PLACES TO GO

Tags

battle, creatures, dragons, fantasy, hero, monsters, mythical, war, writing

Long ago in a land far away (Wisconsin), I sat in the dark inside my car, early for a night shift on the oncology unit. Looking out the front window, a vision blotted out the screen—a white temple, a robed woman standing in front of it. The image hounded me at work and in the days to come, until I had to write the story crammed inside my head. It roared to life in an unending stream that meant cutting over a hundred thousand words when it was done. That was the beginning of the fantasy trilogy, Seasons of Time.

Prior to this mental invasion, I’d been writing a western romance. That story needed lots of research about Native Americans. Regency requires even more, but with fantasy, the mind flies to faraway realms, unknown and new, strange and freaky wonderful.

Writing “in the zone” is an amazing experience, a bit like deep meditation, but without the placid floating off into peaceful relaxation. Writing it makes me think of what it must be like to smoke weed or peyote, neither of which I can do because of weird reactions to drugs and a wussy fear of getting caught. In the fantasy zone, protags are fearless. They can fly with the dragon-like fflorin, ride chargers that are part horse and reptile, escape from terrhogs—think blind, gigantic worms. Where did I get all this stuff spewing out of my brain? I have no idea. I’ve been asked and can only reply that they are just there, living inside my head, and causing havoc until I write it down, give it voice.

Fantasy also offers the freedom of the omnipotent power of world creation. What if you could make up your own world and go live there, sort of what Sheldon Cooper does on Sheldor? I’m not an antihero fan, so I can kill off the baddies, hurt them any way I want. Talk about your “heady” stuff. One may ask if that isn’t what every writer does in the writing process. Not exactly. Genre writing requires specific parameters. Fantasy has few, other than what its readership expects, and even then it’s pretty loosely defined.

It’s important to take seriously reader requests, so I’ve tacked on more to the Seasons of Time triology and by starting Seasons of War trilogy based in the same world. Oh, the places where my mind has gone. I’d forgotten what it was like to charge into battle and soar with the fflorin.

The first book of the Seasons of Time trilogy is free now and for the next 3 days. Get it here:

https://www.amazon.com/PROPHECY-DENIED-Seasons-Time-Book-ebook/dp/B004S7EQ92/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535118166&sr=1-4&keywords=m.l.rigdon

M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)

Follow on Twitter @RigdonML

Blog: https://historyfanforever.wordpress.com/

Website http://www.MLRigdon.com

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/julia-donner

https://www.facebook.com/Julia-Donner-697165363688218/timeline

 

 

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WHO LET THE DRAGONS OUT

Tags

Atlanitis, dragons, fantasy, romane, writing, YA

 

So, I’m toiling away on the last bits of Canticle of Destruction, the third installment of the Songs of Atlanitis YA fantasy series. I put dragons in my first fantasy series (called them fflorin) and figured, what the heck, might as well put dragons in this series. I like ‘em. So do others. In they go. But of course, they have to be part of a historical twist within the story arc and coincide with the previous books. Check. Check.

Anyway, the last six months have thrown my goals off track due to involvement with a friend’s estate and collaborating with her writing. Won’t do that again. Doing so proved painfully illustrative and validated a set of rules my critique partner, Judy Post, aka Judi Lynn, and I have learned to our cost. Rule Two—which comes after the sacred Rule One of writing one’s tushie off every day—is never, EVER let up on promoting your own work. I did for the last months, spending more time elsewhere, but always managing to get some writing done. Still, I dismally failed at Rule Two: promote and advertise your work until you die. Or lie bleeding out on the floor.

The year started off great with a fabulous bounce from an ad on BookBub for the regency series written as Julia Donner. Yes, I do the no-no of writing under more than one name. Here comes the whine: I gotta do more than one genre!

Fortunately, and blessedly, as writers in this day and present industry construct, we no longer have to line up under the sign that says writers MUST follow a formulaic code of composition. Of course, that outdated rule must be observed if one is signed with a traditional publisher. (Shoulder shrug here.) That’s a given, but writers now have a wide range of choices. Whether we go with the traditional publishing path or not, we all have to promote ourselves. The days of book junketing is pretty much dead and gone, unless your agent has signed you for a million buck deal with a clause that clearly states the publisher will provide this. Ergo, Rule Two (hence known as the Eleventh Commandment) is not to be forgotten, never ignored. I did to my cost, my sales sagged, and now I’ve got to get back on board the advertising express.

At the end of the month, I hope to have that new YA fantasy up and live on Amazon and two (yes, count them, two) campaigns running. This means (insert dramatic groan) I have to scour pages and pages of advertising ideas. As writer and playwright friend, Rachel Roberts has expressed, it’s not easy to toot one’s own horn. Can’t agree more. I’ve endured  the disappointment of three declines from BookBub in the last months. Have to wait for a while to resubmit, but in the interim, look out Twitter, here I come.

Wrapping up, publicizing one’s work is wicked heart-wrenching—a hair-pulling, out- loud wailing, and lying-on-the-floor-heel-kicking endeavor. But it’s the only way to sell the books we’ve sweated blood and rained tears on the keyboard to bring to life. So bring on the dragons and burn up the procrastination tactics. Your work and what you have to say is worth it.

