Author Appleton

Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery

writing

The Benefits of Uprooting

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Gardening was not my favorite thing when I was growing up, though my mom doggedly persisted in making my siblings and I a large part of it. She was great at teaching us to discipline our time for worthwhile pursuits. One thing about gardening that stuck in my memory: If the conditions for a plant in one location were not ideal, you uproot it to give it its best chance at a healthy life.

Are you willing to give up everything in order to achieve your God-given dreams? Or have you become comfortable, unwilling to uproot even though change may lead to greater things later on? Change is hard but necessary to success.

Being now in the process of uprooting my family from Connecticut to South Carolina, we are somewhat like those plants. Our roots are deep here. Family and friends, places we frequent, connections we’ve made. We grew up in this state. But my wife and I both feel strongly that God wants us to relocate our family into the south. A more conservative environment to raise our family, greater opportunity to connect with active Christian churches, a lower cost of living, and a more centralized geographical location.

Uprooting is hard, and this came about very swiftly. We’ve been planning it for years really, yet nothing is easy about this. I am encouraged in this because the best times are when we step out in faith.

God has always opened the right doors, and slammed shut the others. He has opened every door in its proper time for this event to take place in our lives.

Beside my sadness He fills me with peace
Beside my uncertainty He provides the keys
In place of my fear He builds a mountain of dreams
Before my feet He makes the path a highway.

To grow beyond the present circumstance change is necessary, and I firmly believe that without transplanting God cannot fulfil His dream for us. Providing for my family in a manner that allows me to bless the kids with my experience and be hands-on with their education is something I work on and long to fully explore. To do this my writing and publishing business must grow and in South Carolina is where we are going to grow those roots.

Let nothing stand between you and your dreams. Recognize that staying inside your comfort zone limits you. You must grow, you must strive to achieve, you must listen the voice that speaks to your soul. The heart is deceitful and easily drawn back to the comfort zone, so guide your heart with your God-given dreams.

Q: Are you willing to leave behind everything to accomplish everything?

Chess, my Grandpa, and Creative Thinking

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“Do you want to play white, or do you want to be black?” My grandfather worked as a draftsman designing submarines. He has a keen understanding of math and strategy. When I was growing up he used to play chess with me all the time… and he would win usually within five moves.

One night (I think it was after one of our small family birthday parties) my grandfather had beat me best out of three games again. He has this great laugh that just made me smile when I lost and left me confounded as to how he always beat me. Being the reader I was I had started reading a biography on a famous chess master. It was a long time ago but I think the chess master was Bobby Fischer, and he had drawn a chess board on his ceiling. He would lie awake at night, strategizing how to improve his game.

That night as I lay awake in bed I could not get out of my mind how easily my grandfather had won those chess games, so I visualized a chess board on my ceiling. The mind is a powerful thing. If creatively utilized in quiet moments it can generate solutions to problems standard problem solving might miss. By visualizing the potential chess strategies and guessing at my grandfather’s counter moves I was able to figure out how he repeatedly won against me.

The next time I played chess… I won! We ended up having so many fun, competitive matches. Some of my best memories. My grandfather picked up a used trophy of a golden horse. Each time we played a chess game the trophy was at stake. We jotted down our matches in a little notebook, each time letting the winner take the trophy home.

Chess, my Grandpa, and creative thinking are all linked in my mind. Chess forced me to be creative. Chess forced me to contemplate the potential outcomes of each move before I made it.

Today I approach writing in much the same way. I sit back and contemplate scenarios, character development, and moral implications. It is important to think strategically. Often we desire to rush a creation when, instead, all that is needed is thoughtful strategy. Maybe instead of immediately attacking with the queen, we move out our knight and bishop to set up the field.

Question: How does strategy play into your creative thinking?

How I learned Patience building Ships-in-Bottles

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From Dad’s basement workshop a scrap of pine wood, paints, and plumber’s putty. From Mom’s sewing supplies white or black thread, a needle, and twist ties from the kitchen drawer. Late into the night I used to work on building sailing ships in bottles. The work was delicate, requiring precision and diligence. And many times, just as the project neared completion, my hand would tense and just like that one little mast would snap in two, destroying my delicate miniature ship…

Sailing ships have always fascinated me and I loved building those ships in bottles. The hunt for just the right bottle, the sketching of the ship I designed to go inside of it, the layout of the ocean. I don’t have a workshop anymore so I have not been able to make one since I was a teenager.

My father recently gave me some of the tools that I used to make the ships with, so I will get back to building them soon. Building those little ships disciplined me in one of the most important virtues of art. More specifically, my art, which is writing.

Experience has shown me that most writing projects end up rushed. Often we start off writing with a relaxed enthusiasm that optimizes creative flow. Later we start feeling the timetable is getting away from us, whether it is a deadline with our publisher or the pressure of your fans who eagerly await your new title. Fashioning a ship-in-a-bottle requires an immense level of patience, and writing requires the same. I have found that good writing requires a patient pursuit of the writing craft. Educaton and connection are keys to improvement. From building ships in bottles I gained a greater level of patience than I believe I would have gained otherwise.

Q: What projects have helped you focus and gain patience?

The Ghost of A. Chantz and Clever fiction titles

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If you have read Key of Living Fire you will not be surprised that I enjoy spooky stories. One such story comes from none other than The Dick Van Dyke Show.

I love watching old television shows with my wife and kids. I’m a bit of a return-to-the-old-ways kind of guy. The Andy Griffith Show, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, and also The Dick Van Dyke Show. These shows are timeless, bringing us back to a simpler time when traditional family values were still pre-eminent in America. There is a lot to be learned on an artistic level by studying these episodes.

