I have really been working hard to finish this book. I'm really enjoying putting to final touches in place, as the story finally ties together. I've got a few major scenes to complete and there's some transitions that are extremely rough, but editing should take care of most of those.
I finally explain how Thaddeus Osbert earned knighthood. I think the readers will get a good laugh when the dragon tells his side of a famous historical event in England's history.
I also made Bunty the central teenage character in this book, since Emily was the focus in Secret of the Dragon's Breath. Bunty is fun to write about, since he's a bit of a character.
Still, there is plenty of foreboding danger creeping off-stage, which will arrive in Books 4 & 5. Astute readers have figured out that the German black dragon is lurking about England already, waiting for his chance to strike. Indeed, there are lots of surprises in Claw.
The greatest challenge, of course, is to write this historical fantasy novel without getting bogged down in history. The three teens are central to the story, but a horrible war is raging around them and not just between the humans. Readers are already aware of the dragon involvement, but they're about to learn that the wizard world is entrenched in their own war. Remember too, from Dragon's Breath, that the magical creatures - elves, fairies, dwarves, and pixies, are also battling the forces of evil. Things continue to get more complicated as the war grows more savage and terrible.
I have to keep in mind that I'm writing for all ages, so vocabulary and descriptions must be universal, to keep everyone's interest. This requires a lot of editing and rewriting to keep the balance.
Finally, I have to complete the sample chapter from Book 4 to include at the end of Book 3. That takes a lot of preplanning, to make sure it makes sense and keeps to the plot. So far I've been able to do it with the first 2 books.
Lots of writing ahead and with a 17-ton, 1,500-year-old dragon dictating this story to me, I'm forced to keep to schedule. Thaddeus is a stickler for accuracy and i don't fancy burnt pants.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
More Research Required
Even though this novel is rapidly nearing completion, at least regarding the initial writing phase, I still find it necessary to stop what I'm doing and conduct more research. In this case, I wanted to find another Druid site, other than Stonehenge, but significant enough to have some history around it. I also preferred if it was still existing, at least during World War II.
So off to the library I went. What, am I crazy? Nobody goes to the library. Well, that's not true, because the place was mobbed. Of course, most people were using computers, but it was busy.
First, I wandered a bit, like I am apt to do, just looking through the reference books. All sorts of things caught my eye. There was a book listing graphic novels, so I flipped through it. There was a book about American Civil War websites, so I checked it out too. There was a book on fashion in the 1940's. I took some time to go through it. The photographs were fascinating and I made a few notes, since the dragon books are set during that time. I found a book on Newsletters, so I looked up a few topics and copied websites or email addresses. This went on for about an hour.
Then I remembered what I was there for in the first place. Low and behold, there was a book on Druids. I just wanted to find something right, but had no idea what I was looking for, so I flipped through the pages, reading occasionally and looking at the photographs or artist drawings. It was pretty educational.
Then, it just jumped out at me. It was perfect. The Avebury Ring was one of the many great stone circles in Britain. The standing stones comprised an outer circle and two inner circles, known as the northern and southern circles. These inner circles were believed to have been built first, with the outer circle and the surrounding earthworks added a century later. It contained the largest known stone ring in the world and was much older than Stonehenge.
Once I was satisfied that I had found my important location, I went back to looking at other books. There was a volume about dragons, so of course I had to check it out and right next to it was the history of Dungeons & Dragons, so I sat down to carefully examine both of these important works. Don't laugh. Finds like these are gold to a crazy writer like me.
When I got back to my desktop, later in the afternoon, I searched Google for Avebury, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything important, or made a bad choice. I found a few more details that would work well in the book and returned to my writing.
So, when you read the section about Avebury Circle, you'll know how the author decided to use in in Secret of the Dragon's Claw. that how I do things, strange as they may seem.
So off to the library I went. What, am I crazy? Nobody goes to the library. Well, that's not true, because the place was mobbed. Of course, most people were using computers, but it was busy.
First, I wandered a bit, like I am apt to do, just looking through the reference books. All sorts of things caught my eye. There was a book listing graphic novels, so I flipped through it. There was a book about American Civil War websites, so I checked it out too. There was a book on fashion in the 1940's. I took some time to go through it. The photographs were fascinating and I made a few notes, since the dragon books are set during that time. I found a book on Newsletters, so I looked up a few topics and copied websites or email addresses. This went on for about an hour.
Then I remembered what I was there for in the first place. Low and behold, there was a book on Druids. I just wanted to find something right, but had no idea what I was looking for, so I flipped through the pages, reading occasionally and looking at the photographs or artist drawings. It was pretty educational.
