Books

Will Readers “Misunderstand” Your Book?

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Darrick Dean

I wonder how much authors worry about how readers misunderstanding what their book is about. Its meanings, themes and intentions. Some authors might overcompensate by entering the story and explaining too much. This “author intrusion” often makes a character sound out of character or exposition sound like a lecture. Authors should realize not every reader is going to get, or like, everything you have written and that’s okay. A mature reader isn’t going throw down your book if he or she doesn’t agree with every sentence you write. They might do so if your book isn’t entertaining or is unreadable.

I mentioned in an earlier post on how modern readers like to reinterpret older books (in that case Dracula) through modern eyes. When an author is still living, or wrote about their books, it’s always best to default to their explanations. After all, they wrote the book. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is brimming with themes and meaning, but it was no allegory. The author wrote:

There is no ‘symbolism’ or conscious allegory in my story…To ask if the Orcs ‘are’ communists is to me as sensible as asking if Communists are Orcs.

Devin Brown continues by asking, “Don’t they share a number of similarities? [along with Sauron/Hitler, etc.] Of course they do.” But he adds what Tolkien explained, “I think many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory.'”

Of course, “everyone knows” C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was an allegory. Everyone forgot to tell C.S. Lewis. He said he never intended to write an allegory, the story unfolded as it did. He also wrote:

As we know, almost anything can be read into any book if you are determined enough…[the author] will find reviewers, both favorable and hostile, reading into his stories all manner of allegories which he never intended. (Some of the allegories thus imposed on my own books have been so ingenious and interesting that I often wish I has thought of them myself.)

So focus on writing your story. Understand not everyone will like it or get all the wonderful things you are trying to get across. Nor should you attempt to appease everyone or your story will most likely end up not being very interesting. Make your tale organic and entertaining. Use the tools you have to improve your craft.

Because ultimately the mythos you create is yours and someone out there wants to enter it.

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Book Price Wars: 2015’s Publishing Battleground?

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Darrick Dean

There’s concern that the price wars started by indie writers may come back to haunt them. Here’s the scoop: Indie authors are able to sell their books for at a much lower price than traditional publishing. You’re basically buying right from the source with minimal overhead. The issue is that if traditional publishers lower prices, more competition for indies. Maybe not.

For one, there is always competition, traditional or otherwise. Just walk into a bookstore or browse Amazon. Millions. It’s about — regardless of how you publish — connecting with audiences with a strong, quality product. Two, I’ve seen many of these “low” prices jump back up. Perhaps not as high as retail, but still up. Holiday pricing, perhaps? The idea of having a sale seems to be a new thing for some publishers. How low can traditional publishers really go? Sure, on a super runaway bestseller they can afford some sales or lower prices. Or they can say, “This is a bestseller, people are going to buy it regardless.” And, of course, the lower the traditional publishers go with pricing, the less their authors get.

That’s why indie authors still have an advantage when it comes to revenue (not that writing books is a get-rich scheme). There are other factors at work here, but ultimately I think indies, e-books and technology will continue to transform the industry. Where the equilibrium will occur, I’m not sure. There’s room for all publishing models, but we are seeing a settling of which is good for whom.

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If a Book Doesn’t Make You Think, What Good is it?

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Controversial quotes from controversial books. Why would some see them disappear? Because they encourage people to think and question. They seek to remind people to not to blindly follow those who self-appointed greatness. And they tell us to pay attention who is behind the curtain.

All Quiet On The Western Front on cautioning us on what reasons we use to go to war:

At the next war let all the Kaisers, presidents and generals and diplomats go into a big field and fight it out first among themselves. That will satisfy us and keep us at home.

You still think it’s beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it’s better not to die at all.

1984 on blindly giving away power and letting them win:

He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.

The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.

Fahrenheit 451 on being engaged in the world and freedom of access to knowledge:

We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?

A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man.

