Backstage Pass! Creating an original Fantasy creature: the Megatrath

AuthorAppleton on January 12, 2015

The many aspects of the creative writing process includes designing creatures never seen before. I love this process! It brings the fantasy world to life and enables visual representations that make it real for the reader. One such creation was the Megatrath.

Dragons, elves, fairies are all great in fantasy fiction. Also, they are undeniably linked to classic and established fantasy. When writing your own fiction the last thing you want to do is appear to be stuck using other writers’ ideas. While I do appreciate using the classic fantasy creatures in my stories, I find greater satisfaction in designing new ones.

In my old fantasy sketchbooks I have a wealth of creature ideas. These were first conceived of during the initial creation of The Sword of the Dragon story. Looking back, I am glad I took the time to create not only written content, but sketches and maps, too.

For the Megatrath I drew inspiration from the head of an alligator, the tail of a lizard, the feet of a dragon, and then I gave it six legs. The sketch that you see in this post is artist Amber “Vantid” Hill’s representation of one of these creatures. It was not easy at first to get her to sketch what I had envisioned. The process took several hours of live video chat so that the Megatrath turned out right.

You will recognize this creature from my novels Offspring and Key of Living Fire.

Question: Have you envisioned any original creatures that you would like to see used in fantasy novels?

Are New Year’s resolutions overwhelming you?

AuthorAppleton on January 5, 2015

If you are anything like me you have looked at the New Year and put together a detailed list of your New Year’s Resolutions. I have done this for a long while now, and each year I find I have fallen a little short of my goals and, often, I have burned myself out in the process. This New Year I approached things more simply.

If you are an author, artist, business professional, or entrepreneur the likelihood that you overcommit your time and resources is high. I know with myself it’s become a sometimes self-destructive pattern. The drive to achieve goals, complete projects, and prepare for future projects comes with the territory when we are highly motivated to succeed. Yet when I commit to many objectives I am unable to give each my best effort, and inevitably I fall short of some due to lack of time. 2015 is a new year and it’s time to resist the urge to create a long list of New Year’s resolutions.

This year I have committed to only three things:

  1. Finish writing and then publish “In Search of Dragons”
  2. Eliminate all remaining debt
  3. Build financial savings

These things are very achievable and necessary to my happiness and that of my family. In years past I have had a long list of resolutions. Most years I achieved the majority of the goals I had set, yet I left myself no breathing room. My days away from my day job have so many other commitments that I often feel overwhelmed, which has led to stress and exhaustion. This year will be different and I believe it will boost my productivity and happiness.

If we take better care of ourselves, we can better care for those we love. If we over commit, we will work ourselves to a frazzle and lessen the quality and impact each of our achievements have.

This year take a look at your resolutions. Have you over-committed?

By shaving your list to the bare minimum you will:

  1. Increase the quality and impact of the work you do
  2. Reduce your stress, and
  3. Improve your relationships

These are the results I am looking to have. This is why I have such a short list this year.

Question: Would your year benefit from trimming your New Year’s resolutions to a minimum?

Subscribers: My early Christmas gift to you!

AuthorAppleton on November 24, 2014

Nothing keeps you connected to the content on my site like subscribing to my Email list… And this week I released a new product, an Ebook on writing, as a Thank You to all my subscribers. But that is only one reason you should be on this list.

Here are 3 benefits to subscribing to my email list.

  1. Weekly blog posts straight to your inbox, focusing on Family-Friendly Fiction
  2. The Writer’s Scrapbook: 10 Tips to Fantasy Storytelling eBook for Free! This little book is packed with writing advice that I’ve gleaned over the years. This is not your typical book on writing. I take it from the perspective of a Christian author trying to create meaningful content.
  3. Exclusive content offers and updates related to writing and my novels.

The Writer’s Scrapbook. I am so excited to put this Ebook in your hands. Many, many people have asked me for writing advice and have questioned how I can write fantasy as a Christian author. Packed into this short book is potent advice I have formulated to encourage you to understand the writing process and even how worldview impacts the stories I create.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! I have some cool posts planned and a couple of fun announcements coming soon.

Changing the story formula with Godzilla

AuthorAppleton on October 13, 2014

Godzilla stories had an interesting angle: nature was too big for humanity to ever conquer. I remember when I was a kid riding my bicycle five miles to my grandparents’ house. My grandmother would usually offer hot chocolate and/or instant mac and cheese. My grandfather would offer snacks (often cookies) and a movie. He introduced me to the original Godzilla movies and I was hooked!

Godzilla (2014)

Mild spoilers if you didn’t see the movie: Recently I had the opportunity to watch the latest incarnation of Godzilla. It was a well-conceived story, where, just like in the old classics, nature is beyond humanity’s control. The monsters that awakened to ravage the Earth swiftly moved from Japan to Hawaii, then on to the US pacific coast. Military might and technological ingenuity proved as ineffective as flies in the monsters’ path. Godzilla figured as the balancing power, an entity whose sole purpose seemed to be destroying the indestructible.

I think there is something modern storytellers can learn from this. We have developed formulas. Big problem equals bigger or more clever response from mankind to solve it. But why not show more scenarios where world-changing events are insurmountable. The monster will ravage and cannot be stopped. The villain is so far technologically superior that no one can overthrow them. In exploring these possibilities the stories must necessarily put forth solutions other than mankind. Solutions of the supernatural.

Question: What do you think of stories that need that other-than-human solution? Have you enjoyed incarnations of Godzilla?

What defibrillators have in common with a Writing Career

AuthorAppleton on September 8, 2014

A powerful jolt of electricity can get a dead engine running again. A defibrillator can make the human heart beat again. Everything needs a “jumpstarter” every now and then. My writing career took a few blows these last few years and sometimes it feels like I’m down for the count. But I’m not.

