Tag Archives: fantasy

Why research for Fantasy or Sci fi?

Suspension of disbelief for the reader is contingent on getting the facts right. It doesn’t matter that this may be a fantasy, or a sci fi world. Things have to stack up on the believability level. If I give you a green cat, then I have to feasibly justify why the cat is green. Not that I have, but this is an example.

Setting is everything. If one component is out of place, then the whole thing falls down like a pack of cards. This is where research comes into play. Every single aspect of that which is relevant must be correct. Grounding the fantastical, or the  speculative, needs a solid platform of known facts that are correct and that can be correlated as correct. 

Does it matter to a reader if they see the word ‘league’? Yep, It is an archaic definition.No, it is not essential to point out that a league is three miles. It is essential to get those leagues into an actual frame of reference that is legitimate. If I find a position A is thirty miles from position B and I want to use the word leagues, then I know it must be ten. Maybe a reader will care and look it up, or maybe they won’t. Doesn’t matter, because I will know. I have to get it right. 

 

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The good, the bad and the wonderful!

The good is that my office reno is progressing and I expect to finish this weekend. I also expect to finish my picture of a Green Man for my office wall. If I can find my camara, I will post a picture of this. It got lost in the renos.

The bad is certain people, who are professionals, told lies. This is causing me a lot of stress when it should have been a slam dunk and no, this isn’t writing related. The result was that I had to light a cyber bomb under that person’s ass and report them to their boss, who is now doing damage control. The people he needs to liaise with are out of the office until Monday. More stress. Added to which, I stupidly let one of my paint rollers dry up and this has put my reno back to the weekend.

The wonderful? Awesome people are collecting their pre-orders of signed copies of Shadow Over Avalon. I shall soon be able to remit money owing to my publisher for these units. Incidentally, the lion’s share goes to the printers, who have done a wonderful job with the printing and translation of the cover work. Much thanks to Eveliin Enorkson and Ken Dawson for a fantastic cover. So what is this book about?

Avalon conjures up images of King Arthur. At the end of the legend, he was mortally wounded by Mordred and with his last breath, he promised to return at the time of his people’s greatest need. Now fast forward into the far future where there are methods of extracting D.N.A from peripheral descendants. The newly created person is not connected to his past, excepting for fleeting dream images of ancient times. He gradually becomes aware of his purpose and those who would thwart it. Nothing is as it seems. The stakes are the survival of humanity faced with unspeakable odds. Can Arthur achieve his ultimate purpose, or will he succumb to the plans of a hidden enemy? This is not about what happened before: this is what happens next. This epic length book is not for the faint of heart. Lives are broken. Romances shattered. Life continues, or does it?

Shadow Over Avalon is the first book of a series. The next book, Sword of Shadows, is due for release by Kristell Ink next in 2014. The saga continues.

 

Work day.

Editing and writing are intensive, so I tend to space them out with none cerebral activities to make sure my concentration is at the maximum when I need it. My non-writerly projects? I am redecorating my office, something that is about ten years overdue. Unfortunately, this involves painting the ceiling, which is popcorn. Yes, I know. So retro, but I am not about to scrape it off. First, I don’t do heights well and scraping it off would involve a lot of ladder work. This is not going to happen. I have to steel myself to getting on a two-step. Second, I have no idea what messes it might be covering up. That is a can of worms best left unopened, so paint it is. I don’t have a problem with the walls as I have an extension stick for my roller and edger.

Project #2 is a picture of a Green Man made of leaves I collected and pressed from a vacation in the Rocky Mountains. I used the eyes I had drawn with chalk pastels as a teaching exercise for the kids way back when. I have them in digital format now, so printing them off was easy. The general shape of the head is there, but I now need to paint a background before I put on his beard. For this, I need elusive daylight. A blizzard today didn’t help in either project. Four hours of decent daylight? Stroll on. Still, both projects are going ahead in between work sessions. I shall wait until after xmas before I start ripping out nasty rug and underlay. Have box knife: will happen.