While we’re on the subject of horn-tooting, Judi Lynn’s latest installment of the delicious Mill Pond Romance series, Love on Tap, is now available for presale. Please take a looksee on Amazon, Face Book or her webpage:

Judi Lynn

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

THERE BE DRAGONS

Tags

Cayce, dragons, fantasy, legend, myth, research

Just finishing up the last chapter of a regency historical, the fifth in the Friendship series, and need a break from the confinement of historical fiction. The titles and outlines for the next two books are inside my bean, but I need something—a break, a spoonful of lemon sorbet to cleanse the palette. Don’t get me wrong. I love regency with a capitol L, but after a while, I worry about the staleness that can creep in from writing too much of the same thing. So, it’s back to fantasy for a while.

I admit to a fixation on dragons. I doubt they ever existed, certainly not the way I think of them, but in my head, they live. My first published works were epic fantasy. Winged creatures called fflorin were in each installment of the trilogy, dragons with a strong affinity to humans, which they considered a lower life from. Fflorin believed it their duty—like angels with crosses to bear—to assist feeble humans, while humans were in equal parts fascinated and terrified of the clever creatures.

Fantasy allows imagination to fly. For me, a much needed sense of freedom from the confines of creating inside the box of historical facts. So…up next on the writing docket, Canticle of Destruction, the third book of the YA fantasy series Songs of Atlantis, stories about a girl who can manipulate nature, kidnapped from her homeland, and sold on the auction block in Atlantis. The Vital, first in the series, is the discovery of her talents. The second, Masters of the Dark, its uses, and the third is about her ability to change the world. This time, there be dragons in it. Not the usual dragon either. Mine are always a bit edgier, a bit different from the run of the mill sort that spew fire.

To spark ideas about Atlantis world building, I read Cayce. Then, like a nimnoo (Holy shades of Mork from Ork), I started to research—a habit and a mistake on more than one level. Don’t know how bright it was to delve into dragon mythology when my original intent was to stay away from research. Regency requires trotting off to the bookshelf every other paragraph to verify a fact or detail.

While sifting through dragon legend, I come upon an interesting historical note and off I go on an entirely different thread. I am habitually stuck in research mode, and it must stop. There are pages and websites and endless kinds of dragons. I merely wanted to check out a few things and got lured into bottomless wells of information.

Scads of countries are awash with varied legendary dragons—serpent-like, winged, wormy, sea-going and cave-dwelling. The variety is endless. I kept reading and reading, sucked into the lore and myths, the hoaxes and possibilities. What was I thinking? Too much research in this case is a very bad thing. I know what my dragon is going to look like, its purpose, and its part in the story arc. My problem is letting go of the research addiction and allowing imagination take the controls.

My dragon awaits. Scratch that. My dragon lurks. Now it’s time to fly.

M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner for regency)

Follow on Twitter @RigdonML

Website http://www.MLRigdon.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Donner

Time for a Changeup

Tags

Channing Tatum, dragons, Eddie Redmanye, fantasy, Jupiter Ascending, Mila Kunis, movie review, sci-fi, space opera, Wachowski

Usually there’s a dearth of good films at this time of year, but lots of interesting themes and flicks are popping up prior to the summer movie blitz. The one I’ve been waiting for FOREVER is Jupiter Ascending. I love fantasy and sci-fi when well done. Guardians of the Galaxy was a hoot, but the JA space opera is being brought to us by the Wachowski sibs. I admit up front that I’ve not seen all of their works, but the ones I have seen, I’ve enjoyed, especially their knack for production design and the world order themes they tend to like and do so well.

Not for the Wachowskis is the one-dimensional storyline typical of many sci-fi fantasy works. Their scripts are loaded with subplot, allegory, and analogy. Cloud Atlas had the difficult task of creating many world settings. V for Vendetta was soaked in shadows and bleak settings to match the mood of the oppressed. The Matrix required the same settings each time but the stakes intensified with every installment. The Wachowski’s have very specific thematic designs for every film. While watching their films, your brain whispers familiarity, yet there’s no blatant visual stamp, such those seen in Kurosawa, Huston, or Hitchcock films. There’s an almost palpable sense of restraint. The theme shapes the visual result, not the vision of the writer, director, or producer. Happily, in most of the Wachowski films, those three jobs are done by the sibs.

No spoilers but I can pass along impressions. I expected Jupiter Ascending to dish up an artistic canvas on film and it succeeded. The storyline follows the often-used plot of a downtrodden or misfit protagonist, who discovers a world-saving talent-slash-ability-slash-gift. (I guess it’s more appropriate to say universe-saving when referring to this movie.) I liked the impressive costuming, conservative and elegant when necessary. Lizard-dragon soldiers were amusing. The music was a pleasant surprise. No nasal, atonal rap. No ear-numbing metallica. The musical score is intelligently written and not heavy-handed. If you stay for the credits, you’ll hear a vocalise reminiscent of the 60’s Star Trek with a twist of Sondheim. Nice touch. And Eddie Redmayne, ooh-la-la, what a delicious villain.

All in all, I give it a four. I can’t make it a five star, because I tend to get bored with the digital mayhem of constant smashing and blowing up stuff. As a matter of personal choice, I think it would have made for a tighter flick after a bit of editing.

There were a few questions never answered/completed, perhaps because there’s a sequel in the creative minds of the Wachowskis. Either way, it could be a stand-alone or the beginning of more good things to come. Who would have thought it—an artsy sci-fi. It hit the spot after a long, hairy week.

M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)

Follow on Twitter @RigdonML

Website http://www.MLRigdon.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-Donner