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Featured Friday: Genesis
BY BEN IRELAND
This is the story of where Kingdom City came from. I don’t think it’s the right way—perhaps not even the ideal way—for a story to come about, but it’s the way it happened. I didn’t have a character, fully formed, walk into my head and introduce themselves like Harry did to JK Rowling. One day, before I was a writer, I thought to myself, ‘What would the coolest book in the world have in it?’
While I don’t think i’ve managed to write the coolest book in the world, Kingdom City contains many elements that have made stories i’ve experienced in the past enjoyable, exciting and addictive. Here are three of the most significant.
The epic item
I always loved stories that revolved around an epic item. Like the One Ring in Lord of the Rings, or the Evangelion mechs. Some epic items may seem insignificant at the onset of the series but can be revealed as important later on. I always thought that was coolest.
To avoid giving too much away, i’m not going to tell you what the epic item is in Kingdom City. But I hope that i’ve laid the groundwork for a great big “ooh” later on.
The intrepid protagonist
I am perpetually attracted to characters who are smart enough, and strong enough to overcome. The protagonists I grew up with and admired were Ripley, from Aliens and Sarah Connor from Terminator.
Those are cool, strong, clever, kick-ass women. They had the intelligence and strength to overcome the dangerous opposition facing them. I hope that my protagonist comes across as strong, but also human—but perhaps too intelligent and insecure for her own good.
The abuse of technology
I find the abuse of technology to be a fascinating concept. Stories dealing with the subject probe how dark human-beings can really be. Technology is a beautiful thing that has the ability to save the world, unless some unscrupulous persons abuse it. Like the android in Alien, programmed to work against the humans, or the people of 1984 never having any privacy (a scenario which is, i’m afraid, no longer science fiction).
Facing what we could do as humans is a powerful way to remind us to use our technology responsibly. Kingdom City explores technology that stretches moral boundaries. It is my hope that this exploration can make the reader think about the application of technology, but to consider the why of technology.
Most of all, I just hope people enjoy reading Kingdom City at least as much as i’ve enjoyed bringing it to the page. It’s truly a love letter to everyone that has helped it come to life. My keyboard has been my epic item, my friends in the publishing industry have been my intrepid protagonists, and I hope, dear reader, that you do not find my attempt an abuse of technology.
Ben’s work has appeared in two X-anthologies: “Kissed a Snake” in A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology (July 2013), and “Fairykin” in Moments in Millennia: a Fantasy Anthology (January 2014). Kingdom City: Resurrection(February 2014).
Ben churns out his prose from his home in Southeast Texas, where he lives with his wife and three children, and works in IT.
Follow Ben on his website, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Editor’s Notes: The Deep End
BY MCKENNA GARDNER
The role of editors.
Today, I liken the different roles editors fill to underwater exploration.
Content editors are the ones that get inside their steel, circular contraptions and take a dive all the way to the bottom of the ocean, taking in the scene as they go. At first submission, they notice all the intricate crevices, rock formations, and geological anomalies from a distance.
As the content editor approaches the foundation of the ocean, they see the details of what contributes to those unique characteristics of the bottom of the sea. They can see for long distances and can help an author form their ideas in the most efficient way possible.
The content editor digs deep. They want to know the meaning, the purpose, the ‘whys’ for everything. To test the foundation of a story, just like the ocean floor, they’re going to have to probe, examine, and question.
On their way back to the surface, the content editor will hand off the story to the line editor, the ones scuba diving around a shipwreck. The line editors are looking through every nook and cranny on that ship, making sure that they’ve discovered all the important elements to a good find.
When something seems to be missing, the line editor may communicate to their teammate, the deep sea diver, and find out if any lost treasure has passed through the ship’s holes and descended to the bottom of the ocean. Otherwise, their efforts with the author are maintained at a reasonable depth and the current structure of the story is simply strengthened instead of changed.
After the line editor has scoured the shipwreck for anything awry, the story then is snagged by the final approval shark, generally the editor-in-chief. This beauty glides through the water, overseeing everything underway with sharp eyes and a nose for mistakes. She’ll pass by a few times and make sure efforts are headed in the right direction, while the divers simply pray they won’t be eaten alive.
Then comes the snorkeler, the ever-important proofreader who stays on the surface for the most part, but can see some of the most interesting elements of the story, the color, the feel, the ebb and flow of waves. T
hey aren’t diving down into the dark depths, but they are using their skills to see the details of each individual fish, plant, and even grain of sand. They are an integral part of the exploration process.
After the snorkeler, the story is formatted by a mystical creature with magical powers, a human torso, but a fish tail. This creature delivers miracles to the land and sea.
Then, it is finally allowed to be enjoyed by the public as they sit on the beach. They know there are unimaginable depths to the story, just like the ocean, but they don’t see them, they just feel them there, and feel the majestic beauty of a well-created body of water.