Then, it just jumped out at me. It was perfect. The Avebury Ring was one of the many great stone circles in Britain. The standing stones comprised an outer circle and two inner circles, known as the northern and southern circles. These inner circles were believed to have been built first, with the outer circle and the surrounding earthworks added a century later. It contained the largest known stone ring in the world and was much older than Stonehenge.
Once I was satisfied that I had found my important location, I went back to looking at other books. There was a volume about dragons, so of course I had to check it out and right next to it was the history of Dungeons & Dragons, so I sat down to carefully examine both of these important works. Don't laugh. Finds like these are gold to a crazy writer like me.
When I got back to my desktop, later in the afternoon, I searched Google for Avebury, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything important, or made a bad choice. I found a few more details that would work well in the book and returned to my writing.
So, when you read the section about Avebury Circle, you'll know how the author decided to use in in Secret of the Dragon's Claw. that how I do things, strange as they may seem.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Writing and Research
It's really raining outside and very dark. The wind is blowing and it's a full-fledged storm
Perfect weather for a writer!
Mood adds so much to the feeling of any book and I hope to capture some it this morning.
I love to write. I really do. It's my driving passion. I get better with every effort and for those of you who have been faithful readers, you know this to be true.
A dragon named Sir Thaddeus Osbert. Three teenagers caught in the middle of World War II England. Nasty Nazis (seems natural for the two words to go together) bent on destroying England first and then enslaving the world. However, they aren't capable of doing it on their own, so they've summoned dark powers as allies.
A lot fo research goes into this Dragon series. It's important to get it right, as much as possible. Sure, it's a fantasy, so I can do certain things that don't require reality, but the reader must believe that such things COULD happen.
The challenge is to not bog the story down with too much history, while maintaining the subtle education. I want my readers to learn, as well as be entertained.
Do you believe in dragons? Well, if you do, then it's easy to get you to go along with the entire storyline. However, if you don't, then I still need to keep you reading, because you might like the military/historical elements, or the life in Cornwall in the 1940's.
By the way, check out the first draft of the cover. There will be some changes, but for a first go-around, it's pretty close to what I was envisioning.
Perfect weather for a writer!
Mood adds so much to the feeling of any book and I hope to capture some it this morning.
I love to write. I really do. It's my driving passion. I get better with every effort and for those of you who have been faithful readers, you know this to be true.
A dragon named Sir Thaddeus Osbert. Three teenagers caught in the middle of World War II England. Nasty Nazis (seems natural for the two words to go together) bent on destroying England first and then enslaving the world. However, they aren't capable of doing it on their own, so they've summoned dark powers as allies.
A lot fo research goes into this Dragon series. It's important to get it right, as much as possible. Sure, it's a fantasy, so I can do certain things that don't require reality, but the reader must believe that such things COULD happen.
The challenge is to not bog the story down with too much history, while maintaining the subtle education. I want my readers to learn, as well as be entertained.
Do you believe in dragons? Well, if you do, then it's easy to get you to go along with the entire storyline. However, if you don't, then I still need to keep you reading, because you might like the military/historical elements, or the life in Cornwall in the 1940's.
By the way, check out the first draft of the cover. There will be some changes, but for a first go-around, it's pretty close to what I was envisioning.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
More on this future release
I've been writing away and reached 185 pages of the projected 201 pages of the previous two books. This is the point where I have to make sure there are no loose ends, while keeping some unsolved issues for the next book in the series.
The challenge is to make the bad guys, those nasty Nazis, not seem too stereotypical, but still rotten to the core. There's also the not-so-goodie-two-shoes dragons meddling in things and other magical creatures caught in the middle.
I do tons of research into the specific year, in this case, late 1941 to mid-1942. It's important to catch the mood and certain details of what it was like in England during the war. At the same time, I have to balance history with action, adventure, and 13-year-old stuff. It's a challenge, but fun too.
I threw in some witches and wizards too, but I didn't want to copy Harry Potter, so that took some blending of Britian's history of witchcraft with my own twist on things.
More later, but thanks for dropping in.
The challenge is to make the bad guys, those nasty Nazis, not seem too stereotypical, but still rotten to the core. There's also the not-so-goodie-two-shoes dragons meddling in things and other magical creatures caught in the middle.
I do tons of research into the specific year, in this case, late 1941 to mid-1942. It's important to catch the mood and certain details of what it was like in England during the war. At the same time, I have to balance history with action, adventure, and 13-year-old stuff. It's a challenge, but fun too.
I threw in some witches and wizards too, but I didn't want to copy Harry Potter, so that took some blending of Britian's history of witchcraft with my own twist on things.
More later, but thanks for dropping in.
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