Tag Archives: Witch of the Colonies

Anything associated with the novel Witch of the Colonies.

Coin of the Realms (Part II)

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The easy answer to ‘how do I capture information about various fictional geopolitical entities’ is to make a list. I like lists. This was my first draft:

Organization Name
Flag
Colors
Coin Name 1
Coin Name 2
Coin Name 3
Religion, Primary
Religion(s), Other
Language, Primary
Language(s), Other
State Nickname 1 State Nickname 2

Which in practice translated into a text doc full of entries like this:

I. GAELUS PACT
“The Old Republics”
“Greenies”

FLAG: Green cross with nimbus on white background
COLORS: Green & white
MAJOR CITIES: Caer Denis, Caer Jule
ETHNIC MAKE-UP: PIKS (55%), JUARO (25%), NAHR (10%), KADDIM VADESH (5%)
PRIMARY CURRENCY: Gold lairds, silver gryffids, copper bittins
MAJOR RELIGION(S): Paganism, Way of the Three Sisters, Occult philosophy

And this is what I’ve relied upon during the drafting of WITCH and HEIST. Simplicity means I can dedicate more time to actually writing. But I’m not satisfied. I continue to experiment with maps, but the software I’ve discovered is either too primitive or prohibitively expensive. Which is a pity.

A well-done map fires my imagination like little else.

From Wyverns to Dragons to Worms

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In the background of the Northern Arcadian novels is the threat of invasion from another world, from creatures I have variously dubbed ‘wyverns,’ ‘worms’ and ‘dragons.’ Today, though, the affair is settled, thanks to an extremely interesting (and dubious) article about a proto-language dubbed ‘Eurasiatic.’ The hypothesis is based mostly upon the discovery of multiple cognates (words that sound the same in different languages) for a core vocabulary that includes… ‘worm.’

If you’re trying to sell the notion that, once upon a time, all of mankind had a shared enemy in the great and terrible wyverns dragons worms, this is the kind of thing that makes your story stronger. (And also makes your day.)

Coin of the Realms (Part I)

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In the earliest incarnation of WITCH I tried to avoid naming the currency, opting instead for ‘gold,’ ‘silver,’ and ‘copper.’ One of my first (and best) readers objected. ‘Too generic,’ he told me. ‘Call them pounds, francs or dollars, but call them something.’

I thought about what he’d said. I struggled to differentiate the word ‘franc’ from the history of the French peoples. Pounds, likewise, tilted my thoughts towards the United Kingdom. If I wanted to create a plausible new world, I realized, I needed to learn the history of currency.

Which, you know, thank heavens for wikipedia. But another problem nagged at me. How many different varieties of currency were in play in the American colonies in the 16th century? The British, Spanish, and French (to name just three) all had influence in the New World. I didn’t need to develop a single currency system; I needed three or four.

And I needed to preserve that information so I could refer to it later.

(to be continued.)

(Lack of) Progress Report

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I’ve marched out sixteen query letters. For fourteen of those, I’ve received either a rejection letter or I’ve waited a month without a reply. With only two outstanding query letters, and hope dwindling that getting WITCH published will be a relatively easy process, you might be wondering: what’s going to happen with Northern Arcadia?

I can’t quit, folks. I’m going to have the first draft for a second Northern Arcadia novel ready at the end of March, and I intend to publish the first fifteen or so pages of THIEF to this site. I’m going to continue to publish updates here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, including posts on stuff I consider ‘fantastic America,’ behind the scenes detail on bringing this world to life and the odd post on the intersection of video games and the sort of character-driven narrative I favor.

IRL, I’m going to identify a couple, three writing conferences with a strong emphasis on imaginative fiction, and I’m going to attend with my smile up and my ears out. I want to get better at weaving stories where people can get cheerfully lost. Of course I’d like to be negotiating with a major publishing house right now. I’d love to have a high-powered agent with ties in the film and video game industries, and an editor with a merciless eye who isn’t afraid to tell me exactly what needs fixing.

But I’m not writing for fame, money, or other people’s approval. Not anymore. I’ve been guilty of all three in the past. These days, I write because I love writing. I write because when a passage or a page or a chapter works, I feel a sense of satisfaction that I get from nothing else.

A hundred rejection letters can’t take that away from me.

The Fabric of a New World: Outfits and Costumes

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Costuming for a quasi-historical novel offers different challenges (and opportunities) for an author than a narrative set in a contemporary era. If I describe a guy with a silver beard, wearing Birkenstocks, jeans and a freshly-laundered tie-dye Grateful Dead t-shirt, … Continue reading →

Abigail and Lara

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I’ve got a crush on a girl. It’s happened before, but we spent too much time together or got caught in a boring routine or something. The spark sputtered and went out. But… something’s different. We are. I’m older. She’s… younger? Yup, this is Lara Croft as I’ve never seen her (or the Tomb Raider video game franchise) before. She’s young. She’s vulnerable. She’s no longer cartoonishly top-heavy. (She even hates tombs!) The game follows her as she grows, hardens, and finds the mental focus that will allow her to be become the world’s most famous female artifact hunter.

The recent video game Far Cry 3 and this iteration of Tomb Raider have a good deal in common, including the island setting, the utility of the hero’s bow, and allusions to WWII-era Japan. Both games excel at creating an immersive on-screen world. Sneaking around in the tropics surrounded by hordes of armed opponents has never been so much fun!

But I doubt I’ll ever return to the world of Far Cry 3. That narrative for that game forces the player down a deeply unpleasant path (well, unless you happen to enjoy torturing family members) and at its conclusion provides players with a single choice with no gameplay ramifications: do you embrace being a bad guy or not?

How many people out there are going to choose the ‘I’m a bad guy’ option?

Thirty hours in, Tomb Raider has not hesitated to slop on the gore, but I haven’t been asked to use any enhanced interrogation techniques on my loved ones. I’ve watched as my character has faced challenges and in the aftermath evolved (in happy ways and otherwise.) Lara weeps, groans, and moans, but she perserveres.

Abigail Moore approves.

Hidden Structures in the Jungle

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Back in the days when there were such things as physical bookstores, people had full time jobs doing nothing but ordering books. You met with publishing representatives, dined at the rep’s expense, and when you got back to the office you flipped through catalogs of upcoming releases and decided what titles you’d carry, and how many copies. You filled out order forms in long hand, and you became intimate with inventory management software of the same vintage as Lotus 1-2-3. You also got free books. More books that you could read.

One book I did find time to read (after the bookstore closed) was Charles Nicholl’s The Creature on the Map. Reconstructing Walter Raleigh’s historical journey to find El Dorado is Nicholl’s overt purpose, but his prose does not shy away from lyricism. He describes the inability of Raleigh (or anyone) to find El Dorado:

“The last, synaptic gap is never bridged. No one ever gets there. There is only the journey, the approach towards something that you cannot reach, something… that you dare not reach.”

That resonates with me, even now that the city in the Amazon which no one believed existed (outside men like Raleigh) has been revealed as a reality, albeit without the streets of gold.

A Different Kind of Pioneer: Writing for Video Games

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Kotaku.com talks video game writers, and they pay some attention to the differences between writing for a novel and within the context of a larger team. I’ve had a modest bit of professional success working within the interactive field, almost always as a member of a larger team. When I set down to write WITCH I genuinely missed having art and creative directors to provide inspiration and feedback, to ask questions and tease and prod. Do I enjoy having perfect freedom? Well, yeah, sure. But I’ll trade a little bit of freedom for a better book, or movie, or video game.