by a steward and his sons took over when he got too old or died.

So think about your ruling families and structures when you are plotting out your world. Don't stick to what I feel is an old cliche. Try something different. Maybe the kingdom is ruled by a governing body of 13, an odd number to help break tie votes. Or perhaps the youngest child inherits, despite the gender. Maybe only women rule, but they secretly confide in one man?

We all know what works in fantasy writing, but sometimes those get boring. Dare to be bold, be different! Think outside the box, but don't get too weird or people won't be comfortable with it. It should be different, but also plausible!

Guest Post: Meet Zeke & Andrew...

 Hey everyone! So, since I am on this world building kick of mine, I thought I would introduce you to a couple friends of mine, Zeke and Andrew. I worked with Zeke at the Boy's and Girl's club. He moved back home once he finished school, but not before we figured out we had something in common. We both write fantasy! He writes with his friend Andrew. I did an interview here, on their magic system and the like. Be fair warned, it is a bit of a long post! So I won't continue to lengthen it any longer:

Me: What made you two decide to write fantasy together?

Zeke & Andrew: It actually started when we went to see the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians : The Lightning Thief, it was basically the most terrible adaptation we had ever seen (though we both enjoyed the books very much). On the way home we agreed we could write a much better script even with no experience. After a few minutes we decided instead we would write a book together and started creating the world and the characters that night. Since then we've spent many hours and late nights working on it! We are sure of one thing though, we will most definitely not be selling the movie rights without having some veto power withheld.

Me: What are some of the laws in your world, if you have gotten that far?

 
Z & A: The world we have created had a cataclysm in the past and as such the peoples of our world are mostly fractured with only a few large cities leaving just localized clans and villages scattered across the world. As we join the story in the book we are working on, things have just started to progress towards a centralized government and trade is starting to pick up.

Me: Explain your magic system, please!

 
Z & A: Our magic system was created mostly from scratch out of the two of us talking about what we wanted magic to be like in our world. Magic in our world is a driving force, most of the industry on our world is powered by magic. Most of the population in our world is able to do some form of magic. The experience of using magic would be comparable to jumping into a river with the user feeling a current around them in the air as they are casting. For a more powerful caster it is like a river while a lower level caster would feel like they are in a stream.
The magic in our world is separated into two main categories, Arcane and Elemental, each category is used by a different Species one being humans and the other we named Deynaturan
The humans use Arcane magic in our books which in turn is separated into 4 subcategories which are warmth consisting of Sun and Stars and Cold consisting of Lunar and Shadow.
The Deynaturans use Elemental magic which also consists of warmth, being Fire and Earth, and Cold, being Air and Water.
Within each of these subsets are a whole range of skills that a spell caster can call upon.
In order to limit the use of magic we worked out a system where each time you cast a spell it has to be within your abilities or you run the risk of a rather unpleasant backlash. When casting a warmth spell, either sun for arcane or fire for elemental, if you go past what you can handle you will unfortunately burst into flame from the inside. This also applies to cold with the consequence being freezing instead. With this in place it leaves us able to have some interesting spell combinations. An example would be if you cast a fireball you normally couldn't handle you can counteract the warmth by adding an ice spell into the mix. This technique only works to a point of course, with failure ending in a rather unpleasant death.
We could go on about the magic system of course but that would take ages and well...we also want you to be curious enough to buy our books when they come out and find out for yourself! 

Me: Since you're still in world building stage, what things have you found easy? Difficult? Have any advice?

 
Z & A: The easiest thing we had to create was the geography of our world and a map to go with that.
We were horrible at coming up with names! We could spend 3 hours trying to think of a name just to do it again 5 minutes later because we needed a new name. We finally just thought up a list of names and pulled from that as needed which helped us move a lot more quickly.
As for advice I would suggest you do a map first, once we had a map we could decide where people came from and that would affect the character greatly ie: clothes, speech, or occupation. As an example logging would take place near a forest, or fishing would need some type of a body of water. Along with that to the south would be a warmer climate than to the north. A map was helpful as well to plan the course of events including where we wanted the characters to travel to and what places they would go through on the way. With that knowledge we were able to outline the book with relative ease.

Me: Do you think it is easier to work as a team? Do you think you could have tackled something like this alone?

Z & A: Sometimes working together can be a bit frustrating but more often than not it is helpful. We catch each other making simple mistakes quite often which helps to keep things together. Along with that we have a very different background when it comes to Fantasy and Science Fiction; Zeke grew up reading fantasy written for a more adult audience or high fantasy such as The Lord of the Rings or Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. Andrew on the other hand grew up reading books based in Mythologies (Greek, Egyptian, and Norse) as well as reading more young adult fantasy.
We probably could both have written something independently but working together has given our writing more depth with the give and take we have together due to our friendship.

Thanks so much for your time, you two! I appreciate this in-depth look to world building from another point of view. I find we have lots in common when it comes to structuring out the basics.