This week I wanted to do something different for you. I am going to recommend you watch a particular episode of Dick Van Dyke. If you don’t have the DVDs you can find it on Netflix. If you have already watched this episode please share what you thought of it

This episode was pure genius, showcasing one of the cast’s best performances. The title alone is such a clever play on words. When I am writing I often find the titles of chapters and of the book… come slow. When I see creative titles I study them in order to understand the process so that I can, hopefully, replicate that success in my own work. I want my readers to experience the same curiosity good titles have brought to me.

Dick Van Dyke: season 4 episode 2 “The Ghost of A. Chantz”

Question: What did you think of “The Ghost of A. Chantz”? (-:

A good first draft?

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I cannot tell you how many times I have heard an editor, a writer, or an agent make this absolute statement: “There is no such thing as a good first draft!” While I understand the point they are trying to make, I disagree with this all-inclusive judgment on all manuscripts we writers write.

When I wrote my first novel Swords of the Six it was far different from the final draft. I wrote the first draft, polished it, sent it to my editor, chopped it in two and rewrote large sections, etc. The process was long and arduous. By the time I was done I had no desire to touch a page of it again. Then, when I wrote my second novel I worked only a few drafts before sending it to my editor.

But when I wrote Key of Living Fire it was my first draft. Ignoring the don’t-send-your-first-draft rule-of-thumb I sent in the manuscript. The edits that came back were simple, occupying a mere couple pages.

What made the difference? I did not rush the writing of that manuscript. I let my creative flow lead me. If an element of the story did not move me emotionally I did not write it. If a plot element did not fire my imagination I paused to consider how to exchange that idea for another. Also, when it came to basic elements such as grammar I did not ignore a correction.

Hammering out the first draft quickly can sound appealing. But writers are artists, stories are the masterpieces. Think of it like a painting and get those brush strokes right the first time! In practice this is not always possible. Often your first draft will not be your last. But by aiming for quality over quantity we improve our first efforts. Do not underestimate what you can create with your first draft.

Question: What do you think of a writer’s first draft?

Finishing The Phantom’s Blade (in the midst of my busy life)

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For the past two years my readers have been asking, “When is the next book in The Sword of the Dragon series coming out?” This fourth installment is titled The Phantom’s Blade.

This writing project has been my most difficult yet. Why? Because I am juggling family, a full-time day job, and writing projects. This hasn’t been easy but at last I have found a “schedule” that is allowing me to get The Phantom’s Blade completed.

I work during the day, return home, and my kids are going to bed about 8 o’clock. Most nights I don’t get home until after 8 if not 9. I tried getting onto a morning schedule but so far without success. The challenge of that is that the kids can often get up in the middle of the night, so my level of energy and motivation in the morning varies greatly.

Up until I was seventeen I spent most nights stargazing with my telescopes (I’ve always loved astronomy). Often I stayed up until 3 or even 4 in the morning. The night hours have, ever since, remained my most productive time.

The Phantom’s Blade is passed 77,000-words now. I have been writing it late at night. Coffee has been the ticket to getting me passed midnight at which time my brain usually gets a second creative wind. The story has turned out really well. Many characters that readers of Swords of the Six, Offspring, and Key of Living Fire will recognize return for further development. I anticipate this book finishing at 90,000-words…

Expect The Phantom’s Blade to be available in paperback this Fall 2015.

How my dad inspired my fascination with trees in fantasy

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My dad is a talented artist. I remember when I was a kid (we were homeschooled) my mother did not have the artistic leaning, so my dad told us he was going to draw an apple. When he said “draw” he meant create a piece of art. The apple seemed to “grow” off the paper.

My dad did another thing I found fascinating. He showed me how to draw trees. The way he drew them he would “grow” the tree, starting with the trunk, designing branches that shot off of it. Maybe I just don’t remember but it seems to me he never added the leaves unless it was a panoramic sketch.

For an unknown reason trees have always fascinated me. Perhaps it is their strength and their fortitude in a storm . . .. A better explanation might be that my dad brought them to life for me in a magical way.

I am not a great artist. My sketches are simple. Maps I can do but other things take me hours to accomplish. Yet, I do know how to write.

Through fantasy stories I bring trees to life in much the way my dad did on paper. In Key of Living Fire I had the opportunity to introduce a living tree. Ancient and deep in shadow, this is a carnivorous tree, full of evil intent. It works with its benefactor, this crazy woods guide.

If trees were alive? Is it a question? Not to me. My dad brought them to life on paper, and now I bring them to life in my novels. This is just one more reason to love what I do.

Question: What things do you like to see ‘brought to life’ in Fantasy?

Writing is (an author’s meditation)

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Writing is an expression of greatest concern, a reaching for the deepest meaning, a searching of our souls. Writing is.

Writing is

The expression of our passions, dreams, hopes.
The realization of loss and the longing to return the past.
An examination of our hearts and souls.
A way to connect with our Creator.

Is anything such a pure expression?
In writing we say what we fear to say,
Live the life we fear to live,
Reach out to those we long to love.

Is anything as deep a conviction?
Through writing we speak what our mouths cannot,
Walk where we cannot go,
Reach a world we never meet.

Is anything such a full passion?
By writing we connect with strangers,
We lay bare our souls to scrutiny,
We love without reservation.

Writing is a full expression
Of the life we want to live,
The people we want to meet,
The legacy we wish to leave.

This, writing is.

Question: What is writing for you?