Atlas Shrugged on finding your Role in the Story of this life:

Do not let the hero in your soul parish, in lonely frustration, for the life you deserved but never have been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

Fighting Slave of Gor (Book 14 of the Counter Earth Saga) on people allowing others define who they are and how to think:

Earthings…are manipulated organisms, helpless in the flow of social forces, slobbering to slogans and rhetoric. They will be the first to celebrate their own downfall. They will not discover what has been done to them until it is too late.

“A sexist is a sexist,” she said. “That is the logical truth,” I said. “An apple is an apple. This argument is not much advanced…[it] is a ‘signal word,’ a word selected for its emotive connotation, not its cognitive meaning. It is to be used as a slander tool to discourage questioning and discourage questioning and enforce verbal agreement…One of the great utilities of these words, long since evacuated of most of their cognitive content, is that they make thought unnecessary…”

Categories: Books, Critical Thinking, Fiction | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Humans Are Not The Mere Mortals They Believe Themselves to Be…

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Darrick Dean

I released the first look at the cover of my book Among the Shadows earlier this month. I thought the copy on the back cover was a little long, so here I have trimmed it back (about 40 words) and made some other adjustments. For many authors, especially indie authors who control the cover design, the cover is an afterthought. This is a mistake. Yes, we are all told not to judge a book by its cover. That isn’t a bad bit of advice, but we live in a visual world. When readers are browsing hundreds of books on-line, a cover should at least make them stop and look. It should be relevant to the story, that is, not just something wild and unrelated to trick them. And just enough plot to let them know about the world they’re about to jump into (without giving away its secrets).

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Categories: Books, Fiction, Writing | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Pandemics, Elementals and Nuclear Missiles

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Receive a few gift cards to your favorite book store for Christmas? Well, here are a few suggestions on spending that money:

In one sense, I hesitated to pick up Steven Konkoly‘s The Jakarata Pandemic. Haven’t pandemics and apocalyptic collapse been overdone? Probably, but apocalyptic books have always been a favorite. That, along with the current Ebola threat, encouraged me to give this book a chance. It didn’t disappoint and ripped a story from headlines that had yet to be written. If you want a realistic look at what happens after a major crisis (no zombies, aliens or Godzilla) and what a pandemic could do, The Jakarta Pandemic will keep you on the edge of your seat. Definitely will be reading more from Konkoly. [Similar: One Second After]

While fantasy has been dominated by reluctant male heroes, that has been changing. In Mary Weber‘s Storm Siren, Nymeria is a slave haunted by her past and her ability. An elemental, her influence of the weather is uncontrollable and deadly. Or can her curse be a gift? Written in the first person, very quickly the reader is drawn in wanting to know what happens to Nym as she is drawn into a war of men and within herself. Listed as a “young adult” fantasy — and it is accessible to that group — but so sophisticated and immersive is the world Weber has created that all fantasy fans will be taken in. [Similar: Daughter of Light]

Want some non-fiction that reads like a Tom Clancy novel? Eric Schlosser’s Command and Control will give you and inside look at the Cold War and the tenuous relationship of man with nuclear weapons. If you grew up in the Cold War, and thought the Cuban Missile Crisis was as close as we got, think again. The rush into nuclear armament was peppered with many close calls. Those who did know are still surprised that no nukes have been used, or gone off, outside of test ranges since 1945. Scholosser recounts the history while threading in the account of an armed Titan II that exploded in its silo in 1980. It is also a tale of the many who served quietly in a supposedly “cold” war. A great book on history that we would be amiss to forget and a telling that honors those who died defending our nation. [Similar: 15 Minutes]

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Categories: Books, Fiction, History, Modern History | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Need for Adventure

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Darrick Dean

“Adventures?  Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things!” said Bilbo to Gandalf.  If he only knew. The scenes that follow — the arrival of the dwarves who take over his home — did not seem to be a favorite in the films, but was an essential part of the book.  In it we see much of ourselves.

Bilbo was set in his ways, in his little world. Didn’t want to be bothered, nor wanted any deviations from the norm. So imagine the disruption of this rowdy band taking up residence, uninvited. Think about about how people handle disruptions in their life. Poorly. Even good, life-changing ones. We don’t see what goes on around us. Neighbors in need. Corrupt governments.  If the snack bag is full, and the batteries are good in the remote, we’re a-okay.  Devin Brown writes in Hobbit Lessons, “We might also think of someone who can’t bear to be away from their laptop for more than a few minutes. Or someone for whom being out of cell phone range counts as a real hardship.”  Sad.

