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Bringing a Story to Life: Perspective Part 1

owl-bookThough I declared I wanted to be a writer when I was three I didn’t start taking formal steps to make it a reality until high school when a friend and fellow aspiring writer gave me a copy of Writer’s Market for Christmas and asked me to go with him to a writer’s conference at Oakland University.

First Perspective.  I really owe Eric.  When I told him I wanted to be a writer he explained I needed to see myself as one for real and ignore well-meaning souls who acted as if they were humoring me by listening to my dream.

My parents supported my dream fully.  From Day One.  So did my brother.

My life changed because of Eric’s words.

Next Perspective.  Though I loved listening to the authors speak, I felt totally lost and out of place at that conference.

I felt like a fraud – though Eric didn’t and told me I shouldn’t either.

One thing is absolutely true:  It launched my journey down the path of gathering the tools and information necessary to make my dream a reality.

Over the years I found the most powerful tools and best information came from fellow writers who were sometimes (happily) unpublished.

I’ve learned some writers prefer to enjoy the attention they get from telling everyone they’re working on their manuscripts – and have zero intention of ever publishing.

  • Per the advice of a tech colleague who was able to quit her day job after her first book was published I learned about Writer’s Digest School where I learned valuable information from a mentor.
  • Per the advice of another tech colleague who had just landed an agent shopping his manuscript – don’t give up!
  • From yet another aspiring writer [tech] colleague who wanted to charge me 25% of my royalties for acting as my agent – even though he had no experience in the industry – I learned that wolves in sheep’s clothing exist.

I did not hire him.

  • From yet ANOTHER tech colleague I learned that it might be time to stop relying on tech colleagues who may know little or nothing about being a writer or the writers’ industry for advice.

I made the assumption that since they were intelligent and successful they were good resources but came to realize that in addition to lacking writing industry experience or insight, in some cases they had  a different vision (for me) than I did.  And had I followed their vision [for me]?  I would have been slammed at a proverbial brick wall at hydrogen collider speed.  I also came to learn that in some cases, it was done on purpose because it served them (but not me). 

That was a tough lesson but a good one to learn. 

I learned that even within the writing industry people are motivated differently and may steer you in a bad direction – because it serves them.

In other words there is more to the story so read the fine print and beware of opportunities and situations that seem too good to be true.

 Some of the very best advice – the most genuine – has come from the NY Times Best Selling authors who generously give of their time at RWA events.

These women are genuine, gracious, and honest.

I learned – the hard way – that some people have ulterior motives for what they do.

I call this making the carrot in front of the donkey look bigger.  The reward may seem bigger but it’s not any closer.

I learned as a result of a negative experience that even well-meaning souls can F you up!

  • Asking someone to be a beta reader before learning whether or not they typically read your genre can set you up for trouble.

So can entering contests under same idea…

  • Following the advice of someone who was first published thirty plus years ago may not be helpful.

Um – the industry has changed – BIG TIME

  • Following advice of someone published in another type of writing altogether may not be helpful.

If they write for textbooks or magazines – very different than novels.

Some lessons truly need to be learned.

They cannot be told.

Not All Success Stories Are Equal.  Understandably many authors don’t want to bite the hand they think is feeding them so the information they share may be technically true but not representative of a typical experience.

In other words results may and do vary.

In Perspective.  Mark Coker put up an interesting slide at a Writer’s Conference I attended years ago.

RWA.  Not just for Romance Writers!  Lots of great information on the industry.

His breakout session was standing room only – listeners spilled into the hall – all wanting to better understand the tech enabled direction the industry seemed to be going.  He explained he was inspired to action after watching what happened to his aspiring writer wife as she tried to land a traditional contract and was put through the proverbial ringer.

The slide showed an interesting statistic.  For those contracting with traditional publishers – royalty to author was 5 – 15%.  For those who went with the tech-enabled?  50 – 65%.

You could have heard a pin drop and I watched a  familiar higher up in the industry pull out his cell phone and make a run for it. 

What to Do?  The long and the short answer are the same.  Do what works for you!

Yep – same advice I give with my nonfiction!

