Author Appleton

Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery

Archives for March 2016

Pondering: futility of godless stories

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Ponder with me the shallowness of stories that omit any divine purpose. Any intervention or God-given purpose. As writers creating fictional realms we have the opportunity to omit God… or do we?

A story I moderately enjoy centers around a Buddhist monk who is on a quest to find the equivalent of the chosen one. The chosen one must have certain qualities and the monk seeks out a man with those qualities. In his quest he relies heavily on a prophecy that gives him signs he can follow so that he will know for certain he has found the one. There is never a mention of divine intervention. The story as a whole is devoid of God and in this missing element it becomes shallow.

It makes no sense for there to be a prophecy unless there was One to inspire the prophecy. And it is contradictory to choose one man based on moral qualities and yet ignore where those moral qualities come from.

Is it not interesting? While purporting high moral standards, secular stories miss the all-important question, which is, that if there is a moral law then Who gave that law. And if there is no Divine giver of moral law then morals are dictated by mankind. And if mankind dictates morals then he is not responsible to a higher power, and without that responsibility mankind is free to follow their own moral codes. One person may say that a thing is wrong while another will say that it is right. Who is to say which is which? They are both men. They are both fallible. More importantly there is no Judge to hold them to a standard of morality.

You cannot have moral law without a Lawgiver, and the same law loses its power if you deny the existence of the One who established and enforced those laws. In truth there would be no solid consequences to immoral actions because no one could say that the law was any better than the lawbreaker’s moral opinion.

Q: Do you ponder the necessity of God in stories?

 

When books were shorter and excellent

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A few years back I approached my publisher with a proposed new fantasy series that would tie in with the previous one I wrote for them. They turned it down. Not because it wasn’t the type of story that they liked but because the manuscript did not exceed their minimum word-count requirement. That book was Neverqueen and I subsequently released that title through my own company. The word-count guidelines are something that I totally understand publishers need to have guidelines on, but what I find interesting is that seventy years ago shorter books rocked the publishing world.

Two prime examples of short works of fiction are a couple of my absolute favorite titles: The Time Machine and The Wizard of Oz. Other examples would be several of the Chronicles of Narnia titles. There’s an old saying that bears bringing back to life: “Short but sweet.”

I would like to make the argument that shorter works are needed. In fact, there is a nearly untapped market of readers out there who love to read but have very little time for pleasure reading. High school and college students are immersed in homework and textbooks. And fathers and mothers of young kids are swamped with work, life, and all that it entails. Picking up a four hundred page novel is not practical for them. But if they could find some shorter reads that were nevertheless just as fascinating as the longer works, I bet they would pick them up.

Neverqueen was my first test of this theory and it has proven to be accurate. Readers are snapping that book up and their responses have been overwhelmingly positive.

Years ago when I established Flaming Pen Press I intended to release an entire line of fantasy and science fiction novellas, mostly from new authors. But unfortunately we suffered a major financial setback and everything had to be scrapped. But I have not lost that vision. In fact, I have been plotting bringing back Flaming Pen Press with a line of new titles. There are details still to work out, but what I’d like to do is release the next line of short books that will capture the imagination just as The Time Machine and The Wizard of Oz did for me. Currently I know of only one publisher that is successfully doing this (TOR) and I am pleased to see the result is positive for them as well.

Q: What do you think of novellas?

Materialism: the writer’s enemy

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Recently I took my wife and kids to the mall. It is only about twenty-five minutes from our house but I had never been. In fact, it had been a long while since I had been in any mall. Firstly, I am not a big shopper and second, I find malls are filled with clothing above all else (which generally I find clothes shopping boring). We only moved to South Carolina in the past year so there is much of the area yet to explore. But in my trip to the mall I was reminded of the dangers of materialism and specifically how they impede creativity and writing.

After eating dinner we had walked through a portion of the mall. As I said before there were many clothing stores but there were also other shops. The myriad of jewelry stores, a few department stores, various kiosks in the aisle offering anything from bracelets to perfume. Then, on the lower level, there was an apple store. You must understand that I am not an Apple-only customer. My laptops have always been Windows machines due to the flexibility of the programing. However, I bought an iPad2 a few years back and have been thrilled with the quality of the product. Battery still holds almost 10-hours of life. I’ve dropped the thing on a tile floor and still it works seamlessly. But I have never been inside of an Apple store, though many people have told me it is fascinating because they carry the latest gadgets.

I love gadgets. Technology fascinates me and I do not mind spending good money on tech that lasts longer and gives me greater flexibility in my life. My wife stopped at one shop and I walked off with my youngest boys in the stroller to check out the Apple store. When I arrived I stood outside of the doorway and looked in. It looked like fun. But the desire to go in and fiddle with the new tech left me. I found myself thinking about all of the good in life that I have… and I have it without creating new cravings for more stuff.

Do not get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with shopping for good tech. But in that moment I realized that I have all I need. A beautiful wife and four great kids, a house and a bit of land, and a good job. Above all of that is God’s love surrounding and feeding that contentment.

No greater illustration can be given of this struggle than that of Pilgrim’s Progress, in which Christian carries a burden of sin along his journey to the Celestial City. The writer is Christian and the burden is Materialism. Especially in America where we are given so much and given the opportunity for so much more. Materialism consumes many of us. It drowns creativity and exterminates healthy ambitions.

I do not want to be always desirous of the things in this life, I want to be creative in expressing the love, the satisfaction, and benefits I enjoy. Writing is my way of expressing myself and when I write I convey the things that matter most to me and why they matter most to me.

Materialism is the writer’s enemy. Seeking after things only leads to more lust. Seeking instead to find that inner peace and communion with God leads to an abundance of creativity.

Q: How do you view materialism?

The New Fantasy Beast

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Innovative fantasy creatures are born from strange ideas. In my writing experience it is easy to invent creatures. But it is not enough to create new creatures, they must be memorable in their uniqueness. They must be believable in their physical and behavioral traits. …Such a creature is the Cat Beast.

Some of the creatures I created for The Sword of the Dragon series were more successful than others. The most popular so far have been the Megatraths. Six-legged monsters of an ancient lineage that has been lost to legend. Offspring introduced these beasts with a cruel Megatrath whose consideration of humanoids was that they were little more than playthings for his cruel amusement. Then we trekked into the desert homeland of the creatures and met Vectra, matriarch of the Megatraths. The Megatraths are neither cruel nor thoughtless. Cunning, yes. Of great physical strength, definitely. Breathing fire, exhaling poisonous vapors.

In the Neverqueen Saga I wanted to introduce a new beast that would hold us with a similar fascination as the megatraths. This may be same storyworld as the primary books in The Sword of the Dragon series, but here I wanted something that would personify the different sort of stories these books will tell. Neverqueen is more about finesse and beauty that hides souls in pain. It may sound a bit strange, but Hey! let me apologize. This is the writer’s mind.

What creature is more subtle than a cat? More resilient than a mountain ram? What sort of beast would rival a dragon in a fight even if it possessed no scales and could not breath fire?

The Cat Beasts are rarely seen. Possessing the strength of a dragon and near a dragon’s size, but often rivaling a dragon’s intelligence. They seem to be all but extinct. A couple are known to remain of the species… until the events of Neverqueen2. But there is one more truth that could determine our perception of them: they serve the wizard, Turser.

Such beautiful creatures. Yet such a pallor of uncertainty and fear surrounds them.

Q: What type of beast most fascinates you?