We see Bilbo’s change in his dwarf encounter. Brown writes that the hobbit senses “he is missing something” and decides to go on a “quest to live more fully” and ultimately becomes a critical part in the history of his world.

Are you going to challenge your status quo? How are you going to handle the next disruption?

Perhaps we all need a quest. An adventure.

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Cover Reveal: Among the Shadows

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Here it is:

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“The Studio” has been making some adjustments over the past few days and I think we got it. When will it be released? Still in editing, so let’s just say 2015 for now. Updates and previews to be forthcoming. Some background on the cover: I took a look at a lot of the great artwork being used on fantasy books, but since this series is rooted in our time, some real people were in order.

So the question is where does myth end and history begin?

Cover Credit: Images and artwork from Shutterstock.com and digital work by K.D.

Categories: Books, Fiction, Writing | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

Shadowlight Saga

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Darrick Dean

I recently started reading two fantasy series. The first was decent, but wasn’t holding my interest. At least not enough to go on to book two. The second series, the Shadowlight Saga by Mande Matthews, is another story.

In Bonded, we begin with Hallad and his friends as they happen upon the mysterious mute woman Swan. The encounter in the woods might not have been all that remarkable had not his sister Emma then vanished into the Blackness.

Readers quickly find themselves immersed in a Norse-inspired fantasy world as the quest begins to discover who Swan is, what happened to Emma and Hallad’s family history is not quite what he thought it was. Once you reach the end, you realize this is only Act 1, and there is more to come. To get to the end, of course, will involve encounters with many peoples, beings and obstacles.

While this book is labeled as a “YA fantasy,” I think it’s written with depth and detail that all adults will enjoy. I have found that some authors try to impress us by over-complicating their books with plots, sub-plots, schemes and such that ultimately only bog down their story’s pace and destroy its realism. This isn’t one of those books. Matthews also has a short prequel to Bonded, The Light Keepers, which you don’t have to read first, but I did (and you’ll want to to read it one way or another). So now I look forward to reading part 2 of the trilogy, in what has established itself as a compelling Good vs. Evil fantasy series.

And it’s those kind of stories that are at the heart of the fantasy genre.

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Will You Let Society Define your Humantity?

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Exponentially growth in allergies. ADD. Autism. A very short time ago, these conditions were rare. No, they weren’t going completely undiagnosed. They were rare compared to now. Add to that other chronic conditions which make up the bulk of our healthcare costs and it seems our increasing lifespan may head in the other direction (if it hasn’t already, hidden by the science that heals many of these issues that would otherwise be deadly).

Sadly, many of our health problems are preventable or, at the very least, reducible in severity and frequency.

Worse, in spite of all the angst spent on health and disease, it doesn’t seem many want to change.

Or has there been a slowly growing movement in which many are taking their health in the own hands?

Based on my own observations (growth in healthy food options, availability of information, more people abandoning fad diets for healthy lifestyles…), I think there is, but what percentage of the population this involves, I do not know. I do known, more are waking up to the reality that the government is not going to do it for them. They work for whomever flashes the most money in front of them. Companies produce what you want: Prefer junk food? That’s what they will make.

This is Important Point #1: Every cent spent is like a vote. Want better food? Buy it and support it.

This is Important Point #2: Knowledge is power. Knowing what’s in foods, what they do to your body (good and bad), what the difference is between dieting and a healthy lifestyle and so on is half the battle. So is knowing the shady ways many ingredients have been declared safe. Knowledge lets you walk past the junk and know that you are responsible for yourself.

This is Important Point #3: You have time for fitness. It’s not a fad. It’s part of your life. Don’t have time? You made time for hours of television, surfing the internet and other things you can live without. Priorities. Don’t let others define you. That’s a do-it-yourself job.