As to the above statistics?  Honestly?  A lot of writers and/or aspiring writers don’t care.

Everyone is on their own path.

At that same conference I spoke with a lovely woman in her 80s who ADORED working for Harlequin.  She told me they treated her – and always had – very well.  Simple Kill Contract – she was more than happy to sign – and was a happy camper.

It pays to talk with and listen to a plethora of individuals while on the road to fulfilling your dream.  Each comes with a perspective that can help you.

Even bad advice can teach a lesson.

The key is to recognize that it is a perspective.  

Great Advice!  I suggest aspiring writers read Stephen King’s  On Writing.

It’s also worthwhile to read  the notes from Mark Coker on his Smashwords website and check out RWA as a source of valuable industry related information.  Just remember to take it all with a grain of salt.

After all – none of it may apply to you.

 

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Bringing a Story to Life: Go With the Flow

D246_52_548_1200Well into Shadow of the Gods: Second in the Dragon Core series.

I’m proud to say Metatron’s Legacy is on track for December 15 release.

I wrote previously about choosing a location that was inspiration for a primary setting in Cauldron of the Gods.  Interestingly, my first choice had to be bleep canned because – like in the story – it was undergoing what some people refer to as gentrification.

Only in my story, the owner retains as much of the bones as possible.  In the location that I had to abandon?  The new look and feel is horrendously ugly.  I can’t believe they didn’t retain any of the historical value.

I spent months searching for an alternate turning down a number of places because the vibe just wasn’t right.

They fell into two categories: Gritty to the point of disgustingly dirty or a location that screamed yuppy bar. 

I decided to go with a location I was pretty happy with.

The one referenced in the article on scouting.

It didn’t fit exactly because it was a place that featured live music and the bar in my story doesn’t, but the vibe was good.  So was the neighborhood.

As I write in Cauldron, gritty sophistication

Life Imitates Art Part 1.  Well, lo and behold, my ideal location has succumbed to the fickle finger of Fate.

It’s being repurposed as part of an overall “upgrade” from the gritty sophistication of the industrial area it hugs.

It’s truly ironic because this theme plays a fairly major role in the book as well as the series.

Rejuvenation, repurpose, re -.

Life Imitates Art Part 2.  Another irony is that one of the locations I turned down because the vibe wasn’t right has become ideal.

It isn’t that it went from yuppy to gritty so much as a variety of energetic shifts.

So a place that didn’t work, works.

Because the flow of energy changed.

Change Inside Outside Part 1.  I took time to analyze the change.

I like to learn from stuff like this.

I realized that I’d never spent time in a certain part of the establishment.  The more I visited and spent time in that other area, the more I realized that it actually was just about perfect.

Change Inside Outside Part 2.  I took into account that in addition to this location going through changes – including changes in staff and clientele – I had changed.

I’ve been refining my career to reflect my growth as a writer.

Cleaning House Part 1.  My writing career has been evolving for years.

So have I.  

To refelct this I’ve made a number of changes.

 I spent months working on my website, filming, and implementing other changes to reflect this shift.

Always honor internal growth in some meaningful external way.

Cleaning House Part 2.  I appear to be getting assistance.  The gremlin managing my music has been busy sending messages.

Primarily removing songs  tied to an old me; a me that no longer exists as I’ve grown.

The most recent bit of chaos occurred the other day.  I went to listen to a playlist created when I first got iTunes.

It is literally the first playlist I created.

I launched it and as I watched – never even got  to play one song – it was “written over” by some invisible force – aka gremlin – and replaced with a different playlist.

The second playlist I ever created., immediately after the first  I split the genre by years.

While I could easily recreate the playlist – or maybe not given that I’ve literally been prevented from adding certain songs into playlists or otherwise changing them – I won’t because upon further consideration I realized the songs in that playlist represent the me that no longer exists.

To retain the playlist – those songs – would hold me back.

The Higher View Part 1.  That I needed to change the location that was inspiration – because the location itself changed – is part of the overall transformation of life.

The Higher View Part 2.  I was born during a generational transformation and I’ve come to see that those of us born within this time (give or take a few years before/after) are the leading edge of it.