Shadow Over Avalon.

Genetics is a tricky area to play in. When a person has left no living decedents, it is necessary to reach into their ancestry to recreate them. However, it is also necessary to endow the recreated person with extra gifts. This is when all hell is let loose. Nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted. The fate of mankind rests on untried shoulders. Let fortune fall where it will.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Over-Avalon-C-N-Lesley-ebook/dp/B00GAN6HMG/ref=tmm_kin_title_popover?ie=UTF8&qid=1384657698&sr=8-3

Why is setting important?

The characters provide the motive for the story, but without a cohesive setting it doesn’t come to life for the reader in my opinion. So what is it about setting? For me, I have to be able to look through the character’s eyes and see what they are seeing. This has to be real and that involves research. Yep, that is right, down to the flower that will be in bloom in that season.

How to accomplish this? Each season has a certain feel about it. Think fall, when the smell of overripe fruit permeates the air and the drone of bees made sluggish by the chill of night fills the morning air. This is the season where everything is closing down for the winter sleep. Why is this important? It gives a marker in time that allows the reader to progress. Without this marker, the time is static.

Want a good book for Thanksgiving?

How about an epic science fantasy? Did you ever wonder what would happen when the legendary King Arthur returns to save his people in the time of their greatest need? Set in the far future, Shadow Over Avalon take the reader to a level of suspense unsurpassed. Nothing is as it seems. Humanities survival hinges on the lives of a few. If even one of them dies, so will all hope for the future.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Over-Avalon-C-N-Lesley-ebook/dp/B00GAN6HMG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

Ginger is bad?

Not in my books. I hadn’t really thought about it, but then my characters come through fully developed. I find I have three gingers in Shadow Over Avalon and two of them are red hot hunks. A guy is a guy and it is what is inside him that makes him interesting. Hair color is totally incidental. Character is everything and my guys rock. 

Does accuracy matter in fantasy?

I happen to believe it does. This is why I devote many, many hours into intensive research. It doesn’t matter to me if the product of my research is a part of my physical book or not. This is ground work that to my mind, must be accomplished. I need to have a take on the culture and the setting of a world to make it come alive and to do that, I have to make sure I have my facts correct.

Yes, it is really easy to get stuff off the web, but how accurate is this? Mostly not. Nothing beats the real live investigations with impartial informants. Will my physics work? I ask my dear husband, who is one of those people at the cutting edge of technology. He will tell me straight off it this will fly or not.

With history, or religion, it is important to understand how politics of the time comes into play. People are persistently guilty of projecting the politically correct version of events. It is therefore necessary to dig really deeply to get to the source from many different angles. This produces some very surprising results. Temporal and religious institutions have taken it upon themselves to rewrite history to present themselves in a good light, or to revile others in order to look good. Nowhere is this more apparent than the dark ages, where women did have power and were people in their own right. Moving on a few hundred years or so, this was not the thing. These women of history must be reviled to level down the effect of felinity, currently not the flavor of the month. Historical lies are then manufactured to promote the supremacy of men.

Nope, I am not a feminist. I am an equalist. Each compliments and supports the other. This is how it was meant to be. I abhor how women were put down in history and I abhor how men are now being sidelined. Note to book cover artists. Men are naturally hairy. This comes with testosterone. Producing covers with chest bald individuals is promoting all body waxing products. Did you really want to do this when you are not getting a cut in the profits?

Actually, a very high percentage of the witch hunts were as a result of greedy men wanting to acquire the possessions of women. Anyone, who is tortured enough, will say whatever it takes to make the pain stop. The definition of witches is also interesting from a Christian perspective as it is the antithesis of Christianity. In reality a pagan is not someone who is anti Christian. A pagan is someone with no interest in the Christian belief and who does not follow the concepts of that faith. A pagan follows a far older faith with no roots in Christianity. From historical texts, it is not an antithesis of Christianity, it is something else entirely.  Again, accepted religion and politics come into play.