This is Important Point #4: Nutrition is the other side of the fitness coin. Go back to #2.

This is Important Point #5 and the Most Important Point: Our bodies aren’t design to be inactive, couch potatoes. They aren’t designed to process frankenfood or run on it in any optimal manner. They are designed for movement and action. Adventure and work. The world is full of custom-made food for our bodies.

Perhaps one of the many reasons people have such trouble finding their part of the Story in life — what they are meant to be — is because the very biology they are born with has been ignored, abused and refashioned.

The next time someone tells, “It’s okay to have that once in awhile,” or tries to convince bad food is a “treat” or to keep your “health stuff” to yourself or it’s all “good in moderation” or “I’ll do whatever I want,” say to them this:

“I’d rather live to the full potential that my humanity has innately endowed me with. I won’t let society define for me, or redefine, what humanity is or should be. I was designed for something better than they want for me.”

Be unshackled. Find your Story. Be human again.

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The Fire of Exploration

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Darrick Dean

Exploring the final frontier has never been easy. For decades, in fits an spurts, we have explored the Solar System and established manned outposts in orbit. We even reached the Moon, which has been so long ago now, that it seems a dream.  We can probably blame the tortoise pace of space exploration on it being largely controlled by the government and their ever changing, and short-sighted, whims. In recent years, private companies have taken up the torch. As witnessed by this week’s crash of the spacecraft Galactic, exploration on the edge of frontiers is still fraught with danger.

It always has been and always will be.

When the New World was being rediscovered by Europeans from 1492 on, it was much the same. Driven by politics, economics and the innate desire of humans to explore, not all went well. The early voyages were often about finding wealth and conquering lands. Later, though, it would be about building a better life, improving the human condition. The powerful desire to improve the existence of one’s family and future descendents has long been entwined with that frontier spirit. It’s often difficult to tell them apart. Interestingly enough, we would later learn that 1492 wasn’t the first rediscovery of what would later be named the Americas.

In 1000 A.D., the Vikings arrived in North America. It seemed almost inevitable that these quintessential seafarers and explorers would do just that. For centuries the sagas and rumors attesting to their arrival was largely discarded as myth. Then archaeological remains of a settlement were found in Canada in 1960.  Still, the idea of pre-Columbus explorers was seen as unlikely and supposed accounts quickly dismissed.

This was for two reasons: One, the level of required verified evidence is high. Is it too high? The Viking sagas told of exploring America, but were dismissed as legend. Even now, the extent of their exploration is unknown, but it is admitted that they voyaged to the coast for decades, if not longer. Only one settlement? These legendary warriors never ventured far from the beaches?

Two, early attempts to dismiss all natives as not much more than primitive cavemen saw many people ascribe anything of sophistication to foreign visitors. We now know the New World was replete with civilization and we know they arrived here longer ago than originally thought, through multiple paths. That paradigm shift has led many to wonder: Is it reasonable to think that people here for so long remained isolated from the rest world? A world that had many accomplished seafarers?  After all, didn’t the natives make it here at one point? Does any civilization live in isolation for over 10,000 years?

Of course, there are those who consider any suggestion of diffusion racist. They are driven by those who have, or still do, see natives as inferior. The other side of the coin are those who believe it did happen, repeatedly, and assert that it’s racist to say it couldn’t have happened.

So much for academic inquiry.

To be certain, the field has been full of fringe writers pushing many a bizarre theory or those motivated by ideology. Not all are so driven. Many are simply looking for the facts, some of which have always hidden in plain sight.

Sometimes it was intention, other times apparent chance, but in either case exploration burned in the souls of many men and women. What resulted wasn’t always good, but the overall condition of man usually improved. Does the fire of exploration still kindle? Are we too busy to see past tomorrow, buried in our televisions and self-created busyness?

Time will tell if humans will quit ignoring the calls to be something greater than what is pushed upon them. Modern steps into space are part of a long legacy that reaches back millennia. The crash of the Galactic won’t extinguish the flame.

It reminds us there are still those in which the fire still burns.

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Categories: Ancient America, Ancient Sites, Books, History, Native Americans | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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