This has mixed results.

I accept the change in location as I accept the loss of the music.  It’s time to change.

Inside and Outside.

 

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The Paranormal in Action: Building a Soundtrack

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unnamed.jpgHappy Halloween Everyone!  Thought I’d share a true spirit story to help kick this holiday off right.

Note:  Article is long.

The Back Story.  Several years ago – spring 2011 to be exact – while staying at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas, I ran into a feisty ghost.  He was in our room which is interesting since we’d had to switch rooms in the middle of the night thanks to a raucous party going on next to the original one.

For the next two evenings he and I “chatted.”

He apparently wasn’t interested in my getting sleep.

Car__Ghost_Cartoon.jpgAt the end of the trip he asked if he could accompany us back home.  After discussing it with Aaron and setting a few ground rules, I agreed.

Honestly, could I really have stopped him?

In the ensuing years he and I have become good friends.  He’s been incredibly helpful in so many ways:  My writing, nutrition, helping me research EMF Sensitivity.

As a ghost and a musician, he has a good handle on the subject. 

He helped me figure out it’s the Stratocaster that is instrumental in songs that alleviate EMF Sensitivity symptoms.

On That Note.  He’s very opinionated when it comes to musical tastes.

So am I.

Over the years we’ve had more than a few disagreements on what constitutes good music.

Rude Awakening.  Wanting to see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument, we drove from Colorado to South Dakota.

This was shortly after meeting the helpful spirit.

We’d gotten in late but talked about getting up early to get a head start on the trip.  We were in a dead sleep when there was a loud crash then the blare of music.  I sat straight up in bed while Aaron jumped out and was standing next to it staring down at the clock radio which had been thrown to the floor.  He started to laugh.  When I looked at him as if he’d lost his mind he pointed to the floor.  “Listen,” he said.

I rolled my eyes as I heard what was playing.

It’s a song my ghost loves – but I don’t, a rare cut of a Neil Young song not often played on the radio – a song he did with his Crazy Horse band.

Both kids started to laugh and crowed, “ET!”

This has been my nickname for him since the beginning.

I just groaned and pulled the pillow over my head.

ET laughed and said, “You did say you wanted to get an early start to the day!”

The Tug of Music War.  Over time the disagreement over music escalated.

I don’t really care for his stuff though there are a couple of his songs I like.

At one point, totally exasperated with my refusal to listen to his music, he took action.

This was in 2012 and we were living in Arizona. 

He proceeded to load several songs from various albums onto my ipod.

He literally created a playlist of his music.

I was not amused.  I had Aaron take a look, see if he could figure out how the songs had gotten into my iTunes library.

I certainly hadn’t put them there.

I will never forget the moment when Aaron – after poking around on the system – jerked back and said, “Whoa!”  He then proceeded to tell me, “There is no way you could have done this.”

I replied, “I told  you, I didn’t put them there.  But why -?”

He pointed to the links and said, “You don’t know how to do this.”

Though the songs were from albums Aaron owned, I had no access to them.  I didn’t even own a Mac at the time and there was no shared network.  I literally would have had to plug in a disk drive upon which Aaron had ripped his music and load the handful of songs myself.

He continued to frown at the screen, shook his head.  “I don’t know how that happened but it’s there.”

It was the artist himself, ET.  

Music Hijinks Continue.  One evening about a year and a half later, while living in San Diego, I was listening to music through my laptop and typing an email to a friend.  The subject of the email was ET.  I was relating a story he’d told me when the song I was listening to changed – to one of his.

One I really really do not like.

I wrote, “Holy sh*t! he just switched to a song he wrote about the story he told me!”

And Now?  Though in recent years we’ve come to more or less a truce about what music I listen to, he continues to exert his influence.  Luckily for me, it isn’t always obnoxious.  In fact, this past week it was downright helpful!

Creating Soundtracks.  Starting with Metatron’s Army I decided to create soundtracks for my stories.

I did this after realizing that Nigel Stanford’s Solar Echoes more or less fit the entire series perfectly.

I decided doing the same for Dragon Core would be helpful.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find music that fit.