Might there be a mistake? Perhaps. Okay, most likely. But they won’t take notice or care, since they know the story was written for them.
When Senior Editor McKenna Gardner isn’t ferreting out strange new creatures or debunking seizmic anomalies, she lives and writes from her home in in Arizona, where she lives with her husband and daughters. She is currently decompressing from her latest deep-sea dive, Kingdom City: Resurrection by Ben Ireland, which will be released on February 28, 2014. Follow McKenna the Writer on Facebook and Twitter.
Editor’s Notes: Writing Warm-ups
BY ELIZABETH GILLILAND
For people who claim to love to write, we writers sure are good at finding ways to get out of it, aren’t we? No sooner do we sit down then it suddenly becomes imperative to check our email. Or put away the dishes. Or rearrange the furniture. And don’t even get me started on facebook.
Virtually any writing website or instructional book will stress the importance of putting aside time on a regular basis to do some writing. Even if the laundry’s piling up. Even if—and especially when—the words aren’t coming as quickly or eloquently as we’d want them to. So how can you train yourself to put in the time when you aren’t feeling particularly motivated?
Just like when running a race or hitting the gym, your writing stint can run a lot smoother if you put in a little warm-up time to get yourself into the right groove. Here are a few ways I like to get my creative juices flowing.
1. Get Physical. I know, part of the glamor of writing is living in a world built entirely of imagination, but there’s no denying there’s a real connection between creativity and physical activity. As strange as it sounds, choosing something repetitive where you can shut off your brain for a bit—e.g., running a track or swimming laps—can allow you to hammer out some plot points before you sit down behind your keyboard. My favorite is to go on a nice long walk and listen to music that complements whatever story I’m working on at the moment. Which leads to . . .
2. Pump Up the Volume. I like to create a playlist for pretty much whatever I’m working on. Much like setting the tone for a romantic date, the right music can shoot you straight into the middle of your story. I personally prefer to listen to film scores as I’m writing, though I’ll branch out to more mainstream, lyric-y stuff when I’m brainstorming or revising. Some great resources for this are Pandora.com, 8tracks.com, or your local library, which will more than likely stock various movie soundtracks. As a bonus, try out one of my favorites, rainymood.com, which will give you all the romance of an insta-rainstorm right at your fingertips.
3. Soap Up. Aside from keeping you clean and helping you avoid the stereotype of the author in the tatty, smelly bathrobe (unless that happens to be your writing uniform of choice, in which case, Godspeed), a shower, much like exercise, can be a great place to get some private, quiet alone time where you can shut off your brain and do some serious plotting. Some of my best eureka moments have happened while lathering, rinsing, and repeating.
4. Branch Out. You may not have picked up a paintbrush since your middle school art class, but if you find yourself stuck in a word rut, turning to a different creative outlet can help clear out some of the clogs. Sketch. Paint a picture. Play the piano. I personally like to create complementary pieces to whatever I’m working on—a song that has some of the same themes, a portrait of one of my characters. I’m not going to be quitting my day job anytime soon, but it’s a fun way to get your artistic groove going.
5. Click Here. The Internet can be a dangerous time-waster, especially if there are any baby animals involved. But in small, carefully measured doses, it can also be a great source of inspiration. Youtube, tumblr, and Pinterest can all help put you in the right mood by exploring artwork and music videos with similar themes to your own work, but make sure to give yourself a time limit so you don’t spend all of your writing period surfin’ the net.
6. Read, Read, and Read Some More. It might seem counterintuitive to spend any free time you might have devoted to writing studying someone else’s work, but reading is one of the best ways to open up those creative doors. You can take notes from the masters, learn what not to do from the writing that you don’t particularly enjoy, and train yourself to recognize the rhythm of polished fiction. Plus, you can call a date with Mr. Darcy research—a win all around!
These are just a few ways that I like to get myself in the creative mood. What are your favorite pre-writing warm ups?
Editor, ghost writer, and story coach Elizabeth Gilliland is back at The X working her word magic. Her next project, Conjectrix, the sequel to Vivatera by Candace J. Thomas, will be released in the spring, 2014.
Elizabeth’s short story “Mouse and Cat” appeared in A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology publishined in July 2013.
Editor’s Notes: So, what are you saying, exactly?
BY TERRI WAGNER
Metaphors and similes are exactly alike.
Any idea why the above sentence is wrong? If you spotted the word “alike,” you are right. Metaphors and similes do the same thing in English, but similes use “as” or “like” to make the comparisons. However, metaphors have an implied “as” or “like.”
Why use metaphors at all? I mean is describing a person using a word not usually associated with humans of any value at all? Well, you be the judge. If I write, “John is a tank of a man.” What do you immediately see? I see a tall, solidly built man, maybe throw in a crooked nose. Actually Mike Holmes of HGTV fame comes to my mind.