Urgo in Stargate SG-1

Remember that episode of SG-1 when Urgo is influencing the team’s decisions. “Try the paddles,” he says to Teal’c. So Teal’c grabs the defibrillator paddles and moves to use them before he is stopped. Really it was a funny episode!

My agent recently gave me the news that my publisher backed out of publishing the fourth book in my series The Sword of the Dragon. I can’t say this shocked me. I know that the publishing market has been struggling. But it still comes as a disappointment and I have to reassess some things. Before I get all of you worried, the rights for In Search of Dragons have reverted to me and I will be publishing it next year. Only difference is it will release from my company, Flaming Pen Press. Neverqueen sequels will also be released under FPP (more and exciting updates coming on this soon).

I have been eager to get back onto the road with book tours. I especially miss visiting middle schools. The interaction with fans was unparalleled and the excitement and interest it generated in my books was a constant source of strength and inspiration for my writing and my writing career.

On the upside I still have my literary agent. She has all the connections necessary to sell my manuscripts to publishers. On the downside working full-time in sales combined with family life leaves very little time to get my writing done. I have plenty of projects in-the-works, but I need to get them finished.

Take it from me there is nothing like pressing onward toward living your dream. I’ve lived it a couple of times. Right now I’m on sabbatical until I can work the kinks out so that I’m back out there nonstop writing, promoting, and selling. God will open the right doors as long as I keep working at it! (-:

Question: What discouragements have made you feel like ‘throwing in the towel’ on your dreams? 

Authors: The Image Then and Now

AuthorAppleton on August 25, 2014

Books used to be detailed works of art, hand-crafted and extremely hard to come by . . .. And the authors back then were few and far between. Today books are mass-produced, and their design is frequently held back by budgetary considerations . . .. And authors are everywhere! But have we lost something of the writing art along the way?

My wife and I love watching old black and white movies. Truly the writing and the acting in many of those films is rarely matched in the contemporary film industry.

The other day we found a new “gem” of a film titled My Dear Secretary. The plot follows a woman who wants to be a writer as she becomes secretary to a renowned author. However this comedy quickly reveals that the author has lost his edge and has sunk himself into the life of the party and gambling debt. In the story everyone around the author puts up with his eccentricities as they wait for him to come up with the next great novel. In the story he never does produce another great literary work, but that seems beside the point.

Today authors are commonly expected, at minimum, to produce a new book every year. They are not given all the time they need to hide away and develop the next great book, it satisfies society that they do their best in the time allotted to them. But what if authors were to start acting more like the artists they used to be viewed as? What if they were allowed to explore the full range of their creativity without the pressure of mass-production? Would this lead to far better books that would stand out from the vast selection of mediocre works that are being published by the thousands every year?

We need to pull back from the mad rush of our swamped literary market and instead encourage the creation of original novels that are truly exceptional.

Question: Which books do you think would have benefited if the author had taken his time to complete it?

The Power of a Tragic Ending

AuthorAppleton on August 11, 2014

A tragic story will often pull us in like no other story can. Strangely, tragedy in fiction leaves a far more powerful impression than a happy or thrilling moment. Whether a book or  a movie, we gravitate toward these stories because they remind us of how precious the moments in our lives are.

Such a story is well illustrated in one of my favorite books and also in one of my favorite films.

The book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Arguably this is one of the best pieces of Young Adult writing that has been published. The writing is amazing, and the story is incredible. The tragedy is two-fold: 1) in the sacrifices of Harry’s friends, sometimes their lives, and 2) in Snape’s revelation. Villain is revealed to be hero, and the main character is forever changed as a result.

The movie is Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. The story follows a slight re-imagining of the Batman character known in the original animated series. He is heroic and steadfast, never seeming to waver in the purity of his heart. During the course of the film, Bruce Wayne’s passionate love for Andrea Beaumont is revealed when she returns unexpectedly to Gotham. The movie shifts seamlessly between the present troubles and Batman’s flashbacks. The script for this is amazing. It grabs from the get go and there is no happy ending to the tale. And yet, it has become a cult classic, and I understand why.

This has made me sit back and re-evaluate the contemporary stories playing out on screen and in books. Most stories, especially the superhero type, have happy endings and there are few permanent losses that the heroes and heroines must endure. Are many storytellers forgetting the power of a sad ending? Let’s tip our hats to the stories of yesteryears, and the tragedies that hooked us and stayed in our memories.

What books and movies have had this effect on you?

Backstage Pass! My Writing Machine

AuthorAppleton on June 9, 2014

My father was fond of two sayings: 1) Life isn’t fair, and 2) You get what you pay for!

I’ve owned my share of laptops and I work them hard. I think my laptops average seven hours of operation per day. My first was a Dell Inspiron which I purchased for $700 back in 2002. I wrote my first complete manuscript on that laptop. The manuscript was titled The Lore of Etina, that I later renamed The Sword of the Dragon, which of course became the source material for my first novel series. In 2006 I upgraded to a Toshiba. I cannot remember the model but it was a good machine and I paid about $1,400 for it. That one lasted about three years and I replaced it with a cheap Toshiba from Walmart. I will never do that again. The keyboard was not very responsive, the screen had poor resolution, and the hard drive died within a month!

I had been researching Toshiba’s gaming laptop line and I decided to take the plunge. I invested about $1,600 in a Toshiba Qosmio and that is my writing machine! The keyboard is responsive, the screen resolution is fantastic, the encasement is aluminum, and I upgraded it with a Solid State Drive to optimize its processing power. This laptop is big. And I know I am in the minority nowadays, but I do like a large machine.

Question: What is your Writing Machine?