I had a few random songs but nothing cohesive.

About a week ago, I plugged in headphones and launched the Music app.  I was surprised and a bit irritated to find that once again, someone had appropriated my music library.

This time,  instead of creating a playlist, the mischievous spirit refused to sync one I’d created to my phone.

I tried troubleshooting for awhile, gave up and asked Aaron to take a look – see if he could figure out what was going on.  Though he wasn’t able to figure it out he did witness a song get loaded onto the list – by someone other than me; someone neither one of us could see.

He literally watched a song pop up that I did not put into the list! 

Knowing I wasn’t going to win the battle I gave up trying to create the playlist.

My spirit friend was obviously expressing his opinion of the music I was “trying” to select.

For the next few days the somewhat helpful and very opinionated spirit maintained control of my iTunes library.  He literally chose songs for me to listen to – at random.

Some of the songs I literally do not own.  I have no idea where he was pulling them from.

Though I eventually identified something of a pattern to the music played, I was baffled by the choices as they crossed genres and styles.

And some of them came from nowhere!  I do not have the albums!

The Truce.   I guess the spirit appreciated that I was allowing him to choose for me because he rewarded me for my concession – by creating a Soundtrack for Shadow of the Gods, second in the Dragon Core Series.

I finished the first draft of Cauldron of the Gods – beta reader is done with it so its a go for an early 2020 release.

34425475.jpgThe story of the Shadow Soundtrack is worth relating on this day…

Knock Knock.  I wasn’t planning to listen to music that day.

I was sitting at my desk, the headphones not plugged in. 

As I was working on the end of Cauldron of the Gods the headphone jack knocked against the desk.  Smiling, I said, “You want to talk to me, huh?”

I knew who was behind the knocking.

I plugged in the headphones, fired up the Music app and proceeded to see what he had in mind for me to listen to.  I quickly realized the music he was choosing was perfect for Shadow of the Gods.  Excited, I wrote the songs down so I could create the playlist.  Not surprisingly, this one sync’d to my phone.

None of the other ones I’d been trying to create for the past week have.

It’s been an adventure, to say the least, but it’s also been pretty cool having such a friendly spirit around.

Even one as musically opinionated as ET.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this strange but true tale of musical madness!

Happy Halloween!

Post Note:  I just tried to add a song to the playlist he created – it won’t work.  I tried twice.  He refuses to accept a song he didn’t select.

Either that or he hates the song.

Post Post Note:  So, I just checked with the web to see if I could fix this sync’ing issue. Followed all the steps here and it fixed one playlist issue but not all.

And not the one created by my feisty spirited friend.

The songs and playlists affected are very specific.

word-of-the-day-01.jpg

 

Someone is definitely having fun with me.

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Science Fiction or Fantasy? Depends on Where You’re Looking

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PA_SEO_095_Are_Fairies_Mythical-624x245I never used to understand why bookstores had a section called Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  They seemed so completely different.  Then again, I read neither.

I read spy novels (Jean le Carre, Nelson DeMille), straight fiction (Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer), and later, action/adventure (Stuart Woods, Clive Cussler).

As I write Dragon Core, I can’t help but notice elements that could find a home in either genre.

Multiple dimensions, time travel, parallel universes, mystical/fantastical creatures, unexplainable phenomenon.

And now I know why.  It depends on whether you are looking forward or backward.

Forward:  If you took a cell phone and traveled back in time, depending on how far back you went you would…

  • Be ignored
  • Be attacked
  • Be mobbed
  • Be embraced

I left off burned at the stake but that is definitely on the roulette wheel.

This suggests that technological advancement would be considered science fiction as opposed to fantasy if you were backward in time.

I’m simplifying in order to make a point.

Backward: If you were backward in time and saw the use of pyrotechnics (gun powder – a technological advancement) as brought from Asia to Europe, you would likely consider it “magick” and therefore in the realm of fantasy.

Cauldron of the Gods.  I was using a spell as a plot device earlier today and recalled a similar use in a science fiction series I’d seen years earlier – though it wasn’t accomplished by way of a spell.  It made me see how a person’s view – sci-fi or fantasy – would change depending whether they were looking forward or backward.

