Blogfest 2009

Two books by author Elliot S. Maggin, SUPERMAN: LAST SON OF KRYPTON and SUPERMAN: MIRACLE MONDAY, rise above all others as personal inspirations as well as examples of the kind of writing style I hope to one day master.

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander are the best examples of a multi-volume story that I know; and the SHANNARA books by Terry Brooks are the best examples of a multi-generational multi-volume story I know.

I love Madeline L’Engle’s Time Trilogy (which consists of five books) because of her economy of storytelling, and because Charles Wallace Murry is one of the all-time great characters.

The D’Aulauries Book of Greek Myths is my desert island book. The book which inspired me the most as a child, and which influence resonates throughout all of the Imaginarium Geographica books.

Orson Scott Card’s ENDER books (in both related series) are my favorite audiobooks, and I listen to them constantly while traveling. He has said he writes for his words to be spoken aloud, and it shows.

Garth Nix is possibly the best fantasist out there today – and he writes exclusively for children and YA. His SABRIEL is still jaw-droppingly good with the originality of his inventions, and he never fails to inspire me as a reader and a writer.

This is an interesting question, and my answer may be different than a lot of other authors’ would be, because I’m primarily a series writer. Lot of people in this profession switch gears completely when they go from one book to the next – but I came from the comics world, where stories were told episodically. Also, my favorite fantasy novels were Terry Brooks’ SHANNARA books, so it was already on my radar to want to do a multi-volume story.

First books are always hard, because you’re setting the stage; second books are also hard because now you’re deepening the story – but you also know the characters better, which helps. The third book in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, THE INDIGO KING, was easier to write because it was a story I was writing the whole series to tell. So in a way, the first two books were preambles to that one.

The fourth book, THE SHADOW DRAGONS, was a bit of a bugbear to do, for several reasons. For one, it’s a “middle” book: three books precede it, and three will follow it. So there’s the challenge of making it seem fresh to the readers who already liked the earlier books, while making sure it sets the stage for the climax of the series. The happy result of facing so many challenges is that they usually result in a better book. There are scenes and characters in THE SHADOW DRAGONS that weren’t in my original outlines, but only developed over the course of writing the other books.

I suppose in a way, writing a series is almost like writing a single book – there are story arcs that conclude with each volume, but it’s all one great story.

My writing process is an unusual one: I start with a one-page (and no more) outline. I have chapter titles, section titles, and a book title, and usually a lot of notes from the other books in the series. (About a quarter of THE SHADOW DRAGONS was moved up from THE INDIGO KING; and about the same was moved from THE SHADOW DRAGONS to Book Five).

I’ll then start doing thumbnail sketches of the illustrations, while jotting down notes next to the chapter titles. When this process is done, I’ll have a general outline of the entire story, plus key images for each chapter. That’s a lot to work with.

From that I do one full draft, straight through. This is usually where the winnowing process takes place, as I realize certain part of the story don’t fit the arc of the story I’m telling. This is also where surprises happen: the ever-loved Mr. Tummeler, the talking badger from Book One, wasn’t meant to last three chapters – but he did, and his son and grandson are major players in THE INDIGO KING.

After that draft is done, I get an editor’s letter from my two editors, and I’ll usually answer their questions while doing the big structual changes that may be needed. After this, the book is largely complete – but there are still a few more editorial passes to make sure everything connects and makes sense, and looks good.

Storywise, doing a book like THE SHADOW DRAGONS is less anxiety-inducing for myself and my editors because the characters are old friends of ours. We know how they’ll act, and speak, and respond – so it’s more a matter of wrapping the plot around the characters we already know, and making sure it ties together in the end.

It’s a lot of work, sure – but it’s ALWAYS worth it.

Frequently. Constantly. And for a variety of reasons. But someone once made the observation that courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to act in spite of it. It sometimes seems that writers struggle more with their careers than other people do – but the fact is with writers, it’s simply communicated more clearly. We express ourselves with words, and sometimes, that means we express our friustrations, too. But that happens with everyone now and again.

Everyone has a down moment, some rough patch that it’s hard to get through. But I tend to think of those moments as if they were parts of a book. Think about a book you’ve read recently, and whatever trials the characters may have experienced in the story. Even the really huge, traumatic events last for what, a few pages? In a big fat book?

Our own lives can be looked at in the same way. If I’m experiencing doubt or fear, I look at it as being just a few pages in “my” story. All I need to do is keep going forward in the story, keep turning those pages, and sooner or later I’ll be in a different place. It never fails.

Anyone – ANYONE – can get through a few pages of their story. All you have to do is have the courage to turn the pages.