See the value? In one sentence you got across a comparison that not only fits, but gives your reader an immediate connection. Something they can grasp. When you write fantasy or sci-fi, metaphors become your best friend. In those genres, you are building new worlds, and readers can get lost if you do not use words they can relate to in describing your made up worlds.
Now if you think you know about metaphors, take this quiz and see how well you do.
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/topic/metaphor
Terri Wagner lives, writes, and edits from her home in Alabama. Her most recent project, Shades and Shadows: a Paranormal Anthology, was released in October, 2013. Her next project, Conjectrix by Candace J. Thomas, will be released in April 2014.
Author Spotlight: Fischer Willis
BY ROSS GRIFFIN
How did you become lost in the realm of writing?
I think that my affection for writing came from my obsession for reading. As a kid, my favorite past time was reading and I remember being a part of many summer library reading clubs. I also remember pounding the keys of this old typewriter that my parents set up in the living room on a card table that we used for anything from puzzles to craft projects.
I wrote alternate lives for my friends and me—where we were anything from pirates to spies. For years I’ve had ideas bouncing around in my head, some scribbled on scraps of papers, Post-it notes and even napkins. I’m glad that the next evolution of my creativity has begun; getting published is culmination of a child’s dream.
What inspired your short story, “Spaceman In Time”?
When I read the theme of the anthology, “Back to the Future”, I immediately thought of the movie, and so the next question was ‘why would someone go back in time?’ There were so many reasons swirling around in my brain, but the one that I kept coming back to was regret. It’s a powerful motivator for good and bad.
People can make decisions on that, or wish that they could change one or more events in their past, never thinking through the consequences and whether or not they could live with the outcome. Which is why I thought of the ending first.
From there, it was developing a character and a regret powerful enough that a person would still go back in time to change, knowing how things might turn out.
When you aren’t slaving away putting pen to paper (or pounding away on a keyboard), what do you do for relaxation?
Reading. I love to curl up in a chair and read. For me, I love holding a book in my hands; it’s old school now, but I still like the feel of it. I like anything from Tom Clancy to Stephen King to John Grisham to Chris Evans to Derek Landy. And then if it has Star Wars stamped on it anywhere, I probably already pre-ordered it.
Music. I can spend hours delving through lyrics and albums. Even in this world where iPods and Spotify have given us all musical ADD, I still love listening to that brand new album multiple times in a row, letting it just sink in and linger in my brain. Hours more on organizing my iTunes library. I have categories and subcategories which might also be divided a second or third time. Even the back files have to be perfect.
Do you feel that your ‘music ADD’ carries over to your writing in any way? Does it help or hinder your style?
Probably in some aspects. I’d say that pop culture in general oozes into my thought process. Some scenes in my stories make me think of a movie, a line in a book, or a great lyric from a song and I like to try and carry that over in some reference, whether vague or outright. I like to have inside jokes and references in a story that only people who know me, or get me, will catch. As to whether that helps or hinders, well, that remains to be seen. But I like to be optimistic and say both.
You mentioned writing alternative lives for yourself and your friends when you were growing up. Any plans to use some of those concepts for future short stories, or perhaps a full-length novel?
No, I don’t have any plans to resurrect those concepts. They were pretty rudimentary with cliche nick names and plots. Although, who knows what the future holds—maybe an homage to them might creep into something. Never say never.
If you were going to be sent backwards (or forwards) in time, where would you want to be sent? Why?
Backwards: I would love to experience the time where people wore three-piece suits, trench coats and fedoras. Gangsters were on the rise and were first being romanticized in silent pictures. I don’t know what it is about that time period, but I’ve always been fascinated with it. Gentleman in suits doing great things on both sides of the law.
Forwards: I’d like to go far enough in the future to see who got it right—Mad Max, Marty McFly, Luke Skywalker, Detective Thorn, or Rick Deckard. I kind of hope for a combination of Rick and Luke.
Is there a trick or technique that helps get your creativity flowing the best?
Music. Nothing fuels my creativity like something moody blaring in the background full of angst, hope, despair and wanting.
All right, final question and the most important: favorite Star Wars villain (aside from Vader), and why.
I’m going to go with Darth Bane. He created his own Sith Order after slaughtering everyone else and instituted the Rule of Two. It’s his order that eventually brought down the Jedi order.
Fisher lives in Gilbert, AZ. He is married and has no pets and no plants to speak of. His loving wife allows him time to ignore her while writing and listening to music loud enough that headphones can hardly contain it.
Fischer’s short story, “Spaceman in Time”, appears in The X’s Moments in Millennia: a Fantasy Anthology, released in January 2014.
Follow Fischer on Twitter @FischerWillis and Facebook.
Editorial Intern Ross Griffin brings to The X his unique perspective on life, which includes a strong and developing expertise in swords, knives, and other weapons used in the martial arts, from his home in Arizona, where he lives with his wife. Moments in Millennia is his first official project with The X.