As I wrote this, I recalled a confrontation in Star Wars IV: A New Hope between Darth Vader and Motti.

“Don’t try to frighten us with your sorceror’s ways, Lord Vader.  Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels’ hidden fort…”

Another example of the two genres coexisting within one framework.

Much as Lucas’ unseen until then special effects technology brought an uneducated audience into the future of cinema.

I’ve always found it ironic that I have never been a big fantasy or science fiction reader, though I have read a variety of books classified under those genres throughout my life.

One of my very favorites is a short story I read in 8th grade.  Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed by Ray Bradbury.

In the end I just accepted that what I am is a storyteller and though my settings may vary, my art does not.

The art of telling a good story.

Looking Forward.  If all goes as scheduled I should have the first draft of  Cauldron of the Gods, – first in the Dragon Core series – finished within the next week.  In the meantime, Metatron’s Legacy, a science fiction story, is set for release in late 2019.

Stay tuned…

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New Series Details

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housekeeping-cleaning-bathroomI’m in the process of revamping  my online presence.

Simplifying to better serve readers.

I just finished adding pages that provide details on my new series and invite readers to check them out!

A Universal Change.  Though all my work will be organized through elizabethmaxim.com, I did choose to maintain metatronsarmy.com as a separate site that can be reached with a click.

I have decided to put the single title novels related to the original series on this site.

I also provide information on my style and my take on the paranormal.

Enjoy!

 

 

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Work in Progress

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24E8972600000578-2920453-image-a-28_1421869300828.jpgThe October 1 release of Adjudication: Book 13 in the Metatron’s Army Series signifies the end of a chapter in my writing career.

 

Though I have multiple books [read projects] open.

I came to really love the sci-fi project that was 35 + years in the making.  I learned so much about myself as a writer including what it is I really love about being a writer.

Hint:  Fiction!

Progress:  As one chapter ends, another begins.

I have several fiction projects in various stages of completion

  • Metatron’s Legacy

Science Fiction.  Single title that takes place 20 years after Metatron’s Army ends.  Will be available late autumn/ early winter 2019.

  • Dragon Core

Urban Fantasy.  The first installment, Cauldron of the Gods, is in progress.  Estimated release winter 2020.

  • Ghost Games

Action/Adventure.  Work in progress.  No estimate for initial release at this time.  Stay tuned.

  • Paranormal Journeys/Port Gallatan

Paranormal Romance.  A number of books in various stages of completion will fall under this banner.  Blue Skye, the next in the series, is in progress.  No estimate for release at this time.  Stay tuned.

More Progress.  My writing career continues to evolve.

I will be focusing on fiction full-time.

In the coming days and weeks readers will see changes to my online presence that reflect this.

Stay tuned!

 

 

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Bringing a Story to Life: Those Pesky Details

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lot-of-11-medieval-south-german-ButtonsI was working on a scene of passion in Cauldron of the Gods, the first of the Dragon Core series when I found myself having to stop to verify what I was writing was possible.

As happens sometimes, I was both writer and reader and it was the reader side that caught the potential mistake.

The male character is undressing a female, undoing buttons on the back of her gown.  The problem?  Had buttons been invented yet?

This scene takes place in the fourteenth century.

Fortunately, I was able to verify that yes, buttons had been invited by this point in time.  However, I realized that I wasn’t done with the research.  The other potential problem?  The male character’s clothing.

I had to move beyond the time period and zero in on a specific part of Europe during that time period.

In this case I only needed to make a couple of minor adjustments though the entire exercise took a few hours of back and forth between writing and researching.

I’m pleased with how the scene turned out.

The scene itself took me four days to finish.

On another note.  Adjudication: Book 13 of the Metatron’s Army Series is available for pre-release.

This is the final installment of the Metatron’s Army Series.  The book will be released on October 1, 2019.

 

 

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Bringing a Story to Life: The Paranormal in Action

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How-To-Make-A-Mimosa-Recipe.jpg

So, today hasn’t exactly gone as planned.

And it’s far from over.

