I’ve lost an awful lot of time due to bad weather, but the sun is finally out again, I can’t ride my bike because of a flat tire (I told the guy not to over-inflate it!), so I’m out there trying to play catch-up on my current book, His Mercy Endureth Forever (Bell Mountain No. 12). As for The Temptation, we’re waiting on Kirk DouPonce’s cover art.
Meanwhile, the story is hurtling toward a climax–and I don’t know what it’s going to be. The Lord will tell me when I’m not expecting it. But poor Obann, what a mess! A savage horde of Hyena Men has invaded the country, and Jack and Ellayne somehow have to smuggle Lord Orth into the city so he can call Obann to repentance before it’s too late. I have no idea whether he’ll succeed.
A brief thought on fantasy-writing in general:
Overcome the temptation to give your characters names that are just too far out for the reader to stomach. If your fantasy novel starts sounding like a Russian novel translated by someone from Venus, you’re doing it wrong. I once read a Lawrence Sanders book in which the hero was named Jack Smack and the heroine, a femme fatale, Clementine Cadiddlehopper or something like that. I found those names detracting from the conviction of the story. So don’t do that.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve read books where every turn of the story was another opportunity for the author to exercise their imagination even though it detracted from the flow of the story.
One case I remember was a fiction author that hated Henry Ford and used the Ford family as characters in a novel. Never could the author mention anyone from the Ford family without pausing for an insult. Not quite the same thing as overly elaborate names, but I think that both of these are examples of a writing practice that can detract from the story.
Yes, editorializing about your characters is so 19th century.
“Yes, editorializing about your characters is so 19th century.“ said Lee Duigon, as he took a long draw off of his cigar and stared wistfully into the distance. 🙂
I didn’t get where I am today, editorializing about my characters.
So true. That is a particularly self-indulgent habit some writers fall into.
You have a gift for making us fall in love with your characters without editorializing; and the stories themselves may be fantasy, but they’re believable in reality. Your writing certainly has blessed and captivated me.