I decided to go to one of my local haunts to work on Dragon Core.  I’m having trouble connecting to one of the characters and the first draft of the book cover is missing something.

I thought a change of scenery and vibe might be just the thing to get me back on track creatively.

After delivering my salad the lady waiting on me told me they were giving away mimosas for free for a limited time and would I like one after my lunch.

I rarely drink mimosas. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had one.

I said sure.

After finishing the salad I turned back to the manuscript.

At this point I’m doing a read/write/edit sort of thing and was rereading a scene I’d written about two weeks ago.

I was reading the manuscript when she set the mimosa next to me.  My eyes widened and I called her back to the table so I could show her the scene.

EXCERPT:

They’d had breakfast at his place, bagels and cream cheese and Italian sausage.

“Mimosa?”

“Neither of us has to go to work.”

It was Sunday and though she would have loved to spend the entire day with him, she had errands to run. 

Mimosa?  Just as she set one next to me?

For just a time I was able to smile and feel as if once again, life was giving me a thumb’s up.

I’ve been a bit frustrated with how slowly this novel is progressing and this little “coincidence” definitely sent the message it was all going to work out and I could relax about it.

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Bringing a Story to Life: Location Scouting

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dpds021438.jpg

Note:  This article is lengthy.

Having a location to visualize when writing a scene puts the writer on the stage with the characters. For me the process of selecting locations for my work is complex even as it’s fun.

The Why.  Choosing a setting for a novel is an important step in its creation.  It sets the tone for the reader so they can identify with the tale but it also provides the foundation for character behavior.  A number of factors encompass the location.

  • Time
  • Place
  • Locations within locations (i.e. business, residences, infrastructure, etc)

When Dragon Core began to take form as a viable idea for a story, the only location piece I had was a bar.

There is a historical element that factors into the plot but that was easily dealt with.  I simply needed to do a bit of research on historical events to get a feel for that environment/location.

Just prior to Christmas I came up with the name of the bar – Aesop’s Cove – but otherwise had no details on the location or setting.

Outside that it would be in an urban environment.

Urban Fantasy. For several months I considered whether to use a real urban environment or make one up.  In the end I decided on a hybrid.

The decision to use a hybrid came from the need and desire to pull elements from a variety of locations.

Considerations. Portland and New Orleans were both in the running for a long time but each presented unique challenges for my story.

New Orleans.  To represent the city with justice I would need to provide insider details that add vibrancy to the story, and I haven’t lived in New Orleans for decades.

There would also be elements I didn’t want to bring into the story, such as Cajun lifestyle, Mardi Gras, hurricanes, and the oil and gas industry.  These don’t fit into my storyline but would have to be dealt with if not included were I to choose this city.

Portland.  The layout of this city – that it is on a river as opposed to the coast – meant I would have to make alterations to the overall environment.  There are also cultural norms for this city that I didn’t want to use as a focus in my story.

Hybrid to the rescue. In spite of the challenges, these two cities definitely provided potential by way of locations within the location.

In other words, neighborhoods within the city at large that held elements conducive to scenes in the Dragon Core series.

These neighborhoods provided some of the vibe I was looking for.  They also contained businesses and/or architectural uniquenesses that I was happy to include in the location I was building.

Living within the location.  I decided the characters would not only work in an urban environment; they would live there. This led to the need to choose the type of living situation they were going to have.

  • Condo, loft, apartment, or house?
  • Roommates or not?
  • Walk to work, take public transportation, or drive a car?

These were some of the details I needed to work out.  Having lived in several urban environments throughout my life I was able to draw from my own experiences for these details.

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit other urban environments throughout the years, traveling for work, so was able to pull details from those experiences as well.

Work within the location.  In this case, it helps to have an understanding of what any specific urban environment is known for.  Large metropolitan areas are often associated with a specific industry and the nuances that go along with the people, places, and businesses that feed that environment.

There is a symbiotic relationship between the industries and the communities that surround those industries.

  • Detroit/Midwest with its auto industry and union influences
  • New Orleans with its Voodoo culture, Mississippi River, and oil and gas industry
  • Los Angeles with its Hollywood and Bel-Air vibe along with being the land of dreams if not dreamers.
  • San Francisco/Silicon Valley with its tech and Gold Rush boom bust history

I pulled from a number of cities along the west coast when creating Dragon Core’s urban environment.

  • San Diego
  • San Francisco
  • Portland
  • Seattle

I also pulled in from a specific neighborhood in New Orleans.

History within the location.  In addition to where the characters currently live, I needed to decide where they came from.

While important for cultural influences such a location isn’t as detail dependent as the current location/setting.  In fact, it was more important to elaborate on personal experiences than environmental details as they have more impact on my character development.

The stage within location.  I use the term stage to refer to a scene setting within an overall environment. In the case of Dragon Core there are a few main stages.

  • Aesop’s Cove
  • Clare’s office
  • Warehouse Square

Each of these stages requires a location and setup of their own.  I drew from personal experience when creating them.

Warehouse Square.  For this location setting I drew from Washington and Jackson Squares in San Francisco, the area in and around Portland’s Chinatown as well as the area near Voodoo Donut, and Pioneer Square in Seattle.

Clare’s Office.  For this setting I visualized the building I worked in my senior year in high school as well as the area around one of the police stations in San Francisco.

Aesop’s Cove.  This was a toughie.  For whatever reason I felt I had to really be able to “wear” this location when writing.

In order to get into the vibe of the interactions with the characters as well as the mood of the place and the people within that place as it changes throughout the story.

I visited a couple of prospects for locations that would fit the vibe I was looking for.

I visited new locations as well as bringing to mind various pubs or bars I’ve been in over the years.

Goldilocks would be proud.  There is a scene in Cauldron of the Gods where I have the character – Clare Edwards – reflecting on the fact her friend described Aesop’s Cove as gritty sophistication.

She tells him she doesn’t want to go to a dive bar to which he replies “Have you ever been in a dive bar that could be described as sophisticated?

To be in the vibe when writing scenes taking place in Aesop’s Cove, I needed a bar that was “just right” (aka gritty sophistication).  It was more difficult to find than I thought it would be.

  • Some bars were too gritty.

gritty = dive.

  • Some bars were too sophisticated.

Sophistication = yuppy and/or beautiful people and/or trust fund babies

With a little imagination I was able to find one that worked though it had enough differences that I needed to meld it with a different location in my mind to get it just right.  The result is Aesop’s Cove, a combination of a place in Pioneer Square in Seattle and a brewery in San Diego.

I’m not going to disclose names only because I don’t want to leave anyone with the wrong impression since Aesop’s Cove, while inspired by real locations, is made up.  It doesn’t exist.

Synchronicities.  I did have a pretty cool experience visiting the bar that serves as the primary inspiration for Aesop’s Cove.  One of the distinctive features of the character who owns Aesop’s Cove – Lage McAskell – is the color of his eyes.  When visiting a very cool bar in a historical part of Pioneer Square, I explained to the lady behind the bar what I was doing and would it be okay if I took a few photos of the place.

I’d also taken photos of the area that I can reference when trying to pull up an image for a scene in the story

She had no issue with it and after I placed an order for food and wine, she gave me her name, Amber.

Amber is the distinctive feature for the main character, the color of his eyes.

I do so love synchronicities.

It’s like life giving you a thumb’s up.

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finish.jpgWell, that was a short trip into Writer’s Limbo.

I don’t think creators ever really take breaks.

As usual , lots going on.

This is the final installment in the Metatron’s Army saga.**

The trailer is on this page.

  • Work on Dragon Core is going well. I actually have the entire plot for the second book completed even though Cauldron of the Gods is still under construction.

At this rate, book 2 will be written before book 1 which is about 1/3 completed for first draft.

  • Enjoying music from the Dragon Core playlist.

Includes music from Godsmack, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Muse, and one of my all-time favorites, Silversun Pickups.

The best part of breaks is how productive they are!

Adjudication will be available for pre-order.

Release date October 1, 2019.

**Metatron’s Legacy, which will be under the Metatron’s Universe family, is a single title albeit related novel.

Release date December 1, 2019.

Stay tuned…